Philip Seymour Hoffman and Dr. Seuss Essay

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go. Dr. Seuss We shouldn’t teach great books; we should teach a love of reading. B. F. Skinner  Today a reader, tomorrow a leader. Margaret Fuller  Reading takes us away from home, but more important, it finds homes for us everywhere. Hazel Rochman â€Å"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.† ― Winston Churchill tags: bravery, courage, failure, inspirational, success 13499 likes like W.C. Fields â€Å"If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.† ― W.C. Fields tags: humor, success 5582 likes like Albert Einstein â€Å"Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.† ― Albert Einstein tags: adulthood, success, value 4221 likes like Herman Melville â€Å"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.† ― Herman Melville tags: success 3730 likes like Dr. Seuss â€Å"So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life’s A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and  ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, you’ll move mountains.† ― Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go! tags: humor, inspirational, success 2945 likes like W.P. Kinsella â€Å"Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get† ― W.P. Kinsella tags: happiness, success 2784 likes like Truman Capote â€Å"Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.† ― Truman Capote

Leadership Style Essay

Background of CEO According to Xerox. com (2013) Ursula Burns joined Xerox in 1980 as a Mechanical Engineering summer intern. In the company pivotal point, Burns led several business teams to include the color and office network printing business. In 2000, Burns was named senior vice president corporate strategic Services heading up manufacturing and supply chain operations. And in 2009, Burns was named the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in July 2009 and made the largest acquisition in Xerox history with the 6. 4 billion dollar purchase of Affiliated Computer Services. Ursula Burns was the first African-American women CEO to head a fortune 500 company. Burns also was the first to succeed another woman CEO. Analyze the CEO Leadership Style Burns climbed the corporate ladder to the mountain top of Xerox. Burns employee’s claims that Burns is open, grounded, and down to earth. Edmondson-Bell (2010) stated regardless of her race and gender, Burns is an example of the new breed of authentic, self-aware corporate leadership (Edmondson-Bell, 2010). In most organizations the CEO is considered to be stiff and unapproachable. According to Schermerhorn (2012) leadership appears in two forms formal and informal leadership. Formal leadership exerted by persons appointed or elected to a position. Informal leadership exerted persons who become influential because of special skills that meet the needs of others (Schermerhorn, 2012). Burns is a true leader who earned the support of her stall and employees of Xerox. Burn’s remaining grounded and being transparent in the business matters of Xerox keeps her leadership style sort after in the marketplace. In business, part of your success in your career is having a mentor. Burns utilize her very own mother as her mentor. According to Tseng (2011) Burns admired her mother for raising her and two siblings as a single parent and in a not so good area in Lower Manhattan, New York. One of the most important lessons Burns learned is do what you love (Tseng, 2011). This type of mindset is what carried Burns up to the top of her organization. Burns took over a company that was struggling to complete with Ricoh and Cannon. The worker of Xerox found that their future was uncertain. Burns change the uncertainty to certainty in the work environment. According to Colvin (2010) Burns speaks boldly and bluntly in a famously and overly genteel culture (Colvin, 2010). Burns made needed and dramatic action to turn Xerox around to become a profitable and striving company. Personal and Organizational Values Burns personal and organization value is reputation. According to Sellers (2012) Burns knows that personal experience how reputation can make or break a corporation (Sellers, 2012). Having a good reputation is essential to business success. When success in a corporate setting is sometime measured by the amount of money made a bad reputation could affect the organizations financially. A reputation can be destroyed in a matter of minutes. Burns focus on what she is facing. According to Schermerhorn (2012) power-oriented behavior is action directed primarily at developing or using relationships in which other people are willing to defer to one’s wishes (Schermerhorn, 2012). Burns uses here unique relationship to give the organization an upfront approach. Schermerhorn (2012) stated that empowerment is the process by which management help others to acquire and use the power needed to make decisions affecting themselves and their work (Schermerhorn, 2012). Burns empowers her employees, which will cause a since of belonging. Burns focuses on personal fulfillment rather than on things. Ethical Behavior Burns values are likely to influence ethical behavior within the organization. According to Xerox. com (2013) Burns started that this is a time to be at our most vigilant and even more aware of the importance of ethical behavior and uphold the organization’s core values (Xerox. com, 2013). Burns values were instilled in her by her mother. Burns direct approach will influence others to hold ethical behavior to high regards. Burns has been the organization leader when comes to ethical practices. Seidman (2010) stated that there is a high demand for ethical leadership, yet there is short supply (Seidman, 2010). Burns will be considered the one that is in that short supply category. Seidman (2010) also stated that ethical leadership extend trust to their workers, creating the conditions necessary to empower employees, suppliers and even customers to take risks necessary to create game changing innovations (Seidman, 2010). Burns believes in empowerment of her employees. Burns lead with impatience while still maintaining focus. Burns is a woman from a low income family in New York to one of the most powerful women, according to several publications. Gaete (2012) mentioned that Burns keys to lead with impatience are education, impatience to push change, focus, move towards the future, transform, be direct to achieve, empower your people, and don’t take short-cut (Gaete, 2012). Burns value will definitely influence others to be ethical. Schermerhorn (2012) wrote that ethical leadership is characterized by caring, honest, principled, fair, and balanced choices by individuals who act ethically, set clear ethical standards, communicate about ethics with followers and reward as well as punish others based on ethical or unethical conduct (Schermerhorn, 2012). Greatest Strength and Weaknesses Burns is a very successful CEO and a powerful corporate leader. Burns has took advantage of a changing industry and made to correct adjustments to be successful. Schermerhorn (2012) stated that leaders deal with mastering challenges of change while creating a satisfying healthy and effective workplace for its employees (Schermerhorn, 2012). Every human or individual has strength and weaknesses. Burns greatest strengths are impatience, hard work and value based leadership. According to Basu (2013) leader strengths are when leaders communicate direction to the organization, clearly, organize groups for particular tasks and define roles and have a structured work environment (Basu, 2013). Burns strengths are connected to professional behavior and ethical practices. Burns impatience’s is translated into boldness action for the higher purpose of Xerox to be led and to take risks. Xerox acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services transformed Xerox to be one of the leaders in business services and technology. Burns works hard, focus and deliver results. Burns came from being a summer intern to being a CEO of the same Company. Burns articulate her values to the organization often and loudly. Burns lives by her beliefs and make daily business decisions on personal and professional values. Every leader has weaknesses and Burns is no exception. Basu (2013) stated that weaknesses of a tasks oriented style of leader fear of breaking the rules among employees which may cause a lack of creativity. Low morale, and high turnover (Basu, 2013), Burns has a deep industry knowledge, but Burns also has frankness, sharp humor and willingness to take risks. These traits can be a display as weakness. These traits can be misconstrued as a brash individual who only thinks of oneself. Contributes to Leader’s Success The quality that contributed to Burns success is her drive to affect change and do it ethically. According to Mehta (2012) all executives walk a fine line between being collaborative and being the boss (Mehta, 2012). Burns has many great qualities that made her successful in the industry. Burns was the first black female CEO of a major corporation. Burns story of her rise from low income family to CEO of Xerox is contributed to her drive to be successful. According to Peck (2011) Burns recommended six keys to leadership; be authentic, listen, recognize the you can’t do everything yourself, take a stand, measure, and have fun (Peck, 2011). Burns is very successful, but has a contagious drive in which her exuded. Burns worked hard at every level and the opportunity presented itself for CEO. Burns believes in education and working hard no matter where you are in your career. Assess Dynamics Burns has made it a priority to use communication, collaboration, empowerment and politics to influence the dynamics of Xerox. According to Bryant (2010) Burns grew up in the organization and is well known by many of the employees of the company (Bryant, 2010). Burns has changed the culture to a family oriented environment. Burns operates by having an executive team to assist in making business decisions for the organizations. Burns also have panels of employees to get their prospective on a particular business issue. Schermerhorn (2012) stated that collaborative environments are characterized by boundary less information flows more open and transparent communication, and more supportive communication dynamics (Schermerhorn, 2012). Burns describes her approach to the culture as terminal niceness. Bryant (2010) stated that Burns wants all 130,000 employees to get over the past, take initiative, be fearless, frank and impatient with one another (Bryant, 2010). The politics of being the first African American female CEO is something that comes with the position. According to Bryant (2010) Burns misread the public reaction when she was named CEO. Burns started receiving phone calls from people of the caliber of Reverend Jesse Jackson, Reverend Al Sharpton and Magic Johnson (Bryant, 2010). The appointment to CEO put Burns in the public eye due to the historical meaning of her appointment. Burns was also named by President Obama to help lead the White House national program on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Burns was appointed vice chair of the President’s Export Council as well. Conclusion Burns was the right person for the CEO position at Xerox. Burns’ style of leadership is what the company needed during a difficult time. Burns straight forward and blunt approach proved to be the style that bring conformation of stability. Burns achieved in many way and made history in the process. A person who stayed focus and work hard to achieve her goal. This is why Xerox is one of the computer services giant in the computer software industry. Schermerhorn (2012) stated that it is important to remember that people still drive organizational systems and performance (Schermerhorn, 2012).

Using language translation services and patient outcomes Essay

Using language translation services and patient outcomes - Essay Example Language translation service is the mechanism that most organizations use to translate information from one language to another. However, most organizations have different perception relating to the language translation service. For instance, health centers are the likely places that can employ this service because it serves individuals from every corner of the world, and these people speak different languages. However, not all health centers use this mechanism in their workplaces. There is those that find the mechanism challenging and not reliable means of communication between the patient and the nurses or doctors (Anderman & Rogers, 2003). On the other hand, there are hospitals that are providing this technique of language translation service in their organizations. With the difference from language translation service, the two types of health centers are currently operating differently in terms of service provision to their clients. For the case of the of the health centers that are using the language translation service, they are attending to patients from across the world who speak different languages. It is because of the aid of the language translation mechanism. On the other hand, the health centers that are not using the service are mostly treating the local patients. That is, the patients who use English as their first language (Schaffner, 2000). However, the use or misuse of the service between the two kinds of health centers has its own merits and demerits. However, the research shows that, the health center that uses the language translation services have more advantages as compared to the one that does not use the language translation service. The research explains this through analyzing the flow of patients to the two kinds of health centers within a particular period. Service translation is the process of translating a message from one language to the other. Health centers are social places that all are

Choosing the Effective Method for the Research Essay

Choosing the Effective Method for the Research - Essay Example What procedure enhances the applicability of the research methodology processes relating to the research conducted? Background to the Storyline Hucker (2001) observes that a researcher tends to make definite choices over different types of research methods in the course of conducting a research in an effective fashion. The researcher may focus on gathering information all by oneself from the larger market or may depend on large amount of data sets whether published physically or available online to conduct the research needed. The course of gathering information from the larger available market through the identification of a target population holds to be Primary Research while that which focuses on gathering information rendered by others relating to the same topic holds to be of Secondary Research type. Hucker (20001) further states that available information relating to Secondary Research methods is gained through the avid study of large number of journals, books, articles, govern ment publications and other type of data sources available whether in print and online form. These data sources help the researcher to gain hold of authentic information related to the research question where information is obtained from different peers. Secondary research also helps the researcher to save both cost and time related to the research activity. Similarly Primary Research methods are found to be in use through the construction of questionnaires through which interview is conducted over a sample population. Herein the researcher is required to understand and evaluate on the type of questionnaire to be constructed whether structured or semi-structured or fully unstructured in nature to assist in gaining the right type of information sought. Qualitative and Quantitative Research methods gain emergence on the pattern of research activity taken depending on non-statistical or incorporation of statistical research conducts. However in many cases as Hucker (2001) states that t he process of triangulation is followed where the researcher is required to incorporate or combine different research methods for conducting a total project (Hucker, 2001, p.8-11). Literature Review Types of Research Methods Kothari (2009) observes reflects that based on the needs of different types of researches a variety of research methodologies have come into existence. Firstly where the researcher is required to conduct the research based on historical or already existing information focus is rendered from gaining the same through library research techniques. Herein the researcher tends to use contents gained from literary sources or other information sources like recordings audio or print to formulate the research. Similarly where the researcher is required to gain current information from the field the research types are generally experimental or exploratory in nature. Herein the researcher is required to formulate different questions whether structured or unstructured to con duct interviews on a targeted sample population and thereby to gain needed inferences and information. Questionnaires are rendered either by mailers or telephonic interview is conducted over the target population. Similarly, Kothari (2009) also focuses on the use of Case Study based research where the focus of the research is narrowed down to a particular issue that bears representation to the research objectives

Madonna and Child by Duccio di Buoninsegna Essay

Madonna and Child by Duccio di Buoninsegna - Essay Example In the painting Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Angels, the composition has a third dimension. When looking at the painting, one notices that the bases of all the portraits are relatively expanded to give the length. Notably, this applies to all and the pictures seem to be stationed, showing some height from the ground. In addition, the available space is fully utilized as the arc-shaped portrait has no space left. Sitting on the throne, Madonna holds a rose on the right hand and holding the child using her left hand. Similarly, the painting in Madonna and Child portrays a third-dimensional artwork. In addition, the use of different wood types created an effect resembling shadows in the background, showing the third dimension of the painting. Notably, the ceiling of the pictures also creates an effect of a third dimension. Indeed, this is a creative artistic work that appeals to the onlookers.         The human form has been expressed clearly in all the paintings, with most of the physical features that a human being, has shown.   For example, the paintings show a clear form of the human head, eyes, ears, mouth, and nose are properly indicated, Madonna holds the child, thus indicates the human approach towards children. In the paintings, there was an effective use of colors. For example, the human form was painted with different bright colors and light effect to depict different parts of the exposed body and the clothes, which the person wore. For example, in the painting Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Angels, Madonna’s full dress is painted using a navy blue color, while that of the child is reddish.   The two angels wore greenish attire, with a red strip of cloth cut across their chest, depicting an attire of the clergy. In the other portrait, Madonna wore a black full dress, still holding the child. However, in this painting, the color is not very bright as the people on the background are painted using a faint color.

How lean management can be applied to a grocery retailer Essay

How lean management can be applied to a grocery retailer - Essay Example This is due to the limited resources; however, small businesses such as small grocery store can incorporate lean thinking in establishing a new business, expansion of the existing business or in placement of other branches in other regions. This paper discusses how a small grocery store owner can use lean thinking for the benefit of the business as well as of the clients. Generally, the application of the lean approach in the context of a small business such as a green grocery, allows the business to minimize its costs, minimize execution time, increase efficiency, reduce all types of wastes, as well as keep low inventories. Moreover, the approach contributes to attainment of customer satisfaction, enhancement of the general product quality as well as increase the management morale, in this case the grocer (Valentinova, 2015). The major objective of using lean retail is basically a commitment to the elimination of wastes. Some of the waste in the context of a grocery store include, excess supply that may result in the damage of the highly perishable products in a grocery. The grocer should ensure that the supply of products is directly proportional to the market demand. This reduces damage of some of the highly perishable products such as tomatoes, and kales. Moreover, the grocer should use preservative measures such as the use of freezers to preserve the perishable products. The owner should also ensure that the likelihood of defects of products is minimized to the lowest level possible. This can be ensured by taking all the required measures in the storage of products, for instance, while preserving perishable grocery products, the business owner should ensure that all the preservative measures are in place for instance, the refrigeration time, period and ensuring that the products are preserved in the best condition (Sen, n.d.). Moreover, the owner should avoid wastage of time

What does the book of Exodus contribute to our understanding of Essay

What does the book of Exodus contribute to our understanding of salvation - Essay Example His divine-human nature has allowed people to atone for their sins and be saved and have a blissful afterlife. Nevertheless, the origins of the issue can be found in the Old Testament, particularly in Exodus.2 Exodus raises important issues relating to the issue of salvation such as faith in God and commitment to spiritual and moral purification. In Exodus, salvation appears not only as receiving by the Jewish people their Promised Land. Salvation is presented as a spiritual and moral purification, in which the main role belongs to the sincere and genuine faith in God and His grace. â€Å"The importance of the Exodus event in the Old Testament cannot be underestimated.† 3 As noted above, salvation is seen by many people as the exemption from danger or suffering. To save someone means to free or secure him or her. This word carries the idea of ​​victory, peace, and protection. Sometimes the Bible uses the word "salvation" in relation to the interim and physical release, such as the release of Paul from prison.4 However, more often the word "salvation" refers to the eternal and spiritual liberation. When Paul told the Philippian jailer, that he should be saved, he was referring to the jailers eternal destiny.5 Jesus likened salvation with entering the kingdom of heaven.6 According to the Christian doctrine of salvation, people are saved from God’s "anger", that is, the divine judgment of sin.7 Sin had separated people from God, and the result of sin is death.8 Biblical salvation means liberation of people from the consequences of sin, and thus involves the removal of the sin. Exodus tells the story of the calling of Moses, the deliverance from the bondage of the people of God and the covenant between the Jewish people and God. The composition of the book is rather complicated. The book contains the epic story of the Children of Israel enslaved in Egypt and the calling of Moses (Exodus 1-5), the struggle

Lee Smiths Oral History, a Depiction Intricacies and Complexities of Essay

Lee Smiths Oral History, a Depiction Intricacies and Complexities of History - Essay Example And perhaps the point of the entire novel is to show readers the different facets of history, making it both rich and confusing; a field which is definitely more than just a simple narration of events in the past. Oral History is deemed by many not only to be Lee Smith's most popular novel, but more importantly her most complex work. The twists and turns that one has to go through reading the novel is quite evident as the piece is very challenging to read, much more to understand. However this complexity seems to be the very vehicle upon which Smith presents to readers the idea of how complex writing or telling history is. In this novel, Smith puts herself and the reader in the shoes of a historian, who is faced with the dilemma of gathering a large collection of stories and accounts of things in the past to present to the public in a simple and straightforward manner. By making the narrative intricate, Smith takes the reader along for a dizzying journey that most serious historians take. Smith cleverly uses different voices and points of view in the stories that the main character, Jennifer Bingham, had to hear.

What Are the Effects on a Person When He Moves to a New Country Personal Statement

What Are the Effects on a Person When He Moves to a New Country - Personal Statement Example This article takes many accounts of both 1.5 Generation members, as well as those, have interacted with them to describe how immigrant youth are transformed as a result of transnational migration and multicultural development. Many were described as lacking a sense of belonging, but not completely. In general, they often reported feeling that they were somewhat in-between, although as one youth puts it, â€Å"I don’t see that as a negative thing.† These youth receive the full benefits of public education in New Zealand and find that many of their friends are native-born Kiwis. They integrate with this cultural not only through shared education but also in shared hobbies, such as Shane Lin of Taiwan who saw skateboarding as a bridge to develop friendships with Kiwis. The article describes the increasing presence of Generation 1.5 members on university campuses and in internet cafes. They bring with them the Asian trends of quirkier fashion, interest in the latest technol ogy, as well as Japanese-style manga. This popular culture is transmitted to local Kiwis and forms another shared interest among all New Zealand youth (Janes). This article takes many accounts of both 1.5 Generation members, as well as those, have interacted with them to describe how immigrant youth are transformed as a result of transnational migration and multicultural development. Many were described as lacking a sense of belonging, but not completely. In general, they often reported feeling that they were somewhat in-between, although as one youth puts it, â€Å"I don’t see that as a negative thing.† These youth receive the full benefits of public education in New Zealand and find that many of their friends are native-born Kiwis. They integrate with this cultural not only through shared education but also in shared hobbies, such as Shane Lin of Taiwan who saw skateboarding as a bridge to develop friendships with Kiwis. The article describes the increasing presence of Generation 1.5 members on university campuses and in internet cafes. They bring with them the Asian trends of quirkier fashion, interest in the latest technology, as well as Japanese-style manga. This popular culture is transmitted to local Kiwis and forms another shared interest among all New Zealand youth (Janes). Moving to New Zealand or other countries as a young child is much different than being fully raised abroad or fully raised in a new culture. As the book the 1.5 Generations puts it, there are five different characteristics of this adaptation. The first is an understanding of their parents’ culture, whether it be Korean, Japanese, or Chinese, and what it means to have that background while living in their host society.  

Child labor in India & Peru Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Child labor in India & Peru - Essay Example One of the key reasons as to why children are being used in the force labor is to support their families due to poverty and other conditions. Lack of schooling and inadequate financial resources, caste system and other socioeconomic conditions force parents to engage their children in child labor Peru is another country with one of the worst records in terms of the child labor, however, its government is believed to be working towards the implementation of strategy to overcome this. What is critical to note that children in Peru are working under the hazardous conditions and are being employed mostly in the agriculture and mining sector? Recent data suggests that approximately 68% of the children under the working age are being employed in various sectors with majority being employed in the agriculture and mining sector. In agriculture sector, children are mostly assumed to be working for growing rice, sugarcane, barley and other crops indicating that the children may be involved in the hard labor wherein they may be forced to work in areas where they may not be suitable for this type of hard labor. The herding of livestock is another area where children are being employed or forced to work. (Bekele and Boyden). It is however, critical to note that most of the forced child labor in the country is in gold mines as mining is the second largest area where children are employed as workers. It is critical to note, however, that the working conditions in the gold mines are relatively difficult and hard for children.

Special Needs Patients with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Essay Example for Free

Special Needs Patients with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Essay Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a type of anxiety disorder. PTSD is a serious condition that can develop when a person has experienced or witnessed a traumatic or terrifying event in which serious physical harm occurred or was threatened. Usually the body is able to recover to normal levels of hormones and chemicals the body releases due to the stress. But with a person with PTSD the body keeps releasing the stress hormones and chemicals. An example of PTSD could be a soldier whose been to war. For a person with PTSD, the anxiety and over whelming thoughts of the event can continue and even increase over time. There are three types of PTSD symptoms: Reliving the event, which disturbs day-to-day activity, Avoidance, and Hyper arousal. Treatment for PTSD involves talk therapy (counseling), medicines, or both. The feelings felt by PTSD patients become so strong that many aspects of the individual’s life can be affected. Performing a simple task, like brushing their teeth can become overwhelming (A. D. A. M. Medical Encyclopedia, 2013). Research conducted by periodontists from the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine shows that patients with long-term post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), showed significant erosion of tooth surfaces. A group of 40 PTSD patients who had been diagnosed with 100 percent disability, were taken from the VA Medical Center and compared to a group of patients that did not have the disorder. The patients with PTSD had significantly more tooth plaque and gingivitis. Doctors suspect that this could be caused because of their illness, the patients are unable to carry out good oral hygiene compared to the non-PTSD patients. Also the PTSD patients were found to suffer from bruxism and clenching which can be related to extra daily stress they feel. Participants received an oral examination and evaluation of tooth wear. Results showed significantly increased wear of tooth surfaces in three dimensions near the gum line, vertical, horizontal and depth in those with PTSD. PTSD patients showed vertical erosion was more than three times greater, horizontal was more than four times greater and depth was more than 10 times greater than the patients not having PTSD (Baker, 2001). Extra considerations need to be taken for dental patients being seen with PTSD. As dental hygienist’s special treatment planning may be needed due to the greater dental and behavioral challenges the PTSD patients may present with. Special attention must be paid to health history questions and getting as much background information of the patients initiating factors, diagnostic criteria, and medical management of the PTSD, so the dental team can better understand and manage the patient. Also, it is extremely important to prevent further loss of tooth structure and surfaces. Together the dentist and hygienist need to work together to rehabilitate the damaged areas. Different recommendations can be made to patient to help with dental issues such as a night guard to help with bruxism and a frequent recall for dental cleanings to help battle the problems caused by poor oral hygiene. As with all patients’ encouragement and being understanding of patients’ needs is very important (Wright, 2004).

Enterprise Resource Planning Systems For Smes

Enterprise Resource Planning Systems For Smes Several researches have revealed that Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems bring greater benefits to organisations, small or large. These reports asserted that successful implementation of the right ERP solution will empower the financial success of the organisation while its failure can spell doom and gloom. SMEs in contrast to their larger counterpart have peculiar challenges that further make the choice of ERP solution difficult. These challenges have defined the expectations and requirements of SMEs from ERP solutions. Various ERP software are available in the market for their use, with the software leader being SAP, but it is essential for an SME to select the appropriate software solution that appropriately address their needs putting in consideration their peculiar predicament. This is easily achieved through an adequate software selection and evaluation process. This research looks into past works on ERP implementations for SMEs to come up with ERP requirements for SMEs ; available software (and hardware) solutions available to them and a detailed software evaluation and selection process in line with industry best practice which they can use. It also addresses current ERP market and market trends. Methodology This paper is largely based on review of previous academic documents in form of journals, conference documents and books. These were reviewed extensively in line with the topic of discussion. Another helpful source of information used in the report is the internet. Through the internet, we were able to get more current information and data to support previous academic works. While we have done extensive research on this topic, it should be noted that the academic documents used in this research represent just a subset of the numerous documents that have been written concerning this topic. They are by no means a perfect representation of all the possible views. Table of Contents 1 Abstract 1 Methodology 1 Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems 4 Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) 4 ERP Market and Market Trend 6 ERP Requirements for SMEs 9 Analysis of ERP Solution (Software and hardware) 11 SAP 11 Oracle ERP Software 14 International Financial Services (IFS) 15 SAGE Accpac 15 Microsoft Dynamics 16 Open Source Software (OSS) 16 ERP Evaluation and Selection process 17 Stage 1 Plan Requirement 18 Stage 2 Request for Proposals (RFP) 19 Stage 3 Solution Evaluation 19 Stage 4 Contract Negotiation 19 Stage 5 Selection and Agreement 20 Introduction Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, according to Joseph et al 2003, is now being promoted as a desirable and critical link for enhancing integration between all functional areas within an enterprise and between the enterprise and its upstream downstream trading partners. Despite all benefits potentially offered by ERP systems (Banker, 1998; Hicks, 1995; Minahan, 1998) however, the issue of organisational changes needed by ERP implementation as well as predicting return on investment assumes particular importance within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) because of their peculiar challenges. In SMEs, the implementation and the evaluation of the potential benefits is still a difficult task. (Ravarini, 2000). (Chan, 1999), asserted that many SMEs either lack enough resources or are not enthusiastic about committing a huge fraction of their resources to ERP implementation due to long implementation period and high fees associated with ERP, (Chau, 1995). These amongst other factors have resulted in slow ERP adoption by SME (Tagliavini et al, 2002). Nowadays, some SMEs are not only seeking ways of integrating their various island-of-information within the organisation, but have also moved to extend the whole scope beyond their organisation to include their suppliers, trading partners and customers (Charlesworth et al., 2002). Therefore, implementation of a right and cost effective ERP solution is essential. This however must be preceded by an accurate ERP software evaluation and selection process. This paper explores ERP for SMEs and is formatted as follows; Introduction, Methodology, Background on ERP, ERP Market and Trends, ERP and SMEs, ERP requirement for SMEs, Different Software (and Hardware) Solutions Analysis a Detailed Software Evaluation and Selection Process, Discussion, Conclusion and Future Research work. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems ERP systems can be defined as the most predominant computing systems for business in a lot of organisations, both in the public and private sectors (Gable, 1998) The ERP software can be customised to support critical existing processes which organisations follow (Stefanou, CJ., 2001) Included in an ERP system are: Storage, orders, assets, vendor contacts, purchasing, financials and human resources (Dahlen C. and Elfsson J., 1999) (OLeary, 2000) stated that An ERP system integrates the majority of business processes and allows access to the data in real time. However, (Gardiner et al., 2002) also stated that an ERP system improves the performance level of a supply chain by helping to reduce cycle times. Other benefits which enterprises enjoy by implementing an ERP system include: better customer satisfaction, reduced quality cost, increased flexibility, improved resource utility, improved decision-making capability, improved information accuracy and improved vendor performance (Siriginidi, 2000). The flip-side to this is that, most ERP software tend to be complicated, large and expensive (Mabert et al., 2001). The implementation of an ERP system is time consuming and puts pressure on an organisations information technology (IT) department or outside professionals (Khaled Al-Fawaz et al., 2008) Putting ERP in place requires new procedures, employee training, and both managerial and technical support. (Shang and Seddon, 2002) Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) SMEs, in most countries are businesses that employ fewer than 250 people. For some other countries, SMEs are those which employ fewer than 500 people. Countries like these include: USA, Italy and Australia. 99.9% of the businesses in Albania come under SMEs. (Nito E., 2005) ERP customers are usually split into three market divisions by annual income. These include: large, midà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ market and small. The borderline of these divisions tend to be different, depending on which ERP vendor is using them. For small enterprises, Sage, SAP, Microsoft, Infor and to a slight extent Lawson, compete with a number of smaller vendors for ERP systems. Figure 1: Source: bla bla bla As shown in the diagram above, only SAP and Sage have set ERP products designed for the small enterprise market. The other vendors compete in this division with products that they also use for the midà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ market. The top six vendors compete in the mid-market. A lot of these products are industry specific e.g. pharmaceutical distribution, projectà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ oriented services, process manufacturing, etc. Successful competition has been attained by the leading ERP vendors adding sector specific focus to their products. This has been approached by: Industryà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ specific preà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ configured templates using a standard ERP product being developed by the ERP vendor (e.g. Oracles Business Accelerators or SAPs Best Practice Templates). ERP Market and Market Trend Trend, as defined by (Kotler, 1997) is: A direction or sequence of events that have some momentum and durability. Over the last decade, the ERP market has grown very quickly. The three main reasons for this growth are: globalisation, year 2000, and the need for better information integration. (Dahlen C. and Elfsson J., 1999) As at 1998, Merrill Lynch estimated that 40% of companies with revenues over $1billion had already implemented base ERP systems in the USA (Caldwell Stein, 1998) and had started implementing additional applications, a market that was estimated at $8billion by 2002. An American-based research firm, AMR Research, also predicted the enterprise applications market could hit $78billion by 2004 compared to $27million in 1999 (Stefanou, CJ., 2001). However, according to Gartner group, a high percentage (88%) of the ERP market is concentrated in the western countries. SAP, the German flagship company, holds a global market share of 32%, while Oracle has a global market share of 14.5%. Both vendors have the lion share of the Global ERP market. However, this is not the case in the Chinese market where SAP and Oracle hold a combined market share of 24.4% and the domestic companies holding a combined market share of 51.6%. (Huigang Liang et al., 2004) Total ERP market revenue grew to over $28B in 2006. This was driven by a combination of strong customer demand and leading vendors expanding their product portfolios through acquisition. (Jacobson S., 2007) As at 2000, the AMR Research, Inc. predicted that the ERP market would grow at a compound annual growth rate of 37% over the following five years. Currently, SAP and Oracle have dominated the market. Their competition, however, lies in the SMEs market With rivals like: Sage group, Microsoft, Epicor and Lawson (Jacobson S. et al 2007) Below is an ERP application revenue estimate for 2006 2011 This was estimated as at 2007 by the AMR, Research GroupFigure 2: (Jacobson, S. et al 2007 The ERP Market sizing Report, 2006-2011, AMR Research., ERP 2007 Market sizing series). In recent times, the ERP Vendor Outlook has changed a lot. Six vendors are responsible for almost two thirds of global ERP sales. Oracle and SAP control 50% of the World market by income. At the start of the last decade, Infor and Microsoft did not have a market presence. Below is a pie chart showing Global ERP Revenue by Vendor (2008) Figure 3: Source: BSM, ERP. May 2010 ERP Requirements for SMEs According to Huin 2004, SMEs have an enormous difference in needs, operating requirements, logistics fulfilment and financial capabilities compared to their large counterparts. First among these requirements is a cost effective ERP solution. Costs associated with ERP solution include not only the software, but also to items such as training, hardware and consulting (Willis et al 2001). Besides, most ERP software available in the market, according to Bounanno G. et al 2005, are just too expensive for SMEs. Chan R. 1999, supported that many small-medium enterprises either do not have sufficient resources or are not willing to commit a huge fraction of their resources due to long implementation times and high fees associated with ERP implementation. This emphasises the fact that cost is a major factor for SMEs when attempting to undergo a capital intensive venture like ERP implementation. A research of 50 Italian SMEs carried out by Federici 2009 suggested that small and medium enterprises mostly chose systems provided by small national software houses obviously for cost reasons. Contrast to larger establishments, SMEs have limited experiences, human resources and skills that are necessary for some kind of ERP implementations according to Adam and ODoherty 2003 cited in Winkelmann and Klose 2008. It is a well known fact that most SMEs have a scaled down number of employees who handles more than one function. This position is further supported by Huin 2004, which confirmed that most SMEs experience a high turnover rate compared to large companies. That work further stated that high turnover rate adversely impacts how SMEs manage their labour resource-a key resource input in any ERP project. This is in line with the research work of Winkelmann A et al 2008 which emphasised that a dedicated IT department addressing the selection and implementation of an ERP system dont actually exist in most SMEs. As such most SMEs have requirements for ERP solutions (software and hardware) that leverage on their lean human resources, especially in the IT department and provide a user friendly platform not riddled with so many complications. Achanga et al 2006 confirmed in his work that most SMEs do not have a good management structure on which innovations such as ERP thrives. It is customary to have the Managing Director or the CEO involved in daily administration of the companies in addition to making strategic decisions. They further explained that most SMEs were established by owner managers who may not have the tactful management know-how. As such, strategic progress is usually hampered by lack of good leadership traits which bring about informal working processes. This was supported by (Mintzberg H. et al 2003 p.217). Processes here according to Beretta 2004 is the medium that coverts activities efficiently and effectively in order to generate value for a specific customer. It is important to note that these processes are what ERP serves to integrate. As such ERP solution for SMEs must be simple and flexible to accommodate these peculiarities of most SMEs. Such flexibility involves things like allowing only specific modules or even sub-modules to be implemented. The type and focus of the SMEs should begat the requirement for consideration in the choice of ERP solution. Most SMEs have very specific operations and as such have very specific processes. These processes differ according to the specialisation of the company. Example is the case of a construction company in Taiwan that wanted to implement ERP but could not get software fit because of its unique operations (Yang J et al, 2007). Another example: Made-To-Stock (MTS) manufacturing companies have different ERP requirements from Made-To-Oder (MTO) companies (Deep A. et al 2007). The implication is that MTO and MTS have different production processes and thus will need a system that aligns with their peculiar requirement. We can therefore conclude according to Deep A. et al, 2007 that issues relating to the specificity of an organisation will need to be determined before proceeding to make a choice on the ERP solution for implementation. Analysis of ERP Solution (Software and hardware) ERP software belongs to a suit of software called Enterprise system software. According to Shanks G. et al 2003, it is; a set of packaged application software modules, with an integrated architecture, that can be used by organizations as their primary engine for integrating data, processes, and information technology, in real time, across internal and external value chains impound deep knowledge of business practices that vendors have accumulated from implementations in a wide range of client organizations, that can exert considerable influence on the design of processes within new client organizations is a generic semi-finished product with tables and parameters that client organizations and their implementation partners must configure, customize and integrate with other computer-based information systems to meet their business needs. Thus, ERP software are sold to organisations on the platform that its a way for them to implement best practices in an organisation (Wagner and Newell 2004), but there is a vast gap between this theory, the actual implementation and use of the software. The idea behind the software use is that a blend of best practice within a particular industry is built into the design so that this can be used by a similar company irrespective of where it is to automate its working process. According to Holland and Light 1999, most organizations now opt for off the shelf software instead of developing one in-house for its function. While there are over one hundred ERP software available, we will be reviewing a list of some well known ERP solutions available to an SME below; SAP A company that started in Germany, the application has captured the integrated market of most large and medium market throughout the world (Martin and Cheung 2000). With high functionality and a great deal of integration, the solution covers requirements such as financial accounting and control, sales and distribution, materials management, production planning and human resource management. Bancroft et al 1998 revealed that SAP design consists of the following layers of software; The SAP graphical user interface (GUI) representing the presentation layer; The SAP application layer; and The SAP database layer SAP supports critical business functions and processes and can actually be tailored to meet the business needs of any enterprise (SAP Global, 2010). It delivers the following solutions SAP ERP Financials: helps addressing changing financial reporting standards, improve cash flows and manage risks SAP ERP Human Capital Management: helps in automating key processes like End-user service delivery, workforce analytics, talent management, workforce process management and workforce deployment SAP ERP Operations: helps with process like procurement and logistics execution, product development and manufacturing and sales and services SAP Corporate Services: covers real estate management, Enterprise asset management, project and portfolio management, travel management, environment and safety management, quality management and global trade services SAP Global claimed that the product helps in increasing oversight of business operations and providing adequate information for strategic business decisions. It also claimed high flexibility and innovation and that modules can be implemented as needed and upgraded as the need arises. The SAP for SMEs has been implemented by over 80000 SMEs. Figure 4 below shows the SAP Solution roadmap showing the multiple level of blueprint of processes supported by SAP. SAPs benefits were echoed by the research work of Mandal and Gunasekaran 2003. This was implemented at PMB Water Corporation. They discovered greater benefit of implementing SAP. However, Al-Mashari and Zairi 2000 confirmed that SAP is a very complex solution that is too prone to failure. This position is supported by the research work of Martin I. et al, 2000 in an organization in Australia where he discovered that the training was complex, expensive and enormous. It is also not a user friendly application. For a small and medium sized company this enormous complexity and capital investment among other things is not one that can be readily and easily accommodated as previously stated in the requirements section. Figure 4 SAP Solution Roadmap (available at http://www. sap.com/businessmaps However, it should also be noted that quite a number of medium establishments have been able to implement SAP successfully and are reaping the benefits (Martin I. et al 2000). Oracle ERP Software The Oracle ERP software is part of the Oracle e-Business suite. It consists of the following modules (Oracle 2010); Channel Revenue Management: enables information driven channel management. Includes modules like Accounts receivable deductions settlement, channel rebates and point-of-sale, partner management, price protection and supplier ship and debit Financial Management: covers things like Asset lifecycle management, cash and treasury management, credit-to-cash, financial control and reporting, financial analytics, governance, risk and compliance, lease and finance management, procure-to-pay and travel and expense management Human Capital Management: includes Global Core HCM , Workforce Management, Workforce Service delivery, Integrated talent management, and HR analytics Project Portfolio Management: Involves things like project analytics, project billing, project contracts, project collaboration, project costing, project management, project portfolio analysis, project resource management and time and labour. According to Oracle, Oracle E-Business suite is the most adaptable global business platform and the most customer-focused application strategy. This opinion seems to be supported by Panorama Consulting group 2010, that the software has the highest level of predictability of all ERP software that was studied, and that the average initial cost to implement is 25% less than that of SAP. It also claimed that Oracles total cost of ownership is nearly 50% less than that of SAP. The fact remains though that its usage does not as yet compare to that of SAP. This is true considering the fact that there has not been much academic research into the use of the software as an ERP solution. International Financial Services (IFS) IFS is a single, integrated product supporting the management of 4 core processes (IFSWorld 2010); Service and Asset, Manufacturing, Project, Supply chain. It can be added to other suites of software e.g. Financials, Human Resources, Sales and services, Engineering, Project, Manufacturing and Distribution. According to IFSWorld 2010, its easy to use software that provides an attractive, intuitive and efficient user experience. It is also quite flexible, allowing an organisation to choose the required module and upgrade at a future date if so desired. The benefits of IFS was supported by the work of Lahikainen T. et al 2000 comparatively saying that ERP software like SAP is rather clumsy and large, and because of this cannot easily be reworked to suit a business process. Rather, the business will have to readjust its process for the software. SAGE Accpac This product offers middle sized organisation an adjustable enterprise resource for finance, SRM and operations (Sage, 2010). It supports global aspirations for mid-market and upper-mid-market companies with its robust financial management capabilities and flexible open architecture. Modules of the software include; Financials: General Ledger, G/L Consolidations, Reporting, Multi-Currency, Intercompany Transactions, Transaction Analysis and Optional Field Creator Purchasing: Purchase Orders, Accounts Payable, Electronic Funds Transfer (ETF), Direct payables, Document Management, Fixed Asset Management, Check and Form printing Sales and Receivables: Order Entry, Accounts Receivable, EFT Direct Receivables, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), National Accounts Management, Unit Sales Analysis, Return Material Authorization (RMA) Customer Management: Contact Management, Sales Force Automation, Marketing Automation, Customer Service Automation Inventory/Warehouse Management: Inventory Control, Lot Tracking, Serialized Inventory, Warehouse Management, Manufacturing Management Project Management: Project and Job Costing, Service and Maintenance management, Payroll: In-house Payroll, Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), Direct Payroll, Sage Accpac HRMS System Administration: System Manager, Alerts and Alerts Manager Sage manages the processes that are common to all businesses, such as finance, HR, or CRM; the vertical modules give customers a greater ability to match technology to specific industry needs (Sage, 2010). Microsoft Dynamics According to Microsoft 2010, Microsoft Dynamics offer solution that can help fastrack performance, measure financial effectiveness and enhance decision making. It helps drive businesses by providing a backbone of an elastic system. It is easy to implement and adapt. Apart from on-premise installation, the solution can also be deployed to work with cloud computing, a solution some organisations are already considering. The capabilities delivered by this solution includes Financial management, Supply chain management, business intelligence, performance management, Collaboration, Project Management, Human resource management, IT management and Software-plus-Services. Open Source Software (OSS) There are also a number of open source ERP software that seems to be of an increasing interest at the moment according to the research work of Johansson and Sudzina 2008. The list includes Compiere, OpenBravo, Opentaps, Facturalux, TinyERP. It may be that most SMEs will find OSS ERP implementations able to cater for their needs since according to Raymond 2005, SMEs are highly flexible and adaptable to change. Implementation may also work out cheaper as costs associated with licensing fees are usually not incurred (Johansson and Sudzina, 2008). It should however be noted that support for implementations for OSS ERP software is quite hard, as there can be several versions of a given software and finding an expert can be daunting. ERP Evaluation and Selection process A successful ERP project requires selecting an ERP solution, implementing the solution, managing changes and examining the practicality of the system (Wei and Wang, 2004). Wrong ERP solution choice would either cause implementation to fail or weaken the system to a greater impact on the enterprise (Hicks,1995; Wilson,1994). Most enterprises often jump into looking at ERP functions and features rather than examining the strategy and business processes. According to Donovan, 2001, it is important for management to know the current strategy, processes and supporting systems compared to what they could be with the new systems. For most enterprises, the decision to implement ERP functionalities will require buying a software package from one of the more popular vendors on ERP market. But the selection process is not a straightforward task, hence thorough understanding of what ERP packages are to offer, differences in each of them and what might be at stake in selecting one package over the other should be well examined or evaluated, (Sammon and Adam, 2000). Evaluating and selecting an ERP system, even though can be a very complex process (Donovan 2001). It should be a fact-based process that will bring an enterprise to the point where comfortable well-informed decisions can be made. Figure 5 below shows an online poll conducted by ESI International survey of 2,000 business professionals in 2005. This clearly indicated that most software projects, ERP inclusive, failed due to lack of adequate requirements definition. Fig. 5: Source: ESI International survey of 2,000 business professionals, (2005). In addition to the above figure 5, Donovan pointed out that typical ERP project implementation can also fail because of a wrong choice of ERP solution. Therefore, Management Agility Inc in 2005 revealed that it is imperative to adopt a thorough evaluation and evaluation process before adopting any ERP solution in SMEs. Their report detailed eight steps necessary for a careful and reasonable level of successful ERP implementation in SMEs. This is represented in Figure 6. We have further categorised this into the following five stages for our discussion; Planning, RFP, Solution Evaluation, Negotiation, Selection Agreement These five stages are explained below based on the research carried out by Management Agility Inc in 2005. Stage 1 Plan Requirement Define business along with areas of business that require technical approach. Develop a specific business case with business value for a solution. Ensure that the project sponsor is willing to articulate the business case for change, identify vendors and get familiar with the available solutions. Get general view of investment needed, considering software, hardware, other related infrastructure and ongoing support. Evaluate the organisation readiness for the investment and decide whether to continue or not. Define priorities under must-have and nice-to-have accordingly. Stage 2 Request for Proposals (RFP) Shortlist interesting vendors based on the outcome of market survey for solutions and then for demonstration. Collects facts in line with the business need from product demonstrations for the development of unbiased RFP for vendors. Set-up a neutral body to develop RFP, using facts gathered from products demonstration aligned to the business requirements. Distribute out RFP to selected vendors. Generate basic expectations from ideal proposal in line with the business need for onward selection of the ideal software vendor. Stage 3 Solution Evaluation Identify and prioritise remaining gaps between software capabilities as demonstrated and business requirements. Identify how the gaps will be bridged in terms of configuration, process change or a combination of all these. If the gaps cannot be bridge, then discontinue the evaluation exercise immediately, otherwise consider reengineering of those affected business processes and continue with the evaluation. Stage 4 Contract Negotiation Negotiate with each vendor; establish software, hardware and other infrastructure agreement requirements, which include version, components, maintenance and support. Also negotiate participation in user groups, license costs, maintenance fees and many others. Establish service provider agreement which also include deliverables, timelines, resources, costs, payment schedules and other legal requirements. Stage 5 Selection and Agreement Upon successful negotiation with the right vendor; Review all legal terms on privacy protection, operation guidance and data manipulation etc. Approve agreements with the selected vendors. Agree on implementation plan. Fig. 6: Detailed flowchart for ERP Software, Hardware Evaluation and Selection Processes Management Agility Inc, 2005 ERP Software Hardware (Solution) Evaluation and Selection Steps Yes No Stage 4 Stage 3 Stage 2 Stage 1 Define Requirements Shop Round for Product Clarify Requirements Evaluation Vendor Inquiry Interact with Vendors Negotiate Agreement Action Agreement Define business case/need and spell-out required values. Be specific. Ensure the business sponsor is willing to push through business case for change. Look round the market for what product is available. Identify vendors that operates and their general approaches to technologies the take. Discuss with others in the same industry as you are etc. Clarify your requirements and be sure of what you are looking for in line with you business case. Refine requirements if possible and be specific too. Find out what product is looking promising in line with the business need and from which vendor. Identify which vendor and their products and invite interesting ones for demo etc. Request for proposal (RFP). Invite each shortlisted vendor over for a chat and find out more about the product. List out expectations based heavily on business requirements. At this point evaluate this approach. Can you afford to change your current process? Can you afford the change the new product will bring and many more? Initiate Negotiation for the selected product with the selected vendor. Agree on who does what, when are they to be done. Negotiate deliverables, timelines, co

Advertising Is The Non Personal Communication Of Information Marketing Essay

Advertising Is The Non Personal Communication Of Information Marketing Essay One definition of advertising is: Advertising is the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.(Bovee, 1992, p. 7) Now lets take this statement apart and see what it means. Advertising is bringing a product and service to the attention of potential and current customers. Advertising is focused on one particular product or service. Thus, an advertising plan for one product might be very different than that for another product. Advertising is typically done with signs, brochures, commercials, direct mailings or e-mail messages, personal contact, etc. The first assumption that was queried related to purchasing itself, in terms of what advertising would achieve if it was effective. This assumption was advertising achieved the conversion. In the sense of converting loyal user of the other brand to loyal users of the brand advertised. We pointed out that this pattern, although it could on occasion be f9und in actual purchasing sequences, was actually quite rare. It also happen in this case: I have always bought brand B, but now I have the advertising for brand A has persuaded me that it is better in fulfill my requirement under the advertisement, so in future I will buy brand A The advertisement pointed out that strengthen of the product which mean its communicating with the people. First, what is non-personal advertising? There are two basic ways to sell anything: personally and non-personally. Personal selling requires the seller and the buyer to get together. There are advantages and disadvantages to this. The first advantage is time: the seller has time to discuss in detail everything about the product. The buyer has time to ask questions, get answers, and examine evidence for or against purchase. Next, the seller can easily locate potential buyers. If you enter a store, you probably have an interest in something that store sells. Street vendors and door-to-door sellers can simply shout at possibilities, like McDonalds retailer shop who call out, I say there, I would like to order food?, or knock at the door and start their spiel with an attention grabber. From there on they fit their message to the individual customer, taking all the time a customer is willing to give them. Disadvantages do exist. Personal selling is, naturally enough, expensive, since it is labor-intensive and deals with only one buyer at a time. Just imagine trying to sell chewing gum or guitar picks one-on-one; it would cost a dollar a stick or pick. In addition, its advantage of time is also a disadvantage. Personal selling is time-consuming. Selling a stereo or a car can take days, and major computer and airplane sales can take years. Nonetheless, although personal selling results in more rejections than sales, and can be nerve-racking, frustrating and ego destroying for the salesperson, when the salesperson is good it is more directed and successful than advertising. From the above, it appears that personal selling is much better than advertising, which is non-personal. This is true. Advertising has none of the advantages of personal selling: there is very little time in which to present the sales message, there is no way to know just who the customer is or how them is responding to the message, the message cannot be changed in mid-course to suit the customers reactions. Then why bother with advertising? Because its advantages exactly replace the disadvantages of personal selling and can emulate some of the advantages. First lets look at the latter. First, advertising has, comparatively speaking, all the time in the world. Unlike personal selling, the sales message and its presentation does not have to be created on the spot with the customer watching. It can be created in as many ways as the writer can conceive, be rewritten, tested, modified, injected with every trick and appeal known to affect consumers. (Some of the latter is the content of this book.) Second, although advertisers may not see the individual customer, nor be able to modify the sales message according to that individuals reactions at the time, it does have research about customers. The research can identify potential customers, find what message elements might influence them, and figure out how best to get that message to them. Although the research is meaningless when applied to any particular individual, it is effective when applied to large groups of customers. Third, and perhaps of most importance, advertising can be far cheaper per potential customer than personal selling. Personal selling is extremely labor-intensive, dealing with one customer at a time. Advertising deals with hundreds, thousands, or millions of customers at a time, reducing the cost per customer to mere pennies. In fact, advertising costs are determined in part using a formula to determine, not cost per potential customer, but cost per thousand potential customers. Thus, it appears that advertising is a good idea as a sales tool. For small ticket items, such as chewing gum and guitar picks, advertising is cost effective to do the entire selling job. For large ticket items, such as cars and computers, advertising can do a large part of the selling job, and personal selling is used to complete and close the sale. Advertising is non-personal, but effective. Facebook advertising method The red arrow showing the Facebook advertisement People treat Facebook as an authentic part of their lives, so you can be sure you are connecting with real people with real interest in your products. Facebook Ads provided CM Photographic the ability to target their exact demographic 24-30 year old women whose relationship status on Facebook indicated that they were engaged. Over 12 months, CM Photographic generated nearly $40,000 in revenue directly from a $600 advertising investment on Facebook. Of the Facebook users who were directed to CM Photographic website from the ads, 60% became qualified leads and actively expressed interest in more information. I have found [Facebook Ads] SO effective. My business wouldnt be anywhere close to where it is today if it werent for Facebook, and the ads campaign. Chris Meyer, President From the information given, Facebook Ads makes it easy and cost-effective to quickly set up and manage your campaign. G5 found success setting up a series of Facebook Ad campaigns targeted to college students at 21 campuses prior to Summer break for StorQuest self-service storage facilities. Real-time suggested bids for our auction-based system provided guidance that enabled G5 to hone ad effectiveness based on their various targeting filters (age, college level and location). The results from StorQuests Facebook ad campaign were one of their highest performing online advertising efforts: Over 50% increase in total rentals versus prior year at the same store. 10% conversion rate from visits originating from Facebook Ads. On par with Google AdWords on a cost-per-lead and cost-per-customer basis. $1.25 CPC delivered $10.25 cost-per-lead. When you have a broader presence on Facebook with Facebook Pages or Facebook Events plus ads for instance, you can turn your advertising message into a trusted referral by including content from a users friends who are already affiliated with your products. ANA took this approach by creating a Facebook Page to acquire interested users for on-going messaging opportunities and developing a compelling advertising campaign. ANA used a creative grouping of keywords to target advertising to users specifically interested in traveling and Japanese culture and developed ad creative that resonated with their audience. Average campaigns for ANA result in CTR of 8 12%. Facebook Ads resulted in a 25% CTR. Conversions resulted in positive ROI which is unique for ANA considering their product is not an impulse purchase for most people and Japan is not traditionally seen as a leisure destination. If the company is running a Facebook Ad Campaign, they can choose to target Social Actions in their campaigns. With this feature enabled, those people who fan the Page may see the Ad listed among their News Feeds. Companies can also use the Facebook messaging system to communicate with their fans. Banner advertising method The Arrow showing the banner advertising method A banner ad is an image shown on a webpage for advertising purposes. Along with animation, contemporary ad banners often use simple forms of interaction as a lure, taking advantage of  plug-ins  such as  Flash  and  Shockwave  to create banner-based games. As you can see, advertisers came to the conclusion that banner ads were not as effective as full-page magazine ads or 30-second TV commercials. At the same time, there was an incredible glut of advertising space, thousands of sites had a million or more page impressions available per month, and companies like  DoubleClick  began collecting these sites into massive pools of banner-ad inventory. The economic principle of supply and demand works the same way on the Web as it does everywhere else, so the rates paid for banner advertising began to plummet. Undoubtedly you know what banner ads are; youve seen innumerable ones as youve surfed across countless websites. You may have already clicked on a number of them. Banner ads take different shapes and sizes, and many forms and styles, but they share a common goal: attracting visitors! Banner ads usually contain graphics, sometimes they are entirely text and others they use graphics and text. The main idea of a banner ad is to present an interesting idea to the surfer and have them click on it for more information, leading them to the advertisers site. Banner ads come in many sizes, the most popular, is a full banner (468 x 60), but all styles are used. Some people claim you should stay away from using full banner ads as they are already so common that most surfers avoid them. Obviously placing banners that advertise your site on other websites costs money. There are several ways of paying for this type of advertising. You may pay per click on the banner; per thousand clicks; per sales to visitors directed to you, or another form. How much banner ads work for you will depend on a variety of things? Where you place the ads, how relevant the sites hosting the ad are to your site; what your ads look like, how appealing they are; how clear they are about what you are advertising, etc. Placing the ads on sites related to yours is vitally important, i.e. people surfing for watches will probably not be interested in an ad for parachutes. Your ads should be attractive, preferably animated, clear and to the point. They should be advertising a specific product or service, not just the name of your site. People who click on the ad should be able to find the product or service in question with relative ease. Ideally, the ad should lead directly to it. Pop-up advertising method A pop-up ad is an ad that pops up in its own window when you go to a page. It obscures the Web page that you are trying to read, so you have to close the window or move it out of the way. Pop-under ads are similar, but place themselves under the content you are trying to read and are therefore less intrusive. A typical site with two pop-up ads that appear on top of the home page A pop-up ad is a pop-up window used for advertising. When the program is initiated by some user action, such as a mouse click or a  mouse over  , a window  containing an offer for some product or service appears in the foreground of the visual interface. Like all pop-ups, a pop-up ad is smaller than the background interface windows that fill the user interface are called replacement interfaces and usually resembles a small browser window with only the close, minimize, and maximize options at the top. A variation on the pop-up ad, the pop-under  , is a window that loads behind the Web page that youre viewing, only to appear when you leave that Web site. Pop-up and pop-under ads annoy many users because they clutter up the desktop and take time to close. However, they are much more effective than banner ads. Whereas a banner ad might get two to five clicks per 1,000 impressions, a pop-up ad might average 30 clicks. Therefore, advertisers are willing to pay more for pop-up and pop-under ads. Typically, a pop-up ad will pay the Web site four to 10 times more than a banner ad. That is why you see so many pop-up ads on the Web today. Pop-up windows come in many different shapes and sizes, typically in a scaled-down browser window with only the Close, Minimize and Maximize commands. There is a strong resentment by some Web surfers towards pop-up ads. Marketers often do not realize the ill-will generated by pop-ups because it is easier to click the close button than send an email to complain. What  can often be seen is an above-average click-through rate, although some of this can come from false positives, unintentional clicks when the pop-up gets in the way of the desired target. Advertisers can get a better picture of the effectiveness of pop-up advertising by paying attention to conversion rates and return on investment (ROI). Pop-up ads are not popular with the average Web surfer, and there are several products that disable them, such as Pop-up Stopper, Pop-up Killer, and Pop-up Annihilator. One thing to look for in such a program is the ability to differentiate between user-initiated pop-up windows and others, because many other applications (such as  Webcast  s, for example) make use of pop-up windows. If a pop-up stopper utility cant tell the difference between a pop-up window that the user has requested and an unsought pop-up ad, the program may cause more problems for the user than it solves. The advantage and disadvantage of Facebook advertising method CHAN JIA JUN And remember how the way to improve this method to attract the eye of people and other u can understand The advantage and disadvantage of Banner advertising method Chan JIA JUN And remember how the way to improve this method to attract the eye of people and other u can understand The advantage and disadvantage of pop-out advertising method Chan Jia Jun And remember how the way to improve this method to attract the eye of people and other u can understand Conclusion Lai kai lin Need to cover and mention u The different between online and common advertisement What you more prefer on (common and online)+ why If only have 3 type of method that I mention, what online advertising method you will choosing Reference Link Pop-out ads method http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-advertising.htm/printable Facebook ads mathod http://www.facebook.com/advertising/?campaign_id=217255663720placement=exactcreative=5813419712keyword=facebook+adsextra_1=334da685-4df4-51c9-6341-0000076a659a http://goabroad.zhishi.sohu.com/question/65860980.html http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~taflinge/addefine.html http://www.speedace.info/advertising.htm http://internet-business-advertising.com/ http://mk-mk.facebook.com/adsmarketing/index.php?sk=success Lai kai lin This no need do

Environmental Threats Essays -- essays research papers

Contemporary Issues Environmental threats Overpopulation Every 20 minutes, the world adds another 3,500 human lives but loses one or more entire species of animal or plant life - at least 27,000 species per year. ZGP July 1999 World population growth peaked at about two percent per year in the early 1960s. Latest population figures indicate that the rate of growth has slowed to 1.33 percent annually, equivalent to 78 million people a year. UNFPA 1999 The highest world population growth rate was 2.04 percent in the late 1960's. This year, it is about 1.31 percent. NY Times World population growth is equivalent to around three babies every second. UNFPA '99 New inhabitants add the equivalent of a city the size of San Francisco to world population every three day The world population is growing fast and the effects of this are  food shortages  exhaustion of farm land and soil erosion  insufficient power supplies  social un-rest and war  immense pressure on welfare system and national benefits  crime due to lack of space and jobs The world in the future will be able to support less NOT more people this is due to carefully farmed areas losing there top-soil (the cause is over farming), but the world needs more and not less food so larger fields are required but these large fields allow soil and wind erosion to happen more quickly. Fertilisers only speed up this erosion e.g. America (Arizona) land is useless and dusty because of the chemicals poisoning the land. Also in places such as Egypt where the water supply is irrigated from underground water supplies, the water contains mineral salts, which will slowly poison the land. We can say that overpopulation can effect the police in a dramatic way, as the ratio between a police officer and the public is increasing. This can effect the police officers productivity and effectiveness in dealing with crime. We can say that Public services in general are under-funded, this in part can be blamed on the amount of people not paying tax (asylum seeker's, unemployed, O.A.P's). I.e. as science grows so do length of years people live as dose the funding which is required to keep these people (pension, benefits) which could be spent on Public services. The Police Federation's research found: London has 25,121 officers, one for every 290 ... ...that â€Å"any conclusion upon the safety of introducing genetically modified materials into the UK is premature, as there is insufficient evidence to inform the decision-making process at present.† There are concerned that consumption of the maize will lead to an increased resistance to antibiotics in human and animal populations. The testing carried out on GM foods is inadequate. Quite often the testing is carried out by the companies themselves that seek to benefit financially from the product. Releasing genetically modified organisms into the environment represents 'genetic pollution'. There are long held concerns about the transfer from genetically engineered crop plants to wild relatives to create 'superweeds', which could out-compete and disrupt the natural biodiversity of an area. Many GM crops are also able to crossbreed with neighbouring crops. Government research concluded that crossbreeding would be â€Å"inevitable†. Critics argue that we do not know enough about the way genes operate and interact to be sure of what the outcome of any modification will be. They worry that the alterations could accidentally lead to substances that are poisonous or trigger allergies.

Rose Madder :: essays research papers

Rose Madder The setting of Rose Madder begins in a city called Portside but it does not say which state. Rose then rides a bus 800 miles to some large mid-western city. By some of the details in the story and the dialect, a good guess of the time era is any where from the 1980s to the late 1990s. The characters in Rose Madder are Rose McClendon Daniels a women who was married and abused by her husband for nearly 14 years and Norman Daniels a crazy cop who is in pursuit of his wife Rosie. Bill Steiner is the guy that Rosie buys the picture from and they also fall in love, Anna Stevenson is the owner of the Daughters and Sisters organization that helps women coming out of abusive relationships. Peter Slowik is Anna Stevenson’s ex-husband who tells Rosie to go to the Daughters and Sisters place and he is later killed by Norman. Rose Madder is the woman in the picture that Rosie bought, and Mr. Lefferts is a man who gives Rosie a job reading books for a â€Å"Books on Tape Company†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First, Rose Daniels is sitting at home reading a romance novel, when all of a sudden her husband, Norman, walks in and starts beating her. Rose was pregnant at the time and, as a consequence of Normans beating, she has a miscarriage. After that she goes to bed, but when she wakes up in the morning and there was a single drop of blood on her pillow. That one single drop made her realize how abusive her life would be if she did not leave Norman. So she planned how she was going to leave without Norman catching her. She took the credit card he had left on the counter and then she ran out the door. Eventually she came to the bus station. She traveled on a bus 800 miles away from her home.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When she arrived there was a traveler’s aid with a friendly looking man standing there. The man’s name was Peter Slowik and he worked to help women who have been abused in some way. She told him her story and he told her to go to the Daughters and Sisters house, which was a place for women who have just gotten out of an abusive relationship to say at for awhile. So she leaves and goes to the house and they let her in and she meets the owner, Anna Stevenson.

Essay --

Andrea St. Mary English 104 Dr. Gronsky 13 February 2014 Designer Children Who would have known a baby could be so customizable? Within the past few years, science has advanced so much that it is giving prospective parents a chance to pick and choose how they want their child to look. Designer children should be available for families everywhere because it will help with disease prevention, give parents the choice of the traits for their child, and it will give scientists a better understanding of the continuously evolving science of embryology. Many families carry genetic diseases that, with the help of science, can easily be terminated. Diseases like juvenile diabetes, heart disease, AIDS, breast cancer, and sickle cell disease run in thousands of families today. Being able to take a closer look at DNA will give parents a chance to help expand their child’s life span. Parents everywhere would agree to have their child rid of any harm. The doctors would be able to access the egg or sperm and discard the specific gene. This alteration would last for generations to come. If the mother is able to attend doctor’s appointments while she is pregnant to check on the health of the baby, why not be able to cure the sickness before it is born, rather than waiting until birth? Today, not only could infertile parents get the chance to have a child, but also they can make sure it is safe and healthy. Genetic diseases can be devastating news to potential parents, but science can help reduce the likelihood of contracting it . Don’t people wish they were born with bright blue eyes? Wouldn’t it have been nice to be a foot taller for the basketball team? Giving future parents the option to customize their baby is a phenomenon that will soon... ...ing prenatal vitamins and going to extreme measures to ensure the success of their child. In this process, the parents are in full control, so they have the ability to withdraw from the study whenever they deem it necessary. This research is the new frontier of how we look at pregnancy. The science of genetically engineering babies is an idea that should be invested in immediately. Altering embryos will be beneficial because it will eliminate hereditary diseases, allow for distinguished future generations, and will aid in modern technology’s stride for perfection. Although this study can be dangerous and unethical, it is offered to benefit families that aren’t lucky enough to have healthy genes. Hereditarily improving babies is essential for the growth of our future. Finally, parents’ vision of their dream child is within arms reach from this revolutionary study.

Ethical Issues Affecting Each Component of the Marketing Mix Essay

Ethical Issues Affecting Each Component of the Marketing Mix Ethical issues in businesses among other related issues like conflicts or success revolves around relationships. In today’s business world, it has become inevitable to built strong and effectives between all the key players in businesses. Key player in this case include shareholders, investors, customers, suppliers and managers who are responsible for the development of strategies aimed at attaining success (Carroll et al 403). The board of directors in every business has the mandate of giving direction and oversight making sure that the business does not stray from its course and remains relevant in achieving its objectives in a socially acceptable, legally acceptable and ethical manner. In many instances of unethical business conduct, there exists a certain degree of compliancy and knowing corporation which acts to perpetuate the acceptance of such conduct. Importantly, most ethical issues come into existence due t o conflicts in belief patterns and value conflicts regarding what is wrong or what is right. This occurs because ethical standards are a derivative of deeply-rooted personal believes and societal morals which may not be universally agreed upon. Ethical issues exist in all functional areas of the businesses including; finance, accounting, production, marketing, operations and even management. They involve practices like product safety, human resource management, plant safety, business practices and environmental problems among others (Carroll et al 412). The elements of the marketing mix are important aspects of the business which can be evaluated in the light of ethical issues. Marketing mix encompasses all the major areas of decision making affecting the marketing process and when carefully blended, desirable results for the organization are obtained. Marketing mix is important for all businesses as it shapes the function of marketing in both non-profit making and profit making organizations. As marketing managers make decisions about the overall process of marketing, they have to consider the specific elements of the marketing mix which include price, promotion, product and place and in other instances they are even supposed to consider the sub-elements in each element in order to satisfy the wants and needs of the customers. Marketing mix holds a special place in businesses in that it is the hub identifying the best and suitable marketing strategy. Its purpose is balancing all the elements in order to come up with an ideal mix of all the controllable  variables. As the markets demands change, the marketing mix also has to be changed in a manner which allows alignment with the goals and objectives of the organization. The external environment therefore plays a critical role in necessitating alterations and other changes in the marketing mix. One of the most fluctuating variables of the external environment is the customer; whose preferences and tastes change swiftly among other factors like brand loyalty (Stone 51). Given the importance of the marketing mix and the fact that all important aspects of the business revolves around it, it becomes a rather sensitive area in ensuring that regardless of the ambitions of the business, the management does not go overboard to affect its relationships with the oth er stakeholders who have any form of interest in the business (Tittle 12). Ethical issues usually arise when some of these relationships are affected or the moral fiber as defined by law or the society in which this business exists is coarsened. This means that the business has a responsibility of providing the society with good made adhering to all ethical issues and also of high quality. In looking closely at all the elements of the marketing mix and how ethical issues can affect them, it is important to point out that the essence of the businesses is not only to maximize profits but also to take care of consumers of the products, the employees and the environment. The product, which is one of the elements of the marketing mix, is a sensitive component with regard to ethical issues (Swarbrooke and Horner 30). The whole product life cycle is vulnerable to ethical issue right from the development to its elimination. Ethical issues may arise from product packaging. Since businesses survival depends on attracting and retaining customers, some businesses use p ackages which do not actually represent what they are offering. This may be in terms of underweight packaging or the use of colorful packages which do not really depict what’s inside. Ethical issues may also arise from the product testing especially for products like medication which must have many guidelines. Testing products on people is unethical and is prohibited by most societies. Cases of selling of banned goods are also many and this also involves the crossing of many ethical lines. It is highly recommended to ensure that all products entering the market are safe. Although â€Å"safe† in this case is subject to diverse interpretation, it is recommended that businesses disclose all the known harmful effect of product. This also touches on the  sensitive issue of genetically modified products which must be clearly labeled to warn the buyers. A very good example of ethical issues arising from particular products was coke’s crisis of 1999 to 2001. In this case, ethical dimensions were explored when people fell ill after consuming this soft drink. Much controversy also surrounded this case because school children fell ill after consuming this drink as the company had signed school contracts as a means of promoting the drink among the school children. The company took responsibility and recalled over 5 million cans under recommendation from the Belgium Ministry of Health. This ethical issues also touches on possible ethical issues which might arise in promotion as another factor in marketing mix. Pricing, which is one of the most regulated areas in marketing, has many possible unethical practices which might even not include illegality. There is price discrimination; transfer pricing, legal prohibitions, predatory pricing, and government price-fixing among other factors which might draw attention of ethical issues as far as ethical issues are concerned. There should be valid reasons governing the increase of prices of products to avoid taking advantage of the customer. The subjective and emotional nature of pricing avails many avenues of misunderstanding between the buyer and seller which might cause ethical problems. Common issues of this nature involve failure to disclose the actual price of the product and price fixing. Other acts pertaining pricing include dumping which is the selling of goods at a loss with the aim of increasing market share but do away with competitors and bid rigging. A case which was well explored was that of Ryanair which is an airline company. This company was faced by much controversy due to their pricing and advertising. Bodies like Advertising Standards Authority claimed that this airline company did not advertise the actual prices it was charging. Further criticism was raised because of the fact that, they were charging very low prices with the intent of spoiling the market opportunities for other players and resulted to great losses in the 2008/2009 financial year even for British airways. Although many of these companies claimed that it was due to increased fuel prices, Ryanair was the root cause because it did not hike the prices accordingly. Promotion employs different strategies like mass selling, personal selling and sales promotion to ensure the target market is informed of the existence of this product and the benefits if  using such product (Fraedrich et al 24). Since it involves modes of persuasive communication and the fact that it involves visibility advertising, it is frequently criticized part in marketing. One true fact about advertising is the fact that the earliest use of advertising was based on genuine reasons and practices which had no ethical issues. Currently however, many issues are coming up which has forced governments and other bodies to introduce regulations to avoid misleading of customers. The content in the promotions must meet high standards of advertisement maintaining truth and honesty. Honesty issues were well explored in the early 1950s when the advertisement of tobacco came under much criticism as it was being alleged in advertisements that is promotes health (Carroll et al 5). This of c ourse was found to be untrue and laws were set regarding false advertising. This is a very good example of unethical conduct which arose due to promotion and attracted a lot of attention from the press and government. It therefore became paramount that all the promoters tell the truth about their products to avoid offence against morality and also the law. Advertisements especially those which will be seen by children must not contain aspects of sex, violence or profanity as they might cross many ethical lines. Still in promotion, it is considered ethically inappropriate and illegal to promote products through negative advertising strategies such as attack advertising. Adverts should not directly attack the disadvantages of the competitor’s goods but should focus on advantages of their own. With advent of the internet, other forms of advertisement have also emerged some of which are considered unethical in nature. These include spam advertisements among other pop up windows which are unsolicited. Direct mail may also infringe on personal rights and therefore cross some ethical lines. The last element of the market mix to be considered is place. Place in this case covers many aspects leading to availing the product to the target market (Shimizu 13). Any product or service is of no value to the customer if it is not available at the right time and place. Ethical issues in the place element arise due to conflicts in the intermediaries of the distribution channel. The relationships in the channel of distribution cause much ethics related issues and these are brought mainly by power imbalance in these relationships. Ethical issues may come in as a result of listing fees which may be hiked and provide a discrepancy between the operations of  large suppliers and small suppliers. Corruption also comes in as a relevant ethical issue which can come in to the supply chain. Violation of the workers’ rights and the use of child labor and other practices like production in sweat shops or ignoring the safety, health or environmental standards can present an ethical problem in the element of place. Sweatshops have been a subject to much controversy in global business ethics. Examples of large corporations which have been implicated in this issue include Reebok, Gap and Nike. Wal-Mart’s case however has been much publicized where employees have been overworked or forced to work for extra hours without pay. Although Wal-Mart has been constantly denying this, there is mounting evidence especially from cases filed in 2005 which suggest that according to the company policy overtime should not be paid. The 1996 Wal-Mart Lee collection was also publicized when it was found that, many of these clothes were made in Honduras in sweatshops with worker laboring for up to 20 hours per day. Discrepancies in pricing of the same item from one place to another are also other forms of unethical acts arising in the element of place. At such a time when there is heightened capitalization of the economy, ethical issues have become critical and the consumer can no longer be ignored. All decisions regarding marketing planning must therefore uphold high ethical standards. Unethical corporate have the capability of inflicting much suffering to investors, employees and consumers. Works Cited Carroll, Archie, and Buchholtz, Ann. Business and Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management. Ohio: Cengage Learning, 2008. Fraedrich, John, Ferrell O. C., Linda Ferrell. Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases. Ohio: Cengage Learning, 2009 Shimizu, Koichi. Advertising Theory and Strategies.16th ed, Souseisha Book Company: 2009. Stone, Phil. Make marketing work for you: boost your profits with proven marketing techniques. Small business. Oxford: How to Books Ltd, 2001. Swarbrooke, John, and Horner, Susan. Consumer behavior in tourism. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007 Tittle, Peg. Ethical issues in business: inquiries, cases, and readings. New York: Broadview Press, 2000.