Hardware and Software Essay

The processor is the brain of a computer. It reads instructions from your software and tells computer what to do. The speed at which the CPU processes information internally is measured in Megahertz (MHz) and Gigahertz (GHz). 1 GHz is equal to 1,000 MHz. Generally, processors with higher MHz or GHz enhance your ability to run creative, entertainment, communication, and productivity applications. The processor has three main functions: 1. It controls the transmission of data from input devices to memory. 2. It processes the data held in main memory. 3. It controls the transmission of information from main memory to output devices. The processor is held on a single board called a mother board. Operating System I think operating system is the most important program that runs on a computer. Operating systems provide a software platform on top of which other programs, called application programs, run. The application programs must be written to run on top of a particular operating system. Your choice of operating system, therefore, determines to a great extent the applications you can run. For PCs, the most popular operating systems are DOS, OS/2, and Windows, but others are available, such as Linux. Monitors I think a large monitor is better because it will accommodate all those floating palettes that modern graphics applications have and it will have more room to see the design. It saves time when people are working on more than windows. It makes it easier to move about thing between different windows. Video Cards Video card is the piece of hardware that takes that output and tells the monitor which of the dots on the screen to light up (and in what color) to allow you to see it. I think video card is one of the components that has an impact on system performance and it can impact on performance more than any other component in the PC. These cards can shift millions of pixel for high quality view of the images. Hard Drives I think backing up data is very important. This could be done on Hard Disks. For Example a self employed designer may back up work files onto external hard disk, CD, DVD, or Removable disk drive but as organisation are larger, therefore they might back up using automated backup software. Because organisations have to transfer the data onto external drives for their clients, it could be transferred to CD format, DVD and Zip Disks. Optical Example of Optical drive is a DVD drive, this drive offers playback of CD-ROM discs allowing users to view high definition programs directly on a properly configured computer. These Drives could be built in or externally attached via a USB 2. 0. These can be used by designers to transfer data on a CD/DVD to show their clients. Sound Cards I think 3D Sound Cards are very good for PCs. It enables a computer to manipulate and output sounds. Sound cards are necessary for nearly all CD-ROMs and have become commonplace for personal computers. Sound cards enable the computer to output sound through speakers connected to the board. Scanner Scanners can copy the image of a document, such as a photograph, or a newspaper article and create a digital version of that document so that it can be read by a computer. There are different two types of scanners which printers use today: Flatbed Sheet fed Flatbed: These scanners can scan flat originals of different sizes. They can even scan small 3D objects (For Example, hand). Sheet Fed: These scanners work a bit differently than flatbed scanners: instead of having a moving scanning head, the sheet fed scanner moved the paper past a stationary scanning head. Printer Printing quality is very important for designers/companies. Printing is a process for production of texts and images, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing. These are mostly used for the printing of flyers, sales material and to the designing of photographs. Printer can be connected through a USB cable or sometimes there is no cable required, they can just be connected via local network. There are two main types of printers: Ink jet Laser Inkjet Printers: Ink Jet printers use dots of colored ink onto paper to create an output image. They are not very expensive to buy and it will almost print in colour. However, they can be expensive to operate if you do a lot of printing and it can be slow, and the output is faded. Laser Printers: These printers are used to create high-quality printout at high speed. They are expensive, however, and they are generally limited to black and white outputs. Types of Software Macromedia Studio 8 Macromedia Studio 8 is a complete toolkit for Web designers and animators, and it introduces new features. Many digital content makers can find their way around Macromedia software, but the upgrade to Studio 8 makes common tasks easier to execute for those without coding expertise. This package includes the following software: 1. Flash 8: An animation tool. 2. Dream weaver 8: A Web design application. 3. Fireworks 8: A graphics editor. 4. FlashPaper 2: PDF maker. 5. Contribute 3: The Web site manager. It introduces alpha channel video creation and provides new effects that animators can manipulate in real time to shrink the file sizes and hasten the playback time of Flash animation on end-user desktops. Flash, Fireworks, and Dream weaver now optimize multimedia content for cell phones, Pads, and other mobile. Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Corel released the newest version of its image editing suite, Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2. X2 is an easy-to-use, powerful image editor at an affordable price. Retailing for just $99 or less, X2 is certainly a viable option for consumers who are also considering products from Adobe. What sets X2 apart from the competition is a wide array of old and new features (some of which are unique to Corel). Photoshop 8. 0 CS Win Adobe Photoshop CS means superior results faster, with new features and enhancements that helps creating and managing images easily and efficiently. The essential new and improved features help graphic and Web designers, photographers and video professionals create the highest quality images, with the control, flexibility, and capability that is expected from the professional standard in desktop digital imaging. Microsoft Office Microsoft Office 2007 packs more improvements into the world’s leading application. Package Includes: Microsoft Word – Create and edit text and graphics in letters, reports, web pages or e-mail messages. Microsoft Excel – Perform calculations, analyse information and manage lists in spreadsheets or web pages. Microsoft PowerPoint – Create and edit presentations for slide shows, meetings and web pages.   Microsoft Outlook – Send and receive e-mail, manage schedules, contacts and tasks, and record activities. Microsoft Publisher – Create and edit newsletters, brochures, flyers, and web sites.   Microsoft Access – Create databases and programs to track and manage information. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, Access, Project, InfoPath, Visio, and OneNote all work basically as they did before, only it’s more easily. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook are the only programs to get the full interface upgrade. Outlook gets the new interface upgrade only in its content-creation screens. Xara Xtreme Xara Xtreme is a top class graphics tool, It does not matter what the level of graphics experience. With its amazing speed, small size, reasonable system requirements, moderate price, and powerful feature set, it’s hard to go wrong with Xara Xtreme. Although it’s currently only for Windows, Xara has announced plans to make Xtreme open source and to develop Macintosh and Linux versions. 1. Xara Xtreme is a fast yet powerful vector-based drawing and illustration program for Windows. 2. Includes a Picture Editor where you can crop, rotate, enhance and sharpen bitmap-based photos. 3. Suitable for Web graphics, illustration, technical drawing, animation, cartooning, and compositions. Task One (M1) I have outlined the following two hardware and stated the limitations of each hardware in terms of capture, manipulation and storage of graphics. 1. LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) Monitors 2. Inkjet Printer LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) Monitors: LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitors are based on a newer technology and are becoming very popular, mainly because they have great space and energy saving advantages over CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitors. CRT and LCD monitors are based on completely different technologies, and thus have quite different display. One of the biggest advantages of LCD monitors is that they are compact and lightweight. Limitations: 1. Most CRT monitors are capable of displaying unlimited colors but LCD monitors are only capable of hundreds or thousands of colors. 2. CRT monitors are usually capable of displaying multiple video resolutions but an important issue with LCD monitors is resolution.   A CRT screen can be looked at from a very wide angle, practically from the side, but an LCD monitor typically has a smaller viewing angle, needing to be viewed more directly from the front. CRT monitors are generally more affordable than LCD monitors. Inkjet Printer: Inkjet printers have made rapid technological advances in recent years. The three-colour printer has been around for several years now and has succeeded in making colour printing an affordable option; but as the superior four-colour model became cheaper to produce, the replaceable cartridge model was gradually phased out. With each new product on the market showing improvements in performance, usability, and output quality. Limitations: 1. Slower than a laser printer. 2. An Inkjet printer is a way to have color printing available. The color is sprayed onto the paper. 3. They can be expensive to operate if you do a lot of printing and it can be slow, and the output is faded. 4. Cartridges need to be changed more frequently and the special coated paper required to produce high-quality output is very expensive. 5. Inkjets work out to be more expensive than laser printers. Task One (M1) Software Packages 1. Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 2. Adobe PhotoShop 8. 0 CS Win I have chosen two of the software, which I think are good for creating, capturing and manipulation graphic images. I have chose these because the company has the Microsoft Vista as their operating system and both of these work the best on and have been especially designed for Microsoft Windows Vista. Both of these can be used by professionals. I have explained the software and features it has for each. Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Corel released the newest version of its image editing suite, Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2. The new â€Å"X2† gives enthusiast digital photographers an entirely new set of tools to unlock their creative potential. It is packed with applications for downloading, viewing, sorting, and editing/processing images, is X2. The new graphite-coloured workspace is to enable users to concentrate on the image instead of the interface, but the graphite is mostly for the benefit of Vista users, and it can be operated to use the brighter XP-style colour scheme. The new features are very welcome, such as the automatic saving of every picture you work on into a sub-folder of its original folder, in effect creating a digital negative you can always revert to if things go pear-shaped during editing. There is tool which can make people look thinner than they really are. What it actually does is make a sort of digital pleat in the picture so that anybody under the cursor looks a little bit thinner, but the rest of the picture, including anybody unfortunate enough to be nearby, gets stretched to fill in the missing pixels and ends up looking slightly fatter. The Makeover tools, which are designed to hide blemishes, remove red-eye, whiten teeth and add fake tans, have been expanded with an eye whitener, just in case subjects have had a rough night before the shoot and are sporting bloodshot eyes that might give the game away. Features they give to the User: 1. Express Lab 2. HDR Photo Merge 3. Layers Style 4. Visible Watermarks 5. Auto-Preserve Originals 6. Photo Aging Tools 7. Compatibility with Photo Shop Plug-ins Features Explained 1. Express Lab: This helps users quickly view and fix multiple photos in the same amount of time it used to take to edit just one. Common tools such as crop, rotate, red-eye removal, makeover/blemish removal, brightness, saturation, and other quick fix tools. 2. HDR Photo Merge: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photo Merge tool can combine two or more bracketed exposures in order to produce one perfect exposure. 3. Layer Styles: It can easily apply effects such as embossing, drop shadows, or even reflections that will automatically update whenever the underlying layer is edited. 4. Visible Watermarks: This feature allows to â€Å"stamp† images with a watermark. This is perfect for protecting copyright when uploading images online. 5. Auto-Preserve Originals: It will never lose favorite photos by mistake again thanks to a feature that automatically preserves the original photos when saved an edited version , giving a way to get the original image back in case making a mistake during the editing process. 6. Photo Aging Tools: It is a unique and easy-to-use feature with the ability to apply aging filters to images and make them look like film images from decades long ago. 7. Compatibility with PhotoShop Plug-ins: An excellent feature in Corel’s Paint Shop Pro Photo series is compatibility with â€Å"most† PhotoShop plug-ins and filters. Corel PhotoShop 8. 0 CS win Review This is the new version of PhotoShop and it’s the photo graphics editor standard against the other graphic software. It is used by more graphics professionals than just about any other photo-editing and paint program. The new version has the CS (Creative Suite) extension, which includes few new features for most types of user. Everybody should benefit from the improved file browser, which offers many of the features of photo album-style products. As well as viewing thumbnails, you can preview in different sizes before loading. There’s now a simple way to match colours between photo-objects, while leaving their underlying textures unchanged. This kind of colour replacement first appeared as a red-eye tool in PhotoShop Elements. Graphic designers will like this version of PhotoShop CS for its introduction of text on a path, with which you can create and edit text running at angles and along curves. You can also work on images up to 300,000 pixels square; large enough for billboard design, and develop multiple versions of graphics using layers to hold the version differences. Adobe includes Image Ready CS with PhotoShop CS. This Web image designer and editor offers improved multiple selection controls, direct export to Macromedia Flash and more compact HTML code when finished designing. These are the Features of this Software: 1. Professional toolset 2. Colour Correction 3. Enhanced layer control 4. Improved File Browser 5. Advanced Web capabilities 6. Healing Brush 7. Special effect filters 8. Advanced type control 9. Customized workspace 10. Unparalleled efficiency These are the top ten features of why should they get this product: 1. Professional toolset. This tool can help in creating original images or modifying photos using a full assortment of painting, drawing tools. 2. Colour correction. It can Improve the color, contrast of any image with a comprehensive set of professional color-correction tools. 3. Enhanced layer control. It can combine images, text, and effects on hundreds of layers that can be organise with up to five levels of nesting and save in different combinations as Layer. 4. Improved File Browser. It can quickly preview, tag, and sort images; search and edit keywords; and automatically share batches of files from the improved File Browser. Advanced Web capabilities. It can create sophisticated Web page elements, such as roll-overs and animations, using Image Ready. Healing Brush. It removes dust, scratches, blemishes, wrinkles, and other flaws with the Healing Brush. Special effect filters. It is easy to experiment and achieve amazing results by accessing more than 95 special effects filters, Preview and apply more than one filter at a time with the new Filter Gallery.   Advanced type control. People can add vector-based text that can be edited at any time, format, warp, convert to outlines, and use for masks or other special effects. Customized workspace. People can work the way that’s best for you by saving personalised workspace and tool settings, and creating customised keyboard shortcuts. Unparalleled efficiency. Users can automate production tasks with built-in or customised scripts and the actions palette which lets users record editing steps to quickly process batches of files. Graphic and Web designers can take advantage of the features that include improved file management, new design possibilities, a way to create for the Web, and support for 16-bit images, digital camera and non-square pixels. This Software can create the highest quality images more efficiently. Task Two (P2) 1. Monitor 2. Printer Monitors: The Company bought 17†³ LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitors. These are flat screen monitors. I believe that the LCD monitors take less desk space but I would suggest that the company change monitors from LCD to CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) because i think CRT monitors are still considered to have a better colour range and are easier to calibrate colour accuracy. These monitors are still very popular in graphic arts where high quality reproduction is important. Benefits: 1. The designs would be seen in better and true colours because most CRT monitors are capable of displaying unlimited colours. 2. It will have better resolution because CRT monitors are usually capable of displaying multiple video resolutions, each with the same quality. 3. There is no concern about the brightness of the monitor. 4. I think it will give a better preview from different angles because a CRT screen can be looked at from a very wide angle, practically from the side. 5. CRT monitors are generally more affordable than LCD monitors. I would suggest them to buy CRT monitors OR buy bigger LCD flat monitor because I think a larger monitor will accommodate all those floating palettes that modern graphic applications have and they will have more room to see the network. They can change from 17†³ to 21†³ a monitor which is an ideal for designers. Benefits: 1. Makes Clicking Easier – it’s easier to click on larger targets. 2. Enhances Readability – It’s easier to read larger fonts. 3. Better proof that it can work and look good – Design is working and looking good. 4. Some of the monitors produce excellent colour quality and they can be moved around for a better landscape and portrait mode. Printers: They already bought a Colour Laser Printer but which is Black and White. These printers are generally quite fast, but they are more expensive. These printers use technology similar to that of a photocopier to create high-quality printout at high speed. They are expensive, however, and they are generally limited to black and white. I would suggest the company to buy a printer which is colour because when looking at a design colour is the most attractive. Benefits: 1. Colour Laser printers replaces toner than cartridges, they are more expensive but it lasts more than a cartridge. 2. Output from the printer would be colourful. A hardcopy of the image can be seen in colour. Task Three (D2) An output for graphics is very important. There are different types of Outputs that can be used for graphics. 1. Monitor 2. Printer 3. Scanner. 4. Digital Cameras 5. Mobile Phones Monitor: A monitor is the screen on which words, numbers, and graphics can be seen. The monitor is the most common output device. Printer: You can print your output on hardcopy devices such as laser printers and plotters. Some printers (daisy-wheel and line printers) can print only text. Other printers can print both text and graphics. Scanner: Scanners will take an image of a drawing or photo and converts them into digital images. Digital Cameras: A digital camera is a device that’s used for taking photographs, like a conventional camera. The image is stored in the camera in digital form. In order to see the pictures, the user connects the camera to the computer and views the images on screen. The pictures can be saved on disk and can also be edited, using a graphics package. Mobile Phones: A mobile phone can be used to take photographs like a digital camera. The image is stored in the phone memory. The user can see the picture by connecting the phone to a computer to view or manipulate. The pictures can be moved from the phone memory to the computer hard disk. Resolution is very important for any type of output device. Resolution Refers to the sharpness and clarity of an image. The term is most often used to describe how well an image matches with the original. The correct resolution for an image is determined by the output device (World Wide Web, Inkjet printer, laser printer, etc). 1. Printer Resolution – Measured by the number of ink dots per inch or (DPI). DPI is dots of ink, toner that is placed on a paper. 2. Scanner Resolution – The correct resolution for a scan is determined by the targeted output device or display. For Example, a scanned image will only be viewed on a computer monitor. 3. Digital Camera Resolution – When deciding on resolution needs, thinking about intended output is important. If digital camera is there only to create images for the web then a one Mega Pixel camera is sufficient. Size Size refers to the physical dimensions of an image. Image can be created by using inches and centimetres and by resolution using pixels. If the picture is for the screens (On a Monitor) then using pixels is a good idea but for printing using inches and centimetres is good. Colour The colour depth of the image is not same as the actual number of colours it contains. The colour depth tells the maximum number of colours the image is capable of containing. Images with the colour depth of 15 million colours look the best because they contain the most colours. However not all devices can display 16 million colours. For Example, GIF images, a popular format for the web (Monitor), can only contain 256 colours. It is very important that we keep in mind what the picture is for and where is it going to be viewed to audience. To improve performance of graphics output, most graphics devices provide some form of buffering. By default, Scheme’s graphics procedures flush this buffer after every drawing operation. The procedures in this section allow the user to control the flushing of the output buffer. When exporting an image for screen outputs, it’s very important what format of the picture is exported. These are few formats that are mostly used for screen and printing outputs. 1. JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) 2. GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) 3. PNG (Portable Network Graphics) 4. BMP (Bitmap) 5. TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) JPEG is designed for compressing either full-colour or Gray-scale digital images of â€Å"natural†, real-world scenes. It does not work very well on non-realistic images and does not handle black-and-white. It is one of the most popular image formats used on the Internet. It can reduce a file’s size by as much as 96%. It is used when 24-bit colour are used and mostly when it is for Internet distribution. GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) It is one of the two most common file formats for graphic images on the World Wide Web. It supports up to 8-bit colour images, and it is optimised for high contrast images and blocks of colours. It uses loss-less compression, GIF supports single colour transparency and animation and it does not support layers or alpha channels. It is used when a single colour transparency needed, when a single file animation is produced for use on the Internet and when the picture have fewer than or acceptable with 256 colours. PNG (Portable Network Graphics) It is a file format designed for the web graphics and is used to transmit and store bit-mapped images. It was created specifically for the Internet and other networks. It supports 24-bit colour with loss-less compression, one alpha channel, alpha transparency, and slightly better compression than GIF. The current generation of net scape Navigator and Internet Explorer may not completely support PNG and previous browsers do not support it at all. It also does not support layers. It is mostly used for high colour alpha transparency and for loss-less compression of high colour images. BMP (Bitmap) This was invented by Microsoft. Many graphics programs running under Windows, which support monochrome up to 24-bit colour formats, use the BMP format. The BMP format does not support image file compression. TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) A TIFF is one of most widely supported file format for storing images on a computer. It can handle a range from one bit to 24 bits of photographic image, but as an older format, images saved as TIFF files tend to be larger than JPEG or . PSD formats. Tagged-Image File Format is a flexible bitmap image format supported by virtually all paint, image-editing, and page-layout applications. Also, virtually all desktop scanners can produce TIFF images. Affects of Output devices:   Colour is most important thing which affects everyone’s eye on any of the output. Monitors: Monitor size will affect the design output because there are designs which look differently when we view by using wide screen monitor rather than normal standard screen.   TRC monitor can harm the eye sight, because of the UV radiation, however LCD monitors aren’t dangerous for the eye sight but if you have a TRC kind monitor you could put a filter to protect the eyesight. Printing: 4. When printing a hardcopy from a printer, the most important thing is that what paper is going to be useful and what printer is required to print out the original design.

Cell phones Positive Effect on Society Essay

The cellphone is one of the defining technologies of the early 21st century, with a December 2012 Pew Internet study showing that more than 87 percent of American adults own at least one. While the negative societal consequences of cellphones have been well documented, it’s also true that they can bring many benefits. Mobile technology allows users to interact with family, friends and colleagues in ways that weren’t possible for previous generations. New Telecom Prepaid Offer 60 mins talk & 5,000 txts Only $19. Plus 500MB Data – Go Big Now! www.telecom.co.nz​/​Prepaid-ValuePack Mobile Commerce Cellphones have become vital tools for consumers, allowing users to obtain information, search for discounts and purchase products directly from their devices. M-commerce is growing rapidly, with an eMarketer study putting U.S. retail sales through mobile devices at $24.66 billion in 2012. In addition, mobile marketing through cellphones allows businesses to engage with their audiences in new ways. This can be especially effective for small businesses, giving them a cost-effective way to reach potential customers. Helps Speech Difficulties The text and instant messaging functions of cell phones can be used to help those who suffer from vocal communication problems. Some conditions, such as certain forms of autism or diseases of the vocal cords, leave individuals able to understand words but unable to vocalize them. Cellphones offer a portable and unobtrusive way to type what they want to say instead of having to say it aloud, with some phones also offering text-to-speech capabilities. Keeping in Touch Cellphones make it easier than ever before to contact family and friends, especially for users who do a lot of traveling. No less than 65 percent of American adults believe that their cellphone makes it a lot easier to stay in touch with the people they care about, according to Pew Internet’s 2012 survey. Cellphone-based services like SMS and instant messaging encourage communication between individuals through their convenience alone, allowing users to stay in more or less constant contact. Emergency Use Keeping a cellphone on you allows you to make 911 calls immediately, with no need to waste time finding a phone to call from. The Federal Communications Commission estimates that 70 percent of 911 calls are made from mobile devices, and recognizes them as an important public safety tool. It has also developed a text-to-911 function, allowing users to request emergency assistance through text in certain circumstances. Even in non-emergencies, for example a car breakdown, cellphones can make requesting help much easier and safer.

Module 6 DQ1 and 2 Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Module 6 DQ1 and 2 - Article Example Such things as antivirus software and password or smart card logons help facilitate this. Data redundancy is backing up necessary computerized information so that it is available elsewhere in the event of a disaster. Most use what is known as a COOP site, an offsite storage area that is reasonably safe from fire, flood, and a myriad of other problems. Because mechanical items fail, data redundancy also can refer to having extra servers and computer equipment available so that the facility can continue to operate (IAHSS 2012). After the devastating effects on healthcare caused by Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina, those administrators would probably agree with this author that redundancy is the most important of the three areas discussed in this paper. HIPAA 1996 and its successor, PPACA 2009 (Obama Care) do tend to place what appears to be a rather large burden on healthcare providers concerning privacy (HHS 2013). However, as described above, the laws as written attempt to help keep providers and patients alike comfortable in the knowledge that necessary personal information (such as social security numbers) is not released to the public, as was the case with the VA employee who lost thousands of SSN’s. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) provides a list of what it refers to as "identifiable patient information†. Although the law allows the use of the information for clinical use, the Act entails strict privacy rules that must be adhered to (HHS 2013). It specifically disallows release of such information, except in those particular circumstances as outlined. This includes what HIPAA refers to as â€Å"demographic† information as that is defined as those statistics or characteristics that define a certain segment of the population. Such items as name, address, Social Security Number, and date of birth are specified, as well as

Strategies for Implementing Accounting Software Systems in Small to Essay

Strategies for Implementing Accounting Software Systems in Small to Medium Enterprises - Essay Example However, formulating and executing implementation strategies for accounting software are important in maximizing the accounting efficiency of an SME. Problem to be Solved and Worth - In this highly developed economy, there is an influx of accounting software packages tailored to the needs of various customers. This wide array of choices leads to the dilemma of picking out the 'right' software system for small to medium business operations which in turn, brings the more difficult issue of crafting implementation strategies for the accounting software. This problem requires intensive research as it provides better understanding of the relationship between accounting efficiency and strategies of software implementation. Idea for Action and Data Outline - First, the researcher will conduct interviews with 10 to 15 SMEs to gather the required data for the study. The interview is expected to generate a list of implementation strategies employed by these companies. Then, the effectiveness of strategies will be evaluated and compared by measuring the SMEs' accounting efficiency based on the data gathered in the interview. For that purpose, the researcher will devise a measuring system with the help of secondary data gathered in the review of literature. ... The result of analysis will be utilized in the final report to recommend implementation strategies which should be executed and should be eliminated in the accounting processes of the SMEs. Context: Setting, Background and Scope The proposed project will be based in the analysis of the accounting efficiency of SMEs contacted for the research. SMEs to be interviewed will come from various industries in the economy. Although time constraints will not allow contacting a large number of SMEs for the research to come up with a more statistically accurate result, the project will be able to identify the most general trends in accounting software strategies. These trends will be processed and analyzed as factors influencing the accounting performance of SMEs, i.e. by looking on their effectiveness. The measuring system developed in this project will particularly reveal the differences in accounting efficiency as a result of the execution of different implementation strategies. Project Strategic IT Value and Intention The result of the proposed research will be presented in the form of a report which analyzes the software strategies employed by SMEs including the recommendations developed during the research. This set of recommendations will be a useful contribution to the general theory of software implementation strategies as it will aid SMEs to develop strategic approaches in choosing suitable accounting software and devising implementation strategies to enhance accounting efficiency. It can be noted that theoretical frameworks have been mainly concentrating in the general benefits of strategic approach to software implementation. For example, Jones (2005) advises small

Strategic management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Strategic management - Essay Example The organization has gained a successful name for its leadership in the management process. Right from its inception the company has shown accelerating growth over the years. William Procter and James Gamble; one being candle maker and the other being a soap producer started a partnership business long back in 1837 in Cincinnati named P&G. The company won a very fruitful contract during the American civil war. The organization was supposed to supply candle and soaps to the Union army during the civil war as per the contract. Gradually working systematically over time the company has gained its giant social appearance. It now engages in the production of beauty, grooming, food and drink and pet care, cloth and habitat care, baby and family unit care segments, health care. As estimated in 2012 the companies operating income is about $13.29 billion (P&G, 2012). It provides large employment opportunities in the economy. Objectives and Mission The company’s mission is to provide go od quality products to the people and improve the quality of their life. This is because by doing so they can achieve leadership sales, value and goodwill in the market. The mission of the company would help its employees and shareholders to prosper in their activities. The company attempts to provide good quality products to the consumers all over the world and help to improve their quality of lifestyle. They trust the fact that their profit, value and fame in the market can be automatically generated, if the consumers have faith in the quality of their manufactured goods (Mullerat, 2011). The company claims to recruit the best employees in the Globe. The employees are rewarded or promoted in the company only on the basis of their performance. This is the sole reason for which all the workers give their 100% to make the company work better over time. Thus one of the most important assets of the values of the company is to think their employees as their assets. The company has keen leadership and ownership qualities. It realizes every step of its business in a strategic pattern. The workers take the assets of the company as their own wealth. The company gives values to perform tasks with integrity and trust. The company works completely with empirical observations and intellectually advocates all its proposals and risks. The company always gives importance to the interests of all the individuals. At the same time the organization separates the interests of the individuals and the company. The company has always claimed to focus on its operations. P&G always gives maximum importance to innovations. The company is always focused externally; it constantly tries to build good customer relations and fine corporate populace. The company follows a motto of ‘be best the best’. They believe that communal interdependence is the best way of existence. The company wants to enhance their core business and make it a global leader. It wants to innovate new brand s. It wants to accelerate its growth all over the world, mainly in the western part of the globe. The organization desires to drive growth in the developing economies. Social Responsibilities of the Company P&G has continually enhanced the

The color purple shades of gender discrimination Research Paper

The color purple shades of gender discrimination - Research Paper Example Even people that have not met before recall good old times like old friends do, and this just shows that nobody, and nothing can ever be too far away. This is something we can all be thankful for, in this modern age of technology. The truth be told, this phenomenon of globalizing just about anything was anything but ordinary, as Alice Walker tells through her story The Color Purple. Written in such a way that highlights the most-likely unheard-of situations in Georgia during the 1940’s, this kind of setting was very much near to what Walker had experienced when she was growing up in Jim Crow South (White). Being the daughter of a sharecropper, and living in a place that has a strong discrimination against African-Americans, she got engaged with the need to be free, just like any other person, regardless of the color of their skin. Through these eyes, Walker was able to show many readers the feelings and situations of African-American women that, aside from the color of their s kin, were also looked down upon by their own people too, because they were females. She herself was a witness to such injustice, because she grew up seeing her father doing it to her mother and her female siblings (Bates). Although many women were already starting to awaken and realize their potentials, their contributions as well as the power of their own thoughts, they were still considered as deviant, in being different from what is considered normal (â€Å"Deviant†). This form of deviance from the picture of being an obedient, quiet and dutiful wife fueled many African-American women’s need to be recognized more or less an equal of men, and thus need a redemption from the common norms, as portrayed in some of Walker’s stories (Bloom). The Color Purple delves into the thoughts and feelings of two sisters, Celie and Nettie, whose bond was so strong that even if their only connection for a very long time was through their letters to one another. Even if they ha ve gone through so much hardship, it was like they never were separated. The whole story was written in such a way that it was narrated through letters exchanged between the two sisters, during the time when Nettie, the younger sister decided to work as a missionary-teacher in a remote part of Africa for a long time, and when her sister Celie was starting to recognize what she actually wants in life. Even though it took a very long time for the two sisters to reconcile, in the end everything came in full circle upon their much awaited meeting. Aside from the struggles of being women in a male-dominated world, the story also shows the different kinds of relationships among kin, friends, and lovers that eventually shape a human being’s personality as a whole. The story began as Celie’s letter to God, because she mustn’t tell anybody about what happened to her, lest she gets killed (Walker 1). She wrote to God how her mother was getting sicker and sicker, how she g ot raped twice by their Pa Fonso, the man whom they thought was their real father, how she bore him a daughter then a son, and both were taken away from her when they were still a few months old. Since what happened, she never had a good relationship with her Pa, or any other man. She just stayed quiet and submissive, even after her Pa had her married to a certain Mr.____, which she chose not to give a name (Walker 6). Although Mr.____ would have wanted to marry Nettie, Fonso decided that since Celie was already spoilt (she already had two children), she would be

Said's Orientalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Said's Orientalism - Essay Example Browne from England used to be an ardent supporter of the constitutional revolution that took place in Iran as well as Louis Massignon with respect to the Algerian movement for the sake of gaining independence and not to forget Hurgronje who used influence which was in favor of a more sensitive and understanding attitude towards those whom the nations were ruled by. Thus for this matter, Hourani has invited all and sundry to reconsider Edward Said's indispensable formulations, theses as well as conclusions and study the relationships that were there between the religion of Islam and the West. The same was however achieved in a more positive manner than the one done by Edward Said. However, from an Orientalism standpoint, it is true that at the level of religious encounter Islam was gravely a problem for the Christians of Europe. Also the fact is there that another and not less important than the same, a similar kind of attitude was at the center of the contact and relations between the Christians and the followers of Islam and at later stages between the secular Europe and the World of Islam, which in essence involved a deep exchange of ideas and beliefs between the people. However, for the duration of the seminal and incisive phase of Islam, a number of illustrious Muslim theologians and thinkers which might include Ali al Tabari, Imam al Ghaza li, and Ibn Hazm started to put into practice major works in an attempt to disprove and contest the central principles and systems of beliefs related to the religion of Christianity.

Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Media - Essay Example the formation of social media and the Internet. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relationship of Media and Middle East and how it has transformed in the past decades. Furthermore, the paper will discuss the emergence of social media as a major forum that has built people’s perspectives during and after the Arab Spring. In order to understand Middle East (the Arab specifically and comprehensively), the relationship of the media and the state’s culture and its politics should be understood. For more than forty years, mass media authority has built the region. Utilizing the numerous communications models, the centralized government of the region has perfectly ruled the mass media. It is evidenced through history that the Middle East had had rough relationships with its media. The Emirs of different Arab states due to Sharia Laws and other reasons shut down numerous media agencies. Despite the freedom given to the media, different media organizations including BBC were closed down in the Middle East as it was against the laws and Islam (Al-Obaidi). However, over the past few years, it has been noticed that the trend is transforming and the acceptance towards media across the Middle East is increasing. The shift has been observed since the beginning of the Arab Spring (Carrington). The events that took place in various countries of the Middle East from 2010 has transformed the way people think and believe. The role of social media in the Arab spring is dominating and its importance can not be denied as various scholars and researchers have shown that many revolutions started through social media i.e. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. (Gelvanovska, Rogy and Rossotto). Despite the fact that these social media forums were banned in many countries of the Middle East for this particular reason, the Arab Spring continued and many governments were brought down

How do the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan affect the U.S. economy, Essay

How do the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan affect the U.S. economy, politics and way of thinking - Essay Example According to many estimates, the cost of the Iraq War has been to the tune of $845 Billion to the US alone. The famous Nobel laureate, Joseph Stiglitz has estimated that the total cost to the economy has been to the tune of $3 Trillion. And he says that this can surpass even the cost of World War II that was around $5 Trillion to the US Economy (Stiglitz 125). It is estimated that the US spends a few billions in dollars everyday in Iraq. Apart from these direct costs, there are indirect costs to the economy that include interest raised on the debt to service the war, the cost of veterans coming home and getting treated for their injuries and the like (Reuters, 2008). There are also other costs that include the replacement of damaged hardware and other machinery. The costs of the Iraq war have exceeded a lot more than what were originally estimated. And if we add the cost of reconstruction and rebuilding the economy, it becomes apparent that the Iraq war has been a nightmare in terms of the financial aspect. This has had severe repercussions on the American economy as we shall see in the next section. The US government resorted to a variety of methods to finance the Iraq War. Primarily, the government encouraged profligate borrowing and reckless lending practices in order to raise the money required for the war. Since the war costs had to be finances, the US government turned to the sovereign wealth funds of the Middle Eastern countries to finance the war. This led to over-reliance on borrowed money and the US has been running huge trade deficits that can only be sustained by the infusion of more and more liquidity into the system. Towards this end, the lending practices became lax and not subjected to oversight and this has led to the sub-prime meltdown in the US (Kevin Philips 75-79). As it is, the dollar is the fiat currency

Personal statement for university Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Personal statement for university - Essay Example Since graduating with a BSc in Accounting from King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, I have progressed up the accounting career. It is my wish now to solidify my understanding of the foundations of finance so as to support my extensive experience and fulfil my dream of undertaking a senior role as a finance manager. Based on my excellent performance in my undergraduate course, Capital Markets Authority of Saudi Arabia (CMA) offered me a sponsorship to study their programme in England, and later offered me a job. I have been working in the Capital Markets Authority since 2009 where, due to my passion for numbers and desire to learn more, I have managed to progressively climb the ladder in the last five years. I started out in a rotation program that gave me a wide exposure to various functions within an authority ranging from corporate finance, internal audit, market supervision, strategy and research and enforcement. While this rotation was a great introduction to the finance world, the limited time in each department left me wanting to know more in some areas. I would therefore like to fill the gaps in my familiarity with corporate finance through further academic studies. The rotation program polished my teamwork skills and oral skills. I am currently working in the Compliance and Anti-Money Laundering Department where one of my roles involve conducting detection and field visits to the listed companies. My involvement in group work has served me well in nurturing my listening skills through hearing the ideas of others to come up with solutions to the problem. My ability to become the leader of the group comes naturally. Prior to this position I was in the market supervision, continuous disclosure and financial statement review unit. This role was invaluable in broadening my accounting skills but left a wanting in me to understand the financial performance and economy of the world. This I would like to satisfy

Evaluating the Research Process Essay Example for Free

Evaluating the Research Process Essay Remote communities face several challenges concerning health care. For instance, communication with health care professionals, transportation, availability of doctors, and shortage of doctors. Literature review to identify and review new methods of improving access to health, quality of care, and improving the effectiveness of delivering health care services in remote Alaskan villages. MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL databases that index health research were used along with Artic health databases. Abstracts and full articles were reviewed and categorized into four sections. Organizational structure of health services, Telehealth, E-health, and medical transportation. â€Å"Despite the challenges facing rural and remote regions, there is a distinctly positive message from this broad literature review. Evidence-based initiatives exist across a range of areas which include operational efficiency and integration, access to care, organizational structure, public health, continuing education and workforce composition that have the potential to positively impact health care quality and health-related outcomes† (Masucci, Mitton, Dionne, 2011). The literature review did not identify any past research associated with new ideas to improve access, quality, and efficiency in the organizational structures and delivery of health care services in northern rural and remote and rural populations. This review was directed toward the redesign of health care systems in Nunavut territory in Canada. When conducting research in an academic or professional setting, it is important to display ethical responsibility throughout the research study. For instance, Researchers conducting the study and collecting data should obtain permission from individuals who are involved in the study in any way. Researchers must ensure subjects involved in the study are not in any physical or emotional harm, such as asking difficult questions or using insensitive words. One very important consideration for researchers to remember when conducting any form of data collection is to be sure to maintain their own personal biases and opinions so they do not get in the way of the research. Research such as questionaries’ or observations should be conducted under the assumption that findings are kept anonymous. It is important to let the research subject know whether the research results will be anonymous or not. Research subjects should be chosen based on what and who will be most beneficial to  the research. And last, when reporting results from the research study the results must be accurately represented from what he or she was told or what you observed. For example, do not discuss parts of observations without putting them in appropriate context. Research has found that telehealth and ehealth has been effective in providing information of health professions with educational opportunities to in these rural populations that would not have been provided without telehealth and ehealth. Therefore, telehelath and ehealth system have a significant impact on improving access and quality care. The research also identified the use of medical air transport when needed services are not available as well as transportation to and from rural and remote regions. The study affirmed the importance of medical air transport in rural and remote regions while indicating such concerns are not unusual. Second, there are no evidence-based guidelines indicating which services to provide in local regions as opposed to having access by medical air transport or procedures in selecting which patients to select for emergency are transported. Currently no framework exists to determine the over or underutilization of medical air transport. Researchers found that the regions with the largest potential impact in remote regions are public health where several programs have been implemented, and analyzed indicating high degree of success. For example, health promotion programs such as alcohol and smoking cessation, obesity, exercise, dental care, hygiene, and suicide prevention. The literature strongly indicates these programs have positive impacts. Therefore, the regions in the research study have opportunity to improve the delivery and organization structure of health care services. This particular research study was not a systematic review. According to Masucci, Mitton, and Dionne (2011) â€Å"The purpose of the article was not to find literature on a wide range of topics but rather to find exemplary articles that could speak to the topics at hand. However, the caution is that while we attempted to provide both sides of any given story, in some cases important papers may have been missed which could suggest important alternative courses of action.† (p. 470). The research team relied on an advisory board that gave advice on their work. Review of only found positive solutions in which history politics, structures, and behavior contribute to improvement the key factor is action ability. This information will be crucial to enhancing care in the targeted regions as well as other  remote and rural regions nationwide. The research study identifies several challenges that northern rural remote regions face. The literature review found several evidence based initiative from operational efficiency, integration, applying telehealth, applying ehealth, organizational structure, public health, continuing education, and workforce composition have potential to have a positive impact on health outcomes in rural and remote northern regions. The only area of research that indicated not to have a positive impact was medical air transport indicating further research is needed. The research study has provided an extensive survey from literate regarding innovations in the organizational structure and delivery of health serveries in northern rural and remote regions. This study did not find any conflicts of interest regarding the improvement of health care in these rural and remote regions. Specific ideas and strategies found to improving access, quality, and efficiency in the organization structure and delivery of health care services in rural and remote northern regions are palliative model, which performed most effective for patients on weekly case conferences, on-call nursing, patient held records, shared protocols, and procedures. Reference: Masucci, L., Mitton, C., Dionne, F. (2011). ) Innovations in health service organization and delivery in northern rural and remote regions: a review of the literature. International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 70(5), 460-472.

Literature Review on Pricing Strategies and Theories

Literature Review on Pricing Strategies and Theories Abstract: This purpose of this research is to study how the organization decides the price for the products. As price is considered has a very high sensitive factor of an organisation. In this study we are going to see the role of Pricing, different methods of pricing and effects of pricing on organisation and consumer behaviour. The pricing is explained with literature review followed by critical evaluation and ends with solution with valid recommendation. Introduction: Customers and determination of price is necessary for every organization. As this both customers and price have a high relation to the demand for products. Even there is a small increase in price levels it will highly affect the demand for the product and the organization profit. The price determines what products/services could be produced and in what quantities. Secondly it determines how to produce and finally whom to produce. There organization should be cautious while altering the price for the goods and services by changing the quantity, quality and by providing premiums or discounts, acceptable form. When there is raise in demand for service will led to increase in prices, which in terms led to concern of public or governmental activity. There are different ways in which the price of the products is determined. These are the foremost strategies that business use like Competition based pricing, Cost-plus pricing, Creaming or skimming, limit pricing, Loss leader, Market-oriented pricing, Penetration pricing, Price discrimination, Premium pricing, Predatory pricing, Contribution margin-based pricing, Psychological pricing, Dynamic pricing, Price leadership, Target pricing, Absorption pricing and Marginal-cost pricing. As their name it explains the method of pricing. Methods: Pricing was considered has a process towards achievement and to face the competitors of business. So that organisation thinks effects of pricing should be the targeted on returns. What method of pricing to be adopted. Whether adopted pricing would attract the customer and maximize the profit of business. Determination of price requires the organisation fully focused on the markets. These strategies should be considered while determining the price for the product. Aims Objectives: The aim of this research is to investigate; whether CRM supports the Marketing Strategies of an Organization. To conduct the literature review on Pricing Strategies To evaluate the methods of pricing theories To analyse the effects of pricing on returns. Literature Review: Customers are important for every organization. Numerous researches had been conducted for determining the method of pricing, which is explained in Literature review, has normally segregated in two divisions. First division will explain about a pervasive context about the, pricing and methods of pricing. The second part of this assessment deals with the previous related studies. Price is a highly sensitive factor of an organization. The standard economic analysis of pricing is based on the customers desire for the product its usually depends up on the income of the customer and other factors like ethnic origin. There are some consumers may pay high prices, while others willing to pay only lower prices. Instead of charging same price to all, the organization decided to charge different price for different customers as it will increase the business profit. This method of pricing is known as price differentiation. In earlier days sellers of perishable goods would sell the old products at low price instead of dumping or taking back home. If the price of competitor product was reduced it is necessary to reduce the price of the product, as it could create loss of customer and market. The pricing based on the competitors is competitive based pricing. The simplest method of pricing is cost-plus pricing. It just calculates cost of producing the product and adds on a percentage of profit to that price. Sacrificing high sales for gaining higher profit. Low volumes at high price. This is suitable for products that have short life cycles. It skims the profit from the market. It is known as market skimming. A monopolist set limit price to discourage others entry in to the market. Limit pricing is illegal in many countries. Loss Leader pricing strategy was illegal under EU and US. They sell the product below the cost, so the loss appears as public interest. It is similar to predatory pricing. Some business set their prices based on the analysis and compiled from the target ed market. This is known as Market-Oriented pricing. The organization set different price for the same product In the different segments to the market. This method is called Price discrimination Psychological pricing strategy the price is designed on the positive psychological impact on customers. For example, price of the product at  £3.95 or  £3.99, rather than  £4. Price leadership is an observation that usually one company would be the dominant competitor among several other companies. They will follow that soon. Target pricing strategy is calculated to produce a particular rate of return on investment for a specific volume of production. It is often used by public utilities and companies with high capital investment. These methods of pricing all the cost incurred are recovered. This is a form of cost-plus pricing. The practice of setting the price of a product to equal the extra cost of producing and an extra unit of output is marginal-cost pricing. The impact of price e lasticity should be considered while deciding the price. The degree of price elasticity focuses on the proportionate changes. The percent of change in price would be something less than the fall in sales is inelastic price. In case of price elastic the percent of change in quantity demanded greater than change in price. Slow inflation rates from other countries economies have led to the need for new approaches of pricing strategies. Five factors to be considered on determining the price are Demand, cost, competitive factors, corporate profit and market objectives and regulatory constraints. Previous Related Study:- Combivir and Trizivir case study â€Å"Some of the more dominant groups with observe to pricing in the HIV market are patient advocacy groups. Distinct patients on other condition, save probably cancer, HIV/AIDS patients are predominantly mobilized and oral when it arrives to treatment. This had guided to the growth of a widespread expanded admittance programs for products in development, and then patient assistance programs for new, costly products. Companies are well aware of the benefits of maintaining a positive relationship with the patient base. Combivir was launched essentially the same price as the some of the components. This not only replicates GSKs desire to make new treatments accessible to patients at a reasonable price, but also that mixture therapy was flattering more widespread and that physicians did not need a discounted price to justify recommendation. However, clearly single-agent therapy is still commonly used, as lamivudine unit sales (not including combinations) continue to be greater than Combivir unit sales. Only around the end of 2002 do lamivudine unit sales begin to decrease. Trizivir was also priced similarly at the some of its components prices, indicating the companys aspiration to keep it available to treatment for immature patients. GSK held Combivirs price the same in most markets when Trizivir was launched. The intension was not to have Trizivir cannibalize Combivir patients. Combivir still had a low price relative to Trizivir which would continue to make it attractive to many physicians. Sales of Trizivir quickly slowed as a result of clinical results showing that the three drugs used in the fixed-dose combination were not as effective as other three product combinations. Combivir has not had similar clinical setbacks and has continued to enjoy strong, but flat, sales.†( Combivir and Trizivir case studies) In this case study Combivirz has adopted the market oriented pricing method and penetration pricing hence it can be able to survive in the market after the tough competition with Trirzivir. Determination of price is considered as important to survive in the market and to gain consumer interest. Borden Company vs. Federal Trade Commission In 1958 the FTC issued a complaint against Borden Company for selling the same products to different customers at a different price and ceased price discrimination on goods. Tom Nagle, Reed Holden, Kent Monroe, Eric Mitchell had trail the price leadership and companies following these ideas but when it is tested with the scientific methods invented like hypothesis does not fetch the expected results. Michael V.Marn, Eric V. Roegner and Craig C.Zawada has analyzed about price wars in the book The Price Advantage explains how to react for the change in price of competitors. They said that make the customers focused on the benefits, do not over spend on advertising, gaining the market share rapidly from one or two competitors. Rapid changes in the market almost set the price war. Do not react until you understand the reason for price cut of competitor. If you dont understand the well delay your response until you understands the facts. Do not react with lower price as it affects the organization. They suggest when there is need in change of price it is necessary to analyze the consequences as it could affect the market and over all organization. â€Å"Thomas Nagle and Reed Holden outline 9 laws or factors that affect buyers price compassion with respect to a given purchase in the book The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing. o Reference Price Effect Buyers price sensitivity for a given product rises the elevated products price relative to apparent alternatives. Perceived alternatives can vary by buyer segment, by occasion, and other factors. o Difficult Comparison Effect Customers are less sensitive to the price of a known / more reliable product so they would have complexity of comparing it to possible alternatives. o Switching Costs Effect The higher product-specific on investment a buyer must make to switch suppliers, the less price responsive that buyer is when decide between substitutes. o Price-Quality Effect customers are less sensitive to price they think higher prices seems higher quality. Products for which this result is particularly relevant. o Expenditure Effect Buyers are more prices sensitive as soon as the expense accounts for a large percentage of buyers obtainable income or budget. o End-Benefit Effect The effect refers to the relationship a given purchase has to a larger overall benefit, and is separated into two parts: Derived demand: The more responsive buyers are to the price of the end benefit, the more responsive they could be to the prices of those products that contribute to that benefit. Price proportion cost: The price amount of cost refers to the percent of the total cost of the end benefit accounted for by a given element that helps to produce the end benefit (e.g., think CPU and PCs). The lesser the given components portion of the total cost of the end benefit, the less sensitive buyers will be to the components price. o Shared-cost Effect The smaller the portion of the purchase price buyers must pay for themselves, the less price sensitive they will be. o Fairness Effect Buyers are more sensitive to the price of a product when the price is outside the range they perceive as â€Å"fair† or â€Å"reasonable† given the purchase context. o The Framing Effect Buyers are more price sensitive when they perceive the price as a loss rather than a forgone gain, and they have greater price sensitivity when the price is paid separately rather than as part of a bundle. Critical Evaluation: The research conducted on the supermarkets the Cost effects all the other coefficients are important and reliable with well-mannered approximate reproduction, representative to contributing extra services produce extra costs bear by the supermarket chains. The approximate limitation for the long-run charge components designate that 0.15% and 0.21% (respectively) of the extra long-run cost for effective food and non-food services is owed to milk sales, while the amount of the additional cost of operating a store that is 1,000 square feet /larger owed to milk sales is 0.13%. Also, although the additional long-run cost module does not collision the short-run marginal cost, at the model averages, for each gallon of milk sold the long-run marginal cost of services is approximate equal to $0.0216 for the in-store services model and $0.0158 for the store-size model. Overall, the results confirm Ellicksons (2006) finding that retailers provide Quality with an augment in fixed costs, followin g Shaked and Suttons (1987) endogenous cost model.( Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management) The estimated marginal collision of retail services on milk prices (at the sample averages). Affects milk prices positively, in constancy with preceding answer (Cotterill 1999; Bonanno and Lopez 2004). spotlight on the in-store services model results first, food services show a marginal price-increasing effect roughly one-third that of non-food services. While the consequence of non-food services on milk prices is mainly due to marginal cost changes, the effect of food services is mainly due to market power. It should be noted that there are considerable economies of scope produce by increases in food services.( Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management) A limitation of the analysis offered in this article includes dependence on strong supposition based on the nature of supermarket competition. Prospect research might expand the analysis by comforting the short-run monopoly postulation to unscramble the communications between strategic pricing and service provision. Another noticeable limitation is the use of burly functional forms used for the demand and cost functions. The use of more elastic functional forms, although hard to apply with the available data. ( Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management) First, the study was limited to one service setting and one customer segment. Additionally study transversely other services that apply revenue management and other customer segments is needed to institute the simplify aptitude of our conclusion. Secondly, the data used in the revise were obtained from an existing survey database. Research using review instruments specially intended for a field study should also be carry out to determine the robustness of the results. Finally, the study did not, nor was it planned to; detain all of the qualifications of revisit meaning. In particular, there may be extra factors power the relationship between price and customers return intentions. An attractive research area to believe is role of customer discernment of value in the price-return intentions relationship. The effect of affective commitment on the price-return intentions relationship also merits examination. (Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management Vol. 7, 4 357-369) the steps needed to appropriately implement the strategies: breaking down pricing decisions by region or by customer segment; constructing result on rigid data filter during complex software; basing optimal prices on inventory positions, offering manufacture capacity, demand predictions and aggressive market conditions; and creating â€Å"sense and respond† mechanisms that allow them to test often and react fast. Conclusion: The pricing strategy is considered as the success factors for the organization. Now we know the consequences of pricing decision are likely to have on customers purchasing behaviours—and on financial performance, regionally or globally, short term and long term. They could plan more assertively for the potential on more calculated risks and creation of fewer guesses. Finally, effective pricing is the most excellent way to make the major difference in earnings while conserving unit sales and market share. It is, in effect, the last major step on the path to high performance. References: †¢ The price is right . . . isnt it? Greg Cudahy and George L. Coleman †¢ Competition effects of supermarket services Alessandro Bonnanno and Rigoberto A.Lopez †¢ The effect of price on return intentions:Do satisfaction and reward programme membership matter? Breffni M. Noonen and Daniel J. Mount 2008 Palgrave Macmillan, 1476-6930 Vol. 7, 4 357-369 Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management †¢ The price advantage By Michael V. Marn, Eric V. Roegner, Craig C. Zawada †¢ Pricing on purpose: creating and capturing value By Ronald J. Baker

Human Resources as an important asset for companies

Human Resources as an important asset for companies The human resources are the most important assets of an organization. The success or failure of an organization is largely dependent on the caliber of the people working therein. Without positive and creative contributions from people, organizations cannot progress and prosper. In order to achieve the goals or the activities of an organization, therefore, they need to recruit people with requisite skills, qualifications and experience. While doing so, they have to keep the present as well as the future requirements of the organization in mind. Recruitment and selection, as a part of effective Human Resource Management is the key to achieving a competitive advantage for an organization. Nowadays, one of the most important concerns for all the business is that of people. The emphasis is on having the right people in the right place at the right time (Lanz, 1988). Seeking new employees is an essential element for each employer, not only in organisations where particular emphasis is placed on the companys human resources policy. Each employer wants to hire the most appropriate candidate for the job who not only has the right qualifications but whose personality will blend in well with the companys structure. The choice of the right people to form a team in organization is one of the most important factors leading to its success. Hence, to achieve this, a company has to pay a huge attention on the recruitment and selection process. Effective recruitment and selection procedures are vital in attracting and retaining high quality staff so every company should take them deeply into consideration. Moreover, human errors are much more expensive in comparison to such assets as land and capital, and often result in serious irreversible consequences. Here I need to add what are the goals of this dissertation I thinkà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.and what Ive included in a first chapter, secondà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION Definitions of recruitment and selection Conducting business activities and competition between companies in developing international markets show, that Human Resource Management is the source of permanent competitiveness in contemporary business. This domain is not a single, simplified function, but a group of plans, systems, tools, processes and services. Each of these elements provides huge possibilities for profit, provided that one can use effective solutions in exploiting them. As the field of Human Resource Management has strongly changed in recent years, organizations were obligated to become more dynamics and complex. John Storey (2001, p.6) says that It is human capability and commitment, which in the find analysis distinguish successful organization from the rest. This sentence is essential to understand the fundamental tensions and ambiguities associated with Human Resource Management. People are non-material assets of a company and due to their importance have a strategic function. For that reason, recruitment and selection process should be permanent implicated and developed in company structures. According to Pilbeam Corbridge (2006) recruitment and selection process is based on action between applicant and job, which is dependent on stating a need by an organization, using the most appropriate recruitment and selection techniques and on reviewing, evaluating and modifying the recruitment and selection system in the light of experience. Bratton Gold (2003) defined recruitment like a process of generating a pool of capable people to apply for employment to an organization. Furthermore recruitment is a process of attracting individuals on a timely basis, in sufficient numbers and with appropriate qualifications, developing their interest in an organization and encouraging them to apply for jobs within it (Mondy Noe, 1993; Crawford, 2004). During this process, efforts are made to inform the applicants fully about the selection criteria of the required competencies that will lead to effective performance, as well as career opportunities the organization can provide the employee. Whether or not a particular job vacancy will be filled by someone from within, or outside, the organization depends on the organizations human resource policies, the requirements of the job to be filled, the talent to be found and, often, the organizational politics surrounding the decision (Nankervis et al., 2002). Beardwell (1994, p.192) als o indicates that the process of recruitment has two important purposes. Firstly, recruitment should focus on both attraction and retention of the interest of applicants suitable for a given job. Secondly, it should create a positive image of the organization in the eyes of people who come in contact with it. Newell and Shackleton (2000, p.113) define recruitment as the process of attracting people who might make a contribution to the particular organization. The importance of the recruitment function is clear when one realizes that by hiring the most competent applicants the firms performance can be significantly enhanced. In the course of this stage, it is the employer who must encourage the best candidates to apply for a position in the company. Selection is the process of selecting candidates who have relevant qualifications to fill jobs in a company (Mathis, R., 1991, p. 209). For the employer it is a stage during which decisions are made on who is the most appropriate of all the job applicants. The key point of selection is how to make fair and relevant assessment, which indicates strengths and weaknesses of applicant (Boxall P., Purcell J., 2003, p.141). Conversely, the quotation by Townley (1999, p.97) defines the notion of selection in that (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) by definition, it involves a process of discrimination, and the opportunity for managers to emphasize employee acceptability or the good bloke syndrome, rather than suitability residing in task-based criteria. It is a much diversified process: it may be short and simply boil down to reviewing and closely reading job application documents, and hiring a person. Or it may be a longer process also including a job interview and other techniques aimed at finding the best people. Pilbeam Cordbridge (2006) assert that good recruitment and selection is important element of the HR strategy, its forecasting requirements and a key to getting the appropriate people to attain a business goals. Moreover, recruitment and selection is a necessary element of people resourcing strategy, due to communicated policies, procedures and practices can considerably play a part in effective organizational performance, (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) to good employee relations and to a positive public image (Pilbeam Corbridge, 2002). Both the activities are directed towards obtaining suitably qualified employees. Recruitment activities lay the groundwork for the selection process by providing the pool of applicants from whom the selectors may choose. Although, the two activities are closely connected, each requires a separate range of skills and expertise, and may in practice be fulfilled by different staff members. Recruitment and selection are the most important activities in an ongoing cir cle (shown in Fig.1.1) of an organisation as a whole. Figure 1. Recruitment and selection in an organization (Pilbeam Corbridge 2006, p.143) Inappropriate selection and recruitment decisions can have a range of undesirable consequences for the organization and the recruit, including: reduced organizational effectiveness, invalidate reward and development strategies, unfair for the person applying for job and higher rates of turnover. Recruitment and selection are one of the most fundamental elements of the strategy of human resources managing. A wise choice of employees plays a key role in the functioning of an organization. Framework: Recruitment Selection Recruitment and selection are works of the same system and they are so closely connected, although as Foot Hook (cited in Rayner Smith, 2005 p.121) suggest that each requires a separate range of skills and expertise, and each function may in practice be fulfilled by different staff members, or indeed the recruitment function, but not normally the selection decision, may be outsourced to an agency, so it makes sense to treat each function separately, but Pilbeam Corbridge (2006) note that they are not mutually exclusive functions. Hence is many approaches to recruitment and selection tend, however they distinguish that a system has inputs, which are the candidates, a processing unit, which consists of various methods and techniques and outputs, which are also effective employees or candidates, who go back to the labour market and are or eliminate by the recruiters or choose to exit from the process. As Figure 1.2 shows, the recruitment and selection process and techniques are influ enced by the external factors like legal framework, economic situation, social and demographic changes, competitor activity, labour market characteristics and has some sub-systems to it which are interdependent to each other, changes in one will effects the others and also the quality of output. According to Pilbeam Corbridge (2006) theory the systems approach gives an analytical skeleton and allow diffusion through the selection and recruitment sub systems, which are: attraction, reduction, selection and transition. Whereas Kochan Barocci model (cited in Beardwell, Holden Claydon, 2004) point out that organizations have life cycles, and that recruitment, selection and staffing policies vary according to an organizations perceived stage in the cycle. While Goold and Campbell conclude that human resource strategies depend on management profile, whether is it strategic planning, financial control or strategic control (ibid.). Furthermore Anderson and Shackleton (1998, p.15) notice that recruitment and selection as a system is (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) comprised of a series of inter-related components. Important observation about the maxim of chronological dependency, says that it can only be as accurate as decision made in early stage to pre-screen down number of applicants. They emphasize that assessment techniques should predict and also affect on the future performance of employee. It is important here, to say that Human Resource Planning (HRP) is connection between strategic business planning and strategic Human Resource Management. This connection is the most visible in the recruitment and selection of specific numbers of employees with particular abilities, which match to companys requirements. This view made by Paul Iles (2001, p.139) shows why employees, as the most valuable assets in company, should be align to strategic business plan. Nowadays is a lot of variations in recruitment and selection practices, reflecting an organizations strategy and philosophy towards the management of people. That is why many organizations developed frameworks, which allowed them approve a variety of selection and recruitment techniques in order to identify and confess the right people (Bratton, J. Gold, J., 2003, p. 223). Figure 2. The System Approach to recruitment and selection (Pilbeam Corbridge, 2002), p. 115. Process of recruitment and selection Recruiting is an extremely complicated process consisting of many phases. Before recruiting, the company needs to proceed with planning phase. Each organization thus must consider a number of important steps in the planning phase. Firstly it should forecast human resource needs, than specifies job requirements as well as identifies and uses appropriate recruitment channels (Beaumont, P., 1994, p. 57). When planning to recruit one should also include: discussions with clients to predict future hiring needs; maintenance of a contacts network (candidates, employees, competitors); development and maintenance of a strong employee referral program; investment in recruiter training and development; cooperation with management to ensure adequate budget (American Management Association International, Aug 2006, p.10). The command to start the recruitment process comes from senior managers and should be based on a review of the situation to determine that recruitment actually exists. It means, that it should be made recognition of the needs for new human resource. To minimize the risk of wasted money, job analysis should be well done. For the first, job description should be written very carefully. A job description makes it possible for the recruiter to outline what duties, responsibilities and the reason behind the vacancy i.e. expansion, member of staff retires, and the position within th e structure of the organization (Beardwell, I., 1994, p. 195). The first step in the development of a job description is to establish the purpose and general objectives of the post, and then to analyse the requirements of the job. This process is called job analysis, and is particularly important in circumstances where you are preparing a job description for a new or significantly changed post. Job analysis helps to clarify the duties, responsibilities and other job demands. It also helps to identify the skills, abilities and experiences that someone would need to possess to be able to perform satisfactorily in the role (UCD Staff Manual, August 2005, p. II). The process of writing a job description can be very time consuming, especially if company dont provide any system for job analysis. This involves other co-worker from department in context to collect essential information about business nature and actual duties. To accurately recruit candidates, the second part of job analysis personnel specification is required (Beardwell J., 1994, p.195). Person specification is amongst one of the important factor of recruitment and selection that comes after the job analysis and job description as it relates to the person doing the job. Job analysis is the first stage of the whole recruitment and selection process and everything else is built upon it. It aims at finding out what is involved in the job that is now vacant. The effects of a mistake at this point are likely ricochet throughout all subsequent stages whereas job description involves the task and the scope of the job. The person specification profile is the people characteristics required to do the job effectively. The fact that an employer draws up a person specification demonstrates an attempt to introduce some objectivity into what can otherwise be very subjective process. Rather than relying on personal judgements about the knowledge, skills and qualities the successful candidate should possess, the emp loyer with a person specification is following much more methodical and reasoned process. The person specification can be included with the information sent to the candidates to give them more detail about the requirements. It is a good practice to design and send to candidates a form showing each requirement and how it will get assessed (Foot Hook, 2005). Two well-established systems of person specification frameworks discussed by Beardwell and Claydon (2004, p. 205) are (Roger, 1952) seven-point plan and (Munro Fraser, 1954) similar five point plan, illustrated in Table.1.1 and 1.2. It is important to be as precise as possible about the skills, knowledge, qualifications and attributes that are required for the job and about the experience and personal characteristics that are needed. It is good practice to specify what is essential or the minimum required to perform the job, as well as what is desirable. It is also necessary to think about the context of the job and the wider org anisational requirements to specify any elements of person-organisation fit that are important. Munro Fraser (1954) Impact on others: physical make up, appearance, speech, and manner Acquired qualifications: education, vocational training, work experience Innate abilities: quickness of comprehension and aptitude for learning Motivation: individual goals, consistency and determination in following them up, success rate Adjustment: emotional stability, ability to stand up to stress and ability to get on with people Table 1. Person specification framework (ACAS cited in Beardwell Claydon, 2004). Rodger (1952) Physical make-up: health, appearance, bearing and speech Attainments: education, qualification, experience General Intelligence: Intellectual capacity Special Aptitudes mechanical, manual dexterity, facility in use of words and figures Disposition: acceptability, influence over others, steadiness, dependability, self-reliance Circumstances: any special demand of the job, such as ability to work unsocial hours, travel abroad Table 2. Person specification framework (ACAS cited in Beardwell Claydon, 2004). When the process of job analysis has been completed and clearly identified, the next step in recruitment process is to attract quantity of suitable applicants with desired features. Company should consider some factors, like companys budget, level of vacancy, time and selection technique in order to choose the right way in recruitment process. Larger companies generally have a larger budget and are more able to find the best candidates for the job. Effective use of recruitment tools depends on the available budget. This due to the fact that recruiting is expensive and the more selection techniques used the higher the cost to the company, but in doing this the company has a better chance of finding the best candidate. The cost of recruitment and selection is not the only cost the company has to include in its calculation searching new candidates. The other costs the organization should take into consideration are costs of training selected candidates to undertake contributing role to the organization as well as the costs of recruiting and selecting the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾wrong person (Cornelius, N., 1999, p. 29). Every company should adapt recruitment and selection costs to its policy, capabilities and vacancy and on this basis consider if to recruit internally or externally. Furthermore the level of vacancy is another one of the factors a company should consider before choosing a specific method of recruitment and selection. The decision making process is stipulated by individual needs of a company. In order to start the process of recruitment a company should have free vacancies. In fact, managers should decide if a free capacity either proves to be a job opportunity for a potential employee or whether there is an alternative option to resolve the situation. Hence, recruitment and selection processes should not be taken, when there is another opportunity, like reassigning the task to other employees or automated task, so than human resource are no longer required. We need to notice, that the higher level of vacancy provides more sophisticated methods of recruitment (Newell, S., Shackleton V. 2001, p. 25). Another concerning question a company should frankly answer is what kind of selection technique they need to apply, i.e. the one which may facilitate effective employment. A company should frankly answer the question concerning the kind of selection technique they may need to apply, i.e. the one which may facilitate effective employment. Bratton (2003, p.227) notes that appropriate selection technique should recognize the way in which people differ and must be extended to a prediction of performance in the workplace. The twenty-first century organization of work has lost a variety of available methods which give credibility to techniques that attempt to measure peoples attitudes and overall personality. The literature on the subject of organization differentiates between many selection techniques. The basic methods like application form or curriculum vitae are rudimentary to employment interviews. This phase of recruitment process is called pre-screening candidates, which will help t o reduce the numbers of unsuitable candidates and to apply more detailed methods of assessment. After pre-screening is time for candidate assessment. An extensive range of assessment methods is currently available to the recruiter like : biodata, assessment centre, work sample, references are very useful and reliable. Nevertheless the use of interviews is still the most popular selection method in the world. Branine (2008) founds interviews to be the main part of the selection process and that there had been awareness of the danger of subjectivity in the conduct of interviews. To avoid such danger, Gabb (1997, p. 64) argued that companies often prefer an interview panel of two or sequential interviews with different people. A recent comparative study of six countries found that the interview was one of the most popular selection methods. Despite, interviews being reported very often to be subjective and unreliable. It seems that the face-to-face contact with the applicant and the po ssibility of assessing the candidates social and communication skills are the main advantages of the interview, and hence the main reason for using it. While the trio of application form, interview and references is still popular, there have been further developments in incorporating those with the use of assessment centers which has been reported to be in the increase (Branine, M., 2008). Assessment centers are described by Pilbeam Corbridge (2006, p. 157) as useful in penetrating behaviors relating to interpersonal relationships, leadership, influencing ability, sociability, competitiveness, self-motivation, tolerance, persuasiveness, and decisiveness. Assessment centers have become popular venues for the selection of candidates, the identification of their potentials and the assessment of their training and development needs. The number of multinational companies from the USA has increased, more and more large companies are using a variety of tests ranging from ability to aptitude, personality and intelligence, especially those companies who receive a large number of applications and those needing more skilled employees. But as Marchington Wilkinson (cited in Beardwell, I., Holden, L. Claydon, T., 2004) quote none of the techniques, irrespective of how well they are designed and administered, is capable of producing perfect selection decisions that predict with c ertainty who is or who is not bound to be a good performer in a particular role. Figure 1.3 shows the accuracy of selection methods. According to Beardwell et al. (2004) the enlargement in using assessment centers and selection testing like a more accurate methods, can help to improve the effectiveness of the selection process. Though, assessment centers are believed to be the most influential selection method in organizations, but still the higher percentage of the firms considering interviews to be the most important selection method. However, doubts about accuracy push employers to approve the interview formats or supplement the interview with the other selection methods such as tests or work simulation (Beardwell et al., 2004). Data about accuracy of various types of selection techniques covers large differences within each technique. It needs to be considered in that point reliability and validity, but the detailed aspects of these two key criteria, which are already mentioned, are going to be explained in the following part of this dissertation. Table1.3 The predictive accuracy of selection methods Source: Anderson and Shackleton cited in Beardwell et al. (2004, p. 216)) Selection methods concept of validity reliability Reliability and validity, as statistical concepts, are very important for selection methods. Reliability is a link to the extent to which a selection technique achieves consistency in measuring. The statistical analysis normally provides a coefficient reliability. In summary of results, the higher will be coefficient (that is, the closer it is to 1.0) the more dependable the technique (Bratton J., 2003, p.235). Figure 3 shows the validity, estimated by meta analyses, of many selection methods. Good selection methods must meet four basic requirements: practicality, sensitivity, reliability and validity (Price, A., 2000, pp. 148-149). Practicality of the selection method means that it should meet the constraints of cost and time, whereas sensitivity focuses on distinguishing one candidate from another. Reliability of the method can be considered in three aspects: test-retest reliability the duration should not have an impact on the score when doing the same tests; inter-rater reliability the same scores should be given by different interviewers; internal consistency different questions measuring the same competence should give comparable results. Equally, validity has also three aspects: face validity tests are more acceptable when candidates find relevant questions; construct validity and predictive validity how well the suitability of candidates for the position is predicted (Price A., 2000, p. 149). It is possible to make a credible selection decision when the requir ed criteria are clearly marked out. If the criteria are not made clear it will be difficult to make an appropriate decision and will also be difficult to validate the selection process (Torrington, D., 2005, p.142). According to the study of Levy-Leboyer mentioned in the Cornelius book (1999, p. 39), the validity of many selection methods is debatable and that is why they should be used with care. As the high validity the following selection methods are thought: work sample, aptitude test, assessment centre and cognitive test. Medium validity has bio data, and the low validity: references, interviews, personality tests, whereas graphology and astrology do not have any validity (Cornelius N., 1999, pp. 39-40). Moreover validity studies carried out by Taylor (1998) and referred to by Armstrong (2006) found conventional interview methods to be questionable and suggested that alternative selection methods such as biographical data, assessment centres and work tests are more accurate methods of selection. While many studies in recent years have raised concern about selection and validity, the most widely used methods remain the classic trio application form, interview, and references (Taylor 2001). Early research showed that unstructured interview did not have high validity, so as to improve its validity interview should be more structured. It means that all applicants are asked the same questions and the same dimensions are used to assess applicants. Structured interviews should potentially increase the quality of decisions made (Newell, S., 2001, p. 33). However, according to Heffcutt Arthur (1994, pp. 184-190) improving the structure of interview does not increase validity. The question remains therefore, that if these methods are among the least valid, why are they still so popular? Armstrong (2006) suggests it is the comfort factor and that recognition needs to be given to the fact that both interviewers and interviewees like them and have grown to expect them. This is also known as mentioned before face validity. He also suggests that most interviewers / organisations may not be aware of what the research suggests. When compared with other selection methods, the classic trio is relatively low-cost and provides the opportunity to have a face to face meeting. In examining selection methods, Armstrong (2006) further suggests that too much innovation in selection methods may turn prospective candidates off. While some organisations may see this as a form of de-selection, the danger is that potentially high calibre and not just the less suitable candidates may be turned off by lengthier and more drawn out selection processes; even if they are more valid. However, Cornelius argues that using different methods of selection can increase the certainty of selecting the right applicant in a fair way (1999, p. 40) Figure 3 is based on Schmidt and Hunters (1998) review and shows the validity, estimated by meta analyses, of many selection methods. Source: Schmidt, F. L., Hunter, J. E. (1998). The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research .Findings. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 262-274.