Making corporate boards more effective

Krishna Pale, Guan Submarines and Walter Salmon. Synopsis Presented by: Brent Lengthener, Chairman and CEO of Lengthener & Associates, Board Member of TAP Oil & Gas and Merit. Participants: Board members from various organizations. Half of the group was made up of international representatives with a strong contingent from Africa, Australia, the I-J and other destinations. This proved to be very interesting in that their insights were from a different perspective throughout.Preface: This is Part 2 of my notes and subsequent research performed from the week I spent with Jay Lowers and a handful of Harvard Business School faculty members discussing board effectiveness. I am trying to share this information to the best of my abilities so that others can gain additional insights for the companies they lead. Note, these are my notes but I do not necessarily agree with all of the comments and/or insights shared. Also note that these professors are all pro- business and serve on boards as w ell.In Part 1, we ended with Case Study 7-Bank of America and Merrill Lynch Case Study 8: Hewlett-Packard Company: The War Within This was a continuation of Case Studies 5 and 6. In September 2006, Haps Board of Directors was in despair. The acquisition of Compact (Case Study 5) had taken a toll. Board members were leaking confidential information and felony counts ensued. All of this marred what seemed to be a great turnaround for HP under Mark Hurt. Key Questions Included: 1. How and why did HP get into this situation? 2. What could have been done to prevent this? 3. How do we prevent this from happening to our boards?Key Takeaways on Board Dysfunction Mistrust Poor Communication No true team; too many â€Å"lone rangers† No consensus on strategy No boundaries between board oversight and management execution Putting personal agenda's first Independence. Integrity. Innovation. 2 Key Questions Included: 1 . Was Cancan Justified in attacking Target? 2. Who would you side with? Cancan or Target? Why? 3. Could Target's board have done anything differently to avoid the public conflict this created? 4. If Target can be attacked, then what are the implications for other boards, corporate governance, proxy access and more regulatory oversight?Key takeaways: Economic downturns create more stress, especially with investors. Rational thinking an quickly go out the door. Presently, think about anyone operating in the Gulf of Mexico and how the stress has increased. Target is one retail outlet that does not fear Wall-Mart. They have their own strategy and are very successful. They have no desire to be a copycat. They are proud of who they are. The board is constantly â€Å"revamping† itself and is considered excellent in governance. Even with all it had going for it, they still came under attack. Everyone is vulnerable- especially today with the new changes.The nominating process will become much more important going forward. Being prepared is ALWAYS key. Ad ditional Discussions: The day is coming when re-nominating boards will be very important. Investor Relations may want to aggressively share what board members are doing, press releases, website, etc, like they do with management. Companies should reach out to large and influential shareholders from time-time. Conference calls and shareholder meetings may need to be â€Å"rethought† so as to get more interaction. Make sure the board you have works well as a team. When crisis hits, they need to see themselves as a team versus individuals. Case Study 1 1: FL-CIO Office of Investment and Home Depot On January 3, 2007, Home Depot fired Robert Narrated, its CEO and Chairman, following controversy over his compensation package. Marinade's departure was partly the result of the focused efforts of the FL-Coo's Office of Investment. The office had executed a website and led an aggressive campaign focused on his pay. Narrated made $240 million in 6 years, but the stock had simply gone d own; even with a 19% buy back. Home Depot's number one competition (Low's) was beating them at every turn, including watching its market cap go from $16 billion to $47 billion.Key Questions: 1 . How can a company deal with a focused effort like this? 2. How did Marinade's compensation impact Home Depot? Key Takeaways: There can be a wide variety of different shareholder groups, all varying and all with different, and maybe opposing, agendas. It is important to think out compensation plans from beginning to end; not only the costs, but the reasoning, the optics, and the story. Make sure you proactively tell the â€Å"true story' regarding compensation versus letting someone else do it for you. Their perception can become other peoples' reality.Error as much as possible with performance based compensation versus fixed remunerates. Keep plans understandable and simple. For more good information on excellent pay practices, go to Case Study 4 (in Part 1) about Recruit Benchers PAL. Case Study 12: The Board of Directors at Morgan Stanley & Dean Witter On June 13, 2005, Phillip announced that he would retire as Chairman and CEO at Morgan Stanley & Dean Witter as soon as a successor was found. Morgan Stanley & Dean Witter had been performing poorly and was losing its key talent. His resignation raised two main problems for the board: 1 how to go about finding a new CEO; and 2. How to determine the future direction of the firm. 6 Key Questions: 1 . What is your assessment of how the board handled the situation? 2. How do you explain their decision? Terrible practices were in place and the company had become â€Å"institutionalized† Board became infatuated with a strong CEO personality or lost focus A possible successor being guaranteed the â€Å"CEO role† in five years is a terrible practice The board sacrificed the vision and mission of the company for friendship and interlocks Most did not understand the business, especially the huge difference between Morgan Stanley and Dean WitterTo remove the CEO, 75% of the board had to agree, which was virtually impossible The way they allowed the CEO to dictate any would-be successor cut them off from some great candidates Case Study 13: Citreous-Wichita-Wells Fargo On October 3, 2008, the CEO of Citreous, who had Just worked out an exclusive agreement to buy Wichita, received a call from Washout's CEO saying they had Just â€Å"cut a new deal† with Wells Fargo. Wells Farads offer was $7/share versus the $1 Citreous had offered. The matchmaker was the IBID. They first worked the deal with Citreous but later reworked a new deal with Wells Fargo.Even more interesting was new legislation that was being approved to let a profitable bank buy another bank and use its Net Operating Loss immediately. This, at the time, really only worked for Wells Fargo and is one of the reasons it could offer more. 1 . If you were on Agitprop's board and heard there was a new deal with Wells Fargo, what wou ld you do? 2. If you were on Washout's board, how would you handle the two opportunities? 3. If you were Wells Fargo, after the favorable tax law change, what would you do? 4. Evaluate what the IBID did by, in essence, brokering to both. Www. Lengthener. M 7 5. Key takeaways: Interestingly, we had one of Washout's negotiators in the room so he gave us some great insights: Citreous was going to â€Å"cherry-pick† Washout's assets and Wells Fargo was going to buy all. Citreous was not a cultural fit so chances that this would have worked were slim at best. Plus, Citreous did not know retail like Wells Fargo. Wichita believes Wells Fargo has been a â€Å"perfect fit. † The IBID Chair, Sheila Pair, brokered the deal first with Citreous and then, during the due diligence period, was working on a better deal with Wells Fargo. From a legal perspective:

Environmental Ethics and Eco-Tourism

IntroductionIn the last few decennaries, bookmans have begun to develop the subject of planetary environmental moralss. In making so, they have encountered two obstructions. First, much environmentalism cloaks itself in the discourse of prudence and security, and therefore, ethical concerns are hard to place. Second, when bookmans do acknowledge ethical issues, they explain them in footings of how people treat the nonhuman universe and progress a bio-centric or eco-centric moral esthesia. This is a job to the grade that it neglects infinite cases of environmental unfairness that involve the manner humans treat each other, utilizing nature as a medium ( Wapner & A ; Matthew, 2009, p. 203 ) . A new field of environmental consciousness has progressively as a chief attending in doctrine, the possible rational involvement particularly for geographers. Since so the environmental moralss began with a few influential articles and monographs published in the early 1970s. In 1979, so took off near the bend of the decennary with a new diary, environmental moralss launched, and increased in the eightiess with a aggregation of literatures increasing by the latter portion of the decennary. As we concerned, environmental moralss is potentially be fluent in some of the most profound inquiries that confront late modern societies, whose widespread degree of concern over environmental crises across local to planetary proportions. Environmental moralss, which has come into its ain by siting the crest of a moving ridge of popular concern over human impacts on the environment, therefore finds itself in a really hard place to present any conceptually satisfactory manner out of this tangled we b. Geographers are showing an increasing involvement in environmental moralss ( Proctor, 1998 ) . Nowadays, we seen many environmental issues caused by assorted factors which are really familiar to us and it happens every twenty-four hours in our life universe. As we already cognizant of, three chief facet of environment is land, H2O and air. These constituents are interrelated to each other in fulfilment of human basic demands. The importance of natural environment to the human existences became less precedence because of the humans’ wants is transcending their demands in these modern yearss. This survey will light the significance of environmental moralss, environmental current issues and its impact. The treatment will be on the non-prudential dimensions of planetary environmental personal businesss and explains how a focal point on the manner humans mistreat each other can function as a cardinal ethical focal point for apprehension and turn toing environmental unfairness. Overall, it aims to supply a vocabulary for progressing an anthropocentricity [ 1 ] esthesia toward planetary environmental ethical concern.AimThe aims of this survey are to accomplish understanding on:The significance of environmental moralss.The currents issues related to environmental moralss.Eco-tourism and environmental impacts issues.ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICSEnvironmentcan be defined as â€Å"theamountsum of all milieus of a life being, includingnatural forcesand other life things, whichprovide conditionsfordevelopmentand growing every bit good as ofdangerandharm † andmoralsscan be defined as â€Å"the basicconstructsandcardinal rulesof nice homobehavior. It includessurveyof cosmopolitanvaluessuch as the indispensable equality of allwork forcesand adult females, human ornatural rights, obeisance to thejurisprudenceofland,concernforwellnessandsafetyand, progressively, besides for thenatural environment † ( â€Å" BusinessDictionary.com – Online Business Dictionary, † 2015 ) . Environmental moralss is concept and exercising about proper apprehensiveness aimed at, rules in, and duties refering the natural universe. By traditional accounts, moralss is people associating to people in justness and love. Environmental moralss starts with human concerns for a quality environment, and some think this shapes the ethic from start to complete. Others hold that, beyond inter-human concerns, values are at interest when worlds relate to animate beings, workss, species and ecosystems. Harmonizing to their vision, worlds ought to happen nature sometimes morally considerable in itself, and this turns moralss in new waies. ( Nicholas Bunnin and E. P. Tsui-James, 2003, p. 517 ) . In the other point of position, Brennan ( 2011 ) enlightened the environmental moralss as the subject in doctrine that surveies the moral relationship of human existences to, and besides the value and moral position of, the environment and its nonhuman contents. Equally far as I concerned, there were many inquiries can be discussed on environmental issues raised by Nicholas Bunnin and E. P. Tsui-James ( 2003, p. 529 ) . In order to reply those inquiries, assorted surveies could been conducted to seek findings on environmental moralss affairs sing relation on worlds, moral and responsibilities, civilization and nature, natural and societal contract, animate being public assistance. In other words, is the relation between homo and natural environment. As mentioned, planetary environmental moralss is still in its beginning. Much of the work that does be, unsurprisingly, extends the critical statements about anthropocentricity to the international sphere. Anthropocentricism abounds the universe over and, to the grade that it is responsible for harmful environmental patterns, it deserves unfavorable judgment. Wapner and Matthew ( 2009, p. 205 ) besides mentioned that the environmental moralss as a subject has focused on the manner humans treat the natural universe. It is by and large acknowledged that people care less about animate beings, rivers, workss, and mountains than they do about themselves and each other, and therefore it is no surprise that they exploit or otherwise abuse nature. Much environmental moralss attempts to calculate out why this is the instance and what can be done about it.Environmental ETHICS ISSUESThere are many environmental moralss issues occurred all over the universe. However, this survey will merely conc entrate on three sets of chief issues. The designated sets are as follows:First is the issue of natural resources.The 2nd issue will be discussed with sinks.The 3rd set of issue is the transmutation of landscapes and ecosystems.Issues of Natural ResourcesWorlds desire a quality environment, basking the comfortss of nature ; wildlife and wild flowers, scenic positions, topographic points of purdah every bit good as the trade goods such as lumber, H2O, dirt, natural resources. Supporting environmental wellness and a quality environment can surely be counted as responsibilities within a societal contract ( Nicholas Bunnin and E. P. Tsui-James, 2003 ) . Resource usage can easy overshoot the earth’s regenerative capacity. Since environmentalism’s early yearss, people have worried that we will run out of things we depend on, such as oil, fresh H2O, and minerals ( Ehrlich, 1975 ) . All natural resources are present infinite measures, and this includes the renewable ( organic ) every bit good as non-renewable. The difference is that while the non-renewable resources are finite in an absolute sense, the measure of organic resources is finite comparative to the population dependant upon it ( Antonsen, 1974, p. 180 ) .Energy.Energy became a universe issue and since future development. The chances of the supply and monetary value of natural energy particularly oil ignite the mentality for other types of primary energy every bit good in hereafter. Harmonizing to recent surveies, it is estimated yet proven universe militias of rough oil Ate sufficient to fulfill world’s demand to around twelvemonth 2020. In the other manus, natural gas besides had a great demand and became every bit of import as oil. The future monetary value of uranium supplies depends on the development of atomic power in general ( Ray, 1986, p. 56 ) . Food.Hunger is a deterioration job. Every state tries to cut down hungriness and poorness of their people therefore taking towards economic system prosperity. Shepherd ( 2012, p. 197 ) arose on the issue lies with the institutional agreements that dictate who gets what. As we are all concerned, nutrient is a trade good that is produced and sold for net income. Notwithstanding smallholder husbandmans, the huge bulk of planetary nutrient trade is controlled by corporations ( 3rd party ) whose primary aim is the coevals of net income.

International Law - UN, NATO Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

International Law - UN, NATO - Essay Example Twice in the annals of world history has there been marked deterioration in peace resulting in large scale usage of force to kill people and destroy nations that took centuries to build. The positive outcome of these two wars is in the form of United Nations to debunk any attempt by any of the nations to go to war. The history of peace can possibly look at to have started with the Peace of Westphalia in 1658 and the Treaty of Pyrenees in 1659 (Jackson RH & Owens P, 2005, p53). These treaties gain significance because of the recognition they gave to the nation states and their existence. Much of the work done during this phase of the long wars, brought about the thinking that resulted in the formation of League of Nations at the end of the First World War. With the end of the First World War, there was a wide spread thought of bringing lasting peace to the world. In line with Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the League of Nations was born (George Gill, 1996). But that was not to be. However, the formation and the failure of the League was a lesson in the formation of the United Nations later on after the Second World War. The thought process, as George Gill (1996) points out, was also influenced by the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928. In this precursor of a pact, sixty two countries signed for not u sing war for cases that can be resolved by using diplomacy. In the early days of the United Nations with countries existing mostly under the two separate units, more as a bipolar world, the rules were made to contain either of them. With NATO and the Warsaw Pact countries raging a cold war that sent them up into a spiral of weapons race and tall claims of technological marvels the UN was a table to bring both the groups together (Bruno Simma, 1995). The significance of every one of the Articles in the UN Charter should be examined under this purview. It should also be noted that with the rapid change in the political climate of the world and the world moving from the bipolar to a unilateral structure, many of these Articles could lose their sheen. The Articles of the UN charter (Charter of the United Nations, 2007) that is of interest in the current context are the following: Article 2(4):- [a]ll Members [of the UN] shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations. While this article provides for the complete ban on the use of force, there are specific exceptions that the UN Charter allows (Bruno Simma, 1995). These are essentially in the form two Articles that provide for these instances of exception. Article 51:- Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council

Globalisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 6

Globalisation - Essay Example From 1979 onwards, all countries’ financial spectrum transformed with capital controls deregulating and witnessing of new financial elements such as derivatives. Economic activities intensified in Greece when the government resolved to fund Small and Medium Enterprises years before the economic crisis of 2008. Businesses boomed and social as well as political atmosphere transformed paving way for greater opportunities. However, this came to a halt when the entire planet submerged in an ocean of financial crisis in 2008 (Mceachern, 2012:63). This paper will seek to outline the way in which recent financial crisis of 2008 and subsequent recession has affected Greece. This will be realized by exploring Greece’s economic, political, and socioeconomic consequences as a case study country. A country case study provides an analysis of the country’s modern or contemporary developments. The 2008 financial crisis and its subsequent recession meant many things to almost every country especially the US, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain (Mceachern, 2012:26). However, the hardest hit nation was Greece where the country had to resolve to borrowing from international money lending institutions such as the IMF. Due to financial crisis, conditions in the financial markets changed where banks relaxed in interbank lending or purchase of any government debt otherwise known as bonds. Due to this situation, financial analysts and policy makers speculated presence of financial pressures within peripheral economies since such economies had accumulated huge deficits within their government spending (OECD Publishing, 2010:51). With increased deficits on Greece’s government spending, the country started experiencing increased debt levels. With this respect, it is agreeabl e that the recent financial crisis of 2008 and subsequent recession affected Greece by skyrocketing its government spending. This in turn

Ethics, professionalism and contemporary Issues Essay

Ethics, professionalism and contemporary Issues - Essay Example This makes them easy targets to forced labour and prostitution; the main countries in which this vice of human trafficking is rampant includes India, Mexico, El Salvador and Philippines. There is an estimated ten thousand forced labourers in the U.S. prostitution, poverty; globalization and government corruption are some of the major factors that contribute to the high numbers in human trafficking. Several laws have been passed to try and curb human trafficking and under the U.S code human trafficking is termed as a federal crime. Technology, which generally covers; mobile devices, internet and social media has been instrumental in human trafficking, it has played both a negative and a positive role. The beauty of technology is that it provides better visibility and can help in tracing of people who are involved in human trafficking (Hart 5). Technology has contributed to human trafficking by making it easier for the criminals to advertise and sell their victims. When one searches in the internet, it is very easy to find underage victims who are exploited for sex under online classifieds. In the pornography websites, one will find a section for teen prostitutes; it is then made easier for both parties, the one advertising and the one looking for services to communicate using mobile phones. Social networking sites are also another venue for advertising for victims of human trafficking because it is very easy to reach a large number of people. Technology has also made it easy to search for and purchase victims. Using the internet to find and locate people has never been easier (Davidson and Gottschalk 98). Once the contacts needed have been found, they then proceed to use the other types of technology such as instant messaging, emails and so forth to reach the people concerned. On the other hand, technology has made it simple to track the criminals involved in human trafficking, as it is possible to trace the individuals concerned by following the activities they have been doing online. Moreover, tracing their phone calls, messages and emails, and past data on the activities they had been involved with can also be traced using technology (Dunn 14). A new online role playing game has been created that allows the players to upload real pictures of them and also hold dialogue. The game has become very popular among online players, but this has also brought new challenges with it, as the game can be used to promote human trafficking. This is because it easy to identify a person through the picture they have put and request for a personal meeting with another player through dialogue. As the designer of the game, there are moral obligations that one has to uphold, but that does not mean that they do not come at a price. The designer has to make a choice that he or she understands can lead to the collapse of his online game while combating the challenge of human trafficking possibility or choose to ignore the problem at hand. One would argue that the game by itself does not influence the decisions one makes it only promotes their thoughts and behavioural patterns, and therefore, the designer should not respond to the concerns that come up. For a criminal who decided to use the game to target his victims is merely using the game for the wrong reasons as that is not what it was meant for, and it would be highly unfair to ask the designer of t

Civil Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Civil Rights - Essay Example This effort bought significant result in 1946 when busses were not allowed to be segregated any longer while crossing borders. Truman, the president of that time established a committee for the protection of civil rights. Shortly two years later discrimination in military was banned. Because of the fact that the government itself was working on civil rights and awareness was being created, in 1952 there was no unfortunate criminal incident that involved racism since 1881. Two years later government disallowed discrimination at school level. It was a phase shift for the white people to understand and accept the black people in their community. In 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give her seat in a public bus to a white man (Willis n.d.). This created issues with the white community and the black people stood up for their rights and called for an actual implementation of all civil rights laws passed in the past. In 1957 the black community selected leader named Dr. Martin King Luther to pres ent their demands to the government. The Little Rock High School did not allow the segregation of children due to which the Supreme Court passed a Bill declaring all such schools as unconstitutional. Then Federal Troops were used in different places to implement the law. Terrorist activities started resulting in bombing and killing black people and their children. The culprits were caught but they were not brought to justice soon. Riots began and people also protested peacefully. The result was that during sixties black people were allowed to vote openly. They also secured the right to marry in different races. Black people were given prominent positions in government offices. During the late 1960’s Martin Luther was assassinated. The fact that a lot of effort has been put to recognize the right of different races in the social and economic situation in the United States of America does not mean that the movement was successful. It is true that there are more black millionair es than there were in the past but the count of black people working is not very significant. This is an indicator that the movement failed and the economic system could not be formed in a way to accommodate equality based on race. In order to understand the plight of the black people in these times, we can assess it through a comparison of the quality of life that an average black child enjoys as compared to the Hispanic white children. The quality of life can be determined on three important parameters: the average income, life expectancy and the chances that a person gets in life. In all these dimensions, black children remain under privileged to date. They are nine times more likely to be a victim of homicide, five times more likely to be dependent on a single parent, mostly their mothers, 4.5 times more likely to live with some guardian, 2 times more chances that they are born to teenage mothers and that their parents have not even finished high school. There are times when peo ple expect more from the civil rights movement to return than they expect. They need to understand that the civil rights protection movement is all about taking the extra privileges from white people that they normally receive due to no other reason but because of their color or race. It is about treating the black community equally and not granting them extra

Description of the company as General Merchandise Store Essay

Description of the company as General Merchandise Store - Essay Example The company has also established a number of supercenters in major cities to meet the increasing demand for one-stop family shopping. These stores combine general merchandise and full groceries ranging from bakery goods, beverages, fresh seafood, fresh farm produce, condiments and spices, frozen foods, canned and packed foods, meat, and dairy products to dry goods and staples. Most of these are open 24 and have specialty shops like cell phone store, pharmacy, restaurants, hair salon, tire and tube express among others. The neighborhood markets bridge the gap between the supercenters and the discount stores by offering a limited range of general merchandise but a full range of health and beauty products, groceries, pharmaceuticals and photo developing services. The characteristics of the key players of a company have the potential of impacting on organizational behavior and this, in turn, will financial performance directly and indirectly. Because of this, there are some characteristi cs I would like to possess and would like to see them in other key players of the company like the chief finance officer (CFO) and the chief operations officer (COO). The first is having a vision. All the key players of the company must have a common picture of what the company aims at attaining. Having a vision will lead to the creation of a company where all employees work toward the attainment of a common goal. All key players should be self-less collaborators and team builders.... Having a vision will lead to the creation of a company where all employees work toward the attainment of a common goal. All key players should be self-less collaborators and team builders. These traits will go a long way into encouraging the spirit and mindset of teamwork and collaboration across the company among all ranks of employees. In relation to this, the key players should have strong interpersonal relationships. In businesses, especially retailing, people skills are as valuable as technical assets because of high levels of constant interpersonal engagement. This characteristic will therefore lead to the creation of a company where employees treat customers with the utmost respect leading to the best customer experience. The key players should also be of good character and highly ethical. This trait will lead to the creation of a company whose policies, procedures and business activities indicate a strict adherence to ethics. In addition, key players should have passion. Both employees and customers want passion if the employees embraced this character, it will lead to the creation of a customer-focused culture where everyone is willing to go an extra mile to give customers a passionate shopping experience. Analysis of motivational theories discussed and determination of how best to motivate company employees. The motivational theories discussed so far indicate a variation in views among psychologists regarding what best motivates workers. To some, workers are best motivated by pay, to others, workers are motivated by satisfaction of their social needs and to some, a satisfaction of psychological needs. However, it would be unfruitful to lay a framework for employee motivation basing on a single factor. For example, a

Government's help to troubled homeowners Research Paper

Government's help to troubled homeowners - Research Paper Example The other criteria that needs to be met is in terms of the fact that the displaced person would have lost public assistance if she has dependent children or income from other member of family The argument in favor of the Act is that it is timely help for unemployed or underemployed women whose chances of gaining employment are slim. Besides, it could also be used in lieu of other income assistance that would not be forthcoming. The counterarguments against this Act are that this would first and foremost act as a disincentive to work and people will tend to depend on such assistance instead of working to earn their bread. Besides, this act has been mainly for women and not for men who may also be underemployed or seeking productive work. Therefore, the element of gender discrimination or bias is also quite evident in this Act. While definitely seeking to grant succor to troubled and struggling families, this Act was also intended to offer a new stimulus to women who could not gain any benefits under Social Security or was under the process of losing social security benefits.

No Day of Triumph Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

No Day of Triumph - Essay Example While being American brings about an idea of inclusion and equality, being black creates a sense of being an outsider and being separated from the mainstream. This dichotomy means that African Americans have to deal with the perception of others as well as a self-perception that could be colored by how others see them. In this respect, relationships become critical for the African Americans described in the stories since family, the idea of being connected to family values and the need to pass on the family heritage to the children is very important for the characters. While family supports and shapes the African American identity, in some ways it can also be a hindrance to the personal liberty and drive of an individual who seeks a different path. These act as the remnants of the slavery era in which freedom and being able to choose your destiny were not the options available to every African American. In fact, slavery also affects the viewpoints of white and Caucasian individuals described in the story since the idea of whites being the masters and blacks being slaves continues to reside in the cultural subconscious of the southern states where the story takes place. Perhaps the worse situation is experienced by the Mulatto who is neither black nor accepted by the whites as being a part of them. Even amongst African Americans, there is a level of awareness about being darker and thus more African than others and this difference is also reflected in the socioeconomic situation an African American can find himself in when the educated black person has to bear the burden of being better than others so that s/he can present a positive face for his/her race. These differences carry on with the love of religion which poor black people show in greater strength compared to those who are economically their betters. The

Positive Consequences Essay Example for Free

Positive Consequences Essay Ethnocentrism is the practice of judging other cultures in the context of one’s own culture. By using the standards of a certain culture to assess other cultures, ethnocentric people often make hasty and offensive generalizations about people whose cultural backgrounds differ from theirs. Racial stereotypes and the usage of scapegoats are two negative effects of ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism A common mistake that occurs in the study of other cultures is the tendency to critically judge the culture being studied using the standards of one’s own culture. In doing so, the researcher imposes the assumptions and perspectives of his or her own culture on everything that he or she encounters about the culture that he or she is studying. The researcher eventually starts to dismiss facts that may appear different or strange to him or her as â€Å"bad,† â€Å"dumb,† â€Å"pagan,† â€Å"primitive,† etc. The end result is that the researcher unknowingly practices ethnocentrism (NCSU-CHASS, n. d. ). â€Å"Us† against â€Å"Them† Merriam-Webster Online (2008) defined ethnocentrism as a â€Å"(belief that is) characterized or based on the attitude that one’s own group is superior† (Merriam-Webster Online, 2008). Ethnocentrism occurs when people make generalizations about other cultures and customs that are based on their own cultural norms. More often than not, ethnocentric individuals unconsciously use their own culture as a universal yardstick that can accurately judge cultures that are different from theirs. As a result, they come up with erroneous, hurtful and disrespectful assumptions about other people (Culbertson, 2008). Positive Consequences Ethnocentrism satisfies the human psyche’s need for identity and belonging. By claiming that his or her culture is â€Å"superior† over other cultures, a person gains a sense of importance over other people. Ethnocentrism also fosters intarethnic loyalty, which, in turn, leads to the survival of a society. In her article Ethnocentrism and Xenophobia: A Cross-Cultural Study (2001), Elizabeth Cashdan argued that being social animals, humans do not have the capacity to survive on their own. They had to form groups or communities wherein members shared the complex responsibilities needed for survival (Cashdan, 2001). But they also have to compete with other groups or communities, especially for resources. In order to win the competition, a community’s sense of identity must be strong enough to motivate its members to abandon personal interests and work together towards the society’s advancement. As a result, the community survives and even improves (Cashdan, 2001). Negative Consequences Ethnocentrism is the root cause of various misconceptions about people of certain cultures. Ethnocentric individuals often create racist stereotypes about them simply because they regard them as â€Å"inferior† or â€Å"uncivilized. † Below are some examples of racist stereotypes: The Mammy. The mammy is the oldest and the most popular racial stereotype regarding African-American women. She is portrayed as dark-skinned, middle aged, overweight, very religious cheerful and extremely loyal and faithful to the white family she was working for. There is no historical evidence that supports the existence of actual mammies. Further research revealed that this stereotype was created to justify the institution of slavery – the mammy was proof that black women were happy and contented as slaves. In addition, her desexualized nature was intended to conceal sexual relations between white men and black female slaves in pre-Civil War America (Pilgrim, 2000). The Tom. The Tom is the male counterpart of the mammy. He is frequently presented as a hardworking, smiling and dependable black server, usually working as a fieldworker, cook, butler, porter or waiter. Just like the mammy, the Tom’s life revolves around his white masters and their families. Furthermore, the Tom is another racial stereotype that was intended to debunk arguments about the evils of slavery. Nowadays, â€Å"Uncle Tom† has evolved into an expression that is used to criticize a black person who is unreasonably subservient to white people. Lotus Blossom. The Lotus Blossom is one of the most well-known stereotypes attached to Asian women. The term â€Å"Lotus Blossom† refers to a prudish, quiet and submissive Asian woman. But Hollywood took this stereotype to a higher level by featuring Asian women who are prudish, quiet and submissive, but at the same time, eager to please white men. Consequently, movies such as â€Å"Street Fighter† and â€Å"The Joy Luck Club† often pair white actors with Asian actresses (Dugong, n. d. ). Dragon Lady. Akin to the Lotus Blossom, the Dragon Lady is also physically stunning. However, the latter uses her sexuality to get what she wants. Aside from having the ability to seduce men, the Dragon Lady also has superior physical strength and martial arts skills. It is believed that she â€Å"has the power to hypnotize her male rivals, gain trust by seducing them, and when they least expect it, she rids of them through sabotage or backstabbing† (Dugong, n. d. ). As a result, this stereotype projected the misconception that Asian women are avaricious and not trustworthy (Dugong, n. d. ). Scapegoats The usage of scapegoats is another detrimental effect of ethnocentrism. Some people and or organizations unjustly blame other people or groups for the occurrence of certain problems. The targets, in turn, receive rejection and even outright persecution from parties that the perpetrators have managed to influence. The Holocaust is a classic example of using other people as scapegoats. Adolf Hitler got himself into power by constantly blaming the Jews for Germany’s economic, political and social instability after World War I. Conclusion There is a saying that prejudice is the idle man’s substitute for thinking. This byword is very much applicable in ethnocentrism. Instead of taking the time to really know other cultures, some people would rather judge them negatively simply because they are different from their culture. True, attacking other cultures unfairly may be cathartic. But doing so also exposes ethnocentric individuals as insecure people who put other people down to make themselves look and feel good.

Aided System for Visually Impaired using Intel Galileo Gen-2

Aided System for Visually Impaired using Intel Galileo Gen-2 Aided System for Visually Impaired People in Bus Transport using Intel Galileo Gen-2: Technical Note K. Bommarajua, A. Manikandanb and S. Ramalingamc Dept. of Electronics and Communication Engg., Government College of Engg., Trichy, India ABSTRACT: Visually impaired people have difficulty in travelling and accessing information about public transportation systems. Several systems have been developed for helping visually impaired people to use the city bus. Most systems provide dual-way communication and require costly and complex equipments. The purpose of this study is to reduce the difficulties faced by visually impaired people while boarding in city buses, using an interactive wireless communication system. The system comprised a user module and a bus module to provide a direct one-to-one connection to reduce the difficulties due to many-to-many communication. When the user triggers the switch, the user module immediately sends out the information. If the bus module receives the matched signal, it buzzes and the warning LED flashes to notify the bus driver that someone is waiting to board on the bus. The interactive wireless communication aid system is a valid and low-cost device for assisting visually impaired people to use city buses. KEYwords:  Wireless communication; Visual impairment; Public transportation Citation: K. Bommaraju, A. Manikandan and S. Ramalingam. 2017. Aided System for Visually Impaired People in Bus Transport using Intel Galileo Gen-2: Technical Note, Int. J. Vehicle Structures Systems, 9(1), 219-223. doi:10.4273/ijvss.9.1.06 Introduction The use of public transport is vital to the productivity and independence of visually impaired people. Supporting visually impaired people to use the public transport can increase their chances of education and employment and reduces the financial burden on their families. In most physical environments, the visually impaired people have difficulty in accessing information about bus stops, terminals, vehicles, schedules, maps, and directories, which prevent them from using the public transport effectively. Knowing the location of the bus stop and the time when the bus arrives are the difficulties faced by the visually impaired people. Some position navigation systems have been developed to solve the problem of locating bus stops. Advanced public transportation services (APTS), including bus dynamic information display method with the Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, have been developed by many countries. APTS [1] helps with the bus-stop voice reporting systems to provide more information for visually impaired people about the arrival of the bus which they want to board. Some APTS combined special handling devices were designed to provide dynamic information for visually impaired people. In Taiwan, the Taipei city government utilized an experimental system named broadcasting bus, that announces the bus number upon arriving at the bus terminal, to serve the visually impaired in 2002. The APTS named e-bus system started to be deployed in Taipei city since 2005 [3]. Using these technologies the number and the waiting time of the buses were shown on the light-emitting diode (LED) screen at the smart bus stops using GPRS facility. Only 20 percent of bus stops are planned to build. A survey of 400 passengers in 1998 revealed that the smart bus stops are not sufficient when equipped only with the voice reporting system because the voice information confused when many buses approached the sam e terminal at the same time which was a disadvantage of using many-to-many communication. The APTS with bus-stop voice reporting system and handheld devices might not provide a solution to this important issue. A survey showed that it would be very helpful if somebody could alert bus drivers about their boarding on buses. Various systems have been developed for visually impaired to communicate with bus drivers. Mehra et al. developed a user-triggered bus identification system in 2010. The user could select a particular bus and send signals by user module, and then a small LED starts flickering in the drivers control panel. The system offered only one-way communication. Bischof et al.developed a wireless local area network (WLAN) communication system named NAVCOM. The authors proposed that blind people need a feedback to make sure whether the bus drivers get the original message. Another bus identification system designed by El Alamy et al. involves a bus station controller to identify users and send signals to buses with radio frequency. This system will say the information of the bus number when there is a 2-meter distance between the bus and the bus station. In Taipei, bus drivers are forced to leave the bus stop as soon as possible because most time several buses arrive at the same bus stop simultaneously. Visually impaired people are often ignored at bus stops if no one informs bus drivers about waiting passengers [2]. The aim of the present study is to reduce the difficulties faced by visually impaired people while taking buses with interactive wireless communication design. The interactive feedback system allow visually impaired people and bus drivers to receive the transmitted signals from each other and improve the success rate of boarding correct buses [4]. Project moto The moto of our project is to help the visually impaired people to transport easily and also we added some extra features through which the deaf could also be benefited in bus transport. So our project is like a knife which is sharp at both the ends and is going to help the people in two ways. Adults also can know which bus is going to arrive at that moment. So all the people in the society can use this system. We are very interested in doing such a project for our society. There are two modules user module and bus module. The user module will be handled by the user or it can also be placed as common in the bus stop also, so that all the people can use it and then if it is handled by single user alone then he or she can only use it. The bus module is fixed in the place where the driver can notice it. Hardware design For the development of our project, we use two modules. One at the bus driver-bus module One at the passenger-user module Here we are using both transmitter and receiver at both the module. The process, here is that the passenger waiting at the bus stop should switch on the passenger module, it sends out the signal, that signal is received at the receiver of the bus module. Then automatically the alarm sound will be produced and then the LCD will display that there is a passenger is waiting at the nearby bus stop, and then an LED will be glowing there. There are many components that are used for this process. Two types of ICs are used one is coding IC and the other is decoding IC. Fig. 1: Intel Galileo Gen-2 Here the signal is transmitted and received using RF transmitting and receiving modules. For various indicating purpose we use different types of LCD such as warning LED to glow while the buzzer buzzes and the power LED to indicate the status of the module whether it is in ON or OFF state. The main component of our project is Intel Galileo Gen-2 board which is used in Adruinio programming platform as shown in Fig. 1. The speciality of this board is that it can be used as a PC after installing an OS through SD card. It also has some special features that it can be connected to LAN and access internet, it has 20 digital pins which can be used as input/output and 6PWM output pins. We can also connect USB cable to it to transfer programming to it. It works with a power supply of 7-15V DC input. The coding IC HT12E is a 18 pin IC as shown in Fig. 2 mostly used for Radio Applications. The main purpose of this IC is to convert parallel input to serial output. It has 8 address pins and 4 dat a pins, used as an encoder. It has an active low enable pin and works on the voltage level of 2.4-12V. Fig. 2: Encoding IC Fig. 3: Decoding IC Fig. 4: System framework of the user module and the bus module In Fig. 3, the decoding IC HT12D is also a 18 pin IC and converts the serial input to parallel output. Which does the opposite process on the coding IC. Operates at the voltage level same as coding IC. The block diagram shows the components connection of both user and bus module. System development In a real environment, the interaction between visually impaired people and bus drivers are many-to-many relationship rather than a one-to-one. For technological simplicity, in our system we used a one-to-one interactive communication system. The collision of communication data over the one-to-one interactive wireless communication leads to the poor stability and low accuracy of wireless communication. The signal communicates through two distinct frequency bands: 434MHz and 315MHz. The interactive wireless communication system has two modules: a user module for the visually impaired (Fig. 4), and a bus module (Fig. 5) for bus drivers. The hardware was developed according to the interactive design. The user module consists of a wireless transmission module (434MHz), a wireless receiving module (315MHz). The bus module consists of a wireless transmission module (315MHz), a wireless receiving module (434MHz). When the user module sends out a signal, it is transmitted through the 434MHz band to the bus module, which then sends reply through the 315MHz band to the user module. In this way by using different frequencies for transmitting and receiving signals, the problem of wireless data collision between users is avoided. Outcome measure A basic requirement of this system is the wireless communication distance. If the wireless communication distances were shorter than buses stopping distances, conversely, if the wireless communication distance was too long, it was possible that the bus driver would have received the information from a waiting user too early. To avoid such situations, the maximum transmission distance of this system must be less than 100 meters. The outputs are displayed in an LCD which are taken snapshot for both transmitter in Fig. 5 and receiver in Fig. 6. 5.1. Transmitter: Fig.5(a) : Transmitter Initial Stage Fig.5(b) : Transmitter After Request Fig.5 (c): Transmitter After press Key pad 5.2. Receiver Fig.6(a):   Receiver Request of the blind person in the bus module Fig.6(b):   Receiver- Indication of the blind person Conclusions Thus this system improves the confidence of the visually impaired to take city buses and travel to their desired destination. This system is flexible to any climatic conditions. Thus by using our project visually impaired people can use the public transport facilities in an efficient manner. References: A. Montarzino, B. Robertson, P. Aspinall, A. Ambrecht, C. Findlay, J. Hine and B. Dhillon. 2007. The impact of mobility and public transport on the independence of visually impaired people, Vis. Impair. Res., 9, 67-82. https://doi.org/10.1080/13882350701673266. E. Neuville, M. Izaute and L. Trassoudaine. 2009. A way finding pilot study: The use of the intelligent public vehicle by people with visual impairment, Br. J. Vis. Impair., 27, 65-74. https://doi.org/10.1177/0264619à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…’608097747. Survey on Difficulties in Daily Living of above 6 Year-Old Physically and Mentally Disabled, Report on Physically and Mentally Disabled Citizens Living Demand Survey, 2000, Taiwan Ministry of the Interior, Taipei, Taiwan, 329. W.R. Wiener, P. Ponchillia, E. Joffee, J.R. Kuskin and J. Brown. 2000. The effectiveness of external bus speaker systems for persons who are visually impaired, J. Vis. Impair. Blind., 94, 421-433. T.P. Hatlen and L.A. Myers, Advocating in behalf of blind and visually impaired bus travellers, Access to Mass Transit for Blind and Visually Impaired Travelers American Foundation for the Blind, 87-91. Hsiao-Lan Wang , Ya-Ping Chen , Chi-Lun Rau   and Chung-Huang Yu. An Interactive Wireless Communication System for Visually Impaired People Using City Bus Transport. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2014, 11(5), 4560-4571; doi:10.3390/ijerph110504560.

Truth Exposed in An Indians Looking-Glass for the White Man :: Synthesis Essays

Truth Exposed in An Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚   William Apes, in his essay "An Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man," argues that to profess Christianity and still distinguish between races is a hypocrisy not supported by the Bible. In the first part of his essay Apes asks several questions such as why, if God loves white people so much, did he create fifteen colored people for every white one; and of all the races, who has committed the most heinous crimes? He goes on to emphasize that neither Jesus nor his disciples were white skinned. He also questions the white person's right to control Native Americans. Apes asks his predominately white, Christian audience to reexamine their own prejudices and concludes his essay pleading "pray you not stop till this tree of distinction shall be leveled to the earth, and the mantle of prejudice torn from every American heart--then peace shall pervade the Union." Apes accurately portrays the racism that Native Americans suffer. Racism exists in both the individual and within politics. During the late 1800's, when this article was written, it was illegal in Massachusetts for whites and Indians to intermarry. He labels this as a clear infringement on individuals to make their own decisions. He also raises the point that many white people do not even consider the Indian to be qualified for the rights of an individual. This dehumanization allows white people to steal the Indians' land and murder them with out a second thought. He calls on the whites, as Christians, to reassess these racist views. People cannot call themselves Christians and persecute others, based on skin color, in the name of Christianity. Apes says that words must be supplemented by actions, backing himself up with scripture such as I John 3:18, "Let us not love in word but in deed." Although Apes convincingly argues against the biases within the Christian community, he bases h is arguments on several assumptions, neglecting to address problems such as the language barrier and problems that arise when two different cultures try to occupy the same land. When Apes uses Christianity as his tool to dispel racism he makes several unbacked assumptions. To begin with, he forgets that whites and Indians rarely use the same language let alone have the same religious values, therefore no one tool can be used for both cultures. Besides just the obvious language barrier, whites and Indians use entirely different words and phrases to express concepts.

The Inescapable Life Cycle of Dubliners :: Essays Papers

The Inescapable Life Cycle of Dubliners The book Dubliners was published in 1914, by James Joyce. He wanted to give the audience a vivid and solid background of the inescapable cycle the Irish Society was going through. In the stories Counterparts, Encounter and the Dead we can see the theme of laciness, entertainment, work, and frustrated goals that lead to alcoholism. In "Counterparts" Joyce introduces us the story of a man named Farrington, which works at a clerking office, copying legal documents and correspondence by hand. Farrington lives an awful and frustrating life were alcoholism seems to help him escape the sad reality that he is living. Then in an "Encounter" we can see the reality of two kids, Mahoney and Leo. They represent what a kid life is. It is a live were responsibility is not a primary value and their inexperience leads them to crazy choices in search of adventures. Finally, we have "the Death" one of the most complex stories in the book Dubliners. In "The Dead" we see all the characteristics of th e stories come together at the party in Missis Morkan house. The principal character in this story is Gabriel and Gretta. Through him we can get a small picture of Dublin's society. It is the story of a man that feels powerless when his wife thinks of an old love. In this story we see many of the themes discuses through the readings, especially autonomy and sense of duty. As reading these different stories we will have to analyze them in depth. In Dubliners we can see that "alcohol" is a frequent tool used to run away reality. But all the characters in this stories can seem to escape an undesirable destiny. It is one of the saddest time in Ireland were the people is trying to recuperate from the great depression caused by the Great Famine at that time. In the first story "Counterparts" we see how Farrigtons life is being affected by the Great Depression Ireland was going though. He had a tedious work were he didn't gain many money to make a dissent life. Since the beginning of the story we can see that Farrington hates his work. He dosent do his work on time and leaves everything to last minute. The boss is constantly remembering and telling Farrington what to do. The Inescapable Life Cycle of Dubliners :: Essays Papers The Inescapable Life Cycle of Dubliners The book Dubliners was published in 1914, by James Joyce. He wanted to give the audience a vivid and solid background of the inescapable cycle the Irish Society was going through. In the stories Counterparts, Encounter and the Dead we can see the theme of laciness, entertainment, work, and frustrated goals that lead to alcoholism. In "Counterparts" Joyce introduces us the story of a man named Farrington, which works at a clerking office, copying legal documents and correspondence by hand. Farrington lives an awful and frustrating life were alcoholism seems to help him escape the sad reality that he is living. Then in an "Encounter" we can see the reality of two kids, Mahoney and Leo. They represent what a kid life is. It is a live were responsibility is not a primary value and their inexperience leads them to crazy choices in search of adventures. Finally, we have "the Death" one of the most complex stories in the book Dubliners. In "The Dead" we see all the characteristics of th e stories come together at the party in Missis Morkan house. The principal character in this story is Gabriel and Gretta. Through him we can get a small picture of Dublin's society. It is the story of a man that feels powerless when his wife thinks of an old love. In this story we see many of the themes discuses through the readings, especially autonomy and sense of duty. As reading these different stories we will have to analyze them in depth. In Dubliners we can see that "alcohol" is a frequent tool used to run away reality. But all the characters in this stories can seem to escape an undesirable destiny. It is one of the saddest time in Ireland were the people is trying to recuperate from the great depression caused by the Great Famine at that time. In the first story "Counterparts" we see how Farrigtons life is being affected by the Great Depression Ireland was going though. He had a tedious work were he didn't gain many money to make a dissent life. Since the beginning of the story we can see that Farrington hates his work. He dosent do his work on time and leaves everything to last minute. The boss is constantly remembering and telling Farrington what to do.

The Steam Engine :: essays research papers fc

â€Å"In the never-ending search for energy sources, the invention of the steam engine changed the face of the earth.† (Siegel, Preface) The steam engine was the principal power source during the British Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. The steam engine opened a whole new world to everyone. The steam engine maximized production, efficiency, reliability, minimized time, the amount of labor, and the usage of animals. The steam engine in all revolutionized the Eastern Hemisphere, mainly European society. What does revolutionize actually mean? It means that something such as the steam engine brought about a radical change in something, and this something is the European Society. The steam engine specifically brought about a radical change in work, transportation of goods, and travel. The invention of the steam engine revolutionized European society by enabling tasks to be done quicker, cheaper, and more dependably. The steam engine use throughout the several professions revolutionized numerous aspects of Western European Society. The first important use of the steam engine came in 1776. The steam engine was used to show the Cornish miners how successful it could be in removing the water from the mineshafts. This proved to be of great importance to the Cornish, because one of their biggest problems was the flooding of the mining shafts. (The Penetration of the Industry by Steam Power) The mine owners â€Å"worried†¦that the mines would have to be shut down unless water could be pumped out of the shafts.† â€Å"The engine successfully raised water from the bottom of deep mines.† (Siegel, 17) This saved the shutting down of the mines, which were essential to further the economy. Not only did the steam engine save the mines, it provided a method of mining that proved to be extremely quicker than the traditional techniques. One of the biggest incomes for the British was found in t heir textile industry. In the textile industry, the domestic system presented many problems for merchants. They had difficulty regulating standards of workmanship and maintaining schedules for completing work. Workers sometimes sold some of the yarn or cloth in their own profit. As the demand in cloth increased, merchants often had to compete with one another for the limited amount of workers available in manufacturing, which increased merchants’ costs. As a result, merchants turned increasingly to machinery, which was powered by the steam engine, for greater production and also turned to factories for central control over their workers.

Essay on What It Takes to Be a Hero

The first character that comes to my mind when I think of a hero is a character you eight know from The Legend of Zelda. Link, the little fairy boy dressed in funny green clothes. I think he makes a good hero because he is courageous in his fight against the evil Sanford, as well as his quest to save the princess, Zelda. Unfortunately, I don't know much more about Link, because he has nearly no dialogue in any of his games. Another character I think of as a hero is a character from a trilogy I read over the summer. Catkins Evergreen from the Hunger Games.Although she is kind of hot- added, vengeful and deceitful, I think of her are a hero because she has something of a goal to make the world a better place, despite her fear and anger. She battles her way through the game' not only once, but twice, and maintains a courage fueled by her love for her sister and desire for peace. One of my latest heroes is quite different from the other two. Enter Alex Jensen, a somewhat shady, mysteriou s and fearless security guard for a bio-modification lab. After being shot in the head during a raid on the lab by some sort of super beings,Alex Jensen embarks on a long winding Journey to piece together what has happened and defeat various corporate machines seeking monopoly over technology and life. This last hero I will write about is far different than those Eve already written about. He isn't in any books, movies or video games. He's real, and he's my brother. Right now, he's stationed in North Carolina with his fellow Marines after serving a tour in Iraq. Every day while he was in Iraq, I'm sure he was afraid, being so far away with so much violence and death lingering about.But he had the courage to fight through it and fight against terrorism, something I believe is a noble fight. I could go on and on about so many different heroes, but I feel I have an accurate description of what a hero is to me. After comparing these four heroes, Eve found that they all have at least thr ee things in common. In conclusion, to be a hero, one must have a goal, struggle greatly to achieve it and have to courage to overcome the great challenges and not give up. Essay on What It Takes to Be a Hero By Brandon

With wind power technologies

AbstractionWith wind power engineerings deriving rapid impulse particularly offshore wind farm engineering, assorted issues affecting internal and external electrical connexion of offshore air current turbines to the grid arise. This literature reappraisal presents a survey of past researches refering offshore wind farm engineering and high spots wind farm connexion issues. Section 1 presents the debut of the subject followed by an overview of offshore air current farms in Section 2. Following, types of generators used are discussed in Section 3. Section 4 and 5 nowadayss the nucleus of the research, detailing transmittal and interconnectedness of offshore air current farms utilizing both AC and DC severally. Finally the last subdivision concludes the reappraisal.Section OneIntroductionWind power coevals has been on the rise as of late [ 1 ] . USA late took over Germany as the current universe ‘s leader of air current power capacity [ 2 ] , using air current energy as an option of electricity coevals. European states are preponderantly inclined towards wind power in add-on to Asiatic states such as China and India, which are amongst the top air current power manufacturers [ 2 ] . There is a bound to onshore air current farm connexion nevertheless, due to set down bounds and with the huge potency of air current harvest home from the seas and less obstructor compared to onshore air currents [ 3 ] , it is merely evident that the following logical measure is to travel into offshore wind farms. Furthermore, with changeless power produced from the changeless air current velocity of the sea [ 1 ] , and the possible combination of moving ridge and tidal power [ 4 ] , chances of offshore air current farms are promoting. Installations of offshore air current farms are non fiddling, as many factors and concerns are taken into history over the substructure and layout. The unsmooth hostile environment of the sea gives rather a challenge for installing and transmittal to the grid and it is a critical concern. Overall, there are several electrical challenges sing offshore air current farms in contrast to the mechanical challenges that has well reduced over the past decennary [ 1 ] . A major challenge sing offshore air current farms would be its transmittal from generator to the grid [ 5 ] . The conventional AC transmittals provide restrictions as offshore air current farms move farther off from the shore. These restrictions will be studied and possible solutions are to be recommended. This literature reappraisal presents an overview of grid connexion of offshore air current turbines, diging into types of generators used, every bit good as air current farm interconnectedness, transmittals of power to onshore grid and reappraisals of jobs related.Section TwoGeneral Overview of Offshore Wind FarmsWind farms are considered offshore if they are at least 30km from the seashore [ 6 ] . Presently, the biggest offshore air current farms has a capacity of up to 200MW [ 7 ] , with each turbines bring forthing 2-3MW. Offshore air current farms are dearly-won ( 30-60 % higher [ 4 ] ) than onshore due to the larger, higher rated power of turbines, undersea connexions and overall cost of installing and care [ 3 ] . Harmonizing to Reference [ 3 ] , air current farms have electrical subsystems which consist of:Internal medium-voltage ( MV ) grid for aggregation of power produced by single generators ;Offshore electrical substructure for transit of power to the shore ;Onshore system which link the farm to HV webs.The power produced by each air current turbine is collected via the internal MV grids utilizing either radial or pealing connected design [ 3 ] . Radial design, being the cheapest pick, uses a individual overseas telegram feeder that is connected to the turbines in contrast to the ring connected web where cabling and exchanging output higher costs. Radial design suffer from low dependability, though it can be improved by forking the radial feeders [ 3 ] . Depending on air current farm size and distance from shore, every bit good as environmental restriction, [ 3 ] nowadayss two strategies of electrical substructures for transporting power to the shore. Scheme 1 utilizations an seaward substation incorporating switchgears and transformers [ 8 ] , which step up electromotive forces and transmit it utilizing HV overseas telegrams, while Scheme 2 utilizations undersea MV overseas telegrams [ 3 ] . The defined point of common yoke ( PCC ) is where the offshore air current farm connects to the grid [ 3 ] . If an offshore substation is present beforehand ( Scheme 1 ) , the HV overseas telegrams are connected straight to the grid but if MV overseas telegrams are used for transmittal ( Scheme 2 ) , so an onshore step-up transformer is required with HV overseas telegrams before being fed to the grid [ 3 ] . Figure 1 below shows the two different electrical system strategies. Figure 1: Wind farm electrical system schemes [ 3 ] Offshore substation is normally required for electromotive forces above 33kv [ 9 ] and is costlier due to dearly-won indoor equipment and environmental protection [ 9 ] but contributes to take down power losingss and simpler electromotive force control [ 3 ] .Section ThreeWind Turbines and GeneratorsDifferent types of air current generators have been designed and manufactured within the past two decennaries, to provide to the demands of planetary air current power capacity every bit good as the turning development of air current power engineering [ 10 ] . These wind generators are designed to back up and manage mistakes on the grid [ 7 ] . There are assorted types of generators for air current turbines and they are categorized harmonizing to synchronal or initiation type generators.3.1 Synchronous GeneratorsThe power convertor in Figure 2 refers to a rectifier, with constellation a being stator connected and the remainder being rotor connected [ 11 ] .3.2 Initiation GeneratorsAs for initiation generators, typical constellations for air current farms are shown in Figure 3 below For constellation a, the power convertor is a soft starting motor whereas for constellation B and vitamin D, it refers to a frequence convertor. Configuration degree Celsius has an external variable rotor opposition [ 11 ] .3.3 Fixed Speed and Variable Speed Wind TurbinesIn conventional systems, fixed velocity air current turbines are used in order to accomplish equal frequence of the grid and the electrical end product [ 6 ] . However, variable velocity air current turbines are has an advantage over fixed velocity air current turbines due to holding advanced power electronic constituents and good control for grid support. Fixed velocity turbines are by and large cheaper, simple and robust and Reference [ 7 ] presented a new control method to get the better of the restrictions and believes that the fixed velocity turbines will be popular once more if betterments are made over its grid support. Fixed velocity or variable velocity air current turbine design relies to a great extent on an optimal rotational velocity expressed by a factor called tip-speed ratio [ 6, 12 ] Wind turbines will work under certain tip-speed ratio for the coveted turbine efficiency. In Figure 4, a typical graph demoing the relation of air current turbine efficiency and tip-speed ratio is shown. Mentioning to the graph, accomplishing 47 % efficiency requires the air current turbine to hold a tip-speed ratio of 8 [ 13 ] . Figure 4: Example relation between air current turbine efficiency and tip-speed ratio [ 13 ]3.4 Fixed Speed GeneratorsFixed Speed Synchronous GeneratorsFixed velocity synchronal generators produce end product frequence based on the turbine ‘s rotational frequence ; which implies that it is synchronized with the generator ‘s shaft velocity [ 6 ] . These machines can bring forth electricity by itself without the grid ‘s power, so in instance of care or fix plants, isolation of the generators must be implemented [ 6 ] for safety grounds.Fixed Speed Induction GeneratorsInitiation generators are normally used for fixed velocity turbines, particularly squirrel-cage type generators and they connect straight to the AC grid without the demand for frequence convertors [ 13 ] . Reference [ 6 ] provinces that the grid ‘s excitement controls the frequence of the generator ‘s end product. When air current velocities go above the rated velocity threshold ( shutdown or roll uping wind velocity [ 5 ] ) of normally 25/ , the end product power is constrained by natural stall or active pitching of turbine blades and if that fails, the turbine is so stopped. For improved turbine efficiency, fixed wind generators can exchange between pole yokes to run at two different velocities [ 13 ] . This characteristic is to let low air currents velocity to hold better efficiency. Initiation generators are favoured for their low cost and isolation for care plants is non required compared to the synchronal generators, due to its inability to bring forth electricity when the grid ‘s power is cut off. However, initiation generators have a disadvantage of that it consumes reactive power from the grid, though including capacitances between the generator and the grid could counterpoise the job [ 6 ] [ 13 ] . Initiation generators besides require a cut-off system to avoid it moving as a motor when air current speeds lessenings.3.5 Variable Speed GeneratorsThrough variable velocity generators, we can do the rotor to run at a fixed tip-speed ratio over changing air current velocities to obtain maximal efficiency [ 13 ] . This is achieved by utilizing frequence convertors or commanding the rotor ‘s faux pas [ 13 ] . The former method licenses wider velocity scope. Reference [ 10 ] has made a comparing survey on seven variable velocity changeless frequence ( VSCF ) air current generators dwelling of both synchronal and induction generators. The initiation generators studied specifically are double fed initiation generators ( DFIG ) and VSCF squirrel coop initiation generators ( SCIG ) , whereas the synchronal generator types were lasting magnet synchronal generators ( PMSG ) and electrically excited synchronal generator ( EESG ) [ 10 ] . Both of the synchronal generators are direct driven in contrast to the geared goaded initiation generators. Based on the comparing consequences, the geared driven double fed initiation generators ( DFIG ) emerged as the most appealing due to its high one-year energy production ( AEP ) per cost and lowest generator system cost and it is recommended for big power evaluation use [ 10 ] .Doubly Fed Induction Generator ( DFIG )This lesion rotor machine can work as a variable-speed generator through debut of variable electromotive forces into its rotor at slip frequence [ 14 ] . The variable velocity is deter mined by the two IGBT based electromotive force beginning convertors ‘ evaluations and it is through these convertors that the rotor get the variable electromotive forces [ 14 ] .Section FourOffshore Wind Farm AC TransmissionAC transmittal is a good developed engineering [ 15 ] and soon used in most air current farms [ 16 ] . For offshore air current farms that are below 100km distance from shore and less than 150MW capacity, high electromotive force AC ( HVAC ) transmittal is a favoured pick for being the most economical method [ 17 ] . AC transmittal has the advantages of [ 16 ] :Simpler installing, care and interconnectednessCost effectualOperational consistenceAC links are non used for longer distances due to high electrical capacity and bring forth reactive currents [ 15 ] . This implies bigger reactive power due to the bear downing currents produced as overseas telegrams become longer and reactive power compensators are needed [ 5 ] [ 15 ] . AC transmittal loses its economic entreaty when active current is less than the bear downing current [ 15 ] . The transporting burden current capacity of the AC overseas telegrams is reduced because the overseas telegrams must physically transport both burden and bear downing currents at the same clip [ 16 ] . Reference [ 16 ] shows that bear downing current is expressed by =2F where F is frequence, is electrical capacity and is electromotive force ; and the relation of current capacity is 2= 2+2, where is the overseas telegram current capacity and is load current. Based on look, utilizing DC outputs =0 at steady province [ 16 ] , which shows the advantage of DC holding higher transporting load current capacity. Besides bear downing currents, AC cables besides experience power losingss ( 2 ) [ 16 ] and there are bounds to a figure of AC overseas telegrams that can be installed due to the environment [ 18 ] .Section FiveOffshore Wind Farm DC Transmission5.1 HVDC LinksConventionally, offshore wind farms are connected to the grid via AC transmittal as antecedently stated. Latest developments nevertheless, have suggested that AC links are to be substituted with a District of Columbia transmittal system. Typically used for far wind farms of more than 60km, HVDC links are non limited by the length of transmittal and therefore will be a executable and economical option when air current farms are larger and further off from shore compared to AC links [ 1 ] . HVDC transmittal is associated with variable velocity air current turbines due to the ability t o command the frequence of air current turbine grids and is independent of the power system frequence [ 11 ] . Reference [ 19 ] has stated the list of advantages of HVDC compared to HVAC, based on Reference [ 8 ] , which are:Independence of directing and having frequences every bit good as isolation of system from other webs.The distance of HVDC transmittal are unaffected by overseas telegram bear downing current.HVDC overseas telegrams are capable of higher transmittal capacity.Power losingss on overseas telegram are low.Controllability of power flow.5.2 Wind Farm AC Grid ConfigurationThe simplest DC grid connexion for air current farms is by feeding the AC grid air current turbines into a power convertor and linking it to the AC grid utilizing HVDC links. The figure below illustrates this. Figure 5: Group connexion of a air current farm to an HVDC nexus [ 11 ] The benefits of this constellation is that sum of power convertors are lessened compared to DC grid constellation, but they supply reactive power to the air current farm, enabling it to defy grid mistakes [ 11 ] .5.3 Wind Farm DC Grid ConfigurationAn alternate method is to hold each turbines have their ain rectifier such as Figure 6. Figure 6: Individual connexion of air current turbines to HVDC links [ 11 ] Compared to AC grid constellation, DC grid enables control of frequence and velocity of each single turbines [ 11 ] . Reference [ 1 ] explains the working of an DC grid air current farm in more item. Figure 7: Example of DC grid [ 1 ] Mentioning to Figure 7, the electromotive force from the air current generators is first rectified, gathered and so transferred to an offshore platform where the electromotive force is stepped up well by a DC/DC convertor, or else the system will endure high losingss during transmittal [ 1 ] . Power is so transmitted through a District of Columbia overseas telegram, connected to an inverter onshore and finally fed into the grid.5.4 Line Commutated Control ( LCC ) HVDC utilizing ThyristorsLCC transmittal require commuting electromotive force which is conventionally supplied through a normal or a inactive ( STATCOM ) type synchronal compensator [ 19 ] . The advantages of LCC systems in seaward air current farms are [ 19 ] :LCC transmittal can be used for high capacity power, making 1600MW nexus compared to VSC transmittals, which reach 300MW [ 17 ] .Over 30 old ages of development in LCC engineeringThe convertor station for an LCC system is twice the size in contrast to a VSC system du e to the switchgears and breaker- switched AC harmonic filters necessitating much infinite.LCC systems have lower power losingss compared to VSC systems.5.5 Voltage Source Converter ( VSC ) HVDC utilizing IGBTsBesides conventional LCC transmittal, another engineering is the electromotive force beginning convertor ( VSC ) transmittal utilizing IGBTs. The electromotive forces beginning comes from capacitances [ 20 ] . The advantages of VSC transmittals used in air current farms are [ 19 ] :VSC systems are self-commutating and external electromotive force beginning is non required for operation.Reactive power control does non necessitate switchable AC harmonic filters and is independent of active power control.The power reactive power flow is independently controlled, doing AC electromotive forces from each terminal controllable.5.6 HVDC and HVAC CombinationNot all offshore air current farms are built in it ‘s wholly. They are normally built in stages. For such state of affairss, Reference [ 21 ] recommends transmission combination of HVAC and HVDC. Preliminary stages of building of air current farms can use AC connexion due to the initial little graduated table and subsequently utilizing HVDC connexion as the air current farm ‘s scale expands [ 21 ] .Section SixDecisionOverview of offshore air current farms has been presented in this literature reappraisal. Different topologies and internal grid connexions are outlined. Furthermore, we have looked into applications of synchronal and initiation generators used in air current turbines and explored the difference between fixed velocity and variable velocity generators, which are indispensable in air current turbines in regard to generated end product power. Finally, a general sum-up of the transmittal methods for offshore wind farms were documented, traveling into specific AC transmittal drawbacks and the emerging tendency of HVDC transmittals. Based on the generalised apprehension of the air current farms, we aim to further analyze the jobs of its connexion, with respects to the air current farm ‘s internal grid and AC transmittal to the chief grid. Comparisons between internal DC and AC grid of air current farms will besides be studied. Power flow surveies and simulations will be conducted and aimed at bring forthing new recommendations and solutions.MentionsC. Meyer, et al. , â€Å" Control and Design of DC Grids for Offshore Wind Farms, † Industry Applications, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 43, pp. 1475-1482, 2007.G. W. E. Council, â€Å" Global Installed Wind Power Capacity ( MW ) – Regional Distribution, † 2008.M. Dicorato, et al. , â€Å" Critical issues in big offshore air current farm design and operation, † in Clean Electrical Power, 2009 International Conference on, 2009, pp. 471-478.M. Nandigam and S. K. Dhali, â€Å" Optimal design of an offshore air current farm layout, † in Power Electronics, Electrical Drives, Automation and Motion, 2008. SPEEDAM 2008. International Symposium on, 2008, pp. 1470-1474.J. Machowski, et al. , Power System Dynamics: Stability and Control, Second Edition erectile dysfunction. : John Wiley & A ; Sons, Ltd, 2008.J. Twidell, A Guide to Small Wind Energy Conversion Systems: Cambridge University Press, 1987.D. H. Anca, et al. , â€Å" Grid support of a air current farm with active stall air current turbines and AC grid connexion, † Wind Energy, vol. 9, pp. 341-359, 2006.N. M. Kirby, et al. , â€Å" HVDC transmittal for big offshore air current farms, † Power Engineering Journal, vol. 16, pp. 135-141, 2002.W.Grainger and N.Jenkins, â€Å" Offshore Wind Farm Electrical Connection Options. †L. Hui and C. Zhe, â€Å" Design optimisation and rating of different air current generator systems, † in Electrical Machines and Systems, 2008. ICEMS 2008. International Conference on, 2008, pp. 2396-2401.L. H. L. H. Hansen, F. Blaabjerg, E. Ritchie, S. Munk-Nielsen, H. Bindner, P. S & A ; oslash ; rensen, B. Bak-Jensen, â€Å" Conceptual study of Generators and Power Electronics for Wind Turbines, † 2001.S. Heier, Grid Integration of Wind Energy Conversion Systems, Second erectile dysfunction. : John Wiley & A ; Sons, Ltd, 2006.T. John Olav Gi & A ; aelig ; ver, â€Å" Using power quality features of air current turbines for measuring impact on electromotive force quality, † Wind Energy, vol. 5, pp. 37-52, 2002.T. John Olav Gi & A ; aelig ; ver, â€Å" Grid Integration of Wind Farms, † Wind Energy, vol. 6, pp. 281-295, 2003.P. Sally D. Wright, et al. , â€Å" Transmission Options for Offshore Wind Farms in the United States, † p. 12, 2002.ESS, â€Å" Appendix 3-C, Transmission Issues for Offshore Wind Farms with Specific Application to Siting of the Proposed Cape Wind Project, † Restrictions of Long Transmission Cables for Offshore Wind Farms 2003.S. Foste r, et al. , â€Å" Control of an LCC HVDC system for linking big offshore air current farms with particular consideration of grid mistake, † Pittsburgh, PA, United provinces, 2008.T. Kenichi, et al. , â€Å" New control for HVDC system connected to big windfarm, † Electrical Engineering in Japan, vol. 166, pp. 31-39, 2009.L. Xu and B. R. Andersen, â€Å" Grid connexion of big offshore air current farms utilizing HVDC, † Wind Energy, vol. 9, pp. 371-382, 2006.E. Spahic and G. Balzer, â€Å" Impact of the VSC HVDC Connection of Large Offshore Wind Farms on Power System Stability and Control, † in Power Tech, 2007 IEEE Lausanne, 2007, pp. 207-212.E. Spahic and G. Balzer, â€Å" Offshore air current farms – VSC-based HVDC connexion, † in Power Tech, 2005 IEEE Russia, 2005, pp. 1-6.

Financial Analysis Project Essay

Today’s personal products market has become more competitive than ever. With economic and political uncertainty in many parts of the world, The Està ©e Lauder Companies Inc. has invoked a number of unique and diverse strategies in order to gain customer loyalty while attracting new customers for staying as a leader in personal products industry. This paper focuses on analyzing The Està ©e Lauder Companies Inc., including company overview and main strategies. The main purpose of this paper is using a series financial accounting ratios as tools to analyze the operation of this company from 2008 to 2012, the nearest five years. After researching of the strategies and data, I make a conclusion that this company is in a healthy financial situation and has a large capacity to develop well in the future. Overview After one quarter learning about financial accounting, I have some sort of concept about this course. In order to deeply understand the knowledge we have learned in class and have solid experience about all of those formulas. I write this paper to turn abstract theory into practice. I choose The Està ©e Lauder Companies Inc. as my analysis target, not only because I am a loyal consumer for this company, but also I’m very interested in its unique business strategy. As we all know, The Està ©e Lauder Companies Inc. is a family business and remains the leader in the global prestige beauty market for a long history. What’s more, even though it’s a traditional company, it has not fall behind in the extreme competition nowadays. I think its success mainly contributed to four critical areas: creativity and innovation, high-tough, local relevance and digital capabilities. This paper will focus on three parts to analyze The Està ©e Lauder Companies Inc. First, I plan to say something about this company, including its development overview and strategies. Second, I will put this company in the whole industry to analyze its opportunities and challenges. The last but not the least, I’d like to use financial accounting ratios as tools to deeply analyze the operation situation of this company. Company Outline The Està ©e Lauder Companies Inc. is one of the leading manufacturers and sellers of skin care, make up, fragrance and hair care products in the world. The company’s products are sold in over 150 countries and regions under almost thirty brands. Among those brands, there are some big brands we are very familiar with, and actually, those brands indeed contributed a lot to the whole company’s sales. They are Està ©e Lauder, Clinique, Aramis, Origins, Prescriptives, M†¢A†¢C, Bobbi Brown, Tommy Hilfiger, Kiton, La Mer, American Beauty, Flirt! , and AERIN Beauty. Taken together, sales of all the Company’s brands comprise about one-fifth of the $40 billion global prestige beauty business. The Està ©e Lauder Companies’ long-term strategy is to achieve higher levels of sustainable, profitable growth to remain a leader in global prestige beauty business. In that case, they use consumers as their muse to create products that really needed. Those educational beauty advisors always keep a good connection with consumers, in order to inspire brand loyalty. What’s more, this company dedicated in creating certain products for specific markets and deeply immersed in the online world as well. At a glance, the company sells its products mainly through some kind of channels to keep their brands are easily accessible. These channels involve department stores, retailers, TV shopping, stores on ships, in-flight, duty-free shops in airports and the Internet. The Americas, definitely occupies their largest region of sales, accounting for about 42% of total global sales. Europe, the middle east and Africa owns the highest percentage of operating income, because those regions enjoyed huge sales growth during the last two years. What’s more, China has become a more and more important market in the Asia/ Pacific region after Japan, fueled by rapidly growing demand of luxury brands. Industry Analysis The personal care industry concludes a variety of products, including fragrances, makeup, hair care, sunscreen, toothpaste, and products for bathing, nail care, and shaving. Major companies in this industry include Està ©e Lauder, Johnson& Johnson, Procter& Gamble, L’Oreal, Shiseido and Unilever. The United States, Europe, UK, Brazil and Russia dominate the global personal care products. India and China are the fastest growing markets for personal care products. The global personal care products industry has revenue of about $250 billion annually. Major products include cosmetics (35% of industry revenue), hair products (25%), and creams and lotions (20%). Other products include perfume (10%), toothpaste and mouthwashes (5%), and shaving preparations. The global personal care products industry is concentrated with the top 50 companies holding a combined market share of around 85%. The profitability of individual companies depends on product innovation, effective sales and marketing, and efficient operations. Large companies like The Està ©e Lauder Companies Inc. have scale advantages in purchasing, manufacturing, distribution, and marketing. Small companies can compete effectively by offering specialized products. Over the coming years, the whole industry is likely to continue investing in eco-friendly practices.

Price Elasticity to Identify a Brand’s Competitors Essay

Firms today are in their perspective industries to maximize consumer satisfaction, increase revenue, and shareholders profits. These tasks require attention to detail when pricing their products. There are always competitors lurking and waiting by the wayside to gain market share and a competitive advantage. When identifying brands competitors, price elasticity is a major determinant. Demand for a product or service constitutes what the company’s price will be and whether the price will be higher or lower than the competitor’s price. In terms of the elasticity, price increases may decrease demand and price decreases may increase demand. However, according to Kotler, The introduction or change of any price may initiate a response (favorable or unfavorable) from customers and competitors† (Kotler, P. and Keller, K., 2012) Ultimately, the concept of price elasticity can identify a brand’s competitors along with marketing research to identify consumer needs, wants, and desires, as well as current industry and competitor’s going- rate pricing. Reference Kotler, P. and Keller, K. (2012). Marketing Management 14E. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc. How might marketers use conjoint analysis to improve pricing strategies? When determining pricing strategies marketers must perform research that allows the consumer to voice their opinions in reference to what they need and how important the product or service is to their well-being. One method of doing so is through conjoint analysis. â€Å"Kotler defines this method as a  means to ask customers to rank their preferences for alternative market offerings or concepts, then they use statistic analysis to estimate the implicit value placed on each attribute† (Kotler, P. and Keller, K., 2012). Marketers have their work cut out for them when a firm or pricing department requests their assistance to establish a competitive advantage for their product or service. In order for a firm to know and understand what value or benefits the customer expects when utilizing their products and services the use value propositions is of the essence. According to the strategy and performance coaching company Edborrows,† items that firms need to consider when applying customer value propositions are as follows: †¢ All Benefits – †¢ Favorable Points of Differentiation – †¢ Resonating Focus †¢ Resonating focus highlights one or two critical differences between the firm’s offerings †¢ Generic Value Propositions †¢ Operational Excellence †¢ Customer Intimacy †¢ Product/Service Innovation (Barrows, 2010) Price elasticity of demand is a way to determine marginal revenue. Optimal revenue and, more importantly, optimal profit will occur to the point when marginal revenue = marginal cost, or the price elasticity of demand The proportion of the total sales of a product secured by one particular company or brand

Samsung Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Samsung - Essay Example The company which always prided in its expertise to customize the product according to the needs of the customer has indeed come a long way from its formative years. The importance it gives to the quality is reflected in the fact that the flawed memory chips worth tens of millions of dollars are burnt in the open field to remind the employees of the belief customers place in their company. It has won several awards for quality during the periods 1995 - 2003 from fiercely competing companies too, which is a hallmark of sorts. The strategies it employed in bringing out the best of its engineers were a novelty then and the same strategies are now implemented across the globe to repeat the same success story Samsung had written. The company is the leading supplier of memory cards to PCs, digital cameras, game players and other electronic devices. Its primary focus was on the memory chips category which has had its own fluctuations over a period of 2 decades. There were established player s in the market like Infineon Technologies, Elpida, Micron Technology, Hynix, etc. Most of these companies were as a result of alliances with Global giants like Intel, Siemens, Toshiba and Hyundai. Samsung too acquired technology from Micron on 'cash for technology' basis. It then implemented a unique internal competition for advancements of its acquired technology. ... It graduated to the frontline companies in this category and soon toppled Hitachi as the number one producer of memory chips. The presence of Samsung's main R&D facility in one location, south of Seoul, helped save a substantial amount in construction costs. The development of Samsung's memory chips division closely follows the Porter Diamond model in that the location, available raw materials and labor are crucial factors for comparative advantage. The high employee morale that has been its strength right from its birth has ensured its position stay perched at the top firmly for decades. Samsung was also responsible for 22% of all of South Korea's exports in 2004 and was a major contributor in the $22.1 billion worth semiconductor exports from South Korea. It also represented 23% of the total market value on the Korean Stock Exchange. With this kind of economic impact on the nation, it is important from both the Government's and the company's view, that it sustains the growth level. The net revenue over a period of two decades is as follows. It shows the fluctuations in the market which needs to assessed in fine detail to ensure its leadership positioning in the market. Twice in seven years, there was a dip in profits which is a reflection of the growing competition and emphasizes the need to take appropriate measures to maintain the projected growth rates. It also stresses on the need to work on the rapidly changing technology segment. Its present focus is on the flash memory segment, which looks poised for growth in the coming years but the existing competitors have already captured a major chunk of the market. Samsung has been in the race in inventing itself according to the needs of the customer base, but the entry of Chinese companies will make it more

Discussion on C.P.Ellis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discussion on C.P.Ellis - Essay Example Later on in the passage, C.P realized that, people are not made up of their color and was even ready to work with a black woman (Lecture notes 8). This passage makes an individual to look at the factors that made him join the Ku Klux Klan. It also makes individuals understand why others have prejudice or become racist against other of people. This passage makes one understand that, the main causes of prejudices are psychological, and these includes frustration, low self-esteem, and a societal cause such as financial competition. These factors provide an explanation C.P. Ellis’ racial behavior. From these few descriptions, I agree with the C.P. Ellis, and the question that comes into my mind is that, why is racism and prejudices so persistent yet researchers know their roots? It is also ironical that Ellis’ wish for success not only directed him to Klansman but also molded him. Furthermore while in the group he discovered that the African people where ordinary people (596). Furthermore, the society also had white people from low-income group just like the black low-income people. The story provides a description of how he works with Ann on the assigned project. From the teamwork, Ellis’ discovered that he was doing something very important. Through his work, he got rid of inferiority complex. It is clear from the passage that inferiority complex can affect an individual’s self-esteem (596). It can either incite someone to have prejudices, or make someone not to have prejudices. Ellis’ frustrations were because of his poverty and he was not in a position to get out of the low c lass group of people, so he thought that by joining the Klansmen he would achieve the American dream. In fact, from the story we are told he even blames the black niggers for his economic situation. He says that If they did not have negroes in their schools, then they would not be having financial problems (596). He also adds