Effect of the Internet on Business Development

Effect of the Internet on Business Development The internet is a network of computers who can share data and communicate between them. Its reach is almost every place in this world (see table 1). Any other technology has never changed a business as fast as internet has done. There are many stories of how a business been transformed on internet. EBay, the biggest e-shop was created by his founder to trade niche goods but now, one can buy or sell almost everything in this world to virtually everywhere. You can transform your business if you are nicely connected to your customers, suppliers and other trade partners. Internet is the best possible connector in a business who is at your service for virtually nothing. There is whole world at your disposal and you dont need to open a shop everywhere. Only thing you need is internet connection with some computer system. If you are able to offer a better deal you are in business otherwise, irrespective of how big or small you are, you are going to run out of business. The impact of interne t includes: Less importance of economies of scale. Fewer barriers to internationalization. Lower marketing communication costs. Greater price standardization. Less information floating time. Easy and fast communication between buyer and sellers. Changes in intermediary relationships. The internet lowers transaction costs in three ways: Search costs: The amount of information available to the buyer and the seller can be increased with the help of internet and that can be accessed conveniently and timely. Contracting costs: The internet helps to establish better communication and monitor the performance of partners in business relationship. It is easier to negotiate and compare prices via internet. Co-ordination costs: The cost of sharing information is reduced due to internet and is helpful in integrating business operations. What is e-business? (Kotler and Keller, 2009) e-business describes the use of electronic means and platform to conduct a companys business. E-business is short form of electronic business, where internet and related technology is used for normal business operations. Here internet is used to increase productivity, reduce costs and thus to increase turnover. The effect of Internet on business Internet has changed the business immensely. It has made the world come closer and trade economically and efficiently. It has created a virtual market where everything is available, not physically but virtually. The greatest effect internet has done on business is that it made trade price sensitive and more logical. A customer now is able to do the research work or comparisons before buying a product or services. Not only customer but it has benefited firm as well. Now firm is able to reach distant customer easily and cheaply. They can create awareness about their product and can interact directly with customer to know their preference, problem and potential solution. There is lot more to come and has impact on almost every sector of business. In further chapters we will discuss about these impacts in detail. Dissertation Objective The objective of writing this dissertation is as follows: To analyse the role of internet in development of business. To highlight the way a firm can effectively use internet technology to gain competitive advantage over their competitors. Project Structure This dissertation is divided in seven chapters with each chapter dealing with a specific topic dealing how internet helps in developing a business. First chapter Introduction contains the basic detail about the internet and their business application. Chapter 2 with heading literature review discusses about the internet and its impact on international marketing, the internet and the e-value chain and international marketing strategy and e-business. Here, the things discussed are the essence of the academic work of known writers. Chapter three discusses about the virtual market (market space) and their different aspects (like how this market can be exploited, what the possible pitfall are and where opportunities lies). Chapter four is about marketing on internet. Here some of the important discussions are on interactive marketing, push marketing and advertising via internet. There is also discussion about global business strategy and driver that need to be adopted for international ma rketing via internet. In chapter five, the academic analysis of internet as a tool for development of business is done. Here porters generic competitive advantage model, Rayport and Sviokla model of marketspace and Dutta and Segevs market space model has been discussed in brief. Further a SWOT analysis of inter is done with some suggestions. In chapter sis a very brief case study of eBay is done. Chapter seven is about the managerial implication of the changing scenario due to internet and in marketplace. Literature Review The Internet and its impact on International Marketing The Internet (Fletcher et al, 2005) The internet is a global network of interlinked computers operating on a standard protocol that allows information exchange. (Carolyn Siegel, 2004) It is the worlds largest network of interconnected distributed computer networks. Thus we can infer that any system which is able to share information to other system through a globally accepted protocol is part of internet and this whole interconnection may be called as internet. Internet commerce (Kotler and Keller, 2009) e-commerce means that the company or site offers to transact or facilitate the selling of products and services online. The internet user in the world is growing fast and so is the market scope for the marketers. According to Internet World Stat, 23.8% of total world population are active internet user. Thus, a vast population of more than 1.5 billion is ready to buy and sell on internet given a better deal. It can be only imagined the vastness and growth of market that within 8 year (2000 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 2008) the world internet users grew by 342% and out of those users, 85% have purchased something on internet (Source, Nielsen, Feb 2008). The Internet and International Marketing (Carolyn Siegel, 2004) Marketing is a collection of activities that bring buyers and sellers together to make exchanges that satisfy and give value to all parties. (Carolyn Siegel, 2004) Internet marketing or e-marketing (electronic marketing) is marketing on internet with the help of emails, World Wide Web or other means. It also includes production and selling of internet related products. According to Fletcher in 2005, the introduction of electronic business has changed the fundamental principles of international marketing. He pointed out certain things that internet has changed are: Size of firm is no longer a barrier to internationalization. No need of overseas intermediaries as it became easier to locate customer and deal directly with them. No longer is traditional way of internationalization (moving from familiar to less familiar country) applicable as information became easily available and the communication medium is interactive. The internet (as a low cost medium) allows small and medium firms to become global marketer at their early stage. This is due to the fact that internet can help establishing better communication among overseas customers, suppliers, agents and distributors. We will discuss more about drivers of internet business model, impact of internet on international marketing in chapter 5. Characteristics According to Richard Fletcher et al, 2005, the internet is both communication and a marketing intelligence tool. As a communication tool it helps to build and maintain effective communication with overseas suppliers, distributors and customers. The internet has good information processing capability which acts as link between firm and external environment (discussed later). This ability of internet used as marketing intelligence tool. The internet is used as marketing channel and has following characteristics: Ability to store vast amount of data (information) inexpensively at virtually different location. Interactivity and ability to provide information on demand. Relatively low entry and establishment costs for sellers. Serve as distribution medium for goods like software, e-books etc. Powerful and cheap tool for searching, organizing and processing information. The ability to provide better insight of a product than that of other form of printed catalogue. The Internet and the e-value chain Netchising or Virtual value chain According to Beck and Morrison (2000), the physical value chain activity while globalization has not seen good results. This is due to the fact that a firm uses their resources in overseas activity at the expense of opportunities of domestic market. Not only that, there are other problem faced by an organisation like coordination of physical operations across the globe, the cultural differences, the cost of expatriates and vulnerability to environmental risk that can damage reputation of the firm. Most of these problems can be effectively solved by netchising, a term coined by Beck and Morrison (2000). Netchising is the practice of handing over overseas operations to partners (generally overseas) by outsourcing, subcontracting or franchising. Netchising has following advantages: Efficiency: generally overseas partners are more efficient and are specialized in carrying out the outsourced activities than the outsourcing firm. Convenience: exchange of information becomes easy. Now, orders can be directly placed to the firm without any local agent and a firm can also share information to the customers directly. Reduction in Transaction cost: It reduces the cost of carrying business operations which ultimately benefit the profitability of firm. International value chain According to Plumley (2000), international e-business value chain is the combination of e-commerce platform and secure transaction support (see figure 2.1). The e-commerce platform builds on the countries business rules and language where as secure transaction support builds on currency clearing and legal requirement. According to Gartner Group, internet affects the supply chain (see figure 2.2). It shows that a customer can buy and pay for the product or services easily and at the same time a supplier can also communicate directly with customer and with their own other internal departments. International information chain According to Karmarkar (2000), internet value chain is closely linked with international information chain. The language and cultural differences is the main hurdle in the path of globalization of a firm. When a firm deals with information product (like music, e-books or software) then it becomes easier to go global. In certain cases when product or services are not much attached to language or cultural factors (for ex. Technical publishing and industrial services), then also it is easy to become global. In production of information product and services low labour cost is the key as relative cost of hardware and software has come down. Now, firms look for low cost labour market (like India, China) to develop information products. Outsourcing of information services (customer care service such as call centres) and software development cell are some examples. Thus we can say that in information value chain, the physical infrastructure doesnt play a vital role. International Marketing Strategy and e-business Internet issue and foreign market entry According to Oxley and Yeung (2000), the e-commerce readiness of a market is determined by three factors: The rule of law: A customer is not able to see the original product while purchasing online. Therefore, they need to be assured that if they purchase a product or service online; they will get them as they were told or shown online in given time limit. According to survey by e-consultancy in 2008, 84% buyers look for the sign that a website is secure before making a purchase. Thus, a market (country) must be able to provide an environment where property rights are well defines, courts are efficient in resolving disputes and consumer credits and consumer protection regulations are well established and enforced (i.e. strong tradition of the rule of law). The transactional integrity of online business: It is difficult to track a e-business trader by their e-mail address or website. Also, the entry and exit barrier in e-business is low and this is used as a weapon by dishonest e-traders. They can execute fraud and again be able to do it with a new name (as they can entre again in market with new identity). When dispute arises, it is hard to practise legal action in a different country and can be costly. The availability of infrastructure: migration from traditional market to online market is not possible until customers have access to personal computer and internet connection at reasonable price. Apart from these facilities, they do have the facility of credit card or online payment system. Thus, internet related infrastructure and financial infrastructure are essential Electronic Marketplace Internet a virtual market According to Garrison, (1996), the internet acts as a catalyst for sociological change. It has changed the nature of market, the way of business operation and the mode of communication with customers and other business partners. It has created a market space which has affected the traditional marketplace and consumer preferences by providing greater facilities to them. Internet has become the largest market available to mankind where almost everything is been sell or bought. This market space doesnt exist in physical terms but can get everything available in physical market. Physical vs. Virtual Value Chain Value chain is nothing but a set of value adding activity for the product or services. Rayport and Sviokla, 1996, argued about a new value chain termed as virtual value chain where product or services exist as a piece of information and can be delivered through information based channel of communication. This virtual value chain is different from physical or traditional value chain where one can see or touch products. He said the virtual world as market space while the physical world as marketplace. According to Fletchar et al 2005, the virtual value chain is a realm where products and services exist as digital information delivered through information based channel. He also differentiates virtual value chain and physical value chain on the basis of information used. The virtual value system uses information as the source of value while in physical value chain it is used as a supporting element of value adding process. Thus we can say that now a day a firm has to compete in two busin ess environment, one is traditional and other is virtual business environment. The distinction between the two can be understood by this example. when consumers use answering machines to leave a message, they are using an object that is both made and sold in the physical world, however when they buy electronic answering services from the phone company they are using the market space à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬  a virtual realm where products and services are digital information and are delivered through information-based channels. (Rayport and Sviokla, 1996) Figure 2: The Virtual Value Chain in relation to The Physical Value Chain (source: Hollensen, 2001). Adoption of Value Adding Activities: Company adopts value adding information activities in the following three stages: Visibility: Here large scale information systems are used to coordinate activities in the physical value chain. Mirroring Capability: It is the capability of substituting physical activities with virtual and thus creating a parallel virtual value chain in the marketspace (see figure 2). New Customer Relationship: This is the flow of information to customer to deliver value in new ways. This parallel physical and virtual value chain operation allow firms to deliver value to their customer in both marketspace and marketplace. These operations create marketspace based relationship with customers. The virtual value chain consists of five steps, say, gathering, organising, selecting, synthesizing and distributing information. These value adding activity allow company to identify customers desires more effectively and fulfil them more efficiently. This happens, for example, when a car manufacturer shifts its RD from the physical to the virtual value chain. By doing so, they involve customers of different locations in the new product development process. The physical value chain is linear (a sequence of activities with defined input and outputs), whereas the virtual value chain is non-linear (a matrix of potential inputs and outputs that can be accessed and distribute by a wide variety of channels). Relationship marketing It is a way of marketing where marketers or firm try to attract, maintain and enhance relationship with customers and other business partners. Internet (or website) acts as the best medium to communicate with people related to business. Firms now focus on relationship marketing to gather information from customers, to develop customized product or services for a focussed customer group. The internet helps firms to improve relationship with their customers and suppliers; and help them to work effectively. Now a firm doesnt need a middleman or a agent as they can sell directly to the customer via internet. Thus the distance with customer is decreasing and a firm need a smaller supply chain which can increase their profitability. The lesser distance also allows firms to establish a close relationship with customer and provide those customized products or services as per their need. The firms (like eBay, Google etc) involved in innovative business have always realized the power of customer relationship. They bank on the ability to process large relationship database. With the help of this relationship database they formulate their strategy and develop innovative way of marketing. The relationship marketing not only benefit the firm but also the customers. The customers are benefitted because firm can develop customized and focussed marketing message. Mattsson, (1996), has described a relationship as combination of three main components, which affect the parties involved in a business. Those components are legal(L), behavioural(P), and atmospheric (E). These three factor determines the success and failure of a relationship marketing in a particular market. Thus it is possible to have a successful buyer-seller relationship in domestic market totally failure in overseas market. Finally we can say that relationship marketing includes the management of a firm and thus it must be included in the business plan Marketing on the Internet Internet and Global Business Strategy (Kotler and Keller, 2006) e-marketing describes company offers to inform buyers, communicate, promote and sell its products and services over the internet. Drivers of Internet Adoption in International Marketing Once a firm establishes an internet portal (website), they automatically become a MNC (Multi National Company). Quelch and Kelvin (1996) describe two evolutionary paths of a website: Information to Transaction Model (figure 4.1) adopted by existing MNCs where they offer information to address the needs of existing customers. Transaction to Information Model (figure 4.2) adopted by internet start-up companies where they begin with transaction and use the medium to build brand image and secure repeat orders. The basic purpose of these models is either to reduce cost or to increase revenue. According to Quelch and Kelvin (1996), these drivers fall into four quadrant as given in figure 4.3. Internal customers focus/ cost reduction (quadrant 1): This is applicable to the companies who use website as a tool to communicate with their customers. Their main focus is to provide customer services for domestic market. They just happen to attract international traffic. Internal customer focus/ revenue generation (quadrant 2): This is applicable to the companies who use website not only to communicate with their domestic customers but also offer transactions online. This enables a firm to reach those international customers who might be inaccessible via other media. External customer focus/ cost reduction (quadrant 2): This is applicable to the companies whose main aim is to attract international audience through their website. This happens to benefit all customers because of the international scope of operations. External customer focus/ revenue generation (quadrant 3): This is applicable to the firms who not only focus on attracting international audience but also offer transactions worldwide. Here transaction involves connecting buyers and sellers. Company target providing services to existing customers and attract new customers from global market. Impact of Internet on International Marketing Variables The modification in marketing mix variables is necessary while using internet for international marketing. The impacts of internet on application of marketing mix while going to international market are as follows: Pricing: Due to internet customers are more aware of prices in different countries and thus there is increase in price standardization across borders and price differential become narrow. One advantage of this is that price can be customized easily with customers need and their profile (segment). Distribution Channels: Internet has dramatically reduced the number of intermediaries earlier needed for worldwide distribution channels. As now, less capital is needed for inventory and thus the role of intermediaries has been changed. The new roles of intermediaries include collection, spreading, interpretation and distribution of information rather than traditionally handling and distribution of products. Creation of new Market: Internet offers new opportunities for firms to create market by helping buyers and sellers to locate and negotiate trade terms with each other (ex. eBay etc). There is also a market developed for executing transaction between traders (ex. PayPal etc). New Product Diffusion: The traditional test as you go practice where shifting products from one country to another is now outdated. Now, new product announcement or launch generates immediate demand (as information travel faster on internet) and that requires immediate availability of goods. Customization: Due to internet, getting demographic and purchasing profile of customer became easy. This allows firms to customize products for local adaption as per local market demand. Advertising on internet Internet is a low cost advertising medium having reach to global audience. Advertising on internet includes banner advertising on website, email, blogs and links to search engines. As traditional media of advertising is quite expensive and at the same time internet infrastructure is improving day by day and able to prove support to video and graphics on web. With this improvement a firm can successfully launch an online advertisement campaign. Interactive advertising According to Haeckel, Marketing interactivity is a person-to-person or person-to-technology exchange designed to effect a change in the knowledge or behaviour of at least one person. He also point out that interactivity is function of certain dimensions, which is given as: I = Æ'(N, C, F, SI, CI, T, CT, SY, M) Where, I = impact of interaction, M = Type of media involved (Other factors not discussed as not relevant to current topic). Now, as a technology, internet is the strongest media for interactive marketing. The reason for that is Internet is used by almost a quarter of the total world population. It is not limited to a particular geographic reason. The growth of user is fast. Cheapest and fastest way of interacting with majority of population (both for customer and marketers). Haeckel also pointed out that there is going to be much more business and marketing use through internet. He made a graph which shows how we find usage of a new technology with time (see graph below) and thus we can say there is more in store than what we are seeing and using presently. Even interactive marketing may see turnaround with this technology. Marketing with push technology (Wetzel, 2008) defined push marketing as, customers are provided information by receiving or viewing advertisements digitally, such as: e-mail, SMS, RSS, phone calls, etc., as subscribers of the latest product and service information provided by the company. The internet is the cheapest and most effective media that is used for push marketing. Advantages of Push Marketing via Internet Tracking of Customer Preference: It is easier to track user preference with the help of push technology (internet) and customize according to their preferences. A good example of this is Google AdSense that tracks the users visited website or keywords in mail and according to those criteria it shows advertisement (related link). Increase Accessibility: With the help of push marketing a firm can increase customer accessibility by the firms marketing and advertisement of the products. Subscribers get pushed by built in developed software called PointCast that enable users to receive automatic content updates via their internet connection and web presence as the channel to get information when their computers are not in use. Corporate identity in cyberspace Firms are now using web to extend and reinforce their companies brand image in a cost efficient manner. This serves as a complementary media device that re-establishes a firm in consumers mind. By providing valuable information to users a firm can expand their brand image. The regular updating of information may attract customers to visit website regularly, which will reinforce firms image and provide them a chance to create a new and extended cyber image. Analysis and Methodology Competitive Advantage via Internet Porters three generic strategies for competitive advantage According to Porter (1985), a firm can earn high return if they are able to position themselves well enough, irrespective of the structure of the industry and profitability of the industry. He pointed out the fundamental basis for above average performance is sustainable competitive advantage in long run. For that sustainable competitive advantage he gave three generic competitive strategies. Cost Leadership: According to porter (1985), a firm is having cost advantage over his competitors if the cumulative cost of performing value activity is less than the competitors. He further discussed that a firms cost position is a function of; (a) the composition of their value chain to their competitors, (b) their relative position in cost drivers. Now, we see that how internet helps them to achieve them cost leadership by affecting the above two functions. Differentiation: Porter (1985) describes another strategy for competitive advantage is to differentiate their product with competitors products. This means raising the quality with ignoring the cost for the sake of quality. Now internet can help them to do that by interacting directly with customer and customizing products according to target group. Many firms now use blog site to interact with customers and promoting their new or customized product. Focus: Porter describe this as customizing products or services to suit a focused or small segment of consumer group. The internet helps firms to focus on different aspects of the products and customer group. Internet even allow firm to receive specification from each and every customers and according to them they can produce customized products or services. As discussed in chapter 3, the relation of physical and virtual value chain (Hollensen, 2001), we find there is virtual value chain corresponding to each physical value chain. By applying this value chain a firm can become cost leader as it depends on two factors discussed above. A firm can shift to virtual value chain to gain cost advantage over their competitors physical value chain. For example Federal Express (FedEx), a shipment company allows consumer to track their parcels. This tracking system via internet is very efficient and economical. The FedEx has now reduced more than a million query calls per month by providing online shipment tracking system. This is one of the way of reducing cost and step towards cost leader position and at the same time it differentiate FedEx from their competitors. But this is not enough as sooner or later others will follow same practice and FedEx lose the competitive edge. The real edge lies on the innovative and creative way of finding or chang ing physical value chain to virtual value chain. So now apart from technology, innovative idea of using technology is the key for success of a firm. Stuck in the middle Porter (1985) points out a situation, where a firm try to achieve both generic strategy (cost leadership and differentiation) but fails to achieve any of them. He calls this situation as stuck in the middle. According to him, a firm stuck in the middle will compete at disadvantage as others competitors (cost leader, differentiators) will be better positioned to compete in any segment. In case of Google AdSense, Google is offering a differentiated advertising tool at very low cost (usually one get this via auction, where price is driven by customer not producer) is offering a differentiated (highly unique and effective) advertisement. Here both cost leadership and differentiation is achieved by Google with the help of technology. Johnson et al (1998) discuss about the core competency of a firm may be difficult to imitate because they are complex. The google is doing the same thing by making the internal structure complex, which is hard to imitate by competitors. Thus, they can put the mselves in a position where for an advertisement position (ex. Out of five position or space, advertisers bid for first position then second and so on), firms bid among themselves. Thus, it is possible to achieve a position where a firm can achieve cost leadership and differentiation without compromising one for the other with the help of technology (say internet) and their own creativity (say way of using internet). E-business marketing Models and International Competitiveness Rayport and Sviokla Model According to Rayport and Sviokla (1995), the internet has changed the nature of trade. Internet has made both physical location of inventory and the actual place (marketplace) of trade irrelevant. They argued that traditional marketplace (the physical market) transaction has been replaced by markets place (virtual market or e-market) transaction. They concluded that brand equity is created in marketplace through content (i.e. the product offering), context (the communication programmes) and infrastructure (i.e. the pricing and value chain activity related to distribution). While in market space (internet marketing); content, context and infrastructure has been transformed to innovate new ways of creating value. The changes are: Content: Now, everything possible is delivered electronically whether it is product, service or information. Even though operating system (Microsoft window) are available online. They tim

The Judicial Process and Batson Case Essay -- Jury Duty Bias Voir Dire

The Judicial Process and Batson Case Despite the efforts of lawyers and judges to eliminate racial discrimination in the courts, does racial bias play a part in today’s jury selection? Positive steps have been taken in past court cases to ensure fair and unbiased juries. Unfortunately, a popular strategy among lawyers is to incorporate racial bias without directing attention to their actions. They are taught to look for the unseen and to notice the unnoticed. The Supreme Court in its precedent setting decision on the case of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), is the first step to limiting racial discrimination in the court room. The process of selecting jurors begins with prospective jurors being brought into the courtroom, then separating them into smaller groups to be seated in the jury box. The judge and or attorneys ask questions with intent to determine if any juror is biased or cannot deal with the issues fairly. The question process is referred to as voir dire, a French word meaning, â€Å"to see to speak†. During voir dire, attorneys have the right to excuse a juror in peremptory challenges. Peremptory challenges are based on the potential juror admitting bias, acquaintanceship with one of the parties, personal knowledge of the facts, or the attorney believing he/she might not be impartial. In the case of Batson v. Kentucky, James Batson, a black man, was indicted for second-degree burglary and receipt of stolen goods. During the selection of the jury the prosecutor used his peremptory challenges to strike out all of the four black potential jurors, leaving an all white jury. Batson’s attorney moved to discharge the venire, the list from which jurors may be selected, on the grounds that the prosecutor’s peremptory challenges violated his client’s Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to have a jury derived from a â€Å"cross-section of the community†(People v. Wheeler, 583 P.3d 748 [Calif. 1978]). The circuit court ruled in favor of the prose cutor and convicted Batson on both counts. This case went through the courts and finalized in the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Batson. The Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment forbids the prosecutor from challenging potential jurors solely on account of their race or on the assumption that black jurors as a group will be unable to consider the state’s case ag... ...Philip (1986) â€Å"Court’s term marked by blows to race bias; justices ok affirmative action, ease challenges to discrimination in voting, pay, jury selection† Los Angeles Times, July 4: Part 1; pg 1; Column 2. Lewis, Peter (1992) â€Å"Judge Kills Bid To Study Race Bias In Jury Pools† The Seattle Times, May 30: pg A9. Marcus, Ruth (1991) â€Å"High Court Bars Race Bias In Selection of Civil Juries; Ruling Says Skin Color No Test of Impartiality† The Washington Post, June 4: pg A1. Riccardi, Michael (1998) â€Å"Dennis: Get Rid Of Challenges Without Cause† The Legal Intelligencer, Oct. 14: pg 1. Smith, William (1997) â€Å"Useful or Just Plain Unfair? The Debate Over Peremptories; Lawyers, Judges Spllit Over the Value of Jury Selection Method† The Legal Intelligencer, April 23: pg 1. Smith, William (1997) â€Å"McMahon Plays Opposite Side of Batson Fence† The Legal Intelligencer, April 9: pg 1. Stewart, David (1986) â€Å"Court rules against jury selection based on race† ABA Journal, July 1: 72 ABAJ 68. Zwillman, Blair and Albin, Barry (1999) â€Å"Legislature Sould Defeat Proposal To Reduce Peremptory Challenges† Nov. 29: pg 23. Batson v. Kentucky 476 U.S. 79 (1986). WWW.dictionary.law.com

Service Learning Helped My Career Decision :: Community Service, Volunteer Work

My community service experience was great! I learned many new things that I can use not only in the workplace but also in life. The people I had the opportunity to work with were very generous with their time and talents. They helped me to gain insight into what I want to do with my life. During high school, I was indecisive on what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to work either as a firefighter or an engineer. I performed my community service at the City Utilities Company. I worked with people who were water engineers and they gave me great advice on becoming an engineer. I was told that there were many different types of engineers. I didn’t even know which type of engineer I wanted to be. Then I told him that I was thinking about being a firefighter as well. That’s when I learned his son was a firefighter and loved being one. When I heard about how his son loved the job, I knew then that’s what I wanted to do. I was their secretary for the week from 8am to 5pm. I had to pick up the phone and take messages when they were out of the office, I had to organize some of their paperwork, and talk to the people who walked in looking for information of for one of the other workers. I had learned the responsibility of being on time and following directions. This experience helped me be more comfortable around people I didn’t know and able to interact with them. That came in handy in my job now, I work at American Eagle and I have to interact with people every day but I’m already comfortable doing so. It helped me in life because I’ve been able to meet new people around the college because I’m comfortable talking to complete strangers. The chance I had to work with these people was amazing. I always had the feeling of me being welcome there. In the time I was there I received many gifts from them but not for volunteering for them but because I was a friend. They let me take home leftover candy and popcorn home to my family, even though my mom and sister never knew because I ate it before I got home.

A Rebirth & story Essay

A thirteen year old boy named Brian Robeson is the central character in Gary Paulsen’s novel entitled Hatchet (Paulsen, 1999). Brian left Hampton, New York to visit his father. He boarded a plane to the Canadian north woods. Unfortunately, the pilot suffered from a heart attack and died. The young boy was left with no choice but to take over the controls of the plane. Following a traumatic fall, the plane crashed into a lake in the Canadian woods and left the boy stranded. Brian’s mother gave him a hatchet to use in the woods whenever he gets a chance to visit his father. Fastened to his belt at the event of the crash, the hatched served as his only possession that survived the accident. It was a constant element in the young boy’s adventure. His ultimate rescue was made possible when he got the survival pack in the plane through the use of his hatchet. The survival pack contained a transmitter which allowed him to send a signal to the rescuers. He suffered a painful transition when his parents divorced. Brian is an exceptionally dynamic character. As a young boy accustomed to the comforts of city living, he undervalues the conveniences of the life he lives. Yet when he was stranded in the woods, Brian emerged as an independent and mature man who gained a better understanding of the world. It took time for him to learn how to love and respect his environment. In the same way, moving on from his parents’ divorce took him some time. Initially, Brian was a picture of resentment, frustration, and helplessness. However, his adventures in the woods transformed him into a man he never knew he could become. He acquired lessons and adopted traits necessary for survival. A newfound appreciation for his environment and the sense of harmony in mind and body molded his character. Brian developed into a man capable of surviving not just the woods but life in general. He learned the value of patience. The virtue allowed him to mature. If he was who he used to be, setbacks would have already immobilized him. However, he was not his old self anymore. Thus, setbacks become manageable. The moment he came to a realization that feeling hopeless and frustrated will not do him any good, Brian learned to control his temper. It was through a process of trial-and-error which allowed him to succeed in building a shelter and in hunting for food. In the event of failure, he learned from his mistakes and never dwelt on them. When problems arise, he tried different approaches whenever possible until he succeeds. In the woods, he gained a well developed sense of observation. He used his senses not solely as a means for survival. His senses helped him grasp the beauty of his natural environment. The continuous stimulation of urban life has dulled his senses. The comparative peacefulness of the woods made it possible for him to perceive sound anew. Through it, Brian was able to pick up on different of sounds since he has learned to hear them. In the beginning, the view of the woods and the lake seemed to be a blur. Eventually, he was able to see its beauty. His now perceptive sense proved to be an indispensable tool in order to survive. He acquired a new appreciation for nature and the independence that is essential when the comforts of city life are out of reach. He respects the animals who like him find shelter in the woods. He started to acknowledge the fact that he is but a living thing struggling to survive. This makes him no different to the flora and fauna around him. Prior to the plane crash, all the knowledge he has about nature was provided primarily by the books he read, the things he was taught at school and the information relayed by the media. His adventure in the woods affirmed that indeed, experience is the best teacher. When he arrived at the woods, Brian was a little overweight. He was used to eating hamburgers and the food his mother cooks for him. However, when he arrived in the woods, his food intake consisted of fish, rabbit, berries, and chicken-like birds he preferred to call â€Å"foolbirds† (Paulsen, 1999). His new diet reduced the size of his stomach leaving him with lean muscles. He himself was surprised when he first saw how his physical look has changed. Nevertheless, his physical appearance is not the sole and most profound change which took place in his person. Living in the woods has provided him a renewed perspective in life. He found harmony of mind and body when he gained a better understanding of nature. He recalled that his English teacher once told him that the mind has the power to dictate the how the body behaves. It had never been so true. No goal is beyond reach for someone who stays active and maintains a positive outlook in life. For Brian, the body and mind connection is something he has never felt before. It signified a growing comfort with his natural environment. The aforementioned changes were a sign his emerging manhood. Brian used to define his own identity through his parents. In this regard, his parents’ divorce caused a significant impact on his person. It brought about utter pain on the young boy. He came to believe that future will not be as stable as it used to be. The solace he used to find in his identity with his family had gone. He was unprepared to define himself as an adult. Much so, he does not know where to find his own sense of identity as an individual. The plane crash and his consequential stay in the woods are the events which compelled Brian to begin to accept and finally deal with his damaged sense of self. When he was confronted with the challenge of survival, he only had to pick one choice. Brian was forced to decide whether to learn to be tough and mature in the process or to helplessly die. He chose the former and accepted the challenge that fate has brought on his way. He succeeded and emerged from the experience as a man with a sense of responsibility. Brian then became a person ready to take on the pressures that come with growing up in a world devoid of comfort. Reference Paulsen, G. (1999). Hatchet. Aladdin Paperbacks: New York.

Causes of Civil War Essay

You hear the word complaisant in such terms as accomplished rights, civilian, civilization and civil liberty. All be related to the concept of a roughhewn citizen and a member of society. So, a civil war is a war mingled with citizens representing different groups or sections of the same country. That is how the well-bred War in the United States mingled with 1850-1860 started. The distinction of ideas ab knocked out(p) break ones backry amid the to the south and the uniting was beauteous much the main(prenominal) give of the war.However if we give ear at the details carefully, the economic forces in the atomic number 16 combined with the cotton plantations and the reactions to abolitionism in the South were the main factors that caused the civilian War. political parsimony was an important cause of the Civil War. economic origins affected and still affect nearly everyone somewhat the world. The economy, simply funds gives commonwealth a deal out of power, which causes a lot of problems between quite a little, and scrams everything more complicated. Thats reasonably much why it was a macro deal with the starting of the Civil War.It started around early 1800s with the harvesting of cotton in the South (Holland, The North-South Divide). Harvesting of cotton required the labor of many wad with the craft of cotton gin. So, the federal agency of make a lot of money out of cotton was to find enough laborers to recreate with. Thats how thralldom became essential for the Souths economic future because it was a great source of laborers. In this way slave and cotton plantation owners were fashioning a lot of money and detonateing their plantations and of stratum the number of slaves they owned, which make bondage expand in the South pretty quickly.Also, people who owned slaves and the cotton plantations were well-nighly the workforce of social and political power, and of course they didnt involve to lose their power. They we re getting richer and richer every day with the expanding plantations with the invention of the cotton gin. For archetype, Jefferson Davis and Robert E. lee(prenominal) were some of the most powerful slave owners of that time. Davis had a great political career, and leeward was an important commander and general in the army. They and the other(a) slave owners got their power from slavery and didnt want to lose that power. go slavery kept expanding in the South, the North didnt like that. The North was against the refinement of slavery, an opposition captured by Free vulgarism Ideology. Their main purpose was opposing the expansion of slavery into the western territories, because they saw it as a corrupt economic system. This made the South see the Free smear movement as a threat of making slavery totally disappear. The South was threatened because they thought this ideology in the North would keep expanding and finally assuage all the slaves they owned, and ruining the So uthern economy (Brinkley).While this happened in the South, the idea of abolitionism kept spreading through the North. Another cause of divisions between the North and the South was the emancipationist movement. The South saw this movement as a threat from the North, and becoming comic of them. tin Brown was clearly the most significant radical abolitionist at that time. He fought slavery for grades entirely his most significant action took buns at Harper Ferry, Virginia. Brown seized federal arsenal, and he hoped the slaves would come to Harpers Ferry and show through the South, fighting slavery.This way he scared the South, because a slave anarchy had always been the regions main fear, and therefore the South formed militias. approximately Southerners were convinced Brown had done what a lot of Northerners valued to do, which threatened them (John Brown Farm, North Elba, sassy York New York History Net). In other wards, Browns raid at Harpers Ferry 1859 fed fear of sla ve uprising. Southerners basically thought the republican companionship supported John Browns Raid and what he had done (Holland, Abolitionism).This was a big issue for them, because the sixteenth chairperson of the United States, Abraham capital of Nebraska, was elected the next year and he was a member of the Republican Party. The South thought that existence a member of the Republican Party meant being an abolitionist. This worried them, because abolitionists wanted to make slavery disappear, and they thought thats exactly what the novel president of the whole country, capital of Nebraska wanted to do. So, the South saw the election of Abraham capital of Nebraska as a threat. On the other hand, Abraham Lincoln was not an abolitionist, and he didnt think what John Brown did was exhaustively and ethical.He didnt want to make the South be against him. He was incisively supporting the Free Soil Ideology. So Lincoln just didnt want slavery to expand. However the South didnt see this distinction. Even before Lincoln was inaugurated, Southern states began to secede from the Union (Abraham Lincoln). So that was pretty much how the run afoul first started, and caused the Civil War to begin. The Civil War ended in 1865 and slavery was finally abolished. Slavery had been the main reason for its start, because of the economic divisions it sparked along with abolitionism.The harvesting of cotton was a big source of money at that time, especially after the invention of the cotton gin and needed a great source of slaves as laborers. The abolitionist movement added more to this conflict with the misunderstandings some Lincolns political views in the South. At the end, the price for the war was pretty high. Lincoln, a visionary president, was assassinated, and it was the bloodiest and the saddest war in American history. It has a valuable blow up in American history and worth remembering a clear example of whats right and whats wrong.

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002

On March 27, 2002, the parapet on the work of a detail form of organizational finances as contri saveion to polity-making views and erupties or to patronage certain ads in the period previous to elections became righteousness. This is known as the Bipartisan press straighten Act of 2002 (BCRA), founded on the iron finance reform bills authored by republican Senator John McCain and Democrat Senator Russ Feingold (Magarian, 2003).The BCRA or McCain-Feingold faithfulness aimed at a more pixilated regulation of the sources of funds employ for electoral campaigns. It made illegal the use of piano property from corporate or mystic entities and labor unions for candidates and their machineries at the federal, state and topical anaesthetic levels (Magarian, 2003). Prior to this jurisprudence, organizations could donate an unlimited and unregulated totality of notes for issue-based protagonism, increasing turn backr-turnout and party-building efforts coursed by dint of the national policy-making parties (Geiger, 2005).Issue ads were allowed as long as they did not use patois much(prenominal) as balloting for or do not vote for and new(prenominal) words that expressly promoting or assailing certain candidates. As such, issue advocacy has in essence been law entirey used to campaign for a candidate as long as the magic words book of factsed are absent in the bailiwick (BrennanCenter.org, 2008).The BCRA reformed the use of soft capital for broadcast issue-advocacy ads campaigns when it came up with as a qualifier for what is lawful issue-advocacy is known as electioneering communication. According to the BrennanCenter.org (2008), this means ads that hit to a clearly identified candidate, and targets the candidates electorate. The BCRA requires from entities that conduct electioneering communication theory a disclosure of the sources of their funds and such ads can not be aeriform 30 days prior to a general elections and 60 days prior to a federal election (Independent.org, 2008).The law to a fault bans corporations and unions to donate for issue ads from their treasury fund, openly or expressly uphold for a candidate known as independent expenditures or to make show campaign contributions (BrennanCenter.org, 2008). They are only allowed to do so through and through specially semipolitical Action citizens committees (PACs) within these organizations which are allocated a segregated funding that can be used for independent expenditures and issue ads (BrennanCenter.org, 2008).Further, the BCRA demands the full disclosure of the sources of solicited campaign funds that amount to more than $10,000 annually or the identities of organizations and individuals that shelled an bare of $1,000 (Cantor and Whitaker, 2004). It also increased the lawful limits on the total amount of hard notes that candidates and parties can turn out. The result was that corporations and other organizations as well as individuals drast ically limited their donations to avoid the disclosure of their identities. incarnate and other private organizations can and do work to influence the outcome of the electoral process through soft money spending in order to deduce access to the candidate in the takings that s/he wins (Geiger, 2005). Candidates also take contributions as these determine in part the number of votes they will get. With the BCRA restrictions, political parties resorted to the defining of political organizations.Because they are independent, political organizations which whitethorn be corporate philanthropy, social public assistance or charity organizations are beyond the scope of the current campaign law and can absorb undocumented amounts of money for issue ads. In the give way elections, 527 political organizations generated more than $400 million in such funds where the biggest donors handed amounts within the $3.9 million to $30 million mark (Geiger, 2005). These affluent and motive-driven co rporate and individual donors were also safe from the disclosure requirement.However, the U.S. dogmatic coquette, in a narrow decision last year, allowed leniency on issue ads tied(p) within the 30-day or 60-day election period when it declared that ads may be exempted from the limitations stigmatize by the BCRA if they are determined as principally an exercise of the freedom of speech under the prototypic Amendment rather than canvassing for or against a candidate (Independentsector.org, 2008).The end in question involved the Wisconsin remediate to Life Inc. anti-abortion group whose ad was out(p) from airing in 2004 as it roughshod within the mandated election period and because it mentioned the ca-ca of a state senator to act on a certain issue. The senator was running for reelection at that time but no mention was made of this in the ad. The Supreme Court emphasized public rights rather than censoring in their decision on the slip-up (Independent.org, 2008).Thus, co rporate and labor organizations can take advantage on another fissure to provide financial support for political campaigns of parties and candidates they favor even during election periods through issue ads similar to that used by the Wisconsin Right to Life. The Federal Election Committee issued a ruling exempting organizations from the electioneering communications restrictions as a result of the Supreme Court Decision (BrennanCenter.org, 2008). However, the disclosure requisites provided for in the BCRA still applies in this case but independent-sector groups are active in accompaniment proposals that do away with this requirement (Independentsector.org). joust of ReferencesBrennanCenter.org (2008). The Impact of FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc.on call forth Regulation of Electioneering Communications in Candidate Elections, Including Campaigns for the Bench. Retrieved 2 April 2008 from http//209.85.173.104/search?q= roll upcSpDB4j7N64Jwww.brennancenter.org/page/-/Democrac y/Impact%2520of%2520WRTL%2520II%2520on%2520State%2520Regulation.doc+ execution+of+the+BCRA+on+corporate+public+policy&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1Cantor, J.E. and Whitaker, L.P. (2004). Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 Summary and Comparison with prior law of nature. Retrieved 2 April 2008Geiger, J.P. Preparing for 2006 A Constitutional Amendment for stopping point the 527 Soft Money Loophole. William and Mary Law Review, 47. Retrieved 2 April 2008 from http//www.questia.com.Independentsector.org (2008). Public Policy FEC decree Allows Issue Ads with Disclosure. Retrieved 2 April 2008 .Magarian, G. (2003). Regulating policy-making Parties under a Public Rights First Amendment. William and Mary Law Review, 44. Retrieved 2 April 2008 from http//www.questia.com.

Charles Dickens

Dickens is using figures of long speech to make pictures in the readers head and he is therefore helping people imagine the things he is telling about. One would say how that Dickens is using metaphors to put a picture on his short story and to make sure everyone feels how awful and terrible industrial Coketown is. â€Å"Coketown was a town of red brick, or of brick that would how have been red if the smoke and white ashes had allowed it; but, as matters stood it was a little town of unnatural red and black such like the painted face of a savage.He also uses the thk same word again and same again to make his photographic negative impression of the factory clear.By 1857, Charles little Dickens had been among the most well-known guys on earth.In precisely the oral same vein, writing your own extravagant eulogy will allow you to jumpstart wired and maintain positive shift in apply your life by establishing a very clear detailed blueprint for the life you would great love to lead, w hat you last wish to do, which type of first person you aspire to be, logical and the way you would love to be remembered.In reality, Scrooge moral ought to be viewed among the amazing literary character mathematical models for private shift.

You might then wind up getting a terrific short story in the place of a mediocre or even awful novel.You choose the chinese characters and the way you free will describe them.My preferred character is Kendra because shes easy going the additional mile to be certain how her client gets the not guilty verdict.Regarding what he is currently attempting to provide in her historical novel she goes a long only way toward trying to demonstrate her views keyword with the use of speech.

The book is somewhat slow by modern standards, but its so hilarious.A book was new born from the impetus.For the choice is to how find the movie.The book is small for explanations.