Monday, December 30, 2019

The Legacy Of Abraham Lincoln - 1882 Words

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Hodgenville, Kentucky and was the second child of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln. His nickname was Honest Abe and The Great Emancipator and he was six foot and four inches tall. Lincoln’s childhood was rough. His family moved to several places; from Kentucky to Indiana, and then to Illinois in his early twenty’s. His parents, Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln were married on July 12, 1806. Together, they had three children: Sarah, born on February 10, 1807; Abraham, born on February 12, 1809; and another son named Thomas who died in infancy. Abraham’s father, Thomas Lincoln was uneducated but was a relatively successful Kentucky farmer. He also worked as a cabinetmaker and carpenter. While the family worked hard at farming, Thomas had to rely on hunting most of the days to feed his family. His mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln was very religious and taught the children about the Bible and she believed in the importance of education. However, schools were uncommon in the lightly populated areas, but a school opened nine miles away when Abraham was about 7 and Nancy insisted Thomas to let their children attend. Their walk to school would have taken Abraham 2.5 to 3 hours each way so it was a huge commitment. When Abraham was 9 years old and his older sister Sarah was 11 years old, their m other died of milk sickness. Milk sickness occurs when someone drinks dairy products or eats meat from an animal that has been eating aShow MoreRelatedThe Legacy Of Abraham Lincoln1958 Words   |  8 PagesLeadership and Legacy: Background Research Paper Abraham Lincoln By:Audrey Knight Introduction Great leader and main topic Abraham Lincoln lived in the 1800’s where he accomplished many things in his 54 years of life. He lived in the U.S. through several major events in history and left a legacy that will never be forgotten. As the 16th president of the United States he brought about the emancipation of slavery, preserved the Union during the Civil War, and served the people. His heroic leadershipRead MoreThe Legacy Of Abraham Lincoln933 Words   |  4 PagesSynopsis Regarded as one of the United States of America greatest heroes, Abraham Lincoln is famous for his unique appeal and incredible impact on the nation. He was the United States 16th president. His story is an astounding one rising from a humble background to become the most powerful man the land. However, at the time when his country needed him most, a tragic and sudden death strikes him. He is assassinated. He left a legacy that endured due to his unique humane personality as a leader of the unionRead MoreThe Legacy Of Abraham Lincoln Essay2383 Words   |  10 PagesReport Name Abraham Lincoln paved a path of equality and freedom for slaves and people of the 1800s as well as having a major impact on society and government; Abraham Lincoln s engagement with the public people skyrocketed his career as being a president and a suitable leader to the people of the United States of America. Born on February 12th, 1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln in his later years would be known as one of the most influential leaders of all time. Abraham Lincoln was bornRead MoreThe Legacy Of Abraham Lincoln1217 Words   |  5 PagesAbraham Lincoln was born in the year 1809 on February 12th in the town of Hardin County, Kentucky to Thomas and Nancy Lincoln. Growing up Lincoln had no proper education, consequently he read books and educated himself. During Lincoln’s young adult years, he worked a various number of jobs as a shopkeeper, surveyor, and a postmaster. In 1832, Lincoln became a captain of the Hawk War against the Native Americans. Shortly after the war was over, he began his political career and was elected to theRead MoreThe Legacy Of Abraham Lincoln1817 Words   |  8 Pagesmore than any of these other men: Abraham Lincoln, the man who freed the slaves. Abraham Lincoln, born February 12, 1809 in Hodgenville, Kentucky, is widely considered to be one of the greatest presidents to have ever been in office. During the course of his presidency, Lincoln not only lead the Union during the Civil War and tried to unify the nation through a harsh time of crisis, conflict, and bloodshed: through his beliefs, his example and his legacy, Lincoln freed the slaves, gave them the rightRead MoreThe Legacy Of Abraham Lincoln Essay2382 Words   |  10 PagesAbraham Lincoln paved a path of equality and freedom for slaves and people of the 1800s as well as having a major impact on society and government; Abraham Lincoln s engagement with the public people skyrocketed his career as being a president and a suitable leader to the people of the United States of America. Born on February 12th, 1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln in his later years would be known as one of the most influential leaders of all time. Abraham Lincoln was born intoRead MoreThe Legacy Of Abraham Lincoln1826 Words   |  8 Pages Abraham Lincoln’s victory in the 1860 presidential election, was a beacon of hope for many slaves in America. Becoming the 16th president of the United States serving from 1861 to 1865, Abraham Lincoln is one of America’s most celebrated heroes. Holding office during the years of the American Civil War, Lincoln preserved the Union, while creating a new era that consisted of emancipated African American slaves. After winning a victory at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, he issuedRead MoreLegacy Of Abraham Lincoln s Legacy Essay1582 Words   |  7 PagesLegacy Leader: Abraham Lincoln A legacy leader is someone who has left a positive and lasting impression in society due to his or her leadership qualities and/or traits. Abraham Lincoln is a prime example of a legacy leader due to the leadership traits he displayed throughout his presidency. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States. He exhibited great leadership qualities such as integrity, duty, and selfless service. Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and hisRead MoreThe Legacy Of Abraham Lincoln1500 Words   |  6 PagesAbraham Lincoln has been studied more than any other in American history. In fact, over 15,000 different books have been written about our 16th president. Throughout the pages of these books, President Lincoln is affectionately referred to by many different names, such as the Railsplitter, Honest Abe, and the Great Emancipator. A vast majority of these written works honor Lincoln as one of our greatest presidents. Not everyone feels that way, however. Charles Adams, in his book, When in the CourseRead MoreThe Legacy Of Abraham Lincoln1292 Words   |  6 PagesAbraham Lincoln has been called the greatest president in all of American history. His principles were dedicated to the survival of the United States during one of the most gruesome and bloody wars in the country s history, the American Civil War. During his presidency, he fought for the emancipation of slaves because he believed the institution of slavery was morally unjust. His ideals, which appealed to the founding principles of the country, energized and mobilized the union and kept it alive

Sunday, December 22, 2019

The Ethics Of Medical And Biological Fields - 3307 Words

In this current day and age, science and technology are moving forward at a rapid pace. This can lead to great strides and benefits in the medical and biological fields but also gives rise to ethical and moral questioning. Scientist worry that their research will be stifled by new laws and restrictions, while society fears that these researchers will take advantage of them if not regulated properly. This is clearly seen in the debate over stem cell research and synthetic biology, like genetically modified organisms, on whether such topics are ethical or non ethical. The right education is needed in order to fully understand both sides of these issues and to debate what is ethical and what is not. This research paper will go into†¦show more content†¦(Stem Cell/Bone Marrow) Also, there are a few different types of stem cells that are important to know, such as adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells are gathered when a scientist removes the inne r cell mass of some blastocysts and cultures them in nutrient-rich liquid. (Understanding Stem Cells) These will then develop into the stem cells needed for research and end up being more flexible than adult stem cells since they can form any type of cell in the body. The adult stem cells are harder to find because they are found deep in organs with millions of other cells around them. (Understanding Stem Cells) These cells are already somewhat specialized. â€Å"For example, blood stem cells normally only give rise to the many types of blood cells.† (Understanding Stem Cells) These stem cells and embryonic stem cells are used to regenerate a few types of tissues to help treat diseases and to carry out blood and skin transplants. In order to understand genetically modified organisms, one must understand the nature of synthetic biology. Synthetic biology relies on synthesized DNA to be used in order to create new biochemical systems or to enhance a characteristic of a sp ecific organism. â€Å"Whereas standard biology treats the structure and chemistry of living things as natural phenomena to be

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Should College Athletes Be Paid Free Essays

Samuel Wingert Professor Grimm ENG100G Midterm Research Paper 18 October 2012 Collegiate Level â€Å"Pay to play? That’s the question being fiercely debated on campuses and across the college conferences. And it’s shocking to see the level of support the answer â€Å"yes† is getting—because the idea tears at the very nature of amateur college sports† (Should). There are views from both sides as this is quite the controversial subject in the sporting world. We will write a custom essay sample on Should College Athletes Be Paid or any similar topic only for you Order Now Looking at the facts, it is difficult to decide either way. First off, we must decide what qualifies under the pay to play category. There are numerous ways that college athletes can be compensated for their time dedicated to the sport. They consist of scholarships, free tuition, fees, and room and board. â€Å"Athletes on scholarship currently receive tuition, fees, room, board, and books—costs that can exceed $30,000 to $50,000 a year at many schools. Last October, the NCAA agreed to let college conferences decide whether to pay student athletes an additional $2,000 annual stipend to more closely match the total cost of attendance† (Should). Some of the student athletes that attend college come from poor environments. The athlete and their family cannot offer the money to get them through the hard times of making college payments. â€Å"Collegiate athletes deserve to be paid. The scholarships that they receive cover school-related expenses. They cover books, tuition, and room and board. These scholarships allow athletes to attend class, eat, and sleep on campus for free. What they don’t do is give the players money. Many NCAA athletes come from disadvantaged backgrounds, where their families can’t afford to give them money. † (Solution). Also, is it right to compensate college athletes for their hard work? What if people in the business of money took $1. 3 billion off the top, invested it, sheltered it and made it available to provide a stipend to college athletes, how could anybody stand on principal and argue against paying the people who make the events possible in the first place? † (Michael). After all, they are part of the reason for the revenue that the organizati on receives. â€Å"Those who advocate payment argue that because colleges make lots of money through their football and basketball programs, student athletes are being exploited if they don’t get a piece of the revenue pie. Recently more than 300 athletes petitioned the NCAA and college presidents for a cut of the estimated $775 million generated by televising college sports† (Should). For the amount of work that athletes put in, whether it is on the field or off, they deserve much more than just tuition and room and board. This could raise another question. What will it do to the recruiting process? Will it make the universities more vulnerable to negotiations? â€Å"As the have-nots compete with the haves, coaches would feel even more pressure to win, and recruiting violations would only increase. Speaking of coaches, the University of South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier believes that each of his 70 football players should receive $300 per game. He says that he and several other Southeast Conference coaches feel so strongly about it that they’re willing to pay it themselves† (Should). Paying players may result in the decrease of interest in division two, three, and private universities. The institutions with a larger budget can attract the better athletic recruits. Looking at the pros and cons of paying college athletes, we could lean either way. According to Title IX, a federally mandated law, if conferences and schools decide to increase the value of student-athlete scholarships to cover living expenses, they have to do it for women’s programs as well. This means that schools would have to, for example, increase the value of women’s volleyball and softball scholarships as well. Schools have to stay in-accordance with Title IX, otherwise theyâ₠¬â„¢re risking their federal funding† (Pros and Cons). It can become very sticky when you have to incorporate federal laws into the equation. Another thing that can raise the eyebrow when dissecting the cons of paying players is what sporting teams are getting paid. To be fair to the whole university, you would think that they should pay all varsity sports teams. â€Å"Let’s be real here; men’s football and basketball teams are usually the programs that make the most money for universities, so if football players and basketball players got paid, does that mean that the men’s lacrosse and baseball players would get paid too? † (Pros and Cons). What happens when college athletes decide to make themselves eligible for the professional league before they graduate? This could cause a wrinkle in the system if you create a contract. Will it be able to broken or does the athlete have to stay all four years? The big factor that all athletes fear is the risk of injury. Some feel that players should have some sort of compensation while injured. Is it worth the college spending money on an athlete who may not play up to his ability since becoming hurt? A Nebraska state senator who is a longtime supporter of providing stipends to college athletes submitted a bill in 2003 to allow players of Nebraska’s football team to be paid. He stated that they are unpaid workers who just aren’t amateurs. They call it a scholarship but he wanted to see the athletes to have some spendable money. An Oklahoma university football player said that he plays for one of the top football schools in the country and is struggling to get groceries every month. (USA). Even players agree that it is tough to juggle life with their sports. They feel that for the effort that they put in, an award of some sort should be sent their way. Any kind of non-revenue sport would have to be cut because there would not be sufficient funds to pay their players. This could cause the amount of athletes enrolling in the college to decrease, mainly because of the less diversity that the school provides. â€Å"The NCAA historically has been against pay for play. I couldn’t agree more with that position. If you start paying student-athletes (other than assisting them through financial aid), you essentially ruin the integrity of the college game. † (USA) If we incorporate too much money, the players may become greedy and ask for more and more money. College sports may even become a democracy. The best thing about college sports is the passion. You’re playing for the love of the game, not because you’re getting paid. If money started getting involved, I worry that college sports could be corrupted. I like things the way they are now. † (USA). What happens to those students that aren’t athletes? It would seem as though they would want something as well. Do they deserve to be paid to play in the collegeâ€℠¢s band or as part of the art club? After all, they are all going to college for the same reason; to further their education. Paying a player will create a jealousy factor among students who are not athletes and then you have to figure in what athletes get paid because it would be difficult to pay every athlete because most schools have a multitude of different sports. Then do you pay the upperclassmen only? † (College). An example of this issue happened a few years ago at Mississippi State University. It was plastered all over ESPN and Sportscenter for weeks. It dealt with their football team and ultimately the quarterback Cam Newton. It was believed that he accepted a sum of money from the university to transfer from Florida University. They did this in hopes of improving their team with Newton’s experience and leadership skills. Cam Newton turned down the money and signed with Auburn. â€Å"On Dec. 31, 2009, Newton publicly committed to Auburn, where this season he has led the Tigers to a 9-0 record and No. 2 ranking in the BCS standings. Along the way, Newton’s dazzling running and passing have elevated him to Heisman Trophy favorite status. † (Cash). Not only did Newton lead his team to the national championship, he was elected as the first pick in the NFL draft. He plays for the Carolina Panthers and was a candidate for Rookie of the Year. All of this would not have been possible if he chose the large sum of money. â€Å"If educational institutions pay their players, the gap between major division one schools, whose athletic programs can afford the large salaries and tremendous benefits that the very best athletes demand, and mid-major teams who simply cannot compete in that arena will only widen. It is not a huge leap to imagine that Stanford  would be able to pay exorbitant amounts of money to get the best athletes to play, while its competitors could not possibly match Stanford’s financial advantage in recruitment. Many of the small school would become overpowered and almost non-existent. (Should College). College presidents and fans have fears of pay for play as well. In a pole to college sports fans, most of them fear that with payment come endorsements. This could be similar to the scholarship money because it motivates the student athlete to compete to their best in the sporting world. This brings up t he question of whether the players will focus enough on their books and schoolwork or just sports. â€Å"A few years ago, Nike could sell a Duke number four jersey for $80 and J. J. Redick didn’t see one dime. That was and is unfair. The NCAA should come down firmly against student pay but firmly on the side of students who have become profitable marketing tools for corporations to gain their fair share of the spoils. † (Should College). The NCAA’s purpose is â€Å"To govern competition in a fair, safe, equitable, and sportsmanlike manner, and to integrate intercollegiate athletics into higher education so that the educational experience of the student athlete is paramount. † These boil down to colleges’ jobs are to protect their student athletes, make sure they have the best college experience, and keep the playing field level. Solution). College athletes work hard in the classroom and on their respective field. They should not have the distraction of pay to play hanging over their head. â€Å"Basically the student-athletes are allowed to use what the school gives them, and nothing else. These people are expected sacrifice their bodies for their schools for any where between 1-4 years, and they are only allowed to use what their institution gives them to get by. † (Solution). Pay for play will always be a controversial subject and it is up to the NCAA, colleges, and university to sort over. Student athletes should be able to excel regardless of the paycheck. Works Cited â€Å"Cash Sought for CamA  Newton. † ESPN. com. N. p. , n. d. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. http://sports. espn. go. com/ncf/news/story? id=5765214. â€Å"College Football. † Bleacher Report. N. p. , n. d. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. http://bleacherreport. com/articles/405726-paid-for-plays-shoud-college-athletes-get-paid. |, Michael Wilbon. â€Å"College Athletes Deserve to Be  paid. † ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, n. d. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. http://espn. go. om/college-sports/story/_/id/6778847/college-athletes-deserve-paid. â€Å"Should College Athletes Be Paid? Pros and Cons of Each Perspective Part 1. † Get2TheLeague. com. N. p. , n. d. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. http://www. get2theleague. com/should-college-athletes-be-paid-pros-and-cons-of-each-perspective/. â€Å"Should College Athletes Be Paid to Play? One Fan Weighs In. † PARADE. com. N. p. , n. d. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. http://www. parade . com/news/all-america/2012/should-college-athletes-be-paid-to-play. html. â€Å"Should College Athletes Get Paid? † Should College Athletes Get How to cite Should College Athletes Be Paid, Essay examples Should College Athletes Be Paid Free Essays Keyon Billie Ms. Gavin Speech Class 3/25/2013 Over the past few years college athletics have gained immense popularity across the United States. Whether it be football, basketball, or hockey, ever since the turn of the century, intercollegiate sports have brought in a surplus of revenue to their respective Universities, as well as increasing the popularity of the College’s reputation. We will write a custom essay sample on Should College Athletes Be Paid? or any similar topic only for you Order Now For example, in a study conducted by the Orland Sentientnel, it was estimated that the University of Texas’ Athletic Program had the highest revenue of any other University at $120,288,370 (How Much Revenue). Yet with this large sum of money, no college athletes are legally compensated for their work. According to NCAA rules, â€Å"You are not eligible for participation in a sport if you have ever: Taken pay, or the promise of pay, for competing in that sport† (NCAA Regulations 1). Due to this law, not only are college athletes having difficulty in paying off their college tuition, but also many athletes are being paid under the table through black markets. These amateur athletes have no incentive to stay in college and finish their respective degrees, as many cannot afford to pay for the increasingly expensive college experience. While many argue that college athletes shouldn’t be paid as they are just amateurs representing their schools, I argue that athletes must be paid to save the legitimacy of college athletics. Student athletes should be compensated for their work, as they are the sole reason for the Athletic Program’s surplus in revenue. These athletes are working hard and bringing in money to the University every day, yet aren’t rewarded with any monetary value. These athletes are working for the schools and are doing a service to the college that seems to go unnoticed. This lack of pay is not seen anywhere else in the work place and shouldn’t be seen here. Some even argue, â€Å"College athletes are being exploited by their schools, which make millions of dollars off of intercollegiate athletics† (Should Student-Athletes Get Paid? ). Colleges are using these athletes to boost their respective reputations and bring in revenue while not compensating these athletes for their work. Everywhere else athletes are paid, so why shouldn’t college students too? Some critics may argue that these student-athletes are amateurs, and if paid then are becoming professional athletes. This statement can be easily disproved, however, as amateur is a very broad and controversial term. Hockey players a part of the AHL (Amateur Hockey League) are considered to be amateurs but are compensated for their work. Defining College athletes as amateurs creates another problem in addition to not being paid by the University: athletes can’t promote themselves. The NCAA states â€Å"student-athletes shall be amateurs†¦and should be protected from exploitation by professional and commercial enterprise. However, with this statement it seems that colleges and universities â€Å"are the entity that exploits† them. In 2000, due to the increasing cost of education, the NCAA â€Å"approved student-athletes’ employment in jobs paying up to $2,000 during a school year; the income can address educational expenses†. However, not only does $2,000 barley cover educational costs, especially if not on scholarship, but the NCAA is not allowing student athletes to promote themselves. Also, with all the time practicing and working in the classroom, how many athletes have time to actually get a job? In reality, they are already working by performing on the court, field, or rink. In a documentary conducted by ESPN entitled â€Å"Fab Five,† one of the college basketball players for the University of Michigan said, that It was hard to see his jersey in the stands and knowing that just his number was on it, not his name. He later goes on to say that he wasn’t receiving any money from it even though Addidas was promoting his jersey! This Michigan Basketball player then goes on to say that he couldn’t even afford the jersey that his fans were wearing. He wanted to buy a jersey for his mom, but couldn’t afford it. Another argument that supports paying college athletes, is that these â€Å"full-ride† scholarships given to the best athletes do not actually cover all their expenses. Many athletes still can’t afford to have their parents come to the stadium and watch the games. For example, in 2010, â€Å"Duke basketball players were valued at $1,025,656 while [the players were] living just $732 above the poverty line and a scholarship shortfall of $1,995† (â€Å"The Price of Poverty in Big Time College Sports†). With all of the respect and publicity of these athletes, it goes unnoticed that a great deal of the players live very near to the poverty line. Due to this lack of money, black-markets are created. Here, boosters that represent the University give these players’ cars, spending money, or anything they truly want, and in return, these players go to their respective University. There have been many instances of this injustice before, but one prominent example is that of Reggie Bush, the running back for the University of Southern California from 2003-2005. Bush was paid by boosters to attend USC, which violated NCAA rules. Bush was heavily criticized when the violations were revealed and had to return his Heisman trophy. While Bush’ actions were clearly wrong and him returning the Heisman trophy was warranted, its tough to give him much criticism. At the time, Bush didn’t come from much wealth and even with a â€Å"full-ride† football scholarship, he could not cover all of his expenses. Bush’s mother was having trouble paying rent, so a booster at USC offered to pay for his mother’s apartment in Pasadena. Bush felt obligated to take this offer, as there was no other way to make money and pay for his mother’s apartment. If Bush were paid for his participation in the NCAA, then Bush would have attended any University he would so please. These boosters’ actions are not only illegal, but create an imbalance in competition amongst the NCAA. These universities that violate NCAA rules have an upper edge in recruiting top prospects. Schools are then tempted to violate such rules to even out the playing field. The last and arguably the most important reason to pay college athletes, is that it will ensure that most college athletes will complete their college degrees. â€Å"Paying student-athletes would provide athletes an incentive to stay in school and complete their degree programs, instead of leaving early for the professional leagues†. If athletes are paid to play, not only can they cover some of their college expenses that scholarships couldn’t cover, but also now they will want to finish their education. NCAA prides itself on all student-athletes are students first and athletes second, however, it seems that more popular athletes leave early for the pros. In college basketball, many freshman stars are referred to as â€Å"one and done† players as they complete one year of college and go to the professional leagues early, as they want money and need it as soon as possible. The importance of their education is lost. The University seems to be hypocritical in its actions when it doesn’t pay its athletes, because it seems they support college athletes leaving for the Professional league early. According to the article, â€Å"A university’s primary objective is to provide its students with a quality education that prepares them to function in the world as opposed to in college. † However, without paying athletes, universities leave their students with no other option but to not graduate and withdrawal after a semester or a year to meet their financial obligations. Logistically, it should be very simple for the universities to compensate their student-athletes. One author suggests that every university pays the same flat rate to each college athlete for three years, then offer a raise to senior athletes. This bonus will create that incentive for students to receive their degrees. While it may seem odd and unjust to pay college athletes, the reality is that compensation of such athletes is a necessity not only to keep competition at a steady level in college athletics, but also to encourage students to graduate and get their college degrees. How to cite Should College Athletes Be Paid?, Essay examples Should College Athletes Be Paid Free Essays Should College Athletes Be Paid? Should college athletes be paid? This question has been the subject of debate for many years. There are pros and cons to both sides of the issue, but college athletes deserve to be paid for several reasons. One reason is that college athletes are not allowed to work and earn money when they are playing a sport. We will write a custom essay sample on Should College Athletes Be Paid? or any similar topic only for you Order Now Another is that college athletes can contribute to a winning team that attracts fans and raises ticket sales and can bring in money through sponsorships and merchandising. Paying college athletes will also prevent them from accepting bribes, such as money, cars and clothes. Another consideration is how are athletes going to afford all the necessary expenses for college, especially if they come from poor families. Some people say that athletes are being paid with an education, but what if an athlete has an injury that requires surgery? Athletes and their families will need money to pay medical bills, which will be expensive. Surgery is not cheap and they may not be able to pay the medical bill. Lastly, paying athletes may help them stay in school longer rather than turning professional where they could stand to make a lot of money. â€Å"Should College Athletes Be Paid? † New York Public Library. 2003. 21 Dec. 2009 . ) College athletes should be paid because they are not allowed to work and earn money. (â€Å"Slaves of Big Time College Sports. † USA Today. 2000. Eitzen, D Stanley. 21 Dec. 2009 . ) Without that money, many athletes may not be able to afford college or the associated expenses, such as food or rent if they live off campus. Thi s defeats a key goal of college, which is to make students self-sufficient and be able to take care of themselves without their parents or guardians. Another reason that college athletes should be paid is that they attract fans and sponsors but receive none of the profit. It has been estimated that a Division One school can earn as much as $750 million from ticket sales and merchandising in just one football season. (â€Å"Slaves of Big Time College Sports. † USA Today. 2000. Eitzen, D Stanley. 21 Dec. 2009 . ). That amount equals almost $11. 3 million per player! The school should take some of the profit, and the college athletes should receive the majority of it, which clearly does not happen. Instead none of the money goes to the athletes. In addition to ticket sales and merchandising, schools also receive sponsorships. Merchandise brings in less than $1 million annually to the University of Florida compared to the $69 million total revenue. Again, this number would be significantly less in a school that did not win back to back-to-back championships. Merchandise is low on the list of revenue behind boosters, sponsorships, ticket sales, etc. (â€Å"Should Student Athletes Like Tim Tebow Be Paid for Endorsements? † The Bleacher Report. 2009. Brown, Jeremy. 10 March 2010 http://www. thebleacherreport. com). The head of the Tennessee women’s basketball team receives $200,000 a year from sponsorships and radio and television shows, in addition to her $175,000 salary. The $200,000 she receives from sponsorships and radio and television goes directly to her: the athletes do not get a penny of it. (â€Å"Should College Athletes Be Paid? † Issues and Controversies. 1999. 18 Dec. 2009 . ) Paying college athletes would prevent them from accepting bribes. An opposing school could offer a key player on the team money to throw a game. That key player could be bribed into doing this. If athletes were paid, it would reduce the chances of this happening. Players may also be bribed with money or cars to go to a certain college. This would have the effect of making wealthier schools better at sports because they can afford to pay the players with bribes. Another reason for paying college athletes is to keep them in college. The truly good athletes may have the opportunity to turn professional in their junior year and make millions of dollars. If they are at least being paid some money in college, that could give them a reason to stay and complete their senior year and graduate. Some people say that college athletes are being paid with an education. An education is important and should be the priority, but the reality is many Division One athletes go to college to play sports with the hope of becoming professional. An education does not pay for food or clothes or an injury that may happen. Medical bills are expensive, and the athletes and their families might not be able to afford the necessary medical treatments. Furthermore, institutions’ athletic scholarships in reality are not usually good enough to support entire teams. â€Å"We examined such scholarships available at our institution, and it is clear that most scholarships aren’t ‘full rides. They fail to cover a lot of the expenses throughout the four years of college. In addition, there is no guarantee that an annual athletic scholarship will be renewed for every returning student athlete. † (â€Å"Should Student-Athletes Be Paid? † The Sport Digest. Martin M. 2008. 9 March 2010 http://www. thesportsdigest. com. ) Athletes should be paid to play for many reasons. College athletes are not allowed to work and to earn money for school and related expenses. They also attract fans and raise money from ticket sales, sponsorships and merchandising to benefit their schools but do not receive any of that money in return. Paying athletes may also prevent them from accepting bribes such as money, clothes and cars. Lastly, if athletes were paid, it could help encourage them to stay in school and waiting until graduating before they turn professional. Bibliography Brown, Jeremy â€Å"Should Student Athletes Like Tim Tebow Get Paid For Endorsements? † The Bleacher Report. 16 November 2009. Croton Harmon High School Library, Croton on Hudson, NY. 10 March 2010. http://www. thebleacherreport. com Eitzen, D Stanley â€Å"Slaves of Big Time College Sports† USA Today. September 26 2000. Sirs. Croton Harmon High School Library, Croton on Hudson, NY. 1 December 2009. http://sks. sirs. com M, Martin â€Å"Should Student Athletes Be Paid? † The Sports Digest. 21 April 2008. Croton Harmon High School Library, Croton on Hudson, NY. 9 March 2010. http://:www. thesportsdigest. com Shenk, David â€Å"Should College Athletes Be Paid? † New York Public Library. 27 July 2003. Croton Harmon High School Library, Croton on Hudson, NY. 21 December 2009. http://nypl. org â€Å"Should College Athletes Be Paid? † Issues and Controversies. 4 June 1999. Facts on File. Croton Harmon High School Library, Croton on Hudson, NY. 18 December 2009. http://www. 2facts. com How to cite Should College Athletes Be Paid?, Papers Should College Athletes Be Paid Free Essays College Athletes Shouldn’t Be Paid While catching up on some game day scores for college football, an article popped up on the side with a title reading, College Athletes Deserve To Be Paid. I noticed it was written by Michael Wilbon, one of the hosts from the ESPN show, Pardon the Interruption. Already disagreeing with the title before even reading it, I was skeptical, but I clicked on the link and started to read. We will write a custom essay sample on Should College Athletes Be Paid or any similar topic only for you Order Now Wilbon brought up a number of decent points throughout the article, but for some odd reason, they didn’t seem to add up to me. This is why I took the opportunity to do a little more research behind the points made in the article and came up with a concept of my own. Wilbon’s reasons why to pay the athletes don’t have a strong backbone to them and his ideas on how to pay athletes are simply not feasible. A point made by Wilbon is that the poor athletes have no spending money, which accounts for a large percent of college programs. This is a false accusation. Although not every student athlete receives grants, the NCAA will provide the low income athletes and their families a Pell Grant worth $5,500 per year that can be spent on anything. For this year, The NCAA gave out over $31 million in Pell Grants. Since the NCAA has originated, they have been helping out colleges with supporting the financial needs of athletes that are not met through the school. Wilbon also believes that the only collegiate athletes that should be paid are the ones that are on revenue producing teams. In most cases this would be the football teams and men’s basketball teams. While this may not seem fair to the other teams, Wilbon’s reason is simple; Capitalism. The only players that deserve to be paid are the ones that can make the NCAA money. This could cause problems within the United States court systems however. Even if you wanted to pay the revenue-producing athletes, Titles VII and IX could withhold the process. Title VII prohibits employment discrimination against race, color, culture, etc. If you were to start paying college athletes, then they would become employees of the NCAA and they would all have to be paid the same wage or salary to avoid discrimination. Also, Title IX was established to avoid discrimination of sex. In Wilbon’s scenario, only men’s basketball would be paid, causing a discrimination against women’s basketball. Not only would there be a discrepancy in the court system, but also in the recruiting system if teams were to start paying their athletes. If certain universities and colleges start paying their athletes, then the players would not choose the school based on the academics and facilities, but rather how much money they were getting offered. The bigger the schools, the more money they would be able to offer and in essences, this would create power houses within the different leagues and conferences. Once there is a dominant team in the conference, it personally becomes much less interesting to watch, as you almost know who is going to win before the game even starts. This could make the NCAA lose money in the long run, if colleges were to pay their athletes. Wilbon acknowledges that players receive scholarships for tuition, room, board, and books, but argues that it’s not enough of a compensation for some of the players. I understand that in some cases, the revenues produced by the team could exceed the expenses of an athlete’s college bills. But a situation like that is few and far between, as only 22 Division 1 schools out of 120 made a profit (Bennett). With just over 18% of athletic programs making money, it sounds implausible for schools to pay their athletes. Wilbon doesn’t bring this up in his argument, but education is impossible to put a monetary value on. While the college athlete isn’t getting paid, he is receiving free education that can change his life dramatically in the grand scheme of things. Without the opportunity these college athletes are given, most of them would not go to college, and consequently end up in a very different lifestyle afterwards, odds being worse off. Along the lines of this subject, is the reason for college in the first place. Wilbon doesn’t mention or even hint to this in his article, but nonetheless it is still an extremely important factor that is one of the main reasons why collegiate athletes still don’t get paid to this day. College was made as a way to continue your schooling to receive a higher education. Notice the key word in that sentence; education. College wasn’t made for athletes, that’s why when one says they’re a â€Å"student-athlete,† the student part comes first, simply because being a student is more important than the sport itself. If a college athlete was to be paid, there’s no doubt in my mind that the importance of education would decrease substantially. While being a collegiate athlete you also receive benefits that most college students would be extremely thankful for. If you are a part of a decent football team, you will go to a bowl game, which is essentially a week vacation in hot tropical place at an all-inclusive resort. Or if you are on an average basketball team, you will be invited to the March Madness tournament to stay up to three weeks away from school in a city filled with activities and events to keep you busy. Not only are these players getting treated to a vacation, but these are the same players that Wilbon wants to pay. Along with the free vacations, these college athletes have an opportunity that is second to none. For four years, these athletes get to show their talents to their potential employers. A regular student, like me, has a maximum of 15 minutes to impress an employer looking to hire. And you’re an athlete, so you don’t need to assemble a resume, if your good enough, your performance should say it all. While I disagree with Wilbon’s reasons why athletes should be paid, I find his reasoning that the NCAA should be paying them absurd. Wilbon argues that the NCAA is so greedy and selfish because they make all this money and essentially don’t pay their employees (the athletes). When looking at it from afar, this can appear to be right, and Wilbon persuades the reader by emphasizing the $774 million made from the college basketball tournament, March Madness last year and the $175 million made from 5 of the college football bowl games. However, these are the only two substantial money contributors to the NCAA funds. When all this money is collected, the NCAA distributes their revenues as follows, 60% to Division 1 schools, 19% to services and programs dedicated to the athletes, 13% to the championship events, and 4% for other services like the Eligibility Center. If you do the math, that leaves 4% for the NCAA to run their headquarters and pay their own employees. To me that’s not selfish at all and they help the schools out more than enough with the money they give them and the services they provide them (â€Å"Distribution Money†). To go into a deeper meaning of these numbers, it is necessary to understand what the NCAA truly does for the colleges and their players. The 60% that is given to the Division 1 schools can be spent however they would like to. It is typically spent on things like some of the universities salaries, grants-in-aid, facilities maintenance, team travel, game expenses, equipment, uniforms, and many miscellaneous expenses that are hard to keep track of. Another big portion of their revenues are the services and programs that they provide to the universities and athletes, which is 19% of their total revenue. These services and programs consist of scholarship programs for athletes, legal management, membership programs, research grants, sport committees and some smaller programs for the students. The bottom line is that they spend so much money on trying to keep the universities and students in good standing, that they honestly can’t afford to pay the students. When the revenues are done being divided up into the different segments, they are left with a measly 4% of the pie for themselves (Schlabach). Even though Wilbon gives a ridiculous way to pay athletes through the NCAA, he also gives another solution that is much more feasible. His other proposition is actually plausible and in my mind, an honest way to earn money for a collegiate athlete. Another way that Wilbon thinks college athletes should be able to make money is through endorsing products or being sponsored by companies. In my view, this is not only achievable, but it is fair to everyone as well. By giving the opportunity to star in a commercial or whatever it may be, it gives the chance for the athlete to make money while working for it too. This way, it is reasonable because athletes can’t have a normal job due to their demanding schedule, but at the same time; they can make a little money on the side just like the conventional students at their college would. In addition to permitting athletes to endorse products, it would also save the NCAA from leading expensive investigations that try to discovery these very same acts. Point being, I’m not completely against college athletes receiving a paycheck, but it’s not attainable if you are trying to get the colleges or the NCAA to cut the checks. Both, colleges and the NCAA have mass amounts of money coming in but that doesn’t change the fact that they both run on tight budgets that have very little degree of flexibility within them. On the other hand, if a corporation or any outside company wants to pay the athlete in return for their endorsement, then so be it, it’s just like any other job a college student is doing, but glorified. College athletes are like any other person, they want to make money, so let them do it, just not at the cost of the NCAA or their respective colleges. Works Cited Bennett, Dashiell. â€Å"Only 22 Of 120 Division I Athletic Programs Made Money Last Year. † Business Insider. N. p. , 15 June 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. . â€Å"Distribution of the Money. † NCAA Champion, n. d. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. . â€Å"National Collegiate Athletic Association. † Where Does the Money Go? N. p. , n. d. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. . Schlabach, Mark. â€Å"NCAA: Where Does the Money go? † ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, n. d. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. . Wilbon, Michael. â€Å"College Athletes Deserve to Be paid. † ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 18 July 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. . How to cite Should College Athletes Be Paid, Papers

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Case Study for Strategic Analysis of General Electric- Free Sample

Question: Discuss about the Case Study for Strategic Analysis of General Electric. Answer: Introduction: The following reports tends to evaluate the multitudes of strategic decision making processes applied by the company in terms of increasing market share, mitigating the level of risks pertaining to engagements in financial and technological sectors. Application of numerous sets of strategic management tools taking into consideration the industry dynamics along with the diversity in terms of operations of GE are made. The implementation of balanced scorecard method was made in order to assess the companys strategies in terms of multiple criterions primarily the financials, consumer perspectives regarding the company. Moreover, evaluation of leadership of Jack Welch and Jeff Immelt has been made in regards to strategies, corporate restructuring policies along with discussion on whose approach can be followed by the company. Core competences: The company has succeeded towards creation of major degree of core competence both in terms of external measures such as market consolidation, ability to penetrate newer markets rapidly through usage of knowledge gained in course of operating in other markets (Geenergyfinancialservices.com. 2016). De Barros and Medeiros (2013) stated that underpinnings pertaining to prevailing market conditions tends to facilitate intense rivalry between firms, and those firms that succeeds towards creating synergies among its different sets of operations tends to benefit majorly. The presence of GE in various high growth industries enhanced the companys ability at transferring the degree of risk from one industry domain onto another. Moreover, Krl and Krlov (2016) states the fact that higher degree of market presence results towards enhancement of market exposure by the firms thereby assisting towards collection of material information on lesser time frame than its competitors. Operations in over 17 0 countries worldwide has facilitated towards gaining higher quantum of market exposure enabling the company in policymaking and strategizing taking into changing market dynamics. Zentner (2015) advocated the fact that in order to improve revenue generation capability and streamlining introduction of newer sets of products, upkeep of relevant advancement in technology and strategy is prerequisite. Moreover, reliance on emerging global trends in order to undertake future expansionary measures facilitates towards creation of entry barriers by the company once it is able to capital upon such trends (GE Capital Global Holdings. 2016). In terms of internal competencies the company employs the best talents around the globe for its operations and has succeed in bringing in high level of diversity in workplace through recruitment of accountants, auditors, engineers, physicists amongst others (Financial Times. 2016). Strategic analysis comprises of evaluation of a firms current and prospective frameworks of operations. Strategy analysis is focused upon the investigation of the degree of alignment of the firms strategy with that of its long-term objectives. Moreover, it aims towards ensuring that the co-ordination among the companys different sets of financing, operating along with the investing activities is complementary to each other. General Electric has operations in over 170 countries with employee strength of over 330,000 as based on data available on December 2015 (Ge.com. 2016). In terms of stock market operations, the company has been listed in NYSE, Euronext Paris and London Stock Exchange among others. The company is engaged in several businesses pertaining to aviation, healthcare, lighting, transportation, power generation, energy resources, electricity, oil gas distribution, renewal energy and capital (Ge.com. 2016) General Electric Corporations is engaged in multiple sectors comprising of operations in power generation and hydro generations, healthcare services along with providing capital procurements towards different sets of industries. The company was founded in 1892 and has its headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. The products offered by GE includes electricity and water distribution facilities, energy products comprising of petroleum and LPG products, aerospace engines, electrical motors, healthcare services and software solutions to other industries. The company, after a tumultuous financial period leading to downgrading of its securities and large financial losses with regards to GE Capital, the primary source of revenue generation by GE, has focused upon gaining market share through offering innovative products. Moreover, the company has increased expenditure pertaining to research and development and aims towards introducing newer sets of services and products that stretches its pro duct line and results in catering to larger segment of the markets (ge.com. 2016). The major sets of competitors of General Electric comprise mainly the electrical appliances companies. Primary among such competitors are Emerson Electric Company, NACCO Industries, Harman International, Sony Corporation and Whirlpool Corporation (NASDAQ.com. 2016). In case of its healthcare services the company faces major competition from Toshiba Corporations along with Siemens and Phillips Healthcare (Hoovers.com. 2016). The oil and natural gas unit of GE has Baker Hughes Incorporated, Schlumberger Omnes, Inc. and Archrock Inc competing against the company (NASDAQ.com. 2016) Figure 1: Portfolio of GE over the Years (Source: ge.com, 2016) The major recalibrations made by the GE Group in terms of changes made in portfolio are aimed towards diversifying its activities amongst healthcare, energy and financial services sectors. Moreover, even though transportation business has displayed large profit margins, the company has not taken initiative towards expansion of its investing activities pertaining to transportation services and products. Moreover, large acquisition of firms known for their innovations in healthcare provides evidence that the firm focuses on diversifying from its core businesses to include newer sets of portfolio that increases the overall portfolio returns along with high growth prospects. Relevant Strategies: The immediate objective of GE should be to improvise upon its global presence in coming up with newer sets of products that tends to cater to the emerging trends in global markets such as investments in solar powered energies. Moreover, portfolio of the company needs to include higher percentage of application-based technologies. Further, inclusion of research and development of Artificial Intelligence can result in heightened degree of financial prospects as the sector provides major returns on investments. Much of GEs woes came from the fact that the company has been a conglomerate and despite reducing the number of sectors from companys portfolio, the firm has been unsuccessful at repeating the levels of earnings that it previously did. Thereby dissemination of a portion of the company, onto sectors that have high growth rate but current returns from which showcases inadequacy, can in fact improve the decision-making and strategizing activities. Further, with the advent of nuclear non-proliferation treaty the company can cater to significant amount of foreign governments towards meeting their energy requirements using nuclear energy. Figure 2: Snapshot of company strategies in accordance with market trends (Source: ge.com. 2016) Balanced Scorecard Framework: Balance scorecard enables organizations, both profitable and non-profitable ones, in evaluating the degree of deviations of the companys financial and operating performance from its strategic objectives (Schmidt. 2015). The balance scorecard approach presents managers with four sets of strategic analysis alternatives to assess the degree of non-alignment between business decisions and the strategies of organizations. Moreover, Gobble (2012) states that through assessing growth prospects, internal operations, enhanced value creation for its consumers in accordance with effective financial and management and policy making the degree of non alignment can be gauged. Figure 3: Balanced Scorecard Framework (Source: As created by the Author) Perspectives on Business and Internal Processes: The strategic shifts in GEs operations through higher priority for its financial services along with the infrastructural businesses are a result of corporate restructuring. Divestments from activities that has slow growth rate and entering into businesses with stronger growth prospects is a priority for the company and shifting of its business from consumer electronics to financial services showcases the strategic shifts in portfolio management. Presence of the company in 170 countries provided scope for initiating cultural diversity at workplace. Moreover, contributions towards growth and revenue earning abilities of the company followed by larger pool of prospective employees to choose from has enabled the company towards bringing in various sets of expansions in operations into day to day operations in order to improvise upon business decision making of the company. Financial Perspectives: Longer-term strategies of GE focus on recalibrating the business portfolio in terms of reducing the beta factors from its broad set of investments. The degree of dependence upon GE Capital as the primary source of revenue of the GE Group has to be reduced over time. The volatility in regards to the financial sector followed by weaker sets of regulation imposed by the Federal Reserve and the SEC has vitiated the reliability of revenue generation from financial services (Geenergyfinancialservices.com. 2016). However, diversification in terms of portfolio through mitigating risks from sectors and operations providing low rates of growth onto investments that have high growth prospects can improvise the overall, financial performance along with efficiency and solvency position of the company. Customer Perspectives: The company expanded its presence in the electronics market through newer sets of domestic and industrial appliances (Ge.com. 2016). Through facilitating diagnostic instruments such as CT and MRI scanners in its healthcare services the company and expansions of its healthcare services through numerous acquisitions of diagnostics units GEs objectives was to improve its perception of a reliable brand among its customer base (Ge.com. 2016). Assisting consumers towards the decision-making processes regarding selection of products that compliments their activities and preferences can be beneficial for GE in terms improving the customer retention statistics. Benefits of a long product line catering to large segments of market can lead towards the consolidating the brand image among consumers. Learning and Growth Perspectives: GE has managed to diversify its business operations on multiple occasions based upon the emerging sets of opportunities that came up in the manufacturing services. The diminution of its income prospects as an aftermath of the global financial crisis resulted in stringent sets of policy implementations (Sorkin, 2015). Moreover, the potential opportunities in financial sectors around the globe have resulted in larger proportion of GE Capital in the overall portfolio. Over 65% of the GE groups revenue arises from markets outside the United States, resulting in higher growth prospects in markets such as South Asia and the Middle East. GEs business is growing at double-digit figures in emerging markets. Whereas, in rising economies such as Brazil, China in addition to India the growth figures are even larger touching growth rates of over 20% (ge.com. 2016). Moreover, despite a high growth in its transportation businesses GEs automotive and locomotive businesses continue to be outside of i ts core businesses. Company Strategies The primary strategy pertaining to GE shall have to be lesser degree of reliance upon financial services despite GE Capital coming close to asset and capital management capabilities of large banks such as CITIGROUP, Goldman Scahs and Bank Of America. The secondary strategy should be towards diversification of activities onto newer domains that stands to gain huge profits over longer terms such as Artificial Intelligence, Solar Energy and Super Sonic Aviation. Higher expenditure on product innovations, more emphasis upon marginal expansion, and optimal allocations of financial and non-financial resources is what the GES strategy is based upon. Creation of new sets of growth framework is to be prioritized by the companys higher management. Increasing sets of investments in the fundamental technology sector followed by incremental participation of the company into coupling of manufacturing and advisory services can be beneficial towards streamlining the present policy implementation. Th e initiation of converging advisory services along with product innovation has beneficial for the company in the recent past. For instance after initiating the Durathon Plant, the company focused upon providing consultation and assistance regarding the selection of battery sources and configuration that solves the energy requirements of its consumers. Moreover, the company has to reinstate its strategies in the energy sector in a manner of reducing manufacturing of energy products that yield low sales volume. Instead, the company should foster divergence of its strategies into reselling products of other manufacturers in markets that GE has a better accessibility than such manufacturers. GE has had been able to showcase the reinvention of its marketing strategy that puts emphasis upon capitalizing on competitors lack of market exposure as compared to GE (Albany Business Review., 2016). The company should be cautious towards acceptance of large-scale acquisition spree whereby the con straints of becoming a market leader are heightened through ambiguous preferences of consumers and complex nature of products. The past year saw the operations of GE diversifying into consulting services about financial instruments followed by an initiative to increase its presence towards energy storage sector as the company recalibrated its aims to capitalize upon emerging issues pertaining to energy requirements (Geenergyfinancialservices.com. 2016). Discussion on Jeff Immelt and Jack Welchs approach towards managing General Electric: Jack Welch was instated as the CEO of General Electric in the year 1981 following an exit of Reginald Jones. Welch focused upon expansion of the company through diversifying activities from its initial business of electricity, power and lighting of the company into newer sectors such as financial services, automation, and medical apparatus (The Economist. 2016). Under his guidance, the management approach along with the company approach has been towards providing products that are simple in nature but has high amount of functionality. In terms of management decision-making approach, Welch has been instrumental towards bringing in concepts of constructive conflicts in functioning of operations and production managers. Moreover, Jack Welch advocated the prevention of bureaucratic processes ongoing at the time he joined General Electric and implemented management reforms that are focused upon improving the quantum of openness, linearity in decision-making and fostering of creative atmos phere (The Economist. 2016). During his tenure as CEO of GE, Jack Welch had initiated massive restructuring pertaining to the companys portfolio. His decisions pertaining to acquisition has aimed at industries that had high rate of growth along with incremental returns over the long periods. Moreover, he recalibrated the organizational structure of the company through massive job cuts and eliminated multilayered hierarchy of the management. Massive forms of restructuring through sellout of business with low profit and inclusion of sectors onto the company portfolios that have been amongst the topmost achievers in their domain has been key trademark of Jack Welchs approach (Financial Times. 2016). Moreover, such restructuring resulted towards movement of the company into technology driven industry domains along with service sectors. Under Welchs management, the line managers were provided targets pertaining to cost of production and budgetary costs regardless of the prevailing market conditions. Further, Jack Welch changed the process of procuring annual and quarterly financial targets through transferring the target setting procedures from the purview of line managers onto the accounts controller. The high amount of paper work involved in the budgetary processes were replaced through use of five page standard playbook that tends to present the shortcoming and functional issues faced by the company (Financial Times. 2016). Jack Welch initiated the process of imbibing and developing leadership skills among the lower managements along with management trainees through enhanced exposure of the companys decision-making culture, introduction of mentoring scheme along with provision of high incentives. He also introduced the performance based bonus system in place for the higher and mid level managerial personnel and such initiatives resulted towards heightening the process of talent recognition. Prior to his retirement, Jack Welch focused towards rewarding the top 20% performing employees while relieving the bottom 10% of their duties from the company thus providing the employees with the impetus of working efficiently to get into the top 20% or face the risks of relegation to the bottom 10%. The implementation of six sigma function in the operations of General Electric can be attributed to Welch post which the deliverance of production, service and line managers improved considerably Gary Hamel (Harvard Bus iness Review. 2012). The emergence of GE Capital occurred during the Welch Era which resulted in the financial service section of the company becoming the largest source of revenues for the company (Mycc.cambridgecollege.edu. 2016). GE Capital amassed a vast segment of financial services sector providing all forms of services in terms of capital procurement, investment activities, trading, medical and health insurances along with loan advisory services (Geenergyfinancialservices.com. 2016). In times where diversification policies were experiencing massive financial downturn resulting in unpopularity of such policies, Jack Welch continued diversifying GEs activities resulting and thereby highlighted the substantial opportunity of high income and mitigation of tailed risks from one industry to another. Figure 3: General Electric portfolio in 2001 (Source: ge.com 2016) The initiative undertaken by the GE management under the leadership of Jack Welch resulted in globalization of business operations with widespread expansion in market activities outside of North America. These expansionary measures resulted towards implementing knowledge derived from a separate market based in a separate geographical location onto other markets that GE operated in (The Economist. 2016). Moreover, the process of market penetration and consolidating activities were streamlined during Welchs tenure creating an overall synergy enhancement by parallel developments of diversification and market expansion (The Economist. 2016). During the tenure of Welch, the business portfolio saw an increase by manifolds through inclusion of GE Aircraft, GE Plastics, GE Capital and GE Specialty Materials. Moreover, awarding Welch with the CEO of the Century title during 1999 highlights the enormous contribution he had upon GE. Jeff Immelt took over the role of CEO in the year 2001 from his predecessor Jack Welch bringing in management style and strategic decision making that were vastly divergent to that of his predecessor. Immelt followed a policy of improving the morale and levels of motivation pertaining to the employees and managerial personnel of GE through limiting the quantum of stringent performance evaluation that prevailed during Jack Welchs time (Harvard Business Review. 2012). Moreover, the level of job insecurity that was prevailing at GE prior to Immelts joining has dropped considerably with Immelt bringing in newer sets of policies that focused more upon integration and employee co-ordination rather than employee motivation (Financial Times. 2016). The occurrence of 9/11 right after his appointment as CEO followed by large sets of financial scandals in the North American markets led towards exacerbating investors grievances along with skepticism on the part of various other stakeholders conc ludes Gary Hamel (Harvard Business Review. 2012). The imminent result was a faltering in the stock prices of the company by magnitudes unseen by its investors. Immelt reiterated the fact the objective of the management should be to foster long-term growth instead of focusing upon policies that tends to cater to short terms instances of high profit margins and EBITDA (Sorkin. 2015). Under his leadership, the transparency of the companys financial and operating activities was enhanced and facilitated improved dissemination of information pertaining to the customers, creditors, corporate regulators and industrial community. Jeff Immelt initiated the processes of parlance between the degrees of diversifying activities in terms of conglomeration along with fostering creation of subsidiaries that were market leaders in their respective sectors. Immelt laid down newer sets of strategies through identification of emerging issues that are anticipated to have repercussions globally such as imminent energy crisis, shifts in manufacturing and production, globalization of RD activities in production industries, nanotechnology in addition to emergence of technology driven healthcare facilities (ge.com. 2016). Figure 2: GE portfolio in 2012 (Source: ge.com 2016) In during the mid 2000s Immelt announced restructuring of GEs portfolio, thereby reducing dependency on plastics and insurance business. Whereas on the other hand, taking up the level of financial services and capital lending by the firm onto higher proportion of the total portfolio (Krl and Krlov, 2016). Jeff Immelt reinstated the performance benchmark pertaining to the company through setting up targets of achieving growth rate at 200-300% of that of global GDP rate. However, the performance analysis pertaining to the company displayed the fact that in terms of revenue figures not much improvement can be seen after Jeff Immelt took over. Moreover, the return on equity along with the ROIC has dropped from the levels of 26% and 27% in 2001 to 14.2% and 11.9% in 2012 thereby highlighting a fall in investors earnings (Ge.com. 2016). The strategies Immelt followed towards lowering dependency of GE on financial services and increasingly diversifying its activities onto technology driven services and manufacturing heavy activities assisted GE towards mitigating repercussions of financial crisis. Figure 4: Proposed restructuring of GE portfolio. (Source: ge.com 2016) Expansion of its global operations in both emerging and developed markets along with up gradation of product manufacturing base has been initiated under the leadership of Immelt. The reposition of GE by Immelt onto sectors that are manufacturing and technology based led to lowering the quantum of exposure to the global financial crisis with creation of buffer (The Economist. 2015). During current tenure of Jack Immelt, the company oversaw massive strategic shifts as GE recalibrated itself for nuclear-based power plant services along with entering the healthcare sector through manufacturing high resolution imaging devices for medical diagnostics. The comparison amongst the leadership of Jack Welch and Jeff Immelt highlights the fact that under Welch the company has undergone massive expansionary measures and diversification whereas under Immelt the company has showcase higher levels of adaptability to prevailing market conditions. In terms of present volatile business scenarios, GE requires a manager who will be able to foresee the restructuring of portfolio according to market opportunities. Moreover, in order to alleviate the revenue generation margins the company has to set up stricter targets for its managers and employees to achieve. Thereby, for diversification of activities Jeff Immelts style of leadership is preferable over that of Jack Welch. However, massive depletion in the levels of returns displays the fact that Jeff Immelt has largely been unsuccessful at carrying on the quantum of market consolidation as that of his predecessor. Thereby, it can be assumed that Jack Welch leadership would have been more preferab le for GE over that of Jeff Immelt. Conclusion: The portfolio of GE has displayed considerable changes over the years displaying the level of dynamism that such company has been subjected to under the leadership of Jack Welch previously followed by Jeff Immelt. The company witnessed highest degree of expansion under the guidance of Jack Welch. However, the strategies implemented by Jack Welch during his tenure pertaining to the incentive structure focused upon short-term profitability and financial benefit based on employee performance instead of focusing upon value creation in terms of product services. GE should be able to put more amount of focus on the present position of the firm by focusing on the reshaping of the policies for the business by way of the setting up of the health care facilities, energy sector, and broadcasting and entertainment facilities. The positioning strategy further includes the different types of strategies implemented for providing an exit process for the slow-growth areas in the business and the real location of these resources for the implementation of the different types of growth strategies to enter into new business ventures. Perspective applied by the company for the positioning is further based on creating a way for the growth platforms for the purpose of the new business policies. References and Bibliography Abdallah, C. and Langley, A., 2014. The double edge of ambiguity in strategic planning. Journal of Management Studies, 51(2), pp.235-264. Albany Business Review. (2016). GE executives turn former Quirky building into innovation hub - Albany Business Review. [online] Available at: https://www.bizjournals.com/albany/morning_call/2016/03/ge-executives-turn-former-quirky-building-into.html [Accessed 24 Sep. 2016]. Al-Essa, R.K., Al-Rubaie, M., Walker, S. and Salek, S., 2015. 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Thursday, November 28, 2019

Fear, This Motivates Us To Do Many Things No Matter If They Are Essays

Fear, this motivates us to do many things no matter if they are right or wrong. In the play Macbeth it was fear that was the main motivating factor that influenced the outcome of the play. This can be proved by the subsequent murders that followed after Duncan's, why were these committed? Because Macbeth was scared of being caught and having to pay for the wrongs he had done. Also look at Lady Macbeth, he constant washing of her hands, sleepwalking and other behaviour like this. All done out of fear, and like her husband fear of being caught. The final piece of proof I offer is Macbeth's actions, they were all due to fear, not only of being caught but of the witches' prophecies, he was scared of them coming true and tried to stop them from happening. This whole play was inspired by fear and what it and do to a person. To begin, we'll address Macbeth's subsequent murders, following Duncan's. For Macbeth, he's just killed the King of Scotland and blamed it on his son. It worked and he became King, however he remembered the witches' prophecies. They claimed that Macbeth would be King, but it would be Banquo's children that would follow after him. This made Macbeth very angry, he risked everything to become King and after him none of his family will follow.Only for them; and mine eternal jewel Given to the common enemy of man,To make them kings, the seeds of Banquo kings! [Act III, S I, L 72-75] Here Macbeth realizes that if something is not done to Banquo, then his sons will become King. Macbeth can't have this, he's already worried that his soul will go to hell for what he's already done. His fear become evident in this scene also, "But to be safely thus: our fears in Banquo Stick deep;" [Act III, S I, L 53-54] Macbeth then has Banquo murdered, however his son Fleance escapes in the attack. Next Macduff refuses to accept Macbeth as king and flees to England to join Malcom. And also the witches tell him to beware of Macduff, which angers Macbeth and drives him to kill Macduff's family. More fear of losing the impending battle with England, makes Macbeth start doing anything that will give him an edge in the final battle. Macbeth's fear is starting to consume him, he can no longer sleep and is ravaged by guilt over what he's done. As well Lady Macbeth is being comsumed by fear and guilt, she is slowing losing her sanity. This is a result of her not being able to handle what she has done to Duncan. As shown in this quote Out, damned spot!out,I say!One;Two:why, then 'tis time to do't. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?[Act V, S I, L 32-35] Here Lady Macbeth is trying to wash out what she sees as being blood on her hands. As well she mentions hell an obvious fear of going there for what she has done. At the start Lady Macbeth was the one pushing on Macbeth to kill Duncan but as the play goes on she becomes weaker as Macbeth becomes stronger, Macbeth isn't troubled by what he has done to the extent Lady Macbeth is. Her role in the play slowly becomes smaller and smaller as she ends up being driven mad by the guilt and soon can no longer take, and ends up taking her own life hoping that her torment will end now that she is dead. "The Queen, my Lord is dead" [Act V, S 5, L 18], Lady Macbeth takes her life right before the battle against the english is about to begin. This taking of her own life demonstrates her fear and in the end what that fear can do to a person. Now we come to the witches prophecies, these are a main source of fear for Macbeth, after all where has he learned everything from. With each new vision, Macbeth falls deeper and deeper into an evil spiral. From the witches first prediction of Macbeth being king, which made Macbeth kill to become king. As well

Monday, November 25, 2019

Concepts of Budget and Cash flow analysis

Concepts of Budget and Cash flow analysis Liability A liability are any claims against the assets of a business or financial organization, they are the obligations that the business has for or against the external stakeholders of the business which may be the shareholders, creditors to the business, suppliers and even the lenders (Swart, 2004). Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Concepts of Budget and Cash flow analysis specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More A liability can also be defined as the legal obligations of an individual person or an organization and the obligation is derived from current or past actions of the person or organization that binds them to the external party legally. Liabilities therefore demands from compulsory transfer of assets or the demanded services at a future defined dates. Liabilities are majorly divided in to two that is current and long term liabilities (Tyson, 2009). Current Liability This is the future obligation that is payable w ithin a duration of less than one financial period i.e. one year. They include: accounts or trade payables, accrued rent and short term loans (Swart, 2004). Pizza Piazza’s current liabilities include:- the monthly rent of the leased restaurant $3000 per month, 2 short term loans of $1500.00 credit card balance and $350 vendor balance. Long-term liability This on the other hand are legal obligations or claims that are payable in the long run which may even range up to a period of from one year to ten years. They include:- owners equity which is the companies obligation to its owners and long term loans (Custard, 1996). Pizza Piazza’s long term liability includes:- the long term bank loan of $50000 Assets These are the economic resources that are owned by any form of business entity. They are generally of the use of value addition to the entity through the creation of more resources. They do this also by adding to the net worth of the entity that owns them (Hysell, 2007 ). They can be classified variedly as either current or fixed, liquid or illiquid or tangible and intangible assets. Assets include cash and receivables, Land and buildings and also equipment.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Current Assets They are also called short-term assets and they can be converted into cash or an exchange done against them within one financial period that is a year. These types of assets are highly liquid and change form often from one to the other. They include cash and cash equivalents, receivables, prepayments and short-term investments (Swart, 2004). Pizza Piazzas Current Assets are as follows: the inventory that it maintains to produce Pizza as well as start-up cash. Fixed Assets These on the other hand are called capital or long-term assets. They include all forms of property, plant and equipment that are owned by the entity. They are illiquid and therefore don’t change form that easily (Custard, 1996). It’s the long-term assets that are used to run the day to day operations of a business to create more wealth to the owners. Fixed asset include:- land, buildings, machinery and even vehicles. Pizza Piazzas fixed assets entails among others; the kitchen equipment and the three delivery vehicles. The cash flow of Pizza Piazza would contain cash from the sales of pizza and other menu items as the operating activities. Cash outflows would result from monthly expenditure like rent, insurance and community expenditure, fuel for the vehicles and loan payments. Reference List Custard, E. T. (1996). The complete book of colleges. Princeton: Princeton Books. Hysell, S. G. (2007). American reference books annual. Houston: Adventures Works Press.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Concepts of Budget and Cash flow analysis specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Swart, N. (2004). Personal Financial Management. New York: New York Book Stores. Tyson, E. (2009). Personal Finance for Dummies. Chicago: Chcago Printing Press.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Further Law Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Further Law Questions - Essay Example Title III is the Computer Maintenance Competition Assurance Act, which creates an exemption for making a reproduction of a computer program by activating a computer for purposes of preservation or repair. Title IV contains miscellaneous requirements relating to reserve education, the aptitude of libraries to make transient recordings, web casting of sound recordings, and the applicability of communal bargaining conformity obligations in the case of transfers of rights in motion pictures. Title V is the Vessel Hull Design Protection Act, which creates a new form of protection for the design of vessel hulls.( Digital Millennium Copyright Act ) More complex questions come up when Congress uses its lawful power over commerce to inflict circumstances on the entrance of a product into the torrent of commerce that may have the effect of modifiable manufacture, labor, or agriculture. It may be that Congress lacks the power to enforce such a guideline in the lack of any danger to expressway commerce, but that adequate incompatible set of laws by enough States can create such a threat and thus make the exercise of congressional power lawful. Our government gives room for difficult questions and is liable to Congressional abuse, but the intermittent difficulty in drawing lines does not mean that the enterprise should be discarded. (Robert & Daniel E, 1) Ans 2) There is a huge list which is deemed as copyrightable material , this can be music produced , plays , scripts , CD's , drama's , audio's and other video's , computer software's , Specific product or service names. Factory or business slogan, or name. Etc all sorts of computer hardware and software produced. Ans 3) this law specifically applies to the computer software produced and also distributed in the country. It is considered a criminal offense to copy any such material or redistribute it in your own name. Ans 4) Individuals by law are prohibited from accessing the Services and the Sites and materials accessible over the Services or the Sites from territories where such actions are illegal. They should also agree to meet the terms with all local rules applicable to them in relation to online demeanor and content in connection with their use of the Services and the Sites. Ans 5) 501. Infringement of copyright2 (a) Anyone who violates any of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner as provided by sections 106 through 122 or of the author as provided in section 106A(a), or who imports copies or phonorecords into the United States in violation of section 602, is an infringer of the copyright or right of the author, as the case may be. For purposes of this chapter (other than section 506), any reference to copyright shall be deemed to include the rights conferred by section 106A(a). As used in this subsection, the term "anyone" includes any State, any instrumentality of a State, and any officer or employee of a State or instrumentality of a State acting in his or her official capacity. Any State, and any such instrumentality, officer, or employee, shall be subject to the provisions of this title in the same manner and to the same extent as any nongovernmental entity. (b) The legal or beneficial owner

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Visual and Cultural Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Visual and Cultural Theory - Essay Example This essay analyses and determines the main ideas and historical and cultural contexts of the prologue of McLuhan’s The Gutenberg Galaxy, while using studio practices to explain McLuhan’s key ideas. Two secondary materials are also used to explore McLuhan’s text, Morrison’s (2001) article, â€Å"The Place of Marshall McLuhan in the Learning of His Time† and Scannell’s (2007) book, Media and Communication. The main ideas of McLuhan’s (1995) The Gutenberg Galaxy emphasise the importance of the medium as the message, while Morrison (2001) asserts the role of technology in expanding human functions. Scannell (2007) supports the cultural transitions that occurred, using McLuhan’s idea of a â€Å"global village† (p.135). McLuhan describes the effects of transitioning from an oral to a writing society wherein he argues that literacy expands important human functions, but with limitations, and that the electronic age has produced the retribalisation of human society, and these ideas have a connection to the transition from soundless to sound films, where the latter films exhibit both opportunities and limitations for expressing and extending human thoughts and practices. McLuhan (1995) criticises the devaluation of oral societies, including their oral practices. His text responds to the historical underestimation of the value of oral practices and the vitality of oral societies. He cites the work of Albert B. Lord, The Singer of Tales, who continued the work of Milman Parry. Parry hypothesised that his Homeric studies could prove that oral and written poetry did not share similar patterns and uses (McLuhan, 1995, p.90). Parry’s work had been initially snubbed by the academe because of the prevailing belief that literacy is the basis of civilisation. Morrison (2001) describes the difficulties of Parry in getting his study approved in Berkeley during the 1920s. See Appendix A for research notes on the primary and secondary texts used. The Berkeley faculty represents the general belief that literacy and civilisation are directly related: The notion that high literacy is the normative state of language and civilization, and that its only alternative is the fallen state of illiteracy, and hence darkness and ignorance, seems to occupy the vital center of humanistic studies with remarkable energy and intensity. (Morrison 2001, para.6). The key idea is that by assuming that literacy is the most important sign of civilisation, it automatically discriminates against studies on oral practices and societies that would suggest otherwise. McLuhan responds to the historical underrepresentation of oral studies in the humanities and history in general. He wants to address this underrepresentation through his own analysis of the electronic age, and how it goes back to oral traditions of earlier times. McLuhan demonstrates that history is incomplete when it does not provide enough space for the d escription and analysis of oral societies and practices. Aside from filling the gap of literature on oral practices, McLuhan (1995) supports the idea that oral societies have a richer connection with all of their senses, while the written text has produced a limited visual society because it suppresses auditory functions. He highlights literature that explores the vitality of oral practices, where oral societies are rich civilisations, perhaps even richer than writing

Monday, November 18, 2019

Political theatre Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Political theatre - Essay Example th such exclusive motive had been classified as political theatre, which is no more the case, as â€Å"in one way or another all performance and theatre can be seen as involved in discourses of power† (Baz Kershaw, The Radical in Performance, 1999, p63). As any work of art needs to hold up a faithful mirror to nature (Aristotle, Poetics), and political theatre in general aims at representing social, political, cultural problems to the audience, political theatre in the modern period does not only represent but politicizes the representations, by either breaking the traditional representations or reinforcing them. They are sometimes known as experimental theatre or post-modern theatre (Auslander, 1987). In a way, they are part of any representations in any theatre and there is no more a separate political theatre. This is true in the modern and post-modern context after the rise of radical thinking and modern theories which politicize the dichotomies in the society. Each theory focuses on specific aspects of dichotomies; for example, Feminism politicizes body, gender identities and the otherness of women, while Post-colonialism focuses on the problem of cultural identity and politics. However, each one of them is concerned about power relations in the society and focuses more on the differences than on the similarities, unlike Modernism. In this context, any representation and use of language is no more a narrative but becomes a part of discourse making any theatre a political theatre. According to Baz Kershaw, as a consequence of the radical change in the literary theory, there is no more exclusive political theatre but all performances are political discourses in some way (Baz Kershaw, The Radical in Performance, 1999). To trace the history of literary theory of drama, Aristotle’s Poetics offers the actors power to think and act on behalf of the audience enacting them thereby enabling catharsis; however, the radical change has empowered the audience and

Friday, November 15, 2019

ICT Security Issues And Concerns

ICT Security Issues And Concerns ICT security issues and concerns are becoming more prevalent and increasingly complex as the pace of technology implementation continues to accelerate. How this phenomenon has affected the public sector and the private sector in our country. Discuss Each e-government project has its own version of the framework, where elements within the four components may differ according to the individuals agencys business or technical needs. List and explain the function of the components. 1.0 Introduction: ICT is the technology needed for information processing, in general, the use of electronic computers, software applications and communication devices to convert, retrieve, transmit, process, protect and store information from anytime, anywhere. Information and communications technology also known as (ICT) it is the sectors that process information which includes capturing, transmitting, and displaying information using electronic systems. Information communication technology sectors dont stop transforming our everyday life and economy. This sectors Core industries contain: Communications systems contain broadcasting, cable / broadband, telecommunications, and other program that distributes the systems. Computer systems including, network engineering, robotics, electronics, technical support and computer engineering. Software and digital media contains Internet security, web portals, web design, data management, computer animation, simulations, computer games, video games and computer programming. Information communication technology is the technology that needed for information processing such as for the creation, manipulation, storage, retrieval and communication of information. They are of immense value in a world in which there is an information explosion, and where knowledge is complex, ever-changing and cross-disciplinary in nature. Many of the skills of ICT are important aspects of Information Literacy, which relates to the ability to select, organise, analyse and use information effectively. Quick and effective access to information is regarded as essential for everyone in contemporary society; and the ability to construct knowledge from the information gathered has become crucial in Hong Kongs knowledge-based society. Citizens in the 21st century need to understand and be able to use ICT in order to function efficiently in modern society. To maintain the competitiveness of Hong Kong in the world economy, we need to develop interest and nurture talent in our students i n this area. The importance of ICT does not lie in the technology as such, but in its enabling function for access to knowledge and for communication with others. Rapid advances in ICT have continued to drive economic change, restructure businesses, affect education and employment, and contribute significantly to growth and wealth creation. (NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA) 2.0 Answer Question 1: Ways severely harm your businesss effect 2.1 Virus: Computer viruses may be benign and result only in amusement or slight annoyance. The best known examples of such a virus are some versions of the Stoned virus which simply write Your computer is stoned on the monitor. Other viruses are more malignant and malicious, destroying or altering data. Once a virus is active in a host computer, the infection can spread rapidly throughout a network to other systems. A virus may attach itself to other programs and hide in them. Or it may infiltrate the computers operating system. All computer operating systems, (for example, MS- and PCDOS, Unix and Macintosh OS) are vulnerable, some more than others. Viruses enter computer systems from an external software source. Just as flowers are attractive to the bees that pollinate them, virus host programs are deliberately made attractive to victims. Often the attraction will be a new game made available for downloading from a computer bulletin board. Or it may be disguised as an executable file attached to an electronic mail message from a friend or business associate. Aside from viruses, there are other threats to user systems, including: Worm and Logic Bombs. (McAFEE Network Security Management) 2.1.2 Worm: Viruses are far from the only maverick programs that can disrupt a computer system. Worms are constructed to infiltrate genuine data processing programs and destroy or alter the data. Often what people believe is a virus infection is, in fact, a worm program. This is not as serious because worms do not replicate themselves. But the damage caused by a worm attack can be just as serious as a virus, especially if not discovered in time. For example, suppose a worm program instructs a banks computer to transfer funds to an illicit account. The fund transfers may continue even after the worm is destroyed. However, once the worm invasion is discovered, recovery is much easier because there is only a single copy of the worm program to destroy since the replicating ability of the virus is absent. This capability may enable it to re-infect a system several times. A worm is similar to a benign tumour while a virus is like a malignant one. (NC STATE UNIVERSITY) 2.1.3 Logic Bombs: Writing a logic bomb program is similar to creating a Trojan Horse. Both also have about the same ability to damage data, too. Logic bombs include a timing device so it will go off at a particular date and time. The Michelangelo virus is embedded in a logic bomb, for example. Other virus programs often include coding similar to that used in logic bombs, but the bombs can be very destructive on their own, even if they lack the ability of the virus to reproduce. One logic bomb caused major problems in the Los Angeles water departments system. Logic bombs are usually timed to do maximum damage. That means the logic bomb is a favoured device for revenge by disgruntled former employees who can set it to activate after they have left the company. One common trigger occurs when the dismissed employees name is deleted from payroll records. On one occasion, a student left a logic bomb timed to explode and wipe out his universitys records well after he had collected his degree and was long gone. This example illustrates the pernicious nature of logic bombs which can be written literally decades before they explode. (Virus Removal Support) 2.1.4 Phishing: The phishing is a common term for the creation and utilize by criminals of websites and e-mails, created to show people they come from well-known, trusted businesses and legitimate, government agencies and financial institutions attempt to gather personal, sensitive information and financial information. These criminals scam Internet users into disclosing their financial and bank information or other personal data for example passwords and usernames, or into unwittingly downloading malicious computer code onto their computers that can allow the criminals subsequent access to those computers or the users financial accounts. Nowadays most people wont reveal their credit card number, password and bank account to just anyone, extra action need to be taken by the phishers to trick their victims into giving up this information. Most of people trust automatic processes nowadays, believing them to be free from human error. However, many messages claim that a computerized audit or other automated process has revealed that something is amiss with the victims account. The victim is more likely to believe that someone has been trying to break into his account than believe that the computer doing the audit made a mistake. (HowStuffWorks, Inc ) 2.1.5 Pharming Besides, there is another threat called Pharming. Pharming means using technical means to redirect of an individual to an illegitimate entity, typically is Web site. Pharming collects personal information via redirecting Internet domain name of people requested to false Web sites. The sites can collect the information and there may be used to commit fraud and identity theft. For instance, an Internet user wishes to log in to his personal online banking account via the banking website, he/she is not really accessing the banks Web site if he/she was redirected to an illegitimate Web . Static domain name spoofing: A person or entity, normally called Pharmer, who tricks Internet users into inadvertently visiting the pharming Web site with advantage of slight misspellings of the domain names. For instance, a pharmer may use maybnk.com instead of maybank.com to redirect user. (Websense, Inc.) 2.1.6 Hacker: A hacker is someone who experts using electronics or computer systems and professional in programming. Hackers like to learn and explore how computer systems function and finding method to make them do what they do better, or do things they werent intended to do. Hacker is separate in two types which is White Hat and Black Hat: White Hat: These are considered the good guys and computer security experts. White hat hackers do not use their hacking skills to hack other people computer or some illegal purposes. They normally help other users protect from the black hats. Black Hat: These are considered the bad guys and they like to hack into other people computer to steal information such as deface websites, steal credit cards or hack bank. Black hat hackers like to use their hacking skills to do bad things for illegal purposes. A hacker can easily hack in the computer to steal information and look into the private things. The benign hacker is the person who likes to get into his/her own computer and understand how it works. The malicious hacker is the person who likes getting into other peoples systems. The benign hackers wish that the media would stop bad-mouthing all hackers and use the term attacker instead. (Introduction to Ethical Hacking) 3.0 Answer Question 2: E-Government: Terms used in this research are defined in this section to facilitate smooth and clear reading for all categories of readers. Some of the terms defined are e-Government, e-Government value chain and stakeholders, effective e-Government, and efficient e-Government. A number of definitions for e-Government have been offered in existing literature. Many terms such as digital government, inter-networked government (Tapscott, 1995) and government online has been used. The researcher deems all these terms to be synonymous. E-Government in simplest terms can be described as the use of ICT within government to make operations more efficient, improve quality of service and offer an easy access for citizens to government information and services (Kraemer and King, 2003). Kraemer also cited that Senators Lieberman and Thompson defined e-Government as a wayto better use IT advances to achieve greater effectiveness and to provide citizens easy, electronic access to government programs, services and information. (Axelsson, Karin, Linkà ¶ping University) The term e-Government also refers to the planned and coordinated use of ICT to strengthen the core functions of public institutions. Not every computer in use in the public sector amounts to e-Government. When electronic data processing emerged on a more widespread basis, its initial focus was on isolated and targeted modernization efforts in a limited number of key sectors. Today, however, the focus is on the networking of workplaces, administrations, and political institutions as well as on Information and Communications Technology based communication with customers or citizens. This calls for concepts that are geared to integrating the modernization goals and investment planning of various institutions and based on a thorough examination and analysis of service portfolios and the demand for public services. The implementation of e-Government requires strong leadership and a vision. It also requires a comprehensive strategy that is not only benchmarked on global best practices, but also sensitive to existing political and economic conditions and realities. For E-Government to become a reality, governments, in consultation with stakeholders, should follow a common nationwide strategic framework, which articulates the governments vision, targets and milestones, technical approach and standards for e-Government systems. Such a framework should also address information privacy, security, maintenance, and interface standards. (Axelsson, Karin, Linkà ¶ping University) 3.1 Four main components of E-Government: An implementation framework is designed to guide and manage the execution of the E-Government strategy. This framework is an adaptation of Accentures Business Integration Framework and can be broken down into four main components which are Programme Management, Technology, Process, and Strategy. Each E-Government project has its own version of the framework, where elements within the four components may differ according to the individual agencys business or technical needs. 3.1.1 Programme Management: The Program manager of E-Government chooses an initiative to be implemented and establish the strategy and goals that is aimed at accomplishing through this initiative. Next, the government agency that would lead this initiative is identified and agreed upon. The agreement or commitment gained from the chosen agency and governing body, acts as the green-light to go ahead with the implementation. With this, the project committee can begin to assess the policies that are dependent on the initiative. Policy amendments that are possibly required are highlighted. The framework is where all the planning processes are placed. A project plan will be planned and documented by the Program managers. Functional areas that will be targeted are identified. Critical success factors for this initiative are identified in order to maintain a focus on the objective and goals. Policies that were identified to be amended will be planned for according to relevant standards and regulations. New infrastructure that will be required are identified, planned for and scoped. With the policies in place, the program managers would now need to assess whether in-house skills and staffing resources are sufficient. Otherwise, alternatives such as short-term contracting and outsourcing would have to be selected. This is where procurement planning comes into place. (Roslind Kaur) 3.1.2 Technology: Although e-Government is often defined as online government or Internet-based government, many non-Internet based e-Government technologies can be named in this context, including telephone, fax, personal digital assistants (PDA), short messaging service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS), and third-generation technology (3G), general packet radio service (GPRS), WiFi, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) and Bluetooth. Other technologies can include closed-circuit television (CCTV), tracking systems, radio-frequency identification (RFID),road traffic management, biometric identification, and regulatory enforcement, smart cards, identity cards, and other communication applications, polling station technology (for non-online e-voting), television and radio-based delivery of government services, online chat, electronic mailing lists and newsgroup, online community facilities, email, and other messaging technologies. Other aspects of technology to be considered in the implementation of e-Government are enablement, interoperability such as the e-Government interoperability framework (e-GIF) and semantic web issues, legacy technology, and implications for software choices (open source or proprietary software, and suitable programming languages). (OOH KIM LEAN) 3.1.3 Process: In contrast to traditional government processes, e-Government is characterized by extensive use of communication technology, the impersonal nature of the online environment and the ease of information can be collected (data-mining), processed and used by multiple parties (Warkentin, Gefen, Pavlou Rose, 2002). However, e-Government has the implicit uncertainty of using an open technological infrastructure for transaction via the newness of the communication medium interact with a government website. This would indirectly increase the spatial and temporal separation between citizens and government; more uncertainty and concern about the reliability of the underlying Internet and related government infrastructure interfaces. As overall these unique differences increase uncertainty and reduce perception of citizen control, imposing a barrier to e-Government adoption. (OOH KIM LEAN) A number of research papers in e-Government were published in recent years to help practitioners to improve government service quality, responsiveness, convenience and accessibility to both citizens in urban and rural area. Their effort can be categorized into few issues: (i) The concept, theories, history, structure, initiatives, policy, key principles, impact, challenges, and development success factors of e-Government; (ii) The technology application, 13knowledge spillover, innovative efforts and approach to facilitate e-Government implementation and evaluation; (iii) Management support or implementation strategies such as framework for managing the lifecycle of transactional e-Government services to facilitating the e-Government services. To provide more intuitive and maintainable lifecycle for electronic tax submission (one of the e-government service to citizens), government must overcome shortcoming happen during the lifecycle such as implicit knowledge, user interaction, code reusability, communication with back-end system, business reengineering required to upgrade to workflow flexibility and resolve security issue (Vassilakis, Laskaridis, Lepouras, Rouvas Georgiadis 2003) (iv) the assessment, measurement of e-Government services provided to public sector and its effects on economic, social benefits of the implementation; (v) key factors affecting acceptance , expectation and usage intention of e-Government services. (OOH KIM LEAN) 3.1.4 Strategy: The process of adopting advanced ICT solutions for the transformation of e-government faces many challenges. Due to the complex nature of these projects and the sheer number of stakeholders involved, effective visualization and management of such initiatives is highly critical but needs to be simple in order to accelerate understanding off and buy in into the framework. However it is important that the framework represent all important aspects of the e-government strategy. That said, despite years of governmental efforts to implement e-government initiatives, there are no commonly established methods and frameworks for the visualization of an overarching e-government strategy. A comprehensive framework needs to account for how the different supporting and impeding forces impacting projects being implemented as a part of such a strategy. Given that such a framework will also have a long lifecycle and encompass a broad scope, the framework also needs to remain applicable regardless of changes in the environment. As most projects go through much iteration of technical and process changes, any changes within the ecosystem should not risk the validity of the strategy framework. Hence the framework needs to be adaptable to changing environments and should be defined in a technology neutral manner. Such an approach will also allow the framework to act as the bridge between decision makers and implementers, thus reducing the mismatch between the expected versus realized outcomes. (Roslind Kaur) 4.0 Conclusion and Recommendation: In my opinion, Information is the life wire of todays business organizations, institutions and industries. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) covers all advanced technologies in manipulating and communicating information. Information is an organized, meaningful and useful interpretation of data. However, Information and Communication Technologies is very important and much of benefit. Viruses are designed to proliferate and propagate. This means each and every contact between your system and any other system is an opportunity for infection. That can include floppy disks and contacts via modem (or other network connection). Be especially careful of users who frequently use a number of different systems outside your company. Hacker is also dangerous to all the computer users, a hacker can easily hack in the computer to steal information and look into the private thing. Governments around the world have pursed e-government programs seeking to electronically govern internal and external operations and to provide coherence between the various administrative government units so that they work to complement and complete each other. However, and despite the fact that many governments have injected substantial investments, most e-government initiatives in our view have not delivered the transformation environment sought from their implementation. This research study was developed to support the United Arab Emirates in pursuing its objective towards e-government transformation. It presented an innovative framework developed from a government practitioners viewpoint and in light of the existing literature in the field. The recommended approach is an amalgamation of learnings from various e-governments initiatives across the globe.