Customer Service Essay - 1495 Words

Customer Service When assessing the quality of customer service, there are many methods of gaining information, it is said by Mclean-conner (2006) that generally a combination of different methods will provide the best knowledge of your customers. Transactional Survey Mclean-conner(2006) states that a transactional survey is only a survey of the customers that have been in recent contact with the company. These are said to run for no longer than a week at a time and should last around 15mins. These surveys†¦show more content†¦In the past companies have used a series of focus groups to test new ideas out on the customers and listen to what they would like from the company. By the last focus group the feedback from customers is positive and the company feel like they have done a good job. Customer meetings Mclean-conner (2006) says companies meet customers in various different ways ranging from individual meetings to group meeting in communities. The knowledge gained from these meetings is valuable in understanding and appreciating the issues customers may have about the company. When having individual meetings it is usually either to respond to a customers issue or to provide the company with updates on their initiatives. A disadvantage of this is the feedback from the meeting is only communicated to the employee and not the rest of the company who might benefit from it. It is also not used as data to learn about customer trends. A way to deal with this problem would be to hold regular staff meetings or have quick feedback sessions to find out what there hearing from the customers. Broad based customer satisfaction tracking studies Mclean-conner (2006) says companies use broad based customer satisfaction tracking studies to monitor there customers perceptions and progress inShow MoreRelatedCustomer Service2488 Words   |  10 PagesCustomer Service Research Paper Before I get into further analysis of my own personal experience, I am going to explain about different characteristics that are involved in customer service. Most businesses will tell you that quality customer service is the keystone to success. An essential component of outstanding customer service is the possession of a great staff. Larger companies may be weighed down by employee handbooks that specify the customer service guidelines. Independent, smaller businessesRead MoreCustomer Service2541 Words   |  11 Pagesï » ¿Customer Service at Datatronics Datatronics is an organization that serves their customers with Enterprise Resource Planning integrated solutions. Their growth is mainly attributed to acquisitions of smaller competitors. E-Z RP was such a company that despite its inferior size compared to Datatronics was able to succeed and outperform Datatronics on grounds of customer service and customer satisfaction. Datatronics recognized the fact and acquired E-Z RP with the aim to improve in that respectiveRead MoreCustomer Service Services And The Service Sector2162 Words   |  9 PagesSince+ the global economy embraced customer service, issues regarding levels of customer service have become more prominent in service organisations. Even now there are organisational managers with no training or knowledge of how organisations in the service sector require a high level of customer service. This is ignorance of the fact good customer service can create a competitive advantage; increase profit; efficiency; and increase staff a nd customer retention and satisfaction. Based on comprehensiveRead MoreCustomer Service And An Organization1445 Words   |  6 Pagescontinuously fail in customer service satisfaction for many reasons. As service failures are inevitable, it is important for companies, especially small businesses, to capitalize on learning the importance of reducing service failure. Just as the seed is the core of the fruit, customer service is the core of an organization; its meaning is the primary function for organizations to retain business and discover new ventures. Customer service is the primary source of business-to-customer communication andRead MoreCustomer Service Essay641 Words   |  3 Pagesto communicate with customers to identify and agree on product/ service specifications. It is crucial to be aware that customer expectations and needs will change from time to time and will be affected by market trends, fashions and changes in external environments. This means the business plans need to be adapted to changing needs of customers and is important that organisations communicate with its customers. Profiling is a method to understand the needs of the customers. Profiling enables organisationsRead MoreThe Etiquette Of Customer Service1601 Words   |  7 PagesThe Etiquette of Customer Service – Instructional Guide Overview Objective Key points How to say â€Å"I’m sorry† without apologizing in customer service? There are justifiable situations that require customer service representatives to say â€Å"I’m sorry† without apologizing. Situations include: a plan benefit that is not covered, denial of a pre-authorization, or an appeal denial. Session#1 I’m Sorry When this occurs, there are phrasesRead MoreCustomer Service Representatives1622 Words   |  7 PagesZappos. This is followed by a hierarchal ranking of the four major presenting problems for the company, which are: maintaining the â€Å"wow† image without overspending, inventory management/distribution problems, transportation efficiency problems and customer behavior problems. Each of these problems is addressed in more detail in the discussion section and the recommendations section at the end of the analysis. Prior to the conclusion and recommendations section, a list of possible strategic alternativesRead MoreCustomer Service At The Restaurant2103 Words   |  9 Pages†¢ Execute exceptional outstanding customer service by recruiting, leading and developing people and planning, organising, directing, controlling and evaluating all the operations of the restaurant to build sales and control costs to deliver optimum business results for the restaurant †¢ Understand, enforce and train Crew and Managers on all appropriate policies, award minimums, security and safety procedures. †¢ Modifying the operational procedures as per the requirement of the profitability of theRead MoreCustomer Service1186 Words   |  5 Pagessome companies aim to look after their customers well, ensuring that the customer is at the heart of their business and everything they do. In marketing terms this is called being customer focused. It is important to realise that customers can take their business anywhere they want to and if they are not satisfied they will take their business elsewhere. Therefore, it is very important to understand who our customers are, their expectations of the service they experience and how that effects futureRead MoreEssay on Customer Service1144 Words   |  5 PagesSection 1 – Understand the factors that affect an organisation and the customer service role 1. Complete the table below with a description of the products and services for at least two commercial organisations, public organisations and third sector organisations. Please ensure you provide a description for each organisation, rather than a list. Organisation type Name of organisation Description of products and services Commercial organisation Commercial organisation

New Ideas Into Essay Samples for Biomedical Engineering Never Before Revealed

New Ideas Into Essay Samples for Biomedical Engineering Never Before Revealed Essay Samples for Biomedical Engineering Can Be Fun for Everyone Some foreign universities require applicants to submit financial records of the prior years to ascertain the capacity of candidates to cover education and other expenditures. An advisor shall assist you with the admission procedure and also keep track of all of the deadlines. If you've got an educational advisor, he then shall also guide you. Take assistance from an advisor. The Basic Facts of Essay Samples for Biomedical Engineering Bioengineering has a large selection of applications in biomechanics, that's the study of the inner workings of the body, and clinical engineering. Biomedical engineering was created by advancements in technology. Biomedical engineers take part in the building of instruments, devices, and software. Biomedical technology was created by promotions in engineering. These prosthetics have the ability to withstand high forces and can restore a specific amount of movement to the patient. The important skills needed by a biomedical engineer include a well-rounded comprehension of many regions of engineering in addition to the particular region of application. To find out more about what things to anticipate from the study of medicine, take a look at our Study Medicine in the usa section. Holders of doctorate degrees often range in the area of academia too, a prospect that's equally as promising. Listed below are some of the colleges from where you are able to decide to pursue your program. Doctorate degrees are also extended in identical subjects. Biomedical engineering is thought to be among the fastest-growing branches of biology and medicine. Columbia's Biomedical Engineering department is on the frontier of scientific research and development in the biomedical area and that is just where I have to be. Biomechanics involves the study of mechanics, including thermodynamics, to fix biological or health care issues. The Fight Against Essay Samples for Biomedical Engineering Bioinformaticsis an umbrella term for numerous biological studies which use computers as part of their methodology. Although much headway has been created within this area in the previous twenty or so years, I feel there's a still a tendency in medicine to take care of diseases the same manner no matter who the patient is. When you bring your essay to a logical conclusion, do not neglect to provide credit to all of your sources and references. You will have to give evidence from academic so urces to back up your argument. It's an area of engineering that's gaining considerable recognition for its value to society. Any modern-day medical facility in concurrent times is predicted to have two principal constituents an expert medical professional and effective machinery. Therefore, the rate of job growth in the area might be in a position to sustain a considerable number of new entrants as the demand for people who specialize in this area of engineering increases. It is there that the importance of engineering for a branch enters the fore. It could sound odd but an important element of the job is having the ability to designing the pharmaceutical facility. Thus, there are a lot of challenges that the biomedical engineering field is facing that should be addressed for the field to keep growing later on. A number of the flyover rail lines have been so fascinating they have become tourist websites. For instance, a biomedical engineer who has developed a new device designed to enable an individual with a disability to walk again may have to devote hours in a hospital to find out whether the gadget works as planned. Essay Samples for Biomedical Engineering Ideas Carry on reading on to find out more about engineering resumes. Writing Cornell college of engineering essay may be an intimidating practice. Education is among the most diverse disciplines that any college offers, and there are a lot of approaches to start creating an education paper. Students are permitted to resend completed assignments for any rectificat ions as several times as they need with no excess charge. There are a few helpful strategies for writing an essay. Even in case you don't have experience with engineering, you can secure an expert aid in making your essay. There's much research and background study that must be done in-order to create a totally prosperous paper. Be certain that the style of writing is easy and simple to comprehend. Essay Samples for Biomedical Engineering: the Ultimate Convenience! Computer Engineering-Admission Procedure Level wise Taking admission abroad is certainly a tough endeavor but there are a couple of things you can do in order to make things easier. The Resume Summary is where you are able to discover different facts about the candidate. Deadlines are extremely essential as missing these dates may lead to the termination of the application.

HR Strategy Employed at County General

Question: Describe about the HR Strategy Employed at County General? Answer: HR Strategy Employed at County General Internal Orientation The HR strategy pursued by the Count General is internal labor orientation. The reason is that the increased turnover that is experienced is causing the organization a lot of losses in terms of manpower as well as finances. According to Tortosa Edo et al. (2015), when there are increased turnover in the organization there is a message passed to the organization. The HR strategy is to take care of attrition that occurs due to the labor market. Employees get prone to looking for organizations that offer competitive remuneration. It is with this that the organization through the HR section need to re-examine at the employees remuneration, so that best employee gets retained (Tortosa Edo et al., 2015), Programs to Reduce Turn-over To reduce high turnover experienced, the organization needs to employ programs that make employees stay on the job. These are programs that create an environment that employees will not have the option of leaving the company. The following two programs are best in reducing turnover in the organization. Flexibility Program First is flexibility program. It permits employees to feel that they are of value in the organization; illustrate that their needs get recognized as well as respected. The type of program gives the picture of the organization and thus the prospects. The presentation of work-life balance where there is flexible time is an aspect that creates competitiveness in hiring as well as retaining workforces (Ramaseshan, 2015). On-boarding Program The other aspect of the program that requires being implemented is the onboarding program. It is a type of program that acclimatizes the employee into the culture of the company, essential training, and the expectations that are needed so that they succeed in new positions. The program is essential in that it save the organization in constant investment in workforces who are not suitable for the job (Ramaseshan, 2015). The Stakeholders Benefits of Reducing Turnover The stakeholders are the people who are connected to the company in one way or another. They make the business run since each of them has a role to play. These roles are unique, and the company processes will not run without the stakeholder. There is the reduction of expenses that an organization during recruitment of new employees. When the turnover is low, the organization saves and cut costs that are not expected to take place. The stakeholders, in the long run, will get enhanced proceeds. Additionally, since best talents get retained, clients service provision will not be hindered and hence constant customer flow is constant. On the side of employees, work is not hindered as well. The employees will get to deliver work as expected since all employees are working on assigned task that does not overwhelm. The assurance is that there is productivity which increases. It, in turn, direct to high sales volume to the organization. On the part of management, there will be less administrative costs that come along with employees like healthcare, exit interviews, orientation as well as the costs of training (Schenkel et al., 2015). References Ramaseshan, B. (2015). Effects of realistic job information and interviewer affect on retail employee turnover. In Proceedings of the 1994 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 181-181). Springer International Publishing. Schenkel, M., Krikke, H., Canils, M. C., van der Laan, E. (2015). Creating integral value for stakeholders in closed loop supply chains. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management. Tortosa Edo, V., Llorens-Monzons, J., Moliner-Tena, M. ., Snchez-Garca, J. (2015). The influence of internal market orientation on external outcomes: the mediating role of employees' attitudes. Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 25(4).

session long project Essay Example

session long project Essay Session Long Project Name: Course: Institution: We will write a custom essay sample on session long project specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on session long project specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on session long project specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Instructor: Date: Session Long Project TRICARE is a health care program under the United States Department of Defense Military Health System. It was previously known as the Civilian Health Program of the Uniformed Services. It was formed to provide civilian health services to the military Personnel and their dependents. The program is managed by the TRICARE Management Activity with authority from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense. After the World War 2, there were major constraints in terms of the resources available at the Military health facilities. These inadequacies prompted the United States Congress to enact a legislation that allows the Secretary for Defense to contract private health care providers to provide their services to the military personnel. TRICARE health program is divided into several unique options; they include TRICARE Standard, TRICARE Extra, TRICARE Prime, TRICARE Reserve Select, TRICARE Reserve Retired, and TRICARE for Life and TRICARE Young Adult and others (Humana 2011). TRICARE Standard is the basic option that is usually available to active duty personnel, retirees from the active component of the armed forces and retirees from the Reserve component who are 60 years or older and their dependents if they are eligible to access the services. It is however, not available to active service personnel. TRICARE standard enables the beneficiary to have access to medical services using any civilian health care provider in the country. This program is provided for by the government. The beneficiary only contributes to cost sharing, deductibles and an allowable charge. The beneficiary accesses health services on a pay to access service basis. The plan allows the beneficiary to access any medical facility and specialized care without prior approval from a primary care manager. The beneficiary contributes to medical costs by paying 25% of the allowable charges and all other related institutional costs that were not included as per the TRICARE agreement. Non-net work providers may charge 15% above the TRICARE allowable charges (Humana 2011). However, TRICARE beneficiaries have limitations in regards from whom they seek treatment.Treatment can be from non-network providers and network providers. Network providers are in contract with the TRICARE Management Authority to provide healthcare. In addition, non-network providers offer healthcare at additional costs because they are not registered to file for claims in regards to the services offered. However, TRICARE services do not cover certain conditions such as psychiatric treatment for sexual dysfunction, obesity, cosmetic disfiguration, physical therapy and others. In the event that an individual loses his coverage, a certificate of creditable coverage is issued to him individually, and the rest of his dependents to show that they were previously covered with TRICARE. The certificate serves the purpose of being in the records so as not to be excluded from new plans in relation to pre-existing conditions. Health insurance Portability and Accountability provides for settlement of claims for the members of in insurance by the United States Labor Department. It provides for the protection of rights of coverage under certain groups. It also protects the users from discrimination due to their medical conditions. Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) provides for workers that they can continue with their group health benefits for minimum periods because of certain unavoidable circumstances such as the loss of employment, divorce, death, paralysis and other occurrences, even after they lose such benefits. In conclusion, the United States has an overall good and stable health system for their workers. However, there is a need for reform to address certain issues for those in service to the country. The United States government should give those in the line access or comprehensive insurance coverage. It is because; they dedicate their lives to defending the country, which is a very difficult task. Therefore, in turn the government should reciprocate such selfless actions and give them the dignity they deserve to access adequate and quality healthcare without pay or at considerable rates. Alternatively, the government can even provide more funding to programmes such as TRICARE to accommodate a larger bracket of people who serve this country with great pride and dedication of duty adequate healthcare

100 Spanish Words You Should Know

100 Spanish Words You Should Know Obviously, youre not going to be able to say everything you want to say with only 100 Spanish words - although you could do surprisingly well with fewer than 1,000. But if you can learn these 100 words and understand how theyre used, youll be a long way toward being able to communicate freely in Spanish. Definitions below are for quick reference; all the words can be translated in additional ways. Top 100 Spanish Words 1. gracias (thanks)2. ser (be)3. a (to)4. ir (to go)5. estar (to be)6. bueno (good)7. de (of, from)8. su (your, her, his, their)9. hacer (to do, to make)10. amigo (friend)11. por favor (please)12. no (no)13. en (on, in)14. haber (to have as an auxiliary verb)15. tener (to have, to possess)16. un, uno, una (a, one)17. ahora (now)18. y (and)19. que, quà © (that, what)20. por (for, by)21. amar (to love)22. quià ©n (who)23. para (for, to)24. venir (to come)25. porque (because)26. el, la, los, las (the)27. antes (before)28. ms (more)29. bien (well as an adverb)30. aquà ­, allà ­ (here, there)31. querer (to want, to love)32. hola (hello)33. tà º (you)34. poder (to be able)35. gustar (to be pleasing)36. poner (to put)37. casi (almost)38. saber (to know)39. como (like, as)40. donde (where)41. dar (to give)42. pero (but)43. se (itself, herself, himself, themselves)44. mucho (much)45. nuevo (new)46. cuando (when)47. chico, chica (boy, girl)48. entender (to understand)49. si (if)50.  o ( or)51. feliz (happy)52. todo (all, every)53. mismo (same)54. muy (very)55. nunca (never)56. yo, me (I, me)57. sà ­ (yes)58. grande, gran  (big, great)59. deber (to owe, should)60. usted (you)61. bajo (low, under)62. otro (other)63. salir (to leave)64. hora (hour; see also lesson on telling time)65. desde (from)66. ver (to see)67. malo, mal (bad)68. pensar (to think)69. hasta (until)70. tanto, tan (used in making comparisons)71. entre (between, among)72. durante (during)73. llevar (to wear, to carry)74. siempre (always)75. empezar (to begin)76. à ©l, ella, ellos, ellas (he, she, they)77. leer (to read)78. cosa (thing)79. sacar (to take out, to remove)80. conocer (to know)81. primero (first)82. andar (to walk)83. sobre (over, about)84. echar (to throw)85. sin (without)86. decir (to say)87. trabajar (to work)88. nosotros (we, us)89. tambià ©n (also)90. adià ³s (goodbye)91. comer (to eat)92. triste (sad)93. paà ­s (country)94. escuchar (to listen, to listen to)95. hombre (man)96. mujer (woman)97. le (in direct-object pronoun)98. creer (to believe, to think)99. encontrar (to find)100. beber (to drink) And a Few More Here are some other words that very well could have made the list: 101. hablar (to speak)102. ese, esa (demonstrative that; also see the demonstrative pronouns)103. baà ±o (bathroom)104. despuà ©s (afterwards, later)105. gente (people)106. ciudad (city)106. sentir (to feel)107. llegar (to arrive)108. pequeà ±o (small)109. escribir (to write)110. aà ±o (year)111. menos (minus, except)112. lo (various uses)113. cual (that, which)114. este, esta (this)115. dejar (to leave)116. parte (part)117. nada (nothing)118.  cada (each)119. seguir (to continue, to follow)120. partir (to divide)121. ya (still, already)122. parecer (to seem)

Tapping into the Christian Market

Tapping into the Christian Market Tapping into the Christian Market Tapping into the Christian Market By Guest Author This is a guest post by Barbara Youree. If you want to write for Daily Writing Tips check the guidelines here. If your goal is to be published somewhere- anywhere- to build up credits that will open the door to larger publications, the religious market is a good place to begin. Study the market Determine what publishers are looking for and where you will fit in. Many religious/spiritual magazines are limited to a single denomination, whereas others attract a general audience. All religious publications operate according to a particular slant- from conservative to liberal. Some are family oriented. Others focus on world events with a peace/justice theme. Studying Writers’ Market and leafing through magazines in a library or bookstore are good ways to begin. Find a publication that looks like a comfortable fit for you. My focus here is on magazines, but the same principles apply to books, on-line writing, flyers, and tracts. Content Most magazines reserve their articles on theology for recognized religious leaders such as professional ministers, priests, rabbis or others, but almost all have plenty of space for other writers. Many editors seek first-person stories about faith or personal spiritual experiences. These can be your own, or those of someone you know or have interviewed. Some to consider: Angels on Earth and Alive Now! Additionally, most religious magazines accept articles on travel, child rearing, finance, health and other topics of general interest. In such articles there is no need to mention God or make any religious reference at all. The writer simply needs to keep the tone clean and family friendly. Some examples are Mature Living and Parents Teens. A few, including Christian Century and Sojourners accept poetry. Avoid â€Å"religious† language You may be surprised to learn that the quickest path to rejection of a piece for the religious market is the use of religious terminology. Even denominational magazines hope â€Å"non-churched† people will read their articles. Instead of â€Å"washed in the blood of the lamb,† say something like, â€Å"awareness of a higher being.† Rather than she â€Å"loved her neighbor as herself,† tell how she always asked people about their concerns and offered to pet-sit for the elderly person during his hospital stay. Keep the wording as broad and as inclusive as possible. For most publications, use the word spiritual rather than religious, God rather than Jesus, and scriptures rather than Bible. Like love, religion is difficult to write about without using clichà ©s or maudlin sentimentality. Editors of religious publications appreciate articles on spirituality that are fresh and insightful, written in lively, non-churchy English. If you can offer that, opportunities abound. Barbara Youree has written extensively for the religious market. In addition to numerous magazine articles, she has authored four historical Christian romances and six children’s books about missionary children and their friendship with their peers in foreign countries. Courageous Journey, Walking the Lost Boys Path from the Sudan to America is her latest nonfiction book. She makes her home in Rogers Arkansas. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Freelance Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How Many Tenses in English?Broadcast vs Broadcasted as Past FormConversational Email

Case Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Case Management - Essay Example This system has five (5) essential features: (1) Identification of eligible patients, (2) Assessment, (3) Development of an individual care plan, (4) Implementation of care plan, and (5) Monitoring of outcome. In brief, case management can be delivered as a single intervention or as part of a multi-component intervention (Guide to Community Preventive Services, 2002). Some of the factors that increases interest in case management includes the rapidly escalating population of managed care contracts and the increase of patients who are chronically ill and require continuous costly care. The ability to capture and maintain appropriate information to allow high levels of collaboration between care managers, financial managers and payers are crucial in case management. Combining clinical and financial records is necessary in developing an effective case management program (Cerner & HFMA, 2006). Efforts in controlling healthcare quality and cost need to be an absolute commitment from both governance and senior leadership that balances approach to quality and financial outcome. Case management is a part of an overall process of improving the quality of care provided by an organization. It needs active engagement and passion of senior leaders because separation between business goals and clinical goals must be eliminated.The physician who functions as a medical director, a nurse who functions as a full time clinical officer or case manager and a hospital administrator should set clinical improvement goals together and discuss how to best manage quality health care. Accountability must be established and designed to review clinical and financial outcomes. However, providing sound clinical and financial information in timely manner is essential to the process. Electronic medical records revolutionize health care due to the availability of evidenced-based protocols and pharmaceutical applications that gives easy access to practitioners the best research on a specific disease condition. Most hospitals have computerized electronic hospital information system that helps administrators collect and analyze financial data and electronic medical records for clinical data. But the two systems are not linked. Combining the data from both systems is seen as a necessary ingredient in effective clinical and financial case management A combined system can also schedule appropriate resources needed to provide services. These electronic systems help case managers streamline the process of verifying the level of care the patient requires and the willingness of the his insurance carrier to reimburse the hospital for that care (Yoder-Wise, 1999). Scientific studies continue to document that poor care is being delivered despite significant amount of money spent in providing care service. Ineffective and inconsistent care leads to bad outcomes and higher costs due to the absence of an organized approach to management (Harrison, Nolan, & Sucro, 2004). Some experts state that case management improves the quality of care by

Demonstrative Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Demonstrative Communication - Essay Example As we have defined communication, we can now delve into the definition of demonstrative communication. A very simple definition of demonstrative communication is the communication that takes place without any use of words. It includes both unwritten and non-verbal communication. There are many components of demonstrative communication such as tone of voice, posture, gesture and most importantly a person’s facial expressions among others. In order to better understand demonstrative communication let us consider an example. Let’s suppose that Simon is an entrepreneur and has a business that manufactures and sells tires. One day while sitting in the office he receives a call that his import shipment of rubber from India has been delayed by a week because of bad weather and heavy monsoon rains in India. This is bad news and makes Simon angry. To vent his anger, Simon slams the phone receiver down and begins pacing his office, his shoulders drooped and a worried look on his face. Paula, his assistant, has some more bad news. She nervously walks to Simon’s office and knocks. Simon gives her a menacing look and beckons her to come in. Paula then tells him that the lucrative deal, he had been working on since last week, with a major car dealer could not get through and the dealer had sent a letter refusing his proposal this morning. Simon clenches his fists and in a restrained and tired voice tells Paula to leave him alone and not disturb him for the day. The above is a perfect example of demonstrative communication. Although not directly visible, we can infer from Simons actions (the drooped shoulders, slamming of the receiver, pacing the office, clenched fists), facial expression (menacing look) and tone of voice (restrained and tired) that he is very angry and worried after hearing the bad news. Demonstrative communication can be used along with verbal communication to convey one’s message more clearly. For example when greeting someone a nd saying ‘Pleased to meet you’ will be less effective than not only saying ‘Pleased to meet you’ but also shaking the other person’s hand warmly and giving them a smile that really shows we are pleased to meet them. Demonstrative communication can only be effective if both the verbal and non-verbal message convey the same meaning. For example if some uninvited guest comes to our place then we may greet them jovially however our facial expression may show that we are unhappy on the guests’ arrival. Demonstrative communication also proves to be ineffective when there are different interpretations of non-verbal communication in different countries. For example in Sri Lanka shaking one’s head from side to side means a yes and nodding of the head means a no (totally opposite from the American meaning), in China biting one’s nails is considered disgusting while in America it is looked upon as a sign of insecurity and nervousness (Morr ison, Conaway & Borden 1972). Some examples of positive demonstrative communication include smiling, dressing neatly and jovial voice while negative demonstrative communication includes an aggressive tone and a frowning or scowling face. Demonstrative communication can be used to interpret other people’s behavior and using those interpretations to make our own responses. This involves observing and understanding people’s actions whilst they interact with you and then deciding on one’

Family in African-American Literature Essay Example for Free

Family in African-American Literature Essay In literary pieces such as Alice Walker’s story â€Å"Everyday Use†, Langston Hughes’ â€Å"My People†, and Robert Hayden’s poem â€Å"Those Winter Sundays†, the theme of family relationships is significantly evident. In â€Å"Everyday Use†, Walker presents one stage and aspect of a family life when one adult child chooses to live on her own while the other one stays with the family. Hughes’ poem portrays his love for his people which he considers to be a family as a whole. Meanwhile, Hayden’s â€Å"Those Winter Sundays†, talks about the narration and description of a boy about his father whom he is not well acquainted with. As the first piece speaks of a story about a family in relation to their heritage, the latter speaks of a boy’s reminiscence of a father who was never able to show his love directly to his children. These two aspects of family relationships reveal several angles to look upon.   Such family situations are influenced by authors’ own race and heritage. Alice Walker portrays the story of a fully grown-up daughter, Dee, who goes back to home to her home to visit her mother, Mrs. Johnson and her younger sister, Maggie. She arrives accompanied by an African American Muslim man who is currently dating her. She comes home to collect some family possessions which she intends to turn into artistic pieces to be exhibited in a museum. Meanwhile, her sister Maggie grimaces as her sister takes some of their personal belongings including a quilt that her mother has promised to give her as a wedding present. Dee tells her mother that Maggie would only ruin the quilt by using it everyday which puzzles Mrs. Johnson as she could not think of any way to use the quilt than to spread them. When Mrs. Johnson sees the sadness in her younger daughter’s eyes upon Dee taking the quilt, she snatches it away and gives it to Maggie. Dee walks away after claiming that their problem is they do not understand their own heritage (Walker). In this story, Walker portrays a family whose eldest daughter has become estranged from them. In the first part of the story, Mrs. Johnson recounts how Dee had hated living in their house and even almost set it on fire when she was young. The concept of a dysfunctional family is quite present here; however, it focuses more on the mother-child relationship rather than every member of the family. It is important to note that Walker made use of the damaged relationship of Dee to her mother and sister to show and illustrate the different types of African American people. On the other hand, Langston Hughes shows his love and appreciation for his people in his poem â€Å"My People†. He does not speak of family but his tone and use of words make it seem as if he is speaking of his beloved family. â€Å"The night is beautiful, / So the faces of my people† (lines 1-2). The possessive pronoun â€Å"my† indicates a certain intimacy between him and â€Å"his† people which is usually used for referring to a small group of people who shares something intimate and common such as â€Å"my family†. In this regard, Hughes speaks highly of his race as if he is talking about a family he loves most. â€Å"The stars are beautiful, /  So the eyes of my people† (3-4). The comparison of his people to the heavens indicates the depth of his love and care for them as he would to his family. â€Å"Beautiful, also, is the sun. / Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people† (5-6). In the poem â€Å"Those Winter Sundays†, it can be assumed that Robert Hayden personally speaks through the voice of the speaker in his poem â€Å"Those Winter Sundays†. His distant relationship with his father is evident. In this melancholic poem, he narrates about the concealed appreciation of a son for his father’s acts of love by means of writing it in a prose. The narrator tells about the labors of his father even on a cold winter Sunday. However, in the poem, the speaker emphasizes that his father’s great efforts are usually ignored. The title of the poem itself already suggests a background for the readers. The speaker is obviously focused only on the â€Å"winter Sundays† and why it means too much work for the father. In the first stanza of the poem, the detailed description of the speaker’s father is very noticeable. He illustrated him by means of mentioning his physical condition as he works on cold Sundays. He could have described it in a clearer way by going straight to the point.   Nevertheless, he expressed his father’s poor countenance in a way that the reader can visualize the father’s hands cracked hands and the busy Sundays. The first two lines of the poem somewhat develops a thesis that would cover the whole idea in the poem. â€Å"Sundays too my father got up early / And put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,† (1-2). Sundays should be a day of rest but the speaker stresses that his father still wakes up even before the sun rose to go to work. He further highlights the weary countenance of his father as he describes his father’s â€Å"cracked hands that ached / from labor in the weekday weather made / Banked fires blaze† (3-5). The poem further shows how heartbreaking the father’s situation must be by writing the last line of the first stanza with, â€Å"No one ever thanked him† (5). With the last line, it is reasonable to consider that the speaker is one of those people who failed to thank him. In this regard, it can be assumed that the speaker is already in his old or middle age when he remembers how his father has shown him love in his own way. Clearly, these renowned African-American writers have frequently used the theme of family relationships to further address the problems of their society. The issues of racism, nationalism, and love are the implicit ideas which are present in the three literary pieces discussed. These authors portrays different types of African-American families which serves as the representation of the current society that they are in. since the family is the basic unit of society, it is the primary target of societal effects such as racism and other social issues. Every problem of the society can become the problem of the family which is why the most meaningful literary works of art somewhat involves the theme of family relationships. Works Cited Hayden, Robert. â€Å"Those Winter Sundays.† The Oxford Anthology of African-American Poetry. Ed. Arnold Rampersad, Hilary Herbold. United States of America: Oxford University Press US, 2006. 261. Hughes, Langston. â€Å"My People.† Poem Hunter. 19 April 2009. http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/my-people/ Walker, Alice. Everyday Use. Ed. Barbara Christian. United States of America: Rutgers University Press, 1994.

Romeo And Juliet Essay -- essays research papers

The story, Romeo and Juliet carried a constant theme of love and death. William Shakespeare wrote this play with several different ideas in mind. He tried to have a romance story that still incorporated violence as well as comedy making a play that all classes of people would enjoy. He succeeded by making one of the most famous plays of all time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Immediately as the play is commenced, the plot of the story is unfolded. The chorus begins revealing the story about two equal ranked families, battling over an ancient grudge carried out from their ancestors. The theme of fighting is already revealed in the opening line to the story. Following the line of fighting and anger comes the second theme, love. Shakespeare writes about two “star - crossed lovers,'; referring to Romeo and Juliet. The term “star – crossed lovers,'; sets the reoccurring theme of love and death and represents the entire play in those three words.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Romeo and Juliet met one night at a party where they immediately fell desperately in love at first sight. Both were happily in love until they found they were in love with their enemy. The theme of teenage rebellion becomes an issue at this point. Romeo and Juliet love each other but this love is rejected throughout their families being both their families have had a grudge carried out from their ancestors. The only way for Romeo and Juliet to have a relationship is to keep ...

My Thoughts About Travelling

I want to travel. I want to travel to any places, especially those popular with backpack tour. I’ve been asked, why do you want to travel? Well, I told him that I want to learn new things. Things like what? Things where our own country and home doesn't have. What do you mean by that? Any difference of our country and other countries? Well, of course there are. At least I want to see how the people lives at other countries. I want to see what our differences are, and what our similarities are as well. I can know how does their country work and operate.Travelling is also, a way to relieve stress. So, why not travel? And also, you learn how to live in different conditions, in different ways, in different environment, surrounded by different people. You can learn how to communicate and interact with different people. You'll be amused by how other people respond to problems, what they think about issues. What do they think they should do to improve either themselves or the country? Travelling is also a challenge in a way, as it trains both our mentality and physicality.In my opinion, it can broaden our mind as we can gain experience from our travelling. There's a saying, which I guess everyone had heard of before: Don't be a frog in the well. Because if we do, we are limiting ourselves to many other part and aspects of life that could have gone much better than you can imagine, and that's if you choose to be that way, 'cause there's no certainty if you'll do better, because life, has its ups and downs, how you want it to be, all depends on how you want it to be and how u respond and handle it.True story. Alright, let's go back to travelling. Hmmm†¦ In a way, I do think that travelling brings out our true personality and character. Whether you're travelling alone or with some buddies, in travelling, most of the time, there's no doubt that you'll be letting yourself enjoy every moment of it. And that's where your true personality and character show itself. Hence, to be honest, I just realized that's what I want to achieve of all this time, finding my true self.And I believe that's what life's purpose, finding our own selves. So, I’m kind of out of juice after writing this passage, it's just what I thought about travelling. I just simply can't imagine any disadvantage of it, except that it requires a lot of money, but I still believe there's some way to travel without much costing. So, you got any suggestion for me? I really appreciate it. But, no matter how, I’ll still be travelling, no matter where it is. Thanks for reading.

My doc

Two boys who live In the same town, one being a small and often diminished boy, Owen Meany and the other Johnny Wheelwright who loses his mother early In his life. It is narrated by Johnny himself, in which he describes how Owen altered his fate in god. The whole affair begins during a little league baseball game, when Owen hits a foul ball that unfortunately strikes Johnny's Mom in the head, in turn killing her. After this event Johnny lives in different homes, however he and Owen remain good friends and together overcome many obstacles throughout their lives.Johnny tells his story to show the reader how powerful it can be to have a friend who is so inspirational and well guided, to promote his fate in god, and to show how magnificent of a person Owen Meany is. A Reason for Johnny narrating the story Is that even thought Owen kills his mother, his only link to knowing who his father Is, he still manages to remain friends with Meany. This shows how much trust and admiration Johnny ha s for Owen. Throughout the novel, Owen continues to baffle Johnny with his â€Å"God Given† knowledge.Each time Owen assists Johnny; It makes Johnny want to become closer to god as he feels his friend is blessed. For example Johnny does not wish to join the army during the Vietnam war, and Meany ensures this wont happen as he convinces Johnny that cutting of his finger will exempt him from enlisting. This is Owen watching out for his best friend. This event is connected in Johnny's reason for telling his story because if it wasn't for Owen thought of amputating his finger, he could have ended up a statistic; one of the 58 thousand dead American soldiers.Owen however showed great courage and enlisted as a usually assistance officer, were he transported dead soldiers to there families. Early on In Johnny's life Owen assures him that God will gulled him to finding out whom his father Is. Throughout Owens life he considers himself to be â€Å"Gods Instrument†, as he Is sen t messages from god such as the fact that he This strong connection with God that Owen preaches throughout his life is another reason for Johnny to share his story of growing up with Meany. Owens messages from God begin in a school play were he invasions his gravestone, as he plays a ghost.Him playing a ghost is also a hint at his foreseeable death. He believes he is destined for a heroic death. Him and Johnny begin to practice a basketball move called â€Å"The Shot†, in which Johnny lifts Owen too the hoop, and Owen dunks. This move is later used to save the lives of several young boys, and Johnny. When the two pals meet later in there lives when Owen Is on duty in Arizona guiding refugee's to living areas, a patriotic teen tries to blow up a group of refugee Vietnamese children who Johnny and Owen are escorting. The grenade lands In Owens hands.As it does, he tells Johnny that the shot was practiced for this moment and Johnny does the move and lifts Owen too a window, whil e Owen chucks the live grenade out of the window. Due to the explosion Owen is killed, however he saves the bystanders in the process. This Owens actions and that he lead him towards a heroic and mind-blowing exit. A last and final reason why Johnny tells his heart breaking story, is that before Owens funeral at there hometown of Gravesend, Johnny stops by the reverend's office to talk o him and what happens next changes Wheelwrights life forever.Owen Meany's ghost possesses the reverend, and proceeds to tell Johnny that the reverend in fact is his father. Owen also tells Johnny that the reverend prayed for the foul ball to kill his mother, and in vengeance, god has turned from the reverend. This event, shows Just how divine Owen was, but what Owens father would tell Johnny soon after would solidify everything Johnny believed. Johnny pays a visit to Mr.. Meany, and is told by him that Owen was a virgin birth, Just like Jesus Christ.It all is clear to him now, the vision of the tombs tone, the shot and now this, Owen really was a messenger of God. Johnny Wheelwright tells the magnificent story of living along side Owen Meany to reveal to you, the reader, what a blessed individual the small and dwarfed Owen Meany was. He tells his account to display how somebody can be so close and intimate with God, and how Owen truly changed his life for the better. The events that took place during Johnny's life could only have been so, if it wasn't for the God favored boy, Owen Meany.

Que es WIC y como solicitar esta ayuda para nutrición

Que es WIC y como solicitar esta ayuda para nutricià ³n WIC es un programa de ayuda para que embarazadas, lactantes, mams recientes, infantes y nià ±os menores de 5 aà ±os  puedan adquirir alimentos y asà ­ asegurar una buena nutricià ³n. En este artà ­culo se explica quià ©nes pueden beneficiarse, cà ³mo solicitar esta ayuda y sus posibles efectos migratorios. Quà © personas pueden calificar para esta ayuda Mujeres embarazadasMujeres que alimentan con leche materna  durante el primer aà ±o del bebà ©Mujeres que recià ©n tuvieron a su hijo durante los seis meses  siguientes al parto o finalizà ³ el embarazo y que no alimentan con leche maternaInfantes menores de un aà ±oNià ±os/as menores de cinco aà ±os Quà © requisitos de ingresos se piden Este beneficio es para las personas mencionadas que tienen pocos ingresos. Pero,  ¿cun pocos? La respuesta es que depende del estado en el que se vive. La ley federal  Ã‚  dice que pueden beneficiarse las personas que vivan en un hogar familia con ingresos inferiores al 185 por ciento de lo que cada aà ±o se establece  como là ­nea de la pobreza. Sin embargo, algunos estados permiten recibir estos beneficios aunque se tengan ingresos superiores, como por ejemplo el 100 por 100 de la là ­nea de la pobreza, por lo que hay que comprobar la norma que aplica. Adems, si se recibe ayuda por otros beneficios como por ejemplo Medicaid, TANF o SNAP se puede calificar automticamente para WIC. Quà © requisito de estatus migratorio es necesario para calificar para WIC No es necesario tener estatus migratorio legal (es decir, pueden aplicar los indocumentados). Tampoco es necesario ser residente permanente ni ciudadano. Otros requisitos para calificar para WIC Todos los aplicantes de WIC deben pasar consulta y someterse a un anlisis de sangre con un nutricionista, mà ©dico o enfermera, que es quien tienen que declarar que dichas personas estn en situacià ³n de riesgo nutricional. Por ejemplo, porque pesa menos de lo considerado normal, tiene anemia, sigue una dieta pobre y no saludable o, en el caso de mujeres embarazadas, tienen un historial de embarazos problemticos. Adems, durante el proceso de certificacià ³n se verificar si los nià ±os e infantes han recibido las vacunas mà ­nimas. En el caso de que su calendario de vacunacià ³n no està © completo se le referir a un centro sanitario para recibirlas. Recibir el WIC,  ¿puede perjudicar para otro tipo de beneficios migratorios? Este punto es importante porque las autoridades de Inmigracià ³n o los consulados pueden negar a una persona:  si se considera que dicha persona puede convertirse en una carga pà ºblica (public charge, en inglà ©s). Por lo tanto, en estos casos se podrà ­a poner en riesgo situaciones como: la aprobacià ³n de una visala autorizacià ³n para reingresar a los Estados Unidosla aprobacià ³n de la tarjeta de residencia (green card)adquisicià ³n de la ciudadanà ­a mediante el trmite de naturalizacià ³n. Pero es muy importante tener claro que WIC no afecta a la declaracià ³n de carga pà ºblica. Es decir, se puede solicitar y aceptar este beneficio, siempre y cuando se cumplan los requisitos, sin temor a que afecte en el futuro en asuntos migratorios.   Esto es asà ­ tambià ©n en otro tipo de beneficios pà ºblicos en los que no hay entrega de dinero, como por ejemplo cupones de alimentos (food stamps) o vivienda pà ºblica. Quà © se puede recibir si este beneficio es aprobado En la mayorà ­a de los estados los beneficiarios reciben cheques, vouchers o una tarjeta (EBT) para la compra de determinado tipo de alimentos como por ejemplo leche, huevos, jugos, peanut butter, cereales, frà ­joles, vegetales, fruta, pan integral y comidas para bebà ©s. Si bien esta forma de acceso a WIC es la ms comà ºn, en algunos estados todavà ­a se distribuyen cajas de alimentos entre los beneficiados. En algunos casos hay que ir a buscarlas a un almacà ©n, en otros se envà ­an a las casas de los beneficiarios. Adems, se intenta potenciar la lactancia materna, mediante ayuda para enseà ±ar los mejores mà ©todos para practicarla y tambià ©n alargando el tiempo que se puede recibir este beneficio para las madres que alimentan a sus bebà ©s con su propia leche. Sin embargo, cuando à ©sta no es una opcià ³n se puede comprar fà ³rmula para lactantes, que tiene que ser la marca que establece cada estado.   Cà ³mo se solicita el WIC Se aplica en el estado en el que se reside y en la oficina que corresponde al lugar de residencia. Aquà ­ est la lista de telà ©fonos gratuitos a los que marcar en cada estado para solicitar una cita. Adems, aquà ­ est la lista de la oficina central en cada estado, con correo electrà ³nico para comunicarse y enlace a la pgina oficial estatal, con los sus requisitos (incluye Puerto Rico y otros territorios, el Distrito de Columbia y las tribus de las naciones indà ­genas). A tener muy en cuenta En ocasiones, a pesar de calificar no se puede recibir el WIC. Esto es asà ­ cuando en una agencia local que gestiona este programa se ha llegado al là ­mite permitido. En estos casos se establece un sistema de prioridades sobre quià ©n debe recibir la ayuda y quià ©n no. A consecuencia de ello, algunas personas podrà ­an quedar excluidas. Segà ºn los à ºltimos datos, el aà ±o pasado se beneficiaron de este programa 7,696,439 personas. El coste del programa en el à ºltimo aà ±o fiscal, pendiente de datos finales, fue de $1,946,286,967 incluidos gastos de alimentacià ³n y administrativos. De interà ©s para padres y madres En Estados Unidos est estadà ­sticamente demostrado que la calidad de la educacià ³n que recibe un nià ±o es muy importante para su futuro. Por esta razà ³n se recomienda informarse sobre los aspectos bsicos de cà ³mo funciona el sistema educativo y cules son las opciones. Este es un artà ­culo informativo. No es asesorà ­a legal.

The Council of Nicea and the Arian Controversy

The Council of Nicea and the Arian Controversy The Arian controversy (not to be confused with the Indo-Europeans known as Aryans) was a discourse that occurred in the Christian church of the 4th century CE, that threatened to upend the meaning of the church itself. The Christian church, like the Judaic church before it, was committed to monotheism: all the Abrahamic religions say there is only one God. Arius (256–336 CE), a fairly obscure scholar and presbyter at Alexandria and originally from Libya, is said to have argued that the incarnation of Jesus Christ threatened that monotheistic status of the Christian church, because he was not of the same substance as God, instead a creature made by God and so capable of vice. The Council of Nicea was called, in part, to resolve this issue. The Council of Nicea The first council of Nicea (Nicaea) was the first ecumenical council of the Christian church, and it lasted between May and August, 325 CE. It was held in Nicea, Bithynia (in Anatolia, modern Turkey), and a total of 318 bishops attended, according to the records of the bishop at Nicea, Athanasius (bishop from 328–273). The number 318 is a symbolic number for the Abrahamic religions: basically, there would be one participant at Nicea to represent each of the members of the Biblical Abrahams household. The Nicean council had three goals: to resolve the Melitian controversy- which was over the readmission to the Church of lapsed Christians,to establish how to calculate the date of Easter each year, andto settle matters stirred up by Arius, the presbyter at Alexandria. Athanasius (296–373 CE) was an important fourth-century Christian theologian and one of the eight great Doctors of the Church. He was also the major, albeit polemical and biased, contemporary source we have on the beliefs of Arius and his followers. Athanasius interpretation was followed by the later Church historians Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret. Church Councils When Christianity took hold in the Roman Empire, the doctrine had yet to be fixed. A council is an assembly of theologians and church dignitaries called together to discuss the doctrine of the church. There have been 21 councils of what became the Catholic Church- 17 of them occurred before 1453). The problems of interpretation (part of the doctrinal issues), emerged when theologians tried to rationally explain the simultaneously divine and human aspects of Christ. This was especially difficult to do without resorting to pagan concepts, in particular having more than one divine being. Once the councils had determined such aspects of doctrine and heresy, as they did in the early councils, they moved on to church hierarchy and behavior. The Arians were not opponents of the orthodox position because orthodoxy had yet to be defined. Opposing Images of God At heart, the controversy in front of the church was how to fit Christ into the religion as a divine figure without disrupting the notion of monotheism. In the 4th century, there were several possible ideas that would account for that. The Sabellians (after the Libyan Sabellius) taught that there was a single entity, the prosÃ… pon, made up of God the Father and Christ the Son.The Trinitarian Church fathers, Bishop Alexander of Alexandria and his deacon, Athanasius, believed there were three persons in one god (Father, Son, Holy Spirit).The Monarchianists believed in only one indivisible being. These included Arius, who was presbyter in Alexandria under the Trinitarian bishop, and Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia (the man who coined the term oecumenical council and who had estimated participation at a substantially lower and more realistic attendance of 250 bishops). When Alexander accused Arius of denying the second and third person of the Godhead, Arius accused Alexander of Sabellian tendencies. Homo Ousion vs. Homoi Ousion The sticking point at the Nicene Council was a concept found nowhere in the Bible: homoousion. According to the concept of homo ousion, Christ the Son was consubstantial- the word is the Roman translation from the Greek, and it means that there was no difference between the Father and the Son. Arius and Eusebius disagreed. Arius thought the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were materially separate from each other, and that the Father created the Son as a separate entity: the argument hinged on the birth of Christ to a human mother. Here is a passage from a letter Arian wrote to Eusebius: (4.) We are not able to listen to these kinds of impieties, even if the heretics threaten us with ten thousand deaths. But what do we say and think and what have we previously taught and do we presently teach? - that the Son is not unbegotten, nor a part of an unbegotten entity in any way, nor from anything in existence, but that he is subsisting in will and intention before time and before the ages, full God, the only-begotten, unchangeable. (5.) Before he was begotten, or created, or defined, or established, he did not exist. For he was not unbegotten. But we are persecuted because we have said the Son has a beginning but God has no beginning. We are persecuted because of that and for saying he came from non-being. But we said this since he is not a portion of God nor of anything in existence. That is why we are persecuted; you know the rest. Arius and his followers, the Arians, believed if the Son were equal to the Father, there would be more than one God: but Christianity had to be a monotheistic religion, and Athanasius believed that by insisting Christ was a separate entity, Arius was taking the church into mythology or worse, polytheism. Further, opposing Trinitarians believed that making Christ a subordinate to God diminished the importance of the Son. Wavering Decision of Constantine At the Nicean council, the Trinitarian bishops prevailed, and the Trinity was established as the core of the Christian church. Emperor Constantine (280–337 CE), who may or may not have been a Christian at the time- Constantine was baptized shortly before he died, but had made Christianity the official state religion of the Roman Empire by the time of the Nicean council- intervened. The decision of the Trinitarians made Ariuss questions heresy akin to revolt, so Constantine exiled the excommunicated Arius to Illyria (modern Albania). Constantines friend and Arian-sympathizer Eusebius, and a neighboring bishop, Theognis, were also exiled- to Gaul (modern France). In 328, however, Constantine reversed his opinion about the Arian heresy and had both exiled bishops reinstated. At the same time, Arius was recalled from exile. Eusebius eventually withdrew his objection, but still wouldnt sign the statement of faith. Constantines sister and Eusebius worked on the emperor to obtain reinstatement for Arius, and they would have succeeded, if Arius hadnt suddenly died- by poisoning, probably, or, as some prefer to believe, by divine intervention. After Nicea Arianism regained momentum and evolved (becoming popular with some of the tribes that were invading the Roman Empire, like the Visigoths) and survived in some form until the reigns of Gratian and Theodosius, at which time, St. Ambrose (c. 340–397) set to work stamping it out. But the debate by no means was over in the 4th century. Debate continued into the fifth century and beyond, with: ... confrontation between the Alexandrian school, with its allegorical interpretation of scripture and its emphasis on the one nature of the divine Logos made flesh, and the Antiochene school, which favoured a more literal reading of scripture and stressed the two natures in Christ after the union. (Pauline Allen, 2000) Anniversary of the Nicene Creed August 25, 2012, marked the 1687th anniversary of the creation of the upshot of the Council of Nicea, an initially controversial document cataloging the basic beliefs of Christians the Nicene Creed. Sources Allen, Pauline. The definition and enforcement of orthodoxy. Late Antiquity: Empire and Successors, A.D. 425–600. Eds. Averil Cameron, Bryan Ward-Perkins, and Michael Whitby. Cambridge University Press, 2000.Barnes, T. D. Constantine and the Christians of Persia. The Journal of Roman Studies 75 (1985): 126–36. Print.. Constantines Prohibition of Pagan Sacrifice. The American Journal of Philology 105.1 (1984): 69–72. Print.Curran, John. Constantine and the Ancient Cults of Rome: The Legal Evidence. Greece and Rome 43.1 (1996): 68–80. Print.Edwards, Mark. The First Council of Nicaea. The Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 1: Origins to Constantine. Eds. Young, Frances M. and Margaret M. Mitchell. Vol. 1. Cambridge History of Christianity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 552–67. Print.Grant, Robert M. Religion and Politics at the Council at Nicaea. The Journal of Religion 55.1 (1975): 1–12. Print.Gwynn, David M. The Eusebians : The Polemic of Athanasius of Alexandria and the Construction of the Arian Controversy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. . Religious Diversity in Late Antiquity. Archaeology and the ‘Arian Controversy’ in the Fourth Century. Brill, 2010. 229. Print.Hanson, R.P.C. The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy, 318–381. London: TT Clark.Jà ¶rg, Ulrich. Nicaea and the West. Vigiliae Christianae 51.1 (1997): 10–24. Print.

How Professionals Think in Action Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

How Professionals Think in Action - Essay Example Usher et. al. (1997: 143) sum up well the crisis he identifies. The model suggests that learning occurs through reflective responses to the problems of the practice itself; reflection in and on practice creates knowledge. To understand we divide the concept into two parts, viz. professional knowledge and reflection in action and secondly, professional context for reflection in action. Considering professional knowledge and reflection in action first we question the rights and freedoms of professionals; who and to what extent license has been given to them to determine who shall be allowed to practice, their mandate for social control, and their autonomy are also to be questioned deeply and their professional claim to extraordinary knowledge in matters of human importance. Today many professions are facing the crisis of confidence in the professions, leading perhaps to the downfall and also the decline in professional self-image, has resulted in a growing skepticism about professional effectiveness in the larger sense, a skeptical reassessment of the professionals actual contribution to societys well-being through the delivery of competent services based on special knowledge. All the problems are linked and interconnected, environments are turbulent and constantly changing, and the future is indeterminate just in so far as managers can shape it by their actions. Under these conditions what needs to be done is an important question. It is not only the analytic techniques which have been traditional in operations research, but the active, synthetic skill of "designing a desirable future and inventing ways of bringing it about." (Ackoff, 1979) The unique case calls for an art of practice which "might be taught, if it were constant and known, but it is not constant." This leads to a dilemma faced by the practitioners; these practitioners are therefore frequently embroiled in conflicts of values, goals, purposes and interests. Thus, emerging are the competing views of professional practice and therefore, competing images of the professional role, the central values of the profession, the relevant knowledge and skills have come into good currency. According to Edgar Schein, there are three components to professional knowledge; which include an underlying discipline or basic science component upon which the practice rests or from which it is developed, an applied science or "engineering" component from which many of the day-to-day diagnostic procedures and problem-solutions are derived and lastly, the skills and the attitudinal component that concerns the actual performance of services to the client, using the underlying basic and applied knowledge. (24, Schein: Professional Education, 1973) Hence, we see that the researcher's role is distinct from, and usually considered superior to, the role of the practitioner. The perspective of Technical Rationality holds that professional practice is a process of problem solving. These problems of choice or selecting a decision are solved through the selection, from available options and means, and based on which one is the best suited to establish ends. But there is always an increased emphasis on problem solving, and thus problem setting to a large extent is ignored, the process by which we define the decision to be made, the ends to be achieved, the means which may be chosen. In real-world practice, problems do not present themselves to the practitioner as given. The problems must be constructed from the

Teamwork And Motivation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Teamwork And Motivation - Essay Example The employers therefore face the uphill task that needs them to preserve the productivity and profitability that they have while trying their best to keep the employees that they have engaged and satisfied with their jobs. Researchers have been able to find that the social or cognitive construction view of job satisfaction deals with the effects of emotions on behavior of various kinds where the attitude that people have toward work can be associated with other perceptions about jobs such as the variety of tasks that constitute that job and the level of skills that are needed for one to be able to do that particular job. Therefore, it can be said that emotional responses may be of assistance in the determination of the reactions that the employees will have to the jobs that they are doing and the general theories of emotion might become useful in the effort to understand the attitudes that people have towards jobs (Furnham, 1992). Creating job satisfaction is therefore an endeavor that entails several steps so that in the end it can be achieved to make sure that the employees are motivated and this will be the first step in increasing the productivity. To start with, the working environment should be made to be positive where the factors that motivate the employees will be identified so that the working environment will cater for the needs of the workers. The employees of WooWoo will be entitled to discounts in the case that they need to purchase any thing that the company makes provided that they get it directly from the company. The company will also make sure that it organizes get-togethers were the management and the other employees can have the chance to interact and the views of the employees can be listened to and adjustments made if possible. The employees that have an exemplary performance at work and those that beat the deadlines that are set will be recognized through a program that will be aimed at identifying the employee of the

Legal Aspects of Nursing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Legal Aspects of Nursing - Case Study Example In this case, the patients and the unit staff ought to relate freely in absentia of retaliation. The deprivation of the direct care and attention towards Mr Garcia violated this principle. Consequently, his wife had a retaliatory relationship with the staff in the nursing unit. The dishonor of this principle was also in the deprivation of direct attention that enhanced distance and retaliation within Mr Garcia. Evidently, the Respective Relations principle was involved in Mr Garcia’s case. Medical necessity was an additional principle involved in Mr Garcia’s case. This principle requires a prudent physician to deliver prevention, diagnosis, or treatment to the patient (American Medical Association, 2010). In this case, Medical care is a basic necessity (Youngberg, 2013). It is not an optional consideration. Evidently, the physicians deprived Mr Garcia direct medical attention. This is a violation of the Medical necessity principle. Honoring this principle would entail direct and affectionate attention towards Mr Garcia at the soft restraints. In his situation, measures of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment were not adequately established. Therefore, they deprived Mr Garcia his basic right as a patient. Apparently, it was a major violation of the Medical necessity principle. Administrative simplification is a principle that is involved in this case. This principle advocates for disintegration within the complex and confusing roles and communications. It implicates that there ought to be a congruent assignment of roles, and a clear communication strategy (American Medical Association, 2010). Shared governance would propel the visions and objectives of this principle. In this case, every staff member would feel accountable to handle a patient (Youngberg, 2013). Honoring this principle would require the nurses to uphold authority and attend to Mr Garcia maximally. The nurses in Garcia’s case violated

The Roles Of Design User Interfaces

The Roles Of Design User Interfaces Projects of different sizes have different ways and requirements on how the people are organized. In a small project, little organization structure is needed. There might be a primary sponsor, project manager and a project team. The Designer is responsible for understanding the business requirements and designing a solution that will meet the business needs. There are many potential solutions that will meet the clients needs. The designer determines the best approach. The work of the designer is then handed off to the programmers and other people who will construct the solution based on the design specifications. Terms of appointment of design team and contractors should clearly identify roles and responsibilities. Qns:2 What are the roles and responsibilities of the content creators in a project team? Ans:- Content creation can start when the editors are prepared, and when the technical environment is sufficiently ready. The content work will then most likely continue beyond the technical delivery and acceptance of the Web site. Content can be of many kinds but is typically text and images in different formats web pages, documents , sounds, animations etc.A person who is responsible for entering content for a subject matter expert or for a group of subject matter experts. Content contributors ensure content is up-to-date and adheres to the Writing Style Guide and Graphic Standards. Qns:3 What are the roles and responsibilities of the programmers and coders in a project team? Ans:- A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software.The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. A programmers primary computer language is often prefixed to the above titles, and those who work in a web environment often prefix their titles with web. The term programmer can be used to refer to a software developer, software engineer, computer scientist, or software analyst. The programmer builds the web sites functionality the things it can do. A web project may need just one or a number of different programmers, depending on the size of the site, what you want it to do, and which programming languages are required to make it work. Qns:4 What are the roles and responsibilities of the information architects in a project team? Ans:- In the Web industry, the architect title has long been hogged by Information Architects, and the Web Architect is generally called Tech Lead. That name is problematic, however, because it implies that the lead has evident authority on the development team, when the reality is often one of much responsibility, little authority: the tech lead seldom has authority by virtue of being a manager.Architects provide services that are designed to eliminate the most common causes of IT project failure. They work with management, business and IT staff to build solid project teams. Qns:5 What is the relationship between the technical and creative aspects and requirements of interactive media projects? Ans:- It allows to work in teams and produce an interactive media project that culminates in Both technical and creative aspects will be emphasized. Its communication,team work and literacy skills sufficient to interpret and clarify project specifications. Its roles and responsibilities of project team members e.g. designers, content creators, architects, programmers and coders. Sound understanding of the relationship between technical and creative aspects and requirements of interactive media projects. Qns:6 List 3 of the issues and challenges that arise in designing user interfaces? Ans:- 3D user inter-faces provide an attractive approach to support the user. Upcoming interaction techniquesenable faster and more intuitive interaction in comparison to standard interfaces. As 3D UserInterfaces gain more capabilities, new challenges and problems arise. But in the course of time upcoming technologies extended the standard parts of interfaces, so human-computer interaction in which the user tasks are performed directly in a 3D spatial context are enabled. This means the user interacts within the computer environment. Hence, in terms of 3D interaction the user is not interacting through an interface, he can actually be seen as a part of the interface. Qns:7 What are the principles of the visual design and communication, including user -centered design principles? Ans:- When evaluating a current user interface, or designing a new user interface, it is important to keep in mind the following experimental design principles: user-centered design (UCD) is a modern, widely practiced design philosophy rooted in the idea that users must take center-stage in the design of any computer system. Users, designers and technical practitioners work together to articulate the wants, needs and limitations of the user and create a system that addresses these elements. Often, user-centered design projects are informed by ethnographic studies of the environments in which users will be interacting with the system. This practice is similar but not identical to Participatory Design which emphasizes the possibility for end-users to contribute actively through shared design sessions and workshops. Principles of User Interface Design: these are seven principles that may be considered at any time during the design of a user interface in any order, namely Tolerance, Simplicity, Visibility, Affordance, Consistency, Structure and Feedback. Qns:8 What are the technical parameters of various platforms and how this impact on user interface designs? Ans:- Responsible for assuring that user interfaces to all HHS products and services designs, prototypes, and specifications across multiple platforms while working across multiple platforms; design and conduct usability tests at various stages The work of the incumbent will impact information dissemination . Being hardly more than data enclosures in XML files, the technical concept of podcasting and RSS feeds is very simpleandhardly anything that could be calledinnovative purely in atechnologicalsense.Podcasts, as well as RSS (often calledReally Simple Syndication but various alternative meanings also exist:Every aspect of the users interaction with a product, service, or companythat make up the users perceptions of the whole. User experience designas a discipline is concerned with all the elements that together make upthat interface, including layout, visual design, text, brand, sound, and interaction. Qns:9 What are the typical formats and techniques for documenting user interface designs? Ans:- In software engineering, a design pattern is a general reusable solution to a commonly occurring problem in software design. A design pattern is not a finished design that can be transformed directly into code. It is a description or template for how to solve a problem that can be used in many different situations. Object-oriented design patterns typically show relationships and interactions between classes or objects, without specifying the final application classes or objects that are involved. Many patterns imply object-orientation or more generally mutable state, and so may not be as applicable in functional programming languages, in which data is immutable or treated as such.Design patterns reside in the domain of modules and interconnections. At a higher level there are architectural patterns that are larger in scope, usually describing an overall pattern followed by an entire system.[1] Qns:10 What are the OHS standards as they relate to working for periods of time on computers? Ans:- Occupational Health And Safety:- Their workstation set up correctly, they are working ergonomically soundly but they seem to forget that working firms and companies must comply with the laws, standards and regulations which .. from a series of events over a period of time.

The Electoral College System :: essays research papers

The Electoral College System   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  You walk in to the voting booth on the first Tuesday of November to cast your vote for who you think should be president. You take your ballot into the box believing, as most people do, that your vote will be counted along with the rest of the population. You do this because you believe it could be the deciding vote for the presidential race. Well, you are wrong. Your vote only decides who the electors that join the Electoral College in December will be, but the elector can always change his or her vote. How can this be right? What happened to the idea of a democracy where every citizen had his or her say? The Electoral College worked in the beginning because there were no political parties or political campaigns. During the next four presidential campaigns, political parties began to emerge in the United States. During the presidential election of 1800, two candidates from the same party received an equal number of votes. It took the House of Representatives thirty-six tries to break the tie. The tiebreaker involved bribes and other political dealings that the Electoral College was designed to prevent. This all prompted the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution in 1804.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Amendment requires that each Elector cast one vote for president and another vote for vice president. If that system does not come up with a majority winner, then the House of Representatives selects the winner from the top three contenders. The U.S. Senate selects the vice president from the top two contenders if one candidate does not receive the majority vote.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In a winner take all state; if a candidate receives 51 percent of the vote, he automatically wins the electoral votes for the state. If that state happens to be California, he has won 54 of the 538 possible votes. That is 1/5th of the amount of votes needed to win the presidency. So, if a candidate won only ten of the states' electoral votes, he can win the presidential race without taking into account the other 40 states (Procedural). That is just not the way a democracy is supposed to work. I believe that it is time for the United States Government to start realizing that the campaign process is getting out of control. The majority of presidential candidates only want to win a state's electoral votes. They do not concentrate on the smaller states.

Reality of School Violence in US

On January 18, 1993, Scott Pennington, a seventeen year-old student from Kentucky, shot and killed his East Carter High School teacher Deanna McDavid and janitor Marvin Hicks, and then held his twenty-two classmates at gunpoint for about fifteen minutes. On September 15, 1995, Daniel Watson, eighteen, was charged with one count of kidnapping, two counts of unlawful possession of a weapon on school property, and fifteen counts of first degree endangerment after holding a fellow student at gunpoint at his high school. Watson had been in a fight before school, and then went home and returned with two handguns. In November of 1996, Drew Golden, 11, and Mitchell Johnson, 13, opened fire on their fellow students and teachers in Jonesboro, Arkansas, killing four students and an English teacher. Is this what should be happening in America†s schools? Should students have to be more concerned with their safety, rather than obtaining a good education? Incidences similar to the ones just described occur every year in school systems across the country. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, fifty-seven percent of public elementary and secondary school principals reported that one or more incidents of crime/violence occurred in their schools during the 1996-1997 school year. The center also reported that ten percent of all public schools experienced one or more serious violent crimes (defined as murder, rape, or other type of sexual battery, suicide, physical attack or fight with a weapon, or robbery) during the 1996-1997 school year. Physical attacks or fights led the list of reported crimes in public schools, with about 190,000 reported incidences in 1996-1997. Schools should be places where the objective is to give students the skills and knowledge to help them with their future; they should not be havens for violent acts. Something obviously needs to be done to decrease and hopefully one day eliminate violence in America†s school systems. There have been numerous proposals made to help the problem, but there still has not been a significant improvement in the problem nationwide. Several recent reports-one by the American Psychological Association and another by the National Education Association-show a dramatic increase in the incidence of school violence. It is going to take a team effort by the government, communities and the schools to help reduce violence in America†s school systems. The government has attempted to address the issue of school violence. In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed the Gun-Free School Act, mandating a one-year expulsion for students who bring weapons to school. The Act also promoted the â€Å"zero tolerance† for weapons policies of some states and school districts. Currently, the federal government and most states also make funds available for prevention activities through anti-crime and education legislation. This year, money was allotted in the federal budget for the hiring of more teachers in the schools. Although the government has put some effort into helping the schools, is it enough? The problem of violence of schools is often overlooked by the government and instead more emphasis is put on political scandals, foreign policy, and welfare. It seems unfair for the students who fear going to school each day that the government concentrates more on the private relations of the president and the status of people from other countries, than on the future of its own citizens. The government needs to grant more money for the improvement of schools, both externally and internally. This money needs to be put toward the hiring of more teachers, violence prevention programs in the schools, and improvements on the school buildings. The government also should be monitoring the schools† use of the â€Å"zero tolerance† policies, making sure that they are strictly enforced in every school across the country. The second ingredient to solving the problem of violence in schools is community initiatives. An important one is providing an assortment of out-of-school programs to students. It is important that these programs keep youth constructively engaged when their families are unavailable, and provide them with attention from caring adults and good role models. They also need to encourage teamwork, respect, and positive personal relationships. These programs keep kids away from negative influences on the street and in the media. Helping youth find employment in the community is another important way for communities to help build the self-esteem and sense of responsibility among adolescents. Having a job also helps youth appreciate how important staying in school is to their future career plans. The most important element to the solution of violence in schools is the improvement surrounding the actual schools. The first key is to reduce violence through personalization. Overcrowded schools and classes hurt both the educators† efforts to know their students and students† efforts to know one another. The result from this is often misunderstanding, frustration, and increasingly, violence. Smaller classes can enable schools to become communities in which students know and value one another as individuals. They would also allow educators to form steady caring relationships with the students most likely to start or suffer from physical and psychological violence. School violence frequently results from conflicts that are inappropriately managed and therefore intensify. Conflict resolution programs should be offered in schools to both students and educators to give them skills to effectively and constructively handle the controversies that naturally arise in learning environments. Schools should also promote the development of good character. The missing piece in violence prevention programs is character development though the skills of empathy and self-discipline,† write character education experts Diane G. Berreth and Sheldon Berman. â€Å"Without these skills, we run the risk of schools becoming locked-down and oppressive institutions built around fear rather than responsiveness. † Teachers also play an essential role in dealing with school violence. Studies have shown that children consistently admire and respect those teachers that are strict in setting high standards for behavior and academic performance, and who demonstrate a personal interest in their students. It is also important that teachers follow strict codes of conduct throughout the whole school. This code of conduct should be shared with the students, and should not be altered by the teachers. Students should never have the feeling that they might be able to get away with something, because a teacher rarely enforces the rules. It is with longing that teachers remember the days when disruptive behavior in school meant running in the halls, throwing spitballs and pulling ponytails. Today, the disruptive behavior is much more frightening. It takes the shape of brutal beatings, stabbings, and shootings. Youth violence disrupts schools and is taking its toll on students, teachers, parents, and communities. Youth violence is threatening the entire structure of public education. The issue of school violence needs to be attended to quickly. This problem cannot be solved by the efforts of one force, but rather it will take the teamwork of the government, communities, and the schools to help reduce the violence. If policies such as the ones described are not implemented, students will continue going to school in fear.

Critical Thinking Question Essay

1. Explain the differences between bacterial meningitis, aseptic meningitis, fungal meningitis, and tubercular meningitis. Bacterial meningitis is a primary infection of the pia mater, arachnoid and subarachnoid space, ventricular system and the CSF of the brain. The subarachnoid space is accessed either by a systemic, bloodstream or direct extension infection. Common causes of bacterial meningitis after the neonatal period are Meningococcus (Neisseria meningitidis) and pneumococcus (Streptococcus pneumonia). For neonates, pneumococcus and gram-negative enteric bacilli are common agents. Aseptic meningitis (viral meningitis, nonpurulent meningitis, lymphocytic meningitis) is an inflammation which is thought to be localized to the meninges. The population at risk depends of the virus. A variety of symptoms are caused by a plethora of viruses such as enteroviral (most common), mumps, herpes simplex types 1 and 2,, St. Lus encephalitis virus, West Nile virus, California encephalitis virus, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Colorado tick fever, lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, Epstein-Barr virus, and influenza virus types A and B. Fungal meningitis is a chronic, much less common condition than bacterial or viral meningitis. It most frequently occurs in persons with impaired immune systems or those with altered normal flora. Development is insidious and usually occurs over days to weeks. Also associated with chronic meningitis are syphilis, tuberculosis and Lyme disease. Tubercular meningitis is the most common and most serious form of CNS tuberculosis, and is found mostly in those with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Miliary tubercules form in the brain and meninges, later eroding in the pia mater with mycobacteria entering in the CSF producing a hypersensitivity reaction which causes purulent exudate to the basal meninges, cerebrum and spinal nerves. Vasculitis occurs causing cerebral ischemia and infarction. Symptoms include headache, low-grade fever, stiff neck, nausea and vomiting, irritability, difficulty sleeping and fatigue. These signs and symptoms lead to increase to confusion, stiff neck, significant behavioral changes, and seizures. Additionally, hydrocephalus and cranial nerve palsies or cerebral infarcts may occur. Early diagnosis and treatment with proper antituberculosis may cause a 90% recovery rate. 2. A neonate has a harsh, loud, systolic murmur shortly after birth. This is best heard at the left lower sternal border. The neonate is acyanotic and has no other symptoms. What type of congenital heart disorder does this infant have? Explain why the neonate is not cyanotic. When could the infant become cyanotic? These symptoms describe a ventricular septal defect (VSD). This type of defect is a left to right shunt of blood flow through the septum of the heart and symptoms depend on the size of the shunt. Because of the increase in blood from the right ventricle (RV) into the pulmonary artery (PA), the PA, left atrium (LA) and left ventricle (LV) become enlarged. A large VSD causes a large amount of pulmonary volume. Over time, the smooth muscle layer of the arteriolar wall thickens and a decrease in diameter of the pulmonary vessels occurs which causes resistance to the new blood flow. An increase in pulmonary vascular resistance causes a reverse shunting through the VSD causing cyanosis from deoxygenated blood flowing through systemic circulation. This phenomenon is termed Eisenmenger syndrome. 3. How does defective gastric secretion of intrinsic factor (IF) cause anemia? What is this type of anemia called, and how does a person get it? Intrinsic factor (IF) is a mucoprotein that is produced by the parietal cells. It is responsible for absorption of vitamin B12 in the ileum. Decreased amounts of IF causes a lack of absorption of B12 resulting in pernicious anemia. IF deficiency may be congenital or from adult onset gastric mucosal atrophy and parietal cell destruction. In older adults, failure to absorb IF is the cause of almost all vitamin B12 deficiencies. Congenital IF disorder is caused by an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern which is a genetic disorder. Gastric atrophy may be autoimmune and occurs along with type A chronic gastritis. 4. Discuss the pathophysiologic relationship between cirrhosis and portal hypertension. Cirrhosis is an inflammatory disease of the liver that disrupts its structure and function. Fibrous bands are formed causing nodular regeneration giving the liver a bumpy appearance. The liver is smaller or larger than normal and is hard when palpated. Parenchyma of the liver becomes distorted and the biliary channels become obstructed causing jaundice. Shunting is formed in new vascular channels bypassing blood from the liver. Obstruction in the portal veins also causes abnormal high blood pressure in the system from resistance of the blood flow from the obstruction. This is termed portal hypertension. Cirrhosis of the liver is the most common cause of portal hypertension.

Be yourself essays

Be yourself essays There are many ways you can use a spreadsheet at home and at the office. At the office using spreadsheets can help your budget section do reports on spending and all financial queries that goes in and out of the office. Also, by using the program the budget people can easy keep a running spreadsheet going which is easy to update and keep around for lots of additions. Nevertheless, a spreadsheet is also good for tracking logs for products and services. Also is good for ordering or the needed office supplies that may need to be order by a certain day. There is also a need to be able to track the status of like certain projects and also see who may have a type of project for that day. Not only is spreadsheet good at work like you see they also have a valuable purpose at home as well. At home there are many ways a spreadsheet can be used and help a family out. First, like at work spreadsheet is very good to plan the family budget to show the amount of money coming in and also see where t he money is being spent. Also, a spreadsheet can also help in parents doing a house shore list either for them or for there kids and so forth to show what needs to be done for the weekend or what not. So as you can see a spreadsheet is a very good program and is well needed in both the home and at the office to help us get through those tough days. ...

Google Inc †Company Analysis Strategic Plan

Google Inc – Company Analysis Strategic Plan Free Online Research Papers Google Inc: Executive Summary Google is a research project gone golden, an innovator and a leader, and an investor’s dream. It is a company that has brought a new stature into the world of business. Technology is always new; however, Google has turned technology into something everyone can access and use. They have turned the internet into a place welcomed by children, students, professionals, and senior citizens alike. When Larry Page and Sergey Brin began creating the internet sensation, they had no idea what it would become. The two Stanford students had no business experience; they were children of college professors. They brought a new idea into technology that has changed the search engine market, but more than that they have changed the outlook on running a business. The culture at Google is lackadaisical, relaxed, and inviting. Employees don’t wear ties. A company bus picks them up from their homes and drives them to work, as if they were going to grade school. They are served catered meals each day, free of charge. The employees are encouraged to create their own ideas and set them forth. And their workspace is no more normal. The Googleplex is a four building campus that holds more than offices; it holds pools, gyms, a barbershop, cafes, lounges, and much more. It is a space that invites creativity and inspiration. The culture and environment inside of Google is one of the keys to their success. The way of life of a Google employee is something that every computer science major in college dreams of. In order to bring in the brightest and best in the industry, Google has a very aggressive recruiting process that involves tours to the best colleges worldwide in search of the next innovator. Google has taken great strides to become the biggest and the best; however, none of that is possible without employing the best. Outside of the Googleplex is an array of competitors, in differing industries. Google’s biggest competitor is Yahoo, who holds less than 10% of the market share. The competitors vary in that Google serves many markets; however, in its primary market it is the biggest leader. In order to protect that lead Google strives to continually improve upon their offerings and continue to bring new products and services to the market. Continuing the advancement of their products and services paired with the constant introduction of new products and services is a daunting task; however, Google must do so in order to maintain their revenue from advertising, which accounts for more than 99% of their revenue. To better protect from that risk on revenue, Google has looked to diversifying those income streams. By doing that they are becoming more flexible and able to adapt to any conditions. The marketing strategy of Google is non-existent. They have relied on their products and services since inception, allowing those offerings to speak for themselves – and the users to speak to other users about their value. Although that seems ludicrous, it has proven beneficial. They have not spent a dollar to bring their products and services to the public, yet 80% of Americans use them. Google has become a household staple in the United States, an everyday tool, and a verb in the dictionary – â€Å"to google.† Google has grown exponentially over the past decade. Since their inception their stock price has grown over 400%. Their revenue over the past three years has grown 43%, net income has grown 19%, and stockholder equity has grown 29%. The company has continued their success through employing the best and brightest, not only in innovation but in their management as well. Throughout the past decade Google has grown from a garage dot com to an internet mogul that has the entire technology market within reach. Looking forward into the next three years there are 3 main objectives Google should focus on to maintain and further their place in the market. Internally, the company needs to continue their success. They need to continue their aggressive recruiting efforts to ensure they are the employers of the most intelligent, creative, and efficient in the world. That includes maintaining the culture of the organization, the free-thinking and creativity inviting atmosphere. In doing that they are ensuring that innovation and continual improvement in their product and services offerings are sustained; which is key to maintain their place in the market. Externally the company needs to diversity their revenue streams. Over 99% of revenue comes from advertising, which poses a risk to the company’s income. In order to solidify their ground and ensure that a partnership or agreement will not significantly hurt their revenue, Google needs to look elsewhere for opportunities. The opportunities present are abundant; internationally Google is not the household staple it is in America. Beyond geography there are product and service areas that Google has yet to tap. In order to continue their growth and solidify their place in the market Google has to invest heavily in foreign markets and continue to focus on research development of new products and services. In terms of the company’s well being, Google is doing very well. Their success echoes in the marketplace for Microsoft, Yahoo, MSN, and the rest to hear. Throughout their history they have proven to be the leader in their industry and through the analysis of the company it is apparent that they will continue to do so. To propose bettering an already great company is a daunting task; however, it is one of Google’s Ten Principles that states, â€Å"great just isn’t good enough.† From Start-Up to Success: Introduction With Google you can find information in 88 different languages, check stock quotes and sports scores, find news headlines, or look up the address and phone number of your local grocery store. You can find pictures, videos, maps, emails, and so much more with Google. There is a lot of information on the internet and Google makes that information accessible. There is also a lot of information not on the internet and Google works to get that information digitized, such as Google Books. Google is a company that began with a desire to improve upon something great, and in turn has turned into something great. In 1995 Larry Page had recently graduated from Michigan University and was touring Stanford University. Sergey Brin, a doctoral student at Stanford, was assigned to show Page around the school grounds. Once enrolled, Page and Brin became close friends and worked closely on the Stanford Digital Library Project. The Project was highly sought after among Page, Brin, and the other computer science graduate students. In working towards the Stanford Digital Library Project, Larry Page explored the mathematical properties of the internet and studied to understand its link structure. Page focused on the problem of finding out which web pages link to a given page, considering the quantity and frequency of the backlinks to be valuable information. He nicknamed his project â€Å"BackRub† and was soon joined by friend and classmate Sergey Brin. To convert the backlink data the new website gathered into a measure of importance for a given web page, Brin and Page developed an algorithm called PageRank. Running an analysis on a given website provided a list of backlinks ranked by importance. Page and Brin hypothesized that a search engine using their analysis would produce better results than existing techniques. Popular search engines of that time, such as Hot Bot, would search for the term the user entered – â€Å"New York Yankees,† for example – in all of the pages on the web. If the term â€Å"New York Yankees† appeared several times, it was returned in the search results. The higher the frequency the term appeared on the page, the higher the page was ranked in the search results; however, it could just turn out to be an internet store that sold sports memorabilia. Page and Brin created a tool that would return the most relevant web page first. They wanted the user’s search to return the official Yankees website instead of the sports memorabilia internet store. Their project had received positive feedback and the students were continually linking more sites together through their PageRank algorithm. Their search engine operated on Stanford servers for more than a year but eventually began to take up too much bandwidth to suit the university. In 1997 Page and Brin decided that their search engine needed a new name. They agreed on the name Google, a play on the word â€Å"googol,† a mathematical term for the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros. They decide on the name to reflect their goal of organizing an infinite amount of information on the internet. The domain google.com was registered in September 1997. They started their new website out of a friend’s garage in Menlo Park, California. In August 1998 one of the founders of Sun Microsystems, Andy Bechtolsheim, wrote a check for $100,000 to an entity that did not exist. Page and Brin deposited the check and incorporated in September 1998 as Google Inc. Later that year PC Magazine reports â€Å"Google has an uncanny knack for returning extremely relevant results† and recognizes Google as the search engine of choice in the Top 100 Web Sites for 1998. With Google officially launched and earning attention from internet users, Page and Brin finally had outgrown their garage office and moved into a new office in Palo Alto, California. The new office held the team for only a short time. They moved twice since their first Palo Alto office; their third move was the final move, into what is today known as the Googleplex. With the hard work of Page and Brin came a group of the most talented, not necessarily experienced, minds in the world of computers. That group of talent grew drastically over time as the company expanded. From 2000 until today there have been countless innovations to come out of the Googleplex; the timeline below will outline what Google has delivered since their move: In the past two years Google has continued its exponential growth. Through acquisitions of Omnisio and Tatter Company, Google Video and Blogger sites were dramatically improved. Google has done many things since its inception; however, some of the most creative have attracted a large amount of its users. In 2008 Google launched its â€Å"street view† from Google Maps in Europe, and in its launch came live coverage of the 2008 Tour de France. Google also leaked information on its newest product through a comic book; the next day Google Chrome is introduced. The company that began in a garage has become one of the biggest and brightest companies of our era. Google has transformed the internet, creating a site to â€Å"organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.† A Look Inside Google: Internal Analysis Mission Statement: â€Å"To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful† Google’s mission statement gives the company a future to strive towards, as it is hard to imagine all of the world’s information easily accessible at one place. It does not; however, reflect the way they earn a profit. The mission statement reflects a company that is a resource to anyone, whether doing research or curious as to what Derek Jeter’s batting average is. It does not give a timeline, only the end result. That is advantageous in that it allows Google to use any means necessary to organize information; meaning they are not limited to search but capable of achieving their mission by utilizing other tools, such as email, blogging, and a number of other products and services that Google offers. The corporate culture at Google is far different from that of the typical Fortune 500 Company. They don’t wear ties, there are swimming pools in their office, leisure is encouraged, and there are no concrete deadlines. This culture is emphasized by the ten principles that Google calls their philosophy: Focus on the user and all else will follow. Its best to do one thing really, really well. Fast is better than slow. Democracy on the web works. You dont need to be at your desk to need an answer. You can make money without doing evil. Theres always more information out there. The need for information crosses all borders. You can be serious without a suit. Great just isnt good enough. Google does not document a Vision Statement on their website, but instead a set of principles. These principles are what set Google apart from their competition. Their employees are a foundation for the success of the company, and Google recognizes that. Larry Page and Sergey Brin have emphasized a â€Å"small company feel,† and have worked very hard to accomplish just that. Resources Google has abundant resources, starting with its well recognized name. Google has a name thats easy to remember, well known and it reflects the company’s mission, to organize the worlds information and make it universally accessible and useful. But Google wouldnt be the great entity it is without its unique attitude and culture of its employees. Google tries to maintain a small company feel so that everyone is comfortable to share their ideas and opinions with each other and even the founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The employees at Google are given a time management rubric, referred to as the 70-20-10 rule. It states that 70% of employee time is spent on their core business, 20% is spent on adjacent areas of business, and 10% is allocated for creativity and freedom to innovate. The rule encourages employees to create their own idea, the next big Google product or service, all while continuing their core business, Google search. Page Brin invented a unique search engine, BackRub, that would become Google. Unlike other search engines at the time, Google’s technique involves not only keywords on a site related to a users search but also, how may web sites link to a particular site. Googles unique search technique coupled with its incredibly high speed allowing it to search billions of terms in moments has increased the trust internet users bestow in Google and why Google has become the number one search engine in the world. That trust is a significant resource of Google, that trust is the loyalty that keeps users returning to their site. Google has grown beyond just a search engine though. Google includes features applications and services such as Google Maps, Gmail, Blogger, Scholar, Finance, Video, Documents and many more services that help make up some of Googles sustainable advantages. That list contains one of Googles newest products, Social Search, which launched October 26, 2009. It will allow users to search online friends content to find relevant postings on Twitter and similar blog-like sites. Google relies heavily on its intangible resources. Google only wants employees who enjoy doing what they do which is why 20% of employee time is allocated to whatever Google side project the employee wishes to pursue. This allows a great deal of innovation to occur and to give employees a feeling of freedom and trust. Googles philosophy has always been Focus on the user and all else will follow. Googles dedication to its customers has increased consumer trust in Google and its reputation as a caring business. Capabilities Googles unique free-thinking mindset gives it the capabilities it has. Its employees, with the ability to make their own decisions, allow them to pursue their own innovations and research creating a win, win situation for Google. The idea behind this is in having happy employees, better research development, innovation, and overall service will come. With that come happy customers, or advertisers, in turn providing more profit to Google. Above average profits bring happy investors. The Google way is simple and complex at the same time in that it is an easy idea but very few firms can accomplish that goal. â€Å"We dont have as many managers as we should, but we would rather have too few than too many,† said Larry Page of his organizational structure. The employees at Google are not your typical employees. There are no postings on craigslist for a Google position. The employees are highly recruited, young and talented minds, people who do not apply at Google but instead get applied for. Google travels to campuses worldwide to find fresh, intellectual, aspiring new comers into the world of technology. Those people make up the dynamic group that consists of Google Inc. A big part of Google’s big idea of starting with happy employees is its Googleplex. Although the Googleplex is only one of the company’s 23 North American, 23 European, 14 Asian, 5 Middle East, and 3 South American offices – it is the corporate headquarters, or playground. It is a 4 building park, consisting of over 500,000 square feet, that has something for everyone. Google rewards their employees with pools, volleyball courts, lounges, cafà ©s, a barber shop, art studios, gyms, and more. This creates the free-thinking mindset that allows its employees to create new ideas and formulate those ideas. There are ample things to break a Google employee’s mental block, and those breaks are encouraged. Some offices in the Googleplex look more like the waiting room of a pediatric office than a computer engineer’s. This space is the basis for Google’s capabilities – it allows their employees to create the next big idea that makes Google who they are. Google is an information powerhouse. Although being able to access, analyze, and produce outputs for this information is a resource, being able to do just that is itself a capability. Not just anyone can do what Google does. Google has answers for 67% of all web searches, without running their signature algorithm. Google tracks and records the traffic to over 1.5 million websites. The capabilities that Google uses most are in the employees’ intellect and creativity. The minds that produce the product searches, maps, academic journals, calendar documents, videos, music, pictures and more are the people that hold the capability to make Google who they are. Competitive Advantages Valuable When it comes down to it, Googles team of dedicated employees are probably one of its most valuable assets and why it dedicates so much time into selecting each individual staff member. Its employees are responsible for most of Googles innovative applications and expansions. Googles patrons are also a valuable asset. Google is the number one search engine – that means it has more searches done every second than any other search engine which also allows it to better refine its search algorithms more precisely than any of its competitors. Google excels at directing a large quantity of visitors to websites using its AdSense program. Many businesses are dependent upon the traffic AdSense brings to their website to generate income. Global Market Share: Internet Search Rare Google has achieved the top market share in the search industry precisely because their product is rare. They are able to provide consumer attention to any type of company looking to advertise. Google uses a simple interface that none of its competitors currently use. There is no advertising on Googles home page and the only advertising in search results is those that directly relate to the search terms. Its auto complete search terms use algorithms that no other competitor can offer. In the search industry competitors of Google have followed suit with their advertisements; however, Yahoo and MSN’s home pages are littered with banner advertisements and hundreds of words. Consumers actually look at Google’s advertisements because they are relevant to their searches and are not an interruption to their internet search. Page and Brin added a provision to their mission statement recognizing that â€Å"advertisements should not be an annoying interruption†. Costly to imitate The name Google alone basically equates to the ultimate search engine in peoples minds. In fact, Google is so popular it was added to the dictionary as a verb in 2006. The dictionary defines google as: to use the Google search engine to find information on the internet; to search for information using the Google search engine. It would be difficult to imitate Googles complex search methods and advertising techniques. Google started in 1998 and has been continually improving its search technique with every search. It would be near impossible for a company to replicate Googles method of searching without being able to go back in time. Non-substitutable While Googles search technique itself is difficult to imitate there are many other substitutes available such as Yahoo, Ask, Microsoft and many others. And, while the number of internet users continues to grow, Google cant reach citizens that still choose to research and find information the old fashioned way, through journals, encyclopedias, and real life research and surveys. As of the moment, though, Google delivers the speediest and least hassle-some means of internet searching making it one of the best ways to search for and access information. If Google can continue to remain number one it should have little to fear of substitutes. Looking Forward Google must continue to recruit the smartest, most creative, and talented young minds. The culture of the company cannot change. The products services need to match the demand from the users. In order to sustain the growth and profitability Google has encountered in the last decade, it needs to continue its focus on the user. Google is viewed as an innovator and a technological leader. The company needs to continue to introduce the most advanced and user friendly products and services as it has in the past. The path to do so requires strenuous recruiting, to continue to employ the smartest, most creative and talented young minds. If Google can continue to recruit the caliber of employees it currently has, their innovation and technology will follow. The culture of the company cannot change. They have seen ample success in their laid back, creativity enhancing atmosphere – they need to solidify that throughout the next three years. That same atmosphere needs to be the setting for the future products and services that internet users worldwide produce demand for; which, in turn keeps the advertising dollars coming into the company. The products and services that are created over the next three years should match the demand from the general population. Throughout the creation of new products and services there should still be continual improvement in their current products and services. Both innovation and further improvement should move in parallel. Some areas of focus should be other advertising formats, such as video advertising or even into the offline world through further acquisitions. In the world of video, Google owns YouTube, one of the biggest free video services around; however, it struggles to be profitable. The content that is streaming through YouTube should be somewhat controlled. Not anyone should be posting their gossip or story of the day; while those videos are interesting, funny, or both – users will not pay for that product. Moving advertising to YouTube could be an answer, showing a video advertisement before each video is played. Social networking is a booming business. Google got their feet wet with the acquisition of Orkut; however, it has not held its own against the social networking giants Facebook and MySpace. Attracting users is a difficult task and the only way Google will be able to attract users to Orkut is by differentiating it from Facebook and MySpace. In order to differentiate Orkut, the employees at Orkut should follow their focus – on the user. Follow what each Facebook and Myspace user does, how much time they spend, what they do most, and who they talk to most – and create the ultimate social networking site. A blend of LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter could be something that users worldwide would have interest in. Install a focus on something that attracts not only students, but professionals and everyday internet users as well. Another area of opportunity is in Google Docs. Google has a great idea that enables users to access an office suite through the internet. If Chrome is a success, they could offer an Office Suite that competes with Microsoft Office to be included. Tapping into the market that Microsoft dominates is by far the largest challenge proposed; however, if done right it would position Google atop one of its biggest competitors. Google has the resources and capabilities to become the biggest international name in the technology industry; however, proper execution and timing is pertinent to their success. Google the Internet Industry: External Analysis Competition Where does Google make their money? They provide a free search engine, email, news, documents, blogs, video, etc. How do they pay all of those talented employees? To better explain the answer it is more efficient to begin with Google’s objective. Google focuses on what it is known for – internet search service, the rest falls in line shortly thereafter. On each search query are advertisements, which bring in the revenue. Google has an ample demand for advertising because of a key factor – they provide the perfect market for the advertisement. If you search â€Å"New York Yankees,† you will see advertisements for sports memorabilia or tickets. If you search â€Å"Life Insurance,† you will see advertisements for different insurance company offerings. Google provides exactly what every marketing executive has trouble with – attracting a target market. Once a company defines its target market Google can put their advertisements in front of that market. Can other search providers accomplish that? In 2008 Google Inc.’s revenue was $21.8 billion. Yahoo’s revenue was only $7.2 billion. There are millions of searches on the Google website daily. With all of these searches, there are billions of advertising dollars to be had. Google Inc. currently holds almost 85% of the market share, followed by Yahoo at 6%. Obviously, there are competitors to Google, but with a 79 percent lead in market share, it is hard to decide whether Yahoo could be considered a threat at all. Google search is their most effective way of bringing advertisements to the consumer; however, it is not the only one. Google uses email to trace what users, or consumers, are inquiring in; they use that data to cater to those users through their advertising. Google employs people who do nothing but trace blogs for trends in consumer interest. There are a number of free services provided by Google but they are more than just services the user loves to utilize, they are tools that bring in revenue for the company. This is a feat that no competitor has been able to successfully imitate. Porter’s Five Forces Potential New Entrants Because current search engines have developed and stored years of data about user habits and about searches, the capability for a new company to enter into the competition and gain or hold position would be extremely difficult. For a new entrant to succeed they would need to offer better services, more personalization for the consumer and faster results. When Google was introduced, the market was dominated by search engines like MSN Yahoo, but since then the market had matured, therein lowering the threat of new entrants. One new threat to Google’s market share could be that of the mobile search engine. More consumers daily are using mobile devices to search the internet. But with better technology currently lacking, Google’s presence in the mobile market, and Google’s mobile operating system, this threat is in the far future, and not a pressing threat. Supplier Power Supplier power is relatively low due to the fact that their income source has proven reliable. Google has two customers: the user and the advertiser. Google’s revenue comes directly from the advertiser but relies on their users. Sergey Brin stated, â€Å"Google actually relies on our users to help with our marketing.† As long as Google remains dominant and continues to attract users, advertisers will continue to follow. Supplier power will remain low as long as the number of Google users sustains, and throughout the past decade Google has continued to better their products and services. That has created a sense of brand loyalty that internet users have become used to – people use Google as if it is the internet, not as though it is a site on the internet. Buyer Power Because so many people use Google, buyer power is relatively low. It is key to remember that Google has two customers, advertisers and internet users. The advertising depends on the internet users; hence as long as there are internet users utilizing Google’s products and services there will be ample advertisers. The number of internet users that could use Google is worldwide, and the number of advertisers that use Google is continually growing to reach those internet users. Google also spreads itself across the internet market making it almost impossible for users to not know about Google. In 2008 Firefox had 60 million daily users on its web browser, of which 85% is financed by Google, in exchange for having its search engine embedded in the browser. Google Inc., had partnerships with Dell and Apple to have the search engine appear by default on their products. Buyers are hard pressed to move to competitors because of these assertions by Google. Barriers to Entry The main barrier to entry that Google imposes is their ability to use their PageRank to deliver the most relevant searches for the consumer. A web site’s reputation is primarily based on the back links that it receives from other websites. Google uses its superior algorithms to use PageRank to deliver better results than other search engines. One of the ten cores to Google’s philosophy is â€Å"Its best to do one thing really, really well.† Google focuses on searching. They put some of the largest research groups on the task of focusing exclusively on solving search problems, and learning how to do that better. Because of their continued focus on searching, they create a barrier to entry. Google has been searching the web for over a decade. The search engine archives everything searched, to improve upon the next search. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for a new search engine to return the same results as the continually improved Google search eng ine. Looking Forward Focus on creating products services catered to users in the BRIC countries. Find new sources of revenue and diversify revenue streams. The United States knows Google very well. We are familiar with their offerings and utilize their free tools on a daily basis. Over the next few years Google needs to put a large focus and investment into the BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China. These are markets where Google has already tapped into but has yet to exploit. China is home to the majority of internet users and although they know and even use Google, it is not yet a household name. Becoming a verb in Chinese and Indian culture will be a critical part of Google’s continued success. In order to move heavily into these countries Google should not simply put their product in foreign territory in their respective language, they should cater the products and services to the needs and wants of the people. In North America Google has continued to bring the users exactly what we were looking for, but what we want in an email service or a search engine might be significantly different than what users in foreign countries want. The focus should be to cater to each cultural group as a whole, and not to alter the current product to meet their needs. Finding new sources of revenue will also be key to Google’s sustainable success. Currently over 99% of revenue comes from advertising, which is heavily dependent on partnerships and agreements. If anything is to happen to those partnerships and agreements, their revenue is dramatically affected. In order to diversify their earnings, Google needs to provide a new source of income – perhaps in offering mobile internet search, email, and other services. In order to keep Google’s name in tact as the free service provider agreements with the cellular carriers would be involved. In order to use Google applications on their phones Google would need a royalty for each unit sold. Google is doing well in its internet advertising, exponentially well. There will soon be more internet advertising than anything else, if growth continues as it has. On the same token, Google is very dependent on that revenue from advertising via the internet. To further diversify their operations, entering into traditional advertising markets could help and be remotely simple. Acquiring a company that has produces television, radio, and newspaper advertising would be an advantage that Google has. Beyond diversifying the revenue, it would become very easy for advertisers to place all of their advertising through Google – for their television, magazine, and internet ads. A one-stop shop could provide an edge for Google, enough to keep current customers and bring in new customers. Google has made a name for itself as a cutting edge company that is constantly on the verge of the next biggest internet sensation. To continue that streak is difficult, but with the power that Google has it is beyond feasible. Google’s Best and Worst: SWOT Analysis Strengths Google is the number one search engine worldwide with over 80% of the search market. Google is an established brand name with widespread recognition of the name and logo. Simple interface creating user friendly products and services Highly advanced search technology Products and services offered in over 88 languages, worldwide offerings. Relatively low operating costs. Fair response to all advertisers; ads are listed separately from other search results, marked as â€Å"Sponsored Links.† Personalization; once registered with Google a search will first provide local results followed by the ranked pages. Range of services easily accessed; Google did not complicate the site by creating a portal, instead each service is accessed through a tab linked to its home page. Weaknesses Spammers can exploit Google’s search process by creating fake websites with links to the spammer’s desired website so the website will rank higher on a Google search. Google’s advertising pricing is relative to the number of clicks the ad receives, making it difficult for companies to determine how much to allocate for that advertisement. Google makes about 99% of revenue from advertising and has yet to effectively capitalize on revenue from all of its acquisitions. Growing pains; finding new key employees to fill the shoes of the past innovators leaders. Google has a weak position in China, one of the fastest growing internet areas geographically. Opportunities Google can increase switching cost by tracking users’ search histories (permission needed) to remind users through emails for the relevant search updates as per their personal interest. Google can improve on their localized searches, by being able to promote local businesses through those local searches (adding a search similar restaurant.com or ziddio.com). Google could introduce a free mobile service to users, charging the carriers instead of consumer. Google could add privatized databases for companies and individuals alike. Google is currently international; however, reaching foreign consumers in the same sense that North American consumers are being reached has yet to be achieved successfully. Creating a fixed cost advertising option would bring new companies to advertise; the cost per click program is often difficult for companies to determine how much to allot for the program. Threats Google leans heavily on its portal partners like AOL and Mozilla Firefox; if anything were to negatively affect those contracts, Google would lose a considerable share of revenue. A new entrant into the market would not be a threat; however, Google could focus too hard on defeating the start-up rather than developing their services to better meet consumer demands. Cost per click advertising is difficult and complex for many marketing groups; a flat rate option is needed and competitors are likely to pursue that option. Google’s personalized database could lead to privacy issues. Google is known as an innovative and continually improving company; if their products and services ever begin to slow their brand name will suffer. New laws and regulations, internet controls. Google as a Brand: Marketing Analysis Throughout the past decade Google has grown exponentially. Despite being the largest search engine in the world there is still far more to improve upon. Larry Page said in 2007, â€Å"The ultimate search engine would basically understand everything in the world, and it would always give you the right thing. And we’re a long, long way from that.† In 2005 Google’s first employee and computer science classmate from Stanford, Craig Silverstein, stated â€Å"We need to make search as good as a human answering a search request. We need to be like the computer on Star Trek, and we are not there yet.† Currently in the United States Google services more than 80% of all internet searches. The more important statistic is that users searching the internet with Google search on average more than 2 searches per visit to Google. These are loyal users who value the Google website; however, most of those loyal users are domestic internet users. Google has surpassed all other search engines on the internet since its inception. It is a very powerful name and has become a staple in households. Google has become a verb in our vernacular but it has not once marketed itself in the traditional sense. We have seen television advertisements for Microsoft and even for Yahoo, but never for Google. The company has always relied on a good product and word of mouth, which so far has led to success. Having your company name be added into the dictionary is not anything to overlook, it is every marketing executive’s dream to have your company’s name become used in the way that â€Å"googling† has. Google has spent more time and money on determining the wants and needs of the user and catering to those specifications than they have spent thinking of a marketing strategy, and that focus proven beneficial. People want fast, reliable, and accurate – and Google has achieved that effectively. One of the biggest differences between Google and its competitors is their homepage. When you arrive on Yahoo’s homepage, you will see a website with so many options and places to go. Many people see Yahoo as a news source or email application, instead of as a search engine. Google has always remained a simple website. With nothing more than their always changing logo, a search box, and a row of tabs to navigate to one of the many other services Google offers, they have successfully found what users look for in a search engine. Page and Brin’s idea behind the simplicity stemmed from their stubborn idea that if the user wanted a website with flare then Google was not for them, but if they wanted a powerful and effective search engine they would use Google. Google claims to spend no money for marketing. While this is true, they have moved their means of advertising to bettering their products to better attract customers. As stated in prior sections, Google has two customers: the internet user and the advertiser. Google has gone through great measures to ensure satisfaction when searching the internet for its users; however, they have also gone through great measures to attract advertisers. Google’s AdWords is a program that places advertisements on search result pages that relate to the product or service being marketed. If you search â€Å"Syracuse Orangemen† using Google you will see advertisements for Syracuse Basketball tickets and autographed Jim Boeheim basketballs. That is not coincidence, and the companies selling Syracuse Basketball tickets and autographed memorabilia benefit greatly from the product placement. Imagine your television only showed commercials for products that catered to you; that is probably likely to happen in our lifetime, and Google has accomplished just that for the internet. Companies of all industries can benefit from what Google has to offer. Product placement is a fundamental principle of marketing and companies have tried a plethora of techniques to obtain placement of advertisement to their target market. If you own a men’s clothing company, you want your clothing advertisements to be in front of men that wear your brand. Brooks Brothers would want their advertisements to appear in searches for suits, ties, and other men’s fashion, and they do just that. When you search â€Å"classic pinpoint oxford,† the first advertisement shown directs the user to the Brooks Brothers website. This provides great value to companies and is a great way to put your product in front of your target audience. Google has become a big player in the world of advertising. Google has not committed to traditional marketing – you will not see a television commercial or a magazine feature. They have relied on letting their products and services speak for themselves. Google has made a name for itself in advertising, but it is not what users think of when they hear the name. To â€Å"google† is still to search, and that is why Google is still today the most successful search engine around. Users do not want to be advertised to, they want to be directed to the information they have queried. Google has done both, subtly, and still remained the same household name. The search engine has turned into many things: email, blogs, news, stock quotes, images, videos, calendars, etc. The brand has become somewhat of a renaissance man of the internet. They are known worldwide as a leader and innovator. One way they have furthered their becoming of a renaissance man is through Google Scholar. Google has developed relationships with several of the world’s largest libraries. This has allowed Google to digitize books and scholarly articles and create a database of information that otherwise would not be accessible through the internet. No matter where your location worldwide, if you search â€Å"Liar’s Poker† in Google Scholar, you can read the award winning Michael Lewis novel from your computer. This has made a name for Google in the world of academia, putting the company in the forefront of something no other company has attempted before. Google has entered so many markets since its inception, including mapping. Before Google Maps was introduced in 2005, Mapquest was the leader in internet maps directions. Last year Google Maps surpassed Mapquest in visitors. This is just another area that Google has researched, innovated, and turned into another forte. Now users can not only view a map of the location they wish, but they can see street level pictures as if you were actually at the location searched. This is all evidence in Google’s theory that their marketing is not in television commercials, magazine features, or internet banner ads. Google has focused on products and services that speak for themselves. They are constantly making the internet a more accessible place. This is the type of marketing that cannot be imitated, it can only be accomplished. Google has a competitive stance to constantly improve upon their products and services. Beyond innovation they want to provide exactly what the user wants and needs. â€Å"Googling† will continue to be searching the internet and people will continue to see Google as the benchmark of internet innovation; however, is â€Å"googling† a verb in other languages? As previously stated, Google accounts for more than 80% of internet searches in the United States; however, the United States makes up only 18% of the world’s internet market. Populations in Asian territories are nearing the 4 trillion mark making it 42% of the world’s population. Asia also produces the larges number of internet users. China alone accounts for 20% of the world’s internet users. Currently, Chinese users prefer the search engine Baidu. Gaining substantial market share in China could lead to an enourmous amount of opportunity. There are nearly 6 times more marketing dollars spent in China than there are in the United States. In exploiting the Chinese market Google would be also gaining access to other Asian countries. Another possible area for Google to expand is in mobile searches. With cellular technology, Google has already produced two cellular telephones that utilize many of Google’s products and services. With the mobile search market expected to grow to an $11 billion market in the next two years, Google could become a major competitor in the cellular space as well. In Google’s current place in the internet market they are the biggest and the best; however, it was founder Larry Page that said â€Å"the ultimate search engine would basically understand everything in the world, and it would always give you the right thing.† This is the foundation for what Google is moving forward to become. Google is 11 years old and they have accomplished so much; however, there is a lot still to accomplish and Google is acquiring companies, hiring the brightest minds, and working hard to accomplish just that. Looking Forward Continue creating advanced, user friendly products services to compensate for marketing. If at any time innovation improvement slows, gather market research to put together a proper, traditional marketing plan – one that awes viewers and maintain’s the reputation. Google is a single-core business and in order to compete with the likes of other technology powerhouses such as Microsoft and Yahoo, they have sought to differentiate to gain competitive advantage – and it has worked. Not only has Google succeeded in differentiating itself from the competition, it has also become a leader in cost and speed. The key component of Google’s success is to continue to improve upon the already great. Their products and services have proven themselves as great; however, to continue to better those products and services is the key factor. Google has no advertising budget. They depend solely on their products and services to speak for themselves – and then for the users to speak to their friends about the value in them. But continuing that marketing strategy effectively depends on Google’s ability to remain the name it is today. If Google begins to slow innovations and improvements, their name will not be as valuable as it is today. Google must continue to provide above average products and services so that when a new product or services is introduced, it will be recognized and utilized. To expand upon a non-existent strategy is simple – any of the strategies learned in business school could be used; however, on a first move basis Google must come with a bang. If Google struggles with their product development and research, they will need a marketing campaign. That campaign will be walking a fine line between becoming Microsoft and remaining Google. In order to remain Google, to keep the value that is bestowed in the name, the company must put out a campaign that reaches everyone – from grade school to the retirement facilities, and across the world. A daunting task but should be held back until all other means have been depleted. The Numbers: Financial Analysis Google began as an interesting math project, created interest, and received its first initial investment of $100,000 from one of the Sun Microsystems founders. From that initial investment Google has grown at an exponential rate to become what today is one of the most powerful and innovative technological companies of all time. Starting out Page and Brin had no idea where to go for venture capital. They were both sons of college professors, both intelligent and talented, but lacked any business sense as to how to start a company – but they did. Google is a relatively young company that has been public since August of 2004. At the initial public offering a share of Google stock sold for only $85. By the end of 2007 the stock price had reached almost $750 a share – 782% return on investment in 3 years. That means if you had purchased a round lot, 100 shares, of Google at initial public offering and sold those shares at its peak in November 2007 you would have made $66,500 in three years. That puts a child through 4 years of college at most state universities – and many kids went to college because of their parents’ investment in Google. When the recession began taking its toll on companies worldwide GOOG fell to the $300 range, and today is in the high $500s. Even if you rode the stock another 2 years until today, at $500, you would have made $41,500. That might not be a college education, but that is still a 488% return on investment in 5 years. The graph pictured is the stock price of Google, Yahoo, and the SP 500; the prices are plotted over a five year horizon. Note that the SP line is considerably higher; this is not because the SP produced a higher return over the five year period, but because the SP trades at a price around 1000. In analyzing what the graph depicts of the performance of Google and Yahoo; however, it is easy to say that Google has outperformed Yahoo. The stock performance of a company is indeed important, but it is not necessarily a direct indicator of how financially sound a company is. There is a discrepancy between what the value of a company is – the book value versus the market value. The book value is simply the shareholder’s equity, because of the accounting equation referring to the assets less claims against assets. The book value of Google in 2008 was $28,238 million. The market value of Google better reflects the true worth of the company, which in 2008 was $1.023 billion. The drastic difference between the values is simply because financial statements are transaction based, or after-the-fact, which does not account for the time value of money; where as investors buy the stock for future expectations, not the underlying value to investors. This is an important distinction in valuing Google because investors in Google stock rely heavily on intangible assets, which are very difficult to assign an intrinsic value to. In looking at the performance of Google in comparison to Yahoo, there are quite a few distinctions. In analyzing the returns of the stocks over the five year period the average return on Google is 11% compared to Yahoo’s -2% and the SP’s 0.5%. That alone should tell you which company to invest in; however, you can further see the value in the difference in risk by finding the standard deviation of the stocks. The standard deviation of Google over the five year period is 0.0238 compared to Yahoo’s 0.0307 and the SP’s 0.0150. This shows how the SP is the least risky investment, as it is diversified across a number of different equities. In looking at Yahoo’s higher risk and lower return it is easy to conlcude that an investor would not take on more risk for lower returns. A company’s stock price is not a firm indicator of it’s financial stability, although so far Google has outperformed its biggest competitor. In analyzing the financial statements we will see more accurately how Google handles their money. The income statement shows annual data from 2006, 2007, and 2008. The average growth in key figures from the income statement over the three year period is: Revenue: 43% Gross Profit: 44% Operating Expenses: 53% Net Income: 19% Most companies may start with growth of this kind but slow to what is considered their normal growth rate. Perhaps Google is still in its younger years, but after 11 years of operation the growth seems to sustain. Revenue and gross profit are very close, but operating expenses is significantly higher. The biggest growth in the three year period was between 2006 and 2007, where research development and selling, general, administrative expenses nearly doubled. Although the operating expenses rose so drastically, the net income growth for the three year period is still impressive at 19%. In looking at the Google’s balance sheet, which is considered to give a financial snap shot of the company’s financial well-being, again it the annual data from 2006, 2007, and 2008 is displayed. The average growth in key figures over the three year period is: Current Assets: 25% Total Assets: 32% Current Liabilities: 35% Total Liabilities: 59% Stockholder Equity: 29% Net Tangible Assets: 22% The biggest number to jump out is the growth in total liabilities. The majority of that growth took place between 2006 and 2007; as the growth rate from 2006-2007 is 84% but in 2007-2008 is only 33%. In looking further into the reason for the jump in total liabilities the balance sheet shows an increase from $68 million to $580 million in other liabilities. This could be a variety of things that could cause such an increase; however, the total stockholder equity still grew by 29%. The statement of cash flows depicts some pertinent information about Google’s finances, and on first look there seems to be a lot of negative numbers. Over the three year period the average growth in key figures is: Cash Flows from Operating Activities: 49% Cash Flows from Investing Activities: -1% Cash Flows from Financing Activities: -82% Total Change in Cash Flows: -430% From the looks of these growth rates, Google is bringing in a significant amount of money from operating activities, which derives from the company’s products and services and lead ultimately to advertising. Google did not invest more than heavily nor earn more than expected in terms of the grown from investing activities. Lastly, the drastic negative percentage in financing activities stems from the acquisitions throughout the three year period. The negative figure should not be looked at as negative, rather than as positive – as long as the capital is available to adequately fund the acquisition. Looking at the ratio analysis of Google, there are some key indicators of the stability of the company. The current ratio is 8.76 – meaning that for every dollar Google owes, it has $8.76 to pay that dollar off. That is a very good figure because it is high enough to be of value; however, it is not too high to indicate excess cash on hand. The quick ratio for Google cannot be computed, as it would be the same number as the current ratio. This is because Google has no inventories. In terms of profitability, Google has a net profit margin of 0.1939. This is a relatively strong number for a company with such low overhead; this figure states that 19% of revenue is net profit. This indicates that the company has a strong pricing policy and is capable of controlling their costs effectively. The return on assets for Google is 13%, which means 13 cents of each dollar spent on assets is converted into profit. The return on equity is a bit higher at 15%, which is a good figure for a company with such demand for common stock. A high return on equity indicates that the company is doing well at effectively utilizing the capital deriving from stockholder equity. In analyzing the activity ratios of Google, the asset turnover is 69%, which is a suitable number. This means that Google is effectively turning assets into revenue. The net working capital turnover for Google is 1.21; again providing evidence that Google is capable and efficient at turning capital into revenue. Lastly, to determine the leverage Google has, the debt to asset ratio is 2.8%. The debt to asset ratio measures the company’s solvency; with a low figure such as 2.8% it is reasonable to say that there is a relatively low risk associated with the firm’s operation. Google continues to have a high borrowing capacity and remains a financially flexible company, demonstrated through their ability to purchase so many other companies. The debt to equity ratio is 3.15%. This is a considerably low number, due to the percent of debt issued by Google being so small. In what has been reviewed so far it is fair to say that Google is a financially sound company that has excelled in areas and fallen short in few. The company has proven itself successful in many areas of its business, and it shows the Larry Page and Sergey Brin hired the right people to run the financial operations of the company. Looking Forward Focus on financing activities, as further acquisitions will lead to diversified revenue streams. Issuing debt could raise capital, lower the cost of capital, be very feasible to pay back. Watch operating expenses over time to ensure the growth rate in operating expenses does not exceed that of revenue. To take a snapshot picture of where Google is today and to use the growth at which is has grown over the past three years, the projections are based on the data found in the three year period. That data was averaged and the growth rate was used to determine where the key figures of the company’s financial statements would be. Some of the key projections are: Period Ending 31-Dec-09 31-Dec-10 31-Dec-11 31-Dec-12 Total Revenue 31,366,034.14 45,138,943.40 64,959,573.86 93,483,496.02 Gross Profit 18,993,626.37 27,383,986.47 39,480,755.29 56,921,224.40 Total Operating Expenses 10,018,914.24 15,343,548.11 23,498,002.19 35,986,207.54 Net Income 5,011,956.77 5,942,880.19 7,046,713.80 8,355,574.03 Total Assets 41,700,334.16 54,738,766.46 71,853,921.89 94,320,468.38 Total Liabilities 5,609,674.63 8,917,826.26 14,176,869.50 22,537,289.14 Total Stockholder Equity 36,373,560.85 46,851,602.21 60,348,026.92 77,732,333.18 Total CF from Operating Activities 11,672,171.26 17,349,046.58 25,786,926.06 38,328,651.23 Total CF from Investing Activities (5,262,239.76) (5,205,672.22) (5,149,712.76) (5,094,354.85) Total CF from Financing Activities 15,608.61 2,780.93 495.47 88.28 Changes in Cash Cash Equivalents (8,516,727.57) 28,167,931.32 (93,161,645.59) 308,119,616.93 From those projections it is apparent that revenue will be growing at a constant rate, by year end 2012 Google will be bringing in triple the revenue that is is today. Total operating expenses will be increasing at a profitable rate, and net income is strong. Net income seems to level off a bit between 2009 and 2010 but makes a bigger increase between 2011 and 2012. Stockholder equity is projected to increase at a rate desired by managers. By 2012 total stockholder equity is expected to double in the four year term. Liabilities should increase the most between 2010-2011; however, that is dependent on Google and the debt they decide to issue or any capital they may borrow. The liabilities number is something that could easily not reach estimates through the simple growth rate method used in these projections. Cash flow from operating activities should increase steadily, these numbers are strong and if Google can accomplish the estimates they are posed to continue their success. The cash flow from financing activities will continue to be negative as Google has recently began to invest heavily. This is not necessarily a bad sign; however, it is a sign that Google is preparing for the future and expect good things themselves. The financing activities are estimated to decrease as Google decides to slow down their acquisition process. This could be a bad sign for Google as they have proven their strength in the past through their continual additions to the company. Competitors could see this is a weak point and attempt to acquire the companies that Google would typically look to buy. Throughout the projections Google seems to be on the right track to success. Google has had a strong financial background and has done well in terms of financial stability. They have excess cash available to fund any major research development projects that need attention, as well as cash on hand to acquire new and useful companies, should it decide to pursue them. Google has a strong stock price and has provided plenty of support to its investors over the past years and appears to continue on that track. Through their continued success in operations and management will follow the success in their financial matters. Where We â€Å"Googled† It: Bibliography â€Å"Business and Finance Quotes† Woopidoo. 10 October 2009. woopidoo.com/business _quotes /authors/sergey-brin-quotes.htm â€Å"Life at Google† Google. 10 October 2009. google.com/intl/en/jobs/lifeatgoogle /index.html â€Å"Google Milestones† Google. 10 October 2009. google.com/corporate/history.html â€Å"History of Google† Ben Morrow Page. 10 October 2009. benmorrow.info/articles/2009/ 02/12/history-of-google-inc-/ â€Å"Larry Page and Sergey Brin† World Biographies. 15 November 2009. notablebiographies .com/news/Ow-Sh/Page-Larry-and-Brin-Sergey.html â€Å"List of Subsidiaries† SEC. 15 November 2009. sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1288776/ 000119312508032690/dex2101.htm â€Å"The Birth of Google† Wired. 10 October 2009. sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1288776 /000119312508032690/dex2101.htm â€Å"Google Announces Strategy† BNet. 8 October 2009. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi _m0EIN/is_2000_April_25/ai_61649908/ â€Å"World Internet Users† World Statistics. 8 October 2009. internetworldstats.com /stats.htm â€Å"Google International Marketing† SlideShare. 8 October 2009. slideshare.net/Nanor /google-international-marketing-presentation â€Å"Google Unveils Mobile Search in Chinese† English People. 8 October 2009. http://english .people.com.cn/90001/90778/90860/6801681.html â€Å"In Maturing Market, How Can Google Grow?† CNet. 8 October 2009. http://news.cnet.com /In-maturing-market,-how-can-Google-grow/2100-1024_3-5314025.html â€Å"Google Market Share in China† China Tech. 8 October 2009. chinatechnews.com/ 2009/07/29/10230-google-china-market-share-lower-than-30-in-q2-2009 â€Å"Chinese Market Share to Grow† Reuters. 8 October 2009. reuters.com/article/ marketsNews/idUSSHA195520081107 â€Å"Google Losing Foreign Market Share† Search Engine Journal. 14 October 2009. searchenginejournal.com/google-losing-market-share-in-china/3816/ â€Å"Search Engine Market Share† Market Share. 14 October 2009. http://marketshare.hitslink. com/search-engine-market-share.aspx?qprid=4 â€Å"Google SWOT Analysis† SooperTutorials. 14 October 2009. soopertutorials.com/business /strategic-management/1369-google-swot-analysis.html â€Å"Google Marketing Strategy† Go Team. 4 November 2009. vertygoteam.com /google_marketing_strategy.php. â€Å"Does Google Need to Advertise?† The Guardian. 4 November 2009. guardian.co.uk /media/organgrinder/2006/sep/01/doesgoogleneedtoadvertise1 â€Å"Google Case Study† Marketing Teacher. 4 November 2009. marketingteacher.com/case_study/google_case_study.html Research Papers on Google Inc - Company Analysis A Unilever ProductHip-Hop is ArtOpen Architechture a white paperThe Project Managment Office SystemDefinition of Export QuotasPETSTEL analysis of IndiaMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of Self