Assessment and Technology Essay

My mission statement for my classroom is to be able to incorporate technology into it as well as into the curriculum so that it is more challenging and demanding for the students. Also incorporating it will bring the students to want to learn and engage in a twofold environment that will join together traditional learning and technology centered instruction. Classrooms and students who have access and the ability to use different technologies such as computers, Smart-boards, digital cameras, digital recorders, e-tablets, smart-phones, iPads, ect will be able to have an advancement for designing, formulating, and organizing projects which will give the students a tremendous boost in the learning process. My intentions for the classroom is that I would like my students to comprehend the advantages of technology as well as how it will continue to develop and progress in their lifetime and assist in preparing them for the public in the 21st Century. Vision I foresee a classroom full of students that are properly equipped with several different uses of technologies that will allow me as a teacher to be resourceful with the students in the classroom along with the classroom curriculum. I visualize technology being applied in the classroom to allow students to be more involved with their coursework and encourage critical and creative thinking alongside with collaboration, communication, life, and career skills. Rationale I decided to involve in my mission statement the idea of preparing my students for the 21st Century as well as having a multitude of different technologies is because in the reading from Information, Media and Technology Skills, talks about the quickly changing technology tools and being able to collaborate which will help the students be efficient in the 21st century (Partnership for 21st Century Skills). Being able to use multiple technologies such as the mission statement states will help the students grow with the technology and make it more feasible for them to use technology in their projects. Also in the mission statement I stated technology such as laptops and ipads because students growing up with technology such as those everyday and using them for games or other activities, if students can use technology for that then they can use those types of technology in the classroom to learn (Teachers, technology and training). When it comes to my vision statement I chose this because I believe that all children as well as my students should be able to apply technology to their everyday learning environments (Unleash the power of technology in education). Communications Plan Incorporating technology into the classroom can either hinder the learning environment or help it depending on how the technology is used to teach as well as in communication with the students, teachers, and the parents. Communication should not be taken lightly. There are a few methods that can be used to communicate with parents that I intend to use in my class such as: contact list, phone calls, e-mail, letters, and a website. Not only is communication with parents important but communication within the classroom, with the students, has the same importance. With this communication a tremendous way of communication in the classroom is through collaboration. When a class first begins I will have my class fill out an emergency contact form so that I am able to have the phone numbers of their guardians to keep in contact with them. This will help me give phone calls to parents and guardians to keep them updated on grades as well as behavior. If a child is distracting the classroom and making it a poor environment for learning then the numbers will come in handy to give the parent a phone call and let them know that the child is having behavior problems within the classroom. Another good way for communication that I intend to use is email and letters to the parents. The emails and letters will have updates about what is going on at the school as well as the classroom. A letter will be sent out to the parents asking for emails and addresses as well as asking permission to send out weekly updates on what is going on in the classroom and the school. Finally, another way to communicate with parents is through a class website. Through the website the parents will be able to see what is going to be taught that week as well as grades for each child. This is an easy way for parents to check out what their child is learning and how well they are doing (School Community Journal). A superior way to communicate within the classroom is through collaboration. Collaboration has many forms such as groups within the classroom along with groups outside of the classroom. An example of that is collaborating with a different school by either going to the school or having another classroom come to mine. Also, there is using technology such as Skype and other Webcam-Ming programs to have another classroom from the opposite of the country on the smart-board or screen to communicate with each other for a few lessons (Multicultural Education). When it comes to students using the Skype, or any other program on the internet, students need to learn what is appropriate to use as well as when it is an appropriate time to use the program. Within the first week I will teach the students the proper way to go about using the internet and have a set of rules as well as consequences for the internet to maintain a proper learning environment (Internet Research). Integrating Technology Into The Classroom Educators are able to integrate technology into the classroom by using various technology devices. A good example that many classrooms have today is the Smart-Board. With the use of this technology the students are able to write on the board as well as learning games by touching the board with a finger or a special marker. Also with the Smart-board, teachers are able to show their students videos through the internet. Another great type of technology to use is a webcam-Ming source such as Skype or Tiny-chat which will be an advantage for the students as a tool to use to bond with other students around the world. In my Special Education classroom, my Comprehensive Classroom Technology Plan will consist of assistive devices. Assistive devices comprise any device that disabled kids and students can utilize to help them learn and function more effectively. The most current studies show that around 4,000 assistive technologies have been designed for students and teachers. Such devices include wheelchairs, hearing aids, glare reduction screens, screen magnifier, Braille note taking devices, voice recognition software, and devices that are simple by having the child follow letters and pictures on a screen. Children that contain special needs or a disability have an assortment of communication devices and have modifications for their every day life to help them get through everyday life (Education World). A familiar device is a small computer screen with pictures, letters, and words that help children that cannot communicate efficiently. The device helps the children to communicate with others with the screen because they have trouble speaking and making sentences to tell people if they may need something. Another device is a specialized wheelchair. For children who have no communication functions there is the advance technology of a special wheelchair that they can stare at a picture or words to communicate with others. Some might think that smart-boards are only for main stream students, however, in a special education class the smart-board is a very useful device to help the students engage with the classroom. There are activities and games that the students can go up to the smart-board and do such as answer questions that pop up on the smart-board. Over billions of dollars have been invested into wiring schools for desktop computers. A wireless network is able to present an engaging alternative that secures superior access for the student (Wired Versus Wireless). Nearly two thirds of institutions are using wireless networks. Also known as WLAN, wireless networks are defines as a â€Å"local area network, not connected by cables or wires† (The Journal). Wireless is what people see more in classrooms today. in the company of a wired classroom there are more benefits by being able to educate students on how equipments are to be connect together. Wired classrooms scamper the threat of the students tripping over the wires. It is said that wireless is less secure; however, either way information can be stolen or secured. In Conclusion, integrating technology into the classroom is the teacher way of the 21st Century. Technology in the classroom is a creative way of learning. Every year technology grows and brings about more opportunities for children to cultivate and learn with ease. Look back 20 years ago, children who were unable to communicate truly where unable to communicate. Now, children who cannot speak properly have a way to express themselves and learn with the technology integrating in the classrooms. Rationale I decided to talk about assistive technology with integrating technology in a classroom because from experience most special education classroom is all about technology being used. Many students use technology just to communicate in the classroom. The technology used helps the students learn at their own pace because they are able to look at pictures and words to create the best guess on either an answer to a question or a statement they need to make. I think it is so amazing on how more advance a special education students is rather then a main stream student. Technology for Assessments The use of technology in the classroom has grown abundantly within years with not only the effect of entertainment but also the result of learning. With technology being integrated into classrooms, the technology can also be used to enhance assessments such as formative assessments and summative assessments. Furthermore, teachers should use both traditional as well as technology to assess student learning. When it comes to assessing a student it entails viewing what the students can do and depicting conjectures on the student’s capability (Caacentre). Technology helps to assess students by giving them more learning tools in the classroom. Today’s advancements in technology offer more opportunities to teachers and students that were unfeasible before. Applying a variety of technologies in one lesson can facilitate the understanding to all students (Shelbyed). There are a few advantages that have been known and discovered in regard to technology being included in the classroom. One advantage is when technology is being used in the classroom its extensive range of utilizing has the prospective to reach students of all different learning capabilities along side with being more proficient. Another benefit is that due to the curiosity and motivation technology encourages in the students makes the use of technology in the classroom significant. Lastly, there is the advantage of enhanced preparation in the students for the future when it comes to using technology that is targeted at attending to each learning method (Shelbyed). Along side with advantages there are disadvantages. When it comes to the disadvantages of using technology a major one discussed is the cost of the technology being used with the pre and post tests given. Another disadvantage is that it becomes more summative rather then formative and becomes difficult to segregate what changes need to made. Finally, there is also the frustration of receiving results in a timely manner (Morningside). There are two assessments that are used in the classroom. First there is summative assessment which is intended to measure the achievement of each student at the conclusion of each unit. This assessment also gives a concluding grade. The next assessment is formative assessment which includes techniques that are deliberated to ascertain the progress of each student during the learning process and makes it possible to obtain feedback to the teacher as well as the student (Caacentre). Educators should integrate technology in the classroom; however, teachers should not only use technology to assess students. When there are multiple ways to assess students all methods should be looked upon and used to give the students the best education as well as get the most responsive feedback from the assessments. In conclusion, with the growth of technology in the classroom, it becomes more actively used not only in the learning process but is also used along side assessing the students. Summative and formative assessments are used to obtain the growth of the students during each lesson and technology can have a huge factor in assessing the students by encouraging them. The uses if technology can have a huge impact on the students and can help enhance the learning and assessment process. Rationale When coming up with the conclusion in my writing I used personal experience for the most part and how technology benefited when assessing me. I used clickers in my government class in high school to takes tests and when I put in my answer it would show up on the smart board if the answer was correct or not. Another way I formed my conclusion was reading an article about integrating technology as a teacher. In the article it talks about how intergrading technology in the classroom may be difficulty at times but it can give many students the encouragement they need to do well on an assessment especially when technology is used the way it was used in my government class. It gives the students an opportunity to get quick feedback in that instance; however, technology can have its hiccups which can result in a less timely manner of feedback (Beginning with a Baseline). Technology Ethics in the Classroom Throughout the past 10 years technology has grown significantly and began being used within the classrooms. Due to the elevated use of computers and the internet, fraud, plagiarism, and copyright becomes a higher risk in essays and assignments. Not only should firewalls be put on the computers to block certain sits, students should be taught the appropriate sites that should be used. Students ought to be educated on how to use citations in their essays to keep from plagiarizing. There are three ethical practices of technology that I would use to implement the classroom: resources, expression, and responsibility. Countless amounts of teachers dread having to deal with â€Å"academic dishonesty† within the assignments of the students due to the easy ability that it can be done (An Ethical Dilemma). However, with the proper teaching students can learn the suitable sites to use as well as how to prevent plagiarism. In most classroom settings it is told to the students never to use Wikipedia. Sites such as Wikipedia should be taught to students to use with care and never as a citation due to the fact that anyone can write on it and it could be false information. When students are asked to write an essay they may struggle because they lack the knowledge needed for the essay which then the internet then serves the person as a â€Å"real equalizer†. There are access to hundreds and thousands of sites that are available (Tech Talk). A good educator will take the time to teach the students useful sites to get research as well as not to copy what is said from the sites word for word. There should be an agreement signed by each student that if plagiarism is used there will be consequences such as having to rewrite the essay for less credit. Besides just educating the students on the sites, they should also begin to get educated on citing the sources used in their essays as well as quotations. Citations can be very difficult for students especially the younger grades. Plagiarism is the act of entailing that another individual’s work is in fact your own work. When teaching the students about citations it should first be known that even if they are going to cite where they obtained the information from do not copy and paste. When a statement is copied word for word it should be put in quotation marks (Avoiding Cut and Paste). Depending on how the school or classroom is run there are several ways of citing. For the younger kids it should first be taught in MLA style to make it easier to grasp as well as because students most of the time do not use APA format until the last couple years of high school or even until college. After the students are educated on citations, a good way to help guide them is by giving the students a website that can further assistant them so that there is less plagiarism. A site that I would recommend to my students is easybib. com, which helps all styles of citations. Three ethical practices of technology that I would implement in my classroom are resources, expression, and responsibility. With these three a teacher can put into the agreement that will be signed by the students that there needs to be proper use of resources such as using knowledge and skill, expression such as skills and practices, and responsibility such as values and ethics. These are to be more similar to guidelines when it comes to ethics in technology. In conclusion, with the advancement in technology throughout the years, technology has become more common in the classroom. Plagiarism has become an issue that teachers dread to have to deal with. I believe with the proper educating of this to the students the plagiarism in the classroom will become scarce. Students need to learn the rights and wrongs of technology. Reflection Technology growth has had a major impact at schools and within classrooms. With the growth of technology comes more ways of learning as well as more safety to be taught with technology. My comprehensive technology plan helps guide me with the learning process for my students with the use of technology; it increases both the productivity and efficiency for students  and teachers. When coming up with an efficient plan it should include the reduction of costs and making certain the compatibility with already accessible technology. With the plan should come five steps which consist of: Define the accessible technology strategy, Identify requirements, Design, develop and purchase technology, Implement and Train, and Maintain technology and continue learning. These steps make for a productive and efficient comprehensive technology plan. In the first step, define the accessible technology strategy; the educator defines how accessible technology can be put into the classroom by creating a mission and vision statement that will set the ground work. Knowing this will help me as a teacher integrate accessible technology into the classroom. Within the vision statement should be how accessible technology plays a role in the learning environment. My vision statement states how I foresee that students will be equipped with a multitude of technologies as well as how I visualize the technology will be applied. In the mission statement it helps to clarify the vision statement. The mission statement will help in step 5 when I as a teacher will measure the success. My mission statement includes incorporating technology into the curriculum and what incorporating technology into the classroom and curriculum will do for the students (Microsoft Accessibility). The next steps are more details of the mission and vision statement made into the actual comprehensive technology plan. Throughout my whole plan I describe how technology benefits the classroom and the different ways it benefits. One important way technology benefits is through communication. With the use of the internet, computers, and even smartboards, teachers are able to communicate easier with parents through emails, websites, and newsletters. Furthermore, students are able to communicate with other students in the same grade level and are able to work together through sources such as Skype. Also mentioned in my plan is internet security which is an important subject when it comes to technology in the classroom. Students should be taught the appropriate sites to use as well as how to  cite the sources they use for essays and assignments. It truly is amazing how technology has progressed and grown throughout the years and that students that are not only in main stream but special educations students as well are able to use technology to grow further in their education. There are several assistive technologies that have been specially designed for students and teachers such as hearing aids, screen magnifiers, picture software and voice recognition software. Some of these devices help these children with their everyday life along side learning. Another point put into the plan is the use of technology in assessments. Although technology and assessments combined can be a real pain in the butt at time, with time and work it is a very useful way for technology to coincide with assessments. It is easier for teachers to grade rather them going through several papers as well as make a students more interested in the assessment because they are using a computer or something they know how to work. Overall, the comprehensive plan is a very useful source to integrate technology into the classroom. Reference  Banister, S. , & Vannatta, R. (2006). Beginning with a baseline: Insuring productive technology integration in teacher education. http://search. proquest. com/docview/200006665? accountid=7374 Caacentre. (1993). Using Technology to Assess Student Learning. http://www. caacentre. ac. uk/dldocs/alter. pdf â€Å"Developing an Accessible Technology Plan. † Microsoft Accessibility. Microsoft, 2012. Web. 16 Aug. 2012. . Donlevy, J. (2005). Teachers, technology and training: Envisioning the future: The U. S. department of education’s national technology plan. International Journal of Instructional Media. http://search. proquest. com/docview/204262994? accountid=7374 Education World. (2011). Assistive Technology in the Classroom. http://www. educationworld. com/a_tech/tech/tech086. shtml/ Fielding, Randall. Wired Versus Wireless. (1999). Technology in School Computer Networks. http://www. designshare. com/Research/Wired/Wired1. htm. Graham-Clay, S. (2005). Communicating with parents: Strategies for teachers. School Community Journal. http://search. proquest. com/docview/195462342? accountid=7374 Green, T. (2002). Using classroom simulations and technology to expore multicultural issues in a middle school classroom. Multicultural Education. http://search. proquest. com/docview/216321225? accountid=7374 Loertscher, D. V. (2011). Unleash the power of technology in education. Teacher Librarian. http://search. proquest. com/docview/902627384? accountid=7374 Morningside. (2012). Adavantages and Disadvantages of Various Assessment Methods. http://www. morningside. edu/academics/research/assessment/documents/advantagesdisadvantages. pdf Morss, D. A. (1999). A study of student perspectives on web-based learning: WebCT in the classroom. Internet Research. http://search. proquest. com/docview/219859371? accountid=7374 Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2011). Information, Media, and Technology Skills. http://www. p21. org/overview/skills-framework/61-imt-skills. Pennsylvania State University. (2012). Avoiding Cut and Paste Plagiarism with Citations. Teaching and Learning with Technology. Shelbyed. (2012). Technology in the Classroom. http://www. shelbyed. k12. al. us/schools/rms/faculty/wrodgers/technology%20int/students. html Street, Chris. (2008). ProQuest. Tech Talk for Social Studies Teachers: Writing about Nazi Germany and Leni Riefenstahl: Using Technology Information: a Journal for Readers, Students and History. The Social Studies. The Journal. (2012). Wireless vs. Hard-Wired Network Use in Education. http://thejournal. com/articles/2002/11/01/wireless-vs-hardwired-network-use-in-education. aspx Thomas, Ebony Elizabeth. (2011). ProQuest. An Ethical Dilemma: Talking about Plagiarism and Academic Integrity in the Digital Age. English Journal.

Holy War

Holy War Essay Holy war. How can the word holy be put together with the word war? In the Old Testament though, holy war is presented in such a good light. You were going to war for Yahweh’s command. Holy war was only engaged when Yahweh summons Israel to war. Holy war was initiated when something became a threat to Israel’s loyalty to Yahweh or something became dangerous to Israelites faith. War and killing was what seemed necessary to protect Israelites from swaying towards the Canaanite religion. Holy war was only used for conquests or for the defense of the holy land. In Deuteronomy and the books of the period known as the Deuteronomistic History which includes Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st and 2nd Samuel, and 1st and 2nd Kings, we read about a conflict between the Israelites and Canaanites which leads to the Conquest of Canaan. Being a conquest, its justified to call it a holy war. It is described as â€Å"Yahweh’s battle’s† in 1st Samuel chapter 25, verse 28. Never in the Old Testament is it referred to as a â€Å"holy war. Because the Canaanites were occupying the land known as the â€Å"promised land,† the land meant for gods chosen people, the Israelites, to live on, Yahweh promised to Abraham’s descendents that they must be exterminated without mercy. He wanted all the Canaanites killed including the women and children. The Canaanites were placed â€Å"under ban† which meant they were sacrificed to Yahweh. It was though that if th ey allowed any Canaanite to live, they might cause religious corruption (Harris). One example is documented in the book of Joshua, when Israelite soldiers captured the city of Jericho and killed all men, women, children, and even livestock, all because they wanted to enforce the ban and gods orders. There were many provisions established to govern the execution of a holy war. First it is to be understood a holy war is a religious undertaking. In theory, there should be no casualties because Yahweh is doing the fighting. Also some basic provisions included have no standing army but only an army of volunteers when needed, no pay for the soldiers along with no spoils of war, no sex during a holy war, and you must fast going into battle. In the book of Deuteronomy chapters 20 and 21, God spells out these provisions and rules that go along with going to war. For cities distant from the Promised Land, provisions differed from those nations closest. When the army marched up to attack a city, they were to make its people an offer of peace. If they accepted, they would be forced nto labor. If they refused, then both sides engaged in battle (Deut. 20:10-12). They were ordered by God to kill all men in the city they were attacking. The women, children, and livestock were considered plunders and spoilers of war. As for nations closest like the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, there are different provisions. God orders them to leave nothing behind in these nations. Completely destroy them because they are the nations that might corrupt the Israelites into worshipping other gods and sin against Yahweh. Along with leaving nothing alive and the basic provisions, another provision deals with marrying prisoners. During the war, God allows you to marry any of the captives of the conquered nation. But you must shave her head, trim her nails, and remove the clothes she was wearing when captured. You may marry her one-month after the capture to allow her to mourn her parents. If you become unpleased with he, you may let her go wherever she wishes, but you cant sell her or treat her as a slave since you have dishonored her. In Samuel chapter 15, Samuel orders King Saul to attack the Amalekites and destroy everything that belonged to them. Put to death the men, women, children, infants, and all livestock as ordered by God. Saul obeyed and organized an army of two hundred thousand men. He attacked the Amalekites and took their king, Agag, captive but destroyed everything else. Saul spared Agag’s life along with, what he deemed, the best livestock. The Lord spoke to Samuel and showed frustration in making Saul king because Saul had not followed out his instructions to kill everyone and everything. Samuel met with Saul at a city known as Gilgal and asked why Saul let some livestock live? Saul’s answer was that they would be used as sacrifices to the Lord because they were the best livestock. Samuel reminded Saul that the Lord had made hi king and that he sent Saul on a mission to completely destroy the Amalkites and asked why he didn’t obey the order and do evil in the eyes of the Lord. Samuel didn’t accept Saul’s reasoning of keeping the livestock for sacrifices and keeping Agag alive. Samuel then said that God wasn’t interested in sacrifices but in obedience of his voice and commands. Samuel tells Saul that the Lord has rejected him as king. â€Å"Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king† (Deut. 15:23). Saul admitted he sinned because he was afraid of the people and gave into them. Saul then asked for forgiveness but Samuel did not accept. He turned to leave but Saul latched onto him. Samuel said again that Saul was not king anymore. Saul pleaded with Samuel for him to return with him so he could worship the Lord. Samuel finally agreed and followed. After they worshipped, Samuel called for Agag to be brought to him. Agag arrived and Samuel proceeded to kill Agag before the Lord. Samuel left for Remaha and never returned to see Saul. From that day on, the Lord regretted that he made Saul king of Israel. We see in this passage the provisions of holy war, including Saul forming a volunteer army ad Saul obliterating everything of a nation. But the difference is King Saul didn’t fulfill the order of God for this holy war against the Amalekites. Saul was looked down upon for not following God’s orders and Samuel had to fulfill the command. There seems to be no exceptions to God’s orders and provisions in holy war. The impact this episode had on me is Saul chose to disobey Gods orders of killing everything by letting some things survive. After coming to understand what holy war was, it found it to be very bloodthirsty. Innocent women and children were killed. I understand the reasoning back then though for God to feel the need to destroy nations around Israel’s â€Å"promised land† because he feared his people would start worshiping other gods. The relevance of the age-old question of â€Å"If God is good, why is there so much evil in the world,† stems from people questioning why wars, genocides, and even murder happen. The reason many people ask this question is because, as a Catholic, I really hadn’t been exposed to the Old Testament God as much as the New Testament God. There is a big difference in the New Testament God and how compassionate and forgive full he his, and the Old Testament God who would eradicate his enemy’s and never forgive some sinners such as Saul. There’s no way we can answer this question of why god allows so much evil to exist. We can try to like today’s wars and conflicts with the ideas and aspects of holy war, but out minds still cant grasp why god allows some things to happen. Could it be he’s punishing sinners who are disobeying him? If this is so how could you reason why God allowed the Holocaust to happen. The Jews were considered Gods chosen people, so why would he allow this to happen to them. Or why is there genocide occurring in Africa to innocent people. If God is good, why does he allow these things to happen? We will ask this question forever. Work Cited Harris, Stephen L. Understanding the Bible. 7th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2007.

Marketing Environment

| 2012/13| | Id: 1180654 Allan raisin | [Firms can do more than simply anticipating and responding to both macro and micro environment:-]| Market research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information | â€Å"Marketing environment includes all the forces that directly or indirectly influence marketing operations by affecting an organization acquisition of inputs/creation of outputs such as human, financial and natural resources and raw material, information, goods, services or ideas.Sometimes a distinction is more between macro and micro factors of environment† The Structure of the Marketing Environment The consumer occupies the core/central position of all business activities and hence occupies the Centre of the marketing environment. The organization with its resources and having a policy and structure surrounds the consumer with its particular market offering as do its competitors, suppliers and other intermediaries. This microenvironment of marketing is again affected by the macro environment, which consists of the government, technical, political, social, economic factors.This is graphically represented by below 1. The major external and uncontrollable factors that influence an organization's decision making, and affect its performance and strategies. These factors include the economic factors; demographics; legal, political, and social conditions; technological changes; and natural forces. 2. Specific examples of macro environment influences include competitors, changes in interest rates, changes in cultural tastes, disastrous weather, or government regulations. PESTLE – Macro Environmental Analysis PESTLEThe PESTLE Analysis is a framework used to scan the organization’s external macro environment. The  letters stand for Political, Economic  Socio-cultural, Technological, Legal and Environmental. Some approaches will add in extra factors, such as International, or remove some to reduce it to PEST. However, these are all merely variations on a theme. The important principle is identifying the key  factors from the wider, uncontrollable external environment that might affect the organization. The PESTLE Factors We start with the Political forces.First of all, political factors refer to the stability of the political  environment and the attitudes of political parties or movements. This may manifest in government  influence on tax policies, or government involvement in trading agreements. Political factors are  inevitably entwined with Legal factors such as national employment laws, international trade  regulations and restrictions, monopolies and mergers’ rules, and consumer protection. The difference  between Political and Legal factors is that Political refers to attitudes and approaches, whereas Legal  factors are those which have become law and regulations.Legal needs to be complied with whereas  Political may represent influences, restrictions or opportunities, but they are not mandatory. Economic factors represent the wider economy so may include economic growth rates, levels of  employment and unemployment, costs of raw materials such as energy, petrol and steel, interest rates  and monetary policies, exchange rates and inflation rates. These may also vary from one country to  another. Socio-cultural factors represent the culture of the society that an organization operates within.They  may include demographics, age distribution, population growth rates, level of education, distribution of  wealth and social classes, living conditions and lifestyle. Technological factors refer to the rate of new inventions and development, changes in information and  mobile technology, changes in internet and e-commerce or even mobile commerce, and government  spending on research. There is often a tendency to focus Technological developments on digital and internet-related areas, but it should also include ma terials development and new methods of  manufacture, distribution and logistics.Environmental impacts can include issues such as limited natural resources, waste disposal and recycling  procedures. Additional Considerations A newer force which is gaining in importance is ethics. These can be defined by the set of moral  principles and values that govern the actions and decisions of an individual or group. Ethics and morals  serve as guidelines on how to act rightly and justly when individuals are faced with moral dilemmas. This force could include corporate social responsibility, fair trade, affiliation between corporations and  charities.A particular problem may exist with how ethical factors relates to legal forces as they may be  at different stages in development. Something may be ethical but not protected by law, whereas other activities may not be ethical, but are legal. A PESTLE analysis should feed into a SWOT analysis as it helps to determine the threats and   opportunities represented by macro-environment forces that the organization usually cannot control. On an international basis, it is best to perform the analysis on a country-by-country basis because  factors can differ greatly between countries (or even regions).Marketing Environment – Micro Marketing Environment – Micro The micro marketing environment consists of certain forces that are part of an organizations marketing process, but remain external to the organization. This micro marketing environment that surrounds organizations can be complex by nature; however the company has an element of control over how it operates within this environment. Marketing helps you to manage and make sense of this complexity. The illustration above summarizes the order of the immediate external marketing environment that businesses operate in.Current and Potential Customers Your customers are vital to the growth and sustainability of your company. In order to grow you must locate customers, understand their needs and then satisfy those needs both efficiently and profitably. Competitors Your competitors however have the same remit as you when it comes to sourcing and satisfying the needs of the customer. They will make it difficult to liaise with customer groups, as by definition they are largely pursuing the same sets of customers as you.As a marketer, you must therefore not only monitor what competitors are doing in the external marketing environment today, but to also anticipate their likely response to your campaigns and to predict what they will do tomorrow. Intermediaries (Distributors/Wholesalers/Retailers) Your business may require a network of wholesalers, distributors and/or retailer. These ‘intermediaries’ provide an invaluable service in getting your products to the customer. You must therefore think carefully about how best to distribute your goods and build relationships.This area can be fierce in competition as not everyone can get access to the channels of distribution that they want. Suppliers One other important area to consider in the external marketing environment is your suppliers. A key supplier can be an important part of your business and may even attribute to your competitive advantage. Losing important suppliers can interrupt production flow or your competitive edge and prevent you from getting your product to your customers. Choice of suppliers, negotiation of terms and relationship building all become important tasks of the marketer.The wider marketing environment, discussed in a separate knowledge sheet, covers all other influences that might provide opportunities or threats to the organization. These include technological development, legal constraints, the economic environment and sociocultural changes. This brief overview of the world in which companies operate in demonstrates that there are many relationships that matter. These need to be managed if the company is to conduct its business suc cessfully. The main responsibility for managing these relationships lies within the marketing department.Using a SWOT SWOT is an important tool in auditing the external and internal environment of the organization. A SWOT Analysis should be more than a basic listing of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Most organizations have the same, common-sense type of threats, such as competitors, technological changes, regulation and deregulation, or weaknesses such as high price, but these are all very general, hard to control elements meaning the utility can be quite limited. As Cranfield’s Professor Malcolm McDonald puts it, real SWOTs should be more concise and specific.STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES, AND THREATS Strengths, in the SWOT analysis, are a company's capabilities and resources that allow it to engage in activities to generate economic value and perhaps competitive advantage. A company's strengths may be in its ability to create unique products, to pr ovide high-level customer service, or to have a presence in multiple retail markets. Strengths may also be things such as the company's culture, its staffing and training, or the quality of its managers. Whatever capability a company has can be regarded as strength.A company's weaknesses are a lack of resources or capabilities that can prevent it from generating economic value or gaining a competitive advantage if used to enact the company's strategy. There are many examples of organizational weaknesses. For example, a firm may have a large, bureaucratic structure that limits its ability to compete with smaller, more dynamic companies. Another weakness may occur if a company has higher labor costs than a competitor who can have similar productivity from a lower labor cost.The characteristics of an organization that can be strength, as listed above, can also be a weakness if the company does not do them well. Opportunities provide the organization with a chance to improve its perform ance and its competitive advantage. Some opportunities may be anticipated, others arise unexpectedly. Opportunities may arise when there are niches for new products or services, or when these products and services can be offered at different times and in different locations. For instance, the increased use of the Internet has provided numerous opportunities for companies to expand their product sales.Threats can be an individual, group, or organization outside the company that aims to reduce the level of the company's performance. Every company faces threats in its environment. Often the more successful companies have stronger threats, because there is a desire on the part of other companies to take some of that success for their own. Threats may come from new products or services from other companies that aim to take away a company's competitive advantage. Threats may also come from government regulation or even consumer groups.A strong company strategy that shows how to gain compe titive advantage should address all four elements of the SWOT analysis. It should help the organization determine how to use its strengths to take advantage of opportunities and neutralize threats. Finally, a strong strategy should help an organization avoid or fix its weaknesses. If a company can develop a strategy that makes use of the information from SWOT analysis, it is more likely to have high levels of performance. Nearly every company can benefit from SWOT analysis.Larger organizations may have strategic-planning procedures in place that incorporate SWOT analysis, but smaller firms, particularly entrepreneurial firms may have to start the analysis from scratch. Additionally, depending on the size or the degree of diversification of the company, it may be necessary to conduct more than one SWOT analysis. If the company has a wide variety of products and services, particularly if it operates in different markets, one SWOT analysis will not capture all of the relevant strengths , weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that exist across the span of the company's operations.LIMITATIONS OF SWOT ANALYSIS One major problem with the SWOT analysis is that while it emphasizes the importance of the four elements associated with the organizational and environmental analysis, it does not address how the company can identify the elements for their own company. Many organizational executives may not be able to determine what these elements are, and the SWOT framework provides no guidance. For example, what if a strength identified by the company is not truly strength?While a company might believe its customer service is strong, they may be unaware of problems with employees or the capabilities of other companies to provide a higher level of customer service. Weaknesses are often easier to determine, but typically after it is too late to create a new strategy to offset them. A company may also have difficulty identifying opportunities. Depending on the organization, wha t may seem like an opportunity to some may appear to be a threat to others. Opportunities may be easy to overlook or may be identified long after they can be exploited.Similarly, a company may have difficulty anticipating possible threats in order to effectively avoid them. While the SWOT framework does not provide managers with the guidance to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, it does tell managers what questions to ask during the strategy development process, even if it does not provide the answers. Managers know to ask and to determine a strategy that will take advantage of a company's strengths, minimize its weaknesses, exploit opportunities, or neutralize threats.Some experts argue that making strategic choices for the firm is less important than asking the right questions in choosing the strategy. A company may mistakenly solve a problem by providing the correct answer to the wrong question. USING SWOT ANALYSIS TO DEVELOP ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY SWOT analysis is just the first step in developing and implementing an effective organizational strategy. After a thorough SWOT analysis, the next step is to rank the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and to document the criteria for ranking.The company must then determine its strategic fit given its internal capabilities and external environment in a two-by-two grid (see Figure 1). This fit, as determined in the grid, will indicate what strategic changes need to be made. The quadrants in this grid are as follows: * Quadrant 1 —internal strengths matched with external opportunities; * Quadrant 2 —internal weaknesses relative to external opportunities; * Quadrant 3 —internal strengths matched with external threats; and * Quadrant 4 —internal weaknesses relative to external threats.Quadrant 1 lists the strategies associated with a match between the company's strengths and its perceived external opportunities. It represents the best fit between th e company's resources and the options available in the external market. A strategy from this quadrant would be to protect the company's strengths by shoring up resources and extending competitive advantage. If a strategy in this quadrant can additionally bolster weaknesses in other areas, such as in Quadrant 2, this would be advantageous. Quadrant 2 lists the strategies associated with a match between the company's weaknesses with external opportunities.Strategies in this quadrant would address the choice of either improving upon weaknesses to turn them into strengths, or allowing competitors to take advantage of opportunities in the marketplace. Quadrant 3 matches the company's strengths and external threats. Strategies in this quadrant may aim to transform external threats into opportunities by changing the company's competitive position through use of its resources or strengths. Another strategic option in this quadrant is for the company to maintain a defensive strategy to focus on more promising opportunities in other quadrants.Quadrant 4 matches a company's weaknesses and the threats in the environment. These are the worst possible scenarios for an organization. However, because of the competitive nature of the marketplace, any company is likely to have information in this quadrant. Strategies in this quadrant may involve using resources in other quadrants to exploit opportunities to the point that other threats are minimized. Additionally, some issues may be moved out of this quadrant by otherwise neutralizing the threat or by bolstering a perceived weakness.Once a strategy is decided on in each quadrant for the issues facing the company, these strategies require frequent monitoring and periodic updates. An organization is best served by proactively determining strategies to address issues before they become crises. An example of how a firm can develop strategies using these quadrants is as follows. Generic Corporation produces high-quality; high-priced specialty kitchen items in a catalog and in stores and is known for their excellent customer service. This strength has been able to offset its major weaknesses, which are having few stores and no current capabilities for Internet sales.Its major opportunities come from the explosion of Internet shopping, and its threats are other more high-profile competitors, operating primarily on the Internet, and the concerns of identity theft in Internet sales that many customers ha ve. Matching Generic's strengths to its opportunities (Quadrant 1), the firm may choose to enhance its Internet site to allow online purchases, still providing its excellent 24-hour telephone customer service. Ideally, this strategy will offset the weakness of not having an Internet presence, which addresses the concerns of Quadrant 2.Additionally, by bolstering the strength of excellent customer service by applying it to the online shopping site, the company may be able to alleviate customer concerns about identi ty theft (Quadrant 3). A strategy for Quadrant 4, which matches the company's weaknesses and threats, is that Generic may consider selling its online business to a competitor. Certainly, the Quadrant 4 strategy is the least preferred, but a proactive strategy that plans for managing such a situation is favored over a crisis situation in which the company is forced to sell with no planning.A SWOT analysis is a first, but critical, step in developing an organizational strategy. By examining the company's internal capabilities—its strengths and weaknesses and its external environment—opportunities and threats, it helps to create strategies that can proactively contend with organizational challenges. The changing and uncertain marketing environment deeply affects the organization, instead of changing slowly and predictably, the environment can produce major surprises and shocks, how many managers at â€Å"Heinz† foresaw that the baby-boom numbers would fall so rapid ly?How many were able to predict that the Internet will enable not only real-time personal communication but that will also provide a way for business process improvement and new industries would be formed. How many were able to predict that mobile phone SMS and MMS services would add significant value for the customers, some said ‘who would want to type text on the phone or even snap pictures , telephone are only for talking’To conclude I would say that Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information – these information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the methods for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, an alyzes, and communicates the findings and their implications. † Marketing Environment | 2012/13| | Id: 1180654 Allan raisin | [Firms can do more than simply anticipating and responding to both macro and micro environment:-]| Market research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information | â€Å"Marketing environment includes all the forces that directly or indirectly influence marketing operations by affecting an organization acquisition of inputs/creation of outputs such as human, financial and natural resources and raw material, information, goods, services or ideas.Sometimes a distinction is more between macro and micro factors of environment† The Structure of the Marketing Environment The consumer occupies the core/central position of all business activities and hence occupies the Centre of the marketing environment. The organization with its resources and having a policy and structure surrounds the consumer with its particular market offering as do its competitors, suppliers and other intermediaries. This microenvironment of marketing is again affected by the macro environment, which consists of the government, technical, political, social, economic factors.This is graphically represented by below 1. The major external and uncontrollable factors that influence an organization's decision making, and affect its performance and strategies. These factors include the economic factors; demographics; legal, political, and social conditions; technological changes; and natural forces. 2. Specific examples of macro environment influences include competitors, changes in interest rates, changes in cultural tastes, disastrous weather, or government regulations. PESTLE – Macro Environmental Analysis PESTLEThe PESTLE Analysis is a framework used to scan the organization’s external macro environment. The  letters stand for Political, Economic  Socio-cultural, Technological, Legal and Environmental. Some approaches will add in extra factors, such as International, or remove some to reduce it to PEST. However, these are all merely variations on a theme. The important principle is identifying the key  factors from the wider, uncontrollable external environment that might affect the organization. The PESTLE Factors We start with the Political forces.First of all, political factors refer to the stability of the political  environment and the attitudes of political parties or movements. This may manifest in government  influence on tax policies, or government involvement in trading agreements. Political factors are  inevitably entwined with Legal factors such as national employment laws, international trade  regulations and restrictions, monopolies and mergers’ rules, and consumer protection. The difference  between Political and Legal factors is that Political refers to attitudes and approaches, whereas Legal  factors are those which have become law and regulations.Legal needs to be complied with whereas  Political may represent influences, restrictions or opportunities, but they are not mandatory. Economic factors represent the wider economy so may include economic growth rates, levels of  employment and unemployment, costs of raw materials such as energy, petrol and steel, interest rates  and monetary policies, exchange rates and inflation rates. These may also vary from one country to  another. Socio-cultural factors represent the culture of the society that an organization operates within.They  may include demographics, age distribution, population growth rates, level of education, distribution of  wealth and social classes, living conditions and lifestyle. Technological factors refer to the rate of new inventions and development, changes in information and  mobile technology, changes in internet and e-commerce or even mobile commerce, and government  spending on research. There is often a tendency to focus Technological developments on digital and internet-related areas, but it should also include ma terials development and new methods of  manufacture, distribution and logistics.Environmental impacts can include issues such as limited natural resources, waste disposal and recycling  procedures. Additional Considerations A newer force which is gaining in importance is ethics. These can be defined by the set of moral  principles and values that govern the actions and decisions of an individual or group. Ethics and morals  serve as guidelines on how to act rightly and justly when individuals are faced with moral dilemmas. This force could include corporate social responsibility, fair trade, affiliation between corporations and  charities.A particular problem may exist with how ethical factors relates to legal forces as they may be  at different stages in development. Something may be ethical but not protected by law, whereas other activities may not be ethical, but are legal. A PESTLE analysis should feed into a SWOT analysis as it helps to determine the threats and   opportunities represented by macro-environment forces that the organization usually cannot control. On an international basis, it is best to perform the analysis on a country-by-country basis because  factors can differ greatly between countries (or even regions).Marketing Environment – Micro Marketing Environment – Micro The micro marketing environment consists of certain forces that are part of an organizations marketing process, but remain external to the organization. This micro marketing environment that surrounds organizations can be complex by nature; however the company has an element of control over how it operates within this environment. Marketing helps you to manage and make sense of this complexity. The illustration above summarizes the order of the immediate external marketing environment that businesses operate in.Current and Potential Customers Your customers are vital to the growth and sustainability of your company. In order to grow you must locate customers, understand their needs and then satisfy those needs both efficiently and profitably. Competitors Your competitors however have the same remit as you when it comes to sourcing and satisfying the needs of the customer. They will make it difficult to liaise with customer groups, as by definition they are largely pursuing the same sets of customers as you.As a marketer, you must therefore not only monitor what competitors are doing in the external marketing environment today, but to also anticipate their likely response to your campaigns and to predict what they will do tomorrow. Intermediaries (Distributors/Wholesalers/Retailers) Your business may require a network of wholesalers, distributors and/or retailer. These ‘intermediaries’ provide an invaluable service in getting your products to the customer. You must therefore think carefully about how best to distribute your goods and build relationships.This area can be fierce in competition as not everyone can get access to the channels of distribution that they want. Suppliers One other important area to consider in the external marketing environment is your suppliers. A key supplier can be an important part of your business and may even attribute to your competitive advantage. Losing important suppliers can interrupt production flow or your competitive edge and prevent you from getting your product to your customers. Choice of suppliers, negotiation of terms and relationship building all become important tasks of the marketer.The wider marketing environment, discussed in a separate knowledge sheet, covers all other influences that might provide opportunities or threats to the organization. These include technological development, legal constraints, the economic environment and sociocultural changes. This brief overview of the world in which companies operate in demonstrates that there are many relationships that matter. These need to be managed if the company is to conduct its business suc cessfully. The main responsibility for managing these relationships lies within the marketing department.Using a SWOT SWOT is an important tool in auditing the external and internal environment of the organization. A SWOT Analysis should be more than a basic listing of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Most organizations have the same, common-sense type of threats, such as competitors, technological changes, regulation and deregulation, or weaknesses such as high price, but these are all very general, hard to control elements meaning the utility can be quite limited. As Cranfield’s Professor Malcolm McDonald puts it, real SWOTs should be more concise and specific.STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES, AND THREATS Strengths, in the SWOT analysis, are a company's capabilities and resources that allow it to engage in activities to generate economic value and perhaps competitive advantage. A company's strengths may be in its ability to create unique products, to pr ovide high-level customer service, or to have a presence in multiple retail markets. Strengths may also be things such as the company's culture, its staffing and training, or the quality of its managers. Whatever capability a company has can be regarded as strength.A company's weaknesses are a lack of resources or capabilities that can prevent it from generating economic value or gaining a competitive advantage if used to enact the company's strategy. There are many examples of organizational weaknesses. For example, a firm may have a large, bureaucratic structure that limits its ability to compete with smaller, more dynamic companies. Another weakness may occur if a company has higher labor costs than a competitor who can have similar productivity from a lower labor cost.The characteristics of an organization that can be strength, as listed above, can also be a weakness if the company does not do them well. Opportunities provide the organization with a chance to improve its perform ance and its competitive advantage. Some opportunities may be anticipated, others arise unexpectedly. Opportunities may arise when there are niches for new products or services, or when these products and services can be offered at different times and in different locations. For instance, the increased use of the Internet has provided numerous opportunities for companies to expand their product sales.Threats can be an individual, group, or organization outside the company that aims to reduce the level of the company's performance. Every company faces threats in its environment. Often the more successful companies have stronger threats, because there is a desire on the part of other companies to take some of that success for their own. Threats may come from new products or services from other companies that aim to take away a company's competitive advantage. Threats may also come from government regulation or even consumer groups.A strong company strategy that shows how to gain compe titive advantage should address all four elements of the SWOT analysis. It should help the organization determine how to use its strengths to take advantage of opportunities and neutralize threats. Finally, a strong strategy should help an organization avoid or fix its weaknesses. If a company can develop a strategy that makes use of the information from SWOT analysis, it is more likely to have high levels of performance. Nearly every company can benefit from SWOT analysis.Larger organizations may have strategic-planning procedures in place that incorporate SWOT analysis, but smaller firms, particularly entrepreneurial firms may have to start the analysis from scratch. Additionally, depending on the size or the degree of diversification of the company, it may be necessary to conduct more than one SWOT analysis. If the company has a wide variety of products and services, particularly if it operates in different markets, one SWOT analysis will not capture all of the relevant strengths , weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that exist across the span of the company's operations.LIMITATIONS OF SWOT ANALYSIS One major problem with the SWOT analysis is that while it emphasizes the importance of the four elements associated with the organizational and environmental analysis, it does not address how the company can identify the elements for their own company. Many organizational executives may not be able to determine what these elements are, and the SWOT framework provides no guidance. For example, what if a strength identified by the company is not truly strength?While a company might believe its customer service is strong, they may be unaware of problems with employees or the capabilities of other companies to provide a higher level of customer service. Weaknesses are often easier to determine, but typically after it is too late to create a new strategy to offset them. A company may also have difficulty identifying opportunities. Depending on the organization, wha t may seem like an opportunity to some may appear to be a threat to others. Opportunities may be easy to overlook or may be identified long after they can be exploited.Similarly, a company may have difficulty anticipating possible threats in order to effectively avoid them. While the SWOT framework does not provide managers with the guidance to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, it does tell managers what questions to ask during the strategy development process, even if it does not provide the answers. Managers know to ask and to determine a strategy that will take advantage of a company's strengths, minimize its weaknesses, exploit opportunities, or neutralize threats.Some experts argue that making strategic choices for the firm is less important than asking the right questions in choosing the strategy. A company may mistakenly solve a problem by providing the correct answer to the wrong question. USING SWOT ANALYSIS TO DEVELOP ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY SWOT analysis is just the first step in developing and implementing an effective organizational strategy. After a thorough SWOT analysis, the next step is to rank the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and to document the criteria for ranking.The company must then determine its strategic fit given its internal capabilities and external environment in a two-by-two grid (see Figure 1). This fit, as determined in the grid, will indicate what strategic changes need to be made. The quadrants in this grid are as follows: * Quadrant 1 —internal strengths matched with external opportunities; * Quadrant 2 —internal weaknesses relative to external opportunities; * Quadrant 3 —internal strengths matched with external threats; and * Quadrant 4 —internal weaknesses relative to external threats.Quadrant 1 lists the strategies associated with a match between the company's strengths and its perceived external opportunities. It represents the best fit between th e company's resources and the options available in the external market. A strategy from this quadrant would be to protect the company's strengths by shoring up resources and extending competitive advantage. If a strategy in this quadrant can additionally bolster weaknesses in other areas, such as in Quadrant 2, this would be advantageous. Quadrant 2 lists the strategies associated with a match between the company's weaknesses with external opportunities.Strategies in this quadrant would address the choice of either improving upon weaknesses to turn them into strengths, or allowing competitors to take advantage of opportunities in the marketplace. Quadrant 3 matches the company's strengths and external threats. Strategies in this quadrant may aim to transform external threats into opportunities by changing the company's competitive position through use of its resources or strengths. Another strategic option in this quadrant is for the company to maintain a defensive strategy to focus on more promising opportunities in other quadrants.Quadrant 4 matches a company's weaknesses and the threats in the environment. These are the worst possible scenarios for an organization. However, because of the competitive nature of the marketplace, any company is likely to have information in this quadrant. Strategies in this quadrant may involve using resources in other quadrants to exploit opportunities to the point that other threats are minimized. Additionally, some issues may be moved out of this quadrant by otherwise neutralizing the threat or by bolstering a perceived weakness.Once a strategy is decided on in each quadrant for the issues facing the company, these strategies require frequent monitoring and periodic updates. An organization is best served by proactively determining strategies to address issues before they become crises. An example of how a firm can develop strategies using these quadrants is as follows. Generic Corporation produces high-quality; high-priced specialty kitchen items in a catalog and in stores and is known for their excellent customer service. This strength has been able to offset its major weaknesses, which are having few stores and no current capabilities for Internet sales.Its major opportunities come from the explosion of Internet shopping, and its threats are other more high-profile competitors, operating primarily on the Internet, and the concerns of identity theft in Internet sales that many customers ha ve. Matching Generic's strengths to its opportunities (Quadrant 1), the firm may choose to enhance its Internet site to allow online purchases, still providing its excellent 24-hour telephone customer service. Ideally, this strategy will offset the weakness of not having an Internet presence, which addresses the concerns of Quadrant 2.Additionally, by bolstering the strength of excellent customer service by applying it to the online shopping site, the company may be able to alleviate customer concerns about identi ty theft (Quadrant 3). A strategy for Quadrant 4, which matches the company's weaknesses and threats, is that Generic may consider selling its online business to a competitor. Certainly, the Quadrant 4 strategy is the least preferred, but a proactive strategy that plans for managing such a situation is favored over a crisis situation in which the company is forced to sell with no planning.A SWOT analysis is a first, but critical, step in developing an organizational strategy. By examining the company's internal capabilities—its strengths and weaknesses and its external environment—opportunities and threats, it helps to create strategies that can proactively contend with organizational challenges. The changing and uncertain marketing environment deeply affects the organization, instead of changing slowly and predictably, the environment can produce major surprises and shocks, how many managers at â€Å"Heinz† foresaw that the baby-boom numbers would fall so rapid ly?How many were able to predict that the Internet will enable not only real-time personal communication but that will also provide a way for business process improvement and new industries would be formed. How many were able to predict that mobile phone SMS and MMS services would add significant value for the customers, some said ‘who would want to type text on the phone or even snap pictures , telephone are only for talking’To conclude I would say that Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information – these information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the methods for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, an alyzes, and communicates the findings and their implications. †

Accounting is not a root cause of the financial crisis, but it has an Essay

Accounting is not a root cause of the financial crisis, but it has an important role to play in its resolution - Essay Example The United States of America was the epicenter of this crisis. The sub-prime crisis caused many key businesses to close down and equity markets all around the world recorded tremendous decrease of their respective indices. This financial crisis almost created mass scale unemployment around the world. It is very interesting to study the role of financial accounting in this crisis. Many experts have expressed the view that the method of fair value accounting have exacerbated this crisis but did not initiate it. The first part of this essay will aim to analyze the role that fair value accounting played during this crisis and whether it has enhanced the crisis or not. Second part of this essay tries to find out whether accounting can provide remedial solutions to this crisis. Role of accounting in the financial crisis According to Financial Accounting Standards, even in the absence of active market or during unfavorable market conditions the banks are required to calculate the values of its assets which will be different and lower than the true value. The final figures of various financial instruments like the Credit Default Swap are calculated at fair value and as a result create misleading impressions. Due to the fair value accounting the banks will sell the various securities at a relatively cheaper price. This would trigger the panic button in the markets and as a result there would be a global meltdown. Through the fair value method of accounting it is not possible for the banks to measure the financial instruments accurately. As a result the banks are forced to incur losses because it sells its assets at lower prices. These losses affect the entire financial markets. There is also a possibility that the banks spent large amount of money to acquire assets at market value calculated according to the fair value accounting method but these investments eventually becomes a burden and cause huge losses. But a closer examination of the situation will bring out the f act that the role of fair value accounting in this financial crisis is very minimal. The US banks lost most of their fortune on loans that they made to non credible borrowers. Losses due to mark to market were far lower than the losses the bank made from bad loans to non credible borrowers. The banks recorded high losses even when they have not valued the price of their various financial instruments under the method of fair value accounting. The major portion of the losses constitute of defaulting loans that their debtors failed to pay off in time. Economists like Easton, Burks and Badertscher have tried to find whether due to the fair value accounting the banks during the sub-prime crisis had sold their securities at lower prices than the actual but they have not found any evidences which would support this idea. According to another expert Shaffer the impact of loan losses was much greater than the losses suffered by the bank due to fair value accounting. So it is quite clear that fair value accounting method did not play any significant role to create the financial crisis but it only helped to worsen the crisis further1. Role of accounting in the recovery from the crisis Generally, most of the organizations use a method of accounting that combines the methods of historical cost accounting and fair value accounting. This creates confusion in the minds of the investors. Panic among the investors accelerated the crisis as the companies failed to give their investors a clear picture of the net asset values and the total values of its assets. The common investors lost all

Reflection paper Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Reflection paper - Assignment Example Working in a community projects develops a rational way of making decisions for the students. Lions Clubs International is a large club organization that has over 1,300,000 members in over 46,000 clubs all over the world. Lions Club has community projects that support students by providing a program that empowers them (Martin 66). The main aim of the Lions Club international is to aid students develop their leadership skills and still make a positive impact to their community. The organization achieves this through the Leo clubs which are approximately 6,400 with 160,000 Leos (members). As a Leo in the community project of green team recycling our main motto was to reduce, reuse, and recycle (Martin 210). We engaged in advocating for recycling of items like hearing aids, paint, books, and magazine to keep our environment clean. At the initial stage of joining the project, I learned that I am a role model to my community in preserving my environment. The program offered activities that create a positive attitude towards the environment. Our Leo club focused on promoting recycling in our neighborhood by creating an awareness of taking the initiative of caring for our homes (Sirgy et al. 250). We collected used glass, aluminium, plastic bags and containers to resource recovery locations. All the Leos worked together in teams to take up the recycling challenges to hospitals and parks. We also campaigned on encouraging the local residents to participate in the recycling events within the city. Through the recycling program by the Lions Club International, the community has embraced the idea of recycling. Large organizations and other state owned corporations donate their outdated and non-functional computers to recycling companies (Taylor 94). The recycling companies dismantle the equipments, sort the parts by type, upgrade the components, reassemble units, and then have them distributed to students who may not afford a computer to use in their studies.

What Are the Attributes of a Good Supervisor Research Paper

What Are the Attributes of a Good Supervisor - Research Paper Example A good supervisor should be discreet, impartial, and hardworking; for he is in charge of several employees. Employees develop conflicts of interest and it is the jurisdiction of a supervisor to ensure that all the employees work as a team. On condition that a supervisor is self-driven and treats his employees well and without partiality; then it means that they will eventually work hard and exploit their potential fully. This is a positive attitude towards the success of an organization. For instance, promotion should be awarded to the hardworking employees but not to relatives or corrupt officials. Not all supervisors are good, some have developed undesirable habits in the process of running their organizations where they don’t observe equality and they further appoint their employees using the cache system. Here, merit to the position under concern is not considered but a person is employed on a kinship basis. Others are corrupt and receive bribes so as execute some of their duties which are supposed to be their responsibility. First, a good supervisor should possess’ excellent organizational skills for he is the person who is responsible for organizing business meetings with several other companies, so he is required to give his secretary instructions on when and where the meeting should be held. In case that an employee is sacked or is not feeling well, then the supervisor has to oversee that a replacement is done before it is too late. It is very important that a supervisor associates with his employees according to the expected norms. He further has the responsibility to ensure that he hires the right person who is competent and well experienced and can sufficiently execute the work as expected. Additionally, a good boss should be very free with his junior’s as good communication facilitates efficiency and effectiveness.  Ã‚  

AM Transmitter Circuit Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

AM Transmitter Circuit - Assignment Example The amplitude modulation and transmission of modulated audio signal is carried out through AM Transmitter. Depending upon the type of application and level of operation, an AM Transmitter consists of following basic building blocks as shown in fig.1. Fig. 1 Block diagram of an AM Transmitter From fig.1 it is obvious that an AM Transmitter has following important building blocks. 1- Oscillator (OSC) 2- Buffer 3- Pre-Driver 4- Driver 5- Microphone Amplifier 6- Modulator 7- Power Amplifier 8- Transmitting Antenna For detail description of each block, the schematic diagram of a basic level AM Transmitter is given below in fig. 2. Fig. 2 Schematic circuit diagram of an AM Transmitter The circuit diagram given in fig. 2 can be broadly divided in two major sections namely; - The Oscillator section. - The audio amplifier section and The oscillator section (that comprises of an oscillator, buffer, pre-driver, driver and microphone amplifier and modulator) is built from the transistors Q1 (BC109) and biasing resistors (R1, R2, and R3). The components L1 and C1 constitutes the tank circuit that can be tuned in RF range of 500kHz to 1600KHz. The Q1 (BC109) that is the key component of oscillator circuit section is provided with regenerative feedback by connecting the base and collector of Q1 to opposite ends of the tank circuit.

Reagan's Part In Ending The Cold War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reagan's Part In Ending The Cold War - Essay Example It is then a question of determinacy or of choice. The historian John Lewis Gaddis, in his book The Cold War, highlights the figure and role of Ronald Reagan as being the reason for the downfall of the USSR. Gaddis gives much attention to the character, personality, and beliefs of the former president. In his own estimation, Reagan’s personality led to his decision to abandon the policy of dà ©tente, one which had been a central one of the American government since the Nixon administration. â€Å"Reagan came to this position thorough faith, fear, and self-confidence. His faith was that democracy and capitalism would triumph over communism, a ‘temporary aberration which will one day,’ he predicted in 1975, ‘disappear from the earth because it is contrary to human nature’† (Gaddis 2005, p. 276). Reagan’s intended his own economic policies, specifically de-regulation and low taxes, to have an international appeal in contrast to the party-line Marxism of the Soviets. Reagan shrewdly sought to abolish nuclear weapons while also enacting a massive military build-up. â€Å"It followed that neither communism nor nuclear weapons should continue to exist, and yet dà ©tente was ensuring that both did† (Gaddis 2005, p. 217). This allowed him to gain support abroad and curtail any suspicions on the Right that he was going soft. According to Gaddis, Reagan suspected that the USSR had suffered ideologically in the eyes of the world. Reagan implemented the Strategic Defense Initiative, which â€Å"challenged the argument that vulnerability could provide security [and] exploited the Soviet Union’s backwardness in computer technology†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Gaddis 2005, p. 226). Reagan’s policy of confronting the USSR while also leaving open the possibility of peace forced the Soviets to increase defense spending while already fighting in Afghanistan.

Cybercrime Investigation and Digital Forensics Assignment

Cybercrime Investigation and Digital Forensics - Assignment Example At the same time, this provides backdoors for hackers to intrude into the healthcare information systems and get access to highly confidential information like patient medical reports, lab results, and other potentially lucrative information like insurance details. When a healthcare industry’s data is being breached, it not only results in financial and reputation crisis to the industry and the specific organization but also causes dramatic effects to the patients depending on the nature of the disclosed data. When such incidents happen, digital forensics renders a helping hand in investigating the potential crime scene with evidences that can be presented for prosecution. This report provides a detailed description about the investigation procedure from a perspective of a cyber forensic company’s lead forensics investigator which would help in identifying and prosecuting a potential breach incident that happened in a healthcare company. To begin with, it would be more appropriate to explain our company’s approach in providing the overall plan for processing the potential crime incident that has occurred in a healthcare company. Our investigation team comprises of security and digital forensic professionals who work in close coherence with highly experienced corporate investigators and well trained background verification team (â€Å"Investigating a data breach,† n. d). Whenever data breach incidents happen, our response team would provide complete guidance regarding the post incident proceedings and provide services highly specific to the requirement of the healthcare industry. Our overall planning process comprises of collecting and securing the digital evidences, visualizing indications for data breach using a triage approach, rigorous analysis of evidences, presenting the investigation results for prosecution, and providing remediation for preventing future reoccurrences (Nelson,

Operational Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Operational Management - Assignment Example The StarField Hyper Mall is a multinational chain with brilliant success across Europe. This was its first time in settling in the United Kingdom market and this involved endeavors that were different comparatively from other of its branches. One of such endeavor was its absolute helplessness over the fact that most of its partners did not have offices here in this country. As there was an adequate absence of services and partnerships, the company had to look for other partners from the local service industries. This involved new associations and new partnerships and the work that followed was not tested from past experiences but relied on mutual interest. Customers complained of the ‘Rudeness of the staff’, ‘Problems with facilities’ and ‘Reliability’. These are drastic complaints for each of the three complaints directly involves the company’s image. The rudeness in the attitude of the staff affects the customer-company relationship most effectively though. The staff is but ambassadors of the company and if they are found to default in their ethics and handling, it leaves an overall embarrassing reflection of the company’s image (Ali, 2003). Although the staff themselves mostly complained of such faults in attitude on the ‘help staff’, the implications affect the whole company. As the complaints fail to detail the rudeness, a hypothetical situation and subsequent assumptions have to be made in order to cater to this problem. The rudeness of the staff can range from the lack in listening to disability to help a customer in need. It can fall into many categories and can be a direct implication by any staff member of the company, be it the ‘help staff’, the counter staff or even the security. The customer could have had problems with the helping staff unable to provide them with timely assistance or failure to listen to them. The term rudeness can fall into different braches and can indeed include

Alvin Plantinga and Pluralism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Alvin Plantinga and Pluralism - Essay Example Religious pluralism can be seen as a policy or attitude that accepts the diversity of other religious belief systems, and their importance within the society. Religious pluralism can either be seen as a representation of the view that the religion of one individual is not the only source of truth. Pluralists believe that some other religions have an element of truth. Therefore, there is a need of referring to these religions and their values. This concept of religious pluralism has always existed since time immemorial. This is because the traditional societies used to worship many gods. An example is the leadership of the Roman Empire, which embraced the worship of many gods and other religions. The Roman priests used to borrow from other religious teachings, and incorporate them in their beliefs. For instance, the Romans worshipped Jupiter as the Supreme God. This was a supreme God of the ancient Greeks, and they referred to him as Zeus. Religious exclusivism, on the other hand, is a doctrine that teaches that only one religion is superior to other religions. It does not recognize or identify the principles of other religious beliefs. In its normative nature, exclusivism is the belief that the religion of an individual is superior to the religion of other individuals (Peterson, William, Bruce and David, 22). Exclusivists believe that the principles and teachings of other religions are wrong, and uncalled for. The exclusivist doctrine is always linked to the teaching of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

Determination of the molar volume of hydrogen gas Essay Example for Free

Determination of the molar volume of hydrogen gas Essay Introduction We are going to determine the molar volume of hydrogen gas by letting known amount of magnesium react with dilute hydrochloric acid and carefully collecting the gas formed. Materials Gas syringe Hydrochloric acid, 2-molar 8 cm of magnesium ribbon Ruler Emery cloth For details see instruction form Methods We connect the equipment according to the diagram and make sure we follow the instructions carefully, and then we weigh the 8 cm of magnesium ribbon and pour the HCl into the test tube. As we are ready to start the experiment we fold the mg ribbon on the hook and put the stopper into the test tube so that when we tilt the test tube the mg ribbon can easily fall into the acid. It is important to wait for the reaction to finish completely so that the equipment returns back to room temperature. For details see instruction form. Results: Measured weigh of 8 cm mg ribbon: 0.068 g (uncertainty is à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 0.0001) Room temperature: 21.9 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C (uncertainty is à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 0.1) Room pressure: 742.5 mmHg Vapour pressure of water: 19.587 and 19.827 Vapour pressure: 19.587 + 19.827 / 2 = 19.707 1.333 x 102 x (mmHg) = Pa Convert the room pressure in mmHg into Pa: 742.5 x 1.333 x 102 = 98975.25 Pa Convert the vapour pressure of water into Pa: 19707 x 1.333 x 102 = 2626.9431 p(H2O) = 2626.9431 Pa Room pressure (Pa) Vapour pressure of water (Pa) 98975.25 Pa 2626.9431 Pa = 96348.3069 Pa p(H2) = 96348.3069 Pa p(H2) + p(H2O) = p(room) 2626.9431 + 96348.3069 = 98975.25 p(room) Calculation of molar volume for hydrogen gas at 0 C and 1 atmosphere P1 x V1 / T1 = P2 + V2 / T2 1 atm = 1.013 x 105 P1 = 96348.3069 P2 = 1 atm = 101300 V1 = 70 cm3 (uncertainty is à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1) V2 = 59cm3 (uncertainty is à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½0.5) T1 = 21.9 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C = 294.9 K (uncertainty is à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1.3466 ) T2 = 0 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C = 273 K 96348.3069 x 70 x 1 / 294.9 = 101300 x 59 x 0.5 / 273 Conclusion Evaluation: Our conclusion is that the molar volume of hydrogen gas at 0 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C and 1 atmosphere is -. We reached the conclusion by first checking the room temperature and barometer pressure. Then we looked up the values for vapour pressure of water at the actual temperature from the Hand book of Chemistry and Physics. The full reference is: Chemistry for the IB diploloma G. Neuss. Oxford UP, 2001 p.28.

The Animation With Multimedia Film Studies Essay

The Animation With Multimedia Film Studies Essay Animation is considered to be one of the exciting forms of pictorial presentation. Animation consists of three main features (i) picture , (ii) motion and (iii) simulated. Animation adds visual impact to the multimedia project. Many multimedia applications for both the Macintosh and Windows provide animation tools, but you should first understand the principles to the eye interprets that changes it sees as motion.There is a place for animation on the Web, however. There, the essential content is typically a  menu  of link. INTRODUCTION Animation is possible because of biological phenomenon known as persistence of vision. The object which can be seen by naked eye can get into visual deception of movement. In other ways we can change to some extent about the figure and structure of an object promptly.    There are FOUR main types of animations which are used in multimedia applications. The first type of animation 2D animation or linear animation, is the simple movement of objects on the screen, generally through linear translation. Multimedia development environments often provide the necessary tools to perform this simple animation procedure. The original creation of animation:3D animation, however, is very technically and artistically involved, as well as time consuming. Three dimensional objects are created using a mathematical model. Each object may be shown in various views, giving the user a realistic sense of third dimension. 2D to motion to appear smooth a minimum of 15 frames per second generally required. There are two dimensions cell animationpath animation it involves techniques as well onion skin tweening. 3D although 2D animation can be effective in enhancing a mulmedia title,3D animation takes the entire experience of multimedia to another level.There are three dimensional animation is the foundation upon which many mulmedia cd games and adventure titles are constructed.In animation top selling products such as Myst And warcraft use of 3D animation to bring the user into the setting and make him or her seem a part of action. Creatin 3D animation is considerly more complex than 2D animation can involves into two steps:modelind and rendering before the real animation takes. Morphing is useful not only in showing how two images blend together, showing how an image might change over time.but also in Photo Morph, Hijact Morph, and Elastic Reality are examples of programs than can produce quite sophisticated morphing animations. Warping is a related special effect that allows you to manipulate a single image. For example, you could stretch a facial feature to change a frown into smile. Virtual Reality (VR) attempts to create an environment that surrounds the user so that he or she becomes part of the experience. The term Virtual Reality has been used to describe various types of applications, some that are more experiential than others. It is nearly impossible to construct a multimedia presentation that will be accessible by every user on the World Wide Web. To  access  visual content, they need a text alternative that can be spoken by a screen reader. LITERATURE REVIEW Humankind has always been fascinated by moving images. The desire to make pictures move has provoked some of the most innovative developments in the fields of science and technology during the twentieth century (Bendazzi, 1994). Animation had made fantasy of human kind come true. It has brought a drastic change in the present world. Every sector in particular field has a production. All media communicate most effectively in their language of animation. Animation is everything from Pinocchio learning to walk, skeletons fighting classical heroes, a pumpkin king ditching Halloween for chrismas (James Clarke 2004).Animation brings stationary objects into motion. Movement should be used for essential communication. In animation anything is possible. Animation brought pictures to life. Animation is used in video games,filims,robotics. Animated worlds need logic, consistency and boundaries.(Bryce Hallett, 2008). In animation ,idea development must include visual exploration. To achieve animation write for action first.Inanimation, any real or imaginary, can be made into a character. It has two levels, basic and advanced. The merit of the computer animation-based activities has also been questioned(IEEE journal on essential animation 1998). Most of children at homes use their computers for playing games, doing homework, chatting with friends which reduce their interest in other co-curricular activities. But there is also positive side of animation. With the help of animation children interaction increases which helps them to learn in a affective way. A way of seeing experience a world that has little relation to our own lived experience or to other cinematic experience(Suzanne Buchan 2006) Animation made cinematic experience brilliant through animation,fantacy worlds are created which are impossible in real world. Through animation interaction with the viewer in the movies are possible. Animated characters do not have to perform realistically in animation, the thinking process needs to be shown(Bryce Hallett 2008).In animation interaction of characters can be from human to human, human to object in virtual world. In animation imaginary stuff can be done. in animation we can create or design our own characters. Animation enables to give magical power things. In my films, I move many objects.Suddenly, everyday contact with things which people are used to acquires a new dimensions and in this way casts a doubt over reality. In other words, I use animation as a means of subversion(paul wells 1998).Where we can put up in words animation starts to speak. As days pass on people concentrate in actions rather than wordings. Any action in death or life can be shown in animation. we keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we are curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths(Walt Disney 1996). As every person in the world expects to see something new and different they keep hoping for a change and the animation world shows every imaginary thing come true. Animation is the stream which can never get into down path. Animation is not the art of drawings that move but the art of movements that are drawn. The process of art eveolving is always one which has a kind of fascination(Norman Mclaren 1987).Animation shows the epic moves which cant not be constant. Effects play a major role in Animation. There are many things to be done in animation one is with graphics and visual effect. Because good writing in a TV cartoon is so rare, I think the animation on the Simpsons is often overlooked(Matt Groening 1954). When childrens watch cartoon they dont watch affects they just watch the motion of the cartoon. Animation is for people who can draw and write but the importance is given only when it plays on the screen. Research: The start of animation was in the year 1908. As ages pass by the world gets into a higher step. Film making was from black and white to colour. Nature is shown in a lively way in animation. The cinematic world experience that are accessible to the spectator only through the techniques available in animation. Animation is derived from the world of imagination. In previous days of animation there were no proper effects as in now there are many more new tecnolgies coming up. Drawings cannot move,but the camera gives the movement and life to the picture. The moving photograph will always be as a magical moving drawing. The word multimedia itself describes numerious of art making and picturisation. Motion picture animation fully exploits the cinematic apparatus,from camera. This communication of unconscious nature gives growth and development to the animated world. It refers to the stimulated motion of picture for the drawn objects. The micro level of multimedia controls the three dimensi on model which involves lights,camera and the movement of picture. The fixing and re-animatingof images remained a research at the educational centres. In simple variables user can define his own uses about picturisation. The media gives the action in all stunts and various effects. Humans and animals give a wild movement which can be shown only in multimedia and animation. The animation is worldwide. Every children have a great knowledge about animation by which they get motivated and get different ideas and try to implement them. People say cant imagine the world without animation that means they even stop imagining things by which animation world do not exsist. Animation can not compete with any other technology. Every particular stream has its own importance. Animation plays a major role in movie making and moving the objects with great force. Drawing is of different types but showing the drawing on the screen with different angles like two dimension and three dimension. Picture s are scanned into the computer using high technology photography or made in computer itself. These objects are scanned into the computer and add color and effects with textured form. Computer is being used by every person but not animation can be managed by everyone. Animation introduces many stills by which few people are still unfamiliar with. To make film one particular scene is copied many times and will be replaced as they use to. The video shots will be taken and put together as a small scene of the film and will give the impression of the different angles the picture moves with. Every stunt of the actor or a cartoon will be manipulated in such a way which makes people feel as its really going on. The three dimension is with something of the object which is getting very close and makes people feel as they are facing the object diretly. Animation creates a strange world between reality and imagination. Animation are generally called still drawings but when viewed it gives the impression of moving picture. Animation is the best part for entertainment. Previous days they used numerious techniques to give the impression of moving pictures like cave drawings which are embeded on the walls like animals running and overlapped but the only the still drawing can be seen not the movement. Numerious of supplies are recquired to bring imagination to life many animators,screens,drawings and many more. In animation few things are purchased like software done by other people where as rest it will be done by their self. The transparency of object can not be seen any where other then in animation and multimedia. A variety of camers and lenses are used to zoom the object. Animator creates a storyboard first and then try to picturaise the object with back ground colours and effects the multimedia plays a role like zooming the camera with different lenses and highlight the important role. There are many games and cartoons created by animation. Games are widely implemented and being played by many children by which they will get a knowledge of different colors and effects and even about the computirazation. The before test of the picture is checked several times for accuracy. The picture needs audio which is very important as the movements are given to the picture there are many sound effets by which it makes us feel thats real not a film. A computerized video tape is actually made of sketches which give the smooth of motion and correct facial expressions. Graphics is the part of animation and multimedia which shows the shapes of geometry and transformations. We can use animation to grow elements,shake and spin. There are many different color combinations which can be done over computer but not hand made. Color shows the epic of the picture and explains the concept of the film but as obtained multimedia has many short films which has come into trend now a days. Multimedia has different concept which shows the picture all the ways. Animation is the bac k bone for the movie industry and runs through the effects and sound effects of the animators. A core feature of graphic capability is to support for working with multimedia which includes video and audio. In films illusion is created by cameras which can record each and every second..The projecter and the light focus makes people exicted to the see the three dimensional picture on the screen. As we researched about animation in multimedia this has a wide range knowledge and is implementing and getting into higher step day by day but never falls down.