Barnes and Noble Business Assessment

Barnes and Noble Booksellers MGT 499 Barnes and Noble was acquired by Leonard Riggio in 1974 after they had fallen into decline. He started his career selling books early in his college career when he founded the Student Book Exchange or SBX. Once purchasing the rights to the name he quickly began transformations on the once giant retailer, making it into his dream, the worlds largest book store. In addition to all the Barnes and Nobles around today, Mr. Riggio also owns an operates over 600 college campus bookstores, like the one at Wright State University, which is where over 4 million students and 250,000 faculty members buy their books.Internal Environment Barnes and Noble has many strengths which are quickly fading in the ever changing book market. When individuals think of a bookstore these days, typically two come to mind first, Barnes and Noble and their now dead competitor Borders. They had and still have the great strength of partnering with College Campus’s to opera te their bookstores which allows them to connect with the consumers who typically spend the most on books (textbooks). With this being said, we also need to point out Barnes and Noble’s weaknesses.This can be summed up by saying that their lack of innovation failed to keep up with consumer trends and the changing market. Barnes and Noble is now trying to compete in the technology market by the creation and selling of their Nook, which is essentially an IPad where you can download and read books electronically. Barnes and Noble’s current leadership team consist of: Leonard Riggio- Founder and Chairman William Lynch – CEO Michael P. Huseby – Chief Financial Officer Chris Trola – Chief Information Officer Mary Ellen Keating- Senior VP of Corporate Communication and Public AffairsCompetitive ConsequencesPerformance ImplicationsValuableRate Non SubstitutableCostly to Imitate Sustainable C. A. AARNoYesNoYes Temporary C. A. Avg – AARYesYesYes/NoYes Competitive ParityAvg ReturnYesYesYes/NoNo Competitive DisadvantageBelow Avg ReturnNoNoYes/NoNo Mergers and Acquisitions Barnes and Noble has had several mergers and acquisitions, but only a few are extremely important when we look at the financial impact and operations impact they had on the company. In 1987, it purchased B. Dalton Bookseller from Dayton Hudson.This acquisition of 797 retail bookstores made it Barnes and Nobles largest acquisition and opened consumers eyes across the nation to the then second largest bookseller in the United States. Another major one that hit news headlines was in 1999 when Barnes and Noble acquired Babbage’s Ect. , which is now known as GameStop. Barnes and Noble had control of GameStop until 2004 when the game store bought back 6 million shares from the bookstore to gain its independence. The next and most important acquisition occurred in March of 2009 when Barnes and Noble acquired a company called fictionwise which is now known as eBoo k marketplace.This was the first step they made into the digital world of books with their Nook. This was by far their most important acquisition because it was an attempt to meet the demands of the ever changing market by inserting themselves into the digital book market place. The External Environment When talking about the external environment in terms of Barnes and Noble, the company has many strengths and weaknesses. Starting with the demographics, Barnes and Noble attracts a wide range of consumers, from students to elderly for either educational purposes or recreational purposes.The wide range of demographics is because most consumers either have to read for school or like to read for recreation or entertainment. Today, the retail stores draw mainly an older audience while the stores on college campuses attract mainly just college students. The economics of Barnes and Noble go hand and hand with the sales of the company. Not to long ago there was a rumor that Barnes and Noble was going to be bought out by a company named Liberty which causes the stock to spike 30% in one day. It soon there after returned to its $14 dollar range, which was a 16% decrease from previous years caused by the company announcing a . 6 million dollar loss.. There are also other factors at work in the market that are affecting Barnes and Noble negatively. One of the biggest players that impact B and N is Amazon, and their online, digital marketplace of books where the consumer and compare prices and find the cheapest option. Barnes and Noble has struggled to compete and overcome this obstacle since a majority of their previous consumers are now looking in their stores then going to the internet and Amazon to find cheaper prices. When it comes to bargaining power, Barnes and Noble is between a rock and a hard place.They would love to compete with the low prices their competitors offer, but cannot drop below certain prices because they must have some sort of profit margin on the s ale of their books after the authors take their cuts. Competition Barnes and Noble has millions of competitors because anyone with a computer can put a book on the internet to sell these days. However, this being said, there are a few formal competitors out there that greatly impact Barnes and Noble and their bottom-line. The biggest competitor is by far Amazon.Amazon is an online giant that sellers and buyers can place all of their new and used books on the market at their own set prices. This allows a consumer to â€Å"shop† for the cheapest price for the quality of book they desire to purchase. This was one of the major reasons a previous competitor in the industry, Borders, closed its doors not to long ago. Barnes and Noble has identified that they are in a changing market and that they need to adapt to the changes being made around them. This was the goal of the launch of the Nook in 2010.The Nook is a digital tablet that operates on Android software that gives access to the eBook Marketplace. This allows consumers to purchase books at cheaper prices and have them downloaded directly to their tablet for easy reading. Launching the Nook took Barnes and Noble into a different field which they had not previously experienced with other competitors. Now in addition to competing with retail bookstores, Barnes and Noble is also competing with Apple’s IPad, Amazon’s Kindle, RIM’s BlackBerry Tablet, and all other technology companies who are launching their tablet style computers onto the market.So now Barnes and Noble is competing with Apple, Amazon, RIM, EBAY and thousand of other smaller retailers. That is not a group I would like to be competing against. Barnes and Noble’s Struggles On October 29 of 2011, Barnes and Noble announced it 6. 6 million dollar loss or 17 cents per share to the public. This was just months after their biggest competitor in the retail side of the business closed. Some would think the closing of Borde rs would allow Barnes and Noble to grow, but the decline across the table shows that bookstores are a dying industry, and one that a smart investor would most likely not invest in.Fastforward a year to 2012. Barnes and Noble announced that it was projecting a loss of between $1. 10 and $1. 40 per share. As of late Barnes and Noble has been pumping money into the development and marketing of its Nook, the electronic book of the future. The question that needs to be asked here though is can the Nook really support an entire company with it having to compete against the IPad and the Kindle? Although the Nook has created the greatest revenue for the company, it is really all it has going for it.Liberty Technology offered to buy Barnes and Noble for a whopping 1. 03 billion dollars, this just to acquire the rights to the Nook which Barnes and Noble promptly turned down. But although the company is making money selling this tablet, the gap between the number of IPad users and Kindle users compared to Nook users is growing wider every day. Corporate Level Strategy Barnes and Noble’s strategy is extremely easy, offer customers inexpensive books. This is the cost leadership and a differentiation strategy that we learned in class.Barnes and Noble found a hole in the retail bookstore industry, which focused on bigger named, and newer types of books and well known authors that topped the best sellers list, that the bookstores then sold at a extremely high costs. The best seller books were not sources for great gain for Barnes and Noble though. Barnes and Noble found, that the customers wanted inexpensive books, regardless of author of rank on the best selling list. By publishing books internally through their company they were able to increase their profits.Differentiation was also prevalent in the cost leadership strategy because of the companies intense focus on the outside of the top seller list which only accounted for 3% of the companies Today however, althoug h the retail side of the industries corporate level strategy remains the same, the insertion of the Nook has caused the company to take is cost leadership and differentiation strategy and focus it toward the online eBooks marketplace, selling those cheap books through a digital market. International strategyBarnes and Noble has 691 stores covering all 50 states and 641 stores on college campuses, but has no stores in other countries. At this time is has no intention of spreading globally and says that it meets the demand of the international markets by its website. Recommendation Moving Forward At this point in time I believe the best strategy for Barnes and Noble would be to sell off the company to a company like Liberty to maximize profit for the stockholders. Although their current business strategy with the Nook is succeeding, that piece of technology does not have the capability to support an entire company by itself.

Lufthansa: Going Global Essay

Lufthansa Aviation group has become a worldwide leader in the airline industry with several powerful business segments, inclusive of a passenger airline component, business component, logistics, MRO catering and IT services. The aviation success has been largely due to their focus on quality, innovation, safety and reliability. Head quartered in Germany, Lufthansa has lead the pack with regard to international airline business. The Aviation Groups’ International Business Strategy has evolved to that of a corporate level transnational strategy, whereas there is a shared vision to achieve global efficiency yet effort to strengthen its local responsiveness in Germany (Hitt, 2009). Evident with the strategic alliance with Star Alliance, the development of Lufthansa Regional serves as a local response provision of a low- cost carrier, in addition to the modernizations of various traveler hubs and welcome lounges throughout the major key traffic hubs located in Germany. This international business strategy is considered a combination of multi –domestic and global strategies (Hitt, 2009). A transnational strategy uniquely offers the benefits inherent in both global and multi-domestic strategies; under this strategy each business component of Lufthansa can successfully exercise independent innovation given its decentralized structure. Lufthansa understood early, the benefits and advantages of international expansion evident through post WWII with travels to various countries (Lufthansa, 2010) later the formation of an strategic alliance with Star Alliance, which serves a global airline network. Star Alliance was established in 1997 with Lufthansa being one of its core founding members. Despite industry ups and downs related to international travel through the early 1980’s with the Iraq war, and then the frightening threat of terrorism post September 11, 2001, Lufthansa remained optimistic as did the rest of the airline industry, and responded to globalization appropriately. The majority responded in a like manner forming alliances in an effort to compete with the newly entered No-frills and lower cost competitive airline flights offerings. Competition of this kind, along with slow recovery of international travelers, increase in gas prices; the constant pressure to  reduce pricing order to remain competitive has taken a toll on the entire industry over the last decade. Lufthansa’s also crafted Lufthansa Regional which accounts for 50 percent of the Aviation group’s German and European flights. This Wholly owned subsidiary is entirely owned and controlled by Lufthansa the parent company, and was established to meet the need of low-cost carriers. Within Lufthansa Regional, exist Eurrowings and the partly owned City line. Through this development Lufthansa can offer a lower cost airline and reap the benefits of passengers opting for this Intercontinental airline versus going to a larger hub. Lufthansa used an acquisition strategy with the accumulation of SWISS AIR in 2005, a strategic move to prevent the competition British Airways and One World Alliance to seize the opportunity. The strategic alliance with Star Alliance was a concerted cooperative strategy to provide customers worldwide reach and a smooth travel experience (StarAlliance,2010). This remains as a shared objective for Star Alliance, Lufthansa and the other members of this alliance. It is understood that it is relatively impossible to survive in a global network outside of an alliance. This cooperative strategy serves as a mechanism for the Aviation Group to enter the market swiftly, and with greater impact with the support of the alliance. The airline industry has historically been a standard –cycle market, the same is true with this alliance thus allowing for savings and benefits to extend across its members (Hitt, 2009). The addition of Air China and Shanghai Airlines added as members, serves as a solid example of Star Alliance’s capability to assist in global expansion for all its members; and a unique opportunity to tap into a market that would be quite challenging if attempte d independently. This strategic network serves as a valuable cooperative arrangement to take place between the 18 members within the Star Alliance. This alliance allows for the sharing of cooperative relationships with stakeholders, customers, suppliers and competitors (Hitt, 2009). Air carriers commonly participate in multiple horizontal complementary alliances; this is demonstrated with the relationship between Star Alliance and Lufthansa. However, these type of business-level cooperative strategies present challenges with perception of loyalty, and speculation of illegal collusive activities this feeds into the discussion  of other risks. Lufthansa has faced some friction with regard to making compromises counter to its culture. However; the use of the cooperative strategies such as the alliance formed with Star Alliance proves reasonable given the high uncertainty of the industry and risk associated with pursing growth opportunities independently. It is considerably important to evaluate these uncertainties and challenges when pursing business outside of the national boundaries. The risk of a network cooperative alliance such as Star Alliance carries the risk of opportunistic behavior. What may have initially been viewed as a partnership, could become compromised with potential for failure due in part to a false perception of trustworthiness amongst members. (Hitt, 2008) Additional risk, may also include misrepresentation; full disclosure of what each member can bring to table and imbalance of alliance-specific investments as detailed with the example partnership of Disney and Pixar within the text. With regard to Lufthansa and its compromises counter to standards, these challenges were revealed in the case study and make mention of compromises made throughout the years running counter to the culture of Lufthansa. An important example of this was the mention of the IT component, and the belief that the customer interfacing with electronic check in completion was less than desirable, and not in alignment with the Lufthansa standard with response to customers. However, collaboration of Star Alliance IT infrastructure would rob Lufthansa IT systems of their customers (Hitt, 2009). Consideration of current globalization trends and future efforts of the airline industry must be evaluated operating outside of national boundaries. An analysis of the varying social culture and institutional attributes of global markets require evaluation. Strategic leadership involves the analyzing of the environment in order to identify and an anticipate changes and trends that are likely to occur. An analysis focusing on strengths, weaknesses, threat, and opportunities (SWOT), should be conducted in order to properly evaluate the industry environment. The risks associated with operating beyond national boundaries or Germany as in the case with Lufthansa would benefit from evaluating a competitive model such as the five  forces competitive model as a method of gaining knowledge about the industry inclusive of Threats of new entrants, Bargaining power of suppliers, Rivalry among competing firms, Threat of substitute product, and Bargaining power of buyers (Hit, 2009) The evaluation of the organizations structure and controls of Lufthansa indicate a great deal of complexity that requires extensive management. Given that the organizational structure is the foundational support for the organization and specifies the organization’s formal reporting relationships, procedures controls, authority and decisions making aspects it is imperative that the structure is solid but with room for flexibility as changes arise. The case study touches upon the six business lines within Lufthansa and the strategic mission of the organization to unite every aspect of the organization under one â€Å"strategy roof†. The Aviation Group has streamlined much of its endeavors inclusive of the dissolving of the once â€Å"integrated† cooperation. Strategic controls of this nature include improving the flow of communication between management and front line employees and translating the over arching values of the organization into â€Å"leadership values†. Providing a degree of accountability, to every employee with targets, and dialogue with management about their endeavors through an annual evaluation. There is an aggressive effort to restructure the business model focusing on cost cutting and streamlining anything that may be impacting the cash flow significantly. Strategic and Financial controls are necessary to maintain a balance within the organization, thus the use of a balance score card would be ideal. This score card would serve as a check and balance system between what the organization has set out to accomplish and strategic and financial controls used to assess their performance. The old adage â€Å"if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it† lends to the legitimacy of using such controls. An example of such a financial control for Lufthansa was the elimination of discounted tickets used by independent travel agencies and promotion of direct booking using the internet or call centers. Financial operating goals have become a high priority with a direct focus on intervening in areas which impact the cash flow. Lufthansa has demonstrated  great resiliency given its financial crises during the 1990’s, now holding a positive investment grade rating. Given that experience the organization is prepared to implement controls in order to maintain financial discipline in avoidance of succumbing to financial failure. Improving the organizational structure requires making a significant investment in its Human Capital this means developing the leadership skills of individuals within the organization. Many believe that the human element in any organization is most important. The word â€Å"Capital† is typically referred to as an asset that can be utilized in the production of more wealth. Therefore investing in what one would consider as its most valuable assets â€Å"human capital† , productivity is likely to increase. Lufthansa should begin with an organization wide initiative aimed at restoring the trust and loyalty of its employees. There is such a rich history of Lufthansa dating back to the 1930’s and employees should be reminded of this history built on quality and pride at one time to be a â€Å"Lufthanseat†. The message of â€Å"value† i.e. corporate values, and how valuable every employee is, can be incorporated into the current town halls held and worked into the â€Å"corporate university† curriculum. The organization has become quite complex with the many subsidiaries, strategic alliances and acquisitions that perhaps the employees doing the front line work feel left out of the loop. There should be a financial investment made in providing effective training and development programs tailored to every employee within the organization. Every employee within an organization can benefit from continued education and learning opportunities. Continuing learning and leveraging the firms expanding knowledge base are linked with strategic success (Hitt, 2009). A concerted effort by management and workforce education professionals should be made to development up and coming managers and future leadership. Developing relationships inside and outside of the organization inclusive of those organizations partnered with enhances the social capital of the organization. Given the competitive nature of the job airline industry, it would prove advantageous for Lufthansa to use their strategic alliances to foster their social capital positively. It is inconceivable to envision an organization reaching is maximum potential without cultivating its organizational culture and defining its mission and vision. The case study divulges occurrences where the workforce has become fragmented with varying interests, perceptions, communication channels and expectations. This is evidence that the organizational culture inclusive of ideologies, symbols and core values must be addressed and strategically in alignment with the vision of the organization (Hitt, 2009). Competencies can be derived and influenced by the organizational culture in order produce desired outcomes. The culture of the organization should positively impact its workforce, fostering an environment of innovation, transparent communication and trust, and in the case of Lufthansa a commitment to quality and upholding of standards. Strategic Leadership means focusing on incremental changes, with celebration of small success to maintain the momentum of the cultural change. Top leadership must fully buy-in to the cultural change endeavors in order to ensure its success. The selection of management and employees at all level with an intrinsic desire to contribute to the organization in a positive manner is important. There should be a sincere desire to act responsibly and ethically and avoidance of opportunistic behavior and other behavior which could destructive to the culture of the organization. A positive organizational culture feeds an entrepreneurial spirit and opportunities within an organization. The importance of entrepreneurial opportunities cannot be under stated. This entrepreneurial-state of mind facilitates the energy and enthusiasm necessary to promote innovative â€Å"out of the box† thinking. The freedom of expression, sharing of ideas, and asking the â€Å"Why† questions is tremendously valuable to an organization such as Lufthansa and any organization interested in competing globally. The five dimensions of autonomy, innovativeness, risk taking, proactivenesss and competitive aggressiveness should be capitalized upon throughout training initiatives and encouraged in order to create an entrepreneurial mind set work force. The workforce should be challenged to come up with better, faster; more efficient was of accomplishing tasks or streamlining processes, and recognized by Lufthansa Leadership for doing so. Lufthansa has expressed and exercised a number of initiatives aimed at reducing complexity of its organization. The dissolving of business segments and evaluation of process improvement strategies all serve as advances towards building an organizations model in alignment with business simplicity versus that of complex nature. Lufthansa can experience tremendous simplicity in appropriately managing the various business elements within the organization by acquiring a global mind set, and providing flexibility to address the need of each segment. An in depth look at core competencies and measurement of how much value each segment is contributing to the overall success of the organization and how the internal characteristics of the organization measure up to the competition ; meeting the needs of the customer is a great starting place. The environmental uncertainty of the airline industry and other customer base for the varying business units does increase the complexity and range of iss ues to consider when evaluating the internal environment (Hitt, 2009); however, it is essential in order to understand the organizational complexity in its entirety. Ashby’s Law of Variety suggests that organization can handle high external complexity on by a similar internal complexity (Hitt, 2009). Recommendations regarding the reduction of complexity are as follows: †¢Development of a unified vision that is shared across the organization, in an effort to eliminate the diversity of values, aims, cultures and types of behavior. †¢A shared global strategy communicated throughout the organization in the fulfillment of a common goal. †¢Education regarding the benefits of a culturally diverse workforce; recruitment of a diverse work force with varying ethical and professional backgrounds yet committed to the success of Lufthansa and a shared vision. †¢Standardizing of processes and norms throughout the organization Lufthansa possess the organizational know how and strategic leadership to face future uncertainties of the airline industry. It has proved its strength and resiliency in its survival of a turbulent industry and shows promising potential despite uncertainties regarding global warming issues. Here education is key and it would be advantageous for Lufthansa to continue fostering positive social relationships with environmental agencies and other social activities.

The Milgram Experiment

The Milgram Experiment Outline Topic: The Milgram experiment I) The experiment A) Who was involved with the experiment? B) How they got participants C) What the subjects thought was happening i)Learning Task ii) Memory Study iii) Electric shock for wrong answer iv) â€Å"Prods† to continue the shocks D) What actually happened i) It was a test for obedience not memory ii) Vocal response from the victims (staged and set beforehand) II) The results A) How many experiments were performed B) How many people were tested C) How many continued the experiment D) The video of obedienceE) What types of people were tested, and what difference that made F) Differences between each test and results G) High levels of stress for subjects III) Why did he do the experiment A) To get an understanding of Nazis B) To prove the â€Å"answer to destructive obedience lay less in the power of personality and more in the power of situation† C) Social projection D) Test the idea that some people consider themselves better than others IV) The reaction A) Self realization B) Unethical i) Manipulation ii) Disregard for rights iii) Negligent of emotional well beingC) Argument in ethics caused new rules in APA guidelines V) Applications A) Nazi Germany B) U. S. wars C) Watergate Many experiments have been performed throughout the years. One of the most shocking would have to be the Milgram experiment performed by Stanley Milgram. The experiment was to test a person’s â€Å"Obedience to Authority† by seeing if he or she would cause harm to another just because they were told. The idea of obedience has been instilled in people since the time of Cain and Able, with regard to doing as God says. There are multiple reasons for Dr.Milgram to perform this experiment, however, some did not accept this and still believed it to be a violation of the subjects human rights. The results showed that even though people believed they would not cause extreme harm to another, they wo uld if put in the position where they were pressured to by an authoritative person. This resulted in chaos in the psychological community, and concluded in major changes to what is moral, and ethical, under the guidelines provided by APA. However, his results may be used to consider what happened during World War II, along with other U. S. ars, as well as what happened during the Watergate scandal. This experiment was performed many times. It began with Dr. Milgram placing an ad in a New Haven newspaper. The advertisement asked for people between the ages of 20 and 50, those who were not currently attending school, and from all types of professions. It also claimed the experiment would last one hour, and that it was to study memory. Those who participated in the experiment would receive four dollars for participating, and fifty cents for carfare, for the one hour of participation. From this ad, he did not get enough of a response so Dr.Milgram took names from a phone directory, and send fliers in the mail. The experiment itself was performed in the Interaction Laboratory of Yale University. It consisted of two people who were aware of what was happening, one called the â€Å"experimenter,† the person in charge of managing the experiment, and another called, â€Å"the victim. † A third, was one other person involved with the experiment called the â€Å"naive subject† who was the one being tested in this experiment. The experiment called for two different perspectives, which were what the â€Å"naive subject† believed to be happening, and what was really happening.The experiment was set up so that according to the â€Å"naive subject,† â€Å"the victim† was told to memorize a list of word pairs such as: blue box nice day wild duck etc. then in the testing sequence he [the naive subject] would read: blue: sky ink box lamp (Obedience 18). If â€Å"the victim† was able to select the correct corresponding word, the â €Å"naive subject† continued by saying the next word. However, if â€Å"the victim† did not answer correctly, or took too long in answering, the â€Å"naive subject† would have to administer a shock.After each wrong answer, the next wrong answer would result in a stronger shock. The generator, which was to administer the shocks to â€Å"the victim†: Ranged from 15 to 450 volts. The labels showed a 15-volt increment from one switch to the next, going from left to right. In addition, the following verbal designations were clearly indicated for groups of four switches, going from left to right: Slight Shock, Moderate Shock, Strong Shock, Very Strong Shock, Intense Shock, Extreme Intensity Shock, Danger: Severe Shock. Two switches after this last designation were simply marked XXX. (Obedience 20)The authenticity of the generator was validated by giving the â€Å"naive subject† a 45 volt shock to the wrist. The test which the â€Å"naive subject† thought was a test for memory, was actually to test a person’s willingness to follow authority. Therefore, as the voltage was to increase, there were acted protests by â€Å"the victim† which made the â€Å"naive subject† less willing to continue. However, if the â€Å"naive subject† was having second thoughts about continuing, the â€Å"experimenter† was to give â€Å"prods† each more aggressive as the â€Å"naive subject† continued to protest, Prod 1: Please continue, or, Please go on.Prod 2: The experiment requires that you continue. Prod 3: It is absolutely essential that you continue. Prod 4: You have no other choice you must go on (Obedience 21). Feeling obligated even though â€Å"the victim† responded with cries of pain and eventually no answer, the majority of those did continue. The results of this experiment were interesting. In the primary experiment 26 out of 40 people continued to shock a person with what he or s he believed to be 450 volts for an incorrect answer, or if they did not respond within a time limit set by the â€Å"experimenter. Another variation of this experiment he performed in which he: placed the learner closer to the teacher, including one in which the teacher actually had to force the learner’s hand onto a shock plate in order to punish him; about 30 percent of subjects continued the variation until the end (Fermaglich 86). There was another variation which used only women. The results were the same as those for men. Over three years, Dr. Milgram performed 24 different variations of his original experiment, and tested over 1,000 people. There was also one case in which Dr.Milgram videotaped a subject’s obedience, â€Å"In the full version of Milgram’s film Prozi [the subject] is shown ending up being completely obedient- that is, administering a 450-volt shock to the unseen learner† (Blass). Another result of this experiment was the experiment had a huge impact on those who were the subjects. It resulted in high levels of stress in those who were subjects, whether they obeyed or disobeyed, which Dr. Milgram himself admitted to happening, and so he had to provide a meeting for the subject and the learner, in order to try to alleviate that stress (Fermaglich 87).Although the experiment was performed many times, and on many different people, this proved that the majority will follow orders when they are given, even if it goes against their conscience. These were not the only results from this experiment; people had other thoughts about Dr. Milgram’s experiment. There have been many who have wondered why a man would perform a test that many people consider to be a violation of a person’s basic rights. Dr. Milgram had many reasons behind performed these experiments. Dr. Milgram believed â€Å"When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will ind more hideous crimes have been committed in the name o f obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion† (Obedience 2). He wanted to be able to prove his belief that the â€Å"answer to destructive obedience lay less in the power of personality and more in the power of situation† (Slater 31). He also performed it with relation to the Holocaust, and since Milgram, â€Å"a Jewish man whose relatives had hidden from the Nazis and been interned in concentration camps, [he] constructed his experiments in order to understand Nazi evil† (Fermaglich 84).Another idea posed as a reason for Dr. Milgram’s performance was the thought of â€Å"self-other bias (Brown, 1986) [which] is the general tendency for people to rate themselves as better than ‘typical others’† (Geher, Bauman, Hubbard, and Legare 3). There were those who believed the experiment to be unethical, and others who seem to be enlightened with a sense of self realization. One person found Dr. Milgram’s experiment t o give him a better sense of who he was: I felt a shock of recognition, and the immediate knowledge that I could do such a thing, unsteady as I am.And I knew I could do such a thing, not because some strange set of circumstances propelled me to, no†¦It was not external. It was internal (Slater 62) However most other people who did not participate in the experiment did not feel this way, they felt this experiment was â€Å"the subject of enormous controversy, centered on the contention that his research subjects had been unethically manipulated, without due regard for their rights or emotional well-being† (Schwartz). In the field of psychology there was an uproar, with those who found the experiment to be reprehensible.One of those people was Diana Baumrind who questioned the obedience experiment, with concern for the welfare of the subjects, and curiosity over measures taken to protect those involved and voiced her concerns in American Psychologist (Individual 140). Dr. Baumrind’s article concerning the experiment resulted in the revision of APA ethical guidelines, which went with those laid down by the federal government, which limited the use of humans as subjects in the medical and psychological field (Fermaglich 103). Many found what Dr.Milgram did to be unethical, however because of it people now have a better understanding of what they are able to do, and they are able to apply his findings to other situations that have occurred, and may happen in the future. This experiment may be applied to a multitude of different subjects that are in a person’s every day life. The major subject would be the Nazis during World War II, which was a motive for Dr. Milgram to do the experiment in the beginning. It explores why a citizen who â€Å"ran the death camps seemed to be ordinary â€Å"decent† citizens, with consciences no different from those of any of us† (Velasquez et al). Dr.Milgram also compares the killing of Jews in t he gas chambers to the manufacturing of appliances, and he says all of those deaths could not have occurred if a large number of people did not obey orders (Obedience 1). The ideas that Dr. Milgram came up with were applied as an explanation for â€Å"the massacre of hundreds of Vietnamese civilians at My Lai and the criminal activities in Nixon’s White House: ‘Stanley Milgram†¦ demonstrated in the laboratory what Lt. William Calley and his unit would dramatize later in Mylai- that man’s behavior is almost invariably dominated by authority rather than by his own morality’† (Fermaglich 111).This idea is also exemplified on television, as on a recent episode of â€Å"Law and Order: S. V. U. † viewers encounter a manager of a fast food restaurant who blatantly obeys the orders of a voice over the phone saying that he is â€Å"Detective Milgram. † The manager is told that an employee stole the wallet of a customer, and â€Å"Detectiv e Milgram† tells the manager to strip the girl of all of her clothing except for her apron, and to perform a cavity search, to look for the wallet.Later in the episode we encounter the man who posed as â€Å"Detective Milgram† who performed his own variation of the experiment, because he had been like the manager, when he allowed the doctor to go against his advice, which resulted in the death of his wife. During school, a person may be faced with a similar situation. One being seeing a person cheat on a test. The person is put in a situation with two choices, neither desirable. The person may tell the teacher, which results in anger from the person who was told on, as well as a loss of time for that person to take their own test.The other option is to do nothing, which in the long run will hurt the student as he or she never learned the material, as he or she was suppose to. Typically a student will choose the latter, and ignore the situation, which ends up hurting the other student. This examination can be viewed on a vast number of levels, but that does not change the facts and ideas behind what happened. Dr. Milgram performed a venture which is thought to have been unethical, as he tested a person’s willingness to follow orders and do as he or she was told.He discovered the majority would actually do so, even if they believed they were hurting an innocent person. The controversial research has had a variety of impacts on every different person. For some they have a self realization, thinking of why type of person he or she is and if they are sheep, blindly following authority. Works Cited for Research Paper: Blass, Thomasm. â€Å"The Milgram Obedience Experiment: Support for a Cognitive View of Defensive Attribution. † The Journal of Social Psychology (1996). library. Web. 24 Nov. 2009. . Fermaglich, Kirsten. American Dreams and Nazi Nightmares : Early Holocaust Consciousness and Liberal America, 1957-1965. Waltham, Mass. : Brand eis University Press, 2006. Geher, Glenn, Kathleen P. Bauman, Sara Elizabeth Kay Hubbard, and Jared Richard Legare. â€Å"Self and Other Obedience Estimates: Biases and Moderators. † The Journal of Social Psychology 142. 6 (2002): 677. Web. 24 Nov. 2009. Milgram, Stanley. Obedience to Authority. New York: Harper Perennial, 1974.Milgram, Stanley. The Individual in a Social World: Essays and Experiments. Reading, Mass. : Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1977. Schwartz, Earl. â€Å"Why Some Ask Why. † Judaism 53. 3/4 (2004): 230. elibrary. Web. 24 Nov. 2009. Slater, Lauren. Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century. New York: W. W. Norton, 2004. Velasquez, Manuel, Claire Andre, Thomas Shanks, S. J. , and Michael J. Meyer. â€Å"Conscience and Authority. † Santa Clara University. 12/03/2009 . The Milgram Experiment Stanley Milgram: ‘electric shock' experiments (1963) – also showed the power of the situation in influencing behaviour. 65% of people could be easily induced into giving a stranger an electric shock of 450V (enough to kill someone). 100% of people could be influenced into giving a 275V shock. The Milgram Experiment Stanley Milgram (1963) Experiment: Focusing on the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience. Investigate: Whether Germans were particularly obedient to authority figures as this was a common explanation for the Nazi killings in World War II.Milgram selected participants for his experiment by advertising for male participants to take part in a study of learning at Yale University. The procedure was that the participant was paired with another person and they drew lots to find out who would be the ‘learner’ and who would be the ‘teacher’. The draw was fixed so that the participant was always the teacher, and the l earner was one of Milgram’s confederates (pretending to be a real participant). The learner (a confederate called Mr.Wallace) was taken into a room and had electrodes attached to his arms, and the teacher and researcher went into a room next door that contained an electric shock generator and a row of switches marked from 15 volts (Slight Shock) to 375 volts (Danger: Severe Shock) to 450 volts (XXX). Milgram's Experiment Aim: Milgram (1963) was interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person. Stanley Milgram was interested in how easily ordinary people could be influenced into committing atrocities for example, Germans in WWII. Procedure:Volunteers were recruited for a lab experiment investigating â€Å"learning† (ethics: deception). Participants were 40 males, aged between 20 and 50, (bias: All male) whose jobs ranged from unskilled to professional. At the beginning of the experiment they were introduce d to another participant, who was actually a confederate of the experimenter (Milgram). They drew straws to determine their roles – leaner or teacher – although this was fixed and the confederate always ended to the learner. There was also an â€Å"experimenter† dressed in a white lab coat, played by an actor (not Milgram). The â€Å"learner† (Mr.Wallace) was strapped to a chair in another room with electrodes. After he has learned a list of word pairs given him to learn, the â€Å"teacher† tests him by naming a word and asking the learner to recall its partner/pair from a list of four possible choices. The teacher is told to administer an electric shock every time the learner makes a mistake, increasing the level of shock each time. There were 30 switches on the shock generator marked from 15 volts (slight shock) to 450 (danger – severe shock). The learner gave mainly wrong answers (on purpose) and for each of these the teacher gave him an electric shock.When the teacher refused to administer a shock and turned to the experimenter for guidance, he was given the standard instruction /order (consisting of 4 prods): Prod 1: please continue. Prod 2:  the experiment requires you to continue. Prod 3: It is absolutely essential that you continue. Prod 4: you have no other choice but to continue. Results: 65% (two-thirds) of participants (i. e. teachers) continued to the highest level of 450 volts. All the participants continued to 300 volts. Milgram did more than one experiment – he carried out 18 variations of his study.All he did was alter the situation (IV) to see how this affected obedience (DV). Conclusion: Ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure, even to the extent of killing an innocent human being. Obedience to authority is ingrained in us all from the way we are brought up. Obey parents, teachers, anyone in authority etc. Milgram summed up in the article â€Å"The Perils of Obedience† (Milgram 1974), writing: â€Å"The legal and philosophic aspects of obedience are of enormous import, but they say very little about how most people behave in concrete situations.I set up a simple experiment at Yale University to test how much pain an ordinary citizen would inflict on another person simply because he was ordered to by an experimental scientist. Stark authority was pitted against the subjects’ [participants’] strongest moral imperatives against hurting others, and, with the subjects’ [participants’] ears ringing with the screams of the victims, authority won more often than not. The extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the command of an authority constitutes the chief finding of the study and the fact most urgently demanding explanation. Factors Affecting Obedience The Milgram experiment was carried out many times whereby Milgram varied the basic procedure (changed the IV). By doing this Milgram c ould identify which factors affected obedience (the DV). Status of Location| Personal Responsibility| * The orders were given in an important location (Yale University) – when Milgram’s study was conducted in a run-down office in the city, obedience levels dropped. * This suggests that prestige increases obedience. | *   When there is less personal responsibility obedience increases. When participants could instruct an assistant to press the switches, 95% (compared to 65% in the original study) shocked to the maximum 450 volts. * This relates to Milgram's Agency Theory. | Legitimacy of Authority Figure| Status of Authority Figure| * People tend to obey orders from other people if they recognize their authority as morally right and / or legally based. * This response to legitimate authority is learned in a variety of situations, for example in the family, school and workplace. | *   Milgram’s experimenter wore a laboratory coat (a symbol of scientific experti se) which gave him a high status. But when the experimenter dressed in everyday clothes obedience was very low. * The  uniform  of the authority figure can give them status. | Peer Support| Proximity of Authority Figure| * Peer support – if a person has the social support of their friend(s) then obedience is less likely. * Also the presence of others who are seen to disobey the authority figure reduces the level of obedience. This happened in Milgram’s experiment when there was a â€Å"disobedient model†. | *   Authority figure distant: It is easier to resist the orders from an authority figure if they are not close by.When the experimenter instructed and prompted the teacher by telephone from another room, obedience fell to 20. 5%. * When the authority figure is close by then obedience is more likely. | Methodological Issues The  Milgram studies  were conducted in laboratory type conditions and we must ask if this tells us much about real-life situati ons. We obey in a variety of real-life situations that are far more subtle than instructions to give people electric shocks, and it would be interesting to see what factors operate in everyday obedience.The sort of situation Milgram investigated would be more suited to a military context. Milgram's sample was biased: The participants in Milgram's study were all male. Do the findings transfer to females? In Milgram's study the participants were a self-selecting sample. This is because they became participants only by electing to respond to a newspaper advertisement (selecting themselves). They may also have a typical â€Å"volunteer personality† – not all the newspaper readers responded so perhaps it takes this personality type to do so.Finally, they probably all had a similar income since they were willing to spend some hours working for a given amount of money. Ethical Issues *   Deception  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ the participants actually believed they were shocking a real pers on, and were unaware the learner was a confederate of Milgram's *   Protection of participants  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Participants were exposed to extremely stressful situations that may have the potential to cause psychological harm. * However, Milgram did  debrief  the participants fully after the experiment and also followed up after a period of time to ensure that they came to no harm.

Standardized testing - Cons Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Standardized testing - Cons - Research Paper Example since then it has been a debatable topic. It has become one of the most controversial topics in the education field where educationists have presented different views about this type of testing. Initially, the standardized testing was used to enhance the thinking skills and was seen as a way to expand the education system, but as soon as this type of testing became a persistent aspect of higher education, the educationists criticized it, and argued that this is not the basis of education. A standardized test is measured and administered in a consistent manner. It usually comprises of multiple choice or true and false questions, it does not encourage critical thinking or analytical study, and rather it repeats the same mindless facts. The standardized tests are needed by schools in order to meet their federal funding. When a school knows that some percentage of their students needs to pass the standardized test in order to ensure their funding, they give this test immense importance (Downing and Haladyna, 2006). There are test curriculums given to the teachers which include the basic and important items that are featured in this test. According to that, the teachers have to plan their lessons. There is further pressure to get all the material that is needed in order to introduce to the class before the test so that any confusion or trouble of the student can be resolved (Downing and Haladyna, 2006). This system is at times referred to as the system to test the progress made by the teachers and school management rather than addressing to the students’ abilities and learning (Assessor, 2011). Educationists have long debated on the fact that whether standardized testing is fair. Standardized tests are hence, referred as unfair and unhelpful evaluation tools. In these exams, all the questions are either multiple choice or true and false. All the test takers answer the same questions on the same conditions. These tests reward to quick answers and usually

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Six sigma method Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

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The Diplomatic Efforts To End WWII Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Diplomatic Efforts To End WWII - Assignment Example However, America supported the Nationalist wing but remained neutral till the very end (Butow). The Attack on Pearl Harbor: With the passage of time, it was observed that relations between Japan and America were growing weak which eventually resulted in the attack on Pearl Harbor. America along with other countries condemned Japan’s growing influence and its strategy to expand its boundaries by getting into wars with the neighboring countries. To maintain its dominance in the region, Japan attacked the U.S naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The attack was intended to keep the U.S military away from entering or invading the military actions of Japan. This attacked changed the nature of relationship between Japan and America and thus provoking America to enter in the war with Japan which caused huge damages to the Japanese nation. End of the War: We find no significant clue or the evidences that could state clearly that what ended the war in 1945 and there is no evidence of t hat could prove the most highlighted controversy that the use of atomic bomb or a nuclear weapon was the reason to end the war. However, the reasons for ending the war can be concluded on the formation of three national consensuses that: 1- The use of nuclear weapons was justified 2- The war ended because of their use 3- The use of the weapons was justified morally as saving more lives than they cost (Sherwin). American Policy and Strategy: In 1943, President Roosevelt declared the ending of war by stating it as the ‘unconditional surrender† of the Axis powers. The term ‘unconditional surrender’ was coined to declare that no one after Japan and Germany would ever try to threaten the peace of the region. America declared its actions as a need to restore peace and harmony in the region (Sherwin). Japanese Strategy and Policy: Japanese devised a new strategy to overcome the defeat they have incurred during the war by the hands of Americans. The Japanese leaders did not see their condition as severe in fact they devised a new military-political plan to overcome this defeat. They thought that this plan would be sufficient enough to mark the ending of the war as satisfactory. This plan which they named Ketsu Go contained the fundamental idea that Americans despite their strong material power are brittle creatures. Japanese believed that by giving huge loss to Americans on the Home lands would mark an end on the war. Japanese calculated the strength of American force and the command. But after the Imperial conference in June, they sanctified the Ketsu Go plan. Japanese proposed the fact in their policy papers that the starvation from the food could bring them more causalities than the battle with America (Butow). An Insight on What Ended the War: Truman became the President of America in 1945 when World War II was almost getting over in Europe. Hitler committed suicide which marked the surrender of Germany. However, in Pacific the war was sti ll on its highest peak with Japan fighting back like a warrior with America. With the new President Truman, military officials proposed the plan with Allied invasion on Japan, America can gain the victory. Truman knew about the plan which was planned on using it as his second option; the use of the most terrible weapon that would destruct and damage the entire country known in

A comparison and contrast of the theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Essay

A comparison and contrast of the theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels - Essay Example The theories of Marx and Engels envisage a social order where all mankind could avail of wealth collectively created and live in peace and harmony. Communism they believed was a state where the freedom of the individual was assured and the evils of child labor and illiteracy and miserable condition of he common man would come to an end. It is a tribute to the genius of these two men, that many of their theories have been adopted, bringing in change that has made the world a better place than it was in their time. Karl Marx the German philosopher, economist and revolutionary thinker is best known as the founder of modern socialism and communism. His friend Friedrich Engels, who some people referred to as Marx’s alter ego, was also a revolutionary with ideas similar to those of Marx. These two great thinkers shared their views on capitalism socialism and communism, and, as Engels once commented there was complete agreement in all theoretical fields. Engels collaborated with Marx in writing his famous work Das Kapital which is an analysis of economic and social history; and after his death edited and published the remaining two volumes of the book. Marx and Engels also co-authored The Communist manifesto that lays down the principles of communism and the role of the working class (Proletariat) in overthrowing the yoke of the bourgeoisie (Capitalists). In fact these two men collaborated so closely and their ideas were so much alike that it is often impossible to tell their individual cont ributions apart in their writings. The ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels are commonly referred to as Marxism. The friendship of these two revolutionary thinkers is considered quite remarkable. Marx was a man whose barbed remarks spared neither friend nor foe. His life therefore is a saga of misunderstandings and broken relationships. Yet, his relationship with Engels which began

Internship Report Essay Example for Free

Internship Report Essay I am Nigel Ng Ding Xun from Business Information Technology. During the ending of my second year in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, I had to go through what may be the toughest thing I faced during my time studying in Ngee Ann. Internship. I was placed in the company Lau Chin Huat Co. Lau Chin Huat Co. is a firm of certified public accountants. In the company, there are a total of three different departments. The IT department, the Accounts department, and the Audit department. The head of the IT department is my supervisor, Mr Anthony Lum. He is the one that handles any of the IT problems faced in the company. Staffs in the company often treat him as the ‘boss’, as Mr Lau is not in the company most of the time. Mr Anthony is very strict when it comes to work. He is known as one who would get displeased very easily when a work given by him to his staffs is not completed on time even though the time given may not be sufficient. Therefore, most of his co-workers tend to panic and put in their utmost effort into completing their work efficiently. The Accounts and Audit departments are managed by mainly Mr Yeo, and Miss Ai Ting. They might be my superiors, but when working there, I could sense the amount of respect they have for all of their staffs, regardless of their status in the company. Due to that, many of the staffs deeply respect them, including me. The Audit Department performs audit work on client’s financial statements and records. They assist in preparation of audit working papers of clients to facilitate further audit work, and the prepare audit reports for review by audit work. They are not in the company most of the time as they are often off to another company for auditing of work. The Organisational Chart for Lau Chin Huat Co: Lau Chin Huat uses mainly two kinds of software to run their business, it being Adagio and OpenOffice. Adagio itself has many different kinds of products, but the products that Lau Chin Huat uses would be mainly focused on Adagio Payables, Adagio receivables, and Adagio Ledger. With these softwares combined, you can complete accounts payables, receivables and General Ledger management for your business. Open Office is just like Microsoft Office, just that it does not cost a single cent and that it is free for everyone to use. During my first week at Lau Chin Huat, I was told to do a descriptive and pictorial step by step user manual of the software, Adagio. It basically meant that I had to take screenshots of every step of the process, combine it into one or two pictures, and describe what it was for. Although it was time consuming, it was really useful to me in the sense that I had a better understanding on how to use Adagio after finishing the user manual. Moving on, during the third week of my internship, I was exposed to excel and its formulas. Using formulas would promote ease of access as users would not need to manually key in the data needed anymore. Just a click and drag would solve all those issues. I was also given easier kind of work, such as editing templates that would be used as receipts. I learnt how to conduct stock take, and I also had to key in the stock count of the companies who have already conducted their stock take. As it has always been my dream to work in an accounting firm, I found much joy while doing the work needed at Lau Chin Huat. The one thing that I really love when I was working at Lau Chin Huat would be that my co-workers are really friendly. As almost half of the company comprises of interns like myself, it was really easy to get along with them. To my surprise, even those that are working as full-timers are really friendly as well. Everyone will always lend a helping hand to you when in need, or when you are at doubt. During our lunch break, we would gather together and talk about anything and everything in the world. This is something that I really cherished and enjoyed during my 2 months of Internship at Lau Chin Huat. I could still remember my first few days where I knew no one and I felt really lonely during lunch breaks as I always had to dine alone. Until that day where one of my colleagues asked me whether I would like to join them for lunch. That really made my day. Till now, I could still clearly remember that situation and how elated I felt at that time. That made me realized how important it is to have friends in life. Though the working environment may be small, but everyone in the company is very bonded. We share everything with each other, and we treat each other as our own siblings. Although it sounds as though we will play around in the company, but when it comes to work, we put our heart and soul into producing efficient and quality work. During my first few weeks at Lau Chin Huat, I faced many problems/difficulties. To start it off, I admit that I was not happy at all being posted here. The travelling distance from my house to Lau Chin Huat was a long journey, I had the lowest pay amongst all my friends, and worst of all, I had to work on Saturdays. Being a comparative person, after I was told by my friends that my posting was the worst amongst all of them, I was really unhappy. I was really negative and it was not a good start for me on the first day I started working at Lau Chin Huat. I was easily affected during work, and little things that annoyed me just made me hated having my internship here even more. That was when I wanted to opt for a change of internship placement. It’s a long story, but basically, that step I made was the biggest mistake in the time of undertaking my Internship. I caused a lot of problems for everyone, and that mistake almost cost me to fail my Internship. Luckily, I was given a second chance by Lau Chin Huat, and I am really grateful to them for that. I was then asked to go in with a positive mindset and do the best that I can. I mean, after all, it’s just six weeks. How hard can it get, seriously. That sentence was told to me by my NPIS supervisor, Mr Tay. It really woke me up. It made a lot of sense to me, and I told myself to give it another shot. Apparently, my habit of not being able to be punctual was a major obstacle to overcome for me. I was late most of the time, and that feeling was really horrible. The stares given by others when you are late and you walk into the company. Sometimes, I just wish to bury my head under the ground. I felt so ashamed of myself, I was scolded by Mr Anthony and he was really unhappy. From that moment I told myself not to be late anymore, to wake up early to attend work on time. The first time when I was punctual actually felt really great. I did not have to rush to work, I was not panicking about how I should explain to my boss about why I am late, and I was praised by Mr Anthony for being punctual. I was happy. That was when I started waking up earlier, just so that I would arrive to work on time. There were many times when I faced difficulties in completing my work, as the task given to me was kind of ‘impossible’. There was this once where I was given this Excel file and I was supposed to derive with formulas in order for easier formatting of data. Everything was a breeze and I did not face any difficulties until this one cell where I was supposed to format cells according to their address. (Eg. Block 340; one cell. Ang Mo Kio Avenue 2; one cell.) Due to the different formatting of data in the database, I was unable to derive with this particular formula. All of my time was then spent on looking for ways to come out with the formula, researching on whether there are such formulas, but to no avail. When I told Mr Anthony about it, he told me that he would fail me for this because if I could not find the formula, the work would not be counted as complete, and he grades me based on the results produced. That was when I really panicked and I was really upset. Thankfully, Mr Yeo knew about the plight I was in and he told Mr Anthony that it was not fair for me and asked him to give me simpler work instead. Knowing that I was given a second chance, I tried even harder so that the work that I produced would be up to Mr Anthony’s standard. On the last day of my work, I realized that Mr Anthony is not such a bad guy after all. He had a talk with me before I left the company. He explained to me the reasons why it seemed like he was always picking on me. He told me that in the past, he was just like me. Always being late, and that he did not give a care in the world. Thankfully, his supervisor talked to him and changed the way of how he saw things. Now, that he realized the amount of similarity that we used to have, he told himself that he just wanted to show me the way of life, just like how his supervisor did for him. He told me that he knows that I did my best, and he was proud of me. These words that he said are words that I will never forget. During my time at Lau Chin Huat, it really taught me the importance of responsibility, punctuality and respect. I was always late and I did not bother whether about punctuality at all, but after being posted to Lau Chin Huat, I realized how important punctuality really is, be it work, or anything else you do. It is able to see a person’s level of responsibility just by whether they are punctual or not. I also realized that respect is not necessarily always given to others, it will only be given to those who deserve it. These are qualities being taught to me that I will carry with me wherever I am, be it when I am working, or when I am doing other things. My suggestions to improve the work done would be to always do things with a positive mindset and to persevere on in whatever you do. With a positive mindset and perseverance, no matter how tough your work is, a positive mindset will guide you through the way and your perseverance will make sure you see it to the end. To me, I think that these are the qualities everyone should have as this will help and benefit you in whatever you do. In conclusion, having my Internship at Lau Chin Huat taught me more Excel formulas that I would be able to use in my course of study, it also taught me how to do reports after a stock take. Internship taught me many valuable life lessons. I am really glad that I gave my all during the second chance that was given to me. If given the chance to, I would be more than happy to work for Lau Chin Huat again.

The Relationship Between Entrepreneurship And Innovation Commerce Essay

The Relationship Between Entrepreneurship And Innovation Commerce Essay What is the relationship between entrepreneurship and innovation? Depending on which model you are looking at entrepreneurship has a differing relationship with innovation. There are definitions out there that make an entrepreneurial behaviour almost identical to that of innovation. Is there more to innovation than being entrepreneurial? Can entrepreneurship be defined by innovation? These are some questions I intend to answer throughout the essay and I will examine and determine how the two are related, however large or small the relationship is. Up to 1 in 3 business start-ups fail within the first three years and with the amount of start ups, 3 per minute in 2001, there is a lot of prospective, hopeful entrepreneurs aiming to succeed in business but fail. What is the difference in characteristics between those that succeed and fail, is there a clear differentiation and can the amount of innovation used by the entrepreneur effect the success of the business? I aim to come to a conc lusion and answer all of these questions throughout and critically analyse differing theories. Both of the terms are often used interchangeably with little understanding of the differentiation between the two (David Johnson, 2001). My interpretation of innovation is that it has a lot to do with the invention of a product or a process and is a change in the norm, which then becomes the norm. A good example which would show innovation would be the movement from the floppy disk to the CD ROM, this is a clear move with a totally different design and then became the norm, till further innovation happened and the USB flash drive has become the most common for file storing and transfer. The question of defining entrepreneurship and linking it to innovation is harder than it sounds. There are many studies of entrepreneurship however there is no specific definition as it cannot be summed up into one single statement. There are various models showing a differing correlation between innovation and entrepreneurship. I see the link between the two as one in which, if worked together in har mony there can be a prefect outcome in terms of the success of an entrepreneur. Not everyone who starts up a business is an entrepreneur; it is the one who makes the best outcome of any opportunity given throughout the life of a business that will be a successful entrepreneur. There are different characteristics and different circumstances surrounding each successful entrepreneurs story but each made it down their route to become successful. A good idea is nothing more than a tool in the hands of an entrepreneur.'(Jeffry Timmons 1977) This idea shows that innovation, or the idea is just one single aspect of the processes of the entrepreneur in the making of, and continuing the success of a business. Therefore this means there is a relationship visible but it cannot be said it is one that says that entrepreneurship is more than just an idea, or innovation but it is using that idea. Innovations are the composite of two worlds, namely, the technical, and the business; so when only a change in technology is involved, this is just an invention; but as soon as the business world is involved, it becomes an Innovation. (Schumpeter 1934). An entrepreneur is an individual who establishes and manages a business for the principle purposes of profit and growth. The entrepreneur is characterised principally by innovative behaviour and will employ strategic management practices in the business this explanation is very relevant to what I am trying to explain and the link with business shows how entrepreneurs in business can be innovative. (Carland et al, 1984). These are how innovation and entrepreneurship can be defined in 2 different models. They can both be linked into each other visibly due to the idea of business in innovation and the innovative behaviour. However they can also be criticised due to saying entrepreneurs are only in pursuit of profit but this would depend on the personality of the individual. The founder of Oxfam, Joe Mitty, was solely interested in making money for charity and was a volunteer. Schumpeters view of creative destruction (1934) refers to the entrepreneur introducing a new idea that takes over a market and links entrepreneurs to economic growth and development. This could be an idea of shifting production processes, reducing the size of the workforce to increase productivity or indeed the introduction of a new product. The reason the introduction of the new idea has such an effect is, because of the unpredictability of the introduction, meaning there is no chance to prepare and lessen the impact of the new idea. Therefore Schumpeters theory was very much in line and the link innovation has with the entrepreneur is clear and represented by the fact that this creative destruction often leads to the overhaul of a market and takes over the old idea. For example the DVD, taking over VHS, and now they do not sell VHS in HMV and most other leading electronic multi media stores. The view of Kirzner (1973) is that entrepreneurs are individuals that recognise opportunity and find gaps in the market and test the viability of new business by trial and error and feedback from the market. Therefore these two views are contrasting with Kirzners view of entrepreneurship related more markets and gaps within them, and the responsiveness of an individual to react and make the most of this opportunity, rather than seeing the opportunity for a new product or idea, rather than simply moulding or adapting what is there already to gain market share. After this an entrepreneur differentiates from just an opportunist introduction and realisation of the idea by carrying on the idea and turning it into a viable business. These two ideas give a different level of linkage with innovation, rather than the destruction of Schumpeters model which creates the market for the product, Kirzner believes it is about adapting the idea to fit into the market, so the innovation may be seen as more lapse and less extreme in Kirzners case. OECD (1998) states that: (they) accelerate the generation, dissemination and application of innovative ideas this sums up one particular idea of the relationship between the two; it implies that entrepreneurship is innovative however, innovation is not always entrepreneurial. Innovation may only be one aspect in the beginning, or perhaps innovation should happen throughout and be continued through the life of the business to attempt to keep ahead of competition. Innovation is not always a radical destruction of a current process or product and it can just be a small alteration to current product or process. E.G. Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, an entrepreneur and the founder of easy jet, took an idea and used his business mind and talents to create and exploit the market, however did not invent any new innovative product, or production process but he spotted an opportunity for a budget airline which opened air travel up to the masses, whom perhaps could not afford what was there before it. Schere (1982) sums up an entrepreneur by giving their characteristics, it states they have a tolerance for stress and uncertainty, a real life example here can be the entrepreneur I interviewed, John Russell, who had to support a family at the same time as remortgaging his house and set up a business. To get through the stress of this whilst setting up and pursuing a successful business would take a lot of tolerance and self belief. The tolerance of uncertainty could be linked to innovation, if it is a new process or product and it has not been tried and tested in a market as is discussed by Kirzner (1973), the entrepreneur is taking a big risk even if the gap in the market it there in theory, there is no certainty due to the irrational behaviour of consumers. Schere gives a characteristic of entrepreneurs that they are open minded and can react quickly to change. The nature of innovation is that however prepared or quickly entrepreneurs can react they are often powerless to prevent a total overhaul of a market, due to the action of another entrepreneur (Schumpeter 1934). Timmons et al (1985) gives one of the largest sets of traits in the field. The trait of having the drive to achieve and grow is one of them. The drive to grow is one trait of interest and can be linked in to what has already been discussed, due to the distinction between innovation and entrepreneurship, with innovation being the starting point of a process and the entrepreneurial side leading to the growth of the business, however innovation would be needed throughout the life of the business to lead to a growth in the idea, an example is Simon Cowell who from X factor went on to expand using entrepreneurial prowess to take it into other countries and then went on and created Britains got talent, which introduced a new idea and process to the TV industry. Simon Cowell, just one example can already counter the idea of Timmons et al, of they have Low need for status and power, as it is visible that this interests him. Theories giving traits of entrepreneurs, however, is a generalisation of all entrepreneurs and can be easily criticised as there are so many different types and individual entrepreneurs that cannot be segmented and categorised. The studies give traits of entrepreneurs and do not take into account the background. For example, one entrepreneur may be a university graduate, whilst another could be a middle aged worker who has found a way doing what their business is doing more efficiently. Therefore it is likely that the traits they portray are not all identical to each other. If all the traits an entrepreneur is said to portray in journals and articles are true then entrepreneurs would be close to perfectly efficient and functioning human beings. People can also be innovative but cannot make the step up to become entrepreneurial, the BBC television programme (2. The Age of Plenty, The Foods that make Billions 2010) it shows us the story of how business has turned grain into one of the biggest success stories of the modern food industry. In the beginning it was one of the Kellogg brothers who invented the product; however it was the other one of the brothers that took it forward as a business. The person who created the idea is the brother of the entrepreneur and he could be seen as innovative. His brother was the one who took the idea further, by increasing the product range and adding sugar to it where his brother chose not to. Therefore a differentiation is shown here between the two thought processes of simply just an inventor and then an entrepreneurial mind that has increased the size of the company, and its profits, significantly. Apple, in recent times, is a great example to use when referring to both entrepreneurial expertise and new innovative products. Before the IPod was launched on October 23rd 2001, there were there means of personal media players which people were satisfied with. However the idea of 1000 songs in your pocket came by surprise and nobody could have predicted it. People used portable CD players and walkmans without realising the potential and they were later deemed clunky and useless. However, The IPod has become a household name, and despite not being the first mp3 player they revolutionised the MP3 and now people call them IPods rather than mp3 players. Here the iPod can be seen to be in line with Schumpeters idea of creative destruction (1934) because it is an example of how a new introduction (of the iPod) effectively destroyed the ideas that came before it, e.g. people dont use walkman anymore, due to the intro of the iPod. The reason Apple is a near perfect example of a complementar y relationship between both innovation and entrepreneurship is because of their actions after the initial introduction, and the way in which they continued to use innovative strategies and keep up the level of innovation and did not settle on the idea. Further developments on the IPod were brought to the market, for example the mini, shuffle, nano and the touch were all further innovations, and then they continued to create other products under the Apple brand. They made the new Mac books, the air and the pro, Apple Macs which further competed with other computer companies than they did in the past. Then more recently they have made the I Phone, which has 4 different models, and potentially more, iPad and in the future they are also looking into moving into a new (for them) form of media, TV. These innovative ideas, along with the fact that they are becoming a market leader in electronics and making huge profits year on year, whilst banging nails into past leader of the portable med ia industry (with the walkman) Sonys coffin (Naughton, 2010). They demonstrate perfectly why innovation has such a relationship with entrepreneurship. The reality of it is, however, one day there will be innovation, not by apple, and perhaps not by any of the current firms in the electronics market, that will kill off apple and lead to a new market leader. Due to the nature of innovation, however much Apple prepare they will not be able to prevent this happening. Druckers source of opportunity (1985) is a model in which the opportunities for an entrepreneur come about both internally and externally. Internally through inadequacy, changes in market or coming about through chance; or externally through perception and mood, demographic changes and new knowledge, from individuals or chance revelations. Small firms are more innovative than their large firm counterparts, being less bound by convention and more flexible (Carter Jones-Evans 2006) This suggests that in large firms which have set policy and running to it, would be more ridged, and therefore less reactive to a change in the market and could be pushed out of the market due to new innovative firms taking over. Therefore for a business to succeed in the long term they may need innovative ideas to survive and prevent being overtaken by the more innovative smaller firms. To sum up the relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship is not a simple thing to do with a single sentence answer. What I can conclude is that there is a differing relationship between the two in different fields of study. A common idea of the relationship is that it is a dependant one, in which both are needed in an economy to stimulate economic growth. The idea that innovation is a part of the entrepreneurial process is one that I agree with, there can be innovation without an entrepreneur involved; however there cannot be a successful entrepreneurial venture without the input of innovation. This is because innovation is what will be the distinction between ideas, without innovation there may be change or progression and this could lead to a stagnant economy. The examples I have given of entrepreneurs are ones that I believe show a differing amount of innovation, but similar amounts of success, Stelios had merely a change in the pricing and strategy of airline firms whic h when compared to the example of apple is only a small change, however, innovation is still shown and is still important. Overall in most cases it is not just an individual entrepreneur people may be inspired by an individual innovative idea and create entrepreneurial flow of a business over time as a team which can lead to great success with the right mix of both innovation and entrepreneurial processes.

Development of Forensic Science Methods

Development of Forensic Science Methods The Criminal Justice System of England in the 18th century initially consisted of perpetrators being privately prosecuted by their victim, with the victims playing the role of the criminal investigator; gathering and submitting evidence, paying fees to cover the expenses of the constables time in order to apprehend the suspect, filing charges with the local magistrates and presenting evidence to the grand jury. However, the development of the CJS has resulted in professional bodies gathering and submitting evidence, alongside the representation of victims in court by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), victim support services and there are an array of specialist courts in existence who handle cases specific to their knowledgeable subject. The Contribution of Forensic Science to Police Investigation As cited by Pyreck (2007, p. 4), The National Institue of Justice (NIJ. 1998) defines forensic science as the application of scientific knowledge to the legal system. Thornton (1997) observes, Forensic comes to us from the Latin forensus meaning of the forum. In ancient Rome, the forum was where governmental debates were held, but it was also where trials were held. It was the courthouse. So, forensic science has come to mean the application of the natural and physical sciences to the resolution of conflicts within a legal setting. The Home Office Report (2005, p. vii) proposes that factors such as the degree of integration and communication between police and scientific support appeared to be important in determining retrieval rates. Forensic science was initially a conventional means to corroborate suspected offenders, however due to procedures such as DNA testing; the report goes on to state that there is an increase in the proportion of volume crime offences detected using foren sic evidence. In the UK, it is estimated that, for directly detected volume crimes, the main evidence securing the detection was forensic in more than one quarter of cases. Databases such as AFIS and NDNA run systems which provide comparable results from forensic evidence to apprehend offenders on the system; with a detection rate of attaining perpetrators in seven in ten cases, which can render to be the solution to a further 0.4 open cases on the system. Fingerprint evidence can be found 41% of the time at scenes of vehicle crimes, 45% of non-residential burglaries and one in three residential burglary scenes; with 10% of scenes providing DNA evidence. However, it proves to be difficult to collect forensic evidence when scenes are inaccessible, have been purged or the offender has been vigilant. It can also be difficult to convict suspects with a positive DNA match when there is insufficient evidence or the individual provides a legitimate alibi. The use of forensic measures in co urt however, have proven to impact cases in a positive light; namely for theft, murder and burgulary cases, with an increase of 17% for burglary; alongside this, the appraisal of DNA and fingerprint evidence augments a jurys decision to convict in cases of homicide and rape. Methodology Applied when Gathering Blood Spatter Evidence and Other Samples in Criminal Investigation Forensic Scientists can gather a more accurate profile of the perpetrator and how the crime was committed by gathering and analysing the following specimens: Hair analysis Fiber Analysis Glass Fragments Paint Chips Analysis Soil Analysis Ballistics Toolmarks Bitemarks Fingerprints Footwear Tire Impressions Blood Spatter Analysis DNA Analysis Blood, Semen, and Saliva (DNA matching and typing; blood-spatter analysis Nonhuman DNA (dog, cat, deer, whales) Drugs (drug identification, forensic pathology) Explosives (bomb and arson identifications and source traces) Fibers (fiber typing, source identification, and matching) Hair (hair typing and matching) Fingerprints (fingerprint matching, AFIS, etc.) Bones (gender and age typing, identification of remains; weapon identification) Wound analysis (weapon typing; physical movement patterning) Firearms and ammunition (ballistics and tool-mark identification) Powder residues (shootings, suicides) Glass (glass typing and matching) Foot, tire and fabric impressions (impression typing and matching) Paint (paint typing and matching in automobile collisions, hit and run) Petroleum products (product typing and matching) Plastic bags (typing and matching; garbage bags as suffocation device or when used in transports) Soils and minerals (mineral typing and matching; forensic geology) Tool marks (tool identification and matching; homicides, burglary, home invasions, etc.) Wood and vegetative matter (plant typing and matching; plant DNA) RAPD matching; limnology, Forest Service Lab Insects, larvae, maggots; forensic entomology; time of death; location analyses) (Kiely, F. T. 2006, p. 50) One of the underlying principles behind forensic analysis is the concept that when two individuals come in contact with one another, or if an individual comes in contact with an object, there is a high probability of transfer of biological material (skin, hair, etc.). The transfer does not always have to be as obvious as blood, (Missouri State Highway Patrol, p. 22). Due to this, it is important to collect samples from all those whom have been in contact with the victim and the scene of the crime to avoid wrongful implications by eliminating those individuals whom do not match the suspects DNA profile. Analysing Blood, Semen and Saliva Samples Hair is a biological specimen of the body and may be associated back to its source through DNA analysis (although DNA is not always successfully extracted from hair), (Missouri State Highway Patrol page. 30). Alternatively, materials stained with blood, semen, saliva can be collected, be ensured to be air dried before placed in a paper bag and sealed, then tagged with the identification of the contents, exhibit number, initial and date. For porous material such as cloth and leather, investigators are advised to cut the area containing the stain; however for nonporous materials such as glass and metal, stains are removed via a cotton swab that has been moistened with water; and for liquid stains, a clean cotton swab is immersed in the sample. In terms of collecting semen samples, when the specimen is not drying-out, alternatively, condoms are to be frozen. When collecting a Buccal (Oral) swab, two to four swabs must be vigorously rubbed on the interior of the cheek for a minimum of 30 secs to a minute to recover epithelial (skin) tissue; which must then be labelled with the individuals names. The Application of Fingerprint Identification When fingerprint evidence found in a body of water is collected, it should remain in the original water. A watertight container should be lowered into the water and allowed to fill. This allows the evidence to be placed in the container without exposing it to the air. If fingerprint evidence found in water is allowed to dry before processing, the likelihood of developing prints of value dramatically decreases. (Missouri State Highway Patrol) page. 17)The Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) is a database which stores fingerprints that have been taken from suspects, whether they have been incarcerated or not; due to which perpetrators are easily identified, without having a definitive suspect, as their prints are already present on the system. Latent fingerprints on nonporous materials deteriorate rapidly upon prolonged exposure to high temperature and humidity. Consequently, items should be processed and/or forwarded to a laboratory as soon as possible A ruled scale should be used when photographing latent prints. Latent prints on materials are to be handled with gloves and placed in a cellophane protector, whereas latent prints on surfaces such as plastic cards, metal plates and glass bottles are dusted with finger print powder and then extracted with lifting tape and placed on a 3 x 5 card, which contrasts in color with the dusting powder used. Behavioural Science Support As cited by Alison and Rainbow (2011), the crime scene is presumed to reflect the murderers behaviour and personality in much the same way as furnishings reveal the homeowners character (Douglas et al., 1992: 21) (Alison, L. and Rainbow, L. 2011 p. 19) Full verbal case briefing and access to the SIO/investigation team All relevant statements Crime reports Any officers reports/status reports Pathology and forensic reports/findings Full set of crime scene and pst -mortem photographs Available analysis (e.g. telephony, palynology, entomology, etc) Relevant maps Visit to all relevant scenes; allows the BIA to gain fuller understanding of the decision-making process of the offender. Such information is not routinely available from (the above mentioned methods), where often the evidential focus is too restrictive to provide the necessary behavioural perspective. (Alison, L. and Rainbow, L. 2011 p. 25) Behavioural Investigative Advisors (BIAs) provide a theoretical perspective in investigations via the use of forensic psychology to support investigators by implementing methods such as crime scene assessment; DNA screening; suspect prioritisation; familial DNA; nominal pool generation; interview strategy; media strategy; offender background characteristics; and investigation strategy, (Newburn, T. Et al. p.. 658). In order to perform an accurate evaluation, BIAs require case materials such as: Please refer to Appendix. 1: Example of the BIAs work. The BIA are able bodies whom provide expertise in offender profiling to connect cases where correlating physical evidence is not evident. The Serious Crime Analysis Section (SCAS) of the NPIA, through their mandate to collect and analyse a range of sexually motivated offences throughout the UK, now has more than 16,500 offences on ViCLAS (Violent Crimes Linkage Analysis System) database, (Alison, L. and Rainbow, L. 2011 p. 25). Appendix Appendix 1: Example of the BIAs work. (Alison, L. and Rainbow, L. 2011) Case Study 2, folder 1FF, 194528.jpg