The Emerging Role of Electronic Markets

Internet-based electronic marketplaces leverage information technology to match buyers and sellers with increased effectiveness and lower transaction costs, leading to more efficient, â€Å"friction-free† markets. The Emerging Role of Electronic Marketplaces on the Internet Markets play a central role in the economy, facilitating the Yannis Bakos exchange of information, goods, services, and payments. In the process, they create economic value for buyers, sellers, market intermediaries, and for society at large.Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the role of information technology in markets, both in traditional markets, and in the emergence of electronic marketplaces, such as the multitude of Internet-based online auctions. Functions of a Market Markets (electronic or otherwise) have three main functions, summarized in Table 1: matching buyers and sellers; facilitating the exchange of information, goods, services and payments associated with market transactions; and providing an institutional infrastructure, such as a legal and regulatory framework, that enables the efficient functioning of the market.In a modern economy, the first two functions are provided by intermediaries, while the institutional infrastructure is typically the province of governments. Internet-based electronic marketplaces leverage information technology to perform these functions with increased effectiveness and reduced transaction costs, resulting in more efficient, â€Å"friction-free† markets. Matching Buyers and Sellers. Markets â€Å"clear† by matching demand and supply. This process of matching buyers’ demand with sellers’ product offerings has three main components: determining Matching uyers and sellers †¢ Determination of product offerings – Product features offered by sellers – Aggregation of different products †¢ Search (of buyers for sellers and of sellers for buyers) – Price and product information à ¢â‚¬â€œ Matching seller offerings with buyer preferences †¢ Price discovery – Process and outcome in determination of prices Facilitation of transactions†¢ Logistics – Delivery of information, good, or service to buyer †¢ Settlement – Transfer of payment to seller †¢ Trust – Credit system, reputations, rating agencies like Consumer Reports and Better Business Bureaus Institutional infrastucture †¢ Legal – Commercial code, contract law, dispute resolution, intellectual property protection †¢ Regulatory – Rules and regulations, monitoring, enforcement Table 1. Functions of a market COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM August 1998/Vol. 41, No. 8 35 Establishing a dialogue and a sense of community among customers can create value by enabling the sharing of experiences, problems and solutions, but also allows the collection of important information about individual consumers. product offerings, search, and price discovery. The behavior of buyers, sellers, and intermediaries is motivated by their desire to maximize their private utility. When markets function well, this also leads to an efficient allocation of productive resources. Viewed this way, markets are the engine and steering system of our economy.Markets provide sellers with information about demand that allows them to employ economic inputs such as capital, technology and labor, and develop products with characteristics that match the needs of buyers. Sellers determine a schedule of product offerings that they expect will maximize their profits based on: †¢ information about buyer demand; †¢ the cost of inputs; †¢ the available technology for production and distribution of the information, goods and services purchased by the buyers; and, †¢ the transaction costs of administering production, distribution, and payment. Buyers select their purchases from the available product offerings after considering factors such as price and product characteristics. In obtaining and processing this information, buyers face search costs.These osts include the opportunity cost of time spent searching, as well as associated expenditures such as driving, telephone calls, computer fees, magazine subscriptions, etc. Typically, sellers exploit these search costs by raising their prices, and thus enjoy higher profits. Similarly sellers may face search costs in locating qualified buyers for their products, such as market research, advertising and sales calls. A key function of markets in our economic system is price discovery, which is the process of determining the prices at which demand and supply â€Å"clear† and trade occurs. For certain markets, such as financial markets, this is their primary function.Markets can employ a number of mechanisms for price discovery. 36 August 1998/Vol. 41, No. 8 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM For instance, some financial markets use one or more of the several types of auctions to determine prices, such as the â€Å"call market† auction at the opening of a trading day at the New York Stock Exchange, when bids are accepted up to a certain time and exchange occurs when the market opens. This is the first price that is communicated via the stock market ticker to the market at large, kicking off a day of â€Å"continuous market† trading. Other markets, such as the traditional automobile dealership, employ negotiation between buyers and sellers until a price is reached.In still other markets, such as the typical department store, merchants make firm offers that customers can either take or leave. Facilitation of Transactions. The matching function of a market establishes a bilateral relationship between a buyer and a seller. After a transaction is agreed upon, the product sold must be transported to the buyer (logistics), and payment must be transferred to the seller (settlement). Markets typically incorporate mechanisms for logistics and settlement: when a tr avel agent uses an airline reservations system to book a flight, the system will generate the itinerary and the ticket, and will process a credit card payment.Furthermore, market transactions require the establishment of a certain level of trust, which protects buyers, sellers and intermediaries from the opportunistic behavior of other market participants. For instance, this trust role may include banks issuing letters of credit, credit reporting bureaus, or rating agencies such as Consumer Reports and Better Business Bureaus, which keep track of product information and seller reputations, and thus discourage opportunistic behavior. Finally, markets provide the physical infrastructure that allows transactions between the buyers and the sellers to take place. This includes real assets such as physical structures and trading floors, computers and communication networks, and transportation systems. Institutional Infrastructure.The institutional infrastructure specifies the laws, rules and regulations that govern market transactions, such as issues related to contract law, dispute resolution, and intellectual property protection, and provides mechanisms for their enforcement. In addition, the dynamics of electronic markets may raise certain antitrust issues. For example, there are large economies of scale in distribution, as a single online retailer or intermediary can serve a very large market. There are also potential demand-side economies of scale in payment mechanisms and software. These may lead to a winner-takeall market structure [1] with one or a few firms dominating the market. Purchasing a new home – Research city and neighborhood – Find a house – Inspections, title research, appraisals, contracts – Get a mortgage – Moving services – Decorators, furniture, etc. †¢ Planning a vacation – Research destination – Arrange accommodations and travel – Purchase maps, books, information – C heck out weather, items to take †¢ Purchasing a car – Research make and model – Select a dealer – Get a loan or arrange a lease – Purchase insurance Table 2. Components of consumer processes and transaction/distribution cost How the Internet Affects Markets Electronic marketplaces, especially Internet-based markets, are having a major impact on the roles of markets discussed previously [2, 12]. Product Offerings.Two major emerging trends distinguish products in electronic marketplaces from their traditional counterparts: increased personalization and customization of product offerings, and the aggregation and disaggregation of information-based product components to match customer needs and to support new pricing strategies. Electronic marketplaces support personalization and customization in two ways: †¢ Consumer tracking technology allows the identification of individual buyers; information about these buyers, such as relevant demographics, co nsumer profiles, or comparison with the known preferences of similar consumers, can be used to discover or estimate their specific preferences. Information-rich products lend themselves to cost-effective customization; for instance, delivering an electronic newspaper tailored to the interests of an individual reader need not be more costly than delivering the same copy to all subscribers. Current personalization and customization technologies use either rule-based systems like Broadvision (www. broadvision. com) that draw upon sets of expert rules, or collaborative filtering systems like the Firefly Network (www. firefly. net) that utilize the feedback and experiences of consumers with a profile of likes and dislikes similar to the targeted buyer. This allows the practice of â€Å"one-to-one marketing,† which is based on understanding individual consumers.For instance, establishing a dialogue and a sense of community among customers can create value by enabling the sharing of experiences, problems and solutions, but also allows the collection of important information about individual consumers. The ultimate objective is to provide customized services according to individual preferences, whether expressed or inferred. Increased selling effectiveness comes from being able to design appropriate products to address the needs of individual consumers, and from being able to identify the moment when a customer’s purchasing decision is most likely to occur and to be prepared for that moment, one step ahead of the competition. When determining their product mix, sellers must decide which product components or features will be included in each product offering.For example, the developer of an operating system must decide which features to implement, and whether they will be marketed and priced individually or in a single bundle. These decisions are driven by the relative cost of different product bundles, which includes the following types of costs: †¢ Production cost: the cost of producing additional units for inclusion in the bundle, including storage, processing, and communications costs incurred in the process. †¢ Transaction and distribution cost: the cost of distributing a bundle of goods and administering the related transactions, such as arranging for payment. †¢ Binding cost: the cost of binding the component goods together for distribution as a bundle, such as formatting changes necessary to include news stories from wire services in a newspaper bundle. Menu cost: the cost of administering multiple prices. If a mixed bundling strategy is pursued, where the available components are offered in different combinations, then a set of n goods may require as many as 2n prices (one for each subset of one or more goods). COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM August 1998/Vol. 41, No. 8 37 c Marginal Costs Mean Valuation c0 Marginal production, distribution, and transactions are high enough to make both bundled and unbundled Unbund led sales dominate sales unprofitable bundling Bundling is more profitable than unbundled sales Distribution Costs d Figure 1. Phase diagram for bundling and unbundling strategies as a function of marginal costInternet marketplaces are changing the constraints imposed by these costs and thus are fostering new types of intermediaries that create value by aggregating services and products that traditionally were offered by separate industries. For instance, Table 2 shows the components of three processes that generate value for consumers. In traditional markets, these components are provided by separate industries. A consumer in the market for a new car might select a make and model based on the experience collected from test drives, research from auto magazines and Consumer Reports, and recommendations from friends. She would then agree on price, order the vehicle, and take delivery through a car dealer, arrange financing through a bank, and purchase insurance from an insurance compa ny.By dramatically lowering the transaction, distribution and binding costs, the Internet has allowed intermediaries such as Auto-byTel (www. auto-by-tel. com) or Microsoft’s Carpoint (www. carpoint. com) to offer all of these products and services, with the exception of an actual test drive. Similar intermediaries are emerging in other areas, such as the Travelocity (www. travelocity. com) and Microsoft’s Expedia (www. expedia. com) travel services aggregators, or Microsoft’s Boardwalk Web site that will aggregate products and services related to real estate transactions. The Case of Information Goods. Digital information goods, such as news articles, digital images or music, allow perfect copies to be created and distributed almost without cost via the Internet.The Internet is thus precipitating a dramatic reduction in the marginal costs of production and distribution for these goods, while micropayment technologies are reducing the transaction costs for their commercial exchange. Bakos and Brynjolfsson [6] point out that this creates new opportunities for repackaging content through strategies such as bundling, site licensing, subscriptions, rentals, differential pricing and per-use fees. All of these schemes can be thought Figure 2. ComputerESP price comparison engine 38 August 1998/Vol. 41, No. 8 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM of as either aggregating or disaggregating information goods along some dimension.For instance, aggregation can take place across products, as when software programs are bundled for sale in a software suite or when access to various content of an online service is provided for a fixed fee. Aggregation can also take place across consumers, as with the provision of a site license to multiple users for a fixed fee, or over time, as with subscriptions. Many information goods have been bundled solely to save on transaction, distribution and menu costs, yet these costs are much lower on the Internet. Thus software and othe r types of content may be increasingly disaggregated and metered, as on-demand software applets or as individual news stories and stock quotes.Independent of the cost considerations mentioned previously, Bakos and Brynjolfsson [6] show that aggregation of arge numbers of information goods can be a powerful strategy that results in higher profits for sellers as well as a socially desirable wider distribution of the goods. This is due to the ability of aggregation to change the shape of the demand curve faced by the sellers to one that is easier to exploit. Aggregation can be a surprisingly profitable strategy when marginal production costs are low and consumers are homogeneous. Bakos and Brynjolfsson’s analysis provides a framework to understand the emergence of intermediaries that aggregate online content, such as America Online and Yahoo! , as well as the increasing use of subscription pricing in the sale of information goods by companies such as Netscape, Dow-Jones, or Reut ers.Figure 1 graphically summarizes this discussion and depicts the impact of marginal cost c and distribution/transaction cost d on the desirability of bundling large numbers of information goods. Search. Electronic marketplaces lower the buyers’ cost to obtain information about the price and product features of seller offerings as well as the sellers’ cost to communicate information about their prices and product characteristics. For instance, a buyer in the market for a 400MHz Pentium II microprocessor can easily compare the prices of different sellers by using a specialized search engine like Pricewatch (www. pricewatch. com) or ComputerESP (www. computeresp. com), as shown in Figure 2.Similarly, links to manufacturers’ Web sites can be used to obtain detailed information about the product features of different laptop computers. By lowering buyers’ search costs, electronic markets increase economic efficiency. Not only do buyers incur lower costs even after considering more product offerings, they also benefit from being able to identify and purchase products that better match their needs. Several Internet-based technologies assist buyers’ searching: multimedia, high bandwidth, and rating sites provide more product information. Search engines help buyers identify appropriate seller offerings. The search engines can be hierarchical directories (like Yahoo! , generic tools (like AltaVista in early 1998), or specialized tools that work best in the context of specific markets (such as Pricewatch and ComputerESP for computers and peripherals, or Expedia and Travelocity for airline tickets and other travel products).Intelligent agents such as Bargainfinder (bf. cstar. ac. com/bf) or Jango (www. jango. com) have been developed to scout the Web and compare product offerings by price or features on the behalf of the buyers. These technologies keep lowering buyers’ search costs. The lower search costs enable new markets to e merge. For example, low buyer search costs and global reach allowed Onsale. com (www. onsale. om) to create markets in goods like secondhand cameras; otherwise the search costs would be too high to enable potential buyers and sellers to find each other in a conventional market. Several other intermediaries are emerging to facilitate the process of matching buyers and sellers. Among many others they include Yahoo! , Pricewatch, Netbot’s Jango, and several other search engines, Web directories and shopping agents. They also include providers for product information (e. g. , CNet, trade magazines), recommendations and personalization (e. g. , Firefly Network), and information about sellers such as Bizrate. Price Discovery. Electronic marketplaces enable new types of price discovery to be employed in different markets.For example, some airlines auction last-minute unsold seats to the highest bidders, and Web-based auctions at Onsale. com have created for consumer goods markets th at function like the financial markets. Intermediaries such as Priceline (www. priceline. com) allow buyers to specify product requirements and the amount they’re willing to pay, and then make corresponding offers to the participating sellers, reversing the traditional functioning of retail markets. Finally, agents such as Kasbah (ecommerce. media. mit. edu/kasbah) and Tete-a-Tete (ecommerce. media. mit. edu/tete-a-tete) that can negotiate purchases on behalf of buyers and sellers, may restructure the price discovery process in Internet marketplaces [11].The ability to customize products, combined with the ability of sellers to access substantial information about prospective buyers, such as demographics, preferences and past shopping behavior, is greatly improving sellers’ ability to price discriminate—that COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM August 1998/Vol. 41, No. 8 39 is, to charge different prices for different buyers. Price discrimination is a powerful tool that al lows sellers to increase their profits, and reduces the consumer surplus enjoyed by buyers. On the other hand, price discrimination enables sellers to service buyers who would otherwise be priced out of the market, an outcome that increases economic efficiency.These new types of price discovery, such as the ability of buyers to make offers and the ability to conduct electronic negotiations between buyer and seller agents, are changing the â€Å"microstructure† of consumer markets. Finance theory has shown that market microstructure affects both the efficiency of markets and the bargaining power of their participants. The increasing importance of electronic commerce emphasizes the need to carry this type of research analysis to electronic marMarkketplaces. It is unclear who the beneficiaup ries of this process will be. The ability to r implement different price discovery mechanisms may result in more efficient marr/2 kets, thus benefiting buyers and hurting inefficient sellers . As menu costs decrease, sellers will move away from fixed pricing, and more prices will become negotiable [7].While savvy buyers may benefit, the 0 ability to negotiate prices may not be pleasant or result in a good deal, as many visitors to auto dealerships have discovered. Furthermore, when sellers are better informed, they are likely to increase their profits by charging different prices to different buyers. Economic theory predicts that buyers with more bargaining power, typically the more affluent ones, will fare better in this situation. Facilitation. The cost of logistics—the process of transporting products from the seller to the buyer— has been estimated at more than 10% of the GNP [8]. Electronic marketplaces improve information sharing between buyers and sellers, helping lower the cost of logistics and promoting quick, just-intime deliveries and reduced inventories.The distribution of information goods such as newspapers, music, videos and software, is lik ely to be completely transformed, as the information infrastructure will replace physical distribution systems. Sellers in Internet marketplaces are typically responsible for delivery to their customers, and increasingly contract with third-party providers for direct delivery from the manufacturer to the final consumer, reducing costs and time-to-delivery. Thus, direct sellers like Dell Computer are squeezing out traditional intermediaries such as wholesalers and distributors, while delivery providers such as FedEx and 40 August 1998/Vol. 41, No. 8 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACMUPS are emerging as major Internet intermediaries, because of their logistics expertise and their economies of scale in distribution. Electronic payment systems will further lower transaction costs in Internet marketplaces, and micropayment systems will lower the cost of small transactions, enabling new pricing strategies such as the metering of software use. As face-to-face marketplaces are replaced by electronic ones, there is increasing need to protect market participants from opportunistic behavior. Technologies such as public key cryptography can provide security and authentication of transactions, while intermediaries like Bizrate (www. bizrate. om) will use information from consumers to keep track of merchants’ reputaAs search costs fall from very high to moderate, new markets emerge, and both sellers and buyers benefit. However, if search costs continue to fall, market prices fall and sellers are made worse off, while buyers benefit from the lower prices and their improved ability to find products that fit their needs. r 2/4t r 2/t market breakdown buyer search cost Figure 3. The impact of buyer search costs in a differentiated market tions.Credit bureaus and credit card companies will provide credit information or guarantee payment for consumers. Finally, intermediaries like Verisign (www. verisign. om) are emerging as â€Å"certificate authorities† that match legal id entities to the possession of cryptographic keys—a public key infrastructure. Internet Marketplaces and Competition Impact of Lower Search Costs. The ability of Internet marketplaces to reduce search costs for price and product information may significantly affect competition. Bakos [4, 5] shows that lower buyer search costs in electronic marketplaces promote price competition among sellers. This effect will be most dramatic in commodity markets, where intensive price competition can eliminate all seller profits. It will also be significant in markets where products are differentiated, reducing the monopoly power enjoyed by sellers, and leading to lower prices and seller profits.Figure 3 shows the equilibrium prices for a differentiated good with zero marginal cost, which The dynamics of friction-free markets are not attractive for sellers that had previously depended on geography or customer ignorance to insulate them from the low-cost sellers in the market. consumers value at r and has a degree of differentiation t. As search costs fall from very high to moderate, new markets emerge, and both sellers and buyers benefit. However, if search costs continue to fall, sellers are made worse off since buyers can more easily find the lowest-cost seller, while buyers benefit from the lower prices and their improved ability to find products that fit their needs.The dynamics of friction-free markets are not attractive for sellers that had previously depended on geography or customer ignorance to insulate them from the low-cost sellers in the market. As geography becomes less important, new sources of product differentiation, such as customized features or service or innovation, will become more important, at least for those sellers who don’t have the lowest cost of production. Also, like an arms race in which both sides develop increasingly powerful weapons, sellers can exploit the reduction in menu costs to compensate for the lower search costs in electr onic marketplaces. Specifically, sellers can make it difficult to compare the price of alternative product offerings, and they can attempt to collect information about buyers that allows more effective price discrimination.Airlines, for example, have implemented extremely complicated and ever-changing fare structures, flight restrictions, and ticket availability, sometimes offering hundreds of fares for travel between certain pairs of destinations. It is also interesting to note that when informational inefficiencies prevail, a large number of sellers does not necessarily result in a competitive and efficient market. If search costs are high, individual sellers do not have a strong incentive to lower their prices because few buyers would discover them. As the number of sellers increases, it becomes more difficult for buyers to locate discounters, and thus the market may become more monopolistic as the number of sellers increases!This behavior is likely in certain markets with little or no advertising, such as some markets for professional legal and medical ser- ices. Internet marketplaces could provide price cutters with the means to reach a larger fraction of the buyers, and thus undermine the monopolistic nature of these markets. While there is much speculation about the effect that electronic marketplaces have on prices, thus far there has been little systematic analysis. One exploratory study by Bailey and Brynjolfsson [3] did not find much evidence that prices on the Internet were lower than prices for the same goods sold via traditional retail channels. Their analysis was based on data from 52 Internet and conventional retailers for 337 distinct titles of books, music compact discs, and software.Bailey and Brynjolfsson provide several possible explanations for their unexpected findings, including the possibility that searching on the Internet during the sample period was not as easy as is sometimes assumed, that the demographics of the typical Internet u ser encouraged a higher price equilibrium, that many of the Internet retailers were still experimenting with pricing strategies, and that Internet retailers were differentiating their products (for example, via delivery options or customized recommendations). Clearly, more empirical research is needed in this area. Increasing Differentiation and Lowering the Cost of Product Information. A higher degree of product differentiation leads to an increase in seller profits, which may partially or completely offset the decrease caused by lower search costs. Sellers in electronic markets will thus want increasingly to differentiate their products, possibly utilizing the personalization and customization technologies discussed earlier.Buyers in a differentiated market face two types of search costs: the cost of obtaining price information and the cost of obtaining information about the product characteristics of a seller’s offering. If sellers can control the type of electronic market introduced, they should favor a system emphasizing product information rather than price-shopping. COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM August 1998/Vol. 41, No. 8 41 A key variable for such a system is the cost of product information relative to the cost of price information about the product. For instance, an electronic marketplace designed to promote priceshopping makes it easy to compare price information, but might still require a higher-cost inquiry (such as a visit) to obtain detailed product information.For example, a buyer looking for a computer monitor on the Internet can easily compare prices from a large number of sellers, but then must obtain and evaluate the monitors’ specifications, assess the sellers’ reputations and return policies, and ideally locate a display model at a showroom or at a colleague’s office. By contrast, an electronic marketplace can be designed to promote competition based on product features. For example, high-quality multimedia product descriptions in standardized formats could help identify product offerings matching the buyer’s preferences, while price information could be left out of these descriptions or could be obscured by offering a large number of prices and making it difficult for the buyers to figure out which price actually applies. tained as electronic intermediaries gain a significant market share. Instead, the physical experience component might be unbundled to a physical intermediary.Auto-by-Tel, for example, may pay a fee to the intermediary where the test drive took place, a service that could be provided by a traditional dealership, but also by a specialized showroom or a car rental company. Internet-based electronic marketplaces are still at a formative stage, and it is hard to fully predict their impact on the structure of markets. However it is becoming clear that they will promote greater economic efficiency, and help sustain economic growth. In the process, they are creating major tra nsformations, full of strategic opportunities for intermediaries ready to compete by adding value for buyers and sellers rather than by exploiting information asymmetries.  References 1. Arthur, B. Increasing returns and the new world of business. Harvard Business Rev. , (July–Aug. 1996), 100–109. 2. Bailey, J. and Bakos, Y. An exploratory study of the emerging role of electronic intermediaries. International J. Electronic Commerce 1, 3 (Spring 1997).3. Bailey, J. and Brynjolfsson, E. In search of friction-free markets: An exploratory analysis of prices for books, CDs and software sold on the Internet. In Proceedings of the 25th Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (Alexandria, VA, Sept. 1997). www. stern. nyu. edu/~bakos/big. pdf.

American Beauty: Of Adulthood and Life Transitions

American Beauty is one of the most well-received movies of our time. As the screen debut of screenwriter Alan Ball and director Sam Mendes, the movie has won numerous Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It was a good demonstration of different psychological and social themes such as deviancy, romantic and paternal love, sexuality, and beauty.The movie’s focus is Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey). In fact, as the narrator, Lester is the revolving point of most of the movie. American Beauty paints how he was a year before he died and how he’s changed through the year that eventually led to his death.But the movie also focused on other interesting characters – most notable of which are his wife Carolyn (Annette Bening), daughter Jane (Thora Birch), Janes’ friend Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari), and the neighbor Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley). Almost all of these characters undergo a specific ‘deviant’ nature and are almost on either poles of the social sph ere.Watching Lester, Carolyn, Jane, Angela, and Ricky, one realizes that people really do change behavior based on previous experiences. Although Berk (2004), in her book Development Through the Life Span, talked mainly about the change of relationship between parent and child through operant conditioning, this discussion is useful in explaining the hostile relationship between Jane and her parents.As Jane has come to learn from previous experiences, any attempt at trying to bond the family falls into deaf ears; hence, she’s taken to keeping her mouth shut and maintaining a distant stance from her father and mother.Perhaps, this type of learning can also aid in understanding Angela. She is naturally insecure and afraid of being thought ‘ordinary’. But she’s learned that putting up a front and projecting a brazen image elicits a positive response from men; since this eliminates her fears of being just a common person, she has maintained the said image.Leste r and Carolyn also demonstrate how adults react differently when on the brink of transitioning from their prime to old age. Lester copes with his shift to old age in a different manner than Carolyn in the sense that he’s preferred to be â€Å"sedated†, to use his own terms.He felt that everything in his life was going downhill: he was losing his job, he hasn’t had sex with his wife in a long time, and he just doesn’t find any aspects of his life exciting. Yet given the right stimuli (in the person of Angela, whom he is obviously attracted to), he realizes that aging should not be the end of his life.He starts working out and bettering himself. He shows – through his decision to quit his job, resume his teenage job as a fast food employee, and buy his dream car – that sometimes, people regress while moving towards old age.Carolyn, however, has an opposite reaction. Knowing that she now only has limited time, she goes down the serious route. S he became more focused on her career and had little time left for personal pleasure.Jane and Angela on the other hand, show teenagers metamorphosing into adults. Jane, realizing that most teenagers her age are already forming well-developed breasts, reacts to her maturation by desiring breast augmentation.Angela, though, who projects a confident stance, does not do – or wish to do – anything as drastic. In fact, it seems that she is unmindful of the possible biological changes that adulthood might bring to her current ‘good looks’.Lester’s obsession with Angela has given him an energy boost. Suddenly, he finds the guts to stand up to his wife and demand for what he wants. Then he gets involved in a fitness regimen and dives into the use of marijuana (which he purchases from Ricky).This has eventually led to drastic changes in his family life: Carolyn and he find themselves quarreling in front of Jane, who naturally forms greater hatred for her paren ts.Early in the film and towards the middle part, we get a glimpse at how Ricky feels about death. He thinks that death is nothing to worry about and is something interesting to watch. This was apparent in the scene where he was filming a dead bird and describes it as â€Å"beautiful†.And the death of Lester reinforces this: examining Lester’s bloody body, Ricky utters, â€Å"Wow.† Lester also portrays a way of coping with death. Through his narration, he describes death as a sort of freedom and a culmination of everything that is happy.Using Lester as a narrator, Ball speaks of how â€Å"the after life† does exist and how it is something that we all have to go through at one point in our lives.American Beauty is not just another pretty, award-winning movie. It is an effective demonstration of how people react differently towards changes in life, specifically adulthood and life transitions.ReferencesMendes, Sam. (Director). (1999, October 1). American Bea uty   [Motion picture]. USA: DreamWorks.Berk, Laura E. (2004). Development Through the Life Span. Boston,

Mergers & Acquisitions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Mergers & Acquisitions - Essay Example A merger takes place when the firms involved in the combination are of unequal size. The larger or stronger firm continues to exist because of its stronger bargaining power and the smaller or weaker firms go out of existence. Four periods of economic history have witnessed very high levels of merger activity, which are called a merger waves. These periods are characterized by cyclical activity i.e. large number of mergers followed by relatively fewer mergers ((ICMR), 2003). The current period is called as the fifth wave. In the first three waves, merger activity was concentrated in the United States of America. The fourth and the fifth waves were global in nature though the impact of the wave is most pronounced in the United States of America. First Wave The first merger wave occurred after the depression of 1883. It peaked between 1898 and1902 though it began in 1897 and ended in 1904. The merger had the greatest impact on eight specific industries i.e. primary metals, bituminous coal, food products, chemicals, machinery, transportation equipment, petroleum and fabricated metal products. These industries accounted for almost two – thirds of the total mergers during these periods.The mergers in the first wave were predominantly horizontal combinations. These resulting industrial consolidations led to creation of large monopolies. For example, US steel founded by J P Morgan merged with Carnegie Steel founded by Andrew Carnegie.The merged firm US Steel also acquired several other smaller steel producers and the resulting giant capture 75% of the steel market of the United States of America. ... Second Wave The second merger wave occurred between 1916 and 1929. George Stigler, a winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, has contrasted the first wave as "merging for monopoly" and the second wave as "merging for oligopoly." The consolidation pattern resulted in the emergence of oligopolistic industrial structures. The second wave was primarily fuelled by the post World War I boom in America Economy and a buoyant capital market. The second merger wave lasted until the Great Depression. The wave ended with the stock market crash on the "Black Thursday" i.e. October 29th of the year 1929, when the stock market witnessed one of the steepest stock price falls in history. Some of the corporate giants like General Motors, International Business Machines (IBM), Union Carbide, and John Deere etc., are a product of this era. Third Wave The third merger wave occurred during 1965 to 1969. This wave featured a historically high level of merger activity. One of the reasons for this factor is that this wave occurred in the background of a booming American Economy. One of the new trends started by this wave was the acquisition of larger companies by smaller companies. In the waves prior to this, the acquirer was always bigger in size than the target. A large proportion of transactions that took place during this wave were conglomerate transactions. The conglomerates formed during this period were highly diversified and simultaneously operated in several unrelated industries. For example, during the sixties ITT acquired such diversified businesses like car rental firms, bakeries, consumer credit agencies, luxury hotels, airport parking firms,

The oppression of Victorian women and expressing feminist sentiment, Dissertation

The oppression of Victorian women and expressing feminist sentiment, concerning hysteria, in The Awakening in terms of the gothi - Dissertation Example Victorian women faced multi-faceted oppression by society; however, this was perceived as the only appropriate mode of life for them. Any woman, who dared to defy conventional norms by indulging in an illicit relation, expressed sensual desires, and mouthed discomfort against masochistic behaviours, was socially condemned and regarded as hysterical (Austin & Boyd, 2010, p.496). Utter disregard for womanly penchants and suppression of feminist sentiments produced negative impacts on female psyche which by the end of 19th century was understood as a medical disorder by the likes of Sigmund Freud. It was due to the efforts on Freud’s behalf and the literary masterpieces from the late 19th century that put forth the logic that hysteria was a natural phenomenon resulting from feelings of oppression and belittling of humanly yearnings (Sulloway, 1992, p.47). Feminism which before 19th century was largely encapsulated as the freedom to give birth and enjoy motherhood, was propagated as an urge for attaining social equality, privilege for preferred sensual orientation, and independence for selecting a way of life. Gothic literature primarily focused on enlightening people about the actuality of hysteria and the dislike towards biased moral/cultural norms was voiced strongly (Toohey, 2012, p.242). It expressed feminist sentiments and described the impact of stereotypical gender roles from a female’s perspective. Kate Chopin's â€Å"The Awakening† (1899), Charlotte Perkins Gilman's â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† (1892) and Henry James â€Å"The Turn of the Screw† (1898), etc. displayed feminist sentiments concerning hysteria profoundly (Serafin & Bendixen, 2005, p.362). The Awakening, the centre of discussion here, displays a Victorian era society in Louisiana during 1899, and underlines tabooed themes of feminine biological desires and pursuance of self-identity through the protagonist Edna Pontellier. Revealing hysteria as a repercussion of pursuing self-identity in The Awakening: The Awakening is one of those few literary masterpieces that covered the theme of oppression and depression comprehensively. In this novel, forced social obligations and suppressed female emotions were shown as the cause of bringing them to the verge of insanity. It did not deal with any single aspect of oppression but provided an in-depth analysis of how feminist pursuance of self-identity and female individuality was totally crushed in a male-dominated society. Edna was not just searching for freedom to entertain her unfulfilled sensual urges that was an outcome of unhappy and excessively authoritative marital relation, but she wanted to gain freedom for self-discovery. Here it is important to pay attention to the fact the Victorian era men played a significant role in the outbreak of maddening behaviours among women. Danahay explains that in Victorian era, biased gender role distinction primarily on the biological basis was the â€Å" most extreme form of segregation yet seen in an industrialised nation† (2005, p.2). Women had no particular rights upon their body or mind whatsoever, hence; it was paramount that there was no acceptance for â€Å"permissible sexual activities,† and â€Å"range of role choices†

Bankruptcy of Enron Corp Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Bankruptcy of Enron Corp - Essay Example Center of discussion in this paper is Enron Corp. that filed the biggest case of bankruptcy in U.S history in December 2001 because of various unethical issues. Enron Corporation had taken pride in and strongly believed that that its personnel would take care of the rising risk without any consequences. The culture encouraged greed and centered on the amount of money that could be made for directors. For instance, Enron's compensation system appeared to be less apprehensive of generating income for its shareholders than with enriching the wealth of the company. The corporate culture at Enron reportedly promoted exploitation. The collapse of the company has shocked the entire financial world and raised many serious questions concerning the subject of corporate governance. The Enron Corporation bankruptcy is becoming the most well-known and extremely publicized bankruptcy case in the history of financing. Several unethical issues have contributed to Enron’s bankruptcy. These inc lude: Bad Communication-: The stock analysts at Enron were frequently vague and failed to specify their finances and operation cost. Enron also lied to the various stakeholders, and their financial statements concealed the various significant losses to their Stockholders and failed in delivering the bad news. Improper Accounting: One of the primary reasons for Enron’s bankruptcy was the company’s reprehensible accounting system. Enron used dishonest accounting measures to generate their incomes. Even though these systems produced more flattering financial image of the company, external observers believed they may represent deceitful financial reporting since they did not precisely portray the true financial condition at the company (Avey et al., 2011). For instance, Enron created the special-purpose entities (SPEs) to change the assets and debt in its balance sheet and raise cash flow by indicating any sale of assets through its books (Ferrell et al., 419). Hiding the losses and inflating profits: Enron Corporation has a cash flow of negative amount $154 millions, but the company claimed of 3 million in its cash flow Misleading the financial reports-: The company filed for bankruptcy after disclosing that it used (SPEs), Special Purpose Entities, which concealed losses. The company used SPEs to take out debts and assets from its balance sheet so as to enable it to amplify its Cash Flow. The improper business and accounting procedures promoted greediness, which caused more than 5000 Enron workers to lose their occupation due to the greed of the company’s executive.Enron's Vice president, Sherron Watkins constantly sent reports out to the then Chairman detailing the poor accounting procedures. The major issue was that the company got its internal audit function from outside. Enron outsourced its internal and external auditing function to Arthur Andersen (Ferrell et al., 419). 2. Did Enron's bankers, auditors, and attorneys contribute to Enro n's demise? If so, what was their contribution? Enron's demise was caused by its bankers, auditor and attorneys. Enron's bankers: the bankers recognized that there was a problem with Enron finances but failed to take appropriate action. JPMorgan Chase and Citibank previously knew of the tax regulations and had the opportunity of obtaining sources for audited accounts. These banks still gave huge amounts of money in loans to the Enron (Ferrell et al., 419). Enron's auditor: Enron auditors were aware in mid August of improprieties in the energy company's accounting practices from the concerns of a senior Enron employee. Arthur Andersen was liable for making sure that the financial statements and internal bookkeeping is accurate. Potential investors used Anderson's reports to judge the company’s financial security and future potential before choosing whether on not to invest. This information was also used by current investors to decide whether their funds should remain invested in the company. The

SESSION 2 BLOOD GAS ANALYSIS AND OSMOMETRY Lab Report

SESSION 2 BLOOD GAS ANALYSIS AND OSMOMETRY - Lab Report Example rescent molecule, it has to travel through an optical isolator( black coating) to prevent interference by unspecific light with the light detection system. Osmolality measures the total number of osmotically active particles in a solution and is equal to the sum of the molalities of all the solutes present in that solution. The four colligative properties are changed by the dissolving of the solute in solvent. Osmolarity refers to osmoles per litre, whilst osmolality refers to osmoles per kg water( There is a slight difference between plasma molality and molarity because of the non-acqueous components present such as proteins and lipids that make up about 60% of the total volume. Thus serum is only 94% water and the molality of a substance in serum is about 6% higher than its molarity. Molality is preferred because it is independent of temperature). The osmolality of physiological fluids is mainly determined by small molecules that are present in high concentrations. For example in serum, sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate, urea and glucose are the only components present in high enough concentrations to individually affect the osmolality. Together these make up over 95% of total osmolality of serum. Larger serum molecules contribute little to the overall osmolality. A useful estimate of the osmolality is calculated from: The difference between the measured and the calculated osmolality is known as the osmolar gap. If there are unmeasured osmotically active species present then these will increase the gap. The normal osmolar gap is up to 10mmol/L and values in excess of this usually indicate the presence of an exogenous agent. The most common is ethanol, but methanol, the ethylene glycol, acetone and isopropyl alcohol will also contribute if present. Different causes of hyponatraemia can be distinguished by serum osmolality measurement. It is increased in hyperosmolar hyronatraemia(eg: hyperglycaemia), normal in psuedohyponatraemia and decreased in

Battle Over Water For Farmers Or Wild Fish In Southern Oregon Essay

Battle Over Water For Farmers Or Wild Fish In Southern Oregon - Essay Example Sides of the Oregon Crisis However in 2001, the Indian tribes, federal wildlife managers and environmentalist all came forth with conflicting claims to Klamath basin’s water, culminating in a fierce battle for water. The crisis began in the spring of 2001 when the National Marine and Fisheries as well as America’s â€Å"Fish and Wildlife Service† demanded that the Bureau of Reclamation, the agency in charge of water distribution from Klamath Reclamation Project, should cut off water supply to farmers so that the basin’s water could stay upstream to sustain the shortnose suckerfish and Lost River fish (Anderson, 2002). Following the cut off, infuriated farmers began to demand that the canals be opened to release water into their farmlands. Bowing to pressure, the Bureau of Reclamation went ahead and released water into farms (Becker, 1999). The crisis took another complicated turn in 2002 owing to three notable events; Firstly, in February 2002, the National Academy Of sciences released a report asserting lack of reliable premise for cutting off water to farmers in 2001 in order to sustain the habitat of endangered species† (Meiners & Shaw, 2003). Secondly, in the summer of 2002, there was an increase in water demand that exceeded the supply. And thirdly, the Bureau for Reclamation was still under pressure from farmers not to cut off their supply.

Sex and Sexuality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Sex and Sexuality - Essay Example No 'good' woman should or would explore her sensuality or sexuality, nor ever imply a sexual need. Men too, were expected to conform to 'gentlemanly' ways, not giving in to lust, honoring the purity of their womenfolk. The hypocrisy lies in the fact that these same gentlemen considered it acceptable to use prostitutes, after all, such women were neither Madonna nor virgin, merely tools to ease their discomfort Both pieces of writing are powerful revelations as to how this repressive state affected both men and women. They go far in providing insight into the minds of both sexes as people try to deal with the universal and timeless truth of human sexuality. Fowles devotes a whole chapter to the matter (Chapter 35). In these pieces, it is almost as though a lid is taken off a shining box, clean and perfect on the outside (the facade of moral Victorian society); the truth exposed shows us On reading Browning's powerful, dramatic monologue, the words "snuff movie" came to mind. I read and re-read, then examined it in the light of the Victorian era. Here is a lonely, miserable individual, on a rainy, windy night, no fire in him or his surroundings - then Porphyria comes: 'She shut out the cold and the storm And kneeled and made the cheerless grate Blaze up, and all the cottage warm.' (Browning, Lines 7-9) The actions of then removing her garments, showing him her bare skin, putting his arm around her, all contain elements of seduction; she is teasing him, behaving like a prostitute, not the lady she is. 'And spread over all, her yellow hair, Murmuring how she loved me.' (Browning, Lines 20-21) ... 'She shut out the cold and the storm And kneeled and made the cheerless grate Blaze up, and all the cottage warm.' (Browning, Lines 7-9) The actions of then removing her garments, showing him her bare skin, putting his arm around her, all contain elements of seduction; she is teasing him, behaving like a prostitute, not the lady she is. 'And spread over all, her yellow hair, Murmuring how she loved me.' (Browning, Lines 20-21) He thinks she is too proud or concerned with another to give herself to him, but she does. 'But passion sometimes would prevail.' (Browning, Line 25) I confess that in reading the following lines, I considered Porphyria to be behaving in an overtly sexual manner and the meaning translates to me that her love is sexually aroused, not just surprised but shocked and somewhat disgusted. 'So, she was come through wind and rain. Be sure I looked up at her eyes Happy and proud; at last I knew Porphyria worshipped me: surprise Made my heart swell, and still it grew While I debated what to do.' (Browning, Lines 29-34) I would contend that not only his heart swelled, seeing her happy and proud eyes and the physical effect on him, her wanton behavior, caused him to either respond in deep disgust at both of them, or 3. made him lose his sanity at the 'horror' of what they were doing. Put in the context of Victorian morality, these two are committing a grievous sin against society and God. She has become like a whore, a temptress, and the cause of his downfall, so he must punish her, remove the cause of his guilt. Porphyria has dared to express and act upon her sexuality; doing so has destroyed her lover's illusions, even

Plastic Bag Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Plastic Bag - Essay Example In her book called Everything Is a Human Being, Alice Walker states, â€Å"While the earth is enslaved, none of us is free’’ (Walker 666). Accordingly, she suggested so long as the earth suffers, then each and every person, together with other living creature will suffer.As such, it is therefore essential for us to take actions to protect the Earth. To reverse the gains made in polluting the earth, a piece of legislation was enacted in August 2014. The law induced a ban on all plastic bags mostly used to pack commodities in chain retail stores was enacted. California was the first state to put to work the legislation. In this case, a large number of stalls complied with the directive. The bill,accented by Governor Jerry Brown, will be valid from July 1, 2015. Consumers are not able to get normal commodities in plastic bags in accordance with the provisions. The ban on the aforementioned traders has will soon trickle to other small scale traders such as convenience stores and other small food retailers after one year. the use plastic bag has been discredited for causing economic losses, damages the environment and ecosystem, and is harmful to human health, the authority will continue to engage in the throughout the united states since the use of plastic bags It is estimated that each and every American uses one plastic paper per day. As such, apart from the use of plastic bags by traders, the law also focuses on activities around producing plastic bags and dealing plastic bags trash involve high economic cost that add burden to the society. In addition, we regular reuse our plastic bags, we just throw them as a trash after one-time use.Approximately $10 million of the New York City money goes to send 100 thousand tons of plastic bags that are dumped as general trash in the landfill of South Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania every year. According to the deputy commissioner in charge of satiation in New York states that, â€Å"Plastic shopping bags are an

Should College Athletes Be Paid Essay Example for Free

Should College Athletes Be Paid Essay It has been a debate for quite some time as to whether college athletes should be paid for their work on the field. They are some of the hardest working individuals that obtain intense practices and demanding college courses, and many believe that they should be rewarded for their hard work. But the ongoing debate is whether it is right to pay these players as if they were employees. Many major colleges provide the best services for their athletes by providing them with the greatest gyms to workout in, free health insurance for injuries, transportation, food, equipment, and most of the time, a full four-year scholarship. On top of all of these things that are provided, does it seem right to be paying these students as well? Determination and motivation for greatness during college should be enough; therefore, I don’t think that college athletes should be paid. One reason why student athletes should not be paid is the fact that the college experience should be payment enough. In the article, â€Å"College Athletes Should Not Be Paid† found in the book Sports and Athletes, the author talks about â€Å"the primary function of academic institutions is to educate, and not to hire student-athletes for their contributions on the basketball court or football field† (Meshefejian 99). When high school athletes are approached for their profound athletic abilities, they often choose the university that will open the door for them to pursue a professional career rather than what will provide them with an exceptional education. Meshefejian makes the following statement to prove why students should not be paid for their athletic abilities: These players may have chosen a school due to the amount of scholarship money they were receiving, but scholarship money is usually not enough to overwhelm other considerations . . . Paying student-athletes any more than a scholarship would put such considerations in jeopardy, resulting in student’s making decisions based on how much money they are offered, as opposed to making decisions based on where they will succeed in all aspects of college life. The college experience, a student-athlete’s educational experience should be about more than just dollars and cents. (99) In an article entitled, â€Å"Should College Athletes Be Paid?†, Allen Sack states, â€Å"During the past four years, the NCAA has crafted a payment system that provides a relatively cheap and steady supply of blue-chip athletes . . . the majority of those polled identify themselves more as athletes than as students† (2). Mark Murphy, Director of Athletics at Northwestern Univeristy, participated in the debate on ESPN on the topic of paying student –athletes, and he argues that some of these athletes â€Å"currently receive scholarships, whose value, in some instances, totals close to $200,000 over four years† (Meshefejian 17). That is a large amount of money, and they still want to be given more? So now we ask, â€Å"Where will the money to pay these athletes come from?†. In Rodney D. Fort’s article titled â€Å"Paying College Athletes Makes Economic Sense†, he states that â€Å"Universities allow athletic departments to keep all excess revenues on an updated basis during any given budget period. Thus, a department whose costs do not rise over budgeted amounts, but whose revenues are higher than expected, will appear to break even because they are allowed to spend the excess. So there can be plenty of revenue to be arranged† (Fort 11). Players also generate marginal revenue product (MRP), and that is then spent elsewhere in the department rather than on the players themselves. So, the money is there, but I think it’s a terrible idea to give them the money that they’ve accrued because the athletic department does need money to be able to upgrade equipment if needed, or be spent elsewhere within the athletic department. According to Robert and Amy McCormick, two law professors at Michigan State University, they believe that a college sport is definitely a job, and that these athletes need to be paid. They argue that the athletes are â€Å"employees† under federal labor laws and entitled to form unions and negotiate wages, hours and working conditions (Cooper 1). But Donald Remy, the NCAA’s general counsel and vice president for legal affairs states: The NCAA, in accordance with courts that have addressed the issue, believes that student-athletes are not employees, under the law, and that they should not be treated as employees either by the law of by the schools they attend . . . Moreover, taxing authorities do not consider the benefits student athletes receive to be taxable compensation (Cooper 2). The one thing that comes to my mind when I think of paying college athletes is gender equality. Would the female athletes be paid the same as the male athletes? Some male athletes may believe that they deserve more because they may think that they work harder and take more of a beating than the female athletes. But Title IX federal regulations would cut off federal funding of colleges if those colleges discriminate on the basis of sex (Meshefejian 97). Another reason why student athletes should not be paid is because it would create a monetary race to buy the best athletes in the country. There may be a chance that it would eliminate â€Å"under the table† activities, but I believe that schools would still manage to find other ways of getting the players that they want on their team. College sports wouldn’t even be exciting anymore because the schools that have acquired the most money would end up buying the best athletes in the country, and all of the greatest athletes would go to the same teams, making sporting events unfair and not equally proportioned. Meshefejian says it best when he says, â€Å"The more the disparity, the less the competition, and the less the competition, the less excitement† (98). Paying the players would be the end of college athletics as we know it.

TV Addiction Problem

TV Addiction Problem Running head: TV ADDICTION: A GROWING PROBLEM TV addiction- A Growing Problem Most people of my generation have never known life without television. We have grown up sitting in the living room in front of the flickering TV screen. It is hard for us to see how television affects our lives. The belief that television is destructive to communication among family and friends is quite common. On the other hand, television has increased the speed at which information travels, and it can transfer circumstances and images into our homes that previous generations never had. People tend to idealize the past; they imagine a group of family and friends entertaining themselves by playing games and telling stories around a warm fireplace, but I do not think that TV can be blamed for the lack of communication among family and friends. Without a doubt, television is one of the most powerful means of communicating in the past decade, competing with other forms of communication such as the Internet, telephone, movies, cellular phones, and of course, our speech. Due to its extensive availability and enriched media with images and sounds, it is very difficult to keep it away from our lives. Television is a necessity of our lives like our meals, clothing, and home. At first, the broadcasting industry was started for public purposes. Nowadays, as to the influences of television, some people say that television offers a relaxing time and useful information to us while others argue that television does not always have a good effect on us because of its hindrance to communication among people. However, television provides us with rich topics to talk about and a chance to get together with each other. Most of all, television helps us communicate with others. We watch television almost every evening with our family. For example, my father and I enjoy watching news or knowledge-based documentary programs. Watching these programs we sometimes discuss current affairs such as the Presidential election or economic problems. Likewise, hot issues on television like news or trendy programs are the most common topics among my friends in my college. If some of them did not watch television the previous night, they cannot even take part in the discussion becaus e they have nothing to talk about. In this respect, since television provides us with various topics related to our lives, it helps us form our sense of intimacy with family or friends. Next, television promotes our communication because it offers a chance to get together with families or friends. Nowadays, most people are so busy that they do not have much time to spend with family and friends. However, through TV programs, we can have a chance to get along with them. For instance, when the 2002 World Cup was held in Korea, many people had a great time with their family or friends. To watch soccer games, we gathered in front of TV with friends or family who we were alienated from for a long time. Consequently, such TV programs help us build up closer human relationships among people. Thus, I think television plays an important role in promoting communication with family or friends. â€Å"Children are more likely to become actively engaged with anything that attracts them. Especially, television provides great interests with its variety of sounds and images to children†. They immediately desire for watching it whether content is neither too easy not too difficult to understand. By its providing some challenge, television allows them to gain an abundant vocabulary. Just like our muscles, the brain gets stronger when it is used, and declines when it isnt used. Television is so commonly criticized as being bad for children that an important fact sometimes gets overlooked†. (ScienceDaily, 2001) Some types of television viewing may actually enhance childrens intellectual development. Television contains an enormous variety of forms and content. In a study, the effects of television viewing depended on program content.† There are always bad effects on children watching TV. Children who are TV viewers increasingly view life as an entertainment extravaganza in which they are fond of playing role in TV show, and there are aggressive content of current broadcasting that greatly affect children. Besides, it is inevitable to watch TV without facing revolting violence. Once more, the effects of television viewing depend on program content and genre. Children are required to be advised what right TV program to watch by their parents. (Carter Bill, 1996) Children have no ability of choosing what is good or bad.Parents and teachers restrain childrens watching TV which is just ignoring their needs. Parents and teacher should be responsible for teaching how to manage their time and what benefits children acquire while watching TV. (Austin W.P, 2003) â€Å"This problem was less severe before cable and the advent of hundreds of channels. The increase in choice has increased the probability of every family member being addicted to a different program on some channel and this eventually leads to time conflicts when two channels show their programs at the same time and there are different viewing demands. Among high-income families this results in more than one television in the house and the physical togetherness of the middle-class family is sacrificed to television addiction. Television addiction increases because in a given family there are people of different ages, genders, with differing levels of education, personal beliefs, intellectual orientation, and personal tastes.† (Television addiction, 2007) Therefore, family members are obsessed with watching their favorite channels. Naturally, their watching time gradually increases and they become addicted to it after all. Most of the people prefer spending time with their families and friends rather than spending time watching television. Television plays an important role in peoples lives. However, most people would definitely choose family and friends over television. Moreover, most knowledgeable people are aware of the harmful effects of watching too much television. Through my experience, after a long day at school, I had plenty of time talking with my parents. For me and my family, our precious time together can not be compared to anything. In addition, the effect of television is simply not so great that it could be said to have â€Å"destroyed† communication among family and friends. Granted, communication among people in industrialized countries has decreased in recent years. It might be tempting to blame this problem on television since its rise roughly coincided with the decrease in time we spend with our families. However, I believe this situation is more likely due to increased pressures relating to work, school, and the economy. In my case, for example, I find that my pressures from studying are so great that I must often sacrifice time at home so that I can meet the challenges of achieving my own goals. In some situations, however, it is true that TV is responsible for decreasing communication among family members. In my childhood in the countryside, I frequently saw parents and children watching television for hours every day, and they barely talked with one another. It seemed for them that television was a way to escape from when they were sad or in a miserable mood. However, admittedly television brought on bad circumstances However, even in this case, I would say that television merely contributed to the bad situation, but it did not cause it; if television were nonexistent, surely these people would have found other escapes, alcohol or gambling, for example. In other words, people always find a way to do want they want to do. Likewise, we need to realize that nobody forces us to sit in front of the TV. We can choose to turn it off and spend more time communicating with our loved ones. Instead of thinking of ourselves as victims of television, we should see how TV can be a good tool for us to use as we see fit. Also, we are able to use it to learn about the world or simply to entertain us when we are bored. â€Å"Television addiction becomes a problem when a subject does not want to watch TV, but experiences an uncontrollable compulsion to start or continue watching.† It is common beliefs that stop watching TV is the fastest method to quit TV addiction. Addicted people just turn off TV screen and try to never approach to it when they find out first time. It may seem work at the beginning. However, as time goes on, they get stressed out by what they are restricted to. They should find out root cause of it and at least show some efforts. Even though it takes long to quit TV addiction, the main purpose is to find you feel free from TV watching. It is common a belief that the fastest method to quit TV addiction by stop watching TV. Addicted people just turn off the TV and try to never approach it. It may seem work at the beginning. However, as time goes on, they get stressed out by what they are restricted to. They should find out the root cause of the addiction and at least show some efforts. Even though it takes a long to quit TV addiction, the main purpose is to be free from TV watching. There are five steps that help us to deal with TV addiction. First of all, you keep a record of how much TV you watch every time you do. You need to know how much time you spend watching TV. Next, compare the amount of time you watch TV to average time people spending on TV. If you do more than the average, try to reduce the amount of time. Secondly, List all the other fun activities you can do at home instead of watching TV. Place your list on your refrigerator so you can check this list before you turn on the TV. Consider fun activities to do as family, household projects you would like to complete, outside activities, reading, exercise, etc. Third, set a limit for how much TV you will watch in later on. Fourth, record your time and stick to your commitment. You can control yourself spend watching time within limited time, Fourth, commit to exercising whenever you watch TV by walking on a treadmill, or riding a stationary bike. If you do so, you will feel less guilty about wasting your time watching TV. Last, Consider removing your TV for a set period of time. You might find yourself talking to your family again instead of watching the TV too much. (N/A, 2007) From these beliefs, I strongly believe that television has not damaged or harmed interpersonal communication among families and most people. Most people think that television is simply a temporary means of spending time, and they do not use it to substitute for interpersonal communication. The damage is attributable to other social factors, not television. Therefore, all of us must choose what we want to do with our free time. We should quit thinking of ourselves as victims of technology and realize that technology offers us choices. Let us take control of technology and use it to improve our lives. Only we can decide how much time we want to spend communicating with friends and loved ones. The television does not decide this for us, we decide it by ourselves.

Geography of Jamaica Essay -- Geographical History Jamaican Essays

Geography of Jamaica Christopher Columbus came upon Jamaica as his fleet sailed into St. Ann’s Bay on his second voyage of discovery to the New World in 1494. He described Jamaica as, â€Å"the fairest island eyes have beheld; mountainous and the land seems to touch the sky....and full of valleys and fields and plains† (Roberts, 141). Although founded by a Spaniard, Jamaica was eventually sold to England. Today, Jamaica is the largest of the English speaking West Indian islands. The tropical island of Jamaica, called Xamayca by the Arawaks, is situated in the heart of the Caribbean Sea, about 90 miles south of Cuba and 100 miles west of Haiti (Gleaner). The island is located strategically between the Caymen Trench and Jamaica Channel, through which there is heavy shipping traffic. Jamaica is the third largest island in the Greater Antilles. The island is composed of three parts, the Eastern Highlands, Central Plateaus and Hills, and Coastal plains. The geography is unique on a variety of levels. Of Jamaica’s 4,411 square miles, almost half of its terrain reaches over 1000 feet above sea level (Roberts, 141). The highest point on the island is at the peak of Blue Mountain at 7,402 feet high (Roberts, 141). The island stretches 150 miles long and about 50 miles wide, from St. Ann’s Bay to Portland Point. This terrain is made up of rugged mountains and lush forests, although about 640 miles of this island are beaches. The mountains are mostly located on the interior of the island, There are 120 rivers that start in the mountains of Jamaica and drain into the sea. This helps drain the average 77 inches of yearly rainfall. Almost all of the terrain is home to palm trees and other exotic plant lif... ...he outcome is still devastating to crops, homes, and communications. Other forces of devastation occur on account of the human population of Jamaica. Deforestation is an issue on Jamaica’s sugar, coffee and banana plantations because of pesticides and fertilizers used. Local and corporate fishermen have been endangering small fish, which are becoming less abundant on coral reefs because of fishing nets and pollution. Other environmental issues include sewage, waste and oil spills as well as pollution from cars in Kingston and other cities on the island. Monuments, beaches and Parks play a big role with the tourist industry of Jamaica. The islands’ touring cliffs, magnificent waterfalls and tropical forests attract many tourists. Over 90% of the natives of Jamaica are of African descent and their national motto is â€Å"Out of many, One People†.

Writing Style :: Writing Style Styles Essays

Writing Style When constructing a piece of writing, a student may sometimes find herself struggling to remember grammar rules or style principles. A handy reference guide would help her out immensely. William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White’s book, The Elements of Style, and Joseph Williams’ book, Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, assist writers improve their work in various ways. Strunk and Whites’ book took a simple approach, while Williams went more in-depth, with elaborate explanations and varying choices for each writing style. Strunk and White’s approach was directed towards basic principles of composition, elementary rules and a general approach to style. Each principle was stately plainly, but without much explanation. Rules were meant to be strictly followed, and not questioned. They weren’t hard to follow, but some did seem unhelpful. An example is Strunk and Whites’ rule about not using the word â€Å"nature†; they believe that â€Å"the reader cannot tell whether the poems have to do with natural scenery, rural life, the sunset, the untracked wilderness, or the habits of squirrels† (53). This rule seems strange to me. Nature doesn’t need to be that structured. But, possibly the odd aspects of this book are connected to the date it was written. Strunk and White’s book was first published in 1935, and revised over the years. But, somehow the book hasn’t grasped the idea of change. The book seems to still be stuck in 1935; for instance, some of the examples refer to Moses and Isis. As we discussed in class, this seems fairly outdated. I’m ashamed to say I’m even unaware of who Isis is. Strunk and White also warn against using the phrase â€Å"the foreseeable future†, stating it is â€Å"a clichà ©, and a fuzzy one†¦How much of the future is foreseeable?...By whom is it foreseeable?† (Strunk and White 59). I don’t quite understand this rule; it seems old-fashioned to advise against referring to the future. It seems useless and unnecessary to state. Other principles in Strunk and Whites’ book were useless, as well. One rule describes the use of the word â€Å"clever†. Strunk and White claim that â€Å"the word means one thing when applied to people, another when applied to horses. A clever horse is a good-natured one, not an ingenious one† (Strunk and White 43). I may seem picky, but this just seems ridiculous. How often is a person going to write about a clever horse? Not only were many principles in Strunk and Whites’ book useless, but many were also vague and unclear.

Garlic: A Taste for Health :: Botany

Garlic: A Taste for Health Culinary garlic is one of the most medically studied herbs today. it has been cultivated since the Neolithic period around 10,000 BC. This bulb has flavored the food of hunters and nomads after the discovery of its intensively robust flavor. The summarians (2600 BC-2100 BC) were actively practicing the healing powers of garlic, and some believe the summarians to have introduced garlic to China, from where it later spread to Japan and Korea. However, some taxonomists believe garlic to be endemic to China. Records have indicated that the medicinal respect for garlic was not fully appreciated in regions of India, China, as well as in southern Europe. The summarians had been using garlic for some time before others caught on to its medicinal success. Many cultures have remedied various ailments with this potent herb. The Egyptians, documented on a papyrus dating back to 1500 BC, prescribed garlic for 22 diseases (1). And according to the 5th century Greek historian Herodotus, the Egyptians had carved an inscription into the great pyramid of King Khufu (Cheops) detailing the amount of garlic, onions, and radishes eaten by the slaves during the twenty-year building period. Egyptians slaves caused the first ever-recorded strike when a ration of garlic did not turn up on time (1). The slaves ate garlic to increase their stamina and to maintain their over-all health. Cloves of garlic have been found in the tomb of Tutankamen who ruled Egypt until 1338 BC. And the Egyptians were not the only ones to worship garlic. According to Theophrastus, ancient Greeks offered garlic on piles of stones at crossroads as a supper for Hecate, god of the underworld. The Bible has even mentioned the Israelites, delivered out of bondage by Moses, complaining of their food and wishing for the same things they had been eating while they were slaves: "Oh, that we had some of the delicious fish we enjoyed so much in Egypt, and the wonderful cucumbers and melons, leeks, onions, and garlic!" (Numbers 11:5, The Living Bible; 2). This pungent herb is also mentioned in the literature of other great kingdoms: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome (2). Garlic can be found medically prescribed in ancient texts as far back as 1550 BC (1). Garlic was always an ingredient in potions thought to cure external and internal disease (1). The ancient Greeks and Romans used the herb from anything like repelling scorpions to curing bladder infections.

Internet Marketing Assignment Essay

E-Commerce describes any business to consumer transactions that take place partly or solely online and is not limited to the purchase of physical products from a website – although that does make up a key component of most e-commerce businesses. Some services or products are sold purely online while other companies may have physical stores or headquarters in addition to their online presence. E-Business describes any business to business transactions that take place online. For example a Web Design company often doesn’t sell products directly to consumers, but instead creates websites as a service for other companies, which will in turn be used to sell products or services to consumers. The internet has revolutionised the way companies do business. The shift in the way people shop has had a big impact on both the micro environments – the individual companies and their direct stakeholders; and the macro environment – politics, economy and society as a whole. â€Å"The death of the  high street† has been an obvious effect of these changes with many stores shutting down. Those who fail to keep up with these changes will be more likely to feel the negative consequences – as was the case with HMV and Blockbuster, who were forced into administration as competing online services took over their market share. For those who do keep up however, business is booming. iTunes, Amazon and Netflix are Blockbuster’s and HMV’s online equivalents and all three have billions of users from all around the globe. While the amount of jobs available in retail positions has been on a steady decline over recent years the demand for skilled workers in the IT sector is bigger than ever – so much so that there is a shortage of candidates and many roles go unfilled. A report issued by the government regarding the UK cyber security strategy highlighted that the â€Å"current and future ICT and cyber security skills gap† was a â€Å"key challenge† in implementing the strategy. (National Audit Office, 2013) To address this problem the education system needed to be changed, as of 2014 children as young as 5 will be learning advanced computing as part of the curriculum. Higher Education institutes will also likely have to reassess their course material to accommodate the new generation of students who will be leaving school with more in depth knowledge of computer systems and software development. Consumers gain many benefits from e-commerce, they now have the choice of shopping from an almost unlimited choice of companies from all around the world. Comparing prices and finding out what other customers thought of a product is also made much easier by the internet. The change in peoples shopping habits has changed the way companies advertise, huge marketing budgets for prime-time TV commercials are no longer the only way to get noticed and the potential audience is now global. Elements of Internet Marketing Traditional styles of advertising such as TV, newspapers, magazines, billboards etc are based on an â€Å"interruption† model. A show is interrupted by TV advert; music is interrupted by a radio advert; the flow of an article is interrupted by a magazine article, etc. This style of advertising persisted and still exists today in many places – but more and more companies are realising that demanding a customer’s attention in this way online does not yield good results. Some elements of internet marketing are examined below. Search Engines Organic search results account for a significant percentage of internet traffic. (The actual number is hard to measure for reasons discussed in the â€Å"Internet Marketing Tools† section on page 11). Regardless of the specifics it is widely accepted that organic search results are where a huge amount of a websites visitors come from. Search Engine Optimisation is therefore a vital part of a marketing strategy. Paid advertising through search engines may also be considered for extra exposure but is no substitute for a properly designed site structure and key word rich, quality content for search engine robots to crawl. Often good practices for SEO also embody good practices for UX design and accessibility; humans and robots alike prefer sites that are easy to navigate and have well-structured content that makes use of headings and sections to make it easy to read; as well as alt tags on all images that give a clear description of what that image depicts; with internal and external links within the content when the context is relevant. In the early days of search engines keywords were all that mattered, so it was easy to rank high on Google simply by stuffing as many keywords into the headers meta-tag as possible. Key word meta-tags are now obsolete and search engines have become much more sophisticated. (Google, 2011) As well as  crawling site structure and content to determine the quality of a page search-bots also judge the integrity of a page. They do this by keeping track of how many external sources link to it – at first, this encouraged â€Å"link farms† (a company would pay for a web traffic boosting service, which would churn out their site’s URL over a network of dummy sites set up purely for the purpose of creating links) – as search engines evolved this method is no longer as effective. Google now has algorithms that also measure the integrity of the sites that the links come from to provide users with more relevant results. Ranking high on Google for certain keywords is a long process, a new website has to build up a reputation, get their content shared and linked by others in an organic way – by having an article shared on social media for example – not through a link farm. Google strives for excellence by constantly improving its algorithms, they want to offer their visitors relevant search results so people continue to use their service and marketing strategies have to adapt if they want to keep up. Organic search results are a perfect example of marketing that doesn’t feel like marketing to potential customers. They are using search engines to find something specific – the hard work has been done for you, they already want to buy something or have some sort of problem solved – and if good practices for SEO have been implemented there’s no reason a website they find through Google would be irrelevant and not what they’re looking for, Google’s algorithms make sure of that and there are no shortcuts or cheats to trick them. A site filled with links and crammed with keywords for the sole purpose of getting more people to visit your website achieves nothing, if they click on it and it isn’t relevant to what they’re looking for they won’t just buy your product or service anyway, they will leave. The amount of time people spend on a website and the actions they take there (signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, et c) is all tracked by Google and used as part of the algorithms to determine the quality and integrity of a website. Banner Ads Banner Advertisements are based on the classic interruption model and the  vast majority of internet users don’t like them; and a huge percentage use software to block them completely. This has been determined multiple times over the years by a number of different researchers. One study conducted by the Norman Neilson Group, experts in Usability Heuristics, found that most users will completely ignore anything that looks like an advert – even when it’s not; and even when it provides them with the information they are looking for. In one study participants were asked to find the population of the United States using the U.S Census Bureau website – which was presented in large red numbers on the right hand side of the home page. 86% of users ignored it because it looked like an advert, it was bold and placed in the location that adverts are traditionally placed so was disregarded, despite containing the exact information they were looking for. The pie chart shows an overall representation of the behaviour exhibited by users on the site. In a different study eye tracking software and real time observation was used to measure exactly where people look on a website and how they interact with its various elements. In summary the study found that: â€Å"Users rarely look at display advertisements on websites. Of the 4 design elements that do attract a few ad fixations, one is unethical and reduces the value of advertising networks.† (Nielsen, 2007) The four design elements in question that users have been found to give their attention are: text, faces, cleavage/other body parts (â€Å"sex sells† still rings true for internet marketing) and obnoxious, intruding banner advertisements. Banners that sit and do nothing are considered a more ethical way of advertising, unfortunately studies show that ones that make sounds, pop up into the users line of sight or are animated attract more attention. However, just because a person is more likely to look at an obnoxious ad, that doesn’t mean they will click on it and be prepared to hand over payment details. I feel â€Å"Banner Blindness† should be taken more seriously than it currently is and companies need to find alternative methods of advertising, as this form has been proven to be ineffective for well over a decade now. (The same study with the same findings was first conducted by the NN group  in 1997.) Social Media Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc are no longer just the domain of a young tech-savvy audience. Data collected from a survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International found that Social Media usage has increased by 800% since 2005. In contrast, TV viewership has decreased by 50% in the same time frame. The graph below shows the findings, broken down by age  Social media marketing can connect businesses with millions of potential customers. Not only that, it can be done for free; unlike television and other traditional methods of advertising that require a substantial investment up front with virtually no guarantee of a return. Paid advertising on Social Media can also be tailored to target a specific audience. The ads can be set up to only display to those who will be the most likely to click on it. A bar advertising for fresher’s week for example could target their ads at students who were over 18 and living in the local area. Strategic Content The use of strategic content ties in with SEO and Social Media marketing; it involves creating content (as a blog for example) that is useful or interesting in some way (as well as relevant to the business) to encourage visitors to come to a website. From an SEO standpoint this will make the site rich with content, keywords and links which can result in higher rankings on search engines which means visitors are more likely to find your website. For example a company specialising in web design may have a design and technology blog providing expert information and up to date news on technology, or perhaps a section featuring tutorials and templates. Providing free content that’s similar to what you’re trying to sell can seem counter intuitive but it helps cultivate trust, it provides evidence that the company knows what it’s talking about and gives potential customers an overview of how things are done. Content can be shared around social media, and if it’s interesting or informative people may share it with their  friends which results in more exposure. Partnerships Forming mutually beneficial deals with other companies and cross promoting each other can widen the audience they both reach. Youtube and Twitch for example are used as platforms for gamers and game publishers to work together; publishers provide high influence content creators with early access to games, which they broadcast to all their fans. The content creators gain more views and in return more people get to hear about the game and see how it plays – making them more likely to buy it. This kind of promotion doesn’t cost either party any money but is beneficial and profitable for everyone involved. All of these elements (and others) tailored to fit the needs of the company combine to create what’s commonly referred to among marketing professionals as â€Å"The Marketing Mix.† The Marketing Mix The Marketing Mix: a phrase first used by Neil Borden in his paper â€Å"The Concept of the Marketing Mix† has become a well-known term for describing the strategies formulated to advertise services and products. One of the most widely used marketing mix paradigms is â€Å"The Four Ps†; proposed by E J McCarthy in 1964. The Four Ps are: Product Whether it be a tangible item or a service, first and foremost you need something to sell. What do customers want to buy? What features does your product or service need to fulfil the needs of your potential customers? Place In the past, brick and mortar stores and catalogues were the only two options  to consider, the internet has made a global market much easier to reach but has also made the market much more competitive. Companies need to consider where customers might look for their product. Is a physical location required or can the business exist solely online? The pros and cons of each would need to be considered, for example a small start-up clothing store would be competing with huge corporations such as Primark, Debenhams, etc while paying for expensive running costs of a brick store, stock storage and paying for staff wages. Online, that same start-up company would still be competing with those same corporations as on the high street, plus a huge other array of smaller or medium sized online outlets. However the running costs and risks of an online-only start-up are minimal. A company can exist solely as a part of a larger organisation such as Ebay or Etsy; many who start out this way and find success then choose to invest in their own website for selling their products without the middle man. Some then may also go on to open high-street stores, for example Simple Be existed as a purely online business at first before investing in physical stores; which have an advantage over online only clothing stores as customers can try things on and won’t have to worry about complicated returns procedures. Price Finding the right price for a product or service is a balancing act. Price too high for your target market and nobody will buy. Pricing too low not only means lower profit margins but can also label your product as â€Å"cheap† which may not be an image the company wants to convey. Apple are a perfect example of hitting the perfect price to quality ratio for their products target market. Apple products are hugely popular despite being comparable in technical specifications to other, lower priced competing devices. Ken Segall, Apples former marketing executive, said himself that â€Å"Apple doesn’t do cheap† stating in his blog that Apple â€Å"makes products for people who care about design, simplicity, quality and a great experience — and are willing to pay more for these things. For Apple to compromise in any of these areas would be a violation of the Prime Directive.† (Segall, 2014) Apple products are desirable because they’re seen by their fans as the most prestigious and high quality brand, this image would be diminished if the products were  cheaper; as was demonstrated by the relatively low sales of the iPhone 5C which was made of plastic and lower in price than other Apple devices (Though still much more expensive than competing brands). Promotion A great product won’t sell if nobody knows about it, but similarly a terrible product won’t sell well no matter how much time and money goes into advertising. The point of advertising is to convinced potential customers that your product or service will add value to their life in some way that’s relative to the price they would pay for it. This model can be applied to a wide range of services and products as it is non-specific and can easily be tailored to fit the needs of the business using it. It all boils down to putting the right product in the right place at the right price. Several alternatives and additions have been suggested by marketing experts and academics alike in the interest of creating a marketing mix that’s more relevant in an industry that has changed in ways nobody could have predicted. When the 4P’s were first introduced in the 60’s the internet as we know it today did not exist so it’s reasonable to say new strategies and updated methodologies are required. Some additions that have been suggested include â€Å"people† – encouraging good customer service and a good working environment for employees. â€Å"Process† – looking at ways to streamline and reduce costs in both producing the product and how the business is run. â€Å"Physical Evidence† – Could be in the form of endorsements, customer testimonials and feedback or any awards the company may have achieved. Another popular paradigm that evolved from the original 4P’s is the â€Å"Four C’s† model – proposed by R.F. Lauterborn in 1993. Customer/Clients The customers are the driving force behind any business, so an organisation  should ask themselves what they can do for their customers – what needs and wants to they have and how can you help? Cost How much will it cost the customers, are they getting good value? If your product is more expensive than competitors, why? Does it offer superior quality? If it’s cheaper, again customers will want to know why, will they be compromising on quality? Or does the business create lower costs by streamlining internal processes and passing the savings on to the consumer? Convenience People buy things that they believe will make their lives easier or enhance it in some way; and when they want something they want it to be easy to find and simple to purchase. For example a clean, uncluttered website that makes finding and buying products easy will tend to sell more than one with confusing navigation and a lengthy checkout process. Communication All promotion and advertising is a way of communicating with customers, a way to get your message and brand out into the world and let people know what your product is and why people should buy it. Companies who stay engaged with their customers cultivate trust and loyalty which earns them repeat business and recommendations. This model is essentially the same as the original version but is designed to encourage organisations to look at things from the customer’s point of view. There are merits to both sides of the debate over whether the 4P’s need revamping. On the one hand the original is broad enough for marketing executives to use as a very rough guide to shaping their own unique strategy. On the other hand in an ever changing industry improvements on old practices is a good thing – how can the world evolve if change is not  embraced? Doing things simply because that’s the way they have always been done may cause a company to stagnate and lose market share for not being innovative enough. I would like to propose my own take on the marketing mix, the 4E’s model: Excellence No matter the product or service, striving to be the best at what you do is a good goal to aim for. This is more easily achieved if a business focuses on one particular area rather becoming a jack of all trades and a master of none. Take for example the gaming company Mojang, who were recently purchased by Microsoft for $2.5billion. They developed one game – Minecraft – and they did it so well that it became more than just a simple browser game. It’s now an integral part of pop culture for this generations gamers with a huge diverse community that’s still growing 5 years on. Similarly, Facebook bought Instagram for $1billion after it dominated the mobile photo sharing market and WhatsApp for a staggering $19billion – a simple messaging service that took off in popularity and quickly overtook market share from the big players like Microsoft and Google. (CNN Money, 2014) Facebook itself started as a simple project and is now one of the most powerful corporations in the world – buying off any competitors is one way to keep that lead. A simple concept executed well can change the world. Engagement Social media and the internet in general have made communicating with customers easier than ever before. The best way to figure out what consumers want is to ask them. A business selling food products for example could engage with their customers by making a post on social media asking what different flavours they would like to see. This not only gives the company a firm idea of how popular a new product would be, it also generates buzz and makes the customers feel more involved in the process – making them more likely to actually buy said product when it’s released. Creating quality, relevant content for a website – perhaps in the form of a blog – gives  customers a reason to regularly visit a website. Using a food company as an example again, they could have a recipe section on their website. Maybe even a community section where others could post and share their own recipes. If these recipes are good quality it can lead to people thinking: â€Å"If the free recipes are this good, just imagine how great the food they sell will be!† – turning casual visitors into paying customers. Ease Allow potential customers to make informed decisions by providing them with information about what’s on offer in a way that’s easy to understand and easy to access – similarly ensure to make the process of handing over their money once they’ve decided to buy quick and easy. With an uncountable number of websites in existence a potential customer can be lost very easily if they can’t find what they’re looking for or find any part of the process difficult – they will simply go elsewhere. Economy Finding the right price for a product or service can still be as tricky today as it’s always been with one exception – information on competitors and target markets is readily available. Even in a niche market there are likely to be several competitors operating at varying scales of price and quality. The goal is not necessarily to undercut everybody and become the cheapest but to find the right balance of cost and quality – most people are happy to pay a little bit more for a higher quality product as long as they can justify that it will be worth the investment. Similarly there are many people who will buy the cheapest option available regardless of quality. Establishing a target market and researching purchasing habits can give a company a good idea of where to price themselves to be competitive and profitable. An expensive product can still be considered economical if its benefits are proportionate to its cost. In the end, any model is only as good as the implementation. Knowing the concepts behind a good marketing strategy isn’t the same as having the  skills to plan, implement and maintain them. Internet marketing campaigns take time. It takes time to gain enough followers on social media to start fully engaging with a target market; it takes time to create a catalogue of high quality strategic content and it takes time to build up consumer trust. Internet marketing isn’t as simple as making a Facebook page and uploading the company logo – the internet is an interactive medium. It’s not a billboard, it’s more a large ongoing focus group. Internet Marketing Tools One of the biggest advantages internet marketing has over traditional marketing is the fact the effectiveness of a campaign can be more accurately measured and analysed. Television adverts are measured in terms of how many people have viewed it; beyond that it’s mostly guesswork; it’s very difficult to measure how many people saw a television advert and then went on to perform the desired action (such as go to a store and buy a product, or make a phone call to enquire about a service). With internet marketing everything that happens as the result of a campaign can be tracked every step of the way. An email marketing campaign for example can be tracked to see how many people opened the email, how many then visited the website (known as the click through rate) – from there it can also track what the visitor did while they were on the website. How much time they spent there, which pages they visited, whether or not they purchased something – or if they abandoned their cart in the process of trying to make a purchase. Other details such as which device the customer was using, their location, age and previous browsing habits may also be tracked. Making use of tools such as Google Analytics can show at a glance the raw data related to any aspect of a visitors habits. There are many other tools on the market but Google Analytics is the most widely used and it integrates well with SEO – Google have built up a giant network of partners and billions of websites have tracking codes. Individual companies can access their own data to analyse but Google has access to everything and have built  up a database of browsing habit data they use to improve their algorithms – as well as sell to third parties (such as Facebook). This creates a constant feedback loop for everyone involved. This raw data however, is fairly useless if a company does not know how to analyse it and make use of the information. Some raw data has obvious implications – for example if a company finds that the majority of visitors are using a mobile device and their site is not fully accessible on mobile, they should look into optimising their site for mobile users to accommodate the needs of their customers. Other times the data is only the starting point, it must be analysed before it becomes useful information that can be applied in a practical way. Tracking tools can give answers to the questions â€Å"how†, â€Å"when† and â€Å"where† with a high degree of accuracy. â€Å"Who?† can be answered to a point, the approximate age of visitors can be tracked, as can their previous browsing habits which may give some insight into their likes and needs. The one question raw data cannot answer is â€Å"Why?† – Why do visitors behave the way they do? Why do some e-commerce shoppers add items to a cart and then abandon it during the checkout process? Why was the click through rate low/high for a particular campaign? Surveys and social media can be used as tools for getting answers to these questions. Once the quantitative data from tracking tools have provided a starting point, specific questions can be posed to collect qualitative data. Together they can give a company a lot of valuable information to help them improve future campaigns and the way they do business in general. Facebook has its own analytics tools called â€Å"Facebook Insights† – it works in a similar way to Google Analytics but is more focused around Facebook pages and ads. Facebook insights shows how many people saw a particular post (reach), how many responded to the post (engagement), and other information such as visitors ages and interests – based on what other pages they have â€Å"liked† on Facebook. Facebook Insights can be used to determine which posts get the most likes and  shares, which lets companies know what their audience is likely to respond to so they can tailor future posts accordingly. It can also provide information about when visitors engage with the page so future posts can be scheduled to post at a time when the highest reach is likely to be achieved. Combined with the data from Google analytics social media marketing campaigns and posts can be tracked down to the fine details. If these posts lead to strategic content tracking can be broken down into stages to measure the quality of a websites content. Many websites use this strategy, Cracked being one of them. Cracked are an entertainment website who post funny/interesting articles, columns, videos and podcasts. When a new piece of content is posted, their social media team make posts to advertise it to followers. Facebook Insights will provide the tracking information about reach, likes and engagement and Google Analytics takes over once visitors have clicked through. Cracked split up their articles into several pages – they could easily fit the content onto a single page – so why split it up? One reason is usability, pages load quicker with less content on and readers are less likely to feel overwhelmed by a huge wall of text than they are several manageable chunks. Another reason is SEO – the more pages and links robots have to crawl, the higher the site is likely to rank on search engine results. Instead of one page per article related to certain keywords – there are 2-4 pages per article. Finally, splitting articles up into several pages allows tracking analytics to be performed in stages. How many people got to the end of the first page and deemed the content interesting enough to click on the â€Å"read more† link? How many read the whole thing? How many dropped out and where did they tend to do it? This can help determine weak spots in content and the company can then  formulate a plan to improve the situation. It can also be used to further engage visitors who seem to be enjoying the content – the final page of an article could for example act as a trigger for a pop-up box that prompts to visitor to sign up for a newsletter. If a visitor has enjoyed an article it’s relatively safe to assume they would like to see more – the same is not true for a visitor who has only just landed on the home page. They haven’t read anything yet, why would they want to sign up for a newsletter? As mentioned in a previous section, tracking data does have its limitations that marketers have to be aware of to properly interpret the data their tools produce. Specifically – direct traffic can be difficult to differentiate from all other types of traffic. This makes analysing the effectiveness of marketing campaigns less straight forward than it seems. In a nutshell, whenever a referrer is not passed traffic is marked as direct. What this means is a glance at an analytics report may suggest that 50% of a sites traffic is direct, meaning the visitor typed the URL directly into their browser. The report could for example state organic search accounted for 40% and advertisements 10%. If a company is putting significant resources into advertising and seeing those kinds of numbers they may decide it isn’t worth it and seek to make changes. While in reality direct traffic may only account for 20% while ads account for 30%, making the cost per conversion rate much more favourable. There are a multitude of reasons a referrer may not be passed to the tracking software that results in traffic being incorrectly marked as direct. For example many people make use of ad blocking software – that often have clauses that allow for non-intrusive advertising. While users of this software can see and click on non-intrusive ads, the software blocks the server response required to pass the referral to the tracking software. Many browsers now offer a â€Å"do not track† option to offer additional privacy to users, turning on this setting also blocks tracking requests. Some people may perform a search for something or click on an advertisement but not make a purchase right at that moment and instead choose to come back later – by  typing in the URL directly; so their visit and subsequent purchase is marked as direct when it was really the result of a campaign. As more users become increasingly concerned with privacy tracking and tailored advertising becomes more difficult. Making use of marketing tools makes the process easier but they are still only tools – their usefulness is determined by the skill of the person utilising them. Interactive Order Processing Order processing is obviously an important part of e-commerce, an online catalogue isn’t much use if people can’t actually purchase anything. As mentioned in previous sections, the process of placing an order should be made as easy as possible for the customers. Once a customer has decided they would like to hand over some money – a company should not distract them in any way. Some companies at this point might be tempted to upsell, cross promote or place advertising on the checkout pages but in almost all situations this is a mistake. If the customer gets annoyed at the ads they will leave. If they can’t figure out how to continue with the checkout process because the design is cluttered or otherwise hard to use they will leave. If they don’t feel confident about the legitimacy of the company or doubt the security of the checkout process they will leave. Upselling attempts should be handled carefully. Bombard customers will too many options and they may get distracted by browsing, decide not to check out and instead leave it for later – they may not come back. Relevant promotions should be advertised at this point or ideally added to the cart automatically. For example if orders over a certain amount receive free shipping this should be prominently displayed within the cart and applied automatically when the threshold is reached – customers like to feel like they’re getting good value so if they see it will only take them a small amount extra to receive free shipping they may decide to add a few more items. Argos successfully uses this technique every year during the build up to Christmas – they offer a  £5 voucher for anyone spending over  £50 and  £10 for anyone spending over  £100. This promotion is prominently displayed all over their website, catalogues and physical stores. Rather than offering a discount on the current purchase, they encourage repeat business by offering money off the next purchase. This has a twofold effect – customers will buy a little more than they planned in order to get the voucher and then spend even more after that to use said voucher (not many items can be bought for under  £5 or  £10 and no change is issued – to further encourage customers to use their voucher in full and pay a little extra on top rather than waste any of it). If adding additional items can be done without the customer leaving the checkout this will further increase the success of upselling attempts. Both Domino’s and Asda integrate upselling into the checkout process. Dominos uses a sidebar next to the main checkout area displaying a selection of small items (sides, desserts, drinks) with a small discount applied – visitors can click â€Å"add to order† and the total is updated on the page without taking them elsewhere. Asda displays a selection of items that the customer has previously ordered, but are not currently in the cart with the heading â€Å"Have you forgotten anything?† This can be helpful to the customer because they may have indeed forgotten something, and Asda in return make additional sales. Businesses can track the behaviour of their customers and analytics tools can be used to determine if a checkout design is working. The tale of â€Å"The $300 Million Button† published in Luke Wroblewski’s book â€Å"Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks† contributed by Jared M. Spool is an excellent example of just how important the design of the checkout process is. The piece describes a company who decided to examine their checkout process – which featured a login and registration screen after customers clicked  Ã¢â‚¬Å"checkout†. Their designers reasoned that making registration non-optional would encourage repeat business; and customers wouldn’t mind logging in to take advantage of quicker checkouts in the future. Spool was called in to analyse the checkout design; his team put together a focus group, gave them all a budget and a shopping list and asked them to checkout from the site. Upon being presented with the login form many participants were not sure if they had used the site before; and attempted many unsuccessful logins before clicking the â€Å"Forgot Password?† button. Many times this was unsuccessful as they couldn’t remember which email address they used. Others who were sure they had not previously registered were reluctant to do so. One shopper is quoted as saying â€Å"I’m not here to enter into a relationship. I just want to buy something.† Many stated that they felt the company just wanted to use their details for spam and others were concerned about privacy. Upon examining tracking analytics for the site the team discovered that 45% of users had multiple registrations and over 160,000 â€Å"Lost Password† requests were being sent every day. 75% of these never returned to the site to complete the lost password process and ergo did not complete the checkout process. Spools team suggested the design was changed to make registration optional. The â€Å"register† button was changed to â€Å"Continue† with the message â€Å"You do not need to create an account to make purchases on our site. Simply click Continue to proceed to checkout. To make your future purchases even faster, you can create an account during checkout.† This simple change resulted in the number of customers purchasing increasing by 45%. The extra purchases resulted in an extra $15 million in the first month and $300million after the first year. Businesses also need to take into consideration security when implementing an e-commerce system. A secure payment gateway must be used to make submitting customer financial and personal information safe. Similarly this data needs  to be stored securely and kept up to date to comply with the Data Protection Act. Any company accepting card payments (not only online) must also comply with PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard). If a company does not comply with PCI and DPA standards they run the risk of customer details being leaked which could lead to fraud. This is obviously bad for the customers whose details get stolen but would also damage the reputation of the company and destroy consumer trust – as well as earn them huge fines from governing bodies. For small or start-up companies the cost, time and knowledge required to set up and maintain a payment gateway may feel like too much. In that case there are 3rd party services such as PayPal and Google Checkout which can act as a middle man between the merchant and customer. The business doesn’t have to worry about keeping customer details secure if they don’t store them and instead allow PayPal or similar to handle it. There are fees involved that work on a percentage basis, the more you earn, the more you pay. Additional fees are also charged for withdrawals. PayPal in particular has become an internationally recognised brand and most shoppers are now happy to use them – so a small company won’t lose out on too many customers from not offering alternative payment options. Most third party payment processing companies offer a â€Å"free† (other than fees) service which hosts the shopping cart external to the main e-commerce site; and a premium subscription service which allows full integration of the shopping cart into the website. For minimal cost and effort a small company can use the externally hosted cart while bigger companies may choose to invest in a more seamless user experience for their customers. The web environment allows for scalability, businesses are free to start small with minimal risk and expand at their own pace. References CNN Money, 2014. Facebook buys WhatsApp for $19 billion. [Online] Available at: http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/19/technology/social/facebook-whatsapp/ Google, 2011. Google does not use the keywords meta tag in web ranking. [Online] Available at: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag.html Mojang, 2014. Yes We Were Bought By Microsoft. [Online] Available at: http://mojang.com/2014/09/yes-were-being-bought-by-microsoft/ National Audit Office, 2013. The UK cyber security strategy: Landscape review. [Online] Available at: http://www.nao.org.uk/report/the-uk-cyber-security-strategy-landscape-review/ Nielsen, J., 2007. Banner Blindness Old and New Findings. [Online] Available at: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/banner-blindness-old-and-new-findings/ Optimize Smart, n.d. You’re doing Google Analytics all wrong, here’s why. [Online] Available at: http://www.optimizesmart.com/google-analytics-wrong-why/ Segall, K., 2014. Apple’s adventures in plastic. [Online] Available at: http://kensegall.com/2014/02/apples-adventures-in-plastic/ Figure 1: How users interacted with the Population Finder4 Available at: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/fancy-formatting-looks-like-an-ad/ Fancy Formatting, Fancy Words = Looks Like a Promotion = Ignored JAKOB NIELSEN September 4, 2007 Figure 2: Social Media Useage over time, broken down by age5 Available at: http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/08/05/72-of-online-adults-are-social-networking-site-users/ 72% of Online Adults are Social Networking Site Users OANNA BRENNER, AARON SMITH August 5, 2013