History of Gaming Essay Example for Free

History of Gaming Essay Gaming has been around since the late 1960’s far later than I had suspected, for me I had consistently felt that the Atari 2600 was the principal gaming framework in the world, and in the wake of beginning my examination I discovered how wrong I was. In this piece of the groups paper I will examine the various kinds of this innovation thought it history. In 1967 the main gaming console at any point was made and was named the â€Å"Brown Box.† A German conceived TV engineer Ralph Baer and his partners made the Brown Box which took a shot at your fundamental standard TV. Working with a firm called Sanders Associates, Baer alongside colleagues drew up schematics for a game which was known as the pursuit game, and they constructed a vacuum tube circuit that associated with the TV. Two players controlled two squares that fundamentally pursued each other on the screen, by then gaming was conceived. Baer and his partners later included a light fun and built up an aggregate of 12 games for the Brown Box. Quick forward five years after Baer and his partners made the Brown Box, Magnavox started creation of the Magnavox Odyssey. The Odyssey was known as the primary business computer game comfort and was advertised in Magnavox TV vendors. The Odyssey utilized six cartridges to play up to twelve games. The Odyssey ruin is that numerous TV vendors didn’t see any potential in it and alongside the bogus talk that it just worked in Magnavox TVs hurt the ubiquity of the gaming frameworks. In 1972 Nolan Bushnell established Atari and after three years in 1975, they had their first raving success with an arcade game called Pong. Atari sold a home adaptation of the game Pong through Sears under the Sears Tele-games mark. What made Pong one of a kind was that it delivered an on-screen score and sound all by single chip. With his first framework Nolan Bushnell and Atari shot to the highest point of family unit gaming. Realizing that some of nothing keep going forever particularly a solitary game framework prevalence, Nolan Bushnell and Atari began taking a shot at a cartridge based framework, one that could play different games. In 1976 Bushnell Sold Atari to Warner Communications, and Warner quickly upheld the Atari venture, and the Atari VCS later renamed the Atari 2600 was presente d. The Atari was a success and had numerous game hits to oblige it, hits like the ever well known Spaced Invaders, Breakout, Missile Command, and Combat just to give some examples. Atari was the first at any point massed delivered home video gaming framework, selling 400,000 frameworks and hitting marketing projections of $120 million dollars during the primary Christmas season in 1977. In 1980 Mattel discharged Intellivision, and was the first to take a run at Atari’s gamming tossed. This started what some might want to call a support war among Atari and Mattel. Intellivision highlighted better game designs and incorporated voices in computer games. The two frameworks welcomed on other game designers like Coleco and Activision, however with such a significant number of the games being unlicensed games and no family unit framework lead to gaming industry crash in 1983-84 reason in numerous organizations to petition for financial protection. Nintendo, a Japanese based organization turned out to be a piece of the gaming business in 1985 with its arrival of the Nintendo Entertainment System. With probably the most mainstream titles ever like Super Mario Brothers, Metroid, and Legend of Zelda and that of outsider games like Tecmo Bowl and RBI baseball, the NES turned the non-adherents that didn’t think it was a smart thought to get into gaming after an accident, into devotees. In 1987 Sega discharged its gaming framework which overshadowed the abilities that its antecedent, the NES, had advertised. It was known as the MasterSystem yet it didn’t make the sprinkle that numerous in the Sega camp had figured it would make, because of its absence of outsider games and different things it was the downfall of the MasterSystem and the main falling flat of Sega. Sega went straightforwardly back to the point where it all began and not long after discharged its initially hit the Sega Genesis in 1989. Supported by many game engineers like Electronic Arts, the Sega Genesis opened the entryway for the first since forever fight for matchless quality for gaming strength. Four years after the arrival of the Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo discharged its subsequent raving success, with the Gameboy. Gameboy was named the as the principal ever handheld gaming console and had a high contrast screen. Tetris one of the most mainstream Gameboy games ran the Gameboy deals through the rooftop. With many make-overs over the span of history Gameboy kept on remaining significant in gaming. 1990 was the arrival of SNK’s Neo-Geo a 24 piece home gaming framework that was supposed to be numerous years in front of its rivals and now is the right time. The Neo-Geo had one issue, it wasn’t 2-D designs those were incredible, it wasn’t its arcade level quality that was what everybody needed, it was neither of those two things that helped the Neo-Geo bomb it was its $650.00 sticker price and its $200.00 games that took the Neo-Geo from extraordinary development to under achiever. In 1991 Nintendo discharges the Super Nintendo Entertainment Syst em. Gotten the best of by Sega with its gaming framework the Sega Genesis, the 16 piece SNES made them make up for lost time to do. It wasn’t some time before the SNES on account of its innovative prevalence, had overwhelmed the Sega Genesis because of its large name games like Super Mario Brothers, Metroid, and Zelda. Before the finish of the 90’s Sega Genesis was close to an untimely idea for SNES who had assumed control over the 16 piece time and the gaming business. It wasn’t till the year 1995 that Nintendo again was tested for its gaming predominance. Sony presented the Sony PlayStation a 32 piece CD-ROM based innovation and has been supposed to be the most famous gaming framework ever. The games had three dimensional ongoing interaction obviously superior to the 2-D of the past. What was the most appreciation for any gamer was the cost of the games which drastically dropped contrasted with those of cartridge based games. It was additionally in 1995 the second day of September that the Sega establishment fundamentally began its end. This day denoted the arrival of the Sega Saturn, which was named the best most noticeably awful framework, as per many. Since it was pushed up to stretch out beyond the recently reported PlayStation 2, it gave the Sony company time to kick back and clean the forthcoming PlayStation 2 and gain from the slip-ups that the Sega Saturn was making. In 1996 the Nintendo establishment countered the PlayStation with the Nintendo64, the last cartridge based framework. In spite of the fact that the cartridges stacked quicker than the CD-ROMS of PlayStation the Nintendo64 couldn’t even stay aware of the measure of games that were discharged for the PlayStation, leaving the PlayStation on the gaming until further notice. It was in 1998 when Sega made its last push as a contender in the realm of gaming with its arrival of the CD-based framework Dreamcast, which consolidated a 128-piece preparing framework. The Dreamcast was the main framework that had a modem which took into consideration web availability that welcomed on the capacity to play on the web, download additional substance and refreshed to the framework itself. This would be the last time that anybody would here from the Sega establishment in the reassure business. In 2001 Sega stopped the Dreamcast and reported that it would leave the comfort advertise for good and taking its Sonic establishment with them. Four years after the arrival of the Nintendo64 and five years after the main introductory PlayStation, Sony discharges its second form of the PlayStation 2. The initial 128 piece framework included in reverse similarity permitting the PS2 to play the more established PlayStations games, and furthermore could be utilized as a DVD player. Not exclusively was the PS2 named most well known 128 piece framework yet with its discharge it denoted the ascent of support notoriety played over the web. 2001 was the presentation of th e old person with another framework and the newcomer in gaming. Nintendo hit the gaming market again leaving from its typical cartridge based frameworks and presenting its first historically speaking CD based framework. The GameCube was promoted more for the more youthful socioeconomics and is supposed to be what made the framework failure and undercut. Alongside the failure to associate with the web it was known as a one stunt horse and was behind in the gaming scene and home theater setups. The now tenderfoot Microsoft presented its own gaming framework the X-box. The PC monster utilized PC innovation when assembling the X-Box which considered more prominent execution. Despite the fact that the X-Box’s innovation demonstrated more noteworthy execution when contrasted with that of the 128 piece PS2 it despite everything stayed behind the quantity of deals that the PS2 had disregarding Sony at that top of the gaming scene. In 2002 Nintendo ventured back in with the Gameboy Advance and again in 2004 with the Nintendo DS. Some would contend and venture to state that all Nintendo did was step on its on toes with how they discharged the two forms so intently together. By doing so specialists say that they made the Gameboy outdated by discharging the DS unexpectedly early. Playstation before long joined Nintendo in the hand held gaming advancement, testing Nintendo’s strength. The PlayStation Portable like the Gameboy and DS included remote capacity, high designs and non-gaming capacities imitating PC-based gadgets. 2005 likewise denoted the arrival of the Microsoft X-Box 360. The handling intensity of the X-Box 360 was supposed to be unparalleled, and all accompanied an interior hard drive, played DVDs and had the capacity to associate four controllers one after another remotely, just as interfacing with the web. The Nintendo Wii was discharged in 2006 and highlighted an inherent WiFi for internet game play, remote controllers and Bluetooth. The remote controllers weren’t new to gaming however what Nintendo brought to the table with their remote controllers was the movement sensor innovation, permitting the game to mim

Philosophy of Leadership in Schools Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Theory of Leadership in Schools - Assignment Example The idea of authority in a school requires the head (overseer) to have the option to improve the understudies' presentation and bring different positive changes into the tutoring framework. All things considered, the school's manager ought to deal with the school in a manner that guarantees its endurance and advancement. All the activities and dangers of a school director ought to be in accordance with their forward-looking vision. This vision is created with the cooperation of showing staff as including them into the dynamic procedure guarantees their higher inspiration and lifts their imagination. It ought to be remembered that the proficient authority of the school director is not really conceivable without steady and beneficial relations with showing staff and successful arranging. While employing the instructors, the school head should ensure they are proficient and anxious to work with youngsters. So as to be a decent pioneer, the school head should actualize the right authority style. For the most part, three distinct styles of initiative are singled out - tyrant, equitable, and free enterprise. I accept that for the school head, the most ideal path is to be a vote based pioneer since it surmises a higher level of inclusion of showing staff individuals and understudies into the way toward taking choices, presenting developments and improving the working of school when all is said in done. Be that as it may, there are various perspectives to the extent acquainting changes with K-12 schools is concerned. From one viewpoint, there is an assessment that it is important to refresh the educational plan as an approach to modernize the school without any dangers with respect to educators and head. Then again, it is viewed as that the school, and the overseer at the primary spot, are the principle operators of progress. This subsequent methodology is all the more testing and requests from the chairman to take choices, anyway simultaneously it permits the school chief uncover their latent capacity, innovative capacities, limit, and it additionally necessitates that the executive is industrious, fearless, and anxious to develop.â â

Today I hit my TA with a door

Today I hit my TA with a door It wasnt like I meant to do it. I was late for recitation, and I usually go in the back door when Im late but today, TODAY for reasons still unknown to the universe I went for the front door, all while my TA just happened to be standing right there, going on about amide formation. And then I hit him with a door. HIM: AAHH!! ME: OH! Oh. UH. SORRY. Sorry. Im really sorry. Are you okay? HIM: Yeah. Sorry about that. ME: No no, Im really sorry. Errrrkk. Im going to.. uh, yeah. Sorry. You actually cant make this stuff up. It is against all the rules of absurdity (which I know because I wrote them). The only way it couldve possibly been worse is if Id maybe dropped through a trapdoor in the ceiling onto his head, terminating both his life and my dreams of graduating (as well as my reputation as being totally smooth at all times), or if my professor had instead been teaching the section (although he actually probably wouldve been cool with it, since the last time I saw him he was leaping around 54-100 like a gazelle in a WWF mask). Fortunately for me, he was already two minutes into his lecturing, so everyone in my recitation was well aware of the fact that I was a) late and b) now and forevermore a TA-assaulter. (If by some equally beautiful coincidence youre reading this now, Matt, I apologize again, and I would still like a reasonably good grade once the multiple contusions have healed.) Matt is not actually my TA, but I attend his section anyway because a) I have a conflict with the section that Im actually registered in and b) he presents material in clear, concise manner that supplements the lecture without being redundant (and Im not just saying that because I nearly hospitalized him today). I ended up there because Id attended a couple other sections and found his to be the most helpful, so I now attend his recitation twice a week. He is, by my standards, an excellent TA. Teaching 5.112 this semester has tuned me even more to the subtleties of what makes a good TA, though I would by no means put myself on the same standards of my brilliant, Canadian, zed-instead-of-z-using TA of the same subject last year (especially because some of my students read this hey, Alex!) Finding a good one is like many of the other life-changing decisions that await you come college life: trying to pick a school, a living group, a major you need to give different ones a shot, and you need to find which one fits you. Its a tricky matter that I have down to a concise science after a year of section-hopping, and is one of my most important and exhausting traditions come the start of a semester. So you wanna know the secret? The unwritten, unspoken truth? As long as you dont tell anyone, because the shock-value level of what youre about to learn is on a par with the Tooth Fairy not being real, or your high school econ teacher going to the same gym you do: being brilliant in a subject does, by no means, translate to being a good TA. The same goes for professors. I mean, sure. Theres a certain amount of knowledge on the subject they need to have in order to field your questions, and this by no means that the Nobel laureate/pioneer of programmed cell death isnt about to give you the most mind-blowing lecture of your life. But a lot of what makes someone a really effective teacher is not the raw, untapped genius found so commonly amongst the common MIT student: the never-gone-to-lecture-and-whats-a-TA-but-still-got-800,000%-on-the-last-exam guy who doesnt realize that his socks with sandals are not even fashionably acceptable to his World of Warcraft friends its the guy whos been there. The seasoned war veteran who knows exactly how you got confused, because he was you not too long ago, and how to get you out of that rut where youve gone so terribly awry that youve gotten your Hoffmann rearrangements mixed up with your Hoffmann eliminations and have turned your primary amide into a primary amine, so badly that your problem set is auditioning f or the Synthesis Gone Wild: Spring Term edition. (The organic chemistry analogies are not going away, so dont hold your breath.) Thankfully, theres a lot of that here too. We are all nerds, yes, but we nerd with style. A lot of us tend to think about things in ways that are twisted, unconventional, and often incorrect. Its what we came here to do. So I look for a couple things when Im TA-hunting (not in a Elmer Fudd kind of way, no matter what my current record might suggest): firstly, someone who knows their stuff, but not in a way that when you ask how you figure out one aspect of the problem, theyll respond, You just do. One TA I tried out this year walked into class and loudly proclaimed, I dont mind if you dont come to my recitation. I never did when I took this class. I didnt return to his section. Actually, I dropped that class in favor of one I found more interesting, in which my TA is so popular that I once came ten minutes late for and had to sit on the floor. Which isnt AT ALL to say that I dropped it because of that first guy, but a really good TA can totally change your opinion of a subject, just like your favorite high school calculus teacher was the driving force behind you learning to stop worrying and love the Lagrange error. Secondly: someone who doesnt spend too much time regurgitating what was discussed in lecture. The way the majority of MIT classes work, which I probably shouldve discussed earlier for new readers, is lecture/recitation format: one hour of lecture, taught by a professor, which can have anywhere from 30 students in a small, major-only class to 200+ students in a General Institute Requirement (GIR) class, and one hour of recitation, taught by grad students or occasionally undergrads, and is usually attended by 20-30 students each. You are free to add a section as your schedule and the size of that section permits, which is something that I enjoy greatly (as I make it not only a point to check out the different options, but also to write a blog entry advertising how sweet it is that I get to pick my instructor). And its important to find someone whose style benefits you the most, so you can get the most out of the class. The purpose of the recitation is to supplement lecture, not recite all the material in exactly the same way. Practice problems are always helpful too, especially in the context of particularly difficult problem sets that you have no idea how to start. I also tend to prefer undergraduate TAs, because grad students can come from anywhere and have such a drastically different background from MIT students not that they dont have to really know their stuff to be an MIT grad student, but undergrads have actually taken the class in question and are well-versed in the format and intricacies of the material. At the same time, undergraduate TAs are also dealing with workloads of their own, UROPs, extracurricular activities, relationship problems, lack of sleep, indigestion from the leftover Chinese food they forgot to refrigerate but ate for lunch anyway, or any of a number of common problems undergrads suffer from. So theres that as well. In general, there are a number of other personal preferences I have towards TAs. I like people who give notes, people who are organized and have a clear structure to their hour of time, and people who arent apt to give away the answer in an obvious manner. Theyre not hard to find if you dont mind looking, and they can change your outlook on a course entirely. But other traits are important to other people; its just a matter of what matters to you and how you learn. Though thats something youll have to pick up on yourself. My strongest inclination, though, has always been towards people with a good sense of humor. That way, when you smash into them in the hallway and spill your soup all over their new white blouse, or accidentally ram into them with a door, youll know you can probably, maybe still pull off a B. Probably. Maybe if you write them a blog entry.

What Is Ethics Ethics Or Morals - 2293 Words

What is ethics? Ethics or morals are rules for distinguish between right and wrong, a code of professional conduct that distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. Most of our societies also have legal rules that govern behaviour but ethical norms tend to be border and more informal that laws .An action may be legal but unethical Aim of ethical Guidance The aim of the guidelines is to allow the researcher’s or individual to make ethical judgements and decisions to be informed by shared values and experience. At times principles will have to be made. This guidelines help on to build on legal or policies or the best practice principles. Some of the ethical principals ïÆ'Ëœ Honesty Always use honesty in all communications. Honest report data, results, methods and procedures, and publication status. Do not make, falsify, or misrepresent data. Never deceive colleagues, research sponsors, or the public. ïÆ'Ëœ Objectivity Try to avoid bias in experimental design, data analysis, data interpretation, peer review, personnel decisions, grant writing, expert testimony, and other aspects of research where objectivity is expected or required. ïÆ'Ëœ Integrity Keeping your promises and agreements, acting with sincerity there should be consistency of thought and action. ïÆ'Ëœ Carefulness Avoiding careless errors and negligence, carefully and critically examine your own work and the work of your peers. Keeping good records of research activities, such as data collection, researchShow MoreRelatedWhat are Morals and Ethics?963 Words   |  4 PagesTuskegee Experiment What does morals and ethics mean? Morals are basically a persons standards of behavior or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do. And ethics are a persons standards of behavior or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do. A person is always trying to have good morals and to always be ethical. One of the most controversial ethical and moral dilemmas is the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. This is said to be one of the most morallyRead MoreEthic And Moral Conflict Implied. What Are The Implications936 Words   |  4 PagesEthic And Moral Conflict Implied What are the implications of ethics or moral conflicts with one another? There is a fine line and some ongoing confusion between ethics and morals. Ethics apply to institutions or groups for example doctors or lawyers. Morals are personal principals influenced by society. Professionals deal with the conflict between ethics and morals more often than we realize. 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ThusRead MoreMorals and Ethics1023 Words   |  5 PagesMorals and Ethics in Society Kalob Lisk Rasmussen College Author Note This paper is being submitted on July 14, 2016, for Thomas Santangelo’s B406 Business Law and Ethical Behavior course. Morals and Ethics in Society Morals and ethics in society play major roles in our lives and our work environments and I am more than happy to write this research paper to help explain the similarities and its key differences. And this research paper will also include where both morals and ethicsRead MoreThe Difference between Morals and Ethics818 Words   |  3 PagesMorals and Ethics Many people use the words â€Å"ethical† and â€Å"moral† as descriptive words interchangeably. However, ethics and morals are dissimilar from one another, for there are many factors that differentiate one from the other. Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Potter Stewart once stated, â€Å"There is a big difference between what we have the right to do, and what is right. This statement alone encompasses the general distinction between ethics and morals. Morals, as definedRead MoreEthics : Ethics And Morality1476 Words   |  6 Pagesuniversal on ethics and morality. Ethics among different cultures is so vast, even though every culture does have a standard for ethics which they live by. Although ethics is a broad human universal, there is no specific universal ethic. Each world religion holds a different ethic as their highest ethic; it is always a case by case basis. Theory: Ethics serve as an adaptive function in modern environment, more than ever. As society evolves, the standard of ethics also increases. Ethics is a traitRead MoreComparison Between Deontological And Teleological Approaches1276 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction to Ethics essay Essay Question- â€Å"Compare and contrast deontological and teleological approaches to ethics†. At its simplest form, ethics can be defined as a system of moral principles. They affect how people make choices and lead their lives. Ethics are concerned with what is good for individuals (BBC , 2014). The term ethics comes from the Greek word ethikos, meaning ‘character’. It may be translated as ‘custom’ or ‘usage’ (Bowie Frye, 2008, p.2). There are three main types of ethics; normativeRead MoreEthics Paper1177 Words   |  5 PagesEthics Paper Week 1 Assignment Rheana Willis 01/08/2012 Dilemma Choice 2: A married couple, both addicted to drugs, are unable to care for their infant daughter. She is taken from them by court order and placed in a foster home. The years pass. She comes to regard her foster parents as her real parents. They love her as they would their own daughter. When the child is 9 years old, the natural parents, rehabilitated from drugs, begin court action to regain custody. The case is decided in their

Euthyphro, By Plato The Main Idea That Comes Up Is...

Seiji Hayashi PHIL 3500 Chrisoula Andreou In Euthyphro, by Plato the main idea that comes up is socratic ignorance. Euthyphro argues that he is the self proclaimed expert on the subject of piety and impiety. I could argue in the position that, Euthyphro is claiming expertise in a subject that he doesn t know enough about. This socratic ignorance is the idea of the dialogue. I have decided to take an extra argument in this paper. I argue there is ignorance in both Socrates and Euthyphro. Although it s more difficult to prove, I explain the situations of piety and impiety and how it is relative to each person and the time period of the discussion. Bringing the background situation to show claims made by Euthyphro and lack of evidence provided in this dialogue. The supporting claims I share after are on Euthyphro’s side of conversation. This determines his thoughts, on the definition of piety and unspoken details that I have determined. Socrates also makes arguments that are known to be true, to Euthyph ro through comparison of different circumstances. This happens through Socrates and Euthyphro, use of asking questions and questing answer, from what explained, based on the knowledge of Euthyphro. I use the background of the whole dialogue, in pointing out flaws in the responses of both parties. I also bring into aspect of the circumstance relative to the time period, and the nature of people s beliefs, in religion. The background of the dialogue the important to theShow MoreRelatedThe Republic And The Socratic Dialogue1769 Words   |  8 Pagesand the Socratic dialogue Euthyphro we can conclude that there are a lot similarities and differences in the arguments between Socrates and Thrasymachus and Socrates and Euthyphro. Both pieces and arguments have similar tones and shows how Plato, through Socrates, would get to the bottom of certain issues. Upon entering the house In Plato’s The Republic, Socrates didn’t know what he was walking into when the discussion of justice was brought up. The main question that had been brought up was whatRead MoreSocrates and Properties Essay3228 Words   |  13 Pagesignorant and wise, he presents us with one of the most striking paradoxes. Like so many of the other philosophers, is provocative in that its apparent self-contradiction hides an important idea for us readers to discover. Though out this text Socrates ignorance results from his belief that he has no knowledge of moral idea, or moral properties, such as justice, virtue, piety, and beauty. He asserts that, if only he knew the relevant definitions, he would be a moral expert who could answer philosophicalRead MoreThe Trial of Socrates: an Analysis and Construction of Socrates Defense2369 Words   |  10 Pagesphilosophical advancements. Athens could very well be divided, morally on various aspects, one of them being which â€Å"political† affiliation Athenians related themselves with. Some choices were between the Traditionalists, Sophists or an up and coming ideas of Socratics or Platonics. Militarily, during the life of Socrates, Athens was involved in the Peloponnesian Wars, a set of conflicts between Sparta and Athens, in which Athens ultimately loses. Historically, this time became known as the rule ofRead MoreHow Wisdom Has Impacted My Education And My Ultimate Relationship With It2482 Words   |  10 Pagesrelationship with it. There are five units that we have addressed in the course. The first in regards to wisdom and Socratic ignorance. One of the passages is from the Five Dialogues text and focuses on the written accounts of the great Greek philosopher Socrates in his search for ultimate wisdom. His life stories are predominately documented by his students Plato and Xenophon. Plato is one of his most renowned students and would go on to teach Aristotle. Socrates was born in Athens, Greece and inRead MoreSocratic Ethics Essay2636 Words   |  11 Pagesspecifically in the readings, Euthyphro, the Apology, the Crito and the Phaedo. Socrates’ main question was â€Å"What is the good life?† and his pursuit was to find out how to live this â€Å"good life†. Socrates’ pursuit of the â€Å"good life† helped him to identify knowledge with virtue. He equated knowledge with good or virtue and ignorance with bad or evil. Since no one would knowingly harm themselves, if harm came to a person, then that person must have acted in ignorance. This led him to the thought

How Life Gets Better While People Feel the Same Free Essays

I’m pretty sure all of us are familiar with the cliche, â€Å"money can’t buy happiness. † In Gregg Easterbrook book The Progress Paradox he tries to understand why a small variances of this cliche is so. The paradox that underlies Easterbrook’s venture is that through out the last fifty years, things have improved in the United States and Europe, by all objective standards. We will write a custom essay sample on How Life Gets Better While People Feel the Same or any similar topic only for you Order Now All though during same time, surveys of happiness and satisfaction have not changed since the fifties. Easterbrook’s main question through out the book asking has the objective measures of the well being of man kind increased while overall satisfaction of people and happiness have remained constant? In the three beginning chapters of this book Easterbrook spends a lot of time looking at surveys depicting the various objective measures that show a pretty much steady increase of progress. I found these chapters entertaining to read because it brings to light a huge range of facts and statistics that add support to his idea that things are constantly improving. Easterbrook goes on about how the crime rate is falling, the state of the environment is improving, we are gaining intelligence, equality is increasing and economic situations have improved. Crime, both violent and property have been in decline for 20 years. Current crime rates are probably the lowest in the history of the country. The environment has been improving in every area except green house gases. We have the cleanest air since the beginning of the industrial revolution and the cleanest water since Man was a hunter and gatherer. n the statistics discussed, Easterbrook references a 1996 poll that resulted in 52% of the respondents saying the United States was worse now than when their parents were growing up and 60% said they expected their children to live in an even worse country. Only 15% of the respondents believed that overall national conditions were improving (Easterbrook, 2004). In 1997, 66% of Americans reported that they believed â€Å"the lot of the average person is getting worse† (Easterbrook, 2004). Easterbrook raises the question â€Å"How is this possible† with the dramatic increase in overall general progress. Along with discussing the statistics of the many surveys, Easterbrook also gives the reader possible reasons for the so-called paradox. One of the possible reasons he gives is â€Å"choice anxiety. † When looking back on the past a lot of people had very few options due to limited income and limited availability of goods and services. But Easterbrook fights that there is flip side to the stress that comes from having to many options, just like not having enough options can be stressful as well. With the constant increase in the range of goods and services available even the easiest choices can become stressful. Easterbrook states this because a consumer can never really be sure if they are making the correct decision causing stress and unhappiness. Another possible reason Easterbrook gives is â€Å"Abundance denial. † This means that no matter how much individuals actually have materially, they will never view them as being â€Å"well-off†, which is constantly making people unhappy and stress out. Easterbrook states that a most Americans think of only the rich as being â€Å"well-off. This brings me to my favorite statistic my favorite statistic: there have been around sixty billion people who ever lived, the 600 million who live in western democracies such as Europe, North America, Japan and Australia live better than anyone else in history (better housing, medical care, nutrition etc. )(Easterbrook, 2004). Since my standard of living is considered about ave rage that means that I live better than 99. 5% of people who have ever lived. We are the one percenters, as far as the history of the world goes. Our current one percenters live better than 99. 9% of people, ever. One more possible reason is â€Å"collapse anxiety,† the widespread fear that the prosperity of the United States and Europe may come to an end due to an economic crash, environmental problems, terrorism or some other catastrophe. Even though individuals are better off that constant notion that it is unmanageable leads to people being unhappy and unsatisfied. It’s hard for people to sit back and really appreciate things when they are in constant fear that it could someday end. Lastly he considers â€Å"the revolution of satisfied expectations† as a possible explanation. He refers this to as the uneasiness that follows items that an individual once dreamed of having. Easterbrook states that during the last century western life has been categorized by ever increasing expectations, with each generation expecting to have more than the previous generation. In today’s day and age we have reached a point where people have most of what they need. What Easterbrook is trying to say with this explanation is that it is hard to imagine things getting any better than they already are kind of giving individuals nothing to look forward to. After reading this book I had some general issues. First off is the issue of happiness. The beginning of the book deals with objective measures over time that forms a steady increase in progress. To form the paradox the objective facts were compared to the subjective measures of happiness. Of course Easterbrook states that the surveys are not exactly perfect he claims that they â€Å"illuminating nonetheless† (Easterbrook, 2004). However I think this is questionable. The perception of happiness is not constant among individuals at one point in time, let alone over several decades. Each person could have a completely different outlook on happiness. What can be happiness for one person could be sadness or another feeling for someone else. With each person entitled to their own subjective view on what they consider to be happiness, they are also entitled to have a subjective perception of what others experienced in the past and what others will experience in the future. So when surveyors asked respondents if they thought their parents would better off or if their children will be better off, it’s not an objective measure but a subjective perception of the past and future. It doesn’t seem clear why we In short, it is not clear why we would assume the level of subjective satisfaction to increase with objective well-being. I feel like Easterbrook was trying to say that in the past it seemed like things were always getting better but now in the future since things are improving so quickly it doesn’t seem like we could continue to progress in the future. It is unclear why people should think that progress couldn’t continue and, therefore, have lower expectations for the future. This question is left unanswered. If you asked, most people would agree that money and material things are not the meaning of happiness. With this, why would we expect to see a connection between an increase in progress and an increase in happiness? It isn’t clear that the claim has ever been that prosperity and progress will lead to the end of all stress and uneasiness. In the end there are two traits that correlate closely with happiness: forgiveness and gratitude. Forgive those that have done you wrong and be grateful for what you have. †¢Easterbrook, Greg. The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feels Worse. Random House Publishing Group, 2004. eBook. How to cite How Life Gets Better While People Feel the Same, Essay examples

How Life Gets Better While People Feel the Same Free Essays

I’m pretty sure all of us are familiar with the cliche, â€Å"money can’t buy happiness. † In Gregg Easterbrook book The Progress Paradox he tries to understand why a small variances of this cliche is so. The paradox that underlies Easterbrook’s venture is that through out the last fifty years, things have improved in the United States and Europe, by all objective standards. We will write a custom essay sample on How Life Gets Better While People Feel the Same or any similar topic only for you Order Now All though during same time, surveys of happiness and satisfaction have not changed since the fifties. Easterbrook’s main question through out the book asking has the objective measures of the well being of man kind increased while overall satisfaction of people and happiness have remained constant? In the three beginning chapters of this book Easterbrook spends a lot of time looking at surveys depicting the various objective measures that show a pretty much steady increase of progress. I found these chapters entertaining to read because it brings to light a huge range of facts and statistics that add support to his idea that things are constantly improving. Easterbrook goes on about how the crime rate is falling, the state of the environment is improving, we are gaining intelligence, equality is increasing and economic situations have improved. Crime, both violent and property have been in decline for 20 years. Current crime rates are probably the lowest in the history of the country. The environment has been improving in every area except green house gases. We have the cleanest air since the beginning of the industrial revolution and the cleanest water since Man was a hunter and gatherer. n the statistics discussed, Easterbrook references a 1996 poll that resulted in 52% of the respondents saying the United States was worse now than when their parents were growing up and 60% said they expected their children to live in an even worse country. Only 15% of the respondents believed that overall national conditions were improving (Easterbrook, 2004). In 1997, 66% of Americans reported that they believed â€Å"the lot of the average person is getting worse† (Easterbrook, 2004). Easterbrook raises the question â€Å"How is this possible† with the dramatic increase in overall general progress. Along with discussing the statistics of the many surveys, Easterbrook also gives the reader possible reasons for the so-called paradox. One of the possible reasons he gives is â€Å"choice anxiety. † When looking back on the past a lot of people had very few options due to limited income and limited availability of goods and services. But Easterbrook fights that there is flip side to the stress that comes from having to many options, just like not having enough options can be stressful as well. With the constant increase in the range of goods and services available even the easiest choices can become stressful. Easterbrook states this because a consumer can never really be sure if they are making the correct decision causing stress and unhappiness. Another possible reason Easterbrook gives is â€Å"Abundance denial. † This means that no matter how much individuals actually have materially, they will never view them as being â€Å"well-off†, which is constantly making people unhappy and stress out. Easterbrook states that a most Americans think of only the rich as being â€Å"well-off. This brings me to my favorite statistic my favorite statistic: there have been around sixty billion people who ever lived, the 600 million who live in western democracies such as Europe, North America, Japan and Australia live better than anyone else in history (better housing, medical care, nutrition etc. )(Easterbrook, 2004). Since my standard of living is considered about ave rage that means that I live better than 99. 5% of people who have ever lived. We are the one percenters, as far as the history of the world goes. Our current one percenters live better than 99. 9% of people, ever. One more possible reason is â€Å"collapse anxiety,† the widespread fear that the prosperity of the United States and Europe may come to an end due to an economic crash, environmental problems, terrorism or some other catastrophe. Even though individuals are better off that constant notion that it is unmanageable leads to people being unhappy and unsatisfied. It’s hard for people to sit back and really appreciate things when they are in constant fear that it could someday end. Lastly he considers â€Å"the revolution of satisfied expectations† as a possible explanation. He refers this to as the uneasiness that follows items that an individual once dreamed of having. Easterbrook states that during the last century western life has been categorized by ever increasing expectations, with each generation expecting to have more than the previous generation. In today’s day and age we have reached a point where people have most of what they need. What Easterbrook is trying to say with this explanation is that it is hard to imagine things getting any better than they already are kind of giving individuals nothing to look forward to. After reading this book I had some general issues. First off is the issue of happiness. The beginning of the book deals with objective measures over time that forms a steady increase in progress. To form the paradox the objective facts were compared to the subjective measures of happiness. Of course Easterbrook states that the surveys are not exactly perfect he claims that they â€Å"illuminating nonetheless† (Easterbrook, 2004). However I think this is questionable. The perception of happiness is not constant among individuals at one point in time, let alone over several decades. Each person could have a completely different outlook on happiness. What can be happiness for one person could be sadness or another feeling for someone else. With each person entitled to their own subjective view on what they consider to be happiness, they are also entitled to have a subjective perception of what others experienced in the past and what others will experience in the future. So when surveyors asked respondents if they thought their parents would better off or if their children will be better off, it’s not an objective measure but a subjective perception of the past and future. It doesn’t seem clear why we In short, it is not clear why we would assume the level of subjective satisfaction to increase with objective well-being. I feel like Easterbrook was trying to say that in the past it seemed like things were always getting better but now in the future since things are improving so quickly it doesn’t seem like we could continue to progress in the future. It is unclear why people should think that progress couldn’t continue and, therefore, have lower expectations for the future. This question is left unanswered. If you asked, most people would agree that money and material things are not the meaning of happiness. With this, why would we expect to see a connection between an increase in progress and an increase in happiness? It isn’t clear that the claim has ever been that prosperity and progress will lead to the end of all stress and uneasiness. In the end there are two traits that correlate closely with happiness: forgiveness and gratitude. Forgive those that have done you wrong and be grateful for what you have. †¢Easterbrook, Greg. The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feels Worse. Random House Publishing Group, 2004. eBook. How to cite How Life Gets Better While People Feel the Same, Essay examples

Okonkwo Character Analysis Essay free essay sample

His traits can be shown by looking at where he has come from in his life, for example, Okonkwo has acquired a large amount of wealth in his life because of his hard work and dedication which he also puts towards his family, unfortunately, his family also suffers greatly because of this due to Okonkwo’s high expectations of his children and his violent ways when they do not live up to them. Secondly, Okonkwo possesses hidden emotions that are similar to his father’s but he lives in denial that he is anything like his father but he is more like him than he thinks. Lastly, Okonkwo is driven by what his father is not because Okonkwo doesn’t want to be anything like his father which causes him to make rash decisions occasionally that could make him carelessly become violent. In this essay, Okonkwo’s character will be carefully analyzed and his multiple layers of personality will become clearer. We will write a custom essay sample on Okonkwo Character Analysis Essay or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Okonkwo has been through very many hardships in his life including being treated poorly by his father who he views as an anti-role model in a way which has heavily influenced the way he is now and how he treats himself and his tribe mates. Firstly, his constant desire to be as distant from his father as possible has created the fear of being like him or polluting his life with laziness and irresponsibility which lets him focus his time on his tribe mates and family. Secondly, Okonkwo has identified the way his father raised him and he is constantly trying to raise his family differently but occasionally lets fear get the best of him and he starts to act violent. Lastly, Okonkwo’s decision to take in Ikemefuna and keep him in his family shows how he is accepting of others and is willing to accept another child, something his father probably would not have done. Okonkwo’s father clearly had a strong influence on his life and the decisions Okonkwo makes show his differences from his father. Okonkwo’s harbouring of his sentimental emotions is a crucial part of his personality which makes him the way he is, for example, Okonkwo hates music ecause of the emotion that is required to create it, he rejects the idea of meaningful conversation because he considers it to be soft, and as he ages, he is rejecting the increasingly obvious fact that violence does not constitute inner strength. Firstly, it is revealed in the novel that Okonkwo does not like music and that he is bad at playing it which shows that he lacks the ability to express his emotions through listening to or creating music. Furthermore, Okonkwo’s ideals of not liking conversation and considering them weak goes against the mentality of his village which believes that â€Å"conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten. † Lastly, as Okonkwo gets older, he is slowly realising that his violent ways are not truly making him a strong person but are in fact, slowly destroying him but Okonkwo refuses to accept this and continues with his violent attitude. Okonkwo has trouble revealing his true emotions ad even though they are present, he would never express them to anyone. Okonkwo may try to act â€Å"manly† and strong when in the presence of others, but Okonkwo does possess sentimental emotions that he claims to view as weak which make up an important part of him. Firstly, when Okonkwo is told that Ezinma is dying, he becomes worried and afraid of her dying and he evens begins to search for medicines in order to help her get better and defies the gods by following Chielo to the cave of the oracle to be sure that his daughter will be ok. Also around this time in the book, Okonkwo goes to Ekwefi and sits with her while Ezinma is taken into the cave of the oracle which shows that he cares about his wife’s feelings despite his general bitterness towards his wives. Lastly, Okonkwo’s feelings of sadness and grief when Ikemefuna dies shows that he is capable of sadness and love of his children, even ones who aren’t directly his. Okonkwo’s manly exterior does not reflect his interior emotions and the troubles he has experienced in his life definitely impact this. Okonkwo is a very complex character that has experienced many hardships in his life which have made him a very bitter person on the outside but still a kind hearted person on the inside. Okonkwo knows what is right and looks out for the people he cares about, however, his upbringing, his â€Å"strong† mentality, and his views on life have all distorted his personality to be much colder than how he truly is.

Finance- understanding cost, revenue and profit for a business Essay Example

Finance Finance- understanding cost, revenue and profit for a business Essay Finance- understanding cost, revenue and profit for a business Essay In accounting, costs are the monetary value of expenditures for supplies, services, labour, products, equipment and other items purchased for use by a business or other accounting entity. Here are some of the costs a business needs to know: * Fixed * Start-up cost : * Variable * Total * Marginal * Semi-fixed costs * Direct costs * Indirect costs * Average * Operating costs Fixed costs These costs do not change however many units of a product are made. Factory rent, insurance premiums and administration salaries stay the same, whether the factory is working at full capacity or producing nothing. The owner of the business may have taken out a loan to buy equipment or refurbish a building. The loan will have to be repaid whether or not the business has customers. Variable costs Variable costs change as output changes. For example, the amount of raw materials needed varies as the levels of output go up or down. Piece-work wages also fluctuate, depending on the employees efficiency and the demand for the companys products. Start- up costs These are incurred before a business begins to operate, such as the purchase of land, building and equipments. Total costs The fixed costs and the variable costs are added together to establish the total costs. The fixed costs remain constant, but the variable costs increase in direct proportion with output. Marginal costs Using marginal cost is a way of measuring how much more it will cost a company to make one more individual item. Semi-fixed costs Semi-fixed costs are costs which only change when there is a large change in output. For example, costs associated with buying a new machine to cope with increased production. Also telephones and electricity for instance have a fixed and variable element: a standard line rental and then a charge for each call/unit of electricity after that. Direct costs Direct costs are costs which can be identified directly with the production of a good or service; e.g. raw materials. Indirect costs Indirect costs are costs which cannot be matched against each product because they need to be paid whether or not the production of good or services takes place; e.g. rent on the premises. Classification of costs help allocate costs to right parts of the profit and loss account and also helps analysis of the break even point of the business. Average costs The example of the CD shows the benefits of economies of scale, where mass production results in a lower unit cost. The reason is that the fixed costs do not change and are spread across a greater level of output. Finding out the average cost of production helps a firm to monitor its progress, and makes it easier to set prices. It is calculated by dividing total cost by total output. Using the example of the compact disc firm above: Total costs / Total output = Average cost of production à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1,000 / 100 CDs = à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½10 per CD This might seem expensive, but if the firm produces another hundred units at a marginal cost of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1.00 per CD, its average cost will fall radically: Total costs / Total output = Average cost of production à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1,100 / 200 CDs = à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½5.50 per CD The firm can use this information to decide whether it is worth accepting a new order for goods. Operating costs Variables costs and fixed costs added together are known as operating or running costs since they are both incurred when a business is running. Revenue In business, revenue or revenues is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. Sales these are the main source of revenue for most organisations because customers pay for the goods or services they buy. Leasing a part of a building to another business can also provide a source of income. Some businesses specialise in leasing cars or equipment to other organisations. Interest this earned when a business has no money in an interest bearing accounts at the bank. Calculating total revenue To do this we need two items of information: * The selling price * The number sold We then need use the following formula: Profit Profit generally is the making of gain in business activity for the benefit of the owners of the business. Profit is the difference between the income of the business and all its costs/expenses. It is normally measured over a period of time. Profit is important in three ways: 1. It rewards the business people who have taken risks to run it 2. It provides the funds to develop the business further 3. It is a source of cash, which allows the business to meet its debts Gross profit This is the difference between sales income and the direct costs of making those products. Gross profit is used as a performance indicator to help the business make decisions over its pricing policies and use of materials. In the example, the business had sales of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½18,000 over the year. Its cost of sales was à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½4,850 and its gross profit, therefore, was à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½13,150. Trading Account for Filling Snacks for year ended 31 December, 2000 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Sales 18,000 less Cost of Sales Opening Stock 750 Purchases 5000 Closing Stock (900) (4,850) Gross Profit 13,150 Net profit Net profit represents gross profit less all expenses associated with the normal running of the business. Net profit shows how well the business performs under its normal trading circumstances. It is used to calculate the primary efficiency ratio. Net profit is the final profit of the business. It is the amount of profit made by the owners of the business at the end of the period. In this Example when we take expenses into account, we can see that what was a gross profit of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½13,150 is now a net loss of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1,650. Trading and Profit Loss Account for Filling Snacks for year ended 31 December, 2000 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Sales 18,000 less Cost of Sales Opening Stock 750 Purchases 5,000 Closing Stock (900) (4,850) Gross Profit 13,150 less Expenses Rent 10,000 Interest Payments 1,800 Light Heat 1,500 Advertising 500 Other 1,000 (14,800) Net Profit (1,650) Retained profit Retained profit is the profit left over after the shareholders have been paid their dividends. Retained profit is normally reinvested in the business. Profit is important to a business because it is a reward to the owners of the business. They have taken risks with their money and time. If there was no profit, then there would be little point in starting up or putting more money into the business, they might as well put the money into a bank or building society Profit maximization Profit maximization is the process by which a firm determines the price and output level that returns the greatest profit. There are several approaches to this problem. The total revenue total cost method relies on the fact that profit equals revenue minus cost. There are two basic ways of improving profits: * Increasing sales income * Reducing running costs Increasing sales income There are different ways of trying to achieve this. They all have risks as shown in the charts. Methods Risks Increase prise Sales could fail Reduce prices to increase sales Not enough extra sales would be made to compensate Reducing operating costs We already know that cost fall in to two variables and fixed. Many business have operating cost like bills, labours, raw materials etc. An example of reducing operating profit is given below, a valeting business have a list which begins: Staff wages à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½200,000 Property rental à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½50,000 And end with Ball pens à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½20.00 Paper clips à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½4.50 Method of reducing costs falls into main categories: * Minimising usage * Finding the best purchase deal Item Use less Reduce purchase price Labour Reduce staff levels by increasing number of automated or computerised operations Increase productivity sub-contract work to cheapest bidder Raw materials Use fewer materials in product Look for a cheaper supplier Gas, water and electricity Replace older item with efficient ones, e.g. Energy- saving bulbs, light which turn off automatically. Switch utility company if this would reduced costs Consumable items, e.g. stationary Send documents by e-mail rather than by post. Shop around for cheaper suppliers and investigate online source The importance of profit After tax is paid the business can spend the remaining money in several ways. If the business is a limited company with shareholders, some of the profits will be paid as dividends. These are the rewards paid to shareholders for investing their money- similar to the interest you if you save money in the bank.

The History of Chemical Explosives

The History of Chemical Explosives An explosion can be defined as the rapid expansion of a material or device that exerts a sudden pressure on its surroundings. It can be caused by one of three things: a chemical reaction that occurs during conversion of elemental compounds, a mechanical or physical impact, or a nuclear reaction on the atomic/subatomic level. Gasoline exploding when ignited is a chemical explosion brought about by the sudden conversion of a hydrocarbon to carbon dioxide and water. The explosion that occurs when meteor strikes the earth is a mechanical explosion. And a nuclear warhead explosion is the result of the nucleus of a radioactive substance, like plutonium, suddenly splitting apart in an uncontrolled fashion. But it is chemical explosives that are the most common form of explosives in human history, used both for creative/commercial and destructive effect. The strength of a given explosive is measured that the rate of expansion it exhibits during detonation. Lets look briefly at some common chemical explosives. Black Powder It is unknown who invented the first explosive black powder. Black powder, also known as gunpowder, is a mixture of saltpeter (potassium nitrate), sulfur, and charcoal (carbon). It originated in China around in the ninth century and was in wide use throughout Asia and Europe by the end of the 13th century. It was commonly used in fireworks and signals, as well as in mining and building operations. Black powder is the oldest form of ballistic propellant and it was used with early muzzle-type firearms and other artillery uses. In 1831, William Bickford an English leather merchant invented the first safety fuse. Using a safety fuse made black powder explosives more practical and safer. But because black powder is messy explosive, by the end of the 18th century it was replaced by high explosives and by cleaner smokeless powder explosives, such as what is currently used in firearm ammunition. Black powder is categorized as a low explosive because it expands and subsonic speeds when it detonates. High explosives, by contract, expand as supersonic speeds, thereby creating much more force. Nitroglycerin Nitroglycerin is a chemical explosive that was discovered by Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero in 1846. It was the first explosive developed that was more powerful than black powder, Nitroglycerin is a mix of nitric acid, sulphuric acid, and glycerol, and it is highly volatile. Its inventor, Sobrero, warned against its potential dangers, but Alfred Nobel adopted it as a commercial explosive in 1864. Several serious accidents, however, caused pure liquid nitroglycerin to be widely banned, leading to Nobels eventual invention of dynamite. Nitrocellulose In 1846, Chemist Christian Schonbein discovered nitrocellulose, also called guncotton, when he accidentally spilled a mixture of potent nitric acid on a cotton apron and the apron exploded as it dried. Experiments by Schonbein and others quickly established a means of manufacturing guncotton safely, and because it had a clean, explosive power almost six times greater than black powder, it quickly was adopted for use as means for propelling projectiles in weapons.   TNT In 1863, TNT or Trinitrotoluene was invented by German chemist Joseph Wilbrand. Originally formulated as a yellow dye, its explosive properties were not immediately evident. Its stablity was such that it could be safely poured into shell casings, and in the early 20th century it came into standard usage for German and British military munitions. Considered a high explosive, TNT is still in common use by the U.S. military and by construction companies around the world.   Blasting Cap In 1865, Alfred Nobel invented the blasting cap. The blasting cap provided a safer and dependable means of detonating nitroglycerin. Dynamite In 1867, Alfred Nobel patented dynamite, a high explosive that consisted of a mixture of three parts nitroglycerine, one part diatomaceous earth (ground silica rock) as an absorbent, and a small amount of sodium carbonate antacid as a stabilizer. The resultant mixture was considerably safer than pure nitroglycerine, as well as being much more powerful than black powder. Other materials are now used as the absorbent and stabilizing agents, but dynamite remains the premier explosive for use in commercial mining and construction demolition. Smokeless Powders In 1888, Alfred Nobel invented a dense smokeless powder explosive called ballistite. In 1889, Sir James Dewar and Sir Frederick Abel invented another smokeless gunpowder called cordite. Cordite was made of  nitroglycerin, guncotton, and a petroleum substance gelatinized by addition of acetone. Later variations of these smokeless powders form the propellant for most modern firearms and artillery. Modern Explosives Since 1955, a variety of additional high explosives has been developed. Created mostly for military use, they also have commercial applications, such as in deep drilling operations.  Explosives such as nitrate-fuel oil mixtures or ANFO and ammonium nitrate-base water gels now account for seventy percent of the explosives market. These explosives come in various types including: HMXRDXHNIWONC

Corporate finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 4

Corporate finance - Essay Example Breakavia is a newly formed country. The country has been formed recently by splitting from earlier communist states. The newly formed government of this country has recognised that there are many advantages in developing a democratic country and forming capital principles to regulate the country. Government also identified that the country has enough natural resources like oil and mineral reserves and therefore, it can functions as an independent state depending upon these huge natural resources sufficient for sustainable development of the country. As a newly developed country, the government thinks to invite the European multinational companies to enter to this market and use the natural resources which lead to overall development of the country in terms of many areas like economic development and employment and many more. For this purpose, the finance department of the country has decided to develop a standard tax regime and banking systems which will provide low cost finance for commercial and domestic housing development opportunity for developing tourism industry in the country. The government is also aiming to setting up Stock Exchange in Heeritis, the capital of this newly formed country. Therefore, to develop corporate sectors consists of domestic as well as foreign companies; the government is seeking corporate financial advice regarding development of a standardised corporate reporting for regulating businesses sector in the country. For this purpose, the finance minister of this country needs advice regarding two important areas of corporate finance. First, advice for standardised corporate reporting development by adopting any existing international standardised financial reporting. Second is importance of corporate governance in business and as an important part of annual corporate report the companies. International Accounting Standard

Communication questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Communication questions - Essay Example Creation of external conditions in invitational rhetoric provides an avenue where the rhetor is open to external ideas. The audience provides the rhetor with external ideas through open sharing and discussion of ideas through one on one interaction. This interaction ends when both parties reach a common understanding. 1. Confidence and organization of materials for presentation are important credibility factors. Confidence demands that one is articulate in bringing out their ideas. Confidence during presentation shows that one has the necessary knowledge and expertise in the subject. Proper organization of materials ensures proper presentation. The audience is always keen during the presentation and they look to find errors. Meaningful transition from one material to another is perceived to be a factor of credibility. 2. An organizational pattern helps an organization to have a clear and concise outline of how to achieve its goals. The pattern should be able to make sense to the reader for easy understanding of the information. A sequential organizational pattern can be used to provide step by step information for a particular process. 3. During my presentation, the introduction should be based on self-introduction and my subject of presentation. The conclusion will be a summary of the main points. Introduction is about self –introduction, introduction of subject, how the presentation will be, and an outline of what I expect from the audience. Introduction helps to gain the attention of the audience. The conclusion helps in creating a lasting impression on the audience in regard to the quality of you work. 4. For effective elaboration I could apply the use of diagrams, use power point presentation, engage the audience through discussions, and through innovative presentation ideas and concepts. Visual diagrams help the audience develop a clear picture of the subject of presentation. Power point presentation helps

Marketing Needs And Challenges Of Small Businesses Marketing Essay

Marketing Needs And Challenges Of Small Businesses Marketing Essay Introduction This essay deals with the marketing needs and challenges of small businesses, with particular regard to the differences in these areas between small and big firms. Small businesses are steadily increasing their contribution to the economies of the developed nations. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) currently provide employment to more than 33% of the UK labour force and account for just about less than 50% of the countrys total private sector business turnover (Longenecker, et al, 2005). The small sector is for all practical purposes driven by the energy, motivation, and drive of entrepreneurial owners, rather than by the abilities and skills of appropriately educated and trained professional managers (Odaka Sawai, 1999). Small business owners are driven to establish their organisations by reasons like entrepreneurial zeal, the desire for independence in working and decision making, craving for wealth, and the need to exploit original and innovative ideas and concepts for products and services (Odaka Sawai, 1999). Such entrepreneurs play vital roles in the economies of their nations, assume various operational and financial risks, and face difficult business challenges in their quest for business success (Odaka Sawai, 1999). One of their most important challenges lies in the area of marketing. All businesses need to successfully sell their products and services to customers in order to achieve business success and competitive advantage, and small businesses are no exception to this rule (Pelham Clayson, 1998). Whilst marketing success is imperative for the operational and financial success and growth of small and entrepreneurial firms, such organisations face numerous complex and difficult challenges in the pursuit of such objective (Pelham Clayson, 1998). The marketing environments and challenges of small firms are significantly different from those of larger organisations. Such differences arise on account of various reasons like product range, geographical distribution, pricing considerations, customer segmentation, and availability of funds (Pelham Clayson, 1998). Much of the success of the owners of small enterprises stems from their ability to recognise and overcome such challenges and formulate appropriate and effective marketing plans and strategies for their products and services (Pelham Clayson, 1998). This essay examines the important differences between the marketing challenges and options of small and big firms, the various dimensions of the marketing environments of small firms and the various challenges they are likely to encounter in the course of their business. The study also investigates the ways and means that can be used by small organisations to effectively market their products and services, and attempts to recommend the best ways and means for small entrepreneurs and business owners to improve the effectiveness of their marketing efforts and enhance their competitive advantage. The Importance of Marketing for Small Businesses The establishment and growth of small businesses is driven by the zeal and enthusiasm of individual entrepreneurs (Odaka Sawai, 1999). These individuals wish to develop and build independent enterprises and often feel that they have product or service with unique and specific attributes that will appeal to customers (Odaka Sawai, 1999). Such entrepreneurs are characterised by their optimism, enthusiasm and belief and conviction in their ideas, as also by their confidence in their ability to achieve their objectives. They however operate with numerous constraints that stem from factors like scarcity of physical and financial resources, limited workforce, absence of experienced and specialist executives, and lack of established markets (Casson, et al, 2006). Few, if any of these entrepreneurs establish new organisations with firm and ready customers. Even operating small businesses work in similarly difficult and challenged circumstances (Casson, et al, 2006). Whilst it is undoubtedly appreciated by all small business owners that the ultimate operational and financial successes of their enterprises, as also the maintenance and enhancement of competitive advantage, is significantly dependent upon their marketing sales performance, very few of such business people are able to effectively locate, focus upon, and exploit market opportunities through the formulation and execution of appropriate marketing strategies (Sadler-Smith, et al, 2003). The intentions and plans of small entrepreneurs and business owners to enhance their marketing effectiveness and sales performance are constrained by numerous challenges and obstacles, some of which occur because of internal weaknesses and others on account of environmental circumstances (Sadler-Smith, et al, 2003). Small and large businesses differ in numerous ways. Large businesses, even if they are recently established, are supported with strong financial resources from individual stockholders and financial institutions (Voss, et al, 2002). Other established and older large businesses furthermore have numerous organisational strengths that stem from extensive and developed production facilities, high quality organisational talent, research and development abilities and expertise, access to specialist advisers and consultants, extensive product range, established working processes for maintenance and improvement of quality, economies of scale, greater market reach, operations in different geographic locations, established market name and image, and well known brands (Voss, et al, 2002). Whilst all large organisations may not possess all these strengths and attributes, it is difficult to conceive many of them would have achieved significant growth in size and scale and still continue to be without many of these features (Welsch, 2003). Such strengths and attributes combine to provide large organisations with exceptional marketing advantages in terms of existing customer base, strong customer relationships, greater range of products and services, good product quality, attractive pricing, geographical reach, and brand recall (Welsch, 2003). Small businesses are comparably disadvantaged on many fronts (Weinrauch, et al, 1991). Most of them have restricted product ranges and whilst their operational costs are lower than those of larger businesses, they are unable to access economies of scale and sustain prices that are truly competitive and attractive (Weinrauch, et al, 1991). Such businesses also suffer from lack of uniform and appropriately designed working processes and quality control procedures, which often result in the generation of products and services of variable and occasionally doubtful quality (Weinrauch, et al, 1991). The absence of skilled management talent compels the owners of such businesses to personally supervise numerous and varied operations and makes it difficult for them to truly focus on marketing requirements, strategies and plans (Weinrauch, et al, 1991). This often results in ad hoc or inappropriately formulated and implemented marketing initiatives (Welsch, 2003). The lack of financial resourc es on the other hand constrains such businesses from engaging in expensive advertising and brand building strategies (Welsch, 2003). Such constraints, singly and jointly, make it extremely challenging for small firms to compete effectively in the market place, not just with larger competitors, but also with the many small firms that clutter most business sectors that do not ask for substantial investment of capital, technology or other resources (Welsch, 2003). Whilst small businesses, when compared to large businesses, do suffer from numerous internal and external disadvantages, which in turn challenge their marketing and sales efforts, they also have certain attributes that can, if effectively used, help them in the market place (Casson, et al, 2006). With small businesses largely being owner driven and having short chains of command, their decision making processes are often significantly faster than those of large businesses (Casson, et al, 2006). This enables them to be much more nimble in the market place and enables them to respond swiftly to marketing and customer needs (Casson, et al, 2006). The major strength of small businesses emanate from their owner managers, the majority of whom are entrepreneurial in nature and possess a number of traits that can help their organisations in various ways in the market place. Douglas Griest, (2010), found in the course of a review of 23 studies on comparisons of large organisation managers wit h small company entrepreneurs that such entrepreneurs were more likely to be creative, innovative, and open to new ideas than managers of larger organisations (Griest, 2010). Griest also found that entrepreneurs were expected to be more confident, tough, demanding, driven by needs for achievement and recognition, and aggressive in the market place. Entrepreneurs are also more likely to engage in environmental scanning for location of opportunities, develop strategies for the exploitation of opportunities and adapt to change, operate with flat management structures and make use of informal networks than large company managers (Griest, 2010). Many of them also have creative minds and are able to develop truly innovative and need fulfilling products and services (Griest, 2010). It is apparent from the preceding discussion that the marketing challenges and environments of small firms are significantly different from those of large firms. Whilst the market competitiveness of small firms is seriously affected by the lack of different types of organisational resources, skills and strengths, they have the advantages of low operational costs, swift decision making abilities and the inclinations and tendencies to move with agility in the market place in response to customer needs. Suggestions for Marketing Strategies for Small Firms Owner entrepreneurs, as well as managements of small companies must essentially understand the importance of marketing for the performance, growth and competitive advantage of their organisations. Small business owners, as stated earlier, are often challenged by various responsibilities and the need to oversee different operational functions like production, finance and accounts (Wolff Pett, 2006). They also have to regularly cope with the compliance needs of various legal and regulatory authorities. These pressures thus lead to a dissipation of effort, dilution of focus from important activities and confusion over prioritisation of managerial tasks (Wolff Pett, 2006). Emergent issues in areas of production, HR and environmental management often consume substantial chunks of available managerial time (Wolff Pett, 2006). It is, in these circumstances, essentially imperative for managements to realise that marketing constitutes one of the most important of organisational areas, especially so in smaller organisations that have to constantly face competition from various small and large organisations in their business sectors and are otherwise constrained by a range of internal and external issues (Voss, et al, 2002). The managements of small firms must realise that effective marketing is important for increase of consumer demand, better consumer relationship management, improved organisational image, development of organisational and product brands, enhancement of sales and growth of profits (Voss, et al, 2002). Lack of attention to the marketing function can prove to be devastated to such organisations and result in reduction of consumer base, lack of consumer awareness, reduction in sales, profits and cash flows, lessening of competitive advantage and finally even to organisational decline and demise (Voss, et al, 2002). It is thus critical for small company owners to understand the importance of marketing for organisational health and wellbeing and prioritise their activities accordingly (Voss, et al, 2002). It is thereafter important to focus on marketing and develop appropriate marketing plans that address the immediate and midterm strategic and marketing objectives of individual organisations (Welsch, 2003). Marketing plans are complex exercises that entail critical evaluation of external environmental conditions, competitive evaluation and analysis, market analysis and customer segmentation with the use of various tools like Porters Five Forces analysis, examination of organisational strengths and weaknesses and finally the development of appropriate marketing mix and marketing budgets (Welsch, 2003). Owners of many small organisations feel such exercises to be too detailed, elaborate and essentially suited for large organisations (Welsch, 2003). Such attitudes are however fundamentally erroneous and lead to the development of organisational and marketing strategies and action plans that are often impulsive and heuristic in nature and taken without information and analysis of importa nt environmental and organisational factors that could strongly impact the working of such organisations (Welsch, 2003). It is important for small organisations to engage in marketing analysis and develop marketing plans, even if they are conducted with lesser detail and greater simplicity than in large organisations (Pelham Clayson, 1998). Such an analysis will help managements to understand the different environmental variables that can affect their business, the strengths and weaknesses of their competitors, their own strengths and weaknesses and available opportunities and potential threats (Pelham Clayson, 1998). Such analysis will enable them to ensure that their marketing strategies do not run counter to environmental forces and that they can use their strengths to exploit market opportunities (Pelham Clayson, 1998). The development of an appropriate marketing mix is one of the most important objectives and outcomes of a properly executed marketing plan (Longenecker, et al, 2005). The marketing mix essentially details organisational strategies in areas of product placement, pricing, distribution and promotion (Longenecker, et al, 2005). The development of a marketing plan will help small business owners to focus on these individual elements and take appropriate decisions after consideration of the actions of their competitors, environmental conditions, consumer needs and available resources (Longenecker, et al, 2005). Many small organisations again feel the development of a marketing plan to be superfluous and irrelevant and engage in decisions that are primarily based upon hunches, perceptions and attitudes (Maritz, 2008). Such attitudes are, as stated before fundamentally erroneous and can lead to the overlooking of important issues and lead to adverse operational, marketing and organisational outcomes (Maritz, 2008). Greater stress on pricing and lesser emphasis on distribution and advertising is a common mistake of most small business owners who work on the assumption that the offering of cheap prices is the most important marketing strategy (Maritz, 2008). Such an attitude could however lead to lack of awareness about the product or service and its unavailability to customers who are willing to try them out (Maritz, 2008). The development of a marketing plan also may compels small business owners, not only to realise and understand a range of marketing issues but also builds an appreciation of the differences between small and large organisations in different operational and marketing areas. Small entrepreneurs and business owners must realise the completely different marketing challenges that face large and small organisations and adopt appropriate marketing mixes that are customised for their individual circumstances and organisations (Pelham Clayson, 1998). Small business owners must focus individually on each separate element of the product mix. The first element of the marketing mix concerns product positioning and placement (Pelham Clayson, 1998). Michael Porter in his theory of generic strategies states that business firms essentially need to decide between following a strategy of low cost or of product differentiation (Porter, 1998). Whilst Porters theory of generic strategies has been critiqued extensively with experts showing that it is possible for organisations in certain situations to differentiate their products as well as offer attractive prices, its tenets by and large hold good for small companies (Porter, 1998). Owners of small companies often feel th at they can achieve competitive advantage because of their lower overheads. Such a concept is however fundamentally fallacious because it is difficult for such companies to truly achieve the scale economies that are possessed by larger organisations (Odaka Sawai, 1999). Increased focus on reduction of costs thus leads to corner cutting and ultimately to lower product quality. It is thus eminently advisable for small business owners to position their products differently from those of their competitors through the adoption of appropriate product differentiation strategies that could stem out of unique product features or specific quality attributes (Odaka Sawai, 1999). Marketing experts feel that small businesses are ideally placed for the development of small marketing niches that allow them to focus on one specific segment (Van Der Hope, 2008). Niche marketing is primarily an extension of the differentiation strategy advanced by Michael Porter. It is ideal for small companies because it allows them to concentrate their organisational, operational and marketing resources on one specific market segment and develop a product that is different from others and services the needs of a specific segment (Van Der Hope, 2008). Whilst niche marketing is particularly suitable for small companies, it does have the risks of small market size (Van Der Hope, 2008). Demand in such circumstances is sustained by loyal customers rather than growing target segments, it is also not very conducive to achievement of scale economies (Van Der Hope, 2008). Small businesses, apart from focusing on the positioning of their products and services must also formulate strategies for distribution and promotion (Hills, et al, 2008). Both distribution and promotion are expensive operations and concern numerous external agencies like distributors, retailers and advertising agencies (Hills, et al, 2008). Small businesses must carefully look at the implications and costs of various distribution and promotional strategies to ensure optimisation of organisational spends and efforts (Hills, et al, 2008). Many small organisations refuse to face these problems squarely and end up operating within very small local areas and without any effective promotional activities (Hills, et al, 2008). Whilst such constraints were undoubtedly true to some extent in the past, the advent of the internet and its progressive proliferation across the world has changed the distribution and promotion opportunities of small firms beyond recognition (Mohan-Neill, 2006). Online marketing provides various opportunities to small organisations to distribute and promote their products (Mohan-Neill, 2006). Numerous small organisations across the world provide a range of services in different areas of life that are delivered online across the internet to different areas of the world (Mohan-Neill, 2006). Many organisations that do not have products that can be distributed online use the internet to take orders and payments and thereafter deliver products and services through physical means like mail and courier (Mohan-Neill, 2006). The internet has also opened up numerous promotional avenues, not only through optimisation of website traffic through use of search engines but also through the use of numerous social networking alternative like facebook, my space, twitter and YouTube (Maritz, 2008). Owners of small businesses should carefully formulate, develop and implement distribution and promotion plans in order to take maximum advantage of the various physical and online options that are available in the contemporary age (Maritz, 2008). Marketing plans should be integrated, make use of different marketing communication options like advertising, physical promotions and PR and most importantly make substantial use of online facilities (Maritz, 2008). Conclusions This essay deals with the marketing challenges of small businesses, the ways in which these challenges are different from those faced by large organisations and the ways in which small businesses can optimise their marketing strategies and efforts. Small businesses are challenged by a number of marketing and environmental factors and are constrained by the various limitations of size and resources. Such factors are significantly different from those influencing the options and alternatives of larger organisations and need to be comprehensively examined and analysed for formulation and development of appropriate strategies for achievement of business success, organisational growth and competitive advantage. Whilst small businesses do face numerous constrains and difficulties in marketing their goods and services, numerous opportunities have developed in recent years in areas of niche marketing and in distribution and promotion of their products with the use of online channels. It is important for owners of small businesses to carefully assess their environmental and organisational circumstances, identify businesses opportunities and make the best possible use of modern facilities for marketing their products, reaching customers and building strong customer relationships. Recent years have witnessed the phenomenal growth of small business start ups in the online domain. Whilst small business owners do face numerous difficulties and challenges thoughtful analysis of marketing conditions, prioritisation of work and effective use of available facilities can certainly help them in growing their business and achieving organisational success.

Assignment 4: Internet Technology, Marketing, and Security Essay

Assignment 4: Internet Technology, Marketing, and Security The purpose of this assignment is to â€Å"evaluate the reasons Social Media Marketing has become exceedingly popular among businesses of all sizes. Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of Social Media Marketing for business entrepreneurs. Assess how Social Media Marketing is helping Pepsi gain more customer insight than it would have otherwise. Research two (2) other businesses that have used Social Media Marketing to their advantage. Discuss how each of these businesses has utilized Social Media Marketing and provide examples with your discussion. Speculate what impact Social Media will have business over the next decade and identify what skills you need to improve to take advantage of the changes (Boone, Kurtz, 2012).† Evaluate the reasons Social Media Marketing has become exceedingly popular among businesses of all sizes. â€Å"The experimentation era in social media marketing is long over. Social media has proven to be a viable and potentially lucrative marketing channel for B2B and B2C companies of all sizes, across the globe. As more and more companies jump on the social media bandwagon, it is more important now than ever that you provide value, not add to the clutter already on the social web. The reigning champions of social media are the brands that listen to their community, and deliver worthwhile information based on what they hear (Top Rank, 2013).† Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of Social Media Marketing for business entrepreneurs. â€Å"Your online advertising strategy might include paid advertising on search networks such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo. Social ads on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn may also be effective tools for your messaging. Our first step is to determine your goals and where your audience lives, in order to place your brand in front of the right people, in the right place, at the right time (Top Rank, 2013).† â€Å"Through compelling, creative copy and imagery, our search, display and social ads inspire your audience to take your desired action, whether your intent is to: †¢ Attract new prospects and customers †¢ Engage consumers and build community around your brand †¢ Convert prospects to loyal customers (Top Rank, 2013).†. â€Å"Regular reporting and ongoing optimization ensures you receive maximum accountability and the best results possible from your online campaigns (Top Rank, 2013).† Assess how Social Media Marketing is helping Pepsi gain more customer insight than it would have otherwise. â€Å"The rise of social and mobile is rewriting the marketing playbook for even the most established companies. While many brands are still casting a wary eye at social media for business, Pepsi has embraced the technology, carving out an ambitious social strategy aimed at building relationships with the Millennial generation, soon to be the largest consumer group in US history (Social, 2012).† â€Å"A recent article by David Hatch of US News and World Report does a great job of breaking down Pepsi’s social strategy, the centerpiece of which is its â€Å"Live For Now† marketing campaign. The campaign, targeting 18-35 year olds, is a great example of an established brand effectively utilizing five critical aspects of social media marketing: consumer engagement, user-generated content, data aggregation, geo-local, and inbound marketing (Social, 2012).† DYNAMIC CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT â€Å"Pepsi’s new digital dashboard is the most recent iteration of an online strategy that included last year’s debut of Pepsi Pulse and Sound Off, online destinations that encouraged visitors to comment on The X-Factor, a Fox network reality television show whose sponsors include Pepsi (Social, 2012).† â€Å"To further engage its online community, the song selection and encores for a Pepsi concert series this summer featuring major artists will be chosen in part by tweets from the live audience and people watching online (Social, 2012).† â€Å"Pepsi is learning that if you want to remain relevant with this new type of consumer, you have to be where they are, you have to talk their language,† and you have to connect with them in a way that â€Å"keeps them feeling like they want to be part of your brand,† says Brian Solis, a principal analyst at the Altimeter Group. Connected consumers, he adds, are â€Å"getting groomed and conditioned to expect the world to come to them (Social, 2012).† â€Å"USER-GENERATED CONTENT ‘Social media marketing is becoming increasingly dependent on user-generated content, meaning reviews, comment, or any other input from customers. Peer influence has a measurable impact on consumer purchase decision, especially among Millennials (Social, 2012).† â€Å"Understanding this, Pepsi has created a new digital dashboard on their Pepsi.com place page to support the Live For Now campaign, highlighted by user-generated messages from Facebook and Twitter that include the #LiveForNow hashtag (Social, 2012).† â€Å"Moreover, with the help of SocialFlow, a tool that ranks the popularity of editorial content within audience segments, Pepsi is paying attention to what their target audience is interested in. â€Å"It’s all about that movement [online], and where people’s time is being spent,† says George Smith, senior manager, social strategy and execution, for Pepsi Beverages (Social, 2012).† â€Å"Actually listening to consumers in order to understand their wants and needs builds user loyalty, creating brand evangelists who will spread the word and act as online defenders of the company brand (Social, 2012).† â€Å"Moreover, by monitoring what people say online about its products, Pepsi is able to manage user complaints in real time, before they take on a life of their own (Social, 2012).† â€Å"DATA AGGREGATION â€Å"Unlike traditional, harder-to-track advertising methods such as TV and print, social media provides a wealth of statistics about the age, gender, demographics, interests, and reactions of consumers. As Smith notes, â€Å"With digital, you end up with a lot of extra data, and you end up with a lot more understanding of who your consumer is (Social, 2012).† â€Å"This consumer data helps Pepsi refine its consumer engagement model, the effect of which is to attract new fans, and thus more data (Social, 2012).† â€Å"GEO-LOCAL REACH â€Å"Pepsi is hopping on the newest trend in social: SoLoMo, or Social, Local, Mobile. Thanks to the massive consumer adaptation of smart phones, companies like Pepsi can integrate social media with location-based mobile marketing. (Social, 2012).† â€Å"Why do so? Because Pepsi can be more surgical about reaching populations in specific geographic areas. â€Å"We’re seeing good results from that,† Smith says, explaining that the company can target local audiences with specially tailored advertising messages fueled by location information provided in Facebook profiles (Social, 2012).† â€Å"This kind of micro-targeting allows brands to hunt consumers with a high-precision rifle instead of a shotgun (Social, 2012).† â€Å"INBOUND MARKETING Out with the push, in with the pull (Social, 2012).† â€Å"Pepsi has recognized that the tech-enabled power shift to the consumer has effectively neutralized many traditional forms of outbound, or push, marketing. Today’s savvy consumer wants to be listened to and courted by  marketers. They want direct channels of communication to brands. In short, consumers expect brands to employ inbound marketing best practices as an engagement model (Social, 2012).† â€Å"When done properly, this approach is a win-win for brands and consumers. Pepsi’s social strategist George Smith recognizes the mutual benefit of direct consumer interaction: â€Å"It’s nice to be able to have that direct conversation with them, and not have to rely on a specific media channel to push this, or buy TV constantly to push that message,† he says (Social, 2012).† â€Å"By last count, Pepsi’s 8,181,075 Facebook fans agree (Social, 2012).† Research two (2) other businesses that have used Social Media Marketing to their advantage. â€Å"At TopRank ® Online Marketing, we understand that your company’s success in social media requires a deep understanding of your customers’ needs and their journey throughout all stages of the buying cycle. We specialize in crafting targeted, high quality content that serves to attract, engage and even convert customers as they factor their social relationships into their purchasing decisions. Many companies offer social media marketing, yet we are one of the few with experience and proven results to consistently reach goals in branding, social PR, and even lead generation using social (Top Rank, 2013)† â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ BFM ® is a unique industrial pipe connector designed to provide safe, sanitary and efficient connections for the transportation and movement of powder within bulk powder processing plants (Top Rank, 2013).† Their objective was â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ develop a new website and launch a strategic online marketing program that would increase visitors as well as sales inquiries for the company†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Top Rank, 2013).† â€Å"The decision was made advertise their brand on the website utilizing search engine optimization (SEO) tactics: †¢ Website development and technical assessment †¢ Keyword research and content optimization †¢ Content promotion and link building †¢ Web analytics and conversion tracking (Top Rank, 2013).† These actions utilizing social media marketing resulted in, â€Å"†¦ website traffic increase more than 700% in its niche market. Additionally, with the launch of its creative campaign, The Powder Doctor, organic traffic to the company website has more than doubled. (Top Rank, 2013).† â€Å"Organic search, combined with the creative concept leveraged for online PR and email marketing campaigns, have helped to increase bottom line sales for the company by 83% (Top Rank, 2013).† Discuss how each of these businesses has utilized Social Media Marketing and provide examples with your discussion. â€Å"A success social media strategy ties outcomes to overarching business goals and connects you with the right prospects and customers on the proper platforms. It engages your loyal fans, friends, and followers through a combination of organic and paid media (Top Rank, 2013).† â€Å"Our social media marketing experience at TopRank spans all of the major social networks and a variety of niche sites, including Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, SlideShare, YouTube and more (Top Rank, 2013).† Speculate what impact Social Media will have business over the next decade and identify what skills you need to improve to take advantage of the changes. In closing, the purpose of this assignment is to â€Å"evaluate the reasons Social Media Marketing has become exceedingly popular among businesses of all sizes. Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of Social Media Marketing for business entrepreneurs. Assess how Social Media Marketing is helping Pepsi gain more customer insight than it would have otherwise. Research two (2) other businesses that have used Social Media Marketing to their advantage. Discuss how each of these businesses has utilized Social Media Marketing and provide examples with your discussion. Speculate what impact Social Media will have business over the next decade and identify what skills you need to improve to take advantage of the changes (Boone, Kurtz, 2012).† References Boone, L. E. & Kurtz, D. L. (2012 Update). Contemporary business (14th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John & Sons. Social Media Today (2012). 5 Ways Pepsi’s Use of Social Media is Right On. Retrieved from http://socialmediatoday.com/synecoretech/509355/5-ways-pepsis-use-social-media-right Top Rank (2013) Online Marketing. Retrieved from http://www.toprankmarketing.com /services/social-media-marketing// [pic][pic]