Separate Facts from Inference

7) SEPARATE FACTS FROM INFERENCES One of the most important things during the process of interviewing the potential candidate for hiring them in certain post or position in the organization is the interviewers must be equipped with skills that they can separate facts from inferences that they have made earlier. What is fact? Fact is something that can be proven by observation from cause to effect. An inference is something that is inferred, or implied, by the existence of two conditions.For this, every manager, supervisors and Human Resource representative should be trained to be a fact-gathering interviewer. The interviewers have responsibility to obtain proper information about the job that the applicant wants to hire. This is what the interviewer must equip themselves because the candidates they meet for the first time must be screened thoroughly. The specific approach to a fact-gathering interview will depend on variety of things, including whom they are interviewing with, their knowledge about the job position offered by the organization itself, and their own personal preferences.Every interviewer must developed unique method in conducting a fact-gathering interview because different job post interview have different way or method in collecting facts from the candidates. As interviewers, they must start collecting important fact from the candidates such as in the interview for the job as PTD (Pegawai Tadbir & Diplomatik). PTD is one of the posts in Malaysian Civil Service. It is administrative or executive power machinery in implementing policies and government decisions to achieve the objectives and goals of the nation.In fact, this service has its own specialized field, such as International Relations and Foreign Affairs, National Security and Defence, Management of Information and Communication Technology, Administration and Regional Development / Land / District / Local, Planning and Social Administration / Infrastructure, Human Resource Management and Organization, Economic Resource Management, Resource Management and Finance.This service is a major leadership role in a variety of ministries and federal departments as well as some state administration as Secretary General, Deputy Secretary General, Director General, Deputy Director General, State Secretary, Ambassador, and the District Officer. For selecting the most suitable candidate to fill this critical job post in the government sector, the interviewers are from the members of the Public Service Commission (PSC) who have received their pension.Most of them were also the former Head of Department in government bodies from grade 54 and above. For the interviewers, they must put in mind this is a further assessment session and the final stage of shortlisting from the previous stages, in which a potential candidate is evaluated for a prospective employment. An interview would be the final instrument to evaluate and validate a candidate’s overall performance in the aspect s of knowledge, skills and personality. The interview hopes to determine whether or not the applicant is suitable for the job.Thus, the interviewer’s job is to gather as much as they can facts, opinions and they will make decision based on what they have gained from the candidates. Most of the interviews gained facts based on the questions that have been outline below: 1. Educational background 2. Family background 3. Way of the candidates walk 4. Communication skills 5. Style in standing an argument from selected ideas 6. Job experience All of the questions that will be asked such as educational and family background are needed to know the suitability with the job sector that they will be post.The family environment factors are also helping the interviewers to gain information if the candidates have experience to live in a family who are from the government servants, so they are likely can adapt well in the future job environment because of the exposure from their family. Lo oking into the way of candidates walk and their communication skills will relate us to the psychological development. For that, the interviewer must equip themselves with Human Psychological Knowledge.This is because, 50% of the accuracy of human behaviour can be read from their walking style and communication skills. For the question on standing an argument from selected idea is where the interviewer wanted to collect fact from the candidates their knowledge about administration world. Ask the candidates to list some information about current cabinet members, who is the current Chief Secretary of Government or KSN (Ketua Setiausaha Negara), Head of Civil Service and etc. The fact about parliamentary system, government policies and current issues were also being recorded. Question hat will be asked to gain candidate opinion can also be asked as additional information such as: what are your life goals, why want to be PTD and what you want to be in the next few years. 8) RECOGNIZE STE REOTYPES AND BIASES What is stereotype? According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, stereotype is defined as a fixed idea or image that many people have a particular type of a person or thing, which is often not true in reality. Bias is defined as a strong feeling in favour of or against one group of people, or one side in an argument, often not based on fair judgement.From those definitions, we can see that both conditions are usually occurring in the realm of hiring people for certain job. These problems must be eliminated by the managers, supervisors and Human Resource representative during conducting any interview because preferring stereotypes and biases will resulting in hiring people that are not capable in doing their job although the interviewer think the opposite. In the world of hiring workers, usually interviewers will involve in stereotyping when they start to form a generalization of opinions about people of a given gender, race, ethnic background, or app earance.These cultures of stereotyping have flourished in many conditions such as culture and everyday life, not forgetting organization and business world. Usually, interviewers use stereotype to make decision about hiring any person with little or no information about the person itself. For that, discrimination will continue to happen because the interviewers (managers, supervisors and HR representatives) will not selecting a person with concrete evidence and only based by sentiments.These are some examples of common stereotypes and biases that can be intentionally or unintentionally made by interviewers which could create problems such as not hiring suitable workforce needed by the organization thus creating liability and problems under employment discrimination laws. * Stereotypes in advertising for candidates (example: only selecting fresh graduates or only selecting worker for certain race because they are more hardworking. ) * Applicant’s appearances that make him/her seem unable to do job. * Refusing to pregnant women * People with disabilities and old people Younger people have high energy levels and are very open to learning new technology. * Disabled or handicapped person should be employed for a short term period. * Woman and minorities cannot do certain job or do not want certain job. * Candidates, who are shy during the interviews, will not perform well on the job. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. http://wiki. answers. com [ 2 ]. (Stev e W. Schneider, n. d. pg 1) [ 3 ]. (http://imej. spa. gov. my/dev/pdf/ProfilingBasedRecruitment. pdf) [ 4 ]. ( Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2010) [ 5 ]. (ohioemployerlawblog. com, 2008) [ 6 ]. ( ohioemployerlawblog. com, 2008)

Compare and Contrast Wilson’s and Roosevelt’s Progressivism

Advocates of progressivism had a goal of curing society’s ills by improving government and its role, but some progressives had different approaches to this reform. Presidents Wilson and Roosevelt can be used as examples of this complex reform because they both wanted to improve the economy, but had different incentives behind the programs they used to do so. Roosevelt’s program of progressive reform, New Nationalism, was created in an effort to regulate only those trusts that were â€Å"bad† for public welfare – he distinguished some trusts to be either â€Å"good† or â€Å"bad. He stressed the need for control of corporations, consumer protection, and conservation of natural resources. To illustrate, he intervened in the Anthracite Coal Strike on behalf of the workers. He threatened to nationalize mines if the corporations who owned them didn’t consent to arbitration and pay increases for the workers. The Hepburn Act of 1906 was passed to r egulate the railroads by increasing the government’s power to oversee their rates.In that same year the pure food and drug act was passed which prohibited the selling of dangerous medicines and impure foods. Along with that, the Meat Inspection Act was passed and it helped eliminate diseases caused by meat because it enforced sanitary conditions in the meatpacking industry. However, Roosevelt’s greatest success was in the conservation of the environment. The Newlands Act was passed which created a way for government to irrigate deserts. Roosevelt became an admired public figure because of his involvement in reforming society.Unlike President Roosevelt, President Wilson believed that every single monopolistic business was bad because it disrupted the economy and must be abolished as a result, so he worked towards â€Å"busting trusts. † Wilson’s reform program, New Freedom, sought to attack what Wilson called the Triple Wall of Privilege – the tarif f, banks, and trusts. After it passed, the Underwood-Simmons Bill reduced tariff rates substantial enough to bring real competition to America which helped break the power of the trusts. The Federal Reserve act was happily signed by Wilson and it directly affected the amount of currency circulation. Related article: Jamestown and Plymouth Compare and ContrastThe Federal Trade Commission Act created an authoritative agency that helped businesses become decorous in the eyes of government. The Clayton Anti-Trust Act used the Sherman Act to name certain business acts illegal. Wilson’s New Freedom was the brand of activism and progressivism that he brought to the national level that was different from others. Both Roosevelt and Wilson held leadership qualities like no other and had strong views for America although they were completely different in their approaches for changing America itself.

Formative Essay-Employment At Will Essay

1. How is employment-at-will applied in your organization or in one with which you are familiar? To what extent do the exceptions to employment-at-will limit its application in the organization? How might managers in the organization use knowledge of employment-at-will and its exceptions to protect the interests of the organization? An employment-at-will relationship where there is no contractual obligation to remain in the relationship; either party may terminate the relationship at any time, for any reason, as long as the reason is not prohibited by law (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman (2007)) The company I work at talks about how they reserve the right to terminate your employment without notice and without receipt of any Corrective Action Agreement, for any reason during the first 90 days of employment and beyond. It goes on to give a list of actions or attempt of actions that will result in the company using the Corrective Action Agreement. 2. What are specific examples of roles that are filled by employees and others that are filled by independent contractors? Use examples from your employer, industry, or an employer or industry with which you are familiar. What do the employees and independent contractors have in common and how do they differ in dealing with employers? How might temporary employees be characterized in the organization or industry you select? Within the company there are several departments: break-n-shear, welding, upholstery, sewing, cutting, electrical, wood shop, and shipping. The departments that do not use temporary workers are break-n-shear, electrical, welding, and since accident on friday cutting will no longer employee temporary employees. During our busy season (four months a year) the company hires temporary workers for sewing, upholstery, assembly, and shipping. The main difference is filings with IRS, benefits, and places to go, such as department of labor to file grievances. The subcontractor receives no benefits, less of a liability, and nowhere to file a grievance except small claims court. When I first started working at the company, I was hired as an employee; with full benefits as benefits became available. The owner came to where I was working as a head sewer and told me that if I came to work with him that his intent was to make me manager of the sewing department. As the company grew, so did the subordinates underneath me. I started getting sick. Owner wanted to keep me and make adjustments. I went out on medical leave and quit because I can no longer do the job. Owner talked me into coming back as subcontractor. I asked for written definition and term. The only people I answer to are the foreman, HR, and owner. Depending on subcontractor hired to do will determine who the subcontractor answers to; not all mangers’ have that concept at work but will after the training. When the job I was hired for is done my work at company is done. I receive no benefits the tax forms are different; I am responsible for taking taxes and FICA out (paying). I am less of a liability than a regular employee. I am also paid a percentage not hourly pay. Other subcontractors are hired through temporary employment agencies. The company pays the agency based on an hourly scale for each temporary employee and the agency in turn pays the subcontractor. At the end of the busy season if a position opens up then one of the subcontractors would be offered a positioned. Subcontractors are not trained and employees are cross trained is the major difference besides what was previously mentioned. The company has a policy that anyone who gets hurt on premises the company pays the medical; for everyone including employees, subcontractors, and guests. The company views it as responsible and less of a liability (proactive approach). References Bennett-Alexander, D.D., & Hartman, P.L. (2007). Employment law for business (5th Ed). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Company Law and Companies Act Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Company Law and Companies Act - Case Study Example Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State of the department of trade and industry in the UK had stated that the act would be implemented before the year 2009. However by the end of 2007, most of the provisions had have been put into effect. Therefore, the Company Act 2006 is being implemented step by step. One of the important provisions that are being implemented in the Company Act 2006 is Derivative Claims. Derivative claims allow the shareholders to act against the board of directors on behalf of the company. This has been a bold step by the Parliament of the United Kingdom since it was not possible for the shareholders to have this level of control the company. The objective of the Parliament is therefore to make the legislation pertaining to the company law which is more flexible and more modern1. Thus the shareholder can bring forward a legal claim against the director of the company, if the shareholder has a valid reason to do so. Generally, the reason behind shareholders actio n against director is a wrong committed by the director against the company. The sections of the Companies Act 2006 are sections 260 to sections 264. ... These sections make it necessary for the shareholders to ask permission from the court for continuing their action against the directors. The shareholders require basing their action against the director on grounds such as proposed or actual action or action by a director which includes breach of trust or a breach of duty against the company, or default and negligence towards the expected duties of a director. The proceedings are usually brought not in the name of the shareholder but in the name of the company. Furthermore, the claim can be brought not only against the director, but also against the shadow director or a former director of the company. Geoffrey Morse(2007, p.5) states 'Part11 identifies a procedure whereby a member of the company may seek to institute a derivative claim ( in England and Wales or northern Ireland) or derivative proceedings(In Scotland), and actions seeking relief on behalf of the company in respect to a wrong done to it. Henceforward, derivative actions may be brought only under this part or as a result of a court order under the unfair prejudice provisions of the Act. However, not all wrongs done to the company may be the subject of a derivative action under Part 11. Only acts or omissions by directors may give rise to derivative actions and where those acts or omissions involve negligence, default, breach of duty or breach of trust.' Derivative Claims Derivative claims is a process which can be divided into two broad stages. First of all, the shareholders need to show they are acting on behalf of the company and don't have vested interests. Additionally, courts need to ensure that are conforming to the guidelines or the provisions laid down by the Companies Act

MI and Promoting Higher-Order Thinking Research Paper

MI and Promoting Higher-Order Thinking - Research Paper Example The specific intelligences function in the context of the environment. Hence, it is important to have a proper understanding of the capacities that are central to the various types of intelligence. Continuing research by several scholars in the field has been unraveling the implications of the theory for education generally, and higher-order thinking in particular. Higher-order thinking (HOT) essentially is a manipulation of knowledge and ideas involving synthesis, generalisation, explanation, hypothesis, conclusion or interpretation that will result in solving problems or achieving new discovery and understanding. As opposed to lower-order thinking which is promoted when pre-specified knowledge is imparted, and procedural routines are adhered to and followed. Even complex activities are performed by reproducing knowledge in a rote fashion. The key to higher-order thinking is thinking beyond memorizing and restating facts. According to Armstrong    (2000), â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚ ¬ ¦..for whatever you wish to teach, link your instructional objective to words, numbers or logic, pictures, music, the body, social interaction, and/or personal experience.† The students should be introduced to the notion of concepts to be able to distinguish the different types including concrete, abstract, verbal, nonverbal or process concept. For example, students with a poorly developed logical and mathematical intelligence need to be provided with verbal explanations of the math problems and procedures rather than merely working the problems repeatedly. Connecting the concepts leads to HOT. For example, the concept of â€Å"presents† could be linked to... MI and Promoting Higher-Order Thinking Culturally, too, it is the highly eloquent and coherent people that command much respect. The theory of multiple intelligences emphasizes the need to transform the classrooms that currently tend towards being heavily linguistic or logical-mathematical into those that are more inclusive, catering to all the types of intelligence. Teachers need to be trained to incorporate a wide variety of techniques including using music, cooperative learning, art activities, role play, multimedia, field trips, inner reflection, and so on, while presenting their lessons (Armstrong, 2000). The various intelligences are clearly delineated from emotions, personality, or sensory accruity (Gardner, 2006). Instead, Gardner sees them as a â€Å"computational capacity, that is, the ability to process certain kinds of information in the process of solving problems or fashioning products.† (2006). Under the multiple intelligences (MI) theory, a core set of operations has been identified for each type of intelligence. Connecting the concepts leads to HOT. For example, the concept of â€Å"presents† could be linked to â€Å"Christmas†, and further on to ‘winter†, â€Å"snow†, â€Å"seasons†, â€Å"spring†, â€Å"summer†, â€Å"holidays† and so on. The various types of intelligences under MI can be indulged in the above.For instance, while the verbal intelligence is used to describe the various topics forming the concept, visual and spatial intelligence could be involved in drawing and painting different pictures to depict each of the topics.

The Expert Witness Controversy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Expert Witness Controversy - Essay Example One of the initial problems with expert testimony is that it is used by both the prosecution and the defense. The two experts must necessarily be at opposition in an effort to help their side's case and one of them must be wrong. This is further complicated by the vast number of "Expert Testimony Services" that have cropped up in recent years as lawyers and investigators pursue an expert-for-hire strategy. Some of these firms have been criticized for advertising that they will be paid only if they win the case. This is contrary to science and removes the neutrality of the scientific method. This attitude extends itself into the prosecution as government and police labs exaggerate claims or suppress evidence. In the case of Bromgard vs. Montana, Jimmy Ray Bromgard was convicted of raping an 8 year old girl based on a forensics expert who testified that the hair found at the scene had only a 1 in 10000 chance of not being Bromgard's. This expert testimony was fraudulent as there were n o means to statistically match hairs through microscopic inspection. Another problem with expert testimony enters the courtroom by way of new technology that may be unproven and unreliable. Termed "junk science", it is sometimes used by the defense to instill reasonable doubt, and more often by the prosecution to sway a jury in their favor. The 1993 case of Daubert vs. Merrill Dow Pharmaceutical set strict guidelines that lower courts must use to determine the admissibility of scientific evidence. It mandated that expert testimony be proven valid, reliable, peer reviewed, and generally accepted by the scientific community (Junk science, 2005). However, as new technology arises, it finds its way into court cases and is only upheld or overturned after years of appeal. When first introduced, fingerprint enhancement was labeled by defense attorneys as "...junk science, unreliable, and easily manipulated" (DeMarzo, 2003). Though the appeals process eventually upheld this technique, it runs the risk of alienating a jury and may result in a guilty verdict be ing overturned on appeal. The American Medical Association has been proactive in protecting the credibility of its profession by setting standards for medical testimony. In 1998 they adopted a policy that states, "... expert witness testimony is the practice of medicine subject to peer review" (Reardon, 1998). Medical malpractice suits and the questionable ethics of a Doctor receiving a contingency fee upon winning the case should arouse a sense of trouble in all involved. Expert testimony as it pertains to psychiatry is equally as troublesome as was seen in the case of John Hinkly. More recently, the case of Andrea Yates was overturned and ordered a new trial because of inaccurate testimony given by a leading forensic psychiatrist for the prosecution (Hausman, 2005). Further complicating the case was the controversial "Postpartum

Sexual Harassment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

Sexual Harassment - Research Paper Example The issue of sexual harassment affects the whole society and requires joined efforts to combat it. The starting point of handling the issue of sexual harassment is conducting research about the issue and understanding the various perspectives and contexts upon which sexual harassment takes place. This paper will start by discussing the origins, the evolution, and the global context of sexual harassment. It will also offer possible solutions of ways to decrease sexual harassment that is occurring in selected countries. Sexual harassment is an issue experienced by men and women of all ages, races, religions and nationalities, all over the world. The number of sexual harassment reports around the world continues to increase. The threat of sexual harassment affects the lives of millions, especially women, worldwide. Victims of sexual harassment often find it hard to recover from the trauma. They usually exhibit mental stress, depression, and low self-esteem. As such, the effects of sexual harassment may ultimately affect the lives of these people. â€Å"Incidences of sexual harassment are on the rise in most parts of the world particularly towards women† (Kenny, Samah and Chan 296). In Bahrain, most of the reported cases of sexual harassment are towards women, especially foreigners working in the country. In order to comprehend and know the dynamics and the importance of addressing the issue of sexual harassment, it is vital to assess the global trends of the matter in order to understand its severity. Most of the global research on sexual harassment has focused on women. Due to the increasing rates of sexual harassment in the world, there is a need for governments, organizations, and the international community, to take affirmative action towards the issue. â€Å"The world should not view incidents of sexual harassment as isolated incidences but as a construed aggression against the rights of people† (Akhtar 55). The world today is increasing

Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Assignment - Essay Example In the current situation, this concept is obsolete and individuals are more focused upon the applicable use of legal documents that safeguard the interest of individuals. The doctrine states three concepts public-policy exception, implied-contract exception and covenant-of-good-faith exception. These three concepts were observed by the courts of law but none of the three conditions have any clear guidelines about the employment. The standard framework for the relationship is missing and these concepts can not be the norms. For the norms to be clear and precise, well developed framework is necessary. The right of the contract is absent in the concepts which might generate whole lot of issues in future (Muhl, â€Å"The employment-at-will doctrine: three major exceptions†). From the various concepts, it is noted that an employer is always in a beneficial stage as employer has the full right in employment-at-will to terminate or not to with reasons or without reasons at any point of time. The personal influences or decisions are not subject to any rules or

University of Never Land Athletic Department Assignment

University of Never Land Athletic Department - Assignment Example To financial experts, it is important to reduce the gap between the projected budgets with the actual budget so that you avoid the financial crisis in the end. This is to avoid the idea of going beyond the limit covered by the taxpayers on the money spent on athletics by the university (Brit & Turner2010).To maintain a clear budget for the University of Never Land athletic budget at a recommendable level, you need to keep updated records on all the expenditures and the revenues circulation within any fiscal year. It is important for financial managers to check on the revenues generated from the sports activities and allocate its use appropriately to avoid more stress on taxpayers’ money for the university. The department needs to incorporate qualified personnel to aid in expenditure allocation and revenue keeping to keep the athletics of the university lively (Brit & Turner2010). The budgets for the next five years need to be projected analytically to be in line with economic changes that can come about. The budget needs to be one that will relate expenditure to revenues that will be expected from the athletics. Below is a projected budget for the next five financial years dating 2015 to 2020 for the University of Never Land Athletic Department. By following the estimates and set by the department, you need to spend the funds available in an accountable manner as a financial officer to enable availability of funds for emergency cases. The estimates will give a clear guide to what is expected to be realized in future for athletic activities in the institution. The internal auditors need to be open and critical when analyzing the books of account of the department to ensure that the officials involved spend funds in the right manner.

Hunger and eating Essay Example for Free

Hunger and eating Essay I remember a recent situation that involved my feeling of being in distress. This involved two reports that were due in two separate classes on the same day. One class required a written report and the other class was expecting an oral report. In addition, I had to run a couple of personal errands around town, including trips to the grocery and the pharmacy for my regular supply of items for the week. During that time that required full strategic management of my spare time when I was not in class, my car started making strange noises that was probably sending me a hint that it was time for me to visit the nearest car shop. To top that, my computer was also not cooperating with me, it would freeze every time I would open several windows and would take longer than usual to boot and reboot. In order for me to avoid freaking out over these multiple unforeseen and uncontrollable situations, I would run to the nearest cafeteria or coffee shop and grab a cup of coffee or a can of soda, and even match this with a bagel or a roll. I actually did not feeling any hunger pangs during those frequent trips to food stalls, but I need the chance to be able to â€Å"run away† from my problems for a while. That gave me the notion of freedom, in the sense that I could do something that I was not really expected to. At the same time, the motion of nursing on a cup of coffee or a can of soda kept my mind off thinking of the impending doom that awaits me in the classroom, when I turn in my haphazardly written report or when I start talking in front of my class to present my oral report. In addition, my short breaks from the reality that I have too much on my plate provided me a chance to temporarily forget, or on a more serious tone, deny that I was experiencing problems that could affect my performance in the coming few days. Another reason why I would drank and ate more frequently during stressful situations is that I also thought that most of my time will be consumed by running around town and trying to resolve technical issues of my car and computer. In addition, I would also need time to sit down, read, write and prepare for the two reports that are due soon. My short frequent visits to the cafeteria, fast food restaurants and vending machines would provide me assurance that I will not feel hungry while I work on my multiple tasks. So I was eating just to let my body know that I can not feel hungry later because I will be very busy working on multiple tasks. My recent behavior during that stressful time typifies several motivational theories that are associated with hunger and eating. I knew that my body will need nourishment sometime during the day for simple biological reasons, but I decided to feed myself or eat even when I was not hungry because I wanted to get the activity of eating a meal over with, so I had more time to work on my tasks. Eating right at that moment would also provide me a chance to concentrate on my two reports for a longer duration of time. Such mindset is based on a cognitive motivational approach to eating. There are also times when I would munch on a donut during study sessions with my classmates. I wasn’t really hungry at that time (Herman and Polivy, 1984), but I felt that I should eat with them so that I could fit into the group. We were all studying and reviewing our notes and textbooks, hence I felt like I belonged to the group. And since all of them are eating donuts that were brought in by a fellow classmate, I thought that it was the right thing to join in and act the way the rest of the group was acting. It is interesting to look back at those recent events when I always had either a cup or a can of some drink in my hand. The drink also served as a safety blanket for me (Schachter, 1971), a constant reminder that things are still near-normal because I could still go around will a drink, even if I really knew that I should have been literally running around to finish all my tasks. I think that after this essay, I will have a better control of my behavior, even if there are so many expectations from me in class and at home. I now understand that there are several motivating reasons that set an individual to eat. I am glad that I have not gained a significant amount of weight after that recent event (Jequier and Tappy, 1999; Weisell, 2002), and I think I am now ready for face the next difficult school week. References Herman, CP and Polivy, J (1984): A boundary model for the regulation of eating. In: Stunkard AJ and Stellar E, eds. Eating and Its Disorders. New York: Raven Press. Jequier, E and Tappy L (1999): Regulation of body weight in humans. Physiol. Rev. 99(2):451-80. Schachter, S. (1971): Emotion, Obesity, and Crime. New York: Academic Press. Weisell, RC (2002): Body mass index as an indicator of obesity. Asia Pac. J. Clin. Nutr. 11:S681-S684.

Translation Essays Sir Frank Whittle

Translation Essays Sir Frank Whittle The pioneering work of Sir Frank Whittle in developing the jet engine. The pioneering work of Sir Frank Whittle in developing the jet engine helped transform the way civil aviation operates today.   Indeed, it is probably true to say that without the jet airliner, there would be no package holiday business today and air travel would have remained an exclusive activity.   However, the invention of the jet alone did not make these changes possible.   Aircraft manufacturers too had their part to play in building aircraft types that were economic to operate for airlines.   There are a variety of important aircraft models, all equally impressive in their own rights, which helped shape the air travel business.   We shall focus on three of the most notable product lines: The Boeing 77 series, the McDonnell-Douglas DC-10 series, and the Airbus 300 series, all of which have utilized varying degrees of speed, fuel efficiency, service, and passenger capacity to make air travel accessible and attractive to the common person. It is worth briefly mentioning here that the American aircraft manufacturers had a built-in advantage in the jet passenger craft market coming out of World War II, for a fairly straightforward reason:   The American aircraft industry was completely undamaged, in contrast to the European and Asian companies which had been devastated.   So aircraft manufacturer Boeing, makers of workhouse American bombers such as the B-17 and B-29, was well-poised to enter and dominate the commercial jet aircraft arena.   The first commercially successful venture, unsurprisingly, was the Boeing ‘7X7’ Series, four-engine large-payload jets, the first of which was the 707.   This remarkable craft was airborne within two years of the announcement of the project’s commencement, taking to the skies on May 14, 1954 on its first test flight, and carrying its first commercial passengers a relatively short time later (December 20 1957), thanks to Pan American Airways’ agreemen t with Boeing to purchase and operate a large number of 707s to form the backbone of Pan Am’s worldwide fleet.   The first model, the 707-120 (medium-range jets), carried up to 181 passengers, and subsequent versions including the 707-320 (longer-range jets), carried up to 200 passengers.   Cruising speeds for the 707 reached up to 1000 kilometers per hour, making even international travel a speedy, convenient, and more affordable process.   In all, 1,010 707s in its various incarnations were produced in an astonishingly lengthy commercial production run from 1954 to 1978.   (Boeing continued to produce 707s for the military until 1991.) The American passenger airline business benefited greatly from government deregulation in the 1970s, opening the way for an explosion comprised of a perfect storm of more carriers, lower prices, and higher customer demand.   The aging 707 series, venerable as it was, simply did not carry enough passengers or boast adequate fuel efficiency to remain economically feasible for production and continued use.   Some airline industry analysts felt Boeing was slow to realize this, but the company responded with remarkable agility by announcing in 1966 that it would begin production of a line of so-called ‘jumbo jets’ within four years, spurred again by a huge order from Pan Am, who was gambling on twenty-five brand new jets, sight unseen.   This was no minor undertaking – the development and production of this revolutionary new behemoth airplane nearly bankrupted Boeing.  Ã‚  Ã‚   In 1970 right on its announced schedule, yet against all outside predictions Boein g introduced the 747, a colossal double-decker jet which will have held the record for largest size jet until late 2006, when it will be surpassed by the introduction of Airbus Industries’ A380 (more on the Airbus later). Like the 707, Boeing’s 747s were rolled out in a progression of improving and size-varied series, ranging from the 747-100 to the 747-400s. Though the 747’s cruising speed is a tad slower than the 707 (910 kilometers per hour), the latest models transport an astonishing amount of human cargo between 415 and 525 passengers (up from the earliest models’ 374-passenger maximum).   Its better fuel efficiency, compared to the 707s, allowed it to travel longer distances without refueling, as well, for example, from New York to Hong Kong nonstop.   In addition to meeting the market demand of more people to fly for less money, the 747 also accommodated those who were willing and able to pay more to fly in style.   Another clever feature of the 747 was the refinement of the idea of different ‘classes’ of passenger service.   The original evolution of passenger air flight in general, not just the 747, was simply along the lines of making air travel affordable for the maximum number of people.   Once this goal was achieved, the airlines modified their business plans to accommodate the fact that certain travelers, particularly those traveling for business purposes, would be willing to pay higher fares for added amenities such as larger seating, better food, free alcoholic beverages, priority boarding, etc.   The 747’s upper deck was designed for such so-called ‘first-class’ passengers and Boeing produced, for various airlines, a variety of configurations that included such amenities as a piano lounge and standup cocktail bars for its more upscale clientele.   In all, over 1,200 747s have been produced, and with the advent of the 747-8 series in late 2005, the line lives on.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another important jet was McDonnell-Douglas’ DC-10, which flew its first passenger flight in 1971.   It was designed to compete directly with Boeing’s 747 and its creation, like the 747, was spurred in large part by the demand from a particular airline.   In the DC-10’s case, American Airlines specifically asked McDonnell-Douglas if it could manufacture a plane capable of flying the same long routes as the 747 but which could accommodate shorter runways and standard gate sizes found at many airports.   The result was a three-engine aircraft that could carry between 250 and 380 passengers in its various incarnations.   Its speed was essentially comparable to the 747, at 982 kilometers per hour, with less fuel consumption, again making it more affordable.   United Airlines, pleased with the results of McDonnell-Douglas’ fruits, also purchased a number of DC-10s.   Unfortunately, the DC-10 was not to have as celebrated an era of service as the 747 .   In the 1970s, several horrific and well-publicized disasters occurred involving DC-10s that were traced to design flaws.   The most noteworthy of these problems was the design of the cargo doors.   Most passenger jets utilized designs in which the doors opened inward; the DC-10 cargo door opened outwards, requiring a complex and heavy locking mechanism to withstand the heavy outward-directed force of cabin pressurization.   The locking mechanism was prone to a variety of dangerous pitfalls, ranging from human error to mechanical failure, any of which could cause a catastrophic blowout of the door.  Ã‚   There were a few near-misses in the early 1970s in which a door failed, including a 1972 incident in Detroit, but no accidents transpired.   Tragically, however, a complete and utter disaster befell a Turkish Airlines DC-10 on March 3, 1974.   The plane took off from Orly airport in Paris; within seconds, its cargo door blew out and the resulting depressurization se vered the control cables, rendering the aircraft unmanageable by the pilots.  Ã‚   The plane crashed 77 seconds after takeoff into the dense Ermenonville forest outside of Paris, shredding the plane and its passengers to ribbons.   All 364 people aboard were killed.   Subsequent investigations by the French and American governments revealed that McDonnell-Douglas was well aware of defects in the cargo door design, but made inadequate efforts to correct it.   Under legal pressure and rebellion from passengers who simply refused to fly on a DC-10, McDonnell-Douglas corrected the flaw.   But after yet another catastrophic crash of a DC-10 in 1979 at Chicago O’Hare airport, the DC-10 never regained its footing and eventually, production was halted in 1988 after a comparably small production run of 446 planes, ending what could have been a healthier competition between the 747 and DC-10 that would have continued to benefit airlines in their fierce competition for passeng ers. Lastly, Airbus Industries’ Airbus model is important to mention, both for its successful, albeit relatively short track record and the simple fact that it is not a product of American design and manufacturing.   Airbus was formed in 1967 by a consortium of European aviation manufacturers with the express purpose to compete with Boeing’s overwhelming dominance in the passenger jet market.   In the intervening 38 years, Airbus has fought a pitched battle with Boeing, both politically and commercially, and achieved remarkable parity. It narrowly edged out Boeing in total number of orders received in 2005, 1055 jets to 1002.   Airbus did not get off to an auspicious beginning, however.   Only 81 of its A300 model were in service by 1979 despite its entry into the world market in 1974.   However, the introduction of the A320 model in 1981 was a smashing success, with Airbus having taken 400 orders from airlines before the first model even left the ground.   Thoug h the A320 typically only carried approximately 150 passengers, its reliability, speed (approximately as fast as a 747) and fuel efficiency made it an attractive choice that could compete with Boeing’s smaller jets including the 737, and Airbus wasted little time in expanding the passenger capacity of the A320 and subsequent models.   In fall 2006, Airbus’ A380 will overtake the 747 in maximum passenger capacity – 555.   The competition between Airbus and Boeing has become so fierce that it has escalated into conflict between the United States and European Union, with unfair subsidy accusations and threats of trade wars flying across the Atlantic Ocean as often as the jets. Certainly, Boeing, McDonnell-Douglas, and Airbus were not the only major players in the passenger jet business since its advent.   Other notables include American manufacturer Lockheed and a host of minor foreign manufacturers.  Ã‚   None, however, have matched the dominance and industry-changing models of Boeing 77 series and Airbus 300 series, or the unfortunate inability of McDonnell-Douglas to live up to the potential of the maligned DC-10.   Each of these planes played a key role in making long-distance air travel more competitive, more affordable, more international, more accessible, and safer (ironically, in the case of the DC-10) with each passing year. BIBLIOGRAPHY http://www.boeing.com/commercial/707family/ http://www.aviation-history.com/boeing/707.html http://www.aircraft-info.net/aircraft/jet_aircraft/boeing/747-400/ http://www.boeing.com/commercial/747family/index.html http://www.pbs.org/kcet/chasingthesun/planes/747.html http://www.aircraft-info.net/aircraft/jet_aircraft/mcdonnell_douglas/DC-10_MD10/ Johnston, Moira.   The Last Nine Minutes: The Story of Flight 981, Avon Publishers, 1976. http://www.airbus.com/en/aircraftfamilies/ Contrada, John Della.   â€Å"Subsidy war could harm Boeing more than Airbus, UB researcher says,† The University of Buffalo Reporter, 24 June 2004.

Job Analysis Questionnaires Are Structured Tools Psychology Essay

Job Analysis Questionnaires Are Structured Tools Psychology Essay Kevin Leon Menezes , wrote an article in 2009, in which he said that : Pakistan is actively participating to rename our Personnel Departments as Human Resources, the remaining developed markets are literally asking that : Is HR a career in crisis ? The best answer lies here that HR has an important role and is evolving and we have to move forward and leave behind the traditional administrative functions and to contribute dynamically n positively accordingly. A research conducted by Elina M. Antila Anne Kakkonen in 2008 depicts that the top level management believes that the participation of the HR managers is of due importance and they agree upon that there should be a common policy in this regard. Certain factors which explain the roles in the case organizations mainly focused on certain factor groups and they were found similar across the respective cases. Now, the problem lies here that our situation is completely different than that of the developed markets and this is primarily because of the fact the HR here is mainly practices by the multinational companies. Paucity of the Pakistani firms has developed their HR factions to a great extent but on the contrary these factions are the concepts being borrowed from the West or Japan. However, criticizing the HR seems to be the main issue around the globe respectively. Every organization has jobs and it has to go through the process of staffing. Job analysis is the main process through which one determines the duties of the required positions and the credentials of the people in order to hire them. Job analysis leads to write job descriptions and job specifications. A job description entails the information of what the job involves. In addition to this. Job description brings harmony to the work functions, support to maintain a well constructed salary structure and help the employees to understand their jobs in an easy manner. The main objective of the job analysis is that it focuses on the knowing of the different components of a workers job. The gist of job analysis is mainly effectiveness and efficiency that is to do the right thing in a right manner respectively. The prime motive we get from the job analysis is that it increases companys profitability, productivity and sustainability. A job description is a calligraphy which provides certain information on all the required duties and responsibilities assigned to the individuals performing a job. Clear, accurate and thorough job descriptions are important to the performance of the organization and for the employees as well. Job description is important for every position in the organization. It is a contract with the employee and it must be provided to him. It should be simple and precise and on the contrary if its not precise, it will affect the overall performance of the employee. Mostly, job analysis provides the information in the job description. The job analysis should be accurate and complete. Job description describes the job irrespective of the persons who hold that job. A well constructed job description should be kept specific, manageable and it should also have a direct relationship with the performance review in order to measure the performance management using ones job description. 2.1Job Analysis Tools THE CONTEXT OF WORK (REALISTIC JOB PREVIEW-RJP) Nowadays it is common for human resource professionals to recognize that job interviews are now a two-way process. In order to make this statement simpler, the hiring organization assesses the candidates while the candidates assess the hiring organization and the job respectively. This is mainly the understanding and thus it develops the Realistic Job Preview (RJP). It is now an essential part of the process of recruitment process in which the different organizations provide both favorable and unfavorable work information to their candidates. 2.2 What is a Realistic Job Preview? Realistic Job Previews (RJPs) are devices which are used in the initial stages of personnel selection in order to provide the potential candidates with information on the pros and cons of the job. This does not include the duties of the job but also what the job is exactly like and what are the working conditions to be considered. This type of preview certainly happens in the initial stages of the selection process. It provides a realistic picture of the ambience to the candidate and also covers: Norms of the organization The environment in which the candidates will work The ordinary tasks that the potential candidates may face RJP provides the candidate detailed information regarding the job so that they can decide for their suitability for the job. RJP shall portray a clear picture to the candidates informing them about the positive and negative aspects of the job in order to be successful. It is an essential part of the process of selection in which it gives the clear idea of the job to the candidates after being hired. Some experts believe that if the information provided to the candidates during an RJP is accurate, then it will be easy for the candidates to decide whether the job is right for them or not. By using the process of RJP, it reduces the expectations of the candidates who dont think that certain conditions will meet their requirements. This helps the organization a great deal as when the individuals accept the job, their expectations are not too high from the organization and thus it results in fewer apprehensions. Fleishman Job Analysis Survey F.jas is a hand book for ability requirement. It is a taxonomy which has detailed description of different kind of abilities required for a job. F. Jas contains specific job analysis scale. Functional Job Analysis Scale FJA was first used in 1940. Now days it uses seven scales to find out the performance of the workers Things Data People Worker Instructions Reasoning Math Language F.JA was used for a long time in USA as a part of the DOT. This has now been replaced by O.NET MOSAIC The office of the personal Management (OPM) is using multipurpose occupational system Analysis. Inventory close ended for information on federal court job. The OPM has started different projects; each project is working on different occupation. Two types of description are used, which are Tasks and Competency. MOSAIC is in fact working in all Govt Jobs. OCCUPTIONAL ANALYSIS INVENTORY (OAI) It was designed to yield mal job information It has five categories. 1 information received 2 Mental Activities 3 work behaviors 4Work Goals 5 Work Context. OAI has been used to gather information on 1400 jobs. However the reliability has been lower as compared to PAQ. Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) It is a study of job characteristic against human characteristics. The item of study has five catagories. Information input Mental process Work output Relationship with other persons Job context The researchers have collected a large data which has given reasonably good results. Work Profiling System (WPS) The system was developed to help employees to help accomplish human resources functions. The WPS has computerized system which records symbols of qualities related to personality like hearing skills, sight, taste , smell, touch, Body coordination, verbal skills, Number skills, complex Management skills, personality and Team Role. DICTIONARY OF OCCUPATIONAL TITLES In 1930, the occupational information was local so there was no co-ordination in different affairs. In 1934 a national database was developed and so in 1939 the first dictionary of occupation data DOT was published. However in 1990 it has become less useful due to many reasons. When in 1991 the published fifth edition, it was discovered that the new technological change are making the job more complicated, so the DOT approach was developed by US Employment service, despite that DOT is extensively used in social Security and immigration adjudication within the united state. Job analysis questionnaires are structured tools used to gather information about work as it is performed in each organization. Questionnaires may be used by the job analyst in an interview or completed by the job incumbent. Preparation of a job analysis questionnaire takes both time and skill of individuals knowledgeable of the jobs being analyzed and the development of questionnaires. Job analysis questionnaires may be hardcopy or electronic. They may be designed specifically for an organization, or more general to collect information from a large number of people working in many different organizations. Some conventional job analysis programs ask job incumbents to complete a preliminary questionnaire describing their jobs. The purpose is to provide the job analyst with a first draft of the necessary job information. It is also meant to be a first step in obtaining incumbent and supervisor approval of the final job description. Of course, not all employees enjoy filling out questionnaires. Also, employees vary in verbal and reading skills and may overstate or understate their work activities. Usually, the job analyst follows up the questionnaire by interviewing the employee and observing his or her job. Position Analysis Questionnaire The best-known quantitative approach to job analysis is the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ). Developed by Dr. Ernest J. McCormick* and associates at Purdue University, the position analysis questionnaire is a structured job analysis questionnaire containing 194 items called job elements. These elements are worker-oriented. Using the terminology of the Department of Labors 1972 job analysis formula, they would be classified as worker behaviors. The items are organized into six divisions: (1) information input (2) mental processes (3) work output (physical activities and tools) (4) relationships with others (5) job context (the physical and social environment) (6) other job characteristics (such as pace and structure) Each job element is rated on six scales: extent of use, importance, time, possibility of occurrence, applicability, and a special code for certain jobs. (*During and after WWII, Dr. McCormick worked for the Federal Government contributing to the Dictionary of Occupational Titles.) These descriptors flow from McCormicks model of the operational functions basic to all jobs: sensing (information receiving), information storage, information processing, and decision and action (physical control or communication). These functions vary in emphasis from job to job. Job analysts or supervisors usually complete the position analysis questionnaire. In some instances managerial, professional, or other white-collar job incumbents fill out the instrument. The reason for such limitations is that the reading requirements of this questionnaire is at the college-graduate level. Analyzing Job Analysis Questionnaire Data Data from the position analysis questionnaire can be analyzed in several ways. For a specific job, individual ratings can be averaged to yield the relative importance of and emphasis on various job elements, and the results can be summarized as a job description. The elements can also be clustered into a profile rating on a large number of job dimensions to permit comparison of this job with others. Estimates of employee aptitude requirements can be made. Job evaluation points can be estimated from the items related to pay. Finally, an occupational prestige score can be computed. Analysts can have position analysis questionnaire data computer-analyzed by sending the completed questionnaire to PAQ Services. Position Analysis Questionnaire Uses The position analysis questionnaire has been used for job evaluation, selection, performance appraisal, compensation planning, assessment-center development, determination of job similarity, development of job families, vocational counseling, determination of training needs, and job desig The Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) developed by McCormick, Jeanneret, and Mecham (1972) is a structured job analysis instrument to measure job characteristics and relate them to human characteristics. It consists of 195 job elements that represent in a comprehensive manner the domain of human behavior involved in work activities. The items that fall into five categories: Information input (where and how the worker gets information), Mental processes (reasoning and other processes that workers use), Work output (physical activities and tools used on the job), Relationships with other persons, and Job context (the physical and social contexts of work). Over the course of many studies, PAQ researchers have aggregated PAQ data for hundreds of jobs; that database is maintained by Purdue University. A wealth of research exists on the PAQ; it has yielded reasonably good reliability estimates and has been linked to several assessment tools

Middleware :: essays research papers

Middleware In the past several decades, a trend has emerged where mid to large size corporations have needed to integrate their existing mainframe systems with their newer PC based information systems. With this shift in focus toward PC based communications and productivity software that became available on the market, companies scrambled for ways to tie PCs and mainframes together. This created the need for middleware. Companies discovered that the hardware and programming, involved in maintaining mainframe systems, was too costly to replace overnight. In addition to the expense, the applications in place for the most part served their purpose and appeared to be much more stable than the personal computers. They maintained master files for customers as well as inventory levels, generated bills and invoices and, with the right programmer and vision, the mainframes could extract just about any information that managers needed. As PCs became more prevalent for a fraction of the cost and with the development of the Internet and a global network, PC applications with productivity software such as Microsoft Office and connection to the Internet have become imperative in almost every business setting. As these resources became available, users such as employees could now access information easily and instantly, share information simultaneously, and communicate both externally and internally through electronic mail. The questions then arose concerning what to do with the expensive mainframe systems and how to permit the PCs to interact. Middleware has become the solution to this problem.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A middleware program is an interface between an application and a server. The most useful are those that allow access to the vast resources stored on the highly developed and expensive mainframe databases with a simple user friendly program, like a web browser. Another example is what Kaiser Permanente implemented to ease the ordering and monitoring of prescriptions. Kaiser bought a NetWeave middleware solution to tie its VAX pharmacy systems to a Tandem master subscriber database to allow subscribers to dial in prescription orders from their touch-tone phones. NetWeave gives us an illustration of how middleware works below. You can find more information on NetWeave at www.netweave.com. It is clear that with the rapid shift in business focus to pc-based information systems, which the demand for scalability and information on-the-fly, will create a huge demand for middleware.

The State of Our World Depicted in the Book, Natural Capitalism: Creati

The State of Our World Depicted in the Book, Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution Each word in the title of the book Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution carries powerful undertones. For example â€Å"industrial revolution† carries a negative connotation for me; I picture smoke stacks pouring out pollution and darkening the cities and six year old children working fourteen hours a day in factories for little pay. I simultaneously recognize the remarkable amount of inventions and technologies that were developed during and following the Industrial Revolution and its vast impact on the world and on the United States, which places great value on the idea of capitalism. Considering my preconceptions simply based on the words of the title of the book, I was intrigued to read the first chapter of the book and to see what could be environmentally â€Å"natural† about capitalism and what a new industrial revolution would involve. Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and Hunter Lovins, the authors of Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution, offer a persuasive and powerful outlook on the state of our world currently and in the future through intertwining logical arguments, emotional appeals, and establishments of personal credibility. The chapter opens with an appeal to emotions. The book describes a scene to imagine - a more peaceful and world with more parks, cleaner air and water, societal harmony, better quality of life, and lack of income taxes (1). This beginning passage is an effective way to draw readers into the book because it intrigues them and causes them to desire the world to which they are being introduced. The opening prepares the readers ... ...pe (regarding a service and flow economy). These and the other examples given in the chapter demonstrate to the reader that changes for the better are possible and have been already taking place and yielding results. I feel that Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution is persuasive and well-written. The progression from a fantasy to how to achieve that fantasy specifically is effective. The use of emotional appeals to back up the logical claims and arguments were balanced and placed in good places. I am persuaded to learn more about how the ideals of this book are being played out in the world, and I want to support proponents of valuing natural capital in their efforts. Works Cited Hawken, Paul, Amory Lovins, and Hunter Lovins. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revoution. : Little Brown and Company, 1999.

Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism

Born in Florence, Italy having American parents, the most flourishing portrait painter during his time John Singer Sargent becomes a part of an exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, through his eye-catching landscapes and masterpieces. During his time, the world of art is dominated by Cubism, Fauvism and Impressionism.However, John Sargent accomplished his masterpieces through his own form of Realism. His skills, as well as his form, were honed under the tutelage of Emile Auguste Carolus-Duran in Paris from 1874 to 1878, after studying rigorously in both Italy and Germany. John Sargent’s paternal grandfather was a Spanish descent and he carefully studied the paintings in the Prado during an extended residency in Madrid from 1866 to 1868 (Boone, 117).Constantly the internationalist, John Sargent journeyed by train from Paris to Madrid, and he was in the Prado by October 14, and the several of copies that he completed, such as the painting of a dwarf then credited to V elasquez and a detail of Velasquez’s â€Å"Las bilanderas† in 1879, recommends or advocates a stay of just more than one month. Sargent also has several collections of photographs after Velasquez’, â€Å"Don Antonio el ingles† and â€Å"Las Bilanderas†.In addition to this, he also had â€Å"The Surrender of Breda†, â€Å"the Forge of Vulcan† and â€Å"Las meninas†, which he stored or set aside in a scrapbook. These photographs served as souvenirs from his trip as well as reference material for his study of art history, and motivation for fresh works of art (Boone, 280).John Singer Sargent is fond of life. John Sargent finds the the people portrayed rather than the setting to be exotic. His love for life, as well as being a painter, can be observed in some of his masterpieces such as in â€Å"Dolce Far Niente† and â€Å"The Sketchers†.â€Å"The Sketchers† (1856-1925) is John Sargent’s 22 by 28 inches masterpiece which uses oil on canvas as medium. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts was able to acquire this artwork through the help of Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund, in the year 1958. In â€Å"The Sketchers†, there is an interplay of light and dark or chiaroscuro which can be instantly recognized.The left side of the painting shows scuro (dark), while the right side shows chiaro (light). The chiaro can be observed through the shadows and darker shade or hue of colors used through the trees and on the left side of the white umbrella. In addition to this, the background â€Å"sky† on the left side is darker as compared to that on the left side. These darker shades or shadows are results of the light from a source which can be observed to be coming from the right side of the painting.

My Favorite Leader †Zhou Enlai Essay

Abstract As is known to us all, Zhou Enlai, as a communist party member, the first premier and foreign minister of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), has a high reputation from home and abroad. This paper includes four parts in total. It starts with the brief introduction to Zhou Enlai and then pays more attention to the second part about his contributions. Following is the third part about evaluations from domestic and international. The last part comes to the conclusion. Key words: Zhou Enlai reputation contributions evaluations I. Introduction Zhou Enlai was born in Huai’an, Jiangsu Province on 5 March 1898, and died in Beijing on January 8, 1976. Zhou, an important member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from its beginnings in 1921, was the first Premier of PRC, serving from October 1949 to January 1976. Though Zhou severed as the Chinese Foreign Minister just from 1949 to 1958, he was a master in policy implementation, with infinite capacity for details. His skills and ability of diplomat impressed people all round the globe. He was of great help in consolidating the control of the Communist Party’s rise to power, forming foreign policies, and developing the Chinese economy. II. Contributions To the liberation of the Chinese people and the foundation of a new China As I have mentioned in the first part, Zhou was born at the end of the 19th century, when China was suffering from internal and external. So, Zhou has dedicated himself to the cause of the liberation of the Chinese people since he was young. Between 1920 and 1924, he studied in France and Germany under a work-study program and spread Marxism among Chinese students and workers living there. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1922. During the period of the Great Revolution, he took an active part in the Northern Expedition and made important contributions to the overthrow of the reactionary rule of the northern warlords. He was also one of the leaders of Nanchang Uprising and one of the founders of the People’s Army after the failure of the Great Revolution in 1927. In 1935, Zhou played an important  role in supporting Mao Zedong’s propositions at Zunyi Conference which helped make the Long March of the Red Army a great success. When the Red Army arrived in Northern Shaanxi Province, Zhou, working under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), on behalf of the Communist Party, held talks with Chiang Kai-shek who adopted measures to firstly maintain internal security and then repel foreign invasion, facing the Japanese invasion to Shenyang, China. During the negotiations, Zhou firmly carried out Chairman Mao’s policy, skillfully compelled Chiang Kai-shek to stop the civil war and successfully led to the peaceful settlement of the Xi’an Incident, and thus promoted the formation of anti-Japanese national united front. In the Liberation War of China, he spared no pains to assist Mao Zedong in organizing and commanding the Three Great Campaigns and establishing the new China. To Diplomatic Relations After New China was founded, Premier Zhou also worked as the Foreign Minister for nine years, during which he made painstaking efforts to develop the basic diplomatic policies and form the Foreign Ministry, including formulating rules, systems and diplomatic disciplines. The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence proposed by Premier Zhou that † mutual respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence † remains the most important norm and standard which officials of the Foreign Ministry must abide by nowadays. The Geneva Conference In April 1954, Zhou, together with the delegation of the People’s Republic of China, attended the Geneva Conference, which was to settle the ongoing Franco-Vietnamese War. His patience and shrewdness assisted the major powers involved (the Soviets, French, Americans, and North Vietnamese) to reach the agreement ending the conflict, and made it possible that the independence of the three countries—South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia got the international recognition. Meanwhile, on behalf of the Chinese Government, Zhou put forward the five principles of peaceful coexistence as the criterion for the relationship between countries. The Asian–African Conference In 1955, Zhou was a prominent participator in the Asian–African Conference held in Indonesia. At the conference, Zhou skillfully maintained the right to possess Taiwan, demanded the approval of the People’s Republic of China, put forward his stand for â€Å"peaceful coexistence† and against â€Å"colonialism†, advocated â€Å"seeking common ground while putting aside differences† and made it possible that, the conference produced a strong declaration in favor of peace and actively carried out the peaceful coexistence of China’s foreign policy. The Sino-American relations By the early 1970s, Sino-American relations had begun to improve. In January 1970, the Chinese invited the American ping-pong team to China, initiating an era of â€Å"ping-pong diplomacy†. In 1971, Zhou met secretly with President Nixon’s security advisor, Henry Kissinger, who had flown to China to prepare for a meeting between Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong. After these meetings, Zhou successfully let the United States agree to allow the transfer of American money to China, to allow trades between American-owned ships and China (under foreign flags), and to allow Chinese exports into the United States since the Korean War. What’s more, the United States publicly acknowledged that Taiwan was an inalienable part of the People’s Republic of China. To promote the people’s well-being During the establishment of the new Chinese government, he succeeded in getting support from people from all walks of life, which provided a solid foundation for the construction of the Chinese society and the consolidation of the new China. First foreign minister as he was, Zhou made it possible to create an international environment favorable to China’s construction and to promote world peace and human development. In 1954, he proposed the four modernization goal of constructing a modern industry, agriculture, transportation industry and national defense, which promoted the rapid development of the national science and technology. During the Cultural Revolution, he exerted himself to keep order in the critical situation, and made a great effort to save comrades being persecuted or imprisoned. In 1975, on behalf of the Party, he reintroduced his â€Å"Four Modernization†Ã‚  giving people the confidence and courage to reconstruct China having been destroyed and confused by the Cultural Revolution, III. Evaluations From domestic After his death, one million five hundred thousand people came to see his coffin, and memorials for him were held everywhere. One of the memorial reports devoted to Zhou Enlai wrote: â€Å"He looks to have left nothing for us. But†¦he have hundreds millions of children and grandchildren, and all the land of China is grave for him†. Qian Xuesen, father of the two bombs, once said, â€Å"According to what many non-party people said, they had no idea of the communist party of China until they got to know Zhou Enlai and it was because of him that they began to believe in the CCP.† The writer Bing Xin expressed her admiration that â€Å"Premier Zhou Enlai is the first perfect in the hearts of billion people of 20th century†. From international On January 8, 1976, it was the exact day of Zhou’s death, in front of United Nations Headquarters in New York, the United Nations flag down a half-mast. The UN Secretary, who named General Kurt Waldheim, said, â€Å"In order to mourn Zhou Enlai, the United Nations is to half-mast. There are two reasons for me to make this decision: Firstly, China is an ancient civilization with many countless treasures of gold and silver, but she has no penny of Premier Zhou’s deposits; Secondly, China has a population of one billion and accounts for 1/4 of world’s population, but she has no child of Premier Zhou.† The First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy once said: â€Å"In the world I only worship one man, that is, Zhou Enlai.† Sihanouk lady Monika also said: â€Å"Zhou Enlai is my only idol!† To conclude this part, these evaluations not only mirror his incomparable wit diplomatic skills, but also reflect our beloved Premier Zhou noble characteristics admired in t he world. IV. Conclusion As I have mentioned above, Zhou Enlai enjoys a high reputation in China as well as in other countries, because of his incomparable diplomatic skills and devotion to the cause. Zhou devoted himself to his cause, making unremitting efforts to spread Marxism, making contributions to the  liberation of the Chinese people and the development of China and sparing no pains to promote the Chinese people’s well-being and the peace of the world. Bibliography 1. http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/å‘ ¨Ã¦  ©Ã¦  ¥ 2. http://baike.baidu.com/view/1751. 3. http://www.baike.com/wiki/å‘ ¨Ã¦  ©Ã¦  ¥ 4. Gao Wenqian. Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary. NY: Public Affairs, 2007. 5. Lee, Chae-jin. Zhou Enlai: The Early Years. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994. 6. Levine, Marilyn. The Found Generation: Chinese Communists in Europe during the Twenties. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1993. 7. Wilson, Dick. Zhou Enlai: A Biography. New York: Viking, 1984 8. Tang Jiaxuan. Tang Jiaxuan Elaborates Zhou Enlai’s Diplomatic Thinking in Tianjin Nankai Middle School. ä ¸ ­Ã¥ Å½Ã¤ º ºÃ¦ °â€˜Ã¥â€¦ ±Ã¥â€™Å'å› ½Ã¥ ¤â€"ä º ¤Ã©Æ' ¨

Google Strategic Analysis

Strategic Audit of Google Google Abstract Google was founded by two Stanford PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in 1998. The two recognized a need within the internet services industry for a search engine that would provide accurate results. The two opened Google, Inc. as an online company that provided a superior search engine, a platform for extremely targeted advertisements, and intranet solutions to internet users across the world. The company obtained the majority of its revenues by selling advertising space within the search results. Google employed an innovative system for selling this space to companies; companies would only have to pay Google for the advertising space if a customer â€Å"clicked† on their advertisement. As Google became the most-used search engine in the world due to its greater accuracy of producing relevant results, advertising revenues increased at a phenomenal rate. Google faced competition from others in the internet search services industry; specifically AOL, MSN, and Yahoo. Each competitor recognized the importance of a quality search engine to customers – as well as the opportunity to gain advertising revenues – and was attempting to develop an innovative search engine that would top Google’s. Competition from Microsoft was also a possibility. Microsoft indicated that they might attempt to add a search engine to their new operating system that was set for release in 2006. While Microsoft was not an established player in the internet search services industry, they had the technical expertise and massive resources to present a major competitive threat. The importance of the search engine to Google’s competitors as a stand-alone service was great but the development of a search engine rivaling or bettering Google’s would also attract customers to their other services. Google’s competitors offered many other services, in addition to their search services, such as email, online dating, and fantasy sports networks and were successful in doing so. Google’s success as a company hinged almost completely on the success of their search engine. Google, Inc. egan to diversify into other segments of the internet services industry in order to lessen the risk of having only one truly successful product and to build up both their customer base and customer loyalty. Google began to offer internet users the ability to search within a directory of 425,000 still images. Their collection of images tied with Yahoo’s as internet users’ first choice for image-searches. Google also began offering a directory of 50 0 million discussion topics that dated back to 1981 called Google Groups. Customers, in addition to being able to examine discussion topics within Google Groups, could add postings to a new group. Also, in 2004, Google began offering its users access to a compilation of 4,500 news sources located all over the world. Google then developed a service that would allow cell phone and handheld device customers to use Google’s search and other services on their wireless devices. In addition to these services and others, Google developed Google Catalog, a service that would allow users to search print mail order catalogs, and offered email accounts to select clients. In order to remain ahead of the competition and an industry leader in providing internet services, Google had to now make some strategic decisions. To assure the future of the company, Google’s management team knew that they would have to differentiate Google’s products from those offered by competing companies, such as Yahoo, MSN, and AOL. Google could either continue to expand the amounts of services it offered (i. e. include text messaging services, large email accounts, and others), it could work to improve the services it offered across the board, or it could focus on improving its most successful creation: the Google search engine. Each option had its merits and the company had plenty of resources to use in pursuing any of these three (or other) strategies. The difficult issue was choosing the most appropriate strategy for the company. I. Current Situation A. Performance ? Most-used website in the world ? Possesses global brand; one-half of internet users outside the United States ? High degree of user loyalty and brand identity ? Employs interface for over 88 languages ? Generally considered to possess the most accurate internet search engine ? Google network is utilized by 80% of internet users; used by 165 million people in the United States and United Kingdom per month ? Google’s 2008 revenues were $21,795,550,000, a 31. 34% increase since last year[1] ? Google’s 2007 revenues were $16,592,986,000, a 56. 47% increase over 2006’s revenues[2] ? Google’s cash increased 42. 34% from $6,081,593,000 in 2007 to $8,656,672,000[3] ? Google’s debt to equity ratio was 10. 44% in 2007 and 11. 1% in 2008. Yahoo’s debt to equity ratio was 22. 05% in 2007 and 17. 81% in 2008. Microsoft’s debt to equity ratio 50. 15% in 2007 and was 50. 7% in 2008[4] ? Google’s current ratio was 8. 49 in 2007 and 8. 77 in 2008. Yahoo’s current ratio was 2. 41 in 2007 and 2. 78 in 2008. Microsoft’s current ratio was 1. 44 in 2007 and 1. 69 in 2008[5] ? Google’s income from operations was 30. 64% of sales revenues in 2007 and was 30. 43% of sales revenues in 2008. Yahoo’s operating income was 9. 98% of sales revenues in 2007 and 0. 18% of revenues in 2008. Microsoft’s operating income was 36. 23% of revenues in 2007 and 37. 19% of sales revenues in 2008[6] ? Return on Assets (ROA) = 16. 6% in 2007 and 13. 3% in 2008. Yahoo’s ROA = 5. 4% for 2007 and 3. 1% in 2008. Microsoft’s ROA = 19. 3% in 2007 and 19. 9% in 2008. [7] ? Return On Equity (ROE) = 18. 5% in 2007 and 15. 0% in 2008. Yahoo’s ROE was 7. 2% in 2007 and 4. 5% in 2008. Microsoft’s ROE was 38. 8% in 2007 and 57. 4% in 2008[8]. B. Strategic Posture ? Mission Statement: â€Å"To organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. †[9] ? Objectives: ? Remain the industry-leading website in terms of internet traffic market share ? Remain the industry leader in providing the most accurate search engines ? Capture market share in the online advertising market and become the industry leader in providing directed, online advertising services ? Reduce risk by increasing market share in non-search internet services: Google catalog, Google Business Solutions, Google News, etc ? Begin licensing patented wireless technology and intellectual property to other companies ? Further diversify company from competitors C. Corporate-level strategies ? Pursue a strategy of concentric diversification by entering into other areas of the internet services market D. Business-level strategies ? Differentiate Google’s products from those offered by competitors ? Competitive rather than cooperative E. Functional-level strategies ? Google’s R strategy is to be a technological leader ? Google’s marketing strategy is to simultaneously pursue a market development strategy to gain market share for its search engine and pursue a product development strategy to increase the diversity of its product portfolio. In both cases, Google primarily uses a pull strategy to entice consumers to utilize its products. For example, Google uses Google Business Solutions to advertise the ways Google can help various businesses through the use of their products. This advertising results in businesses â€Å"pulling† Google’s products through the channels. ? Google’s financial strategy includes maintaining a low debt to equity ratio. Their debt to equity ratio was only 11% in 2008, which is much lower than that of the competition ? Google’s operations strategy includes increasing and maintaining global operations. They have offices and thousands of services in many different countries on several continents. This is more fully discussed in a later section. ? Human resources – Google’s HR strategy entails maintaining and further developing an extremely diverse work force. Its strategy is also focused on attracting employees with advanced technical skills and paying them well both monetarily and with many fringe benefits. This is more fully discussed in a later section. II. Corporate Governance A. Board of Directors[10] ? Eric Schmidt has served as our Chief Executive Officer since July 2001 and as a member of our board of directors since March 2001, where he served as Chairman of the Board from March 2001 to April 2004. In April 2004, Eric was named Chairman of the Executive Committee of our board of directors. Prior to joining us, from April 1997 to November 2001, Eric served as Chairman of the board of directors of Novell, Inc. , a computer networking company, and, from April 1997 to July 2001, as the Chief Executive Officer of Novell. Eric was a director of Siebel Systems until January 2006. Eric holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University and a Master's degree and Ph. D. in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley. Sergey Brin, one of our founders, has served as a member of our board of directors since our inception in September 1998 and as our President of Technology since July 2001. From September 1998 to July 2001, Sergey served as our President and Chairman of the Board. Sergey holds a Master's degree in computer science from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Science degree with high honors in mathematics and computer scien ce from the University of Maryland at College Park and is currently on leave from the Ph. D. program in computer science at Stanford University. Larry Page, one of our founders, has served as a member of our board of directors since our inception in September 1998 and as our President of Products since July 2001. From September 1998 to July 2001, Larry served as our Chief Executive Officer and from September 1998 to July 2002 as our Chief Financial Officer. Larry holds a Master's degree in computer science from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Science degree with high honors in engineering, with a concentration in computer engineering, from the University of Michigan and is currently on leave from the Ph. D. program in computer science at Stanford University. ? L. John Doerr has served as a member of our board of directors since May 1999. John has been a General Partner of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a venture capital firm, since August 1980. John is also a director of Amazon. com, Inc. , an Internet retail company, Homestore, Inc. , a provider of real estate media and technology solutions, Intuit, Inc. , a provider of business and financial management software, and Sun Microsystems, Inc. , a supplier of networking computing solutions. John holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School and a Masters of Science degree in electrical engineering and computer science nd a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Rice University. ? John L. Hennessy has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2004. Since September 2000, John has served as the President of Stanford University. From 1994 to August 2000, John held various positions at Stanford, including Dean of the Stanford Unive rsity School of Engineering and Chair of the Stanford University Department of Computer Science. John has been a member of the board of directors of Cisco Systems, Inc. , a networking equipment company, since January 2002 and chairman of the board of directors of Atheros Communications, Inc. a wireless semiconductor company, since May 1998. John holds a Master's degree and Doctoral degree in computer science from the State University of New York, Stony Brook and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Villanova University. ? Arthur D. Levinson has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2004. Since July 1995, Art has served as a member of the board of directors of Genentech, Inc. , a biotechnology company, and has served as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since September 1999. Prior to 1999, Art held various executive positions at Genentech, including Senior Vice President of R. Art has been a member of the board of directors of Apple Computer, Inc. , a computer hardware and software company, since 2000. Art was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Microbiology at the University of California, San Francisco. Art holds a Ph. D. in biochemistry from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Science degree in molecular biology from the University of Washington. ? Ann Mather has served as a member of our board of directors since November 2005. Since April 2004, Ann has been a director of Central European Media Enterprises Group and serves on its Audit and Compensation Committees. She served as a director of Shopping. com from May 2004 until it was acquired by eBay in 2005 and was Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee. From 1999 to 2004, Ann was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Pixar. Prior to Pixar she was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Village Roadshow Pictures. From 1993 to 1999 she held various executive positions at The Walt Disney Company, including Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration for its Buena Vista International Theatrical Division. Ann holds a Master's degree from Cambridge University. ? Paul S. Otellini has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2004. Paul became the Chief Executive Officer and President of Intel Corporation, a semiconductor manufacturing company, in May 2005. Paul has been a member of the board of directors of Intel since 2002. He also served as Intel's Chief Operating Officer from 2002 to May 2005. From 1974 to 2002, Paul held various positions at Intel, including Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Intel Architecture Group and Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Sales and Marketing Group. Paul holds a Master's degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a Bachelor's degree in economics from the University of San Francisco. ? K. Ram Shriram has served as a member of our board of directors since September 1998. Since January 2000, Ram has served as managing partner of Sherpalo, an angel venture investment company. Prior to that, from August 1998 to September 1999, Ram served as Vice President of Business Development at Amazon. com, Inc. , an Internet retail company. Prior to that, Ram served as President at Junglee Corporation, a provider of database technology, acquired by Amazon. om in 1998. Ram was an early member of the executive team at Netscape Communications Corporation. Ram holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Madras, India. ? Shirley M. Tilghman has served as a member of our board of directors since October 2005. Since June 2001, Shirley has served as the President of Princeton University. From August 1986 to June 2001, she ser ved as a Professor at Princeton University and from August 1988 to June 2001 as an Investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Shirley holds a Ph. D. n biochemistry from Temple University and an Honorary Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Queen's University. ? Three members are inside board members and seven are outside board members; two are female ? Committees include: audit, leadership development and compensation, nominating and corporate governance, executive, acquisition, and real estate[11] B. Top Management ? Eric Schmidt , Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer ? Larry Page , Co-Founder & President, Products ? Sergey Brin , Co-Founder & President, Technology Nikesh Arora , President, Global Sales Operations and Business Development ? Laszlo Bock , Vice President, People Operations ? Shona Brown , Senior Vice President, Business Operations ? W. M. Coughran, Jr. , Senior Vice President, Engineering ? David C. Drummond , Senior Vice President, Corpora te Development and Chief Legal Officer ? Alan Eustace , Senior Vice President, Engineering & Research ? Urs Holzle , Senior Vice President, Operations & Google Fellow ? Jeff Huber , Senior Vice President, Engineering Omid Kordestani , Senior Advisor, Office of the CEO and Founders ? Patrick Pichette , Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer ? Jonathan Rosenberg , Senior Vice President, Product Management ? Rachel Whetstone , Vice President, Public Policy and Communications ? Susan Wojcicki , Vice President, Product Management III. External Environment Analysis (EFAS, see Exhibit 1) A. General Environment[12] 1. Natural Environment ? Solar or geomagnetic storms in space could destroy or damage Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites as well as cause electric power outages on earth. In 1989, a geomagnetic storm caused a nine-hour power outage in Eastern Canada that affected millions of people[13]. The GPS satellites are used by Google to provide their Google Earth service. The power outages could affect internet traffic which would reduce Google’s advertising revenues. The power outages may also prevent Google from offering services due to a lack of power to run their equipment. Another possibility is that Google may have to use back-up power – such as generators – or purchase it temporarily at a higher rate from another source; thereby increasing their operating costs (T) ? Climate change is expected to result in an increase in the intensity and the frequency of severe storms. Weather issues that are expected to increase in both intensity and frequency are: windstorms such as tornados and hurricanes, heat waves and droughts, storms with extreme rains or snow, and dust storms. Floods and landslides are expected to increase as well[14]. This could affect Google by causing damage to the communications infrastructure – i. e. cable cuts – which would cause the internet connections to become intermittent or nonexistent until the cable cut or related issue is repaired. In the case of wireless connections, â€Å"wireless nodes† like cell phone towers may be knocked over. Other communications items such as switching networks may be damaged by extreme weather as well[15]. The extreme weather could prevent Google from delivering services to customers and could damage other businesses and industries as well; resulting in reduced revenues for Google and a slump in the overall economy (T) ? As mentioned above, storms with extreme winds are expected to increase which will likely increase the tumultuousness of the ocean. 5% of cable cuts in undersea cables are caused by ships’ fishing nets and 18% are caused by ships’ anchors. Extreme weather may increase the frequency of undersea cable cuts from ships; resulting in internet disruptions[16] (T) 2. Sociocultural Forces ? An estimated 577 million people worldwide access the internet using mobile devices. The number of people accessing the internet via mobile phones is expected to increase to 1. 7 billion by 2013. By 2014, mobile internet users are expected to make up around 50% of all internet users (O)[17] ? The pace of life is increasing for the average consumer. Due to advances in technology – like the cell phone, wireless laptop computer and email – each person with access to these technologies is pressured to complete more tasks. This increases reliance on the newest technologies to meet the demands of increasing expectations put upon consumers[18] (O) ? Consumers are worried about identity theft and privacy; especially how their information can be accessed and used by other companies and individuals online. [19] (O) ? The average American respondent spent 19 hours per week surfing the internet[20] (O) ? Email remains the most popular online activity. This is even more true with users 64 years and older. 73% of teenage users reported using email more than anything else on the internet and 74% of internet users aged 64 and older reported using email more than anything else on the internet[21] (O) ? The largest increase in internet usage can be found within the 70-75 year-old age group. Previously, 26% reported using the internet; this number has increased to 45%[22] (O) ? Internet users aged 18-34 are the largest group of internet users who use the internet for entertainment purposes. For this group, entertainment includes watching videos, playing online games, engaging in virtual worlds, and downloading music[23] (O) ? Internet users aged 12-34 are the largest group of users to read and write blogs and are also the largest group of users to engage in social networking via the computer[24](O) 3. Technological ? Internet speed is increasing[25] (O) ? Storage capacity on the internet is increasing (O) ? Internet software capabilities are increasing (O) ? Consumers are expecting a greater level of personalization in their web searches, frequently-visited websites, and internet services than in prior years[26] (O) ? Emergence of a new technology called The Internet of Things. This technology is designed to run hardware appliances – such as a refrigerator – as optimally as possible. Also, it runs sensors within appliances that can report back to the user via the internet. For example, in the case of a refrigerator, this technology would report what foods you are running low on and which foods may no longer be safe to eat[27]. e. g. , Google may want to examine providing an internet service designed to connect users with the hardware and software in use – especially via mobile device. )(O) ? 66% of internet users report using search engines when making complex decisions. (O) ? Respondents in the survey listed in the bullet above report only 25% of searches produce needed results the first time. Of these same responde nts, 30% report giving up on the search after failing to receive the desired result[28] (T) 4. Economic ? Period of American and global economic recession[29] (T) ? Fed. Chairman has declared that America’s recession is likely over and expects moderate growth for the next two years. [30] Around half of Google’s users are in the United States (see above). (O) ? An end to the recession in the European Union is expected during the third quarter of this year[31]. Around half of Google’s users are outside the United States (O) ? Federal interest rates are between 0-0. 25%, making capital more affordable for advertising customers and for Google[32] (O) ? Real GDP is expected to be -2. 6 this year but is expected to increase to 2. in the end of next year[33] (O) ? Consumer spending is expected to increase from -0. 9 this year to 1. 1 next year[34] (O) 5. Political – Legal ? Internet crimes (a component of these is copyright infringement), in one year, are estimated to have resulted in losses of $240 million dollars; as opposed to an estimated loss of $198 million dollars as a result of these crimes in the previous year. The increased amount of these crimes is likely to result in increasingly stringent regulations regarding crimes – including intellectual property-related crimes – perpetrated over the internet. The impact to Google is this: Google stores images and written works in their directory – exposing them to potential future legal liability for intellectual property related violations. Google has already been sued for this; Google was forced to remove 100,000 clips of copyrighted material from YouTube and paid out $90 million dollars to one party for a related issue[35] (T) ? Character defamation by anonymous bloggers has resulted in courts forcing companies like Google to reveal the identity of the anonymous blogger to the courts[36] (T). India is issuing subpoenas (or their equivalent) to â€Å"platform† companies like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft for content displayed on their â€Å"platforms. † The companies have court cases pending against them for content displayed on their sites including: copyright infringement, character defamation, hate messages, and gender selection advertisements[37] (T) B. Task Environment 1. Threat of New Entrants ? Threat of new e ntrants is medium ? Switching costs are virtually non-existent; customers can use search engines for free and can use them apart from other services offered by the company furnishing the search engine. Customers will likely try another search engine if the results they require cannot be obtained quickly and easily from the engine they are using. Google’s advertising customers are not required to sign a long-term contract; nor do they have to make a sizable investment up-front in order to place an ad with Google. Advertisers pay Google for space on their search engine results pages only when customers â€Å"click† on their ads and can therefore switch to another company without large sunk costs. ? Barriers to entry do exist, however, due to the amount of computer equipment necessary to be competitive with the likes of Google and Yahoo. Also, the large competitors within this arena have servers strategically placed all over the world. This may be difficult for a new company to this industry to replicate in a fashion that would make them competitive. Also, the large companies in this industry have vast amounts of information about their customers and online advertisers that would be difficult for a new entrant to amass. [38] 2. Rivalry Among Competitors ? Rivalry among competitors is high ? Google’s competitors (at this time) are all larger companies with large amounts of resources ? Google’s competitors offer other internet services as well as search services. The search engine attracts customers to their other services (for example, dating services, email, and fantasy sports league platforms); which raises the importance of possessing a superior search engine past its importance of a stand-alone service for Google’s competition ? Competition with Microsoft is expected to increase. Microsoft is attempting to integrate a search engine into its operating system and other products [39] ? Google considers Microsoft and Yahoo their greatest competition. These companies have greater cash resources and ability to make acquisitions, a longer operating history, and more established customer and end user relationships. They also operate internet portals and offer more products and services than Google does. In the case of Microsoft, they also have more employees [40] ? Google’s market share in the U. S. internet search market is 31%; Yahoo’s market share is 26% and MSN’s is 20%. This is very close. ? The industry is attractive and margins are high. Google’s success has increased the intensity of competition since these other companies want to share in the financial success ? Microsoft is working to develop a search engine to rival Google’s. This may be in lieu of the MSN search engine mentioned above[41]. This will definitely increase competition dramatically (in the short run at least) as Microsoft throws its resources in promoting their new product and attempting to steal market share from Google. Microsoft has a longer history of marketing than Google does, which may increase rivalry. 3. Bargaining Power of Suppliers ? Bargaining power among suppliers is low ? Google, as an internet-based service firm, requires few raw materials from outside sources. The supplies required, with the exception of electricity, are available from multiple sources ? Potential employees have some power over Google due to the short supply of qualified applicants. According to Google’s CEO, Google was having problems finding applicants that were either not technically proficient enough to complete the task at hand or of â€Å"insufficient quality. † 4. Bargaining Power of Buyers ? Bargaining power among buyers is medium ? Google has 31% of the internet search traffic market share, compared to 26% for Yahoo and 20% for MSN. This strengthens Google’s position with buyers since Google is the industry leader and is therefore more attractive than competitors to advertisers who would like to place ads on search engine results pages ? No buyer of Google’s services is responsible for larger than 3% of Google’s revenues. Because Google’s buyers are fragmented and none are responsible for a large amount of revenues, Google’s buyers do not have much power over Google[42] 5. Threat of Substitutes ? Threat of substitutes is high ? Although there aren’t any true substitutes for a search engine, there are different ways to organize information. In this case, a different method of searching might produce a substitute to the current method that may produce better results ? Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and Microsoft are working to develop search engines that will either equal or exceed the functionality of Google’s search engine and have the resources to allocate to a massive research and development effort. Time will tell whether they are, in fact, viewed as a substitute by search users. ? Google’s search-engine customers value accuracy of search results. Google’s competitors already offer search engines. Google’s competitors may be able to create a comparable search engine over time . Bargaining Power of Other Stakeholders ? Bargaining power of other stakeholders is medium ? Special interest groups, like the American Association of Publishers and the Authors Guild, have sued Google and won for copyright infringement for content used by Google on their Google Print and Google Books applications. These groups a nd other groups are constantly monitoring Google’s actions for incidents of actual or perceived copyright infringement on their applications. [43] ? Google has been forced, as a result of a lawsuit, to reveal the identity of a blogger who wrote offensive comments about a Canadian model. Google may be required to release the identity of other users upon request in the future because of this precedent which may reduce their customer base. [44]This example is meant to illustrate that individuals, as well as organized groups, may have the power to influence Google’s business operations ? Google’s employees have little power to exert when negotiating with Google. Labor within Google is not organized[45] IV. Internal Environment Analysis (IFAS, see Exhibit 2) A. Corporate Structure (See Exhibit 3 for organization chart) ? Google’s corporate structure is primarily functional. 46] ? Google is broken down into five functions: Engineering, Sales, Products, Marketing, Legal, and Finance ? Underneath the overarching functional structure, Google is further broken down into product markets or geographical areas, which technically makes Google’s structure a hybrid of functional, geographic, and product structures. ? Each product market or geographical a rea element under the functional areas is treated as a small business unit. The small business unit element of Google’s structure provides flexibility. B. Corporate Culture ? Corporate culture values innovation and ambidexterity. Employees (including corporate level managers) are encouraged to devote 70% of their time on core business activities, 20% of their time to core-business related projects, and 10% of their time to unrelated new business activities. According to Marissa Mayer (see top management section for job title), around half of Google’s new products are a direct result of actions taken by employees during their free time (S)[47] ? Culture seems to have high degree of intensity and integration ? Culture values include â€Å"an obsessive commitment to creating search perfection and having a great time doing it (S)†[48] ? Other priorities for Google members are innovation and keeping costs low ? Google values ability over experience and encourages everyone to share ideas. Also, Google created an informal atmosphere where anyone can ask the CEO or top management a question and be answered. [49] (S) ? Google’s corporate culture puts emphasis on not exploiting the user of their products. [50] ? Being quirky and having fun are also emphasized. Google’s work area has foosball tables, ping pong tables, volleyball nets, and several other games present (S)[51] C. Corporate Resources 1. Marketing ? Google promotes advertising packages through Google Business Solutions. Information is available to prospective clients on how Google can improve clients’ profitability through their advertising packages (S) ? Services – Google’s advertising customers often see Google’s service team as arrogant and find it time consuming and difficult to do business with Google because Google often switches the team assigned to handling the clients’ business before the clients’ advertising submission is complete (W) ? Google is second to Yahoo in being able to finalize agreements with advertisers (W) ? Television advertising is currently not being utilized by Google. In comparison, Microsoft is showing Television advertisements for their products. TV advertisements may reach a good portion of the older audience and inform â€Å"non-tech-savvy† about their products and services[52] (W) ? Google doesn’t advertise on their home page which is attractive to search customers (S) ? Extremely strong brand. Google has been added to the Oxford dictionary as a verb (S) ? Average sales per click per month were a little under 54. 5. However, Yahoo’s average sales per click were only 53 during the same month. Yahoo is currently Google’s biggest competitor[53] (S) ? â€Å"Adwords† system employed by Google to deliver advertisements is user-friendly for advertisers. Google’s system is also easy for advertising customers to use for changing the advertisement shown on Google’s results pages. (S) ? Product – Google’s search engine is most accurate in the world (O) 2. Finance ? Google’s revenues in 2004 were $3,189,223,000. This is 117. 56% greater than their revenues in 2003, which are $1,465,934,000 (S) ? Google’s cash balance in 2004 was $426,873,000; 186. 5% greater than their cash balance of $148,995,000 in 2003 (S) ? Google’s profit margin was 12. 52% in 2004. Yahoo’s, in 2004 was 23. 49. [54]Microsoft’s profit margin was 22. 17[55](W) ? Google’s quick ratio (acid test) was 7. 18[56] in 2004. Yahoo’s quick ratio in 2004 was 3. 38. Microsoft’s quick ratio in 2004 was 4. 44(S) ? Google’s Return on Assets (ROA)[57] was 21. 05% in 2004. Yahoo’s ROA in 2004 was 11. 83% and Microsoft’s ROA in 2004 was 9. 38%(S) ? Google’s Return on Equity (ROE)[58] was 25. 97% in 2004, as compared to Yahoo’s ROE in 2004 of 14. 65% and Microsoft’s ROE in 2004 of 11. 69%(S) ? Google’s debt to equity ratio was 13. 12% in 2004. Yahoo’s was 29. 24% in 2004 and Microsoft’s was 23. 47% in 2004[59](S) ? Net income was positive in 2002-2004. Net income was $399,119,000 in 2004; an increase of 277. 79% over 2003’s net income of $105,648 (S) 3. Research and Development ? In 2004, Google spent 7. 7% of sales revenues on R&D. This is very low for a tech firm (W) ? R&D is one of Google’s strengths. They have more market share in the search engine market because of the creation of their innovative search engine (S) ? Research and Development efforts have led to the creation of the most-used search engine in the world. Another notable innovation that relates to this is their creati on of a learning search engine. The more a customer uses their search engine, the more it learns and responds to the user’s individual preferences. Due to Google having the largest market share, their engine can learn faster than those offered by the competition which reduces its imitability[60]. (S) ? Google owns 13 registered trademarks and 7 unregistered trademarks as a result of R and D efforts[61](S) 4. Operations and Logistics ? One of Google’s biggest strengths is getting a large volume of users to their websites which makes them very attractive to advertisers (S)[62] ? Google has servers and locations all over the world to improve distribution of services[63] (S) ? Google has the ability to translate their information into over 88 different languages. This improves operations and logistics control when activities are taking place in a non-English- speaking country (S) ? Google’s Adwords system is self-managing; meaning that an advertising customer can change their campaign as their budget changes. This results in quick, efficient adjustments (S) 5. Human Resources Management ? Google employed 2,700 employees in 2005; 900 were â€Å"techies† ? Employees receive many fringe benefits in an effort to make them feel they are a priority. This strengthens corporate culture to a degree. Google has been listed as the top company to work for for two years in a row by Fortune Magazine. Employees have access to free high-end on-site dining facilities, snack stations, gyms, laundry rooms, barbers, massage rooms, dry cleaning, and several other employee fringe benefits[64] (S) ? Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, stated that the company was having problems recruiting employees who were both of acceptable caliber and technically proficient (W) ? Google maintains a diverse workforce and hires locals to work in its geographically dispersed locations (S) ? Google has a long hiring process that takes several months to complete. This would be a strength, except the company reported having problems finding people that were both quality employees and technically proficient (W) ? Employees are skilled at multitasking. For example, the individual who created Google’s holiday logo also was responsible for translating Google’s website into Hangul (Korean language) (S) ? Google’s technical employees work 70% of the time on regular business, 20% of the time on new but related business, and 10% of their time on completely new and unrelated projects. This makes Google more adaptable and builds â€Å"ambidexterity† into the organization (S) 6. Information System (IS) ? Google utilizes a system called â€Å"Live Out Loud† to promote communication between employees, to create a searchable database of related projects employees are working on to promote economies of scope and transfer of knowledge, and as a control system. How it works: Google employees weekly send an email to a central source concerning the specifics of the project they are working on and their progress. Google has used the same search engine it employs on its website Google. com to search through the emails to find the relevant ones. Managers simply have to search, using the Google search engine, for the employee’s progress they wish to evaluate. The system is user-friendly for both the employees and managers and it is simple. An employee working on a project can search the system for other relevant projects and obtain useful information they can incorporate when completing their specific task[65]. S) ? Google uses a triple redundancy system to ensure errors don’t disrupt the flow of timely information. If one computer doesn’t respond to an employee’s request for information within a few milliseconds, two others provide the information to the employee. All information is stored in three places. This makes their system very reliable and efficient in delivering timely information (S)[66] ? Google uses a database system called BigTable as part of their manag ement information system. Due to the volume of information Google must manage, Google has developed this software to break apart large files that are too big for any one server into smaller pieces so they can be stored on multiple servers. This ensures that capacity is available for their information[67] (S) ? Many of Google’s basic activities are automated (S) V. Strategic Alternatives and Selected Strategy A. Growth Strategies 1. Enter market providing legal music and video downloading services (S&O) a. Pros: ? Google has the intellectual capital to successfully develop the software to provide this service. Google has already proven that they can provide the search capabilities to link users with their desired songs or videos; their search engine is the most accurate in the world and the popularity of their product YouTube suggests they possess the capabilities to develop a desirable music/video downloading service ? With a large cash balance and the capabilities to obtain financing due to an extremely low debt to equity ratio, Google definitely possesses the financial resources to develop these services and bring them to market ? By providing different but related services, Google will be reducing their â€Å"diversifiable risk†, if you will, by increasing their product portfolio from one successful revenue generating product to several ? There is a large market for these services already in place; this market is likely to grow as digital media becomes more prevalent in society and obsolete technologies such as tapes, CDs, and records further decline ? Google’s brand strength would be beneficial in this market since the music and movie downloading industry is related to Google’s area of expertise (i. . it is equivalent to an industry leader in the manufacture of small power tools diversifying into producing concrete mixers and pumps, rather than the power tool company diversifying into diapers and other baby products. A DeWalt brand logo on a pair of diapers likely won’t transmit the same message of quality and expertise that it would on another type of tool) b. Cons ? Apple iTunes owns 82% of legal music downloading market. [68] Competing with a company that owns this much of the market share and has more experience in this industry will be very difficult ? Increases the probability of copyright infringement lawsuits ? Shifts emphasis away from Google’s core product – the search engine. If the search engine is imitated or surpassed by a better product before Google establishes a dominant position and greater profits and revenues from its new endeavor, Google may lose a large part of its almost sole source of revenues ? Regulation and trends concerning royalties paid to artists and music production companies may reduce the profitability of this industry ? Illegal downloading may increase; thereby reducing the size of the legal downloading market ? Requires maintaining existing advertising business model and creating and maintaining a new switchboard model (connecting multiple buying downloaders with multiple selling digital music and video suppliers 2. Develop new search engine designed for seniors markets – â€Å"Google Golden Life†. New search engine has an option for adjusting the size of the font used on the search pages based on the capabilities of the user’s vision and allows seniors to type in a question instead of just key words. In addition, it will contain a function that completes words for the typist if he or she so chooses (like an internet browser address box does) – concentric diversification (S&O) a. Pros ? First mover advantage could be gained by focusing on this market segment. Seniors have been ignored – for the most part – in the development of online products and services. No company currently caters to the needs of older internet users ? Seniors represent the largest growing demographic of internet users and represent a large segment of all societies ? The baby boomers are aging and will want/demand products focused on their needs soon ? Google possesses the financial resources to make this happen ? Google also possesses the brand strength and awareness to appeal to older users; older individuals tend to like larger, stable, established, well-known companies as opposed to small, new, relatively unknown startups ? Creating products geared toward older users may increase their interest in Google’s existing products ? Utilizes existing advertising business model to obtain revenues from pay-as-you-click advertisements b. Cons ? Today’s older internet user’s wants and needs are poorly understood by the online industry; this makes developing products/services focused at them a risky undertaking in the short-term. Younger baby boomers are familiar with current computer software but current seniors are less familiar and use computers more infrequently and for less activities (i. e. they may email but not shop extensively online) ? Once Google enters this market and proves the market is attractive, competition will increase and profits will likely go down as the market matures ? The idea of marketing online products and services geared toward older users is a newer one but an imitable one; other companies may have a greater understanding of the older consumer than Google since it has focused on products/services for a primarily younger audience with different needs. This means that other companies may prove to be more successful with this market segment than Google because of a greater knowledge of the older consumer ? Older users may only be interested in emailing and may have little interest in clicking on advertisements; thereby lowering the desirability of placing advertisements on Google’s new products ? May be hard to reach market segment to inform them of new product 3. Develop Social Networking System –â€Å"Google Linkage†Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Concentric diversification (S&O) a. Pros ? Facebook and MySpace are both very popular. Today, internet users 12-34 are largest demographic to engage in social networking. As this age group ages, they will likely continue to use social networking sites and younger individuals entering this age group will likely also engage in social networking via the computer; growth in the social networking industry is virtually assured. Why the growth in this industry is important for Google: advertising revenues will likely increase as ads are placed on social networking pages ? Creates the potential for another profitable advertising platform; reduces the reliance on advertising revenues created from one product – the search engine ? May increase interest in Google’s other products (i. e. a social networker uses Google Images to send a picture of a desert rose to another gardener via Google’s networking service) ? Could compliment Google’s existing mission of organizing the world’s information with a new addition to the mission: â€Å"Organizing the world’s information – and people – to make it and them universally accessible. † ? Google’s strong brand and reputation will likely spark interest from social networkers in Google’s new networking platform ? Google has the financial resources to create and advertise a social networking site either alone or through a joint venture ? Utilizes existing advertising business model to obtain revenues from advertisers through Google’s AdWords and AdSense ? Likely inexpensive to maintain once it is â€Å"rolled out† b. Cons ? Social networking market may be saturated. Customers may have all their needs met through Facebook and Myspace. These companies already dominate the industry and have more knowledge and experience in this market ? Google may not be able to provide any new innovations in social networking ? Doesn’t utilize their distinctive search competency ? May not prove profitable after a cost/benefit analysis is conducted since advertisements will be less focused on self-identified market segments. For example, if one conducts an internet search for Echeveria Subrigida seeds – a succulent plant – advertisements related to plants may be of interest to the searcher. However, an ad related to purchasing succulent plants online may not be of much interest to the random individual attempting to contact another individual whose interests and needs are also unknown ? Requires a different set of competencies than Google already possesses. Email is the most basic social networking method and Google did not perform well in creating a popular email system 4. Create open source network for the development of applications for mobile devices – Google Architects – concentric diversification (S & O) a. Pros ? Market is supposed to almost triple in size in the next five years ? Google already has knowledge of how to make internet applications compatible with mobile devices – i. e. connecting Google search engine to mobile devices ? It is forecasted that half of internet users will be mobile internet users ? Google has the financial resources to undertake both the product development and advertising ? Google has experience and ability when it comes to developing internet apps. ? Could be set up to accommodate Google’s existing business model – obtain advertising revenues through offering free products ? Takes advantage of innovative technical staff b. Cons ? Stiff competition – Apple already has a large market share for mobile applications that are used on the iPhone and others. Microsoft, as operating systems become more commoditized, will likely enter the mobile internet applications market ? May not generate much revenue if customers have a finite number of minutes on their mobile plan. Customers in this situation are not likely to engage in gratuitous searching for curiosity’s sake. ? While Google has proven adept at creating applications, their distinctive competency resides in search engine excellence. Developing apps for mobile users requires a different skill set and core competency. Google may not be able to gain competitive advantage in this market since generating applications may not be one their distinctive competencies 5. Create a search service designed to locate music in a superior manner – â€Å"Google Music. † The search system would allow a user to enter in any part of a song, a band name, a song name, or a CD name and the search will provide results that include not only what the searcher is specifically looking for, but also links to the band’s website, links to listening to or downloading a particular song or multiple songs from the artist, and links to other related sites (i. . sites that offer guitar tablature for the artist or song mentioned in the search) a. Pros ? Will attract more users to the Google search engine, which increases the desirability of advertising on Google’s web pages ? Google music will increase brand loyalty and strength as it meets more of Google’s customers’ needs ? Will strengthen the desirability of the search engine for existing customers ? Will capitalize on Google’s distinctive competency of creating a search engine that produces more accurate results than other search engines offered by competitors ? Will address the needs of the large segment of internet users that use the internet for obtaining and enjoying music ? May provide an additional source of revenues from bands that would like to advertise their products on Google Music’s results pages b. Cons ? Users can already find all of these items using the traditional Google search engine ? Will likely add little to Google’s revenue stream ? Doesn’t address the problem of Google only possessing one profitable product ? Doesn’t truly meet the needs of internet music users since it doesn’t allow users to download music directly from Google ? Most of the results will likely be advertisements. Users may not want to search through advertisements B. Stability Strategies 1. Pause/Proceed with Caution – Use resources to improve existing search engine until threat from Microsoft’s new search engine can be determined and countered. Then grow (S & T) a. Pros ? 99% of revenues are generated from ads placed on search engine pages – Google already dominates market for search services – this must be protected in the short term to protect the sustainability of Google as a company ? Google is currently doing well and doesn’t need to grow to stay in business in the short term ? Financial resources may be needed to counter Microsoft’s efforts to gain position in the search market ? Reinforces Google’s distinctive competencies ? Also allows for the economy to improve before expanding; advertisers may need to rest as well before further investing in ads in non-search related areas b. Cons ? Market dominance in the mobile applications market is being determined now. The opportunity to be the first to focus products toward seniors is open right now. The other opportunities presented above also are available now but may not be in the future ? Doesn’t address the problem and risk of having only one major income-producing product ? Google has the financial resources and ability to obtain further resources if necessary; there are no critical reasons not to grow ? Is only a short-term fix and may cause growth to be put off too long C. Retrenchment Strategies – Google, at this time, has no reason to retrench and should therefore stay away from adopting a retrenchment strategy. It is in good financial condition, its products are still desirable, and it has little to no chance of failing in the short term. D. Adopted strategy – Concentric diversification into mobile applications (Google Architect), music search services (Google Music), and products focused on older internet users (Google Golden Life), combined with investment in maintaining the superiority of the search engine. ? Rationale – both diversifying into mobile applications and products focused on older users deals with seizing opportunities by using organizational strengths (R&D, financial resources ,etc). Both areas represent growing markets and several opportunities to fill emerging or existing needs. Older users are the largest growing segment of internet users and mobile users are expected almost triple in the next five years to finally make up almost half of all internet users. Both allow focused advertising based on known customer needs and interests (the type of application utilized points out the interest – i. e. a customer uses an app to learn a new guitar chord; obviously the user has an interest in the guitar. Also, advertising can be focused on the users of the open forum. Both hardware and software tech companies can advertise on the forum. Elderly people have several universal needs and likely popular interests) and the use of the existing business model. By developing Google Music, Google will further strengthen their best product – the search engine – as well as utilize their distinctive competencies in search engine creation. This strategy diversifies the risk of having one profitable product, which eliminates a major organizational weakness, and is financially feasible given existing resources. The strategy doesn’t face a major threat of being derailed due to organizational weaknesses and outside threats don’t directly threaten the diversification efforts. Google would face virtually no competition by entering the market to deliver online products and services to older users and has the rare opportunity to obtain first mover advantage on a large scale (there are numerous elderly people in the world). Diversifying into these areas has a higher probability of success and is less risky than entering the social networking and downloading markets. Neither of these two areas of diversification would require major shifts in technological knowledge and would utilize the intellectual capital present in Google’s existing staff. This strategy does require an allocation of financial resources toward maintaining the superiority of the search engine because Google must rely on it for success in the short term and will aid in Google’s success over the long term. It represents their distinctive competencies and must be protected at all costs. Adding capital and effort to improving the search engine would not be mutually exclusive with the diversification strategy since Google possesses a large cash balance and a low debt ratio. Given Google’s situation, both parts – the concentric diversification and the concentration on the search engine should be focused on simultaneously. ? This corporate strategy requires a business level strategy of differentiation and functional level strategies of technology pioneer/leader in R&D and a product development strategy within Marketing E. Implementation 1. Product One (Google Golden Life -search engine designed for seniors markets. New search engine has an option for adjusting the size of the font used on the search pages based on the capabilities of the user’s vision and allows seniors to type in a question instead of just key words. In addition, it will contain a function that completes words for the typist if he or she so chooses (like an internet browser address box does) ? Product R&D should be allocated 2% of 2004 sales revenues for two years ($63,784,460/year) ? Organizational members must be chosen to head the new program and participate on R&D teams ? Required new activities must be evaluated for conflict with existing operating activities. ? At least two deadlines must be given to the teams: the first, a working beta version of the product must be created by the end of the project’s first year of existence. Second, a final product that is ready for use on the internet must be in place at the end of a year and a half. After the beta version is released, a team should be given a $1 million budget to obtain and forward on suggestions provided by older users on how to fit the program to their needs. Duration of team: 1 year. ? ROI after year two must be 6% or more and must be at least 10% by the end of year 5 ? Market share (of the existing older internet users) must be 5% at the end of year two and 20% or over after year 5 ? An updated version must be made available by the end of year two ? A flexible budget must be created for year o ne and year two. Pro forma income statements and balance sheets should be created for at least year two and five ? New product must make up at least 2% of total revenues by year two and at least 5% by the end of year five. ? Access to intranet databases must be given to staff working on both diversification products so that a. The wheel isn’t reinvented and, b. Learning can be transferred throughout the organization if relevant pieces of information are discovered during the creation of the new products ? Product must be available in at least three languages by the end of year 2 and 15 languages by the end of year 5 ? Economic value added should be positive at the end of year three 2. Product 2 (Google Architect – open source network for the development of applications for mobile devices) ? Product R&D should be allocated 1% of 2004 sales revenues for 2 years ($31,892,230/yr) ? Organizational members must be chosen to head the new program and participate on R&D teams ? Required new activities must be evaluated for conflict with existing operating activities. At least two deadlines must be given to the teams: the first, a working beta version of the product must be created by the end of the project’s first year of existence. Second, a complete product must be in place at the end of a year and a half ? ROI after year two must be 7% or more and must be at least 10% by the end of year 5 ? A flexible budget must be created for year one and year two. Pro forma income statement s and balance sheets should be created for at least year two and five ? New product must make up at least 3% of total revenues by year two and at least 6% by the end of year five. Access to intranet databases must be given to staff working on both diversification products so that cross pollination of ideas between projects can occur ? Product must be available in at least five languages by the end of year 2 and 20 languages by the end of year 5 ? After the beta version is released, a team should be given a $1 million budget to obtain and forward on suggestions provided by older users on how to fit the program to their needs. Duration of team: 1 year. ? Economic value added should be positive after year three 3. Product 3 (Google Music – The search system would allow a user to enter in any part of a song, a band name, a song name, or a CD name and the search will provide results that include not only what the searcher is specifically looking for, but also links to the band’s website, links to listening to or downloading a particular song or multiple songs from the artist, and links to other related sites (i. e. sites that offer guitar tablature for the artist or song mentioned in the search) ? Product R&D should be allocated 1% of 2004 sales revenues for 2 years ($31,892,230/yr) ? Organizational members must be chosen to head the new program and participate on R&D teams ? Required new activities must be evaluated for conflict with existing operating activities. ? At least two deadlines must be given to the teams: the first, a working beta version of the product must be created by the end of the project’s first year of existence. Second, a complete product must be in place at the end of a year and a half ? ROI after year two must be 7% or more and must be at least 10% by the end of year 5 ? A flexible budget must be created for year one and year two. Pro forma income statements and balance sheets should be created for at least year two and five ? New product must make up at least 1% of total revenues by year two and at least 2% by the end of year five. ? Access to intranet databases must be given to staff working on both diversification products so that cross pollination of ideas between projects can occur ? Product must be available in at least five languages by the end of year two and ten languages by the end of year five ? Economic value added should be positive after the year following the release date VI. Evaluation and Control A. Product 1 (Google Golden Life) ? Management should ensure a beta version is complete by the end of year one and a complete version is ready to be released on the internet by one and a half years ? Dupont Return on Investment (ROI) calculation (net profit margin x total asset turnover) should be used to verify whether or not ROI in year two meets or exceeds 6% in year two and 10% in year five. Management should audit the expenditures of the customer satisfaction team quarterly to determine if the team in charge of obtaining feedback by customers is staying within the budget and whether the budgeted amount of $1 million is adequate ? Management should determine whether or not market share (of the existing older internet users) is 5% at the end of year two and 20% or over after year 5 ? Management should ensure that a new version is available at the end of year two ? Management should evaluate product to verify whether or not it is earning 2% of revenues at the end of year two and 5% of revenues after year five. ? Product should be evaluated at the end of year two to ensure it has been translated into at least three languages and 15 or more languages after year five is complete ? Success of site should also be determined by whether or not it gets at least 10 million hits per month (eyeballs) after year two and 40 million hits per month by the end of year five ? Economic Value Added (EVA) should be positive at the end of year three B. Product 2 – Google architect ? Management should check to make sure that deadlines have been reached concerning the beta version of the product after year one and the first, complete version is completed by one and a half years after the start of the project ? Dupont Return on Investment (ROI) calculation (net profit