Canon Versus Epson Essay Example for Free

Canon Versus Epson Essay On the occasion of the launch of the New Occasional Observer issue of June / July 2006 entitled Empire of High-tech, two press advertisements have been selected. These advertisements are meant for multifunction scanners, of Epson and Canon. These two ads have caught the attention to study them sequentially by means of quantitative and qualitative studies to analyze their strengths and weaknesses before proposing a new advertisement as to which one has been the least attractive from the readers perspective. Canon and Epson are both international benchmarks for all aspects of imaging. Canon began in 1930 with cameras and then moved on to printers and scanners and Epson has released the first printers to extend its expertise in the field of cameras. Canon puts more emphasis on the art of the image, which is perfected by quality tools (the site offers to download pictures of fashion as an advertisement for appliances). Everyone is free to exercise their creativity in the best conditions. As for the Epson, it emphasized its professionalism and reliability. Both are assured by technical expertise and the proven quality of its products allows everyone to get the best results. The two products are multifunction printer and scanner, which, by their functions and attributes, make them easily comparable. They seem to meet the same needs. They can print photos without the need of a computer. The prints are fast and are of high quality (comparable to that of laboratories). They have an integrated high-resolution scanner of 1200 times 2400 dpi and a screen for viewing prints. However, it is observed that the advertising targets and objectives are different. This is related in part to the image and strategy of each company. After analyzing the two advertisements, it is noted that the targets and objectives are consistent with the advertising strategies of each brand. So what is the best advertising strategy designed to best meet the instructions of the copy strategies? The Canon company is launch the new printer-scanner Canon Pixma MP450, which provides quick and easy high-quality prints. The launch of the new printer-scanner from Epson Stylus Photo RX520 is for family use which provides an easy and attractive price of printing high quality photos. Although consumers have become accustomed to using digital cameras to store their photos on memory cards and use the software to edit their photos, they are still reluctant to print them out themselves for fear of not getting a satisfactory print quality or if it costs them more expensive than in a lab photos. Both the companies need to gain the trust of the consumers by proving that the picture quality of a printer-scanner is comparable to a photo lab. This is to reassure consumers about the quality of photos that are developed them. The companies need to provide the consumer with a desire to buy a technical product for use that is related to leisure or looking for creative pleasure and is also considered a priority. The purpose of advertising will be to combine the performance of a product in both design, aesthetic that recalls the famous image relatively in the background and technique. SWOT Analysis of Canon SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, and is an important tool often used to highlight where a business or organisation is, and where it could be in the future. It looks at internal factors, the strengths and weaknesses of a business, and external factors, the opportunities and threats facing the business. The process can give you on overview of where the business, and the environment it operates in, is strategically. This is an important, yet to simple to understand, tool used by many students, businesses and organisations for analysis. The following SWOT analysis looks at Canon which is operating in Technology industry. The analysis shows Canons Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The SWOT analysis will give you a clear picture of the business environment Canon is operating in at the present time. Strengths: The strengths of a business or organisation are positive elements, something they do well and is under their control. The strengths of a company or group and value to it, and can be what gives it the edge in some areas over the competitors. The following section will outline main strengths of Canon . †¢ Having alliances with other strong and popular businesses is a major plus point for Canon as it helps bring in new customers and make business more effective. †¢ Being a market leader, as Canon is, is key to their success as it boosts reputation, profit and market share. †¢ Riding high in the niche market in Technology industry has helped boost Canon and raised reputation and turnover. †¢ Keeping costs lower than their competitors and keeping the cost advantages helps Canon pass on some of the benefits to consumers. †¢ The services/products offered by Canon are original, meaning many people will return to Canon to obtain them. †¢ Canon’s marketing strategy has proved to be effective, helping to raise profiles and profits and standing out as a major strength.

Enterprise Rent A Car Case Analysis Commerce Essay

Enterprise Rent A Car Case Analysis Commerce Essay With a vast network of over 6,000 rental locations and 850,000 cars, Enterprise Rent-A-Car is the largest rental car company in the United States. In fact, based on these statistics alone one can evaluate Enterprise as a success story. Indeed, the company offers a unique and customer friendly service such as picking up customers and taking them to the rental office. Enterprise has developed many assets that provide competitive advantages, such as proprietary computer applications. The company carefully cultivates and trains its employees in a methodology that is highly useful for its business while also receiving accolades from peer organizations. By focusing on local rental opportunities, Enterprise has successfully continued growing its business against rivals such as Avis and Hertz, while keeping up with current trends. At the same time, the company has been able to open up more opportunities through its recent growth of the car sharing market. Additionally, the business model tha t Enterprise runs can be deemed largely successful as it has been able to accomplish many of the goals that Enterprise has established. Moreover, as popularized through its now famous commercials, Well pick you up Enterprise has been able to demonstrate its philosophy to its customer base. This slogan clearly states that at its core, Enterprise is all about customer service, making rental easier for its customers by picking customers up and taking them to the rental office. Yet this only scratches the surface in terms of understanding the broad and effective customer service programs that Enterprise employs. In fact, through extensive research, Enterprise has learned that customer loyalty was driven not only by just the idea of customer satisfaction, but by ensuring that customers were indeed completely satisfied. This distinction between satisfaction and complete satisfaction was as result of Enterprises customer service researched that revealed local renters ranked ratings for completed satisfaction based on three criteria such employees attitude and helpfulness, speed of the transaction as well as the cleanliness of the vehicle. If 70% of the customers were completely satisfied (checking off all three criteria) then such customers were deemed as completely satisfied and likely to be repeat customers where as if the satisfaction figure was at 22%, this meant these customers are less likely to be repeat customers of Enterprise. Thus in this way, complete satisfaction meant repeat business for Enterprise. In fact, a total commitment to complete customer satisfaction is engrained within the Enterprise culture, and is best exemplified by the Enterprise Service Quality Index, a proprietary evaluative tool designed by Enterprise to measure customer satisfaction. Enterprise also has sought competitive advantage by developing tools and assets that its competition failed to duplicate. In fact, from early in its history, Enterprise has chosen to focus on local rentals, leaving airport rentals as the focus of a large number of its rental competitors. Enterprise has dominated the insurance rental market not only by applying for and becoming preferred providers, but also because the company has provided its clients insurance companies a direct interface into Enterprise reservation system, empowering the insurance companies to make reservations for their customers. Thus, in this way, the company essentially has invested heavily to create its clients insurance companies their own proprietary software reservation system, allowing them to supply the specific features most needed tailored to their needs while also avoiding the licensing fees and other challenges associated with a third party software application. The company is very choosy with the types of employees it hires, and considers its employees and training program to be of critical importance. The training of personnel by Enterprise begins at recruitment, with an expectation that each employee will slowly rise through the ranks of the company by earning each step they take. This provides the employees with a full understanding of how Enterprise prefers to do business and a full commitment to the eight founding values of the company. There is a clear promotion path that is laid out before them, so employees understand at all times that they have a future with the company as long as they are willing to work for it. Employees are empowered at Enterprise, as the company views each branch location as a separate, semi-autonomous little company within their network. Although a high turnover rate would be of concern to most companies that experience the level of turnover that Enterprise does, the Enterprise business model is such that beca use the company places its employees in such a competitive environment, higher turnover is expected and is accounted for through additional recruitment efforts. Thus Enterprise feels that this makes its employees more driven to succeed, thereby attaining higher levels of performance as a result. From a competitive standpoint, both Avis and Hertz have made efforts to enter the local car rental market that Enterprise dominates. It is hard to see how these two companies can be nearly as successful in this market as Enterprise because of the companys unique positioning with insurance companies as a preferred provider. As long as Enterprise maintains this position and continues to tap into new growth strategies such as shared car rentals, it should be successful in maintaining its leadership status within the local rental category. In addition, car sharing is a current growth market that many companies such as Enterprise and Hertz and investing into in order to grow. There are multiple considerations that explain the interest of this segment to customers, such as environmental considerations of reducing car ownership, less expense for renting a few hours versus days, and convenience for those who do not wish or need to have a car full time. In areas such as large cities or college universities, the appeal is very clear and significant. With the largest network of local car rental offices, Enterprise should have easier access to this new market since the can easily offer car sharing option as an added service to customers from their existing locations. In fact, both Hertz and Enterprise are developing contracts with universities, corporate campuses, and municipalities. Therefore, Enterprise should continue this expansion in order to achieve a leadership status within this rental category. In order to properly evaluate the Enterprise Rent-A-Car business model and determine its success, the Enterprise Service Quality Index (ESQi) was developed through extensive customer research. ESQi evaluates each location branch in its ability to deliver complete customer satisfaction. This index provides a specific measurement for each location branch through surveying of customers. In this way, the branches are essentially put into competition with each other, and compensation is based partially on performance criteria. Enterprise strives to achieve balance across its branches to remain consistent with respect to customer service. The main goal of the company is to increase the number of customers who are described as completely satisfied. Therefore, based on both criteria, Enterprise is considered to be effective in its customer service efforts. In fact, within a ten year period, the ESQi index increased from 67% to 80% for those customers considered completely satisfied. In addit ion, the gap between the best service and worst service branch locations narrow from twenty eight points to nine points over the same time period. Moreover, tools and assets can be evaluated based on the success of sales and achievement of customer satisfaction. Human resources methodology such as hiring and training were also assessed through employee retention, industry accolades and employee achievements. Furthermore, Enterprise has continued successfully in forging ahead in the local car segment based on the companys market growth and penetration. Of course, how effective Enterprise will be in the growing car sharing market remains to be seen, although at this point the success rate can easily be determined by what has been accomplished, and how well Enterprise is positioned to move forward. Based on the current evaluation, the company has been successful thus far in these areas as well. Other tools and assets that are considered to have made a difference at Enterprise such as linking and empowering insurance companies that use Enterprise as its preferred provider to the companys reservation system, proprietary software that runs the Enterprise reservation system, and the companys focus on customer service through proprietary software applications. Enterprise holds a dominant position in the insurance car market, enabling insurance companies to better serve their customers. The proprietary software better services customers as it is totally customized to the Enterprise business model. This proprietary software also provides additional services to the insurance companies by providing direct access to the status of repair work on vehicles, notifying them when repair work is complete and lowering their car rental expenses as a result. In these ways, Enterprise has indeed effectively reached its objective. Employee retention is a potential issue for Enterprise. While the company does compensate through additional recruitment efforts, twenty five percent of new hires leave the company after six months, undoubtedly increasing recruitment costs. On the other hand, Enterprise is considered among the top 50 companies to launch a career by Businessweek magazine, and the company has articulated a clear career track that provides employees with knowledge that there is a future at Enterprise. Another important consideration is employee achievements. The company does provide many awards and recognition for those employees who are considered to have achieved excellence and it is notable that many of the companys service innovations were created by branch managers and their teams. One such innovation that was created in the field is what arguably Enterprise is best known for, which is picking up customers and bringing them to the rental office. Enterprise is considered effective in this category a s well, although it would be a good idea for Enterprise to increase its effectiveness by exploring ways to increase employee retention, perhaps through additional management training and conducting internal surveys to determine the right course of action in this realm. Additionally, Enterprises continued success in the local car market is virtually ensured through its close partnership with insurance companies and status as a preferred provider. The additional services Enterprise has provided to the insurance companies, such as access to its reservation system and the ability to check on the status of car repairs, augment their position in this market. Indeed, in this way Enterprise has a fundamental strength in the local car segment and its business model has been very effective. Moreover, the car sharing market has proven to be an area of growth for Enterprise, having successfully brought on dozens of partners such as universities, corporate campuses, and cities. There are competitors such as Zipcar that are larger in this segment, yet such competitors are currently not profitable. Hertz is also growing in this area and they appear to have a larger presence at this point than Enterprise. Of course, although Enterprise has been effective at expanding into this new area whether the company can continue to be effective still remains to be seen. While not a direct part of the evaluation, there are other tangible advantages within the business model of Enterprise. As the largest rental car company in the United States, Enterprise enjoys the status of industry leader, and perceptually there are advantages to this status. Historically Enterprise has maintained very low overhead in many types of expenses, which is achieved through limited national advertising and employee incentives to keep operational costs down. Finally, in conjunction to insurance local rental market, Enterprise also has enjoyed a large share of the leisure discretionary rental market. Enterprises fleet management program is also unique and advantageous, as this program handles the sales of its own used rental cars without being locked into a specific car manufacturer for new car purchases like most of competitors.

Formal Authority

Formal Authority INTRODUCTION Authority is a defining feature of hierarchy. Authority in management is the formal or legitimate authority specified in a charter that gives a project manager the authority to act in the name of the sponsoring executive or on behalf of the organization. There are various types of authority according to different people. But they all seem to have a fundamental flaw that is they are unable to clearly distinguish between formal, informal authority and leadership. Formal authority is the authority provided by an organization or the law to an individual enabling him to carry out certain actions in accordance with his own will and without the need to consult others. Informal authority is the authority that the manager holds over his subordinates due to certain qualities that the subordinates value in him. A manager with good leadership skills has more informal authority as opposed to people with less leadership skills. It is a common perception that most organisations give formal authorit y to managers to direct and control the activities of their subordinates but this is not always true it depends on various other factors as well. One of the major factors that affect the type of authority given to managers is size of the organization usually smaller organizations have a system of authority whereas large organizations have a formal system of authority. FUNCTIONAL AUTHORITY Functional authority is authority delegated to an individual or department over specific activities undertaken by personnel in other departments. Staff managers may have functional authority, meaning that they can issue orders down the chain of command within the very narrow limits of their authority. For example, supervisors in a manufacturing plant may find that their immediate bosses have line authority over them, but that someone in corporate headquarters may also have line authority over some of their activities or decisions. Organizations create positions of functional authority to break the unity of command principle by having individuals report to two bosses. Functional authority allows specialization of skills and improved coordination. This concept was originally suggested by Frederick Taylor. He separated â€Å"planning†from â€Å"doing†by establishing a special department to relieve the labourer and the foreman from the work of planning. The role of the foreman became one of making sure that planned operations were carried out. The major problem of functional authority is overlapping relationships, which can be resolved by clearly designating to individuals which activities their immediate bosses have authority over and which activities are under the direction of someone else. THEORIES Fayol (1949) defined authority as the right to give orders and the power to extract obedience. He emphasised the importance of linking authority to responsibility, which together required increasing judgement and morality at senior levels. He justified higher pay for commercial managers in comparison with senior civil servants since, in his view, the latter exercised authority without responsibility. In general, he concluded that responsibility is feared as much as authority is sought after, and fear of responsibility paralyses much initiative and destroys many good qualities. FORMAL AUTHORITY IN A BANK Union National Bank in Abu Dhabi is an organization that exercises formal authority. As a manager in the bank i was provided with formal authority over a group of six employees and we were a part of the internal customer satisfaction survey department. One of the main reasons the bank believes in providing formal authority is so as to not concern people at higher positions with unimportant tasks. Another important aspect of formal authority is it reduces conflict among people in higher positions if still unable to completely remove it. The reason that there may still be conflicts is that though formal authority empowers managers to a certain degree the managers boss still has a say in the managers decision should he choose to. OVERVIEW OF UNION NATIONAL BANK Established as a Public Joint Stock Company in 1982, they are one of the leading domestic banks in the United Arab Emirates and are headquartered in Abu Dhabi. They offer a variety of products and services, addressing needs ranging from basic requirements of individuals to the more complex requirements of corporate entities. Electronic delivery channels, ably supported by an extensive network of Banking Centres spread across the emirates, offer greater banking convenience to their customers. They are the only bank that is jointly owned by the Governments of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Their Chairman, H. H. Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister of Education and Scientific Research, is well supported by their Board of Directorsthat consists of eminent business personalities and their Senior Managementteam which is made up of experienced professionals. Their Vision and Missionis clearly defined and their business strategy is well understood by all staff across the bank. Union Brokerage Company (UBC), one of the oldest brokerage firms in UAE is a subsidiary of UNB. Besides being a leading player in the Brokerage industry, it was among the first national companies to deal in the brokerage field in the country. Besides its head office in Khalidiya, Abu Dhabi, it has a well diversified branch network with 6 other branches at ADX, DFM, Al Ain, Al Dhafra, Fujairah and Gold Diamond Park, Dubai. The Al Wifaq Finance Company, a subsidiary of UNB has been established with the purpose of offering Sharia compliant financial, commercial and investing services to both organizations and individuals in compliance with the rules and principals of the Islamic Law As partof the Banks vision, to be â€Å"a key player in the region†, UNB has now a presence in the Egyptian banking sector through itssuccessful acquisition of the Alexandria Commercial and Maritime Bank. UNB is also reviewing other geographic locations for a presence or strategic alliances that will add to shareholder value. PERSONAL EXPERIENCES ON FORMAL AUTHORITY Though formal authority is considered to be authority provided by the organization or superior to an individual it is more often implied than anything else. When employees had issues with anything to do with the customer satisfaction department i had the authority to decide what was to be done. This greatly reduced the time taken for certain tasks to be done. As i had the authority to take decisions on issues such as upgrading of equipment or changes in software and other issues i did not have to elevate it to my boss. This helped also as i could take a better decision as i had more interaction with employees and knew their needs. If these problems had to be elevated to the higher management these issues could have taken a much longer time frame to get resolved. Also managers at the upper levels especially while working in large organizations that have branches at various parts of a country or the world are unable to clearly see the needs of each branch. Providing formal authority en ables a more personalized approach between employees and the organization. Also individual employee needs are better recognized by their immediate managers rather than managers at the top. At the same time there were certain issues that i faced as when i decided to implement a change in the questionnaire on the request of several employees i found that the management wanted to stick to the older pattern. This shows that formal authority is not always clearly outlined in an organization. Managers are unencumbered by management theory and standards established by others. Effective managers want to be in charge; they also possess an intrinsic desire to achieve substantial personal recognition and to earn that recognition based on their own merits. They never abuse power; they know that the corrupt use of power creates a vile corporate poison that can quickly spread throughout an entire organization and paralyze it. They thus practise humility and refrain from using their position to intimidate others. They can define and manage each situation or person with an appropriate leadership style. Example-they tend to treat their vice-presidents and line workers with the same level of respect, but through different approaches. Authority is the defining feature of hierarchy. The boss can restrict the subordinates actions, overturn his decisions, and even fire him (unless the bosss boss objects, in which case the boss herself may be fired). Tracing this chain of authority up the hierarchy, we eventually reach a person (sole proprietor) or group (shareholders) who can be thought of as owning all the decision rights in the organization. In short, formal authority resides at the top. Leading is one of principal managerial functions. Managers are suppose to be formal leaders because they have the authority to influence their subordinates and are expected to use it. They are officially responsible for outcome of their group. However, in an organization, not all managers are leaders, whether they have direct reports or not. In certain cases job description might demand strong leadership, on other hand leadership might not be major factor. However, in todays competitive world, most of the managerial jobs demand leadership qualities, inter personal and inter group interaction and a manager has to manage different type of responsibilities and roles. A leader influences other member of groups, leads group, and directs members towards its goals. A leader influences s ubordinates level of motivation, their performance and quality of their decisions. DISADVANTAGES OF FORMAL AUTHORITY Authority is a wily beast. In general it means that people will abide by your decisions. They will do what you want them to do. no manager can be effective with merely formal authority. True power comes from the trusting relationships that one forges with the people around him. He does this by being genuinely interested, and helpful. He commands attention by making lucid, compelling points, and acting decisively and transparently. Formal authority will not inspire people to do their best work with a happy heart. The best one can hope for with merely formal authority is grudging or indifferent acquiescence. We can easily become enamored with the â€Å"power of our positions.† Having people do what we tell them to do when we tell them to do it can have an intoxicating effect. Under such circumstances, too often our senses become dulled and we become oblivious to the dangers of formal authority. When authority â€Å"goes to our heads,† it becomes much too easy to disregard , or overlook entirely, critical input we might otherwise receive from peers, superiors and even clients. CONCLUSION From this essay we can conclude that formal authority is like a two sided coin it has its ups and downs. Also formal authority depends a lot on the situation and the organization. Smaller organizations may find that formal authority does not suit them whereas larger organizations may find that formal authority is better suited for them. At the same time larger organizations that have strict rules on company policies may find that formal authority conflicts their objectives. Every manager is unique thus formal authority may be needed by some managers to perform well whereas managers with strong leadership qualities may be able to perform well even in the absence of formal authority as they naturally have the respect and support of employees. Formal authority can be thought of as the right to command or compel another person to perform a certain act. Power is the ability to influence or cause a person to perform an act. It is possible for a manager to have formal authority without powe r, just as it is possible for a subordinate to have power without formal authority. The distinction between these terms may be significant for the manager, who may assume that his formal authority automatically gives him power but overlook the fact that his subordinates also have power, at times greater than his own. The manager in such a situation can encounter difficult and frustrating experiences without knowing why. The conventional view of leadership, formal and informal, can be seen as a confused mixture of leadership and management. Leadership can be seen as an occasional act rather than an ongoing role, a bit like creativity. On this view there is no such thing as formal leadership. Being in an organizational position of authority over others makes you a manager, not a leader. To be a leader, you need to be able to convince people to willingly follow some new direction. This means that there is formal and informal management but only informal leadership. Most managers show s ome leadership. The conventional view is that executives show leadership in two ways. By using their powers of persuasion, they influence people who report to them to take actions they would not otherwise take. The second way executives show leadership, on this view, is by making decisions that move the organization in new directions. However, we are gradually moving away from this concept of leadership, one based on formal authority. It is becoming increasingly recognized that making such decisions should be considered managerial actions. Managers can only lead by persuading people to act differently, either directly or by example. REFERENCES Baron, David P. and David Besanko: Information, Control, and Organizational Structure, Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 1, Summer 1992, 237-76. Barro, Robert J. and Paul M. Romer, 1987, Ski-Lift Pricing with Applications to Labor and Other Markets, American Economic Review, 77, 875-90. Ibarra, Herminia, 1993, Network Centrality, Power, and Innovation Involvement: Determinants of Technical and Administrative Roles, Academy of Management Journal, 36, 471-501. Jensen, Michael C. and William H. Meckling, 1992, Specific and General Knowledge, and Organizational Structure, in Lars Werin and Hans Wijkander eds. Contract Economics, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 251-74. Laffont, Jean-Jacques: Analysis of Hidden Gaming in a Three-Level Hierarchy, Journal of Law, Economic and Organization, 6, Fall 1990, 301-324. Mankiw, N. Gregory, 1985, Small Menu Costs and Large Business Cycles: A Macroeconomic Model of Monopoly, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 100, 529-39. Marschak, Jacob and Roy Radner, 1972, The Economic Theory of Teams, New Haven CT: Yale University Press. Milgrom, Paul and D. John Roberts, 1988, An Economic Approach to Influence Activities in Organizations, American Journal of Sociology, 94 (Supplement), S154-S179. Pfeffer, Jeffrey, 1981, Power in Organizations, Marshfield MA:Pitman.

Flash! :: essays research papers

FLASH!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On august 6, 1945 an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Thousands of people died instantly from the initial blast. Others died later because of flash burns and radiation sickness. Those who lived had to move away from their homes and toward the parade grounds and parks. Any doctors that were uninjured had to work nonstop all day and night mending wounds. Some people mysteriously die and others are unrecognizable because of the flash burns covering their bodies. The few people that had survived the blast had to try to put their lives back to normal. Homes had been destroyed and family members killed. Now new people had started moving into Hiroshima once news spread that is was safe.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The book Hiroshima was an enlightening view of what went on during the atomic blast and the days after. The part that sticks most in my mind was when Mr. Tanimoto was trying to help burn victims on the shore of the river. When he grabbed the one woman’s arm to pull her out to the boat he was using to transport injured people chunks of her skin slid right off. I could visualize the skin coming off because of a similar but not nearly as extreme of an experience. I had burned my arm on an oven rack and when I was wiping off my arm the skin peeled right off. As I read the section I could imagine a large piece of skin peeling off of a human hand and I thought that I would lose my dinner.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another thing that remained in my memory throughout the novel was that people put their beliefs before their injuries. Mr. Tanimoto mention that he was ashamed that he could walk when he saw all of the injured people lying about unable to move. Dr. Sasaki didn’t sleep for the first three days because he knew it would be wrong to. Amazingly though, the injured had no shame they walked naked with burns from head to toe and thought nothing of it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The bomb fell silently and as in struck the ground a bright flash lit the whole city. The residents who lived through couldn’t seem to realize what kind of bomb it was. Some thought it was a cluster of many bombs. Rumors spread that a plane that had flown over had sprayed gasoline all across the city. Another said that magnesium powder had been dropped and reacted to the power lines.

Modern Communism: Marx, Engles, Lenin, and Stalin Essay -- Communism Es

Karl Marx never saw his ideals and beliefs, as the founding father of communist thought, implemented in the world and society because he died in 1883.1 The communist ideology did not rise to power until the beginning of the 20th century. Then it would be implemented and put into practice in the largest country in the world producing a concept that would control half of the world’s population in less than 50 years. The Manifesto of the Communist Party, written by Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels, searched for a perfect society living in equality and united in freedom. According to Marx this could only be accomplished in an anti-capitalist society.2 When their ideals where implemented in the 20th century, their message became warped and disfigured by the leadership of the worlds’ communist powers. Communism became in some ways more and in others less than Marx had first envisioned so many years before in 1848. Marx’s sought a social â€Å"Utopia,† while moder n communist thought became a view of world domination.3 Many of the centralized governments of modern communism have fallen apart toward the end of the 20th century, confronted with concepts of self-government and revolution. Therefore, it is vital to document the rise and fall of modern communism throughout the world, and review the modern communist thought as it contrasted with that of Marx and Engels over 150 years ago. In essence, modern communism was founded in 1917 at the height of the First World War, in Russia.4 When Vladimir Ilich Lenin, a strong left wing Marxist intellectual from Russia, was provided passage back into his exiled homeland by train through war torn Europe. The German government agreed to allow Lenin to travel from Switzerland to Russia if he agreed to wi... ...ate, (Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1971). 24-28. 16 Ralph Raico, *. LINKS - Other Sights to Check Out The History Channel - http://www.historychannel.com Marxist Thought Archives - http://www.marxists.org Dr. Santamarina's Homepage - http://homepages.udayton.edu/~santamar/ Progressive Labor Party Homepage - http://www.plp.org/ Mao Tse-tung Writings - http://www.maoism.org/msw/mao_sw.htm CNN review of Communist China - http://asia.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/ccp80/ US State Dept. on Cuba - http://www.state.gov/www/regions/wha/cuba/ Cigar Aficionado Magazine - http://www.cigaraficionado.com US Army War College - http://carlisle-www.army.mil/ Defense Intelligence Agency - http://www.dia.mil/ Dave Jessop (The Dude's) Email - mailto:jessopdw@notes.udayton.edu

Global Outsourcing of American Products and Services Essay -- Globaliz

Global Outsourcing of American Products and Services   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Global outsourcing of American products and services is a trend that is becoming increasingly popular with large corporations. For the same services provided in the United States, corporations are finding quality work in other countries for a fraction of the cost. The country currently at the forefront of this trend is India. This paper will discuss companies that outsource business to foreign countries and also why they are chose to. The ethical implications to both countries in these situations will also be discussed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many corporations are experiencing significant cost savings by outsourcing work to developing countries across the globe. Some advantages of global outsourcing are: technically skilled, inexpensive labor; multi-lingual workforce; potential 24/7 global tech support; global prestige; local market access advantages; lower duties and tariffs; low cost delivery; and after sales service. (http://www.wsa1.org) â€Å"Developing nations†¦benefit by providing local viable careers for their educated populations, attracting foreign investments in their infrastructure, and a general increase in the standard of living.† (http://cseserv.engr.scu.edu) These advantages make a strong case for outsourcing, but there are many disadvantages that are being discounted or overlooked.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some disadvantages noted by corporations are: political risk; loss of quality control over manufacturing, brand, and support; misrepresentation of the company; IPR concerns; brand management; channel conflict (gray market, territory); stricter labor laws; bribery and kickback pressure; and productivity. (http://www.wsa1.org) There is also the possibility of a negative impact to the American job market. Issues surrounding this impact to our job market are not frequently mentioned during discussions about whether or not to send business overseas. Finally, there are many ethical questions and dilemmas involved with these decisions. These ethical dilemmas affect individuals in America as well as those in the overseas countries. In spite of these disadvantages, many major corporations have decided to outsource to foreign countries, indicating that the advantages are worth the risk.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Several corporations have already experience... ...e Web. Call Center India (November 19, 2003); More U.S. Jobs, especially in Call Centers, headed for India, http://callcenterinindia.blogspot.com/ Retrieved on November 25, 2003 from the World Wide Web. Ranjit Shastri (October 6, 2003); An Overview of India’s Call Center Industry, http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/articles/2003/100603rs.htm Retrieved on November 25, 2003 from the World Wide Web. Ronil Hira (October 20, 2003); Testimony to the Committee on Small Business, http://www.ieeeusa.org/forum/POLICY/2003/102003.html Retrieved on November 25, 2003 from the World Wide Web. Nicholson & Sahay (November, 2001); Some political and cultural issues in the globilisation of software development: case experience from Britain and India, http://les1.man.ac.uk/accounting/Staff/Academic/B_Nicholson/I&Opapernicholson_sahay.pdf Retrieved on November 25, 2003 from the World Wide Web. CIO.com (June 5, 2003); Global Outsourcing and L-1 Visas, http://comment.cio.com/ Retrieved on November 25, 2003 from the World Wide Web. Walter Williams (2003); Minimum Wage Tip-Off, http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20031114-081940-9148r.htm Retrieved on November 25, 2003 from the World Wide Web.

Cisco Systems Architecture Essay

Cisco is a company with a clear vision and an ambitious goal of becoming the global Internet expert. The company set its sights on challenging the norm of the time and working on making voice calls over the Internet free. Established in 1984 by two Stanford graduates, Cisco became the most valuable business on earth by March 2000. The company’s strategy is to provide a complete solutions offer to its customers through offering a wide product range and growing the business through acquisitions and business alliances. From its original core technology of routers, the company is now focusing in three independent networks of phone, local and wide area and broadcast networks. The turnaround point for the company was its database failure and forced two-day shutdown in 1994. This event highlighted the need to change company’s approach to systems replacement and the need to integrate all of company’s applications. The company decided to adopt new practices and retrain its staff rather than mirroring the â€Å"old and tried†. The decision was made to collaborate with Oracle to develop a single ERP solution to replace all current systems. The project was a success and was followed by replacement and standardization of all company’s platforms and applications worldwide. Further to this project, Cisco web-enabled all its applications, resulting in customer service, HR and supply chain efficiencies. Cisco’s success continues and is being made possible by its growth through acquisitions and strategic alliances (such as that with KPMG). The company is where it is today largely due to its effective integrated Internet business systems, resulting in great efficiencies for the company and its various stakeholders. 1) Cisco – Information Age Company. Cisco is far from being an Industrial Age Company. The main reason for this is that the company has been able to recognise the value in IT and use it to better their performance and achieve the desired growth. According to Weill & Ross (2009), it is a characteristic of an IT Savvy firm. To be more specific, through integrating their processes and applications into an ERP solution and then to proceeding to full replacement of all of its IT solutions worldwide, Cisco moved to a digitalized platform. According to Weill & Ross (2009), digitalized platform is an integrated set of electronic business processes and technologies. This would hardly be a characteristic of an Industrial Age company. Further to that, Cisco’s approach to implementation of its ERP solution and deciding not to mirror known and learnt old approaches but to make a bold move and rather retrain its people in new systems, demonstrates forward thinking and innovation, which is critical to get significant value fro m IT. Again this is a more fitting characteristic of an Information Age company rather than an Industrial Age company. In implementing the ERP system, the company successfully identified where it lacked necessary expertise and was not scared to outsource their needs analysis to KPMG and then the ERP project to Oracle, who had significant knowledge and experience in the solutions Cisco were after. The â€Å"outside the square† thinking allowed the company to focus on own competences and keep them in-house while tapping into the expertise of others through outsourcing and alliances. This is a definite characteristic of an Information Age company. Finally, keeping communication lines open across functional divisions and getting an input from across the business to avoid making the project an IT-only initiative and to ensure it addresses the real needs is another reason why Cisco is an Information Age company. 2) IT contribution to the company’s strategy IT greatly contributed to the company’s strategy to provide comprehensive one-stop-shop business networks solution for its customers, to set industry standards for networking, to systemize acquisitions and pick the right partners. Firstly, it was the company’s IP-based IT Architecture that enabled them to effectively and smoothly handle business acquisition and fully integrate these new acquisitions in a short period of time. Secondly, ERP implementation and application of web-enabled IT allowed Cisco to meet its goals of streamlining its internal processes and improving productivity, to improve customer satisfaction through the provision of online technical support, to pioneer net commerce and set industry standards and to achieve an extremely efficient supply chain. IT and systems implemented were at the heart of executing the company’s strategy. Thirdly, IT is an integral part of Cisco’s information system. According to Picolli (2008), information systems satisfy firm’s information needs and thus improve firm’s efficiency and enable it to achieve its goals. Being an important part of this efficiency improvement process makes IT a significant contributor to Cisco’s strategy. 3) The role of CIO Pete Solvik Pete Solvik’s role was integral in Cisco being able to derive significant value from IT and recognise it as a strategic asset as opposed to a liability. Prior to Cisco’s defining moment, it had the ambitious goals but the company was running standard operations not being able to support what it aspired to become. Solvik brought fresh visions and innovative thinking to the company. His initiatives were to redefine how IT was viewed internally and depart from finance cost centre reporting perception of the department. He was also able to see the limitations of Cisco’s systems and the potential of improvements. According to Weil & Ross (2009), when IT systems are deficient you need to first change the entire approach to IT. Only once this is accomplished can the digitalized platform be implemented. Solvik did manage to do that. Weil & Ross (2009) emphasize the need to strong leadership in turning IT into a strategic asset. And this is ultimately what Solvik’s role was in Cisco’s transformation.