The Struggle of the Educational System Essay - 1151 Words

The Struggle of the Educational System It seems as if the American government has struggled to evaluate the current educational system in order to determine if significant social issues, including increasing regional poverty, and declining literacy rates in specific urban regions are related to economic differentiations in the education system. There needs to be more emphasis placed on determining a system that provides greater equity between disadvantaged inner-city schools and wealthier suburban, middle class schools. The gap between the nation’s best and worst public schools continues to grow. Our country is based on freedom and equality for all, yet in practice and in the spectrum of education this is rarely the case. Many obvious†¦show more content†¦This guarantees that every child receives an education, but it is not an equal education† (Kozol, 238). State officials determine the sufficient funds, but due to the dynamics of politics they are shaped by what the richer districts determine to be enough. So, in turn, what they are doing is placing the education of the inner-city students in the hands of the supporters of the suburban schools. If the officials are to allocate more money to the poorer districts, then they will be the ones that are affected by additional tax levies on their higher incomes and property values. â€Å"What is at stake is the future of a heterogeneous America, a place where there is equal opportunity for everyone, not just for those who can afford to pay for a good education and the chance to have a more prosperous life† (Kozol 237). It seems as if â€Å"Those who do not want their children to be handicapped by the learning problems of others who have suffered generations of oppression, ignorance, and neglect simply abandon the city schools that these students were being integrated into and fled to richer suburban schools† (Kozol 238). Today, Blacks, Hispanics, and poorer children dominate 23 of the nations 25 largest urban school sy stems. This has raised a permanent fissure in our public schools and has separated them into two separate and unequal classShow MoreRelatedHow Bilingualism Has Impacted The United States Modern Education System1114 Words   |  5 Pageshas impacted the United States’ modern education system. He describes an amendment that would constitute English as the official in the United States, which he believes can be a potential threat to the educational system. Gonzalez suggests that instead of having an amendment that constitutes English as the national language, American schools should implement Spanish to highlight the importance of being bilingualism in the American educational system. A constitutional amendment declaring English asRead MoreThe Achievement Gap Between Minority And Nonminority Children974 Words   |  4 Pagesthere are always those students who exceed, but there are also individuals who struggle significantly. However, minority students tend to struggle more t han nonminority students. According to an article called â€Å"Addressing the Achievement Gap Between Minority and Nonminority Children by Increasing Access to Gifted Programs,† by Paula Olszewski-Kubilius, Seon-young Lee, and Mephie Ngoi, â€Å"The most significant educational problem in the U.S. is the fact that the achievement of minority children lagsRead Moredoc700 r1 research resources scavenger hunt For Chris Laitinen WK1885 Words   |  4 Pages 1. Name the nine University of Phoenix Research Centers. A. Center for Global Business Research B. Center for Management and Entrepreneurship C. Center for Workplace Diversity Research D. Center for Educational and Instructional Technology Research E. Center for Leadership Studies and Educational Research F. Center for Professional Responsibility in Education G. Center for Behavioral Health and Research H. Center for Health Engineering Research I. Center for Healthcare Research 2. True or FalseRead MoreThe Inner City Of Los Angeles805 Words   |  4 Pagestime went on I witnessed my classmates and I take completely different paths. The strong support system I had at home proved effective. As I went on to go to college, many of my peers dropped out, the dismal state of our public school system had clearly failed them. During my undergraduate studies, the stories of my old classmates did not leave my mind. I remained deeply intrigued with the struggles of inner city people of color and the mobility they are granted. I began to volunteer at ArtStartRead MoreAchieving A Successful Teenage Mothers1229 Words   |  5 Pagesdegree. Thus, adolescent mothers would pursue their educational attainment for themselves, their children, and for their supportive systems (Moore, 2014). Ravenell (2012) conducted a study where sixty-three percent of teenage mothers had a diploma, nineteen percent had received a GED, and another nineteen percent had not finished high school. Mothers who had gotten a GED or a high school diploma declared that it was due to their support systems from both their parents and teachers. Overall, supportRead MoreHow Education Can Be Run And Who Should Benefit From It?873 Words   |  4 Pagesbelong to the Eastern and Western cultures share similar views of education being the key to success, yet both cultures have their own views on how to get to that point of success. The refore, most cultures have very different views on how an education system should be run and who should benefit from it. Comparing four popular world cultures, there are significant differences in the role education plays between each. This paper will explore not only the differences in the role education plays amongstRead MoreInvestigating What Macro-sociological Approaches and Micro-sociological Approaches Tells Us About Student Under-achievement in School850 Words   |  4 PagesInvestigating What Macro-sociological Approaches and Micro-sociological Approaches Tells Us About Student Under-achievement in School Macro-sociology approaches offer explanations for social phenomena in terms of the way in which social systems work as a whole. Micro-sociology gives explanations in terms of how people make things happen by interpreting their experience and acting on their interpretations. Macro-sociology divides into consensus and conflict approaches. The Read More Gender Segregation in Education Essay1159 Words   |  5 Pagessegregation in education is spoken, but how often do we think of women? Women have gone through tremendous struggles to receive the same rights as men to an equal education. The following pages will explain many aspects of the history of the women’s struggles for desegregation, accomplishes made for desegregation, and the affects of sex or gender segregation still present in today’s educational system. In the early colonial times, women’s roles were very defined. Men and society expected women to haveRead MoreThe Foster Care System Is A Growing Problem With The Problem Of Trauma And Educational Needs1535 Words   |  7 Pagesin foster care and increased from 2012. The foster care system is a growing problem with the problem of trauma and educational needs. In three journal articles that are discussed, the problems are taken into studies to try and improve the foster care system. In the journal article, â€Å"Caregivers, School Liaisons, and Agency Advocates Speak Out about the Educational Needs of Children and Youths in Foster Care†, they discussed the educational need of children in foster care. 40% of children enteringRead MoreEducation Vs Horace Mann1401 Words   |  6 PagesThrough learning, skills that have been passed down from the errors of others, communities were able to learn and grow with each other. Simple public education systems began to pop up to educate the youth and the curious, and ever since the first school systems began there has been room for improvement. The largest reforms of the educational system began at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Primarily, both Geoffrey Canada and Horace Mann share similar views on school tuition, and believe

The Working Poor - 1071 Words

The working poor are those people that work the hardest for their dollar, work the hardest to get their paychecks, work the hardest to survive. Most of the working poor live paycheck to paycheck and like the saying goes, â€Å"robbing from Peter to pay Paul.† There is a way out of poverty, and there is a way for these struggling individuals to escape the perils of their life in poverty. It is not an easy road out, but it is possible. It is important for those that are born into this lifestyle to know that this is not a destination; there is hope that they will live a so called â€Å"better† life. Who are the Working Poor? Before we describe who the working poor are, let’s describe what poverty is. â€Å"There are two general methods of defining†¦show more content†¦Gabourey Sidibe and Jennifer Hudson are a few stars that are heard about as going from nothing to everything. You do not have to be a star to be able to escape from poverty though. There are many programs that are available to individuals to assist them in finding employment and assistance to get out of poverty. The programs that are available are reliant on the presidents and law makers that are lobbied. â€Å"The Bush administration had been wildly criticized for not being responsive to the needs of the poorest Americans,† (Burger, 2008, p. 20). At times an individual just needs help in getting shown the right direction. â€Å"Isolated in the projects, many like Camellia lack the encouragement and connections to find decent work until a helping hand gives a push or opens a door,† (S hipler, 2004, p. 123). To be able to break out of poverty an individual must not be afraid to leave. Personal reaction conclusion Poverty is not something that effects just a certain population; it is non-discriminative. The working poor are the heart of America. They are people that we see every day. For those that are living this way, it is important to know that there is a way out. In Shipler (2004) book The Working Poor, he states, â€Å"George W. Bush gave voice to the myth when he was asked whether he meant to send a message with the inclusion of two blacks, a Hispanic, and two women in the first seniorShow MoreRelatedWorking Poor Essay3209 Words   |  13 PagesThe Struggle of the Working Poor Revised Essay Sociology 113 Yvonne Barney October 19, 2012 The Struggle of the Working Poor Society often describes the impoverished with one word, lazy. Society has taught us that if a person wants to be financially successful, it is a simple process of education and hard work that will equate to a successful income. This is the American dream. If the impoverished simply would get a job instead of being lazy, they would not need to rely on programs likeRead MoreWorking Poor : The Work Poor1051 Words   |  5 PagesElizabeth McCumber April 24, 2015 Working poor paper Throughout both in-class discussions, and David Shipler’s â€Å"The Working Poor: Invisible in America† we learned being poor in America is anything but easy. Even with all of our government assistance programs such as Medicaid and Welfare, many family generation after generation seem to fall below the poverty line and create a life of struggle and long way out for their families. When Shipler is explaining different families and their lac of selfRead MoreWorking Poor : The Work Poor Essay1277 Words   |  6 PagesWorking Poor The Working Poor: Invisible in America is a story that takes personal stories and accounts of people lives to describe the injustices that people face every day. Poverty is damaging to both the economy and the people who face it. Many times social policies are created to assist the people who are working but still struggle to get basic needs like food, utilities, gas, and medical. Poverty is a perpetuating cycle that is intended to keep the poor oppressed and discriminated againstRead MorePoverty Is A National Epidemic That Plagues Americans Across The Country Essay1531 Words   |  7 Pagesof our humanity. Poverty is a generational cycle that is inherited and becomes the anchor to all future success. It is often said that poverty is the effect of a lazy, uneducated nation, in reality, the poverty level family has at least one adult working at least 40 hours a week at a painstakingly back breaking job that the elite American would quiver at the thought of performing. The effect o f Poverty is caused by lack of opportunities, greed, and generational circumstances One of the mainRead MoreWhat Is It Like Living In A Home With Low Income? Poverty1006 Words   |  5 Pages academic performance, and health conditions. Children who live in poverty have impaired social development throughout their entire life. They tend to be more aggressive because of the surroundings they are in. Parents often spend their energy working,the children do not get shown a lot of affection. This could lead to the child fighting and being disrespectful because they want any attention from their parents that they can. This aggressive behavior can lead to fighting in school and other publicRead MoreNickel And Dimed : On ( Not ) Getting1175 Words   |  5 Pagesback or avoided at all costs. We see this when Ehrenreich describes her co-worker, â€Å"Holly†, who continues to work despite being ill, and possibly pregnant. This is also apparent when Ehrenreich states, â€Å"There are no secret economics that nourish the poor; on the contrary, there are a host of special costs. If you can’t put up the two months’ rent you need to secure an apartment, you end up paying through the nose for a room by the week. If you have only a room, with a hot plate at best, you can’t saveRead More The Working Poor Essay769 Words   |  4 PagesBecause of this, many Americans are working full time jobs that are below the Federal poverty line. These types of people are often called the â€Å"working poor†. Due to this the working poor have to run to welfare. This affects all Americans because taxpayers are the ones paying for welfare. The more jobs that are taken overseas, the more poverty we will have. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;It is now said that the middle-class Americans are now becoming the poor in America. According to William H. JasperRead MoreWho are the Working Poor1280 Words   |  6 Pagesabout it in our book, researching online, and grabbing a personal text, I was highly intrigued with the components that make up â€Å"the working poor,† it’s actual definition, and so much more. Before getting into the statistics, a simple definition of â€Å"the working poor† is that it is a group of people who spend about twenty-seven weeks or more in a year either working or looking for work, but their incomes fall below the level of poverty (USDAVIS, 2013). With this definition, it is understandable asRead MoreWal Mart And Its Effect On Society1517 Words   |  7 Pagesadopted subjective vision, either because they care not to look further than the inexpensiveness of their product or the owner are blinded by their profits. Wal-Mart takes advantage of a system by exploiting cheap labor and poor working conditions. The same company that advises these poor standards receive large quantities of subsidies from The American Government. Some people would claim that this is strictly business, and they are just playing the hand they have been built in a corrupt system. HoweverRead More Working and Poor Essay1089 Words   |  5 Pages It’s difficult to imagine ho w some people hold multiple jobs to support their family and still live below the poverty line. The saying â€Å"the rich gets richer and the poor get poorer† has never been so evident in today’s society. With a growing percentage of people living below the poverty line, one has to question the government policies enacted to elevate the living standings for its people. Government policies great influence the everyday life of its people. It is difficult to enact common ground

Discusses About Shadow Broker Organization â€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discusses About Shadow Broker Organization? Answer: Introduction: A group of mysterious hackers is seen to be involved with the dealing of malware and hacking tools that is an associated tool used by the National Security Agency (NSA) of America. This topic of secrecy and controversy regarding the tools that are involved with the National Security Agency (NSA), are exposed by the mysterious group involved in crime known as the Shadow Brokers. This report discusses about the nature of the problems that was caused by this group, the reason for its occurrence and the mitigation of such attacks in the future. Discussion: The Shadow Brokers are a group of hackers whose existence came in light in 2016, summer. These groups of hackers were involved in exploiting the resources obtained from information leaks associated with the National Security Agency (NSA). The exploited resources were used to target the firewalls of business enterprises, anti-viruses and products related to the Microsoft Corporation (Martin, Kinross Hankin, 2017). The Shadow Brokers are mainly informed with the main hack, which is termed as the Equation Group that is associated with operations of National Security Agency (NSA). Identification of the problem: In August of 2016, the group of hackers claimed to have stolen a cyber weapon from another hacking team, which was termed as the Equation Group. The cyber weapon was used by the National Security Agency (NSA). The cyber weapon involved provided the group access to the secretive files contained in the NSA. The group also led to hacking and exploiting secret information from software accounting to 1 gigabyte of information over a period of 8 months. This information was connected to the NSA (Sanger, 2016). The group also tried to sell the source code of particular information from NSA by using the online methods of auction. The auction was supposed to be transacted via the use of crypto currencies. However, the auction was an unsuccessful one. On April 2017 the most recent activity of the group of hackers, include a data dump. The dump of data accounted to 300 megabytes of data. The data associated made published reports of threats and vulnerabilities of the products of Microsoft. The Shadow brokers also claimed to publish hacked tools and resources from the CIA that was originally made to spy on the monetary transactions of people (Shane, Mazzetti Rosenberg, 2017). This led the group claim associated vulnerabilities in the Windows version of the Microsoft installed in the Swift bank. As, the software is used by multiple banks, the exploitation posed a grave threat to the banks all over the world. Reason of occurrence: The main reason for occurrence of these hacks is the presence of bugs and malware in a system. The government agencies are responsible to conduct spying and espionage operations on particular targets by getting close to their system. The method used by them is acquisition of vulnerabilities in its system due to presence of bugs in the system. Rather than informing the manufacturers about the presence of such malfunctions, they exploit them to get access to the system to conduct their operations (van Der Walt, 2017). This system led to the hacking of such amount from the government agencies. This led to the raising of questions about the security of the agencies involved. This issue was further debated by the presence of FBI to give light on the discussion about the requirements of law enforcement in agencies. The codes that were made public by the Shadow brokers were made to be readable even by the low programmable experts to facilitate its uses in all devices. Even its use would not require great programming experts to run and implement them (Audiot, 2016). The code was supposed to be a bit old but they included many powerful tools to facilitate the process of hacking. The first documents that were released included system vulnerabilities in Cisco and other developers. The documents that were released recently by the Shadow Brokers showed the spying operations of NSA on a Middle Eastern bank transfer network termed as SWIFT. The hack revealed the operation of the NSA who was trying to get access to targeted clients of the bank transfer network (Boylan, 2015). This led to hindrance in the operation of the NSA as rising of suspicions of the bank were prominent. As far the authenticity of the stolen documents goes, Edward Snowden of NSA reported the genuineness of the stolen resources as the malware was full of virtual prints of the NSA. The malware also included a 16-digit identification code for the NSA (Broadhurst et al., 2017). According to Kaspersky, similarities in documents may lead to authenticity of the found sources. In addition, the Risk Based Security confirmed the exploitation of resources from NSA but no breaches were made in the system of the NSA. Solutions: There are various speculations regarding the problem that occurred due to the Shadow brokers. Moreover, the organization involved is already applying solution-based protocols to minimize the further risks that can arise. However, it was seen that Microsoft started working on their patch to address the vulnerability many weeks before the posting of the message from Shadow Brokers. The reason might be NSA disclosing about the information of exploited resources. Though a system patch requires weeks before making it public the reason of applied solution can be disclosure of information from the NSA (Planqu, 2016). The theory discussed is not evident as both parties are not claiming about the disclosure of information, but it might be the reason for applying patches to the system to help in mitigating the risks. The Vulnerabilities Equity process was created under the influence of Obama and now is continued by Trump (Caulfield, Ioannidis Pym, 2017). It was made to minimize the security vulnerabilities and threats to the agencies of the government that could lead to various large-scale problems. The ransomware attack, which took place in May 2017, was a massive cyber attack that affected users from all over the world. The computers who had the Microsoft Operating system installed were targeted by the ransomware. The main characteristics of the ransomware are that after infecting a computer, some files were encrypted and required payments in bitcoin to decrypt them. This report discusses about the specifications of the ransomware attack that took place all over the world. The report also includes the process of attack and the prevention of the attack. A cyber attack involving the ransomware had been originated due to the theft in cyber weapons (Brewer, 2016). The researchers of security in the Kaspersky Lab recorded more than 45,000 attacks in users belonging to 99 countries, which included UK, India, Russia, Italy, China and Egypt. However, the attack involved was not meant to target large-scale businesses but were meant to attack random users. Description of the problem: The WannaCry ransomware attack was an attack in a worldwide level that took place in May 2017, was a massive cyber attack that affected users from all over the world. The computers who had the Microsoft Operating system (OS) installed were targeted by the WannaCry ransomware (Kharraz et al., 2015). The main characteristics of the ransomware are that after infecting a computer, some files were encrypted and required payments in bitcoin to decrypt them. The main users who were risked due to the attack were the users with older versions of the OS like the Windows XP and the Windows Server 2003. Although, after the attack Microsoft made security patches to address the vulnerabilities in the system, the patches were made for the newer versions like the Windows 7 and 8. Due to this, Microsoft made an emergency patch for the older versions too. After many days of the ransomware attack, almost all of the infected users applied their updates in the system, which slowed down the infectious problems (Pathak Nanded, 2016). In addition, detailed technical reports were analyzed and made by several companies including Microsoft, Cisco and McAfee. Impact of the problem: The researchers of security in the Kaspersky Lab recorded more than 45,000 attacks in users belonging to 99 countries, which included UK, India, Russia, Italy, China and Egypt. In addition, the most affected countries among them were the Ukraine, Taiwan, India and Russia. The WannaCry ransomware attack also caused diverse impact on the National Health Service hospitals in Scotland and England, which also included 70,000 devices like the computers, scanners, and other equipments in the health care services (Chinthapalli, 2017). In addition, the ransomware also had its impact on the motor services including the Nissan and the Renault. Nissan stopped their production in order to stop the spreading of the ransomware. Renault also followed the same strategy to stop the spreading of the ransomware by halting their production across several sites. The impact of the attack is said to be low due to the fast analysis of the code of the ransomware, which had vulnerability in its code (Boatman, 2015). The presence of a technical kill switch made spreading of the attack stop. The loss in infrastructure could lead up to several millions. Carrying out of the attack: The WannaCry ransomware attack was carried out using several sets of software made for hacking. The External Blue is one such program. The software exploits a specific vulnerability that is present in the OS of Windows (Kharraz et al., 2016). This vulnerability can lead to breach in the system even under strong protocols. For mitigating such risks in the system, Microsoft released a patch to fight the vulnerability and risk due to the presence of such threat. The execution of the ransomware attack is divided into three different processes. These include the spreading of the vulnerability, encrypting of the file, displaying of ransom information and decrypting the encrypted file. The main sample program is the main program responsible for spreading the attack and releasing the WannaCry ransomware (Tuttle, 2016). This results in encryption of a file. The sample program includes an RSA public key and its corresponding private key is present with the attacker. Before applying encryption, a new sub-public and sub-private key is generated. The sub-public key is used to encrypt the user file and the sub-private key is used to do the same. Decrypting is usually done after payment is confirmed in the bitcoin network as the ransomware demands for payment in bitcoin. Prevention: Although, many risk mitigation processes where undertaken after the attack has been taken. Several companies like the Microsoft made security patches to fight the ransomware attack, which significantly slowed the spreading of the infected ransomware (Choi, Scott LeClair, 2016). However, the presence of security protocols where to be taken before hand so that the problem in infection could have been minimized and the large-scale problem could have been minimized. Various procedures could slow the process of ransomware attack in a device. Network segmentation is one such process where the infrastructure is divided among the connected and the unconnected one, which will facilitate the segmentation of the infrastructure to avoid the vulnerable areas to be hit directly (Mansfield-Devine, 2016). In addition, the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit of the Microsoft helps to provide additional security to the system that is specifically made to fight the ransomware attacks. The presence of other upgraded securities in the connected device is another mitigation process, which involves detection of malicious attacks to the system. Conclusion: Thus, it can be concluded form the report that the ransomware attack caused a widespread attack in the user data as well as in the economy of the world. The presence of enhanced security protocol is thus needed to secure the system and protect the data and information that is present. References: Audiot, N. (2016). Playing defence against the Equation Group. Boatman, K. (2015). Beware the Rise of Ransomware. Boylan, R. J. (2015) The shadow government: its identification and analysis.'.New Dawn, (42), 21. Brewer, R. (2016). Ransomware attacks: detection, prevention and cure.Network Security,2016(9), 5-9. Broadhurst, R., Woodford-Smith, H., Maxim, D., Sabol, B., Orlando, S., Chapman-Schmidt, B., Alazab, M. (2017). Cyber Terrorism: Research Review: Research Report of the Australian National University Cybercrime Observatory for the Korean Institute of Criminology. Caulfield, T., Ioannidis, C., Pym, D. (2017). The US Vulnerabilities Equities Process: An Economic Perspective. Chinthapalli, K. (2017). The hackers holding hospitals to ransom.BMJ,357, j2214. Choi, K. S., Scott, T. M., LeClair, D. P. (2016). Ransomware against police: diagnosis of risk factors via application of cyber-routine activities theory.International Journal of Forensic Science Pathology. Kharraz, A., Arshad, S., Mulliner, C., Robertson, W. K., Kirda, E. (2016, August). UNVEIL: A Large-Scale, Automated Approach to Detecting Ransomware. InUSENIX Security Symposium(pp. 757-772). Kharraz, A., Robertson, W., Balzarotti, D., Bilge, L., Kirda, E. (2015, July). Cutting the gordian knot: A look under the hood of ransomware attacks. InInternational Conference on Detection of Intrusions and Malware, and Vulnerability Assessment(pp. 3-24). Springer, Cham. Mansfield-Devine, S. (2016). Ransomware: taking businesses hostage.Network Security,2016(10), 8-17. Martin, G., Kinross, J., Hankin, C. (2017). Effective cybersecurity is fundamental to patient safety. Pathak, D. P., Nanded, Y. M. (2016). A dangerous trend of cybercrime: ransomware growing challenge.International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Engineering Technology (IJARCET) Volume,5. Planqu, D. (2016). Cyber Threat Intelligence. Sanger, D. (2016). Shadow brokers leak raises alarming question: Was the NSA hacked.New York Times. Retrieved August,27, 2016. Shane, S., Mazzetti, M., Rosenberg, M. (2017). WikiLeaks releases trove of alleged CIA hacking documents.The New York Times, Mar. Tuttle, H. (2016). Ransomware attacks pose growing threat.Risk Management,63(4), 4. van Der Walt, C. (2017). The impact of nation-state hacking on commercial cyber-security.Computer Fraud Security,2017(4), 5-10.

Dollar General Case Analysis free essay sample

Intuitively one might assume that Dollar General, the well-known extreme-value retailer, has an established competitive advantage versus other consumer goods retailers with respect to price. It would then follow that cost would be a defining characteristic of the company, and a cost analysis an appropriate analytical tool. However, the four distinct types of retailers within the dollar store retail segment (original dollar stores, close-out retailers, limited assortment grocers, and extreme-value retailers) all compete on price. Dollar General is very competitive in this regard, but this alone has not rendered the company successful; price is not Dollar General’s competitive advantage amongst its competitors. Therefore, a demand-side differentiation analysis proves far more useful in addressing the current issues facing Dollar General (only 6. 9% sales growth and 1. 5% net income growth in 2006, down from 23. 1% and 5. 5% respectively in 1997), and furthermore developing a plan for increased future profitability. Dollar General currently commands ~24% of all sales in the US Dollar Store Industry. The company’s product, or more accurately the need that the company satisfies, is the desire for an accessible small-format retailer for purchases generally totaling $10. The store acts as a convenient, temporary alternative to weekly shops at grocery stores or minor goods retailers. Keeping in line with this are the average sizes of Dollar General stores (6,900 square feet), which allow goods to be sought out in an efficient, brisk manner with limited store traffic. Where Dollar General locates their stores is essential to both satisfying current market needs, and to diversifying the company away from competitors. The company operates more than half of its stores in communities of 20,000 people or less; in these rural areas, Dollar General represents one of very few options with regards to small-scale basic consumable merchandise. Furthermore, Dollar General locates most of its stores in strip-malls (49%) or freestanding structures (49%) that bisect popular commuter paths, capitalizing on an ever-present demand for convenience as well as low price in the marketplace. Dollar General meets the needs of American consumers with bargain-based mentalities, as well as those currently living on fixed/low-income salaries. The motivation for an increasingly large percentage of the American populace is convenience, coupled with a low price, rather than simply price. This motivation is coupled with a psychological change in American consumerism; there is a dichotomy in the marketplace, an â€Å"hour-glass economy†, wherein commodity goods are bought in discount channels, and luxury products are purchased in high-end channels. The criteria for Dollar General customers can be simplified into convenience, speed of shopping experience, and variety of goods. Paper goods and small consumables have long been part of Dollar General’s market basket; they typify the type of good that sells at extreme-value retailers. Limited SKU’s (~4,900 per store average) are also part of Dollar General’s customer criteria; excess variety consumes shelf space and extends the time of a shopping trip, creating discrepancies between consumer preferences and the attributes of the products in-store. Price premiums have not factored into Dollar General’s customer’s habits. However, this is not to say that the company’s convenience of access could not therefore allow a few select items to carry a price premium, particularly those that already have higher markups. This could only be done with a very limited selection of goods (likely dairy, frozen goods) before the ethos of Dollar General becomes compromised. This begins an analysis of the growth opportunities currently being discussed by management at Dollar General. The extreme-value market segment is seen as one of the most under-saturated sectors in the US, and several plans of action are posited within the case, each with fairly clear pros and cons (EXHIBIT 1). Perhaps the most pressing concern for Dollar General is addressing how to grow without either stretching resources to an extreme, or compromising the company’s competitive advantages. I would suggest the company to carry out the following actions. First, the company should seek limited expansion within the continental United States (US extreme-value industry still growing at $1.5 billion/year), namely into California. However, expansion should be limited to this state only. Whereas development within the US had been the company’s growth engine for years, the company is now closing and remodeling stores with equal returns. As such, the company’s growth aims should be moved abroad (Europe), where extreme-value markets are well received, and stores with limited SKUâ⠂¬â„¢s fair better than larger discount outlets. Secondly, store merchandise productivity could be enhanced by eliminating seasonal items (costumes, summer toys) and adding more strategic grocery items. Research suggests that same-store growth could be spurred by a heavier emphasis on fresh grocery items, and Dollar General appears to have the delivery capabilities to keep a fair supply of perishables on hand. A slightly larger store size for new shops might be necessary for this sort of development, as Dollar General seems to have slightly underestimated the ‘sweet-spot’ for its store size with the current store model. The stores would remain small enough to facilitate accelerated shopping, but large enough to hold a proper number of SKU’s, still in the 4900-5300 range. Finally, Dollar General should expand into cash checking and wire transfer. Providing this service requires no additional manpower, and many people (particularly those on low annual salaries) need a convenient place to cash checks; they are then hugely likely to pick up a small bundle of goods before exiting the store. This service would tap into a market of 28 million Americans who do not yet have a bank account (particularly young men and women). Exhibit 1

TNA Essay Example

TNA Essay TNA Introduction TNA is a process of gathering and interpreting data for identifying performance problems and suggesting solutions. ?Training needs analysis is a critical part of the training process. The TNA objective is twofold: to collect and evaluate information in order to find out what is being done now and what should be done now and later. We have no set procedure for performing a TNA, but the activities fall into three Stages (surveillance, investigation, analysis) and end with a report. The TNA concept provokes some problems within the organization, and the person sponsoring a TNA must cope with these.? (Smith Delahaye, 1998 p. 79) The fictive case scenario presented in this assignment will take place at The Slabrock Nightclub in Skien, Norway, where I actually used to work as the security manager. Some trendy nightclubs in Skien have been forced to close its doors because of failing to control crime on the premises. As a well-repudiated security consultant, I get a call from Slabrock Nightclub which have received multiple warning letters from the local authorities, threatening to revoke the club?s liquor license and operating permit. The conclusion from this call is that I am to conduct a TNA, write a report We will write a custom essay sample on TNA specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on TNA specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on TNA specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer tna, bouncers, club, analysis, security, police, should, training, job, data, out, manager, management, investigation, clubs, smith, surveillance, slabrock, nightclub, need, call, being, performance, 1998, work, three, someone, serious, required, reports, plans/policies, person, patrons, organization, local

Definition and Examples of Family Slang in English

Definition and Examples of Family Slang in English The informal term family slang refers to words and phrases (neologisms) created, used, and generally understood only by the members of a family. Also called kitchen table lingo, family words, and domestic slang. A lot of these words, says Bill Lucas, a trustee of the English Project at Winchester University, are inspired by the sound or the look of a thing, or are driven by an emotional response to that being described. Examples [Examples of this] sort of vocabulary [i.e., family slang or kitchen table lingo] . . . include words for items for which no standard name exists, like Blenkinsop (a comical-sounding but authentic British family name) for the little tab which slides across the top of self-sealing plastic bags for refrigeration, or trunklements to describe bits and pieces, personal possessions. Words which have moved into wider circulation such as helicopter and velcroid for intrusive parents or neighbors, howler for baby, and chap-esse for female probably originated in family usage. (Tony Thorne,  Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, 4th ed.  Bloomsbury,  Ã‚  2014)Greebles and TwangerIf there was no word for a thing, Sally Wallace invented it: greebles meant little bits of lint, especially those which feet brought into bed; twanger was the word for something whose name you dont know or cant remember. (D.T. Max, The Unfinished. The New Yorker, March 9, 2009)Hotchamachacha!One of [my fathers] favori te words Ive never heard on anyone elses lips: hotchamachacha! I imagine this began life as a conjurors invocation, like abracadabra. My father uses it, though, to create a general sense of humorous mystification (Am I going to get a chemistry set for my birthday, Daddy? Hotchamachacha!), or to pour scorn on what someone (usually me) is saying (Come onquickseven nines! Um... eighty-two? Hotchamachacha!), or to warn you urgently against doing something dangherooz. (Michael Frayn, My Fathers Fortune: A Life. Metropolitan Books, 2010) KaboofI’m 64 years old and ever since I can remember, we’ve called the area under stairs (the crawlspace) the kaboof. (Paula Pocius, Grammar Composition blog, December 31, 2007)Missmas CardsMissmas Cards are those you send after receiving Christmas Cards from people to whom you would not have sent, and which will surely arrive at their destination after Christmas. (Tanja, Grammar Composition blog, December 31, 2007)Manniversary and Mundungus DrawerThe Today program (Today, BBC Radio 4) asked its listeners to e-mail in their kitchen table lingo:Manniversary: John Roser and his partner use this to describe their annual anniversary.Mundungus Drawer: a drawer in Caroline Harris kitchen where everything and anything lives. Splosh, Gruds, and Frarping: Family Slang in Britain Linguists have published a new list of ‘domestic’ slang words which they say are now commonplace in British homes. Unlike some other slang, these words are used by people of all generations and are often used as a way to bond with other family members. According to the research, people are now more than likely to ask for splosh, chupley or blish when they fancy a cup of tea. And among the 57 new words identified meaning television remote control are blabber, zapper, melly and dawicki. The new words were published this week in the Dictionary of Contemporary Slang  [2014],  which examines the changing language of today’s society... Other household slang used by families include grooglums, the bits of food left in the sink after washing up, and slabby-gangaroot, the dried ketchup left around the mouth of the bottle.The personal possessions of a grandparent are now referred to as trunklements, while underpants are known as gruds.And in less well-mannered households, there is a new word for the act of scratching one’s backsidefrarping. (Eleanor Harding, Fancy a Blish? The Daily Mail [UK], March 3, 2014) Homely Terms - Family slang undoubtedly does in one way or another modify and create novel forms of speech which tend to become homely terms of unconventional usage. It may even be true that the most insignificant member of the family, the baby, may have the greatest influence in the matter of introducing novel forms. (Granville Hall, The Pedagogical Seminary, 1913)- More often than not, family words can be traced back to a child or grandparent, and sometimes they get passed down from generation to generation. They seldom escape the province of one family or a small cluster of familiesso are therefore seldom written down and must be gathered in conversation. (Paul Dickson, Family Words, 2007)

Assighment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Assighment - Essay Example All this will indeed be a challenge for me but utilizing the gained knowledge will help me overcome the challenges and make the store a profit center. Discussion What are the most significant challenges facing you as manager of this store? For me as the manager, the most significant challenges can be enumerated as follows: Low volume of Sales: As the manager of the store, the most important thing for me to keep the store afloat would be the finances. The store cannot operate at a loss and to ensure that it is not at a loss, sales are the most important criteria. The store will have certain fixed overheads and certain variables. Fixed overheads include salaries, electricity, rent, telephone expenses etc. These are the costs the store has to bear even if there is no sale. These components are discounted by the profit which is generated out of sales. In the event of no or low sale, the fixed expenses stand as it is and proves heavy for the store. Variable expenses also are a part of exp enses which are incurred in case of sale. Suppose freight charges for delivery of products etc. So this cost is only incurred if there are sales and is directly proportionate to sales. So in case, there is low sale, my store will have to bear the fixed overheads at least. There needs to be a minimum amount of sale to cover the fixed costs and be at zero profit at least(Berman, 2007). Manpower issue: Since the store is not doing well, the manpower cannot be more due to their costs. The plus point here is that the store has a good blend of experienced and fresh manpower. So to utilize maximum potential from them, the experienced ones should provide some training to the fresh ones and always back them up during sales. The attrition rate also has to come down to save on training time and cost. Branding and Advertising: Since the store once enjoyed loyalty of customers in neighborhood, the goodwill re-building would not be so difficult. I should focus on how I can harness the goodwill al ready built among certain groups of people to attract them to be our customers at the shopping mall and to promise them that the quality of products and services are same irrespective of change of hands of the store. What steps would you take during the first 90 days as manager to address these challenges? In the first 90 days, the steps I would take have been described below: Since the employees include high school and college students, I would harness their contacts to boost my sales. I would plan an incentive for each employee if they give me a minimum amount of business. Example: An employee will be offered x% of the sales value if they give a minimum of x amount of business. Since they are college students, offering only a small amount will be enough to motivate them to bring in business. This will be done keeping in mind the profitability of business. Once we have customers, they can be converted to repeated customers later on through schemes and good service. Specifically aim ed promotion: The store needs to be promoted in such a way that the people who were already loyal customers can connect to the promotion activities and believe that the store is still the same as they liked it even after change of hands. The erstwhile loyal customers will be the first ones whom I would like to be my customers as they will be easy to convince. Once they are back, word-of-mouth will play

Questions on Laws in UK Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Questions on Laws in UK - Assignment Example An example of this is the Dutch Bureau of Agricultural Land Management which is responsible for the buying of plots of a farmland in rural areas. This organization, as existing shareholders also enjoys pre-emptive rights over the purchase of all such land. Another example is the Flemish Land Company in Belgium who are entitled to override other candidates and buy out farmland should it be up for sale. (OECD, 1998, p.22) b) There are certain exceptions or disapplication of pre-emption rights. They are as follows. The right of pre-emption is not applicable to the sale of treasury shares, held by the company, i.e. issue of equity shares as given by section 560(2) (b) of the Companies Act 2006. Since Treasury shares are bonds or gifts of the government, no pre-emptive rights may be applied to them. If the directors of a company are given the power to allot equity shares by an article of the government or by a special resolution adopted by the concerned company (as stated in section 561 o f the Companies Act), the pre-emption will not apply. Even if it does apply, the allotment of equity shares will be done with some modifications as per the directors’ decisions. ... It is advisable for a company to take its own decisions for optimality. A company may decide that the pre-emption rights will not apply to a specified allotment of shares or it shall apply with some modifications stated in the resolution. The company may do this by putting a special resolution into effect. (Companies Act 2006, Elizabeth II, Part 46, n.d, p.276) If the resolution of the company benefits it and all its shareholders, it this move is welcome but if it is taken due to personal grudges between members of the management, it will lead to injustice and unfairness and harm the company. Answer: 2 a) â€Å"A Business Angel investor is a high-net-worth individual, who typically provides capital, in the form of debt or equity from his or her own funds to a small private business owned and operated by someone else who is neither a friend nor a family member†. (Talmor & Vasvari, 2011, p.16.1) A Venture Capitalist, on the other hand, is â€Å"not only a financier but also eit her an intelligent evaluator who performs due diligence on ventures, a venture’s partner who can add value to the venture, or both†. (Cumming, 2010, p.299) There are some advantages enjoyed by the Business Angels over Venture Capitalists. They are given as follows. i) The transaction costs incurred by business angels are much less than the transaction cost of venture capitalists. The transaction cost for business angels lies between the ranges of $100,000-2,000,000 whereas that for venture capitalists is higher than $2,000,000. ii) The operations of business angels are geographically more dispersed than those of venture capitalists. The existence of venture capitalists is limited to a few areas where there are many

Saint Albertus Magnus ( Year 1193-1280 ) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Saint Albertus Magnus ( Year 1193-1280 ) - Essay Example He is also referred to as the â€Å"Doctor of the church†. This is one title that was bestowed amongst the greatest men in the Roman Catholic Church (Attwater, 2003). It should be observed that the name is bestowed on only 33 people who have led and given their life to their respective missions globally. He was a very knowledgeable man who had received his education at a very tender age. As early as he could, he mastered the teachings of the famous philosopher Aristotle. In many instances, he is quoted as a very resilient man who shunned his own family for the sake of the mission. This is especially after his family denounced him for joining the parish. He is also on record saying that if it were not for the Virgin Mary, he would not be in the mission. This is because he states that he had an encounter with her. It is during this encounter that she convinced him to give his life to the mission. This is what convinced him to give his life to the church. It is also because of hi s great mind that Saints like Aquinas graced the world. He is responsible for the moulding of Thomas Aquinas into a philosopher and theologist of great repute. This enabled the latter to be one of the greatest men in the church. His profound teachings and guidance are said to have effectively steered Aquinas to the paths that he crossed. He was a very humble and efficient leader who always wanted what was best for the people. He always put his needs last (Emsley, 2001). During his time period, Albertus contributed greatly to all walks of life. He is said to have healed the world with his profound wisdom. His wisdom enabled him to write very many information materials that gave way to many theories and analogies. These theories are still in use today. He wrote books on Biology, Religion and Psychology and many other fields. His thoughts and opinions on the many subjects projected the fact that Albertus was a genius. He had the ability to understand the universe, all that was around i t and what was required to ensure that the field of knowledge was robust with new ideas and knowledge (Magnus, 2003). His humility is something that was emulated all over the world. He was offered a horse that would enable him to move freely within the Dominican Republic. In his lifetime, Albertus never rode the horse. He was known to walk as he went on the various activities that he had to conduct. This created a chance for very many ordinary people to interact freely with him. This is because in many instances, the people walked to and from their various activities. This gave him more resilience to spread the gospel in many parts of the world that he travelled to. It also gave him a chance to share his wisdom with those that chose to walk with him (Collins, 2010). Albertus time period received a great contribution form this powerful mind. He contributed greatly to the general area of science, philosophy and psychology amongst others. He created a very wide gap as many of his count erparts in the parish acknowledged that he was indeed a man of great repute. Saint Albertus Magnus contributed significantly to history. He was so great and many people marvelled at him even in death. It is said that after his death, many of the people that came to view his body were actually healed of any diseases that they had. They were healed from many of their diseases and ailments. The healing ability from the saint came in the form of his body fragrance. Historically, it is also said

An In Depth Look At Blizzard Entertainment

An In Depth Look At Blizzard Entertainment This report is a in-depth look at Blizzard Entertainment the company, to find out why Blizzard entertainment is so successful in the gaming industry. We will look at the reasons on how it could come out with best selling games over and over again and how they manage to sell 2.4 million copies of one game within the first 24 hours. Furthermore, we will understand how Blizzard entertainment runs such a big company to such efficiency using the business model SWOT and PEST in the analysis of its success. A look at the current developments and what future developments it might have or where it can go from here will be discussed as well. I. A Brief History of Blizzard Entertainment Well, Blizzard Entertainment was not always as we had known it, originally founded in 1991 February as Silicon Synapse by Chairman Allen Adham, president Michael Morhaime and vice president Frank Pearce All Graduates from UCLA. In the days of Silicon Synapse it was more on focused on making game ports for other Gaming studios. Until the Breakthrough Game The Lost Vikings, it was hailed as one of the forefathers of that Game Genre . A year after that they released Rock Roll Racing another Cult Hit that paved the way for its predecessors in the Racer Shooter Genre. In 1994 It was only then its name was reestablished as Blizzard Entertainment. The first big scale game it released by Blizzard Entertainment, was Warcraft: Orcs Humans and it was a hit with the gamers. Ever since they have made a benchmark in the game, the gaming world was at their fingertips now. After such success with Blizzard Entertainments original Warcraft game, Warcraft: Orcs Humans , was touted as one of the best strategy games of 1994, and the games epic sequel, 1995s Warcraft II : Tides Of Darkness, won numerous awards, including the companys first Game of the Year award. Warcraft III :Reign Of Chaoss, released in July 2002, has likewise won several accolades , just like Starcraft another hit Game Series released by Blizzard Entertainment, It has become a staple of professional tournament gaming, along with its expansion, the award-winnin g Warcraft III : The Frozen Throne, which was released in July 2003. II. Current Projects and a look at the rise of WOW ( World Of Warcraft) Well Blizzard has many notable achievements in its released games, None of it comes close To World Of Warcraft, more widely known as WOW. World of Warcraft stands as the greatest game in the popular Warcraft series. World of Warcraft has been an extraordinary success since its launch in November 2004. It has impressed game critics and has captivated millions of players, who adore the virtual world created by this game. It is no longer just a game but is now a genuine phenomenon, and one that shows no signs of abating. It is one of the key games of recent times, and stands as a landmark title for online gaming. World of Warcraft is the forth title in the series of Warcraft games, which has been entertaining people for over a decade To understand more about the appeal of World of Warcraft, let us recall the time when WOW was released. It was not merely some massively multiplayer online role-playing game. It created a truly engaging online world set in the heart of Azeroth, a fantastic land that is filled with heroes and monsters and many other creatures. The games strength is that it functions as an experience, as a world that exists on its own terms that you may visit and explore as you please. The game sold more than 240,000 copies in its first 24 hours on the market, more than any other PC game in history. Since then it released two other expansion sets which was a greater success then the one before. Blizzard is also making attempt to diversify beyond their original aim of just making games. Blizzard Entertainment is currently working with Legendary Pictures in making a live action Warcraft movie. III. tso The 8 Core Values are namely : Gameplay First, Blizzard Entertainments success can be attributed to the gaming experiences they provide the consumer or player. The goal of each discipline within the company regardless of job post be it art, programming or customer support, is to create games as fun as possible for as many people as possible. In order to achieve this aim, it is in Blizzard Entertainments prime belief that its workers also enjoy the process of game making. Commitment to Quality, This is the most well known core value of Blizzard Entertainment, which is not only applied in creating the best gaming experience for the consumers, but also practiced in every aspect of their job. They approach each task carefully and seriously, and seek honest feedback and use it to improve the quality of their work. Afterall, games are remembered for their high quality, and not how late they are released into the public. Play nice, Play Fair, In their business first impressions are important but lasting impressions are the ones that matter. Blizzard Entertainment strives to maintain a high level of respect and integrity in all interactions with us, players, colleagues, and business partners. The conduct of each Blizzard Entertainment employee, be it online or offline, can reflect on the entire company. Embrace your inner Geek, The employees at Blizzard are encouraged to show their geek side . Cutting-edge technology, comic books, science fiction, top-end video cards, action figures with the kung-fu gripà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Whatever it is theyre passionate about, it matters that each employee embraces it! Their unique enthusiasm helps to shape the fun, creative culture of Blizzard Entertainment. Happy and truly passionate workers make better workers, and what Blizzard Entertainment is all about today. Every voice matters, Great ideas can come from anywhere. Blizzard Entertainment is what it is today because of the voices of our players and of each member of the company. Every employee is encouraged to speak up, listen, be respectful of other opinions, and embrace criticism as just another avenue for great ideas. All because Blizzard values its employees and listens to the different ideas. Think globally, Blizzard Entertainment is a global company and everywhere on the planet there are people who play Blizzard Entertainment games. While respecting the cultural diversity that makes people unique, we strive to grow and support our global gaming community. We also seek the most passionate, talented people in the world to enrich our company and help us forge the future vision of Blizzard Entertainment. No country is too big or too small for Blizzard to take on or think about. Lead responsibility, Blizzard Entertainment believes its products and practices can affect not only our employees and players but the industry at large. As one of the worlds leading game companies, they are committed to making ethical decisions, always keeping the players in mind, and setting a strong example of professionalism and excellence at all times and for other game companies to exemplify. Learn and Grow The games industry is ever-changing. Technology improves, techniques change, and design philosophies become outdated. Since the founding of Blizzard Entertainment, it has worked to improve through experience, teaching one another and cultivating the desire to be the best at what they do. They see this as an individual responsibility as well as the companys. Employees can count on their peers, managers, and the company itself to be supportive and help them gain the knowledge and training they need. IV. A in-depth SWOT Analysis This Analysis will help us better understand of Blizzard Entertainments Success and its weaknesses. Using The SWOT Analysis model we can see the opportunities and revaluate the strategies to cope with its weaknesses. Strengths Good market position globally One of the very best pc game developers and held in high esteem by its customers. Very large age group from its larger customer base. Takes Feedback from its players and customers quickly and seriously. Developed World Of Warcraft to huge success and acclaim. Weaknesses May lack some competitive edge in some market segments over rival companies Relies on its current game titles more than it should. Very slow to release its games, often over the stipulated release date. Opportunities Business can be further diversified into other industries, example, making a film which it is trying to do now. Acquire more gaming sectors. More varied games. Look at a brand new type of pc game to boomz everyone away. Opening up of other global markets, getting more customers worldwide further. Working together with another pc gaming company to have a co-project. Threats Other big pc game producing companies, might pose some competition with maybe more attractive graphics or different game genres, Example, FPS. The time it takes to release a game might turn some gamers off, or they might just stop waiting all together. Limited experience in other industries it might want to diversify into Piracy 3rd party clients such as Garena, lancraft blueserver and many others. Strengths Blizzard Entertainment has a good market position globally, meaning in the games market it has a huge cut of the customers and transactions that happen in it. Blizzard Is very well respected by the gamers, customers and other companies alike for their awesome games which are well designed and enjoyable for a very wide age group. When Blizzard comes out with a new game other companies will always try to better it learning from its strengths. From kids to adults, blizzard games have players every age range, making it well welcomed by all. Blizzard Entertainment leaves no gamer from the casual gamer to hardcore, professional gamer satisfied. The games Are simple enough and fast for the casual gamer to play, but also well balanced with good competitive potential. Intact, World Cyber Games (WCG) the worlds largest scale gaming competition has 2 Blizzard Entertainment games to compete in, Namely Starcraft 2, Warcraft 3 and Dota, which is a custom map made from Warcraft 3. Blizzard Entertainments World Of Warcraft easily overshadows all of its accomplishments with 12 million subscribers and increasing. Making it the most played online MMORPG, no small feat without its dedicated team of staff. If a bug is reported or game defect , blizzard will take it seriously and respond quickly to look into the problem and solve the issue. Weaknesses While Blizzard Entertainment is certainly a very successful company but it is not perfect or infallible. One of its Weaknesses is its most of its games revolve around the same genre of the real time strategy (RTS) or Role Playing Games (RPG). Some game diversity would be a fresh change and might get into a bigger cut of the market and different gamer groups. On top of that Blizzards Entertainments game graphics might be less visual compared to other games therefore might have less competitive edge in some market segments over rival companies example sports gaming or fps. Though Blizzard Entertainment has very good games it keeps expanding on the already expanded game stories, example Warcraft which has great gameplay and good storyline, however it Blizzard keep concentrating on the same story and how to make a better installment people might get bored to keep playing the same story thats over extended or stretched. While Blizzard Entertainment are showing great signs of market diversification by trying to make a movie, their experience is very little in that field and almost non-existent. Might hit many glitches and problems along the way it might hard to solve with little experience. Which Blizzard Entertainment is attempting to avoid by working with a experience movie company, Legendary Films. Everyone agrees that Blizzard Entertainment makes great games, but another thing they agree is they take a really long to do that often over the stipulated release date. An impatient customer is never a happy customer. Game Quality should never be compromised but still the releases could be faster. Opportunities No doubt Blizzard Entertainment is very successful in its games and products, it can further diversify into other game genres it might not have touched, example sports gaming or FPS. Warcraft has a very rich storyline and might be good as a comic or book, gaining more exposure for Blizzard Entertainment as well in the process. Gameplay improvements and Graphical improvements to its current games with patches or when a new game comes out because the gaming industry is always improving, and gamers demand more every time. Look at a brand new game Genre with a totally new gaming engine of which the likes were never seen before and Blizzard Entertainment is on its way to another great selling game. Working with another experienced gaming company will help expand its horizons and its pool of talent, with more ideas and more funding, Blizzard Entertainment has a great global market share and good global coverage, but there are still countries that have not even heard of it, with the expanding global market and opening of markets, it would be a great time to reach even more countries. Blizzard Entertainment is currently working with Legendary Pictures, the studio behind the feature films such as Watchmen, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Superman Returns, and 300, in making of a live-action Warcraft movie. Threats Blizzard Entertainment faces serious competition from other companies that have some game genres that other gamers find more fun, example FPS. On top of that though Warcraft 3 has great cinematics, its in game graphics cant be compared. So many other games out there with much better graphics. EA games has Tiberiam Wars with much better graphics but of the same RTS genre , how about Relic Gamings Company of Heros. The Time it takes for Blizzard Entertainment to release its games is a great internal threat, for it may lose many loyal customers that got sick of waiting for the usually delayed games. Customers hate to wait unnecessarily and may buy other games instead. Blizzard Entertainment move into diversifying its market by moving into the movie industry which it has little experience, and requires a lot of funding. By going into other Game Genres its not familiar with also can be a risky move that might spell disaster by spreading itself too thin. Piracy is without a doubt one of the greatest threats to Blizzard Entertainment, infact to any industry that relies on the IP law. File Sharing is now everywhere and very easily accessible, one can even get the game without going out of his home and without spending a single cent for the game. Piracy costs Blizzard Entertainment millions of dollars every year. Why would people pay if they can get it free? Along with Piracy is 3rd party clients that make it possible for the games to be played online for free without the need for a original cd-key. In the past without these programs playing online with a pirated game would be impossible, and that would be one of the reasons why original games where still popular for the fact it had a cd-key that allows it to be played online. With these programs it bypasses all these security measures and there is no longer the need to pay for the game. V. Final SWOT Evaluation It is clear enough from this evaluation that Blizzard Entertainment has a very successful business model, but at the same time has so much more that it could improve on and diversify into. The very rich storyline of Warcraft has so much potential from movies to books to comics to Television series. The move that Blizzard Entertainment decided to make by working on a Warcraft movie was a good market decision to capture the growing movie industry and movie fans. Its lack in experience in the industry is offset by doing the movie with a more experienced movie company Legendary Pictures, the studio behind the feature films such as Watchmen, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Superman Returns, and 300, with a proven track record. But it should be warned that yes Blizzard Entertainment can go into other industries, but it must not neglect its main market share the gamers, and some hardcore fans might be turned off by the change Blizzard Entertainment. The Strengths are many and can be further worked upon by looking at the same game with different angles. Continuing to make games based on the gamers demand would be the best bet, for that means their games will always be in demand. The threats and weaknesses are numerous as well, however with the right well thought strategies they can be avoided and countered to keep Blizzard Entertainment ahead in the gaming world. However the greatest threat is Piracy and 3rd party clients, which in the case the saying if you cant beat them , join em doing business with the 3rd party clients might help Blizzard Entertainment gain back its lost profits from the programs and piracy. VI. Conclusion Blizzard Entertainment is a great game developer, and to continue in a increasing volatile market it has to keep changing to meet the demands of the new world. But if it continues to deliver its mission statement Dedicated to creating the most epic entertainment experiencesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.ever following its 8 core values. I dont doubt and not for a second that Blizzard Entertainment will continue deliver gaming experiences that redefine gaming.

Saint Fancis Of Assisi :: essays research papers

Saint Fancis of Assisi Saint Francis was born in 1182, in Assisi Italy. His real name is Giovanni Francesco Bernardone, but his father wanted him to be called Francis. He received very little education as a child, even though his father was a rich merchant. His father, Pietro di Bernardone, was a wealthy merchant, and his mother's name was Pica. Francis always dreamed about riding through the town as a hero. His father wanted Francis to learn about being a silk merchant, but Francis wasn't interested. Later, the city he lived in, Assissi, got into a battle with a neighboring city of Perugia, and Francis fought in the battle. He bought fancy horses, swords, and clothes to impress others. He was captured and put in jail for 1 year, and during this time he came down with a severe illness. After he was released from prison he decided to change his life. Francis visited many places, but lived in Assisi Italy. He had also lived in Mt. Subasio in 1208. There, during mass, he heard a voice saying to him three times to go out into the world and to posses nothing and do good everywhere. He then went to the Holy Land, but on his way his ship was wrecked so he had to return back to Assisi. Then he went to Egypt were he wanted to convert the Sultan but had no success. He again tried to go to the Holy Land and this time succeeded. He lived there until 1220. During this time 5 other Franciscan brothers were martyred. Francis too was willing to die for his faith, but was spared. He returned to Assisi. St. Francis had many accomplishments in his life. He began his religious life after he survived his illness. He lived as a Hermit, and attracted followers. After that, he visited hospitals and gave clothes to the ill. Sometimes he gave the homeless money and food. One time when he was walking back from prison, an old beggar came up to him. The beggar asked Francis for a cloak. Francis thought for a while, he knew he had another cloak at home, but then he wondered if the old man was trying to trick him. Francis decided to give the man his cloak and they traded cloaks. Francis said to the man that mine is warmer than the one you have and I am not cold at all Another act of kindness was when Francis was going to be a knight. His father got the best craftsman in Assisi to make him an outfit, such as armor, a cape, and weapons.

Wyatt Earp

MBA 660 Production and Quality Management IKEA Case Sonal Gadre 05/04/10 1. What are IKEA’s competitive priorities? IKEA’s competitive priorities are price and design. They want to develop products that are cheap in price, and yet good in quality. They apply logic from the way they develop their products, to the way it is presented to the customers. 2. Describe IKEA’s process for developing a new product. IKEA’s process for developing a new product is to produce cost effective products that are good in quality and the information about the way the Trofe mug was developed conveys that. A team consisting of designers, product developers and purchasers get together to discuss ways to manufacture the product at the lowest cost possible. 3. What are additional features of the IKEA concept (beyond their design process) that contribute to creating exceptional value for the customer? Additional features of the IKEA concept that contributes to adding value to the customer includes its relationship with suppliers, distribution and logistics, and customer service in their stores. IKEA keeps costs low and offers good quality products. IKEA tries to reduce their prices every year. Going green is the mantra adopted by the company along with ethics which believe in no child labor. The logistics and the way their products are packed to the way they are stored is remarkable. Providing an on-site day care and a cafe makes the shopping experience good for children and their parents, to the way they display their products. The products are packed in such a way that customers can load them in the cars or u-hauls and transport them to their homes or offices. A customer is satisfied after viewing the product they have assembled. 4. What would be important criteria for selecting a site for an IKEA store? The important criteria for selecting a site for an IKEA store would be easy access to the store not just for the customers, but also for suppliers and transporters. The close proximity to ports, roads and rail transport could also be important criteria.

Ferrari Performance Analysis Essays

Ferrari Performance Analysis Essays Ferrari Performance Analysis Paper Ferrari Performance Analysis Paper â€Å"Whats red, Italian and goes from 0 km/h to 100 km/h in three and a half seconds? † Ask this from any person on the street and you for sure will hear only one answer â€Å"Ferrari†. It was founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1943, the first Ferrari was built in 1947 and that is when the legend begins. Now it is hard to think of any other car that can make anyone feel more exclusive. It`s not just a sport car you own it`s quality, passion, luxury and status that comes with it. We chose it for our group presentation for all of those reasons and also because it is an outstanding, not usual brand, with a very special marketing strategy and a small group of exclusive costumers. In order to have a clear understanding of company’s position, potential and direction we used many business measurement tools. First of all, PEST analysis, which helped us to get a better idea about macro-environment in which Ferrari operates. By establishing main Political, Economical, Social and Technological factors we were able to assess current market situation, predict future challenges that company will have to face and think about possible solutions for those problems. After analyzing external factors we`ve identified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis) in order to understand overall strategic position of the business. In other words, now we were able to evaluate on Ferraris’ internal environment and have a clear view of company’s perspectives, limitations and possible improvement areas. : To complete our environmental research we used Porters Five forces to find out about competition in the industry, potential of new entrants into industry, power of suppliers and customers, threat of substitute products Ferrari`s marketing strategy is also something that makes this company very special. This car is a legend in a world of supercars, everyone knows what a prancing horse logo or at list heard of it. However it never used a penny on advertisement. And indeed, have we seen a single advert about Ferrari? So how come we all know about it? To find the answer for this question have become an interesting challenge for our group. To evaluate our answer we used 4Ps theory or marketing mix theory which looks at the product, price, promotion and place, because a successful marketing mix is a base for successful company. The successful use of marketing mix means putting the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time. And from what we found in our investigation Ferrari have been doing quite well at that. It managed to produce a unique car, in which every detail is about passion- passion for speed, passion for quality, passion for excludability and luxury. Having a Ferrari is like having a piece of legend. So, here we have a unique product. Further Ferrari pricing strategy is a marketing masterpiece in itself. â€Å"Luxury sets price, price does not set luxury† ( Daye D. , 2010) -this phrase fully demonstrates Ferrari pricing principles. They know what is the right price for the product they offer as you don`t buy just a car, you buy status and quality. Next step, promotion. And here is where we found an answer for the first question that made us so passionate about this topic. To promote their product they simply did what they were best at doing- racing and building an ideal car for speed lovers. Such a simple but such a genius marketing strategy with passion going through its` every detail. Also the company have developed a market of merchandising that helped to expand the brand and increase customer awareness. And finally- the right place†¦ Ferrari is the most valuable exponent of the top quality Italian and German showrooms. No one but exclusive customers can enter these showrooms and this again shows company’s targeting principles- do not waste time on anyone who is not a potential customer. After using 4 Ps theory we`ve learned about main principles of the company and had a better knowledge of the way it works. We also found (From PEST and SWOT analysis) that as any company Ferrari faces some challenges. And that is why after finding enough information we tried to recommend some ways to resolve those problems. Our solutions are the result of group discussions as well as good individual research. We`ve made some basic recommendations such as: invest more money in CO2 emission problem and research and development in order to stay best in technology. Also one of the recommendations was to collaborate with other exclusive brands to produce even more exclusive Ferrari related products, for example collaborate with Rolex to produce exclusive watches. Those are quite common solution for common problems. However, as a group we also came up with some radical and rand new recommendations such as building a Ferrari hotels where only Ferrari owners would be able to stay or inventing a new brand in collaboration with other popular brand, to make something more affordable to middle classes but with a bit of Ferrari in it. This could help to increase their sales, however some would argue that more profits will come at cost of reputation of Ferrari as an exclusive brand that not everyone can afford. To su m up our group work: every member showed a lot of interest, creativity, passion and initiative. Everyone’s opinion was considered when making a decision and discussing the topic. However, more practice needed to improve our presentation skills: luck of confidence and practice have prevented us from making this topic as interesting to the audience as it was for ourselves. So if there is something that should have been done differently – is the amount of time spent on practice. Other than that I found that doing presentation with the group of people who are passionate about the topic was a great experience. Bhasin, H. (2010). Marketing mix Ferrari. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 1st Dec 2011] Bhasin, H. (2010). SWOT Ferrari. [Online] Available at: ; oogle. com/search? ie=UTF-8=UTF-8=navclient=1=italy_sports_cars_2006#sclient=psy-ab=en=hp=ferrari+marketing+mix=1=ferrari+marketing+=1=g4==e=0l0l2l134l0l0l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0=on. 2,or. r_gc. r_pw. ,cf. osb=12ad4e0eba6dfc1f=1246=636; [Accessed 1st Dec 2011] Daye,D. (2008). Italys Master of Marketing Strategy. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 1st Dec 2011] Fiat Group. (2008). Annual Report. [Online] Available a t: [Accessed 5th Dec 2011]. SOS emarketing . (2010). Luxury Marketing . [Online] Available at: [Accessed

Signs youre stuck in the rat race

Signs youre stuck in the rat race We’ve all heard the phrase rat race before- it refers to a seemingly never-ending, pointless, and even self-defeating pursuit, and it’s often used when referring to one’s job or career. Individuals who are stuck in the rat race are unhappily going through the motions in life, trudging through the daily grind of their workday feeling unfulfilled, unchallenged, and uninspired until they go home at the end of the day- only to repeat the whole process again. Individuals who are stuck in the rat race are more than just unhappy- they’re actually negatively affecting their health and well-being. According to a recent Forbes article, individuals who hate their jobs face some serious consequences, including increased risks for stress, sleeplessness, illness, and mental health issues. An article by The Atlantic  even goes on to suggest that workplace unhappiness can shorten your lifespan!Obviously, individuals who are stuck in this unfortunate situation have every good reason to try and get out of it. Are you one of them? The truth is, sometimes people get so busy and wrapped up in the responsibilities and activities they have going on in their daily lives that they fail to take stock of their current situations. You may very well be stuck in the rat race and not even know it!Use the following signs to determine if you need to make some changes to your daily life.1. Your energy and enthusiasm levels are low.Are you like the energizer bunny when you get up in the morning? Do you go through an average workday full of â€Å"get up and go† enthusiasm for what lies ahead? Or maybe you’re more like a wilted flower or droopy basset hound who practically needs to be dragged through the day, and can’t wait to get back home so you can†¦lie around and do absolutely nothing. We all have good days and bad, but if more often than not you’re facing each day with a real lack of energy and enthusiasm, that’s a good sig n your stuck in a rat race and may need a change.2. You’re stuck in the past.Do you spend more time thinking about â€Å"past glories† than future opportunities? Do you gladly reminisce about days gone by and what you have done at the expense of what lies ahead and what you will accomplish? Individuals who are stuck in the rat race avoid thinking about the present and the future as a protective mechanism- keeping them from having to confront an unhappy reality or an uncertain tomorrow. If this sounds like you, you might just be stuck in a rut.3. You lack purpose.Folks who are in happy places in their lives are fueled by a sense of purpose and gamely tackle each day, along with the challenges and goals they’ve set for themselves. Those stuck in less fulfilling situations? Not so much. And it’s not hard to imagine the vicious spiral this creates, leading you to accomplish less and less as the days drag on. Don’t get stuck in a rat race spiral!4. Youà ¢â‚¬â„¢re noticing changes in your health and wellness.We’ve already touched on this one- when you’re stuck in the grinding gears of the rat race you’re going to experience a negative effect on your health and well-being. The ravages of stress, tension, sleeplessness, anxiety, and more will begin to gnaw away at you- and you’ll notice it. Tack on to this that people stuck in the rat race often make poor diet and exercise choices and it’s easy to see that this is a road to ruin.5. You feel powerless to effect change or think there’s nothing better out there for you.One of the real tragedies of being stuck in the rat race- as if we haven’t mentioned enough of them already- is that it robs you of the very ability to see a way out of it. It’s common for those stuck in a rut to feel that there’s simply no way out or have such a negative raincloud following them that they can’t even fathom that there’s something better out there. It’s not a good place to be.If after reading this you’ve realized that you’re stuck in the rat race and are starting to worry or panic- take a deep breath. It’s always better to know the truth and it’s never too late or a bad time to figure out where you are with your job situation- good or bad- and make a change!

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 132

Summary - Essay Example With the diversification of learner enrolment, it is evident that the teaching processes also needed to change. The combination of the traditional learning and online teaching-blended learning- has proven useful for the century’s teaching (Poon, 2013). Despite the challenges that come with the blended learning especially when it comes to online learning, this form of learning has been termed cost effective as lots of materials are placed online, and can be utilized over years depending on their suitability. Learners’ satisfaction has also been a major benefit of this form of learning. Poon (2013) says that lots of learners showed perseverance and dedication in the learning process. Other displayed critical thinking skills as opposed to the ones who were simply exposed to face-to-face learning. Conclusively, it is justified to argue that online learning has been greatly beneficial to the learning process as it has greatly boosted the â€Å"traditional† learning. Online learning has presented opportunities to embrace technology in the learning

Principles of logisties management Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Principles of logisties management - Article Example Besides the support of market information, business planning, financing, marketing, and many more, one of the most important services that DKSH provides is the logistics and warehousing (1DKSH, n.d.). However, the article intends to reveal the current order processing, the mode of controlling inventories and the use of ICT. Moreover, some of the recommendations are also being sighted, so that DKSH would be more effective and efficient in its logistics service. Finally, a conclusion is also being drawn. The current order processing of any logistics organisation in the present world scenario faces multiple challenges. DKSH one of the leading outsourcing organisation in the world, which provides logistics services to various entities still could not avoid such challenges. DKSH has over 180 centres that distribute goods in a wide variety of over 3, 00,000 products and serving more than 5, 00,000 consumers through representing more than 5,500 suppliers. Moreover, they have their own warehousing and the facility of third part logistics. It is also been constantly searching for the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) that would improve their efficiency and effectiveness. Further, it has GMP-compliant healthcare centre, which is of the state of the art and is of a whooping number of 18 (2DKSH, n.d.; 5DKSH, n.d.). However, there are numbers of issues that are required to be considered by DKSH with regards to logistics. One of them is regarding the numerous categories of products, which gives a good challenge for the proper order processing of those goods. Moreover, high protection requirement to some of the vulnerable goods that might get damaged due to environmental risk during the order processing flow. Further, with the onset of globalisation, the logistics market has become very competitive and challenging. Furthermore, the demand for some of the products are also seasonal based. Thus, the uniformity of the service requirement may not be present throughout the year. In

Union Grievance Process Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Union Grievance Process - Research Paper Example Union Grievance Process â€Å"A grievance is defined within a collective bargaining agreement (CBA). In general, a CBA may establish that a grievance arises when an employer violates a provision of the CBA, state or federal law, or "past practice"†(Johnson). More precisely, grievance is a written complaint registered by the employee about his employment right violations. This paper analyses various dimensions of union grievance process. Even though the term collective bargaining is quiet familiar to us, it was first used by the renowned economist Sidney Webb in 1891. However, the term collective bargaining gained prominence in the nineteenth century when trade unions were started to evolve in organizational world. Since grievance is accommodated within the CBA’s, the case of grievance or Union Grievance Process was also evolved along with the CBA’s. In fact, by 1944 the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that 73% of all labor contracts in America contained arbitration clauses and by the early 1980’s that figure had grown to 95%. The purposes of grievance procedures are; â€Å"To resolve disputes arising in the workplace, To provide contract interpretations, To protect the employees' and union's negotiated contract rights, To establish precedent, To ensure uniform treatment of employees, To maintain relative peace in the workplace†(Processing Grievances, p.502). It is difficult for an employee to work positively if he feels that some of his employment rights were disallowed by the employer. Same way it is impossible for the employer to ensure better productivity from the employees if the employer fails to keep positive relationships with the employees. Grievances help both the employer and the employee to settle their issues and strengthen their cooperation for mutual benefits. In other words, grievances are not only beneficial to the employees, but also to the employer. In most of the cases, employee will try to settle the issues with his employer directly or individually. However, in some cases, it c ould be difficult for the employee to argue present his arguments successfully in front of the employer. For example, if an employer dismisses or suspends an employee without genuine reasons, it is difficult for the employee to convince the employer with his arguments. If the employee is a trade union member, he will try to solve his problems with the help of the union, in such circumstances. When a trade union, negotiates with the employer to solve the problems of an employee or group of employees, the process will be referred as union grievance process. â€Å"The grievance process enforces the collective bargaining agreement, which establishes the memberships' terms and conditions of employment† (Johnson). Grievances are taking place in all the departments of an organization even though the details of some of them could be kept confidential. Union grievance process consists of certain procedures. The case of union grievance process begins when an employee approaches his imm ediate supervisor with a problem, dispute or employment right violation complaint. â€Å"If an employee brings forward an alleged violation of the collective agreement, the

The fall of the Iron curtain in the 1990s Essay Example for Free

The fall of the Iron curtain in the 1990s Essay The fall of the Iron curtain in the 1990s brought a close to a chapter in history that brought the world to the brink of global nuclear-armed conflict. However, at the dawn of the 21st century President George W. Bushs administration is poised to reopen that chapter by pursuing a unilateral defense posture that will only serve to modernize and expand current nuclear war fighting capabilities and break the taboo of nuclear non-use. This paper will argue that the failure of the United States to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) as well as the pursuit of a National Missile Defense (NMD) will lock the United States back into its Cold War security dilemma in which striving to increase security breeds more insecurity. CTBT Since the 1950s, opposition to nuclear testing has been spurred by concerns over its health and environmental effects and by testing being one of the more visible signs of the nuclear arms race. Most recently, in 1995-1996, massive worldwide criticism of French nuclear tests in the South Pacific, caused France to curtail its test program. Public opposition and the dangers of an arms race fueled by nuclear testing have lead governments to try to limit and stop nuclear testing for over 40 years. However, in 1999 the United States Senate refused to implement the CTBT, which would have put an end to nuclear weapons testing and development. The United States failure to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty guarantees a future end to the ten-year moratorium on testing. The events of September 11th and the subsequent war on terrorism have the Bush administration searching for new options on the battlefield. Recently the administration began studying options for the development and production of a small, low-yield nuclear weapon called a bunker-buster which would burrow into the ground to destroy buried hideaways of rogue leaders like Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden. This pursuit not only guarantees no chance of the CTBT ever coming into law in the US but it also guarantees the breakdown in the firewall between conventional warfare and nuclear warfare. Using nuclear weapons in conventional warfare guarantees the escalation of conflict that would spiral out of control and only serve to hurt future arms reductions negotiations. The development of low yield nuclear weapons is also likely to spur a new arms race between the US and Russia because of an increased reliance on tactical nuclear weapons, in which the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction is no longer employed as deterrence but as procedure. 1 Therefore the United States effort to increase its security by developing weapons to defeat terrorists would only serve to escalate its own insecurity and showcase US military paranoia. The failure of the US to ratify the CTBT also makes it less likely that other states will enter into the treaty. Pakistan and India, known nuclear states that are the most likely to start a nuclear confrontation have long been waiting to see what the US is going to do on CTBT before they take a stance. The effect of the US ratifying the CTBT would be the equivalent of saying Gentlemen, start your engines. 2 Every government in the world that is considering the treaty would race to get the treaty to enter into force. If those countries were to continue on their current course of nuclear development it is likely that the Bush administration would have to uphold its doctrine that it is using against Iraq in order to prevent the spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction to terrorist organizations. Ratification of the CTBT would not only halt US weapons development at its current state but it would also help pave the way for eventual disarmament. The ratification of the CTBT would also help undermine the current security dilemma the United States is locked in to. NMD NMD first appeared under President Reagan in the early 1980s. It was popularly known as Star Wars because it was intended to be a space-based system for the reconnaissance and prompt in-flight destruction of long-range missiles fired at the US3. However, due to its complexity and cost, the Star Wars system was never built. However, anti-missile systems continue to be explored, as for example the Exo-Atmospheric Kill Vehicle developed under President Clinton. 4 NMD represents an attempt to ensure that the US is forever safe from any kind of attack, especially from irrational rogue states armed with long-range missiles. It shows clearly that an interdependent world and globalisation bring with them a sense of insecurity. This sense of insecurity could be said to verge on paranoia, considering the disparity of forces between rogue states and the US. Indeed, as there is brought here, every threat is magnified under the lens of Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites and must be hedged against. Echoing President Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair argued that in an interdependent world, extensive multilateralism was the only choice that could lead to true security from multiple, global threats. 5 However, President Bush seems to have chosen the opposite path by seeking to protect the US unilaterally, resulting in the logic of the Cold War arms race. NMD in particular, as it is a space-based defense system, seems particularly vulnerable to the logic of the arms race. Indeed, today only one in eight active orbiting satellites belong to the US military. 6 This proportion is set to decrease, as launching satellites into space continues to become more and more affordable to companies and smaller countries. Therefore, in the unilateralist logic, space-based weapons will also become increasingly available to possible enemies, presenting a new threat to US security that must be overcome by ever more expensive technological fixes. Furthermore, since i la carte multilateralism undermines the ABM Treaty, the arms race perspective becomes even more likely, as it contains the most explicit protections of satellites on the books. 7 The ABM Treaty effectively blocked the development of anti-missile defense systems,8 thus ensuring that any country launching a missile attack would be unable to defend itself from a retaliatory strike. Were this treaty to disappear, aggressive acts towards satellites, most probably by present or future rogue states, would only become more likely a self-fulfilling prophecy. This logic serves only to reiterate the fact that The basis of security is that it never works for just one. You have to have security for everyone or it fails. 9. That entering the arms race logic is the result of paranoia rather than realism is shown by the fact that the widening access to satellites to both businesses and countries could equally be seen as reinforcing the USs dominant position. Indeed, because of the USs undoubted technological advantage, it has developed many of the technologies which have become commonplace. For example, the Australian army relies on the American GPS system,10 and it is further woven into the fabric of daily life by being used by navigators in the worlds airlines and ships and even in ordinary peoples boats and cars. 11 Thus it is possible to say that the GPS system is universal and is no longer being tied to any particular territory. A more liberal approach than that taken by the Bush administration would suggest that overall, this diminishes the likelihood of an attack upon the satellites. Indeed By sharing GPS, no one feels so threatened to compete with it, and because of its widespread use any country that damaged it would provoke a global fury. 12 US insecurity is further demonstrated by frequent inversions of its actual military posture. Hence, the US is often represented as a weak military nation, despite its crushing military superiority. For example, Condoleeza Rice, President Bushs national security advisor, claimed during President Clintons tenure that US soldiers had been turned into social workers, and that the armed forces as a whole were as weak as in 1940. 13 The current Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld spoke of the increasing vulnerability of the US, and evoked images of a space-based Pearl Harbor early on in President Bushs tenure. 14 This constant fear of vulnerability is mirrored in academic circles. Kagan states that the defense budget needs to be increased rapidly, by as much as $50-100 billion per year. 15 As a budgetary recommendation, this figure seems fanciful, considering the combination of a slowing US economy, the $1. 35 trillion tax cut promoted by President Bush and the difficulty of pushing a far more modest budget increase through Congress this past budgetary session. However unrealistic, it does serve to reflect the condition of institutionalised paranoia. Insecurity is clearly shown when the US, by far the worlds leading military power in terms of budget, technology, logistics and training, is portrayed as being highly vulnerable to people such as Osama Bin Laden,16 the alleged terrorist. Rather, the US is creating the conditions of its own insecurity. Indeed, the combination of i la carte multilateralism, dreams of Full Spectrum Dominance and the idiosyncratic branding of certain states as rogues can only serve to antagonize friends and foes alike. Rather than defusing possible threats at the source, President Bushs policies seem more likely to provoke attack. Of course, any attack would be taken as a justification of these policies, feeding into a vicious circle of insecurity resolved through the deification of technology and the abandonment of the human contact represented by treaty negotiation. In Der Derians words, President Bush symbolizes the leader who has given up on peace on earth and now [seeks] peace of mind through the worship of new techno-deities. 17 Rumsfelds drive to reform the military on the basis of NMD and other space-based technologies implies deep and risky reductions in conventional forces, such as cuts in the number of Army divisions, Navy aircraft carriers and Air Force fighter wings. 18 This further reinforces the fact that techno-strategy is supplanting humanity in security considerations. The search for unilateral absolute security, especially through technology and unilateralism, is a form of the necessarily doomed search for a single power or sovereign truth that can dispel or control the insecurities, indeterminacies, and ambiguities that make up international relations. 19 The negative consequences of smart warfare are one instance of the risks of President Bushs logic. It is clear that if the United States continues to pursue its misguided foreign policy the world will soon witness a new wave of arms races and decreased securitization. Only by pursuing confidence building, regime oriented measures can the United States help avert the next Cold War. Ratification of the CTBT and ending the pursuit of a National Missile Defense seem to be the first steps in the process toward paving the way into the 21st century. The United States can either sit back a not take on its role as a champion of the free world or it can take a proactive stance in stomping out the possibility of a renewed arms race and break out of its Cold War security dilemma. 1 Alexander, B. and Millar, A. (www. fourthfreedom. org/php/print. php? hinc=DefenseNewstnw. hinc) July 11, 2001 2 Kuchta, A. Dickinson Journal of International Law A Closer Look: The US Senates Failure to Ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, 19 Dick. J. Intl L. 333. 3 http://www. nuclearfiles. org/chron/80/1980s. html 4 http://www. msnbc. com/news/845497. asp? 0cv=TB10 5 Blair, T. , Doctrine of the International Community, speech delivered in Chicago, 23 April, 1999, http://www. number-10.gov. uk.