History of the Funeral Industry

Funerals and burial rituals have been practiced for centuries. From mummification in the ancient Egyptian times to the extremely regimented practices of Muslims across the world, burial rituals differ greatly across the world’s societal bounds. The American funeral industry was never really established until after the civil war. Before the civil war, families would bury the bodies of relatives themselves. Messing with the natural course of decomposition by embalming the body was frowned upon during colonial times, but eventually began to gain popularity (Laderman). Although the practice of embalming corpses of the dead has been practiced for centuries, the U.S. began embalming the bodies of dead soldiers to prevent them from decomposing on the trip home. The person in charge of arranging and performing the embalming process was then known as an â€Å"undertaker† (funeralwise.com). After the war, the popularity of undertakers began to skyrocket; thus, forming an industry. The rapid spread of embalming practices and urbanization in the early twentieth century led to undertakers starting up funeral homes. Instead of the undertaker traveling to the home of the deceased, bodies were transported to the funeral home to be embalmed – relieving the families of having to deal with the logistics of death (Laderman). Although funeral directors, originally called â€Å"undertakers,† are well regarded professionals, the funeral industry has continually been tarnished by bad press, economic factors, and ugly controversies (Laderman). The most prevalent attack has been economic. Society has always considered the profession as a â€Å"swindlers paradise† because funeral homes often take advantage of grieving families by outrageously pricing their services. This is a constant uphill battle facing funeral directors of our day. The funeral industry has increasingly adapted to consumer demands, developing ways to cohere to the traditions of various societal groups. Although many ethnic/societal groups have specific funeral directors to take car of their dead, the rapidly emerging industry has become more ethnicity friendly and can adapt to any burial practice desired (funeralwise.com). This industry is looking at facing an economic boom as we reach the end of our â€Å"baby-boomer† generation, and they have come up with a plethora of creative ideas in order to cater their future.

Psychological Insights about Lord of the Flies Essay

Abstract Sigmund Freud’s personality structure is used throughout William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies. Each character has the personality trait of Freud’s Id, Ego and Superego structure. Their personalities are challenged in the story due to the theme of a deserted tropical island. The 3 main characters minds are challenged the most in the story because Ralph and Jack are supposed to be leaders. Ralph only wants what is best for the boys and Jack only cares about hunting and surviving. Golding uses Freud’s personality theory to explain the personalities of the main characters. Ralph is the Ego, Jack is the Id, and Piggy is the Super-Ego. Williams Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies uses Sigmund Freud’s personality structural theory: Id, Ego and Superego. Each character in the book starts off with one personality, but then their mind is challenged when they crash into a deserted island. The boys have no parental authority and they realize it. At first they think life is going to be alright until most of them turn into a complete wild savage and they are no longer the well-behaved school boy they once were. Golding uses Freud’s personality theory to explain the personalities of the main characters. Ralph is the Ego, Jack is the Id, and Piggy is the Super-Ego. The Ego is supposed to be the balance between the Id and the Superego. Read more:  Simon quotes lord of the flies essay They understand that others have desires and needs and that being selfish can hurt us in the end. The Ego is the character who is supposed to be the better one out of everyone. Ralph is the ultimate Ego personality in Lord of the Flies. His conscience is balanced by Jack (Id) and Piggy (Superego). At the beginning, he does not know that he is the main key to survival, but soon to find out he really is. Ralph becomes a leader and wants to do well because of the influence of Piggy. When Ralph finds a conch shell and decides to use it as the main speaking tool on the island he shows a strong sense of Ego. â€Å"We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us.† He beamed at Ralph. â€Å"That was what you meant, didn’t you? That’s why you got the conch out of the water?† (Page 16) Whoever was holding the conch was allowed to speak and no one should interrupt. Ralph has a big heart and thinks before he acts. He shoes his kindness by protecting Piggy and only wanting what is best for all the other boys. Freud’s Superego personality represents the conscience. It is developed through moral and ethical restraints placed on us by our caregivers. Piggy is definitely the Superego in Lord of the Flies. Piggy is the Superego because he is the only boy who can see danger ahead of them. He tries to show kindness to all the other boys, but in return all he is picked on. Piggy sticks by Ralph’s side through the entire book. â€Å"Piggy was†¦ so full of pride in his contribution to the good of society that he helped to fetch wood.† Piggy only wanted what was best for the boys and for them to work together. He was considered the more scientific person of the group. His glasses played an important role in the book because they started the signal fire for the boys to be rescued. Even though Piggy was whinny and complained a lot he always stuck by Ralph’s side and never gave up on the thought that they could be rescued. The biggest personality that plays apart in Lord of the Flies is the Id. The Id overcomes most of the boys and makes them change. An Id personality contains our primitive impulses. Jack shows the change to the Id personality the most in the story. He starts off as a well-behaved young boy and then ended up turning into a wild savage. Jack becomes obsessed with hunting and killing animals. â€Å"‘Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!’ (Chapter 7) His whole mindset is about being hunter and nothing else matters. Freud says that an Id personality can sometimes represented by a devil sitting on someone’s shoulder. The devil sitting on Jack’s shoulder is making him change completely. At the beginning, Jack never would have thought about killing one of his friends, but his wild mindset takes over him and his group and they kill their friend Simon. Jacks sidekick Roger is just like him. Roger ends up rolling a boulder off the side of a cliff and smashing Piggy’s brains out and killing him. Both Jack and Roger let the devil get the best of them and do not realize it until the very end when they are rescued. All of the characters have a define personality on the island. Some of them change and others stay the same. The animalistic urges of the Id really come out in Lord of the Flies. The primitive desires of the Id are the leading feature of one’s individuality. The characters that symbolize the animalistic urges of the Id are created in order to demonstrate the primitive unconscious part of the human mind. There is a portion of Id in each character, but Jack, Roger, and Ralph are the most excellent examples. The Beast is a big symbol in the story because all the boys think there is a real beast on the island; when truly the beast is inside the boys. The only character to realize this is Simon because when he imagines the Lord of the Flies (pig head) is talking to him it tells him that the boys fear the beast because it is truly inside of them. Simon never explains to them because the inner beast comes out when the boys kill Simon when he runs out of the forest. The symbol of the beast takes over most of the boys. The beast is a psychological symbol inside the boys minds. Lord of the flies just isn’t just based on a psychological insight, but also how human nature takes over. K.M. Parivelan’s critical article about William Golding’s Lord of the Flies talks about how the book shows a psychological approach about human-self and human nature. â€Å"The work characterizes Golding’s underlying theme ‘man produces evil as a bee produces honey’. In all his works the author has relentlessly pursued the objective of making man face ‘the sad fact of his own cruelty and lust’ and has upheld the conviction ‘man is a fallen being’. The fact that man is gripped by original sin and is in an inherently perilous state justifies evil and Psychological Insights its innate fusion with human existence.† Parivelan is saying that Golding shows in Lord of the Flies that the boys on the island show their inner evil through human-self and human nature. The nature of the island makes the boys become a person who they really are not. Death and the presences of destruction come out of most of the boys, while â€Å"Right from the beginning, Ralph is the only character who demonstrates his resolve for creating a democratic society. Initially, he is exultant due to the new freedom.† Evil really shows in Lord of the Flies through the power of human-self and human nature. Evil, hunting and killing is now the only thing the boys care about. A human beings personality can change at time and in extraordinary situations. It all comes back to a psychological mind change and a personality. No human being has the same personality their whole life. Human nature can make a human being change completely if they have never lived in that kind of environment before. Ralph tries to be the civilized one and make sure there are ground rules that boys follow so nothing bad would happen. In the end, Jack turns on Ralph and becomes an evil and has a killing mind set. Ralph just wants the boys to work together so he creates a way of speaking when they have meetings. â€Å"At the beginning, the conch becomes a really powerful symbol for law, order and civilization. As the boys are slowly descending into savagery, the conch loses its influence among them.† The civilization among the boys changes and they do not work together. At the end, two of the boys lose their lives due to the â€Å"evil† psychological mind change of most of the boys. Sigmund Freud’s theory plays a huge role throughout the whole story. Each character starts out with one personality and then it changes into another. The â€Å"beast† was not really on the island, but truly inside of the boys. It took over most of them. Jack and Roger become pure evil and only care about killing animals and even humans. In the end, the boys are rescued and reality strikes back into their heads. All of the boys start to weep and finally realize what they had become. The boys had lost two of their good friends because they had let the â€Å"beast† overcome them. The boys probably learned an important lesson about how a human mind can snap at any given moment. Psychological Insights Parivelan , K. M. (n.d.). critical analysis of the psychological insights in Lord of the Flies by William Golding . Retrieved from Meghdutam website: http://www.rbhs.w-cook.k12.il.us/Mancoff/lofcritan.htm Psychological Behavior in â€Å"Lord of the Flies†. (2006). Retrieved from BookRags, Inc. website: http://www.bookrags.com/essay-2005/6/16/202753/419

Team Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Team Leadership - Essay Example rspective on how the concepts can be utilized in the workplace in the 21st century to enhanced productivity or how the ideas may receive resistance among the people working in an organization. The first article studied is called Team Leadership2. The article discusses various principles, theory, concepts and viewpoints regarding the internal functioning of a team and the importance of leadership inside a team. One concept of importance mentioned in the literature is the need for teams to work applying coordination. The work of the different team members must be coordinated by the leader in order to achieve the work tasks in an orderly and sequential manner. The leader has to coordinate the work and stay on top of the internal affairs of the team in order to ensure the work of each is aligned so that everyone understands the relationship among each other work and a coordinated effort is applied to achieve the desired team and organizational goals. Coordination takes a higher level of importance in team work of complex and complicated tasks. The team members realize the delicate steps involved in for example a sophisticated high cost experiment that requires precise timing and coordination in each step of the project. A second idea mentioned in the article is the concept of functional leadership. Functional leadership is a model whose emphasis is practical applications of leadership to get things done, irregardless of who in the team is doing the leading within the team unit3. The ideas is greatly accepted among employees since it recognizes the contribution being perform by certain employees with leadership abilities which are do not necessarily hold a management position which are typically associated with leadership abilities. Inside a team function of a small team all member can and should demonstrate leadership in order to ensure the success of the project. The project manager is not the only employee responsible of the success of a project, since a project

External Business Environment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

External Business Environment - Assignment Example The industries dominating the UK economy include the service sector, the automotive sector, and the pharmaceutical industry. The service sector, in particular, contributes more than three-quarters of the country’s GDP, with the booming services within the industry being the financial and aerospace. Being the first county to adopt industrialization, the country boasts of one of the largest globalized economies of the world, and the city of London plays an instrumental role as the business hub for this economic giant. The UK is part of the G8, which is a group of some of the leading economies in the world in terms of economic strength and power. The UK has an elaborate tax system that promotes both internal and foreign investments within the country. So far, the UK boats of being the leader in the following industries across the world, owing to its policies and attractive strategies geared at enticing investors within the country. One, London City is the Hub of financial services in the world, owing to the elaborate banking system adopted by the country, and evidenced by some of the leading multination banking corporations in the world such as the Barclays Bank, and the Standard Chartered Bank. Second, is the Barclays Premier League, adopted after the main sponsor, Barclays Bank, which is the most followed football league in the entire globe. The UK always comes up with economic policies that promote business activities and investments within the country. The hospitality industry plays a major role in the UK economy as it contributes almost 25% of the GDP of the country, comprising of companies such as clubs, hotels, restaurants, leisure outlets and holiday resorts. The Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts is one of the major hotel groups in the UK, with an international disposition of its chains of hotels and resorts across various countries and cities of the world. As such, as a leading hotel group in the United Kingdom, the economic policies set by the government affect its operations adversely, either positively or negatively.  Ã‚  

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 163

Summary - Essay Example Thus, the system will use algorithms provided by the National Renewable Energy Lab that use GPS to track the sun. The control system will locate the position of the sun and translate the data to signals that will move the motors to orient the device correctly. This will transfer the result using the components of USB and Ethernet to LabVIEW. Although the automated pyrheliometer project has hazards that can be experienced during the manufacturing and operation stages, stern measures will be taken to reduce the chances of their occurrence. First, the challenges experienced during the manufacturing stage will be addressed by providing training to the staff and ensuring that all operators wear protective clothing while at the manufacturing lab. Besides, the problem of insufficient heat dissipation will be resolved by using proper heat sinks for the motor drivers and having over temperature sensors to turn off the system. Lastly, warning red light emitting diode (LED) will be used to help in reducing any hazards associated with the system hitting someone during operation. When it comes to the budgeting, it should be made clear that the entire project will consume money. Since it is a tasking exercise, the project will have to be adequately funded. In order to have an effective financial plan, the entire project will have to be divided into parts: electrical components, framing and mounting and manufacturing. To ensure that all activities are done as planned, each of these will be allocated enough

Role of Regional Banks in Globalised Economies Essay

Role of Regional Banks in Globalised Economies - Essay Example This process has opened the floodgates of knowledge-intensive, high quality products / services from the developed world to the developing countries and they in turn, are able to market their products / services, based on cheap & abundant skilled / semi-skilled / trained manpower, into the developed markets. In an ideal situation, all economies should benefit and the consumer should get best value for money. Global giants in the financial services sector conduct a range of operations spanning personal banking to investment advisory services, consumer financing to industrial credit, stock market operations in futures, options and derivatives, merchant banking, underwriting, treasury operations and the like. These services are extensively backed by technology. To the customer, these banks provide a pleasant experience – from the very ambience to the fast decision-making processes. This is in stark contrast to traditional banking mode, as practiced by the regional banks which wer e catering mainly to traders of agricultural products in the beginning followed by ‘directed credit’ as mandated by governments to agriculture and small-scale industries (Guruprasad). Industrial credit is a later development. But the new market situation altered the role of regional bankers significantly. Their growth rates and margins are decreasing, leading to a search for newer initiatives and strategies.

Principles of Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Principles of Law - Essay Example Doctrine of Judicial Precedence This doctrine is based on the principle of stare decisis which simply means to â€Å"stand by what has been decided and do not unsettle the established† (Dernbach and Richard 1981, p.35). The decision is based on two principles, ratio decidendi and obiter dictum, which means the reason for the judgment and other things, said pertaining to the case respectively. It is important to note that, though the obiter might not be part of the judgment, but it can be used in future judgments because of its persuasive nature (Knoops 2005, p.2). Original precedence present themselves in the nature that the present case is coming to the court for the first time and the presiding judge does not have the opportunity or chance to look at past decisions to make a decision on a point of law (Rossini 1998, p.34). This is what is known, as reasoning by analogy and the decision made in the case at hand will be binding at future cases. For example in the case of DPP v Smith (2006), where the defendant had gone to visit her former girlfriend and held her down cutting out her valued hair, the learned magistrate held that it was not actual bodily harm resulting out of assault. On appeal, it was held that even if the issue of the hair was to be determined scientifically or medically, the hair above the scalp was still regarded as hair regardless of its nature. The judges therefore decided that this was actual bodily harm and therefore the case provided precedence for future cases. Binding precedence on the other hand or those whereby a case has been made and future judges or the present judge must abide by it regardless of his or her own opinion. This therefore means that courts in the lower ranks must follow the particular decision regardless of any new issue arising and the cases presented must be similar to the previous decision or must have facts that are almost similar to the case at hand. The judicial system in England and Wales are such that courts are bound and they must follow the cases and decisions made in the upper or superior courts as the decisions in these cases provide precedents that must be followed in future cases with similar circumstances. These cases must therefore be followed or applied by courts down the hierarchy. It is important to note that magistrates or subordinate courts do not set precedent but they must follow the cases set by the superior courts, in this case the House of Lords or the appellate courts (Antoine 2008, p.118). Persuasive precedents are those in which the court decides whether to follow the precedence set or not to follow it. This precedence is not binding to the court and the court can follow them or ignore them depending on the legal principle in the case (Mitchelle and Minel 2003, p.73). These precedents can come from the lower courts or the magistrate courts and only the legal principles present in them can be applied in the upper courts. In R v R 1991, the Court of Appeal prov ided a persuasive precedence for an upper court, the House of Lords holding that a man can be found guilty of rape as against his wife. The Privy Councils in England and Wales are also influential providers of persuasive precedence to the courts of law though the decisions are not as binding as decisions made in a court of law. For example in R v Mohammed 2005,

Felons Should Keep Their Rights to Vote after Conviction Essay

Felons Should Keep Their Rights to Vote after Conviction - Essay Example The causes of felony are many. However the most common cause of the crimes includes but not limited to poverty, unemployment as well as a way of retaliating. Another reason could be due to homelessness (Lynch, 309–322). The impacts felons have on the society are very important. First and foremost, based on their previous track record which is usually bad, such people are rarely accepted well in the society. As a result, most of them are usually unable to secure employment (Hull, 83). This is because the employees are usually afraid of the dangers and losses they can incur in case they recruit such people; thus, there many felons who are unemployed and fail to find any job. This large number has adverse effects on the society. More than 75% of the felons do not get employed within the first year out of prison. There are two major consequences of it. First; they become a great burden to both the public as well as the tax payers for their support. This leads to financial crisis t o the entire society (Lynch, 309–322). Another major problem that arises with felons is the impact they have on culture. This is because it is usually hard to find peace prevailing in a region where many felons exist (Chapin, 163–183). Felons who are not employed not only find it hard to meet their bills but also to secure some shelter. Therefore, most of them usually engage in criminal activities in an attempt to satisfy their basic needs. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs gives an illustration of the needs that drive humans in their activities in an attempt to make ends meet. ... These requirements form the basis of motivation in humans in the world. This is because humans strive to fulfill their basic needs before proceeding to needs that considered advanced. The basic physical needs include food shelter and clothing (Hull, 83). Such needs are met at whatever cost regardless on the consequences they have on the external environment. In fact such needs are deemed responsible for the changes that are noticed in the external environment. Providing employment opportunities for felons is an important way of reducing the amounts of crimes individuals engage in. This because employment will enable them realizes self esteem which is very crucial in the process of one realizing the goals. Their inability to secure housing has led to homelessness among felons. Therefore; they resort to staying in shelters and engaging in panhandling. This is to the disadvantage of many communities who never want people to be homeless (Lynch, 309–322). The lack issue of felons l acking employment also limits their ability of going health insurance. This is also an important issue as most of such individuals usually have medical conditions that need to be treated. This in itself is a great challenge to the medical practitioners and especially the existing public health care systems. Most of the system institutions have limited services to offer to such people. It consequently increases their chances of committing more crimes. One of the justifications of this statement is that most of them would commit such crimes out mental breakdown unknowingly. Felons should keep their rights to vote after conviction because they join the entire community of a nation and have equal rights just like other citizens. My assumption is that they

Chapter 3 - Neurology Clerkship Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Chapter 3 - Neurology Clerkship - Thesis Example Taking into account the level of students in the course and the clinical nature of the course work, content that focused on practical clinical knowledge was made a priority for the eBook (M Nilsson, Nilsson, Pilhammar, & Wenestam, 2009). It was decided, however, that the content of the book must match the delivery of the content. Clinical students are expected to demonstrate proficiency through their ability to apply content learned in the classroom to patients themselves. Because of the nature of the medical profession, clinical students must demonstrate deep analytical skills in which the student must diagnose and provide treatment for such diagnosis (Malau-Aduli, et al., 2013). Therefore, since the eBook was developed for such student stakeholders, it was agreed upon to develop an eBook that delivered content through an explanatory and problem-based learning model. The development of the eBook occurred after the subject matter experts compiled the content of the eBook. The content was broken down into two main sections: 1) Neuroanatomy section and 2) Pathology section. The Neuroanatomy section of the book centered its content on the review of the anatomy of the brain. Subject matter experts provided multiple Computer Tomography Scans (CT Scans) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scans (MRI Scans) of healthy brains. This information was essential for students to progress adequately through the book, for much of the terminology and the images throughout the eBook would refer back to this section (Cotter & Cohan, 2011). This section also served as a glossary for those who needed to review basic information. The Pathology section introduced students to neurological ailments. The content for this section provided students with the information required to learn specific neurological ailments they might experience in the clinical setting. Subject matter experts, understanding that this section prepared students for their clinical rounds, provided real world

Journal of Consumer Behavior Essay Example for Free

Journal of Consumer Behavior Essay Consumer complaints and recovery through guaranteeing self-service technology NICHOLA ROBERTSON1*, LISA MCQUILKEN1 and JAY KANDAMPULLY2 1 Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125, Australia 2 Ohio State University, 266 Campbell Hall, 1787 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA ABSTRACT Self-service technologies are shaping the future of consumer behaviour, yet consumers often experience service failure in this context. This conceptual paper focuses on self-service technology failure and recovery. A consumer perspective is taken. Recovering from self-service technology failure is fraught with difficulty, mainly because of the absence of service personnel. The aim of this paper is to present a theoretical framework and associated research propositions in respect to the positive role that service guarantees can play in the context of self-service technology failure and recovery. It contributes to the consumer behaviour domain by unifying the theory pertaining to consumer complaint behaviour, service recovery, specifically consumers’ perceptions of justice, and service guarantees, which are set in a distinctive self-service technology context. It is advanced that service guarantees, specifically multiple attribute-specific guarantees, are associated with consumer voice complaints following self-service technology failure, which is contingent on the attribution of blame in the light of consumers’ production role. Service guarantees are argued to be associated with consumers’ perceptions of just recovery in the selfservice technology context when they promise to fix the problem, compensate only when the problem cannot be remedied, offer a choice of compensation that is contingent on failure severity, afford ease of invocation and collection, and provide a personalised response to failures. Previous classifications of SSTs are used to highlight the applicability of guarantees for different types of SSTs. Managerial implications based on the theoretical framework are presented, along with future research directions. Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley Sons, Ltd. INTRODUCTION The growing application of technology in services has  transformed the way that organisations interact with consumers (Liljander et al., 2006). Self-service technologies (SSTs) are technological interfaces that enable consumers to generate benefits for themselves, without the presence of the organisation’s personnel (Meuter et al., 2000). They enable consumers to take an active role in the production of their service experience. As SSTs are a major force shaping consumer behaviour (Beatson et al., 2006), the implications for both consumers and organisations need to be considered. The failure of SSTs is commonplace (Forbes, 2008; Robertson and Shaw, 2009). SST failure, or consumers’ perception that one or more aspects of SST delivery have not met their expectations, is attributed to poor service and failing technology (Meuter et al., 2000). Failures are inevitable with all services, especially SSTs that introduce new types of failures, such as consumer failures (Forbes, 2008; Meuter et al., 2000). However, SST recovery, e.g., fixing the problem and providing compensation, is generally reported to be poor (Forbes, 2008). While consumers demand a superior response to SST failure, complaints are largely ineffectively handled in this context (Collier and Bienstock, 2006). This is despite the fact that SST failure intensifies the need for recovery because consumers are often remote from service personnel (Collier and Bienstock, 2006). SST providers have ignored consumers, denied responsibility for failure, blamed consumers for the problem, *Correspondence to: Nichola Robertson, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125, Australia. E-mail: [emailprotected]  and provided a generic complaint response (Forbes, 2008; Holloway and Beatty, 2003). Unsurprisingly, consumers might not bother voicing because they believe that it will be useless (Holloway and Beatty, 2003; Snellman and Vihtkari, 2003). If consumers are dissatisfied with an SST encounter and service recovery is perceived to be inept, they will switch and/or spread negative word of mouth and/or mouse (Collier and Bienstock, 2006 ; Dong et al., 2008; Harris et al., 2006a). In the interpersonal service context, it has been argued, albeit rarely, that service guarantees, or explicit promises made by organisations to deliver a certain level of service to satisfy consumers and to remunerate them if the service fails (Hogreve and Gremler, 2009), are an effective recovery tool (Bjà ¶rlin-Lidà ©n and Skà ¥là ©n,  2003; Kashyap, 2001; McColl et al., 2005). In a recovery encounter, service guarantees have been found to provide benefits, such as reducing consumer dissatisfaction, negative word of mouth, and switching (Wirtz, 1998). We argue that in the context of SST failure, service guarantees could act as a surrogate for service personnel who, in the interpersonal service context, encourage consumer complaints and facilitate recovery. Following our extensive review of service guarantees employed in the SST context, it was revealed that guarantees are uncommon in practice for non-Internet SSTs, such as kiosks and interactive voice response (IVR). However, in the Internet context, they appear to be more widespread. For example, guarantees are often used in the context of online banking, where online security, in particular, is guaranteed. They are also prevalent in the hotel context, typically in the form of online price matching guarantees. Therefore, the ‘real-life’ examples of SST guarantees provided throughout this paper are skewed toward Internet SSTs. However, in  N. Robertson et al. guarantees also have the ability to enhance consumers’ perceptions of fairness following failure. SST guarantees indicate justice in a context that is mostly devoid of interpersonal and other external cues, thereby encouraging consumer voice, facilitating service recovery, and, ultimately, retaining the organ isation’s reputation and its consumers. Our paper contributes to the consumer behaviour domain by adding to the underdeveloped literature on consumer complaints, consumer recovery perceptions, and service guarantees in the SST context, in addition to bringing these independent streams of literature together. As SST recovery in practice is reported to be deficient from the consumer perspective, further exploration of this topic is warranted. The remainder of this paper justifies a conceptual framework that describes how guarantees applied to different types of SSTs can encourage consumers to voice following failure and enable organisations to provide just recovery for consumers. We close with theoretical contributions, managerial implications, and an agenda for  future research. developing our propositions, we apply the SST classification schemes developed by Dabholkar (1994) and Meuter et al. (2000) in respect to technology type, purpose, and location. These schemes will be used to highlight the SST contexts that best fit the application of guarantees, which is beyond Internet SSTs. There are two key types of guarantees commonly offered in interpersonal services, unconditional and attributespecific, that also appear to be relevant in the SST setting. An unconditional guarantee covers the core service offering, and consumers are free to invoke it whenever they are dissatisfied (Wirtz et al., 2000). The attribute-specific guarantee is narrower in breadth, covering either a single or multiple service attributes (Van Looy et al., 2003). It is directed to areas within an organisation where consumers perceive that the guarantee adds value (Hart et al., 1992). The attribute-specific guarantee is the type most common in interpersonal services (Van Looy et al., 2003 ). Our review revealed that this also applies to SSTs. For example, Hertz car rental offers its consumers online check-in for rentals. It guarantees that online check-in enables consumers to pick up a rental vehicle within 10 minutes or less. If it fails to fulfil this specific promise, consumers are credited $50. In another example, match.com, an online dating service, guarantees via its ‘Make Love Happen Guarantee’, that if consumers do not find someone special in six months of using its site, it will provide them with six months free service. In the interpersonal service context, consumers have been found to prefer attribute-specific guarantees when they consider invoking the guarantee, ‘. . . probably for their clarity and manifest nature’ (McDougall et al., 1998: 289). We further argue that in the SST context, generally devoid of service personnel and, therefore, with reduced opportunities for consumer monitoring, the clarity of an attribute-specific guara ntee is less likely to attract consumer abuse (McCollough and Gremler, 2004). Therefore, we advocate and assume for the remainder of this paper an attribute-specific guarantee. This can cover multiple SST attributes, which is referred to as a multiple attribute-specific guarantee. For example, BestPrintingOnline.com, an online printing service, guarantees both the quality of its product and on-time  delivery. This type of guarantee provides consumers with the opportunity to complain about several SST problems via guarantee invocation (Bjà ¶rlin-Lidà ©n and Skà ¥là ©n, 2003). In the context of service recovery, the examination of service guarantees has been scarce, and the use of service guarantees in the SST context has not been examined before. This is confirmed by Hogreve and Gremler (2009) in their review of the past 20years of service guarantee research. To begin to address these gaps, our paper conceptualises the role of service guarantees in the SST failure and recovery context from the consumer perspective. We consider different types of SSTs in developing our propositions. We argue that SST guarantees encourage consumers to voice their complaints via guarantee invocation in the absence of service personnel. In line with the call for research examining the justice dimensions (i.e., distributive, procedural, and interactional justice) of service recovery in the SST context (Forbes et al., 2005), we propose that SST Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley Sons, Ltd. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK The conceptual framework proposed (see Figure 1) is grounded in the theory pertaining to service guarantees, consumer voice, attribution theory, and justice theory. In justifying the framework, the distinctive characteristics of the SST context were considered, including the requirement of consumer co-production that is independent of service personnel, a lack of interpersonal interaction with service personnel, and consumers being obliged to interface and interact with technology (Robertson and Shaw, 2009). When studying SSTs, it is important to distinguish meaningfully between their types (Meuter et al., 2000). In terms of categorising SSTs, two key classification schemes can be drawn. The most cited classification scheme is that proposed by Dabholkar (1994). Her classification scheme considers the following variables: (i) who delivers the service (degree and level of consumer participation); (ii) where the service is delivered (location of the SST, i.e. remote, such as IVR or onsite, such as kiosks); and (iii) how the service is delivered (technology type, i.e. Internet and non-Internet, such as kiosks and IVR). More recently, Meuter et al. (2000) proposed a similar classification of SSTs. As per Dabholkar’s (1994) scheme, they included the different types of technologies that organisations use to interface with consumers (i.e.,  Internet and non-Internet) and the purpose of the technology from the viewpoint of consumers, that is, what consumers accomplish from using the technology (i.e., transactions and/or customer service).

Assembler, compiler and interpreter

Assembler, compiler and interpreter Assembler 1. An assembler is not equivalent to an interpreter, or compiler, assembly language is a low level language. 2. An assembler is one form of program translation. This is one relationship between assembler, compiler and interpreter. Each assembly language statement directly corresponds to one machine instruction. 3. The Assembler changes Assembly instructions into machine language, whereas a Compiler runs a higher level programming language instructions into Assembly instructions and then those are converted into executable machine language. 4. Accumulated programming languages normally generate lots of lines of Assembly instructions for each program report. 5. An assembler creates object code by changing symbols or substitute names into machine code.One could conclude that Assembly language is not a programming language at all, just guilty by association. Assembly language is nothing more than a shorthand system of writing, machine language, programs using symbols that friendless personality lacking, knuckle dragging WOW players, otherwise known as programmers, can understand. Compiler 1. A compiler converts an entire program written in source code and translates it into object code. 2. A second relationship is that the compiler and interpreter both process source code. 3. A compiler translates source code from a high-level programming language to assembly language/ machine code. A compiler works with what is called higher-levellanguages3rd generation languages, such as Java and C. Typically a person writes source code using an editor in a language such as C, Pascal or C++. The programmer then selects the appropriate compiler for the source code. Interpreter 1. Another relationship is that the interpreter is the step by step version of a compiler. Obviously this takes a lot of time and resources compared to previously compiled program. 2. An interpreter doesnt have to examine the entire program before it can begin executing code. 3. An interpreter is a computer program that takes source code and processes one line at a time. Interpreters translate code one line at time, executing each line as it is translated, Interpreters do generate binary code, but that code is never compiled into one program. Instead, the binary code is interpreted every time the program executes. Nonprocedural Language or Declarative language 1. Non procedural languages say what conditions the answer should match but not how to satisfy them. 2. With nonprocedural language you are stuck with whatever options the program allows 3. A Nonprocedural language example is Excels style of programming. Considered a 4th generation language also called declarative language. Structured Software 1. Structured software is for the most part fitting for applications that have many independent functions that do not correlate to a great extent. 2. This technique is not very fitting where data is going to change as opposed to the function 3. Structured programming is primarily a way of breaking a problem into routines. It gives emphasis to functionality without stressing the data. The most likely application is for problems where significant functionality is probably going to change rather than the data. At the point at which you have recognized the object boundary and you start writing the code to support them within the sections; it is common to change to a structured design. Structured software may fail on projects with 100,000 lines of source code or more. Object-Oriented Software 1. Object-oriented software makes it easier to develop, debug, reuse, and maintain software than is possible with other programming languages. 2. Object orientation takes the concepts of structured programming and puts it in 4-wheel drive. Object oriented software is equivalent to combining the usability of the fork and the food moving abilities of the spoon and comes up with a Spork. 3. object-oriented software is a computer program using object-oriented programming that revolves around the concept of an object. Object-oriented languages make it easier to reuse, and maintain software than is possible with other languages. Now, instead of data structures and separate program structures, both data and program elements are combined into one structure called an object. The object data essentials are called attributes, while the object program essentials are called methods. Together, attributes and methods are called the objects members. Usually, an objects methods are the only programs able to operate on the objects attributes. The easiest way to understand this is an analogy. Pretend you are building a house. With earlier generation programming, each and every component was written and designed for an exact function or result. This would be the same as making kitchen cabinets out of the lumber at the house piece by piece. Every house you built would require making cabinets at the location, out of the lumber that was supplied for the house. The sanity saving technique of object-oriented programming follows the logic of making a kitchen cabinet as a module. In programming terms, these cabinet modules are objects. This type of programming makes the effort much more efficient by allowing instructions from one program to be integrated into another. If for example a circle needs drawn on the screen you can use a circle object from another program. If the circle needs to be modified then a small amount of programming may be needed, but you no longer have to build it from scratch.

Sigma Nu Essay -- Fraternities College Essays

Sigma Nu There are many advantages of joining an NAU organization as I have learned through Sigma Nu. There are many complicated issues and opportunities presented to people everyday. Some are more severe than others, but they all come down to a sense of commitment and desire. Just recently, I had the honor of dealing with headaches and alternating views as I was introduced to Greek Fraternal Life. I had looked into Fraternities in the past, but never pursued any group due to uncertainty. Because I was ignorant about the Greek system prior to attending N.A.U., my curiosity, first semester, allowed me to get a better understanding of it. With more knowledge and comprehension I decided to further look into becoming a member of the Sigma Nu Fraternity. The process of becoming a member is much harder than people would think, myself included until I experienced it first hand. Meeting people during rush week is easy, as you are respectfully invited to activities and dinners. Each group tries to persuade you to join their Fraternity by telling how great their organization is. Whether it is done by their involvement in philanthropy events, leadership learning, community service or party life they all have something different to offer. That’s where the process becomes more difficult as you try to find the one that best fits your ideals. Do you want to party all the time or do you want to get something out of it and what is it that you want to ge...

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Debate :: essays research papers

For many years schools have banned books from being taught to their students because of parent complaints. These books have been shunned from the criteria, which may or may not affect the student’s understanding on a specific subject. People have been fighting to have these books banned because of excessive use of profanity, violence, sex, drugs and many other reasons. They do not look further in the books to see exactly what the author is trying to portray. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is banned in various places in the United States. This book should not be banned because, this book shows an important part in our history, it is not pro-racism, and it shows how far along we have come since then.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is very important to the American culture. When Mark Twain was around, the use of the word â€Å"nigger† was quite common. That was how they referred to African Americans in that time. In the book, Twain makes Pap look like the worst possible white trash where as Huck and Jim, the slave, get closer throughout the book. The book shows how people felt towards African Americans back in the day and how it was wrong. They considered them as â€Å"inhuman.† In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, Aunt Sally seems to be a nice person, but when the little black boy was killed she does not care since â€Å"no human was hurt.† This shows how far along we have come since this time period. Huck plays three jokes on Jim, but in the end begs for his forgiveness because he felt he had done something indeed quite wrong. This shows that not all Southerners in the day were â€Å"racist.† Mark Twain makes fun of how many people in the South were wrong to think badly towards the African Americans. This book is a very good book to get an understanding of how things were wrong back then and how far we have come since then.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room Essay

The Enron scandal, revealed in October 2001, eventually led to the bankruptcy of the Enron Corporation, an American energy company based in Houston, Texas, and the de facto dissolution of Arthur Andersen, which was one of the five largest audit and accountancy partnerships in the world. In addition to being the largest bankruptcy reorganization in American history at that time, Enron was attributed as the biggest audit failure. Enron was formed in 1985 by Kenneth Lay after merging Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth. Several years later, when Jeffrey Skilling was hired, he developed a staff of executives that, by the use of accounting loopholes, special purpose entities, and poor financial reporting, were able to hide billions of dollars in debt from failed deals and projects. Chief Financial Officer Andre Fastow and other executives not only misled Enron’s board of directors and audit committee on high-risk accounting practices, but also pressured Andersen to ignore the issues . Enron shareholders filed a $40 billion lawsuit after the company’s stock price, which achieved a high of US$90.75 per share in mid-2000, plummeted to less than $1 by the end of November 2001. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began an investigation, and rival Houston competitor Dynegy offered to purchase the company at a very low price. The deal failed, and on December 2, 2001, Enron filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. Enron’s $63.4 billion in assets made it the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history until WorldCom’s bankruptcy the next year. Many executives at Enron were indicted for a variety of charges and were later sentenced to prison. Enron’s auditor, Arthur Andersen, was found guilty in a United States District Court, but by the time the ruling was overturned at the U.S. Supreme Court, the company had lost the majority of its customers and had closed. Employees and shareholders received l imited returns in lawsuits, despite losing billions in pensions and stock prices. As a consequence of the scandal, new regulations and legislation were enacted to expand the accuracy of financial reporting for public companies. One piece of legislation, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, increased penalties for destroying, altering, or fabricating records in federal investigations or for attempting to defraud shareholders. The act also increased the accountability of auditing firms to remain unbiased and independent of their clients. Rise of  Enron In 1985, Kenneth Lay merged the natural gas pipeline companies of Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth to form Enron. In the early 1990s, he helped to initiate the selling of electricity at market prices and, soon after, the United States Congress approved legislation deregulating the sale of natural gas. The resulting markets made it possible for traders such as Enron to sell energy at higher prices, thereby significantly increasing its revenue. After producers and local governments decried the resultant price volatility and asked for increased regulation, strong lobbying on the part of Enron and others allowed for the proliferation of crony capitalism. As Enron became the largest seller of natural gas in North America by 1992, its gas contracts trading earned earnings before interest and taxes of $122 million, the second largest contributor to the company’s net income. The November 1999 creation of the EnronOnline trading website allowed the company to better manage its contra cts trading business. In an attempt to achieve further growth, Enron pursued a diversification strategy. The company owned and operated a variety of assets including gas pipelines, electricity plants, pulp and paper plants, water plants, and broadband services across the globe. The corporation also gained additional revenue by trading contracts for the same array of products and services with which it was involved. Enron’s stock increased from the start of the 1990s until year-end 1998 by 311% percent, only modestly higher than the average rate of growth in the Standard & Poor 500 index. However, the stock increased by 56% in 1999 and a further 87% in 2000, compared to a 20% increase and a 10% decrease for the index during the same years. By December 31, 2000, Enron’s stock was priced at $83.13 and its market capitalization exceeded $60 billion, 70 times earnings and six times book value, an indication of the stock market’s high expectations about its future prospects. In addition, Enron was rated the most innovative large company in America in Fortune’s Most Admired Companies survey. Causes of downfall Enron’s complex financial statements were confusing to shareholders and analysts. In addition, its complex business model and unethical practices required that the company use accounting limitations to misrepresent  earnings and modify the balance sheet to indicate favorable performance. The combination of these issues later resulted in the bankruptcy of the company, and the majority of them were perpetuated by the indirect knowledge or direct actions of Lay,Jeffrey Skilling, Andrew Fastow, and other executives. Lay served as the chairman of the company in its last few years, and approved of the actions of Skilling and Fastow although he did not always inquire about the details. Skilling constantly focused on meeting Wall Street expectations, advocated the use of mark-to-market accounting (accounting based on market value, which was then inflated) and pressured Enron executives to find new ways to hide its debt. Fastow and other executives â€Å"†¦created off-balance-s heet vehicles, complex financing structures, and deals so bewildering that few people could understand them.† Revenue recognition Main article: Revenue recognition Enron and other energy suppliers earned profits by providing services such as wholesale trading and risk management in addition to building and maintaining electric power plants, natural gas pipelines, storage, and processing facilities. When accepting the risk of buying and selling products, merchants are allowed to report the selling price as revenues and the products’ costs as cost of goods sold. In contrast, an â€Å"agent† provides a service to the customer, but does not take the same risks as merchants for buying and selling. Service providers, when classified as agents, are able to report trading and brokerage fees as revenue, although not for the full value of the transaction. Although trading companies such as Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch used the conventional â€Å"agent model† for reporting revenue (where only the trading or brokerage fee would be reported as revenue), Enron instead elected to report the entire value of each of its trades as revenue . This â€Å"merchant model† was considered much more aggressive in the accounting interpretation than the agent model. Enron’s method of reporting inflated trading revenue was later adopted by other companies in the energy trading industry in an attempt to stay competitive with the company’s large increase in revenue. Other energy companies such as Duke Energy, Reliant Energy, and Dynegy joined Enron in the wealthiest 50 of the Fortune 500 mainly due to their adoption of the same trading revenue  accounting as Enron. Between 1996 and 2000, Enron’s revenues increased by more than 750%, rising from $13.3 billion in 1996 to $100.8 billion in 2000. This extensive expansion of 65% per year was unprecedented in any industry, including the energy industry which typically considered growth of 2–3% per year to be respectable. For just the first nine months of 2001, Enron reported $138.7 billion in revenues, which placed the company at the sixth position on the Fortune Global 500. Mark-to-market accounting Main article: Mark-to-market accounting In Enron’s natural gas business, the accounting had been fairly straightforward: in each time period, the company listed actual costs of supplying the gas and actual revenues received from selling it. However, when Skilling joined the company, he demanded that the trading business adopt mark-to-market accounting, citing that it would represent â€Å"†¦ true economic value.† Enron became the first non-financial company to use the method to account for its complex long-term contracts. The mark-to-market method requires estimations of future incomes when a long-term contract is signed. These estimations are based on the future net value of the cash flow, costs related to the contract were often hard to predict. Often, the viability of these contracts and their related costs were difficult to estimate. Due to the large discrepancies of attempting to match profits and cash, investors were typically given false or misleading reports. While using the method, income from p rojects could be recorded, although they might not have ever received the money, and in turn increasing financial earnings on the books. However, in future years, the profits could not be included, so new and additional income had to be included from more projects to develop additional growth to appease investors. As one Enron competitor stated, â€Å"If you accelerate your income, then you have to keep doing more and more deals to show the same or rising income.† Despite potential pitfalls, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the accounting method for Enron in its trading of natural gas futures contracts on January 30, 1992. However, Enron later expanded its use to other areas in the company to help it meet Wall Street projections. For one contract, in July 2000, Enron and Blockbuster Video signed a 20-year agreement to introduce on-demand entertainment to various U.S. cities by year-end. After several  pilot projects, Enron recognized estimated profits of more than $110 million from the deal, even though analysts questioned the technical viability and market demand of the service. Whe n the network failed to work, Blockbuster withdrew from the contract. Enron continued to recognize future profits, even though the deal resulted in a loss. Special purpose entities Main article: Special purpose entity Enron used special purpose entities—limited partnerships or companies created to fulfill a temporary or specific purpose—to fund or manage risks associated with specific assets. The company elected to disclose minimal details on its use of â€Å"special purpose entities†. These â€Å"shell firms† were created by a sponsor, but funded by independent equity investors and debt financing. For financial reporting purposes, a series of rules dictates whether a special purpose entity is a separate entity from the sponsor. In total, by 2001, Enron had used hundreds of special purpose entities to hide its debt. Enron used a number of special purpose entities, such as partnerships in its Thomas and Condor tax shelters, financial asset securitization investment trusts (FASITs) in the Apache deal, real estate mortgage investment conduits (REMICs) in the Steele deal, and REMICs and real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the Cochise deal. The special purpose entities were used for more than just circumventing accounting conventions. As a result of one violation, Enron’s balance sheet understated its liabilities and overstated its equity, and its earnings were overstated. Enron disclosed to its shareholders that it had hedged downside risk in its own illiquid investments using special purpose entities. However, the investors were oblivious to the fact that the special purpose entities were actually using the company’s own stock and financial guarantees to finance these hedges. This prevented Enron from being protected from the downside risk. Notable examples of special purpose entities that Enron employed were JEDI, Chewco, Whitewing, and LJM. Executive compensation Although Enron’s compensation and performance management system was designed to retain and reward its most valuable employees, the system contributed to a dysfunctional corporate culture that became obsessed with short-term  earnings to maximize bonuses. Employees constantly tried to start deals, often disregarding the quality of cash flow or profits, in order to get a better rating for their performance review. Additionally, accounting results were recorded as soon as possible to keep up with the company’s stock price. This practice helped ensure deal-makers and executives received large cash bonuses and stock options. The company’s main focus was its stock price. Management was compensated extensively using stock options, similar to other U.S. companies. This policy of stock option awards caused management to create expectations of intense growth in efforts to give the appearance of reported earnings to meet Wall Street’s expectations. The stock ticker was located all throughout the company buildings, including the lobbies, elevators, and computers. At budget meetings, Skilling would develop target earnings by asking â€Å"What earnings do you need to keep our stock price up?† and that number would be used, even if it was not feasible. At December 31, 2000, Enron had 96 million shares outstanding as stock option plans(approximately 13% of common shares outstanding). Enron’s proxy statement stated that, within three years, these awards were expected to be exercised. Using Enron’s January 2001 stock price of $83.13 and the directors’ beneficial ownership reported in the 2001 proxy, the value of director stock ownership was $659 million for Lay, and $174 million for Skilling. Skilling believed that if employees were constantly worried about cost, it would hinder original thinking. As a result, extravagant spending was rampant throughout the company, especially among the executives. Employees had large expense accounts and many executives were paid sometimes twice as much as competitors. In 1998, the top 200 highest-paid employees received $193 million from salaries, bonuses, and stock. Two years later, the figure jumped to $1.4 billion. Timeline of downfall â€Å"At the beginning of 2001, the Enron Corporation, the world’s dominant energy trader, appeared unstoppable. The company’s decade-long effort to persuade lawmakers to deregulate electricity markets had succeeded from California to New York. Its ties to the Bush administration assured that its views would be heard in Washington. Its sales, profits and stock were soaring.† A. Berenson and R. A. Oppel, Jr. The New York Times, Oct 28, 2001. In February 2001, Chief Accounting Officer Rick Causey told budget managers: â€Å"From an  accounting standpoint, this will be our easiest year ever. We’ve got 2001 in the bag.† On March 5, Bethany McLean’sFortune article Is Enron Overpriced? questioned how Enron could maintain its high stock value, which was trading at 55 times its earnings. She argued that analysts and investors did not know exactly how Enron was earning its income. McLean was first drawn to the company’s situation after an ana lyst suggested she view the company’s 10-K report, where she found â€Å"strange transactions†, â€Å"erratic cash flow†, and â€Å"huge debt.† She telephoned Skilling to discuss her findings prior to publishing the article, but he called her â€Å"unethical† for not properly researching the company. Fastow cited two Fortune reporters that Enron could not reveal earnings details as the company had more than 1,200 trading books for assorted commodities and did â€Å"†¦ not want anyone to know what’s on those books. We don’t want to tell anyone where we’re making money.† In a conference call on April 17, 2001, then-Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Skilling verbally attacked Wall Street analyst Richard Grubman, who questioned Enron’s unusual accounting practice during a recorded conference call. When Grubman complained that Enron was the only company that could not release a balance sheet along with its earnings statements, Skilling replied â€Å"Well, thank you very much, we appreciate that †¦ asshole.† This became an inside joke among many Enron employees, mocking Grubman for his perceived meddling rather than Skilling’s offensiveness, with slogans such as â€Å"Ask Why, Asshole†, a variation on Enron’s official slogan â€Å"Ask why†. However, Skilling’s comment was met with dismay and astonishment by press and public, as he had previously disdained criticism of Enron coolly or humorously. By the late 1990s Enron’s stock was trading for $80–90 per share, and few seemed to concern themselves with the opacity of the company’s financial disclosures. In mid-July 2001, Enron reported revenues of $50.1 billion, almost triple year-to-date, and beating analysts’ estimates by 3 cents a share. Despite this, Enron’s profit margin had stayed at a modest average of about 2.1%, and its share price had decreased by more than 30% since the same quarter of 2000. As time passed, a number of serious concerns confronted the company. Enron had recently faced several serious operational challenges, namely logistical difficulties in operating a new broadband communications trading unit, and the losses from constructing the Dabhol Power project, a large power plant in India. There  was also increasing criticism of the company for the role that its subsidiary Enron Energy Services had in the California electricity crisis of 2000-2001. â€Å"There are no accounting issues, no trading issues, no reserve issues, no previously unknown problem issues. I think I can honestly say that the company is probably in the strongest and best shape that it has probably ever been in.† (Kenneth Lay answering an analyst’s question on August 14, 2001.) On August 14, Skilling announced he was resigning his position as CEO after only six months. Skilling had long served as president and COO before being promoted to CEO. Skilling cited personal reasons for leaving the company. Observers noted that in the months before his exit, Skilling had sold at minimum 450,000 shares of Enron at a value of around $33 million (though he still owned over a million shares at the date of his departure). Nevertheless, Lay, who was serving as chairman at Enron, assured surprised m arket watchers that there would be â€Å"no change in the performance or outlook of the company going forward† from Skilling’s departure. Lay announced he himself would re-assume the position of chief executive officer. Investors’ confidence declines Something is rotten with the state of Enron. —The New York Times, Sept 9, 2001. By the end of August 2001, his company’s stock value still falling, Lay named Greg Whalley, president and COO of Enron Wholesale Services and Mark Frevert, to positions in the chairman’s office. Some observers suggested that Enron’s investors were in significant need of reassurance, not only because the company’s business was difficult to understand (even â€Å"indecipherable†) but also because it was difficult to properly describe the company in financial statements. One analyst stated â€Å"it’s really hard for analysts to determine where [Enron] are making money in a given quarter and where they are losing money.† Lay accepted that Enron’s business was very complex, but asserted that analysts would â€Å"never get all the information they want† to satisfy their curiosity. He also explained that the complexity of the business was due largely to tax strategies and position-hedging. Lay’s efforts seemed to meet wit h limited success; by September 9, one prominent hedge fund manager noted that â€Å"[Enron] stock is trading under a cloud.† The sudden departure of Skilling combined with  the opacity of Enron’s accounting books made proper assessment difficult for Wall Street. In addition, the company admitted to repeatedly using â€Å"related-party transactions,† which some feared could be too-easily used to transfer losses that might otherwise appear on Enron’s own balance sheet. A particularly troubling aspect of this technique was that several of the â€Å"related-party† entities had been or were being controlled by CFO Fastow. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, media attention shifted away from the company and its troubles; a little less than a month later Enron announced its intention to begin the process of selling its lower-margin assets in favor of its core businesses of gas and electricity trading. This policy included selling Portland General Electric to another Oregon utility, Northwest Natural Gas, for about $1.9 billion in cash and stock, and possibly selling its 65% stake i n the Dabhol project in India. Restructuring losses and SEC investigation On October 16, 2001, Enron announced that restatements to its financial statements for years 1997 to 2000 were necessary to correct accounting violations. The restatements for the period reduced earnings by $613 million (or 23% of reported profits during the period), increased liabilities at the end of 2000 by $628 million (6% of reported liabilities and 5.5% of reported equity), and reduced equity at the end of 2000 by $1.2 billion (10% of reported equity). Additionally, in January Jeff Skilling had asserted that the broadband unit alone was worth $35 billion, a claim also mistrusted. An analyst at Standard & Poor’s said â€Å"I don’t think anyone knows what the broadband operation is worth.† Enron’s management team claimed the losses were mostly due to investment losses, along with charges such as about $180 million in money spent restructuring the company’s troubled broadband trading unit. In a statement, Lay revealed, â€Å"After a thorough review of our businesses, we have decided to take these charges to clear away issues that have clouded the performance and earnings potential of our core energy businesses.† Some analysts were unnerved. David Fleischer at Goldman Sachs, an analyst termed previously ‘one of the company’s strongest supporters’ asserted that the Enron management â€Å"†¦ lost credibility and have to reprove themselves. They need to convince investors these earnings are real, that the company is for real and that growth will be realized.† Fastow disclosed  to Enron’s board of directors on October 22 that he earned $30 million from compensation arrangements when managing the LJM limited partnerships. That day, the share price of Enron decreased to $20.65, down $5.40 in one day, after the announcement by the SEC that it was investigating the various suspicious activities of Enron, characterizing them as â€Å"some of the most opaque transactions with insiders ever seen† Attempting to explain the billion-dollar charge and calm investors, Enron’s disclosures spoke of â€Å"share settled costless collar arrangements,† â€Å"derivative instruments which eliminated the contingent nature of existing restricted forward contracts,† and strategies that served â€Å"to hedge certain merchant investments and other assets.† Such puzzling phraseology left many analysts feeling ignorant about just how Enron managed its business. Regarding the SEC investigation, chairman and CEO Lay said, â€Å"We will cooperate fully with the S.E.C. and look forward to the opportunity to put any concern about these transactions to rest.† Two days later, on October 25, d espite his reassurances days earlier, Lay dismissed Fastow from his position, citing â€Å"In my continued discussions with the financial community, it became clear to me that restoring investor confidence would require us to replace Andy as CFO.† However, with Skilling and Fastow now both departed, some analysts feared that revealing the company’s practices would be made all the more difficult. Enron’s stock was now trading at $16.41, having lost half its value in a little more than a week. On October 27 the company began buying back all its commercial paper, valued at around $3.3 billion, in an effort to calm investor fears about Enron’s supply of cash. Enron financed the re-purchase by depleting its lines of credit at several banks. While the company’s debt rating was still considered investment-grade, its bonds were trading at levels slightly less, making future sales problematic. As the month came to a close, serious concerns were being raised by some observers regarding Enron’s possible manipulation of accepted accounting rules; however, analysis was claimed to be impossible based on the incomplete information provided by Enron. Industry analysts feared that Enron was the new Long-Term Capital Management, the hedge fund whose bankruptcy in 1998 threatened systemic failure of the international financial markets. Enron’s tremendous presence worried some about the consequences of the company’s possible bankruptcy. Enron executives accepted questions in written form only. Proposed buyout by Dynegy Sources claimed that Enron was planning to explain its business practices more fully within the coming days, as a confidence-building gesture. Enron’s stock was now trading at around $7, as investors worried that the company would not be able to find a buyer. After it received a wide spectrum of rejections, Enron management apparently found a buyer when the board of Dynegy, another energy trader based in Houston, voted late at night on November 7 to acquire Enron at a very low price of about $8 billion in stock. Chevron Texaco, which at the time owned about a quarter of Dynegy, agreed to provide Enron with $2.5 billion in cash, specifically $1 billion at first and the rest when the deal was completed. Dynegy would also be required to assume nearly $13 billion of debt, plus any other debt hitherto occluded by the Enron management’s secretive business practices, possibly as much as $10 billion in â€Å"hidden† debt. Dynegy and Enron confirmed their deal on November 8, 2001. Commentators remarked on the different corporate cultures between Dynegy and Enron, and on the â€Å"straight-talking† personality of the CEO of Dynegy, Charles Watson. Some wondered if Enron’s troubles had not simply been the result of innocent accounting errors. By November, Enron was asserting that the billion-plus â€Å"one-time charges† disclosed in October should in reality have been $200 million, with the rest of the amount simply corrections of dormant accounting mistakes. Many feared other â€Å"mistakes† and restatements might yet be revealed. Another major correction of Enron’s earnings was announced on November 9, with a reduction of $591 million of the stated revenue of years 1997–2000. The charges were said to come largely from two special purpose partnerships (JEDI and Chewco). The corrections resulted in the virtual elimination of profit for fiscal year 1997, with significant reductions for the other years. Despite this disclosure, Dynegy declared it still intended to purchase Enron. Both companies were said to be anxious to receive an official assessment of the proposed sale from Moody’s and S&P presumably to understand the effect the completion of any buyout transaction would have on Dynegy and Enron’s credit rating. In addition, concerns were raised regarding antitrust regulatory restrictions resulting in possible divestiture, along with what to some observers were the radically different corporate cultures of Enron and Dynegy. Both companies  promoted the deal aggressively, and some observers were hopeful; Watson was praised for attempting to create the largest company on the energy market. At the time, Watson said â€Å"We feel [Enron] is a very solid company with plenty of capacity to withstand whatever happens the next few months.† One analyst called the deal â€Å"a whopper [†¦] a very good deal financially, certainly should be a good deal strategically, and provides some immediate balance-sheet backstop for Enron.† Credit issues were becoming more critical, however. Around the time the buyout was made public, Moody’s and S&P both reduced Enron’s rating to just one notch above junk status. Were the company’s rating to fall below investment-grade, its ability to trade would be severely limited if there was a reduction or elimination of its credit lines with competitors. In a conference call, S&P affirmed that, were Enron not to be bought, S&P would reduce its ra ting to low BB or high B, ratings noted as being within junk status. Additionally, many traders had limited their involvement with Enron, or stopped doing business altogether, fearing more bad news. Watson again attempted to re-assure, attesting at a presentation to investors that there was â€Å"nothing wrong with Enron’s business†. He also acknowledged that remunerative steps (in the form of more stock options) would have to be taken to redress the animosity of many Enron employees for management after it was revealed that Lay and other officials had sold hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of stock during the months prior to the crisis. The situation was not helped by the disclosure that Lay, his â€Å"reputation in tatters†, stood to receive a payment of $60 million as a change-of-control fee subsequent to the Dynegy acquisition, while many Enron employees had seen their retirement accounts, which were based largely on Enron stock, decimated as the price decreased 90% in a year. An official at a company owned by Enron stated â€Å"We had some married couples who both worked who lost as much as $800,000 or $900,000. It pretty much wiped out every employee’s savings plan.† Watson assured investors that the true nature of Enron’s business had been made apparent to him: †Å"We have comfort there is not another shoe to drop. If there is no shoe, this is a phenomenally good transaction.† Watson further asserted that Enron’s energy trading part alone was worth the price Dynegy was paying for the whole company. By mid-November, Enron announced it was planning to sell about $8 billion worth of underperforming assets, along with a general plan to reduce  its scale for the sake of financial stability. On November 19 Enron disclosed to the public further evidence of its critical state of affairs. Most pressingly that the company had debt repayment obligations in the range of $9 billion by the end of 2002. Such debts were â€Å"vastly in excess† of its available cash. Also, the success of measures to preserve its solvency were not guaranteed, specifically as regarded asset sales and debt refinancing. In a statement, Enron revealed â€Å"An adverse outcome with respect to any of these matters would likely have a material adverse impact on Enron’s ability to continue as a going concern.† Two days later, on November 21, Wall Street expressed serious doubts that Dynegy would proceed with its deal at all, or would seek to radically renegotiate. Furthermore Enron revealed in a 10-Q filing that almost all the money it had recently borrowed for purposes including buying its commercial paper, or about $5 billion, had been exhausted in just 50 days. Analysts were unnerved at the revelation, especially since Dynegy was reported to have also been unaware of Enron’s rate of cash use. In order to end the proposed buyout, Dynegy would need to legally demonstrate a â€Å"material change† in the circumstances of the transaction; as late as November 22, sources close to Dynegy were skeptical that the latest revelations constituted sufficient grounds. The SEC announced it had filed civil fraud complaints against Andersen. A few days later, sources claimed Enron and Dynegy were renegotiating the terms of their arrangement. Dynegy now demanded Enron agree to be bought for $4 billion rather than the previous $8 billion. Observers were reporting difficulties in ascertaining which of Enron’s operations, if any, were profi table. Reports described an en masse shift of business to Enron’s competitors for the sake of risk exposure reduction. Bankruptcy Enron’s stock price (former NYSE ticker symbol: ENE) from August 23, 2000 ($90) to January 11, 2002 ($0.12). As a result of the decrease of the stock price, shareholders lost nearly $11 billion. On November 28, 2001, Enron’s two worst-possible outcomes came true: Dynegy Inc. unilaterally disengaged from the proposed acquisition of the company, and Enron’s credit rating was reduced to junk status. Watson later said â€Å"At the end, you couldn’t give it [Enron] to me.† The company had very little cash with which to operate, let alone satisfy enormous debts. Its stock price fell to $0.61 at the end of  the day’s trading. One editorial observer wrote that â€Å"Enron is now shorthand for the perfect financial storm.† Systemic consequences were felt, as Enron’s creditors and other energy trading companies suffered the loss of several percentage points. Some analysts felt Enron’s failure indicated the risks of the postâ€⠀œSeptember 11 economy, and encouraged traders to lock in profits where they could. The question now became how to determine the total exposure of the markets and other traders to Enron’s failure. Early calculations estimated $18.7 billion. One adviser stated, â€Å"We don’t really know who is out there exposed to Enron’s credit. I’m telling my clients to prepare for the worst.† Enron was estimated to have about $23 billion in liabilities from both debt outstanding and guaranteed loans. Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase in particular appeared to have significant amounts to lose with Enron’s bankruptcy. Additionally, many of Enron’s major assets were pledged to lenders in order to secure loans, causing doubt about what if anything unsecured creditors and eventually stockholders might receive in bankruptcy proceedings. Enron’s European operations filed for bankruptcy on November 30, 2001, and it sought Chapter 11 protection two days later on December 2. It was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history (before being surpassed by WorldCom’s bankruptcy the next year), and resulted in 4,000 lost jobs. The day that Enron filed for bankruptcy, the employees were told to pack their belongings and were given 30 minutes to vacate the building. Nearly 62% of 15,000 employees’ savings plans relied on Enron stock that was purchased at $83 in early 2001 and was now practically worthless. In its accounting work for Enron, Andersen had been sloppy and weak. But that’s how Enron had always wanted it. In truth, even as they angrily pointed fingers, the two deserved each other. Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind in The Smartest Guys in the Room. On January 17, 2002 Enron dismissed Arthur Andersen as its auditor, citing its accounting advice and the destruction of documents. Andersen countered that it had already ended its relationship with the company when Enron became bankrupt.

Outline and evaluate the learning theory of attachment Essay

The learning theory of attachment focuses of two concepts; operant and classical conditioning. Classical conditioning as an explanation for attachment describes the baby receiving food (and unconditioned stimulus) and producing an unconditioned response (happiness) and the mother feeding the baby will be the neutral stimulus. The baby will then experience the mother giving them food (and therefore happiness) a number of times and then learn to associate the mother (now a conditioned stimulus) with the feeling of happiness (a conditioned response) and thus an attachment will form. Operant conditioning describes attachment as a reinforced response. When a baby gets food it’s discomfort will become happiness and the baby will associate this feeling with food and therefore food will become the primary reinforcer. The person feeding the baby will also be associated with the happiness and therefore become the secondary reinforcer and an attachment will form. (evaluate) Even though the learning theory of attachment provides an adequate explanation of attachment it is flawed. Research evidence, such as that of Harlow’s monkey study, opposes the idea of learning theory as an explanation of attachment. Harlow’s monkey study involved giving a baby monkey the choice of either food or comfort (food was portrayed by a wire ‘monkey’ with a feeding bottle attached to it and comfort was portrayed by a wire ‘monkey’ covered in cloth). According to the learning theory of attachment the monkey should have spent most of his time on the food ‘monkey, however the opposite was true – the monkey spent the majority of his time on the comfort ‘monkey’. This decreases the validity of the learning theory of attachment as an explanation for attachment because the findings of Harlow’s monkey study opposed what it suggested. However, the monkey study was conducted on monkeys and it could be argued that this is not an accurate representation of human attachment. Humans are a lot more complex than animals and so therefore research on animals to study behaviour cannot be applied to human behaviour. Outline and evaluate the learning theory of attachment (12 marks) A GRADE (outline)

Power of Active Directory in Windows Server 2003 Essay

In order to understand the concept of active directory first lets take a look at directory service. Directory Service is a service which stores information of using and managing different objects of network at a centralized point. Those objects include printing servers, file servers, printers; fax servers etc . The directory service stores all of the information regarding the resources and at the same time provides mechanism of easy access to the resources’ information for the users. Active directory is also a directory service in windows server 2003 which stores information about the netwrok resources and about the services that make this information available to the users. Now let’s look at the power and key features of active directory in windows server 2003:  ·Multiple selections of directory objects: We can change the common attributes of many users at the one time.  ·Drag-and-drop functionality: You just need to drag and drop the directory objects from one container to another in order to move them  ·Efficient search capabilities: The object oriented searching facility provides efficient search minimizing the traffic on the network.  ·Saved queries: The active directory queries can be saved, exported, reopened and refreshed, and the results of the attributed queries can also be exported.  ·Active Directory command-line tools: A number of command line tools are available to manage the active directory. Those tools are Ntdsutil, Dsget, Dsrm, Dsmod, Csvde, Dsadd, Dsquery, Dsmove and Ldifde.  · Domain functional levels :Active directory’s domain wide features in your network can be enable using domain functional levels.  ·Forest functional levels: The Active directory’s forest wide features in your network can also be now enabled using forest functional levels.  ·Secure All Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) traffic:   All Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) traffic is signed and encrypted by Active directory’s administrative tools, by default. It ensures that the data is not corrupted and that it is coming from the known source.  ·Active directory quota: With Active directory quota, the ownership of objects by a user, computer or group can be limited by assigning quotas.  ·New Group Policy settings: more than 200 group policy setting are included in windows server 2003‘s active directory.  ·New Resultant Set Of Policy (RSoP) Wizard is included which enables you to check the policies assigned to a specific user or computer.  ·Folder redirection is also made very easy.  ·Advanced options for software installation are available, which makes installation process easy and administration effective.  ·InetOrgPerson class has been added to enhance the security and it can be used in the same way as the user class is used.  ·Cross forest support is also provided.  ·The Software Restriction Policies that are included can identify unwanted or hostile soft wares and hence will not let them execute on the computer. But this requires that the system is either being run on Microsoft Windows XP Professional or on a family member of Windows Server 2003.  ·Domain controller renaming: The domain controllers, without demoting, can now be renamed with the active directory of windows server 2003.As well as the domain name can now also be renamed with this.  ·In the domain hierarchy, the domains can be moved from one location to another.  ·The two way transitivity can now be extended by creating forest trust.  ·The users’ access of one domain or forest can be allowed, disallowed or given selective access to another domain of forest.  ·Unnecessary objects of the schema can be deactivated  ·In order to link the auxiliary classes to the objects on dynamic bases, extra support is provided.  ·When the partial attribution set is extended , the resulted administrative actions take place; at that time the Tuning global catalog replication is available for preserving global catalog’s state of synchronization All in all the active directory of Windows server 2003 provides a lot of additional features which to facilitate the management, administration and usage of resources in the network. The security additions are also very remarkable and a lot of flexibility is given to the administrator to check and configure different parameters of the network. Other than this some work has also to improve the responsiveness of the network and to cater with the network traffic. Flexibility for moving objects and domains, and for renaming them is also made easy .And with the new policies introduced the access of a user from one domain of forest to another can also be a controlled effectively. Providing these all functionalities and flexibilities to the networks administrators and mangers make their tasks of access controls, security, managing of objects etc very easy. References Spealman, Jill, & Hudson, Kurt (2004). Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure. Redmond ,Washington: Microsoft Press. Jones, Don (2003). Windows Server 2003 Weekend Crash course. NewYork: Wiley Publishing Inc..

Identity Thesis Essay

Over the course of history, different theories have been formulated to help explain the complex relationship between the mind and the body. One of the theories elucidating the mind-body relation is dualism—the view that mental states are independent from physical states. Mental states are ones of thinking, feeling, and believing whereas physical states are those outlined by physical and biological sciences. In contrast to dualism, physicalism insists that mental states are somehow physical states. The most straightforward version of physicalism is the identity thesis—the theory that every type of mental state is identical to some type of physical state (Reasons and Responsibility, 285-286). Dualists and physicalists have disputed over the validity of the identity thesis; dualists denying its claim and physicalists defending it. The biggest problem facing physicalists and the identity thesis is the concept of qualia, the phenomenal quality of a mental state (Reasons and Responsibility, 281). Philosopher Frank Jackson offers what he calls the â€Å"Knowledge Argument† for qualia. Jackson’s knowledge argument presents that nonphysical facts can be devised from facts about phenomenal quality. Through the concept of qualia, Jackson’s knowledge argument shows that the identity thesis is false. The identity thesis holds that mental events are simply identical with brain processes—identical in the same manner that sounds are identical with density waves in the air. The thesis bases on the idea that mental states of thought, sensation, and awareness are alike those of physical states (such as those of the brain and central nervous system). An example of identity thesis is that lightning and an electric charge are two of the same thing. In other words, lightning is an electric charge. An advocate of the identity thesis is materialist Peter Carruthers. Carruthers argues that everything (including mental states) exists through physical causes. Carruthers’ argument for the identity thesis can be summarized from the beliefs that some conscious states and events are casually necessary for the occurrence of some physical ones, and that there will be no need to advert to anything other than physical-physical causality in a completed neuro-physiological science. Thus, some conscious states and events are identical with physical brain states and events (Reason and Responsibility, 301-302). However, the concept of qualia refutes the idea of physicalism, and is the foundation of Jackson’s knowledge argument against identity thesis. As a believer of dualism, Jackson uses the concept of qualia to support that the mind and matter are distinct and independent substances capable of existing without the other. Qualia are the subjective, felt qualities of experiences. For example, one may know all the physical properties of the color red and the physics behind why some things are red; however it is qualia that allows one to experience what it is like to actually see red. Jackson constructs his knowledge argument around the ideas of dualism and qualia. To further illustrate Jackson’s argument for qualia (and dualism), the case of Fred and his unique color vision will be presented (Reasons and Responsibility, 298-299). For some reason, Fred has the ability to see two colors where others only see one. His retina is capable of distinguishing between two wavelengths of red in which others familiarizes with only one. He tries to explain the difference between the two reds. However he fails in doing so because others do not comprehend the difference. Therefore it is concluded that Fred can visually see one more color than everyone else. Despite having all the physical information about Fred and his special trait, one cannot know what it actually feels like to see two different types of red. Thus, Jackson believes that the physicalist left something out in the theory of physicalism—the qualia or what it feels like to actually experience something. Consequently, quale explains how dualism is valid and physicalism is incomplete. The existence of knowledge through qualia (mental state) and that of physical facts (physical state) demonstrates the idea of dualism—the view that two fundamental concepts exist. Jackson’s knowledge argument derives mainly from his thought experiment of Mary; the brilliant scientist who has spent her life confined within a black-and-white room and has never seen colors. Mary learns all the physical facts relevant to the mind. She becomes an expert on the neurophysiology of vision and knows all there is to know about color. When Mary is released from her room, she experiences color for the first time. One would think intuitively that her color experiences provide her with knowledge she previously lacked, and that what she learns includes certain facts about what color experiences are like. The facts she learns upon her release cannot be physical facts because she already knew all physical facts before leaving the room. Therefore, the new knowledge comes from the concept of qualia, which indicates that not all facts are physical facts (Reason and Responsibility, 298-299). Thus physicalism is false. Jackson reaches his conclusion that the identity thesis is false by proving that mental states are not physical states. According to the identity thesis, states and processes of the mind are identical to states and processes of the brain. The concept of qualia refutes the validity of the identity thesis by presenting subjective forms of experiences. The knowledge acquired from subjective forms of experiences differs from those of physical knowledge about experiences. Since physicalism requires that all aspects of knowledge are the same, physicalism cannot be sound. Thus the identity thesis must be false. The cases of Fred and Mary show that physicalism doesn’t amount to all knowledge. The summation of Jackson’s knowledge argument can be illustrated by the following: before Mary leaves the room, she knows all the physical facts about color experiences. When Mary leaves the room, she learns new facts about color experiences—facts about what it’s like to see in color. Therefore, there are nonphysical facts about color experiences. Furthermore, the identity thesis is false because Jackson’s knowledge argument reveals that there is something about the experience of color (in Mary’s case) that cannot be captured by the physicalist view. So, physicalism is incomplete. Physicalism lacks the phenomenal quality of the mental state—the ability to experience something regardless of physical knowledge. Qualia and the mental experience can never be achieved from the premises of physicalism and the identity thesis. Thus, the phenomenal quality of experiences cannot be accounted for through physical properties of the brain. In conclusion, the identity thesis is false because nonphysical properties, like phenomenal properties, exist.

BayState Realty Case Study Essay

1. Use a table to identify the software products sited above that fall within the following categories of software: System Software General Purpose Software Application Specific Software An operating system built to control and operate the hardware system Protect the firm’s hardware platforms from intrusion, malware, and computer viruses Dell laptops and desktop computers running Microsoft’s Windows operating system Allows users to accomplish simple computer related tasks Standardizes and minimizes implementation costs Facilitates staff training Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Outlook, and Microsoft SharePoint For an end user Document and management system The CRM system, an Accounting System, a Human Resource Management System, a Real Estate Sales Documentation and Management System, and a Rental Property Management System 2. Use a second table to identify and explain the various elements in the total cost of software ownership and then list the steps taken by the CIO to limit the firm’s software TCO expenditures. Elements in the Total Cost of Software Ownership Steps Taken by the CIO to Limit the Firm’s Software TCO Expenditures Software and hardware upgrades Time to renew hardware and software Training for new and current employees Hiring MIS or IT personnel Sale Price Licensing 1. Focus on the procurement and deployment of a limited set of well-established, off-the-shelf products 2. Negotiate favorable licensing terms with Microsoft for the initial acquisition of products, to standardize and minimize implementation costs, and to limit firm investments in ongoing staff training and product documentation and support 3. Work closely with their line-of-business colleagues to select best-in-breed application specific software 4. Adapt their business processes to make the best use of the software and by doing so, better control the TCO for that software 5. Implement Linux (an open source software product) as the operating system of choice for servers running shared applications 3. List the reasons why BayState Realty chose to go with off-the-shelf software instead of developing their own software packages in house. BayState is mainly focused on their real estate agencies, so by doing so they can continue to focus on their business which means it is preferable for them to go with off-the-shelf software The software has already been tested by the company. Besides the test, the software company also provides warranty service It is available for computer shops, so there are lots of computer shops solving Window software problems It can easily find the same users so they can share their experiences easily and answer any questions about the system 4. List the reasons why it makes sense to go with Linux. Be sure to include how this particular use of open source software mitigates the risks typically associated with the choice of an open source software product. Linux is free or cheaper so it is beneficial for users that it is not owned by the company The software is unlikely to get computer viruses or other malware Hardware independent – operating system in advance and advantage Community relationship – Instead of establishing customer relationships, Linux shares with lots of vendors and is part of the community not a single user. Interoperability – able to connect to networks and communities easily You can select the best tools you need 5. Compare the advantages and the disadvantages associated with outsourcing the hosting of the firm’s three web sites. Advantages: Hosts the firm’s three Web sites Saves time – Do not have to spend time to manage the website Better equipped – Proficiency in creation, innovation, and design Low cost – helps customers manage their money wisely Use the correct Internet strategy, like formulating marketing programs Disadvantages: Hidden cost – it has a low cost for website outsourcing, but there are several costs behind the price, such as signing a contract Exposing data – BayState Company is sharing their information with a third party Lack of focusing on their customers – instead of customizing, vendor may be creating an expertise-need