Literature Review †Mnes, International Business and Country Risk Essay

Introduction This review is written to give readers a understanding of the meaning of Country risk Management, International Business and Small and Medium sized Businesses. When business or institutions engage in international lending or cross-border exposures, they undertake not only the customary risk but also country risk, which is the risk associated with the economic, social and political conditions within a foreign obligator’s home country/jurisdiction. Therefore the understanding of Country Risk Management is of importance. International business is a term used to describe all commercial transactions of private and governmental institution on sales, investments, logistics, and transportation that take place between two or more regions, countries and nations beyond their political boundary. In the world the importance of international Business keeps growing. This review will provide information on what the meaning is of international Business and it will give the reader a better understanding of International business, the driving forces of International Business and explain about the restrictions that play a role. Regarding Small and Medium sized enterprises. This will give readers a view on in what accept they operate which companies are considered SMEs and what role they play in the world. This will also show you the difference between SMEs and MNEs. Country Risk Management When you look at the definition of Country Risk Management, it refers to taking account of the possibility that economic and political conditions, or an event in a foreign country, could adversely impact an institution’s or business in that country. The institutions that works in those countries in international lending or having other cross border exposure are vulnerable to country risk and you have to take that as a country risk manager in account. â€Å"Country risk is not limited to an institution’s international lending operations; rather because their other on balance sheet activities and as well as off balance sheet exposures also contain country risk.† [5] When looked at businesses or institutions that outsource internationally, such as electronic data processing, electronic banking or any consultancy/management services, with overseas parties that are involved, this also carries country risk. Institutions are indirectly exposed to country risk as a result of their exposure to domestic entities that have significant cross border exposures, these institutions are not required to take into account such exposures in their formal country risk management process. However, such indirect country risk assessment pertains to credit risk management and banks are expected to give due consideration to this aspect while taking an exposure on such domestic entities. Institutions can exercise little direct influence on the country risk they are exposed to. This distinctive nature of country risk necessitates that banks having significant cross border risk exposure should have adequate country risk management framework. The term â€Å"country† in country risk management should be widely interpreted to include different jurisdictions or economic entities. For example, when you look at China, you should treat the Mainland China, Hong Kong and Chinese Taiwan as separate jurisdictions / economic entities in their country risk management processes. [6] â€Å"Country risk can be broadly classified into sovereign, transfer/convertibility and contagion risk. * Sovereign risk denotes a foreign government’s capacity and willingness to repay its direct and indirect (i.e. guaranteed) foreign currency obligations. * Transfer/Convertibility risk arises if changes in government policies, or any event, result in a barrier to free conversion or movement of foreign exchange across countries. Under such conditions, a borrower may not be able to secure foreign exchange to service its external obligations. * Where a country suffers economic or political problems, leading to depletion of its foreign currency reserves, the borrowers in that country may not be able to convert their funds from local currency into foreign currency to repay their external obligations. Contagion risk refers to the possibility that any adverse economic or political factor in one country has an impact on other countries in that region. â€Å" International Business International business is a term used to describe all commercial transactions of private and governmental institution on sales, investments, logistics, and transportation that take place between two or more regions, countries and nations beyond their political boundary. Private companies mostly do such transactions for beneficial reasons; governments also do them for profit and also for political reasons. International Business is not a new phenomenon, trade across the globe is as old as business itself. Today, every nation has increasing number of companies buying and selling goods in the international market place. A number of developments around the world have helped to fuel this activity. â€Å"Some of the major forces driving International Business are – LPC Movement, MNCs, Technology, World economic trends, regional economic integration, Transportation and communication improvements, product development costs, competition†. [3] International Business has gained wide popularity, because of the growing rate of multinational enterprises. During the last-three decades, the field of modern International business began to develop. Today, it has become a separate field of study in the management courses. The reasons to study this subject are, because almost all of the large enterprises in developed countries are international in character. Due to the economic liberalization and globalization, immense international business opportunities have been created. In most companies the manager needs to have knowledge about international business for managing complexities and understanding the various factors. Now a days public policy issues are very often related to international trade, investment and finance. There is no country that can neglect the foreign trade sector, when drawing up its economic policies. In business rules are highly diverse and unclear within International business. There are many languages and differences in culture, varied financial climate, patriotism hinders, multiple currencies and taxation system, integrative approach to study, product planning & development according to foreign markets, multiple & unstable marketing environment. Control of business activities is within International Business is difficult. International business is a wide concept and it encompasses a varied activity that makes its scope even wider. With the advent of the LPG Movement, the global Market place has shrinked and became one platform for conducting market activities, creating a wide range of operations and activities under its. There are several forces that restricts international business crossing the borders of the nation is not an easy task, as one has to face many barriers on various fronts. â€Å"Some of the restricting forces of IB are – Management Myopia, National Controls, High Investment required, Trade Blocs, Exchange Instability, and Technological Piracy†[3] International Business is an extension of domestic business. Today, all types of business enterprises are inspired to carry on business across the globe. Both IB & DB are similar in some ways, such as Business whether domestic or international, involves buying and selling of goods and services, Profit is the main objective of every business, whether domestic or international, Both in domestic as well as IB success depend upon satisfying the customers, Building goodwill is another common objective of both the business, Research and development for product improvement and adaption is necessary in both businesses, Business concepts, processes and principles are universally applicable, and the marketer’s task is same in both.[3] Small and medium sized enterprises Institutions recognize small and medium enterprises also known as SMEs, as companies whose personnel numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation â€Å"SME† is used in the European Union and by international organizations such as the World Bank, the United Nations and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Small enterprises outnumber large companies by a wide margin and also employ many more people. SMEs are also said to be responsible for driving innovation and competition in many economic sectors. [2] There is also an important variation of called a multinational enterprise also known as MNE. That is a company that has a worldwide approach to markets and production with operations in more than one country. An MNE is often called multinational corporation (MNC) or transnational company (TNC). Well known MNCs include fast food companies such as McDonald’s, Burger King etc., vehicle manufacturers such as General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Toyota, consumer electronics companies like Samsung, LG and Sony, and energy companies such as ExxonMobil, Shell and BP. Most of the largest corporations operate in multiple national markets. Areas of understanding within MNE of within this topic include differences in the legal systems, political systems, economic policy, language, accounting standards, labor standards, living standards, environmental standards, local culture, corporate culture, foreign exchange market, tariffs, import and export regulations, trade agreements, climate, education and many more topics. Each of these factors requires significant changes in how individual business units operate from one country to the next. [2] The conduct of international operations depends on companies’ objectives and the means with which they carry them out. The operations affect and are affected by the physical and societal factors and the competitive environment. Conclusion This review tries to give readers a better understanding on â€Å"Country Risk Management†, â€Å"International Business† and â€Å"Small and medium sized enterprises†. In addition, information from previous publications that are related is used to strengthen the topics that are being discussed. The paper starts with the definition of explaining the known understanding of Country Risk Management and continues explaining International Business and Small and medium sized enterprises. This shows you what importance these subject have and what role they play on multinationals and for you working in multinationals Source: [1]http://www.ncr.org.za/pdfs/Literature%20Review%20on%20SME%20Access%20to%20Credit%20in%20South%20Africa_Final%20Report_NCR_Dec%202011.pdf [2]http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/files/sme_definition/sme_user_guide_en.pdf [3] http://www.gurukpo.com/admin/bookpdf/57.pdf [4]http://www.uscib.org/docs/international_business.pdf [5] http://www.sbp.org.pk/bsd/2004/Anex-C3.pdf [6]http://www.amcm.gov.mo/rules_and_guidelines/laws/bank/En_Av_08_2008.pdf [7]http://www.prenhall.com/behindthebook/0131738607/pdf/CKR_Why_We_Wrote_This_Book.pdf

Distance Education Versus Face-to-Face Learning Essay

December 1 , 2009 Persuasive Essay – Game Theories Has Virtual Reality Taken Things Too Far? Distance Education versus Face-to-Face Learning In Clive Thompson’s â€Å"Game Theories†, the author illustrates how virtual worlds, such as Everquest and Second Life, have surprisingly become much like the real world. Everquest is an online virtual reality video game that allows individuals to create fictional characters to â€Å"generate goods as they play, often by killing creatures for their treasure and trading it† (Thompson 332). This has created an economy-like setting in he game but has eventually evolved to leak into the real world economy by exchanging real money for the purchase of virtual characters and their winnings. Thompson’s article shows how the line between virtual reality and real world reality often becomes blurry, encouraging people to consider ways where virtual technology can enhance and possibly replace the current systems already in place. However, not everything done through computers and virtual technology are as effective as one thinks. Sometimes, the traditional way of doing things are perfectly fine and more effective Just the way they are. Distance education, in particular, is a phenomenon that has been a growing popular alternative to traditional face-to-face education. I am here to argue that learning behind a computer at home cannot effectively replace the traditional face- to-face education offered at colleges and universities. Difficulty in self-directed learning and instructional misunderstandings can occur in any online course, a lack of a set schedule allows for distractions and procrastination, non-existent interaction inhibits growth and learning, and the probability of cheating is greater among online tudents versus campus students. Although there are many people who favor the online-learning alternative, this paper will challenge their confidence and counter- arguments on the issue. Distance education can be quite difficult. There are several courses that have concepts that can be quite tricky and complicated to understand, especially if one is learning on their own using a textbook. Shelia Tucker, an assistant professor at East Carolina University, stated that â€Å"students learn far too little when the teacher’s personal presence is not available because the student has far more to learn from he teacher than texts† (par. 2). For example, an accounting teacher can easily explain the advanced calculation of earnings per share and diluted earnings per share through the use of their own methods and organizational charts. Learning the same topic but reading texts from a course book can be quite challenging without a teacher to provide tips and tricks for remembering the formulas. As I am an accounting student aspiring to be a CGA, I am tremendously afraid of entering their factors influencing completion and non-completion of community college online ourses, â€Å"students indicated that online learning did not fit their learning style preference. Comments were received from students that they could not get a response from their instructor, the materials were not available, and the course was confusing† (Aragon & Johnson 155). Because of the difficulty experienced in online courses, â€Å"some community colleges are reporting drop-out rates 20% higher than in face-to- face classrooms† (Aragon & Johnson 146). Another drawback of online learning is the lack of a set schedule. Without a fixed timetable, the opportunity for distractions and procrastination often presents itself. These online courses require motivation and self-discipline to complete the courses and programs in a timely manner. This will be especially hard for those who tend to procrastinate and need the extra push from teachers to complete the work or require constant reminders of assignment due dates and examination dates. Because the online courses are quite flexible, these courses can often be put on the â€Å"backburner†, because the students are aware that some of these courses are self-paced. One major downfall of distance education is non-existent interaction that results from learning and working behind a computer. Communication with the teacher is limited to text correspondences and even replies to the emails may be delayed. Comparing this scenario to a classroom course, questions are answered and uncertainties are clarified immediately after the teacher is asked. There is no personal attention given to students and these learners are expected to find their own resources for completing assignments. Not only is interaction limited with teachers, but interaction with other students is limited as well. Randy S. Hanson, Ph. D. , made a point that the only interaction with classmates are through email, chat ooms and discussion boards. Parties and offline get-togethers [were] rarely experienced among online students (par. 17). In her article about the controversy of distance education, Roda Joanna Abaya asserts that â€Å"students do not learn only on formal and educational conversations. As social beings, it is important that they too interact with others and have informal talks or converse with lighter topics† (par. 8). Another concern that Abaya has about distance education is the lack of hands-on training in online courses (par. 7). Interaction with people and objects are vital in the earning process and because of these missing components in online courses, the effectiveness of education falls short when compared to the traditional face-to-face classes. According to an article about academic honesty in online courses, â€Å"some claim that because students and faculty do not interact directly in such classes, online classes will invite more cheating than traditional classes† (GriJalva, Therese C. et al. par. 2). This is certainly true in that distance education is being carried out at home, away from teacher supervision. Anne Mullens exclaims that â€Å"cheating appears to be ncreasing at universities, especially at the larger campuses and impersonal classes†¦ † (23). In an examination of cheating in both traditional and online criminal justice and legal studies courses, Lanier (2006) found the behavior to be more common in online courses† (Dobbs, Rhonda R. et al 13). Who knows how many students cheat during an online exam, having their books open in front of them while actual student writing the exam? Cheating is unethical and universally wrong but there are many students who cannot help themselves from get ting all the help they can get to score the good grades. There are several counter arguments that can be raised against the thesis of this paper. After â€Å"googling† and researching the pros of distance education, the recurring and most significant point was the flexibility of online courses. There are no set class times and it is the student’s discretion when to complete the assignments and readings so those with busy schedules are able to accommodate education. Stephen Downes states that there is â€Å"more work in the distance ed version†¦ simply because it tries to make up for the lack of any class contact† (par. 1). I have heard students and riends complain about the amount of work required for the online LIBS 7001 course at BCIT, where as the in-class version compares much favorably. With the course load being heavy for online courses, the flexibility to dedicate time to other priorities is hindered with the stress of work to be done for distance education. Some argue that online learning benefits those who requires more time, are language challenged, or are introverted. But on the contrary, it hinders rather than allows growth and learning. Those who require more time will always have that excuse to fall back on. Next thing they know, a year has passed since having started the course. The things learned at the beginning of the on-line class will have been forgotten and time would have been wasted. Those who are foreign students that struggle with the language barrier would benefit much more with an available teacher who is able to give them personal attention and needed help. To leave them on their own, trying to understand the course concepts from a textbook or a set of written notes can leave them overwhelmed and confused. Even those who are shy do not gain any benefit for enrolling in online courses. In fact, it is more of a detriment to their development and knowledge. Attending campuses and universities allows students to interact with classmates, and even encourages group projects to develop team buildings skills for individuals. At BCIT, students are often required to do presentations in front of the class and even in lecture halls. This is because the real world will often put people in similar situations and the training for that is attained easily when attending school on campus. This will also develop individuals’ interpersonal skills, and will help them overcome any shyness they may have. Another counter argument that can be raised is that costs are reduced when taking distance education. Not only are travel costs and commuting time decreased, but the necessary housing costs and meal plans are also saved if one is required to move to campus for attending university. However, the â€Å"cost of training teachers, the cost of hardware and software, human resources such as technicians and other people involved are to be considered, we can say that establishing online education is not as cheap as it may seem for others† (Abaya par. 6). These costs will certainly rickle down to the students, eventually having them pay through the increasing course fees.

The American Dream Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

The American Dream - Essay Example Thereby, if one accesses the viability of achieving the American Dream in the current times, it seems pragmatic to assert that the American Dream does not seem as much of an achievable option today. A range of social, political and economic facts corroborate to this belief. There is no doubt that the people in America do enjoy a better quality of life as compared to many other nations. It would also be safe to say that the poor in America today are better off as compared to the past. However, it is also a reality that economic class in America is something that is getting more rigid and difficult to transcend. The gap between the rich and the poor in America is further augmenting and the poor are not poor because they are less hard working or less willing to work. Class mobility has become an aspect of the American life that has really ossified (Kamolnick 114). The other things is that though the confidence and trust of the people in their nation’s innate capacity and fertility has traditionally been subservient to the imminent economic circumstances, still it is worth mentioning that the current economic meltdown has indeed shaken the people’s faith in the American dream. This is not because the people have lost faith in the values and beliefs underlying the American society. It is because people have largely come to believe that the rich and the powerful do have the power to get away with anything (Alpasian & Mitroff 143). They have the power to bring the national economy down on its knees, and the irony is that they will not be penalized for it but will rather be rescued by commensurate economic bailouts and privileges (Alpasian & Mitroff 157). One scarcely finds the trust and belief in many of the contemporary Americans that one traces in the works of Anne Bradstreet, a belief in the possibility for individual growth and t he maturity of personal talent, irrespective of the imminent constraints and shortcomings. It appears

Industry business model paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Industry business model paper - Essay Example Some fifty million Americans gamble each year, betting anywhere from $30 billion to $100 billion, depending upon the estimate one chooses. The vast majority of this money is wagered illegally. Many states, however, are now stampeding to legalize lotteries, approve new racetracks and set up off-track betting! By early 1974, eight states were operating lotteries, with at least four others about to open for business. New York city began legalized Off-Track Betting (OTB) in 1971, and many other places, too, may soon do so. Also, New Jersey, Maryland and Hawaii are said to be considering joining Nevada in legalizing casino gambling. Yes, gambling is indeed a huge industry that is largely growing around the world today. For this particular reason, business organizations are actually becoming more interested in investing in gambling industries at present. For them, the said approach to business may indeed be risky, but the returns from the said challenging risks are all worth it. Among the business entities that were able to identify this particular truth behind the worldwide gambling industry’s progress towards the future is that of the Mandalay Business Corporation. The Mandalay Resort Group has invested a $1billion business entity to establish the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. This particular investment has actually made a great impact in bringing in a tropical resort theme in the middle of the wild luxurious gambling industries. This particular resort holds at least 3,700 rooms within it vicinities and several huge function rooms within the area which are all made for gaming, dining and entertainment options that are considered as the main life of the said resort operations. Hotels are mainly establishment who accommodates people who needs housing due to traveling reason and those who are searching for temporary residence. Since they establishments are known for

Realism and Romantism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Realism and Romantism - Essay Example The core idea of the American Dream, would be the individual citizens ability to achieve a level of existence, that would enable them to live their live to the fullest. To not only provide for themselves but also, include the opportunity to be able to provide for their families as well. As it stood for many, the attitude towards the American Dream would be one of a wistful state. Many would desire it and hope to achieve it. On the other side of the equation, there would be those that felt the elements of the American Dream would be nothing more, than a capitalist viewpoint and the encouragement of a mentality that promoted greed through mass acquiring of products. In the earlier days of the nation, the assessment of the American Dream would take on the appearance of an innocent and romantic idea, something that would have taken such an appearance if documented by those writers of the Romanticism era of literature. As literature would enter into the more realistic era of time, those e arlier thoughts would in fact be adjusted to be more in line with the time period around them. During the period of the romantics, well known authors would have included Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Edgar Allen Poe. As for motivations during this period, "American poets like Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Edgar Allen Poe were inspired by nature, patriotism, and religion to create inspirational and experimental poetic works," (Lombardi, p.1). With such relevance placed upon the notions of being patriotic in this instance, individuals such as Whitman, Dickinson, Emerson and Poe, would have found their beliefs of the power of the American Dream, to be heavily influenced by the period which they would have been writing. To have such a level of patriotism running through their respective veins, it would have only seemed natural to assert the benefits and strength of the nation and what it would offer to anyone who lived within it. With the inherent power that lies within the written word, the ability of an author to ai de in the influence of ideas and discussion, would have been present and used by the very authors who published during the era itself. Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and Mark Twain, among others, would also be mentioned within the period of realism, thus bringing light to the varied level of period ability that each would have had, as it came to producing works during those points in time. As it came to literature and the element of romanticism, it would have been, "The period between the "second revolution" of the Jacksonian Era and the close of the Civil War in America saw the testings of a nation and its development by ordeal. It was an age of great westward expansion, of the increasing gravity of the slavery question, of an intensification of the spirit of embattled sectionalism in the South, and of a powerful impulse to reform in the North. Its culminating act was the trial by arms of the opposing views in a civil war, whose conclusion certified the fact of a united nation dedicated to the concepts of industry and capitalism and philosophically committed to egalitarianism," (Harmon, et. al., p.1). Heavily emphasized morals and a predominant level of

Human Resource Management Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Human Resource Management Issues - Essay Example When the management structure will be revamped and there will be supportive and conducive work environment for the employees, the motivation level of staff will be enhanced and they will be reluctant to leave the organization. Hence, by altering the management structure, an organization will definitely be able to address this HR issue and ensure that it has a productive and highly effective workforce. One of the major problems that are faced by an organization is high employee turnover and it has been found by Guest (2011) that the key factor that causes increase in this turnover rate is lack of proper management. When there are insufficient or improper mechanisms for talent or employee management, there is a huge possibility that the employees start leaving the organization on voluntary basis. Most of the employees are willing to switch to other jobs because they have lack of clarity about the organization’s purpose and the business tends to possess various unstable elements. The Human Resource (HR) department has to ensure that everything in the organization is organized and disciplined so that the employees have awareness about their tasks, policies that need to be followed and actions that will be taken in case of non-compliance (Berman et al., 2009). It has been found that the organizations that have high level of inefficiency or instability have high turnover rate. Although the organizations are unaware of the real problem that causes increase in turnover rate; it is important for them to keep an eye on the turnover rate as it might be an indication of some problem in the company that might need to be immediately addressed. Proper management means that the employees should be given the leverage of enhancing their skills and they should be given space to prove their expertise in the field; the goals of each employee have to be aligned with the

Financial Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Financial Analysis - Essay Example They will have to use some money and time before recovering and making sales. Barriers to entry are conditions that stop or obstruct a potential competitors ambition to participate in the market. Several barriers to entry exist in other industries that allow certain firms to operate as a monopoly. Legal restrictions and licensing requirements from the government can restrict domestic or international competition (Dilek and Colakoglu, 2013). In addition, brand loyalty provides a barrier to entry, for instance, through product differentiation. It is difficult for people to compete with a valued brand like Coca Cola. The ability to control natural resources is another barrier to entry that facilitates a monopolistic market (Dilek and Colakoglu, 2013). For example, diamond-mining companies, such as De Beers, keep the value of diamonds high because they allow only limited mining of the natural resource. Fortunately, the barriers are contestable because other players in the market see the potential in the market and can fight for a place. Market forces are dominant enough to break a monopoly (Dilek and Colakoglu, 2013). Normally, a monopoly enjoys government protection, and for the case of Forrest, he have no protection, other than the fact that there are no boats. A perfectly competitive market results from a less contestable market. Even so, at times it these barriers are not contestable. A good example is the use of application software like Microsoft Word. Most people will use it simply because they want to enjoy compatibility with other users and face fewer challenges in its use. In such a case, the barrier to entry is not

Discuss the differences between leadership and management. Is there a Assignment

Discuss the differences between leadership and management. Is there a difference If so, how - Assignment Example The managers in management tend to be under control, often rational and problem solvers. They put a lot of emphasis on the predetermined objectives, personnel, structures and availability of resources. The personalities of these kinds of people mostly seem to have strong will, persistence, intelligence and analysis. Leaders are often referred as mercurial and brilliant people who possess great charisma. Despite the fact that the leaders are private people and loners, they are usually comfortable of taking risks is it crazy or wild risks. Most of the leaders have high levels of creativity and imagination. Leadership puts a lot of focus in leading people while management only concentrates at managing the people. Management is more of task oriented and concerned with results. Leadership is people oriented and puts its attention on achievements (Gunter, 2005). The approach towards tasks of the two methods of running an organization clearly differentiates them. Management creates policies, strategies, and methods that facilitate the combination of teams and ideas to enhance smooth running of operations. They people through obtaining their views, principles, and values. They do this having in mind that the combination will decrease the inherent success and lead to success. Leadership, on the contrary, looks at the problems at a different angle and devises new and creative solutions. Due to their great charisma and intense commitment, they bring excitement, motivation, and focus to other people to come up with solutions and excel. In management the organizations are ran through styles such as dictatorial, transactional, authoritative, autocratic, democratic and consultative since power is got through formal authority and position. This is quite different in leadership as it practices indulging styles such as Transformational, Participative a nd Consultative styles due to the charisma and influence they possess (Schermerhorn,

Women in Fashion and Photography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Women in Fashion and Photography - Essay Example The essay "Women in Fashion and Photography" talks about the woman in fashion photography and analyzes the gender issue in this context. Through this discussion, it is planned by the researcher to find better resources which could actually make a great impact on how the understanding of men and women status in the society becomes likely controlled through media works. Men were particularly known as the supreme gender in the human society. As the population belonging to the supreme gender, men are expected to have special responsibilities as well as advantages with regards the activities that they are able to do. Men were expected to have responsibilities of providing for those that belong to them. This includes their families and other people that are living around them. On the other hand, they benefit form the authority that is given to them. The power to control others, especially women has naturally given them pride when it comes to the thought of being able to rule over several s ectors of the human society. Through the pages of the human history, men of different races and different ages have primarily been able to change the ways by which humans perceive their purpose in living. Indeed, men have naturally drawn the different demarcation lines of limitations and possibilities that identify each human individual’s capability of living. Most likely, the powerful sense of being of the appearance of man has naturally affected the characteristic and the attitude that he perceives upon others. Within the paragraphs that follow, the different roles of men within the American society shall be outlined in clarity to be able to assist in the understanding of what actually is the important part that men plays in the advancement of the human civilization towards progress. II.A. Men as Key Agents of Family Strength The family is one of the basic units of social relationship within the human generations. It could be observed that men are appointed as head of the family. As head of the family, a man has the responsibility of providing the guidance that the members of the family need to be able to get through with the challenges of life. Aside from this, men also stand as the basic source of spiritual and intellectual aspects of life when it comes to taking care of the younger generations of the family. Not to mention, men are also viewed as the major providers of the needs of the family in terms of finances, shelter, food and clothing. From this particular point of view, it could be observed that men are indeed given high regards by the human society especially in terms of the role that they play in the family. At some point, they work as complimentary personnel to the fulfillment of the dream of their wives and their children. They are the primary source of strength for their family members and from them comes the most valuable advices of life that would naturally help the members of the family get along with the ups and downs of living in a more eased and controlled procedure. Certainly, men are given the chance to handle the most complicated responsibilities within the family arrangements. The challenges are really not that easy to face. However, with the strong conviction and determination of men to succeed in this particular responsibility shall give them the reputation that they need to be able

World Hunger Through Out the World Essay Example for Free

World Hunger Through Out the World Essay 1. Political Conditions Cause World Hunger War is a political cause for hunger. War slows or stops food production and marketing. Food supplies are often taken and used for soldiers during war, crop cycles are interrupted, seeds and livestock are consumed in desperation, and children suffer lasting health damage as a result of insufficient food. Even if fighting never occurs, heavy military spending takes away from food production, education, and health care. 2. Economic Conditions Cause World Hunger One of the main causes of hunger is poverty. Most of the people who are hungry do not have enough money to purchase the food they need. The poorest and most food-insecure people live in Africa, while the largest number of continually undernourished people live in the Asia-Pacific region. Hunger is also especially severe in South Asia, where growing poverty, debt, economic decline, poor terms of trade, fast population growth, unfavorable weather, war, and government collapse have all contributed to the continent’s food problems. In the United States, the share of the population facing hunger has risen because of poor economic conditions. But, hunger in wealthy nations is not as severe or widespread as in developing countries. 3. Environmental Conditions Cause World Hunger Hunger is also caused by environmental problems. Fresh water, land, forests, and fisheries are being used so much that they are losing their resources. In trying to use the environmental resources, poor and hungry people, lacking economic and political power, have become even more affected by hunger. This is true especially in countries where property ownership is not fair, and poor families are forced to move onto unstable land and to overcrowded cities.

Relationship Between Family Poverty and Child Development

Relationship Between Family Poverty and Child Development How is family poverty related to childhood development? It is well documented that family poverty has a negative effect on childhood development (Horgan, 2007) but the many variations in how family poverty is related to childhood development via various pathways is of great importance to parents, health and education professionals as they work to improve the outcomes for children; â€Å"maximising the opportunities open to them – improving their life chances and changing the odds in their favour.† Every child matters. When considering how family poverty is related to childhood development, it is firstly important to define poverty. Engle Black note that this is a difficult task and question whether it should be ‘defined in economic terms, or as part of a broader social disadvantage’. In economic terms, the UK government, the European Union and many other countries use 60 per cent of median household income as the poverty ‘threshold’. (Poverty and Social Exclusion poverty.ac.uk) although by their own admission ‘without validation from direct measures of people’s living standards, is essentially arbitrary’. Sen describes poverty as ‘capability deprivation’ and argues that we should take a more ‘activity-oriented view of human beings’. These activities can vary from ‘physical ones as being well nourished, being adequately clothed and sheltered, avoiding preventable morbidity, and so forth, to more complex social achievements such as taking part in the life of the community, being able to appear in public without shame.’ As a result of this, when considering how family poverty is related to childhood development this essay will consider both direct economic effects and also the effects of broader social disadvantage. Similarly it is also difficult to define ‘childhood development’. Indeed Engle et al note that ‘there are no globally accepted indicators for child development’ They do however concede that ‘child development is often measured through individual assessments of developmental changes in multiple domains (eg, cognitive, language and social-emotional)’. One measure of cognition is academic achievement and this is used by various studies as a measure of child outcome (CITE). One of the main reasons for family poverty can be the family unit itself. Fiori (2005) states that â€Å"Economic theory predicts that the two-parent family is among the best-functioning forms of capitalist society because it allows for the provision of household services by one partner and economic resources by the other, and as such it is an efficient system for maximising utility and the human capital of children† Consequently, supporting evidence has found that children from a lone parent family generally have a poorer academic outcome but do not fare poorer psychologically (Mclanahan and Sandefur, 1994). The reason for this is often attributed to the ‘pathology of matriarchy’ hypothesis (Moynihan) which suggests that the absence of a father is destructive to children, particularly boys, because children will lack the economic resources, role models, discipline, structure and guidance that a father provides. The effects of family structure on family poverty and subsequently child outcome is of high importance, with marriage emerging high on the U.S. policy agenda in recent years as a tool for improving child outcomes (Nock) and marriage allowance in the UK allowing a person to reduce their spouses’ tax bill if one partner earns an income below the personal allowance limit (CITE), again alleviating financial stresses which can have a negative effect on child outcome. Hann et al (2003) found that when controlling for income, single-mother families were not significantly different from two-parent families for child outcome. This suggests that it is family poverty itself (that typically results from family disruption) that is the major explanation for children’s lower attainments. Direct effects of family poverty affect childhood development by increasing risk factors, limiting protective factors and reducing opportunities for stimulation and enrichment. Children from low-income families are more likely to receive insufficient nutrition and also be overweight, two factors commonly associated with food insecurity (Cook). The amount of families in the UK struggling to buy basic items such as food is increasing. The Trussel Trust reported that their 445 foodbanks fed 913,138 people nationwide from 2013-2014 and of those helped, 330,205 were children.’ A lack of a balanced diet can affect childrens development both directly and indirectly. Innis has shown that fatty acids such as those found in certain types of fish and nuts assist healthy brain development and reductions in these fatty acids is associated with cognitive and behavioural impairments; the effect of family poverty on childhood development via a poor diet is a very real possibility even in a country such as the United Kingdom. Another direct effect of poverty is the fact that parents in low-income families often have lower levels education and this has a negative impact on their ability to provide a positive, intellectually stimulating environment for their children (Coleman). Hart Todd found that children from professional families that were strongly associated with higher parent education levels and higher family income were spoken to more than children from working class or welfare recipient families and so had a larger cumulative vocabulary. By the age of just three, Hart Todd observed â€Å"the cumulative vocabulary for children in the professional families was about 1,100 words. For children from working class families, the observed cumulative vocabulary was about 750 words and for children from welfare-recipient families it was just above 500 words†. Hart Todd conclude that the most important element of a child’s language development is quantity of conversation and thus it is easy to see how in a ‘traditional’ two-parent family (as previously mentioned) the division of responsibilities allows for increased time to talk to children. Hart Todd also found that children from professional families heard a higher ratio of encouragements to discouragements than their working class and welfare-supported counterparts. Henderlong Lepper found that encouragement is beneficial to the intrinsic motivation of a child (provided it is perceived as sincere) and this will also have a positive effect on child development. Baumrind (1971) defined three parenting types: permissive: parents who are more responsive than demanding; authoritarian: parents who are demanding and directive, but not responsive, and authoritative: parents who are both demanding and responsive. Hoff et al found that in all cultures parents with lower socio-economic-status (SES) are more likely to use ‘authoritarian’ parenting styles than those in higher SES brackets. They are also less likely to be nurturant or to supervise their children adequately, and more likely to use inconsistent, erratic and harsh discipline (Elder et al., 1985); adversely affecting child development. As well as the direct effects of family poverty on child development, as suggested by Engle and Black it is also important to consider moderated effects of poverty and how these can vary across characteristics of families and children. Whilst considering how family poverty affects childhood development, it is important to fully consider the many varying reasons as to why a family may be experiencing poverty. Some of the varying reasons found by Hobcraft for family poverty include: non-traditional structures; lone parents and parents in reconstituted families, households where no adult is in employment or are in poorly paid employment, households headed by a teenage parent, households that include a sick or disabled child, have a child or children under five or have a large number of children. Given this, it is quite understandable that families can find themselves in a state of poverty through no fault of their own. However, their background will affect how they deal with this experience of poverty and more importantly how this poverty will affect the development of any children. Parents of children who are poorly educated or have poor decision making skills could find it more difficult to protect their children from the effects of poverty than families who are better educated, with rational decision making skill and in a similar situation. Cooper Stewart demonstrate using the Family Investment Model that parents who are better educated or have more money are able to financially invest in their children more, either because they have more disposable income or because they choose to forgo other expenses for the sake of purchasing their children educationally enhancing materials such as books. This is supported by the findings of Davis-Kean who found that family income and education had a positive impact on parental educational expectations and resultantly reading (which is strongly correlated to child achievement), with children reading more for pleasure and having more books in the house. Similarly the work of Bradley, Whiteside and Mundfrom that found that children living in poverty who were showing early signs of resilience compared with other children also living in poverty received ‘more responsive, accepting, stimulating and organised care’. Another way that family characteristics moderate the link between family poverty and child development is via social selection. Conger Donnellan consider poverty as â€Å"a constellation of outcomes that are potentially influenced by individual differences in traits such as intelligence and personality† that subsequently affects childhood development. Mayer (1997) proposed that â€Å"parental characteristics that employers value and are willing to pay for, such as skills, diligence, honesty, good health, and reliability, also improve children’s life chances, independent of their effect on parents’ income. Children of parents with these attributes do well even when their parents do not have much income†. These characteristics can be passed on either genetically or through nurture and can act as a ‘buffer’ to the damaging effects of poverty on childhood development. This is supported by the work of Davis-Kean who found a significant correlation between parental warmth (how nurturing parents are towards their children involving desirable traits such as positive feelings, praise, responding) and child achievement (although interestingly, only within African American families as opposed to European American families in this study). Alongside the direct and moderated effects of poverty on childhood development it is also necessary to consider the mediated effects of family poverty on childhood development. As demonstrated by Engle Black, in mediated models it is through disruptions in family function that the effects of poverty are felt and result in negative effects on childhood development. Conger Donnellan reviewed seven papers that have applied the Family Stress Model (FSM) across a widely varying demographics. The FSM overwhelmingly supports the view that poverty leads to family stress and this has a negative impact on parental mental health and increasing the likelihood of parents using harsh authoritarian parenting styles. There is strong evidence for parental mental health impacting on child behaviour. The work of Weissman et al (2006) who found that the children of mothers who remained depressed were far more likely to develop their own symptoms and diagnosis than children of parents who went into remission. This is similarly supported by Galler et al who found that postpartum maternal mental anxiety (PPMHA) was a significant predictor of lower exam scores at eleven to twelve years of age. Importantly, Galler et al found that background variables such as young maternal age at the time of her first pregnancy, more children in the home, less maternal education, and fewer home conveniences (all indicators of family poverty) were closely correlated with PPMHA, but crucially they found that PPMHA was still a significant predictor of lower exam scores even when all these background variables were controlled for. Ram and Hou suggest that lone parents—usually mothers—must spend longer hours outside the home working to offset the economic losses they have suffered from the marital breakup and consequently do not spend enough time with their children. More importantly however, when considering mediated effects of poverty, they also found that depression and lower levels of psychological well-being occur more often amongst these parents and also negatively influences the quality of parenting and children’s behavioral problems, explaining why children in disrupted families experience severe emotional and behavioral problems. Interestingly however, Ram and Hou found that parental depression and low levels of psychological well-being have almost no effect on cognitive development; highlighting the many varying elements of childhood development. Finally as noted by Engle and Black it is important to consider transactional models, where the effects of poverty interact between families and children. As previously noted, families can moderate and mediate the effects of poverty on children, similarly the children’s characteristics can have a similar effect. Whilst typical family structure can positively affect family poverty and childhood development, evidence also suggests that the quality of family relations can also play a large part in childhood development. Children whose parents often argue (independent of divorce) score worse on measures of academic achievement, behavior problems, psychological well-being, and adult relationship quality; they are also more likely to form families early and outside of marriage (Musick Meier). One of these reasons is low levels of parental education. Belsky (2013) has subsequently found a correlation between childhood obesity and intelligence in children as young as three; highlighting the relationship between poverty and child development. Evans et al found that families experiencing poverty are more likely to face chaotic living conditions than are their middle- and upper-income counterparts. Chaos is characterised by â€Å"high levels of ambient stimulation (e.g., noise, crowding), minimal structure and routine,and considerable unpredictability and confusion in daily activities.† Maslow’s hierarchy of needs suggests that the most basic needs: physiological (food, shelter etc) and safety (security of body, employment, family etc) love and belonging (friendship, family intimacy etc) and esteem (self esteem, confidence, respect of others etc) must be met before the individual will strongly desire (or focus motivation upon) the growth need of ‘self actualisation’. Childhood development can be largely grouped into two categories: psychopathology e.g. internalising (emotional problems) and externalising (behavioural problems; and academic achievement). References Horgan, G. (2007). The impact of poverty on young childrens experience of school. Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Engle, P. L., Black, M. M. (2008). The effect of poverty on child development and educational outcomes. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences,1136(1), 243-256. Sen, A. (1992). The political economy of targeting. Washington, DC: World Bank. Engle, P. L., Black, M. M., Behrman, J. R., De Mello, M. C., Gertler, P. J., Kapiriri, L., International Child Development Steering Group. (2007). Strategies to avoid the loss of developmental potential in more than 200 million children in the developing world. The Lancet, 369(9557), 229-242. Broadhead, P. (2007). A Vision for Universal Pre-School Education-by Edward Zigler, Walter S. Gilliam and Stephanie M. Jones. British Journal of Educational Studies, 55(2), 227-229. Cook, J. T., Frank, D. A., Levenson, S. M., Neault, N. B., Heeren, T. C., Black, M. M., Chilton, M. (2006). Child food insecurity increases risks posed by household food insecurity to young childrens health. The Journal of nutrition, 136(4), 1073-1076. Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological review,50(4), 370. Belsky, D. W., Caspi, A., Goldman-Mellor, S., Meier, M. H., Ramrakha, S., Poulton, R., Moffitt, T. E. (2013). Is obesity associated with a decline in intelligence quotient during the first half of the life course?. American journal of epidemiology, 178(9), 1461-1468. Trussell Trust Foodbanks Use Tops One Million. (2015). Retrieved May 24, 2015, from http://www.trusselltrust.org/stats Innis, S. M. (2007). Dietary (n-3) fatty acids and brain development. The Journal of nutrition, 137(4), 855-859. Flouri, E. (2005). Fathering and child outcomes. John Wiley Sons. McLanahan, S., Sandefur, G. (2009). Growing up with a single parent: What hurts, what helps. Harvard University Press. Moynihan, Daniel Patrick. 1965. The Negro Family: The Case for National Action. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor Nock, S. L. (2005). Marriage as a public issue. The Future of Children, 15(2), 13-32. Marriage Allowance https://www.gov.uk/marriage-allowance-guide Musick, K., Meier, A. (2010). Are both parents always better than one? Parental conflict and young adult well-being. Social Science Research, 39(5), 814-830. Han, W. J., Huang, C. C., Garfinkel, I. (2003). The Importance of Family Structure and Family Income on Familys Educational Expenditure and Childrens College Attendance Empirical Evidence from Taiwan. Journal of Family Issues, 24(6), 753-786. Henderlong, J., Lepper, M. R. (2002). The effects of praise on childrens intrinsic motivation: a review and synthesis. Psychological bulletin, 128(5), 774. Conger, R. D., Donnellan, M. B. (2007). An interactionist perspective on the socioeconomic context of human development. Annu. Rev. Psychol., 58, 175-199. Bradley, R. H., Whiteside, L., Mundfrom, D. J., Casey, P. H., Kelleher, K. J., Pope, S. K. (1994). Early indications of resilience and their relation to experiences in the home environments of low birthweight, premature children living in poverty. Child development, 65(2), 346-360. Cooper, K., Stewart, K. (2013). Does Money Affect Childrens Outcomes?: A Systematic Review. Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Shipler, D. K. (2008). The working poor: Invisible in America. Vintage. Chicago. Mayer S. 1997. What Money Can’t Buy: Family Income and Children’s Life Chances. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press Weissman, M. M., Pilowsky, D. J., Wickramaratne, P. J., Talati, A., Wisniewski, S. R., Fava, M., Rush, A. J. (2006). Remissions in maternal depression and child psychopathology: a STAR* D-child report. Jama, 295(12), 1389-1398. Galler, J. R., Ramsey, F. C., Harrison, R. H., Taylor, J., Cumberbatch, G., Forde, V. (2004). Postpartum maternal moods and infant size predict performance on a national high school entrance examination. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45(6), 1064-1075. Evans, G. W., Gonnella, C., Marcynyszyn, L. A., Gentile, L., Salpekar, N. (2005). The role of chaos in poverty and childrens socioemotional adjustment.Psychological Science, 16(7), 560-565. Ram, B., Hou, F. (2003). Changes in family structure and child outcomes: Roles of economic and familial resources. Policy Studies Journal, 31(3), 309-330. Hyde, J. S., Elseà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Quest, N. M., Goldsmith, H. H., Biesanz, J. C. (2004). Childrens temperament and behavior problems predict their employed mothers work functioning. Child Development, 75(2), 580-594.

Breakfast of Champions Essay -- Essays Papers

Breakfast of Champions When one hears the phrase â€Å"Breakfast of Champions,† he envisions a grinning picture of Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan slam dunking, or Dale Earnhardt in a racecar on a box of Wheaties, a popular breakfast cereal. A few avid Saturday Night Live fans might recall a skit performed by James Belushi. In the skit, Belushi’s â€Å"Breakfast of Champions† was beer, cigarettes, and donuts. Neither of these examples are the subject of Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions or Good Bye Blue Morning. A â€Å"Breakfast of Champions† is actually a martini. Breakfast of Champions is a work of fiction with semi-autobiographical allusions. The main characters of the book are Kilgore Trout, Dwayne Hoover, and Philboyd Sludge. Kilgore Trout installs aluminum combination storm windows and screens and writes science fiction novels and short stories. He has no ambition to be a famous writer, so he sends his works to pornographic magazine companies to be published. The names and characters of his works are often changed in the process, and he is rarely paid for his efforts. Dwayne Hoover owns a successful Pontiac dealership. He slowly loses his sanity as the plot unfolds. Philboyd Sludge creates these characters and appears in the story to watch the characters as the story progresses. Breakfast of Champions depicts the story of Kilgore’s travel to Midland City to speak at a festival of arts. Kilgore, at first, rejects the invitation, but he decides to go because h... Breakfast of Champions Essay -- Essays Papers Breakfast of Champions When one hears the phrase â€Å"Breakfast of Champions,† he envisions a grinning picture of Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan slam dunking, or Dale Earnhardt in a racecar on a box of Wheaties, a popular breakfast cereal. A few avid Saturday Night Live fans might recall a skit performed by James Belushi. In the skit, Belushi’s â€Å"Breakfast of Champions† was beer, cigarettes, and donuts. Neither of these examples are the subject of Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions or Good Bye Blue Morning. A â€Å"Breakfast of Champions† is actually a martini. Breakfast of Champions is a work of fiction with semi-autobiographical allusions. The main characters of the book are Kilgore Trout, Dwayne Hoover, and Philboyd Sludge. Kilgore Trout installs aluminum combination storm windows and screens and writes science fiction novels and short stories. He has no ambition to be a famous writer, so he sends his works to pornographic magazine companies to be published. The names and characters of his works are often changed in the process, and he is rarely paid for his efforts. Dwayne Hoover owns a successful Pontiac dealership. He slowly loses his sanity as the plot unfolds. Philboyd Sludge creates these characters and appears in the story to watch the characters as the story progresses. Breakfast of Champions depicts the story of Kilgore’s travel to Midland City to speak at a festival of arts. Kilgore, at first, rejects the invitation, but he decides to go because h...

Little Foxes Analytical Essay -- essays research papers

Every play written uses dramatic elements. The main dramatic elements are plot, character, theme, and language. Lillian Hellman, who wrote the Little Foxes, incorporates these elements beautifully in her play. The play is set during the spring of 1900 and takes place in the Deep South part of the United States of America. Just as every other play, the Little Foxes has included the dramatic elements in her play, particularly the plot, character, and language that all incorporate an underlying theme of greed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The character, which includes the physiological and psychological makeup of each person in the play, properly incorporated the greed and oppression of the time. Ben and Oscar are brothers who are possessive, scheming, and greedy individuals. These two characters make the play very interesting. Both brothers’ physiological makeup fit the play perfectly. This is because Ben tires to look like a nice guy on the outside but has only one motive that drives his character. This motive is money. He will do anything to get his cotton mill deal to go through. Then there is Oscar. He is also a lot like Ben, but on the surface not as nice. Because of these two characters, the rest of the characters feed of their hatred and ulterior motives. Another character is Leo who is a weak unprincipled son of Oscar and Birdie. This character is not emotionally strong compared to Ben or Oscar, but still has a very well written part. Birdie is then obviously Oscar’s wife. Bi rdie has one of the most complex characters in the whole play. Her psychological make up is very complex. Her character has very quick mood changes and subsequently does not seem like she has much power in the physiological makeup of the whole group. Next, there is Regina, who is married to Horace and a sister of Oscar and Ben. She undoubtedly has the most devious psychological makeup of all the other characters put together. She has a very cold heart towards her husband. This was the most thoroughly created character in the whole play although it was also the most troubled character. Every line that she said was written for a specific purpose and was usually only to help herself. Married to Regina is Horace. Horace’s character was a very weak and sick old man. Although his part was written beautifully, he should have been a bit wiser to what Regina was planing. He was almos... ...ay. The spoken language was written with a southern accent which was also very well done. All the characters also speak in their different social class styles. For example, the servants speak with very poor grammar and then on the other hand, Ben or Mr. Marshall speak in a very dignified manner. Besides the spoken language, the play has many written stage direction which almost all highlight the characters’ ideas. Since though there are so many stage directions though, one has to be careful to make sure that they all further and enhance the plot of the play. The intentions and meanings of the language also came through exceptionally clear. From the very beginning of the play, the reader knows exactly what every character’s ulterior motive is and almost every character has one. Because of the very clear character makeup, this enhances all themes, meanings, and intentions of the play and characters. Lillian Hellman, who wrote The Little Foxes, does a brilliant job of using the main dramatic elements in her play. Although there are a few weaknesses in the dramatic elements, there are not nearly enough to hinder the brilliance of the character, plot, theme, and language of the play.

Issues and Challenges of Logistics in Malaysia: a Perspective

In the Asia Pacific region, the potential for growth in logistics is very promising. Although Malaysia's economic growth rate is increasing, but advances in logistical in this country is still on modest level. Under the Third Industrial Master Plan (IMP3), which was launched in 2006, Malaysia’s logistics development were charted carefully and diligently as to keep on pace with other countries in South East Asia. However, Malaysia is still lagging behind neighbour countaries such as Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam on transportation, bureaucratic and logistical issues. These issues need to be improve so that Malaysia can compete with these three countaries. Major Comments : Author Assumptions Transport and Logistics issues The production possibilites frontier (PPF) is the boundary between those combinations of goods and services that can be produced and those that cannot produce. In this issues, logistics development are the production and the problem are poor transport infrastructure, underdeveloped transport and logistics services and slow and costly bureaucratic procedures are the big issues that gives high logistics cost in Malaysia. Furthermore, the use of technology also needed in order to make some improvements to make logistics more efficient. Almost 20 years, Malaysia still trying to reduce transport and logistics cost. However, increasing in imports and exports but storage capasity in Malaysia are not well improve gives big impact to economics growth in Malaysia. This causes demand and supply are cannot be fulfil. Eventhough Malaysia adding new berths but Malaysia still cannot cope with increasing amount of space available on both depots and depots which causes Maritim still not fully efficient. In these issues, we must build as many as the new berths in order to maintain high capasity. For multimodal transport issues, Malaysia uses containers for the maritime part of trips, loading and unloading them in the ports rather at the origin and destination of their cargo. This eliminates the main cost-saving advantages of container use. However, poor transport infrastructure makes are hard its hard for unloaded. This is because road and rail infrastructure are not so good especially in East Malaysia. Furthermore, trade documentation in customs clearances need to be simplified in order to reduce port congestion. In addition, freight forwarding industry are still underdeveloped with only 10% of trade-related transport services uses this way. This causes demand and supply are not meet in positive ways. The high costs of land access to ports, reinforced by the effects of production agglomeration, have caused an excessive concentration of export-related activities in port cities and essentially restricted the benefits of trade growth to the areas immediately surrounding ports. However, if the benefits of trade are to be more widely distributed, the penalties of inaccessibility need to be addressed. Such action could not only stimulate trade-induced growth in currently inaccessible areas, but if successful, this could reduce and slower the growth of trade-induced urban congestion and pollution in port cities. Analysis In IMP3, specific targets has been set for the logistics industry which is to grow at 8. 6% during the 15-year plan’s period. In the other hand, logistic industry shall contribute 12. 1 to GDP (Keluaran Dalam Negara Kasar, KDNK) by 2020. Moreover, Malaysian ports shall handle 36 millions TEUs (container) by 2020, 2. 4 million tonnes for air freight and 18. 6 million tonnes for rail freight. Author Suggestion on Improvement In order to make improvement in logistics development, the Goverment needs to addressed few things such as Domestic Integration, Private Sector Collaboration and Regulatory Environment for Transportation. For Domestic Integration, transportation services should be improved especially road, waterways and railways in East Malaysia. For example through postharvest services, cargo consolidation through farmer or business associations, information on prices and market demand, access to credits and human skills. In the other hand, the needs of quality logistics for high-value products needs to improve. Such as freight forwarding, 3PL, warehousing, storage, packaging, e-business use and tracking services. Private sector are tend to more competetive than public sector. To encourage private sector collaboration, the Government has established the Malaysia Logistics Council (MLC) in January 2007 which is: i. To provide leadership and serve as a focal point to address all issues relating to the development of the industry, ii. Monitor and coordinate implementation of programs and activities of the respective Agencies/Authorities at both Federal and State levels involved in the development of the industry, iii. Steer research and training activities of the Center of Excellence for Logistics and Supply Chain and iv. Streamline strategies and policies governing the logistics industry which cuts across several implementing authorities. Minor Comments (Figures) 1. Logistics Development Supply When Logistics industry increases, the supply curve shifts rightward 2. Maritime Issues However, whe n Storage capacity cannot cope with the space available make supply decreases, thus the supply curve shifts leftward. 3. Multimodal Transport Failure in multimodal transport for loading and unloading are decreases, the supply curve shifts leftward. . Ports and Land Access When Ports and Land Access are not fully functional, the the supply curve shifts leftward. 5. Air Freight The decreases in Air Freight operations makes the supply curve shifts leftwards. Conclusions The needs of major improvement need to be done in order to improve logistics arrangements such as ports and infrastructure, freight management, connectivity and usage of technology. Malaysia will continue to review and undertake progressive liberalisation of its services industry taking into account domestic capability as well as to enhance competitiveness at the global and regional levels. References: * http://academia.edu/1360843/Issues_and_Challenges_of_Logistics_in_Malaysia_A_Perspective * http://academia.edu/1059313/Logistics_and_Supply_Chain_in_Malaysia_Issues_and_Challenges * http://www.apec.org.au/docs/10_TP_SUPPLY/7.%20Trade%20and%20Logistics%20-%20An%20East%20Asian%20Perspective.pdf

The Rise of Autism

â€Å"In February 2007 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised the prevalence figures for ASD to one in every 150 individuals† (Richard, 2008, p. 26). There are many theories for this increased incidence. One factor discussed is the ability to finally fully diagnose the disorder. Since the increased awareness of autism, scientists have been busy researching and modifying the diagnostic criteria for autism. Correctly diagnosing is a very important step in helping children improve skills that are affected by autism. The other factors discussed are the general developmental disorders that take place during early childhood. There are many possible factors, such as vaccinations and genetics, that have led to the rise of autism and because of this rise funding for autism research has increased tremendously, as has the cost of treatments. Autism used to be a low incidence disorder now it is one of the fastest growing developmental disabilities in the United States. There is still not one explanation for this sudden change in history, but scientists are getting closer and closer to the answer everyday. Since scientists have discovered a diagnosis for autism, they have been able to better understand autism and the possible causes for its existence. Proper diagnosis has been a huge factor in the rise of autism, but that still doesn’t mean the cause of autism is not important. There is a reason for this rise and finding the cause is the only way scientists are going to be able to prevent this increased incidence from growing in the future. One possible factor that scientists are researching is environmental toxins. Evironmental toxins have been a long suspect for the cause of autism. There are many ways that children can be exposed to these toxins. Children could be exposed even before birth, during excessive ultrasounds and even electronic devices. One scientist conducted a study on the drug terbutaline, a drug used to stop pre-term labor in pregnant woman. He found a direct correlation in the continued use of terbutaline and the increased likelihood of autism among twins (Patel & Curtis, 2008, p. 83). This is just one study that has been proven to show a link between environmental toxins and autism. Mercury is another issue that has been researched. Mercury has been put in the air through coal-fired power plants, as well in vaccines. Mercury and other chemicals have been shown to alter the normal development of the brain during fetal development in the womb and during early childhood development (Kirby, 2005). Findings have indicated that many children have a metabolic impairment that reduces their ability to rid their bodies of heavy metals and other toxins (Wallis, 2008). This suggests that there is some link between the two, environmental toxins and autism, even if toxins are not the sole cause of the disorder. Another possible factor is nutritional problems among autistic children. Autistic children have significantly low levels of nutrients in the hair, blood and other tissues. Along with the lack of nutrients, they usually have low levels of magnesium, zinc, selenium, vitamins A, B-complex, D and E, omega-3 fatty acids, and carnitine (Patel & Curtis, 2008, p. 82). Therefore, this proves that nutritional deficiencies is a common problem among autistic children and may link scientists to a possible cause. Another issue scientists have found in autistic children deals with the allergies towards gluten and casein. Gluten is a protein found in wheat and other grains and casein is a protein found in dairy products. Scientists have found that children who have allergies to gluten and casein experience odd behaviors. If an autistic child would eat either of these two substances it would send them into hours of disturbing behaviors (Simontacchi, 2008, p. 10). Scientists have found because of this study that children that are a gluten-free and casein-free diet, they do not experience as many tantrum behaviors. This also helps support the fact that nutritional problems can cause autism. The last possible factor discussed is the possibility of genetics and its connection to autism. Most scientists believe that genetics is one of the major causes for autism. There are many findings that have led scientists to believe this is true and one of these is simply because this disorder has been known to run in families. Studies have shown that if one child is autistic, his or her sibling has a three to six percent chance of being autistic as well. Identical twins have a much greater probability of being autistic than fraternal twins (Merriman, 2008, p. 8). This is more than enough evidence to show that there is a connection between genetics and autism. Scientists have also discovered a variety of genes that have showed signs that link to autism. Scientists are still not positive which gene has more of a connection with autism, but they definitely have found a relation between the two. One of the areas that researchers in the Autism Consortium have identified is the 25-gene area on chromosome 16 that when duplicated or deleted could account for a small percentage of autism cases (Merriman, 2008, p. 18). Scientists have uncovered a lot of new evidence to support the connection between autism and genetics. The rise in autism has increased funds for autism research tremendously. Since scientists have been able to fully diagnose autism, government involvement has grown immensely. There have been many new foundations introduced to help research for autism. One of the many include The Autism Research Foundation, which is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization dedicated to researching the neurological underpinnings of autism and other related developmental brain disorders (Chmura, 2008). The Autism Research Foundation has a big impact on the future for autism research. A recent news release in April 2008 stated that, â€Å"The FY08 Defense Appropriations Act provides $6. 4 million for the Department of Defense Autism Research Program to improve the lives of individuals living with autism spectrum disorder now† (Chmura, 2008). This contribution has been an enormous help in the funding for autism research. The rise of autism has also caused an increase in cost for the families of the autistic children. Families of the autistic child spend thousands of dollars on treatment. Most of this money families spend is just trying to find the right treatment for their child because not all treatments work for the same for every child. New technology has also been a factor in the increased cost for autism treatments. Not only is the cost of the treatments expensive so is the cost of screening and diagnosis. Many groups have started grant programs to assist those families with an autistic child who are in financial crisis. One of these grants is brought by the National Autism Association. Families who live in the United States with a child, no older than age eighteen, on the autism spectrum may qualify for the grant. The maximum dollar amount one can request is $1,500. This money is to only be used for biomedical treatments, supplements or therapies for the child (â€Å"CDC study†, 2007, p. 6). These grant programs will be a huge help for families who are struggling to pay for these expensive treatments and screening tests. Scientists are still in the process of finding the exact cause of autism. One day scientists may finally be able to find a cure and put an end to this rise of autism children. Knowledge of autism has come a long way since the first diagnosis of autism and hopefully that trend continues into the future. Diagnosis has been a very important part in helping autistic children improve their skills as well as helping scientists better understand autism altogether. Now scientists have a lead in the possible factors like environmental toxins, nutrition, and genetics. Once the pieces are put together, scientists will finally be able to control and hopefully put an end to the rise of autism among children in the United States. Reference http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1821595,00.html

Internet uses in University courses Essay

The research by Wang (2007) discusses the issue of internet use specifically by lecturers in a university setting. The researchers examined three research questions in their study. The first was to determine whether or not professors in universities were effectively utilizing the internet as an instructional aid. The second was to assess the extent to which the internet is being used in such settings and the last was to analyze how students perceive the use of internet in the classroom by lecturers. The study involved a total of 624 students registered in the three major colleges of a single university in the Pacific Rim of the U. S. This was at a public university and the respondents were from both sexes, 62% of whom were females. These students also represented a cross-section of areas of study in education, business and the arts and sciences. The instrument used to collect data was a questionnaire designed by the researchers. For each item on the questionnaire the respondents were required to produce their response based on a 1-5 Likert scale. The statistical package SPSS Â ® was used as the data analysis tool. The researchers obtained descriptive statistics of the data using primarily the means. Based on the means produced from the students’ responses the researchers determine that the internet is not being effectively used by lecturers in university classrooms and that where such use existed it was not wide-spread. Additionally the researchers add that lecturers were far more comfortable to allow students to utilize this resource independently and made little attempt to facilitate students’ usage of the internet or incorporate such into the classroom. The implications of this finding are that university lecturers will need to get training in the different tools that the internet has to offer so that they can more effectively incorporate them into their classroom. In addition there is the suggestion that students are more capable than professors in manipulating these tools and thus lecturers need to update themselves. One strength of the study is that it involved the views of students from a cross-section of majors so that it gave a more rounded view of internet use across the university and was not limited to certain areas of study. However there is need to have a more broad-based analysis of the internet usage situation across multiple universities in different regions of the U. S. so as to determine if geographical or other factors are a hindrance to usage. Furthermore the survey depended solely on the views of students and did not take into consideration what the lecturers themselves felt. It would be useful to get their views to see if what the students report conforms to that of the lecturers. References Wang, Y. (2007, April). Internet uses in University courses. International Journal of E-Learning, 6(2), 279-292.

Ooad Design Specifications

Restaurant All-in-one Management System (RAMs) Design Specification with UML by Leung Chun Kit and Leung Ting Fong 03011720 and 03011739 (Group 22) COMP 2221 Lecturer: Prof. Jiming Liu December 4, 2004 I. Table of Content I. Table of Content1 II. Graphical Notion Used2 Notation of Use Case Diagram2 Notation of Class Diagram2 Notation of Sequence Diagram3 1. Use Case Diagram4 1. 1. Use Case Diagram of End User Acting with the RAMsystem4 2. Class Diagram5 2. 1. Class Diagram of RAMsystem5 3. Sequence Diagram6 3. 1. Sequence Diagram of staff6 3. 2. Sequence Diagram of manager8 3. 3. Sequence Diagram of administrator9II. Graphical Notion Used Notation of Use Case Diagram [pic] Notation of Class Diagram [pic] Notation of Sequence Diagram [pic] 1. Use Case Diagram 1. Use Case Diagram of End User Acting with the RAMsystem Description: End users(administrator, manager, staff) can perform ordering, editing ,checking and management function insider the RAMsystem. End user can use food ordering function and food editing function only bill had been created by user. Only manager can manage the duty roaster. No one can edit the database or checks the password database execpt the administrator. [pic] 2. Class Diagram 1.Class Diagram of RAMsystem Description: All user and database of RAMsystem is created by the administrator. Administrator can modify any of the data in the RAMsystem. Staff and manager can create or edit bill but only manager can edit duty roaster. Bill has id, date and cost. Each bill has a unique id. User can be categorized into 3 types, administrator, manager and staff. All users have their own unique id and password. Both the administrator and the other user can change their own password. However, administrator can change the password everyone. [pic] 3. Sequence Diagram 1. Sequence Diagram of staff Description:Staff can only add order, create bill, check bill. As well as edit the bill that responsible by he/she and check duty. [pic][pic] [pic] [pic] 2. Sequ ence Diagram of manager Description: Manager can do all the function which the staff has the right to do if. Furthermore, manager can edit any of the bills but not only that responsible by he/she. Also, manager can also manage duty roaster and check all the data in the database except the database that store the password. [pic] [pic] 3. Sequence Diagram of administrator Description: Administrator can do all the function of the RAMsystem including modify all of the databases. [pic]

Apple

Choose an Emirate company of your choice and discuss its supply chain strategy. You need to cover the point while paying attention to the nature of its business; its monitors and future development of the business. . Choose a project of your choice which is related to the company you work for and discuss all important aspects that are associated with its achievement. Underline potential critical path, potential factors that affect the process management of your selected project. Lastly, bring forward your own recommendations in view of successful project management. Assessment criteria Structure: need to pay attention to clearly plan the ideas in logical manner that is insistent with the core topic.The basic parts-introduction, body and conclusion- must be underlined 2. Analysis: must pay attention to discussing all core ideas with appropriate link between theories and practice. There must be a clear link between the case study and the application of information conveyed by theory re lated to the topic discussed 3. Presentation: group involved in preparing the topic must show cohesive involvement in the preparation of all parts of the assignment. Apple Choose an Emirate company of your choice and discuss its supply chain strategy. You need to cover the point while paying attention to the nature of its business; its monitors and future development of the business. . Choose a project of your choice which is related to the company you work for and discuss all important aspects that are associated with its achievement. Underline potential critical path, potential factors that affect the process management of your selected project. Lastly, bring forward your own recommendations in view of successful project management. Assessment criteria Structure: need to pay attention to clearly plan the ideas in logical manner that is insistent with the core topic.The basic parts-introduction, body and conclusion- must be underlined 2. Analysis: must pay attention to discussing all core ideas with appropriate link between theories and practice. There must be a clear link between the case study and the application of information conveyed by theory re lated to the topic discussed 3. Presentation: group involved in preparing the topic must show cohesive involvement in the preparation of all parts of the assignment. Apple * History: * Apple is a company which produces computers and technological products like computers, mobiles . On April 1, 1976, the Apple computer was established . Steven Wozniak, a high school drop-out who worked for Hewlett-Packard, dabbled in computer-design and created what would become the Apple I. His high school buddy Steven Jobs, also a drop-out, worked for Atari and convinced him that the two should form a company to market the new computer, which eventually took off in 1977 with the Apple II. * * By 1980, the Apple III was released and their company employed several thousand workers.It began in Egypt in 1990 and produced their products in 1991. It began to produce the first computer Mac in Egypt but there is a disadvantage that faces the company in Egypt which is the high cost! * * The computers in this time were sold by 60,000 to 70,000 so few people bought it. The owner of the Egyptian company is called Mohamed Medhat . The company also in Egypt began to produce this com puter. In 1991 the company produces approximately by 1500 prices only. The company in Egypt doesn’t correct their wrong and still the high prices of computers raises up. * In 1991 the price of iMac is 35,000 L. E. It is too much. In 1992 Apple Company makes a high loss, because of the high prices. So they began to think in another way to reduce the cost of the company. They reduced the cost to half but they also made a lot of losses. Steve is still thinking how to save the company and began to make profits. * * * Mohamed Medhat followed him in his steps to save the company in the Middle East because in this time the only branch for Apple Company in the Middle East in Egypt only in this time, but now in Egypt and UAE.They began to produce new products by low cost so they can save their company and began to make high profits. Now in 2012 apple makes a great successful product than Microsoft and become the leader of the technological market Apple Company produces a lot of unique products like: Macbook _Macbook ProMacbook Air| Next-generation quad-core and dual-core Intel processors. The 13-inch MacBook  Pro now features a 2. 4GHz Intel Core i5 processor or the fastest dual-core processor available — the 2. 8GHz Intel Core i7. With Turbo Boost speeds up to 3. GHz, these processors allow the 13-inch MacBook  Pro to perform up to twice as fast as the previous generation. 1But we couldn’t leave fast enough alone. The new 15- and 17-inch models bring quad-core power to almost everything you do. The available 2. 5GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor — with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3. 6GHz and up to 8MB of shared L3 cache — enables these MacBook Pro models to run applications up to twice as fast as their top-of-the-line predecessors. 2| iPad ( 3G – Wifi)| In work Mail, Calendar, Notes, and Safari in a beautiful, thin and light design, so you stay productive anywhere.With easy, secure integration into business environments a nd a robust platform for app development, iPad is ready to start working when you are. In Education iPad inspires creativity and hands-on learning with features you won’t find in any other educational tool — on a device that students really want to use. Powerful built-in apps and apps from the App Store let students engage with content in interactive ways, find information in an instant, and access an entire library wherever they go. And now, with the introduction of Multi-Touch textbooks, iPad takes learning to a whole new level. iPod (Classic – Touch-Nano)| It used for listening music and people can also watch some movies. | Services: If we talk about the apple’s services . the company give to there customer a good services through selling the product and after purchasing the product . apple’s services contain (warranty on it products for along time (between 1 to10 years ) , hardware services for instance , mousse , keyboards , monitor , track pa d , printers, hard disk and Etc. . the services contain software services also , for instance operating system (OSX ) . that’s some services after purchasing . n other hand the service before purchasing . the sales person give the full information about the products to customers , make an offers to attract more and more customer , for instance in 2011 , there are many offers which the company made ,for example , to buy I phone and get I pod Nano with full accessories . and another one to buy any laptop and get ( software and full applications for free during the offer period) in usually you should to buy them software with 250 L. E and applications with 650 L. E . so it is very attractive and good offer . Apple company provide a good packaging to save it’s products .Vision Of Apple : Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings. Mission Of Apple: Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.Apple campaign for I phone 5: This is the last marketing campaign for the newest product will be in the market next summer . This advertising tell the customer for a new generation of I phone ( I Phone 5 ) with a new feature and quality . the advertising tell the customer . the new I phone is totally different from the I phone 4 , 4S and has a changes in every things . This Advertising show that apple was more interesting and focus on its segment and target it seriously . using the full capacity to stratify the targeting market SWOT analysis for Apple company:Strengths : apple OSX ( op erating system ) is more strengths than PC , the OS of apple no virus can hit it and can work on it for along time , Apple OSX support the graphic programmer so the designers use the Apple OS , because it more professional and fast . OSX is a heavy duty operating system , can use for along time without corruption or errors , and other Strength point is Apple gets to set the specs in detail, and deliver to the customer through a controlled retail experience (Apple Store, Apple On-line Store) that helps them explain the value to the customer and extract a premium for that value.Weakness : Apple prices . the cost of apple products is very high so it can’t compete in the Market . Dell and HP compete it by the same products but with less prices . so it represent a big weakness point face the company in Egypt . other point , the there is a big problem in I pod Nano screen . the production team discover this problem after produce the product , so this problem lead to spend a lot of dollars to solve this problem , In addition this problem led the company to increase the price of music download form I Tunes . this led apple to spend by 10 million dollar to fixed this problem .Opportunity : Apple has the opportunity to develop its iTunes and music player technology into a mobile phone format. The Rokr mobile phone device was developed by Motorola. It has a colour screen, stereo speakers and a advance camera system. A version of Apple's iTunes music store has been developed for the phone so users can manage the tracks they store on it. Downloads are available via a USB cable, ands software on the handset pauses music if a phone call comes in. New technologies and strategic alliances offer opportunities for Apple.Threats : The biggest threat to IT companies such as Apple is the very high level of competition in the technology markets. Being successful attracts competition, and Apple works very hard on research and development and marketing in order to retain its co mpetitive position. The popularity of iPod and Apple Mac are subject to demand, and will be affected if economies begin to falter and demand falls for their products. PESTEL analysis: Economic : apple company effected by the economic situation , the economic crises effect on the company production and company sales . he apple products have a high cost so it has a big related with the economic . ,for example, the company after the revolution , recorded a big loses in its sales and profit . after the revolution people avoid to buy the luxury products like I pod and I pad . apple recorded in 2011 loses in Egypt more than 50 Million . and in the economic crises in USA . apple recorded loses by 700 Million dollar . Technology : apple company strongly effected by technology factor , the company should to has the final technology tools that the world use it in this time . pple company every time develop their products with new feature and technology , for example I phone developed to 3GS t o 4G and finally 4GS and 5G soon . other products like I pad develop it to work with the third generation of communications (3G) . apple now is the best company all over the world use the touch technique in its products and devises . Political : Could be new laws or regulations , for Example in last time the GPS ( Navigation system ) in Egypt is not allow to use so apple stopped this program in Egypt tell 2008 and after this the government allow to use the navigation system In Egypt . o apple supported their devises by the GPS system . Social : Means social trends. If you are a phone company, Apple's entry into the cellphone market created a demand for touch screen phones, (about time! ) for example. Thus Nokia and co. had to respond. (I like Nokia, but they should have been ahead of the game in this one, so I'm glad Apple kicked them). Environmental factors: environmental factors include the weather and climate change. Changes in temperature can impact on many industries including farming, tourism and insurance.Apple may not effect with climate strongly but it may be effected by tourism , this will effect all process of the company ( production process and sell process ) Customer Analysis: Demographic ( Age – Gender – Family size – Life cycle or Income ) Apple company make different products to different ages , for instant they made I pod Nano for the children and youth and after that they made I pad for businessmen and the youth can also use it form 15 to 60 years old , they made also I Mac form grand ages .Apple is completely successful to target different ages with different product . Apple not forget to make a different between gender or sex, for example they made MacBook Air for female and made MacBook Bro for male, and also in colors they produce some laptop’s covers with pink color to target girls or female . Apple produce different products to different age and life – cycle groups . Apple company not forget to target income . they are produce a different products with different prices to be fit to any individual depend on his income , for xample there is I pod classic with 2000 pound and there is one with 3500 pound for I pod touch so any one can buy any thing from Apple depending on his income. Psychographic ( social class and life stile or personality) If we divide the market to class A – B – C , Apple target one or two from this segments . Apple will target the class A , because they provide a high quality and good products with high cost so the class A is the more segment will use apple’s products after that class B a few of them will use apple’s products .Behavior ( User Status – User Rate – Loyalty – Benefit – Occasion ) User statue : apple market divide into ex-user , who use apple’s products from along time , and first –time user who is the first time to use apple products , and potential user and we have a regular ap ple user how is use apple a lot of times . User rate : apple market divide into light , medium and heavy product user of apple . Loyalty : divide on completely loyalty that is mean some one buy all brands form one company . or example, buy I phone I pod , I pad that is mean he buy all things he want form apple , he/she very loyalty to the company Some-what loyalty , buy two or three products from apple and them go to buy any thing form different brand , for example , some one buy I phone and I pod then he shift to buy Nokia and HTC. and we have finally no loyalty , who didn’t buy any thing form apple . Target Market : There are a lot types of market targeting (undifferentiated – differentiated – concentrated – micro ) market , apple use differentiated market ( segmentation ) .It is produce different products to one or more segment (class A and a few of class B) . Differentiation and positioning Competitive advantage : apple have a lot of competitors in it ’s fields for example , Mobil phone there are a lot of competitor (Nokia – Samsung – HTC , Blackberry ) , in computers the biggest competitor is ( Microsoft ) in entertainment field there is ( Mp3,4) . so apple should to have an competitive advantage to be able to compete the other and should to have a unique feature in it’s product to be different . it should to have a good sales offer and this give it is to make a high profit and attract a lot of consumers .Apple now a days try to produce a products with a low prices to attract more and more and gain a more profit , so it can compete all competitor . Position strategy : Apple should to know the consumer the place of there products and where they sell it’s product . they are make perceptions of consumer about place . next step they try to give him a good impressions about products and serves and features , the third step is feeling , to give the consumer the feeling to buy the product of apple and give him the special feeling this product is the best one between the other product in market Market Share of the company :Apple in Cell phones ( I phone ) A the chart show to us the I Phone is not the market leader in cell phones only 13% of the market ,Nokia 20% and Samsung 31%,so Blackberry is the market leader. Questionnaire: Gender : Male†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Female†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Age: *18-20†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ *21-30†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. *40 and above†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 1) Did you hear about Apple I phone 5 ? Yes No 2) Can you remember the ad ,? Yes No 3) Where did you see or hear about the ad? a. Internet b. friend c. Magazine d. billboard e. Conference -other, please specify†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. ) How you think about Apple I phone 4 ads and campaign? 5) Did you purchase the I phone 5 after watching the AD? Yes No Evaluation of product in cutomers,s eyes: First of all, these questionnaire was distributed on 38 students in MSA university ,20 of them was females and 18 was m ales aging from 18 to 22 years old In first question, when we ask people about do they hear about the I phone 5 ad ? about 75% of target audience answers by yes, that they hear about I phone 5 adMost of students answer by yes said that they already have I phone products so the company itself send them direct mail to them to know about product ,others said that they know about I phone from their friend whom they attend an event for company. In second question, when we ask about do the ad was memorable or not? About 20% of audience cannot remember it but majority do remember it The 80% students who are member the Ad ,they said they remember it as it was very simple ,also it looks with dark background that reflects the highly selective style. In third question, when we ask where did you see the ad ?Most of people see it on the internet whether face book or twitter, others access the apple website itself, other people answers by they know about the AD from their friends as Apple has pos itive word of mouth and company itself depend highly on the positive WOM, very rare people answers by they know about it from conference. In question four, asking about the opinion of customers in the campaign of apple I phone 5, people said that it is creative, unique, also some people really like the usage of white and black colors, people said that this is normal as we always expect the best from Apple.In the last question, people answer by yes that they purchase the I phone 5 after the ad about 65% bought it as they see it high technology and satisfy all their needs Expert interview with company: We made an interview with Mr. Samir Galal the general sales manager in Apple company-Egypt asking him about the tools of IMC they used, the budget, also about Apple opinion in using celebrities, as well as ask them also about who are their competitors. 1) How do you distribute the budget on IMC tools?Mr. Samir galal tell us that they use the internet and public relation the most tools t hey use as they have a website from the best websites in the world as they do a lot of updates to their website and put all their new products on it. According to the budget assigned to the internet they pay about 5 millions on these tool every 6 months ,however for the public relation tool, they pay about 600 thousands Egyptian pound every 6 months, they use interviews ,conferences as a tools of PR .As well as ,they use direct marketing by using mails ,if there is any problem facing customer ,they use skype for direct interaction. 2) Which tools from IMC are the most effective tools working with Apple? He tell us that direct marketing and public relation tools are most effective as they are most targeted tools as Apple targeting only A class ,however if they make a TV Ads it will be useless and high costs without return as mass market will view it however they are not targeted so direct marketing and public relation are the most selective tools that goes forward for the targeted cu stomers. ) Do you use celebrities at promoting for your product? Mr. samir answers that they don’t use any celebrities as they don’t need as Apple Word of mouth is already positive so why they will think of using celebrities and they already have a positive brand image and the brand is already highly positioned in the customer’s mind, but Apple do care a lot for their customers as they take their contact information so to make a conference inviting customers to show them the new products ,new technology. 4)who are apple main competitors in all product segments?In computer segment ,he said that Microsoft operating system is the main competitor as it has high quality but with low prices, however in mobiles ,Nokia consider high competitor as they copy everything from Apple and with moderate prices lower than Apple so a lots of people can afford it for example when Apple launch the touch option Nokia launch the same touch option with lower prices than Apple, also No kia is targeting the mass market so they make intensive distribution but Apple has only few stores as they have a problem in distribution . 5) What is the SWOT analysis of the Apple company ?Strengths : apple OSX ( operating system ) is more strengths than PC , the OS of apple no virus can hit it and can work on it for along time , Apple OSX support the graphic programmer so the designers use the Apple OS , because it more professional and fast . OSX is a heavy duty operating system , can use for along time without corruption or errors , and other Strength point is Apple gets to set the specs in detail, and deliver to the customer through a controlled retail experience (Apple Store, Apple On-line Store) that helps them explain the value to the customer and extract a premium for that value.Weakness : The company has not cover the market and not has a perfect distribution . the company can’t cover the hole market , in this case , the bad distribution lead to a lot of loses toth e company and can’t help it to chive its profit and not give it the ability to make good sales to its product. other point , the there is a big problem in I pod Nano screen . the production team discover this problem after produce the product so this problem lead to spend a lot of dollars to solve this problem , In addition this problem led the company to increase the price of music download form I Tunes . this led apple to spend by 10 million dollar to fixed this problem . Opportunity : Apple has the opportunity to develop its iTunes and music player technology into a mobile phone format. The Rokr mobile phone device was developed by Motorola. It has a colour screen, stereo speakers and a advance camera system.A version of Apple's iTunes music store has been developed for the phone so users can manage the tracks they store on it. Downloads are available via a USB cable, ands software on the handset pauses music if a phone call comes in. New technologies and strategic allianc es offer opportunities for Apple. Threats : The biggest threat to IT companies such as Apple is the very high level of competition in the technology markets. Being successful attracts competition, and Apple works very hard on research and development and marketing in order to retain its competitive position.The popularity of iPod and Apple Mac are subject to demand, and will be affected if economies begin to falter and demand falls for their products IMC Tools that Apple uses Advertising:- In fact Apple Company uses advertising a lot but not too often mainly it uses product placement, most movies of mission impossible can be said that it was sponsored by apple all actors were using laptops, I pad and I phone apple. They succeeded by doing this a lot because mission impossible is one of the most seen movies worldwide, 50% of the pie chart.Public relations:- Most of the time consumers would like to know what you are selling in your company if it’s easy to use or so complicated if it’s going to help them or not, apple communicated directly with its customers with only two simple words that changed their minds upside down and be interested more in trying new products†¦. â€Å"Think Different† apple earned customers trust and acceptance only by these words because it did change their way of thinking when purchasing a product, 30% of the pie chart is public relations. Internet:-The website of apple that apple provide flow mutual benefits and information with the company and its customers, the company benefits from understanding its target market more can be able to know their needs and wants and what they usually ask and look for on their websites, how can they help them in order to spread word of mouth as well, according to customers they can know everything about the product they are searching for details and prices and feel the difference between apple, Dell and Samsung, 50%of the pie chart is internet.Direct Marketing:- Customer service of apple is always available to their customers over the internet, they communicate directly with each other through internet if there are any complaints or anything that needs an explanation they will answer them immediately, in direct marketing apple uses only the internet to interact directly with its customers, 50% of the pie chart is direct marketing. Personal selling:-Apple products is not in a need of persuading or convincing their customers to buy them as they are most qualified with its applications and software, the huge campaign of apple made people talking about apple most of the time when it comes to technology best features as apple also can tailor specific shapes and orders depend on individual needs, also the flexibility in apple stores between buyers and sellers allow for more profits and target marketing, best prospects which is known as â€Å"creme de la creme† are niche markets apple make huge efforts with them to have them more for long periods of time a s they are very loyal and extremely profitable, 150% of pie chart is personal selling. Sales promotion:In fact due to the perfect image of apple they feel that if they added any sales promotion to their IMC programs they will lose their picture in consumer minds, as its considered to be more luxury one of the most expensive equipments, they can see that although they are expensive there are a huge demand on their products and they see that there is no need to make sales promotion because they are not targeting the whole segments, they know exactly their target audience and can satisfy them more than any other companies also exceeding their specific details that vary from one person to another so that they feel delighted and special and will not think of shifting to another brand of technology equipments. Recommendations for IMC tools that apple can use it for better reach and sales: Advertising:-Apple doesn’t need to advertise much as it is already grabbing large segments of customers and when doing product placement every now and then it’s very important to do it but the problem here is increasing the percentage of demand by more advertising not just through product placement, it would be better if they increased the billboards around to remind people about their products and keep themselves in consumers mind for example if they added more billboards on way of malls were there are many electronic stores if someone was thinking to purchase specific type of laptop and find apple billboards they will shift to it and it will grab their attention more. Public relations:-Apple doesn’t concentrate much on public relations as it fails a lot to make any event or to sponsor more events for example north coast events or charity events they don’t share in anything of it which can allow the press to make negative image in consumer minds about apple that would affect the publicity as well so it’s better to think more about taking care of their image because the image of the company can drag you down or pull you up also it will add public value. Internet:- According to the internet apple focuses in it a lot and put aside the idea that internet is not a mass medium and fails to reach all segments and niche markets orders only the tailored products but other half of the segment have the ability to buy apple products so apple shouldn’t focuses much on internet as not all its customers have an access to the internet. Direct marketing:-Only direct selling is available with apple its better if they add catalogs and send it to their customers and their customers would give them the telephone number of their friends and family to contact them telemarketing also send them the same catalogs to see more categories of apple products, that would make apple more spread, dominant an unique in the market. Personal Selling:- Apple is not in need to increase its personal selling because it is perfect on it but it’s extre mely expensive and it’s so difficult to tailor products and deliver it to customers with the same consistency each time, its more applicable make things more reliable and equal so that if they keep doing this and once something happened by not delivering the needed tailored product they will fail and in 1 minute the customer perception of apple will change totally also I depends on every customer privileges. Sales promotion:Apple is one of the multinational companies that if they made any sales promotion they would gain new customers but loses the old ones as it is not preferred to do it because it will hesitate their image in the market because its known that apple is for special segment and sales promotion wouldn’t add anything new simply it will be switching segments they will gain part and lose the other part and according to profit it will decrease badly and the company will keep losing and will suffer a lot in order to get its image and old customers back. Genera l Recommendations:- Its more applicable that apple make all tools work together in harmony so that to be differentiated more from any other companies and keep the uniqness of its products but still keeping themselves away of sales promotion, as it’s known the benefits of IMC tools when they all work with each other it will save time, money and stress, also will boost them up to profit, finally it will have competitive advantages like no other company. Apple * History: * Apple is a company which produces computers and technological products like computers, mobiles . On April 1, 1976, the Apple computer was established . Steven Wozniak, a high school drop-out who worked for Hewlett-Packard, dabbled in computer-design and created what would become the Apple I. His high school buddy Steven Jobs, also a drop-out, worked for Atari and convinced him that the two should form a company to market the new computer, which eventually took off in 1977 with the Apple II. * * By 1980, the Apple III was released and their company employed several thousand workers.It began in Egypt in 1990 and produced their products in 1991. It began to produce the first computer Mac in Egypt but there is a disadvantage that faces the company in Egypt which is the high cost! * * The computers in this time were sold by 60,000 to 70,000 so few people bought it. The owner of the Egyptian company is called Mohamed Medhat . The company also in Egypt began to produce this com puter. In 1991 the company produces approximately by 1500 prices only. The company in Egypt doesn’t correct their wrong and still the high prices of computers raises up. * In 1991 the price of iMac is 35,000 L. E. It is too much. In 1992 Apple Company makes a high loss, because of the high prices. So they began to think in another way to reduce the cost of the company. They reduced the cost to half but they also made a lot of losses. Steve is still thinking how to save the company and began to make profits. * * * Mohamed Medhat followed him in his steps to save the company in the Middle East because in this time the only branch for Apple Company in the Middle East in Egypt only in this time, but now in Egypt and UAE.They began to produce new products by low cost so they can save their company and began to make high profits. Now in 2012 apple makes a great successful product than Microsoft and become the leader of the technological market Apple Company produces a lot of unique products like: Macbook _Macbook ProMacbook Air| Next-generation quad-core and dual-core Intel processors. The 13-inch MacBook  Pro now features a 2. 4GHz Intel Core i5 processor or the fastest dual-core processor available — the 2. 8GHz Intel Core i7. With Turbo Boost speeds up to 3. GHz, these processors allow the 13-inch MacBook  Pro to perform up to twice as fast as the previous generation. 1But we couldn’t leave fast enough alone. The new 15- and 17-inch models bring quad-core power to almost everything you do. The available 2. 5GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor — with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3. 6GHz and up to 8MB of shared L3 cache — enables these MacBook Pro models to run applications up to twice as fast as their top-of-the-line predecessors. 2| iPad ( 3G – Wifi)| In work Mail, Calendar, Notes, and Safari in a beautiful, thin and light design, so you stay productive anywhere.With easy, secure integration into business environments a nd a robust platform for app development, iPad is ready to start working when you are. In Education iPad inspires creativity and hands-on learning with features you won’t find in any other educational tool — on a device that students really want to use. Powerful built-in apps and apps from the App Store let students engage with content in interactive ways, find information in an instant, and access an entire library wherever they go. And now, with the introduction of Multi-Touch textbooks, iPad takes learning to a whole new level. iPod (Classic – Touch-Nano)| It used for listening music and people can also watch some movies. | Services: If we talk about the apple’s services . the company give to there customer a good services through selling the product and after purchasing the product . apple’s services contain (warranty on it products for along time (between 1 to10 years ) , hardware services for instance , mousse , keyboards , monitor , track pa d , printers, hard disk and Etc. . the services contain software services also , for instance operating system (OSX ) . that’s some services after purchasing . n other hand the service before purchasing . the sales person give the full information about the products to customers , make an offers to attract more and more customer , for instance in 2011 , there are many offers which the company made ,for example , to buy I phone and get I pod Nano with full accessories . and another one to buy any laptop and get ( software and full applications for free during the offer period) in usually you should to buy them software with 250 L. E and applications with 650 L. E . so it is very attractive and good offer . Apple company provide a good packaging to save it’s products .Vision Of Apple : Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings. Mission Of Apple: Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.Apple campaign for I phone 5: This is the last marketing campaign for the newest product will be in the market next summer . This advertising tell the customer for a new generation of I phone ( I Phone 5 ) with a new feature and quality . the advertising tell the customer . the new I phone is totally different from the I phone 4 , 4S and has a changes in every things . This Advertising show that apple was more interesting and focus on its segment and target it seriously . using the full capacity to stratify the targeting market SWOT analysis for Apple company:Strengths : apple OSX ( op erating system ) is more strengths than PC , the OS of apple no virus can hit it and can work on it for along time , Apple OSX support the graphic programmer so the designers use the Apple OS , because it more professional and fast . OSX is a heavy duty operating system , can use for along time without corruption or errors , and other Strength point is Apple gets to set the specs in detail, and deliver to the customer through a controlled retail experience (Apple Store, Apple On-line Store) that helps them explain the value to the customer and extract a premium for that value.Weakness : Apple prices . the cost of apple products is very high so it can’t compete in the Market . Dell and HP compete it by the same products but with less prices . so it represent a big weakness point face the company in Egypt . other point , the there is a big problem in I pod Nano screen . the production team discover this problem after produce the product , so this problem lead to spend a lot of dollars to solve this problem , In addition this problem led the company to increase the price of music download form I Tunes . this led apple to spend by 10 million dollar to fixed this problem .Opportunity : Apple has the opportunity to develop its iTunes and music player technology into a mobile phone format. The Rokr mobile phone device was developed by Motorola. It has a colour screen, stereo speakers and a advance camera system. A version of Apple's iTunes music store has been developed for the phone so users can manage the tracks they store on it. Downloads are available via a USB cable, ands software on the handset pauses music if a phone call comes in. New technologies and strategic alliances offer opportunities for Apple.Threats : The biggest threat to IT companies such as Apple is the very high level of competition in the technology markets. Being successful attracts competition, and Apple works very hard on research and development and marketing in order to retain its co mpetitive position. The popularity of iPod and Apple Mac are subject to demand, and will be affected if economies begin to falter and demand falls for their products. PESTEL analysis: Economic : apple company effected by the economic situation , the economic crises effect on the company production and company sales . he apple products have a high cost so it has a big related with the economic . ,for example, the company after the revolution , recorded a big loses in its sales and profit . after the revolution people avoid to buy the luxury products like I pod and I pad . apple recorded in 2011 loses in Egypt more than 50 Million . and in the economic crises in USA . apple recorded loses by 700 Million dollar . Technology : apple company strongly effected by technology factor , the company should to has the final technology tools that the world use it in this time . pple company every time develop their products with new feature and technology , for example I phone developed to 3GS t o 4G and finally 4GS and 5G soon . other products like I pad develop it to work with the third generation of communications (3G) . apple now is the best company all over the world use the touch technique in its products and devises . Political : Could be new laws or regulations , for Example in last time the GPS ( Navigation system ) in Egypt is not allow to use so apple stopped this program in Egypt tell 2008 and after this the government allow to use the navigation system In Egypt . o apple supported their devises by the GPS system . Social : Means social trends. If you are a phone company, Apple's entry into the cellphone market created a demand for touch screen phones, (about time! ) for example. Thus Nokia and co. had to respond. (I like Nokia, but they should have been ahead of the game in this one, so I'm glad Apple kicked them). Environmental factors: environmental factors include the weather and climate change. Changes in temperature can impact on many industries including farming, tourism and insurance.Apple may not effect with climate strongly but it may be effected by tourism , this will effect all process of the company ( production process and sell process ) Customer Analysis: Demographic ( Age – Gender – Family size – Life cycle or Income ) Apple company make different products to different ages , for instant they made I pod Nano for the children and youth and after that they made I pad for businessmen and the youth can also use it form 15 to 60 years old , they made also I Mac form grand ages .Apple is completely successful to target different ages with different product . Apple not forget to make a different between gender or sex, for example they made MacBook Air for female and made MacBook Bro for male, and also in colors they produce some laptop’s covers with pink color to target girls or female . Apple produce different products to different age and life – cycle groups . Apple company not forget to target income . they are produce a different products with different prices to be fit to any individual depend on his income , for xample there is I pod classic with 2000 pound and there is one with 3500 pound for I pod touch so any one can buy any thing from Apple depending on his income. Psychographic ( social class and life stile or personality) If we divide the market to class A – B – C , Apple target one or two from this segments . Apple will target the class A , because they provide a high quality and good products with high cost so the class A is the more segment will use apple’s products after that class B a few of them will use apple’s products .Behavior ( User Status – User Rate – Loyalty – Benefit – Occasion ) User statue : apple market divide into ex-user , who use apple’s products from along time , and first –time user who is the first time to use apple products , and potential user and we have a regular ap ple user how is use apple a lot of times . User rate : apple market divide into light , medium and heavy product user of apple . Loyalty : divide on completely loyalty that is mean some one buy all brands form one company . or example, buy I phone I pod , I pad that is mean he buy all things he want form apple , he/she very loyalty to the company Some-what loyalty , buy two or three products from apple and them go to buy any thing form different brand , for example , some one buy I phone and I pod then he shift to buy Nokia and HTC. and we have finally no loyalty , who didn’t buy any thing form apple . Target Market : There are a lot types of market targeting (undifferentiated – differentiated – concentrated – micro ) market , apple use differentiated market ( segmentation ) .It is produce different products to one or more segment (class A and a few of class B) . Differentiation and positioning Competitive advantage : apple have a lot of competitors in it ’s fields for example , Mobil phone there are a lot of competitor (Nokia – Samsung – HTC , Blackberry ) , in computers the biggest competitor is ( Microsoft ) in entertainment field there is ( Mp3,4) . so apple should to have an competitive advantage to be able to compete the other and should to have a unique feature in it’s product to be different . it should to have a good sales offer and this give it is to make a high profit and attract a lot of consumers .Apple now a days try to produce a products with a low prices to attract more and more and gain a more profit , so it can compete all competitor . Position strategy : Apple should to know the consumer the place of there products and where they sell it’s product . they are make perceptions of consumer about place . next step they try to give him a good impressions about products and serves and features , the third step is feeling , to give the consumer the feeling to buy the product of apple and give him the special feeling this product is the best one between the other product in market Market Share of the company :Apple in Cell phones ( I phone ) A the chart show to us the I Phone is not the market leader in cell phones only 13% of the market ,Nokia 20% and Samsung 31%,so Blackberry is the market leader. Questionnaire: Gender : Male†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Female†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Age: *18-20†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ *21-30†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. *40 and above†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 1) Did you hear about Apple I phone 5 ? Yes No 2) Can you remember the ad ,? Yes No 3) Where did you see or hear about the ad? a. Internet b. friend c. Magazine d. billboard e. Conference -other, please specify†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. ) How you think about Apple I phone 4 ads and campaign? 5) Did you purchase the I phone 5 after watching the AD? Yes No Evaluation of product in cutomers,s eyes: First of all, these questionnaire was distributed on 38 students in MSA university ,20 of them was females and 18 was m ales aging from 18 to 22 years old In first question, when we ask people about do they hear about the I phone 5 ad ? about 75% of target audience answers by yes, that they hear about I phone 5 adMost of students answer by yes said that they already have I phone products so the company itself send them direct mail to them to know about product ,others said that they know about I phone from their friend whom they attend an event for company. In second question, when we ask about do the ad was memorable or not? About 20% of audience cannot remember it but majority do remember it The 80% students who are member the Ad ,they said they remember it as it was very simple ,also it looks with dark background that reflects the highly selective style. In third question, when we ask where did you see the ad ?Most of people see it on the internet whether face book or twitter, others access the apple website itself, other people answers by they know about the AD from their friends as Apple has pos itive word of mouth and company itself depend highly on the positive WOM, very rare people answers by they know about it from conference. In question four, asking about the opinion of customers in the campaign of apple I phone 5, people said that it is creative, unique, also some people really like the usage of white and black colors, people said that this is normal as we always expect the best from Apple.In the last question, people answer by yes that they purchase the I phone 5 after the ad about 65% bought it as they see it high technology and satisfy all their needs Expert interview with company: We made an interview with Mr. Samir Galal the general sales manager in Apple company-Egypt asking him about the tools of IMC they used, the budget, also about Apple opinion in using celebrities, as well as ask them also about who are their competitors. 1) How do you distribute the budget on IMC tools?Mr. Samir galal tell us that they use the internet and public relation the most tools t hey use as they have a website from the best websites in the world as they do a lot of updates to their website and put all their new products on it. According to the budget assigned to the internet they pay about 5 millions on these tool every 6 months ,however for the public relation tool, they pay about 600 thousands Egyptian pound every 6 months, they use interviews ,conferences as a tools of PR .As well as ,they use direct marketing by using mails ,if there is any problem facing customer ,they use skype for direct interaction. 2) Which tools from IMC are the most effective tools working with Apple? He tell us that direct marketing and public relation tools are most effective as they are most targeted tools as Apple targeting only A class ,however if they make a TV Ads it will be useless and high costs without return as mass market will view it however they are not targeted so direct marketing and public relation are the most selective tools that goes forward for the targeted cu stomers. ) Do you use celebrities at promoting for your product? Mr. samir answers that they don’t use any celebrities as they don’t need as Apple Word of mouth is already positive so why they will think of using celebrities and they already have a positive brand image and the brand is already highly positioned in the customer’s mind, but Apple do care a lot for their customers as they take their contact information so to make a conference inviting customers to show them the new products ,new technology. 4)who are apple main competitors in all product segments?In computer segment ,he said that Microsoft operating system is the main competitor as it has high quality but with low prices, however in mobiles ,Nokia consider high competitor as they copy everything from Apple and with moderate prices lower than Apple so a lots of people can afford it for example when Apple launch the touch option Nokia launch the same touch option with lower prices than Apple, also No kia is targeting the mass market so they make intensive distribution but Apple has only few stores as they have a problem in distribution . 5) What is the SWOT analysis of the Apple company ?Strengths : apple OSX ( operating system ) is more strengths than PC , the OS of apple no virus can hit it and can work on it for along time , Apple OSX support the graphic programmer so the designers use the Apple OS , because it more professional and fast . OSX is a heavy duty operating system , can use for along time without corruption or errors , and other Strength point is Apple gets to set the specs in detail, and deliver to the customer through a controlled retail experience (Apple Store, Apple On-line Store) that helps them explain the value to the customer and extract a premium for that value.Weakness : The company has not cover the market and not has a perfect distribution . the company can’t cover the hole market , in this case , the bad distribution lead to a lot of loses toth e company and can’t help it to chive its profit and not give it the ability to make good sales to its product. other point , the there is a big problem in I pod Nano screen . the production team discover this problem after produce the product so this problem lead to spend a lot of dollars to solve this problem , In addition this problem led the company to increase the price of music download form I Tunes . this led apple to spend by 10 million dollar to fixed this problem . Opportunity : Apple has the opportunity to develop its iTunes and music player technology into a mobile phone format. The Rokr mobile phone device was developed by Motorola. It has a colour screen, stereo speakers and a advance camera system.A version of Apple's iTunes music store has been developed for the phone so users can manage the tracks they store on it. Downloads are available via a USB cable, ands software on the handset pauses music if a phone call comes in. New technologies and strategic allianc es offer opportunities for Apple. Threats : The biggest threat to IT companies such as Apple is the very high level of competition in the technology markets. Being successful attracts competition, and Apple works very hard on research and development and marketing in order to retain its competitive position.The popularity of iPod and Apple Mac are subject to demand, and will be affected if economies begin to falter and demand falls for their products IMC Tools that Apple uses Advertising:- In fact Apple Company uses advertising a lot but not too often mainly it uses product placement, most movies of mission impossible can be said that it was sponsored by apple all actors were using laptops, I pad and I phone apple. They succeeded by doing this a lot because mission impossible is one of the most seen movies worldwide, 50% of the pie chart.Public relations:- Most of the time consumers would like to know what you are selling in your company if it’s easy to use or so complicated if it’s going to help them or not, apple communicated directly with its customers with only two simple words that changed their minds upside down and be interested more in trying new products†¦. â€Å"Think Different† apple earned customers trust and acceptance only by these words because it did change their way of thinking when purchasing a product, 30% of the pie chart is public relations. Internet:-The website of apple that apple provide flow mutual benefits and information with the company and its customers, the company benefits from understanding its target market more can be able to know their needs and wants and what they usually ask and look for on their websites, how can they help them in order to spread word of mouth as well, according to customers they can know everything about the product they are searching for details and prices and feel the difference between apple, Dell and Samsung, 50%of the pie chart is internet.Direct Marketing:- Customer service of apple is always available to their customers over the internet, they communicate directly with each other through internet if there are any complaints or anything that needs an explanation they will answer them immediately, in direct marketing apple uses only the internet to interact directly with its customers, 50% of the pie chart is direct marketing. Personal selling:-Apple products is not in a need of persuading or convincing their customers to buy them as they are most qualified with its applications and software, the huge campaign of apple made people talking about apple most of the time when it comes to technology best features as apple also can tailor specific shapes and orders depend on individual needs, also the flexibility in apple stores between buyers and sellers allow for more profits and target marketing, best prospects which is known as â€Å"creme de la creme† are niche markets apple make huge efforts with them to have them more for long periods of time a s they are very loyal and extremely profitable, 150% of pie chart is personal selling. Sales promotion:In fact due to the perfect image of apple they feel that if they added any sales promotion to their IMC programs they will lose their picture in consumer minds, as its considered to be more luxury one of the most expensive equipments, they can see that although they are expensive there are a huge demand on their products and they see that there is no need to make sales promotion because they are not targeting the whole segments, they know exactly their target audience and can satisfy them more than any other companies also exceeding their specific details that vary from one person to another so that they feel delighted and special and will not think of shifting to another brand of technology equipments. Recommendations for IMC tools that apple can use it for better reach and sales: Advertising:-Apple doesn’t need to advertise much as it is already grabbing large segments of customers and when doing product placement every now and then it’s very important to do it but the problem here is increasing the percentage of demand by more advertising not just through product placement, it would be better if they increased the billboards around to remind people about their products and keep themselves in consumers mind for example if they added more billboards on way of malls were there are many electronic stores if someone was thinking to purchase specific type of laptop and find apple billboards they will shift to it and it will grab their attention more. Public relations:-Apple doesn’t concentrate much on public relations as it fails a lot to make any event or to sponsor more events for example north coast events or charity events they don’t share in anything of it which can allow the press to make negative image in consumer minds about apple that would affect the publicity as well so it’s better to think more about taking care of their image because the image of the company can drag you down or pull you up also it will add public value. Internet:- According to the internet apple focuses in it a lot and put aside the idea that internet is not a mass medium and fails to reach all segments and niche markets orders only the tailored products but other half of the segment have the ability to buy apple products so apple shouldn’t focuses much on internet as not all its customers have an access to the internet. Direct marketing:-Only direct selling is available with apple its better if they add catalogs and send it to their customers and their customers would give them the telephone number of their friends and family to contact them telemarketing also send them the same catalogs to see more categories of apple products, that would make apple more spread, dominant an unique in the market. Personal Selling:- Apple is not in need to increase its personal selling because it is perfect on it but it’s extre mely expensive and it’s so difficult to tailor products and deliver it to customers with the same consistency each time, its more applicable make things more reliable and equal so that if they keep doing this and once something happened by not delivering the needed tailored product they will fail and in 1 minute the customer perception of apple will change totally also I depends on every customer privileges. Sales promotion:Apple is one of the multinational companies that if they made any sales promotion they would gain new customers but loses the old ones as it is not preferred to do it because it will hesitate their image in the market because its known that apple is for special segment and sales promotion wouldn’t add anything new simply it will be switching segments they will gain part and lose the other part and according to profit it will decrease badly and the company will keep losing and will suffer a lot in order to get its image and old customers back. Genera l Recommendations:- Its more applicable that apple make all tools work together in harmony so that to be differentiated more from any other companies and keep the uniqness of its products but still keeping themselves away of sales promotion, as it’s known the benefits of IMC tools when they all work with each other it will save time, money and stress, also will boost them up to profit, finally it will have competitive advantages like no other company.