‘An Inspector Calls’ – Coursework Creatvie Writing

Dear Mr Priestley, I have chosen to stage your play, ‘An Inspector Calls' as I found it very appealing. The setting of the play was really attractive as it was written at the end of the Second World War. People wanted to entertain themselves after so much tension and stress during the War. So a play based on life 30 years ago was perfect. However, this play did more than just entertain. It is a thought-provoking play which encourages people to think about society and responsibility. The audience in 1945 would have just experienced a terrible Second World War, with great loss and destruction. They would also be aware of the First World War which was an earlier catastrophe. The fact that the play was set in 1912 before the First World War, means that the audience have additional knowledge of the world, unlike the Birlings. As you have used the theme of responsibility, it reminded me that we all have responsibilities in our lives. There are still people who are going to war without realising the consequences and the effects on lives of innocent people. There are still people in the world today who are starving while people who are extremely rich and getting richer by the minute take no note of the poor. There are people around us who are peddling drugs without thinking of its effect on countless children and members of the society. Throughout the play, the words ‘responsible' and ‘responsibility' are used by almost all the characters in the play at some point or the other. Each member of the family has a different attitude towards responsibility. There is a contrastive pair when Mr Birling's responsibility towards Eva is uncaring, brutal and miserly while his son, Eric's responsibility towards Eva is caring but naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve and selfish in a way. There is a similarity between Mrs Birling and Shelia. Mrs Birling and Sheila's responsibility to Eva is somewhat similar as they both share and accept their guilt on Eva's death. In real life, we all have different attitudes to responsibility for our parents, family, friends, work and school. In your play, you as the playwright, encourage people to seize the opportunity at the end of the war and give them a chance to build a better, more caring society. For example, just before the Inspector walks in to the Birling household unexpectedly, he creates a dramatic effect by his statement and the use of dramatic irony shocks the audience. The dramatic irony is Mr Birling who states that the Titanic will not sink (which actually famously sunk on its maiden voyage) and there will never be a World War as he states but actually the audience of 1945 had been through two World Wars â€Å"the world's developing so fast that it'll make war impossible if we do not adopt your message of responsibility to each other†. I loved the ending of the play. The ending leaves the audience on a cliff-hanger. Just when the family had started to feel that there had been no inspector coming to speak to them about a suicide, the final telephone call is heard and announces that a real inspector is on his way to ask questions about a young girl's suicide. The tension comes back flooding in. It is a surprising final twist. I was inspired to produce my own version of the play after having seen the National Theatre Production of ‘An Inspector Calls'. I particularly liked the use of music because it created an effective atmosphere. I also liked the use of lighting because it is very attractive; the lighting involves the audience into the play. There are two dramatic devices used in this version: One is the setting; the setting is a dramatic device as you have described the key setting such as Mr Birling's house in detail. The house opens up like a doll's house, we can hear the voices of the actors inside which creates an eeriness. The Inspector is in the street outside speaking, with children walking around as though they were homeless. The Inspector was dressed up in dark suit with an overcoat. Lighting also makes an effect as it reflects the mood of the play. In my production of ‘An Inspector Calls', some of the ideas I will be using are as follows: a proscenium stage (I developed this idea from the very first act of the play where the stage directions mentioned the rising of curtains.); I will also use different background music for entrances of key characters, such as the Inspector who may be accompanied by sombre and heavy sounds of the organ and Mrs Birling's entry may be with a light piano with a chirping sound. My use of music will reinforce the message of the play by drawing attention when responsibility or society is being discussed. Spotlights will only be used in underlining the significance of the entrances of key characters. I have realised that the Inspector's final speech in the play is one of the most important moments in the play because this speech contains a wide range of rhetorical techniques which include: the use of contrastive pairs; the rhythm of language for example, the length of sentences, the effects of pauses. These techniques forces the characters in the play as well as the audience who are watching the play to rethink their understanding of major issues like responsibility, truth and inclusiveness of all members of the society. As we are not alone in society, we have to think of the other members of the society with sympathy and compassion. He reminds everyone about the importance of responsibility and society. To direct the Inspector's final speech, I will start off with the argument between Mr. Birling, his wife and Eric about who is really responsible for Eva Smith's death. Tension will rise by the effect of dramatic background music. Next, halfway through the argument, the Inspector says â€Å"STOP!† really loudly as if he is commanding everyone present like a director and the background music will stop. Then, slowly, he will start his final speech. When the Inspector says â€Å"One Eva Smith has gone – but there are millions†, he will use one finger to enhance the uniqueness of Eva and to include everyone he will open up his arms when he says â€Å"millions†. When he says â€Å"but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us†, he should open and merge his arms in a gesture to include everyone in the audience. By using repetition, he is showing the vast amount of people that will need help at some point in their lives. When he says, â€Å"their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness†, we hear â€Å"their† as a repetitive word. â€Å"†¦with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness†, makes up a rhythm of the sentence by using â€Å"their†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . This rhythm is effective because â€Å"their† is being repetitive. The phrase is an oxymoron because there are words that seem to be the opposite of each other and is also a contrastive pair as we see â€Å"hopes and fears† connect with â€Å"suffering and chance of happiness†. The phrases are powerful and memorable because they help involve the audience by using â€Å"hopes and fears† and â€Å"suffering and chance of happiness†. Next, when he says â€Å"We don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other†, he would give a dismissal look at the Birlings when he says â€Å"We don't live alone† and he point his finger at the family to say that â€Å"We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other†. The word â€Å"We† indicates that the Inspector is talking positively about society, responsibility and caring for others. Here we have an important listing of three things emphasising how nobody should be alone but be together, caring and being cared for. â€Å"We† and â€Å"Millions† being repeated here and are two of the key words in this speech. The Inspector wants to show us that we have to responsible for each other and care for others in society. The use of â€Å"I† in the sentence, â€Å"And I tell you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  makes the audience feel the Inspector is sincere. There are negative moments in the speech as well: â€Å"then they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish.† indicates that the Inspector is talking negatively about the Birlings' as they only care about themselves and not for others around them, which makes the Birlings' selfish and rude. â€Å"Fire and blood and anguish† also makes a list of three things, a rhetorical technique which makes the speech both appealing and memorable. I would like to invite you to see my production. Thank you for taking the time to read my letter. Yours sincerely, Your name

Lvmh in the Recession the Substance of Style

http://www. economist. com/node/14447276 LVMH in the recession The substance of style The world’s biggest luxury-goods group is benefiting from a flight to quality, but the recession is also prompting questions about the company’s breadth and balance Sep 17th 2009 | Paris | from the print edition * * Bloomberg â€Å"THERE are four main elements to our business model—product, distribution, communication and price,† explains an executive at LVMH, the world's largest luxury-goods group. â€Å"Our job is to do such a fantastic job on the first three that people forget all about the fourth. For decades LVMH's formula has worked like a spell: seduced by beautiful status-symbols, perfect shops and clever advertising, millions of people have swooned forgetfully towards the firm's cash registers. At Louis Vuitton, LVMH's star company, the model's pricing power has yielded consistent profit margins of around 40-45%, the highest of any luxury-goods brand. These days customers are finding it far harder to forget about price. The seriously rich, of course, are still spending freely.But much of the industry's rapid growth in the past decade came from middle-class people, often buying on credit or on the back of rising house prices. According to Luca Solca of Bernstein Research, 60% of the luxury market is now based on demand from â€Å"aspirational† customers rather than from the wealthy elite. The recession has quickly reversed the trend to trade up, and people are delaying expensive purchases. Bain & Company, a consulting firm, expects the industry's sales to fall by a tenth in 2009, to â‚ ¬153 billion ($225 billion).Some executives even expect a lasting shift in customers' preferences, towards discretion and value. Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive of LVMH, believes that the whole industry needs to rebrand itself. â€Å"The word luxury suggests triviality and showing off, and the time for all that has gone,† he say s. Brands which sold â€Å"blingy† easy-to-sell products, milking old names, he says, will fare particularly badly in the new environment. LVMH, by contrast, has never taken such an approach, he says, instead emphasising quality, innovation and creativity.To underline these values, the group is going back to basics in its daily operations. â€Å"Before the crisis, we were putting a lot of energy into beautiful stores, but now we care a bit less about expanding our network and even more about design and price,† says an executive. A few years ago, for instance, at the height of the boom, one LVMH brand was putting diamonds all over its watches, so that it was almost difficult to tell the time. â€Å"Now we are getting back to what really matters, which is nice movements and design,† he says.For some luxury firms, the recession's effects have already been brutal. Private-equity firms and other outside investors which rushed into the industry at its peak have suffer ed most. â€Å"At the top of the market this industry was perceived as easy by outsiders,† says Mr Arnault. â€Å"You borrowed 80% of a target's asking price and hired a good designer, but the strategy has not been successful in several cases. † Lenders to Valentino, an Italian fashion house, are reportedly trying to renegotiate its debt. Permira, a private-equity group, bought the firm in 2007 in a deal valuing it at â‚ ¬5. billion. Permira has since written down its equity investment of about â‚ ¬900m by more than half. Prada Holding, through which Miuccia Prada and her husband control Prada Group, another Italian house, recently restructured its loans in order to defer payment to banks. Prada Group has denied that there are talks to bring in a minority shareholder. Two particularly weak firms, Christian Lacroix, a Paris-based ready-to-wear and haute couture label which used to be part of LVMH, and Escada, a German maker of luxury womenswear, filed for bankrupt cy earlier this year.Amid this turmoil, LVMH is performing relatively well (see chart 1). It has benefited from an established pattern in the luxury industry: when people have less, they spend what they do have on the best quality. Shoppers are going for fewer, classic items—one Burberry raincoat, rather than three designer dresses, or a single Kelly bag by Hermes, a French luxury-goods group, instead of four bags from various lesser designers. For this reason, says Yves Carcelle, chief executive of Louis Vuitton and president of fashion and leather goods for LVMH, â€Å"Vuitton always gains market share in crises. As reliable and sturdy as one of its own handbags, therefore, Vuitton is carrying LVMH fairly comfortably through the recession. In the first half of 2009 the group's revenues were about the same as a year before, though profits were 12% lower. Two divisions—wine and spirits, and watches and jewellery—were the worst affected: their revenues each fell by 17% and their profits by 41% and 73% respectively (see chart 2). Rapid de-stocking by retailers exacerbated the effect of falling demand.But the falls were offset by Vuitton, where revenue rose by a double-digit percentage, registering gains in every market. â€Å"It is incredible that in a downturn the consumer still buys so many Louis Vuitton bags, but she or he does,† says Melanie Flouquet, luxury-goods analyst at JPMorgan in Paris. Vuitton's performance, and the overall robustness of LVMH, a global conglomerate with more than 50 brands and revenues of â‚ ¬17. 2 billion in 2008, should allow it to take advantage of its competitors' weakness in the recession. In the next few years we expect several failures in the industry and good opportunities to acquire assets at attractive prices,† says Mr Arnault. Shareholders in the firm are particularly preoccupied by what he might buy and sell in the next few years. What explains Vuitton's resilience? Beneath the gloss of advertising campaigns, catwalk shows and each season's fleeting trends, Vuitton brings a machine-like discipline to the selling of fancy leather goods and fashion. It is the only leather-goods firm, for instance, which never puts its products on sale at a discount.It destroys stock instead, keeping a close eye on the proportion it ends up scrapping (which it calls the â€Å"destruction margin†). In 2005, when Maurizio Borletti, owner of several prominent department stores in Italy and France, was preparing for the opening of a refurbished La Rinascente department store in Milan, he recalls, the Vuitton people built a scale model of the building in their offices to understand customer flows and get the best positioning. â€Å"In this they're the most professional in the industry,† he says.Unlike most other luxury marques, Vuitton never gives licences to outside firms, to avoid brand degradation. Its factories use techniques from other industries, notably carmaking, t o push costs down ruthlessly and to allow teams of workers to be switched from one product to another as demand dictates. It has adopted methods of quality control, too: one quality supervisor came from Valeo, a French auto-parts supplier. The result is long-lasting utility, beyond show, which is valuable in difficult times. Owning shops gives Vuitton control over levels of stock, presentation and pricing.It was not therefore affected by the panicked price-slashing of up to 80% by American luxury department stores in the run-up to Christmas last year—a â€Å"catastrophe† for others in the industry, according to Mr Arnault. Although other LVMH divisions have been hit by outside retailers de-stocking during the crisis, Vuitton has managed its own inventory, with no competition for space from other brands. With a global network, says Mr Carcelle, the firm can move poorly selling stock to shops where it has performed better. The luxury of diversityVuitton's ability to offs et the steep falls in other divisions shows the value of the diversified conglomerate model in luxury goods. Richemont, the industry's second-largest company, has a less varied portfolio and greater exposure to watches and jewellery, demand for which has been especially weak. According to a recent trading statement, its sales fell by 16% in the five months to the end of August. A group structure also yields savings when negotiating deals for advertising space, property and credit-card fees. It helps to have a specialist beauty retailer, Sephora, and a chain of airport shops, DFS, to sell perfumes and cosmetics.When Vuitton develops watches, say, it can call on the talents of TAG Heuer. But LVMH's breadth also comes in for criticism. Although there is undoubtedly value in some diversification, some people ask whether 50-odd brands under one roof are too many. Vuitton, for instance, would doubtless like to see disposals of weaker brands as a result of the crisis, and a greater concent ration of resources on the group's key businesses. The group's executives devote the bulk of their attention to the most important of these: Louis Vuitton, Moet Hennessy in drinks, TAG Heuer in watches, Christian Dior in perfumes and cosmetics, Sephora and DFS.The group has many smaller businesses, and these get much less attention in such a big group. LVMH does not disclose financial figures for individual brands, but at its presentation of first-half results the group's finance director replied to an analyst asking about fashion and leather-goods that a â€Å"handful† had lost money â€Å"somewhere†. There is speculation that Celine, a ready-to-wear clothing and accessories label, Kenzo, a fashion brand which analysts have long suggested LVMH dispose of, or Loewe, a Spanish leather-goods brand which has so far failed o win much of a following outside Spain and Japan, are among the less profitable. Nevertheless, the group can use the might of Vuitton to support its sm aller, upcoming brands. A department store, for instance, may be asked to take Loewe or Celine in order to get Vuitton. That often frustrates people at Vuitton, however, who would prefer to use the power of the brand for its own benefit, says a person who knows the company well. â€Å"They've never heard of another of LVMH's brands saying, ‘Either give this to Vuitton or I won't come',† he says.Apart from the synergy in watch design, Vuitton does not find that it benefits much from the rest of the group. The reason why LVMH has many small brands which aren't quite making it, says another person familiar with the company, is that Mr Arnault is an optimist who believes that every property can at some point be turned around. That can pay off: some years ago Mr Arnault halted the imminent sale of a make-up line. Thanks to the distribution muscle of Sephora, it has since turned into a bestseller in America.Investors, however, are nevertheless wary of what they see as Mr Arna ult's tendency to collect brands. The crisis has also underlined the fact that Vuitton dominates the group's results. Were it not for Vuitton, estimates one analyst, LVMH's sales would have fallen by 3% in the first half of 2009 and profits would have plunged by 40%. In normal times Vuitton contributes about half of the group's profits, and most of the rest comes from Moet Hennessy. In the first half of this year, however, Vuitton contributed an estimated 70% of profit.That leads some people to question whether LVMH is overly dependent on the leather-goods firm. â€Å"You can argue that there's nothing as good as Vuitton in LVMH's portfolio,† says Pierre Mallevays of Savigny Partners, who was formerly director of acquisitions at LVMH, â€Å"but that simply states the fact that LV's business model is the gold standard of luxury brands; no other brand in the world compares to it. † The biggest risk to LVMH is Vuitton, argues Ms Flouquet, since it accounts for such a big proportion of profits; the company depends on it, she says.The risk to Vuitton, in turn, is that it could fall out of fashion or lose its exclusivity in the eyes of consumers. So far there is no sign of fatigue with the brand. LVMH's senior managers have devised ways to refresh it. In the late 1990s, for example, Mr Arnault saw that there was a risk that as a maker of leather goods alone, Vuitton could be perceived as boring. In 1997 he hired Marc Jacobs, then a relatively unknown designer, to design a fashion line. The aim was to generate seasonal buzz and press coverage.Vuitton's senior executives at the time were against the idea, fearing that adding fashion could undermine a timeless image, but Mr Arnault's move proved successful. To avoid overexposure of its signature â€Å"Monogram† print, Vuitton has taken care to develop a wide range of products and other patterns. â€Å"We increase the number of product lines and we are careful to have several different colours and shapes,† says Mr Arnault. Thus Vuitton sells reasonably priced handbags—the smallest Speedy Bag costs â‚ ¬430 in Paris—but also wildly expensive custom-made luggage, reinforcing its exclusive image.Another effective tactic is to make limited-edition handbags which are hard to get hold of. Five or so years ago Vuitton depended to a large degree on one market, Japan. Most Japanese women owned at least one Vuitton product—and hence provided a large proportion of Vuitton's profits, which worried analysts at the time. Yet the Japanese market for luxury goods was souring. Spending on such items in Japan has fallen sharply since the end of 2005, according to a recent report by McKinsey, a consulting firm. Young women are more individualistic than their mothers, and are seeking out lesser-known brands. You used to see thousands of Vuitton bags coming at you in the Ginza shopping district but far fewer now,† says Radha Chadha, author of a book, â€Å"The Cult of the Luxury Brand: Inside Asia's Love Affair with Luxury†. That reliance on one country is no longer so marked (see chart 3). Fortunately, Vuitton has since rapidly established a strong position in what it hopes will become another Japan: China. â€Å"The Chinese consumer is in a love affair with the Vuitton brand,† says Ms Flouquet. According to LVMH, in the first half of 2009 sales to Chinese people (at home and travelling) made up 18% of Vuitton's revenue.Despite widespread concerns about counterfeiting in the country, the Chinese are now Vuitton's biggest customer base after the Japanese. The key to the firm's success, says Mr Arnault, has been approaching the market exactly as if it were a developed market. â€Å"We treat the Chinese customer as being very sophisticated. † Many competitors, by contrast, have at times lowered their standards for shops in China, he says, using inferior furniture or positioning their stores poorly. Going into new markets and developing new product lines will enable Vuitton o continue producing double-digit growth for years to come, says Mr Carcelle. On every trip to mainland China—he makes five or six a year—he tries to discover a new city and meet its mayor. Mr Carcelle is also tackling other new frontiers: in October he will open a shop in Sukhbaatar Square in Ulan Bator. â€Å"Already if you go to an upmarket disco in Ulan Bator you will see a significant number of our bags,† he says. Vuitton's expansion into China, Mongolia and new product lines such as watches and shoes, suggest that the leather-goods firm will continue to be LVMH's main source of growth.However, it also means that the group may become more rather than less reliant on Vuitton. In theory, the answer could lie in strengthening some of LVMH's smaller names, such as Fendi, a fashion and leather-goods brand. But buying a big, established, global brand with potential for growth could be both a quicker and a sure r route. Or maybe that oneImagineChina A new collection? Analysts and bankers are convinced that Mr Arnault wants to buy the Hermes Group, a producer of leather goods and fashion which matches Vuitton for quality and design.Because Hermes is run so conservatively, says an investment banker who knows LVMH well, it is only a quarter of the size that it could be. â€Å"Mr Arnault would grow it while preserving its values,† he says. Earlier this year, there were rumours that LVMH would sell Moet Hennessy to Diageo, the world's biggest spirits group, which already owns 34% of the business. Such a sale could raise money to buy Hermes. Mr Arnault, however, refuses to be drawn into commenting. For the moment, such an acquisition is impossible, since the family which controls Hermes does not want to sell, and the firm is strongly defended against takeover.Nevertheless, says the banker, the family which controls it has several branches, all with different views. â€Å"It's a pressure cooker and some day it will blow up,† he says. Chanel, another closely held global luxury brand, could also make a desirable target for LVMH. Some people recommend a merger with Richemont, which, Mr Solca argues, would address LVMH's relative weakness in watches and jewellery. Any such deals, or selling Moet Hennessy, would radically change the balance of the group. â€Å"I would be surprised if LVMH sold Moet Hennessy. The business has high margins, high ashflow and it is well managed,† says Ms Flouquet. â€Å"They would probably only sell it if they had a large deal ahead. † Shareholders are nervous that LVMH will pay too high a price for a large acquisition. For this reason the group's valuation may not fully reflect its performance during the crisis. Such concerns are not likely to deter Mr Arnault, who has demonstrated his confidence in LVMH's prospects in luxury by raising his stake in the group over time: he owns 47%. If LVMH does go shopping, it will prob ably behave like one of its best customers: with price in mind, but willing to spend on enduring prestige.

Causes of Unemployment Essay

There are many quotes about unemployment according to Calvin Coolidge unemployment occurs ‘’When large numbers of men are unable to find work unemployment results’’. According to Frank P. Louchheim ,  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢An ‘acceptable’ level of unemployment means that the government economist to whom it is acceptable still has a job’’. While George Walker Bush said,  Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬â„¢In the long run, the right answer to unemployment is to create more jobs’’. Keeping the above quotations in mind. Unemployment may be defined as. ‘’When there is the shortage of job and people are not able to find work that is when unemployment occurs’’. (94 Words) The presence of many problematic factors can result in unemployment. Firstly illiteracy the lack of education or the state of being unable to read or write is a very big cause of unemployment. Due to illiteracy people do not know how to find and do jobs. Secondly bribery refers to the offering, giving, soliciting, or receiving of any item of value as a means of influencing the actions of an individual holding a public or legal duty. By the help of bribery people with more money are able to get jobs they do not deserve hence not letting the people who deserve get them. Thirdly One more problem of unemployment and under-employment is nepotism and favoritism. It means selection according to relation not according to ability. Here deserving candidates do not get jobs and remain unemployed. Fourthly injustice the violation of the rights of others causes unemployment. Due to injustice the deserving are not able to have jobs. Than poverty the state of having little or no money is also a serious cause of unemployment. Poor persons due to lack of income has low saving and shortage in investment. So, they are unable to established self-employment opportunities. After that corruption the dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power yields in unemployment. Funds that can be used to create employment are embezzled and even investors shy away from setting up their business due to corruption levels and thus jobs are not created. Lastly terrorism which is the  terroristic method of governing or of resisting a government raises unemployment. Because of terrorism people avoid going out and getting jobs. When factors like bribery, nepotism and injustice become common in a society they lead to unemployment. (16 Sentences) Lack of many factors can be the cause of unemployment. Firstly the shortage of industry in a country can also lead to the shortage of jobs. The location of most industries is very uneconomical which also leads to industrial unemployment. Secondly lack of health is also a very big cause of unemployment. A healthy mind needs a healthy body, lack of health does not permit the energy needed for doing a job. Thirdly due to lack of technical education people are not able to get jobs. There is no awareness regarding technical education and its importance due to its absence a lot of people are not able to get jobs. Fourthly money is needed to start industries and other job opportunities. The lack of money does not permit the chance of starting any businesses which results in unemployment. After that the lack of knowledge has caused a lot of unawareness about employment. Due to this unawareness people do not know what they wish to do or what job they wish to get. Then the lack of jobs is the main cause of unemployment. Unavailability of opportunities and the shortage of industry leads to the lack of jobs which leads to unemployment. Lastly the lack of opportunities rises when the job is present but people for the job are not or the people present are not skilled enough. Proper training should be given so people can seek our opportunities. Shortage of technical education, knowledge, money and industry causes unemployment. (16 Sentences) Many influencing factors which when not kept under observation lead to unemployment. Firstly due to political instability investor hesitates to invest. It creates less opportunity of employment and results in unemployment. Secondly underdevelopment in countries results in unemployment. These countries are not developing and hence do not have enough job opportunities. Thirdly the government should set a merit eliminate the nepotism and favoritism. Employment opportunities should be provided in accordance to skill and ability. Fourthly the fast growth rate of population should be controlled. Due to population control there will be  more employment opportunities and less unemployment. Then in the past century technology has advanced to a great level. Machines are much quicker and very economical and due to these reasons a lot of machines have replaced man which has resulted in unemployment. After that improper government policies lead to unemployment. The government should be more careful while making these policies. Lastly economic policies are the policies set by the government in economic field. These policies are usually very problematic and seldom useful and can result in unemployment. Therefore these policies and factors must be periodically monitored. (16 Sentences) There are many causes of unemployment some are due to the negligence of the government and some are due to our own negligence. We all must try overcome unemployment. We must do our duty to spread awareness must be spread about these causes so that more and more people can know about them and so that more people can try to overcome them. Unemployment is very harmful for an economy it should be overcome at all costs. (76 Words)

Nono Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Nono - Essay Example This approach will not function properly in a group that is uncooperative, hostile or not evenly represented. Turnover may also take a long time, plus it also has limited external accountability (Ballou, 1916). This evaluation depends majorly on the skills of evaluators, but what the students need is someone who they are conversant with such as their teachers to evaluate them. Hogan, L. (2007). The historical development of program evaluation: Exploring the past and present. Charleston, Illinois: Eastern Illinois University. Retrieved 24th July, 2012 from http://wed.siu.edu/Journal/VolIInum4/Article_4.pdf Even though, involving many stakeholders will formulate chances of better results, some stakeholders tend to shut other stakeholders out of the program since they think that they are more experienced than the other stakeholders. For example, administrators, expert evaluators and parents may dismiss the opinions and views of the high school students because they may feel the students are inexperienced and not knowledgeable enough. Also, the expert evaluators involved will mostly shut the parents out of the evaluation without taking into consideration that parents only want the best for the children. These professional evaluators see parents as setbacks to their plans (Hogan, 2007). Students, on the other hand, might end up not cooperating with the evaluators (McCarthy, 2008). A way of preventing such a case is by stating the roles of each stakeholder early before the evaluation begins. It is vital for every stakeholder to know his or her duty in the program before the program commenc es so as to avoid any hindrances. It is also important for all the stakeholders to understand the roles of the other stakeholders so that they do not take each other for granted. Hogan, L. (2007). The historical development of program evaluation: exploring the past and present. Charleston, Illinois: Eastern Illinois University. Retrieved 24th July, 2012 from

Eco-capitallism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Eco-capitallism - Essay Example Backing this argument is the fact that efficient utilization of resources such as fuel, water and other raw materials is not only good for the planet, but boosts profit margins for businesses as well. To this effect, the overall observation is that the less input a company has on production, the larger the profit margin. However, the catch is that this ‘small’ amount of input must be put into efficient use, contrary to which no positive results will be realized. Of importance to this paper is the rationality behind some of the green production methods that eco-capitalists advance for, and their tenability in the current world system. To begin with, development of cities across the world has resulted in replacement of greenery with roads and buildings. Notwithstanding the necessity of these modern infrastructure, demand for greenery within the population has also been increasing in an exponential manner, especially in the wake of emerging environmental changes and changes in weather patterns. Wong et al (2010) observe that upon realization of the same needs for greenery among the population of Singapore, the country adopted a greenery project that aims at making the country green, i.e. increasing plant coverage within the country, especially in major towns. Famous to this project is the vertical greenery endeavor. The vertical greenery system has been hailed as efficient in saving energy, making it a suitable project for a country that heavily relies on air conditioning parameters due to its extreme climatic conditions. Claims advancing that the project reduce air and noise pollution that is characteristic of the country as well as that it brings humans much closer to nature, especially in urban setups support the vitality of the project. True as these may be, the project is not devoid of challenges that not only hamper its development but also makes it less feasible. For instance, the need for constant clearing of overgrown plant as well as dead plant

Functions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Functions - Essay Example Furthermore, having an exceptional educational background can give the officer the confidence to tackle situations that present themselves in the daily activities, for example; the apprehension of criminals. Understanding search and seizure laws may sometimes be the difference between capturing a criminal and giving them a get-out-of jail free card. Sergeants in police forces around the world need to have experience so as to command a police unit. On top of all that, it is imperative to have the education in the field so as to allow the officer in question to remain loyal to those they might serve, and ask for a promotion when the time is right. As the newly appointed Police Chief, it is my duty to evaluate the educational background of the individual in question, starting with the basic aspect of communication. The concept of having an exceptional educational background does not matter much if the individual is incapable of properly communicating with others (Ross 267). Individuals in this position are faced with the uphill task of communicating on a regular basis with their units, as this issue of communication may be a matter of life and death. The high school diploma and two years of higher education are also part of the promotional requirements. The promotion of sergeants to lieutenants based on education as the deciding factor is vital. Individuals seeking this must at least boast of a bachelor’s degree or any certification higher than the bachelor’s degree. Recent studies indicate that officers who seek promotions and have a high educational background have a higher chance of getting promotions, and at the same time, may be better equipped to handle the tasks and responsibilities that come with policing (Ross 273). Debates have been on the rise as to whether education is important in policing, and in my opinion, it is a crucial

Aboriginal land rights in Australia Research Proposal

Aboriginal land rights in Australia - Research Proposal Example o Aborigines, Diane Bell has boldly expressed it as a sign that there is a drastic alteration in the legal and administrative stance to the acknowledgment of Aboriginal rights in Australia. Bell further justified her claims through pronouncing these statements;"Nowhere are these changes as striking as in the struggle of the Aboriginal people to gain recognition of land rights. This struggle has involved both moral and legal re-examinations of the relationship between a settler population and the original inhabitants. The wording of the Land Rights Act Northern Territory (1976) and the reference to customary law both assume that Aborigines have rights and a system of law, and that these have existed for many thousands of years. Such propositions would have been unthinkable two hundred years ago, when Australia was settled as a British colony. Not only has the legal profession had to rethink its judgments and governments to legislate to recognize aspects of Aboriginal Rights, but th e Aborigines themselves have organized locally and nationally to bring the grievances and the injustices suffered by their people to the attention of other Australians and to people abroad."1 Nevertheless, there are alarming difficulties regarding the debate on land rights. The issue has branched out extensively to include political implications which made it extremely complicated to represent objectively and impartially. In a scholarly matter, it is rather inappropriate to provide an in-depth analysis of the causes of the land rights battle while it is still being fought. Neutrality of opinion regarding a politically charged state of affairs can be then argued as an indication of support to the conservative racist forces in Australia which combat the bestowing of land rights to the original inhabitants of Australia. Nonetheless, there is an urgent need to expose and investigate the issues revolving around the land rights movement since arguments and raison d''tre on both sides of the problem are dreadfully ambiguous. A tranquil and balanced evaluation of the diverse issues of the land rights movement can possibly generate a remedial and enlightening effect and conceivably guide those who are fervently faithful to the land rights proposal to come up with a persuasive way in presenting their case. Many Australians advocate the recognition of the Aborigine's traditional land rights which constitute the right to utilize and subsist on the land that they have previously occupied. The supporters of the land rights movement give their best hopes that a greater recognition of these customary rights, which is termed as the native title, would smooth the progress of compromise between Aborigines and white Australians. However, the land claims of the Aborigines demonstrate composite legal concerns, such as the problems that granting of native titles will cause to private welfare in the land that have existed in Australia over the past two decades. The complex issue over land rights necessitates the vitality of confronting the problem with the deep-seated legal principles regarding land rights of aboriginal people. The Land Rights Movement In the 1960s, the Aboriginal land rights movement inaugurated its emergence as a "movement", as such. The term "movement" is quite an inappropriate word to use since the

The Problem of Relativism and Morality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Problem of Relativism and Morality - Essay Example The role that religion plays in the shaping of morality can thus, not be underestimated. The fact that these religions were often the mouthpieces of certain political denominations must also be taken into account while looking at their influences. Whether religion which seeks to represent what was for a long time considered the very fountain-spring of morality- God- is biased or not makes the problem of relativism very relevant to the lives of people even today. The emergence of atheistic groups and the rise of existentialist thought in Europe also brought the focus back on relativism and morality. This paper shall seek to look at the different points of view that have been put forth regarding relativism and seek to assert that it is not possible to have a single view of morality in the modern age. Relativisms of various kinds are a part of the theories that are used to talk of morality today. Subjective relativism, a form of relativism according to which morality depends on the subj ectivity of an individual places the onus of deciding whether something is good or bad according to his or her own beliefs and values. The individual, and not a divine or social force, is invested with the power to make choices regarding good and evil. This perspective gained credence with the rise of individualism that reached its height with the rise of capitalism (â€Å"Roots of Individualism in Europe†). With capitalism at its peak, it is necessary for one to understand the role of individual subjectivities. It is also important for the society as a whole to examine the role of overarching frameworks that fail to include the majority of the people in the modern world. The modernist movement that took shape in Europe had as one of its founding principles this very distrust in metanarratives that were imposed on people as a part of religion and history. The fallout of this was that conventional notions of morality were discarded. This was very different from the moralities that were a part of Victorian society which believed in a rigid framework of morality that would then be imposed as a part of social life. As a part of this, people would have to adhere to the rules that were set by the society as a precondition for being a part of that very society. Marginalization was the punishment that was meted out to anybody who dared to deviate from the path that was laid out for the citizens of a particular community. Organicity, thus, is not a part of the social fabric of modern times. The organicity that made possible the unity of earlier societies is not a feature of modern society. A single framework that defines one’s existence and the morality that is a part of that existence is thus, insufficient for an understanding of life as it was during the twentieth century and as it is in the twenty first. Franco Moretti locates the schism between organic and non-organic societies in the Augustan age when Europe came into contact with other cultures in a major way (Moretti 36). Debates about the moralities that are a part of modern times are incomplete without a discussion of the theories that were a part of organic societies-the theories that served to hold people together as a single monolithic entity. Religion was one such body of theories. The Divine Command Theory that places God at the pinnacle of all

The Deprieved Woman Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Deprieved Woman - Research Paper Example In Afghanistan, unequal employment and education opportunity In 2001, the country was ranked 135 out of 145 in the United Nation Development gender inequality index. In 2008, it was estimated that only 8% of the countries labour force is accounted for by women, despite the fact that they are the major contributor of rural economy (Lough et al., 2). The root cause of this inequality has been attributed to the fact that women are married early and are subordinate to men and they have no claim on partnel inheritance. In Saudi Arabia, Women can’t drive In some countries women mobility is limited, and Saudi Arabia is one of these countries. All forms of independent means of transport are restricted In China & India, Infanticide of Baby Girls. In India and China historically, because of the dowry and one child policy respectively has made a male baby preferred to female child. This has lead to sex selective abortion and infanticide, in 2001 India had 927 female births for every a thousand male birth. In the U.S., gender pay gap In the U.S women make 82% of what their male counterpart earn, despite the recent gains made in education. This is according to the recent study released. These wage gaps persist at all level of education. According to (Forbes magazine, 1), women in the U.S. still earn 77% of what the men earn. U.S is just one of the many countries with this disparity. In Lesotho, restricted land ownership In some of the countries women are not allowed to own land, for in Lesotho a woman cannot have independent to property or land without co-signing with the husband. This limited rights subject women to stay in abusive relationship so as to protect their property. Sexual abuse Women around the world continue to suff er sexual abuse, this occurs in schools, work places and even at homes. In his book, â€Å"A&P†, John Updike describes how girls who walked into â€Å"A&P† attracted the attention of every man who was passing by. The male employees who were working at that particular had a lot of sexual interest. Sammy looks at each of the girls in turn, noticing the details of their hairstyles and their bodies. This indicates his interest is clearly sexual and at one point he appraises Queenie’s breasts. In his book, â€Å"Hills like white elephant†, Ernest Hemingway describes the problems a woman undergoes. The writer talks of the sacrificing nature of the girl for her man. It shows how a man for his own selfish gains, asks the girl to go through abortion, so as that she can pursue a good life and how a girl is willing to sacrifice or give up her source of happiness for the sake of the man. This clearly shows the injustices women undergo. Health care issues for women in prison Over the last few years, the number of prisoners has increased by around 600% in the U.S alone and about 10 million Americans are incarnated each year (Rich et al., 81). Most of the increase has been attributed to lack of education, poverty and the unwillingness of the U.S government to treat addiction and mental illness (Rich et al., 20). Therefore it seems incarceration has become the default response of most of the social injustices. A report by United Nations on drug and crime (UNDOC) released in 2009 shows that many prison policies normally ignore the crucial needs for women and their health (UNDOC,v). The report also show that the number

What I Have Learned About Women, Work And Society Essay

What I Have Learned About Women, Work And Society - Essay Example Professional or managerial work affects women not in the same way as work on assembly line or in service sector. Women's socio-economic status and access to social support inside and outside of the family can also mediate role performance. Another important dimension of women's roles has to do with choice and necessity. "Public" roles, such as worker or social activist, are usually voluntary, and hence conducive to the sense of mastery and self-actualization (Boris and Chaudhuri 2001). Conversely, caretaking roles are often experienced as "imposed," and lead to perceived loss of control and poorer mental health. Therefore, universal models of role interaction should be supplemented by the more contextualized studies in specific groups of women of different age, ethnicity and social standing. Professional or managerial work affects women not in the same way as work on assembly line or in service sector. Women's socio-economic status and access to social support inside and outside of the family can also mediate role performance. Another important dimension of women's roles has to do with choice and necessity. "Public" roles, such as worker or social activist, are usually voluntary, and hence conducive to the sense of mastery and self-actualization. Conversely, caretaking roles are often experienced as "imposed," and lead to perceived loss of control and poorer mental health. Therefore, universal models of role interaction should be supplemented by the more contextualized studies in specific groups of women of different age, ethnicity and social standing. Professional or managerial work affects women not in the same way as work on assembly line or in service sector. Women's socio-economic status and access to social support inside and outside of the family can also mediate role performance. Another important dimension of women's roles has to do with choice and necessity. "Public" roles, such as worker or social activist, are usually voluntary, and hence conducive to the sense of mastery and self-actualization. Conversely, caretaking roles are often experienced as "imposed," and lead to perceived loss of control and poorer mental health. Therefore, universal models of role interaction should be supplemented by the more contextualized studies in specific groups of women of different age, ethnicity and social standing. The bulk of earlier social research on women's roles was typically focused on the roles of younger women, i.e. those of wife, mother of young children, and employee; few studies addressed the issue of role overload in older working women. Using concepts of "caregiver stress" or "caregiver burden," the impact of elder care on the caregiver, as well as the cumulative effect of multiple roles, have been increasingly addressed. (Barbara Hanawalt 1986) The need in family-based care of the elderly is rapidly expanding in response to growing life expectancy and population ageing. Since women live, on the average, 5-7 years longer than men, they form the majority among both providers and recipients of care. The need for support and assistance progressively ascends after age 65, and by age 85 over half of the elderly cannot function without help. Despite growing social and geographic mobility in modern families, the ties between the elders and their adult children are stronger than was believed in past decades. Long-Term Care Survey in the U.S. has shown that 80% of elder care is provided by family members, and 72% of the caregivers are women, usually daughters or daughters-in-law. (Boris And Janssens 2000) Another demographic factor increasing the likelihood of having elderly parents while still young is the postponement of childbearing in most western countries. Many middle-class women, who invest time and effort in education and career, marry and bear children in their 30s and even early 40s. By the time these children start families of their own, their parents may well be into their late 60s. The small number of siblings in modern nuclear families also results in excessive caregiver burden falling on a single child, usually a daughter. About two million American women are simultaneously engaged in care of their teenage or younger children and ageing parents. An adult woman can expect to spend 17 years of her life caring for children and 18 years

Gas Station Spill Essay Example for Free

Gas Station Spill Essay This project investigates oil spill from gas station tanks, as well as its impact on the environment and bioremediation. The gas station market is greatly profitable. However, actions concerning its maintenance should be part of the big picture. Oil is toxic for human beings and its spill can severely damage soil and consequently groundwater. Due to the expiration date of an underground oil tank rated to be 25 years, this project will analyze oil spill from a gas station Ipase neighborhood located in Sao Luis city, Brazil. To accomplish this effort, this project will analyze remediation plans and its benefits. Remediation can be very costly, thus a prevention research of the vulnerable oil spill areas can be cheaper and more desirable. For the prevention research, it is necessary to study the locations of gas stations as well as the environment surrounding them. Some considerations as the gas stations proximity to water sources such as rivers and lakes must be measured as well as the proximity of the gas stations to preservations areas. It is intended to share the results of this project with other researchers, universities and gas station owners for a better understanding of the impact of oil spills and the precautionary measures available to minimize the impact on the environment.

Team Week Three Reflection Essay Example for Free

Team Week Three Reflection Essay This week Learning Team was tasked with understanding three objectives. Those objectives were as follows: 2.1 State the purpose of the business research. 2.1 Develop appropriate research questions and hypotheses. 2.3 Identify dependent and independent variables in business research. Our learning team discovered that business research is designed to increase your understanding a given management dilemma by looking for ways others have addressed or solved problems similar to yours. Business research can be applied in any number of ways in a business setting, such as determining what kind of business strategy your competitors are using, and finding ways that other businesses have countered that strategy in the past. Business research can also be used to determine how to market a product coming to market by creating research panels to determine how potential customers will react to the product. We also learned that unless proper research questions are developed along with a meaningful hypotheses, any research conducted will be flawed or incomplete. For instance, without asking potential customers in focus groups what they don’t like about your new product or service you may launch the new product and see dismal sales as customers reject your product because of the faults you failed to find or correct. A corresponding hypothesis will help direct the research once the correct questions are asked, as well as leading to further questions to help complete your research. Questions and hypothesis are therefor intertwined, and can be considered together when creating a research plan. Finally, we discovered that independent variables are unchangeable, such as a research population’s social status. An independent variable is manipulated by the researcher, and the manipulation causes an effect on the dependent variable. There is usually more than one independent variable, and each of them are usually â€Å"correlated† to some extent.

Ergonomic Factors in Workplace Accidents

Ergonomic Factors in Workplace Accidents Critically evaluate the ergonomic factors that may lead to incidents or accidents in the workplace environment. You should make reference to relevant examples where appropriate. It is essential that you research the current scientific literature on this subject and that you use this literature to support your critical discussion throughout. Introduction Ergonomics (Ahonen, M., Launis, M., Kuorinka, T.,1989) is a branch of engineering science, it accords the factors such as peoples psychology, people’s physiology, and body structure to design the hand tools, machines, households accessories, etc., in order to guarantee peoples security, work healthily, comfortably, and satisfied working results. Ergonomics has absorbed the extensive knowledge contents of natural science and social science; During World War II, because of the production of various modern weapons, designers must consider the users physiology and psychological characteristic conscientiously, and study how to make the machine in conformity with peoples ability limit and characteristic, thus the â€Å"ergonomics† has produced. Today, the ergonomics designs are widely used in the world (Alexander, D., Rabourn, R., 2001). In the study of â€Å"ergonomics†, the size of every part of human body, the persons vision and normal physiological value of the sense of hearing, the posture when people are working, human scope of activities, movement rhythm and speed, the muscle intensity, all are recorded (Bailey, R. W., 1989). Since those labor condition would causes the tire, fatigue, small amount damage to human body. Furthermore, the workplace environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, sound, vibration, illumination, color, smell of the environment are also a study area in ergonomics. Because those environmental conditions also causes the tire, fatigue, small amount damage to human body (Chengalur, S.N., Rodgers, S.H., Bernard, T.E., 2003). The study on peoples working behavior and produce various factors of the behavioral difference in ergonomic; these factors can be drawn together. It includes subjective factors such as age, gender, personal intelligence, culture engineering level, working interest and working motive, personality characteristic, working mood, etc. At the same time, the Ergonomics expert/researcher also study the social factor of living in objective factors such as the environment, equipment performance, condition of work, etc. These factors make peoples has a difference to the intensity of adaptation to various hand tools, fixture, machine, or equipment (Eastman Kodak Company, 2003). . Ergonomic Related Injury Ergonomic injuries include Repetitive Motion Injuries (RMIs), Repetitive Stress Injuries (RSIs), Cumulative Trauma Disorders (CTDs), Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs), or Cumulative Trauma Injuries (CTIs) (Armstrong, T. J., Kilbom, A., Violante, F. , 2000) (Arndt, R., Putz-Anderson, V. , 2002). The Ergonomic injuries (Hancock, P. A., Desmond, P. A., 2000). normally caused by the presence of ergonomic related risk factors (Aghazadeh, F.,1994), they are: Vibration: People uses impact tools or vibrating equipment. Awkward Body Postures: maintaining awkward or fixed or posture without any support such as twisting, reaching, or bending. Repetition: the people doing the same and repetitive motions for a long time. Force: The pressure applied to any part of human body while working such as gripping a hand tool, pulling, lifting, or pushing, pulling. Contact Stress: pressure applied to any soft tissues of human body while working such as the as the wrist pressed by sharp edges or hand tools. Exposure to heat or cold It is often these risk factors over time can lead to combinations of pain, injury and disability when people may cause injury, sustained exposure to ergonomic risk factors (Alston, G. (2003). Single event may place a stressed body tissues, but the exposure is too low bruises. Over time, the soft tissue or human body has the ability to recover. Repeated exposure to these risk factors, it may interfere with the bodys normal healing process, resulting in a disproportionate response, and lead to cause harm to humans (Alli, B. O., 2001). Ergonomic injury or MSD can affect the muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, joints, cartilage and intervertebral discs. They can be directly or indirectly related to job duties or work environment. Non- work activities and the environment will also affect the MSD. For example, the general staff may spend 6-8 hours a days computer work. With features such as online shopping, paying bills online, and sends the emails. The employee may spend 2-4 hours daily supplement his or her personal computer for sending and receiving e-mail. When the steps we spend more and more time each day on the computer , we have taken to ensure that our computers ( both in work and at home ) is set up to prevent these musculoskeletal disorders is imperative (Ayoub, M. M., Mital, A.,1989). Ergonomics is in already using various products, facility and production system extensively in the mechanical industry (Auburn Engineers, 1993). For example, driving car is an integration of people machine environmental system, driver should first find out about environment (rate of traffic flow, stream of people, traffic light, and sign) and status of car such as speed, engine temperature, pressure, oil level, etc. The driver has interaction with car control system for perfect driving. In addition to make the driver drive car with safe and comfortable, driver should adjust drivers seat. Furthermore, the vehicle designer should follow the human measurements, physiology, psychological characteristics while designing the car. 3. Example of Improvement of Screw Driver Design in Accordance with Ergonomics Rule Screwdriver is one of the most frequently used hand tools now, no matter is nearly indispensable tool in the factory or family, but when a person use screwdrivers, its main purpose may be to fasten into and back-out the screw, the homework involves the repetitiveness work of the hand, it crook back of especially wrist (Backs, R. W., Boucsein, W., 2000), palm crooking etc. The People/workers frequently use of screwdriver is easily to cause the accumulating muscle skeleton injuring or hand injury such as Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). For general screwdriver, it is a combination of a handle, a shaft, and a tip. The tip can be inserted into the head of the screw to fasten it into or back-out from a board, or wall. Figure 1. Screwdriver Design Before Improvement Figure 2. Screwdriver Design After improvement According to ergonomics, the new screwdriver design make the shaft with more greatly spraining strength, and then let user feel comfortable to hold the screwdriver and efficiency in use (Bahr, N. J., 1997) (Campbell, A., 2000). The ergonomics design includes the change of materials of handle. Use rubbery material to replace hard plastic or metal. The soft rubbery material provides strong friction between the handle of screwdriver and hand to prevent the slip whiles the use. The size and shape of handle should also be changed. In accordance with ergonomics, the size and shape of handle should fit the human wrist. It makes the people easily to hold the screwdriver with more comfortable and less fatigue (Green, J., 1997). The result of modification of screwdriver designs (based on ergonomic rules) is: (1)Increase the comfortableness when screwdrivers are held. (2)Flexibility degree, efficiency and torsion increasing while the use of screwdriver. (3)Reduce the probability of accumulating injury of the hand. 4. Example of Improvement of Computer Desk in Accordance with Ergonomics Rule According to the literature, there are a considerable number of computer operators complain about the long-term use of computer generated body discomfort, Including eye irritation affected eye feel pressure, keyboard or desk height not suitable for the operator and cause limbs stiff, these can lead to injury or damage to persons of the body, not only affect their health, but also reduce the work efficiency (Hanna, S. R., Konz, S., 2004). In accordance with ergonomics rules (Barling, J., Frone, M. R., 2004), computer desk should be designed to have a tilt angle, it allowing users to use the computer in the long term (Haas, E., Edworthy, J., 2003), and feel more comfortable in sitting job. The improved design also increases the work efficiency, but user doesn’t feel more burden or fatigue. In addition, the height and angle of desktop computer desk, with height and angle of display platform can also be adjustable to fit the body size of user (Anshel, J., 2005). Easy adjustable desktop computer desk, it allows users to feel more comfortable with less fatigue while the use of desk top computer (Grandjean, E., 1992). Source: http://www.cbs.state.or.us/osha/pdf/ergo/ergoadvantages.pdf Figure 3. Comfortable Setting of Computer Desk The improvement of desk top computer desk design in accordance with ergonomics rules can benefits users as follows: (1) The user can easily adjust the height and angle of desktop computer desk, it make user more comfortable while use of desktop computer. (2) The improvement of desktop computer desk design can reduce the burden/fatigue on the user shoulders, neck, and other parts of the elbow while long-term use of desktop computer. (3) The improvement of desktop computer desk design can reduce the eye fatigue while user long-term faced the monitor. 5. Example of Improvement of the Use of Portable Computer/Note Book Computer in Accordance with Ergonomics Rule Portable application of computer (Note Book Computer) is already quite popular as desk top computer, especially note book computer is easy to carry and place on the office table and play as desk top computer. More companies encourage the employee to use of note book computer instead of traditional desk top computer. But, based on the characteristic of the portable computer/note book computer in the design, for example, the keyboard and screen cannot separated from the computer, the user is often difficult to keep the good working posture while working. In long-term cases, it may cause muscle and bones straining or other relevant health problems. The improvement for the use of note book computer is needed. User or employee should follow the principles as much as possible while using the portable computer to work: Place the screen in front of the user Keeping the height of screen is the same as users sight height as much as possible (Anshel, J., 1998), or the screen is only lower than user sight height slightly (portable computer/note book computer normally placed on desk and then the screen being higher than the level of the tabletop) User should takes distance of 350-600 millimeters to the screen of portable computer/note book computer (display screen of 14 inches relatively takes distance of 400 millimeters) User can easily change the slope of screen and then cater to the users need User should avoid viewing the screen near window or other light sources The text size should be large, word distance and row spacing should be enough. Use the wrist or mouse cushion Platform for Portable Computer/Note Book Computer shelf /platform The employer should provide platform or screen support frame for note book computer user. This can help user to adjust the height of screen at users sight level. External keyboard and mouse The employer should provide ergonomics compatible external keyboard and mouse to note book computer user. It makes user, more comfortable and less fatigue (Jacko, J. A., Sears, A., 2003). Under many circumstances, external keyboard and mouse are the important accessories for portable computers user in the office. The following are suggestions of the external keyboard: The keyboard is thinner as much as possible, it is much better if the angle of keyboard can be adjusted in order to facilitate the user under different working conditions and postures (Vink, P., 2005); Word and symbol on the keyboard should be known and easy to recognize; There are enough spaces that offered support for hand in front of the keyboard.

Paul Laurence Dunbar :: essays research papers fc

Paul Laurence Dunbar Outline Thesis: The major accomplishments of Paul Laurence Dunbar's life during 1872 to 1938 label him as being an American poet, short story writer, and novelist. I. Introduction II. American poet A. Literary English B. Dialect poet 1. "Oak and Ivy" 2. "Majors and Minors" 3. "Lyrics of Lowly Life" 4. "Lyrics of the Hearthside" 5. "Sympathy" III. Short story writer A. Folks from Dixie (1898) B. The Strength of Gideon and Other Stories (1900) C. The Heart of Happy Hollow (1904) IV. Novelist A. The Uncalled (1898) B. The Love of Landry (1900) C. The Fanatics (1901) D. The Sport of the Gods (1902) V. Conclusion Paul Laurence Dunbar attended grade schools and Central High School in Dayton, Ohio. He was editor of the High School Times and president of Philomathean Literary Society in his senior year. Despite Dunbar's growing reputation in the then small town of Dayton, writing jobs were closed to black applicants and the money to further his education was scarce. In 1891, Dunbar graduated from Central High School and was unable to find a decent job. Desperate for employment, he settled for a job as an elevator operator in the Callahan Building in Dayton. The major accomplishments of Paul Laurence Dunbar's life during 1872 to 1938 labeled him as an American poet. Dunbar had two poetic identities. He was first a Victorian poet writing in a comparatively formal style of literary English. Dunbar's other identity was that of the dialect poet, writing lighter, usually humorous or sentimental work not merely in the Negro dialect but in other varieties as well: Irish, once in German, but very frequently in the hoosier dialect of Indiana. There is good reason to assert, however, that the sources of Dunbar's dialect verse were in the real language of the people. The basic charge of this criticism can be stated in the words of a recent critic, Jean Wagner. Dunbar's dialect is, he says, "at best a secondhand instrument, irredeemably blemished by the degrading things imposed upon it by the enemies of the Black people" (Revell, Paul Laurence Dunbar, pg. 84). One of the most popular of Dunbar's dialect poems was and is "When Malindy Sings" which builds upon the natural ability of the race in song and is acknowledged to be Dunbar's tribute to his mother's spontaneous outbursts of singing as she worked in the kitchen. The message of the poem is of praise for simplicity of spirit and the love of God. Another of Dunbar's superb poems is entitled "Sympathy", written in 1895: I know what the caged bird feels, alas! When the sun is bright on the upland slopes; When the wind stirs soft through

The Nuremberg Trials Essay -- Essays Papers

The Nuremberg Trials On June 22, 1945 representatives from France, Great Britain, Russia, and the United States started to plan the prosecution of the main Axis war criminals. These representatives had to establish a fair way of trying the criminals because the world had never seen a situation like the one at hand. The result of the meeting was the International Military Tribunal. The Tribunal’s constitution set forth the principles the defendants were subject to. The panel of Allied representatives decided to hold the trial in Nuremberg. Nuremberg was chosen because the city served as the center of Nazi activities and offered nice facilities (Keeshan 3). Lawyers from the Allied powers submitted an indictment to the Tribunal on October 18, 1945. The indictment charged twenty-four Nazi leaders with crimes committed during World War II (Keeshan 9). The trials were set to start in the middle of November in 1945. Allied troops with the help of some German citizens restored the city because the city was in ruins prior to the scheduled starting date of the trial. The Nazi leaders were incarcerated in Nuremberg in August 10, 1945 (Keeshan 13). A defendant named Robert Ley committed suicide two weeks before the start of the trial. Therefor, an Allied guard was placed at the door of each Nazi leader’s prison door to stop them from killing themselves. When the November trial date finally arrived the city was restored, the defendants were secured and the trial was ready to begin (Keeshan 20). The brutal crimes that the defendants were on trial for revolved around the "Holocaust." It is important to understand the meaning of the word holocaust when viewing the defendant’s case. The definition of hol... ...onot 498). The rest of the guilty defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment including Rudolf Hess. Hess was the deputy to the Fuehrer and successor to Hitler after Goering. Hess hung himself in 1987. The men sentenced to death were killed on October 16, 1946 and their ashes were put into a river outside of Munich. Symbolically, "the center of the Nazi movement became the grave of its leaders (Conot 507)." Works Cited - Bosch, William. Judgement on Nuremberg. Chapel Hill, NC: U. of North Carolina Press, 1970. - Conot, Robert. Justice at Nuremberg. New York: Harper & Row Press, 1983. - Keeshan, Anne. Justice at Nuremberg. New York: Marvel Press, 1950. - Rosenbaum, Alan. Prosecuting Nazi War Criminals. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1993. - Smith, Bradley. The Road to Nuremberg. New York: Basic Books Publishers, 1981.

Exploring the Disadvantages Catholics Faced in Northern Ireland in the

Exploring the Disadvantages Catholics Faced in Northern Ireland in the Mid 60’s In Northern Ireland during the 60’s Catholics faced a lot of disadvantages, in areas of Employment, Education, Housing, and Politics; there is evidence that even the Police Force was biased in favor of the Protestant community. Employment was a major area in which Catholics faced discrimination. Protestants held most of the civil service, government and local government posts in Northern Ireland and even if a catholic did get employment, many would simply feel too uncomfortable in the midst of all the Protestants. The main companies were privately owned and although anti-catholic prejudice was often suspected among foremen or personal managers, it was a hard thing to prove. One fact that can be confirmed however is that, of 10,000 workers in a Belfast shipyard (the biggest single source of employment in the city), just 400 were Catholic. A similar pattern of employment can be seen in Fermanagh County Council where 322 of 370 employees were Protestant, including most of those in the ‘top’ positions. Within the Education Authority, the most sought after jobs in Fermanagh were for school bus drivers because of the long rest and holidays; all but seven of these places out of 75 were given to Protestants. Such facts are made all the more astounding considering more than half of the population of Fermanagh County were actually Catholic. Education was another area where Catholics faced discrimination. Dr McChuckey’s description of the results in Dungannon in 1964states â€Å"there were two secondary schools: â€Å"St.Patrick’s†, the Catholic institution, and ... ...alled in by the Unionists, to act like a police force/army. Catholic marches were banned. Student demonstrations ended up in violence. They treated Catholic civilians harshly which increased hatred between the two religious groups. Only 14.5% of Catholics were in the police force but they formed 40% of Northern Ireland's population. In conclusion there were many differences between Catholics and Protestants in the 1960s. Most of these differences were in opinion and in Politics. Nationalist politicians were always out numbered by Unionist politicians in large Nationalist areas. Therefore, Catholics could not have their views expressed and always lost out if it came to a majority vote. This unfair treatment halted progress to achieve peace in Northern Ireland and they are still trying to achieve peace to this day.

Practical Report

My possible results were now: Bacillus cereus, Mycobacterium segments, or Lasciviously acidophilus. Next I preformed the acid fast staining. When preparing this slide and viewing it on oil immersion, I was a little more confident about the negative result yielded. You are less likely to confuse a negative blue with a positive fuchsia or pink color, which was my issue in my gram staining process. Was teetering on whether my gram stain was purple, red, or both. My results in the acid fast staining were clearly blue, making the results negative.Looking back at the key, it narrows my possible results by one, leaving me with: Mycobacterium segments, or Lasciviously acidophilus. My last staining slide was the spore stain. Here yielded a negative result. The color on my slide was red. From lab red is highlighting the cell, here green would represent the spore. Did have maybe one or two green spots, but chalked that up to over dripping of malachite green, over microwaving, or not enough wate r on paper towel, as my slide was cracked in half after being microwaves. Looking back again at the lab key was narrowed my choices again, ending up with Lasciviously acidophilus.In the end, three staining tests results were as follows: Gram yielded positive, acid sat yielded negative, and spore standardized negative. The morphology that noticed was rod shape. I had a hard time distinguishing long rods from short rods. In my opinion the rods seemed short, if possible when they appeared longer they looked more like two short rods were just attached at the ends. So my thought as to what my unknown bacteria is, would be: Lasciviously acidophilus. My rationale for my results answer is mainly based on what was yielded from the staining Of each slide.The colored results matched to either positive or negative and the morphology just takes you a tepee closer in matching your result. The bacteria that believe my results yielded is Lasciviously acidophilus. It is known as a â€Å"friendly' b acteria and is a very common proportion that is found naturally in our bodies, mainly in the mouth, intestines, and the vagina. Structure wise Lasciviously acidophilus is a single-celled prokaryotic microorganism that lacks a distinct nucleus. It also contains a cell wall, a cytoplasm membrane, a nucleoli, cytoplasm, ribosome, pill, and flagella.It is rod shaped and measures about 0. 5 to 0. 8 micrometer across by 2 to 9 mm in length. It occurs in chains and is non spore forming (Sanders 322). Lasciviously acidophilus has optimal growth at 37-42 degrees Celsius. They are able to live in highly acidic environments. Prefers to grow at low pH, anything below 5. It is a motile bacteria that grows in or without the presence of oxygen. Bacteria is able to digest lactose. Culture preparations consist of dried or liquid cultures of living bacteria (it can be grown on agar slants made of 2% agar in a solution of 3. 5% Lasciviously broth).High colony counts on mediums that contain potassium a cetate, dextrose, and CHOPPY to name a ewe. This bacteria is used as a proportion to prevent/treat vaginal candidates, yeast infections of the mouth, and diarrhea. Overuse or a side effects that are currently known about this bacteria is constipation and flatulence. With Lasciviously acidophilus there wasn't much about the production of toxins it could cause, but more about the dittoing abilities. It aids in producing enzymes which promote digestibility, decreases the levels of toxic amines in the blood, the positive list goes on.When researching of other bacteria that was closely related to Lasciviously acidophilus. I was unsuccessful. But because it does grow naturally within us this bacteria works in conjunction with other bacteria and organisms within our bodies. After coming to the conclusion of my results until now I think was very oblivious to the bacteria that I was looking up. The more in-depth search I went into I realized I used this bacteria, this proportion, often in my profession. The physicians at my nursing home often prescribe Lasciviously acidophilus to residents that are being treated with an antibiotic.

Themes in Tale of Two Cities

?Throughout Charles Dickens Tale of Two cities, a few different themes can be easily spotted. The biggest prevailing theme in the book would have to be the 99% vs the 1% elite. This is when the poor oppressed people have had enough of the wealthy elite controlling them, and they ban together and rise up against it. In desperate times like revolution, you often find two or more unexpected partners, or allies. It is almost as if the revolution and uprising causes some bond between the people revolting, giving them extreme focus and teamwork.In normal circumstances, you might expect a woman like Madame’ Defarge to be a quiet mellow woman, but get her in a revolution and she turns in to a fiery death machine. Themes like these can still be spotted today, and most of the same rules apply. One example in the most is the revolution and rebellion in Syria. This is virtually a near exact modern example of something that Charles Dickens wrote in Tale of Two Cities 100 years ago. This pr oves the themes, and subplots found in his books are just as real today, as they were back then. Syrian people where being horribly mistreated, to the point of thousands dying.You could draw a parallel between Syria’s leader Assad and the Marquis in St. Antoine. Both these leaders oppressed the people, and did nothing to stop widespread poverty and hunger, while still pretending everything in the country is perfect. This makes it clear that evil leaders, and tyrants will always be the same; they are blind to the trouble they cause. Throughout the theme of social oppression, it also brings you to recognize the strong family links and ties within the book. It focuses strongly on the different links within the family, while the opposing family is trying hard to break that link.While we may not see families killing each other nowadays, some relevance to it can still be seen. One example is the strong link between Darnay and Lucie loving each other so dearly, while her dad is utte rly shocked she is married to a man that helped throw him in prison. Things like this are still found today, and it isn’t uncommon to hear about fights between in-laws. People still tend to hold grudges from the past and cause it to affect their opinions and decisions in the future, much like the theme in Tale of Two Cities.So all in all, it can be said there is definite evidence of themes Charles Dickens wrote about, in the modern world. The reason for this is that the mentality of people often doesn’t change much over time. A tyrant leader will always be a tyrant, and angry in-laws will always be angry in-laws. This is simply the human nature, and it likely won’t fade anytime too soon. While we might not go physically cutting people’s heads of, Charles Dickens theme of social injustice is very relevant today. Themes in Tale of Two Cities Throughout Charles Dickens Tale of Two cities, a few different themes can be easily spotted. The biggest prevailing theme in the book would have to be the 99% vs the 1% elite. This is when the poor oppressed people have had enough of the wealthy elite controlling them, and they ban together and rise up against it. In desperate times like revolution, you often find two or more unexpected partners, or allies. It is almost as if the revolution and uprising causes some bond between the people revolting, giving them extreme focus and teamwork.In normal circumstances, you might expect a woman like Madame’ Defarge to be a quiet mellow woman, but get her in a revolution and she turns in to a fiery death machine. Themes like these can still be spotted today, and most of the same rules apply. One example in the most is the revolution and rebellion in Syria. This is virtually a near exact modern example of something that Charles Dickens wrote in Tale of Two Cities 100 years ago. This pro ves the themes, and subplots found in his books are just as real today, as they were back then. Syrian people where being horribly mistreated, to the point of thousands dying.You could draw a parallel between Syria’s leader Assad and the Marquis in St. Antoine. Both these leaders oppressed the people, and did nothing to stop widespread poverty and hunger, while still pretending everything in the country is perfect. This makes it clear that evil leaders, and tyrants will always be the same; they are blind to the trouble they cause. Throughout the theme of social oppression, it also brings you to recognize the strong family links and ties within the book. It focuses strongly on the different links within the family, while the opposing family is trying hard to break that link.While we may not see families killing each other nowadays, some relevance to it can still be seen. One example is the strong link between Darnay and Lucie loving each other so dearly, while her dad is utter ly shocked she is married to a man that helped throw him in prison. Things like this are still found today, and it isn’t uncommon to hear about fights between in-laws. People still tend to hold grudges from the past and cause it to affect their opinions and decisions in the future, much like the theme in Tale of Two Cities.So all in all, it can be said there is definite evidence of themes Charles Dickens wrote about, in the modern world. The reason for this is that the mentality of people often doesn’t change much over time. A tyrant leader will always be a tyrant, and angry in-laws will always be angry in-laws. This is simply the human nature, and it likely won’t fade anytime too soon. While we might not go physically cutting people’s heads of, Charles Dickens theme of social injustice is very relevant today.

Willie Lynch Letter

Value persuasive outline Introduction I. Out of 50 states only one of them are easily recognizable as the United States capital city. II. Washington D. C. is the second most visited city I the United States. Also it is a good place to visit. III. Today, I will persuade my audience about Washington D. C. also I will provide the history about it. A. The city is mainly based on government and everything from museums to mansion brings millions of tourists each year. B. Washington has a growing, diversified economy of professional and business service jobs. Body I.First, the city is mainly based on government and everything from museums to mansion brings millions of tourists each year. A. It’s a home to many national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall. B. There are 19 museums and 17 galleries that are located in Washington D. C. C. The city hosts 176 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of many international organizations, tr ade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups, and professional associations. D. There are over 100 million tourists each year. 30% of traveling tourist comes from all overseas. II.Secondly, Washington has a growing, diversified economy of professional and business service jobs. A. The gross state product of the District in 2010 was $103. 3 billion, which would rank it No. 34 compared to the 50 U. S. states B. 2012, the federal government accounted for about 29% of the jobs in Washington, D. C. C. In 2008, the foreign diplomatic corps in Washington employed about 10,000 people and contributed an estimated $400 million annually to the local. D. According, to my last visit in Washington D. C. I visited a police department where most people live in Maryland or Virginia in work in Washington D.C. Conclusion I. Today, I will persuade my audience about Washington D. C. also I will provide the history about it. A. The city is mainly based on government and everything from museums t o mansion brings millions of tourists each year. B. Washington has a growing, diversified economy of professional and business service jobs. II. It is easy to get around in Washington D. C. , the people there are very friendly. All the building in Washington D. C. are the oldest building in the world, it is consider a federal place, that is full with historic things, with so much to do.

Unequal and Unethical Treatment of Women in the Middle East

History shows many instances of discrimination and unequal rights for women. Women have been looked down upon and been abused by men in many different countries and cultures. There is a history for inequity of women, especially domestic violence and abuse. These dilemmas have been going on for the many years in the past, and are still going on today, especially in Middle Eastern countries. One major aspect of the situation of abuse towards women is involved with marriage. In many Middle Eastern countries, it is common for parents to arrange or even force a marriage, and for the children to have no say in it (Child Brides). I believe that this is a large part of the cause for aggression and abuse against the women. In an article from Gaza City called Abuse of Women Still Rife in Palestinian Life, Says Study ¬, a girl named Saana described how she had to endure beating from her father and then her husband as well. Saana’s father arranged a marriage for her, and in the second week of marriage her husband started beating her. He had no apparent reason for beating her. Also, after marrying this man, Saana found out that he had been conducting another relationship with a 15-year-old girl. Her husband eventually dumped her back at her parents’ house. In this culture, divorced women have very bad reputations, no matter what the situation is. Because of this, Saana returned home from her physically abusive husband to verbal abuse from her father. Studies in Gaza show that â€Å"†¦more than one in five women say they suffer physical domestic violence but there is not a single women's shelter. † (Abuse of Women). Although many women are being abused, the government is doing very little, if anything to help them. Even law enforcement officers are very biased. There is basically nothing keeping men from abusing women. Penalties for men who kill or hurt their wives are very insignificant. Also, only male relatives are allowed to file incest charges on behalf of children. Police routinely ‘mediate’ causes of sexual and physical abuse by returning the victims to the ‘care’ of the perpetrators, which obviously doesn’t help the victim at all. Very few women have submitted complaints, though there is so much abuse going on. This may be because they are afraid of their husbands finding out that they complained, and for that reason beating them even more. An article written in 2006 mentioned that of 85 cases of rape in 2003, only in one single case resulted in conviction. (Abuse of Women). According to other online articles, some families arrange marriages for their daughters as young as 7 years old (Child Brides). For example, there was one court case in Saudi Arabia in which a father wanted to allow his 8-year-old daughter to get married to a 47-year-old man. The mother of the daughter was divorced from the father. A relative stated that the mother was determined on getting the marriage overturned. (Eight-year-old girl’s Marriage) There are also some miscellaneous issues about to rights of women, unrelated to marriage. One such example is that women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to drive cars. A well-known Islamic Scholar named Sheikh Ayed Al-Qarni stated that this rule is based on religious reasons. Al-Qarni set out four clarifying statements: â€Å"One: I do not see women driving cars in our country because of the consequences that would spring from it such as the spread of corruption, women uncovering their hair and faces, mingling between the sexes, men being alone with women and the destruction of the family and society in whole. Two: Sadd Al-Dharaie principle (the closing of doors which could lead to corruption or sinful actions) is one of the values in our religion. Women driving cars is a sinful thing. It is used by those who want to wage a war against purity and hijab. Three: One of the principles of our religion is protecting honor and moral values. Women driving cars would threaten these principl es because of the dire consequences resulting from it. Four: Such public issues must be brought up with the certified religious institution who have the say in such matters as I have said many times before. (Women Driving Cars Is a Sinful Thing: Al-Qarni). Though it may be that a religion includes a rule disallowing women to drive, the women should have a right to choose whether to follow this religious rule or not, and not have to endure any legal punishment if they choose not to. Though it seems that the idea of equal rights for women in the Middle East is an impossible notion, there are actually people who care and are working to solve this issue. In Gaza, there have been non-governmental organizations that have been dedicating effort to reduce domestic violence n the area. One such organization featured on BBC News concluded that a major role in domestic violence is the frustration in men after the stress of political and social issues in Gaza. Abu Fahdi, a former abuser, said, â€Å"For us, the war really begins after the military war is over. Here in Gaza men are supposed to be providers. The siege, the strikes, in one way or another they affect all households in Gaza – poverty, hunger, homelessness. Men are really frustrated. They sometimes take it out on their wives. In Gaza, however, there are few places for a woman to run. â€Å"There are no shelters here. Just clinics where women can get comfort, advice or anti-depressants – more often than not, without their husbands knowing. † (Gazan Women). Psychiatrist Suha Mousa works with women that have faced abusive husbands. She says it’s difficult to work with these women because it can get complicated to intervene in their family lives. She explains that if a husband divorces his wife or if she leaves him and returns home to her father's house, she could lose all access to her children. It is thought by many that the Islam religion includes unequal rights for women. This is because the Islam religion requires women to be ‘modest’ and wear headscarves to hide their hair and skin. These restrictions make people believe that women are lower than men. Female member of parliament Jamila al-Shanti disagrees greatly with this idea. She believes that a reason for domestic violence is less-than-adequate amount of respect for women. â€Å"From the moment of birth, a baby boy is celebrated. A baby girl is accepted,† she says. Jamila al-Shanti believes that when people say that â€Å"Islam dictates that women should be at the bottom of the pile,† it is not Islam; it is bad traditions and habits that cause this harsh judgment of women. It is the opinion of human rights groups that laws in Gaza deal with cases of violence much too leniently. They usually consider issues like domestic violence or even cases of husbands murdering their wives family affairs. (Gazan Women) These issues in Gaza, Saudi Arabia, and other Middle Eastern countries cause pain and suffering to be part of every-day life for women. As time passes, people work hard to stop such problems that degrade women. They may never be completely wiped out, but they can be greatly reduced if enough people dedicate themselves towards helping this cause. Women deserve equal rights as much as men do, and this is expressed in the Declaration of Human Rights. Works Cited â€Å"8-year-old Girl's Marriage Ruled Legal – UPI. com. † Latest News, Latest News Headlines, News Articles, News Video, News Photos – UPI. com. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. . Adler, Katya. â€Å"BBC NEWS | Middle East | Gazan Women Face Rise in Abuse. BBC News – Home. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. . Macintyre, Donald. â€Å"Abuse of Women Still Rife in Palestinian Life, Says Study – Middle East, World – The Independent. † The Independent | News | UK and Worldwide News | Newspaper. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. . Qusti, Raid. â€Å"Women Driving Cars Is a Sinful Thing: Al-Qarni. † Arab News Newspaper. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. . Stritof, Sheri , and Bob Stritof. â€Å"Child Brides — Forced Marriage of Children — The Problem of Early Marriages. † Marriage — THE Starting Place for Exploring Marriage and Marriage Issues. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. .

Business Model of Amazon

As the economy has moved from agrarian to industrial to information age, the focus of the businessmen or the wealthy and powerful has also shifted in terms of the ways of obtaining wealth or doing business. In the agrarian age there was shortage of land which made ownership of land as the determinant of value. Powerful land barons typically accumulated vast tracts of land and coerced people who were bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord into living on and working it. As economy moved from agrarian to industrial age, physical assets owned by a firm became the determinants of value and shortage of raw-materials led the powerful industrialists to conspire to control the supply of raw materials. In this age, the market could absorb as much product as the industrialists could produce. The current era in which we live has been defined as the information age wherein relationships and intellectual capital are more important than anything else. One is not worried about physical assets anymore. Companies don’t compete with each other over superior products as they are largely commoditized rather compete increasingly on the basis of value added customer services. The economic battles of today are fought over the mind-space of consumers. In the information age power-play customers are not passive participants, in the way that land and raw materials were in the agrarian and industrial ages. In fact, according to Zang Hailing, it is the customers’ time that is in short supply, and therefore for any firm to succeed, emphasis needs to be given to the importance of reducing the customers’ time to adopt a new product. Thus, in a world where technology is changing every day and the transformation of consumers has happened from â€Å"Price Takers† to â€Å"Price Makers† as they are armed with more options and information; the companies that control more and more customer relationships will be the ones that hold the power in an industry and reap the lion’s share of the profits. E-commerce or e-business is an important tool that enables companies to reach out to the global market at low cost and provides abundant information about the consumers’ requirements and preferences easily which was not so easy earlier. Following figure is a glimpse of the promising future that the ecommerce industry holds. The US E-commerce has seen a 40% increase in the sales over the past 5 years as a percentage of the total retail sales in US. Source: http://ycharts. com Now when thinks about e-commerce, the first name that comes to everyone’s mind is that of Amazon. com. Not only most of the people have heard about it but there are many people who have actually used its services. Amazon was not only one of the few of the companies that thrived throughout the period in which many dot-com companies struggled to survive but has been constantly performing exceptionally well in terms of revenue per visitor which is one of the key parameters for any commercial website. Amazon has had one of the fastest growths in the internet’s history with revenues reaching $2, 8 billion in the first five years with Google’s revenue reaching only $15bn in the first five years. Now, just like any other traditional business in order to clearly understand an e-business one needs to have information on the following components: a) Business Strategy which determines the products and service offerings by the firm, the firms targeted customers and the firms value proposition. It also helps firms decide on the choices and the tradeoffs that the firm needs to make. b) Organizational form or structure c) Business processes which refer to the unique ways in which organizations coordinate and organize work activities, information, and knowledge to produce a product or service. ) Value Chain i. e. the sequence of activities that a firm undertakes to create value, including the various steps of the supply chain but also additional activities, such as marketing, sales, and service. e) Core Competencies which are the collective learning’s of the firms and being distinctive create long term competitive advantage for the firm. From the beginning, the focus of Amazon. com has been on offering their customers compelling value. In the current report filing dated 04/13/12, Jeffrey Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon. om writes â€Å"We realized that the Web was, and still is, the World Wide Wait. Therefore, we set out to offer customers something they simply could not get any other way, and began serving them with books. We brought them much more selection than was possible in a physical store (our store would now occupy 6 football fields), and presented it in a useful, easy-to-search, and easy-to-browse format in a store open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. † The Value Proposition offered by Amazon. com is â€Å"earth’s largest selection—24/7, at competitive price. † Amazon. om has continuously focused on improving the shopping experience owing to which they substantially enhanced their stores in 1997. Though they started off with books, they now offer customers gift certificates, 1-ClickSM shopping, and vastly more r eviews, content, browsing options, and recommendation features. The company’s stated goal was to â€Å"be Earth’s most customer centric company for three primary customer sets: consumers, sellers and developers. † It targeted its first set of customers through its initial retail model where it sold only books. It offered the perfect combination of low prices, large selection and convenience or customer experience. The digital media allowed limitless inventory, boosted customer care and allowed higher margins and hence lowest prices. In 15 years Amazon went from 1 category to 16 main categories of books. Amazon began with books and needed to grow big fast. From 1995-1998, Amazon moved from books to music and again through the same combination moved to become the biggest seller of music in just 120 days! Amazon moved on develop its own digital driven supply chain and distribution network by hiring from the expert: Wal-Mart. Amazon accelerated development through its strategy of â€Å"Build, buy, partner† a) Build: Amazon keeps on creating new categories. For example, Amazon kicked off a new service by the name MyHabit. com in May 2011 that made fashion available to consumers directly from designers and boutique brands. b) Buy: When there is a lot of competition in any area and the competitors have a strong hold, Amazon believes in buying out the incumbent. Few of the acquisitions made by Amazon include Internet Movie Database  (IMDb), Zappos (an online shoe and apparel retailer) etc. ) Partner: Amazon has also entered into a lot of merchant partnerships. It offers its technological service and ecommerce expertise to third- parties. For example in October 2011, Amazon. com announced a partnership with DC Comics for the exclusive digital rights to many popular comics, including Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, The Sandman, and Watchmen. As mentioned before as well, Amazon want to be the â€Å"wo rld’s most customer-centric† company, and so their focus is on the â€Å"Customer Service†. It ensures customer loyalty through three main approaches: a) Recurring usage b) Seamless Integration c) Lock-in The following table tells us how Amazon uses all above mentioned approaches for its both customers: Sellers and consumers. | Sellers| Consumers| Recurring Usage| a. Developed a customer base close to 615mn users that can’t be ignored by sellers b. Ensures profit through optimized and reliable technology c. Developed a trusted Brand name| a. Created an ecosystem through Kindle b. Stores user’s media library c. Offers personalization to customers d. Gives special offers everyday| Seamless Integration| a. Monitors sellers rating ratings posted by consumers and expels sellers with bad ratings b. Offers Fulfillment by Amazon service(FBA) which allows third party sellers to use Amazon’s large warehouse and distribution network| a. For customers, all the sellers are highly commoditized and invisible. They buy it because of the Amazons brand value b. Get benefitted by Amazon Prime and free super saver shipping| Lock-in| a. By controlling or owning the customer accounts b. High level of infrastructure development required to ensure same level of customer service as offered by Amazon| a. By providing digital content that works only on Kindle b. Amazon Prime Program which requires annual subscription| | c. | c. | Amazon developed a value chain of itself for internal appraisal so as to identify its strengths and weaknesses that would help it add value and maintain a competitive advantage. Amazon uses the value chain model from Michael Porter’s book, â€Å"Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. † The first table represents the Primary activities of Amazon which are needed to produce a product or services for the end customers. Inbound logistics| Operations| Outbound logistics| Marketing ; Sales| Service| Avoids the overhead and large amounts of inventory carrying cost because it orders the books from the distributors. Easy and fast payment systems. Online customer systems and feedback. | Operates a number of transportation hubs that they refer to as injection points. Injection point locations are located in heavily customer concentrated areas. | Customer tracking  is an Amazon stronghold through which it provides personalized customers’ exper ience| Free return policy within 30 days. Uses marketplace to increase channel and range of goods through 3rd parties and customers. Highly reduced returns to suppliers (such as unsold books and media) due to available accurate forecasting technology | Customized buyer experience| Ability to aggregate orders bound for specific locations. | Interactive shipping and parceling price calculations. Free delivery based on single transaction spends. | Price comparison of new products with used products in marketplace shops. | Efficiently gathering information about customer experiences to inform service inputs and inventory controls. | 24 hour warehouse operations to meet customer demands. |   Utilizes the capabilities of its supply chain partners to deliver orders directly to ustomers which bypass the Amazon. com internal distribution center network|   Discounts and price reductions made available with suggested product mixes. Similar products recommended to customers interactively. | Offers customers gift certificates, 1-Click SM shopping, and vastly more reviews, content, browsing options, and recommendation features. | The next table gives information about the various support activities performed by Amazon which help to facilitate or assist its primary activities. | Value Creation| Cost Reduction| Firm Infrastructure| Huge central customer data warehouse available to all business units. Amazon’s single technology platform with services being incrementally distributed to other worldwide locations, reduces costs by leveraging investments | Human Resource Management| Amazon. com has a great training for its employees resulting in talented, smart and hard working group. Offers employees unique benefits such as medical, paid time off and stock grants and relocation allowances and hence attract highly skilled workers| Amazon utilizes independent contractors and temporary personnel to supplement their workforce, particularly on a seasonal basis. Although Amazon has works councils and statutory employee representation obligations in certain countries, Amazon’s employees are not represented by a labor union| Technology Development| High investments in technology development (e. g. , Kindle) to best leverage digital products. Innovations such as personalized recommendations, one-click ordering, and search inside the book are all Amazon. com innovations. Highly customized software applications that support their supply chain business model. For example, Amazon. om is linked into Ingram’s systems to see Ingram inventory levels when deciding whether to use Ingram to drop ship an order to a customer | Building an IT strategy, IT infrastructure and Data Centre on Linux open source software thus reducing cost of technology development. Renting computing resources to other companies reduce total cost of ownership Using standard hardware systems from HP to reduce cost of maintenance and compatibility| Procurement| Utilize s a Sales and Operations (SOP) planning process to determine forecasts for each roduct that it stores in its distribution center inventoryUses the strategic business unit – Booksurge to keep a rich inventory of digital copies of books so as to make this readily available for customers through print-on-demand and reduce the time of delivery | Specially built distribution Centers, warehouses and fulfillment Centers to increase the speed of order processing thus avoiding transaction costs of contracting out| In addition to the business strategies the value chain components mentioned above, the success of Amazon. om can be attributed to the entrepreneurial spirit of its founder chief executive officer Jeff Bezos and the strong inclination of the firm towards bringing about innovation in the business model. Let us discuss both factors one by one. Entrepreneurial Spirit of Jeff Bezos: Jeff Bezos can be regarded as the forward-looking CEO responsible for the success of Amazon. com. He has not only efficiently managed the present but through his long term vision always taken steps to create the future. The computer science and electrical engineering graduate from Princeton University moved to Seattle after resigning as a Senior Vice-President at D. E. Shaw, a Wall Street investment bank. At the time Bezos didn’t know much about the Internet but he came across a statistic that the Internet was growing at 2300%, which convinced him that it was a large growth opportunity. Without knowing anything more, he plunged into the world of e-commerce with no prior retailing experience. It was his decision to locate the company in Seattle because it had a large pool of technical talent and since it was close to one of the largest book wholesalers located in Rosenburg, Oregon. Moreover, the sales tax laws for online retailers state that one has to charge sales tax in the state in which one is incorporated. Therefore it was logical to locate in a small state. Under his guidance and logical thinking Amazon. com quickly became the leader in e-commerce. Operating 24 hours a day, the site was user-friendly and encouraged browsers to post their own reviews of books and offering discounts, personalized recommendations, and searches for out-of-print books. In June 1998 it began selling CDs, and later that year it added videos. In 1999 Bezos, looking at the future trends, added auctions to the site and invested in other virtual stores. The success of Amazon. com encouraged other retailers, including major book chains, to establish online stores. As more companies battled for Internet dollars, Bezos saw the need to diversify, and by 2005 Amazon. com offered a vast array of products, including consumer electronics, apparel, and hardware. And with the Jeff Bezos vision to make every book ever in print in any language available to the consumer in 60 seconds, Amazon launched the handheld device called Kindle in 2007. Bezos is the quintessential dot-com icon. He proved to the business world that the Internet was about more than knowledge. He proved that it is possible to overcome fears about purchasing online, to drive down transaction costs, and to build an international e-commerce business over the Internet. He had the courage to attempt something that people doubted could be done. . At the age of 35, Jeff Bezos was picked as the 1999 Time person of the year. Describing why it chose Bezos, Time magazine said, â€Å"Bezos’  vision  of the online retailing universe was so complete, his Amazon. om site so elegant and appealing that it became from Day One the point of reference for anyone who had anything to sell online. † Innovation in the Business Model: Amazon survived the dot-com bust because it had a viable and innovative  business model  built around a market-changing customer value proposition and a radical profit formula and over it has been able to sustain its position as the leader in e-commerce by bringing about continuous innovations in its business model. Let us look at some of the different dimensions wherein Amazon. om has been able to bring about business innovation. a) Offerings: By offering a handheld device dedicated to reading, Kindle, Amazon. com revolutionized the books industry. By creating a product like Kindle, the created a perfect, integrated and streamlined customer experience. b) Platform: With Amazon Web Services, Fulfillment By Amazon, and Kindle Direct Publishing, Amazon is creating powerful self-service platforms that allow thousands of people to boldly experiment and accomplish things that would otherwise be impossible or impractical. ) Customers: In 2002 Amazon launched a web services platform and identified a new area of potential growth by finding another new customer—the IT community. Serving this new customer’s needs required different processes, different resources, and a different profit formulaâ€⠀in short, another  new business model. d) Customer Experience: 1-Click combined with Gift-Click and Wish List made Amazon. com the most convenient, easiest-to-use shopping destination the holiday season. Wish List allows customers to post the gifts they’d most like to receive from family and friends, while Gift-Click allows customers to send gifts easily by entering just the e-mail addresses of their recipients. e) Value Capture: By opening up its storefront to other retailers that were essentially competitors, Amazon transformed its business from direct sales to a sales-and-service model, aggregating many sellers under one virtual roof and receiving commissions from the other companies’ sales. ) Supply Chain: Fulfillment by Amazon service (FBA) by Amazon is a classic example of innovating business model through supply chain. FBA allows third party sellers to use Amazon’s large warehouse and distribution network and in the last quarter of 2011, shipped tens of millions of items on behalf of sellers. When sellers use FBA, their items become eligible for Amazon Prime, for Super Saver Shipping, and for Amazon returns processing and customer service. From the above discussion of Amazon’s business strategy, value chain analysis and the success factors we can conclude that Amazon has a robust Business model. Amazon’s business model fends off all the four threats. It has the costly-to-imitate financial and technological resources, it has developed protection against holdup by seamlessly vertically integrating its both the customers i. e. the sellers and the consumers. Reduced slack by locking-in the customers and the sellers and fights substitution through innovation in business model. Business Model of Amazon As the economy has moved from agrarian to industrial to information age, the focus of the businessmen or the wealthy and powerful has also shifted in terms of the ways of obtaining wealth or doing business. In the agrarian age there was shortage of land which made ownership of land as the determinant of value. Powerful land barons typically accumulated vast tracts of land and coerced people who were bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord into living on and working it. As economy moved from agrarian to industrial age, physical assets owned by a firm became the determinants of value and shortage of raw-materials led the powerful industrialists to conspire to control the supply of raw materials. In this age, the market could absorb as much product as the industrialists could produce. The current era in which we live has been defined as the information age wherein relationships and intellectual capital are more important than anything else. One is not worried about physical assets anymore. Companies don’t compete with each other over superior products as they are largely commoditized rather compete increasingly on the basis of value added customer services. The economic battles of today are fought over the mind-space of consumers. In the information age power-play customers are not passive participants, in the way that land and raw materials were in the agrarian and industrial ages. In fact, according to Zang Hailing, it is the customers’ time that is in short supply, and therefore for any firm to succeed, emphasis needs to be given to the importance of reducing the customers’ time to adopt a new product. Thus, in a world where technology is changing every day and the transformation of consumers has happened from â€Å"Price Takers† to â€Å"Price Makers† as they are armed with more options and information; the companies that control more and more customer relationships will be the ones that hold the power in an industry and reap the lion’s share of the profits. E-commerce or e-business is an important tool that enables companies to reach out to the global market at low cost and provides abundant information about the consumers’ requirements and preferences easily which was not so easy earlier. Following figure is a glimpse of the promising future that the ecommerce industry holds. The US E-commerce has seen a 40% increase in the sales over the past 5 years as a percentage of the total retail sales in US. Source: http://ycharts. com Now when thinks about e-commerce, the first name that comes to everyone’s mind is that of Amazon. com. Not only most of the people have heard about it but there are many people who have actually used its services. Amazon was not only one of the few of the companies that thrived throughout the period in which many dot-com companies struggled to survive but has been constantly performing exceptionally well in terms of revenue per visitor which is one of the key parameters for any commercial website. Amazon has had one of the fastest growths in the internet’s history with revenues reaching $2, 8 billion in the first five years with Google’s revenue reaching only $15bn in the first five years. Now, just like any other traditional business in order to clearly understand an e-business one needs to have information on the following components: a) Business Strategy which determines the products and service offerings by the firm, the firms targeted customers and the firms value proposition. It also helps firms decide on the choices and the tradeoffs that the firm needs to make. b) Organizational form or structure c) Business processes which refer to the unique ways in which organizations coordinate and organize work activities, information, and knowledge to produce a product or service. ) Value Chain i. e. the sequence of activities that a firm undertakes to create value, including the various steps of the supply chain but also additional activities, such as marketing, sales, and service. e) Core Competencies which are the collective learning’s of the firms and being distinctive create long term competitive advantage for the firm. From the beginning, the focus of Amazon. com has been on offering their customers compelling value. In the current report filing dated 04/13/12, Jeffrey Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon. om writes â€Å"We realized that the Web was, and still is, the World Wide Wait. Therefore, we set out to offer customers something they simply could not get any other way, and began serving them with books. We brought them much more selection than was possible in a physical store (our store would now occupy 6 football fields), and presented it in a useful, easy-to-search, and easy-to-browse format in a store open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. † The Value Proposition offered by Amazon. com is â€Å"earth’s largest selection—24/7, at competitive price. † Amazon. om has continuously focused on improving the shopping experience owing to which they substantially enhanced their stores in 1997. Though they started off with books, they now offer customers gift certificates, 1-ClickSM shopping, and vastly more r eviews, content, browsing options, and recommendation features. The company’s stated goal was to â€Å"be Earth’s most customer centric company for three primary customer sets: consumers, sellers and developers. † It targeted its first set of customers through its initial retail model where it sold only books. It offered the perfect combination of low prices, large selection and convenience or customer experience. The digital media allowed limitless inventory, boosted customer care and allowed higher margins and hence lowest prices. In 15 years Amazon went from 1 category to 16 main categories of books. Amazon began with books and needed to grow big fast. From 1995-1998, Amazon moved from books to music and again through the same combination moved to become the biggest seller of music in just 120 days! Amazon moved on develop its own digital driven supply chain and distribution network by hiring from the expert: Wal-Mart. Amazon accelerated development through its strategy of â€Å"Build, buy, partner† a) Build: Amazon keeps on creating new categories. For example, Amazon kicked off a new service by the name MyHabit. com in May 2011 that made fashion available to consumers directly from designers and boutique brands. b) Buy: When there is a lot of competition in any area and the competitors have a strong hold, Amazon believes in buying out the incumbent. Few of the acquisitions made by Amazon include Internet Movie Database  (IMDb), Zappos (an online shoe and apparel retailer) etc. ) Partner: Amazon has also entered into a lot of merchant partnerships. It offers its technological service and ecommerce expertise to third- parties. For example in October 2011, Amazon. com announced a partnership with DC Comics for the exclusive digital rights to many popular comics, including Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, The Sandman, and Watchmen. As mentioned before as well, Amazon want to be the â€Å"wo rld’s most customer-centric† company, and so their focus is on the â€Å"Customer Service†. It ensures customer loyalty through three main approaches: a) Recurring usage b) Seamless Integration c) Lock-in The following table tells us how Amazon uses all above mentioned approaches for its both customers: Sellers and consumers. | Sellers| Consumers| Recurring Usage| a. Developed a customer base close to 615mn users that can’t be ignored by sellers b. Ensures profit through optimized and reliable technology c. Developed a trusted Brand name| a. Created an ecosystem through Kindle b. Stores user’s media library c. Offers personalization to customers d. Gives special offers everyday| Seamless Integration| a. Monitors sellers rating ratings posted by consumers and expels sellers with bad ratings b. Offers Fulfillment by Amazon service(FBA) which allows third party sellers to use Amazon’s large warehouse and distribution network| a. For customers, all the sellers are highly commoditized and invisible. They buy it because of the Amazons brand value b. Get benefitted by Amazon Prime and free super saver shipping| Lock-in| a. By controlling or owning the customer accounts b. High level of infrastructure development required to ensure same level of customer service as offered by Amazon| a. By providing digital content that works only on Kindle b. Amazon Prime Program which requires annual subscription| | c. | c. | Amazon developed a value chain of itself for internal appraisal so as to identify its strengths and weaknesses that would help it add value and maintain a competitive advantage. Amazon uses the value chain model from Michael Porter’s book, â€Å"Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. † The first table represents the Primary activities of Amazon which are needed to produce a product or services for the end customers. Inbound logistics| Operations| Outbound logistics| Marketing ; Sales| Service| Avoids the overhead and large amounts of inventory carrying cost because it orders the books from the distributors. Easy and fast payment systems. Online customer systems and feedback. | Operates a number of transportation hubs that they refer to as injection points. Injection point locations are located in heavily customer concentrated areas. | Customer tracking  is an Amazon stronghold through which it provides personalized customers’ exper ience| Free return policy within 30 days. Uses marketplace to increase channel and range of goods through 3rd parties and customers. Highly reduced returns to suppliers (such as unsold books and media) due to available accurate forecasting technology | Customized buyer experience| Ability to aggregate orders bound for specific locations. | Interactive shipping and parceling price calculations. Free delivery based on single transaction spends. | Price comparison of new products with used products in marketplace shops. | Efficiently gathering information about customer experiences to inform service inputs and inventory controls. | 24 hour warehouse operations to meet customer demands. |   Utilizes the capabilities of its supply chain partners to deliver orders directly to ustomers which bypass the Amazon. com internal distribution center network|   Discounts and price reductions made available with suggested product mixes. Similar products recommended to customers interactively. | Offers customers gift certificates, 1-Click SM shopping, and vastly more reviews, content, browsing options, and recommendation features. | The next table gives information about the various support activities performed by Amazon which help to facilitate or assist its primary activities. | Value Creation| Cost Reduction| Firm Infrastructure| Huge central customer data warehouse available to all business units. Amazon’s single technology platform with services being incrementally distributed to other worldwide locations, reduces costs by leveraging investments | Human Resource Management| Amazon. com has a great training for its employees resulting in talented, smart and hard working group. Offers employees unique benefits such as medical, paid time off and stock grants and relocation allowances and hence attract highly skilled workers| Amazon utilizes independent contractors and temporary personnel to supplement their workforce, particularly on a seasonal basis. Although Amazon has works councils and statutory employee representation obligations in certain countries, Amazon’s employees are not represented by a labor union| Technology Development| High investments in technology development (e. g. , Kindle) to best leverage digital products. Innovations such as personalized recommendations, one-click ordering, and search inside the book are all Amazon. com innovations. Highly customized software applications that support their supply chain business model. For example, Amazon. om is linked into Ingram’s systems to see Ingram inventory levels when deciding whether to use Ingram to drop ship an order to a customer | Building an IT strategy, IT infrastructure and Data Centre on Linux open source software thus reducing cost of technology development. Renting computing resources to other companies reduce total cost of ownership Using standard hardware systems from HP to reduce cost of maintenance and compatibility| Procurement| Utilize s a Sales and Operations (SOP) planning process to determine forecasts for each roduct that it stores in its distribution center inventoryUses the strategic business unit – Booksurge to keep a rich inventory of digital copies of books so as to make this readily available for customers through print-on-demand and reduce the time of delivery | Specially built distribution Centers, warehouses and fulfillment Centers to increase the speed of order processing thus avoiding transaction costs of contracting out| In addition to the business strategies the value chain components mentioned above, the success of Amazon. om can be attributed to the entrepreneurial spirit of its founder chief executive officer Jeff Bezos and the strong inclination of the firm towards bringing about innovation in the business model. Let us discuss both factors one by one. Entrepreneurial Spirit of Jeff Bezos: Jeff Bezos can be regarded as the forward-looking CEO responsible for the success of Amazon. com. He has not only efficiently managed the present but through his long term vision always taken steps to create the future. The computer science and electrical engineering graduate from Princeton University moved to Seattle after resigning as a Senior Vice-President at D. E. Shaw, a Wall Street investment bank. At the time Bezos didn’t know much about the Internet but he came across a statistic that the Internet was growing at 2300%, which convinced him that it was a large growth opportunity. Without knowing anything more, he plunged into the world of e-commerce with no prior retailing experience. It was his decision to locate the company in Seattle because it had a large pool of technical talent and since it was close to one of the largest book wholesalers located in Rosenburg, Oregon. Moreover, the sales tax laws for online retailers state that one has to charge sales tax in the state in which one is incorporated. Therefore it was logical to locate in a small state. Under his guidance and logical thinking Amazon. com quickly became the leader in e-commerce. Operating 24 hours a day, the site was user-friendly and encouraged browsers to post their own reviews of books and offering discounts, personalized recommendations, and searches for out-of-print books. In June 1998 it began selling CDs, and later that year it added videos. In 1999 Bezos, looking at the future trends, added auctions to the site and invested in other virtual stores. The success of Amazon. com encouraged other retailers, including major book chains, to establish online stores. As more companies battled for Internet dollars, Bezos saw the need to diversify, and by 2005 Amazon. com offered a vast array of products, including consumer electronics, apparel, and hardware. And with the Jeff Bezos vision to make every book ever in print in any language available to the consumer in 60 seconds, Amazon launched the handheld device called Kindle in 2007. Bezos is the quintessential dot-com icon. He proved to the business world that the Internet was about more than knowledge. He proved that it is possible to overcome fears about purchasing online, to drive down transaction costs, and to build an international e-commerce business over the Internet. He had the courage to attempt something that people doubted could be done. . At the age of 35, Jeff Bezos was picked as the 1999 Time person of the year. Describing why it chose Bezos, Time magazine said, â€Å"Bezos’  vision  of the online retailing universe was so complete, his Amazon. om site so elegant and appealing that it became from Day One the point of reference for anyone who had anything to sell online. † Innovation in the Business Model: Amazon survived the dot-com bust because it had a viable and innovative  business model  built around a market-changing customer value proposition and a radical profit formula and over it has been able to sustain its position as the leader in e-commerce by bringing about continuous innovations in its business model. Let us look at some of the different dimensions wherein Amazon. om has been able to bring about business innovation. a) Offerings: By offering a handheld device dedicated to reading, Kindle, Amazon. com revolutionized the books industry. By creating a product like Kindle, the created a perfect, integrated and streamlined customer experience. b) Platform: With Amazon Web Services, Fulfillment By Amazon, and Kindle Direct Publishing, Amazon is creating powerful self-service platforms that allow thousands of people to boldly experiment and accomplish things that would otherwise be impossible or impractical. ) Customers: In 2002 Amazon launched a web services platform and identified a new area of potential growth by finding another new customer—the IT community. Serving this new customer’s needs required different processes, different resources, and a different profit formulaâ€⠀in short, another  new business model. d) Customer Experience: 1-Click combined with Gift-Click and Wish List made Amazon. com the most convenient, easiest-to-use shopping destination the holiday season. Wish List allows customers to post the gifts they’d most like to receive from family and friends, while Gift-Click allows customers to send gifts easily by entering just the e-mail addresses of their recipients. e) Value Capture: By opening up its storefront to other retailers that were essentially competitors, Amazon transformed its business from direct sales to a sales-and-service model, aggregating many sellers under one virtual roof and receiving commissions from the other companies’ sales. ) Supply Chain: Fulfillment by Amazon service (FBA) by Amazon is a classic example of innovating business model through supply chain. FBA allows third party sellers to use Amazon’s large warehouse and distribution network and in the last quarter of 2011, shipped tens of millions of items on behalf of sellers. When sellers use FBA, their items become eligible for Amazon Prime, for Super Saver Shipping, and for Amazon returns processing and customer service. From the above discussion of Amazon’s business strategy, value chain analysis and the success factors we can conclude that Amazon has a robust Business model. Amazon’s business model fends off all the four threats. It has the costly-to-imitate financial and technological resources, it has developed protection against holdup by seamlessly vertically integrating its both the customers i. e. the sellers and the consumers. Reduced slack by locking-in the customers and the sellers and fights substitution through innovation in business model.