Meaning of Life and Dad Essay

The most influential person in my life is my dad. The reason why my dad is the most influential person to me is because he is my dad. My dad has been their for me since day 1. He always had my back through everything no matter how much fights we get into he will always be hear for me. My dad always wants to see me succeed in life he doesn’t want to see me fail. He inspires me in so many different way of what he does. A couple of examples of how my dad inspires me is he always helps me through everything he never let me down. He always told me to stand high and never give up on my dreams he was the one who pushed me to succeed to the person who I am now my dad has always been their for me and he will always have my back. He is my hero! My dad is such a hard working man he always told me to get a good job in this economy because you cant go no where in life without a good gob or a good degree in something. Growing up, my father taught me many valuable lessons, specifically to be kind to everyone and to never give up. These simple but important lessons have shaped my life in its entirety. My dad is the kindest man that I have ever met. He never talks bad about others always helps other people, and always tries to do the right thing no matter what the cost to himself. He is kind, thoughtful generous and honest. I attribute much of who I am as a person to my dad and I thank him for his dedication to our family . My dad gave me the confidence to go out and explore the world around me. From these opportunities, I have acquired skills, gained leadership experience and know that I can do anything if I persevere. I know what it means to be accountable for the decision I make and people entrusted to my care. I have stood up to those who were discriminating and demonstrated that respect for each other is important. I have learned in order to achieve a goal one must make a plan, get others on board, secure necessary resources and then go out and DO IT!!! I learned to not listen to the people who say it is impossible, and to get the complainers involved. I have had unique opportunities to train, lead and mentor. I have seen tragedies and poverty and have learned to appreciate what I have: my family friends university and country. None of these life lessons would have be possible without the support and guidance of my father. My dad always told me to follow my dreams and never let go ever since than I am following my dreams thanks to my dad! He is the most influential person to me in my life.

7-11 Japan Case

ISOM 319-E Operations Management Case: Seven-Eleven Japan February 7, 2013 Part A Some different ways that a convenience store chain can be responsive are they can intergraded information systems, additional capacity which are manufacturing, distribution centers and retail store, they also can increase safety inventory, increased number of deliveries, and increased product variety and availability. Part B Some challenges and risks with micro-matching supply and demand using rapid replenishment are the risk for local capacity which is capacity is decentralized, leading to poorer utilization.The risk for local inventory is obsolete inventory, and it needs the extra space. The risk for rapid replenishment is increasing the cost of replenishment and receiving. The most risk is when supply and demand are not matched, and inventory excesses and shortages occur. Also, it will increase the transportation cost. Part C 1. Facility location: Majority of its new stores in areas with existing clu ster of stores. There are many stores in a particular area. Entry into any new market was built around a cluster of 50- 60 stores supported by a distribution center.Such clustering gave seven eleven Japan a high density market presence and allowed it to operate an efficiency distribution system. 2. Inventory management: Four categories of food are chilled temperature, warm temperature, frozen and room temperature. Seven Eleven’s information system manage inventory through their graphic order terminal and receive inventory using the scanner terminal. POS register of Seven Eleven tracks inventory at a very detailed level, and also manage deliveries to match demand by time of day. 3. Transportation: The transportation system is flexible to maximize responsiveness while also achieving efficiency.At seven Eleven Japan, all stores are close to each other, and the distribution center is located near them that can make one round delivery to all the stores faster, and more convenient. While at U. S, the stores are not close to each other for a convenient delivery, and they should use outsourcing. 4. Information infrastructure: Seven-Eleven Japan attributed a significant part of its success to the Total Information System installed in every outlet and linked to headquarters, suppliers, and the Seven-Eleven distribution centers. The scanner terminal improves the efficiency of the delivery process.The store computer linked to the ISDN network to communicate among the various input sources, tracked store inventory and sales, placed orders, provided detailed analysis of POS data, maintained and regulated store equipment. The POS register also keeps up the data information on customer sales, and cashiers records the age and sex of the customer. Part D When Seven Eleven doesn’t allow direct store delivery in Japan, but has the entire product flow from its distribution center, the benefit that they can get from this policy is the coordination, flexibility, respon siveness.They also can manage less relationship in which the retail stores don’t have to work with each of the vendors, but only the distribution center. Direct store delivery more appropriate for the seven dream delivery concepts. Seven Eleven Japan would not be appropriate except one store has the serving local preferences. Perhaps, it also appropriate for emergency shipment or unique with onetime items that is heavy. Part E In the point of view, the 7dream is a good idea to the customers who prefer to buy online and pick up in local convenience store. However, the issues ight be that 7dream would use up storage space, and require the store to be able to retrieve specific packages for customers. Also, the transportation will cost money, and sometime customers would cancel their order, and the packages already delivered to the local store. 7dream will use up storage space and require the store to be able to retrieve specific packages for customers. We think the 7dream concep t is likely to be more successful in Japan than the United States because the size of Japan is much smaller, and compare with the number of stores. There are 10,615 stores over Japan and 5,798 in United States.The small size of land and the great number of stores in Japan means that the density of the stores is very high. Therefore, customers can access to stores easily. On the other hand, the low density of stores in United State may cause inconvenience to customers. Part F Compared the geographic dispersion of Seven-Eleven stores between Japan and the U. S. the stores tend to be dense in Japan. Using the DCs distribution system can maximize to fill full every delivery truck, and decrease the delivery frequency to each store. Thus, it can reduce the delivery cost. However, in the U. S. he stores are not as clustered as in Japan. It is hard to make sure every outbound transportation truck full with delivery items. Using an outsourcing transportation can ensure the delivery trucks fu ll, cut down the transportation cost, and urge the shipping fast. Part G Based on the different market demands, the fresh food items are classic and simple in the U. S. stores. Moreover, the fresh food sale is lower than Seven-Eleven Japan. The U. S. stores need the fresh food item to deliver daily or every two days. Therefore, using the outsourcing food distributors can reduce the production and transportation cost.However, the Japanese customers request the stores to provide the variable fresh foods. More than 50 percent of food items change in the course of a year, because of the seasonal demand and new products promotion. In addition, its food delivery schedules should be flexible enough to match supply with demand. The fresh food items are delivered twice or three times per day. Hence, the in house distribution function is more suitable in Japan. It needs dedicated manufacturing plants to produce only fresh food for Japanese stores, and the dedicated DCs to ensure repaid and de livery.

Death Penalty Rewritten Essay

What does one learn about in a first year composition class in Appalachian State University? After  reading from Dr Kimberly Gunter it is still unclear to this writer. Quotes fromthe end of this paper  signified the two ends of the spectrum when it comes to the Death penalty; â€Å"Fry ‘Em All† and â€Å"The Bleeding Heart† (Gunter, 38). This paper written by Dr. Kimberly Gunter from Appalachian State University initially appears on the surface to be about how the class she has been teaching for the last 15 weeks has looked to understand the death penalty in their state and why they oppose it. In the end Gunter describes how she used a topic that she obviously has strong opinions and emotionswith and has her students learn to write about it. The Title of this paper â€Å"In Our Names†: Rewriting the U.S. Death Penalty (32) suggests that maybe there were petitions put together for possible ratifications to the death penalty laws or at least a Billwritten and presented to the state legislators for consideration. There is nothing in the paper suggesting any of that was accomplished. Gunter takes the reader on a field trip with her class to a Maximum Security prison in North Carolina in a final research effort for a class project the students have been working on. Gunter uses analogies like the equating the air in the prison smelling like a â€Å"day of hog-killing† (32) in an attempt to disgust the reader from the beginning with the idea of death row.Gunter continues to describe low life prison guards and overly medicated innocent prisoners. Throwing in one liner comments from students whose life experience equates to growing up in privileged middle class families and having the opportunity to attendan established University like Appalachian State University. Gunter provides partial statistics in an attempt to show the reader her knowledge on the subject of Capital Punishment. As tha paper comes to a conclusion Gunter was attempting to integrate her students into academic writers and focusing on a singular project tied together by the death penalty. In her writings Gunter shows a bias towards the death penalty invoking images  of dead pigs and fowl stenches in the readers mind. Gunter contradicts these images later in the paper when she describes thedeath chamber with a hospital gurney and crisp sheets on it. This is Gunter’s attempt at using a â€Å"pathos† argument. Gunter wants to show the humanity side of the death penalty but fails in ways when she quotes a guard â€Å"he out and out said rape isn’t much of a problem in that prison, but last year, another guard, a bg barrel-chested sergeant who kept saying ‘I like to fight,’ told me that, while the guards ruled the prison during the day, the prisoners ruled at night, and that prisoner rape was widespread and unchecked while the cell blocks were on nightly lockdown.† (35). This example of rape in prison only helps solidify some readers minds about capital punishment and the inability of offenders to be rehabilitated. The writer does not use any evidence to support her argument which is not even clearly defined or understood in the paper. The reader finishes reading the work and searches for the true topic of the work, is it about the death penalty, is it about a first year composition class or is it about a transformation of the student to open their minds or take on different perspectives in life? It is never truly defined within the body of the work. There is misinformation in the body of work. Gunter is quoted on page 34 † We learn that there are no on-site educational programs..† This is untrue according to the Educational Services for the Department of Prisons in North Carolina. It is difficult to identify if the writer of this work is successful in conveying her point to the reader. There is a use of pathos in the work that will pull on the emotions of the reader, but it is not clear what emotions are to be pulled on or the wrong emotions are enacted. If the purpose of the paper was to showthat young college aged students are able to open their minds or embrace academic writing it was not successfully portrayed or documented in any way. Works Cited â€Å"Educational Services.† Educational Services. Web. 22 Nov. 2014. . Gunter, Kimberly K. â€Å"I n Our Names†: Rewriting The U.S. Death Penalty.† Writing On The Edge 21.2 (2011): 32-38. Education Research Complete . Web. 22 Nov. 2014.

Porter's Five Forces Model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Porter's Five Forces Model - Essay Example Even though we have better expertise in managing our hospitality business, banking is entirely a new business segment for us. So, before entering banking industry, it is necessary for us to analyze our business prospects in banking industry based on Porter’s five forces model. My organization’s management asked me to prepare a report about our business prospects in banking industry. This report analyses the strengths and weaknesses of our organization in doing banking business based on Porter’s Five Forces model. Banking industry and Porter’s Five Forces model According to Michael Porter, there are five competitive forces that may affect any organization doing business in any sector. These five forces are; Threat of substitute products, Threat of new entrants, Intense rivalry among existing players, Bargaining power of suppliers and Bargaining power of Buyers (Porter’s Five Forces Model, 2009). The figure given in the next page explains Porterâ€⠄¢s five forces theory. (Porter’s Five Forces Model, 2009) Even though our organization has a good brand value in the market, it should be noted that our brand value is in hospitality industry alone. ... In other words, competition in British banking industry is going to be toughened because of the potential entrants from overseas countries. The threats from substitute products are also growing day by day against banking industry all over the world and British banking industry is also not an exception. Substitute products are products which are entirely different from banking products, but capable of providing alternative options to the customers. For example, products such as mutual funds, insurance and term deposits are currently offered by many non-banking institutions. These non-banking institutions are offering attractive terms and conditions to the customers so that many of the customers are currently approaching these institutions for baking purposes. In short, the threat for banking industry is currently coming not only from the banking sector, but also from outside as well. Rivalry or competition is not a good market condition most of the firms like to have. In fact all the business firms like to establish monopoly in the market in order to control the price mechanisms. Monopoly is a market condition in which a single firm controls the entire market. Banking industry can never establish a monopoly in Britain because of the huge number of banking service providers in the market. In fact, banking is an industry in which rivalry exists at its best. Many new generation banks are currently raising stiff challenges to traditional public and private sector banks in Britain. Recent recession has destroyed the financial back bone of many of the prominent banks. Many prominent banks such as Lehman Brothers, bank of America were forced to close down and many others are struggling to stay in the market.

The Success of FedEx Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

The Success of FedEx - Research Paper Example As we can see from the above discussion, all the other functions of business have to support the strategy of the company in order for it to succeed. By focusing on the consumers—which has been the function of marketing, it is able to come up with products, through research and development, which serve well their customers’ needs. In order to support their positioning that is formulated with its marketing strategy, it invests in state-of-the-art technology for its facilities—database and infrastructure, in order to ensure that it will perform to consumers what it has promised through its brand. These technologies and expansion of facilities are therefore supported by finance, by coming up with ways to raise capital. This way, the strategy the company has is supported by strategies of the various functions of its business. FedEx’s success as a company is attributable to the synergy of its systems all working to support its objective as a company. In order to deliver results to its shareholders, it has to utilize strategic management where it has to identify its objectives in line with its mission and vision, then come up with a strategy to achieve it. Along with its strategy, its various functions such as marketing, finance, research and development, operations, as well as human resources all act out their parts in order to support the strategy. The synergy of the various functions of FedEx’s business enables it to plan well and achieve what it wants in line with its mission and vision. However, for the past year, the company, due to unforeseen factors that have affected the operations fumbles a bit in its performance. This means that better strategic planning techniques should be utilized in order to lessen the impacts of such uncertainties that certainly can affect the business.

Annal report Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Annal report - Assignment Example Most stock exchanges prefer continuous illustration of the accounting performance of the listed companies (Stanley, 2009). Examples of basic annual accounting records include; Trading profit and loss account, balance sheet, general corporate information, cash flow statement, accounting policies, director report, auditor report, and financial review. Other relevant financial information required by stakeholders include; corporate social responsibility information, that illustrates social and environmental sensitive activities. The details shown in the annual accounting reports are utilized by investors in determining the present financial position of the company, in relation to the future financial and operation direction. In the United States of America, a relatively complex financial report referred to as the Form 10-K is legally filed at the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (William, 2011). The authority and responsibilities associated with preparation of the annual accounting reports and associated financial statements=, lies with the company directors. The directors choose the most appropriate accounting approaches, and then use them consistently. The applicable accounting procedures must adhere to the professionally accepted accounting principles (Richard,

Hackney Homes - A Strategic Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Hackney Homes - A Strategic Report - Essay Example Many recommendations are made for improvement of the organization in this report. Table of Contents Content Page Number Introduction 4 The Company 4 Competitor Analysis 5 External Environment Analysis 8 Overall Environment 12 Conclusion and Recommendations 14 References 16 Hackney Homes-A Strategic Report 1. Introduction Hackney Homes is one of the most famous organizations in UK which manages the council homes there. In this report, a strategic analysis of Hackney Homes is done using relevant academic models. Based on the definition by Waal (2007), the success of an organization needs to be evaluated based on its targets as well as the strengths and weaknesses .The targets are examined by mission and vision statements and the strengths and weaknesses are evaluated through internal and external analysis. The various positive (opportunities) and negative (threats) external factors influencing the performance of an organization are evaluated through external analysis. This analysis is very relevant for assessing a company’s present situation in order to develop new strategies or change existing strategies by making use of the opportunities and threats to the company. In this report, the services offered by Hackney Homes, its targets and strengths and weaknesses are examined through different academic models. The report has six sections. Section two discusses the targets and services offered by Hackney Homes. Section three discusses the competitive environment of the company. Section four analyses the external environment of the company .Section five examines the overall environment of the company. Section six concludes the report and makes recommendations. 2. The Company The main services offered by the company include management of council homes, rent collection as well as repair and maintenance of these homes (Hackney Homes, 2011a).Community service is the main aim of this organization. According to Collins and Porras (1996), the mission statement of a c ompany gives its important ideology and visionary components. The three major components of the mission statement are generally identified as the committed core values, core purpose and the visionary goals to be followed by the firm to fulfil its mission. The mission of the organization is to ensure the delivery of homes to people which are excellent, accessible and high quality homes (Hackney Homes, 2011b).It works as an agent which manages the Hackney Council. It was formed in 2006 as a subsidiary of Hackney Council and is formed as an Arms Length Management Organization called ALMO (Hackney Homes, 2011b). Based on the mission statement, the main objectives of the company include provision of services which are excellent and accessible, delivery of modern homes, sound management of homes and neighbourhood improvement. The main values of the organization include service, honesty, achievement, respect and pride (Hackney Homes, 2011b). In the next sections, the competitive position a nd the general and specific environment of the company are examined using relevant academic tools. 3. Competitive Analysis According to Coulter (2005), there are both specific environment, like customers, competitors, suppliers etc which influence directly the company’s strategic decision and general environment like political, economic, social and technological sectors that indirectly

Talking Styles Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Talking Styles - Assignment Example A conversation between two people and the choice of words they use determines what their relationships look like. People who are strangers may not have the same conversation compared to those who are dating. People who are dating have a rather close relationship and this is replicated in their conversation. In this regard, language style matching captures the responses from the two people and gives a verdict based on the respective conversations (Adler, 2014). Â  Language style matching is an essential tool that only relies on the very conversation. It does not depend on other external entities to have a conclusion. The matching style tool is, therefore, accurate to the point where it is used to analyze the conversations between two people. In essence, the verdict given by the matching tool is very much dependent only on the conversation. While the nature of the conversation is the critical aspect of it, one cannot independently verify the thoughts and meaning behind every conversation. However, to the extent where the language matching style determines the accuracy of two individuals in a conversation, the results are very accurate (McCarthy, 2012). Â  Language style matching to some extent is accurate in determining the quality of interpersonal relationships. However, it cannot be very accurate in predicting the quality of the conversation. Interpersonal relationships depend on a lot of elements in determining the value of the relationship between two people. While it is true that the language style matching style is very effective in determining the meaning behind every conversation, being used to determine the accuracy in an interpersonal relationship cannot be guaranteed. A conversation between two people may have a lot of meaning and importance. Some people could be very sincere in their conversation while others may not be as sincere (Adler, 2014). Â  

Essay on Mental Health Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

On Mental Health - Essay Example Mental counselors consider the background of the client while advising him on a treatment package so that the treatment becomes affordable. Inclusion of the bartering system involving gifts in treatment packages are generally avoided by the consumer (Code of Ethics, 2000). Current treatment packages have been tailored according to the client’s needs. Treatment packages are directed towards early prevention as well as after care. But criticisms have come up against these treatment packages due to their adherence of strict duration irrespective of the patients needs. Some packages based on group treatments have been neglected individual care (Prinz, n.d). Payments under mental health services are also a complex issue as it is treated more categorically different than other health diseases under Medicare. Related medicines have also become more expensive (A Guide to Mental Wellness in Older Age: Recognizing and Overcoming Depression, n.d). Hence recent treatment packages have ben efitted the patients to some extents but also have proved to be costly. The current essay tends to address this issue through various cases and findings. Behavioral factors have always influenced health treatments and it is relatively more important for patients suffering from mental disorders. This factor is also clinically influential on the health conditions of the mental patients (American Psychiatry Association, 2000, p.732). Hence a proper behavior is essential while dealing with the mental patients. This falls under the ethical considerations of psychological treatment. Ethical Considerations The mental doctors or counselors should never hurt the patients by their behavior. No physical or mental torture will be tolerated by the client. Maintenance of trust during the treatment also falls under ethics. The client also needs to be fully aware of the nature of the treatment and its underlying expenses. Any kind of discriminations, be it gender or racial needs to be kept outside the purview of treatment. Engagement in close personal relationships during the course of treatment is considered to be harmful for the patients. Financial or business relationships should not be developed. It is important that mental patients continue with their treatments else it would prove detrimental. It is the doctor’s responsibility that mental patients come for their treatments regularly and consume the prescribed medicines (Code of Ethics, 2000). Treatment packages offered for mental patients Before suggesting any treatment for mental illness the doctors need to diagnose correctly the kind of mental disorder the patient is suffering from. This will certainly help the suggested treatment package to cater to the needs of the patients. The cause for such disorder is also equally important. Medical advance in the area of psychiatric treatment do help to serve these purposes. Mental illness treatment is considered to be either somatic or psychotherapeutic. Somatic disorde rs are to some extent curable with drugs. So psychiatrists often suggest drug therapy. These drugs consist of newly invented anti depressants. Medical prescriptions are prepared in accordance with the type of disorder. Electroconvulsive therapy is a part of psychotherapeutic method of treatment. Under such therapy electric shocks are given to the patients by attaching the electrodes to the patient’s head. Undoubtedly the treatment is a painful one but proved to be very effective for severe depressions that are less responsive to drugs (Doebbeling,

The role of money in the macro economy Assignment

The role of money in the macro economy - Assignment Example Money supply in an economy is closely linked to economic growth of the nation, unemployment, inflation in economy and interest rates prevailing in the banking system of the country. ECB (2011, p. 63) states â€Å"The volume of broad money in the economy is the result of the interaction of the banking sector (including the central bank) with the money-holding sector, consisting of households, nonfinancial corporations, the general government other than central government, as well as non-monetary financial intermediaries.† Money supply determines liquidity in the economic system and credit growth. Credit growth depends upon the liquidity in the banking system, ability of the banking system to scale up their exposure in relation to demand, interest rates, internal rate of return expected on investments and the general economic condition. Therefore credit growth is considered an important indicator of economic development in a country. A country needs to overcome the imbalances in the current account through regulations for maintaining the exchange rate parity of its currency in the international markets for sustainable growth and development. The US subprime crisis and the European financial crisis have underlined the importance of financial services sector in macroeconomics. The globalization phenomenon necessitates revisiting of global monetary system with International Monetary Fund at the helm of affairs. Surveillance system of the International Monetary Fund should be able to detect the warning signals of impending economic crisis and support the countries in overcoming their economic imbalances. Money supply Keynesian expansionary policy envisages increasing supply of money and government spending for revival of economy and growth. Central banks control money supply using various tools. For example, the Federal Reserve can regulate money supply and manage liquidity through reserve requirements imposed on the banks. By increasing or decreasing the reserve ratios the Federal Reserve can regulate money supply. Also, the Federal Reserve buys and sells securities in open market with repurchase agreements for this purpose. When the economy is on growth mode, banks can borrow money through Federal Reserve’s discount window or avail facilities through autonomous factors that increase supply of money in the economy. The central bank of a country can use ‘Bank Rate’ as a tool to regulate money supply. The change in bank rates leads to changes in the short term and long term interest rates. The impact of the changes on financial and capital markets need to be carefully reviewed after taking into account several factors. For example, decrease in the interest rates will have impact on the pensioners’ income by way of interest on fixed income securities. The economic indicators such as Consumer Price Index related to inflation, Jobless Claims related to unemployment, GDP r elating to economic growth and industrial production statistics are useful in taking decisions by the monetary authorities. Increase in money supply increases aggregate demand which encourages entrepreneurs to establish production facilities for meeting the consumer demand. The additional employment generated in this process increases the consumption level and demand. The multiplier effect caused due to expansionary policies needs to be regulated to avoid

Ultraviolet light Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ultraviolet light - Essay Example One common source of UV light is produced through black lights. These devices are lamps that are designed to produce electromagnetic radiation that is still ultraviolet yet remains partially visible. This process can be accomplished through any number of means but the effect can be achieved simply though the application of a filter that removes some of the visible light. Ultimately it is among the safest forms of the light as it to the UVA region and has a relatively long range. This long-range translates to a low frequency which ultimately means that it is low energy. Although some negative health consequences can result from intense or long term exposure it is still considered relatively harmless. This brings into question whether or not there are any beneficial effects of UC light. It is the case that UV light is a kind of double edged sword as there are both beneficial and harmful effects. UV light helps stimulate the production of vitamin D in humans. However prolonged exposure can cause painful sunburns and even alter human DNA and ultimately cause the growth of certain types of cancer.

Jean Baudrillards concept of the orders of simulacra Essay Example for Free

Jean Baudrillards concept of the orders of simulacra Essay A commodity appears at first sight, a very trivial thing, and easily understood. Its analysis shows that it is in reality, a very queer thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties (Marx). It has long been a condition of western culture to act for the accumulation of material objects. This is in part due to the capitalist nature of the world within which we live. Marx identifies in The Critique of Capitalism the emergence of two new classes of people, namely capitalists and labourers. The term capitalist describes any person who has personal ownership of capital, which consists of raw materials, instruments of labour and means of subsistence (Marx). In contrast a labourer has only the value of his labour (life activity), which he exchanges with the capitalist for a wage and as such the worker sinks to the level of commodity (Marx). Because the labourer produces for the capitalist a commodity of greater value than that of his wages and in addition those wages are paid back to the capitalist in return for subsistence, therefore social control in exerted over the working class, whilst providing the capitalist with excess commodity. The labourer consentingly becomes a slave to the system on which he depends. In addition Marx states that as the relation between capitalist and labourer (manufacturer and consumer) develops, so competition between rival capitalists becomes apparent. In effect the capitalist is forced to capture more of the market by selling goods more cheaply by the consolidation and exploitation of labour power e.g. by machinery. Such a strategy ultimately limits the demand for labour and so new industries must be developed for exploitation. These new industries are necessary because capital exists only in relation to its ability to command labour and social control and as such they reciprocally condition the existence of each other (Marx). These forced increases in demand and therefore production are evident in the contemporary world market. Important to the development of Capitalism is the use of money which abstracts labour and commodity values to a common unit for the purpose of trade. In effect the labourer discovers that the product of his activity is not the object of his activity (Marx) thus a level of abstraction occurs, which was consistent with the modernist values of the time. Karl Marx and early capitalism were mainly concerned with production which remains important but it was Situationist, Guy Debord, who gave the first insights into late capitalism and the theories that best apply to todays world economics and culture of commodities. Debord, in his book The Society of the Spectacle, bases his examination of commodities around consumption, media, information and technology. As such Debord suggests that in societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation. By this he means to describe the world and its products as mere appearances, where the real meanings and values of commodities are translated into signs. Essentially it is a world vision that has been objectified (Debord). Debord explains the phenomenon of the spectacle as resulting from the ever increasing production of capitalism. Because competition between capitalists inevitably leads to an excess of produce, so consumer demand must be increased. Such an increase is controllable by the spectacle as the real consumer becomes a consumer of illusions, (Debord) so he can be manipulated to believe he must consume beyond the basic necessity for survival e.g. leisure products. Therefore the spectacles form and content are identically the total justification of the existing systems conditions and goals (Debord). The spectacle is mediated in society as information or propaganda, as advertisement or direct entertainment consumption, (Debord). The effects of the mediated spectacle tend to lead the consumer to an experience of alienation as the consumers want for commodities is dictated to serve and maintain capitalism. In addition the spectacle constantly reinforces itself, for example the television, which is in itself a product of the spectacle that is then used by the capitalist to implement the advertisement of other spectacles. Essentially the spectacle is the nightmare of imprisoned modern society (Debord) and explains the transition from the degradation of being into having to having into appearing (Debord). Jean Baudrillard took Marxs Critique of Capitalism and Debords The Society of the Spectacle to their conclusions with his own theory of simulation and simulacra. Similar to the idea of the spectacle, Baudrillard describes a world where the subject of everything has been replaced by a semiological value that has become more important than the original, real meaning of the object. This object he calls a simulacra. In Simulacra and Simulation Baudrillard adds extra complexity to these ideas by establishing a hierarchy of simulation, which he gives four orders. In the first order the object is a copy of an original and so can be linked to a basic reality, for example a photograph of an actual event. The second order of simulation misrepresents the original subject; in the example the photography has been digitally manipulated in Photoshop to present a non-occurrence. In the third order a reality is recreated from a simulation of an original reality, when in fact, through the process of simulacra, the original has been lost, e.g. a scene is recreated from the digitally manipulated photograph of the original event. Finally, the forth order of simulation is the combined process of the first, second and third order to such an extent that the object bears no relation to reality or the original, for example the photograph has become a virtual reality. In this instance the link between reality and the signifying systems is almost impossible to ascertain, thus creating a hyper-reality. It is the use of one simulacra as a basis for the formation of another simulacra that shows the first signs of relevance to post modernity. Consequently, in post modernism, everything is understood in relation to everything that has come before, which in design manifests itself in referencing. Post modernism is also concerned with the fact that there is no right or wrong and essentially that no real truth exists. It is of course possible for a sign to make a transition through all four of the orders of simulation, constantly abstracting meaning and widening the gap between simulation and reality. However due to the complexity of repeated abstraction and signification it becomes necessary for an amount of speculation and simplification to occur when examining transitional examples. If we take, for example, the now famous emblem of automotive company Rolls Royce, it becomes apparent the extent to which a symbolic object can be re-simulated, each time loosing a part of its original meaning. Spirit of Ecstasy, designed by sculptor Charles Sykes and mass produced in 1911, is a cast metal emblem representing the figurine of a girl with arms outstretched to hold the folds of her gown blowing in the breeze. To the present day this emblem has been displayed on the bonnets of Rolls Royce cars and is the first order of simulation in terms of it being a representation of a real person from which the sculpture has been modelled. The object also references the figure heads of classic sailing ships in an attempt to convey the automotive product as an elegant, quite and reliable vehicle, which were the mediated associations with the brand during the early development of the company. In this instance the object enters the third order of simulation as a real event (model posing for sculptor) is created from an existing symbolic object (sailing boat figure heads) in order to be recreated as a new symbolic object (Spirit of Ecstasy emblem). At this point it is important to note that this example as an investigation could examine many more stages of referencing prior to the signs use as figure heads, though this could prove too difficult and inaccurate, again reinforcing the existence of a hyper-reality. The tea pot, designed by Michael Graves in 1985 for Alessi, brings the symbol to its conclusion. The tea pot employs a plastic emblem of a bird that is attached to the spout of the kettle and creates a whistling noise when the water is boiled. This creates a pun between the whistling of a kettle and the singing of bird but more importantly, its similar visual appearance (i.e. the wings of the bird and the outstretched arms and gown of the girl) makes a reference of Rolls Royce cars. Because during the late 20th century the values associated with Rolls Royce have matured to convey the brand as one of top class and status, so it are these value that are associated with Graves tea pot, supposed to the original associations that Rolls Royce was referencing from classic sailing ships. Therefore the product has clearly entered the forth order of simulation is it holds no relation to the original meaning that the original object as sign attempted to represent. Also, by referencing past signs, it can be described as a post modern object. Like Debord, Baudrillard agreed that simulation was important to the survival of capitalism as it, through mediation, can control the level of consumption within society. Baudrillard used the term valorisation to describe the process through which symbolic objects attain value. An excellent example of valorisation is Pokemon cards, which are essentially printed illustrations on card and so their use value is very low. However, via mediation, Pokemon cards have been given a simulated symbolic value that has made them desirable and powerful as a commodity. As well as design, Baudrillards theory of simulation and simulacra has also proved influential in film making, for example in The Matrix, directed by the Wachowski brothers. The Matrix is set in the future at a time when the real world has been reduced to a desert waste land by a war between humanity and machines; after the invention of artificial intelligence. Because the machines are dependant on solar power, the humans have caused the equivalent of a nuclear winter by blocking out sunlight. This has caused the machines to retaliate by imprisoning humans in gel filled pods so that energy can be extracted from them in the form of heat. In order to control the humans in this procedure a computer simulated world called the matrix exists, that all of the imprisoned humans are connected to, living their lives in what they believe is the late 20th century, oblivious to the fact that their real bodies are in stasis in the real world. The film therefore acts as a metaphor for contemporary western cultures. Firstly the matrix is an existence of the fourth order of simulation in that it is a system of mere signs that are completely detached from reality, i.e. hyper-reality. Just as in contemporary cultures, the people who live in the matrix are unaware that they are controlled by a system through simulation. You are a slave, neo, like everyone else you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch, a prison for your mind What is the matrix? Control. The matrix is a computer generated dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this (he holds up a copper battery) (Morpheus talking to Neo, The Matrix). In addition the film suggests that the prisoners of the Matrix are also dependant upon it, to the extent that they will fight to protect it. Baudrillards idea of mediasation appears in the film when it is suggested that there was a machine spawning a whole race of machines (Morpheus talking to Neo, The Matrix), thus the social control of the machines (mediation of signs) increasingly exert themselves with every new generation. Interestingly The Matrix seems to offer a solution to simulation and social control by the system, which is one of enlightenment. Once Neo understands the systems and can see the signs (computer code) of the matrix for what they really are, then he can choose to follow a different set of rules thus gaining control of his environment. As well as a theological basis on Baudrillard, The Matrix tends to convey the story via symbolic references and thus is post modern by nature. For example the follow the white rabbit scene employs a tattoo of a white rabbit, which is referenced from Alice in Wonderland in order to convey the uncertainty in discovering the truth of an alternate reality. In the same scene Neo also opens a copy Baudrillards Simulacra and Simulation in effect reinforcing links to that element of the film. In conclusion, I have identified the main themes surrounding Baudrillards orders of simulacra and simulation, shown how they relate to modern and post modern design and have given contemporary examples of their use in product design and film making. I believe that such an understanding of simulation has served well to better understanding referencing in post modernity. References Debord, G., (1977) The Society of the Spectacle, Black Red Poster, M., (1998) Jean Baudrillard: Selected Writings, Polity Press Tucker, R. C., (1978) The Marx Engels Reader Second Edition, Norton Company Bibliography Hebdige, D., (1994) Hiding in the Light, Routledge http://www.geneseo.edu/~bicket/panop/baudrillard.ht http://www.artisanitorium.thehydden.com/nonfiction/film/matrix.htm http://www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com/master_frame.html

Analysing Recruitment Strategies Of Brunt Hotels English Language Essay

Analysing Recruitment Strategies Of Brunt Hotels English Language Essay Brunt Hotels, owns more than 30 hotels throughout the United Kingdom. They recently acquired a small hotel chain headquartered in France. Brunts chief executive decided that half of the new hotels in France would be retained and rebranded as part of the Brunt Hotels Group. The other half will be sold. This will support Brunts strategic objective of growing the organization slowly to make sure that new ventures are well supported and opened on time and on budget. The organization has decided to use an ethnocentric approach and send some of their existing UK-based managers to France to lead the changeover of the new hotels and then manage them after they re-open. If this new overseas venture is successful, Brunt may decide to acquire other small hotel groups in other European countries. The organization has never owned hotels outside the UK before, and has hired a team of independent management consultants to advise them on how to proceed. The hotel management asked you if they should look only internal candidates who are parent country nationals or recruit host country nationals. Explain the legal and ethical obligations in recruitment procedures. The point of a recruitment and selection procedure is to make sure that the best and most suitable candidate is recognized and recruited. The aim of the recruitment and selection procedure is to provide a structure for managing recruitment and selection inside the workplace, in a professional, efficient and fair way, ensuring that the best possible candidate will be selected for the job. This structure will further ensure that no unlawful discrimination occurs throughout the recruitment and selection process and that equality of opportunity is an essential part of the procedure. Any recruitment of family, friends or close associates must be confirmed and reviewed through the appropriate procedures. There should be a methodical and reliable search process and the selection process should be valid. Integrity must be given consideration in recruitment and promotion of employees. Ethics is a bottom-line matter in how managers carry out their responsibilities and how they will train, rewa rd and promote the best employees. Those employees will, in turn, assist to ensure that the company has the most effective and efficient work force promising to achieve its business goals. In our case, the organization has decided to use an ethnocentric approach and send some of their already existing managers from the UK to France to lead the new hotels and manage them after the re-open. However, the hotel management should hire new employees from the host country in order to complete all the positions in the hotel. The organization as for the recruitment of the new workforce will have to think about several factors concerning ethical and legal obligations. An ethical dilemma arises in our situation and this dilemma is: to send employees from the UK or to keep the previous employees of the hotel or to hire new employees and if they keep or hire employees, will be the appropriate ones. To send managers from UK to lead the hotels is not completely wrong, because they already know the philosophy of the organization but is unethical as for the previous employees of the hotels who will probably lose their jobs. Under The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 19 86 every employee must have the same opportunity for the job. If the management wishes to keep the ethical procedures, the best solution is to follow the recruitment procedures as for the new staff and interview the previous ones and after the selection of the best qualified persons to send them for a short period to UK to work in the belonging hotels. With this process the new employees will be introduced to the organizations philosophy and policies which will assist after to a better communication with the managers from UK. This approach will also help the managers to maintain confidence and trust among the new employees. The management has also to consider and to prevent some other ethical and legal issues that might arise. Such issues are: -Sex discrimination which anyone can face in the workplace should be prevented. Management in recruitment procedures should be free of prejudice and discrimination because all have the same human rights and opportunities. -Racial  harassment is a very common unethical issue in the workplace and has to do with any verbal or physical act which is based on a persons color, physical characteristics, country of origin and nationality. Management should not influenced from all these and should treat to all the candidates equal. -The hiring, training or promoting candidates based on favoritism should be prevented because friendships and relatives are the ones who cause managers the most problems. -Equity and Justice: employees should be treated fairly from the management and not abused or exploited. Justice is concerned with preventing the abuse of power. -Respect for People: employees should be treated within the workplace as individuals with rights to be pleased and defended. Respect empowers others to assert their rights and to attain their potential. The Code of Conduct is based on ethics, values and behaviors outlined in the Code of Ethics which consists of policies, rules that identify the specific actions or procedures appropriate to employees for a range of specific ethical issues. The objectives of the Code are to: assist staff in dealing with ethical issues in ways that reflect the values and standards, provide staff with guidance in ethically unclear situations and encourage staff to do the right think. Appraise the value of the selection interview and the interview techniques. The purpose of interview provides the opportunity for two-way communication and interaction to determine fit between candidate and employer. By the interview the first impression is made and the impression is based on personal appearance, articulation, eye contact, personality and handshake. Interviews are a vital element of the recruitment process for almost all the organizations. Their principle is to give the selector an opportunity to assess the candidates and to reveal their abilities and personality. The interview gives the employer the opportunity to assess them and to make sure that the organization and the job are right for the candidate. Interview structure improves the reliability and validity of the selection interview and entails standardization of processes, including question selection and response evaluation. The selection process for the majority of organizations follows a common subject: Application and CVs are received and candidates are short-listed and invited for interview. The interview format can vary and may contain an assessment centre or tests. Some companies are satisfied after one interview, while others will want to recollect additional shortlist of applicants for more. In case that the interview is successful at the final stage, an official job offer is sent to candidate, the interview format is usually determined by the nature of the company, but there are various standard formats. Employers can avoid hiring mistakes by spending a little more time preparing for the interview in advance. The process of selecting the correct person for the right position through an interview should be followed by several standardized procedures: -Pre interview preparation is the first step and concerns the preparation of the interviewer as for the job requirements and what are the required skills for the position. The interviewer should also have company information available for the candidates and detailed information about the candidates. Review applications in advance to be familiar with the applicants background and to recognize gaps in the information or areas which need special attention. Applications include personal data such as: age, family status etc. and candidates qualifications such as: experiences, languages, diplomas etc. -During the interview, the interviewer has the first contact with the candidate and makes the first impression. He should give details for the organization, and give a general description of the job. At this point, the candidate should have enough information to make a opening determination as to whether he/she is interested in the job. Throughout the interview, the interviewer ask questions that are broad, open-ended, objective, job-related, clear, direct, , meaningful, understood and related to gather as more information from the candidate as possible. He should use questions to force the applicant to tell him what he needs to know to compare the applicant to his ideal applicant profile. Ask for examples whenever appropriate. The interviewer should be open and honest and tell the candidate what to expect in the hiring process. The interviewer should tell to the candidates what the companys expectations are as for the duties, experience expected, career advancement etc and show them where they would fit into the company. -The next step for the interviewer is to insure that a common ground have concluded with the candidate. Ask the candidate if he/she has any questions and at the end of the interview be friendly and honest and inform him/her if you are interested and give special attention to not give false encouragement. After the interview the interviewer should take time to add details to his notes while the information is still fresh and to prepare the information for the next candidate. -The last step is to discuss the candidates reactions and answers and rate them as potential employees. The interviewer should make a decision by comparing applicants to his ideal applicant profile. Communicate your decision to the selected applicant as well as to those who are not selected. By following this process, the interviewer can decide more easily which of the candidates are the most suitable for the job. There are several techniques that the interviewer can use which will help him to get as more information as possible: Closed questions: A closed question can be answered with a single word or a short phrase as well as with a yes or no. closed questions gives you fact, they are easy and quick to answer and help the interviewer to keep the control of the conversation. For example: How old are you?, Do you have previous experience in the hospitality industry?, Where do you live? Open questions: An open question is probable to receive a long answer. These questions require from a person to reflect on upon, a particular point in his own way. For example: What you did in your last position?, Why I should consider you for this position? Probing questions: ask for more detailed and specific explanations of a candidates work experience, knowledge, skills and competencies. Probing questions are, in essence, follow up questions that ask for further information, ask for the person expand on what she has said, or request the person to go deeper. Probing questions can be helpful in increasing understanding, while a great number of people need to be encouraged to go beyond what they have said to help someone understand their deeper feelings and opinions. Play-back questions: checks if the interviewers have understood of what a candidate has said by playing back. Hypothetical questions: putting a hypothetical situation to candidates and asking how they would response. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of interview. Advantages of an interview: Top Management Middle Management Office / Administrative -The interview enables a face-to-face meet to take place which will help the interviewer to make an evaluation of how the candidate might fit in the organization and what they would be like to work with. -The interviewer can describe the job and the organization by providing the candidate more detailed information. -Give the interviewer the opportunity to ask probing questions about the candidates experience, knowledge, skills and competencies. -Provide the candidates the opportunity to ask his/her questions about the position and clarify issues. -More than one interviewer can assess the candidates, if it is necessary. Disadvantages of an interview: -The interview process relies on the skills and the abilities of the interviewer to make the interview successful but usually many people do not have the abilities needed for interviewing. -There is a possibility that the interviewer will not succeed to assess directly competence in carrying out the several tasks that are included for the position. -After the end of the interview, the interviewer can be lead to subjective judgments. Assess the different interview types. There are various different types of interviews. An interviewer should has a familiarity with one or more of the situations described below. When an interviewer schedules an interview, he should try to get as much information about the candidate who will be meeting. It is unusual to have only one interview prior to a job offer. Most employers will evaluate a candidate many times to be sure that the possible employee will fit into the company culture. Face-to-Face Interview à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The mass of the interviews are face-to-face and the most common is a one-on-one conversation. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The candidate should pay great attention to the person who asking questions and keep an eye contact, listen and respond once a question has been asked. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The candidate should aim to establish a link with the interviewer and show him that his/her qualifications will help the company. Panel/Committee Interview à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ In this type of interview is more than one interviewer may perform in this part of the selection process. This is the chance for the candidate to put his/her presentation skills on display. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ In these pre designed standard questions ranging overall aspects of the job are asked. They focus directly on elements of person specification. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The candidate the time that his is responding to a question should keep eye contact with the panel member who asked the question. Behavioral Interview à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ This type of interview concerns the past behavior of the candidate and is the best predictor of your future actions. These kinds of questions may be asked in any interview: panel, one-on-one, telephone. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ If the interviewer asks behavior-oriented questions, he is no longer asking hypothetical questions but the behavior-oriented questions must be answered based on facts. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Through a behavioral question, the interviewer is looking for results, not just an activity list. He is listening for names, places, dates, results and especially what the candidates role was in achieving that result. Case Interview à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ In several interviews the interviewer may ask from the candidate to demonstrate his problem-solving skills. The interviewer will outline a situation or provide the candidate with a case study and ask him to prepare a plan that deals with the problem. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The interviewers are looking for how the candidate applies his knowledge and skills to a real-life situation. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The candidate before answer the case interview question should prepare himself to ask the interviewer many questions for informational purposes à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The more the candidate is able to analyze and divide the case study, the more he will likely impress his interviewer. Telephone Interview à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Many companies conduct interviews through telephone to narrow a field of candidates. Telephone interviews may also be used as a pre- interview for candidates who live far away from the job site. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ In this kind of interview is important for the candidate to treat as he/she would in a face-to-face connection. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The candidate should be focused on the conversation and listen to the questions carefully before he answers. Group Interview à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ A group interview is planned to expose the leadership potential of prospective managers and employees who will be dealing with customers. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The preferred applicants are gathered together in an informal, discussion type interview. A topic is introduced and the interviewer will start off the discussion. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The aim of the group interview is to see how the candidate interact with others and how he/she use his/her knowledge to influence others. Lunch/Dinner Interview à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The same rules apply at a meal as those in an office. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The candidates can use the interview to develop common ground with his/her interviewer. Stress Interview à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ In this interview the interviewer deliberately creates stress to see how an applicant operates in stress situation. The stress interview is usually an on purpose attempt to see how the candidate handles him/herself under pressure. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The interviewer may be argumentative or sarcastic, or may keep you waiting. The candidate must calmly answer each question. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The interviewer may also to stay silent during the questioning and this may be an attempt to unnerve the candidate.

Business Analysis Of The Sony Corporation

Business Analysis Of The Sony Corporation As directed by the Board of Directors of Sony Corporation, this report will analyse the companys situation from 1999-2005. Sony, a world class consumer electronics makers, was facing serious concerns since the late of 1990s, such as Asian financial crisis in 1997, the tech bubble and the terrorist attacks in America in 2001. Besides, the ever increasing competition from competitors and rapid market changes are eroding the market shares of Sony. The top management confront their difficulties bravely and executed a series of actions to respond to those difficulties. This report focuses on the structure of Sony in 1999 and the restructuring in 2003, as well as the analysis of difficulties faced by Sony and how the management responded to those issues. The structure of the report starts with the business description and the corporation strategy which has significant relationship with the following sections. Then, the focus will move to structure 1999 follow with the restructuring of Sony in 2003 called Transformation 60. After the discussions about the business structure, the report will concentrate on analysing the issues associated with Sony and state the responses taken by the management and its underlying principle before concluding and with appropriate recommendations. 2.0 Business Description and Corporation Strategy Sony is one of the worlds top consumer electronics makers and employs over 167900 workers (Sony, 2010). The business operates in over 200 countries and covers the games, electronics, financial services, entertainment markets and others (ibid.). After 65 years of growth, today, the group has established a world class brand and the strong brand image can benefit its bargaining power and make the business move into new markets easily. 2.1 Key Figures Some key figures of Sony from 1997 to 2010 are listed below (Graph12). The Sales figure remained in the reasonably floating level before 2007. Unfortunately, the management and shareholders are unsatisfied with the profits, since 1998 the profits reduced nearly every year, this might have been the trigger to ignite the restructuring of Sony. Graph 1 Source: Sony Annual Report 2001, 2006, 2010- Five-Year Summary of Selected Financial Data Graph 2 Source: Sony Annual Report 2001, 2006, 2010- Five-Year Summary of Selected Financial Data 2.2 Correlation between Organisation Strategy and Organisation Structure Strategy and organisation structure are correlated to each other, even the debate of whether strategy or structure comes first is still in existence (Lynch, 2006). Therefore, to understand Sonys corporation strategy (Graph34) is significantly important before discussing the structure and restructuring of Sony. Besides, an essential portion of the study of Sonys actions is an understanding of the nature of business strategy for the Sony corporation as a whole (Mullins, 2010). Graph 3 Source: Sony Annual Report 1998 pp6, 7 Sony Annual Report 1999 pp26 Graph 4 Source: Sony Annual Report 2003 pp5-management discusses key issues 3.0 Organisational Structure This section is classified into two parts, 3.1 focuses on the structure of Sony in 1999 while section 3.2 concentrates on the restructuring in 2003. 3.1 Structure of Sony in 1999 Sony as a world class player in a diversified high-tech market was challenged with the fierce competition during the late 1990s (Sony, 1999). Therefore, the restructuring was necessary for Sony to survive in the competitive market. The group announced the organisations restructure plan in March 1999 to seize further growth opportunities in the new century and the Internet era (Sony, 1999). The structure of the organisation is determined by its age and size, technical system, power and environment (Mintzberg, 1979). Furthermore, in relation to the environment, the diversity of the environment will largely determine the structure of organization and directly affects the organisation functions into goal-seeking activities through the formal structure to achieve aims and objectives (Mullins, 2007; Mintzberg, 1979). In this diverse environment, different structures will be taken in specific department to meet different aspects of situation for Sony. 3.1.1 Internal Structure of Sony as a Whole The internal structure of Sony is a tall hierarchical structure as Sony consists of three main business areas which are electronic business, entertainment business and insurance and finance business (Graph 5). Besides, the setting up of the unified dispersed management model is to face the rapid change in market in the aforementioned pillars of Sony (Ravi, 2005). As a result, the overall structure of Sony in 1999 was divisionalized form. Schwartz and Thompson (1986) suggested that the divisionalization form can facilitate the various divisions to compete fiercely among them, with effective operations to face rapid changes in external environment. Graph 5 Source: www.HYPERLINK http://www.sony.net/Sony.net, Press Archive, March 29, 1999 Besides, centralization and decentralization depends on how organisational power is dispersed and is determined by the organization structure for decision-making and problem-solving (Schmidt, 2006). The structure of Sony in 1999 displayed Sonys trend to be decentralization to distribute the power yield. For example, Sony set up a unified dispersed management model which facilitates more functional and operational autonomy (Ravi, 2005). 3.1.2 Divisional Structures of Sony After the discussion above, the focus now moves to the structure of different divisions. The electronic business consists of various subsidiaries (Graph 6). Each subsidiary is responsible for its own different products and makes business decisions in different markets. There is little interdependence that exists between each other. Thus, the structure of electronic business was divisionalized form. Entertainment business displayed adhocracy due to its little formalisation of behaviour. Insurance Finance business displayed a Professional Bureaucracy structure due to its complex environment with highly trained skills and knowledge to offer standardisation of products and services (Mintzberg, 1979). Graph 6 Source: www.HYPERLINK http://www.sony.net/Sony.net, Press Archive, March 29, 1999 Each business division has the autonomous to make decisions in its daily operation. The Group headquarters concentrated on coordinating these business divisions to make a long-term business strategy. Nevertheless, under the complex, diverse and dynamic environment, perhaps the more organic and decentralized structure is more suitable for Sony. 3.2 Structure of Sony in 2003 Indeed, Sony restructured its organisation in 1999 into a more divisionalized and decentralised form using the unified dispersed model as a means of a Value Creation Model. Transformation 60 saw some changes in the architectural structure of the organisation with it becoming more centralised, management-wise and financial-wise. It was aimed to refining the organisational responsibilities in carrying out the operating strategies and restructuring the marketing strategies in profitable niches. The goals are to achieve more profit margins, reducing annual cost, and component outsourcing (Sony, 2003). 3.2.1 Divisional Structure of Transformation 60 Transformation 60 saw the convergence of the three pillars of Sony electronics, entertainment and financial as opposed to the unified dispersed model. The following are the divisional changes: In the electronics business, the management combined the Semiconductor Network Company, Home Electronics, Mobile Electronics and Information Technology (Sony, 2003). The entertainment business saw the joint of assets of pictures, music, game, electronics and services to enhance its position as a worldwide media company. The constructed financial holding company absorbed Sony Life Insurance Company Ltd, Sony Assurance Inc. and Sony Bank Inc. By these convergences, Sony clarified the operational structure and concentrated on the engineering, innovation and financial resources. According to the converging strategy, the new operation structure of Sony seems like a basic Machine Bureaucracy structure (Mintzberg, 1983). Although it is less dispersed than the structure in 1999, the pull to formalize by the technostructure of Sony could be seen in Transformation 60 (Mintzberg, 1981). The restructuring of Sony in 2003 was more centralised than before as a result of the serious convergences of several businesses. The tactical and strategic plans were permitted to each sectors, which points that the divisionalized form still existed. However, the power on personnel issues was controlled by the top management, as well as the supportive finance and the ultimate goal were allocated and formulated by the headquarters (Ravi, 2005). Moreover, the restructured Sony in 2003 did not belong to any specific structure of Mintzbergs pentagon t heory but the combined one (Graph 7). Graph 7 Sony organisational chart: electronics-related business (as of 1 April 2001) Source: www.sony.net, Press Release, 29th March 2001(a) 3.2.2 Financial Structure of Transformation 60 In the light of improving its fiscal position, the consolidation of fixed costs and the combining of assets reflected the change of a more centralized structure in Sony. The company aims to achieve an annualized cost reduction of approximately  ¥300 billion (Ravi, 2005). The cut in employees due to the off-shore strategy to China establish the Contribution equal to Compensation principal of paying for performances, as Schein (2004) stated that employees have worked well enough to be considered valid. Deactivating employees from Sony had cost the company financially and it might have explained the poor financial performance of Sony after the transformation was done. 4.0 Problems and Responses This section will discuss the problems associated with Sony alongside with the responses taken and its rationale. The difficulties faced by Sony have been separated into different categories mainly the rapid evolution of technology, competition in the market and the differences of national culture. 4.1 Rapid Evolution of Technology The rapid evolution of technology as pointed out by Idei (Ravi, 2005) has affected the electronics, entertainment and insurance and finance sectors of Sony. The constant improvements in technology have caused the company to respond to the demand of the market. The following are the responses made by the company alongside with its underlying rationale: Investments: Sony invested heavily in RD, capital equipment and facilities in order to meet demands and improve profitability. Technology for Inspiration and Shared Experience and Creating New Value are Sonys RD missions (Sony, 2011). The company believes that technology is capable of linking inspiration and shared experiences on top of creating new values and capturing emotions of customers (ibid.). Investment strategies link to the capability of top management of Sony. Organisation restructuring: The Company believes that the new group architecture can help gain market share besides increasing shareholders value (Sony, 1999). In this Value Creation Model, the unified dispersed management method saw changes in the electronics operations, establishment of Digital Network Solutions (DNS), changes in composition of workforce which could ultimately affect the morale of employees, implementation of new value-based performance measurement system and the separation of headquarters into two distinct functions (Ravi, 2005; Sony, 1999). Indeed, the model brings competitive advantage to Sony (Jayaranam Luo, 2007). In such a stiff market, it is understandable as to the measures taken to seize every opportunity. Unfortunately, in 2001, the September 11 attacks caused the consolidated drop in sales, affecting the fiscal position of the company (Sony, 2001b). This has proven that the Value Creation Model had loopholes, hence Transformation 60 took course. Severe cost saving measures were taken but by 2005, as a result of pressure from shareholder, a top management reshuffling with Howard Stringer as CEO (Ravi, 2005). This proves that investors of Sony began to lose confidence of the previous management team therefore it was necessary for the company to overhaul its board. 4.2 Market Competition Among Sonys competitors are LG, Samsung, Sharp, Dell and Canon. Each competitor seemed to have an advantage over Sony in different products. Below are among the steps taken by Sony to beat the competition in the market: Partnership with Solectron Corporation in year 2000 and off-shoring to China were to aid the outsourcing process of production of electronics was a step to help the company meet fluctuations in demands, cost reduction, quality improvisation and customer satisfaction (Sony, 2003; Sony, 2000). Outsourcing may be beneficial to the company as a whole but it could ultimately decrease the motivational level of employees, as there is a tendency of decrease of power of managers, and failure rate is between 40%-70% (Purse, 2009). This may explain the Sony Shock (Ravi, 2005) incident that happened in 2003 despite the laborious process of organisation restructuring. The cost-benefit consideration was not given much thought before the outsourcing was done. The takeover of Aiwa Co. Ltd. as a wholly owned subsidiary in 2002 was for the benefit of the electronics business of the company, particularly the audio and visual (AV) industry (Sony, 2002). The takeover became part of Transformation 60. It helped accelerate the structural reform of the electronics business of Sony on top of the creation of synergy as a result of the merger. 4.3 Differences in National Culture As Howard Stringer took over as the CEO of Sony in 2005, a major problem he would experience would be the differences in organisational culture. Culture refers to the way we do things around here (Sanchez, 2004). Being one of the few foreigners to be part of the top management in a Japanese company, Stringer has the responsibility of considering whether to impose the Western culture in a Japanese company. Azumi Mcmillan (1975) found that both the U.S. and Japanese culture are quite highly centralized and companys rules and procedures are abided. In Sony, although divisionalization form can be seen, the Headquarter still plays its role as a coordinator, meaning that ultimately, the decision-making process will need approval from the top management. Also, in Japan, traditional values that emphasises on hard work and details are a common practice due to its religion influences but in the U.S., creativity and innovation are the common values (Webster White, 2009). Hence, in U.S., risk-taking is very much observed. The open management style of Stringer, his understanding towards Sonys tradition and his international viewpoints could be the key to influence the cultural organisation (Sony, 2005). This can explain Stringers successes in streamlining Sonys movie and music businesses. 5.0 Conclusion Due to the external environment effect such as the Asian financial crisis, the ever increasing competition, as well as the internal business issues like the low efficiency, the profits of Sony has been reduced dramatically since 1998. Therefore the management had to execute some restructuring plan to respond to those concerns. According to the restructuring plan announced in March 1999, the structure of the group was divisionalized and more decentralization, in order to seize further growth opportunities in the 21st century. Besides, the group launched a unified dispersed management model to ensure that the business operate more efficiently and to be able to survive the rapid change of environment. Sony did a mass of changes to adapt to the market changes; unfortunately, the pace of the latter was overtaking the managements expectations. Consequently, Sony had to accelerate the reform plan and announced another restructuring plan called Transformation 60 in 2003. The change in 2003 s aw a stronger pull to formalize in the technostructure although it can be seen that there is a mixture between the machine bureaucracy and divisionalized forms. Convergences in the three sectors saw power being more focused at the top management. The change of technology, market competition and the differences in organisational culture, especially after the takeover of Stringer, were the main concerns of Sony. Organisational restructuring and investment strategies were among the solutions in coping with technological changes. Market competition forced Sony to deal with vast partnerships, joint ventures and mergers with other companies for outsourcing purposes. Finally, the change to a foreigner to lead a Japanese company spark concerns on the future of Sonys organisational culture. Nevertheless, based on the analysis that has been done, it can be concluded that Sonys management and business strategies affects its organisational structure. It was the drop in profits that led investors to force the overhauling of top management, as a result, the unified dispersed model and Transformation 60. Unfortunately, both measures failed to bring positive impacts to the companys fiscal positions. In light of the situation above, the new team led by Stringer with the probable change in organisational culture could probably help turn things around. 6.0 Recommendations Two main recommendations should be taken into account: Firstly, the future of the organisational culture of Sony has to be determined from two aspects based on the organization structure and the differences in national culture since the takeover of Stringer as CEO. Perhaps, Stringer could consider integrating the Eastern and the Western cultures to obtain the best of both worlds. Next, investment strategies of Sony may have to be re-evaluated again, as after the study of the company was done, there are hints of possibilities that failures in the companys fiscal position may have been caused by past investment decisions. Outsourcing may be beneficial but a thorough cost-benefit analysis has to be done. Investment decisions will reflect the capability of top management to stakeholders. Appendices Value Creation Model refers to the combination of intangible assets and monetary items to create additional value of the business for stakeholders, particularly shareholders (Qureshi, Briggs Hlupic, 2006; Haksever, Chaganti Cook, 2004). 2 The performance measurement system is capable of reflecting the current cost of capital of Sony 3 Before being elected as the CEO of Sony Corporation, he was the Chairman and CEO of Sony Corporation of America. Bibliographies Azumi, K Mcmillan, C (2004) Culture and organisation structure: a comparison of Japanese and British organisation, International Studies of Management and Organization. Vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 35-47. Available from: Business Source Premier. [Accessed 16 January 2011] Datamonitor (2010), Sony Corporation-Company Profile, pp4, 5 and 21, Publication date: 12 Mar 2010 Elkington, J. Masaki, T. (2004) CSR Report 2004, [online]. Available from: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/csr/issues/report/2004/index.html [Accessed 5 January 2010] Haksever, C, Chaganti, R Cook, R (2004) A model of value creation: a strategic view, Journal of Business Ethics. Vol. 49, no. 3, pp. 291-305. Available from: Business Source Complete. [Accessed 27 December 2010] Jayaranam, V Luo, Y (2007) Creating competitive advantage through value creation: a reverse logistics perspectives, Academy of Management Perspectives. Vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 56-73. Available from: Business Source Complete. [Accessed 23 December 2010] Lynch, R. (2006). Corporate Strategy, 4th edition, Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall Mintzberg, H. (1979). The Structuring of Organization.Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliff Mintzberg, H. (1983). Structure in Fives: Designing Effective Organizations. Prentice-Hall Inc. pp 169-175, pp 190-200, pp 215-222, pp 273 Mintzberg, H (1981) Organization design: fashon or fit? Harvard Business Review [online]. Vol. 59, no. 1, pp. 103-116. Available from: Business Source Complete. [Accessed 16 January 2011]. Mullins, L, J. (2007) Management and Organisational Behavior, 8th edition Harlow: Pearson Education Limited Mullins, L, J. (2010) Management and Organisational Behavior, 9th edition, Harlow: Pearson Education Limited Purse, K (2009) Outsourcing myths and workers compensation claims administration, The Australian Journal of Public Administration Vol. 69, no. 4, pp. 446-458 Available from: Business Source Complete. [Accessed 4 January 2010] Qureshi, S, Briggs, R Hlupic, V (2006) Value creation from intellectual capital: convergence from knowledge management and collaboration in the intellectual bandwidth model, Group Decision and Negotiation. Vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 197-220. Available from: Business Source Complete. [Accessed 27 December 2010] Ravi, M., (2005) Sony in restructuring Mode: Stringers Challenge (B), ICFAI Knowledge Center Sanchez, P (2004) Defining corporate culture, Communication World [online]. Vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 18-21. Available from: Business Source Complete. [Accessed 27 November 2010] Schein, E. H. (2004). Organisational Culture and Leadership 3rd editions, John Wiley Sons, Inc. Schmidt, T. (2006) A review of Structure in Fives: Designing Effective Organizations Schwartz, M. and E. Thompson, 1986, Divisionalization and Entry Deterrence, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 101, 307-321. Sony (1999) Press Releases: Sony announces new group architecture for network-centric era [online]. Available from: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press_Archive/199903/99-030/index.html [Accessed 23 December 2010] Sony (1999) Press Releases: Sony Announces Organisational Structure For New Network Companies [online]. Available from: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press_Archive/199903/99-038/index.html [Accessed 23 December 2010] Sony (2000) Press Releases: Sony and Solectron announce cooperation in electronics manufacturing [online]. Available from: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press_Archive/200010/00-1018E/ [Accessed 4 January 2011]. Sony (2001a) Press Releases: A New Group Structure for the Next Stage of Integrated, Decentralized ManagementTransforming Sony into a Personal Broadband Network Solutions Company.[online] Available from http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press_Archive/200103/01-017E/ [Accessed 3 January 2010] Sony (2001b) News and Information: Consolidated financial results for the second quarter ended 30 September 2001 [online]. Available from: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/fr/qfhh7c000000kl5e-att/qfhh7c000000kl6g.pdf [Accessed 27 December 2010] Sony (2002) Press Releases: Accelerating structural reform of the Sony groups electronics business [online]. Available from: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press_Archive/200202/02-0228aE/ [Accessed 5 January 2011]. Sony (2003) Press Releases: Transformation 60 confirming Sonys position as a leading consumer brand in the 21st century [online]. Available from: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press_Archive/200310/03-047E/ [Accessed 4 January 2011] Sony (2005) News Releases: Sony Corporation announces new management structure [online]. Available from: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/200503/05-014E/index.html [Accessed 16 January 2011]. Sony (2010) Sony Annual Report 2001, 2006, 2010- Five-Year Summary of Selected Financial Data [online]. Available from: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/ar/Archive.html [Accessed 1 December 2010] Sony (2010) Sony Annual Report 1998 pp6, 7 Sony Annual Report 1999 pp26 [online]. Available from: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/ar/Archive.html [Accessed 1 December 2010] Sony (2010) Sony Annual Report 2003 pp5-management discusses key issues [online]. Available from: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/ar/Archive.html [Accessed 1 December 2010] Sony (2010) About Sony Group-Sony Corp. Info [online]. Available from: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/index.html [Accessed 3 December 2010] Sony (2010) Technology: RD Mission [online]. Available from: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/technology/rd/index.html [Accessed 20 December 2010] Webster, C White, A (2009) Exploring the national and organisational culture mix in service firms, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science [online]. Vol. 38, no. 6, pp. 691-703. Available from: Springerlink. [Accessed 30 November 2010]

Thief Lord Essay -- essays research papers

The Thief Lord   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When the Thief Lord and he’s band of misfit orphans accepts Barbossa’s mysterious job from â€Å"The Conte†, he gets a picture of a wooden wing from a magical Merry-Go-Round and an address. He’s set to rob Ida Spavento, a photographer and former orphan herself. Victor, the detective following Prosper and Bos trail, catches onto the Thief Lords plans and follows the orphans back to the abandoned theatre â€Å"The Star Palace†, he then searches for the owner of the theatre, Dottor Massimo, a millionaire. Victor makes he way to Dottor’s mansion to buy the theatre, he’s offar is refused. But, there he discovers a boy, who looks similar to the Thief Lord, named Scipio Massimo. â€Å"He quickly lowered his head, but Victor had already recognized him. His hair was tied back in a tight little ponytail and his eyes didn’t look quite as arrogant as they had before, but there could be no doubt: This was the boy who had so innocently asked Victor the time, just before he and his friends had tricked him† (Funke, Chapter 17, page 114.) Victor makes his way back to the theatre where he is captured by the orphans and taken hostage. After hearing the boy’s story, Victor comes to the conclusion the boys are better off on there own, and agrees to keep their secret, and sends their Aunt on a wild goose chace.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Meanwhile, the Thief Lord and his band of thieves set up to lob Ida’s household. They are caught by Ida’s housemaid and then are...

Wuthering Heights versus Thrushcross Grange :: essays research papers

In Emil Brontà «'s novel "Wuthering Heights" the two main residences, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, are both grand, wealthy houses lying near the wild, Yorkshire moors, "completely removed from the stir of society" (pg1). Besides these similarities though, they are almost exact opposites. Wuthering Heights is associated with passion, nature and the elemental whereas Thrushcross Grange epitomises civilisation, peace and order. The characteristics of both abodes are also evident in their respective residents. I will examine the distinct differences in their interior and exterior appearance as well as their inhabitants. A first difference is the location and exterior of the two residences. Wuthering Heights is built on high ground where it is subjected to severe storms. It is ?strong?, its ?narrow windows are deeply set in the wall? (pg2). The front is decorated by ?grotesque carving(s)? displaying a ?wilderness of crumbling griffins? (pg2). All the above depict Wuthering Heights as unwelcoming, rugged, gloomy yet natural and elemental. Thrushcross Grange on the other hand lies in a pleasant, sunlit valley below the moors where it is sheltered from adverse weather. It is surrounded by a walled park with well-kept gardens. Flowerpots decorate the windows, which are ?only half closed? by the curtains emitting a warm, amiable light (pg43). These features give the impression of a civilised, sophisticated, serene house. Apart from the exterior contrasts, the interior of the two households is also profoundly different. The furniture at Wuthering Heights is primitive: a ?vast oak dresser? and ?high-backed? chairs (pg3), meat and guns hang from the roof and Lockwood discovers a ?heap of dead rabbits? (pg8) ? further signs of nature but also of violence and danger. The huge fireplace ?glow(s) delightfully in the radiance of an immense fire? (pg7). This symbolises power, danger, uncontrollability and, foremost, passion. The dogs kept at Wuthering Heights are ?wolfish?, ?hairy monsters? with a ?guttural gnarl? (pg4,15). At Thrushcross Grange however, Edgar and Isabella quarrel over a small pet dog, which they both want to cuddle. Contrastingly, the fire at Thrushcross Grange is at first extinguished. When it glows, it gives off a harmonious but dull light. Thrushcross Grange is beautifully carpeted and furnished, with a ?pure white ceiling bordered by gold?, from which a chandelier hangs (pg44). Unlike Wuthering Heights? elemental interior, Thrushcross Grange is tranquil and refined. The two houses contrast not only in appearance but also in the characters of their inhabitants, especially in Heathcliff and Edgar.

Wired and Wireless Network

Wireless Vs Wired Networks| There are two kinds of network technologies: * Wireless  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ communicates through radio waves * Wired  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ communicates through data cables (most commonly Ethernet-based)| Why choose a wireless network? | Wireless networks don't use cables for connections, but rather they use radio waves, like cordless phones. The advantage of a wireless network is the mobility and freedom from the restriction of wires or a fixed connection.The benefits of having a wireless network include: * Mobility and freedom – work anywhere * No restriction of wires or a fixed connection * Quick, effortless installation * No cables to buy * Save cabling time and hassle * Easy to expandAlso known as Wi-Fi, or Wireless Fidelity, wireless networks allow you to use your network devices anywhere in an office or home, even out on the patio. You can check your e-mail or surf the Internet on your laptop anywhere in your house. There is no need to drill holes in the wall a nd install Ethernet cables.You can network anywhere – without wires. Outside your home, wireless networking is available in public â€Å"hotspots,† such as coffee shops, businesses, hotel rooms, and airports. This is perfect for those of you who do a lot of traveling. Learn more about hotspots†¦ Linksys wireless routers are also equipped for wired connections – giving you the best of both worlds – connect wirelessly when you'd like to roam around your house, and connect wired when the utmost speed is important to you. For convenience and ease of use, wireless networking is the answer. Learn more about how wireless works†¦ Why choose a wired network? | Wired networks have been around for decades. Wired networking technology found today is known as Ethernet. The data cables, known as Ethernet network cables or wired (CAT5) cables, connect computers and other devices that make up the networks. Wired networks are best when you need to move large amo unts of data at high speeds, such as professional-quality multimedia. The benefits of having a wired network include: * Relatively low cost * Offers the highest performance possible * Fast speed – standard Ethernet cable up to 100Mbps. Faster speed – Gigabit Ethernet cable up to 1000Mbps. | omputer networks for the home and small business can be built using either wired or wireless technology. Wired  Ethernet  has been the traditional choice in homes, but  Wi-Fiwireless technologies are gaining ground fast. Both wired and wireless can claim advantages over the other; both represent viable options for home and other  local area networks (LANs). Below we compare wired and wireless networking in five key areas: * ease of installation * total cost * reliability * performance * security About Wired LANsWired LANs use Ethernet cables and networkadapters. Although two computers can be directly wired to each other using an  Ethernet crossover cable, wired LANs genera lly also require central devices like  hubs,  switches, or  routers  to accommodate more computers. For dial-up connections to the Internet, the computer hosting the  modem  must run  Internet Connection Sharing  or similar software to share the connection with all other computers on the LAN. Broadband routers  allow easier sharing of cable modem or DSL Internet connections, plus they often include built-in  firewall  support.Installation Ethernet cables must be run from each computer to another computer or to the central device. It can be time-consuming and difficult to run cables under the floor or through walls, especially when computers sit in different rooms. Some newer homes are pre-wired with  CAT5  cable, greatly simplifying the cabling process and minimizing unsightly cable runs. The correct cabling configuration for a wired LAN varies depending on the mix of devices, the type of Internet connection, and whether internal or external  modems  ar e used.However, none of these options pose any more difficulty than, for example, wiring a home theater system. After hardware installation, the remaining steps in configuring either wired or wireless LANs do not differ much. Both rely on standard  Internet Protocol  and  network operating systemconfiguration options. Laptops and other portable devices often enjoy greater  mobility  in wireless home network installations (at least for as long as their batteries allow). Cost Ethernet cables, hubs and switches are very inexpensive.Some connection sharing software packages, like ICS, are free; some cost a nominal fee. Broadband routers cost more, but these are optional components of a wired LAN, and their higher cost is offset by the benefit of easier installation and built-in security features. Reliability Ethernet cables, hubs and switches are extremely reliable, mainly because manufacturers have been continually improving Ethernet technology over several decades. Loose cab les likely remain the single most common and annoying source of failure in a wired network.When installing a wired LAN or moving any of the components later, be sure to carefully check the cable connections. Broadband routers have also suffered from some reliability problems in the past. Unlike other Ethernet gear, these products are relatively new, multi-function devices. Broadband routers have matured over the past several years and their reliability has improved greatly. Performance Wired LANs offer superior performance. Traditional Ethernet connections offer only 10  Mbpsbandwidth, but 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet technology costs little more and is readily available.Although 100 Mbps represents a theoretical maximum performance never really achieved in practice, Fast Ethernet should be sufficient for home file sharing, gaming, and high-speed Internet access for many years into the future. Wired LANs utilizing hubs can suffer performance slowdown if computers heavily utilize the net work simultaneously. Use Ethernet switches instead of hubs to avoid this problem; a switch costs little more than a hub. Security For any wired LAN connected to the Internet, firewalls are the primary security consideration.Wired Ethernet hubs and switches do not support firewalls. However, firewall software products like  ZoneAlarm  can be installed on the computers themselves. Broadband routers offer equivalent firewall capability built into the device, configurable through its own software. About Wireless LANs Popular WLAN technologies all follow one of the three main  Wi-Fi  communication standards. The benefits of wireless networking depend on the standard employed: * 802. 11b  was the first standard to be widely used in WLANs. * The  802. 1a  standard is faster but more expensive than 802. 11b; 802. 11a is more commonly found in business networks. * The newest standard,  802. 11g, attempts to combine the best of both 802. 11a and 802. 11b, though it too is more a more expensive home networking option. Installation Wi-Fi networks can be configured in two different ways: * â€Å"Ad hoc† mode allows wireless devices to communicate in peer-to-peer mode with each other. * â€Å"Infrastructure† mode allows wireless devices to communicate with a central node that in turn can communicate with wired nodes on that LAN.Most LANs require infrastructure mode to access the Internet, a local printer, or other wired services, whereas ad hoc mode supports only basic file sharing between wireless devices. Both Wi-Fi modes require wireless network adapters, sometimes called WLAN cards. Infrastructure mode WLANs additionally require a central device called the  access point. The access point must be installed in a central location where wireless radio signals can reach it with minimal interference. Although Wi-Fi signals typically reach 100 feet (30 m) or more, obstructions like walls can greatly reduce their range.Cost Wireless gear costs so mewhat more than the equivalent wired Ethernet products. At full retail prices, wireless adapters and access points may cost three or four times as much as Ethernet cable adapters and hubs/switches, respectively. 802. 11b products have dropped in price considerably with the release of 802. 11g, and obviously, bargain sales can be found if shoppers are persistent. Reliability Wireless LANs suffer a few more reliability problems than wired LANs, though perhaps not enough to be a significant concern. 802. 11b and 802. 1g wireless signals are subject to interference from other home applicances including microwave ovens, cordless telephones, and garage door openers. With careful installation, the likelihood of interference can be minimized. Wireless networking products, particularly those that implement 802. 11g, are comparatively new. As with any new technology, expect it will take time for these products to mature. Performance Wireless LANs using 802. 11b support a maximum theoretical bandwidth of 11 Mbps, roughly the same as that of old, traditional Ethernet. 02. 11a and 802. 11g WLANs support 54 Mbps, that is approximately one-half the bandwidth of Fast Ethernet. Furthermore, Wi-Fi performance is distance sensitive, meaning that maximum performance will degrade on computers farther away from the access point or other communication endpoint. As more wireless devices utilize the WLAN more heavily, performance degrades even further. Overall, the performance of 802. 11a and 802. 11g is sufficient for home Internet connection sharing and file sharing, but generally not sufficient for home LAN gaming.The greater mobility of wireless LANs helps offset the performance disadvantage. Mobile computers do not need to be tied to an Ethernet cable and can roam freely within the WLAN range. However, many home computers are larger desktop models, and even mobile computers must sometimes be tied to an electrical cord and outlet for power. This undermines the mobility advantage of WLANs in many homes. Security In theory, wireless LANs are less secure than wired LANs, because wireless communication signals travel through the air and can easily be intercepted.To prove their point, some engineers have promoted the practice of  wardriving, that involves traveling through a residential area with Wi-Fi equipment scanning the airwaves for unprotected WLANs. On balance, though, the weaknesses of wireless security are more theoretical than practical. WLANs protect their data through the  Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)  encryption standard, that makes wireless communications reasonably as safe as wired ones in homes. No computer network is completely secure and homeowners should research this topic to ensure they are aware of and comfortable with the risks.Important security considerations for homeowners tend to not be related to whether the network is wired or wireless but rather ensuring: * the home's Internet firewall is properly configured * the family is familiar with the danger of Internet â€Å"spoof emails† and how to recognize them * the family is familiar with the concept of â€Å"spyware† and how to avoid it * babysitters, housekeepers and other visitors do not have unwanted access to the network Wired vs Wireless | Wired| Wireless|Installation| moderate difficulty| easier, but beware interference| Cost| less| more| Reliability| high| reasonably high| Performance| very good| good| Security| reasonably good| reasonably good| Mobility| limited| outstanding| ad]There are two ways to connect a computer to a network: wired or wireless. Sometimes this will determine the kind of router you purchase, but fortunately today most offer both options. A wired connection requires an Ethernet cable be run between the router and your computer.In a wireless connection, you use hardware in your computer to communicate with the router without that cable. Both have advantages and disadvantages so to help you pick the right one for y ou, here are 5 things to consider when deciding on a network connection. 1. Ease of Set-Up Wired connections are easier to set up. With most modern computers you can simply plug in the cable and get on the Net. Wireless requires configuring the router and at least one extra step on the computer’s side: searching for the correct network to connect to.If you live in an apartment building in the city and go to connect to your network, you’ll probably see a dozen or more different possibilities. 2. Reliability and Speed Everybody who has used both wired and cordless home telephones knows how much more likely the cordless varieties are to pick up interference and experience problems of quality. The same can be true for wireless Internet. While hardware has improved over the years, other electrical devices can still potentially interfere with your Internet, in some cases causing disconnections and delays.And like cordless phones, problems increase as you get farther away fro m the router. There are devices to fix such problems, but they can be costly and may require some trial and error. 3. Speed Wired is almost always faster than wireless, and never slower. This is due to the reliability issues mentioned above and to the technology itself, which simply hasn’t caught up to Ethernet-level quality. 4. Convenience Clearly wireless is more convenient on a day-to-day basis. Once it’s been set up, you can access the Internet from any computer in the vicinity of the router.If you can run Ethernet cables throughout your house you can achieve a similar level of convenience while keeping the reliability and speed, but it’s a huge undertaking and may not even be possible if, for example, you rent an apartment. 5. Security This is arguably the most important of these points and the one too few give much thought. A wired network is fully contained. In order to connect to it, you must have physical access to the router. On the other hand, a wirel ess network is not contained. Your neighbors, people on the street, or those in the restaurant next door can all potentially find your network on their computers.There are two reasons this should concern you. [ad#r]First, you don’t want people you don’t know using your Internet connection. It’ll be slower to you and any questionable actions they take online will be traced back to you, not to them. Second, it’s not difficult for a hacker to intercept data sent through an unsecured network. All of the banking, purchasing, and communication you do online could potentially be maliciously saved to a computer. You can imagine the possibilities for identity theft, credit card fraud, and so on.