7s Model Samsung

Case Study 2. : Trade and Innovation in the Korean Information and Communication Technology Sector1 . Onodera, Osamu Kim, Hanna Earl OECD Journal: General Papers; 2008, Vol. 8 Issue 4, p109-155, 47p, 34 Charts, 20 Graphs This includes the strategy of the organisation, the innovation strategy, the culture in the organisation towards risk-taking and change, the motivation of employees, cross functional learning, knowledge management and the use of internal and external networks. â€Å"Employees’ willingness to take risks very much depends on the existence of a †noblame† culture. A strong culture fosters innovation only if it is built on norms such as accepting failure†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Goffin & Mitchell, 2005, s. 265). †Multifunctional learning fosters innovative and learning by doing on the part of the employees and help them keep up to date with the latest developments. It also serves as a basis for creating a climate that can bring about organizational transition† (Takeuchi & Nonaka, 1986). â€Å"Organizations need to increase their innovative capacity and one powerful mechanism for doing so is to extend participation in the process to a much wider population. Mobilizing high levels of participation in the innovation process is unfamiliar and, for many organizations, relatively untested and apparently risky† (Bessant, 2003, s. 767). †Mobilizing and managing knowledge becomes a primary task and many recipes offered for achieving this depend on mobilizing a much higher level of participation in innovative problem-solving† (Bessant, 2003, s. 767) †Companies increasingly cannot expect to warehouse their technologies, waiting until their businesses make use of them† (Chesbrough, 2003, p. 32) Thirdly, the 7-S framework contains the very process of innovation. The process is divided into a series of relatively well-known steps in the â€Å"funnel† approach that seems to be standard in theory and praxis these days. However, it has been chosen to illustrate this differently than conventionally, because:†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ The assumption of a sequential progression without feedback loops and recurring tasks is unreali stic †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Saren, 1994, s. 633). Hence, the illustration of the process circling the innovation fundamentals. So what is contained within the process element of the 7-S framework? Again this can be illustrated by using a quotation from some of the state-of-the-art literature:† †¦ There is no doubt that for managers to increase the success rate of their new product efforts, they should master techniques for the planning, development, deployment, evaluation and control of necessary competencies throughout the new product (NPD) process, i. e. , from the generation of the new idea to the launch of the product to the marketplace †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Tzokas et al. , 2004, s. 619). In other words, the innovation process is measured by looking at project management, project planning, top management involvement, project managers, and the application of innovation fundamentals across the seven stages of the process. Companywide, we will build a content-rich business structure that fosters innovation in hardware and software. Building from our creative platform, we will develop new businesses in health, the environment, and renewable energy. A company that epitomises the transformation of the Korean ICT sector is Samsung Electronics. Samsung Electronics is one of the world leaders in semiconductors, in particular DRAMs and fiash memories. Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), mobile phones, and digital appliances such as fiat panel TVs. While Samsung had quickly grown from an assembler of black and white TVs in the 196()s to one of the market leaders in DRAMs in the late 1980s, making use of foreign technology and based on foreign markets, it was generally a market follower rather than an innovator even in the late 1980s. Changes in the business environment in the early 1990s, i. . greater competition at the lower end of the market due to the increasing use of evolving production networks in the Asian region by Japanese producers, increased competition in the Korean domestic market due to progressive trade and investment liberalisation, and withdrawal of the generalised system of preference (GSP) privileges in export markets, triggered a transformation of Samsung with a greater emphasis on technology, increased global production and sourcing, and enhanced international sales and distribution. The fact that Samsung now has research facilities not only in Europe, US and Japan but also in Russia, India and most recently China, that it now has 27 manufacturing facilities in 12 countries, with overseas I 1E;CD JOtJRNAL; GENERAL PAreRS – VOLUME 2008/4 – ISSN -IMS-2821  © oe C D 2008 112-CASE STUDY 2 production reaching 35. 9% in 2007, and that it has doubled its sales tietwork from 32 sales organisations in 23 countries in 2000, to 60 in 48 countries iti all regions, shows how global Satnsung's operations have become as a result hich has become one of the leading firms in the ICT industry worldwide from a modest position in the past two decades. The study assesses how regulatory, trade, and investment policy choices have helped, alongside other key policies, to provide the right framework conditions for technology absorption and innovation. In addition, it examines how the private sector, and more particularly Samsung, has taken advantage of those conditions to enhance its innovation capacity. The objective of this study is not to provide a comprehensive history of Korea's development or to evaluate Korea's innovation policy. Rather it is an attempt to shed some light on the relationship between trade and innovation from the recent rapid growth of Korea's ICT industry in the past 15 years. focuses on Samsung's strategies in international R;D, manufacturing, sourcing, supply chain management, sales and distribution. (Other key determinants of Samsung's success include its strong branding and marketing strategy, its investment strategy of investing in large capacity when other companies are cautious, and effective human resource management. The Samsung Group is today the largest chaebol in Korea, which has businesses spanning from electronics and electro-mechanics, shipbuilding and engineering, petrochemicals and fine chemicals, life insurance and securities to trading and constructions. Samsung Electronics is its largest company with 2006 consolidated sales of OECD JOURNAL: GENERAL PAI^RS – VOLUME 2008/4 – [SSN -1995-2S21 O OECD 2U0B CASE STUDY 2 – 1 4 1 USD 92 billion and net income of USD 8. 5 billion. It employs 128 000 people in more than 120 offices in 57 countries, and is organized into five major businesses: semiconductors (memory chips, system LSI devices and hard disc drives), LCDs (TFTLCD products in various applications). Telecommunication networks (mobile phones, telecommunication systems), digital appliances (washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners and stoves) and digital media (TVs, audio/video products, PCs and computer peripherals) (Samsung. 2006). It is among the global leaders in semiconductor such as DRAM. SRAM chips, and flash memory. CDMA mobile handsets, and digital media technologies such as Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), and has fast become a truly global multinational company. For example, value of tbe Samsung brand was USD 16. 1 billion in 2006 in the Brand Value Survey conducted by Business week magazine and Intcrbrand, or 20†³Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ among all corporations in tbe worid and 7†³Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ in the IT sector. Samsung Electronics is also ranked 27'*† in the worid on Fortune magazine's list of Global Most Admired Companies. Samsung's success in particulariy noteworthy in light of two factors: first, the company's medium sized domestic market (Korea has a population of 48 million) and, second, its origins and recent history. Samsung started off in 1938 as a trading company, and while it entered two manufacturing sectors {i. e. sugar and textiles) in the mid-1950s, it was not until 1969 that the firm entered the electronics industry with the incorporation of Samsung Electronics Co. One major characteristic of Samsung's entry into the electronics industry was its reliance on foreign technology. ^^ Table 21 provides a brief overview of Samsung's evolution to the 1990s. Table 21. Samsung tecbnological capabilities and features of international production 1970s 1980s 1990s 20008 Key activities Main sources of capabilities Level of technologicai capabilities International production and scope of interaction Conglomerate diversification J/V partners, Original Equipment f/lanufacturer (OEM) buyers and overseas training Capabilities in mass production (TVs) Entry into DRAM market OEM buyers, foreign licensing, reverse engineering Broader product range (VCR, MWO, DRAfvl, components) but very weak in ability to introduce a major change of product US & EC for lowend markets (limited success). Centralised intrafirm interaction Organisational reform, internationalisation Acquisitions. strategic alliances, in-house R&D Continued weakness in product development International production of lowend items in peripheral regions. Moving toward decentralised intraand inter-firm interaction Transformation into a global company. In-house R&D, strategic alliances and increasing emphasis on intellectual property. Strengthened R&D and design capabilities, with a core competency in product development. Creation of a global production network ainly in the Asian region but also in other parts of the globe as well. Source : Kim (1994) for 1970s – 1990s. IH-XD JOl'RN. M. : GENERAL PAPERS – VOLl/ME 2008/4 -ISSN -1995-2821  ©OECD 2008 142-CASE STUDY 2 1970s – Dependence on foreign technology Given its lack of expetience in electronics, Samsung had no choice but to turn to foreign sources of technology in management, production in marketing and Samsung established a close relationship with Japanese and US firms. It created several joint ventures with foreign technology suppliers such as NEC, Sanyo, Corning Glass Works and other companies. ^ It reached numerous agreements to assemble electronic products for foreign original equipment manufacturer (OEM) buyers, who provided it with design and engineering support as well as with an international market. Samsung also relied extensively on outside suppliers for the purchase of core components. However. Samsung and its affiliated partners have increased its capabilities for parts supply and for some parts even began to ship parts to Korean and Japanese customers. Samsung electronics expanded and improved its assembling capacity, producing ten million black and white TV sets by the end of the 1970s. Most sales were through OEM channels. OEM buyers provided Samsung with product design, quality control and engineering support, leaving Samsung to increase its manufacturing capability. Samsung continued to increase access to other international distributors and was able to renegotiate TU and ease initial geographical restrictions imposed by its jomt venture partners. † Samsung expanded its OEM channels and capabilities by adding two new products – VCRs and microwave ovens. As Samsung was unable to gain foreign licensing for these products, it used â€Å"reverse engineering†, and succeeded in developing its own microwave in 1978 and VCR in 1979. Samsung further diversified into the telecommunication sector through a 1977 JV with GTE of the US. In 1974, Samsung acquired Korea Semiconductor Co. (KSC), a joint venture between Korea Engineering & Manufacturing Co. and Integrated Circuit International, a US firm, which manufactured simple integrated circuits for electr onic watches, which formed the basis for Samsung's entry into the dynamic random access memories (DRAMs) business. 980s and early 1990s – Upgrading of technology – entry into DRAMs The 1980s was the period of expansion and diversification for Samsung. As Samsung began to experience limitations on growth in the CTW and VCR markets due to lack of component availability. Samsung made a decision to enter the IC business. To achieve its objective, Samsung once again tried to learn foreign technology through a broad range of formal and informal contacts, and decided to enter the DRAM market which was considered more suitable for Samsung which had familiarity with incremental process innovation and large scale manufacturing efficiency both of which could become sources of competitive advantage in this sector. In 1983, Samsung licensed a DRAM design from Micron Technology, a US company, and entered the merchant market for DRAMs which require the most advanced manufacturing technologies and huge capital outlays. In 1983, Samsung successfully developed a 64K-DRAM, followed by a 256K in 1984. and a lM DRAM in 1986. Samsung continued to upgrade its technology and decreased its reliance on outside technology, except for capital equipment and thus rose from a virtually zero share in memory chips in 1984 to be the world market leader in DRAMs by 1992. Table 22 shows how Samsung has gradually caught up with technology leaders: Samsung kept closing the gap between itself and the technology leaders, and has been the leader in DRAM development since 1992 when it the first company in the worid to develop 64 Mbit DRAM. OECD JOURNAL: GENERAL PAPERS – VOLUME 2008/4 – ISSN -1995-2821 O OECD ZIKlti CASE STUDY 2 – 1 4 3 Table 22. Samsung technology gap in DRAM 64Kbit' 256Kbit IMblt 4Mbit' 16Mblt 64Mbit 256Mblt IGbIt 4GbIt First development company Intel NEC Toshiba Hitachi ^^jj^^†^^ Samsung Samsung Samsung Samsung Development date by Leader 06/1979 01/1981 07/1984 08/1987 08/1992 08/1994 11/1996 12/2000 Development dale by Samsung 12/1983 01/1984 06/1986 02/1988 07/1990 08/1992 08/1994 '11/1996 '12/2000 Gap between Leader and Samsunq ^^^†Ã¢â‚¬ ^ ^ ^^^^^ ^ ^^^'^ ^ months 3 months – . . . 1 Design licensing from Micron Technology; Process technology from Sharp 2 Samsung with two Korean partners Source. Kim (1997), Siegel and Chang (2006), Samsung website (http://www. samsung. com). By the late 1980s, Samsung was able to produce a wide variety of semiconductors for use in phone sets, computers, private automatic branch exchanges (PABXs). acsimile machines, and VCRs (Kim. 1997). As a result, it was able to reduce dependency on Japanese suppliers for core components. Nonetheless the majority of the DRAMs produced in Korea were exported to foreign countries and the other non-memory chips required (I. e. microprocessors) continued to be imported from other countries (Kim , 1998). The strong resource shift to semiconductors meant that development of other capabilities suffered to some extent. While Samsung Electronics Co. had a minor change capability, it remained weak in major change capability (Kim, 1997). As a result, it continued to use license technology from foreign companies for its main export products in this period. ‘ OEM channels remained dominant in the company sales at over 65% of total sales even in 1988. and Samsung maintained close relationships with OEM buyers such as JC Penney, Sears Roebuck, GTE, Toshiba, IBM, Hewlett Packard, RCA and Crown Corporation (Kim. 1997). It was towards the end of the 1980s that Samsung slowly started to build its own technological capability with the acquisition in 1988 of Micro Five Corporation, a US company, and with the establishment of Samsung Infonnation Systems America Inc. SISA) in Silicon Valley to support export activities as well as to gather information on ICT products. It was also in this period that Samsung began its search for foreign talent as a means to compensate for its lack of internal expertise (Box 3). It was also in the 1980s that Samsung started to internationalise its production for certain products such as colo ur TVs, audio products and microwave ovens. Samsung also sowed the seeds of its telecom business at this time, acquiring Korea Telecommunications in 1980 and started production of a cellular phone in 1986. Box 3, Technology transfer through hiring One of the ways Samsung has overcome its lack of technical capabilities has been through recruiting top level engineers from world leading competitors. ^† In early days, Samsung focused on recruiting Korean engineers working at foreign companies. Hwang Chang-gyu, a former president of Samsung Electronics, was recruited from Intel, and Chin Daeje. another former president, worked at IBM's Watson Research Center before being hired by Samsung, to name just a few. These people have significantly contributed to the transformation of Samsung from a me-too memory producer to the world leader by bringing cutting-edge technical knowledge and managerial skills. Samsung also hired foreigners in order to fill the gap it identifies to upgrade its technical capabilities. It is widely known that Shigeo Fukuda, who was hired from Kyocera, played a critical role in the Samsung's new initiative in 1993 known as â€Å"New Management. † It is believed that his critical comments on Samsung during the 1980s pushed the company to enhance its product development processes and design capabilities. More recently hiring has become increasingly diverse from all over the world including David Still (US), David Henri (France). Roman Sepeda (US). Nelson Allen {US). Hao In (China), and Tung Wang (China). OECD JOURNAI. : GENERAL PAPERS – VOLUME 2008/4 – ISSN -1995-282! O OECD 2008 144-CASE STUDY 2 Transformation into a global company – 1993 and onwards Several changes in the business environment faced Samsung in tbe early 1990s. First, lower trade barriers and transportation costs and enhanced ICT from the latter 1980s and the 1990s resulted in greater fragmentation of the ICT industry. In the late 1980s, Japanese producers rapidly increased overseas production in response to increased competition from Korean competitors and the rapid appreciation of the yen, which led to greater competition at the lower end of the market. Secondly, Korea's domestic electronics market which had long been protected from foreign competition was gradually liberalised as Korea prepared to join the ranks of industrial nations. † In 1989. import quotas on consumer electronics were removed. By 1993 there was a plan to cut the average tariff rate below 10% for all imported electronics goods. The number of items subject to the import diversification programme wbich shielded the Korean market from Japanese competitors was steadily decreased with a schedule put in place for abolition in 1999. Thirdly, on the export side, the generalised system of preferences privileges were withdrawn from Korean electronics goods by the US and EC in 1988. The Won also started to appreciate against the dollar making exports from Korea less attractive. The above changes in the business environment led to a strong initiative headed by the Chairman Kun-Hee-Lee in 1993 lo become a truly global company. ‘ Under this new initiative, Samsung began its transformation from a successful company to one of the global leaders in the industry. There was a renewed emphasis placed on quality, and several new products were subsequently introduced such as the TFT-LCD and CDMA mobile handsets. The Asian financial crisis presented a further challenge as the domestic market plunged, and Samsung had to unde rgo a fundamental restructuring of its activities, exiting from numerous businesses, cutting 30% of its workforce and cutting its debt-toequity ratio from 300% to 30%. However, the Asian crisis also presented an opportunity for Samsung to consolidate its domestic market as competitors weakened their positions, while shifting more of its resources to the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and mobile phone businesses which has allowed it to diversify its revenues. The growth has been particularly strong in the CDMA mobile handset market, where Samsung has leapt from almost a negligible share in the global market to number one in CDMA pbones with a share of about 30%, and number two in the global market overall bebind Nokia. Below we focus on three main strategic responses of Samsung: greater emphasis on technology, global productions and sourcing, and international sales and distribution. Greater focus on technology (globalisation of R&D and strategic alliances) Samsung's R;D expenditure in Korea bas continuously increased both in terms of amount and as a percentage of sales, on average 18% annually from 2002 to 2006, and now approaches 10% of total sales (Figure 21). ‘^ Tbe proportion of R&D staff has jumped from 16% in 1997 to 24% in 2006, and the company plans to push it up to 32% by 2010. The number of scientists and engineers at various research centres in Korea has increased by 70% since 2001. Table 23 indicates how Samsung has aggressively recruited scientists and engineers with graduate degrees; tbe number of Ph. D. ‘s is up by 50% and the number of Master's degree holders has been more tban doubled. Samsung bas also changed its patenting activities since the early 1990s (Table 24). While Samsung only bad 1 704 patents for applications made before 1994, it was granted over 2 600 patents for applications made in the three yeai- period 1994-1996, and has consistently been granted over 1 000 patents since then. * This shows how Samsung has OECD JOURNAL: GENERAL PAPERS – VOLUME 2008/4 – ISSN -IWS-2821  ® OECD 200s CASESTUDY2-145 become aggressive in the application of patents in the United States as part of its technology strategy. Figure 21. Samsung Electronics R&D expenditures 12. 00* 10,00% 0. 00% 2002 2UU3 2001 2005 2006 Table 23. Nunfiber of scientist and engineers in Samsung research laboratories Period Ph. D. Master's Bachelor Total 2001-02 2003-04 2005-06 1 039 873 1 537 2 980 3 453 8 320 6 038 6815 7 363 10 057 11 141 17 220 Table 24. Number of Samsung patents in the United States 1 Patents by year of grant Patents by application year Patents by year of grant {cont. ) Patents by application year (cont. ) Pre-1994 850 1 704 2001 1 446 1 550 1994 412 498 2002 1 328 1 804 1995 423 656 2003 1 313 2412 1996 485 1 532 2004 1 604 2 005 1997 584 1 613 2005 1 641 890 1998 1 305 1 845 2006 2 451 216 1999 1 542 1470 2007 2 723 13 2000 1 437 1 336 Total 19 544 19 544 Source : Based on US Patent and Trademark Office (2007). Samsung's efforts to strengthen its research capabilities have not been limited to Korea. In order to improve responsiveness to the local demand conditions and tap into the pool of cutting edge scientists and engineers, the company established R&D centres in various paits of the worid (Table 24). Samsung started by setting up Samsung Information Systems America (SISA) in Silicon Valley in 1988, followed by Samsung Electronics Research Institute in London in 1991. These two research facilities are typical examples of R&D facilities set up to monitor abroad as is the case with the Dallas and OECD JOURNAL: GENERAL PAPERS – VOLUME 2008/4 – ISSN -1995-2821 O CffiCD 2008 †¢ ] †¢ †¢ ‘ 146-CASESTUDY2 Yokohama facilities in 1997. More interestingly, the company has rapidly expanded its global network of research centres with the objective of utilising the foreign pool of research talent starting with Russia (1993), India (1996) and the three recently added research centres in China focusing on semiconductor, mobile telecommunications, and electronics. Samsung has also seriously increased the size and capabilities of the foreign research centres: its research centre in Moscow had only one Ph. D. and seven Masters in 2001 and now has ten Ph. D. ‘s and 29 Masters; its Bangalore software facility had no Ph. D. , 17 Masters, and 37 Bachelors in 2001 and now hires four Ph. D. ‘s, 179 Masters, and 164 Bachelors. Table 25. Samsung R;D facilities Research centre Samsung Information Systems America Samsung Electronics Research Institute Moscow Samsung Research Centre Samsung Electronics India Software Operations Dallas Telecom Laboratory Samsung Telecom Research Israel Samsung Yokohama Research Institute Beijing Samsung Telecommunication Samsung Semiconductor China R;D Samsung Electronics China R;D Location San Jose London Moscow Bangalore Dallas Yakum Yokohama Beijing Suzhou Nanjing Established 1988 1991 1993 1996 1997 1997 1997 2000 2003 2004 Core tasks Strategic parts and components, core technologies Mobile phones and digital TV software Optics, software algorithms and other new technologies System software for digital products, protocols for wired/wireless networks and handsets Next generation telecommunications systems Hebrew software for mobile phones Core next-generation parts and components, digital technologies Mobile telecommunications standardization and commercialization for China Semiconductor packages and solutions Software, digital TVs and MP3 players for Chin While, Samsung had already begun to use strategic alliances especially for acquiring technologies, the increasing R;D capabilities of Samsung is allowing it to benefit from strategic alliances in developing new cutting edge technologies (Table 26). Because there is an increasing convergence of technologies, for example between telecommunications and broadcasting, mobile phones and personal computers, telecommunication equipment and household appliances, it is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to conduct the research and development necessary to cover all technology areas in one company. Samsung, therefore, has been using its technology base to conduct strategic alliances to build new strategic capabilities. OECD JOURNAL: GEKERAL PAPERS – VOLUME 2008/4 – ISSN -1993-2821 O OECD 2130 » i' Partners Table 26. Date Selection of recent strategic alliances Areas of cooperation CASE STUDY 2 -Ul Nokia April 2007 Limo Alcatel Sony (S-LCD) IBM Intel & Microsoft Discovery Salvarani Sun Microsystems VDL Charter Bang & Olufsen Kent State University Qualcomm Toshiba (TSST) Sony (S-LCD) IBM Dell Hewlett-Packard Disney Napster Sony NEC Matsushita Microsoft January 2007 October 2006 July 2006 March 2006 March 2006 September 2005 July 2005 July 2005 February 2005 January 2005 November 2004 October 2004 July 2004 April 2004 Maroh 2004 March 2004 January 2004 September 2003 September 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 January 2003 November 2001 Co-develop technology for handsets and DVB-H standardisation solutions Establish a joint venture for developing a Linux platform (SAMSUNG Electronics, Vodafone. DoCoMo, Motorola and NEC) Cooperate on satellite DVB-H Jointly invest in 8th-generation LCD line (2200mm x 2500mm motherglass) Co-develop and market technologies for industrial printer solutions Co-develop UMPCs Cooperate on high-definition contents Co-develop new built in products combining household electronics and furniture Cooperation in solution business and next-generation business computing systems Cooperate in commercialisation of terrestrial DMB Co-develop cable broadcasting receiver and set-tcp box for digital TV Full Duplex service Partner in home theatre business Co-develop display technologies Cooperation in MDDI (Mobile Display Data Interface) technology Develop and market optical storage devices Establish joint venture for 7th generation LCD (1870 x 2200 mm) line Co-develop nano-logic process technologies Supply multi-functional laser printers Share technology for ink-jet printers Supply â€Å"Movie Beam† set-top box for VOD Co-develop and market SAMSUNG-Napster player Expand and consolidate memory stick business Cooperate in high-end business computer systems Standardise technology, co-produce and jointly market DVD recorders Co-develop digital household electronics Source: Based on Samsung homepage. OECD JOURNAL; GENERAL PAPERS – VOLUME 20U8/4 – ISSN -1995-2821 O OECD 2008 148-CASE STUDY 2 Globalisation of the production network and global sourcing Samsung Electronics began to build its global production network in the early 1980s when it established its first manufacturing facilities in the U. S. and Portugal. It went on to establish a subsidiary in the UK (1987). Mexico (1988) and Thailand in 1988. Since then, the company has continued to expand the network by adding new countries to the network as well as setting up new facilities in countries where it has already established its production facility. In 1989. Samsung further set up production subsidiaries in Spain, China. Hungary and Turkey. Table 27 lists the countries where the company has its production facilities and illustrates that the company has been selectively expanding its global production network. Table 28 shows how overseas production is gradually increasing in recent years reaching 35. 9% in 2007. It should be noted that while this figure is a measurable increase from the levels in tbe early 1990s, it remains considerably smaller than comparable figures for Japanese electronics companies which exceeded 70% as of the early 1990s (Table 8). The major products manufactured in overseas facilities are consumer electronics products such as TVs. VCRs, refrigerators, and microwave ovens. The company's Mexican production subsidiaries produce flat-screen TVs and LCD TVs and export them to the US and other Latin American countries. As Mexico is a member of NAFTA, Samsung's exports to the U. S. from Mexican plants are exempt of import tariffs. Samsung Electronics Hungarian Co. Ltd.. established in 1989, produces 3. 2 million TVs annually and exports them to Western and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. † ‘ Recently, Samsung announced to increase its production capacity of the mobile phone manufacturing plant in Haryana, India from one million to three million units per year. In addition to the importance of the local market, India is considered as a strategic alternative to China to hedge tbe uncertainty from relying heavily on Chinese operations. â€Å"†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ In the semiconductor sector, Samsung pursues a triad strategy: Giheung complex in Korea as the R&D and frontier semiconductor manufacturing hub. the American facilities in Austin. Texas as strategic manufacturing hub for the Americas, and the Suzbou complex in China as the global testing and packaging hub. ^^ Table 27. Samsung electronics global production network* Korea North America Asia Pacific Europe South America Middle East and Africa CIS 2000 Six Facilities Mexico, U. S. China(7), India, lndonesia(2), Maiaysia(2), Thaiiand, Vietnam Hungary, Spain, U. K. Brazil None Uzbekistan 2006 Eight Facilities Canada, Mexico(2}, U. S. Ct]ir)a(13). india(2). Indonesia, Malaysia(2), Philippines, Thaiiand, Vietnam Hungary, Slovaiiia None None None † The number in parentheses is tlie number ol subsidiaries in the country; Countries in italics are those newly added to the list between 2000 and 2006. Source: Samsung Electronics' website (www. amsung. com/us). OECD JOURNAL: GENERAL PAPERS – VOLUME 2008/4 – ISSN -I9;I5-282I O OECD 2008 CASE STUDY 2 – 1 4 9 Table 28. Samsung production network (KRW million) 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Total Domestic production Overseas production 64 817 456 100% 43 582 016 67. 2% 21 235 440 32. 8% 81 57 24 963 009 100% 632 359 70. 3% 330 650 29. 7% 80 629 510 100% 57 457 670 71. 3% 23 171 840 28. 7% 85 58 26 834604 100% 972 765 68. 7% 861 839 31. 3% 98 507 817 100% 63 175 968 64. 1% 35 331 849 35. 9% Source: Korean Government. International sales and distribution Samsung's initial expansion of international sales was through Samsung Corporation, the group affiliate involved in general overseas trading in the early 1970s. While this may have aided Samsung initially, it blocked Samsung Electronics† further expansion and in 1978, Samsung established its own sales affiliate in the United States for the first time. Since then, Samsung Electronics has continuously expanded its sales and distribution network around the world (Table 29). In 2000, the company had a network of 32 sales organizations in 23 countries and its primary emphasis was on North American and European markets. However, the company doubled its sales subsidiaries to 60 in 48 countries over six years, and it is now paying more attention to emerging markets, including Asia Pacific. Middle East, Africa. CIS, and South America. According to Samsung Electronics' homepage as of 2008, Samsung had a total of 53 sales subsidiaries and branch ofllces in 36 countries. ^'^ Samsung has achieved over three quarters of its sales overseas in recent years (Table 30). Table 29. Samsung electronics global network of sales subsidiaries* 2000 2006 North America Canada, Mexico, United States (6) Canada, Mexico, United States (4) Asia Pacific Europe South America Middle East and Africa CIS Australia, Hong Kong. India, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan France, Germany{2), Italy, Poland, Portugai, Sweden, The Netherlands(2), U. K. (2) Argentina, Colombia, Panama South Africa, U. A. E. Russia Australia, China(6). Hong Kong. lndia(2). Indonesia. Japan. Malaysia. Pakistan. Philippines, Singapore. Taiwan, Thailand. Vietnam Austria, France, Germany(2), Greece, Hungary. Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Netherlands. U. K. (2 Argentina, Brazil. Chile, Colombia, Panama, Peru Algeria. Iran. Jordan, Kenya. Morocco. Nigeria. Saudi Arabia. South Africa. Tunisia. Turkey. U. A. E. Kazakhstan. Russia. Ukraine. Uzbekistan The number in parentheses is the number of subsidiaries in the country; COUNTRIES in italics are those newly added to the list between 2000 and 2006. Source: Samsung Eiectronics' website (www. samsung. com/us). UKCD JOURNAL: GENERAL PAPERS – VOLUME 2008/4 – ISSN -1W5-2S2I  © OECD 2008 150-CASE STUDY 2 Table 30. Samsung sates network 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Domestic sales Overseas sales % of overseas sales to total Source : Korean Government

Dino Death Trap

The film â€Å"Dino Death Trap† at the National Geographic Channel is documentary movie which provides information about extraordinary fossil found in Gobi Desert. Therefore, the actions in the film took place millions of years ago. The scientists are showed to be quite surprised when finding fossils in the middle of China. They claimed that petrified bones of fossils belonged to unknown species.Moreover, they were in odd positions layered on each other in one single rock. Researchers said that two of the found creatures belonged to same specie being the ancestors of Tyrannosaurus rex, but they were entailed with more usable forearms and pliable claws, whereas Tyrannosaurus rex was two-fingered flippers which were completely useless. Those fossils had delicate crest on their heads which were likely to be used for protection and butting.Nevertheless, the scientists look surprised because the fossils were likely to provide collective link to Jurassic Park. It is known that after Jurassic dinosaurs were of massive size, whereas before that period they were relatively small. In other words, dinosaurs before Jurassic were of turkey’s size. The God Desert provided certain answers, as we see in the film. One of the most interesting creatures is the crested feller which scientists called ‘crested dragon’.Scientists argued that fossil appeared to be the missing evolutionary link between the parts of Jurassic period. Other found species allowed researchers to follow evolutionary tree, but pterodactyl and stegosaurus proved to be a mystery to be solved. Scientists wondered what had caused dinosaurs to die at the same time. Scientists believed that the found fossils would shed more light on how dinosaurs evolutionary grew to be larger.

Business plan, Market, Analysis, Construction

The business is a family owned company. As a Managing consultant, I have been employed to assess the viabilities of these two proposals and to produce a business plan that could be presented at the bank to gain financial backing for the expansion. I was able to make an ASSESSMENT CRITERIA, which were listed below: †¢ Understanding and application of theories †¢ Correct use of terminology, techniques, etc. †¢ Relevance of examples and scenarios †¢ Quality of referencing and sourcing of material (evidence) †¢ Quality of presentation †¢ Correct structuring of the report Business Plan: Constructed â€Å"mega-projects† are readily recognizable for their form and function, and in many cases, are awe-inspiring.   Major buildings and bridges give identities to cities and nations and evoke a sense of pride in the people. â€Å"The construction industry is a vast system of engineers, architects, laborers, craftsmen, material, equipment and tool suppliers, and project owners responsible for building these structures (http://bcc.ecnext.com/)†.   The scope of the industry is all encompassing, including every type of facility imaginable.   Roads, bridges, mass transit, airports, schools, retail and commercial buildings, industrial and manufacturing facilities, drinking water systems, wastewater treatment facilities, dams and power generation, solid waste facilities, and hazardous waste treatment and disposal projects all benefit society and bolster our national security.   The construction industry seminar focused on projects and issues that have a pote ntial mobilization involvement. Executive Summary stated that, a home office in Yellowknife, NT will be established the first year of operations to reduce start up costs. The founder of the firm is a professional engineer with eighteen years of progressive and responsible experience. After the operation has started it was found out that the first year operation increased till up to 3rd year operation as well. Notice the sales amount in dollars increases as well as dollar profits together with the percent sales/profit. The firm will specialize in providing three dimensional modeling and visualization to our clients. State-of-the-art analysis and design tools will be an integral part of the business plan. Implementation of a quality control and assurance program will provide a focus for production work. The highlights of the executive summary shown in a bar graph presentation as analyzed in this manner, red bar represents which is increasing dollars from year 2000 to the year 2002. Also apple green color represents gross margin, which is also increasing order and while net profit increased in increasing order as well. Objectives were seen to have the following: Achieve 20% of market value at the end of the third year of operation. Increase gross margin to 80% by the third year of operations. Company has mission, as stated here: Our mission is to provide clients across Canada’s North with structural engineering services for all types of buildings, from concept planning through to completion, with a highly skilled professional team working together, using common sense and practical.   Key to success has developed experience as stated. Provide professional quality services on time and on budget. Develop a follow-up strategy to gauge performance with all clients. Implement and maintain a quality control and assurance policy. Company Summary: Structure All Ltd. is a new company, which provides professional engineering design services for clients that manage, maintain, and plan for residential, commercial, and industrial type buildings. Our focus will be the public sector market in remote communities across Canada’s North. Company Ownership will be, Structure All Ltd. will be created as a limited liability company. Philip D. Nolan will privately own the company. Leslie C. Goit will also be listed as a Director. Start up summary: Our start-up expenses amount to $13,000, which allows for initial legal expenses, licenses, permits, stationary, specialty software, office equipment, and furniture. In addition to these start-up costs, an initial balance of $7,000 will be placed in the company accounts. The software purchases include an allowance of $5,000 for AutoCAD ® 2000, $1,800 for National Master Specifications, and $200 for QuickBooks ® (accounting package). Total start-up expenses amounted to $13,000, which has the big values, compared to other expenses. Office equipment, other expenses and permits holder and legal service also has same amount, which is the least expenses incurred. For a company start-up summary goes this way, investments leads small amount while profit is big and the sales amount becomes big. Start-up expenses have the following: Professional Liability Insurance is $1,200, Professional Liability Insurance is $1,200, web site development is $600 and lastly business licenses are $500.So overall total an expense coincides with the total assets. Market Analysis Company Locations and Facilities We will establish a home office in Yellowknife, NT in order to reduce start-up costs. The office space is estimated to be 150 square feet. We will be installing a dedicated fax line as well as a high-speed Internet connection. An interactive website will also be developed which will serve as a marketing tool. Services Structure All Ltd. offers complete structural engineering services. We will focus on buildings with the following Use and Occupancies, like the company is project oriented where each project involves. It also offers Project Consulting, Forensic Investigations, Project Management, and Dispute Resolution. Further more it also caters Restoration Engineering, and Inspections. Describing offers services was noted to be Competitive in the sense that offers their clients superior service, implement a quality assurance and control program for all projects undertaken, systematic manner of sorting and retrieving a library of structural elements and assemblies will be implemented. The sales literature was describe to be a brochure system. Brochure inserts will be maintained as individual sheets to facilitate their assembly in any custom situation. Greatly market analysis will be describe as Structure All Ltd. will focus on traditional Architect/Engineering (A/E) contracts. The owner will usually contract the A/E to perform planning and design services. These design services include preparation of plans, specifications, and estimates. Types of project distributions were having guidelines to follow as *Architecture Design (65%). *Structural Design (10%). *Mechanical Design (15%). *Electrical design (10%) Knowing the Market Segmentation will describe as a manner the market for engineering services that is, established Architectural and Engineering firms, territorial and Federal Governmental Departments. Market analysis Pie can summarize accordingly; Service Business Analysis, Business Participants, which were describe in as much as the manner showed. The major clients within the Territorial Governments include: Department of Education, Department of Transportation, and Department of Education, Department of Transportation, Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. Competition and Buying Patterns at which, pricing of projects and billing rates are surprisingly variable. In consulting at this level, it is easier to be priced too low than too high. Clients and potential clients expect to pay substantial fees for the best quality professional advice. The nature of the billing, however, is sensitive. Clients are much more likely to be offended when a job starts at $20K and ends up at $30K because of overruns, than if the same job started at $30K or even $35K. Main Competitors are Ferguson Simek Clark (FSC Group), A.D. Williams Engineering Ltd. (ADWEL), and Girvan and Associates. Conclusion: The company done a very good performance as the company executive summary showed a very remarkable achievement in the analysis. Business plan, Market, Analysis, Construction The business is a family owned company. As a Managing consultant, I have been employed to assess the viabilities of these two proposals and to produce a business plan that could be presented at the bank to gain financial backing for the expansion. I was able to make an ASSESSMENT CRITERIA, which were listed below: †¢ Understanding and application of theories †¢ Correct use of terminology, techniques, etc. †¢ Relevance of examples and scenarios †¢ Quality of referencing and sourcing of material (evidence) †¢ Quality of presentation †¢ Correct structuring of the report Business Plan: Constructed â€Å"mega-projects† are readily recognizable for their form and function, and in many cases, are awe-inspiring.   Major buildings and bridges give identities to cities and nations and evoke a sense of pride in the people. â€Å"The construction industry is a vast system of engineers, architects, laborers, craftsmen, material, equipment and tool suppliers, and project owners responsible for building these structures (http://bcc.ecnext.com/)†.   The scope of the industry is all encompassing, including every type of facility imaginable.   Roads, bridges, mass transit, airports, schools, retail and commercial buildings, industrial and manufacturing facilities, drinking water systems, wastewater treatment facilities, dams and power generation, solid waste facilities, and hazardous waste treatment and disposal projects all benefit society and bolster our national security.   The construction industry seminar focused on projects and issues that have a pote ntial mobilization involvement. Executive Summary stated that, a home office in Yellowknife, NT will be established the first year of operations to reduce start up costs. The founder of the firm is a professional engineer with eighteen years of progressive and responsible experience. After the operation has started it was found out that the first year operation increased till up to 3rd year operation as well. Notice the sales amount in dollars increases as well as dollar profits together with the percent sales/profit. The firm will specialize in providing three dimensional modeling and visualization to our clients. State-of-the-art analysis and design tools will be an integral part of the business plan. Implementation of a quality control and assurance program will provide a focus for production work. The highlights of the executive summary shown in a bar graph presentation as analyzed in this manner, red bar represents which is increasing dollars from year 2000 to the year 2002. Also apple green color represents gross margin, which is also increasing order and while net profit increased in increasing order as well. Objectives were seen to have the following: Achieve 20% of market value at the end of the third year of operation. Increase gross margin to 80% by the third year of operations. Company has mission, as stated here: Our mission is to provide clients across Canada’s North with structural engineering services for all types of buildings, from concept planning through to completion, with a highly skilled professional team working together, using common sense and practical.   Key to success has developed experience as stated. Provide professional quality services on time and on budget. Develop a follow-up strategy to gauge performance with all clients. Implement and maintain a quality control and assurance policy. Company Summary: Structure All Ltd. is a new company, which provides professional engineering design services for clients that manage, maintain, and plan for residential, commercial, and industrial type buildings. Our focus will be the public sector market in remote communities across Canada’s North. Company Ownership will be, Structure All Ltd. will be created as a limited liability company. Philip D. Nolan will privately own the company. Leslie C. Goit will also be listed as a Director. Start up summary: Our start-up expenses amount to $13,000, which allows for initial legal expenses, licenses, permits, stationary, specialty software, office equipment, and furniture. In addition to these start-up costs, an initial balance of $7,000 will be placed in the company accounts. The software purchases include an allowance of $5,000 for AutoCAD ® 2000, $1,800 for National Master Specifications, and $200 for QuickBooks ® (accounting package). Total start-up expenses amounted to $13,000, which has the big values, compared to other expenses. Office equipment, other expenses and permits holder and legal service also has same amount, which is the least expenses incurred. For a company start-up summary goes this way, investments leads small amount while profit is big and the sales amount becomes big. Start-up expenses have the following: Professional Liability Insurance is $1,200, Professional Liability Insurance is $1,200, web site development is $600 and lastly business licenses are $500.So overall total an expense coincides with the total assets. Market Analysis Company Locations and Facilities We will establish a home office in Yellowknife, NT in order to reduce start-up costs. The office space is estimated to be 150 square feet. We will be installing a dedicated fax line as well as a high-speed Internet connection. An interactive website will also be developed which will serve as a marketing tool. Services Structure All Ltd. offers complete structural engineering services. We will focus on buildings with the following Use and Occupancies, like the company is project oriented where each project involves. It also offers Project Consulting, Forensic Investigations, Project Management, and Dispute Resolution. Further more it also caters Restoration Engineering, and Inspections. Describing offers services was noted to be Competitive in the sense that offers their clients superior service, implement a quality assurance and control program for all projects undertaken, systematic manner of sorting and retrieving a library of structural elements and assemblies will be implemented. The sales literature was describe to be a brochure system. Brochure inserts will be maintained as individual sheets to facilitate their assembly in any custom situation. Greatly market analysis will be describe as Structure All Ltd. will focus on traditional Architect/Engineering (A/E) contracts. The owner will usually contract the A/E to perform planning and design services. These design services include preparation of plans, specifications, and estimates. Types of project distributions were having guidelines to follow as *Architecture Design (65%). *Structural Design (10%). *Mechanical Design (15%). *Electrical design (10%) Knowing the Market Segmentation will describe as a manner the market for engineering services that is, established Architectural and Engineering firms, territorial and Federal Governmental Departments. Market analysis Pie can summarize accordingly; Service Business Analysis, Business Participants, which were describe in as much as the manner showed. The major clients within the Territorial Governments include: Department of Education, Department of Transportation, and Department of Education, Department of Transportation, Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. Competition and Buying Patterns at which, pricing of projects and billing rates are surprisingly variable. In consulting at this level, it is easier to be priced too low than too high. Clients and potential clients expect to pay substantial fees for the best quality professional advice. The nature of the billing, however, is sensitive. Clients are much more likely to be offended when a job starts at $20K and ends up at $30K because of overruns, than if the same job started at $30K or even $35K. Main Competitors are Ferguson Simek Clark (FSC Group), A.D. Williams Engineering Ltd. (ADWEL), and Girvan and Associates. Conclusion: The company done a very good performance as the company executive summary showed a very remarkable achievement in the analysis.

Law Applicable to Contracts Under English Common Law, Rome Convention Essay

Law Applicable to Contracts Under English Common Law, Rome Convention on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations 1980 - Essay Example It also had to be enforceable otherwise the courts could ignore the parties’ choice of the law applicable to the contract.4 The courts would also refuse to uphold an express choice of law clause if it merely appointed an applicable law upon the occurrence of a specific event.5 Under the common law, the applicable law is applied or implied by the courts in cases where the parties have not expressly selected the proper law of the contract.6 In doing so, the courts will look for evidence of the intention of the parties by reference to the facts and circumstances of the case. Intention will be implied from facts such as the parties’ nationalities, the place where the contract was concluded, the monetary currency in the contract’s transaction, the place for payment and evidence of a forum preference.7 The fact that the common law looks first for an express choice, failing which, they then look for an implied choice is a manifestation of the significance of party auton omy in English contract law. It is only when both methods for determining the law applicable to the contract have failed that the English courts under the common law will attempt to determine the law applicable to the contract by reference to an objective view of the facts and the circumstances. Essentially, the courts will seek to identify the law that is most closely connected to the contract. As Singleton LJ noted: One must look at all the circumstances and seek to find what just and reasonable persons ought to have intended if they had thought about the matter at the time when they made the contract.8 It is important to note here, that even where the courts are taking an objective view of the facts and circumstances in determining the... The English common law has established a long tradition of contractual freedom and the freedom to choose pursuant to the concept of party autonomy. Certainly, the common law does not permit party autonomy to function at all costs. There are limitations and those limitations,however, were the exception rather than the rule. With the implementation of the Rome Convention 1980, the English common law was superseded by an approach to party autonomy that basically treated party autonomy as the exception rather than the role. Although the Article 3(1) of the Rome Convention 1980 purports to confer upon parties the freedom to choose the law applicable to their contracts, the 1980 Convention sets out constraining and abortive provisions such as the mandatory laws, consumer contracts, and employment contracts. Rome I Regulation forces, even more, changes on the English tradition of party autonomy calculated to erode the freedom of choice. In the final analysis, it would appear that party auto nomy is only relevant where the parties are either professionals or businessmen. Even then, the Rome I Regulation ensures that the law is chosen for the parties in so many different circumstances that arguably, party autonomy is not a part of the Rome I Regulation.

Corporate Reporting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Corporate Reporting - Essay Example Rather, it is important that other key steps and approaches are taken towards the need to harness all the components of corporate reporting. In this respect, research has actually pointed to the fact that the regulation of corporate reporting is the key to achieving such benefits (Lang, Raedy and Wilson, 2006). Generally, a regulated corporate reporting is one that is taken from the institutional level to the political level in that it is given governmental backing in the regulation of basic rules governing finance and accounting principles (Coffee, 2007). This is normally done when the central government wants to have a better view and understanding of what the various institutions, mostly financial institutions and ministries, are doing in their own rights to contribute to gross domestic product growth. Though many have said that corporate reporting could exist and be of benefit without the need of any regulation of it, there are many more that have refused to reason like this, cit ing a number of reasons why a regulation of corporate reporting is necessary. Focus on people and not on data A major criticism that has gone against corporate reporting is the fact that individual institutions that have been left to manage and control corporate reporting only focus on people, the institutional structures and professions, instead of focusing on actual data collection (Kothari, Ramanna and Skinner, 2009). What this means is that control has often been over the people put in charge of corporate reporting and the mindsets, culture and agenda instead of on the actual evidence they gather in terms of data. For example, instead of ensuring that the financial data that a bank supervisory produces is authentic and empirical, focus has now shifted to whether or not the people involved in the reporting have the requisite qualifications, whether they operate according to organizational culture, and whether they have their methodologies matching with corporate practice. While a ll of these checks are done, the critical need of financial data is abandoned, thereby denying authorities of the privilege of getting the actual outcomes desired of corporate reporting. As an alternative to this crisis, development of regulation for corporate reporting is suggested so that the key role of supervision would not be in the hands of the institutions who undertake the corporate reporting. This is like saying that it is important to get a different outfit to police the policeman (Demsetz, 1969). When political regulations set in, focus is not lost as there are sufficient manpower and logistics to monitor both the institutions and the data produced by institutions. System within a system Another problem that makes the development of regulation for corporate reporting important is that the system has been criticized to be a system within a system and not an independent system on its own. What this means is that there are often parallel reporting systems that are run in add ition and at concurrent times with corporate reporting (Dye and Sunder, 2001). Once this happens, the attention needed to ensure strict monitoring, and evaluation is denied. Again, it makes institutions lose focus on which areas to exactly look out for in the analysis of the success of the financial environment. The Charted Institute of Management Accountants, CIMA (2010), laments on the situation, saying that there have been the inclusion of in-house systems to corporate reporting â€Å"such as those supporting internal management information, regulated financial reporting, investor relations or voluntary sustainability reports† (p. 6). Technically, it would realized the various financial regulations outlined by the institute are subsidiary aspects of corporate repo

Analysis of Association Is Not Causation Research Paper

Analysis of Association Is Not Causation - Research Paper Example The prevailing theory, is one that maintains that alcohol â€Å"reduces inhibitions† (1), and that a compromised mental state leads to violent behavior. They are careful to point out that they are not challenging the reduction of inhibitions, but challenging that the theory that there is a necessary relationship between these mental states and violence, and they cite a broad cross-section of studies that maintain this. If there is a causal relationship between reduced inhibitions, and violence, then there ought to be consistency across all cultures. One of the first challenges they point to, is that there are documented differences of alcohol behavior that â€Å"varies greatly† across cultures(2), and thus there has to be something more than simply a â€Å"pharmacological† explanation. They argue that it is â€Å"expectancy† that explains these differences. ... Thus, the 'expectation' of drinking had more to do with drinking than the actual pharmacological effects. Given that there is no strictly biological causal relation between violence and alcohol consumption, they turn to explain how this view had come about within the scientific literature. One problem they note is the discrepancy between alcohol â€Å"blood levels† (3) and reported incidences of violence. Police reports with actual blood levels measured of intoxicated offenders, indicate that while over 50 % of individuals charged with domestic violence reported alcohol as the cause, less than 20 % of these were actually intoxicated as measured by the toxicity of their blood(3). Likewise, statistical analysis' shows too that while reporting of alcohol use in domestic violence instances, the actual use in terms of â€Å"immediately prior† to the incidence is significantly lower. They conclude that there are important discrepancies with the data when they are closely scru tinized. Finally, the authors examine some of the methodological limitations of many of the studies, and conclude with implicit recommendations for further research based on some of the limitations of the existing research. They point to problems mainly to do with equivocation. That is, problems of defining or distinguishing between the types of drugs used(4), what exactly is violence and abuse(4-5), and finally, the very nature of alcohol consumption – how much, and how frequently is alcohol consumed(6). They argue that these definitional problems are inconsistencies in current research. ANALYSIS: 1. What are the strengths of the article? : The main strength of the article is that they unequivocally demonstrate that the existing literature confused correlation or

The VW Resende Modular Consortium Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

The VW Resende Modular Consortium - Essay Example The idea of a modular consortium consists of separating the product into sub-assemblies (modules) which are delegated to and entirely provided by a specific module supplier. Therefore, the module supplier is responsible for assembling its module directly on the automaker’s assembly line (Pires 1998, 225). By establishing strong partnership with 7 key suppliers and outsourcing 100% of its manufacturing, VW was striving to: optimize the operating costs, minimize the coordination costs, to improve cooperation between the partners (suppliers), to improve quality and productivity, to increase the market share, and to utilize space more efficiently.Referring to the Porter’s strategic framework, VW’s strategy of manufacturing trucks in Brazil could be defined as a Focus Strategy. Under a focus strategy the firm concentrates on one or a limited range of segment of the market (Thompson and Martin 2005, p.287). Thus did VW, by focusing its manufacturing process on trucks. Working in the automotive industry throughout the world, VW has made a decision to focus mainly on one segment of the automobile industry in Brazil. It was a truck production sector. While this strategy was different from the overall company strategy, VW had to act in a way that best fitted the organization’s competitive environment in Brazil. The company benefited from its specialization on truck segment by gaining strong competency in the production of trucks and some of their modules. According to the information.... g costs, minimize the coordination costs, to improve cooperation between the partners (suppliers), to improve quality and productivity, to increase the market share, and to utilize space more efficiently. Referring to the Porter’s strategic framework, VW’s strategy of manufacturing trucks in Brazil could be defined as a Focus Strategy. Under a focus strategy the firm concentrates on one or a limited range of segment of the market (Thompson and Martin 2005, p.287). Thus did VW, by focusing its manufacturing process on trucks. Working in the automotive industry throughout the world, VW has made a decision to focus mainly on one segment of the automobile industry in Brazil. It was a truck production sector. While this strategy was different from the overall company strategy, VW had to act in a way that best fitted the organization’s competitive environment in Brazil. The company benefited from its specialization on truck segment by gaining strong competency in the p roduction of trucks and some of their modules. According to the information, received from the interview with Jose Ignacio Lopez, the VW Resende Modular Consortium could enable the company to gain significant competitive advantage among the rivals. These included: modern and productive manufacturing process, relatively low cost, quality of the trucks, simultaneous engineering process with the suppliers, speed in the development and launching of new products, common corporate goals and objectives (trend to work more toward mutual success) (Correa and Park, n.d., pp.1, 7, 10). With Focus strategy approach the company can seek either lower costs or differentiation (Thompson and Martin 2005, p.287). Therefore, by going deeper to the Porter’s focus strategy, it is possible to assume that the VW’s Resende

File management in UNIX Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

File management in UNIX - Essay Example The owner, therefore, is the only person who can change the protection system of that particular file. However, other individuals often referred to as members, can also access that particular file if only they belong to that particular group. These members can, therefore, see each other’s file in the system. Groups are generally created for users of a common front, for example, a group can be created for staff members of a particular organization. In order to determine the owner of a particular file, the command ‘Is-I filename’ is typed. This gives the information about the owner and the particular details of the file. These details include; From the above, we can denote that the file is contained in a directory hence the first's’. The owner of the file has the permission to read, write and execute the file or group hence ‘rwx. The group members, which in this case are the 4990 users, have the permission to only read and write hence the commands ‘r-w’. Lastly, the other users, presumably the remaining 10 users, have no permissions or access to the folder, hence the command ‘---‘. It also important to note that to change the permission of the file, the command ‘chmod’, meaning ‘change mode’ is followed (Jaeger & T., 2008). This can only be used by the owner of the file or group and is used together with the commands ‘ijk’; ‘i’ represents for the user's permission, ‘j’ represents the groups’ permission, while ‘k’ represents the other user's permission.This can be illustrated as such; chmodijk  file(s)

To what extent does a mature and cyclical product market drive Essay

To what extent does a mature and cyclical product market drive corporate restructuring - Essay Example Does maturity necessarily lead to deterioration of market? This question can be answered using the concept of cyclicality. Economics in Business Context (Haslam et al. 2002, p.92) further defines cyclical markets as â€Å"generally mature markets in which volume fluctuates at or around steady pattern of demand†. Depending on the replacement period of the product, the product will be required by the customers every few years, months or weeks. During the period when maximum customers replace the product, the demand for the product will be at its positive peak. This period is followed by a period of low sales. Thus, fluctuation in the demand for a mature product makes it cyclical. Some products have longer replacement periods than the others, making them cyclical. For example, a refrigerator may be replaced after every ten years but cold drinks manufactured by Coco Cola or Pepsi are bought by billions of people every day. Therefore, refrigerators may be termed as mature and cyclical. Coco Cola and Pepsi have reached maturity but they are not cyclical. Let me illustrate with the help of a hypothetical example. Consider a product XYZ. Say, I had introduced XYZ in the market in 1990. The replacement period of this product was five years. Using excellent marketing strategy, XYZ had gained popularity amongst the customers by 1991. But, I had not yet sold XYZ to maximum number of targeted customers. I had to maximize my sales as well as confront a new problem; a competitor introduced a similar product called ABC in the market in the year 1992. After a research on XYZ, I realized that the product could be manufactured in a better way, leading to an increase its durability. The replacement period after increase in durability became 8 years. Increase in the durability of XYZ attracted more number of customers. Because it was a very popular product, XYZ reached maturity by 1995. It was sold to maximum number of customers. If I had not

John Proctor Essay Example for Free

John Proctor Essay The audience now have conflicting emotions; there is confusion as although we know he has made a mistake, he doesnt deserve to die for it, we also feel disappointed that Proctor has given into Danforth showing a weakness rather than power and bravery. The courts are relieved that Proctor decides to confess and they want him to sign a confession, Danforth explains why it needs to be signed Why, for the good instruction of the village Proctor first shows signs of changing his mind You have all witnessed it- it is enough Proctor is adamant that he doesnt want to take his verbal confession any further. He says I have given you my soul; leave me my name! he is in a desperate situation as although he has confessed to impiety he doesnt want everyone in Salem to see the evidence of it. Proctor tears the paper and crumples it, but he is weeping in fury but erect. He has resolved his dilemma and has made his final decision to hang. The audience feel empathy for Proctor however we are glad he has made the righteous decision, redeeming himself in the end. His final words convey his good sense of morals and his courage. He says I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor. The audience agree with his decision as it separates him from the hypocrisy of others. It also expresses his honesty in direct conflict with Danforth who is completely corrupt and irrational; Proctor says Show honour now, show a stony heart and sink them with it! It is a heroic end for Proctor showing his strength and dignity. By the end of the play some of the characters hold different views on Proctor. At the beginning of the play when Hale first arrived in Salem he was very enthusiastic about the witchcraft but throughout the play his views swayed towards Proctors explanation of the accusations. He realises that the witch-hunts are a consequence of dangerous pretence caused by a young girls vengeance. It is a lie! They are innocent! Hale is certain that this is fraud and he feels guilty for his earlier actions. Let you not mistake your duty as I mistook my own. And where I turned the eye of my great faith, blood flowed up. Hale knows he has done wrong and he is sincere and honest enough to admit his errors. As the play progresses we see a change in Elizabeths attitude, at the very end of the play a lot of the tension between them is resolved. Elizabeth admits that she was also to blame for their difficult marriage; It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery she has now fully forgiven him and they both realise their love for each other. Moments before Proctor hangs they share a loving, affectionate kiss He has lifted her, and kisses her now with great passion. Now that Proctor feels a genuine love and forgiveness he can die with an easy mind and with dignity. Hales condemnation and pleading with Elizabeth to save Proctor is a point of high dramatic tension as he knows that she is the only one that can change his mind. Hale pleads, Woman, plead with him! Woman! It is pride, it is vanity. Elizabeth knows that she cant take Hales advice as she knows her husband has made the morally right, honourable decision for himself. Miller uses Elizabeths final statement to confirm that Proctor is a tragic hero. He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him! This demonstrates that she cannot intervene because she cant take away his honesty and make his imperative decision for him. This proves that Proctor is a tragic hero as he chooses to die with an honest conscience. Proctor refuses to collaborate with the evil of the courts. God does not need my name nailed up upon the church! He will not agree to his signed confession being shown to the people of Salem because he doesnt want there to be any significant evidence of the lie he is giving. When Proctor reflects on himself, he is quite harsh. I cannot mount the gibbet like a saint. It is fraud. He is blaming himself for the situation he is in now as it is a consequence of his affair with Abigail. As he realises his mistakes he begins to see himself as a fraud. The witch-hunt shown in The Crucible has a strong link to the McCarthy trials in the early 1950s, as both occasions created a vast hysteria. Both Danforth and Abigail are closely linked to John McCarthy as they are trying to gain power. Abigail was constantly manipulating the courts; therefore a consequent fear and hysteria is created and innocent people like Mary Warren, who get frightened and intimidated, start to betray friends. Millers message is trying to tell the audience to be aware of, and stand up to people like Danforth and Abigail and expose things before its too late. Also, that we should beware that a petty pretence can become extremely dangerous. As we observe, Proctor comes across as very self-centred at the beginning of The Crucible and he doesnt seem to be aware of his mistakes- he is hypocritical and angry at Elizabeth for not forgiving him straight away for his affair, You forget nothin and forgive nothin. Learn charity woman. However as the play progresses the audience experience a new, moral and powerful Proctor who notices his faults. He now understands his errors and thinks of himself as a sinner I cannot mount the gibbet like a saint My honesty is broke. Elizabeth; I am no good man. I do not completely agree with the statement What is John Proctor? I am no saint; for me it is fraud. I am not that man. Although he has sinned by lying and committing lechery with Abigail he doesnt deserve to die as a consequence of Abigails vengeance. I feel that Proctor is being quite harsh on himself because even though he makes mistakes that put him in this situation, he redeems himself in the end by telling the truth and dying with dignity. for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor. To conclude, I consider Proctor as more of a saint than a sinner. He is not a complete saint but I do believe that his courage, good sense of morals and power should be honoured and respected as he was a decent, noble man.   C20th Drama Coursework Essay: The Crucible Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Miller section.

Calculating Blood Components of Cholesterol Research Design

Calculating Blood Components of Cholesterol Research Design Good health is absolutely important to a human being and to remain healthy people need to check their blood level parameters. Cholesterol is a very important constituent of over100 constituents in human blood. It is important to develop an instrument wherein blood parameters can be calculated which will be non-invasive, user friendly, portable and reliable. The thesis explains the designing and making of an instrumentation setup to calculate the blood constituents. It comprises of the study of samples made in the laboratory according to the various constituents present in whole blood in the RF range of 10MHz-4000MHz. The data is later fed to a regression analysis matrix which can be programmed in VLSI chips such as Altera FPGA in order to calculate the constituent concentration. This thesis is proposed to contain 6 chapters with proposed chapters as given below Chapter I (Introduction) This chapter includes the introduction to the thesis, health and diseases, overview of cholesterol, types of cholesterol, role of cholesterol in humans, the various diseases due to high cholesterol, the worldwide scenario, the testing of cholesterol blood test range of different constituents. Total mental, physical social wellness is a condition of health as well as the presence of infirmities or diseases.[1][2][3] Good health is often marred by diseases and illnesses which are sometimes incurable.[4][5] The most dreaded diseases include Cardio Vascular Diseases (CVD) and Strokes due to high Cholesterol. About 7,000,000 persons die of heart disorders annually in the world, of which 2,400,000 are Indians. Strokes are the next principal source of death at 6,200,000 of which 1,600,000 are Indians. Cholesterol is important for normal body functioning, which appears to be a fat-like material which is waxy in nature. It is used in making of hormones and for cellular functions. The Total Cholesterol (TC) in the blood consists of High Density Lipoprotein (HDL), Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) triglycerides. The cholesterol obstructs the arteries when it amasses in the body resulting in the limitation of blood flow. It could be tested invasively by visiting a doctor extracting the blood using a needle syringe technique. Since this procedure is painful, it develops a fear among the patients could also be infection prone. Non-invasive methods are easier to use in one’s home. Instant report could be attained therefore non-invasive technique is gaining a lot of importance as the electronics industry now offers many smart sensors. Blood has many constituents and it depends on aspects such as age, diet, state of health and other particulars.[6][7][8] The chief blood components are Cholesterol, NaCl, Glucose, Urea, Lactate Alanine. There are quite a few number ways to compute blood cholesterol in humans, invasive non-invasive. They can be categorised into chemical tests and physical tests. The significant ones are based on Photo Acoustic Spectroscopy (PAS), Stimulated Emission spectroscopy, Thermal Emission Spectroscopy (TES), Optical absorption spectroscopy, Liquid Chromatography method, Chemical Method, Ultracentrifugation, Electrophoresis and Impedance measurement. The important techniques together with their working principles and the merits demerits are discussed below. Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS): The principle of NIRS is that constituents absorb Infrared light at their characteristic wavelength. The absorption level is comparative to the constituents present. Hence the contents present can be predicted. It uses a physical rather than a chemical technique. It is rather sensitive to calibration errors, but probes for non-invasive measurement are not available. However, new spectroscopic methods are now available with IR optical fiber for guiding the light to the tissue. Chemical Method: In order to determine plasma cholesterol, the chemical procedure of Abell-Kendall is done which comprises of the Liebermann-Burchardt response after hydrolysis and eradication of cholesterol. Plasma cholesterol triglyceride content determinations are usually examined by computerized techniques at clinical research facilities. Default values for plasma TC are achieved using autoanalyzer frameworks to which either the Liebermann-Burchardt test or the ferric chloride–sulfuric acid technique could be applied. A fluorometric investigation is utilized to decide the triglyceride reference values. Basic plasma estimations of triglycerides and TC can be relied on for the analysis of the diverse lipoprotein issues. It is an invasive method and there is wastage of chemicals in testing. Chromatography: Chromatography techniques can be sorted out into 2 categories, i.e. Gas chromatography (GC) and Liquid Chromatography(LC). GC is a typical kind of chromatography utilized scientifically for dividing and analyzing constituents that can be vaporized without decay. GC is used to test the purity of a specific substance, or segregating the distinctive parts of a mixture. In High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), a mobile phase comprises of either polar or non polar solvents. The specimen is constrained by a fluid at a huge pressure through a section that is filled with a stationary phase for the most part made out of sporadically or roundly formed particles picked or derivatized to achieve specific sorts of separations. Chromatography has low uncertainty, high precision, high accuracy and good linearity but it is expensive and not portable. Impedance Measurement: An Impedance Plethysmograph framework is made up of a V-I converter and a sine generator. Passing current into a body section is done with the assistance of two current electrodes. The current path which produces the voltage signal is sensed with the assistance of an alternate pair of voltage electrodes.[9][10] The impedance is correlated to the amplitude of the signal. Impedance qualities measured at a series of frequencies or at a few distinct frequencies may aid in clarifying the differences in body composition more accurately than impedance estimation at a specific frequency.[11][12] Chapter II (Objectives Literature Review) Mas S. Mohktar et al recommended a method to estimate the cholesterol level in blood utilizing neural network bioimpedance techniques non-invasively. Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) estimation was executed utilizing the bio impedance analyzer, Biodynamic Model 450. A current signal [13] E. Aristovich et al recommended a non-invasive impedance technique estimation of blood cholesterol by 3D finite field modelling. This process supports the variation of calculating impedance over a conducting medium since the concentration of particles is altered. To calculate impedance, the current is computed between 2 electrodes throughout the conducting media created by the electric field distribution. It is obtained by computing modelling 3D electric fields for known voltages connected between the electrodes utilizing Finite Element Method (FEM). The intricacy of FE models is accredited to particle distribution, the material geometrical parameters, and the size shape that can be of several orders of degrees lesser as when compared to the general problem domain under investigation. The paper prevails over the setback by implementing a useful particle aggregation technique in FE modelling exclusively influencing the accurateness of the field calculation. [14] J. Nystrà ¶m et al proposed to study a set of 34 men with various degrees of diabetic levels, including Multi Frequency (MF) BIA and skin changes by NIR. A fiber-optic probe to measure skin reflectance spectra was used on 4 sites. A joint multivariate analysis was carried out on the spectral range of 400-2500nm, using a lead sulphide detector (1100nm-2500nm) and a silicon detector (400nm-1100nm). NIR method can recognize skin conditions identified with diabetes. The 2 procedures combined together can offer a higher possibility for discrimination classification of skin condition with exact classification rising from 63% to 85%. [15] K. Cheng et al proposed to design a current source which includes a voltage controlled current source (VCCS), a microcontroller (uC) and a waveform generator (WG). The uC is made use of to program the WG to produce a sine voltage signal from 100 Hz 100 kHz. The VCCS based Howland current pump converts the signal to current. The total harmonic distortions of the o/p current are 0.25% at 1 kHz 0.40% at 100 kHz for the load resistance of 1 kà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¦. The output currents phase difference varies from 0 ° to 19.6 ° over the above mentioned frequency range. The proposed multi-frequency BI measuring system provides an inexpensive solution for BI applications. During system testing, the output current signal is constant. Hiroshi Shiigi Hiroaki Matsumoto et al proposed a simple non-invasive technique to measure cholesterol by using a solvent to extract the skin component. A self-assembled monolayer (SAM) sensor and a HPLC were utilized to analyze the extracted solution. The SAM electrode having an excellent responsiveness sensitivity, attributed to its strong attraction towards hydrophobic cholesterol. Higher cholesterol was shown by the person with high cholesterol of the skin. The coefficient of correlation of non-invasive invasive method was 0.9408, hence this method could be used practically.[17] M.V. Malahov et al recommended to recognize hematological biochemical blood parameters that can be precisely estimated by means of BI technique. Samples of blood from 46 people were poured into four test tubes. Blood (2.5ml) was put in test tubes with Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid for hematological investigation, next blood (3ml) was collected in tubes having heparin for BIA, later blood (2ml) was collected in tubes having sodium citrate for fibrinogen estimation and finally blood (4ml) was collected into unfilled tubes for biochemical serum examination. BIA analyzer à Ã‚ BC-01 Medass was utilized to perform BI spectroscopy of blood (1.5ml) from 5–500 kHz. Results show that the principle extracellular plasma particles: Na+ Cl concentrations are not related to extracellular fluid resistance of the blood. [18] Objectives The objective of the research is to design and develop an easy method to measure the level of cholesterol. The work envisages a development of an instrumentation using advanced microelectronics circuits, which is programmable and having interpretation mechanism to enable a common man to know his level of cholesterol. It is proposed to use multivariate system approach to enhance cholesterol signature in DSP domain. Chapter III (Methodology and Instrumentation) This chapter gives elaborate details on the preparation of samples, designing of cell, experimental setup and the instruments used. Human blood consists of many constituents; the major ones are Cholesterol (225mg/dL), Glucose (70-110mg/dL), Urea (10-20mg/dL), Lactate (10-15mg/dL) and Alanine (10-20mg/dL). Experiments are conducted with the above constituents. Samples are prepared using 14 mL distilled water, 1mL alcohol and the above constituents in varied concentrations. The average concentration is denoted as ‘1’, half the average is denoted as ‘0.5’ and approximately ‘0.75’ to ‘1.25’ is the actual range of blood components. The experiments are conducted with various concentrations as well, which are over the standard range for extreme cases, are denoted as 1.5, 1.75 2, 2.25 3. A cell was designed which was rectangular in shape having dimensions 12.5cms x 1cm x 2cms. The cell was used to measure RF response of various blood constituents. The cell was lined with a thin Cu foil and a copper wire was connected to 2 connectors which were placed on extreme ends of the cell. The external radiations were reduced by placing the cell in an iron box which was earthed. This forms the dielectric loss cell. The cell was then connected via RF cables to the tracking generator and signal analyzer. The entire setup was secured firmly avoid mechanical movements. Experiments were carried out using the slow sweep and the fast sweep. The experiment was conducted after an hour and 24 hours to verify the accurateness of the results. In comparison to the initial results, these were precise. The tracking generator used is Signal Hound USB-TG44A which ranges from 10 Hz 4400 MHz and the signal analyzer used is Signal Hound USB-SA44B which ranges from 1 Hz 4400 MHz. A separate power supply is not essential as it is fed from the USB cable. The tracking generator and signal analyzer are approximately 8† long, light in weight and could be used practically anywhere. Chapter IV (FPGA for Non-Invasive Cholesterol Measurement) Software and hardware components operating together to perform a definite application is called Embedded Systems. The hardware platform comprises of an i/p device, an o/p display, a microcontroller (uC) / microprocessor (uP), application software and an onboard memory. Designing embedded systems is getting more complicated nowadays due to the stiff restraints on power consumption, performance, size area usage. Hence, the software/hardware co-design procedure is utilized to plan embedded systems to decrease the measure of time used on debugging development. uPs whose behaviour architecture are completely described utilizing a subset of an Hardware Description Language (HDL) are called soft-core processors. They can be synthesized for any Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or Application Specific Intergrated Circuit (ASIC) technology; hence they supply designers with much flexibility. A platform for combining multiple design functions into a package or a group of packages is provided by an FPGA device. Incorporation of functionality results in reduced power higher performances. Design combination can be accomplished by integrating soft or hard processor cores in an FPGA to execute processing functionality and required control. The capability to incorporate design functionality and system-level components can reduce schedule, cost and risk. Nios II Altera Organization Altera Organization is a top seller of FPGAs and Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs). They proffer the Cyclone, Stratix and Stratix II groups of FPGAs and are extensively utilized in DSP applications and design of embedded systems. Nios II Processor being a Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) processor depicts Harvard memory architecture. The various features of this processor are single-instruction 3232 divide and multiply operations, instructions for 128-bit 64-bit multiplication, 32-bit Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) 32 general purpose registers. Chapter V (Multivariate Data Analysis) This chapter describes the multivariate data analysis, Partial Least Square Regression (PLSR), the different algorithms, i.e. Non-linear Iterative PArtial Least Square (NIPALS) and SIMple Partial Least Square (SIMPLS), the advantages and disadvantages of the algorithms, the ParLes software which is priority software developed for research applications, used for calculating unknown constituents. Nowadays several factors add to numerous problems which are multivariate. Multivariate analysis is a tool to obtain relationships and patterns amongst several variables concurrently. It can predict how an alteration in one variable affects other variables. It is very graphical which allows an analyst to observe the inner or unknown structure of big data sets and to visually recognize the factors which influence the outcome. PLSR is a bilinear form of technique where information in x data is assigned onto a small amount of latent variables known as PLSR components. The y data that are used in predicting the underlying variables to guarantee the first components are those that are most applicable for calculating the y variables. The relationship betweenxandydata is simplified as it is focussed on the minimum probable number of constituents. Chapter VI (Results Conclusions) This chapter includes the results and conclusions and the future direction of research. The multi-frequency BI spectrum was modelled through curve-fitting and multivariate statistical applications to extend parameters to predict body constituents like Cholesterol, Glucose, Salt, Urea, Alanine Lactate. The various components were mixed in different ways and some were used in the calibration file and the rest were treated as unknown. The spectra of cholesterol in different concentrations of 0.5, 1, 2 3 in the RF range of 10MHz to 4GHz was shown in Fig. 1. The cholesterol shows a good variation only in certain regions at specific frequencies (575 MHz, 995 MHz, 1145 MHz, 1285 MHz 2185 MHz) and one of them i.e. 575 MHz is shown in an expanded form in Fig. 2. The data obtained from the graph is then used in a calibration set to determine the unknown constituents presents in the blood. When the calibration set has more than 20 samples, it shows that it has less error. Since the spectra of every blood constituent are unique, the data of the spectra is fed to a ParLes software to get out unknown values of blood constituents. Table I gives the actual concentration of blood constituents in the experiment. Unknown concentration of cholesterol and known concentration of others were fed to a multivariate system. Table II shows the results of predicted values of cholesterol which are 43.75mg and 48.75mg whereas the actual values of cholesterol are 42.5mg and 51mg respectively. The results attained are within +/- 5% of the actual content in the sample are within the limits of the percentage error defined by WHO.

Wireless Industry Essay -- essays research papers

Over the past decade the wireless telecommunications industry has undergone a multitude of changes and experienced rapid growth. Developments in technology and consumer demand have fueled this growth and research shows that this growth will continue in the years to come. This paper will analyze the basis for these trends in consumption patterns, to include the utility derived from the products, changes in demand, market prices and the elasticity of demand of wireless services. Utility is defined as the â€Å"satisfaction one get from consuming a good or service† (Colander, 2004, p.179). The utility derived from the use of wireless communications devices includes freedom from being tied to one place, the hope of increased productivity, and cost savings from free long distance. Another aspect of utility is the way wireless devices are used today. In the marketplace â€Å"the cell phone is not just a communication device but a device that enables the exchange of ideas and also, increasingly, goods and services† (Key, 2005, p.52). This tells us that consumers envision cellular phones as not only a means to keep in touch, but as a way to collaborate with others, shop for products, and entertain themselves. As wireless communication companies recognize the utility derived from their products and services they can develop more services and further increase the demand for their offerings. The demand for wireless communications devices has increased in recent years due in large part to price d...

Christianity & Intelligence Essay examples -- Sociology Sociological R

Christianity & Intelligence Reed College has been widely regarded as a campus with a pro-atheist sentiment and an anti-religious outlook of the world. T-shirts that display the seal of the college advertise atheism as a concept of paramount importance. The aim of this psychological study was to determine whether students of Reed College implicitly associated Christianity with unintelligence and atheism with intelligence. Numerous Implicit Association Tests (IAT’s) have been used to determine whether or not people have underlying biases toward particular racial or social groups. Based on the speed of responses when associated with one ethnic group or another, one is able to determine just what sort of hidden biases may exist in the mind of the subject. Especially intriguing in this case is the idea that Christians may be construed as less intelligent than atheists on Reed’s campus. How does this construal, if present, affect diversity at Reed and the acceptance of various social and religious grou ps? Is there a certain degree to which individuals who cherish religious beliefs are ignored due to their association with Christianity? The goal of this study is to make a determination as to whether there is an association with intelligence and belief in a Christian God. This study will determine whether this association, if existent, is explicit or implicit, or both. Using an IAT, we will present various words associated with atheism and Christianity in addition to words associated with intelligence and stupidity. My hypothesis is that there will be a certain degree of underlying bias that views Christians as less intelligent individuals than atheists. The participants for this study were twelve students in the Intro Psycholog... ...ill feel less welcome here. Thus, religious and intellectual diversity are curbed due to various implicit and explicit associations. It is somewhat comforting to know that the research was limited in the fact that only a small sample size could be taken. Perhaps if an entire sample of the campus could have been measured, we would be able to find the direct implications of the research. As it happens, it would be very interesting to discuss and explore other modes that may limit diversity at Reed. Is there an implicit association with Republicans and non-intelligence? Do Reedies value the opinions of people from different social and ethnic groups less through implicit or even explicit associations? And does this carry a direct influence on those interested in matriculating at the college? These questions would be interesting to explore in future tests of association.

Le Morte Darthur: The Seven Deadly Sins Essay -- essays research paper

The seven deadly sins are spoken of often and frequently in every day life for that is what they are affected with. All of these sins can intertwine to form a domino effect of actions and reactions that link to all of the sins. Once one is committed, it becomes easier to fall into the others for they are all interlinked. This is prevalent in Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur as proven by the acts committed by the various characters throughout the book.When looked at as separate words, the definition of the phrase, the "seven deadly sins", becomes clearer. Starting with "seven", being the chosen number of dealings, following with "deadly", meaning fatal, proceeding to die, or to become deceased and finally "sins", wrongful doings according to religiosity. So from the breakdown of the specific words it can be said that the expression, the seven deadly sins, means that there are seven, not two, not four, but seven wrongful doings that upon execution bec ome fatal.Now that the phrase has been fully explained and hopefully understood, it is time to move on to the actual seven sins that are deadly. The first of the seven sins is greed, being the insatiate longing for or the keenly intense desire for something being of material value or not, that is usually not thought of to be achieved in an moral way. The second sin is gluttony, meaning the overindulgence in anything, great appetite for anything, such as food for example. The third sin is wrath, meaning extreme anger or feeling of vengeance. The forth sin is sloth, being severe laziness or lack of enthusiasm to do anything. The fifth sin is envy, meaning the coveting of anything that is not rightfully owned by the coveter, grudging contemplation of more fortunate people and of their advantages. The sixth sin is lechery, being sexual lust or lust for anything, to live in gluttony. The seventh, and last of the sins is pride, being the overweening opinion of one's own qualities, merits, often personified as arrogant. All of these are classified as sins because they are morally wrong and can make a person unpure.Le Morte D'Arthur is a tale of many knights and endless battles. In this legend, many of the seven deadly sins surpassed and this is what will be looked at. With the first of the sins being greed, it is evident that many of the knights committed this sin. These knights wer... ...me; fortunately Tintagil is only ten miles from here.' Merlin helps Pendragon fool Igraine into sleeping with him. He has sexual lust for her as defined in sin number six, lechery.The seventh and final sin is pride which can been seen when Gwynevere casted Launcelot out because of her foolish pride.Good Sir Launcelot, do not be discouraged! Remember that you are the greatest knight living and that many important matters at this court lie in your hands. It is well known that women are inherently changeable, and often repent of their anger. Therefore I suggest that you ride no farther than the hermitage at Wyndesore, where the good hermit Sir Brastius will care for you, and wait there until we have better tidings for you. Because of Gwynevere's foolish pride, she cannot forgive Launcelot for having to be with other women to avert the attention from his relationship with her.The seven deadly sins can ruin one's life, as it did many characters in Le Morte D'Arthur. The sins are in place to warn people of their outcome, and yet still they commit them. The seven deadly sins may not lead to immediate death, but have definite malevolent products that should be taken into account by all.