Argo review

Argo is a name of a movie which got Oscar for best movie in 2012. It has been done in Warner Bros production, with Ben Affleck as a director and George Clooney as a producer. It's a thriller (120min) full of surprises and unexpected events, so I would rate it 10/10 for the story. This thriller is about hostage extraction from Teheran in 1979 and it's based on a true story about a fake movie. During the Iranian diplomatic crisis, the CIA rescued six US diplomats by passing them off as members of aCanadian film crew who were scouting locations for a nonexistent sci-fi film. It tells the true story of some imaginative derring-do on the part of a brilliant and unorthodox CIA agent called Tony Mendez. As I already said I gave this movie 10/10 for the story, but the story is not completely true in some way. If you read the interview with the former US president Jimmy Carter, who was president at the time the crisis happened, you can see that not all is shown as it was.Carter openly admits hat 95% of the contributions to the ideas and the consummation of the plan was Canadian, but the movie gives almost all credits to CIA. Considering the acting, Argo is even bellow average in some cases because some actors in my opinion are Just too bad. If we take in consideration that Ben Affleck is a director and it is a Warner Bros production, I think that they should have found better actors. Except couple of main characters, acting is nothing special and I would not give more than 5/10 for it.You will not regret watching this movie, but you should try to find out more information about this incident before watching it, because it will help you to get better picture about situations in Iran. In my opinion the movie is not even close to Oscar, but it got it, probably because of the strong patriotism among US citizens and this story is exactly about that. All in all, this movie is a nice way to spend Saturday afternoon, but it definitely did not deserve an Oscar.

History of Life

Superman was breaking down a door. It's important to remember this because he talks about how he refused to act stupid and how he is breaking down his own door In the sense that he Is teaching others how to read and write and breaking stereotypes. Indians aren't supposed to be able to read and write, but now he Is teaching other Indians to do these things because he didn't conform. 2) The verb that Is repeated was read. This emphasizes his passion for reading and his dedication to it.He is trying to say that his coming to literacy was a hardship. It took perseverance to achieve it and now he is trying to help others to achieve that same goal. 3) The statement made by Frederick Douglas has the complete opposite meaning to what Alexia feels. I don't think Alexia envied his classmates because if he did envy them, why did he go his own way when others ridiculed him? Alexis difficulties demonstrated not conforming to the stereotype he was given while his classmates worried about upholding that stereotype. ) She waited and waited for her parent's to tell her the news. They were moving away from everything she knew†¦ Again. It pained her to know that she had to say goodbye. Writing in 3rd person decreases the meaning of the moment. It creates a distance between my emotions and me. Graduation 1) She hopes to one day be able to do what her heart desires, not Just what society believes she should do. The speaker knew the Negro race to be athletes and farmers. She aspired to be more than that. 2) It shows how life was back then for African-American citizens.It appeals to the reader's emotions because you see how hard the Negroes work for their education just for somebody to tell them that they will just be the next big athlete or farmer. 3) Angelo viewed poetry as a way to sustain culture and empathic with the author's emotions. AnzaÃ'Ëœa viewed poetry as a right and a way to express one's self. She was always told to tame her tongue and poetry was a way that she cou ld freely express herself. 4) When I first made cheerleaders In high school, I expected It to be easy. It wasn't.It was a lot of hard work, but once I adjusted to the reality of it, I loved every minute of it My expectations for the next year were definitely modified to fit what actually happens. Turkeys In the Kitchen ) He talks about how the women work in the kitchen while the men watch sports. Also he addresses how men wont go Into the kitchen unless they need a beer or something to snack on. He adds that the only men who know how to cook have hyphenated last names and stay at home all day while his wife works, which isn't always the case. 2) HIS use of humor helps make a serious subject lighthearted.It helps people better relate to these situations about men and women. He confirms the stereotypes of men and women. 3) Parry's humor is lighthearted and funny, while Steadier's humor is more sarcastic. They are similar in the sense that both styles of humor make reading these storie s easier on the audience. They differ in that one is lighthearted and playful, while one is more serious. 4) Holidays in my family are very similar to Parry's. My dad and the other men sit around and talk and drink beer. The women are usually in the kitchen cooking the meals or watching the younger kids play.Why Don't We Complain? 1) His three examples were when the temperature on a train is 85 degrees, when the movie screen is out of focus, and when he was in a ski shop and one of the employees wasn't working. ) He states that each year, Americans voice their opinions less and less because they feel that it is the place of the government to decide what is best for this country. He uses the example of when Premier Khrushchev came to American and only a few people made posters that challenged his tyranny. 3) The behaviors in Buckley essay are when people are too afraid to stand up for themselves.The behaviors in Coacher's essay are when people feel empathy for another human who is su ffering. The difference that can be seen between these 2 essays are that one has to do with why people give into what they ear or what they feel and the other deals with why people are afraid of standing up for what they want. 4) I care about the equal treatment of everyone, no matter who they are. I demonstrate my beliefs by treating everyone with love and compassion. I act as if everyone is my friend. I treat others the way I want to be treated. Myth of Latin Woman 1) They all show people treating Coffer like her cultures stereotype.They treat her as if she was uneducated, unprofessional, and easy. In these incidents, no one stopped and thought to talk to her or give her the respect any human deserves. Instead, they treated her like an idiot or like she didn't belong. 2) She states that the Latinist that are recognized in our culture are the ones who wear scandalous clothing with too much make up and Jewelry, those who are uneducated and don't speak much English, those who are unp rofessional, and those who belong in the kitchen or as maids. She claims that classifications about certain races or cultures aren't always right.People Judge other cultures based off what the media portrays them as. 3) Over the course of my life, Eve had instances of people treating me like I am uneducated because of the stereotype that people label blondes and cheerleaders as. It's very degrading when people treat me that way. I take a lot of pride in my schoolwork and grades. I cheer because I love the sport, not because of the social status I receive. 4) When I see a girl wearing revealing clothing, I usually assume she's doing it for the attention and to be slut. I realize this isn't always the case.I believe we can live without these snap Judgments. You don't know the other person's situation therefore you can't Judge them. People don't always act like their stereotype. On Morality 1) She feels that when people claim that there is a moral imperative to do something that is whe n they will take action to get what they deem as â€Å"right† done. 2) She never defines what morality is. She explains that morality is what we feel right and wrong are and that those beliefs are formed in our childhood. She approaches it this way to help people understand that morals will vary Witt every person.No person is raised the same way as another. 3) As humans we are always forced to make choices. Eve been in situations where I had to choose between right and wrong. It isn't always the easiest decision, but because of how I was raised, I know to make the right decision. My mom always taught me to put others before myself. That is what I view as right. 4) The conscience can be insidious. When people are caught up in a moment, their old may be tempting them to make the wrong choice. For example, serial killers think in a different way than other people do.What they are doing may be â€Å"right† to them because of what they grew up around. Learning to Read 1) He learned to read from the boys around his neighborhood and from his mistress when she was kind to him. He read the newspapers when he could. He learned to write from watching the men at the shipyard label what the boards were going to. He also learned from his little Master's copybook and the boys in the neighborhood. 2) His mistress undergoes a learning experience from her husband on how to treat slaves. She used to be kind and tender -hearted. She used to treat Douglas how any human being should be treated.Her husband thought that was wrong and she then became cruel Just like him. She stopped teaching Douglas how to read as well. 3) The way Douglas was treated and why he wasn't educated was ere similar to that of how Epsilons were treated in Brave New World. Douglas wasn't deprived of oxygen and didn't have alcohol poured into his test tube, but he was deprived of an education out of fear that he may revolt, Just like the Epsilons. If both slaves and the Epsilons knew that they we re being mistreated, they would revolt. 4) I Just recently found out that I'm allergic to seafood.It is pleasurable and painful because seafood is my favorite food and I can never at it again, but it's also very unhealthy. So on the downside I can't eat it, but on the bright side, I'm avoiding unhealthy food. Serving in Florida 1) She has to pay rent and buy food for herself. 2) She tells us about each of their living conditions and the latest drama going on in the hotel and their lives. She tells us when people are planning on quitting and some who want to switch Jobs. Also, there was a drug issue going on with the hotel and she told us whom all the employees thought it was. ) People can be homeless or near foreclosure even if they have a Job. Some people work at minimum wage or work double Jobs Just to try and pay rent, but sometimes that isn't enough. 4) Eve never worked for minimum wage, but most of my friends do. I can imagine how hard it must be to slave away for hours to only make enough to Just get by. The Allegory of the Cave 1) The cave represents how we see or interpret our reality or the reality around us. The shadows in the story represent an interpretation of reality that people try to interpret or explain without really knowing what it meaner.The light represents the truth of all things. The puppeteers represent the people of higher rank in society and how they try to alter other people's realities. 2) The comparisons help to show the importance of non-worldly things such as knowledge, wisdom, and common sense. He compares wisdom and virtue to silver and gold because they nave the same importance. Without silver or gold, we wouldn't be able to trade or purchase items Just like how without virtue and knowledge we wouldn't know anything about the world we live in. 3) The allegory made in Plat's essay is seen today in many countries all over the world.Most governments use their authority to benefit themselves; they use it for personal gain. For exa mple, some governments ay tax the people more to sponsor a personal fund. Also, in North Korea, the government tries to alter the citizens' perceptions of the world like the puppeteers in Plat's story. ) Some people involved in politics may have a personal connection to a public affair. Cancer fundraisers, charities, marathons supporting a good cause, etc. Are all great examples of public affairs that politicians want to get involved in purely because they are for a good cause.Just Be Average 1) Brother Dill, who taught him to be tough. Mr.. Metropolis, who had them read Caesar and half think. Mr.. Monnet took no responsibility and taught Rose to do the same thing. Brother Clint was the one who caught the error and placed him in College Prep, which led to Rose getting a decent education. Mr.. McFarland pushed him to be the scholar he wanted to be. McFarland led to Rose's love of language and books and recommended that he go to college. 2) He talks about the boundaries that schools p lace on kids who learn at a slower level. These boundaries serve as a guide as to who goes where in society.Society deems the Vocational Education students as â€Å"inadequate† in the work field, so they are given mediocre Jobs. That boundary also teaches those kids that they are nothing more than the â€Å"Common Leo† and that they shouldn't try because they are always going to be behind. 3) Both f the classifications made in Angelinos essay and in Rose's essay represent the hardships that some people have to overcome in order to succeed. The African- Americans were always told they would amount to nothing more than athletes Just as the kids in Vocational Education were told and viewed themselves as below average and mediocre. ) I have definitely been pushed past what I thought was my limit. My teachers have helped and guided me through my schooling experience to be the best possible student I can be. In our education system, students are rewarded with DOD grades, hon or medals/certificates, and recognition from teachers or colleges. Traditional motivation has always worked for me because I take a lot of pride in my schoolwork and I know what I am capable of. A system that might encourage all students to do their best would be on without boundaries.If a child doesn't feel restricted from his/her potential, then they will aspire to be better instead of Just quitting. A Plague of Tics 1) He kissed news papers, licked a mushroom decoration, licked light switches and door knobs, Jabbed butter knifes into an electrical outlet, smashed his shoes to his forehead, rocked, listened to music and tried to interpret its meaning, touch the front or with his elbows, count things, Jerk his head, roll his eyes back, put his nose to the windshield, he'd straighten objects into lines or rows, and he would tighten lids and lights.These are tics because he found an uncontrollable urge to perform these tasks and couldn't move on with his day until everything was done . 2) Five examples would be when he imagined bad things happening to his roommate so he could rock, him questioning why his teacher would want to lick his light switches when she doesn't use hers, when en told his roommate that his head snaking was because to a moor, when he goes over the list of demands his brain makes him do, and when he questions why he can't press his nose to the windshield of the car.These examples act as a relief from the seriousness of the story. It makes it more enjoyable to read rather than somber. Also, him questioning why he can't do certain things acts as a contrast to how he thinks to that of how a normal person thinks. 3) They act similarly to those situations. Both authors are so caught up in what others think about them, that they can't find time to think for themselves and decide who it is they ant to be. They both try to alter the way people about them by making up excuses or by trying to change their look. ) One time when I was little, I Jumped of f the bed after my mom told me not to and I got a huge gash in my shin from hitting the dresser. I didn't want to tell my mom because I was so afraid that she was going to yell at me. I tried to play it off and hide the cut, but the guilt of not telling her consumed my every thought. I finally broke down and told her, but in that moment I wished that I could've stopped thinking about it and Just have let it go. Some people sis that they could turn their mind off so that they won't continue harmful habits or so they can hide the truth from others.It's a defense mechanism our mind has to help us cope with the reality of the situation. The Death of the Moth 1) As the moth takes flight, everything outside seems to come to life. The birds are flying, the horses are roaming, the farmers are out tilling the land, and everything is alive. As the moth dies everything outside ceases to commence, almost as if the outside world has sensed death. 2) The size off creature does not matter. Life an d death impacts every organism eventually. It Just goes to show that the same struggles that humans go through other creatures do too.The way that the moth flies from corner to corner represents the way humans go through life. We create a sort of pattern that we rely on to keep us going. When we get older and start to become more immobile, death starts to take its toll on us. We can try and fight it, but it comes to get all of us in the end. She could have used any living thing to write this essay or lust simply explain the common patterns that occur in everyday life. 3) I had a friend pass away freshman year at the age of 13.This story reminds me of her in the sense that death comes at the most unexpected moments like it did for the moth. She was very happy and acted as if everything was normal. She went through her day as she normally did in the same pattern: school, cheer, bed. Then all of a sudden she was gone, Just like the moth. 4) I pass a lot of road kill on my way to school in the morning and it makes me think about how truly short life is. It can Just be taken away from you in an instant. Just because someone or something seems to be doing fine and going about its normal patter doesn't mean that it's invincible.

Why Software Should Be Free

Why Software Should Be Free by Richard Stallman (Version of April 24, 1992) Introduction The existence of software inevitably raises the question of how decisions about its use should be made. For example, suppose one individual who has a copy of a program meets another who would like a copy. It is possible for them to copy the program; who should decide whether this is done? The individuals involved? Or another party, called the â€Å"owner†? Software developers typically consider these questions on the assumption that the criterion for the answer is to maximize developers' profits.The political power of business has led to the government adoption of both this criterion and the answer proposed by the developers: that the program has an owner, typically a corporation associated with its development. I would like to consider the same question using a different criterion: the prosperity and freedom of the public in general. This answer cannot be decided by current law–the law should conform to ethics, not the other way around. Nor does current practice decide this question, although it may suggest possible answers.The only way to judge is to see who is helped and who is hurt by recognizing owners of software, why, and how much. In other words, we should perform a cost-benefit analysis on behalf of society as a whole, taking account of individual freedom as well as production of material goods. In this essay, I will describe the effects of having owners, and show that the results are detrimental. My conclusion is that programmers have the duty to encourage others to share, redistribute, study, and improve the software we write: in other words, to write â€Å"free† software. 1) How Owners Justify Their Power Those who benefit from the current system where programs are property offer two arguments in support of their claims to own programs: the emotional argument and the economic argument. The emotional argument goes like this: â€Å"I put my s weat, my heart, my soul into this program. It comes from me, it's mine! † This argument does not require serious refutation. The feeling of attachment is one that programmers can cultivate when it suits them; it is not inevitable. Consider, for example, how willingly the same programmers sually sign over all rights to a large corporation for a salary; the emotional attachment mysteriously vanishes. By contrast, consider the great artists and artisans of medieval times, who didn't even sign their names to their work. To them, the name of the artist was not important. What mattered was that the work was done–and the purpose it would serve. This view prevailed for hundreds of years. The economic argument goes like this: â€Å"I want to get rich (usually described inaccurately as `making a living'), and if you don't allow me to get rich by programming, then I won't program.Everyone else is like me, so nobody will ever program. And then you'll be stuck with no programs at a ll! † This threat is usually veiled as friendly advice from the wise. I'll explain later why this threat is a bluff. First I want to address an implicit assumption that is more visible in another formulation of the argument. This formulation starts by comparing the social utility of a proprietary program with that of no program, and then concludes that proprietary software development is, on the whole, beneficial, and should be encouraged.The fallacy here is in comparing only two outcomes–proprietary software vs. no software–and assuming there are no other possibilities. Given a system of software copyright, software development is usually linked with the existence of an owner who controls the software's use. As long as this linkage exists, we are often faced with the choice of proprietary software or none. However, this linkage is not inherent or inevitable; it is a consequence of the specific social/legal policy decision that we are questioning: the decision to have owners.To formulate the choice as between proprietary software vs. no software is begging the question. The Argument against Having Owners The question at hand is, â€Å"Should development of software be linked with having owners to restrict the use of it? † In order to decide this, we have to judge the effect on society of each of those two activities independently: the effect of developing the software (regardless of its terms of distribution), and the effect of restricting its use (assuming the software has been developed).If one of these activities is helpful and the other is harmful, we would be better off dropping the linkage and doing only the helpful one. To put it another way, if restricting the distribution of a program already developed is harmful to society overall, then an ethical software developer will reject the option of doing so. To determine the effect of restricting sharing, we need to compare the value to society of a restricted (i. e. , proprietary ) program with that of the same program, available to everyone. This means comparing two possible worlds.This analysis also addresses the simple counterargument sometimes made that â€Å"the benefit to the neighbor of giving him or her a copy of a program is cancelled by the harm done to the owner. † This counterargument assumes that the harm and the benefit are equal in magnitude. The analysis involves comparing these magnitudes, and shows that the benefit is much greater. To elucidate this argument, let's apply it in another area: road construction. It would be possible to fund the construction of all roads with tolls.This would entail having toll booths at all street corners. Such a system would provide a great incentive to improve roads. It would also have the virtue of causing the users of any given road to pay for that road. However, a toll booth is an artificial obstruction to smooth driving-artificial, because it is not a consequence of how roads or cars work. Compari ng free roads and toll roads by their usefulness, we find that (all else being equal) roads without toll booths are cheaper to construct, cheaper to run, safer, and more efficient to use. 2) In a poor country, tolls may make the roads unavailable to many citizens. The roads without toll booths thus offer more benefit to society at less cost; they are preferable for society. Therefore, society should choose to fund roads in another way, not by means of toll booths. Use of roads, once built, should be free. When the advocates of toll booths propose them as merely a way of raising funds, they distort the choice that is available. Toll booths do raise funds, but they do something else as well: in effect, they degrade the road.The toll road is not as good as the free road; giving us more or technically superior roads may not be an improvement if this means substituting toll roads for free roads. Of course, the construction of a free road does cost money, which the public must somehow pay . However, this does not imply the inevitability of toll booths. We who must in either case pay will get more value for our money by buying a free road. I am not saying that a toll road is worse than no road at all. That would be true if the toll were so great that hardly anyone used the road–but this is an unlikely policy for a toll collector.However, as long as the toll booths cause significant waste and inconvenience, it is better to raise the funds in a less obstructive fashion. To apply the same argument to software development, I will now show that having â€Å"toll booths† for useful software programs costs society dearly: it makes the programs more expensive to construct, more expensive to distribute, and less satisfying and efficient to use. It will follow that program construction should be encouraged in some other way. Then I will go on to explain other methods of encouraging and (to the extent actually necessary) funding software development.The Harm Done b y Obstructing Software Consider for a moment that a program has been developed, and any necessary payments for its development have been made; now society must choose either to make it proprietary or allow free sharing and use. Assume that the existence of the program and its availability is a desirable thing. (3) Restrictions on the distribution and modification of the program cannot facilitate its use. They can only interfere. So the effect can only be negative. But how much? And what kind? Three different levels of material harm come from such obstruction: †¢ †¢ †¢ Fewer people use the program.None of the users can adapt or fix the program. Other developers cannot learn from the program, or base new work on it. Each level of material harm has a concomitant form of psychosocial harm. This refers to the effect that people's decisions have on their subsequent feelings, attitudes, and predispositions. These changes in people's ways of thinking will then have a further effect on their relationships with their fellow citizens, and can have material consequences. The three levels of material harm waste part of the value that the program could contribute, but they cannot reduce it to zero.If they waste nearly all the value of the program, then writing the program harms society by at most the effort that went into writing the program. Arguably a program that is profitable to sell must provide some net direct material benefit. However, taking account of the concomitant psychosocial harm, there is no limit to the harm that proprietary software development can do. Obstructing Use of Programs The first level of harm impedes the simple use of a program. A copy of a program has nearly zero marginal cost (and you can pay this cost by doing the work yourself), so in a free market, it would have nearly zero price.A license fee is a significant disincentive to use the program. If a widely-useful program is proprietary, far fewer people will use it. It is easy t o show that the total contribution of a program to society is reduced by assigning an owner to it. Each potential user of the program, faced with the need to pay to use it, may choose to pay, or may forego use of the program. When a user chooses to pay, this is a zero-sum transfer of wealth between two parties. But each time someone chooses to forego use of the program, this harms that person without benefitting anyone. The sum of negative numbers and zeros must be negative.But this does not reduce the amount of work it takes to develop the program. As a result, the efficiency of the whole process, in delivered user satisfaction per hour of work, is reduced. This reflects a crucial difference between copies of programs and cars, chairs, or sandwiches. There is no copying machine for material objects outside of science fiction. But programs are easy to copy; anyone can produce as many copies as are wanted, with very little effort. This isn't true for material objects because matter i s conserved: each new copy has to be built from raw materials in the same way that the first copy was built.With material objects, a disincentive to use them makes sense, because fewer objects bought means less raw material and work needed to make them. It's true that there is usually also a startup cost, a development cost, which is spread over the production run. But as long as the marginal cost of production is significant, adding a share of the development cost does not make a qualitative difference. And it does not require restrictions on the freedom of ordinary users. However, imposing a price on something that would otherwise be free is a qualitative change.A centrally-imposed fee for software distribution becomes a powerful disincentive. What's more, central production as now practiced is inefficient even as a means of delivering copies of software. This system involves enclosing physical disks or tapes in superfluous packaging, shipping large numbers of them around the worl d, and storing them for sale. This cost is presented as an expense of doing business; in truth, it is part of the waste caused by having owners. Damaging Social Cohesion Suppose that both you and your neighbor would find it useful to run a certain program.In ethical concern for your neighbor, you should feel that proper handling of the situation will enable both of you to use it. A proposal to permit only one of you to use the program, while restraining the other, is divisive; neither you nor your neighbor should find it acceptable. Signing a typical software license agreement means betraying your neighbor: â€Å"I promise to deprive my neighbor of this program so that I can have a copy for myself. † People who make such choices feel internal psychological pressure to justify them, by downgrading the importance of helping one's neighbors–thus public spirit suffers.This is psychosocial harm associated with the material harm of discouraging use of the program. Many users unconsciously recognize the wrong of refusing to share, so they decide to ignore the licenses and laws, and share programs anyway. But they often feel guilty about doing so. They know that they must break the laws in order to be good neighbors, but they still consider the laws authoritative, and they conclude that being a good neighbor (which they are) is naughty or shameful. That is also a kind of psychosocial harm, but one can escape it by deciding that these licenses and laws have no moral force.Programmers also suffer psychosocial harm knowing that many users will not be allowed to use their work. This leads to an attitude of cynicism or denial. A programmer may describe enthusiastically the work that he finds technically exciting; then when asked, â€Å"Will I be permitted to use it? †, his face falls, and he admits the answer is no. To avoid feeling discouraged, he either ignores this fact most of the time or adopts a cynical stance designed to minimize the importance of it. Since the age of Reagan, the greatest scarcity in the United States is not technical innovation, but rather the willingness to work together for the public good.It makes no sense to encourage the former at the expense of the latter. Obstructing Custom Adaptation of Programs The second level of material harm is the inability to adapt programs. The ease of modification of software is one of its great advantages over older technology. But most commercially available software isn't available for modification, even after you buy it. It's available for you to take it or leave it, as a black box–that is all. A program that you can run consists of a series of numbers whose meaning is obscure. No one, not even a good programmer, can easily change the numbers o make the program do something different. Programmers normally work with the â€Å"source code† for a program, which is written in a programming language such as Fortran or C. It uses names to designate the data bei ng used and the parts of the program, and it represents operations with symbols such as `+' for addition and `-‘ for subtraction. It is designed to help programmers read and change programs. Here is an example; a program to calculate the distance between two points in a plane: float distance (p0, p1) struct point p0, p1; { float xdist = p1. x – p0. x; float ydist = p1. y – p0. ; return sqrt (xdist * xdist + ydist * ydist); } Here is the same program in executable form, on the computer I normally use: 1314258944 1411907592 -234880989 1644167167 572518958 -232267772 -231844736 -234879837 -3214848 -803143692 -231844864 2159150 -234879966 1090581031 1314803317 1634862 1420296208 -232295424 1962942495 Source code is useful (at least potentially) to every user of a program. But most users are not allowed to have copies of the source code. Usually the source code for a proprietary program is kept secret by the owner, lest anybody else learn something from it.Users recei ve only the files of incomprehensible numbers that the computer will execute. This means that only the program's owner can change the program. A friend once told me of working as a programmer in a bank for about six months, writing a program similar to something that was commercially available. She believed that if she could have gotten source code for that commercially available program, it could easily have been adapted to their needs. The bank was willing to pay for this, but was not permitted to–the source code was a secret.So she had to do six months of make-work, work that counts in the GNP but was actually waste. The MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab (AI Lab) received a graphics printer as a gift from Xerox around 1977. It was run by free software to which we added many convenient features. For example, the software would notify a user immediately on completion of a print job. Whenever the printer had trouble, such as a paper jam or running out of paper, the software wou ld immediately notify all users who had print jobs queued. These features facilitated smooth operation.Later Xerox gave the AI Lab a newer, faster printer, one of the first laser printers. It was driven by proprietary software that ran in a separate dedicated computer, so we couldn't add any of our favorite features. We could arrange to send a notification when a print job was sent to the dedicated computer, but not when the job was actually printed (and the delay was usually considerable). There was no way to find out when the job was actually printed; you could only guess. And no one was informed when there was a paper jam, so the printer often went for an hour without being fixed.The system programmers at the AI Lab were capable of fixing such problems, probably as capable as the original authors of the program. Xerox was uninterested in fixing them, and chose to prevent us, so we were forced to accept the problems. They were never fixed. Most good programmers have experienced th is frustration. The bank could afford to solve the problem by writing a new program from scratch, but a typical user, no matter how skilled, can only give up. Giving up causes psychosocial harm–to the spirit of self-reliance. It is demoralizing to live in a house that you cannot rearrange to suit your needs.It leads to resignation and discouragement, which can spread to affect other aspects of one's life. People who feel this way are unhappy and do not do good work. Imagine what it would be like if recipes were hoarded in the same fashion as software. You might say, â€Å"How do I change this recipe to take out the salt? † and the great chef would respond, â€Å"How dare you insult my recipe, the child of my brain and my palate, by trying to tamper with it? You don't have the judgment to change my recipe and make it work right! † â€Å"But my doctor says I'm not supposed to eat salt! What can I do? Will you take out the salt for me? ‘ â€Å"I would be gl ad to do that; my fee is only $50,000. † Since the owner has a monopoly on changes, the fee tends to be large. â€Å"However, right now I don't have time. I am busy with a commission to design a new recipe for ship's biscuit for the Navy Department. I might get around to you in about two years. † Obstructing Software Development The third level of material harm affects software development. Software development used to be an evolutionary process, where a person would take an existing program and rewrite parts of it for one new feature, and then another person would rewrite parts to add nother feature; in some cases, this continued over a period of twenty years. Meanwhile, parts of the program would be â€Å"cannibalized† to form the beginnings of other programs. The existence of owners prevents this kind of evolution, making it necessary to start from scratch when developing a program. It also prevents new practitioners from studying existing programs to learn us eful techniques or even how large programs can be structured. Owners also obstruct education. I have met bright students in computer science who have never seen the source code of a large program.They may be good at writing small programs, but they can't begin to learn the different skills of writing large ones if they can't see how others have done it. In any intellectual field, one can reach greater heights by standing on the shoulders of others. But that is no longer generally allowed in the software field–you can only stand on the shoulders of the other people in your own company. The associated psychosocial harm affects the spirit of scientific cooperation, which used to be so strong that scientists would cooperate even when their countries were at war.In this spirit, Japanese oceanographers abandoning their lab on an island in the Pacific carefully preserved their work for the invading U. S. Marines, and left a note asking them to take good care of it. Conflict for prof it has destroyed what international conflict spared. Nowadays scientists in many fields don't publish enough in their papers to enable others to replicate the experiment. They publish only enough to let readers marvel at how much they were able to do. This is certainly true in computer science, where the source code for the programs reported on is usually secret.It Does Not Matter How Sharing Is Restricted I have been discussing the effects of preventing people from copying, changing, and building on a program. I have not specified how this obstruction is carried out, because that doesn't affect the conclusion. Whether it is done by copy protection, or copyright, or licenses, or encryption, or ROM cards, or hardware serial numbers, if it succeeds in preventing use, it does harm. Users do consider some of these methods more obnoxious than others. I suggest that the methods most hated are those that accomplish their objective.Software Should be Free I have shown how ownership of a pro gram–the power to restrict changing or copying it–is obstructive. Its negative effects are widespread and important. It follows that society shouldn't have owners for programs. Another way to understand this is that what society needs is free software, and proprietary software is a poor substitute. Encouraging the substitute is not a rational way to get what we need. Vaclav Havel has advised us to â€Å"Work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. ‘ A business making proprietary software stands a chance of success in its own narrow terms, but it is not what is good for society. Why People Will Develop Software If we eliminate copyright as a means of encouraging people to develop software, at first less software will be developed, but that software will be more useful. It is not clear whether the overall delivered user satisfaction will be less; but if it is, or if we wish to increase it anyway, there are other ways to en courage development, just as there are ways besides toll booths to raise money for streets.Before I talk about how that can be done, first I want to question how much artificial encouragement is truly necessary. Programming is Fun There are some lines of work that few will enter except for money; road construction, for example. There are other fields of study and art in which there is little chance to become rich, which people enter for their fascination or their perceived value to society. Examples include mathematical logic, classical music, and archaeology; and political organizing among working people.People compete, more sadly than bitterly, for the few funded positions available, none of which is funded very well. They may even pay for the chance to work in the field, if they can afford to. Such a field can transform itself overnight if it begins to offer the possibility of getting rich. When one worker gets rich, others demand the same opportunity. Soon all may demand large s ums of money for doing what they used to do for pleasure. When another couple of years go by, everyone connected with the field will deride the idea that work would be done in the field without large financial returns.They will advise social planners to ensure that these returns are possible, prescribing special privileges, powers, and monopolies as necessary to do so. This change happened in the field of computer programming in the past decade. Fifteen years ago, there were articles on â€Å"computer addiction†: users were â€Å"onlining† and had hundred-dollar-a-week habits. It was generally understood that people frequently loved programming enough to break up their marriages. Today, it is generally understood that no one would program except for a high rate of pay.People have forgotten what they knew fifteen years ago. When it is true at a given time that most people will work in a certain field only for high pay, it need not remain true. The dynamic of change can run in reverse, if society provides an impetus. If we take away the possibility of great wealth, then after a while, when the people have readjusted their attitudes, they will once again be eager to work in the field for the joy of accomplishment. The question, â€Å"How can we pay programmers? † becomes an easier question when we realize that it's not a matter of paying them a fortune.A mere living is easier to raise. Funding Free Software Institutions that pay programmers do not have to be software houses. Many other institutions already exist that can do this. Hardware manufacturers find it essential to support software development even if they cannot control the use of the software. In 1970, much of their software was free because they did not consider restricting it. Today, their increasing willingness to join consortiums shows their realization that owning the software is not what is really important for them.Universities conduct many programming projects. Today they of ten sell the results, but in the 1970s they did not. Is there any doubt that universities would develop free software if they were not allowed to sell software? These projects could be supported by the same government contracts and grants that now support proprietary software development. It is common today for university researchers to get grants to develop a system, develop it nearly to the point of completion and call that â€Å"finished†, and then start companies where they really finish the project and make it usable.Sometimes they declare the unfinished version â€Å"free†; if they are thoroughly corrupt, they instead get an exclusive license from the university. This is not a secret; it is openly admitted by everyone concerned. Yet if the researchers were not exposed to the temptation to do these things, they would still do their research. Programmers writing free software can make their living by selling services related to the software. I have been hired to po rt the GNU C compiler to new hardware, and to make user-interface extensions to GNU Emacs. (I offer these improvements to the public once they are done. I also teach classes for which I am paid. I am not alone in working this way; there is now a successful, growing corporation which does no other kind of work. Several other companies also provide commercial support for the free software of the GNU system. This is the beginning of the independent software support industry–an industry that could become quite large if free software becomes prevalent. It provides users with an option generally unavailable for proprietary software, except to the very wealthy. New institutions such as the Free Software Foundation can also fund programmers.Most of the Foundation's funds come from users buying tapes through the mail. The software on the tapes is free, which means that every user has the freedom to copy it and change it, but many nonetheless pay to get copies. (Recall that â€Å"free software† refers to freedom, not to price. ) Some users who already have a copy order tapes as a way of making a contribution they feel we deserve. The Foundation also receives sizable donations from computer manufacturers. The Free Software Foundation is a charity, and its income is spent on hiring as many programmers as possible.If it had been set up as a business, distributing the same free software to the public for the same fee, it would now provide a very good living for its founder. Because the Foundation is a charity, programmers often work for the Foundation for half of what they could make elsewhere. They do this because we are free of bureaucracy, and because they feel satisfaction in knowing that their work will not be obstructed from use. Most of all, they do it because programming is fun. In addition, volunteers have written many useful programs for us. (Even technical writers have begun to volunteer. This confirms that programming is among the most fascinating of all fields, along with music and art. We don't have to fear that no one will want to program. What Do Users Owe to Developers? There is a good reason for users of software to feel a moral obligation to contribute to its support. Developers of free software are contributing to the users' activities, and it is both fair and in the long-term interest of the users to give them funds to continue. However, this does not apply to proprietary software developers, since obstructionism deserves a punishment rather than reward. We thus have a paradox: the developer of useful software is entitled to the support of the users, but any attempt to turn this moral obligation into a requirement destroys the basis for the obligation. A developer can either deserve a reward or demand it, but not both. I believe that an ethical developer faced with this paradox must act so as to deserve the reward, but should also entreat the users for voluntary donations. Eventually the users will learn to support d evelopers without coercion, just as they have learned to support public radio and television stations.What Is Software Productivity? If software were free, there would still be programmers, but perhaps fewer of them. Would this be bad for society? Not necessarily. Today the advanced nations have fewer farmers than in 1900, but we do not think this is bad for society, because the few deliver more food to the consumers than the many used to do. We call this improved productivity. Free software would require far fewer programmers to satisfy the demand, because of increased software productivity at all levels: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Wider use of each program that is developed.The ability to adapt existing programs for customization instead of starting from scratch. Better education of programmers. The elimination of duplicate development effort. Those who object to cooperation claiming it would result in the employment of fewer programmers are actually objecting to increased pr oductivity. Yet these people usually accept the widely-held belief that the software industry needs increased productivity. How is this? â€Å"Software productivity† can mean two different things: the overall productivity of all software development, or the productivity of individual projects.Overall productivity is what society would like to improve, and the most straightforward way to do this is to eliminate the artificial obstacles to cooperation which reduce it. But researchers who study the field of â€Å"software productivity† focus only on the second, limited, sense of the term, where improvement requires difficult technological advances. Is Competition Inevitable? Is it inevitable that people will try to compete, to surpass their rivals in society? Perhaps it is. But competition itself is not harmful; the harmful thing is combat. There are many ways to compete.Competition can consist of trying to achieve ever more, to outdo what others have done. For example, i n the old days, there was competition among programming wizards–competition for who could make the computer do the most amazing thing, or for who could make the shortest or fastest program for a given task. This kind of competition can benefit everyone, as long as the spirit of good sportsmanship is maintained. Constructive competition is enough competition to motivate people to great efforts. A number of people are competing to be the first to have visited all the countries on Earth; some even spend fortunes trying to do this.But they do not bribe ship captains to strand their rivals on desert islands. They are content to let the best person win. Competition becomes combat when the competitors begin trying to impede each other instead of advancing themselves–when â€Å"Let the best person win† gives way to â€Å"Let me win, best or not. † Proprietary software is harmful, not because it is a form of competition, but because it is a form of combat among th e citizens of our society. Competition in business is not necessarily combat. For example, when two grocery stores compete, their entire effort is to improve their own operations, not to sabotage the rival.But this does not demonstrate a special commitment to business ethics; rather, there is little scope for combat in this line of business short of physical violence. Not all areas of business share this characteristic. Withholding information that could help everyone advance is a form of combat. Business ideology does not prepare people to resist the temptation to combat the competition. Some forms of combat have been banned with anti-trust laws, truth in advertising laws, and so on, but rather than generalizing this to a principled rejection of combat in general, executives invent other forms of combat which are not specifically prohibited.Society's resources are squandered on the economic equivalent of factional civil war. â€Å"Why Don't You Move to Russia? † In the Unite d States, any advocate of other than the most extreme form of laissezfaire selfishness has often heard this accusation. For example, it is leveled against the supporters of a national health care system, such as is found in all the other industrialized nations of the free world. It is leveled against the advocates of public support for the arts, also universal in advanced nations. The idea that citizens have any obligation to the public good is identified in America with Communism.But how similar are these ideas? Communism as was practiced in the Soviet Union was a system of central control where all activity was regimented, supposedly for the common good, but actually for the sake of the members of the Communist party. And where copying equipment was closely guarded to prevent illegal copying. The American system of software copyright exercises central control over distribution of a program, and guards copying equipment with automatic copying-protection schemes to prevent illegal c opying.By contrast, I am working to build a system where people are free to decide their own actions; in particular, free to help their neighbors, and free to alter and improve the tools which they use in their daily lives. A system based on voluntary cooperation and on decentralization. Thus, if we are to judge views by their resemblance to Russian Communism, it is the software owners who are the Communists. The Question of Premises I make the assumption in this paper that a user of software is no less important than an author, or even an author's employer.In other words, their interests and needs have equal weight, when we decide which course of action is best. This premise is not universally accepted. Many maintain that an author's employer is fundamentally more important than anyone else. They say, for example, that the purpose of having owners of software is to give the author's employer the advantage he deserves–regardless of how this may affect the public. It is no use trying to prove or disprove these premises. Proof requires shared premises. So most of what I have to say is addressed only to those who share the premises I use, or at least are interested in what their consequences are.For those who believe that the owners are more important than everyone else, this paper is simply irrelevant. But why would a large number of Americans accept a premise that elevates certain people in importance above everyone else? Partly because of the belief that this premise is part of the legal traditions of American society. Some people feel that doubting the premise means challenging the basis of society. It is important for these people to know that this premise is not part of our legal tradition. It never has been. Thus, the Constitution says that the purpose of copyright is to â€Å"promote the progress of science and the useful arts. ‘ The Supreme Court has elaborated on this, stating in `Fox Film vs. Doyal' that â€Å"The sole interest of the Un ited States and the primary object in conferring the [copyright] monopoly lie in the general benefits derived by the public from the labors of authors. † We are not required to agree with the Constitution or the Supreme Court. (At one time, they both condoned slavery. ) So their positions do not disprove the owner supremacy premise. But I hope that the awareness that this is a radical right-wing assumption rather than a traditionally recognized one will weaken its appeal.Conclusion We like to think that our society encourages helping your neighbor; but each time we reward someone for obstructionism, or admire them for the wealth they have gained in this way, we are sending the opposite message. Software hoarding is one form of our general willingness to disregard the welfare of society for personal gain. We can trace this disregard from Ronald Reagan to Jim Bakker, from Ivan Boesky to Exxon, from failing banks to failing schools. We can measure it with the size of the homeless population and the prison population.The antisocial spirit feeds on itself, because the more we see that other people will not help us, the more it seems futile to help them. Thus society decays into a jungle. If we don't want to live in a jungle, we must change our attitudes. We must start sending the message that a good citizen is one who cooperates when appropriate, not one who is successful at taking from others. I hope that the free software movement will contribute to this: at least in one area, we will replace the jungle with a more efficient system which encourages and runs on voluntary cooperation. Footnotes 1.The word â€Å"free† in â€Å"free software† refers to freedom, not to price; the price paid for a copy of a free program may be zero, or small, or (rarely) quite large. 2. The issues of pollution and traffic congestion do not alter this conclusion. If we wish to make driving more expensive to discourage driving in general, it is disadvantageous to do t his using toll booths, which contribute to both pollution and congestion. A tax on gasoline is much better. Likewise, a desire to enhance safety by limiting maximum speed is not relevant; a free-access road enhances the average speed by avoiding stops and delays, for any given speed limit. . One might regard a particular computer program as a harmful thing that should not be available at all, like the Lotus Marketplace database of personal information, which was withdrawn from sale due to public disapproval. Most of what I say does not apply to this case, but it makes little sense to argue for having an owner on the grounds that the owner will make the program less available. The owner will not make it completely unavailable, as one would wish in the case of a program whose use is considered destructive.

Human Resource Systems Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Human Resource Systems - Assignment Example Empowering employees and organizing around teams are aimed by BMW for facilitating communication and making it easier for decisions to be made. It helps the company to respond quickly to customer's needs and it's competitor's challenges. It helps them learn to prioritize tasks and reduce job stress. A workforce that is knowledgeable and skilled at doing complex things keeps a company competitive and attracts investments. Improved productivity means fewer people, less money, less time, less space and fewer resources. Bonuses are given to workers on giving superb ideas related to cutting cost savings, as they are directly involved in production. BMW prefers increased participation from the worker's side. They must give at least three ideas with eight hundred pound for each idea and to qualify for full annual bonus up to two hundred and sixty six pounds. This is done to save 3.6 M annually. The company has also increased workers pay from 2,500 pounds to 4,500 pounds. Many of the workers are hired on temporary basis and working days are fixed to seven-day operation. Working time account was introduced in the company and workers were paid even when the plant remained shut for retooling. The hours missed were made up later. The company provided ease to the workers by giving them the opportunity to take off over time later as holidays. The company saved more than six ... The main goal of the company is to cut cost and improve productivity. BMW consider people as a source of competitive advantage. There is quality of work life at the company that is; employee participation, career development, conflict resolution, communication, wellness, job security, safe environment and pride. Staffing, retention, development, adjustment and change management are the activities, which are successfully implemented at BMW. It maximizes the corporate profits through the better management and use of people as a result of which the company has achieved high profits. As workers are directly involved in production and they have more knowledge about the technical aspects so they are involved in decision making by telling them to give ideas related to cutting costs. Incentives are provided on each idea and the implementation of these ideas gives pride and satisfaction to the workers. BMW believes that happy and satisfied workers are more productive. The workers enjoy social security as fair compensation plans are used by the company to reward workers. The company facilitates and encourages performance by providing sufficient rewards that employees really value. Employees are not over burdened by making them to work for long hours. The environment facilitates their work. Thus competency-based pay is provided to them based upon their skills, depth of knowledge and the work accomplished by them. Performance incentives are provided to them and they get reasonable chance to gain high salary. The link between performance and rewards is high. Workload standards have been set in the company and the work is assigned equitably. There is a philosophy of co-operation and involvement. By successful implementation of HR Systems and practices BMW has achieved enhanced

The PICO Question Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The PICO Question - Coursework Example at least once a week?† Moreover, a collateral question is: â€Å"What happens if the patient is given another kind of diabetes medication and undertakes the lifestyle changes as suggested earlier?† Is his diabetes Type I or Type II to know if the correct medications are given? (Campbell & White, 2003). The intervention or indicator or the area of interest (I) will be in managing the effects of diabetes since diabetes is a chronic lifestyle disease and hence incurable and progressive. There is a need to check first if it is Type I or Type II so the proper interventions can be implemented. If the type of diabetes is now known, then the medication can be tailor-fitted to the patient in his particular case, depending on the circumstances that triggered his diabetes in the first place since there are risk factors to the onset of diabetes. The question is: â€Å"If it is Type I, then is it juvenile diabetes (affecting around 5% of the general population) as diagnosed among children and young adults† (American Diabetes Association, 2014). The key will be to adopt a twin approach to the management of this type of diabetes using hormone therapy (injectable insulin) together with the changes in diet (avoidance of sugary foods and drinks) and increased physical activities together wit h constant monitoring of possible hyperglycemia (high blood glucose) or probable low blood glucose (hypoglycemia) as an adverse reaction to the insulin hormone treatment or therapy. For the purpose of comparison and control (C) the diabetic patients are divided into their type of diabetes and then subdivided again into smaller groups based on their knowledge of diabetes (if the patients know what type of diabetes they have and what the treatments are there). While the general knowledge is that diabetes is caused by too much sugar, there is little literacy among diabetic patients on what interventions are available for them, how to avoid certain foods to prevent worsening the effects of

Discuss the controversies that have occurred around the issue of race Essay

Discuss the controversies that have occurred around the issue of race and intelligence - Essay Example According to scientists, the relation between the two constructs race and intelligence cannot be defined accurately (Sternberg, 2005). Psychologists and sociologists have come up with different views on what the constructs imply. In their attempt to correlate them, researchers have only given way to more contradictory ideas. It is a common belief that level of intelligence varies from race to race. This belief has fuelled controversy over the issue of racial discrimination on the basis of intelligence quotient or IQ. Nisbett (2005) states that there is a difference of intelligence level among the Blacks and the Whites. He further claims that the Whites have scored over the Blacks in intelligence testing by one deviation point. However, Nisbett’s point is countered by the view that intelligence testing methods vary depending on the socio-cultural context of the individual (Sternberg, 2005). There have been a lot of debates and discussions over the analysis of intelligence and its genetic bearing. Though it is an abstract concept but can be measured by means of a number of techniques that keep on evolving. Experts are of the opinion that as intelligence is multi-dimensional in nature and conceptually vary from society to society it calls for different conceptual methods of measuring it (Neisser et al, 1996). Of late there happens to be a disagreement over the authenticity and validity of IQ test patterns as it has been declared to be outdated in ascertaining the intelligence level or mental ability of different races. It is because of the simple reason that the conceptual construct varies culturally and socially. As a result the attributes that make for intelligence within the Chinese might not be so for the Americans. Therefore it could be said that the IQ test’s predictability is limited (Neisser, 1996). Neisser’s views though

Summary and Impact Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Summary and Impact - Essay Example The American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) doubts the claim that e-cigarettes are safe because vapor and smoke are harmful regardless of the way they are consumed. E-cigarettes are new to people; it is the reason why they are treated with interest and attention. I see many people who smoke e-cigarettes during the day. They are massively promoted as a healthy alternative which is 100% safe for people. This study shows that these promiscuous results have not been confirmed yet. After reading this article I believe that e-cigarettes are not as healthy as they are advertised. The only healthy alternative to smoking presupposes that people quit this bad habit forever. If any of my friends decide to try e-cigarettes in order to reduce tobacco consumption, I would warn them that there are no studies to check long-term outcomes or side effects related to this innovation. â€Å"E-Cigarettes: Not a Healthy Alternative to Smoking†. Biology News Net. May 27, 2014. Web. May 28, 2014.

Is Microsoft really a Monopoly Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Is Microsoft really a Monopoly - Term Paper Example Monopoly refers to a market where a particular individual or enterprise has sufficient control over a product or service and has the controlling power where it can decide the others who can have access to the product. In short, it is a market where one firm makes up for the entire market and it is the price setter for the price in that particular market. In these types of markets, the competition for the goods and services is normally less and the numbers of competitors within these markets are less. Substitute good and services are generally not available in these markets. These markets generally are comprised of a firm which takes up a greater share of the market when compared to others like in the case of perfect competition. A Monopoly is different from a monopsony where there is normally just one buyer of the products and services. This normally categorizes as an imperfect market. Also, the monopoly should be differentiated from a cartel, where a number of providers act together to coordinate the services and prices of the goods. Â  The word monopoly was firstly used in Aristotle’s politics (Baker, 2001). After understanding what a monopoly refers to it is also essential to understand a monopolistic market. This is different from monopoly and is useful to understand to check if the company falls into this category (Baker, 2001). Monopolistic markets are very common and can be considered in various aspects. There are a number of different sectors that fall into these markets. These markets are typically where there are a number of producers and many consumers in a given market, and the consumers feel that there are no price differences among the prices of the various competitors. Also, the barrier to entry and exit is very less within these markets and the producers have control over the prices. These markets in certain aspects are similar to perfect competition markets with the difference of not having heterogeneous products. Also in these types of competition, the product differentiation is very low. Here firms making profits in the short run normally break even in the long run as the demand will decrease and average cost normally increases (Baker, 2001). Â  

Perspective on Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Perspective on Business - Essay Example Business should in essence earn profits for its own good. This statement holds true for the business as a whole but the manner in which he has explained the statement suggests that business has to do a lot of social service work apart from the usual profit earning exercises that it usually undertakes on a consistent basis. Because of this, the aspect of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has come about to the fold. This phenomenon is internal to an organization; as it dictates the manner in which it has to plan about the courses of action it has to carry out with respect to the society. This term basically deals with the organization’s set of operations that it carries out for the welfare of the society while existing within itself. However bringing in profits remains a significant aspect no matter what the ethical domains turn out to be. This is a reality and shall remain to be in the long range scheme of things. Moving on further with the discussion at hand regarding the responsibility of business units, we see that these concepts can be applied to a business in a very innovative fashion as well. The company can invest in the social arena with much return in mind, not in the short-term but of course in the long run. Such is the example of Shell, which has introduced education programs for children all over the globe thus acting as a consumer-friendly company. People in return like to buy products of Shell because it gives them the pleasure that some proportion of the money earned by Shell would be spent on its different social and literary programs. Culturally, this can prove to be a very vital agent that can really highlight the problem areas of different people within a particular environment and then go about correcting and reforming them in the best manner possible with the aid of funds and grants1. This is the basic way in which the business has been acting to do something for the sake of community welfare. The companies from the economic aspec ts can earn a due share with arranging all sorts of cultural activities in the name of charity that will benefit their cause and help the poor and needy. Speaking truly from an ethical viewpoint, it is the duty of any business that exists to satisfy a customer through its products and/or services to be responsive towards their needs and defer the financial sides concerned with the company. It is important though not to ignore the monetary aspect but to remain in the business in the first place for the ones the business is being done, it is essential to situate the resources onto them and then move on forward expanding the market share and the like. There are a number of companies that have continued to divest the consumers of their basic rights in the name of achieving certain financial ratios. However doing so does mean putting the business’ long term strategy at risk as the customers and the remaining stakeholders would not appreciate the fact that the enterprise does not v alue their concerns rather goes after the financial side. The need and thus the opportunity in the business world of present times is to get ourselves noticed and make the companies realize of their responsibilities that they owe to the customers. It is imperative on the part of the respective company’s leadership to understand that customers alone could shape up the future and visionary characteristics of the company and thus they have to be

Explain Washington landlord tenant law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Explain Washington landlord tenant law - Essay Example It is vital to note that the apartments allow for disability access. Pets are accepted in the apartments, but one has to pay a deposit of $400 to keep a pet and $200 is refunded when a tenant’s lease expires. However, there are breed restrictions on the type of animal one can keep. The tenant is also provided with one free covered parking space. The lease is one year long (McQueen 54). There are number provisions in the lease that comply with the law. For example, the lease provides the tenant with emergency maintenance and this ensures that the landlord repairs any damages to the apartment. This covers the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act RCW59. 18.230(1). I also find it interesting that the landlord expects tenants to pay a fee to keep a pet at the resident. This is an extra deposit to the security and damage deposit paid when one starts renting the apartment. This is a legal fee since the landlord has the right to charge for fees covering special cleaning. There is also a clause in the lease that the landlord can change the rules regarding the use of the community amenities like the swimming pool, fitness center, and tennis court. This is against the law since a landlord does not have the right to change the terms of a lease once the tenant has signed it. Change to the lease can only occur if the tenant agrees to it (Haupt and Kathryn 132). Another provision of the lease that I find interesting is that the landlord does not have to return the tenant’s security deposit if the apartment is damaged in any way. This is not legal according to the law of Washington State. The landlord is only allowed to keep the exact amount a tenant owes on repair costs. The rest of the money must be returned to the tenant (RCW 59.18.280). Another provision of the lease that I find interesting is the fact that if I move out before the end of the lease, I will be forced to pay all rent owed before the landlord can re-rent the apartment RCW

What can the HRM department contribute to the development of Assignment

What can the HRM department contribute to the development of successful leadership within organization - Assignment Example Thus, paper would be broadly discussing the various elements of HR strategies that promote leadership initiatives within organization for improved performance. HRM and leadership development within organization HRM is intrinsically linked to the people and effective HR strategy is aware of the versatility in the work ideology and functioning. In the emerging challenges of the changing business equations, the organizational leadership redefines strategic goals to create versatility and flexibility of the contemporary work environment. Kotter (1995) asserts that HR strategies promote dynamic leadership which is versatile and capable of exploiting the potential of workers as per the demands of the changing situation. It therefore, helps create effective team that is capable of overcoming the barriers of cross cultural values, self interest and lack of understanding. Leadership initiatives of HRM meeting the challenges of organizational change The organizational change can broadly be def ined as the ability of management to identify and incorporate the factors that increase output and improve the performance outcome of the organization. ... Thus, a better informed leader is capable of taking initiative and at the same time, he is also able to inculcate confidence in his people to adapt to the changes and move forward. Leadership initiatives for HR as proactive human capital Rainey (2006) argues that changing socio economic dynamics have created a highly competitive business environment. The HRM becomes the major enabling factor for leadership initiatives that encourages dynamic strategies and innovative thinking for competitive advantage. Thus, managerial and organizational leadership perspectives become highly critical factors within the wider goals and objectives of the business paradigms. . Commitment to work and loyalty towards employers is considerably increased when the employees are provided scope of enhancing their professional skills and competencies through in-house training and development. Samsung is exemplary example of HRM which has promoted organizational leadership by utilizing its human resource as capi tal investment. The company focused on its strategy of developing research and engineering skills so that it could improve and improvise innovatively on the electrical and digital products of Sony, Phillips, Matsushita and Nokia. It encourages competition amongst the group for innovation and sends potential employees to foreign universities for higher academic qualification. It helps to indigenously develop and foster expert team for improved business performance (Siegel and Chang, 2009). HR leadership that promotes diversity and human competency In the fast evolving environment of multicultural societies, diversity has become intrinsic part of

Rogers Chocolates Essay Example for Free

Rogers Chocolates Essay What is competition like in the premium chocolate industry? Which of the five competitive forces is strongest? Which is weakest? What competitive forces seem to have the greatest effect on industry attractiveness and the potential profitability of new entrants? The premium chocolate industry is having an intensive competition in Canada with the strong growth potential. Industry growth opportunity imposes increasing competition from rivals and threats of new entrance that adds pressure on overall profitability. Even though Roger’s has been able to establish its place in the chocolate industry with its strong brand recognition and products’ quality, it still needs to be on top of ever- going market changes, by continuously monitoring, crafting and updating its marketing and packaging strategies. Only then it can sustain its competitiveness from the front line rivals. For that, intensity of rivalry among competitors and the threat of new entrants are considered the strongest competitive force, given the fact that the premium chocolate market was growing at 20 percent annually. Given that Rogers’ Chocolates has successfully targeted market niche by its strategy based on differentiation, and by concentrating on narrow consumers segment comprising of affluent customers looking for a luxury experience with a superior taste or an elegant, prestigious and uncommon product, it can be said that the weakest competitive force for Rogers’ is the bargaining power of buyers and the suppliers. Differentiation and niche market remedies the opportunity of price fixing. The threat of substitute products is also at the weakest point, given the fact that Rogers’ chocolates are fairly expensive relative to others in market. Their distinctive hand-packaging process and quality ingredients are not much appealing for others to copy and imitate. The rapid growth and profit prospects factors are attractive enough to induce additional entry to this industry. For that, every chocolate producer is challenged to craft a successful strategy that is strong enough to fight for its profit in competition battle. The competition of the premium chocolate industry is strong. There are some regional brand businesses and some large companies. The key market competitors that are Rogers’s direct rivals are summarized in the table: Company Name| Price| Quality| Packaging| Distribution| Advertising| Godiva| 15 % High than Rogers on standard products and double/triple price on premium chocolate| Not as high as Rogers| Strong; glitzy, sleek modern. Chocolates of various colors molding| Retailers of gift items| Strong| Bernard Callebaut| Similar to Godiva| Good , excelled in new flavour introductions| Superior could be customized at the store| 32 stores across the West, US and Ontario| Great seasonal displays| Lindt| 90% of Rogers| Mid-range| Mid-range| Broad : mass merchandisers, drug grocery retailers| Strong| Purdys| 35% lower than Rogers| Lower than Rogers| Good| 50 locations based in malls , strongest presence in BC| Good, offers discounts on volume purchase| Rogers| Premium price, however low than Godivas Bernard Callebauts| High| hand packaging, old fashioned, not appealing to young consumers| Company owned stores; online mail orders, wholesaling, Sams Deli| Limited to Victorias area| Question 2 How is the premium chocolate industry changing? What are the underlying drivers of change and how might those driving forces individually or collectively change competition in the industry? The premium chocolate industry is showing its shift towards healthy nutrition trend and consumers’ market that is more health conscious about their diet. Purchasers are also demanding more from chocolate than its taste. In line with a broad social trend for healthier diets, the demand for organic products, including organic chocolates, is growing. Consumers are looking for products with no trans-fats, as well. Demand for dark chocolate, traditionally less popular than milk chocolate in North America is growing in part because of its heart-healthy anti-oxidant properties. With the increasing trend in healthy diet preference, the underlying drivers of change of competition in premium chocolate industry at the strongest level are the buyers’ preferences for differentiated, refined products, instead of standardized ordinary products that are no longer demanded. In addition, baby boomers generation with their disposable income are spending a lot on high quality premium chocolates. Moreover, consumers and employees are also demanding chocolate companies to follow good corporate social responsibility practices in addressing the environmental concerns in terms of how to design its packaging, procurement and operational decisions. Human rights concerns are also high in terms of consumer expectations of chocolate companies with respect of forced child labour in West Africa. All of these driving forces societal concerns, attitudes and change in lifestyles, are strong enough to shape up the competition and impose the constraint on chocolate industry profitability and competitive survival. One important underlying driver of change in the chocolate industry is the large manufacturers lobbying to change the definition of the term chocolate under USFDA guidelines, if they are successful in doing this then this could potentially have a dramatic impact on the competitive environment, with lots of cheaper products flooding the market. If lots of cheaper brands of chocolates suddenly become available and prices start dropping this could creep into the premium brand segment of the market and force companies like Rogers to lower their prices. Question 3 What key factors determine success for producers of premium chocolates? Rogers’ customers are attracted to the company because of its superior quality. Customers who tasted Rogers’ chocolate are willing to pay its high price because of Rogers’ superior quality, â€Å"Ooooh , Rogers’ That is the best chocolate I’ve ever tested. † (pg. C-185) Key factors that determine success for producers of premium chocolates, looking only at the quality and the product characteristics prospective are: * Taste and quality * Quality ingredients * Price * Package * Advertising * Distribution. The key factors that determine success for producers at the functional levels are: * Marketing – The appeal and quality of the packaging has a big impact on the sales of chocolate and a good advertising campaign to make the brand name well known * Distribution – Having a good distribution network to get product to market in a timely manner and favourable display space * Technology – The use of new technology to reduce labour intensive production methods to reduce production costs * Manufacturing- The availability of labour, ability to produce quality product and achieving economies of scale * Skills Capability- Having talented employees with knowledge of chocolate to continue product innovation, required production management and supply chain management skills and software for accurate decision making * Other- Location of retail stores are also important. * Strong leader and management team who agree on the companies strategic vision and are able to communicate it successfully to all employees Question 4 What does a SWOT analysis of Rogers Chocolates reveal about the prospects for companys future success? What are its key resources strengths and competitive capabilities? its resource weaknesses and competitive liabilities? its external opportunities and threats? Roger’s Chocolates has a good base to succeed in the chocolate industry and increase their market share in Canada and internationally by revamping their brand image, improving their internal production process, increasing their online sales, building stronger management teams, investing in technology to improve their production schedule, forecasting and marketing. The SWOT analysis presented below highlights the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats: Strengths and Competitive Capabilities * One of the oldest chocolate companies in Canada with a wide range of the highest quality unique chocolate assortments including: an Ice cream line, specialty products, no-sugar added chocolates * Use of natural ingredients. * The company has an impressive loyal customers base around the world * Loyal employees that share company’s value for the higher quality of products * Superior quality of company’s products; in 2006 the company won prestigious Superior Taste award from the International Taste Quality Institute * Company provides excellent retail experience and in 2000 won the Innovative Retailer of the Year award Weaknesses and Competitive Deficiencies * Higher priced products * Labour intense and costly production process. * The company didn’t establish standards to measure its productivity or efficiency * Difficulties with the evaluation of seasonal customers demand, as a result the company carries large inventories * Seasonal problems with out-of stock items result in loss of sales, and production schedule chaos * Unreliable suppliers of art tins. * Unattractive packaging to younger consumers * Difficulty with the prediction of the required production volume of ice cream * Interruptions of the production process with the special orders commitments * Employees resistance to change * Lack of organic or fair trade capabilities Market Opportunities * Projected premium chocolate market’s growth at 20% annually, as baby boomers consume more premium chocolates. * Increased demand for organic and dark chocolates * Pre- Christmas sales demand is growing * Strong brand recognition in the Victoria area, and a â€Å"corporate gift of choice† * Possibilities of Increasing online orders * Cruise port travellers. * Become supplier to Butchart Garden’s gift shop and other tourist destinations on Vancouver Island * 2010 Olympics External Threats * Threat by Hershey’s and Cadbury companies which are growing their presence on the premium chocolate market by acquiring and taking over small companies. * Growing environmental concern * Growing customers concerns related to West Africa’s child labor rights * Some of the big corporate purchasers of Roger’s products such as Second Cup and the Bay switched to low cost providers and concentrate on developing their own line of products * Decline of the US dollars * Poor wholesale presentation of Rogers’ products * Poor Brand recognition outside of BC Question 5 How would you describe Rogers Chocolates competitive strategy? How is it positioned in the industry? What specific steps has management taken to implement this strategy? Do the companys functional strategies and tactics appear to be consistent with its competitive strategy? Rogers’ Chocolate functional strategies are consistent with their competitive strategy. Of the five generic competitive strategies (overall low-cost provider, broad differentiation, focused low-cost, focused differentiation and best-cost provider) the one that best aligns with Roger’s Chocolate competitive strategy is focused differentiation. A focused differentiation strategy means that the company concentrates on serving a narrow buyer segment or niche market. Roger’s Chocolates targets affluent customers with high disposable incomes specifically baby boomers, established families, middle-aged childless couples and empty nesters. Roger’s Chocolates is positioned in the industry as a manufacturer, distributor and retailer of premium chocolates, its main products being high quality, hand-wrapped chocolates. Specific steps Roger’s Chocolates’ management has taken to implement this focused differentiation strategy included * Setting a high price point for its products * Individually hand wrapping their products to give it an elegant, prestigious and uncommon look. * Targeting cruise ship visitors and tourists, as these people tend to have higher disposable income and fit the target demographic. * Advertising in guide magazines and Enroute magazine Air Canada flights to reach tourists as well as seasonal print, radio and TV advertising. The company’s functional strategies and tactics is consistent with its competitive strategy as demonstrated by the tight control it exerts over its brand image, it refuses to lower is prices to compete as this might cheapen its brand image, it also rejected the idea to franchise because it did not want to lose control over the brand and pricing, its manufacturing facility is labour intensive because the company places value on having hand wrapped chocolates. Question 6 How well is Rogers Chocolates strategy working in terms of the financial performance it is delivering? What is your assessment of its level of profitability, its degree of liquidity, and the extent of its leverage? | | | | 2006| 2005| Profitability Ratios| | | | | Growth Profit Margin| | 54. 56%| 55. 16%| Operating Margin| | | 9. 73%| 12. 68%| Net Profit Margin| | | 7. 52%| 8. 92%| Return on Total Assets| | 10. 62%| 12. 57%| Return on Equity| | | 15. 71%| 22. 36%| | | | | | | Liquidity Ratios| | | | | Current Ratio| | | 136. 66%| 124. 49%| Quick Ratio| | | 46. 12%| 57. 85%| Working Capital| | | 625,109| 569,876| | | | | | | Leverage Ratios| | | | | Debt-to-Assets Ratio| | 32. 43%| 43. 88%| Long-Term Debt-to-Capital Ratio| 15. 21%| 22. 79%| Debt-to-Equity Ratio| | 48. 00%| 78. 18%| Long-Term Debt-to-Equity Ratio| 17. 94%| 29. 51%| Times-Interest-Earned Ratio| | 12. 61| 17. 49| | | | | | | Activity Ratios| | | | | Days of Inventory| | | 104. 64| 105. 24| Inventory Turnover| | | 3. 49| 3. 47| Average Collection Period| | 11. 06| 22. 86| Although Rogers is profitable in 2006, their sales and profit are down slightly from 2005. Gross margin is consistent but all other profitability measures are down. ROE is reduced 6% from 2005. The company’s operating margin is reduced 3%, reducing profitability from operations. The company’s current ratio has increased from 1. 24 to 1. 37, but the quick ratio has decreased. The company increased their ability to pay the current debt. The working capital has also increased, giving the company more funds to purchase equipment and investment. The company is in a very good leverage position. The long-term debt –to capital ratio is 15% in 2006, giving them more capacity to borrow additional funds. All leverage ratios have improved from 2005 except times interest earned. In addition, due to Sam’s Deli $200k increase in salaries and benefits increase, the selling and administrative expense have increased, leaving cash at only $112,185 in 2006. The days of inventory are more than 100 days. Since the company spends a lot of cash on inventory and equipment, so there is a big concern that Rogers may not have enough cash and receivables to pay its payables and long term debt. Question 7 What specific actions should Steve Parkhill undertake to improve Rogers competitiveness in the Canadian Premium Chocolate Industry? How will the culture of the organization impact Parkhills decision? As a relatively new CEO, how would you suggest that Parkhill reconcile the competing growth suggestions championed by various members of the Board of Directors? Place Open a small location in Butchart Gardens to tap into the change in tourist travel patterns. Open franchising location outside of Victoria/Vancouver/BC area if they are profitable given ROI/NPV valuation, provided there is a good franchise agreement that can maintain the image of Rogers Chocolates. Boost efforts in capturing and creating a competitive advantage in the online store and corporate gift markets. Establish wholesale or reseller relationship with American companies, at least in the Seattle area due to its close proximity to BC/Vancouver, which will allow Rogers to better reach the affluent target market in the States. It should extend its wholesale distribution outside of British Columbia, especially to Ontario which is its second largest geographical market. Promotion Provide wholesalers/retailer with more incentives, such as sales promotions, especially in the important seasonal periods to improve the display of in-store Rogers products. Instead of obtaining more stores in the Vancouver or BC area, which is capital intensive, provide greater incentives, such as discounts or sales promotions, for more retail/wholesale channels to offer Rogers products, and to gain more prominent in-store displays to increase sales through the 2010 Olympics. Increase the advertising budget to include other provinces, and more mass marketing. Product Reduce the number of products offered to premium products that only have a history of selling well, and have good growth/profitability potential due to derived demand. Keep the brand identity/integrity, but update and standardize the packaging so that it is more modern, appealing and consistent. Operations Divest the ownership of Sams Deli, and concentrate on selling core products from a smaller retail space within Sams Deli. Rogers should improve production processes, lower labour costs, increase efficiency, lower lead-time and inventory on hand. Most of these can be achieved through computerization (ex. accounting, forecasting, scheduling), normalization of sales history, and better demand forecasts. If it can do this, then initially it does not need to increase capacity. If it cannot, then it should relocate off island where the production facilities are more modern, and transportation is cheaper. Improve the company’s management teams communication and change its silo mentality. The culture of Rogers is very good, and provides a strong resource that cannot be easily copied by competitors. Instead of changing it, the new CEO should communicate and educate the staff and board of directors that the changes implemented will improve the long-term outlook of the Rogers while maintaining its long roots, and keeping its core values and approach to business. Since the majority of the board of directors are owners of the business, and require the CEO to double or triple the business, they have vested interest in the long term outlook of Rogers Chocolates. As such, their concerns and varying strategies can be set aside if he effectively communicates that his chosen strategy, of refocusing on a niche differentiating strategy, will improve profitability and growth.

HSBC and Foreign Market Strategies

HSBC and Foreign Market Strategies 1. Introduction With assets of US $1,502 billion, HSBC Holdings is one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world.1 It provides a comprehensive range of financial services including personal financial services, commercial and corporate banking, investment banking and markets, private banking, and other activities. HSBCs international network comprised over 9,500 offices in 76 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the America, the Middle East and Africa. 1. 2. Literature Review What determines foreign market entry strategies? To answer this question, most existing literature has focused on the characteristics of the entering firm, in particular its resources and capabilities (Barney, 1991; Anand and Delios, 2002) and its need to minimize transaction costs (Buckley and Casson, 1976; Anderson and Gatignon, 1986; Hill, Hwang, and Kim, 1990). While resources and capabilities are certainly important (Peng, 2001), recent work has suggested that strategies are moderated by the characteristics of the particular context in which firms operate (Hoskisson et al., 2000; In particular, institutions—the ‘rules of the game—in the host economy also significantly shape firm strategies such as foreign market entry (Peng, 2003; Wright et al., 2005). In a broad sense, macro-level institutions affect transaction costs (North, 1990). However, traditional transaction cost research (exemplified by Williamson, 1985) has focused on micro-analytical aspects such a s opportunism and bounded rationality. As a result, questions of how macro-level institutions, such as country-level legal and regulatory frameworks, influence transaction costs have been relatively unexplored, remaining largely as ‘background. However, a new movement in research posits that institutions are far more than ancillary elements, and that institutions directly influence what resources a firm has at its disposal as it strives to develop and launch strategy. Nowhere is this point more clearly borne out than in emerging economies, where institutional frameworks differ greatly from those in developed economies (Khanna, Palepu, and Sindha, 2005; Meyer and Peng, 2005; Wright et al., 2005; Gelbuda, Meyer, and Delios, 2008). Given these institutional differences, how do foreign firms adapt entry strategies when entering emerging economies? Focusing on this key question, it can be argued that (1) institutional development (or underdevelopment) in different emerging economie s directly affects entry strategies, and (2) investors needs for local resources impact entry strategies in different ways in different institutional contexts. In essence, we advocate an integrative perspective calling not only for explicit considerations of institutional effects, but also for their integration with resource-based considerations. An analysis of theory developed specifically out of changes to global markets shows little development of the standard theories of market segmentation, differentiated pricing and appropriate distribution channels which underpinned local and domestic marketing theory. However, the literature over the past five years has shown a particular set of theoretical models specific to global marketing. Hollensen, S (2007) discusses the Upsalla International Model which suggests a sequential pattern of entry into international markets with an increasing â€Å"commitment† to overseas markets as the international experience of the firm grows. He contrasts this with a traditional approach of what is termed as the Penrosian tradition which returns us to the economy of scale and a cost-led approach working from the firms core competencies. Dunning (1998) suggests a similar Ownership-Location-internalisation (OLI) framework identifying an â€Å"ownership advantage† of establishing overs eas production facilities, a locational advantage which builds a logistics network around the overseas production and, finally, an internalisation advantage where it must be economical for a firm to utilise the previous two advantages rather than sell them to a foreign firm. Similar to the development of the standardisation-localisation model emerging to deal with the specific choices related to international market entry the identification of risk mitigation factors salient to international marketing has developed rapidly. Baker, M (1993) recognises the risk mitigation inherent in internationalisation, protecting the firm from adverse fluctuations in the national economic cycle. Hollensen, S (2007) concurs, outlining the ownership, operating and transfer risk in being attached purely to domestic markets. All of the literature, in short, is strong on identifying the risks of domestic-based marketing, however there is scant coverage of the specific risks of internationalisation 2.1 Factors Affecting Market Entry Models Comprehensive models are easily identifiable in the literature and cover diverse entry modes, total product offer, and maturity models, Hollensen, S (2007). Earlier literature is more product-based than market-led, as with Majaro, S (1993) who presents three approaches to entering a product onto the international market: the development of new products, the deletion of weak products and the modification of new products. Hollensen, S more or less deals with market maturity as a key consideration of entry. Two distinct models suggested here are the waterfall approach where the product is disseminated from advanced through developing to less developed countries and the shower approach where all three are simultaneously targeted where early market penetration is a goal. Overall, the literature is consensual on the fact that shorter product lifecycles are the salient feature of internationalised markets. 2.2 Internal Factors With assets of US $1,502 billion, HSBC Holdings is one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world.1 HSBC provides a comprehensive range of financial services including personal financial services, commercial and corporate banking, investment banking and markets, private banking, and other activities. HSBCs international network comprised over 9,500 offices in 76 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the America, the Middle East and Africa. It was a pioneer of modern banking practices in a number of countries. A growth oriented company from its earliest days, in 2000, HSBC decided to launch concrete strategies to attain market leadership in all sectors it operated in. Though the company was amongst the leading players in areas such as consumer finance, personal financial services, commercial and corporate banking, it also wanted to establish its presence in areas such as investment banking, mortgage, insurance and credit card business. To strengthen its product portfolio and geographical reach, the company embarked on an aggressive acquisition strategy. The focus was on areas where HSBC was either weak or did not have a presence. Simultaneously, the company launched an aggressive branding exercise to complement its growth strategy. The geographical reach of the bank could be estimated by its presence in form of the subsidiaries and franchises. It has nearly 200,000 shareholders in some 100 countries and territories. The shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American D epositary Receipts. HSBC was also listed on the London, Hong Kong, New York, Paris and Bermuda stock exchanges. In late 1998, the Group adopted the HSBC brand and the hexagon symbol as a unified brand in all the markets where it operated. The bank adopted the tagline ‘Your world of financial services in 1999. With the new tagline, HSBC hoped to acquaint customers with the extent and the range of its financial services. The tagline and the unification of the business under one name emphasised the global reach of the group. In early 2000s, HSBC vigorously worked towards developing its banking and financial services to gain market leadership. In 2002, the HSBC changed the tagline to ‘The worlds local bank, the tagline emphasised the groups experience and understanding of a great variety of markets and cultures. The group chairman said ‘We are committed to making HSBC one of the worlds leading brands for customer experience.1 as part of the ‘Managing For Value Strategy In 1998, HSBC launched the above strategy to set the conditions for future success in a fast-changing market. The company hoped to beat the total shareholder return delivered by competing financial institutions. To do so, it needed to enter areas that promised returns that were higher than the risk-adjusted cost of capital. It decided to offer wealth management services, personal asset management and insurance services to its customers. Its objective was to cross-sell a wide range of products around the globe, including mortgages, insurance, mutual funds, and credit cards. As a first step, the company decided to eliminate bad growth strategies i.e. those which had failed to cover the cost of capital. As a part of its value-based profitability drive, it adopted several measures which targeted higher-value creation at the bank. Managers and staff adopted behavioural practices such as targeting high-net-worth customers through several prestigious credit card schemes, strengthened the sales culture of staff by ways of incentives and promoting client cross-referral across the different business divisions, running more loyalty programmes for customers to capture a greater share of creditworthy customers. Like some other companies, HSBC has also developed international programs with their own incentive and compensation systems, performance metrics, and opportunities to groom managers for global positions (Exhibit 3, on the next page). Such programs, which often provide training focused on tolerance and cultural awareness, aim to produce managers who are well versed in a companys distinctive capabilities but flexible enough to deal successfully with novel situations. These managers learn to distinguish the nonnegotiable aspects of a business model from those that can be modified as necessary. Ranbaxy, whose current CEO is British, is one of the companies working to develop this kind of global cadre. Its country managers move to new locations as soon as they are ready to assume larger challenges. 2. 3. External Factors 3.1 Barriers to market entry 3.1.1 Regulation Firms in regulated industries face a significant strategic dilemma when expanding abroad. On the one hand, established theory and practice recommend following a gradual, staged model of international expansion so as to minimize risks and cope with uncertainty (Johanson and Vahlne, 1977; Chang, 1995; Rivoli and Salorio, 1996; Guill ´en, 2002; Vermeulen and Barkema, 2002), that is, to overcome the so-called liability of foreignness (Hymer, 1976; Zaheer, 1995). On the other, the regulated nature of these industries tends to require a strong commitment of resources anda fast pace of entry into foreign markets. This is the case for three interrelated reasons. First,these industries tend to be highly concentrated, and they often exhibit certain features of the ‘naturalmonopoly.1 Second, entry may be restricted by the government, frequently under a system oflicenses. And third, the government may own significant parts of the industry. Under these circumstances, foreign entrants face strong incentives to commit large amounts of resources and to establish operations quickly, whenever and wherever opportunities arise, and frequently via acquisition as opposed to greenfield investment (Sarkar et al., 1999). Thus, the regulated and oligopolistic nature of these industries generates strong first mover advantages (Doh, 2000; Knickerbocker, 1973). Recent research in strategy argues that firms in regulated industries follow ‘asymmetric strategies in that they seek to defend their home-country position by preventing rivals from competing on a level playing field while pursuing entry into foreign markets as deregulation occurs. Given that deregulation has taken place at different moments in time and to different degrees from country to country, firms in regulated industries tend to follow a multidomestic strategy of foreign expansion, namely, they pick and choose which markets to enter depending on the specific circumstances A natural monopoly emerges when it is possible to exploit economies of scale over a very large range of output. As a result, the optimally efficient scale of production becomes a very high  proportion of the total market demand for the product or service. present in each foreign country, arranging their operations with a local rather than a global logic in mind, and engaging in limited cross-border coordination (Bonardi, 2004). Another distinctive feature of regulated industries is the role of the state as a shareholder. Some of the most active firms in regulated industries expanding abroad are former monopolies in which the state has or has had a controlling stake (Doh, Teegen, and Mudambi, 2004). 3.1.2 Cultural Barriers By September 2000, the Hong Kong operations of HSBC were falling behind in implementing the MfV strategy. The strategy set the goal of the bank doubling shareholder value over a five years through growth in its core businesses in addition to a massive reduction in operating costs. One major cost-saving initiative was the migration of the banks Network Services Centre (NSC) in Hong Kong to its new global processing centre in Guangzhou, a Chinese city on the mainland. Implementing this initiative which involved moving staff and resources to the Guangzhou Data Centre (GZC) came up against major operational and public relations issues. (MB) Technically, there were no major obstacles to the bank following a global trend in financial services; seeking economies of scale by moving back-office operations to lower cost areas. The average salaries of staff in the GZC were only 20% of those in the NSC. From this angle, moving professional positions to GZC and to HSBCs other new Indian global processing centre seemed perfectly in line with MfV objectives. Most duties were highly routine involving few important decision-making duties. Nevertheless, The staff, who were initially offered a choice to move or risk losing their positions, felt betrayed by the bank, since there was an expectation among the workers that dutiful service should be recognised with job security. 4. Market Opportunities available to HSBC 4.1.1. Micro-Financing With significant operations in the emerging markets and expertise in transactional solutions, and supported by our office network, services, processes, capital, and customer relationships, HSBC are well placed to serve the micro finance sector. The banks approach to this sector is based on commercial viability with high social benefit, with the aim of creating self-sustaining, stable financial services to help people out of poverty. HSBC integrate micro-finance activities Global Business and Organizational Excellence DOI: 10.1002/joe January/February 2009 17 with local business capabilities rather than as a separate business line. Following pilot projects in 2005, HSBC has engaged more closely with micro-finance enablers and MFIs on the ground to understand the principal issues facing the sector, and the findings have informed and shaped our priorities. HSBC is currently working with MFIs in Argentina, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Turkey through our operations in th ose countries. The bank is at the forefront in arranging foreign investments into the country and deals for Indian companies investing overseas, and it is custodian of more than 40 percent of the foreign institutional investments (FIIs) in India, with total assets under management in India that exceed $5 billion. Although HSBC in India has 47 branches and 178 ATMs in 26 cities, it lacks a branch network and accessibility in rural areas, where the majority of Indias empoverished population lives. The rural poor need a diverse range of financial services, including credit and safe and flexible savings services, to run their businesses, build assets, stabilize consumption, and shield themselves against poverty. However, access to quality financial services in rural India is still heavily inadequate. Eighty-one percent of villages in India do not have banks within a distance of 2 km (1.2 miles); 41 percent of the population does not have a bank account; and available credit in rural are as meets just 10 percent of the actual need. Microfinance established a foothold in India during the 1990s, but this decade has seen rapid growth, with a distinct shift away from a â€Å"welfare† model toward a â€Å"business model† for delivering these services.Since it is quite expensive for HSBC in India to provide services directly to the rural poor, it lends funds to microfinance intermediaries, the MFIs that further on-lend the funds to the ultimate clients. HSBC in India established a team for microfinance under its Commercial Banking division in December 2007 and plans to eventually create regional-level teams to facilitate initiatives in their respective parts of the country. 4.1.2 North America Market Entry HSBCs initial motivation for its acquiring retail banks in North America and the UK was to diversify away from its home in Asia. After it acquired Marine Midland Bank and Midland Bank, HSBCs motivation may have changed subtly. It is becoming increasingly difficult for banks that are large relative to their home markets to grow at home. In many developed countries banking has become quite concentrated (Marquez and Molyneux, 2002). In response, policymakers in these countries have started to bar the banks from further domestic mergers and acquisitions. Some recent failed attempts in Canada are a case in point (Tickell, 2000). The only remaining possibility for growth then is cross-border. Interestingly, each of the owners of the largest subsidiaries of foreign banks in the US is disproportionately often the largest bank in its own home country (Tschoegl, 2002 and 2004). Assessing the viability of this strategy is the classic question of how a foreign firm competes against local firms t hat do not face any liability of foreignness (Zaheer, 1995), that is, costs that come from operating in a  foreign environment or at a distance. One issue then is whether having operations in contiguous countries represents a competitive advantage. Tschoegl (1987) and Dufey and Yeung (1993) have argued that where markets are well developed and competitive, there is no reason to expect foreign banks in general to be better than local banks at retail banking. At the same time there is evidence for the existence of a liability of foreignness vis-à  -vis the foreign banks host-country competitors  (Parkhe and Miller, 2002). Of course, there is also evidence that suggests that the liability is minimal (Nachum, 2003) or wanes over time (Zaheer and Moskowitz, 1996). However, these last two studies examine the liability in the context of corporate and wholesale banking markets. The liability may be more salient in the retail markets, where national differences between the home and host market are likely to be more profound.Demirgà ¼Ãƒ §-Kunt and Huizinga (1999) and Claessens et al. (2001) found that foreign banks tend to have higher margins and profits than domestic banks in developing countries, but that the opposite holds in industrial countries. Similarly, Dopico and Wilcox (2002) found that foreign banks have a greater share in under-banked markets and a smaller presence in mature markets. The implication is that one should not expect much in the way of cross-border mergers in commercial banking within developed regions. We can speculate that on the production side, differences in products  across markets and privacy laws appear to be limiting parents ability to consolidate processing. As far as depositors are concerned, there seems to be little value to having an account with a bank that operates in other countries, especially now that travelers can draw cash from networked automated transaction machines (ATMs). HSBC does have a service for wealthy indivi duals-HSBC Premier-that provides for such crossborder advantages as transfer of an individuals credit rating when they relocate, and some other services. However, these facilities are not available to ordinary accounts. The literature on trade flows is instructive here; the evidence on NAFTA has shown that borders have a substantial damping effect on trade flows (McCallum, 1995). In North America HSBC is even poorly positioned to take advantage of the one form of cross-border retail banking that is currently drawing attention: remittance flows from Mexican workers in the US. Although HSBC now has a strong presence in Mexico, it has almost no offices in California or other US states with large populations of Mexican immigrants. By contrast, Bank of America, which is the largest bank in California and is present in many other US states, in 2002, bought a 25 percent stake in Santander-Serfin, Santanders subsidiary, which has amalgamated Mexicos oldest and third largest bank. If there is little reason to believe that HSBC benefits from cross-border demand or production effects, what is left as a source of advantage? One candidate is what Kindleberger (1969) has called â€Å"surplus managerial resources.† When a bank such as HSBC can no longer grow at home, it may find itself with a management team that is underemployed in terms of the demands on its time. The bank may then choose to grow abroad when it can combine these surplus resources with what Berger et al. (2000) call a global advantage. Berger et al. argue that some US banks succeed in the competition with local banks elsewhere in the world simply by being better managed. In their survey of the literature on productivity, Bartelsman and Doms (2000) draw several stylized lessons, among them that firms differ in their productivity and that this difference may persist for years. Obviously, not all US banks necessarily partake of the advantage of better management and by contrast some non-US banks may. HSBC may simply be one of these. As Nachum et al. (2001) point out, the competitiveness of firms depends on the kind of assets that firm s can transfer internally from country to country, but that are difficult to transfer from one firm to another, even within a country. Still, it is, unfortunately, extremely difficult to measure an intangible asset as subtle and hard to define as better management (Denrell, 2004), especially when, as recent events have shown, stock market performance or accounting measures are of doubtful reliability. HSBC began its growth in North America by acquiring failed and weak banks. In effect, shareholders lacking a comparative advantage relative to HSBC, with respect to owning and governing given banks or branches (Lichtenberg and Siegel, 1987), sold them to HSBC. Generally, growth by acquisition is difficult to execute and as a strategy it is vulnerable to problems of over-reach due to managerial hubris (Roll, 1986; Baradwaj et al., 1992; Seth et al., 2000). Peek et al. (1999) found that generally the US subsidiaries of foreign banks have not done well. The poor performance of foreign bank subsidiaries was a result of the foreign banks acquiring poorly performing US banks and being unable to improve their performance sufficiently within the period that the authors examined. (One cannot arrive at strong conclusions from studies of the profitability of subsidiaries. Banks transfer profits across borders (Demirgà ¼Ãƒ §-Kunt and Huizinga, 2001), and foreign banks may prefer to book some bu siness from their headquarters (Peek and Rosengren, 2000).) Still, HSBCs operations in the US and Canada are survivors of a winnowing process that saw other banks from Canada, Japan, the UK and the US sell their Canadian or US subsidiaries, in some cases to HSBC. As Mitchell and Shaver (2003) show with respect to firms in the US medical sector, firms differ in their ability to absorb and manage business on a continuing basis. They use the biological metaphor of predation and their evidence is consistent with the idea that some predators are better able to target desirable prey and better able to overpower the prey they target. HSBC appears to have found that it is one such successful predator. One may surmise that HSBC initially chose to acquire weak banks as much out of necessity as design. For any given size, a profitable bank will cost more than an unprofitable one, and to achieve its goal of diversifying, HSBC needed to acquire large banks. Now that HSBC is one of the worlds lar gest banks, whether one measures by market capitalization or total assets, it has more leeway. Conclusion Assuming that there is a positive relationship between marketing spend and market share, marketing activities, if well-targetted should have a incremental impact on market share. However, this does not always seem to hold true within the â€Å"big four† banks. Barclays and HSBC both developed their market share by 1% between 1995 and 2000, in spite of greatly varied levels of investment in marketing. Lloyds TSB market share fell by 2% although the bank spent significantly more than either Barclays or HSBC while NatWest and RBS have both declined by 4% despite having a collective expenditure of more than double Barclays. This perhaps, at least partly, explains why HSBC has adopted a highly acquisitive strategy, realising that, although the core brand is strong, customer recognition may have saturated, therefore integrating both fresh brands into subsidiaries in tandem with launching new, retail-focussed services, keeps the proposition fresh. Recommendations With the disproportionate focus on retail banking, HSBC has yet not come over as a major player in investment banking. However, with the wave of recent milestone deals during over the last three years, the bank is beginning to emerged as an investment banking brand. HSBC played a central role in two of Europes biggest-ever merger and acquisition deals i.e. Mittal Steels hostile bid for Frances Arcelor and German utility company E.Ons offering for Spanish rival Endesa. However, the development in the direction of investment banking requires some acceleration as the retail ban king sector continues to be heavily impacted by the sub-prime mortgage fallout and credit tightness. The bank has been planning to further enhance its business in the UK by investing  £400m in retail and commercial distribution network and setting up 500 new ATMs, 250 new Express terminals, however this is has not yet materialised and may be badly-timed if implemented within the year. HSBC has considered the Asian region as its major focus area and it can expect a bigger share from the Asia-Pacific region in the future. In early 2007, Asia-Pacific, the Americas (including South America) and Europe each contributed one third in HSBC groups overall bottom line. 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