Did America become more intolerant during the 1920’s Essay

America is the most powerful country in the world and prides itself in being a ‘melting pot’ of different cultures but has that always been true of America. I would like to argue that during the 1920’s America became less tolerant of anything Un-American. I would like to mention immigration policy, the Ku Klux Klan, political hysteria and Religious intolerance. Before 1917 America had an ‘open door’ policy toward immigration but thousands of immigrants were pouring in from eastern European, Asian, and African countries which the WASPS (White Anglo Saxon Protestants), who had power at the time, didn’t want in America. After 1917 a literacy test was introduced so all immigrants had to be able to read and write in English to be allowed in to the country which discriminated against non English speaking countries and poorer countries where people couldn’t afford to learn English, and so the ‘open door’ began to close. In 1921 the amount of immigrants was still a major problem to the WASPS and the immigration quota act was introduced that only allowed three hundred and fifty seven thousand immigrants into the USA each year. It also stated the amount of people emigrating from a particular country should not exceed three percent of the number of people from that country already living in America in 1910. This system also discriminated against countries undesirable to the WASPS since they had the smallest population already living in America in 1910. The ‘open door’ closed further in 1924 when the amount of immigrants allowed into America was reduced to two percent of the population in 1890 and in 1929 when the total number of immigrants from any country was reduced to one hundred and fifty thousand people from any country to be allowed into America per year. The purpose of these laws was to protect the interests of the WASPS already in America who held power at the time but feared losing it to opposing groups such as Jews, Catholics, Blacks, Communists and anarchists. Another way America was becoming more intolerant during the 1920’s was through the Ku Klux Klan, an organisation founded by a Texan dentist named Hiram Wesley Evans and its main aim was to protect white supremacy and the interests of the WASPS. During the 1920’s when racial and political intolerance was at a peak membership rocketed to 5 million. The Klan was strongest in the southern states, which had previously been the slave states, and hatred for the blacks was heightened as whites and blacks were now competing for jobs, houses and land. The clan put its views across using extreme violence, for instance, should a black man get a job over a white man the white man would have a word with the Klan, the Klan would pay the black man a visit and the next day the black man would resign so the white man could have the job, in other cases the Klan would organise lynchings where mobs would roam the streets looking for a disliked ethnic minority person to beat up and possibly kill. Membership of the Klan was limited to American WASPS and no other ethnic groups could join. Another aspect of American intolerance was fear of revolution or ‘Red scare.’ In 1920 approximately 150,000 Americans had communist or anarchist views which represented 0.1 percent of the population of America but many Americans feared communist or anarchist revolution more than anything else. Communism and anarchy were feared so as: communist and anarchist extremists were seen to arrange trade union demonstrations which were described by the papers as communist demonstrations, an anarchist shot president McKinley dead twenty years previously, Russia had become a communist country in 1917 and the Palmer incident of 1920. In June 1920 an unidentified man left a bomb outside the house of the attorney general, A Mitchell Palmer which resulted in the death of the bomber. The attack was presumed to be a communist assassination attempt due to a copy of a communist newspaper being found in the vicinity of the blast, which may have been discarded there innocently or planted by Palmer to use the attack to stir up hatred for communists who were regarded as a threat to the American constitution and the WASPS in general. The attack resulted in A Mitchell Palmer heading raids on communists and anarchists that resulted in six thousand arrests and only two prosecutions for firearms offences. Another cause of political intolerance in the 1920’s was the case of Sacco and Vanzetti. Sacco and Vanzetti were charged with a wages robbery in which two guards were shot dead. Sacco and Vanzetti were both recent immigrants from Italy, neither spoke very good English, both were carrying loaded guns when arrested (although this is no crime in the USA even today) and most importantly both harboured anarchist views. Both men were put on trial with a highly biased Judge and a jury made up of WASPS, who in general disliked Anarchists and anything un-American. The evidence for the defence of Sacco and Vanzetti far outweighed the evidence against them and the prosecution even used the fact that Sacco was carrying an anarchist leaflet at the time of arrest against them. Even though Sacco and Vanzetti were probably innocent the jury found them guilty and the pair were executed on the twenty fourth of August 1927. The final aspect of American intolerance in the 1920’s I am going to write about is religious intolerance. Throughout the 1920’s church attendance across America was falling, especially on the urban areas. This worried many religious Americans and some of the more extreme people founded revivalist groups with the aim of getting American people back into the church. A prime example of an extreme revivalist and probably one of the most famous was ‘Sister’ Aimee Semple McPherson. Sister Aimee was head of the ‘Four square gospel alliance’ and she often led services of over five thousand people dressed as an angel and beating time to the hymns on a tambourine. Sister Aimee used the frenzy created during her sermons to make the incurable think they were cured and walk out of wheelchairs and leave crutches behind. Sister Aimee became a millionaire from collections taken during her services. Many Americans also became intolerant to non-American religious views such as Darwin’s theory of evolution. Darwin’s theory of evolution says that humans evolved from apes over millions of years and the bible states that the world was created in 4004 BC by god in six days. Darwin’s theory had caused great controversy in the mid-nineteenth century and was generally accepted across the board but as intolerance grew in the 1920’s people began to doubt this theory and the old arguments flared up again. In 1924 strong fundamentalists (who were against Darwin’s theory) set up the anti-evolution league with the aim of making it illegal to teach the theory of evolution. Even though the idea seems somewhat farfetched the anti evolution league succeeded in six states. In Dayton, Tennessee two teachers, Johnny Scopes and his college decided to put the new law to test and for Johnny Scopes to teach the theory of evolution to his class and his college to sue him for breach of the law. Johnny Scopes taught his class the theory of evolution and was subsequently arrested and put on trial. The two sides hijacked the trial and it became Christian fundamentalism on trail rather than Johnny Scopes. Benefactors from both sides of the argument hired two of the best lawyers in America to fight the ‘Monkey trial’ (as the press called it). During the trial the defence lawyer questioned the prosecution lawyer on flaws in the biblical theory he couldn’t explain to which the prosecution lawyer replied, â€Å"I am not satisfied by any evidence I have seen.† The questioning continued like this until the press began making fun of the prosecution lawyer and the judge put a stop to it. Johnny Scopes was found guilty of breaking the law and fined one hundred dollars. These are the main reasons for which I believe the United States of America was becoming more intolerant during the 1920’s. I particularly believe the American immigration policy, the Ku Klux Klan and the Red Scare contributed greatly to the views of many Americans and all the intolerance was down to the selfishness of the WASPS who wanted to protect their own supremacy, wealth, beliefs and interests.

Global Financial Crisis: Causes and Effect Essay

The financial crisis that began in 2007 spread and gathered intensity in 2008, despite the efforts of central banks and regulators to restore calm. By early 2009, the financial system and the global economy appeared to be locked in a descending spiral, and the primary focus of policy became the prevention of a prolonged downturn on the order of the Great Depression. The volume and variety of negative financial news, and the seeming impotence of policy responses, has raised new questions about the origins of financial crises and the market mechanisms by which they are contained or propagated. Just as the economic impact of financial market failures in the 1930s remains an active academic subject, it is likely that the causes of the current crisis will be debated for decades to come. Financial Crisis The term financial crisis is applied broadly to a variety of situations in which some financial institutions or assets suddenly lose a large part of their value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and many recessions coincided with these panics. Other situations that are often called financial crises include stock market crashes and the bursting of other financial bubbles, currency crises, and sovereign defaults. Major causes of Financial Crisis Imprudent Mortgage Lending: Against a backdrop of abundant credit, low interest rates, and rising house prices, lending standards were relaxed to the point that many people were able to buy houses they couldn’t afford. When prices began to fall and loans started going bad, there was a severe shock to the financial system. Housing Bubble: With its easy money policies, the Federal Reserve allowed housing prices to rise to unsustainable levels. The crisis was triggered by the bubble bursting, as it was bound to do. Global Imbalances: Global financial flows have been characterized in recent years by an unsustainable pattern: some countries (China, Japan, and Germany) run large surpluses every year, while others run deficits. The U. S. external deficits have been mirrored by internal deficits in the household and government sectors. U. S. borrowing cannot continue indefinitely; the resulting stress underlies current financial disruptions. Securitization: Securitization fostered the â€Å"originate-to-distribute† model, which reduced lenders’ incentives to be prudent, especially in the face of vast investor demand for subprime loans packaged as AAA bonds. Ownership of mortgage-backed securities was widely dispersed, causing repercussions throughout the global system when subprime loans went bad in 2007. Lack of Transparency and Accountability in Mortgage Finance: Throughout the housing finance value chain, many participants contributed to the creation of bad mortgages and the selling of bad securities, apparently feeling secure that they would not be held accountable for their actions. A lender could sell exotic mortgages to home-owners, apparently without fear of repercussions if those mortgages failed. Similarly, a trader could sell toxic securities to investors, apparently without fear of personal responsibility if those contracts failed. And so it was for brokers, realtors, individuals in rating agencies, and other market participants, each maximizing his or her own gain and passing problems on down the line until the system itself collapsed. Because of the lack of participant accountability, the originate-to distribute model of mortgage finance, with its once great promise of managing risk, became itself a massive generator of risk. † Rating Agencies: The credit rating agencies gave AAA ratings to numerous issues of subprime mortgage-backed securities, many of which were subsequently downgraded to junk status. Critics cite poor economic models, conflicts of interest, and lack of effective regulation as reasons for the rating agencies’ failure. Another factor is the market’s excessive reliance on ratings, which has been reinforced by numerous laws and regulations that use ratings as a criterion for permissible investments or as a factor in required capital levels. Mark-to-market Accounting: FASB standards require institutions to report the fair (or current market) value of securities they hold. Critics of the rule argue that these forces banks to recognize losses based on â€Å"fire sale† prices that prevail in distressed markets, prices believed to be below long-term fundamental values. Those losses undermine market confidence and exacerbate banking system problems. Some propose suspending mark-to-market; EESA requires a study of its impact. Deregulatory Legislation: Laws such as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA) permitted financial institutions to engage in unregulated risky transactions on a vast scale. The laws were driven by an excessive faith in the robustness of market discipline, or self-regulation. Shadow Banking System: Risky financial activities once confined to regulated banks (use of leverage, borrowing short-term to lend long, etc. ) migrated outside the explicit government safety net provided by deposit insurance and safety and soundness regulation. Mortgage lending, in particular, moved out of banks into unregulated institutions. This unsupervised risk-taking amounted to a financial house of cards. Non-Bank Runs: As institutions outside the banking system built up financial positions built on borrowing short and lending long, they became vulnerable to liquidity risk in the form of non-bank runs. That is, they could fail if markets lost confidence and refused to extend or roll over short-term credit, as happened to Bear Stearns and others. Government-Mandated Subprime Lending: Federal mandates to help low-income borrowers (e. g. , the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s affordable housing goals) forced banks to engage in imprudent mortgage lending. Excessive Leverage: In the post-2000 period of low interest rates and abundant capital, fixed income yields were low. To compensate, many investors used borrowed funds to boost the return on their capital. Excessive leverage magnified the impact of the housing downturn, and deleveraging caused the interbank credit market to tighten. Financial Crisis & U. S economy In 2008, the United States experienced a major financial crisis which led to the most serious recession since the Second World War. Both the financial crisis and the downturn in the U. S. economy spread to many foreign nations, resulting in a global economic crisis. On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers, one of the largest investment banks in the world, failed. Over the next few months, the US stock market plummeted, liquidity dried up, successful companies laid off employees by the thousands, and for the first time there was no longer any doubt a recession was upon the American people. Eleven months after the fall of Lehman Brothers, the U. S. remains in a state of limbo. Proposals for stimulus packages and other bailout plans have provided some relief, but it seems the most effective remedy thus far has been time. The facts are that approximately 6% of all mortgage loans in United States are in default. Historically, defaults were less than one-third of that, i. e. , from 0. 25% to 2%. A huge portion of the increased mortgage loan defaults are what are referred to as ‘sub-prime’ loans. Most of the sub-prime loans have been made to borrowers with poor credit ratings, no down payment on the home financed, and/or no verification of income or assets (Alt-A’s). Close to 25% of sub-prime and Alt-A’s loans are in default. These loans increased dramatically as a 9/30/99 New York Times article explained, â€Å"In a move that could help increase homeownership rates among minorities and low income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corp. is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders. † To allow Fannie Mae to make more loans, President Clinton also reduced Fannie Mae’s reserve requirement to 2. 5%. That means it could purchase and/or guarantee $97. 50 in mortgages for every $2. 50 it had in equity to cover possible bad debts. If more than 2. % of the loans go bad, the taxpayers (us) have to pay for them. That is what this bailout is all about. It is not the government paying the banks for the bad loans, it is us!! Principally Senate Democrats demanded that Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac (FM&FM) buy more of these risky loans to help the poor. Since the mortgages purchased and guaranteed by FM&FM are backed by the U. S. government, the loans were re-sold primarily to investment banks which in turn bundled most of them, taking a hefty fee, and sold the mortgages to investors all over the world as virtually risk free. As long as the Federal Reserve (another government created agency) kept interest rates artificially low, monthly mortgage payments were low and housing prices went up. Many home owners got home equity loans to pay their first mortgages and credit card debt. Unfortunately home prices peaked in the winter of 2005-06 and the house of cards started to crumble. People could no longer increase their mortgage debt to pay previous debts. Now, we taxpayers are being told we have to bail out the banks and everyone in the world who bought these highly risky loans. The politicians in Congress (mostly Democrats) do not want you to know they caused the mess. In the 2006 elections, the Democrats took control of the House and Senate. There are plenty of videos on the Internet showing many Democrats including Senate Banking Committee Chairman Democrat Christopher Dodd and House Banking Committee Chairman Barney Frank, responsible with overseeing FM&FM, assuring us that there were no problems with FM&FM right up to their collapse. Not surprisingly, virtually all the investment banks that are in trouble and being bailed out are run by financial supporters of Obama and other Democrats. Secretary of the Treasury Paulsen was head of Goldman Sachs. The new head of the $700 million bailout is also from Goldman Sachs. This is like letting the fox be in charge of hen house security. It was announced that our government will infuse capital into the troubled banks. This gives whoever is in power of our government the ability to force the same kind of abuses that have caused this massive banking crisis in the first place. Barack Obama has received more campaign donations that any other politician in the past three years from Fannie Mae and Wall Street. FM&FC have been virtually private piggy banks of campaign contributions for Democrats for the past 10 years. Yes, a token amount went to some Republicans. And there is plenty of blame to go around in this financial crisis, but the reason it happened was 100% caused by a Democrat run government that forced a liberal policy initiated by President Clinton and reforms primarily blocked by Democrats. One would never know this by watching the news or reading newspapers. Until the majority of our citizens understand whom (government liberals) and what (liberalism/socialism) caused this mess, we will allow our elected officials, through massive inflation, to lower the standard of living of those of us who are financially prudent and give our earnings to those who are not prudent. The big excuse for the bailout is that credit markets have frozen up. But it is not true. There is plenty of credit available for good credit risks. The only way this can be rectified is to allow the people who made the mistakes to take their losses. It is called taking personal responsibility for one’s actions. Already we see that the bailout has had virtually no effect on the markets other than to cause huge sell offs because smart investors see that the U. S. is adopting failed liberal socialist policies. Our government is following in the footsteps of Hoover and Roosevelt. We do not need to have another depression, but the government is taking the steps to make it happen. The taxpayer financed bailout should be reversed immediately as it will only encourage more irresponsible fraudulent behavior. Impacts of Financial Crisis on Global Economy For the developing world, the rise in food prices as well as the knock-on effects from the financial instability and uncertainty in industrialized nations is having a compounding effect. High fuel costs, soaring commodity prices together with fears of global recession are worrying many developing country analysts. Asia & Financial crisis Countries in Asia are increasingly worried about what is happening in the West. A number of nations urged the US to provide meaningful assurances and bailout packages for the US economy, as that would have a knock-on effect of reassuring foreign investors and helping ease concerns in other parts of the world. India and China are the among the world’s fastest growing nations and after Japan, are the largest economies in Asia. From 2007 to 2008 India’s economy grew by a whopping 9%. Much of it is fueled by its domestic market. However, even that has not been enough to shield it from the effect of the global financial crisis, and it is expected that in data will show that by March 2009 that India’s growth will have slowed quickly to 7. 1%. Although this is a very impressive growth figure even in good times, the speed at which it has dropped—the sharp slowdown—is what is concerning. China similarly has also experienced a sharp slowdown and its growth is expected to slow down to 8% (still a good growth figure in normal conditions). However, China also has a growing crisis of unrest over job losses. Both have poured billions into recovery packages. China has also raised concerns about the world relying on mostly one foreign currency reserve, and called for the dollar to be replaced by a world reserve currency run by the IMF. Of course, the US has defended the dollar as a global currency reserve, which is to be expected given it is one of its main sources of global economic dominance. Whether a change like this would actually happen remains to be seen, but it is likely the US and its allies will be very resistant to the idea. Japan, which has suffered its own crisis in the 1990s also faces trouble now. While their banks seem more secure compared to their Western counterparts, it is very dependent on exports. Japan is so exposed that in January alone, Japan’s industrial production fell by 10%, the biggest monthly drop since their records began. Japan’s output for the first 3 months of 2009 plunged at its quickest pace since records began in 1955, mostly due to falling exports. A rise in industrial output in April was expected, but was positively more than initially estimated. However, with high unemployment and general lack of confidence, optimism for recovery has been dampened. In recent years, there has been more interest in Africa from Asian countries such as China. As the financial crisis is hitting the Western nations the hardest, Africa may yet enjoy increased trade for a while. These earlier hopes for Africa, above, may be short lived, unfortunately. In May 2009, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that Africa’s economic growth will plummet because of the world economic downturn, predicting growth in sub-Saharan Africa will slow to 1. 5% in 2009, below the rate of population growth (revising downward a March 2009 prediction of 3. 25% growth due to the slump in commodity prices and the credit squeeze). Some African countries have already started to cut their health and HIV budgets due to the economic crisis. Their health budgets and resources have been constrained for many years already, so this crisis makes a bad situation worse. Due to its proximity to the US and its close relationship via the NAFTA and other agreements, Mexico is expected to have one of the lowest growth rates for the region next year at 1. 9%, compared to a downgraded forecast of 3% for the rest of the region. Europe & Financial crisis In Europe, a number of major financial institutions failed. Others needed rescuing. In Iceland, where the economy was very dependent on the finance sector, economic problems have hit them hard. The banking system virtually collapsed and the government had to borrow from the IMF and other neighbors to try and rescue the economy. In the end, public dissatisfaction at the way the government was handling the crisis meant the Iceland government fell. The EU is also considering spending increases and tax cuts said to be worth â‚ ¬200bn over two years. The plan is supposed to help restore consumer and business confidence, shore up employment, getting the bank’s lending again, and promoting green technologies. Russia’s economy is contracting sharply with many more feared to slide into poverty. One of Russia’s key exports, oil, was a reason for a recent boom, but falling prices have had a big impact and investors are withdrawing from the country. Africa & Financial crisis Perhaps ironically, Africa’s generally weak integration with the rest of the global economy may mean that many African countries will not be affected from the crisis, at least not initially, as suggested by Reuters in September 2008. In recent years, there has been more interest in Africa from Asian countries such as China. As the financial crisis is hitting the Western nations the hardest, Africa may yet enjoy increased trade for a while. These earlier hopes for Africa, above, may be short lived, unfortunately. In May 2009, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that Africa’s economic growth will plummet because of the world economic downturn, predicting growth in sub-Saharan Africa will slow to 1. 5% in 2009, below the rate of population growth (revising downward a March 2009 prediction of 3. 25% growth due to the slump in commodity prices and the credit squeeze) African countries could face increasing pressure for debt repayment, however. As the crisis gets deeper and the international institutions and western banks that have lent money to Africa need to shore up their reserves more, one way could be to demand debt repayment. This could cause further cuts in social services such as health and education, which have already been reduced due to crises and policies from previous eras. The current crisis The housing bubble started to burst in 2006, and the decline accelerated in 2007 and 2008. Housing prices stopped increasing in 2006, started to decrease in 2007, and have fallen about 25 percent from the peak so far. The decline in prices meant that homeowners could no longer refinance when their mortgage rates were reset, which caused delinquencies and defaults of mortgages to increase sharply, especially among subprime borrowers. From the first quarter of 2006 to the third quarter of 2008, the percentage of mortgages in foreclosure tripled, from 1 percent to 3 percent, and the percentage of mortgages in foreclosure or at least thirty days delinquent more than doubled, from 4. 5 percent to 10 percent. These foreclosure and delinquency rates are the highest since the Great Depression; the previous peak for the delinquency rate was 6. 8 percent in 1984 and 2002. And the worst is yet to come. The American dream of owning your own home is turning into an American nightmare for millions of families. Early estimates of the total number of foreclosures that will result from this crisis in the years to come ranged from 3 million to 8 million. So far (as of January 2009), there have already been almost 3 million mortgage foreclosures. Another 1 million mortgages are ninety days delinquent and another 2 million were thirty days delinquent. Therefore, a total of about 6 million mortgages either have already been foreclosed, are in foreclosure, or are close to foreclosure. Six million mortgages are about 12 percent of all the mortgages in the United States. The situation could get a lot worse in the months ahead, due to the worsening recession and lost jobs and income, unless the government adopts stronger policies to reduce foreclosures. Defaults and foreclosures on mortgages mean losses for lenders. Estimates of losses on mortgages keep increasing, and many are now predicting losses of $1 trillion or more. In addition to losses on mortgages, there will also be losses on other types of loans, due to the weakness of the economy, in the months ahead: consumer loans (credit cards, etc. ), commercial real estate, corporate junk bonds, and other types of loans (e. g. redit default swaps). Estimates of losses on these other types of loans range up to another trillion dollars. Therefore, total losses for the financial sector as a whole could be as high as $2 trillion. It is further estimated that banks will suffer about half of the total losses of the financial sector. The rest of the losses will be borne by non-bank financial institutions (hedge funds, pension funds, etc. ). Therefore, dividing the total losses for the financial sector as a whole in the previous paragraph by two, the losses for the banking sector could be as high as $1 trillion. Since the total bank capital in the U.  S. is approximately $1. 5 trillion, losses of this magnitude would wipe out two-thirds of the total capital in U. S. banks! * This would obviously be a severe blow, not just to the banks, but also to the U. S. economy as a whole. The blow to the rest of the economy would happen because the rest of the economy is dependent on banks for loans—businesses for investment loans, and households for mortgages and consumer loans. Bank losses result in a reduction in bank capital, which in turn requires a reduction in bank lending (a credit crunch), in order to maintain acceptable loan to capital ratios. Assuming a loan to capital ratio of 10:1 (this conservative assumption was made in a recent study by Goldman Sachs), every $100 billion loss and reduction of bank capital would normally result in a $1 trillion reduction in bank lending and corresponding reductions in business investment and consumer spending. According to this rule of thumb, even the low estimate of bank losses of $1 trillion would result in a reduction of bank lending of $10 trillion! This would be a severe blow to the economy and would cause a severe recession. Bank losses may be offset to some extent by â€Å"recapitalization,† i. e. by new capital being invested in banks from other sources. If bank capital can be at least partially restored, then the reduction in bank lending does not have to be so significant and traumatic. So far, banks have lost about $500 billion and have raised about $400 billion in new capital, most of it coming from â€Å"sovereign wealth funds† financed by the governments of Asian and Middle Eastern countries. So ironically, U. S. banks may be â€Å"saved† (in part) by increasing foreign ownership. U. S. bankers are now figuratively on their knees before these foreign investors offering discounted prices and pleading or help. It is also an important indication of the decline of U. S. economic hegemony as a result of this crisis. However, it is becoming more difficult for banks to raise new capital from foreign investors, because their prior investments have already suffered significant losses. In addition to the credit crunch, consumer spending will be further depressed in the months ahead due to the following factors: decreasing household wealth; the end of mortgage equity withdrawals and declining jobs and incomes. All in all, it is shaping up to be a very severe recession.

A Study Of Lewins Model Management Essay

A Study Of Lewins Model Management Essay In the refreezing stage the company stabilized changes by establishing systems that can establish behavioural pattern in the organisation. A new performance appraisal system based on behaviour and results was introduced to encourage customer service. (Goodstein., D., L. & Burke, W., W., 1991) 14 It is not easy for an organisation change its structure and business processes since any change may lead to some level of resistance by the employees. One of the main causes for resistance is the fear of the unknown and loss of what is familiar. There are four reasons of resistance from employee to organisational change including 1) Parochial self-interest, 2) Misunderstanding and lack of trust, 3) Contradictory assessments, and 4) Low tolerance for change. (Buchanan D. & Huczynski A., 2004) BA tried to change behaviour by changing the management style from authoritative to participative. BA wished employees participate more in management decision but since this was unfamiliar employers woul d fall back to the old patterns. 15 A tactic that was used in BA to manage resistance to change was the HR policy which included training guidelines. Such an HR policy is important in making the employees understand and react positively to change. There is also an example where resistance to change hindered the organisations goals and objectives. In an attempt to cut down cost can compete with low cost airlines BA tried implementing a new payment system and also hiring workers for lower salaries. This created insecurity among the employees which ended in a strike that cost the company in millions in 2000. Therefore handling resistance and the HR aspects of the company is vital to a successful change process. 15 REFERENCES 16 Wilson, C.D., (1992), A Strategy of Change, Thomas Learning, London 16 British Airways, 2006, Leaders For Business: What are we looking for?, http://www.britishairwaysjobs.com/baweb1/?newms=info196 (22 December 2006) British Airways, 2006, Our Recruitment Proces s: The Assessment Process, http://www.britishairwaysjobs.com/baweb1/?newms=info48 (22 December 2006) 16 Paton, R.A. & McCalman, J. (2008) Change Management 2nd ed. Sage Publications, London 16 Cellars, T. (2007), Change Management Models: A Look at McKinsey’s 7-S Model, Lewin’s Change Management Model and Kotter’s Eight Step Change Model, Associated Content, [Online], http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/237685/change_management_models_a_look_at_pg5_pg5.html?cat=3, accessed on 30 November 2009 16 Green, M. (2007), Change Management Masterclass, Kogan Page Limited, Philadelphia 16 Syque. (2007). Lewin’s freeze phases. Retrieved April 12, 2007, from Changing Minds 16 12Manage. (2007, April 9). 7-S framework (mckinsey). Retrieved April 12, 2007, from 12Manage Web site: http://www.12manage.com/methods_7S.html 16 Chapman, A. (2006). Change management. Retrieved April 12, 2007, from Business Balls Web site: http://www.businessballs.com/changemanagement.htm 16 Mind Tools. (2007). Lewin’s change management model: Understanding the three stages of change. Retrieved April 12, 2007, from Mind Tools Web site: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_94.htm 16 Morgan, O. (n.d.). Organization management part 1. Retrieved April 12, 2007, from Oliver Morgan Web site: http://www.omorgan.info/download/Part%20I/organisation_management_Part_I.pdf 16 Recklies, D. (2007). The 7-s-model. Retrieved April 12, 2007, from Recklies Management Web site: http://www.themanager.org/Models/7S%20Model.htm 16 Johnson G and Scholes k (2002) Exploring Corporate Strategy, Prentice Hall, 6th ed. 17

Evaluation of Research Methodology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Evaluation of Research Methodology - Essay Example We will examine the different types of approaches and methods that favored by all the three types of researchers. We will discuss quantitative-qualitative debate and examine the advantages and disadvantages of both the methods. These research styles are set within their philosophical, political and practical context. During the discussion there is an emphasis on the need to adopt a critical and reflexive approach to research. In the process of discussion we will evaluate all the three main research methods. We will also look at the possibilities for combining different approaches and methods in the same research project through a process. This multi-method approach and strategy would argue that this is helpful for researchers in seeking to reduce the impact of personal bias and maximize validity in research. While it is difficult to define precisely what social research actually is, there are certain aspects of the nation 'research' which can largely be agreed upon. The first of these is that researches is not an arbitrary activity, but follow certain rules and procedures. There are many types of research method available, and some of these in common usages include for instance social surveys, experiments, observations and depth interviews. Further more, we are interested in generating information of sorts, either to develop further insights into an area - to explain or explore a particular phenomenon - or to solve a problem, perhaps at work or in our local community. Various research methods: Research methods are conventionally divided into quantitative, qualitative and participatory research methods, each with differing underlying approaches, tools and techniques, faced with the glowing claims of proponents and often strident critiques and counter - claims of opponents, one would be forgiven for thinking that they belong to different words traditional disciplinary divides are, however, becoming increasingly breached. More over new tools and new solutions to short comings of old tools are continually being developed. The different methods can be integrated into a coherent research process, which builds on the relative strengths and weakness of each. Underlying the discussion are assumption about the main criteria for choosing between methods: the relevance of the information to the questions being asked and to the context; the reliability and credibility of the information and analysis; the ethical considerations in both means and ends of researc h; the manageability in relation to skills, resources and time available.Quantitative method: Quantitative, Qualitative and Participatory approaches have different disciplinary origins, and have developed distinctive tools and each and each has developed its critique of the other approaches (Hulme, 2000; Kanbur, 2003). In development research, quantitative methods have typically been the main focus, with qualitative and participatory methods often relegated to desirable frills. This is partly because of the overwhelming

Operation Management at Fiat Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Operation Management at Fiat - Case Study Example Fiat was founded On 11 July 1899 at Palazzo Bricherasio, the company charter of "Societ Anonima Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino" was signed. Among the members of the Board of Directors, Giovanni Agnelli stood out in the group of investors and won recognition for his determination and strategic vision. The 'Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino' company was founded in Turin, The first factory was opened in 1900 in Corso Dante. 150 workers were employed there and produced 24 cars. After that Fiat started a factory on s green field site at Melfi in southern Italy. At that time the competition was too high in the automobile industry. Fiat and all its competitors were facing a problem of poor quality products and productivity. The plant was the outcome of a major re-engineering effort undertaken by the company related to quality, productivity and endemic industrial conflict. For over a decade the plant was considered by Fiat and its competitor to be the leading example of productivity. But after the factory was started to do a better performance, it started fell down in productivity because of a strike in its production and supply area, by workers. From the very beginning the production system of Fiat's is a customer driven production system. But as the production was fallen due to the strike, the marketing department has to take steps to defend its market share, which was decreased as well. But as it's the problem of internal environment and related to human resource where alone marketing department cant do much. Marketing department can do a research "LE PEST C analysis (stands for Legal, Economical, Political, Ecological, Social, Technological and Cultural analysis)"1 along with HR department on its internal environment to find out the problem. At same time Fiat have to do another research on its customer to understand their recent behavior, needs and also on market to understand the recent market situation and future trends. All the decisions will depends up to these research result and some measurement. Such as recent consumer behavior, situation of sales and recent market share, recent market trends- after conflict was co vered and published by media. After media coverage, if the market and consumer behavior remain same marketing department need no to go for increase marketing activities such as advertisement but other promotional tools must be in working mode such as "public relation, direct marketing, sales promotion"2 etc. To capture the market share and get a competitive advantage they will use "Flank Attacking strategy"3. If the market trends shows that the future market may boom and the consumer behavior are in changing pattern as they want to spend more money for having a car, and if the demographical segment shows that the income level is increasing and will booster the sales, only then Fiat should start to build a new factory that will be worthy to Fiat in long run. If Fiat decide to start a new plant based on positive research

Financial Applications for Excel Spreadsheet Essay

Financial Applications for Excel Spreadsheet - Essay Example The system would require a master spreadsheet that is linked to all the individual Excel timesheets for all the staff. The first spreadsheet to be created would be the one for inputting the staff member’s punch in and punch out times. Each staff would have their own timesheet under their name. It would probably consist of a bi-weekly or weekly calendar, depending on the payroll, with each day dated and a row of cells to input times in and out, for lunch and then total. There are formulas within that will calculate the decimal time from the standard time being inputted to allow it to transfer easily into the payroll program. There would also be columns for any sick, vacation or personal time used. The staff person, ideally, would sit down at their computer and before doing anything else open up the spreadsheet input the date and then time, either manually or with the shortcut keys. Then when they go to lunch sign out and in and when they leave for the day, sign out. The total for the day will appear at the end and the total for the week at the bottom, including any personal time taken in the o ther columns. Each staff person would have their own spreadsheet to fill out and they would all be located on the same network drive. The master spreadsheet would have the employee’s names in one column and then the totals for the week, or whatever pay period payroll would use, in the subsequent columns all on one spreadsheet. The totals on this sheet would be laid out the in the same order as on the timesheets to make linking the cells easier. To link you would have the master sheet open and then an individual’s timesheet. In the master sheet you would type an = sign into the cell you want to link and then switch to the timesheet, select the cell to link to there and hit enter. You will return to the master sheet and there is now a direct link to that cell on the master sheet. You can link the other cells merely by copying that master cell and

Patient Internet Guide Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Patient Internet Guide - Essay Example This research is being carried out to evaluate and present some useful advices which would help to learn more about a medical condition through online search: Preferably, the site must be sponsored by a medical institution, organization or association. There is a high probability that medical professionals are behind the content of such sites. An example of which is Mayoclinic.com. Avoid sites that look shabbily presented. Good sites invest money, effort and time to establish impact and credibility to the readers. As much as possible, the site must be a registered domain and not just a simple blog that can disappear anytime. Check the site’s domain name and standing in Better Business Bureau. The site must have a disclaimer stating that the information presented is not in any way a substitute for medical advice. Never give your personal information unless the site can be trusted. More importantly, the site must ensure that your personal information would not be shared. Search for forums where people give feedback about certain sites. User experience is a reliable way to get good comments or criticism about a certain site. Avoid forums that have members arguing all of the time. Remember, you need information not arguments. The site must present valid source of references for their journals or articles. Sites with peer-reviewed journals are highly preferable.  

Personality inventories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Personality inventories - Essay Example uestions can be answered in a variety of ways designed so that the respondent's instinctive response would be the indicator of how they are most likely to respond to a situation, 8) answering truthfully will give the best profile for the respondent's personality (UNSW, 2003). The Big Five Theory was developed by Costa and McCrae (1988). The five components are used to assess personality traits. The five factors include: Extroversion, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience, and Neuroticism. Since they are considered as relatively stable traits, they are used to described variances in human personality. Extroversion measures the volition to seek the company of others and outside stimulation. This factor deals with social skills, how a person relates with other people, confidence in society, assertiveness, empathy towards others and warmth. Conscientiousness demonstrates the desire to achieve, self-discipline, and responsibility.

Revising this paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Revising this paper - Essay Example People rely more on the consequences being in their favor, even when the decision or the incentive that spurs the decision is morally wrong; in essence, it is somewhat like the ends justify the means. However, it will be wrong for us to assume that just because their thought processes and their incentives are different from our own, they are wrong. People are different from one another, with different morals and different points of views, so much so that their happiness also lies in different things; as in they pursue different forms of happiness, what is happiness to one may not be so to the other. Thus the question arises: Can we judge people based on their incentives? In the example I liked the most, Levitt and Dubner analyze schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers. In the case of schoolteachers the incentive to cheat derives from possible pay raises, or at least job security, if their students score well on standardized tests. Levitt uses 700,000 sets of test answers from Chicago public school students. With the aid of his computer, Levitt searches for patterns in the answers to identify teachers who were changing their students answers, thus cheating to obtain their goal. He even includes a few sample answer sheets and invites the reader to detect the cheating. At the same time, the book describes Levitts clever strategy for examining the win-loss records of sumo wrestlers; an examination that points to especially important matches being â€Å"thrown†, with the â€Å"winners† later reciprocating in less important matches, thus ensuring that top wrestlers maintain their status. Levitt says there are three types of incentives: economic, social and moral. We juggle with all types of them, and it is clear that incentives are used widely and related closely to people’s daily life. The story of an Israeli daycare center that decided to fine parents who picked up their children late is pertinent in this regard. This action of theirs resulted in more

The privacy of your medical records Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The privacy of your medical records - Essay Example However, many have come to accept that their employer has the right to essentially do the same thing by monitoring emails. Is wrong always wrong or do employers have a widely agreed upon caveat to intrude on the privacy of American citizens? Some believe that because the Constitution forbids illegal searches which are the precedent for disallowing the wiretapping of citizens, this should apply to businesses as well. Computer networks are especially susceptible to employer scrutiny. According to a Privacy Foundation study (Privacy Foundation, 2001), 14 million U.S. employees are subject to this type of surveillance on a constant basis. Employers use specially designed software for this purpose. They are able to scrutinize employee e-mail by randomly reading communications or by selecting key ‘damaging’ words or phrases in order to flag e-mail. The software evaluates a company’s e-mail messages by selected term of phrase and makes a determination regarding whether a message is genuine and non-threatening corporate business. These programs are becoming ever more sophisticated using algorithms to evaluate communications patterns and relay this information to employers. Many employers are always just a click or two away from viewing every e-mail message that employees send or receive on computers included on the network. These employers give a variety of justifications for spying on their employees’ communications including the protection of trade secrets, the prevention of internal problems or excess e-mails clogging networks by using too much bandwidth. Another popular reason given for monitoring personal e-mails is to prevent employees from using company time for personal communications. Checking for quality of work would violate few people’s idea of crossing the privacy boundary but that is seldom a reason given for such monitoring. According to the American Management Study (2001), close to â€Å"two-thirds of all companies

Library System Essay Example for Free

Library System Essay In progress countries, where the Computerized Library System is a mature technology, developments are the area of resource sharing and globalization of Information Access. In such a scenario, the role of the librarian is no longer to make available the most suitable books or editorial or facts accessible within the library but to seek out the information necessary by the user from any library. The recent advancement in Information Technologies and system has become the key concerns of librarian and libraries. Libraries need to develop their resources access, analyse the need of their users and seek to develop resources to meet this needs. As a learning and knowledge organization, schools should empower their libraries to develop the appropriate tools in coping with the growing library trends and standards. The Jesus is Lord Christian School’s Library System is a Manual System, which covers manual transactions inside the library, such as borrowing, returning, and recording of the books and the registration of the new borrowers. The system will help the librarian to closely monitor the condition of the library. This system is also design to speed up every transaction inside the library. The main objective of the proposed system is to increase the efficiency and security of record keeping of the school. The system will also generate reports that are needed in monitoring the library. The proposed system is design with security to protect sensitive files from unauthorized access. Only authorized users can have an access to confidential files. The security of files is achieved through the use of Username and Password for identification and authentication of the user. The proposed Computerized Library System of Jesus is Lord Christian School will improve and speed up library transactions. 1. 0 INTRODUCTION The Computerized Library System is an Integrated System that consists of library operating components such as Cataloguing, Searching, Adding, Editing, and Deleting books and periodicals information. Each component supports a user-friendly interface that makes it extremely accessible to librarians and students alike. The software is also design with portability in mind, so that it would be available to a wide variety of computer architecture. Library is a place where the collections of books are kept. A library operates routinely with known set of customer, it also operates on expectation. When the client walks into the library, we expect that they will get the material or information that they need. The library in return, expects that the client will return the items within the specified borrowing time. As always, the role of the library and librarians is to help manage the effective delivery of library services. This has been traditionally anchored on the management of the catalogue and physical collection. Librarians are trained to be expert in Information Searching, Selecting, and Organizing. Nowadays, in a highly technological society, human productivity is made more efficient through the development of the electronic gadgets and machine. The advent of such modernization in education, one way to globalize the process of research is to appreciate that technology is advancing in a dramatic increase. Now in our modern society, technology is the most important advancement which brings necessity to progress us along to the computerized world. These make man’s life easier and more convenient. 1. 2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 1. 2. 1 General problem How to design, develop, and implement a Computerized Library System for Jesus is Lord Christian School to lessen their time in tracking of records, storage of numerous paperwork’s and manual filing of forms. 1. 2. 2 Specific Problems * The current acquisition and cataloguing process of Jesus is Lord Christian School Library is time consuming and prone to errors due to the present manual operations. * The traditional use of pen and typriter for acquisition and cataloguing are prone to erasures. * The library reports and inventory are very tedious and it takes a month to be completed because it is manually done * The library reports and inventories are said to be tedious because of manual book counting, listing of new books, and Administrative reports. * The process of lending and returning of books user consumes minutes of manpower due to the manual tracking and processing of students, employee and book records. * The Jesus is Lord Christian School Library staffs manually perform the borrowing and returning of books, and it takes several minutes to complete a single process. * Tracking of overdue books is difficult and this prolongs the returning process as well as the imposing of penalties. * The calculation and imposing of imposing of penalties as well as tracking of overdue books are manually performed, this results to lack of books monitoring 1. 3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1. 3. 1 General Objective This study aims to design, develop, and implement a Computerized Library System for Jesus is Lord Christian School that will store information and track the records of books and its borrowers, and produced library reports and inventories of the school’s library. 1. 3. 2 Specific Objectives * To produce an efficient book acquisition process this will be useful during cataloguing. * To produce a means of tracking overdue books useful in imposing penalties whenever necessary. * To produce library reports and inventories like Administrative Reports that would be available whenever needed. * To be able to monitor all borrowed and returned books. * To be able to monitor the circulation of books. * To provide a facility that will handle library transactions efficiently and accurately. 1. 4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 1. 4. 1 The Librarians A Computerized Library System is a tool that can be used by the school librarian in storing and retrieving information such as the books information and the borrower’s information in order to make every transaction faster. A Computerized Library System can have a great help for the librarian of Jesus is Lord Christian School because the number of students enrolled there increases very year thus, the job of the librarian becomes more difficult and complicated because it is very hard for them to monitor huge number of students who want to borrow books. The study will help the librarian solve the problems regarding its transactions like the computing of penalties for the delinquent borrowers and maintaining of books in the library so that the job of the librarian will be lessened. 1. 4. 2 Students and Faculty Members This study will help the students and the faculty members in borrowing books because this system will provide them a categorization system so that they can search a specific book in the library in a much convenient way. 1. 4. 3 The School Administrator Our proposed system will generate reports needed by the school admin like the list of books in the library, list of delinquent borrowers, list of new books and list of damage books. 1. 4. 4 Assistant Librarian In case of librarian is not in the library, the assistant librarian can also access the proposed system. However, there are only certain process that the assistant library can operate. 1. 5 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS The system will only focused on books and periodicals. It will not include the library budgets. The inventory of equipment and audio visual materials in order for the system to be concrete and specific. The proposed library system will not be networked in order to reduce complexity on the part of the proponent. The system will also include the File Maintenance of the books wherein they can add, edit, delete all the necessary information if needed. This will also help the librarian in the monitoring of books in the library because all the books information will be stored in a database. This will make it much easier for the librarian to update the books in the library. Back-up and Restoration of the database is also included in the system. We will provide a module that will back-up all the information in the database when the system is turn off and will restore if the main database is corrupted. In this process, the risk of losing some information in the library will be minimized. The calculation of penalties for overdue books is done with the use of an efficient books transaction process. The report generation such as readymade listings for manual book counting, listing of new books, discarded books and Administrative reports will be easily done. All of the information will be stored in the database so that the borrowing and returning of books can easily be monitored by the Librarian. The system will also provide the automatic computation of penalty for the delinquent borrowers depending on the number of days overdue, in this case the librarian does not need to compute penalty in a manual process and the possible wrong computation will be lessen. Generating of reports will also be provided by the system like the list of books in the library, list of new books, list of damaged books, and the list of delinquent borrower. The system will not include the purchasing of new books or any additional equipment in the library like desks, electric fan, chairs, book shelves and other materials. 2. 0 METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY (Software Engineering Paradigm) The Spiral Model The spiral model combines the idea of iterative development (prototyping) with the systematic, controlled aspects of the waterfall model. It allows for incremental releases of the product, or incremental refinement through each time around the spiral. The spiral model also explicitly includes risk management within software development. Identifying major risks, both technical and managerial, and determining how to lessen the risk helps keep the software development process under control. The spiral model is based on continuous refinement of key products for requirements definition and analysis, system and software design, and implementation. At each iteration around the cycle, the products are extensions of an earlier product. This model uses many of the same phases as the waterfall model, in essentially the same order, separated by planning, risk assessment, and the building of prototypes and simulations. Documents are produced when they are required, and the content reflects the information necessary at that point in the process. All documents will not be created at the beginning of the process, nor all at the end (hopefully). Like the product they define, the documents are works in progress. The idea is to have a continuous stream of products produced and available for user review. The spiral lifecycle model allows for elements of the product to be added in when they become available or known. This assures that there is no conflict with previous requirements and design. This method is consistent with approaches that have multiple software builds and releases and allows for making an orderly transition to a maintenance activity. Another positive aspect is that the spiral model forces early user involvement in the system development effort. For projects with heavy user interfacing, such as user application programs or instrument interface applications, such involvement is helpful. Starting at the center, each turn around the spiral goes through several task regions . * Determine the objectives, alternatives, and constraints on the new iteration. * Evaluate alternatives and identify and resolve risk issues. * Develop and verify the product for this iteration. * Plan the next iteration. Note that the requirements activity takes place in multiple sections and in multiple iterations, just as planning and risk analysis occur in multiple places. Final design, implementation, integration, and test occur in iteration 4. The spiral can be repeated multiple times for multiple builds. Using this method of development, some functionality can be delivered to the user faster than the waterfall method. The spiral method also helps manage risk and uncertainty by allowing multiple decision points and by explicitly admitting that all of anything cannot be known before the subsequent activity starts 3. 0 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Computerized Library System in the Philippines have integrated library system namely, UP Don Bosco Technical College (develop in house), Ateneo Professional Schools (develop in house). Thomas Jefferson Cultural Center (Date Trek), International Institute (Iunopac), Asian Development Bank (VTLS), International Rice Research integrated use micro-CDs/ISIS, INMAGIC or BIBASE to create their electronic catalogs and/or indexes and produce catalog/cards or book catalog indexes. The theological libraries also use BIBASE for their circulation system. UP Computerized Library System is develop in aiming to produce a full pledge computerized library system that supports all necessary components to suit library tasks. Each components work conjunction with each other to produce an automated library system. The team aims to provide a really good GUI for ease of access on part of the user. The proposed system will cover the monitoring of books and borrowers. Computing penalty for overdue available generating a card catalog for searching a particular books, its title, subject and author. The difference of this system to our proposed system is we will convert the current system of the said school from manual system into computerized library system for faster searching of records. The library functions of the benefits of the students, teachers as if supply the patrons with a wealth of information, found in books, periodic and electronic sources, assistance is given with teams paper’s factual information. Leisure reading materials and any other library related activities. This chapter reviews literature and studies that the researchers considered relevant to the present study. The school library is one of the most common studied division of educational institutions. Not a few specialist in the teaching enterprise have devoted their attention and focus their inquiry into the system management and problems of the library as a learning resource center. There is the only need to gear up current awareness services, but also to initiate new services with the assistance the new services technologies, so that total library operation and service can be modernized. There remains much to be done as the image of the university libraries directly linked with the quality of services it provide to its rising users of device requirements. [FEST 1994]. In completion of the study, the proponents made use of different books. They also made use of the response of the direct inquiries from interviews. These are big factors in the generation of ideas. Library classifications have been particularly defined as systematic arrangement by subjects of books and other material on shelves and catalogue and index entries and manner which is most useful for those who read or who seek definite piece of information. University of Santo Tomas can be considered as the oldest university in the country. The first seeds were planted when the founders, Fr. Miguel de Benavides and Fr. Diego Soria, donated their private collections. Through the history of the university other Dominicans contributed books that they thought were indispensable in education for the priesthood. This explains why the oldest books in the collections are related in the philosophy, theology or law. As new faculties were opened in the university books were added. All these constitute a precious collection of rare books unique in the Philippines. The library was house at the university quarters in the old city of Intramuros for three hundred years. When the university expandedits campus outside the walls, the collection were also transferred. When the main building constructed, the library was allotted of room at ground floor. Its collection increased with the opening of new courses, the library grew to occuy one whole wing of the ground floor of this building and other rooms in the different building [JOAQ 2004]. In 1985, the long waited dream of the exclusive building for the library finally materialized, and on October 29, 1989 the UST Central Library Buildings was inaugurated. [JOAQ 2004]. Until 1985 the books in the library were classified according to the old method of classification called the fixed system. In 1927, the university adopted another method classification known as the Dewey Decimal System. 4. 0 DESCRIPTION OF THE CURRENT SYSTEM The Jesus is Lord Christian School uses manual type of operation in managing library transactions. Several procedures are included in handling all the necessary information of books, students, faculty member as well as the card catalogue. Library transactions like borrowing, returning, cataloguing and reserving are being done manually by the librarian of staff. The librarian uses pen and library master card file in recording all the transactions with regards to the books concern. Usually the library card for the faculty and none teaching staff is bigger compared to that of students and it is kept inside the library. In borrowing of books the library practices open shelves policy. Most of the time the student/faculty come in the library to conduct research and reading, if the said clients wants to borrow the books, they will ask the librarian if they can borrow the books. For students, they will present their library card to the librarian, and then the librarian will record the compulsory information needed like the due date into the library card. The student will sign in the books card. On borrowing, the library practiced a one to three policy. The Students as well as The Faculty can only be allowed to borrow three books at a time. In returning, the students or even the faculty will present the books borrowed, then the librarian will look the master card file of the students and sign it. If the books is returned on its due date, the library card will be simply returned to the students. In case the book was not returned on time, the students will be charged a fine of five pesos per day. The amount of penalty depends on the number of days the student failed to return the books. In the case of faculty and staff, they will simply present the books to the librarian, then the librarian will look for the library card of the faculty and staff in the faculty and staff card file and sign on it. The faculty and staff are exempted from the penalty.

Laboratory Report on Properties of Carboxylic acids

Laboratory Report on Properties of Carboxylic acids Ramona Mae S. Rajaratnam Abstract: This report presents the different properties of carboxylic acids including solubility, acidity of some carboxylic acids, difference in strength of carboxylic acids compared to phenols, action of oxidizing agent on the carboxylic group and the neutralization equivalent of carboxylic acids. Carboxylic acids like acetic acid, butyric acid, oleic acid, succinic acid, stearic acid and benzoic acid were each mixed with water to test their solubility. The same acids were each mixed with 10% sodium bicarbonate to test their acid strength. The typical pKa values of carboxylic acids, phenols, HCO3 and CO32- were used to compare the acid strength of carboxylic acids with phenols and to judge whether both Na2CO3 and NaHCO3 can be used to successfully separate phenols from carboxylic acids. Carboxylic acids like acetic acid, formic acid, lactic acid, succinic acid and oxalic acid were each mixed with 0.5% KMnO4 to look at the action of KMnO4, an oxidizing agent, on the carboxylic acid group. Thi s report also focuses on the finding the neutralization equivalent to determine the unknown molar mass of a carboxylic acid. An accurately weighed sample of an unknown carboxylic acid was dissolved, heated and titrated with a previously standardized NaOH solution to find the neutralization equivalent and ultimately, the molar mass of the unknown carboxylic acid. Introduction: This experiment focuses on the different properties of carboxylic acids. The experiment aims to compare the solubility of acetic acid and stearic acid in water and to describe the relationship between molecular weight and solubility of carboxylic acids in water. The experiment also intends to infer the relative acidities of carboxylic acids and phenols based on the relative differences of their reaction with NaHCO3 and explain how NaHCO3 can be used to separate a mixture containing a water-insoluble carboxylic acid and a water insoluble phenol. The experiment also aims to identify reducing acids and the functional groups responsible for their reduction potential. The experiment also intends to describe a physical property such as physical state, color, odor or solubility that can differentiate succinic acid and oxalic acid, acetic acid and lactic acid, acetic acid and formic acid, benzoic acid and stearic acid and acetic acid and butyric acid. And lastly, the experiment looks into th e determination of the neutralization equivalent and molar mass of an unknown mono- and dicarboxylic acid. Experimental Details: The following apparatus were used in the experiment: Vials Vial rack Micro spatula Dropper Test Tubes Test Tube Rack Weighing boat 50 mL Buret Iron stand Buret clamp Erlen Meyer flasks Funnel Corks Graduated Cylinder Bunsen burner Wire gauze Test tube brush Vial brush Safety goggles The following materials were used in the experiment: Distilled water Acetic acid Butyric acid Oleic acid Stearic acid Succinic acid Benzoic acid Formic acid Lactic acid Oxalic acid 10% NaHCO3 0.5% KMnO4 0.09413 M NaOH Bromthymol blue indicator unknown carboxylic acid (at least 0.2 g) The following procedures were carried out in the experiment: a. Solubility in Water. The solubility of carboxylic acids in water was tested by mixing water with the following acids: acetic, butyric, oleic, stearic, succinic and benzoic. Three drops of the liquid or one micro spatula of the solid acid were added to 2 mL of water. The qualitative results obtained with the solubilities listed for the compounds were checked in a chemical handbook. The data were tabulated. b. Reaction with 10% Sodium Bicarbonate. The solubility test of the same acids was repeated with 10% sodium bicarbonate solution. Three drops of the liquid or one micro spatula of the solid acid were added with 2 mL of 10% sodium bicarbonate solution. The evidence for reaction when water soluble acetic acid and succinic acid when added to reagent was noted. The typical pKa values of carboxylic acids, phenols, HCO3 and CO32- were compared. c. Action of an Oxidizing Agent on the Carboxylic Acid Group. Five drops of acetic acid were added to three to five drops of 0.5 KMnO4 in a vial. The test was repeated with the following acids: formic, lactic, oxalic and succinic. d. Neutralization Equivalent of Carboxylic Acids. A 0.2 g sample of unknown carboxylic acid was weighed accurately to four significant figures. The acid was dissolved in 50 mL water or ethanol. The mixture was heated to dissolve completely the compound. The solution was titrated with a previously standardized NaOH solution. A bromthymol blue indicator was used. The neutralization equivalent and molar mass of the unknown carboxylic acid were calculated. Results and Discussion: Carboxylic acids are organic compounds containing a carboxy group (COOH). The carbon atom of a carboxy group is surrounded by three groups, making it sp2 hybridized and trigonal planar, with bond angles of approximately 120Ã ¢-Â ¦. Figure 1: Carboxylic Acid structure Carboxylic acids exhibit dipole-dipole interactions because of their polar C-O bond and O-H bond. They also exhibit intermolecular hydrogen bonding because they possess a hydrogen atom bonded to an electronegative oxygen atom. Carboxylic acids are one of the most polar organic compounds. Most carboxylic acids exist as cyclic dimmers, held together by two hydrogen bonds. Figure 2: Carboxylic acid dimer Acetic acid is soluble in water. Carboxylic acids with less than 5 carbons in their alkyl group are soluble in water. The carbon skeleton is not too large for the OH group to solubilize by hydrogen bonding. The hydrophilic nature of the carboxylic group dominates than the hydrophobic nature. This is the reason why acetic acid and butyric acid are soluble in water. Figure 3: Acetic acid and butyric acid On the other hand, oleic acid and stearic acid are insoluble in water. Both have long, bulky carbon chains exceeding the five carbon limit. The OH group cannot solubilize the carbon skeleton via hydrogen bonding. Its hydrophobic character dominates than its hydrophilic nature. Figure 4: Oleic acid Figure 5: Stearic acid A good solvent for stearic acid would be organic solvents like ether, chloroform and carbon tetrachloride. Figure 6: Solvents for stearic acid Benzoic acid is insoluble in water because the benzene ring is too bulky and large, and because of its stability, the OH group cannot solubilize it using hydrogen bonding. Figure 7: Benzoic acid Succinic acid contains two COOH groups because it is a dicarboxylic acid. This tells us that there is an increase in the hydrogen bonding capacity which makes it slightly soluble only because the carbon chain exceeds the five carbon chain limit and its hydrophobic character also shows. Figure 8: Succinic acid Carboxylic acids readily react with Bronsted Lowry bases to form carboxylate ions which are done through deprotonation. Figure 9: Carboxylic acids react with sodium carbonate In the experiment, sodium bicarbonate was used to deprotonate the carboxylic acid. This was a simple neutralization reaction forming a carboxylate salt, carbon dioxide and water. Acetic acid, butyric acid, succinic acid and benzoic acid react with the sodium bicarbonate. Succinic acid undergoes two deprotonation steps because it contains two COOH groups. An acid can be deprotonated by a base that has a conjugate acid with a higher pKa. The pKa values of acetic acid, butyric acid, benzoic acid and succinic acid are all ~5, thus bases that have conjugate acids with pKa values higher than 5 are strong enough to deprotonate them. Oleic acid and stearic acid have pKa values of 9.85 and 10.15 respectively. These pKa values are higher than the conjugate acid of the base (NaOH) which is H2CO3. This tells us that sodium bicarbonate is not strong enough to deprotonate both carboxylic acids. Stronger bases are needed to deprotonate them such as NaOH which has a conjugate acid with a pKa of 15.7. Figure 10: Dissociation and pKa values of carboxylic acids When comparing the pKa values of carboxylic acids and phenols, phenols always have a higher pKa value which tells us that phenols are weaker acids than carboxylic acids. Figure 11: pKa values of phenol and carboxylic acid Carboxylic acids and phenols are both acidic. Looking into the Arrhenius definition of an acid, both when dissolved in water, increases the H+ concentration. Also looking at the Bronsted-Lowry definition of an acid, acids are proton donors. Figure 12: Bronsted Lowry definition of an acid Aside from these two famous definitions of an acid, we must also look into the stability of the conjugate base. A rule states that anything that stabilizes a conjugate base makes the starting reagent acidic. When we talk about phenols, its conjugate base which is the phenoxide is resonance stabilized. It has five resonance structures which disperse the negative charge to three carbons and one oxygen atom. This makes phenols more acidic than alcohols which cannot stabilize its conjugate base via resonance. When we compare phenols with carboxylic acids, carboxylic acids are stronger compared to phenols. For carboxylic acids, their conjugate base which is the carboxylate ion is a lot more stable because they contain two oxygen atoms that delocalize the negative charge. As an effect, carboxylic acids are stronger acids than phenols which is evident in their pKa values. Looking at the pKa values of phenols and carboxylic acids, we could conclude that NaHCO3 can be used to separate a water insoluble carboxylic acid and a water insoluble phenol considering that this insoluble carboxylic acid does not exceed the pKa value of HCO3 (when protonated H2CO3 which is the conjugate acid) which is 6.4. Sodium bicarbonate can successfully separate a water insoluble phenol and a water insoluble carboxylic acid because typical pKa values for phenol which is 10 exceeds 6.4. The NaHCO3, therefore, is not strong enough to deprotonate the phenol but is strong enough to deprotonate the carboxylic acid. It will most likely form two layers: an organic layer with the phenol and an aqueous layer with the water and carboxylate ion which are products of the reaction of the carboxylic acid with the base. Sodium carbonate is not effective in separating a mixture containing a water insoluble carboxylic acid and a water insoluble phenol. The pKa of CO32- (when protonated becomes HCO3) is close to 10. This tells us that Na2CO3 reacts with some of the phenol and ofcourse with the carboxylic acid. Thus, no complete separation between the two occurs. Figure 13: Sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate Some carboxylic acids undergo oxidation. These are called reducing acids. In the experiment, lactic acid, formic acid and oxalic acid are all oxidized to carbon dioxide and water with the presence of a brown precipitate which is the reduced KMnO4. Acetic acid and Succinic acid are both non-reducing acids because they do not oxidize in the presence of a strong oxidizing agent, KMnO4. Lactic acid is oxidized into pyruvic acid because it contains an oxidizable group which is OH. Figure 14: Oxidation of lactic acid Formic acid is oxidized to carbon dioxide and water. Figure 15: Oxidation of formic acid Oxalic acid also oxidizes into carbon dioxide and water. Figure 16: Oxidation of oxalic acid The neutralization equivalent of an acid is mathematically defined as: Neutralization equivalent (NE) = To determine the molar mass: Molar mass = (X) x neutralization equivalent *Where X is the number of COOH groups The molar mass of an unknown carboxylic sample could be determined by computing its neutralization equivalent. Finding the neutralization equivalent requires titrating the solution of unknown carboxylic acid with a previously standardized solution of NaOH. The exact molarity of the NaOH was found to be 0.09413 M. Two trials were carried out in this section of the experiment. The solid form of the unknown carboxylic acid was water soluble. Weighing of sample: Titration: Computations: Trial 1: Volume of NaOH used = Final buret reading – Initial buret reading = 33.80 mL – 0.50 mL = 33.30 mL Neutralization equivalent (NE) = = = 66.36 g/mol Molar mass = 2 x (66.36 g/mol) = 132.72 g/mol Trial 2: Volume of NaOH used = Final buret reading – Initial buret reading = 32.50 mL -0.30 mL = 32.20 mL Neutralization equivalent (NE) = = = 66.35 mL Molar mass = 2 x (66.35 g/mol) = 132.70 g/mol Average molar mass = = 132.71 g/mol This molar mass was determined to be 95% near the true molar mass of the unknown carboxylic acid. Calculations for determining identity of unknown: = 139. 69 139.69 – 132.71 = 6.98 (error) For MM1 = 132.71 +6.98 = 139.69 MM2 = 132.71 – 6.98 = 125.73 For the 1st probable molar mass: 139.69 – 90.02 (2 X molar mass of COOH) = 49.67 CnH2n = 49.67 (12.01)n + (1.00)2n = 49.67 14.01 n = 49.67 n= 3.5/4 For the 2nd probable molar mass: 125.73 – 90.02 (2 X molar mass of COOH) = 35.71 CnH2n = 35.71 (12.01)n + (1.00)2n = 35.71 14.01n = 35.71 n= 2.5/3 Possible identities for the carboxylic acid include Glutaric acid, Glutaconic acid and Adipic acid. Conclusion: Therefore, the solubility of different carboxylic acids can be rationalized from the structure of the carboxylic acid itself. Acetic acid and butyric acid are soluble since their OH groups are able to solubilize their alkyl chain which does not exceed five carbons. Oleic acid and stearic acid are insoluble in water because their alkyl chain exceeds 5 carbons and the OH group cannot solubilize the long, bulky alkyl chain. A good solvent for stearic acid would be organic solvents like ether, chloroform and carbon tetrachloride. Benzoic acid is insoluble in water because the benzene ring, due to its stability, cannot be solubilized by the OH group. Succinic acid on the other hand, is soluble in water due to greater capacity of hydrogen bonding because it has two OH groups. Carboxylic acids also react with sodium carbonate through deprotonation. Only acetic acid, succinic acid, benzoic acid and butyric acid give a reaction because these acids have a lower pKa value than the conjugate aci d of the base which is NaHCO3. Oleic acid and Stearic acid do not react with NaHCO3 because they have higher pKa values than the conjugate acid of the base. This tells us that sodium bicarbonate is not strong enough to deprotonate both carboxylic acids. The rule here is: an acid can be deprotonated by a base that has a conjugate acid with a higher pKa. By looking at the pKa values, phenols are weaker acids than carboxylic acids. Phenols are resonance stabilized by carboxylic acids is more stable because they have conjugate bases with two oxygen atoms which delocalize the negative charge. NaHCO3 can be used to separate a mixture containing a water insoluble carboxylic acid and a water insoluble phenol because phenols do not react with this because it has a higher pKa than its conjugate acid. Na2CO3 is not effective because both phenols and carboxylic acids react, therefore, no separation occurs. Some carboxylic acids react with KMnO4 and are oxidized. Examples are lactic acid which i s oxidized to pyruvic acid and formic acid and oxalic acids which are oxidized to carbon dioxide and water. Non-reducing acids include acetic acid and succinic acid. And for the last part of the experiment, the molar mass of an unknown carboxylic acid may be determined by identifying how many COOH groups are present and by computing its neutralization equivalent. Neutralization equivalent (NE) = Molar mass = (X) x neutralization equivalent Supporting information: In determining the molar mass or formula for an unknown carboxylic acid, it may be possible to have an unsaturated compound. If the molecular formula is given, plug in the numbers into this formula: DoU= C= number of carbons N= number of nitrogens X= number of halogens (F, Cl, Br, I) H= number of hydrogens References: Organic Chemistry by John McMurry Organic Chemistry by Janice Smith http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Organic_Chemistry/Hydrocarbons/Alkenes/Properties_of_Alkenes/Degree_of_Unsaturation Wikiperdia.org www.studymode.com

Core Competencies of Ebay

Core Competencies of Ebay In this report, there is an analysis about the global company eBay. In the content, eBays core competency, value chain, and the challenges that eBay face will be illustrated and analyzed in order to get more understanding of the differences with the other companies. Also, there is a local company Charles Keith is selected to do comparison with the eBays globalized strategy. After comparing each other strategy, then there will be the critical analysis of it that whether the strategies are get used by each others. This analysis helps to illustrate an international business how it works like. Meanwhile, it gives the understanding about the core competency and value chain are the key components to create greater value to customers. Introduction In pace with fast growing of technology, convenience is given broadly by accessing the internet for chatting, e-mailing, video conferencing, even making online payment, online shopping, online auction, and other e-business activities. In todays competitive business market, eBay is one of the successful e-commerce online auction sites which was founded by Pierre Omidyar (Cohen, 2002). In 1995, eBay was officially built as an online trading platform that operates person-to-person trading in a web-based auction format forum by Pierre Omidyar. As a matchmaker, eBay provides a stage for sellers and buyers to connect in worldwide, however, it could be individuals and businesses involve in buying and selling variety of goods and service. Invisibly, eBay provides a place where buyers and sellers can conveniently meet, exchange information about goods and prices, manage sales at minimum costs, and made collecting and bargain hunting fun (Bunnell and Luecke, 2000, p.14). In the worlds largest online market, as pioneer as eBay is, its virtual setting where capital, desire, and identity converge has progressed into a global economic, social, and cultural phenomenon (Hillis, Petit, and Epley, 2006). According to eBay self-characteristic which is leading a universal shopping destination on the internet virtually that has seen a driving force of global e-commerce. However, for surviving in the global market, eBay acquired PayPal in 2002, to enable any person or business with an e-mail address to send and receive payments online securely, easily, and quickly. Besides, eBay also acquired SKYPE to enhance its operation thus maintain a certain service standard (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). Due to a global e-commerce business that eBay pursue, comparatively, challenges about translation software, digital divide, cultural attitudes about e-commerce, government regulations, and the pace of international expansion are probably to be seen as obstacles in development (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). Core Competency of eBay In the case of eBay, the core competency which will be analyzed in here is similar to the companys internal factor strength. According to Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson (2009, p. 103), core competencies are resources and capabilities that seen as competitive advantage for the firm over its rivals, meanwhile, it is a value-creating strategies to satisfy customers needs. In order to meet customers prospects across time, constantly improve, innovate, and upgrade their competencies is needed. Being a strong core competency, it must have some significant components which are including the perceived customer benefit of the end product and difficulty of imitation (Hiebing and Cooper, 2004). For the sake of further developing and steadily keeping the first leader position up in the e-commerce industry, the core competencies of eBay have: An efficient distribution system with developed proprietary software In eBays own website, there are series of stages that allow sellers to design, build up, monitor, and organize their particular auctions to sell outstanding thematic goods for those buyers are willing to pay a premium price on it, whereas, buyers used eBays software to search products and place bids (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). A developed proprietary software which is scalable, full-bodied, user interface and transaction-processing system that handle all aspects of auction process (Figure 1). For example (Figure 2), it sends e-mails when users register for the service, place a successful bid, and outbid. Moreover, it sends daily status updates to active sellers and bidders and maintains user registration information, account information, current auctions, and historical listings (Bunnell and Luecke, 2000, p.32). It provides convenience for both sellers and buyers to access eBay to check up the new status whenever. Figure 1: Auction Process (I) Figure 2: Auction Process (II) Global Reach With the mission of offering global trading platform where anyone could trade whenever at anywhere, eBay acquired the leading auction websites in 23 countries such as Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, South Korea, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. People could find strange and cheaper products from eBay because of its global capability (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). An Extensible Strategy As a monopoly in Americas online auctions, eBays extensible strategy has provided variety of products, services, and markets. There are around 12 million online auctions set up in different countries and has divided into 18,000 different categories. Almost approaching 2 million of new items are provided for sale; likewise, there are 62 million registered users from eBay are glad to find the items here too. Thats why the competitors such as Yahoo and Amazon are hard to access in the auction market to grab the market share (Dror, 2003). Acquisitions and alliances with companies By associating Square Trade, Auctionwatch, AOL (Nerney, 1999), IBM (IBM and eBay Forge Broad e-business Alliance, 2001), Yahoo (Yahoo and eBay seal online deal, 2006) and acquired PayPal and Skype (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009); eBay has beneficially meet the customer satisfaction meanwhile obtain the greatest propagation to the users. Strong brand identity and recognition A powerful and highly recognized brand name commonly results in greater unit sales and allows the seller to charge a premium over off-brand competitors (Bunnell and Luecke, 2000). eBay could have strong brand recognition and well known by people are attributed by its global expansion and building up a strong user base. There is 67 percent market share from brand identity of eBay (Lee, 2007). eBays Value Chain Figure 3: Porters Value Chain Model In the Porters value chain (Figure 3), it is a model to analyze the organizational process as activities that the firm to has the competitive advantage and create value for the customer (Michael Porter Value Chain Model Framework, 2010). By analyzing the primary activities, eBay could able to see where the value can be added, thus, allow the business to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Therefore, value chain becomes an important key tool for any type of organization (Wickramasinghe and Lubitz, 2007). The margin (Figure 3) is as same as added value, while the firm is divided into primary activities and support activities. Primary activities offer the customer a level of value that exceeds the cost of the activities (The Value Chain, 2010) includes inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service. On the other hand, the support activities are supporting the primary activities to make sure these activities that a firm has the opportunity to create greater value. Also, a competitive advantage may be attained by reconfiguring the value chain so as to provide lower cost or better differentiation (The Value Chain, 2010). In the following page, there is a value chain analysis of eBay that how it works with the value chain (Figure 4). Primary Activities (Bidgoli, 2004 ) Inbound Logistics Internet Links facilitate posting of product information. Listings of products describe to customers. Operations (Value Creation) Database search engine allows easy access to products. Dynamic pricing allows for bidding to determine market price. Outbound logistics Distribution is facilitated or the responsibility of seller. Escrow system attempt to limit fraud. Marketing and Sales Having first mover advantages and advertising to create brand name advantages. Forums allow for community development. Service Database supported reports on sellers and buyers. eBay community that people interacted with each other under a set of shared rules and expectations. Support Activities (Gopaikrishnan and Gupta, 2007) Procurement Does not take possession of the items being sold, thus reduces inventory management costs. Secure the lowest possible price for purchases of the highest possible quality. Technology Development Uses online option to innovate, to reduce costs and to protect and sustain competitive advantage. Includes internet marketing activities, lean manufacturing, customer relationship management (CRM), and many other technological developments. Human Resource Management Developing a community whose members are unknown, trust among traders. Firm Infrastructure -Management Information System (MIS) for planning and control -Operated much like a newspaper-classified section, it facilitated person-to-person transactions but did not get ownership of the items being sold. Figure 4 -eBay Value Chain The function of value chain is to reduce the cost and create as well as enhance the differentiation. eBay configure with its value chain activities which around the global world, the aim is to maximize the perceived value for its global users and lessen the costs of value making. By having the primary activities, coordination of the value chain is significant with the use of supporting activities which integrated all the activities into a solid whole. There are several factors affected eBay to configure value chain globally are including cost/price issue, business environments, translation software, logistics, and customers needs. Cost/Price issue As operates a global networking, the currencies exchange rate, different wages rates in different country, inflation rates, and government regulations have deeply influenced the costs of the business expending as well as the price setting. Business Environment Value chain is configured in order to have strong competence to confront to the competitors like Amazon.com and Chinas website Alibaba.com. By operating flexibly, it would able to help eBay to increase the competitive advantage. Translation Software Due to eBay acquired auction web sites in many different countries, the language used in the website also would be different that each country has their own native language. Therefore, value chain helps to maximize the technology development and thus offer convenience to customer. Logistics Have shown graph (figure 2) and mentioned how the eBay works. There are inbound logistics and outbound logistics. Therefore, value chain is configured to control the operation and minimize the cost on the way that eBay operates its auction website. Besides, it maximizes the perceived value to users by creating value to them through the updates status. Customers Needs As mentioned before, eBay has the largest user base. To fully maximize the value to the customer and understand what they want, it is necessarily to configure value chain. By establishing those value chain activities, those have influenced and shorten the distance between the users. It is a key factor that influenced not only a single country but it is useful to be configured in all country that eBay entered. The more eBay expand the more eBay coordinate. Coordination is a crucial part in conducting a value chains model that how it helps to combine all the activities and works with the core competencies effectively and efficiently. If the coordination is well done in the value chain, the market share of eBay will be boosted up absolutely. There are several factors affected eBay to coordinate the value chain activities are operational obstacles and national cultures. Operational Obstacles As acquired many leading auction website, the communication in verbal and nonverbal have set up a barrier towards success. It is because misunderstanding the particular local language will hinder the related information of the products or service. Besides, the currency exchange rate measurement systems also bring out the problem that has made users confused about the price indeed. The government regulations also acts as a main role in this factor that some countries have their own unique legal that some products are prohibited to enter. National Cultures Different countries have different culture attitudes and perceptions. For example, most of the Asian countries like China and Japan; they may not comfortable with purchasing the product through website that without touching the product in reality. Or even China, they already have their own local leading auction website alibaba.com. Therefore, coordination of the value chain is critical to be adopted in eBay to confront the dilemma. eBays Value Chain is Characterized as Virtual In the e-commerce business industry, eBay is a Web-based forum business that the firm is not producing any product and it just acts as a matchmaker or middleman to help its users who are either individuals or businesses to conduct the auction and provide a place for people connecting to each others in worldwide. eBay achieves competitive advantage and create value to the customer just only by keeping applying the extensible strategy to generate new products, services, and markets. Due to e-business matchmaker eBay special business characteristic, it supports communication to value-oriented buyers and sellers, sustains the principles of trust and safety, guarantees low fraud losses and high security to its community transaction process by delivering state-of-the-art information technology (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). In here, eBay is characterized as virtual value chain because of some reasons which are illustrated in the following. An online based only e-commerce business in the virtual marketspace eBay is centralized its business in an online trading platform that only posting information of product and service or other comedies to its users. In the E-marketplace, it providing information merely to the community is not counted as producing products; also, eBay do not has any ownership to the physical product. eBay just acts as a catalyst between the sellers and buyers (Bidgoli, 2004). No economies of scale and scope is applied to the virtual value chain (Heterick and Twigg, 1999) It is because eBay pursue a matchmaking service that charges the closing auction price to gain the revenue only. There is no input and output (Heterick and Twigg, 1999) As mentioned that there is no any product is produced by eBay and it is launched as an online trading platform that conducted in the forum. Creates value chain through five activities that different from the traditional value chain eBay gathering and organizing information of the sellers product into a database then buyers can pick what to bid on. eBay synthesizing the requested information to buyers also. Besides, eBay also gathers, organizes, synthesizes and distributes information about the complaint from both sellers and buyers (Rayport and Sviokla, 1995). From these several activities, these have created value to the users to show loyalty and trust on eBay. Implications to the Challenges Identified The challenges faced in the case of eBay are including translation software, digital divide, cultural attitudes about the e-commerce, government regulations, and the pace of international expansion (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). Moreover, different currencies, customs regulations and inspections, and trade rules produce substantial barrier to eBay. Those are discussed in the below: Translation software As a global trading platform, eBay has to face the problem that describing the auction post into particular native language in order to be understood by those native languages of potential buyers. Yet, there is limitation of the translation software that usually imperfectly translates the native language has become obstacle for eBay to its global strategy (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). Government regulation Each country presents unique cultural and legal challenges. It is a big issue that whether the product or service listed in the auction platform can be exported or imported to the countries (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). For example, a French judge was faced a problem that the Nazi memorabilia is prohibited to enter in France. The digital divide Mostly it will be faced in the developing countries like India and China that they mostly do not own their computer and the credit card as well. Due to the different level of economic condition and lack of internet access, it is hard to enter into the particular country and that would be a risk. Cultural attitudes about e-commerce In high uncertainty-avoidance cultures country like Japan, India, China, even the half of Asian are distrustful of e-commerce transactions. They tend to purchase the items that are new (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). Sadly, eBay was suffering in the problem that the online trading is not attracted by them. Pace of international expansion Due to expand the business to the overseas is seen to be too rushed; as a result, it brought out the difficulty for acquisition. The premium paid to acquire the foreign operation is getting increase (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). According to the eBays global strategy, majorly, eBay is carried out an AAA global strategy. These AAA represents acquisition, activation, and activity. There are some implications to the challenges in today and in the future are shown in the following: May lose the users as well as the customers loyalty If the translation software is not fixing well, it will probably influenced the users move to the another auction forum to continually their business. Invisibly, it gives the chances to Amozon.com to grab the market share from eBay. Besides, without the convenience that eBay gives, users will lose the patient to eBay and shift their loyalty to the competitors. May earn an additional price from the translation and market share from developing countries In the future, by helping the user translate the post meaning to him or her familiar language with a few dollars charges will help eBay to have another value chain activity to increase its value. Also, continually operate eBay auction forum in India and China would able to gain access into this tough market that their population all are quite high. Without knowing the country legal may get in problem eBay must respect and recognize to each country legal environment in order not to against with the countrys legal issue. From the experience, eBay must try to improve and enhance the relationship between each countrys governments. Gain learning experiences to the cultural attitude Before entering the particular country, eBay must do a critical Pestel analysis about the country so as to eliminate the chances to face the loss. Through the learning experiences in Japan, eBay learned the different cultural attitude and their behaviour. In the future, eBay is able to be knowledgeable before it decides to enter a new expansion. The Comparison of the Globalized Strategy The local company which is being picked up is Charles Keith. Charles Keith is a Singapore based fashion company. It is well known by selling the womans footwear and accessories. In today, Charles Keith has been over 170 franchises worldwide and be one of the successful story in the international chain. Its global expansion started at 2000, the outlets in 22 countries including Japan, Brunei, and Indonesia (Ramlan, 2010). In the following, there is a table (Figure 6) that showing a comparison of the globalized Strategy between eBay and Charles and Keith. Acquisition Franchising Activation Partnership with DBS Bank (Charles Keith ups ante by venturing into Asia, ME Europe, 2010) Activity Combination of affordability and design (Tan, 2009) Recruiting Japanese and others nationality (Tan, 2009) Standardization of employees and service Figure 5: Comparison of Global Strategy As a result, there is no similar globalized strategy between eBay and Charles Keith. It is because eBay and Charles Keith are serving in different industry and their value chain is totally different. Why? It is because eBay only offers an auction website for the buyers and sellers to make business transaction. Its value chain is virtual value chain. On the other hand, Charles Keith is doing business in fashion industry that they produce, design, and selling by themselves. It is a traditional form of value chain that has input, output, economies of scale or scope. If eBays acquisition strategy is applied into Charles Keith to develop its expansion to overseas, it will be succeeded in spending enough amounts and having a clear Pestel analysis before entering a particular country. While, if Charles Keiths franchising strategy is applied into eBay, it will not be succeeded. It is because the eBays business model and the whole operation are cannot be franchising due to its special e-commerce background. Secondly, eBays activation is encouraged to apply in Charles Keith because the strategy is aimed same perspective. In eBay, its activation is aimed at increasing the users participants like sellers and buyers. Therefore, to increase customers purchases, Charles Keith is possible to apply it. While, Charles Keith strategy that partnering with DBS Bank is encouraged to be applied in eBay in order to get enough investment. Activity of eBay also is encouraged to be used in Charles Keith in order to increase the volume of sales. While, combination of affordability and design is not encouraged to apply in eBay since they are different categories of business. Continually, the overseas recruitment is encouraged to be applied in eBay so as to get more understanding of the particular country culture. Lastly, that is about the standardization of product and service, in here, although the industry is totally different but they still can use same concept that is standardization to their service in both company. Conclusion In conclusion, by analysing eBay business, it makes a lot of understanding about the company working in the global world. Core competency and value chain actually are having some integration, this two components are the key components that the company how to create the greatest competitive advantage and create value to the customer. Thus, it benefit customer, as long as get used to it, the customers show the loyalty to the company too. At the last part of the comparison of the globalized strategy, that is an interesting part that actually the globalized strategy between this two company all are having the fundamental concept that is how to increase the customers and the market share throughout the worldwide.