Deontological ethics Essay Example for Free

Deontological ethics Essay Utilitarianism ethics accentuates that the activity that should be ethically beneficial to the group. In further terms, the outcome of any moral activity ought to be valuable for all by mass offer. This is a universal fundamental theme for ethics in industrialist economies and business as well as in all governments. Virtue Theory is also known as virtue ethics focal point on the person’s character as opposed to the standards and outcomes of the particular acts. This fundamentally means that the prime focus is endured or not to the person who acting ethically is a person who upholds the high virtues and morals, in expressing the good character in people. , plan, results and conclusion are not so much immaterial; nonetheless, the significance of virtue theory is first and foremost. Dissimilar to virtue theory, deontology has a substantial accentuation on obligation in activity, in adherence to runs the show. The right activity is essential here, whereupon fruition, ought to achieve the best useful for all included. This is to some degree like utilitarianism, which does concentrate on the result of the best great. Be that as it may, deontology does not incline toward the result itself, yet all the more so the guideline behind submitting the right activity. The moral behind deontology is about rule and after tenets. Every one of the three of these ethical practices has substantial likenesses. The essential comparability is outcome of activity. Despite the fact that result is not generally the essential center of the activity, it is normal in every one of the three theories that the outcome ought to have a gainful come about as a conclusion of the activity. Whether the activity is focused around rule, qualities or ethics, the end sought to legitimize the methods. The most ideal approach to express the contrasts between virtue theory, utilitarianism and deontological ethics is to take a typical situation and examine from these three alternate points of ETHICS ESSAY 3 view. A person who polishes good virtual ethics would call attention to that by helping the individual, doing so would be a magnanimous demonstration and would express great character of the individual supporting the one in need. One who practices utilitarianism would say that by helping the individual, doing so would be useful for both the individual in need and the individual making a difference. A deontologist would say that by helping, it would be so in agreement to an ethical tenet, for example, karma, or what you do to others will return to you. As the illustration shows, virtue theory concentrates on an individuals ethical morals, and not on any particular conclusion or guideline. Utilitarianism has a stress on more prominent elses benefit, concentrating on an advantageous conclusion for all persons included, where the results of acting are useful to a group. At long last, deontology stresses obligation as the particular activity being carried out in fulfillment of emulating a particular good code, governor charge. In past role as a sales/inventory associate for Centennial wireless. A problem with ethical decisions came up on a daily basis on the job. On a daily basis, I had to do the daily deposits and check each associate cash drawer that always had 100. 00 dollars in them at all times. Multiple times a sales rep had over their cash drawer or short. If they were short, they had to place the cash that was short to equal 100. 00 dollars or if they were over they had to deposit the average. When I check their bags, I gave them a warning they had till business hours to replace that money or just to deposit it. I keep the record for my records, and if it happens regular basis, I get the manager involve. The reason I keep the information to myself is because a sale person can give too much change to a customer and does know till I or they count their cash drawers at the end of their shift. So I understand mistakes can happen. My decision on this issue is based on the utilitarianism theory that looks for the best outcome for everyone within a particular situation. ETHICS ESSAY 4 In conclusion, one can addition further understanding into ethical and social obligation by analyzing the similitude and contrasts between utilitarianism, virtue theory and deontological ethics. Through further understanding of these similitude and contrasts one can start to understand the criticalness social and ethics obligation plays in particular and business achievement. The previous examination portrays the contrasts in how every theory addresses morality and ethics. The dissection likewise incorporates a particular experience clarifying the relationship between temperance, qualities, and good ideas as they identify with one of the three speculations. Besides, the examination clarifies how the data on social and ethics obligation achievement or disappointment, contingent upon the execution of the learning one addition from the information and the choices one makes. References: MANIAS, N. (2013) ETHICS APPLIED 7TH EDITION. PEARSON EDUCATION INC. (2013).

Media Giant Rupert Murdoch And His Empire Media Essay

Media Giant Rupert Murdoch And His Empire Media Essay As the new millennium dawned, global television tracked the rise of the sun across the world (Thussu, 2006, p. 1). The twenty-first century brought with it the opportunity for millions of people to be able to communicate internationally in different time zones (Thussu, 2006). In such a global village that we live in, competition plays a magnetic role for attracting media giants to be present across borders spreading like wild fire. An apparition now haunts the world: The birth of a mercantile media structure is globally dominated by a diminutive numeral of influential media giants, mostly U.S.-based transnational media corporations (TNMCs). This structure continuously strives to strengthen the foundation of the global market and works towards advancing commercial values, while negatively portrays journalism and culture. It is a disaster for anything but the most superficial notion of democracya democracy where, to paraphrase John Jays maxim, those who own the world ought to govern it. (McChesney, 1997). The development of this mercantile system is very recent. Previously in history i.e. 1980s, the structure was tilted towards national boundaries. Communication and media industries were locally regulated and owned while importing limited music, books, TV shows, and films for decades. The decade of the 1980s saw the worlds economy become more fully privatized. Current trends in privatization and free market economies have led to an international consolidation of media companies. The trend towards consolidation has begun to emerge worldwide (Gershon, 1997, p. 5).The pressure implanted by the IMF, World Bank, and U.S. government in the 1980s to deregulate and privatize media and communication systems which overlapped with the new digital and satellite technologies led to the consequences towards the growth of transnational media giants (McChesney, 1997). The Major US media giants which dominate numerous universal media and international media-related markets are Time Warner, Disney, News Corporation, Viacom, and NBC Universal among a few others. They are spread widely nationally and across national borders. All are based in the United States, the central nation, with broad semi peripheral and some peripheral market activities (McPhail, 2006). This paper will concentrate on the media giant Rupert Murdoch and his empire News Corporation, one of the main benefactors of privatization of infrastructure of global communication. It will briefly describe the history of the existence of the company whilst focusing on an analysis of the international expansion strategy that Murdoch adapted during his journey to acquire the world of media. While analysing different strategies; as well as geographic expansion, there will be an effort to decipher the relation of the tools of extension to the powerful existence of different theories which have played a vital role in the establishment of media structures. Historical Background of News Corporation Changes in technology have pushed the flow of transnational traffic in media products. This development has mainly benefitted media conglomerates like News Corporation which lead media content and delivery mechanism by owning numerous networks and production facilities. This commercial dominance has raised many concerns about cultural homogenization. However, an obvious effort has been noted towards regionalisation and localisation of content to match local and cultural precedence of viewers given the heterogeneity of the universal market (Thussu, 2007) The President and founder of the News Corporation Ltd, Keith Rupert Murdoch, is a legendary example of a tycoon from his era who contributed immensely in the 19th century towards the tradition of the great press barons (Gershon, 1997). Murdoch, in one of his speeches said that For better or for worse, our company (The News Corporation Ltd.) is a reflection of my thinking, my character, my values. Rupert Murdochs universal vision of a new communications atmosphere is made up of both a corporate strategy and a social vision. The companys existence can be traced to the year 1923, in Australia, when News limited was set up in Adelaide with the intention of circulating a daily newspaper. Rupert Murdochs father Sir Keith Murdoch invested in minority interest in News limited in the year of 1949. The company was then officially established in South Australia in 1979 (Gershon, 1997). News Corporation is an entertainment based transnational media company which diversifies within eight different media sectors including Newspapers, Book Publishing, Magazines and Inserts, Filmed Entertainment, Television, Direct Broadcast Satellite Television, Cable Network Programming and other. Geographically the activities of News Corporation are spread out primarily in the United Sates, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, Australia, Asia and the Pacific Basin (News Corporation Press Releases, 2010). News Corporation is engaged in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and Ireland in the publishing business of magazines, newspapers through its variety of subsidiaries. The Company publishes English language books worldwide via its wholly owned subsidiary HarperCollins Publishers. Furthermore their subsidiaries allow them to be also involved in the enlargement, invention and allotment of network and television programming as well as broadcasting television stations. It also owns shares in BSkyB and V, and Sky Italia which are involved in the direct broadcast satellite (DBS) business. The company currently owns the entire FOX franchise of broadcast networks; as well FOX film studios responsible for many blockbusters (News Corporation Annual Report, 2007) The birth of free flow of information after World War II contributed majorly towards the liberation of media markets. This theory lead to the existence of modernization theory, it also played a vital role in the decision of privatization. Murdoch has strategized to make competent use of liberation of cross-media ownership widely in the USA and the British media markets. He also strategically entered the private satellite operators into the arena of telecommunications and broadcasting. News Corporation risked a large sum on investment by leasing time on new satellite ventures such as Astra and Asia Sat (Thussu, 2000), Murdoch has been able to create a truly international media corporation, at the heart of which is satellite television. (Thussu, 2000, p. 107) All parent companies and subsidiaries are united through a common owner Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch demonstrates an expansion strategy through vertical integration, which has played a vital role in its most crucial times. The company was one of early migratory conglomerates of vertical integration, this move helped News Corporation to utilize the profits through its content operation via their existence in numerous distribution sectors of the media value chain. This move has certainly been a tactical way to achieve authority and probably produce a profitable position in various media markets (Flew and Gilmour, 2003). Murdoch chose to adapt a borrow and buy philosophy that enabled him to debt leverage his way to the very top. Each successful acquisition would generate profitable results however that required greater patience. Foundations of News Corporation in Australia After his fathers death on his return to Australia in 1954 Murdoch instantly started to struggle to increase the circulation of his Adelaide newspaper. Despite the negative attitude of other publishers and the constant underrating by his opposition he dedicated all his efforts to the print business with a passion, and learned the techniques of every aspect of newspaper production. He published exciting news stories in an effective writing style, soon making returns to Murdochs small holdings. He strategically took risks by acquiring smaller newspapers that were not doing well and then turned them around (Tuccille, 2003) Murdoch in a few years of success bought his first television station in July 1959, in Adelaide, calling it Southern TV. He was an innovative young man who throughout was in search for new communication technologies continuously making an effort to amalgamate them into his existing businesses. Later in a year he took over the Daily Mirror in Sydney and its associated Sunday paper for $4 million; the paper soon enough was known to be notorious for exciting and bizarre headlines and articles about sex and mayhem. He took immediate action to change this image and established TheAustralian in the mid of1964, as a national newspaper in Canberra. This paper was a twist from the norm; it discussed social issues and government policies and rapidly acquired the respect of journalists. (Encyclopedia of Business, 2010) Expansion to Britain Murdochs past in the U.K., from his days in Oxford, had left in him bitterness for the English upper class; they had made him feel like an outsider, as if they regarded Australians as inferior being and he planned to strike back at them. He had planned to expand to Britain at the first opportunity. As evident, Murdoch has no set strategy to operate his business; however he expanded internationally through making strategic alliances in Britain which later he transformed into acquisitions. This is evident as he become a principle investor in 1969 for News of the World (a newspaper previously owned by the Carr family) while facing direct competition by Robert Maxwell, who had an infamous reputation in the news circle. Murdoch gradually became the sole proprietor for News of the World by manipulating complete control of the corporation (Tuccille, 2003) In the same year he had an opportunity to take over a dying newspaper at its true cost called the Sun formerly known as the Daily Herald, a predominantly left-wing newspaper. The unions at that time felt that Murdoch would have been a better choice to keep the newspaper viable and trade union jobs unharmed, as opposed to Maxwell who had also shown interest in buying the newspaper. Murdoch revamped the newspaper into a tabloid which was greatly criticized by many of the British newspaper establishments. However Murdochs rebellious nature ignored the criticism and planned to assemble a team of reporters and promotion experts including many from Australia. By the 1970s the Sun had become Britains most popular publication with an increase in circulation to 1.7 million, which at present is replaced by 4 million. News Corporation has grown beyond its newspapers origin as it continues to be the largest newspaper producer in the world. In addition News Corporation owns many different British newspapers including the prestigious, The Times, New of the World, and The Sunday Times (Gershon, 1997). Murdoch uses cross-media ownership and synergies as another strategy, resulting in him being able to promote his ventures across, virtually, all media segments. There is an expectation by News Corporation for major synergies to be created between U.S. satellite operations and its global business. These synergies are part technology-related, for example by sharing security software or electronic programme guides, and part content related, as for the example the combined bidding for global sports rights. The power of cross-platform synergies is most evident in association to motion picture studios and television/cable platforms and networks. This is the vicinity where synergistic potential of power in relation to media supply chain are mainly noticeable (Gunther, 2003). Furthermore, Murdochs launch of Sky Digital in 1989, a four channel satellite television service, was afterwards merged with a competitor named British Satellite Broadcasting to form British Sky Broadcasting, in 1990. The merger instantly became a success with its multi-channel subscription service which was positioned to dominate interactive digital television (Forreste, 2010). BSkyB provides a wide portfolio of genres of television programming like entertainment, news, sports etc. in order to cater to a wide variety of target audience. Sky News and Sports have seen trends of consistent growth and viewership (McPhail, 2006). Moreover, BSkyB is now Europes most profitable broadcaster with 40% holding of U.K. news corporations; though at one point it led New Corporation towards bankruptcy due to a week global economy and lack of cash flow (Guardian, 2010) Murdochs media power supported Margret Thatcher with her struggle to liberalize regulation on cross media ownership. The victory of the British labour party in the 1997 election supported by the Sun lead to the Murdochization of the media, which transformed the media background in the U.K. and other countries. Since then, entertainment and infotainment have emphasised at the price of the public service function of the media (Thussu, 2006). Expansion to Europe Having established a base in the U.K., Murdoch expanded his business into Continental Europe by establishing partnerships in Germany and Italy. News Corporation penetrated the satellite television industry in 1983. It possessed many assets in Satellite Television PLC (SATV), which during the 1980s was set up to supply to Northern European audience. After two years alongside the scrutiny of the BBC, SATV, renamed Sky Channel and consisted approximately, of three million subscribers in 11 European countries. Murdoch was not encouraged in further increasing his acquisitions as he had already forged a union with, French television giant Canal Plus to create paid-television-services across Europe. Having only conquered 6% of Western Europe, few homes had cable television; the market for pay-TV was unreached (Fiero, 2002). Now News Corporations central business policy is to use soccer as a fuel to powered satellite dish sales across Europe. Murdoch is using sports programming to enter new markets; he has acquired premium sports rights for his network and is using an identical content approach that he pursued with BSkyB (News Corporation Annual Report, 2007). Expansion to the U.S.A. Murdochs journey to enter the U.S. market began in 1976 when he acquired the New York Post. Following this, in September 1985 Murdoch decided to become an American citizen in order to satisfy the legal requirements of the U.S. markets that only a U.S. citizen was permitted to own assets in the U.S. television industry. Later that year News Corporation entered the U.S. media market, by purchasing Metromedias seven television stations amounted at $2 billion. Murdoch not only took over these seven stations but also gained their market rank and their competitive position. This purchase resulted News Corporation to build the foundation of Fox television network. In 1986, News Corporation purchased 20th Century Fox for $1.55 billion (Fiero, 2002) From Murdochs early stages of business acquisitions recognized the significance of vertical integration as a strategy for launching a new business. In the two years Murdoch was guaranteed to create a stable source of programming and readymade distribution channels. The Fox Television Network was launched in April 1987 with 108 affiliates. Fox network opted for a highly differentiated strategy in comparison to the other U.S. networks. They plan to aim their programming towards a younger and urban audience. Fox introduced three distinguishing programming formats, reality based, counter culture and tabloid television (Albarran, Chan-Olmsted, O. Wirt, 2006) In the early years of development Murdoch faced heavy financial losses, however in a few years the network was able to reach 91% of United States through an amalgamation of VHF and low powered UHF stations. The network also transformed its programming from three nights a week to five nights. The financial recovery of these loses how Murdochs long term strategy in which he is prepared to suffer losses in the short run with the expectation of gaining long term returns in the future. Murdochs synergizing strategy helped him save Fox network in its initial years by cross investing from his other well to do companies (Gershon, 1997). Further to this Mr Murdoch and his management spend a good deal of time lobbying for support for proposed mergers and acquisitions and for favourable changes in the law such as those relating to media ownership and digital piracy in the USA. (Curwen, 1999) Other assets under News Corporation in the U.S. are the Weekly Standard, Hughes Electronics with a 34 % stake in the company and DIRECTV. Â  The vertically expansion acquisition of DirecTV is a fundamental piece representing Murdochs media empire, providing him with a lucrative distribution platform in the US, which can be used to offset the rising influence of large cable operators such as Comcast. There is a strong concern that News Corporation might not be able to advantage from its economies of scale and from efficient allocation of resources as of its vertical structure due to variations in strategies with DirecTV. Joint ventures with DirecTV are necessary for absolute vertical integration which allows News Corporation to adapt to an incomplete vertical structure. It may be added that Mr Murdochs position is so dominant that there is a niggling fear that he could yet put recent advances at risk, although he has recently made clear that the immediate strategy is to absorb and im prove DIRECTV rather than make further acquisitions. (Curwen, 1999). In 2005 News Corporation bought inter-mix media which holds myspace.com and many other famous social networking websites. In 2007 News Corporation attained Dow Jones, the publishers of the famous Wall Street Journal for $ 5.6 billion (News Corporation Annual Report, 2007) One of Murdochs moves has lead to a shift in the Australian market as he announced to move the head quarters from his native land to the U.S. This has created uproars and criticism by many, however the U.S. government subsided this protest by announcing that this move was in the best interest of the U.S. market (Shah, 2004). Expansion to the Asian Markets News Corporation further expanded to the Asian media market in the mid 1990s by investing in a joint venture with Phoenix TV and Star TV. Star TV then acquired Hutchvision Hong Kong Ltd; the very first satellite television licence in 1998. Very soon Star TV in China realised that Pan Asian broadcasting was not a practical strategy to adopt for Asian markets. Hence, it divided the media services into northern and southern i.e. China and India, respectively, as their main target. The flourishing Zee TV which is a joint venture of Star TV in India broadcasted in their native language Hindi further emphasised for Star TV to go local. Therefore Star TV continuously was on a quest to seek joint venture prospects in the district (Chalaby, 2005) News Corporation has used an array of strategies to consolidate its position in Asia, potentially the worlds biggest television market.(Thussu, 2000, p. 112). STAR TV network was set up to cater Asian audiences to global corporations and promoters. The enhancement of technology in satellites and dishes as well as the rapid expansion of liberalization and government deregulation certifies a concrete broadcasting future in Asia. STAR TV aims to stay in Asia on the very top of Satellite broadcasting. To capitalize on viewership Star TV is moving towards local language fare (McPhail, 2006) Star TV has assertively taken on the strategy of indigenisation in offering localized channels. This is truly an example of going glocal this strategy demonstrates how the global can include both the transnational and geo-culture by nominating the local to sustain the leading flow. Their localized channels include Star Chinese channel (for Taiwan), Star Japan, Star Plus and Star News for India, VIVIA cinema for the Philippines. ESPN Star Sports a joint venture of ESPN and Star to provide coverage of Pan Asian and international sports event is Asia. Murdochs Star Select are gradually localizing their content to cross into the gulf region. This Arabisation includes the use of subtitles for American programs and sensitising language as well as the depictions of sex and nudity (Thussu, 2006). In Asia News Corporation are faced with many burdens; political, economical, cultural and social. In order to eliminate these barriers to entry this works hand-in-hand with morality, democracy as well as with capitalism. This liberation of mechanisms for Asia is a result of communication, capitalism and democracy which create greater access, choice prosperity and social equality (Weber, 1995). Conclusion With News Corporation Murdoch has created an international empire of media, technology and sports franchise. His vast multimedia holdings have always been global in nature. With satellite system in Europe (BSkyB) Asia (Star TV) and North America (direct TV) Murdoch may be on his way to create a global media infrastructure (McPhail, 2006). There are three main strategies News Corporations business model is based on vertical control and horizontal networking, vicious quest of market expansion and the leveraging of community, and political elite opinion. In context of globalisation theory the company has been steadily occupied in structuring a foundation of geographically dispersed assets via mergers and acquisitions, direct foreign investment and strategic partnerships. This mechanism is interconnected, equally fundamental and established on the capability of Murdoch to build connection between media, political and economic system in the joint ventures of the corporations financial development (Arsenault and Castells, 2008) News Corporation consists of many various businesses within the umbrella of the company and therefore when examining the overall strategy of News Corporation, one needs to understand and scrutinize the various, individual, tactics that each sub-business applies in order to stay ahead of their competition in each respected industry. When examining Murdochs growth-tactics, in order to expand the News Corporation Empire, it would be adequate to state that he practices very aggressive strategies despite the industry divergences. In the print industry the company has adopted a cost-leadership strategy (van den Bosch, de Man, 1997), in order to monopolize the industry competition. When it comes to the television media, i.e. Fox, the company has spread in many directions, and their assets are vertically integrated to live up to the strategies of expansion in order to benefit from long-term returns. News Corporation has always been in quest to search power more than distribution, and the introduction of new digital technologies has created an opportunity to develop that type of power. The proceedings that help the continuous growth of News Corporation are the mature, non-digital distribution activities. Murdoch complies with a three-phase strategy in which profitable, high growth old businesses move the company ahead and please investors while mature parts of the company fund the growth areas of the future. (Turow, 2009). Diversification of News Corporation might create a possibility to enhance the position as more than one sector of the business is experiencing damaging changes. The major issue with that would be that Company would have to either adjust to an absolutely new business, or they would have to stick to what they know and hope they can keep ahead in the media market. Globally News Corporation thinks of itself more grandly than other media conglomerates. Like Disney another major media conglomerate, News Corporation necessitates for synergy among subsidiaries, global reach, and the use of new technologies. Unlike the other giants, News Corporation does not run on a business model of an official planning department. Criticism has been highlighted upon the way the company does not undertake acquisitions on the grounds of comprehending synergies with the core businesses, but mainly have the incentive of acquiring an asset on a lower price and selling it for a significant profit after it has been turned around. Due to which News Corporation lacks the connectivity to exploit synergies to its full capacity. The company is vastly spread out with very little connectivity. Murdochs strategic vision has always composed of expansion as the key factor. He has deserted his 1980s high-debt strategy, and has substituted it with more conservative management style. This allows him to be less dependent and exempts him from creating short-term shareholder value and rather focusing on long-term vision even if shareholders and financial markets would likely oppose such actions (Freedman, 1996). Murdochs strategies at times seemed risky and unsuitable and were against market norms but his commendable ability to handle the media industry, his fearless risk taking approach, joint with his exemplary familiarity of the media industries and his mystifying capability to sense the popular pulse, still lead to his extraordinary success (Thussu, 2000) Rupert Murdoch is a businessman. He has built News Corporations competitive advantage by continuing to maintain control of his joint ventures with other media giants and by leveraging his ability to influence audiences around the world in order to gain political favours. Authority in every system is attained on the foundation of safe entrant to the others. According to this point of view, Murdochs authority is not bound to a particular association with a political actor in a nation at any one point in time. What really matters is his control over multiple connecting points (Arsenault and Castells, 2008). Murdoch quoted The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore, It will be the fast beating the slow (Chappelle, 2007).

E-Business Distribution Systems and Value Strategies

E-Business Distribution Systems and Value Strategies Srishti Mittal What is a business portal? Ans. The term business portal is used to describe a feature on a company website that allows authorized users to access restricted content or information. This tool is growing in popularity, as it provides a single gateway for staff to access different applications. Some of the most common features of a business portal include customer relationship management, expense submissions, recording of staff time, and requesting vacation days. The technology required to create and maintain a business portal has decreased significantly in price in the past few years, making it much more feasible for both small and medium size enterprises. There are two primary aspects to the creation of a business portal: hardware and software. The hardware used varies widely, depending on the applications that are going to be distributed via this tool, the target user group, number of users, and reliance on other systems. The greater the number of users and the more robust the services, the more hardware that is required to support them. Many projects begin as a proof of concept, and then quickly expand. Make sure your hardware is sized to meet the needs of your users. What is meant by the term co-opetition? Ans. Coopetition or Co-opetition (sometimes spelled coopertition or co-opertition) is a neologism coined to describe cooperative competition. Coopetition is a portmanteau of cooperation and competition. Basic principles of co-opetitive structures have been described in game theory, a scientific field that received more attention with the book Theory of Games and Economic Behavior in 1944 and the works of John Forbes Nash on non-cooperative games. It is also applied in the fields of political science and economics and even universally [works of V. Frank Asaro, J.D.: Universal Co-opetition,2011, and The Tortoise Shell Code, novel, 2012]. Coopetition occurs when companies interact with partial congruence of interests. They cooperate with each other to reach a higher value creation if compared to the value created without interaction, and struggle to achieve competitive advantage. What is a first mover? Ans. In marketing, first-mover advantage or FMA is the advantage gained by the initial (first-moving) significant occupant of a market segment. It may be referred to as Technological Leadership. This advantage may stem from the fact that the first entrant can gain control of resources that followers may not be able to match Sometimes, the first mover is not able to capitalize on its advantage, leaving the opportunity for another firm to gain second-mover advantage. What is meant by a frictionless market? Ans. A Frictionless market is a financial market without transaction costs. Friction is a type of market incompleteness. Every complete market is frictionless, but the converse does not hold. In a frictionless market the solvency cone is the halfspace normal to the unique price vector. The Black-Scholes model assumes a frictionless market. What does SWOT stand for? Ans. The abbreviation SWOT is commonly used in reference to strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. SWOT may also stand for Sydney welcome orientation and transition, student with outstanding talent, study without teacher or special weapons for operations timelines. Exercises: List the strategic alternatives can e-business businesses are using. Ans. Business environments are highly uncertain and executives need to be innovative and flexible to survive. They achieve this through strategic alternatives that enable their companies to maintain a competitive edge over rivals. For instance, executives can adapt through safer small investments or risky and costly changes, according to the Harvard Business Review. Some alternative strategies include price focus, differentiation, diversification and adjacent businesses. Price Focus Price focus is a market niche strategy where a company competes on cost. This strategy targets a small buyer segment and the company needs to have a low-cost structure compared to rivals. This strategy is effective when a business is new, it cannot pursue a bigger market, customer segments are different, or when no other competitor is focusing on the targeted segment. Differentiation In cases where competition is stiff because of the proliferation of similar products, a company can come up with features that differentiate their products or services from those of rivals. The differentiating features need to be valuable to customers so that they are ready to pay premiums for them, and difficult for rivals to copy. When introducing new features, executives need to ensure that the product is affordable and that it complements customer’s needs. What advantages can pioneering firms gain? Ans. One of the most valuable competitive brand strategies any company can undertake is what I refer to as the Pioneer Advantage. The Pioneer Advantage is what the name implies: being first to enter an emerging market or creating a new market altogether. Business history is full of pioneer companies that have outsold the latecomers for years. Market pioneers Coca-Cola, Tide, Pitney-Bowes, Lipton Tea, and Levi Strauss continue to be the best selling or most profitable brands in their categories. The competitive advantages are significant for the market pioneer. One of the most significant advantages the pioneer owns is product awareness. There is much research that shows that buyers do not recall all brands equally. The customer is more familiar with certain brands over others and they will recall those brands more easily. The Pioneer is most likely the highest profile of any brand in the category and, as a result, it is often recalled first. How can an e-business build barriers to other businesses? Ans. Today, people often turn to the Internet first for information about businesses and products – whether they are shopping online, or simply looking for a business’ address or phone number – making an online presence one of the most important assets for any business; not just to share information, but to build credibility. According to a recent survey of millions of consumers by Weebly, 56 percent said they do not trust a business without a website. List some of the advantages of having a brand name. Ans. Successful brand-building helps profitability by â€Å"adding values† that customers are prepared to pay for. Strong brands inspire customer loyalty leading to repeat sales and word-of mouth recommendation. The brand owner can usually charge higher prices, especially if the brand is the market leader. Better access to distribution retailers, distributors and other sellers usually want to stock top selling brands. With limited shelf space it is more likely the top brands will be on the shelf than less well-known brands What are some of the advantages of having large amounts of resources for competing on the Internet? Ans. competition is the rivalry among sellers trying to achieve such goals as increasing profits, market share, and sales volume by varying the elements of the marketing mix: price, product, distribution, and promotion. Merriam-Webster defines competition in business as the effort of two or more parties acting independently to secure the business of a third party by offering the most favorable termsIt was described by Adam Smith n The Wealth of Nations (1776) and later economists as allocating productive resources to their most highly-valued uses and encouraging efficiency. Smith and other classical economist before Cournot were referring to price and non-price rivalry among producers to sell their goods on best terms by bidding of buyers, not necessarily to a large number of sellers nor to a market in final equilibrium. Later microeconomic theory distinguished between perfect competition and imperfect competition, concluding that no system of resource allocation is more Pareto efficient hand perfect competition. Competition, according to the theory, causes commercial firms to develop new products, services and technologies, which would give consumers greater selection and better products. The greater selection typically causes lower prices for the products, compared to what the price would be if there was no competition (monopoly) or little competition (oligopoly). It is generally accepted that competition results in lower prices and a greater number of goods delivered to more people. Less competition is perceived to exhibit higher prices with a fewer number of goods delivered to fewer people. Describe the different types of Internet portals and whom they target. Ans. A portal may use a search engine API to permit users to search intranet content as opposed to extranet content by restricting which domains may be searched. Apart from this common search engines feature, web portals may offer other services such as e-mail, news, stock quotes, and information from databases and even entertainment content. Portals provide a way for enterprises and organizations to provide a consistent look and feel it access control and procedures for multiple applications and databases, which otherwise would have been different web entities at various URLs. The features available may be restricted by whether access is by an authorized and authenticated user (employee, member) or an anonymous site visitor. Examples of early public web portals were AOL, Excite, Netvibes, iGoogle, MSN, Naver, Indiatimes, Rediff, Sify and Yahoo.. See for example, the My Yahoo! feature of Yahoo! which may have inspired such features as the later Google iGoogle (soon to be discontinued.) The configurable side-panels of, for example, the modern Opera browser and the option of Speed Dial pages by most browsers continue to reflect the earlier portal metaphor. How can firms use alliances and acquisitions to gain advantages? Ans. A strategic alliance is when two or more businesses join together for a set period of time. The businesses, usually, are not in direct competition, but have similar products or services that are directed toward the same target audience. Alliance means cooperation between groups that produces better results that can be gained. Because competitive markets keep improving what you can get from transactions, an alliance must stay ahead of the market by making continuous advances.1 Strategic alliance is a primary form of strategic alliance is a partnership between firms whereby resources, capabilities, and combined to pursue mutual interests. Professional Development: Choose and industry. Develop a business model for how that industry currently operates and then develop an e-business based model. Identify how this new model can gain a competitive advantage over other models in the industry. Ans. Amazon is a classic business model, it uses the Internet to get maximum leverage out of its fixed assets, and once it achieves enough volume of sales, the sum total of profits from all those sales exceed its fixed cost base, and it turns a profit. It already has exceeded this hurdle in its past. References Kleindl, B. (2002). Strategic electronic marketing : managing e-business. Cleveland, Ohio: Thomson/South-Western.

The Milgram Experiment :: Papers

The Milgram Experiment A lesson in depravity, peer pressure, and the power of authority The aftermath of the Holocaust and the events leading up to World War II, the world was stunned with the happenings in Nazi German and their acquired surrounding territories that came out during the Eichmann Trials. Eichmann, a high ranking official of the Nazi Party, was on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The questions is, "Could it be that Eichmann, and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them all accomplices?" Stanley Milgram answered the call to this problem by performing a series of studies on the Obedience to Authority. Milgram's work began at Harvard where he was working towards his Ph.D. The experiments on which his initial research was based were done at Yale from 1961-1962. In response to a newspaper ad offering $4.50 for one hour's work, an individual turns up to take part in a Psychology experiment investigating memory and learning. He is introduced to a stern looking experimenter in a white coat and a rather pleasant and friendly co-subject. The experimenter explains that the experiment will look into the role of punishment in learning, and that one will be the "teacher" and one will be the "learner." Lots are drawn to determine roles, and it is decided that the individual who answered the ad will become the "teacher." [IMAGE]Your co-subject is taken to a room where he is strapped in a chair to prevent movement and an electrode is placed on his arm. Next, the "teacher" is taken to an adjoining room which contains a generator. The "teacher" is instructed to read a list of two word pairs and ask the "learner" to read them back. If the "learner" gets the answer correct, then they move on to the next word. If the answer is incorrect, the "teacher" is supposed to shock the "learner" starting at 15 volts. The generator has 30 switches in 15 volt increments, each is labeled

Understanding Culture Essay -- Sociology

Culture, is defined by Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, as "the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon man's capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations." People learn about culture through interaction rather than through the memorization of a text. To become fluent in any one culture you have to experience it and become involved. There are many ways that a culture can be shared among people without them being fluent in it such as through: food, customs, clothing, language, beliefs, and behaviors. With the increase of technology and new discoveries about the world developing daily it makes it impossible for cultures to remain stagnant; therefore, they must learn how to adapt in order to survive. Some people argue that complete cultural fluency in more than one culture is impossible. However, culture is a learned behavior therefore people should be able to learn and become fluent in more than one. Culture is distinctly human and is transmitted through learning traditions and customs that govern behavior. Cultural anthropologists study human society and culture through describing, analyzing, interpreting and explaining social and cultural similarities and differences. To study and interpret cultural diversity they engage in two activities which are ethnography and ethnology. Ethnography is based on fieldwork while ethnology is based on cross-cultural comparisons of the information collected through ethnography. The studies done on culture can be shared in two ways: first through theoretical or academic anthropology and second through practical or applied anthropology. An example of academic anthropology, which teaches us about culture, is a textbook ... ...nity. An example is the way they raised and slaughtered animals rather than buying them packaged at a store. Although a year may not be enough time to become fluent in a culture, the stories of the students living abroad prove that a person can learn and become part of more than one culture. Culture is what defines the difference between humans and animals. We grow up in a culture which influences who we are and how we live. Through studying different cultures we learn more about our own culture, ourselves, our strengths, and weaknesses. Yet to become fluent a person cannot simply study a culture, rather they must be on an interactive level and experience the culture first hand. Sources Cited http://www.merriam-webster.com/ Kottak, Conrad "Cultural Anthropology: Appreciating Cultural Diversity." McGraw-Hill Education; 15 edition, October 11, 2012

Pedro Paramo Essay

The novel Pedro Paramo is about a young man who loses his mother and decides to take a journey to a ghost town called Comala to find his father, but instead dies of fear and finds out his father is dead. A central theme that runs through Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Paramo is the nature of hope and despair in a person’s life, which Rulfo demonstrates by Pedro Paramo’s love for Susana, Juan Preciado’s journey to Comala for his father, and Susana San Juan’s desire for her deceased husband. Rulfo exhibits Pedro Paramo’s hope for a future with Susana as a sometimes- ositive nature followed by the negative nature of despair he experiences from her demise. Pedro talks about how he has hoped Susana would return to him after many years of being gone since they were children: â€Å"I waited thirty years for you to return, Susana. I wanted to have it all. Not just part of it, but everything there was to have, to the point that there would be nothing left for us to want, no desire but your wishes† (Rulfo 82). Pedro has been persistent about Susana’s return after a long thirty years. He has loved for Susana since their childhood when they flew kites together, and thinks she will come to ove him upon her return. He went through all the trouble to gain power and land out of the hope that Susana would return and he could meet any request she wished. Pedro is talking to Don Fulgor about the plan to get rid of Susana’s father Bartolome San Juan: â€Å"We need it to be so. She must be left without family. We’re called on to look after those in need. You agree with that, don’t you† (Rolfo 85)? Pedro still hopes that Susana will realize she needs to return to him and come to love him. He believes that it will be easier for her to realize this once Don Fulgor as an order kills her father in the mines. Once he is alone with Susana he plans to comfort her now that her father is not with her or a distraction anymore. Pedro is miserable because Susana has just died: â€Å"I will cross my arms and Comala will die of hunger. † (Rulfo 117) Pedro is mainly portrayed as a selfish man, but not when it comes to Susana. According to Dorotea Pedro really did love Susana and wanted the best for her. When she died he lost it, he plummeted into depression and did not speak to anyone, because Susana meant the most to him. He promised vengeance on the town of Comala for not caring enough about Susana’s death. He choose to sit down and watch Comala collapse, because no money would circulate through the town since he owned all of it. The character Juan is like Pedro because he based his choice to go on a journey on a ray of hope only to fall into the shadows of despair. Rulfo displays Juan Preciado’s search for his father in Comala is based on hope of finding answers to his questions about his father, but is greeted with melancholy news. Juan’s mother Doloritas has just died and she had asked him to go to Comala and make Pedro pay them back for not being there to be a husband or father: â€Å"But before I knew it y head began to swim with dreams and my imagination took flight. Little by Little I began to build a world around a hope centered of the man called Pedro Paramo, the man who had been my mother’s husband. That was why I had come to Comala† (Rulfo 3). Juan’s mother wanted him to go to Comala to get what he deserves from Pedro and receive payback, but Juan quickly changed his mind about why he was going to Comala. Juan has never seen his father so he is quite ecstatic to see who Pedro is and what he looks like. Juan hopes that he will arrive in Comala to find his father Pedro and start a ew life for himself, and that they will develop a father and son relationship. Juan has received some disappointing information about his father from Abundio: â€Å"You were mistaken about the house. You told me the wrong place. You sent me ‘south of nowhere,’ to an abandoned village. Looking for someone who’s no longer alive† (Rulfo 8). Juan is speaking to his mother aloud out of anger about why she sent him to a ghost town to look for someone who is not alive anymore. Abundio had told Juan that Pedro was dead and that he represented ‘living bile’ to him. Juan has been stripped of any hope he had about is plans to find his father Pedro and answer any questions. Juan is dead and is in a coffin talking with Dorotea: â€Å"You’d have done better to stay home. Why did you come here? I told you that at the very beginning. I came her to find Pedro Paramo, who they say was my father. Hope brought me here† (Rulfo 60). Juan reminds Dorotea that he came to Comala to find his father mainly because he had hope. It is tragic how Juan dies out of fear and without any hope but sorrow. Juan died with despair knowing that his father Pedro was a horrible man and a dead man. Juan has lost his own life and everyone close o him, just like Susana who has lost her lover and father only to loose her own life shortly after. Rulfo demonstrates that Susana San Juan hopes to reunite with her deceased husband due to her craziness, and that once she figures out he is dead she does not know how to live without him. Susana is in her home dreaming about her deceased husband Florencio: â€Å"And what I want is his body. Naked and hot with love; boiling with desire; stroking my trembling breast and arms. My transparent body suspended from his. My lustful body held and released by his strength† (Rulfo 100-101). Upon her return to Pedro Susana persistently hopes that her dead husband will return to her. She believes this because she was driven crazy by a series of grave robbing’s with her father at a young age. She hopes for his return so much that she often has intense dreams with detailed memories of her lover. Susana is in her bed thinking about her dream she just had: â€Å"What shall I do now with my lips without his lips to cover them? What shall become of my poor lips† (Rulfo 101)? Susana has now realized that her deceased husband Florencio will never come back to life. She has suddenly lost all of her hope and is now filled with espair and fear of what will come. She never plans on being with Pedro and worries about what will happen to her lips since her deceased husband is the only one she wanted kissing her lips. Pedro is thinking about Susana in his thoughts while she is sleeping: â€Å"But what world was Susana San Juan living in? That was one of the things Pedro Paramo would never know† (Rulfo 95). Susana might live in the normal world but does not act like it, because she has crazy thoughts and dreams. Pedro will never know what is going on with Susana. She is always thinking about her dead husband because she lives in denial and is on Fantasy Island. The novel Pedro Paramo was about a young man who lost his mother and decided to take a journey to a ghost town called Comala to find his father, but instead died of fear and found out his father was dead. Juan Rulfo used the concept of the nature of hope and despair in a person’s life as a central theme for Pedro Paramo, and demonstrated it by using Pedro Paramo’s love for Susana, Juan Preciado’s journey to Comala for his father, and Susana San Juan’s desire for her past husband. Rulfo’s novel Pedro Paramo is an insightful source of how quickly a person’s hope can be taken and turned into despair.

Letters Home From Vietnam Review Essay

The powerful emotions triggered through watching this film can be acknowledged without question. What I found the most interesting was the use of real news footage from that time period that aired on major news networks, swaying people’s opinions about our justification for being in Vietnam. Being able to view that gave me a 1st hand look into soldiers’ opinions of the war as well as protests and how they differed then. The actors reading the leaders with pure emotion and feeling in order to accurately portray how much these soldiers put into these letters was remarkable because I felt as though I was experiencing that time period as if it were real and the soldiers were scrambling to write as I watched on. The stories they depicted throughout their words definitely provided for a flurry of reactions. I wanted to be happy for those men honored for combat, living through the horrors of hell, and seeing the relief on their faces when being honorably discharged and sent home. I was equally and oppositely somber, however, for those men’s lives stolen in combat, for those permanently crippled and bitter, to hear of the unspeakable horrors awaiting prisoners of war, as well as letters from optimistic soldiers killed in action shortly after. Another thing I found effectively executed by this film was the specific numbers given. They showed the variation in the number of soldiers deployed to Vietnam over the course of the war, as well as the rising KIA numbers and wounded in combat. A gruesome part of this war as well was the thick jungle that the soldiers had to navigate through blindly until ambushed by the Vietcong, and I thought the film did an excellent job of revealing that to the public. One of the most powerful moments of the film was when a soldier, grieving over his superior officer exclaimed that â€Å"he’ll be given a silver star, and somehow that is supposed to suffice for his life being taken.†