The Full Time Position Of Teaching Associate - 960 Words

I would like to apply for the full-time position of Teaching Associate. I have been employed in this same position during the current academic year where I have supervised over forty undergraduate students on the following papers: SAN1, SAN2, SAN8, and S5 (SAN6). In addition to supervising, I have written and delivered eight core second year lectures on Economic Anthropology and two lectures on the anthropology of welfare and social protection. I have also c0-facilitated eight MPhil seminars in Economic Anthropology and a five-day MPhil workshop on social anthropological research methods. While I have dedicated much of my vacation time to my own research, I have solely concentrated during each term on the learning requirements of my students. Below I present two brief examples of my teaching strategy, before discussing my research interests and plans. I believe it is of utmost importance for supervisors to adapt to the students and their learning style, but also to encourage different approaches to supervisions. In the last year, I have found it particularly important to urge students to think beyond the question they have answered for their written essay. Having marked over seventy scripts in this year’s exams, it is clear that the strongest students are able to skilfully utilise their existing knowledge but to move beyond their supervision essay and demonstrate their use of analytical thinking within the exam. I believe this form of learning should be encouraged.Show MoreRelatedThe Culture Of China Has Deeply Ingrained946 Words   |  4 Pagesbe promoted from an associate professor. The position of professor is usually tenured but not for private and church affiliated institutions (BISO, 2010). The status of a professor is the highest of the standard academic ranks with advancement past the rank of professor involves ad ministrative duties. There is no mandatory retirement age in this occupation and full professor in the US is around 55 years with only few people attains the position before attaining that age. Full professor earn on averageRead MorePosition Paper Tenure Versus Non-Tenure991 Words   |  4 PagesTenure vs. Nontenure: Two Tracks Diverge In tough economic times, the number of nontenure-track faculty is rising. What are the implications of this trend? By Mike Wright In the faculty world, tenure is good. Its seen as an almost sacred concept that leads to the highest-quality instruction, ground-breaking research, and institutional loyalty in the nations colleges and universities. The trend over the last decade, however, is an increase in nontenure-track faculty on campuses acrossRead MoreGraduate Degree Level Nurses Versus Baccalaureate Degree Nurses Level Of Competencies990 Words   |  4 PagesGraduates of the associate-degree level nurse’s versus baccalaureate-degree nurses’ level of competencies can be seen throughout the reading to prepare for this assignment. The textbook Conceptual Foundations: The bridge to Professional Nursing Practice (p.11), shares that during the time of Post War there were not enough registered nurses to care for the public. The use of associate degree nurses and licensed practical nurses was necessary due to the economy of the country at that time. According toRead MoreRoles And Experiences That A Health Care Manager Goes Through Outside Of Class1032 Words   |  5 PagesJeffrey Uszacki (Zack) who is the associate director at the student health center at Auraria. As an associate director he is the operations ma nager in the clinic. To get to this level he was an assistant director. However to climb up the latter he needed to accomplish degrees and experiences to get to where he is today. His educational background is a bachelor in secondary education, athletic training and biology. He has many employment experiences such as teaching science for 7th grade students,Read MoreBenefits Of Gaining A Degree Essay1093 Words   |  5 PagesPsychology include improving your communication skills, achieving a better understanding of yourself and becoming stronger with conflict resolution skills. In addition they also will bring more money than someone with a High School Diploma or an Associate Arts Degree and also show employees you have university level skills. You will automatically look better on paper than someone with no schooling experience. These are very important skills of acquisition to keep with you through your career and lifeRead MoreSensorimotor And Neurophysiological Basis Of Human Movement Studies1556 Words   |  7 Pages1. In-depth knowledge in one or more of the following areas: Sensorimotor and Neurophysiological Basis of Human Movement, Motor Learning and /or Adaptation, Neuromechanics, or Biomechanics. I held a position as a lecturer in Human Movement Studies (2001-2004) - teaching motor control learning - before starting my PhD. I have a masters degree in motor control and my PhD work was about sensorimotor control of interceptive actions. Since finishing my PhD (8 years ago), I have been an active researcherRead MoreBecoming A High School Teacher1172 Words   |  5 Pages interests, and overall career options that I chose to research. High school teaching involves a lot of interaction and helping other people, mainly young people. As I am a child at heart and admittedly immature, becoming a high school teacher was a perfect fit. My values as a person involve helping and teaching is the best help a person can give. I will start by finishing my schooling at JCTC to acquire an associate in arts and then transferring to Western Kentucky University where I will finishRead MoreNeeded Education For The Hemodialysis Staff1176 Words   |  5 Pagesthe kidneys to function properly in this particular chronic disease requires the dialysis staff to provide life sustaining treatment usually three or four times per week to rid fluids and other impurities from the patient’s blood. This treatment requires highly technical training; but that instruction, unfortunately, does not prepare the associate with the knowledge for talking about death or even coping with death when it happens to their patient. Professional Organization I am an active memberRead MoreCompetency Differences of Adn and Bsn Essay example1011 Words   |  5 Pagesand communities. ADN Program Associate degree nursing programs are intended to be two years in length based to prepare practical bedside nurses for secondary care settings, such as community hospitals and long-term care facilities. The Associate degree nurse is prepared .to function at the intermediate level, not in leadership and management position. The professional behaviors, communication, assessment, clinical decision making, caring interventions, teaching and learning, collaboration, andRead MoreHigh Quality Standard Free Of Charge976 Words   |  4 Pagessame trend: inflation rates on the cost of higher education increase at a rate greater than that of household income. This makes it more difficult for lower and middle class families to finance their children through college, and put themselves in a position to be successful in life. Without being able to get a college education, it makes it nearly impossible to land the jobs that are going to bring in higher level income. People need to be educated t o go out into the world, and make more for their families

Analysis Of Heidi s The Great Gatsby - 2003 Words

Heidi s tragic side is fully revealed in this entire speech where humor and drama are perfectly blended to emphasize her moment of realization. She becomes a diminished character who no longer knows who she is and decides to leave New York to sort out her future. Like a true dark comedy protagonist, she is vulnerable and has lost control. She realizes her downfalls and the comedy lies in the superiority felt by the spectator due to man s delight in man s inhumanity to man (Capp 220). In the area of humanness, Heidi may not be ordinary, but can still be considered an everywoman for her generation. She is looking for fulfillment, a universal desire shared by women of all generations trying to balance personal dreams with societal expectations. The illusion of who she longs to be is overshadowed by her need to laugh off the heartaches and mask her true identity. She attempts to cover the duller elements of her personality and never turns to a higher power for assistance, as is character istic of a dark comic protagonist. Her speech in Act II referenced above shows signs of a dark comic protagonist who clears his throats and scratches her nose (Styan, The Dark 275). She will never emerge as a hero, or as Guthke s tenet suggests, be able to clear her pain-stricken conscience (162). She attempts to do so by adopting a baby, however, but it is clear to the spectator that the question of happiness will remain unanswered for Heidi: SCOOP. But now. Right now.

Ecology Petroleum and Caspian Sea Free Essays

People from ancient times has an impact on the environment. As a result, this versatile centuries of human activity has left a deep mark on modern soil and vegetation, air and drinking (water) environment and wildlife. Man depletes non-renewable natural resources and threatens the production of those items that could be renewed. We will write a custom essay sample on Ecology: Petroleum and Caspian Sea or any similar topic only for you Order Now It changes the nature of the environment, upon which his physical and mental existence as biological and social phenomenon. Environmental pollution is becoming more acute, alarming. Barbarous, destructive attitude of the central departments of natural resources of Kazakhstan led 70-90. To the environmental crisis in the country, take in some regions of the catastrophic nature. One of the toughest environmental problems is the radioactive contamination of the territory of Kazakhstan. Nuclear tests conducted since 1949 at the Semipalatinsk test site resulted in contamination of vast territories in central and eastern Kazakhstan. The country has had five landfills, where nuclear tests were conducted in the vicinity of its borders is a Chinese Lop Nor test site. Radiation background in Kazakhstan increased as a result of the formation of ozone holes in spacecraft launch from the Baikonur. Huge challenge for Kazakhstan of the radioactive waste. Thus, UMP Factory has amassed about 100,000 tons of waste contaminated with uranium, thorium, and waste storage facility located in the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk. In Kazakhstan there are only 3 repository for nuclear waste and they are all located in the aquifer. That seriousness of the problem of radioactive contamination has led to one of the first laws of sovereign Kazakhstan was the decree of 30. 08. 1991, the banning of tests at the Semipalatinsk test site. One of the most serious environmental problems of Kazakhstan became the depletion of water resources. Increased consumption of fresh water, primarily for irrigated agriculture led to salinization and depletion of natural water sources. Particularly disastrous was the shallowing of the Aral Sea due to irrational use of water Amu Darya and Syr Darya. The sea level dropped by 13 meters, who uncovered the seabed turned into a salt desert. The annual dust storms spread the salt on the vast territory of Eurasia. The decrease mirrors the sea has led to a change in wind direction and climatic characteristics of the region. A similar situation exists in Lake Balkhash, the level of which is 10-15 years fell by 2. -3 meters. At the same time, the rise of the Caspian Sea, caused by ill-conceived decision stripping the Gulf of Kara-Bogazgol. Already flooded huge areas of coastal grazing areas and promising oil-bearing areas. Zyryanovsk lead and Leninogorsk polymetallic complexes have led to contamination of the Irtysh. Alarming environmental situation prevailing in the valley of the rivers Ili and the Urals. In the critical condition of the land resources of Kazakhstan, depleted fertile arable land, pasture becomes desert. Remains a serious problem of air pollution, especially in large industrial centers. National priority in the â€Å"Strategy 2030† RK include: environmental safety, rational use of natural resources, environmental well-being of citizens and some of the problems of social ecology. Reaction to the first environmental crises and catastrophes was expressed in the â€Å"Environment Act† of 1997. The problem of ecology and conservation – is rational and planned use of natural resources, protect the environment from pollution is a planned system of state control, international and public events aimed at the rational use, protection and restoration of natural resources, the satisfaction of material and cultural needs of future generations. National environmental issues Zones of ecological disaster in the Republic of Kazakhstan to continue to be the Aral Sea and Semipalatinsk regions, where there have been destroying the natural ecological systems, degradation of flora and fauna, due to unfavorable environmental conditions caused substantial harm to public health. Currently, the regions adjacent to the former Semipalatinsk test site (85 settlements with a population of almost 72 thousand people), there is a high level of cancer incidence and mortality, cardiovascular diseases, congenital malformations among newborns and the effects of premature aging. In the Aral Sea ecological disaster zone (178 settlements with a population of 186 thousand people) has a high level of gastrointestinal diseases and anemia, especially among women and children, infant mortality and birth defects. Depletion and pollution of water resources, and TZ problems associated with intensive development of resources of the Caspian Sea. Kazakhstan belongs to the category of countries with a large deficit of water resources. Currently, water bodies are polluted heavily in mining, metallurgical and chemical industries, utilities and cities represent a real environmental threat. Of the rivers of southern Kazakhstan the most polluted Badam and Talas. In Badam discharged wastewater Shymkent Oil-GIRO industrial complex in Talas – waste water of sugar and alcohol plants. Near Taraz sewage plant primary processing of wool, leather and shoe factory and other enterprises polluted Talas – Assinskoe field of groundwater, which is the only source of water supply the city of Taraz. Continuing pollution channel Talas-Asse and surrounding areas from sewage Taraz phosphorus plant. Wastewater Karaganda synthetic rubber plant, mercury-containing contaminated river Nura and Nurinskoe reservoir. Mercury-contaminated stream, and the Nura River, used for water supply and livestock watering. Water pollution has reached such proportions that in the basins of several rivers breached natural biological and hydro chemical regimes. Severe pollution are Syr Darya, Lake Balkhash, etc. The main pollutants of water sources are ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, petroleum and chemical industries, waste water which significantly increases the water content of harmful substances. Transboundary environmental problems pose a real external threat to the ecological security of the country, a decision which is provided with modern actions of neighboring states in the framework of international treaties. In early 2003, Kazakhstan joined the Bazilskoy Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their disposal, which allowed to establish new customs regulations on the declaration of hazardous wastes and prevent their subsequent flow into the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan under the guise of recycled materials and products. How to cite Ecology: Petroleum and Caspian Sea, Essay examples

Marketing Channel Management Exam free essay sample

Please start each section on a new page. 3. Please write clearly and neatly. Marks will be penalized for bad writing. 4. Cross out any unwritten pages in the answer sheet. 5. Calculators are allowed to be used during the exam. Section A 5 X 2 Marks = 10 Marks This section consists of Multiple Choice questions. Please mark you answer in the answer sheet by writing only the option number after the question number. Please write only what is asked. As a thumb rule, write a maximum of a page for each 10 marks and half a page for a 5 marks question. 1. Define Marketing Channels. Explain how and why marketing channels are managed. marks 2. What are the responsibilities of a sales executive? 5 marks 3. Illustrate the sales call process and write down all the steps involved in the sales call. 5 marks 4. Draw a typical marketing channel for a mass product and illustrate the flow with directions for the following A. We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Channel Management Exam or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Money B. Stock C. Information 10 marks Section C This section consists of numerical questions. Please illustrate all steps and try to show calculations wherever possible. Please state any assumption you are making clearly. Question: 15 marks Please estimate the number of sales executives, and supervisors needed for the following Channel Partner for Hindustan Singleshaft which is a top FMCG company in India. The channel partner has to service 1000 outlets. The categorization is given below along with the time required to complete a sales call at each outlet and the frequency of visiting the outlets. The time required to travel from one outlet to another is 10 minutes on an average. Each Sales Executive has a six day work week and works for 10 hours a day including an hour long lunch break. So each sales executive has 9 effective hours of work for 6 six days a week. Assume a 10% buffer sales force in your estimation. For every 4 sales executives one supervisor is required to supervise them.

T he six principles that make people say YES or ho Essays

T he six principles that make people say YES or how to get YES. Psychology in negotiations. In fact, people are hostages of their habits and stereotypes. The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert B. Cialdini, a respected social scientist and specialist in the area of compliance psychology, says that " automatic, stereotyped behavior is prevalent in much of human action " I fully agree with this quotation. I want to move away from the topic for a second and to tell about myself. Actually, I'm a big fan of psychology, I started learn some psychology books in fourteen years old. I read authors like Eric Bern, Sigmund Freud, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche ( yes, I know that here also philosophy authors, but I think that philosophy and psychology its like wife and husband) and Russian , Ukrainian psychologists. Why I love psychology ? because it help me to better understand people , before they try to do something bad to me (for example),not only for bad thigs in my life I learnt psychology, It help me better to communicate with people and gain trust from them. Psychology has a lot of applications in every-day life. But usually it help to survive in this scary world to people like me, it help to earn money from business or work for eating something every day, it helps in talking to people in difficult situations, when you need to solve a problem for example, to live normally or when you alone in another county and you need to find someone whom you can trust, because in our world today so many bad people who will try to play on your feelings or will try to use you anyway they can and a lot of people going in hands of such bad people and their offer of " help ". But with knowing of people behavior , you can "read" them, it's not so difficult, but practice needed. I'm sorry for so long "moving away". So let's go back to our topic Negotiations and how to get Yes. Negotiation it's a difficult process, you will never know what can happen or what will be in the end. Negotiations can be different , in process people can become angry, become greedy or full of stress. Of course all can be vice versa, as I said you never know what can be with people and in the end of the process. But you can control all the aspects of the process, How ? you can ask me, and now I'll tell you the six principles or "triggers" how to get yes in negotiations. But first I want to talk about "triggers" for people, because, I guess, that everyone has his own "triggers". As I said everyone have "triggers" or easier saying things or words or actions which make people to do one or another action or decision. For example, if ask people to help you to do something ( let's take a supermarket ) People waiting in a queue to do their purchases and you come in this queue with only one banana for example, and if you ask people in a queue - " Can I go first , I have one banana ?" Only 60% will answer you " Yes of course". But , if in the next time in the similar queue in supermarket and you again with banana ( we can image that you like bananas very much) and you will ask them - " Can I go first , I have only one banana , I need so much , because I am late into university" Almost 90% will answer you "Yes". Why? Because it's human nature, it's a well-known that people need a reason to do any action or justify their decisions. But other information is necessary for people their "trigger" is BECAUSE and when people hear their "trigger" it so strong to decide people say YES. I shew an experiment which had been done by Harvard social psychologist Ellen Langer. When I was looking for an addition al information for my essay , I absolutely accidentally found this experiment and rewrite it to easier understanding form just for additional example. So, now

Financial Statements

Financial Statements Financial statements are a source of information for customers, creditors, managers, employees, regulators and other stakeholders of a firm to assess its past and future performance. The quantity of information available from the financial statements can be quite inundating. Financial statement users, therefore, adopt ratio analysis to counter this burden of information overload and get an accurate picture of the firm performance. Analysis of the financial statements of a company reveals important information to its stakeholders thereby leading them to make inferences about its financial condition and attractiveness as an investment. This paper will scrutinize the financial statements of Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB), Pakistans largest private bank by assets and market capitalization. MCB is the only financial institution from Pakistan that is listed on the London Stock Exchange. With its 60 year history, MCB has depicted a tremendous growth record and is listed on all stock exchanges in Pakistan with a significant market capitalization (Muslim Commercial Bank Annual Report, 2005). The financial information of MCB, as extracted from its 2005 annual report, provides an insight into the institution’s operations carried out in the year 2004-2005. To measure a company’s financial health, five categories of ratios1 are normally applied to the financial statements; liquidity, leverage, operating, solvency and profitability. Liquidity ratio measure whether a company has sufficient cash to meet its obligations as they fall due. Leverage ratio detects the impact of using creditor funds whereas operating ratio assesses whether the resources are effectively employed. Solvency attempts to detect financial tolerance of the company to ensure the company is not headed towards financial distress. Profitability ratio is a barometer of the company’s efficiency and success (Cinnamon and Helweg-Larsen 81). The results of the application of ratio analysis to MCB financial statements are shown in the appendix in table 1. The liquidity ratio of the company has improved as compared to the previous year, suring from 1.75 to 1.9. This is due to the improved cash flow generated in the year 2005. The other ratios also depict an uptrend signaling stability and consistency in growth. Profit after taxation for MCB for the financial year 2005 has increased more than 50% comforting all its stakeholders and eliminating any concerns about financial distress. Moreover, the company’s latest listing on the London Stock Exchange should further open the doors for capital injection and aid in the growth of the company. The information excerpted from the annual report is an evidence of the vital signs of the company to its stakeholders. The main stakeholders that closely monitor the business performance of an organization are the creditors, investors, and managers. This is due to the fact that their respective objectives are directly tied to the company’s performance. Creditors particularly pay close attention to the short-term liquidity and long-term solvency of the company (Emery 1998). An improving liquidity ratio for MCB should be very satisfying for its creditors. The magnitude of their conviction about the financial strength of the company is compounded by the fact that all the financial ratios of MCB for the year 2005 show a significant improvement. If the company has reserves to meet its obligations and enjoys a balanced debt-equity ratio, creditors are contented since there are no alarming signals pointing towards insolvency. Investors forecast risk and potential returns through the accounting information from financial statements. They closely watch a company’s earnings record to ascertain the probability of dividends and capital gains that can potentially flow from the company’s stock (Meigs et. al 438). Even though investors have an insatiable appetite for returns, the financial results of MCB for 2005 instill immense optimism in them especially taking into consideration the 20% dividend declared by the company. The consistent uptrend in the profits (refer to graph 1 in appendix) and the increasing earnings per share (EPS) ratio (refer to graph 2 in appendix) support the fact that business strategies are focused on maximizing shareholder value. The primary concern of the managers is to run the company as efficiently and effectively as possible to satisfy the creditors as well as investors in terms of meeting obligatory payments and maximizing shareholder value respectively. Should they fail to satisfy these stakeholders, the company can well be on its way to facing dire consequences, potentially even bankruptcy. Financial statements are a useful source of information for the managers, in that they see the result of their input throughout the year and learn to alter business strategies should the numbers warrant. The managers of MCB have shown a tremendous performance in generating healthy revenue for the business. A declining liquidity ratio should provide an incentive for an appropriate working capital management strategy for the following year. Annual report contains a great deal of information, which when correctly analyzed can provide signs on the direction of the company. For example, it is imperative to check if there is information on any missed payments, dividends in arrears or if the company has earmarked reserves for any significant commitments or loss contingencies. This information is vital for the investors and creditors as it can have a significant impact on the stock price and credit rating of the company. A thorough scrutiny of the annual report uncovers information on how the various risks (credit, interest rate, operational) are being managed and risk concentrations avoided. Financial statements of a company provide essential guidance to the investors and creditors leading them to make rational and informed decisions.

ENG Topics in Litersture Discssion Board Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

ENG Topics in Litersture Discssion Board - Essay Example a bill from Jamestown Liquors indicates that Allyson has been drinking with her husband, Clark, who is more than twice her age, because time is running out. Clark’s varied pumpkin carvings is an expression of shock, sadness, and eventually acceptance of Allyson’s condition. As Allyson is faced up with death, Clark imparted to Allyson’s soul to move on, for there is no need to worry about him. In the end, the pumpkins became the symbol of Allyson’s loving memory, of the memories Clark and Allyson spent with each other. Initially, I found the story too sad to read. The presence of the pumpkins in the story gave me a premonition that the story is all about death and sorrow. The similarities in Allyson and Clark’s facial features, despite their wide age difference, made a perception that Allyson looks too old for her age. Is she sick or something? Clark is old enough to be her father. But when it was mentioned that Allyson has been wearing a wig, it was only then that my guess were confirmed. She is indeed sick. Sick with cancer? Maybe she had been undergoing chemotherapy treatments which may explain her baldness. Her volunteer work for a daycare center further gave me an idea that she is seriously ill, despite maybe of her chemotherapy treatments. She can still work, had she wanted to if she is in a dire financial need. But she opted to spend her afternoons in a volunteer work, thus giving readers an indication that she is spending her remaining time in a me aningful way, the most meaningful way that she possibly could. Going through the mail, the bill Allyson found from Jamestown Liquors can be interpreted that Allyson and Clark had been drinking these past few months or days. On the other hand, I found it puzzling when they had received a letter from â€Å"Clark’s relations up North† and enclosed with a gift check signed by Jesus H. Christ. Reading the word North, I thought it was a letter from Santa Claus hearing out Clark’s Christmas wishes. But

Government Involevement in Promotion of Chinese and Asian Cities Essay

Government Involevement in Promotion of Chinese and Asian Cities - Essay Example This has been a fourth consecutive year that china has been recording an economic growth of 10 percent. There have also been marked growth in other nations like Cambodia, Lao People Democratic Republic, Mongolia, and Vietnam which have been recording a growth of 7.5-10.5 percent. Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand have recovered a moderate growth at the rate of 5-6 percent annually while Papua New Guinea and other Pacific Island countries recorded a pickup in growth in the same period. However political unrest in other country as Timor-Lest and Tonga saw the two countries record a poor growth. There has been declining poverty in the region with number of those living below the poverty line or on less than 2 dollars reducing to 30 percent of the population in the region. (The World Bank 2007, p. 3) This growth has been attributed to number of factors which has been stimulated by revolution in the economic outlook and increased investment in the region. There has been strategy that have been carried out by the government with the support of the private sector which has seen an increased growth in the economy with promotion of trade and enhancing environment for appropriate governance. This has seen increased social order and growth of new settlements in cities. However the financial sector has been plying a crucial role in the development of infrastructure in the region which has been the bases for the improved economic growth. (Xinhua 2005, p. 65) One of the most import characteristic of the emerging Asian Tigers has been growth in new settlement and commercial cities. There has been emergence of skyscrapers and well managed cites which have integrated the need to integrate environment sustainability and beautiful secure cities. There has been emergence of some cities like Tokyo, Shanghai, and others which are the hub of the commercial activities in the region. This has been as a result of consorted efforts from the government and from the private developers where the government provides for the planning while the private developers provides for funds. (NMA 2008, p. 7) It is not enough to developed secure and beautiful cities which are not open to the world. Therefore there have been efforts which have been aimed at promoting these cities to the outside world in order to make them a choice for majority of the investors. This is because most of these cities have been built based on commercial activities and hence their promotion has also been assessed on the commercial viability of these companies. There has also been effort in ensuring the there is an increased level of awareness from the citizens about the need to take care of their cities in order to maintain them. Therefore we can say that the effort of the Asian government to promoted their cities have been aimed on the outsiders and also on the citizens of the countries especially the residence of these cities in order to enhance capacity building and maintenance for the cities. (Hirgik 2006, p. 4) There have been efforts that have been provided by the government of these cities that have been aimed at making sure that they become competent cities in the world. This is because the more attractive the cities are, the more they are likely to attract FDIs which are the factors that

Money and banking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Money and banking - Essay Example In mid 1998, Brazil's consolidated fiscal position was showing primary deficit, as the government expenditure exceeded its income. The current account deficit was approaching 5% of GDP, even as the economy was sliding into recession. The situation was further aggravated when Russia defaulted on its debt payment and external capital flow came to a halt (Fraga, 2000). Floating of Real was the course of action taken by the government in January 1999 with the consequence that the exchange value of Real plunge to an all time low R$2.15. The government realised that any drastic step taken out of distress rather than alleviating the problem could create further imbalances by fuelling inflation. The government was contemplating whether to float, peg and initiate a fixed- rate regime. After looking through all the possibilities the government had announced in March 1999 that the full inflation targeting system would come into force in June 1999. The Brazilian government could have taken recourse to many instruments at its disposal to implement country's economic policy but the government had assigned to the Central Bank the task of keeping the rate of inflation at a low level. ... Another reason for choosing the inflation targeting regime is its' near immunity to political influence in policy decisions. Another purpose of the regime is to coordinate the prospects of inflation. While this contributes towards achieving the target, at the same time, it may enhance the credibility and transparency. The inflation targeting regime helps to buffer the shocks hitting the economy. Due to the flexibility of the system, it can absorb these shocks. Brazil is a country that is still dependent on foreign capital. Introduction of floating exchange rate as a part of the inflation targeting regime will directly absorb part of external shocks. The key points of the inflation targeted regime can be summarized as follows: Inflation target will be established on the basis of variations of a widely known price index The inflation targets as well as the tolerance intervals will be set by the National Monetary Council on a basis of a proposal by the Finance Minister The price index that would be adopted for the purpose of inflation targeting framework will be chosen by the National Monetary Council on the basis of a proposal by the Finance Minister The targets will be considered to have been met whenever the observed accumulated inflation during the period of January-December of each year falls within the tolerance interval In case the targets are breached, the Central bank's Governor needs to issue an open letter addressed to the Finance Minister explaining the causes of the breach, the measures to be adopted to ensure that the inflation returns to the tolerance levels, and the period of time that will be needed for these measures to have effect,

Changing Care Needs through the Life Stages

Changing Care Needs through the Life Stages Shane Quigley Introduction In this essay, I will be discussing the changing care needs through the life stage of my case study Margret whose name has been changed to protect the confidentiality of the person. I will be taking you through the development of late adulthood, the development of Margret, factors affecting Margret and my recommendations on helping Margret’s personal needs. The information provided will be mostly personal life experience from my module book and some internet pages. Development during Late Adulthood Aging affects people differently from person to person, but generally in late adulthood people experience both gains and losses. People lose their instant energy a younger person may have, but the ability to conserve energy is gained for future activities when needed. Age also brings a better sense of patience, experience, wisdom and understanding one may not have had before as a person has seen and experienced changes in their life before, this wisdom improves the quality of life regardless of the physical changes that may occur. Physical changes in the body in late adulthood are inevitable no matter how healthy a life you live but maintaining a healthy balanced lifestyle coupled with daily exercise can help you live a better quality of life and may keep the body and mind fresh into late adulthood too. Primary aging in late adulthood has an effect on appearance, sensation and motor abilities. A person in late adulthood may have more wrinkles as less collagen is produced in skin, skin becomes less elastic it also becomes thinner. Warts and skin tags and liver spots may form around the body as well as noticeable blood vessels. The hair may thin and turn grey as melanin is not produced as frequently in the body as before and height is decreased as bone density decreases. Intellectually in late adulthood the senses begin to decrease or dull in this stage of life the lenses of the eye discolour and are rigid, making the perception of colour harder to interpret, reading may also become difficult without the proper corrective glasses. Hearing also decreases in this stage , especially being able to hear high-pitched sounds, as a result of this paranoia may develop and could develop a level of unfound distrustfulness in response to not being able to hear well, as they could not interpret if the person was talking about them or not, this can be corrected with proper diagnosed hearing aids which are widely available. Also cognitive changes in late adulthood are not rare, memory fades as we age, however some people defy the general trends and can maintain their mental sharpness into their late stage of life through keeping their mind active and alert as much as possible. The theorist Jean-Piaget believed this is the formal-operative thinking stage in late adulthood, hypothetical problem solving skills decline, but decision making is faster and more logical and focused. Research has shown that keeping the body physically fit can attribute to staving off mental illnesses and other cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. Eriksson’s theory of Identity vs. Despair best described the social and emotional development of late adulthood. As the theory involves coming to terms with the decisions you made in life. Those who view they have achieved a sense of integrity view their life in a larger context and are more at ease with themselves and accept their life course. People in late adulthood have experienced a lifetime of knowledge, which can make them feel more secure with themselves which they may not have had when they were younger. Adjusting to retirement is vital and a big step in this stage, adjusting can be easy and have no adverse affects on their life. On the other hand some people may find it hard adjusting depending on their emotional state, income and social network. Friends and family play a significant role in late adulthood in maintaining good life satisfaction by providing companionship and doing social activities. Staying in contact with people promotes successful aging and people d o better if they continue to engage with life and maintain close friendships and relationships. Margret Development and Personal Prejudices, Fears and Anxieties Physically Margret has no major illnesses thankfully for her age, she just has the characteristics of primary aging such as wrinkles and sagging skin but her hearing and sight is quite sound for her age. She does not need the use of hearing aids and only uses reading glasses to read, mobility is fine as she does not need the use of a walking stick or wheelchair and frequently walks every day up the town and to the library. Intellectually Margret keeps her mind active and has no mental-illnesses or diseases, she does this through her hobbies such as reading, playing Sudoku and other mind puzzles and crosswords in her favourite newspaper The DailyMail. Also her frequent trips to the library to read up on fiction and the World Wars during the week helps keep her mind active and fresh, as-well as walking which has been proven to keep the mind mentally stable. She also attends the local bingo with friends, bingo keeps the mind fresh as you constantly have to be aware your numbers are being called and have to keep the brain focused as you pay attention. Emotionally and Socially Margret has a close knit of friends she keeps in touch with regularly from childhood and the group she goes to bingo with. Family is very important to Margret. She has just one daughter and two grandchildren which she sees twice a week. This means the world to Margret especially after losing her spouse two years ago to cancer. Margret says she is blessed with her daughter and grandchildren and is grateful of the group of friends she has to make her happy especially when her husband died. She also attends mass every Sunday in her local church. Spirituality is very important for change in late adulthood and religion plays a big role in Margret’s life and accompanied with church, she also goes to Lourdes once a year. These social activities help keep Margret in touch with other likeminded people and promote a healthy social lifestyle. My own personal prejudices, fears and anxieties regarding late adulthood would probably be the youth of today as I think they do not have the same respect as the past generation had. I would be fearful when I grow older into this stage travelling on public transport as I think the youths on public transport can be quite loud, intimidating and sometimes aggressive, and can be quite the stressful and terrifying experience especially at night time. When you reach a certain age, you are forced to use public transport as your license is taken away from you. You lose that freedom you once had, that sense of independence is gone and in my opinion you feel like you are being treated like a child not a valued member of society. Fear and anxieties would that be finically, the economy the way it is at the moment may reduce or take away the pension. I also fear I wouldn’t be able to afford the necessities I need to live, that I would a burden to my loved ones if I got ill. Also a big fear /anxiety is that I could develop a cognitive illness such as Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, that if this happened who would look after me, that I would be too much of a burden on family and might end up in a nursing home. Another fear is that may not be able to leave enough money for my children and the cost of the funeral would be left for them to fund. Variations/Factors affecting Individual at this stage of life Mobility in later life can be a concern as primary aging causes a decrease in bone density and organs in general but with Margret’s frequent walking into town and the library every day, she is delaying this decline of the bones as much as possible. Another factor is you memory fading and potentially getting a cognitive illness in this stage of life. Finically at this moment in time since she is on a widowers pension and is surviving comfortably at the moment. Socially and emotionally she is afraid of the well-being of her friends at this moment as some of them have fallen ill as she is close to them and relies in them for support after her husband’s passing. Recommendations to respond confidently to the needs of the person Conclusion I would recommend in conclusion that Margret should go to the doctors at least once a month to make sure she is fit and healthy, also to get her eyes checked in the opticians to see if she needs other glasses to see with. And to get her ears checked to see if hearing aids are needed. I would recommend more regularly exercise on top of her walking like joining her local gym. In some places the over sixty-fives can join for free and most places do a discounted offer for O.A.P’s, there is also a social benefit to going to the gym too as you are out of the house, meeting similar aged people too and aids cardiovascular and respiratory functions, slows the loss of muscle and helps with the decline of bone density and promotes sound sleep and fights depression. I would make sure she has a healthy diet which includes a balanced diet, less sugar and plenty of water as-well as multi-vitamins supplements with plenty of fresh fruit and fresh food to provide optimal organ function. Also to avoid smoking which she has not done throughout her life anyway. Also to cut out excessive alcohol consumption, Margret may have two glasses of wine a day. I would recommend cutting back to one to reduce risk of liver damage. I would recommend trying to reduce as much stress in her life and keeping up as much social activities as possible to promote healthy well-being mentally and physically to aid cognitive functioning and prevent depression. I would also recommend trying new skills and try new activities to aid mental activity and promote healthy mental functioning. Bibliography Web Pages 1 5M4339 Shane Quigley

Just another Crazy Woman on the edge of Time :: Woman on the edge of Time Essays

Just another Crazy Woman on the edge of Time  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Woman on the edge of Time, by Marge Piercy, a middle aged Chicana woman from New York finds out that she a can communicate with the future. She finds herself able to be in more than one time. She is, as far as we know, the first to be able to do this. There were others, but they all closed themselves off, thinking themselves insane when the â€Å"voices from the future† began to speak. Connie’s connection was probably simpler because of the similarities between the world in which she lived now (in the mental hospital) and the world of the future.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The societal systems of the two worlds are very similar. If you exclude the doctors of the mental hospital, all are equal. Each ward can be a different village, with different cultures and governmental systems. Connie moves from ward to ward in her time as she moves from town to town in Luciente’s time. In each ward (as in each village) she learns something new. In the first, she gives up and accepts. In the second she survives and struggles to keep her sanity. In the third she learns the necessity of the fight. Each ward has something new to experience. In each village, she learns a new idea/concept/truth about the way her world (outside the hospital) really is instead of how she sees it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the mental ward, there is no economic system. Sure, money exists, but it doesn’t come from inside the ward. It is an alien thing; a luxury as are all of the others. The wards that Connie lives in are all filled with their own luxuries. In one, you find card tables and cards, puzzles and chairs. In another ward there are separate rooms and bathrooms with doors, all of which are shared by the general public (the patients). There is no special treatment. Who ever wants to use the cards or the puzzles can. Almost like the dresses/costumes that are rented from the library in Mattapoisett time. There, we use bicycles as we find them. â€Å"Any bike not in use, I can use.† (p 364). If the cards aren’t being used buy someone else, you have every right to use them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   People are just as free. Relationships in the future are a bit more open than those that Connie has had. Just another Crazy Woman on the edge of Time :: Woman on the edge of Time Essays Just another Crazy Woman on the edge of Time  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Woman on the edge of Time, by Marge Piercy, a middle aged Chicana woman from New York finds out that she a can communicate with the future. She finds herself able to be in more than one time. She is, as far as we know, the first to be able to do this. There were others, but they all closed themselves off, thinking themselves insane when the â€Å"voices from the future† began to speak. Connie’s connection was probably simpler because of the similarities between the world in which she lived now (in the mental hospital) and the world of the future.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The societal systems of the two worlds are very similar. If you exclude the doctors of the mental hospital, all are equal. Each ward can be a different village, with different cultures and governmental systems. Connie moves from ward to ward in her time as she moves from town to town in Luciente’s time. In each ward (as in each village) she learns something new. In the first, she gives up and accepts. In the second she survives and struggles to keep her sanity. In the third she learns the necessity of the fight. Each ward has something new to experience. In each village, she learns a new idea/concept/truth about the way her world (outside the hospital) really is instead of how she sees it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the mental ward, there is no economic system. Sure, money exists, but it doesn’t come from inside the ward. It is an alien thing; a luxury as are all of the others. The wards that Connie lives in are all filled with their own luxuries. In one, you find card tables and cards, puzzles and chairs. In another ward there are separate rooms and bathrooms with doors, all of which are shared by the general public (the patients). There is no special treatment. Who ever wants to use the cards or the puzzles can. Almost like the dresses/costumes that are rented from the library in Mattapoisett time. There, we use bicycles as we find them. â€Å"Any bike not in use, I can use.† (p 364). If the cards aren’t being used buy someone else, you have every right to use them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   People are just as free. Relationships in the future are a bit more open than those that Connie has had.

Regulation in Mass Media Essay

The responsibility of the FCC and their regulations are often questioned if they are necessary or not. By examining Horwitz’s â€Å"The Evolution of the American Telecommunication System and the Origin of Communication Regulation. ,† one could take the side that the regulation of media is necessary. Regulation of media is necessary to prevent a monopoly– which is one company controlling the entire market. If there was a monopoly on media then the company could charge and price whatever they want and only give service to those they wanted to. By having media regulations this is not able to happen. Natural monopolies in wired carriers, which are monopolies approved by the FCC, keep costs down and prevent a cluttering of wiring in the air or ripping up streets to install underground wiring. The first sign of natural monopoly was with AT&T and the telephone. According to Horowitz, it states: â€Å"Under the leadership of Theodor Vail, AT&T maintain the telephony constitution a natural monopoly. One policy, one system, and universal service’ was Vail’s ot-reapted slogan. † (Horowitz, Page 99) Vail argued that by having more then one provider there would be a waste of resources and if there was one provider pooling its resources they would be able to provide a better service to the customer. Though this might be true, unless there is regulation by the government this idea of natural monopoly would be horrible. Now the FCC regulates any kind of natural monopoly that exists within universal carriers of a med ia. The beginning of regulation began with the start of large scale communication, other then print, in 1835 when Samuel Morse proved a signal that could transmitted a message by wire. Morse used pulses of current to provide a written code on a strip of paper. This code became known as the Morse Code. Morse gave a public demonstration in 1838 to congress, but it took congress over five years to fund Morse’s experiment of the telegraph. Congress funded Morse $30,000 to construct a 40 mile experiment from Washington to Baltimore, using telegraph wire. It took six years before a message was sent and received over the telegraph wire. This was the first time a message had been transferred other then print or word of mouth. Western Union became the main provider of the telegraph service, and became a monopoly in 1867. The telegraph created the umbrella of commerce, which was the first time the government intervened with communications. According to Horwitz, a common carrier obligation was established for all carriers that provided service for the telegraph. Telegraph companies resemble railroad companies and other common carries, in that they are instruments of commerce and in that they exercise a public employment and are therefore bound to serve all customers alike without discriminations, they have doubtless a duty to the public to receive to the extent of there capacity all messages clearly and intelligible written and to transmit them upon reasonable terms but they are not common carriers, there duties are different and are perfo rmed in different ways and they are not subject the same liabilities. (Horowitz, Page 95, 96) What this law meant was that there could be no discrimination in who the provider wanted to extend service to. In 1895 the first radio message was transmitted by Marconi. Radio area waves were open to who ever could make a device to transmit messages to other people with the same device. Broadcasting became more and more popular. According to Horwitz, â€Å"broadcasting-the dissemination of electrical messages through the airwaves to an undifferentiated audience-may not have been contemplated, but it was inherited in the technology of radio. (Horowitz, Page 112) Radio became more and more popular and the government stepped in like they did with the telegraph and telephone and began regulating radio. The first major regulation was the Radio Act of 1912. Before this, radio waves were open to the public. The airwaves started to become too crowded and the U. S. government decided to take actio n. The Radio Act of 1912 established government control over the airwaves and created guidelines for issuing licenses and distributing radio airwaves. The Radio Act of 1927 was the second major act that was established to regulate the media industry. This act created the Federal Radio Communications (FRC), which was responsible for giving licenses to broadcasters. This act also made it so that the radio airwaves were a public resource. As a result, broadcasters were required to serve the public interest. The regulations of broadcasted media and the regulation of print media are different. The regulation of print deals with copyright laws. Anyone could publish anything they want but if some one uses someone else’s words without proper notation they could be sued. Print is regulated more when dealing with news print; for example the newspaper. Most print media would not use profanity or any kind of naked pictures. Print media is mostly written based on ethics. The writer tries not to take sides or out right seem bias towards one particular side. Broadcast media like radio have different kinds of regulations. In order to have air time on the radio one needs to have a license. Radio also must provide a public service toward the listener. Radio just like print media tends to stay away from profanity and over sexual connotations. Print media usually has a fee, whereas, radio is free to the public. Both of these media’s have regulations but have different kinds of regulations from the FCC. Overall, the world of mass media has many regulations that exist. These regulations are decided by the FCC, which is an independent government agency created under the Communications Act of 1934. At the beginning the FCC was responsible for regulating broadcast, telegraph, and telephone. Now the FCC has expanded its regulations to include new communication technologies such as: the satellite, microwave, cellular telephones, PCS service and private radio communications. As one could see, the responsibilities of the FCC are necessary in monitoring both the delivery system and the actual media itself. Overall, by using Horwitz’s â€Å"The Evolution of the American Telecommunication System and the Origin of Communication Regulation. ,† one could tell the history of regulation and how important it really is to the people.

Creatine in NCAA Baseball essays

Creatine in NCAA Baseball essays Mark McGwire uses it. Sammy Sosa uses it. The Atlanta Braves have tubs of it in their locker room. Then why does Scott Carnahan, Linfield Colleges varsity baseball coach and coach of the 1994 U.S.A. Olympic baseball team emphasize, I will not participate in distributing it to any of my players? It is Creatine and it has become a health concern among most NCAA baseball coaches in Oregon. Creatine is a substance that is naturally produced in every human being. Every adult has around 130 grams of Creatine in their body. It allows us to run fast, lift hard, and react quickly. These are all the essentials of NCAA baseball. In recent years, Creatine had been developed as a food supplement to enhance muscle performance. So why wouldnt NCAA baseball coaches in Oregon distribute the food supplement known as Creatine to their athletes? Yes, it is expensive at $49.99 for 100 grams of powder. But, many coaches in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (an association that regulates many intercollegiate sports) are more concerned about the safety of the player. There are six NCAA baseball teams in Oregon. These teams work hard every year to accomplish a winning season, a conference title, or a national championship. Players at Linfield, George Fox, Willamette, Oregon State, Pacific, and University of Portland face the pressure to win every season. Linfield College pitcher, Geoff Phillips describes the pressure as, relentless. There is always pressure to work hard in the weight room and train at 100%. Most of the pressure comes from the competition we face and our personal desire to win, said Phillips. To compete at their highest level, ball players have to find time to bulk up. Weight lifting has always been a part of college baseball. After all, modern athletes develop their strength and endurance in the weight room. But, where once players spent 3-5 hours a week in the weig...

Free Essays on To The Virgins, To Make Much Of Time

, he or she will regret it the rest of their life. The third and the fourth stanzas represent a consequence if a person fails to â€Å"seize the day†, â€Å"then not be coy, but use your time† is the first line of the stanza and it tells a person not to be dishonest with one and to use your time while you can. â€Å"While ye may, go marry†, means to do something with your life while you can. The stanza and the poem end with the line â€Å"you may forever tarry† which is the consequence if a person does not... Free Essays on To The Virgins, To Make Much Of Time Free Essays on To The Virgins, To Make Much Of Time â€Å"To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time† by Robert Herrick is a poem that can be interpreted in many different ways. The theme is â€Å"Carpe Diem† or â€Å"seize the day†, which means to make the most of life, when you are young and able to do so. â€Å"To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time† has various meanings; it is assumed that â€Å"the Virgins† are the young and inexperienced people in life, not just the ones that have not yet experienced the ways of sexual intimacy. â€Å"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may†, which is the first line of the stanza, illustrates a person taking advantage of life when he or she is still young. The â€Å"rosebud† represents youth and life, because a rosebud is the early stage of a flower. Herrick tries to make the point, that if it is not gotten today, it might not be there tomorrow. The first and second stanzas illustrate how young â€Å"virgins† should not wait to take advantage of life, because one day they will realize that it is too late. The third and fourth stanzas are the consequences of a person’s failure to â€Å"seize the day†. â€Å"But being spent, the worse, the worst† and â€Å"times still succeed the former† are t he consequences of a person’s failure to â€Å"seize the day† in the third stanza. â€Å"Spent† and â€Å"worse† are words that show if a person does not capitalize on his or her chances to â€Å"seize the day†, â€Å"the worst times will succeed the former†, in other words, he or she will regret it the rest of their life. The third and the fourth stanzas represent a consequence if a person fails to â€Å"seize the day†, â€Å"then not be coy, but use your time† is the first line of the stanza and it tells a person not to be dishonest with one and to use your time while you can. â€Å"While ye may, go marry†, means to do something with your life while you can. The stanza and the poem end with the line â€Å"you may forever tarry† which is the consequence if a person does not...

Wassily Kandinsky and Surrealism Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Wassily Kandinsky and Surrealism - Assignment Example The paper "Wassily Kandinsky and Surrealism" explores the art of Wassily Kandinsky. Despite his interest in art, he pursued law and economics as suggested by his parents. As a well-educated man, he chose to pursue Art and experiment with his obsession for colors. This paper will discuss how Kandinsky developed a unique style and explored abstract art as well as highlight some of the artists that he influenced. Worth noting is the fact that the painting was a spiritual thing for Kandinsky and he intended to use it to convey different levels of human emotions. He sought to use abstract forms and colors to explore different cultures and physical boundaries. In his view, abstract art was of critical importance in the expression of inner necessity. Kandinsky associated musical sounds with the potential to evoke different emotions in listeners. Therefore, he wanted to develop an art that could trigger similar emotions to his audience. He wanted to develop object-free art that had a spiritu al connection and a direct allusion to different emotions. Worth noting is the fact that his ability to create object free paintings with a strong allusion to different human emotions defined his unique style. Kandinsky had his first experience of object-free art in an exhibition that he attended and developed a close in this form of art. Kandinsky worked closely with other artists, who influenced him in different ways. For example, one of his close friends was Paul Klee with whom he shared artistic ideas.

Process of Supply and Value Chain Management Assignment

Process of Supply and Value Chain Management - Assignment Example As the study highlights  the value chain provides an effective way to understand the sources of the buyer value that determines the price, and why a product or a service is substituted by another company’s product. Thus, the strategies can be defined as an internal formation of activities that differentiates a firm from its rivals. In this report the benefits and the risks of undertaking the full implementation of a supply and value chain management to a multi-product manufacturing company will be explained. Furthermore, the examples of strategy implemented by Colgate Palmolive will be assessed. Thus, whether the implementation of supply and value chain management in an organisation will be profitable to the organisation or not will be recognised.  A supply chain concept includes different networked companies with the same objective, such as meeting buyer requirements. Furthermore, it is a mutual agreement between interdependent organisations to work together to improve, manage and control the flow of raw materials and information from the suppliers to the consumers.  The organisations should ensure that the supply chain is an error- free business network which is required to perform activities at all the levels of the production. Thus, it can be stated that the supply chain consists of interdependent organ isations of suppliers and business processes that are needed to be controlled effectively.  ... The prime goal of the company is to use the technologies to create products that will improve the lifestyle qualities of the consumers. Thesis Statement In this report the benefits and the risks of undertaking the full implementation of a supply and value chain management to a multi-product manufacturing company will be explained. Furthermore, the examples of strategy implemented by Colgate Palmolive will be assessed. Thus, whether the implementation of supply and value chain management in an organisation will be profitable to the organisation or not will be recognised. Process of Supply and Value Chain Management A supply chain concept includes different networked companies with the same objective, such as meeting buyer requirements. Furthermore, it is a mutual agreement between interdependent organisations to work together to improve, manage and control the flow of raw materials and information from the suppliers to the consumers. Additionally, it can also be defined as the network of business units that indulge from the initial stages, from procuring the raw materials to manufacturing it and then making the finished products available to the consumers through an effective distribution system. The organisations should ensure that the supply chain is an error- free business network which is required to perform activities at all the levels of the production. Thus, it can be stated that the supply chain consists of interdependent organisations of suppliers and business processes that are needed to be controlled effectively. Therefore, the member organisations are required to know how the materials and information flow all the way through the supply chain, from the initial supplier to the consumers (Vanharanta & Breite, â€Å"A Supply and Value Chain Management

Ethical Dilemma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethical Dilemma - Essay Example In short we can say that there is no satisfactory outcome of an ethical dilemma and despite this, decisions have to be made. The outcome of the ethical dilemma affects both the subject and object leaving both unhappy at the end of the day. How I became Aware of the Term: I came to know about the ethical dilemmas and its severity when a lady in my neighborhood faced this situation. Let us call the lady ABC. She was pregnant and belonged to Jehovah Witnesses Sect of religion. Unfortunately she met an accident in which she lost her blood. When she was brought to the hospital her breathing rate was 28/m and she was complaining about weakness in the head. After careful evaluation and several different tests including ultrasonography the doctors suggested blood transfusion to save her and the baby. The situation became worst when she refused to accept blood as it was against her religion. Doctors suggested other ways of blood gain like blood products but she refused both the methods on rel igious grounds. In her worst situation she delivered a baby. But after two hours her condition became even worst and she died of cardiac arrest. The doctors were bound to follow the religious ethics as they could not do anything against anyone’s religion. This is a complete and true example of ethical dilemma. The Dilemma: â€Å"The major ethical dilemma was that by honoring the patient's autonomy and religious beliefs, the physicians and interdisciplinary team were faced with compromising their moral duty to administer professional care in accordance with established standards.†Ã‚  (Chua & Tham, 2006). ANA Code of Ethics and the Facility at the Hospital: While treating her, the Doctors were bound to follow a particular principle of ANA code of Ethics; that is to respect and honor the religious beliefs of the patients. Preserving her religious values, the doctors did not infuse blood and at the end she died. The provision of ANA code of Ethics further highlight that th e ‘nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient’ and hence, all other factors become meaningless once the patient gives consent to the treatment, in our case it could be an acceptance of blood diffusion. Both the parties were affected by following the ANA code of ethics, the Doctor and the patient with her family. The ethical dilemma relating to the religious beliefs of the patients are complex in nature. The religious and social beliefs, if not handled properly, may give rise to other ethical threats like discriminatory practices, bias on religious basis and so on. Any attempt to force or taking uninformed health saving practice poses a greater risk to the nursing profession leading to a deterioration of reputation of nurses. Hence, there is a strong relationship between a religious factor and the abidance of ANA code of ethics in making decisions when the patient’s life is at stake. Under such circumstances, a nurse must use his/her convincing abilities through proper communication with the patients and their families. The decision, however, lies with the caretakers and the patients regarding practices that are against their will, religion or social norms. The nurse has a responsibility of confidentiality towards the patient as per ANA code of ethics. In order to convince the patient on blood

A summary of Amazon’s business Essay Example for Free

A summary of Amazon’s business Essay I’ve used Amazon in my books for over 10 years now since many companies, from startups and small businesses to large international businesses, can learn from their focus on the customer and the approach of using technology and analysis to improve results. It consistently outperforms other companies in its ACSI customer satisfaction rating too. I aim to keep the case study up-to-date for readers of the books and Smart Insights readers who may be interested. In it we look at Amazon’s background, revenue model and sources for the latest business results. I recommend anyone studying Amazon checks the latest Amazon revenue and business strategies from their SEC filings / Investor relations. The annual filings to give a great summary of eBay business and revenue models. A good summary of the latest business model initiatives is available in this Amazon annual report summary for 2011. For Q4, 2010: North America segment sales, representing the Company’s U.S. and Canadian sites, were $7.21 billion, up 45% from fourth quarter 2009. International segment sales, representing the Company’s U.K., German, Japanese, French, Chinese and new Italian sites, were $5.74 billion, up 26% from fourth quarter 2009. Excluding the unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, sales grew 29%. Amazon has come a long way since it launched in 1995: From: and it’s offices†¦ to it’s current Seattle headquarters: Amazon performs exceptionally efficiently measured against revenue per visitor, which is one of the key measures for any commercial website, whether it’s a media site, search engine, social network or a transactional retailer or offers travel or financial services. Of course profit per user would be quite different due to the significantly lower costs of other .coms like Facebook and Google. Note: SEC is the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which is a government agency for which companies have to submit an open evaluation of their business models and marketplace conditions. Further Amazon case information This case study created by FaberNovel â€Å"Amazon.com: The Hidden Empire† one of five â€Å"Most Favorited† slideshows and one of the five â€Å"Most Popular Technology Presentations† of 2011. Recommended: Amazon Case Study Context Why a case study on Amazon? Surely everyone knows about who Amazon are and what they do? Yes, well that’s maybe true, but this case goes beyond the surface toreview some of the ‘insider secrets’ of Amazon’s success. Like eBay, Amazon.com was born in 1995. The name reflected the vision of Jeff Bezos, to produce a large scale phenomenon like the Amazon river. This ambition has proved justified since just 8 years later, Amazon passed the $5 billion sales mark – it took Wal-Mart 20 years to achieve this. By 2008 Amazon was a global brand with other 76 million active customers accounts and order fulfillment to more than 200 countries. Despite this volume of sales, at December 31, 2007 Amazon employed approximately 17,000 full-time and part-time employees. In September 2007, it launched Amazon MP3, a la carte DRM-free MP3 music downloads, which now includes over 3.1 million songs from more than 270,000 artists. Amazon Vision strategy In their 2008 SEC filing, Amazon describe the vision of their business as to: â€Å"Relentlessly focus on customer experience by offering our customers low prices, convenience, and a wide selection of merchandise.† The vision is still to offer â€Å"Earth’s biggest selection and to be Earth’s most customer-centric company. Consider how these core marketing messages summarising the Amazon online value proposition are communicated both on-site and through offline communications. Of course, achieving customer loyalty and repeat purchases has been key to Amazon’s success. Many dot-coms failed because they succeeded in achieving awareness, but not loyalty. Amazon achieved both. In their SEC filing they stress how they seek to achieve this. They say: â€Å"We work to earn repeat purchases by providing easy-to-use functionality, fast and reliable fulfillment, timely customer service, feature rich content, and a trusted transaction environment. Key features of our websites include editorial and customer reviews;  manufacturer product information; Web pages tailored to individual preferences, such as recommendations and notifications; 1-Click ® technology; secure payment systems; image uploads; searching on our websites as well as the Internet; browsing; and the ability to view selected interior pages and citations, and search the entire contents of many of the books we offer with our â€Å"Look Inside the Book† and â€Å"Search Inside the Book† features. Our community of online customers also creates feature-rich content, including product reviews, online recommendation lists, wish lists, buying guides, and wedding and baby registries.† In practice, as is the practice for many online retailers, the lowest prices are for the most popular products, with less popular products commanding higher prices and a greater margin for Amazon. Free shipping offers are used to encourage increase in basket size since customers have to spend over a certain amount to receive free shipping. The level at which free-shipping is set is critical to profitability and Amazon has changed it as competition has changed and for promotional reasons. Amazon communicate the fulfillment promise in several ways including presentation of latest inventory availability information, delivery date estimates, and options for expedited delivery, as well as delivery shipment notifications and update facilities. This focus on customer has translated to excellence in service with the 2004 American Customer Satisfaction Index giving Amazon.com a score of 88 which was at the time, the highest customer satisfaction score ever recorded in any service industry, online or offline. Round (2004) notes that Amazon focuses on customer satisfaction metrics. Each site is closely monitored with standard service availability monitoring (for example, using Keynote or Mercury Interactive) site availability and download speed. Interestingly it also monitors per minute site revenue upper/lower bounds – Round describes an alarm system rather like a power plant where if revenue on a site falls below $10,000 per minute, alarms go off! There are also internal performance service-level-agreements for web services where T% of the time, different pages must return in X seconds. 2011 update on vision and importance of technology According to founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, technology is very important to supporting this focus on the customer. In their 2010 Annual Report (Amazon,  2011) he said: â€Å"Look inside a current textbook on software architecture, and you’ll find few patterns that we don’t apply at Amazon. We use high-performance transactions systems, complex rendering and object caching, workflow and queuing systems, business intelligence and data analytics, machine learning and pattern recognition, neural networks and probabilistic decision making, and a wide variety of other techniques.And while many of our systems are based on the latest in computer science research, this often hasn’t been sufficient: our architects and engineers have had to advance research in directions that no academic had yet taken. Many of the problems we face have no textbook solutions, and so we — happily — invent new approaches†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ All the effort we put into technology might not matter that much if we kept technology off to the side in some sort of RD department, but we don’t take that approach. Technology infuses all of our teams, all of our processes, our decision-making, and our approach to innovation in each of our businesses. It is deeply integrated into everything we do†. The quote shows how applying new technologies is used to give Amazon a competitive edge. A good recent example of this is providing the infrastructure to deliver the Kindle â€Å"Whispersync† update to ebook readers. Amazon reported in 2011 that Amazon.com is now selling more Kindle books than paperback books. For every 100 paperback books Amazon has sold, the Company sold 115 Kindle books. Kindle apps are now available on Apple iOS, Android devices and on PCs as part of a â€Å"Buy Once, Read Anywhere† proposition which Amazon has developed. Amazon Customers Amazon defines what it refers to as three consumer sets customers, seller customers and developer customers. There are over 76 million customer accounts, but just 1.3 million active seller customers in it’s marketplaces and Amazon is seeking to increase this. Amazon is unusual for a retailer in that it identifies â€Å"developer customers† who use its Amazon Web Services, which provides access to technology infrastructure such as hosting that developers can use to develop their own web services. Members are also encouraged to join a loyalty programme, Amazon Prime, a fee-based membership program in which members receive free or discounted express shipping, in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan. Competition In its SEC (2005) filing Amazon describes the environment for our products and services as ‘intensely competitive’. It views its main current and potential competitors as: 1) physical-world retailers, catalog retailers, publishers, vendors, distributors and manufacturers of our products, many of which possess significant brand awareness, sales volume, and customer bases, and some of which currently sell, or may sell, products or services through the Internet, mail order, or direct marketing; (2) Other online E-commerce sites; (3) A number of indirect competitors, including media companies, Web portals, comparison shopping websites, and Web search engines, either directly or in collaboration with other retailers; and (4) Companies that provide e-commerce services, including website development; third-party fulfillment and customer-service. It believes the main competitive factors in its market segments include â€Å"selection, price, availability, convenience, information, discovery, brand recognition, personalized services, accessibility, customer service, reliability, speed of fulfillment, ease of use, and ability to adapt to changing conditions, as well as our customers’ overall experience and trust in transactions with us and facilitated by us on behalf of third-party sellers†. For services offered to business and individual sellers, additional competitive factors include the quality of our services and tools, their ability to generate sales for third parties we serve, and the speed of pe rformance for our services. From Auctions to marketplaces Amazon auctions (known as zShops) were launched in March 1999, in large part as a response to the success of eBay. They were promoted heavily from the home page, category pages and individual product pages. Despite this, a year after its launch it had only achieved a 3.2% share of the online auction compared to 58% for eBay and it only declined from this point. Today, competitive prices of products are available through third-party sellers in the ‘Amazon Marketplace’ which are integrated within the standard product listings. The strategy to offer such an auction facility was initially driven by the need to compete with eBay, but now the strategy has been adjusted such that Amazon describe it as part of the approach of low-pricing. Although it might be thought that Amazon would lose out on  enabling its merchants to sell products at lower prices, in fact Amazon makes greater margin on these sales since merchants are charged a commission on each sale and it is the merchant who bears the cost of storing inventory and fulfilling the product to customers. As with eBay, Amazon is just facilitating the exchange of bits and bytes between buyers and sellers without the need to distribute physical products. Amazon Media sales You may have noticed that unlike some retailers, Amazon displays relevant Google text ads and banner ads from brands. This seems in conflict with the strategy of focus on experience since it leads to a more cluttered store. However in 2011 Amazon revealed that worldwide media sales accounted for approximately 17% of revenue! Amazon marketing Amazon does not reveal much about its marketing approach in its annual reports, but there seems to be a focus on online marketing channels. Amazon (2011) states â€Å"we direct customers to our websites primarily through a number of targeted online marketing channels, such as our Associates program, sponsored search, portal advertising, email marketing campaigns, and other initiatives†. These other initiatives may include outdoor and TV advertising, but they are not mentioned specifically. In this statement they also highlight the importance of customer loyalty tools. They say: â€Å"while costs associated with free shipping are not included in marketing expense, we view free shipping offers and Amazon Prime as effective worldwide marketing tools, and intend to continue offering them indefinitely†. How ‘The Culture of Metrics’ started A common theme in Amazon’s development is the drive to use a measured approach to all aspects of the business, beyond the finance. Marcus (2004) describes an occasion at a corporate ‘boot-camp’ in January 1997 when Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos ‘saw the light’. ‘At Amazon, we will have a Culture of Metrics’, he said while addressing his senior staff. He went on to explain how web-based business gave Amazon an ‘amazing window into human behaviour’. Marcus says: ‘Gone were the fuzzy approximations of focus groups, the anecdotal fudging and smoke blowing from the marketing department. A company  like Amazon could (and did) record every move a visitor made, every last click and twitch of the mouse. As the data piled up into virtual heaps, hummocks and mountain ranges, you could draw all sorts of conclusions about their chimerical nature, the consumer. In this sense, Amazon was not merely a store, but an immense repository of fact s. All we needed were the right equations to plug into them’. James Marcus then goes on to give a fascinating insight into a breakout group discussion of how Amazon could better use measures to improve its performance. Marcus was in the Bezos group, brainstorming customer-centric metrics. Marcus (2004) summarises the dialogue, led by Bezos: â€Å"First, we figure out which things we’d like to measure on the site†, he said. â€Å"For example, let’s say we want a metric for customer enjoyment. How could we calculate that?† â€Å"There was silence. Then somebody ventured: â€Å"How much time each customer spends on the site?† â€Å"Not specific enough†, Jeff said. â€Å"How about the average number of minutes each customer spends on the site per session† someone else suggested. â€Å"If that goes up, they’re having a blast†. â€Å"But how do we factor in purchase?† I [Marcus] said feeling proud of myself. â€Å"Is that a measure of enjoyment†? â€Å"I think we need to consider frequency of visits, too†, said a dark-haired woman I didn’t recognise. â€Å"Lot of folks are still accessing the web with those creepy-crawly modems. Four short visits from them might be just as good as one visit from a guy with a T-1. Maybe better’. â€Å"Good point†, Jeff said. â€Å"And anyway, enjoyment is just the start. In the end, we should be measuring customer ecstasy† It is interesting that Amazon was having this debate in about the elements of RFM analysis (described in Chapter 6 of Internet Marketing), 1997, after already having achieved $16 million of revenue in the previous year. Of course, this is a miniscule amount compared with today’s billions of dollar turnover. The important point was that this was the start of a focus on metrics which can be seen through the description of Matt Pounds work later in this case study. From human to software-based recommendations Amazon has developed internal tools to support this ‘Culture of Metrics’.  Marcus (2004) describes how the ‘Creator Metrics’ tool shows content creators how well their product listings and product copy are working. For each content editor such as Marcus, it retrieves all recently posted documents including articles, interviews, booklists and features. For each one it then gives a conversion rate to sale plus the number of page views, adds (added to basket) and repels (content requested, but the back button then used). In time, the work of editorial reviewers such as Marcus was marginalised since Amazon found that the majority of visitors used the search tools rather than read editorial and they responded to the personalised recommendations as the matching technology improved (Marcus likens early recommendations techniques to ‘going shopping with the village idiot’). Experimentation and testing at Amazon The ‘Culture of Metrics’ also led to a test-driven approach to improving results at Amazon. Matt Round, speaking at E-metrics 2004 when he was director of personalisation at Amazon describes the philosophy as ‘Data Trumps Intuitions’. He explained how Amazon used to have a lot of arguments about which content and promotion should go on the all important home page or category pages. He described how every category VP wanted top-center and how the Friday meetings about placements for next week were getting ‘too long, too loud, and lacked performance data’. But today ‘automation replaces intuitions’ and real-time experimentation tests are always run to answer these questions since actual consumer behaviour is the best way to decide upon tactics. Marcus (2004) also notes that Amazon has a culture of experiments of which A/B tests are key components. Examples where A/B tests are used include new home page design, moving features around the page, different algorithms for recommendations, changing search relevance rankings. These involve testing a new treatment against a previous control for a limited time of a few days or a week. The system will randomly show one or more treatments to visitors and measure a range of parameters such as units sold and revenue by category (and total), session time, session length, etc. The new features will usually be launched if the desired metrics are statistically significantly better. Statistical tests are a challenge though as distributions are not normal (they have a large mass at zero for example of no purchase) There are other challenges since multiple  A/B tests are running every day and A/B tests may overlap and so conflict. There are also longer-term effects where some features are ‘cool’ for the first two weeks and the opposite effect where changing navigation may degrade performance temporarily. Amazon also finds that as its users evolve in their online experience the way they act online has changed. This means that Amazon has to constantly test and evolve its features. Amazon.com Technology It follows that the Amazon technology infrastructure must readily support this culture of experimentation and this can be difficult to achieved with standardised content management. Amazon has achieved its competitive advantage through developing its technology internally and with a significant investment in this which may not be available to other organisations without the right focus on the online channels. As Amazon explains in SEC (2005) ‘using primarily our own proprietary technologies, as well as technology licensed from third parties, we have implemented numerous features and functionality that simplify and improve the customer shopping experience, enable third parties to sell on our platform, and facilitate our fulfillment and customer service operations. Our current strategy is to focus our development efforts on continuous innovation by creating and enhancing the specialized, proprietary software that is unique to our business, and to license or acquire commercially-developed technology for other applications where available and appropriate. We continually invest in several areas of technology, including our seller platform; A9.com, our wholly-owned subsidiary focused on search technology on www.A9.com and other Amazon sites; web services; and digital initiatives.’ Round (2004) describes the technology approach as ‘distributed development and deployment’. Pages such as the home page have a number of content ‘pods’ or ‘slots’ which call web services for features. This makes it relatively easy to change the content in these pods and even change the location of the pods on-screen. Amazon uses a flowable or fluid page design unlike many sites which enables it to make the most of real-estate on-screen. Technology also supports more standard e-retail facilities. SEC (2005) states: ‘We use a set of applications for accepting and validating customer orders, placing and tracking orders with suppliers, managing and assigning inventory to customer  orders, and ensuring proper shipment of products to customers. Our transaction-processing systems handle millions of items, a number of different status inquiries, multiple shipping addresses, gift-wrapping requests, and multiple shipment methods. These systems allow the customer to choose whether to receive single or several shipments based on availability and to track the progress of each order. These applications also manage the process of accepting, authorizing, and charging customer credit cards.’ Data Driven Automation Round (2004) said that ‘Data is king at Amazon’. He gave many examples of data driven automation including customer channel preferences; managing the way content is displayed to different user types such as new releases and top-sellers, merchandising and recommendation (showing related products and promotions) and also advertising through paid search (automatic ad generation and bidding). The automated search advertising and bidding system for paid search has had a big impact at Amazon. Sponsored links initially done by humans, but this was unsustainable due to range of products at Amazon. The automated programme generates keywords, writes ad creative, determines best landing page, manages bids, measure conversion rates, profit per converted visitor and updates bids. Again the problem of volume is there, Matt Round described how the book ‘How to Make Love Like a Porn Star’ by Jenna Jameson received tens of thousands of clicks from pornography-related searches, but few actually purchased the book. So the update cycle must be quick to avoid large losses. There is also an automated email measurement and optimization system. The campaign calendar used to be manually managed with relatively weak measurement and it was costly to schedule and use. A new system: Automatically optimizes content to improve customer experience Avoids sending an e-mail campaign that has low clickthrough or high unsubscribe rate Includes inbox management (avoid sending multiple emails/week) Has growing library of automated email programs covering new releases and recommendations But there are challenges if promotions are too successful if inventory isn’t available. Your Recommendations Customers Who Bought X†¦, also bought Y is Amazon’s signature feature. Round  (2004) describes how Amazon relies on acquiring and then crunching a massive amount of data. Every purchase, every page viewed and every search is recorded. So there are now to new version, customers who shopped for X also shopped for†¦ and Customers who searched for X also bought†¦ They also have a system codenamed ‘Goldbox’ which is a cross-sell and awareness raising tool. Items are discounted to encourage purchases in new categories! I have a more detailed article on Amazon personalisation / recommendation system He also describes the challenge of techniques for sifting patterns from noise (sensitivity filtering) and clothing and toy catalogues change frequently so recommendations become out of date. The main challenges though are the massive data size arising from millions of customers, millions of items and recommendations made in real time. Amazon Partnership strategy As Amazon grew, its share price growth enabled partnership or acquisition with a range of companies in different sectors. Marcus (2004) describes how Amazon partnered with Drugstore.com (pharmacy), Living.com (furniture), Pets.com (pet supplies), Wineshopper.com (wines), HomeGrocer.com (groceries), Sothebys.com (auctions) and Kozmo.com (urban home delivery). In most cases, Amazon purchased an equity stake in these partners, so that it would share in their prosperity. It also charged them fees for placements on the Amazon site to promote and drive traffic to their sites. Similarly, Amazon charged publishers for prime-position to promote books on its site which caused an initial hue-and-cry, but this abated when it was realised that paying for prominent placements was widespread in traditional booksellers and supermarkets. Many of these new online companies failed in 1999 and 2000, but Amazon had covered the potential for growth and was not pulled down by these partners, even though for some such as Pets.com it had an investment of 50%. Analysts sometimes refer to ‘Amazoning a sector’ meaning that one company becomes dominant in an online sector such as book retail such that it becomes very difficult for others to achieve market share. In addition to developing, communicating and delivering a very strong proposition, Amazon has been able to consolidate its strength in different sectors through its partnership arrangements and through using technology to facilitate product promotion and distribution via these partnerships. The Amazon retail platform enables other retailers to sell products online using  the Amazon user interface and infrastructure through their ‘Syndicated Stores’ programme. For example, in the UK, Waterstones (www.waterstones.co.uk) is one of the largest traditional bookstores. It found competition with online so expensive and challenging, that eventually it entered a partnership arrangement where Amazon markets and distributes its books online in return for a commission online. Similarly, in the US, Borders a large book retailer uses the Amazon merchant platform for distributing its products. Toy retailer Toys R’ Us have a similar arrangement. Such partnerships help Amazon extends its reach into the customer-base of other suppliers, and of course, customers who buy in one category such as books can be encouraged to purchase into other areas such as clothing or electronics. Another form of partnership referred to above is the Amazon Marketplace which enables Amazon customers and other retailers to sell their new and used books and other goods alongside the regular retail listings. A similar partnership approach is the Amazon ‘[emailprotected]’ program which enables third party merchants (typically larger than those who sell via the Amazon Marketplace) to sell their products via Amazon. Amazon earn fees either through fixed fees or sales commissions per-unit. This arrangement can help customers who get a wider choice of products from a range of suppliers with the convenience of purchasing them through a single checkout process. Finally, Amazon has also facilitated formation of partnerships with smaller companies through its affiliates programme. Internet legend records that Jeff Bezos, the creator of Amazon was chatting to someone at a cocktail party who wanted to sell books about divorce via her web site. Subsequently, Amazon.com launched its Associates Program in July 1996 and it is still going strong. Googling http://www.google.com/search?q=www.amazon.com+-site%3Awww.amazon.com for sites that link to the US site, shows over 4 million pages, many of which will be affiliates. Amazon does not use an affiliate network which would take commissions from sale, but thanks to the strength of its brand has developed its own affiliate programme. Amazon has created a tiered performance-based incentives to encourage affiliates to sell more Amazon products. Amazon Marketing communications In their SEC filings Amazon state that the aims of their communications  strategy are (unsurprisingly) to: Increase customer traffic to our websites Create awareness of our products and services Promote repeat purchases Develop incremental product and service revenue opportunities Strengthen and broaden the Amazon.com brand name. Amazon also believe that their most effective marketing communications are a consequence of their focus on continuously improving the customer experience. This then creates word-of-mouth promotion which is effective in acquiring new customers and may also encourage repeat customer visits. As well as this Marcus (2004) describes how Amazon used the personalisation enabled through technology to reach out to a difficult to reach market which Bezos originally called ‘the hard middle’. Bezos’s view was that it was easy to reach 10 people (you called them on the phone) or the ten million people who bought the most popular products (you placed a superbowl ad), but more difficult to reach those in between. The search facilities in the search engine and on the Amazon site, together with its product recommendation features meant that Amazon could connect its products with the interests of these people. Online advertising techniques include paid search marketing, interactive ads on portals, e-mail campaigns and search engine optimisation. These are automated as far as possible as described earlier in the case study. As previously mentioned, the affiliate programme is also important in driving visitors to Amazon and Amazon offers a wide range of methods of linking to its site to help improve conversion. For example, affiliates can use straight text links leading direct to a product page and they also offer a range of dynamic banners which feature different content such as books about Internet marketing or a search box.Amazon also use cooperative advertising arrangements, better known as ‘contra-deals’ with some vendors and other third parties. For example, a print advertisement in 2005 for a particular product such as a wireless router with a free wireless laptop card promotion will feature a specific Amazon URL in the ad. In product fulfilment packs, Amazon may include a leaflet for a non-competing online company such as Figleaves.com (lingerie) or Expedia (travel). In return, Amazon leaflets may be included in customer communications from the partner brands. Our Associates program directs customers to our websites by enabling independent websites to make millions of products available to their  audiences with fulfillment performed by us or third parties. We pay commissions to hundreds of thousands of participants in our Associates program when their customer referrals result in product sales. In addition, we offer everyday free shipping options worldwide and recently announced Amazon.com Prime in the U.S., our first membership program in which members receive free two-day shipping and discounted overnight shipping. Although marketing expenses do not include the costs of our free shipping or promotional offers, we view such offers as effective marketing tools. Marcus, J. (2004) Amazonia. Five years at the epicentre of the dot-com juggernaut, The New Press, New York, NY. Round, M. (2004) Presentation to E-metrics, London, May 2005. www.emetrics.org.