Digital Millenium Copyright Act Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Digital Millenium Copyright Act - Research Paper Example Additionally, DMCA created fines for people violating the Act that include up to $25,000 per download in civil court and up to $500,000 or up to five years in jail in criminal court (â€Å"Public†). Two of the biggest supporters of the DMCA were the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) – both groups that represent in the MPAA’s case film production companies and in the case of the RIAA, record companies. Both see illegal downloading, which is also called piracy, as a huge threat to their industries. The RIAA claims that in in 2009, 63 percent of all music possessed by Americans was illegally downloaded or otherwise â€Å"shared† at a profit loss to the music industry of up to $20 billion a year. (â€Å"Scope†) The MPAA says their levels of piracy are not yet that enormous, but in 2010 gave the example of the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which they claim was legally downloa ded 50,000 versus 1.1 million illegal downloads. (Zima 1) It’s important to note that the DMCA went into effect in 1998 to stop illegal downloading and yet, according to the RIAA and the MPAA, the situation is only getting worse. Napster, a peer-to-peer (P2P) downloading site that a RIAA member once called â€Å"the single most insidious website I’ve ever seen,† (â€Å"Recording†) didn’t start operations until several months after the DMCA was signed into law. So does the DMCA have any effect on piracy? Is this now nearly 13 year-old law still relevant to new technology? First, understand ­Ã‚ ­ that the DMCA didn’t outright ban all downloading of copyrighted material off the Internet. What it did was outlaw the use of technology to get around the anti-piracy technology that copyright holders added to digital technology. For example, the DMCA made illegal the creation and dissemination of software designed to override the anti-copy protecti on on a newly purchased CD, allowing that CD to be converted into MP3 or MP4 format – which then can be easily shared on-line or burned onto a blank CD. It did not specifically make it illegal to use a P2P downloading service to download pirated music or movies, but it did make it illegal to create and host a P2P downloading service where copyright protected digital material was knowingly made available by users, which was in a nutshell what caused Napster’s demise. (Skolnik 1) Here’s what the DMCA did do – it placed more restrictions on â€Å"fair use† of a copyrighted product. Fair use is â€Å"the principle that the public is entitled, without having to ask permission, to use copyrighted works in ways that do not unduly interfere with the copyright owner’s market for a work† (Von Lohmann). For example, it is presently within a person’s fair use rights to trade in or sell that DVD to a store for resale. But according to curre nt interpretations of DMCA, it is not within fair use for the person to use software to extract the electronic information from that DVD and convert the files so the movie can be played on an iPod – even if the person it only doing this for personal use and not with any intention of sharing the file. (Von Lohmann) As one critic of the DMCA puts it, â€Å"Photocopiers, VCRs, and CD-R burners can also be misused, but no one would suggest that the public give them up simply because they might be used by others to break the law†

Educational Issue in the U.S. Supreme Court Essay

Educational Issue in the U.S. Supreme Court - Essay Example In the words of the new Chief Justice at the time, John Roberts, "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.† This is a key remark and the key to understanding the view the court has taken of race and education since the landmark ruling of Brown v. Board of Education. What this really means for classroom practice is that we should see students for all that they are, not just the colour of their skin. Many people who wanted to so-called public school choice plans were keen to get more diversity in their school districts. That’s not a bad idea, but as with so many things when you being to legislate something that doesn’t always obvious follow. The government is not the best way to go about such business. Diversity is a lot more than race and using such superficial qualifications to impose diversity would likely not create diversity in the first place. The court ruled that looking on at race in the drive for greater diversity was unconstitutional and effectively a reversal of Brown v. Board of Education. Justice Breyer used a phrase, "Never in the history of the court have so few done so much so quickly." And he was talking about Chief Justice Roberts and Justice [Samuel] Alito making this court a far more conservative institution in just one year. And at that phrase, "And never have so few done so much so quickly," both Justice Alito and Chief Justice Roberts looked over at Breyer and went, whoa, thats pretty personal by the standards of the Supreme Court. (Toobin, 2007) It is clear that some parents may still have different views of what diversity means compared to the court and would like impose more racial diversity even if it means limiting students choice. It is important to be mindful of this. What this case also means is that there is a little bit of a rollback of the Nanny State is on that uses excessive state controls, be they regulations or laws, to restrict its

Literature Review On The Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay

Literature Review On The Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay The hospitality industry is experiencing growth even in times of recession. Between 2004 and 2014, the hospitality industry is expected to add 17 percent in wage and salary employment (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2006-07). A growing demand of hospitality workers can be translated into a growing need of hospitality educational programs to adequately prepare the workforce to meet present and future demands in this enormous industry. Programs need to provide an education that improves the employability of the hospitality graduates. However, employability of the future graduates will not increase until and unless they convincingly demonstrate the skills and competencies required in the workplace. In an education program, students develop skills and competencies through courses in various subject areas. In that aspect, the hospitality curriculum needs to prioritize the subject areas according to the perceived importance of the industry practitioners, and this prioritization has to be up-to-date to reflect the changing needs of the industry. Although curriculum of hospitality and tourism programs have been examined in a plethora of research studies, little attention is given to hospitality programs housed in accredited colleges of business. Because of the limitations obligated by the accrediting bodies, important aspects of the curriculum such as course offerings, and credits become restricted to certain extent. As a result, there is a need to evaluate the curriculum of such programs separately from other hospitality and tourism management programs such as the independent ones and those housed in various different colleges. Gursoy and Swanger (2004) investigated the curriculum of a hospitality and tourism management program housed in an accredited college of business. As part of their study, they ranked hospitality subject areas according to the perceptions of hospitality professionals, identified any gaps between the perceptions and the current curriculum and suggested a model of curriculum for hospitality programs in accredited colleges of Business. However, hospitality curriculum needs to be ongoing and relevant to the current industry needs and expectations. Also, the changing nature of the industry calls for recent graduates to reflect the changes and challenges of the industry. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to replicate Gursoy and Swangers (2004) study, and provide an updated ranking of the hospitality subject areas. In addition, the changing needs of the hospitality industry is highlighted through a comparison of their 2004 ranking with the current ranking of hospitality subject areas a ccording to hospitality professionals perceptions. As such, likely changes to the 2004 curriculum model are suggested based on the findings of this study. The specific research questions that will be answered through this study are: What are the current perceptions of industry professionals regarding the importance of course subject areas? Are there any significant changes in the perceptions of industry professionals in the last five years? Are there any gaps between the industry needs within the changing operational environment and the current hospitality curriculum? Literature Review Hospitality students have often been criticized for having unrealistic expectations of the types of responsibilities they may be given and consequently the types of skills they will be expected to exercise on entering the hospitality industry (Purcell and Quinn, 1996). At the same time, the industry often discounted a students formal qualifications on the grounds of lack of experience and frequently we hear the complaint that students are overqualified but under experienced for even entry level management positions (Raybould Wilkins, 2005). In order to bridge this gap, the hospitality programs underwent several changes in its content, focus, and structure. In 1996, Formica published a study of tourism and hospitality education in Europe and America that examined programs and future trends. In his study, he argued that there was an international movement that supported the emancipation of hospitality education from its vocational base to an academic field of inquiry. Formicas claim was later supported by Morrison and OMahony (2003) in their case study regarding the liberation of hospitality management education. Rappole (2000) stated that programs have shifted from a home-economics focus towards a business-related one and Chathoth and Sharma (2007) noted this as the likely reason behind the change in curricular structure of hospitality programs in the United States. Most programs in the 1980s and early 1990s were geared towards developing the operational skills of the students, but during the past decade, universities were focusing on both operational and management-related courses as part of the curriculum (Chathoth Sharma 2007; Rappo le, 2000).   Developing a hospitality curriculum broadly involve three major components: substantive knowledge, skills, and values (Dopson and Tas, 2004). While operational issues such as working knowledge of hospitality services were important (Kay and Russette 2000), managerial and behavioral issues such as managerial skills were often considered to be more important (Okeiyi, Finely and Postel 1994).  Thus, the hospitality curriculum should not only teach the students in crucial operational skills but also facilitate them to learn and demonstrate the art of management.   To accomplish this purpose, it was necessary to incorporate the perspectives of the industry professionals into the hospitality curriculum. This was basically achieved in two ways. First, regular industry professionals were invited to visit classrooms as guest lecturers and industry experts, or to participate in executive education programs, as part of the curriculum review process (Lefever Withiam, 1998). Second, comp etency models were devised through which industry practitioners ranked the competencies and content areas most important in the workplace. Educators then made a strong note of these important competencies, and likewise incorporated them into the curriculum. In the course of time, a wide number of studies were undertaken regarding identifying and ranking competencies of hospitality graduates. One of the first competency based studies in hospitality was undertaken by Buergermeister (1983) where he found human relation skills and attitudes to be a very important area for hospitality graduates. Among others, Tas (1988) put forward a hospitality curriculum by identifying 36 skills college graduates expected to possess from surveying general managers of 75 hotels. While, most competency based studies in hospitality management focused solely on the perceptions of the hospitality industry practitioners (Ashley et al. 1995; Breiter and Clements, 1996; Kriegl, 2000) a few incorporated the perspectives of educators along with the industry practitioners (Su et al. 1997; Tsai et al. 2006) and a few even added the perspectives of students to the group (Enz et al. 1993; Okeiyi et al.1994). Among the studies from the industrys perspective, the majority focused on either the hotel industry itself (Tas 1988; Siu 1998; Kay and Russette, 2000; Tesone and Ricci, 2006) or the overall hospitality industry (Ashley et al. 1995; Breiter and Clements, 1996), with a few focusing solely on other sectors such as the food service sector (Horng Lu, 2006; Okeiyi et al. 1994). Notable works in the competency-based approach include Chung-Herrera, Enz, and Lankaus (2003) presentation of an industry specific and future based leadership competency model. In their study, they identified and ranked 99 key hospitality work related competencies. In another case, Nelson and Dopson (2001) compared hotel managers, human resource specialists, and hospitality alumnis perceptions of competencies necessary for success in the hospitality field. Eventually, Dopson and Nelson (2003) ranked 37 course content areas using the same three groups, and found several differences in their perceived importance of those course content areas. Competency models were developed as a descriptive tool to identify, categorize and summarize competencies that might be relevant to perform a specific job effectively in an organization (Chung-Herrera et al., 2003). However, these competency models are often broad and generic in nature and lacks emphasis on specific hospitality skills. Employers, who generally do not want narrowly trained graduates, recognize the importance of generic competencies (Harvey, et. al., 1997). Raybould and Wilkins (2005) integrated a generic skill framework to rank important skill areas of hospitality graduates from both employers and students perspectives. However, the nature of hospitality workplace, demands mastery of both generic skill sets and hospitality specific skill sets. In that aspect, taking into account hospitality subject areas, and course content areas, provides an extensive representation of the skills and knowledge graduates will require at the workplace. Chung (2000) laid out an effective plan for reforming the hotel management curriculum of Korean universities based on required competencies of hotel employees and career success in the hotel industry. Their study found significant relationships between competencies required of hotel employees and hotel management courses of universities, between competencies required of hotel employees and career success in the hotel industry, between hotel management courses of universities and career success in the hotel industry, and last but not the least between hotel management courses of universities and their contribution to career development in the hotel industry. While this method might be easier for the industry practitioners to identify with, it might be difficult for educators to reform a programs curriculum based on such models because of the broad and diverse nature of such competencies. Since, there is a significant relationship between competencies required of hotel employees and ho tel management courses of universities, in this regard, it makes more sense if the industry practitioners rank the actual subject areas and course content areas offered in the curriculum. However, the subject areas and course content areas in the hospitality program might be difficult for industry practitioners to identify with especially if they are not graduates of hospitality programs. In this regard, the concerned school has to rank the subject areas from the perspectives of their own alumni, who are now established hospitality industry professionals so that they can easily identify the subject areas and relate them to their skill requirements in the workplace. Keeping the hospitality curricula rigorous, relevant, and current to the industry trends seems to be a clear concern of the hospitality practitioners. According to Dopson and Tas (2004) the biggest challenge for hospitality educators today is to determine clear objectives for the curriculum that takes care of the constantly changing needs of the industry. In that aspect, it is of utmost importance to close the gap between what is taught to students and what the industry expects of the students being hired (Dopsan and Tas 2004; Okeyi et al. 1994). Therefore, in addition to being an industry and faculty driven process, curriculum development needs to incorporate the changing needs of the industry, and foster innovation. In short, the process needs to be ongoing (Dopson and Tas, 2004). Methods The purpose of this study was to identify hospitality subject areas and rank them according to the perceptions of hospitality industry professionals. In addition the current perceptions of industry professionals regarding hospitality subject areas were to be compared to their perceptions five years ago to reflect the changing requirements of the industry. For gathering data from industry professionals, the same survey instrument developed using a four-step process by Gursoy and Swanger (2004) was used. The four steps included conducting a series of focus groups, developing the survey instrument to systematically measure the perceived importance of the course subject areas by industry and to investigate the gaps between hospitality curriculum and industry needs based on the findings of the focus groups, pre-testing the instrument on a sample of industry professionals using an on-line survey method and last but not the least revising and finalizing the instruments based on the pre-test results. Based on the feedback received by Gursoy and Swanger (2004) from their respondents, the survey instrument was modified in 2009. For the purpose of comparison only the common subject areas between the 2004 and 2009 surveys were retained. The final instrument was employed to collect data on hospitality industry professionals perceptions of the importance of the course subject areas. Development of the Survey Instrument The procedures recommended by Churchill (1979) and DeVellis (1991) were followed for developing the survey instrument. Initially, an item pool containing a total of 39 subject matter variables were developed or identified from the literature, current hospitality curriculum, and from a series of five focus groups conducted with the advisory board members, restaurant executives, hotel executives, university alumni, and hospitality educators. The content validity of the items that were identified from the focus groups and from the literature was assessed by ten faculty members. The faculty members feedback on content and understandability was gathered based on which the items were modified to enhance their clarity, readability, and content validity. Based on the same process any redundancy in the scale items was removed to improve the proposed scale. After the content validity check, it was pre-tested using an on-line survey method involving 50 industry professionals. The survey instrument was modified one last time based on the pre-test. Each variable was measured using a 5-point Likert scale (5=extremely important, 1= not important at all) as to their importance for success in the hospitality industry. The final version of the 2004 survey instrument consisted of four parts 40 subject matter variables, 128 course content variables, demographic information, and information regarding the performance of the company the respondent was part of. For this study, only the part that deals with the subject areas and demographic information are considered. In 2009 some changes were made based on the feedback received from the participants of Gursoy and Swangers 2004 study REPEAT. While the 2004 survey dealt with 40 subject areas, the 2009 one had only 33. 11 subject areas were removed from the 2004 survey, while 4 subject matters were added based on the received feedback, in the 2009 survey. The subject areas that were taken out of the 2009 survey instrume nt are: Fundamentals of Cooking, Math, Accounting, Economics for Decision Making, Tourism, Gaming/Casino Operation, Distribution Channels, Secondary Revenue Management, Beverage Management, Destination Management, and Dining Room Service Management. The subject areas that were added to the 2009 study are: International Tourism, Public Relations, Convention and Meeting Planning, and Food and Beverage Management. For the comparison, the 29 common areas between the 2009 and 2004 surveys were considered. Data Collection A self-administered survey questionnaire was mailed to the selected sample of industry professionals. An individually signed cover letter containing the name and address of the respondent was included with each questionnaire, along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope. A reminder was sent after 3 weeks, to increase the number of responses. Data Analysis Descriptive Analysis was undertaken to rank the means of the respective variables from the survey. Independent samples t-tests were carried out to compare the 2009 rankings to the 2004 ones. All the data analysis was performed in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 18. Results The survey was sent to a total of 2340 target participants. 369 responses were returned, resulting in an acceptable response rate of 15.8%. Profile of the Respondents: The demographic characteristics of gender, present position and company, education level, ethnicity, type of property, and size of the property were included in this study in an effort to provide a descriptive profile of the survey respondents. Gender: The survey asked the participants to indicate their gender (male or female). Out of 369, 358 respondents indicated their gender. The number of male respondents was 177 (49.4%) while female respondents were 179 (50.6%). Present Position/Name of Company: Over 180 different companies were represented in the study. Regarding present work positions, the respondents provided more than 200 different positions or titles, which were grouped into 15 categories based on their similarities. Some of the dominating categories included Sales/Marketing with 42 responses (11.4%), Finance/Accounting with 29 (7.9%), General Manager and Human Resource each with 28 (7.6%), Chairman/President/CEO/CFO/COO and Business Owners each with 16 (4.3%), Educator/Teacher/Trainer with 13 (3.5%), Other Managers (restaurant, FB, convention, events, store, regional, training, guest services, other departments) with 43 (11.7%), and Retired/Unemployed with 26 (7.1%). Besides these major categories, there was an Other category for the grouping of many positions that were listed less than 3 times and did not readily fit into another group, such as Attorney. Education Level: Out of 355 individuals who provided education level information, 298 indicated they have a bachelors degree (80.8%); 38 have a graduate degree (10.3%); 17 did some graduate level work (4.6%); 1 individual was a high school graduate (1.6%), and 1 person indicated other (1.6%). Ethnicity: Of the 352 respondents who indicated their ethnicity, 328 (93.2%), circled Caucasian/White; 10 (2.8%) circled Asian American/Pacific Islander; 8 (2.3%) circled Hispanic/Latino; 3 selected Black/African American; 1 (0.3%) circled American Indian/Alaska Native; and 2 (.6%) circled other. Size of Property: For lodging properties information regarding the number of rooms in the hotel was collected and for restaurants, number of seats information was gathered. If respondents worked in neither a lodging property nor a restaurant, they were asked to provide size information using other appropriate measures. Of the 195 individuals who responded to the survey, 92 provided the number of rooms information, 34 provided the number of seats information, and 69 provided the size information by reporting other measures such as total revenue, number of employees, square footage, and others. Of the 92 managers who provided the number of rooms, 2 (2.2%) indicated the property had less than 75 rooms, 17 (18.5%) indicated the property had 75 to 149 rooms, 18 (19.6%) had 150 to 299 rooms, 29 (31.5%) had 300 to 500 rooms, and 26 (28.3%) indicated the property had more than 500 rooms. Most of the individuals who reported managing more than 500 rooms were regional managers, vice presidents, or presidents and CEOs of hotel corporations. Of the 34 managers who provided number of seats information, 6 (17.6%) indicated the restaurant had less than 100 seats, 13 (38.2%) indicated the restaurant had 100 to 199 seats, 8 (23.5%) had 200 to 300 seats, and 7 (20.6%) indicated the restaurant had more than 300 seats. A good number of the individuals who reported managing more than 300 seats were regional managers, vice presidents, or presidents and CEOs of restaurant corporations. Due to the diverse array of survey respondents, a great many different types of responses were received regarding measure of size. Thus, among the 69 respondents who chose, other in the measure of size category, measures such as square footage of convention/conference/meeting/banquet space, number of restaurants/stores/units, number of employees, number of hotels, amount of revenue generated, number of locations, number of accounts, and various others. In addition some respondents provided multiple measures of size. Type of Property: 188 responses were recorded regarding the type of property the respondents were affiliated with. Of those, 99 (52.7%) selected lodging, 27 (14.4%) circled restaurants, 16 (8.5%) indicated managed services, and 39 (20.8%) selected other types which included vending, marketing/advertising, airlines, associations, distribution/suppliers, cruise lines casinos, clubs retail/convenience stores, cruise lines, health care, real estate/property development, banking/finance, and consulting. Type of Ownership: In the Type of Ownership category 225 responses were recorded. Of them, 124 (55.1) properties were company owned, 68 (30.2%) were independently owned, and 33 (14.7%) were franchised. Ranking and Comparison Results The 33 course subject areas were ranked in the order of importance by the industry professionals. The ranking is provided in table 1. The top ten subject areas are Leadership, Internships/industry experience, Preparation for Industry Employment, Ethics, Overview of the Hospitality Industry, Revenue/Asset Management, Hospitality Management and Organization, Hospitality Operations Analysis, Foodservice Operations and Controls, Computer/Information Technology. The results were compared to Gursoy and Swangers 2004 survey results. Results show that 10 out of 29 hospitality subject areas Hospitality Management and Organization, Principles of Marketing, Hospitality Marketing Strategy, Hospitality Operations Analysis, Ethics, Strategic Management, Service Management, Revenue/Asset Management, Study Abroad, and Innovation and Product Development are significantly different compared to the 2004 rankings. Discussion A look at the two ranking tables (2004 and 2009) reveal that highly important subject areas which were quite consistent in their perceived importance among industry practitioners include leadership, Internships/industry experience, Preparation for Industry Employment, Overview of Hospitality Industry, Foodservice Operations and Controls, and Computer/Information Technology. Leadership, the highest rated subject area, especially has been rated as one of the most important skills deemed of hospitality graduates a number of times in hospitality literature (Okeiyi et al. 1994; Breiter and Clements, 1996; Siu 1998; Kay and Russette, 2000; Kriegl 2000; Nelson and Dopson, 2001). There were some major changes in the rankings over a period of 5 years. The ranking of Ethics went down from 1 to 4, service management from 10 to 18, Principles of Marketing from 12 to 19, and Hospitality Marketing Strategy from 14 to 20. On the other hand, Revenue/Asset Management went up 14 places to number 6, and Finance from number 18 to 13. Finance, accounting, and related skills were recognized as very important by hospitality employers in various studies (Getty et al., 1991; Umbriet, 1992; Ashley et al. 1995; Nelson Dopson, 2001; Agut et al. 2003) in the past. In that aspect, this improvement in ranking of finance and related areas is consistent with past literature. As mentioned before, t-tests revealed significant differences in means between 2009 rankings and 2004 rankings in 10 out of the 29 subject areas. 8 of those 10 subject areas had significantly higher means in 2004 compared to 2009. These areas include Hospitality Management and Organization, Principles of Marketing, Hospitality Marketing Strategy, Hospitality Operations Analysis, Ethics, Strategic Management, Service Management, and Innovation and Product Development. Ethics, especially, showed a very significantly high decrease in means (t (670.079) = -5.116, p = .000). Time and again, ethics has been recognized as the most important skill in the hospitality workplace (Enz et al., 1993; Nelson Dopson, 2001; Gursoy Swanger, 2004). This significant decrease in the ranking of ethics shows that it is not quite deemed as important in the hospitality workplace as it used to be. This decrease in importance can be accounted to two reasons. Firstly, following the wake of Enron, WorldCom, an d Adelphia corporate scandals that shook the business community in early years of this new millennium, audit firms were increasingly putting a lot of emphasis on having stringent audit practices. Consequently, businesses all over the world were paying special attention to preventing corporate fraud through promoting ethical practices within the organization. This has increased the demand for ethics, as a top level competency/skill/subject area deemed of recent graduates in the workplace during the time period of Gursoy and Swangers (2004) study. However, the increased emphasis coming out of the shock the business community received from the corporate scandals has faded away a little as time went by. Moreover, business schools all over the world have been producing much better graduates reflecting ethical preparedness in response to those corporate scandals and the increased pressure from the business community. This can be demonstrated by the increased importance on ethics posed by universities in response to industry pressure. MBA programs that require students to take a course dedicated to business and society issues have increased dramatically over time: 34% in 2001 to 63% in 2007, and to 69% in 2009 (Aspen Institute CBE, 2010). In the accreditation standards of AACSB, formulated in 2003, an increased emphasis on ethics was made, and schools were mandated to integrate ethics across the curriculum to meet the accreditation standards, although there was no requirement of a standalone ethics course in the curriculum (Swanson, Fisher, 2009). Having received better prepared graduates, it can be argued that the business community no longer rate ethics as important as it rated in 2004 because they are more content now compared to six years ago. Secondly, the prolonged economic downturn has caused the business community to put more weight on other skills/subject areas. Consequently, this shifted the importance on other areas such as leadership and financial competencies, which diminished the relative importance of ethics. Also, in the beginning years of the economic downturn, firms were under shock, and had to operate under strict financial conditions prompting them to avoid any unnecessary lawsuits which might cause them to be ultra protective. Thus, they were in need of better ethically prepared employees, which are reflected in the 2004 rankings. Moving away from ethics, marketing related subject areas were also rated significantly less important in 2009 compared to 2004. 11.4% of the 2009 respondents were associated with Sales/Marketing compared to 8.9% in 2004. In this regard, it was expected that the ranking of marketing related subject areas would improve, but the results are contrasting indicating that the importance of marketing related subject have indeed gone down. According to IBISWorld industry reports, the overall lodging industry showed positive growth in revenue from 2004 to 2007. However, the report also showed huge decrease in revenue growth in 2008 and 2009. Especially in 2009, revenue decreased by as much as 9.4% for hotel and motel industry, consistent with the projections made in 2008 (IBISWorld, 2010a). This decrease in growth has caused the hospitality industry to be ultra-protective of their expenses. As a result, there has been a decrease in the importance of marketing oriented subject areas, which acco unts for a good chunk of costs in hospitality industry. The same reason can be cited for the significant decrease in hospitality operations subject area. A better argument can be presented from the employment perspective. Because of the sudden economic downturn in the lodging industry, it can be argued that firms have reduced their hiring practices in areas that greatly add to the cost of the hotels such as marketing, operations, and innovations and product development. Same holds true for managerial level positions, which accounts for the decrease in the perceived importance of subject areas such as service management, strategic management, and management and organization. However, reflected in our analysis, it can be pointed out that firms are looking for leaders, who can think out of the box, and bail them out of the financial crisis, which accounts for the high perceived rating of leadership subject area. Especially, it can be argued that hospitality firms are looking for employ ees who can lead from the front and make their decisions, instead of relying on other people such as the managers. Thus, it can be argued that, hospitality firms are trying to cut down the costs of employing specialized managers by trying to promote leadership qualities on their regular employees. The subject areas that showed significantly higher means in 2009 compared to 2004 include Revenue/Asset Management and Study Abroad, which were both highly significant (p Suggested Curriculum Model Gursoy and Swanger (2004) suggested an industry driven model of a hospitality curriculum for programs housed in accredited college of business. Based on our study, some suggestions and improvements are offered to make the semester-based model more rigorous, relevant, and up-to-date. The model of hospitality curriculum was developed based on three different components: business core requirements, hospitality core requirements, and hospitality electives incorporating the ranked subject matter by hospitality industry professionals. Based on the limitations regarding number of credits in the hospitality program and on the suggestions from the focus groups and advisory boards, some subject areas, such as ethics and leadership, were embedded throughout the curriculum. The curriculum model did not embed those subject matters in the business cores and in the general education cores as business core and general education core classes were outside the hospitality programs locus of control. The Senior-level hospitality capstone course integrated all curriculum areas in the program. Subject matters with a mean ranking of 2.0 or lower were suggested to be part of elective courses and were recommended for Sophomore or Junior level. Like the 2004 model, learning a second lang uage (M = 1.76) and studying abroad (M = 1.50) were not deemed essential for success in the industry by the professionals surveyed and hence were not included in the model. Similarly, Entrepreneurship (M = 2.34) and Real Estate/Property Development (M = 1.61) courses, which were thought to be as part of other electives under a different department or program in business, were kept outside the curriculum model. For the 2009 model, electives such as Destination Manag

Cloned Meat: Its Whats for Dinner Essay -- Biology Essays Research Pa

Cloned Meat: Its What's for Dinner "[Cloning] first involves destroying the nucleus of an egg cell from the species to be cloned. A nucleus is then removed from a cell of an animal of the same species and injected into the egg cell. The egg, with its new nucleus, develops into an animal with the same genetic makeup as the donor." (1) Sounds yummy, huh? You may soon be dining on Grade A, prime cut cloned beef. Or pork. Or chicken for that matter. Is the thought alone enough to make you want to become vegan? The Food and Drug Administration has issued preliminary statements about the sale of cloned meat and dairy products becoming a reality. These statements are based on a recent report from the National Academy of Sciences. "Eating meat or drinking milk from cloned animals is probably safe, experts from the National Academies of Science concluded after reviewing what little research exists on the topic." (2) But is there truly enough research on this topic to draw conclusions that could affect millions of people's health? Will we even know if we are eating cloned meat or products? And will this cloned meat be used in a way beneficial for society, or simply for a money making purpose? Obviously, the FDA's main concern with the proposed consumption and sales of cloned meat and dairy products is how it will affect the people eating it. A possible negative effect the cloned products could have is allergenic consequences. A committee from the Academies has stated that the likelihood of these products having and allergenic effect is low.(2) Yet the committee also has cautionary words about the validity of their statements, claiming that the only way to actually find out the reactions to the products is to run multiple tests ... ...r of the Center for Food Safety. "I think overwhelmingly consumers would want that information and I think there's reason to give it to them." (7) Mendelson also added that many Americans do not even know that they are currently eating genetically modified foods. The use of cloned animals in the production of a greater quantity and quality of meat could be beneficial to society in so many ways. All food prices could go down so that low-income families could afford milk and meat. Meat could be produced to be shipped to third world countries, or those in war. Dying herds of animals in Africa and the jungles of South America could be jumped started. However, based on the price of the cloning process, and the payback that many farmers who endorse this process are expecting, more than likely meat from cloned animals will become some sort of weird, expensive delicacy.

Eat2Eat Strategy

Eat2Eat. com 27th of November 2012 Strategic Management – Questions 1. What are the key success factors for competing in the online restaurant booking industry ? 2. What are the fundamental aspects of Eat2Eat's strategy ? Which of the 5 generic strategies do you believe Eat2Eat is pursuing ? Has the strategy evolved since the company's conception ? 3. Perform a SWOT analysis for Eat2Eat. 4. What role have strategic alliances played in Eat2Eat's success ? What types of partners are most valuable to Eat2Eat ?Which partners does Eat2Eat have the greatest potential to benefit ? Which partnerships should Eat2Eat focus on forming in the immediate future ? 5. Provide recommendations concerning Eat2Eat's future strategy. 1. What are the key success factors for competing in the online restaurant booking industry? * Quality of restaurants contracted * A large network of restaurants in strategic places * Good interface with relevant criteria (Place, time, ambiance, cuisine price, rating, †¦) * Clever communication * Favorable reputation * Good knowledge of the market Ability to respond quickly to shifting market conditions * Technical capability to make innovative improvements * Fast, accurate, technical assistance * Superior information system * Access to financial capital 2. What are the fundamental aspects of Eat2Eat's strategy? Which of the 5 generic strategies do you believe Eat2Eat is pursuing? Has the strategy evolved since the company's conception? First let’s say that Eat2Eat. com is an internet based restaurant portal, promoting fine dining in Asia pacific region, through twelve cities.The website is a guide to the region’s best restaurants with an online reservation service. The founder of this website believed that there was a value proposition in connecting dinners both corporate and personal with restaurants, with the help of a highly automatic process like the airline bookings, hotel reservations or car rentals. He also believed tha t restaurants could benefit by having a presence on the internet. And we think it is important to precise also that the revenue generated by Eat2Eat is different from other restaurants portal on the internet. 0% of their total revenue came from their commissions on the restaurants (between 7% to 10% of the customer’s bill); 20% of the company total revenue are from banner advertising on the website, and the last 40% came from the preferred arrangements between credit cards companies and restaurants. Whereas most of other portals derive revenues from advertising alone. Therefore one of the major customers for Eat2Eat remains the restaurants’ owners (through the commission and the advertisements), Eat2Eat signed them up as suppliers, but also there can’t be any commission without any bookings. Corporate strategy Looking at Eat2Eat present corporate strategy, it is following a growth strategy and more specifically an internal growth. Eat2Eat strategy is to capitali se on its core competencies, expanding its existing resources. We have the example in the case when the company wants to increase its geographic coverage, launching in Kyoto, Melbourne and Phuket. We can also add that this choice of strategy follows Aggarwal’s desire to conserve full ownership and control on his company. * Generic strategyThe reason why we think Eat2Eat is following a broad differentiation strategy is the augmented services and their high quality. First, let’s say that comparing to other websites Eat2Eat is offering a wealth of supporting information, these extra features include: restaurants reviews, recipes, interviews with leading chief and list of tops establishments in various categories. To propose this service in a more convenient way, the restaurant can be search according to various criteria including location, ambiance and accessibility for disabled diners, smoking preference, cuisine, price range, quality rating and hotel affiliation.The lau nch of the content and the booking function through the WAP system improved also the accessibility of the service for the user. * Leader offensive strategy Eat2Eat can be considered as a leader because comparing to the other Asian pacific portals which are only city specific, Eat2Eat. com is offering regional coverage. Google and Yahoo! , search engines consistently ranked Eat2Eat. com first in search results for Asian restaurant reviews and reservations. And also the Smart Diners Organisation in the United-States has rated Eat2Eat. om as the top restaurant information and reservation site in the world. * A transnational strategy Because Eat2Eat is dealing with cross-country variations in buyer preferences and market conditions, it is very important to notice the differences between those markets (as market observations in exhibit 4) . Eat2Eat employed a combination of global local strategy. Eat2Eat has the same basic competitive strategy in all country market, but it is also able t o develop the capability to customise service offerings in different countries.To illustrate this point, the launch of equivalent sites in Japanese and Korean to cover the restaurants in Tokyo and Seoul is an example of this â€Å"think global, act local† strategy. Focusing on Tokyo again, another example could highlight this strategy: when Japanese corporations were reluctant to encourage their employee to sign up for the service and also because many first-tier restaurants in Japan had their own website but not the technology to support on-line reservations, Eat2Eat. com enabled the reservation for the restaurants’ website. This is clearly an example of a small adjustment for a specific market. Has the strategy evolved since the company conception? In a way, we could say, yes the strategy evolved, because first Eat2Eat was focusing its promotional efforts on corporate customers. It seems at the beginning the best way to reach customers, and this strategy worked well because both the corporation and Eat2Eat were wining (except in Japan as we observed previously, and the cultural adjustment were the first step to an increase in personal dinners booking in Tokyo). The strategy evolution from corporate customers to individual customers probably occurred with the success of the adaptation of Eat2Eat. om for mobile phones for Japanese and Korean customers. In order to reach its potential, Eat2Eat had to do all it can to increase the customer base in the personal market. The partnership with The Asian Wall Street Journal seemed the best way to reach the customer base. And even if the Eat! had little immediate impact on Eat2Eat. com reservations and revenue, it allowed the company to expand its restaurant base in current cities and established the business in new cities. With the same idea to reach more individual customers, Aggarwal thought of an agreement with credit card companies.We can also add that due to the lack of time and resources it may app ear now to Aggarwal’s mind, that an external strategic alliances might be taken into consideration and may be the best way to improve Eat2Eat efficiency. 3. Perform a SWOT Analysis. * * Strengths * Highly rated Eat2Eat. com was the most highly rated Internet based restaurant reservation service covering major cities in the Asia Pacific region. * Airline booking The airline booking is highly automated process. * 12. 000 customers After only five years of operations, the company already has 12. 00 customers from differents countries. Eat2Eat. com covered 823 restaurants in Bangkok, Hong Kong etc. * Team members Vikram Aggarwal hired 1 chief officer, 1 programmer, 2 other people in order to help with the workload. It was a little company, with competent personal and easy to manage. Moreover, the personnel costs should not be high. * Revenues The company makes 40% of total revenues with 7-10% of bill's customer. Then, in 2005, advertisements on the website contributed an addition al 20% of the revenues. * Recognition The company had received considerable recognition.A poll taken by the Smart Diners Organization in the United Staes had rated the company as the top restaurant information and reservation site the world. Moreover, Google and Yahoo ranked Eat2Eat. com first in search results for Asian restaurant reviews and reservations. * On mobile phone In 2004, the company was adapted to make its content and booking function accessible on mobile phones. This added accessibility would significantly extend the company's reach and utilization, considering the high penetrationof mobile phone in the region. * Weaknesses * Enable on certain cities The service became popular but lagged elsewhere.The service had not found greater acceptance in cities like Hong-Kong or Singapore. * Approach customers Vikram Aggarwal approached himself their customers but this technique is much too long. May be he can ask to professionals to make it A SA PLACE. * No time As we have just said before, Vikram Aggarwal had no time to convince all partners. * Second-tier restaurants Eat2Eat. com dealt exclusively for first-tier restaurants, there were moderately expensive or very popular and busy. Because second-tier restaurants did not accpet reservations and therefore were of no to Aggarwal. Resources The company did not have the employees or finanacial resources needed to pursue such a vast market. * Opportunities * Third party The company engaged in another complementary business : negotiated arrangment between credit card companies and restaurants for the benefit of credit card holder This third-party negotiations contributed the remaining 40% of revenues. And a partnership with a single credit card company might expose Eat2Eat. com to millions of new customers. * Discounts He negotiated discounts for corporate customers and commissions for Eat2Eat. Easy to access The website was an easy to access for secretaries and personal assistants. * Corporations Aggarwal fo cused his promotional efforts on corporate customers. Because he thought personal diners were too numerous and consequently, too dificult and expensive to reach. So, this approach would bring more value for Aggarwal efforts and would be the best way to reach customers. Roughly 80% of the companies he approached endorsed the program. * Partners Aggarwal wanted to find partners as hotels, local or regional newspapers and airlines companies. * Investment 0% of the new capital would be spent on public relationss and marketing activites to reach the personal dining market segmetn. And 10% would be spent on a technology upgrade. Only if the company raise $2 million in additional capital. * Threats * Equivalent sites There were other restaurants portals on the Internet, covering Adia Pacific and other regions but Eat2Eat. com was different, in fact the company offered regional coverage compare to competitors which derived revenue from advertising alone. * Languages The original website app eared in English. * Bank LoanEat2Eat had not yet established a profitable track record, so, it would be difficult to obtain bank loan. * Cost of maintenance The cost of maintenance of a website can be more and more expensive * Conclusion The situation of the company is quite good because the company is the most highly rated Internet based restaurant reservation service, and they have a real recognition. Moreover, they can find some partners to improve their service. Perhaps Vikram Aggawal has to be careful about potential new entrants, their resources and he has to find some solutions about his investment to improve his strategy. . What role have strategic alliances played in Eat2Eat's success? What types of partners are most valuable to Eat2Eat? Which partners does Eat2Eat have the greatest potential to benefit? Which partnerships should Eat2Eat focus on forming in the immediate future? * What role have strategic alliances played in Eat2Eat's success? First of all, strategic allian ces are short or long-term partnerships of two or more firms working on a specific project or cooperating in a specific business area. Those alliances can be in form of joint ventures, franchises or licensing agreements, which are the main alliances.Actually, Eat2Eat has made several strategic alliances. First, the core alliances, on which the business model is based, are the alliances made with each restaurant. Indeed, Eat2Eat brings customers to the restaurants and those latters pay a commission to Eat2Eat. Thus, this first type of alliance has played a key role on the revenue of Eat2Eat. Then, the second alliance was one with a regional newspaper : The Asian Wall Street Journal. In the long-run, it had a tremendous impact on Eat2Eat revenue. In addition, the number of the website users increased thanks to the Eat! romotion put in the well-known critics’ pages. Now, Eat2Eat needs a new strategic alliance. Indeed, the issue that Eat2Eat faces is to find a way to get an incre ase in the capital of the company : exactly, US$2 million more than actually. * What types of partners are most valuable to Eat2Eat? One of the most valuable partners would be an Internet company such as Yahoo. Indeed, it would provide the recognition needed for the growth of Eat2Eat. In addition, another valuable partner could be credit card companies. This alliance would allow Eat2Eat to get access to larges customer’s databases.That would have a great impact on the number of the website users. Even if it takes time to create a relationship, those types of companies would have a serious and positive impact on the Eat2Eat success. Then, given that no Internet company was interested in Eat2Eat, they had to think about potential venture. There were two possible types of ventures : venture with capital firms and one with entrepreneurial companies. In the first venture, the companies expect a return around 30% within 5 years, but with a minimum investment whereas in the second o ne, they only want to maximize their profit.Therefore, the most valuable partner between the two options above is the last one : the venture with entrepreneurial companies. Indeed, the main reason is that they have the same business expectation on the investment than Eat2Eat. Furthermore, this latter wants to do a venture with only entrepreneurial companies which cover the entire Asian region. * Which partners does Eat2Eat have the greatest potential to benefit ? Eat2Eat will probably make several partnerships. In fact, Eat2Eat knew that, in order to increase its success, they will need to do some partnerships with firms in other businesses.As an example, Eat2Eat wanted to work with firms such as hotels chains or airlines companies. However, they can continue working with other companies in the sector as themselves. In other words, it could be some other websites, but which cover only limited areas. In addition, we think that Eat2Eat will undoubtedly benefit from local Asian restaur ant website partners. Even if the Asian website partners cover a limited area, they are already implanted in a specific town. * Which partnership should Eat2Eat focus on forming in the immediate future?The current problem of Eat2Eat company is to get recognition. Indeed, this lack of recognition is a crucial issue for the company at the time being. It leads the companies to face problems in the process of making deals such as valuable partnerships with other corporations. Therefore, in the immediate future, Eat2Eat should focus on the partnership with all the Asian restaurant websites. Then, when Eat2Eat had covered enough key towns, their coverage provided from it will give them the credibility to do ventures with some banks.And then, in this way, they will get the database of customer needed to grow. 5. Provide recommendations concerning Eat2Eat's future strategy. Brigitte CISS As we could see, the company Eat2eat has a great concept which pleases a lot of consumers. The idea and the way it is implented is are good, and the only remaining issue, is the recognition. Indeed, Eat2eat has a problem being considered by â€Å"serious† companes such as banks, and trusted by businesses. Therefore, to be more recognized, the company needs to have contacts with big websites such as Yahoo! or Google, to be more available on the Internet, to increase the awareness and the knowledge of people. As the case said, also, Eat2eat has to be in a relationship with credit card companies to facilitate the online payment, and to create joint ventures with such companies. To increase the recognition, the company has to broaden its services to big cities, outside of Asia. Why not ? There are no infrastructures to take care of since it is an online operation, and it might be well known internationally. We would also recommend to the CEO to hire people specially for public relations.Going to every potential partner himself is a long process, and the opportunity cost is quite hi gh, with the amount of time lost. With more people available, the company could bring to her much more clients. After creating a more efficient network, maybe Eat2eat. com should now spend a bit on advertising. A quick ad on the Internet, not for businesses but directly destined to end consumers who are looking for restaurants, would increase the awareness and therefore the profits. On the long run, the company could even try to advertise on television.

Leisure Industry Competition Essay

1. Discuss using examples from a leisure industry of your choice, the extent to which competition creates efficiency. There are many ways in which a firm or leisure industry can be considered to be efficient. First of all they may be productively efficient. This is where they would be operating at their lowest average cost, meaning they are benefiting from all economies of scales and experience no diseconomies of scale. They particularly must avoid any waste of factors of production. Allocative efficiency exists when the firm is operating where Price is equal to Marginal Cost. When a firm or industry is allocatively efficient this means they are producing what society wants and allocating resources to increase both output and quality. This may be in the form of specialisation. If dynamic efficiency exists this means that the firm or industry is experiencing abnormal profit. Their aim must always be to increase output in the future often by investing in research and development, such firms are often benefitting from monopoly power. Pareto efficiency is where production of one good can increase without the production of another decreasing. I believe that increased competition will create productive efficiency. This is because if there is increased competition through an increase in the supply of for example entertainment channels entering the TV broadcasting industry this will result in firms having the reduce their prices of advertising slots due to the potential fall in the number of viewers. This will mean that they are now price takers in the market and as a result their revenue will decrease. As the firms are profit maximisers they will be unsatisfied with their revenue falling and as a result they will need to reduce their average cost in an attempt to maintain their previous profit level. They will reduce their average cost by avoiding any waste of factors of production in the production of the good/service and in order to do so they will often reduce their output of any new television programmes as there is a potential that they may be unsuccessful and as a result viewers will often see an increase in the numbe r of repeats of television programmes. They will also decrease their output of new programmes in order to stop any potential diseconomies of scale and improve communication in the production of their good/service. Therefore at this point I believe that in  the leisure industry firms such as ITV have become more productively efficient as a result of increased competition. Some firms also have the ability to attain economies of scale. An example would be SKY who obtained technical economies of scale by the introduction of 3D and HD boxes, and purchasing economies of scale by the purchase of previously unavailable channels and programmes such as HBI and the FA cup. Attaining these economies of scale reduced SKYs average cost leading to them being more productively efficient. This further backs up my point that increased competition does result in greater efficiency. However, it could be argued that this is dependent upon the scale of competition. For example, when Channel 4 and Channel 5 first entered the market this was not the case, meaning efficiency did not increase. However, as these channels have become more well established this is now the case. One could also argue that this is also not the case for the BBC due to the fact that they are funded by the Government and do not compete on price. The BBC is a public monopoly but they are certainly not efficient. The BBC is not cutting costs in order to become more productively efficient; the Government is reducing their funding therefore this has created the need for the company to be more productively efficient. They are doing this in a number of ways such as moving production from London to Manchester as it is cheaper and therefore will reduce their costs. Therefore increased competition is not the factor that is causing the BBC to become more productively efficient – Government intervention is. This leads me to the conclusion that the greater the number of firms the more likely they are to increase productive efficiency. But increased competition is not the only factor; government intervention must also be considered. In the leisure industry there is always a need for Travel Agents to be allocatively efficient, this is because it is vital that they produce what society wants. If it was the case that certain Travel agents were not providing the holidays that consumers wanted this would simply result in holiday makers going elsewhere. This is especially the case at present because barriers to entry/exit have decreased meaning new firms are entering the market all of the time due to improved communication. This has increased competition mainly due to the internet as many travel agents and comparison websites have set up online to compare the best deals, which increases the  power to the consumer as they are no longer required to visit the main four travel agents. This has resulted in a greater need for travel agents to avoid mis-allocation of their resources by decreasing the number of planes and destinations. This is because if they do not allocate their holidays to societies needs their Marginal Cost will increase above their price. Therefore increased competition leads to an increase in the need for firms to allocate resources to what society needs and ensure that they are increasing their quality and output to become allocatively efficient. We have established that increased competition will inevitably result in increased output; however it will also increase external costs. For example in eco tourism, if output increases in visits to the rainforest this will cause a major increase in the number of negative externalities. Therefore in this case it would be beneficial to decrease the output of such visits in order to reduce negative externalities. In fact I would argue that a monopoly provider of eco tourism holidays would be the most beneficial for the environment as they might produce holidays at the social optimum level. Taking these factors into consideration I strongly believe that increased competition will force firms to think about how they can allocate resources efficiently but sometimes at a social cost. With SKY benefiting from technical economies of scale it could also be argued that by investing in HD and 3D boxes this has also allowed them to become dynamically efficient as their abnormal profits allow them to invest in research and development which allows them to increase output in the future with the same factors of production inevitably leading to monopoly power. This benefits consumers as they are able to consume greater output in the form of 3D and HD programmes or a wider range of channels in the future without the needed for greater factors of production. However, I could argue that this is not in fact them demonstrating greater efficiency as a result of increased competition but rather creating even more barriers to entry for other firms wishing to compete with them in the broadcasting market. It also could be questioned as to how much of their abnormal profits are actually being invested into research and development as I am aware that the majority of their profits goes to shareholders. Therefore I am led to believe that although theoretically SKYs monopoly power and the lack of competition they  face gives them the opportunity to be dynamically efficient; in reality it is questionable as to what will drive competition in the future. Although it could in fact be more competition that will drive future efficiency and not the abnormal profits of just a few firms. I strongly believe that increased competition is most likely to result in efficiency in the travel market as there are little barriers to entry that current travel agents are able to put up in order to stop competition affecting their profits. This is mostly due to the fact that the internet has allowed many new companies to set up online giving consumers the opportunity to compare prices directly; therefore increasing the need for travel agents to be allocatively efficient making the statement true. However I accept some may argue that if a firm is being allocatively efficient at a social cost they should not be considered to be allocatively efficient and therefore my judgment could be questioned. On the other hand when firms are not competing on price, like for example the BBC, an increase in competition is not likely to result in them becoming more efficient as decreasing their average cost is not likely to be a priority but instead they are more likely to need to increase the quality of their good or service. In theory I believe that the best way to ensure efficiency in the future is to invest in R+D (creating new barriers to entry like SKY) and the way to get firms to do this is increased competition. In reality this may result in negative externalities or potentially abuse of monopoly power and monopolies may often end up being inefficient in the long run.

Obesity and Coronary Heart Disease Essays

Obesity and Coronary Heart Disease Essays Obesity and Coronary Heart Disease Essay Obesity and Coronary Heart Disease Essay 2002 ) . The survey shows that fleshiness is the possible forecast towards CHD ( 10 ) . Corpulent people tend to devour a high saturated fat of diet. As a consequence, the degree of cholesterin will be higher in blood. Excess of fat in the organic structure will overpower the ability of the enzyme lipase to breakdown lipid, therefore, taking to fat deposition on the blood vass and do the vass to be narrowed. The blood now needs a higher force per unit area than the normal force per unit area to go through through the narrowed arteria and this will do high blood pressure. Corpulent people tend to hold a high degree of glucose as good due to the damage of the insulin mark tissues that become less sensitive to insulin. Glucose will non be converted to animal starchs and they will go diabetic. A higher degree of glucose in the blood is called hyperglycemia and it triggers the changes at the cellular degree of vascular tissue. This will rush up the atherosclerotic procedure. Cholesterol will unite with lipoproteins to go around in the organic structure because it can non merely fade out in blood. Low-Density Lipoproteins: Bad ( LDL ) will transport cholesterin to the blood stream while High-Density Lipoproteins: good ( HDL ) will transport cholesterin back to the liver. Cholesterol is needed to supply protective coating to the arterias and its surrounding walls. However, excessively much cholesterin peculiarly in LDL signifier can take to atherosclerosis. Peoples that are corpulent will hold a higher degree of LDL and a lower degree of HDL. It means that there is a greater opportunity for cholesterin to be deposited and triggers the formation of plaques in the wall of coronary arteria. The plaque is an accretion of lipid, macrophages, and smooth musculus cells that will do the arterias narrowed and can decelerate or barricade the blood flow. Mechanical shear emphasiss like morbid high blood pressure ; and biochemical abnormalcies for case elevated and modified LDL and diabetes mellitus ; will take to redness of endothelial or disfunction. It causes oxidised lipoproteins to be more permeable and accumulate at the endothelial to organize lipid-laden froth cells. Cytokines will be released by monocytes, macrophage, or the damaged endothelium whilst collagen will be produced in a significant sum by the smooth musculus. They will be accumulated together in the endothelium ( 11 ) . Myocardial ischemia occurs when there is a deficiency of O supply and myocardial foods to the bosom. This status arises due to the obstructed coronary arteria. With sudden occlusion of a major arteria by an embolus ( plaque ) , the part of myocardium supplied by the occluded vas becomes infarcted and undergoes mortification. This part will represent a myocardial infarction. It is a slow advancement of Coronary Heart Disease ( 12 ) . Prevention and Treatment We need to hold a healthy life style particularly in our diet and organic structure fittingness. Smoking and small physical activity will increase the hazard of developing CHD. A balance diet should be practiced and nutrients with high-fat cholesterin should be reduced particularly fast nutrients ( 14 ) . CHD can non be cured but it can be managed efficaciously to better the operation of the bosom. Medicine can be one of the alternate ways to pull off bosom disease. For case decoagulants ( Coumadin ) , beta blockers with angiotensin-converting enzyme ( ACE ) inhibitors, cardiac glycosides ( Lanoxin ) , nitrates, lipid-lowering medicines, low-dose acetylsalicylic acid, and clot-busting ( 15 ) . If the blood vass are really narrow, surgical processs can be performed to unblock the arterias. Amongst the present surgical processs are coronary angioplasty, coronary arteria beltway, bosom graft, and optical maser surgery ( 15 ) . Decision As a decision, it is clearly shown that fleshiness is a major hazard factor for Coronary Heart Disease. Apart from that, fleshiness is a strong independent hazard factor for other diseases as good. There is an association between the addition in BMI ( fleshiness ) and CHD. Even though fleshiness is merely portion of the hazard factor of CHD but it still plays a major function in developing CHD. Furthermore, research and development are still ongoing to develop a new intervention to handle bosom disease in the hereafter. Mentions: WLR Dietitian, Juliette Kellow BSC RD, Childhood Obesity, hypertext transfer protocol: //www.weightlossresources.co.uk/children/childhood_obesity.htm, 04 November 2009. World Health Organisation ( WHO ) , BMI Classification, hypertext transfer protocol: //apps.who.int/bmi/index.jsp? introPage=intro_3.html, 04 November 2009. Anne Collins, Waist Circumference, hypertext transfer protocol: //www.annecollins.com/lose_weight/waist-circumference.htm, 31 October 2009. Anne Collins, Health Risks of Obesity, hypertext transfer protocol: //www.annecollins.com/obesity/risks-of-obesity.htm, 01 November 2009. BMJ Publishing Group, 2009, High Lipids, Low Libido [ Review: J Sex Med 2009 ; 6:1696-1703 ] . Student BMJ, ( 17 ) , 380, 04 November 2009. Caroline Wilbert: WebMD Health News, 31 October 2008, Obesity Linked to Erectile Dysfunction ( ED ) : Survey Shows Obesity-Related Conditionss Like Hypertension Are a Cause of ED [ Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD ] , hypertext transfer protocol: //www.webmd.com/erectile-dysfunction/news/20081031/obesity-linked-to-erectile-dysfunction, 28 November 2009. Department of Health, Coronary Heart Disease, hypertext transfer protocol: //www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Coronaryheartdisease/index.htm, 02 November 2009 Mark C.Houston, 2009, CHD: Hazard Factors [ Review ] [ 281 refs ] . Handbook of Hypertension, ( 1 ) , 227, 03 November2009. Gareth Williams ; Gema Fruhbeck, 2009, Obesity and Coronary Artery Disease [ Review ] [ 216 refs ] . Fleshiness: Science to Practice, ( 1 ) , 300, 03 November2009. Parveen Kumar ; Michael Clark, 2005, The procedure of coronary coronary artery disease. Kumar A ; Clark Clinical Medicine, ( 6 ) , 798, 03 November 2009. Keith L. Moore ; Arthur F. Dalley ; Anne M. R. Agur, 2006, Coronary Artery Disease or Coronary Heart DIsease. Clinically Oriented Anatomy, ( 6 ) , 155-156, 04 November 2009. National Heart Lung and Blood Institute Diseases and Conditions Index, What is Atherosclerosis? hypertext transfer protocol: //www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Atherosclerosis/Atherosclerosis_WhatIs.html,03 November 2009. National Healthcare Service ( NHS ) , Avoiding Coronary Heart Disease, hypertext transfer protocol: //www.nhs.uk/pathways/coronaryheartdisease/Pages/Avoiding.aspx? WT.srch=1 A ; gclid=CKSuirHvrp4CFQ6Z2AodBWLYlQ, 28 November 2009. National Healthcare Service ( NHS ) , Treating Heart Disease, hypertext transfer protocol: //www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Coronary-heart-disease/Pages/Treatment.aspx, 28 November 2009

Analysis of a Start

Analysis of a Start Introduction Technological innovations have influenced the manner in which people operate from roads to their offices. The rapid growth of technology seems to influence even the automotive and transport industry (Akhilesh 2013).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Analysis of a Start-up Lyft specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Whereas several businesses and innovative ventures are emerging each day in the modern world, uniqueness and exclusivity are becoming an important factor in the growth and development of modern businesses (Osterwalder Pigneur 2013). Innovators regularly come up with new ideas, but their innovations rarely capture the market and consumers, and hence, they slowly plummet, because they fail to receive the expected adoption. With the changing trends in consumer preferences, competent businesses are emerging with tantalizing business models and products, and thus new technologies have found it un easy to penetrate the already explored markets (Louise 2013). A starting technology meets many challenges and fears among financiers over the emerging technological businesses, as they are normally unsure of its future commencement. Fundamental to such notions, this research provides a professional analysis of a start-up tech venture known as Lyft. Description of the Venture Lyft is a modern and privately owned tech venture that emerged through innovations in the cab transportation company, and it is currently gaining extensive support and fame across the American roads (Lyft 2014). Initiated during the summer of 2012, two innovators John Zimmer and Logan Green began the transport business and named it Zimride to offer passengers peer-to-peer ride sharing experiences (Lyft 2014).Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Zimmer and Green developed the Lyft transport system with a dream of enabling passengers save money, avoid congested city traffic, and bring communities together through rideshare transport program (Lyft 2014). The cabs form a system of transport network with the company affording to connect and match drivers with passengers, who have requested for a cab ride through the Lyft Android and iPhone mobile applications. Lyft promotes the venture by encouraging passengers to influence their friend to sign up and reward them with $25 on the subsequent ride. Using Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and background checks, Lyft screens drivers to assess their credibility and driving record standards in a stricter manner than the traditional taxis (Lyft 2014). Lyft taxis are unique because they receive voluntary donations from passengers, unlike traditional taxis that rely on cash payments. Deposited weekly into their bank accounts, these community drivers receive approximately 80% of the total donations that passengers voluntarily produ ce (Lyft 2014). Independent community drivers must have personal cars in good working condition and must possess Android phones or iPhone connected to passengers via the mobile applications. Business Model Canvas for the Venture In undertaking the professional analysis of Lyft as a new venture in America, this research paper uses the business model canvas to carry out the business analysis process.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Analysis of a Start-up Lyft specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Business model canvas is a modern form of the strategic entrepreneurial and management tool that allows businesspersons to challenge, design, describe, or even formulate and support their businesses (Manzano 2012). Business canvas model has several elements that help businesspersons to describe and analyze a business system. It encompasses an appraisal of business partners, key activities, key resources, value proposition s, customer relationships, business channels, revenue streams, customer segments, and the cost structure. Key Partners The key partners of Lyft business innovation are the core members, including the founder, John Zimmer, who oversees overall operations and progress, Amy Fox, who is in charge of partnership development, business counselor, Beth Stevens (Lyft 2014). Corey Owens is responsible for maintaining public policy, Bill Vainisi is the vice president, and deputy general counsel, Kedar Deshpande, is responsible for strategic initiatives, while Marzia Zafaris is the director of planning and policy (Lyft 2014). The community drivers, Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), insurance agencies and companies, and the passengers are also important partners of Lyft. Key Activities Lyft undertakes numerous activities to ensure the rideshare program becomes effective. The main activity is to provide efficient and cheap transport of passengers and building an effective rideshare community (L yft 2014). Lyft connects drivers and passengers technologically using Android and iPhone applications. The company collaborates with insurance companies and the Department of Motor Vehicles to enhance transportation safety (Lyft 2014).Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Lyft ensures that they scrutinize drivers through background checks and analyzing driving record standards, uses technological app feedback to analyze driver rating by passengers, and ensures an active the $1,000,000 excess insurance program. Key Resources For the rideshare program to be effective, Lyft has been relying on numerous important assets and human resources. Human resources that are valued the most are the skilled drivers. The most important assets in the business are cars for taking passengers around designated locations (Lyft 2014). Lyft Transportation Company requires the Smartphones, especially Android phones, tablets, and iPhones that can support mobile applications, which connect drivers with passengers (Lyft 2014). Smartphones must have the independent Lyft applications installed as one of the most important recourses that the passengers use to invite friends, co-workers, and relatives. Value Propositions The intention of Lyft is large and unique in nature. Lyft ai ms at leveraging passengers to use charitable free lifts enable them to avoid pedestal walls that expose them to carbon inhalation, and finally bring unity among communities (Lyft 2014). Lyft business program aims at providing affordable, convenient rideshares, and improving the road safety through proper screening of credibility of drivers using criminal and background checks (Lyft 2014). Therefore, Lyft aims at reducing cost and risk of travel, while enhancing credibility of drivers and improving transit convenience for the passengers. Customer Relationships Lyft has a unique customer-business relationship that hinges upon trust as one of the most important virtues between the two actors, and it is useful for the emerging peer economy (Lyft 2014). Customers do not pay directly during service delivery, but willing donors send their contributions to the company after receiving free rides (Lyft 2014). Customers expect the taxi drivers to remain genuine during the offering of rides, a s the Lyft principles require them, but not make any cash payments during the free rides. Business Channels The mobile phone technology in Lyft is an important innovation as it builds the central business channel (Lyft 2014). Customers remain connected through the Lyft mobile applications that act as the platform for social connection. The Smartphones connect customers and drivers, and thus provide a means of enabling Lyft to assess the credibility of community drivers through a rating of 1 out of five rides scale (Lyft 2014). Passengers capable of bringing friends to free ride get $25 free credit for the next ride. Revenue Streams Revenue streams involve means of generating income within the business. The Lyft free rideshare program has ensured satisfaction among customers and since the payment is voluntary donation, the passengers are of different economic class and capable of giving higher amounts than from direct service charges (Lyft 2014). The voluntary community contribution exceeds what ordinary taxis generate through direct service charges, as passengers give based on their willingness and financial abilities (Lyft 2014). Customer Segments Each business, according to economists, has its own customer segment (Osterwalder Pigneur 2013). Lyft has a business customer segment that focuses on the niche business platform, as it targets specifically the passengers. In the niche market, business relationships between consumers and service or goods providers rely solely on the specific necessities of the positioned market (Osterwalder Pigneur 2013). Lyft focuses on developing the passenger community and providing them with affordable and reliable taxi transport system. The Cost Structure Cost structure in business model canvas is the cost incurred in running the business model. Lyft business model seeks to eliminate the notion of pay service in the taxi transport network, as its most important duty is to make city rides cost-effective to passengers (Lyft 2014 ). The cost structure of the business model is therefore variable, as the service. The provision does not rely on fixed payments, but relies on the voluntary community donations prior to free peer-to-peer rideshare service. The donations vary depending on individual donors. Table 1: The Business Model Canvas Key Partners Founder John Zimmer, Logan Green, Corey Owens, others Community Lyft drivers DMV and insurance companies Key Activities Free rides Driver screening Partnering with insurances Value proposition charitable free lifts safe driving suitable driving protecting passengers form carbon cost effective rides Customer Relationships Communities Trust Understanding Honesty Customer Segments Niche business platform Concerned particularly with passengers Key resources Human resources Capital resources Cars and vans Channels Phone apps Technology Cost Structure Variable and unpredictable as it entails donations Revenue Streams Brokerage fees, Advertising a nd Negotiation SWOT Analysis for the Venture SWOT, which is a renowned business analysis tool, stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, and assesses the entrepreneurial model of a business system (Dyson 2004). Fundamentally, SWOT analyzes capabilities, limitations, chances, and risks that businesses experience. This section of the term paper presents a professional assessment of Lyft business system using the SWOT analysis tool. Strengths of Lyft Tech Venture The main strength of Lyft tech venture is that it serves on a unique and modernized business system that relies on simple mobile phone technology, which connects targeted consumers and drivers. As the use of Smartphones is increasing and their demand is very high, it provides a platform for Lyft to flourish. The Lyft mobile applications rooted in modern and trendy Smartphones enable consumers to enjoy easy communication, connection, convenience, and reliability with service providers. Lyft is a modern te chnology business that also understands the aspect of sociability in the business. Weaknesses of Lyft Tech Venture The foremost weakness that is likely to hamper a smooth development of the Lyft technology venture is dishonesty. Many passengers that may require the rideshare program are youngsters, whose capacity to give voluntary donations remain limited. Due to such notions, the future of the technology venture relies on donations to pay community drivers. Since youths and teenagers may misuse the joy rides, the venture may suffer financial constraints as the misuse hampers its sustainability. Opportunities of Lyft Tech Venture A young technology venture with great innovative ideas has great advancement opportunities. As the business model is still young, the ideas are fresh in the market, involve active and youthful population, it has many opportunities in technology markets, which seem underexploited. The cost-effective approach tailored to community may assist to generate enorm ous market fame and substantial consumer reputation, which may support its future progress in other potential markets. Moreover, Smartphones are increasingly becoming valuable and its consumption is rising. Threats to the Lyft Tech Venture Technology is ever changing because Smartphones appeared has just appeared in the markets, while iPhone and Androids may vanish as technology transforms. The modern technology is also prone to piracy since strict regulations are not in place to handle copyright infringements. Competition is a significant threat to the success and progress of Lyft, as several taxi companies in the transport system are emerging. As consumers familiarize with modern technologies and Smartphone applications are easy to make, too much reliance on the Smartphone and mobile apps may raise security issues in future. Analysis of the Ventures Team Lyft emerged following innovations of two John Zimmer and Logan Green who are the core founders of the Zimride business program. However, Lyft has an advanced venture team of more than ten members, but the five main members comprise: John Zimmer and Logan Green- Co-founders of Lyft Amy Fox- responsible for partnership development in Lyft Beth Stevens- acts as general counsel of Sidecar Corey Owens- works for public policy in Uber Bill Vainisi- acts as the Senior Vice President at Allstate Insurance John Zimmer and Logan Green John Zimmer is a resident of San Francisco and the co-founder of Zimride program. Zimmer went to Cornell University, an institution renowned for intellectual development and broad research and developing innovative future leaders (Zimride 2008). He had once worked with Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, a financial company that offered global financial-services and investment banking until when it went bankrupt in 2008. Logan Green is also the co-founder of Zimride. Logan Green graduated at university of California at Santa Barbara and has once worked as a sustainability coordinator at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and a board member of Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District (Zimride 2008). Green had a high motivation in the transportation industry. Logan grew up within Southern California and frequently spent most of his time stuck in heavy traffic that always insinuated him. Logan noticed the rising demand for ridesharing program as at the same time annoyed by the empty cabs and people walking on foot (Zimride 2008). Out of his inspiration to change transportation system, Logan Greene began the Zimride in 2007, when he launched his first car-share program around Santa Barbra. Following the successful adoption and integration of the Zimride, a Business week program recognized Logan Green as Top 25 Entrepreneurs in business economics from the Santa Barbara region (Zimride 2008). Being a Lyft driver, Logan Green has had a dream of transforming the world transport system through 80% achievement of the Zimride. Conclusion and Recommendations fo r Crossing the Chasm Conclusively, following an increase in risks associated with venturing in new business innovations, it is increasing becoming uneasy for financiers from topmost venture capital companies to fund these new businesses without proof of future progression. An emergent innovation must show proof that the technology will get a market reputation (Warford 2004). After a proper analysis of Lyft tech venture using business model canvas and the SWOT assessment tools, Lyft venture has to do much to ensure diffusion of innovation of the emergent Zimride program. Target Customer Although the Zimride and the Lyft tech venture have targeted the most diverse and needy market that is the transport industry, members should remain cautious about the preference and abilities of the targeted consumers (Louise 2013). From an analytical view, peer-to-peer rideshare may involve the youthful population that is incapable of providing donations that are imperative for paying Lyft community drivers. Teenagers may enjoy the riding offered, and therefore, change of policies may be necessary. Compelling reason to buy The global traffic industry is ever growing as few individuals can afford personal cars even to date. Offering free rides to the needy travelers daily across the cities makes Zimride a unique business venture that may survive for quite some decades. The population of America is swelling with many medium class individuals seeking jobs in towns and cities, but unable to afford personal rides. To improve trust to the Zimride, certain payment standards should prevail to discourage joy riders. Competition Zimride has provided the best solution to passengers, who experience inconvenience from the costly pay cab drivers. Just as people have adopted and exhausted other technologies, the same technological innovation may undergo manipulation to design a different innovation, as Americans are still technologically suave (Zimride 2008). People may fear ridesharing with people they are unfamiliar with and this may provide a chance for new tech businesses to take over the transit system. Partners and allies The Zimride program has already started receiving external support and donors. The relationship with other independent companies is increasing. However, Zimride and other supportive programs may not have the capacity to continue influencing people to use their personal highly valued cars for the Zimride program. Zimride requires highly moral drivers who cannot ask for cash payments to take people for the peer-to-peer riding privileges. To ensure smooth progress, Lyft and Zimride program must strengthen its operational policies. References Akhilesh, K 2013, Emerging Dimensions of Technology Management, Springer, London. Dyson, R 2004, ‘Strategic development and SWOT analysis at the University of Warwick’, European Journal of Operational Research, vol. 152, no. 3, pp. 631–640. Louise, M 2013, ‘A knowledge exchange and dif fusion of innovation (KEDI) model for primary production’, British Food Journal, vol. 115, no. 4, pp. 614-631. Lyft: Providence: Warm, Fuzzy Rides Coming Your Way 2014. Web. Manzano, G, Ayala, J, Castresana, J, Parras, M 2012 ‘Factors Affecting the Growth of New Firms: A Multidisciplinary Perspective’, Journal of Management Studies, vol. 46, no. 4, pp.16-20. Osterwalder, A Pigneur, Y 2013, Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers, John Wiley Sons, London. Warford, M 2004, ‘Testing a Diffusion of Innovations in Education Model (DIEM)’, The Innovation Journal, vol.10, no.3, pp.1-41. Zimride: A carpool community 2008. Web.

Definitions and Examples of Debates

Definitions and Examples of Debates Broadly defined, a debate is a discussion involving opposing claims:  an argument. The word comes from Old French, meaning to beat. Its also known (in classical rhetoric) as  contentio. More specifically, a debate is a regulated contest in which two opposing sides defend and attack a proposition. Parliamentary debate is an academic event held at many schools, colleges, and universities. Debate Examples and Observations In several senses, there is no correct way to debate. Standards, and even rules, differ between- and sometimes within- communities...There are at least eight distinct college debate organizations with their own rules and styles of debate. (Gary Alan Fine, Gifted Tongues: High School Debate and Adolescent Culture. Princeton University Press, 2001) Skilled political debaters will first present their overall theme in the introductory statement if the opportunity to make such a statement is allowed in the debate format being used. Then they will reinforce it with answers to as many specific questions as possible. Finally, they will return to it in their concluding statement.(Judith S. Trent and Robert Friedenberg, Political Campaign Communication: Principles and Practices, 6th ed. Rowman Littlefield, 2008) Argumentation and Debate Argumentation is the process whereby humans use reason to communicate claims to one another. . . .Argumentation is useful in activities like negotiation and conflict resolution because it can be used to help people find ways to resolve their differences. But in some of these situations, differences cannot be resolved internally and an outside adjudicator must be called. These are the situations that we call debate. Thus, according to this view, debate is defined as the process of arguing about claims in situations where the outcome must be decided by an adjudicator.​ (The Debatabase Book. International Debate Education Association, 2009) How to argue is something people are taught. You learn it by watching other people, at the breakfast table, or in school, or on TV, or, lately, online. It’s something you can get better at, with practice, or worse at, by imitating people who do it badly.  More formal debate follows established rules and standards of evidence. For centuries, learning how to argue was the centerpiece of a liberal-arts education. (Malcolm X studied that kind of debate while he was in prison. Once my feet got wet, he said, I was gone on debating.) Etymologically and historically, the artes liberales are the arts acquired by people who are free, or liber. Debating, like voting, is a way for people to disagree without hitting one another or going to war: it’s the key to every institution that makes civic life possible, from courts to legislatures. Without debate, there can be no self-government.​ (Jill Lepore, The State of Debate. The New Yorker, September 19, 2016) Evidence in Debates Debate teaches cutting-edge  research skills. Because the quality of an argument often depends on the strength of the supporting evidence, debaters quickly learn to find the best evidence. This means going beyond run-of-the-mill Internet sources to government hearings, law reviews, professional journal articles, and book-length treatments of subjects. Debaters learn how to evaluate study methodology and source credibility...Debaters also learn how to process massive amounts of data into usable argument briefs. Argument briefs bring together the strongest logical reasons and evidence supporting various positions. The ability to gather and organize evidence into logical units is a skill that is treasured by business makers, government policy-makers, legal practitioners, scientists, and educators.​ (Richard E. Edwards, Competitive Debate: The Official Guide. Alpha Books, 2008) U.S. Presidential Debates American doesnt really have presidential debates. Instead, we have joint appearances where candidates recite talking points in settings so carefully controlled by party apparatchiks that the only real wrangling is over the height of the lecterns and the temperature of the drinking water. As with so many other aspects of the political process, debates that should be enlightening, perhaps even transformational, are instead stage-managed to satisfy the demands of power brokers with money and connections rather than the needs of democracy.​ (John Nichols, Open the Debates! The Nation, September 17, 2012)Thats what were missing. Were missing argument. Were missing debate. Were missing colloquy. Were missing all sorts of things. Instead, were accepting.​ (Studs Terkel) Women and Debates Following Oberlin Colleges admission of women in 1835, they were grudgingly permitted to have  rhetorical preparation in elocution, composition, criticism, and argument. Lucy Stone and Antoinette Brown helped to organize the first womens debating society there, for women were banned from public speaking in their rhetoric classroom because of its mixed audience status.​ (Beth Waggenspack, Women Emerge as Speakers: Nineteenth-Century Transformations of Womens Role in the Public Area. The Rhetoric of Western Thought, 8th ed., by James L. Golden et al. Kendall/Hunt, 2003) Online Debates Debate is a maneuver where learners are divided onto opposing sides, generally as teams, to discuss a contentious issue. Learners are afforded the opportunity to improve their analytic and communication skills by formulating ideas, defending positions, and critiquing counter positions. Historically, a debate is a structured activity; however, online media permit a wider range of designs for online debates, from an inflexibly structured exercise to a process with minimal structure. When an online debate is more rigid, step-by-step instructions are provided for debate and defense, as in a formal face-to-face debate. When online debate is designed with less structure, it operates as an online discussion concerning a controversial issue.​ (Chih-Hsiung Tu, Online Collaborative Learning Communities. Libraries Unlimited, 2004) The Lighter Side of Debates Ms. Dubinsky: Wed like you to join our debate team.Lisa Simpson: We have a debate team?Ms. Dubinsky: Its the only extracurricular activity that doesnt require any equipment.Principal Skinner: Because of budget cuts, we had to improvise. Ralph Wiggum will be your lectern.​ (To Surveil, with Love, The Simpsons, 2010)

Economic Situation In Slovenia Post Financial Crisis Research Paper

Economic Situation In Slovenia Post Financial Crisis - Research Paper Example Slovenia is a developed state in the central Europe which experienced a period of boom between the years 2004 to 2006, when the economy grew at a rate of 5 % per annum. The economic growth surge was mainly due to the rising expenditure (mainly in construction) supported by public debt (OECD, 2015). However, after the global recession of 2007, Slovenia entered in a period of financial austerity to reduce its burden of debt which was earlier created by bailing out its banks. Slovenia’s austerity programmes were aimed at reducing its budget deficit caused by the amounted debt. The austerity policies of the government hence included the rise in the tax rates or introduction of new taxes, reduction of public expenditure and privatisation of state owned companies (Nova Kreditna Banka Maribor; communications operator Telekom Slovenija; airline Adria Airways; Ljubljana airport and Elan ski manufacturer). Such kind of financial strictness often results in rising unemployment; fall in c onsumption level and higher debt to GDP ratio (despite being fall in the budget deficits). With advent of rising debt obligations of Slovenia, financial austerity is a well justified approach by the government. The easier accessibility to credit and the meagre risk assessment prior to the crisis had resulted in such unsustainable debt. The economic reforms in the form of financial consolidation, privatisation and recapitalization of banks were hence required to drive the credibility of the country in financial market.