Sanders The Men We Carry In Our Minds Essays - Sanders,

Sander's The Men We Carry In Our Minds Scott Russell Sanders wrote an argument entitles, The Men We Carry In Our Minds. It deals with the problems that exist between sex and social class issues. This short work demonstrates troubles that lie between rich and poor, males and females. The time period that this piece was written tells of issues dealing with the earlier part of the 20th century. Sander's was born into a poor, low-class family that had only known hard labor. During his childhood he witnessed many a men go to the same job day in and day out to do back breaking labor so as to support their families. From his yard he had a view of the prison and watched black prisoner's slave away against the land. Watching them were guards dressed in white that didn't raise an arm or bend their backs to do their job. Sanders claimed that, As a boy, [he] also knew of another sort of [man], who did not sweat and break down like mules (Sanders 515). He saw soldiers, who didn't work in the factories or the fields, as far as he could tell they didn't work at all. He watched these soldiers from his house on a military base in Ohio. He knew the life of the soldier conceived of little excitement except for in the time of war. Either way, he knew that he neither wanted to inherit his father's life, though after time he prospered, or join the military. As a youngster, he also saw the difference in men and women in the workplace. His ideas of women were ladies who sat around the house reading, tidying up and running errands. To him this was a life of luxury. But as Sander's said, I was slow to understand the deep grievances of women (Sanders 516). He idolized them, though they suffered as men suffered when money was tight, it wasn't their fault or responsibility. As Sanders say's, ?they were not the ones who failed (Sanders 516). This idea took a transition when he went to college. Sander's was very fortunate to attend college. He himself was very surprised, for among people of his social class, it was a rare opportunity. IT was here that his views of the world were put into logical perspective. His socialization with the women opened his eyes to the hardships they had to undertake. To get out of the shadow of being a female and be respected for their intellect and hard work. As he felt helpless before for being poor, they in relation felt the same for being of a different gender. He thought he'd made an alliance because of the alienable circumstances that they'd been through. To his dismay, the females at college did not take him in as a friend, but perceived him as the enemy. For in their lives growing up, being daughters of affluent families, they knew from birth that men would become the ones with degrees and would be successful. This was a paradigm shift for Sanders; everything he thought he knew about women was turned upside down. Sanders proclaimed, It was not my fate to become a woman, so it was easier for me to see the graces (Sanders 517). In conclusion, Sanders realized that the women he met wanted to share in the grandeur of wealthy jobs worthy of degrees and intelligence. He also realized, The difference between me and these daughters was that they saw me, because of my sex, as destined from birth to become like their fathers, and therefore as an enemy to their desires (Sanders 518). Sanders main point was that it is easier to overcome gender than class, which is portrayed in his argument. Bibliography Work Cited Sanders, Scott Russell. The Men We Carry In Our Minds. Literacies. Brunk, Terence. Diamond, Suzzane. Perkins, Priscilla. Smith, Ken. New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997. 513-518. English Essays

Map Projections essays

Map Projections essays Map Projection can be defined as the spatial relationship between features on the earths surface and their representation on a flat map. This compares and transforms the earths 3-D terrain to a flat 2-D surface. Map projections are created in a two step process. The first step is to assume that the earth has been mapped on a reference globe to fit the chosen scale for the flat map. The second step is to transform, mathematically, the reference globes surface onto a flat surface, point by point. When transferring the spherical surface to a flat plane, distortions will result. Area, Angle, Distance and Direction distortions are the most commonly occurring and are the ones that need to be fixed during transformation. In map projections, it is best to see what type of projections will be best used. Conformal projections are one type of map projection that cal be used. Conformal projections consist of Mercator, Transverse Mercator, Lamberts conformal conic projection with two standard parallels and conformal stereographic projections. Mercator projections are the probably the most famous map projection ever devised. Equal Area Projection is another form of Map Projection used; however, the choice to use an equal area projection is based on two processes. It is important to consider the size of the region involved and the distribution of angular deformation. In considering when Equal area projection to use, one might choose from Albers Equal are or Lamberts Equal area projection, both which are widely used today. Besides Equal Area Projections, there are World Equal-Area Projections. These can be consisted of cylindrical equal-area, sinusoidal, Mollweide or Goodes projection. Groups of Projection might be including Azimuthal, orthographic, simple conic, polyconic or space oblique Mercator projection. ...

4 Reasons Searching for a Job Really Sucks

4 Reasons Searching for a Job Really Sucks Because†¦ well, it does. Whatever reason you have for job searching, whether you’re just starting out or your current situation has deteriorated to the point where you are now desperate for a change, you’re out on the market. And being on the market is just plain hard. Here are 4 reasons that can help explain why this is the case, along with suggestions to make the process just a little bit more bearable.1. It’s like a job unto itself.It’s exhausting, even if you aren’t also working on top of job searching! Updating resumes, compiling references, writing cover letters, doing market research, interviewing, stressing out, chewing your fingernails! And that’s before we even get on the subject of the emotional drain that is networking.To keep from burning out and losing heart, consider taking a personal day or two, or cutting back on the horsepower of your work at your existing job (if you have one). To devote yourself even 50% of the time t o finding a new job, you can’t be giving 110% at your old one. Figure out which balls you can temporarily put down in order to find the job you want.2. It takes time.The job search process doesn’t honor your impatience. Good opportunities take time to find, and that can be annoying when you’re dedicating all you have to the pursuit of them!To keep from going mad, try and recognize ahead of time that this process will not resolve immediately. Pace yourself. Dole out your energy and time and focus across a couple of weeks or months, rather than expecting to find a new job and hop straight into it by magic.3. It will be disappointing.You know you were qualified for a job, and you didn’t even get an email confirmation when you sent in your materials. Or you made it to the final round, made a really personal connection with your boss-to-be, then never heard back. You found out that job went to someone else. Repeat, repeat. Little heartbreaks like this are ever ywhere in your job search.To keep from despairing, focus instead on maintaining- and building- your network. That way, no matter how many heartbreaks pile up (be that 5 or 50), you’ll know that you are constantly maximizing the number of opportunities that will come your way.4. You might have to lie to your bossYou’re running out of excuses for why you have so many dental appointments in the mornings during work that call you away from your desk. It’s awful having to cover for yourself, even if you don’t particularly love your boss.To avoid the shame of lying, try to schedule your interviews for early or late in the day- or at lunch- to avoid conspicuous absences. And it never hurts to have a list of minor medical things that would require immediate attention, just in case.The 4 Most Painful Parts of the Job Search (That You Always Forget About Until You Do it Again)

Differences and connections between groupware and ordinary databases Essay

Differences and connections between groupware and ordinary databases - Essay Example The significance of Groupware technology spawned by CSWC cannot be underestimated in the modern interactive world. This technology designed to facilitate and allow for ease of work amongst members of a group is nothing but a remarkable achievement. This technology has found usage in communication, cooperation, coordination, negotiation, and even competition amongst members of a defined group. This technology relies on modern computer networks, newsgroups, chatting networks, and even videophone Mills, (2011) In a globalizing world, it is important to find a way of connecting people in diverse areas across the globe. Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) is the field of study that has made the adoption, design and usage of groupware possible. But this field is not restricted entirely to work or cooperation in any sense, but can also be used to examine other aspects of social dynamics such as competition and play Mills,(2011). This basically means that unlike ordinary databases whose purpose can only be defined and will only require software designing and engineering, groupware may require the concerted effort of social and organizational behavior experts, business people, computer scientists, communication researchers, organization psychologists, anthropologists, to name just a few specialties. Designing a Groupware involves an in-depth understanding of groups and how people behave while in a groups. This is not a requirement in the design of the Ordinary User Interface. Further, designing a workable Groupware will require a coherent understanding of networking technology and how the various aspect of this system works, whether subtle or complex. It will be ideal to understand how instances of delay in synchronizing will affect the experience of the user. But it is also important to point out that all the other basic issues of traditional user interface remains relevant because

MKT DB1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

MKT DB1 - Essay Example One of the functions of the marketers drawn from these departments is to help customers and potential customers know about the product. This paper will discuss the role of a marketer in light of helping customers and potential customers know about the product. Helping customers is one of the major roles of a marketer in today’s business. In this regard, a marketer ensures that the existing and potential customers of the organization understand the product they are buying by demonstrating to them why they need to buy the product. It starts by identifying the needs of these customers and developing a marketing strategy that is most suitable in meeting the needs and wants of these customers. To be able to meet the needs of these customers, a marketer must come up with an appropriate marketing mix. This entails developing products to satisfy their needs, charge the right price, makes goods available at the right place and use promotion as a means of making known the existence of the products. For instance, the marketer must ensure that the company’s products meet the needs of the customers. This implies that the marketer must ensure that the product offered to the customers is of the right quality, quantity and branding as this will make customers identify with the product and the business easily (Pride and Ferrell, 2006). Promotion is another element of the marketing mix that marketers may use to create an awareness of the company’s products to its customers. For customers who can be reached directly through face to face communication, it will be very advisable that the marketer does this as this gives an opportunity to explain to the customers every aspect of the company’s product, location of the company and the reasons why they should purchase the products(Pride and Ferrell, 2006). Branding is also a marketing tool use in marketing products. This is because branding creates a distinctive image and

Ancient Greeks Essay Example for Free

Ancient Greeks Essay Ancient Greeks made many influential contributions to western civilization such as in the areas of philosophy, art and architecture, and math and science. The Greeks were a remarkable civilization and contributed things people use in every day life then, and currently. Some very important people of Ancient Greece include Socrates, Aristotle, Pericles’, Hippocrates, Euclid, Sophocles, Plato and Galen. All of these people shaped western civilizations, while Greece was in two wars at the time. They pushed through hardships and still created innovations that contributed to the western civilization. In the area of Philosophy, Socrates, Aristotle and Plato had a belief system that was very powerful. The philosophers initiated an approached that was based on reason. Their theories were diverse and they tried to â€Å"identify underlying principles†. Socrates believed in the encouragement of question, saying that a life without examination is not worth living. Aristotle thought that people should to live for a reason, and strive for that reason. Plato was a philosopher, and student of Socrates. He laid the foundations for philosophy in western civilizations. These ideas of human reasoning had been a big part of Greece’s influence. As well as philosophy, art and architecture were a contribution to the western civilization. As far as the monuments made, columns were used and are well known today. Performances of music and dance were vital parts of religious festivals. Not very many forms of art have been saved or found from the time of Ancient Greece. But, dramas and plays took a central role in the culture. Sophocles had created plays, and the most common was tragedy. Greek literature contained a strong epic as well including the tales of Iliad and Odyssey, both written by Homer. All of the poems, literature, architecture and dramas were vital for the western civilizations. Math and science were the most important and well-known achievement in the Greeks history. They had achieved all kinds of things in the area of psychology, physics, astrology, math, and medicine. Euclid was a Greek mathematician and was known as the ‘father of geometry†. He impacted all of math due to his book of Elements. This book had provided many theorems, which had simple forms of geometry. Although the theorems may have not been very complex, they are extremely important. Not only did they influence western civilizations, but the whole world. Medicine was very important in this era. Hippocrates was an ancient Greek physician referred to as â€Å"the father of western medicine†. He adapted the Hippocratic oath stating that he would never supply someone with harmful medicine. As well as medicine, the field of astrology was key. They Greeks had studied the stars and the way things had worked in the atmosphere at night. All which were very important for the western civilization. In conclusion, Greeks were very studious and contributed things in the fields of philosophy, math, science and art. They created geometry, astrology, philosophical advancements and art advancement. All of which are used today.

Number One By Jill Nielson Essay -- essays research papers

"Number One!" by Jill Nelson is a story that Jill Nelson tells about her father and his beliefs. She speaks about a Sunday breakfast that her family had every Sunday. This breakfast was like there church every Sunday, and her father was the preacher. He always preached about being number one, and he represented number one by holding up his middle finger. Her father never told the family exactly what he meant by number one, and when she was old enough to have the courage to ask, her father had gone through too many stages to remember. This is a good learning story. As I was reading this, I put myself in Jill's place. I asked myself, what does her father mean by number one, and why does he use his middle finger to represent it? I had a few theories, but the one that made the mos...

Competitive Strategy Essay

â€Å"Successful and unsuccessful strategies shape a company’s destiny† – R.A. Burgelman, Strategy is Destiny†¦ Competitive Strategy is the high-level strategy used by the firm to realize its business goals, and in particular, profitability, in the face of competition. We study competitive strategy within the overall context of technology firms, which operate within a so-called industry, e.g., the computer industry, the consumer electronic industry, the cellular phone industry. Each industry, ideally, serves a market, which denotes the buyers or customers of the products and services offered by the industry. The function of strategy, which has a time horizon of years, is, in general, to set the long-term direction or position of the firm, for example define the technology, product, or service that the firm intends to develop, and determine the intended market for the product or service. The function of planning, which, in general, has a time horizon of sever al months to years, is to translate long-term strategy into medium-term activities, e.g., the portfolio of projects that the firm should execute the time-phased planning of these projects, and resource allocation. The function of operations, which has the time-horizon of days to months, is, in general, to translate medium-term planning activities into short-term product design, development, and delivery activities such as prototyping, manufacturing, product release, and shipment. No company can follow only one strategy. For example, Johnson & Johnson uses one marketing strategy for its common product such as BAND-AID & Johnson’s baby products; and different marketing strategy for its High Tech healthcare products such as Vicryl Plus, antibacterial surgical sutures or NeuFlex finger joint implants. There are several different types of strategy, including competitive strategy, technology strategy, product market strategy, financial strategy, and supply-chain strategy. For a tec hnology company to be successful all these strategies need to be aligned with each other, and with the business goals of the firm. Competitive strategy, is the highest level of strategy in the firm, and is intimately related to the mission and vision of the firm and also to setting the direction for all the other strategies in the firm. There are several schools of strategy formation: design, planning, positioning (Mintzberg, 1998). We focus on two important schools or frameworks for strategy-creation or â€Å"strategy-making† that are particularly important for high-technologycompanies. The first framework is the so-called â€Å"positioning† approach due to Porter (Porter, 1980), In this approach strategy is viewed as taking a generic position in a competitive market and which views strategy-making as an analytic process performed at the industry-market structural level (Porter, 1980) and the resulting dynamics between functional groups of players (e.g., competitors, suppliers) in the industry. The second framework analyzes strategy-making at the industry-level, company level, and intra-company level using evolutionary organization theory (Burgelman 2002). In this evolutionary organizational theory approach, each company is an organizational ecology within which strategy emerges through two basic mechanisms, external selection and internal selection. When companies start, because they are new and small ¸ the external selection mechanism dominates. As a company grows in size and becomes more established, internal selection plays an important role. Based on e volutionary organization theory, views strategy-making as an evolutionary process performed at three levels: industry-company level, company-level, and intra-company level. When these two frameworks are combined, an integrated approach to competitive strategy emerges: from industry-market level all the way to intra-company level. A unique aspect of creating competitive strategy for a company, and in particular, a high-technology company, is that the time-scales for the evolution of markets, industries, and technologies are, in general, much shorter (â€Å"faster†) compared to other industries. Therefore, the strategy frameworks of the positioning school needs to be augmented with functional maps (Clark and Wheelwright, 1993), which capture the evolution of the market, industry, and technology relevant to the company, and which can therefore be used to create strategy. The objectives of this chapter are as follows: 1. Describe the positioning framework for the creation of competitive strategy. 2. Provide an integrated competitive strategy process which is useful in developing competitive strategy in a technology company. 3. Demonstrate the application of the process of competitive strategy The objective of technology strategy (Clark and Wheelwright, 1993) is to guide the technology company in developing, acquiring, and applying technology for competitive advantage. An important part of technologystrategy is the definition of technical capabilities (e.g., advanced device design, rapid prototyping, automated assembly) that provide competitive advantage. The objective of product/market strategy is to clearly establish the following: define what differentiates the product from its competitors; identify market segments for the product, the customer needs of these segments, and the corresponding products (i.e., product lines) that will be offered to these segments; etc. An important outcome of produc t/market strategy is to define the product roadmap, including sales volume and price, necessary to realize the business goals. However, in the rapidly evolving industry and market landscape of high-technology, competitive strategy, in turn, depends on three levels of â€Å"strategy-making† as follows (Burgelman, 2002): 1. Industry-company level. At this level the firm must determine its strategic position, its core competencies, and its strategic action. 2. Company level: At this level strategy-making involves induced strategy and autonomous strategy. 3. Intra-company level: At this the internal level autonomous strategy is created. In successful companies, it is the tight coupling of strategy these three levels of strategy-making with the highest-level (i.e., industry-market level) competitive strategy that, results in successful strategic action where what the company actually does, e.g., the product lines it develops and markets, results in the realization of its business goals. It is also useful to mention two other strategies that are closely related to competitive strategy. Financial strategy in cludes issues such as capital budgeting and portfolio management, i.e., deciding on which technology and product development projects to fund in order to maximize the cumulative expected profit. Another important and related strategy is supply chain strategy (Chopra), which specifies the service, distribution, and operations functions, performed either in-house or outsourced, that the company should do well in order to successfully realize its intended competitive strategy. The â€Å"Positioning† Framework We first present a historical overview of the positioning or analytic school of strategy. Then, we develop the five forces framework (Porter, 1980) and the approach to creation of competitive strategy that is closely related to the five forces framework. We will use the personal computer industry to illustrate the approach. The positioning school of strategy which emerges from the competitive school is based on the following assumptions (Mintzberg, 1998): the marketplace is competitive strategy is a generic position in the marketplace; strategy formation is the selection of a generic position based on analysis. The underlying assumption is that industry or market structure drives position which drives the organizational structure of the firm. Matrices like the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) introduced two techniques: the growth-share matrix, and the experience curve. The growth-share matrix for a firm, developed in the early 1970s, is a 2Ãâ€"2 matrix with â€Å"growth† along one dimension, and â€Å"market share† along the other dimension. Each of these variables can take two values, â€Å"high† or â€Å"low† resulting in a 2Ãâ€"2 matrix. Therefore, the product portfolio of a firm can be decomposed into four combinations of growth and market share, each with a well defined meaning: (High growth, high market share) or â€Å"stars†, (high growth, low share) or â€Å"question marks†, (slow growth, high share) or â€Å"cash cows†, and (slow growth, low share) or â€Å"dogs†. The approach to strategy using this matrix would be to have a portfolio balanced mainly between cash cows (the stable business of the firm, e.g., â€Å"MAC† computers in the case of Apple) and stars (e.g., the iPod, in the case of Apple). The experience curve, developed in 1965-66, is based on the idea that accumula ted experience by a firm influences costs and prices. The claim â€Å"for the experience curve was that for each cumulative doubling of experience, total costs would decline roughly 20% to 30% because of economies of scale, organizational learning, and technical innovation† (Ghemawat, 1999). In 1971, the consulting firm McKinsey came up with the GE/McKinsey nine-block matrix called the Industry Attractiveness-Business Strength matrix (Ghemawat, 1999), which plotted business strength [High, Medium, Low] along one axis, and industry attractiveness [High, Medium, Low] along the other axis. The basic idea was to divide the company into â€Å"strategic business units (SBUs)†, and then make the appropriate strategic recommendations for each SBU depending on its â€Å"location† in the matrix. The Five Forces Framework and Competitive Strategy In this framework there are two high-level stages in the creation of competitive strategy, each stage corresponding to a high-level determinant of profitability mentioned in the previous section. The first stage is the assessment of the attractiveness of the industry in which a given company is embedded based on a structural analysis of the industry. In this stage, called the five forces framework, five forces that influence industry attractiveness are identified, as well as the factors (e.g., number of competitors, size of competitors, capital requirements) that determine the intensity of each force and therefore the cumulative intensity of the five forces. The purpose of the five forces framework is to relate the degree (or intensity) of competition in a given industry, as qualitatively measured by the combined strength (or intensity) of five forces, to the attractiveness of the industry, defined as its ability to sustain profitability. Based on the structural analysis, a particula r company may be in a very attractive industry (e.g., pharmaceuticals) or in an unattractive industry (e.g., steel). However, though a firm exists in an unattractive industry, it can still be highly profitable by choosing the proper competitive position within the industry, for example, e.g., a mini-mill such as Nucor in the steel industry in the nineteen-eighties (Ghemawat). The second stage of strategy creation addresses the competitive strategy available to the firm in order to achieve a strong competitive position. Ideally, a firm would want to be in a very attractive industry (e.g., pharmaceuticals) and have a strong competitive position (e.g., large pharmaceutical firms such as Smith Klein or Glaxo) within the industry. The five forces framework for the structural analysis of an industry is as follows. First, we define the following terms used in the structural analysis of the industry: industry, market, competitors, new entrants, substitutes, buyers, and sellers. The term ind ustry denotes (1) the manufacturers (or producers) and (2) the suppliers of a primary product or service, as well as (3) the manufacturers of alternative products and services that could serve as a substitute. For example, the (conventional) personal computer (PC) industry would include PC manufacturers like Dell and Apple, suppliers of semiconductor chips like Intel and Micron, suppliers ofdisc drives like Seagate, suppliers of software such as Microsoft, etc. Substitute products could be pen-based tablet PCs or small hand-held personal digital assistants (PDAs). In the five forces framework described below, manufacturers and producers will designated as (1) competitors in the industry if they already have established products, or (2) new-entrants if they are trying to enter the industry, or (3) substitutes, if they provide alternative (substitute) products. The term market denotes the buyers (or customers) of the product or service. For example, the market for PCs would include enterprises and individual consumers. The analytical process of strategy analysis and creation can be decomposed into the following five steps. 1. Create a map of the industry in which the technology company is em bedded. There are five key sets of players that constitute the business landscape: competitors, new entrants, substitutes, suppliers, and buyers. Identify key players (companies) for each industry. 2. Perform a five forces analysis of the industry structure. The five forces that influence the intensity of competition in a particular industry, and therefore the profitability of the firms within the industry: Force 1: the degree of rivalry (or competition) between the competitors; Force 2: the threat of new entrants (or the inverse of this force, the barrier to entry); Force 3: the threat of substitutes; Force 4: Buyer Power (to demand lower prices); Force 5: Supplier Power (to increase material prices). For each force, determine the key structural determinants which affect the intensity of the force. Porter and Ghemawat provide a detailed set of the determinants for each force, some of which are given in the table below. In the last column of this table we indicate plausible values o f each force for the PC industry in the nineteen nineties. Table 1 |Force |Key Determinants |Strength of the force | |Rivalry between competitors |Concentration (number) and size of |Medium to high | | |competitors | | | |Fixed costs/value added | | | |Brand indentity | | |Barrier to entry |Economies of scale |Medium to high | | |Brand identity | | | |Capital requirements | | |Threat of substitutes |Price/Performance of substitutes |Low to medium | | |Switching costs | | |Buyer Power |Buyer concentration | | | |Buyer size (volume) |Medium to high | | |Switching costs | | |Supplier Power |Supplier concentration |Low to medium | | |Supplier size (volume) | | | |Switching costs | | In theory, one would, qualitatively determine the strength of each force, as indicated in the third column of the above table, and then determine the cumulative or combined intensity of the five forces. The collective intensity or strength of the forces will determine the structural strength of the industry, as characterized by attractiveness, or the profit potential of the industry. The profit potential is measured by the long term return on invested capital (ROIC). If the collective strength of the forces is high, as in the steel industry, then the corresponding profit potential or attractiveness is low, and vice-versa. At one extreme of this analysis is the perfectly competitive free market, where there are numerous firms alloffering very similar products that cannot be differentiated (therefore, the force of rivalry is high), entry is free (therefore, the threat of both new entrants and substitutes is high), and bargaining power of both suppliers and buyers is low. Using the PC industry of the 1990’s as an example, the qualitative values of the forces shown in the last column of the above table would lead one to conclude that the cumulative strength of the five forces was medium to high, and therefore the attractiveness of the industry, i.e., its profitability, was medium to low. The PC industry in the nineteen-nineties would therefore not be attractive to new entrants, and in fact, in the early 2000s, HP’s computer business was unprofitable, and IBM sold its computer business to Lenovo. (It is important to note that HP’s unprofitability in computer business in the early 2000s cannot be attributed solely to industry attractiveness being low, but is also due to issues associated with its acquisition of the computer company Compaq.) 3. Select a competitive positioning strategy The basic premise of Porter and Hall was that for a firm to be successful (in a market) it had to compete based on one of two sources of competitive ad vantage: cost, i.e., by providing low cost products, or differentiation, i.e., by differentiating its products from its competitors with respect to quality and performance. Porter also proposed that a firm needs to select its strategic target: either offering a product to the entire market (â€Å"market-wide†), or offering a product for a particular market segment. Using these two dimensions (source of competitive advantage, and strategic target), Porter proposed the following three generic competitive strategies: 1. Cost Leadership: offering the lowest costs products to the entire market 2. Differentiated: offering highly unique products (as perceived by the customer) to the entire market 3. Focus: offering products which serve the needs of a niche segment of the market Porter’s claim is that for a company to be successful in the industry in which it operates it must choose between one of the three generic strategies: cost leadership, differentiated, and focus. If one uses the personal computer industry in the US during the 1990’s as an example, then the competitive strategies of the major players was as follows: Dell was the low-c ost leader; HP had a differentiated strategy with high-quality products; Apple had a focus strategy, targeting a narrow marketsegment of users who whom the user-experience (look, feel, and graphical user interfaces) were extremely important; and IBM had a mixed strategy. 4. Link competitive strategy to strategic planning (Ghemawat 1999) In order for a company to derive competitive advantage (or position) within its industry, the company needs to maximize, relative to it competitors, the difference between the buyer’s willingness to pay and the costs incurred in delivering the product to the buyer. Therefore, the next step in the competitive analysis is for the company to link competitive strategy to strategic planning by analyzing all the activities involved in differentiation and cost, and, to this end, a value chain (Porter, 1985) is an extremely important tool. According to Porter, â€Å"the value chain disaggregates a firm into its strategically relevant activities in order to understand the behavior of costs and the existing and potential sources of differentiation.† A three step process for using these activities, first to analyze costs, then to analyze buyer’s willingness to pay, and finally to explore different strategic planning options to maximize the difference between willingness to pay and cost, is developed in (Ghemawat, 1999). 5. Competitive strategy needs to evolve, especially in a high-technology company where markets, industries, and technologies, are changing relatively rapidly. A good example of the evolution of competitive strategy is IBM’s strategic decisions to evolve from a product-based company in the early nineties to a services-led company at the present time. In the early nineties, when the company was in trouble, IBM closely examined its business model and strategic direction, and decided to â €Å"stay whole† by moving its focus from products and hardware to solutions. One result of this strategic shift was the creation of IBM Global Services in the mid-nineties. By the late-nineties the company moved into e-business solutions, and extended this model in the 2000’s to â€Å"business-on-demand†. One result of these shifts in strategy was IBM’s decision to exit the Personal Computer Market by selling its PC business to Lenovo. Functional Maps A functional map essentially is a time-based evolutionary map of a key metric for an important organizational function, e.g., a product performance metric map for the engineering function in a technology firm, e.g., the well-known Moore’s Law in the semiconductor industry. Since the time-scales for the evolution of markets, industries and technologies for technology companies, especially â€Å"high-tech† companies, is short compared to other industries, the creation of the appropriate functional maps is critical to strategy formation in a technology company. As an example, in the relatively short span of four decades, information technology evolved from mainframes through workstations, servers and personal computers to internet-based and mobile computing. An important feature of our approach to developing competitive strategy in a technology firm is the integrated approach to strategy for a technology company, which relates company strategy to the company’s busin ess goals, business strategy, technology strategy, and product marketing strategy. Since, markets, industries, technologies, and products for a technology company are continually evolving, an important concept that plays a vital role in the creation of strategy, and, in particular, competitive strategy, is the functional map (Clark and Wheelwright, 1993). Here are some useful â€Å"dimensions† along which to create functional maps for strategy creation: a) Evolution of the industry in which the enterprise operates (changes in technology, customer needs, competitive landscape, etc.) b) Evolution of strategy – business, technology, and market – of the enterprise c) Evolution of technology (including manufacturing), product platforms, and product lines of the enterprise. The processes used for technology, product, and process development within the enterprise. d) Growth (or decline) of the enterprise with respect to of market share, revenues, costs, profits, etc. e) Organizational structure of the enterprise f) Key decisions made at different stages in the life of enterprise, and the drivers for these decisions g) The interconnections and relationships between all the above dimensions A multi-dimensional functional map for Intel is given in the next section. A very simple example of how functional maps can shape strategy is in the information technology industry. A functional map of the Information Technology Industry from the 1990s to the 2000s would reveal a shift from â€Å"products† to services†. The Services business in 2007-08 is approximately $750 billion, with IBM, whose share of this market is $54 billion, being the leader. HP, whose own share in the market is $17 billion seeing this shift in the industry and the need to build competitive strength, acquired EDS, whose share of the market is $21 billion. The combined share of HP and EDS would then be $38 billion, allowing it to compete more strongly with IBM. Another simple example of the use of a functional map in creating strategy is in the software industry. In the 2000s the software market is moving from a â€Å"packaged† product to online software, where individuals can get software that is mostly free, supported by advertising. Google is using its leadership on the Web to provide online softwa re that competes with Microsoft’s packaged software. Understanding this shift from packaged to online, and the corresponding change in the revenue model from direct sales (of product) to advertising, Microsoft is aggressively entering the online advertising business. Process for developing competitive strategy in a company If we combine the positioning framework for competitive strategy due to Porter, the evolutionary organization theoretic framework due to Burgelman, and augment these with the creation of relevant functional maps, then the resulting process of developing competitive strategy in a company can be decomposed into four stages, as follows. Stage 1: Company Analysis 1. Establish the business goals and objectives (ROI, %market share, revenue, and growth aspirations). 2. Determine the technology strategy and product market strategy for the company. 3. Define the overall development goals and objectives to align business goals, technology, and market strategies. 4. Develop the functional evolutionary maps of the markets and industry in which the company is embedded. Create functional maps (time-based evolutionary maps) for technology, product market, and manufacturing strategy of the firm. These maps will be useful in the process of assessing and creating competitive strategy. Stage 2: Industry Analysis 1. Perform the structural analysis of the industry in which the company is either an active competitor, or a new entrant, or a substitute. 2. Determine the existing competitive strategy of the company within the industry. 3. Determine the relationships between the company and the other players in the industry Stage 3: Assessment and Evolution of the company’s strategy within the relevant markets and industries 1. Using the functional maps of the overall markets and industry in which the company is embedded, as well as the company specific functional maps, assess the evolution of the company’s competitive strategy. 2. Decide on what the company’s future competitive strategy should be, and the corresponding technology strategy, product market strategy, and manufacturing strategy. Glossary Autonomous Strategy (also see induced strategy). Autonomous strategy refers to actions of individuals or small groups within the company that are outside the scope of current high-level corporate strategy. While autonomous strategy is constrained by the company’s distinctive (core) competencies, it usually (1) involves new competencies that are not the focus of the firm, and (2) results in so-called â€Å"disruptive technologies† that could change the strategic direction of the firm (Burgelman, 2002). Company Structure (vertical vs. horizontal). A vertical company is one which uses only its own proprietary technologies. A horizontal company is one which (usually because of the existence of open-standards) which does not solely rely on its own proprietary technologies, but usually uses technologies and products from other suppliers. In the computer industry, traditionally, Apple is an example of a vertical company, while Dell is an example of a horizontal company. The co mputer industry, itself, moved from a vertical structure to a horizontal structure in the 1980s (Ghemawhat, 1999). Corporate Strategy (official corporate strategy). Corporate strategy is top management’s view of the basis of the company’s success. It includes distinctive (core) competencies, product-market domains, and core values (Burgelman, 2002) Industry. The term industry, e.g., the consumer electronics industry,denotes (1) the manufacturers (or producers) and (2) the suppliers of a primary product or service, as well as (3) the manufacturers of alternative products and services that could serve as a substitute (Porter, 1980). Market. The term market denotes the buyers (or customers) of the product or service. Typically markets are segmented, for example, a two-dimensional segmentation based on the types of product (product segmentation) along one axis, and the types of customers (customer segmentation) along the other axis. The market, as represented by â€Å"Buyers† is an important part of the industry analysis in Porter’s framework. Once you’ve established the key assets and skills necessary to succeed in this business and have defined your distinct competitive advantage, you need to communicate the m in a strategic form that will attract market share as well as defend it. Competitive strategies usually fall into these five areas: 1. Product 2. Distribution 3. Pricing 4. Promotion 5. Advertising Many of the factors leading to the formation of a strategy should already have been highlighted in previous sections, specifically in marketing strategies. Strategies primarily revolve around establishing the point of entry in the product life cycle and an endurable competitive advantage. As we’ve already discussed, this involves defining the elements that will set your product or service apart from your competitors or strategic groups. You need to establish this competitive advantage clearly so the reader understands not only how you will accomplish your goals, but why your strategy will work. [pic] References Burgelman, R.A., â€Å"Strategy is Destiny†, The Free Press, New York, 2002. Chopra, Sunil, and Peter Meindl, â€Å"Supply Chain Management, Strategy, Planning, and Operations†, Third Edition, Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2007. Clark, K. B., and S.C. Wheelwright, Managing New Product and Process Development, Text and Cases, The Free Press, New York, 1993. Edwards, Cliff, â€Å"Intel†, Business Week, March 8, 2004, Pages 56-64. Ghemawat, Pankaj, Strategy and the Business Landscape, Text and Cases, Addison Wesley, 1999. Mintzberg, Henry and Bruce Ahlstrand, and Joseph Lampel, Strategy Safari, The Free Press, New York, 1998 Porter, Michael, Competitive Strategy, New York, The Free Press, 1980 Porter, Michael, Competitive Advantage, The Free Press, New York, 1985 ———————– Figure 1: A strategic view of the technology firm, showing different types of strategy Revenue ($), Growth (%), Etc. Purpose of the company Financial Strategy Competitive Strategy Market Strategy Technology Strategy Business Goals †¢ Vision †¢ Mission

Globalization Position Paper Essay

Globalization is the process making the worlds citizens increasingly interdependent economically, politically, and socially, as well as environmentally and technologically. Although, to what extent should we embrace it? By the given definition, you would expect globalization to allow cultures, ideas, and beliefs to spread across the globe, which would lead to the development of our countries. However, this is not the case as said here by William K. Tabb, Economist: â€Å"Globalization refers to the process of reducing barriers between countries and encouraging closer economic, political, and social interaction. Globalization could vastly increase the ability of people everywhere to improve their living standards by sharing knowledge and the fruits of human labor across those barriers. This, of course, does not happen.† Tabb is trying to tell us that while Globalization could be doing us of world of good, it has failed to do so in recent years. In fact, a process that is supposed to allow us all to grow, is transforming us into somewhat of a monoculture due to acculturation. Tabb believes that there is vast potential for our world to become closer through political, social, and economic interaction if we allow it to do so. Sometimes we just don’t know exactly how to go about it. The aspect of globalization that has been occurring lately is more like assimilation than accommodation. Some have said that what is happening to the world is â€Å"Americanization†, which means that the world is becoming less of a mix of numerous different countries and cultures and more like one giant America. The beliefs, values, views, history and language of a people should all be evident within their culture, and while we can allow globalization to help counties grow, it should not be in a way that takes away or lessens their culture and it’s importance. Under the best conditions, globalization reduces barriers allowing the worlds countries to interact closer with one another. Though it should not become an unreciprocated act where only one country is receiving positive ideas and technology without the other. It seems that the world’s more powerful countries easily share their culture but have no interest in receiving anything from the less powerful countries, or when they do,  receive much less. This is not due to the less dominant country but rather to the more powerful one being somewhat uninterested. â€Å" Globalization could vastly increase the ability of people everywhere to improve their living standards by sharing knowledge and the fruits of human labor across those barriers. This, of course, does not happen.† Despite what William K. Tabb said here, these very things have happened, just not as often as one would perhaps wish them to. Take Taiwan for example. Thirty years ago the country had widespread poverty and was extremely poor. Nowadays they are as rich as the Spanish, with poverty rates cut by more than 50% and real wages that are now 10 times higher. How did they manage to accomplish this? This vast amount of economic progress was achieved through land reform, a government push for industrialization (such as the emersion of sweatshops), innovative ideas (more people owning their own business), cultural changes, and democracy rather than dictatorship. As long as foreign countries around the world are able to improve their living standards through globalization, and can do so without becoming too westernized, we can still see globalization as a positive occurrence. Globalization can do us of world of good. In some ways it has accomplished this and in others it has failed. It has been proven that it has the capability to change the lives of many through an improvement in their living standards. Not to mention that it reduces barriers and allows more interaction between people from different corners of the globe. But while it has managed to do this, a process that is supposed to allow us all to grow, is transforming us into a monoculture at the same time. William K. Tabb’s perspective is not the only one, but should only be embraced to some extent. Globalization should reduce barriers preventing closer relations with other nations and improve living standards. However, it should do so without causing too much westernization in eastern countries, and without assimilating the less dominate nations.

ABEKA VOCABULARY, SPELLING, POETRY IV QUIZ 12A Essay Example

ABEKA VOCABULARY, SPELLING, POETRY IV QUIZ 12A Essay Example ABEKA VOCABULARY, SPELLING, POETRY IV QUIZ 12A Paper ABEKA VOCABULARY, SPELLING, POETRY IV QUIZ 12A Paper Essay Topic: Poetry spell each spoken word aerial spell each spoken word guarantee spell each spoken word lieutenant spell each spoken word sheik spell each spoken word sacrilegious spell each spoken word muscle spell each spoken word anoint spell each spoken word hydraulics spell each spoken word symmetrical spell each spoken word connoisseur emaciate to become or cause to become abnormally thin, as by starvation or sickness substantiate to prove existence or validity with evidence or proof; to verify delineate to give a detailed description accelerate to increase the rate of movement, growth, or progress of something iterate to say or mention again repeatedly annihilate to reduce to nothingness fluctuate to vary or change irregularly intimidate to make timid; to make fearful by threats propitiate to cause to be favorably inclined initiate to start or began; to take the first step

Simple French Verb Conjugations for Louer (to Rent)

Simple French Verb Conjugations for Louer (to Rent) The French verb  louer  means to rent. When you need to say rented, renting, or will rent a conjugation is required. French students will be delighted to know that this ones pretty easy because it follows the most common verb conjugation pattern found in the language. Conjugations of the French Verb  Louer Louer is a regular -er verb and the endings required in the conjugations follow the pattern of similar words. If you know how to conjugate inviter (to invite), fumer (to smoke), or any other verbs that end in -er, then this will be an easy lesson. The trick to French verb conjugations is that the ending changes with the subject pronoun as well as the past, future, or present tense. First, you must identify the verb stem and in this case, that is  lou-.   With that information, follow the table to discover the appropriate endings for each form of  louer. For example, I am renting is je loue and we will rent is nous louerons. Practicing these in context using simple sentences will make them easier to memorize. Subject Present Future Imperfect je loue louerai louais tu loues loueras louais il loue louera louait nous louons louerons louions vous louez louerez louiez ils louent loueront louaient The Present Participle of  Louer The present participle of louer  is louant. This was formed by simply adding -ant  to the verb stem. Beyond its use as a verb, it can also become an adjective, gerund, or noun when needed. The Passà © Composà © and Past Participle The  passà © composà ©Ã‚  is a common way to express the past tense in French. Its very easy and requires the use of the  past participle  louà ©. In order to complete the construction, conjugate the auxiliary verb  avoir  to fit the subject pronoun. For instance, I rented becomes jai louà © while we rented is nous avons louà ©. Notice how ai  and avons are conjugates of avoir, yet the past participle does not change. More Simple Louer  Conjugations to Learn Those are the most important conjugations of  louer  that you should know. Once you learn those, consider studying these other simple forms. The subjunctive verb mood is used when the action of renting is uncertain. Similarly, the conditional verb mood implies that the renting will only happen if something else does. In formal French writing, you will likely come across the passà © simple and imperfect subjunctive as these are literary verb forms. Subject Subjunctive Conditional Pass Simple Imperfect Subjunctive je loue louerais louai louasse tu loues louerais louas louasses il loue louerait loua lout nous louions louerions loumes louassions vous louiez loueriez loutes louassiez ils louent loueraient lourent louassent The imperative verb form is used in short demands and exclamations. When using it, skip the subject pronoun: use loue instead of tu loue. Imperative (tu) loue (nous) louons (vous) louez

The history of American technology Research Paper - 1

The history of American technology - Research Paper Example Some of the key brands that the company produces include Coke, Sprite, Coffee, Dazani, Coke Zero, Fanta and Sprite among others. Being headquartered in Atlanta US; the company operates in more than two hundred countries. One of the primary aspects that have made Coca-Cola Company to enjoy strong customer support is the use of effective methods of advertisement. John Pemberton was the pharmacist behind the invention of Coke brand back in 1886 and up to now the company still produces the same brands. Coca Cola is a brand that most of people prefer and have strong loyalty towards it. Due to its well organized market strategies and advertisements, the brand still survives and competes with other companies soft brands stiffly. The Coca-Cola Company always relies on extensive advertisement to market its brands thus making it to attain a competitive edge in the market. This paper seeks to discuss how advertising technology for Coca-Cola has evolved. Technology use in Coca Cola Company adver tisements Coca-Cola Company has high value of technology not only in its production process but also in its advertisement strategies. The company realizes that based on the extensive use of technology by its competitors including Pepsi and Starbucks among others, the company has to emulate extensive technology in order to remain competitive in the international market. The company constantly changes, rebrands, and advertises the products in order to keep sales consistently high (Dev and Don, 2005). Since the start of social networking and the ability to stay inline with internet marketing, Coca Cola Company has invested heavily in new technology so as to further their brand awareness campaigns. Greener bottles Coca Cola Company introduced the technology of greener bottles and packaging and it was able to produce almost 2.5 billion products using less petroleum. The technology was successful and other companies were attracted to it since it was not expensive. One of the companies tha t borrowed the idea was Heinz which was known for food processing. The production of 2.5 billions represented four percent of the Coca Cola packaging and this makes billions of Coca Cola products to be exported globally each year. Social networking Coca Cola Company maintains good appearance in social networking sites like face book and twitter, attracting over 35 millions people in social networking thus effectively spreading the its new brands in the international market. Coca Cola Company have been campaigning, inviting people to play games to win its products. Through the use of the social networking technology, the company products always enjoy the support of young consumers who are technology savvy. Online advertising Coca Cola Company uses effective online advertising and this makes consumers to feel like the product is the only company dealing with soft drink beverage in the market. The company uses extensive advertisements on its websites that means that coca cola has a gre ater control in the market and this make the product to be top in market. Evolution of coca cola company advertisement strategies Coca Cola is among the best known brands in the world today. Dated back in 1886, the company used to offer free drinks to the customers as mode of advertisement. For instance, the company used marketers like Asa Candler to advertise its products and the budget estimate was about $12,000. Asa