We Are Becoming Increasingly Dependent on Computer Technology

As we move into the twenty-first century, it is clear to see that we have become more and more dependent on computers and information technology. This technology now reaches into almost every area of our lives and it is easy to predict that this phenomenon is only going to grow. My personal belief is that this presents a variety of dangers. It is highly likely that in the future there will be comparatively few aspects of our lives that will not be influenced by computer technology.The probability is that it will control more and more forms of communication, transforming fields such as education and business when video-conferencing platforms become more stable. It might even affect romance with more people forming relationships online. While there may be benefits to this technological revolution, there are also a number of potential dangers. Perhaps the most serious of these would be that if people rely on computers too much for communication, they could in fact begin to communicate l ess well.For example, if every member of a family had their own computer screen and smart phone, they might speak less and less often to one another and simply look at a screen. This would be serious because our ability to communicate is an essential part of our humanity. My conclusion is that the growth of computer technology is inevitable, but that this may not be entirely positive. Just one area in which it is possible to foresee dangers is communication, and if we are going to ensure that computers do not become a negative influence, we need to think carefully how we use them. (273 words)

Is Life worth living? Essay

A question that raises so much controversy that we have to venture deep into the depths of our own hearts to salvage the opinion of oneself. Despite every one of us knows that someday we will receive our final ultimatum, man as a race has always been in search of a resolution; a meaning to life. Because, when we look back, it disturbs one to think that in the end, nothing will matter. That all achievements, given time, will be forgotten, and buildings, given time, will be forgotten, and buildings, given time, will crumble to nothing but piles of dust and rubble. And even that eventually, your very own descendants, your family, will for get the forebearer of their name. After considering this, it once again brings back to my opening question; is life worth living? What is the significance of life, it’s purpose? Because after all, if all of us are to have no effect on the life of our descendants, to be forgotten, why should man even live? To the majority though, such a question has never really occurred to them, and if it has, the chances are that they forgot it through fear, disbelief, or just plain forgetfulness. However, to a small minority, the question demanded an answer. These people searched for the answer and were not confronted with fear like so many before them, but sorrow and sadness. This was due to the fact that had had a realisation. Man had become the head of the food chain and the talons of birds, using his great intelligence and strength. After having won all battles, he claimed the earth as his own and from here on in, was to determine what had been, and what was to become. Then, the realisation struck him: that he would die one day just like his father, and his father before him. He knew that the day would come when, his arms would become weak, his eyes dim and before long, sleep and never wake up.

Strategic Choice and Evaluation - Apple Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Strategic Choice and Evaluation - Apple - Essay Example These strategies are adopted by the firm to achieve better performance help the firm to deliver a better than average performance. Cost leadership A business firm following cost leadership strategy aims at beating its competitors by producing at the lowest cost in the entire industry. The producer can now produce at a large scale and at a very low cost, thereby, enjoying huge economies of scale. The producer exploits the economies of scale which allows the company to maintain competitive pricing (Richardson & Dennis, 2003). Differentiation Under differentiation strategy the company focuses on the products that it offers for sale. It aims at making the products unique by identifying specific product dimensions, which are found to be most valued by its customers. The company develops its marketing strategies in such a manner that it would be able to satisfy the demand of its customers to the most desired level and therefore receive premium price due to the uniqueness of these products (Thompson & Martin, 2010). Focus Focus strategy is followed by a firm when selects one or multiple segments within the single in industry in which it operates (Dinitzen, 2010). The company aims at optimizing its product and marketing strategies to cater to these segments in the most efficient way, such that, it might gain competitive advantage over all other firms that competes with the particular firm. Focus strategy can be applied by the firm by following either of the following strategies; creation of cost advantage within a targeted segment (cost focus) or development of a differentiation strategy within a targeted segment (differentiation). ... follows the differentiation strategy in order to achieve competitive advantage over its competitors in the technology service industry. Differentiation makes its products (or services) unique. By following this strategy, Apple can make its products different from the products or service offerings of its competitors and makes the products of this company highly appealing to its customer base. However, the fact that the company has become one of the most successful companies in the world and that the customer preference for this company is significantly high compared to the rest of the companies in this market, is established by a number of internal and external factors. Performance of the company with regard to these factors has led it to the current level of success. These factors are environment of the industry, customer service, market segmentation and nature of products or services offered to the target market and its global presence. The company’s innovativeness makes its products as well as technology services shine among the crowd of modern technology industry. There are certain negative sides or risks of following the differentiation strategy. Companies that pursue differentiation strategy can command a price that is higher than the prices of similar products offered in the market by other firms. The differentiation factor allows the firm to command this premium price. It eventually increases per unit sales for the company and also improves loyalty of the buyer. Differentiation is the right strategy to follow only when the target market segment has customers with specific needs, but, are not adequately served. Also, the differentiation strategy focuses on bringing premium price for the firm. This implies that the strategy would be

American experience of Democracy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

American experience of Democracy - Essay Example However, the path to success and development has not been exactly smooth. The concept of democracy is so deeply-rooted in every bit of the American way-of- life that it is almost taken for granted. This has led some to question if indeed constitutional democracy is a better political system, suitable for the United States of America. This essay shall briefly address the question of the suitability of democracy as a form of government in the United States and, analyze the ways in which it works. The essay shall also try to understand the kind of challenges that the US had to overcome, some of the issues of debate that have helped redefine the American experience of Democracy. In the process, it shall explore the terms 1) government power 2) tyranny 3) equality 4 liberty 5) rights and freedoms, in the context of the American struggle. Years of living and thriving in freedom has made it almost invisible. Few people in the modern day United States realize the modes and manner in which democracy and freedom has nurtured their individual rights and paved the way for their progress and enterprise. Going back into history, the very birth of the American nation took place due the suffocation and repression of basic human rights in the then prevalent in the British colonies of North America. It would be difficult for any student studying the st... It would be difficult for any student studying the struggle for American independence, to miss the feeling of suppression and victimization suffered at the hands of the British colonialism. The parochial manner in which the British had pursued its own interest at the cost of the welfare of it North American colony is evident in the document Declaration of Independence (pp. 2-4). The document accuses the then British Crown explicitly of tyranny, and absolute despotism (p.2). It clearly explicates the extent to which the basic rights of citizens in the British colony of North America were usurped by the British powers. It is pertinent to study this document in some detail because the founding fathers of the constitutional democracy have based their statements of declaration of independence and thus forming a union of thirteen states under the common cause of revolt against the British colonialism. The seeds of American democracy can be found in this document, and would help to obtain better understanding with this context is held in the background. The American system of democracy aimed to fortify its own constitution wherever it perceived injustice in the parent British monarchy. For example, the King had dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly and invaded into the rights of the individuals time and again, which was perceived as not only unjust and undemocratic; it also made the American democratic system stronger through a series of amendments that refined and plugged the weaknesses in the system constantly as can be understood from the document the Bill of Rights (Amendments 1-10 of the Constitution). Amendment VI of the said document, specifically deals with crime and how crime shall be dealt with under the democratic law.

Globalisation of Logistics & SCM 2 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Globalisation of Logistics & SCM 2 - Coursework Example Jasper (2003) defined performance as the process of accomplishing given tasks that are measured against stipulated standards of completeness, accuracy, speed, and cost. Performance is considered to be fulfillment of various obligations in ways that release performers from all the liabilities under business contracts. In my journey of development, learning has played a major role in what I am today as I have been able to acquire knowledge in school and the society hence ensuring better performance in my general activities. Covey (2004) observed that anything human beings do depend partly or wholly on what they learnt either in educational institutions or the society and partly how they put the learning in their actions. People skills are the capabilities of individuals to understand themselves and ability to moderate their responses. Learning people skills has enabled me to empathize accurately, to talk effectively, and to build relationships of respect, trust and very productive interactions in my journey of development. Redmond (2004) noted that good people skills are considered as an asset in business and our daily lives as they enable us to relate and communicate to other individuals on both professional and personal levels hence the ability solve problems effectively and work together to achieve common goals and objectives. Emotional intelligence is the ability of recognizing our emotions and other individual’s feelings and discriminating between various sensations and labeling them appropriately hence enabling individuals to apply that information in thinking and changing behaviors (Redmond, 2004). Emotional intelligence has enabled me to interact with individuals of different characte rs effectively as I have been able to identify, understand, use, and manage sensations in positive ways in order to communicate efficiently, relieve stress, overcome challenges, defuse conflicts, and to empathize with other society members. I am

Analyse relations of power among actors in a supply chain of your Essay

Analyse relations of power among actors in a supply chain of your choice - Essay Example A supply chain involves all processes that receive and fulfill the customer request. The functions of a supply chain include marketing, operation, product development, distribution, customer service and finance. This paper seeks to analyze the relations of power among actors in the Wal-Mart supply chain. The success of a business lies in the management of the actors involved in the supply chain. This results in the achievement of improved value to consumers. The most profound challenge in a supply chain is the challenge of wastage. The Wal-Mart supply chain is committed to deliver exceptional value to customers. The management of the supply chain is committed to constructing an efficient and responsive supply chain by harmonizing the relations of power among the actors within it. The market place develops a competition of supply chains (Sehgal 2011). The strategic approach to the supply chain is to ensure the activities within the players are harmonized. The strategic approach to Wal -Mart supply chain The company has invested in core-competences among the players in the supply chain. Wal-Mart is estimated to have 90, 000 suppliers. About 200 of them are global suppliers e.g. Nestle, Kraft, Unilever and P&G. The actors of the supply chain face competition when passing value to the consumers (Dicker 2005). The companies are expected to deliberate on their role in the Wal-Mart supply chain. ... Wal-Mart supply chain actors have constructed strategies that allow them to remain competitive. Wal-Mart is committed to finding its competitive advantage and outsourcing the non-core competencies. There are several functions done by multiple firms which are linked to the success of the supply chain. The supply chain is developed upon these strategic links (Seifert 2003). However, the fragmentation of the production process for Wal-Mart has increased the pressure for centralized coordination. The firm has an international present and is expanding to new markets. The supply chain must add value to the firm (Fishman 2006). The management of the Wal-Mart supply chain has recognized that the real competition is not between companies within the supply chain. Rather, it is the competition between supply chains (Dicker 2005). Therefore, Wal-Mart pays attention to the quality and competence of the players within the supply chain. The Wal-Mart retailers, suppliers and transporters work to ens ure that the process of chain execution is flawless, smooth to give the firm a competitive advantage. Research indicates that the company that manages its supply chain with excellence wins the largest market share. Importance of power and theory in supply chains Wal-Mart actors Power can be defined as the ability for a company to own and control resources and assets within supply chains and markets to ensure sustainability in accumulation of value and leveraging the other actors. The practitioners in the Wal-Mart supply chain must identify the most appropriate context before executing a plan. The modern business is changing from appropriating value for oneself to a commitment to passing value to the consumers. In Wal-Mart the supply chain commences

Supply and Demand of Online Music Streaming Essay

Supply and Demand of Online Music Streaming - Essay Example Now, people can access their favorite music through internet by paying no or comparatively low prices to the suppliers. (Amberg, and Schrà ¶der. 2007). The online music industry is experiencing another revolution phase due to the development of technology and invention of Smartphones with a capacity to run online streaming any where through 4G connection. Initially, online paid music downloading facility was provided by the Apple’s iTunes in 2003, but it was a cumbersome task to download the music and then run it, therefore the online music industry players had started to develop such applications and platforms, where people can directly stream their favorite music without keeping them in their PCs or Mobile phones storage. For this purpose, online radio platforms, i.e. Pandora and Spotify have been developed to provide an online streaming facility to the music lovers over their computers and Smartphones. Streaming services are providing almost all sorts of music to their customers and people can access more than million of songs through a single click. Online radios, like Pandora and iTunes Radio, have chosen what the custo mers want to hear and these firms generate their revenues through advertisements. Whereas, other firms like Deezer and Spotify, offer a collection of 20 to 30 million songs on annual or monthly subscription basis and charge premium prices to their customers. Due to these changes the sales of record labels have decreased by 4% as compared to the last year, where on the other hand online streaming firms like Spotify has earned more than $1 billion in revenues. (Bhattacharjee, Gopal, Lertwachara, and Marsden. 2007). However, the overall online streaming industry was accounted for 21% of the total music industry revenues in 2013, which showed a very rapid growth in last 5 years. ( Hodgkins, 2014) Due to the high trend of Smartphones and development in the mobile phone services sector, i.e. the