Tesco Assessing The Impacts Of Ebusiness Information Technology Essay

Tesco Assessing The Impacts Of Ebusiness Information Technology Essay This paper presents research findings expounding on the relative impacts of e-business technologies when integrated into an organization. The key objective of the study is to determine that how the adoption of innovative technological applications serves to be beneficial or detrimental to the business world and more specifically to the business sector. The recent trade practices require embracing newer technologies as they offer instant access and exposure to consumers and keep 24/7 connectivity to management resources. The positive aspect of e-commerce technology and social networking tools, is to provide users with the ability to communicate both synchronously and asynchronously i.e. via emails, video conferencing, chat and blog forum services. There has been a considerable amount of research conducted on several organizations for the adoption of innovative technologies and the general findings reveal that entrepreneurs often lack the skill, time or money to implement technology up grades. Followed by these key study points highlighted in this paper, assessments are done to gain the insights on the impacts of deploying new web based technologies and social networking techniques. The research has been conducted in 3 phases to determine the consequences of e-business practice of Tesco, a leading supermarket of UK. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 4 TESCO: COMPANY PROFILE.. 4 ONLINE MARKET SHARE 5 PRODUCT RANGE .. 5 COMPETITORS. 5 TESCO: AN OVERVIEW OF E-BUSINESS PRACTICE.. 5 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 6 RATIONALE OF INVESTIGATION 7 LITERATURE REVIEW.. 8 ADOPTION OF E-BUSINESS TECHNOLOGIES. 8 LIMITATIONS TO ADOPTION. 9 CHAPTER II METHODOLOGY 10 RESEARCH QUESTIONS.. 11 SAMPLING TECHNIQUES RESEARCH DESIGN.. 11 PHASE I.. 12 PHASE II. 12 PHASE III.. 13 PROTOCOL FOR DATA COLLECTION.. 14 ASSOCIATED RISKS TO DATA COLLECTION 14 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF DATA.. 14 MEASURES TO ENSURE DATA PROTECTION. 15 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS. 15 DETRIMENTAL EFFECT OF STUDY.. 15 INFORMED CONSENT.. 15 PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY 16 CHAPTER III RESEARCH FINDINGS. 16 CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF RESULTS FINDINGS.. 17 RECCOMMENDATIONS. 19 IMPROVE THE WEBSITE.. 19 REVIEW WEB TRAFFIC. 19 EXAMINE THE COMPETITIVE STRATEGY. 19 CORRECTIVE MEASURES BASED ON FEEDBACK.. 20 CONCLUSION 20 BIBLIOGRAPHY CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This paper is intended to highlight some the consequences of integrating e-business technologies within an organization and study the relative impacts with respect to the companys growth pattern and fiscal benefits attained by the e-business practices. For the purpose of identifying the relative advantages or disadvantages associated to the utilization of e-business technologies, Tesco has been chosen as the subject which has a prominent presence as the leading supermarket across the globe and specifically in UK. The incorporation of e-business technologies are seen as a reality for many organizations and are considered as a vital element of a business plan. The immediate benefits to an organization are in terms of cost savings, efficiencies and enhanced profitability that can be clearly observed at every stage in the supply chain. Adopting e-business technology is no longer a competitive advantage, but a normal business process, without which an enterprise is unlikely to survive in the new economy (Dave, 2001). With the commencement of year 2000 a number of dot-com companies were established however, with a continuously evolving trends of the contemporary business practices a majority of companies are failing to and therefore, the investors have become extra cautious to invest money into electronic ventures. The study encompasses the relevant limitations and hurdles of adopting the e-business techniques and furthermore analyses the integral aspects and impacts of e-commerce practices within the selected organization. TESCO: COMPANY PROFILE With its mass penetration of approximately 90% within the UK retail market alone and having an annual turnover of more than 1 billion, Tesco is generally recognised as the worlds largest online grocer. Tesco has been launched in various other countries and with its strong international presence it is diversifying into non-food categories as well. Tesco began to offer online services in 1995 which was based on consumers orders generated via local Tesco store using the internet (Mohorovice, 2000). To extend its e-business operation further, Tesco also launched its own Internet Service Provider (ISP) i.e. Tesco.net, for the purpose of creating an effective link between internet access facilities and the online delivery services; providing their consumers with a greater choice of ISP. The initial investment for the commencement of online service was relatively small as a network of existing stores, warehouses and distribution centres were already in place (Griffith, 2002). In order to ef fectively integrate the online service throughout the UK, an estimated amount of approximately  £25 million was spent by the company (Griffith, 2002). 1.1.1 ONLINE MARKET SHARE The overall online market share of the leading supermarkets has been illustrated in Table: 01; Tesco 27.1% Asda 10.1% Sainsbury 6.9% Waitrose/Ocado 4.2%. 1.1.2 PRODUCT RANGE Food Ranges: Milk, eggs, butter and all grocery items Non-food Ranges: Books, DVDs and Electronic products Others: Dieting clubs, flights and holidays, music downloads, gas, electricity etc. 1.1.3 COMPETITORS According to the Nielsen/Netrating audience panel for September 2007 for the top UK supermarkets shows the lead of Tesco, offline market share is in brackets from TNS which monitors the household grocery purchasing habits of 25,000 demographically representative households in the U.K as illustrated in Table: 02; Tesco 30.9% Asda 16.9% Sainsbury 16.4% Waitrose 332,000 Morrisons 225,000 1.2 AN OVERVIEW OF E-BUSINESS PRACTICE There is an increasing demand of e-business technologies as the consumers today prefer to utilize online services for shopping due to lack of time or extremely fast paced life and the launch of Tesco.com online service has served as the most simple and convenient way of shopping for consumers who are willing to pay a little extra for their groceries to deliver at doorstep and saves time. The orders once received are further processed online and the information is instantly passed on to the nearest stores. By developing the e-commerce and e-business practices, Tesco has extended its leading position in grocery home shopping since the foundation of tesco.com and has grown registered customers up to more than 750,000 with online orders up to 60k per week giving sales of over 5 million pounds (Palmer, 2005). To maintain the accuracy of the online orders, Tesco has maintained staff to gather the items in accordance with those specified in the online order list and then the groceries assem bled at a delivery point to be distributed to households within a given area. A number of timeslots have been made available for delivery of online orders and consumers are directed to ensure the availability of someone to collect the requested stuff. The payment process is also convenient and most of the payments are collected online. To keep the consumers updated with the information on prices, all items are marked with their status of availability and sell-by date. A close substitute is added in case where a product is out of stock. The online sales in just the first half of the year 2007 were 748 million, a 35% year-on-year increase, and profit increased by 62% to 54.7 million (Palmer, 2005). Further to add value to its e-business technology, sophisticated software has been formulated to manage the collection and delivery of the goods to customers. It is also important to note that a number of marketing benefits are also associated with the incorporation of e-business practice w ithin the business. Moreover, a database is maintained to extract valuable information about the products higher in demand and those which require specific types of marketing and promotion; can be identified. Feedback on satisfaction rates and responses of consumers to new offers or products can also be pulled out through this database. In addition to this, the database helps to horn the online strategy and deliver an added-value service to customers by effectively responding to their needs. Tesco has an active customer base of 850,000 and more than 250,000 orders are completed each week (Griffith, 2002). 1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES This research aims to enhance the understanding of acquiring e-business technologies and their utilisation and thereby assess the basis for improved business competitiveness. The theme is based on one of the largest retail store in UK i.e. Tesco, illustrating the impacts of e-commerce techniques implicated in regional, historical and economic contexts of the retail businesses (Yoruk and Radosevic, 2000). With continuously evolving global trends a need has been develop for the transition of business practices in order to achieve a knowledge-based economy by stimulating innovation and improved access to advanced research and development practices and e-business technologies. The proposed paper aims to study the relative impact of innovative internet technology encompassing the business practices of Tesco within UK. The investigation is based on how the innovative use of business networking and advanced e-commerce solutions encourage and support the Tesco to play a leading role in the a dvancement of a cutting edge trade society (Yoruk and Radosevic, 2000). At the same time the research expounds on addressing the related competitive challenges to this largest retail store of UK, in absorbing and developing new-fangled social networking culture. The study design is fabricated to expound on the impacts pertaining to Tesco benefiting from the e-xploitation of science and technology in order to develop closer links with new markets and consumers of the region. The theme of the overall exploration is to develop an understanding of how e-business technologies enable Tesco to broaden and deepen their consumer acquaintance and leverage business culture of excellence. 1.4 RATIONALE OF INVESTIGATION With the passage of time e-connectivity and social networking practices are becoming obligatory for the success of businesses and followed by the observations it can be suggested that the adoption and implementation of the internet connectivity, e-commerce practices and social networking technologies by retail stores offer a great potential for creating new markets, new organisational forms, and new ways of working in the knowledge-driven economy. The motors of economic growth with their loose organisational structures and often fuzzily defined organisational roles and relationships perceived as fruitful milieus for innovative activities (De, 2000). All e-commerce networks have significance for innovative activities and the extent and the nature of overlap between social networks is especially important bearing heavily on the extent to which cooperation can be produced over large sectors of the economy. Business groups are based on social linkages whether its cultural similarity, inf ormal link or an everyday contact. The need for adopting e-techniques and social networking arises in situations where economic advantage can be achieved for the group members of a business. To understand the ability of firms to respond to the fast-changing environments of the business world the approach of e-business technologies within business development process is important which can provide suitable insights into the structure and dynamics of local economies(Palmer, 2005). Although the bulk of the effort in innovation is to be done by the firms themselves, the difference between national and regional patterns of technological development highlights the importance of external economic and non-economic factors that encourage creative interactions between all parts of the society, leading the economy into virtuous circle of technological development (Rogers, Ghauri and George, 2005). Considering the significance of e-commerce and e-business activities within the business environm ent, this study has been conducted to expound on the subject matter and thereby present effective measures and recommendations to further enhance and overcome the limitations to adopt e-business practices. 1.5 LITERATURE REVIEW A community can be more willing to adopt a certain technology when it can offer some beneficial package through which an existing human need can be fulfilled. The e-business technology is capable to offer enhancements to communication that improves networking and also sufficient enough to make needed knowledge resources more readily accessible; and this is what makes it striking for the retail sector (Goode and Stevens, 2000). It is also interesting to note that those that have been most successful in fulfilling specific market needs, or niches, also encounter competing technology vendors which can also be the case in any other situation. 1.5.1 ADOPTION OF E-BUSINESS TECHNOLOGIES The e-business technologies offer additional benefits in the productivity of an organization and furthermore, a peripheral vision is offered to integrate within the business successful community building devices like Face book, twitter and MySpace and these possess a vital niche within the lives of their consumers and the communities that they tend to form. Astoundingly, the e-business networks which are the main selling product offered by these community building devices, is mostly formed outside of the e-environment before an electronic communication takes place (Rogers, Ghauri and George, 2005). Interestingly the e-business activities and these social networking platforms are not just for the purpose of fun instead they offer a means for advertising potential business practices. The social networking websites were formerly utilised by young however, the technologies that link individuals are no longer limited to the younger age groups and their significance has been realised hence , the models are now designed to serve as an interactive tool which can help diffusion into target markets (Fildes, 2002). In addition to these social websites an alternative niche is provided by a business focussed solution termed as Linkedin that offers the professionals and businessmen from diversified backgrounds with an ability to form business networks and maintain searchable contact information that can be further utilised for trade purposes (Goode and Stevens, 2000). These highly successful e-business technologies provide elementary communication and collaboration environments via text and sometimes via audio channels within specified limitations. Much better and enhanced communication and collaborative environments are provided by certain recent innovations as for example, Skype, which is not web based but offers a range of telecommunication devices and by utilising the IP connectivity it offers call and video conferencing options that can be very useful for swift business activities. All these e-business activities and social networking websites within their own capacities offer a platform for the organizations like Tesco to further enhance and develop their businesses with an unlimited access and exposure of consumers globally. 1.5.2 LIMITATIONS TO ADOPTION Research from the European Commission (2002) constitutes that when it comes to introduce technological advancements especially e-business technologies to the retail industry, they face certain problems as statistics suggests that the smaller retailers are less likely to familiarise themselves with e-commerce techniques. This does not necessarily means that by the enlargement of size or by integrating specific regulations or policies will solve these problems. Reliable, stable and open business environment is what retail industry will benefit from and therefore policies encouraging this along with liberalisation of ecommerce practices and the interoperability of internet solutions, and easier access to finance through horizontal policy initiatives are likely to succeed in tandem with retail-specific initiatives (Goode and Stevens, 2000). The competitive or environmental pressure that compels a retailer to adopt e-business technologies tends to result in sustained and improved profitab ility of an organisation. In accordance with another study by (Robertson, Lockett, Brown Crouchley, 2007) it can be observed that among the retailers their poor perception towards computer based technologies limits adoption as small retailers or organizations have limited finance or support to engage with state of the art web based technologies that would enhance communication. When larger companies adopt the e-business technologies it is interesting to note that positive network external effects can be achieved which can also be thought of as word of mouth effects (Frambach Schillewaert, 2002). The significance of words spread within general public is highly recognised within the business world and organizations do realise that the adoption of techniques which can broaden the horizon of their trade can be extremely beneficial. The e-commerce technologies offer the same by providing the business owners with all ingredients to attain better chances of success. As for example the ne twork externality effects were particularly important in the success of fixed line and mobile phone adoption as an additional subscriber leads to an increase in the utility of all existing and future subscribers thereby augmenting the eventual success of the technology (Fildes, 2002). The existing relationships between the retailers and the consumer markets also tend to hinder in adoption of the innovative technologies. There is a specific load or pressure within everyday business practice and the knowledge that is required to carry out routine activities through technological means is absent in most of the business environment unwilling to become a part of modern trade practices. The inability to deal with the recent technological environment tends to compromise the credibility with business partners and leaves sensitivity amongst the workforce that the business environment is less dynamic. On the other hand, in some instances there are numerous of consumers without internet capabilities or those who do not feel secure to utilise advance e-business techniques; also see their credibility compromised in terms of other retailers. Furthermore, industry, market scope, competitive pressure and external technological support are considered to be factors that influence r etailers willingness to adopt e-business technologies. The adoption of advanced technologies is greatly influenced and also dependent upon the industry in which the retailer operates (Levenburg et al. 2006, Raymond 2001). Processing of information is carried out by the service industry and therefore, much of their functions rely on the information systems. Retail industries are increasingly reliant upon the point-of-sale systems for the transfer of goods. Manufacturing industry rely more on technological systems. It has been observed by a study that the ecommerce practices vary not only across sectors i.e. across Standard Industrial Classification codes but also within constituent sub-sectors (Fallon and Moran, 2000). CHAPTER II METHODOLOGY The research methodology incorporates the use of both primary and secondary data including exhaustive literature review, interviews and observations based on studying the obtainable research data. The study expounds on observing a radical intent to utilise the development of innovative networking technologies as part of retail processes however, certain limitations make it difficult for the owner managers. The contemporary business practices and market trends has established that by implicitly adopting social networking techniques wider level of transformations within an organization can be obtained (Fink, 2007). To obtain a better picture the study needs to obtain a theoretical understanding of how economic costs and lack of technical knowledge become two of the most important factors that hinder in growth of social networking technologies in small organisations. The research methodology involves observation of theoretical data, data collected through interviews and analysis of mark et activities, validated research procedures and investigative strategies upon the area under discussion. The method used in this research is to evaluate various technological, organisational, and environmental aspects that facilitate or inhibit adoption or diffusion of social networking technologies and thereby identifying the relative impacts on an organization. 2.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS The core element of this dissertation is to determine the upshots of implementing e-business technologies within Tesco and studying in detail how it affected the organization with a particular emphasis on the business practices. The objective is to assess the overall business activities and growth pattern of Tesco to find out the impact of the innovative networking technology and also elicit the views of significant participants of the organization. The five main objectives of this study are; To establish how e-business technologies are acquired, absorbed and utilised within Tesco to gain competitive advantage; To study the relative impacts of e-business technologies when applied to a retail organization particularly within Tesco; To investigate enablers and constraints that influence e-business practices within a wider context embracing all the regional, social and economic factors; To adopt a methodology, influenced by data collected from the active respondents and theoretical groundings for investigating Tescos e-business practices; To utilise a research design incorporating users of e-business technology such as the owners, managers and administrators of Tesco, to gather valuable views and comments about the relevant consequences. 2.2 SAMPLING TECHNIQUES RESEARCH DESIGN The recruitment and designing of sample required the random selection of the study population that is acquired from the 500 employees working on various levels within Tesco, located in Central London. The additional information about the organization was supplemented by the retail stores online website. The sample was designed to develop and benchmark the present scale of adoption of e-business technologies among the allocated sample of Tesco located in the Central region of London. The design of sample was tailored at diverse echelons. A brief semi-structured questionnaire was distributed and the interviews were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim for the assessment of relative impacts of e-business technologies. A back up staff for taking notes in writing and recording was made available to the interviewers, where applicable. The interviews were conducted on the basis of discretion; hence the sample store, market participants and the respondents are kept unidentified. Initially 500 active employees were engaged in the study functioning at various levels within the organization that include owners, managers, IT administrators, support staff and also some regular consumers. The sample is further categorised in accordance with their level of maturity i.e. depending on their status of commencement, stability and innovation. At the outset, the interviews were conducted in each firm and the respondents were selected from senior management team. The interviews were based on open-ended questions with in-depth interrogation in which the flexibility was maintained on the focus, follow-ups and probes clarifications to pursue the emerging themes (Alvesson and Skà ¶ldberg, 2000). The duration of interviews lasted between one and one-and-a-half hours session. The research has been conducted in three phases; each phase is discussed in detail as under: 2.2.1 PHASE I For understanding the existing research exhaustive literature and systematic reviews were carried out. Review was based on investigating how social networking has been adopted and integrated in small firm and thereby identifying their relative impacts. The exhaustive literature study also examined the association between the use of social networking technology and small firm growth. These reviews helped to identify major themes within previous research and the details contained within the papers highlighted concerns with social issues, absorptive capacity and policy support that enable the transfer and development of social networking technologies within business practices. Gaps include sector bias, lack of research on the situated nature of technologies, factors that mediate the adoption of new systems of organising, and how relational competence and social skills influence firm growth (Alvesson and Skà ¶ldberg, 2000). An in-depth study was carried out of relevant literature presen t in books, newspapers, articles and renowned academic journals. 2.2.2 PHASE II The research survey was administered during the period in between February 2010 and March 2010 and the investigation was focussed on studying the relative consequences of integrating e-business technologies within UKs leading retail, Tesco. A smaller canvassing team of 5 interviewers were trained to administer the telephonic survey and approximately 500 employees of Tesco were contacted via telephone. The inclusion criteria as set in accordance with the research methodology allowed the survey information to be collected from the owners, managers, IT managers or from employees and people of similar stature by the canvassers. Certain regular consumers were also considered as respondents and accepted as per the inclusion criteria. A response rate of approximately 18% was received through the outbound calls that helped to achieve about 90 completed forms. It is important to note that problems of sample selection and response bias can lead to results that are difficult to extrapolate to l arger populations. In this case two types of bias were encountered. Firstly, regional bias arose due to the over collection of surveys from the upper management and too few from the lower management. Secondly, the survey contained too few surveys administered to the consumer base of the organization. Both imbalances were corrected using a weighting process called rim weighting (Alvesson and Skà ¶ldberg, 2000). All results generated for this document are weighted implying that the results reflect the general picture to be found in the organization. 2.2.3 PHASE III The third phase of the research methodology is designed to understand the need for incorporating e-business technologies within the potential retail market and assessing how entrepreneurs would utilise the technology to gain competitive advantage, and finally investigating the limits of the e-business technology when put into practice. In order to gain deeper insight into the need for e-business technology within the retail store, qualitative interviews were conducted on 500 employees of Tesco selected from different departments within the organization. The interviews were conducted on the upper management and directorship level or with IT decision makers of the companies (Fink, 2007). The research encompasses the incorporation of e-commerce and e-business techniques for selling products from a broad range of departments of Tesco including food products, healthcare products, sports, groceries, electronic products and home accessories. To acquire a rich background of company informati on there were about 10 stores enlisted for interview via cold calls to the database collated during the enterprise survey and further 5 stores were enlisted through general contacts. Respondents were asked to illustrate the nature of the retail business practice in order to gain insight into the role of e-business technology in the company. Details were collected regarding the trade practice of the enterprise to identify the level of operation i.e. local or international, furthermore, investigations were made about the current level of networking technologies in use and the mode of communication between employees, suppliers and customers were also studied. 2.3 PROTOCOL FOR DATA COLLECTION The target study population is comprised of actively participating members and employees including owners, directors, managers, administrators and IT staff of Tesco. An aggregated set of data collected through authenticated annual reports of the organization to determine the growth patterns after the adoption of e-business technologies. Renowned economic journals, newspaper articles and books are used for compilation of authentic data. An open ended brief survey questionnaire was distributed to the respondents in order to collect valuable comments and meetings to discuss and accumulate annotations of relevant stakeholders. ASSOCIATED RISKS TO DATA COLLECTION There are certain practical difficulties that hinder in the collection of data that eventually result in delaying the research procedure. Due to the indulgence of human objects there are chances of missed appointments, absences due to illness that might account for the down gradation of the research process. Effective time management by pre-evaluated questionnaires cut short and transcribed interview sessions and appropriate theoretical observations are required to anticipate research obstacles in timely manner (ESRC, 2010). 2.4.1 VALIDITY AN

Jack Merridews Decline in Lord of the Flies Essay -- essays research

Civilization is the force that keeps us all in line. We are taught from an early age that if we break a rule, we are punished. Why? Because that’s how society works. What would happen, though, if we took away society, civilization, and punishment. Would we keep up the rules that had been etched into us since birth and keep living in a civilized manner? In Lord of the Flies, Golding explores this scenario. In his opinion, a person would abandon all ideas of society and revert into a savage, relying on primal instincts to survive. The main character that goes through this is Jack. Throughout the book, Jack goes from being a civilized choir boy to a savage tyrant. In the beginning of the book a plane crashes onto an island and the only survivors are a group of boys in a school choir. Enter Jack: the leader of a small group of choir boys. They call a meeting and decide how things will be run and decide on the rules. Jack seems for them, saying â€Å"We’ll have rules!...Lots of rules and then when anyone breaks ‘em-â€Å"(33). They then vote on a leader. The candidates are Jack and Ralph, and Ralph won. Although he isn’t happy about it, Jack accepts his loss, and decides to try his hand at exploring. While exploring with Ralph and Simon, Jack comes across a wild pig. He draws his knife in order to kill it but finds that he can’t. Something deep inside him says that it’s wrong to kill, â€Å"They knew very well why he hadn’t: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh, because of the unbearable blood†. In his moment of hesitation the pig runs off, and he puts aw ay the knife. Civilization won this time. Even though his choir group is supposed to be watching the fire and making sure it’s lit, Jack takes ... ... of calls to communicate. He has complete power over the tribe, bending them to his will. He’s become a dictator, savage and brutal. Rules no longer apply to Jack because he’s forgotten the society he comes from. All he cares about now is killing Ralph to take revenge. In his mind, killing is a totally acceptable thing to do. Jack has lost all reason. His plan to kill Jack fails though, when an unexpected rescuer shows up. It is unknown if Jack ever regains his civilized self. It seems unlikely though, given how he is at this point. Civilization is the thing that keeps us in line. We have a system of checks and balances to make sure everyone behaves. If someone does something we believe to be morally wrong the person is punished. Take away civilization and society will go to ruin. People will revert back to their primal selves. Going on instinct and not intellect. Jack Merridew's Decline in Lord of the Flies Essay -- essays research Civilization is the force that keeps us all in line. We are taught from an early age that if we break a rule, we are punished. Why? Because that’s how society works. What would happen, though, if we took away society, civilization, and punishment. Would we keep up the rules that had been etched into us since birth and keep living in a civilized manner? In Lord of the Flies, Golding explores this scenario. In his opinion, a person would abandon all ideas of society and revert into a savage, relying on primal instincts to survive. The main character that goes through this is Jack. Throughout the book, Jack goes from being a civilized choir boy to a savage tyrant. In the beginning of the book a plane crashes onto an island and the only survivors are a group of boys in a school choir. Enter Jack: the leader of a small group of choir boys. They call a meeting and decide how things will be run and decide on the rules. Jack seems for them, saying â€Å"We’ll have rules!...Lots of rules and then when anyone breaks ‘em-â€Å"(33). They then vote on a leader. The candidates are Jack and Ralph, and Ralph won. Although he isn’t happy about it, Jack accepts his loss, and decides to try his hand at exploring. While exploring with Ralph and Simon, Jack comes across a wild pig. He draws his knife in order to kill it but finds that he can’t. Something deep inside him says that it’s wrong to kill, â€Å"They knew very well why he hadn’t: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh, because of the unbearable blood†. In his moment of hesitation the pig runs off, and he puts aw ay the knife. Civilization won this time. Even though his choir group is supposed to be watching the fire and making sure it’s lit, Jack takes ... ... of calls to communicate. He has complete power over the tribe, bending them to his will. He’s become a dictator, savage and brutal. Rules no longer apply to Jack because he’s forgotten the society he comes from. All he cares about now is killing Ralph to take revenge. In his mind, killing is a totally acceptable thing to do. Jack has lost all reason. His plan to kill Jack fails though, when an unexpected rescuer shows up. It is unknown if Jack ever regains his civilized self. It seems unlikely though, given how he is at this point. Civilization is the thing that keeps us in line. We have a system of checks and balances to make sure everyone behaves. If someone does something we believe to be morally wrong the person is punished. Take away civilization and society will go to ruin. People will revert back to their primal selves. Going on instinct and not intellect.

All Drugs Should be Legal for Personal Use Essay -- Legalization Drugs

All Drugs Should be Legal for Personal Use The war on drugs is costing us over 100 billion dollars to fight each year, and we’re only fighting a monster which we are making bigger with each punch. It’s not drugs, but drug laws themselves that have created this monster. Drug use is part of human nature, but the unimaginable wealth involved leads to the corruption of the police, judges, and elected officials. There is no reason to have the government regulating what goes into an individual’s body. An extreme case of what we’re letting the government do is letting them take away our own self, an individual’s ownership over his own body. I think it’s in everyone’s interest to legalize all drugs, since this war is going nowhere, letting the government get more powerful than it was ever meant to have been, and it’s putting numbers over our names. There is no way that the drug flow into the United States is ever going to be stopped. It’s a general economic rule, that as long as there is a demand for drugs there will always be a supply, unless scarcity occurs, but it doesn’t appear as if Colombia is running out of cocaine anytime soon. Cocaine brings Bolivia’s economy $600 million per year, a figure equal to the country’s total legal export income. Our country’s current annual import of cocaine would fit comfortably into a single C-5A cargo plane. The United States is just too large, there is no way to stop an import of a drug completely. By keeping a drug off the street...

Jollibee Case Analysis Essay

Executive Summary Jollibee Food Corporation is a Filipino fast food brand that opened in 1975 and has been on the path of expansion since then. IT capitalised on the changes that came its way to fight the competition from brands like McDonalds and KFC. The case highlights the global expansion strategy that they followed backfired due to which they had to consider revamping their strategies. The company has an opportunity in Papua New Guinea, California and Hong Kong but before taking that decision they need to work upon their previous issues to ensure the success in these countries. Till now the firm is being operating in two parallel organisations with no cooperation and coordination among the two which has resulted in chaos and a strained relation between the two. We have through this case analysis provided a complete picture of the Jollibee operations along with the strategies and the way ahead. An analysis presented that the company is currently in between the internationalization and localization strategy. We have recommended the company to follow transnational strategy that would help them achieve an advantage over the competitors. Industry and Firm level Analysis * INDUSTRY LEVEL ANALYSIS The fast food industry is basically a very highly competitive market that strives on cost leadership. The industry is faced by both international players who have huge finances The industry faces low margins and experiences profits on the basis of the economies of scale. The key to achieve economies of scale is selecting the right location to attract traffic and a highly efficient operation management. In the fast food industry the product offering are almost the same. So what make a difference are the things like the service, providing extra drinks / any other supplementary product with your main product. The profitability depends on the customer traffic, location, operation management. Expansion happens mostly through Franchisees and Joint Ventures, it is very important to attain Economies of Scale to do well in this kind of industry as the cost of all other things as we all know is just increasing manifold. And even then the consistency in the food quality is one of the major area s of concerns. * POTTER’S FIVE FORCES i. Rivalry Among The Competitors: High * As explained in the case the competitor had an advantage in terms of brand name, the profitability, the customer base they had . Also high because of the high standardization in terms of quality, quantity, price, procedures and processes which are similar and there’s competition to get better in these aspects. ii. Threat Of New Entrant To Industry – Low * Due to the high tariff barrier and the advantage of economies of scale, differentiation that a firm gets over time. Also in this industry people mostly don’t shift easily due to the taste adaptation and the ability to trust any other brand quality is low. iii. Threats Of Substitute Product– Low * Jollibee managed to serve their customers at affordable price, good service and the hence gained a brand name eventually, so the threat of a new substitute is low , again because of the ability or nature of consumers to shift to other brand easily is low. iv. Bargaining Power Of The Suppliers- Low * The raw material required for food industry could be sourced from multiple suppliers and the shifting costs are less. v. Consumers Bargaining Power- High * Company depends on the consumers for its profitable business and the company needs to adhere to the consumer’s tastes, preferences and prices as there are many competitors to whom they may shift to. Also the entrants are expected to be less in number, so it is better to suit the needs of the existing buyers than to stand different from them. * FIRM LEVEL ANALYSIS Values: The firm puts the customers as the base of all their operations. The customers should be kept in the minds first and then only any further decisions should be made keeping their needs in mind. The co-ordination between the different teams and the different levels also is considered to be very high. High operational efficiency and a well laid out plan with honesty, integrity as a part of their value system. Feeling of one unit and one family is considered to be their priority as they expanded immensely into various countries and regions. Employees have the art of listening and communicating everything that the customers want. Mission: The mission statement of â€Å"we bring great taste and happiness to everyone† showcases its brand as quality based and high in consumer utility. They stand by their tag line and portray their brand in this context. Vision: 1) Their aim to become the most dominant, quality oriented, quick service restaurant, the most endearing brand that has ever been. 2) They provide FSC excellence in every moment 3) They will lead in product sales all time 4) They will be within the reach of every Philippine Thus the 3 B’s helped attain these strategies which are, boost the standards of fast food industry, build brand satisfaction and broaden their reach to customers. SWOT Analysis: Where the opportunity and threats talk about the external factors affecting the firm’s performance and the strengths & weakness about the internal factors of the organisation. STRENGTHS: * Understanding about the local tastes and preferences * First mover advantage in the home market as they were well established before the entry of McDonalds. * Highly motivated people in the organisation, they were all ready to take up the risk. * High domestic market share due to selection of the best location that is a result of first mover advantage. * The ability to innovate given the understanding of the local people but only in their domestic markets. * Power to give the competitive fight to the other organisations in the same industry. * Good operations management. * Diversity in product offering (after the acquisition of Greenwich pizza) WEAKNESS: * No consensus between the international division and the home division. * Lack of communication between the departments * Bureaucratic structure * Financial condition for expansion. * Lack of R&D before expanding internationally along with the fact that the R&D rested with the parent company. * Biased towards local friends and family while selecting franchisees * Lack of global brand recognition. OPPORTUNITIES: * Acquisition with a brand to get their brand also known amongst people. * Hiring non Philippines managers to get the sense of local adaptation. * Create differentiation by cost advantage or customer experience. * Tap the market with lesser or fewer competition. * Increase the product line to favour the taste of local consumers. THREATS: * Big giants like Mc Donald’s and KFC in the foreign markets. * Increased in the transportation cost and the raw materials cost ‘* Political instability * Mismatch in the ideas of the various divisions * So many failures in the foreign market like that in Singapore , Taiwan * Catering to a fast food joint as it is needs a very strong convincing power due to the shift to healthy food by many people. * Entry barriers for them in some countries * Reduction for barriers in the home country which enabled other big fast food giants to enter into the market. Change Drivers Jollibee’s strategies were derived from a lot of change drivers that the company faced. 1. The first change driver that brought Jollibee Foods Corporation into proper incorporation was the realization that prices of ice cream would double due to the oil crisis of 1977. This helped them start their own food outlet with homemade hamburger recipe of the Tans’. 2. Kitchner felt the need to increase the pace of the global expansion projects as he felt that visibility was the only way to bring Jollibee into top ten fast food brands. He decided to go about a variety of strategies to do so. He started his plan with targeting the expatriate Filipinos in the Middle East, Hong Kong, and Guam etc. But this strategy failed as he realized that not all Filipinos had same tastes. When this strategy failed Kitchner used the â€Å"plant-the-flag† strategy as a part of which he wanted to mark his presence in as many countries as possible. As a part of this they started opening outl ets in every country they felt an opportunity. 3. They realized the failure of their joint ventures was due to the lack of support from the parent company. Tony Kitchner implemented a strict control process of the franchises. He appointed Franchise Service Manager’s (FSM) who were the point of contact between the Jollibee and their international partners. He started collecting their sales data everyday not only to analyze the traffic in the outlets but also to provide consultancy to these franchises on how they could improve. For this they also implanted frequent checks that ensured that the standards, quality, hygiene, customer satisfaction etc was maintained. 4. After the criticism of Jollibee’s operations in Indonesia they realized that they need to act as a world class company and not a local company. They started changing the ambience of the outlets in the host country according to the tastes of natives of the host country people. They realized that not all countries like the same type of outlets and services a s the Filipinos. 5. One of the elements of their 5F’s was flexibility which seemed to be missing in their operations. Their â€Å"proven concepts† of Filipino food in every country seemed to trigger a huge controversy. Kitchner realized the mistake and immediately sorted to rectify it. They started with local adaptation as a part of which they introduced a rice dish in which the gravy changed according to what the people wanted like in those countries like in Hong Kong they served their dish with hot and sour chicken while in Vietnam it was served with chicken curry. This accounted for a very small part of their revenue but this was their stepping stone towards localization. Issues Faced The key issues faced by the company are listed as follows: * Strained relation between the domestic and international wings resulting out of their differing opinions. * Following the â€Å"planting-the-flag† strategy that led to opening up of more and more of outlets to increase visibility even if they were running huge losses. This involved a huge investment that affected the other markets. * Lack of proper research about the market needs, the type of local needs, the potential market, the customer base and the competition level and their reach. * Inability to attract local managers due to the fact that the brand was less recognizable and also as a result of aversion from the international firms. * Difference in the management style and culture lead to a failure of plenty of Joint Ventures. The main problem was the model followed by them. * Inability to transfer its success factors in Philippines to other countries. The reason Jollibee was successful in the Philippines was due to the following reasons: * Catering to the local needs by supplying hamburgers that were spicy. * The commendable operational efficiency it practiced in Philippines that require keeping close tab on operations. * Consistent high quality products and maintaining its share in the market. * Its skills in site selection because of its excessive familiarity with the place. * The large number of stores in Philippines enabled it to achieve operational efficiency through economies of scale. * The case makes it evident that there is less market for Filipino-style food that Jollibee has failed to understand. It needs to localize its menu to attract the local customers. Later Jollibee realized the problem and started catering to the local needs for e.g. their rice dish in Indonesia to suit their tastes. Strategies Suggested The firm as mentioned in the executive summary was in between the internationalization and localization strategies. We have drawn this inference from the case which mentions that what Jollibee wanted previously following international strategy as they thought they can sell Filipino cuisine in all parts of the world targeting the expatriates. Therefore they felt they were faced with very low pressure for local responsiveness. They failed to realize that this strategy works only in case of MONOPOLY but not in case of firms having strong competition like Jollibee. This strategy failed as Filipino food was not perceived the same way in every country and the pressures for local adaptation increased. Jollibee failed to keep in mind the key â€Å"Driver† in the fast food sector is local responsiveness and low cost. Later in the leadership of Tony Kitchner they felt the need for local adaptation and realized that international strategy would not work for them. Low cost pressure was always there as they were faced with heavy competition. Tony Kitchner bought about localization in their offering thereby forcing them to follow Multi Domestic (localization) strategy but the case mentions they were over-shadowed by local competitors who were providing food for lesser cost and better local adaptation. Therefore looking at the above mentioned points we would recommend that the company should follow a transnational strategy given that they face high pressures of both cost reduction and local adaptation. The following grid gives a diagrammatic representation of the strategies mentioned. Implementation Plan When going for multi-domestic as a strategy only a certain amount of flexibility and autonomy be provided to partners. This becomes more of an arm’s length dealing, trust was lacking in the relationships. A holistic coordination is required to transfer core competencies or to pursue experience curves and location economies. This is possible only in a transnational entity. This smooth transition can be enabled by inter unit cooperation, decentralizing the organizational structure and following a geocentric approach. Also to implement this strategy and carry out expansions following schemes of actions must be taken in various functional departments. 1. Operations Plan * Waste reduction (TQM) and Standardization of food items will further help in cost reduction. * Smooth supply chain management system should be put in place to increase efficiency and productivity. * The flag can be planted in regions where people have similar taste buds as strategic business units. So that the menu can be varied according to regional taste. * Once the company starts to follow transnational strategy, location economies and operational efficiency should be taken into consideration so as to reap the benefits of both cost structure and differentiation. * Lessons learned should be internalized, so that lack of operational efficiency problems as in Singapore, transparency issues as in Taiwan can be avoided in the future international expansion. 2. Financial Plan * The relations with franchisees and other associates should be clearly defined and the degree of control of the financials should be clearly defined to avoid future confusions. The ramifications of poor relations are clear in the closing down of many franchisees abroad. * The financial management should be done effectively so as to provide enough budgets for the R&D and associated activities that are needed for the global expansion. * Sufficient funds should be made available for the marketing and positioning activities. * Opening multiple stores at the same time will hurt the bottom line and will increase debt. A Cost benefit analysis approach should be used. 3. Marketing plan * Market research prior to entering new markets will help in avoiding the unprofitable ventures as in the Middle East. In order to compete on the level with multinationals, rather than just being a first mover, Jollibee would have to take its performance to the next step and prove that it could continue to build its competitive advantage. * The focus target segment in every country has been expats from Philippines which has been largely successful. But it should not exclude the local populace of the host nation. Its marketing initiatives should target the local populace and it should position itself as a global fast food brand which offers â€Å"exotic Filipino cuisine† for everyone. * Its core competency should be â€Å"authentic Filipino fast food with good service and quality† * The menu of Jollibee should have a mix of standard food items as well as items specific to a host nation. To achieve this, they should set up R&D divisions in each country and come up with new dishes to cater to local consumers like McDonald’s which came up with vegetarian burgers for India and which was a big hit. * For expanding the menu, economies of scale and operational efficiency should be kept in mind. Items which increase inefficiency should be removed from the menu. * Jollibee should follow a differentiated strategy wherein it should target those markets with high potential with an economy similar to that of Philippines like Papua New Guinea and observe the first mover strategy to capture these markets first. 4. Human Resource plan * Jollibee needs a strong corporate culture, and informal management networks to assist in coordination and control. It also needs to understand local cultures before expansion. All this can be achieved through a proper emphasis on Management Development. An effective MDP can build a unifying corporate culture by socializing new managers and partners into the norms and value systems of the firm. * Jollibee should allow certain level of decentralization of authority for its franchises in other countries for operating decisions related to product, marketing and human resource management. Also certain number of R&D centers could be opened in other countries to facilitate localization of some products. * In order to facilitate cooperation among units the staff members who are required to coordinate with other units must be given training on cultural differences and adaptability in workshops. By adopting this practice Jollibee would support its staff to understand the cultural diversity among nations and different market needs. * Jollibee should communicate the company culture through company conventions to ensure that the company interests are achieved. * Localized training approach should be used to make employees outside Philippine as part of the organization. New Decisions At the end of the case we see that currently they are faced with three key decisions about venturing into three different markets. We give our viewpoints as to which markets would be feasible for entry and on what scale. I. Papau New Guinea: The market as described lacks a decent outlet to eat at. Given the opportunity described by very low or probably nil competition it is recommended that Jollibee open an outlet there. It will advisable for Jollibee to open a few outlets in order to test the feasibility and the demand in the market. If the response of the local public is positive they can slowly increase their outlets. II. Hong Kong: According to exhibit 10 we can see that Hong Kong is second in terms of the per store sale value ($ 571120). This reflects that there exists a huge market for Jollibee in Hong Kong but before setting up another store at Hong Kong they need to resolve their issues there. Their main problem there is inability in attracting local managers. They need to resolve their manpower issues before opening another outlet to ensure that their brand name does not get spoiled because the managers had to pay more attention to the quality issues in the dearth of labour which of the lack of quality which left them less time to concentrate on formulating short term. These factors could tarnish their image in the market. Therefore, first step would be to rectify these problems and then improving the status of the existing outlets. When they feel demand is rising tremendously they can set up more outlets there. III. California: Their venture in Guam was a success showing that the food was liked more by Americans based there. Their work at Guam gave them an idea of how to work in America. They can use their learning’s from Guam and implement them better in California to be successful. A small market research before the venture would be suggested to get an idea of the local needs and the potential in the market. Their plan of entering a market with high Filipino population with less number of competitors, Daly City, could be advantageous for them. From that market they would slowly venture into other areas after gaining a share in Daly City.

Great Expectations Essay

As part of my GCSE coursework, I have read two novels written by Charles Dickens. The first novel is ‘Oliver Twist’, from, whwhich I will look at a villain called Bill Sikes who is a thief, a housebreaker, a murderer and one of Ddickens’ most menacing characters. I will look at how Dickens characterises him as a villain. s makes him a villain. The second book I read was ‘Great Expectations’, infrom which I will look at another villain called Magwitch who bullies a young boy named Pip into helping him q. escaping from prison. I will also look at how Dickens characterises himmakes him as a villain.. I will then compare Bboth characters will then be compared and contrasted in my study. . The first person I will look at is Bill Sikes who is a murderer, a thief, a housebreaker, a bully and is part of Fagan’s gang. Before we meet Sikes, Dickens dDescribes his environment. Firstly it is described as an ‘obscure parlour of a low public house’, a ‘dark and gloomy den’, ‘in the filthiest part of Little Saffron Hill’ and ‘where no ray of sun ever shone in the summer’. Adjectives such as obscure, low, dark gloomy and filthiest are all negative and suggest to me a very unpleasant and rough environment. The place being described as ‘where no ray of sun ever shone in the summer’, suggests to me further of the place’s depravity and that the public house is set in a back ally. The room Sikes is situated in is called a ‘Den’, A den is a place where animals usually live, so it suggests to me that this is an inhuman place, not suitable for a persons habitation. Over all I can say that the atmosphere is excessively bleak and miserable, the setting is used to reflect character and to create atmosphere suggestingand Sikes is in part, athe product of his own environment. Sikes is said to have been ‘brooding’, this suggests that Sikes had been in deep thought, scheming and plotting evil things. Sikes is described as ‘strongly impregnated with the smell of liquor’, this suggests to me that he we was highly intoxicated and the result, would mean that he would be grumpy, and irrational. He wares ‘a velvet coat, drab shorts, half-boots and stockings. As you can see his clothing is very drabmonotonous and this suggests to the reader the obscure and sinister nature of Sikes and the world he inhabits. ity Sikes of which Sikes can possess. Sikes is described as ‘even by that dim light, no inexperienced agent of police would have hesitated for one instant as Mr. William Sikes’. This suggests to the reader that Sikes is well known by the police and is obviously a common criminal. Sikes’ dog is described as being ‘red-eyed’. This is symbolic of depression and anger and many other negative emotions, so it is apparent that the dog is symbolic to the negativity in Sikes’ environment and is also a product of bad environment may be symbolic that the dog is symbolic of the harsh environment. The dog sits at his mastersmaster’s feet, this shows the relationship between the dog and his master as being close and intermit and proves Sikes’ ownership of the animal. Later the ‘unoffending’ dog is attacked and by Sikes, this shows that Sikes is very volatile, unpredictable, unstable and dangerous because he attacks his dog for no cause and acts very spontaneously with his aggressiveness. After the attacking, the dog avenges his attack it, by attacking Sikes’ half-boots. This shows that the dog has a bad temper and has a lot in common with his master. This eventually leads to a fight and Sikes’ attempted murder of the dog. This shows how malevolentsatanic Sikes’ can be. Sikes is a very aggressive man in his language, he ‘blasphemes’ and ‘curses’, ‘thrusts’ and ‘swears’ This type of language is rather unpleasant, shows negative emotions to a reader. This sort of dictionspeech gives a sense of violence to the reader. When Sikes speaks to his dog he says ‘Keep quiet, you warmint! Keep quiet! ‘ Here he commands and insults, so it shows that he is violent when he talks. We know this because Dickens has used exclamation marks to show that he was talking in anger. This can also be seen when he talks to Fagan for example ‘you white-livered thief! ‘ This shows the anger in the voice with the use of insults and exclamatoryion phrases. marks. Sikes also seeksspeaks to Fagian with a ‘fierce gesture’gesture’; this adds to Sikes’ sinister character because it suggests that again Sikes is angry and violent with his oral expression. Sikes’ often ‘growled’, had a ‘fierce sneer’ and speaks ‘savage like’. This further makes him look obnoxious and unhappy. These details present him as brutal, animalistic and primitive. Sikes speaks with the ‘harshest key of a very harsh voice’. This suggests that he is very unpleasant when he usually speaks. Therefore I would say that the way in which Sikes’ speaks shows that cruelty and ill-intent of his character. Thus from this extract we are given the impression that Sikes is incredibly evil, menacing, he is unhappy, intimidating, ferocious and volatile. This impression is reinforced later in the novel in which we look at Sikes killing his prostitute lover Nancy and the events leading up to it. It begins with Noah, repeating what he told Fagin to Sikes. Fagin ‘cries’, and says ‘Tell him that, tell him that.

Database security in the cloud Essay

This chapter is mainly concerned with providing the research methods and the tools that were used to get the views of the respondents. They contribute a lot in the conclusion of the research. The methods that were employed in this research include sampling, questionnaires, and online surveys. With Web 2. 0 being in full force today, there are more avenues that have made it possible to get views from clients. These avenues include web forums, blogs, and review sites like ZDNet, and ZNet sites. This was a good method that was of paramount importance in this research. Use of interview This method was also a vital component of my research as its combination with other methods like observations and other statistical techniques yields optimum results. I ensured that I maintained the balance of emphasis which kept on shifting with the frame of reference and objectives of this study. Interviews also proved highly flexible especially given the fact that I handled it with care and achieved a considerably liberal atmosphere since questions that were not easily grasped by interviewees were rephrased and/or repeated emphatically and explanations given where it proved necessary. The use of interviews helped me in the study of human behaviour during the process and helped me to secure very intimate and personal knowledge about my study. However, they had the following limitations: the use this tool proved to be time consuming as I had to conduct personal visits to the sample population severally due to some absentee interviewees which forced me to conduct several revisits and some appointments that I made sure to catch up to the required information (McEvoy, & Schulze, 2008). Records and documentations also helped me in analyzing the legal basis of businesses, their past, current and projected status as regards capital input and output enabling me to deduce the history of ideas, prime philosophies and scientific thoughts that come with the projections (McEvoy, & Schulze, 2008). Journals were also useful in my research as I got relevant information and used it for my analysis and compilations. Expressive Documents including personal letters; life or case histories in the form of diaries and accounts of small-group processes which created a solid background for sourcing information in this research. 4. 1. 2 Use of questionnaires I employed the use of close-ended questions where I provided the respondents with a variety of choices to pick from that reflected the trends and use of Information Technology and also open ended questions in which I gave the respondents room to formulate their own answers to my questions. Although its use proved to be cost effective, easy to analyze, familiar to most of the respondents and reduced biasness, their use has shown that they have low response rates which is a real curse to statistical analysis and can reduce the reliability of the results (Jha, Merzky, & Fox, 2008). But I ensured a well designated study approach to the use of questionnaires to produce consistent and high response rates. 4. 1. 3 Online surveys/use of the internet The Internet proved very interactive in providing me with relevant information besides being affordable to administer, easy to modify and gave instant results for the study. The tool also had an advantage of making it easy to automate data creation, manipulation and reporting and made it user friendly. Although the use of the internet was efficient, it still had weakness of difficulty in determining and controlling selection probabilities, which is a hindrance to quantitative analysis of data collected (McEvoy, & Schulze, 2008). 4. 2 Procedures The results were from 5 companies which have widely dealt with cloud computing and are concerned with the security of the databases stored in the clouds. These companies have their representatives and program officers who were very helpful in this research. This is because they are the leading in the development and development of cloud computing. Data was collected using SPSS program. The views from the employees of these companies were captured in a questionnaire which was sent online. They were asked how they perceive their achievement of the database security in cloud computing. They were then asked of their personal feel of the extent to which the war against attacks in the cloud has been achieved. In part 1, the respondents were told to give the things they feel are important when one is implementing cloud computing. They were told to give the issues they feel were paramount in implementing security in cloud computing environments. Participants were then asked a series of questions related to database security in cloud computing: the type of cloud computing they wish to implement (attribute vs. consensus), the type of information source (personal vs. impersonal), type of heuristics (independent self-related vs. interdependent self-related), decision speed, consideration set, product involvement, and product knowledge. In part 2, participants were asked a series of individual differences in their technologies they wished to b implemented. In part 3, participants were presented with demographic questions such as age, gender, nationality, race/ethnicity, and cultural identity. Once a participant finished the questionnaire, he/she was thanked and dismissed. McEvoy, G. , & Schulze, B. (2008). Using clouds to address grid limitations. In Workshop on Middleware for Grid Computing (article 11). Retrieved May 19, 2010, from ACM Digital Library database. Jha, S. , Merzky, A. , & Fox, G. (2008). Cloud computing and grid abstraction. Retrieved on May 17, 2010, from Open Grid Forum Web site: http://ogf. org/OGF_Special_Issue/cloud-grid-saga. pdf

Christine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Christine - Essay Example in women or cars and that is perhaps the reason why King used a feminine personification for the car to make Arnie’s relationship with it look like a love triangle, that is, if Leigh is added in the picture. Using a male personification for the car could not have as compelling as when it was given a female name. In the following paragraphs, it will be made clear that if Christopher took the character of Christine, the story would not have been impressive or effective for King’s objectives in the novel. In addition, the standard perception of men in relation to cars, the stereotypical female lover who is possessive, jealous, cunning, devious and their unconventional characteristic of being a hero will be discussed to further explain why Christopher cannot be as an effective character as Christine. Arnie is the bullied type of character in his school and hometown. He is described in the novel as â€Å"pizza-face† with his pimples often oozing and he had only one friend, Dennis. This means, he was the type of guy who surely is still a virgin when his age mates changed girlfriends a number of times already. With such physical characteristics, King’s story would not be believable if Arnie suddenly turns into an extreme character, dating the most beautiful girl in school. Therefore, the author uses an obsession to an old car that Arnie thinks he could turn into a beauty, as the reason for Arnie’s transformation. When Arnie bought the car, there have been changes in his character which only girls can have an influence on in boys, or at least that is how parents often see it. He turned from the â€Å"yes sir/yes ma’am† boy he had been for seventeen years to a â€Å"man† who fights for the things he believes in. Yes, he turned into a man just like when a boy does when he gets his first sexual experience. Although Arnie’s relationship with the car is not sexual at all, the fact that it is named Christine, a female name, it is made to look like he just had his