Motorcycle Helmet laws Essay

Over the past 30 years, many states have enacted mandatory helmet laws for motorcycle drivers. There have been many states that have rescinded these laws for reasons that may not be known by those most interested – the motorcycle rider him/herself. Currently, less than half of all U. S. states require helmets for motorcycle operators. One who is interested in this topic may wonder how those that are in positions to give the thumbs up or thumbs down regarding these laws make their decision one way or the other. Do they have facts, data and evidence to support their verdicts? Or, are they influenced by stories of horrific motorcycle fatalities recited to them by friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, church members, or acquaintances at the grocery store, garden center and/or the local pub? Could there be a possibility that they might pass a mandatory helmet law due to a knee-jerk reaction to a particularly heinous accident that recently occurred and been covered by television, radio, newspaper and the internet? What are the chances that one of those decision makers was an avid rider who escaped serious injury due to donning a helmet while riding? Those questions might also lead to others, for example, about how much influence lobbyists have when it comes down to the final moments prior to the enactment or veto of a particular bill. Does a lobbyist that is pro-mandatory helmets have more â€Å"clout,† or would, for example, a group of motorcycle drivers have any influence? The typical motorcycle rider and/or the general public most likely has no idea what factors are explored prior to the determination of those who have license to make the decision as to how one should dress if they are heading out on a motorcycle. Despite empirical evidence that supports the use of helmets, avid motorcyclists argue that helmet laws violate the Ninth Amendment, which states, â€Å"no law shall be enacted that regulates the individual’s Motorcycle Helmet Laws 3 freedom to choose his personal actions and mode of dress so long as it does not in any way affect others. † Trends over the past several years have been to review and disseminate accident and other reports written by police and highway patrol officers, hospital workers, witnesses to the scene and road construction workers who may have been at the site at the time of the accident. Figures and findings resulting from the National Highway Safety Act have been accessed. Compilations from states’ motor vehicle divisions and departments of transportation have also been employed extensively to determine if enactment of mandatory helmet laws decreases injuries and deaths from motorcycle crashes. These reports and statistics, however, have not included details regarding factors such as age and/or sex of the driver, style and size of motorcycle, geographical demographics, or the number of months one rides or the time of day that the incident occurred. Published research studies regarding statistics from several states were analyzed for this assignment. Some studies include all states of America, while many others focus on a particular state or group of states. Other types of research reviewed included telephone interviews with motorcyclists, articles by motorcycle groups pertaining to published findings and observations of riders, documenting whether or not they were wearing helmets. This student has a particular interest in this subject as she rides a motorcycle. In the state where she resides (Minnesota) there is no mandatory helmet use law. Unfortunately, she is not aware of the particular reasons that her state has made the decision not to enact this law. Nevertheless, if she were extremely astute, she would have reviewed any statistics regarding her home state. The author is interested in discovering the reasoning that the â€Å"powers that be† chose to allow her to have the freedom Motorcycle Helmet Laws 4 to decide whether or not she will don a helmet prior to embarking on a journey. Her hypotheses as to the reasons are probably so far off base that she would be hesitant to admit them to another. Ultimately, her quest is to evaluate the writings and attempt to discover if mandatory helmet laws do, indeed, decrease injuries and deaths as a result of a motorcycle crash. There are a variety of reasons a motorcycle driver makes the decision as to whether to wear a helmet while riding vs. not wearing one. Some of the factors that influence this decision appear to be age, demographics (urban vs. rural living), and style and size of motorcycle. Other factors involved are where the person is riding (highway, city, side streets, rural areas, etc. ) Weather conditions and time of day (early morning, rush hour, nighttime) also should be taken into consideration. Maneuvering through hundreds of vehicles on the road and the rising or setting sun in one’s eyes have a bearing on how well a driver can see. The incidence of accidents that result in injury and fatality has fluctuated with the enactment and rescinding of mandatory helmet use. The United States federal government has had a vacillating approach to the use of motorcycle helmets since 1967, when the National Highway Safety Act (NHSA) was first passed, which required states to enforce helmet laws or be ineligible for certain funding programs at the state level. By 1976, Congress responded to pressures from individual states and motorcyclist interest groups by revoking the federal authority to assess penalties for non-compliance. Within 4 years after the NHSA was revised, 28 states repealed their mandatory helmet laws. Congress later enacted the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act in 1991, which created incentives for states to enact helmet use; yet by the fall of 1995, Congress lifted sanctions against states lacking helmet law enforcement. This final repeal set the stage for state legislatures to repeal helmet laws entirely. Only Motorcycle Helmet Laws 5 20 states currently require the use of a protective helmet for all motorcycle riders, three states do not require a helmet for any riders, and 27 states require helmet use only under specific conditions. Several studies suggest that injuries and deaths from motorcycle crashes significantly decline after the passing of mandatory helmet laws in a variety of states. Consequently, the impression one perceives is that helmet use is the panacea to obliterating any injuries and deaths from serious motorcycle mishaps. The statistics that are embodied in these studies are Death to Accident Ratios, which compare the number of deaths to the number of related accidents. Limitations of these studies are that many fail to take into account the fact that motorcycle registrations declined upon resolution of the mandatory helmet use. One such study was entitled â€Å"Motorcyclist Deaths Spike as Helmet Laws Loosen. † When one glances at the title of this report, it appears alarming and gives the impression that once a compulsory act is rescinded, anyone that hops on a motorcycle in a state that does not have the helmet law will surely perish. The finer print indicates that southern states are among those with the highest motorcycle death rates. The smallest print, even smaller than the print in the body of the findings (approximately a size 6 font), disclosed that states with a year-round riding season are those that report higher death rates during the year. It takes the findings from a small number of states and proceeds to construe these across the entire country. Consequently, how can this study be proof that motorcycle helmet use decreases injury and death from riding? In the state of Minnesota, for example, in an exemplary year weather-wise, cycle riders have the opportunity to ride for six months out of twelve. In a year where there is an unseasonably long winter, a short spring season and an early beginning for autumn, Minnesotans may have an entire riding season of only three months. Limitations to the majority of studies looked at the findings and drew conclusions Motorcycle Helmet Laws 6 based on the death to accident ratios alone. Very few attempted to delineate the number of months one would be riding, seasonal road conditions or other factors. The use of a causal model distinguished the research methodology of one particular study from other studies. This methodology appealed to this writer, as many factors can influence not only the occurrence of a motorcycle crash, but the resulting predominance or lack of injury and/or death. The causal model considered crash speed, helmet use, alcohol use and other pertinent variables in an attempt to isolate the separate contribution of each determinant of the severity of injury or probability of death. The advantage of this approach was in the ability to estimate the separate effects of several simultaneous and interrelated causes of motorcycle fatalities and injury severities. Previous studies simply divided accident victims into a helmeted group and non-helmeted group. As a result, all differences in fatality rates, injury rates and injury severities between groups were attributed to helmet use. These comparisons failed to consider other differences between helmet users and non-users which influence the probability of death and the severity of injuries. The writer’s hypothesis was that helmeted riders were more risk-averse and thus: (1) had lower pre-crash and thus crash speeds; and (2) were less likely to combine alcohol consumption and driving (Goldstein, 1986). This researcher surmised that the behaviors of riders might make the difference between the probability of fatality and severity of an injury vs. the wearing of a helmet being the deciding factor. A study conducted by the University Medical Center at Brackenridge in Austin, Texas aimed to identify risk factors leading to riding and crashing a motorcycle without a helmet and to compare outcomes of helmeted vs. unhelmeted motorcyclists involved in a motorcycle crash. This retrospective study took place over a 13-year period and employed the analysis of the trauma registry at the medical center. Data was collected regarding pre-injury characteristics such as the use of protective helmet, age, Motorcycle Helmet Laws 7 gender, ethnicity, insurance status, blood alcohol content and whether the patient was the driver or the passenger. Once more, the research conducted (above) delves into the data related to cycle crashes after the fact. And, as the majority of studies that relied on numbers and formulas concluded, unhelmeted riding was associated with more severe injuries, longer hospitalizations, increased mortality and higher hospital charges. The conclusions of this particular report pointed to three basic factors which were a departure from typical research findings. These analysts determined that independent predictors of riding without a helmet included alcohol intoxication, lack of health insurance and riding as a passenger (Brown, 2011). Some of these conclusions make sense and might seem to be obvious. One can easily understand how alcohol consumption would be a risk factor in collisions on motorcycles, as it decreases reaction time and lends itself to disinhibition on many levels. The subject of health insurance led to questions by the author of this paper. How does not having health insurance influence my decision regarding wearing a helmet? Final notations of the writing declare that education and prevention strategies should be targeted at these high-risk populations. It would be intriguing to determine how to locate this particular group to target for education and prevention. What ultimate goal did these researchers have in conducting this study? This student ponders that question and questions the validity of their closing statements. Taken together, the results indicate that mandatory helmet use laws do increase the number of motorcyclists who wear helmets while riding, thus showing a decrease in serious injury and/or fatality. The threat of being ticketed along with the probability of receiving a fine appear to be the determining Motorcycle Helmet Laws 8 factors as to whether or not a rider wears a helmet. The great majority of studies conducted were quantitative in nature and focused primarily on reviewing summaries of statistics from state reports written by various law enforcement officials. The writer of this text deemed that there may have been limitations in these particular summaries. There were several studies that appeared to employ a more qualitative methodology, however, some findings appeared to indicate the possibility of the researcher having some type of stake in the results of the evaluation, such as the project being funded by an entity that drafts insurance rates for motor vehicles. The overall impression of the qualitative results was that those that chose to delve into this issue came to the realization that many factors contribute to the incidence of injury and death caused by motorcycle collisions. It is important to understand that the ultimate decision as to wearing a helmet while riding vs. not wearing one is the burden of the rider and not of the government. Each rider must take into account those mitigating factors that might influence the success or failure of each ride on his or her motorcycle. Motorcycle Helmet Laws 9 References Auman, Kimberly M; Kufera, Joseph A; Ballesteros, Michael F; Smialek, John E; Dischinger, Patricia (2002). Autopsy study of motorcyclist fatalities: The Effect of the 1992 Maryland Helmet Use Law. American Journal of Public Health 92. 8, August 2002: 1352-5. Brown, Carlos V. R. , MD, FACS; Hijl, Kelli, MSC; Bui, Eric, MD; Tips, Gaylen, RN, MSN; Coopwood, Ben, MD, FACS (2010). Risk Factors for Riding and Crashing a Motorcycle Unhelmeted. Department of Surgery, Trauma Services, University Medical Center at Brackenridge, Austin, Texas. Cotton, Paul (1992). Highway Fund Threat Is No Easy Ride For Motorcycle Law Opponents. The Journal of the American Medical Association 268. 3, July 15, 1992, p. 311. Derrick, Allison J; Faucher, Lee D.(2009). Motorcycle Helmets and Rider Safety: A Legislative Crisis. Journal of Public Health Policy30. 2: 226-42. Eustace, Deogratias, P. E. , M. ASCE; Krishna Indupuru, Vamsi, Hovey, Peter (2011). Identification of Risk Facors Associated with Motorcycle-Related Fatalities in Ohio. Journal of Transportation Engineering/July 2011, 120-125. Goldstein, Jonathan P, PhD (2011). The Effect of Motorcycle Helmet Use on the Probability of Fatality and the Severity of Head and Neck Injuries: Highlights of Helmet Effectiveness Study. The Journal of Emergency Medicine, Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 441-446. Copyright  © 2011 Elsevier Inc. Motorcycle Helmet Laws 9 Houston, David J. , PhD; Richardson, Lilliard E, Jr. , PhD (November 2007). Motorcycle Safety and the Repeal of Universal Helmet Laws, American Journal of Public Health, 97. 11, 2063-9. Kraus, Jeff F. , MPH, PhD; Peek, Corinne, MPH; McArthur, David L. , PhD, MPH; Williams, Allan, PhD (1995). The Effect of the 1992 California Motorcycle Helmet Use Law on Motorcycle Crash Fatalities and Injuries. American Journal of Public Health, January 1995, Vol. 85, No. 1, pp. 96 – 100. McCartt, Ann T. ; Blanar, Laura; Teoh, Eric R. ; Strouse, Laura M. (1994). Overview of Motorcycling in the United States: A National Telephone Survey, Journal of Safety Research, Vol. 42, pp. 177-184. O’Neill, James MD; Scott, Charry, RRT; Kissoon, Niranjan, MD; Wludyka, Peter, PHD; Wears, Robert, MD; Luten, Robert, MD (2007). Characteristics of Motorcycle-Related Hospitalizations: Comparing States with Different Helmet Laws. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 39, Issue 1, 190-196.

American Superconductor Case

American Superconductor offer electric power infra structure from its generation to distribution. AMSC is the leader in alternate energy. The company has two main business units: AMSC power systems and AMSC Superconductors. AMSC Superconductors American Superconductor has spent nearly 18 years as public limited company developing transmission wires of high quality in order to generate and deliver power. The Company has been posting continuous losses and mostly dwindling on cash.It has however posted recently its first ever profit for the quarter ended 31st March 2009 by earning a profit of $1. 3 million or 3 cents per share. (MSN Money) Debt Verses Equity Financing Equity and debt financing both have their advantages and disadvantages explaining why most big companies select an optimal capital structure which is a mix of debt and equity. Theoretically having a higher ratio of debt in the capital structure maximizes the return on equity. The interest payments on debt are tax deductibl e and usually the cost of debt is much lower than the cost of equity.With debt financing a company pays a fixed interest payment irrespective of the amount of profit or growth it has achieved i. e. it does not have to share its profits with its creditors. For a profitable company requiring extra capital, â€Å"debt financing† is the best option because with debt financing it does not have to share its profits or the ownership of the business with others. Equity injection however results in further dilution of earnings and management control. With the above argument one may feel that debt financing is the best option.Debt financing is a good option as long as the company has huge profits and liquid assets to support it. For a business that is facing losses, debt payments can be a huge burden in the form of interest payments. The creditors will have to be paid while the stockholders on the other hand will not get any dividends since the company is only making a loss. We can the refore say that equity financing puts less of a burden on a company’s financials when profitability is depleting or business is posting a loss.Higher equity percentage in the capital structure impacts the financial ratios of the company positively. Restructuring to 100% Equity It all started after the 2003 black out which occurred due to the over load of power grids and American Superconductors stocks surged by nearly 42% as an expectation that the quality wires manufactured by American Superconductors could be used to relieve congestion on the power grids. The company took this situation as an opportunity and the managers and board of directors decided to forgo debt financing of $50 million and adopt an equity financing strategy.The company raised $51. 1 million by selling shares which helped strengthen the balance sheet and enhanced the liquidity condition of the company. American Superconductors however continued making losses, but conversion of capital structure to 100% e quity allowed the company to reduce its interest expense significantly. Since higher leverages magnifies return on equity of a profitable business but also maximizes the loss by putting additional pressure on the profit and loss account of a company.AMSC after converting to 100% equity capital structure saved millions of dollars every year in terms of interest expense. Recently AMSC has posted its first profit since the capital restructuring in 2003. If AMSC had not converted to equity financing it would have had a major problem financing its cash needs and credit worthiness would have gotten worse. The Debt to Equity ratio would have increased and debt would have gotten more and more expensive for the company thus increasing the interest expense of the company and it may have never became profitable.Long term debt continues to be zero whereas the number of outstanding shares can be seen increasing from 19. 7 million shares to 41. 5 million shares. Conclusion American Superconductor being a technology company had to face many challenges such as failed projects, higher cost of business and ever changing environment. Board of Directors in my opinion took a very good decision by not using long term debt in their capital structure. AMSC has been a subject of criticism but it has finally posted a profit and if it stays profitable they might want to rethink their optimal capital structure.

Burberry Case Study Essay

1. The Burberry brand has be come a symbol of both luxury and durability. The brand has been repositioned to a niche market between cutting-edge fashion apparel, like Armani, and classic fashion apparel, like Polo Ralph Lauren. Burberry has also excelled in the accessories market, positioning itself between the Coach and Gucci brands. Burberry does not want to be cutting-edge fashion and at the same time, does not want to be viewed as just classic, as this market is already saturated with other brands. Burberry represents â€Å"accessible luxury†, meaning they were fashionable, but also functional. Burberry’s competitive position is sustainable over the long-term providing that the industry itself remains stable. Burberry’s competitors, like Ralph Lauren, have proven that they can maintain their position over the long-term in both low-end traditional and high-end fashion markets so I believe Burberry has the capability to do the same. Burberry maintains its posit ion of fashionable and functional. If they can do this, the barrier to entry for this niche should remain too high for competitors to enter. 2. Since her arrival at Burberry, Rose Marie Bravo set out to make Burberry â€Å"great from a global perspective†. She attempted to do this by implementing multiple key changes to the Burberry brand. These changes include repositioning the brand, updating the product line, establishing flagship stores, expanding the brand portfolio, and promoting the new brand image. Bravo was able to reposition the Burberry brand into the category of luxury brand. She did so by filling an empty gap in the market, between that of classic fashion and cutting-edge fashion. The goal of this change was to attract younger customers while retaining their core customer base. While repositioning a brand is always risky, finding a niche market and not directly competing with these other luxury brands helped Burberry to minimize some of the risk from the change. Burberry also limited risk by catering to both fashion and function. The next change that Bravo made was to update the product line. Bravo and her team drastically cut the number of products from 100,000 to 24,000, eliminating outdated designs and creating a consistent look across all of their products. They began to classify their products into two separate categories: continuity or fashion-oriented. The continuity products, such as the classic trench coat, were expected to have a life cycle that lasted  over a number of years. The fashion-oriented products were designed to react to the newest fashion trends and typically only had a seasonal life cycle. These changes significantly reduced the risk of the Burberry transformation. Burberry had three primary collections: womenswear, menswear, and accessories. The womenswear line expanded from its traditional focus on winter and autumn season to include apparel for the spring and summers seasons as well, appealing to a broader range of customers. The meanswear collection was very â€Å"cross-generational†, spanning from young urban professionals to older, classic men. The accessories collection was not as fashion oriented and also did not have to accommodate different size variations, so therefore it generated less risk than the apparel collections. The establishment of flagship stores has also helped to minimize risk by acting as a testing ground for new concepts and designs before they are distributed to a wider market. Also, Burberry has maintained a strong vision and consistent voice, which has helped establish it’s brand image and maintain its brand credibility. By expanding the brand portfolio from just the company’s core label, Burberry London, into the high end with it’s Prorsum label, Burberry was able to reinforce it’s new positioning in the luxury market. Expanding into this market does come with added risk, given the volatility of the high-end fashion market. The Prorsum label is able to mitigate some of this risk by providing Burberry with a â€Å"laboratory for ideas† that they are able to implement into other areas of their business. Burberry was also able to mitigate the risk of the transition by successfully promoting it’s new brand image. Burberry was able to portray itself as a heritage brand while at the same time associating itself with a trendier, more modern look.

Internet Security Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Internet Security - Coursework Example Availability- Ensuring that the resources of the server and the data are up and running whenever needed. It is very crucial to ensure that any system downtime is not attributed to security compromise. For instance, the employees in different cities are able to access the information in the server located at the data canter. Non-repudiation: ensuring that all the computer users are liable for their actions in the organization’s computer or system. For instance, when someone’s user credential is used to login to a computer, that person is answerable for that action. Authentication – strives to verify that the person trying to perform an action is the right one. For example, one has to enter the email and the password to his or her email messages. Access control- strives at ensuring that the only person with exclusive control of computer resources has the authority. For instance, the company CISO should be the only one who has full control of user accounts. (b) Brie fly explain what vulnerabilities and controls are, and how they relate to each other. You may use an example to further illustrate the concepts. Vulnerability in computer or information security is a loop hole or a weakness that can be exploited by an attacker to compromise the security of the computer system. It is a combination of three key features: system flaw, ability of the attacker to access flaw and the attacker’s to capability to exploit the weakness. Security controls are countermeasures or safeguards implemented to prevent, lower or counteract any computer or network security risk. There are three major classes of controls. These are preventive controls, detective controls and corrective controls. A good example of a preventive control is the use of antimalware programs to prevent malware infections on the system. A monitoring system that tracks the system use is an example of a detective control while files and data recovery software used to retrieve lost data is a corrective control. The management of vulnerability is the basis of identifying the right system controls since it involves identification, classification, remedying and mitigating the flaw. (c) Discuss the use of controls. What principles need to be considered to maximise the effectiveness of controls that are in place in a computing system? Security control can be considered effective when applied in the right way. The security controls can be there but when one fails to use them effectively, they become less significant. There are three major classes of controls. These are preventive controls, detective controls and corrective controls. There are three principles that need to be considered to ensure maximum security. These are: The principle of effectives which insist that the security controls are effective they are applied in the right ways. Weakest link principle- there should be no point of weakness in a security control. Principle of easiest attack- the attacker always tri es to identify the weakest point to compromise the security. The weakest points are not necessarily the obvious link. 2. Wireless security requires addressing different aspects when compared with the case of wired networks. (a) Firewalls are a popular mechanism for protecting a network against a variety of threats. Give an overview of the different types of firewalls that exist, and describe their characteristics. According to Gregg (2010), firewalls

Business Marketing Channels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business Marketing Channels - Essay Example Hence, a business marketing channel can be described as a group of interdependent businesses working together right from the product or service source to the endpoint – in this case the consumer – with the aim of delivering the services or products. From this definition, it is noted that a business marketing channel does not involve one business but a group of interdependent businesses. Interdependent means that the businesses involved rely on other members to function and that one member alone is not enough to define a business marketing channel. This interdependence is a fundamental feature of a business marketing channel, where all businesses work together to ensure that their products and services are delivered at the right time and to the right place (Rosenbloom, 2011). It is evident that a business marketing channel is a process that takes time to complete. Even when the process is completed, a connection is built up between the business and the consumer. Two ques tions arise: 1) Why do businesses use business marketing channels? , and 2) What roles do they perform? This paper seeks to answer these questions through explanations and descriptions that pertain to business marketing channels. Companies usually collaborate with distributors. When a company produces a product or service, the company has to find means to deliver either to the consumer. It is for this reason that companies utilize marketing channels. Companies have to determine the most appropriate marketing channel. By using marketing channels, companies are able to obtain more marketing opportunities as the product or service is transacted along the marketing channel. On many occasions companies make use of distributors (McDonalds & Wilson, 2011). A distributor can be another company that specializes in buying from the source company in large quantities and selling to others, in

The roles and influences of the various actors and groups involved in Essay

The roles and influences of the various actors and groups involved in policy-making - Essay Example Thus, tourism, for any State, creates job opportunities, bringing in money, while forming a cost-effective measure to revive ‘run-down communities’ (ibid). A sustainable and well-managed tourism sector is environmentally advantageous for the country, subsequently assisting in elevating the quality of lives for the local inhabitants. Thus it is imperative that public policies on an economic sector as important as tourism be carefully framed, keeping in mind various aspects like economic development of the chosen location, sustainability of the entire project, amongst many others. Policies, in both public and private sectors, provide a framework for making decisions, and help to connect the process of strategy planning with actual implementation (Wheelen and Hunger, 1990). Tourism policy is can be viewed as "a set of regulations, rules, guidelines, directives, and development objectives and strategies† (Goeldner, Ritchie & McIntosh 2000, 445). In tourism policymaking , the focus would involve around creating guidelines for the development of sustainable tourism along with a plan for future measures and developmental route (Jenkins 2000). The Tourism industry in any country includes other business sectors like hospitality services, museums, heritage sites, various events, and transportation, thus making it imperative that besides the governmental authorities, various actors and groups form other business sectors remain involved or taken under consideration while framing policies for tourism. This essay will examine the various actors and groups that remain involved in tourism policymaking, the levels of influence of the various groups involved in tourism policy-making and how this has changed over time, and evaluate the linkages and/or partnerships that exist between groups involved in tourism policy-making especially in the context of UK tourism policymaking. Discussion A brief analysis of tourism industry in UK: UK tourism primarily is domestic based, and figures (fig 1) show that UK residents make more than â€Å"1bn overnight trips and day visits† annually, which comes to a count of nearly of 17 trips per person residing in UK, subsequently leading to almost ?67bn being circulated within UK economy each year (Tourism-Alliance, Tourism: Britain’s best opportunity for sustainable economic growth and new employment, 2010, 1). Fig 1: Domestic Tourism Expenditure by Destination. Here we find that redistribution of expenditure within UK tourism occurs mainly from urban centres like large cities and towns, and moves towards small villages and communities that live near the sea. (Source: Tourism-Alliance, Tourism: Britain’s best opportunity for sustainable economic growth and new employment, 2010, 1). In the arena of international tourism, UK is a popular destination, with large number of foreign visitors coming in each year. These overseas tourists act as a booster for the UK economy (as shown in fig 2), a s they bring in annual revenue worth almost ?19bn (which is worth more than the revenues earned from North Sea oil). Of the revenue generated the foreign tourists, nearly â€Å"?3.5bn goes straight to the Exchequer through Air Passenger Duty and VAT to help fund health, education and other public services†

The Russo-Japanese War. Japans Coming of Age Essay

The Russo-Japanese War. Japans Coming of Age - Essay Example attle hours before the formal declaration of war was delivered; Japan developed a tactic that was to become her hall mark years later (the "sneak attack.")4 Technically not a violation, because of the ultimatum, Japan mastered this diplomatic concealment tactic along with the same concealment tactic on the battlefield. The Battle of Mukden, in Manchuria saw the first uses of suppressive fire to help a "pincer" flanking movement encircle an enemy. A highly successful military tactic that has been widely used in numerous battles from WWII, to Generals Gaip's surrounding of the French at Dien Binh Phu, Vietnam. Even modern day generals, like American General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, used this tactic in Desert Storm I - "Hail Mary."5 The significance of these tactics are important only became they directly influenced the eventual outcome of the war. Of course the butchery associated with the battles and the willingness of the Japanese soldier to sacrifice his life in battle, has also led to scars on the Japanese people that will long stand in the minds of historians. The actual outcome of the war was not as significant as the perception the world had on that outcome. The statistics (Imperial Russia, Strength 500,000, Casualties 25,331 Killed 146,032 Wounded; Empire of Japan, Strength 400,000, Casualties 47,387 Killed 173,425 Wounded6) are skewed by the summary affects the perception had on Russia and Japan. From a statistical point, all must conclude that Japan lost and Russia won this war. Japan had 87% more fatalities than Russia and 29% more total casualties. From a body count Japan should surely have been considered the looser; however, that count alone does not signify the outcome. Most major battles were won by the Japanese (even though they may have had... Both powers, Russia and Japan, desired to increase their â€Å"sphere of influence† within the Asian continent, mainly at the expense of China. Japan had been forced to open its doors to Western influence by America in 1854 and the 250-year rule of the Shoguns was brought to a close by Emperor Mutsuhito (Meiji - enlightened rule - 1868-1912.) Feudal systems were abolished and western attitudes on trade were introduced and embraced. Japan desired to become a global leader like the European nations of that time. Russia, on the other hand, believed they had the strongest military in the world. It was recognized by other European nations that Russia was an established world power, with all the rights and privileges that afforded. Appearing as a world power, Russia had internal turmoil that was secretly plotting the loss to Japan in Asia that was to follow. The loss of the Russian Fleet and territories was not received well in Russia. With the loss of Russian prestige in the war th e esteem of the monarchy was also lost. The country’s coffers were drained by the cost of the expensive Trans Siberian Railroad project ending with this costly war. Japan on the other hand was seen as a victor. The nation was upset with many of the terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth but the world saw the Japanese as a growing power. More importantly the Asian countries noticed that another Asian country could defeat a large European nation. For Japan the territorial land grab was just starting. Each of Japan’s subsequent action fortified her belief in Japanese superiority and Asian Influence Rights led by Japan. This belief would culminate with the creation of the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere and ultimately be challenged 36 years later.

The Financial Analysis of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Research Paper

The Financial Analysis of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group - Research Paper Example   The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS Group) carries out its business activities in the United Kingdom, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East, with more than thirty mullion customers. Large corporations, institutions, and individuals are among the customers, that the group provides its products to (RBS Group, 2013). Despite the adverse effects of the financial and economic crises that faced the world and the United Kingdom, banks and the economy of the United Kingdom began this year with a stronger position, compared to last year (Accenture, 2012). The last five years have been characterized by poor performance among many companies. In the United Kingdom, the banking industry is unique. This is because it is large and diversified, accommodating a large international industry (Accenture, 2012). As a result, competition is great, and individual banks have to analyze their strategies to ensure superior performance in the financial markets, given the volatile, current and future economic conditions. Income Statement Analysis From the common size income statement of the Royal Bank of Scotland, it is evident that revenue has been decreasing each subsequent year, for the last three years. For instance, the bank’s revenue for 2012 was 17, 941 Million, compared to revenue of ?24,651Million earned in 2011 and 31, 798 Million earned in 2010 (RBS Group, 2013, p, 45). This trend shows that revenue has been decreasing significantly. Subsequently, the Bank’s operating loss increased significantly, over the three years. In 2010, the Royal Bank of Scotland had an operating loss of 469 Million. In 2011 the operating loss increased to   1,190 Million, while it further increased to 5,165 Million in 2012. The same trend was recorded in loss after tax of the Royal Bank of Scotland for the three years of analysis. For instance, the Royal Bank of Scotland recorded a loss after tax of 1,033 Million in 2010, while the figure increased to 2,317 Million and 5,806 M illion for 2011 and 2012 respectively (RBS Group, 2013). This resulted in a loss for the period of 1,666 Million in 2010, which increased to 1,969 Million in 2011 and 5,806 Million in 2012 (RBS Group, 2013, p, 45). The Royal Bank of Scotland has never made any dividend payment for the last three years, probably because it has been making losses from its business. Given that the Royal Bank of Scotland has been making losses for the last three years, the earnings per share portray a negative value. For example in 2010, the earnings per share for the Royal Bank of Scotland were -5.00p, while in 2011 and 2012 recorded earnings per share of -2.13p and -53.70p, respectively (Hargreaves Lansdown, 2013).  Ã‚  

Intervention Informed by Theory- Critical Exploration, Explanation and Essay

Intervention Informed by Theory- Critical Exploration, Explanation and Demonstration of Intervention Form - Essay Example The present research has identified that experiential learning offers an alternative and needed a mode of learning for many of Scotland’s youth, which in the regular course of their traditional schooling are in a way deprived of more experiential learning modes because of an emphasis on book and academic learning for most of the academic year. Experiential youth learning via targeted interventions that deal with sensitive and potentially traumatic life circumstances have great value for those involved, and for the larger community too. Often young people in difficult situations have no one to turn to, and academics and school learning seem irrelevant in such instances. The experiences are too raw, and the impact not always fully understood, and there is a need to provide avenues for processing those experiences and to transform them into learning and self-improvement opportunities. It is not difficult to see, moreover, from the wealth of academic literature on the various aspe cts of experiential learning as they apply in youth learning contexts that there is a rich and fertile ground for exploration that is available for both educators and learners. The literature is rich and therefore there is enough theoretical grounding to be able to successfully launch an exploration of an intervention along these lines, and in the process come up with a robust approach and a viable set of techniques to give flesh to the proposed intervention here. The richness of the literature pertains to the value of experiential learning to process youth experiences that are often difficult to do so otherwise. In the context of this discussion, when we talk of experiential learning or learning that is experience-based, we are referring to the same set of concepts tied to that learning mode where the learner and his or her experiences are central to the learning process or are the starting points of the learning process.

Beliefs of E-Commerce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Beliefs of E-Commerce - Essay Example Comfort Bikers adopted many advertising and marketing techniques to sustain profitability and enjoy customer loyalty without any success though. In the light of highly advanced technologies that are making their presence felt, Comfort Bikers needs to soon get its act together and come up with a business plan focusing to cash on fast emerging e-commerce practices, especially through the use of a website created for their brand name. Creating a website and making sure that it serves the desired objectives and business perspectives, it’s important that business model and the technology used to create the website is strategically thought out and well planned in advance (wps.prenhall, 2010). Most famous online business models that have been modified by businesses to suit their specific needs are Product Sales, Service Sales, and Information Delivery. Comfort Bikes though can adopt a business model that should assist them not only in making profits, but also in ensuring sustained pr ofitability and overall growth. From this perspective, it’s most advisable for the company to come up with a business model that effectively integrates the features and advantages of the three mentioned models above. Its business model should serve customers of all three categories; ones seeking to buy a bike or get the servicing done of their owned bikes or customers intending to gain information about their various options regarding bikes. Internet presence will ensure open communication with customers, enable superior customer relationship by improving the services provided, and will also help the company expand its business horizons. Quick information, improved feedback and suggestions, and more channels of revenue increase will be available for Comfort Bikes to ensure successful sustenance in today’s chaotic economy. Creating a website for business expansion is not only worthwhile in its perspective customer reach, but also is one of the most financially viable op tions. The required functionality of the websites to start with would not require more than five pages, one each dedicated to receiving new orders, servicing orders, information assistance, customer assistance, and business associations respectively. This will ensure clear and comfortable navigation for all the potential stakeholders in the Comfort Bikes (energizingentrepreneurs, 2010). At the end, the investment needed in getting the website up would not be profoundly expensive as the requirement of the technical specification will include generic software like Adobe Flash Player, Illustrator, and Point-Order Software for e-commerce transaction including the payment gateways etc. Hardware requirement will include a server, printer, and scanner to maintain and record hard copies of orders, receipts etc.. Adapting the business model to expand its customer reach through the most happening and evergrowing marketing tool, Internet, would ensure rapid success for Comfort Bikes. The websi te will also give the company an ideal platform to grow and gain sustained competitive edge in future. References Digital Enterpreises. (2010). Business Models on the Web. Retrieved November 24, 2011, from http://digitalenterprise.org/models/models.html Energizing Enterpreneurs. (2010). E-Commerce as a Business

Literature review on competitive advantage Essay

Literature review on competitive advantage - Essay Example The concept of competitive advantage has evolved over the past few decades and has now become an integral part of strategic management of any organization. Much research has been conducted on the attainment of competitive advantage and effective ways to sustain it. This literature review aims to explain the concept of competitive advantage in the light of different authors, along with their proposals of effective strategies to sustain it. Few examples have been chosen from the available literature to highlight the practical implementation of the concepts of competitive advantage. 2. Literature Review The concept of competitive advantage was introduced in the study of strategic management by Ansoff (1965). His ideas and propositions are known to form the basis of vital aspects of the development of growth strategy of any organization. Lowy and Hood (2004) quoted Ansoff (1965) and stated that his extensive experience and research in the field of diversification planning, highlighted re levant aspects and issues that should be considered for an effective growth strategy. Hindle (2008) also discussed the contributions of Ansoff and stated that some of the valuable contributions of Ansoff’s work in the field of strategic management are related to the attainment of competitive advantage and core competencies. Priemand and Butler (2001) pointed out that Ansoff’s work seemed to stress on the relevance of industry-based factors (threats and opportunities) more than the resource-based ones (weaknesses and strengths). Dix and Mathews (2002) provided a basis of strategy formulation and explained the attainment of competitive advantage; he stated that the development of strategic decisions involve the analysis of the core competencies and resources of the company. Prahalad and Hamel (2003) also considered the identification of core competencies as an important aspect of competitive advantage. The core competencies, that are unique and distinguishing from the co mpetitors, can serve to become the competitive advantage if they are availed in the presence of good opportunities in the market. The concept of competitive advantage was further researched upon by Porter (1998). Porter explained the formulation of a competitive strategy as the broad plan of how businesses should compete in the market (in the presence of various environmental factors) to meet their goals. It also involves the policies according to which goals and objectives of the organization can be met. Porter also stated that competitive advantage can be explained as the combination of having low expenses, differentiation value for the company and a strategy that enables the company to focus on their main objectives. Porter (1998) accumulated all the aspects that might be related to the attainment of competitive advantage onto a single page. He described it as the ‘Wheel of Competitive Strategy’. The underlying bases of the strategy are the basic goals that are aspir ed to be achieved by the company and the vision which is set as the main direction of the company. Various aspects on the rim of the wheel, like marketing, product line, finance and control etc have to be considered to attain competitive advantage in the market, while being influenced by the main vision of the company.

Bloody civil war Essay Example for Free

Bloody civil war Essay The final two chapters of the novel, Ike tries to discover and understand the history of his own family and the way in which they had treated the blacks. He even attempts to make amendments to one of them, by sending some money. The brief chronicle that he finds of his family helps him reconstruct some parts of the history. He remembers for example, the little hut in which all the black people were herded together, and the way in which the whites manufactures bleaching substances for the blacks to use so as to change their color: â€Å"[†¦]the square, galleried, wooden building squatting like a portent above the fields whose laborers it still held in thrall 65 or no and placarded over with advertisements for snuff and cures for chills and salves and potions manufactured and sold by white men to bleach the pigment and straighten the hair of Negroes that they might resemble the very race which for two hundred years had held them in bondage and from which for another hundred years not even a bloody civil war would have set them completely free[†¦. ]†(Faulkner, 245) This forced change of hair color is very significant: the author emphasizes the fact that the whites wanted to transform the black and make them as themselves, a race however quite imperfect since it is the one that invented slavery. Neither the land nor the people can be bought, since they have been left to live free by the creator of the world. Man’s possession of land or of slaves only imaginary, since these primary things cannot be bought: â€Å"Bought nothing. Because He told in the Book how He created the earth, made it and looked at it and said it was all right, and then He made man. He made the earth first and peopled it with dumb creatures, and then He created man to be His overseer on earth[†¦]Because it was never Ikkemotubbes fathers fathers to bequeath Ikkemotubbe to sell to Grandfather or any man because on the instant when Ikkemotubbe discovered, realised, that he could sell it for money, on that instant it ceased ever to have been his forever, father to father to father, and the man who bought it bought nothing. † (247) In the family’s brief chronicle, Ike discovers many of the iniquities that were common at the time, in what regarded the black people. His grandfather had had sons and daughters of the black slaves, and never acknowledged them. Also, the contracts done between the blacks and the whites were invalid, since the black man had no way to claim his rights or to prove them, since he was usually even unable to read: â€Å"and it would seem to the boy that he could actually see the black man, the slave whom his white owner had forever manumitted by the very act from which the black man could never be free so long as memory lasted, entering the commissary, asking permission perhaps of the white mans son to see the ledger-page which he could not even read, not even asking for the white mans word, which he would have had to accept for the reason that there was absolutely no way under the sun for him to test it[†¦]†(256) Ike ironically observes the extent of the injustice done to the children that were not acknowledged because they were black, and the way in which they were usually simply given a sum of money to make amends: â€Å"So I reckon that was cheaper than saying My son to a nigger he thought. Even if My son wasnt but just two words. † (259) Thus, Faulkner’s novel is centered around the idea of the essential freedom given by nature to any creature. The bear is a symbol for this freedom, and his spirit is akin to that of the blacks and Indians: â€Å"[†¦]an old bear, fierce and ruthless not just to stay alive but ruthless with the fierce pride of liberty and freedom, jealous and proud enough of liberty and freedom to see it threatened not with fear nor even alarm but almost with joy, seeming deliberately to put it into jeopardy in order to savor it and keep his old strong bones and flesh supple and quick to defend and preserve it; an old man, son of a Negro slave and an Indian king, inheritor on the one hand of the long chronicle of a people who had learned humility through suffering and learned pride through the endurance which survived the suffering, and on the other side the chronicle of a people even longer in the land than the first. † (Faulkner, 267) The same ideas appear in the short story called That Evening Sun, but the author here emphasizes the barrier that existed between the blacks and the whites. The story, which has the same characters of the Compson family as The Sound and the Fury, is centered on a black servant called Nancy and on her agony at having been left by her husband and the terror that he might return and kill her. Nancy is terribly beaten by the police when she tries to claim her pay from a white man, and then locked up: â€Å"When you going to pay me, white man? When you going to pay me, white man? Its been three times now since you paid me a cent-‘ Mr. Stovall knocked her down, but she kept on saying, When you going to pay me, white man? Its been three times now since—‘ until Mr. Stovall kicked her in the mouth with his heel and the marshal caught Mr. Stovall back, and Nancy lying in the street, laughing. She turned her head and spat out some blood and teeth and said, ‘Its been three times now since he paid me a cent. ’†(Faulkner, 289) The story focuses on the impressive agony of the woman and her loneliness, as the whites refuse to comfort her in any way. The prejudices against the blacks are again obvious: as in The Bear, the villagers remark that a black person would never commit suicide, unless under the power of a drug: â€Å"He said that it was cocaine and not whiskey, because no nigger would try to commit suicide unless he was full of cocaine, because a nigger full of cocaine was not a nigger any longer. †(Faulkner, 291) The idea of the white people is that the black have no feelings and no inner life of their own, and that they live mostly like beasts, therefore could never have the impulse to suicide. The woman tries to cling to the children’s company in her distress and her fear of the husband that she thinks will come after her. The recurrent remark that she makes, saying that she is no more than a nigger is very significant. She underlies the fact that she is actually perceived as only a nigger, and that even she feels like that: â€Å"I aint nothing but a nigger, Nancy said. ‘It aint none of my fault. ’† (Faulkner, 296) She cannot escape her race, and, although she feels she has an inner life she does not have an identity to associate it with. The last fragment of the story is of utter importance: Quentin, the storyteller remains listening to the sounds made by Nancy after they live her house, and hints at the barrier between the white and the black. The whites merely live her and her problems, as she is not considered to be important enough for further consideration: â€Å"But we could still hear her. She began as soon as we were out of the house, sitting there above the fire, her long brown hands between her knees. We could still hear her when we had crossed the ditch, Jason high and close and little about fathers head. Then we had crossed the ditch, walking out of Nancys life. Then her life was sitting there with the door open and the lamp lit, waiting, and the ditch between us and us going on, dividing the impinged lives of us and Nancy. â€Å"(Faulkner, 300) Thus, Faulkner describes the lives of the black and white people in the Southern world with great insight, emphasizing the essential freedom of man as of nature, and the impossibility to possess or reduce them and limit their importance. Works Cited: Abadie, Ann J. Faulkner in Cultural Context. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1997. Clark, Jim. â€Å"On Faulkner. † The Mississippi Quarterly. http://www. questia. com/app/direct/SM. qst Faulkner, William. Collected Stories of William Faulkner. New York: Random House, 1950. Three Famous Short Novels. New York, Vintage Books, 1958. Singal, Daniel J. William Faulkner: The Making of the Modernist. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997. â€Å"William Faulkner†. http://www. kirjasto. sci. fi/faulkner. htm

The Battleship Potemkin In Relation To Formalism Film Studies Essay

The Battleship Potemkin In Relation To Formalism Film Studies Essay There are many different approaches that try and answer the question What is Cinema? each with their own idea and beliefs of what film should be and how the medium should be used. From the beginning there have been to main approaches to film, the Realist and the Formalist. The realist approach attempts to copy reality placing a great emphasis on location and mise-en-scene. The Formalist approach supports a style of film making which displays the directors vision of the world, greater emphasis is placed on distorting reality to create meaning. Sergei Eisenstein was a director that used this approach to film making and in this essay I will analyse his film The Batteship Potemkin (1925) according to his theory of montage and the Formalist film approach. The Formalist approach believes that structure of a film is in symbiosis with its medium, therefore changing the shot types and editing out of continuity seems to be the right thing to do. Although one could say the Formalism is related to expressionism because they both emphasize that film should not merely imitate events as they occur in real life, but should produce edited version of reality (Fourie, 2001, 200). In his piece Beyond The Shot [The Cinematographic Principle And The Ideogram] Eisenstein explains the similarities between montage and hieroglyphs. He explains how when the symbols used in hieroglyphs are looked at on their own, they do not necessarily make much sense but when two hieroglyphs are placed next to each other they are seen as a complete image. He gives the example of the representation of water and of an eye signifies to weep' (Eisenstein, 1929, 16). He explains how the combinations of hieroglyphs literally show what in film is called a montage. A single shot within a film does not convey any real meaning unless it is combined with another shot. He also explains how in a hai-kai each line helps to convey an entire image or feeling for example Ancient monastery. Cold moon. Wolf howling (KIKKO, in Eisenstein, 1929, 17). In this example you can imagine each line on its own, but when they are put together they create a full image, or a sequence or a complete meaning Eisenste in refers to them as montage phrases, montage lists (Eisenstein, 1929, 17) Montage has been established by the Soviet film as the nerve of cinema (Eisenstein, 1929, 140). Soviets developed the idea of a dialectical montage: a constant collision of one shot (the thesis) with another shot (the antithesis) to create a totally new meaning (the synthesis). For Eisenstein the brick by brick method of montage made no sense, the collision of shots would evoke feelings and understanding in the audience as they would put the shots together themselves and therefore the meaning and understanding would be personal, even if the director implied a certain message, each viewer may read the sequence differently. Eisensteins proposal of montage as a series of collisions to create meaning is supported by the collision theory in particle science which states that the particles first have to collide, and only the collisions that have sufficient energy will cause a reaction.. For the collisions to happen and for them to create meaning there had to be conflict present. In another one of his essays, A Dialectical Approach To Film Form, Eisenstein states that Art is always in conflict (Eisenstein, 1929, 138). Eisenstein was more interested in how, through the use of editing, composition, sound and perspective, conflict could be created within an image. He therefore came up with a list of possible conflicts within a shot, or conflicts between the colliding shots which are Graphic conflict, Conflict of planes, Conflict of volume, Spatial conflict, light conflict and tempo conflict (Eisenstein, 1929, 144). By looking at the frame as the foundation of montage, Eisenstein was able to apply the values of montage to each seperate shot, and then create conflict between the shots to generate powerful emotional and intellectual reactions from the audience. In the film The Battleship Potemkin Eisenstein displays his view of montage as being a series of conflicting images, throughout the whole film. For example the In The Battleship Potemkin, Eisenstein creates a tense and aggressive rhythm with thie theory of dialectic montage. Furthermore, he passes on a certain observation of history to the audience through his editing. Taken as a whole the collision approach tries to signify the conflict and collision of history itself and at the same time the technique when applied to individual scenes impose certain emotional focus and response of the audience. Start analysing scences from the film after explaining the conflict thing Then talk about the manipulation of people through the use of montage editing Propaganda Passive audience Vs. Active audience conclude

Time Dispersion Parameters

Time Dispersion Parameters When a signal is transmitted, this signal can suffer a distortion caused by reflections and scattered propagation paths in the radio channel, and these phenomenons cause that an identical signal arrives at different times at its destination. These different times are due that to the signal arrives via multiple paths and in different incident angles. The time difference between the arrival moment of the first multipath component and the last one is called delay spread. In order to compare different multipath channels and to develop some general design guidelines for wireless systems, some parameters are used to quantify the multipath channel. Some of these multipath parameters are the mean excess delay, rms delay spread, and maximum excess delay, and can be determined from a power delay profile. However, the mean excess delay and the rms delay spread are frequently used to quantify the time dispersive properties of wide band multipath channels. Mean Excess Delay The Mean Excess Delay is the first moment of the power delay profile (PDP) and is defined by RMS Delay Spread The root-mean-square (RMS) delay spread is probably the most important single measure for the delay time extent of a multipath radio channel. This parameter calculates the standard deviation value of the delay of reflections, weighted proportional to the energy in the reflected waves. This parameter can be considered like the square root of the second central moment of the power delay profile and is defined by We must take into consideration that these delay are measured relative to the first detectable signal arriving at the receiver at = 0, and their equations do not rely on the absolute power level of P(),but only the relative amplitudes of the multipath components within P(). Maximum Excess Delay (X dB) The maximum excess delay (X dB) of the power delay profile is defined as the time delay value after which the multipath energy falls to X dB below the maximum multipath energy (not necesarily belonging to the first arriving component). It is also called excess delay spread, but in all cases must be specified with a threshold that relates the multipath noise floor to the maximum received multipath component. The values of these time dispersion parameters also depend on the noise threshold used to process P(), and if this noise is set too low, then the noise will be processed as multipath and thus causing the parameters to be higher. Environment Coherence Bandwidth Coherence bandwidth is a statistical measure of the range of frequencies over which the channel can be considered flat. If we define Coherence Bandwidth (BC) as the range of frequencies over which the frequency correlation is above 0.9, then If we define Coherence Bandwidth as the range of frequencies over which the frequency correlation is above 0.5, then The coherence bandwidth of the channel gives a good indication about the frequency variations of the channel in relation to the bandwidth of the transmitted signal. We can have two different cases, depending on this bandwidth. If a signal with a bandwidth larger than Bc is transmitted through the channel, it will be subject to frequency selective distortion. The channel will be, in this case, referred to as a frequency selective fading channel. However, if the signal transmitted has a bandwidth considerably less than Bc, it will experience amplitude attenuation only with no distortion since the channel characteristics will be the same all over the spectrum of the signal. In this case the channel is referred to as a frequency non-selective (flat) fading channel.

The Challenge of Communication between Men and Women Essay -- Personal

He looks at me with big puppy dog eyes and says,"Kate, do you really want me to stay?" HELLO! Now, you have to understand that I don't want to make decisions for him, and I don't want to be controlling, so I say, "It's your decision." Wow, that is the number one clue; if you get that line you'd better stay with her. Why can't you just listen to me? I don't want your advice; I just want you to listen!" I yelled. "I did listen to you; you could have done something to prevent that problem!" my boyfriend replied. That was the gist of our last argument. We concluded that we were just different people. Well, of course we are different people. I am a woman, and he is a man. That's right; I am a woman, and why can't a man understand what a woman wants? Come on--we give them all the right clues; we basically feed it to them. (They might as well just roll over and drool.) The truth is, men and women communicate in different ways; we talk, listen, and act differently. This fact can create some major misunderstandings and even arguments. I am a woman, so I have a pretty good idea of what a woman wants. So listen up boys! Men and woman actually think differently. For example, a man and a woman are having a professional conversation. As the man talks, the woman nods her head, and the man thinks, "Oh great, she agrees with me." (Where the heck does he get off thinking that?) The woman actually nods her head to show she understands what is going on. Now why don't men pick up this good habit of nodding the head? I mean, come on, when I am trying to explain something to a man he just stares at me. (Do I have to repeat everything ten times before a man says or shows me that he understands what I am saying?) Being a woman, I understand ... ... play dumb, so men you better start picking up the obvious clues we lay down in front of you. There is no other way to explain it--men and women are just simply different. We think, act, and talk differently, and overall we communicate differently. It's no wonder men and women get in so many arguments. To each man and to each woman, their point of view is very clear. However, every woman knows, just as every man knows, that a woman is always right, and that what a woman wants is just what she should get! Works Cited "English Language by Gender." Geocities.Com 26 October 2000 http://www.geocities.com/a3a17013/jokes/genderlang.htm Wood, Julia. Communication in Our Lives. New York: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2000. Center for Applications of Psychological Type. The Myers Briggs Type Indicator. Gainesville: Consulting Psychologist Press, Inc., 1988.

Antlantic city :: essays research papers

Atlantic City   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Great Transformation From A Casino City To a Resort Destination Atlantic City is the place to gamble on the East Coast. Although this may initially seem to be a positive characteristic, it is evident that this destination has the capability to be so much more than it already is. This point of interest has the world’s first boardwalk, which opened in 1881, has 4 miles of hotels, amusements, and casinos. Atlantic City was originally a resort town, until 1978, when it changed into a gaming city. This popular day-trip destination had over 34 million visitors in 1998 alone. Despite this amazing statistic, along with the revenue that gambling brings in, many steps are being taken in order to further promote the expansion of this great city. The renovations and improvements being made to the Atlantic City Convention Center are already increasing the amount of money coming in. There is a great deal of other things to focus on in the Atlantic City region. In end orsing local attractions in this scenic area, and in shifting the target market of this spot, this city would change back into a resort destination. When most people think of Atlantic City, the first thing that comes to mind is the casino attractions that are available. With the city’s constant shuffle and excitement, gamblers from all over go there dreaming of a big win. Many people consider Atlantic City to be the â€Å"Las Vegas of the East Coast†. There are over 12 casinos, with one building as magnificent as the next. At any given second of the day, these hopefuls may have their lives changed in an instant with just one win. These casino hotels gain most of their income from gamblers. Casinos employ almost 49,000 people every year. This number should actually jump when the Marina District opens. Although Atlantic City prospers as a gambler’s paradise, many would love to show others just how much more Atlantic City really has to offer its tourists. The Atlan tic City Convention Center, built in 1929, was renovated with $72 million in 1997. With the world’s largest pipe organ, everyone from the Beatles to Pavarotti has played there. It was designated a historic landmark in 1987. Conventions, trade shows, meetings, and public events of the greater Atlantic City area all take place here. When the renovation is finally completed, it will seat up to 12,000 people for special events.

New Garments Business Plan Essay

Though agriculture has always been the one of the most anticipated sectors in budgets, discussions, lectures and books but in true sense garments industry in Bangladesh is the most essential sector in terms of employment of comparatively less educated people. Employing almost 4.2 million people of whom 80% are women and thus contributing to empowerment of rural women. Let alone employment even if we consider foreign currency inflow this has been one of the most potential source. RMG covers around 80% of the total foreign exchange earnings of Bangladesh. According to a survey it contributes around 8 billion dollars which is around 13% of GDP. Starting in 1970s earning from it has increased by 8 times which is around 16.5% per annum. SWOT analysis Weakness: 1. Limited financial investment, 2. Insufficient infrastructural facility, 3. Less educated work-force 4. Negative impression on foreign buyers due to both political and unrest within the industry among the labor 5. Lack of legal enforcement 6. Lack of brand awareness 7. Poverty Threats: 1. High level of inflation 2. China, Pakistan and India. 3. Increasing competition 4. Capital investment availability, 5. Political instability 6. Corruption 7. Workplace unrest Strengths: 1. Labor intensive industry and labor cost is cheaper in Bangladesh compared to most countries 2. Plenty of labor available 3. Quality products 4. Competitive pricing Opportunities 1. Becoming a major hub 2. Tax reduction/govt. incentives 3. Planned Infrastructural development should improve supply chain a lot Company: Elegance Our company will be a garment company. Estimations are done based on square textile ltd and a small company named triangle fashion wear in Dhaka. Vision Provide quality clothing for every class of people and become one of the leading names in garments sector in the country and abroad as well. Mission Capture and satisfy the needs of customers through cost leadership and quality assurance and thus expand gradually. Introduction: Our company in the initial stage will go for sewing shirts only assuming monthly demand of 4000 shirts. As we will only produce ordered volume so the assumed demand is also our total production in units. We will take orders from other garments. As we will do the sewing only we won’t be having any inventory cost other than the raw materials. Reason behind being the designing and the cutting in these scenarios are normally done by the garment giving the order and we will complete the sewing and the collars. Buttons will be done afterwards elsewhere. For the electrical arrangements such as getting the business line for industrial purpose and placing meters the cost is assumed as 40000 and for wearing, stabilizers for machines sockets and other expenditure 40000 more is added with the initial cost. We will have 22 machines for which a 1000-1200 square feet space will be require. For hiring the place advance with 1st months’ rent is assumed as 115000. Loan of 200,000(27.54%of initial investment) will be taken at a rate of 15% which is close to 30% of the total investment amount. (Basic bank) (Small scale enterprise: The enterprise will be termed as small if in today’s market condition the replacement cost of plant, machinery and other components excluding land and building amounts to tk 15 million or less-Policy strategies for small and medium enterprises development in Bangladesh) Inventory: The raw materials should include, needles, pastes used in collars and threads. Ordering volume will be our production so there will be no additional inventory cost Machines: Taking the demand into account we will start with 22 machines of which 18 are single needle plain machines 2 over locks and two three needle machines. Ratios of plain machine to over locks and three needle is 10:2 Single needle is for basic sewing, three needle takes 1/3 time compared to single needle for obvious reasons but are very expensive, and over locks are sewing machines with blades that cuts the additional threads after sewing. Changes in demand and consequences: According to the owner of the triangle fashion wear in the winter time the demand for shirts decrease by 20-25%.duration of this shortage in demand is around 2 months. During this period there are obvious lay-offs so there is decrease in demand, in salaries and ultimately decrease in COGS and sales as well. Sales and COGS: Sales growth for our company is taken as 17%, based on the average of 5 years growth in sales of square textiles which is close to 20% and of triangle fashion wear which is close to 15%. As for COGS, for our company the growth assumed is 10%.for square text. Average growth in cogs is less than 15. NWC is assumed as 15% of sale for our company for each of five years. For square text. It is close to 18%. Salvage value For the over locks and single needle SV is assumed at an average of 5500tk after 5 years for each of the machines and for the 3 needle machine it is 8000 tk each Depreciation and tax: As for depreciation we deducted salvage value from total machine cost and deducted the amount by 10 which is the total lifetime for the machines. We used straight line depreciation for the other years. Corporate tax rate is assumed as 35% of the EBT amount. Calculating WACC: Market return of 10% is taken from the stock Bangladesh web site on 12th April, US risk free rate is taken for the measurement which is close to 3% and beta of 1.26 is taken from the stock Bangladesh website as well for the textile industries. Calculating CAPEX: Capital expenditure is calculated by summing up all the fixed assets for the 1st year which is close to 7% of the total sales for the same year. For the rest of years the growth rate is assumed as same as the sales which is 15%. After that we deducted fixed asset amount of the previous year from the amount of current year. 4P analysis: Product: As we said earlier our only product will be shirts. Pricing: Rate for sewing shirts in the market now is close to 90tk per shirt, we will start with 85tk to capture the market in the first place and then will focus on maintaining the quality. As we will only sew shirts so the calculated cost for each shirt will also be our production cost/unit.it is calculated as 49.5 by dividing COGS by demand. Promotion Promotion: We will do it by ourselves as the owner of the business so we won’t be having any additional cost for advertising and there will be experienced supervisors too, to initiate promotion. Place/Location and delivery: We will choose a place close to the companies we are expecting to get orders from. For the delivery of raw products to us and delivery of the sewed shirts to the companies ordering, companies themselves will be responsible.so again there will be no additional transportation cost for our company.

Committing Adultery Essay

A marriage is full of moral ethics that should be followed. Kant would have agreed with me that we have moral duties to ones self and others. A marriage is committing moral thoughts, words, and actions to yourself and your spouse. Kant believed in treating other people the way you wish they would treat you. Never treat other people as if they were merely things. The formula of humanity states that we should treat people as an end and never as a means to an end. In committing adultery, the marriage and the spouse are being used as a means. Marriage should be treated with dignity and not as a thing that can be played with. I hope no one would apply the universal law of categorical imperative to committing adultery. I could not imagine applying the act of committing adultery to how all others should act. If we did apply the universal law to committing adultery then marriage would be worthless. Basically, do not choose a rule for yourself that you wouldn’t want everyone else to obey. Kant believes that the only good thing is a good will. Good will equals good intentions. Committing adultery is not a morally good act and Kant would agree with me. Utilitarianism is an action that is right if it maximizes the overall happiness of all people. In other words, an action is morally right if the consequences of that action are more favorable than unfavorable to everyone. This is consequentialism. Utilitarianism has rule utilitarianism and act utilitarianism. In rule utilitarianism, a behavioral code or rule is morally right if the consequences of the rule are more favorable than unfavorable to everyone. I believe it is more favorable to your spouse not to cheat than to cheat. I would be also more favorable to you not to cheat so the spouse doesn’t get upset. Act utilitarianism weighs the consequences of each particular action. There is a list of consequences of the act of committing adultery and none of them are good. There are moral rules against committing adultery and one of them is lying. In taking the vows in front of God is a form of a promise and breaking that promise is lying to God. John Stuart Mill is a hedonistic utilitarian. Our actions are meant to give happiness not only to ourselves but to others as well. Mill made the distinction of happiness between pleasures of the mental sort as a higher form than that of bodily pleasures. Mill states, it is better to be intelligently dissatisfied then foolishly satisfied. The ultimate pain and misery caused by committing adultery is not worth the short term pleasure that it produces. Wikipedia. org states that Utilitarianism of John Stuart Mill is classified as a type of hedonism, as it judges the morality of the actions by their consequent contributions to the greater good and happiness of all. Mills believes that there can be different levels of pleasure as long as the act promotes an action which makes everyone happy. Mills would say that committing adultery doesn’t bring overall happiness. Hedonism is described as pleasure is the highest good and whatever causes pleasure is right. On this note, hedonism would say committing adultery would be right if it is giving the cheating spouse pleasure. Committing adultery is motivated by desire and it can reduce pain by not telling the spouse that you are cheating. Most of the time committing adultery is motivated by sexual desire. My view on committing adultery is closest with Kantianism. Good will equals good intentions. They way I treat my spouse is the way I would want to be treated. I value marriage and I hope my spouse does too.

Qatari law Essay

Qatar is located in a peninsula jutting out 100 miles into the Persian Gulf from Saudi Arabia. The country is mainly barren and is situated with Saudi Arabia on its west and United Arab Emirates on its southern border. Qatar occupies a total land area of 11,437 square kilometers. (Infoplease, 2007) Climate experienced in this region is generally hot and dry due to the desert landscape. The air is usually humid but is sultry during the summer time. Naturally occurring disasters experienced in the area are haze, dust storms and sandstorms. Qatar has only 1% of its land area that is classified as arable while 5% of the land is used for raising pastures. Qatar has an estimated population of 1,000,000 (in 2007), and approximately 200,000 are citizens. Nearly all Qatari profess Islam approximately 95% of the population. Majority of the population migrated due to the availability of employment for the oil industry in Qatar. Arabic serves as the official language while English and other languages are also spoken in Qatar. Many Qataris trace back their roots to natives of the Arabian Peninsula. Migratory tribes have settled in Qatar during the 8th century. There were also migration from gulf Emirates and as well as Persian merchants. Today, most of Qatar’s inhabitants cluster in Doha, the capital city. Foreigners with temporary status comprise 52% of the total population and make up approximately 89% of the total workforce. In 2004, the country had a total population of approximately 1,000,000 (in 2007), of whom approximately 200,000 were believed to be citizens. Of the citizen population, Shi’a Muslims account for approximately 3 percent and Sunni Muslims comprise the remaining 97 percent. The majority of the estimated 800,000 non-citizens are individuals from South and South East Asian and Arab countries working on temporary employment contracts in most cases without their accompanying family members. They are of the following faiths: Sunni Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Baha’is. Most foreign workers and their families live near the major employment centers of Doha, Al Khor, Messaeed, and Dukhan. The Christian community is a diverse mix of Indians, Filipinos, Europeans, Arabs, and Americans. It includes Catholic, Orthodox, Coptic, Anglican, and other Protestant denominations. The Hindu community is almost exclusively Indian, while Buddhists include south and East Asians. Most Baha’is in Qatar may come from nearby Iran. Religion is not indicated on national identity cards and passports, nor is it a criterion for citizenship in Qatar according to the Nationality Law. However, Qatari citizens are either Sunni or Shi’a Muslims with the exception of a Baha’i and Syrian Christian and their respective families who were granted citizenship. Shi’a, both citizens and foreigners, may attend a small number of Shi’a mosques. There is some limitation of the religious liberty of Christians. No foreign missionary groups operate openly in the country. Culture Qatar explicitly uses Sunni law as the basis of its government, and the vast majority of its citizens follow Hanbali Madhhab. Hanbali (is one of the four schools (Madhhabs) of Fiqh or religious law within Sunni Islam (The other three are Hanafi, Maliki and Shafii). Sunni Muslims believe that all four schools have â€Å"correct guidance†, and the differences between them lie not in the fundamentals of faith, but in finer judgments and jurisprudence, which are a result of the independent reasoning of the imams and the scholars who followed them. Because their individual methodologies of interpretation and extraction from the primary sources were different, they came to different judgments on particular matters. Qatari law When contrasted with other Arab states such as Saudi Arabia, for instance, Qatar has comparatively liberal laws, but is still not as liberal as some of its neighbors like UAE or Bahrain. Women can legally drive in Qatar, whereas they may not in Saudi Arabia. The country has undergone a period of liberalization and modernization after the current Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, came to power after becoming Emir in place of his father. Under his rule, Qatar became the first Arab country in the Persian Gulf where women gained the right to vote. Also, women can dress mostly as they please in public (although in practice local Qatari women generally don the black abaya). Before the liberalization, it was taboo for men to wear shorts in public. The laws of Qatar tolerate alcohol to a certain extent. However, public bars and nightclubs in Qatar operate only in expensive hotels and clubs, much like in the UAE and Bahrain, though the number of establishments has yet to equal that of UAE. Qatar has further been liberalized due to the 15th Asian Games, but is cautious of becoming too liberal in their law making the country viable weekend immigration from their western neighbor. Overall Qatar has yet to reach the more western laws of UAE or Bahrain, and though plans are being made for more development, the government is cautious Economy Before the discovery of oil the economy of the Qatari region focused on fishing and pearling. After the introduction of the Japanese cultured pearl into the world market in the 1920s and 1930s. Qatar’s pearling industry faltered. However, the discovery of oil reserves, beginning in the 1940s, completely transformed the state’s economy. Now the country has a high standard of living, with many social services offered to its citizens and all the amenities of any modern state Qatar’s national income primarily derives from oil and natural gas exports. The country has oil estimated at 15 billion barrels (2.4 km3), while gas reserves in the giant north field (South Pars for Iran) which straddles the border with Iran and are almost as large as the peninsula itself are estimated to be between 800 – 900tcf (Trillion Cubic Feet – 1tcf is equal to around 80 million barrels of oil equivalent) (Anonymous, 2005). Qatar’s primary source of income relies on its oil reserves, which constitutes more than 30% of its Gross Domestic Product. An estimated reserve of 3. 7 billion barrels is predicted to last up to 23 years with sustained level of output (â€Å"Qatar: Background†, 2007). Qatar also has one of the world’s largest reserves for Natural Gas, estimated to be more than 5% of the world’s total reserve or amounting to 7trillion cubic meters. These two natural resources constitutes the backbone of Qatar’s economy (â€Å"Qatar†, 2002). Oil industry in Qatar On 1935, a 75-year oil concession was granted to Qatar Petroleum Company, which was owned by Anglo-Dutch, French and USA. At Dukhan, located at the western side of Qatar, high quality oil was discovered. Oil exploitation was delayed due to the onset of World War II and Qatar was only able to export oil during 1949. Due to the increase in revenue from oil export during the 1950s and 1960s, Qatar entered the start of its modern history. This was the start of Qatar’s prosperity, rapid immigration was experienced due to employment brought about by the oil industry and substantial social changes was experienced. When UK announced in 1968 the policy of ending the treaty relationship with the Gulf Shiekdoms, failed talks with the other sheikdoms in a plan to form the United Arab Emirates resulted to Qatar declaring independence on September 3, 1971. Oil still forms the cornerstone of Qatar’s economy well into the 1990’s. Today Oil still accounts for about 62% of total government revenue. In 1973, income generated from oil production and exportation gradually increased the country’s revenue. This has helped Qatar move from previously ranked as one of the world’s poorest countries into one of the highest per capita income in the world. In 2006, the country has a per capita income of $62,000, which is ranked as fifth in the world (Beureau_of_Eastern_Affairs, 2007). During the 1990’s, OPEC or Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries had lower oil production quotas resulting to fall in oil prices. The result was an unpromising outlook in the international markets and reduced earnings in oil products led to recession in Qatar. Many small businesses were affected and expatriate staffs were affected by massive lay off. However the country was able to regain economically by the late 1990’s and expatriate population have grown again. Qatar’s oil production is currently estimated around 835,000 barrels a day. It is expected to reach 1. 1 million barrels per day by the year 2009. With the current rate of producing oil, reserves in Qatar are expected to last up to more than 40 years. However Qatar has other resources that are also exploited for production. It’s proven reserves of natural gas are the third largest in the world. The gas reserves of North Fields in Qatar exceed more than 900 trillion cubic feet or 14% of the worlds total gas reserves. Qatar is the largest producer of Liquefied Natural Gas with more than 31 million metric tons per annum. By 2010, Qatar is expected to produce 77. 5 million metric tons per annum and will account for one third of the world’s LNG supply (Beureau_of_Eastern_Affairs, 2007). Qatar’s oil fields are estimated to be depleted by 2023. But with the discovery of natural gas in the Northern fields, Qatar economy received a great boost from gas reserves income generated from exportation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas. Currently Qatar exports gas to Korea, India and China via shipping lines while gas is delivered via pipelines to Kuwait, UAE and Bahrain. Exploration: Early exploration took place in May 1935 as part of an agreement between the English-Persian Corporation and the Sheikh of Qatar at that time Abdullah Bin Jassem Al-Thani to explore oil for a term of 75 years. The agreement was executed by a corporation, which is later known as Qatar Oil Associated Corporation. Exploration, however, was adjourned due to border problems with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, but eventually started in 1938 extensively (â€Å"Country profile: Qatar†, 2008). In 1949, Qatar started to export oil through Mesaieed port on the East Coast. The first exported quantity was 80,000 tons on board President Liner on 31/12/1949 for a price of 5. 9 million Indian rupees received in 1951. Qatar developed its production speedily; and in 1951, it reached 46,500 barrels a day compared to only 34,000 a day before that time (â€Å"Energy and Resources—Sources and Definitions†, 2003). The State of Qatar became number 11 among oil exporting countries in 1952, with a production of 67,700 barrels a day, i. e. , 0. 5% of world production. Consequently, oil revenue increased to 4. 2 million US dollars in 1951, and 12 US million dollars in 1952.

Delta Case Study Essay

Executive Summary Delta airline has a long history whose roots begin at the year 1924.This airline has grown to become one of the largest airlines serving the United States of America and also majority of the world through its international routes. The aim of this paper is to see the history of the airline together with its financial position with concentration on the various strategies the company has implemented to reach where it is right now. The paper will also include various suggestions to the airline to help it to grow further. Delta airlines began in the year 1924 but during that time it was known as Huff Daland Dusters. This was the first aerial crop dusting which had its headquarters in Georgia. The following year, the company moved its headquarters to Louisiana. The directors of the company were B.R Coad and Collett Woolman.Huff Daland went on its first international route and that was to begin its services in Peru which brought in enough money and increase in purchasing power. The year 192 8 gave birth to what is known as Delta Airlines today. Furthermore, the year 1930 came with a major setback to the airline. Delta failed to secure a commercial airmail contract and therefore suffered major losses which forced the airline to suspend passenger service. As time went by, the year 1934 seemed to be the year for Delta Airlines as they secured a low-bid contract for the new Route 33 airmail service between Dallas and Charleston, South Carolina, via Atlanta .The airline also resumed passenger services that year. The following years were very successful periods for Delta airlines as it managed to spread its wings to various states around the United States and it also managed to purchase airlines such as Chicago airlines and Southern Air Airlines. As the jet era began, Delta Airlines added jetliners to modernize their fleet and fleet in the 1960s, following the purchase of the Douglas 8 that entered service in 1959. The same year also provided a new image for Delta as it redesigned its logo  to what is present today. In 1970, Delta became an all jet airliner. The airline continued buying out its competitors and this time it was North East airline that was purchased in the year 1972. The great reign of Delta Airlines reached another milestone in the year 1975 when the launched the first airline called Delta Air Express which guaranteed air express service with high priority and guaranteed cargo services. As the deregulation act came into place, Delta launched its first transatlantic flight from Atlanta to London under the leadership of the new CEO David Garrett which followed another expansion to Frankfurt the following year. In 1979, Delta celebrated its 50th year of service with flights to Frankfurt and it became the first airline to board one million passengers in one city in one month. In addition to the above achievements, the 1980’s brought mixed feelings at the company. With the development of computers, Delta managed to begin computer based reservation systems and launch its first frequent flyer program. But the airline suffered losses in the year 1982.Employees then took payroll deductions to raise about $30 million to purchase the company’s first Boeing 767 which was named â€Å"The spirit of Delta† in 1982.Between the year of 1984-1987, Delta merged with several regionals and partnered with some to increase its services to Hawaii. It also became the fourth largest carrier in the U.S and fifth in the world with its services to Portland, Oregon and Tokyo in 1987 under the new chairman and CEO; Ronald Allen. The airline expanded its operations to Asia in 1988. As Delta Airlines continued soar higher, the year 1991 was no different. The airline purchased all of Pan-Am’s Trans-Atlantic routes and shuttles hence making it the largest acquisition of flights in airline history and also making Delta a global carrier. Apart from making profits and expanding its routes, Delta Airlines also fulfilled its social and cooperate responsibility by painting one of its aircrafts with the Olympic flag. It was then named the official airline of the Olympics 1995 Olympics games .It also received an award for the best major carrier for long and short haul flights. The airline also took a major step which till today has changed the history of the airline industry and that was making all its flights NON-SMOKING. Furthermore, between the years 1996-1999 had various achievements for Delta such as being named the global airline of the year and the best managed airline. It also installed automatic defibrillators on board aircrafts and purchased modern aircrafts  such as Boeing 777.To meet the demand of low cost travelers, Delta announced its low cost airline â€Å"Delta Express† with services from Orlando FL. In 1997, Delta was the first airline to board more than 100 million passengers in a year. The year 20th century started with the airline reporting losses for the first time in 6 years during the year 2001.This was because of the attacks on the world trade center which forced the government to shut down the US airspace for 2 days. The following few years saw a lot of changes in terms of marketing techniques, new check in systems and also few code sharing with the regional carriers to enhance the airlines services. But the year 2005 started being a year that the airline would face what can be termed as the most difficult phase in their entire history. Delta filed chapter 11 for reorganization under the bankruptcy code. The airline later managed to expand it routes as early as November 2005 back to Latin America and Caribbean routes. The airline has since then managed to grow rapidly implementing various new methods of check in or purchasing tickets. With modern fleets, international alliance and great service, Delta has gone to become one of the best airlines in the world and has won major awards in the 20th century such as best airline website, Best airline lounge and Best frequent Flyer program. History of Airline Industry The airline industry first started the transportation of passengers in October of 1925. There was an improvement in planes with pressurization in 1949. In September of 1953, the first jet passenger plane gets introduced. The FAA was first established in August of 1958. In February of 1974, the first large body planes with multiple aisle were introduced. A little over two years later, the first supersonic travel was introduced in August of 1976 with the Concorde Tu-144. History of Delta Airlines Delta has close to 90 years of history that didn’t always involve passenger travel. In 1924, a crop dusting company called The Huff Daland Dusters was founded. Four years later, Huff Daland Dusters merged with Delta and kept the name of Delta. In 1941, Delta headquarters moves from Monroe to Atlanta. Delta gets its first stock traded on the New York Stock Exchange in 1957. Delta’s first merge occurs in 1972 when it merged with Northeast airlines; this merge made them a major carrier in New York and Boston. This is also  the year that Delta started operating with the Boeing 727. In 1981, Delta Airlines launches its Frequent Flyer Program. Another merge happens a few years later in 1987 when Delta merged with Western Airlines. After this merge, Delta became the fourth largest U.S carrier and the fifth largest in the world. They also introduced some international travel in the same year. After years of pay and job cuts due to the major decline in airline travel after the September 11th attack, in September of 2005 Delta Airlines files for bankruptcy. In December of 2006, Delta files for a five year reorganization plan that would allow Delta to emerge from bankruptcy as a stand-alone company; which wasn’t approved until January of 2007. In 2008, Delta merged with Northwest Airlines which made Delta the world’s largest airline. Corporate Strategy Delta Airlines corporate strategy puts major focus on its staff achieving its objectives. The company carries out this strategy by having the top management committed to making sure its employees are satisficed (Delta Air Lines Inc. 5). The company has formed this business culture because they have realized that by having a satisfied work force, their customers the needs and expectations will be handled in an effective manner (Nancy 3). As a direct result of to this corporate culture adapted by Delta, managers and employees have established solid professional relationships, and it is because of the implementation of this strategy that Delta’s staff has been described as being an incredible work force (Data monitor 6). Also, Delta airline is able to provide their customers with high quality services due to their strategy of focusing on their employees’ satisfaction. Delta Airlines has provided its employees with good working terms and conditions, and it has also motivated its employees to provide high quality services by offering them financial awards, delta merchandise, gift cards, award banquets, and promotions (Delta Air Lines Inc. 3). Business Level Strategy The business level strategy of Delta Airlines places emphasis on customer service and/or service delivery. Delta Airlines is committed to its customers (Delta Air Lines Inc. 7), which means that its core business focus is to meet and satisfy their customers’ needs and expectations. One of the most effective methods to achieving a competitive advantage is the company’s  commitment to its customers (Nancy 1). Their business strategy has enabled Delta Airlines to provide its customers with the lowest fares possible within the market (Data monitor 5). The airlines fear ratings are clearly displayed at ticket counters and on their website, which has permitted Delta to provide their customers with adequate travel data in order for them to be able to easily make reservations and inquiries at their own convenience. Also, communicating effectively with their customers has helped Delta’s relationship with the market. The Airline rapidly communicates travel news, as well as diversions, delays, and cancelations notifications to its customers in order to ensure that they are not disappointed, and can make more informed decisions. Delta’s SWOT Analysis Strengths Acquisition of NWA World’s largest mega carrier & flight network Pacific & Atlantic Ocean flight routes Employees SkyTeam & SkyMiles alliance Airport model Brand & History Opportunities Reduce operational cost & capacity Streamline operations & supply chain New value for money strategies Enhance the customer experience Customer retention initiatives Invest in new technologies Renegotiate lease & labor agreements Weaknesses Low on time rating Operating Cost Susceptibility to service disruptions Technological dependence for operations Differentiation Merger consolidation Threats Alternatives Competition Increased regulation Market environment Economy Fuel costs Crashes/Terrorism Strengths and Weaknesses Since the establishment of Delta Airlines, it can be considered an airline that has stayed in business despite its ups and downs. Although Delta has experienced many obstacles throughout its nearly 90 years of history, it continues to have many accomplishments that many other airlines do not have. One of the major points to Delta Airlines success is its ability to â€Å"help more than 160 million travelers get to places they want to go to each year† as stated on the Delta Airlines website. Delta is assembled around many of its strengths one of those currently being â€Å"the largest airline in the world today† according to the index on Delta Airlines website. One of the strong points in being one of the world’s largest carriers today is having numerous hubs in major cities in the United States. Atlanta and Minneapolis are two of the biggest hubs of Delta Airline; some other cities include Cincinnati, Detroit, New York, and Memphis (Mutzabaugh, 2013). Having as many as 567 worldwide destinations in over 100 different countries allows an U.S. airline company to expand to different countries globally. Another strength Delta has is their superior customer service abilities. Their customer service is what helps Delta to be what it is today. The passenger service, a successful history of flight, and flying to different continents around the globe leads to Delta having one of the highest gross revenues in the airline industry. In 2010 Delta earned profits of more than $590 million and $1 billion in 2012, this is a massive improvement from the $1.2 billion beating it had in 2009. As the each year went by revenue rose about 4% between 2011 and 2012, accomplishing a remarkable high of $36.7 billion (Hoovers Inc., 2013). Delta Airlines has been recognized to be the global air travel  markets best mega carrier, and this is proven by the fact that Delta operates over 5000 flights on a daily basis (Delta Air Lines Inc. 8). Both their corporate and business strategies are highly innovative, and as a result of these strategies, and with the aid of their employees, that they have been able to provide high quality air travel services and become a major player in the market. The company’s high quality and efficient air travel services also demonstrate its business strengths. Delta earned $22, 687 of revenue in 2008 due to their acquisition of the North West Airlines operations, which compared to the previous year amounted to a growth of 18.5%. (Delta Air Lines Inc. 6). It is safe to say that no airline is without flaws and there are many weaknesses within Delta Airlines itself. Being the best in the business doesn’t mean that you don’t you’re your own drawbacks. Along with being a top brand in the airline industry means that you have competitors. One of Delta’s main competitors in the airline industry is United Airlines which is rated the world’s most admired airline on Fortune magazine’s 2012 airline industry list, the industry leading loyalty program that provides more opportunities to earn and redeem miles worldwide, and also the world’s most comprehensive global route network stated on Unitedâ⠂¬â„¢s website. Delta’s Airlines has significant weakness which pose as challenges to their success, such as the 2000 job cuts and 20% capacity reduction they have undergone can defiantly be characterized as weaknesses. However, due to the 2009 economic grapples such the cutbacks were necessary in-order to reducing the high costs associated with operations (Data monitor 4). And compared to its main competitors, Delta’s on-time ratings for are comparatively low. It’s important to note that Delta Airlines services have not achieved comprehensive differentiation (Data monitor 9). Another major issue that could affect the performance of Delta Airlines in the market is the possibility of employee strikes. External Environment Currently within the United States, the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) market is exceptionally strong, and it is predicted that within the next three years the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul market will increase over 10% (Nancy 3). Such evidence validates the fact that there indeed are opportunities within the external environment which Delta Airlines could use  to their benefit by decrease the costs associated with repairing and maintaining its serving fleet of aircraft. Furthermore, due to an increase in the use of online marketing in the air travel market, air traveler are much more aware of the numerous air travel services and prices being offered by the many travel companies and airliners that exist in today’s world. A clear example is how advancements in technology can be a major influencing factor is illustrated in the fact that customers of air travel services in today’s world have the capability to conduct a real time, reliable, and efficient compar isons of all the different rates being offered, and the ability to simply and conveniently schedule a flight reservation online (Nancy 4). This is true about both the air travel market here in The United States and abroad. Indeed, the current external environment offers Delta Airlines the opportunity to achieve a competitive advantage, and become a leader in the air travel market by executing of its customer focused strategy. On a Global scale, the airline industry has witnessed significant development and growth of which is attributed to advances in air travel technology, and alternative fuel sources. This worldwide growth will give Delta Airlines the chance to become a leader in the global travel industry by implementation of their effective business strategies (Nancy 1). Although flue cost and air travel technological advancements are factors that have created new opportunity for Delta Airlines; nevertheless, the ever rising costs fuel, and the high level competition in the air travel market and are major threats to the success of the airlines. Recommendations Delta has claimed many breaks through from the company establishment date. Research and development over the duration of time has given Delta market presence in the industry over the years along with a deeply rooted foundation. Technology enhancements would complement Deltas competitive position; this action would bring excitement to the airline industry that would bring investors to the table. Broadening the profits, Delta is becoming a leader in the market with something truly innovative to offer customers. Deltas progress statically is doing well, shown in last year‘s third Qtr. ending with a surplus of 56.67% currently outpacing its historical five year  pace. Delta currently is seeking to reduce the loan rate on a pricey $1.34 billion loan from outstanding lenders currently. At this rate, Delta should have enough capital to venture out and achieve something great to autonomously boast in the industry in the near future. Conclusion Delta Airlines has established itself as a leading carrier and a great company. In order to accommodate specific areas which would enable Delta to increase their efficiency and profitability they have modernized their business strategy. Managers at the Delta airlines consider the motivation, training, and general well fear of their staff to be of high importance. Clear improvement in services demanded by air travelers such as the addition of Wi-Fi service and investing in matters such as the renovation of cabin is sure to be increase customer Satisfaction and boost demand for Deltas services by customers. Delta expanded in both the regional and international markets by merging with Northwest airlines. The numerous profitable markets that can be penetrated and/or expanded present Opportunities for Delta airlines. Things such as staggering economy, government uncertainty, and major weather changes present threats to Delta. Delta marketing method and business strategy are the reason it is one of the best carriers globally. References Data monitor. â€Å"Delta Air Lines, Inc.† Delta Air Lines, Inc. SWOT Analysis (2011): 1-11 Delta Air Lines Inc. â€Å"Delta Air Lines, Inc. SWOT Analysis.† Delta Air Lines, Inc. SWOT Analysis (2013): 1-9 Delta, P. K. (2011, FEBRUARY). Delta history. Retrieved from http://news.delta.com/index.php?s=18&cat=39 Mark Wilkinson, retrieved on November 29, 2013 from http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/3379 Mutzabaugh, Ben. (2013, October 7). Retaliation? United adds flights to Delta hubs. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2013/10/07/retaliation-united-adds-flights-to-delta-hubs/2935925/ Nancy, Gondo. â€Å"Will Delta Air Lines Top Profit Forecasts Once Again?† Investor’s Business Daily 12 Nov. 2013: 1-5 Hoovers Inc. (2013). Delta Air Lines, Inc. Financial Performance. Retrieved from http://subscriber.hoovers.com/H/company360/fulldescription.html?companyId=104 48000000000