Your Paycheck vs. Your Conscience Should you Turn Down Unethical Projects - The Writers For Hire

YOUR PAYCHECK VS. YOUR CONSCIENCE: SHOULD YOU TURN DOWN UNETHICAL PROJECTS? You’ve probably seen those documentary-style anti-tobacco ads – the ones where a slick and smiling executive grills a series of job applicants about their qualifications. The questions start innocently enough – there’s usually a discussion about the applicant’s previous advertising work or basic office skills like typing or filing and then the interview takes a disturbing turn. --> It’s an interesting approach – instead of going with the obvious, â€Å"cigarettes-are-bad-for-you† rhetoric, Truth.com (known for its edgy, satirical anti-smoking commercials) skewers the companies that produce them, putting a face – and immaculately sculpted corporate hair – on Big Tobacco. Smoking may kill you, the ads imply, But Mr. $200 haircut over here – and anybody who works for him – helps pull the trigger. As you’d expect, all of the applicants are horrified. Some say no; others, apparently too stunned to speak, just shake their heads and fidget, treating viewers to several seconds of uncomfortable silence. This approach makes a basic assumption about us and our work: We stand behind what we sell (or manufacture, or do the bookkeeping for, or whatever). We want to do what’s right, even if it costs us an opportunity or two along the way. It’s a principle that, I think, most of us would like to embrace. But, in reality, do we? And, in today’s economy, should we? What do you do if you’re in, say, advertising – and a client wants you to fudge some statistics about her product’s results? Or you’re a designer and you could make some big bucks if you design a logo for a political group you don’t see eye-to-eye with. Or – and this one really happened to us – if you’re a copywriter and a client asks you to write fake testimonials for his website. Wintress posted a comment about that guy a couple of weeks ago – she (diplomatically) turned down the offer. We could have done the work, and gotten the accompanying paycheck, but she decided to take the high road because she felt it was wrong. But are there gray areas? If so, where are they? Is it, okay, for example, to make a chart, but pick only the data you want a customer to see? After all, you’re only likely to post good news about your company, or good testimonials about your service. On the other hand, there does seem to be a line somewhere along the way that some advertisers cross: Like when they only post health data from the scientist the client paid – and discard data from scientists who have told the company that their product may be dangerous. So, what do you think? Could you work on a project you felt was wrong on some level? Should we, as professionals, cherry-pick our clients based on what they stand for, or should we just be happy for the work? Where do you draw the line, and what do you do if a client wants you to cross that line? Even better: Have you ever been in this situation? We’d love to hear about it.

Doing Penance

Doing Penance Doing Penance Doing Penance By Maeve Maddox In current usage, penance is associated with spiritual practice as a form of self-imposed punishment: penance noun: The performance of some act of self-mortification or the undergoing of some penalty as an expression of sorrow for sin or wrongdoing. When the word penance came into English from Anglo-Norman, it applied to secular punishments as well as penalties assigned by religious authorities. In modern usage, punishment is the usual word associated with a penalty imposed by a secular authority, whereas penance retains the idea of a religiously assigned or self-imposed act of retribution. Post-classical Latin agere paenitentiam translates as â€Å"to do penance,† and the verb â€Å"to do† remains the idiomatic convention in modern English. For example, â€Å"Though still a promising star, Lohan will have to do penance before shes forgiven for this boring, unfunny feature.† Recently I have noticed the unidiomatic â€Å"to pay penance,† chiefly in the context of sports: Pro football continues paying penance for some players involvement with domestic violence.- Steve Inskeep, NPR. Pay your penance, and all is forgiven- ESPN headline. Fordham is  still paying penance  for the colossal mistake it made when it left the MAAC to join the Patriot League in 1990.- New York Daily News. People â€Å"pay for† their sins,† but â€Å"do penance† for them. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Bare or Bear With Me?Latin Words and Expressions: All You Need to Know5 Ways to Reduce Use of Prepositions

Definition and Examples of Grawlixes in Comics

Definition and Examples of Grawlixes in Comics The term grawlix refers to the series of typographical symbols (such as #$%!) used in cartoons and comic strips to represent swear words. Plural: grawlixes.   Also known as jarns,  nittles, and obscenicons, grawlixes usually appear in maledicta balloons alongside the comic characters who are uttering the oaths. The term grawlix was introduced by American comic artist Mort Walker (creator of Beetle Bailey) in the article Lets Get Down to Grawlixes (1964) and revisited in his book The Lexicon of Comicana (1980). Examples and Observations Mort Walker It started out as a joke for the National Cartoonists Society magazine. I spoofed the tricks cartoonists use, like dust clouds when characters are running or lightbulbs over their heads when they get an idea. My son Brian thought I should expand the idea and make a book of it. I spent many hours at the museum going over old cartoons and recording their language. I created pseudoscientific names for each cartoon clichà ©, like the sweat marks cartoon characters radiate. I called them plewds, after the god of rain, Joe Pluvius. I considered it a humor book. When it came out, I looked for it in the humor section of a bookstore and finally found it in Art Instruction. I inquired and they said, Whats funny about it? I said, The names. They said, We didnt know what those things were called. I said, They werent called anything till I called them that. It was another case of satire falling flat. I gave up and am selling it now as an instruction book.–Mort Walkers Private Scrapbook. Andrews McMeel, 2000 Bill Schmalz The symbols that work best [for grawlixes]  are those that fill up space: , #, $, %, and .  Hyphens, plus signs, asterisks, and carets (^) leave too much white space within the body of the  grawlix  for it to look like a single word. Wiktionary recommends #$% as the standard grawlix. This uses the five beefiest symbols in the order they appear on an American keyboard. (If you curse with a British accent, try # £%.)... Because it represents words spoken in anger or excitement, the  grawlix  should always end with an exclamation mark,  even if its an interrogative grawlix:  #$%?! Finally, as a word of caution, you should reserve your use of grawlixes for emails to close friends. Grawlixes are highly inappropriate for professional writing.–The Architects Guide to Writing: For Design and Construction Professionals.  Images, 2014 Shirrel Rhoades Cartoonist Mort Drucker [sic] invented an entire lexicon to describe such symbols.Emanata are lines drawn around the head to indicate shock or surprise. Grawlixes are those typographical symbols that stand for profanities. Agitrons are wiggly lines around a character to indicate shaking. Plewds are sweat drops that convey worry. Squeans are tiny starbursts or circles that represent intoxication or dizziness. Solrads are lines that radiate from a light bulb or the sun to indicate luminosity. And so on. A language all its own.–Comic Books: How the Industry Works. Peter Lang, 2008 Alexander Humez, Nicholas Humez, and Rob Flynn ï » ¿Other symbols reveal the mental or physical state of a character, such as squeans (the centerless asterisk-like burst marks in the air around the head of a drunk), spurls (the corkscrew line above a character who is passing out), crottles (the crosses on the eyes of someone out cold), or plewds (the teardrop-shaped indicators of sweat and/or stress)these last classified by Mort Walker, creator of the long-running Beetle Bailey comic strip, as a subcategory of what he calls emanata, along with the waftarom (the doubled curved line emanating from savory food) and the solrads and indotherms (wavy lines indicating that the sun or other object is radiating heat... ).–Short Cuts: A Guide to Oaths, Ring Tones, Ransom Notes, Famous Last Words, Other Forms of Minimalist Communication. Oxford Univ. Press, 2010

Mathematics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Mathematics - Essay Example If we let "s" stand for the number of kth powers, then g(k) is the least such "s" powers. Some examples of g(k) are: g(1) = 1; g(2) = 4, since from Lagranges 4-square theorem, every natural number is the sum of atleast 4 squares. In addition it was found that 7 requires 4 squares and 23 requires 9 cubes. Progress was made on Warings Problem by establishing bounds, or the maximum number of powers. For instance, Liouville found that g(4) is at most 53. The work of Hardy and Littlewood also led to other bounds; in particular, they found the upper bound for g(k) to be O(k2k+1). The work of Hardy and Littlewood also led to the realization that the number G(k) is more fundamental than g(k). Here, G(k) is the least positive integer s such that every sufficiently large integer (greater than some constant) is a sum of at most s kth powers of positive integers. A formula for the exact value of G(k) for all k has not been found, but there have been many bounds established. 1, 4, 9, 19, 37, 73, 143, 279, 548, 1079, 2132, 4223, 8384, 16673, 33203, 66190, 132055, 263619, 526502, 1051899, 2102137, 4201783, 8399828, 16794048, 33579681, 67146738, 134274541, 268520676, 536998744, 1073933573, 2147771272 Hilberts proof of Warings Problem for all positive k can be seen as proving an equivalent theorem: There are positive integers A and M and positive rationals 1, ..., M, depending only on k, such that each integer N A can be written in the form Many generalizations of Waring’s Problem have been made. For instance, there is the prime Waring’s problem, and generalizations of the problem to algebraic number fields and arbitrary fields. The problem known as the â€Å"easier† Waring’s Problem takes the integer n to be a sequence of numbers x, each to the kth power. All of these variations have led to a Mathematics Subject Classification 11P05 entitled â€Å"Waring’s Problem and variants.† In 1742, Goldbach suggested that every

Week 3-4 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Week 3-4 - Assignment Example Quality literacy learning happens when students are offered the opportunities to appreciate recreational and creative aspect of the entire literature and other kinds of texts (Nixon, Comber, with Grant, & Wells, 2010). The curriculum should therefore allow students to fully participate in the society. The program should involve among other forms of support an emphasis on independent reading and independent writing alongside critical literacy to achieve independent learning for diverse learners. This should be crowned by a proper ongoing assessment that involves the following: running records, observation surveys, observation checklists, rubrics, anecdotal records, and marking scales. Using an ‘inquiry stance’ permits teachers to analyze the dynamics and complexities of their classroom communities as well as to design curriculum basing on their knowledge/understanding of students in their circumstances (Nixon, Comber, with Grant, & Wells, 2010). This means, teacher-researchers in schools teaching diverse students bring social circumstance into the foreground; they take into social circumstance to be more than the ‘background’ to the lives of their students’. This approach makes the cultural and linguistic diversity of families a property rather than a deficit. The discussion here follows the work of a teacher who combines critical approach literacy with a property model of cultural diversity (Laura & Carol, 2008). This involves, foregrounding students’ cultural and linguistic resources in the curriculum to generate high quality literature results for diverse learners. The school I teach, it serves a diverse community of students. This includes significant numbers of languages speakers other than English in each classroom. This means that in there are collaborations between teachers to help linguistically and culturally diverse students to develop their literacy in English and other learning

John Locke Short Introduction Essay Example for Free

John Locke Short Introduction Essay John Locke, who is widely known as the Father of Liberalism, is a great writer, philosopher and physician of the 17th century. He was born on 29 August 1632 and died on 28 October 1704 when he was 72. He was baptized on the same day as he was born. He was a gifted man and David Hume once described him as â€Å"wrote like a water-drinking local councilor, his style ungainly, his idioms commercial, his imagination puritanical, his humor labored, his purposes wholly practical. † As he is a talented thinker and uses different perspectives to see and think on certain things, he revolutionized the Theory of Mind to the world in his masterpiece, â€Å"An Essay Concerning Human Understanding†. On the other hand, he also developed the idea of liberty among people in society. His contributions to the world are incredible as his ideas of social contract and state of nature laid the theoretical foundation of the Constitutions of the United States of America. In Locke’s life, he came from a very intelligent and faithful Baptist family that gave him a good education and took him to a good school Christ Church, Oxford. Though he studied medicine but not philosophy or other critical thinking courses, he met prominent people (e. g. Robert Boyle, Thomas Wills) who inspired him immensely in every perspective. One eminent scholar was Thomas Sydenham, who imposed a huge impact on the idea of how man accumulates knowledge. Thanks to Sydenham, Locke wrote one of his famous works – â€Å"An Essay Concerning Human Understanding†. Thomas Sydenham gave advice to Locke in treating Shaftesbury’s liver cancer. Locke realized in the file of Shaftesbury that knowledge in a book could be different from the circumstances Locke was facing. Hence, he raised the pivotal question in his essay: â€Å"Is the foundation of knowledge based on theory or experience? † This essay stimulated several fresh ideas to philosophers in the 17th century. One of the famous philosophers who were greatly influenced by Locke was David Hume, who described John Locke as a magnificent man. After Shaftesbury survived from the liver cancer, he became Lord Chancellor and led Locke to be involved in the field of politics. In the political struggle of Shaftesbury, Locke assisted him by writing another famous work – â€Å"Two Treatises of Government. It is believed that the ideas mentioned in the essay were influenced by Hobbes’ thinking, but Locke never referred or mentioned the name of Hobbes. Locke countered the statements raised by Hobbes in the book of Leviathan that â€Å"everyone is living in terror† and â€Å"war of every man against every man†. Locke raised a counter statement that everyone is created equally and everyone in society has rights to fight for their life, freedom and property. To accomplish it, we shall hold together and grant greater power to protect ourselves. This also explains how civilization works. The original purpose of this piece is an argument to attack Shaftesbury’s opponents (supporters of Absolute Monarchy). However, the ideas of natural rights and a new reformation of government mentioned inside the essay are recognized as the most influential ideas on the political system in the 17th century. The basis of liberty was widely used by the founding fathers of the United States of America to write the American Declaration of Independence and the Constitutions. The influences of John Locke did not just stop in the 17th century. They still last today. Every time we hear about liberty and freedom, the basis of these concepts had been defined by Locke clearly. Besides, the issue of free religion which is still discussed nowadays was also originated by Locke. The theory of religious tolerance was one of the most controversial ideas during Locke’s lifetime. In this perspective, some historians even regarded the European War as the war between religions. In some statements made by Locke, he argued human knowledge was possibly false unless there was definite proof. By the same token, he considered that religion, which did not have clear proof, was possibly false. Because of this, religious tolerance was necessary. Religious tolerance is still being debated nowadays and it has greatly changed the outlook of modern society after this idea was promulgated. Locke’s life was a legend. He was born in a Baptist family and his writings are full of elements related to Christianity. From the statement of â€Å"All men are created equally†, it clearly shows Locke’s belief in the perspective of equality. Besides, he was also greatly influenced by the idea of knowledge. He questioned the fundamental of knowledge and questioned whether knowledge is true as always. I believe he wrote such ideas because of his experience in the treatment of Shaftesbury’s cancer that led him to start questioning that the things he had learned from the medical books were not really practical. Instead, to him, they were much more proper to be described as imaginary notions. From this perspective, he was inspired to write the essay concerning human understanding. Besides, Locke also influenced the world and created waves of revolutionary ideas in many fields. The great philosophers Voltaire and Rousseau were deeply inspired by Locke’s theories. Ultimately, Locke – Father of Liberalism – was not simply a gifted person born to be the father of liberalism, but also because of circumstances, situations which he encountered in his life to make him the father of liberalism.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight :: Essays Papers

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Passage Analysis Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written in the fourteenth century in Northern dialect by an anonymous author who was a contemporary of Chaucer. The story begins in King Arthur's court. The Green Knight, a green monster who challenges the court to a Christmas game, Sir Gawain, a brave, loyal knight of the court, and King Arthur, the lord of the court, are the main characters. Lines 279 through 365, which deal with the Christmas game, also known as the beheading game, foreshadow the Green Knight's supernatural powers, Sir Gawain's victory over the Green Knight, and his bravery and loyalty to King Arthur. The events surrounding the proposal of the game foreshadow what will happen next. It is New Year's, and everyone in King Arthur's court is feasting when the Green Knight arrives and challenges the court to a Christmas game. The rule of the game is that the knight, Sir Gawain, will strike at the Green Knight, and then in a year and a day, the Green Knight will return the strike. This is indicated when the Green Knight says, "†¦So you grant me the guerdon to give him another, sans blame. In a twelve month and a day he shall of me the same"(Norton 208). A guerdon is a reward and sans means without. So when the Green Knight receives his reward for the game, which will be to return the strike in a year and a day, it will not be his fault when Sir Gawain dies because it is part of the game. This foreshadows the Green Knight's supernatural powers and Sir Gawain's confrontation with death. If Sir Gawain chops off the Green Knight's head, one would think that the Green Knight would die. So why does the Green Knight ask to meet Sir Gawain in a year and a day to return the strike? The answer to this question shows the Green Knight's supernatural powers because he knows that he is not going to die because of the strike. The Green Knight appears to have a hidden agenda, which will be revealed at the end of the story. As a reward for the knight who is brave enough to participate in the game, the Green Knight gives him his ax to keep and use for the game. The ax is first given to King Arthur, who has volunteered to participate in the game so that his court will not appear to be full of cowards.

Evaluating E-Commerce Strategy Development within Organisations Essay

Background The news about the â€Å"New Economy† has triggered many entrepreneurial ventures to exploit on the electronic commerce (e-commerce) opportunities. Ventures such as Amazon and eBay have received significant media attention and investor optimism about the potential of e-commerce. Now that the smoke has settled, both management and academic research have become interested on the impact of e-commerce on those companies that have supplemented their brick-and-mortar outlets with e-commerce initiatives. Several researches have emerged on effect of e-commerce on organisational strategy. Tapscott et al (1998) discusses the organisational changes created by B2B e-commerce and the benefits of deploying e-commerce within the organisation. O’Connell (2000) discusses the effect of e-commerce in the organisational structure in light of the resource-based view and transaction cost theory. E-commerce has been seen as improving efficiency, communication and lowering costs across business processes (O’Connell, 2000; Krovi et al., 2003; Garicano and Kaplan, 2001). In addition, researches have also shown the influence of e-commerce on brand management. Wind & Mahajan (2001). discuss how the competitive environment is changing with the increasing number of Internet users and how the new technology is redefining the marketplace. The research presented a conceptual framework delineating the drivers and outcomes of marketing strategy in the context of competing in both physical and electronic marketplace. Part of the emergence of electronic marketplace is the ability of organisations to offer highly customized products to consumers, and the capability to build and to manage customer relationships (Brown, 2000). The aim of the research is to investigate the way in which an organisation develops its electronic commerce strategy over time in light of existing strategic approaches and development found within related literature. The research particularly looks into Marks & Spencer e-commerce strategy as the case study for the research. The research looks into how Marks & Spencer has developed and implemented its e-commerce strategy. Drawing from strategic management theories, the research specifically focuses on the how an e-commerce strategy is grounded on reducing transaction cost within the organisation and across the value chain. Furthermore, the research also looks into the importance of relationship marketing and how e-commerce is providing organisations with the necessary technology to achieve seamless exchange of information and reduced costs. Strategically, the adoption of e-commerce within an organisation hinges on these two important strategic management theories. In addition, the research is confined within the business-to-consumer (B2C) market, since business-to-business (B2B) relations are frequently characterized by a small number of customers and a strong emphasis on personal contacts between customers and salespeople as their means of marketing communication. Therefore, the research focuses on how consumers view their shopping experience within an e-commerce site, particularly Marks & Spencer. The Overview of the Study   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The remainder of this study is as following statement:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Chapter 2, Literature Review, will provide a concise concept and explanation of electronic commerce within retail organisation. The review of related literature discusses the concept and application areas of e-commerce within organisation. The review will also tackle the important strategic management concepts such as transaction cost theory and relationship marketing and how e-commerce is enabling organisations achieve increased efficiency, improved communication, and lower costs across its value chain. Chapter 3, Methodology, will describe the research design of this study. The research design of this study is empirical research method using secondary data for quantitative analysis. Chapter 4, Results, will demonstrate the results of this study.   At first, the descriptive statistical data such as maximum, minimum and mean, on the consumer’s perspective on the different service attributes of e-commerce site for Marks and Spencer. Chapter 5, Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations, the â€Å"Summary† section will first provide a comprehensive summary of the major findings of this study. The â€Å"Conclusion† section will highlight the implications of the research findings. Finally, â€Å"Recommendations† will be proposed to help companies to utilize the importance of electronic commerce in their strategic assessment.   In next chapter, related researches in electronic commerce will be reviewed CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Electronic Commerce According to the International Engineering Forum, e-commerce is â€Å"an emerging model of new selling and merchandising tools in which buyers are able to participate in all phases of a purchase decision, while stepping through those processes electronically rather than in a physical store or by phone (with a physical catalog). (online International Engineering Forum)† E-commerce enables a customer to access product information, select items to purchase, purchase items securely and have the purchase settled financially.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While the notion of e-commerce as the ability of organisations or a person to sell over the Internet is very popular, the research paper will adopt the definition of Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). E-commerce can be defined as â€Å"the total of all applications that pertain to online communications and transaction (OECD, 2000).† The definition better suit our purpose of discussing e-commerce in the context of strategic management. The research views e-commerce holistically, which encompasses the communication between organisations and customer over the Internet, the completion of one-time or on-going online transactions, and e-CRM systems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The emergence of e-commerce in the retail sector is one of the most widely adopted and anticipated development in the industry. Following the success of Amazon, many brick-and-mortar retailers jumped into the dot com bandwagon and established their online presence in the World Wide Web. Many have adopted e-commerce capabilities out of a fear of falling behind competitors or as a result of the general momentum to expand the use of an existing Internet presence. Nonetheless, the main value proposition for organisations adopting an online presence is the prospect of increasing revenue from new markets and using a lower-cost, electronic-distribution channel (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With a strong demand from organisations in creating an online presence, internet service providers (ISPs) have begun to offer electronic-commerce hosting services. ISPs often position as a outsourced service provider of the customers’ electronic-commerce capabilities, managing the networking and server aspects of the initiatives. Such services are important consideration for the roll-out e-commerce sites as it allows organisations to leverage on the expertise of ISPs and allows organisations to concentrate on their core businesses (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   From the customer’s perspective, the main benefit of an e-commerce system is the convenience it brings to consumers, who are constrained by busy schedule and numerous activities. The e-commerce system enables a customer to locate and purchase a desired good or service over the Internet when the customer is ready to make the purchase. Its function is synonymous to a virtual store (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   From the merchant’s perspective, the e-commerce system enables the organisation to take advantage of the strengths of online store and increase revenues. One of the key benefits of implementing an online store is the capability to cover greater market reach and a complementary distribution channel to its existing brick-and-mortar stores. However, in order to effectively implement an e-commerce strategy, the e-commerce system must recreate or utilize existing data and business processes. The merchant must recreate the same shopping experience in its online store providing in-store assistance, secure payment process, catalogs and prices about the products and services, inventory management, and transaction capabilities (including credit authorization, tax computation, financial settlement, and shipping) (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Furthermore, e-commerce not only allows merchants to take advantage of market reach, but it also enables merchants to redefine and enhance an enterprise’s brand strength, customer-service capability, and supply-chain efficiency. An e-commerce site is one of the areas of an enterprise infrastructure that is open to customers via the Web, but it is linked with other information system of the enterprise value chain (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In implementing an e-commerce site, provision of the basic system requires an Internet connection, a Web-application server and e-commerce application software, and a personal computer for the shopper. Figure 1 illustrates the basic economic drivers and application requirements of an e-commerce marketplace. On the buyers side, consumers are driven to the online retail store through advertisements, interesting features, needed information, and directory. On the sellers side, merchants are driven to the online space because of its ease of entry, increasing website traffic, ability to sell and integrate marketing messages (online International Engineering Forum). Figure 1. Business Drivers in e-commerce strategy E-Commerce Strategies and Business Drivers A number of initiatives implemented within an organisation are driven by a market need. All industries are characterized by trends and new developments that gradually or speedily produce changes important enough to require a strategic response from participating firms. The popular hypothesis about industries going through a life cycle helps explain industry changes but is still incomplete (Porter, 1980 p. 157-162). The life-cycle stages are strongly keyed to changes in the overall industry growth rate (which is why such terms as rapid growth, early maturity, saturation, and decline are used to describe the stages). Yet there are more causes of industry change than an industry’s position in the life cycle (Porter, 1980 p. 157-162). While it is important to judge what growth stage an industry is in, there’s more analytical value in identifying the specific factors causing fundamental industry and competitive adjustments. Industry and competitive conditions change because forces are in motion that create incentives and pressures for change (Porter, 1980 p. 162). The most dominant forces are called driving forces because they have the biggest influence on what kinds of changes will take place in the industry’s structure and competitive environment. The Internet and e-commerce opportunities are unquestionably spawning a sweeping business revolution that altered industry boundaries, opens up all kinds of new business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) market opportunities and threats, sparks competition from new and entirely different breed of enterprises and mandates fundamental changes in business practices (Thompson and Strickland 2001).   In his book The Business of E-Commerce: From Corporate Strategy to Technology, Paul May discusses four business drivers for adopting an e-commerce strategy. First, organisations have the compulsion to catch up with competitors or to gain competitive advantage by being early adopters of the new technology. Organisation’s constant pursuit to gain competitive edge in the marketplace is a primary concern and part of a survival component in the business strategy. Second, organisations need to develop a credible e-commerce channel from its current online portfolio. Third, organisations are constantly looking for ways to reduce cost and increase efficiency within its value chain. E-commerce can be a creative force in delivering reduced transaction cost, increased communication and coordination, and improve business processes. Fourth, e-commerce enables organisations to improve its value chain by creating strategic supplier partnership and delivering customized customer solutions. It allows organisations improve business’ infrastructural capabilities to play as an extended enterprise and not merely a single business entity delivering greater value to its customers (May, 2000). Each of these drivers can be harnessed as a propulsive force for the business, rather than a deflective or immobilizing one (May, 2000). Application areas of E-commerce Six key emerging application areas in electronic commerce can be identified. It can be organized into two important domains: business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B). The application areas include categories in consumer retailing to real-time business-to-business collaboration (May, 2000).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Retailers were the first adopters of the business-to-consumer e-commerce. Retailers found selling products and services online as a promising channel of distribution for its products and reaching new markets. Nonetheless, B2C e-commerce is now more diversified and classified into three application areas which include retail, auction, and advice (May, 2000). The three application areas of B2C e-commerce are retail, auctions, and advice. Although each has its own distinguishing characteristics, and dynamics, a consistent theme underlies the development of all three. This is the increasing â€Å"busy-ness† of consumer lifestyles: the extension from work life into private life of a culture of ever-decreasing time-frames and ever-increasing obligations. Lack of time and complexity of choice drive the growth of products and services in each of these areas (May, 2000). Business-to-consumer is a term that stresses the direction of delivery: B2C e-commerce is supposedly something done by business to consumers. Yet this domain is founded on intense customer focus. Insight into the conflicting desires and pressures affecting consumers is a powerful ally in building successful strategies in this highly competitive area (May, 2000). Business-to-business, on the other hand, is the umbrella term used to refer to transactions between businesses conducted online, and the business networks and supply chains that make these transactions possible. While B2B activity has always, taken place, the Internet brings with it a new framework, B2B companies no longer need to depend on the traditional one-to-one model for business transactions (Michel, 2003). Procurement, inventory exchange, and real-time collaboration are relatively obscure categories of application, which have the potential to flip many businesses inside-out. Procurement introduces process improvements in the buying functions of organisations and also points the way to a more competitive environment in inter-company trading. Inventory exchange introduces the mechanism of the market to smooth out supply and demand inefficiencies across entire value chain, potentially lowers transaction and carrying costs, and focuses on improving exchange of supplier information. Real-time collaboration allows organisations to cooperate as fluid colonies of actors, undermining the stability of companies who prefer hands-off relationships or who prefer their reality-checks to be presented monthly (May, 2000). e-Commerce application in Retail Industry Retailers are now increasingly adopting electronic commerce as another distribution means of selling products and services. Online channels have also proved increasingly popular amongst retail companies within other formats such as hypermarkets or catalog retailers, who have attempted to expand into the sector to escape from stale growth within their respective markets (Datamonitor 2006). Datamonitor estimates the global Internet retail sector valued at $656.4 billion in 2005, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.3% over the 2001-2005 period. The estimate is based on the total revenues generated through the sale of retail goods via online channels, valued at retail selling price, with any currency conversions calculated using constant 2005 annual average exchange rates (Datamonitor 2006). With the number of Internet users increasing exponentially year-on-year, the industry has experienced strong global growth within the global Internet retail sector. Much of the demand for online purchases is due to the escalating number of working mothers and time-starved consumers who are conveniently seeking ways of shopping without the hassle of driving to a retail store and falling in-line (Datamonitor 2006). At present, drugs and health & beauty aids are the sector’s most lucrative segment in 2005, accounting for a total of $154 billion in total revenues or 23.5% of the retail sector’s total value. Computer, hardware, software, and supplies contributed significant revenues in 2005, generating $114.9 billion in revenues or 17.5% of the sector’s total value (Datamonitor, 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While analyst do not see a similar spectacular growth in the global Internet retail industry, experts still is optimistic the pace of revenue expansion for the next four years. Industry experts project to the expansion of industry to remain strong valuing the industry at $1.169 trillion by 2010. This translates to 12.2% CAGR over the 2005-2010 period (Datamonitor, 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In terms of revenues generated per region, Datamonitor reports that Europe has the largest market share in the global Internet retail sector with 44.4% of total value, followed by the United States and the Asia Pacific with 22.5% and 21.7% respectively (Datamonitor, 2006).

Etiquette and Rule Essay

In todays modern era we are surrounded by technology all over the place. This technology Is constantly being Improved everyday. One of the most widely used technologies In the world Is the computer. Almost everything can be done on the computer these days. There are a lot of rules people need to follow on the Internet and they can all be categorized under Netiquette. Netiquette is really just a set of rules to follow in order to behave properly online. It is extremely important to know how to behave online because it can affect you in the real world as well. There are many rules In Netiquette. One of the main sets of rules is called the Ten Core Rules of Netiquette. These rules help a person be who they really are online and In reality. The flrst rule In this set Is spell check. Whenever you are communicating with someone online it is always important to spell check and proofread. Errors and misspelling can make you look less professional and it can also reduce the meaning of the message. The second rule is to never use â€Å"ALL CAPS†. This is because when somebody uses all caps online it Is considered that you are shouting at them. The recipient of the message can take this the wrong way and get offended. The third rule of the ten states, † Tell the truth†. Basically what this means Is to be honest on social networking websites and to not write anything but the truth. Lies can cause problems for you, so it is Just better to tell the truth to begin with. The fourth rule states† Be yourself’ which means be the same person online that you would be in the real world. Do not say or do things that you would not normally do. Pretending to be someone you are not online can ruin your Image. The fifth rule in this set is Do not flame or respond to flames. You should not do this because It Is unclvlllzed and a flame Is an Insult. Continuing with the ten core rules, the sixth rule is to not click on any spam or send any spam. These pop ups and spam can lead to malware, viruses, and malware. These viruses can damage your computer software and slow down the performance. The seventh rule of the code is to be conservative in the emails you send. This is because it Is better to have quality over quantity; It Is better to get straight to the point. The eight rule also has to do with email. This rule Is to not send email late at night. If you send a email late at night It might make the employer or recipient wonder what you are doing up that late. The ninth rule is to shop on secure websites. This is important because you do not want to disclose any personal information on the Internet. Lastly the tenth rule of this code is to always be discreet with what you do online. This can include making profiles, posting comments and sending messages. You never know who Is watching and what can be on the line. Of course you must exercise these rules more when you are not using your own computer. For example if you are using a school laptop and you cannot log into your personal accounts, because if you forget to sign out somebody can send all sorts of hings out and create a bad image of you. Additionally when you use someone else’s computer or laptop, you have to avoid going to websites that have too many pop up links or follow up any spam. The reason to this Is because it can lead to viruses, which will not content the owner of the computer or laptop. Some people think that because nothing you do on the Internet is private or gone forever. Once you send a message there is no way off getting it back, The person reading the message can save your email or can also forward it to others. This is why writing appropriate and not offensive are one of the important rules to follow as well. There are many reasons why it is important to communicate appropriately online. The reason why is because it shows the reader you are serious and it also gives them a clue of what kind of person you are.. The reader can automatically tell what kind of person you are once you send them your email by the way you talk in the email. You have to be as clear and to the point as possible to avoid any conflict and keep your job. I have seen many situations in where there was good etiquette and bad etiquette used. One example of good netiquette that I have see was when my dad was going to uy something online he made sure that every website had the secure check on it. This helped to protect personal information while checking out. One example of bad netiquette that I have seen was when a student from my old school was emailing a teacher and he was using slang in the message. This was unprofessional and I told him to fix it before he sent it. Overall when you are using the Internet there are a lot of rules to follow so that you don’t look unprofessional. These netiquette rules help many people be themselves online and also help a lot of people keep their Jobs.

Old Kingdom Egypt Religion Essay Example

Old Kingdom Egypt Religion Essay Example Old Kingdom Egypt Religion Paper Old Kingdom Egypt Religion Paper In the Old Kingdom Egyptian times, religion and political views basically went down the same path. So, when their was a new king crowned, he brought his religion with him and everyone had to follow it or they was sentenced to death or a cruel punishment. This brought two major theories on how the universe was created, and they are. 1. Heliopolitan Creation Myth, and 2. Memphite Theology. The Heliopolitan Creation Myth states that the first God was Atum. His characteristics and cult was taken over around the old kingdom time and was taken over by Re, but lived on by the names of Re-Atum and Re-Horakhte. Re-Horakhte is the rising of the sun and a falcon flying over the sky who humans was depicted with a human body, but with the head of a falcon. The Heliopolitan Myth consists of nine gods ( The Great Ennead AKA The Pesdjet), 1. Atum, 2. Shu, 3. Tefnut, 4. Geb, 5. Nut, 6. Osiris, 7. Isis, 8. Nephtys, and 9. Seth. Basically, the myth tells us that Atum created himself or that he rose out of the chaotic Primeval waters, and brought up a mound for him to stand on. Atum was believed to be both male and female within. So, he swallowed a seed and spat out Shu (the god of air), and sneezed out Tefnut (the goddess of moisture). Shu and Tefnut had Geb (the Earth God), and Nut (The Sky Goddess). Then, the cosmic portion of the Ennead was complete. Their children (Osiris, Isis, Nephtys, and Seth) was not considered cosmic. The Memphite Theology was basically created to try to outdo the cosmogony of the Heliopolitan Creation Myth. The Memphite Theology states that Ptah, the main god in their religion, created the universe by using his heart and tongue. The reason that the Egyptians believed he created it with his heart and not his brain is because they believed that the heart was the main place of thought, not the brain. He brought forth every being by uttering its name, because the Egyptians believed that the name held the essence of being. There are many more myths on how the universe was created with the Egyptians belief, but these are the main two.

Strolling Down the [AV]

Strolling Down the [AV] Strolling Down the [AV] Strolling Down the [AV] By Maeve Maddox Just when I thought I’d developed a thicker skin regarding linguistic innovation! I was listening to classical music on my local NPR station the other morning when the DJ launched into some public service announcements. The first time she said [av] for avenue I wasn’t sure I’d heard correctly, but then she mentioned another address that included the word avenue. Again she said [av]. And then, leaving no doubt whatever, she pronounced a third address as Central [av]. Say it isn’t so! I need the help of you readers on this one. Googling won’t help me figure out if this is a trend or merely a local aberration. Please let me know if you have heard anyone pronounce the abbreviated form of Avenue as anything other than [ÄÆ'vÉ™-nÃ… «] or [ÄÆ'vÉ™-nyÃ… «] For the record, avenue, abbreviated Ave. or Av., came into the language as a military term meaning â€Å"a way of approach.† Now it refers to a wide street lined with trees or, in some cases, a street having a planted median. In British usage an avenue is the roadway leading from the gate to the front of a country house, like the lovely tree-shaded approach to Manderly in the movie Rebecca. I suppose I shouldn’t be too astonished. The word versus, abbreviated vs. or v. is now universally pronounced [vee]. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Writing a Reference Letter (With Examples)Empathy "With" or Empathy "For"?150 Foreign Expressions to Inspire You

Diversity-Impact of globalization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Diversity-Impact of globalization - Essay Example Multi national companies working in different countries need to be monitored with varied administrative techniques to keep in the track with the changing face of the industrial and economic environments to tune up the organization according to these changes. Diverse culture demands coordinating with workforce from different cultural back ground etc. These employees are to be empowered to organization goals and objectives to turn them towards organizational excellence. The author in the article has asserted the need to give due importance to the diversity of top executives of the different regional background to work in different regions to understand the native environment and enhance the reach to the overseas employees. The racial discrimination in the top notch companies executive level positions have been highlighted where most of the individuals are white-skinned. The notion that the other section of employees are been confined to the middle level management positions was ably raised as a concern. The example that Pepsi Co adopted to hire diversified workforce to lead different regions has clearly justified the importance of diversity in work environment and the growing importance of women in prime positions in organization. The vital reason here that has to be noted is the Asian and African countries have had made rapid development and in order to gain benefits from their manpower and service excellence, the organizations has to provide them freedom to act on an issue and give them an opportunity at their native regions to lead the firm performance. The women workforce value has to be recognized and they have to be encouraged to implement their strategies in pursuit of the organization... http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hr022 Written by Kelli A. Green, Mayra Lpez, Allen Wysocki, and Karl Kepner, Extracted from Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges, and the Required Managerial Tools1