Case Study 4 (Business Intelligence ) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Case Study 4 (Business Intelligence ) - Essay Example Similarly, trends and subsequent strategies can be developed for customers using multiple contact channels like call centers, website or mobile internet (Freeland 2003, p. 105). One such organization doing exemplary work in this regard is Ebay- world’s largest online marketplace which also uses information systems to attract and retain customers and has developed technology enabled customer relationship management tools. Question 2 Cross selling is a sales technique where suggestions and recommendations to a customer are made based on his previous purchase, recorded preferences and other details. Use of data mining is of paramount importance in cross selling technique undertaken by 1-800-Flowers. Related product or service can only be recommended only when previously recorded customer taste and preference is available and which matches the expectation of the customer. For instance, a customer who purchases a specific kind of flowers regularly from 1-800-Flowers can be reminded of latest offers and related product and services in flowers section.

An Ideal Type of Security Investment in Malaysia Essay Example for Free

An Ideal Type of Security Investment in Malaysia Essay First of all, we as group have chosen Unit Trust as the best choice in conjunction to the topic of ideal type of security investments according to our understanding and beliefs. According to an article that we have researched, the Federation of Malaysian Unit Trust Managers (FMUTM) defines that unit trust is a form of collective investment which allows investors with similar investment objectives to pool their funds to be invested in a portfolio of securities of other assets. A professional fund manager will then invest the pooled funds in a portfolio. It includes assets classes such as cash, bonds and deposits, shares, property, and commodities. The ownership of the funds is divided into units of entitlement; hence, unit holders do not purchase the securities in the portfolio directly. Consequently, when the funds of the mentioned asset classes’ increases or decreases, then the value of each issued unit increases or decreases accordingly. Besides that, the return on investment (ROI) of unit holders is usually in the form of income distribution and capital appreciation which is derived from the pool of assets supporting the unit trust fund. Unit trust also allows investors to have easy access to a wide range of investments exposures which are not normally available to them. There are a number of other substantial benefits of investing in unit trust. Amongst them are that unit trust are very affordable. Investors are eligible to start with an investment amount as low as RM1000. In addition, rather than concentrating an investment portfolio of one or two investments or share, a portfolio of market securities can be held. Meaning, there is a wider spread of the investments which is also know diversification; hence the investment returns will be less volatile. Through unit trust investment, individual investors have better chances to spread their money to wider asset classes in the same time gaining their particular investment exposure requirements. On top of that, unit trusts have good liquidity which further enhances chances of profits of an investor. Other than that, as mentioned a little earlier on, the people managing unit trusts are approved professionals whom are trained to ensure that decision-making is structured and according to sound investment principles. In the long term, the expertise of a knowledgeable and experienced fund manager usually generates above average investment returns for unit trust investors. Subsequently, with unit trust, the economics of the transaction are more favorable because fund managers invest in larger amounts. Hence, it means that fund managers are able to get access to wholesale fees and products which are impossible for the individual investors to obtain; in return, this action reduces the cost and charges and further enhances the profit for the investment of the investors. Moving on, with the introduction of unit trusts in Malaysia came also the regulations from various regulators, especially the Securities Commission. The entire range of variables relating to the unit trust industry is governed by various legislations in order to protect the interest of the public investors and also a safe investment mechanism to prevent any frauds.

Art and Humanity Essay Example for Free

Art and Humanity Essay I will give version of the way I saw and researched the history on these topics. Leonardo Di Vinci’s work is very admirable and is a very interesting person to research as is all artists. As a society we would be where we are if it were not for all artist in the past and future. Art has long been around for millions and millions of years for example it has been around since the Prehistoric times. Paleolithic which is Old Stone Age is a term used to define the oldest period in the human history. The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic lit. Old stone from the Greek paleos=old and lithos=stone. It began about 2 million years ago, from the use of first stone tools and ended of the Pleistocene epoch, with the close of the last ice age about 13,000 BC. After Prehistoric Art there came Ancient Art which portrayed for example Egyptian art. Egypt during this time is important because of the religion and the respect for death ruled their art. They built mostly temples, graves and adopted strict canons controlled by the priests. Our knowledge of Egyptian civilization rests almost entirely on them and their contents since they were built to endure forever. Conventions of ancient Egyptian believes and culture strongly affected the art. The Pharaoh (King) considered divine. They built great tombs for their Pharaohs (kings), who were not only the supreme rulers but gods. Tombs contained everything the deceased might want or need in the afterlife and much of our knowledge of the culture comes from tomb paintings. After Ancient art came Middle Age art which portrayed for example Early Christian art. Christian art was restricted to the decoration of the hidden places of worship. Most early religious artists worked in manner that was derived from Roman art, appropriately stylized to suit the spirituality of the religion. These artists chose to reject the ideals of perfection in form and technique. After Middle ages came Renaissance which portrayed Late Gothic, Early Renaissance, and Mannerism. Then came 17th, 19th, and 20th Century. A map of decorated caves in Western Europe with the names of a few notable or outlying sites. The broken line encloses caves decorated in the distinctive Mediterranean Style which seems to have been little influenced by the master artists of France and Spain. It often features simple, stark animal representations together with quite elaborate geometrical designs. There are important caves decorated in the Mediterranean style in southeast Spain and France.

Strategic Management: Business Level and Function Level

Strategic Management: Business Level and Function Level Strategic management deals with important and main initiatives taken by managers on behalf of owners. These initiatives involve resource utilisation so that performance of their firms is enhanced in external environment. Organizations vision, mission and objectives are specified by strategic management. Not only this but also developing plans and policies for organization, projects and programs that are due to fulfill these objectives and also allocating proper resources to implement plan, project, programs and policies is also tasks of strategic management. To evaluate the whole performance of the business and its growth towards objectives, a balanced scorecard is frequently used. Strategy needs to initiate with stakeholders expectations and use a customized balanced scorecard which takes in all stakeholders are also stated by latest studies and foremost management theorists. Strategic management is nothing but a level of managerial activity that is responsible for setting goals and all the necessary strategies. Providing the overall direction toward which the business or the organization vision to move forward is also the responsibility of strategic management. According to Gary Hamel and Michael Porter, the role of strategic management is to figure out the core competencies, and then bring together a set of assets that will offer a competitive advantage and increase value added. It is also stated that to make it happen innovation, organizational structure and reputation, these 3 types of capabilities are essential. Enterprise strategy has its own three levels. It is formulated and implanted in these three levels. These levels are: Corporate level, Business unit level, Functional or departmental level. At the business stage, people are accountable for creating value through their businesses. People do so by managing their portfolio of businesses, which ensures that businesses are winning over the long term, rising business units, and from time to time ensuring that every business is well-matched with others in their portfolio. Business units are the core of product or service development. Products and services are developed by business units. The role of the corporation is to manage its business units, products and services so that each is competitive and so that each contributes to company purposes. Corporate level strategy basically is alarmed with choice of businesses in which company should struggle and with development and harmonization of that portfolio of businesses. Strategies: Corporate level strategy is concerned with: Defining the issues that are corporate everyday jobs. These might include identifying the on the whole vision, mission, and goals of the company, the type of business firm should be concerned, and the way in which businesses will be integrated and managed. Its known as Reach. Defining where in firm competition is to be limited to a small area. Its nothing but Competitive Contact. Business strategy seeks to develop synergies by sharing and bringing together employees and other assets across company units, investing monetary possessions across business units, and using trade units to harmonize other commercial business activities, its Managing Activities and Business Interrelationships. Corporations make a decision, how business units are to be governed: through direct corporate intervention (centralization) or through independent government (decentralization). And it is Management Practices. Business Unit Level Strategy A tactical industry unit may be any profit center that can be designed separately from the other business units of business. At the business unit level, the planned issues are about both realistic management of operating units and about developing and at the bottom of a competitive advantage for the products and services that are produced. Functional Level Strategy The functional level of your organization is the level of the operating divisions and departments. The strategic issues at the functional level are related to functional business processes and value chain. Functional level strategies in RD, operations, manufacturing, marketing, finance, and human resources involve the development and coordination of resources through which business unit level strategies can be executed effectively and efficiently. Functional units of your organization are involved in higher level strategies by providing input into the business unit level and corporate level strategy, such as providing information on customer feedback or on resources and capabilities on which the higher level strategies can be based. Once the higher level strategy or strategic intent is developed, the functional units translate them into discrete action plans that each department or division must accomplish for the strategy to succeed. Whittingtons and Mintzbergs strategy concepts: Now, to perform well, some strategy models are really important. Not necessarily all models are quite good or updated with modern business but they do influence either internal or external or both environments. But to treat an organization properly managers have to think it as a whole being. Measuring different parts can lead to misjudgment and further situation where loss can occur. As Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel stated, the story of blind men is not new to anyone. To them different parts of the elephant felt totally different. As, one felt the leg as a tree, other one felt the trunk as a big snake. But they got a wrong perception coz they were blind and with touch they only could perceive limited parts. But managers of organizations are not blinds; moreover they are very conscious for everything. But the developed models that are already in market is limited to different parts of the organization. If those models are not updated according to recent times, it would be not only h ard to use them but also less profitable. Now if we consider mintzbergs comparative analysis of ten schools, the n we need to know first about the schools. There are total ten schools, The Design School, The Planning School, The Positioning School, The Entrepreneurial School, The Cognitive School, The Learning School, The Power School, The Cultural School, The Environmental School, and The Configuration School. These schools focus on different aspects of the total business reminding managers that one part remains untreated and the business can fall very quickly. Mintzberg thought of strategic planning thoroughly but he was unable to come to one point. So he drove more deep and then he found out that there may not be only one strategic planning while so many people are using it too differently to match. So, he concluded that there is no one strategy there is five types of strategies. These are listed as: Strategy as plan, Strategy as ploy, Strategy as pattern, Strategy as position, S trategy as perspective. These five types of strategies were actually developed in process of 10 schools of thoughts which are already given above. These ten schools were grouped into three categories. It goes like this prescriptive or normative (informal design and conception school, the formal planning school, and the analytical positioning school), 2nd group (entrepreneurial, visionary, or great leader school, the cognitive or mental process school, the learning, adaptive, or emergent process school, the power or negotiation school, the corporate culture or collective process school, and the business environment or reactive school) it mainly focuses on how strategic management is actually performed rather than how its hypothesized as to be done. The 3rd group (the configuration or transformation school), its more like a hybrid of other schools. According to Mintzberg, strategies are less theoretical and more practical and thats why its more dynamic and flexible than management per ceives it. In 2001, Whittington, categorized the strategy concept in four approaches: Classic approach, evolutionary approach, process approach, systemic approach. There is nothing more to describe about these approaches but what is important that Whittington himself put an end to his perspectives like elaborating strategy is hard enough and there is no one or another way. But when it comes to real life, implication and performance is well influenced by each of these approaches. So we can say that each of these approaches has a place in reality. Strategic management is also not above limitations. When it comes to hard situation that demand instant act, fluidity is much appreciable than rigid methods or direction to do the work. It not only make the performance non-innovative but sometimes it also pay by loosing many opportunities. It also ends up defining the organization narrowly. Now, if it comes to strategic theories, its always not so dependable. Modern business is so dynamic that one or two theories cant possibly cover all the fact or parts equally. It covers some parts but not full. But if we think a business as a being, we cant possibly look at only one or two parts; we have to look for the whole thing. A part or parts may lead to many misconceptions, when the full views can give totally a different view. As a matter of fact like theorists there is more to say about limitation. Gary Hamel in 2000 coined the name strategic convergence to give details of the incomplete range of the strategies being used by competitors very much differing circumstances. He mourned that strategies converge further than they should, because the more flourishing ones are mimicked by businesses that do not recognize that the strategic process involves scheming a modified strategy for the particulars of each circumstances. Ram Charan, arranging in a line with a admired marketing tagline, considers that strategic planning must not lead action. Just do it!, whereas not quite what he intended to mean, is a phrase that on the other hand comes to mind when fighting analysis paralysis. In the real world in which strategies have to be put into practice, the three fundamentals are mutually dependent. Means are as likely to determine ends as ends are to determine means. The objectives that an organization might wish to follow may be limited by the lack of feasible approaches available out. There is typically only a little number of approaches that will not only be technically and administratively achievable, but also acceptable to the full collection of organizational stakeholders. In turn, the choice of feasible implementation approaches is determined by the accessibility of resources. Conclusion: Till now all the factors, analysis, theories has been collected, its quite clear that strategic management is not as much powerful as it seems in theories or when someone is describing it. After all nothing can be in ceteris paribus when its the real business world we are talking about. So, why it has to be different than journals if one might say, its obviously has to be different coz the journal cant be updated in every second but unfortunately the world is changing, creating new opportunities and threats in every second. So many things are happening in one second that its quite unimaginable. So itll be quite awkward and foolish to think that itll be always like as it is said in case of strategic management after all strategic management is not so different than other theories or conceptual works. It must to have its own lacking. Dynamic business world demands process that can be changed so easily that one might be able not to pay the price for time limit. As time restriction is so terrifying that one moment one have an opportunity to grasp the next moment its taken by someone else. So if there is no much flexibility, opportunities are going to be lost in the depth of abyss. So, this statement Strategic Planning makes little or no contribution to the firms prosperity in todays turbulent environment, may not be so wrong a statement if we really consider all of the scenes. At the end its the full matter of means and end. Ways that allow the means to meet the ends is suitable for the dynamic world whether it is so called theories or something new.

The Storms of Villette Essay -- Storms of Villette Essays

The Storms of Villette      Ã‚   In Charlotte Brontà «'s novel, Villette, Brontà « strategically uses the brutality and magnitude of   thunder storms to propel her narrator, Lucy Snowe, into unchartered social territories of friendship and love. In her most devious act, the fate of Lucy and M. Paul is clouded at the end of the novel by an ominous and malicious storm. By examining Brontà «'s manipulation of two earlier storms which echo the scope and foreboding of this last storm -- the storm Lucy encounters during her sickness after visiting confession and the storm which detains her at Madame Walravens' abode -- the reader is provided with a way in which to understand the vague and despairing ending.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A long vacation from school precedes the first storm and it is during this vacation, where Lucy is left predominately alone, that the reader feels the full depth and emptiness of Lucy's solitude. She says, "But all this was nothing; I too felt those autumn suns and saw those harvest moons, and I almost wished to be covered in with earth and turf, deep out of their influence; for I could not live in their light, nor make them comrades, nor yield them affection" (230). After a resulting fit of delirium and depression, Lucy attends confession at a Catholic church solely in order to receive kind words from another human being. It is at this low, after her leaving the church, that the first storm takes shape. Caught without shelter, Lucy falls victim to the storm's brute force. She remembers that she "...bent [her] head to meet it, but it beat [her] back" (236). However, though appearing destructive, this overpowering force serves to deliver he r into the hands of Dr. John and his mother, Mrs. Bretton, Lucy's godmother fro... .... We have seen 'what good' can come from a destructive tempest for Lucy and in such fashion, we can only assume that this good will come again. Lucy will be further united to her dear M. Paul and to herself. Brontà « has outlined this as the form to be followed and as readers, we must optimistically obey.    Sources Cited and Consulted:    Books:    Allott, Miriam. Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre and Villette. MacMilan, London; 1973    Brontà «, Charlotte. Villette. London: Penguin, 1985.    Nestor, Pauline. Critical Studies of Jane Eyre. St. Martin's Press, NY; 1992.    Websites:    Cody, David and Everett, Glenn et al. The Victorian Web. Brown University; 1993 http://65.107.211.206/victov.html    Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Litrix Reading Room; 1999. http://www.litrix.com/janeeyre/janee001.htm#1   

A Critique of Bushs Speeches after September 11 -- Speaking Analysis

A Critique of Bush's Speeches after September 11 After the terrorists attacks on September eleventh, President Bush had to prepare himself to address the nation with intensions to calm the United States citizens and give them some answers. The President had many speeches in the week after this happened and some words he used were not as concise as they could have been. These words and phrases are his attempts to comfort the United States people but only anger the terrorists he has declared war with. In a critique of Bushs speeches in the weeks after the tragedy, it is written, He called for revenge, called Osama bin Laden the prime suspect and asked for him dead or alive. (Max 1) Using such strong words gives an impression that Bush is overly confident and jumping to conclusions. Using revenge would imply retaliation and in result would come a war. Bush seems so sure that bin Laden is responsible when, still as of this day, he has no hard evidence. Asking for him dead or alive is probably the first threat he made. The only accompli shment Bush got out of making these accusations and threats was making the American people nervous. The citizens of the United States may not agree with the decisions he is making for the country. Bush needed another chance to redeem himself and comfort his people. A committee of speechwriters and George Bush spent time writing the speech that was given on September twentieth. In this speech, the President made more sense and brought his ideas together more clearly, with phrases and topics that would calm the citizens of the United States. Americans were still unclear of who had performed these acts of terror and were nervous because Bush was being rash, and wasnt speaking with confidence. The president answers questions, revealing which organization was responsible and their mission as people. Bushs speech on the twentieth reveals that, The terrorists directive commands them to kill Christians and Jews, to kill all Americans, and make no distinction among military and civilians, including women and children. (pg. 2) The president clarifies that bin Laden is the leader of the terrorist organization, Al queda, so that the Americans can understand whom we are going to war with. As said in The End Of Innocence, And today the enemy must be named as terrorism, or more broadly as any who might disrupt the spread of "open societi... ...ed States and to provide its people with knowledge of what to prepare for in the future. The president spoke to the nation numerous times in the week after these attacks, and he began to reveal that his situation was making him nervous and even scared in his speeches. The president had to show his confidence and reassure the nation with relief in his speech on September twentieth. The president was there most of the time his writers were working on the speech, and it seemed he was comfortable speaking the topics of the speech. After the speech was recited, Ted Kennedy stated that The presidents speech was exactly what the nation neededa message of determination and hope, strength and compassion.(Words that Changedetc. 11 par. 1) The president allowed the citizens of the Unites States of America to feel confident with the status of our nation in the future, after he gave this speech. Works Cited 1. Max, D.T. The 2,988 Words That Changed a Presidency: An Etymology. The New York Times, 7 Oct. 2001 2. Bush, George W. "President Bush's Speech to the Nation." Capitol. Washington, D.C. 20 Sept. 2001. 3. Rogers, Joel. The End Of Innocence. The Nation, 17 Sept. 2001

Racial Inclusivity and Social Media and The Souls of Black Folks by W.E

Modern innovation has made the infusion of racial inclusivity and social media a tightrope walking affair above a never-ending abyss. Social media when used has been a place for radicalized defense, sensitive humor and to cavalcade swagger. Simultaneously this tool that has been disposed to culture through telephones, computers, tablets and many other places has created a whole new world for inauthentic means of living. In particular in regards to the African American culture. The â€Å"new ‘New Negro,’† a term suggested by Marlo David has so much at their fingertips, yet do not know how to use them. She said, â€Å"the new New Negro of the millennial age has sought to escape the shadow†¦that has been more real to him than his personality.† The arbitrary nature that African Americans escape to social media networks to show themselves only serves to cover themselves from what their blackness is. Blackness rooted in the brutalization of systemic o bjectification of their minds, bodies and expressions in various walks of life. These issues are not new to the Black experience, they are found in the early 1900’s with W.E.B. Dubois in his work, The Souls of Black Folk. His prophetic work confronted the black person then, and resonates in the infusion of Social media today in everyday life. . He writes, â€Å"How does it feel to be a problem? I seldom answer a word.† He continues, â€Å"Being a problem is a strange experience - peculiar even fro one who has never been anything else, save perhaps in babyhood and in Europe.† Social media has only meliorated the way African American persons are viewed, for Dubois and today, as a problem. From Duboisian experience in 1903 to Social Media and the Black Experience today, progress and problems persist.... ...BIBLIOGRAPHY Congress, T. L., & Willis, D. L. A small nation of people : W.E.B. Du Bois and African-American portraits of progress. New York, NY: HarperCollins. David, M. (2007). Afrofuturism and Post-Soul Possibility in Black Popular Music. African American Review , 41 (4). Dubois, W. B. (2009). The Gift of Black Folk . Garden City Park, NY: Square One Publishers. DuBois, W. E. (1903). The souls of black folk: essays and sketches. Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co.; [Cambridge]: University Press John Wilson and Son, Cambridge,. Neuhaus, R. (2008). "The public square: a continuing survey of religion, culture, and public life. First Things , 184, 57-72. Schwartz, D. (1989). Visual Ethnography. Qualatative Sociology , 12 (2), 119-154. Senft, T., & Noble, S. (2013). Race and Social Media . In T. M. Jeremy Hunsinger, Routledge Handbook of Social Media (pp. 107-120). Routledge.