Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Shame on Trump or Shame on You?

Shame on Trump or Shame on You? There has been to this day, forty-five Presidents come into office. All of whom have signed several executive orders while being in office, but our newly President, President Trump has already taken a step no other President has taken so quickly after moving into the White House. On January 27, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order that is being known as the immigration ban. Putting an indefinite ban on immigration from seven different Muslim countries including; Iraq, Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Yemen. Not allowing any refugees to enter the United States for 120 days and no Syrian refugees until further notice. Some are praising President Trump for his actions, others are despising him for it, but he is the commander in chief so why not just keep your opinion to yourself? People often are getting paid to put their opinions all over the internet to persuade people to agree with their argument or simply just prove why they believe they are right. Some articles on the internet are more opinionated than others, others are more credible, some are more persuasive. There are many criterias for evaluating, say, an article online, such as the language the writer uses, the writers background, the background on the website the article has been posted on, choices of images within the article, title of article, time the article was posted, how much the writer considers both sides of the argument and if the online article has different links attached to support their claims is another way to become credible. All the criteria listed previously are ways Michael A. Cohen, a main contributor for the newspaper, The Boston Globe on national politics and foreign affairs (Cohen, 2017) makes it easy to interpret his highly opinionated but very truthful and credible article posted about his negative opinions and bias thoughts on President Trumps actions of his executive order. The first thing you evaluate when you glimpse at this article are the two things in bold and big; the title, Trumps immigration order Shame on you, Mr. President and picture, a large group of people chanting and yelling while holding up signs reading REFUGEES WELCOME and SHAME ON TRUMP. Both immediate signs indicate to the reader that the following article will be in almost every way against Trumps immigration ban. The title uses charged language, such as the words Shame on you, those words are not typical words an author uses in their title unless their feelings towards it is trying to be made very clear, and in this case, it is because this makes it known instantly that (Cohen) is upset with Trumps decisions. Cohen also distinctly chose a picture of protesting people who are against the ban to simply show that he is not alone and has many supporters when believing that the order is wrong and goes against every American way. Before you start evaluating the article itself, it is important to find out how credible the author is. Michael A. Cohen contributes to The Boston Globe newspaper but he is also an author of a book on pivotal moments in American History called American Maelstrom: The 1968 Election and the Politics of Division. He has been employed as a speechwriter at the US State Department, as well as a lecturer at Columbia Universitys School of International and Public Affairs (Cohen, 2017). Since he has previously been a lecturer at a University, he must have a degree of some sort in world affairs or anything belong to that category, also because of him being an author over a novel on American Affairs and moments in American History adds to his credibility. Therefore, Cohen must know what he is talking about when it comes to politics and national issues because of all the things he has been doing in that field all his professional career. On top of all of that, Cohen has 44.5 thousand followers o n twitter and over 81.2 thousand  tweets. He has a lot of followers so therefore meaning people listen to him and believe him in what he has to say on any kind of topic which also adds to his reputation. Michael A. Cohen is a contributor to the newspaper, The Boston Globe. The Boston Globe has been Boston, Massachusetts primary newspaper for over 100 years. The newspaper has had many different contributors for them, with most of them being experts in their fields and what they write about within the newspaper. They include all different varieties of articles from politics, to sports, to kitchen, etc. It is a larger newspaper so therefore they are aware their reputation is on the line because more people will be reading their articles which in tales that they only hire credible and trustworthy authors who make them look good in the publics eye. First off, when you read this article the first thing that strikes the reader is the word choice Cohen uses throughout the article. He uses very charged language such as fundamentally un-American, slap in the face, Shame on you, pointless and wrong (Cohen M. A., 2017), all negative references towards the immigration ban. He uses such strong language because of how strongly he feels towards Trumps decision to ban immigrants. He states many things about immigrants and how Syrian immigrants are probably the least likely to harm Americans, and the countries that include all of the refugees who have harmed Americans in terrorist attacks are not part of the ban because Trump has business relations with all of those countries but none with the seven countries he banned immigrants from, which is considered to be strange according to Cohen. Cohen calls it fundamentally un-American because it turns against all the American values and slaps the faces of millions who are familiar with the Americ an and immigrant experience. Later at the end of the article, Cohen expresses Trumps immigration order is pointless, counter-productive, and  wrong. Period. (Cohen M. A., 2017) More charged language from Cohen out of anger towards the order because of his past and family history that led him to be in America in the first place. Cohen adds an important story about his ancestors to the article to express the importance of immigrants and allowing people to make their way into this great country. He includes how his mother was born in Great Britain but came to America as a child because her parents were German Jews who escaped from Nazi Germany into the UK where they luckily were basically given a second chance by escaping Germany then eventually migrating to America unlike the rest of his grandmother and grandfathers siblings and family members at the time who were trying to migrate to a new place and had a very difficult time doing so (Cohen M. A., 2017) . He uses this personal story to appeal the readers emotions by trying to reach out to not only people who agree with him, but to people who may be uncertain on how to feel about the order. He explains how without immigration his life would not even be possible right now. His ancestors came to America, the land of the free, looking for a better life and they were able to find it and start a life, have a son (Cohen) and allow him to have a life he may not have been able to have somewhere where they started, but now that is not a guaranteed possibility anymore and it causes pain to those refugees who got that opportunity because other will not and may not. Furthermore, this article is a very biased source for more reasons than just its choice of words. The fact that Cohen does not even consider being a little bit neutral shows that it is a very biased source. Never once does Cohen mention a reasoning as to why he believes Trumps order may be okay or why other Americans may support the order. He makes very clear within his article, Shame on you, President Trump. And shame on any American who refuses to condemn this. (Cohen M. A., 2017). Instantly, he makes it clear that if you, for some reason support the immigration ban then shame on you because you must be just as un-American as Trump has been for setting the ban in the first place. He shows no empathy for those who support it because the article is completely one-sided towards being against the executive order which is a kind of article that preaches to the choir, whose message speaks to mostly people who already agree with them and whos not exactly trying to persuade anyone to think their way by being considerate to both sides, but just degrading the side against Cohens opinion in this case. To add to the previous points, to make his article more credible, Cohen adds links throughout the article to support his claims he is making. When Cohen is stating how not one Syrian refugee has committed a terrorist attack on the United States, and how you are more likely to be struck by lightning or shot by a toddler rather than a refugee, he adds a link of a chart that a European Media Director on Human rights and world conflict who has over 65.5 thousand followers on twitter, tweeted, showing the death causes of Americans annually, and it clearly showing that other Americans and unusual things are killing more Americans than any kind of immigrants coming into the United States. (Stroehlein, 2017) Also, another way Cohen does this is when he claims that the countries who have committed terrorists attacks on the U.S. but who were not banned are all in business with Trump, he adds a link to an article in the NY Daily News that shows and states each country who is a business partner of President Trumps but did in fact have a role in some sort of terrorist attack on the United States, yet still is not on the list of the immigration ban, (Sommerfeldt, 2017) which does not seem to add up the most according to Cohen. Lastly, Cohens article was released just two days after the executive order was announced to the public. Which can go either way, it could be good because the article is so relevant, time wise, to the order so therefore meaning they are not just getting things from his past and using it against him; all the news and facts are all recent and accurate about Trump. Or it could be looked at as, it has only been two days since the order and people, like Cohen, still are absorbing the ban and are just ranting things out of their emotions of anger because they (Cohen) are affected by it more than the next person so therefore wanting to do all they can to express it is wrong and how terrible of a person President Trump is for doing this, which indeed makes this a very biased source in that aspect. To put it all together, Michael A. Cohen uses many different criteria to use in his article that prove his article is very biased and one-sided but also full of information and credible facts that cannot be ignored just because he is very stern with the words he chooses to use throughout his article. He uses charged language, specific images and does not mention or show remorse for the other side of the story to get his point across that he believes what President Trump is doing is wrong but with Michaels credibility, when the article was posted and the different links he uses to back up everything he claims, you should believe that what he is stating is true even if he is not being considerate towards those who have different views as him. It may be too early for Trump to be doing all of this and maybe it is just in time. Everyone is going to have their own opinion on it, and it may not be the same as the person next to you, and that is okay as well. But just because something or so meone seems inconsiderate of all sides and is very biased does not automatically mean that the source is not credible or reliable, and this article posted in The Boston Globe by Michael A. Cohen proves a very biased source can be very credible as well. References: Cohen, M. A. (2017). Staff List. Retrieved from Boston Globe: https://www.bostonglobe.com/contributors/mcohen Cohen, M. A. (2017, Janruary 29). Trumps immigration order Shame on you, Mr. President. Retrieved from The Boston Globe: https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2017/01/29/trump-immigration-order-shame-you-president/3WuTOdNBAOutfbzC1wIxOL/story.html Sommerfeldt, C. (2017, February 1). President Trumps Muslim ban excludes countries linked to his sprawling business empire. Retrieved from Daily News : http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/trump-muslim-ban-excludes-countries-linked-businesses-article-1.2957956?cid=bitly Stroehlein, A. (2017, January 28). How about injecting some facts into the discussion? Retrieved from Twitter: https://twitter.com/astroehlein/status/825388473649594369 Article link: https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2017/01/29/trump-immigration-order-shame-you-president/3WuTOdNBAOutfbzC1wIxOL/story.html

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Free Hamlet Essays: Opportunity Missed :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Hamlet’s Excellent Opportunity Missed  Ã‚   Futures are not as malleable as most people would hope.   Hamlet’s hubris is not that of his inability to act but unfortunate circumstances that prevent him from doing the job and getting away alive. The first of which occurred when Hamlet chose not to kill Claudius because Claudius was praying at the time. This was unfortunate timing on Hamlet’s part. Next, Hamlet inadvertently killed Polonius thinking that he is Claudius. Finally, Hamlet does kill the king, but it was already too late. Usually circumstances allow for a hero to overcome all obstacles and defeat the enemy. In Hamlet, the circumstances oppose the hero from his goal. Hamlet encounters a dilemma when an excellent opportunity to avenge his late father offers itself. He finds Claudius knelt down and has the appearance to be praying; however he is not praying. Observing this, he restrains his murderous intentions because he believes Claudius is absolving his sins. Hamlet: A took my father grossly, full of bread, with all his crimes broad blown, /†¦But in our circumstance and course of thought, ‘tis heavy with him, and am I then revenged, to take him in the purging of his soul, When he is fit and seasoned to take passage? No. (III, iii 80-87) Hamlet could have killed the king but the circumstances did not make it feasible. Claudius had killed Hamlet’s father while Old Hamlet was still carrying his sin; thus Hamlet did not want to send the man who had sent his father into purgatory, to heaven. Ghost: Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. †¦/ The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown. (I, v, 25, 38-39) Hamlet is provided with another chance to kill Claudius when Hamlet catches him spying behind the arras. Hamlet thinks he cathcs Claudius in a sinful act of spying so he kills him; however, it is not Claudius behind the arras but Polonius. Hamlet- " How Now? a rat? Dead for ducat, dead! Polonius- "O, I am slain?" Hamlet- "Is it the king?" (Sees Polonius) "I took the for they better." (III, iv, 25-33) Hamlet was again foiled, but this time because the right people were not in the right place. Finally, favorable geometry comes together and Hamlet does kill Claudius; however, at this point his death is imminent.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Chemunity.Com Case Study Analysis

Take Home Exam Questions Question 1 When ChemUnity. com began, Herman Rijks was a 37 year old, Masters of Science graduate from the Technological University of Delft, Netherlands. He was born in South Yemen and grew up in Africa. Rijks had experience in green-field chemical distribution start-ups, and general management experience in various chemical companies. He worked for HCI, a chemical company for three years, and prior to ChemUnity. com, he was part of the HCI corporate e-commerce task force. Mark-Jan Terwindt was a 34 year old graduate from Nijenrode Business School in Netherlands.He worked for eight years in the chemical distributions in countries such as: Ecuador, El Salvador, and Venezuela. Later, he went to the Czech Republic to manage HCI Operations, and before ChemUnity, he was in South Africa managing the integration of an acquired company. Both the founders spoke Dutch, English, Spanish, and a working knowledge of German, and additionally, Herman spoke French. Also, th e founders shared similar interests, like sports and traveling (flying), and both have wives and children. The founders have a good amount of experience in business, e-commerce and the general industry to succeed.They both have several years tenure in companies related to the industry. Also, they are highly educated in areas that are important to the company (for example, Business and Science). The linguistic abilities of the founders allow them to understand and communicate with partners and customers in Western Europe, improving communication channels and service quality. The shared interests they have could mean that they understand each other more, have a good friendship, and allow them to work together on the company more frequently than just regular founders.Alternatively, this could mean that they will reinforce each other’s ideas without truly considering all the factors involved. Question 2 The product that ChemUnity provides fits extremely well with an online exchan ge because it’s a commodity. Meaning that all variables (grade, concentration & packaging) can be standardized and price is the determinate factor. The system used protects the buyers and sellers, and creates a serious and profitable environment for all, and makes buying and selling easy.A buyer’s order has a preferred and highest acceptable price, and only the preferred price is transferred to the suppliers. Potential suppliers within the right geographical region are forwarded the message via email and SMS. The supplier has 25 hours to respond with a bid, and this only happens once to avoid price erosion of auction-like bids. ChemUnity compares the bid, informs the buyer and supplier who got the deal, and they take care of the transaction. Additionally, no parties can withdraw from the deal, and inquiries are very serious.The simplicity in the variables makes commodities easy to trade in an online exchange and the business model developed by ChemUnity creates a profi table, safe, and easy buying & selling environment. The characteristics of the products fit, and can be successfully sold online in an online exchange. Question 3 Steps (1) through (5) explain the trading process at ChemUnity and are listed below. (1) An inquiry is posted from a buyer on the ChemUnity website that includes the name, grade, concentration, and packing of the commodity based on a predetermined list, delivery date, geographical region of the buyer, and a price indication. price indication includes preferred and highest acceptable price, and the preferred is given transferred to suppliers) (2) Potential suppliers, determined by information given by companies, are forwarded the inquiry. (Both supplier and buyer can exclude parties or regions outside of their scope to trade. ) (3) Once an email or SMS message is received by the supplier they have 25 hours to respond with its bid. (Which only can be made once to prevent price erosion) (4) ChemUnity compares the bids, inform s the supplier who got the deal, and connects the buyer and seller where the transaction is managed between the two parties. transaction is binding and because of credit insurance, supplier payment is certain) (5) The supplier ships the product and the buyer receives it. The trading process is streamlined and simplified in a concise number of steps. This seems like a very efficient process that does not even revision and it serves its purpose. Question 4 Value Proposition for Both Buyers and Sellers * Time efficiency in buying & selling products. * Access to good buyer & seller track records. * Emotion free deals with no room for confusion. * Multiple ways to access: internet or WAP phone capability. Clear legal framework adds simplicity. * No time zones. * Future linkage to your order entry. * Credit insurance. * More efficient supply chain. * Optional usage and ability to react whenever needed. * Higher margins as non-value added middlemen are eliminated. Value Proposition for Buy ers * No need to contact multiple sellers with each purchase of products. * Quick responses to requests. * Proactive & filtered information with no overload or irrelevant postings. * Post your preferred price. * Able to source from new companies more efficiently and at lower prices. Value Proposition for Sellers Receive only interesting requests from buyers that are profitable through filtering of information based on seller’s profile. * Possibility of serving smaller customers and reaching customers in new geographical markets. * Freedom in making bids. * Set your own prices. * Payment coverage and easy credit checks. * Ability to exclude regions or parties in a buyers list. * Ability to do normal business and travel as bids only needed to be checked once a day. * Eliminate regional boundaries and ability to reach the whole market. * Other sellers in market will not dump products. No Price erosion from auction like bids. There are several advantages for both parties at what would seem like little to no cost to either party. ChemUnity assists these companies in making transactions while they focus on their respective specializations. This allows for much more buying and selling efficiency. The value proposition is extremely strong. The value proposition seems great on paper, but in fact could be improved greatly. As the alternative ChemUnity. com Case (2002) suggests the chemicals market is large one and has a long inefficient supply chain.A consortium might not wipe out all the companies, and classifications and regulations in Europe is still far from consistent across all countries. A very large part of customers do not use a Complete Tender Management system, they use catalogues. A large addition to the value added for a supplier and buyer would be to have one of these systems implemented. Sourcing/access to the information will give value added and not just a yellow pages approach to the system. Question 5 There are several major threats to the Chem Unity Business model and four of them are summarized below.Potential price collusion between suppliers One threat to ChemUnity business model is the collusion of prices between suppliers. If they decided to set all the prices high it could affect the ability for the company to create value for the buyer. Also, even if these prices weren’t high, it would affect the ability for ChemUnity to negotiate prices. This threat is strong because it would eliminate the value added, but is very unlikely to happen as the suppliers want to compete naturally in sales and would require some type of elaborate conspiracy. Supplier and buyer post purchase relationshipAnother threat to the ChemUnity business model is if the buyers and sellers decide to keep makings transactions after the first sale without ChemUnity in the picture. This would probably increase seller margins and make products cheaper for the buyers. ChemUnity would not have control over the situation as much, due to the fact the y bring the buyer and seller together and let them take care of the transaction. Competing websites (Catalogue, Aggregator and Auction) Catalogue, aggregator, and auction site business models are in direct competition with the ChemUnity business model.They can take away market share because we all compete for the same customers. If users have no problem searching through the catalogues and finding the deal they want, there is no value added for the searching and time costs that ChemUnity offers. Aggregator business models can add huge amounts of leverage to the buyer as they are all working together to get the best prices. They go to the supplier, speak for the buyers and get the best deal. Auction sites can but a lot of pressure on suppliers and can support dumping practices and price erosion. It is very attractive to a buyer when he can get much lower prices as a result of these effects.Traditional Distributers These traditional distributers could be considered indirect competitor s as they do not compete online, but have a presence in the industry. They could have strong relationships with buyers especially in their local geographical areas. They could compete on convenience and logistics with the buyers, especially if it was a convenient automatic replenishment system, where the traditional distributers handled everything. This is based off of the idea that managing something might have more costs than it’s worth, especially if it’s in small quantities or cost values.Consortiums According to the alternate ChemUnity. com case study (2002), ChemUnity could encounter problems if a company’s grouped together to start their own market place. This is known as a consortium, and ChemUnity could â€Å"find it [hard] to get suppliers and buyers to go on-line, and this is a drawback compared with a consortium. † It further explains that if key suppliers were to launch a consortium it would crush the market place credibility of ChemUnity. Ov erall Threat Analysis There are several threats that the ChemUnity business model faces in this environment.Potential price collusion between suppliers eliminates the value added by the company and supplier & buyer post purchase relationship prevents revenue from repeat purchases. Catalogue, Aggregator, and Auction sites – the direct competition for the company, threaten the business model as they compete for the same customers. Traditional distributers – our indirect competitors, still have a presence in the industry through customer relationships, convenience, and time saved. Consortiums are future competitors; they can crush the credibility of the company if created.ChemUnity can meet its threats as it a differentiated service than can add a lot of value, but if it cannot meet its threats it will have huge problems with market penetration. Question 6 Below you will find a Porter’s Five Forces analysis used to find the attractiveness of the industry. Bargainin g Power of Buyers (-) Bargaining power of buyers is very high, because buyers are not dependant on this way of purchasing a product. They can use multiple other channels to purchase it. There is a high availability of substitute services, so buyers have a lot of power in terms of options.Buyer switching costs are nothing compared to firm switching costs, buyers can choose to go anywhere and this service has a small amount of buyers (because of the large size of orders). In addition, there is high buyer price sensitivity and buyer information is extremely high. They can search a lot of places to find information on prices. Lastly, the products do not have uniqueness, they are simplistic in the amount of variables and standardized. Overall, bargaining power of buyers is high and I rated this as negative for the attractiveness of the industry.Bargaining Power of Suppliers (+) In general, there are there are several suppliers who offer similar products so there are a lot of alternatives for the firm to work with other suppliers who want the demand. There is also a high presence of substitute inputs for these chemicals as other manufactures can create identical chemical products. There is also a very weak distribution channel so the suppliers may rely some of the companies’ services. Overall, the bargaining power of suppliers is low and I rated this as positive for the attractiveness of the industry. Threat of New Entrants (-)A website with a similar business model could easily be implemented at a very low cost. Similar software that the company uses could easily be imitated because of the very simplified variables in commodity products and intuitive idea. Websites can be up in a matter of weeks or days, and overall it is very easy for new entrants to start a company. Alternatively, the exit barriers are very low as well, as a website can be shut down at any moment and the company holds no inventory or major facilities. Overall, the threat of new entrants is high and I rated this as negative for the attractiveness of the industry.Threat of Substitute Products or Services (-) The threat of substitute services is very high. Any company could come up with a similar idea and there are several substitute business models that threaten the market share. Catalogue, Aggregator, and Auction sites can easily be substitutes for the service. Traditional distributers can also easily service anyone in this market. In addition, key suppliers could create a consortium and take over instantly while killing the market credibility of this service. Overall, the threat of substitute services is high and I rated this as negative for the attractiveness of the industry.Intensity of Competitive Rivalry (-) Intensity of Competitive Rivalry is high in the industry, as the case noted – there were a lot of players in the market place that established operations and gathered customer base. These companies, along with us compete for the same customers. There a re several firms in the industry competing (high firm concentration ratio). Strong competition between online and offline service offerings mixed with difficulty in maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage leads to a high intensity of competitive rivalry.Overall, the intensity of competitive rivalry is high and I rated this as negative for the attractiveness of the industry. Overall the attractiveness of the industry as seen in the above Porters Five Forces analysis is one out of five which leads me to believe the industry isn’t very attractive. The bargaining power of buyers, threat of new entrants, threat of substitute products or services, and intensity of competitive rivalry were all negative in terms of attractiveness in our analysis. The buyers have power, entrants can easily get in, there are many substitutes, and it is very competitive.The only attractive part is that supplier power is not that high, even though they are still very important to the firm. Questi on 7(a) As indicated in the case, the major categories of ChemUnity’s costs were related to marketing, people, and IT. Also, in the beginning marketing was the biggest cost at 60%, leaving 30% to people, and 10% to IT. Later, the people costs were assumed to rise and the marketing costs were assumed to go down. I estimate this would leave us at 50% marketing, 40% people and 10% IT. It was noted in the case that there were two venture capital companies providing early financing in the amount of â‚ ¬1. million (27. 5% of the company). Using this number, marketing would cost â‚ ¬750,000, people would cost â‚ ¬600,000, and IT would cost â‚ ¬150,000. Question 7(b) As noted in the case, the average size of a deal was estimated to be â‚ ¬5,000 to â‚ ¬10,000. Using the 2% transaction fee, and the most conservative deal estimate, you get â‚ ¬100 per transaction (â‚ ¬5000 ? 2%). This would mean that you would require 1,500,000 transactions to break even with the early financing that was made. This could be attainable over time but is not likely to happen quickly, especially with the low amount of buyers the business serves.Question 7(c) Using the 3000 daily customers to the website from the case, the 1995 click through rate of 2. 1% , and a estimate of â‚ ¬0. 19 per click ( high pay-per click estimate is due to the fact that these customers are very focused), the website could generate â‚ ¬11. 9 daily (3000 ? 2. 1% ? â‚ ¬0. 19), and â‚ ¬359. 10 monthly. This is not a very significant amount of money. The pros of this kind of income is that it is basically free, as long as you have a website and takes not much management of the ads to generate the revenue.The cons are that there is a very small amount of money per click, and with only 3000 customers daily you are very limited to how much you can make. If you had for example a hundred thousand or so a day, this would be much better. Question 8 Short-Term Challenges The main short -term challenge was to test the concept with a couple of products to see if the company is on the right track. Successful implementation starts from marketing and the company needs to make sure suppliers are aware of the exchange and get product leaders. The belief at the time was that the buyers would come as soon as the sellers were onboard.Once buyers and sellers are established, the company needs to activate them to get the market liquidity up. Once the company is known for these products, they have succeeded in the first challenge. The second short-term challenge was a human resources issue; they needed people a chemical history background. These people would communicate with suppliers and buyers and should bring enthusiasm and belief in the business idea. The third short-term challenge was an IT issue – the technology needed to work flawlessly in its execution.The service is not perfect at the moment the company is working towards improving it. Long-Term Challenges The major long-term challenge was expansion of operations. By targeting a couple of strategic suppliers and many fragmented buyers in each product, they believed they could have a total of 200-500 suppliers, and up to 10,000 buyers. They believe they need to proceed with one product at a time, giving them the ability to test the concept and concentrate efforts on a focused segment. The real challenge was to pick the right products.They could also expand their service portfolio, by providing more financial services to gain revenue. They could also get involved with transportation, but would be a difficult avenue as they need to choose the right services, good partners and the proper expansion location. Cash flow has been an issue so the company needs to raise more financing. A second round of financing was timed for a couple months after launching the service. The company wants to raise another â‚ ¬5 – 10 million from banks, venture capital, and market players. Meeting Short-Te rm ChallengesThe company needs to begin testing the concept as soon as possible. Successful implementation begins with marketing efforts – the company needs to raise supplier awareness of the exchange and get product leaders onboard. The next issue is raising market liquidity, and it can be done by activating the sellers and buyers by contacting them. Once the company raises awareness about its products, they have succeeded in the first short-term challenge. The second short-term challenge can be solved by using a headhunter to find the best people the company can find.This would require some funding but will easily be worth the cost. These people would need to be educated on the concepts of the company and know how to communicate well with suppliers and buyers about the service, and have enthusiasm and a strong belief in the business. The final short-term challenge can be solved by rigorously testing and improving the technology to work flawlessly. Meeting Long-Term Challeng es The expansion of operations should be done by targeting more suppliers and buyers for more potential revenue.I believe these need to be higher than the estimates given in the case– 200 suppliers and maybe 5000 buyers is not adequate enough. It is possible they can try targeting an additional geographical location, perhaps in South/Central America or Africa where the founders worked. Either way, with the market they have now, they need to test a concept and concentrate efforts on a focused segment and pick the right products. One option for expansion was to provide financial services, or get involved with the transportation of the product.Personally, I am not a fan of this idea because they are losing focus on what they specialize in. But if they were to do these options, they would need to hire consultants and rework the business model entirely. Also, with transportation they need to choose the right type of services, good partners, and a good expansion location. Finally f or their cash flow problems, they will need to ensure they get that financing by fully disclosing information, addressing the problems they have, and working with venture capitalists to perhaps negotiate the share of the company for a given amount of funding.Question 9 As the alternate ChemUnity Case Study (2002) suggests, it’s easy to multiply figures and play around revenues and market volume on paper, but it does not address the habits of a given industry. Experience has shown that many internet service providers have failed due to the fact that many of them were not focused enough, spent too much money before making any, and didn’t bring enough value to its users. The main challenge lies in the art of change management.ChemUnity has this challenge for both buyers and seller, but it remains that these groups would benefit from a multitude of significant strategic advantages (if it had the ability to support change management processes) Also the case suggests that fo r the company to potentially succeed, the platform they develop must be flexible and characterized by short development cycles that will match the needs of the market and increase the functionality for its end users. They also need the right mix of employees with experience in the field and who are used to driving change along with a highly skilled sales team.If they had an online complete tender management system, they could save time and money and access more efficient markets. This is a great opportunity for the company to drive change in the company – along with a complete business process reengineering of their buying and selling process. If the company followed these steps, they would have potential success in the market. I personally don’t think they can be successful unless they do these things, and it seems like a big changes are needed. Question 10 (a) The three options for business model changes are below:Status Quo This option would be to remain the same bu t focused on its specialization. Transportation Addition to Business Model This option would be to introduce transportation into the model to create more value for customers. Financial Services Addition to Business Model This option would be to introduce financial services into the model to create more value for customers. The criteria we used to assess which business model to use includes the following: Cost, Value Added, Revenue, Expenses, Ease of Change, and Adaptability.I decided to use a decision matrix and estimate the values from 1-10 using subjective data from the case and intuition. The best alternative according to the criteria is Added Financial Service to the business model. It would not cost a very high amount to implement, would add a decent amount of value and revenue to the business. The expenses are fairly high, seeing as you need more cash on hand and you need to develop this business model, and be able to setup a good financial plan for customers.The ease of chang e is pretty fair, is pretty easy to adapt into it, and has a moderate amount of risk involved. Finally, the market share is would increase a lot compared to status quo. The next close business model would have been transportation, it’s just a more risky and more rewarding model because it requires large capital investments, but hard to adapt and change into. References Petri Lehtivaara (2002) ChemUnity. com Case Study. Retrieved From http://www. supplychain-forum. com/documents/articles/ACF41. df Nielsen Norman Group (2000) Methodology Weaknesses in Poynter Eyetrack Study. Retrieved from http://www. nngroup. com/articles/methodology-weaknesses-poynter/ Wikipedia (2012) Pay Per Click. Retrieved from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Pay_per_click ——————————————– [ 2 ]. Nielsen Norman Group reports a 2. 1% click through rate in 1995. [ 3 ]. Wikipedia reports that in 1997 the pa y-per-click was from $. 005 to $. 25 (â‚ ¬0. 003 to â‚ ¬0. 19 using March 26,2013 exchange rates)

Friday, January 3, 2020

Second Major Effort - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 11 Words: 3204 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2019/07/31 Category History Essay Level High school Tags: Titanic Essay Did you like this example? The cheering quit as quickly as it had erupted. Each member of the space agency froze in sudden silence, staring wide-eyed at the monitor with one anxious mind. The explorer had descended perfectly through Titans atmosphere and plunged into the largest of its many methane lakes. Now the great exploration had begun. This second major effort in the quest to find extraterrestrial life in our solar system is much different than the first one. The first mission, fifteen years earlier to Mars, turned into one of the most momentous events on earth. A new calendar became popular around the world starting year zero when the Martian microbes were found. From this find two stunning lessons were learned about life on earth: Mars had life before Earth did and these Martian microbes are nearly identical to the primitive ones of earth. These Martians were the ancestors of us all! They must have arrived on Earth in the exchange of planetary fragments during the violence of the early solar system. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Second Major Effort" essay for you Create order For this mission to Titan there was a third lesson from the Mars experience: Living microbes could be found in unexpected places with harsh conditions. After Mars the search expanded to Saturns moon Titan, a place covered in lakes of methane, because numerous experiments had shown that the basic processes of lifes chemistry could work in liquid methane at minus 290 degrees, though much slower. These life forms, if they existed could be nothing like Earthling-Martians. In looking for life on Titan no one quite knew what they were looking for. This was the moment Bronson Vandertide and his team had worked long and hard for. The deep satisfaction of seeing their Titan explorer illuminate the lake bottom so brightly and operate with such nimble flawlessness was just the beginning. The moment was so engrossing that it was easy to forget they were watching what happened eighty minutes ago. A collective gasp was elicited by the group when a structure of water ice appeared looking like a miniature volcano. I name it Mt. Fuji. said Bronson. There was brief laughter among the team and silence once again as the craft sped on past it. Its slowing down! Bronson exclaimed moments later in a hushed voice. Though he was the first to notice, all instantly knew what it meant. Everyone bent forward and narrowed their gaze upon the upper right corner of the monitor. The craft was programmed with the intelligence to recognize certain shapes of interest, such as living colonies of cells on the lake bottom. Any idea what such living colonies might look like on the bottom of a methane lake on Titan was highly speculative of course, but once again, the craft did perform as they had intended in choosing as they would where to pause and investigate. THERE! LOOK! shouted another as he rose from his chair, pointing. Murmurs and gasps filled the room as everyone saw it. Irregular dark blotches occupied a region ahead where the lake became deeper. Everyone keep in mind, commanded Bronson in a monotone voice designed to cover his excitement, no one can say what these are-yet. The craft remained hovering, waiting for further instructions from earth. The whole room stared in open-mouthed wonder, gripped by a feeling resembling horror. Bronson was the first to stop breathing. He felt as if he had turned to stone. The others drew in a collective breath soon after. Many slapped their hands over their mouths. No one expected this. Just off to the right barely visible in the darkness, floating over the floor of the lake were oblong bulbs with shiny speckles embedded in them. Some structures seemed connected to these but details were difficult to see. The gem-like speckles were the most eerie of all the mysteries seen so far, seeming to reflect back at them with a similar sense of horror and curiosity. Expand that portion over there! ordered Bronson, aware that everyone knew where he meant. There was just enough to illuminate that dark region with the reflecting gems to give the oblong structures barely discernible definition. For several long minutes all of them just stared. Theyre turning. whispered Bronson. Movement is 4.7 millimeters a minute. reported Darrin, the head control operator. Living, Bronson whispered, then became silent in a momentary state of shock, Beings. he finally uttered. Everyone kept staring without blinking, mesmerized by the creatures who barely seemed to move, yet communicated life to those watching. Bronson started to breathe heavier and faster. Soon he was hyperventilating. He stood and fidgeted clumsily with his chair, then he tossed it over and burst forth with a shouting command; SHUT IT DOWN! What? asked Darrin, innocently. The light! Stop burning them with it! Shut it down. Darrin quickly touched in a command. Still rapt in silent staring, all remained frozen until Bronsons next outburst; I SAID he shouted with fury, then stopped all of a sudden when he snapped out of shock and realized his mistake. Its eighty-two light minutes to there, sir. said Darrin in a high and gentle voice trying to avoid provocation. What is wrong with yousir? growled Mike Martz at him with a tone of sarcasm. Bronson rubbed his hands into his face, then with clenched fists he shouted back; We are NOT to do harm! Whatever this is, I will not let us become destroyers of alien life forms. We have found some life form here perhaps yes, but I hope we havent blasted them to death with our light! The other agency members began to murmur and look back and forth between Martz and Vandertide. Good decision! yelled Martz derisively. He glared with hatred at Vandertide for a few seconds and then angrily walked out. Vandertide had picked up his chair and sat back down. He became lost in his own thoughts, unaware of anything outside of himself. When he became aware of his surroundings again he realized that Mike Martz had left. He saw everyone else still watching the monitor on the wall with great intensity, but he couldnt watch anymore. Back into his shell of contemplation he went until he heard a sudden murmur in the room and the noises of people rising from their seats and shuffling about. The craft had finally received the command and its light had gone out. The only light left was the distant, dim sunlight penetrating through the moons clouds and finally the lake, so the monitor was nearly black. Vandertide rose. They all stood still and turned to him in attention. He gathered himself mentally and began with a hint of shame in his voice; Well, it looks like our mission had a major success and major failure all in one. We talked about finding sentient beings beyond earth like drunks talk plans for future wealth and fame. We didnt properly consider how this should be handled. I think the truth is that none of us really believed wed find this. Were unprepared in all kinds of ways. I dont want this news out yet. Well have to light them up again and have a look, but no more of this bright light. We have the capabilities to vary the wavelengths as well as intensities on the crafts lighting. I want you all to work on finding a possible combination of lighting parameters with low enough energy to use here. Theres so much you can do with light. Lets come up with a way to shine a beam that wont harm them. Ill come back in a few hours. Bronson needed time alone to think and one of his favorite places to be by himself was at the science museum in a room called The Twentieth-Century Laboratory, a place no one ever visited or found interesting except Bronson Vandertide. He usually looked forward to his routine stroll there to be alone, but before he left the agency building he saw something very disturbing. On the wall in the lobby was a television monitor which was always on but with the sound off most of the time. It was on the space agency news channel as usual, but Mike Martz was on talking to a reporter, which was not normal. Stunned to see him on the news, Bronson fumbled to get the sound on. I believe Dr. Vandertide has become incapacitated. Said Martz without emotion. Of course, I have no idea how long his fit will last. He has been known to have these fits and has forced us all to secrecy about it. Bronsons jaw dropped. I take it upon myself to let you know this since the integrity of the agency requires disclosure of such. YOU MOTH! yelled Bronson at the TV. I will be taking command of the agency as soon as I am in possession of the Comm Transmitter. We have protocol for passing along authority which I will activate Martz went on. In reaction, Bronson grabbed his chest and felt inside his coat for the Comm Transmitter. Holding it firmly in his hand he answered back; THERES NO WAY YOURE GETTING YOUR HANDS ON THIS, MIKE! I am taking this action not only because we need a new leader at the agency, but because there has just been an exciting new find from the Titan explorer Martz began revealing. As soon as he heard this he ran down a hallway to the old locker room. He had abandoned his old locker long ago like everyone else had. As with the Twentieth Century Lab, storage lockers were a relic of the past which no one had yet bothered to tear down and remove. Inside his locker were old clothes, paper notebooks, phones, chargers, wallets, metal keys, writing pens, I.D cards, toothbrushes and various other things which hadnt been in use for decades. Under the junk was a motorcycle helmet he used back in his early days at the agency. This helmet is so old, he thought to himself, and Ill look strange, but its best that Im not seen right now. He put it on and walked swiftly out of the building. Out on the street he heard people starting to talk about the newly found Titans. Quickly the rumors became wild with descriptions of monsters as large as lakes devouring each other as in the Greek myths. He heard one woman say she knew that he, Dr. Vandertide was on board the ship and the Titans had taken him hostage, forcing him to fly them back to Earth to lead a Titan invasion of our planet. Bronson was at least grateful about one thing; the growing Titan mania was so distracting that he escaped being noticed wearing his strange old motorcycle helmet. He knew he couldnt hide in the Twentieth Century Laboratory for long. Martz knew about his habit of coming here to be alone, and if he wanted the Comm Transmitter he would be here, too. Yet he believed Martz was enjoying a fantasy of having the power he sought and a moment of fame. Once it all collapsed, it would be easy to fire him. He swung open the door to the lab, pulled off his helmet and stepped inside. It was relaxing for him to be among the old flasks and graduated cylinders, glass distillers and Bunsen burners. He took in a deep breath, let it all out with a weary sigh and felt a little better. Now he could plan his next steps. Bronson had miscalculated. It would be the last good breath hed take for a couple of minutes. Mike Martz appeared behind him at the door walking silently in. He was holding a plastic trash bag with a plastic ribbon draw string. He crept up to the unaware doctor and quickly threw the bag over his head. Bronson reacted right away, violently scratching at his face, tearing the plastic open. Then Martz pulled hard on the ribbon and tried to throw Bronson on the floor but he stood tough and stayed on his feet while ripping at the bag. The struggle between the men heightened. Bronson forced his fingers under the ribbon on his neck and pulled out while Mike pulled harder to close it on his neck. Bronson moved his head frantically from side to side, burning the skin of his neck from the extremely taut ribbon. Now Martz miscalculated. He pulled on the ribbon with all of his might and the ribbon snapped. Bronson was completely free and hadnt lost consciousness. He turned around and saw Martz holding the torn-up bag with a momentary expression of shame on his face. Martz then gave Bronson a hard stare and threw down the bag. Give it to me. he demanded. Bronson rubbed his throat and said in a raspy voice; So you didnt waste any time coming for the Comm, did you, Mike? I underestimated you. Im sick of you and your weak, high-minded ideas. he spat back. I want total control of the agency because I am not afraid of taking command and ploughing forward even if it hurts something. Give me the Comm and get out of my way. Mike, youre right about one thing: I am afraid. Im afraid of ignorance and the harm we do because of it. It isnt weak to respect the life we find, leaving it alone if thats the only way to avoid molesting them. But why am I talking to you about not molesting them after what you just tried! I would never turn over authority to someone like you! I just told the world about you. Oh, your brilliant news conference. Thats right, Im unfit, so your said. Everyone sees that youre weak, and after the way you acted today no one wants you back! I am not afraid to burn the guts out of those creatures in order to see whats inside. Its our right. Were the ones who built the craft which got us there. As far as Im concerned they are ours and they have no reason to exist but for our science. Give me the Comm Transmitter. Martz stepped threateningly towards him. Strong emotions froze Bronson thinking, making him forget how he had just fought for his life and won. He was overwhelmed for the moment, plagued by self-doubt. As Martz approached staring at him with wide, furious eyes Bronson felt more of his will melt but managed to bend slightly towards him and put his hand out to halt his advance. Lets talk this over. Dont you realize the problem of contact with living beings in a cold methane lake? Bronson pleaded. What good does it do to destroy them like this? We are as red-hot coals to them. Just shining our light to have a look boils them. If we reach into their lake our arm would instantly freeze and break off. Their metabolism has to be thousands of times slower than ours. If we want to know them we have to give this lots of time and take it way easy. Bronson stepped forward and took Martz by the shoulders at arms length. Mike, I trusted you. I still do because I have to trust everyone collaborating on this project. Scientists should be careful, sensitive observers, not cold dissectors. These Titans and we are two extreme life forms to each other. Our world operates on fire and fury, not theirs, so for us to study them requires us to stop our furious probing and learn to hold still in the dark for a long, long time. Martz violently pulled away from him. We own them. said Martz. We own them all! Nothing else matters about them but what they are worth to our science. You already have your fame and reputation as the man who first found life beyond Earth. Mars was yours. Titan is mine. If you wont blast them to smithereens, I will. I wont let the agency back away now and leave our craft dark, unable to gather data. I mean it, Bronson. Give me the Comm, or better yet, give the order to reactivate, now and then hand it over. said Martz Martz stared threateningly at him again. Bronson bent his head down and slapped the back of his neck in a gesture of pained acceptance. He had crumbled. Forgetting all he stood for, he felt at the moment intimidated and humiliated. Reluctantly he pulled out the Comm. So, said Bronson, subdued and sad, for you this is about you building a reputation, not about finding extraterrestrial life. You have your place and I want mine. said Martz. Bronson raised the Comm to his mouth. Darrin, I order the lights reactivated now. We shall proceed on Titanwith whatever caution we can know to use. He lowered the comm to his lap and stared at Martz. That was weak. Martz sneered. But it will work. Now hand over the Comm. Instantly, remorse began to eat at Bronson. It turned to anger, and anger turned to hate filled rage. He held the comm out towards Martz as if to surrender it to him, then as Martz was about to grab it, Bronson deliberately dropped it. I cant believe you really would kill me, Mike. What would you do then? How were you planning to get away with it? I am prepared to take over at the agency Bronson, and I will because Titan is mine. As for getting away with it, who ever comes here but you? The protein digester still works; I have plenty of time to make you disappear into a vat of murky acid. Neither men had a weapon nor much knowledge of hand to hand combat. Bronson blew open the valves to his rage and leapt upon Martz with greater might and speed than he had possessed in years. Something burst in his hands at the very moment he lost awareness. What it was that had burst was as much a mystery to him at as he was to himself. When Bronson regained full consciousness he was holding the broken neck of Mike Martz. Horrified, he jerked his hands away and Martz fell to the floor, gasping for breath for a short while before he died. Bronson looked at the body with its twisted and unnaturally bent neck in disbelief for a long time, then he shut his eyes and sat with the corpse for a half hour, still with his eyes closed. The reporters were shouting and screaming out their questions at the locked doors of the space agency. Soon the doors were being jostled to the breaking point. A man wearing an antique motorcycle helmet cautiously approached, then aggressively pushed his way through the crowd. He unlocked the doors and rushed in before anyone else, then sprinted to the stair way. Moments later he was alone glancing down upon the confused and furious crowd twirling about in the lobby looking for anyone to attack with questions. He burst through the control room door and quickly shut it behind him. Everyone turned from their work and stared. Is that you, Dr. Vandertide? asked one of the members. Sanctuary. said Bronson after he took off his helmet and set it aside.