Are humanities relevant to the 21st century Essay

In this annotated bibliography I will be trying to answer the question of the importance of humanities in the 21st century. I will be using sources from newspapers, books and blogs in which I found either in the UEA library, internet and other sources of information. I will be making summaries of the content which I read and evaluate the source as a whole, for this annotated bibliography most of the sources which I came across coincidently were about the usefulness of the humanities in education or in the work place in the 21st century. In addition, I incorporated film, literature, art and history making my range of sources broad. 1) Arnheirn Rudolf, 1932, film as Art, London, university of California press This book is mainly about theory, the authors main argument is that human beings are losing their ability of creativity. For example, the author talks about the â€Å"limitations of the medium, the absence of sound, the absence of colour and the lack of three dimensional depth† Arnheirn Rudolf (1932), these limitations created a new distinct art however due to advancement everything is about realism and because of these advancement creativity has been lost in the world of film. â€Å"The thoughts that made the picture move† Arnheirn Rudolf (1932) can be interpreted as realism bringing truths of world into the limelight such as the violence which occurred around the world. As a source it has very little relevance to the humanities in the 21st century, when reading this book it seemed very personal to the author the way he wrote it seemed as if he is defending something very important to him. Also, from what I had read there wasn’t much evidence to support his claims and was more like an aggressive rant about the mechanical advancements in the film industry. 2) Belfiore Elenora and Upchurch Anna, 2013, Humanities in the 21st century, Hampshire, Palgrave Macmillan This book is mainly a collection of essays and articles from different authors that has been edited by the authors. They talk mainly about the connection between the markets and the humanities. Their main aim was to â€Å"exercise of critiquing the present state of the humanities within and outside of the academic practise† Belfiore Elenora and Upchurch Anna (2013). The authors describe the history of the humanities and stated that the humanities came from the united states which spread to great Britain and then explained that social science came out of humanities which is why the humanities is the parent of the social science. The two authors compiled a collection of original essays that tackle the question however I did not read any views the authors had. 3) Corrigan timothy, 2012, film and literature: and introduction and reader, second edition, Abingdon, Routledge. Timothy Corrigan’s main argument is that he argues without the literature there will be no film and they need each other. â€Å"While the blockbusters harry potter films would constantly draw masses of young people/readers to the movie theatres and lines of moviegoers into the bookstore† Corrigan timothy (2012). He also argues there is a renewed interest in literature and film as â€Å"30% of movies today derive from novels and 50% of books classified as best sellers have been adapted to cinema† which enforces his argument that literature in fact is still important. Later in the chapter he gives disadvantages of turning novels into film by stating it destroys our imagination. When reading a novel we use our imagination to create a reality in the novels world however when watching a film adaption of that same novel your imagined world becomes the film directors interpretation and your imagined creation is lost. In this book the author clearly states 4 disadvantages of literature and not one positive or advantages to literature making me think that his views to a certain extent is biased. In addition, this book contains bucket loads of information from theories to history of film and this book is an educational one therefore contains information directed to students and is also the second edition generally meaning is an improvement to the first edition. 4) Grafton Anthony, (2010), 05/11/2013, Defending the Humanities, www. youtube. com Grafton Anthony is a historian that delivered a lecture in the University of Hampshire. He argues against a claim that humanities as a subject is ‘dying’. His argument boldly states that professors teaching the humanity  subjects are being force feed useless knowledge and information which will not help undergraduates in the future. He states that humanists should be creators of conversations between the graduates, the historical thinkers, ancient musicians and great artists which is critical and exciting, instead of creating of theories and drop everything we teach though it ‘like a sausage grinder’. He concludes, and states that humanities as a subject is improving and is always being rewritten when new information is available. Grafton Anthony uses the American civil war as an example, as a child Grafton Anthony in school had never heard of the presence of the African Americans in the civil war and parents would never take their children to historic battle sites because they felt offended. However, in today’s age African American parents joyfully take their children to these sites due to historians re-writing history and creating a true story that African Americans were in fact involved in the civil war. This lecture was really about promoting humanities as a subject. This is a good source as it emphases the problems of humanities being taught in the 21st century and also gives information on how to improve humanities in general in addition; his points are being reinforced by Bill Smoot who also had similar ideologies. 5) Grafton t. Anthony and Grossman James, 2013, the chronicle of higher education: the humanities dubious battle, 19th October 2013, pages 13. The authors as a summary basically belittles the humanities and talks about history are not needed in the economic and capitalist world. He quotes â€Å"Why would a company like Enterprise Rent-A-Car care if a prospective employee took the initiative to read the company history? What could the study of the past contribute to a career in, say, medicine? † Grafton t. Anthony and Grossman James (2013). He also makes the point that the humanities do not lead into any clear cut career than let’s say engineering, medicine and law. They then go on to say that the humanities is not totally dead as from a Harvard report stated that there are more people studying humanities in private universities and are mainly for the ‘elites’ â€Å"Humanities education provides the foundation for leadership, and wider access to such education implies wider access to positions of leadership. † Grafton t. Anthony and Grossman James (2013). Personally I didn’t like this source as the authors slightly changed their view from stating that the humanities is a rubbish subject to learn to the humanities being this epic subject that only the ‘elites’ should learn. The source was very simple to read and it seem to ‘speak’ to you as if you were having a conversation with the writer and made you think about subject. In addition, an article which finally sits on the other side for a change, It was interesting to find a source and authors who argued that humanities is useless so reading from an objective view it was a new insight into the subject of the relevance of humanities in the 21st century. 6) Kagan Jeome. (2009) The Three Cultures: Natural Science, Social Sciences, and the Humanities in the 21st Century, Cambridge: Cambridge University press. This book defines the three cultures and then compares them to one another. The author’s main argument is that the three cultures cannot survive without the fuel each culture provides. One example used is climate change kagon Jeome (2009) stated 50,000 years ago climate changed in northern Europe which destroyed our protein supplies and in turn the human population in northern Europe dropped drastically therefore if humans were involved in climate change it would be more rapid. The author then concludes that the sciences and humanities need each other and are both important to the 21st century as without the literature humanities provided the less likely research may have taken place. The author is American psychologist suggesting that he is very well educated and has written many books in regard to psychology, the book was also published by the Cambridge university press meaning that it is more likely to be intellectual. The book was written in 2009 which in regard to humanities and his major points is not too long ago. However, this book was basically a revamp C. P. Snow’s work who was a chemist and novelist who published â€Å"the two cultures and scientific revolution† which was written in 1959. 7) Pring Richard, 1999, oxford review of education, political education: relevance of the humanities, p71-87, volume 25 issue, Taylor and Francis. In this article the Richard Pring puts an emphasis on education being used as tool to control the young to becoming a model citizen and uses the phrase â€Å"developing desirable attitudes†. He next explains why he used that phrase and backs up his point by stating the â€Å"government is worried about the consumption of drugs amongst young people; therefore, schools are being instructed to teach about their evil effects†. Furthermore later on in the article he explains why the humanities is important not only because the humanities teaches us how to be †Human† but it gives us the skills to incorporate into politics such as critical writing and analysis. This journal is very detailed but is rather old compared to evidence I can acquire from books, blogs or other forms of sources. A lot of things have changed since 1999 such as the economy, which has gone through major changes during this time so views have changed. In terms of relevance to the question is that it is relevant to a strong extent from a cultural view. He describes that humanities is all around us and is impossible to miss. 8) Small Helen, 2013, the value of the humanities, oxford, oxford university press The book value of the humanities provides a critical account of the principal arguments used to defend the value of the Humanities. The claims considered are: that the Humanities study the meaning-making practices of culture, and bring to their work a distinctive understanding of what constitutes knowledge and understanding. The authors of this book made a very deep arguments from the contribution of human happiness to the â€Å"driving force for democracy† Small Helen (2013). She later concludes that the purpose of the humanities is to explore the grounds for each argument, and test its validity for the present day and â€Å"promise to sharpen the terms of public debate† Small Helen (2013). I believe this a very good source, firstly because it is very modern and up to date, academic slightly hard to read aimed at the educated and scholars. The author is a professor of the English literature at the University of Oxford which suggests she is smart enough to look at this question from an objective view. 9) Smoot Bill, (2011), 04/11/2013, Humanities in the 21st century, http://www. edutopia. org/blog/humanities-twenty-first-century-bill-smoot , Online Blog This blog offers information about the humanities in the 21st century, the author writes about his personal experience and feelings to the killing of Osama Bin Laden. He writes about how he felt satisfied for the killing of a man who may or may not of deserved it and as a English teacher he takes an objective look on different people’s reactions to the news and states he saw people crying and praising the death of a man, another group were indifferent and quoted â€Å"it is unholy to gloat over the bodies of the dead† Smoot Bill (2011). He later explains that we need humanities to teach the students habits ‘of critical thought and the historical perspective necessary for citizenship in a democracy’. The blog is aimed for people in the position of power. In terms, of relevance to the question I believe it answers the question because his simplistic writing explains why humanities are needed in the 21st century. However, a blog is an individual record of opinions so it does not carry weight as a good source but it gives an opinion so in that respect it becomes useful but not very reliable. 10) Stern Nicholas, Mon 22 July 2013, Don’t neglect the importance of the humanities, the independent, pages 7. In this source, the message is a lot more political. Firstly Nicolas Stern describes that there is a shift in every subject due to the lack of trust in intuition and lack of confidence in existing ideas and models and politicians are not inspiring the younger generations. He later describes the Science, engineering and medicine are vital drivers of human progress and we must celebrate and nurture them. However, without the humanities and social sciences we can never find responses to the urgent issues that trouble us. He then backs up his points with facts and figures for example â€Å"The UK economy is now 75 per cent services, hugely reliant on the analytical, negotiating and communication skills which humanities and social sciences disciplines develop in people† Nicolas Stern (2013) and â€Å"Most of the leaders in public life – government, commerce, public sector – were educated in humanities and social science disciplines. † Nicolas Stern (2013). In my opinion I believe this is a very good source as the author makes a point and then backs up his points with evidence and statistics. It is also a newspaper article meaning that the general public have access to it and create an opinion about the matter. However, the only disadvantage about this article is that the author doesn’t write about the advantages and disadvantages of humanities and only keeps to the positives and belittles other subjects. 11) Vianello Andrea 16/11/2013, http://www. bronzeage. org. uk/the-value-of-the-arts-and-humanities-in-the-21st-century-a-report. aspx, blog The author of the blog describes that he went to a debate about the importance of the arts and humanities in the modern day life and business. During this debate the author states that at this debate everyone assumed that they all agreed on the fact that â€Å"the humanities in modern day society are pretty much over due to the subject having no impact on modern society† Vianello Andrea (2013). The author concludes; with his own personal opinion which was that the value of the humanities is unique in terms of the way humanists’ think and its potential for sciences and businesses and that graduates who have studied the humanities have been equipped with transferable skills and a unique way to approach and solve problems. The author makes valid points with evidence which makes the author argument about this subject stronger however, he criticized in a negative light all the researchers and educated opinion that did not agree with his side of the argument making his view very personal not hold a lot of weight as a source. In terms of relevance to the question it is very relevant however due to his opinion being very personal and biased it’s a useless source and weak in terms of argument. 12) Warwick Clare, Terras Mellissa, Nyhan Julianne, 2012, Digital humanities in practise, London, Facat publishing. The authors open up with the definition of what digital humanities is and defined it as â€Å"the collaboration of the arts and humanities with computing† Warwick Clare, Terras Mellissa, Nyhan Julianne (2012). The book mainly talks about the experience of three people in the University of City London which is the leading university for digital humanities.

Analyse Communication methods and assess their effectiveness in a care setting

Effective communication is the foundation for any health care setting. Communication is essential in these environments as is helps classify issues, provides emotional support and also establishes relationships. It is important for employees in health care setting’s to be equipped with social skills in order to identify wide range of emotional needs. Wilbur Schramm theory is ‘to understand human communication process, one must understand how people relate to each other’. For example a care worker needs to be able to adapt their social skills to be able to communicate with different patients and identifying their client’s needs.Communication is verbal or non-verbal. Verbal is spoken (oral) which can be accomplished face-to-face. This type of communication is central to establish relationships between people. For example a professional in a hospital will use verbal communication to inform a patient of any procedure or care task that is given. This builds a se nse of trust because communicating face-to-face establishes that the professional has time to care for the patient, which makes the patient feel looked after. Verbal communication also allows any questions to be raised and gives opportunity to answer.This is effective as any misunderstanding issues would be raised. Non-verbal communication (written) is also used in a health care environments. Such as hospitals. They use written communication to record medical history, staff Rota’s and formal policies and procedures. This is the most effective way in recording patients’ medical history as it is more accurate and factual. Another example of this form used in hospitals is during ‘handover meetings’. This happens before staff rotation, the staff on shift update the staff about to come on shift with any events or incidents that occurred.These meetings can be informal and rushed, the lack of communication found here can cause problems in hospital productivity as the new staff on shift might not get all the information they need to know. Written communication is also used by social workers. They use printed forms to use when meeting a client to ensure they have asked all the correct questions needed for a review. Communication is either formal or informal. Formal communication is often used in hospitals such as in policies and documents. This language register is used in hospitals as it gives it a professional image.This perception will give of a serious and respected environment and the patients will feel like they are in good hands. Formal lexis that is used in hospitals can make it difficult for patients to understand. For example a professional may mention ‘hypertension’ to the patient, this jargon is mainly understood by professionals, therefore would need to explain to the patient that it is high blood pressure. Informal communication is also used in health care. Social workers may communicate informally to their clients. Especially during first interaction as informal communication makes the client feel relaxed and less nervous.Communication can be difficult as it can be affected by someone with a physical condition. Such as a hearing impairment. Individuals with this condition struggle to understand verbal communication. They can overcome this in many ways. Firstly, by using a hearing aid which increases the volume. It not only increases the volume of what needs to be heard but also the background noise too. This can still make it difficult to hear what is being said. A second method is using speech to text. This is where a translator types word for word and it is then viewed on a screen instantly.The person is unable to interpret tone of voice which makes it more difficult to understand the meaning of the message. Therefore it is important for correct kinesis techniques to be used such as body language to help the individual understand the implication of the message. For example eyes down and cro ssed arms indicates sadness or boredom. A third alternative form of communication for the hearing impaired is sign language. In the UK British sign language is the most preferred language for the Deaf. It involves the movement of hands, face and body. This method can only be understood from those who have learned BSL.Another physical condition which effects communication is someone with a visual impairment. These individuals will find it challenging to understand the meaning of the conversation as they are unable to interpret body language. Therefore they rely on what they hear to interpret emotions. This is achieved by analyzing paralinguistic techniques such as tone of voice, speed and pitch. A system called Braille is used to help Blind communicate. Braille is a system of raised dots which is read by individuals by using their fingertips. It enables language to be translated into written form.This is not that effective in health care settings as not everyone can understand it. Br aille is also not commonly found on written forms. Such as information leaflets found in hospitals. Technology is increasingly advancing, therefore computerized communication is becoming more common in health care settings. An example of this type of communication is e-mail. E-mail is used in most work places for colleagues to communicate to each other. This is used as it is a quick and an intermediate way to communicate. Another example is a small hand held device called a Blackberry.In a hospital an individual may use this if they are on call as it is always accessible, for that reason they will be able to react immediately. Effective communication is very important in any health care setting. As it results in good patient care and increases productivity. There are many barriers in communication, one of these being time. If a professional in a hospital does not have the adequate time to complete a review on a patient this results in bad patient care. Another example of this is if the hospital is busy and they do not have enough beds this can result to informal rushed interactions with patients and quick discharges.

Troy †Evidence of Homer

The role that Homer played in our understanding of the Trojan War by his writing the Iliad has been one of great significance. The turn of the 8th Century saw the writing of the Iliad from the Ancient Greek writer, Homer, which was roughly 3,000 years ago. Heinrich Schliemann, a wealthy German business, dedicated his energy and considerable fortune to discovering the Troy Homer describes in the Iliad. By using the writings, Schliemann was able to locate the site of the Ancient city of Troy.Manfred Korfmann, a German archaeologist, interested in the city of Troy itself, set out to find out the truth about Troy through science, rather than using the Iliad as a guide, but when researching and discovering historic events in Troy, numerous finds matched up to Homer’s writings. Armed conflicts in 1200 B. C, around the same time as the Bronze Age, further highlights the impression that the Trojan War did in fact happen, just as Homer had stated in the Iliad.In the time when Homerâ₠¬â„¢s Iliad stated the Trojan War took place, and when conflicts were apparent, the Greek â€Å"Mycenaean’s†, believed to have been involved in the Trojan War, were at the height of power and were known to be warriors. This can help prove the violent aspects and conflicts that were written in the Iliad. The Hittie Empire was that of superflous power, and over the great technology and riches they had, meant that the written tablets they had left behind were of vital importance.Much like what Homer had written throughout the Iliad, the tablets contained clues to a great battle fought over an Ancient city named Wulisa, the same exact name Homer had called the ancient city of Troy in the Iliad. Homer’s Iliad therefore shaped our understanding of the events that led to the Trojan War, and those that took place during it. Our understanding of the Trojan War has been shaped Homer and the Iliad. Heinrich Schliemann arguably is one of the most famous archaeologists when reffering to the discovery of Troy.Infatuated with the idea of finding the lost city of Troy, Schliemann used all of his money, time and will power to find it. Studying the Iliad tirelessly, Schliemann discovered what he believed to be the location of Troy, and began excavating in search for the stories held within the walls. Using his own copy of Homer’s Iliad, examining the geographic clues that the writings contained, Schliemann located what is believed to be the location of the ancient city. Despite the believed location being found by Schliemann using Homer’s Iliad, German archeolgist Manfred Korfmann was interested in he science of the ancient city, rather than the written work of Homer. But, excavating the side and relocating the search to a much broader area, not even Manfred Korfmann could argue with the descriptions that Homer wrote in the Iliad, and how closely related they were to the large uncovered city. As Korfmann’s team began the tireless ventur e to look for clues, they found things that result to the belief of violence. Arrow heads were found on the lower levels of Troy, for close combat fighting, which links to Homer’s recount of the Greek Myceanians taking down Troy from the inside.Korfmann, whilst continuing the hunt for clues, found that a catastrophe had taken place within the great walls of the ancient city, the catastrophe being a large fire, enough to burn down the city. In the Iliad, Homer states that after the city was unrun by the Greek Myceanians, they burnt the town to the ground. A corpse of a girl, around the age of 16 or 17, was found in the middle of the city. Foul play was noted, due to her feet being burned by fire, as well as half her body buried in an open space.This was unusual for the time of such spiritual believers in the afterlife, that results in the belief of a quick fast burial. The fast burial could have been because of the overruling of the city, at the hands of the Greek Myceanians, just as Homer had written it in the Iliad. Manfred Korfmann believes that Troy was a city that was seiged, defended but most of all defeated in the war. The findings pointed to a great battle, which saw the falling of Troy, at the end of the late bronze age, just as Homer’s legend in the Iliad had said.Although Manfred Korfmann stated that his belief in the Iliad was not reason enough to excavate the city as Schliemann had done, the remarkable similarties between the descriptions Homer had written in the Iliad of what took place, was far too coincidental to not take notice. Homer’s Iliad has stated that the Trojan war was an armed conflict, one of the greatest conflicts of all time. Our knowledge and understanding of the Trojan War therefore has been shaped and influenced greatly by Homer and the Iliad. 200 B. C. , also known as the Bronze Age, was a time believed that armed conflicts were taking place. All evidence shows us that a heated conflict was raging where we n ow know lies Greece and the area that was called ‘Wilios’, which Homer states as the city in which the Trojan war took place. Homer wrote, â€Å"A multitude of rulers is not a good thing. Let there be one ruler, one king. † This quotation directly from the Iliad helps with our understanding of what the Greek Mycenaean’s were all about.They were known for their greed, thirst for power and riches due to farmland and copious amounts of food supplies. The sophistication of the way Greeks lived was of high upkeep and strong reliance on natural resources. The Iliad states that the Greek Mycenaean’s were the most powerful army of the late Bronze Age, mainly because of their hunger and maliciousness in regards to attaining power. It is believed that during this time, the Mycenaean’s were on the hunt for Bronze and Gold to expand their land. At the time, the ancient city of Troy was rich in Bronze.This could’ve have, knowing that the Greek Myce naean’s were known warriors and very powerful, been reason enough for the Trojan war to take place. Manfred Korfmann, the German archaeologist who excavated Troy, believes that Ancient Troy was an important trading route within the trading routes around the world. He states, â€Å"Everything that was taken between Europe to Asia should have passed through here. † Homer wrote that the Greek Mycenaean’s were powerful, but also greedy, in a way that the abundance of riches that Troy had could’ve been appealing enough to the great Kings of Greece, appealing enough to start a war.Our understanding of the Trojan War has been greatly shaped by that of Homer in his writings of the Iliad and the key descriptions of the Greek Mycenaean’s, in which they were merciless warriors and very powerful. In the Iliad, Homer states that what we know to be named as Troy was actually named Wilios. When archaeologist found that the powerful Hittite empire had written arte facts that were of vital importance when pinpointing the exact location the Great War had taken place.Archaeologist examined the tablets, looking for any mention of Troy, which was then found to be named Wilusa, which in Ancient Greek was the same name used for Troy. Homer had written and used the Name Wilios in the Iliad, when referring to the Ancient city of Troy. The tablets found stated, â€Å"Mycenaean warriors had once fought at the gates of Wilusa. † Although even though the evidence matched up with that of Homer’s writings in the Iliad, archaeologists couldn’t be sure that Wulisa/Wilios was the exact same place of what we know now to be Troy.But the tablets held more vital information, including the description of a water tunnel in ‘Wulisa’, which was dated to be around 1000 years after the late Bronze Age. Using evidence from the tunnel, it was dated to be of use at the exact same time these tablets from the Hittite Empire were being writte n. By deciphering the tablets found and left behind by the great Hittite Empire, the clues and descriptions of what happened all those years ago directly linked with the same descriptions that Homer had used for Ancient Troy in the Iliad.Our understanding of what took place in relation to the Trojan War, as well as who was involved and why the war had begun in the first place, was greatly influenced by Homer and his writings of the Iliad. The discovery of the area in which Troy laid to rest, founded by Heinrich Schliemann who used the Iliad to find the city, as well as Manfred Korfmann who couldn’t ignore the similarities between what he found within the walls of what he believed to be Troy and what Homer had written in the Iliad are all substantial evidence of the influence Homer had on our understanding.These evidential points, as well as the knowledge of armed conflicts, the demeanor that the Greek Mycenaean’s possessed and the ancient tablet inscriptions left behin d from another powerful ancient civilization further displays the influence that Homer had on our understanding of the Trojan War, through his writings in the Iliad.

Ecosystem Structure, Function, and Change Paper Essay - 1

Ecosystem Structure, Function, and Change Paper - Essay Example This area has aquatic plants and macrophytes, then the euphotic zone where less light penetrate is the habitat for fishes, invertebrates and algae. The lake being shallow does not have deep waters where big fishes survive. This lake mostly has plants, algae, small fishes, insects and amphibians. The lake has bottom sediment known as benthic zone and has a surface layer rich in microorganisms. The upper layer of the sediments is active with the benthic organism, insects and small crustaceans. There are abundant forms of larvae, flies and insects along with fish and other predators looming around the shore and water surface. The lake has a flat mucky bottom which offers plenty of rich food supplies to benthic organisms but is less protected as it has fewer amounts of higher plants which inhibits the formation of higher diversity of structural habitat. This lake is not having much of human interference unless on selected days when people come to visit the place .Some days in a week families and young people do visit the area due to its natural beauty. However, it is seen that people do leave lot of garbage on the lake and its shore which has polluted the lake to an extent. There had been debris of plastic bags, cigarettes, cans, bottles, food waste and plastic wastes. So it is obvious that chemicals might have seeped into the soil and water content of the lake. Plastic bags are a huge pollution to aquatic life and they can release all types of chemicals in to the water body and its eco system. As per (Collazo,2012) â€Å"Humans are directly responsible for the decline of population of certain animals in the littoral zone. Humans harvest animals and plants for food, bait, home aquariums, collections, etc.†. This debris like cigarettes, bottles and cans can release chemicals which can again increase the nitrogen and phosphorus content in water that can have adverse effect on the ecosystem.

Application of Revenue Management Practice in the Hotel Industry Essay

Application of Revenue Management Practice in the Hotel Industry - Essay Example Modern hotel revenue management brand varies extensively from that of more than two decades ago. Modification in the general handling of revenue management, inventory allocation, pricing strategy, use of information and channel management as concerns to revenue management tend to redefine the field. Similarly to how detailed past analysis might have a representation of the best pricing practice during the 1990s, apparently, the stock market-impacted algorithms exist in the cutting edge of modern pricing thought. Comparably, the highlighting on occupancy or average day to day rate, which might have dominion over revenue managers’ outlook over two decades ago has led to the dominance of revenue per available room i.e. RevPAR. Instances like this abound hence this article will endeavor to share all of the revenue management expertise with readers, in a series examining the modern revenue management’s best practices (Kimberley, Trevor & Juston 2008, p.12). Strategic Pricing Pricing tends to a feature of revenue management, which features a number of intriguing, as well as innovative developments recently. Whereas pricing has continued to be a significant driver having an effect on both occupancy, along with RevPAR, in the present environment surrounded by exceptional price transparency, rates have taken an even bigger role. Ascertaining the optimal rate to give to a potential customer tends to be one of the most significant concepts of revenue management. The basic fact that the appropriate rate- one that achieves the balance between replicating enough demand in maximizing occupancy, while at the same time, not deserting money on the table within the form of low down ADR turns out to be the key to a profitable revenue management strategy causing pricing perhaps the most significant concept of revenue management. Then how is a hotel capable of determining what the best rate has to be anytime? In the past, this would center on historical analysis, while , at the same time, computed by the application of a discount to a fixed rack rate. In this case, there is no achievement of the objectives of revenue management, and in a modern environment, they are incapable of providing a competitive advantage that is adequate; therefore, the best revenue managers, as well as revenue management systems are dependent on the stock market principles in the formulation of complex algorithms, which are capable of generating with exactness of the optimal rate. Apart from that, these systems tend to work perfectly in real time, thereby making subtle modifications at brief gaps of time in the maintenance of the best rate. Therefore, in this case, the two most excellent practices at work tend to be automation, as well as an advanced algorithmic tactic of pricing (Roy & Bob 2008, p.31). The Stock Market Pricing The rule of optimum pricing happens to be familiar to financial experts, especially those working with commodities. In the case of hotels, it turn s out to be a less familiar concept, yet there is no reason as to why this should be the case. High-performing hotels use a comprehensive system of revenue management, which sets prices on the basis of both historical considerations, as well as current market conditions, providing it twice the choice of pricing strategies that are more traditional. Subsequently, these systems happen to be a reflection of similar systems within the place at financial companies.  

Character analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Character analysis - Essay Example Scout, at the initiation of the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird is depicted as an innocent and naà ¯ve girl who is only five years old. She knows nothing about the malevolent acts of people and is deprived of any knowledge pertaining to evil aspects of the world. When she listens about Boo Radley along with her brother Jem and her friend Dill, she gets frightened and considers him criminal minded as she narrates in her story, She shows a prejudiced attitude related to Boo Radley, who continuously shows kindness and care to her, Jem and Dill. She is able to end her fear because of frequent experiences with Boo as in chapter 26, Scout mentions, With Scout’s maturity, she is able to see Boo according to his true personality. She has lost her fear in him. She knew that Boo was innocent and has a kind personality, as he has done nothing bad to anything and is only a victim of rumors and false information. Scout is quite an intelligent child and is better than her class fellows in terms of her learning. Before getting admission in her class, she is well equipped with knowledge, as she is always interested to accompany her father in reading. When she shows her learned knowledge in her class, in place of being appreciated, she is insulted as her teacher in spite of her constant refusal related to her knowledge acquirement by the help of her father asks her to stop getting education from her father because it is erroneous. Scout endures the distaste felt by Mrs. Caroline and still shows concern towards her as at her upsetting, she says: Tom Robinson who was accused of raping a white woman was considered as an innocent person by Scout due to which, she tried to support him in the court. Although, Tom Robinson was announced guilty but Scout knew that it was only due to racial prejudice by the white people. She says, She knows that Tom Robinson is wrongly found guilty and will be

LLB - CONTRACT LAW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

LLB - CONTRACT LAW - Essay Example Georgian era ended in 1830 and this means Peter meant that candlesticks came to the family during Victorian era and perhaps John should have found out details about their previous owner. Still there is no doubt that he was totally misled as he trusted Peter. This contract could be set aside because it is a misrepresentation1 from one side and a mistake on the other. Misrepresentation was done in clear words, with a special knowledge2, over dinner at Peter's residence by Peter, upon which the entire Contract stood. John has to prove that it was not a matter of opinion regarding the nature and originality of the candlesticks, but was an intentionally made statement, because if it was a matter of opinion, misrepresentation does not come into picture3. John can prove it easily because Peter did not refuse the 7000, which is exorbitant for a piece as recent as Victorian. Peter also has a possibility of showing that he genuinely believed that the piece was Georgian; but such possibility is remote. John's mistake could be argued as 'being led to it' and not an incorrect understanding and this can be a ground to invalidate the agreement.

Smarties Chromatography Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Smarties Chromatography - Research Paper Example The sample candies will be taken from a regular pack of Smarties. The product information detailing the ingredients of the candy will be utilized to reference what chemicals have been used for each of the colors selected. The experiment is expected to be able to breakdown the color composition of the color of Smarties that have been selected. It can be reasonably predicted that specific colors have a determined combination of pigments and would likely vary directly to the degree of similarity between the colors ("Chromatography: Introduction Theory", 2007). At the same time, it can be expected that the chemicals or substances used for each color will vary in a parallel manner. The experiment results are also expected not to follow faithfully color combination schemes since chemical reactions must also be considered ("Chromatography", 2006). Also, the researchers can expect that some of the color additives are not just to affect the colors for the candies but may also serve to enhance or to stabilize the color. Chromatography is actually a broad term that refers to several laboratory techniques that can be used for the separation of mixtures. The basic principle in any chromatographic experiment involves the processing of a mixture through a stationary phase that separates the mixture to be analyzed or studied to identify it from the other molecules in mixture ("Chromatography: Introduction Theory", 2007). This has the effect of isolating individual molecules in the mixture that can be seen as a band in the separating medium. Chromatography in laboratory settings entails the use of sophisticated equipment and the materials used like chromatographic paper is quiet expensive. However, chromatographic experiments can be done using ordinary materials that can be found in one's kitchen as long as the basic principles are maintained as described in the preceding paragraph. Variable to Consider In order to maintain the integrity of the experiment, it is important to maintain uniformity of the solution to dissolve and extract the pigmentation form the candies, the number of candies to be used in each extraction, the saline solution to be used for the separation of the samples, the integrity of the sampling and the ambient condition for each sampling. In the course of the experiment, the research is expected to have difficulty in limiting the sugar content of the samples during color extraction. There may be also difficulty in being able to have equal numbered sample colors from each pack of Smarties since they are packed indiscriminately. There should also be some expected difficulty in developing pigment or color samples that are of equal concentration since density of color coatings may vary during the production of the candies. In the observance of the color spectrum that will become evident, the research is limited into observing what colors will compose each candy. The observations will not consider the intensity of the colors or the amount of time they develop on the medium to be used. The observations will focus on quantifying the colors or pigments used from each extracted sample rather than qualifying any of the observations Preliminary Work As part of the preliminary investigation for

Lean concept in manufacturing field Literature review

Lean concept in manufacturing field - Literature review Example With the failure of MRP to offer enhanced system performance, the shift has focused to Just-in-time production systems which are driven by customer demand Hence, the jobs are â€Å"pulled through the system† with linkage between stages in the production process (Deleersnyder, et al., 1989). The Japanese system of Kanban is required in order to physically implement the pull production system. Kanban is often used in conjunction with Just-in-Time production whereby the right quantity must be manufactured at the appropriate level and at the right time. Literally translated as â€Å"a card†, the Kanban signal, which is generated through the master production schedule (MPS) or customer demand, triggers JIT as it works its way backwards through each work centre. Generally, a Kanban is tied to each container of work-in-progress (WIP) which contains specifications pertaining to that WIP such as the lot size, card number, due date etc. Research has demonstrated various benefits associated with the use of Kanban. JIT allows most companies to achieve the benefits of shorter lead times, enhanced quality and low inventory buffer (Cimorelli, 2013). However, choosing the Kanban size often requires tradeoffs. For instance, a large size of Kanban will often result in higher level of stock albeit with a shorter lead time and less time for setting up machines frequently. Furthermore, Kanban acts as a means of communication from usage points to the prior operation as well as serve the purpose of visual signage (Wang, 2011). As far as the types of Kanban are concerned, there are generally two types of Kanban systems: single card and dual card systems. This entails separating the storage of output of a particular stage from the storage of input in the succeeding stage along with the use of extra cards named as â€Å"withdrawal† Kanban (Krieg, 2005). This Kanban is defined as one which accompanies the containers that are responsible for storage at the input stage . This is followed by removal of the withdrawal Kanban and its subsequent storage in a â€Å"collection box† when the production system uses a container (Krieg, 2005). Subsequently, the withdrawal Kanban is further removed from the collection box by a carrier and moved into the storage for output from the previous stage. On the other hand, the single-card Kanban is more efficient for manufacturing processes that contain high â€Å"changeover time† owing to batch production (Basu & Wright, 2005). The major difference between a single-card and dual-card Kanban is that the former lacks a â€Å"production† Kanban and specific inventory points (Basu & Wright, 2005). To conclude, the use of Kanban in the Just-in-time production system is fairly old. However, their importance has steadily increased owing to the paradigm shift towards demand-pull manufacturing systems as opposed to push-manufacturing systems. Nevertheless it must be noted that although the Kanban system lead to efficient levels of inventory, shorter lead times and better flow of communication across the production system, it may not always fulfill all order qualifiers at the same time as tradeoffs may be involved. 2. Push/pull systems Lean manufacturing systems are usually split into pull and push production systems. Push systems are based on scheduling work such that it is released on the basis of customer demand (Kimura & Terada, 1981). This is because their aim is to maximize the usage of production capacity. These systems are driven by the system of due-dates. The release date is controlled and the level of Work in Progress is then observed. By using this system, companies are able increase the volume of their production which in turn reduces the cost of production per unit. The push strategy has been used by companies such as Dunkin Donuts for producing their donuts. Customer demand for each of the donuts (such as Glazed, chocolate, cream etc.) is arrived

Analytical response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Analytical response - Essay Example In 1927, slaves were defined by the United Nations as someone â€Å"over whom any or all of the powers attached to the right of ownership are exercised† (â€Å"The Transatlantic†). Slavery was passed onto Africa by its European colonizers. In Rome, slaves were generally those who got caught in battle, abandoned children, or older children sold by their fathers because of dire need of money. Age was also a selling point for slaves. The older the male slave, the higher his cost. Slavery continued to exist in Europe from classical times and throughout the early medieval period, and other forms of slavery continued in the early modern period (Hampshire, 2007). Definition of Terms For definition of terms in relation to Yoruba, Akan and the African culture in general, this paper will discuss about Trans- Atlantic Slave Trade, Bight of Benin, Santeria and Lukumi, together with its interrelationship and contributions to the rich cultures of the aforementioned ethnic groups. The Trans- Atlantic Slave Trade is one of the largest forced movements of people in the world. It is defined as the European states’ forced transport of almost 10 million Africans to its colonies in the early seventeenth century. This is a systemized form of slavery with high racism pro the white race and degrading the blacks (â€Å"The Transatlantic†). It began in 1444, when the Portuguese began shipping slaves from West Africa to Europe. The Americas discovered the creation of new colonies with demand for cheap labor in 1942. With this, European ships carried increased numbers of African slaves to Brazil, the Caribbean and North America in the1550s, and by the 1700s Britain was the number one slave-trading power in Europe (Hampshire, 2007). Trades happened in different shores such as that of the Bight of Benin. The Bight of Benin is a rich part of African culture. It was formerly a part of West Africa, and then it became a French colony, and now part of Nigeria. It was formerly known as Dahomey before 1975. The area extending to Lagos was called Slave Coast. Dahomey was the name of the most powerful kingdom during that pre-colonial period. The Bight of Benin became part of an emerging trans-Atlantic trading system, where slaves were the most important commodity and Dahomey was on top of the market, making female warriors their highest selling point. Today, factors rooted from geography and history caused the non- homogeneous culture of the nation. The divisions in its people draw lines for occupation, language and religion, as well. People of Benin lack national identity and are wealthy with their ethnic identities (Advameg Inc., 2013). In Benin also lives 10- 20 million Yoruba. Yoruba is one of more than two hundred ethnic groups in Nigeria which live with a rich set of customs and traditions for it has been the most dominant group in this region of Africa during the prehistoric times. But as a result of civil war and slave trade, there was a dow nfall in Yoruba society; most especially when they were colonize by the British in 1901 and the customs and traditions got robbed. Many political disputes have come and gone, war and violence have been present in the nation. Today, Yoruba is also present not only in Africa but also in the Americas especially in the Caribbean, South America and North America. Today, Yoruba culture is very much alive in Cuba and Brazil (The Big Myth, 2011). As mentioned, there is an overwhelming amount of ethnicity in the lands of Africa. The cultural

Homesite Report Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Homesite Report - Research Paper Example e oceans; the destruction they leave in their wake is devastating as was witnessed during the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 where 230000 people lost their lives and property worth billions of dollars lost and the Japanese tsunami that led to the destruction of nuclear power plants leading to loss of lives and severe environmental degradation (Nanto 15)  Ã‚  Additionally, active volcanoes pose a major threat to those who live near them, since the possibility of property being buried under volcanic ash is always real. Wildfires are a major threat since once they start, they are difficult to contain and they have often led to major losses as witnessed in the Greek forest fires in 2009 (Amiridis et al. 6)  The other natural disaster that is likely to affect residents adversely is drought, which reduces the value of property and increases the cost of living. To make the right decision about where to settle, one has to look at the likelihood of any of these happening.  Having consider ed all these factors, three cities were found to be the most suitable.  Ã‚   The 2012 United Nations world risk report listed Qatar as the safest country from natural disasters, out of 173 countries worldwide (ADW 4)  Doha is the capital city of Qatar, which is in the Middle East. The country is located in a geologic setting, which makes it less susceptible to earthquakes. It’s tectonically gentle and the country, being one of the biggest oil and gas producers in the world, has the financial muscle which it has used to install six earthquake sensors that further reduces the possibility of residents being caught unawares (USGS) Being in the desert and receiving very little rain throughout the year, the risk of flooding and landslides in Doha is virtually nonexistent. Due to its geologic setting, the country is also not susceptible to tsunamis. The vegetation in Qatar is quite sparse thus making it rather difficult to sustain wildfires. The country does not have active volcanoes, thus

Project Work Essay Example for Free

Project Work Essay Hindus around the world will observe the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda with special prayers, meditation, devotional songs, and religious discourses on January 12, 2013. Swamijis birthday is also celebrated as Indias National Youth Day that is commemorated with processions, youth conventions, seminars, yoga, sports, and other cultural activities. To mark Swami Vivekananda 150th birth anniversary year (January 2013-January 2014) many organizations are gearing up to celebrate the event along with millions of devotees of the Swami across of the world. The Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission have already taken up a number of important service projects which were dear to Swami Vivekananda. These projects include integrated child development, empowerment of women, and alleviating poverty. Besides, the Mission will produce films and distribute books on the message of Swami Vivekananda to various libraries and will hold national and international seminars in various places on Swami Vivekanandas contribution to Indian and international cultures. The RK Math and Mission will do a live telecast of the celebrations which will be held at its Headquarters Belur Math in the Howrah district of West Bengal, India. It has launched a special commemorative website that aims to provide a glimpse into the various facets of the life and teachings of Swami Vivekananda. The Malaysian government also released a commemorative postal stamp to mark the occasion last year. A variety of activities is in the offing to commemorate Swamiji’s immense contribution to the making of India as a nation. The occasion: the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. Gopalkrishna Gandhi is a former Governor of West Bengal. His tribute was commissioned by The Hindu on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. The 150th birthday of Swami Vivekananda (12 January 2013) was celebrated all over India and in different countries of the world. Ministry of Youth Affairs Sports of India decided to observe 2013 as the year of 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. Year-long events and programs were organised by different branches of Ramakrishna Math, Ramakrishna Mission, central government and different state governments of India, education institutions, youth groups etc. Bengali film director Tutu (Utpal) Sinha made a film- â€Å"The Light: Swami Vivekananda†, as a tribute to Swami Vivekananda on his 150th birth anniversary. In 2011 Malaysian government introduced a postal stamp to mark the occasion. Ministry of Youth Affairs Sports of India decided to observe 2013 as the year of 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. The Union Human Resources and Development Ministry and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) of India asked all schools to celebrate birth anniversary of Vivekananda in schools to renew the interests of school children in the works and ideals of Vivekananda. A senior CBSE educational official told in statement– The NCERT officials said that the council is preparing a supplementary book containing the thoughts of 15 great thinkers of India. The expert committee for textbook development will endeavour to include names not included so far, subject to the load of syllabus and textbook material on children, remaining within acceptable limits. Political parties of Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka venerated Vivekananda at different functions and events across the city. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa told the life and teachings of Vivekananda has been a great inspiration to her and she considers Vivekananda as her political teacher. She sanctioned a fund of 20 million (US $370,000) on behalf of the Tamil Nadu government for the welfare of Vivekananda Cultural Centre of the state. In 2012, a 3-day World Congress of Religions conference was organised by the Institute of World Religions of the Washington Kali Temple, Burtonsville, Maryland, in association with the Council for A Parliament of World Religions, Chicago, Illinois to commemorate birthday of Swami Vivekananda. The event commemorates the 150th birth anniversary of India’s visionary monk, Swami Vivekananda, who addressed the Parliament of World’s Religions in Chicago in September 1893, passionately calling for both tolerance and universal acceptance as a path to eliminate the evils of sectarianism, bigotry and fanaticism and engage all the world’s religious and spiritual community leaders in efforts to forge a new global civil society. A bilingual film â€Å"The Light: Swami Vivekananda† was made in India as tribute to Swami Vivekananda on his 150th birth anniversary. The director of the film Tutu Sinha told in an interview– â€Å"I have always wanted to make a film on Swami Vivekananda. Bengali theatre group Lokkrishti staged a drama Biley to commemorate the birth anniversary. Bengali theatre actor Debshankar Haldar played the role of Swamiji in this drama. Celebration in Chicago, Illinois, USA: Chicago celebrated Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary on a grand scale. Chicago immortalizes Swami Vivekananda with many landmark monuments like Swami Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago and Sri Ramakrishna Universal Temple in Homer Glen, a larger-than-life size bronze statue of Swami Vivekananda and the Vivekananda Spiritual Centre at the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago in Lemont, a bronze plaque at the Art Institute of Chicago commemorating his historic address at the World’s Parliament of Religions. The City of Chicago has also immortalized Swami Vivekananda by naming a long stretch of prestigious downtown marketplace Michigan Avenue. The stretch in front of the Art Institute has been named as Swami Vivekananda Way. Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary is being celebrated in India and all over the world on January 12, 2013. The government of India has originally planned to celebrate the birth anniversary for a year and launched it on January 12, 2012, but the celebration has been extended for two years ending on January 12, 2014. The government of India has set up a National Committee under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister and a National Implementation Committee under the chairmanship of the Finance Minister and released Rs. 00 crore to the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission in Belur for the celebration. It also established in 2012 a new visiting professorship in Indian studies with a gift of $1. 5 million at University of Chicago to commemorate the legacy of spiritual leaders Swami Vivekananda. In India, the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission, and Vivekananda Kendra and the Rock Memorial in Kanyakumari, and other organizations are planning to celebrate the occasion for one year from January 12, 2013. On that day, Dr. Man Mohan Singh will also release a movie shot at Sri Ramakrishna Universal Temple in Homer Glen in the USA and other historic places in Chicago connected with the life of Swami Vivekananda. In Chicago, the 150th birth anniversary of Vivekananda will be celebrated with major functions to be held at Sri Ramakrishna Universal Temple in Homer Glen and at the nearby Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago in Lemont. Other official celebrations are expected to be held at the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Chicago. According to an Indian Embassy official in Washington, the Consulate General of India in Chicago is coordinating with all the institutions in the city with the support of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and India’s Ministry for Culture. Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh-USA (HSS-USA) has also chalked out an elaborate year-long celebration with a series of programs involving children, the youth and the elderly. The theme of the celebration is â€Å"Universal peace through Dharma and Yoga,† which is the message of Swami Vivekananda. While the newly-built Sri Ramakrishna Universal Temple of Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago in Homer Glen, with its serene ashram-like ambience, plans to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary after Arti on January 12, 2013, in the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago complex, where the imposing statue of Swami Vivekananda stands under a beautifully decorated canopy and the newly constructed and Indianized Vivekananda Spiritual Centre are located, will celebrate the event for two days — January 12 and 13. The other events being planned during the yearlong celebration, include conferences to be addressed by scholars and senior monks of the Ramakrishna Mission from around the world; a mini-parliament of religions with participation of representatives from various faiths; a program in honour of Swami Vivekananda at the Art Institute of Chicago; a bus tour of places associated with Swami Vivekananda; a lecture by Asim Chaudhuri, author of â€Å"Swami Vivekananda in Chicago;† publication of a calendar featuring photographs of Swami Vivekananda and information about his life; a display on the people and places associated with Swami Vivekananda in Chicago; a guide book with colour photos of the places associated with Swami Vivekananda in Chicago; and framing and installing panels on life of Swami Vivekananda. Celebration in Pakistan: Pakistani Hindus celebrated 150th birth anniversary of Vivekananda. The brewing Indo-Pak tension was no dampener for the Hindus in Pakistan who celebrate d the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda with cultural programmes and religious quiz competitions. President of Pakistan Hindu Seva Welfare Trust (PHSWT) Sanjesh S. Dhanja told TOI that they held a function at Radha Krishna temple, Steel Town, about 60km from Karachi, to mark the occasion. There are very few Hindus in Pakistan who know about the legendary spiritual leader so we decided to celebrate his birth anniversary to generate awareness, said Dhanja. Detailed lectures on the life and teachings of Vivekananda were delivered and a quiz competition was held. Patron of PHSWT Mukhi Odha Mal said, This is first of its kind programme ever held in Pakistan on Vivekananda since Partition and I saw a lot of enthusiasm among the Hindu community especially the younger generation. Priest of temple Ramesh Kumar Acharya said that young children were highly impressed by the teachings of Swami Vivekananda. Now it is one of our missions to make birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda an annual affair in Pakistan he said. Sanjesh said that on the occasion they also held 2nd Bhagwat Gita Quiz Competition. The first such competition was held in the month of June 2012. Sanjesh said, â€Å"A Hindu, Baboo Kothari, who had arrived to participate in the birth celebration function of Swami Vivekananda, coming all the way from Mitti in Sindh was so much impressed with the function that he announced to hold birth celebration function of Swami Vivekananda in Hanuman Temple every year. Reacting on the brewing tension between India and Pakistan, Sanjesh said, â€Å"Our aim is to spread the message of peace.

The World Is Flat Flattener Information Technology Essay

The World Is Flat Flattener Information Technology Essay The World Is Flat is an international bestselling book by Thomas Friedman that analyzes globalization, primarily in the early 21st century. The title is a metaphor for viewing the world as a level playing field in terms of commerce, where all competitors have an equal opportunity. Globalization became more prominent during the last decades. Friedman argues that globalization made the world smaller and flatter, allowing all countries to take chance of the available opportunities equally. As Friedman describes in The World is Flat there are three eras of globalization and ten flatteners which made the world smaller, making it easier to communicate and share our knowledge. This paper deals with the flattener number 2 i.e.; When the NetScape went Public and associated developments after 2003 till date. Background Thomas Lauren Friedman is an American journalist, columnist and author and has won the Pulitzer Prize three times. In his famous book The World is Flat he identifies three eras of globalization. The first era, called Globalization 1.0,between the years 1492, when Columbus set out to discover a new trade route to the New World, and 1800, made the world fall in size from large to medium. During this period, the strength of a country was based on the number of horsepower or the number of steam engines owned, compared with other countries. The second period Globalization 2.0, between the years 1800 and 2000, decreased the size of the world, from medium to low. Multinational companies were the integration force, and the power was given to a company by the level of innovation in the field of machinery and equipment. Last era Globalization 3.0 began around the year 2000. If the first two periods led to globalization at the country level and, later, at the company level, this new period favorized reduction to a very small world, flattening the playing field and putting the individual in the centre(Friedman, 2007, pp 25-26). Globalization has been maintained by the action of some flattening factors that favoured the levelling of the World and the emergence of some opportunities that could increase welfare if successfully exploited. One of these factors is the event on 09/08/1995, the Netscape Company was to give life the Internet by creating the first commercially and well known web browser, facilitating web browsing culture definition to general public. Objectives The main objective of this paper is to investigate the contribution and after effects of flattener number 2 in make the world flatten during the period 2003 to 2012. Methodology Data for this report were gathered from 3rd December 2012 to 18th January 2013. The data was collected by research online and in college library. Procedure The procedure involved in analysis of the facts and authentication of information given in each report and article available in online and in college library. The main agenda is to capture all the contribution and after effects of Netscape internet explorer in making the world flatten from 2003 to till date. Findings Flattener #2 is shifting us from a PC-based platform to an Internet-based platform. The concept of World Wide Web was developed by British computer scientist Berners-Lee. Berners-Lee is someone who certainly helped to flatten the world. Berners-Lee explains that the web is an imaginary space of information. On the Net, we will find computers and the connections are cables between computers. On the Web, we will find documents, videos, sounds etc like information and the connections are hypertext links. The Web exists because of programs which communicate between computers on the Net. People are really interested in information; they dont really want to have to know about computers and cables. In the early 1990s, Berners-Lee created the programming language for writing WebPages called HTML. The 1st website by Berners-Lee was at http://info.cern.ch and was 1st put up on August 6, 1991. It was the 1st website ever. It explained how the WWW worked, how one could own a browser, and how setting up a Web server. 1st widely popular commercial browser was created by a tiny start-up company in Mountain View, California, called Netscape. Netscape went public on August 9, 1995 at the price of $28. Netscape and the Web broadened the audience for the Internet from its roots as a communications medium used primarily by early adopters and geeks to something that made the Internet accessible to everyone from five-year-olds to ninety-five-year-olds. The digitization that took place meant that everyday occurrences such as words, files, films, music, and pictures could be accessed and manipulated on a computer screen by all people across the world. The more alive the Internet became, the more different people wanted to do different things on the Web. So people demanded computers, s/w and telecommunications networks. This demand was satisfied by the rollout of Windows 95. Windows 95 become the operating system used by most people worldwide. Friedman recognizes the publication of Netscape and Windows 95 as a huge flattening force. What Netscape did was bring a new killer app -the browser to this installed base of PCs, making the computer and its connectivity inherently more useful for millions of people. This in turn set off an explosion in demand for all things digital and sparked the Internet boom. This development, in turn, wired the whole world together, and without, anyone really planning it, made Bangalore a suburb of Boston. Now Netscape is known as Firefox. The second flattener gave people a way to cheaply distribute and retrieve content digitally. Basically, the second flattener consisted of 3 events: (1) The Internet emerged (low-cost connectivity among PC users); (2) The World Wide Web emerged (PC users can post their digital content for anyone to access); and (3) The commercial Web Browser emerged (PC users can retrieve documents or Web pages stored in Web sites). Everyone could use the Internet, thus consumers wanted more to do on the Internet. One of the benefits of Netscape was it was available to everyone and people didnt have to continually pay for it (after they bought the browser). The Internet boom leads to over-investments. For instance, the fiber-optic cable companies invested in making mass amounts of fiber-optic systems. The companies didnt realize that almost everyone was using the Internet and they didnt need to make anymore fiber-optic systems. Netscape was the first highly successful browser, and it could work on an IBM PC, an Apple MacIntosh, or a Unix computer, insuring that people could communicate with each other no matter what computer they were on. Netscapes browser made millions of existing computers and connectivity much more useful, and reinforced the free flow of information. Freidman concludes that browser technology was one of the most important inventions in modern history. Together with the Internet and Web, Netscape allowed more people to communicate and interact with each other than had ever happened in the world before. There is an interesting quote when you give people a new way to connect with other people, they will punch through any technical barrierà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦people are wired to want to connect with other people and they find it objectionable not to be able to. (Marc Andreessen : The World is Flat : 65) Lets look at each one of these developments. Marc Andreessen, a brilliant young computer scientist, developed the 1st really effective, easy-to-use Web browser, called Mosaic. His company called Mosaic Communications later renamed to Netscape communications. Marc Andreessen did not invent the Internet or the World Wide Web, but he certainly played a historic role in helping to bring them alive. Netscapes 1st commercial browser was released in December 1994, and within a year it completely dominated the market. People were downloading it for 3-month trials. Thus Netscape played important flattening role. In addition to the Netscape browser, other standardizations further simplified communications among computers. Berners Lee and other scientists had developed a series of open protocols mainly FTP, HTTP,HTML,SSL,SMTP,POP, and TCP/IP. Together they form a system for transporting data around the Internet and World Wide Web in a relatively secure manner, no matter what network your company or household has or what computer or cell phone or handheld device you are using. Each protocol had a different function. TCP/IP was the basic plumbing of the Internet, or the basic railroad tracks, on which everything else above it was built and moved around. FTP moved files. SMTP and POP moved e-mail messages, so that they could be written and read on different e-mail systems. HTML allowed ordinary people to author Web pages. HTTP enabled people to connect to HTML documents on Web. SSL provide security for Web-based transactions. By the late 1990s the Internet computing platform became integrated. Soon anyone was able to connect with anyone else anywhere on any machine. This integration was a huge flattener. Generally, people take long time to change their habits and learn new technology. But in the case of Internet, they did it quickly and ten years later there were 800 million people on the internet, because people always want to connect with other people. People will change their habits quickly when they have a strong reason to do so, and people have an innate urge to connect with other people. (Marc Andreessen : The World is Flat : 65) Flattener 2 is responsible for the birth of AOL (Netscape was sold to AOL), newer versions of PC-Windows, Google, Yahoo and dot.com boom. Netscape going public stimulated a lot of things. one is, degree of overinvestment. Every sillier and sillier idea got funded. Digitization made investors to believe that demand for internet usage and internet-related products would be infinite. Digitization is a magic process by which words, music, data, films, files and pictures are turn into bits and bytes- combinations of 1s and 0s- that can be manipulated on a computer screen, stored on a microprocessor, or transmitted over satellites and fiber-optic lines. Thus mail digitized as e-mail, camera to digital camera, buy and browse books digitally on amazon.com, digital library, digitized music.. In a news conference at 1999 World Economic Forum, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates told that these Internet stocks going to drive innovation faster and faster. Gates compared Internet to the gold rush. The Internet stock boom causes overinvestment in fiber-optic cable companies. They laid massive amounts of fiber-optic cable on land and under the oceans, which reduced cost of making a phone call or transmitting data anywhere in the world. The 1st installation of a fiber-optic system was in 1977.Optcal cables can carry digitized packets of information over long distances. Fiber-optic cable is used for secure communications, because it is very difficult to tap. The capacity of all the already installed fiber cables just keeps growing, making it cheaper and easier to transmit voices and data to any part of the world. The first transoceanic fiber-optic cables were laid between the United States, United Kingdom and France in 1988. The first transpacific cables were laid down in 1989 and connected the U.S., Hawaii, Guam and Japan. Fiber optic cables made it possible for Web users to connect and communicate with people at long distances. The installation of under-water cables was the first step to uniting all corners of the world. The perception of distance became much smaller. Now anyone could get on the Internet and communicate with someone half way around the world in less than seconds. Not only could you just talk to oth er countries, but with advancements in computer capabilities, you could also have a face to face conversation with them. The world became much smaller and flatter. *Smith, D. R. (2004). Digital Transmission Systems. Norwell, Ma: Kluwer Academic Publishing. The dot-com bubble was created by over-estimated values of Internet companies. Everyone jumped on the band wagon when the expected profits seemed to just keep growing. People were investing with the faith that one day those companies would reach their quota and so much more. In 2000 to 2001, the bubble burst, which resulted in a drop in investments and economic growth (Becker, 2008).* One of the biggest fall-outs was in the business of fiber optic cables. Everyone underestimated the efficiency and capabilities of fiber optic cables. When they turned out to have a much larger capacity than companies needed it became practically free to use them. This created opportunities for countries who couldnt afford to buy the cables outright. India was one such country that used the access of the Internet to globalize very fast in order to catch up with the rest of the world, and catch up they did. *Becker, A. (2008). Electronic commerce: concepts, methodologies, tools and applications (Vol. I). Hershey, Pa: Information Science Reference. It also allowed the telecommunications giants such as the Baby Bells and ATT to provide both phone service and infrastructure for internet. Global crossing was founded in 1977 by Gary Winnick and went public the next year. The telecom deregulation of 1996 allowed local exchange carriers to build their own data transmission capacities. The Internet-e-mail-browser phase flattened the earth a little bit more. In short, the Apple-PC-Windows phase and Netscape browsing-e-mail phase together enabled communication and interaction with people anywhere on the planet. Now thanks to the internet, we dont have to travel distances to meet face to face since we are interconnected with everyone everywhere. The day Netscape went public opened up the World Wide Web so that almost anyone could navigate the Internet without problems. This user-friendly browser made accessing the plethora of information on the Internet open to everyone. There existed browsers for searching the web prior to Netscape, but they were not as simple and easy to use. Now anyone who could read had access to the internet. Knowledge is power, and people got addicted to this easy learning tool. It gave individuals the power to take their lives into their own hands. The dot-com boom created a new and very different world. A world runs more by innovative individuals than by corporations. The birth of Mozilla On February 23, 1998, Netscape Communications Corporation created a project called Mozilla to co-ordinate the development of the Mozilla Application Suite, the open source version of Netscapes internet software, Netscape Communicator. Mozilla is a free software community best known for producing the Firefox web browser. The Mozilla community uses, develops, spreads and supports Mozilla products and works to advance the goals of the Open Web described in the Mozilla Manifesto. In addition to the Firefox browser, Mozilla also produces Firefox Mobile, the Firefox OS mobile operating system, the bug tracking system Bugzilla and a number of other projects. Originally, Mozilla aimed to be a technology provider for companies, such as Netscape, who would commercialize their open source code. When Netscapes parent company AOL drastically scaled back its involvement with Mozilla in July 2003, the Mozilla Foundation was launched as the legal steward of the project. Soon after, Mozilla deprecated the Mozilla Suite in favour of creating independent applications for each function, primarily the Firefox web browser and the Thunderbird email client, and moved to supply them direct to the public. Recently, Mozillas activities have expanded to include Firefox on mobile platforms, primarily Android, a mobile OS called Firefox OS, a web-based identity system called Mozilla Persona and a marketplace for HTML5 applications. In a report released in November of 2012, Mozilla reported that their total revenue for 2011 was $163 million, which was up 33% from $123 million in 2010. Mozilla noted that roughly 85% of their revenue comes from their contract with Google. Introduction of new free web browser Firefox Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser developed for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux and Android coordinated by Mozilla Corporation and Mozilla Foundation. Firefox uses the Gecko layout engine to render web pages, which implements current and anticipated web standards. Gecko is a free and open source layout engine used in many applications developed by Mozilla. It is designed to support open Internet standards, and is used by different applications to display web pages and, in some cases, an applications user interface itself. Gecko offers a rich programming API that makes it suitable for a wide variety of roles in Internet-enabled applications, such as web browsers, content presentation, and client/server. Gecko is written in C++ and is cross-platform, and runs on various operating systems including BSDs, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, OS/2, AIX, OpenVMS, and Microsoft Windows. Its development is now overseen by the Mozilla Foundation and is licensed under version 2 of the Mozilla Public License. Gecko is the third most-common layout engine on the World Wide Web, As of October 2012, Firefox has approximately 20% to 24% of worldwide usage share of web browsers, making it the second or third most widely used web browser, according to different sources. According to Mozilla, Firefox counts with over 450 million users around the world. The browser has had particular success in Indonesia, Germany, and Poland, where it is the most popular browser with 65%, 47% and 47% of the market share, respectively. The Firefox project began as an experimental branch of the Mozilla project by Dave Hyatt, Joe Hewitt and Blake Ross. They believed the commercial requirements of Netscapes sponsorship and developer-driven feature creep compromised the utility of the Mozilla browser. To combat what they saw as the Mozilla Suites software bloat, they created a stand-alone browser, with which they intended to replace the Mozilla Suite. On April 3, 2003, the Mozilla Organization announced that they planned to change their focus from the Mozilla Suite to Firefox and Thunderbird. The Firefox project has undergone several name changes. Originally titled Phoenix, it was renamed because of trademark problems with Phoenix Technologies. The replacement name, Firebird, provoked an intense response from the Firebird free database software project. In response, the Mozilla Foundation stated that the browser should always bear the name Mozilla Firebird to avoid confusion with the database software. After further pressure from the database servers development community, on February 9, 2004, Mozilla Firebird became Mozilla Firefox, often referred to as simply Firefox. Mozilla prefers that Firefox be abbreviated as Fx or fx, though it is often abbreviated as FF. The Firefox project went through many versions before version 1.0 was released on November 9, 2004.On October 5, 2012, Mozilla released the Metro interface version of Firefox, included in the Nightly 18 build, to be used in Windows 8. In a flat world, the importance of comparative advantage disappears. Bhagwati (2010) argued that, although global capital markets led to decreasing interest rate differences between different countries and even multinational companies have facilitated technology transfer between countries, the differences remain due to culture and politics. An example is the political regime from China, which has undermined software development. PC (Communist Party) in China is irreconcilable with the PC (personal computer) of U.S. origin. But unlike China, which occupies a leading position in hardware production, India is better at programming and not at the hardware, thanks to the recently opened Indian autarchic regime following the 1991 reforms (Guha and Ray 2004, pp 301-302). The other obstacle in the flattening process, but an obstacle which can both accelerate or decelerate the global integration, is the national culture. The more resistant to globalization the local culture is, the higher the chances of isolation are and the probability that the community will crush because of the internal conflicts. Rà ©gis Debray (in Matthew, 2007) lists two reasons behind the crisis of the world culture: rapid population growth and the local retreat which the technological globalization is fuelling as the world begins to resemble more, the people are trying to distinguish between them more through local cultures, leading to an increased nationalistic feeling. The fierce criticism of the flattening earth theory is related to increased income disparities, both in developing and developed countries. For example, the poor countries, where the financial markets restrict access to capital for people with low incomes, the investments are extremely low and growth is inhibited. Thus, globalization tends to favour increased income disparities, since the main beneficiaries of globalization are those that have already wealthy capital and higher education or, at the country level, citizens of developed countries, where are healthy and stable institutions. Birdsall (2005, p. 33-36) proposes reforming global institutions like the World Bank or International Monetary Fund, so they can truly represent the interests of poor countries. They are the ones that have mechanisms to manage the implementation of a social contract model to increase access to educational opportunities for the poor and creating sound and stable institutions in developing countries. F or now, the votes are non-democratically allocated in these institutions. Europeans always choose the IMF president and Americans the WB president. In addition, most of the time, people in their management have no experience in solving the problems they face, since the holding of such functions are not related to previous work experience (Stiglitz, 2006, September 10). The Birdsalls second recommendation proposes the creation of global rules that correct market failures, environmental protection (eg Kyoto Protocol), support markets from poor countries to overcome financial risks (IMF) and deter corruption and other anticompetitive practices. The same argument the disparities of income growth was brought by Stiglitz (2006, September 10) to contradict Friedmans vision. He said that globalization can be felt only in terms of transport and communications costs decrease. Regarding economic development, he gave the example of the Republic of Moldova that although it experiences a transition period from communist regime, its GDP has decreased by 70% in 2005 and has spent about three quarters of GDP for foreign debt. Internet Abuse The internet has become a fundamental part of many peoples day-to-day working lives. As with the introduction of other mass communication technologies, issues surrounding use, abuse and addiction in the workplace have surfaced (Griffiths, 2002; Weatherbee, 2009). It is not uncommon for office workers to spend workplace time on various non-work activities (e.g. booking holidays, shopping online, bidding in online auctions, e-mailing friends/romantic partners, etc.). According to a survey by the International Data Corporation (Snapshot Spy, 2008), up to 40 per cent of internet access in the workplace is spent on non-work related browsing, and 60 per cent of all online purchases are made during working hours. The same survey also reported that 90 per cent of employees felt the internet can be addictive, and 41 per cent admitted to personal internet surfing at work for more than three hours per week. Internet abuse at work can lead to a decrease in productivity, network clogging, and an increase in the incidents of security breaches at an organization (Pee et al., 2008; Clayburgh and Nazareth, 2009; Weatherbee, 2009). Activities and consequences such as these highlight that internet abuse is a potentially serious cause of concern for employers. It has been claimed that excessive internet use can be pathological and addictive (Widyanto and Griffiths, 2006) and that such behaviour comes under the more generic label of technological addiction (Griffiths, 1995, 1998). It has been argued that behavioural addictions are no different from chemical addictions (e.g. alcoholism, and heroin addiction) in terms of the core components of addiction such as salience, tolerance, withdrawal, mood modification, conflict, and relapse. Research into internet addiction suggests that it does indeed exist but that it affects only a very small minority of users (Widyanto and Griffiths, 2006, 2009). These are usually people who use internet chat rooms or play fantasy role playing games activities that they would not engage in except on the internet itself. To some extent, these internet users are engaged in text-based virtual realities and take on other social personas and social identities as a way of making them feel good about themselves. In such cases, the medium of the internet may provide an alternative reality to the user and allow them feelings of immersion and anonymity, feelings that may lead to an altered state of consciousness for the user. This in itself may be highly psychologically and/or physiologically rewarding. There appear to be many people who use the internet excessively but are not addicted as measured by addiction criteria. Most people researching in the field have failed to use stringent criter ia for measuring addiction (Widyanto and Griffiths, 2006). Internet as an advertising medium Internet penetration rate in the U.S. reached 67.8% in 2005 (Internet World Stats, 2005), which translated to $133.3 billion in e-commerce revenues (Kumar Shah, 2004). In April 2006 the penetration rate hit new high and reached 73% (Madden, 2006). Broadband penetration in the U.S. rose to 63.8% in October 2005 and is expected to reach 70% in 2006 (U.S. Passes Singapore to 15th, 2005). The growing availability and usage of Internet, particularly broadband Internet, has created a large audience for Internet advertising. More people are spending more time online. The Internet has reached well beyond the critical mass to be considered a medium economically viable for advertisers. The uncertainty that once hung over online commerce has given way to steady, or even robust, growth (Hyland, 2004). Internet companies, as well as traditional firms selling online, are making real revenue. A research study in 2004 showed that 79% of online retailers were making money, with a 21% average margin (Ramsey, 2004). It is expected total online sales in 2006 will increase 20% to $211 billion (Online sales expected to rise, 2006). With the rise of Internet audiences and online e-commerce activities, the Internet is prospering as an advertising medium. Internet advertising revenues in the United States totaled more than $1.5 billion in 2005, a 30% increase over 2004 (Interactive Advertising Bureau [IAB], 2006). Internet advertising accounted for about 5% of total U.S. advertising revenues in 2005 and nearly matched total consumer magazine advertising. Web Accessibility Few people are aware of the term web accessibility. In the short-life time of the web visual aesthetics has been the design goal, rather than equal access. Web accessibility is the practice of making web sites accessible to people who require more than just traditional web browsers to access the internet. For example, a visually impaired user can use a screen reader to translate text and graphics on the computer screen to an audio format so the user hears the screen content via a speech synthesizer or sound card. An accessible web site is designed to accommodate a wider set of ways users can access the site. However, designing a web site with accessibility not only serves people with disabilities, but also results in a wider set of benefits for everyone. Twitter New media for information sharing Twitter is a micro blogging service commands more than 41 million users as of July 2009 and is growing fast. Twitter users tweet about any topic within the 140-character limit and follow others to receive their tweets. Twitter has emerged as a new medium in spotlight through recent happenings, such as an American student jailed in Egypt and the US Airways plane crash on the Hudson river. Twitter users follow others or are followed. Unlike on most online social networking sites, such as Facebook or MySpace, the relationship of following and being followed requires no reciprocation. A user can follow any other user, and the user being followed need not follow back. Being a follower on Twitter means that the user receives all the messages (called tweets) from those the user follows. Common practice of responding to a tweet has evolved into well-defined mark-up culture: RT stands for retweet, @ followed by a user identifier address the user, and # followed by a word represents a hashtag. This well-defined mark-up vocabulary combined with a strict limit of 140 characters per posting conveniences users with brevity in expression. The retweet mechanism empowers users to spread information of their choice beyond the reach of the original tweets followers. Social Network A social network is a social structure made up of a set of actors such as individuals or organizations and the dyadic ties between these actors. The social network perspective provides a clear way of analyzing the structure of whole social entities. The study of these structures uses social network analysis to identify local and global patterns, locate influential entities, and examine network dynamics. In 2002, social networking hit really its stride with the launch of Friendster. Friendster used a degree of separation concept similar to that of the now-defunct SixDegrees.com, refined it into a routine dubbed the Circle of Friends wherein the pathways connecting two people are displayed, and promoted the idea that a rich online community can exist only between people who truly have common bonds. And it ensured there were plenty of ways to discover those bonds. An interface that shared many of the same traits one would find at an online dating site certainly didnt seem to hurt. (CEO Jonathan Abrams actually refers to his creation as a dating site that isnt about dating.) And, just a year after its launch, Friendster boasted more than three million registered users and a ton of investment interest. Though the service has since seen more than its fair share of technical difficulties, questionable management decisions, and a resulting drop in its North American fortunes, it remains a force in Asia and, curiously, a near-necessity in the Philippines. Introduced just a year later in 2003, LinkedIn took a decidedly more serious, sober approach to the social networking phenomenon. Rather than being a mere playground for former classmates, teenagers, and cyberspace Don Juans, LinkedIn was, and still is, a networking resource for businesspeople who want to connect with other professionals. In fact, LinkedIn contacts are referred to as connections. Today, LinkedIn boasts more than 175 million members. More than tripling that number, according to recent estimates, is MySpace, also launched in 2003. Though it no longer resides upon the social networking throne in many English-speaking countries that honour now belongs to Facebook just about everywhere MySpace remains the perennial favourite in the USA. It does so by tempting the key young adult demographic with music, music videos, and a funky, feature-filled enviro

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) SWOT and PESTLE

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) SWOT and PESTLE INTRODUCTION The main theme of this assignment is to critically analyse Pakistan International Airline and to appraise the level of effectiveness of the organisation. It includes strategic, financial and resource management analysis. This is carried out in three parts. Overall strategic position is scrutinized and external and internal environment is evaluated through different models such as  SWOT  and PESTLE STEEP analysis in the first part of an assignment. The second part is an overall review of human resource management in PIA and different approaches for their employees retention and performance are thoroughly assessed as to point out their weaknesses and reasons for those flaws in overall system. The final part is the ratio analysis which helps in analysing the financial position of the business and impact of resource management decisions on organisations growth and stability. INTRODUCTION OF PIA: Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIAC) is the premium airline of Pakistan with its head office on the grounds of Jinnah International Airport in Karachi. PIA is one of the largest airlines in Asia, operating scheduled services to 24 domestic destinations and 39 international destinations in 25 countries across Asia, Europe and North America. Its main bases are at Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. (Khan A., 2008). ANALYSIS OF RELATIONSHIP OF STRATEGIC LEVEL PLANNING AND LOWER LEVEL Relationship between higher and lower levels of management is that Planning is done at higher level and execution is done by the lower level but the lower management is not involved in any decision making and planning in PIA. In fact its Lower management just plays role in gathering information for each step of strategic planning. Mission Statement: PIA Corporation has stated its mission statement as a symbol of national pride, aspired to be an airline of choice, operating profitably on modern commercial concepts and capable of competing with the best in the International as well as Domestic markets (www.piac.com.pk, accessed date: 08/10/2010) Mission statement of PIA is mentioned in a way that: Employee team will contribute towards making PIA a global airline of choice through: Offering quality customer services and innovative products. Using state of art technologies. Ensuring cost effective measures in procurement and operations. Developing safety cultures. On Jan 15, 2010 strategic objectives of PIA were given in 33rd BOD meeting i.e. Introduction of new additional flights, real time tax revenue management system Introduction and success of Pakistan remittance initiative Increasing market share by 5 % Successful monitoring of routes In PIA Mission and objectives are set by the higher management for the overall organization that provides track to middle and lower level employees so that they can bring the company at an established position because Higher management can not directly take part in improving customer satisfaction so team work is required from ticket reservation to landing of plane. Employees work in different teams such as office staff, ground staff, cabin crew and flight attendants as to perform day to day operations and to achieve overall objectives and mission. 2.2 Environmental Scanning: Goal achievement of any company is greatly influenced by the overall environment, so in PIA before doing strategic planning higher management also scans over all environment that involve internal and external environment both along with the analysis of firms industry. 2.3 Strategy Formulation: Management at the top level of PIA utilizes all the information gathered by the lower management and formulate its strategies by using its strengths and availing its opportunities to overcome its weaknesses and threats so as to create competitive edge in the airline industry. 2.4 Strategy Implementation: Implementation in any organization involves restructuring of firms resources and high level of motivation for lower and middle management. But in PIA strategy implementation becomes really complicated as they do not change their structures according to their new and modified strategies, and their employees are highly demotivated as their suggestions are not welcomed in formulating the strategies. Ultimately the strategies are misunderstood by them. 2.5 Evaluation and Control: Implementation of strategies are evaluated and controlled by PIAs higher management but they are very much rigid in making adjustments in their overall strategies. 2.6 Vision: PIA Corporation has stated its vision as To be fiercely competitive, consistently exceeding customer expectations and be the choice employer that embraces modern technology in all spheres of its activities. INFLUENCE OF VISION, MISSION, VALUES AND GOALS OF PIA OVER ITS STAKEHOLDERS Mission, vision, values and goals for PIA have great influence over its stakeholders that involves: 3.1 Customers: In the vision and mission statements of PIA; their customers expectations and satisfaction is highly focused so they are increasing their market demand by offering different services such as: Magazines like hamsafar and newspapers are given to all customers of PIA Different flyer programs also attract customers as they can get free tickets and excess baggage vouchers etc PIA continuously changes its plane design after every 3 years as to gain more and more customer attention PIA also introduces cargo service namely PIA Speedex. PIA is also doing brand marketing through sponsorship to become more and more popular e.g. PIA is sponsoring Shandur polo gala, ABN Amro patrons trophy, destination Pakistan 2007 festival PIA also supports non profit organizations like Al Shifa trust, Zindagi trust etc. PIA is also maintaining high safety culture for its customers 3.2 Employees: PIA believes in team work and without that they cannot achieve their goals and mission but they do not empower their employees to participate in decision making process so they are not involved in setting goals, vision and mission for their company. 3.3 Shareholders: PIA does not focus on shareholders income or their satisfaction in its vision and mission statements which shows its low level of interest. And it is proved by the fact that it is not achieving its goals so facing financial crisis that results in loss for its shareholders as share price decreases from 3.17 to 2.61 and loss was PAK Rs.5822 million in 2009. SWOT ANALYSIS 4.1 (S)TRENGTHS: Leading Market Position: According to Annual report of PIA (2008), PIA is one of Pakistans leading air carriers, with more than 800 daily flights. Around 150,000 passengers fly a month on PIA, making it one of the major operators in the domestic market in terms of passenger destination. PIAs international market share was 43.5%, In the Domestic market, its market share was 69.4%. On a system-wide basis, PIAs market share was 51.2% at the end of year 2009. Its strong market position is driven by consistently low fares as well as reliable service, frequent and convenient flights, use of new technologies like e-ticketing and self check-in terminals, comfortable cabins and superior customer service. Superior Operating Structure: PIA has maintained its position as the low cost carrier. It has been first class Pakistani airline to use the latest technology. Factors contributing consists of different series of Boeing and Airbus and an efficient, high-utilization and point- to-point route structure. Network Presence: PIA enjoys a global strong network and international destinations. The companys network includes three the major airports in Pakistan, as well as major international airport such as Dubai International Airport. Having a strong network means that PIA can generate traffic feed for both its domestic and international Flights. Effective Use Of Technology: PIA has successfully incorporated latest technology in all its systems, giving it an edge over competitors. PIA takes credit for introducing most new technologies to the Pakistani market. It was the second carrier in Pakistan to incorporate the c-ticketing system and the second in South Asia to introduce self check in systems at the Jinnah International Airport, Karachi. 4.2 (W)EAKNESSES: Worse Govt. Rules: The key policies, strategies and set of laws are designed by the upper management. The centralized system is one of the biggest obstacles of long term success of PIA. PIA centralizes structure lead to barrel between different level of management, decreased motivation, and hard access to information. Debt: PIA has a significant amount of 42 billion debts. Current and future debts could have important consequences for stakeholders of the company. Reliance On Oil Prices: PIAs sustainability, growth and revenues directly depend on oil prices. A steep rise in oil prices can seriously damage the long term viability of any airline. Recently many airlines around the world went bankrupt due to rising oil prices. Airlines need to hedge against this risk by taking proper measures. 4.3 (O)PPORTUNITIES: Having The Maximum Route And Fleet: PIA is having the maximum route and fleet domestic and international destinations network in Pakistan as compared to its Competitors. Route and fleet expansion will positively impact the companys operations by increasing revenues. Growing Demand For Low Cost Airlines: The growing demand for air travel is driven by lower fares and consumer confidence. A survey by International Aviation Authority showed that ticket price is the number one criterion for passengers when selecting a flight, well ahead of the availability of a non-stop service. Shifting Customer Needs: The needs of air passengers are increasingly changing, as they are becoming more and more price sensitive. If PIA succeeds in making its prices more competitive, then the company will be able to gain significant market share. Industry Recovery: Market analysts believe that the global airline industry will experience an upturn in fortunes over the next few years. This represents an opportunity for PIA, as it could generate increased revenues and command market share if it capitalizes on increases in demand. 4.4 (T)HREATS High Interest Rates: The past few years have seen State Bank of Pakistan impose high as well as low interest rates to check inflation and the overheating of Pakistani economy. Inflation in Pakistan may see another raise in the short-term. Strong Competition By Airblue: PIA is now competing against carriers such as Airblue and Shaheen Airline. PIA remains Airblues strongest competitor because of the huge market it has gained over time, strong brand image and customer loyalty. Interest And Foreign Currency Exchange Rates: Fluctuating foreign currency exchange rates can have a significant impact on PIAs earnings. For example, as PIA is providing its services to the UK. Negative or positive effects arise from exchange rate movements as change in expenses. PESTLE AND STEEP ANALYSIS PESTLE and STEEP factors including political, social, economic, technological, legal and environmental factors (Ireland R. et al 2008). (P)OLITICAL FACTORS: According to Ireland R. et al (2008), political factors always have a great influence on the way where businesses operate in the airline industry and the spending power of customers. Pakistan has achieved some political stability in recent years. If the management of PIA believes that the present government will perform well (consistently), then there will be more investment in the form of purchase of new airplanes and latest technology. (E)CONOMIC FACTORS: Currently, Airlines industry has three major players: PIA, an Airblue, Aero Asia and Shaheen Airlines. Their target market includes domestic travellers as well as Pakistanis living abroad particularly in the UK and USA. Economically, the new millennium has been highly volatile; the September 11 attacks revolutionized the whole world. Consequently, there was a global depression in the North America, South America, Australia and Europe. (S)OCIAL FACTORS: Customers are more aware of market conditions and available options and want to get best value for their money (Johnson Scholar, 2001). They spend considerable time and money on entertainment hence increasing the need of in-flight entertainment systems. Hajj attracts a huge number of customers. (T)ECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS: Major technological changes are taking place in the airlines industry with innovations in the reservations and booking systems. In-flight entertainment systems and auto check in counters are two examples of such innovations. Internet plays a key role in e-ticketing as consumer can easily reserve tickets or check the status of the flight. (L)EGAL FACTORS: Airlines legislations and policies have a direct impact on the performance of PIA. PIA has attacked new  legislation which will force them to pay greater compensation to customers in the event of overbooking, cancellations and delays. (E)NVIRONMENTAL FACTORS: PIA, as a symbol of national pride, should be a choice airline operating profitably on modern commercial concepts, capable of competing with the best in its entire international and domestic markets, consistently exceeding customer expectations. It should be a choice employer deploying modern technology in all spheres of its activities. APPROACHES TO HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT TO AID THE DEVELOPMENT OF BUSINESS STRATEGY With an understanding that global economic downturn and ever rising operating costs further exacerbated by fluctuating crude oil prices. According to Greg J. et al (2009), human resource practices should be focused in PIA to address whether a brighter future is possible through management practices that fully engage employees and achieve genuine partnerships with their unions to rescue an ailing airline. Failure to elicit employee commitment through human resource practices could mean that PIA is doomed to fail in competitive aviation industry in which private sector is increasing its market share by catering to customer satisfaction. Creating a culture in which employees are close-knit and where top management focuses on its personnel asset by taking care of them so that they are ready to face and respond to every days job challenges wont be easy unless PIA starts building better relationship at various levels within its hierarchical organization. When an organization nurtures values of friendliness and loyalty among its staff then eventually customers benefit from improved service quality and creating a customer-centric culture becomes relatively easy. High employee morale and high quality delivery of service to customers are both inter-related and inter-dependent variables and airlines like Southwest Airlines, SWA, that based its business model not only on its customers but also its employees satisfaction have seen its profits growing when others were all losing revenues in post 9/11 period. Human resource management department of PIA could be used as a valuable agent of change that creates a strategic partnership among different levels of management and improves collaboration between different departments by defining policies and procedures that eventually results in a higher level of service throughout the organization. Properly trained human resource professionals that not only understand intricacies of organizational culture but also possess knowledge of global aviation industry can create a work environment that promotes dignity and respect and prepares PIA for 21st century challenges. Turnaround of Continental Airlines that used human resource management as a tool of corporate strategy to alter its work and communication practices throughout the organization is another example of the pivotal role that human resource department in PIA can play to improve its brands strength and reverse its financial losses (Carrig 1997). To remain competitive in global market where technology can perform many of the operations traditionally performed by human agents, PIA needs to take some measures to reduce its workforce by utilizing technology to its benefit. Moving to online ticketing save us at least 8-9 per cent in costs, the managing director of PIA once said. This partially resolves over-employment that burdens companys dire financial condition. The next step should be online check-in for domestic and international flights. PIA should invest further in its website to offer options to amend itinerary as and when required. Political influence and interference that affects fairness of recruitment policies poses challenges for human resource management when they are forced to make decisions that does not align with PIAs strategy but serves political purposes. I cannot emphasize enough on the importance of transparent recruitment. PIA needs to learn the importance of hiring as its success depends on the ability and style of its people. An organization that is in desperate need of leadership and role models should decorate its headquarters walls by photographs of employees who conform and promote company policies by achieving excellence in their respected roles. This practice would encourage healthy competition within employees and they would work with more dedication to get recognized. PERFORMANCE AND REWARD MANAGEMENT INCLUDING THE ROLE OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL Nowadays according to my point of view any type of reward plays a vital role in employee performance either it is financial or non-financial .Financial includes increase salary benefits like medical, travel, children benefits , pension etc and non-financial are personal recognition , appreciation , promotion etc. PIA must conduct a employee survey in which first they identify the needs of different employees like what type of rewards PIA should provide them so that they can motivate and perform better to make it first choice . Performance Appraisal or Career development discussion is method by which the job performance of an employee is evaluated in term of qualitative, quantities, cost and time typically by super ordinate boss or supervisor Performance appraisal is a part of guiding and managing career development .It is the process of obtaining, analysing and recording information about the relative worth of an employee to the organization. Performance appraisal is an analysis of an employees recent success and failures personal strengths and weaknesses, and suitability for promotion or further training. It is also the judgement of an employees performance in the job based on considerations other than productivity alone. Its a tool by which management can give feed back on employees performance identify his/her training needs .Facilitate communication between employee and administration/management .It improve performance through counselling , coaching and development . Simply when ever you tell any body about his/her weakness strengths you he/she will perform better towards achieving organizational goals. STRATEGIES FOR EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT AND REDEVELOPMENT The study is intended to check the development of employees in the organization. A good development program and procedure are essential to achieve goal of the organization. To cope with poor performance and to retain employee and always keep them sustainable we have lots of strategies but what I found in my research that not all are play a vital role but someone plays a significant role (Svend Hollensen, 2005). Decentralization Employee will better develop in decentralized decision making where they feel they are part of team whenever you involve employee in decision making you can easily achieve you desire objective in better way (Jeston J. Neils J., 2006). If we talk about PIA (Pakistan international Airline) in PIA delegation of authority is limited due to centralized decision making .The authorities reserve the right to make decisions in Board meeting or you can say that only top level management can make decision in board meeting. The middle and lower level management is not allowed to speak for against the top level management whatever top level make or implement they have to follow the decision Job Rotations According to Price A. (2005), job rotation is organic part of development; it is practiced to allow qualified employees to gain more insights into the processes of a company and to reduce boredom and increase job satisfaction through job variation. More rotation more satisfies an employee. Job Rotation is not common in PIA (Pakistan International Airline) thats why PIA employees are not fully satisfy Feed back Feedback plays a vital role in development and Redevelopment of employee and retains them on the job (Mercer, 1996). People need feedback.Most people do not see themselves as others see them. Feedback is essential to learning. If people dont fully appreciate their strengths, how can they use them to their advantage? People who take a professional attitude toward their work want feedback. If we talk about PIA quarterly employee co-ordination meeting are held where all employees can share their views with their bosses and subordinates and subordinates take feedback from super ordinates it helps to reduce the conflicts within the organisation and employee satisfaction. Training and development Programs Training leads towards development and when employees skills more develop organisation can easily achieve its objectives training is essential to make employee more dynamic to perform task (Price A. 2005). Training is strategy to retain an employee in the organisation it is duty of top level management to review the performance appraisals of employee and if they feel lack any where they should provide proper training to cope with that problem. This strategy is some sort of investment on employee. When employee feels that company is investing on he/she they always try to perform better. Analysis of the Liquidity Ratio: It is apparent above chart that the PIA is running with a negative working capital in both financial years. Similarly the percentages of current quick and cash ratio are also very low that reveals the fact that the current asserts of the company is not enough to meet its current liabilities. Either it should be equal or above the maiden industry level or it should be in Positive Percentage. Leverages ratio shows the amount of debt utilized by the firm to finance its asserts (Wight R. et al, 2009). It can be either by using share holders equity or by the amount of borrowing. Leverage ratio of the PIA shows the greater amount of debt to finance its asserts. The figures of the activity ratio indicate the low credibility of the PIA in utilizing its assets to generate the sales. As it is apparent from the fact that ratios for both the years are quiet low and the company will require a greater period of time to convert its assets to generate sales. Analysis of Profitability Ratio: The financial statement shows a slight decline in the gross profit margin in the 1st quarter of year 10 over the previous year. Similarly there is slight increase for the Return on equity ratio, though it is low but as an investor it is somehow encouraging. On the other hand operating profit, net profit margin and return on assets are in real bad condition as they are in negative. CONCLUSION: Reason for PIA down fall is that the company is goal oriented instead of focusing on means used to achieve those goals. So the problem comes at the implementation stage as they are not people oriented, mean the company does not involve its middle and lower management in decision making. That is the reason weaknesses occur and they fail to cope their upcoming threats and unable to create competitive edge in their respective PIA has boosted in last few years. Corporate level is planning forward for next upcoming years. PIA has to changed organisational structure so that it can bring a change and motivation in employees. This will solve all the problems and conflicts among the company structure from corporate level down to the lower level. They should motivate their employees and as well as less the over head cost expenses and other expenses like labour cost .It should be like less input and high out put to improve the corporate level they should heir responsible people so that they are good in decision making and strategic planning. This can be only done by good marketing policies.