The Effects of Symbolism in Kate Chopin’s Writings Essay

Critics know Kate Chopin for her regionalist short stories and her often-radical depiction of sexuality in her work. She was able to write very radically and without any qualms because of the influence of her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. All three were widows and independent women, which caused Katherine O’Flaherty, born in 1851, to grow up as a smart and strong woman. Most of the women she wrote about in her stories also shared these characteristics. After she graduated at seventeen, she spent the next two years as the â€Å"belle of St. Louis society†. Katherine O’Flaherty married Oscar Chopin in 1870 and â€Å"for the next decade, [Kate] Chopin pursued the demanding social and domestic schedule of a southern aristocrat, her†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"At the ‘Cadian Ball,† the prequel to â€Å"The Storm,† is the story of how the couples in â€Å"The Storm† decided on their fates. The story opens with Bobinà ´ t, a poor farmer, thinking of the ‘Cadian ball. He decides that he does not want to go, but he will because he knows that Calixta will be going, and so will Alcà ©e. Calixta is a beautiful woman of Spanish ancestry and she will be the belle of the ball. Alcà ©e is a wealthy aristocrat, and Bobinà ´t is afraid that if he does not go and prevent Alcà ©e from sweeping Calixta off her feet, he will succeed and take Calixta away from Bobinà ´t. Meanwhile, Alcà ©e is at his plantation where his crops for the year have all died. Although his peers had expected him to feel like a failure, Alcà ©e is unusually quiet and his pseudo-girlfriend Clarisse is worried. One night he rides away unexpectedly, headed for the ‘Cadian ball. Clarisse finds this out from a slave and sets off to follow him there. At the ball, Calixta and Alcà ©e steal away to a quiet corner and start to cuddle and kiss when Clarisse interrupts them, claiming that there is trouble at home. Alcà ©e goes w ith her, leaving Calixta by herself until Bobinà ´t shows up and walks her home. On their walk home, Calixta tells Bobinà ´t that she will accept his marriage offer if he asks her, which causes Bobinà ´t toShow MoreRelatedEssay about Symbolism of â€Å"The Storm1512 Words   |  7 PagesKate Chopin wrote the short story â€Å"The Storm† one of her most bold stories and did not even intention to publish it (Cutter 191). The two main characters in the story are Calixta and Alcee. They both used to be attracted to one another in previous years, but now they are both married to someone else. After Alcee arrives to Calixta’s house looking for shelter they are driven into a passionate moment. In the story â€Å"The Storm† the storm has a significant meaning; without it the affair of Calixta andRead MoreEssay about The Awakening1491 Words   |  6 PagesAwakening nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The novel, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, was written in the late nineteenth century in St. Louis after her husband Oscar died of a severe illness. Her book appeared in 1899, after she was idolized by many novels written by Darwin and Sarah Orne Jewett. Her first attempts at writing were just brief sketches for a local newspaper that was only short descriptions of her life in Louisiana. However, Chopin’s interests had always run along more risky lines, as reflectedRead More Oppression of Women in Chopins Story of an Hour and Gilmans Yellow Wallpaper 1246 Words   |  5 PagesOppression of Women in Chopins Story of an Hour and Gilmans Yellow Wallpaper    The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman share the same view of the subordinate position of women in the late 1800s. Both stories demonstrate the devastating effects on the mind and body that result from an intelligent person living with and accepting the imposed will of another. This essay will attempt to make their themes apparent by examining a brief summeryRead MoreThe Necklace and Story of an Hour; a Comparison Essay2800 Words   |  12 PagesThe Necklace and Story of An Hour; A Comparison Megan Ford ENG125 Instructor Reljic August 19, 2012 At first glance, Chopin’s Story of an Hour (1894) and de Maupassant’s The Necklace (1884), appear to have very little in common. Chopin’s story, as displayed in its title is quite short; while in comparison, de Maupassant tells a much more detailed account of the beleaguered Loisel’s, who must learn from the self-centred Madam Loisel. With de Maupassant’sRead MoreChopin VS Thurber and Relationships2545 Words   |  11 PagesIn the stories â€Å"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty† by James Thurber (Clugston, sec. h1.1) and â€Å"The Story of an Hour† by Kate Chopin (Clugston, sec. h2.1) escapism is a similar theme with in both these stories, yet there is a slight variance in how each of these authors place these characters into their escape from reality, relationships, and everyday chaos. In each of these stories the author shows the characters escaping the realities of the relationship, one through Walter Mitts’ daydreams, and th eRead MoreThe Story of an Hour and a Rose for Emily Essay2219 Words   |  9 PagesCompare Contrast The Story of an Hour and A Rose for Emily Kate Chopins The Story of an Hour and William Faulkners A Rosefor Emily both characterize the nature of marriage and womanhood bydelving into the psyches of their female protagonists. Also, althoughChopin makes no clear reference to geographic locale in The Story of anHour, both authors usually set their stories in the American South, whichimpacts these characterizations. These two tales share many other points ofreference in common

Marketing of Fiat Company Samples for Students †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Marketing planning of Fiat Company. Answer: Introduction Marketingplanning involves deciding on themarketing strategies that the firm will use to help it to attain its overall strategic objectives (Kotler and Armstrong, 2010). Through strategic planning, the firm is in a better position to decide what it wants to do with each business strategy so that overall goals and objectives are achieved in its operations. The business will be able to launch a new product or build sales for the existing product. As such, this marketing plan outlines the strategies that can be adopted by Fiat, an Italian automobile manufacturer operating in Brazil. The marketing plan covers the following aspects: marketing analysis, competitive analysis, brand analysis, objectives and goals as well as marketing mix analysis. This plan outlines the steps that can be taken by the company in order to increase its car sales in Brazil. Marketing/Industry Analysis The major notable aspect about the automobile industry in Brazil is that the market is significantly growing as the customers now have access to loans from different financial institutions in order to buy cars (The Brazil Business, 2017). The car market is a growing sector in Brazil, as credit has become more available for consumers who want to buy a car. This makes Brazil the 4th best-selling car nation and this has influenced different companies to bring their products to the country. The market is attractive for the automobile manufacturers since it is comprised by quite a number of potential customers who can buy the vehicles offered by Fiat in this particular case. The other aspect about the automobile industry in Brazil is that it heavily relies on imports despite the fact that it has the largest industry in Latin America (The Brazil Business, 2017). On the other hand, it can also be noted that the cars in Brazil are generally expensive compared to North America and this has an impact on the buying potential of the customers. On top of this, the automobile industry in Brazil has been affected by poor performance of the economy. For instance, in 2015, the sales of cars, buses, heavy and light trucks were 2,570,000 units and this represented a decline of 26.7% as compared to the previous year 2014 (The International Trade Association (2016). This trend is likely to continue like that which calls for holistic measures by Fiat Company to boost its car sales. This can be achieved through continuous research about the needs and interests of the consumers so that the company can design its brand in such a way that it can appeal to the interests of many people. The company can customize its vehicles such that they can satisfy the needs of the customers. It is also important for the company to conduct research about the operations of the other competitors so that it can implement better strategies that gives it competitive advantage over them. It is important for the company to be proactive by scanning the environment and making contingent plans that can be implemented in case change is required in its operations. The environment in which Fiat operates is dynamic hence the need for Fiat to constantly improve its operations so that it keeps pace with all the changes that may take place within it. Competitive Analysis Fiat is the best-selling automobile brand in Brazil since the company records high sales volumes annually (The Brazil Business, 2017). This simply means that the company does not operate in isolation since there are other actors in the automobile industry. In order to plan effective marketing strategies, it is imperative for the firm to find out what it can do about its competitors so that it can gain competitive advantage over them (Strydom, 2006). The automobile industry in Brazil is comprised of more than 20 competitors and some of them include the following: Chevrolet, Hyundai, Toyota, Ford, Nissan, Renault, BMW as well as Mercedes Benz among other top automobile brands (The Brazil Business, 2017). Identifying the firms competitors is very important since it helps the firm to have knowledge about other actors in the automobile industry. This stage should never be taken for granted since it gives the company some form of guidance in formulating its business strategies that can hel p it to gain competitive advantage. The next stage in conducting competitor analysis is that company should then put measures in place that enables it to assess the objectives, strategies, strengths and weaknesses of the competitors as well as the reaction patterns (Kotler and Armstrong, 2010). The marketing managers at Fiat Company need to gain understanding of their competitors objectives as well as philosophy of doing business so that they can anticipate their reaction to different changes that can take place in the environment in which it operates. The other issue that should be taken into consideration by Fiat Company is that it should gather as much information as possible about the weaknesses and strengths of the competitors so that it can formulate strategies that give it competitive edge over them. It is also important for the company to select the companies to attack using the knowledge about their weaknesses as well as strengths. The company can also consider the strategy of offering vehicles that save fuels and that are also environmental friendly. This is likely to boost its sales since the vehicles offered will appeal to the interests of many people. The other plan that should be adopted by fiat is to review the price of its vehicles downwards so that it can be in a position to attract many buyers. This strategy is known as overall cost leadership where the company strives to achieve lower production and distribution costs which ultimately lead to lower prices of the final products offered in the market (Cant, 2007). The other strategy that should be adopted by Fiat Company pertains to product leadership where it strives to provide superior value by offering continuous stream of leading edge products and services (Kotler and Keller, 2006). The marketing leaders should also be open to new ideas and work towards new solutions so as to be in a better position to attract many customers as well as to create loy alty among the already existing consumers. These strategies help the company to gain a large market share. Customer Analysis Fiat offers different types of vehicles including small cars, light and heavy trucks to different customers in the market. However, it can be seen that there are quite a number of attributes that are sought by the customers when they make decisions to purchase the different types of vehicles offered by the firm. The following plans should be considered by Fiat Company in its operations so that it can gain a large market share. According to Cant (2006), the customers are attracted to the product by various attributes hence the need to conduct what is termed customer value analysis in order for the marketers to gain understanding of what the consumers really want. This type of analysis focuses on what benefits the target customers value and how they rate the relative value of various competitors offers (Kotler and Armstrong, 2010). In this case, Fiat Company should continuously identify the values that are of interest to the targeted customers so that it can be able to modify them in such a way that they continue to attract them. Consistency in upholding customer value will significantly help the company to create loyalty among the consumers. The other issue is that the company should put measures in place that enables it to assess the performance of the competitors on the identified attributes that are valued by the consumers. In this case, the company should focus on attributes such as efficiency as well a s environmental friendliness of the cars offered to different customers since these are more valued by the customers than any other factors. In order to carefully analyse the customer base, it is essential for Fiat Company to conduct market segmentation on the basis of different factors. Basically, market segmentation involves the division of customers on the basis of their interests towards a particular product or service (Cant, 2007). The company should target the customers on the basis of their level of income since it has been observed that Brazils economic performance has a bearing on their buying behaviour of different cars. The company should focus on selling small cars that are efficient and environmental friendly since these are easy to maintain. It is also important to take into consideration the factors such as benefits that are likely to be obtained by the customers from purchasing the vehicles offered by the company. When the marketers know the customer preferences, they are then in a position to design their marketing strategies in such a way that they will appeal to the interests of many people. Brand Analysis A brand is a term or symbol that identifies the product or services of the seller and differentiates them from those of the competitors (Kotler and Armstrong, 2010). In most cases, the consumers view a brand as the most important part of the product and it helps to give value to it. The other element is that branding helps the customers to identify with the product and they expect to get the features what they desire from it. For instance, Fiat brand is comprised of different vehicles such as Punto as well as Fiat 500e, X and L series. This brand stands for legacy and discovery and it also helps people to be in charge of their own destiny (Fiat, 2017). Therefore, effort should be made to ensure that the brand is constantly improved in order to give the consumers maximum satisfaction from using. Engine performance should be constantly improved as the consumers seek to define their destiny through the use of this brand. The company should also ensure that brand visibility is enhanced through constant improvement of various design features of the vehicles offered to different clients. The vehicle should look attractive to the potential buyers so that they can make informed decisions to purchase it. The marketers should conduct research in order to gather the views of the customers so that they can relay them to the manufacturers for consideration when they produce other vehicles. This will help the company to improve the appearance of the vehicles and they are likely to be appreciated by many people which will help it to generate more sales. In the long run, the company will be able to gain large market share over the other competitors in the automobile industry. The company should also utilise effective advertising to enhance brand visibility so that many customers can gain awareness of its existence. Whilst it is important for the company to use conventional forms of advertising such as print and electronic media, it is important for it to harness the use of outdoor advertising since this enhances brand visibility. The company should use billboards that are erected along major highways in the country as well as other busy and strategic locations like garages to increase Fiats brand visibility to different potential customers. This significantly helps the customers to identify with the brand and they are constantly reminded about it as they always see it in different places while performing other errands. Objective and Goals Objectives and goals are usually set in order to determine what the company really wants to achieve in its operations (Strydom, 2006). As such, Fiat should put measures in place in order to achieve certain objectives that can help it to gain a large market share against the background of many competitors operating in the same industry. Thus, the major objective is for the company to increase its sales of motor vehicles to different customers. For instance, the total sales of vehicles by all automobile marketers in Brazil represented a decline of 26.7% as compared to the previous year 2014 (The International Trade Association (2016). This implies that Fiats sales were also not spared from this negative development in the market. As such, it should put measures in place to increase the sales of its vehicles by about 19 % in order to offset the negative sales that have been witnessed in recent years. This can only be possible if the company puts measures in place to attract the customers so that they can buy its model brand. This will help to boost the sales of different vehicles to the targeted customers which also helps the company to generate more revenue in its operations. This will also improve its viability and sustainability in the long run. Customer retention strategies should also be implemented through offering product support services. When the customers have bought the vehicles offered by Fiat, the company should have a responsibility to offer follow up services to retain them. For example, Fiat holds regular telephonic interviews with owners and also receives different views from the buyers about what they expect from the company. This goes along with the aspect of creating loyalty among the targeted customers. This is the objective that should be considered by the company where it can implement loyalty programs so as to be in a position to create mutual trust with the customers. These programs can include free vehicle services to the customers that are deemed as loyal to the organisation. This strategy can also help the customers to attract other potential buyers which help the company to gain competitive advantage over other rival players in the sector. Marketing Mix Analysis Marketing mix involves the use of the following elements: product, price, place as well as promotion to design strategies that can be used by the company to attract customers for its offerings (Strydom, 2006). Fiat company should make concerted efforts to make sure that the product is designed in such a way that it appeals to the interests of the targeted customers. In other words, the company should strive to make sure that customer satisfaction is achieved from its operations. Product value should be enhanced so as to help the customers to identify with the product. In most cases, the targeted consumers are influenced to make decisions to buy a particular product as a result of its price. It is therefore imperative for Fiat Company to ensure that the prices of the vehicles offered to the customers in Brazil are reasonable and affordable. It is important for the company to make sure that the customers derive value for money by paying fair prices while at the same time deriving value from the vehicles purchased. The element of place is also very important in determining the marketing mix of the product offered by the company. In this particular case, it is imperative for Fiat Company to make sure that the vehicles it offers are readily available in the market. The customers usually do not enjoy a situation whereby they face numerous challenges to access a particular product in the market since this can deter them from purchasing it. The company should open distribution centers in major strategic places that can be easily accessed by many people. The element of promotion is also very important for the company since this can positively influence the customers to buy the vehicles it offers. Different forms of advertising should be utilised by the company in order to reach many customers as well as to raise their awareness about the brand offered by the company. The other promotional strategy is to offer price discounts on selected brands so as to attract new buyers. This will help the company t o gain competitive advantage since it can generate more revenue from increased sales of the products offered. Overall, this is one of the major objectives of the company to increase its sales following a recent decline that has been attributed to poor economic conditions obtaining in Brazil over the past three years. Conclusion In conclusion, it can be observed that Fiat Company needs to implement an effective marketing plan in a bid to increase its car sales in Brazil which have been affected by the recent negative performance of the countrys economy. As noted, the automobile industry in Brazil is characterised by competition since there are also other players with similar offerings. The other issue is that since the competitors are varied, it is imperative for the company to segment the market on the basis psychographic as well as income level factors since these mainly influence the buying behaviour of the consumers especially for products like cars. Effort should also be made to implement loyalty programs that are meant to retain the customers. This gives the company competitive advantage such that it can be in a better position to grab a large market share in this particular sector. Above all, the marketers within the company should take steps to constantly conduct market research so that they are awar e of the needs of the customers in order to design suitable products. References Cant, J. (2000), Introduction to marketing, CT: JUTA Fiat 2017. Official website. https://fiat.com/ Fiat 2017. Fiat our Legacy. https://www.fiatusa.com/en/fiat-nation/fiat-history/ Kotler, P. Armstrong, G. (2010). Principles of marketing. Cape Town, CT: Pearson. Kotler, P. Keller, K.L. (2006). Marketing Management, 12th Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Strydom, J. (2006). Marketing principles. CT: JUTA. The Brazil Business 2017, Top 20 Brazil car Brands. https://thebrazilbusiness.com/article/top-20-car-brands-in-brazil The International Trade Association, 2016. Brazil Automotive Industry. https://www.export.gov/article?id=Brazil-Automotive-Industry

Risk Management of Legal Issues Affecting E-Commerce free essay sample

Risk Management of Legal Issues affecting E-Commerce Introduction Risk management is the ability to identify, assess, and prioritize risks depending on the threat they poses on a business and the resources available. Most organizations are operating their business online nowadays. Many industries such as banking, insurance, selling of goods, offering of certain services are turning their operations online. E-commerce has many challenges that threaten to make any organization conducting online business to fail. The ability to identify, asses, and come up with solutions to the risks in the e-commerce industry is essential in ensuring success of the organization. One of the major challenges of e-commerce is the legal implications among others. Due to the nature of online business that it is worldwide and that many people can access it, legal matters are a crucial issue in the commerce. E-commerce business is growing rapidly leaving the legal systems in a struggle to adapt to the growing industry. We will write a custom essay sample on Risk Management of Legal Issues Affecting E-Commerce or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Likewise, e-commerce organizations need to come up with new procedures and rules for the business. The growth poses many issues on regulation and many legal questions. How do authorities regulate digital content? Can national laws of a country apply in the web business? Can there be protection of privacy and protection of data in the internet? (Shah, Nagree, 2001) For any of the organizations in the online business, managers need to be aware of the legal issues. Given that for any business, the government tries to impose regulations, managers need to be aware of these regulations to be able to succeed in the business. The e-commerce rapid growth makes the laws to change from time to time to include the changes in the business. Therefore, managers need to be familiar with the changing laws and have a deep knowledge of the law to be able to make the best decisions for the organization in terms of legal issues. Improper decisions when it comes to legal matters can lead to the failure of a business. Non-compliance with the laws may lead to many legal consequences including the government forcing the organization to close or hefty fines, which may lead to many losses leading to the failure of the business. Therefore, the management needs to be aware of the legal concerns of the business to ensure compliance of the law is a daily routine of the organization. One example of the laws on e-commerce that affect the company is copyright laws. The copyright laws pose many threats to the survival of the business. Therefore, the management need to identify these risks, asses them, and develop ways of mitigating them to avoid them affecting the organization largely (Spindler, 2007). The process of risk management involves many other processes. The first process of risk management is to identify the risks. In the case of e-commerce and the copyright issues, the management has to find the risks that copyright issues present to the business. The identification of the risks that copyright issues pose must be at all the stages of the project. When a new product is available, the organization must look at the copyright issues in the first place. When there is a small problem regarding the copyright issues of any product or the website itself, the management must identify the small problem before it becomes a major problem threatening the product. Therefore, any organization must have large personnel for risk identification including a large and informed legal counsel to provide the necessary counsel on copyright issues (Bouridis, 2010). The second step to risk management is analysis of the risk. Analysis of the risk is paramount in making sure that an organization deals with the risk to avoid complications. The analysis involves prioritization, communication with the relevant teams to reduce the threat. In the case of copyright issues, once the team responsible has identified a problem on copyright of a new product, the team must go forward to analyze the real threat that the problem pose to the business. The team must consider other risks and evaluate them thus prioritizing which risk to cover first and which risk can wait. Once the team has identified the risks that need immediate attention, then they can go forward to communicate with other teams responsible for the product. In case the problem is with the website, the team must communicate with the web developers and other parties involved seeking the way forward to address the problem (Shah, Nagree, 2001). The third step to risk management is envisaging the consequences of the actions that an organization takes for a certain risk. The responsible teams must envisage the possible outcomes of any of the actions they take to tackle any problem. A problem with the copyright issues invites for certain actions from the responsible group. The group must look at all the possibilities of the action it takes. By looking at the future possibilities of an action, the group can decide on the best course of action. For example, there might be two actions the responsible group can take to deal with a problem, the group should look at both the actions and decide on the best that will even avoid such problems in the future but not just the action that best solves the problem now (Bouridis, 2010).. The management has to plan for the risk. The steps above call for the planning of risk. Some risks are urgent, others must be immediate, and others essential. All these risks require special attention. Therefore, the management must plan on how to al with the risks depending on their categories. The risks have a varying degree of risk, some have a high risk, others a low risk and others medium risk. The management must plan on how to deal with the risks depending on their degree of risk (Spindler, 2007). The management must also track the risk. The management needs to have a program that evaluates a risk from time to time. Tracking the risk from time to time ensures that the organization has the knowledge of new developments on the risk. The knowledge of new developments on the risk ensure that the organization takes immediate action when necessary for a development that they did not expect in envisaging the consequences that the risk they took for mitigating the risk has (Nasir, 2004). The last step to risk management is control of the risk. The control of risks must go in hand with the management of a project. In case of a new product in the market, the management of this new project must go in hand with the control of the risk that the product poses. The copyright issues of a new product in e-commerce pose risks to the business; therefore, as the management manages the new product, it must endeavor to control the risk that copyright issues pose. The management can do this by planning, and taking sequential preparation to the control of the risk (Shah, Nagree, 2001). Legal Concerns in E-Commerce There are many legal concerns in e-commerce. The major legal issues in e-commerce involve; contracts, security, authentication, privacy protection, data protection, intellectual property rights, domain names, jurisdiction, liability, and taxation. Other legal issues in e-commerce are content regulation, advertisement, electronic payment issues, and foreign direct investment. All these legal factors affect the business in one way or the other. The legal concerns pose risks to the business that may threaten the profits of the company, lead to legal complications, or even lead to the closure of the business. For a business to succeed, any organization that conducts its business online must take special consideration to the legal concerns. The ability of an organization to deal with the legal concerns will be crucial in determining the success of the business. Considering the ever-growing use of the internet for commerce, the legal issues are the major challenge for the e-commerce organizations. The management has to have the knowledge on the legal issues and come up with a plan that will ensure that the organization is able to mitigate these problems (Spindler, 2007). One of the most important legal aspects that an e-commerce organization must take into consideration is the contracts. Parties in that conduct business online must come up with proper ways to reach agreements online to ensure that the contracts are solid. The identity of parties is a major concern in online contracts. The parties mostly do not have prior knowledge of each other posing uncertainties in the authority of the party, legitimacy, and the authority to enter contracts. Although digital signatures are there to help in identifying parties online, different countries have different rules on the digital signatures. Therefore, digital signatures between parties of different countries may bring problems to contracts that they make. Problems in contracts attract legal complications in the organization. The contractual complications may even lead to complications in terms of intellectual and property rights (Bouridis, 2010). Jurisdiction Laws For e-commerce, customers are throughout the world. The law states that if any organization acquires a customer from another country, then the organization must defend the litigation arising from the country. An organization must review any content that it places on the website of its operations to comply with the jurisdiction laws of the country the organization markets, sells, or promotes its goods and services. If the organization does not review the content, a person may sue the organization by the jurisdiction of that other country. Given that e-commerce involves people throughout the world, parties to a contract might come from different jurisdictions. If parties from different jurisdictions make contracts, it might lead to different interpretations of the contractual information. If the parties fail to honor the contract, there might be complications on which jurisdiction the other party should sue. A problem may arise still where the organization does not deliver goods or services as the customer would expect. The customer does not know which jurisdiction to use to sue the organization. The jurisdiction laws is a risk in e-commerce as these legal complications may threaten profits or even lead to total failure of the organization (Silver, 2002). An organization may face action because of its website in form of civil law suits, regulator’s action, or criminal prosecution. Many countries’ courts have a theory in which courts can exercise jurisdiction of the current country if the other party has minimum contacts with the country. The minimum contacts are in form of financial gain, physical presence, election of court through a contract or a stream of commerce. Even if there is no physical presence of an organization in a country, any person can sue you in that country if there are sufficient minimum contacts of the organization’s website with the people (Nasir, 2004).. Privacy and Security Issues In order to promote e-commerce, security is a crucial issue. Most online organizations keep sensitive information on the organization’s websites. The organizations must put in place adequate measures that will help safeguard the sensitive information of their customers. The organization must prevent any intruders from accessing the sensitive information they keep for the customers. The security threats to information in a company might originate both from internal and external. Hackers, Trojan horses, and viruses comprise the risk factors of information from external. Technical staff and other employees comprise the risk from internal. The laws require that all companies have adequate measures to prevent the security threats. There are privacy and security policies that the government imposes on the organization. The ability of an organization to provide high security to the information of their customers is crucial in the success of the organization. Organizations that can guarantee privacy and security of the customer’s information will have a large customer base as they have the trust of the customers. If a person discovers that there is insecurity of his or her information, or the some other person has the information from a website, the person can sue the organization (Silver, 2002). Online Terms and conditions, Policies, and Laws There are many online terms and conditions, policies, and laws by the government and other regulating authorities. Most of the terms and conditions are to shield the organization from liability from the use of the online content by the consumers. Governments are also forming legislation to strengthen the terms and conditions in the websites of organizations. The government legislation aims at protecting the consumers of online content. The legislation also aims at protecting the information of the users. Privacy policies in particular aim to push online organizations to ensure that they have strong security measures to protect the information of the consumers. Thus, the government and other regulating bodies through policies aim to avoid the disclosure of information by organizations through their websites. Policies and laws differ from one country to the other. Therefore, it is a challenge for organizations to comply with the differing policies and laws of the different countries (Sayer Deveaux, 2000). The policies, laws, terms, and conditions on online transactions ensure the following. One is ensuring that there are proper contracts through the internet. Two is ensuring the recording of retention obligations. Three is to ensure control of exchange regulations. Four is ensuring foreign protection of information. Any e-commerce organization ability to come up with proper terms and conditions and comply with policies and laws determines the success of the organization. Poor terms and conditions could lead to legal complications that the organization should not be liable for them. Non-compliance with policies and laws could lead to the authorities taking measures against the organization, which could affect the success of the organization (Sayer Deveaux, 2000). Intellectual property Rights The protection of the intellectual property is paramount in every online organization. The boundless non-regulation nature of the internet causes challenges to the protection of the intellectual property of any organization in the e-commerce business. Intellectual property rights include copyright laws, patent laws, design, trade secret, and trademark among others. Many countries have laws to protect the intellectual property rights but the efficiency of the laws in protecting the intellectual property rights is uncertain. Another challenge of the e-commerce organizations is crossing the property rights of other organizations. The organization need to put proper measures to ensure that no employee crosses the intellectual rights of another organization in conducting the business of the organization (WIPO, 2002). One of the challenges in intellectual property rights of an organization is determination of the subject matter of which to protect. E-commerce business is growing fast and there is advent of technology every day. Therefore, there is emergence of new intellectual property rights posing a challenge to an organization on how to protect its intellectual property best. For example, getting a patent for a new product might require some existing product. The organization might fail to get a way to protect its product best leading to losing information to other organizations through theft. In this case, the organization cannot even sue that other company because it does not have enough legal ground. The new product might require a product that the organization does not produce; therefore, getting patents for the new product might become complicated. The complications in acquiring intellectual property rights of new products that is common in e-commerce poses a risk of the organization losing the intellectual property (Shoniregun, 2000). Another challenge to the intellectual property rights is assertion of originality or novelty. Most of the laws on intellectual property require that the property be original or novel. Most of the web contents are almost similar in nature. An organization must prove to the authorities that the work is original which is hard because of the similarity of the web content. The use of the work in the internet would also hinder the claim of novelty or originality in applying for intellectual property rights. An e-commerce organization has to devote its attention in proving the novelty or originality to avoid infringement by other organizations with similar intellectual property rights. Enforcement of the intellectual rights is another major challenge that e-commerce organizations have. The internet eases the duplication of intellectual property even if they have intellectual property rights protection. The anonymous environment of the internet makes it very hard for an organization to get the infringer. The infringing material is also at a particular location for a very short while, making it even harder for organizations to get the infringer. The inherent territory nature of intellectual property rights makes it hard to determine whether there is infringement or not. The differences in laws of countries makes it hard it hard for organizations to enforce the rights since some action might constitute infringement in one country while the same action does not constitute infringement in another country. To restrain infringement in other countries, the organization has to file cases in these other countries. The process is time and money consuming (WIPO, 2002). Prevention of unauthorized Meta tagging and hyperlinking is another major challenge e-commerce organizations are having. Some hyperlinking constitute infringing of intellectual property rights. Meta-tags constitute infringing of trademarks. Hyperlinks that link an organization’s website to another organizations website constitute intellectual property infringement if the permissions for linking this other organization has not provide permissions for linking. If an organization uses a meta-tag similar to a meta-tag of another organization, this organization infringes on the trademark of the other organization. Recommendations to Mitigate Risks in E-Commerce Organizations After identification and analysis of risks, an organization needs to take the necessary actions to mitigate the risks. The legal issues being a major risk to e-commerce organizations, the organizations need to take the necessary action to mitigate the effects of the same. The intellectual property rights being the factor affecting e-commerce most need special consideration. An organization can take several actions to mitigate the risks. The ability of the organization to mitigate these risks determines the success of the organization (Barr, 2000. One of the ways that an organization can take as a precautionary measure is to have a strong and highly competent legal team. A highly competent legal team ensures that the organization has a strong legal base. A strong legal base is to advise the organization in major legal decisions. To avoid legal complications common in e-commerce organizations, all the decisions must have a strong legal basis evaluating all the possibilities of a particular action (Barr, 2000. The organization must train all its employees on the best practices to avoid legal complications. The organization needs to formulate rules to employees that will ensure that the employees do not perform actions that can put the organization on the wrong side of the law. The employees need to follow all the rules the organization sets in place. The only way to make the employees follow these rules is proper education on the legal issues and the benefits of compliance. To avoid the complications that jurisdiction brings, organizations need to adopt the rules and regulations that look universal. The organization can also place legal personnel in the countries it conducts major business. The personnel in these different countries will ensure that the problems in difference in laws of countries do not affect the organization (Sayer Deveaux, 2000). Organizations need to implement electronic systems like the electronic copyright management system that prevent infringement of intellectual property rights. The electronic systems will help reduce the risks in enforcement of the laws that an organization puts in place to prevent infringement of intellectual property (Barr, 2000). Conclusion Risk management of an e-commerce organization is paramount to the success of the organization. The organizations need proper risk management procedures to ensure that they reduce the risks. Legal issues of e-commerce business are many and require special attention from the management of the organization. Any e-commerce organization needs to consider all the above issues and observe the recommendations to ensure success of the organization and avoid the legal complications. References Barr D. (2000). The Need of a Broad Standard in Global E-Commerce. The Internet Law Journal. Bouridis, D. (2010). E-Commerce Operational Risk Management Plan. n. p. Nasir, A. M. (2004). Legal Issues Involved In E-Commerce. ACM Publishers Sayer, P. Deveaux, S. (2000). Jurisdiction in Cyberspace. IDG News Service Friday. Shah, A. Nagree, P. (2001). Legal Issues in E-Commerce. Nishith Desai Associates Shoniregun, C. A. , (2000). Intellectual Property Rights of Multimedia Enriched Websites. Communication of the ACM: Ubiquity Silver, J. (2002). Legal Issues for e-Commerce Business. Sitepoint. Spindler, G. (2007). Study on the Liability of Internet Intermediaries. University of Salerno. WIPO. (2002). Intellectual Property on the Internet: A Survey of Issues. World Intellectual Property Organization

Using the Indirect Object Le With Certain Spanish Verbs

Using the Indirect Object Le With Certain Spanish Verbs Although le is typically used as an  indirect object pronoun in Spanish, it doesnt always seem that way to English speakers: The two languages dont always treat pronouns alike, so there are some situations where an English verb takes a direct object but the Spanish equivalent uses an indirect object. In many cases, it doesnt make a difference whether an object is direct or indirect, because in the first and second persons the two types of pronouns are identical. Me, meaning me, for example, can be either a direct or indirect object. But the difference matters in the third person, where in standard Spanish le (meaning him, her, you, or less commonly it) is used as the indirect object but lo or la is the direct object. (Be aware that there are regional variations in this usage.) Verbs of Pleasing and Displeasing Verbs used to indicate that a thing or action pleases someone frequently take le. The most common such verb is gustar, which is often used in translating sentences where we use a different word order to indicate liking: A ella le gusta la comida china. (Chinese food pleases her. This is a literal translation. In real life, the translation she likes Chinese food would usually be used.)La verdad es que no les gusta la verdad. (The truth is that the truth doesnt please them. The truth is they dont like the truth.)Descubrieron que les gustaban las mismas cosas. (They discovered that the same things pleased them. They discovered they liked the same things.) In addition, various verbs similar in usage and meaning to gustar or the opposite are used with le or les. Some examples: agradar: En su nià ±ez, una de las cosas que ms le agradaban era disfrazarse. (In your childhood, one of the things you liked the most was dressing up in costumes.)apasionar: Le apasionaba ser actriz. (She loved being an actress.)complacer: Le complacer ayudarte. (She will like helping you.)desagradar: Le desagradaba irse a su cuarto. (He hated going to his room.)disgustar: Le disgustà ³ mucho la pelà ­cula y se retirà ³ a los 10 minutos. (He hated the film and left after 10 minutes.)encantar: A mi hija le encanta la mà ºsica reggae. (My daughter adores reggae music.)placer: Sà © que mis comentarios no le placen a mucha gente. (I know my comments dont please many people.) Verbs Using Le When the Object is a Person A few verbs commonly use le when its object is a person but not when the object is a thing or concept. For example, with creer, No lo creo means I dont believe it, but No le creo can mean I dont believe him or I dont believe her. In this cases, you can think of what a person believes (or not) as being the direct object, but the person being affected by that belief (or lack) being the indirect object. But in a simple sentence such as No le creo the direct object isnt stated. The same goes for entender (to understand): Lo entiendo. (I understand it.) Le entiendo. (I understand him/her.) Enseà ±ar (to teach) works in a similar way. The subject being taught is represented by a direct object: Lo enseà ±Ãƒ © en la escuela catà ³lica. (I taught it in the Catholic school.) But the person taught is the indirect object: Le enseà ±Ãƒ © en la escuela catà ³lica. (I taught him/her in the Catholic school.) Similarly for obedecer (to obey):  ¿La ley? La obedezco. (The law? I obey it.) But: Le obedezco a mi madre. (I obey my mother.) Other Verbs A few other verbs use le for reasons that arent immediately apparent: Importar (to matter, to be important): A los internautas les importa la seguridad. (Security is important to Internet users.) Interesar (to interest): No les interesaba acumular ni tener propiedades. (They werent interested in accumulating nor having property.) Preocupar (to worry a person): La futura le preocupa. (The future worries him/her.) Recordar (when it means to remind, but not when it means to remember): Voy a recordarla. (I am going to remember her.) Voy a recordarlo. (I am going to remember him.) Voy a recordarle. (I am going to remind him/her.) Key Takeaways Le and les are the indirect object pronouns of Spanish, but they are sometimes used in situations where English uses direct objects.Verbs used to indicate that something gives pleasure or displeasure often use le.Several verbs use le when the object of a verb is a person but lo or la when the object is a thing.

Bread Mold Experiment

Bread Mold Experiment By: Stephanie Westover PURPOSE The purpose of this experiment will be to determine how temperature affects the growth of mold on wheat bread. The researchers choose this topic because she thinks it will be beneficial to find a way to keep food from molding. Determining how long bread can be stored before molding can help save money, prevent illness and preserve freshness. The question the researcher will attempt to answer is how freezing affects the rate of mold growth in wheat bread.The information gathered in this experiment may be relevant to those individuals who contend with food borne molds at home, or professionally. Because the rate of mold growth can vary depending on the type of bread tested, the researcher will limit this study to a commonly available variety of wheat bread that can found in most stores. This will make the results of this experiment more relevant to average consumers and it will enable the results to be generalized across a larger selection of commercially produced wheat breads. Having some understanding of common practices regarding food storage and mold growth, the researcher sought out formal studies of food borne mold growth to help develop my hypothesis. What the researcher discovered was that food storage at low temperature slows many of the enzymatic reactions involved in spoilage and reduces the growth rate of microorganisms. (Microsoft Encarta, 2007) This literature review shows that refrigeration slows the growth rate of mold. Further, the article demonstrated that refrigerators should be kept at temperatures 32 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit to minimize bacterial growth.In this procedure the researcher discovered that refrigeration does indeed slow the growth rate of mold. Many organisms will not grow at all or will grow at a slower rate if stored in low temperatures. While low temperatures are not bactericidal, the low temperatures do slow the growth rate of bacteria. Although a few microbes will grow in super cooled solutions as low as minus 20o c, most foods are well-preserved against microbial growth in the household freezer. (Todar, Kenneth, 2011) In this article it states that even a household freezer can preserve foods against growth of mold if set at the right temperature.The researcher discovered that the zip lock baggie that the freezer in this experiment did in fact preserve the bread against the growth of mold. DESIGN The experiment design will be as follows: The researcher will purchase a loaf of commercially produced wheat bread and record the rate of mold growth on that bread over a period of 10 days at three different temperatures. The researcher will use commercial grade thermometers placed in a standard refrigerator, freezer and kitchen countertop to measure temperature. A commercial grade thermometer was used as it is close to the same type used in a typical restaurant.The researcher will place one piece of bread in a clear, sealed zip lock bag and put one of those bags in each of the three temperatures zones. Zip lock baggies were chosen over any other standard container because it was t he best choice to keep out any bacteria that might give false results. She will remove each test bag from its controlled temperature zone and measure the mold growth on each piece of bread through the clear zip lock bag using a fractional ruler. The researcher will record those measurements in a log book noting the time, temperature variation if any, and size of mold growth in inches.She will then immediately replace the bag back into its respective temperature zone. The researcher will repeat those measurements for 10 days and summarize my findings at that time. The researcher will be using commercially available wheat bread so that the results of this experiment can be at least partially generalized to all commercial bread products. She will be using common temperature settings throughout the experiment to mimic what is found not only in most households, but also in many commercial food establishments.

Motorola Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Motorola - Essay Example These are in mobile devices, mobility communication solutions, networks and connected home solutions. In the mobile devices section, the company sold a record 46.1 million units of handsets in the first quarter of 2006. This represents 21 percent of the total global market (Motorola, 2006b). Compared to figures recorded during the same period in 2005, there has been 4.8 percentage points improvement in sales. Major competing firms to the company in this sector are Nokia, Samsung Electronics, Lucky Gold (LG), etc. Whereas the market share of some of them (Nokia) dipped (Businessweek, 2005) that of Motorola company saw a rise. The Motorola Company is presently the leader in multi-mode and multi-band communications products and technologies. In a survey of the telecoms sector, Sandage (2003) pointed out that creating and delivering multimedia services to mobile handsets had proved more complicated to many mobile phone manufacturers than was initially envisaged. Any firm with capabilities in this area therefore, is bound to improve its position on the market with time. The Motorola Comp any's present 'seamless mobility" vision seeks to address this problem squarely. The company has pioneered several product developments in this sector. For example, it was the first to introduce a handset with a Linux operating system and Java technology providing full PDA functionality in 2003. Prior to this period, proprietary systems powered these handsets. The company has also contributed significantly to designing more portable and stylish handsets. Its RAZR V3 measures just 13.9mm. This particular gadget has won for the company a gold award in the consumer product category of the Business week magazine's industrial design excellence awards. In partnership with the GSM Association, Motorola company has developed in 2005, an ultra low-cost cellular phone with long talk time for consumers in developing markets. In the same year also, it introduced the Ojo personal video phone. This product has excellent capacity in transmitting full-motion video and audio synchronically over a high speed internet. The company is also the leading provider of push-to-talk over the cellular (PoC) technology to cellular service providers. These developments are important to internet telephony and television. The company has also developed the ROKR portable phone with the Apple Company, with the itune music software incorporated. The Motorola Company is also playing a leading role in the mobility communications solutions sector. It services the needs of individual consumers, business concerns and publicly funded institutions. In recognition of its meritorious services in this sector, the company was honoured with a Malcolm Bridge National Quality Award in 2002. That award was the company's second. The company has fared exceptionally well in comparison with its competing firms such as Nextel communications, American Movil, Western wireless, etc. The Motorola Company is also playing a leading role in the integration of core networks using wireless IP, wireless soft switch and IP multimedia subsystems. The company's networks unit has spawned several new innovative technologies in recent times. In 2000, for example, it introduced to the world, the first 700MHz wideband high-speed data transmission technology. This technology enables advanced solutions to be provided to customers. The linkage between broadband expansion and

Budgeting, Costing and Casemix Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Budgeting, Costing and Casemix - Essay Example as the NPV is less than zero so it is not advisable for the university to invest in this project. Had the NPV been greater than zero it would make sense to invest in this venture. Question Five Part (a) The state of revenues and expenses for the hospital are as shown in the table below: Revenues Direct Indirect 16 5.5 1.5 5 3.3 3.8 6 2.8 1.6 - - 4.4 - - 2.55 27 11.6 13.85 Projected Profit 1.55 Note: All values in millions of dollars. Therefore the hospital’s projected profit for the 2010 fiscal year is $1.55 million. Part (b) The allocation of indirect costs to the patient services departments are indicated in the table below along with the agreed cost drivers. Indirect Cost Cost Driver Cost (Millions of Dollars) Financial Services Patient Revenue 1.5 Maintenance Space Utilisation 3.8 Housekeeping Labour Hours 1.6 Administration Salary Dollars 4.4 Personnel Salary Dollars 2.55 The breakup of the indirect costs to each department is described below. Accounting Salaries: divided equally amongst all three departments, therefore cost to each department is 0.5 million dollars. Maintenance: divided amongst all three departments based on space utilisation (covered area), cost to each department is indicated in the table below: Department Space Utilisation (square meters) Percentage of Total Space Cost (millions of dollars) Routine Care 199,800 66 2.525 Laboratory 39,600 13 0.50 Radiology 61,200 20 0.774 Housekeeping: divided amongst all three departments based on labour hours utilised, cost to each department is indicated in the table below: Department Labour Hours Percentage of Total Cost (millions of dollars) Routine Care 76000 84% 1.34 Laboratory 6000 7% 0.105 Radiology 9000 10% 0.158 Administration: divided amongst all three departments based on salary dollars utilised, cost to each department is indicated in the table below: Salary Dollars Percentage of Total Cost (millions of dollars) Routine Care 5,709,000 56% 2.47 Laboratory 2,035,000 20% 0.879 Radiolog y 2,439,000 24% 1.05 Personnel: divided amongst all three departments based on salary dollars utilised, cost to each department is indicated in the table below: Salary Dollars Percentage of Total Cost (millions of dollars) Routine Care 5,709,000 56% 1.40 Laboratory 2,035,000 20% 0.50 Radiology 2,439,000 24% 0.60 Part (c) The allocation method utilised is well reasoned and makes a lot of sense on paper and on ground. The accounting salaries would in principle get divided amongst all three departments equally. The maintenance costs would get divided amongst all three departments based on the floor space allocated in principle. However it must be taken in mind that the routine care department would have little equipment that would require large maintenance costs but the laboratory and the radiology department would furnish such equipment e.g. centrifuges, x-ray machines and the like. Therefore using total space occupied alone would not really reflect the state of maintenance expenses a lone because routine care would always assume more space while laboratory and radiology would use