Sustainable Tourism Strategy for Romania National Park Essay

Sustainable Tourism Strategy for Romania National Park - Essay Example The strategies included dividing the park into four different zones in order to develop each and every section with greater effectiveness focusing on its unique natural feature. Furthermore, the strategy proposed by the authority to improve the Retezat National Park focused on the concept of promoting the availability of medical services, hotels and emergency rescue services among within the park in order to augment the interest of tourists to visit the tourism location. The developmental strategies proposed by the authority also included the intention to increase the scope of employment for the local people who live in the surrounding of the park. The strategies also proposed the inclusion of certain ethical and practical rules that were expected to limit the activities of the tourists up to an extent which will reduce the negative impacts on the natural assets of the Park. Thus, from an overall perspective, the strategies proposed by the authority of Romania Tourism can be observed to represent a multidimensional approach in benefitting the overall performance of the Retezat National Park. Part B Introduction The concept of sustainable tourism is apparently becoming widely accepted all over the globe. It is regarded as an attempt to minimize the impact of the environment as well as the local culture on the tourism industry of any country. Contextually, it has been observed that the main aim of sustainable tourism is to make sure that along with environment preservation, a considerable development in the tourism sector of any country can be provided which can yield maximum positive experiences for the people who decide to visit a particular country such as Romania possessing a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) of natural heritage. The concept of sustainable tourism is often argued as an important aspect that largely influenced the modern day strategies concerning the tourism industry operations. It is in this context that sustainable tourism can be effectively achieved with the development of certain strategies with the purpose of designing a positive structure of the tourism industry (Ali & Frew, 2013; Tribe, 2010; Swarbrooke, 1999). Based on the theoretical underpinning, this paper intends to discuss about the appropriateness of the strategy for one of the national park of Romania, i.e. the Retezat National Park. The paper further aims to recommend certain inputs that might be helpful in developing and executing strategies with greater accuracy yielding maximum positive results. Overview of the Romania’s National Parks and the Tourism Industry of the Country Romania is a country located in the South Eastern region of Europe. In terms of its geographic location, the country is listed as the eighth largest in the European continent. It has been observed that the country is quite well known all over the world because of its natural beauty

Write a letter of Introduction to Medgar Evers Essay

Write a letter of Introduction to Medgar Evers - Essay Example But there are still problems among us that you would feel it was necessary to confront, and I believe you could give us some guidance on what we should be doing to remain true to your legacy. Without money, the hard-won right to education remains elusive. So many young Americans today are prevented from achieving their full potential educationally as their families do not have the financial resources to ensure their tertiary – and sometimes even their secondary – education. The pressure to enter employment for the children of families who live in poverty is huge. Children need to be earning dollars to contribute to the survival of the family. And in a kind of vicious circle, the only jobs available to baseline educated people are low-earning, and low-status, without many prospects for advancement and future success. So, many of our children are drawn into, for example, the drug industry and organized crime syndicates take full advantage of the desperation of our children and families. It seems that the great contribution you made to human rights for all of us is being undercut by a kind of economic segregation, which continues to exist for certain communities. As people live in disadvantaged communities, they are forced into situations where the stereotypical perceptions of those communities are able to continue. I believe that you would feel great disappointment and sadness if you were to see this unfair and seemingly unstoppable situation in the country you loved so, and fought for in foreign countries. Politically, we have benefited; socially and economically we have a long way to go. We have to, like you did, recognize and identify the reality of our situation, and begin to act as you did to change it. With community efforts, supported by Federal Government, we can make it possible for parents to get out of the cycle of poverty, and be assisted in providing their children with

Ericsson Mobile Platforms Using Value Chain Model Information Technology Essay

Ericsson Mobile Platforms Using Value Chain Model Information Technology Essay The value grid approach allows firms to identify opportunities and threats in a more explicit way than the traditional value chain. This research aims to test the Value Grid in a multinational company: Ericsson Mobile Platforms (EMP). How does the value grid model help to define the organizations Key Success Factors (KSF)? For this case study, the value grid concept proved to be an interesting heuristic tool to locate opportunities that are not evident from a traditional value chain perspective. EMP can identify indirect ways of influencing demand by playing a coordinative role with network operators. Key Success Factors for Ericsson Mobile Platforms using Porters Value Chain model The value chain model, first depicted and popularized by Michael Porter in 1985, has proved to be an effective approach to analyze and capture the value generated along a chain of activities. But, with the increasing complexity of production and service delivery, critique has arisen from both academics and professionals in terms of value chain model applicability. The value grid approach allows firms to move beyond their industry lines and to identify opportunities and threats in a more explicit way. This research aims to test the Value Grid in a multinational company: Ericsson Mobile Platforms (EMP). How does the value grid model help to find novel opportunities and define the organizations Key Success Factors (KSF)? For this case study, the value grid concept proved to be an interesting heuristic tool to locate opportunities that are not evident from a traditional value chain perspective. EMP can identify indirect ways of influencing demand by playing a coordinative role with netwo rk operators. 1. Models of Value The purpose of this part is to analyze the evolution of value models from the value chain to the value grid through the value system, the value network and the added value chain. The intent is to clarify the relevance of the value grid choice for studying the case of Ericson Mobile Platform. The Value chain The value chain includes all the activities involved in product making. It is a useful tool to measure the value created for each activity in the process of product creation. It is a part of a firms strategic planning to arrange these activities in a way that the total value, the value that buyers are willing to pay, exceeds the total cost. According to Porter (1985), a company can create value through a cost advantage or product differentiation. Porter (1985) identifies two types of activities in the value chain: Primary activities and Support activities. Primary activities are those that create customer value. The goal of the primary activities is to produce value that exceeds the cost, thereby resulting in a profit margin. Support activities concern procurement, human resource management, technological development and infrastructure such as accounting, legal, finance, planning, public affairs, government relations, quality assurance and general management. The activities in the value chain are not independent. Linkages may exist between activities. In fact, one process may affect the cost and performance of the others. Linkage can exist between primary activities, as well as, between primary and support activities. Therefore, competitive advantages can also be derived from the linkages between activities. This is a highly relevant situation for EMP. The Value System Porter (1985) extends the concept of the value chain; a firms value chain is a part of the Value System, which is a network of interconnected value chains between suppliers and buyers. The value system includes the value chains of the upstream suppliers and downstream channels and customers. The available total margin is spread across suppliers, distributors and customers (Recklies, 2001) in the value system. The amount of how much part of this margin is received by each member depends on its market position and negotiation power (Recklies, 2001). A firm who has higher degree of vertical integration has a better position in coordinating its upstream and downstream activities and therefore get a higher margin, however a company with low level of vertical integration can also get high margins if it can achieve better coordination with suppliers and partners. The Value Network Porter (1980, 1985) measures value chain and the five forces model extracted from the organizations activities, in terms of financial value (margin) but ignore the fact that intangible assets such as competencies, internal structures and relationship with the environment are the driving factors behind the financial results (Sveiby, 1997). New methods appear to take into consideration the intangible assets. Value Network Analysis (Allee, 2003) is a method that combines tools that analyze strategy with insight into complexity of interactions among people (Middendorp, 2005). According to this analysis, the intangible assets should be considered as negotiable and exchangeable. Peppar and Rylander (2006) introduce the Network Value Analysis (NVA) method as a way to analyze competitive ecosystems. Combinations of players co-create the value in the network and the method focus not only on the company or the industry, but the value creating system itself (Peppar and Rylander, 2006). Firms cultivate an ecosystem a set of firms that can co-create value by building relationships among the different players in the industry: suppliers, partners, allies and customers (Peppar and Rylander, 2006). Firms that understand the sources of value in the network and are able to exploit them will be the winners in tomorrows more complex industries (Peppar and Rylander, 2006). The Added-value Chain According to McPhee and Wheeler (2006), focusing on the firms internal core activities is not sufficient to generate value in todays firms. The authors propose an added-value chain model that includes a set of expanded business activities from different business models and a redefinition of value that incorporates brand, reputation, and relationship-based value drivers of the firm. In the added-value chain model, the definition of value incorporates profit margin and intangible assets like leadership quality, innovate capability, brand equity and competences in strategic-alliance development. This new value definition gives to the firms the ability to evaluate how their strategies affect both hard and soft assets of the firms (McPhee and Wheeler, 2006). This model is incomplete for example in finding and exploring non-linear value opportunities. The Value Grid New research conducted by Pil and Holweg (2006) argues that this approach can also put a stranglehold on innovation at a time when the greatest opportunities for value creation (and the most significant threats to long-term survival) often originate outside the traditional, linear view. Based on this critic, Pil and Holweg (2006) develop an evolved concept of Value Chain called Value Grid, which has a variety of new paths to enhanced performance, resulting in a three dimensional grid: the vertical, the horizontal and the integrative diagonal dimensions. Regarding the vertical dimension, firms are seeking for competitive advantages in the value chain by reducing cost, reducing lead time between activities and improving coordination between supplier and customers. However, how the benefits are distributed across the value chain depends on the balanced power between suppliers and manufactures. Therefore companies need to focus on three areas: Opportunities to influence customer demand both upstream and downstream, opportunities to modify information access in either direction, and finally opportunities to explore penetration points in multiple tiers that are not immediately adjacent (Pil and Holweg, 2006). The horizontal dimension provides opportunities for companies to move across value chains, in order to leverage economies of scale across multiple sources of demand (Pil and Holweg, 2006). The potential of this dimension is to enable companies to manage risk, seize existing value (special products with advanced technology), integrate sources of existing value and explore new ways to create value. The horizontal thinking allows parallel value chains to be viewed from different industries, in this way companies can integrate these parallel value chains to offer package or price combinations, which cannot be achieved by the single value chain approach. Finally, in the diagonal dimension, firms explore the grid in an integrative fashion, in order to increase the control over inputs and customers. Firms looks at the upstream and downstream of other value chains for controlling the critical components of the supply chain and uncovering new ways of boosting customer demands (Pil and Holweg, 2006). Pil and Holweg describe the two strategies that take advantages from this dimension: The first is pursuing Pinch-Point mapping when companies shall monitor key component supplies and negotiate alternative source of components. The second is defining demand enablers when companies that have a particular expertise in a given value chain, can examine other value chains in other industries that can leads to new opportunities to leverage key competitive advantages (Pil and Holweg, 2006). Industry Background The telecommunications industry is undergoing radical transformations through liberalization, lowering of technological barriers to entry and the diversity of players (Li and Whalley, 2002). Originally, the process of manufacturing a complete mobile phone was finished within one company. However, as with the PC industry, the value chain for making a mobile phone has become more fragmented according to a more stratified approach (Anderson and JÃ ¶nsson, 2006). Companies like Ericsson Mobile Platforms (EMP) and Qualcomm are examples of this change in the industry. They provide technology solutions for mobile manufactures that enable them to make a new phone model much faster without having the core knowledge like radio access. New actors and new services enlarge the mobile communications value chain in both ways, functionally and institutionally (Buellingen and Woerter , 2004; Ballon, de Munck, Poel and de Pas, 2001; Fertig, Prince and Walrod,1999). The traditional concept of value chain may not be sufficient for todays firms (Buellingen and Woerter, 2004). Barnes (2002) tries to adapt the value chain analysis for m-commerce and analyses the players, technologies and activities involved. Full-size image (36K) The basic model consists of six core processes in two main areas: First infrastructure and services, and second the area of content. Pagani and Fine (2008) consider five principal actors in the supply chain: the content providers, application providers, infrastructure providers, network providers the device providers. They assume that the end consumers create demand, set the rules of engagement and then pull the supply chain system (Pagani and Fine, 2008). In the last decade with the entry of powerful new players, rapid technological developments and increasing market turbulences (Li and Whalley, 2002), the mobile handset industry has changed from a vertical specialization to a more horizontally stratified structure. A complex and rapidly evolving value network is developing (Li and Whalley, 2002). There are more parties involved in the process of making a mobile phone. Each party focuses on areas of the value chain where they have core competences such as new technology, customer relationships management, or infrastructure management. The market is then highly complex and competitive given the fact that companies compete also with companies from other industries operating under different value propositions and economics (Li and Whalley, 2002). Methodology: Research design and data collection There are several techniques for identifying Key Success Factors, Leidecker and Bruno (1984) propose the following: environmental scanning, industry structure analysis, industrial experts opinions, competitors analysis, best practice analysis, assessment of the companys internal feeling or judgment, intuitive factors and gathered data of profit impact and market strategy. This study mixes between internal assessment of a firm and industrial experts opinions. This internal assessment technique explores the firms forces and weaknesses. The KSFs are thus concluded from the interviews with experts in the industry. - Figure 1 about here - As designed in the research model, first a value chain analysis focuses on the firms core competences from an inside perspective. In parallel, the firms value chain is positioned into the value system of the industry, to identify adjacent players and external linkages and determine firms ecosystem. An analysis of the Value Chain aims to identify competitive advantages. From the Value System and the ecosystem, the Value Grid framework identifies competitive advantages from its three dimensions. The outcomes from Value chain and Value Grid are analyzed to test the Value Grid and to extract the KSF for EMP. An ideal analysis of the KSF for EMP would be to do benchmarking with other companies from the same Industry. Then it will be possible to define EMPs real strategic advantages. However, due to availability of information this research focuses on an inside-out perspective and tests the concept of the Value Grid using one source of empirical data (a single case study). Semi-structured interviews are conducted with a specific list of topics to be covered (Bryman and Bell, 2003). The advantage of this method is that the interviewer is free to reformulate the questions or simply ask new questions that may appear as a result of the answer of the interviewee (Bryman and Bell, 2003). According to Grunert and Ellegaard (1992), this type of interview with business decision makers can measure perceived KSF. Five key persons are chosen for an interview from EMP: Robert Puskaric, head of EMP, Martin JÃ ¶nsson, from Product Portfolio Management, Fredrik Dalhgren Deputy Director of System Management, PÃ ¤r Stigmer from Sourcing and Supply and Linda Wenerman from Product Management. Empirical Findings for Ericsson Mobile Platforms Ericsson Mobile Platforms is a business unit within the Ericsson Group. It was founded in 2001 as a result of a split from the Ericsson mobile handset division, Ericsson Mobile Communications. This split ended up in Ericsson Mobile Platforms (EMP) and the joint-venture Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications. Before that time, Ericsson produced mobile platforms for in-house use only. Through EMP, Ericsson started to license open-standard 2.5G and 3G technology platforms to other mobile phone manufacturers and other mobile communication devices. EMP offers stable platform deliveries that include ASICs and development boards (hardware), platform software, reference design, development and testing tools, training, support and documentation. The EMP platforms contain integrated circuits and softwares needed to build a GPRS, EDGE and/or WCDMA phone. It provides all the system functions such as Network Signaling, Data communications and Multimedia services. The system architecture of EMP is a modular design that is built on a use case analysis (Kornby, 2005). Examples of use cases are: imagining, video telephony, voice call, multimedia streaming, call handling, audio and video. The following criteria have been taken into account to develop this system architecture (Kornby, 2005): complete platform software (not only protocols), stability, flexibility, scalability to different market segments, adaptability to customer software applications, one single architecture for different mobile systems (GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA), maximum reuse of components and customer applications; and backward compatibility in software over the time. Customers build their applications on top of EMP platform software stack. Examples of customers applications are: multimedia players, phone call applications, web browsers, etc. EMP also supplies a suite of core applications where customers can use as a starting point for building their applications. EMP provides a complete application suite to support customers who do not build their own applications. This is especially for customers who want to focus in the low-end market. The goal of the EMPs Application Suite is to reduce time-to-market for customers in launching their phones. EMPs business model The EMPs business model consists of two parts: to license its core technology and to sell engineering support services to the customers. EMP charges a one-time up-front fixed payment for a Platform license and a royalty per unit that represent the major source of revenue (Kornby, 2005). EMP has built an ecosystem in order to ensure the maximum value creation for EMP. The five players in the EMPs ecosystem are depicted in figure 2. - Figure 2 about here - The first set of players relates to Network Providers; these companies offer the telecom infrastructure such as wireless communications systems. The main partner with EMP is LM Ericssons network group. They work hand-by-hand to provide end-to-end solutions, align roadmaps and ensure that EMP platforms can support the new network functionality offered by Ericsson (Kornby, 2005). Second, EMP has a closer relationship with the customers to ensure that new customer requirements are collected promptly in order to implement new functionality as early as possible. The third set of players in EMP ecosystem relates to Network Operators. These companies provide the services to the end-users (subscribers). They also purchase phones from mobile manufactures that are sold to the operators subscribers. Very often operators request mobile manufactures to use a specific mobile platform (Kornby, 2005). Thus EMP has built an important relationship in order to understand future operators requirements to secure that new functionality is available in the EMPs platform. Fourth, EMP and LM Ericsson are active at work with the standardization bodies such as 3GPP, OMA, JCP and OMPT. This is done in order to ensure interoperability of EMPs mobile platforms worldwide. And finally EMP works actively with ASIC, peripheral, IP and software suppliers in order to get fair prices for building EMP products. 4.2 The EMPs Value Chain and Value System The direct activities of EMPs value chain are: supply chain Management, hardware design activity, Software development and integration activity, a system reference design activity, a System Test and Interoperability Test (IOT), Product Use, External Networks and finally a customization activity. EMP has also a prototype unit that builds prototype phones for testing early functionality. The EMPs value chain and value system are depicted in figure 3. - Figure 3 about here - 4.2.1 Supply Chain Management EMP basically does not have any regular material flow, but outsource software and hardware through licenses. The task of the sourcing and supply department is to act as an internal consultant at EMP for deciding whether to buy an IP or develop hardware/software in-house. The sourcing department works tightly with the product definition and the RD organization; they work proactively to ensure fair prices. The decisions are based on three aspects: comparing the prices of buying from others and developing by itself, assessing the risk of buying and finally evaluating the total value by an in-house development. For example, to get a new IP in the platform, the sourcing department evaluates the total cost composed of the getting IP cost from supplier and the using IP cost (license) per ASIC. In this case customers pay the license directly, the cost of integrating an IP into the suppliers ASIC (a supplier may have already the knowledge of adding this IP, thus it becomes cheaper) and the co st of the final integration into the platform (how difficult is to make drivers and APIs to control the IP). The sourcing and supply department acts differently depending of what wants to outsource. For IPs, the negotiations are based on case, for ARM and DSP cores it builds long term relationship with the suppliers, and for a specific component such as Image Signal Processor (ISP) it chooses the best price in the market. Since ASICs are costly, EMP co-develops the design with suppliers and builds long term relationship. 4.2.2 Hardware design (HW) Regarding the Hardware, EMP only designs and specifies requirements for the different hardware components in the platform. As is shown in the Error: Reference source not foundASIC suppliers (or fabs) test and manufacture the hardware. EMP verifies the hardware components only when it builds the reference design. The design of the HW is divided into two main parts, Front-End and Back End design. For the Radio Frequency (RF) hardware EMP designs the Front-End and Back-End. For the Digital Base Band (DBB) EMP only does the front-end design. Finally, the analog base band (ABB) ASIC, EMP only specifies the hardware requirements and leaves the rest to the ASICs suppliers 4.2.3 Software development and Integration Software development and Integration refers to developing software solutions for the different stacks in the software platform architecture. This activity also involves developing EMP (in-house) software stacks such as Network Signaling protocols for WCDMA, GSM/GPRS and EDGE; data communication protocols such as, TCP/IP, RTP, and IMS; multimedia protocols for streaming music and video; developing a set of application platform interfaces to control the software platform and hardware. DBB, ABB, RF, and peripheral are to implement low level drivers to control hardware components inside the mobile platform. This activity also involves integration of third party proprietary software components such as, music codecs (like MP3 and Windows media player), and operating systems. This activity also involves testing the software at different levels: module tests, regression tests and integration tests. 4.2.4 Reference design EMP builds reference boards and real-size reference phones. These non-commercial phones are produced in small quantities that are internally used for software development and hardware verification, interoperability test and early-stage test of hardware for customers. 4.2.5 System Test and Interoperability test The system test consists of the verification of the complete reference design. The tests are conducted in lab, with network vendors and interoperability test with major live networks operators in the world. This is a very costly task and it is done to uncover ambiguities in the basic standards and specification. It also covers informal type approval test for the phone (Kornby, 2005). Value Chain Analysis According to the theoretical framework a company can generate competitive advantages by analyzing the different activities in the value chain. EMPs value chain basically works only in the service domain. EMP licenses its platform solutions and let the customers manage the manufacturing process with EMPs suppliers, thus the EMPs core activities are design (both in hardware and software), integration and testing of the platform (of the whole system). EMPs advantage appears in the fact that the firm has designed a holistic system architecture which makes easy to develop and test the functionality independently. This saves considerable a considerable time amount at the integration phase. Moreover, the system is designed to be flexible and scalable, so it is easy to re-use and add new functionality. Therefore, EMPs main strength is that the firm successfully manages to develop, integrate and test very complex new technologies to deliver a stable cost-effective platform solution when techn ology development is not in a mature phase. The main EMPs competitive advantage is to be the leader in providing cost-effective solutions for the mass market when the new technologies are emerging. Another interesting strength found is that the brand image of Ericsson plays an important role when meeting with new suppliers. The reputation of the Ericsson corporation is transferred to EMP and it facilitates the starting of new agreements and business opportunities. Potential Risks The value chain is an analytical tool that helps to find value in each activity; this can also be used for finding weakness and improvement areas. From the value chain we can identify two main weaknesses. First, the base band ASICs are the most costly part in the platform, despite that EMP says that it has managed to get fair licenses prices for the ASICs. The power of the suppliers is relatively high, thus EMP cannot have full control of the hardware prices. It seems that high margins still go to ASIC manufactures. Second, at this moment, EMP does not have the competence and the resources to integrate vertically in the upstream value chain. According to the interviewees, the most valuable strategic resource at EMP resides in personnels competence in the area of radio access technology and in the skills for designing a flexible and low cost system. These two competences are the driving forces for providing a cost-optimized mobile platform. The main risk in the value chain comes from the suppliers side. When technology reached a mature market, there is a risk that the technology becomes a commodity product and thus, suppliers can acquire knowledge on how to implement these technologies in their own ASICs. This implies that ASIC manufactures can produce ultra low cost platforms, due to the fact that they can control the price of the hardware. Another identified potential risk relate to how much EMP should outsource (Varadarajan, 2009). As is shown in the value chain (figure 3), EMP outsources a number of software components. An indiscriminate software outsourcing policy may lead to the loss of competences inside the EMP value chain (such as signal processing knowledge) thus reduce the value of the platform offering. 5.2 Benchmark What are the EMPs keys factors that are considered important for success? EMP is constantly evaluating and comparing with competitors in terms of cost, size, performance and power consumption of the product offering. From an end-users perspective, EMP is interested in delivering high quality multimedia functions for providing good speech and audio quality. Other benchmark measures are purely financial measures. All the interviewees agree that there are areas of improvement for EMP from a value chain perspective. 5.2.1 Horizontal integration In most of the interviews, a potential improvement for EMP consists in the integration of the value chain from a horizontal perspective by adding others technologies for example to offer an integrated solution with WLAN, BT or FM radio. The platform today provides the flexibility to add these peripherals, but this is a work that the customer must do when he done the product design (and it doesnt add a real value for EMP). This extended platform function offering in EMP platforms has the following impacts: 1) As customers will have less control over the price for these peripherals, they will not be able to bargain the prices 2) the cost of the EMP platform for customers will increase, 3) the total PCB area will go down due to integration of the peripheral in the ASICs and 4) the final product from a customer perspective (i.e. phone ready to launch with everything in place) will result in a total cost reduction. Thus, EMP would add value into the platform and customers will benefit fro m cheaper phones. In order to integrate these peripherals, EMP should create alliances with these suppliers in a cost effective manner (HÃ ¥kansson and Ford, 2002). It is not enough to just integrate any peripheral; it should be a peripheral that can be used by almost all customers in the different platforms, in a way that provide a common platform offering. Otherwise it will end up in a customized platform and the total value added from a portfolio perspective may not be that clear. An example of a peripheral that may fit with this approach is BT devices. The goal of EMP will probably be the re-use of the same platform as much as possible; however this is not defined yet. EMP has managed to have more than one ASIC supplier. This has increased the possibilities of getting fair prices. EMP is still looking to increase the number of suppliers to gain bargaining power. 5.2.2 Vertical integration Almost all the interviews discuss the fact, if the vertically integration must be in the upstream or not. As was described, the most costly part in the platforms is the ASICs and in order to offer competitive price, alliances must be created with ASICs suppliers. However, what if EMP chooses a fabless model? EMP would need then to focus more on the design of the hardware devices (today, it leaves it to some suppliers to design the hardware). EMP should start to do more IP designs, to focus on the back-end design of all the hardware components (ASICs) and create cell libraries for them. This vertical integration implies that EMP would leave ASIC manufacturing to a silicon foundry (for example, companies like TSMC, UMC, Chartered, etc). The advantage is that EMP would be able to choose suppliers, to get better prices and thus to get higher margins. For instance the EMPs competitor Qualcomm has this approach and uses TSMC as ASIC manufacturing. Nevertheless, complete back-end design requires EMP to build specific competence and skills for the complete hardware design. Moreover, EMP would need to take care of production issues like yield management, quality and logistics. This could lead to an expensive learning experience. Since EMP is a rather small company in global terms which focuses mostly in software design and system integration, a solution would probably be to invest in a company who has already the skills and experience. But in the near future this option will be not considered. Test of Value Grid Value Grid offers a variety of new paths to enhance performance, resulting in a three dimensional grid: the vertical, the horizontal and the integrative diagonal dimensions (Pil and Holweg, 2006). 6.1 Vertical Dimension From the theory of Value Grid and the analysis of the value chain in the previous section, there is a match between the External Networks from the value-added chain concept and how to influence customer demand in the downstream. In this case the relationship between EMP and network operators plays an important coordinative role (Andersen and Christensen, 2005). EMP cannot influence demand directly since this activity is mainly driven by EMPs customers who manufacture, distribute and sell the phones to operators and end-users by other distribution channels. Indeed, network operators distribute a great part of the mobiles phones to the end-users due to their infrastructure. In order to increase traffic in their networks, they finance partly the cost of the phone by tying it with contracts (fixed subscriptions periods normally for one or two years) or offering a phone at lower cost with the restriction that the phone can only be used exclusively with prepaid SIM cards. Therefore, to inc rease sales and market share, EMP can build a strong relationship with operators and persuade them to buy mobiles phones from EMPs customers. 6.2 Horizontal Dimension In this dimension similarities were detected betwee

Anabolic Steroids Essay -- essays research papers

Anabolic Steroids Anabolic steroids are synthetic coumpounds formulated to be like the male sex hormone testosterone. Many athletes use anabolic steroids male and female alike, such as body builders , weightlifters, baseball players, football players, swimmers, and runners. They do so because they mistakenly believe that they will gain strength and size. In a male testosterone is released by the leydig cells in the testes. The testosterone has two main functions androgenic and anabolic. Androgenic is the development of male sex characteristics. Anabolic is the development of muscle tissue. To treat patients who suffer from a natural lack of testosterone pharmacoligists alter one form of testosterone slightly, increasing th length of time the drug is active. Testosterone was first isolated in 1935, soon forms of testosterone such as dianabol, durabolin, deca-durabolin, and winstrol were produced. One of the main effects of anabolic steroids is to increase the number of red blood cells and muscle tissue without producing much of the androgenic effects of testosterone. There are only four legal uses for steroids treatment for certain forms of cancer, pituatary dwarfism, and serious hormone disturbances. There are two forms of anabolic steroids those taken orally and those injected. The immediate effects of both are mood swings of many different kinds. In one study, physicians Ian Wilson, Arthur Prang, Jr., and Patricio Lara found that four out of five men suffering from dippresion when given a steroid suffered from dillusions. A research team from Great Britian Found that a patient given steroids became dizzy, dissoriented, and incoherent. Physicians William Layman and William Annitto have had a case of a young man who was diagnosed as schizophrenic took steriods to help with his wieghtlifting. After taking these drugs he suffered severe deppresion and anxiety and had trouble sleeping. Most people who use steroids do not have side affects this severe. Steroids make changes in the electroencephalogram (an image of brain ellectrical activity). Researchers believe that these changes are responsible for some of the behavior changes in users of steroids like increased hostility and... ... I read from the researchers that anabolic steroids show few if any effects at all and I read from athletes that there is a very large effect on muscle gain and endurance. I came across only one book though that addressed this issue between researchers and atheletes. The book sayed that The American College of Sports Medicine stated a report on the use and abuse of anabolic steroids. It stated that for many people any benefits of anabolic steroids are small and not worth the health risk. Yet almost all the athletes who use anabolic steroids feel that the steroids had a great effect and that they would not have been successful without them. The big gap between researchers and athletes has caused a big contraversy athletes say one thing and researchers say another. The researchers have found a reason that maybe is the cause that anabolic steroid users see efects that researchers say are not possible they call it the "placebo effect". The placebo effect works by the power of suggestion athletes believe that the steroids will improve there performance so they do. The placebo effect is real the performance is improved and the gains are not imagi

Devices Types of Electronic Communication Essay

As technology becomes more advanced and affordable, we are often presented with new ways to perform old tasks. Many of these advances improve the ways we communicate with others, allowing us to stay better informed and better connected. As these devices evolve, our communication methods will continue to evolve with them. Types of Modern Communications Devices When cartoonist Chester Gould gave comic strip detective Dick Tracy a two-way wrist radio, he couldn’t have known that he was foreseeing the development of a variety of portable communications devices. The digital revolution of the late 20th century led to communications devices that make Tracy’s wrist radio seem quaint. Cellular Phones In 1979, the world’s first cellular telephone network went on line in Tokyo, Japan. Similar networks spread rapidly after that, and by 2006, the majority of people in North America, Europe and affluent areas of Africa, Asia and Latin America had access to cell phones. Reportedly, 206 million people use cell phones in the United States, as of 2011. Smartphones A smartphone is small computer that also functions as a telephone. Although features vary by manufacturer and model, smartphones typically include digital voice service, Internet access, email and text messaging. Other options include MP3 players, digital cameras and video players. Smartphones also run a wide range of computer applications for business and entertainment. Leading brands of smartphones include BlackBerry, iPhone, Motorola and Samsung. *******Initializing Message Log:TSSysprep.dll 06/01/13 20:10:17 *******Version:Major=6, Minor=1, Build=7600, PlatForm=2, CSDVer=, Free sysprep.cpp(283)Entering LSMSysPrepRestore sysprep.cpp(511)WARNING: RestoreTSCustomSercurity – NameSIDList.LoadAndDelete FAILED. sysprep.cpp(512)If no Names/SIDs were saved during LSMSysPrepBackup, this is NOT an error. Otherwise, it IS an error, saved names and SIDs were NOT restored. sysprep.cpp(513)Please verify that no Names/SIDs were saved during backup sysprep.cpp(288)WARNING: RestoreTSCustomSercurity() FAILED: 2. To see if this is an error, please see message(s) above. sysprep.cpp(291)Leaving LSMSysPrepRestore logmsg.cpp(38)********Terminating Log. *******Initializing Message Log:TSSysprep.dll 06/01/13 20:10:17 *******Version:Major=6, Minor=1, Build=7600, PlatForm=2, CSDVer=, Free sysprep.cpp(330)Entering RdpSysPrepRestore sysprep.cpp(358)Leaving RdpSysPrepRestore logmsg.cpp(38)********Terminating Log. *******Initializing Message Log:TSSysprep.dll 06/01/13 20:12:51 *******Version:Major=6, Minor=1, Build=7600, PlatForm=2, CSDVer=, Free sysprep.cpp(309)Entering RCMSysPrepRestore sysprep.cpp(314)ERROR: ResetTSPublicPrivateKeys() FAILED: 2 sysprep.cpp(316)Leaving RCMSysPrepRestore logmsg.cpp(38)********Terminating Log.

Carmen

Movement, space and dynamics are used in Mat Ek’s work Carmen to portray the various characters throughout the piece and to determine their relationships therefore gaining a greater understanding of the characters and the narrative. Micaela (M) is a respectable and adequate woman who is loyal to her fiance but is always leading him and influencing his behavior in life. The first movement we see from M is at a low height with collapsing, repeated contractions which give us an initial idea of her silent presence amongst her fiance Don Jose while he is conversing with the other solider portraying the idea of her intimidation of other men. Her movements are curved in shape though still very forceful, sharp and have a punch like force about them which gives the idea she is conscience of Jose, giving his directions and guidelines of how the behave. She then progresses into a lot of sustaining movements, which she continuously motions upward, giving the impression and the resemblance of appreciation of life and her faithfulness toward Don Jose. Symbolism of a wish to have a child occurs at 0. 33 through the use of curved â€Å"cradle-like† motions which shows the couples desire to settle down and be a family. There is also a repetitive floor pattern as M often travels away from Don Jose but then travels directly back towards his representing her dedication and loyalty as she always returns to her fiance and also the idea of her constant presence. M’s dynamics then take a sudden change as she is not longer performing contracted, closed movements in a repetitive nature which portrayed her ideal feministic nature of being loyal and she now has a less controlled nature about her performing asymmetrical kicks and contrasting shapes as she seems to let loose the further she ventures away from Jose which symbolizes her soul connection to him as she always returns back. The duet performed by M and Don Jose see’s M return to her original circular, curved shape movements and we see Jose’s unison with her, always a step behind which gives a sense she is showing him the way. Both of their movements are free yet heavy and they have a curved shape about them implying the hidden control and tension between them but also the trance they set each other in as the appear slightly â€Å"playful† and always drawn upwards with high levels and strong gestures such as lifting M up at 1:39 and high suspension movements at 1:09 to the sky symbolizing the feeling of being content and happy. Jose’s continuous following of M and his placement in space of always being slightly behind M symbolizes his shyness and the controlling nature his fiance possesses over him. At 1:44 we see M and Jose linking arms with M pointing to the direction she wishes to head while Jose looks at her in admiration and awaiting her next gesture again portraying the idea of her leading and controlling power she has over him and his obedience to this power. As the group of female dancers come in we see a dramatic change in the dynamics and movements of the dance as in comparison to M, these dancers have a much more open body position about them with much greater use of the entire kinosphere of each individual. The use of multiple kicks and turns which take up a large amount of space around the dancer display their confidence and high self esteem. At 2:45 the girls perform a controlled turn as they have a strong posture and arm position with head titled towards the sky to convey a strong, open shape which further portrays the idea of the confidence and â€Å"teasing† nature they possess in the males presence. As the males and female perform a direct swap in sides we see the males perform loose, uncontrolled arm movements which shows the uncontrollable urge they have to go and â€Å"dance† with the girls and how crazy they females make them along with the back and forth floor pattern the girls create as they swap sides and they lead the boys in and then head back the other direction which also conveys the teasing nature of the females. At 3:12 the males perform a percussive movement as the floor pattern leads them towards the females which emphasizes their excitement, yet the fact they are giving into the females which comments on the power the women posses over the men. The floor pattern shows the males always behind and following in the females paths, almost repeating similar movements that the females do which further emphasizes the idea of the females controlling the males actions and the males chasing them. This idea is also finally show at 3:29 when the females run over the backs of the males showing their dominance and power over them. Escamillo, the confident and desired new man in town conveys the idea of his confidence and power over everyone in his dramatic entry at 3:39 as the first movement we see of him is a open, strong and angular jump travelling to stage front. This jump automatically gives us the idea of his superiority over everyone else. His movements are sharp and angular which the choreographer to convey his confident, powerful ersonality and his intriguing use of controlled and dramatic dynamics of movements. The final section performed by the girls shows a soften, less controlling side of them which is communicated by their use of curved, soft movements and powerless dynamics and motions and shows the idea of their admiration and lust toward Escamillo. In conclusion, the use of various dynamics, movement and space is used in the extract to portray the characters, thei r emotions and determine relationships and further enhance and gain a better understanding of the characters to overall convey the narrative.

World Strruggle Comes to Division essays

World Strruggle Comes to Division essays It is thought that this war that is been ongoing for over a year, began with the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand; however, many other reasons led to this war. Some occurring reasons date as far back as the late 1800's. Nationalism, militarism, imperialism, and the system of alliances were four main factors that pressed the great powers towards this explosive war. Nationalism is the love of one's country rather that the love of a native region. Throughout the 1800's many national groups that were driven by nationalism tried to unite by governments controlled by their own people. However, this desire to unite all the people of a nation under one government had devastating possibilities in Europe, where one government often ruled many nationalities. This is one important reason for the start of the Great War. Another reason for the start of the war was the practice of imperialism by many countries. Imperialist countries narrowly avoided war many times as they struggled to divide Africa among themselves in the early 1900's. Two of these countries, France and Germany, were on the brink of war several times when the argued about claims to Morocco. Between 1905 and 1911 they settled each argument with a temporary compromise that left one of the two countries dissatisfied. Although imperialism played an important role in starting the war, militarism was even a greater factor. Militarism controlled the thinking of many European Leaders before the war. These leaders thought that only the use of force could solve problems along nations. These leaders also thought that a military strong nation usually got what it wanted, and weaker nation usually lost out. As international rivalries, each nation in Europe made their armed forces stronger and larger. As all these things began to build up the spark that set off the explosion and led to the war was the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand. While the heir to the Austro-...