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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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

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.

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

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

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

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.