Analysis of the poem Essay

The poem Originally by Carol Ann Duffy talks about the issue of culture identity. The poem talks about change, memories, and anxiety which occurs when moving. This is conveyed through the experiences of a young girl in the poem who is reluctant to leave what she knows behind. This is made apparent through the theme of memory and the continual change of setting. The title Originally sets the tone for the poem as there change needs to occur for there to be an ‘original’. This choice of diction allows for an expectation for what the journey will be about, while the ambiguity of the poem is written in such a way that personal experiences can be projected upon the protagonist. The aspect of the poem through tone however creates a bias towards negative emotions and experiences due to the despondent tone throughout the first two stanzas. This atmosphere of loss is aided through the use of negative emotive diction such as ‘bawling’ and ‘resigned’. By showing that the protagonist’s brothers are crying, Duffy illustrates how hard this is for them as crying is usually only brought on by major or sad events and loss, ‘resigned’ is used to show how she has accepted her fate, but it doesn’t mean she likes it. This association of emotions with the diction allows for empathy to occur towards the protagonist and her unsure feelings about her emigration. The theme of cultural identity is used in the poem in order to instil a sense of not belonging. This feeling of unease and unhappiness is introduced through the use of ‘bawling’ as this change from the place where they are comfortable and belong to the new one is both painful and confusing for them. The use of italics however, in the repetition of ‘Home’ as well as the capitalisation of it, emphasises it’s importance to them and their desire to return to it. The use of a blind toy by Duffy can be used as a metaphor towards the protagonists new life, where, although the toy is blind, it still has eyes. The foreshadowing could be that when the protagonist moves she will be blinded by everything which is new so that she doesn’t become overwhelmed by it. She will continue to be blind to the beauty of her new home so long as she is yearning for her old one. However, once she is ready her ‘sight’ will return and she will start to forget her cultural identity. At the time, the girl doesn’t want this however, so she is clinging onto a toy to maintain her memories of home. Additionally, a toy is associated with childhood, so the clinging onto it may represent how she doesn’t want to grow up and leave her comforts behind. By saying in the second stanza that ‘all childhood is emigration’, Duffy allows for immediate relation to the protagonists situation. This is due to the journey of growing up to adulthood which is a worldwide experience, as well as referring to physical emigration of moving from one place to another. Improtantly however, the emigration of childhood is all made without the acceptance of the person moving, they cannot stop growing older, and parents make the ultimate decisions. This unease and the inability to understand the need to move is reinforced by the location of her new home where ‘no one you know stays. ‘ This introduces the tone of isolation which is reinforced by having the wrong accent, and ‘shouting words you don’t understand’ which immediately marks a person as being from a different area, even though the move could have been within the same country of city, the accent and slang changes. The introduction of ‘big boys’ shows that she is intimidated by people from the area who are older and bigger as she doesn’t know how they will react, this is reinforced by the alliteration present through the repetition of the hard ‘d’, continuing the feeling of intimidation which the protagonist encounters. A continuation of the alliteration in sibilance, ‘seeing your brother swallow a slug, feel only a skelf of shame,’ provides an insight that the protagonist is slightly proud of her brothers for adapting so well to the environment, which is then applied to herself in a continuation of sibilance in combination with a simile in that she ‘remembers (her) tongue shedding it’s skin like a snake, my voice in the classroom sounding just like the rest. ‘ This shows that she is also now adapting to her environment, reinforced by the fact that a shed skin is natural for a snake, and this adaptation is normal, although slightly unwanted. The last stanza’s change in tone shows how the protagonist has changed with age. This allows for a time skip to take place into a time when she is more mature and able to reflect upon the journey easily, although with some regret. This is expressed through rhetorical questions beginning with the use of ‘Do I only think,’ in line 20, which builds up an atmosphere of longing and wistfulness. There is also a tone of uncertainty in there, as she doesn’t know if she had remained in the place if the feelings of belonging would have remained, which is why she only questions and doesn’t outright believe that staying would have been the best option for her. The rhyming of the words ‘first space’ and ‘right place’ reinforces the doubt she feels about her cultural identity. The continued doubt of the protagonist’s cultural identity which occurs in lines 23 and 24, illustrates how she will continue to try and find the answers throughout her life as she will never be truly certain of who she is, creating a sense of not belonging. Although emigration is a hard thing to experience, Duffy illustrates that trying to maintain a cultural identity through such a process may cause problems later. The continued rejection of the new culture illustrates how much of an outsider it makes the protagonist feel later in life, which could have been avoided if it had been readily embraced. The place which she originates from will always have a draw, however, the acceptance of a new culture viewed as a new part of a personal culture, would be much easier to accept than a replacement to the old one.

Goff Computer

Goff Computer, INC. Martin Teal BUS 650 Managerial Finance Instructor Scott Shaw October 15, 2012 Goff Computer, INC. Goff Computer, INC has been around for about eight years and has over seventy stores. Goff Computer, INC had $97 million in sales last year and wants to know what the cost of capital is. In order to answer this several steps have to be taken which include comparing the company to Dell and how they work. Dell is a major computer company and they build the computers to fit the customer’s needs and demands. The task at hand for Goff Computer , INC is to determine its cost of capital.There are several steps that must be done to get to the end result. Step 1 gives directions on how to obtain the beginning information needed about Dell. Step 2 asks several questions and the responses are: * The most recent stock price is $18. 16 * The market capitalization for Dell is 32. 62B * Dell currently has 1. 8B shares outstanding * The beta for Dell is 1. 33 * The yield on 3- month Treasury bill is . 865% * The cost of equity using CAPM is 16. 71% Step 3 instructs to go to www. reuters. com and find the competitors. However, there are none listed Step 4 instructs to calculate the cost of debt for Dell by going to cxa. arketwtch. com/finra/BondCenter/Dfault. aspx DELL. GJ yield to maturity . 754%| DELL. GF . 911%| DELL. GL. 724%| DELL. GP0%| DELL. GO. 946%| | | | | | Step 5 asks about the weighted cost and the book value weights. The book value is higher. Step 6 is the real question asking what the potential problems are and what suggestions I would have. The potential problems that I see when it comes to comparing the company to Dell are that Dell is a larger company and so things are different and constantly changing for them.Dell is more stable and has loyal customers so they can afford to take more risk as well. The only improvement that I can offer Goff Computer is to not try and follow a large company. They are building their own successful company. Therefore they should set their own trend that sets them apart from the competition. References Ross, S. , & Westerfield, R. , Jaffe, J. , & Jordan, B. (2011). Corporate finance: Core principles and applications (3rd ed. ). Boston, MD

Bloodlines Chapter Thirteen

MY CELL PHONE RANG at the crack of dawn the next morning. I was already up, being an early riser, but Jill rolled over in bed and put her pillow over her head. â€Å"Make it stop,† she groaned. I answered and found Eddie on the other end of the line. â€Å"I'm downstairs,† he said. â€Å"Ready to practice some self-defense before it gets too hot.† â€Å"You're going to have to do it without me,† I said. I had a feeling Eddie was taking his promise to Clarence about training us very seriously. I felt no such obligation. â€Å"I've got a ton of homework to do. That, and I'm sure Ms. Terwilliger's going to make me do a coffee run today.† â€Å"Well, then send Jill down,† said Eddie. I glanced over to the cocoon of blankets on her bed. â€Å"That might be easier said than done.† Surprisingly, she managed to rouse herself enough to brush her teeth, take aspirin for a headache, and throw on some workout clothes. She bid me farewell, and I promised to check on them later. Not long after that, Ms. Terwilliger called with her coffee demand, and I prepared myself for another day of trying to fit in my own work with hers. I drove over to Spencer's and didn't even notice Trey until I was standing right in front of him. â€Å"Ms. Terwilliger's?† he asked, pointing to the caramel sauce cappuccino. â€Å"Huh?† I looked up. Trey was my cashier. â€Å"You work here?† He nodded. â€Å"Gotta make spending money somehow.† I handed him some cash, noting that he'd charged me half price. â€Å"Don't take this the wrong way, but you don't look so great,† I told him. He looked tired and worn out around the edges. Closer inspection showed bruises and cuts as well. â€Å"Yeah, well, I had kind of a rough day yesterday.† I hesitated. That was a leading comment, but there was no one in line behind me. â€Å"What happened?† I asked, knowing it was expected. Trey scowled. â€Å"That asshole Greg Slade wreaked havoc in football tryouts yesterday. I mean, the results aren't up yet, but it's pretty obvious he's going to get quarterback. He was like a machine, just plowing guys over.† He extended his left hand, which had some bandage-wrapped fingers. â€Å"He stepped on my hand too.† I winced, remembering Slade's out-of-control athleticism in PE. The politics of high school football and who was quarterback weren't that important to me. True, I felt sorry for Trey, but it was the source behind the tattoos that intrigued me. Keith's warnings about not causing trouble rang back to me, but I was unable to stop myself. â€Å"I know about the tattoos,† I said. â€Å"Julia and Kristin told me about them. And I get now why you were suspicious of mine – but it's not what you think. Really.† â€Å"That's not what I've heard. Most people think you're just saying that because you don't want to tell where you got it.† I was a little taken aback by that. I was pretty sure Julia and Kristin had believed me. Were they actually spreading around the opposite? â€Å"I had no idea.† He shrugged, a small smile on his lips. â€Å"Don't worry. I believe you. There's something kind of naively charming about you. You don't seem like the cheating type.† â€Å"Hey,† I scolded. â€Å"I'm not naive.† â€Å"It was a compliment.† â€Å"How long have these tattoos been around?† I asked, deciding it was best to move in. â€Å"I heard since last year.† He handed me my coffee, thinking. â€Å"Yeah, but it was the end of last year. School year, I mean.† â€Å"And they come from a placed called Nevermore?† â€Å"As far as I know.† Trey eyed me suspiciously. â€Å"Why?† â€Å"Just curious,† I said sweetly. A couple of college kids dressed like rich hobos got in line behind me and regarded us impatiently. â€Å"Can we get some service here?† Trey gave them a stiff smile and then rolled his eyes at me as I moved away. â€Å"See you around, Melbourne.† I headed back to Amberwood and delivered Ms. Terwilliger's coffee. I wasn't in the mood to stay leashed to her all day, so I asked if I could go elsewhere if I kept my cell phone handy. She agreed. The library had too much activity and – ironically – noise for me today. I wanted the solitude of my room. As I was cutting across the lawn to catch the shuttle, I spotted some familiar figures behind a cluster of trees. I changed direction and found Jill and Eddie squaring off in a small clearing. Micah sat cross-legged on the ground, watching avidly. He waved at me as I approached. â€Å"I didn't realize your brother was a kung-fu master,† he remarked. â€Å"It's not kung fu,† said Eddie gruffly, never taking his eyes off Jill. â€Å"Same difference,† said Micah. â€Å"It's still pretty badass.† Eddie feinted, like he was going to strike at Jill's side. She responded fairly quickly with a block, though not quite fast enough to match him. Had he been serious, he would have hit her. Still, he seemed pleased with her response time. â€Å"Good. That would deflect part of a hit, though you'd still feel it. Best is if you can duck and dodge altogether, but that takes a little more work.† Jill nodded obediently. â€Å"When can we work on that?† Eddie regarded her with pride. That expression softened after a few moments of study. â€Å"Not today. Too much sun.† Jill started to protest and then stopped herself. She had that worn-out-from-the-light look again and was sweating heavily. She glanced up at the sky for a moment, as though begging it to give us some cloud cover. It remained unresponsive, so she nodded at Eddie. â€Å"All right. But we're doing this tomorrow at the same time? Or earlier maybe. Or maybe tonight! Could we do both? Practice tonight when the sun's going down and then again in the morning? Would you mind?† Eddie grinned, amused at her enthusiasm. â€Å"Whatever you want.† Smiling back, Jill sat down beside me, getting into as much shade as possible. Eddie regarded me expectantly. â€Å"What?† I asked. â€Å"Aren't you supposed to learn to throw a punch?† I scoffed. â€Å"No. When would I ever need to do that?† Jill nudged me. â€Å"Do it, Sydney!† Reluctantly, I allowed Eddie to give me a quick lesson on throwing a punch without injuring my hand in the process. I barely paid attention and felt like I was mostly providing entertainment for the others. When Eddie finished with me, Micah asked, â€Å"Hey, would you mind showing me some ninja moves too?† â€Å"They have nothing to do with ninjas,† protested Eddie, still smiling. â€Å"Come on up.† Micah leapt to his feet, and Eddie walked him through some rudimentary steps. More than anything, it seemed like Eddie was sizing up Micah and his capabilities. After a while, Eddie grew comfortable and let Micah practice some offensive moves to get rid of an attacker. â€Å"Hey,† protested Jill when Eddie landed a kick on Micah. Micah shrugged it off in a guy kind of way. â€Å"No fair. You wouldn't hit me when we were practicing.† Eddie was caught off guard enough that Micah actually got a hit in. Eddie gave him a look of grudging respect and then said to Jill, â€Å"That was different.† â€Å"Because I'm a girl?† she demanded. â€Å"You never held back with Rose.† â€Å"Who's Rose?† asked Micah. â€Å"Another friend,† explained Eddie. To Jill, he said: â€Å"And Rose has had years more experience than you.† â€Å"She's had more than Micah too. You were going easy on me.† Eddie flushed and kept his eyes on Micah. â€Å"Was not,† he said. â€Å"Were too,† she muttered. As the boys sparred again, she said quietly to me, â€Å"How am I ever going to learn if he's afraid of breaking me?† I watched the guys, analyzing what I knew of Eddie so far. â€Å"I think it's more complicated than that. I think he also just believes you shouldn't have to take the risk – that if he's doing a good enough job, you shouldn't have to defend yourself.† â€Å"He's doing a great job. You should have seen him at the attack.† Her face got that haunted look it did whenever the attack that had driven her into hiding was mentioned. â€Å"But I still need to learn.† She lowered her voice even more. â€Å"I really want to learn to use my magic to fight too, not that I'll get much practice in this desert.† I shuddered, recalling her display from the night before. â€Å"There'll be time,† I said vaguely. I stood up, saying I had to go get some work done. Micah asked Eddie and Jill if they wanted to get lunch. Eddie said yes immediately. Jill looked to me for help. â€Å"It's just lunch,† said Eddie meaningfully. I knew he still thought Micah was harmless. I didn't know, but after seeing how infatuated Jill was with Lee, I figured Micah would have to make some pretty aggressive moves to get anywhere. â€Å"I'm sure it's fine,† I said. Jill looked relieved, and the group headed off. I spent the day finishing off that miserable book for Ms. Terwilliger. I still thought having to copy the archaic spells and rituals verbatim was a waste of time. The only point I could see for it was that if she ever did need to reference them for her research, she would have an easy computer file to check and not risk damage to the ancient book. It was evening by the time I finished that and my other homework. Jill still wasn't back, and I decided to use the opportunity to check on something that had been bothering me. Earlier in the day, Jill had mentioned Eddie defending her in the attack. I'd felt from the beginning that there was something strange about that initial attack, something that they weren't telling me. So, I logged onto the Alchemists' network and pulled up everything we had on the Moroi rebels. Naturally, it was all documented. We had to keep track of important events among the Moroi, and this ranked pretty high. Somehow, the Alchemists had gotten pictures of the Moroi Court, with protesters lined up outside one of the administrative buildings. Dhampir guardians were easy to pick out as they mingled and kept order. To my surprise, I recognized Dimitri Belikov – Rose's boyfriend – among those doing crowd control. He was easy to spot since he was almost always taller than everyone around him. Dhampirs look very human, and even I could admit that he was pretty good-looking. There was a rugged handsomeness to him, and even in a still photograph, I could see a fierceness as he watched the crowd. Other protest pictures confirmed what I knew. By far, most people supported the young queen. Those against her were a minority – but a loud and dangerous one. A video from a human news show in Denver showed two Moroi guys nearly getting in a bar fight. They were shouting about queens and justice, most of which wouldn't make sense to a human observer. What made this video special was that the guy who'd filmed it – some random human with a cell phone camera – claimed he'd seen fangs on both men in the argument. The videographer had submitted his recording claiming he'd witnessed a vampire fight, but no one gave it much credibility. It was too grainy for anything to show up. Still, it was a reminder of what could happen if the Moroi situation spun out of control. A status check showed me that Queen Vasilisa was indeed trying to get a law passed so that her rule was no longer dependent on there being at least one other person in her royal family. Alchemist experts guessed it would take three months, which was about what Rose had said. The number loomed in my head like a ticking time bomb. We needed to keep Jill safe for three months. And for three months, Vasilisa's enemies would be trying harder than ever to get to Jill. If Jill died, Vasilisa's rule would end – along with her attempts to fix the system. Yet none of this was what had really driven me to research. I wanted to know about Jill's initial attack, the one that no one talked about. What I found wasn't much help. No Alchemists had been there at the time, of course, so our information was based on what Moroi sources had reported. All we knew was that â€Å"the queen's sister had been viciously and severely attacked – but had made a full recovery.† From what I'd observed, that was certainly true. Jill showed no signs of injury, and the attack had occurred a week before she came to Palm Springs. Was that enough time to heal from a â€Å"vicious and severe† attack? And was an attack like that enough to make her wake screaming? I didn't know but still couldn't shake my suspicions. When Jill came home later, she was in such a good mood that I couldn't bear to interrogate her. I also remembered too late that I'd meant to research the case of Clarence's niece and her bizarre death by throat-slitting. Jill's situation had distracted me. I let the matter go and called it an early night. Tomorrow, I thought drowsily. I'll do it all tomorrow. Tomorrow came much more quickly than I expected. I was woken out of a heavy sleep by someone shaking me, and for a split second, the old nightmare was there, the one about Alchemists carrying me away in the night. Recognizing Jill, I just barely stopped myself from screaming. â€Å"Hey, hey,† I scolded. There was light outside, but it was purplish. Barely after sunrise. â€Å"What's going on? What's the matter?† Jill looked at me, face grim and eyes wide with fear. â€Å"It's Adrian. You have to rescue him.†

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Packaging as an Important Marketing Tool - Assignment Example Packaging is important for preserving quality as well as building a communication channel between manufacturers and buyers in the form of information and convenience. For example, packaged food items are often served with information regarding its nutrition level and ingredients as well as are packed in a convenient manner for the customers’ use. It is through these features that manufacturers tend to build a relationship with their ultimate customers with the advantages of packaging. Moreover, packaging also plays important functions with the objective of seeking that products are packaged and distributed to end consumers with appropriate weight, quantity, measure and quality as per the industry standards. Hence, packaging also contributes to the transparency of the production and distribution process (Brody, â€Å"Development of packaging for food products†). In the present business scenario, with the development of different technologies, the packaging is seemed to be playing an effective role in offering different types of products to worldwide customers. Notably, with rising awareness among customers, intensification of competition as well as a greater need for transparency in the distribution process, have essentialized computerized packaging systems. With this development, companies are now able to obtain higher cost efficiency in their packaging process (Brody, â€Å"Development of packaging for food products†). Market Competition: In the recent era, market competition has aroused to a significant level due to the arrival of new companies as well as products. Moreover, companies are observed to be offering products resembling identical features and use in the form of close substitutes. In this respect, companies have focused on developing innovative packaging ideas as a differentiation strategy.  

Women Suffrage Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

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Alternative Approaches to Discipline Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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Norse, Teutonic, or Scandinavian mythology Essay Example for Free

Norse, Teutonic, or Scandinavian mythology Essay Thought (Hugin) and Memory (Munin) were the two ravens that went unto the world to observe and return to tell of what all men do, Driven by further search for knowledge, Odin begged Mimir, the wise, to allow him to drink from the well of wisdom, for this he consented to lose an eye. Wounded I hung on wind swept gallows For nine long nights, Pierced by a spear, pledged to Odin, Offered myself to myself: The wisest know not from whence spring The roots of that ancient rood. They gave me no bread, they gave me no mead: I looked down; with a loud cry I took up the runes and I fell. (The Elder Edda 56) Here we find Odin once more sacrificing himself for knowledge, In The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology it is said that Odin actually died on the gallows of Yggdrasil, that he traversed Nifleheim, or Hel in order to obtain the nine sacred runes, that seem to be extremely powerful as described in The Elder Edda. The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology adds yet another theory to Odin hanging himself, The parallel between Odins voluntary death on Yggdrasil and the crucifixion remains striking. Odin was pierced with a spear and like Christ, cried out before he died there is little doubt that his hanging on the cosmic tree had pre-Christian origins and derived from ancient pagan worship. Odin had long been the god of the spear, the god of the hanged. This could definitely be determined as less than speculation, seeing as we must rely on our sources and to this point one could say that this is a very valid and well thought out work. Regardless of minor differences in text again we must as they did default ourselves to the larger span of information. There were two different groups of gods in Scandinavian Mythology, The Aesir and the Vanir. Each having their own respective dwelling place, Asgard for the Aesir, and Vanaheim for the Vanir. Of the two, The Vanir have been said to be the older. Unlike the warrior Aesir, the Vanir were a race of gods associated with fertility, wealth, and good weather. (The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology 500) Among the Vanir were, Njord, the sea and fortune god, Skadi, the god of destruction, Freyja, the goddess of love, and Freyr the god of Fertility. Among the Aesir were, Odin, Balder, Bragi, Forseti Heimdall, Hodr, Thor, Tyr, Vili, Ve, Vidar, Frigg, Sif, and Idun. At one point in time there was a great war between these two branches of gods, yet both the Aesir, and the Vanir came to terms by exchanging several prominent gods of each side. The Vanir sent Njord, Freyr, Freyja, and Kvasir, while the Aesir sent Mimir, and Honir. The Vanir soon found that they got the bad end of the deal due to the fact that Mimir was the only one who knew what he was talking about, and that in his absence Honir, wasnt really that bright. The Vanir then sliced of Mimirs head and sent it back to Asgard, where Odin used Powerful magic to allow Mimirs head to speak. Little else is known of the Vanir, they seemed to lose importance quickly after it was concluded that the war was resolved however it was noted that Vanaheim, was potentially unaffected by Ragnarok. This shows evidence of two religions colliding with Scandinavian and Germanic mythology. Revealing to us that Scandinavian mythology has most definately influenced by other ancient tales and stories. (Cherry, Vanaheim) Scandinavian mythology might have been the inspiration to several works of modern day literature. It is Nicole Cherrys opinion that Tolkien was very well acquainted with the northern mythos, as can be seen by the use of it in his books. The name of one of his main characters, Gandalf, is found in The Poetic Edda. Gandalf is, in some ways, reminiscent of Odin, the leader of the Norse pantheon. Even the name Middle-earth, the setting for Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings, comes from Norse mythology. There are several other modern day works of literature based on or derived from Scandinavian mythology as well, such as, The Ring of the Nibelung and The Nibelungenlied. These works, may well show the effect and legacy of Scandinavian Mythology in the World. Another notable element of Tolkeins Lord of The Rings was his use of the ring itself to the Viings the ring meant wealth honor fame and destiny. It was in fact a tradition to give rings to neighboring countries, bringing to notice the ever prominent focal point of the Lord of the Rings. (Day 29) There is no Heaven or Hell in Scandinavian mythology, the only hope is to be brought up to Asgard by a Valkyrie or Battle Maiden. Even then those chosen or the Einherjar (The Heroic dead) faced defeat at Ragnarok in the Final Battle on the Vigrid Plain. This may be unlike any other focal point of religion known. It reasons in many ways that the only way to gain honor is to die in battle unfaltering. Scandinavian Mythology, although comparable to other religions or other pagan beliefs is an original and unique work of the Norwegians, Swedish, Icelandic, and Danish peoples of Europe. Hamilton describes it justly by saying, Asgard, the home of the gods, is unlike any other heaven men have dreamed of. No radiancy or joy is in it, no assurance of bliss, it is a grave and solemn place, over which hangs the threat of inevitable doom the same is true for humanity this conception of life which underlies Norse religion, as somber a conception the human mind has ever given birth to A heroic death is not a defeat, but a triumph. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE JRR Tolkien section.

Key Economic Theories Of Price Fixing Economics Essay

Key Economic Theories Of Price Fixing Economics Essay 2A. Features of an oligopoly and key economic theories of price fixing : Introduction : This part of the coursework aims to identify the key features of oligopolistic competition in market and the economic theories related to price fixing. In monopoly one company controls the major market share while in oligopoly; market is controlled by more than one firm or a group of small firms. This analysis describes the features of oligopoly and kinked demand curve in oligopolistic situation. It also explains the pricing theories in context with game theory and Nash Equilibrium. Oligopoly : In oligopoly, large percentage of market is captured by leading firms, producing same product or services. Such firms agree to cooperate and act as single monopoly thus making a cartel to generate maximum profits. Key features of oligopoly are: Same product or service by the group of dominated firms. Branded product by each firm. Entry barriers. Interdependence among the firms. Non-price competition. Small firms may exist in oligopoly but the market is usually controlled by large players having more than half of the industry output. Each firm produces branded product, therefore creating high competition resulting in high marketing and advertising costs. Entry barriers such as government regulations, patents, setup cost and undivided resource ownership, restricts a new entrant to enter the oligopolistic market. Interdependence means that each firm must take into account the likely reactions of other firms in the market when making pricing and investment decisions (Begg Ward). Such an uncertainty in market can be resolved by the use of game theory which is applied by a firm taking account of the decisions made by the rival firm. Non-price competition among the oligopolistic firms, aim at increasing their market share significantly e.g. media advertising, promotional offers and discounts, use of technology, customer friendly services such as self scanning machines and customer loyalty benefits etc. Kinked demand curve theory According to Paul Sweezys assumptions, if an oligopolistic raises its price, the rivals are unlikely to follow the same suit because keeping the prices constant will increase their market share. Revenue of the firm that raised its price will fall by fairly large amount, making the demand curve relatively elastic. However if the firm reduces the prices, it is highly likely that the competitors will also reduce the prices. Source: Tutor2u Limited,2010 This non-collusive theory explains the stability once the price is set but fails to explain how the stable price is achieved. In oligopolistic situation; each company has an option either to start a price war with the rival or to cooperate. Game theory deals with the prediction of probable outcomes of the games of strategy in which rivals have incomplete information about others intensions e.g. Prisoners dilemma is a situation in which two suspects are interrogated in separate rooms, depicts an example of game theory. Each suspect has simple options either confesses and bears the consequences or denies and hopes the other has also done the same. To explain which strategy the firms will adopt can be explained by Nash equilibrium, in which each firm considers its rivals response before taking their own strategy.(Begg Ward,p.131) Equilibrium occurs when each player takes the best possible action for themselves given the action of the other player. Nash equilibrium is a situation in which none of the firms could improve pay-off, given the rivals strategies e.g. firm A would not be able to improve profits , given firm Bs strategy and vice versa. Each firm may indulge in high or low price strategies. If both firms collude to adopt high price strategy, both would yield above normal profits and if both adopt low price strategies, both would yield normal profits. Suppose in long run, each firm fails to trust the rival and indulge in low price strategy to increase its profits and the rival adheres to the high price than the rival may face heavy loss. Such a fear that the rival may adopt a damaging strategy exists within the firms and it is therefore in the interest of both the firms to adopt a low price strategy. Such a situation is called Maximin strategy where the player adopting the strategy yields maximum profits, assuming that the rival may inflict maximum damage. At times a group of oligopolists engage in an overt agreement to fix the prices and the level of production. Such an overt collusion, in order to act as a monopolist, is called collusive oligopoly and aims to earn maximum profits by restricting the production and increasing the prices. Price changes of one firm are sometimes matched by the other firm and the firm initiating the price change is called price leader; such collusion is called as tacit collusion. Rectangle abcd depicts the cartels profits. Cartels are likely to break in long run as the members are intended to cheat sometime or the other by increasing production. By producing more output than decided, the member can increase its share from cartels profit. If each member cheats than cartel ends up in earning monopoly profits and thereby leaving no reason for the firm to remain in the cartel. Conclusion Interdependence is the key feature of oligopolistic market. The outcome of any strategy by a firm is uncertain and the price competition may lead to price-war. Entry barriers help the dominant firms to maintain their control over the market. Formation of cartels may yield short term gains but are hazardous in long run. It is also observed that non-price competition may benefit oligopolists to increase market share and sustain in long term. 2B.Extent to which telecom sector in India is an oligopoly and price determination strategy Introduction Indian Telecommunication industry is the second largest and fastest telecom industry in the world with around 706.37 Million telephone (landline and mobile) subscribers and 670.60 Million mobile phone connections as of Aug2010.Dominance of few major players has made this sector perfect case of Oligopoly in India. Due to the presence of limited number of players, each player is aware of the rivals actions and therefore the decisions of one firm is affected by the action of the other firm. Service Provider wise Market Share as on 31-7-2010 Source: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Concentration Ratio Players Market Share(%) Bharti (Airtel) 21.34 Reliance 17.37 Vodafone 17.08 Tata 11.47 Concentration Ratio 67.26 Table above shows that four firm concentration ratio is above 40% Barriers to entry in Telecom The high entry barriers in telecom sector as mentioned below turns the market oligopolistic in nature. High capital investment required by the new entrant for initial setup competition with well established operators Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance and Tata license fee on revenue sharing basis plus one time entry fee continuously emerging technology e.g. VOIP,3G lowest tariffs in the world acquiring spectrum high initial operating losses. Lower rates makes it longer for the new entrant to achieve equilibrium as most new subscribers churn from one network to another. Low Tariffs: Facet of Competition Indian telecommunications is the lowest cost market in the world. The cut throat competition among operators has left no scope of having single price leader in market as all the operators compete for lower prices and high customer base. Increased number of players has resulted in increased price wars among the competitors, with consumer being the beneficiary. Such factors declines the profit margins which are expected to consolidate the industry. Offset of price wars In mid nineties, at the start of cellular services in India, operators used to charge heavily for the incoming calls on their network. After the launch of BSNLs free incoming call facility, other operators followed the same suit. Still the major chunk of customer remained with BSNL due to its low call rates and better network coverage. With the launch of Reliance Communications as a new telecom giant, teledensity in India raised enormously to 8.2% in 2004 from that of 2.32% in 1999 and to 54.10% in April 2010 (as per TRAI).Introduction of low cost cellular services, along with handset, made Reliance the price leader in telecom industry attracting a huge chunk of customer base. Other leading service providers like Airtel, Vodafone and Hutch had to match their prices with that of Reliance. To monitor and regulate the irregularities in tariffs charged by telecom operators, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India was formed by the government of India. The Telecommunication Tariff Order 1999 started declining tariffs and influenced the rapid growth of cellular phone users. TRAI is also responsible to monitor and prevent the formation of cartels by cellular operators in the cover of associations such as COAI and AUSPI. Source: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Source: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Graphs show the percentage decline in national and international call rates. This occurred due to intense competition that generated after TRAI regulations. Steps taken by TRAI that affected tariffs: Interconnect Usage Charge payable by one operator to another for using their network Reduction in Access Deficit Charge also contributed in bringing down the call rates Calling Party Pays regime fixed low termination charges further reduced prices Unified Access Service License gave operators the privilege to determine tariffs Impact of price-war Price war among operators hits the revenue growth significantly. For the new entrants, the break-even point at which expenses equals revenue also increases. The decline in prices due to competition increases the consumer base to unsustainable levels. Previous data suggests that only 50% of the subscribers are new and the rest are either churning the network or keeping an additional connection. Graph shows increase in demand with decrease in price Table below shows market revenue growth in terms of MRPU. major players.jpg Marginal Revenues Per Minutes (MRPU) Graph below depicts the growth in usage actuated by reduction in tariffs. Apart from low call rates, reduced cost of handsets and free handset facility by service providers also contributed to the increase in customer base. Source: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Non-Price Competition Recent launch of per second billing option by Tata, pushed its rivals to indulge in non-price competition. Most of the operators have now started offering similar per second billing to its customers and this has resulted in creating more pressure on margins. Value added services and customer friendly facilities like online payment, internet access and better network coverage constituted in non-price competition. Conclusion The above research and analysis of data implies that Indian telecom industry exist in oligopolistic situation where few major players are having large share of the market. Strategic change of one operator impacts the strategy of other players, resulting in interdependence among operators. High entry barriers restrict new entrants to enter the industry and regulatory authority like TRAI monitors the formation of cartel in the industry. Analysis also shows that competition in oligopolists is not only due to price-wars but other factors such as better services and low cost of handsets also influence a large customer base.

Citizen Service Centres (KEP): Perceptions of Customers

Citizen Service Centres (KEP): Perceptions of Customers 1. Introduction 1.1 Importance of the Research According to the philosophical bases of marketing customer wants satisfaction. As the consumer is the key for a firm, the voter is the central element for a government or party (Lock and Harri,1996).In this context the citizen voter wants satisfaction and searching his satisfaction from the services that are offered to him is ‘‘ a lens through which government and public managers can gain a better perspective on how citizens respond to the performance of public services, (Van Ryzin , 2004) and offers important findings for the policy makers. Citizen satisfaction surveys are frequently used by U.S. local governments and public administration researchers in order to measure the quality of local government services (Hatry et al., 1992; Miller and Kobayashi, 2000). A big number of U.S. cities use surveys regularly (New York , San Francisco, Phoenix etc.),in order to analyze in a descriptive and unvaried way , the level of perceived quality of services ,within a locality and over time (Van Ryzin et al., 2004). Recent studies have compared citizen satisfaction with benchmarks that were developed from data collected across many localities (Miller and Miller 1991; Miller and Kobayashi 2000), and have focused on the individual, jurisdictional, and city-specific determinants of citizen ratings of service quality (De Hoog, Lowery, and Lyons 1990; Hero and Durand 1985),like taxes and expenditure ,and also on demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of respondents such as race (Schuman and Gruenberg, 1972). Other investigations have negotiated the citizen satisfaction from the police according to their ethnoracial characteristics (Brad W. S. 2005), or satisfaction from the education system or from hospitals (Amyx,Bristow ,2001, Suda Anita D.,1998). The importance of the public services quality became popular in the United Kingdom at 1990s when the political parties put an emphasis on the subject ,but even in our days the need for quality services that meet â€Å"customer† citizens needs and expectations, is more and more obvious .This need for quality public services is even expressed by the European Social Fund, as the implementation of the strategy and policies of the European Committee at Member States ,is strongly related with the public service organizations, which many of them are responsible for (ESF,2009). And although, in the marketing research exist a number of well-developed models of approaching customer satisfaction, there has been little development of a model that would test citizens satisfaction. As a result, it would be valuable to test such a model in the framework of Greek public services. 1.2 The Research Objectives The overall objective of this research is to examine the Greek citizens perceptions and expectations of service quality concerning the Citizen Service Centres (KEP) -a Greek public service based on servqual model. From this overall objective a number of more specific aims can be identified: Investigate consumer expectations towards the service offered from public services Examine citizen perceptions about Citizen Service Centres(KEP) Asses the factors that play an important role in the service quality of Citizen Service Centres (KEP) 2. Literature Review 2.1 Politics and the marketing concept It has often been argued that the application of ‘marketing tools and instruments in politics is nothing new (Perloff, 1999; Baines and Egan, 2001).In the last twenty-five years what have changed about the political marketing is not just the size of political marketing management but also the belief that political actors act and think in political terms. Political actors are them that they try to do marketing management in a frame of integration of marketing instruments in a coherent marketing strategy (Newman, 1994a; Dermody and Scullion, 2001). It is supposed that the selling of politicians and the selling of a product is linked (OShaughnessy, 2001) and that commercial and political contexts are essentially similar (Kotler, 1999). Many marketers believe that the tools and concepts of marketing can be transferred directly to the political arena (Lock and Harris ,1996) .The applications of political marketing are used as a tool of managing politics, developing policy (Nimmo, 1999), or even governing (OShaughnessy, 2003). The marketing concept in commercial terms is based on the principle that all company planning and operations will be customer oriented. As such the philosophical basis of the marketing concept is that customer want satisfaction (OCass, 1996). When a political party or candidate applies this concept to the political process, they must be in a position to adapt to and satisfy voters needs (Mauser, 1983; Newman and Sheth, 1987; Reid, 1988). For major mainstream parties, the overriding objective is to attract voters, win elections and hold power (Lock and Harris, 1996).In this extent knowing the degree of satisfaction of citizens seems to be important. 2.2 Citizen Citizen is every person of a state that has the citizenship of it (New Encyclopaedia, 2006). According the place and the time different criteria were used to define the citizen .The genealogical criterion, which is the oldest, the legal criterion and the economic (taxation) criterion .According to the first, citizen is the son of citizen that hasnt lost his rights. This definition was used in the ancient cities in order to distinguish the mass from the public. According to the second criterion citizen is each one that is recognized like that from the law. And finally, according to the last , citizen is each one that owns property or a quantity of goods and contributes to the governmental budget (Encyclopaedia Papyrus Larousse Britannica, 1992).Citizens have some rights and obligations .Their rights are political such as the right to vote, to be member of the jury or public servant , and personal such as the right to live ,to have free speech , to work, to live in freedom ,etc . ,that are protected from the state and are given to everyone. Citizens obligations such as taxation are set in order to protect the privileges that are offered to citizens from the government and they emerge from the need of the States existence (New Encyclopaedia, 2006). One of the governmental works is the provision of goods and services. All the modern governments take part directly to the economy by providing goods and services , organising industrial enterprises I promoting economic activities .Providing sanitary, education, and social insurance services , is one of the modern states concerns (Heinz Eulau ,1992). 2.3 Citizens as Customers, Customers as Citizens The classic definition of customer is â€Å"one who purchases or receives a product or service† (Carlson, 1997). The concept of customer is often more complicated in the public sector. For example, the city of Coral Springs in Florida, refined the idea by considering two distinct categories of external customers. Moreover, a building permit applicant is a direct customer while the applicants neighbors are among the indirect customers who will benefit if the decision helps to ensure a safer city and more appropriate land use and construction practices. But even with these refinements, â€Å"citizen† sometimes has a broader meaning. Citizens enjoy rights and take on responsibilities that extend well beyond those commonly recognized to customers (Popovich, 1999). Despite the passage of generations, the fact that government cannot succeed without the peoples trust and support, is a true even today. These essential elements of civil society shape the capacity and help determine the actual performance of government. Societys efforts to accomplish its highest priority and most practical goals are likely to fall short in the absence of the peoples agreement in the functions of government. As the customer is the key for a firm, the citizen -voter is the central element for a government. 2.4 Public services A service is a non material product (education, health safety etc).The meaning of public services isnt constrained in the area of Public and Αdministrative law .The public service is a known significance in the economy, as an appropriate tool of the states expansion in the social relations, for the preservation of stabilized provisions for the welfare state. Beyond the needs of the of practical policy, the interest of the political science with the expansions of the political philosophy is expressed , as the public service is characterized as the expansion of the state in its social activity . In other words , it is the way by which the state contacts the citizens in order to cover their direct needs .After the two World Wars this phenomenon is observed in the European area .In Germany , this works as ‘‘Anstalten (institutions) and the ‘‘ offentlichen Unternehmungen (public enterprises) . The administration (the welfare state) undertakes and guarantees ben efits even for the preservation of life of human who live massively in big cities such as transportation ,cleanliness , water , electricity etc. ÃŽ ¤he principles of function of the public services are connected with the needs and social aims that are tended to fulfil. Therefore, services are provided to everyone in the same way in order to cover the needs, under conditions that change from time to time (Encyclopaedia Papyrus Larousse Britannica ,1992 ). According to the Europa Glossary that is being updated given the recent signing of the Treaty of Lisbon ,the concept of public service is >. At the same time the Europa Glossary defines that continuity of service quality security of supply equal access affordable prices social , cultural and environmental acceptability Article 16 of the EC Treaty, introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam, confirms the role of public services in the European Union. The EU policy on operators of public services is still shaped by the desire to liberalise network public services and to widen the scope of competition on national markets, be this, in the areas of rail transport, postal services, energy or telecommunications>>. 2.5 Citizen Service Centres (KEP) The institution of KEP was founded in 2002, based on an idea of the Deputy Minister Mr Beno. The KEP were founded according to the article 31 of law 3013/2002 and were staffed with short term labour agreement workers, according to the processes of article 6 of law 2527/1997. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (2007), over 60.000 of citizens visit every day Citizen Service Centres (KEP) for certified or not processes, ratifications of registrations, certifications of genuine signature and every kind of administrative information. The last three years 40 new KEP were founded and now they are 1035 at their total. The centres are open Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 20:00, and Saturday, 8:00 to 14:00. At Citizen Service Centres (KEP) citizens can:  · obtain information on what they need to do in order to manage their transactions with the municipality * submit applications for the processing of matters that involve the City that the KEP is registered and state agencies in accordance with joint decisions issued by the Interior Minister or other competent Minister >(City of Athens ,2007). Some of the procedures (about 1.014 at total) that Citizens can carry out at Citizen Service Centres are the following:  · The registration or transfer of registration of a passenger vehicle or motorcycle  · The issuance of a birth certificate duplicate  · The issuance of a criminal record duplicate for general or legal use  · The issuance of a marital status certificate  · The issuance of a birth certificate duplicate for those registered with the City of Athens  · The application for a rent subsidy for the year 2006 to Workers Housing Organisation beneficiaries (former recipients)  · The issuance of a registry birth certificate duplicate for an adult or minor  · The issuance of a public transport pass for individuals with disabilities  · The application for the seasonal unemployment benefit in accordance with Article 22 of Law 1836/89 OAED (Greek Manpower Employment Organisation)  · The issuance of a marital status certificate for individuals registered with the City of Athens (online)  · The application for a rent subsidy for the year 2006 to Workers Housing Organization beneficiaries (new recipients)  · The issuance of a marriage license duplicate  · The application for the OAED (Greek Manpower Employment Organization) family subsidy  · The issuance of a drivers license  · The issuance of a Type A military status certificate (full)  · The renewal of a drivers license  · The issuance of a registry death certificate duplicate  · The application for change in passenger vehicle or motorcycle ownership  · The issuance of a permanent residence certificate  · The issuance of a judicial interdiction certificate See Appendix 1 Progressively KEP were transformed to Centres of Completed Transactions, bringing the Public Administration more near to citizen. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (2007), citizens trust KEP and are in general satisfied from them. Nowadays they have permanent staff which possesses about 2588 positions. The number of affairs that KEP handled the last years is presented at the table below: PERIOD NUMBER OF AFFAIRS SERVED CITIZENS 2006 3.042.509 1.154.554 2005 2.305.195 1.527.516 2004 1.643.313 1.316.505 2003 423.759 356.872 Medium number of affairs per day from Monday to Friday: 11.805 Medium number of affairs per day (Saturday): 821 According to the Ministry KEP are recognizable from about the 80% of citizens. Equally big are the visits to them that they exceed 60%, since they were enriched with new, more attractive for the citizen processes. But more interesting are the numbers linked with the subject of satisfaction of citizens, which according to the ministry exceeds the 90%. The problems that the Public Administration was facing when KEP were created were multiple. The most serious of them were the bad organization and the centralism of public services, lack of confidence in the government owned services, lack of evaluation, lack of meritocracy, weakening of ASEP, fragmentary, and consequently unsuccessful, efforts of application of Electronic Governing, absence of controls and sanctions and finally inflation of bureaucracy and corruptness. For this reason in 2007 a number of regulations of the article 15 of the law for Citizen Service Centres (KEP) were introduced, in order to fight the difficulties and dysfunctions of citizens service (Ministry of Internal Affairs, 2007). Some of the regulations were the following:  · The foundation of the Direction of Organization and Operation of KEP in the General Secretariat of Public Administration and Electronic Governing. The Direction was founded in order to guarantee the proper operation of KEP, but also their evolution in Centres of Completed Administrative Transactions, and the resolution of problems that emerges, because of their big number, the crowd of subjects and processes that they realize and the recent enlargement of their competences. The monitoring and the co-ordination of the operation of KEP is practiced , up today, at fragmentary way from the existing Direction of General Secretariat of Public Administration and Electronic Governing, fact which creates difficulties as far as it concerns the united confrontation of problems.  · The regulation of subjects of mobility of permanent personnel. The employees will stay in the KEP of their placement, for at least a five-year period, so that the experience, which has been acquired in the particular KEP, not to get lost.  · The simplification and acceleration of processes  · The restriction of joint responsibilities between the Ministries. It is indicatively reported that Minister of Internal Affairs does not act jointly in more than 25 different regulatory actions  · The obligatory deadline of 50 days for the transaction of the affairs of citizens  · The payment of complete compensation in the citizen in case of delay  · The self appointed search of supporting documents from the service on behalf of the citizen. 208 certificates can be requested from the service without the citizens presence, for 18 of them the self appointed search is obligatory. Indicative is the progress that took place in the case of self appointed search of certificates of birth from KEP, where, while in 2005 they had 231.327 certificates and medium time of transaction the 8 days, in the end of 2006 the transaction reached 432.188 certificates, that is to say almost double, with medium time of transaction the 5 days. Same is the acceleration as far as it concerns the certificates of familial situation, where while in 2005 were published 253.071 certificates, in 2006 until 2007, 373.219 certificates have been published  · The suppression of submission of supporting documents and their replacement with a personal declaration form for 7 cases  · The videoconference of administrative bodies  · The generalization of electronic communication and exchange of documents between the services. The network â€Å"SIZEFKSIS† ensures 50.000 digital certificates (under form of card) in civil servants equal in number. With this way is provided the possibility of electronic distribution of document, with simultaneous place of signature on this, with electronic way, without a problem of genuineness, after the distribution becomes from the above permitted employees with the use of digital certificate of (card). This electronic distribution involves big acceleration of process of publication and mission of document and contributes considerably in the fighting of bureaucracy.  · The application of a plan of restriction of state expenses and the enlarged public sector, by reforming the public services, so that they become more functional and effective  · The promotion of a regulatory reform, with the establishment of rules of good legislation as well as a system of evaluation of the results of legislative regulations in the competitiveness and the entrepreneurship The City of Athens operates a total of seven (7) Citizen Service Centres (KEP), one in each City District. Citizen Service Centres provide an online service for Athens citizens with regards the following: * City of Athens municipal roll certificates * Permanent residence certificates * Certification TAP property fee payment (in cases where agreement exists on the number of square metres registered with the Public Power Corporation and the contract of purchase) The Citizens Helpline 1595 provides information on documents required for all procedures processed by Citizen Service Centres. 2.6 Service marketing Usually marketing had been seen as having dual dimension.On the one hand, there is the notion which supports that the existence of an organization in economical and social content is based on the satisfaction of customer needs and wants, and on the other hand there is the â€Å" set of activities † which serve this philosophy in order to be implemented (CromptonLamb,1986). The marketing of services is a sector with particular characteristics .The expenditure on services is growing in most industrialized economies. According to the European Commission , â€Å"the percentage share of gross domestic product attributable to the services sector rose from 38 per cent in 1970 to almost 50 percent by 1990†. Crowell supports that â€Å"what is significant about services is the relative dominance of intangible attributes in the make up of the service product†. Services as a special kind of product usually they do not result in ownership but they can be linked to a physical good require special treatment. According to Jobber, as many offerings may combine tangible and intangible characteristics the distinction between them is >. For example, a marketing research study provides a physical good, which is the report that comes out, but also is the result of a number of service activities such as interviews with respondents, analysis of results, designing of the research, etc. Products such as a skirt or a pair of socks usually are not accompanied by a service so they can be characterised as pure goods, but also a visit to a doctor or psychotherapy can be regarded as a pure service as there is nothing tangible that the client receives. 2.6.1 THE NATURE OF SERVICES Service characteristics can be summarised to the following four: intangibility, variability, perishability and inseparability. 2.6.1.1 Intangibility As intangibility can be characterised the fact that services cant be smelled, touched, tasted or seen. Service is â€Å"a deed, performance or effort and not an object device or thing† (Berry, 1980). In other words customer cant evaluate a service before buying it and sometimes cant evaluate it even after consuming it. For this reason the challenge for the service providers is to prove the quality of the service by communicating tangible benefits to consumers. Another characteristic of intangibility is the fact that the service cant be owned so customers pay for the use of product or the performance. 2.6.1.2 Variability The provision of service quality may vary depending to the person who provides it. In other words important factors are the capabilities the person has, his physical and mental situation (tiredness, attitude etc.) the location the service is provided .So, in order to control quality variation , methods such as evaluation systems , tight quality controls and service standardization methods are necessary (Jobber,2004). 2.6.1.3 Inseparability In contrast with physical goods services cant be stored in order to be used later. Services are characterised by the â€Å"simultaneous production and consumption.† Because of this characteristic service providers role is very important to the satisfaction of consumer, as many times he is supposed to be himself the company in the eyes of customer (Berry, 1980). For this reason â€Å"the importance of service provider is an integral part of the satisfaction gained by the consumer†. The behaviour of the service provider is also important for the experience that the customer has for the provided service .So, great importance must be given to the training and rewarding of the staff and its selection (Aijo,1996). Another element that is connected to inseparability is the fact that the customer may experience the service in combination with other customers because of the nature of the service and the place it is offered. At this case marketing managers should take into consideration the role of customer interactions between them, but also the inter customer conflicts and nuisance (Barron et al., 1996). 2.6.1.4 Perishability Unlike the physical goods, services cant be stored in order to be used in the future or at peak times. So service providers should take into consideration the combination of demand and supply and use methods such as multi-skilling of the staff in order to be used at peak seasons or part time employees, supply flexibility, differential pricing and reservation system in order to minimize time waiting (Jobber, 2004). Today one of the greater challenges that the sector of services has to face is the increasing competition in combination with the growing expectations of customers and the developing demands of customers as service improves (Joseph Walker, 1988). 2.6.2 SERVICE MARKETING MIX Models had to explain the relationship between the market and the organisation in order to maximize the seconds performance (Gronrooss C, 1982). To certain extent managing services are more complicated than managing products, as products can be standardised. The standardisation of a service is far more difficult as there are more input factors i.e. process, people, physical evidence, to manage than with a product. The service marketing mix consists of the 7Ps model. These include except from the classical 4 Ps that stands for: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, three more Ps which are People, Process and Physical evidence. 2.6.2.1 People People participate and deliver the service experience, the efficiency and effectiveness, the availability and capability, the customer interaction and the internal marketing. Any provision of service includes as an essential part the use of appropriate staff and people. In order to gain an organisation competitive advantage it is important that it recruits the right staff that is well trained in the delivery of service. Usually consumers perceptions and judgements are affected by the employees they interact with. Consumers wait from the staff to have the appropriate attitude, service knowledge and interpersonal skills that they are paying for. So many organisations train their staff to certain standards. Physical Evidence Physical evidence concerns the place where the service is delivered, infrastructure, facilities, surroundings, essential evidence and peripheral evidence ,equipment and premises. It is an element of the service mix that contributes to the formation of the opinion of the consumer about the organization .So the judgments and the perceptions of the consumers are formed by the sight of the service provision .For example if you walk in an office you expect a friendly environment neat and tie. Process The systems used to assist the organisation in delivering the service, constitute the process. So process refers to the operating process that takes the customer through ,from the initial contact till the service experience and evaluation , database management, service delivery, queuing systems, ordering ,standardization .The customer usually expects efficiency and quickness at the process of the service delivery and this fosters consumers loyalty and confidence in the organization. 2.6.3 Quality Quality is important to business organisations and their consumers, because quality products or services can and will secure consumers business. In addition, linking quality with expensive spending is not absolute, as price will not determine always quality. The high or low quality of a product or service is usually determined, â€Å"by how it made the consumer feel and whether consumer expectations were satisfied or exceeded† (Kotler P. et al, 2008). Quality was very popular in the marketing literature,  « where the notion of satisfying the customer was a dominant model of quality of service provided and consumer satisfaction  » (Raftopoulos V., 2005). The US Strategic Planning Institute in 1972 developed the concept of relative perceived quality (RPQ),  «that is the perception of quality as defined by customers, relative to the offerings of competitors. In other words quality is what a customer perceives it to be and this is a dynamic and complex notion.  » 2.6.3.1 Public service quality The need for quality public services is also expressed by the European Commission through the European Social Fund in its program for 2007-2013.The reason is that the quality of public services affects the implementation of policies and the strategy design as public sector organizations are responsible for them at a big degree at the Member States ,e.g. government ministries , local authority departments and special agencies (ESF,2009). The fact of how important is the quality of public services and the need to be improved, became popular, in Britain, at 1990s when the Government gave clear > on the subject, by the proposal of the Conservative Prime Minister John Major enclosed in his Citizens Charter White Paper (Prime Minister, 1991). The issue faced great consensus from the political parties as the same year both Liberal and Labour parties published their own citizen charter proposals. The citizen driven improvement of the quality of public services was a fact (Black et al., 1994). This policy which faced the citizen as user and needed the reporting of performance from the service providers was continued for a long period it was enriched with best value new policies and was popular as>.According to this concept public services is better to be managed than administrated (Black et al.,2001). At the same time another reason that public service quality is important is that the needs and expectations of the users change and increase. Service quality and how to measure it developed to be a critical issue ,so during the 1990s performance measurement techniques developed as a result of >such as government legislation ,regulatory activity by industry keepers and major policy initiatives, as Black St. et al. , characterize them, and not as a result of the needs of the service provider. Meanwhile , all the efforts of understanding and measuring public service quality where characterized as weak and an increasing interest for quality improvement models techniques , certification and awards developed .So a number of new significances appeared such as total quality management and continuous improvement, process mapping techniques, Institution Standards and Charters. The revolution of the commercial service sector that took place the previous decades influenced also public sector organizations that faced the need to provide quality services that meet ‘customer needs and expectations. As Wisniewski remarks, > (Wisniewski, 2001). The notion of treating the customers has started to change as they dont receive passively uniform services without their voice or influence being considered (Skelcher, 1992). At the opposite side, the adoption of traditional methods may lead to the delivery of a service distant from customer needs. So organizations many times, after a more profound search, discover that the needs and values of customers are different from what they assume before searching (Farquhar C.R. ,1993). In order to discover customer perceptions and collect data concerning the attitudes o

Atomic Bomb Essay -- essays research papers

On the morning of August 6, 1945, the first Atomic Bomb in history was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Soon after, on August 14, 1945, the Japanese abruptly surrendered, abandoning their ancient customs regarding honor in war. The fact that only two bombs were able to bring an entire country to its knees is a true testament to the awesome power they held. There is nothing in modern warfare that can compete with the devastating effects of nuclear weapons.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At the beginning of World War II, the Japanese were a major threat to the Asian World. On December 7, 1941, when they decided to attack Pearl Harbor (a US naval base in Hawaii), it was evident that their intentions were not limited to Asia. The United States entered World War II as a result of this attack. The war continued for six long years, and involved most of the major World Powers. During this time, there were many battles between the United States and Japan, including one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, which took place at Okinawa. If allowed to expand, Japan posed a serious threat to the allies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During the war, one of the most brilliant scientists in history, Albert Einstein, hypothesized that if the true power of the atom were released in a weapon, the results would be devastating. This was soon confirmed by a large portion of the scientific community. Whoever possessed such a weapon would be in complete power. Many government officials felt that such a weapon could put an end to the war. For this reason, in 1942, the United States decided to pursue the atomic bomb. Later that year, Franklin D. Roosevelt began the Manhattan Project.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Manhattan Project was a massive engineering enterprise aimed at the ultimate goal of creating an atomic bomb. At one time it employed over 129,000 workers. The United States was the only nation in the world with the capacity to work on such a high level. Though it cost approximately $2 billion dollars, many officials who knew about the Top Secret project felt it was well worth it- if the Atomic Bomb proved useful. Another major expense of the United States government was the development of the B-29, a bomber plane specifically designed for dropping Atomic Bombs. The estimated cost of this project is ... ...ioned on the ends of long-range rockets, expanding the range of the weapon. Radioactive materials essential to the construction of a Nuclear Weapon are now more readily available to small countries and terrorists. This poses the threat of Nuclear Warfare, which could ultimately end in the extinction of humanity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nuclear Weapons cannot be â€Å"uninvented†, so therefore we must learn to live with the possible threat of Nuclear War. The first Atomic Bombs were used to end a war, however that was in the days when the only nation in possession of them was the United States. Today, if a Nuclear War broke out, the defensive nation would most likely return fire, which could result in a global incident. It is unlikely that all of the world’s Nuclear Weapons will ever be destroyed, since the possession of them provides protection from a Nuclear Strike by another country. They are a mediating factor in times of war. Due to human nature, all we can do is hope that they are never used, and that the destruction and bloodshed brought about by the first Atomic Bomb taught us a lesson. It is even possible that this kind of power was never intended for mankind to discover.

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The Atkins Diet: Is it healthy? Dr Robert Atkins Born: 17-10-1930 Died: 17-04-2003 [IMAGE]Dr Atkins, the creator of the Atkins Diet. His unconventional theories on nutrition have changed the way Americans think about eating. Atkins low-carbohydrate approach and 4 step program have become an obsession for many people at a time when two thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. But the Atkins diet has its disagreement, some of whom say that its emphasis on high cholesterol foods can make it dangerous. The Atkins diet promises that not only you will lose weight and not be hungry with a low carbohydrate diet, but you’ll also be on the road to better heart health and memory function, as well as other wellness benefits. Dr Atkins’ philosophy is that if you follow his diet and eliminate highly refined carbohydrates, you will:  · Burn fat fast, instead of carbohydrates, and lose weight quickly.  · Stave off hunger between meals because high-protein diets are more satiating than high carbohydrates ones. As protein digested slowly in the system, high protein diets also stabilise blood sugar levels, which can prevent common conditions such as fatigue, depression, headaches, joint and muscular pains.  · Improve your health; because as you burn fat you will eliminate toxins stored in fat cells. The diet plan allows you to eat foods that many dieters have only dreamed about. The diet plan is said to work even if other diets have left you feeling depressed and deprived. The diet Atkins at a glance: * Sets few limits on the amount of food you eat but instead severely restricts the kind of food allowed on your plate: no refined sugar, milk, white rice, or white flour * Allows you to eat foods traditionally regarded as â€Å"rich†: meat, eggs, cheese, and more * Claims to reduce your appetite in the process * On the Atkins diet, you’re eating almost pure protein and fat.

Bead Bar Consultant Activity

The information technology aspect is a rapidly booming industry in the present influences almost all of the relevant activities in the social and economic fields. Because of this significant influence, most of the major social and economic industries rely much to the value of information and the effects of their exchange in the operations of each respective organization. However, because of the dependence of most economic and social transactions to the value of information, several risk issues are now being considered influential and significant to the information operations.Included in this aspect are the security threats imposed by (1) poorly written software or improperly configured systems, (2) computer viruses and worms, (3) external breaches, and (4) internal breaches. The first issue posts some significant threat because poorly written or configured software are more vulnerable to breach attack and viruses. Aside from this, poorly made softwares are also likely to become unsta ble and unreliable for actual use because of the negative characteristics that are likely to have been overlooked in the use of the system.Computer viruses and worms on the other hand tend to alter the normal processes in the information system causing significant leaks or instability in the operations. External and internal breaches are both threats on the literal means as they manifest unauthorized access to the informations though they vary only from the nature of the source. 2. Develop a security awareness-training plan for employees and franchisees. Knowing the significant threats to information security is an important aspect in the development of a security awareness plan for each organization.In general, the plan must be able to address each of the known threats including anticipation, development of a defense, and the prevention of future occurrences. The security awareness plan must classify mainly into two approaches namely the information protection and the physical secu rity plan. The first encompassed the protection of the information through firewalls and security system, the protection of the storage facilities, and the access of these informations. The physical security must encompassed the actual factors involve in the protection such as the people involved in the information and others.The security plan must mainly anticipate the threat through developing a protection against known breach and virus infection, scrutinize and identify the access, prevent any unauthorized connection, and report the possibilities of leaks and the cases of intrusion. Most importantly in the security plan is the constant update, regular development and the close monitoring of the protection system to ensure its effectiveness and reliability against the threats to the information system. 3.Which Internet-based data backup plans should be used? Part of the security plan, which the organization itself must consider critically, is the aspect of recovery and backup for any intrusion disaster to their information system. Included in this concern is the backup system of the information system and operation of the organization, which is significant for their recovery process. Some of the common approaches to address this need are establishing a security partner to act as a storage facility of the backup data of the organization.These security partners are commonly internet-based serving as the primary data backup plan of most organization for situation of critical intrusion, infection or breach. The development of the internet-based data backup plan must also be extensive as they are similarly critically to the security plan. Several issues and aspects must be satisfied in this data backup plan such as their protection in terms of alteration, tampering or intrusion, isolation, and the constant update of the backup solution.

Kohlbergs Stages of Moral Development Essay

Kohlberg’s six stages can be more generally grouped into three levels of two stages each: pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional. Following Piaget’s constructivist requirements for a stage model, as described in his theory of cognitive development, it is extremely rare to regress in stages—to lose the use of higher stage abilities. Stages cannot be skipped; each provides a new and necessary perspective, more comprehensive and differentiated than its predecessors but integrated with them. Level 1 (Pre-Conventional) 1. Obedience and punishment orientation (How can I avoid punishment?) 2. Self-interest orientation (What’s in it for me?) (Paying for a benefit) Level 2 (Conventional) 3. Interpersonal accord and conformity (Social norms) (The good boy/girl attitude) 4. Authority and social-order maintaining orientation (Law and order morality) Level 3 (Post-Conventional) 5. Social contract orientation 6. Universal ethical principles (Principled conscience) The understanding gained in each stage is retained in later stages, but may be regarded by those in later stages as simplistic, lacking in sufficient attention to detail. Pre-conventional[edit] The pre-conventional level of moral reasoning is especially common in children, although adults can also exhibit this level of reasoning. Reasoners at this level judge the morality of an action by its direct consequences. The pre-conventional level consists of the first and second stages of moral development, and is solely concerned with the self in an egocentric manner. A child with preconventional morality has not yet adopted  or internalized society’s conventions regarding what is right or wrong, but instead focuses largely on external consequences that certain actions may bring. In Stage one (obedience and punishment driven), individuals focus on the direct consequences of their actions on themselves. For example, an action is perceived as morally wrong because the perpetrator is punished. â€Å"The last time I did that I got spanked so I will not do it again.† The worse the punishment for the act is, the more â€Å"bad† the act is perceived to be.[16] This can give rise to an inference that even innocent victims are guilty in proportion to their suffering. It is â€Å"egocentric,† lacking recognition that others’ points of view are different from one’s own.There is â€Å"deference to superior power or prestige.† Stage two (self-interest driven) espouses the â€Å"what’s in it for me† position, in which right behavior is defined by whatever the individual believes to be in their best interest but understood in a narrow way which does not consider one’s reputation or relationships to groups of people. Stage two reasoning shows a limited interest in the needs of others, but only to a point where it might further the individual’s own interests. As a result, concern for others is not based on loyalty or intrinsic respect, but rather a â€Å"You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours.† mentality. The lack of a societal perspective in the pre-conventional level is quite different from the social contract (stage five), as all actions have the purpose of serving the individual’s own needs or interests. For the stage two theorist, the world’s perspective is often seen as morally relative. Conventional[edit] The conventional level of moral reasoning is typical of adolescents and adults. To reason in a conventional way is to judge the morality of actions by comparing them to society’s views and expectations. The conventional level consists of the third and fourth stages of moral development. Conventional morality is characterized by an acceptance of society’s conventions concerning right and wrong. At this level an individual obeys rules and follows society’s norms even when there are no consequences for  obedience or disobedience. Adherence to rules and conventions is somewhat rigid, however, and a rule’s appropriateness or fairness is seldom questioned.[7][8][9] In Stage three (interpersonal accord and conformity driven), the self enters society by filling social roles. Individuals are receptive to approval or disapproval from others as it reflects society’s accordance with the perceived role. They try to be a â€Å"good boy† or â€Å"good girl† to live up to these expectations, having learned that there is inherent value in doing so. Stage three reasoning may judge the morality of an action by evaluating its consequences in terms of a person’s relationships, which now begin to include things like respect, gratitude and the â€Å"golden rule†. â€Å"I want to be liked and thought well of; apparently, not being naughty makes people like me.† Desire to maintain rules and authority exists only to further support these social roles. The intentions of actors play a more significant role in reasoning at this stage; one may feel more forgiving if one thinks, â€Å"they mean well †¦Ã¢â‚¬  In Stage four (authority and social order obedience driven), it is important to obey laws, dictums and social conventions because of their importance in maintaining a functioning society. Moral reasoning in stage four is thus beyond the need for individual approval exhibited in stage three. A central ideal or ideals often prescribe what is right and wrong. If one person violates a law, perhaps everyone would — thus there is an obligation and a duty to uphold laws and rules. When someone does violate a law, it is morally wrong; culpability is thus a significant factor in this stage as it separates the bad domains from the good ones. Most active members of society remain at stage four, where morality is still predominantly dictated by an outside force. Post-Conventional[edit] The post-conventional level, also known as the principled level, is marked by a growing realization that individuals are separate entities from society, and that the individual’s own perspective may take precedence over society’s view; individuals may disobey rules inconsistent with their own principles.  Post-conventional moralists live by their own ethical principles — principles that typically include such basic human rights as life, liberty, and justice. People who exhibit post-conventional morality view rules as useful but changeable mechanisms — ideally rules can maintain the general social order and protect human rights. Rules are not absolute dictates that must be obeyed without question. Because post-conventional individuals elevate their own moral evaluation of a situation over social conventions, their behavior, especially at stage six, can be confused with that of those at the pre-conventional level. Some theorists have speculated that many people may never reach this level of abstract moral reasoning.[7][8][9] In Stage five (social contract driven), the world is viewed as holding different opinions, rights and values. Such perspectives should be mutually respected as unique to each person or community. Laws are regarded as social contracts rather than rigid edicts. Those that do not promote the general welfare should be changed when necessary to meet â€Å"the greatest good for the greatest number of people.†[8] This is achieved through majority decision and inevitable compromise. Democratic government is ostensibly based on stage five reasoning. In Stage six (universal ethical principles driven), moral reasoning is based on abstract reasoning using universal ethical principles. Laws are valid only insofar as they are grounded in justice, and a commitment to justice carries with it an obligation to disobey unjust laws. Legal rights are unnecessary, as social contracts are not essential for deontic moral action. Decisions are not reached hypothetically in a conditional way but rather categorically in an absolute way, as in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. This involves an individual imagining what they would do in another’s shoes, if they believed what that other person imagines to be true.The resulting consensus is the action taken. In this way action is never a means but always an end in itself; the individual acts because it is right, and not because it avoids punishment, is in their best interest, expected, legal, or previously agreed upon. Although Kohlberg insisted that stage six exists, he  found it difficult t o identify individuals who consistently operated at that level