Prefrontal Cortex Vs Criminal Behavior

This very broad overview of prefrontal cortex function allows us to appreciate circumstances in which prefrontal cortex function is compromised in a human. Humans comprise a special case when considering this brain region. Despite evidence that the prefrontal cortex in rodents and non-human primates regulates cognition and behavior in ways quite similar to that of the human, we are the most ‘frontal’ of species, insofar as the frontal cortex is its largest, in both absolute and relative terms, in the human.The first realm to consider where prefrontal cortex function is compromised in humans is, quite reasonably, during development. Children show only minimal frontal function, from the standpoints of cognition (for example, in reversal tasks), emotional regulation, control of impulsive behavior and moral reasoning. One of the myths of child development is that the brain is fully developed at some remarkably early age. Instead, brain development is far more prolonged and, not surprisingly, the prefrontal cortex is the last region of the brain to fully myelinate. Remarkably, this process extends well beyond adolescence into early adulthood. Various transient states can compromise prefrontal cortex function.Alcohol is long recognized for its capacity to impair reasoning and impulse control, and surprisingly small quantities of alcohol impair the capacity of the prefrontal cortex to detect errors of commission or omission, as assessed electro-physiologically.Another example concerns stress. Most individuals have experienced severe and/orprolonged stress as disrupting attention, judgment and other purviews of the prefrontal cortex, and this has been shown more formally in both humans and animals;In making sense of this, it should be appreciated that the prefrontal cortex contains some of the highest levels of receptors in the primate brain for stress hormones. Moreover, stress or stress hormones will dramatically alter the turnover of several classes of neurotransmitters in the prefrontal cortex.Prefrontal cortex function is also compromised in another circumstance experienced by all individuals. With the onset of sleep and the transition to deep, slow wave sleep, there is a characteristic decrease in activity throughout the brain, particularly in the cortex. However, with the transition to paradoxical rapid eye movement sleep, there is increased activity in a variety of brain regions, including associational cortex and limbic systems; strikingly, metabolic rate can even be higher than during wake periods.Amid this shift, there is a virtually complete cessation of activity in the prefrontal cortex, producing a relatively metabolically active brain that is unconstrained by the regulatory effects of the prefrontal cortex. It has been speculated that this, in effect, accounts for why dreams are ‘dream-like’: characterized by emotional liability, non-sequential thinking and extreme disinhibition.Amid that, general intellig ence and executive function can remain intact. By contrast, when damage occurs at earlier ages, executive function is impaired and the impulsivity  takes on a more global and malign nature that has been termed ‘acquired sociopathy’, where antisocial behaviors can be markedly premeditated. The issue of brain development becomes relevant when considering individuals with sociopathic and antisocial behavior in which there is no obvious history of prefrontal cortex damage.Moreover, when sociopaths must engage the prefrontal cortex, they activate more of the prefrontal cortex than control individuals to achieve the same level of efficacy. In other words, even when these individuals actively attempt to do the ‘harder thing’, their prefrontal cortexes are less effective. Importantly, among such sociopathic individuals, the smaller the volume of the prefrontal cortex, the greater the tendency towards aggressive and antisocial behavior.The Prefrontal Cortex and th e Criminal Justice System:We have come to recognize numerous realms in which a biological abnormality gives rise to aberrant behavior, and such recognition has often then given rise to an expectation that people now exert higher-order control over that abnormality. For example, as noted, we would never consider an epileptic violent who strikes someone in the process of a seizure: ‘it is not him; it is his disease’. However, we expect that pileptic to not drive a car if their seizures are uncontrolled. Or we are coming to understand the euro chemistry of context-dependence relapse into drug dependency in organisms. Thus, we have come to expect ex-addicts to avoid the settings in which they previously abused drugs.There is a false dichotomy in this manner of thinking. It is as if we artificially demarcate an area in which biology dominates: yes, there is something organic that gives rise tothis person having uncontrolled and synchronous neuronal discharges, or who has cer tain pathways potentiated that project onto dopamine-releasing ‘pleasure’ pathways. But it is as if, with that area of organic impairment identified and given credence, we expect it to be bounded, and for the rest of our ‘us-ness’, replete with free will, to now shoulder the responsibility of keeping that organic impairment within the confines of its boundaries. It cannot possibly work this way.What the literature about the prefrontal cortex shows is that there is a reductive, materialistic neurobiology to the containment, resulting in the potential for volitional control to be impaired just as unambiguously as any other aspect of brain function. It is possible to know the difference between right and wrong but for reasons of organic impairment, to not be able to do the right thing. The most obvious implication of this concerns how individuals with demonstrable prefrontal cortex damage are treated in the criminal justice system. As the simplest conclusion, everything about this realm of contemporary neurobiology argues against the retrenchment back towards a sole reliance on M’Naghten that has gone on in recent decades.Amid the seeming obviousness of this conclusion, there is always a valid counter-point that can be raised: there are individuals with substantial amounts of prefrontal cortex damage who, nonetheless, do not commit crimes. At present, knowing that someone has sustained prefrontal cortex damage does not give much power in predicting whether that person’s disinhibition will take the form of serial murder or merely being unable to praise a nearly inedible meal prepared by a host. This seems to weaken the ‘volition can be organically impaired, just like any other aspect of brain function’ argument; in these interstices of unpredictability seem to dwell free will.However, we can begin to imagine tree diagrams of variables that, with each new layer, add more predictive power. We can already see two l ayers in the realm of prefrontal cortex function. The first layer might query, ‘prefrontal cortex: normal or damaged?’   The second might then query, ‘if damaged: damaged in childhood or later?’ This same structure of increasing predictive power was shown in a recent, landmark study concerning clinical depression.Having a particular variant of the gene 5-HTT (which codes for a protein that regulates synaptic levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin) increases the risk of depression. However, ‘5-HTT: pro-depressive variant or other variant?’ gives only a moderate predictive power, but the authors then demonstrated the adding in of a second layer, ‘if the pro-depressive variant: major stressors during childhood or not?’ now generates an impressive predictive power as to which adults succumb to clinical depression. If free will lurks in those interstices, those crawl spaces are certainly shrinking.Recent U.S College Case Study:By Da niel Strueber, Monika Lueck and Gerhard Roth.On September 13, 2006, Kimveer Gill walked into the cafeteria at Dawson College in Montreal and, without apparent motive, shot 21 people, injuring 19 and killing two, including himself. The same day a judge in West  ­Virginia sent a woman to jail for, among other atrocities, forcing her six children and stepchildren to gorge themselves on food and then eat their own vomit. Also on the 13th, a court in New York sentenced a man for killing his girlfriend by setting her on fire–in front of her 10-year-old son. There was nothing special about that Wednesday. From around the world we hear reports of murder, manslaughter, cruelty and abuse every day. Violence is ubiquitous.But what drives one person to kill, maim or abuse another, sometimes for little or no obvious reason–and why do so many violent offenders return to crime after serving time in prison? Are these individuals incapable of any other behavior? We have evaluated the results of studies conducted around the world, focusing on acts ranging from fistfights to murder, in search of the psychobiological roots of violence. Our key conclusion is simple: violent behavior never erupts from a single cause. Rather it results from a combination of risk factors–among them inherited tendencies, a traumatic childhood and other negative experiences–that interact and aggravate one another. This realization has a silver lining: positive influences may be able to offset some of those factors that promote violence, possibly offering hope for prevention.Indeed, male gender is the most important risk factor for violent behavior. As criminal statistics show, boys and young men commit the majority of physical assaults. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's statistics on crime in the U.S., 90.1 percent of murderers apprehended in 2004 were male and men accounted for 82.1 percent of the total number arrested for violent crimes. Girls and women are not necessarily less aggressive, as was assumed until the 1990s. But women engage in more indirect, covert aggression, whereas men tend toward immediate, outward physical aggression.The causes of these gender differences are manifold. Learned sex roles certainly enter into it: â€Å"girls don't hit,† for example, but â€Å"boys need to be able to defend themselves.† Also, indirect aggressive strategies require a relatively high level of social intelligence, which girls develop earlier and faster. Moreover, neuropsychological discrepancies almost certainly play a role. The small group of males who exhibit chronic violent behavior from an early age typically share other telltale traits, among them a low tolerance for frustration,  ­deficiencies in learning social rules, attention problems, a decreased capacity for empathy, low intelligence and, most characteristic, extreme  ­impulsiveness.Similarly, repeat offenders–particularly those who have long prison records seem unable to keep their aggressive urges in check. The late neu ­roscientist Ernest S. Barratt and his colleagues at the University of Texas Medical Branch interviewed imprisoned criminals in Texas in 1999 and found that many inmates consistently picked fights, even though they knew that their lives would be made more difficult as a result. When asked why they continued to behave in ways that hurt them, many responded that they had no idea. Even though they understood the consequences and resolved to act with greater self-control the next time, they did not trust their own ability to keep their impulses at bay.Preliminary research indicates that biology may handicap some of these individuals, making it more difficult for them to show restraint. Among violent offenders, neuroscientists have found anatomical and physiological differences in both the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex, brain regions that are involved in the development and control of emotions. Some sci entists propose that the orbitofrontal cortex, a region of the prefrontal cortex where decision making takes place, inhibits areas of the limbic system–specifically the hypothalamus and the amygdala, primitive brain regions that are a source of fear and aggressive impulses. Thus, if some defect or injury impairs communication between the limbic system and the frontal cortex, a person might not be entirely able to moderate his or her emotional reactions.References:1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   www.scientificamericanmind.com2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   www.nature.com/mp/journal/v8/n2/full/4001256a.html3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   www. jnnp.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/71/6/7204.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=16934455.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   www.sciammind.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=33EF147A-E7F2-99DF-3696EF69D814FCFF

Why did Project Baton fail? Essay

1. The two teams concentrated on different parts of the product, Indian team focus on lowering the cost while the US team on the design. Actually they did not corporate well; 2. The time difference (reasons for the late conference calls), different communication styles and different working styles caused misunderstanding and distrust; 3. The success of Fiit Project did not provide Indian team much experience of working internationally. Production 1. The outset issues caused the quality of the component of the product (the noise problem); 2. The cost of Project Baton is very difficult to cut; 3. The Indian team had the experience of EKG production but they did not have enough experience of stress test system; 4. The components from Asian suppliers were often delayed. Management 1. Unexpected departure of manager caused chaos for several weeks, delaying the project; 2. The initial goal of the project was too ambitious and too fast than comparable projects, which is difficult to achieve; 3. The project was far behind the schedule, causing heavy cash burden on the company. Should Bella India take on Project TKO and develop an EKG specifically for the local market? I believe Bella should start the Project TKO. 1. India has the manufacturing advantages such as well-trained, extremely motivated and English-speaking engineers and lower-cost labor. 2. From previous experience (both success and failure), the teams have gained experience in working globally, which is valuable assets for the company. 3. Other competitors (China & Korea) that could use lower labor costs in manufacturing EKG would not be able to produce high quality products in the near future. 4. Both the demand and purchasing power of the emerging market (such as India) are growing. 5. Also, Indian patients are getting heart disease symptoms at younger age; and there are approximately 30 million CAD patients in India, which is a huge potential market. 6. Bella already has an India team, which could help the company to achieve a â€Å"local for local† R&D strategy. This would help the TKO product targeted on Indian market

Service Oriented Software Engineering Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Service Oriented Software Engineering - Article Example The platforms based on Component Based Development, such as CORBA, Java Beans, and.NET, are such standards for developing complex Web-based systems. The increasing interest in web based services has made the industry to provide platform-independent software resources (W3C, 2004). The Internet, can be used as a provider of different kinds of services. Using Web services, organisations are now able to expose their main and the most important business processes on the Internet as a collection of services. The main issue is not about using web services as a new technology but in how best to make use of web service technology and therefore how to integrate them properly. We need to apply well-defined engineering approaches to ensure we will not end up with an accumulation of unusable services (which might be functional in theory). The goal is to collaborate and coordinate between components that provide these services. Service Oriented Software Engineering (SOSE) is the approach used for this purpose. The first and main concept in Service Oriented Software Engineering is â€Å"service†. The service is the descriptor of an agreement between provider of the service and its consumer. It is a reusable functionality and it is contractually defined. Service Orientation focuses on how services are described in a way to help finding appropriate services at run time dynamically. Service orientation is based on the idea that a service requester is not necessarily in need of one particular provider. Service providers can be changed with each other as long as they follow the contract imposed by the description of the service. The main assumption in Service Orientation is the availability of services dynamically. The service registry is the entity in between the requesters and providers. It contains a set of service descriptions and their related providers. It helps with service publication, removal, and discovery. Service composition represents the way to use a set of

China's middle class Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

China's middle class - Assignment Example Within the discourse of this study, the role of the middle class in the political affairs and other national revolutions have been highlighted like the most recent protest of 2012 against the expansion of a petrochemical plant in Ningbo city. Furthermore, the study also puts forward reflections on a comparison between the middle class of China and other capitalist countries as well as an evaluation of Chinese middle class and Asian countries. China’s Middle Class Resistance against the Expansion of a Chemical Plant On October 28, 2012 thousands of Chinese people clashed with the police in an anti- government demonstration against the expansion of a chemical plant- a petrochemical factory in Ningbo city. According to the protestors, the chemical plant would risk the lives of common people while damaging the health of the public because of the increased chances of pollution. As a result of this protest, the government indulgence and concession in the matter indicate its motivati on to meet the demands of the rising protestors (Wong, 2012). This scenario also indicates a leadership transition which may prove to introduce a new rule in the Communist China. Since 1990s, various other similar events of resistance have been occurred in urban areas like Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai. Sometimes, homeowners’ resisted for their interests or emerging middle class stood against authoritarian regimes. Whatever, the reasons were, the ultimate goal was to bring change within existing political framework. In this regard, the role of the middle class cannot be denied at any level. Their role is most often regarded as a significant driving force towards democratization especially in a non- democratic- authoritarian regime (Dolven 2003, pp. 35- 37). So, here the matter of concern is that who is considered the middle class of China and how they are rising to bring forward a change? Who is the Part of Middle Class in China? Basically, middle class of china involves a section of households who have annual income between $10,000- $60,000. While cost of living in this region of the world greatly varies, however, by a rule of thumb a person is supposed to be a part of middle class if he/ she is able to spend one third of his income at his own discretion. The middle class of China is concentrated, mostly, in big cities where educated people can find better opportunities to maintain the standards of their lives. In this way the middle class is enjoying stable jobs at one end like white collar professionals as well as serving in multinationals and some people also offering their services in state owned corporations. Most of the people forming this section of society belong to age group between 25 and 45- the active population group of the society who wants to boost their lives on the same footings as Americans and European nations have gone through. However, this middle class section in China just appeared in the last 20 years because of continuous eco nomic growth and infrastructure development. This economic growth has developed a new social group that can enjoy, relatively, better facilities and higher income. The people of this section can own their property like cars and houses as well. Simply speaking, this group owns a societal stratum that is laying above the ordinary working class, however, still not the wealthiest (Dolven 2003, pp.

Business Disaster Recovery Issues and Concepts Research Paper

Business Disaster Recovery Issues and Concepts - Research Paper Example There is the wide range of activities and procedures that come under the head of business disaster recovery like regaining access to communication, data of the business that may be in form of records, hardware, and software; and different other business processes that are lost during the disaster period passed by the business. Business disaster recovery is a plan that is part of a wide and larger process known as â€Å"Business Continuing Process (BCP) Business disaster recovery is a very important process for the businesses and it is very necessary that the organizations must have adequate plans and arrangements for the management for the disaster recovery process. In order to effectively and efficiently manage the business disaster recovery process, there is an essential need for Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP). This plan increases the possibility for the business that they can successfully recover their valuable records and other business operations (Hoffer, Jim, p45, 2001). ... the result of unexpected leaving of key personnel or incidental break up of the communication process with the clients, customers, dealers and other related people (Hoffer, Jim, p45, 2001). Importance of Business Disaster Recovery Management The Disaster Recovery Journal defines the term business disaster recovery as â€Å"the ability of an organization to respond to a disaster or an interruption in services by implementing a disaster recovery plan to stabilize and restore the organization’s critical functions†. Business disaster recovery is a term that is collectively used for all the strategies and activities that are performed by an organization after a disaster in order to regain its routine business patterns and functioning. He further explains that business disaster recovery must be managed through a plan so that there could be great opportunities for the business to restore its assets on yearly basis. Business disaster recovery is a business function that comes und er the umbrella of a wide process â€Å"business continuity planning†. Disaster recovery is linked with the business continuity because disaster recovery also includes the plans and strategies that are done with the intention to keep the business going with its regular ways Issues in Business Disaster Recovery The disasters occur at any unexpected time so an organization must make some arrangements that can prevent the company from facing the disaster situation. These preparations include the arrangements for the system recovery and data storage. Moreover, the safety measures must also be followed in the companies like fire preventions so that in case of fire they can have immediate contact with the fire extinguishers through more alarms and other means.  Ã‚  

THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT OF BUSINESS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT OF BUSINESS - Essay Example A Brief History of Monopoly Law in the United States Monopolies came into being in the United States during the colonial administration. The public sector wanted to make some new world and old immigrants changes. Most companies were provided with exclusive contracts by the colonial administrations. Even after the colonial handovers, the American nation functioned effectively to ensure that the contracts and the land were held. Since then, the federal Government usually implements the antitrust laws. The laws seek to protect consumers from companies that tend to become monopolies and abuse the market. These laws include the Sherman Antitrust Act, which prevents the formation of a monopoly. If a company decides to operate in a monopolistic manner, the Act seeks to remove it from the market. In case there are any antitrust laws, the government takes charge through the office of the U.S or through the respective Attorney in the States. In this case, the United States Government and the 1 9 States filed a suit against Microsoft for operating as a monopoly. The Sherman Act forms the basis of modern-day Anti-trust legislations whose mandate is to protect consumers from wayward corporate practices that aim to exploit them. In essence, the Act tries to promote integrity in the market and for companies to operate in a competitive environment. Monopolies together with their subsidiaries or acquired companies can lead to great developments though the only downside is their control on the market. Unless monopolies prove a threat to national security, they can be embraced for the provision of certain products and services (Yao and Loo 34). Monopolization has a downside, since it is the sole supplier of certain goods and can decide to produce substandard and low quality goods (Boldrin and David 36). Monopolies create barriers to entry in the market due to large economies of scale among other factors (Yao and Loo 34). This reduces the marginal costs in producing additional unit s since the price is increased. Therefore, it is better to remove monopolies and promote competition, which will ensure good quality goods at affordable prices. This eliminates price fixing and the exploitation of end users (Boldrin and David 33). Firms may collude to operate as one in distribution of products. This is possible where the companies are involved in a similar business operate producing related products. Collusions lead to the formation of oligopolies, which reduces competition in the market. The firms can be involved in the price fixing that disadvantages the buyer. If the large firms collude, they gain the market and result in imperfect competition between the large and small firms. The firms obtain market power and thus determine prices to the disadvantage of the smaller firms. An example of oligopoly is the internet where few firm control the internet. These are shaw, Telus, Bel and Rogers. Government monopolies are usually involving in distribution of products, whi ch if left to the private sector would undergo exploitation. An example is the armed forces and the military (Lynn 22). In my opinion, Google is a monopoly company facing many criticisms most of the prompted by Microsoft. The main question has been whether Google is abusing its monopolistic position. Studies reveal that the company has been encrypting traffic for many years, and the recent changes were prompted by the USA over Kerfuffle as they attempt to force people to

Listening in Communication Process Research Paper

Listening in Communication Process - Research Paper Example These include a situation where the listener is always smiling and nodding their head. Other features could include the listener looking directly at the speaker pretending to be keenly listening. 8 Monopolizing 9 This is the type of non-listening where the listener focuses the listening on themselves but not on the speaker. It is a very selfish form of listening where the listener occasionally tries to divert the topic of discussion to themselves 9 Selective listening 9 This involves the user selecting only a small portion of the topic of discussion. This happens because the listener cannot take in everything said. So they use this type of listening as a tool to filter out some parts of the conversation. 9 Defensive listening 9 This occurs when a person perceives a personal attack on them without intent of criticizing them. For example if someone tells somebody that they have lost weight, they may think that they are being insulted that they are fat but fact will be it was only meant to compliment them. 9 Literal listening 9 This involves the listener becoming insensitive to other peoples’ feelings. This is a type of ineffective listening where the listener ignores the relationship level of the meaning. ... (2011). Essential skills: Essential speaking and listening skills. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 14 Antos, G. (2011). Handbook of interpersonal communication. The Hague, The Netherlands: Mouton De Gruyter. 14 Burstein, J. (2010). Have you heard?: Active listening. New York, NY: Crabtree Publishing. 15 Keyton, J. (2011). Communication and organizational culture: A key to understanding work experience. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 15 Keyton, J. (2010). Case studies for organizational communication: Understanding communication processes. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 15 1.0 Introduction Listening plays a very vital role in the whole communication process. Most people make a mistake of focusing on their speaking ability while forgetting the fact that it doesn’t necessarily mean good speaking will amount to good communication. The ability to listen keenly and effectively is also equally important. Importance of listening is well illustrated in our day to day activitie s and the people we interact with. For effective communication, we have to hear what the other person is saying and it is not just hearing because the acoustics are good or because the other person is speaking in a loud tone, we have to hear because we have taken time to listen carefully. Listening is an art that require to be calculated carefully and consciously. Unfortunately most education systems beginning right from kindergarten to college do not pay attention to equipping learners with effective listening skills. Poor listening is a major barrier to effective communication. It often leads to loss of messages due to wrong interpretation. Therefore listening will require conscious efforts in interpreting sounds, grasping

Legal Profession Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Legal Profession - Personal Statement Example But people with a flair for the job, may not require it at all. "You are the final judge of your own psychological type" according to Isabel Briggs Myers-[website career planning.com-29-04-09]. A basic principle is that "humans are complex" [website careerplanning.com-29-04-09]. Another principle worth remembering is that the MBTI "does not stereotype people" [website careerplanning .com-29-04-09]. These indicate that while training may be useful, it has no universal applicability. Stature: A lawyer's profession is one of the best in the world. A lawyer occupies a high position in society. We can see that a large percentage of the world's celebrities like Prime Ministers, Presidents, Ambassadors etc. had their start as lawyers. A degree in law is the qualification for the job. I will acquire it. A lawyer can set up an independent practice or take up a salaried job. The income will be high, running into 5 or 6 digits. Lawyers have plenty of openings in banks, business corporations, industrial units etc as legal officers. Banks, Business Corporations like the Nokia, and Airlines are three specific fields which hire lawyers. I had a personal interview with a 26 year old lawyer. He was smart and alert, brimming with confidence and fearlessness. Soon after his joining, he shot up into the limelight by winning a couple of sensational cases. Now he is very popular and people from far away come to engage him.

Education by Computer - A Better Way Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Education by Computer - A Better Way - Essay Example It is easy for a student in America to take lectures from an Indian teacher now with the help of videoconferencing like computer technologies. Moreover, no other resources can provide the same referencing facilities as computer does. Instead of academic libraries, students now started to access online libraries in order to get more insights into a particular topic. Even though the utility of computer in education is unquestionable, some people argue that education by computers should not be encouraged beyond certain limits. This paper analyses whether education with the help of computers is good or bad or up to what extent we can rely on computers to provide better education to children. To be able to put the computer in an adequate perspective in education or in individual or social life it is necessary to understand very well what it is. Its main characteristic is that it is an abstract and not concrete machine (as, e.g. a power lathe or a bicycle): it acts in a virtual space, the space of the thoughts we may insert into the machine. So any use of it forces some abstract thinking (Setzer). Many people have the false belief that computers can bring wonders in educational circle. However, it should be noted that computers are working on artificial intelligence and it do not possess any natural intelligence as man possesses. In other words, computers are working based manmade instructions or programs. Since computers do not have the thinking ability, it cannot answer a question which is unfamiliar to it. On the other hand, human intelligence can try to solve all problems because of its independent thinking ability. According to Roger J. Desmond, a professor in the School of Communication at the University of Hartford, who specializes in kids and interactive media "computer games can increase reaction time, which can help with doing stuff that school requires†(Wood). Majority of the computer games encourage children to think in multiple ways to solve a part icular problem created by the computers. For example, Prince of Persia is a multilevel computer game popular among kids. This game presents so many puzzles in front of the kids. It is impossible for children to go to a higher level if they fail to solve the puzzle in the present level. Thus, they will be encouraged to think too much while playing Prince of Persia like computer games which is good for them to solve problems in their studies. Some people believe that over exposure to computer related education may damage the thinking abilities of the children. Learning is actually occurs through problem solving method. In other words, when a student tries to solve a problem, he will think about various ways to solve it. Thus he may develop so many hypotheses initially and test all of them with the help of trial and error method before arriving at the right solution. In short, self-solving of problems may help a student to open up many of his hidden faculties of mind which is good for the brain development. On the other hand, when a student tries to solve a problem with the help of computers, he is getting ready made answers at once and therefore he may not get an opportunity to give some kind of exercises to his brain. In short, over reliance on computers for solving problems can affect the thinking abilities of the students. It is a fact that many of the modern students are struggling while they are forced to take some critical decisions in their lives.

Acting as if you are hypnotized, Spanos, N.P. (1982) Essay

Acting as if you are hypnotized, Spanos, N.P. (1982) - Essay Example He believes that under hypnosis, a person is highly susceptible to suggestion, performs behaviors involuntarily, exhibits heightened recall of memories, has more vivid imagination, has the ability to dissociate consciousness of certain events from others and a lowered sensitivity to pain. Hypnosis makes one produce thoughts, ideas and behaviors which would not be usually exhibited had the person not been under that hypnotic state. Such a view has been subscribed to by a lot of people who put much faith on the hypnosis phenomenon. Of course, although many can attest to the existence of its evidence in their lives, it is still subject to scientific research to prove it. Without intending to dampen the strong advocacies of hypnosis believers, Nicholas Spanos has disputed this widely accepted view. He claims that hypnotized people are exhibiting behavior which is just like any social behavior, and negates the view that it is involuntary. Rather, consciously or not, it is strategic and goal-oriented. Such behavior is dramatic enough to produce a desired effect. In essence, he says that instead of an altered state of consciousness, hypnosis is a state of increased motivation. People under hypnosis are under the expectation that their behaviors will soon be involuntary as they relinquish control of them and agree to go under the hypnotic trance. However, Spanos argues that the behavior suggested by the person conducting the hypnosis is voluntary at first, and is eventually made to sound more involuntary. Since the hypnotized person is in an increased state of motivation, the suggestion is easily taken and what he hears as a command will seem to him as involuntary. Spanos explains that it is because the person enters the hypnosis with the intention to be controlled by the hypnotist’s suggestions. He also expects that the hypnosis has more power than his own will to

Miner Resume Essay Example for Free

Miner Resume Essay Objective To gain employment and work along side industry professionals, to further my experience and knowledge within the mining industry. I am a willing candidate who has the ability to adapt and respond to new challenges, in a safe and professional manner. Employment Coal Mine Worker Mastermyne April 2013 – Current Installation of underground secondary support at Moranbah North Coal Mine. Daily duties include: Installation of roof and rib support, mega bolts and high tension flexi bolts in accordance with mine managers support plans. Underground roadworks, installation of VCD’s, underground water storage dams and longwall face bolt up. Trained and authorized in the use of QDS bolting rigs, Airtrack bolting rigs, handheld bolting equipment and underground loaders (eimco ED7 ED10, Juggernaut). Daily practices in housekeeping, creating a safe and productive work environment and risk assessing each task. Coal Mine Worker Minestar Alliance January 2013 – April 2013 Installation of underground conveyor systems at Carborough Downs Coal Mine. Installing drive heads, sacrificial bases, transfer stations and all associated work Underground Civils and roadworks Coal Mine Worker Vulcan MiningNovember 2012- January 2013 Longwall take off and install at Carborough Downs Coal Mine Trained and authorized in the operation FBL 10, FBL 15, 50t Chock Chariot, RapidFace Bolters Transportation of heavy equipment for installation underground Daily tasks included, pulling of chocks from longwall face, building of cob timbers, bolt up of huesker mesh, transportation of chocks out in and into pit using wheel assisted chock trailer, roadwork’s, assisting fitters and general housekeeping duties WDSApril 2012 – November 2012 Development projects and operations at North Goonyella Coal e. g. Operating iner mounted bolters in sequence with the production of coal with an ABM20, Roadwork’s and set up for my crews development panel, working closely with other team members to maintain a safe and positive outcome Trained and authorised for operation of Driftrunner, loaders: Eimco LS130 ED7 ED10, Juggernaut, HfX miner mounted bolters, Stone dusters, Bolting rigs, Cable Reelers and other plants and attachments Follow instructions from supervisors and other team m embers in a safe and efficient manner to Complete tasks at hand Completion and understanding of CHALLENGES, JSA and Zero Harm Training commenced on other mobile plants e. . Shuttle car Coal Mine Worker Diversified Mining ServiceJuly 2011 – April 2012 Installation of underground conveyor belts at Broadmeadow Mine Underground civil work and preparation of work areas including concreting of intersections, take off roads, loop take up sites Follow instructions from supervisors and other team members in a safe and efficient manner Completion and understanding of TAKE 5, JSA and Zero Harm Operation of mobile plants and installation of heavy mechanical systems e. g. oop take up, belt maintenance stations, belt drives and transfer stations Junior Sous Chef Baguette Bar Bistro BrisbaneAugust 2009 July 2011 Running of sections within a team of chefs Complete formation of menus, costing’s and maintain good upkeep on profit and loss Delegate other employees of the lower brigade i n daily tasks to achieve results Follow workplace health and safety guidelines to ensure a safe working environment Personal Attributes Ability to work under pressure and for long periods of time Fast learning at all tasks and objectives Professional and safety first attitude to work ethics Hard working and reliable Highly self motivated, with the ability to work as an individual or as a team member Training and Authorisations Vale Carborough Downs Inducted, NGC inducted, Broadmeadows inducted Current Cold board medical and Underground Generics Working at heights certified Underground mobile plants e. g. Driftrunner, Loaders, HFX Miner Mounted bolting rigs, Various Hydraulic QDS attachment

Shakespearean comedies Essay Example for Free

Shakespearean comedies Essay The world of Shakespearean comedies is undoubtedly romantic, poetic and idealized. As You Like It is no exception in this respect. Romantic in all aspects, especially form and spirit, the play presents before you a world of love, of deceit, of vulgarity, of humor, of music and what not! But it is the love theme that excels all that. To be more precise, â€Å"it seems wiser to agree with Charlton that Shakespeare was successfully developing his own kind of romance. † (Nicoll, Shakespeare Survey, Vol. 8, pg 3) It is rightly observed by Sheffield Theatres Education that, â€Å"William Shakespeare’s play As You Like It clearly falls into the Pastoral Romance genre; but Shakespeare does not merely use the genre, he develops it Shakespeare also used the Pastoral genre in As You Like It to ‘cast a critical eye on social practices that produce injustice and unhappiness, and to make fun of anti-social, foolish and self-destructive behaviour’ , most obviously through the theme of love, culminating in a rejection of the notion of the traditional Petrarchan lovers. † (www. sheffieldtheatres. co. uk) When we say that As You Like It is romantic in form, it should rush to our mind that the classical rules of dramatic composition, like the observance of the unities, are not at all regarded in its composition. The action covers a period much longer than a single revolution of the sun, and the action moves from the city to the Forest of Arden. Shakespeare was thoroughly against setting rules for a work of art as it had a narrowing and cramping effect both to the artist and the work of art. Hence he never cared for any rules of literary creation. For him the dictates of his fancy was prominent. Thus we have the large-scale explication of love theme in As You Like It; that too, in the Forest of Arden, a world that can only exist in our dreams. The Shakespearean world is the ‘country of the mind’. It can never ever be met with neither in this whole universe nor on the world-map. It is a place where we come across an idealized picture of life, life as it should be lived, or life as envisaged by the poet. The atmosphere of the Forest of Arden in As You Like It throughout is one of idyllic calm and quiet and no incidents have been introduced that was capable enough to mar this tranquility. This idyllic setting is the sole witness to Duke Senior’s and his companions careless fleeting away of the time like Robinhood and his merry men. It is here that Rosalind, Celia, Touchstone, Orlando and Oliver come up to, and it is here that the pageant of love is played out and the lovers are happily united before they go back to the din and buzz of the urban setting. This romantic-poetic world of Shakespeare contains noble specimens of humanity, who win our admiration, and we, the readers or audience, long to be one among them or one like them. This world is free of conservatism, and does not set any norms or codes for social behavior for the individual to conform to. Romance in the Shakespearean world goes beyond the accepted, normal and conventional. It shows forth different ways of life but we realize that these ways bring forth greater happiness and wellbeing than what the socially accepted ones bring in. That is why the readers are not surprised when Rosalind ventures to teach Orlando to woo. Critics might find a lot of absurdities in the plot of As You Like It. But it is concealed to the utmost by heightening the character-interest. In Walter Raleigh’s words, â€Å"he so bathes his story in the atmosphere of poetry and phantasy, his characters are so high-spirited, good-tempered and resourceful, the action passes in such a tempest of boisterous enjoyment, and is mitigated by so many touches of human feeling, that the whole effect remains gracious and pleasant; and the master of the show is still the gentle Shakespeare. † (Raleigh, Walter Alexander, Macmillan, 1907) Though it is accepted world-wide that the setting of Shakespearean comedy is imaginative and romantic to the utmost, we should duly acknowledge that it is not a mere escape world of romance. Reality is very much felt there and this world of romance never grows unsubstantial and fantastic. Romantic idealization is constantly kept in check by frequent reminders of harsh reality. In As You Like It, Shakespeare has undoubtedly presented a mingled yarn of joys and sorrows. There is always a confrontation of romance and reality here. The Forest of Arden is never shown forth as a conventional pastoral Arcadia. It also has its piercing wintertime and harsh weather, its own kind of usurpation and the ingratitude of friends which are very much present in the world around us, all days. There one has to face hardships of all sorts, and some one character or the other, usually the fool, constantly reminds us of those hardships. But it should be borne in mind that this realism never mars the charm of the romantic world. In spite of all the harshities, here life goes on most merrily, full of singing, dancing, and love-making. True, it is not life as it is, but as it should have been or as we yearn to be like. The idyllic Forest of Arden transports us to a rainbow world of magic and romance, where all sorts of marvels do take place and above all, we tend to believe all that and feel unaware of any improbability for the incidents in the play. The romantic love according to Shakespeare is an irrational passion that is not guided by reason, intellect or eye. Love is the presiding genius in the play. Celia falls in love with Oliver who is entirely unworthy of her. Not one or two, nearly all are in love and the play ends with a happy consummation of all of them in marriage. Towards the middle part of the play, we see that the whole atmosphere is surcharged with love. This play abounds in a varied assortment of love. We come across the true, deep and passionate love of Orlando and Rosalind, the sudden, swift and healthy love of Oliver and Celia, the courtly, pastoral, conventional and Petrarchan love of Phebe and Silvius, and a real parody of love between Touchstone and Audrey. The play itself ends with the ringing of marriage bells and ‘every Jack gets his Jill’. As You Like It burlesques most of the set norms of love usually dealt with in poetry and literature. For example, the widely accepted notion that love is a disease that invites suffering and torment to the lover, the supposition that the male lover is the slave or servant of his mistress and the female lover should never cross the limits set by the society finds expression here and at the same time it is ridiculed by the playwright in the words of different characters of the play. These ideas were boasted to be the central features of the courtly love tradition, which was embedded in European literature for hundreds of years before Shakespeare’s time. In As You Like It, we find the characters lamenting the torment caused by their being in love, but these laments are all unsuccessful, bizarre and ludicrous. While Orlando’s metrically inept poems keep in with the set norm that he should â€Å"live and die [Rosalind’s] slave,† these sentiments are roundly ridiculed (III. ii. 152). Even Silvius, the uncivilized shepherd, presumes as being a tortured lover. It is well evident in asking his beloved Phebe to notice â€Å"the wounds invisible / That love’s keen arrows make† (III. v. 30–31). But Silvius’s request for Phebe’s attention has in it that the enslaved lover can loosen the chains of love and that all romantic wounds can be healed—otherwise, his request for notice would be worthless. Hence it is evident that, As You Like It breaks usual notion of the courtly love which is always known as a force for happiness and fulfillment and mocks those who are content with the suffering that is always associated with truelove. Music adds a lot to the romantic quality of Shakespearean plays. As music speaks direct to human souls and influences and enriches it, songs and dances are scattered throughout the play. Perennial delight is the result of introducing music into romance plays. This is wholly achieved in As You Like It. In keeping with the conventions of romantic plays, Shakespeare, through the songs introduced gave apt expression to the renaissance passion for music and at the same time enhanced the entertainment value of the play. As You Like It is full of songs that articulate the spontaneous ecstasy these people derive from life in the Forest of Arden and the joy they can afford to give back to people around them. The songs show forth clearly the difference in the way of living in the forest from that of the court, because here they can tailor their actions to their moods. This can never happen in the court where one is forced to even breathe according to the norms set by the society. Romance plays always gave a good position for the women that added to the quality of characterization and plot. Love transforms and emboldens them to become capable of swift action, sacrifice, ingenuity and self-surrender. Shakespeare too enthroned woman as queen of his comedies owing to the more instinctive, impulsive and emotional nature of their being and as a result she was in love always. Here we have a bright, beautiful and glittering Rosalind who is adored by all even today. It is true when Orlando observes, â€Å"Helen’s cheek but not her heart Cleopatra’s majesty, Atlanta’s better part, Sad Lucretia’s modesty. †(III (ii)-143-6) She is wittier, more practical and more resourceful thereby outshining the hero and the men folk of the play whom we see as hesitant and torn within themselves whenever a crucial situation is at hand. It was rightly pointed out by Ruskin that ‘Shakespeare has only heroines and no heroes’ Women in Shakespearean romances are simply human and patiently natural when it comes to emotional crises like falling in love. Rosalind’s excitement when she first meets Orlando is as palpable as are her transparent endeavors to hide it. Their own passion sharpens the love even more through which they even seek the good of others. But, on the contrary, she is well aware that there is no certain and predictable relation between beauty and honesty in mankind. She is practical to the utmost. That is why Ian Johnston remarks, â€Å"Rosalind has not an ounce of sentimentality. Her passionate love for Orlando does not turn her into a mooning, swooning recluse. It activates her. She takes charge of her life. She knows what she wants, and she organizes herself to seek it out. If she has to wait to pursue her marriage, then she is going actively to enjoy the interim in an improvised courtship and not wrap herself in a mantle of romantic attitudinizing. She initiates the game of courtship with Orlando and keeps it going. She has two purposes here. This gives her a chance to see and court Orlando (in her own name) and thus to celebrate her feelings of love, but it also enables her to educate Orlando out of the sentimental pose he has adopted. † (www. mala. bc. ca/~johnstoi) The presence of a wise fool among the foolish wise adds to the effect of the romance and life in As You Like It. Here we have Touchstone who proves to be a man of keen observation, and remarkable powers of repartee and witticism. Unlike the usual tradition of jesters given to punning, word-play and word-jugglery of all sorts, Touchstone hates them and considers it as mere foolishness. According to the observation of Duke Senior, he â€Å"uses his folly like a stalking horse, and under presentation of that he shoots his wit. †(V (iv) 102-5) Though Shakespeare builds a world of romance in As You Like It, he also criticizes the same. Here he takes us to the romantic Forest of Arden where the Duke Senior and his followers fleet their time carelessly. At the same time he makes Jaques ‘jeer and rail’ at it. Romantic love is very much present in the affair between Orlando and Rosalind. But its parody is well explicated in the affair between Touchstone and Audrey. Rosalind’s words are testimonial for the foolishness of madly believing in love. When Orlando says that he would love his Rosalind for ever a day, she brings him back to earth by saying: â€Å"No, no, Orlando; men are April when they woo, December when they wed; maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives. † (IV (i) 126-9). It is here that Edward Dowden’s words gain true recognition, â€Å"Shakespeare abounds in kindly mirth; he receives an exquisite pleasure from the alert wit and bright good sense of Rosalind; he can dandle a fool as tenderly as any nurse, qualified to take a baby from the birth can deal with her charge. † (Warner, Library of the Worlds Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, pg 4810). In the olden days, romances and pastoral comedies were branded as one and the same as the settings, themes, accidental happenings –all characterized both the genres to be one. In that respect it is worthwhile to note that â€Å" As You Like It is clearly a pastoral comedy—with a country setting, much talk of love of all sorts, a story which consists, for the most part, of a series of accidental meetings one after the other, and a resolution involving implausible transformations of character and divine intervention. Although the Forest of Arden is not a completely idealized pastoral setting, we have here all the standard ingredients of pastoral drama. † (www. mala. bc. ca/~johnstoi) â€Å"The theme of pastoral comedy is love in all its guises in a rustic setting, the genuine love embodied by Rosalind contrasted with the sentimentalized affectations of Orlando, and the improbable happenings that set the urban courtiers wandering to find exile or solace or freedom in a woodland setting are no more unrealistic than the string of chance encounters in the forest, provoking witty banter, which require no subtleties of plotting and character development. The main action of the first act is no more than a wrestling match, and the action throughout is often interrupted by a song. At the end, Hymen himself arrives to bless the wedding festivities. † (www. bookrags. com/wiki/As_You_Like_It) Judicious reflections on life go hand in hand with the romance of love and the romance of pastoralism, and save the world of comedy from being unsubstantial. Further, the escape from reality is only temporary; the characters troop back to the city to play their respective roles, and occupy their respective places. Shakespeare, in his As You Like It, has tailored the conventions of romance to suit his idea and need so that he can attract the attention of generations of readers and audiences. Bibliography Foakes, R. A. , (Ed. ) Coleridge’s Criticism of Shakespeare, Continuum International Publishing Group, 1989. Miller, Naomi J. , Reimagining Shakespeare for Children and Young Adults, Routledge, 2003, pg110 Nicoll, Allardyce, Shakespeare Survey, Vol. 8, Cambridge University Press, 2002, pg 3. Raleigh, Walter Alexander, Macmillan, 1907 Shakespeare, William, As You Like It-The New Clarendon Shakespeare, Ed. Isabel J. Bisson, 12th Impression, 1995. Quiller-Couch, A. , Shakespeare’s Workmanship, Cambridge University Press, 1947. Warner, Library of the Worlds Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Ed. Charles Dudley, International Society, 1896, pg 4810 http://www. sheffieldtheatres. co. uk/creativedevelopmentprogramme/productions/asyoulikeit/comedy. shtml http://www. mala. bc. ca/~johnstoi/eng366/lectures/Ayl. htm http://www. bookrags. com/wiki/As_You_Like_It

The benefits and risks of Outsourcing

The benefits and risks of Outsourcing In this chapter, an introduction of research background is given and the objectives and scope of the research are described. In addition, a general overview of research methodology will be introduced. Finally, a brief overview of the dissertation structure is given in order to present an overall picture of the research undertaken. Background of research: Outsourcing is one of the fast growing aspects with a spending of US$ 3.7 trillion worldwide in 2001 (Clott, 2004). The latest survey conducted by Cap Gemini, Georgia institute of technology, SAP and DHL, it is clear that the usage of third party logistics (3pl) services continues to grow in Latin America, North America, Western Europe and Asia-pacific (Cap Gemini, 2006). Due to globalisation and rapid growth in information technology organisations are eager to develop competitiveness and responsiveness to customers (Matteo, 2003). Lieb and Randall (1996) defined 3pl to a more detailed extent; in particular, the term third-party has been explained more clearly. The third party logistics is defined here as: A company which supplies/coordinates logistics functions across multiple links in the logistics supply chain. The company thus acts as a third-party facilitator between the seller/manufacturer (the first-party) and the buyer/user (the second-party)à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. The functions the functions performed by the third-party can encompass the entire logistics process or selected activities with in that process. (p.51). Today many international logistics providers, including freight forwarders, customhouse brokers, ocean and air carriers, promoting themselves as third party logistics providers as they can provide more services for the movement of international freight. Liebs survey clearly tells that one third of large manufacturing companies in us use third party logistics services and over 60 percent of these firms used these services for above five years (Lieb, 2007). The close relationship between shippers and carriers could be a benefit for third party providers. One thing is confirmed that, nearly all large multinational companies make use of third party logistics providers (Maltz, 2004). Research problem: From many researchers point of view (Lee, 2004), Indian 3pl providers are still in an undeveloped state. So it might be difficult for them to survive in the Indian market competing with the foreign players. This research will review the traditional Indian distribution system and analyze the contemporary situations of both Indian and foreign companies like Pantaloons, Reliance, Subhiksha and Wal-Mart. In 2005, India was forecasted as the greatest consumer market opportunity, receiving highest foreign direct investment (FDI) (Mitra, 2005). The third party logistics in India accounts nearly a quarter of its transportation industry and expected to grow over $ 125 billion by 2015 (Srinath, 2006). Currently India sits atop the global retail opportunity. Indias retail industry, the 9th largest globally and valued at $ 330 billion (Kilgore et al. 2007). Reliance, a $ 12 billion giant enterprise run by Mukesh Ambani, plans to open an additional 4000 stores and hypermarkets with a target of $ 22.3 billion in sales by 2012. Wal-mart currently sources goods of worth over $ 1.5billion from India, yet to gain access to sell those products in India. So Wal-Marts joint ventures with Bharti will open doors for multi brand hypermarkets and shopping villages. One of the best approaches to gain competitiveness and improve customer service levels is the firms logistical capability. To be competitive, the companies have to deliver the products quickly and for lower cost. Logistics service providers gain momentum after the successful and efficient distribution network of Wal-Mart (Maltz, 2004). On the other hand, pantaloon is currently Indias largest retailer with more than 140 stores. Its also planning to spend $ 1 billion to open 100 big bazaar stores country wide. The Tata group, which runs lifestyle stores and star India bazaar, also opened an electronic goods shop in Mumbai last year. Tata group is planning to open 30 stores by the next year (Sahey and Mohan, 2006). Behind this growth, logistics infrastructure is the main backdrop of the countrys growth. Logistics costs in India are 13 percent of GDP compared with 8 percent in the U.S. Indian logistics is combination of road transport companies, railways, air freight companies, ports and shipping companies, as well as 3pl companies. 3pl market in India is least developed and its growth is about 20% per annum. If the logistics costs can be reduced from 13% of GDP to 8% of GDP, then the savings would be approximately $ 20 billion. This change will reduces the prices of Indian goods by 4.3% making them more competitive globally. The 3pl revenue and cargo handling volume registered growth rates of 18.25% and 20.33% respectively in 2003-2004 (Mitra, 2005). Retail opportunity opens the doors to reach Indian customers more effectively. Hindustan lever, a subsidiary of Unilever and the coca cola company are extremely successful penetrating in India. The rural population in India is almost 60%. Deliverin g products to those rural people is most difficult task due to the poor transportation and infrastructure facilities. In this situation both the companies above mentioned are successful with their distribution system through logistics service providers to reach each and every part of the country. So all the issues related to transportation infrastructure have badly affected the logistics network in India specifically in terms of lead time and costs. Anyway, a host of policy changes underway is expected to bring some positive revolution in the Indian transportation environment. In the past few years Indian government focussed on the infrastructure development. The main initiative under this project is the national high way development programme. It will connect all the metros and act as east-west and north-south corridor. So this will boost road transportation in India and good news for the logistics services providers in the country and also for the organisations to reduce costs by using 3pl providers (Mitra, 2005). Aim and objectives: The purpose of the research is to understand how third party logistics service providers can develop competitive advantage and improves the service levels of supply chains in Indian retail industry. The objectives of the study can be summarized as: To understand the current situations of Indian domestic 3pl providers To develop the competitive strategies pursued by the Indian 3pl providers To find out the impact of the use of the 3pl services on costs, customer satisfaction. On the other hand, the following research questions are designed for the achievement of the above research objectives. What kind of distribution systems do the Indian 3pl providers have? What kinds of logistics services are Indian 3pl providers providing? What competitive situation are the Indian 3pl providers facing? What kinds of competitive strategies are the Indian 3pl providers pursuing to achieve competitive advantages? Literature review: The supply chain: The process which integrates coordinates and controls the movement of goods, materials and information from a supplier to the end customer through a series of intermediate customers is called the supply chain. It bridges the gap between core business aspects of supply and demand. So the supply chain management is the management of buying/sourcing, making, moving and selling activities in a timely manner. Supply chains today are very slow, costly and do not deliver particularly good value to the end customer. Todays markets are much more demanding and information driven with small product cycles, more choice for customers and consumers and increased competition. Costs need to be cut down out of the supply chain and efficiencies increased, as business relationships within the chain shift and competitive advantage becomes harder to come by. The process of planning, implementing and controlling the efficient, cost-effective flow and storage of raw materials, in-process inventory, finished goods and related information flow from point of origin to point of consumption for the purpose of conforming to customer requirements. Third party logistics (TPL): The growth of high competition and complex business conditions force organizations to pursue competitive advantages and re-engine their business constantly. Outsourcing logistics to a 3pl provider has been considered as an effective strategy for companies to high service performance and lower operating cost. Lieb and Randall (1996) defined 3pl to a more detailed extent; in particular, the term third-party has been explained more clearly. The third party logistics is defined here as: A company which supplies/coordinates logistics functions across multiple links in the logistics supply chain. The company thus acts as a third-party facilitator between the seller/manufacturer (the first-party) and the buyer/user (the second-party)à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. The functions the functions performed by the third-party can encompass the entire logistics process or selected activities with in that process. (p.51). The basic characteristics of 3pls are to provide customised services and to handle multiple activities, which involve warehousing, distribution, transportation, inventory control, material handling, packaging and inspection (Bolumole, 2001). Here are some of the services offered by 3pls in the present market, according to Sowinski (2005): Dedicated contract transportation and transportation procurement. Inventory management Logistics management and consulting Freight audit and consulting Shipment tracking and tracing Reverse logistics and value added services TPL providers are nothing but supportive supply chain members. Lambert (1998) defined these supportive members as companies that simply provide resources, knowledge, utilities or assets for the primary members of the supply chain. The new level of usage of 3pl has been defined as logistics alliances. Bagchi and Virum (1998) define logistics alliances as: A long-term formal or informal relationship between shippers and logistics providers to render all or a considerable number of logistics activities for the shipper. (p.193). Under this alliance, 3pl users and providers treat each other as long-term partners. By identifying the characteristics of 3pl providers in various stages, Berglund et al. (1999) suggest that there have been three phases of development of the 3pl participants. The first phase started from 1980s, with the presence of traditional logistics providers, with the activities involved only transportation or warehousing. The second phase started from 1990s, when a number of network players such as DHL, TNT and FedEx started their logistics services. The third phase started from late 1990s, when a number of players from other areas like information technology, started working with the original logistics providers. In recent years with the dynamic changing and development of supply chain management 3pl providers have moved their focus to strategy development (Hertz Alfredson, 2003). 3pl providers have started to support logistics operations through value-added services and supply chain solution service, which creates abundant opportunities for companies to reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction (Knemeyer et al., 2003; Lieb, 2005). In addition to the services mentioned above, other services offered by 3pl providers, are known as value-added services. These are the services that add a lot of additional value to the products being distributed (Rushton et al. 2000). The major value added services has been summarized by the authors as follows. Specialist or niche service, where the operation is specifically designed for a particular products. Time reliable services, which are setup to support the just-in-time (JIT) operations of major manufacturers. Assembly, which is fulfilled by third-party distributor. Repacking, this is another area of value-added development, like a torch together with battery. Refurbishment: in the light if current environmental legislation many manufacturers have endeavoured to re-engineer their products so that parts from some used products can be reused in new products. Packaging return: collect packaging for reuses or disposal. (p.62). A research conducted recently by Hertz and Alfredson presented the strategic development of 3pl providers (Hertz Alfredson, 2003). According to Lai (2004): There are four types of 3pl providers from the resource based view of the firm. Each type of provider exhibiting different service capabilities and service performance. Also different types of logistics service providers adopt different service strategies to respond to different market segments Logistics outsourcing is simply a make-or-buy decision based on cost efficiency by increasing competitiveness and complexity (Christopher, 2005). A company may pursue logistics outsourcing for the following reasons, Own lack of logistics experience Desire to focus on core competency Difficulty in maintaining communication and information technology up to date Sahay and Mohan (2006). Outsourcing can give a company proper access to resources, equipment and management expertise which may count a worth of billion dollars (Clott, 2004). Outsourcing not only allows an organisation to achieve goals like cutting delivery times and ensuring accurate shipments, but also promotes competition among service providers and motivating them to continue renewing their services. Currently a growing interest on outsourcing has been mentioned by massive writings in scholarly journals and popular magazines. The terms outsourcing, third party logistics and contract logistics sounds the same. Traditional logistics activities such as transportation, distribution, warehousing, inventory management, order processing and material handling have been given less importance (Mitra, 2005). There is a need to develop competitive advantage and providing better customer service effectively and efficiently. This can be possible only through contract logistics (Razzaque and Sheng, 1998, updated reference). Third party logistics and customer service: Sadler (2007) defined logistics customer service as: the process of providing goods, information and services to customers in a way that both creates customer satisfaction and is cost-effective to the shipper (p.71). Customer service has been treated as essential factor in marketing strategy and it creates added value for both their companies and customers (Christopher, 2005). Customer service is a key way to gain competitive advantage. To compete in this corporate world, companies must provide high levels of logistics services to their customers. Based on a survey conducted by Bolumole (2001) identifies the nine most important aspects of customer service as follows. On-time delivery Order accuracy Price No product damage Ease of order placement Customer enquiry handling Quality Availability Order status information Regarding the high levels of customer service, Sadler (2007) suggest that: the economic aim point of customer service level is a little below 100%, beyond this level, the extra benefit to customers is vastly outweighed by the huge extra cost of inventory, hours of opening, staff training and salary, etc (p.72). Gaining competitive advantage through 3pl: Third party logistics (3pl) can be an effective way helping companies to achieve competitive advantages. The main objective of logistics management is to drive the companies in achieving sustainable competitive advantages through improved customer service and lower costs. Overall 3pl providers can provide a major source of competitive advantages. In other words, a position of gaining superiority over competitors (Christopher, 2005, p.6). Rushton et al. (2000) proposed that companies can achieve competitive advantages through 3pl providers. First, companies may compete as a service leader, which means to gain an advantage over their competitors by providing a number of key logistics service elements to differentiate itself. Meanwhile, the companies may compete as a cost leader where it is trying to utilize its logistics resources to offer the service or product at lowest possible price. Some logistics leverages for pursuing the two competitive advantages have been summarized as follows. To achieve value/differential advantage To achieve cost/productivity advantage The logistics leverage Tailored service Distribution channel strategy Reliability Responsiveness Information Flexibility The logistics leverage Capacity utilization Asset turn Co-makership/schedule integration Low inventory Low waste Table: The two different approaches to gain competitive advantages. Source: Rushton et al. (2000, p.33). Christopher (2005) summarizes that: The source of competitive advantages is found firstly in the ability of the organization to differentiate itself, in the eye of the customer, from its competition and secondly by operating at lowest cost (p.6). Competition is always at the core of the success and failure of the firm. A companys competitiveness can be derived from achieving either a cost advantage or a value advantage, or both of them. The relationship of cost and value between a company, its competitor and its customers, named the Three Cs relationship is illustrated below. Customers Assets and utilization Cost differentials Assets and utilization Value Needs seeking benefits at acceptable prices Value Company Competitor Figure: competitive advantage and the Three Cs Source: Christopher (2005, p.6). However, a most successful company would seek a competitive position depending on attaining both costs and differentiation advantages. Christopher emphasizes the last step that how to take the company to the top right of the matrix can be the biggest challenge to logistics providers. The occupation of the position of cost and service leader means the company has achieved both service and cost advantages. Service leader Cost and service leader High Commodity market Cost leader Value advantage Low Low High Cost advantage Figure: logistics and competitive advantage Source: Christopher (2005, p.10). The three possible ways for companies to accomplish their competitive strategies are internal activities, acquisitions and strategic alliances. On the other hand through mergers and acquisitions of other possible business may meet their competitive strategy requirements. The major participants in the logistics alliances are manufacturers, retailers and logistics service providers or third party logistics providers. A strategic alliance allows a company to take advantage of what it does well and enables it to seek partners who have strengths in other areas (Bagchi Virum, 1998). Supply chain integration with third party logistics providers: The present trend of most of the modern companies is to outsource their logistics activities to third party providers. This is a type of alliance, many of the firms implementing to achieve competitive advantage in the market place (Ratten, 2004). In the recent years just-in-time (JIT) process has gained momentum, which promoted outsourcing. The term integration refers to the degree to which individual parties work together in a cooperative manner to achieve acceptable outcomes (Ratten, 2004). Approaching the third party logistics providers comes under the wider arc integration. 3pl providers encompass a wide range of supply chain services including firms outsourcing, material management and distribution responsibilities (Frohlich and Westbrook, 2001). Nowadays 3pl companies are playing more number of roles in extended supply chains such as after-sales support, customer service and reverse logistics (Srinath, 2006). 3pl providers have transformed the roles of distribution centres from storage facilities to channel assemblies by taking care of some repair jobs that do not have sent back to manufacturers (Maltz, 2004). Relationships among TPL providers and members of supply chains: Nowadays the relationship between supply chain management and third party logistics service providers has gained some momentum. Here its necessary to discuss how to fill the gaps in understanding of how third party logistics providers should offer their services more effectively to their assigned supply chains. The supply chain is, The network of organisations that are involved, through upstream and downstream linkages, in the different processes and activities that produce value in the form of products and services in the hands of the ultimate customers. -Christopher (2005). The supply chain is a chain consists of networked companies from raw material producers for the consumption of end users. According to Jarzemskis (2006), a TPL provider is An agent middleman in the logistics channel who enters into a temporary or longer term relationship with some other entity in the logistics channel Most of the logistics services are purchased on a contract basis (Maltz, 2004). Based on the research by Bhatnagar and Viswanathan (2000), successful partnerships in logistics can be achieved by triadic relationships. Order lead time of grocery retailers in the Indian markets: in a survey of Indian retail industries, Chandra and Sastry (2004) found that 98% of the firms dispatch their goods through a contract with trucking companies, while 11% of them only have their own fleet of trucks and 36% of these firms use third party logistics(3pl) service providers for transportation. The economy is expected to grow at 10% over the next 10 years in the sectors like chemicals, pharmaceuticals, textile, retail and fast moving consumer goods. The Indian retail giants Reliance and Bharti announced large retail projects in collaboration with Wal-Mart. Also Reliance considering establishing large warehouses in Thailand to take advantage of low cost sourcing from Southeast Asia. On the other hand food and grocery retail players like Subhiksha established more than 600 new retail stores in India (Chandra Jain, 2009) Logistics is an important process that minimises costs and improves customer satisfaction (Christopher, 2005). The Indian retail industry is worlds fifth largest one. All retail sectors in India are not purely organised. Especially the retail sector is growing very fastly at a pace of 25-30% annually. This sector is projected to grow from Rs. 35,000 crore in 2004-05 to Rs. 109,000 crore by the end of 2010 (Mitra,2005). Here the author is going to examine the retail operational efficiency at the secondary distribution level by measuring the performance of Indian food retailers logistics operations in terms of order lead time. Order lead time is the time between the customers placing an order and receiving the goods (Srinath, 2006). Here both the suppliers and logistics service providers need to understand two certain types of lead times. The first one, inbound lead time is the time between the orders placed by the depot and the delivery of goods by the suppliers. On the other hand out bound lead time refers to the time depot and the company stores (Maltz, 2004). According to smith and sparks (2004), logistics has been facing many major changes in the Indian food retail sector including increase in the average size of stores, introduction of new retail store formats (petrol station shops) and the increase in the range of own brand food products 3pl operations in India: The greater utilization of third party logistics (3pl) in Indian companies is expected to rule the retail markets in the future years. Its predicted to rise from US $ 1.5 billion in 2008 to US $ 4 billion in 2012. Strategic analysis of 3pl markets in Indian retail sector shows that the market earned US $ 28.1 million in 2005 and predicted to be US 89.8 in 2012 (Kaur, 2009). The Indian economic growth has recorded significant development during the past several years. According to the survey conducted by Lieb in 2007, six of the CEOs were asked to identify the best suitable industries which will offer good results for the future of 3pl services usage in India. Four of them suggested automotive industry and three of them rated high technology. On the other hand retailing and pharmaceutical industry were preferred by two of them. According to Lieb: Long trip times for relatively short transportation distances make a turnaround of vehicles impossible and increases the cost of domestic transportation. Congestion, toll road blocks and local tax make proper planning and timing, and central distribution structures impossible. Inwarding process: This process is to ensure smooth movement of stock and merchandise from warehouse, vendors and any other location to shop floor, updating the inventory and subsequently be available for sale. Goods are received according to the Stock Transfer Note (STN) issued by the warehouse. Every morning the Warehouse Incharge prints the mail from SCM support, which gives the details of the merchandise which is scheduled to reach the store (e.g. Goods in transit report). Based on the information the Warehouse incharge to allocate space for the in transit merchandise do all follow ups for goods in transit. Inform the respective Department Managers about the merchandise scheduled, so that floor space for the same can be created, if required. Delivery vehicle arrives at the store warehouse. Security personnel to receive the supporting documents and handover the same to the warehouse personnel undertaking the Inwarding. Document set is checked by warehouse personnel to ensure it contains a Stock Tra nsfer Note (STN) in duplicate and an outward gate pass issued by the dispatching warehouse. An authorised LR copy incase the goods delivery vehicle is a private transporter. Security at stores will sign the gate pass and write manual IRN (Inward Register Number) on gate pass. Security personnel to check the vehicle to ensure the seal on the cargo area are intact and secure. If any of the above documents are missing the staff should inform the Warehouse Manager, and the same should be entered in the discrepancy register. Warehouse Manager to inform the dispatching warehouse in charge and try to resolve the issue, and receive the missing documents by the next day. Under NO circumstances, the merchandise should be inwarded, in variance to the above. Outwarding: This process is to ensure smooth movement of stock and merchandise stores to warehouse, vendors and any other location and updating the inventory. This process starts when Front End Category / Category / store logistics creates a STO for the transfer of merchandise. This process ends when the Store receives goods receipts details from the receiving site. This process is triggered when the Front end Category/Store Logistic Person/Retail Category identifies products to be sent back to CDC or Vendor. Any returns from the Store should be process oriented. There may be various reasons for returns like Defects sent back to the warehouse, due to excess inventory, non- moving stocks, Interstore transfer, back to vendor, Products replaced completely for the customers having same defects or products partly replaced for the Customers, excess material in the Store received as Backup Stocks in Original Packing Condition and Materials might be received directly by the Warehouse from the Customers as replacement where the Warehouse should ensure that it is duly packed and bar coded in proper conditions. Returns to Vendors to be made as per the terms and conditions agreed with the Vendor. If delivery is going from the Store, the product needs to be properly packed in corrugated cartons, after doing a Pre Delivery Inspection (PDI) at Store level one day in advance and be certified by the DM/Warehouse Incharge. Any outwarding to be done only after the permission is given from the FEC and store manager and the supply chain team to be kept in the loop. (Vaidyanathan, 2005). Drivers for 3pl usage in India: Even though the reasons for outsourcing and the activities involved may vary from one company to another, the basic driving factors are the same. In India, Sahay and Mohan (2006) classify the reasons that drive Indian organizations to outsource logistics into three categories. The primary factor is the concern regarding cost that focuses on logistics cost reduction. The second one is focus on core competencies, access to unfamiliar markets and corporate restructuring. The third issue is associated with improving supply chain efficiency, which will cover improving customer services, increasing inventory, driving productivity improvements, achieving flexibility in operations and improving return on assets. The primary drivers in the beginning were to reduce costs and release capital. But nowadays its to increase market coverage, improve the customer service level or increase the flexibility towards the changing customer expectations (Skjoett-Larsen, 2000). Facilitate Re-engineering Strategic flexibility Outsourcing Concentrate on core business Reduce cost Figure: driving factors of outsourcing. Source: Taglisapietra et al (1999) p.4 It is one of the top reasons for outsourcing researched by the outsourcing institute (2000). According to Lankford Parsa (1999): Reengineering is the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service and speed. (p.23). Outsourcing not only allows enterprises to grab the benefits of structural changes, but also allows them to take advantage of reengineered world-class providers. Elements for successful 3pl relationships: A successful partnership is like a successful marriage, which requires hard work from both the parties involved. Both the parties must understand each others needs and should be compatible with the values. Bagchi Virum (1998) identifies that information sharing is crucial for successful relationship between providers and users. The main elements of long-term successful relationships are compatibility, understanding of partners business needs, open communications, commitment, fairness, flexibility and trust. Based on case studies, Bagchi Virum (1998), identify six factors to the successful third-party relationships. Customer satisfaction is the key point of the relationship in all efforts. Customers need to clearly point out their needs and wants. Then its the turn for providers to understand these needs and acquire the capabilities. People are the important assets in an alliance. Also they should be well trained and motivated individuals

Invention of Standardized Money :: essays research papers

There were many reasons for the invention of standardized money. First, nobody wanted to carry 30 pounds of barley to the trade city that could have been 100 miles away. Second, it was difficult to determine the true cost of different goods. For example, if somebody wanted to buy milk for his family, it would almost be impossible to figure out a fair exchange for grain. Finally, the barter system limited the people who would trade with each other. Not everybody would want to purchase milk or grain. In sum, there were too many complications and inefficiencies in a barter economy. People in ancient times developed the concept of money around the year 2500 B.C. Some historians argue that it may have been even earlier. The first form of ?money? was silver in Mesopotamia. Silver functioned just like the money we use today. It had a standard, it was weighed in shekels so that one could determine the value of the silver in relation to its weight. Today, the way we determine the value of our money is by looking at the number in the corners of a bill. Like our money today, silver was easily portable compared to goods like milk and grain. The flaws with the early silver money system were evident. Somebody could easily take another alloy metal and tell the merchant that it was silver. In other words, counterfeiting was relatively easy. As a result, a merchant would want know person that was offering their silver in order to prevent fraud. There were other standards of money in different places. There were different clay tokens. People who were not as wealthy as those who paid in silver paid in less valuable metals like copper, tin, and lead, but mostly barley. Eventually, merchants thought of an idea. If most of their customers paid in a certain currency, then they would therefore take only that specific currency. This idea started to slowly kill off other currencies. By killing off currencies they were making silver the dominate currency. Invention of Standardized Money :: essays research papers There were many reasons for the invention of standardized money. First, nobody wanted to carry 30 pounds of barley to the trade city that could have been 100 miles away. Second, it was difficult to determine the true cost of different goods. For example, if somebody wanted to buy milk for his family, it would almost be impossible to figure out a fair exchange for grain. Finally, the barter system limited the people who would trade with each other. Not everybody would want to purchase milk or grain. In sum, there were too many complications and inefficiencies in a barter economy. People in ancient times developed the concept of money around the year 2500 B.C. Some historians argue that it may have been even earlier. The first form of ?money? was silver in Mesopotamia. Silver functioned just like the money we use today. It had a standard, it was weighed in shekels so that one could determine the value of the silver in relation to its weight. Today, the way we determine the value of our money is by looking at the number in the corners of a bill. Like our money today, silver was easily portable compared to goods like milk and grain. The flaws with the early silver money system were evident. Somebody could easily take another alloy metal and tell the merchant that it was silver. In other words, counterfeiting was relatively easy. As a result, a merchant would want know person that was offering their silver in order to prevent fraud. There were other standards of money in different places. There were different clay tokens. People who were not as wealthy as those who paid in silver paid in less valuable metals like copper, tin, and lead, but mostly barley. Eventually, merchants thought of an idea. If most of their customers paid in a certain currency, then they would therefore take only that specific currency. This idea started to slowly kill off other currencies. By killing off currencies they were making silver the dominate currency.

The House on Mango Street :: House Mango Street

The House on Mango Street At the novel's end, Esperanza declares that she is too strong for Mango Street to keep her forever. What is the nature of her strength? How does Cisneros establish this characteristic elsewhere in the book? Esperanza feels she is too strong to live on Mango Street. She feels her life would be better if she lived somewhere else. She wants to leave Mango Street so that she can find herself. Esperanza knows that she is not like the others on Mango Street, and she wants to move to a place "with trees around it, a big yard and grass growing without a fence" (page 4). To leave, she must have strength. Where will she get it? I believe her strength comes from within. Esperanza builds her strength off the mishaps that occur while living on Mango Street. In the vignettes, Esperanza describes some very interesting things that take place on Mango Street. She recalls a time when Sally befriended her and told Esperanza to leave her alone with the boys. Esperanza felt out of place and was very uncomfortable and very ashamed to be in that situation. She wanted more from life than that, so she left the scene. There was another time when Esperanza wanted to eat lunch in the canteen at school. She was not allowed to eat at school, because she lived close enough to walk home for lunch. But, Esperanza wanted to feel special like the other kids, so she convinced her mother to write a note to the nun in charge giving her permission to eat in the school canteen. The mother wrote the note, but the nun was not convinced. So, she made Esperanza go to the window and point to her house. She was too ashamed to point to the old-run-down home where she lived. This was one of her most embarrassing moments. Not to be outdone, Esperanza said, "I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to" (page5). In "Four Skinny Trees," Esperanza compares herself to the four skinny trees outside her house. Like the trees, she too, has not found her place in the world.

how not to spend you senior year :: essays research papers

She starts off talking about her life, starting from the third grade. She tells how when she was in third grade her mom was killed by a hit and run. Since then her and her dad have moved a lot. Thirteen elementary schools from third grade to sixth grade, five middle schools, 6 high schools but she stayed in one place for her senior year. She learned not to unpack when ever she goes to a new place. They have always moved into furnished apartments, and she now has learned that not all places come complete with a couch. She remembers every time she moved somewhere there would be the Phone Calls of Mysterious Origin which were phone calls in the middle of the night and her dad would answer them but he wasn’t on for a long time so it couldn’t be a girlfriend. And after the phone calls would stop, she would come home to her dad at the kitchen table with The Map. During her freshman, sophomore, and junior year they moved all over the eastside of Lake Washington. And at the beginning of my senior year we moved to Seattle, Washington. And I started school at Beacon High. And on that first day of school she falls head over heels in love. His name was Alex Crawford. The guy she saw across the classroom but knew that he would not remember her after that. She was standing in the parking lot looking up at this metal column standing straight up on the building and nothing on the end which seemed awkward. Alex came up behind her and said that a car use to be there but it was getting repaired. They began talking and walked towards the school. She was walking out of her first period class when Alex showed up out of the blue. He walked her to all her classes occasionally bringing his friend Elaine Golden. They all went to Drama class together and when they got there everyone was working on Shakespeare. Mr. Barnes made her join in with everyone else. Alex and Elaine did a scene from Romeo and Juliet. When it came time for the kiss Elaine pulled away as he was coming in for the kiss. The whole class was laughing. When the teacher asked some questions she accidentally said what she was thinking out loud.

A Case study of Intel Essay

Introduction In this case, I’ve studied the globally known semiconductor manufacturer, which is the Intel. The purpose of the study is to analyze the objectives and strategies used by Intel, SWOT analyzing and discuss major issues or problems that the company faced. About: Intel Corporation is the biggest semiconductor manufacturer in the world and has changed the global marketplace radically since it was founded in 1968. The first handheld calculators and PCs (Personal Computers) were developed through the innovation of Intel’s microprocessors. In the early 70’s increased competition from Japanese semiconductor manufacturers had dramatically reduced the profitability of this market this made Intel to shift the company’s focus to microprocessors. From the late 80s until the late 90s Intel had a 10-year period of unprecedented growth as the primary hardware supplier to the PC industry, supplying microprocessor to IBM. Intel’s product line of Pentium processors had become a household name. Today at least 80% of Intel’s processors are used in PCs globally. Their product line consists of: chipsets, motherboards, flash memory used in wireless communications, networking devices, laser printers, industrial machinery, and cellular phone base stations. Mission: Delight our customers, employees, and shareholders by relentlessly delivering the platform and technology advancements that become essential to the way we work and live. Values: Customer Orientation Results Orientation Risk Taking Great Place to Work Quality Discipline Objectives: â€Å"Extend our silicon technology and manufacturing leadership Deliver unrivaled microprocessors and platforms Grow profitability worldwide Excel in customer orientation† Major issues and Problems: 1. Dust would contaminate the circuits during manufacturing. Solution: Intel developed â€Å"clean rooms† for keeping dust out of the process. Recommendation: I agree with the decision of the company to develop â€Å"clean rooms†. Now that they already have these rooms, they can now have a product that would work 101% at its best for the consumers. . 2. Etch circuit lines on silicon wafers, without having the etched lines fracture and break as the water was heated and cooled repeatedly during the manufacturing process. Solution: To â€Å"dope† the metal oxide with impurities, making it less brittle. Intel subsequently went to some lengths to keep this aspect of the manufacturing process secret from competitors for as long as possible. Recommendation: Intel is so intelligent and optimistic for its products. With this problem at that time I am pretty sure only Intel thought of this wonderful solution. With this, the challenge now is to maintain this technique or process to constantly produce â€Å"quality† products. 3. Intel underestimated Japanese threats in terms of technology which resulted to dropping off DRAM; one of their flagship product. Solution: Intel did not risk investing a new fabrication facility at a cost of $600 million that might affect the operation of its other products especially the microprocessor. Recommendation: Intel should’ve been more conscious and aware of the possibilities and facts that new entrants and competitors will always be a threat for the company. With its decision, it is kind of frustrating for the fact that the DRAM was once the best innovation and product of Intel. But the company left with no choice but to exit the DRAM business. I wouldn’t risk my other products to get affected by this mistake. 4. The company exited its struggling communication chip business. The workforce was cut by 20,000, while costs were reduced by $3 billion. Solution: The company did not lose sight of the need to produce processors for mobile devices. In mid-2008, Intel introduced a new line of low-power consumption chips called atom. Intel has also been making moves into the graphics chip business. Recommendation: Persistence and perseverance for your product should always be present in the company. I just commend Intel for being so flexible and how quick they are in satisfying the ever changing demands of the consumers. Study Key success factors for Intel: Management Intel placed top priority on their people, and encouraged openness, fairness, and responsibility, Intel was able to take full advantage of its workers. Mistakes The most talented and brightest people that were employed were given leverage when mistakes were made so that they would be encouraged to develop breakthrough technologies. Hard Work Moore and Noyce refused to shy away from their inexperience and being willing to do what work they needed. Also admitting their limitations, they were able to seek out qualified employees to help build the company. Competition They learned that the key to entrepreneurial success was by being in a constant state of awareness and fear of your competitors, entrepreneurs can become proactive instead of reactive, seizing new opportunities as they present themselves instead of letting them pass them by. Exclusivity By specializing and focusing on a niche market, Intel was able to not only stand out from the crowd, but to become market leader in the industry. Competitive Advantage: Expertise in Manufacturing Highest standards in high-quality clean production The company invests vast sums in R&D and manufacturing It designs quality products It is able to leverage its manufacturing capability. This means it can increase production to bring product to market in large volumes. Increasing volume and getting the product onto the market as quickly as possible are important elements in creating and maintaining a competitive advantage. It has a regular cadence (or rhythm) to the development of new products or improvements to existing ones Analysis SWOT: Strengths Intel is a globally recognized brand name and has strong brand loyalty from its consumers. Intel was the pioneer in microprocessors for PCs and memory devices. Intel is a global technology corporation and the world’s largest producer of semiconductor chip, based on revenue. Intel presently has around 80% of the microprocessor market share whereas AMD has roughly 17% of the market. Intel distinguished itself from a ‘commodity’ like position and established itself as the ‘brains’ of the computer industry Weaknesses Intel has been accused of using divisive strategies in defense of its market position against its competitors. Intel had uses its market dominance to unfairly stifle competition Since 2000, Intel could not maintain the position as the dominant supplier of microprocessor in the industry. Retail prices are higher compared to competitors. Opportunities Product development and markets penetration in the existing markets is also a good opportunity. Advancement in technology also provides the opportunity to offer new products. Offering more diversification with their products in related and unrelated business such as: security devices, broadband and cellular industry. Backward and forward integration may reduce the cost, improve the quality and service. Threats Advancement in technology obsoletes the manufacturing facilities and products. The strong price war is going on between PC producers. Many competent PC makers are using inferior performance IC’S. Changing customer taste and preferences along with the reduction in brand loyalty is a major threat. Currency changeability in different countries create problem for the business of the company. The company is facing strong competition to sustain its market share. Intel Corporation is facing strong political instability, regulation and tariffs in different countries. Product specialization of Intel can become a big threat. Having a limited product line Intel runs the risk of being forced out of the market by a better product. The fast development of cell phones and other mobile gadgets can perform the same tasks as PCs and is having a major negative impact on the PCs market. Conclusion Technology Strategy Intel began in memory production and development in 1968 Competition with Japanese firms with larger economies of scale reduced Intel’s market share (see functional map of Intel’s DRAM market share) Intel’s development of the microprocessor (first designed in 1970) led to more and more R&D being assigned to this branch of the company Technology strategy change came from the middle of the company, DRAM was still pursued from senior managements perspective until 1986 Microprocessor development allowed Intel to sustain its revenue increases In 2001, Intel produced microprocessors with integrated Wi-Fi In early 2000s, Intel invested heavily in semiconductor production facilities to achieve overwhelming economies of scale Also in early 2000s, Intel launched several products into non PC markets for their semiconductor technology, most of which were unsuccessful Intel’s technology strategy has changed from a focus on DRAM, to a focus on microprocessors, and then on to heavily specialising in the field of microprocessors to achieve overwhelming productivity that has enabled Intel to sell their logic products at competitive prices to companies producing things other than PCs Product/Market Strategy Aggressive marketing strategy in 1980 (Project â€Å"CRUSH†) coincides with IBM’s entry into the PC market, this repeats with Project â€Å"CHECKMATE† to secure more IBM contracts Intels primary buyer shifts to Compaq in 1986 because IBM would not commit to 80386, Intel can effectively play the big buyers (see functional map of buyers revenue) against each other, Intel’s higher revenue (see functional map) suggests more power lies with Intel â€Å"Intel Inside† marketing strategy to engage with the end user in 1990 lead to big gains in revenue 1990-1995 (see functional map of Intel revenue) Developed pricing strategy to increase premium on new chip designs to reduce demand when production was being ramped up, this extra profit also helped to cover start-up costs (see functional map, price of different processors) Marketing strategy moved away from PCs in late 1990s, early 2000s as the prices of semiconductor products came down Diversified buyers as Intel produces chips for different types of products, e.g. phones, TVs, communications equipment Intel’s product/market strategy has changed from having buyers only in the PC industry to having buyers in many different industries that rely on semiconductor products. Its current efforts are to increase its market share in these non-PC areas. Development Goals Development goals from 1968 to early 2000s remained constant, be the first to market with the best product This goal was not achievable in DRAM, but was achievable in microprocessors Practically, the development of the company had shifted towards the ‘logic’ side of the business before the official stance changed, so Intel was well positioned to take advantage of conditions within the industry (using clever marketing and buyer manipulation) to emerge as the star player As the PC market for semiconductors matured, other industries opened up that required logic, in the early 2000s Intel was trying to develop into a supplier for many different industries, and in some cases selling directly to consumers Intel’s goals have changed from dominating the PC semiconductor industry to diversifying their products and buyers to participate in more markets. Bibliography and References http://news.softpedia.com/news/Intel-Says-Its-Back-With-a-Vengeance-66998.shtml http://news.softpedia.com/news/Intel-s-Branding-Plans-Desconspired-12675.shtml http://www.docstoc.com/docs/61656370/Marketing-Strategy-for-Intel http://essaysforstudent.com/print.html?id=78018 http://essaysforstudent.com/Business/Intel-Pestel-Five-Forces-Analysis/75349.html http://www.zdnet.com/blog/computers/is-intel-pricing-itself-out-of-the-tablet-pc-market-with-new-atom-z670-processor/5271?tag=content;search-results-rivers http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/bios/lcrone.htm