Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Company Promotion Policies Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Company Promotion Policies - Research Paper Example On the other hand, Alex the person who got promoted is an Anglo with a graduate degree but he has less experience with the company as well as in the position. However, he has left a positive impact on his evaluators and he is considered to be â€Å"up and comer.† Maria claims being discriminated because of her ethnic background as well as being the only woman in the department. She has concerns that her evaluations have been biased because all her supervisors are White males apart from the fact that her supervisor told her that she was not being promoted because of her accent and the clients would have problems in understanding her accent. Maria claims that the company is discriminating and is being unfair. If we look at the argument from the company’s perspective, they believe that Maria is a good employee; however, she is loud and aggressive at time in her contact with co-workers and supervisors. Moreover, she has had punctuality issues twice in the past and she gives family problems as the causes. She says that her family needed her help and support and it was her duty to do so. With regard to the accent, it was also cleared out that it was not the company was discriminating her accent, although it was a major consideration. However, it was pointed out that Maria speaks very rapidly and because of her accent, it becomes impossible to understand anything she said. The company says that communication is a very important part of that job description and hence, it cannot be overlooked. We need to first understand discrimination before we can provide any ruling regarding the company’s promotion policy. We can define discrimination as the bias in treatment that exists towards a certain race, color, sex, nationality. Another explanation of discrimination can be the improper treatment based on unjustified factors. Racial discrimination occurs when a member of one racial group is treated favorably as compared to the member of another

Monday, October 28, 2019

Journal of Consumer Behavior Essay Example for Free

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

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Gulf by Robert Westall Essay -- English Literature

Gulf by Robert Westall Gulf by Robert Westall is a breathtaking novel seen through the eyes of a boy named Tom. In this story Tom gives a recount of the past events of his life during the Gulf war. In this essay I will be looking closely at Tom’s little brother Andy A.K.A Figgis and how he and his family change during this book. This story revolves around a boy named Figgis who has the strange supernatural ability to look into other people’s lives; in their eyes. The problem starts when Figgis starts to see the life of a small boy soldier in Iraq. The boy named Latif slowly takes over Figgis’ body. Figgis is strange but smart character which makes him very interesting. The thing that makes Figgis slightly different from other people is his special ability to see what other people are seeing many miles away. Figgis is brought up in a mainstream family who care very much for him. Figgis’ brother Tom cares about him the most as they share a special bond. The bond was created from the minute Figgis was born. The relationship happened because; before Figgis was born ...

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Accounting Laws Memo Essay

Re: Process and Laws that apply in Puerto Rico to establish a business corporation. It is a pleasure to help and guide you through the process of regulations and steps in establishing a community pharmacy in Puerto Rico. This type of business is very regulated and includes both state and federal laws. -The first thing that must be done is to get incorporated in the Department of State in accordance with the corporations law 164 of 2009 with a company name that is not registered yet and offering a physical address into which municipality will be the headquarters. Then a business social security issued by the Department of Treasury Internal Revenue Services must be obtained. This number will identify the corporation when doing business among other business and when paying taxes to the state and municipality. See more: My Writing Process Essay -A merchant registry number (Registro de comerciante) must be obtained also by the department of treasury, here you will specify the exact mailing and physical address and what type of business will be conducted under that corporation. Additional documents are needed: Lease Contract Use Permit (Obtained in the municipality if it is autonomous, if not in OGP offices) and is granted by ARPE Fire Department endorsement (Extinguishers and emergency exits) Health department endorsement. (Requires a minimum of two bathrooms and at least one with the dimensions for handicapped persons.) Structure blueprints Explicative letter CRIM certification (Centro de Recaudaciones de Ingresos Municipales) -With a provisional patent issued when completed the above steps, then you will need to get the permits for the pharmacy licenses at the Health Department of Puerto Rico and AMSCA (Administracion de Servicios de Salud y Contra la Adiccion) and DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) Requirements for Pharmacy permits: Regent or Ruling certified Pharmacist endorsed by the College of Pharmacist $75 biological License fee $100 Pharmacy License fee Requirements for AMSCA: Health and Pharmacy permit Lease Contract Medicine cabinet for controlled drugs Security Cameras Pharmacist Permit $200 fee Requirements for DEA permit: Fill all documents at the DEA website $500 fee – Once completed you must go to the municipality where the business is going  to be and request the final patent to operate. Under the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, accounting principles are established by FASB (Financial Accounting Standards board). It is very important to follow these standards and laws established by the government to avoid any penalties and fines. Accounts and deposits must be made under the same name of the corporation. (Act 981m) Funds, Accounting, and tests accounts must be specified and communicate how the funds should be managed. This is verified by the Controller of Puerto Rico (Act 671i) With the Commercial Registry (Registro de comerciante) a sales tax must be paid by the 10th of every month. Income tax and employee social security must be informed every three months and the contribution retained of the employees is paid every month to the department of treasury. Employee social security contribution is paid monthly to the IRS. Every three months unemployment insurance fee and incapacity is paid to the Department of Labor. Every six months insurance to the State Insurance Fund (Fondo del Seguro del Estado) must be paid. This is in accordance with Act 45, approved on April 18, 1935, known as the Compensation System for Occupational Accidents. This protects employees and covers the monthly payment to them in case of an accident in the workplace. Public responsibility insurance to protect the corporation against third party accidents is highly recommended. If you follow these steps and suggestions, I can assure you that you can get your business running and be assured that the laws are being followed. The process may take some time, but it is worth the time and money in the future. PYMES are needed in the country for the local economy to progress, and I am more than welcome to help you in the process. My ultimate advice is to get a certified CPA to work with you in the accounting functions of the business to help minimize errors and fines when is time to pay.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Strategic Management Assignment

HANOI UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT AND TOURISM —————-o0o—————- INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS Research in Motion Ltd. Tutor: Mr. Nguy? n Anh Quan Students: Ph? m Thanh H? ng M? u Minh Tuy? n Vu Ng? c Anh Class: Tutorial 3 Course: Strategic Management Date: 16/09/2009 Word count: 3, 261 words I. INTRODUCTION Besides external environment analysis, in order to craft a plausible strategy, the company has to understand itself as well, or in other words, to carefully evaluate its resources and competitive position. In this report, we look into the case of Research in Motion Ltd. RIM) to illustrate this point. Firstly, we will provide readers with background knowledge of the company, following by assessment of the company’s current strategy. Then, the SWOT analysis is executed, and the weighted competitive strength assessments is considered. Lastly, from the analysis, we provide the list of issues and problems t hat merit front-burner managerial attention. II. BODY 1. Company’s background: RIM was founded in 1984 by Mike Lazardis. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the company also has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. RIM provides platforms and solutions for access to time-sensitive information, including email, phone, Instant Messaging (IM), short message service (SMS) messaging, Global Positioning System (GPS), Internet and intranet-based applications. RIM is known primarily as the maker and provider of Blackberry wireless devices and e-mail services. It can provide users with a wireless extension of their work and personal email accounts, including Microsoft Outlook, IBM Lotus Notes, Novell GroupWise and many Internet service provider (ISP) email services. RIM has recently reached 14 million subscribers worldwide and had just over $6 billion in revenue. In early 2008, RIM was one of Canada’s largest companies with a market capitalization of $69. 4 billion. RIM had more than 100,000 enterprise customers and an estimated 42% market share of converged devices. Revenues were contributed mainly by handheld sales (73%), followed by service (18%), software (6%) and other revenues (3%). In 2007, 57. 9% of RIM’s revenues were derived from the US, 7. 3% from Canada and the remaining 34. % from other countries. RIM had over 270 carrier partnerships in more than 110 countries. In terms of product innovation, RIM has a wide range of product design and innovation awards, including recognition from Computerworld as one of the Top 10 Products of the Past 40 Years. 2. Assessment of company’s current strategy 2. 1 Company’s strategic approach: RIM’s strategy focuses mainly on differentiating its products from those of competitors in order to serve a niche market for business class. In terms of differentiation, the BlackBerry wireless platform and line of handhelds include e-mail, phone, IM, SMS, internet, music, camera, video, radio, organizer, GPS and a variety of other applications. BlackBerry’s small size, long battery life, and ease of use, made the product extremely popular with busy executives who valued the safe and secure delivery of corporate mail. In fact, organizations that relied on sensitive information, such as the U. S. government and large financial institutions, were early and loyal adopters of BlackBerry and RIM’s largest customers. RIM’s enterprise e-mail servers, which were attached to the customer’s e-mail and IM servers behind company firewalls, encrypted and redirected e-mail and other data before forwarding the information to end consumers through wireless service providers (see Exhibit 3). RIM had more than 100,000 enterprise customers and an estimated 42 per cent market share of converged devices as mentioned above. 2. 2 Firm’s competitive scope: RIM has a quite narrow geographic market coverage, mainly in the region of North America, with the US market contributing 57. % of RIM’s revenues, 7. 3% from Canada and the rest 34. 8% from other countries. The company competes in several industries, including wireless devices, software and service. In terms of revenue distribution, as mentioned above, handheld sales is in the first rank 73%, followed by service 18%, software 6% and other revenues 3%. 2. 3 Recent move position and performance: In terms of competing against rivals, RIM ’s strengths firstly lie in the ability to improve its products both in design and technology. For example, RIM had recently introduced the award-winning Blackberry Pearl and Blackberry Curve, which were a significant design from previous models and for the first time targeted both normal consumer and business professionals. RIM had a variety of product designs and innovation awards, including one of the â€Å"Top 10 Products† from Computerworld in the Past 40 Years. Recently, RIM has stepped up in advertising its product, like images from celebrities like Madonna and Paris Hilton holding Blackberry in their hands. Especially, US President Obama were sighting using Blackberry device. Also, RIM is very brave to open their target market to younger consumers instead of their usual business consumers by launching Facebook, partnerships with software developers to bring popular games such as Guitar Hero II to the Blackberry mobile platform. Another illustration is that just six months after launching Facebook for BlackBerry, downloads of the popular social networking software application had topped one million, indicating that younger consumers were gravitating towards the popular handhelds. All these actions suggest a more aggressive move to the consumer, or at least prosumer, smartphone space. What’s more, RIM is expanding the number of product and technology development facilities in locations such as Fort Lauderdale. Geographic expansion is an essential strategy, but it has its trade-off. We will talk more about this in the SWOT analysis. One of the key factor for RIM to win over competitors is in the field of R&D. RIM employed just over 2,100 people with different R&D areas of expertise: radio frequency engineering, hardware and software design,audio and display improvement, antenna design, circuit board design, power management, industrial design, and manufacturing engineering, among others. R&D efforts focused on improving the functionality, security and performance of the BlackBerry solution, as well as developing new devices for current and emerging network technologies and market segments. R&D had increased significantly both in terms of the total number of employees as well as the geographic scope of its operations. Since 2000, the R&D group had grown more than tenfold, from 200 to 2,100 people and expanded to two more locations in Canada. Additionally, by merging with competitors, RIM had over 270 carrier partnerships in more than 110 countries around the world. Through the Blackberry Connect licensing program other leading device manufacturers such as Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson could also equip their handsets with Blackberry functionality and other technologies. 2. 4. Evaluating the strategy: 2. 4. 1 From quantitative standpoint: †¢ In 2007 revenue increased by 98% from the previous year. †¢ Reached 14 million subscribers worldwide and had just over $6 billion in revenue (see Exhibits 1 and 2). †¢ Since 2000, the R&D group had grown more than tenfold, from 200 to 2,100 people, made up about 35 per cent of RIM’s 6,254 employees. Total headcount had also been growing in double digits over the last five years (see Exhibit 7). †¢ Low employee turnover rate and received â€Å"Canada’s 10 most admired corporate culture†. 2. 4. 2 Key indicators of how well the strategy is working †¢ Firm’s sale, market share and customers: 14 million subscribers in 2008, nearly double than in 200 7 with 8 million subscribers worldwide. †¢ $6 billion in revenue, doubling of that in 2007 (see Exhibits 1 and 2) †¢ 1/6 of the market share (Exhibits 8). RIM revenue compared with others: For 4 years RIM revenue increased 10 times more from $595 million to $6,009 million, while the leader Nokia almost double ( $46,606 million to $80,672 million), Motorola from $23,155 million to $36,622 million. Apple from $6,207 million to 24,006 mil and Palm from $838 million to $1,561 million. Overall, RIM had the fastest growing rate (Exhibits 6). †¢ As one of the first to market with two-way messaging, over the years RIM has continuously improve its design and technology with award-winning models like Blackberry Pearl and Blackberry Curve. Also, good money is being spent on investment in R&D to keep up with the change of the mobile industry. This creates a good image and reputation of the company to customers. 3. SWOT Analysis: 3. 1 Strengths: †¢ Product innovation: (a competence) The rationale of R & D Department at RIM is: â€Å"Communication Through Innovation†. ? Products that attract the attention of both consumers and business professionals. Originally built for busy professionals, BlackBerry had made considerable headway in the consumer market and become something of a social phenomenon. CO-OP program with the University of Waterloo. CO-OP supplies business and industry with experience and contacts, as well as the opportunities to apply and refine what is learned in class. †¢ World leader in Business Mobile Communications market: ? One of the only trusted phones for the business-class mobile e-mail. As mentioned above, BlackBerry integrate e-mail, phone, IM, SMS, internet, GPS and a variety of o ther, in addition to small size, long battery life, and ease of use; making the product extremely popular with busy entrepreuners. Accumulated wide range of product design and innovation awards, recognition by Computerworld as Top 10 products of the past 40 Years. RIM had more than 100,000 enterprise customers and an estimated 42 per cent market share of converged devices, and significantly higher market share of data-only devices, in North America. †¢ Secure delivery: ? Source code is one of their few technical assets which is highly protected and is a key role in the success of the company, delivering the safe and secure voice and data transmission on which the BlackBerry reputation was built. This can be considered as a distinctive competence of RIM. †¢ Strong working culture: RIM’s core competence. ? Company culture has contributed towards a lower turnover rate compared to larger companies, and more happy employees. They have flexibility, adaptability and the ability to work collaboratively. There are not a lot of process or the kind of bureaucracy. 3. 2 Weaknesses: †¢ Shortage of physical space at RIM’s Waterloo campus. It is considered as a hazard of a growing company since it is not going to be conducive for expansion. †¢ Internal resistance to expand R&D to locations outside of Waterloo. There are people here, even leaders and senior people, who said: â€Å"What? Products being built elsewhere? No! We can’t do that! Then we won’t have any control! † So, some of it is a cultural shift and a mind shift for the people that have been there and it is hard for them to let go and to be part of a really big company. 3. 3 Oppo rtunities: †¢ Economic situation: ? Many smaller firms and technology start ups are struggling financially. ? In light of the dynamic market situation, RIM needs to ensure that its investment in R&D keeps up with the pace of change in the mobile industry. Analysts predict an immense opportunity for smart phones starting in 2008-2009, which shipments reaching the billions by 2012. †¢ There are not many trusted alternatives for business-class mobile e-mail. RIM could be one of the world’s biggest handset manufacturers in the future. 3. 4 Threats: †¢ Global economic downturn recently caused a lot of difficulties for all companies, and RIM is not taken into the exception. †¢ Explosive growth and increased competition on the R&D team to develop new solutions in the global smartphones market. In 2007, Symbian Operating System designed for mobile devices held an estimation of 65 percent worldwide share of the converged devices, shipping 77. 3 million smartphones. The second position was given to Microsoft’s Windows Mobile OS with 12 percent while RIM Blackberry OS at 11 percent. †¢ Apple announced that it would be pursuing the business segment, as Microsoft and Google were also both trying. Apple’s innovation in its mobile user interface and new technology (thermal touch screen) has created a new trend in mobile phone usage. This prompted a lot of design activities among competitors. Key competitors have already expanded globally while RIM is just on the way to be a global player. As can be seen from the SWOT above, RIM has a lot of strengths compared with its weaknesses. Its main problems that need solving currently are the expansion of the head quarter in Waterloo and the frightful competitiveness between competitors since there are day-by-day changes in technology that is considered as the matter of life and death for every player in mobile industry. When RIM becomes a global cell-phone producer, it has to face with th e competition from giants such as NOKIA, Motorola, Apple, Palm, etc. . Weighted competitive strength assessment To do the weighted competitive strength assessment of RIM, we take 2 main competitors namely Apple and Nokia. In order to have a precise view, we would like to consider the competitive assessment merely in the biggest industry of RIM – smart phones. The 8 key success factors that most affect industry’s members to prosper in the marketplace are identified. Among them, qualified human resource and quality of the products are considered the most important, thus get the weight of 0. 2. These are followed by the innovation to create new product, which is given 0. 15 weight. Reputation/image, financial resources, technological skills and product security are all rated as of medium importance, hence having 0. 1 weight. Last comes the customer service capability with the weight of 0. 05. [pic] From the assessments, it is seen that RIM ranks higher than its two competitors in terms of product quality and product security. However, the company is not as good as rivals in other aspects. Therefore, all things considered, the firm has a net competitive disadvantage versus major competitors, with the weighted overall strength rating of only 6. 9 compared to Apple’s 7. 4 rate and Nokia’s 8. 5. 5. Strategic issues and problems that merit front-burner managerial attention After careful consideration of both industry and competitive analysis, as well as the evaluations of the company’s own competitiveness, we have come to the â€Å"worry list† that is further discussed below. This list points out strategic issues that the managers of Rese arch in Motion need to address and resolve so that the company can be more financially and competitively successful in the years ahead. ? How to recruit and retain qualified engineers: As mentioned above, R&D and engineering were the heart and soul of RIM. Therefore, the growth of the company is in close relationship with the development of its technological human resource. With the explosive growth of the firm, since 2000, the R&D group had grown more than tenfold, from 200 to 2,100 people. However, the industry is experiencing a scarcity in the labor market, especially for high-skilled workers, leading to fierce competition to attract talented individuals. †¢ In the specific situation of RIM, because of its centralization in Waterloo, the company relies heavily on the labor supply of the region. However, this resource is strictly limited. On the other hand, the enterprise also faces threats from other companies, such as Microsoft or Google, as Waterloo is regarded as â€Å" an incredible pool of talent†. †¢ Attracting outside talent to Waterloo was difficult given the competitive nature of the global software development industry. The city of 115,000 people might not be perceived by some candicates to be as attractive as other high-tech centers which were more cosmopolitan, for instance Silicon Valley, or Taipei, Mitaka, Glasgow. †¢ In software, breakthrough innovations often came from small teams led by a visionary. In other words, although new graduates were essential, to be ahead of the game, a good proportion of the incoming employees for RIM was going to have to be senior hires. In the dynamic wireless communications market, exceptional software developers were scarce. †¢ From another perspective, similar to other players in the telecommunication industry, it is RIM’s policy to maintain its R&D spending as a consistent percentage of total sales. R&D expenses are seen as a proxy for new product or service development, therefore used as a key indicator of future revenue potential. Human capital represented the bulk of R&D dollars and in fact, this rate is decreasing from 10. 59% in 2004 to 5. 99% in 2008. This is significantly low compared to rivals’ rate: Palm with 12. 24%, Motorola with 12. 09% and Nokia with 10. 20%. As a result, the need to increase the R&D employees is crucial to the development of the corporation. ? How to solve the shortage of physical space at RIM’s Waterloo: This is another problem that needs attention from managers of RIM. The expansion of physical space is essential to satisfy the current demand of organization’s people as well as facilitate the growing human resource. Whether to remain centered in Waterloo or expand existing geographies: Maintaining the centralization in its headquarter brings about various benefits, such as the nurturing of the corporate culture, or the control of technology together with core activities. In fact, the cryptographic and software source code of Blackberry on which the brand repu tation was built is considered uncompromised by the corporation. It is said by Chris Wormald, vice president of strategic alliences, that â€Å"Our source code is really among our few enduring technical assets. We have gone through extraordinary measures to protect it. We don’t give anyone any access under any circumstances. This vertical integration of technology makes geographic expansion and outsourcing of software development very difficult. † Therefore, intellectual property rights is strategically managed through a strategy that divided core platform development from product and technology development, with most of the core work still occuring in Waterloo. However, it is also concerned that without geographical expansion, the company can be left behind in its competition. How to maintain the unique culture while expanding the company: The culture at RIM headquarters was seen as one of its differentiators and was a key factor in RIM’s low employee turnover rate. The company has recently been recognized as one of â€Å" Canada’s 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures†. This culture is described as flexible, adaptable and supportive, leading to the ability t o respond quickly to market opportunities of the firm. Compared to its competitors, RIM has a nice and dynamic environment, a place engineers like to work. Nevertheless, this unique culture is being challenged. The exponential growth of the company means the dramatic increase in human resource, and how to integrate the newcomers into RIM’s culture becomes an alarming question. Furthermore, when expansion of R&D is brought into consideration, internal resistance is also heard. People complained about changing in the strategy. So here a cultural shift for the people is required. ? How to compete with rivals in markets other than the North America: In terms of operating system, RIM Blackberry is ranked the third worldwide, with 11% market share in 2007, and the first in North America. In the same year, 57. % of RIM’s revenues were derived from the United States, 7. 3% from Canada and the remaining 34. 8% from other countries. Currently RIM had offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, however, it had only three wholly owned subsidiaries — two in Delaware and one in England. From this statistics, it can be seen that the main market of Blackberry is still North Amer ica. To compete successfully, RIM has to enhance its appearance and market share in other major markets as well. Expanding the global reach of Blackberry solutions is therefore a fundamental part of RIM’s strategy. III. CONCLUSION From the internal environment analysis, we draw a conclusion that RIM is pursuing a reasonable strategy of focus differentiation. Its trend to move toward the consumer market is wise, promising to bring more market share and profits for the company. However, because of its small size and limited resources compared to big players in the industry, it is somehow having a net competitive disadvantage. To further itself in the future, the company should enhance its strengths, minimize the weaknesses together with catching opportunities as well as eliminating threats. The worry list above should be considered carefully so that the company can be compete more successfully in the coming years. REFERENCE 1. Company Histories. â€Å"Research in Motion Ltd. † [Online] Available at: http://www. fundinguniverse. com/company-histories/Research-in-Motion-Ltd-Company-History. html [Accessed 20 August 2009]. 2. Pkaasish, 2008. â€Å"Research in Motion Ltd. Always on, always connected†. [Online] Available at: http://www. oppapers. com/essays/Blackbberry/132559 [Accessed 22 August 2009]. 3. 2008. â€Å"RIM Reviews in Waterloo, ON (Canada)†. [Online] Available at: http://www. lassdoor. com/Reviews/RIM-Waterloo-Company-Reviews-EI_IE9091. 0,3_IL. 4,12_IC2280158_IP4. htm [Accessed 30 August 2009]. 4. PATRICIA BOW, 2008. â€Å"BUSINESS†¦ not as usual†. [Online] Available at: http://www. alumni. uwaterloo. ca/alumni/pubs/magazine/spring09/business/index. html [Accessed 30 August 2009]. 5. Arik Hesseldahl, 2006. â€Å"BlackBerry vs. Redberry in China†. [Online] Available at: http://www. businessweek. com/technology/content/apr2006/tc20060413_266291. htm? chan=search [Accessed 30 August 2009]. 6. Innovation, 2008. â€Å"BlackBerry: Innovation Behind the Icon†. Online] Available at: http://www. businessweek. com/innovate/content/apr2008/id2008044_416784_page_2. htm [Accessed 1 September 2009]. 7. Singapore and Reading (UK), 2008. â€Å"Smart mobile device shipments hit 118 million in 2007, up 53% on 2006†. [Online] Available at: http://www. canalys. com/pr/2008/r2008021. htm [Accessed 2 September 2009]. 8. Wikipedia, 2008. â€Å"Smartphone†. [Online] Available at: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Smartphone [Accessed 3 September 2009]. 9. BlackBerry Nation Sample Chapter. â€Å"Chapter Two: The Birth of the BlackBerry†. [Online] Available at: http://blackberrynationbook. om/index. php/BlackBerry_Nation_Sample_Chapter#Financing_The_BlackBerry [Accessed 2 September 2009]. 10. Damian Francis, 2009. â€Å"Screw You Economic Downturn, We’re BlackBerry! †. [Online] Available at: http://www. popsci. com/gear-amp-gadgets/article/2009-02/screw-you-economic-downturn-we%E2%80%99re-blackberry [Accessed 6 September 2009]. Exhibit 1 Note: RIM Fiscal year ends in March (Fiscal 2008 is the year ending March 31, 2008) Source: RIM Fiscal 2007 Annual Report and Fiscal 2008 Press Release (April 2, 2008) Exhibit 2 [pic][pic] Exhibit 3 [pic] 1. BlackBerry ® Enterprise Server : Robust software that acts as the centralized link between wireless devices, wireless networks and enterprise applications. The server integrates with enterprise messaging and collaboration systems to provide mobile users with access to email, enterprise instant messaging and personal information management tools. All data between applications and BlackBerry ® smartphones flows centrally through the server. 2. BlackBerry ® Mobile Data System (BlackBerry MDS): An optimized framework for creating, deploying and managing applications for the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution. It provides essential components that enable applications beyond email to be deployed to mobile users, including developer tools, administrative services and BlackBerry ® Device Software. It also uses the same proven BlackBerry push delivery model and advanced security features used for BlackBerry email. 3. BlackBerry Smartphones: Integrated wireless voice and data devices that are optimized to work with the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution. They provide push-based access to email and data from enterprise applications and systems in addition to web, MMS, SMS and organizer applications. . BlackBerry ® Connectâ„ ¢ Devices: Devices available from leading manufacturers that feature BlackBerry push delivery technology and connect to the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. 5. BlackBerry ® Alliance Program: A large community of independent software vendors, system integrators and solution providers that offer applications, services and solutions for the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution. It i s designed to help organizations make the most of the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution when mobilizing their enterprises. 6. BlackBerry Solution Services: A group of services that include: BlackBerry ® Technical Support Services, BlackBerry ® Training, RIM ® Professional Services and the Corporate Development Program. These tools and programs are designed to help organizations deploy, manage and extend their wireless solution. Source: http://na. blackberry. com/eng/ataglance/solutions/architecture. jsp Exhibit 4 [pic][pic] Source: http://www. rim. com/newsroom/media/gallery/index. shtml and Fortune, â€Å"BlackBerry: Evolution of an icon,† Jon Fortt, Sept 21, 2007, accessed April 7, 2008: http://bigtech. blogs. fortune. cnn. om/blackberry-evolution-of-an-icon-photos-610/ Exhibit 5 MOBILE TELEPHONE USERS WORLDWIDE (IN MILLIONS) [pic] Source: Created from data accessed from the Global Market Information Database, April 4, 2008, http://www. portal. euromonitor. com. proxy1. lib. uwo. ca:2048/portal/server. pt? control=SetCommunity&CommunityID=207&PageID=720&cached=false&space=CommunityPage Exhibi t 6 [pic] [pic] Note: Nokia 2007 includes Nokia Siemens. Source: Company Annual Reports. Exhibit 7 [pic] Source: RIM Annual Reports. Exhibit 8 Market share of mobile operating system 2008 [pic] Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Grandfather Clauses and Their Impact on Voting Rights

Grandfather Clauses and Their Impact on Voting Rights Grandfather clauses were statutes that seven Southern states implemented in the 1890s and early 1900s to prevent African Americans from voting. The statutes allowed any person who had been granted the right to vote before 1867 to continue voting without needing to take literacy tests, own property, or pay poll taxes. The name â€Å"grandfather clause† comes from the fact that the statute also applied to the descendants of anyone who had been granted the right to vote before 1867. Since most African Americans were enslaved prior to the 1860s and did not have the right to vote, grandfather clauses prevented them from voting even after they had won their freedom from slavery. How the Grandfather Clause Disenfranchised Voters The 15th Amendment of the Constitution was ratified on February 3, 1870. This amendment stated that the â€Å"right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.† In theory, this amendment gave African Americans the right to vote. However, black Americans had the right to vote in theory only. The Grandfather clause stripped them of their right to vote by requiring them to pay taxes, take literacy tests or constitutional quizzes, and overcome other barriers simply to cast a ballot. White Americans, on the other hand, could vote get around these requirements if they or their relatives had already had the right to vote prior to 1867- in other words, they were grandfathered in by the clause. Southern states such as Louisiana, the first to institute the statutes, enacted grandfather clauses even though they knew these statutes violated the U.S. Constitution, so they put a time limit on them in hopes that they could register white voters and disenfranchise black voters before the courts overturned the laws. Lawsuits can take years, and Southern lawmakers knew that most African Americans could not afford to file lawsuits related to grandfather clauses. Grandfather clauses weren’t just about racism. They were also about limiting the political power of African Americans, most of whom were loyal Republicans because of Abraham Lincoln. Most Southerners at the time were Democrats, later known as Dixiecrats, who had opposed Lincoln and the abolition of slavery. But grandfather clauses weren’t limited to Southern states and didn’t just target Black Americans. Northeast states like Massachusetts and Connecticut required voters to take literacy tests because they wanted to keep immigrants in the region from voting, since these newcomers tended to back Democrats during a time when the Northeast leaned Republican. Some of the South’s grandfather clauses may have even been based on a Massachusetts statute. The Supreme Court Weighs In: Guinn v. United States Thanks to the NAACP, the civil rights group established in 1909, Oklahomas grandfather clause faced a challenge in court. The organization urged a lawyer to fight the state’s grandfather clause, implemented in 1910. Oklahoma’s grandfather clause stated the following: â€Å"No person shall be registered as an elector of this state or be allowed to vote in any election held herein, unless he be able to read and write any section of the Constitution of the state of Oklahoma; but no person who was, on January 1, 1866, or any time prior thereto, entitled to vote under any form of government, or who at that time resided in some foreign nation, and no lineal descendant of such person, shall be denied the right to register and vote because of his inability to so read and write sections of such Constitution.† The clause gave white voters an unfair advantage, since the grandfathers of black voters had been enslaved prior to 1866 and were, thus, barred from voting. Moreover, enslaved African Americans were typically forbidden to read, and illiteracy remained a problem (both in the white and black communities) well after slavery was abolished. The U.S. Supreme Court decided unanimously in the 1915 case Guinn v. United States that grandfather clauses in Oklahoma and Maryland violated the constitutional rights of African Americans. That’s because the 15th Amendment declared that U.S. citizens should have equal voting rights. The Supreme Court’s ruling meant that grandfather clauses in states such as Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Virginia were also overturned. Despite the high court’s finding that grandfather clauses were unconstitutional, Oklahoma and other states continued to pass laws that made it impossible for African Americans to vote. The Oklahoma Legislature, for example, responded to the Supreme Court ruling by passing a new law that automatically registered the voters who’d been on the rolls when the grandfather clause was in effect. Anyone else, on the other hand, had only between April 30 and May 11, 1916, to sign up to vote or they would lose their voting rights forever. That Oklahoma law remained in effect until 1939 when the Supreme Court overturned it in Lane v. Wilson, finding that it infringed on the rights of voters outlined in the Constitution. Still, black voters throughout the South faced huge barriers when they tried to vote. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 Even if African Americans managed to pass a literacy test, pay a poll tax, or complete other hurdles, they could be punished for voting in other ways. After slavery, large numbers of blacks in the South worked for white farm owners as tenant farmers or sharecroppers in exchange for a small cut of the profits from the crops grown. They also tended to live on the land they farmed, so voting as a sharecropper could mean not only losing one’s job but also being forced out of one’s home if the landowner opposed black suffrage. In addition to potentially losing their employment and housing if they voted, African Americans who engaged in this civic duty could find themselves targets of white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan. These groups terrorized black communities with night rides during which they would burn crosses on lawns, set homes alight, or force their way into black households to intimidate, brutalize, or lynch their targets. But courageous blacks exercised their right to vote, even if meant losing everything, including their lives. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 eliminated many of the barriers that black voters in the South encountered, such as poll taxes and literacy tests. The act also led to the federal government overseeing voter registration. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is credited with finally making the 15th Amendment a reality. Sources â€Å"Along the Color Line: Political,†Ã‚  The Crisis, volume 1, n. 1, November 11, 1910.Brenc, Willie. The Grandfather Clause (1898-1915). BlackPast.org. Greenblatt, Alan. â€Å"The Racial History Of The ‘Grandfather Clause.’† NPR 22 October, 2013.Keyssar, Alexander. The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States. Basic Books, 2009. United States; Killian, Johnny H.; Costello, George; Thomas, Kenneth R. The Constitution of the United States of America:  Analysis and Interpretation : Analysis of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 28, 2002. Government Printing Office, 2004.

Monday, October 21, 2019

The Good Ones Hitting the Higher Paying Markets

The Good Ones Hitting the Higher Paying Markets One of my first high-paying features sold to The Investor for $170 (Six String Stocks, October 2015). I’ve sold others since, including a piece for Catholic Digest that earned $500. I sure didn’t think it was possible when I started out with $20/article rates. Here’s how I got to higher rates and why you should. Searching terms Use search engines to find work, contacts and guidelines. Use quotes (â€Å") to search for specific terms, minus and plus-signs (â€Å"-â€Å") and â€Å"+†) to include or exclude them and asterisks (â€Å"*†) as wildcards. Include terms like â€Å"pay†, â€Å"rates†, â€Å"$200† and â€Å"guidelines† to dig for new markets or add terms like â€Å"co.uk† to search abroad. Try other engines like DeeperWeb, DogPile,GigaBlast and DuckDuckGo. Get out of the rat race Say no to content mill-like rates of $5 per 1, 000 words, even when desperate: Your time is more valuable elsewhere, and realizing that early on will ensure that you get to writing for better rates and stronger markets sooner. Going up Many markets offer low starting rates, but higher rates or bonuses with more exposure and experience. These are worthwhile over time, but don’t put all your eggs in only this type of market. Also, consider discussing a rate increase with your regular clients/writing markets, but no more than once a year. Exchange rates Break into international markets with better exchange rates: Yes, you could write for readers outside your country if you keep an eye on breaking news, popular publications, and local quirks. Mind your language: Americans say hood, Brits say bonnet. While South African-based, most of my articles go abroad (where it’s 13.26ZAR to one US dollar) my first, in fact, was sold to FundsforWriters! Chasing the niche Features and longer-form pieces often pay more; the same is true for niche markets.. Tai Chi Magazine pays $500 for 3,500 words, writing for The Sun Magazine can earn up to $2,000 per feature. Fine Woodworking, on the other hand, pays $150 per page. What can only you write? The pitching process A higher-paying feature is pitched like any other, but you can make it easier Writing on-spec Many markets, especially (though not just) high-paying ones, prefer a fully completed article over a pitch. Write on-spec a lot and you’ll have a higher success-rate, period. Articles that are rejected go into what I call â€Å"The Article Pit† and are sold elsewhere, usually with minor edits. Negotiate your rates Be prepared to negotiate when a publication asks you to state your rate first. Reply It takes time While higher-end features pay more money, don’t expect quick money. On average, these pieces can require more research, several rewrites and may take time – sometimes more than a year – from pitch to publication and payment. Do you have ideas that could sell? Best of luck!

Sunday, October 20, 2019

50 Writing Prompts for Elementary School Children

50 Writing Prompts for Elementary School Children Writing is a skill that every person needs in life, and developing that skill in children is an important part of elementary school studies. However, writing inspiration is not something that every student comes by easily. Like adults, many children tend to get stuck when it comes to thinking of writing ideas on their own. Weve all had writers block at one point or another in our lives, so its easy to understand the frustration students may experience. Just as athletes need to warm up their muscles, writers need to warm up their minds and creativity. Giving students writing prompts, or ideas and inspiration for writing topics, will ease their anxiety and allow them to write more freely. Elementary School Writing Prompts Allowing your students to choose a writing idea each day or each week from the 50 that are listed can provide inspiration for their creative writing.  To make this activity more challenging, encourage them to write without stopping for at least five minutes, increasing the number of minutes that they devote to writing over time. Remind your students that there is no wrong way to respond to the prompts and that they should simply have fun and let their creative minds wander. With prompts that pertain to writing about people, you might encourage students to write about multiple people, considering people in their lives and people they dont know personally. This encourages children to think more critically and consider unknown factors in the creation of their stories. You might also encourage students to think in terms of either the realistic or the fantastic. When the confines of realism are eliminated, students are free to think more creatively, which can encourage them to become more engaged in the project at hand. The person I admire the most is...  My biggest goal in life is...The best book I ever read was...The happiest moment in my life was when...When I grow up, I want to...The most interesting place I have ever been to was...Name three things you dont like about school and why.The strangest dream I ever had was...When I turn 16, I will...Who is the funniest member of your family and why?I get scared when...Five things I would do if I had more money are...What is your favorite sport and why?What would you do if you could change the world?Dear teacher, I would like to know...Dear President Washington, what was it like to be the first president?My happiest day was...My saddest day was...If I had three wishes, I would wish for...Describe your best friend, how you met, and why you are friends.Describe your favorite animal and why.Three things I like to do with my pet elephant are...The time a bat was in my house...When I become an adult, the first thing I want to do is...My best vacation was when I went to... The top three reasons that people argue are...Describe five reasons that going to school is important.What is your favorite television show and why?The time I found a dinosaur in my backyard...Describe the best present you ever received.Describe your most unusual talent.My most embarrassing moment was when...Describe your favorite food and why.Describe your least favorite food and why.The top three qualities of a best friend are...Write about what you would cook for an enemy.Use these words in a story: scared, angry, Sunday, bugs.Whats your idea of a perfect vacation?Write about why someone might be afraid of snakes.List five rules that you have broken and why you broke them.What is your favorite video game and why?I wish someone had told me that...Describe the hottest day you can remember.Write about the best decision youve ever made.I opened the door, saw a clown, and then...The last time the power went out, I...Write about five things you can do if the power goes out.If I were pre sident, I would... Create a poem using the words: love, happy, smart, sunny. The time my teacher forgot to wear shoes... If youre looking for more writing ideas, experiment with journal prompts  or ideas for writing about important people in history like Martin Luther King Jr.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

International Marketing Management Assignment Essay

International Marketing Management Assignment - Essay Example Mainly there are three types of marketing .They are Domestic marketing, International marketing, Global marketing. The International marketing means is the application of marketing principles to more than one country. There are some marketing mix to get a desired outcomes of the marketing. The term marketing mix described the combination of marketing elements used in a given situation. Approximate mixture varies depending on the firm and industry. Major element of the marketing mix can be listed under four heeding. A firms marketing mix normally have to be adapted for international marketing in consequence of the many national differences that exist in relation to stages of economic development, social system, technological environment, legal framework. The marketing mix known as four Ps. That is product, price, place and promotion. "The four Ps--product, price, place, and promotion--found in the marketing toolbox are the independent variables used to influence the desired out comes of the target markets, the dependent variables." (Kotler and Lee 2007, p. 12+). Another definition of the international marketing is the use of marketing mix in to more than one country. ... keting research is a continuing and interacting structure of people, equipment and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute pertinent, timely and accurate information for use by marketing decision makers to improve their marketing planning, implementation, and control. The international marketing research is very essential to any type of company to plan a new project and international expansion of existing company. The international marketing research defines as systematic method of data collection. It includes information about customer, their needs and wants, and market etc "international marketing research is the systematic and objective collection of information concerning international markets. It helps management to reach sound decisions concerning the selection and implementation of their international marketing." (Mccall and Stone 2004, P. 83). The main purpose of the international marketing research is to collect information for make a solution to solve marketing problem when a company plan to international marketing." the essential purpose of marketing research is to provide the necessary information or knowledge on which to base sound decisions in the solution of marketing problems when - readily available information is insufficient or completely lacking" (Davidson and Beckman 1967, p. 597). There are many methods to collect information for international marketing researcher. These methods include conducting program by marketing researcher and conducting the program by someone else. According to these methods there are two types of research that is primary research and secondary research. "There are two basic types of research: primary and secondary. Primary research is the type you conduct yourself and secondary research is the type

The case of Mrs. Mendez Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The case of Mrs. Mendez - Essay Example Mendez’s case. Her physical condition is deteriorating, which affects her psychologically. Her children will not let her talk about her impending death, which creates an imbalance in her psychological condition and she copes with this by withdrawing. Drake (2012) presents an adaptation model to understand how cancer patients should be taken care of as they are going through the process of living and dying. Some of the things that would be important to know, according to this scale include in this model are: why her shortness of breath is affecting her intake of fluids and food. Her physical appearance may be important to her as she lays in her bed, is better, which can effect QOL for many patients. There is no mention of church for her, though she â€Å"seems† to be religious, or at least superstitious. This should be explored. Drake (2012) states that nurses must understand early whether their patients are feeling depressed and help them receive treatment for it. Palli ative care will need to be discussed and end of life arrangements. 1. Discuss how a nurse can foster hope in this scenario? When and how can the concepts of palliative care be introduced in the scenario? How can you explain the differences between Palliative care and Hospice care? Fostering hope can be difficult in a situation with the Mendez family, because they are not willing to talk about the impending death of their mother. They are also not open to helping her prepare for death. Butt (2011) states that hope is a multidimensional and it changes as the terminally ill patient continues through their illness. Butt (2011) also states that hope is a factor that creates a better quality of life for the individual. In this situation, more has to be known about the family. Mrs. Mendez seems to be losing hope because the family cannot talk about the impending death. It is important to help the patient feel hopeful, despite what is happening, because it keeps them from being depressed or feeling despair (Turco, 1998). A nurse can foster hope by maintaining a positive relationship with the patient, helping the patient see humor whenever they can, touching the patient appropriately and reassuring them, and helping them control pain (Turco, 1998). In the Mendez family, the nurse can foster hope by providing good care for Mrs. Mendez, which includes making sure that she is comfortable as her pain increases. The nurse may also need to intervene for Mrs. Mendez by contacting the primary care physician and describing the situation as it stands now. According to Tyson (2001) the Hippocratic Oath states that the individual healthcare provider will consult with others who are more expert in situations when necessary, to help their clients. In this situation, Mrs. Mendez needs help from the nurse to create the resources needed for the family to thrive, and for Mrs. Mendez to have the quality of life that she needs as she moves toward death. Palliative care was important to ta lk about as soon as Mrs. Mendez refused chemotherapy. She and her family must understand Mrs. Mendez’s needs as her health decreases. The family must face the inevitable and they may need to see a therapist or a priest or minister to deal with the situation. In a study done by Hermann and Looney (2011), the authors found that patients need a thorough understanding of their symptoms and what to expect as becomes more debilitating.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Advertising Targeting Children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Advertising Targeting Children - Essay Example In most cases, what raise an alarm are the commercial programs targeting children. This is because of the influence of format and the audiovisual techniques meant to capture children’s perception of things. The effects of characters in commercials advertisements, exceptional offers, self-concept appeals, the volume food advertising, and repetition of commercials, and medicine advertising have all been proved to have a high level of influence of the children (Simona, 2010). I concur with this article because I feel that violence and unsafe acts in commercial advertisements directed to children is unsafe and very influential in their perceptions towards life. These kinds of advertisements have an effect on the consumer socialization in this case children, with their parental relationship. I also believe that children in any state or country deserve the same level of protection against advertising similar to that offered to adults. However, the current law is precise in necessitating that commercial messages be unmistakably recognizable as such to their intended audience. Unquestionably, it would be unbearable to safeguard young kids from exposure to all advertising on television, thus necessitating a differentiation for an advertisement targeting children and one targeting adults. With the development of innovative media techniques and the inventive marketable practices that are now being focused to children, it is indispensable that the arena of marketing and the associated social sciences give a boost to their consideration of how young people comprehend and are predisposed by contemporary publicizing messages. By doing so, the world will gain a better comprehension of how a young people’s mind works, in addition to providing critical experiential confirmation to help form the future of both public guiding principle and accountable marketing industry practice in this arena. Advertisers are well aware that their efforts inspire children viewers, and they

Lehman Brother Collapse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Lehman Brother Collapse - Essay Example The news of its bankruptcy sent shock waves not only to the U.S. economy but also to the entire world. It faced around $600 billions of debt from mortgage back securities which caused a significant decline in its stock price. It is considered to be the most formidable case of bankruptcy in the corporate world. Before its bankruptcy, it was a profitable company. According to its 2006 annual Report, the asset under management had jumped to $225 million from the previous year’s $175 million. There were nearly 25936 employees working under the company. It shares were listed in New York stock Exchange and it was traded around $70 during that period. The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers can be attributed to the unfavourable market situation and also to its own policies. According to Luigi Zingale, the three main factors that were instrumental in bringing such depression in the market are market complacency, lack of transparency and bad regulations. Apart from these three market conditions, the financial policy adopted by Lehman was also responsible for its bankruptcy (Zingale. 2008). Delinquency rates dropped during the real estate boom and the banks started providing new innovative mortgage options which led to the decline in lending standards. Bad regulations of money market and The Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 accelerated the process. There was a lack of sufficient transparency in major markets. The market for credit default swaps (CDS) became unregulated and lost sufficient transparency. Lehman financial policy was not favourable for that period. Its asset to equity ratio (leverage) was abnormally high and it mostly relied on short term debt financing. However, the company tried to maintain its ratio before the crisis but it was too late to save the company from going bankrupt. The financial turmoil that originated towards the middle of 2007 has

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Legalization of Cannabis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Legalization of Cannabis - Essay Example Of course, all of that enormous market is illegal now; the government doesn't get a cent from this business. Those who use cannabis live under the threat of being caught and accused of drug abuse by the police, but it doesn't stop them from smoking. The doctors now say that cannabis makes less harm than the nicotine does. Thus, it's obvious that marijuana should be legalized, just for to let the government control its use, prevent its abuse, and get the taxes from those who run this business. Cannabis has been used in therapeutic purposes for several centuries already, but during the previous century its use have been strictly limited, as this substance became a subject of misuse and abuse. Since the use of cannabis as a medication was forbidden in the U.S in 1937 the continuous struggle has been led between the supporters and the opponents of using cannabis for treatment of certain conditions. Marijuana, which is another name for this drug, more widespread than the word cannabis is defined as a "preparation made from the dried flower clusters and leaves of the cannabis plant, usually smoked or eaten to induce euphoria." in an entry on the Free Dictionary Website. The authors of this document mention that the ad... as a "preparation made from the dried flower clusters and leaves of the cannabis plant, usually smoked or eaten to induce euphoria." in an entry on the Free Dictionary Website. The Marijuana Legalization Organization gives several reasons for which marijuana should be legalized on their website. Those are: People have a basic right to make choices for themselves as long as their actions do not harm others The government is wasting our time and money by prohibiting marijuana Prohibition is not an effective solution to the problems associated with marijuana use We have learned a lesson from history. Alcohol prohibition did not work, and there is no logical reason to believe that marijuana prohibition is a better idea. The authors of this document menti on that the adult responsible person should be given the right to choose for himself or herself whether to use cannabis or not. Marijuana is not so harmful for health as for to deprive people of the freedom of their choice towards it. It's obvious that lots of those who stand against the legalization of this substance are just misinformed about the effects marijuana has and the consequences of its use. The stereotype has been built during the last two-thirds of the past century that cannabis is something very dangerous and harmful to health, the same as cocaine or heroine is. If we'll recall the characteristic features of stereotyping, we'll find out that the information that supports the existing stereotype is believed willingly by its holders, but the information that overturns it is usually perceived worse and believed much less than the first type of info. The quantity of articles, TV shows and magazine publications that persuade people in the harmfulness of this substance is en ormous, thus this stereotype is  strongly supported.  

Evaluation of Data Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Evaluation of Data - Assignment Example Interview schedules will be used and will complement the questionnaire to phrase and rephrase questions to ensure that the needed information is obtained. In addition, it stimulates the respondents to think and answer the questions appropriately. The processing of data prepares raw data for statistical analysis and presentation. Kothari, (1988) explains that this stage is appropriate for a scientific study and for making sure that all the relevant data is present for making comparisons and analysis. The checking of questionnaires, coding of responses and statistical analysis will be done. Data computation will be done through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (Morgan, 2011). Descriptive data analysis will be used to show the characteristics of each variable under study. Regression analysis will be used to identify the presence of certain relations among variables such as the adoption a new technologies in hospitals and the reduction of medication errors. Descriptive statistics such as mean, frequencies and percentages will be evaluated using SPSS so as to bring out a clear picture about the study. The research is expected to prove that new innovations can actually reduce cases of medication errors in hospitals. The main development that is expected to reduce medication errors is the bar code method of administering medication. The research will focus on the different innovations that help reduce medication errors. The interviewed nursing students are expected to point out reasons for their medication errors, if any, such as inadequate training and wrong patient details (Lan et al, 2014). They will identify new innovations in hospitals as the reason for reduced medication errors. The research will identify areas which need immediate attention. The research will point out several recommendations to the university and the hospitals where the nursing students were placed. The research will identify problems which lead to medication

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Legalization of Cannabis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Legalization of Cannabis - Essay Example Of course, all of that enormous market is illegal now; the government doesn't get a cent from this business. Those who use cannabis live under the threat of being caught and accused of drug abuse by the police, but it doesn't stop them from smoking. The doctors now say that cannabis makes less harm than the nicotine does. Thus, it's obvious that marijuana should be legalized, just for to let the government control its use, prevent its abuse, and get the taxes from those who run this business. Cannabis has been used in therapeutic purposes for several centuries already, but during the previous century its use have been strictly limited, as this substance became a subject of misuse and abuse. Since the use of cannabis as a medication was forbidden in the U.S in 1937 the continuous struggle has been led between the supporters and the opponents of using cannabis for treatment of certain conditions. Marijuana, which is another name for this drug, more widespread than the word cannabis is defined as a "preparation made from the dried flower clusters and leaves of the cannabis plant, usually smoked or eaten to induce euphoria." in an entry on the Free Dictionary Website. The authors of this document mention that the ad... as a "preparation made from the dried flower clusters and leaves of the cannabis plant, usually smoked or eaten to induce euphoria." in an entry on the Free Dictionary Website. The Marijuana Legalization Organization gives several reasons for which marijuana should be legalized on their website. Those are: People have a basic right to make choices for themselves as long as their actions do not harm others The government is wasting our time and money by prohibiting marijuana Prohibition is not an effective solution to the problems associated with marijuana use We have learned a lesson from history. Alcohol prohibition did not work, and there is no logical reason to believe that marijuana prohibition is a better idea. The authors of this document menti on that the adult responsible person should be given the right to choose for himself or herself whether to use cannabis or not. Marijuana is not so harmful for health as for to deprive people of the freedom of their choice towards it. It's obvious that lots of those who stand against the legalization of this substance are just misinformed about the effects marijuana has and the consequences of its use. The stereotype has been built during the last two-thirds of the past century that cannabis is something very dangerous and harmful to health, the same as cocaine or heroine is. If we'll recall the characteristic features of stereotyping, we'll find out that the information that supports the existing stereotype is believed willingly by its holders, but the information that overturns it is usually perceived worse and believed much less than the first type of info. The quantity of articles, TV shows and magazine publications that persuade people in the harmfulness of this substance is en ormous, thus this stereotype is  strongly supported.  

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Management style theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Management style theory - Essay Example Management style is usually an extension of personal style. As explained by Prucell, management style is an extra dimension linked to wider business policy, and at the least, related to guiding principles which infuse management behavior in dealing with employees (Blyton & Tumbull, 256). Management style also depends upon other factors such as organizational culture, local culture, customs, and social dynamics. Based on different traits and behavioral aspects possessed by the business owners, four distinct management styles have been identified autocratic, paternalistic/consultative, democratic and laissez-faire management style (Calvert, Coles & Bailey, 69). Autocratic management style is considered as one of the oldest styles, and individuals with such style tend to keep most of the authority to themselves. These individuals take their own decisions and tend to give orders. By retaining authority, they take charge of work and are extremely quick in actions. In this management style , delegation is absent because the leaders have very little trust in their subordinates. They do not encourage staff feedback or input on any issue. Individuals with this style accomplish the tasks by using power and depend on others for completion the tasks. This kind of management style is best suitable for fast-paced businesses and even unstable businesses. In such businesses, time is a critical factor that determines the fate of the business in terms of growth, profits and sustenance. Hence, decisions and actions need to be very quick. This management style also works very well while dealing with inexperienced workers because their commitment and motivation will be very low. Besides the benefits of autocratic management, its disadvantages are that it creates bitterness and frustration among workers because they tend to feel that their involvement is not given due importance; they feel ignored. Moreover, autocratic managers tend to take all decisions by themselves, and thus limit other possibilities and even block innovation and creativity from workers. This further leads to lack of employee development, which could otherwise be helpful in organizational development too (G Kishel & P Kishel, 157). From employee perspective, autocratic management helps in creating clear goals and expectations without any ambiguities; and it creates a common understanding to a large extent. The best example of autocratic management is the military. Democratic management style encourages employee participation in most of the decision making processes. However, the leader still retains the final right of approval of decisions. Unlike autocratic management, democratic management style involves strong staff participation. Delegation of critical responsibilities and decision making are the most evident features. Sometimes, democratic management involves staff members in goal-setting activities. Staff members have the authority to control and coordinate activities. Moreover, democr atic managers focus on providing positive feedback. Yet, democratic management also follows a top-down communication method. Too much involvement from staff tends to create ambiguity or delay in decision making process (Statt, 118). Democratic style is best suited in organizations with knowledgeable and skilled workers because

Monday, October 14, 2019

Professor Questions Essay Example for Free

Professor Questions Essay 1. Discuss how astronomers compare the stars. There may be several terms astronomists use to compare stars, including luminosity, flux, energy flux, apparent magnitude and absolute magnitude. Luminosity is the total amount of energy given from a body every second, measured in Watts Energy flux is the flow of energy out from a particular surface area and is measured in Watts per meter square. Observed flux – As the radius of the circle placed around the radiating object increases, the flow of energy per meter square would decrease.    The observed flux would be higher if the radius of the circle is less (inverse square law) Apparent Magnitude is the amount of light that is received from a particular star.   It is determined using the luminosity of the star and the distance from us.   The apparent magnitude would be low for a brighter object. Absolute magnitude is the amount of light that is received from a particular object when the object is placed at a distance of 10 par secs (AB’s Astronomy Lab, University of Columbia, 2002). 2. From nebulae, stars are formed. Discuss the factors that affect the gestation time for the birth of protostars. The nebulae from which clouds form are nothing but clouds of dust and gas.   They slowly begin to contract to begin the process of star formation.   The mass is known as the ‘protostars’ and it would continue to condense and slowly heat up.   Once it reaches a critical mass phase, the nuclear fusion reaction takes place hydrogen atoms fuse together to form helium, two protons and tremendous amounts of energy.   Once this phase begins, the star is born. Factors that affect gestation time for the birth of protostars †¢ Gravity of the passing star (external energy to help star formation) †¢ Shockwave from a nearby supernova (external energy to help star formation) †¢ Heating by contraction (Giant molecular clouds need to contract to heat up and begin the thermonuclear processes) †¢ Magnetic fields available (helps in contraction) †¢ Rotation or angular momentum of the protostars †¢ Size of the star (smaller stars live longer than larger stars as they take longer to burn their fuel) (Sea Sky, 2008, UNT, 2008) 3. Discuss how a stars life affected by its `fuel`? Once the protostar gets heated up, nuclear fusion reaction begins (thermonuclear processes), and the star now enters its stable phase.   The star would be combating gravitational collapse by fusing atoms together and forming energy.   The star’s life span depends on how much of matter it actually contains.   The process of nuclear fusion in the stars would involve conversion of hydrogen to helium, helium to carbon, until iron is formed.   Once iron is formed, the energy required to fuse iron is much higher and hence the reaction stops.   Larger stars tend to use up larger amounts of fuel compared to smaller stars, and hence would live much shorter. Several large stars in the universe live for about a few hundreds of thousands of years.   As smaller stars would be spending their fuel much more slowly, they would live for billions of years.   Once a star’s fuel gets exhausted, it would transform into a red supergiant (expanding in size), and would be present for sometime.   The star would then collapse, as the force of the nuclear reactions is not effective to combat the force of gravity.   Some of the stars blow away, to form planetary nebulae.   The core of the star would contain some amount of fuel which would burn as white dwarf.   Once they completely burn away, they would remain as a dark ball known as a ‘black dwarf’.   Some massive stars may trigger a violent explosion, known as ‘supernova’ (Airty Nothing, 2008 Sea Sky, 2008). 4. Discuss basic ideas of the main sequence chart (Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) Diagram). The HR diagram is basically a graph in which the luminosity of the stars (absolute magnitude) is charted against the surface temperature (color).   This chart was discovered separately by Ejnar Hertzsprung and Henry Norris Russell in the 1910’s.   This was following several scientists query whether the temperature of the object could be determined from the color of radiation it emitted.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Imaginary and complex numbers

Imaginary and complex numbers When Are We Ever Going to Use This? – Imaginary and Complex Numbers The number √-9 may seem impossible, and it is when talking about real numbers. The reason is that when a number is squared, the product is never negative. However, in mathematics, and in daily life for that matter, numbers like these are used in abundance. Mathematicians need a way to incorporate numbers like √-9 into equations, so that these equations can be solvable. At first the going was tough, but as the topic gained more momentum, mathematicians found a way to solve what their predecessors deemed impossible with the use of a simple letter i, and today it is used in a plethora of ways. History of Imaginary Numbers During the early days of human mathematical history, when someone reached a point in a equation that contained the square root of a negative number, they froze. One of the first recorded instances of this was in 50 AD, when Heron of Alexandria was examining the volume of a truncated pyramid. Unfortunately for him, he came upon the expression which computes to . However, at his time, not even negative numbers were â€Å"discovered† or used, so he just ignored the negative symbol and continued on with his work. Thus, this first encounter with complex numbers was unsuccessful. It is not until the sixteenth century when the dilemma of complex numbers returns, when mathematicians attempt to solve cubic and other equations of higher-order. The Italian algebraist Scipione dal Ferro soon encountered these imaginary numbers when solving higher degree polynomials, and he said that finding the solution to these numbers was â€Å"impossible†. However, Girolamo Cardano, also Italian, gave this subject some hope. During his mathematical career, he opened up the realm of negative numbers, and soon began analyzing their square roots. Although he admitted that imaginary numbers were pretty much useless, he shed some light on the subject. Fortunately, this little bit of light would soon turn into a full beam. In 1560, the Bolognese mathematician Rafael Bombelli discovered a unique property of imaginary numbers. He found that, although the number √-1 is irrational and non-real, when multiplied by itself (squared), it produces both a rational and real number in -1. Using this idea, he also came up with the process of conjugation, which is where two similar complex numbers are multiplied together to get rid of the imaginary numbers and radicals. In the standard a+bi form, a+bi and a-bi are conjugates of each other. At this point, many other mathematicians were attempting to solve the elusive number of √-1, and although there were many more failed attempts, there was a little bit of success. However, although I have been using the term imaginary throughout this paper, this term did not come to be until the 17th century. In 1637, Rene Descartes first used the word â€Å"imaginary† as an adjective for these numbers, meaning that they were insolvable. Then, in the next century, Leonhard Euler finalized this term in his own Eulers identity where he uses the term ifor √-1. He then connects â€Å"imaginary† in a mathematical sense with the square root of a negative number when he wrote: â€Å"All such expressions as √-1, √-2 . . . are consequently impossible or imaginary numbers, for we may assert that they are neither nothing, not greater than nothing, nor less than nothing, which necessarily renders them imaginary or impossible.† Although Euler states that these numbers are impossible, he contributes with both the term â€Å"imaginary† and the symbol for √-1 as i. Although Euler does not solve an imaginary number, he creates a way to apply it to mathematics without much trouble. Throughout the years, there have been many skeptics of imaginary numbers; one is the Victorian mathematician Augustus De Morgan, who states that complex numbers are useless and absurd. There was a tug-of-war battle between those who believed in the existence of numbers such as i and those who did not. Soon after Rene Descartes contributions, the mathematician John Wallis produced a method for graphing complex numbers on a number plane. For real numbers, a horizontal number line is used, with numbers increasing in value as you move to the left. John Wallis added a vertical line to represent the imaginary numbers. This is called the complex number plane where the x-axis is named the real axis and the y-axis is named the imaginary axis. In this way, it became possible to plot complex numbers. However, John Wallis was ignored at this time, it took over a century and a few more mathematicians for this idea to accepted. The first one to agree with Wallis was Jean Robert Argand in 1806. He wrote the procedure that John Wallis invented for graphing complex numbers on a number plane. The person who made this idea widespread was Carl Friedrich Gauss when he introduced it to many people. He also made popular the use of the term complex number to represent the a+bi form. These methods made c omplex numbers more understandable. Throughout the 1800s, many mathematicians have contributed to the validity of complex numbers. Some names, to name a few, are Karl Weierstrass, Richard Dedekind, and Henri Poincare, and they all contributed by studying the overall theory of complex numbers. Today, complex numbers are accepted by most mathematicians, and are easily used in algebraic equations.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Reaction to Film Brainwashing 101 :: essays research papers

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, defines documentary as: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Consisting of, concerning, or based on documents. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Presenting facts objectively without editorializing or inserting fictional matter, as in a book or film. Academicbias.com is the website to which viewers are directed for more information about the film. On this site, it is stated, â€Å"In this cutting exposà ©, documentary filmmakers Maloney, Browning and Greenberg shine a light on political correctness, academic bias, student censorship--even administrative cover-ups of death threats†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This positioning of the movie presents that it is, in fact, a documentary. My belief is that, based on definition 2 above, the movie is not a documentary, but instead a good example of the ‘the facts speak for themselves’ actually means ‘the facts, as I have carefully arranged them, support my position.’ Evan Maloney, the filmmaker, is clearly working in the style of Michael Moore. The film utilizes satire throughout – evidence the old â€Å"Popularity† instructional film where overdubbing is used. Interviews are presented offering only on side of the issue. Surprise attempts at interviewers for comic relief are sprung on unsuspecting university officials. Subtle visual effects, such as student Charles Mitchell sitting with an American flag blanket behind him are used. Ultimately, what happened in the editing process of ‘Brainwashing 101’ is a complete unknown. Farhenhype 911 demonstrated how Michael Moore had edited President Bush’s address to the â€Å"haves, and have mores†, when in fact, the setting was a charity benefit at which Al Gore was also present. Given the style of the movie, I believe editing was used for key advantage. The movie purports to address political correctness, academic bias and student censorship. I believe that the movie does do this, and utilizing real examples works to create legitimacy for the move. In an admittedly unscientific search of the Internet about this movie, I found a fair number of positive reactions to the film. So some people do find the movie convincing, as people do with Michael Moore movies. To academic bias, a long section of the film is devoted the teaching of economics and which theories of economics should be taught. As presented in the movie, by virtue of being taught, different theories represent a bias in and of itself. Student Charles Mitchell makes the unusual statement that Marxist study is a â€Å"value judgment.† To me, this is not a new breakthrough in thought: it could be argued that all education, throughout history, has been biased based on what has been taught.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Data Collection Plan Essay

Abstract Postoperative Pulmonary complications (PPC) such as atelectasis, impaired gas exchange, pneumonia and acute respiratory failure (ARF) are not uncommon in patients undergoing major surgery and are a leading cause of increased patient morbidity, mortality and increased length of hospital stay (Yoder, Sharma, Hollingsworth, Talavera, & Rice, 2013). Healthcare professionals are now expected to give patients verifiably effective treatments by implementing current evidence based practice (EBP). In order to do so, interventions to prevent PPCs must be investigated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of adding incentive spirometry (IS) to traditional postoperative chest physiotherapy (CPT) and respiratory care. Eighty patients between 30 and 50 year old who had undergone surgery participated in the study. Patients were divided into two groups: the intervention group where IS was used in addition to the traditional CPT, and the control group which included only traditiona l CPT. The results obtained in the investigation indicated that there were significant differences between both groups at the end of the study in terms of PPCs and hospital length of stay (LOS). Conclusion: Addition of IS to postoperative care helped in controlling PPCs. Keywords: postoperative pulmonary complication, incentive spirometer, chest physiotherapy, length of Stay Research Question In postsurgical patients, how does using incentive spirometer, compared to not using incentive spirometer, affect incidence of PPCs and hospital LOS? Hypothesis Because the risk for developing PPCs is not well studied specific numbers of occurrences are difficult to predict. However, it was hypothesized that patients who incorporated IS as part of their postoperative care would have a clinically significant decrease in the occurrence of PPCs and hospital LOS compared to those who did not incorporate IS into their postoperative care. Data Collection A quasi-experimental control trial was conducted from February 1, 2014 to May 31, 2014. The lead researcher, Adrienne Hinson, collected the data personally. During the four month study, eighty patients ranging in age from 30 to 50 years old who were undergoing surgery where the abdomen or chest was opened were selected randomly from the General Surgery Department at McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence, SC. On sampling days, patients meeting the criteria were numbered chronologically based on their surgery time. For eighty consecutive business days, one of the patients was chosen randomly using a random numbers table created on Microsoft Excel. Patients who had recently been diagnosed with or treated for acute pulmonary complications, those who could not be instructed or supervised to assure appropriate use of the IS, and patients whose cooperation or comprehension was lacking were excluded from the study. All appropriate procedures were used to safeguard the rights of study participants. The study was externally reviewed by the hospital’s institutional review board before data collection began. Patients received verbal and written explanations of the study purpose and data collection procedures and after indicating willingness to participate in the study, voluntary informed consent was obtained (See Appendix A). Information included within the informed consent included participant status; participants were told which postoperative activities were routine, and which activities were being evaluated. Participants were informed that the data collected about them would be used for research purposes. The overall goals of the research, to evaluate to addition of IS to postoperative care, was described to patients. Participants were informed about which types of data would be collected, what procedures they would undergo, and how they were selected. The time frame of the commitment was defined as beginning on post-op day one and lasting until their follow up  visit after discharge. Information regarding funding was available to participants. All participants were educated on potential risks and benefits of participation. Finally, patients were assured that their privacy would be protected at all times and that they would be allowed to withdraw from the study at any point during their hospital stay (Polit & Beck, 2012). The patients were deliberately placed into one of two experimental groups. Deliberate placement reduces confounding by ensuring the two groups were comparable when age, sex, smoking history, type of surgery and post-operative analgesia were compared. The control group consisted of 40 patients who underwent routine chest physiotherapy (CPT) postoperatively, as recommended by the Clinical Practice Guidelines set forth by The Agency for Healthcare Research Quality (2011). A physiotherapist supervised and assisted the treatment twice a day in the first two postoperative days and once a day from the third to the tenth days. During any session, the patients performed three to five deep breaths interspersed with periods of quiet breathing followed by two or three coughs or huffs with support from a pillow at least 10 times over a 15 minutes period. Additional techniques such as positioning and chest wall percussion were applied if breathing and coughing exercises alone were not effective in clearing excessive or retained pulmonary secretions. Patients were instructed to perform coughing and deep breathing exercises independently every hour while awake. The treatment group consisted of the remaining 40 patients who also followed the same Clinical Practice Guidelines but also received breathing exercise training with IS (Voldyne Volumetric manufactured by Sherwood Medical Company U.S.A.) In addition to the routine chest physiotherapy up to the tenth postoperative day. Application of breathing training with incentive spirometry was applied for five minutes, five times a day (El-Marakby et al., 2013). Monitoring began immediately postoperatively and continued until discharge. Hospital LOS was documented for each patient, along with whether or not the patient developed a PPC within 10 days of surgery. The researcher rounded on each hospitalized patient daily to ensure compliance and to update discharges and PPC diagnoses. In order to determine LOS, participant observation was used as a tool to collect data. LOS was calculated by subtracting day of admission from day of discharge. Date of admission was the date of surgery for all participants. Date of discharge was determined  by the surgical teams, who were blinded to the study and therefore measures are not likely to be influenced by reactivity (Polit & Beck, 2012). PPCs were defined as any pulmonary abnormality that produced identifiable disease or dysfunction, was clinically significant, and adversely affected the postoperative clinical course (Hayden, Mayer, & Stoller, 1995). Patients were monitored daily for 10 days for the diagnosis of a PPC. Given this definition, PPCs documented included atelectasis, pneumonia, acute respiratory failure, and exacerbation of COPD. Along with physical assessment and past history, biophysiological measures were used as data collection tools to aid in the diagnosis of PPCs (See Appendix C). Equipment and lab analysis were readily available and tests for biophysiological measures were completed by the appropriate staff at McLeod Regional Medical Center. Ordering tests and the interpretation of results was fulfilled solely by the healthcare providers as deemed necessary. The researchers were not responsible for diagnosing PPCs, but rather the observation and recording of data. Biophysiological measures for diagnosing acute respiratory failure include a low level of oxygen; a pulse oximetry falling below 80% saturation on room air or when arterial blood gas shows PaO2.