Group WIKI Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Group WIKI - Assignment Example Prevention includes recreational treatment methods that will teach them on how to be much more in control of their lives and choices they make including the friendship they keep. The case study of the 12 year old girl with substance abuse problem will also benefit more from having a strong social support system from the parents and guardians as the girl has the mother, she should try to provide a social support after the rehabilitation (Gregg, 2012). According to the journal article, nurses are the first to discover about older people that may be undergoing domestic abuse without them even having the knowledge about it taking place. The best way to handle such situations is for the one that discovers the domestic violence to find ways to address it as soon as they can to protect the one being abused with or without their knowledge. In this case about the elderly couple, the man needs help from the lady as he seems to be undergoing domestic violence (McDowall, 2010). Aradilla-Herrero, A., Tomas-Sabado, J. & Gomez-Benito, J. (2014, April 23). Associations between emotional intelligence, depression and suicide risk in nursing students. Nurse Education Today, 34(4):

Statement of Educational Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Statement of Educational Philosophy - Essay Example Even if the best quality seed is sown in bad soil and neglected, it withers away. Edward Joyner of Yale University School said that ‘The development of a tree depends on where it is planted†. The same seed, planted in rich soil, if watered and fertilized and taken care of, sprouts and produced rich and luscious fruit. It is in this way that education of a child is to be perceived. It was John Dewey who compared the child to a plant and the teacher to a gardener. This is especially true of children in the lower school grade. They are delicate in mind and body, extremely sensitive, like soft clay that would take any given shape. The shape that they take in this age is set for their lifetime. There is a need to handle them with gentleness and care. This is not the task of the teacher alone. The entire school atmosphere, the efforts of the team ranging from teachers to directors of the institution, the students and their parents, should all be directed towards the single goal of education. The term ‘education’ here is to be taken in its broadest sense, implying not just providing instruction and information, but the development of social, physical, emotional, intellectual, moral and spiritual aspects, and extending in these times to the ‘global’ aspect. All these aspects are wide and varied, and naturally, cannot be fulfilled in the home setting, among parents and a handful of relatives. The school then, is to be like an expanded home, where experts in every field are appointed to make up for what parents alone cannot do. This does not eliminate the role of parents. Teachers, parents and society should all work together. At the same time, children are the national wealth, future human resource of their country. Hence the government also has an equally important role to play in the system of education. It is up to the lower school director to co-ordinate the efforts of all these elements and harness them for the benefit of stude nts. Another side of the picture is that all students come from different socio-economic backgrounds (almost 7 to 8 strata exist ranging from the very poor to the extremely rich). They have individual differences, different learning capacities, different aims, motivations, aptitudes and inclinations. Some also have physical disabilities. It is difficult but essential to treat them as equal, at the same time, catering to their individual needs. A class should be conducted by two teachers at a time. While one explains, the other can assist with the teaching aids and ppt etc. Later, one of them should conduct separate remedial classes for the weaker students. Simultaneously, the other teacher should go deeper into the same topic with the academically brighter students. In this way, the needs of both groups can be fulfilled. Marva Collins said, that the good teacher makes te poor students good and the good students superior. The school provides a wider and more varied social environment compared to a family. Group projects, team games, co-operative learning methods must be introduced. Socialization of children can be taken care of and maladjustment in future can be prevented. This is extremely important considering the fast and easy means of communication. One or two handicapped children must be placed in each class at least for a couple of sessions. This kind of

History of football Essay Example for Free

History of football Essay Football (as well as rugby and soccer) are believed to have descended from the ancient Greek game of harpaston. Harpaston is mentioned frequently in classical literature, where it is often referred to as a â€Å"very rough and brutal gameâ€Å". The rules of this ancient sport were quite simple: Points were awarded when a player would cross a goal line by either kicking the ball, running with it across the goal line, or throwing it across the line to another player. The other team’s objective was simply to stop them by any means possible. There was no specific field length, no side line boundaries, no specified number of players per team, only a glaring lack of rules. Harpaston: Luckily (for everyone) uniforms equipment have improved dramatically. Most modern versions of football are believed to have originated from England in the twelfth century. The game became so popular in England that the kings of that time (Henry II and Henry IV) actually banned football. They believed that football was taking away interest from the traditional sports of England, such as fencing and archery. Evolution and the Beginnings of Standardization. Football didn’t really begin to take on any consistency of rules and boundaries until it was picked up as a sport in the seven major public schools of England in the early 1800’s. Six of the seven schools were largely playing the same game (including Eton, Harrow and Winchester) while the seventh, Rugby School (founded in 1567) was playing a markedly different version of football. The other schools moved ahead refining their rules and eventually their game became known as association football – or soccer, which was played back then much as it is today. Rugby School went in a different direction. How and why the game developed differently at Rugby School appears to have been lost in history, but what is known is that by the 1830s, running with the ball at Rugby School was in common use and 18 foot goal posts had been added with a cross-bar at 10 feet above the ground. The inclusion of the cross-bar was accompanied by a rule that a goal could only be scored by the ball passing over the bar from a place kick or drop kick. Apparently this was done to make scoring easier from further out and also to avoid the horde of defenders standing in and blocking the mouth of the goal. Players who were able to touch down the ball behind the opponents goal line were awarded a try-at-goal the player would make a mark on the goal line and then walk back onto the field of play to a point where a place kick at the goal was possible (a conversion). There was also an off-your-side rule used to keep the teams apart. Passing the ball forward was not allowed. By the mid-1860s British schools and universities had taken up Rugbys game and honored the school by giving the new football the name of rugby. The game soon went trans-Atlantic to America and landed on fertile soil. Roots of American Football The birth date of football in the United States is generally regarded by football historians as November 6, 1869, when teams from Rutgers and Princeton Universities met for the first intercollegiate football game. In those early games, there were 20 players to a team and football still more closely resembled rugby than modern football. The game of football has a history of constant rule changes. Rule changes have been implemented to bolster the excitement of the game of football and  to increase the games safety. In 1873, representatives from Columbia, Rutgers, Princeton, and Yale Universities met in New York City to formulate the first intercollegiate football rules for the increasingly popular game. These four teams established the Intercollegiate Football Association (IFA) and set 15 as the number of players allowed on each team. Walter Camp, the coach at Yale and a dissenter from the IFA over his desire for an eleven man team, helped begin the final step in the evolution from rugby-style play to the modern game of American football. The IFA’s rules committee, led by Camp, soon cut the number of players from fifteen to eleven, and also instituted the size of the playing field, at one hundred ten yards. In 1882 Camp also introduced the system of downs. After first allowing three attempts to advance the ball five yards, in 1906 the distance was changed to ten yards. The fourth down was added in 1912. Within a decade, concern over the increasing brutality of the game led to its ban by some colleges. Nearly 180 players had suffered serious injuries, and eighteen deaths had been reported from the brutal mass plays that had become common practice. So in 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt called upon Harvard, Princeton, and Yale to help save the sport from demise. At a meeting between the schools, reform was agreed upon, and at a second meeting, attended by more than sixty other schools, the group appointed a seven member Rules Committee and set up what would later become known as the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or the NCAA. From this committee came the legalization of the forward pass, which resulted in a redesign of the ball and a more open style of play on the field. The rough mass plays, which once caused so many serious injuries, were prohibited by the committee. Also prohibited was the locking of arms by teammates in an effort to clear the way for their ball carriers. The length of the game was shortened, from seventy to sixty minutes, and the neutral zone, which separates the teams by the length of the ball before each play begins, was also established. Though refinements to the game would continue to the present day, the modern game of American football had arrived.

Impact of the Internet for SMEs in Malaysia

Impact of the Internet for SMEs in Malaysia Introduction The Internet According to Hamil (1997) stated that the efficiency and effectively medium used for accessing, organizing, and communicating information is representing the Internet. The presence on the Internet in the advanced economies is establishing from multinational or domestic whether its large or small (Duffy Dale, 2000). There are 888 million users of Internet for worldwide in 2004 and it is expected to growth until 1.35 billion by 2007 (eTForecast, 2004 Internet World Stats, 2005). In the global online population, Asia rank the highest percentage followed by Europe and then North America with Asia is 34, Europe is 29.2 and North America is 24.9 (Internet World Stats, 2005). English is the main medium of instruction for the Internet and the online population is declining for its dominance in the Web while the Chinese and Spanish speaking users are lesser extent but the Japanese users are on the rise (Glreach.com, 2004). The world most populous and developing nations such as China, India, Indonesia, and Brazil has forecasted that there will be a little growth of the internet users (eTForecasts, 2004). Internet use and access is uneven across countries due to global reach as the population of internet users in South Korea is 63.3 per cent, Malaysia is 35.9 per cent, and Thailand is 12.8 per cent. The o verall population internet users of these 3 countries just make up only 3.6 per cent of India population (World States, 2005). According to Peterson et al (1997), the accessing to online market surveys, newspapers and journals, country and industry market research, trade lists of suppliers, agents, distributors, and government contacts in a large number of countries are the reasons of the firms access to Internet. Internet can play a role as intermediaries between producer and users that mainly in collection, collation, interpretation, and distribution of information (Liang et al, 2004 Quelch Klein, 1996). Internet provides a flexible, reliable, and low-cost method if compared to other means of communication such as telephone, fax, and post (Poon Jevons, 1997). In the existing marketing activity, Internet is playing a supporting role (Hazel, 1996). The traditional dominance of fixed location stores will be replaced by a new retail format which is provided by Internet (Evans, 1996 Van Tassel Weitz, 1997). Internet is the means of communicating information about retail organization, products, and services (Bruno, 1997). In the US, retailer view the Internet as an emergence marketing communication tools that used to attracting new customers, penetrating new markets, promoting companys brand, and improving customer retention (Ernst Young, 1997). Small Business Enterprise (SME) and the Internet Small business enterprise is independently owned and operated where it is not dominant in its field, and doesnt engage in new or innovative practices. Neighborhoods grocery stores, fast-food restaurant, hair stylists, dry cleaners, video or record shops, and the veterinarian are an examples of small businesses. Qualitative factors are also important in describing the small businesses. To be classified as small, a small business must have at least two of the following features that are management is dependent, since the manager usually owns the business; capital is supplied and ownership is held by an individual or a few individuals; the area of operations is primarily local, although the market isnt necessarily local; the business is small in comparison with larger competitors in the industry (Washington DC: Small Business Administration, 1985). Perhaps the best definition of small business is the one used by Congress in the Small Business Act of 1953, which states that a small is one that independently owned and operated and is not dominant in its field of operation. The act also authorized the Small Business Administration (SBA) to develop more detailed definition that takes into account such criteria as sales volume and the number of employees in the firm. Incorporating these criteria into workable guidelines for use in determining loans, the SBA has established the upper limits for small firms in this manner (Washington DC: Small Business Administration, 1985). As the global online users growing rapidly, SMEs have discovered unparallel new opportunities in the Internet that are entrepreneurial enough to recognize and take advantage of highly profitable niche markets (Forster, 2000 Poon Swatman, 1997). The researchers found that SMEs in the UK has been characterizes as dynamic, enterprising and ambitious as key role in entrepreneurship and innovation by DTI (DTI, 2000). McCalman (1999), states that the entrepreneurial character of the owner, individual managers or operational teams often associated with the fast growing of the new venture and the high growth and high technology firms appear to be more able and more willing to seize the opportunities afforded by the Internet. The Internet has changed the landscape of the firms in the worldwide and globalization is a key driven role for Internet usage by small firms to expand their operations to other nations. The main strategic factors that associated with successful information, communications, and technology (ICT) is often viewed by the organization learning, entrepreneurship, innovative workplace cultures, and knowledge management enhancement context. The Internet virtually has relevance either directly or indirectly for entrepreneurship management in every aspect of organizational learning (Matlay, 2001 Leitch Harrison, 1999). In the marketing context, Noh and Fitzsimmons (1999) have described complex, creative, and innovation relationship is a significant relationship found between Internet usage and the marketing functions where ICT and entrepreneurial activity strategically linked. The ICT opportunities that the marketing function can respond is depend on sustainable competitive advantage of the organizational changes which is the key to organizational survival (Brady et al, 1999 Komenar, 1997). In order to attract and retain customers, the SMEs have to derive customer service advantages and marketing performance gains by adopted transformative use of ICT (Brady et al, 1999). According to Martin and Matlay (2001), the relationship between marketing functions and ICT adoption in SME would make the firms need to make creative and innovative changes in ordeal to deal effectively with actual and perceived ICT related marketing opportunities due to less attention on strategic SME operations and emphasis mor e on managerial capacity and marketing opportunities. online marketing only the step two in a five stages sequential progress to e-commerce and full ICT integration by a company identifies by DTI adoption ladder. Market analysis and related responses or strategies might be seen as sophistication function for e-use in SMEs (Martin Matlay, 2001). Despite its high level of connectivity and basic e-commerce applications, business appear reluctant to move up the adoption ladder but the DTI adoption ladder model is heavily emphasis on financial based transaction (UK Online, 2000). In the UK, 80 per cent of the SMEs have accessed to the Internet and another much smaller proportion also able to implement and embed new technologies for strategic purposes based on the figures of Internet adoption (UK Online, 2001). The adoption of ICT in the smaller firms has made the impact on SME profitability largely due to high connectivity according to the number of recent benchmarking surveys (UK Online, 2000). The UK government has initiative to promote the use of ICT and has ambitious target for Internet adoption, some has been already achieved (UK Online, 2000). In 2002, the digital marketplace there was 1.5 million SMEs expected to be wired up since 1.7 million businesses already connected and 81 per cent of all firms in one form or another. The national e-economy development had shown the successful outcome of the achievements and impressive of Internet adoption (UK Online, 2000). Information technology is implemented in SME can described as multidimensional change process (Martinsons Chong, 1999 Butter Fitzgerald, 2001). Information technology is playing an important role for training in SME. According to Coates (2000), information technologies represent the drivers of change of all aspect of life. A new corporate culture and management change will form when the electronic commerce fit into organization operations (Fadden, 2000 Hard Knie, 2001). The most important element of implementation of information technology is human resources (Greene et al, 1997). Westhead and Storey (1996) describe that the implementation of information technology can intervene on training aid for change in developing human resources and human capabilities of the organization. Decision making has played a dominant role for owner-manager in SME sector (Jennings Banfield, 1993 Jennings Beaver, 1995). The owner-manager has acted as principal driving force for implementation and adoption of electronic commerce. The role of a person characterized is in conjunction with the nature of managerial activity (Jennings Beaver, 1995). The owner-manager has total control on training. So, Jennings and Beaver (1995) have stated that the extension of the owner-manager role is the provision of organization training. SMEs are operated under uncertain condition (Nooteboom, 1994 Storey, 1994 Acs et al, 1997). Skills and ability of SMEs have change in uncertain environment and SME has adopted (Hendry, 1995 Acs et al, 1997). Recognition of change has relation with the implementation of new technologies (Martinsons Chong, 1999 Coates, 2000 Buttler Fitzgerald, 2001). The Internet adoption in the SME has make SME staff learning through online collaboration. According to Flexwork (2004), a project supported by CEC FP5 IST Programme is a place where EU SME teleworking is gathering at Flexwork. Lawless (2004) stated that both virtual working and face to face contact are still needed as well as those frequent working online also have some face to face contact. The relationship forming through work online has to be considered to maintain well fairly (Walther, 1992). SME has practice team working and it is a most used method currently (Institute of Work Psychology, 1999). Computer World and British Telecom (2003) has stated that beneficiary from the process working online with others is SMEs wish and it must be properly conducted and resourced since there is over 50 per cent of SMEs has no formal IT strategy. ICT based environment is important for future networking platform and it is crucial for SME to cope with it (Ulbrich, 2000) and the need for chang e in SME has to take consideration on collaboration learning through ICT whether it is formal or informal (Fulantelli Allegra, 2003 Williamson et al, 2001). It is an ideal to have online collaborative training or learn cluster (Geer Au, 2002). Collaboration is required for supply chain and SME is a part of the supply chain especially in motor and technologies industry. The trial has been conducted in Athabasca University in Canada to simulate SME members (Athabasca, 2002). Some EU training organization has proposed online collaborative learning systems using virtual classrooms, network or similar (AutoTrainProject, 2000). The individuals in the same SME or separate SME can form the collaboration learning. The increase used of ICTs especially email for internal communication has become a crucial feature of innovativeness of SMEs as well as collaboration between individuals in same or separate SME (Andrew Pettigrew, 1997). Another increased capacity for innovation in SMEs are exter nal networking (Gray Allan, 2000). SMEs and the Internet in Malaysia Small and Medium Industries Development Corporation (SMIDEC) was established on 2nd May 1996 which is an agency under Ministry of International Trade and Industry to promote and coordinate the development of SMEs in Malaysia through specific programs, provide technical support and management counseling services with the cooperation with other agencies, forge linkage industries between SMEs and large companies or multinational companies, and collaborate with other agencies locally and internationally to develop the SMEs (Small and Medium Industries Development Corporation Malaysia, 2008). Malaysia adopted a common definition of SMEs to facilitate the identification of SMEs in the various sectors and subsectors. It has facilitated the government to formulate effective development policies, support programs as well as the provision of technical and financial assistance (Small and Medium Industries Development Corporation Malaysia, 2008). The categories of SMEs in Malaysia consist of manufacturing, manufacturing related services and agro-based industries and another category is services, primary agriculture and information and communication technology (ICT). The enterprise in SMEs in Malaysia varies from micro enterprise, small enterprise, and medium enterprise (Small and Medium Industries Development Corporation Malaysia, 2008). The Malaysia government has recognized that ICT would serve as a foundation to transform Malaysia from a P-based economy to K-based economy. ICT was emphasized as an enabler mainly in manufacturing sector and National Information and Technology Council (NITC) was established and its primary function is to ensure that ICT well integrated in the socio-economic fabric of the nation (Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation Malaysia, 2007) In the 9th Malaysia Plan, the strategic plans for Malaysia ICT including the implementation of Digital Content Development, E-Commerce, SSO, Bioinformatics, MyICMS 886 which consist of Content Development, ICT Education Hub, Digital Multimedia Receivers, Communication Devices, Embedded Components and Foreign Ventures. It also includes the launching of MSC Phase II and increasing the number of MSC status companies from 973 to 1236 (Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation Malaysia, 2007). According to Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation Malaysia facts and figures 2008, the number of main lines subscribers is 588 per 1000 inibitants, number of internet users is 714.3 per 1000 inhibitants, number of broadband subscribers is 96.13 per inhibitants, and number of computer subscribers is 805 per 1000 people in 2007 (Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation Malaysia, 2008). The government has embarked on a concerted effort to improve the development of the SME sector. The government has integrated 14 ministries and 60 agencies as a model to approaches the SME to source of information of their businesses and stage of development. The Small and Medium Enterprise Development Council endorsed and launched the SMEinfo Portal as an integration of the Internet adoption and SMEs in Malaysia and a mechanism to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of dissemination of information to SMEs. Its a one stop online information resource SMEs across all sectors of the economy (SMEinfo, 2008). The SMEinfo Portal is portals that can comprehensive access to information and is a multilingual information portal outreach to wider SMEs as the function as sources of financing and types of financial support by financial institutions, business support programs by ministries and government agencies, training and advisory services, SME Business Adviser Network, managing counseling services, and relevant tools such as financial tools as well as events by ministries and government agencies (SMEinfo, 2008). The important features of the SMEinfo Portal is the SME Business Directory where SMEs can advertise products and services to large potential customers worldwide, sources of raw materials and relevant services by contracting suppliers, and identify potential customers to venture into new market for their products and services (SMEinfo, 2008). Problem Statement According to Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation Malaysia facts and figures 2008, the number of main lines subscribers is 588 per 1000 inibitants, number of internet users is 714.3 per 1000 inhibitants, number of broadband subscribers is 96.13 per inhibitants, and number of computer subscribers is 805 per 1000 people in 2007. In UK, there are 80 per cent of SMEs have adopted Internet and another smaller proportion of small businesses also able to implement and embed new technologies for the strategic purpose. The small businesses in Malaysia have less adoption of Internet in business if compare to other countries such as UK and USA. So, the Internet adoptions in small businesses in Malaysia have another prospective such as some are using for information accessed. The Internet adoption for small businesses in UK and USA has been a long history in the industry. The early adopters for the Internet has used for the range of functions such as marketing and advertising, informa tion gathering, customer support and service and electronic transaction. There are several model to conduct the research on the Internet adoption for small businesses such as Rogers model of perceived attributes of the Internet. The firms has asked to rate their perceptions of Internet use for the business. From the previous research, Rogers, (1995) has listed the perceived attributes of the Internet as a strong influence exert on business use as: To what perceptions of innovation attributes for the research contribute to internet adoption for small businesses in Malaysia Research Objectives In this changing technology era, the internet has become more important for everyone to access for information, shopping and communications especially in the business use. So, the purpose of the research for the impact of the internet adoption for small businesses in Malaysia is: To investigate the relationship between innovation attributes and the internet adoption for small businesses in Malaysia. To identify the relationship between relative advantage of internet adoption and small businesses in Malaysia. To identify the relationship between compatibility of internet adoption and small businesses functions in Malaysia. To identify the relationship between complexity of internet adoption and small businesses in Malaysia. To identify the relationship between trialability of internet adoption and small businesses in Malaysia. To identify the relationship between observability of internet adoption and small businesses in Malaysia. Importance of the Study The importance of the study of research project titled The Factors Contribute to Internet Adoption for Small Businesses in Malaysia can be contributed to the industry, education and society. The study of this research can make an impact on industry, education, and society for different reasons. The impact of the study of this research on industry is identification of the potential business growth by small businesses in Malaysia with the Internet adoption. Business of the firm can growth by penetrating different market segments and coverage more geographical areas with using Internet as a marketing tool. Another impact of the study is can make the firm adopt process innovation and product innovation to reduce the cost of the production and capture the value of the customers with the quality products. The entrepreneurial opportunity also could discover on the study of this research. Youth could create entrepreneurial opportunity with the Internet adoption for developing own Electronic Business with the low cost, easy, and convenience method. The study of this research could create job opportunity in the industry especially from IT fields and entrepreneurship field. Besides, the importance of this study also contributes to the education. In education, undergraduates can have an improvement process of acquiring knowledge and information with the Internet adoption on academic. Universities and colleges can provide entrepreneurial skills and knowledge for undergraduates on students entrepreneurship development programs, academics and students organization on free enterprise. It also could increase the understanding of the technology in terms of information system and web development. Lastly, the importance of this study also contributes to the society. The study of this research can make an impact on society by reducing the employment rate for the country with the job creation by small businesses. It could increase the quality living of the society with the easy and conveniences services provide by small businesses on the adoption of the Internet. Foreign relation between people and people or government and government can be improving with the development of the Internet on the small businesses. The economies of the country can growth with the expansion and development of small businesses industry and small businesses can penetrate to another countries using Internet as well as increasing exports business of the country. Organization of Research Project The organization of the research project titled The Factors Contribute to Internet Adoption for Small Businesses in Malaysia overall consist of five chapters with each chapter has different aspects ranging from the different explanation of internet adoption and small businesses from different authors of journals to statistical analysis of the research study. In the chapter one, the definition and explanation of the internet extracted from different authors quote in different journals. The subtopics consist of the Internet, the SMEs and the Internet, and the SMEs and the Internet in Malaysia. In the chapter two, the literature review will extracted the quote from different authors in the journals to organize as a study of the internet adoption contribute to the small businesses in Malaysia. The other reviews of the literature are the relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability of the Internet adoption in any fields. In the chapter three, the methodology of the research will explain the sources of data collection from primary and secondary data. The hypothesis of the study and the procedures for collecting the samples will be explained here. In the chapter four, the discussions and results will based on the geographic profiles of the small businesses. The chi-square analysis will analyze differentiates of E-Commerce and Small Businesses, differentiates virtual consumer behavior from retail consumer behavior, and the level of understanding of small businesses. The multiple regressions will focus on the entrepreneurs interest in virtual store strategic management. Finally, the chapter five will describe the summary and conclusion of the research. The research will recommend the solutions for the problems of the study. Literature Review Internet Adoption Theory of reasoned action (TRA) (Fishbein Ajzen, 1975), technology acceptance model (TAM) (Davis, 1989), and theory of planned behavior (TPB) (Azjen, 1991) reported as a number of studies of IT adoption. Adam et al (1992) stated that the fundamental determinants of acceptance of IT adoption consist of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use and it can be widely used in the IT adoption. Perceived usefulness is a major determinant of peoples intention to use computers while perceived ease of use is a significant secondary determinant of peoples intention to use computers by competing two competing models of computer technology usage, TAM and TRA. It can conclude as peoples use of computer technology can be predicted reasonably well from their intentions. The TAM has been selected as a useful basis for starting build a model of adoption of the Internet since TAM is slightly better from an empirical point of view in the comparison of TAM and TPB (Mathieson, 1991). The researchers found that technology acceptance; reasons of using IT and behavior of using IT can derive the definition of the Internet adoption. Besides, the researchers also found the definition of Internet adoption in other context such as supply chain management. Italian firm has made adoption modalities of IT to integrate into supply chain management to make their business growth. According to Chandrashekar and Schary (1999), in order to fit the customer request, the Internet can act as an enabler in depicting the firms. The efficacy and effectiveness of reaching higher level of performance is the integration and information technology (IT) and it can be regard as the most competitive and imitable weapons (Tan, 2001). Porter (2001) stated that modification of supply chain (SC) relationships, boundaries, and mutual influence is an integral part of the Internet in firms strategy. In the former Central and Eastern European, innovation of technology has been introduced into commercial. Famous researchers such as Rogers have been workout to derive the definition of the Internet adoption from the technology innovativeness context. Everett M. Rogers (1995) was formulated the innovation adoption theory. The innovation adoption theory has been widely used in analyzing the adoption of the Internet (Wolcott et al, 2001), various Internet related applications (Black et al, 2001 Polatoglu Ekin, 2001), and software products (Karahanna et al, 1999 Kautz Larsen, 2000). Rogers (1995), regards the perceived new unit of adoption of an individual can be defined as an idea, practice, or object in term of innovation. Rogers (1995), also defined the adoption is a process that members of a society can communicated through certain channels over time. Schumpeter (1934, 1939 1942) has stated that new application of invention, discovery or new or existing knowledge as an innovati on. The innovation also can be defined as the introduction and new development of knowledge derived tools, artifacts, and devices by which people extend and interact with environment (Tornatzky Fleischer, 1990). The related technologies linked closely and innovation is a cluster of Internet adoption and banking (Rogers, 1995). The factors influence the Internet adoption because the traditional modes of communication of the firms in the transitional markets of obtaining information on foreign markets, and communicated through business partners, customers, and distributors are costly and time consuming (Nguyen Nguyen, 2001). According to Rogers (1983), the adoption is an alternative solution where the firm confronted with the problems. The organizations strategies, policies, and actions as well as beliefs, attitudes, and intentions lead to the adoption of IT (Leonard Barton Deschamps, 1995). The adoption of IT for organizations continuously collecting information about target market needs and competitors capabilities and using it to create superior customer value. It is important and valuable for market orientation of an organization (Slater Narver, 1995: 63). Organizations innovativeness on IT facilitates the market orientation so that the forming of market orientation firms could gather information on m arkets and environments (Han et al, 1998 Jaworski Kohli, 1993). Besides, Firm creating and use knowledge influences the organizational factor in learning organization (Sinkula et al, 1997). As learning environment is creates and encourages in learning oriented firms lead to the rise of adoption and implementation of new ideas, process, and products to produce innovative capacity for the firm (Hurley Hult, 1998). Learning and sharing of knowledge opportunities exist among members of learning oriented firms from individual level to organization level (Nonaka Takeuchi, 1995). Slater and Naver (1995), explained that how an organization acquire, process, and use market intelligence is a question to the ability in engagement in adapting the generative learning as a key component of organization learning orientation. The leveraging of superior learning environment is the use of all resources including the behaviors that accompany market orientation (Baker Sinkula, 1999). As stated by the above definition of Internet adoption in the supply chain management context, there are many factors contribute to affect the relationship of the Internet adoption. An easy and fast way in the process of acquiring and sharing information and the efficiency and effectiveness of improve performance are linked to the aspect of Internet adoption (Deeter-Schmeltz Norman-Kennedy,2002 Ronchi, 2003). The mistakes and time reductions and contribution to the order and stock cuts facilitate the better coordination among players of network (Akkermans et al, 2001). The enhancement of business model development providing innovation opportunities and competitive advantages challenge as well as strategic dimensions of SC design are the impact of Internet adoption (Wouters et al, 1999). The cost reductions of product management as well as cheaper and flexible of data exchange and enhancement of data standardization are the impact of IT adoption mechanism in market environment and o rganization management (Malone et al, 1987). The adoption of web based tools could enhance the integration such as EDI and as impact of product complexity (Garcia-Dastugue Lambert, 2003). The standardization and behavioral formalization such as tasks repetitiveness and recognizability was influences by the adoption of ICT (Vacca, 1990 Lomi, 1991 Lorenzoni, 1992). The standardization of SC players in coordinating and performing activities are the affects of ICT (Becker, 2004). The change and variability sourcing are the improvisational aspect of routine which is including tacit knowledge, incorporate operative and applicatory capabilities (Pentland, 2003). Colombo et al (1997) stated that the transparency of process is the free information and knowledge sharing while Winter and Taylor (1996) stated that the reduction of middle management direct communication as an enabling of ICT. On the other hand, technology innovativeness has been adopted in European markets to cater the demand of the consumers in many ways. There are many factors of adoption of technology innovativeness to serve the markets in Central and Eastern European nations. Researchers have investigated and identify the factors of commercialization innovativeness to explain the relationship of Internet adoption contributes to commercial in Ukraine and Austria. According to Dickerson and Gentry (1983), a new innovative service firm must offer increased functional performance than its predecessor can be defined as relative advantage. The primary measurement of relative advantage is assessing an innovations superiority in terms of overall convenience (Polatoglu Ekin, 2001 Tan Teo, 2000). The degree to which an innovation is perceived as relatively difficult understands and use is the definition of complexity (Rogers Shoemaker, 1971). Tornaztky and Klein (1982) stated that the lower rate of adoption means the complex the innovation is. Rogers (1995) defined the compatibility as the degree to which an innovation is perceived as consistent with existing values, past experiences, and the needs of potential adopters. De Ruyter et al (2001) also stated that compatibility is consistent with existing consumer affect, cognition, and behavior. Some researchers also found that consumer perceived risk post as important factors to the ICT adoption (Eastlick Lotz, 1999 Hansen, 2005 Polatoglu Ekin, 2001 Tan Teo, 2000). Relative Advantage Rogers (1995) defined relative advantage as the degree to which an innovation is seen as superior to existing practice. In the competition context, there is another definition for seeing innovation as superior to existing practice. According to Day (1984) and Porter (1987), the competitive advantage can be seen as the objective of the strategy and the result of the competitive advantage is superior performance. The derivations of competitive advantage are from numerous

American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes and The Virgin Suicides, direct

Reality. Merriam Webster’s Online Dictionary defines reality as â€Å"something that is neither derivative nor dependent but exists necessarily.† But what is real by today’s standards? Does what appears to be normal equal reality? By looking at two different films it seems that the old cliche stands correct. Things aren’t as they appear. American Beauty and The Virgin Suicides give classic examples of how â€Å"normal† and â€Å"happy† suburban life is anything but. American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes (1999) and The Virgin Suicides, directed by Sofia Coppola (2000), share many of the same themes even though the plots are contrasted. Underneath the layers of white picket fences, beautiful houses, and safe neighborhoods, lies a truth. A truth so dark that it leads to the destruction of many characters in both of these movies. The first element that must be looked at is the imprisonment of the characters in both films. The main character of American Beauty, Lester Burnham, is the man whom feels the burden of imprisonment the most. He is in an ongoing marriage that should be coming up to the red light. He is also stuck in a job where he feels under appreciated and not well respected. He has been at this job for fourteen years. That is fourteen years of being in jail. It is quite evident that he is not happy. Who would be when you know that your wife and you daughter think that you are a â€Å"gigantic loser† (American Beauty)? Lester is not the only character who suffers from this. His wife Carolyn and daughter Jane both know what it is like to feel trapped in an unhappy life. Carolyn is imprisoned by image. She has the notion that she cannot be happy unless everything appears as perfect. And Jane, feeling the weight of her parents, wants to break off from her prison, her home life. She like most teens views her parents as weird and wants out of that life. In The Virgin Suicides the characters that are the most imprisoned are the five Lisbon sisters. After the youngest sister plunged to her death during the first party they were allowed to have, and Lux came home late after the homecoming dance, their parents literally turned their home into a prison. â€Å"For most children, mothers and fathers set boundaries; for the Lisbon’s, it’s iron bars† (Berardinelli). They were not allowed out, had the tree cut down that was near their window, and even had actual bars put on the window... ... ‘You’re not even old enough to know how hard life gets,’ he tells her. ‘Obviously, doctor,’ she says, ‘you’ve never been a 13-year-old girl.’ No, but his profession and every adult life is to some degree a search for the happiness she does not even know she has.† (Ebert). Bibliography Berardinelli, James, Review: American Beauty, http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/a/american_beauty.html, 1999 Berardinelli, James, Review: The Virgin Suicides, http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/v/sirgin_sucides.html, 2000 Bowman, James, Suffering Poses, American Spectator, Jun 2000, Vol 33, Issue 5, p. 66 Ebert, Roger, American Beauty, Chicago Sun-Times, http://www.suntimes.com/cgi-bin/print.cgi Ebert, Roger, The Virgin Suicides, Chicago Sun-Times, http://www.suntimes.com/cgi-bin/print.cgi , May 5, 2000 McKittrick, Casey, Shaping Pedophilic Discourse around American Beauty Happiness. Velvet Light Trap, Spring 2001, Issue 47, p 3-12. Scott, A.O., Film Review; Evanescent Trees and Sisters In an Enchanted 1970’s Suburb, The New York Times, http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/review.html Viner, Russel, The Virgin Suicides, Student BMJ, Jul 2000, Vol. 8, p 254

red river valley :: essays research papers

Red River Valley   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The movie â€Å"Red River Valley,† is a B-western that really portrays the way life was in the early 1900s. The music in the movie really set the moods, and gives you a better understanding of what’s going on. The song that opens up the movie has a fast tempo that is played what sounds like a trumpet. Then we are introduced to Gene Autry and his partner, Frog Millhouse. The two were tending cattle and seemed to be pretty skilled at it. Then Gene and his partner set out to help build a dam to bring water into the dry land. They will take on the task of being ditch guards at the dam.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The cowboy music in the movie starts when Gene and Frog walk into the town’s saloon. There is a band up on stage that is playing a fast tempo song. They are playing with a guitar, piano, harmonica, and other exotic looking instruments, like a bottle that the band member blows into. The men at the saloon are dancing, drinking, playing checkers, and seem to be having a good time. Then Gene and Frog leave the saloon and go to the dam. In the beginning of the scene, a fast pace song that is played with trumpets starts to play, which made me think that the scene would have a lot of action in it. The two men go to work on the dam, but Gene realized that they were set up, and there was dynamite that was about to explode. But he uses his quick wit, and they escape with no harm. After that the two men go back to the saloon to perform on stage. Gene Autry sings and plays the guitar very well up on stage. His voice has a baritone/high pitch sound to it, but he sounds like he has skill. Then after Gene, his partner Frog gets up on stage to perform. Frog uses the whole band and their many different instruments while he sung about his trusty forty-five. The duo was a crowd pleaser, and they left the saloon immediately after performing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Then there is a scene with group of men walking and singing together with shovels. The men sing with a very deep, bass sounding tone. These men are the guys that are working to build the dam, and they are upset because they aren’t getting paid.

Ryanair’s Management and Creativity

1. In the book â€Å"Management and Creativity† (Bilton, 2007), Wilson and Cummings define strategy as two distinctive approaches; strategy as position and strategy as process. The former, also referred to as strategy as orientation, takes a more top-down approach and is concentrated around a single leader. It attempts to establish a strategic position that will serve as a basis for differentiation, which is commonly seen as original and innovative. However, a successful implementation of the strategy often requires high monitoring and a hierarchal structure. Thus, the process itself is quite uncreative and there is little room for changes and innovation after the strategy has been established. The leader plays an important role in this strategic approach by setting vision and directing employees, and he or she is often strongly associated with the organization. Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary is a great example of a leader within an orientation strategy organization. The other approach outlined by Wilson and Cummings is strategy as animation. This adhocracy style is commonly adapted by creative organizations and the strategy is more of an evolving process than a fixed strategic position. It is built upon small, continuous changes that emerge incrementally within the organization. In difference from orientation, adhocracy takes a bottom-up approach and the strategy is developed through a collective activity. The leaders role is not to govern and direct, but to set frames, and recognize and build upon meaningful patterns. Shared goals and values hold the company together and serve as the glue in the organization. The animation film studio Pixar serves as a great example of the adhocracy approach. Their process-oriented strategy and bottom-up approach has helped to nurture creativity and build a culture where everyone’s ideas matters and all employees are urged to speak their minds. Thus, creativity is seen as something that evolves through systems and networks, and not something that is isolated to a single leader. Posthocracy is a type of non-strategy. The style is often adapted by organizations that are subject to a lot of uncertainty and changes in their environment. The unpredictability of the future makes it difficult for the organizations to establish a strategy beforehand and decisions are often rationalized after they have been made. This approach is based on ego, emotions and personality. 1. 1 It can be argued that Michael O’Leary follows a strategy as orientation approach. The low-cost strategy has come to define Ryanair and is deeply enrooted in the company. The attempt to reduce prices at all costs set the strategic direction. As in most orientation strategies, the company takes a top-down approach and the creativity is concentrated to the leader; the CEO Michael O’Leary. His controversial ideas are often seen as both new and revolutionary and he continuously finds the most radical ways to reduce prices. Still, the organization itself is highly monitored and controlled as to successfully keep costs down in every part of the value chain. Furthermore, as commonly seen in these types of strategy tendencies, Michael O’Leary is strongly associated with the company. As described in the article, â€Å"O’Leary chose to embody the role of a cheap, no-nonsense, slightly unpleasant Everyman, which he would exploit to sell a cheap, slightly unpleasant flying experience to the Everyman. Arguably, M. O’Leary is Ryanair. 2. According to current popular theories creativity is concerned with novelty and individualism. For an idea to be considered novel, it should provide something new or a new combination of elements. The individualism concerns the originator of the idea who is seen as a â€Å"brain† who needs space and loose control to be able to flourish. The psychological theory modifies this idea by taking away the component of individualism and adding the idea of value and meaning. For an idea to be creative, the innovation also needs to be valuable and give meaning. Merely innovation is not enough. Both the concept of innovation and the one of value is context dependent; to whom is the idea novel and to whom will it give meaning and value? According to Margaret Boden, novelty can be defined as new to the individual, H-creativity, or new to the world, P-creativity. A novel idea should be able to fit into one of these two. For an idea to give value and meaning it has to be â€Å"fit for purpose† and there will be different criterions for different situations. In a business context, a creative idea could be valuable if it improves the return on investment or if it fits with the times. In another context, a panel of experts might decide if the innovation is valuable or not. An idea might also be defined as valuable if it has a specific intention. 2. 1 Ryanair has a low-cost strategy with the vision to be â€Å"quick, efficient, affordable and safe†. Michael O'Leary is a visionary leader with â€Å"nutty† ideas that are considered radical by the rest of the airline industry. O'Leary says that in the airline business, organizations need to have a radical point of view otherwise everything will stay the same. However, new ideas should be in line with the low cost strategy of the company. Could the Ryanair idea of removing the pockets on the back of the seats be considered creative? It decreased Ryanair’s cleaning time and thereby also the turn-around time at the airport and increased the punctuality. The idea was a new combination of elements and was new to the airline industry. It could therefore be argued to be novel. The idea was valuable for customers as it fulfilled the criterion of fitness to times: customers are more time-sensitive today and therefore values on-time flights. O'Leary argued that it is also valuable for the customers as they are price-sensitive, they do not want to have a pleasant experience; they just want to be transported from A to B. For Ryanair, the idea is valuable as it decreases costs and improves the company's return on investment. At Ryanair, the organizational style of change is incremental: the company is continuously improving and developing itself. One distinguishing feature of this style is that change is happening even though the company is not in a maturity state or crisis of their life cycle. This is apparent as the company has presented net profits in 9 out of 10 recent years. The changes at Ryanair might look as radical to the rest of the airline industry, but it is in line with today's price-sensitive society. O'Leary is boundary tweaking; he is not thinking entirely outside the box but merely â€Å"modifying the edges of the core business†. It can be questioned if Ryanair sometimes make change just for change's sake. There is an impression that O'Leary might implement changes (or propose them) just to provoke the industry. And is cheaper always more valuable? Do customer's still value cheap tickets if they have to stand up or pay for the toilet?