Thomas Jefferson Essays (1527 words) - Thomas Jefferson,

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson symbolizes the promise and the contradictions of Americas historical heritage. As the third president of the United States, a diplomat, plantation owner, architect, scientist, and philosopher, he is one of the most important figures in American history. The writings of Thomas Jefferson are today more meaningful than ever before in Americas history. You could reach into your pocket, pull out a nickel and find him gazing into the middle distance. Jefferson was born on April 13 (April 2, Old Style), 1743, at Shadwell, the most important of the tobacco plantations owned by his father Peter Jefferson, in the Virginia upcountry. An intelligent man, although educated, Peter Jefferson became a successful surveyor, landowner, and member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from Albemarle County. His wife Jane Randolph, a member of one of the most distinguished Virginia families. As a child, he enjoyed to the full the advantages of his familys position in life: the books, the ho rses, and the good life of the Big Houses at Tuckahoe and Shadwell. When his father died he left his fourteen-year-old son with not only valuable lands and property but the inheritance of Virginia wealth as well as loving and caring advise. Thomas not formally educated himself; he studied at Revered Mr. Maurys school, not far from Shadwell. After two years in the spring of 1760, he left his native Albemarle to attend William and Mary College. Jefferson gives evidence of enjoying to the party scene: the music, the dancing, the flirtations, and the punch drinking. After graduating from William and Mary in the spring of 1762, Jefferson studied law five years under George Wythe. Knowledge of the law is essential to an understanding of governmental procedures. He became a successful lawyer starting his career. When Jefferson was turning thirty he started his political career. In January of 1772, he had married Martha Wayles Skelton. After being married, they moved to Monticello, not far from his old home in Shadwell, this had been destroyed by fire in 1770. Jefferson arrived in Philadelphia in June 1775 as a Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress; he already possessed, as John Adams remarked. A reputation for literature, science, and a happy talent of composition. When he returned a later, he was appointed to the five- man committee, including Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. Which is the most important assignment ever given in the history of America: the drafting of a formal declaration of independence from Great Britain. Jefferson had the responsibility of preparing the draft, and was finally approved on July 4, 1776. By the age of thirty-three, his reputation had grown. Returning to the Virginia House of Delegates in October 1776, Jefferson at once set to work on a carefully planned reform of the laws of Virginia. He introduced a bill to reorganize the courts of justice. Jefferson made the most of his opportunity to modernize the body of the law. He surveyed the whole field of education, and proposed a systematic plan of statewide education. He attempted to write religious toleration into the laws of Virginia by separating Church and State; when the Bill for establishing Religious Freedom was finally passed in 1785, he considered it a major contribution to American society. In June of 1779, he was elected Governor of Virginia. Jefferson took up his duties at a time when the British were raiding Virginia; in control of the sea, they could send forth-plundering parties to capture food and ammunition, and destroy. Jefferson himself escaped capture at the hands of troops by Colonel Tarleton. In June of 1781 he had injured his wrist and was unable to ride for some time. During this period, he wrote to Marquis de Marbois, Secretary of the French Legation at Philadelphia. The observations Jefferson had been making for years about the surrounding country, its climate, its natural beauties, minerals, waterways, agriculture, and gove rnment. The manuscript was later the Notes of Virginia. In September 1782, Jeffersons wife ill since the birth of their last daughter died. Shortly after in June 1783, the General Assembly of Virginia elected Jefferson as a delegate to the Confederation Congress where he again headed important committees, drafted man

Supply side policies and its economic impact Essay Example

Supply side policies and its economic impact Essay Example Supply side policies and its economic impact Paper Supply side policies and its economic impact Paper Supply side policies are those that improve the supply side of the economey. There are the two forms of supply side policy. Supply side policies of the product market and that of the labour market, which can directly influence the national economy. All the supply side policies of the product market are design to increase competition and therefore productivity. An increase in productivity will mean that an industry is able to produce more with a given amount of resources. Privatisation is a major supply side policy of the product market side that is intended to increase the productive potential of the economy and consequently lead to a higher rate of economic growth. Privatisation actually break up state regulated monopolies into privately own enterprises and this would eventually mean that the intensity of competition among businesses will increase, rather than having government firm not competing against each other, these privately owned businesses compete together. Recently in the United Kingdom the utilities such as gas and electricity have been privatised and this has benefited the economy greatly, although there have been a few exceptions to this such as rail track privatisation which has generally been considered as a national failure due to excessive under investment. Another common supply side policy of the product market side is deregulation, which aims at removing excessive sate imposed regulation on economic activity within the national economy. Excessive regulation requires certain expectations and standards that business must spend to comply with, and consequently it is these excessive regulation that are imposed on business which increase costs. Therefore deregulation decreases the economic costs for businesses and simultaneously allows more entrants to enter the market. The supply side policies of the labour market side are possibly imperative for attaining substantially higher levels of economic growth. The reforms such as legislation against trade union can help industries stuck in an endless cycle of dispute with their employers. Trade union typically aim to achieve higher wages and make sure that condition for workers are sound, and improving within their particular industry. If the government aims to reduce trade union power then this will hugely advantage the industry. Other supply side policies such as reducing unemployment benefits have not been used very much in the U. K. economy but possibly in other free market economies. In some free market economies the benefits received for being out of work can exceed those for taking a low paid job, therefore people would rather be out of work and receive benefits than working, therefore by reducing the benefits received for being out of work people would be less well off and consequently unemployment would increase helping increase the rate of GDP. Diagrammatically the level of output and the price level are determined by the interaction of aggregate demand and aggregate supply. Under some conditions, employment depends only on total spending, or aggregates demand. At other times, supply limitations are an important part of the policy problem and have to receive major attention. From the 1930s to the later 1960s, macroeconomics was very much demand-oriented. But in recent years the emphasis has shifted and aggregate supply and supply-side economics have gained in importance. This shift of emphasis and interest was no doubt fostered by the slow growth and high inflation experienced by the industrialised countries in the 1970s. If the economy is close to full employment, increased aggregate demand will be reflected primarily in higher prices or inflation. The aggregate supply side of the economy has then to be introduced. The aggregate supply curve specifies the relationship between the amount of output firms produce and their price level. The supply side not only enters the picture in telling us how successful demand expansions will be in raising output and employment, but also has a role of its own. Supply disturbances, or supply shocks, can reduce output and raise prices, as was the case in the 1970s when the price of oil increased sharply. Conversely, policies that increase productivity and thus the level of aggregate supply at a given price level, can help reduce inflationary pressures. In the early 1980s supply-side economists promised that disinflation was possible without unemployment. The 1981-1982 recession punctured that hope. But supply-side economics made a partial comeback because the recovery from that deep recession was both rapid and prolonged. Supply-side economics and its effectiveness abroad. Supply-side economics was all the rage in the United States in 1981, the first year of the Reagan administration. And so-called supply-siders still run a very active publicity machine, proclaiming the correctness of their views in the press and in books. Supply-side economists lay heavy stress on the incentive effects of taxation in determining the behaviour of the economy. Beyond that broad agreement there are really two separate supply-side groups. The mainstream group stresses the importance of tax incentives in promoting growth, especially by their effect on saving and investment. Similarly, it analyses the effects of tax changes on labour supply, the effects of Social security on saving and retirement decisions and a host of other important issues. But it was the radical fringe of supply-side group that received most of the publicity during the early 1980s, when Reagan tax cut that determined fiscal policy for the entire decade was put in place. This group made exaggerated claims for the effects of tax cuts on saving; investment and labour supply and for the effects of tax cuts on total government revenue from taxation. Among the intellectual leaders of the fringe was Arthur Laffer, whose curve has become famous. Radical supply-siders were installed in the Treasury and there was an active supply-side group in Congress. The radical fringe argued that 1) tax rate reductions would have such powerful effects on work effort that total tax revenues would rise and 2) the supply-side effects of the tax cuts would have a powerful effect in reducing inflation by increasing the growth rate of output. In 1981 the Reagan administration presented an optimistic scenario for growth with low inflation that was supposedly justified by supply-side considerations. Tax rates were to be cut significantly but, it was claimed, the rapid increase in growth would keep the budget close to balance. That at least was the public claim. Radical supply-side economics was thus an essential part of the rhetoric supporting Reaganomics. The most important factor in these policies was the Presidents determination to cut taxes. This was done in the belief that the government was too large and that government spending could be cut by denying Congress tax revenue to spend. Arguments by supply-siders that tax cuts would rapidly increase economic growth and reduce inflation were certainly welcome, but it is quite likely that President Reagan would have proceeded with his policies even had he known they would result in massive budget deficits, so long as they would reduce the size of government. Supply-side predictions were criticised at the time by mainstream macroeconomists. The evidence is that tax reductions do affect incentives and that tax cuts increase output. But there is no evidence that the incentives would be so strong as to result in higher government revenue after a tax cut. Similarly, an increase in the growth rate of output will contribute to reducing the inflation rate-but the effects are unlikely to be powerful. The events of two years following the Reagan tax cuts do not support the views of the radical supply-siders. Inflation was indeed reduced, but the reduction was a result of tight monetary policy and not of expansionary fiscal policy. Output fell rapidly; it did not increase. These events led to the departure of the radical supply-siders from responsible policy-making positions, but did not slow their claims that supply-side economics (of the radical branch) was the solution for the economys problem. An interesting sidelight on supply-side economics comes from considering the relationship between supply-side economics and monetarism. Both approaches are often associated with conservative political positions. But the two groups of economists are critical of each other. In their policy positions, favouring tax cuts in almost all circumstances and believing also that the Fed should allow rapid money growth to foster rapid output growth, the supply-siders are closer to Keynesianism than to monetarism. Supply side policies An alternative or even a complementary policy to demand-side management is to increase the productive potential of an economy, irrespective of the state of aggregate demand. Policy measures, which raise the long run or potential GDP, are known as supply-side policies. Successful supply-side policies raise potential GDP faster than if were it left to the normal process of economic growth. The attractiveness of such policies is that they bypass the uncomfortable trade-off between output and inflation. The general conclusion is that, regardless of their effectiveness, supply-side policies do not produce immediate miracles. They may increase incentive to raise production; they may be aimed at improving general efficiency; they may require some sectors to decline and free resources for other, more valuable uses. All these measures take time to work, five to ten years, or even longer. Three broad approaches to increasing the economys long-run potential have been examined. First, good supply-side policy should aim to make markets as efficient as possible and when markets fail that test, government intervention can improve matters. Second, given that governments are already interfering in the market place for both good and bad reasons, they should strive to minimise the negative impact of their intervention. One example is regulation; another is taxation; yet another is subsidy policy. Third, unemployment remains a deep concern in much of Europe where roughly 10% of the labour force is out of work. Taxation and the provision of public goods. Public goods are special because they naturally are non-rival and non-excludable. Being non-excludable, public goods cannot be charged to their users. A toll booth can be installed at a bridges entrance, but what price should its owners charge ? Non-rivalry means that the marginal cost of their use is very small; thus the price ought to be low. But fixed costs can be large (a bridge is very expensive to build), so how can the producer be compensated ? In addition, a bridge is a natural monopoly if it is the only one in the vicinity. If the owner charges a high price and makes large profits, market competition will lead to the multiplication of bridges next to each other, a very inefficient outcome. Markets just cannot cope with such failures, public goods need to be provided collectively (free bridges), or their provision needs to be regulated (privately built bridges are generally subject to strict regulations, including pricing and quality of service). Public goods are pervasive: transportation and amenities, but also justice and police, passports, defence and diplomacy etc. In each case, there is a market solution, but it is inefficient as not enough-sometimes none at all-would be privately provided. And in each case, the insufficient provision of the public goods would greatly impair economic activity, possibly leading to the breakdown of other, well-functioning markets. This is why the provision of public goods is a fundamental supply-side policy. The more efficient the provision, the more productive the economy will be. Efficiency means that public goods are produced at the lowest possible cost-which also involves issues of corruption. It also requires that resources be collected to finance the production of public services, an issue to which we now turn. Once a society has agreed to let government perform certain public functions, public resources need to be raised in order to pay for them. This is done through taxation of final goods and services. Taxation generally distorts markets by driving a wedge between the cost of producing goods and services and the price paid by the consumers. Non-distortionary taxes do not affect economic behaviour. An example would be lump-sum taxes levied on individuals without any reference to incomes, wealth, or spending, or taxies levied unexpectedly on past incomes and wealth so that it is too late to react. For this reason, non-distortionary taxes are appealing to governments. In practice, however, retroactive taxation is considered unfair precisely because it takes people by surprise. Lump-sum taxes are also unpopular, as Mrs Thatchers fateful experience with the poll tax in 1990 showed. As a result, nearly all taxes are distortionary. Laffer curve. Because distortionary taxes move the economy away from its first-best equilibrium, it is entirely conceivable that higher tax rates actually result in lower tax yields. This effect is sometimes called the Laffer curve. This curve describes a theoretical relationship between total government tax revenues and the average tax rate (the ratio of tax receipts to GDP). The tax rate ranges from 0 to 100%; at a 0% rate, tax revenue is nil; when the tax rate reaches 100%, no one is likely to work or produce at all so tax receipts are also nil. At intermediate tax rates, tax receipts are positive. The hump-shape of the curve indicates that the tax rate distorts the economy so much that beyond some tax rate, taxable income declines faster than the tax rate increases. The threshold point corresponds to the average tax rate for which tax receipts are at a maximum. Any rate of taxation to the right of this point is inefficient because the same tax income can be raised with a lower tax rate, i. e. less distortion. Incentives and taxation The social safety net. The social safety net refers to the system of transfers and benefits designed to help the disadvantaged and vulnerable in society. These include unemployment benefits, social welfare, old-age pensions, early retirement, health insurance and disability benefits. A large gap divides European countries, which transfer between 20% and 30% of their national income to individuals or firms, from the USA, Japan and Switzerland, which transfer only 10-15%. This might lead a casual observer to conclude that high European unemployment is a product of the social welfare state, which puts weight on solidarity but at the cost of productivity and economic efficiency. Yet it is too hasty to claim that Europeans have erred too far in the direction of social protection, in comparison to the rest of the OECD. The high level of transfers observed in Europe is to some extent a response to high unemployment, which may have other underlying causes. At the same time, these transfers-in the form of unemployment benefits, welfare and premature retirement and disability pensions-take the pressure off workers and firms to adjust to a changing world economy. The greatest danger is that the safety net becomes a trap, leading to long-term unemployment. It is useful to think about the adverse effects of the safety net on incentives. The social systems of most countries share two institutional features. First, poor or unemployed people receive transfers-income maintenance programmes or unemployment benefits-from the state. Second, income taxes are progressive: the rate of taxation increases as income rises. Taking up a job not only means receiving a salary, but also paying taxes if the salary is high enough and thereby losing eligibility for income maintenance programmes. It is conceivable then that people can be financially worse off by taking a job, not to mention incurring a loss of leisure and possibly some activity in the underground (shadow) economy. Implicitly, these people face an effective marginal tax rate-considering the overall effect of work on their income-in excess of 100%. Recent experience of work-to-welfare in the USA indicates that the incentive aspect is important for bringing workers on social assistance back to work. Labour taxation. Because labour is so important in any economy, it is natural to expect governments to tax it. Labour is one of the most highly taxed commodities. Not only is labour subject to income taxes paid by households, but also to a number of social security contributions by both employees and employers.

With the on-going war against terror, now is not the time for the Essay

With the on-going war against terror, now is not the time for the government to reduce the size of the Air Force - Essay Example According to current plans, the American Air Force is set to be reduced in size by 20,000 personnel. Such a reduction would mean a decrease of almost 30% in numeric strength and weaken the Air Force considerably. The war we are fighting today means having the ability to drop soldiers into combat hot zones, provide them with terrain information, air cover and bring them back home once an operation is complete (Wikipedia, 2006). All these functions demand that we keep a capable and strong Air Force which would be very difficult to have with a third of the Air Force seeking jobs elsewhere. It can be said that a reduction in the armed forces overall would be good for peace and prosperity of the nation as a whole, but it is not correct to say that now is the right time to take such actions. The concept of war is indeed a concept of suffering and there is no argument on the point that when we are at peace we would have little need for a huge Air Force. However, at the present moment, we are not at peace therefore a reduction in the Air Force is simply illogical. Additionally, the war we are fighting is different from any other in our history and we have to develop new tools as well as techniques to take on a hidden enemy who strikes from the shadows. Without our Air Force at full strength, such a task would be difficult if not impossible. After the end of the cold war and the collapse of the Soviet Union, America barely had time to enjoy its status as the sole superpower in the world because of the changing geopolitical scenarios. In fact, the current situation shows that America is more involved in protecting its foreign interests than it has been at any point in history (Wikipedia, 2006). However, to expect that America can offer protection to its allies and friends by simply exerting diplomatic force is unrealistic. War is often inevitable and small

Muhammad Ali's Significance in the Civil Rights Movement Term Paper

Muhammad Ali's Significance in the Civil Rights Movement - Term Paper Example The civil rights movement was focused in on the Southern part of America where most of the African American population dwelt and racial discrimination in several aspects was very high. During the onset of the nineteenth century, the state and local governments had passed division laws known as Jim Crow laws (Foner and Garraty, para.2). Muhammad Ali’s career is shining bright during the peak period of the civil rights movement when he is discriminated back in his country after winning the Olympics. He throws away the Olympic gold medal and gradually becomes a member of the civil rights movement by joining Malcolm X’s nation of Islam. NOI as the organization was known a deep hatred towards white people. On his move to Islam, Muhammad Ali had no apologies and was ready to be discriminated basing on his colour and religion (Zirin, Para.29). Muhammad Ali’s success on the ring served as a source of inspiration in fighting against racial discrimination as suppressed African Americans felt they were equally successful as whites. They also felt that he gave them the zeal to push on with the struggle towards racial equality and equal privileges as U.S citizens. His success came at a time when a large share of financial resources was in the hands of whites. Since he was from a very humble family he knew he was destined to do low-class jobs but his prowess made him able to have an impact in the empowerment of black people. (Zirin, Paras. 17-30). By changing his promotional code from the white-dominated promoter Louisville sponsoring group (LSG) to a majority African American Main Bout Muhammad Ali, believed that the economic empowerment was essential for black freedom. Being a historic first black company to air the closed circuit television, Ali knew that only through economic progression and self-aggression could they ever be equal and free. His promoter main bout (Ezra, pp.97-98). Between the

Speech word to word Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Speech word to word - Article Example They have built on setbacks and successes to materially better their position. Before the alliance was implemented, travelers were forced to change airlines and airplanes severally, recheck luggage, and keep track of multiple tickets to get to their final destination. After the alliance, a flight from Cairo to Des Moines is as simple as 1 ticket, a single luggage check-in, and an easy connection through Northwest/KLM hubs. WHY: To improve seating capacity and increase revenue. The deregulation of transatlantic flights during the 1990s resulted in increased air traffic, but with reduced prices for tickets, and this meant a decrease in revenue for airlines. The strategic alliance between Northwest Airlines and KLM signified a strategic sharing of routes as well as a joint operation of flights. This resulted in better use of seating capacity and revenue growth. Through this framework and model, Northwest and KLM have been able to demonstrate true commitment to sharing and advancing management practices in their particular relationship. This has led to concrete business results through alliance innovation and

The advantages and disadvantages of online businesses

The advantages and disadvantages of online businesses Introduction The topic of online shopping has been of particular interest to practitioners, academics and marketing strategists and lot of research has already gone into determining whether these online companies are significantly different than brisk-and-mortar companies and if there are any systematic differences in consumer choice behavior between online and regular shopping (Eatock et al.,2002). There are some exceptional examples of online companies like Google, Yahoo and Amazon which have grown to become major global brands in their own right. These companies are purely online companies while there are others like Tesco.com who have hugely successful online operations but their online operations only supports their regular operation. This research does a feasibility analysis of a company going online and analyzes the effectiveness of the business model of online companies citing relevant examples. Analysis and Discussion Advantages of online operations Reach – Online companies can cater to a wider range of audience as compared to their offline counterparts. Eg. Companies like Amazon and eBay have a global reach. Low Cost the cost of spreading the message, advertising and in general the administration costs are lesser than regular companies and far more lesser when online companies reach economy of scale. Ease of shopping – Provides customers with a hassle free shopping experience whereby customers can sit at their home and shop at the click of their mouse. Choice – Gives customers more choice to choose from. Eg. Barnes and Noble has ten thousand books in its store and million in its online store Disadvantages Ease price comparison – Because customers can compare prices easily (now with price comparison sites like confused.com, moneysupermarket.com etc), it makes companies compete on price rather than product differentiation and other factors which means online companies have lesser margins. Security and reliability issues – With Internet and credit card fraud on the rise, people are becoming more and more cautious and reluctant of giving their bank details online. Information Overload – At times people get lost on the internet because there is too much information which makes them delay or refrain their purchasing decision. ‘Squeezing the tomato’ (Gallauher, 1999) syndrome – People still like to have a look and try products like clothes etc before buying it. Trust – Because customers do not deal with the actual person but with an internet process, trust is of the major issues. Shipping costs – Convenience comes at a cost and most often than not, people have to pay for their shipping if they don’t buy stuff above a certain price limit. Eg. Customers have to buy something greater than  £5 in TescoDirect to have it delivered free of cost. Disadvantages on online companies can be overcome but only if they view the customer experience from the eyes of their customer. Online businesses Illustrations are given of three types of online companies which are different in their operations, eBay, is purely an online auction company, Barnes and Noble is a book seller which has both online and offline operations, easyJet is a low cost carrier which follows a Web-based distribution strategy. easyJet easyJet is a low-cost airline which has made the Internet the core of its business. Its business model is based on cost efficiencies and by hacking cost and overheads at every possible stage it ensures a built-in business advantage by selling online and thereby cutting away the intermediaries like travel agents etc. Presently 85% of its sales are online and the company aims to sell all the tickets online by the end of this year and be the only ‘Web-only’ airline. (Web 1) Another noteworthy feature is the ease of online booking and security of its site. The passengers online experience reinforces confidence in the booking process. (Lynch, 2005) Underlying the use of internet is easyJet’s business philosophy of efficiency and cost cutting and its business model of reaching to the mass market which couldn’t have been done without the use of Internet. The internet helps it lower its distribution cost, reach mass audiences, give an indication of customer prefere nces and passenger demand helping in pricing and staying ahead of competition.(Ind et al.,2002) The result of efficient and effective use of internet by easyJet has propelled it into a rapidly growing airline based on sound competitive business principles with an innovative business model. easyJet has revolutionized the way Internet can be used as the most effective business tool. E-Bay E-Bay is a purely online company which sells and auctions nearly everything on the internet. Through the internet medium, it has completely transformed the concept of auctions into e-marketplaces which were once limited to garage sales and flea markets. (Light, 2001) The internet makes the auctions global making it reach a wider audiences (it has about 29.7 million registered users today (Web 2)). E-Bay’s business model is based again on low cost and maximum reach by automating the traditional methods of selling. It adopts a unique culture of rating buyers and sellers to encourage trust among its customers making them feel more confident transacting with a person they don’t know. This also ensures reliability of its brand which helps overcome the transaction security issue discussed earlier. E-Bay’s profits have soared to 400% and revenues have doubled in 2006 as compared to 2005. (Web 3) The success is not only on the revolutionary concept of e-auctioning but al so on the way it handles its internet operations. Barnes Noble Barnes and Noble is a US based book store which sells books both in its regular stores and online. It has a $62 billion worldwide market and its internet site brings more than 70% of its revenues.(Web 3) Barnes and Nobles success can be attributed to the way its online shoppers can look inside the books (table of contents, abstract and in some cases even read the first chapter of the book they are looking to buy). The internet also offers buyers a greater variety of selection which is not the case with book stores which are limited by space. According to a Goldman Sachs report on Internet retailing, book selling is third among the top dozen or so products ranked for online success. Books are ideal to sell on the Web because you don’t need to see them in person, try them on, or check out their freshness. (Kotler, 2002) Another unique feature of Barnes and Noble is its online search facility which is subdivided into titles, authors, year of publication and industry etc which mak es customers aware of the latest issues. Its Website also offers chat facility with chat groups dedicated to particular genres. Feasibility Study Success of the online businesses highlighted above should be generalized because every online business is not successful. Before considering to go online, a company has to do a feasibility analysis which should answer some key questions like: What are the goals and objectives of the company and why does it want to go online? What does the company want to achieve by going online? Who are and will be the companies target customers and what benefit will they gain from the company going online? Does the company want to add new products, does it want to reach a wider audience or both? What are the companies technological strengths ? What is the distribution system available through online market? Who are the companies online competitors? What is the online selling strategy the company is going to adopt? : What are the risks of extending the business online? Businesses have to ask these questions and should have definitive questions to the above questions before they launch their online operations. References Books and Journals Danneels, Erwin (2003), â€Å"Tight-Loose Coupling With Customers: The Enactment of Customer Orientation,† Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 24, 559-576. Eatock, J., Paul, R. J. and Serrano, A. (2002) ‘Developing a Theory to Explain the Insights Gained Concerning Information Systems and Business Process Behaviour: The ASSESS-IT Project’, Information Sytems Frontiers 4: 303–16. Gallaugher, J. (1999) ‘Challenging the New Conventional Wisdom of Net Commerce Strategies’, Communications of the ACM 42 (July): 27–9. Ind, N. and Riondino, M. C. (2001) ‘Branding on the Web: A Real Revolution?’, Brand Management 9 (September): 8–19. Kotler, P. and Bliemel, F. (2002) Marketing Management, Stuttgart: Schà ¤ffer-Poeschel Verlag. Light, D. A. (2001) ‘Sure, You Can Trust Us’, MIT SloanManagement Review 43: 17. Lynch,R (2005) ‘Corporate Strategy’, London, FT Prentice Hall Merrilees, B. and Fry, M.-L. (2002) ‘Corporate Branding: A Framework for E-retailers’, Corporate Reputation Review 5: 213–25. of Multiple Store Environment Cues on Perceived Merchandise Value and PatronageIntentions,† Journal of Marketing, Vo. 66 (April), 120-141. Websites (Web 1) How to put the money where the mouse is (online) (cited on 10 March) Available from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=5hid=7[emailprotected]> (Web 2) A Taxonomy of Internet Commerce (online) (cited on 10 March) Available from (http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue3_10/bambury/index.html (Web 3) Global online companies Available from http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~wwcoins/popcompanies.htm>

The Futuristic Film, Bladerunner :: Movie Film Essays

The Futuristic Film, Bladerunner In this futuristic film, Harrison Ford is a Bladerunner, a man who by using an eye scanning machine and asking questions can determine if a person is really human or is rather genetically created. In the meantime, three of these non-humans find out they only have a four year lifespan and try to find a way, through foul means more than fair, to extend their lives. This culminates in a rather disturbing fight between the leader of these non-humans and Harrison Ford’s character. When one thinks of a futuristic movie that takes place in New York pictures of flying cars and strange cloths pop into the mind. These are in fact used. In addition to these items however, the city itself is portrayed in a very gloomy light. The very first scene of the movie is an aerial shot of the city at night. The audience can see noting but the outline of buildings and pinpricks of light that are the widows in these buildings. When we get down to street level we see other sources of light such as a digital billboard on the side of a building, car headlights, and light from nearby restaurants, but the overall feel is still dark and dismal. The buildings are all metal and it is constantly raining throughout the movie. Other things used to portray this dingy, dismal feel are open fires and trash in the streets. This feel of the city is contrasted when we go to the office of the man who created these non-humans. The sun is shinning so that we are blinded by it. One almost gets the feel that we are in Egypt because of the sun as well as the fact that the building is open having pillars rather than walls. We also see pyramid like buildings outside. But even this impression is temporary as the creator soon draws down a shade so that the Bladerunner can run his test on the girl. Another interesting portrayal of a building in this movie is the last one where the final battle is fought. It appears to be an abandoned department store as there are many floors and mannequins everywhere. It is literally falling apart, as we see when Harrison Ford crawls through a hole in the ceiling to get to another floor and when the non-human leader punches his head through the wall.

Concentration of Acid and Indigestion Tablet

Search by keyword: Sort By: Home Search Essays FAQs Tools Lost Essay? Contact Essay Color Key Free Essays Unrated Essays Better Essays Stronger Essays Powerful Essays Term Papers Research Papers Privacy Our Guarantee Popular Essays Excellent Essays Free Essays A-F Free Essays G-L Free Essays M-Q Free Essays R-Z Essay Topics Plagiarism Donate a Paper An Investigation to see How the Concentration of Hydrochloric acid affects the Rate of Reaction with Calcium CarbonateRate This Paper: 1 2 3 4 5 Length: 3036 words (8. 7 double-spaced pages) Rating: Red (FREE) – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – An Investigation to see How the Concentration of Hydrochloric acid affects the Rate of Reaction with Calcium Carbonate I am going to investigate how concentration of hydrochloric acid affects the rate of reaction between hydrochloric acid and indigestion tablets which contain mainly calcium carbonate.From my background knowledge from class work and books, (see references) I have found out that if you increase the concentration of hydrochloric acid, the rate of reaction will increase and the time of the reaction will decrease. The concentration is dependant on the proportions of hydrochloric acid and water in the solution. The stronger the hydrochloric acid is, the higher the concentration is. I know from my research that other things can affect the rate of reaction, for example:Temperature of acid- the higher the temperature of the acid is, the more energy the particles have to move around, therefore there are more collisions and so a faster rate of reaction. There is a certain amount of energy needed for the particles to react which is called the activation energy, so when the temperature of the solution is h igher, it gives more particles sufficient energy so they move faster to react when they collide more. Size of the particles- when the reactant is a solid then it can be broken down into smaller pieces or into a powder giving it different surface areas.The smaller the pieces, the bigger the surface area is and therefore there is more area for the acid to react with it, and so there is more chance of the particles colliding, so the rate of reaction will increase. Catalysts- this weakens the bonds in the reacting molecules so it seems to lower the activation energy for the reaction. This means that there can be many more successful collisions because particles will have more energy than the activation energy, and so the reaction will be faster. In order to keep my experiment fair, I must keep all the variables the same except concentration, which is what I am investigating.From my preliminarty experiments, I have found that a gas is let off in this reaction and having testing by puttin g it with lime water, I have concluded that the gas is carbon dioxide because the lime water turned cloudy. The equation is: Calcium Carbonate + Hydrochloric acid Calcium Chloride + water + carbon dioxide To find the rate of reaction, I will measure how long it takes to produce a certain amount of gas. To work out the rate of reaction, I have to divide the amount of gas I will collect with the time.Rate= amount of gas collected/ time In order to make this experiment fair, I will keep all the variables the same, except concentration. I will keep the mass of calcium carbonate the same by using one tablet each time. The masses of each tablet vary, but only by a tenth of a gram either side of 1. 01g, which I think is not a large enough difference in mass to make a difference to my experiment. I will try to do all my experiments on the same day, so the room temperature will be the same, which means the temperature of the acid will not change.I will use a burette to measure the amount of hydrochloric acid and water, so the volume of acid will be the same. I will keep the surface area the same because I will use the whole tablet and so each one will have the same surface area because they are all similar in size. Finally, I will use the same apparatus throughout my whole experiment to make it a fair test. I have done preliminary experiments in order to find the amounts I should use for the variables. I chose to collect 40cm? of gas, 50cm? of acid solution and use half a intigestion tablet and crush it.I found three problems with using this half a crushed tablet. The first problem was the fact that it did not react very strongly, and it did not collect more than 24cm? of gas with my lowest concentration of acid, secondly it was difficult to get exactly half a tablet, and this would take too long in my real experiment if I was to get exactly half a tablet each time. Lastly, I did not know when to start my stop clock, because the time delay from the first bits of calciu m carbonate falling into the acid, to the last bits of calcium carbonate falling was quite long and in between this, some gas was lost.This has made me decide to use a whole intigestion tablet, so I do not loose as much gas inbetween putting the tablet into the solution and putting the bung on the conical flask. GRAPH I decided that the lowest concentration I will use is 1M of hydrochloric acid. , which took 85 seconds to collect 40cm? of gas. This highest concentration I will use is 3. 8M of hydrochloric acid, which took 50 seconds to collect 40cm?. From my preliminary experiments I have decided to: Use one whole tablet, 50cm? of different acid concentrations and time how long it takes to collect 40cm? f carbon dioxide gas. My prediction is: The higher the concentration of hydrochloric acid, the quicker the reaction time is with the indigestion tablets. This is because I have found out that the reaction will be quicker as the concentration increases, because the higher the concentr ation is, the more particles of acid there are which are closer together to collide more with each other and therefore react with each other, and so the reaction will be quicker. This is called the collision theory.I will use a graph to show my results, and I know from previous knowledge that the graph should be directly proportional, which means as the concentration increases, so does the rate of reaction. If the concentration is doubled, the rate of reaction is doubled, because there is twice as much possibility for collisions because there are twice as much particles. The line of best fit should go through the origin because when there is no concentration of acid, there are no particles to react. I expect to get a graph which looks like the following:Equipment  · 1 burette containing hydrochloric acid  · 1 burette containing water  · 1 conical flask  · bung and deliver tube  · gas syringe  · stop clock  · clamp stand I am using burettes because they have an accuracy of 0. 1cm? which means I can measure the volumes of water and acid very accurately, and the range of the burette is 0-50cm? of liquid, which is enough for what I need. I will use a gas syring which is accurate to 1cm? of gas collected, and ranges from 0-100cm? of gas which is accurate enough if I am to collect 40cm? of gas.The stop clock is accurate to the 100th of a second, but I will round the time to the nearest second, because it is more realistic when remembering human reaction times, which is about 0. 1 seconds. In order to not let any gas escape, I will make sure I put the delivery tube and gas syring securely together. Method  · Set up apparatus as above  · Take 50cm? of the following concentrations at one time, using the burettes of acid and water-1M, 1. 4M, 1. 8M, 2. 2M, 2. 6M, 3. 0M, 3. 4M, 3. 8M.  · Put the acid solution into a conical flask  · Put 1 intigestion tablet into the the acid and put the bung on. Start the stop clock and time until the marker reaches 40cm?.  · Do this for all the concentrations. I will use a range of 2. 8M of hydrochloric acid, the lowest concentration is 1M and the highest is 3. 8M. I decided to use these concentrations, because in my preliminary experiments, I saw that the reaction was too slow with a concentration below 1M, and that the reaction would be too fast above 3. 8M. I have chosen to do 8 different concentrations, because I will not have enough time to do more, and I will still beable to draw a concusion even if I only use 8 different concentrations.I will have to use both 2M and 4M hydrochloric acid in order to make the different concentrations of acid. The ones which are 2M or below I will make with the 2M hydrochloric acid, and for the rest 4M hydrochloric acid. I will try to use as little of the 4M acid as possible, because it is more dangerous than the 2M. I will take as many repeat readings as I can in the time that I have, because repeats will help me to make sure I do not get any anomalous results. I will reapeat the anomalous results first. The more repeats I do, the more reliable my results will be.Safety I will use 2M and 4M hydrochloric acid which both have IRRITANT warnings so I will be careful using them and try not to get them on my hands or in my eyes. I will use goggles to protect my eyes. GRAPH Results This conclusion supports my prediction well because my results show that the higher the concentration, the quicker the reaction is because there are more particles to react with each other, and so there is more chance for them to collide and therefore the reaction is faster, which is what I originally assumed in my prediction.My graph shows it is directly proportional, because if I take the concentration of 1. 5M of hydrochloric acid, and find the rate of reaction using my graph, it shows that the rate of reaction is 0. 36 cm? /s, and using the graph if I double the concentration to 3M, the rate of reaction is 0. 72 cm? /s which is exactly two times faster tha n the reaction with 1. 5M which shows it is directly proportional. In the following table, I have calculated the average time and rate of reaction for all the different concentrations.I have then worked out the difference between each rate in order to find if there is a trend in how much quicker the reaction is which each concentration. GRAPH From this table, I can see there is a trend, because as the concentration goes up by 0. 4M each time, the rate goes up by 0. 07, 0. 08 or 0. 09 cm? /s which are very close to each other and shows that the rate is quite consistent because no matter what the concentration is, the rate goes up in a certain way on average of 0. 08 cm? /s. The only results that do not go with trend are the 3. M concentrations. On my graph I have circled them as anomalous results. There can be several explanations for this which I will cover in the evaluation. The following diagram is a simple way to help show why the rate of reaction increases with the concentration : My experiment has helped me with my conclusion that the rate of reaction increases as the concentration of the hydrochloric acid increases, and has given me evidence to help explain it. Evaluation My results are as realiable as I could make them using the apparatus and the time I had.From my results I can say that most of the results are quite reliable and accurate to what they should be because I got the results I expected. However, I did get two results which I would say are anomalous. I decided that these two results are anomalous because according to my background knowledge and the rest of my results, I knew that I should get a directly proportional line of best fit, and the rest of the results are very near to this line of best fit. I know that my line of best fit is correct because as the concentration doubles, the rate doubles.The results for the 3. 8M showed that the rate was slower than the rate of reaction with a lower concentration of 3. 4M. There are many different fac tors which may have affected my results. One of the biggest faults in my experiment was the fact that I did not have enough time to complete it in one day. Due to various problems, I had to do the experiment on three different days. This means that all the equipment was different which may mean that they work differently from eachother. This makes it an unfair test.The second problem with doing it on different days is the problem of room temperature which can have a big effect on the rate, because as I know from back ground knowledge, I know the warmer the acid is, the faster the reaction because particles have more energy so there are more successful collisions. I made the mistake of not recording which results are from which day, so I cannot tell if this had a major effect on the results. Whilst doing the experiment, I noticed a few problems which may also have effected my results.First of all is the problem that I only have two hands, so it was difficult to put the tablet in the conical flask, close the bung and also start the stop clock, all at the same time. When there was someone available, I asked them to start my stop clock, but this was not possible all the time. Adding this time to human reaction time of around 0. 1 of a second, some time could have been lost. Some gas was also lost in the time period between putting the tablet in and putting the bung on. I tried my best to make this time period very small, but still some gas was lost.When I had managed to get the tablet into the acid with the bung on and time it, I noticed that sometimes the whole tablet would not go into the acid, and so it was not all reacting, so in order for the whole tablet, I would shake it for a couple of seconds. I did not count how long I would do this for each one, but when I did shake it a lot of gas would be produced, so If I shook one flask for longer, more gas would be produced faster because the whole tablet would be reacting with the acid and there would be more coll isions and therefore a quicker reaction.Between each different concentration, I would wash the conical flask, and I observed that if I washed the flask with hot water, the flask would become hotter, or if I washed it with cold water the opposite would happen. This meant that the temperature of the acid and water solution would vary. This made the tests unfair because if I did some of them with hot conical flasks and others with cold ones, the ones with the warmer flasks would react faster because the temperature of the acid would increase and so give the particles more energy to react.If the equipment was much more sophisticated, for instance if all the equipment would stay the same temperature or if there was special clock which would start at the exact time the tablet touched the acid, my results would be much more accurate, but I still found good results. [IMAGE]If I could do the experiments again, I would do the following things differently in order for my results to be more acc urate.I would make sure I did them all on the same day, use all the same equipment, have someone to start the stopclock, have better equipment, for instance a conical flask with a divider so the acid and calcium carbonate won't mix until I want them to: Apart from all of the problems, my method was suitable and the experiment was successful because I had sufficient evidence to enable myself to come to a conclusion which agreed with my knowledge and prediction. I would have liked to share results with other people who were doing the same experiment as me to see if our results were similar, but nobody was doing the same experiment as me.The only results which I did not think are reliable or accurate is the reaction of the 3. 8M concentration of hydrochloric acid with the calcium carbonate, and if I had more time I would investigate this further. I would find out why these results were anomalous because even though I did reapeats, I still got anomalous results and so I would like to fi nd out why this happened. I would like to investigate the rate of reaction with more concentrations in order to see what happens after 3. 8M acid to see if it was still directly proportional or if the graph leveled off.Other extra investigations I would do would include using different types of acid for instance nitric acid or sulphuric acid and see if they changed the reaction at all. I would also try and use different types of indigestion tablets, because the ones I used contained ginger which I have researched about to find that it is used for digestion, soothing aches and pains in muscles and improves circulation problems, so I would like to investigate if this has a different effect on the rate of the reaction or not.I put an indigestion tablet into 1M of acid concentration and measured the temperature before and after the reaction for one minute to see if the reaction was exothermic or endothermic, but there was no change in temperature, so I would like to see what effect an e xothermic or endothermic reaction would have on the experiment. Overall I think my results are reliable because the repeats are all very close to eachother, the biggest gap between my repeats is the 1. M concentration which had a time difference of 6 seconds, but the others which I had time to repeat are all around 3 seconds apart. If I had more time I would do much more repeats to make my results more reliable. The accuracy of my results are quite good because they are all very close to the line of best fit. I would like to do more experiments and repeats to make sure my line of best fit is accurate and in the correct place. Apart from these I think my investigation was successful.

Social Impact of Technology

The Social Impact of Technology There is no doubt that technological change brings about social change. The Industrial revolution saw many people displaced from their land, to find work in crowded city factories. Serfdom was abolished and the population shifted from villages to the cities. Strong family ties, self sufficiency and the right to occupy land were replaced with uncertain tenancy of land, dependency on trade and a weakening of the family unit. Economically, goods and money abounded, and trade flourished.The merchant class profited from the wealth that was generated on the backs of the displaced population of urban workers. Children were sent to work in factories, in order for families to make enough money to live. The peasant class worked long hard hours in poor conditions with no security. The Industrial revolution led to the alienation of the working class and although many union battles have since led to the adoption of better working conditions, the effects of the Indu strial revolution remain.The family unit is even more vulnerable today with soaring divorce rates, high rates of teenage suicide, most of society are either heavily mortgaged to banks or paying high rents, and no one can be self-sufficient in a world governed by free wheeling free trade. Advances in technology, is generally not equitably shared within society. People with money have more opportunity to aquire technology, which enables them to acquire even more wealth. It is also important to remember that war has been and will continue to be the driving force for technology and innovation. Power and wealth are intrinsically tied together.Technology leads to greater social economic division. Laborers are viewed as commodities and expendable. Technology leads to alienation because it can create jobs that require no specialist knowledge. To date, since the industrial revolution we have seen technology used to the detriment of society. The right to occupy land has become a privelege tha t must be worked for and earned and now the battle is on to control all the world's food and textiles through genetically modified seeds and animals. The insidious part of GM is that there is no recall once it is released into the environment.Salmon that will grow ten times faster than normal salmon will destroy river systems, as their unfair genetically modified advantage will see all smaller life forms extinguished, and genetically modified crops that are dependent on pesticides will contaminate organic, heritage seeds that have sustained people for thousands of years. Seeds will no longer be able to be harvested and replanted but the farmer will have to buy new seed every year from GM seed makers. This fight is more important that the fight over open source because it involves the right of people everywhere to have clean, safe food that has not been genetically altered.Essentially GM is a tax on everyone because a patent will be on every seed and seeds are made to be sterile the following year. This is something to become angry about. The greedy corporations and individuals that want control over our food, water and land, do not care about the irreversible damage to the environment. people and animals that they cause. We have the right to eat tomatoes that are free of fish DNA, meat and milk that is free of human DNA, pigs that haven't been grown to harvest anthrax antibodies. They will never be able to prove the safety of GM food and no long term studies have been done.Nor will GM solve the problem of soil erosion, and pollution of rivers from artificial fertilizers and pesticides. Only a return to responsible organic and biodynamic farming practices will solve these problems. The 50 harmful effects of GM food Courts are not keen to pursue pesticide makers for poisoning farmers, or GM seed makers for monopolizing the world's seeds through patents, (through genetic engineering that not only renders the seed worthless for replanting the next year but also co ntaminates non-GM crops by cross pollination.Already the majority of the world's seed stock is controlled by a handful of corporations – see http://www. cqs. com/50harm. htm and http://www. seedsavers. net ) The internet in its current form was developed as a free exchange of information, unregulated by any one government or owned by any one person or company. In its raw form it was the playground of hackers and computer geeks, who challenged the status quo. It brings about a new era, the technological revolution.The free flow of information, has brought about technological advances at an unprecedented rate and has made many rich and brought companies who failed to adapt to a standstill. How will this technological revolution impact on our society? If the industrial revolution is any thing to go by, there will be winners and losers to technological revolution. E-commerce will affect the middle man and allow direct trade with consumers. Efficiency brings about lower prices for the consumer, but it is more accurate to argue that efficiency brings about greater wealth for shareholders, directors and owners.The intrinsic weave of social interactions of trade, can be disentangled and made into a horizontal supply chain. E-commerce will create efficiencies that effectively remove the need for a long supply chain but at the expense of social relationships. The effect of e-commerce, and the internet will impact on every society on the earth. Already, the barriers of trade between individuals in different countries are non-existent. Company contact details are searchable through powerful search engines, and trade can commerce between two individuals who would otherwise never have met.The internet dissolves national boundaries, and the consequences for cities that have developed as centers of administration and trade will be disastrous, if they do not embrace the technological advances in communication and trade that the internet brings. While at the same time, f ree trade means fierce competition without the protection of award wages. People are reduced to consumers and suppliers. Resisting the tide of technological change is impossible. Of course it is possible to do business without a website or email or mobile phone or a fax machine.People have been doing business well before any of these gadgets were invented. But business today is about competition, and technology is about leverage. Technology can lead to alienation if it is not widely dispersed in society. The Industrial age saw the concentration of technology in the hands of the rich and powerful, allowing them to dominate and subdue the population into harsh working conditions and the social impact of the internet and computers is only just beginning, will it challenge the status quo or will it lead to greater population control?The latter is probably more likely, and many will look on this time as the golden age of the internet. Already technology like digital TV is being pushed in the guise of better quality but the benefits to those who own the systems is that they will be able to track what you watch, when you watch it, whether or not you switch off an ad, and perhaps even whether that pizza ad makes you pick up the phone and call for a pizza.Knowledge is power, and with access to tapping phone lines, reading emails, reading your credit card statements, knowing by GPS where you are by tracking your mobile phone, it can be a scary world, if all that knowledge and power were to be used to oppress and control. On the upside, technology has made the developed world a richer place to the detriment of the environment. Machines have allowed people to move away from physical work, so that now in Australia there is 100,000 accountants and 85,000 farmers.Perhaps, technology has gone too far, and there are more people counting beans than growing them ! Impact of technology on government The legal system is dependent on local jurisdictions under common law. Historical ly, one has to remember that before the age of the internet, airplanes and telephones, the vast majority of business was done locally. Technology has rapidly changed the way people do business but there has not adapted to the changes. There is no one body that governs international trade. What are the implications?If you buy a product from a local supplier in your State, and it turns out that the item is faulty, you can go back to your supplier to work out repair or replacement and if they don't help you, you can take the matter to local Trades office or file legal action in your state. If however, you buy a product outside your jurisdiction, you must file a claim in the State, where the supplier is located. You can only use a lawyer in the State where you file your action, your local llawyer can only act as a consultant and has no authority to represent you in court or to serve papers.Therefore, we have a world which is governed by local laws and yet the businesses and individuals are now actively trading outside of their local area. Governments are trying to make laws about content on the internet but have no jurisdiction to enforce those laws. This has created havens in small developing countries, that are happy to accept companies that want to run online gambling websites that may be outlawed in their jurisdiction or companies that wish to reduce their tax liabilities by opening up bank accounts in developing countries.We see arising now a homogenizing of local laws on issues like SPAM, and even sending a international letter from anywhere in the world involves the completion of almost identical forms, Governments are making agreements, in an attempt to be relevant in a world where people are able to trade more freely and where digital communication has enabled businesses to work, almost without physical boundaries. Business names and the Internet In the beginning, it was easy to start a new business.You would go to your local business registration office in your State and apply for a business name. If it was taken, you would choose another name. Most people do not realize that a business name is only valid for the State that it is registered in and the only way to protect your business name is to incorporate a company. In Australia, you would lodge forms with ASIC to incorporate a company and you then have rights to use your business name exclusively in Australia and its territories.However, with the birth of the internet, your Australian company name may be the same as the name of a company overseas. This has resulted in legal action being taken, as companies tussle of business names and the rights to use those names and a court system that is unable to deal effectively with international disputes over business names and has resulted in greater costs to people who want to start a business as they must register multiple domain names, take about international trademarks and find a name that has not already been taken.Even if they con tact lawyers to register all the domain names and trademarks to avoid disputes(both local and international), legal action can still be taken against them. And when it comes to justice, money wins almost every time, unless companies want to relocate to safe havens in developing countries where they cannot be pursued in court. Conclusion Technology has allowed man to move from manual labour of the fields to cities and machines. It has allowed huge cities to arise, because of the urban poor that have migrated to cities for improved services and job opportunities.Technology has spawned the growth of modern society but it is also now used to control the population, in a way the Roman Caesars could only have dreamed of The economic impact of information technology has been a subject of a great deal of debate. For business economists, it is useful to identify how information technology (IT) is likely to impact the economy, because IT (defined as computer and communications technology and its applications) is likely to have a substantial impact on the economy's growth during the coming decades.The reason for this is the use of IT by nearly all industries in the economy's base, so that IT becomes a universal input to nearly all other outputs. If IT costs decline, they can create substantial economic gains for many of the industries that use IT, because money spent on IT can be invested in other inputs and improvements in production or services. Furthermore, because business relies upon IT to do a wide range of tasks and to create competitive advantage, by facilitating these tasks for end users, important gains are achieved that are difficult to measure in a classic input-output framework.In addition, IT, seen in a larger context, should have even wider impacts on the economy, because new channels of communications, such as the Internet, cellular television, and broadband applications, will provide business with new channels to reach customers and suppliers. In the pas t, the economic impact of IT has been subject to much debate. The productivity paradox was first proposed by Steven Roach, the chief economist at Morgan Stanley, who found that BLS data on investments in computers had a clear negative rather than a positive impact on productivity gains in several major industries.Roach's paradox appeared to be valid because quite a few service industries had negative productivity gains between 1977 and 1984. Some tried to explain this paradox by noting that it was difficult for workers to adjust to computers. Others noted that few computer applications made significant improvements in the amount of work most workers could do. Still additional commentators felt that the paradox was a product of poor statistical measurement.Because this paradox was driven by the negative productivity results for several service industries, one approach was to see if the service productivity figures were accurate. One study, by Joel Popkin and Company for IBM,(1) found that the BLS productivity statistics Roach used for several service sectors had important shortcomings. Most importantly, the BLS productivity data relied on output measures that did not truly reflect the changes in the nature of work in some service industries. If these are corrected in several important service industries, two things could be shown.

A Look at the Arabic Lifestyle essays

A Look at the Arabic Lifestyle essays Arabic life, in many ways, may seem unorthodox to the average American. But what may seem abnormal to us as Americans are perfectly normal for a member of an Arabic society? This has to do mainly with a culture's social structure. Social structure is the way people have been brought up to do things in everyday life and determines what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior in their society or culture. Through reading this piece on the Arabic world, I now have a basic understanding of their way of life. As we know, to be human is to be social and without social activity, the world would be a very boring and lonely place to inhabit. As Americans, studies have shown that we are very private people. When this privacy is invaded, we become angry or uncomfortable with the situation. In an Arabic society, privacy in public places or the comfort of their home is foreign; in fact, they hate to be alone and will often express this through strong physical contact or invading one's private space. In the States, we are taught to always keep a proper distance between ourselves and others and to avoid physical contact because it is impolite. Naturally, I found these actions to be very strange. But as I read on, I began to understand why they act in this manner. Unlike in American families, where a family member from time to time desires his or her privacy, in Arabic families, there is no such thing as physical privacy. If a member of their family wants privacy, they just stop talking, indicatin g that they want to be alone with their thoughts, or does not want to be intruded upon. In my opinion, this method would never work in an American household, especially in my family. If a member of my family stopped speaking for one reason or another, it would imply that they were angry at another member. So I can see how this can cause conflict if applied to American culture. Another aspect of Arabic life that caught my attention was their behavior in...

MGMT458 U3 IP UPS Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

MGMT458 U3 IP UPS - Research Paper Example Internal package involves shipments done outside the USA and it operates in 220 nations (Dennis, 2011). The supply chain and freight wing involve forwarding and contract logistics operations. This involves the design, the execution and freight forwarding to destined places. The operations in this category also involve customs brokerage and customer care. The parcel industry in the American region has grown over the years, especially the freight transport section. The venture was transformed from a private enterprise to a full grown industry. The industry has a high amount of revenue, which surpasses most of the organizations engaging in the same business. The industry constitutes of Airborne, federal express, UPS and USPS.UPS makes the highest revenue per year, $20B, compared to the other carriers (Dennis, 2011). Information on the four carriers is available in the public domain. This enhances smooth flow of documents and other packages. Customers are able to access information on the carriers. This enhances efficiency and effectiveness of the carrier. Three of the four carriers have publicly traded shares, but the USPS is a government agency. Human resource retention is essential in the going concern of an entity. This can be achieved through thorough training of the personnel on the four sections of the parcel service delivery. A mastery of work skills makes employees appreciate their place of work, which will result in low rates of employee turnover. Additionally, the global operation scale will ensure that employees are satisfied with the dynamics of their respective places of

Product Strategy, Pricing, and Distribution Research Paper

Product Strategy, Pricing, and Distribution - Research Paper Example Product strategyAspirin as an external and internal analgesic is an example of OTC substance that is approved in the United States and manufactured by Bayer. The products strategy of Bayer Aspirin is that they sell their products through retail channels. They aim at attracting and retaining customers by appealing to them to continue using the products in case it works for them (Rogers, 2001). The company boasts of the best and most effective external and internal analgesic. In the introduction state of product lifecycle, Bayer aspirin is promoted so as to create awareness using skimming price strategy. In the growth strategy, the company has increased its advertising costs to outdo the generics. The company promotes the brand name version of the product to compete the competitors with similar offerings. In the maturity stage, the company’s sales stabilize and the company uses more widespread promotion to remain in the market. While in decline stage, Bayer has introduced new mo re innovative products. The company also improves profit by lowering marketing spending. Aspirin has a brand name Bayer Aspirin which has not been changed since 1899. The company has spent millions of dollars to build this trusted brand image which has helped them in attracting and retaining many customers. Though the brand-name aspirin versions are costier than generics, the company still has high sales volume due to loyal customers.Being a high-end provider, Bayer Inc includes distribution factors in its pricing decisions.