Operations Strategy Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Operations Strategy - Case Study Example In fact, empirical evidence shows us that realized strategy tends to be about 10-30 percent of intended strategy. What really determines strategy is the "patterns of decisions that emerge from individual managers adapting to changing external circumstances and the ways in which the intended strategy was interpreted." What is Apple's mission and strategy today' Apple's mission is to deliver a highly innovative and superior solution to a customer's personal computing needs. Apple's present day competitive strategy is a return to differentiation. Key elements to this strategy are an emphasis on design, service, branding through advertising, and quality. Drivers needed to attain these objectives are through the firm's unique marketing abilities, engineering skills, creativity, and R& D (Apple Computer, 2005). Although the company has excelled in delivery and order processing, it still has yet to prove its operational efficiency. Therein lies Apple's principal weakness. In the past, Apple has failed to reconcile the added cost of differentiation with operational efficiencies in production and distribution. Apple has also shown competencies in building brand reputation and generating buzz for its products. Their marketing campaigns have been successful and remain a value added activity. Financially, the company remains liquid with substantial cash reserves and is not highly leveraged in debt (Apple Financial, 2006). Apple's differentiation strategy is uniquely aligned with the changing dynamics of the industry. Firstly, Apple owns the only viable alternative to a "Wintel" machine. All other major computer manufacturers are only slightly differentiated because they are forced to conform to the "Wintel" standards of an Intel chip and Microsoft operating system. They are limited to differentiating themselves based on accessibility, service, and marketing. Apple has successfully differentiated itself as the only viable alternative to the PC standard. The two major forces that have affected market share loss are the misconception that Apple computers are incompatible with available software for Wintel machines and buying one will result in losses in functionality. This can be overcome with aggressive marketing campaigns in which Apple has demonstrated value added competencies. The second major factor contributing to Apple loss in market share is the unmatched price erosion from the PC market. Apple has failed to narrow the gap because of its operational inefficiencies. If Apple can narrow this price gap and overcome the negative software perception, it will undoubtedly regain market share (Bateman - Snell 2004). Internal Analysis Mission, Long-Range Objectives, Current Strategy, and Performance Between the years of 1980 and 2001, Apple slid along a turbulent slope of declining market share and profit erosion where it lost its leadership position and now lags as a market follower with a mere 3% total market share. Apple's inability to defend its market share and leadership status can be directly attributed to one general, yet prevailing driver. Throughout this fleeting tenure, Apple lacked a clear mission and competitive strategy that drove the value creating activities of the firm (FEI 2006). Apple began with the mission to "change the world through technology." More specifically, the company sought

Chinese Communist Party in the Civil War in 1949 Essay Example for Free

Chinese Communist Party in the Civil War in 1949 Essay The Chinese Civil War, which lasted from 1927 to 1949, was a civil war in China which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) overthrew the Guomindang (GMD) . As the CCP had always been inferior to the GMD in many aspects, many were shocked and startled by the Communists victory; although numerous factors show that the Communists victory was almost inevitable. This essay will examine the factors that lead to the Communists victory, which includes ideology, economic, political, social, military, foreign issues, and personalities of the leaders. One of the major advantages of the CCP can be seen in their social aspects and the support of peasants, which were the vast majority of people. They owned limited amount of land, had high rents, low productivity, were in dept and many lived on the edge of starvation. In addition, having peasant support for the CCP can supply with food resources. Therefore, Mao understood the first goal he had to achieve was the support from peasants. First, he set up peasant unions of Hunan from 1925-27, then in 1838-45 when Chiang had their attention focused on the Japanese Invasion, Mao and the CCP went to the rural areas, where the peasants were grateful for the way the soldiers behaved and helped the people. Then, the political leaders confiscated land from the landowners and redistributed it to landless people; lastly, they were given rights to vote for village leaders. By doing all this, the once enslaved and exploited people of china gained faith and freedom established the myth that only the Red Army was the true protector of China. In contrast, the GMD had no strong support from the peasants; and most of them felt no connection to the government. The GMD had no party organization helping the struggling provinces, and after the split of GMD and CCP in 1927, the support of common people was very low . On the military aspects, the CCP was disadvantaged in the number of arm forces. In 1945, the GMD had 5 million troops, while the CCP only and 1.25 troops. However, there are a few points which can turn this into an advantage. Firstly, they made use of guerilla warfare, which is extremely suitable for small troops to travel swiftly, change position; be precise and alert. Secondly, the communists selected high quality troops and trained them strictly with strong discipline. Lastly, the communists had similar  lifestyles between the leaders and soldiers, and with the peasant support, they sustained high morale within the Red Army. With all these advantages, we can see that in 1930-1931 Chiang Kai-shek sent 3 military expeditions to exterminate the Red Army, facing an army of 300000, the CCP defeated them all . Here, we can see how effective the guerrilla warfare is in facing a large amount of troops. In contrast, the GMD had huge troops and modern weapons . However, the GMD troops did not have strategies against the light armed and swift troops of the CCP. Moreover, because the life between the leaders and the soldiers had too much difference, they had low morale and did not have the full heart to fight for the GMD. In terms of economic aspects of the CCP, and they did not have a lot of expenses due to the guerilla warfare tactics, and the people can self-supply themselves with food, as they were all peasants. In contrast for the GMD, 65% of the states budget was met by currency expansion and only 10% by taxes . Therefore, they were highly dependent on foreign aids of the US. The constant depreciation of the value of paper currency undermined in particular the morale in all jobs that were dependent upon the payment of salaries, including troops, officers and civilian officials. Their tolerance was limited and led to widespread corruption. In terms of political aspects, the CCP had made a lot of errors and had escaped destruction by a hairs breadth, but they had an extraordinary resilience, refused to give up and learned from their mistakes . In 1927 after the failure of the autumn harvest uprising and retreated to Jinggang Shan, he noticed needed to win the hearts of the peasants; therefore, he adapted the Marxist theory and incorporated it into the peasants . Then, as he retreated with the remaining troops, he set his base in the Jinggang shan mountains where nationalists were far. Here, it shows that Mao learned from his mistakes. Furthermore in 1936 during the Japanese invasion, Mao forced the GMD to unite with them to defend the country, and here, we can also see that Mao truly cared for his country and did not just want power. In contrast, the GMD did not truly care for China. Firstly, the GMDs support came from the wealthy city classes and landowners, which was a small population of China. Lastly, the GMD lacked passion and never learned from  their mistakes, for example, in the final battle in 1948, when they were advised to concentrate his forces on the Huai River. The foreign issues were also a crucial point in the victory of the communists. During the Japanese invasions in 1937, the GMD, who were supposed to be in charge of china, conserved his forces for the inevitable civil war, and pinned their hopes of interventions of foreign powers to defeat Japan . Moreover, as the GMD is dealing with the Japanese invasions, it gave chance to the CCP to gain popularity, strengthen their armies, and give them time to expand in general. By 1945, party membership gained from 100,000 to 1.2 millionOther factors such as the ideology and the personalities of the Mao and Chiang played an important role in the victory of the Communists. In the ideology of communism by Marx, they were just supposed spread communism, but later, it was adapted by Mao to suit chinas conditions, focused on the peasantry as the main revolutionary force, instead of the workers. Meanwhile, the Nationalists did not remain to their original ideology, which was the three principles peoples livelihood, democracy and nationalism. For example, when Chiang gave the warlords a position in the government to develop urban areas, he ignored peoples livelihood. During the Japanese invasion, he ignored nationalism by relying on foreign aid, and in 1932, he ignored democracy by suppressing the media, books, and the press. Gradually, the GMD lost support and the people favored the Communists. In conclusion, the Communists victory was due to the peasant support, political organization, and their use of military tactics in guerilla warfare. Also, the nationalists incapability of governing, corruptions not remaining to the original ideology, and the lack of passion, leads to the downfall of the GMD. In addition to the foreign issues, the Japan invasions, the Communists truly won not only by forcing the GMD out of china physically, but winning the peoples hearts and minds. At last, the country with the largest population, China, is finally painted red. References Chinese Civil War 1946-1949. (2000., December 16). Wars of the World. Retrieved September 26, 2007, from http://www.onwar.com/aced/chrono/c1900s/yr45/fchina1946.htmElegant, R. S. (1972). Mao vs. Chiang: The Battle for China, 1925-1949. New York: A Thistle Book. Lescot, P. (2004). Before Mao (S. Rendall, Trans.). 10 East 53rd Street, NewYour, NY10022, USA: HarperCollins Publishers. (Original work published 1999)Marrin, A. (1989). Mao Tse-Tung and His China. 375 Hudson Street, New York 10014, USA: Puffin Group. Meins, B. (n.d.). Chinese history: The Chinese Civil War of 1927-1950 . In Helium where knowledge grows. Retrieved September 26, 2007, from Helium Web site: http://www.helium.com/tm/346350/chinese-civil-happen-momentShowalter, D. (2005, April). Decisive Encounters: The Chinese Civil War, 1946-1950. Retrieved September 26, 2007, from LookSmart Web site: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3686/is_200504/ai_n14681639Wood, J., McManus, A. (1998). China Revolutionary Leadership (L. Day, Ed.). 6 Ride Way, Albany, Auckland, NewZealand: Macmillan Publishers. (Original work published 1998)

Essay on Food as a Control Mechanism in Handmaids Tale :: Handmaids Tale Essays

Food as a Control Mechanism in Handmaid's Tale      Food traditionally represents comfort, security, and family. We recall the traditional concept of comfort food and the large family dinners in Norman Rockwell's piece Freedom from Want. However, for many, food is also a serious, and potentially damaging, method of control. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia are classic examples of psychological syndromes, related to control, that express themselves with eating disorders. Prisoners of war are denied food as the most basic method of torture and control. Like all humans, Offred, the main character of Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale, finds that food is a central and important feature of life. Food has many meanings in the novel, nourishment, fertility, and luxury; however, this paper will focus on food as a control mechanism of Gilead's government. First, page 11 in the novel introduces tokens,à ® which are the method of payment for food in Gilead. Tokens do not have any writing on them at all, only basic pictures. Here it is important to recognize that handmaids, and all respectable women, in Gilead are not allowed to read. Gilead has biblical mandate for this rule, without doubt, yet the most significant aspect of the rule is its use as a control mechanism. Women are denied the power of knowledge, and hopefully, from the government's perspective, women will eventually lose all ability to gain any knowledge that is not fed to them. We see this same idea expressed on pages 25 and 27 when Offred described the storefronts. All the stores, but specifically the food markets, no longer have written names and signs. The names of these stores are all expressed using rudimentary pictures. As an example, a wooden sign with three eggs, a bee, and a cow indicates Milk and Honey. There is further significance of the tokens mentioned above. Because handmaids must use these tokens to purchase food, they have no choice or free will regarding food at this stage. The food they pick up at the store will be based purely on the tokens that have been given to them, they will hand these tokens to a man behind the counter, and he will hand her the food. It is very simple and extremely passive. The limitation of free will using tokens is expounded upon when Offred realizes that Milk and Honey has oranges, a rare luxury. Offred is longing for one of these fruits yet cannot have it because she doesn't have a token for it (25).

Today, the status of gold mining

Gold mining is the extraction of gold from the formation of gold-rich process. There area variety of techniques can be mined from the formation of the gold, the most primitive way is gold, then after Gold Separation Equipment Sieving. Currently on industrial multi- purified gold cyanide, but cyanide toxic, and therefore are developing new gold extraction reagents. Gold mining major ways: open pit gold mining can be divided into two and underground mining to underground mining based.Suitable for open-pit mining in general and micro-fine gold placer mining. Placer gold mining has two mining and artificial gold mining ship, the former is used in eluvial zone and the presence of a large number of coarse gravel riverbed areas to dig for gold richer artificial horizon for the purpose. General dug placer exists only in some small profitable ore, ore grade of 0. 02 g / m3 can be more profitable.Some gold mining river boat is larger, more stable gold grade gold layer, artificial profits or di fficult to dig a large gold mining company under the gold mining area to the way large-scale mining, gold mining ship costs are normally up millions of dollars, and therefore requires a ood gold mining operation area. Underground mining is the main way Chinese gold mining, because most of the Chinese gold deposit is concealed, semi-concealed orebody, requires the use of open hole ways to mine gold In South Africa, the world's most advanced gold mining straight hole to a depth of 3,000 meters.Since gold buried deep underground, sulphide mineral-based gold mining requires a higher ore grade, simple alternative minimum sulphide ore industry requirements in 2 grams / ton, mined at an average grade of 4 g / ton to profit . Depending on the complexity of he gold grade of ore types and optional other associated minerals may be, no useful elements of high muddy high arsenic sulfide gold ore is required to reach a favorable 7-10 g / t mined before.As other major minerals associated minerals, such as zinc, copper associated grade often in one gram / ton, only in the case of other minerals as a companion to profitable mining. With the development of science and technology, gold mining equipment and Gold Separation Equipment are in constant innovation, I believe that one day in the near gold mining will become much easier.

Sociology: Notes on Social Dimensions of Crime

SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF CRIME 1. AGE 2. SEX 3. ETHNICITY 4. SOCIAL CLASS Since the recession of the 1980s, employment rates for adolescents increase yearly and have an impact on the diminishment of youth crime The younger you are, the more prone you are to be a victim of victimization The older you get, the more you are prone for property crimes and less for physical crimes SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF CRIME 1. AGE 2. SEX 3. ETHNICITY 4. SOCIAL CLASS MALES: Offenders are most likely to be male. They account for 80% of all criminal offences. 90% of all homicides, sexual assaults, and robbery crimes.And 78% of all property crimes (breaking & entering, theft). Since the 1960’s, we see an increase in female criminality. However, the specific crimes they engage in are different than the ones males engage in. (Credit card fraud, shoplifting) The feminization of poverty: we are seeing the high rise of poor, single mothers Men & Women have equal tendencies to be victimized by crimes†¦ the d ifference between the two is that they are more likely to be victimized by different crimes. They are not equally victimized to the same crimes. MEN: Assault, theftWOMEN: Sexual Assault SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF CRIME 1. AGE 2. SEX 3. ETHNICITY 4. SOCIAL CLASS Big over presentation of aboriginal peoples in federal & provincial prisons. In general, aboriginals only make up 3% of Canada’s population, but 16% of Canada’s inmates. Howard Sapers noted that aboriginal people are mistreated (receive harsher treatment) by workers, prison guards, psychologists, and are more likely to be denied parole. They are also more likely to be sent to maximum security prisons. SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF CRIME 1. AGE 2. SEX 3. ETHNICITY 4. SOCIAL CLASSToday’s social class, it doesn’t matter if youre rich or poor, all have equal tendencies to commit crimes. The difference is the type of crimes that the poor commit and the rich commit. Rich commit more sophisticated/organized crimes Poor commit more survival crimes (theft, If you make less than 15 thousand dollars a year, research shows that you’re more likely to be a target of a violent crime because youre probably living in the ghetto If you make more than 60 thousand dollars a year, research shows that youre more likely to get robbed, because you have more to rob.

netflix vs blockbuster case analysis

netflix vs blockbuster case analysis Free Online Research Papers Reed Hastings has already been a success for beginning new companies. He first made a name for himself by going public with Pure Software in 1995. After the development of this company he began to obtain several other companies and made Pure Software one of the 50 largest public software companies in the world by 1997 until they sold to Rational Software in 1997. From there Hastings moved on to others projects. He noticed that there was a demand for the ability to rent movies. With a large customer base he figured there was no question that his company could fail. Since the internet was booming, Hastings sensed the opportunity for online movie rentals. This began the only movie rental industry to a large audience. With one company becoming successful, it wouldn’t be but a matter of time before others began to catch on and begin to reap the benefits of someone else’s idea. Back in 1985, David cook wanted to fill a niche market just like Hastings. He wanted to load a market for customers who wanted to rent an assortment of VHS movies. By selling off his existing oil and gas software business, Cook subsidized the first store. By 1986, an initial public offering was started in order for the need to raise capital to fund further expansion. However, a harmful news article delayed this offering. Running into liquidity problems, Blockbuster had an ending result in a $3.2 million loss. In 1987 cook sold a one-third stake in the company to a group of investors. In conclusion, Cook was forced to turn over future control of the company, and eventually left the company. 2003 was the most interesting year for Blockbuster. The company placed a net loss of $845.2 million, which shifted Blockbuster to make some important decision for the company’s future. The five forces model is a tool used to diagnose the competitive pressure of the industry. From these five different areas of the market, this model evaluates the power and significance of each pressure. The strongest of the five forces comes from rivalry among competing sellers. Firms will use any resource or weapon available to gain a better position in the market. Many marketing experts say that rivalry refers to the jockeying of market share by firms. There are two main types of players in the video rental industry: Traditional renters, such as Blockbuster, who operate physical store locations, and mail-order renters such as Netflix. Competition for market share is brutal for the traditional renter. As this type of renter, Blockbuster has positioned itself with a profound fixed cost communications venture in retail store locations. Due to this high fixed cost, by spreading the cost over many rentals will be the only way Blockbuster can lower its average cost per item. As in a ny industry, if competition takes market share away from a company it is possible for the cost to increase. Blockbuster will eventually find itself competitively disadvantaged if this were to happen. Therefore, Blockbuster fiercely competes to maintain its market share. This can be seen via several recent Blockbuster promotions, most of which were aimed at the competition from Netflix. Tactics such as the Blockbuster game or movie pass, which is limitless game or movie rentals for a flat per month fee, were designed to come from the loss of market share. In order for Blockbuster to remain cost competitive overall, Blockbuster will regain some market share through these passes, even though they do not generate as much revenue as per rental fee. Mail order firms such as Netflix have a different cost structure in contrast to the traditional renter. Netflix’s distribution centers, inventory, and website maintenance are primarily Netflix’s fixed costs. These fixed costs in total are far lower than the fixed costs a chain such as Blockbuster acquires. In isolation, the fixed cost per rental element for Netflix is lower, and Netflix can reach a competitive average cost at much lower rental amount. This allows them to offer flat fee rentals, while maintaining a lucrative margin. In order to steer clear of rising cost average costs, Netflix may not need market share as desperately as Blockbuster. However, Blockbuster will be placed at a price disadvantage if Netflix recognizes that it can steal enough market share away from them. Thus, this leads to intense competition and firm rivalry as well. Because the industry is stagnant, there are many other factors influencing firm rivalry in the video rental industry. The only real alternative for growth is to increase market share, since the size of the market is not expanding. This obviously intensifies competition. Furthermore, movie/game rentals are an extremely undifferentiated product. A rental from Blockbuster is exactly the same as a rental from Hollywood video or Netflix. There are little or no switching costs for consumers to move between firms. This strengthens price competition for consumers to gain market share. Finally, there are strong exit barriers for companies such as Blockbuster. As a result, Blockbuster will continue to match prices with Netflix or others as it struggles to survive, increasing the competition even more. Prior to the explosive growth of the internet in the late 90’s, a strong dispute could be made that there were high entry obstacles in the video rental industry which restricted competiti on. This would include the relatively large economies of scale required to operate retail locations which did not operate at a cost disadvantage relative to Blockbuster. Another entry barrier was the high brand loyalty enjoyed by Blockbuster, which was the place to go for movie rentals. Lastly, new firms would also face entry barriers in the form of needing to generate sufficient volume in order to gain access to revenue sharing agreements with the studios similar to those which blockbuster had in place. With the evolution of the internet, all of these factors changed. However, the retail location entry barrier disappeared as technology allowed companies such as Netflix to reach a nationwide audience without a physical appearance. Blockbuster had alienated many of its customers by not keeping enough copies of popular movies in stock, among other reasons mentioned prior. Therefore, the brand loyalty barrier was overcome mostly by chance. The barrier of needed to have enough volume to negotiate profit sharing agreements with studios simply became debatable. DVDs has replaced VHS, and DVDs were priced for retail sale less than $25.00, unlike VHS which was rental priced in the 70-90 range. This meant that Netflix did not have to negotiate revenue sharing like Blockbuster did in the days. As a result, competition has amplified further because there are now few entry barriers in this industry. Video rentals are bountiful with substitute products. This includes items such as pay-per-view , VOD, and streaming on-line videos. As these are all feasible alternatives, the threat of substitutes plays the role of yet another intensifier in delivering a nearly identical product. Suppliers in the video rental industry yield minimal power when addressing this force in Porter’s model. An input such as games and DVDS is nearly identical for all suppliers. As mentioned above, there is a wide availability presence of substitutes and also virtually no ability to price discriminate. These factors erode the supplier power while at the same time intensifying the position of buyers. Therefore, the dominant trend in the future will result in intense competition with falling prices because when all five forces are combined it will be apparent that firms will have a strong desire to compete on price within the video rental industry. It is important to analyze potential profitability with a firm using a SWOT analysis. First, Blockbuster will be analyzed internally and externally followed by strategic recommendations. Strengths of a company internally are very important when analyzing growth and potential profitability of a company in a given industry. Blockbuster has roughly 8,000 stores worldwide. Therefore, Blockbuster products have a huge distribution channel relative to all these locations. This in turn puts Blockbuster is a good position for distribution and access to the world. Over 2, 600 store locations are outside stores. This distribution available through Blockbuster also increases their bargaining power with studios. With the presence of movie stores, there is an added convenience for their mail-order and internet customers. Customers are able to return videos and rent new ones by mail and any store location. This requirement results in a valuable database that may be used for tracking who is rent ing and what they want to see or play. In turn, this allows Blockbuster to custom fit store inventories to the members each store serves. This enables Blockbuster to implement more effective marketing to its customers with such a strong database. All these locations have helped make the Blockbuster brand identical with movie and game rentals. Therefore, Blockbuster has various strengths including a strong brand loyalty with existing customers and still being the face of movie and game rentals. While analyzing the case it is believed that Blockbuster has many weaknesses in the industry. Because Blockbuster was the leader in this particular industry, it shifted heavily with them loosing money strengthening the intensity of rivalry. They tried to go online but couldn’t keep up with competition. Therefore, one strong weakness overall is upholding a store versus a warehouse. With all these weaknesses being profound it appears that Blockbuster has 3 vital weaknesses such as memberships, inventory, and availability. Because only members may rent from Blockbuster this weakness is perhaps true throughout most of the industry. It puts consumers into a position that they are forces to choose, which can result is many outcomes. Inventory is also a profound weakness. Because Blockbuster’s inventory is limited and stores have limited space it provides weak spot for new movie releases that are being released throughout the year. Stores must make the choice to bring in more new releases or eliminate older movies that are less frequently rented. As a result, this may put a strain on members who are looking for older movies or games that are hard to find forcing them to go to a competitor. Lastly, availability of movies is another obstacle Blockbuster needs to overcome. Consumers are in search of instant gratification today more than ever before. For example, if a movie comes to the mind of a consumer that they want to see they want it instantly. Therefore, if he/she cannot have it that day, then they may not rent. Blockbuster’s opportunities can be tackled to exploit their weaknesses within which in turn can be very beneficial to their company. Moving on with the SWOT analysis, opportunities are very vital to a firm. Blockbuster has many opportunities that can be foreseen for the future. One of the most important opportunities that Blockbuster has encountered is transforming the movie rental business through its mail order system. There are many competitors in the industry such as Red Box and DVD play kiosks that people may rent with a credit card for one dollar a night with no membership required. As a result, these kiosks have provided a strong opportunity for Blockbuster. Blockbuster can still penetrate this market with its own DVD kiosks by capitalizing on its own name. Blockbuster can also use its bargaining control as an industry giant to bargain rights to provide PPV streaming of video, music and games. Also, the use of digital media allows Blockbuster to offer a larger selection of films, music and games while potentially reducing its physical inventory. Therefore, as a result, it will allow Blockbuster to offer l egal instant gratification to consumers, which is very important for an industry to realize and capitalize on. There are many threats that could be imposed on Blockbuster is this vigorous competitive industry. As well as any other industry change in technology and shifting consumer preferences is an ongoing threat. Due to new technology and marketing practices, new policy and procedure awareness will be the main driving force of a company’s success, and in turn, how well one adapts and adopts is vital. With other companies offering different service, Blockbuster has encountered immense competition within this industry. For example, Movie Gallery which provides the same features and attributes as Blockbuster and the powerful Netflix. Netflix proposes flat rate rentals by mail and online streaming. Consequently, movie stores and distribution is slowly moving towards a direct model where consumers can access movies on demand. Some other important threats are that consumers can still buy movies or choose to go out and do other things. Blockbuster is also more expensive due to their busin ess model. Therefore, if Blockbuster wants to stay afloat in this highly competitive industry they will have to alter some aspects within their model. There are many strategic recommendations that Blockbuster can benefit from. The first recommendation for Blockbuster would be to close some of their locations within close proximity of each other. This level of overlapping coverage may be unnecessary. This would provide an alternative to reducing operations expense and ultimately fixed store costs would go down. Furthermore, Blockbuster should not focus most of their attention on their stores. They will not keep up in the ever changing industry trends in technology and peoples preferences. Blockbuster also got rid of late fees with is good for consumers but bad for revenues. With that said, they reversed it, which reversed their strategy. In addition, Blockbuster should put rentals online that are no longer available in stores. This would answer one of the problems of them not having a deep stock of movies for people that want to view older movies. Blockbuster could also partner with other retailers such as giant eagle. This woul d reduce their fixed costs and enable them to benefit by gaining access to the grocer’s customers, opening up cross-promoting opportunities which could drive additional revenues. Another important recommendation Blockbuster could consider is having a better marketing strategy. If a costumer isn’t aware that a specific channel exists, then there is virtually no change they will use it. Blockbuster could open the door to many ideas and implement to improve brand awareness while maintaining their market share. For standing locations, a loyalty program can be designed. All of these marketing ideas will provide Blockbuster to achieve the utmost effectiveness. To sum up all these recommendations, as more people become accustomed to the alternative methods of video purchase, Blockbuster will need to meet the consumer’s needs where they want to do business. By designing a strong database of viewing customer preferences, they could have a potential marketing tool. Therefore, an effective marketing tool would help to ensure and maintain a aggressive edge in this ever changing industry. Moving away from the traditional renter, the mail-order industry will now be evaluated. Netflix is the world’s largest movie rental service with over 6.3 million members and a deep collection of many movies. There are known for both their excellent customer service and their convenient and user-friendly interface on their award winning website. New technology has enabled Netflix to provide high quality streaming videos directly to their subscriber’s computers. Netflix has entered the VOD market, providing them to maintain their superior position. By entering this powerful market, Netflix will be able to differentiate itself from its competitors, and reduce the likelihood of price competition. In the long run, after movie streaming has increased to become popular, Netflix can separate the DVD rental and streaming movie services, offering different plans. Therefore, the SWOT analysis will be analyzed to foresee how profitable Netflix is and will become. Netflix has a lot of strengths making them the leader in this industry. The number one strength for Netflix is having a strong competitive advantage. The advantage is the first mover advantage in online rental. Netflix also by chance had great entry timing. They entered the market for DVD rentals at a time when there were few other competitors, allowing them to establish their brand name and image for providing a unique service. Netflix was the first to offer DVD rental by mail and this allowed them to offer a greater variety of DVDs to consumers. Therefore, the early entry of Netflix has allowed it to maintain a high market share in the DVD industry and have strong brand recognition by being a first mover. Netflix also has high customer satisfaction, which is the stem of a successful company. Without customers, a company does not exist. Netflix is smart because they understood the weakness of competitors. They understood what irritated many video rental store customers: late fees. W hile costumers rush to return the movie on a certain day this may impose late fees comparable to the price of the rental. In turn, Netflix provides no due dates, late or cancellation fees. Because Netflix enables the customer to keep the DVD as long as they want, this provides freedom to return the movie at ones convenience. Another strength Netflix incurs is its Award winning website. Their website allows predicting what movies one would want based on their previous rental history. It also enables Netflix to plan future rentals and allow customers to rate movies that they have previously rented. This proves to show that Netflix has a large selection at affordable pricing that may not be offered in stores such as Blockbuster. Blockbusters total access is probably the best thing that ever happened to Netflix, providing plentiful opportunities. Even though a few years ago Blockbuster jumped into a brutal price war with Netflix trying to swipe their customers away, it did Netflix a favor. It provided them with several opportunities. The total access pitch of returning DVDs to a physical store got immediate flow, but backfired. Dozens of Blockbuster movies were being pirated, enabling customers to make copies before returning them. Even though Netflix is highly successful, they also incur weaknesses. Netflix often has trouble providing enough copies of new popular movies. As a result, a main cause of customer dissatisfaction is Netflix’s inability to completely satisfy the initial rush for a new movie. However, the company knows that it would be unprofitable in the long run to buy more copies just to serve the rush when a movie first becomes available because the copies will not be rented with nearly a s much frequency soon after the rush. Netflix also doesn’t have a direct connection to any movie studios so it must purchase its entire media through the consumer market. As Netflix integrated the streaming industry it has comparatively small movie availability to stream. One big disadvantage Netflix has encountered is that customers have to wait for the next movie to arrive in their mailbox. By the time the subscriber receives the movie, he or she may no longer be in the mood to see it. This may enable the costumer to leave their home and go and rent a movie. Another disadvantage with mail-order rentals is the lack of control of DVD return time since customers have control of the movie for as long as they want. The DVDs can also arrive scratched or broken during the mailing process. One opportunity that Netflix could foresee is product line expansion such as video games. They could also expand downloadable movie offerings and print third party advertisements on their mail-order envelopes. Lastly, the can expand on partnerships and technology providers. The clearest threat to Netflix is Blockbuster and other established rental businesses. Beyond this, costumer’s satisfaction is the only aspect of this business that can make or break a company. Netflix also many not be able to retain enough of the market to survive if they were to lose its wholesome, reliable image. Also, bigger companies such as Apple could impose a potential harm to Netflix. There are bigger competitors in the streaming and video market and Netflix is less suite d to compete with hardware innovations because it has little or no experience in this area. Just like Blockbuster, Netflix has threats of people going out and buying DVDs and also going out and doing other things. Also, Netflix has DVD competition from Red Box and Blockbuster and the everlasting staying power of DVDs. Some strategic recommendations for Netflix are they should continue to market their services effectively. Their subscriber base will grow steadily and will be able to collect more personalized data. Netflix should also suggest t make its streaming services available under a separate subscription plan of its own. Also Netflix should increase their streaming video library since they are in strong competition. Netflix should also continue to reach to the less technological savvy consumers. This will provide an advantage over other firms in the future of this rising market. Research Papers on netflix vs blockbuster case analysisAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaTwilight of the UAWMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesThe Project Managment Office SystemBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfOpen Architechture a white paperMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductDefinition of Export QuotasPETSTEL analysis of IndiaIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in Capital

Friends Essays

Friends Essays Friends Essay Friends Essay Name: Course Instructor: Date: : Friends Introduction â€Å"A friend is someone you like who likes you and with whom you share a positive chemical reaction† (Yager 11). This relationship could be a long or a short one depending on the period the friendship has lasted. Friendships are formed in the family, in school, at the workplace and other social places. The conditions that lead to the formation of friendship differ from happy situations to traumatic situations like accidents. It is said that human beings cannot survive without friends in their lives, everyone has friends in one or way or another. Sometimes friendships are developed without the knowledge of the ones involved. People have friends for different purposes in their lives. There are those whose friendships last, and there are those whose friendships are momentary. Given by these diverse purposes, friends can be divided into different categories. Yager gives these three categories as â€Å"casual, close and best† (11). Discussion A casual friend is one with whom a person does not have close ties or any level of intimacy. There is some of undefined trust between casual friends and most often, they have shared interests. This friendship is most common in the workplace. This is because casual friends in the workplace only have work-related discussions. This friendship is also convenient for colleagues in the workplace because it does not require any emotional attachment as the other types of friendships do. Most people consider casual friendships shallow in terms of knowing details about each other. For example, two colleagues from the same office can develop a casual friendship for the benefit of helping each other with work-related assignments and contracts. This friendship is also convenient in situations where they both do not want to be lonesome at the office. Casual friendships at the office are formed so that the working environment is warm and welcoming. In the organizational structure of businesses, there are cases of high-ranking administrative officers who consider their juniors as their casual friends. This means that they can talk about work issues and sometimes discuss how their families are doing without getting into details. This helps in the formation and implementation of rules, regulations and strategies for the overall improvement of the organization’s productivity. It also enhances better working relationships at the office. McCall et al say, â€Å"The generalized character of friendship creates a note of equality. It has a leveling influence not only among friends but among all others drawn together with the same congregation† (97). This means that sometimes we meet friends through existing friends, this connection denoting that we are all equal because we are connected by the same friendship network. Most times this connection results to the formation of casual friendships. These casual friends will not develop any intimacy. However, there will be some level of trust between them created by the equality. Second, a close friend is one around whom one feels comfortable enough to share their sincere and cherished secrets. The difference between a close friend and a casual friend is the level of intimacy. In a close friendship, the level of intimacy is higher than that which exists in a casual friendship. It is said that everybody has close friends, and the number of close friends one can accommodate is less than six. It is virtually impossible to have more than six close friends because one cannot maintain this large number. Spencer Pahl adds â€Å"as commitment increases, we also find a growing sense that close friends are people who accept and affirm who you re† (71). The commitment in close friends is not evident in casual friends because the level to which close friends like each other is also far above the ground. Close friendships are common among students in school, children at the playground and in some cases workmates. In school, the students develop close friendships among themselves because they spend a lot of time together. This time spent together, in school and at home, creates the environment for familiarity and develops attachments to one another. At the playground, as young as they may see, children have preferences about whom they want to play with. This preference makes them spend more time with some children more than others, thus developing close friendship ties amongst themselves. Most of these close friendships are adopted by their parents as students and children visit each other in their homes. The parents pick up the bond that exists between their children and develop one of their own. At the workplace, there are few cases of close friendships. These cases are of those who have known each other since childhood, or they went to the same school, therefore, their friendship has lasted a long time. Close friends provide someone with a sense of comfort especially in times of need. Close friends are always there when they are needed. Depending on the number of close friends an individual has, their availability will differ. There are those who are within reach and those who live far away. Maintaining close friendships is not easy because constant communication and home visits are paramount. Research has shown that, in very rare scenarios, close friendships are developed among family members. It is advisable to have dependable close friends, especially when needed them the most. A best friend is defined by Yager as one who â€Å"will have all the criteria required to be a close friend, but with the additional distinction of being the premier friend† (12). This means that a best friend has surpassed the casual and close friend level. Best friends are the ones with whom we share problems, who know us extremely well and are always there for us no matter the situation. It is considered to have numerous casual friends, less than six close friends but only one best friend. This friendship grows over the years and usually starts during adolescence, in college, after college, before and after marriage. Those who consider themselves best friends are people who have known each other for a long time and have seen each other through good and bad times. The bond that best friends share is extremely tight. Moreover, when they fall out, one of two things might happen; they might reconcile, or become lifelong enemies. Best friends share everything and are always together. Best friends carry out their activities together, and their families automatically become friends due to this bond. The trust existent in best friend is almost impossible to breach because they are committed to each other. Once best friends break up, it becomes difficult for them to trust other people again. There are several examples of best friends in the society. It is presumed that girls are more likely to develop best friend ties with each than boys are. This is because girls are known to have more emotional attachment to their friends than boys do. The result of this is that one will find more female best friends than males ones. Female childhood friends are more likely to grow up to become best friends than male childhood friends are. This bond will only be maintained if they do not fall out. Distance does not mater to best friends, as there is constant communication over the phone or email ad they try to be there for each other during memorable occasions like weddings and graduations. Best friendship is described as a complete kind of friendship by Aristotle Irwin when they say, â€Å"complete friendship is the friendship of good people similar in virtue; for they wish goods in the same way to each other† (122). This friendship is that of complete selflessness and affection towards each other. A best friend has to be ready to sacrifice and compromise for the sake of the other, and they must wish nothing but the best for one another. Different situation test the level of commitment between best friends like a joyous celebration or the death of a loved one. Whether best friends will be there for one another or not, will prove their love and affection to each other and commitment to their friendship. Conclusion Everybody needs a friend, whether we know it or not. The presence of friends makes life bearable. It is important to make casual friend in the workplace and neighborhoods, to have close friends on whom we can depend in times of grief and to have a best friend that will walk through life with us. The choice of friends is unlimited; it can be anyone from your colleague in the office, a member of your family or your spouse. Once the friendship is formed, it has to be maintained and nurtured by all parties involved. It is also necessary to note that there are good friend and bad friends therefore careful selection needs to be made. Work cited Aristotle, and J A. Giles. Nicomechean Ethics. London: J. Cornish, 1870. Print. McCall, George J. Friendship as a Social Institution. New Brunswick, N.J: Transaction Publishers, 2011. Print. Spencer, Liz, and R E. Pahl. Rethinking Friendship: Hidden Solidarities Today. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2006. Print. Yager, Jan. When Friendship Hurts: How to Deal with Friends Who Betray, Abandon, or Wound You. New York: Fireside Book, 2002. Print.

Scelidosaurus - Facts and Figures

Scelidosaurus - Facts and Figures Name: Scelidosaurus (Greek for rib of beef lizard); pronounced SKEH-lih-doe-SORE-us Habitat: Woodlands of western Europe and southern North America Historical Period: Early Jurassic (208-195 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 11 feet long and 500 pounds Diet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Bony plates and spines on back; quadrupedal posture; horny beak About Scelidosaurus As dinosaurs go, Scelidosaurus has a fairly deep provenance, popping up in the fossil record at the start of the Jurassic period, 208 million years ago, and persisting for the next 10 or 15 million years. In fact, this plant-eater was so basal in its features that paleontologists speculate it may have given rise to the family of dinosaurs, the thyreophorans, or armor-bearers, that included both the ankylosaurs (typified by Ankylosaurus) and stegosaurs (typified by Stegosaurus) of the later Mesozoic Era. Certainly, Scelidosaurus was a well-armored beast, with three rows of bony scutes embedded in its skin and tough, knobby growths on its skull and tail. Whatever its place on the thyreophoran family tree, Scelidosaurus was also one of the first ornithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaurs, a family that included pretty much all of the highly specialized, herbivorous dinosaurs of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, with the exception of sauropods and titanosaurs. Some ornithischians were bipedal, some were quadrupedal, and some were capable of walking on both two and four legs; although its hind limbs were longer than its forelimbs, paleontologists speculate that Scelidosaurus was a devoted quadruped. Scelidosaurus has a complicated fossil history. The type specimen of this dinosaur was discovered in Lyme Regis, England, in the 1850s, and forwarded to the famous naturalist Richard Owen, who accidentally erected the genus name Scelidosaurus (rib of beef lizard) instead of the Greek construction he intended (lower hind limb lizard). Perhaps embarrassed by his mistake, Owen promptly forgot all about Scelidosaurus, even though its quadrupedal posture would otherwise have confirmed his early theories about dinosaurs. It was up to Richard Lydekker, a generation later, to pick up the Scelidosaurus baton, but this eminent scientist committed his own blunder, mixing up the bones of an additional fossil specimens with those of an unidentified theropod, or meat-eating dinosaur!

Entrepreneurial characteristics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Entrepreneurial characteristics - Essay Example Entrepreneurial characteristics By exploring the characteristics and skills of entrepreneurs, I have a better understanding of what characteristics an entrepreneur should possess. He does not have to be a risk taker but must have confidence in himself and have good leadership qualities. To do this, he/she needs to have a vision, marketing skills, good communication skills, financial skills, good time management skills, administrative skills and also leadership skills. The type of entrepreneur depends on the kind of characteristics, behavior or attributes that he/she possesses. These attributes play a great role in determining the kind of skills possessed by the entrepreneur. For example, a person who is self-confident, persuasive, a good listener, inspirational has the marketing skills required to sell the business and its products. There are various theories that try to explain the personality of individuals or entrepreneurs such as the leadership theories, self-efficiency theory, effectuation theory, behavioral and communication theories among others. The paper will discuss these theories in trying to explain the entrepreneurial characteristics and also the extent to which these characteristics are found within the range of skills that they should possess. The sel f-efficacy theory advanced by Albert Bandura is based on the belief in oneself. Robbins and Judge (2010) interpret self-efficacy as the belief that one has the capability to organize and execute courses of action that are required to achieve specified goals. Individuals have different perceptions of themselves; some high expectations of achieving a certain objective while others do not believe in themselves hence they fear to initiate anything rest they fail. Self-efficacy thus determines how the entrepreneur pursues goals, tasks and challenges (62). A successful entrepreneur should have self-confidence so as to be able to set and achieve goals and also to get other people to believe in what he/she is doing. The self-efficacy theory is also based on experience. Most people observe entrepreneurs starting up businesses and either succeeding or failing. Depending on what one observes, his perception may change. For example, if one has experience of observing someone start up a business and fail, he may fear engaging in such a venture. People with high self-efficacy have the drive and motivation to attain certain goals and continue even if the business is not prospering since they believe they can make it. On the other hand, those with low efficacy do not have the motivation to start a business but Robbins and Judge (2010) argue that this is needed to allow an entrepreneur to learn more about the business before venturing into it. The effectuation theory advanced by Saras Sarasvanthy is based on the belief that there exists a market which an entrepreneur should discover. The entrepreneur in this case has the knowledge, skills, and the resources needed to start a business but the question is, is he/she ready to take risks? An entrepreneur should therefore be able to take risks since he is venturing into a business with an unpredictable future. Instead of calculating the returns from the business undertaking, the individual can venture in any business and shape its destiny (Sarasvanthy, 2008). Contrary to self-efficacy theory, one is not influenced by observing others but takes own initiative into the unknown. The entrepreneur in this case possesses such characteristics as risk taker, creative, good in grasping opportunities, decisive, likes learning by doing, and is a team builder since his work involves building

Creating a Strong Monarchy System during the Reign of Henry IV Essay

Creating a Strong Monarchy System during the Reign of Henry IV - Essay Example With France shattered with these fights, Henry IV was determined to end the enmity that characterized the country of France, create more freedom for religious movements, halt the war between various religious groups and enhance the power of the government. To achieve these goals, Henry IV embarked on a series of strategic actions that allowed him to achieve significant success in these areas, and despite his assassination, people will still remember him for his outstanding successes. As  the King of France, Henry IV realized the importance of building an administrative center, which he did in Paris by initiating radical changes (Ranum 87). This was to become Henry’s official residence and a center for government businesses could be carried. For instance, issues such as tax collection could be translated into the Palace des Vosges in Paris. The construction of the palace in the 17th century was also a vital achievement to Henry IV who was keen in establishing a strong monarch y government controlled the people of France in many aspects of their lives (Hsia 164). This palace, which became a model for other city centers, signified his power.When Henry IV came into power, he became interested in making peace with the church by creating more freedom for the Protestants. Faced with this task, Henry was quick to note that creating more freedoms to the religious groups like Protestants could make him more popular than he was, at least before the Protestants. To achieve this goal, Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes in 1958 (Melton 201). This edict provided freedom to the Huguenots who had fewer religious liberties. For a long time, the Catholic crown found itself at a collision course with France’s Huguenots who felt that their privileges were being denied. However, Henry IV was quick to call for a lasting solution that would make the Huguenots end their rebellions. Therefore, Henry IV promulgated the Edict of Nantes, which gave the Huguenots religious t olerance in France. Because of Henry IV’s role, people started to respect the religious liberty of other people across French society.

Investment Portfolio for Investors and Executives Analysis Essay

Investment Portfolio for Investors and Executives Analysis - Essay Example From the data, volatility is a measure of variation in the average trajectory leading to a risk. BOQ stocks have the highest variation at 27.08%. This implies that there is an increase in the interests hence the frequency of financial data is high leading to high volatility. HVN stocks have high volatility, as well. There is a decrease in volatility where BHP and ANZ stocks are low indicating a returns pattern which is in a stochastic process. As a result of nonparametric analysis, the pattern in the volatility changes because of financial returns making the volatility of WOW and ASX300 low. The rate of returns of TLS stock is high because the risk is considerable; ANZ and BHP follow as there expectation of growth is low due to high risk. BOQ and HVN stocks have a low growth rate expectation because they have a high risk unlike the rest of the stocks.All the stocks have a negative skewness where TLS has the most negative skewness. This is because of the risk while HVN has a negative skewness because the risk is low. TLS stocks have a high measure of kurtosis, due to high risk expectation while BOQ has a low measure of kurtosis because of the risk and growth rate being low.HVN Company shows a negative Mu while the volatility is positive, this applies for BOQ, BHP and WOW. There is a positive Mu for ANZ and TLS as well as the volatility. The results provide grounds for future decision making as well as the future behavior of the stock. The observations are constant at 531 from 2010 to 2012. Symbol Instant. Alpha Betas ASX300 HVN.AX -0.23 0.84 BOQ.AX -0.12 1.08 BHP.AX 0.04 1.23 ANZ.AX 0.07 1.14 TLS.AX 0.07 0.43 WOW.AX -0.05 0.46 ASX300 1.00 Analysis of alpha and beta Alpha is the measure of the residual risk, where in the data BHP, ANZ and TLS stocks have a high residual risk while HVN, BOQ and WOW stocks have a low residual risk. Beta is how sensitive the stock returns are to the outcome on the index of the market. The sensitivity of HVN stock is between zero and one implying that there is an investment having low volatility. BOQ, HBP and ANZ stocks are above one implying that the volatility of the stock is more than index. ASX300 stocks have a beta equal to one implying that there is a matching index (Prime, 2007). On the basis of detailed examination concerning each stock situation in ASX300, the security from each different section has makes contributions that vary to the investment income. From the smart folio, the six assets shown in the portfolio attain almost 4% of excess

Government and business Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Government and business - Assignment Example come the first American state to enact a blanket EPR law, which covers all products, going a step ahead of other states which have product-specific laws. A section of manufacturing businesses are obviously opposed to the expanding ambit of the EPR laws, citing the resulting increase in the price of goods, which will ultimately be borne by the customer. However, proponents of the EPR laws argue that manufacturers will be encouraged to adopt new product design, incorporating greater longevity and recyclability. The laws also reduce the burden on the tax payer. Some companies have used compliance to EPR laws as an opportunity to establish their green credentials in a bid for consumer loyalty. A call from manufacturers for a uniform national policy on EPR is fully justified. Unbridled consumerism is undoubtedly a major factor in environmental degradation. The EPR laws will go a long way in goading manufacturers into incorporating easy, eco-friendly means of disposal into their product designs. The burden on landfills will be considerably reduced. The predicted higher costs of goods may be an asset in the long run, by forcing consumers to consider repairing goods for longer life instead of approaching any product as ‘disposable’ – at the tax payers’ expense! The EPR laws will be a definite asset in the battle against global warming. FOR seasoned shoppers, â€Å"buyer’s remorse† is a familiar feeling. â€Å"Seller’s remorse† may also become common soon, as ever more governments order manufacturers to assume the cost of disposing of their products after consumers are done with them. Until recently, most laws on â€Å"extended producer responsibility† (EPR) or â€Å"product stewardship† applied only to specific types of goods, such as car tyres or electronics. But in late March Maine, following the lead of several Canadian provinces, became the first American state to enact a blanket EPR law, which could in principle cover any product. Governments are eager to

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE TO GEORG WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY Essay

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE TO GEORG WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY - Essay Example As a foreign student from Saudi Arabia, the university therefore, represents all my ideals where I would be able to realize my dreams. In the highly competitive environment of advancing technology and rapid globalization, the need for understanding of cross cultural values has become vital ingredient of success. The University excels in meeting the challenges of the emerging new dynamics of social structures and business equations through innovative course curricula. It encourages constructive ideologies and proactive participation of the students coming from different race, culture and nationality. Its sensitive approach towards issues like environment, racial discrimination, climate change etc. are features that strongly indicate university’s mission of equipping students with an all round development of learning. I am a highly self driven person who is also ambitious and aspires to reach the highest level of professional excellence, both in terms of gaining knowledge and at the same time, gaining appropriate status. My professional mission is to serve as Ambassador of my country to United States. My short term and medium term goals and objectives are to achieve high grades in business studies. I want to establish myself as a creative and skilled business professional. I would also like to gain an enviable reputation for making good business decisions on informed choices.

KatrinaHealth Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

KatrinaHealth - Research Paper Example This overwhelming destruction caused residents and evacuees diploid of many basic needs which includes â€Å"medication history, their homes, BUSINESSES, they were mentally disturbed aftermath of hurricane Katrina, they faced potential health problems like â€Å"Population Displacement, Drinking Water, West Nile Virus, Emotional Fallout Toxic Contaminants† An obvious and urgent need was to fix these medical and all related issues and to settle them accordingly. The result was out fashioned in the form of â€Å"KATRINA HEALTH† which was initiated as on online service to help people affected by storm, working with health professionals to gain some sort of access to their lost medical history they were using before storm and to retrieve it, thus they will be cured accordingly in future. KATRINA HEALTH was made possible with the assistance of federal, local and state governments in collaboration with national foundation and organizations of medical related professionals (Boyle, 2001). History tells us that â€Å"medical professionals and health related bodies and public figures were very much anxious to explore ways by which they can help evacuees, to restore medical records, they step forwarded for this task and MARKLE FOUNDATION EXECUTIVES called the head of several companies that had medical data such as the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHAIN DRUG STORES (NACDs), CHIEF executives officers, â€Å"Sure scripts† (maintained a system of e-prescribing online network coverage) , â€Å"Rx hub† (kept a pharmacy record of patients and routes it electronically to physicians at different places like hospitals etc) and Veterans Health Administration (had its own national system of e-records for those who seek care through its system) were also contacted and â€Å"GOLD standard†( managed Medicaid prescription and data or information with a secure portal system for MISSISSIOI) , EXECUTIVE officers

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE TO GEORG WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY Essay

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE TO GEORG WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY - Essay Example As a foreign student from Saudi Arabia, the university therefore, represents all my ideals where I would be able to realize my dreams. In the highly competitive environment of advancing technology and rapid globalization, the need for understanding of cross cultural values has become vital ingredient of success. The University excels in meeting the challenges of the emerging new dynamics of social structures and business equations through innovative course curricula. It encourages constructive ideologies and proactive participation of the students coming from different race, culture and nationality. Its sensitive approach towards issues like environment, racial discrimination, climate change etc. are features that strongly indicate university’s mission of equipping students with an all round development of learning. I am a highly self driven person who is also ambitious and aspires to reach the highest level of professional excellence, both in terms of gaining knowledge and at the same time, gaining appropriate status. My professional mission is to serve as Ambassador of my country to United States. My short term and medium term goals and objectives are to achieve high grades in business studies. I want to establish myself as a creative and skilled business professional. I would also like to gain an enviable reputation for making good business decisions on informed choices.

Sexual harrassament at work Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Sexual harrassament at work - Research Proposal Example Different countries in various regions of the world have their own interpretation of sexual harassment and what it entails or qualifies to be defined as such. European countries gravitate towards widening the definition criteria to encompass a wide range of aspects like health and safety perspective, discrimination and dignity perspective. There is a need to develop and establish an all-encompassing moral and ethical framework to address, guide and deal with the factors contributing to sexual harassment and/or discrimination in the work place. The creation of a moral and ethical framework to combat sexual harassment in the work place should be conducted under consideration of the underlying factors and issues that create opportunities for sexual harassment to take place. This is in the sense that there exist moral and ethical attitudes in society that promote and/or encourage discrimination based on sex to occur (Boland, 2005). The formulation of an ethical and moral framework to tackle sexual harassment should include other factors like the subordination of women in the work place, and gender disparity (Roa, 2007). Human resource departments and managers should formulate and establish applicable workplace frameworks that address all discrimination manifestations. This will work towards eliminating all contributing factors that predispose individuals to discrimination of any

Early Ages Essay Example for Free

Early Ages Essay The Middle Ages is a catchall phrase often used by historians alluding to the thousands of years between the fall of the Roman Empire and the period of discovery and reawakening. The term Middle Ages was coined during the period that followed it, which was the Renaissance (Roseinwein, 2008). Since people from the Renaissance period thought of themselves as â€Å"advanced and civilized,† they deemed the time between them and the earlier world as the â€Å"Middle Age† (2008). The term derived from the Latin medium, which means middle and aevium, referring to age (2008). The Early Middle Ages, which occurred from 5th – 8th centuries, was dominated by Christianity which eventually became the rationale for uniting Europe culturally and linguistically (Herrin, 2002, p. 609). It was also a period marked by distinctions of social classes- the noble, the peasants and the clergy, with peasants populating more (Kamien, 1998, p. 62). This was the reason by medieval society was often described as a period with lack of food supply, poor agriculture, and poor economic conditions (p. 612). As aforementioned, the Early Middle Ages brought forth the importance of religion, specifically that of the Roman Catholic Church. It was during this time when the Holy Roman Empire was established. . One outstanding work from this period and perhaps had the earliest record was medieval music, particularly the Gregorian chant. The Gregorian chant was the official music of the Roman Catholic Church (Kamien, 1998, p. 65). Although the Gregorian chant was named in honor of Pope Gregory I, it was said that the pope was in fact not its creator (p. 65). Historians accounted the existence of Gregorian account or what they believed was its evolution to psalm singing in Jewish synagogues in the first centuries after Christ (p. 65). However the case may be, Pope Gregory could still be held responsible for the popularity of the Gregorian chant. The Gregorian chant is actually a body of unaccompanied vocal music. It was meant to set the mood for certain religious services (Kamien, 1998, p. 65). Set in Latin, Gregorian chants swept the music of the Early Middle Ages. Gregorian chant is like no other music for has no meter nor regular rhythms (p. 65). However, it is this distinct characteristic that makes the Gregorian chant a somewhat free-flowing disposition. Listening to a Gregorian melody invokes serenity, as if disengaging the listener from any anxieties. It is considered monophonic since it is music for one line and is sung in unison. It is said that there are only few names of Gregorian chant composers. This is because composers did not think of themselves as composers but as conduits of the voice of God. One of the most known contributors of the Gregorian chant was Hildegard (p. 68). A nun, Hildegard composed O Successores (You Successors), a chant intended to give praise to the â€Å"holy confessors who are successors of Christ† (p. 68). In the period that followed the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the predominant sound continued to be unaccompanied vocal music. However, the dawn of the Baroque period saw the musical style embracing the use of musical instruments like the harpsichord, violin and viola (Kamien, 1998, p. 104). Likewise, the melody has become wider instead of the narrow range that accompanied the Gregorian chant. While the Renaissance period still had Mass music, the Baroque period ushered in opera, sonata and concertos (pp. 100-115). Church music, especially the Lutheran service, was called a church cantata (p. 129). Whereas the Middle Ages was limited to the culture of the Church, the succeeding periods created new attitudes- that of showing that people have the capacity to create and shape their world instead of merely serving as conduits. The Gregorian chants, which was passed on by oral traditions, ebbed away slowly until a 1994 release of ‘Chant† by the Benedictine monks of Santo Domingo de Silos. This made Gregorian chant popular again due its similarity with New Age Music- smooth, uniform and non confrontational. The Early Middle Ages may have focused on sublime spirituality but the beauty of it has emanated throughout the centuries. Listen to a church hymn and feel how it has evolved from a simple, monophonic music to the finely crafted yet polyphonic texture of today. References Herrin, J. E. (2002). Early Middle Ages. In The new encyclopedia Britannica (Vol. 16, pp. 609-612) USA: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. Kamien, R. (1998). Music an appreciation 3rd ed. USA: McGraw-Hill. Rosenwein, B. (2008). Middle Ages. Retrieved February 5, 2009, from Microsoft Encarta Web site: http://encarta. msn. com/text_761578474___0/Middle_Ages. html

Case Study of Diagnosis of Neutropenia Patient

Case Study of Diagnosis of Neutropenia Patient A 45 year old physically fit patient was admitted to hospital following several visits to his General Practitioner (GP) where is was complaining of decreased appetite, constipation, fever, chills, headaches, cramping, vertigo and respiratory problems after experiencing some hay fever like symptoms one week ago. He was commenced on Roxithromycin 150mg b.d and his GP ordered blood tests that showed his had neutropenia (low white cell count) (Harris et al 2006, p 1185) and thrombocytopenia (low platelet count) (Harris et al 2006, p. 1704). Two days later he was not feeling any better and the GP ordered a chest x-ray (CXR) which the patient to have bilateral pneumonia he was than admitted to the hospital. This essay will identify important events that took place during the patients admission to hospital and discuss three of these events in detail with contemporary evidence to support the writers discussion. The essay will than look what has been learnt through this case study in relation to future professional practice as a new graduate registered nurse in accordance with the Australian Nursing Midwifery Council (ANMC) competency standards. Day 2 Why did the patient not received oxygen until his saturation got to 70% there is no mention of the treatment plan to or from nursing staff. Later that day the patient was transferred to main ward, the nursing staff raised the issue that the patient needed to be in the intensive care unit (ICU), the patient was reviewed by Respiratory Physician and was decided to not to transfer patient to ICU. This patient required close monitoring due to saturation decrease and as a newly registered nurse we do not have the experience or the time to monitor this patient in a ward environment (ANMC 2006) competency Professional Practice. Patient safety, patient advocacy. Day 5 The patient was noted to be still febrile and was ordered another CXR as the Computed Tomography Scan (CT scan) was not preformed, why had this patient not had the CT scan that was ordered (ANMC 2006) competency Professional Practice. Team communication strategies, chain of command. Later that day it was also noted that the patient had a PR Bleed and a referral was made to the gastroenterologist. No mention of cause or any investigation taken place to assess the PR bleed no blood tests were ordered to determine patients status. Patient advocacy, patient safety. Day 6 Respiratory Physician saw the patient and noted he had severe bilateral pneumonia, possible bone marrow suppression and anaemia of an unknown cause, no communication between medical officers as the patient had a PR bleed the day before and is neutropenic and thrombocytopenic. The Respiratory Physician requested an infectious diseases review. Patient advocacy, conflict management, documentation. Day 7 It was documented again that the patient had low saturations and was febrile. He was seen by the Infectious Diseases Specialist and was ordered more tests and a lung biopsy. The lung biopsy was considered to be of high risk due to the patients condition by a Thoracic Surgeon. If this patient was a high risk why was he not in ICU as requested by the nursing staff? Conflict management, chain of command, patient advocacy. Day 8 The nursing documentation states patient remains very breathless and low saturation is on 12L oxygen via a non-rebreather mask and is still febrile. A BiPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure) was requested to be used the next day but patient was not alive the next day, why was it not used immediately he is on high level oxygen and should have CO2 levels checked by having blood gases taken, a CT scan was ordered of the abdomen as a splenic infarction was suspected. Later that evening the patient was found out of bed with his oxygen mask still insitu but disconnected from the oxygen outlet, why was he trying to get out of bed?, Why was the tubing disconnected was he disoriented due to high oxygen saturations, did he fall out of bed ?, did the tubing need replacing ? This was not documented in the patients notes just handed over to night staff verbally. Patient safety, documentation, team communication strategies. Early Day 9 The night duty staff stated they did not monitor oxygen saturation due to patients request, staff should have explained how important it is for the nursing staff to monitor his oxygen levels, the patient was buzzing several times during night for a urine bottle and to check his oxygen levels, staff gave the patient a urine bottle but left the curtain open, did the patient get up to close the curtains for privacy?. The patient was found on the floor ten minutes later in cardiac arrest, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) was commenced, the arrest team was called and resuscitation continues for 20 and ceased with authority from the respiratory physician. Policy and procedures, Patient safety. First event was that the patient was not placed in ICU as requested by nursing staff. (Patient advocacy) ANMC Competency Standards (2006) Professional practice 1.2 clarifies responsibility for aspects of care with other members of the health care team, recognizes the responsibility to prevent harm. 2.4 Identifies when resources are insufficient to meet care needs of individuals/groups. 2.5 raises concerns about inappropriate delegation with the appropriate registered nurse. The patient has been transferred to the ward after arrangements were made by his GP for admission to hospital following an illness of unknown origin. Tests reveal that the patient has. Bilateral pneumonia. Neutropenia. Thrombocytopenia. Upon presentation it was noted that the patients saturations where low and required 6L oxygen via a Hudson mask and the new graduate registered nurse felt this patient needed to be placed in ICU to receive appropriate care. The newly graduate nurse should have consulted with the with the unit manger about her concerns when the Respiratory Physician refused to place the patient in the ICU this is related to 1.2 of the competency standards by clarifying her concerns and recognizing to preventing of harm to the patient. Patient advocacy is not new to nurses, nurses assume they have an ethical obligation to advocate for their patients (Negarandeh et al 2006). Advocacy can be defined as the act of arguing in favor of something. In terms of nursing, advocacy can be seen as the process we engage in when we speak on behalf of our patients when they are incapable of doing so themselves (Spenceley et al 2006). Advocacy has been described in ethical and legal frameworks and, more recently, as a philosophical foundation for practice (Negarandeh et al 2006). It has also been described in terms of specific actions such as helping the patient to obtain needed healthcare, defending the patients rights, assuring quality of care, and serving as a liaison between the patient and medical officer (ANMC 2005,Code of Ethics), (Spenceley et al 2006). When nurses and new graduate nurses advocate for patients, they face certain risks and barriers associated with the settings within which they work (Negarandeh et al 2006). Therefore, there is always the possibility that attempts to advocate for a patient can fail, and that nurses can experience many barriers when addressing choices, the rights, or welfare of their patients (Negarandeh et al 2006). As a new graduate nurse this was an important event to advocate for their patient as it was quite evident that this patient needed extensive nursing care that is not available in the ward situation, the nurse needed to gather evidence to suppor t their concerns and present it to the Physician and nurse unit manager (Spenceley et al 2006). The second event was why did the patient not attend the requested CT scan (negligence, communication). ANMC Competency Standards (2006) Provision and Coordination of Care 7.1 Effectively manages the nursing care of individuals/groups. It is the registered nurses responsibility to make sure that all tests and orders by the medical officer are carried out. The registered nurse could be seen to be negligent of her duty by not making sure the patient had received his CT scan according to the treatment plan. The legal definition of negligence means breach of duty. Standards of care in nursing generally mean those practices that a reasonably average nurse would use. So a good nurse knows and understands ethics in the medical field and strives to provide excellent quality of care in order to avoid negligence. However, mistakes, which will happen, do not necessarily mean negligence has occurred (Staunton Chiarella 2008). Examples of breach of duty, which may be considered negligent under certain circumstances may include doing something which a reasonably average person would not do, or the failure to do something which a reasonably average person would do, under circumstances similar to those shown by the evidence. It is the failure to use ordinary or reasonable care, (Staunton Chiarella 2008). Inadequate nursing skills or attention to tasks may result in a suit of negligence against a nurse who habitually fails to provide approved standards of care. Such incidents include, but are not l imited to, constant medication errors, failure to follow policy or orders and improper use of equipment (Hughes 2008). The legal review of a nursing negligence requires proof that injury was done, and that it was the result of the nurses care or lack of. Negligence refers to the act of doing something or refraining from doing something that any other reasonable medical professional would do or refrain from doing in a similar situation (Staunton Chiarella 2008). It goes without saying that every situation is different, and that is where the law becomes somewhat cloudy. However, when reviewing a nursing negligence case, assumptions and circumstantial evidence are taken into account to determine if there was negligence (Staunton Chiarella 2008). There are five main elements in a nursing negligence, and all elements must be proven in order for a case to be valid. If one or more of the elements is not present, the case may be hard to prove, (1) the nurse had a duty to perform, (2) the appropriate care was apparent in the situation, (3) there was a breach or violation of care, (4) there was an injury proven to result from the nurses negligence, and (5) there is proof that damages occurred as a direct result of the situation (Staunton Chiarella 2008). New graduate nurse should know and practice the professional code of conduct for nurses in Australia, this standard cover all standards by the ANMC (ANMC 2005, Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses in Australia). The third event was why was there no documentation on the patients incident on the 13th February day 8. (Legal documentation, communication) ANMC Competency Standards. Collaborative and Therapeutic Practice 10.1 Recognizes that the membership and roles of health care teams and service providers will vary depending on an individual/group needs and health care setting, 10.2 Communicates nursing assessments and decisions to the interdisciplinary health care team and other relevant service providers. Professional Practice 1.1 Complies with relevant legislation affecting nursing practice and health care. In todays health care system, delivery processes involve numerous patient handovers among multidisciplinary team members with varying levels of educational and training (Hughes 2008). Changes to the nursing models of care have resulted in alteration to communications between health professionals for example patient allocation, all patient care remains the nurses responsibility, in team nursing the responsibility is shifted to the team manager (Fernandez et al 2010). During the course of a 3-day hospital stay, a patient may interact with 30 different employees, including physicians, nurses, technicians, and others (Hughes 2008). Effective clinical practice involves many instances where critical information must be accurately communicated, patient handovers, medication orders, follow up tests are some exapmles (Hughes 2008). When health care professionals are not communicating effectively, patient safety is at risk for several reasons: lack of critical information, misinterpretation of information, unclear orders over the telephone, and overlooked changes in status (Hughes 2008). The transfer of essential information and the responsibility for care of the patient from one health care professional to another is an important component of communication in health care (Hughes 2008). Introduction, Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommend (ISBAR) is good effective communication tool for handovers (Jacques et al 2009).An effective handover supports the transition of critical information and continuity of care and treatment (Hughes 2008). Ineffective communication is a leading cause of preventable patient injuries, wrong medication events and patient death (Fernandez et al 2010). Documentation is a legal requirement to nursing, it must show the patients condition, decisions made about nursing care, objective observation of patient and any events that have taken place during that nurses shift and documented as events occur (Jefferies et al 2009). Nursing documentation must comply with the legal requirements such as it must be legibly written, identify the patient, 24hr clock used to identify when the report was written, signed with name and designation, incorrect entries must have a single line through them and initialed next to entry with written in error, do no t make entries for other nurses, use only approved abbreviations and leave no blank lines between entries (Jefferies et al 2009, p. 121). As a new graduate nurse it is extremely important to document all events that occur during your shift, it is also important as an experienced nurse. New graduates should always back up their decisions and document why they managed the patient care that way using evidence base practice and policy and procedures of the facility. What the writer has learnt for their future practice is always document everything that is factual and relevant information as soon as possible, this is a legal requirement of nursing and if you need to go to court you will be able to defend yourself with full comprehensive nursing documentation. Documentation is a hard copy of the patients events and the whole multidisciplinary team can read them and there will be no confusion, misinterpretation. Advocating for patients is important as with this case if the nurse had advocated for the patient he may have had a better chance at survival and received the extensive nursing care he needed. If you are not happy with a result go further to resolve the situation to ensure a safe outcome for your patient. Do not operate outside your scope of practice this could lead to breach of duty of care and negligence, nursing today is considered to be a professional occupation and knowing the competency standards and follow policy and procedure is an expectation. Becoming a registered nurse is a huge responsibility, it is one that the writer will embrace and except whole heartedly. This is just the beginning and the writer is looking forward to the very exciting future and helping people thought difficult and challenging times of their lives. Conclusion There were many important events and communication errors thought out the patients care. The three main issues identified by the writer where patient advocacy, negligence of care, communication/documentation. Patient advocacy is an important role for nurses. New graduate nurses need to develop these skills and seek out assistance from more experienced nurses to help advocate with them. There are many issue with negligence and sometime hard to prove, but if the new graduate nurse follows policy and producers and the ANMC competency standards they should have confidence in their practice as a newly qualified registered nurse. Documentation is a requirement both legal and professional in nursing, accurate, comprehensive nursing documentation has the relevant information for all multidisciplinary members to comprehend. Communication with all members of staff can be difficult as there as many health care professional with varying levels of educational and training. Ineffective communicati on is a leading cause of preventable patient injuries, wrong medication events and patient death. This case study has displayed the importance of these events and has assisted the writer for future practice.

Cicero and Stoicism :: History Philosophy Philosophical Cicero

Cicero, was truly a man of the state. His writings also show us he was equally a man of philosophical temperament and affluence. Yet at times these two forces within Cicero clash and contradict with the early stoic teachings. Cicero gradually adopted the stoic lifestyle but not altogether entirely, and this is somewhat due to the fact of what it was like to be a roman of the time. The morals of everyday Rome conflicted with some of the stoic ideals that were set by early stoicism. Thus, Cicero changed the face of stoicism by romanizing it; redefining stoicism into the middle phase. Of Cicero it can be said he possessed a bias towards roman life and doctrine. For Cicero every answer lay within Rome itself, from the ideal governing body to the place of divination. Cicero does not offer any alternate answers to roman society, which robs him of being truly a unique and bold political philosopher. This is not to say however some of his doctrines are untrue, just that he is somewhat blinded by his roman beliefs and assumptions. The assumptions of Cicero can be noticed when one inspects his view of the ideal governing body, which he expresses through Scipio (in the commonwealth). Although Cicero presents very convincing arguments for a Composite government, clearly his view is possibly only due towards his belief in the roman structure of government.1 Cicero was limited to roman borders of experience, and this point was best illustrated by his disagreement with Aristotle's writings on the decay of states. Cicero was unable to think on the level of Aristotle's logic. He quite simply used roman history as a mapping of the paths of the decay of states. In contrast, Aristotle understood the underlying forces and influences that transpired when a state degraded. Cicero quite frankly could not understand the forces which Aristotle so eloquently denoted. For Cicero, history offered the only possible paths of outcomes; the forces and behaviors played little part on the resulting state.2 A further point of philosophical belief which Cicero contradicted the stoic lifestyle, is religion. Roman tradition conflicted greatly with stoic doctrine, and the two philosophies could never truly harmonize with one another. This point brought the distinction between the Greek learned world of intellect, and the traditional religious roman patronage. This observation literally draws a line between the two worlds, that of knowledge and reason opposing that of tradition and sentiment.

My life after five years from now

I am an adolescent who have just completed high school and has started attending college. My academic progress is satisfactory and I am getting good grades. By nature I may be considered a shallow person who takes things rather lightly. I don’t go much deeper into any problem to really comprehend it. Although, I am gregarious and fun loving, basically I am an introvert and I keep my personal life sheltered as I don’t take people into confidence easily. I have a weak personality and lack self confidence. To camouflage this, I always try to be over friendly and talkative with my friends. But deep down, I don’t trust my friends and never share my innermost thoughts with them. If things don’t work out according to my expectations, I become a recluse, and refuse to discuss it with anyone. My outlook is conservative and can not accept any open show of affection easily. Fear of the unknown, fear of failure has totally blinded my vision and obstructed my rational thinking capacity. Although I am well aware of my drawbacks, I am unable to change for the better. Currently my vision about life is blurred by my short sightedness and lack of wisdom and experience. I would like to change these negative attributes and enhance my personality. The vision of my life five years from now is a complete transformation of my personality. I’ll accept my friends as they are and respect them as an individual. I’ll take some of my friends into confidence and share my problems and successes with them. I’ll always listen to their point of view before taking any difficult decision. I’ll shed my pessimistic and gloomy attitude and encounter any problem with a positive mind. I’ll acknowledge my fear, will analyse it and make a conscious effort to eliminate it from my system, in a slow but determined way. This negative personality trait affected me greatly and prevented me from taking right kind of decisions at the right moment. I’ll overcome fear with double determination and become a person with an independent personality, who can take right kind of decision at the right moment, and can dream, believe and act towards realising his cherished goal. Career-wise I have not thought of any particular profession which I would like to pursue within the course of next five years. While I’ll concentrate on my studies to ensure good grades, on spare times I would do odd jobs to earn some extra money. Since travelling excites me a lot, I would take up part time job in travel agencies such as tourist guide or interpreter which will take me to exotic tourist places. While accompanying the tourists, I’ll visit beautiful islands, see exotic landscapes of steep mountains, and lush green vegetations. Sometimes I’ll lie down in solitude on a sandy beach, and gaze at the blue azure sky. Associating with nature will give me a clear perspective on life and what it holds. I’ll shed my superficial self and emerge a more genuine person who will appreciate anything from beauty of nature to the beauty of a girl from aesthetic sense. This will help me to get into a permanent relationship, which till now is eluding me. I want to confidently go in the direction of my goal of transforming my personality within five years from now. Only time will tell how far I’ll be successful in changing my negative personality traits and become a person who is honest with himself and with others and have emotional strength, integrity of character, clarity of mind and confidence in others. If I fit the personality mentioned above within five years from now, my goal of personal transition will become a reality. Â   Â   Â   Â   Â   Â   Â   Â   Â   Â   Â   Â   Â   Â   Â  

A Mental Exercise To Increase My Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

I understand that it must be a matter of subjectivity for the reader to focus on a single type of intelligence while perusing Armstrong’s (1994) book, Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom.In my case, it has been the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, most probably because I feel the need to increase my own.   Unfortunately, my school teachers were not aware of the multiple intelligences theory.   Even if they were, they would certainly not have decided to speak to my bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.   Just the same I admired children whose bodies performed more amazing functions than mine.This is the reason why my reflection on Armstrong’s book must be centered on bodily-kinesthetic intelligence as a subconscious exercise for me to increase my own.   Still, I agree with the author that all types of intelligences are equally important.   Moreover, I trust the fact that all intelligences are important enough to be studied individually and in depth.   The vari ous types of intelligence may also be understood in greater depth through the study of a single type of intelligence.It was Gardner (1983) who changed our views about intelligence forever when he proposed in his famous book, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, that there are actually seven kinds of intelligences as opposed to the singular type of genetic intelligence that had built the foundation of the Stanford-Binet IQ Test.According to the theory of multiple intelligences, it is possible for a child to be a genius in terms of interpersonal intelligence, and a nerd in logical-mathematical intelligence, and yet fail in school because his or her greatest strength lies in a high level of bodily-kinesthetic awareness and the teacher of the pupil does not know how the child must be taught with special reference to his or her principal abilities.Armstrong states that children with a higher than usual degree of bodily-kinesthetic intelligence should be taught spelling b y associating it with movement.   As an example, â€Å"a teacher might try to connect sitting with consonants and standing with vowels (Willingham, 2004).†Ã‚   Indeed, Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences has led not only to new ideas like the ones put forth by Armstrong, but it has also led to a revolution in the study of intelligence.