Profile of Serial Killer John Eric Armstrong

Profile of Serial Killer John Eric Armstrong John Eric Armstrong was a 300-pound, previous U.S. Naval force mariner, who was known for being easygoing and who had an honest youngster like look, to such an extent, that while in the Navy he was nicknamed Opie by his mates. Armstrong joined the Navy in 1992 when he was 18 years of age. He served seven years on the Nimitz plane carrying warship. During his time in the Navy he got four advancements and earned two Good Conduct awards. At the point when he left the Navy in 1999, he and his significant other moved to Deaborn Heights, an average workers neighborhood in Michigan. He found a new line of work with Target retail locations and later with the Detroit Metropolitan Airport refueling airplanes.â The individuals who lived around the Armstrongs thought of John as a decent neighbor and stand-up fellow who was a dedicated spouse and committed dad to his 14-month-old son.â A Call to the Police Detroit specialists got dubious of Armstrong after he reached them concerning a body he saw gliding in the Rouge River. He told the police that he was strolling on the extension when abruptly he felt sick and hung over the scaffold and saw the body. Police pulled the group of 39-year-old Wendy Joran out of the stream. Joran was known to the police. She was a functioning medication client and whore. Examiners noticed that Jorans murder was fundamentally the same as a series of murders of whores which had as of late happened. Police Suspect Armstrong Examiners investigating the likelihood that a sequential executioner was killing neighborhood whores discovered Armstrongs strolling along the scaffold story to be exceptionally dubious. They chose to put him under observation. When they had Jorans DNA and other proof gathered they went to Armstrongs home and mentioned a blood test and inquired as to whether they could gather strands from around his home and from within his vehicle. Armstrong concurred and permitted the insightful inside his home. Through DNA testing the examiners had the option to connect Armstrong to one of the killed whores, yet they needed to hold on to get a full report from the testing lab before they captured Armstrong. At that point on April 10, three additional bodies were found is different phases of decomposition.â Examiners set up a team and started talking with neighborhood whores. Three of the whores confessed to having intercourse with Armstrong. Every one of the three of ladies depicted his child like face and  the 1998 dark Jeep Wrangler that Armstrong drove. They additionally said that subsequent to engaging in sexual relations, Armstrong seemed to go insane and attempted to choke them. Capture On April 12, police captured Armstrong for the homicide of Wendy Joran. It didn't take long for Armstrong to split under tension. He told agents that he loathed whores and that he was 17 years of age when he previously dedicated homicide. He likewise admitted to executing different whores in the territory and to 12 different homicides that he submitted far and wide while he was in the Navy. The rundown remembered murders for Hawaii, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Singapore, and Israel.â He later abjured his admissions Preliminary and Conviction In March 2001, Armstrong went being investigated for the homicide of Wendy Joran. His legal advisors attempted to demonstrate that Armstrong was crazy, however their endeavors were fruitless. On July 4, 2001, Armstrong haggled down to a request of second-degree murder, and therefore he was condemned to 31 years of life in jail for the killings of Brown, Felt and Johnson. All together he got two life sentences in addition to 31 years as discipline for his killings. Armstrong later said that he started executing whores after his secondary school sweetheart parted ways with him for another man, who he asserted tempted her with blessings. He saw it as a type of prostitution and started his murdering binge as a demonstration of retribution. FBI Launches an International Investigation The FBI kept on attempting to associate Armstrong to comparative unsolved killings in nations, for example, Thailand, and every single other spot Armstrong was based while in the Navy.

Film Evaluation Reports Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Film Evaluation Reports - Movie Review Example While there is an inclination to consider such to be as lesser types of film, they can and ought to be acknowledged for the manner by which they show how societies can take a lighter perspective on themselves and of their legends. Movies that utilization outlandishness as a reason for their diversion are regularly downplaying parts of society so as to reveal an insight into how genuine individuals once in a while take themselves. Woochi (2009) is first set 500 years previously, an account of folklores and human legislative issues making a set up for the occasions that will happen in the present. The film starts with an account of trolls who take a thing called the Pipe of the Prophecy, the piece having powers that ought not get into an inappropriate hands. The flute is utilized by the one god to keep the others, each speaking to the lunar schedule year. Three demi-divine beings are attempting associated with attempting to keep the flute from the trolls, or evil spirits, yet when they fizzle, they solicit the assistance from the Taoist Wizards who can recovered the flute. Be that as it may, the Master wizard’s disciple, who is somewhat pompous and has a gigantic pride issue, is blamed for a homicide and he takes the flute and sets himself into a painted composition to stow away. At the point when it is found that both he and the flute are in the original copy, one of the wizards, Hwadom, goes into the composition, just to understand that once he is close to the flute, he himself is one of the devils. This is a mystery to those devils who take human structure. They overlook that they are evil spirits until they are close to the flute. Through a progression of fortuitous events, the flute is attacked three pieces, therefore keeping Hwadom from recovering the flute and assembling it. In cutting edge Seoul, the trolls start indeed causing underhandedness and the three mythical beings choose to liberate Woochi so as to stop the issue. The trolls, masked as peo ple, are outside of any present way to stop them, so setting Woochi, who has a portion of a similar information on the Taoist wizards from 500 years past, appears the most ideal approach to deal with the issue. They persuade Woochi to support them, and every one of them being in cutting edge Korea prompts a lot of cleverness dependent on the contention of how individuals of some other time would manage advanced life. 2.) What does the film uncover about the character and interests of the movie producer? What does the film uncover about the mentality of the movie producer toward his subject? Clarify completely. The film draws in legend so as to set up its contentions and to discover manners by which to communicate human expectations and fears through embodiments. The idea of the lunar schedule animals is to represent explicit parts of the clouded side of mankind, consequently talking about the human presence through this kind of scholarly examination. In making extraordinary componen ts, this present reality is reflected so as to make a sectional conversation of various enthusiastic pieces of being human. Folklore frequently detaches parts of human presence so those components can be investigated through a less mind boggling assessment. This is frequently the situation with humor too. Amusingness takes into consideration a bit of writing to all the more intently analyze a piece of human life by disconnecting a piece of it and taking a gander at it from different, uncommon viewpoints. In this film, the ideas of drinking, blundering, and sexuality are taken a gander at from the point of view of outcasts glancing in, as the time fluctuation makes a ‘alien’ environment for the primary characters. Utilizing parts of

How To Do A Good Write Up For Your Science Labs

How To Do A Good Write Up For Your Science Labs How To Do A Good Write Up For Your Science Labs How To Do A Good Write Up For Your Science Labs Scientific inquiry by way of tests and experimentation is getting an increased amount of focus in schools, such as with STEM camp in which kids build things and test things out. Performing experiments forms the basis of science. It is how theories are validated and new paths of inquiry are created. Good science means making predictions and conducting tests to validate or disprove those predictions. First the tests are done, and the data is collected, and then the results of that data are interpreted and conclusions are made. What is the best possible conclusion that can be made from the data you collected? It is not always so easy. It can be a time-consuming task to properly evaluate test data. There are concrete conclusions that can be made, and there are plausible conclusions that can be made which pave the direction for future work. Numbers can be a tricky thing. The numerical data does not always follow the predicted trends, such as those provided from a formula. This is where experimental errors must be considered. Can you recognize the difference between theoretical and experimental discrepancies caused by experimental error and discrepancies caused by the theoretical model being wrong? Again, it is not always so easy. The writers at Homework Help Canada can help you dissect the results of your laboratory experiments, and provide conclusions that are most reasonable given the scope and predictions of the tests. The last thing you want is to have to spend all this time collecting data and not have the time to properly evaluate it and give the proper conclusions on it. But life happens, and if you find yourself in a crunch and you want to finish what you started in the proper fashion, then get in touch. We can help you summarize your science lab results. References: Odzer, A. (2015, July 30). STEM Camp Helps Students Complete Science Projects. NBC Miami. Retrieved August 24, 2015, from How To Do A Good Write Up For Your Science Labs How To Do A Good Write Up For Your Science Labs How To Do A Good Write Up For Your Science Labs Scientific inquiry by way of tests and experimentation is getting an increased amount of focus in schools, such as with STEM camp in which kids build things and test things out. Performing experiments forms the basis of science. It is how theories are validated and new paths of inquiry are created. Good science means making predictions and conducting tests to validate or disprove those predictions. First the tests are done, and the data is collected, and then the results of that data are interpreted and conclusions are made. What is the best possible conclusion that can be made from the data you collected? It is not always so easy. It can be a time-consuming task to properly evaluate test data. There are concrete conclusions that can be made, and there are plausible conclusions that can be made which pave the direction for future work. Numbers can be a tricky thing. The numerical data does not always follow the predicted trends, such as those provided from a formula. This is where experimental errors must be considered. Can you recognize the difference between theoretical and experimental discrepancies caused by experimental error and discrepancies caused by the theoretical model being wrong? Again, it is not always so easy. The writers at Homework Help USA can help you dissect the results of your laboratory experiments, and provide conclusions that are most reasonable given the scope and predictions of the tests. The last thing you want is to have to spend all this time collecting data and not have the time to properly evaluate it and give the proper conclusions on it. But life happens, and if you find yourself in a crunch and you want to finish what you started in the proper fashion, then get in touch. We can help you summarize your science lab results. References: Odzer, A. (2015, July 30). STEM Camp Helps Students Complete Science Projects. NBC Miami. Retrieved August 24, 2015, from

The Stages Of Hiv And Aids - 1520 Words

HIV and AIDS are often thought of as the same thing but in actuality, they are two different illnesses. HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. HIV weakens a person’s immune system by destroying important cells, mainly CD4 also known as T-cells, that fight disease and infection. If HIV is left untreated, it can lead to AIDS. AIDS or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome is the ultimatum condition when HIV is left untreated and is the most dangerous and life-threatening disease derived from it. There are three stages of HIV: The early stage, The clinical latency stage, and the late stage which is AIDS. According to The Foundation for AIDS Research, â€Å"nearly 37 million people are now living with HIV and 1.2 million people died from AIDS in†¦show more content†¦From that time and up until the 1980s, HIV was still unknown so there isn’t much data on how many people were affected back then as well as signs and symptoms. With the data, we currently have it sug gests that this epidemic started in the mid to late 1970s and by 1980, HIV was probably already spread over the five continents (North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Australia). (Avert.org) In 1981, there was a case of a rare lung infection called Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) that was found in five young, healthy gay men in Los Angeles. PCP is an opportunistic infection that is commonly linked with HIV and is the most common AIDS-defining illness. At the same time, there were also other reports of groups of men in New York and California with an unusually aggressive cancer called Kaposi Sarcoma. Kaposi Sarcoma is a cancer of various different types but the most common type of KS in the United States is the â€Å"AIDS-related KS†. This one, in particular, develops in people who are infected with HIV. Symptoms can include lesions, rashes, lumps, ulcers, tumors, coughing, and many more. (Avert.org) By the end of 1981, there were about 270 reported cases of AIDS among homosexual men and around 45 percent of the them died. This created a theory among people that only homosexuals could contract these illnesses and in 1982, it was initially called gay-related immune deficiency (GRID) but later renamed to what we know now as Acquired immune deficiency

Homeward Bound by Elaine Tyler - 1531 Words

Through my understanding of the book, Homeward Bound by Elaine Tyler May explores two traditional depictions of the 1950s, namely suburban domesticity and anticommunism. She intertwines both historical events into a captivating argument. Throughout the book, May aims to discover why â€Å"Post-war Americans accepted parenting as well as marriage with so much zeal† unlike their own parents and children. Her findings are that the â€Å"cold war ideology and domestic revival† were somewhat linked together. She saw â€Å"domestic containment† as an outgrowth of frights and desires that bloomed after the war. However, psychotherapeutic services were as much a boom then as now, and helped offer â€Å"private and personal solutions to social problems.† May reflects her views on the origin of domestic containment, and how it affected the lives of people who tried to live by it. First, in order to critically analyze May’s thoughts, one most first consider the foundation on which the book is built. Homeward Bound does a great job of initiating connections between Cold War politics and the American families that stood during the 1940s and 1950s. Throughout the book, subjects that May explore are feminism, consumerism, Cold War, suburbia and gender. After its release in 1988, the book altered what Americans believed the Cold war to be. The author vividly describes family life during the post-war era by giving detailed accounts of early marriages, baby booms, high values of premarital virtueShow MoreRelatedEssay about Elaine Tyler May’s Homeward Bound1175 Words   |  5 PagesElaine Tyler May’s Homeward Bound   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Elaine Tyler Mays Homeward Bound weaves two traditional narratives of the fifties -- suburban domesticity and rampant anticommunism -- into one compelling historical argument. Aiming to ascertain why, unlike both their parents and children, postwar Americans turned to marriage and parenthood with such enthusiasm and commitment, May discovers that cold war ideology and the domestic revival [were] two sides of the same coin: postwar Americans intense needRead MoreA Social Examination On The Cold War969 Words   |  4 PagesBrittany O’Neill May Paper Elaine Tyler takes a social examination on the war against communism in the book, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era. May portrays the idea that the nuclear family structure was a way to amplify resistance against communism. The exterior threat of communism during the postwar and the Cold War era caused for interrelationships within marriages to become a longer and more stable environment. Compared to the previous book we read as a class, May takesRead MoreThe Coronet Instructional Film That I Would Be Analyzing Is The Short Film, Nature Of Sound1404 Words   |  6 Pagesbased of the era, what was life with the technology in that time. During this newly released video, Nature of Sound, and being used for the many upcoming years, it was the time of the Cold War era. According to a segment in the book Homeward Bound by Elaine Tyler May, â€Å"science was changing the world.† During this time, America was transitioning from radio to television. Radio was the primary broadcast that presented news, voice over shows, genre of many stories that American families would hearRead MoreThe Cold War Era During World War II1349 Words   |  6 Pagesunlike any Americans had seen before. After defeating Germany and its allies in the war, the United States faced a change on the home front: young Americans rushed into marriage and parenthood in unprecedented numbers. In Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era, Elaine Tyler May describes these changes from the end of the war through the early 1960s. The author makes a compelling range of arguments about the changes that affected Americans during this period. Mainly, May argues that theRead MoreAn Analysis Of Elaine Tyler s Connection Between Foreign And Political Policy And The Dynamics Of American Families During The Post1173 Words   |  5 PagesIn Homeward Bound, Elaine Tyler May portrays the connection between foreign and political policy and the dynamics of American families during the post war and Cold War eras through the idea of containment. Her main argument is that domestic containment was bred from political containment. She ties together the widespread anticommunist views of the years following World War II with the ideal of American suburban domesticity to illustrate this argument. According to May, domestic containment wasRead More Todays Consumer Culture: Bought Self-worth and Artificial Happiness1137 Words   |  5 Pagesgoods have weakened society and compromised our position as a close community.    Works Cited Gruen, V., and Smith, L. (2005), Shopping Towns, U.SA.: The Planning of Shopping Centers. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. May, Elaine Tyler. Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era. Basic Books, 2008. Miller, Daniel. Capitalism: An Ethnographic Approach. Berg, Oxford. 1997. Miller, Daniel. A Theory of Shopping. Polity Press, Oxford, 1998.      Read More Resolving Conflicts in Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin in the Sun1345 Words   |  6 PagesThe Sun.   Conneticut.  Ã‚   Greenwood Press,1998.    Draper, James P. Black Literature Criticisms. Detroit: Gale Research Incorporated, 1992.    Hansberry, Lorraine.   A Raisin in the Sun.   New York:   Signet, 1988.    May, Elaine Tyler. Homeward Bound. New York. Basic Books, 1988.    Patterson, James T.   Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974. New York. Oxford University Press,1996.    Wilkerson, Margaret B. The Sighted Eyes and Feeling Heart of Lorraine HansberryRead More Resolving Conflict and Overcoming Obstacles in Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin in the Sun1344 Words   |  6 PagesUnderstanding A Raisin In The Sun.   Conneticut.  Ã‚   Greenwood Press,1998. Draper, James P. Black Literature Criticisms. Detroit: Gale Research Incorporated, 1992. Hansberry, Lorraine.   A Raisin in the Sun.   New York:   Signet, 1988. May, Elaine Tyler. Homeward Bound. New York. Basic Books, 1988. Patterson, James T.   Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974. New York. Oxford University Press,1996. Wilkerson, Margaret B. The Sighted Eyes and Feeling Heart of Lorraine Hansberry. BlackRead Moreâ€Å"A Proud-Acting Bunch†: The Issues of Suburbanization and Class Stratification in â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun† 1462 Words   |  6 Pagesof the Youngers characterizes the class conflict felt by many African Americans during the suburban migration. Works Cited Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Vintage Books, 1994. Print. May, Elaine Tyler. â€Å"Containment at Home: Cold War, Warm Hearth.† Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era. By May. New York: BasicBooks, 1988. 16-36. Print. Wiese, Andrew. â€Å"‘The House I Live In’: Race, Class, and African American Suburban Dreams in the Postwar United StatesRead MoreEssay about A Raisin in the Sun1559 Words   |  7 PagesCarter, Steven R. â€Å"Hansberry, Lorraine Vivian.† American National Biography Online. 2000. Oxford UP. Feb 2000. Web. 30 Sep 2011. Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Vintage Books, 1994. Print. May, Elaine Tyler. â€Å"Containment at Home: Cold War, Warm Hearth.† Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era. By May. New York: BasicBooks, 1988. 16-36. Print. Nemiroff, Robert. Introduction. A Raisin in the Sun. By Lorraine Hansberry. New York: Vintage Books, 1994. 5-14. Print

Analyzing EMC Corporation Free Essays

EMC Corporation, based in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. with 11,200 employees worldwide, is the world†s leading supplier of intelligent enterprise storage and retrieval technology. EMC is a Fortune 500 company and was ranked ninth on Business Week†s 1998 â€Å"Info Tech 100†³ list of the world†s best-performing information technology companies. We will write a custom essay sample on Analyzing EMC Corporation or any similar topic only for you Order Now In 1998, EMC had an annual revenue of $3.9 billion. EMC designs systems for open system, mainframe, and midrange environments. EMC is the only company in the world entirely focused on rapidly delivering intelligent enterprise storage and retrieval solutions. This enables companies and organizations to leverage their growing volumes of information into profitability, growth and competitive advantage. EMC Enterprise Storage systems, software products, and services are the leading information access and storage solutions for every major computing platform in today†s business enterprise. EMC was founded in 1979 by Richard Egan and Robert Marino (the E and M in EMC) as a supplier of add-on memory boards. EMC†s rapid rise in the worldwide data storage market began its major surge in 1989, when the company revised its strategy to align itself with businesses† growing reliance on increasingly vast and complex amounts of electronic data. In 1990 with the introduction of EMC†s Symmetrix product line, EMC became the first company to provide intelligent storage systems based on arrays of small, commodity hard disk drives for the mainframe market. Since the in introduction of Symmetrix technology, more than 30,000 of these systems have been sold around the globe and EMC†s annual revenues have grown from $190 million in 1990 to $3.97 billion in 1998. With the introduction of Symmetrix Remote Data Facility in 1994, EMC became the world†s leading storage-based solution for business continuity and disaster recovery. EMC†s portfolio of storage software includes EMC TimeFinder, EMC Data Manager, EMC PowerPath and Symmetrix Manager. With its $445 million in software revenue in 1998, this makes EMC one of the world†s largest and fastest-growing software companies. The major customers of EMC include the world†s largest banks and financial services firms, telecommunications providers, airlines, retailers and manufacturers, as well as governments, universities, and scientific institutions. These customers rely on EMC†s innovative storage solutions for such applications as online reservation systems, transaction processing, customer billing, year 2000 compliance, the Internet and corporate intranets, business continuance/disaster recovery, data mining and data warehousing. EMC has also formed alliances with the world†s leading software, application and database companies, such as Microsoft, SAP, Oracle, Baan, and PeopleSoft. EMC is a global organization, and is represented by more than 100 offices worldwide. The company manufactures its products in Massachusetts and Ireland. EMC has RD facilities in Massachusetts, Colorado, Israel, and France. They also have Customer Support Centers in Massachusetts, Ireland, Japan, and Australia. EMC holds the most strict quality management certification from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 9001) and its manufacturing operations hold MRP II Class A certification. The company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EMC and is a component of the SP 500 Index. Richard J. Egan- Founder and Chairman Egan is a founder of EMC Corporation.. He has served as Director since the companies inception in 1979. In 1988, Egan brought the company public and was elected Chairman of the Board. He held the position of President and CEO until January 1992. Michael C. Ruettgers- President and CEO Ruettgers has held the position of President and CEO of EMC Corporation, since January of 1992. Ruettgers joined the company in 1988 as executive Vice President of Operations and Customer Service, and from 1989 he was EMC†s President and Chief Operating Officer. 1979- EMC Corporation is founded by Richard j. Egan and Roger Marino in Newton, 1981- 64 kilobyte chip memory boards are developed for Prime Computers. 1982- EMC corporate headquarters moves to Natick, Massachusetts. -Annual sales surpass the $3 million mark. 1984- Five years after the company†s founding, annual sales reach $18.8 million, nearly tripling 1985- EMC is first to commercially ship denser memory upgrades using 1-megabit Random 1986- EMC goes public in April; makes initial public offering on the NASDAQ stock exchange. -Total revenues double over 1985 to $66.6 million; net income more than doubles to $18.6 million. 1987- Corporate headquarters relocates to Hopkinton, Massachusetts. 1988- EMC opens its European manufacturing facility in Cork, Ireland. -EMC stock lists for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange in March. 1989- Second major US corporate facility is opened in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. -EMC develops Direct Access Storage Device (DASD) subsystems with automated error thresholding for IBM System/38 and AS/400 computers. -Michael C. Ruettgers, is promoted from Executive Vice President of Operations and Customer Service, to President and Chief Operating Officer. Richard J. Egan continues his 1990- EMC redefines mainframes storage by introducing the Symmetrix 4200 Integrated Cached Disk Array (ICDA), a 24-gigabyte RAID mainframe storage system that replaces traditional 14†³ DASD disks with the mainframe industry†s first 5.25-inch disks. Performance is further enhanced through 4-gigabyte cache and 32-processor controller cards. -EMC institutes a Continuous Quality Improvement process, resulting in greatly enhanced product and process quality, as well as over $20 million saved to date (1995). 1991- Several enhancements to the Symmetrix ICDA product line give EMC the ability to compete in the Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) environment. 1992- Michael C. Ruettgers is named President and CEO and the company†s stock splits 2 for 3. 1993- EMC mainframe storage market share increases from 5% to 15%. 1994- EMC introduces the world†s first â€Å"terabyte box† and the company surpasses the $1 billion 1995- EMC introduces first Symmetrix storage systems for open systems and surpasses IBM as market share leader in mainframe disk storage capacity. 1996- EMC becomes leader in the open storage market. 1997- EMC extends lead in the enterprise storage and retrieval market. 1998- The EMC Effect is felt across the computing enterprise. 1999- EMC Corporation announces two-for-one stock split. There are five forces that shape competition in an industry, barriers to entry, power of suppliers, power of buyers, threat of substitutes, and rivalry industry structure. These five forces that Porter developed have become a strong framework in helping strategic mangers find answers as to how, or why decision can have an impact on their firm, and the industry they operate in. When analyzed the collective strength of these forces show potential profits of an industry. The company being focused on is EMC, which is in the Computer Peripherals industry. Barriers to entry are forces that firms must overcome in order to enter an industry. These barriers can be caused from high initial investment, product differentiation, cost disadvantage, access to distribution channels, or restrictive government policies. An example of this could be the phone, or cable companies. There are very few companies that are able to compete within this industry because of the high capital requirements to start off. An enormous amount of time and money would have to be spent on installing lines throughout the country to supply you customers with the services they want. EMC is in a situation where it has created several barriers to entry. Capital requirements are one of the barriers that EMC has in its favor. In 1979 EMC started its business in data storage which it is now the leading company in its industry. It has offices all over the globe and is the only company in the world to be specifically focused on rapidly delivering intelligent enterprise storage and retrieval solutions. There are very few companies that can compete with EMC because of its name association and large international operation. New entrance into this industry would have to invest large amounts of time and money into research and development. EMC already has the technology and is constantly updating with more advanced services. Another barrier to entry is product differentiation. EMC is specialized in enterprise storage, which is much different than conventional storage. While conventional storage has been used to back up memory in case of a disaster or, to log companies transactions, EMC started a niche which it has made into a new industry. Enterprise storage has six specific parts that set it aside from conventional storage. They are as follows enterprise connectivity, information centricity, cascadability, information management, information sharing, and information protection. It can be clearly seen that this industry is constantly changing, and new products are coming out every day. If you are not the leader in this new technology then you will not survive. EMC has without a doubt developed barriers to entry. The threat of substitutes is how easily a product can be interchanged with another. For example if you are going to buy bottled water you decision will ultimately come down to price. An expensive flashy bottle of water can easily be exchanged for a generic store brand bottle at a fraction of the cost. However with services it is a different story. Lawyers for example could easily be substituted if you were looking at the cost. It would be very simple to find a cheap lawyer, however you might end up losing your case. To get a top of the line service you will have to pay a little extra. EMC is a top of the line service which also offers a very affordable pricing strategy. Its pricing very sensitive with the companies it works with, whether you are a world dominating bank, or a newly started Internet company. EMC has something to offer everyone. What makes EMC even more attractive is its unmatchable customer service. Customers are always kept in close and frequent contact whether it be for unforeseen problems, or to validate new features. Customers have found that EMC offers the best of both worlds, and that no other company so far can be substituted for it. â€Å"We need high capacity, fast performance, a scalable platform, and total data protections. With EMC, we found a complete solution from one provider.† Says the General Manager of information technology, at Komercni Banka. This clearly shows the EMC has eliminated its substitutes by offering something that no one else can match. Rivals in any given industry are a part of competition that businesses have to deal with. For the past several years EMC has not had to deal with many competitor since they offer services and customer support that surpasses any other company that has been looking to get into the the information storage industry. IBM, and Sun Microsystems are two companies that have recently been competing with EMC. These are both large established companies that deal in many different aspects of the technology industry. Both IBM and Sun Microsystems have begun to compete with EMC†s self started indusrty. The reason for this is because they both have large RD departments with large budgets that allow development of product comparable to EMC. However since EMC is so focused in their niche market they have a mixture between service and product quality that hasn†t been matched by anyone. IBM Sun and the other competitor are not focused just on storage technology but they also have many other interest. This makes companies weary of handing over valuable information to a business that could be in direct competition with them. This gives EMC a competitive advantage over any other company since they are well known for tight security. Another advantage EMC has over its competitors is that they are now recognized as the â€Å"standard: in computer information back up and storage area. How to cite Analyzing EMC Corporation, Essay examples

Is the media to blame Essay Example For Students

Is the media to blame? Essay Is Violence To Blame?Today, there is more violence on TV, in video games and in music than ever before. Many times, media violence is linked with kids and teenagers committing violent acts. This is an attempt by parents and critics to eliminate violence in the media. Although, many think media violence is a cause of violence among children, they should be looking at what else causes violence. Many people believe media violence is not good and that it makes kids aggressive. Laboratory studies found that children who see violent programs, are more likely to be more aggressive than those who watch non-violent programs (Doesnt Cause Violence). When people hear that, they believe children should not watch violent television shows. The problem with studies like these, they take place in labs so they cannot be applied to the real world (Doesnt Cause Violence). Also, this is just a short-term response to watching a violent TV show. This does not mean that they will be a violent person. Correlation studies show that watching violence at a young age affects them as teens (Doesnt Cause Violence). The parents believe as teenagers they will be violent for the rest of their lives. Just because watching television programs is linked to aggressive behavior, does not mean the TV show causes violence (Doesnt Cause Violence). If parents are really worried about what their children are watch ing, than they should be more responsible and monitor what their kids are watching. One reason people blame the media for violence is poor parenting. Sometimes the way parents deal with their kids is not good. If a parent is aggressive toward their kids, the kid will also act aggressive (Videodrome). Kids acting out their aggression causes them to commit acts of violence. Also, many parents do not monitor what their children are watching (Doesnt Cause Violence). The parent should take the time to see what their children are watching, listening to or playing. If parents monitored what kids watched they would not blame the media. Mostly, parents should be more responsible and see what their kids are doing. There are many other factors causing violence with teen and children. One thing that could cause violence is growing up in a bad environment. If kids are always seeing violence in their surroundings, that will make violence seem okay to do so (Doesnt Cause Violence). Seeing violence in real life affects kids more than a television show. Another thing that could lead to violence, are kids with low self esteem (Videodrome). When they do something violent, they may just be looking for attention. That kind of aggression does not come from watching TV, it is just part of who they are (Videodrome). People should look at what the real cause of violence is. There are many factors that cause violence, other than what kids watch, listen to or play. Parents and critics of violence think, because there are studies done in labs that they are right. If those people looked at what else is going on, they would not have to blame the media.

Analysis Of Robert Frosts Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening Essays

Analysis Of Robert Frost's Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening Robert Frost's Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is by far one of my favorite works of modern poetry. The pensive, unhurried mood of the poem is reflected with a calm rich imagery that creates a vivid mental picture. The simple words and rhyme scheme of the poem give it an easy flow, which adds to the tranquility of the piece. Every aspect of the poem builds off the others to put the mind into the calm of a winter evening. The first stanza of the poem is rather simple and provides the basis for the imagery. It mentions the woods and implies that they are located away from town and civilization his house is in the village though. It also shows the easy pace that speaker is taking, having plenty of time to simply watch the falling snow. As I think about them, the words of the first stanza are not overtly somber, they do however through their order and the way they were chosen create a rather pensive mood. The second stanza provides a more in depth view of the imagery sketched out in the first; it also provides a more definite time and location. The first two lines of this stanza firmly place the reader rather deep in the woods and away from any dwelling. He is so far out in fact that his horse is puzzled by his actions. The next line gives a better image of the scene Between the woods and frozen lake; it seems to be a rather quiet and lonely place. The next line then provides that it is night and very dark, either emotionally or actually. I think that Frost intended to make that line rather ambiguous The darkest evening of the year, It can either be taken literally as the most lightless night, or it can be taken as the night of the darkest emotions. I think that it is a combination of the two, a dark moonless winter night in which the speaker experiences some form of depression or loneliness. The third stanza of the poem brings the strangeness of the situation to a head. The only other living being in this cold lonely landscape, the speaker's horse takes action to find the reason for the odd stopping. The noise from the inquisitive harness bells provide contrast to the quiet of the scene, where the only other sounds a wind and snow. The descriptions of the sounds provide a little insight to the speaker's mindset and position. He is so still that he can here the soft fall of the downy flake and hear the movement of the easy wind. This also shows a great calm and patience that the speaker must posses. The final stanza of the poem brings all the sentiments of the poem together, an intense love and awe of nature, a never ending patience and some unknown task or problem that robs the speaker of rest. The dark and deep woods seem to reflect the speaker, his dark emotion and depth of character. There stillness also contrasts with the need of the repeated closing lines And miles to go before I sleep/ And miles to go before I sleep. These final lines represent the problem that has plagued the speaker and that is most likely responsible for his dark mood. It is something that is undefined that does not demand a rush to deal with, but is important enough to demand attention. The poem as a whole, is a simple effigy of a quiet thoughtful night. I can easily relate to the poem, the emotions it describes and the way that the images are presented. The careless ease with which the poem is read is vital to the poem as a whole. Also this is my favorite poem, I didn't have to open the book to remember it, only to see its format again. It reminds me of the moods I feel on snowy nights or early mornings. I live in the woods and before I drove; I often walked through them as a shortcut to visit friends, so I have many memories of stopping by a Analysis Of Robert Frosts Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening Essays Analysis Of Robert Frost's Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening Robert Frost's Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is by far one of my favorite works of modern poetry. The pensive, unhurried mood of the poem is reflected with a calm rich imagery that creates a vivid mental picture. The simple words and rhyme scheme of the poem give it an easy flow, which adds to the tranquility of the piece. Every aspect of the poem builds off the others to put the mind into the calm of a winter evening. The first stanza of the poem is rather simple and provides the basis for the imagery. It mentions the woods and implies that they are located away from town and civilization his house is in the village though. It also shows the easy pace that speaker is taking, having plenty of time to simply watch the falling snow. As I think about them, the words of the first stanza are not overtly somber, they do however through their order and the way they were chosen create a rather pensive mood. The second stanza provides a more in depth view of the imagery sketched out in the first; it also provides a more definite time and location. The first two lines of this stanza firmly place the reader rather deep in the woods and away from any dwelling. He is so far out in fact that his horse is puzzled by his actions. The next line gives a better image of the scene Between the woods and frozen lake; it seems to be a rather quiet and lonely place. The next line then provides that it is night and very dark, either emotionally or actually. I think that Frost intended to make that line rather ambiguous The darkest evening of the year, It can either be taken literally as the most lightless night, or it can be taken as the night of the darkest emotions. I think that it is a combination of the two, a dark moonless winter night in which the speaker experiences some form of depression or loneliness. The third stanza of the poem brings the strangeness of the situation to a head. The only other living being in this cold lonely landscape, the speaker's horse takes actio n to find the reason for the odd stopping. The noise from the inquisitive harness bells provide contrast to the quiet of the scene, where the only other sounds a wind and snow. The descriptions of the sounds provide a little insight to the speaker's mindset and position. He is so still that he can here the soft fall of the downy flake and hear the movement of the easy wind. This also shows a great calm and patience that the speaker must posses. The final stanza of the poem brings all the sentiments of the poem together, an intense love and awe of nature, a never ending patience and some unknown task or problem that robs the speaker of rest. The dark and deep woods seem to reflect the speaker, his dark emotion and depth of character. There stillness also contrasts with the need of the repeated closing lines And miles to go before I sleep/ And miles to go before I sleep. These final lines represent the problem that has plagued the speaker and that is most likely responsible for his da rk mood. It is something that is undefined that does not demand a rush to deal with, but is important enough to demand attention. The poem as a whole, is a simple effigy of a quiet thoughtful night. I can easily relate to the poem, the emotions it describes and the way that the images are presented. The careless ease with which the poem is read is vital to the poem as a whole. Also this is my favorite poem, I didn't have to open the book to remember it, only to see its format again. It reminds me of the moods I feel on snowy nights or early mornings. I live in the woods and before I drove; I often walked through them as a shortcut to visit friends, so I have many memories of stopping Analysis Of Robert Frosts Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening Essays Analysis Of Robert Frost's Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening Robert Frost's Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is by far one of my favorite works of modern poetry. The pensive, unhurried mood of the poem is reflected with a calm rich imagery that creates a vivid mental picture. The simple words and rhyme scheme of the poem give it an easy flow, which adds to the tranquility of the piece. Every aspect of the poem builds off the others to put the mind into the calm of a winter evening. The first stanza of the poem is rather simple and provides the basis for the imagery. It mentions the woods and implies that they are located away from town and civilization his house is in the village though. It also shows the easy pace that speaker is taking, having plenty of time to simply watch the falling snow. As I think about them, the words of the first stanza are not overtly somber, they do however through their order and the way they were chosen create a rather pensive mood. The second stanza provides a more in depth view of the imagery sketched out in the first; it also provides a more definite time and location. The first two lines of this stanza firmly place the reader rather deep in the woods and away from any dwelling. He is so far out in fact that his horse is puzzled by his actions. The next line gives a better image of the scene Between the woods and frozen lake; it seems to be a rather quiet and lonely place. The next line then provides that it is night and very dark, either emotionally or actually. I think that Frost intended to make that line rather ambiguous The darkest evening of the year, It can either be taken literally as the most lightless night, or it can be taken as the night of the darkest emotions. I think that it is a combination of the two, a dark moonless winter night in which the speaker experiences some form of depression or loneliness. The third stanza of the poem brings the strangeness of the situation to a head. The only other living being in this cold lonely landscape, the speaker's horse takes actio n to find the reason for the odd stopping. The noise from the inquisitive harness bells provide contrast to the quiet of the scene, where the only other sounds a wind and snow. The descriptions of the sounds provide a little insight to the speaker's mindset and position. He is so still that he can here the soft fall of the downy flake and hear the movement of the easy wind. This also shows a great calm and patience that the speaker must posses. The final stanza of the poem brings all the sentiments of the poem together, an intense love and awe of nature, a never ending patience and some unknown task or problem that robs the speaker of rest. The dark and deep woods seem to reflect the speaker, his dark emotion and depth of character. There stillness also contrasts with the need of the repeated closing lines And miles to go before I sleep/ And miles to go before I sleep. These final lines represent the problem that has plagued the speaker and that is most likely responsible for his da rk mood. It is something that is undefined that does not demand a rush to deal with, but is important enough to demand attention. The poem as a whole, is a simple effigy of a quiet thoughtful night. I can easily relate to the poem, the emotions it describes and the way that the images are presented. The careless ease with which the poem is read is vital to the poem as a whole. Also this is my favorite poem, I didn't have to open the book to remember it, only to see its format again. It reminds me of the moods I feel on snowy nights or early mornings. I live in the woods and before I drove; I often walked through them as a shortcut to visit friends, so I have many memories of stopping

Ecstasy research paper essays

Ecstasy research paper essays Your skin is tingling, raised flesh rejoicing in the warm, kind caresses of everyone around you. As music booms and lights flash you feel an overwhelming sense of well being. You feel intimately connected to everyone around you, and your inhibitions float away on clouds of physical bliss. Thats what many people say they feel like when they are on the drug, ecstasy. An impromptu study conducted in ISU classrooms and on the quad showed that out of 153 students questioned voluntarily, 20 reported trying ecstasy, 17 of whom tried it in the last year. Many people have heard of the drug, but very few know what it really is. Ecstasys real name is MDMA, which stands for methylenedioxy-n-methylamphetamine (Keane, 1996). It is a "designer drug," which means a man made drug designed to replicate the effects of natural drugs. It is primarily a seritonergic drug or also referred to as a "brain drug." It was prescribed up to 1984 until the Drug Enforcement Administration listed ecstasy as a Schedule One controlled substance, which includes drugs like heroin, LSD, and cocaine. It was taken off the market because experiments showed that ecstasy destroys brain cells. Some ecstasy pills are actually sold containing cocaine and heroin. Some physical effects of ecstasy include dryness of mouth, jaw clenching, teeth grinding, nystagmus (eye wiggles), sweating, or nausea (Maker, 1999). If one overdoses on ecstasy the heart-pounds at a dangerous rate. It also causes sweating, restlessness, dizziness, and the immune system is burning all its capabilities to fight off the drug, and the body would be on the verge of a panic attack. One psychological effect of ecstasy is entactogenisis (touching within). It is a feeling that makes one happy or at peace. It also makes everyday things abnormally beautiful or interesting. The second psychological effect is empathogenisis. This is why ecstasy is sometimes referred t ...

Does a Persons Own Natural Microbial Gut Flora Contribute to Obesity Research Paper

Does a Persons Own Natural Microbial Gut Flora Contribute to Obesity - Research Paper Example Numerous species of bacteria are known to have evolved, grown and lived in the human intestine. Scientist such as Delzenne and Cani argue that the human gut is a habitat for between 300 and 500 different species of bacteria (277). Other scientists ascertain that the human intestine is a microbial ecosystem that contains more than 100 trillion microorganisms (Ley, Turnbaugh, Klein and Gordon 1023). The bacteria in the human gut have been linked to obesity by many research findings. This essay will investigate and report whether a person’s own natural microbial gut flora contribute to obesity. Traditionally, the key players linked to obesity have always been diet, exercise, lifestyle and one’s genes. The less one moves, the less the calories they burn and the more they are likely to eat, hence retaining a lot of calories and increasing the chances of being obese. This equation has sometimes been influenced by one’s genes. However, Simon and Gorbach (174) argue that the above mentioned factors do not adequately explain every obesity case that is reported. Researchers are continually discovering another factor that contributes to the rapid increase in one’s body weight; the bacteria in one’s gut. Until recently, the bacteria in the human gut have been ignored as potential causes of obesity. ... Most of these microbes are scientifically proven to perform a wide range of vital bodily functions such as helping in the regulation of calories that the human body receives from food. These calories would have otherwise been stored by the body as fat; hence these microbes can simply be said to aid in the regulation of weight (Simon and Gorbach 174). According to a new study published in the International Diary Journal of Health, the particular type and balance of microbes harbored by the human body in the guts can either contribute to the body becoming lean or obese. These microbes have the capacity to manipulate themselves so as to potentially change the weight of the body (Delzenne and Cani 279). Many scientific studies conducted on mice and human volunteers have advanced the understanding of microbiomes and the effects that they have on health, obesity and metabolism. A lot of metagenomic studies have demonstrated that certain types of gut microbiota have the ability to either pr edispose or protect the host’s body from obesity (Turnbaugh, Ley, Mahowald, Magrini, Mardis and Gordon 1027). Through these studies, microbiota transplantations were done in germ-free murine models, revealing that the traits of obese-type gut flora which can efficiently extract energy are transmissible. These scientific studies have also shown that there are certain well known methods through which these microbiomes may a lead to obesity (Delzenne and Cani 280). These methods are through triggering systemic inflammation, promoting the deposition of fat and increasing the harvest of dietary energy. Tsai and Walter (307) suggest that future obesity treatments may require the use of prebiotics and

IT Project Risk Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

IT Project Risk Management - Research Paper Example Additionally, efficient and successful project management requires effective management of all avenues that bring uncertainty into the project. The paper is structured into phases that outline how project risk management typology can be achieved effectively. The phases include the define phase, focus phase, identify issue-phase, Structure the Issues phase, Clarify ownership phase, Estimate Variability phase, Evaluate Overall Implications phase, and manage implementation phase. Currently, knowledge has been earmarked as an indispensable ingredient to innovative companies and to their overall objective of maintaining a competitive advantage over their rivals. In particular, knowledge has become an important factor in the development of dynamic key competencies, as well as the vocal point for companies to meet their global ambitions (Talet, Zin & Houari, 2014). IT, in particular, has become an important tool in all-important sectors, and any organization will highly feel the impact of any failure of IT project management on competitive advantage. California Technology Agency (2011) asserts that most of the business managers are not privy of the magnitude IT-related risks in projects management a firm will be exposed. Most of these managers are only able to learn the value of IT-related risks after they have computed the amount of damage the risk has brought about. According to Leong California Technology Agency, (2011) past research studies have primarily be en concerned with how effective IT-related risks may be analyzed and compensated for. Therefore, it would be imperative for IT managers constantly to embrace the holistic view of IT project risk management rather than just focusing only on financial issues. There exist little empirical research studies showing the correct way of handling the management of the IT-related projects risks during the launching of the project. Though a myriad of studies have been done in regards to I.T project risk

Strategies for Pricing, Promotion and Marketing Analysis

Strategies for Pricing, Promotion and Marketing Analysis Product Cost Literature Review We all are exposed to marketing in one or the other form everyday. Every time we buy or use a product, go window shopping, watch an advertisement, find a new product or someone telling about it. Marketing outputs are very familiar and are not as narrow as people generally know. Marketing is not just advertising, selling or making people buy things they want or they don’t. Marketing infact covers a wide range of absolutely essential business activities that bring us the products we want them, when we want them, where we want them, with all information. (Kotler P and Keller K, 2006) â€Å"Marketing is the management process that is responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably†. (CIM, 2001) â€Å"Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchange and satisfy individual and organisational objectives†. (AMA, 1985) A definition that includes the important elements of both the AMA and CIM definitions, but still embraces the evolving relationship orientation is offered by Gronroos (1997). â€Å"Marketing is to establish, maintain and enhance relationship with customers and other partners at a profit, so that the objectives of the partners, at a profit, so that the objectives of the parties involved are met. This is achieved by mutual exchange and fulfilment of promises†. (Gronroos C, 1997) Marketing management is the act and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping and growing customers through creating, delivering and communicating superior customer value. (Kottler.P , Keller.K 2006) Marketing is a management process. Marketing involves management skills, requires planning, analysis, resource allocation, control and investment in terms of money, skilled people and physical resources. It also requires implementation monitoring and evaluation. Marketing fulfills customer requirement profitably Marketer has to work within the resource capabilities of the organisation and specifically work within the agreed budgets and performance targets set for the marketing function. Marketing identifies and anticipates customer requirements. Marketer creates some sort of offering only after researching the market and pinpointing exactly what the customer want. Marketing is about giving customers what they want It implies a focus towards the customer or end consumer of the product or service. (Kotler P and Keller K, 2006) Marketing offers and exchanges ideas, goods and services. The idea of marketing is an exchange process, organisation offers a product or service and the customer offers a sum of money in return. (Brassington F and Pettit S, 2006) Marketing deals with identifying and meeting human and social needs, one of the shortest definitions is â€Å"meeting needs profitably†. (Kotler P and Keller K, 2006) Marketing management tasks Capturing marketing insights Developing marketing strategies Connecting with customers Shaping the market offerings Delivering value Communicating value Creating long term growth (Kotler P and Keller K, 2006) The marketing mix is one of the dominant ideas in modern marketing. Marketing mix consists of everything the firm can do to influence the demand for its product. The many possibilities gather into 4 P’s. They are Product, Price, Place and Promotion. â€Å"The set of controllable tactical marketing tools– product, price, place and promotion- that blends to produce the response it wants in the target market. Marketing Mix Variety Advertising List price Channels Quality Promotions Discounts Coverage Design Personal selling Allowances Assortments Features Publicity Payment period Locations Brand name Direct selling Credit terms Inventory Packaging Transport Services Warranties Target Market (Kotler et al, 2001, p98) THE 4 Ps of Marketing The four strategies of the marketing mix (product, price, promotion and place) are interconnected. The marketing mix is one of the dominant ideas in modern marketing. Action in one affects decisions in another. It is the set of controllable tactical marketing tools that blends to give or meet the market needs. Target population must be first selected and then the strategies are applied towards. Marketing mix consists of everything that can influence the demand of the product. PRODUCT- Product can be a tangible object or a service offered by a company to the target market. A product can be any physical object, services, person, places, organisation and ideas that are offered to a market for acquisition, attention, consumption or use that satisfies the customer needs or wants. There are different product levels depending on the customer value hierarchy, they are; core benefit, basic product, expected product, augmented product, potential product. PRICE – Price is the amount of money charged for a product or service rendered, it is also the sum of value that consumers exchange for the benefits of having, using satisfying their needs or wants of the product or service. PROMOTION – Promotion are the activities that communicate the merits of the product or service that persuade the target customer to buy them. Special promotion offers like cash discount, rebates, offers etc. PLACE – Place is all the activities that a companies carries to make the product reach and available to the market. Place is also the distribution channel and distribution of the product or service in the most advantageous and best way possible to the target customer. (Kotler et al, 2001, p98), (Kotler P and Keller K, 2006), (Lancaster G and Massingham L, 1993, p100) Promotion The communication of merits of the product and persuading the customer to purchase is promotion. The benefits of the product have to be communicated to the customers for earning profits and gaining sales. The process of communicating with various form or promotion mix is known as promotion. (Kotler et al, 2001, p98) Promotion mix Promotion mix is the blend of promotional tools, which are, advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, sales force, direct marketing and public relations. These promotional tools are used to communicate or spread awareness to the customers. These tools have different characteristics and costs. Total marketing communications programme carried by a company or a business is called the promotional mix. (Kotler et al, 2001), (Michael J. Barker, 2003) Advertising Any paid form of non-personal communication of ideas or products through the medium or channel like television, newspapers, magazines, hoardings, posters, radio, cinema etc by an identified sponsor. Advertising include not only business firms, but also museums, charitable organisations, and Government agencies that direct messages to target publics. Advertisements are cost-effective way to disseminate messages, whether to build brand preference or to educate people. (Kotler. P, p590, 2005) The intention of advertisement is to inform and to persuade. The two basic aspects of advertising are the message that has to be communicated and how to be communicated. (Keith Crosier, 1998a) Personal Selling Personal selling is one of the effective tools of promotion mix involving an interactive relationship between the seller and the buyer. It is more effective in building up buyer preference, conviction and action. (Philip Kotler, 2005, p580 ; Kotler P and Keller K, 2006, p556) Sales Promotion Sales promotion is used for short run effects to promote product offers and to push sagging sales. Through sales promotion, companies get better, stronger and quicker response from the customers. Ex- contests, coupons, premiums, offers-buy one get one etc.(Philip Kotler, 2005, p580) Public relation or Publicity It is to build good relationship between the public and the company by favourable publicity, thereby building image. Lower in cost compared to advertising. It is most of the times the communication of a product, brand or business by placing information about it in the media without paying for the time or media directly. (Kotler et al, 2001, p690) Direct marketing Direct marketing is an interactive system of marketing that uses one or more advertising media to effect a measurable response or transaction at any location. Direct connections with carefully targeted individual consumers to both obtain an immediate response and cultivate lasting customer relationships by using telephone, mail, e-mail, internet, fax etc. to communicate directly with specific consumer alternative. (Bennett P D, 1995), (Betts et al., CIM, 1998) (Terance A. Shimp, 1997, p386) Promotion mix Advertising Builds awareness, public presentation (impersonal) Repetition of brand awareness and product helps in positioning and build customer trust Personal Selling Immediate and interactive lots of communication between the buyer and seller, sales call are costly. Communicating complex and deeper product information and features. Relationships can be built up important if closing the sale make take a long time. Sales Promotion Can stimulate sales by targeting promotional incentives on particular products Effective short term promotional tool. Public Relations News, stories and features are more authentic and credible. Cheap way of reaching many customers if the publicity is achieved through the right media but lose control. Direct Marketing Direct interaction with targeted individual consumers. Communication can be personalised and activities less visible to competitors. (David Jobber, 2001),( William G. Zikmund and Michael d’Amico, 1998), Kotler P and Keller K, 2006, p555-6) Advertising â€Å"Advertising is any paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor†.(AMA, 1963) â€Å"Advertising is the non-personal communication of marketing related information to a target audience, usually paid for by the advertiser, and delivered through the mass media in order to reach the specific objectives of the sponsor†(Burnett, 1993) Advertising: Its role and structure Developments in magazines, radio and television have had a tremendous impact of advertising. Apart from marketing, advertising may also serve several other functions in the economy and in the society. (Bovee C. L and Arens W. L, 1992) A hierarchy of effects model proposes that ads can move consumers closer to buying step by step, from being unaware, to knowledge, to liking, to preference, to desire, to purchase. The basic functions of advertising are- Precipitation- Create awareness and stimulate needs and wants. Persuasion- Encourage action and commitment Reinforcement- Support customer’s past decisions Reminder- Create habit Advertisings have the ability to add value to the brand as they are capable of endowing a brand with a symbolic meaning that makes more value in the consumer’s eye. (Kotler P and Keller K, 2006, p556) Advertising performs the communication function of a company, which the company has faith on. The main function of advertising are informing, persuading, reminding, adding value and assisting other company efforts. Informing: Advertising makes consumer aware of brands, new brand, educates about the features and benefits, builds brand image or forming o it by reaching the mass audience at a low cost per head. It also increases demand for existing product, teaches new uses of product and awareness. Persuading: Advertisements persuades or try to push the consumers and customers to try the advertised products and services. At chances there is also demand created for the secondary product of the brand. Reminding: Advertisements make the brand memorable by recalling them, they also remind customers of their purchases, influences the consumer’s interest in mature brand bears influence on brand switchers by letting them know about the other. Assisting other company efforts: Advertisement assists other company efforts by carrying the information or spreading the awareness of sales promotion to consumers(coupons, offers). It also helps the consumers in recognising the product or brand by showing the packaging and design on television, hoardings and magazines. (Shimp T. A., 2000) Advantages of advertisements Advertising provides an introduction to the company and its products Advertising explains the products new features Advertisements are more economical Advertisements offering brochures generate leads to sales people Advertisements tell people how to use the products and make them aware of their right purchase. (Kotler P and Keller K, 2006, p556) Advertisings have the capability to compliment the other promotional mix elements, like- Delivering sales promotions directly and supporting them indirectly, carrying public relations messages and announcing public relations activities, it also presells the salesperson’s product. Thereby advertising increases sales and profitability. (Burnett, 1993) The economic impact of advertising can be linked to the opening shot in billiards, a chain reaction that affects the company that advertises as well as its competitors, customers and the business community. On the otherside or broaderscale, advertising is often considered the trigger on mass distribution system that enables the manufacturers to produce the products in high volume, at low prices, standardised quality. Advertising adds value to products, makes products more or less expensive, affects total consumer demand, encourages or discourages competition, narrows or widens consumer choice and affects national business cycles. Advertising influences in an economy that produces more goods and services that can be consumed. (Bovee C. L and Arens W. L, 1992). Advertising is expensive and its effects are uncertain, moreover sometimes it takes time to impact on consumer behaviour. Functions and effects of advertisements as a marketing tool To stimulate the distribution of a product To lower the overall cost of sales To build brand preference and loyalty To identify products and differentiate them from others To communicate information about product, its features and its location of sale To induce consumers to try new products and to suggest reuse. (Bovee C. L and Arens W. L, 1992) The magnitude of advertising Advertising is a big business. USA’s expenditure on advertisements alone total to 200 million dollars as of 1998. Some American companies invest more than 1 billion dollar a year on domestic product. (Coen R. J, 1997) Advertising is investment in brand equity bank Brand’s equity is enhanced by marketing communications that create brand awareness thereby leading to strong, favourable and unique relation in the consumer’s memory between brand, feature and its benefits. (Aaker D. A., 1993). A brand is differentiated from competitive offering from price competition. (Boulding W, 1994) Advertising affects on building brands Advertising helps to build brands by communicating value and adding personality. It is only advertising that can do this task well. Advertising is essential to build consumer perception of brand values in market. (Randall, 1994, p 16) Advertising cannot be evaluated separately and it is an extricable part of total brand. The sales of brand are associated with the advertising expenditure as they are directly proportional. Advertising takes the sales up and down with the increase and decrease with proportion to the communication spread to the consumers of the market. Mraket have instinctive and correct feeling that the brand is the most valued property that evaporates unless supported properly by investment in advertising. (Arnold, D 1993) Brand A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or design or combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors. -American Marketing Association Ultimately, a brand is something that resides in the mind of customer. â€Å"A brand is every sign that is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of a company.† In this definition, the stress is on ‘sign’ and ‘distinguishing’. A sign may be a word, picture or form mark. The brand name is that part of the brand that can be pronounced. A brand name can serve as a characteristic in the recognition of the branded article.(Riezebos.R et al, p-33,63,85, 2003) Brands are fundamentally important to the survival and success of many firms for which companies have to manage them correctly. Strong brands are powerful and profitable yet there are many challenges and threats continuing strength and their existence. Branding is a fundamental strategic process that involves all parts of the firm in its delivery. Brand must always deliver value which must be defined in consumer terms. Brand has a continuing relationship with its buyers and users, this may change overtime but the company should always work on it to maintain it. Branding must be continuously adapted so that it is both efficient and effective due to the threat of growing competition. (Randall G, 2000, p1-5) The connection of Zippo lighters, Swatch watches or Mont blanc pens. With all the views it feels that a brand is something different from a product. When Virgin first started, it sold music as a product. Later the Virgin brand was built up and now is in various fields like airlines, cola, railways and financial services. It is now definitely a brand. A brand has an existence that is more than an actual product or service, it has a life of its own that feeds on the original product but also carries its original values and identify into new product areas. â€Å"A product is something that is made in factory and brand is something that is bought by a consumer† (Randall G, 2000, p1-5) It is every human being’s nature to invent and build brand values in each individual head. We do it with people, we do it with animals and we do it with inanimate objects. The skill of brand management is to see that each consumer is offered the right raw materials from which he or she will build the brand as the brand owner would prefer.(Randall G, 2000, p1-5) A brand is not an objective fact, it is made up of a million or more individual and subjective assessments. (Bullmore, 1999) Hankinson and Cowking (1993) have described brand definition under six headings; Visual Perceptual Positioning Added value Image Personality (Hankinson, G and Cowking, P,1993) Brand Image and Brand Identity Brand image- Brand image is what exists in the minds of consumers and the entire information of the brand they have received by word of mouth, advertising, packaging, experience, service etc. modified by perception, previous beliefs, social norms and forgetting. Brand image is what exists. Brand identity- Brand identity is what is under control and what is transmitted to the market. A strong brand is one that has a consistent, coherent identity. (Randall G, 2000, p1-5). Brand identity consists of twelve dimensions organised around four perspectives- the brand as product(scope, attributes, quality or value, uses, users, country of origin), brand as organisation (organisational attributes, local versus global), brand as person (brand personality, customer relationships), and brand as symbol (visual imagery and heritage). (Randall G, 2000, p68) As per Randall, (1993) brands perform five man functions for consumers. Identity- Brand must identify itself clearly and unambiguously, so name, legal protection and design elements are important. Shorthand summary- The identity should act as a summary of all the information the consumer holds about the brand. Security- Brand should guarantee to provide the benefits expected. Differentiation- The brand must clearly differentiate itself from its competitors and shows its uniqueness. Added value- Brand must offer more than the generic product. (Randall, G, 1993) One more view of brand is to excel in their offering product like price such as Asda, functional benefit such as Toyota or psychological benefit such as Timotei. (Davidson, H, 1997) When General Motors (GM) and Toyota both marketed a car produced by them in joint venture and cars were functionally identical but were branded as Toyota and Geo Prizm. In the course of 1990-94, Toyota were able to sell 200,000 Corollas at US $ 11,000 each and GM were able to sell only 80,000 and that to with a lower price of US $ 10,700. This shows the greater power of the Toyota brand over the other. This shows the perception of quality in consumer’s mind with respect to brand. (Almquist et al, 1998) Brands in Takeovers Nestle made a takeover bid for Rowntree at a premium due to the brand equity or value by Rowntree. The premium was not paid for the present performance of the brand but for their future potential. Nestle made kitkat the truly European brand. Brand Equity Brand equity is a set of liabilities and assets which are attached to a brand, its value, name, symbol of a company to that of the customers. They are grouped under five categories. Brand loyalty Name awareness Perceived quality Brand association in addition to perceived quality Other proprietary brand assets-patents, trademarks, channel relationships etc. (Aaker D A, 1991, p8) Celebrity Endorsements (Brand Ambassadors) Celebrities are individuals who enjoy public acknowledgment by a large share of a certain group of people. Their attributes like attractiveness, skills, extraordinary lifestyle are observed, They also differ from the social norm and take pleasure in a high degree of public awareness. Few classic examples of celebrities like, Meg Ryan, Pierce Brosnan, models like Naomi Campbell, Gisele Buendchen, sports persons like Anna Kournikova, Michael Schumacher entertainers like Oprah Winfrey, Conan O’Brien, and pop stars e.g. Madonna, David Bowie, Britney Spears and Rihanna and also business class or groups like Donald Trump, Bill Gates or politicians like Bill Clinton, Tony Blair. Appearances of celebrities are in different ways. Initially, when they appear in their actual profession (Tennis players in Wimbledon) like Anna Kournikova Pete Sampras. Later, their appearance in public by attending special celebrity events like world premieres of movies and academy awards, in news, magazine s provide information on events and the personal life of celebrities through mass-media. Celebrities act as spokespeople in advertising to promote products, services and ideas. (Kambitsis et al. 2002, Tom et al. 1992). Celebrities like Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, Liz Hurley and Tiger Woods are paid billions of dollars for every contract with the company or brand as they play a major role in advertising industry. (Daneshvary, Rennae and Schwer, 2000, Kambitsis et al. 2002). For example, Famous Tennis player Venus Williams has been endorsed by the sportswear manufacturer Reebok International Inc. for $40 million and five year contract. Advertising with the use of celebrities create enormous publicity and attention of people. (Ohanian 1991) Celebrities as Spokespersons Spokespersons are generally used by companies to deliver their advertising message and convince consumers of their products or brands. Spokesperson who are popular and are widely known are endorsed by companies, thereby celebrity endorser (Tom et al. 1992). â€Å"A celebrity endorser is an individual who is known by the people for their achievements in their fields other than the product class endorsed.† (Friedman and Friedman, 1979, p63). Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones endorses the perfume manufactured by Elizabeth Arden (cosmetic manufacturer). Celebrities are endorsed due to their high influential potential capability and their higher recall and degree of attention in advertising. Advertising with celebrities create positive feelings towards brands, more entertaining and increases company’s awareness, Advertising with celebrities are likely affect consumers brand attitudes and purchase behaviour. (Solomon 2002) Source Credibility and Attractiveness The main intention of advertising is to persuade customers, attempt to modify or change consumer’s attitude towards brands (Solomon 2002). Celebrity endorsement strategy by advertisers enables to project an image in terms of persuasiveness, objectiveness, expertise, and trustworthiness. (Till and Shimp 1998). Source attractiveness- It is the endorser’s individuality, physical appearance, likeability, and similarity to the consumer perception, thereby to the perceived social value (Solomon 2002). Using celebrities or attractive people in television and print advertising is common practice followed and have proved to be more successful in influencing customer’s attitudes and beliefs. (Ohanian 1991) The Match-up Hypothesis Many research studies have showed the relativity between brand and celebrity endorsers and explained the effectiveness of using them to promote brands. Many of the celebrity endorsements proved to be successful. (Walker et al. 1992). Celebrity Endorser Company/Product Success (Yes/No) Liz Hurley Estee Lauder Yes Cindy Crawford Revlon PepsiCo Yes Yes Bruce Willis Seagrams No Michael Jordan Nike WorldCom Yes No Whitney Houston ATT No Jerry Seinfeld American Express Yes Milla Jovovich L’Oreal Yes (Successful and unsuccessful celebrity endorsements Source, Walker et al. 1992, Till 1998) It is not enough for a person to be just famous to endorse (Solomon 2002). Super stars like Bruce Willis and Whitney Houston who were attractive failed in their endorsements. Celebrity spokespersons should be knowledgeable, experienced, and qualified to talk about the product to be effective on consumer. (Tom et al. 1992, Daneshvary and Schwer 2000) References Philip Kotler, (2005), Marketing Management, 11th edition, Pearson Education, India AMA, (1985), ‘AMA Board approves new marketing definition’ Marketing news, 1st March, p1. Brassington F and Pettit S, (2006), ‘Principles of marketing’ 4th edition, Pearson education, England. Gronroos, C, (1997), ‘From marketing mix to relationship marketing- Towards a paradigm shift in marketing management decision 35(4), pp322-39. Kotler P and Keller L K, (2006), Marketing management, 12th edition, Prentice Hall, USA. Kotler P, Armstrong G, Saunders J and Wong V, (2001), Principles of marketing, 3rd European edition, Prentice Hall, UK Peter D. Bennett, (1995), Dictionary of marketing terms, American Marketing Association, Chicago. Keith Crosier, (1998a), Advertising, in kitchen, P.J.(ed.) Marketing Communication: Principles and practice, International Thompson Business Press, London. Michael J. Barker, (2003), The marketing book, 5th edition, Heinemann publication, Great Britain. Betts et al., CIM, (1998), Promotional Practice, 5th edition, BPP publishing, London. William G. Zikmund and Michael d’Amico, (1998), Effective marketing-Creating and keeping customers, International Thompson Publishing, USA. Terance A. Shimp, (1997), Aspects of integrated marketing communication, The Dryden press, USA. Lancaster G and Massingham L, (1993), Marketing management, McGraw Hill Company, Great Britain David Jobber, (2001), Principles and practice of marketing, McGraw Hill publishing company, UK. CIM, (2001), Marketing management, BPP publishing, London.

Informing Panasonic

From the Information supplied In the case, Identify three Information needs of Panasonic as an organization and explain why this information would be important to managerial decision – making at the company. Three information needs of Panasonic Has the ability to create, store, share and analyze data about products, customers and suppliers in ways that were not even feasible Just a few decades ago. Ђ It had developed numerous duplicative, inconsistent and incomplete records stored in ultimate isolated databases across the enterprise It also prevented the company from making timely decisions, which diminished Panasonic flexibility and agility. Importance of information to managerial decision making Helps in making effective problem – solving decisions 2. Explain how the new information system benefits both Panasonic and its various stakeholders. Panasonic was able to save millions of dollars per year Improves Panasonic time – to- time marketReduces the time re quired to bring a product to market from 6 months to 1 month Reduces the amount of time required for creating and maintaining product information by 50 per cent It allowed Panasonic to move away from It's â€Å"push† Inventory model, towards a † pull† model. Improved Its response to retailers' orders so that its retailers have been able to cut inventory to seven days. 3. Compare and contrast the â€Å"push† and â€Å"pull† models of Information supply outlined n the case.What are the potential advantages and disadvantages of each method? O Push inventory model Information is centralized and delivered automatically to everyone who needs it, simultaneously C] The company would push products to retailers such as Best Buy and Cult City Pull inventory model Marketing and sales had to request both structured and unstructured information from numerous sources 0 vendors order products on as-needed basis o Advantages – Push – pull Disadvantages

Obedience To Authority Essay

The Vietnam controversy made many people feel at distress. It was never considered a â€Å"war,† although that is exactly what it was. The My Lai Massacre in Vietnam was one of the many atrocities of that war. There is an unquestionable connection between Milgram’s â€Å"Obedience to Authority† and the My Lai Massacre. According to Kelman & Hamilton, â€Å"Unquestioning obedience has been the cause of such disasters as the My Lai massacre and the Holocaust. People need to resist the dangerous web of influence from strong personalities in fields such as politics, religion and the mass media who become the objects of their idolatry. To become less susceptible to the irrational persuasive power of such personalities, individuals should develop a sense of self-respect and practice critical thinking† (Kelman & Hamilton). In cases such as the My Lai Massacre, the soldiers were not just following the thoughts of a politician or religious figure. They followed their military leader, the same person they counted on for leadership and survival. â€Å"Soldiers are trained to always follow orders, never question orders (When I say jump, u you say how high). But that belief is somewhat erroneous, the charge to the soldier is to obey any lawful order given (Schwalbe). â€Å"Absolute obedience, although not wholeheartedly embraced in official military pronouncements, is nevertheless unanimously praised in combat context (Peppers). Some military scholars call the modern version of military discipline â€Å"enlightened obedience.† Enlightened obedience springs from a belief on the part of the subordinate that his superior’s orders are authoritative and valid (Peppers).† A classic example of the power of authoritative factors is provided by Stanley Milgram’s study on obedience to authority. College students from Yale University were asked to participate in an experiment to test the effects of punishment on learning. They were willing to continue administering what they thought were increasingly higher levels of shocks to  another subject (actually an actor) simply because the experimenter (Milgram) said to do so. The results, in fact, were so unbelieveable that they made Milgram one of the most famous social psychologist. About 65 percent of the subjects continued to obey the experimenter to the end of the experiment even when they thought the victim was getting dangerous levels of electric shock, and even when he asked them to stop So what exactly does the My Lai Massacre have to do with Milgram’s experiment? The My Lai Massacre of 1968, in which a company of American soldiers poured automatic rifle fire into groups of unarmed villagers, killing perhaps 500 people, many of them women and children† (Hammer). Those soldiers were obeying orders from a superior officer. â€Å"It passed without notice when it occurred in mid-March 1968. Yet the brief blood bath at My Lai, a hamlet in Viet Cong-infested territory 335 miles northeast of Saigon, may yet have an impact on the war. According to accounts that suddenly appeared on TV and in the world press last week, a company of 60 or 70 U.S. Infantrymen had  entered My Lai early one morning and destroyed houses, livestock and all the inhabitants that they could find in a brutal operation that took less than 20 minutes. When it was over, the Vietnamese dead totaled at least 100 men, women and children, and perhaps many more, only 25 or so escaped, because they lay hidden under the fallen bodies of others. (Schawlbe) Military men said that stories of what happened at My Lai are correct. If so, the incident ranks as the most serious atrocity yet attributed to American troops† (Hammer). Isard said, â€Å"I see men who obeyed the leaders of their country, then lost themselves†. The My Lai Massacre was planned. â€Å"Planned, how could it have been planned? A recon patrol, perhaps, was planned, maybe even a search and destroy mission: Burn the villages; interrogate the villagers, and all that. But a massacre? Strategies are planned. Brutalities just happen† (Isard). â€Å"Obedience to Authority† Stanley Milgram described the â€Å"agentic shift in  which an individual attributes responsibility for his or her actions to a person in the position of authority.† In the My Lai Massacre the men felt it was their duty to open fire on the village. They were given orders to do just that. There was no questioning of orders from Cally, their superiour. The soldiers must have done as they were told, or incur sever consequences. Soldiers are taught from their first moments in Boot Camp that orders must be obeyed. The way in which the My Lai Massacre was particularly a case of over obedience to the military, is that the men that committed the massacre were ordered to do so. They did not decide on their own to destroy a bunch of people. They were following orders from military authoritative figures to destroy My Lai. What does this mean? Its clearly a case of over obedience to military authority. The men had two choices. They could obey a command and kill hundreds of innocent people, or they could disobey a command and face a possible consequences from the courts. In actuality they didn’t have a choice. many of the soldiers in Vietnam were there because of the draft, they however in their eyes, served their country to their best of their knowledge. They went bravely into battle and they did what had to be done. In the case of the My Lai Massacre, they were following orders just as they had done in many other times in the war. Only this time, the orders were to kill hundreds of villagers, not the Viet Cong, not the enemy. There were women and children in that village. They were gunned down mercilessly. For what reason? They were ordered to do so. The soldiers had an obligation, a duty to obey their superiors. That is what makes the military so successful. Soldiers not ask questions; they merely obey orders. In this  instance the orders went too far. Hundreds of innocent people were killed in the name of following orders. Is this any less an atrocious because the men were ordered to fire on the village of My Lai? No. Were the men doing this for personal gain? No. Were they doing it out of hatred or in defense? No.  Many of the people in the village were women and children. The soldiers had nothing against those people In this instance the village of My Lai was a case of death by over obedience of the American army. Was what they did right or wrong? In the eyes of most people, including the participants, the action was wrong, but they could not be faulted because they were simply following orders. Works Cited Hammer, Richard One Morning in the War: The tragedy at Son My. Coward-McCann NY 1970 Isard, Walter., ed. Vietnam: Issues and Alternatives. Schenkman . Cambridge MA: 1969 Kelman, Herbert C.; Hamilton, Lee V. Crimes of Obedience. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1989 Milgram, Stanley. â€Å"The Perils of Obedience.† Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. 7th ed. By Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. New York: Longman, 2000. 343-355 Miller, Heather. â€Å"Stanley Milgram† http://muskingum.edu/~psychology/psycweb/history/milgram.htm Peppers, Donald A. â€Å"War Crimes and Induction: A Case for Selective Nonconscientious Objection.† Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 3, No. 2. (Winter, 1974), pp.129-166. JSTOR Middlesex County College Library, Edison. 29 Nov. 2000 http://www.jstor.org Schwalbe, David. â€Å"The My Lai Massacre.† American History. 1998 http://americanhistory.about.com/homework/americanhistory/library/weekly/aa031798.htm

A Case Study Of GBS Mutual Bank Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 12 Words: 3545 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? Definition of bank interest risk Banks can be described as intermediaries between lenders and borrowers. In general, banks accept client funds with varying maturities and lend at different terms as well. Interest rate risk stems from assets and liabilities maturing at different times. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "A Case Study Of GBS Mutual Bank Finance Essay" essay for you Create order There are basically three components under interest risk, which are the margin between the rates earned on assets and paid on liabilities, the repricing potential of assets and liabilities at different points in time, resulting in mismatches in various time frames between assets, liabilities and derivatives, and the period during which these mismatches persist. Banks can theoretically avoid interest rate risk by perfectly matching assets and liabilities by setting the rates on both sides fixed or floating, and thus enjoy a fixed margin. However in reality, the ideal construction of the asset and liability portfolio is dependent on variables such as bank competition as well as the requirements of clients, investors and stakeholders, all of which may affect the composition of the balance sheet. A large portion of private banks revenue stems from net interest income which is generated from the difference between various assets and liabilities that are held in the balance sheet. Th e composition of both interest income and interest expense of the GBS mutual bank are listed in Appendix 1. The relationship between interest rate risk and the yield curve The shape of the yield curve affects banks interest rate risk and liquidity risk exposure. In order to hedge or take advantage of a particular shape in the yield curve, banks may alter the composition of the balance sheet from time to time. The normal yield curve A normal yield curve means long-term securities have higher yields than short-term ones. In order to take advantage of the positively sloping yield curve the bank may alter the structure of its balance sheet by borrowing funds short and lending them long. The banks interest margin and profit will interest at the expense of a decrease in bank liquidity. The inverse yield curve The inverse yield curve represents a lower long-term yields and higher short-term yields. In order to maximize profits, the bank should alter the structure of the balance sheet by borrowing funds long-term and lending short-term. Liquidity of the bank will be increase together with interest margin and profit. However, as the inverse yield curve indicates a changing interest rate structure, banks risk exposure will increase of rates change suddenly which affects net interest income significantly. The flat yield curve While the short-term yield equals the long-term yield, no profit can be made from the mismatching of assets and liabilities. In this scenario interest rate risk is minimized as no returns can be made from restructuring the balance sheet. BUSINESS CIRCUMSTANCE OF GBS MUTUAL BANK AND SOUTH AFRICAN INTEREST RATE CYCLE Background The GBS head office is located in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The bank has branches located in Cape Town, Port Alfred and Port Elizabeth. The bank was formed in 1877 and is regarded one of South Africas oldest financial institutions. It is noted that a large portion of the banks current business activity is derived from home mortgages business. Specific Business Circumstance of GBS Mutual Bank The purpose of this section is going to provide a brief explanation to the GBS business practices. The mutuality of the bank is a feature that differentiates its business activities substantially from other private sector banks and affects its interest rate risk exposure. To be a mutual bank, GBS has a particular business strategy. Firstly, the bank is no shareholders, so the bank is not only owned by its share-depositors. Since this is no shareholders, the GBS is not purely profit driven as other banks. To a certain extent, bank profits are generated primarily to maintain bank reserves and capital adequacy requirements of Reserve Bank of South Africa. Moreover, the GBSs primary source of funds or primary liabilities is bank deposits, while its primary assets or uses of funds are mortgages and asset backed finance. Secondly, the small community banking business and the geographic footprint affect the number and demographic pattern of customers. Hence, the GBS has incorporated a personalized banking service for its customers in order to generate a competitive advantage over other competitors. For example, a large portion of its clients is elderly citizens who prefer high yield deposits. The GBS often quotes rates above those of its competitors in order to retain and attract this type of client. Based on the above banking practices, the GBS use a low risk profile in order to ensure a short-term credit. The profile is that a significant portion of the banks advances is collateralized and in the form of different mortgages such as residential properties, smaller commercial and industrial properties. Also, the bank tries to focus on these types of advances primarily from its previous business structure as a building society. Secondly, due to the regulations of the Mutual Banks Act, the bank is statutorily required to hold an amount of capital of not less than 10% of its risk-based assets as a buffer against losses by depositors. Finally, the experienced m anagement is required to ensure the trade profitably of GBS. In summary, the practices have ensured a short-term credit to GBS. South African Interest Rate Cycle and Term and Structure of Interest Rates: 1996 2007 The down trended of interest rate has been observed in last decade. It is provided a reference to understand the yield curve of South Africa. The repurchase rate and the bank prime lending rate are included in Appendix 2. Based on the data from the reserve bank of South Africa, the yield curve has been deduced and showed in Appendix 3. As mentioned previous, when the difference between the 10-year bond rate and the 91-day Treasury bill rate is positive, the normal yield curve exists where the yield on longer-dated bonds is higher than the yield on short-dated bonds. According to the figure, a positive or upward sloping yield curve occurs during March 1999 May 2002 and September 2003 October 2006. Secondly, when the Treasury bill is negative, the inverse yield curve exists where the yield on short-dated bonds is higher than the yield on long dated bonds. Then, a negatively shaped yield curve occurs during November 1996 March 1999 and June 2002 September 2003. Finally, t he flat yield curve exists where the yield on short-dated bonds is equal to the yield on long-dated bonds. A flat yield curve appears on a number of occasions during 1996 as well as March 1999; June 2002; September 2003 and October 2006. GBS MUTUAL BANK INTERES RATE RISK HEDGING Balance sheet positioning instruments Net interest income smoothing Net interest income is the difference between the interest income received on banks assets and the interest payments on its liabilities, and it is the primary source of banks income. The NII smoothing technique simply relies on the banks ability to reduce the variability of NII caused by the interest rate fluctuation. As the assets of GBS mature faster and therefore reprice faster than its liabilities, it would naturally receive a higher amount of NII during a rising interest rate scenario and a lower amount of NII during falling interest rates, and so the GBS will save larger portions of funds during rising interest rate periods in order to offset losses during periods of declining interest rates and hedge its interest rate risk. Volume strategy A volume strategy is a hedging method to alter the volume or mix of assets and liabilities on the balance sheet by purchasing or selling the required amount of funds in the market. It is similar to NII smoothing which is positioning banks balance sheet toward targeting NII, however, volume strategy relies heavily on bank interest rate forecasts. If the interest rate is increasing, the GBS will naturally be in a position to benefit from its asset sensitive balance sheet. This balance sheet structure can be repositioned by further shortening the maturity structure of its assets and lengthening the maturity structure of its liabilities. During a falling interest rate environment, the GBS should operate in the opposite way. Pricing strategy Banks can position itself advantageously during experienced and forecasted interest rate cycles by adjusting the interest rates quoted to borrowers and lenders and thereby influence the amount of assets and liabilities on its balance sheet. And this is an interest rate pricing strategy. Applying this method, GBS can effectively hedge its interest rate position by increasing rates on short-term deposits and increasing rates on long- term loans when the prevailing interest rate trend is downward sloping. This will increase the volume of short-term deposits due to the higher rate of interest received by customers and reduce the amount of long-term loans as customer interest payments become greater. It must be noted, however, that this strategy may have some practical drawbacks for the GBS. The GBS regards itself as a price-taker in so far as its quoted rates are linked to rates quoted by its larger competitors. Any significant restructuring of interest rates may hamper interest margins and business practices. It is also recognized that a pricing strategy may also take longer to implement due to the intermediary target variables. Moreover, a pricing strategys effectiveness requires substantial customer volume in order to change the structure of the balance sheet. The ideal portfolio The ideal portfolio is a balance sheet positioning strategy that perfectly matches assets and liabilities in terms of maturi ty as well as fixed-rate and floating-rate financial instruments. It can be attained with a combination of the above mentioned balance sheet positioning strategies and the banks ability to buy or sell fixed or floating interest rate financial instruments. During an upward sloping yield curve environment, the GBS can construct a portfolio in the following manner: the GBS can construct a portfolio with long dated fixed-rate liabilities and short-dated floating-rate assets. Conversely, the GBS should hold a portfolio containing short-dated floating-rate liabilities and long-dated fixed rate assets if a downward sloping interest rate environment persists. It is recognized, however, in reality the ideal portfolio construct is virtually impossible as the positioning of the balance sheet and the type of financial instruments held can be dependent on variables such as bank competition as well as the requirements of clients, investors and stakeholders, all of which may affect the compo sition of the balance sheet. Thus banks are naturally exposed to interest rate risk as they have a large variety of assets and liabilities that differ in terms of maturity and repricing frequency. Immunization Immunization refers to the banks ability to match the average duration of the banks balance sheet to the investment horizon. It is important to note that the realized annual return remains constant when the duration is made equal to the holding period. We can verify this in an example in Appendix 4. The bank holds a R100, 000 bond that yields interest payments of 12% paid annually with the maturity of 5 years and the duration of 4. 04 years. Appendix 4 illustrates the effects of immunization under three different interest rate scenarios: an increased rate of 14%, a steady rate of 12% and a lower rate of 10%. The table also provides a fluctuating holding period of 5 years, 4 years and 3 years. It is clear from the example provided is that as long as the duration of 4.04 i s made equal to the holding period of 4 years, the return of 12% is received regardless of the fluctuating interest rate. Therefore, GBS can be able to immunize itself against interest rate risk at either the individual asset class level or the entire portfolio level. By making the duration of the bond or indeed the average duration of the entire portfolio equal to the investment horizon, the GBS can offset its interest rate risk exposure. This is because the rise in the interest rate induces a decline in the market price of the bond/portfolio, while the income earned on the reinvestment of the bond/portfolio rises to offset this amount. The net effect is that the realized return remains constant. Immunization may be a useful tool, but it is also acknowledged immunization does not take convexity into account and may be expensive and time consuming to implement because the GBS will need to continuously rebalance the portfolio in order to match the duration of its instruments to the investment time horizon. Interest rate derivative The Interest rate derivatives provides a viable method for the GBS to hedge its interest, and the use of interest rate derivatives is affected by many aspects, for instance instruments availability, transaction costs and specific GBS business circumstance. The financial derivatives including: securitization, interest rate forwards, interest rate futures, interest rate swaps, interest rate options, interest rate caps, interest rate floors, interest rate collars and hybrid derivatives. First derivative is securitization. The GBS use securitization to reduce the interest risk by moving the longer duration assets and interest rate-sensitivity items off the balance sheet by securitization. Whats more, the securitization allows for the unbundling of risk, which means the unbundled interest rate risk can be sold to a third party or managed by a more competent third party. However, it also has some disadvantages. First, the securitization is extremely complicated to implement. Second , it cost a lot to disseminate interest rate risk effectively. Third, its less likely for an investor to invest in a once-off securitized asset from an issuer. Second kind of interest rate derivatives is interest rate forwards and Interest rate futures. Interest rate forwards can gain the interest rate income after downside period of reduced NIM, it has advantage that you can hedge a position more precisely and it has no liquidity risk with no marginal call. However, it also has some disadvantages that it is more expensive compared to other derivatives and the credit risk is increased. By the use of Interest rate futures, the investor can have long futures position offset the decline in NII. It also has some advantages such as it is ideally suited to smaller financial institutions and it is guaranteed by an exchange, however it also cumbersome when using it. Third kind of derivatives is Interest rate swaps and Interest rate options. The biggest difference of interest rate opti ons is that provides the right, not obligation to GBS. Both of the Interest rate swaps and Interest rate options has disadvantage of sophisticated systems. In addition, as for the interest rate options, pricing process is complex, and premiums may be expensive. Another interest rate derivative is interest rate caps, interest rate floors and interest rate collars. The interest rate caps is not a viable instrument for it place an upper limit to earnings and reduce the potential earning increase when the interest rate increases. However, the interest rate floors is an ideal instrument because it protect the interest rate income when interest rate declines. As regard to interest rate collars, we can buy an interest rate floor at a pre-specified rate and simultaneously sell an interest rate cap to allow the GBS to enforce the contract below the floor strike rate and reduce its interest rate risk exposure. However, since the use of such interest rate contracts is highly administrativel y intensive, we should not exceed a period of three years. Finally is the hybrid derivative, which contains Options on swaps and Options on futures. They are both very expensive and option on swaps is less administrative. However, due to their features, such contracts should not be entered into for a period longer than 12 months. Among the above interest rate derivatives, the most practical ones are interest rate futures and interest rate collars. Interest rate futures is guaranteed and market-to-market. Whats more, since the futures market has high liquidity, the closing-out position is quite simple for investors, which making the futures easily accessible and suited to smaller financial institutions. On the other hand, the interest rate collar sets the cash flows negatively related to the interest rate. For instance, when interest rate decreases, the cash flow from floor purchase increases, and the premium is offset in the process. Consequently, the cash flow structure of in terest rate collar is perfectly suited to the GBS to hedge risk. Retaining the status quo Besides the methods above, another option for the GBS is to retain the business operations with an un-hedged interest rate risk position. There are a number of reasons the current strategy may be retained, including: inducing other risks, other hedging options may be too expensive, requiring a large amount of monitoring and sophisticated systems, or may alter the business structure of the bank unfavorably. GBS MUTUAL BANK ASSET AND LIABILITY COMMITTEE Introduction As mentioned in previous sections, banks face various types of risks such as interest rate risk and liquidity risk. The GBS Asset and Liability Committee (ALCO) was established to manage these risks so as to enhance the banks risk and return structure. This section will provide us an exploration on the functions and organization of the GBS ALCO. Functions of the GBS ALCO The three main functions of the GBS ALCO are interest rate risk measurement, stimulation and interest rate risk management. The purpose of interest rate risk measurement is to quantify the interest rate risk profile of the Bank. Stimulation means the committee will explore the past and recent information in the interest of anticipating future performance and risks in order to constitute business and hedging policies. Interest rate risk management aims to measure, monitor and control its risk. Complicated measurement, adequate monitoring and pricing systems are significant factors for the GBS to appropriately hedge its interest rate risk. Since GBS faces large numbers of risks, it has to assure that hedging policies cover interest rate risk as well as other risks. The GBS has made satisfactory results on hedging risks by utilizing the complex computational systems. However, it is quite costly to use the systems. The current interest rate risk hedging strategy would conform to a p rudent strategy instead of a speculative strategy. By adopting a prudent hedging strategy, the GBS would be able to hedge its interest rate risk partially or entirely by either locking in a certain interest rate over time or just hedging unfavorable interest rate movements. Organization of the GBS ALCO All departments of GBS are encouraged to participate in interest rate risk policies in order to enhance the effectiveness and corporation of hedging risks. Furthermore, the GBS should also integrate the use of external and internal sources of information when establishing its ALCO structure. The Bank can make use of external sources such as macroeconomic indicators (fiscal policy and monetary policy) to forecast the banks internal interest rate. In the mean time, internal sources such as maturity structure, growth forecast, etc. serve as substantial factors for the balance sheet forecast. The GBS currently performs these activities extremely well. It is suggested to carry meetings frequently so as to monitor the GBS interest rate risk exposure. The GBS recently conforms to the following practices. When the market is unstable, meetings can be held daily to provide better supervision on the Banks performance. In contrast, during the normal business situation, meetings can be condu cted less frequently, say four to eight times a month. Moreover, five members who are from different departments across the GBS have formed a risk sub-committee. This improves the communication and effectiveness of risk researches. CONCLUSION This essay focuses on the interest rate risk management by analyzing the GBS mutual bank. It began with a brief description of a banks interest rate risk and its relation to other bank risks. It mainly focused on interest rate risk and the ways to manage these risks. It then started to perform an empirical analysis on a case study of GBS mutual bank. GBS mutual bank specific business circumstance is discussed first, and then followed by an investigation on the South Africa interest rate cycle and term structure of interest rates from 1996 to 2007. Moreover, it is significant to explore the GBS mutual bank interest rate hedging tools which comprise of three elements: balance sheet positioning instruments, interest rate derivatives and retaining the status quo. This essay also suggested two interest rate derivative instruments which are interest rate futures and interest rate collars for the purpose of balance sheet positioning strategies. Last but not least, the functions and organi zation of the GBS mutual bank asset and liability committee are introduced since interest rate risk management is affected by the committee. The GBS ALCO has the power to choose the hedging strategy that suits themselves the most. After investigating the interest rate risk management of the GBS mutual bank, we should have more understanding on interest rate risk, its relative yield curve, structure as well as interest rate risk management. APPENDIX Appendix 1 South African Banks: percentage contribution of interest income and interest expense (average December 2005 Rand Millions) Appendix 2 Interest Rate Cycle (1996-2007) Appendix 3 The 10- year bond rate, the 91-treasury bill rate and the differential (1996-2007) Appendix 4: Impact of Holding Period on Realized Annual Return Bond : R100 000, 12% (annual return) ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ Maturity : 5 years ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ Duration : 4.04 years ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ Holding period Interest rate Bond price after holding period Coupon paid Reinvestment income Total value Realized annual return ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ (% p.a.) (R000) (R000) (R000) (R000) (% p.a.) 5 years 12 100.0 60 16.2 176.2 12.00 ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 10* 100.0 60 13.3 173.3 11.60 ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 14** 100.0 60 19.2 179.2 12.38 4 years 12 100.0 48 9.4 157.4 12.00 ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 10* 101.8 48 7.7 157.5 12.00*** ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 14** 98.2 48 11.1 157.3 12.00*** 3 years 12 100.0 36 4.5 140.5 12.00 ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 10* 103.5 36 3.7 143.2 12.70 ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 14** 96.7 36 5.3 138.0 11.30 * Market rate falls to 10% after first year and remains there ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ** Market rate rises to 14% after first year and remains there ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ *** Approximate ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬