Thursday, December 26, 2019

Swot Analysis Of Netflix - 954 Words

Netflix was founded in 1997 on a platform that offered video rental by mail. Reed Hastings, the CEO, co-founded Netflix when he decided that he was sick of paying late fees from Blockbuster. Being a subscriber of Netflix at this time meant that you were able to order a video with one day delivery with no hassles of late fees. In 2007, Netflix expanded by providing online streaming of media such as TV shows and movies, while still providing their DVD by mail services which was what they were originally founded on. This broadened their customer base by providing to those who rather not wait a day for a DVD and just stream media over the internet. In 1997, a Netflix subscription consisted of a by mail video delivery service for a flat†¦show more content†¦On average a customer loses 200 plus films they have rated when they use an alternate media provider such as Blockbuster or Walmart. Following that year, Blockbuster and Walmart launched similar platforms to Netflix, making Netflix’s’ churn rate fall. However, big name competitors such as those did not pose a substantial threat to Netflix given that their value proposition had been growing stronger and stronger over time. One large advantage that Netflix had was they were always the first to offer new media and new deliveries. Porter’s Five Forces Model suggests that there are five important forces that determine the competitive power in a business situation. These five forces include; supplier power, buyer power, competitive rivalry, threat of substitution, and threat of new entry. Netflix’s suppliers are primarily producing agencies and studios that direct and shoot the films and shows Netflix offers to their customers. Netflix needs to buy the rights to theses TV shows and Movies in order to offer them to their customers. This gives big name movies and shows relatively high bargaining power. Netflix has tried to counter this by producing shows and movies on their own, these are known as â€Å"Netflix Originals†. Some of these original series are very successful such as â€Å"House of Cards† and â€Å"Orange is the New Black†. Even though this helps Netflix, they still need to have media outside of their ownShow MoreRelatedSwot Analysis : Netflix 1560 Words   |  7 PagesSWOT Analysis A SWOT analysis is a framework designed to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an individual firm. This framework focuses on both external factors, opportunities and threats, affecting the company as well as internal resources, strengths and weaknesses, the firm can leverage. It is important to note that SWOT poses some weaknesses, and is a simple, snapshot tool for analyzing companies that are incredibly complex, and ever changing (Cook, 2015). StrengthsRead MoreA SWOT Analysis of Netflix861 Words   |  3 PagesNetflix is on online television streaming service that allows its subscribers to watch unlimited, available movies and television series for a low-price monthly rate. Netflix is currently available in over 40 countries. It is located mainly Latin America, and is looking to expand into Europe. Emerging into the European market will offer Netflix much more market share. It was recorded in 2013 that Western Europe had 134 million broadband homes as opposed to the U.S. with 88 million. The article refersRead MoreSwot Analysis Of Netflix1267 Words   |  6 PagesSWOT ANALYSIS: Strengths: †¢ Netflix is the largest online entertainment subscription service in the United States, and it accounts for a third of all U.S. internet traffic. †¢ Netflix has created resilient brand recognition. It is very well known among Internet users, and accounts for about thirty per cent of daily Internet traffic. †¢ Largest streaming library among competitors with award winning original content like the series House of Cards, and Hemlock Grove. †¢ Low monthly subscription feesRead MoreSwot Analysis Of Netflix1053 Words   |  5 PagesNetflix is an American entertainment company that was founded in 1997. Their main business comes in the online form, by streaming television shows and movies online. The company was founded by Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings. As of this July, Netflix had nearly 104 million subscribers worldwide, and only half of those coming from the United States. Netflix has some very unique qualities when it comes to social responsibility. Towards their employees, they allow unlimited vacation time, which is unheardRead MoreSwot Analysis of Netflix1128 Words   |  5 PagesSWOT analysis for Netflix: Strengths: 1. Proprietary technology. Netflix has proprietary technology system to stream TV shows and movies and also including processing delivery and return DVDs. This specific system makes the business in Netflix more efficiency. 2. Goodwill and brand value. Netflix is a company with reputation. It has 15 years experiences and has a good deal of loyal consumers. 3. Competitive price. The service is in expensive in Netflix. It just cost 8 dollar perRead MoreSwot Analysis of Netflix1144 Words   |  5 PagesSWOT analysis for Netflix: Strengths: 1. Proprietary technology. Netflix has proprietary technology system to stream TV shows and movies and also including processing delivery and return DVDs. This specific system makes the business in Netflix more efficiency. 2. Goodwill and brand value. Netflix is a company with reputation. It has 15 years experiences and has a good deal of loyal consumers. 3. Competitive price. The service is in expensive in Netflix. It just cost 8 dollar perRead MoreNetflix : A Swot Analysis1369 Words   |  6 Pages In conducting a SWOT analysis of Netflix, we must not only look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, but we must also draw conclusions about Netflix’s particular situation and how these four areas can be used to improve its overall strategy. In terms of Netflix’s strengths, it has potential internal strengths and competitive capabilities in its strong brand-name image and reputation. Netflix has become a household name with over 75 million subscribers in over 190 countriesRead MoreSwot Analysis Of Netflix1060 Words   |  5 PagesNetflix This paper is broken down by layouts that will show how Netflix has strategic planning and overall objectives on how they value their customers, but look for a profitable outcome. The plan of this layout is to help describe Netflix’s mission statement, business model, competitive advantage, and their financial and strategic objectives (Gamble, J., Thompson, A.A., Peteraf, M.A., 2006). Mission and Vision Statement According to How Does Netflix Work?, (n.d), Netflix does not have an officialRead MoreSwot Analysis Of Netflix1318 Words   |  6 PagesThe biggest weaknesses in Netflix was it’s marketing strategies, pricing, and average brand image presence. It met a lot of challenges in the Indian market. They had problems lack of local content and research of what the consumers wanted and no local content. Only 7% of Netflix was tailored to the Indian market. It’s similar to trying to market an American product in an Indian market. The prices were considered luxury prices and because of the lack in brand image a lot of Indian consumer would stayRead MoreSwot Analysis Of Netflix s Competitive Advantage Essay1607 Words   |  7 Pagesbecome popular amongst consumers. Netflix has become the industry leader followed by, Hulu and Amazon. This is a very competitive market, which has seen much change in the last decade. This paper highlights several concepts about the streaming industry, including, an industry analysis, SWOT analysis on Netflix, their competitive advantage. In addition it goes on to make some recommendations, and discuss a strategic analysis. Industry Analysis The industry analysis will utilize Porter’s Five Forces

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

U.s. Military Intervention During The War Of The United...

If it is accepted then, that Washington should have taken stronger action earlier in the conflict, the question becomes whether there are any practical, more decisive approaches that could have been employed earlier in the war to greater success. This essay examines three alternative measures that could have been adopted by the US at the outset of the conflict, in light of existing commitments, foreign policy and attitudes. The most controversial option is direct military intervention. Current American-led airstrikes have exclusively focused on ISIS, however, the current Russian intervention can provide clues as to whether earlier American air strikes against Assad would have impacted the conflict. Russia intervened on the basis of creating â€Å"new realities† upon which to build a political settlement, but the true effect of these measures is to essentially keep the Assad regime from collapsing (ACRPS, 2015). This intervention has helped â€Å"turn the tides† of the conflict for the regime (Heistein, 2016). There are questions as to whether, at the outset of the conflict, The Administration could have realistically engaged in airstrikes. Even those who advocated a more â€Å"muscular† policy early in the war such as Hilary Clinton, Leon Panetta and David Patraeus, were not proposing any where near the kind of military involvement that would have been large enough to re-shape the conflict or even provide enough leverage to negotiate a settlement (Miller, 2016). However, it can beShow MoreRelatedCommunism And The Cold War Essay1127 Words   |  5 Pages Throughout United States history, there has not been a more prominent and long lasting threat like the one of communism. It has been a threat to the democratic and capitalist ideals of the U.S. since before World War I, throughout the Cold War and is still until this day. When one thinks about communism, you conjure up images of the Red Scare that the Soviet Union induced and of other dict atorships throughout the western hemisphere and one might overlook the Marxist ideals that were being spreadRead MoreEssay on U.S. Intervention1563 Words   |  7 PagesShould the United States enter into military intervention in foreign countries for humanitarian reason? Why? Why not? Under what conditions should the U.S. intervene if at all? History has been shown to repeat itself, and if we dont learn from it, we are doomed to repeat it. We have watched many genocides happen within the last decade, some of which the U.S. has intervened, and in some cases where they have not. The United States should not intervene in foreign countries for humanitarian reasonsRead MoreMao Zedong Of The World Essay1657 Words   |  7 Pagesquestions. And while elements of Mao’s perspective—that the people comprise the â€Å"motive force in the making of world history†Ã¢â‚¬â€wafted around in compelling the U.S. to intervene in Iraq in 2003, it is not a sufficient explanation. The people did not form the chief reason for the Iraqi campaign, and certainly did not originate the intervention â€Å"alone†, as Mao’s philosophy would suggest. Alternatively, Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle contends, â€Å"The history of the world is but the biography of greatRead MorePoliceman of the World Essay916 Words à ‚  |  4 PagesContemporary U.S. History 3/15/14 Since gaining independence from the British in 1776, the United States foreign policy over the years has gone from expansionist to isolationism to defending democracy. With the responsibility of defending democratic rights for those who cannot defend themselves, the United States in my opinion has taken on the role of â€Å"policeman of the world.† This role became more evident with the use of U.S. military force in international incidents like U.S. interventionRead MoreFrom The Dropping Of The Atomic Bombs On Japan In 19451498 Words   |  6 Pagesin 1989, the United States of America has pursued a foreign policy of containment to curb the spread of Soviet communism throughout the world. The U.S. spent billions of dollars during the Cold War period on foreign policies of containment, but is criticized that these strategies were ineffective in containing the spread of communism. In 1946, The Long Telegram, put forth by the father of the containment theory, George F. Kennan, stated that in order to defeat Soviet communism the U.S. must to thwartRead MoreCNN or CIA In August of 1990, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion and occupation of1500 Words   |  6 Pagesthe United States and thirty-three other nations decided to respond with war. A series of individuals and organizations across the globe suggested that the United States and other nations had ulterior motives that prompted the intervention. However, these reasons failed to surface in the media’s debates. The United States media used censorship and deceit to steer the public’s opinion in favor of the Gulf War as a means of serving the interests of their corporate donors and owners. During theRead MoreU.s. Vietnam War On American Culture, Politics, And Foreign Policy1060 Words   |  5 Pagesas one of the most controversial and polarizing military conflicts in U.S. history, the Vietnam War has left a deep and lasting impact on American culture, politics, and foreign policy. From 1964 to the present day, the Vietnam War redefined the scope of U.S. influence both at home and abroad, and caused a fundamental shift in American society that dramatically changed the way in which Americans viewed their government and the role of the United States as a world power. For an entire generation ofRead MoreThe Pitfalls of American Interventionism Essay1468 Words   |  6 PagesThe United States has been feeling the effects of Middle Eastern terrorism since June 5th, 1968, when Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian acting alone, shot and killed Senator Robert F. Kennedy in response to some pro-Israeli statements he made (Eland 10). United States support for the newly formed Israel h ad garnered a lot of hatred from native Palestinians, and Sirhan’s attack marked the beginning of anti-American sentiment in the region. Starting with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the United StatesRead MoreThe Vietnam War1402 Words   |  6 PagesSouth Vietnam during the Cold War era has led to the United States’ inevitable intervention in Vietnam. The main motivators for the United States’ incremental decision to intervene and commitment in Vietnam can be viewed as an accumulation of socio-political, political and economic catalysts. In recognition that there were many other factors that may have contributed to the U.S’s involvement in the conflict in Vietnam, this essay will largely focus on these three factors. As the cold war resonates,Read MoreThe Declaration Of Independence From Great Britain1105 Words   |  5 PagesIn 1776, the United States continental congress ratified the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Following the adopti on of the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation, the next few years displayed a great amount of progression for the protection of the American citizen by implementing the United States Constitution. The first three articles of the Constitution focused on the division of power between the President and Congress, which comprised of the House of Representatives

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

The International Market Entry Opportunity - Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss aboutThe International Market Entry Opportunity. Answer: Introduction The current business report will discuss the international market entry plan for the Villa Group, which is currently planning to enter the consumer market in Australia. The Villa Group is considered to be one of the largest Conglomerate company in Maldives. The major business operations of the business include that of the shipping along with that of import and export activities. Other major services are communication, education, fishing, tourism and media. The company was established in the year 1986 and they currently have their headquarters at Male. Being one of the largest business organizations in the nation, the total revenue of the company is estimated to be $150 million dollars as of year financial year 2016 ("Overview - Villa - The Leading Business Initiative in Maldives", 2018). The major areas that the company serves apart from Maldives include Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and Germany. The company in order to expand the range of business is planning to initiate the business in Australia and UK. Nevertheless, under the current business environment in the company has to face higher levels of business competition within the consumer market of UK due to the existing Conglomerate companies both at the local and international level that includes Virgin Group, Walmart, Tesco, Unilever and many others. Hence, under the current circumstances, the local marketing consultancy firm will prepare the international marketing plan for the Villa Group for the business environment of Australia. The geographic position and the vast size of Australia will offer healthy business opportunity for the Villa Group in the business of shipping and transportation. The company will mainly focus on the business areas near eastern side of Australia, where the major business areas of the n ations are located including the cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. The business report will be prepared by discussing the potential of the company with respect to the international market. The external business environment of Australia will be discussed using the tools of Pestle analysis and Porters five force. The marketing mix strategies will be done using the tools of 7Ps, STP and Competitor analysis. Additionally, theories related to that of market entry will help the company to deal with the initial challenges. Potential of Villa Group to Enter the International Market After the establishment of the company in the year 1986, by Mr. Qasim Ibrahim, the business operations of the company have been able to establish as the largest private shipping company in Maldives. The company later invested in the resort and tourism industry. The overall assets of the organization include that of the five resorts, having 2008 beds and 8 major cargo ships and tankers that are used in the trading operations. The company also is currently having the 5 island resorts that have 1,002 rooms including 6 presidential suits. In order to expand the range of business, the company has established their sales and marketing office in countries like Germany, Hong Kong and Japan. The average occupancy rate of all resorts under the ownership of Villa Groups is estimated to be of 81.1% that is considered to be higher than the average of the respective industry in Maldives of 72% ("Overview - Villa - The Leading Business Initiative in Maldives", 2018). Over the past years of effective business operations across wide ranges of industry, the company has able to earn high asset values of $108.4 million dollars. This is believed to increase within the upcoming years due to the potential of the industry. The tourism department within the organization is believed to have diverse ranges of services that includes money transfer across all parts of the globe. All other types of service include that of medical package training that is considered to be one of the effective and integrated parts of the tourism service and industry. The Villa travel and tourism sector have an integrated partnership with that of the Malaysian Airlines, LAUDA air and Uzbekistan Airlines. The Cargo sales Agency of Kuwait Airways has also invested in the business partnership of Villa Travels ("Travel Services - Villa - The Leading Business Initiative in Maldives", 2018). All types of business partnership with all major international companies within the transportati on and communication industry, will help the Villa group to establish an influential business platform in the international market of travel tourism and transportation industry. According to Gabrielsson et al., (2017), it is highly essential for an organization to have multiple business unit partners at the international levels, which help them to expand the areas of their business operations in the different foreign nations. The diverse ranges of travel and tourism services along with that of the transportation and shipping business operations will provide the Villa group with the major potentials to enter the international market. There is also the sector of Broadcast and media, which will help the company to implement their marketing plan within the international domains. The company has their official channel that is aired in all countries along with that of the MediaNet ("Broadcast Media - Villa - The Leading Business Initiative in Maldives", 2018). The company has also acquired two major cable TV operators that includes CableNet and J-Sat Communications. This has helped the company to make use of the optical cable network, thereby increasing the area airing the local channels. The cost of international marketing is significantly reduced, which is believed to provide effective easy and cheap opportunity to explore the market within the foreign nation. There are also additional philanthropic activities of the company, which has helped to improve the social reputation of the company. The Villa Foundation was established by the management to ensure that all types of social welfare activities are being effectively carried out by the organizations, which also includes ensuring full protection of the local environment from all hazardous business activities ("Philanthropic Activities - Villa - The Leading Business Initiative in Maldives", 2018). This will help to easily establish their business within the international market and get permission from the environmental departments. Impact of business environment of Australia on the Villa Group As mentioned in the above sections, the Villa Group is planning to enter into the travel, tourism and transportation industry of Australia. In this context, it can be said as per the findings of Grant (2016), that it is essential to analyze the external business environment of the target market. This is necessary for the matter of implementing effective marketing plan to improve their market share in the target areas. Botha et al., (2014), have added that appropriate marketing tools are needed that can help them to analyze the political and economic factors along with the analysis of the competitive environment that can have major significant impact on the business operations. The PESTEL analysis tool will effectively help the management of Villa Group to collect necessary relevant information in the context of the business external environment in Australia. This will also help the company to track the changes that occur in the business environment of Australian Travel, tourism and transportation industry. In the context of the business environment in Australia, it can be said that the nation has witnessed operative levels of positive growths in all major sectors including that of mining, retail and wholesale and manufacturing sectors (Lamas Leite et al., 2017). Political: The stable democratic government in Australia is believed to have major impact on the business of all major companies. The company is believed to have implemented effective business laws alongside effective foreign policies that will help in the market entry of Villa groups. Hence, there is a positive environment within the nations that encourage high rates of foreign capital flow. The government also ensures that there is a healthy competition environment preventing all types if unethical business practices. Economic: The Australian economy is generally characterized by the stable nature, which is mainly possible due to the vibrant free capital market. The abundant amount of natural resources has resulted in the improvement of the manufacturing sector ("Australia Economy: Population, GDP, Inflation, Business, Trade, FDI, Corruption", 2018). The skilled workforce within the nation will help the Villa Group in the process of recruitment and help in the process of providing effective customer service as a part of the travel and tourism business. The total valuation of the GDP of the nation is estimated to be about $1.1 Trillion, with the annual growth rate of 2.5% ("Australia Economy: Population, GDP, Inflation, Business, Trade, FDI, Corruption", 2018). Currently, the economic value of the nation is considered even greater than nations like Germany and UK. Nevertheless, the disparity in the level of income is considered to be one of the major drawbacks of the Australian business environment . This will not allow the backward section of the Australian class to afford the expensive service of Villa Group. The marketing managers of Villa Group need to collect valuable market information from the economic databases and the Australian government websites. This will also help them to understand the changes that will occur within the external market environment thereby helping the company to identify the threats and opportunities that exist within the Australian consumer market. Social: The social factors like the culture, lifestyle and behavior of the local population has a significant impact on demand in the local market. For example, the exploring nature of the Australian society will generate high demand for the tourism and resort service. Whitty and Littlejohns (2015), have mentioned the importance of change within the society, which can have major impact on the level of business. Hence, the Villa Groups will have to collect information related to the changes within the Australian society. This will be done by collecting primary information from the surveys that are conducted within the chosen target market area. Technological Factors: The highly advanced technological infrastructure of Australia is believed to have effective impact on the business operations. The modern day business operations are believed to be highly dependent on the application of technology. This includes all types of business communication that is required for conducting the business operations and digital marketing activities. The latest advancement of the communication technology is believed to result in the nearly 10 million internet subscribers in all over Australia (Rubin et al., 2015). Environmental: For a company like the Villa Group, who are intending to penetrate the tourism market of Australia, it is essential for the company to implement essential environment conservation policies. This will help them to deal with essential environmental issues that include that of global warming. The tourism industry in Australia is currently at highly vulnerable position. The Environmental Protection Act of 1974, which is believed to have significant impact on the business policies that will be implemented by Villa Group. Legal: The legal system in Australia is based on the business policies that are implemented by the government. In this regards the management of the Villa Group, needs to understand the terms and conditions of each type of business laws. This will ensure that is no forms of violations of the laws that are being implemented within the consumer market. Hence, by applying the PESTEL analysis tool, it is possible for the company to explore the opportunities within the respective domains. This will help to ensure that all possible parameters within the external business environment are explored before the company decides to deal implement the final business policies. According to E. Dobbs (2014), Porters five force Analysis is assumed to be the essential marketing tools, which can help to analyze the competitive environment within a respective industry. It specifically helps to identify all types of threats and the sources for the following industry. The following are the five parameters of Porter's five force: Threats of Substitute Products or Services Currently, there is high demand for the tourism and travel service within the business environment of Australia. As the Villa Groups are planning to introduce the travel and transportation service, they will face lower levels of threats from the alternative services. Nevertheless, it is important for the management to deal with the issues related to the quality of the tourism services that are being provided by the company. Bargaining Power of Buyers Currently, there is tough competition within the tourism sectors of Australia. This is due to the presence of several numbers of companies within the sectors. Hence, the customers will have the option of choosing from wide range of brand of services. It is therefore essential for the Villa Groups to provide cost-effective services in both the tourism and transportation sectors. Moreover, as the Villa Groups are the new entrant in the respective sector, they have to offer attractive pricing to attract the customers. The Rivalry among existing competitors Being a new entrant in the travel and tourism industry, the Villa Groups has to face intense competitive challenge for the existing companies that includes Cosmos, Ultimate Travelers, Globus Tourism service and many more. The main competition is in the context of providing the best cost-effective services in the forms of resorts and transportation departments. Barriers to Entry This is one of major threat that will be faced by the Villa groups. Due to the intense competition within the travel, tourism and transportation services, the company has to invest high capital in the process of initiating the business in the respective domains. The lack of the communication channel is considered to be one of the major barriers challenges as the company will not be able to easily implement their marketing plan (Baker et al., 2015). Bargaining power of the suppliers Owing to the fact that the travel and tourism department of Australia has higher demand and opportunity the Villa Groups will face low threats due to the Bargaining power of the suppliers. It is also relevant to mention that the company will be able to recruit cheap labours from the local areas at cheap rates, which will help them to provide better quality of service. Figure: Porters Five Force Source (E. Dobbs 2014) Mode for Market Entry According to Ang et al., (2015), market entry strategy is a type of business planning, where an organization delivers new goods or service into a new target market. As the Villa Group has decided to enter into the Australian consumer market of tourism and travel sector, there are wide ranges of market entry strategy that can be implemented depending upon the particular business environment. It is essential for the company to properly assess each option. This will help them to understand the cost and the risks that are involved in each case. Laufs and Schwens (2014), have mentioned that importing or exporting a service is considered to be one of the major types of market entry strategy. Here, it is highly essential for the organization to manage business contract with the foreign Nation. Figure: Types of Entry Mode in International Market Source (Argyres et al., 2016) The exporting mode of marketing entry is popular within the international trade, where essential goods are produced in one Nation and then shipped to another country for their sales. This mode will not be effective for Villa Group as they are planning to introduce Travel Tourism and transportation service. Argyres et al., (2016), have mentioned about the market entry mode of franchising. Here, an independent business organization operates under the brand name of another company, which is called the franchisor. The main independent business organization, which controls the entire business operation is called the franchise. In this type of market entry mode, the franchise has to pay a certain fee to the franchisor which is decided within their business contract. In the given case, the Villa group is the franchise, which can operate their business through local franchisor in the Travel Tourism and transportation department of Australia. One of the major advantage in this type of market entry mode is due to the fact that the international company will be able to set up their business partnership with local suppliers in the respective domain. In other words, the franchisor can help the franchise to develop their market share in the newly targeted area (Badrinarayanan et al., 2016). The fran chisor also has the option to implement flexible business plan depending upon the performance of the franchise in the particular area. One of the major advantages of this franchise concept that can be adopted by the Villa group is that the company will have to take low level of financial risk. The headquarter of the company located in Maldives will have higher control over the business operation process in Australia. The local franchise will be able to provide detailed information about the external business environment in the Australian consumer market and the changes that occur within the tourism and travel sector. On the other hand, the major drawback all the franchise mode of market entry is due to the fact that the management of the Villa group at the headquarter of Maldives will be totally dependent upon the performance of franchisee in gaining market share within Australian tourism and travel industry. There is also high level of potential of business conflict with the local franchisee, which can according to the communication gap. Nevertheless, with the help of the franchise mode of market entry, it will be possible for the Villa group to establish new chain of resorts in all major tourist attraction sites of Australia. The shipping company will also be able to operate and transport materials across all the coasts in Australia. Marketing Mix According to Huang and Sarigll (2014), the marketing mix is considered to be a set of business operation tools, which is implemented by an organization to fulfil their respective business target. There are certain parameters within the marketing mix element, which can be altered by the business organization depending upon the level of demand market and the behavior of the target customer groups. It is essential to have a proper combination of all the major elements of the marketing mix strategy, which is believed to be one of the keys to improving market share within certain domain of business. Following are considered to be the major elements of marketing mix that will help the Villa Group to have proper control in the Australian market: Figure: 4Ps of Marketing Mix Source: (Datta et al., 2017) Product or Service: One of the primary aims of all business operation marketing is to explain the details of the features that a customer can expect after availing a product or service (Datta et al., 2017). The Villa group will offer premium quality of Travel Tourism service to the Australian consumer. The company will also introduce transportation services, which will help in shipping products across different parts of Australia. Price: The pricing is considered to be one of the essential elements of the marketing plan, which decides upon the value that will be paid by the customer will availing a product or service. The total amount of revenue that will be earned by the business organization will depend upon the pricing strategy (Helm Gritsch, 2014). In case of the Villa group, the company will implement economic pricing strategy, which will help them to gain significant competitive advantage with all the existing Travel Tourism and transportation brands in the Australian market. The pricing strategy for market penetration mainly includes offering extra discount to the customers, which will help them to establish a strong base in their respective industry. Place: The placement of the service and product is another essential component. The placement strategy helps to decide upon the supply channel that will be used for distribution of the product or service. It is essential to decide upon the distribution strategy depending upon the external business environment of the chosen target area (Davari Strutton, 2014). In the given case, the chosen place for service distribution of Villa Group is the consumer market of Australia. The company has decided to form partnership with local tourism distribution partner, who will form business partnership in the form of franchisee. The transportation service of the company will help in the matters of swift delivery of the products. Promotion: The Villa Group will depend on their media and broadcast segment of the business that will help them in the promotional services. They will be able to deliver essential message to the target customers. Hence, effective marketing communication is believed to be essential part of the promotion strategies. This can help the company to maintain effective relationship with the target customers. It will therefore possible to maintain high brand reputation in the market (Davcik Sharma, 2015). One of the effective ways that can be adopted for the better level of marketing communication is to implement the strategy of Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning (STP). This strategy will focus on analyzing the behavior of the target audience groups (Schlegelmilch, 2016). In the primary steps of the strategy, the target market group will be divided based on the choice and behavior of the customers. For example, for the Villa Group will target the tourism lover customers and the people, who mainly prefer the luxury resort service. Hence, the target market group of customers for the Villa Resorts mainly belongs to the richer section of the society and willing to spend huge amount on the luxury tours. The psychographic and demographic segmentation will be used by the company to target their respective customers. The travel and tourism lovers of Australia are considered to be one of the major target groups of the Villa Groups. The people in the age category of young and middle age are also included within the target groups. According to Choi and Kim (2015), it is important to analyze the future growth rate of the target segment groups that can help the company in deciding upon their future marketing strategies. The market size of each segment has to be analyzed separately that can help in the aspects of predicting the market size of the future. One of the most important aspects of the marketing plan is the element of brand positioning. This element helps to ensure that the brand will occupy a distinct position within the mind of the target customers. The companies may advertise the unique feature of their respective service or product that is needed to gain competitive advantage (Gengler Mulvey, 2017). For a new entrant like the Villa Group, essential marketing mix elements need to be introduced that will help them to capture a healthy position in the travel, tourism and transportation industry of Australia. Following are the steps that are considered essential in the context of the Villa Groups: Drafting of the position statement will help in the matter of deciding upon the fixed objectives of the company. Analyzing the strengths and weakness of each rival brand will help in analyzing the condition of the existing competitive environment. The Villa Group will highlight upon their unique features that will include providing premium and luxury resort service at much cheaper rates. The analytical data that will be collected from analyzing the business environment of Australia. Both quantitative and qualitative data will be required in the given context, which will use primary and secondary sources related to the consumer market in Australia. Conclusion The Villa Groups being the largest Conglomerate company in Maldives currently have the potential to enter the international market. It is therefore possible, to introduce their services of travel, tourism and transportation in the respective domain of Australia. The PESTEL analysis tool suggests that the economic, political and social environment of Australia is suitable for foreign investment. The Porters five force analysis has helped to analyze the fact that threats from the rivals are the biggest challenge that will be faced by Villa Groups as they plan to enter the market of Australia. The franchise mode of market entry is considered to be essential and appropriate in the given context as it will help the Villa Groups to launch their service with minimum financial risks. The company will also be able to form business partnership with all local tourism agents, who will act as the franchise for the Villa Groups. In the context of the tool of marketing mix, the company will imply the tool of economic and competitive pricing strategy. This will be essential in gaining significant market share. With the STP tool, the company will be able to have a healthy market position and target the tourism lovers of Australia. Following are the recommendations for Villa Groups: Make use of the all latest forms of government database, which will help in the matters of collecting relevant information about the external business environment. Online survey needs to be conducted that will help to understand the needs of the Australian customers within the following domain (Hulland et al., 2018). Effective competitor analysis will help in the matters of dealing with market entry modes. Extra discounts are needed to attract new customers and retain the same for the better market share. References Ang, S. H., Benischke, M. H., Doh, J. P. (2015). The interactions of institutions on foreign market entry mode. Strategic Management Journal, 36(10), 1536-1553. Argyres, N., Bercovitz, J., Zanarone, G. (2016). The Role of Relational Contracts in Inter-Firm Relationships: Theory and Evidence on Multiunit Franchising. Australia Economy: Population, GDP, Inflation, Business, Trade, FDI, Corruption. (2018).Heritage.org. Retrieved 16 January 2018, from https://www.heritage.org/index/country/australia Badrinarayanan, V., Suh, T., Kim, K. M. (2016). Brand resonance in franchising relationships: A franchisee-based perspective. Journal of Business Research, 69(10), 3943-3950. Baker, W. E., Grinstein, A., Harmancioglu, N. (2015). The Role of Entrepreneurial Orientation in Overcoming Known and Unknown Barriers to Entry in Foreign Markets. In Proceedings of the 2010 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 97-97). Springer, Cham. Botha, A., Kourie, D., Snyman, R. (2014). Coping with continuous change in the business environment: Knowledge management and knowledge management technology. Elsevier. Broadcast Media - Villa - The Leading Business Initiative in Maldives. (2018).Villa.mv. Retrieved 16 January 2018, from https://www.villa.mv/industries/media.html Choi, C. S., Kim, K. H. (2015, June). MARKETING MANAGEMENT IN SOCIAL NETWORK PLATFORMS: SEGMENTATION, TARGETING, AND POSITIONING. In 2015 Global Fashion Management Conference at Florence (pp. 97-102). Datta, H., Ailawadi, K. L., van Heerde, H. J. (2017). How Well Does Consumer-Based Brand Equity Align with Sales-Based Brand Equity and Marketing-Mix Response?. Journal of Marketing, 81(3), 1-20. Davari, A., Strutton, D. (2014). Marketing mix strategies for closing the gap between green consumers' pro-environmental beliefs and behaviors. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 22(7), 563-586. Davcik, N. S., Sharma, P. (2015). Impact of product differentiation, marketing investments and brand equity on pricing strategies: A brand level investigation. European Journal of Marketing, 49(5/6), 760-781.Dobbs, M. (2014). Guidelines for applying Porter's five forces framework: a set of industry analysis templates. Competitiveness Review, 24(1), 32-45. Gabrielsson, P., Gabrielsson, M., Sinha, P. N. (2017, January). International Market Entry Opportunity Related Processes of Young Entrepreneurial Firms. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2017, No. 1, p. 13442). Academy of Management. Gengler, C. E., Mulvey, M. S. (2017). Planning pre-launch positioning: Segmentation via willingness-to-pay and means-end brand differentiators. Journal of Brand Management, 24(3), 230-249. Grant, R. M. (2016). Contemporary strategy analysis: Text and cases edition. John Wiley Sons. Helm, R., Gritsch, S. (2014). Examining the influence of uncertainty on marketing mix strategy elements in emerging business to business export-markets. International Business Review, 23(2), 418-428. Huang, R., Sarigll, E. (2014). How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand equity, and the marketing mix. In Fashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors (pp. 113-132). Springer New York. Hulland, J., Baumgartner, H., Smith, K. M. (2018). Marketing survey research best practices: evidence and recommendations from a review of JAMS articles. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 46(1), 92-108. Lamas Leite, J. G., de Brito Mello, L. C. B., Longo, O. C., Cruz, E. P. (2017). Using Analytic Hierarchy Process to Optimize PESTEL Scenario Analysis Tool in Huge Construction Projects. In Applied Mechanics and Materials (Vol. 865, pp. 707-712). Trans Tech Publications. Laufs, K., Schwens, C. (2014). Foreign market entry mode choice of small and medium-sized enterprises: A systematic review and future research agenda. International Business Review, 23(6), 1109-1126. Overview - Villa - The Leading Business Initiative in Maldives. (2018).Villa.mv. Retrieved 16 January 2018, from https://www.villa.mv/about-us/overviews.html Philanthropic Activities - Villa - The Leading Business Initiative in Maldives. (2018).Villa.mv. Retrieved 16 January 2018, from https://www.villa.mv/philanthropy.html Rubin, T. H., Aas, T. H., Stead, A. (2015). Knowledge flow in technological business incubators: evidence from Australia and Israel. Technovation, 41, 11-24. Schlegelmilch, B. B. (2016). Segmenting Targeting and Positioning in Global Markets. In Global Marketing Strategy (pp. 63-82). Springer International Publishing. Travel Services - Villa - The Leading Business Initiative in Maldives. (2018).Villa.mv. Retrieved 16 January 2018, from https://www.villa.mv/industries/travels.html Whitty, J. A., Littlejohns, P. (2015). Social values and health priority setting in Australia: an analysis applied to the context of health technology assessment. Health Policy, 119(2), 127-136.

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

THE CITY WHICH IS INSIDE YOU Essay Example For Students

THE CITY WHICH IS INSIDE YOU Essay You live in your own inner city, which you bought in a silent auction. You were again unable to cancel your debts. Under your blackening eyelids you try to feel certain things. We will write a custom essay on THE CITY WHICH IS INSIDE YOU specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Without noticing your withdrawal from self, you leave for distant partsby using your ropes of thought like a ski-lift. Your shudders increase as you touch the numberless elements. In your screams at the moment when you feel the jolts from the echoesof your words crossing the threshold of your thought,you send birds fleeing before you. As you breathe, your roses wither. In your moments of madness, crystals fall from your roof. As your field of thought shrinks, your city expands. You exhaust yourselffrom running down the streets and avenues. As the lamps of your voltage machines alight upon your nights,your humans robotize themselves. The toads in your dirty waters frighten even the crocodiles. Your inner journey makes you grow older. Your internal cries amplify themselves. You manifest difficulties with forty paws. The auxiliary cells of your laboratories do not give youthe opportunity to live any pleasurable moments. While the fear indicator inside you slackens you through and through, you have noteven the possibility of speaking. With each movement of the clock,the seasons rip themselves out of your heart. Your solitude traverses your spirit without cease. by zeyir Lokman AYCIMantes la Ville 22.09.2002Traduit par by Yakup YURT en franaisFrench free verse translated into English free verseby F.J. Bergmann 16.02.2003SERAP SEVGI SERRAN

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Our science and technology have a quickly development. In the international marketplace, there are many unusual and high technology products. The WritePass Journal

Our science and technology have a quickly development. In the international marketplace, there are many unusual and high technology products. Introduction Our science and technology have a quickly development. In the international marketplace, there are many unusual and high technology products. Introduction1. Background2. Design Specifications2.1 Voice Navigation System2.2 Article Identification2.4 Enquiry Service System2.5 Barrier Detection System3. Marketing Strategy3.1)  Ã‚  Description the blindness products in HK market3.2) The advantage and disadvantage of each productTraining a guide dog is too difficult and the prime cost is too high. It also has a life limited of the guide dog.3.3)   Functional comparison with our product4. RFID Technology Specification5.2 Operation of RFID Systems6. Methodology6.1 Hardware communication Diagram:6.2 The part of Enquiry Service System:6.3 The part of Article Identification:6.4 Article Identification Flow chart:6.5 Voice Navigation System Bus Arrival Detection System6.6 Voice Navigation System Bus Arrival Detection System Flow chart:7. Cash Flow ForecastAdvantageResearch result9. Project Lifecycles10. Project PlanningConclusionRelated Introduction Today, our science and technology have a quickly development. In the international marketplace, there are many unusual and high technology products. They usually make our life to be more convenient and easier to solve the different problem. However, the population  growth  in recent years, congenital  blindness  and blind people  with acquired  blindness, that the number for them was gradually increased. The blind people always need the help from walking stick, other people or guide dog to walk on the road. But there are no enough technology products to help the blind people that more easy way to know the obstructions in front of them. Therefore, we thought that we should design a product to help the blind people. The  present is  required  to  assist the blind people with  an  electronic  guide  system, effective and immediate  way  to improve their life. We need to develop  a product with  convenience  and low cost  system is very  important for them. The product should include helping them to walk on the road without barriers, to take the bus, to purchase in the supermarket, to know the pedestrian signals, to arrive at the destinations and have an emergency call etc. Also, this product is  used to mark the sound output to tell users the information. The blind people use of this  system,  they  can  get the useful of guide information  easier without asking the strangers on the street. These  are very important  for themselves. Finally, our team design to create a new product which fulfill the almost functions – it calls â€Å"Arm Channel†.   We hope that after our product come out; it will cause the universal of guide system in the world. And the product cost will become lower and lower with the developed technology. Then make the blind people can be easily and more convenience  to have a  better quality of their meaningful life. 1. Background The green land in a park, the blue sky, the sightseeing of the Victoria Park, I-pad, and 3D movie all of these can give people the visual and feeling of entertainment to people who are with the health of visual. Actually, somebody who locate in darkness world, they cannot see anything. They always rely on sense of sound, touch, smell and taste to living in their narrow community. According to the different research of the marketing information of the blindness in Hong Kong, we found out the numbers of people who are with vision disorder; analyze their necessary in the normal dairy life and their problems in Hong Kong. Furthermore, we found out some major product which applied in Hong Kong and similar product in the world to carry out the comparison which related to the dairy life of the blindness. Nowadays, there are about 73900 people with vision disorder in Hong Kong. They always rely on sound and sense of touch to detect the object from the surroundings. Then, the almost relevant products which sell in Hong Kong cannot fully satisfy the necessary with blind people. According to the article from the America foundation for blind (living in vision disorder), they noticed that the blind people need to learn the essential skill in vision loss, which include interdentally living, communication, mobility and low vision devices to adapt their dairy life. Therefore, in this project, we decide to invent the product which helps them to adapt the normal lift easily without learning the essential skill. After the comparison, we figure out our product is more functional than the other product in Hong Kong market and the similar product in the world. Also, the cost is reasonable too. On the other hands, our product has a large range for development and improvement area in the future. And the market potential in Hong Kong and the world is very high. The main reason is the reasonable cost and the multiple functions can satisfy the necessary of the blindness. 2. Design Specifications For our product – Arm Channel, we hope that the functions of product including helping them walk on the road without barriers, to take the bus, to purchase in the supermarket, to know the pedestrian signals, to arrive at the destinations and have an emergency call etc. And the main purpose of these functions should be totally dependent on themselves. Therefore, our team designs the five main themes which are suitable for our ideas and shown these below. 2.1 Voice Navigation System Build in speaker; To guide the user to the destinations; Preset a new location for user to follow. 2.2 Article Identification Build in speaker and digital camera; To compare the goods and the goods photo in database .Then tell the user of the price, expire date and the name of the products when they are buying in anywhere. 2.3 Bus arrival Detection System Build in speaker; To identifies the bus number when it arrived and then tell the user. 2.4 Enquiry Service System Build in simple machine connector box. User can connect the call center for enquiry or emergency; Download the new information to our product. 2.5 Barrier Detection System Build in speaker; To tell the user that has the barrier or not in front of them. 3. Marketing Strategy In the Hong Kong market, the government plan to carry out the improvement of the public facility community, call â€Å"disability friends’, which include blind navigation system, blind person stone and write cane etc. These products are the common product in HK market now. But these products are not enough to satisfy their necessary, because they cannot buy something, take the transportation, and tell them the real location by themselves. Therefore, we directly against with these problem, we create our product Arm Channel. At the below table, there are divided 3 parts, that are 1) description the blindness products in HK market, 2) state their advantage and disadvantage of the products and 3) the functional comparison with our product. 3.1)  Ã‚  Description the blindness products in HK market Product function Blind People Stone: Flooring and paving for blind people to show the direction or exit location. Blind People Mobile Phone The blind people mobile phone is easy to use and carry. It can save one or two phone number in its memory. It also has a SOS function key on the mobile phone. White Cane It can help blind people to find out the Barrier in front of them Guide Dog The Guide dog can guide the blind people to the destination safety Navigate hermit Help the blind navigate around the obstacles in their part, and thought them go to the destination using GPS RFID Stick Tell them the location, signal for traffic light, distance between the destination and time to achieve Guide shoe Help the blind navigate around the obstacles in their part, and thought them go to the destination use GPS 3.2) The advantage and disadvantage of each product Product advantage disadvantage Blind People Stone: Its manufacture cost is not expensive Its construction costs and period are very high and long. Also, it produces sound pollution during the implementation. Blind People Mobile Phone It is a good media for provide a communication method for the blind people It can’t indicate the location for the user or show the destination direction to the user. White Cane Convenient to find out the Barrier It can’t indicate the location for the user or show the destination direction to the user Guide Dog Social experience, autonomy for changing environment Training a guide dog is too difficult and the prime cost is too high. It also has a life limited of the guide dog. And cannot bring the dog into the bus or other transportation. Navigate hermit Convenient to find out the Barrier Can take the user to the right location easily as a long way Can not help the to communicate to other person easily RFID Stick Can take the user to the right location easily, decrease the opportunity of traffic accident event Can change the location voluntary The technology is very expensive and cant take them as a long way Guide shoe Effective for outdoor navigation, Convenient to find out the Barrier That make the user very inconvenient when there are very rough 3.3)   Functional comparison with our product Voice navigation Article identification Bus arrival detection Barrier detection enquiry service Arm Channel Y Y Y Y Y Blind People Stone N N N Y Y Blind people mobile phone Y N N N Y White Cane N N N Y N Guide dog N N N Y N Navigate hermit Y N N Y N RFID Stick Y N N Y N Guide shoe Y N N Y N *(Y – Yes  Ã‚   N – No) 4. RFID Technology Specification Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a technology that uses communication via radio waves to exchange data between a reader and an electronic tag attached to an object, for the purpose of identification and tracking. RFID technology makes it possible to give each product in a grocery store its own unique identifying number. Compare that to the situation today, with bar codes, where it is only possible to identify the brand and type of package. Furthermore, RFID tags can be read if passed within close enough proximity to an RFID tag reader. The brief differences between the Barcode technology and RFID: Parameter Bar Code RFID Frequencies used for tag reading Optical frequencies Radio frequencies Type of communication Line of sight communication Non-line of sight communication Data Volume Physical limitation exists. It is very difficult to read a very long barcode. Can carry relatively large volume of data. Range of data readability Very limited range, less than feet or two. Can be read up to several feet. Cost Cheap Expensive, but likely to cost less as more industries adopt the technology. Benefits of RFID Can identify moving object that have tags embedded. Can be used in different environments, including live stock, military Non-line of sight identification of tags Unaccompanied operations are possible, minimizing human errors and high cost. Larger area of coverage. Up to several feet.   Automatic integration with back end software solutions provide end to end integration of data in real time RFID can be used in addition to Bar Code. 5.1 Active and Passive RFID Tags: There are primarily two types of RFID tags. One is active and the other is passive. An active tag is powered using internal battery, where a passive tag gets energized using a power from a tag reader. A passive RFID tag will not have a battery or any kind of power source by itself. It extracts the required energy from a reader. Hence, a passive RFID tag reader must be able to emit stronger electromagnetic signals, and in return, identify very weak signals from the passive RFID tag. The primary differences between a Passive and Active RFID tags Passive RFID Active RFID Power Source External (Reader provided) Internal (Battery) Tag Readability Only within the area covered by the reader, typically up to 3 meters. Can provide signals over an extended range, typically up to 100 meters.. Energize A passive tag is energized only when there is a reader present. An active tag is always energized. Magnetic Field Strength High, since the tag draws power from the electromagnetic field provided by the reader. Low, since the tag emits signals using internal battery source. Shelf Life Very high, ideally does not expire over a life time. Limited to about 5 years, the life of a battery. Data storage Limited data storage, typically 128 bytes. Can store larger amounts of data. Cost Cheap Expensive Size Smaller Slightly bulky (due to battery) 5.2 Operation of RFID Systems Various components of the tag are as shown. Normally, the antenna is external to the tag chip, and large in size The operation of the RFID tag is described belo The reader continuously emits Radio Frequency carrier signals, and keeps observing the received RF signals for data. The existence of tag (passive tag) modulates the RF field, and the same is detected by the reader. The passive tag absorbs a small portion of the energy emitted by the reader, and starts sending modulated data when sufficient energy is acquired from the RF field produce by the reader. Note that the data modulation (modulation for 0s and 1s) is accomplished by either direct modulation or FSK or Phase modulation. The reader demodulates the signals received from the tag antenna, and decodes the same for further processing. 6. Methodology First, there is the introduction of the software and hardware devices that we used in our product. Software: 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Labview 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Labview Vision module 3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   MySQL Database 4)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   MS speech SDK5.1 5)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   AT command Hardware: 6.1 Hardware communication Diagram: 6.2 The part of Enquiry Service System: Enquiry service system includes emergency SMS and call center service function. We used the LabView to build up the software which is used to control the mobile phone to send the emergency SMS or make a call to call center. The communication protocol is used Bluetooth to build a connection between the UMPC and Mobile phone. Nowadays, there is the standard control command for mobile phone which is call ‘AT command’. Therefore, we can use the AT command to control the mobile phone to send the SMS or make a call. Flow chart of Enquiry Service System: 6.3 The part of Article Identification: The Article identification is used to identify the product function. The program that we used Labview Vision module will through the video camera to capture the real time video input. Then, it will load the article templates from our database and identify which template was matched to the input article video. According to the result, the program will read the article name through the ear phone to tell the user. 6.4 Article Identification Flow chart: 6.5 Voice Navigation System Bus Arrival Detection System Since, we installed the RFID tags in each locations and the bus. The user can through the LabView program and the RFID tags to analyze the location and the bus. First, the program will make the decoding and filtering when the RFID reader received the tags signal. Next, it will identify the location name or bus number by the tag ID from MySQL database. Moreover, it will use the MS speech SDK functions to do voice prompt. The user can through the ear phone to listen the location name or bus number. 6.6 Voice Navigation System Bus Arrival Detection System Flow chart:    7. Cash Flow Forecast Cost planning service Cost and benefit Proposed Budget Plan PARTICULARS UNIT COST PER UNIT TOTAL COST box 1 $10 $10 AI switch 2 $10 $20 UM PC 1 $5,000 $5,000 RFID Receiver 1 $300 $300 RFID 8 $10 $80 Part A $5,410 Expenditures UNIT COST PER UNIT TOTAL COST Banner 1 $350 $350 Catalogs 20 $5 $100 Bag 1 $200 $200 Headphone 1 $50 $50 Miscellaneous $500 $500 Part B $1,200 PM Maintenance fee UNIT COST PER UNIT TOTAL COST PM Cost 1 5% of PartA $270 Maintenance Fee 1 10% of PartA+PartB $660 PartC $930 Total Cost( A+B+C ) : $7,540 Proposed Benefits Plan Plan  Ã‚   A Plan  Ã‚   B Plan  Ã‚   C Months/Plan price $138 $248 $398 12 $1,656 $2,976 $4,776 24 $3,312 $5,952 $9,552 Months/Product price $8,000 $7,500 $7,000 12 $9,656 $10,476 $11,776 24 $11,312 $13,452 $16,552 Net Benefits(Total Benefits Product Cost ) Months/ Plan Type Plan  Ã‚   A Plan  Ã‚   B Plan  Ã‚   C 12 $2,116 $2,936 $4,236 24 $3,772 $5,912 $9,012 Proposed Virtual Expenditures Virtual Expenditures UNIT Time COST PER UNIT   COST Team member time 8 members 2hrs(extra work)+3 hrs x   8 lessons $100 $20,800 Consultation time $150 Workshop time $150 Total $20,800 8. Advantage of our product Advantage In this section, there are divided as two parts, which are research result and comparison result with other product. In the research result, it is shown how many people with seeing difficulty and blind in Hong Kong, America and in the world. In the comparison result with other product, it is shown the different between our product and the other product in the world. Research result (Key points) In Hong Kong, about 73 900 persons were with seeing difficulty, 6 500 people of them are blind, according to research of Hong Kong Cerise and Statistic Department. In 2000. In America, about 10.5 million persons were with seeing difficulty; 10.5 million people of them are blind, according to research of America community survey in 2008. In America, about 15 million persons were with seeing difficulty, according to research of Prevent Blindness of in 2009. About 314 million persons were with seeing difficulty; 45 million people of them are blind, 87% are living in Developing Country, according to research of Would Health Organization. In May 2009. Observation: The marketing is not only Hong Kong, this is avoidable globally. the result is shown the trendy is increasing Our product should be user friendly and the cost need to reasonable. Comparison result with other product In the functional test, which refer to the page 6 (comparison with other product). Our product can carry out the basic function, such as barrier detection and voice navigation. But when we have the enquire service, which is the most important function, because most of the people need to take the mobile phone for communication every day. Our product has provided the basic and important function; the article indemnification and bus arrival function are the specific functions. 9. Project Lifecycles We identify the project lifecycles with four phases: The first phase in the project lifecycle is Project Initiation. We define the project purpose, scope and the justification for initiating it. We also need to find a suitably project team before the project planning phase. In the product lifecycle, the curial part is project planning which is a guideline for the team during the project. Throughout the project, groups of management take a role to monitor and control the deliverable being output throughout the project, such as quality control, time and risk management etc. The project can be performed the closure once all the deliverables has been produced. Project closure includes releasing the final deliverables to the customers, assess and review to identify the level of project success and note any recommendation for future project 10. Project Planning This is our project planning at semester 1 This is our project planning at semester 2 Conclusion Technology has been being developed very fast in recent years; people get many advantages form the technology, people get more comfort to their life, what is that technology? Such as following: 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mobile phone makes people faster and easier to communication. 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Video conferencing make people no need to by car, by plane for seeing his / her family and friends, we just need a computer with a web camera. 3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Internet makes people get information just in few seconds. 4)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   GPS makes people easier to go to anywhere; no matter you are driving or walking. But why some people cannot get these advantages from the technology? Those people around the world, they live at any place of the world. Who is that people? Such as blinders! What is the goal in our project? Why we use technology to help blinders. We want blinders live comfortable, easier and go anywhere as they want! From the beginning of the project, one of two kind of technology may be choose, one is GPS and another one is RFID. Why we have not choice GPS? Due to GPS cannot be used inside a building, when a blinder inside a building, GPS cannot guide him / her to the destination. Therefore we choice RFID for our project! RFID is rising technology, RFID has some advantages such as more accurate, installed inside buildings, some other technologies will be incorporated in our project such as Bluetooth, camera for thing identification. What is the RFID used in our project? We use RFID to build and guiding system which can guide the blinders easily to go to anywhere by himself or herself! When the blinder want to go to somewhere, he / her can make a call to customer center to tell them where you want to go! They can know nowhere you are from the guiding system and they transmit the routing from the customer center to your guiding system to guide you to the destination! Bluetooth is use for communication between the guiding system, hands free headset and mobile phone, you can make a call to customer center by press a button, when the connection between you and customer center, you can talk to customer center by the hands free headset. If you want to make a SOS call to the customer center, you can press the SOS button to make an emergency to customer center, the customer center can know where you are by the guiding system, and then customer center call people to help you, meanwhile when you pressed the SOS button, it will automatically send SMS to your family for notice them you are in trouble! They can know where you are from the customer center. Camera is used to identify things or products, when you activate the camera identification function; the camera will let you know what the thing which is in front of you? This function can makes blinder shopping easier. What are difficulties in our project? When the subject of our project was decided, we had to decided how many functions the guiding system shall equipped? Some functions had been decided should be include in the guiding system such as following: 1)   Voice navigation 2)    Article identification 3)   Bus arrival detection system 4)   Enquiry service system 5)    Barrier detection system First difficulty thing is that how big is our product? How we can minimize the size of the product? Finally we decided minimize the size of the product is not our first priority, how to make the product must be placed in first priority, therefore minimize the size of the product will be placed at the last priority. Second difficulty thing is that the detection range is too large, we want the detection range between 0.5 meter and 1 meter, therefore the accuracy will be increased and how we can shorten the detection range of the RFID system? We decided to use some metal enclosure to enclose the RFID reader to reduce the output power of the reader, so the detection range of the RFID reader can be reduced. Third difficulty thing is what software can be used for the announcement and speaking system? From our review and research, we found a software, we can modify it for speaking many sentences, it can be used to tell the user information. How the identify a thing or product and tell the user what is it? We used another software to do it, this software can scan a photo which is taken by the camera in the system to compare with the building database, when the software find a match data, it will let the user know what is the thing or product he is facing. We are individually testing each component into project, some function such as BUS ARRIVAL and BARRIER DETECTION are still pending and waiting us to incorporate into the guiding system after we complete one system other system will be incorporated into the guiding system one by one. When all functions are tested, we will start to combine them to a whole system. In this project we act different characters in a company, such as following: 1)    Managing director 2)    Secretary 3)    Finance 4)   Project planning and control 5)   Design 6)   Quality control 7)   Engineer 8)    Sales and marketing We have not try to run a project in Role Playing mode before, we were facing many challenges in this project, such as very tight progress, we do our best to face that challenge, at the end of this trimester, we produced a prototype guiding system, it can work, but it is not working perfect, due to the guiding system is under development, we will try to make it as good as possible at incoming trimester. Finally we hope we can act any character better in the project and we will complete the project at incoming trimester.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

The Auditor and Fraud Essay Example

The Auditor and Fraud Essay Example The Auditor and Fraud Essay The Auditor and Fraud Essay EXPLAIN THE RESPECTIVE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MANAGEMENT AND AUDITORS IN THE PREVENTION AND DETECTION OF FRAUD. The primary responsibility for fraud detection lies with management. This arises due to a contractual duty of care. Directors are able to discharge their duty toward prevention and detection of fraud and error in many ways, for example: * Complying with the Combined Code on Corporate Governance * Developing a code of conduct, monitoring compliance and taking action against breaches * Emphasising a strong commitment to fraud prevention. This involves establishing a culture of honesty and ethical behaviour within the organisation with clearly communicated policies. * Establishing an internal audit function * Having an audit committee The role of the auditor is with assessing the effectiveness of the internal controls. Auditors should appraise the risk of misstatements due to errors and fraud. The role of the auditor in the detection of fraud is appraised within case law, for example: Re Kingston Cotton Mill (1896) – An auditor â€Å"is a watchdog not a bloodhound†. According to Melville (2007), this judgement set the tone for the audit profession for a century. Auditors were to be passive checkers rather than be proactive in searching out errors, misstatements and fraud. This statement may no longer have the force it once did in the light of ISA 240 The Auditor’s Responsibility to Consider Fraud in an Audit of Financial Statements. Auditor’s are now expected to recognise at least the possibility that fraud may exist and, consequently, adopt an attitude of professional scepticism in their approach to audit work. Re Thomas Gerrard Son (1968) highlighted the negligence of auditor in overlooking fraudulent activities committed by directors. Auditors relied on stock certificates given to them by the managing director, a person who they trusted. This was supported by the decision in Re Kingston Cotton Mill whereby an auditor is ‘justified in believing tried servants of the company in whom confidence is placed by the company’. It was held that their responsibility was to investigate the matter fully once their suspicions had been aroused. If they had done so, the fraud would have been revealed. This is supported by the content of ISA 240 which requires auditors to follow up anomalies. Once suspicions have been aroused, tests designed specifically and uniquely to detect and establish the extent of fraud will be performed. Auditor’s should plan and conduct their audit tests to limit the possibility that material fraud and irregularities go undetected. Certain assets such as cash are more susceptible to fraud than others and audit planning should take account of this. Tests are mainly carried out due to the need to assess whether a matter is material before reporting it. If the matte proves to be material, it should be first reported to management (unless management are implicated in the fraudulent activity themselves). Auditors cannot guarantee the detection of all frauds and errors because they are not able to spend the time searching for frauds as they only analyse a sample. A guarantee cannot be made as auditors provide an opinion. IDENTIFY AND DISCUSS BOTH THE ORGANISATIONAL AND PERSONAL FACTORS WHICH MIGHT CONTRIBUTE TO AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE FRAUD IS MORE LIKELY TO OCCUR. The integrity of the individual and whether they seem to have a strong sense of ethics. Although a difficult characteristic to assess, the behaviour of individuals and their opinions on issues may provide important evidence to assist the auditors in assessing this characteristic. Personal integrity may well be a key if not the most important factor in keeping a person from committing fraud. There are many cases in which individuals with severe financial or personal pressures and the opportunity to engage in fraudulent activity do not do so because they have a strong personal moral code. Some fraud investigators believe that a strong moral code can prevent individuals from using rationalisations to justify illicit behaviour. Typical rationalisations include: I am only borrowing the money and will pay it back Nobody will get hurt (perception of fraud as â€Å"victimless† crime The company treats me unfairly and owes me Its only temporary until my financial position improves Everybody’s at it!! The extent to which individuals appear to be motivated by greed. Again, a difficult characteristic to assess but the individual’s concern with money and consumer goods may provide some clues about this. If someone starts turning up to work in a brand new Ferrari, they may have won the lottery, or benefited from the demise of a loving relative, or they could be up to no good!! The degree of loyalty exhibited by an individual. If the individual has been with one firm a long time, this may indicate a certain level of satisfaction with their employment and perhaps reduce the likelihood of them committing fraud. You should, however, also be aware that experienced employees, because they are trusted, might have a greater opportunity to commit fraud. Ernst Young Survey (2000) found that nearly half of the employees who defrauded their firms had been employed for over five years. Also bear in mind that opportunities to commit fraud can arise when an employee reaches a level of trust in an organisation or when internal controls are weak or nonexistent. Then the employee if he or she is so motivated will perceive that there is an opportunity to commit fraud, conceal it, and attempt to avoid detection and punishment Also, recent research undertaken by the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania suggests that in order to make it to the top ranks of corporate management you of course have to be very self-assured, but this can turn into overconfidence which can lead you to â€Å"cross the line† and commit fraud. For example, a senior manager believes that his firm is experiencing only a bad quarter or patch of bad luck. He believes it is in the best interests of everyone involved – management, employees, customers, creditors and shareholders to cover up the problem in the short term so that these constituents do not misinterpret the current poor performance as a sign of the future. In addition, he is convinced that down the road the company will make up for the current period of poor performance. It is the optimistic executive or overconfident executive who is more likely to have these beliefs. May stretch the rules a little or engage in earnings management ploys, but what if things don’t turn around as expected? Then he has to make up for the prior period and that requires continuing fraudulent behaviour. There appears to be a belief that overly optimistic executives can turn their firms around before fraudulent behaviour catches up with them, at least according to the US research. Jordan (2002) as cited in Quirke (2008) reaffirms this attitude by quoting a communist era Czech axiom â€Å"If you do not steal from the state, you rob your family† Antonio Birritella; â€Å"All these funds from the EU were seen as a gift to the Mafia, easy pickings†

Thursday, November 21, 2019

ECRM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

ECRM - Essay Example The following paragraphs will describe the scope and meaning of the terms consumer demographics and psychographics and then explains how marketing analytics is used to optimize sales campaigns for targeting the customers. Consumer demographics consist of data related to factors like the gender, age groups, marital status, income levels, cultural and social background, regional backgrounds, political or religious affiliations and educational background (Park and Srinivasa, 1994). It is understood that these factors help in shaping the customer’s preferences and likes and also shape his overall attitudes towards products or services as well as the actual consumer behavior. For example, the age group of the customer will determine what lifecycle stage he is in – if the customer is in his 30s then it is likely that he would be starting on his career and would have a household with spouse and kids. This lifestyle stage would involve the customer in purchases related to house maintenance, groceries or health or medical insurance. Similarly, a teenager would prefer to purchase music while a woman with kids would buy baby food. Demographic data therefore provides a great amount of insight into the likely preferences and needs of potential customers. It is therefore essential from the marketing point of view as it provides a basis of forecasting demands by the companies. By collecting accurate demographic data, the organizations can get a clear picture of prospective customers for their own specific products and services (Brewer, 2005). For example, an organization that manufactures ready to make processed foods would select a target demographic profi le for its potential customers as educated married couples with both spouses working and having a substantial income. This profile is chosen because it is expected that people who are married and have kids and are also working, would be hard pressed for time and would therefore prefer processed

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Lamprey Inc Remains Viable as a Business Enterprise Essay

Lamprey Inc Remains Viable as a Business Enterprise - Essay Example This huge disparity in salary already manifested in the uncompetitive pricing of Lamprey Inc.’s products compared to its competitors. Competitors were also dangerously close to overtaking Lamprey Inc. in terms of product quality. Lamprey Inc. has to lower its cost, to remain viable as a business enterprise. If it will continue to operate with the same cost in the present state of competition, it will not long be long before it will fold. Looking at the numbers, moving the plant to Mexico seems to be the easiest solution considering the wage disparity of $16 per hour in Oconomo plant and $1.60 per hour in Mexico translating to a $ 15 million savings per year. But limiting the consideration of the decision to lowering wages can be a very simple solution to the problem. The real issue of the Oconomo plant is the high operational cost and wage is only one of its many components. In addition, the level of the plant’s productivity may be also an issue for it might be producing less at the same cost. If the management and the employees can find ways to lower the cost and increase productivity that will make the company’s return higher and enable it to keep a savings equivalent to moving the plant to Mexico, then it should be explored. As an experienced manager, Jim Malesckowski felt it in his gut that the decision felt wrong although it sounds right. Strictly looking at the disparity of the wages may seem to be right but he knew that as long as there is a chance that the cost will be lowered, the plant should be saved. Jim has to engage the employees through its union in the solving the problem of lowering the cost and enhancing productivity. He has to be forthright with the employees that both of them want the same thing, to keep the plant at Oconomo without cutting the wages.   So they have to solve the problem of competition which undermines their mutual interest in keeping the plant.  

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Maria Sotomayor Essay Example for Free

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Maria Sotomayor Essay Justice Sotomayor was nominated by President Barack Obama to the Supreme Court on May 26, 2009. A vacancy became open upon the retirement of Justice Souter. If her nomination and approval by the Senate is approved, she would become the 111th Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Her confirmation hearing by the Senate did not go without controversy. Justice Sotomayor gave a speech at the University of California, Berkeley and in her speech, she said, â€Å"I would hope that a wise Latina Woman with richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life. † Some, including commentators such as Rush Limbaugh, view this statement as being racist. She acknowledged the phrase, â€Å"wise Latina woman† was a bad attempt to playing on words. In the end, Justice Sotomayer was confirmed by a vote of 68-31. Justice Sotomayor life is one that is full of achievement and disappointment. Her appointment has changed the landscape from of the court. Sotomayor was born in The Bronx, New York City and is of Puerto Rican descent. Her father died when she was nine, and she was subsequently raised by her mother. As a child, she aspired to be like Nancy Drew, the detective in the popular childrens mystery series. But at the age of 8, she was diagnosed with diabetes and told she would not be able to pursue that line of work. Sotomayor said it was another fictional character that inspired her next choice. I noticed that [defense attorney] Perry Mason was involved in a lot of the same kinds of investigative work that I had been fascinated with reading Nancy Drew, so I decided to become a lawyer, Sotomayor told the American Bar Association publication in 2000. Once I focused on becoming a lawyer, I never deviated from that goal. Her parents moved to New York during World War II – her mother served in the Women’s Auxiliary Corps during the war. Her father, a factory worker with a third-grade education, died when Sotomayor was nine years old. Her mother, a nurse, then raised Sotomayor and her younger brother, Juan, now a physician in Syracuse. After her father’s death, Sotomayor turned to books for solace, and it was her new found love of Nancy Drew that inspired a love of reading and learning, a path that ultimately led her to the law. Most importantly, at an early age, her mother instilled in Sotomayor and her brother a belief in the power of education. Driven by an indefatigable work ethic, and rising to the challenge of managing a diagnosis of juvenile diabetes, Sotomayor excelled in school. Sotomayor graduated as valedictorian of her class at Blessed Sacrament and at Cardinal Spellman High School in New York. She first heard about the Ivy League from her high school debate coach, Ken Moy, who attended Princeton University, and she soon followed in his footsteps after winning a scholarship. Judge Sotomayors Legal Realist Judicial Philosophy Formalism is an appealing view because it purports to validate the rule of law, in contrast to the rule of the men and women who serve as judges. If the judge is simply a vehicle for expressing the laws meaning, then when the judge interprets the law, the judge is not adding his or her own gloss, but rather simply applying the rules and standards previously chosen through democratic processes. For this reason, Justice Scalia, who has also espoused formalism, specifically associates it with the rule of law. Yet formalism has been under assault for over a century. Legal realists have long noted that the formalists view of the law is false, or at least radically incomplete. Even a legal realist will likely admit that, yes, in some very simple casesthe sort that are either never brought or that settle quicklythe formal legal materials uniquely determine the answer. However, legal realists point out that in the sorts of cases that reach appellate courts, and especially a court of last resort like the United States Supreme Court, there is usually a substantial gap or ambiguity in the law. That is the very reason why we need such courts, legal realists say. As the term legal realism suggests, legal realists believe that formalists are not being honest (perhaps, not even with themselves) when they disclaim any influence from their own values upon their judicial decisionmaking. Nor, they say, could matters be otherwise in a complex and evolving society in which legislators and constitution writers cannot possibly have anticipated all of the circumstances in which the provisions they wrote would be applied. The point was aptly made this way: The constant development of unprecedented problems requires a legal system capable of fluidity and pliancy. Our society would be strait-jacketed were not the courts, with the able assistance of the lawyers, constantly overhauling the law and adapting it to the realities of ever-changing social, industrial and political conditions; although changes cannot be made lightly, yet law must be more or less impermanent, experimental and therefore not nicely calculable. Much of the uncertainty of law is not an unfortunate accident: it is of immense social value. Who said that? None other than Judge Sonia Sotomayor, in a 1996 speech at Suffolk University Law School. Formalism, Legal Realism, and Judicial Empathy Knowing that Judge Sotomayor is a legal realist does not tell us everything about her judicial philosophy, but it does paint a vivid contrast with the formalism expressed by Justice Thomas and Chief Justice Roberts at their confirmation hearings. That contrast, in turn, makes sense of the controversy over President Obamas view that a Justice ought to have empathy. If one thinksas many conservative commentators apparently dothat formalism correctly describes American law, then empathy is irrelevant to judging. The judges job is simply to apply the formal legal materials. Empathy is no more useful to the formalist judge than it is to someone writing a dictionary. In each case, one is simply looking for the meaning of words. However, if one thinks that the legal realists have it right, then a broad capacity for empathy is crucial to judging. According to the legal realist view, in filling in the laws gaps and ambiguities, a judge will necessarily be making value-laden decisions that derive in part from her background and experience. The broader the background, and the greater her ability to step outside her own circumstances to see the laws effects on others, the greater will be the judges ability to, as Judge Sotomayor put it, adapt the law to the realities of ever-changing social, industrial and political conditions. Neither legal realism nor empathy alone constitutes the whole of Judge Sotomayors judicial philosophy. To fully appreciate her approach, it would be necessary to read a substantial number of the hundreds of opinions she has authored as a federal judge. But at least with a professed legal realist judge like Sotomayor, one knows where to begin. In an era when we are all too familiar with 5-4 Supreme Court decisions splitting along conservative/liberal lines, it is refreshing to have a nominee who does not pretend that her background and values have nothing to do with her legal decisions. The Case Against Sotomayor Sotomayor’s former clerks sing her praises as a demanding but thoughtful boss whose personal experiences have given her a commitment to legal fairness. â€Å"She is a rule-bound pragmatistvery geared toward determining what the right answer is and what the law dictates, but her general approach is, unsurprisingly, influenced by her unique background,† says one former clerk. â€Å"She grew up in a situation of disadvantage, and was able, by virtue of the system operating in such a fair way, to accomplish what she did. I think she sees the law as an instrument that can accomplish the same thing for other people, a system that, if administered fairly, can give everyone the fair break they deserve, regardless of who they are.† Her former clerks report that because Sotomayor is divorced and has no children, her clerks become like her extended familyworking late with her, visiting her apartment once a month for card games (where she remembers their favorite drinks), an d taking a field trip together to the premier of a Harry Potter movie. But despite the praise from some of her former clerks, and warm words from some of her Second Circuit colleagues, there are also many reservations about Sotomayor. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been talking to a range of people who have worked with her, nearly all of them former law clerks for other judges on the Second Circuit or former federal prosecutors in New York. Most are Democrats and all of them want President Obama to appoint a judicial star of the highest intellectual caliber who has the potential to change the direction of the court. Nearly all of them acknowledged that Sotomayor is a presumptive front-runner, but nearly none of them raved about her. They expressed questions about her temperament, her judicial craftsmanship, and most of all, her ability to provide an intellectual counterweight to the conservative justices, as well as a clear liberal alternative. The most consistent concern was that Sotomayor, although an able lawyer, was â€Å"not that smart and k ind of a bully on the bench,† as one former Second Circuit clerk for another judge put it. â€Å"She has an inflated opinion of herself, and is domineering during oral arguments, but her questions aren’t penetrating and don’t get to the heart of the issue.† (During one argument, an elderly judicial colleague is said to have leaned over and said, â€Å"Will you please stop talking and let them talk?†) Second Circuit judge Jose Cabranes, who would later become her colleague, put this point more charitably in a 1995 interview with The New York Times: She is not intimidated or overwhelmed by the eminence or power or prestige of any party, or indeed of the media. Her opinions, although competent, are viewed by former prosecutors as not especially clean or tight, and sometimes miss the forest for the trees. It’s customary, for example, for Second Circuit judges to circulate their draft opinions to invite a robust exchange of views. Sotomayor, several former clerks complained, rankled her colleagues by sending long memos that didn’t disti nguish between substantive and trivial points, with petty editing suggestionsfixing typos and the likerather than focusing on the core analytical issues. Some former clerks and prosecutors expressed concerns about her command of technical legal details: In 2001, for example, a conservative colleague, Ralph Winter, included an unusual footnote in a case suggesting that an earlier opinion by Sotomayor might have inadvertently misstated the law in a way that misled litigants. The most controversial case in which Sotomayor participated is Ricci v. DeStefano, the explosive case involving affirmative action in the New Haven fire department, which is now being reviewed by the Supreme Court. A panel including Sotomayor ruled against the firefighters in a perfunctory unpublished opinion. This provoked Judge Cabranes, a fellow Clinton appointee, to object to the panel’s opinion that contained â€Å"no reference whatsoever to the constitutional issues at the core of this case.† (The extent of Sotomayor’s involvement in the opinion itself is not publicly known.) Not all the former clerks for other judges I talked to were skep tical about Sotomayor. â€Å"I know the word on the street is that she’s not the brainiest of people, but I didn’t have that experience,† said one former clerk for another judge. â€Å"She’s an incredibly impressive person, she’s not shy or apologetic about who she is, and that’s great.† This supporter praised Sotomayor for not being a wilting violet. â€Å"She commands attention, she’s clearly in charge, she speaks her mind, she’s funny, she’s voluble, and she has ownership over the role in a very positive way,† she said. â€Å"She’s a fine Second Circuit judgemaybe not the smartest ever, but how often are Supreme Court nominees the smartest ever?† I haven’t read enough of Sotomayor’s opinions to have a confident sense of them, nor have I talked to enough of Sotomayor’s detractors and supporters, to get a fully balanced picture of her strengths. It’s possible that the former clerks and former prosecutors I talked to have an incomplete picture of her abilities. But they’re not motivated by sour grapes or by ideological disagreementthey’d like the most intellectually powerful and politically effective liberal justice possible. And they think that Sotomayor, although personally and professionally impressive, may not meet that demanding standard. Given the stakes, the president should obviously satisfy himself that he has a complete picture before taking a gamble. Racial Discrimination Judge Sotomayors most high-profile case, Ricci v. DeStefano, concerns white firefighters in New Haven who were denied promotions after an examination yielded no black firefighters eligible for advancement. Joining an unsigned opinion of a three-judge panel of the appeals court, Judge Sotomayor upheld the rejection of a lawsuit by white firefighters, one of them Hispanic, claiming race discrimination and, as part of the full appeals court, she declined to rehear the case. The Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s decision in a 5-to-4 vote. Judge Sotomayor dissented in part in an earlier case, Gant v. Wallingford Board of Education, finding that race discrimination had occurred when a school demoted a black child from first grade to kindergarten. Lawsuits Against Federal Contractors An opposition memo on Judge Sotomayor cites her ruling in a case about lawsuits against federal contractors to claim that she is willing to expand constitutional rights beyond the text of the Constitution. The case concerns an inmate who lived in a fifth-floor room while serving a federal prison sentence for securities fraud. He was allowed to use the elevator because of congestive heart failure, but when a guard had him climb the five flights, he had a heart attack, fell down the stairs and suffered an injury. He sued the company that ran the halfway house for the federal Bureau of Prisons. As part of the appeals court, Judge Sotomayor emphasized precedents that permitted suits against companies performing state government functions. The Supreme Court reversed Judge Sotomayor, ruling 5 to 4 that only individual agents, not corporations, may be sued for such violations. Justice Stevens joined by Justices Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer dissented. â€Å"Extending Bivens liability to reach private corporations furthers [its] overriding purpose: providing redress for violations of constitutional rights.† (Bivens was a 1971 Supreme Court case that allowed some people whose rights have been violated by federal agents to sue.) —Makesko v. Correctional Services Corporation, 2000 Related Documents * Makesko v. Correctional Services Corporation Top Environment In a defeat for environmental groups, the Supreme Court ruled this term that the Environmental Protection Agency may use cost-benefit calculations to decide whether to require power plants to make changes that could preserve aquatic organisms. The case mostly concerned the meaning of a phrase in the Clean Water Act that requires the power plants cooling structures to reflect the best technology available for minimizing adverse environmental impact. Judge Sotomayor had previously ruled that weighing the costs of the changes against the value of the organisms in dollars was not permitted by the law. Instead, the EPA could consider only what cost may reasonably be borne by the power plants. When her ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court, Justice John Paul Stevens, joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David H. Souter, dissented, saying that cost-benefit analysis was prohibited by the law and pernicious in practice. â€Å"Congress has already specified the relationship between cost and benefits in requiring that the technology designated by the EPA be the best available.† —Riverkeeper v. Environmental Protection Agency Related Documents * Riverkeeper v. Environmental Protection Agency (2007) Top Workplace Discrimination: Disabilities Some of Judge Sotomayors more prominent opinions on discrimination concern people with disabilities. In one case, Judge Sotomayor ruled that a law school graduate with a reading and learning disability was entitled to extra time in taking the bar exams. After the Supreme Court decided that people are not protected under the Americans With Disabilities Act if they can function normally by wearing glasses, taking medication or otherwise compensating for their disabilities, it told the Second Court to reconsider its decision in this case. Judge Sotomayor again found that the woman was disabled, and must be given accommodations, writing that test scores alone were not enough to diagnose a disability. Another case concerned a trucking company that rejected applicants who were taking some medications. Judge Sotomayor dissented from the majority, writing that Hunt, the company, had determined the applicants were substantially limited in the major life activity of working, and not, as the, majority found, merely unsuited for long-distance driving of Hunts 40-ton trucks on irregular stressful schedules. â€Å"By its very nature, diagnosing a learning disability requires clinical judgment.† —Bartlett v. New York State Board of Law Examiners Related Documents * Bartlett v. New York State Board of Law Examiners (1999) * E.E.O.C. v. J.B. Hunt Transport (2003) Top International Law Some of her Judge Sotomayors most notable decisions have come in child custody and complex business cases. One case concerned a child of divorced parents who lived in Hong Kong. The mother had sole custody of the child and the father had reasonable access. The mother took the child to New York, and the father filed a petition for return of the child to Hong Kong. A custody order said the child could not be removed from Hong Kong without the consent of the father or the Hong Kong court, and the case centered on whether this clause confers rights of custody under the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction. If it did, it would require the childs return to Hong Kong. On appeal, the court ruled the removal was not wrong because the father did not possess rights of custody. In her dissenting opinion, Judge Sotomayor argued that a broader interpretation of custody was more in line with the object and purpose of the Convention, and that this was how foreign courts had considered the issue. The question in this case, Croll v. Croll, is before the Supreme Court in Abbott v. Abbott. Another case concerned jurisdiction. Federal courts can hear cases between citizens of a State and citizens or subjects of a foreign state. According to British law, citizens of Bermuda are nationals, but not subjects. A panel found, therefore, that federal jurisdiction did not apply. Judge Sotomayor dissented, writing that the Constitution used citizen and subject to refer to a range of relationships. [ 1 ]. http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1910403,00.html [ 2 ]. http://articles.cnn.com/2009-07-14/politics/sotomayor.hearing_1_sotomayor-hearings-wise-latina-woman-hispanic-supreme-court?_s=PM:POLITICS [ 3 ]. http://articles.cnn.com/2009-05-26/politics/sotomayor.bio_1_judge-sonia-sotomayor-supreme-court-nancy-drew?_s=PM:POLITICS [ 4 ]. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Background-on-Judge-Sonia-Sotomayor/ [ 5 ]. http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dorf/20090603.html [ 6 ]. http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/the-case-against-sotomayor