Importance of Being On Time Essay

Scheduling the work day is one of the most important duties any leader in the Marine Corps or the Armed forces in general, tackles each and every day. Being at the right place at the right time for any member of the Armed forces is extremely essential to the defense of the entire United States of America. It’s because of this that being on time is remarkably important. Dependability, accountability, consistency and discipline are all crucially important for all members of the armed forces. Being on time shows that a Marine is dependable and has his or her priorities straight. Being at the appointed place of duty means to be there on time and has always been one of the most important aspects of being a Marine. Failure to be on time not only hinders mission ready capability and readiness, but also can without a doubt cost unnecessary loss of life. It is important to realize that it is necessary for those in the Armed Forces are held to a high standard. Punctuality remains and always will be an extremely vital aspect of military bearing and discipline. It has a direct correlation to a Marine appearance, combat readiness, mission effectiveness, and essentially every aspect of military life and responsibility. I cannot place enough emphasis on how important being on time constantly is. For instance; a Marine who is late or does not report at all to a place at the time ordered effectively compromises and diminishes the efficiency of which the task or mission at hand can be completed. In an extreme case a Marine who is not on time to relieve the current guard’s post would cause the combat effectiveness and readiness of the unrelieved guard to be greatly reduced. This would be caused by fatigue, or lack of supplies, etc. Consequently the guard on post could be compromised and the security of the area could be breached. These things do occur, however, they can undoubtedly be avoided by merely, once again, being on time. The importance of being on time is so you will be early to where ever you need to be and accomplish whatever you need to do. If you are early you will always have time to make sure everything that you need to do is straight and there aren’t any errors in what you need to do. It is important to be on time for work because it shows that you are dedicated in the things that you do and it can help you in moving up in your field of expertise. It is important to be on time in the military because you will be at the right place at the right time, you will be accountable for and if anything was to happen no one can accuse you of anything because you were where you were suppose to be at the right time. Whenever you show up late to something it shows that you have no discipline or respect for anyone else because now everyone has to wait for you to arrive instead of starting on time or possibly earlier. It is important to be on time because it shows leadership, commitment, loyalty and that you are responsible enough to be trusted without supervision. It is very important to be on time because it is crucial to the mission, my leadership, and me as a Marine.

Green Innovation. Nokia Case

High-Tech marketing. Sustainable innovation- Nokia case study Introduction: The technology offers a promise of a better world through the improvements in standards of living. On the other hand, resource extraction, emissions of dangerous materials, and pollution of air, water, and soil have created conditions for environmental catastrophe and have already caused irreversible damage to the Earth.That is why in last few years, companies started focusing on an eco-innovation. Eco-innovation is the development of products and processes that contribute to  sustainable development, applying the commercial application of knowledge to elicit direct or indirect ecological improvements. This includes a range of related ideas, from  environmentally friendly  technological advances to socially acceptable innovative paths towards sustainability (http://en. ikipedia. org/wiki/Eco-innovation). Sustainability can be defined in a variety of ways. The short definition created in 1983 by a UN com mission is:   â€Å"Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs† (http://www. un. org/en/sustainability/index. shtml). The European Union adopted action plans to promote technologies that use less environmentally harmful alternatives.For example, the EU has passed laws requiring energy-using products, such as electrical and electronic devices and heating equipment, to be designed to be more energy-efficient (EPEAT). The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) imposes the responsibility for the disposal of waste electrical and electronic equipment on the manufacturers. The Energy using Products (EuP) Directive, sets requirements to reduce the environmental impact of products that use electricity across their entire lifecycle.REACH is a recent European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use through better and earlier identification of the intrinsic properties of chemical subst ances, especially those containing more than agreed-upon levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium (VI), polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants. Nokia Corporation is a  Finnish  multinational  communications and information technology corporation. Its principal products are  mobile telephones  and portable IT devices.It also offers Internet services including applications,  games, music,  media  and  messaging, and free-of-charge digital map information and  navigation  services through its wholly owned subsidiary  Navteq. Nokia has around 101,982 employees across 120 countries, sales in more than 150 countries and annual revenues of around â‚ ¬30 billion. It is the  world's second-largest mobile phone maker  by 2012 unit sales with a global  market share  of 22. 5% in the first quarter of that year. Nokia was the world's largest vendor of mobile phones from 1998 to 2012.However, over the past five years it has suffered a declining market share as a result of the growing use of smartphones from other vendors, and devices running on Android  operating system. As a result, its share price has fallen from a high of US$40 in late 2007 to under US$2 in mid-2012. Since February 2011, Nokia has had a strategic partnership with  Microsoft, as part of which all Nokia smartphones will incorporate Microsoft's  Windows Phone  operating system. Its first handsets were released in October that year (http://en. ikipedia. org/wiki/Nokia). Purpose and Mission Nokia’s mission is simple: Connecting People. The goal of Nokia company is to create mobile products that allow people worldwide to enjoy the technology. The key elements of Nokia strategy are: * building a new winning  mobile ecosystem in partnership with Microsoft * bringing the next billion online in developing growth markets * investing in next-generation disruptive technologies * increasing our focus on speed, result s and accountability (http://www. okia. com/global/about-nokia/about-us/about-us/) Nokia follows the concept of the open innovation which lead to forming a strategic partnership with Microsoft that will regain lost place in a smartphone market. Open innovation encourages Nokia-Microsoft cooperation to search and exchange new knowledge, develop products and services to become competitive in the market. I believe open innovation will benefit Nokia and its consumers as it will enhance relationship between producer and users.Although, Nokia is not an energy intensive company because most of the greenhouse gas emissions occur only during manufacturing by suppliers or usage of products, Nokia pays attention to the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of its products and operations. The main of Nokia should focus on reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions as well as raising awareness and promoting best sustainable practices in mobile phone industry. In accordanc e to the terms of REACH, Nokia has pledged that the use of chemicals in Nokia products and processes shall be safe to humans and the environment.Furthermore, Nokia is the first company that created climate strategy that concentrates on products, manufacturing, facilities, logistics, suppliers   and customers. So far, the greenhouse gas footprint of Nokia phones has been reduced by up to 50% between 2000 and 2010, while introducing new features and capabilities. In my opinion, Nokia should focus more attention on its customers in encouraging and educating them through use of the products to be more eco-friendly. For example, develop travel applications that help people in reaching destinations quicker and application that encourage people to choose public transport instead of cars.The most useful application would be one that shows the nearest bus stops, train or metro stations, the routs, destinations and the time of arrival/departure. Furthermore, Nokia products should have energ y saving options available in every smartphone model, like switching off online functions (WIFI, internet, GPS etc) when they are not in use for some period of time. Sustainable mobile products Nokia products are eco-friendly as the company uses sustainable materials, develops smaller, recyclable packaging and improves energy efficiency for products.Every Nokia product comes with an eco profile, which explains its materials, energy efficiency, packaging, environmental impact and recycling. Picture 1. Ingredients of Nokia smartphones Adopted from: www. nokia. com/global/about-nokia/people-and-planet/sustainable-devices/materials/materials/ New Nokia products are eco-innovations and have environmental features. For example: Nokia Lumia 820 -automatic screen brightness adjustment, -battery saver feature, -energy efficient charger -contains bio plastics ; recycled metals 100% recoverable as materials and energy -100 % recyclable, minimized package made of -renewable -materials containin g up to 60% recycled materials. Nokia 700 -Power Save mode, -ambient light sensor, -unplug charger reminder, -OLED display, -contains recycled metals, bioplastics, bio paints and recycled plastics -100% recyclable packaging (http://www. nokia. com/global/about-nokia/people-and-planet/sustainable-devices/sustainable-devices/) In my opinion, Nokia should also focus on process of recycling the old phones.For example, when customers want to buy a new Nokia phone, the company should proceed according to The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) that imposes the responsibility for the disposal of electrical equipment on the manufacturers. The best solution would be buying an old phone off customers for a small price and recycle some parts of the phone to recover the materials which can be used for producing new models. The Research ; Development department should also focus on innovation regarding the new energy sources, for example, solar power.To my surprise I learn t that Nokia already has been testing the Portable Solar Charger as a charging opportunities for people that want to use Nokia smartphones but do not have access to the electricity. Furthermore, in 2006 Nokia introduced small packaging which is easier to recycle. Lighter packaging also reduced transportation costs. In my opinion, Nokia should still work on reducing the use of paper and plastic in the packaging. Some of the packages still have paper information, certificates and instructions which are unnecessary. In my opinion, these ocuments together with the user’s guide should not be included in a package, but available online for all customers. Promotion Nokia promotes its products as eco-friendly in the mobile phone market. The company also raises awareness about environmental issues, education. The perfect way of promoting the company with sustainable values in the world is to improve access to information and communication technologies (ICT) in developing countries. Th is would bring benefits to people who are unable to access these technologies for financial or geographical reasons.The company should offer affordable mobile products and services to help people develop business and employment opportunities all over the world. Nokia has already done it, as it collaborates with UNESCO’s Education for All and uses the mobile technology to develop mobile educational products such as Nokia Education Delivery, Nokia Life and Nokia mobile mathematics. Nokia Education Delivery uses mobile technology to deliver quality education materials to remote, hard-to-reach areas so teachers and trainers can access and download videos and other educational resources.Furthermore, in 2008, Nokia launched a pilot scheme for mobile mathematics in South Africa. Nokia Life education services provide health information and advice on pregnancy, parenting, diseases, fertilizers and pesticides, yield enhancement techniques, market prices, and weather (temperature, rainf all, wind conditions). In my opinion, Nokia company should also promote its sustainable values by taking part in worldwide voluntary actions that promote human rights by ethical labour, high quality of work environment, health and safety and equality. DistributionNokia provides guidance on what expect from suppliers. These requirements include environmental and social expectations, which are based on international standards such as ISO 14001, SA 8000, OHSAS18001, PCMM and ILO, and UN conventions. Thus, Nokia suppliers undergo a number of assessments designed to measure their environmental and social performance. In my opinion, Nokia should also ensure that company suppliers provide safe working conditions, use environmentally friendly manufacturing processes and contribute to reducing the environmental impact of our own operations.Nokia should pay attention to the energy and water consumption, waste generation and greenhouse gas emissions during manufacturing products as well as dis tributing the products to the consumers. If the suppliers do not follow sustainable guidance for companies, Nokia should help them achieve those goals by sharing knowledge and experiences with others. Nokia should also have an open communication system with suppliers, customers, and non-governmental organisations that promote sustainability. Development of the company:Reading the documentation of Nokia company it seems that it is a leader in green- innovation in the market of mobile phones. The company is aware of the impact on the environment and tries to minimize by following governmental laws and introducing own sustainable regulations. However, in my opinion Nokia has neglect the importance of promotion and communication with customers its environmental values. Therefore, I would like to propose my ideas for improving few sectors of the company which can make Nokia more competitive in the market and be recognised as eco-friendly among its customers. 1. Communication and promotio n:Nokia should focus its communication messages on showing that the whole company and its products are sustainable and have well-recognised eco-friendly approach among its customers by presenting posters in the Nokia shops or actively and publically supporting environmental organisations. The company should also encourage customers to become more eco-friendly in their everyday life through encouraging them to participate in happenings and day events. Nokia should communicate its green innovation messages more to the general public and potential customers using media like TV adverts and radio messages or internet actions.It would be good if the company took part or initiate some events and happenings which aim at environmental awareness. I also like the idea of Nokia’s mathematics in schools. This action should be continued and also should be better communicated to schools and parents. It would be a good idea if Nokia would open a charity which helps children from developing c ountries in schools or establish academic grants for children from underprivileged families who have mathematical skills. Furthermore, Nokia should also create a school program for ecology and sustainability in primary and secondary schools.In my opinion, it would be a good idea if Nokia would provide bins in schools for recycling batteries or other small electronic appliances. 2. Pricing: To be more competitive in the fast growing market of smartphones Nokia should keep their prices low and affordable for everyone with keeping the high quality standard of the products. Nokia already has lowered the cost of packaging and transport of products by reducing size and use of paper, this should have a reflection in the phone prices as well. In my opinion, Nokia should make a packages even smaller without unnecessary use of plastic covers and paper in them.All the information about the phone should be available on a website after registering or entering the serial codes together with users ’ guide. Furthermore, to appear more ecological friendly Nokia should buy off the customers the old phones which can be recycled by the company again. This way customers feel like being a Nokia’s customer is profitable, taking care of environment as well. Customers receive a high standard product for a good price and in addition they are also paid for returning the old phone. 3. Research and Development:Nokia research and develop team focus on solutions that enhance the energy efficiency in the products. To more competitive in the market Nokia should invest more money in the R;D department and work on new technologies which will use renewable energy. Research and Development is a vital part of every high-tech company and to be successful in innovations Nokia has to recruits the employers through different channels. In my opinion Nokia should offer studentships and grants for postgraduate IT, engineering students who will work on Nokia products and develop them.Nokia al so should offer many apprenticeships for students and graduates who will bring different approach to innovations and help develop products. This will help the company to improve or create new products as well as encourage creativity of employers. Furthermore, Nokia should be more open to communication with its customers and employ them in the open innovation process as well. For example, Nokia should organise contests for its users which encourages creativity: design a smartphone of the future. People could design their own phones using online Nokia application and for the best

The Renaissance and Moliere

The French word â€Å"renaissance† is equivalent to â€Å"rebirth† in English. The time period named for this term was indeed a rebirth of the creativity and human spirit lost with the classical age. Most importantly, the Renaissance was a revival of an interest to learn. In many ways, it is the opposite of the preceding Middle Ages. Their world revolved around the Roman Catholic Church; belief in god dictated every aspect of life. On the contrary, the Renaissance was secular and emphasized the predominance of individuality and human values, known as humanism.However GUID or dark the Middle Ages may seem, they were essential for setting the stage for the Renaissance. In 1095, Pope Urban II launched what he called a â€Å"holy war. † This war, issued to regain control of the Holy Land from the Muslims, occurred from 1095 to 1099 and became known as the First Crusade. The Second Crusade began in 1144 with hopes of recapturing the City of Odessa, and it ended in 11 49 without having accomplished what it was intended for. The third and final crusade (1189-1192) was organized to take Jerusalem back from the Muslim leader, Salad, also failing to accomplish its original goal.However, there is a reason the Crusades are recognized as â€Å"history most successful failure – † The impacts of these religious wars were as influential as it gets. Women had opportunities to manage affairs with the men away at war. The ships that transported crusaders were used by merchants to bring back goods such as tea, coffee, sugar, spices, crops, and silk. Europeans saw these as exotic, which stimulated an interest in trade, especially between Europe and Southwest Asia. This increased trade was one of the most prominent attributes of the High Middle Ages.It was also vital for paving the way for the Renaissance. With expanding trade came prosperity for Europe, specifically Italy, along with new trading cities. The fast growth of such business is labeled as the Commercial Revolution. The revolution enabled European towns to grow, and guilds (worker unions) to develop. When serfs recognized opportunity in trade, they abandoned their lords, and a middle class developed. Together, these factors broke down Feudalism The surge of trade and commerce in the High Middle Ages led to a widespread increase in knowledge.Literature became more accessible, and was written in vernacular – native language, as opposed to Latin. This made it so that a wider variety of people could become literate. Before, only the wealthy could read and write. Universities were established, and the curriculum covered arithmetic, grammar, music, and drama. The High Middle Ages was the peak of the Medieval Era. However, the late Middle Ages seemed to be comprised of disaster and turmoil. Pope Boniface VIII and King Phillip IV of France collided, leading to the Great Schism.By the time this split in the church ceased with the election of Martin V in 1417, the pap acy had already been greatly weakened. The bubonic plague hit Europe hard, leading to the death of 25 lion of its people. The prayers of the Church failed to stop the plague, which further lowered its prestige. The Black Death ripped apart the fabric of society. However grim the Plague was, it certainly lent itself to the development of the Renaissance. The late Middle Ages were a terrifying time to be alive, and the survivors wanted to celebrate human spirit and individuality.This newfound outlook on life led to a surge in the arts that lasted from about 1300 to 1600 – the Renaissance. The people of Italy originally hoped to reawaken the culture of Classical Rome and Greece, however in the process they discovered new styles of art and iterate, along with new values such as humanism. This time period originated in Italy due to its prosperous cities and merchant class, but soon the rest of Europe was under its influence. Merchants saw the best opportunities lay in the field of the arts, and they soon flourished. The arts also became less secular, drama in particular.Religious plays saw their demise when interludes led to the rebirth of theater. Moldier dean Baptists Opaquely) was a French playwright, actor, and director. Born on January 15 1622, he dedicated himself entirely to the theater until his tragic death in 1673. He composed 12 of the most lasting comedies in history, and rose to fame with the publication of his first play, The Precious Maidens Ridiculed (1659). He was known as the most popular comic playwright of his time. His comedy was secular, and the clergy even believed that some of his plays were intended as attacks at the church.They went so far as to ban one of his works. The last of his pieces was The Imaginary Invalid (1673), which he wrote while ill from a lung condition. After the fourth performance of this play, Moldier collapsed on stage, coughing up blood, while playing the lead role, Organ, and died later that day. As in much of Molder's work, The Imaginary Invalid (Lee Malady imaginary) showcases a good amount of Comedic delegate themes and techniques, such as stock characters – the three most pronounced of these figures were the servant, master, and inamorata (lovers).The play is a satire of the medical field, as the lead, Organ, is a classic hypochondriac. His daughter Angelical is an Inamorata (a lover), her partner being the man she wishes to marry. Organ has plans for her to marry a doctor, seeing as he's â€Å"ill† and a doctor in the family would benefit himself. Their maid Continent is the equivalent of a Comedic servant. The Imaginary Invalid showcases certain ideals of the Renaissance, such as the importance of each individual, and that the greatest part of being human is the humans free will to choose.Angelical comes to her father expecting to have his blessing in her marrying the man of her dreams. Organ seems to be more than willing to consent, even satisfied with what he has hea rd of the man, until they gather that they are not talking about the same person. Before the Renaissance, there was no compromise – the only word that mattered was the father's. The plays controversial comedy also reflected values of the Renaissance. It as a source of entertainment produced for people's enjoyment regardless of the Church's disapproval.While contrasting to the celebrated Renaissance, the Middle Ages were essential for setting the stage for the remarkable era. The Renaissance remains an impressive time period, considering the immense growth of human knowledge and achievements. The arts held a position of utmost importance, and they allowed people to express themselves in many ways. This feeds directly into the number one new value of the time: humanism. Without the arts, there would have been no Renaissance, and in turn, life today would be strikingly different. Works Cited Beck, Roger B.

The Soft-Beverage Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Soft-Beverage Industry - Essay Example From this essay it is clear that  soft drink industries as have been noted are those firms that develop, manufacture, and market the carbonated and non-carbonated beverages. The main industries in the current market are the Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo (Hooley and Saunders. These two occupies the largest share of the market then they are followed by Dr. Pepper, who holds a moderate amount of market share.   These companies operate on a global scale and have markets in more than 200 countries globally. The soft-beverage has a very wide scope of operation and in the United States; the industry generates revenue amounting to approximately $28 billion annually according to the report by IBIS World.This study discusses that  despite the continued success in the soft drink industries, the companies is also being faced with challenges that have led to a heavy decline in their sales, especially among the United States consumers. It is noted that the volumes of soft drinks being sold i n the United States markets have been on the decline since 1998 due to the fall in its consumption in the country. The fall has been from its peak in 1998 at 864 eight-ounce servings to 675 servings in the year 2013, and this represented a general drop in the sales volume of about 22%. Crowther notes that the huge drop has been attributed by the sudden change in the consumer tastes and preferences in the country.  

Employee Compensation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Employee Compensation - Essay Example Employee motivation has been found to be closely related to compensation, work environment, and has significant influence on company productivity. People could not be forced to work and any coercion can only lead to conflict. Thus to improve company performance, employees will have to be adequately motivated and in this context we can discuss Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory or Mc Clelland's theory of achievement motivation. An understanding of the motivational dynamics is important for improved company performance although employee compensation seems to play a significant role within the environment and performance criteria. It would be interesting to discuss to what extent employee motivation could be increased or decreased with added compensation and how incentives, bonuses or pay levels could affect the motivational processes at the workplace. Job performance is see as a function of ability and motivation and some of the factors that have been identified as important in the motivational process include one's own advancement in the field and in the job, type of work done and enjoyed by the employees that relate to job satisfaction as well as the company reputation or position of the company that could motivate individuals to keep up the competitive edge. Building up a sense of morale and corporate social responsibility lies at the bottom of increasing employee motivation although the direct factors that seem to affect motivation are in fact largely related to pay benefits and compensation in the form of recognition and material incentives. Company performance is in fact related to how much the employe es are compensated and paid for their efforts and this is also largely related to the extent of motivational factors that work in favor of the employees or the company. Tuzovic and Bruhn (2005) argued that compensation systems are an important tool in fulfilling corporate goals as these systems help to link customer orientation with individual and organizational performance. There are some studies that prove the positive effects of using non financial compensation measures although linking pay to customer satisfaction may not always be the correct approach according to Tuzovic and Bruhn. Customer satisfaction could be related to customer retention and profitability of the company although the role of reward and compensation has to be identified in a positive way and for this the authors identify the necessity of a holistic reward and performance measurement model that could enable an organization to study the cause effect relationships that could link the rewards given to employees to the non financial performance measures. Tuzovic and Bruhn (2005) provide a framework for a reward system that could allow organizations to understand how a reward stra tegy could be derived. An integrated and multi-dimensional methodology for performance evaluation has been proposed. Although here the focus is on integration of customer orientation, employee compensation and performance management within the

Freedom of the Seas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Freedom of the Seas - Essay Example Historically, it has been one of the chief means by which the United States has influenced international affairs; the vigorous assertion of the principle of freedom of the seas has been a major cause of four armed conflicts: the Quasi-War with France in 1798, the Barbary Wars, the War of 1812, and World War I. First established by the Romans, it was challenged in the sixteenth century to secure trade and by a Papal Bull that sought to divide the oceans between Portugal and Spain. During the eighteenth century, the principle again became widely accepted when the definition of territorial waters was extended to include a three-mile zone. While the United States strongly took the position that neutral ships should be allowed to carry goods for belligerents in times of war, other nations enforced rules of contraband (mostly defined as military stores) and blockade. This became an important issue during the wars after the French Revolution when Great Britain and France imposed maritime blockades. To force these nations to change their policies (and also to end British impressment on American ships), the United States passed the Embargo Act (1807) and the Nonintercourse Act (1809). After France declared it would lift its blockade, and when Great Britain did not follow suit within a three-month period as demanded by President James Madison, the United States declared war on Great Britain in June 1812. The United States accepted the concepts of contraband and blockade as legitimate during the Civil War but shied away from capturing Confederate diplomats off of neutral vessels during the Trent Affair. As long as the United States was a neutral during World War I and World War II, it protested the extensive blockades against Germany and very liberal British definitions of contraband. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, nonetheless, established "maritime control areas" at the beginning of World War II that extended into the high seas. In both wars, activities of German U-boats against neutrals provoked sharp American protest: by President Woodrow Wilson after the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, and by Roosevelt in September 1941 after the torpedoing of American ships. The first major challenge to the freedom of the seas principle after World War II was President Harry S. Truman's 1945 announcement extending U.S. jurisdiction to natural resources on the continental shelf. Other nations followed by extending their territorial waters, some of them as far as 200 nautical miles. A 300-mile maritime defense zone around the American continents, established by the Rio Pact of 1947, was cited by the John F. Kennedy administration to legitimize the "naval quarantine" during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea agreed upon a 12-mile territorial limit and a 200-mile exclusive economic zone in December 1982. In 1982 a comprehensive United Nations Law of the Sea Treaty agreement was reached that established the twelve-mile limit for territorial waters and the two-hundred-mile "exclusive economic zone" that the United States had pushed for. The historic pact deemed the world's oceans the "common heritage of mankind" and

BP Portfolio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

BP Portfolio - Essay Example In the next section, the study will shed light on issues regarding types of people that are important for the organization, problems being faced by employees in British Petroleum (BP) while negotiating with other people, evaluating impact of mentioned conflict on organizational success and recommendations for addressing people driven conflict situation in BP. According to Huczynski and Buchanan (2010) and Fuller and Marler (2009), organizational effectiveness depends heavily on its ability to manage performance, work attitude and personal attributes of employees. Fuller and Marler (2009) argued that neither do people in the organization perform equally well nor are they considered as equally important, due to difference in skill and competency level. Mullins and Christy (2013) also supported the fact that personality and work attitude of individuals need to match with performance expectation and vision statement of the organization in order to classify those individuals as important. ... According to Schuster’s (2012) report [Helmut Schuster is Group HR Director in BP], human resource department of BP follows five step model to select human capital who can give important and valuable contribution to business success of the company. These five steps can be defined as, 1- attracting best global talent through stringent qualification criteria, 2- providing training and developing skill competency among recruits, 3- deploying diverse succession planning to ensure steady supply of talent pool, 4- managing the motivation of individuals through transparent performance based reward system and 5- engaging employees in knowledge sharing and inclusive organizational culture in order to enhance their contribution level. BP wants certain skill set from the hired such as, strong academic background, ability to grasp technical and cross-functional knowledge effectively, ability to make decisions in contingent and critical situation, coordinating and communicating with other members while working in team and ability to deliver performance in a consistent manner (Schuster, 2012). As per the talent requirements of BP, three types of people may be most effective for the organisation. Type 1- this set of people can be classified as aspirer or individuals, who join BP for achieving materialistic objectives (British Petroleum, 2012). These set of people are ready to follow business objectives and performance of codes of British Petroleum, in non-hesitant manner, for achieving high career growth. As motivation of these employees is driven by financial outcome and career growth, hence it becomes difficult for British Petroleum to retain engagement level of these people in sustainable manner. Type 2- this set of

Causes and Effects of Advertisement for Blood Donations Essay

Causes and Effects of Advertisement for Blood Donations - Essay Example The advertisement like distributing leaflets and posters or involving charismatic personalities in these campaigns is required to invite and encourage people for saving the life. It is also necessary for raising awareness of the side effects of transfusion of blood while using unhealthy methods. The Advertisement for Blood Donations have the very positive effect on the economy and also on the lives of people in the society. Generating the sense of satisfaction: Advertisement on Print and Electronic media is important for generating the sense of satisfaction in people when they are going to donate their blood, encouraging them in that their donated blood is most important for those who are in a critical condition. It can be done through awareness brochures, posters and arranging camps at colleges and universities for the donation of blood. Music concerts and fashion shows help in the collection of blood. Creation of the environment for the donation of blood: Advertisement can create the environment in the country for the encouragement of blood donation. Voluntary or unpaid blood donators can be facilitated by giving them one day rest for the recovery. In practice, creating the similar environment in the country can be achieved through government intervention and support for advertisements for the donation of blood. In Slovenia, an employee may be absent from work on the day of donation. Similarly, in Malta, employers are encouraged to allow their staff the required time off to donate blood (Commission on the European Communities, 2006). In the instance, the donation is paid, then the donator is compensated. Refreshments for the donators: In order to foster this culture for the donation of blood, it is important that large businesses should invest their resources under corporate social responsibility. For instance, organizations can provide incentives and healthy alternatives to donators in order to attract them, thus, encouraging them to contribute to this major cause.  Ã‚  

The primary purpose of NQT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The primary purpose of NQT - Essay Example As per govt. regulation in UK the teachers undergoing this induction period have some protections and have some relaxations such as curriculum coordination and are not have to provide the exceptional on job behaviour. A relaxation of around 10% is available for grooming the professional skills. But on the other side there are some strict rules for the candidates who fail to go through as they can never have permission to teach again in the state owned school. I have start my career as a gardener and has to maintain the grounds, football pitches, threes, and flower beds in the school, there I got the opportunity to taught as a part time teacher. The department of design and technology offered me a full time job after some time. There I have show my commitment and adopt this as a career, although my previous experience is in different fields which can be observed from my resume. This is applicable on my previous experiences and knowledge, I have been got in previous worked areas, may have an inherent value that could maximize an existing experience or future endeavour. Possibly, Hillier is also telling that we have to revisit our prior experiences/knowledge to exemplify we have started our journey by taking the first important step. 'Maximizing an experience' is, therefore, a progressive and reflective task that can be used to plan further development. I've got an advice form a young teacher form her observation during my NQT year. 'I feel that you are using all your experience in your present job and I'm sure that this benefits your students enormously'. This prompted a journal entry reflecting on prior experiences: 'just the start I didn't need, Maybe I'm not starting from zero after all, but it certainly feels like it today. I am, however, going to have to prioritize my time; all those other jobs and interests are going to have to wait. It might help if I knew what I know, perhaps I am maximizing my own experience and not that of my learners, perhaps now I need to think more of my learners experiences and not my own'. (Extract from Personal Journal entry; September 30, 2008) Empirical research observing the impact of in induction year showed the huge success of the policy, and it is believed that this process as expedite the progress of new teachers and giving them the opportunity to gain the knowledge and helps to got the skills more quickly then before. The experience of NQT can be considered to be positive correlation among enjoyment of induction year and whether key elements of induction period. There is also a thought prevailing that NQTs are unhappy because they are not getting entitlement, however, the reason for this thought prevailing is the lack of proper guidance and support form mentors. It has been complained that induction tutor are not giving enough time and playing their effective role. In the NQT duration the participation of the candidate toward the pupils and the mentor is monitored and ranked. Candidate has to understand the requirement of the students to the best of his/her abilities according to the situation and have to find best possible solution in the

The effects of weather and terrain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The effects of weather and terrain - Essay Example The nature of a given terrain is likely to affect the visibility of certain areas. For instance, highly mountainous areas may not be easily to view. As a result, commanders may need to apply technology to enable viewing of such areas and make their operations possible. Similarly, some areas tend to have very tall trees and thick vegetations which are likely to hinder the visibility of a given region1. Due to the challenges presented by this type of topography the commanders should invest in technology that enables them to avoid such challenges, for instance, satellite. Invisible regions of electromagnetic continuum, magnetic forces as well as radiations affect the means of communication in the context of war. For instance mountainous areas may affect the issue of communication network. In such a case, military commanders are likely to face challenges when giving orders to their forces. As a result, the concept of airmobile has been introduced to overcome the challenge of such terrain s. The transportation of war materials and troops is highly affected by the topography of an area. For instance, areas surrounded by oceans, that is, islands will not favor on-ground transport such as trains. Similarly, landlocked regions do not allow movement of troops by the sea or ocean. Moreover, mountainous areas require physically fit soldiers who can operate in such areas. This is because; the challenge lies in transporting the soldiers up and down in such steep and varied terrains areas as suggested by Keating2. During the civil war, maps on the topography were regularly supplied in order to make operations of the war possible. This is because the presence of inaccurate maps would proof a challenge in planning and coordinating the operations of the war. However, knowledge of topography ensured the union blockade of ports, control of the Mississippi river and control of higher grounds.

The effectiveness of Facebook advertising in Hong Kong Research Proposal - 1

The effectiveness of Facebook advertising in Hong Kong - Research Proposal Example This essay "The effectiveness of Facebook advertising in Hong Kong" outlines whether social media marketing is really effective and it provides the required ROI in Hong Kong and explores the true customer perception and customer behaviour about Facebook advertising. Many marketers forget the difference between social media marketing and traditional means of marketing leading to massive failure of their social media campaign (Tuten, 2008). Usage of proper interestitials, and superstitials is a must while advertising in social media. Determining whether a pop-up which comes in front of the reading page or a pop-under which can be viewed after closing the page is to be designed will also make a significant impact on the campaign. Most users tend to simply close the pop-ups without having the patience to read them. But, if they see an interesting page after they have closed the page they were working on, they are tempted to spend a few more minutes viewing it. A major advantage in using Social media sites for advertising is that consumer-generated contents can also influence the sale of a product substantially. As we could see most of the graphical images and witty comments passed on the Facebook regarding the merits and de-merits of the products are created by consumers themselves. Social media transforms consumers into free advertisers for products. Usually huge companies in developing countries like South Africa spend much on advertising while small companies usually rely on the very creative and cost effective advertising methods.

Hopes and dreams of becoming the champions Essay Example for Free

Hopes and dreams of becoming the champions Essay Football is truly one of the most brutal and exciting games we have in the world today. But it is also a game that requires the discipline of a soldier in battle. And no one knows this better than John McMurty who has observed the same thing in his years of playing the game. But is this primeval reflection of society the same in all sports? Not quite. There are two things that football has in common with all other sports: (1) in order to win you have to beat the other team, and (2) to even qualify for a competition intense drills and discipline is required of every player. In this sense, all sports is a lighter version of militaries all over the world going to war with the only difference of not literally killing the other person, but instead, killing their hopes and dreams of becoming the champions. The primal urge to take it all can be seen even in a sport that is entirely in another spectrum altogether. The sport of bowling, as demure as it might seem is of the same caliber as football. While the players in bowling don’t exactly scream bloody murder at one another, nor do they manhandle one another, in another plane, competitors want to beat the hell out of their competitors by taking the title and transferring all that pent-up fury into the swing of their arms, knocking down pins. These pins could even represent opponents the players want to crush, though they are merely representations. And unlike football players who receive punishing injuries at almost every game, bowlers receive theirs occasionally especially if they don’t do their forms right or they don’t throw the ball the way their coaches have drilled into them. This just goes to show that all sports are a reflection of society’s hunger for taking it all and is the military’s baby sister in instilling discipline and in drilling.

An Introduction to Sweden

An Introduction to Sweden Sweden When people hear about Sweden, they think about IKEA. However, there is much history and depth behind the country besides a large home goods store chain. The relationship between the US and Sweden is close and mutual, as Sweden had settlers in the some the 13 colonies and was one of the very first countries to recognize that the US was becoming independent from England. Although many people compare the size of Sweden to the size of California, as they are roughly the same size, Sweden actually has the fourth largest land size and area in Europe. Many interesting features of Sweden are its physical features, agriculture, and its diverse cultural features. Sweden is officially called the Kingdom of Sweden, and is also sometimes called Mother Svea by its inhabitants. Sweden is located on the European continent, and is one of the northernmost countries, bordering Finland and Norway. Sweden is large, compared to countries in Europe, and has an area of 441,370 km ². California is roughly the same size as Sweden, although Sweden is 1.04 times bigger, as California has an area of 423,970 km ². Compared to the United States, Sweden is diminutive, as Sweden is 0.04 times bigger than the US. The US has an area of 9,833,000 km ², including Hawaii and Alaska. Although Sweden is a small country, it grows and produces many products. Sweden primarily grows crops such as oats, wheat, barley, rye, potatoes, root crops, vegetables, fruits, and sugar beets. This is vital to the country, as Sweden needs to have copious amounts of food to survive the long, sunless winter. Sweden has a diverse range of industries, but the main industries are telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, industrial machines, precision equipment, chemical goods, home goods and appliances, forestry, iron, and steel. Sweden remains an independant country, as everything they need is mainly produced in their country. Sweden has a stable economy, with one of the lowest poverty rates on the European continent at 3.7%, compared to Spain, having one of the highest rates at 9.8%. The main exports of Sweden are the products of their industries, and they import many items, such as petroleum, cars, vehicle parts, and computers, all products that are difficult to make in their countries. Even though Sweden seems like a great place to live in, the relatively co ld climate may influence your opinion. Sweden has a mild climate compared to its neighboring countries, having an average summer temperature of about 55.4-62.6à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã¢â‚¬ °, although it has had a high of 68à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã¢â‚¬ ° recorded. In the winter, much of Sweden is dark, as the sun only stays for a few hours before it becomes dark. Because of this, Sweden has temperatures of below 32à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã¢â‚¬ °, and has reached an all-time low of -7.6à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã¢â‚¬ °. Heavy amounts of snow shower Swedens landscape from December to April, and icebreakers ships have to break up all of the ice in order to keep the major ports open in visitors and cargo.   Although Sweden is mild in terms of temperature to its brethren, it has a vast amount of different landforms than its neighbors. Swedens landforms vary drastically from the north to the south. In the north, tall mountains and dense forests dominate much of the landscape, making the area almost inhospitable. In central and southern Sweden, up to 100,000 lakes have been documented, with some of the largest ones connected by canals, with lower mountain ranges scattered across the landscape. The diverse amount of landforms means that Sweden has copious amounts of natural resources, such as iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver, tungsten, uranium, arsenic, and feldspar, as well as large freshwater lakes and forests. This helps Sweden produce many of its products that it exports, allowing for the government and country to benefit from their surroundings. The distinct landscape and natural resources means that Sweden has developed an interesting culture. Sweden has its own language, Swedish, but also has 5 other official languages, which include Finnish, Yiddish, Sami, Meà ¤nkieli and Romani. Along with their many official languages, they celebrate many holidays, which range from New Years, Epiphany, Good Friday, Easter Day and Easter Monday, May First, Ascension Day, Whit Sunday, National Day, Midsummer Day, All Saints Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. There are many more holidays that Sweden celebrates, but the holidays listed above are the most important cultural holidays. Education is very important to the Swedes, as you are required to attend at least nine years of school after children turn the age of seven.   There are many recreational activities to do in the countryside, such as skiing, hunting, and horse riding. Swedens history shaped the foods that the Swedish traditionally eat. Traditional foods include meatballs, black pudding, pink cured salmon, pickled herring, and crispbread. A common condiment is lingonberry jam, and accompanies many foods and snacks. Many sandwiches are made with only one slice of bread, from the Medieval tradition of using bread as a plate; Ever since World War II, Swedes grew up eating pea soup and pancakes. Sweden loves pastries, as they have a whole day dedicated to cinnamon bun, appropriately called Cinnamon Bun Day, as well as other pastries, such as their famous princess cake. Princess cake is not only for the royal family, as people can eat it whenever they want. Besides pastries, Sweden also loves seafood, regularly consuming crayfish and fermented sour herring. Many of these interesting foods and dishes help make Sweden unique, along with it being one of the last countries that still has a monarch, although the king doesnt have a lot of power over the country, and is mainly just there as a symbol of the days of old, when Sweden was ruled by kings and queens. As you have read, Sweden is a country with a deep and rich history, originating from the early Bronze, spanning over 3,000 years, from 1000 A.D, where Sweden was unified, until the 21st century. Sweden has many physical features and culture that is not present in the US, and may seem strange to us. For example, Sweden speaks six official languages: Swedish, Finnish, Yiddish, Sami, Meà ¤nkieli and Romani. The illustrious tale of the history of Sweden can make you look at the country differently, instead of thinking of them as the founder of a furniture store.

Airline Reservation System Ars Software Requirements Specifications Computer Science Essay

Airline Reservation System Ars Software Requirements Specifications Computer Science Essay Airline reservations system (ARS) is a online software application used to reserve and retrieve information and perform transactions related to air travel. Originally designed and performed by airlines, ARSes were later developed for the use of travel agencies. Major ARS operations that book and sell tickets for multiple airlines are known as Global distribution systems (GDS). Airlines have divested most of their direct holdings to dedicated GDS companies, who make their systems accessible to consumers through Internet gateways. Modern GDSes are providing the services like booking hotel rooms and rental cars as well as airline tickets. They also provide access to railway reservations in some markets although these are not always integrated with the main system. REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENT First we are developing a Software Requirements Specification (SRS) document that specifies what an airline reservation system should and should not do. The SRS document is divided into five sections namely System Objectives Mainly we discuss the goals and objectives of the system categorized based on the viewpoint of the airline company and the customer. They help in a top-down development of the SRS. System Context This section clearly depicts the environment and boundaries of the ARS and the entities with which it interacts. It helps us see how the system fits into the existing scheme of things. What the system will do by itself and what it expects other entities to do is clearly delineated. Functional Requirements These requirements states the functions of the system what it should do and what it should not. This will includes the most common requirements of the customer in addition to some additional features. like reserving tickets, rescheduling tickets etc. Freedom from ambiguity and navigability were kept in mind while documentation. A consistent terminology has been followed throughout and the terms are explained in the appendix. The subsections follow a logical sequence that reflects the real world. For example, a customer cannot reschedule a ticket unless he has bought one earlier and cannot buy one unless he has checked its availability. Non-functional Requirements These are quality requirements that stipulate the performance levels required of the system for various kinds of activities. Numerical lower and upper limits set conditions on the response times, access times etc of the system. Sometimes, tradeoffs are necessary among various non-functional requirements. Future Requirements As technology improving day to day,users needs are also increasing.so we have to update our applications time to time in order to satisfy the customers.These are the specifications which are not provided for now in the current version of ARS but which could be incorporated into future versions. Some of these need advanced technologies and interfaces with other systems. The ARS could be designed in future to enhance the existing capabilities or add entirely new ones. The assumptions and limitations of the ARS have been interspersed in the SRS to present the same in their proper context. REQUIREMENTS ANALYSIS DOCUMENT 1. System Objectives 1.1 The Airline Reservation System (ARS) is a software application to assist an airline with transactions related to making ticket reservations, which includes blocking, reserving, canceling and rescheduling tickets. 1.2 From the viewpoint of the airline 1.2.1 Minimize repetitive work done by the system administrator and reservation clerks. 1.2.2 Maintain consistency among different access modes, e.g. by phone, by web, at the information desk and across different physical locations. The users should be basically taken through the same steps by the system as they go through in conventional desk-reservation systems. 1.2.3 Maintain customer information in case of emergency, e.g. flight cancellation due to inclement weather. The profile can also be used by the airline company to track user preferences and travel patterns to serve them better, plan routes, for better marketing and efficient scheduling of flights. 1.2.4 Maximize the revenue of the airline company by various means: 1.2.4.1 Increase awareness among frequent travelers about various special offers and discounts. 1.2.4.2 Minimize the number of vacant seats on a flight and maximize flight capacity utilization. 1.2.4.3 Maintain the capability to adopt a flexible pricing policy. The price of the tickets should be dynamically determined based on how early, before the date of departure, the customer buys the ticket. 1.3 A survey conducted by airline companies shows that users of an existing reservation system would respond favorably to an ARS that satisfied or helped them satisfy the following objectives: 1.3.1 Reduce effort and frustration for travelers in scheduling a trip, especially by reducing the search effort for the flight they need to take. 1.3.2 Show all possible combinations and itineraries available for a pair of origin-destination cities. 1.3.3 Reduce redundancy in the information required from the customers in order for them to buy tickets, create user accounts etc. 1.3.4 Check the validity of input data and give a feedback to the user in case of errors or inconsistency. 1.3.5 Provide flexible access modes to users internet, telephone, PDA. 1.3.6 Protect customers privacy concerns. 1.3.7 Make it easy for travelers to check the ticket status or make changes to their trip. 2. System Context 2.1 The ARS will provide the following types of easy-to-use, interactive, and intuitive graphical and telephonic interfaces. 2.1.1 The ARS will provide an easy-to-use, intuitive Graphical User Interface (GUI) as part of the Clerk/Administrators working desktop environment. 2.1.2 The ARS will also provide an interactive GUI, on the World Wide Web for the general customers. The above two ARS interfaces shall help provide the following functionalities to the users access to the ARS to check the flight schedule, availability of seats, ticket price and to block, reserve, cancel, and reschedule tickets. The ARS will also provide an easy-to-use, simple telephonic user interface, which can be accessed by the customers through telephone or cell phone from anywhere. This interface shall provide access, only to the following functionalities, namely, check flight schedule and check ticket status including any change in the flight timings. The functionality available through this telephonic interface is limited because of security constraints. 2.2 The system and its environment and the interactions between them are depicted in the diagram below. DB-Reservations Flight Schedule Database Customer Via Web DB-User DB-Schedule I N T E R F A C E CW DB-Geography ARS software INTERFACE Cp Customer Via Phone INTERFACE A Administrator The closed boundary above clearly delineates the system and the environment. The diagram shows the interactions between the ARS software and the databases inside the system. There are three databases internal to the system and which the system maintains. DB-user is the database containing all the personal information of the registered users of the ARS. This can be updated by the user by logging in to the system. Information from this database is used during transactions like charging the credit card etc. DB-schedule is a copy of the flight schedule database. The latter exists independently and is updated by a flight scheduler system which is out of scope of the ARS. DB-schedule is updated with the latest status of the flight schedule database whenever there is any change in the latter. For example, if a flight has been added to the schedule between two cities on Tuesdays, DB-schedule gets updated with this change through a process with which we are not concerned. It is external to th e system and is out of the scope of this SRS. DB-schedule also contains the base prices of tickets for various flight numbers. DB-reservations are a database containing information regarding the number of seats available on each class on different flights. It has provision for marking how many of the reserved seats have been blocked but not yet bought. DB-reservations should update itself using DB-schedule, for example, if a new flight is added. DB-geography is a database, which contains information about the cities and towns serviced by the airline. The distance between all cities and towns is contained in a matrix form. There are three interfaces, one for the administrator, one for the customer via web and another for the customer via phone. The administrator can update DB-schedule with any changes in the base prices of flight tickets. The system uses a pricing algorithm and dynamically determines the actual price from this base price depending on the date of reservation vis-Ã  - vis date of departure. The customer interfaces (web and phone) enable multiple functions which are described in the following section section 3. 3. Functional Requirements User Accounts Registration and creation of user profile Checking Availability Making Reservations/Blocking/Confirmation Confirm Ticket Reschedule Ticket Cancellation Update Profile View Ticket Status Query Flight Details Telephone access User Accounts The passenger, who will henceforth be called the user, will be presented with 3 choices by the reservation system, as the first step in the interaction between them. A user can choose one of these and his choice would be governed by whether he is a guest or a registered user and whether he wants to check the availability of tickets or also block/buy them. The terms registered user and guest are described below. A user who has traveled by the airline earlier would have been given a user id and a password. He would have his personal information stored in the database referred earlier as DB-user. This personal information would be henceforth referred to as profile. Such a user with a profile in DB-user shall be called a registered user. A registered user will be able to check the availability of tickets as well as block/buy a ticket by logging into the system. A new user, on the other hand, would either have to register himself with the system by providing personal information or log into the system as a guest. In case of a, the new user becomes a registered user. In case of b, the new user would remain a guest. A guest can only check the availability of tickets and cannot block or buy tickets. But a registered user can also act as a guest if he only wants to check the availability of tickets. Availability of tickets always refers to viewing the flight schedule for given days, the price of tickets and any discount offers. The system shall present the user with an option to exit from the system at any time during the following processes. Registration and creation of user profile The system shall require a user to register, in order to carry out any transactions with it except for checking the availability of tickets. It will ask the user for the following information at the least a user id, a password, first name, last name, address, phone number, email address, sex, age, preferred credit card number. The system will automatically create a sky miles field and initialize it to zero in the users profile. Checking Availability After logging in a user (either a registered user or a guest), the system shall request him to enter the following details origin city and destination city. City is a generic term and refers to a city or town as the case may be. The origin and destination cities would be entered as text. The system shall now refer to the flight schedule database, referred to as DB-geography earlier, and check if there is any ambiguity with the names of the cities. In case there are more than two cities with same name as entered by the user, the system shall list all of them (with more qualifications) and ask the user to select one of them. In case, either the origin or destination cities are not listed in DB-geography as being directly serviced by the airline, the system shall suggest the nearest city to which service is available, including the distance of the destination city from this nearest city. After the origin and destination cities are ascertained, the system shall now access the flight schedule database, referred to as DB-schedule , and checks if there is a direct operational service between the two cities. If not, the system shall suggest possible routes and transfer points using a route selection algorithm. The user shall now be presented with a choice of either selecting one of the routes. In case he selects a route, the system shall fill in the intermediate stop over points and create a multiple trip itinerary for the user. The system shall now ask the user to enter the following details class, one-way or round trip, departure date and the number of adult passengers, children and senior citizens. Class refers to business class/first class/club class/smoking/non smoking. This choice shall be made by the user through a drop down menu indicating all the possible combinations of choices. One-way/round trip shall be either a drop down menu or a check box selection. Departure date refers to either a single date or a range of dates, entered through a calendar-like menu. This menu shall not show dates in the past or those dates that are too ahead in the future(as determined by the airline policy). In case, the trip is a round trip, the system shall also ask the user to enter the departure date on the return trip. Having taken all the above input from the user, the system checks for any false entries like the departure date on the return trip being earlier than the departure date on the onward trip. In case of incompatibility, the system shall display a suitable error message and prompt the user to enter the information correctly. Having taken all of the information ,the system shall now access the flight schedule database DB-schedule and queries it using the input provided by the user. The system queries the reservation database DB-reservations to check which of the flights on the schedule have seats available. The system displays the results in a suitable form (a tabular form) with the following information depicted for each flight number the flight number, departure time in origin city, arrival time in destination city, the duration of the flight (taking into account the possibility of a change of time zone) and the number of seats available on that flight. There can be several flights between two cities and all of them will be listed for the particular date that the user wants to depart from the Origin City. In case, the user has entered a range of dates, the system shall display all the flights for all those dates in the range. If the user has requested a round trip, the system shall display two tables one for the onward trip and one for the return trip. There will be a check box in front of each line in the table representing a flight with available seats. The user is now asked to check one of the boxes reflecting a choice of a flight number and time. In case of a round trip, the user is asked to check one box each in the two tables. The system shall now display the price of the ticket for the trip. This will be the sum of the prices for all the members of the travel party being represented by the user. The system shall also list any rules regarding the cancellation of tickets what percentage of the price will be refunded within what date ranges. This will be displayed as a table. Making Reservations/Blocking/Confirmation After having taken the user through the, Checking Availability, The system will now ask the user if he wishes to block/buy the ticket. If yes, and if the user has been a guest, he will have to first register and become a registered user and then log onto the system. If the user is already a registered user, and if he has logged on already, he can block/buy the ticket, but if he has been acting as a guest, he will have to log on. Having ensured that the user is logged on validly according the system compares the departure date with the system date. If the departure date falls within 2 weeks of the system date, the system informs the user that he has no option to block the ticket and asks him if he would like to buy it. If the difference between the departure date and system date is more than 2 weeks, the system asks the user if he would like to block or buy the ticket. The system informs the user that he can block the ticket at no cost now. It also informs him that if he chooses to block the ticket, he should make a final decision before 2 weeks of the departure date. The system shall send an email to the user, 3 weeks before the departure date as a reminder, in case he decides to block the ticket now. Having taken the input from the user, the system shall now proceed to update the reservation database DB-reservation. It will decrement the number of available seats on the particular flight for the particular class by the number of travelers being represented by the user. In case of a blocking, the system makes a note of it in the database to be used if the user doesnt turn up before 2 weeks of the departure date. It generates a blocking number and displays it for the user to note down. In case the user buys the ticket, the system accesses his profile and charges the price of the ticket to his credit card number. It simultaneously generates a confirmation number and displays it to the user for him to note down. The ticket has been reserved. It adds the mileage of the trip (accounting for the number of travelers) to the skymiles in his profile. Confirm Ticket A user who has earlier blocked a ticket after going through the previous steps required to either confirm the ticket before two weeks of the departure date or the ticket stands cancelled. To let the user confirm a ticket, the system shall first log him on and ask for his blocking number. Then it accesses DB-reservation and removes the check mark, which so far represented a blocked seat. The seat is now confirmed and reserved for the user. The system accesses DB-user and charges the price of the ticket to the credit card number of the user. It simultaneously generates a confirmation number and displays it for the user to note down. The ticket has been reserved. It adds the mileage of the trip (accounting for the number of travelers) to the skymiles in his profile. Reschedule Ticket The system shall present the user with an option to re-schedule his travel partys trip. In order to do this, the system first logs on the user and requests his confirmation number. It will not allow a user to reschedule a blocked ticket but only a confirmed ticket. Using this, it queries DB-reservation and presents the details of the trip to the user, including but not limited to origin city, destination city, date of departure and date of arrival (in case the trip is a round trip). The system shall now ask the user to select new dates from the calendar-menu. In case, there are no available tickets for the dates entered, it displays a suitable message informing him that rescheduling to that date is not possible. In case there are tickets available, the system asks the user to select the flight number for the trip (another for the return trip if the trip is a round trip) and proceeds to update the database. The system accesses DB-reservation and decrements the number of available seats on the flight(s) by the number of members in the users travel party. It then increments the entry for the previous flight by the same number to reflect an increase in the available seats on it as a result of the rescheduling. The system now checks if there is any difference in the prices of the tickets. If so, it accesses DB-user and charges or credits the credit card as the case may be. The system generates a new confirmation number and displays it to the user. Cancellation The system shall also give the user an option to cancel a confirmed ticket or a blocked ticket. The latter case is simpler and will be dealt with first the system shall first log on the user and request the blocking number. Then it accesses DB-reservation and updates it by incrementing the number of available seats by the number of people in the users travel party. In the former case, i.e., for a confirmed ticket, it asks for the confirmation number and accesses DB-reservation and presents the details of the trip. It then lists the applicable rules for cancellation of tickets and depending on the system date and the departure date, it displays the % of the amount that would be refunded if the user cancels the ticket. After the user cancels the ticket, the system generates a cancellation number and displays it for the user to note down. It accesses DB-reservation and updates it by incrementing the number of available seats on that flight by the number of travelers in the users party. It accesses DB-user and credits the refund amount to his credit card number. The system then deducts the mileage of the trip (taking into account the number of travelers in his party) from the sky miles in his profile. Update Profile The system shall enable the user to update his profile at any time. Changes can be made in fields including but not limited to address, phone number and preferred credit card number. View Ticket Status The system shall allow a user to view all information about his trip. After logging him on, it asks for his blocking number or his confirmation number. It accesses DB-reservation and retrieves the details of the trip and presents them to the user in a convenient format, including any last minute changes to the flight timings etc. Such changes will be highlighted. Query Flight Details The system shall allow any user (registered or non registered) to access the details about the arrival and departure times of a flight by requesting the user to input the flight number and date. The system accesses DB-schedule and presents the time of arrival and departure. Telephone access The system shall be accessible through a touch-tone telephone. The telephonic interface shall, at the least, provide the customer with the facility to check availability of tickets and query flight details. The system shall walk the customer exactly through steps 3.3 and 3.9 respectively but through a telephonic interface. Non-functional Requirements Performance Response time of the Airline Reservation System should be less than 2 second most of the time. Response time refers to the waiting time while the system accesses, queries and retrieves the information from the databases (DB-user, DB-schedule etc) (A local copy of flight schedule database is maintained as DB-schedule to reduce this access time) ARS shall be able to handle at least 1000 transactions/inquiries per second. ARS shall show no visible deterioration in response time as the number of users or flight schedule data increases Reliability ARS shall be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ARS shall always provide real time information about flight availability information. ARS shall be robust enough to have a high degree of fault tolerance. For example, if the user enters a negative number of passengers or a value too large, the system should not crash and shall identify the invalid input and produce a suitable error message. ARS shall be able to recover from hardware failures, power failures and other natural catastrophes and rollback the databases to their most recent valid state. Usability ARS shall provide a easy-to-use graphical interface similar to other existing reservation system so that the users do not have to learn a new style of interaction. The web interface should be intuitive and easily navigable Users should be able to understand the menu and options provided by ARS. Any notification or error messages generated by ARS shall be clear, succinct, polite and free of jargon. Integrity Only system administer has the right to change system parameters, such as pricing policy etc. The system should be secure and must use encryption to protect the databases. Users need to be authenticated before having access to any personal data. Interoperability ARS shall minimize the effort required to couple it to another system, such as flight schedule database system. Future Requirements Support for waiting list functionality ARS shall be made more flexible in ticket reservation handling, and shall accept waiting list for reservation.The waiting list handling capability of ARS shall be made more advanced, by enabling it to send requests to the Flight Scheduler to schedule extra flights, depending on the demand in a particular corridor, and providing the wait listed passengers with a new flight. The telephonic interface of the ARS shall be improved to support more functionality like allowing the customers to cancel a ticket etc., by incorporating security measures. ARS shall be made more dynamic and helpful to the users by enabling it to send instant messages to the passengers, of a cancelled or rescheduled flight, through email, phone, Fax etc., informing them about the change, and providing them with other feasible alternatives. Information about the kind of meals served in a flight and the type of entertainment offered on a flight should be incorporated into the system.Provide service integration with auto rental agencies and hotel chains. Interface for the travel agents shall be provided in the future versions with additional features like informing them of any availability of seats on a flight which was earlier booked to capacity. Choices like aisle or window seats shall be provided to the users. The ARS shall be able to handle the situation where flight services are available to multiple airports in a single city.

Europeans vs. Native Americans Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One huge shift in history happened around the late 1400’s when a slightly well known man by the name of Christopher Columbus came across what is now known as North America. Columbus actually thought he had found a new and shorter route to the West Indies. When this was announced, the news spread like wildfire and it was not soon after that, other countries began to send their own explorers. It was a bright and positive time when leaders wanted to claim new land for their country. But, what of the people that were already settled in America where Columbus had been so quick to claim for Spain? These people were the real settlers of America, the Native Americans as they would be called later on in history.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For a long time in America’s history and even up until I was in Elementary School, it was being taught that Christopher Columbus was in fact the discoverer of America. The truth, as we all know is that he could not have possibly discovered it when there was already people there! Instead, it is possible to say that he â€Å"laid claim† to it for Spain. There were many other famous explorers other than Columbus. Some of them include Lief Ericson who discovered Newfoundland, Amerigo Vespucci who discovered South America and the West Indies, Vasco de Balboa who discovered the Pacific Ocean, Hernando Cortez who discovered Mexico and consequently wiped out an entire civilization known as the Aztecs. Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo di...

Averting Problems in the New Millennium Essay -- Technology

Averting Problems in the New Millennium As we approach the end of this century, many people have raised concerns regarding the serious issues surrounding the Y2K problems. Although no one knows precisely what will happen on January 1, 2000, the general opinion is that Y2K related problems will cause failures of basic services including utilities, water and phone service. Contrary to popular opinion, I believe that the Y2K problems will have more of a positive effect on our society because it has caused us to analyze more carefully, the data and the technology we rely on in everyday situations. In addition, the new millennium will usher an era of tremendous opportunities for technological advancements in our society. In other words, the current preparations to avert a Y2K crisis, has given us an advantage which will minimize technological breakdowns in the future and create new technology which will ensure a relatively smooth transition into the new millennium. The main focus of our concerns regarding the Y2K crisis is the fact that we know precisely when it is scheduled to begin and "this appointment with destiny cannot be postponed or avoided" (Jeffrey 10). During the past eighteen months, we have been bombarded with extensive information in the media regarding the Y2K problem including predictions on how it will impact our society. This problem can be traced back to approximately forty years ago, when programmers in the fledging computer industry made a fateful decision to save memory and space by recording year dates with only two digits. Unfortunately, no one anticipated that these early computer programs and mainframes would still be using these systems in 1999. As a result, this technological glitch may cause compute... ...other utilities, hopefully for short periods and the worst case scenario, could be a few weeks. However, these incidents will not translate into doomsday proportions and will not mean the "end of the world" as we know it. There is less reason to panic over Y2K because unlike the many natural disasters that we experienced in the United States we were able to proactively address this crisis. I am certain that we will witness one of the best New Year's Eve celebration in this century as the Waterford crystal ball is expected to drop and glow " 2000" in brilliant lights and the city lights will stay on. Works Cited Gould, Stephen Jay. Questioniung the Millennium. New York: Harmony Books, 1999. Seymour, Jim PC Magazine. "The Year 2000 Countdown" New York: April 1999. Jeffrey, Grant R. The Millennium Meltdown. Toronto: Frontier Research Publication, Inc., 1998.

Being A Wise Consumer

Research reports provide additional insights to an already established knowledge. However, it is more important to critically analyze the components of the report in order to identify the degree of its credibility. The story in reference is Newsweek’s report titled ‘The Price of Pain’. Basically, the report provides an understanding of how back pain treatments are perceived today as to whether these procedures are actually effective.The increase of medical technology apparently has not alleviated the pains suffered by the patients both physically and financially (Springen, 2008).In terms of theoretical underpinnings, the report provided an elusive understanding that not all medical advancements are beneficial. Seemingly, the interviewed individuals in the article affirm that less complicated treatments are ideal for today’s younger generation of back pain sufferers. It is also a good notion to analyze the technical aspects of the article’s research p rocedures to critically understand the report. In the aspect of research design, the study proponent conducted an informal survey among health and insurance institutions which provided the year to date reports of back pain treatment cases.These reports also provided gross amounts of equivalent thousand dollars worth of back pain treatments. The main methodology of the article report was to integrate available publications such as those coming from Journal of the American Medical Association. This procedure also enabled the Newsweek report to do data collection procedures by retrieving numerical figures of medical service inflations and the percentage of adults which had back problems from 1997 to 2005. In any case, this type of data gathering is more ideal since it took the publication less time and effort to present credible results.In terms of analysis and the reporting of findings, the article didn’t’ actually provided additional insights apart from the delegated in fo retrieved from the third party agencies. Although the complete presentation of data related to the concern was provided, the report lacks the essence of inputting at least an unbiased opinion or secondary analysis method. As a way to improve the report, it is suggested that the article incorporates a structured analysis of the problem instead of just giving examples.Of course, it should not be too technical in presenting more logical reasoning since this type of media publication do not actually follow scholarly research. But adding some more factors to induce decisions for the readers would have been more appropriate. Apparently, the most evident errors the article committed are its redundant use of examples from outside resources, becoming subjective of what is expensive and what is not and the lack of segmented citations which made the article hover randomly from book authors to government institutions to school researches.Being able to critically analyze a public report can p rovide greater personal ability of decision making. This empowers the readers to take advantage of the available data which can be very useful for personalized decision making tasks. References Springen, K. 2008. The Price of Pain. Newsweek-Health. Retrieved February 13, 2008 from http://www. newsweek. com/id/110767/page/1.

Amazon SWOT Analysis of Inc

Amazon.com, Inc. or www.amazon.com has a mission statement to be the most customer-centric or customer-oriented retailer on this planet, where people can browse and buy anything they want to buy online with prices as low as possible on the market. (About Amazon) They are one of the world’s most important online retailers and providers of web service. (Amazon.com Inc.) They offer a large-scale of products such as clothing, merchandises for car and industrial uses, beauty and health products, books, games, electronic devices, grocery, food, jewelry, merchandises for kids and babies, movies, music, toys, sports goods, and etc. (Amazon.com Inc.)They also offer delivery and shipping, web hosting services and some other related services. (Amazon.com Inc.) They also make Kindle devices, and provide their products via company-owned online retailer websites. (Amazon.com Inc.) Not only they sell brand new unused merchandise, they also sell refurbished and second-hand used goods online. (About Amazon) Internal analysis – Strengths (their business model is their strength) In strategy, Amazon has improved the operations of their business by diversifying it from online bookstore to online merchandising with a wide variety of different kinds of products. (Amazon.com Inc.)Their dealing with costumers online without reseller model increased their inventory turnover with better returns. (Amazon.com Inc.) With their business models they also run warehouses that are not huge and large, but small and lean in many different places in the world. (Amazon.com Inc.) Their direct-to-customers with no resellers strategy makes it easier for them to handle their capital investments in their warehouses and lower possible inventory risks. (Amazon.com Inc.) By that strategy of dealing with customers directly also have increased the volume of their sales. (Amazon.com Inc.)Their business model offers everyday low prices for their products online. (Amazon.com Inc.) They have expande d their presence to many different countries globally by offering websites modified specifically according to different countries’ needs and wants like languages and taste with fulfillment networks. (Amazon.com Inc.) They learned and copied the most successful business  ventures from any other countries in the world internationally, and tested new features for their business strategy within the US market. (Amazon.com Inc.)Their product offerings are expanding by making agreements with third-party sellers around the world. Moreover, they let other retailers use their e-commerce online retailing platform technology for a price. (Amazon.com Inc.) They also offer bundle services to consumers for bringing in greater efficiency and lowering their prices in the market. (Amazon.com Inc.) And their bundled services later on diversified itself in the e-commerce markets to other platform services within the industry of cloud computing. (Amazon.com Inc.) Amazon has a broad product port folio allowing them to provide various products to serve a market of diversified customers. (Amazon.com Inc.)Customers of Amazon.com are offered a one-stop shopping experience to shop from clothing to smartphones to food. (Amazon.com Inc) Their efficient customer service and wide choice of goods and products putting their business focus on product selection, product prices, and the convenience to shop them. (Amazon.com Inc) Their product offerings include clothing, auto and industrial items, beauty and health products, books, computers, digital downloads, electronics, grocery, games, home goods, jewelry, kids and baby items, movies, music, office supplies, outdoor goods, shoes, sport goods, toys, and other kinds of tools. (Amazon.com Inc)Their strategy also emphasizes on selling their products at the lowest possible price by everyday low product pricing and free shipping such as the package Amazon Prime offering for free two-day-delivery on millions of items plus other features. (Am azon.com, Inc.) More and a greater number of customers shopping online are drawn to shop on Amazon.com because of Amazon’s broad and diverse product assortment with low prices. (Amazon.com, Inc.) And lately, Amazon just introduced their newly invented product, Kindle Fire, the most-advanced tablet providing a fully-integrated and end-to-end service for customers. (Amazon.com Inc.)They also started renting thousands of college textbooks to college students with a recently launched service called Amazon Textbook Rental. (Amazon.com Inc.) Amazon’s wide range of product offerings gives them a good chance of future financial growth. (Amazon.com Inc.) Amazon has adopted different technologies that make their website more customer-friendly. (Amazon.com Inc) With key features such as editorial and customer reviews written on their website,  manufacturer product information, gift guides, web pages customized to individual preferences like recommendations and notifications, 1- Click technology, secure payment systems, digital content and the Search Inside the Book technology. (Amazon.com Inc) And shoppers can track their orders on the website with â€Å"Your Account† features. (Amazon.com Inc)Amazon provides customer service all around the world easily with their customer service centers located on different parts in the world globally. (Amazon.com Inc) Moreover, their delivery is free with other options for shipping available worldwide around the globe. (Amazon.com Inc) With all those satisfactory shopping features available on their website, in return they have also gained high customer loyalty. (Amazon.com Inc) But they are still expanding not stopping with their customer serving coverage across the world, lately, they have just launched their Amazon Appstore in Western Europe including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain providing access to their wide range of various Android apps which give convenience to customers using Andro id phones and tablets to shop. (Amazon.com Inc)Debt, for the fiscal year 2012, Amazon recorded a total of $3,830 million in debt, and compare to their debt in the fiscal year 2011 that was an increase of 170% in one year! (Amazon.com Inc) Amazon’s total long-term debt was almost $3,084 million. (Amazon.com Inc) Their debt could make them less likely to borrow more money to finance their working capital, capital expenditure, or other kinds of investments, particularly if rating organizations downgraded Amazon’s debt securities’ ratings. (Amazon.com Inc)This weakness would be unfavorable for Amazon especially during tough times in the economy with unstable market conditions to respond to. (Amazon.com Inc) Another very obvious unfavorable effect that Amazon’s huge debt has on them is that they need to pay back what they owe in principal plus accumulated interest which is a substantial amount of their cash flow from their business operations, which then reduc ed the amount of funds available for them to expand their business via activities like acquisitions and create more product offerings and to spend on their marketing. (Amazon.com Inc) Legal proceedings, Amazon has many lawsuits filed against them both in actual terms and those haven’t yet but have the possibility to do  so. (Amazon.com Inc)And majority of those cases suing Amazon are concerned with the issues of patent violations, the relations between Amazon and their employees, contract issues, liability of products, environmental issues, antitrust issues, and other kinds of issues, etc. (Amazon.com Inc) The companies that filed and On-Demand Publishing LLC dba CreateSpace claiming that Amazon has infringed US patents in the number of 7,392,283 and patent number 7,174,362. (Amazon.com Inc) And another case filed against Amazon was in September 2012 by B.E. Technology, LLC claiming that Amazon Digital Services, Inc. has again infringed people’s US patents in the num ber of 6,771,290. (Amazon.com Inc)An Australian quasi-government entity, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, filed a lawsuit against Amazon for their infringement of US Patent number five-four-eight-seven-zero-six-nine. (Amazon.com Inc) Not only did Amazon face the lawsuits filed against them mentioned above, they have been also sued for patent infringement, violation of copyrights and etc. (Amazon.com Inc) Regardless if the companies filed lawsuits against Amazon won or lost, any legal proceeding could have a negative impact on Amazon’s cash flow and waste management’s time and effort. (Amazon.com Inc) External Analysis, uncontrollably good opportunities for Amazon Strategic acquisitions have continued to be considered as an important way by Amazon as a strategy for business growth. (Amazon.com Inc)Although merely viewed as supplements to their core business growth, acquisition is one way for them to expand their business including adopting n ew technologies of newly acquired companies, introducing new products, and expand their business reach in geography. (Amazon.com Inc) Examples such as their recent March 2013 acquisition of the company Goodreads a website providing customers a place for sharing books online. (Amazon.com Inc) Another example of their acquisition is with a company called IVONA Software in January this year 2013, which did text-to-speech technology. (Amazon.com Inc)And Amazon’s company which mainly works for their publishing, Amazon Publishing, bought another company, Avalon Book’s publication rights, of over three thousands backlist titles, and mostly in the romance, mystery and western book categories in the June of 2012. (Amazon.com Inc) And they have also made an agreement in March 2012 to acquire another company called Kiva Systems, Inc. or Kiva that focused on working with and inventing innovative technology forhandling material. (Amazon.com Inc)Amazon intended to raise the level of productivity via the acquisition of this innovative material handling company, making the employees able to pick, pack and stow their products in their fulfillment centers. (Amazon.com Inc) And this particular strategy is called â€Å"inorganic growth strategy†, as organic stands for â€Å"characterized by continuous or natural development†, might be able to help expand their market share in a significant extent. (Amazon.com Inc) Amazon’s opportunities for growth are also driven by their initiatives in strategy to make their product assortment better in the market. (Amazon.com Inc)For example, they have expanded their multi-year licensing agreement with PBS Distribution in order to offer free-of-charge online streaming of past seasons PBS programs to registered members of their Amazon Prime package in June 2013. (Amazon.com Inc) And in May of 2013, Amazon introduced their invented Kindle Worlds, a platform product made for publishing commercially and available for the first time in the market. (Amazon.com Inc) Then in January 2013, they made an agreement regarding the licensing of the content of A+E Networks, in order to add earlier seasons of A&E, bio, HISTORY and Lifetime channel into the prime instant video service on their Amazon.com website. (Amazon.com Inc)And earlier in November 2012, they started to provide a service called Amazon Redshift, which is a fully managed and powerful warehouse in the cloud for petabyte-scale data storage. (Amazon.com Inc) In the meantime, Amazon also introduced a marketplace called the Amazon wine in the market, where customers are offered more than a thousand wines. (Amazon.com Inc) And in earlier in August 2012 in the UK, Germany, France and Italy and Spain in Western Europe, Amazon launched their Amazon Appstore providing an access for European customers to download and use their wide range of high quality Android smartphone apps conveniently to shop on their website when the European customers are u sing their Android electronic devices such as cellphone and tablet computer to shop. (Amazon.com Inc)And then earlier in the March of 2012, Amazon made an announcement to the world that they were going to make a $150 million USD investment to open a new Jeffersonville, Indian fulfillment center in the US. (Amazon.com Inc) Their initiatives to make themselves able to provide customers with more product offerings with a new fulfillment center in the US could give them a better chance in business growth. (Amazon.com Inc) Another area of  opportunity for Amazon to potentially expand their presence in the market is in the E-Commerce business. (Amazon.com Inc) There is a good chance of potential for Amazon to grow their business and raise their profitability with direct marketing along with e-commerce business’ rising trend. (Amazon.com Inc)Due to the recent scenario that a growing number of consumers these days rather shop online than visit the retail stores physically to save t heir time and money in one stop. (Amazon.com Inc) According to professionals in the industry, traffic of the IP data in the globe is forecasted to go up to six point six zettabytes annually by the year 2016, and also traffic of the cloud storage is forecasted to rise from 2011’s 39% of total data centre traffic up to 64% in the year 2016. (Amazon.com Inc) The growth of E-commerce market is driven by smart phones, tablets and other internet enabled electronic devices’ uses. (Amazon.com Inc)Along with this growth of online shopping using internet enabled electronic devices, this trend pushes and changes other retailers to invest more into serving the new format of electronic device online shopping customer segment. (Amazon.com Inc) And Amazon could increase their cost savings and expand their share in the retailing market with an already well established position in the e-retailing. (Amazon.com Inc)The fact that Amazon is subject to the government and the law’s re gulation and intervention is considered an external threat. (Amazon.com Inc) The government and the law could pose external threats to Amazon’s business in aspects such as taxation, privacy, data protection, pricing, content, copyrights, electronic device certification, electronic waste, consumer protection, the provision of online payment services, the design and operation of websites, and the characteristics and quality of Amazon’s products and their services. (Amazon.com Inc)Today, the US Supreme Court does not allow collecting state and local taxes for Internet sales. (Amazon.com Inc) However, some states in the US and the Congress have been thinking of initiatives that could restrict the Supreme Court’s place and voice in matters regarding issues of Internet sales’ taxation. (Amazon.com Inc) And if those states and Congress succeed, Amazon might will be required to either collect a certain tax called â€Å"sales and use taxes† in some states  or alter the ways of how they practice their business for the law. (Amazon.com Inc) Imposing taxes by the local government and by state could create a burden on the company’s administration. (Amazon.com Inc)Moreover, those taxes if imposed on the bills of Amazon’s customers could less their demand and make their products and services less attractive in the market with increased cost. (Amazon.com Inc) The online shopping market is a very competitive one to do business in, including for Amazon. (Amazon.com Inc) The kind of competitors they have such as any other online e-commerce and mobile e-commerce sites, publishers, media companies and other companies designing, manufacturing, marketing digital media devices. (Amazon.com Inc)They compete in terms of price, product selection, how convenient is it to shop, product quality, how much time it takes/speed, and their services and tools’ reliability. (Amazon.com Inc) The list of names of Amazon’s online shopp ing competitors would be eBay, Yahoo, Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble, ValueVision Media, and Netflix. (Amazon.com Inc) Their competitors could possess more resources with more customers and better recognitions than Amazon. (Amazon.com Inc)Along with the competition getting fiercer Amazon needs to maintain their stock while adapting to an unstable environment of changing needs and wants in order to survive. (Amazon.com Inc) In international finance, there is a risk called foreign currency exchange risk, and that’s the kind of external threat that Amazon is exposed to as a global company doing business internationally. (Amazon.com Inc) Last year in 2012, Amazon’s revenue in total has a 43% stake outside the US in the international segment. (Amazon.com Inc) And for that year their business profit went down dramatically in the figure of $853 million compare to their 2011 revenue due to the ups and downs of the values of foreign currencies, in other words they lost a lot o f money because of their vulnerable and high exposure to exchange rate risk. (Amazon.com Inc)As they have revenue denominated internationally in the continents of Asia, Europe and North America. (Amazon.com Inc) They also have things in value other than revenue such as assets, liabilities denominated in many different foreign currencies. (Amazon.com Inc) Those currencies for example such as they do business transactions with the European Euro, British Pound, Japanese Yen, Chinese Yuan and Korean Won and etc. (Amazon.com Inc) Yet they still have the USD as their main functional currency. (Amazon.com Inc) If the foreign  currencies devalue against the USD then they would lose money when they convert their foreign revenue back to the US, but if the US dollar exchange rate weakens against all other major foreign currencies, then Amazon would face potentially greater long-term liabilities. (Amazon.com Inc)