Level One Computer Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Level One Computer Systems - Essay Example the â€Å"de-perimeterization of security† where it has become difficult to demarcate the line between a firm and its clients, suppliers and partners (PGP Corporation, 2007). Enforcing effective security standards is a challenge in this complex milieu. There are many reasons as to why information is on longer safe and there is a need for data protection and security. The notion that sensitive information is within the walls of the organization and so is safe is no longer justified. With the advancement in technology and the new computing form factors, information can be accessed by malicious insiders. The people who are responsible for administrating the systems can also present a risk to the bypass of sensitive information. It is not easy to define who has access to what information. This also necessitates that an effective security protocol must be present to ensure that sensitive data is not leaked out. Data protection is also necessary to build a bond of trust with the cus tomers. When a customer approaches an organization, the organization is bound to protect his or her privacy. Not doing so can bring bad repute to the organization and cause it to lose its customers. A comprehensive data security system encompasses an assessment of the associated risks and threats to data security. A strategy that includes a thorough assessment of these risks enables the organization to understand the value of the data that is at risk and the consequences of any loss. Data could be lost by many ways. One can be due to malicious infections. System crashes and natural happenings such as floods can also cause the loss of significant amount of sensitive data. When considering data protection, the organization needs to review who has access to what type of data, who used the Internet, who should be given limited access, what type of firewalls and anti-malware solutions need to be in place, the usage and maintenance of passwords and the training being given to staff (Spam laws,

Organizational Development Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Organizational Development - Assignment Example Advocates of TQM hold that the goal of customer satisfaction is achieved through top management commitment to creating an organizational climate that empowers employees and focuses all efforts on the goal of customer satisfaction. A positive relationship between leadership and commitment, and employee empowerment (leading to job satisfaction) with customer satisfaction is assumed. Both the trade and academic literatures on TQM suggest many different top leadership strategies and practices for empowering or involving employees in quality-related decision-making processes. However, few empirical studies, outside of the Malcolm Baldridge Award program, have been done to sufficiently document these relationships and to determine which of the many suggested strategies and practices are effective in bringing about the intended results (employee empowerment, job satisfaction, and superior customer satisfaction). The objective of this study is to provide empirical assessment of the assumed relationship between top management leadership and commitment, employee empowerment, job satisfaction, and customer satisfaction. ... Another objective is to provide empirical assessment for the TQM-based literature. Literature review In almost all of the TQM literature, employee involvement, empowerment, and top management leadership and commitment are identified as crucial elements of a successful TQM program (Bowen, Siehl, & Schneider, 1989; Brower, 1994; Camp, 1989; Deming, 1982; Mendelowitz, 1991; Roberts, 1994; Senge, 1994). Lawler (1994) referred to employee empowerment as one of the most important tenets of TQM. Thomas and Velthouse (1990) define empowerment "as intrinsic task motivation that manifests itself in four cognitions reflecting an individual's orientation to his or her work roles." By intrinsic task motivation, they mean "positively valued experiences that an individual derives directly from a task that produce motivation and satisfaction." The four cognitions they identified are meaningfulness, competence, impact, and choice. Meaningfulness is the value of the task goal or purpose in relation to the individual's own ideals or standards, and competence is the degree to which a person can perform task activities skillfully. Impact, on the other hand, is the degree to which behavior is seen as making a difference in terms of accomplishing the purpose of the task, while choice is the causal responsibility for a person's actions. A more operational-level and process-oriented definition of empowerment was offered by Bowen and Lawler (1992). They define empowerment "as sharing with front-line employees information about an organization's performance, information about rewards based on the organization's performance, knowledge that enables employees to understand and contribute to organizational performance, and giving

Ethical Implications Of Human Cloning Philosophy Essay

Ethical Implications Of Human Cloning Philosophy Essay Cloning has been going on in the natural world for thousands of years. A clone is simply one living thing made from another, leading to two organisms with the number of genes. In that sense, identical twins are clones, because they have identical DNA. Sometimes, plants are self-pollinated, producing seeds and eventually more plants with the same genetic code. When earthworms are cut in half, they regenerate the missing parts of their bodies, leading to two worms with the same set of genes. Any organism that reproduces asexually; produces a clone. Ever since the conception of cloning, the creation of engineered animals provided a major stepping stone for the process of cloning cells and even humans. the ability to intentionally create a clone in the animal kingdom by working on the cellular level is a very recent development. From sheep to monkeys, scientist have made great strides in the past few years in cloning mammals. The possibilities and benefits of cloning are endless, and it is a Science worth pursuing. Benefits from saving endangered animals, growing replaceable organs for humans, or even developing regenerative cells for sick humans. The Roadblock and the question to cloning is just one concern. Is it ethical? In this day and age where technology drives society, biological technology is one of the ones on the for-front. Step by step science has gotten to the point where Scientist are now capable to clone a human being. Controversy over the process is high. Many blockades are in place to limit the growth and usage of this technology due to many reasons, the main being ethical concerns from society and anti-cloning groups. Scientists believe the technology for human cloning, at least a limited type of cloning for now which is semi ethical is available. Starting small with animal or human stem cells or even pushing the boundaries, by experimenting with human reproductive biology that provides technical means for cloning humans. Many scientists who work with cloned animals say that the procedure is difficult and dangerous and unethical to try on humans. Issues ranging from encouraging the process of cloning until a successful clone is made, while discarding failed embryos. Turning human beings and clones into commodities and human rights issues for clones. Assault against gods design, etc. The issues relating to ethics are endless on topic of cloning. (All.org). To get around these issues have led scientists to bend some rules while experimenting with the technology. Developing emerging technologies that can be directly applicable to the potential of human cloning, such as experimenting with small animals such as mice or stem cells of other animals. (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=study-suggests-cloned-mic) In order to make a fully justified decision on whether human cloning is ethical or not, one must be exposed to the background of the subject. To start, a clone is an exact replica of an organism, cell, or gene. The process itself is done asexually with the use of a cell from the original human. It is then placed inside a female capable of bearing a child and is then born as a clone. Along with this comes questions of whether or not it is right to clone a human being based on different facts and opinions of small groups or communities (buzzle.com/articles/human-cloning/). The technology of cloning is not quite developed enough for a doctor to be certain that an experiment will be successful. In Scotland, the first sheep was cloned and was named Dolly. It took over 250 tries before they were successful in creating the successful clone.( buzzle.com/articles/human-cloning) When this news reached the world, immediate polls showed that the majority of the world were against the idea of cloning humans. Those who support cloning research replied by saying, the public based their opinions on fallacies of the news media and misunderstandings of the process, therefore, could not comprehend the whole concept Those in favor of cloning might say it can push forward medical research. For example, with cloning technology it may be possible to learn how to replace old cells with new ones. Help fight certain diseases, etc. This could lead to a longer life for individuals. With enough research scientists could create clones to act as donors. Basically Shells of human beings with organs. Human shells without brains that can be harvested for their organs. Organs such as Hearts, lungs, livers, kidneys, etc. Some scientists even say that human cloning may eventually reverse heart attack through simple cloning methods that involve stem cells from human embryos. This accomplishment would take place by injecting healthy heart cells into damaged heart tissue. In addition, cloning could help improve psychological and human family life. For example, if a couple lost a child they loved dearly and could not reproduce naturally, cloning that child could be an alternative. In this way, the parents would have the chance to love the clone just as much as the original child. (http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/) On the other hand, those against cloning would say that it is wrong for a doctor to harm a clone. If this were allowed, eventually we would compromise the individual. Clones would become second-class citizens. Cloning strips humanity from natural reproduction by leaving a clone with only one parent. In addition, there would be a decline in genetic diversity. In other words, if some day we all have the same genetic makeup and lose the technology of cloning, we would have to resort back to natural reproduction. This would cause problems because it has the same effect as inbreeding. In the same way, clones would feel like they had lost their individuality. For example, their genetic makeup would be known. Also, there could be negative psychological effects that will impact the family and society. For instance, if a clone finds out that he or she has no biological father it may suppress the clones feeling of equality among other naturally born people. Also, there is a chance that the mot her or the clone may become sterile. Among all of these there are too many risks for the bearing mothers and embryos. Eventually, it would turn into a routine to destroy human embryos in the process of cloning. According to Religious groups contend that cloning does not respect the fact that humans have souls and it robs clones of their humanity. God intended the power to create humans to be practiced between a man and a woman in the boundaries of marriage and natural means. Doing otherwise is going against the work of God into human hands. This means that humans lack the authority to make decisions about creating or destroying a life. In addition, humans do not have enough knowledge or power to control outcomes of certain events. However, others believe religion has no place in the debate. Atheists or agnostic argue, interpreters of the Bible cant agree on what actions God would allow to be done with justified means. In addition, Religion and religious books have limits to their validity because they do not address specific issues that need to be answered. People can say human cloning is unethical because bad means are used to achieve the goals For instance, it took scientists 277 tries to create the first cloned sheep. This means that there were hundreds of deformities before the successful specimen was created. In the same way, deformities of humans would be a result of experimentation, which would decrease the quality of life for those specific clones. Recent studies have shown, most cloned mammals tend to die early unless perfected the process is painstakingly difficult. And, even if we found a cure for a disease, lets say cancer, it would be reaching a good end through bad means. http://www.scientificamerican.com/ On the other hand, people for the process would say that human cloning is ethical in that the number of people who benefit from it outweighs the number of people who suffer from it. For example, cloning could be a way to help expand the length of human life, but it would cost the lives of clones who were failures in the experiment. In this way, realists and people for cloning would agree that bettering all of humanity in exchange for a small group of less fortunate people is justified. would say the act of cloning a human being is an act of human will separate from god or religion. Therefore, if an individual decided to go forward in this act, because humans have the ability to do it, it should be done. After taking into account many of the alternatives and situations of cloning, Human cloning should be supported. The effects from all of the harms that are unknown outweigh all of the good that can come from the research of cloning. Many sacrifices must be made, including possible consequences to society and civilization to accommodate this science. cloning involves too much unknown information that we would need in order to even consider it, but we cant proceed or perfect without taking the first step. If scientists had enough information to be able to clone a human without a doubt, then it might be ethical to clone. But, the social stigma would still be present; clones would be seen as inferior to naturally reproduced humans even if they were perfected copies identical to humans. Once the support of legalization of cloning or any practices is passed. Laws can also be passed to grant rights to Clones. But as of right now, if humans could be cloned without the risk of death or intent ional killing of clones for organ transplants it would be more acceptable to practice it. This would be a great start before cloning full humans. The possibilities and benefits of cloning are endless, and it shouldnt be something that should be feared. The Pros of cloning significantly outweigh the negatives of cloning, so the obstacles blocking the technology from being used should be demolished. A technology that can be of immense great use to Human civilization, shouldnt be something that is discarded.

Staying Fit Without a Gym Membership :: essays research papers

Life has change in the way people get in good physical condition. In the past three decades, one of the many popular trends has been receiving gym memberships. People go out of their way to buy memberships to gyms which they hardly even attend. Three ways that young people can stay in fit physical shape without having to pay, drive and join a gym are running, using the school gym and substituting exercise in their daily routine. If one does not want to pay to get a membership to the gym but still want to stay in physical shape, they can always exercise by running. Running helps with anything you are having problems with. Running strengthens your leg muscles and many other muscles as well. By running, one will stay in great physical conditions. Having daily runs will improve all chances of staying in good physical conditions without having to pay to join a gym. Furthermore, using the school gym is a great substitute for someone who does not want to get a membership and join a gym. They have the same quality equipment and so there is no difference. Access to the local school gym will save you a lot of money throughout the years on membership alone and yet it is the same quality exercise as if one were to pay for it. Finally, by taking time out of their schedules to do daily routines will help one stay in fit physical shape without having to pay for it. At work, one can take a quick five minute break and do some standing exercises. Or while at school, one can take physical education and practice daily on staying fit. Anywhere, anytime, one can make a little time for exercise. Keeping this up daily will ensure good physical condition. Running, using the school gym and substituting exercise in a daily routine will help young people stay in fit physical shape without having to pay, drive or join a gym.

Marxism as an Alternative theory

The contrasting social divide of 19th century Europe was one of the principle-instigating factor that inspired Karl Marx and Frederick Engels to come with Communist Manifesto in 1848. It called upon the working classes to declare war upon the bourgeoisie. In the opinion of Marx, capitalism with its inherent tendency to favor property accumulation, market system and wage labor system had always worked in promoting the clout and wealth of aristocracy while working to weaken the peasants class and sending them to the levels of subservience and just subsistence (Freedman, 1990, 1).The philosophy was a major intellectual achievement of Marxism as it described the ills and problems affecting the society not in terms of faulty ideology and philosophy but in the   terms of economic forces of capitalist development (Aune, 1994, 17). As Freedman (1990, 2) states, Marx viewed the major conflicts and events of world not as consequences of ethnic, lingual or religious factors but purely through economic perspectives. He argued that capitalism and its resultant class system have been the main instrumental factors in creating the present structure of human society and behavior.  Marxism attempts to correlate the entire progress and evolution of human civilization with Marx’s staunch view that economic factors have determined the history of humanity. It attempts to understand the origin, functioning and structure of all the social institutions on economic models and assumes that once this knowledge is gained, it can be employed to recreate the social order that is beneficial for every member of society, while eliminating the ills of poverty, inequality and class distinctions (ibid).Marxism also views state (government) as an instrument of the ruling class that works to protect the interests of the economically prosperous segments at the cost of the working population (Freedman, 1990, 2). The premises of this argument lies in the fact that typically every state is in fluenced heavily by the rich and wealthy section of society and as such its policies are inherently oriented towards safeguarding these affluent sections. The working-lower class is just treated as a tool to further the riches of this affluent section, while providing them with bare facilities that are hardly sufficient to maintain their existence.School and churches are also viewed as extending arms of the same system that continuously works to maintain, and in fact, promote the social divide. Thus nation and state are essentially nothing but exploiters of working population. As a consequence, terms like patriotism and nationalism hold no meaning to the oppressed working society, which is made to work not the for the benefit of the nation but for the few and selected elite group of people that in their limited numbers represent an entire nation.A careful study of Marxism reveals following three major elements that define the structure of the world of Marx (Heilbroner, 1980, 21).Mat erialist approach to History: The historical analysis of activities of people’s activities that creates conditions of subsequent class emergence and struggle of present times.General view of capitalism: Capitalism, and the economic forces that are the root of entire social divideCommitment to socialism: It envisions a future where every man is able to create a just world through his own efforts and commitment.Marxism, in its zealous criticism of the capitalist system, pronounced the immanent end through of capitalistic society through t its own contradictions and an eventual sweep over of the world by socialist forces. However capitalism has survived and contrary to Marx’s vision, it has become mainstay of democratic and developed world, whereas Marxism holds it appeal for the poor and oppressed classes in underdeveloped countries (Freedman, 1990, 2)Mainstream Political theoriesThe mainstream political theories have evolved from Machiavellian concepts to one that is fo cused on a welfare state that is founded around the concepts of participative democracy and social justice (Young, 1998, 479). As listed by Young (ibid) the mainstream political theories, developed consciously over last 25 years, although with inputs spanning over past hundred and fifty years, areSocial justice and welfare rights theory: Unlike Marxist theory of handing over the reins of government to workers, the social justice and welfare rights theory attempts to strike a cord of balance among different economic classes with their commitment to social equality and economic justice. One of major themes running through this theory is egalitarian distribution of resources to people who have been deprived of them, it doesn’t attempts forced equality among all classes of society.  Democratic theory: Also labeled as participative democratic theory, it lays emphasis on a concept of democracy that proceeds through age long ideals of democracy that proceed through active discussi on, participation and decision making by citizen, against the emerging plebiscite and inter-group pluralist concepts of the democratic mode (Pateman, 1970). The theory aims to achieve the goal of social equality through democratic participation that both helps as well as promotes social equality. The thrust of the theory is that a democracy that only provides voting rights to people for representatives who rule them remotely lacks the element of a real democracy. Instead the democratic set up should be made to incorporate citizen’s participation at every stage of the governance and decision making process. This in turns demands providing all the citizens with sufficient levels of education and economic and social uplifting whereby they are able to appreciate and exercise their democratic rights.Feminist political theory: It is a major emergent trend in the mainstream political theories, and one that brings in the question of female participation, as a separate entity, in the working of democracy. It helps in to integrate the elements of family relations, sexual biases, and gendered related discrimination in the political question.Marxism as an alternative theoryAs noted above, the essential philosophy Marxism lies in defining all the historical and social events in terms of manipulation of resources by capitalist forces that worked in depriving a majority of population from basic means of living. Marxist approach viewed social structure in terms of non-owning workers and non-working owners that was the root cause of every social and political evil. Marx defined all the events in form of ‘class struggle’ and placed supreme faith in human will (Freedman, 1990, 6).Marxism views human beings capable of molding their own destinies, creating their own world, and change the entire structure of a oppressive society to one where every one holds same dignity and right to a provisioned life. However its more than hundred years to Marx’s momento us work Das Capital that predicted downfall of bourgeois and capitalist system, an event which completely failed to materialize (Wolfe, 1985, 317). It points out to some considerable short sighting or inappropriate reading by Marx of the nature of interaction of social and economic forces.Marx, in predicting the immanent downfall of the existing capitalist system through popular revolution and protests by bourgeoisie, had given a sweeping and generalizing theory that was supposed to take into every possible factor and consequence of historical, social and human events. The theories of Ricardo, Hegel and Smith that Marx used to develop his own general explanation of all events were relatively semi –developed and in the transitory phase (Freedman, 1990, 126) and as could provide a very weak base to the daring presumptions and foresights that Marxism professed boldly.The theory failed to take into account the results of people’s will to act outside the boundaries that it imposed. It was, in a sense then, technically incapable to address issues emanating from this scenario, a flaw that later on emerged as a major shortcoming of the entire Marxist model.Marxism always stands in direct contrast to critical theory that was developed by Max Horkheimer in 1937 (Therborn, 1996). It was mean to be a critique of the theory of political economy and provide replacement of materialism embedded in the Marxist approach (ibid). Critical theory rejected the principles of division of labor and believes in social advances through meaningful and coordinated interaction among various classes, as against the Marxist approach of inherent and inevitable class struggle that has shaped up historyHistorical MaterialismIn the Marxist philosophical approach, history is a study in the development and evolution of the capitalist system. In the opinion of Marx the consciousness of a man is the product of his social being which defines the legal and political superstructures (Heil broner, 1980, 62). The materialism of Marxism differed sharply from idealism contained in the other approaches that saw history as product of different beliefs and approaches. Marx clearly stated that history is the product of labor, efforts and determination of countless men and women who worked to improve their material conditions in a material environment.Primarily what it signifies is that entire history of world is composed of forces of economics and compulsions of existence through limited resources. The thought processes and ideas that have been assumed to shape history, in Marxist ideology, were themselves product of the materialistic conditions (Heilbroner, 1980, 63). Marxism further takes the concept of materialism and intertwines it with class structure to lay the foundation of theory of class struggle that is presented as a direct consequence of material forces in operation.Although the historical materialistic view point of Marxist philosophy had been validated in defin ing some of the major events of history, however its broad generalization of economic activities has brought it under criticism from many theorists. Whereas Marxist ideology attempts to focus not primarily but only on economic factors, it has been perceived that even economic factors themselves are affected by social, political and religious factors (Heilbroner, 1980, 64).Marxism in context of USAAs a political and social theory Marxism has traditionally failed materialize in the USA. This is because the socialist theory of Marxism conflicts with the principles and ideals of democracy. Although it is true that true socialism as envisioned by Marx was never practiced anywhere, but the fact remains that within the scope of political models of Marxism there are ample opportunities for a political system to become authoritarian, culminating in kind of dictatorship that was hallmark of socialist USSR government (Geras, 1994). This is to say, the socialist structure proposed by Marxism is seriously vulnerable to deformation by individuals with such designs.However, within the framework of classical Marxism also democratic ideas have not found much support. Essentially Marxism advocates liberation and rule of workers, which has to occur independent of any form of government (ibid). Therefore it is indeed successful in outlining the process of social and political change but falters on the final form of governance that opens the doors for ambiguity, deformation and misinterpretation. This severely limits the democratic angle of Marxism.Further, with its sole emphasis on workers right and class struggle between proletariat and the bourgeois, Marxist ideology aims to create a society that lacks economic incentives to evolve and move ahead. In its aim to bring marginalized sections of society in the center, the model threatens to create a new section of marginalized. These inherent ideological differences with free, democratic and progressive ideals that USA has cherishe d since its independence define the incongruity of Marxism in the USA’s political, social and economic atmosphere.ReferenceAune JA ,1994,   Rhetoric and Marxis, Westview Press, Boulder, COFreedman, R, 1990, The Marxist System: Economic, Political, and Social Perspectives.Chatham House Publishers, Chatham, NJ.Heilbroner, RL, 1980,   Marxism, for and Against,W. W. Norton. New York. Young, IM,   1998, A New Handbook of Political Science. Edit, Robert E. Goodin – editor, Hans-Dieter Klingeman, Oxford University Press. Oxford.Geras, N. 1994. Democracy and the Ends of Marxism. New Left Review Volume: a. Issue: 203.PATEMAN, C. 1970. Participation and Democratic Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University PressWolfe, BD,1985,   Marxism, One Hundred Years in the Life of a Doctrine. Westview Boulder, CO.Therborn, G, Dialectics of Modernity, 1996, On Critical Theory and the Legacy of Twentieth-Century Marxism, New Left Review. Volume: a. Issue: 215.

Marketing Analysis of Li-Ning

LI-NING limited company was found in 1980. At the beginning of its establishment, it cooperated with Olympic team of China to push the development of sports goods. At the same time, LI-NING spared no effort to sponsor all kinds of matches. In 1995, it became the leading sports brand of China. Through exploration over 20 years, it gradually becomes a famous international sports brand representing China. In this report, it makes a marketing plan for the next three years according to detailed analyse of internal and external environment of LI-NING, which is based on the model of Benchmarking, Product Lifecycle and PESTEL. At the same time, it finds the key issues of LI-NING facing through news. Afterwards, according to the key issues, build the feasible objectives. And then it detailed recommend target market segment, positioning and marketing mix and critical factors for LI-NING limited company. Introduction Li-Ning Company Limited is one of the leading sports brand enterprises in the PRC, possessing brand marketing, research and development, design, manufacturing, distribution and retail capabilities. In addition, the mission of the company is that through sports to inspire people the desire and power to make breakthroughs. The vision is to be a world’s leading brand in the sports goods industry. At the same time, Breakthrough is the core values of LI-NING (LI-NING, 2010). There are a great number of products in LI-NING. However, Shoes of LI-NING is the aim of research in the report. Audit and analysis A marketing audit is a comprehensive systematic, periodic evaluation of a company’s marketing capabilities. The audit examines the goals, policies, and strategies of the marketing function. Marketing audits are performed on a regular basis by an unbiased, independent company and are used to improve a company’s overall marketing performance or to establish new marketing plans. An effective audit include these six points, they are marketing environment audit; marketing strategy audit; marketing organisation audit; marketing systems audit; marketing productivity audit and the marketing functions audit. (Kotler, et al, 2009) Audit is divided into two parts to analyse including internal and external analysis. Firstly, internal analysis onsists of two important points: the performance and determinates of strategic options. And two models will be adopted to make internal analysis, which are benchmarking process and product life cycle. In the performance, it is financial and marketing measures of past and current performance. Benchmarking process Researching and looking for the best practices in leading companies, it could compare with own enterprise, so that improving t o catch up the leading enterprise to enter and create a virtuous cycle of good performance. The key is learning from the best enterprise in the industry. In addition, through the study, the firm could rethink and improve the practices of business management, and then it could create their own best practice. Benchmarking focuses on practical experience and emphasis on specific links, interfaces and processes. (Kotler, et al, 2009) LI-NING regards NIKE and ADIDAS as its main competitors. At the same time, LI-NING is the leading sports brand in PRC. Actually, the product of LI-NING has advantage in the respect of sale, source and price. If it keeps remaining the advantage, it will have a good market share. If it loses the price advantage, although the advantage of brand and development of products still exist, the market share of LI-NING shoes will be decrease. At present, the main gap between LI-NING shoes and NIKE shoes is brand value. As for LI-NING, it is important to improve the value of shoes brand, so that it has the chance to increase market share, even catch up with NIKE and ADIDAS. Advantages and disadvantages of benchmarking Benchmarking is an effective management tool because it overcomes ‘paradigm blindness’. It gives firms a new method, idea and tool to improve their effectiveness. The major limitation is that it remains inadequateness to measure the whole effectiveness of such metrics. Product life cycle The product life cycle is defined as the period that starting with initial product design, such as research and development, and ending with the withdrawal of the products from the marketplace. It is a series of stages, including introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. This sequence is known as the product life cycle and is associated with changes in the marketing situation, thus impacting the marketing strategy and the marketing mix. LI-NING shoes are currently in the growth stage. On the one hand, LI-NING always wants to catch up with the sales of NIKE shoes in china. LI-NING continually research and develop new technologic shoes for young people interested in sport. At the moment, the demand of their new technological shoes is increasing. On the other hand, LI-NING is well known for providing sports products in china and lots of people like to purchase their shoes. Advantages of disadvantages of Product Life cycle Product Life cycle is an applicable method for the internal analysis. It is convenient for marketing manager to apply different marketing mix strategy based on the different stages. In addition, it is easy to observe due to the two variables, which are time and sales. There are 3 key points to describe the limitation of product life cycle. Firstly, there are no clear classification criteria of starting and ending point. Secondly, not all of product cycle curve is standard s-type; also there are many special product life cycle curves. Thirdly, the decline of product does not mean that it cannot regenerate. If it improved through appropriate ways, it could recreate a new product life cycle. External analysis It is determinants of strategic options refer to past and current strategies, strategic problems, organisational capabilities and constraints, financial resources and constraints, strengths and weaknesses. On the other hand, micro environment and macro environment are the key factors to analyse. Customers and competitors usually are considered as the micro environment factors. Any company cannot serve every customer in markets, only through effective market segmentation and then choose their own target market, so that companies can get market shares. Based on a few of professional marketing research, the customer of LI-NING shoes actually is higher than their excepted. The core customer is 14- 45. However, as for sports industry, the ideal age should be young people from 14-25 years old. However, because of the influence force of brand, budget of spread, market position and price strategy, the enterprise of sports products often focus on the second and third city. However, in the primary city, they cannot catch up with the international enterprise. So, LI-NING counts NIKE and ADIDAS as its main competitors. In the new competition time, LI-NING developed hi-technology and youthful products to compete with NIKE and ADIDAS. For instance, LI-NING developed the new technology called ‘gong’ as if the some shoes of NIKE put air in shoes, which is used in shoes to improve the bounce of people. PESTEL PESTEL is the main method to analyze the macro-environment, consisting of political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal. Political Johnson (2008) indicates that political is about business activities of organisation and the potential impact by political power, relevant policies laws and regulation. As for LI-NING, there is a stable political environment, and the main market in domestic which is supported by nation. On the other aspect, the policy will not change rules for controlling the organisation or collecting more tax, this helps LI-NING to compete with mighty foreign sports brand to occupy the market share of nation. Economic Johnson (2008) suggest that it is the economic structure of external organisation, industry distribution, resources situation, the level of economic development and the trend of economy in the future. China's increasing quickly economy is obviously known by people in the whole world. In 2010, the GDP is ?3405. 07 billion, which increased by 9. 1%. Based on the exchange rate of the end of year 2010, it is approximate 4986. 8 billion dollar which is rank of number three in the world. Therefore, the level of customer purchasing capacity enhance continually. Social Johnson (2008) suggests that it is about cultural change, expectations, demographics and family change. For the company of LI-NING, firstly, the language barrier does not seem an actual problem for foreign products in market. Secondly, because of the increase continually GDP of PRC, customer have consumption capacity to purchase ideal shoes. Technology Johnson (2008) indicate that technology include new technology of product, new design, new material, development trend and application prospects. As for LI-NING, the first is that the technology can reduce the cost of products and services, and increase the quality. Secondly, the improved technology can make it more convenient for customers to purchase products. For instance, customer can purchase product and pay money through internet bank. Thirdly, changing the way of sale by improving technology, LI-NING can sell shoes in network shop. Finally, technology improves a new way for LI-NING to communicate with customers. For example, customer can communicate with the company on the internet. Environment Johnson (2008) indicates that it is about an activities, product or services of organisation that can interact with the environment factors. As for LI-NING, it is the most famous brand in sports industry in PRC. However, it has a big gap to the world famous brand. Regarding as the leading enterprise in China, it has some influences on the other sports firms. On the other aspect, to produce LI-NING shoes is not dangerous for environment and it can be cyclic utilization. Legal Johnson (2008) indicates that it is the laws, regulations and judicial status of external organisation and the legal awareness of integrated system consisting of citizens. As for LI-NING, it has registered trade mark. Also it is not against law for the organisation to produce or to sell shoes. Advantages and disadvantages of PESTEL PESTLE can effectively analyse the macro-environment of LI-NING. As for the disadvantages of PESTEL, there is a rapid change in society and the effect of analysis will not last for a long time. In addition, PESTEL only refers to the external environment and sometime it needs to be considered in connect with other factors such as the organisation itself, competitors and the industry that it is operating. Key issues There are 5 key issues faced by LI-NING are below: 1) American marketing research organization, sporting goods intelligent (SGI), the beginning of January 2008 had shown the rank of market value for the whole world sporting goods companies. LI-NING beyond the Asics of Japan in the comprehensive world sporting goods companies. Arranging after NIKE, ADIDAS and PUMA, it is number four. The market value of NIKE is 32. 039 billion dollar, ADIDAS is 15. 364 billion dollar, puma is 6. 4 billion dollar and LI-NING is 3. 86 billion dollar. However, there is a big distance to catch up NIKE and ADIDAS. (bin 2008) 2) There is a wide gap between LI-NING and NIKE or ADIDAS. The days of sales of inventory of NIKE are 84 days, and ADIDAS is 64 days, but LI-NING is 161 days. It means the inventory of LI-NING occupied a large capital, which influence the cash flow and Return on Capital Employed. (song 2010) 3) The shoes of LI-NING are not professional in the aspect of sports shoes as NIKE and ADIDAS. The professional shoes of LI-NING remain keeping the level of the protection for athletes in competition. (song 2010) 4) Compared with the advertisement star of NIKE and ADIDAS, the spreading strategy of LI-NING cannot attract the eyes of customer. Because of the lack of super star, the popularity of LI-NING is lower than the other two competitors. ) Both of the two companies NIKE and ADIDAS have developed over 40 years, and the popularity of shoes is considerable bigger than shoes of LI-NING. Therefore, LI-NING could lost a number of customer who is aim to purchase the famous brand shoes. (CTEI 2009) Objectives The objective is the starting point of the marketing plan. The objectives can find after analysis the environment of market. In addition, the objecti ves should use SMART criteria. The SMART criteria are consisted of specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound. Specific means that the objective should state exactly what is to be obtained. For example, it might set an objective of getting ten hundreds new customers. Measurable means that an objective should be capable of measurement, so that it can be determined whether it has been obtained. Achievable means that the objectives should be realistic given circumstances in which it is set and the resources available to the business. Relevant means that objective should be relevant to the people responsible for achieving them. Time bound means that objectives should be set a deadline. To set up marketing objectives, there are two parts of objectives including marketing and financial. Doyle (2006) indicates that in the marketing goals that the marketing plan should have a clear sales goal. The primary market objectives are sales and share. In the financial goals, profits, return on investment and cash flow should be the primary financial objectives. For the LI-NING limited company, there are six objectives. Financial objectives: 1) Earn an annual rate of return on investment of 20% during the next three years after taxes. Compared with the data of year 2009, it should increase a little from 18% in 2009 to 20% during the next three years. 2) Achieve average net profits of ?23. million in China over the next three years period. Because the profits in 2009 is ?15. 6 million and the new series of professional sports shoes for target customers will coming in China market, and then the net profits will increase 50% at ?23. 4 million in the next year. 3) Achieve average cash flow of ?37. 9 million in China over the next three years period. Because of there will be a good sales in future, the inventory will reduce. Therefore, the cash flow will increase 40% to ?37. 9 million. Marketing objectives: 1) Increase the market share from 17% to 20% or 22% in china during the next three years. Due to the arrival of new sports series, it will attract a number of attentions from young person. Therefore, the market share will increase 3% to 5%. 2) Increase customer awareness of the professional sports shoes of LI-NING brand from 15% to 30% over the next three years period. The information of professional sports shoes could deliver to young customers interested in through all kinds of advertisement. Therefore, it will attract a large number of customers’ attention. Target market segments Market segmentation Before deciding the target market segment, it should make market segmentation. Doyle (2006) indicates that a market is divided into different homogeneous groups of consumers. They have different benefits wants, the amount they are able or willing to pay, the media they see and the quantities they buy. A market segment is a customer group with one or more characteristics that cause them to demand similar product. In most markets the need of for segmented offering is obvious because a single product will not meet all the customers. Segmentation has two variable types: needs and profilers. Customer needs are the basic criteria for segmentation of market. As for profilers, these are descriptive, measurable customer characteristics such as geographic location, nationality, age and income. Doyle (2006) states that ‘consumer and industrial markets generally differ in their sets of need and profiler variables’. Commonly, consumer market segmentation is divided by four main parts, Geographic, Demographic, Psychographic and Behavioural. Organisational market segmentation could consist of seven parts. They are industry of end user, organisational type, size of organisation, geographic location, application, usage and purchasing organisation. In addition, the strategy of choosing target market segment is important, and it has three ways to choose. 1) Undifferentiated marketing It means that enterprise regard the whole market as own target market. Stern (2006) indicates that enterprise ignores actual or potential differences among segments, and targets one offer to the whole market. 2) Differentiated marketing The strategy of differentiated marketing is divided the whole market into a number of different market. According to the different market, it develops different product considers the different marketing strategy to meet the needs of different customer. ) Focused marketing Stern (2006) indicates that firm does not aim to compete in the majority of the market, but rather specialises in one segment, or a small parts of segments. Therefore, the firm can exert the advantage in the minority market and improve the occupancy of market. Choosing target market segment However, the most important point is to choose target marke t segments. There are five factors govern the attractiveness of the segment, including segment size, segment growth, profitability of the segment, current and potential competition and capabilities of the business. LI-NING is a leading sports brand enterprises in the PRC, and their shoes product should have a right direction. There are three key points to describe the target market of LI-NING, including brand positioning, target market and target customer group. The selection of LI-NING target market: Brand positioning: young, fashion and professional sports shoes. The reason is that the market consumption capacity of young people has enhanced and people have the tendency to buy high-end products. Target market: relatively quite wealthy city. The reason is that LI-NING as a leading brand of sports industry is quite expensive for low income group. Because of LI-NING is aim to produce good quality and functional shoes, the cost could higher than normal shoes. Therefore, it is suitable for relatively quite wealthy city to purchase. Target customer group: 14-35 years old, athlete, young person, people who love sports. And the most of middle-end market and the less of high-end and low-end market and The reason is that the shoes of LI-NING are quite suitable for young person and athlete. Additionally, it has the function to protect foot when people putted on shoes. On the other respect, according to produce some high quality to improve the image of product, for instances the product suitable to play golf. On the other hand, to produce the low-end product, it is aim to reduce the interference from the other low-end brand. However, the core market is the middle-end market. In the market, it can follow the original brand, which is aim at ages around 24 to 35 years old that they have quite good income and consumption capacity, and also they are the main customers of LI-NING. Market positioning To make a market positioning, it should choose a strategy to position it and apply a suitable tool to analyse. Firstly, market positioning has been shown how a business can offer superior value by strategies that add value or reduce costs. Marketing positioning also called product positioning, which is according to the position of the existing product of competitors in the market segment to create a new product which is different with competitors’ to give customer different feeling, so that the product possess the capacity to compete. Doyle and Stern, 2006) On the other hand, before making market positioning, it should analyse the situation of market, and then to choose an appropriate tool to find the answer of market positioning. There are two tools to analyse it, including perceptual mapping and the pane mapping. Compared with pane mapping, the perceptual mapping is quite usual in normal analysis. It is a visualization statement of customer for products or brand perception and preference. The aim is to attempt to deliver the view of customer or potential customer using a clear and visual map. The chart has shown the information about LI-NING, NIKE and PUMA. Both of NIKE and PUMA have high quality. And then, the shoes of LI-NING have the gap to them in the quality. On the other hand, compared with NIKE and PUMA, LI-NING has the advantage of price. LI-NING can apply the price advantage to expand stores in the most of city, so that people who have low income and cannot afford to buy the product of NIKE and PUMA could purchase the shoes of LI-NING which is also a famous sports brand in the world. In addition, according to a new positioning in market, LI-NING has another advantage, which is possessed the approximate function and fashion design to attract more customers of young person. Meanwhile, to choose an appropriate strategy to position product, it is possible to beat competitors. Therefore, the strategy of market positioning is a kind of strategy of competition, which means that according to the characteristic of product and the awareness of customer for product determine the competition relationship between own product and competitors’. There are three ways for enterprises to position market. * Avoiding powerful enterprises positioning It means that avoiding powerful enterprises to find a place which is belong to self. The advantage is avoiding the directly competition with powerful firm, and build an own image in customer’s mind. Because of the way of position has a quite low risk, and has a high success rate. Usually, it is adopt by the most firms. * Competitive positioning The aim of the way is to compete with powerful competitors, so that it can achieve a great market advantage once beat powerful competitors. However, there is high risk for firm. * Repositioning It is to change characterise of product, and then changed the image in customers’ mind. The aim is for target customer having a new understanding for the new image of product. Wilson and Gilligan 2005) LI-NING should adopt the way of repositioning. The reason is that from 2006 to 2007, LI-NING has researched the main customer group, and it has big gap between actual customer group and target customer group. The age of actual customer group is around 35 to 40, so that a number of young person feel that LI-NING is inferior t o international brands on the cool and fashion. It is unsustainable for LI-NING in the future. To catch up the new objectives which love and focus by a great number of young person, LI-NING should adopt the way to change the old image in customer’s mind. At the same time, according to change the technology and design of shoes, it is possible loved by more and more young person. Marketing mix Marketing mix is the sort of marketing decisions, which management makes to apply its positioning strategy and reach its objectives. There are four parts in marketing mix including product, price, promotion, and place. Product decisions include product variety, product performance, product features, product design, packaging, sizes and brand name. Price consists of discounts, allowances, geographical pricing, payment terms and credit terms. As for promotion, it includes sales force, public relations, customer promotion, advertising, trade promotion and direct marketing. Place refer to distribution selection, density of distribution and dealer support. (Doyle ;Stern, 2006) Product As for LI-NING, it is facing a strong challenge from NIKE and ADIDAS in the future. To keep the shoes of specialization, technological innovation is the key point. LI-NING should keep researching and developing the shoes which is good for young person more professional and fashion. The price should suits the level of young person and lowers than NIKE and ADIDAS, so that a number of customers choose the shoes of LI-NING. According to the value principal, even though the price of LI-NING shoes is lower than the other competitors such as NIKE and ADIDAS, the degree of satisfaction and comfort is quite high. Promotion There are three key points. Firstly, to find the suitable sports match to sponsor, it attracts a large number of attentions for LI-NING shoes. Secondly, it should make an accurate advertisement positioning. ‘Make the change’ is the slogan of LI-NING. The aim is to give customers an impression that they could change everything when they putted on shoes of LI-NING. Finally, it should choose a suitable media to spread advertisement such as TV, newspaper, internet and broadcast. Place The place should distribute with two methods including traditional and new distribution. In traditional distribution LI-NING has its own stores where consumers could purchase it. Also LI-NING could use intermediaries to sell its shoes. On the other hand, in the new distribution it could sell shoes on the internet through the online store. Critical factors Critical factors refer to the detailed implement and control of marketing plan for companies. It helps companies to achieve expected objectives. Firstly, marketing implementation is a strategy, which means that it is the process from marketing plan to action and task. Also, it make sure the task is been completed. For the other point, marketing control is a working system to make sure firms run according to expected objectives. (Kotler, 2000) As for LI-NING, there are five critical factors in the implement and control of marketing plan. ) The strength and direction of advertisement. Advertisement is a method of promotion. Efficient implementation of advertisement can increase the popularity of LI-NING shoes, and then a large number of customers will concentrate on it. 2) The quantity and quality of raw materials. Possessing enough raw materials can help the firm to produce enough shoes to meet the needs of customers. Additionally, because of high quality of raw mater ials, LI-NING can produce the high quality shoes. 3) The depth of researching and developing technology. Technology is a key point for LI-NING to positioning. Developing the professional sports shoes through deeply researching on technology can help LI-NING to reach objectives smoothly. 4) The grasp of the professional sports technology knowledge for dealers and salesmen. It increases the impression of LI-NING for customer. Because dealers and salesmen can detailed describe the functions of shoes to increase the impression of LI-NING shoes which is the product of high technology. 5) The monitoring level of manager. For instance, in the process of marketing implementation, the effective monitoring on each step from manager can help LI-NING to immediately find the existing problems and solve them. Recommendation The shoes of LI-NING are in the growth stage of the Product Lifecycle, there are many methods can keep it increasing. A few suggestions mentioned below to help LI-NING. 1)The direction of advertisement should aim at target customer group. Since the customers between 15 and 29 years old are quite like watching basketball and football matches in china, LI-NING should sponsor these matches to attract the attention of young customers. 2)The LI-NING shoes are the marketing leader in the sports brand in china. Therefore, it should try and introduce new series products to take more market share. The brand loyal customers will also buy the new series products to try. 3)LI-NING should offer a sale of bundle on selling shoes. For instance, on the purchase of a pair of shoes, the price of accessory such as stocks and shoelace is discounted or is a presentation. 4)Product differentiation of LI-NING shoes is a key factor. The LI-NING shoes have different series for different situation to wear. Therefore, it should to describe the different shoes on advertisement, websites, and retailer, helping customers to choose the right one for them. )As for the shoes of ultralight series, it is positioned as racing shoes. However, there is a same type product existing called marathon. Therefore, it is better to change the ultralight to the kind of performance training that could be a new product and will be concerned. 6) Allow customers to try shoes is another way for LI-NING to effectively sell shoes. When new shoes arrival in store, it should allow customers to try the shoes within 60 days. If they not satisfy the shoes, customers can send back their shoes. 7)Enhance training salesmen. They should improve politeness and professional knowledge to communicate with customers better. Conclusion. In a word, this report adopts relevant models to analyse the internal environment and external environment of LI-NING. It finds the key issues through news. Based on the analysis of key issues, the feasible objectives are drawn up for the company. In addition, the marketing management action suggests are given to reach the objectives. The marketing management action includes target market segment, positioning and marketing mix and critical factors in implementation and control. Finally, there are some recommendations given to LI-NING shoes. ;

Your recent article on corporate downsizing in the United St essays

Your recent article on corporate downsizing in the United St essays The author seeks to contradict a recent newspaper article that - in her words -gave the impression that downsizing inflicted serious economic hardships on competent people. She cites a recent survey that claimed that a greater number of high paying jobs were created than the number of jobs lost to downsizing. She also mentions that the majority of those downsized found jobs and thus declared that the article was misleading. I find her criticism of the article unsupported by the survey cited. First, according to the author, the article is misleading because it says that those downsized had to face hardships before finding employment. Clearly, the article does not claim that people could not find new jobs, only that they had to struggle, often for several years before gaining employment. The survey cited by the author does not refute any of these claims made by the article. It may be true that a large number of new jobs are created and that the people who lost jobs finally find jobs. However there are two questions that the survey does not answer. First, how long did it take those downsized to find these new jobs There are reasons to believe that they did not get them quickly as the article said. It is likely that the people downsized had to acquire new skills to be eligible for the new jobs being created. The survey does not mention the areas in which the new jobs were created, but it is reasonable to expect that the new jobs would not be in the same areas in which downs izing is being witnessed. It is possible for a company to downsize even though new jobs are being created in the same field , but if a number of companies are downsizing , it is probably because the markets are down and companies are over-staffed. Acquiring new skills is likely to take some time, besides money. Even a reasonable computer course would take atleast a year. The article does not say that the people did not find jobs at all, only it took time. The survey d...

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Definition and Discussion of Enlightenment Rhetoric The expression  Enlightenment rhetoric refers to the study and practice of rhetoric from the mid-seventeenth century to the early part of the nineteenth century. Influential rhetorical works from this period include George Campbells Philosophy of Rhetoric, first published in 1776, and Hugh Blairs Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, first published in 1783. George Campbell, who lived from 1719 to 1796, was a Scottish minister, theologian, and philosopher of rhetoric. Hugh Blair, who lived from 1718 to 1800, was a Scottish minister, teacher, editor, and rhetorician. Campbell and Blair are just two of the many important figures associated with the Scottish Enlightenment. As Winifred Bryan Horner notes in the Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition, Scottish rhetoric in the 18th century was broadly influential, especially in the formation of the North American composition course as well as in the development of 19th- and 20th-century rhetorical theory and pedagogy. 18th-Century Era of Enlightenment Rhetoric Essays written on rhetoric and style in the 1700s include Of Eloquence by Oliver Goldsmith and Of Simplicity and Refinement in Writing by David Hume. On Conciseness of Style in Writing and Conversation by Vicesimus Knox and Samuel Johnson on the Bugbear Style were also produced during this era. Periods of Western Rhetoric Western rhetoric can be divided into distinct categories: classical rhetoric, medieval rhetoric, Renaissance rhetoric, 19th-century rhetoric, and new rhetoric(s). Bacon and Locke Thomas P. Miller, Eighteenth-Century Rhetoric British advocates of enlightenment grudgingly accepted that while logic could inform the reason, rhetoric was necessary to rouse the will to action. As propounded in [Francis] Bacons Advancement of Learning (1605), this model of the mental faculties established the general frame of reference for efforts to define rhetoric according to the workings of the individual consciousness...Like such successors as [John] Locke, Bacon was a practicing rhetor active in the politics of his time, and his practical experience led him to recognize that rhetoric was an inevitable part of civic life. Although Lockes Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) criticized rhetoric for exploiting the artifices of language to promote factional divisions, Locke himself had lectured on rhetoric at Oxford in 1663, responding to the popular interest in the powers of persuasion that has overcome philosophical reservations about rhetoric in periods of political change. Overview of Rhetoric in the Enlightenment Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg, The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings From Classic Times to the Present Toward the end of the 17th century, traditional rhetoric came to be closely associated with the genres of history, poetry, and literary criticism, the so-called belles lettres - a connection that persisted well into the 19th century. Before the end of the 17th century, however, traditional rhetoric came under attack by adherents of the new science, who claimed that rhetoric obscured the truth by encouraging the use of ornamented rather than plain, direct language...The call for a plain style, taken up by church leaders and influential writers, made perspicuity, or clarity, a watchword in discussions of ideal style during the ensuing centuries. An even more profound and direct influence on rhetoric at the beginning of the 17th century was Francis Bacons theory of psychology...It was not until the middle of the 18th century, however, that a complete psychological or epistemological theory of rhetoric arose, one that focused on appealing to the mental faculties in order to persuade...the elocution movement, which focused on delivery, began early in the 18th century and lasted through the 19th. Lord Chesterfield on the Art of Speaking Lord Chesterfield (Philip Dormer Stanhope), letter to his son Let us return to oratory, or the art of speaking well; which should never be entirely out of your thoughts, since it is so useful in every part of life, and so absolutely necessary in most. A man can make no figure without it, in parliament, in the church, or in the law; and even in common conversation, a man that has acquired an easy and habitual eloquence, who speaks properly and accurately, will have a great advantage over those who speak incorrectly and inelegantly. The business of oratory, as I have told you before, is to persuade people; and you easily feel, that to please people is a great step towards persuading them. You must then, consequently, be sensible how advantageous it is for a man, who speaks in public, whether it be in parliament, in the pulpit, or at the bar (that is, in the courts of law), to please his hearers so much as to gain their attention; which he can never do without the help of oratory. It is not enough to speak the language he speaks in, in its utmost purity, and according to the rules of grammar, but he must speak it elegantly, that is, he must choose the best and most expressive words, and put them in the best order. He should likewise adorn what he says by proper metaphors, similes, and other figures of rhetoric; and he should enliven it, if he can, by quick and sprightly turns of wit. Philosophy of Rhetoric Jeffrey M. Suderman, Orthodoxy and Enlightenment: George Campbell in the Eighteenth Century Modern rhetoricians agree that [George Campbells] Philosophy of Rhetoric pointed the way to the new country, in which the study of human nature would become the foundation of the oratorical arts. A leading historian of British rhetoric has called this work the most important rhetorical text to emerge from the 18th century, and a considerable number of dissertations and articles in specialized journals have eked out the details of Campbells contribution to modern rhetorical theory. Alexander Broadie, The Scottish Enlightenment Reader One cannot go far into rhetoric without encountering the concept of a faculty of the mind, for in any rhetorical exercise the faculties of intellect, imagination, emotion (or passion), and will are exercised. It is therefore natural that George Campbell attends to them in The Philosophy of Rhetoric. These four faculties are appropriately ordered in the above way in rhetorical studies, for the orator first has an idea, whose location is the intellect. By an act of imagination, the idea is then expressed in suitable words. These words produce a response in the form of an emotion in the audience, and the emotion inclines the audience to will the acts that the orator has in mind for them. Arthur E. Walzer, George Campbell: Rhetoric in the Age of Enlightenment While scholars have attended to the 18th-century influences on Campbells work, Campbells debt to the ancient rhetoricians has received less attention. Campbell learned a great deal from the rhetorical tradition and is very much a product of it. Quintilians Institutes of Oratory is the most comprehensive embodiment of classical rhetoric ever written, and Campbell apparently regarded this work with a respect that bordered on reverence. Although the Philosophy of Rhetoric is often presented as paradigmatic of a new rhetoric, Campbell did not intend to challenge Quintilian. Quite the contrary: he sees his work as confirmation of Quintilians view, believing that the psychological insights of 18th-century empiricism would only deepen our appreciation for the classical rhetorical tradition. Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres James A. Herrick, The History and Theory of Rhetoric [Hugh] Blair defines style as the peculiar manner in which a man expresses his conceptions, by means of language. Thus, style is for Blair a very broad category of concern. Moreover, style is related to ones manner of thinking. Thus, when we are examining an authors composition, it is, in many cases, extremely difficult to separate the style from the sentiment. Blair was apparently of the opinion, then, that ones style - ones manner of linguistic expression - provided evidence of how one thought. Practical matters..are at the heart of the study of style for Blair. Rhetoric seeks to make a point persuasively. Thus, rhetorical style must attract an audience and present a case clearly. Of perspicuity, or clarity, Blair writes that there is no concern more central to style. After all, if clarity is lacking in a message, all is lost. Claiming that your subject is difficult is no excuse for lack of clarity, according to Blair: if you cant explain a difficult subject clearly, you probably dont understand it...Much of Blairs counsel to his young readers includes such reminders as any words, which do not add some importance to the meaning of a sentence, always spoil it. Winifred Bryan Horner, Eighteenth-Century Rhetoric Blairs Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres was adopted at Brown in 1783, at Yale in 1785, at Harvard in 1788, and by the end of the century was the standard text at most American colleges...Blairs concept of taste, an important doctrine of the 18th century, was adopted worldwide in the English-speaking countries. Taste was considered an inborn quality that could be improved through cultivation and study. This concept found a ready acceptance, particularly in the provinces of Scotland and North America, where improvement became a basic tenet, and beauty and good were closely connected. The study of English literature spread as rhetoric turned from a generative to an interpretive study. Finally, rhetoric and criticism became synonymous, and both became sciences with English literature as the observable physical data. Sources Bacon, Francis. Advancement of Learning. Paperback, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, September 11, 2017. Bizzell, Patricia. The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings From Classic Times to the Present. Bruce Herzberg, Second Printing Edition, Bedford/St. Martins, February 1990. Blair, Hugh. Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, Paperback, BiblioBazaar, July 10, 2009. Broadie, Alexander. The Scottish Enlightenment Reader. Canongate Classic, Paperback, Canongate UK, June 1, 1999. Campbell, George. The Philosophy of Rhetoric, Paperback, University of Michigan Library, January 1, 1838. Goldsmith, Oliver. The Bee: A Collection of Essays. Kindle Edition, HardPress, July 10, 2018. Herrick, James A. The History and Theory of Rhetoric. 6th Edition, Routledge, September 28, 2017. Hume, David. Essay XX: of Simplicity and Refinement in Writing. Online Library of Liberty, 2019. Johnson, Samuel. The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: An essay on the life and genius of Samuel Johnson. G. Dearborn, 1837. Knox, Vicesimus. Knoxs Essays, Volume 22. J.F. Dove, 1827. Sloane, Thomas O. (Editor). Encyclopedia of Rhetoric. v. 1, Oxford University Press, August 2, 2001. Stanhope, Philip Dormer Earl of Chesterfield. Letters to His Son: On the Fine Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman. Volume 2, M. W. Dunne, 1901. Suderman, Jeffrey M. Orthodoxy and Enlightenment: George Campbell in the Eighteenth Century. McGill-Queens Studies in the Hist of Id, 1st Edition, McGill-Queens University Press, October 16, 2001. Various. Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition. Theresa Jarnagin Enos (Editor), 1st Edition, Routledge, March 19, 2010. Various. Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition: Communication from Ancient Times to the Information Age. Theresa Jarnagin Enos (Editor), 1st Edition, Routledge, March 19, 2010. Walzer, Arthur E. George Campbell: Rhetoric in the Age of Enlightenment. Rhetoric in the Modern Era, Southern Illinois University Press, October 10, 2002.

Racial Self-Loathing in the Bluest Eye Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Racial Self-Loathing in the Bluest Eye - Essay Example The MacTeer family shares several elements with Morrison's family, fighting poverty during the Great Depression, with a grandfather who played the violin and a mother who sang. When Morrison was emerging as a writer during the 1960's, the â€Å"Black is Beautiful† movement was in full swing, with the primary goal of reestablishing the notion that African-Americans could be beautiful. In this novel, Pecola Breedlove's development serves to express Morrison's vitriol toward the racial self-loathing that typified the black experience when Morrison was growing up. The desire that blacks felt in those years to be accepted as beautiful in the majority white culture caused the characters of the novel to hate their own color and feel ashamed of their cultural background. This self-loathing becomes a generational tradition, moving down from one set of parents to their children, and so on. Pecola Breedlove wants to emerge from the darkness of living as a black girl: â€Å"Here was an u gly little black girl asking for beauty...a little black girl who wanted to rise up out of the pit of her blackness and see the world with blue eyes† (174). She wants to have blue eyes so badly that she goes through the primitive ritual that Soaphead Church gives her, feeding a packet of meat to a dog on the porch, and divining from the dog's response what would happen to her. Interestingly, the dog chokes on the meat, â€Å"his mouth chomping the air, and promptly [falls] down...[moving] like a broken toy around the yard† (176). There is a reason, though, why Pecola is willing to go to such grotesque lengths to change her appearance. Pecola's genuine African-American features make her ugly, at least according to the white way of seeing things. The physical traits that she has will ensure that she will always be the subject of that prototypical racism – the same hatred that would teach that â€Å"[t]o give the black girl a white doll in the early sixties was to mainstream the black girl into the culture, to say that she was worthy of the same kind of doll that a white doll would have† (Early 414). Because this idea was so firmly entrenched when Morrison was a child, she grew up thinking that her blackness created a connection with a time of primitive and uncivilized ways. Pecola ultimately feels that she must be hideous and that tragedy will befall her, because she lacks white skin – and blue eyes. Indeed, she says that everyone would like her if she had blue eyes (46). In the years when Morrison was growing up, black society in the United States was still caught up in an imitation of unrealistic modes such as that which would be later perpetuated as the myth of Barbie, who is â€Å"anything but real† (Hooks 610). In other words, black artists tried to paint like an ideal of white artists instead of like themselves; black singers tried to sound like an ideal of white singers instead of like themselves, all pursuing a fa lse dream that was not attainable. The Harlem Renaissance and the advent of the jazz movement had yet to make their dent in this imitation – but those days were not far off. Pecola clearly wants to imitate the ways of white society; indeed, the reason that she loves Mary Jane candy is that she thinks eating it will turn her white: â€Å"Smiling white face. Blond hair in gentle disarray, blue eyes looking at her out of clean comfort...To eat the candy is somehow to eat the eyes, eat Mary Jane. Love Mary Jane. Be Mary Jane†

CPI valuation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

CPI valuation - Essay Example The price-to-earnings ratio represents the difference between CPI’s current share price in the market as compared to its per-share earnings. Currently CPI has earnings exceeding $200,000,000 annually, however, it is only regionally located at this time within the United States. Major competitors of CPI in similar areas, hair care and personal hygiene are globally positioned with revenues in the billions annually. This specifically means that CPI is not able to play at the same level as some of the larger conglomerates. For instance Proctor and Gamble a global competitor listed as PG on the New York Stock Exchange traded on Friday April 21, 2011 for 63.27 a share with a volume of 10,616,245 shares on the market (Proctor and Gamble, 2011). This allows for over 600 million dollars in revenue available through stocks alone, with over 2/3rds more revenue than CPI in stocks alone in addition to a global presence Proctor and Gamble easily outpaces CPI. However, this is one aspect and should not keep the board from advancing the proposal to globalize and expand our market base and operations.

Outsourcing Functions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Outsourcing Functions - Essay Example Army takes active support of the capabilities of special operations forces, for the functioning of landlines of communication, and other civil programs. A whole range of missions is assigned by the National Command Authorities for the army to play its crucial role with the support from the core competencies. Thus, the core competencies relate to structuring the country’s security environment, quick action against natural or human created crisis, mobilizing the army to be a part of the action on war front, crossing the enemy physical borders by forcing entry, long term hold of foreign lands to resolve the conflicts, closing with and defeating of enemy forces through precision fires and maneuvers by using information technology to its advantage. These are the critical skills that an army must develop and nurture so that it is looked upon with great respect by the powers that matter . Other core capabilities of army include commanding and control of Joint and Multinational Forces that require inter-organization collaboration on united handling of capabilities to foster competency. Army manages and safeguards people, land and natural resources as well. It organizes sustained operations of essentials to the army that includes supply, engineer, finance, medical, and personnel units. Army supports the civil authorities in domestic and global urgencies as well. These are such functions, which the army should outsource to outside companies that have greater expertise to competently perform the related tasks. It will leave enough room for the army to pay attention to more demanding tasks for which it is formed . The Corps of Engineers is one such organization, which is a part of the army. It is in the same way facing hardships in managing

Can the environment be assisted by the protection offered by human Dissertation

Can the environment be assisted by the protection offered by human rights - Dissertation Example If the basic definition of human rights is seen, then it’s a subject that is not just focused on humans but rights that arise from being human and is not concerned with anything else of nature no matter how beautiful or important position it holds in the ecosystem. The origins of the subject of human rights come from the works of Thomas Hobbes, who considered individual as an independent entity fighting to survive in a â€Å"hostile state†. Thus simply put human rights are fulfillment of an individual’s dreams and aspiration in any way possible. So by gauging from Hobbs understanding of the term human rights it can be deduced that the theory of human rights would have problems with dealing more than one human around as it is so focused on a single human and his rights. Many have argued that it has been very difficult for human rights theory itself, to combat, two very important concept, firstly individualism, which is the core of the theory and secondly, that all human should be able to live self fulfilling lives and get along with each other. To overcome this problem of narcissism and secure support for â€Å"marginalized people†, in the past human rights activist have compared the plights of such people to animals like, the aborigines in Australia or the native American, when it is said not to treat them like animals. However, this is at the expense of the animals or any non human life form and implies that it is completely alright to mistreat non human life forms. Thus, it is argued that if a theory has such difficulties in being able to allow all humans to be covered by the basic human rights that it has to take the support of mistreatment of animals to make any progress then it would definitely fail in providing non humans life forms any support if they... It can be seen that though the world in the past has greatly operated on the principle of anthropocentrism it has become increasingly important now to turn toward Ecocentrism. The main reason for this is that human beings of late have realized that the world’s natural resources are not infinite. Thus in order for them to be able to use these resources in the future too it is necessary for them not to exploit the resources rather use them in moderation. More over before taken any activity it is important that state and non state actors conduct a cost benefit analysis not just with themselves in perspective rather the whole community. It is also important for the developed countries to understand that if an underdeveloped country is willing to take environmentally friendly actions at the cost of its own countries development than it is necessary for them to provide the underdeveloped countries some sort of compensation. Moreover it is also necessary that further in roads should be made in rule and laws for environment protection. Additionally, it can be clearly stated that Human Rights after the Stockholm Declaration can assist environment protection. This is because by endangering the environment we violate Human Rights laws like Right to Health. However, though the support of environmentally friendly policies is strong a lack of action is seen on the front such many countries not support Kyoto Protocol.

Parliamentary Sovereignty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Parliamentary Sovereignty - Essay Example The constitutional status and the political role of the judiciary have been substantially altered by the European Communities Act 1972 and the Human Rights Act 1998. When England took up the membership of the European economic committee in 1973, the authority of judiciary improved significantly.As such, the authority to assess and deny parliamentary statutes was bestowed upon the judiciary, under circumstances when the statutes were not in compliance with community law. In particular, the European Communities Act 1972 gave legal effect to the subjection of the UK to existing and future Community law. This indicated acceptance of the direct applicability and supremacy of Community law over domestic law. Consequently, the domestic courts were conferred with important powers and jurisdiction.Although parliamentary sovereignty ensures that the British parliament, can at any point of time rescind the authority of EU law, by taking drastic measures, even to the extent of withdrawing from t he EU, it is now not economically or politically viable to take such an extreme decision and face the repercussions of doing so. The European Communities Act 1972, at Section 2, enjoins that every piece of parliamentary legislation has to be construed and applied in compliance with Community law. Hence, English law has to be interpreted as being subject to the principle of supremacy of Community law.For example, in Van Gend en Loos, it was held that a new legal order had come into existence, due to the Community.

Old Testament Book Summaries Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Old Testament Book Summaries - Assignment Example During this time the Israelites depended on manna from heaven to feed them. Only a daily amount could be collected. Faith in Yaweh was reinforced through the law. When Moses brought down the Ten Commandments and found the Israelites making an idol, he broke the stone tablets. The law was based around the Ten Commandments. Moses’ death before entering the Promise Land was due to his disobedience. Joshua actually led the Israelites into the Promise Land. The genre of this book is the imparting of wisdom. Key themes are Solomon’s belief that the only way for happiness is searching for God. The mistakes of his life are outlined and his path to happiness was a relationship with God. Key events are vague. The author speaks of obtaining wealth, women, and everything else seemingly desired by man. He then talks of not being happy with these material objects. The key figure in this book can only be accurately describes as a Son of David. Many speculate that this means Solomon. Since Solomon became king after David and was granted the gift of wisdom, this is logical. This book also contains the famous passages about their being a time for everything. The time to sow and everything else is written in this book. The author ends the book with the conclusion that everything under the sun is futile. Seeking God is the only way to find happiness. The genre of this book is narrative. The key theme is familial duty and loyalty. Key events are the marriage of Elimelech and Naomi’s sons Mahlon and Chilion to Ruth and Orpah, the father and sons’ death, Naomi’s return to Bethlehem with Ruth, Ruth’s gleaning of Boaz’s fields, and her eventual marriage to Boaz. Key people are Ruth, the main character, Naomi, and Boaz. This book deals with Ruth’s loyalty to Naomi. Ruth could have gone home after the death of her husband, but chose to go with Naomi to Bethlehem. As a result of her loyalty, Boaz gave her the job of gleaning his field after workers would reap the

Parliamentary Sovereignty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Parliamentary Sovereignty - Essay Example The constitutional status and the political role of the judiciary have been substantially altered by the European Communities Act 1972 and the Human Rights Act 1998. When England took up the membership of the European economic committee in 1973, the authority of judiciary improved significantly.As such, the authority to assess and deny parliamentary statutes was bestowed upon the judiciary, under circumstances when the statutes were not in compliance with community law. In particular, the European Communities Act 1972 gave legal effect to the subjection of the UK to existing and future Community law. This indicated acceptance of the direct applicability and supremacy of Community law over domestic law. Consequently, the domestic courts were conferred with important powers and jurisdiction.Although parliamentary sovereignty ensures that the British parliament, can at any point of time rescind the authority of EU law, by taking drastic measures, even to the extent of withdrawing from t he EU, it is now not economically or politically viable to take such an extreme decision and face the repercussions of doing so. The European Communities Act 1972, at Section 2, enjoins that every piece of parliamentary legislation has to be construed and applied in compliance with Community law. Hence, English law has to be interpreted as being subject to the principle of supremacy of Community law.For example, in Van Gend en Loos, it was held that a new legal order had come into existence, due to the Community.

Computerised quotation system Essay Example for Free

Computerised quotation system Essay The task that I am going to provide a solution for is to produce a computerised quotation system for S S Insurances. EXISTING SYSTEM: Thomas Davidson is currently a broker providing insurance for cars. At present he insures through a financial institution, S S Finances. He is a broker working for the insurance company S S Insurances. He has worked with many insurance companies in the past trying to find the best deal so that he can earn a good amount of profit. He finally made a deal with S S Insurances in which he can gain a good amount of commission. His job is to find customers who would like to buy insurance for their cars and he gains a commission of 7.5% for each customer to whom he sells a quote. He started his career as a broker approximately three years ago after being made redundant as a factory worker assembling car parts. He has no employees working for him at the moment. However his wife helps him with the paperwork when she can. Thomas works full- time from his home study, which is located in the heart of Streatham. In the past Thomas has had a lot of experience dealing with customers and clients. He now has a number of devoted customers who frequently contact him when the renewal for their car insurance is due. Thomas usually interacts with his customers over the phone from his study; sometimes however he does conduct business at the home of his customer to their convenience. When Thomas finds an interested client he firstly explains to the client everything that is involved in the quote. In order for Thomas to calculate the insurance quote, he uses a calculator, a record of tables with the insurance ratings provided by S S Insurances and his diary where he notes all the information down. The insurance ratings show a different variety of things the first table is the insurance group, which shows the basic cost for a car depending on the cars make, price and power. The more expensive and powerful the car, higher the basic cost. Thomas then adjusts the basic cost by multiplying it by various factors, which could affect the insurance. Age is also a factor, the older the driver is, the less they are considered as a risk. Sex is also a factor; a female is considered as a less of a risk than males. The area you live in is also a criterion which Thomas considers before issuing an insurance quote, if you live in a high risk sensitive area you are likely to pay more. The customer can then choose what type of insurance he would like; third party only, third party fire and theft or fully comprehensive. The insurance also offers an extra driver criterion, which can be added at an increased cost. Thomas then offers a discount to the customers if they have had no claims varying from the past year or five years. Thomas then calculates the quote by multiplying the basic cost with all the factor multipliers and seeing if they can get a discount and then giving the customer the final result. Thomas writes all of the things discussed and quotations in his diary. If the client agrees to go ahead with the quote after hearing the final cost, Thomas makes a word- processed quote, which he then sends to S S Insurances. From there S S Insurances make the actual policy and then send it directly to the customer. Thomas does possess a computer and laptop at home, which his children use for educational purposes. Thomas has very little knowledge about using computers, however to produce the insurance quotes which are word-processed his daughter helps him and recently Thomas has started to produce the quotes by himself since he is gradually learning to use a computer, even though he is slow with the typing. Thomas makes hand-written notes about all his clients, their details and policies, which is time consuming and can get tiring and boring despite having a computer due to his lack of computer skills. Furthermore sometimes Thomas wife also helps him with the paperwork, if there are too many customers wishing to have a quote ready. Thomas says that most of his customers find out about his business by word of mouth or from the consequence of the advert he has placed in the local newspaper, if he could he would also like to attract more customers to increase the standard of his living. Thomas Davidson finds the existing manual way he issues quotes prolonged and exhausting and would like to automate the system. He would also prefer to make more use of his laptop, however his lack of computer skills is a problem and therefore would like to be able to issue quotes on a simple and straightforward system. He would also like to automate the system so that it would be much faster to issue quotes and therefore would not have to spend too much time doing things manually. At the moment he hardly gets anytime to spend with his children especially when there is a heavy workload. Thomas feels that if he were able to get the system to be computerised he would like to employ some staff and expand and preferably shift into an office. He would also like to work with more than one insurance company at the same time if possible in the near future. CONSTRAINTS: There are not many constraints however there are a few which are important. My user Thomas Davidson has no experience of using a computer except for possessing basic typing skills. This means the system will have to be easy and simple to use and understand. Another constraint is time, although my user does not want the system to be made immediately or as soon as possible. However he would like the computerised system to be created soon so that he can use it and update all his handwritten manual notes onto the system and be able to use it with future clients. USER REQUIREMENTS: My user is Thomas Davidson, who is a broker for S S Insurances for whom I will be creating a computerised quotation system. He would like the following requirements to be taken into account. * To be able to see the total cost of the insurance quote. * To be able to see the total cost of the insurance quote before a discount is given. * To be able to print the quotation. * To make sure that system is safe and secure. * To be able to see the details of all the customers such as; forename, surname, age, and the type of insurance they would like. * To be able to store the issued quotes so that they can be used at a later date. * To enable phone enquiries to be dealt much quickly. * To make the system user- friendly. * To make sure the data entered is accurate. * To make the system look professional, systematic and organised. QUANTITATIVE OBJECTIVES: * To use a formula to work out the total cost of the insurance quote. * To use another formula to work out the cost of the quote excluding the discount. * To be able to print multiple copies of the quotes. * To make the system password protected so a password will be needed in order to enter the system. * To make sure the details about the customers names, surnames, addresses, age and other details can be seen. * To be able to use a command button so data can be stored. * To use drop down boxes to be able to select options. QUALITATIVE OBJECTIVES: * To make the system user- friendly I will create a user interface so that it is easy to move around the system. * To make the system look professional and organised. PERFORMANCE CRITERIAS: * The system should be able to use a formula in order to work out the total cost of the insurance quote. * The system should be able to use a calculation in order to work out the cost of the insurance excluding the discount. * The system should be able to print multiple copies of the insurance quotation. * The system should be password enable, so a password will be needed in order to access the system to make sure the system is safe. * The system should show all the details about the customers such as names, surnames, addresses and other details. * The system should be able to store the issued quotes so that they can be used at a later date. * The system should have drop down boxes so the user can select options quickly and easily. NEW SYSTEM: HARDWARE: In order to computerise the quotation system I will need a Windows XP computer. I will also need a QWERTY keyboard and a mouse in order to input the data into the spreadsheet. I will be using the hard drive to save the spreadsheet on an internal storage. I will also be saving the spreadsheet on an external storage such as CR-RW so that I have a back- up copy of the data in case the original copy is deleted I will still have another copy. I will also be using a VDU (visual display unit) to see the spreadsheet. I will also be using a printer to print out the quotes so that the user can see them and then send them to S S Insurances. SOFTWARE: In order to produce the car insurance quotation system I will be using spreadsheet software for many reasons. In a spreadsheet I can use many of the features which will enable me to produce an efficient quotation system. I can use macros, list boxes, combo boxes, V Lookup, IF statements and other features in the system. There is other software such as a word- processor or a database but they are not suitable for this quotation system. Although you can make tables and do basic calculations they are only limited as they are not mainly designed for that purpose. I will be using Microsoft Excel 2003 as I do not have any other spreadsheet software available on my computer. I will also use it as I am more familiar with it as I have used it many times in the past. SECURITY: I will need to make sure the spreadsheet I create will be kept safe and secure. I will need to make sure the data is secure as I will need to follow the Data Protection Act 1998. In order to comply with the law I will keep the data safe by having cell protection so if anyone other than me or the user accesses the data he will need to enter the password in order to alter the information. I will also keep a backup copy of the system so if the user loses the original copy he will still have another backup copy. INPUT, PROCESSES AND OUTPUT: Input: I will input all the data required using a keyboard into the spreadsheet. The input data I will need in order to produce the quotation system are all the customer details and the headings. I will require the following specific data about the customers: forename, surname, address, sex, model and make of the car. I will also need the age of the driver, which will be in a grouped arrangement e.g. 17- 19 or 60- 65. The type of insurance the driver wants will also be required whether it is, fully comprehensive, third party only or third party fire and theft. I will abbreviate the type of insurance to make it shorter so it would be much quicker to type and also easier. I will also need to know what type of area the driver lives in, as this could be a risk factor, low, medium or high. I will also need to know if the driver would like to state an extra driver or not. I will also need to know the number of claims the driver has made in the past 4 years and whether he is eligible for a discount. The other details I will need to know is about the insurance and which rating the cars are allocated according to their power and cost. I will also need to know about the multipliers so that I can work what I need to multiple the costs, these will be allocated to the sex, age of driver, risk of area and insurance and type. The final detail I will need to know are the number of penalty points the customer has, as having more conviction point will increase the cost of the insurance quote. Processes: In order to create the quotation system I will need to carry out a number of processes with the input data in order to produce the output. The fixed data will be the data that I will not change on the spreadsheet such as the main headings e.g.: forename, surname, address. The variable data will be the data that will change. The data that will need to be changed are all the details about the customer and his car. In order to fulfil the following user requirements I will carry out a number of processes: * To be able to see the total cost of the insurance quote and to be able to see the total cost of the insurance quote before a discount is given. I will be using a formula to calculate the total costs of the quote and also to work out the cost excluding the discount. I will be using a simple Auto sum calculation in order to do this. In order to work out the total cost I will need to use a V Lookup formula. A V Lookup searches for a value in the leftmost column of a table, and then returns a value in the same rows from a column you specify in the table. I will be using a V Lookup formula since I will having different things on different sheets it will need to lookup the values in other cells. * To be able to print the quotation. In order to do this the user can use the menu options on the toolbar however to make it easier for the user I will have a macro. * To make sure that system is safe and secure. In order to keep the data safe I will be using cell protection. I will be keeping a password so when someone accesses the file he will be prompted to enter the password. If the password entered is correct he will gain access and be able to change the data. However if an incorrect password is entered an error message will appear informing the user he cannot gain access. * To be able to see the details of all the customers such as; forename, surname, age, and the type of insurance they would like. In order to do this I will have a sheet where the details about the customer can be seen. * To be able to store the issued quotes so that they can be used at a later date. In order to do this I will be using macros. Macro is a feature that stores a series of commands so that the user can use them with a single command. I will be using macros for various things such as printing the quote, storing the quotes, to view the quotes and other tasks. * To enable phone enquiries to be dealt much quickly. In order to fulfil this requirement I will be using a variety of buttons to make it easier for the user. Option buttons are used for choosing one item from a list of options, where you can select one option button at a time. I will be using them so the user can select the sex of the driver, either male or female. Combo boxes can also be called drop- down boxes, which offer a number of choices to the user, one of which maybe selected. I will be using a combo box so that my user can select the drivers car. By selecting on the drop- down arrow will provide the models of the cars. A list box and combo boxes are alike however a list box shows the choices available without having to click on the arrow. I will be using a list box for the risk assessment of the area and type of insurance, as there are only three options from which the user can select. A check box is a box, which can either be selected or unselected, when you click on the box a tick appears in the box. I will be using a check box for the declaration of the extra driver. A spinner is made up of two arrows, one point up and the other down. By clicking on the up arrow increases the value and the down arrow decreases the value. I will be using the spinner to choose the number of years the driver has made no claims. I will also be using IF statements in order to see the values of the check box which will check whether the customer would like an extra driver. * To make the system user- friendly. In order to make the printed quote professional and organised I will be adding the name of the company, address, telephone numbers and the company logo at the top. I will also arrange all the information into sections and add colour to make it look more attractive. I will create the macros into buttons so the user can quickly carry the tasks. I will also add a front end to the system. A front end is the name given to the user-friendly interface that will appear on the screen when the file is loaded. It will provide the user with a number of options. Once the data has been entered I will need to rename the worksheets and insert a defined name for certain data which will be used in calculations. Output: The output will be the full quote details, which will be on the screen of the computer showing the customer name, address, car details, and the cost of the insurance and without the discount. The output on the screen will also show the macros, which can be used to navigate around the system. The other output will be the fully modified and professional printed quote that will show the company logo along with the companys address and contact numbers. It will also show the issue date, all the details about the quote and the expiry date of the quote.