Monday, September 30, 2019
Price Discrimination Revised Essay
Jane, thinking that a vacation in San Francisco to visit her parents would provide her with a much-needed rest, bought a ticket two weeks in advance for a weekend flight. She would be sitting in 11A. On the day before Jane’s flight, Freya gets a call from her boss, instructing her to attend the company’s meeting in San Francisco. She booked a flight for the next day immediately upon getting the call. Freya sat in 11B            Freya paid $500 more than Jane for basically the same service, occupying adjacent seats. And this is a prime example of price discrimination. * * *            Price discrimination is simply the charging of different prices to different customers (Stavins, 1996, p. 3). It is characterized as price discrimination when the difference in prices are not due to difference in costs.            Scott Woolley writing for Forbes.Com simplified it further, saying that price discrimination is when an airline charge some customers more than other customers for the same (or almost the same) thing (Woolley, 1998.)            Tricia Ellis-Christensen stated that price discrimination is a widespread practice, and it doesn’t â€Å"necessarily imply negative discrimination.†           Price discrimination is categorized into degrees depending on the market segmentation, the customer’s ability to pay or demand elasiticity. (Ellis-Christensen, undated).            First-degree price discrimination occurs when identical goods are sold at different prices. This is most evident in the sale of both new and used cars wherein the salesperson gauges the maximum price at which the car can be sold. This type often includes bargaining, or negotiating for a lower price (Ellis-Christensen, undated).            Second-degree price discrimination is when lower prices are charged for bulk or higher quantities (Ellis-Christensen, undated).            Third degree price discrimination requires understanding the market, and is more prevalent. This type often plays on segments of the target market. An example is discounts offered to students. (Ellis-Christensen, undated).            Conditions for Price Discrimination. Joanna Stavins further explains that for an airline or company to successfully discriminate on price, it must have some market power, to be able to charge prices above the marginal cost. Typically it has monopolized that business. Another condition is the heterogeneousity of its consumers. Lastly, product resale should be costly and impossible, to prevent arbitrage. (Stavins, 1996, p. 3)            Stavins also explained that the â€Å"monopolistically competitive: conditions in air transportation business allows for price discrimination. (Stavins, 1996, p. 3)            Stavins stated that airlines differentiate between each other by offering different flight schedules and routes. Stavins also wrote that airlines attach various restrictions to cheaper tickets, making them more unattractive to consumers who give more importance to time and convenience. Meaning, a business traveler wouldn’t mind paying more to ensure that he arrives on time, as opposed to a passenger on a budget.            Advantages.  In some cases, price discrimination can implement efficient prices (Armstrong, 2006 p. 6). Arvind Sahay writes that pricing products differently can increase revneues and profits by 8% and 25% (Sahay, 2007, p. 54).            Price discrimination also opens markets, as in offering one’s goods at a high value market at a certain price, while giving it at a lower price at a lower value market. (Armstrong, 2006 p. 8)   This way, a business owner can reallocate demand to more suitable times while supply is limited (Sahay, 2007, p. 54).            On a more practical level, price discrimination will enable more firms to increase revenue, which can then be used for research and development. Consumers, on the other hand, will be able to benefit from lower fares (economicshelp.org, undated).            Disadvantages. On the other hand, some consumers will end up paying higher prices. Price discrimination will also cause a decline in consumer surplus. There maybe costs associated with segmenting market. Price discrimination also opens the field for predatory pricing (economicshelp.org, undated). Price Discrimination in Airlines            The increasing use of price discrimination, in all industries, is due to the new and affordable technology that most companies can install and use. Recent studies have also shown that consumers will pay different prices if the companies use the right approach (Sahay, 2007, p. 53).            In short, these days, airlines are pulling off price discrimination easily. On a purely technical level, Airlines are able to practice the third degree of price discrimination (segmentation-based), and even to some respects, the second degree of price discrimination by employing yield management tools.            Cunningham and Brady explains that airlines have been dividing their customers into groups: government vs. business vs. leisure travellers, first or economy class, etc. With the advent of the computer and I.T., airlines have gained more ability to match fares with their customers’ demands. (Cunningham and Brady, 2001, p. 10).            Yield Management tools allows the airline to sell the right seat to the right passenger at the right time and price, basically charging various rates for the perceived service benefit (Cunningham and Brady, 2001, p. 11).            Also, yield management allows for Ramsey pricing, which involves varying the prices for fare based on demand elasticity in relation to the marginal cost. Meaning, the more sensitive the market is to its price, the closer its price will be to the marginal cost. This explains why business market fares are higher than those who are on vacation (Cunningham and Brady, 2001, p. 11).            Since it is not easy to explain various yield management techniques of airlines, it would be best to look at practical scenarios for airline companies. Empirically, here are some examples of airline price discrimination.            Joseph Turow, writing for the Washington Posts, cites an example regarding airline Web sites that offer lower fares for first-time customers (Turrow, 2005). Technology has also made it easier for businesses such as airlines to do customer profiling. Turrow (2005) and Wooley (1998) insinuates that since businesses can now use computers and databases to store more information about a customer, it can create profiles on that customers and price accordingly. Turrow cited the case when Amazon.Com came under fire for selling the same compact disc album to different customers at varying discounts. Wooley, on the other hand, says that catalogs sent to somebody who lives in a high-end neighborhood include only one price, while the another version of the catalogs featuring the same products sent to other less-glitzy neighborhoods have discount information on them. With more and more information about the customer being easily made available, the more airlines know how to push the correct buttons and learn their ability to pay, and their willingness to pay.            Airlines also give â€Å"early-bird discounts†wherein those who book early get lower prices. This type of price discrimination plays on demand inelasticity.            People who book late are usually those who needs to be on the plane, and thus would be willing to pay any price just to get to where one wants to be. (Riley, 2006). Differences in ticket pricing is most reliant on supply and demand (Devlin, 2002). Fredrik Wallenberg explains that to get an advance purchase discount, one will have to book from one to three weeks in advance. (2000, p. 7)            On the other hand, SoYouWanna.Com advises that some of the cheapest plane tickets become available at the last minute. This is due to the fact that airlines typically want to fly with a full plane. Also, airline seats are seen as a perishable product, in the event that they are not used before â€Å"expiration†it becomes worthless (Sahay, 2007, p. 55)            Other airlines also use â€Å"Saturday night stay-over†as a mechanism for price discrimination. Airlines set a higher rate for business travelers who are unwilling to spend the weekend away from home (Wallenberg, 2000).            For some, airlines often reward loyal customers with a lower price on premium tickets if they’ve reached a certain number of mile on their frequent-fliers programs. Keith Devlin said that he was able to buy a round trip ticket from San Francisco to Milan for a bargain price of $1000. Devlin upgraded it to business class at no cost. Devlin got the bargain beceause he has earned enough miles on United’s Mileage Plus. Devlin adds that a colleague who will be on the same flight at the same time, was not able to upgrade (Devlin, 2002).            US Airways has the EZ Savers Club, which is actually an automated mailing list where subscribers can get mails detailing reduced rates on specified travel dates (Bringing market discipline†¦, 1998).            Other programs are age-dependent. Students and seniors typically get a discount on airlines.            Another form of price discrimination employed by airlines is temporary seasonal discounts for airfares that are meant to increase business. (Ellis-Christensen, undated).            Airlines have a big market with a large number of heterogenous customers, the more disparate their customers are and their behaviors, the more willing their customers would be to pay different prices (Sahay, 2007, p. 56).            Is Price Discrimination Illegal? Price discrimination may be illegal in some cases.            However, for it to be deemed illegal, it has to be seen in light of anti-competitiveness. Carl Person said that the Robinson-Patman Act protects victims of unlawful price discrimination. Persons provided the following example where in a retail store purchases the same thing from the same supplier for a much higher price. The store who bought the merchandise at a higher price would be unable to compete on price and usually loses business to its competitor (Persons, 1997).            The Federal Trade Commission clarifies that price discrimination may be used as a â€Å"predatory pricing tactic†to harm competition at the supplier’s level (Federal Trade Commission, undated).            This whole scenario doesn’t apply to airline tickets. Imperfect Information            In a perfect world or market situation, each consumer should have perfect information about the price of services and goods. However, information problems are highly ostentatious in complex and opaque markets, where there is infrequent patronage. Markets with intermediaries or those with a time lag between the time of purchase and the expected benefits are also susceptible to the problem. The airline industry is also a primary industry for imperfect information due to its complex pricing structures (Lindley, 2007, p. 74).            Imperfect information could harm a customer because it would effectively prevent him from turning to certain potential substitutes (Lande, 2007).            Moreover, some customers might not know of the existence of an option. Some customers might not even realize that best cost-saving option (Lande, 2007).            In short, as Dominic Lindley writes, the customer may not buy the cheapest or even the most appropriate product or service; may buy a service or product that does not perform as well as planned; or may be unaware of their rights and remedies if something goes wrong (Lindley, 2007, p. 74). Conclusion            It all boils down to the fact that imperfect information could hinder a customer from making a more informed decision about what he’s purchasing.            Determining the cost of an airline ticket is a complicated task. With price discrimination, it really just an interplay of demand and the customer’s ability to pay. Price discrimination allows businesses to optimize their operations for maximum benefits and income on their marginal costs. Airlines, among other businesses, are in a position to exploit that advantage because they satisfy all conditions needed for price discrimination.            For consumers and passengers to get the optimum value for their money, they must be vigilant. They must know their options, and choose accordingly. References  Armstrong, Mark. (2006). Price Discrimination. University College London. Retrieved on 3 April 2008. Brady, Stephen P. and Cunningham, William A . (2001). Exploring predatory pricing in the airline industry. Transportation Journal, 41(1), 5-15. Retrieved 21 April 2008 from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 124411971). Bringing market discipline to pricing. (1998, January). Businessline,1. 21 Retrieved April 2008, from ProQuest Asian Business and Reference database. (Document ID: 25422269). Devlin, Keith. (2002). The crazy math of airline ticket pricing. Retrieved on 3 April 2008. Ellis-Christensen Tricia. What is Price Discrimination? Retrieved on 3 April 2008. Lande, Robert. (2007). Market Power Without A Large Market Share: The Role of Imperfect Information and other â€Å"Consumer Protection†Market Failures. Retrieved on 3 April 2008. Lindley, Dominic. (2007). Imperfect information for consumers. Consumer Policy Review, 17(3), 74-79. Retrieved 21 April 2008, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1328552571). Persons, Carl E. (1997). Do You Have an RPA Price Discrimination Claim? Retrieved on 3 April Riley, Geoff. (2006) Price Discrimination. Eton College. Retrieved on 3 April 2008. Stavins, Joanna. (1996). Price Discrimination in the Airline Market: The Effect of Market Concentration. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Retrieved on 3 April 2008. SOYOUWANNA FIND A CHEAP PLANE TICKET? Retrieved on 3 April 2008. Sahay, Arvind. (2007). How Dynamic Pricing Leads to Higher Profits. MIT Sloan Management Review, 48(4), 53. Retrieved 21 April 2008, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1360146151). Turow, Joseph. (2005). Have they got a deal for you. Washington Post. Retrieved on 3 April Wallenberg, Fredrik. (2000). A study of airline pricing. School of Information Management & Systems, University of California at Berkeley. Retrieved on 3 April 2008. Wooley, Scott. (1998). Mine was cheaper! Forbes.Com. Retrieved on 3 April 2008.
Sunday, September 29, 2019
The apocalypse
I was on Brewers lane when I heard a slight whisper over here†I scanned the area, the area where only yesterday me and my mates were chilling, took another glance. Stood there is the mist was my best mate Joana. He was shocked at seeing me, shocked that Vive been walking about the streets fine and haven't encountered any of them things. â€Å"Haven't you seen any things†. My heart thudded. â€Å"What things†. Knew at that point we were in something big together, I couldn't lose him, and we've been best mates since first school.As I said that I saw a dark staggered shadow eve across the back of the churchyard. It moved with such jolt, instantly panicked and froze on the spot. It was like something out of the movies, like something that shouldn't be real. Like something that couldn't be real. Me and Joana went to explore the churchyard to see what this was, as it was the only life we have seen today. We opened the gates the hinges squealed as we pushed to gate to. We stumbled down the pathway, legs like jelly, a place that would normally be so calm, was now so terrifying. Let the bitter saltiness of the sweat that dripped down from my forehead rolled over me eyebrow down my cheek and dribbled into my mouth. The gargoyles on the church seemed as if they were real and were about to pounce on you. Every gravestone glistened; it was as if all the people buried were stood up like an army in formation replacing the gravestones. All the flowers were dead and rotting, there was no color in sight. Just the dark grey of the church and the mellow green tinge of the trees.I heard a wild growl from round the shaded corner, mine and Jonahs hearts started pumping, and we turned around to and got ready to sprint. We took one last look and this demonic shadow was running around the corner except this wasn't no shadow it was what we call walkers of TV programmer and games. I looked at its face; flesh was hanging off around its cheek, I could see inside its eye s the whole eye was white with a hint of grey. Blood around its mouth and teeth were rotten and yellow.
Friday, September 27, 2019
Is Capitalism a fundamentally Western concept or system, and if so, Essay
Is Capitalism a fundamentally Western concept or system, and if so, how can we account for its spread and entrenchment in non-Western areas of the world - Essay Example The development of industrialization in West is also considered as the organic growth of the capitalist thoughts and philosophy as capitalism presented an alternative channel of achieving social good in a more comprehensive manner. The pace of industrialization therefore was considered as the epitome of capitalist society and as such the domain of social and economic development achieved its highest status under the development of capitalism in Western countries. What is however, also critical to note that capitalism does not only restricted itself to the Western countries and as such it spread across the non- Western countries also. Since 19th Century, the process of colonialism as well as well as rapid rise of imperialization as well as globalization ensured the rapid spread of capitalism in non-Western countries also. What started as a purely Western Phenomenon therefore soon emerged in non- Western countries too due to various factors. Capitalism rose as a result of the rise in industrialization in 18th century which witnessed the British society turning from a feudal society to more capitalist society. Capitalism in its essence advocates the use of private property rights and indicates that in a society, means of production shall be privately owned for the best possible use. As such capitalism is not only an economic system but it also a social system which regulates the society in an entirely different manner. The basic elements of capitalism therefore include private ownership of the means of production, exchange of goods and services in the market for the sake of profits as well as determination of prices and wages by the market forces is basically constitute the main ingredients of the capitalism.(Morton,2005) What is however, critical to note that capitalism started in Western countries as a result of rapid achievement of technological sophistication and industrialization however, it also
Discuss contemporary trends in paid work and employment in Australia Essay
Discuss contemporary trends in paid work and employment in Australia - Essay Example These facts indicate Australians approach toward work. The great degree of economic security and independence that derives from paid employment has largely contributed to the changing employment ideologies of Australia. This will paper critically evaluate the contemporary trends in paid work and employment in Australia. Factors affecting paid employment trends in Australia Australian Bureau of Statistics reflects that â€Å"amount of remuneration, the conditions and tenure of employment, the personal development opportunities available, and the physical, financial and psychological effects†are the major elements that largely influence the mental perception of paid workers (Paid work: employment arrangements, 2002). Recent growths in service industries and technologies, governmental deregulations in labor markets, and increasing number of women workers have greatly contributed to different working arrangements in Australia. The new work arrangement settings in paid employment system are very beneficial for part time workers. The part time workers mainly aim to balance part time employment with their family responsibilities or carrier building activities. The statistical data precisely illustrates that there is a considerable increase in the rate of part time labor from 1983 to 2003 (Paid work: employment arrangements, 2004). ... The increased volume of labor force has intensified the economic as well as cultural growth of the nation. The government has realized the significant role of human resource in the overall development of the nation; therefore it has liberalized employment laws in the country to create attractive opportunities for potential individuals. In the opinion of Pocock (2009), the pleasure an employee obtains from job will largely influence his attitude towards the work. When a worker gets job satisfaction, he would contribute his maximum potential and skills to the job which in turn would avoid unfair practices. Understanding this concept, Australian employers heed genuine concern to workplace issues with intent to provide satisfactory working environment for their employees. Contemporary trends in paid work and employment in Australia While dealing with current employment trends in Australia, it is necessary to assess the emergence of large number of part-time workers. Nowadays, employment trends show that Australian people do not like to remain unemployed and it clearly indicates the employment cultural transition in the country as compared to 1980s when employed people constituted only a small portion of the country. Generally, over time workers are additionally compensated for their extra efforts. Fear and Denniss (2009) point out that many of the workers in Australia are not paid for their overtime work; and official report indicates that unpaid overtime in Australia is more common than paid overtime. More than half of all Australian employees work more hours beyond the standard time without having paid for extra time. The unpaid overtime is more common among white-collar employees since they are paid comparatively higher
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Financial Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Financial Strategy - Essay Example Financialisation has influenced corporate ownership and control. Corporate control is basically the mode of its governance and this behaviour is what financial markets has worked to influence and change to align to their own interests. Financialisation has led to a change in corporate control in such a way that managers are disciplined by the prospect of ouster and takeover if they are unable to maximise profits. Because of this, managers are compelled to go for market efficiency improvements such as privately financed equity investments and leveraged buyouts as a way of satisfying stakeholder interests. Basically, managers of corporations are now forced to merge their interests with those of the financial markets. This has eliminated the countervailing force that previously interfered with the ability or willingness of managers to side with excessive financial interests. It has also broke the union-power that used to exist between corporations. This clearly depicts that financialisa tion has led to a drift in the corporate financial behaviour. Financialisation and its new approach to corporate control have fostered the growth of options like the stock pay option. The main reason behind this is that there is an increased need to align the interests of the management with those of the stakeholders and such options help to accomplish this task successfully. The top management of corporations have benefitted from these stock options and new pay practices and this has generated in managers the interest to maximise the short-lived stock prices. Financialisation has also led to excessive adoption of debt finance by corporations. The main motivation for this is tax code is more favourable to interest payments than on profits. In addition, managers of corporations have also adopted this strategy as a way of draining free cash from the firm leaving little for claimants on the income stream of the firm and putting pressure on workers (Bronars and Deere 1991). The overall effect of financialisation on corporate control is that corporate governance is becoming increasingly beholden to and dominated by financial markets. This implies that corporate managers have been pressurized to import behaviors from the current financial markets and these in turn have affected business decision-making and corporate investment. These investments and decisions include resource allocation whereby corporate managers of non-financial corporations have capitalized on stock repurchases as one of the main mode of corporate resource allocation. This has mainly been encouraged by the extent to which executives of corporations can enrich themselves by manipulating the stock prices of the corporation (Lazonick 2011, 11). These corporate control modes may be profitable and attractive and more profitable to firms. It also gives corporations a range of options for investing under various economic climates and profitability levels. For example, when profits achievable in financial markets are higher than those that can be achieved in the normal product market, then it becomes a motivation to corporation management to invest less in real assets and more on financial assets. However, such strategies may not be long-lasting. Palley (1995) and Palley (1997b), state that it is not good for the financial market behaviors of an economy or corporations are governed by short-terminism and herd behavior. Financialisation
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
A Time To Learn by George H. Wood ph.d Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words
A Time To Learn by George H. Wood ph.d - Essay Example iter on the very first page where he states that, â€Å"This book is about the work it will take to reinvent our high schools, moving them from institutions to communities (Wood, 1999, Pg. 1)†. The author’s own experiences as an educator in the college as well as high school environment certainly add to the value of the book since the readers understand that the writer has been an active participant in the education process rather than an outsider looking in to act as a researcher or consultant. That is not to say that Wood’s work does not include any research since he worked for more than a decade as a professor of education which certainly entails its own requirements for research and experimentation. The combination of research and the experiential knowledge gained by Dr. Wood makes it possible for readers to understand clearly why most reform initiatives in schools today fail to meet their mark. Reforms which are half baked, non intuitive and do not take into account the needs of the students are hardly useful or even appreciated by those who are most involved in the process. As recommended in the book, teachers as well as students have to be made interested in the changes which are taking place in a school before the changes can lead to meaningful output. At the same time, participation from other stakeholders is also an important factor for the successful implementation of the reforms and these stakeholders include everyone from the parents who send their children to the school to administrative boards who have to maintain the legal guidelines and mandatory guidelines coming from the local, state or federal bodies for the governance of the American education system. Even the community at large can participate in how schools are run at a given location since they too can be affected by the operation and systems used at a school. A typical student spends more than five thousand hours of his/her life in high school and that is a significant portion of time
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Home Work Assigment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Home Work Assigment - Assignment Example Therefore, the employers do not look at the ability that the disabled person may offer to their firms. There are several reasons that, usually, prompts employers to disqualify any disabled person as a candidate for a specific job. One of the reason is that the employers, usually, seek for candidates who are attractive and hence will appeal to their customers. Since disabled persons may not be attractive, they automatically get disqualified. The disabled people may not be able to move fast from one location to another. Their lack of mobility is seen as a hindrance to act quickly (Mandel, 1990). The condition is mostly suffered by people who are either lame or have suffered a disease that may resist their mobility. They are, therefore, not considered as appropriate for the job. Another reason that is mostly considered as a major reason for disqualification is that most of the employees are not ready to give some facilities required by the disabled. Some special facilities such as office chair for the disabled and many others see seen as an extra cost to the employees (DeLeire, 2000). T hey, therefore, reject them so as to maintain their profit levels. The fact that some people are disabled does not mean that they have absolutely nothing they can give to the firm. Some of them may be very talented in some jobs that only need mental skills to carry them out. The discrimination towards the disabled has prompted many non-governmental organisations in many countries to push for equal rights of opportunities regardless of their ability. The push have prompted many states to change this attitude and have amended their constitution to involve the rights of the disabled. In the United States of America, the American with Disability Act (ADA), have been implemented to ensure that the disabled or people who have become disabled in their job continues to enjoy their jobs. The act has been amended to ADAAA so that
Monday, September 23, 2019
Marx's historical theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words
Marx's historical theory - Essay Example This paper illustrates that in the groundbreaking book, The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels begin with the assertion that class struggles are integral in defining the existing society. This forms the basis of understanding Marx’s concept of history. According to Marx, the outline of history has two dimensions of linear chain events: a consistent progress in class division, created and overthrown in subsequent order, until it reaches a utopian endpoint, or communism. In the book, Marx argues that the history of humans occurs in a teleological order, unfolding to a distinct series of stages, each subsequent to the other. Ultimately, these stages lead to a certain utopian endpoint, which marks the end of the changes and an end to history. In his perception, Marx believed that these scientific laws could allow the prediction of these stages, as the scientific laws governs the progress of history. Class struggle, in Marx’s perception, determines human his tory. Therefore, the primary reason for historical changes is class animosity. Accordingly, societies are based on antagonism of the oppressed and oppressing classes. Thus, history is definable at any one time by the relationship between the different classes. In other words, the theory seeks to establish the premise of the materialistic methods in relation to humans’ production to satisfy material needs. The satisfaction of human needs give rise to new needs of social and materialistic nature, forming a society that corresponds to the forces of human production development. (Shimp, 2009:7). In this regard therefore, material life determines or conditions social life, thus social explanations emanate from materialism to social forms, and ultimately to forms of consciousness. As production means develops, economic structures or production modes rise and fall. According to Marx, communism may possibly become real as the workers become aware of alternatives, motivating them to i nitiate reforms. In his reinterpretation of the theory of history by Marx, Gerald Cohen created the development thesis, which states that production forces develop, becoming stronger over time. However, the thesis clarifies that the development is not absolute, but rather a tendency. Together with productively applicable technology and knowledge, these forces are production means(Cohen, 2000:176). The primacy thesis is Cohen’s next thesis. The latter has two important aspects: first, the productive forces level of development may explain the nature of the structure of the economy, and second, the nature of the structure of the economy explains the nature of the superstructure. From these observations, it is evident that Marx believes that the economic structure of a society may explain the nature of societal ideology, such as moral, artistic, philosophical, and religious beliefs within the confines of the society. It is indeed possible for various activities to combine aspect s of ideology and superstructure simultaneously. A prime example is religion, which combines both a set of beliefs and institutions. Scholars argue that revolutionary changes occur naturally from the failure of further development of productive forces. At the revolution point, the development of productive forces is fettered. Drawing from the theory, once development fetters in an economic structure, another structure will eventually replace it. It is reasonable that human productivity develops over time, and also that structures of economy only exist insofar as they develop the forces of production, but are ultimately replaced when they fail their duty of development(Stanford). Nonetheless, Marx’s theory of history has come under criticism, primarily for its incoherence, as well as lack of projection and empirical evidence. Criticism There are various forms of criticism against Marx’s theory of history, including claims of incoherence, lack of evidence and projection. These three categories result from the fact that the
Sunday, September 22, 2019
Impacts on Social Media Essay Example for Free
Impacts on Social Media Essay As we begin to discuss social media and is impact on mass communications as a whole, we must first define what it is and how it came to be. The Dynamics of Mass Communications defines social media as a set of Internet tools that encourages content sharing and community relationships. Users are able to create online communities by exchanging, distributing and receiving content information. Social media has rapidly integrated itself into our personal and professional lives over the past decade or so. Information is more available to the public today because of social media. The history of social media started with the BBS (Bulletin Board System) in the late 70’s. Most BBSs were involved in illegal or other shady practices like adult content, virus codes, and instructions on hacking and phone hacking, but BBSs were the first type of sites that allowed users to log on to it and interact with one another. This interaction was a lot slower than what individuals are used to in today’s society. Genie was created by a General Electric subsidiary (GEIS) in 1985 and was an early online service. It was a text-based service, and was considered the first viable commercial competition to CompuServe. This specific service was created to make use of time-sharing mainframes after normal US. business hours. Not too long after, America Online (AOL) started as an online service and made great strides with making the Internet more universally accessible within the United States. In 1988, IRC (Internet Relay Chat) was developed and used for file and link sharing and even keeping in touch with others. Readers could classify it as the father of instant messages as we know it today, though it was limiting access to most people. Touching the topic of early social networks, dating sites are sometimes considered the first social networks. Dating sites began to crop up just as soon as people began to get online with the Internet. These sites allowed users to create profiles with a photo and contact other people. Let’s not forget about Classmates.com, but dating sites and Classmates.com rarely allowed you to keep a friends list and profiles appeared to be severely limited. The actual social networks like Six Degrees and LiveJournal were a tad bit more advanced than what dating sites had to offer. Six Degrees allowed users to create a basically-static profile while LiveJournal was created in 1999 and was a social network built around blogs that were constantly updated that encouraged other users to follow one another and form groups to interact. It wasn’t soon after that social interaction had found its way to online games. World of Warcraft is one the most famous for allowing players to interact both in the game would and on related forum and community sites. Massively multiplayer online role-playing games became popular in the early 2000’s though there were indeed other role-playing and other games prior to that. Additionally, the early 2000’s brought more advanced social networks and social media to the playing field. Some examples that most people are familiar with would be Friendster (2002), YouTube (2005), MySpace (2006), Facebook (2004), Tumblr (2006), Twitter (2006), and Instagram (2010). All these networks took a toll on millions and billions of people around the globe. People are more connected and up to date because of them. Social Media as a whole has brought a lot of positive effects to the world as we know it today. Social Networks started as a place to connect with your friends in an easy, convenient, and free from charge way. Social networks play an important role with social media. It has allowed individuals to connect with old friends from school, co-workers, and even with complete strangers. It has also provided us with the opportunity to build back a lost relationship or even better relationships with whom that are unable to meet us personally, and involve them with our lives and even take input into their personal lives with specific events that are happening with us. We are now able to communicate our thoughts and perceptions over different topics with a large number of audiences. Our voices are heard louder than ever with the help of social media and social networks. For example, with the Trayvon Martin case, people used social media to conduct marches and protests. On social networks, like Instagram, users blocked out their profile picture to show their involvement for wanting justice for that specific case. We have the option to make groups with people who are like minded and share the related news with them and ask for their opinion or input about the topic. Far as businesses, they are using social media and social networks to promote their own products and there are a number of customized applications that are being made on social platforms, whose main and only purpose is to promote the product or brand given to them. The negative effects of social media seem to be quite questionable. Studies have shown that the extensive use of social media can quite frankly cause addition to the users. Throughout the day, people tend to feel the need to post something on their pages and check other posts as it has become an important part of everyday life. Extreme usage of social media had resulted in isolation of the individual. The level of human interaction has decreased tremendously and people appear to be less active. Individuals would rather check their smart-phones or tablets than actually picking up a book or a newspaper per say. Interpersonal communication has reduced and there aren’t many face to face communications and meetings being held because many people have lost their full ability to converse while being in the same room. Social Media is also affecting the productivity of people. Users are more distracted. Again, I must state that people are so caught up in texting, blogging, updating a status, and posting any and everything that it to the point where they cannot get specific things done. A prime example would be texting while driving or being on a social network while attempting to write a research paper or even complete homework. According to media bistro, the average person spent three hours and seven minutes online each day in 2012. It appears as online media becomes more popular; other media sources become less popular. People are not reading magazines, newspapers, listening to the radio, or watching television as much as they used to. As the popularity of social networks and online video increases, so does our time online. YouTube has more than one billion users that visit their website each month. Seventy two hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. The list just goes on and this also goes for Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Pinterest, Hulu, and Instagram. It seems nowadays that there are social and user-generated sites for just about every activity you can possibly imagine. There are social shopping sites and social financial planning sites. There are even sites to share goals and meet like-minded people. Sites to plan your travels and share them with others. There are so many apps and sites that accommodate the average person for me to say that social media has indeed made life better for people. Social media has become a huge part of millions of lives worldwide. On the other hand, social media has made everyday life harder or horrific for everyday people. Because social media has grown in popularity and mainstream, it can be used by stalkers to track their victims or even find new ones. Social networks make these privacy settings available to users to help prevent stalkers and predators from being able to see their update. In addition to stalkers, we must also consider cyber-bulling. Cyber-bulling has increased over the years and has affected a lot of social network users. These things can make it harder on individuals. One final thing that needs to be discussed is the fact that the people who have degrees to be covering the news face their job being at risk. News stations and news broadcasts are now up with competition against social media and social networks. This is because people use their mobile devices to obtain the news now a days. This is because it is more convenient to access things from your phone than to take time out to turn on the television or go buy a newspaper. This could make everyday life harder for them if they lose their job. Social media has come a long way since the days of BBSs and IRC charts and social media continues to evolve on a daily basis. With major social networks and social media sites making changes and improvements, it’s sure to keep evolving in the coming years. While in many ways social media has allowed us to share everything from the simplest to most sacred events of our lives with more people in real time, it has also taken away from the action of â€Å"living in the moment.†The one thing we can all conclude is that social media is not just a phase, and it most definitely won’t be going away anytime soon or at least until something better comes along. WORS CITED http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/whole-life/how-social-media-made-me-better-person http://www.digitaltrends.com/features/the-history-of-social-networking/ View as multi-pages
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Coca Cola Value of Cultural Understanding
Coca Cola Value of Cultural Understanding Value of Cultural Understanding The chosen three different organisations which are currently carrying business across different cultures are: the Coca-Cola Company, Hilton Hotel Corporation and Ladbrokes plc. The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an industry which has diversified itself into different cultures, broadening its business into globalisation. The company is built around two core assets, its brand and its people. Established in 1886, the Coca-Cola Company operates in more than 200 countries and markets more than 450 brands and 2800 beverages products. These products includes sparkling and still beverage, such as water, juices and juice drink, teas, coffees, sports drinks and energy drinks. The company owns four of the worlds top five non-alcoholic sparkling beverages brands: Coca-Cola, Diet-Coke, Sprite and Fanta.: The company is a global business, which operates on a local scale, in every community where they do business. They are able to create with local focus because of the strength of the Coca-Cola system, which comprises their company and their bottling partners more than 300 worldwide. In January 2006, the Coca-Cola company-owned bottling operation were brought together to form the bottling investment operating group, now the second-largest bottling operation in the Coca-Cola system in terms of unit case volume. Companys Culture; Management principles and values In the Coca-Cola Companys manifesto for growth, they commit themselves to be a leader in corporate responsibility and express their aspiration to be among the worlds most respected companies. Among the keys to earning that respect is the maintaining world-class standards for fair and dignified treatment for all the people who works for the company. They believe that a place work is more than a place you go everyday. It should be a place of exploration, creativity, professional growth and interpersonal relationship. It is about being inspired and motivated to achieve extraordinary things. The Coca-Cola Company wants their team to take pride in their work and in building the brand others love. As it is the combined talents, skills, knowledge, experience and passion of their team that makes them who they are. Their 90,500 associates around the world live and work in the markets they serve more than 86 percent of them outside the U.S. In this geographically diverse environment, the management learn from each market and share those learning quickly. As a result, the companys culture is ever more collaborative. Values and/or Beliefs The future of the Coca-Cola Companys business depends on the vitality of the communities where they operate. Since the Coca-Cola Company is a global business, they are citizen and members of thousands of local cultures and communities. They believe that their responsibilities go beyond producing great-tasting beverages. They are committed and enhance individual opportunity. One of the ways they contribute is through their philanthropy, with a heavy focus on education. The Coca-Cola Company supports people for the right to education and provides grants to encourage people in the community they operates to progress. They have their own foundation grant which provide money support to those who cannot afford education fees. The Coca-Cola Company is among those companies which have responded to HIV/AIDS and recognised that business must do its part to help to tackle this problem, especially in Africa. They believe they can contribute to the sustainability of their business operations by helping the local community to combat HIV/AIDS. Detail Culture of the Organisation The Coca-Cola Company holds a market range of brands and beverages product and markets them globally. The companys culture is more collaborative. They learn from each market and share those learning quickly across departments. They work toward ensuring the long-term pillar: consumer marketing, commercial leadership and franchise leadership. Consumer marketing is about expanding consumer preference through a board and balances portfolio of more than 450 brands and more than 2800 beverages products, expanded nutrition labelling, option in packaging size and responsible marketing. Commercial leadership relates to customer and suppliers partnership. The company continues to build long-term relationship to sell more beverages and at the same time, create positive change in the communities where they work and live. Franchise leadership refers to the relationship with their bottling partners. The company do not own or manage most of their bottlers; they are independent, local companies running their own business. But the company strives to work closely to strengthen the Coca-Cola system. Official Policies; Equal Opportunities The Coca-Cola Company gives equal opportunity to all their staffs to grow within the organisation. They give preference to the local people of the country were they conduct business. The company maintains a world-class standard for fair and dignified treatment of all the people who works for the company. They communicate this commitment in the workplace rights policy and human rights statement. The workplace rights policy serve to ensure that the company applies a consistent approach to the workplace rights worldwide, as an integral part of their culture, strategy and day-to-day operations. The human rights statement communicates the companys pledge to manage the business around the world in accordance with the highest standard of integrity with a specific emphasis on human rights in the work place. Diversity The Coca-Cola Company seeks to leverage its worldwide team, which is rich in diverse people, talent and ideas. Being a global business, the ability to understand, embrace and operates in a multicultural world, both in the market place and in the workplace is critical to the companys sustainability. The company strive for an inclusive culture which is defined by their own seven core values; leadership passion, integrity, collaboration, innovation, quality and accountability. The company work on a daily basis to bring these values to life through their diversity workplace strategy. This strategy includes programs to attract, retain and develop diverse talent; provide support systems for groups with diverse backgrounds; and educate all associates. Governance and ethics The Coca-Cola Company aims to lead by example and to learn from experience. They set high standards for their people at all levels and strive to consistently meet them. The company is guided by their establish standard of corporate governance and ethics. The company review their system to ensure that they achieve international best practices in terms of transparency and accountability. The core of the ethics and compliance program at the Coca-Cola Company is their code of business conduct. The code guides their business conduct, requiring honesty and integrity in all matters. All of the associates and directors are required to read and understand the code and follow its precepts in the workplace and larger community. Xenophobic practice The Coca-Cola Company has been banned by the Kerala High Court, from extracting the ground water for its controversial bottling operations. The companys Kerala plant has seen accusations that the company is draining the regions natural resources and despoiling the environment. The ruling could end up forcing the plant to close, as alternative sources of the high quantities of water required will be difficult to envisage. It has been given one month to cease its extractions. The move comes as a major victory for large numbers of local residents that have claimed the companys overconsumption of water was turning their agricultural land into a desert. Justice K Balakrishnan Nair told the company that it owned the 40 acres of land upon which its plant stood, but not the ground water underneath it, which is a national resource that belongs to the entire society. Coca-Cola has continued to deny that it depleted the water reserves, and has said that it will appeal against the order. Ethnic The core of the ethics and compliance program at The Coca-Cola Company is their Code of Business Conduct. The Code guides the business conduct, requiring honesty and integrity in all matters. All of their associates and directors are required to read and understand the Code and follow its precepts in the workplace and larger community. The Code is administered by their Ethics Compliance Committee. This cross-functional senior management team oversees all their ethics and compliance programs and determines Code violations and discipline. Their Ethics Compliance Office has operational responsibility for education, consultation, monitoring and assessment related to the Code of Business Conduct and compliance issues. Associates worldwide receive a variety of ethics and compliance training courses administered by the Ethics Compliance Office. They regularly monitor and audit their business to ensure compliance with the Code and the law. They also maintain a consistent set of best-in-class standards around the world that govern how they investigate and handle Code issues. In 2008, we revised the Code to further improve its effectiveness Hilton Hotel Corporation Hilton Hotel Corporation is recognised around the world as a preeminent lodging hospitality company, offering guests and customers the finest accommodations, services, amenities and value for business or leisure. The Hilton brand has for more than 80 years, been synonymous with excellence in the hospitality industry. Through ownership of some of the most recognised hotels in the world and their newly enhanced brand portfolio, Hilton is now offering guests the widest possible variety of hotel experiences. With the 2006 acquisition of the London based Hilton international, the Hilton portfolio now includes over 3000 hotels in 80 different countries cultures, ethics and customs worldwide. The Hilton Hotel Corporation is an upscale global resort network with a collection of resorts located in exotic places the worlds largest global choice. Companys Culture Management principles and value Hilton Hotel Corporation stands above the rest, delivering on all front, whether being the best brand that offers the best locations, size and scale, the most dedicated people, attractive marketing programs or financial strength. The company has built a reputation for quality, value, integrity and strength. For more than 85 years ‘Hilton has been synonymous with ‘Hotels, standing for excellence in lodging hospitality across the globe. In addition the travelling public is presented with the broadest possible range of price points, choices and opportunities. The 100 percent satisfaction is an operating culture and philosophy that focuses each team member and owner on complete guest satisfaction. Through their guarantee, they are committed to high quality accommodations, friendly and efficient service and clean comfortable surroundings for all guests. Value and/or Beliefs Hilton Hotel Corporation believes that technology can be used to ease many of the stress and strains of travelling. From a hotel operations perspective, innovative new technologies like check-in kiosk are helping the guest check-in more easily and their team members spend less time on administration, which frees them up to spend more time ensuring guests achieve the goals of their stay. The ability to innovate is highly valued and has been ingrained in the company culture since its beginning as one of the pioneers in the hospitality as we know it today. Culture details of the Organisation Hilton Hotel Corporation is an upscale, global hotel network with a collection of hotels located in different countries in the world-the world largest global choice. Ever since Conrad Hilton bought his first hotel in 1919, the Hilton organisation has built a reputation for quality, value, integrity and strength. For more than 85 years ‘Hilton has been synonymous with ‘Hotel, standing or excellence in lodging hospitality across the globe. In 1999, that reputation was extended to a new family of brand of hotels and with such respected names as Hilton, the travelling public is presented with the broadest possible range of price, choice and opportunities. Official Policies Equal Opportunity Hilton gives equal opportunity to al its staff to grow within the company. It gives preference to the local people of the communities where they are operating the chance to grow within the business. Diversity The companys diversity program has made it an industry leader in advancing diversity principles across the nations. The company has built a more diverse workforce, measured the number of minority suppliers and franchise holders and made great advances in incorporation diversity principles into all aspect of the business operations. The company is actively pursuing its objective to maintain a workforce that reflects the same diversity and vitality as the guest who come through the door of its hotels and the culture they operates in. Community Hilton Hotel Corporations commitment to being a good corporate citizen is brought to life every single day by the thousand of team members representing our corporation and the Hilton family of hotels. From helping ids learn to read to planting school gardens, to participating in fund raising walk-a-thons that helps numerous worthy causes to refurbishing national landmarks, the Hilton family of hotels is diligently working towards positive change. The Hilton name ha for more than 85 years, stood not only as a symbol of first-class hospitality, but of active participation in cities, countries and states where the company operates. Ethnic Globally to adapt within the different cultures Hilton Hotels Corporation has diversified into the different markets by understanding its customers and makes its main priority in communicating with its ventures at a global scale as they seek to produce financial rewards to its investors as they aim to provide growth and enrichment to its employees striving to act with integrity. Ladbrokes plc Ladbrokes was founded in 1886 and has grown to become one of the biggest leisure and entertainment organisations in the UK. It is the largest cash betting company in the world and a leading influence for improvement in the betting industry. Ladbrokes offers a wide range of betting opportunities from horse and greyhound racing to events such as cricket, golf snooker and football. Ladbrokes is the leading retail bookmaker in the UK, Ireland, Scotland and Belgium with over 2600 owned and operated betting shops. They also operate facilities at most of the leading racecourses. Ladbrokes has expanded their business internationally with retail outlets in Belgium, Italy and Spain. The Ladbrokes plc operates through different means such as retail betting through shops. Betting through the internet, mobile phones and interactive television, adult gaming centres, telephone betting through dedicated call centres and operate greyhound stadia. Companys Culture Management principles and values In an increasingly competitive market place, the Ladbrokes brand is a key asset. The board and senior management recognise the importance of the brand and continually invest in marketing activities to build awareness and engage in market research to monitor performance. According to the latest research, Ladbrokes is the most recognised betting brand in the UK. Ladbrokes is perceived as the market leader by the general public and over 50 percent of regular bettors. The latter also perceive Ladbrokes to be the most trustworthy brand as well as the one that sets trend. (Source: face to face research conducted by TNS Omnibus in January 2007) As a result of changes introduced in the UK by the gambling Act 2005, current restriction on the advertising of betting and gaming are to be reviewed, Ladbrokes is actively assessing the opportunities to extend its brand leadership position under the new regulation. Ladbrokes has achieved high levels o brand awareness on the international stage and their good name has played a strong role in expanding into new markets. Ladbrokes is regularly approached by governments and businesses around the world about opportunities in betting and gaming. In Scandinavia their online business has achieved high levels of brand recognition and in Italy and Belgium they are operation their retail shop using the Ladbrokes brand. Value and /or Beliefs Ladbrokes believes in responsible gambling. Gambling should be an exciting past time and they urge their customers to have fun but not bet beyond their means. Ladbrokes value the society they operates in. they have joined the ‘Gamcare organisation, an independent organisation which offer help to people who have gambling problems and they have trained all their staff about the way to deal with such customers and how to provide assistance. Ladbrokes also have the ‘self-exclusion option for people with gambling problems whereby they can ban themselves from the gambling outlets of the company. Ladbrokes has founded their charitable trust called the ‘Ladbrokes company charitable trust. They raise money through events held in their outlets and all the money raised, goes into the trust. The trustees then give money to various charities. All these initiatives are for helping to create a better community in which they operates. Culture details of the Organisation Ladbrokes hold a variety of betting options which links with different counties at a global scale. The company have diversified their range of betting option and is now offering their customers a wider range of sports betting, novelty betting and lottery on a global level. Every culture has its own preferred ways of betting and gambling. Ladbrokes recognises these differences and makes the most of them with online products and services that are tailored to local and regional taste. Ladbrokes believes in continuous investment in their retail shops estate to generate growth by offering the best experience to customers and make the brand name synonymous with excellence. Official Policies Equal Opportunity As a company, Ladbrokes believe in providing equality of opportunity for all employees within the different cultures they operates in. all employees are given equality and are encouraged to progress within the organisation. New employees are informed of the companys equal opportunity policy during their training induction. Ladbrokes is committed to an ongoing programme of action to make this policy fully active at al levels. Diversity Ladbrokes recognises that different employees have differing needs and can contribute to the companys success in different ways. Their customers comes from a wide range of background, ages and diverse life experience and they believe that by maintaining diversity throughout the company, they can provide their customers with a more enjoyable and memorable experience every time they bet with the company. By focusing on each individual employees skills, contribution and potential while at the same time welcoming and respecting their differences they ensure that all their employees feel valued and respected and are motivated and committed to help the company to achieve their goals . Dedication to customer service The betting and gaming industry is a service business. The product is the experience the customer enjoy when placing a bet with a staff and watch the race in our shop. As the industry becomes more and more competitive, Ladbrokes recognise that all their employees have an impact on their customers experience. With over 2600 shops across Europe and website offering betting in 12 languages, tailored to local interests, Ladbrokes appeals to customers all over the world. Every culture has its own ways of betting and gaming and Ladbrokes recognises these differences and makes the most out of them with product and services that are tailored to local and regional taste. They places a high priority on good service and as a result they regularly win national customer service awards. Task2 Coca-Cola Company Management practice for alternative culture The company is focused on strategic workplace program that helps assure the success of their commitment for embracing the similarities and differences of people, cultures and ideas. The company strive to communicate their diversity efforts to their workforce and operates through online diversity as business newsletters, diversity speaker services, training, workshops, updates from their diversity advisory councils and employee forum programming. The companys diversity advisory council consists of a representative group of associates from all functions and business units of the organisation. The council develops recommendations for senior management on advancing the companys efforts towards achieving their diversity objectives. The management believes that a sense of community enhances their ability to attract, retain and develop diverse talent and ideas as a source of competitive business advantage. In the US, through employee forums, associates can connect with colleagues who share similar interests and background. In those forums and elsewhere, associates support each other in personal and professional growth and enhance their individual and collective ability to contribute to the company. Formal multicultural relationship The company has design a community water programs to support healthy watersheds and sustainable programs to balance the water used throughout their production process. They do this by working on a wide range of locally relevant initiatives, such as watershed protection; expanding community drinking water and sanitation access; agricultural water use efficiency; and education and awareness programs. Informal multicultural relationship The Coca-Cola Companys products are produced by local people, using local resource and in many cases, local suppliers. Supplier and business partners are vital to the companys continued success. So, through the multiplier effect and local nature of the Coca-Cola Company global business, they support local economies. For each job created within their system, many additional jobs are created through suppliers and other business partners. The company is committed to work with, encouraging and ensuring that their partners and suppliers uphold the highest standard for business conduct, including the values and practice of these policies. Culture and laws The Group is committed to respecting labor rights in every country where it operates and signed in May 2001 an agreement with UNI (Union Network International) by which it has undertaken to monitor the application of principles of the ILO(International Labor Organization), in particular with regard to freedom of association, collective bargaining and the condemnation of child labor. The Hilton Hotels Corporation also adheres to the UN Global Compact since 2001, committing itself to respect its principles, which include labor standards. The company has updated its Code of Conduct and which includes references to the Groups commitment to respect for: The workplace Rights policy, The ILO conventions, The OECD guidelines, The Global Compact principles, The international agreement signed with UNI in May 2001, The Diversity in Business Charter. Hilton Hotel Corporation Management practice for alternative culture Hilton Hotel Corporation is recognised around the world as a preeminent lodging hospitality company. Hilton Hotel Corporation is global with a collection of hotels located in exotic places, cities, and country side around the world. The management of Hilton has adapted the strategy of tailoring each property to its location, local culture, gastronomic international and local cuisine and its ability to deliver a top hotel experience. The management of the company has a diverse workforce and therefore have to operate according to the countrys national laws of employment and their local culture beliefs, such as in Egypt, where they are an Islamic country, the management will have to operates according to the ‘sharia law, which states that women should always cover their heads, restriction of pork meat and alcoholic drinks. Therefore the management will have to operate by abiding to these rules and moreover, they form part of the culture which guests would like to experience. Formal multicultural relationship Hilton Hotel Corporation is the first hotel company in the industry to receive the energy star award from the environmental protection agency (EPA) and the departmental of energy. Moreover, the company always participates in various communities outreach projects, such as planting trees, cleaning beaches and undertaking other activities that help restoring the community national resources. The Hilton Hotel Corporation continues to look for new ways to reduce energy and improve the environment we all live in. Informal multicultural relationship Hilton Hotels Corporations commitment to being a good corporate citizen is brought to life every single day by the thousands of team members representing the corporation and the Hilton Family of Hotels. From helping kids learn to read, to planting school gardens, to participating in fundraising walk-a-thons that help numerous worthy causes, to refurbishing national landmarks, the Hilton Family of Hotels is diligently working toward positive change. Ladbrokes plc Management practice for alternative culture Ladbrokes believes in providing equality for all employees in the community they operate in. employees are treated fairly and given the opportunity to progress within the organisation. As the company operates across different cultures, it takes into consideration the local culture of the area they are operating in and provide support to the community, through employing local people to work for the company and donating to local charities. Moreover, Ladbrokes complies with every national laws of the culture they operate in and supranational laws, as they operates in Europeans countries as well. The national laws lay down the laws of a country and by which every business need to abide regardless of their origin. Such as, the company has to provide staff holiday for employees during the local culture national day Irelands saint Patricks day. Staff are allowed to have this special day off and if they do work, they will be paid on the basis of a bank holiday, which is a double pay. The sup ranational law applied to European countries, whereby member of states have pass on their authority to a common political institution. The supranational law for gambling, regulates the opening and closing time of betting outlets throughout the European countries. Formal multicultural relationship As the company is global, Ladbrokes recognise that all their employees have an impact on their customers experience. Therefore, they have diverse their staff and now offer betting in 12 different languages, tailored to local interest, Ladbrokes appeals to customers all over the world. As every culture has its own preferred ways of betting and gaming. Ladbrokes recognises these differences and makes the most out of them with product and services that are tailored to the local and regional taste. The company place a high priority in good service within the community they operates in and value these people. Ethic and compliance The company core of the ethic and compliance program in Ladbrokes is their code of conduct practice. The code guides the business conduct and requires compliance with all is regulatory responsibilities. Such as the gambling act, workplace right, discrimination, racisms, bullying and whistle blowing.
Friday, September 20, 2019
Advertising Becoming A Companion Of Modern Life Media Essay
Advertising Becoming A Companion Of Modern Life Media Essay Now day advertising has craftily become an certain companion of modern life that we cant escape and keep away from, in fact its an intrinsic part of our daily lives. Everyones daily life and the life of many purchasers is affected by advertising. Consumer use advertising for its in-formativeness, as well as its entertainment value (Hoch and john Deighton 1989). It provides them with cues and clues to help, understand and appreciate their feelings. And in this manners it can change the nature of the response. Advertising helps consumers interpret these experiences and it recommend what should be noticed. When advertising works in this manner, it can exert an insidious effect on consumer behaviour. The importance and power of advertising, is not only just so much economic, but cultural. Advertising is not just a business expenditure undertaken in the hope of moving some merchandise off the store shelves, but is rather an integral part of modern culture (Goldman, Montagne,1986) Its significance comes in impact in consumer capitalism, where individuals depend on it for meanings, a basis of social information embedded in commodities that mediate interpersonal relations and personal identity. Advertising should therefore be conceived as an important institution in the consumer society because it produces patterned systems of meaning that play a key role in individual socialization and social reproduction. As to Encouraging current users to increase consumption of a product, generating more sales leads, increasing brand awareness, increasing repeat purchases, and supporting the personal selling effort are some specific objectives for advertising. As China hastens its transformation to a market economy, its advertising industry has witnessed one of the fastest expansion rates in the world. However very few researches have been done on Chinese advertising industry though there are many researches in advertising in the western world. The key issue remains how to establish whether there are important differences in cultural values among nations and to what degree those values affect advertising effectiveness. Problem of the Statement Since advertising start booming in China in the early 1979, it has become significantly an increasing important industry in the country. Many researchers have been made on advertising industry in the west and became one of everyday activity in the current market. However researches on Chinese advertising has generally been limited to journal articles, and chapters in books devoted to international advertising or international marketing as a whole. The entering of foreign advertising, growth, and operation in China has big significance to Chinese society and culture in general and to Chinese advertising in particular. Major western advertisement companies that are present in China are playing big role in changing the culture of new generations to the new era of modernization. As companies based in the United States and Europe continue to expand their markets globally, China, with its one billion plus population, has become a favourable market. Although these companies have attempted to implement Western-style advertising in China, most have yet to make substantial headway into the Chinese consumer awareness. The relative newness of advertising as a social phenomenon in China has created great difficulties for measuring advertising or marketing success in China (Lohtia, Wesley, and Linda (1994). These difficulties stem, in large measure, from Westerners lack of understanding of how to market their products and services directly to consumers in an ancient Eastern culture such as China. As advertising is a cultural product in its own right, when the East meets the West without a conjoining point, the marketing costs borne by advertisers could be unexpectedly exorbitant; such costs may come in the guise of missed opportunities or, worse yet, a battered product image. This argument lends support to proponents of the specialization approach in global advertising, even though the barriers to developing that specialized advertising approach may be many and difficult to anticipate (Donthu, Naveen, 1998). Moreover as far as legal issues concerned until the recent time the absence of clearly provided law on the area is another major problem for the industry and created vacuum for illegal advertisers, As a result big number of customers get in to trouble by unfair advertisement. The Purpose of the Study The purpose of our research is to investigate how consumers interpret and understand advertising that uses global or local appeals in China. Many companies are interested in the enormous potential of this worlds most populous market, which now also has the fastest-expanding advertising industry in the world. The country is awash in a mix of foreign and local goods, images, advertising appeals, and consumption ideas, and as a whole, there has been an increase in using Western appeals in advertising (Zhou, Nan, and Linming Meng, 1998) while at the same time, foreign advertisers tend to adapt their advertising to a Chinese context to varying degrees. Based on the above mentioned situations the purpose of the study is to examine cultural values as reflected in Western and Chinese advertising appeals. Also purpose of this study is also to assess a consumer-response approach to learn how Chinese consumers react to television and print advertisements with varying emphases on the global, foreign, or Western advertisings with regard to cultural differences to read the advertisements. The purpose of this research is also to examine what role advertising is playing in marketing and how it peruse people. Particularly what is the image of Chinese people on the development of advertising in China and to identify how they merge it to their own culture. Moreover we will try to examine which channel or media is the most preferable to advertise in the Chinese society. By learning more about the interplay of culture and advertising, marketing and advertising managers are in a better position to decide whether advertising using global appeals or local appeals is more appropriate for communicating with Chinese consumers. Research Methodology As mentioned before, books and other research documents are very limited for Chinese advertising industry. So the study is an explorative qualitative study and all primary and secondary data has been assessed in qualitative way rather than numerical or quantitative method. The primary data comes from the interviews and direct information is used from selected enterprises and factories, from their annual reports and different related resources materials. The selected companies are from different industries such as: food, cosmetics, fashion, medicine and in the same time consumers that have been selected are from somehow related to those industries. In addition direct verbal interview were performed with some of the managers from the selected factories. Conclusion (part of) Although the scale of foreign investment in the advertising industry is relatively small, it has helped introduce advanced technologies, management experience and talented personnel to the industry, and has improved the overall level of Chinas advertising industry. Despite some controversial foreign advertisements hurt the feelings of some local consumers but still foreign advertising companies are doing well and making huge contribution for the development of advertising industry in China. Regarding cultural issue Chinese companies and consumers are not facing only marketing challenges but also cultural challenges from international adv companies. According to the finding, in one way or another Chinese young generation is dominated by western custom and culture, so local companies should move fast to protect the culture from western cultural invasion. As the most dominant advertising medium, television was the most likely to be remembered and talked about. As a result according our finding many big and medium companies chooses TV as the best media to advertise their product and service. However many small local enterprises chooses newspaper and flyers.
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Midsummer Nights Dream by William Shakespeare :: Papers
Midsummer Nights Dream by William Shakespeare Works Cited Missing Many miraculous events happen in Shakespeare's, "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Magic is an extensive part of the play, as well as, the incredible characters, including: Puck, Lysander, Hermia, Helena, Bottom, and many more. A numerous amount of the characters play more than one important part, to progress interest, in the play. But the most important event in the play is that love and betrayal are the two most crucial elements in the development of the play. One of the characters, Lysander, loves Hermia. They are deeply in love with each other and they care about one another very much. Lysander says, "I will my Hermia" (1.1.227). What he means by this is that he will do anything for her, and by justifying my, he is saying that they are together, and Hermia is his one true love. "Content with Hermia! No; I do repent the tedious minutes I with her have I spent. Not Hermia but Helena I love" (2.2.111-113). Lysander betrays his love for Hermia by getting a magical spell in his eyes to make him love Helena. But he does not get this magic done to him just once, but twice. So, he falls back in love with Hermia, and he stays with her for the rest of eternity. Another one of the characters, Demetrius, loves Hermia, just as Lysander does. Demetrius says, "And here am I, and wood within this
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
agganis arena Essay -- essays research papers
Agganis Arena      The multi-purpose arena that I have chosen to evaluate is Boston University’s Agganis Arena. This arena is considered to be the next generation of Boston sports and entertainment by incorporating the latest multimedia technologies and providing the finest possible sight lines and views of the action. The arena is located within Boston University's new $225 million John Hancock Student Village, a 10-acre hub of activity designed to be the thriving center of student life and athletics, Agganis Arena is a state-of-the-art, multipurpose sports and entertainment center scheduled to open in January 2005. A 290,000-square-foot premier venue with 6,300 seats for hockey and ice shows, the Arena is expandable to over 7,200 seats for concerts, sporting events, and family shows. Including hockey action, Agganis Arena will host Boston University events, concerts, family shows, sporting events, trade shows and conferences throughout the year. It look forward to welcoming everyone to a beautiful, clean, comfortable, safe, and exciting environment. There are excellent sight lines, inviting food and beverage selections, and first-class Guest Services will make your experience with Agganis Arena so memorable that you will want to come back again and again. The arena has many features to it to make very state of the art environment. The Box Office for the arena includes a fully integrated online ticketing system and also has seven ticket windows along the Southeast Arena main entrance and lobby. The luxury seating in the Agganis arena includes 29 Loge Suites and Premium Seats with great services and has a 5,600 square-foot Private Club Room with flexible floor plan options that can have room for up to 600 guests. To provide these luxury suites and club rooms there is a 4,250-square-foot full service kitchen and 300-square-foot Club Room kitchen. If fans are hungry during the game there are six concession stands throughout the arena that offer over 44 menu items. The facility includes 15 restrooms spread through the arena for men and women which are all handicapped assessable. Plenty of parking within great walking distance to the arena has been provided to all patrons. There are 1,400 parking spots right next to the arena. The ice hockey rink has the greatest technology to keep it looking nice. The measurements of the sheet of i... ...y standard printer. The Arena meets all Massachusetts State Accessibility and Federal ADA requirements, with at-grade entries, 44 wheelchair positions at the concourse level with 44 adjacent companion seats, 13 wheelchair positions at ice level with 13 adjacent companion seats, flexibility in all private suites to provide a wheelchair, accessible restrooms, assisted listening devices at grade entry, and 4 passenger elevators. The Arena has three public pay phones adjacent to the main lobby ticket box office. All the public pay phones are accessible to Guests in wheelchairs and one is equipped for TTY/TDD use. Service animals that assist Guests with disabilities are welcome into the Arena. Service animals must remain on a leash or in a harness at all times. Please contact the Arena Box Office if you intend to bring a service animal to an event so an aisle seat may be reserved for you. Agganis Arena fully complies and exceeds all requirements as set forth in the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you req uire disabled seating while at an event, you can contact the Agganis Arena Ticket Office directly at 617-358-7000 to order your tickets so that they can best accommodate your needs.
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Voting Machine
(Department of electronics engineering) RIZVI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING BANDRA (WEST), MUMBAI-400050 UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI ACADEMIC YEAR 2012-13 FOR THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROJECT (TE) ELECTRONIC WORKSHOP (EWS) LCD BASED VOTING MACHINE USING 8051 AND VENDING MACHINE A project report Submitted by NIKITA MUDRAS TRUPTI LIMBAD SABERA YASMIN UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF PROF. PRASAD DHURI PROF. SOHAIL SIDDIQUI RIZVI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, RIZVI COMPLEX, OFF CARTER ROAD BANDRA (W), MUMBAI – 400050 YEAR: 2012-13 UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI (DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS) CERTIFICATEThis is to certify that the following students NIKITA MUDRAS TRUPTI LIMBAD SABERA YASMIN Have successfully completed the synopsis work of project on LCD BASED VOTING MACHINE USING 8051 AND VENDING MACHINE ___________________ _________________ PROF. PRASAD S. DHURI EXTERNAL EXAMINER (PROJECT GUIDE) ___________________ _________________ PROF . SOHAIL SIDDIQUI PROF . NARGIS SHAIKH (PROJECT GUIDE) (HOD) PREFACEWe take an opportun ity to present the project report on â€Å"lcd based voting machine and vending machine†and put before users some useful information about our project. We have made sincere attempts and taken every care to present this matter in precise and compact form. We are sure that the information contained in this volume would certainly prove useful for better insight in the scope and dimension of the subject. The task of completing the project though being difficult but was made quite simple,intresting and successful due to deep involvement and complete dedication of our group members.ACKNOWLEDGEMENT It is indeed of great pleasure and proud privilege to be able to present the project on â€Å"Lcd Based Voting Machine Using 8051†The completion of project work is a milestone in student’s life and its execution is inevitable in the hands of guide. we highly indebt the project guide Mr. Prasad Dhuri for this invaluable guidance and appreciation for giving form and substanc e to this project. it is due to his enduring efforts, patience and enthusiasm, which has given a sense of direction and purposefulness to this project and ultimately made it a success.We would like to tender our sincere thanks to the staff members for their co-operation. We would also like to express our deep regards and gratitude to the principal Dr. Varsha Shah, our HOD Prof. Nargis Shaikh. We would also like to thank the non teaching staff and our friends who have helped us all the time in the way or the other. LIST OF CONTENT LCD BASED VOTING MACHINE USING 8051 MICROCONTROLLER 1. Introduction 08 2. Circuit diagram 09 . Components 11 4. Program for IC 15 5. Working 30 6. PCB layout 31 7. Advantages 32 8. Future Scope 33 VENDING MACHINE 1.Introduction 36 2. Flowchart 37 3. Working 38 4. VHDL code 40 5. Output Waveforms 44 6. Applications & uses 45 REFRENCES 47LCD BASED VOTING MACHINE USING 8051 MICROCONTROLLER [pic] INTRODUCTION This LCD based electronic voting machine is de signed for four candidates. The input part consists of a set of six tactile switches. The switches and 16Ãâ€"2 LCD are interfaced to microcontroller AT89C51 for various operations and displays. The provision of casting votes for the candidates has been provided through four of these switches. These switches are made active high and connected to pins 2-5 (P1^1 – P1^4) of the controller. The remaining two switches (both active low) are to start and stop the voting procedure.They are connected to pins 1 and 6 (P1^0 and P1^5) respectively. The Init (start) switch initializes the voting system when pressed, while the Stop switch ends the voting and displays the poll results on LCD screen. For more details on working with LCD, refer LCD interfacing with 8051. The data pins of the LCD (pins 7-14) are connected to the output port P2 of the microcontroller. The control pins (RS, R/W and EN) are connected to port P3 pins P3^0, P3^1 & P3^6 respectively. CIRCUIT DIAGRAM [pic] LIST OF COMPONENTS COMPONENT |QUANTITY | |1) General PCB |1 | |2) 16Ãâ€"2 LCD Display |1 | |3) Micro controller base |1 | |4) 10uf/10v capacitor |1 | |5) 8T89C51 micro controller |1 | |6) 12MHz Crystal oscillator |1 | |7) 10k Preset |1 | |8) 2 pin Switches |6 | |9)7805 voltage regulator |1 | |10) 10k Resistor |1 | COMPONENTS KA 7805 (Voltage Regulator) Features: ? Output Current up to 1A ? Output Voltage of 5 Thermal Overload Protection ? Short Circuit Protection ? Output Transistor Safe Operating Area Protection Description: 7805 is a voltage regulator integrated circuit. It is a member of 78xx series of fixed linear voltage regulator ICs. The voltage source in a circuit may have fluctuations and would not give the fixed voltage output. The voltage regulator IC maintains the output voltage at a constant value. The xx in 78xx indicates the fixed output voltage it is designed to provide. 7805 provides +5V regulated power supply. Capacitors of suitable values can be connected at input and output pins depending upon the respective voltage levels. Pin Connections (Front View): Pin No |Function |Name | |1 |Input voltage (5V-18V) |Input | |2 |Ground (0V) |Ground | |3 |Regulated output; 5V (4. 8V-5. 2V) |Output | AT89C51: AT89C51 is an 8-bit Microcontroller and belongs to Atmel's 8051 family. ATMEL 89C51 has 4KB of Flash programmable and erasable read only memory (PEROM) and 128 bytes of RAM. It can be erased and program to a maximum of 1000 times. In 40 pin AT89C51, there are four ports designated as P1, P2, P3 and P0. All these ports are 8-bit bi-directional ports, i. e. , hey can be used as both input and output ports. Except P0 which needs external pull-ups, rest of the ports have internal pull-ups. When 1s are written to these port pins, they are pulled high by the internal pull-ups and can be used as inputs. These ports are also bit addressable and so their bits can also be accessed individually. Port P0 and P2 are also used to provide low byte and hi gh byte addresses, respectively, when connected to an external memory. Port 3 has multiplexed pins for special functions like serial communication, hardware interrupts, timer inputs and read/write operation from external memory. AT89C51 has an inbuilt UART for serial communication.It can be programmed to operate at different baud rates. Including two timers & hardware interrupts, it has a total of six interrupts. Pin Diagram:- [pic] FEATURES OF 8951 1) 8051 have 128 bytes of RAM 2) 8051 have 128 user defined flags 3) it consist of 16 bit address bus 4) it also consist of 3 internal and two external interrupts 5) less power usage in 8051 with respect to other micro-controller 6) it consist of 16-bit program counter and data pointer 7) 8051 can process 1 million one-cycle instructions per second 8) it also consist of 32 general purpose registers each of 8 bits 9) ROM on 8051 is 4 Kbytes in size 10) it also consist of Two 16 bit Timer/ CounterLCD: LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) scree n is an electronic display module and find a wide range of applications. A 16Ãâ€"2 LCD display is very basic module and is very commonly used in various devices and circuits. These modules are preferred over seven segments and other multi segment LEDs. The reasons being: LCDs are economical; easily programmable; have no limitation of displaying special & even custom characters (unlike in seven segments), animations and so on. A 16Ãâ€"2 LCD means it can display 16 characters per line and there are 2 such lines. In this LCD each character is displayed in 5Ãâ€"7 pixel matrix. This LCD has two registers, namely, command and data. The ommand register stores the command instructions given to the LCD. A command is an instruction given to LCD to do a predefined task like initializing it, clearing its screen, setting the cursor position, controlling display etc. The data register stores the data to be displayed on the LCD. The data is the ASCII value of the character to be displayed on th e LCD. Pin Diagram:- [pic] |Pin No | Function | Name | |1 |Ground (0V) |Ground | |2 |Supply voltage; 5V (4. 7V – 5. V) | Vcc | |3 |Contrast adjustment; through a variable resistor | VEE | |4 |Selects command register when low; and data register when high |Register Select | |5 |Low to write to the register; High to read from the register |Read/write | |6 |Sends data to data pins when a high to low pulse is given |Enable | |7 |8-bit data pins |DB0 | |8 | |DB1 | |9 | |DB2 | |10 | |DB3 | |11 | |DB4 | |12 | |DB5 | |13 | |DB6 | |14 | DB7 | |15 |Backlight VCC (5V) |Led+ | |16 |Backlight Ground (0V) |Led- | PROGRAM TO MAKE A VOTING MACHINE USING LCD #include #define msec 50 #define lcd_data_str_pin P2 sbit rs = P3^0; //Register select (RS) pin sbit rw = P3^1; //Read write(RW) pin sbit en = P3^6; //Enable(EN) pin sbit ini_pin = P1^0; // Start voting pin sbit stop_pin = P1^5; // Stop voting pin sbit candidate_1=P1^1; //Candidate1 sbit candidate_2=P1^2; //Candidate2 sb it candidate_3=P1^3; //Candidate3 sbit candidate_4=P1^4; //Candidate4 int max = 0; int carry = 0; int arr[4]; int vote_amt[3],j; unsigned int vote_1,vote_2,vote_3,vote_4; void delay(int delay_time) // Time delay function { int j,k; for(j=0;j
Monday, September 16, 2019
Banking and Its Influential Factors in the Economy
Banking is one of the most influential factors on the economies of today†s society. As with everything these days, technology is changing where, when and most of all, how we do things, specifically banking and other related financial transactions and arrangements such as mortgages, etc. Recently, in Toronto, the very city we live in, we were in the midst of two possible bank mergers, which would have changed banking and on a larger scale the entire economy, in many ways. In comparison to the larger banks of the world, Canada†s most major banks are not even close to the size and caliber of international banks like ING Direct, for example. This would not typically be a problem for Canadian banks, however when these international banks move into Canada, which has happened already, and is bound to happen even more as time passes and Canada becomes a more prosperous country, it quickly becomes a very large problem. Banks are an extremely affluent business. Regardless of where you are in the world banks are right at the top of the list when it comes to capital, equity and earnings. Canada fits right in, in comparison to the rest of Canada. But when we compare Canada†s banks to those of other countries, or even better, international banks, they are simply insignificant. For example, hypothetically speaking, if the entire world were opting whether or not to adopt a single currency, most deciding factors would be made by the banks of each individual country. Canada, although it is a major world leader in many other categories, would not be looked upon as a country that knew much about international stature, in terms of banking. In this essay I will try to prove how banking is one of the most influential factors on the economy by using factual cases from recent times. What does better customer relations†mean? Increasingly, customers are demanding more convenient ways to do their banking. An Ernst and Young study (Technology in Banking Report) concluded, â€Å"nothing changes in the banking world if customers cannot get financial services when and where they wish†¦this means anywhere, at any time. †Statistics show that ATM†s telephone banking, and home banking account for over fifty percent of all banking transactions today, and total non-branch activity is growing at fifteen percent a year. In one survey (Web-Tech, Inc., May 17, 1995), eighty-two percent of 18- to 34-year olds polled preferred banks with 24-hour service. Customers are also demanding a more sophisticated mix of products tailored specifically to their financial needs, and non-bank competitors are better fulfilling these needs. Banks today hold only 20% of household financial assets, versus 34% twenty years ago; they have 30% of business deposits, versus 42% only seven years ago. Non-bank credit card providers have gained inroads against banks, holding a 25% market share versus 5% in 1986 (WebTech, Inc., May 17, 1995). Internet banking offers an attractive solution to this redesigned products and services. Customers have 24-hour graphical-interface access to their accounts and appreciate that their bank is doing something to make banking easier for them. A country, like a business or a person, is constantly doing anything in its power to better itself. A business, like a society, is either growing or declining; the competitive world allows no other options. Human nature will allow no state of rest. Economics is the study of production, distribution, exchange, and consumption of goods and services (Ammer, pg. 186), all of which, if stopped, would cause a business or a country to grind to a halt. From these statements we realize that change is an integral part of the world of economics. Not necessarily a change in what we create, rather the way we do it. Technology, that is, the development of new materials, products, machinery, and processes can create new products and concepts as well as improve production and efficiency for existing products a few key factors that determine economic growth. As a result, new jobs are created, existing ones are made easier and more efficient, and the in the end there is a greater profit margin (Thurow, pg. 69, 304). To understand this topic I will look at the effects of technology on economic growth compared to those of the other four factors, There are five factors, which affect a country's economic growth, Each factor has its own effect on economic growth, however together they produce a greater overall effect. Picture a bank without any branches. No tellers. No rows of desks. No racks of brochures, no automated teller machines outside. Picture, in fact, a virtual bank, one that for the customer exists only in his or her office or home, as images on a computer screen. US financial institutions are moving towards â€Å"virtual banking.†This strategy is about making bank products and services available to customers any time and any place they want them. As virtual banking becomes more popular, it is very likely that more customer service will be seen while the number of traditional teller-staffed branches will decline. Bank customers will move away from traditional banking and will become more dependent on electronic transactions using ATMs or PCs (Britt, Savings&Community Banker, February 1995, p.9). Thanks to this â€Å"technical revolution†, financial institutions are using software programs, online services, and even the Internet to allow customers to check balances, pay bills, and transfer funds among accounts. Bankers promise that, in the near future, we will also be able to more easily buy certificates of deposit, mutual funds, and other investments, and even apply for loans electronically. For most people, today's best option may be plug into their bank through one of three leading home-budgeting software programs, these programs are: By charging $5 to $20 a month for such services, banks are sure to cash in on the high-tech superhighway. This would make everything much easier for customers. All that is required is a personal computer, software and a modem, all of which the majority of people in today†s society have. On-screen instructions, filled with colorful graphics and pictures, explain how to select and work on various tasks. The system automatically calculates and updates account balances and keeps records of bills. A handful of banks have already set up home pages on the Internet to provide information to their existing and potential customers about upcoming services. They started their transactions. Internet banking differs from the traditional PC banking model in several ways. In most home banking ventures, the bank sends an application software program to the customer which runs on the customer's PC. The customer then dials into the bank with their modem, downloads data, and runs the programs that are resident on their computer, perhaps sending back a batch of requests such as transfers between accounts. It demands more and more space and speed from the customer's computer. With Internet banking, on the other hand, there are potential customers who already have all the software they need to do their banking, since all they need is a browser. The actual banking software resides on the bank's server in the form of their home page. This software can be updated at any moment with new information, such as new prices or products, without having to send anything to the customer; it can also continue to expand and become more sophisticated without becoming cumbersome for the customer to operate. Banking with a browser, on the other hand, involves a continuous, interactive session, initiated by a local telephone call to a local access provider or online service. By developing internal expertise today, banks can prepare themselves to react quickly and efficiently to competitive moves and consumer trends as the financial services industry changes. Employees at Bank of America, Chemical, Wells Fargo, and other large U.S. banks use them to buy lunch and snacks. Smart cards-plastic cards with computer chips-are starting to be used for prepayment, debit, and credit purchases all over the world. In the U.S., smart cards can be only used at a contained group of machines, or for one purpose. â€Å"They are part of the broader shift to electronic delivery, to making ATMs more functional, to using PCs and the Internet to do home banking.†says Edgar Brown, senior vice-president of alternative delivery products at First Union, Charlotte, N.C. One of the advantages of using chips on cards with or instead of magnetic stripes is better security. Microprocessor chips are very difficult to alter or forge. Chips can carry more information than magnetic stripes can. A microprocessor chip can store up to eight kilobytes of data. Smart cards make cheaper and faster payments possible. Money can be deducted from a chip without on-line authorization. This makes for a two-second transaction versus an up-to-two-minutes one, and telecommunications costs are saved (Lunt, P., ABA Banking Journal, September 1995, p.46). We can plainly see that there are many factors having great importance, when dealing with the economy. There are many things we must take into consideration in order to make any kind of an informed economic decision.
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