Case Study Parrot Head Essay

How can we consider Jimmy Buffet as members of a reference group? A brand community. The definition of a reference group is the people of whose attitudes, behavior, beliefs, opinions, preferences, and values are used by an individual as the basis for his or her judgment. One does not have to be (or even aspire to be) a member of a reference group to be negatively or positively influenced by its characteristics. Jimmy Buffet fans are a part of reference group because they each relate to each other with similar beliefs and behaviors and all have a common bond in following the music of Jimmy Buffet and follow the themes of the fan base similar to dead heads (Grateful Dead). It seem that this reference group aka parrot heads are also part of a nerd group by themselves. Parrot heads is also a humanitarian group and has over 200 different clubs and volunteer groups and charitable events for communities for a charity. This reference group notonly attends Jimmy Buffet concerts but they also are part of huge tailgating party that likes to dress up in tropical outfits and like to drink and pass around blow up dolls filled with alcohol and have fun and escape from their daily nerdy lives. Jimmy Buffet music was big in the late 70’s but his following has become even much bigger today and multi-generational and is not uncommon to see a parent attending this events with one of his adult siblings partaking in the festivities. A brand community is a community or a company to express shared interest in a particular product or â€Å"brand†. In the case of Jimmy Buffet the brand name is Margaritaville from his hit song back in 1977. This brand has gone far beyond selling T shirts and posters but has become a major multi- million dollar business and his branding ranges from a wide range from clothing to casinos and everything in between. I personally am not a parrot head or have been to a one of his concerts but enjoy his music and would probably enjoy going to a concert if the opportunity presented itself. I have a neighbor who is a huge â€Å"Parrot Head† and she has all kinds of Margaritaville brand products from bags games, to Adirondack  chairs to a huge fake palm tree in her backyard and travels to Las Vegas to go to the casino. It is reported Jimmy Buffet has a net worth of over $400 million dollars with his branding and although was a decent musician he has become a marketing giant with his branding. What kind of opportunities does the existence of the Buffett community present to marketers? Develop a list of specific marketing and promotional tactics. The opportunities are endless for the Margar itaville community as long as they are not violating the trademark or bootlegging the products. If you are an entrepreneurial type of person you could work with Margaritaville and develop products that are marketed towards this reference group or could be part of several type of businesses that use this branding or other similar products. Here is a list of promotional tactics one could use to market to this reference group. The Margaritaville line implies quality, value and good times and has a colorful tropical theme and can be put on all different kinds of merchandise that could be sold through several distribution channels. Margaritaville clothing line Restaurant Franchise Hotels Casinos Grocery stores Music stores retailing Jimmy Buffet music Liquor stores Books Clothing lines Parrot Head Hats Sunglasses Club for community charity The Margaritaville brand continues to expand and as new booming markets are created you can see the branding take advantage of those markets that are growing. References Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, Being (10th ed.). (2013). Saddle River, NJ: Michael R. Soloman. Reference Group Definition – Sociology. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://sociology.about.com/od/R_Index/g/Reference-Group.htm What Is a Brand Community? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-brand-community.htm Margaritaville: A Brand Anything But Wasting Away | Beneath the Brand. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.talentzoo.com/beneath-the-brand/blog_news.php?articleID=15368 Parrot Heads in Paradise Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.phip.com/

Sports Comparing Them to Now and in the Early 1920’s

Hi my name is Gilbert I was born on September 7th, 1901 and play baseball for the Yankees. I have now been playing on the Yankees for 7 years, since 1921. Baseball for America is our most popular sport and everybody watches it. It is what everybody does and follows their players and team. We players are very skilled and this all comes to us naturally through hard work and effort. We don’t play this game for money and fame; we do it because we love it and put so much passion into it.Hi my name is Peyton Manning I play quarterback for the Denver Broncos. I chose to play here because I got offered to pay the most here. I also decided to play here because the division is going to be easy and I figured it would be easy to win. Football is a great game because it is the sport now that everybody loves in Americas, people love going to games and following their teams and doing stuff like fantasy football. Football takes a lot of skill effort but now days it is driven by money and fame .The similarities in the two stories is that both sports take a lot of effort and skill, the two sports were Americas most popular sport at the time, and lastly both were players that played on the teams. The differences is that the most popular sport used to be baseball now it is football, the players don’t just do it cause they love it, they do it for money and fame. Also some more differences is back in the day players did it naturally and now a lot of times today they use steroids.

Teaching, Reading and Writing for Students Who are Deaf and Hard of Case Study

Teaching, Reading and Writing for Students Who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) - Case Study Example According to Cornish (2011, p.20), high numbers of children in remote areas develop hearing loss, with some having no eardrums. It is however certain that children with hearing loss perform poorly academically. The basics of learning in kindergarten involve repeating what the teacher has said, however, for DHH students, this mission is close to impossible. The author adds that these children have a high chance of dropping out in school as they feel stupid, therefore developing behavioral problems, and hence at risk of being arrested or imprisoned. Nevertheless, there exist several forms of languages and communication used by deaf or hard hearing students. Forms of Communication Used by Instructors and DHH Students Teaching, Reading and Writing fluency American Sign Language (ASL) is a widely used language among the deaf in United States of America and in Canada; this sign language relies mostly on English. ASL is regarded as the first language for the deaf or hard of hearing students ; whereby, these students are expected to acquire this sign language first. It is a visual English language that has no written components, and involves symbolic terms; therefore, students must be capable of translating texts into an understandable format (White, 2011, p.21). It is considered an easier first language since it is mostly used at an early age for those born with DHH. Manually Encoded English is another communication system used by those with DHH; this system represents words in English sentences by signs from the American Sign Language. Cued speech use mouth movement to differentiate the sounds of the spoken language from one another, with an aim... This paper stresses that DHH students experience social difficulties especially around their hearing peers, however, when these two groups of students participated in similar activities, the level of interaction increased. Family involvement in DHH student’s social lives can influence the social outcomes, since parents act like coaches for their children. Therefore, they are able to discuss challenging issues that are facing their children, thus encouraging them to developing social interactions with their peers. This report makes a conclusion that there is limited research on oral reading fluency of DHH students; nevertheless, measures to improve reading skills for these particular students should be implemented. This research proves that DHH students continue to drag behind compared to their hearing peers academically. However, with the involvement of parents, DHH students are able to achieve confidence. Therefore, parents of such students should take the first step towards learning sign language in order to be effective in communication, hence capable of motivating their children. DHH students are affected by the challenge of achievements academically; however, graphic novels among other learning approaches have proved to be efficient in communicating to DHH students. Students who are deaf or hard of hearing may encounter challenging issues that they cannot address because of the nature of their disability.

Stakeholders For Barwa and Emaar Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Stakeholders For Barwa and Emaar - Essay Example Based on this diverse industry portfolio, it can be deduced that Barwa has wide range of clients and they have all individual and distinct impact on Barwa. For example, shareholders, who are the real owners of the company, expect that the company should improve its financial figures by reporting higher net profit margin, earnings per share and so on. On the other hand, Emaar has more diverse business portfolio than the one reflected by Barwa. For example, Emaar operates in real estate, financial institutions, development industries, tourism industry, technologies and community management (hotel and resorts), shopping malls, strategic investment and industries as well (Group Structure, n.d.). Based on this analysis, it can be reflected that the Emaar shareholders expect more from the company management as the company has rich and diverse experience in the field of construction and real estate as well. Each stakeholder has own interests and concerns in both companies. For example, clients expect that both Barwa and Emaar provide quality construction and real estate services including timely completion of agreed construction and real estate projects and providing quality material, labor, cost estimations and so on. At the same time, the financial institutions, including investment and commercial banks and other loan providing agencies, are also concerned that both Emaar and Barwa should remain financially healthy and sound as their financial health enables them to maintain commercial relations with them; similarly, they are also concerned that both Emaar and Barwa must maintain their financial integrity and transparency as well. By having stable financial integrity and transparency, many financial institutions will be willing to extend loan or credit facility to both companies. Furthermore, the current and potential investors are highly interested and concerned to observe financial stability and financial

Corporate finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Corporate finance - Essay Example What is however important to note that these crises were largely unanticipated as they emerged due to the subprime mortgages which form a very little percentage of the overall activity that take place in the financial markets. This therefore raises the question of how many investors actually mispriced the risk that has to be included into the pricing of the securities given the fact that market participants always form rational expectations about the future equilibrium prices. Rational Expectations theory forms the basis of some of the most important macroeconomic models in recent times. The formation of the efficient market hypothesis is also one of the macroeconomic models which utilizes the rational expectations theory and assert that market participants always form rational expectations about the future equilibrium prices. Thus it is useless in predicting the future financial crises as the market participants already discount such future information into their risk calculations.(Hui & Lui, 2002). However, despite such theoretical assumptions, the current global financial crises were more of a shock for most of the participants as they emerged out of blue and affected almost every market on the earth. This paper will attempt to discuss the question of predicting the future financial crises in the light of efficient market hypothesis and rational expectations and will attempt to answer the question by considering the current global financial crises. The current financial crises has slowed down the pact of economic growth in many countries including US and UK and many governments have to inject money in order to save their financial systems from complete collapse. These financial crises apparently emerged due to the imprudent banking practices and resulting lending into the subprime mortgage sector. Over the period of time, the competition for banks became stronger and banks, thanks to de-regulation, were allowed to engage themselves into practices which

Management Accounting & Activity Based Costing Essay

Management Accounting & Activity Based Costing - Essay Example production process encompasses various activities such as operation of machines, maintaining the machinery, as well as supervising the production process. Operators operate the machines; maintenance mechanics perform the machine set ups and maintain machines when molding and the supervisors provide supervision for the maintenance mechanics and machine operators. Other activities include building, administration and sales. The resources used include energy for the set-up and molding process by the molding machines. Machines consume 6.3KW of energy on an hourly basis. Also, other consumable shop supplies like lubricants and hoses form the major resources within the company. A cost driver refers to characteristics of events or activities which results in business incurring costs. Activity based costing have the products consuming activities and the activities consume the resources (Kallunki& Hanna 2008, p. 62-79). In the case study above, the production process has the number of orders and number of set up machines as the cost drivers.The Cost drivers for machine operation include the number of the operators and machines available. Machine maintenance cost drivers include the number of machines to be maintained and the number of technicians. The supervision cost drivers include the number of supervisors and number of people to supervise. Cost drivers for the building include insurance and rent costs. Number of machine hour in production may be used in calculating the rate of machine hour relating to repair, depreciation and maintenance processes. Also, the production process will have the number of inspections as the cost drivers. In making of the product, inspection for quality evaluation requires the appointment of experts who consume money in terms of salary, travel, electricity, as well as the depreciation of the equipment. The overheads may be calculated based on the number of tests. Each batch requires 4 tests, and suppose the available batches are 200,

Access to health care in Canada Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Access to health care in Canada - Essay Example Canadian health care is often referred to as Medicare. The official website explains the system as a collection of national health insurance programs, designed to ascertain that all the citizens have appropriate access to â€Å"medically necessary hospital and physician services†. The health care system is primarily framed by the Canada Health Act (CHA), a federal legislation which propagates conditions regarding the obtainment of funds for health care services by Canadian provinces and territories. CHA specifies the particular conditions and criteria which must be met by provincial and territorial health care insurance plans, which would ultimately translate into qualification for receiving the specified share from the federal cash contribution. Canadian federal government encourages the provincial government to co-operate and follow national standards by incentivizing the conformity. The federal government agrees to pay 50% of the cost for such provincially administered heal th care systems. There are five major principles which are included in CHA (Canadian-healthcare.org, 2004); Public Administration: Health insurance must be administered, at a provincial level, by a public authority which functions on a non-profit basis. The principles of accountability apply to all such service providers and their records are subjected to audits as well. Wolper (2011) has praised Canadian health care system by saying, â€Å"Canada indirectly provides healthcare services through a tax-funded public system which is accessible by all Canadians". The primary objective of Canadian health care policy is to â€Å"protect, promote and restore physical and mental well-being of residents of Canada† (Di, 2010). The purpose also includes facilitation and accessibility of the reasonable health services, without having to face any financial crisis by the citizens (Justice Law Website, 2012). The

Blue ocean strategy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Blue ocean strategy - Research Paper Example Due to these underlining causes, the strategy of BOS is offered high concentration by the organizations operating in this era, among many other rival players (Kim & Mauborgne, 2013). The product, Yellow Tail of Casella Wines of Australia needs to implement the strategy of Blue Ocean as it might prove effective in developing new markets as well as wide range of customers. Other than this, by implementation of Blue Ocean strategy, the organization of Yellow Wine might offer more concentration over wine market as compared to others. This strategy might highlights its market segments in a more effective way such as wine drinkers, easy to go drinkers like beer, cocktail, soft drinks etc as well as any individual desiring to attain a refreshing feeling. However, in order to increase its range of customers or to reach beyond the existing demand, extensive promotion or campaigns is essential. Other than this, the organization of Yellow Wine is implementing Blue Ocean in order to reduce driving cost by amplifying the values of the products. This might prove extremely effective for the customers, thereby amplifying their demand and loyalty over the brand among many other rival players. By doing so, maximum extent of the customers desiring to drink wine or beer might get attracted towards the product line that may increase its productivity in the market among others. Along with this, the position and loyalty of the product line of wine might also get improved to a significant extent. Hence, due to these underlining reasons, the organization of Casella Wines might try to implement Blue Ocean strategy so as to amplify its portfolio and brand value in this competitive market among many other rival players. So, the popularity and demand of Blue Ocean Strategy is increasing day by day. Red Ocean Strategy is a strategy used to compete with the existing rival players

Explore the types of work products relevant to assessment of Essay

Explore the types of work products relevant to assessment of Capability Level 2 in the Software Requirements Analysis Process - Essay Example In the capability dimension, six capability levels and nine corresponding process attributes are defined. These are presented in Table 2.1. The measurement for all process attributes is done on a four-point scale. The process dimension of this framework classifies the processes into Process categories and groups. Software Requirements Analysis is a part of the Software Implementation Process (DEV) within Software Life cycle Processes. Table 2.1: ISO/IEC 15504 – Process Capability Levels & Process Attributes Level Number Level Name Process Attribute Number Process Attribute Name 0 Incomplete Process - - 1 Performed Process 1.1 Process Performance 2 Managed Process 2.1 Performance Management 2.2 Work Product Management 3 Established Process 3.1 Process Definition 3.2 Process Deployment 4 Predictable Process 4.1 Process Measurement 4.2 Process Control 5 Optimizing Process 5.1 Process Innovation 5.2 Process Optimization 3. Software Requirements Analysis Process – Purpose & Outcomes The purpose of this process is to identify and establish the requirements for the software elements of the system. As an outcome of successful implementation of this process the accuracy and testability of software requirements is established. It is made sure that the software requirements are consistent and in line with system requirements. The priorities of the requirements are established and their impact on cost and effort estimates is analyzed (ISO/IEC FDAM 15504-5: 2011, p.72). 4. Basic work products for Software Requirements Analysis Process This section details the work products required for Software Requirements Analysis Process, their justification, characteristics and outcomes (ISO/IEC FDAM 15504-5: 2011, ISO/IEC 15504-2:2003). I. Contract Contract implies an agreement between two parties (internal or external to the organization) regarding the scope of deliverables, time required to deliver them, statutory considerations, cost of delivery, service level agreemen ts, performance evaluation criteria, review and approval procedure. A contract is required for software requirements analysis process so that the scope of the requirements to be identified is frozen to prevent any issues later. Contract is the most important document for ant stage or project and is also referred as SOW (Statement of Work) in some cases. As an outcome of this work product, the organization would be to chart its project plans. II. User Documentation User documentation is in fact required at every stage of software development process. But it is very critical for Software Requirements Analysis process because it acts as a basis for other processes. This documentation would be referred in design, development and testing phases significantly. Documentation could include both internal as well as external documentation. III. Plan A plan is essential at every stage of software life cycle process but becomes very vital for requirements analysis phase. Plan consists of object ives, scope, assumptions, constraints, risks, milestones, deliverables, methods, resources and schedules involved in requirements analysis. There may be a large overlap between contract and plan. Whereas a contract is generally between two parties, a plan may not be shared with the other party. IV. Policy Policy is a set of rules or

Solar Energy Essay Example for Free

Solar Energy Essay Solar Energy is one of the many renewable sources that is produced by the sun in the form of light and heat. It is one of the most important non-conventional sources of energy due to the fact that its free and we have plenty of it. Humans have been using it since ancient times. Solar energy can be use two ways, we can convert it into heat energy or it can converted into electricity. It has had a rapid growth in recent years, accounting for less than one percent of electricity used in the United States today. The market exceeds sales of 29 billion dollars and 1. billion of that money goes to the United States alone with California leading the way. Solar panels give off no pollution, the only pollution produced as a result is the goods and devices needed to make the panels. Some renewable fuels can be noisy like wind turbines, solar energy makes electricity quietly. Installing solar panels in remote locations is usually more cost effective than laying high voltage wires. It can be very efficient in large areas, and with technologies improving everyday, it allows for more efficient energy production on overcast and dull days. Another great example is that panels can be installed on top of rooftops which allows for more space. The use of solar energy to make electricity allows the user to become less dependent on the worlds fossil fuel supplies. This is very good for the environment. Just like everything good, solar energy has its cons. The cost it takes to make the cells for the solar panels can be very expensive and some houses may need more than one. Another example is that some panels required the sun all day, so that means that in the nighttime, the panels are not producing energy. Also weather can affect the efficiency of solar cells. Even with all the cons, the pros still outweigh the cons when it comes to solar energy. Take china for example, it has become the top country in green energy especially in solar power. It accounted for half the world’s production last year and the top three companies in China all said that the numbers are rising. Since they have become successful, more countries are looking towards solar energy. Shell has predicted that by 2040 more than 50 percent of the world’s energy will come from renewable sources. In the end, the future of solar energy promises to play a larger role thanks to the developments that could result in lower cost. As a matter of fact, the solar PV industry plans to provide half of all the United States electricity generation by the year 2025. That means that in the next few years it is expected that millions of households in the world will be using solar energy. More and more people especially architects are becoming aware and are recognizing the value of solar panels and learning how to incorporated into the building designs. This will be better for the environment and overall for the people. Who wouldn’t want lower electricity bills and greener world.

The Facebook In Education English Language Essay

The Facebook In Education English Language Essay Facebook is a networking site, which connects people all over the world, making the Earth a global village. This social networking giant was launched by Mark Zuckerberg and his friends. The website mainly aims at connecting people or helps them socialise and makes its revenue out of advertising. This paper mainly tries to tell what facebook is all about, and concentrates on how it can be used for educational purposes. It also highlights few of the security problems faced by the users of facebook. This paper mainly tells about the student- teacher interaction, students council on facebook and how it will be useful to their education above and beyond portraying results of a FB opinion poll which can divulge and justify the creation of this study. INTRODUCTION: Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his roommates at Harvard. He initially founded a website called Facemash for Harvard students. Since the website attracted many users, he was motivated to programme Facebook. Initially, the usage of this website was limited to Harvard students. Later, seeing the response that this website received, it was extended to the students of other universities as well. In 2009, the services of this website were made global to anyone above the age of 13. The users of this website have to create an account using a valid email- id. Each user has a separate profile, which bears some personal information about the user. Users can edit their profile, add pictures, post on their wall (a wall is a private space provided by this webpage. It is more or less like a personal notice board, where in, users can write, comment, add videos, pictures, etc.), send messages (the message option is more or less like the email and is a secure communication link) or even poke their friends (a partially fun and partially boring event to let other users know that you exist). Users are also allowed to customize the privacy settings for their profiles, where, the contents of their profiles will be viewed only by their friends, or a selected, customized few. Any registered user can search for and add any other member as friend, provided the other person accepts the friend request. Users can also categorise their friends as close friends, family, high school friends, etc to keep track of their close ones activities. Further, users are allowed to create or join groups of their interests. Users are also allowed to create Events and send out online invitations with the RSVP option thus providing the organizer an efficient and simple tool to make their organizing a huge success! Facebook also provides notifications, where in users are reminded about various important happenings, meetings, dates, etc. This interface also informs users if they have been tagged on someone-elses profile. Facebook provides the chart, calendar and clock applications as well. Facebook has emerged as a new dais not only for mere communication but for learning and teaching as well. With the help of breakthrough technology, facebook is supported in all mobiles, tabs and computers. This indeed has turned FB as a teaching platform where we can share materials, have a discussion, conduct contests and assessments and above all it requires no pre-training to start with [4]. Even though FB users range from school going children to elderly people, the ratio of teens and college students is substantially large. The reasons behind this are it is a new-fangled venue to utter and convey themselves, innocuous lurking, identity marking apart from acquaintances, mythoi and quixotic affairs, which are the prime facades of juvenile growth. Elaborate cram based on the time the college youth spend per day, how and why they exercise FB also portray the same end results [13]. From both the students and teachers point of view, facebook can be efficaciously practiced as a social network; Students envision FB as a course and mà ©tier for vigorous participation, to solidify self pride and poise etc whereas rendering inferential outcomes, explicating diverse didactics, adapting and updating to the scenario of expectations of students etc are some added vantages to the teachers [3]. Another angle of approach is how facebook can be made use of to dig into instructors strike of self-revelation which tops on a students reliability in addition to immediate apprehension. Studies are going on in this invited research area which analyses the essence of computer-liaised teacher disclosure. Facebook is likely happened to be a worthy asset to abide academic alliance with faculty. Findings indicate that the latters self-revealing tendency may stimulate students for efficacious learning by means of interactive sessions [6, 11]. Prior to be used for educational purposes, FB is nowadays used by the students to pre-register to engage with an educational institution, to socialize and to integrate with the other students [2]. Detailed works shed light on social networks evolution, peoples horizon, FBs entailment on executives, its prospects on campus networking in time to come and also mentionable is interface with studying environs [8]. Apart from just learning, it definitely acts as a powerful medium in spreading a social matter which draws attention of millions in just a few seconds. More theories deal with this thought and several analyses are done for the practical possibilities [1]. Apart from general studies, finical reports state that several SNSs (certainly including FB) have come under daily cum inevitable means of (academic) communication. Statistics, surveys, questionnaires etc render helping hand to know the diversified impression of SNSs. Having mentioned that, via those one can come to an idea of their grandness, innovation, requisite, uses and intention. Though SNSs have some drawbacks, their overhaul and resources have grown their usance to a phenomenal extent and, which, now have become very common. Some grounds of FB which have made it unimaginably popular are self expression, entertainment quotient, maintaining relations, visual familiarity, global updates of all forms, media drenching, following famous icons regularly etc. [7,9]. Not only meant for entertainment and educational platform, through FB, researchers across the globe are experiment the mental attitude, especially of students, depression references. There exist some strategies to approach a person who have expressed his/her personal opinion about something or somebody. Since it is now a rising issue, this topic is worth discussion [5]. A mathematical experiment on FB and its users reveal the approximate percentage of the genders, the time each race spend, various purposes like chatting, finding friends, lurking, work and event reminder, multimedia sharing, games, business and many more [12]. Thus, Through FB walls, students can keep up tight-knit links, call off one, and establish new contacts, not only generally but with other institutions as well. As far as students are concerned, they can share and exchange information about both teaching and learning and can develop themselves better practically than by being bookish. It definitely introduced an online fashion where people can get together with their near and dears and distant pals [10]. http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSS8X54-PUsZBG3dGKIjT3eqsNpN-HERvBQ4MVw_OrCvban6QZXTw The above picture is that of a facebook profile. THE USAGE OF FACEBOOK FOR NETWORKING PURPOSES: This networking giant is the second most used website in the world and has an online traffic of about 900 million across the world. This website is not only a platform for networking but is also useful in bettering education, making news more accessible, advertising and promoting businesses, etc,. Because of the variety of applications provided by this network, it has almost become ubiquitous. THE USE OF FACEBOOK AS A GLOBAL CLASSROOM: A lot of teachers today feel that since the usage of facebook is very familiar with students across the globe, it may prove to provide an upper hand in their education, if used properly. Teachers and students may become facebook friends. That way, teachers may know a lot about their students personally. The student teacher interaction which may not be plausible in the classroom may be made possible online. Teachers and students can post study related videos and articles on their wall, for other students to view and learn. If students and teachers are facebook friends, students will be able to ask doubts any time and get clarified based on the availability of the staff online. If the topics and dates of submission for assignments are posted on facebook, it would be convenient for both the staff and the student. This networking may create a bonding between the preacher and the preached that may not be possible in todays classrooms. http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQXfXWpQFLMswGgkIzEXGEd0oNeZrPI7lcUH4wy094nMH30wiZAtAThis picture shows how networking is made easier by writing in some ones wall on facebook THE USE OF FACEBOOK AS A STUDENTS COUNSEL: An online forum or group may be created in facebook wherein students can counsel among themselves. Such groups may be very interactive and useful for students to do group activities and combined studies. A new innovative idea of any student may be shared among their fellow beings any time, and discussed. Discussion about any topic on their subject or any assignment may be done online and students may get a good participation from other fellow students. THE CRITICS ARGUEMENT: Critics however say that students and teachers should not be friends on facebook because it changes the entire relationship between the teacher and the taught. A few people also say that teachers or students may misuse or take advantage of this online friendship. A survey conducted by Kirschner and Karpinski on the students of Midwestern University, USA, states that students spending time in facebook were found to have lesser GPA, than the ones not using facebook. Though this might not be the only reason for these students reduced GPA, this might also have accounted for it. This might be true in the western part of world. But an emphatic study at universities in the eastern part of the world, show that the usage of facebook and GPA are not related. THE THREAT FOR PRIVACY ON FACEBOOK: There is always a threat for privacy in facebook. With the increasing use of pseudo identity by unlawful people, there is even more of a security threat on facebook. But, according to a study conducted on students, they did not face any real time security problems (for example, being stalked by strangers either online or in the real world) because of using facebook. Also, not a lot of students care about their identity being disclosed on facebook. THE STUDENTS USAGE OF FACEBOOK FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES: A survey, via a questionnaire was conducted on about two hundred and fifty students of SASTRA University. The following questions were asked and the students were requested to answer them briefly. Name: Age: Gender: The time that you spend on facebook: Your marks in %: The number of hours that you spend online: The activities that you do in facebook: Can facebook be used in education: yes no If yes, please elaborate: If no, please elaborate: Does facebook in any way help you in your academics: Does the use of facebook affect your studies: Can facebook be used as a global classroom: yes/no If yes, please elaborate: If no, please elaborate: Can facebook be used as a students council: yes/no If yes, please elaborate: If no, please elaborate: The following results were obtained. About 86% of students reported that facebook can be used for education, 64% of them told that facebook helps them in their academics, 70% of them agreed that facebook does not affect their studies, 68% of them voted that this networking site could be used as a global class room, 83% of them voiced that the networking giant could be used as a students counsil. CONCLUSION: As we all know, there are two sides to a coin, to an untold story and to every other thing on earth. Everything has its pros and cons. Hence, facebook, if used properly can be made a powerful educational tool. But, the students who spent more than six hours on facebook were found to have lost interest in studies and eventually, their GPA were less. But, the advantages of facebook can be made to outweigh its disadvantages if educators start using facebook as an educational tool. In conclusion, this study is all about fore fronting the emerging phases of Facebook with special attention to education and academic purposes. Therefore, this paper triggers empiric and theoretical probe on academic activities in Facebook.

Marriage is a Sacred Union between Man and Woman Essay -- Gay Marriage

Marriage is Sacred Marriage has always been a sacred agreement between a man and a woman. This definition was written in the Bible and sanctified by God. Our country was founded on the principles of the Bible and therefore should not support an action, such as legalizing gay marriage, which goes against our founding beliefs. When it comes to the issue of gay marriage, Americans have many different views. Research shows that the majority of Americans oppose gay marriage, but when it comes to deciding who should make the laws, Americans are split in half (Bayles 6). 48% of Americans said that the federal government should make the laws and 46% say it should be left to the states (6). This information shows that the majority of Americans have strong opinions about the issue, but don’t know of any way to solve the issue (6). The controversy of gay marriage is seen even in groups who support strong marriages. Author Karen Peterson uses her article to address the issue of how gay marriage sits with the â€Å"marriage movement,† the coalition of professionals dedicated to strengthening marriages (7). This movement has successfully included pro-marriage initiatives across America and formed new high school courses on relationships (Peterson 7). Peterson finds that the â€Å"marriage movement† has many different views within itself and struggles with the question of â€Å"How can one be a proponent of marriage in general but oppose marriages between gays† (7). David Blankenhorn who is the founder of the Institute for American Values and an important member of the coalition, says that they hope to settle the issue and no longer be silent about it. The coalition hopes to participate in and improve the nationa... ... come from this decision. Allowing gays to marry will go against American history and simply cause problems for the people of America now and in the future. Works Cited Bayles, Fred, and Andrea Stone. â€Å"Gay-marriages foes try to stop ‘activist courts.’† USA Today 25 Feb. 2004: 06a. Bennett, William. â€Å"Leave Marriage Alone.† Newsweek 3 June 1996: 27. Breslau, Karen, Brad Stone, Debra Rosenberg and Tamara Lipper. â€Å"Outlaw Vows.† Newsweek 1 Mar. 2004: 40. â€Å"Broken marriages, not gay nuptials, pose risk to kids.† USA Today 23 Feb. 2004: 18a. Peterson, Karen S. â€Å"On gays, ‘marriage movement’ is on both sides of the aisle.† USA Today 4 Aug. 2003: 07d. Sullivan, Andrew. â€Å"Let Gays Marry.† Newsweek 3 June 1996: 26. Taylor, Chris. â€Å"I Do: No You Don’t.† Time 1 Mar. 2004: 3c. â€Å"USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll.† USA Today 24 Feb. 2004: 06d.

Discuss the function of the Inspector in An Inspector Calls Essay

Discuss the function of the Inspector in An Inspector Calls John Boynton Priestly in 1945 wrote the play ‘An Inspector Calls’ but set it in 1912. This time difference creates a sense of dramatic irony as the play was written after it was set. The audience would be aware of the events which had taken place between 1912 and 1945, including world war one and two which they would no doubt have experience first hand. ‘An Inspector Calls’ was first performed in Russia, Moscow. This is significant because of the Russian Revolution, which was a system of collective social responsibility where the sate owned everything and used the wealth to look after its citizens. As England was left destroyed due to the world war, therefore there would have been very few playhouses, so Russia had to be alternative for performing the play. The play is set in three scenes. The entire play is set in the dining room of Mr Birling’s house. In contrast this creates claustrophobia and tension as the characters in the play feel as if they are trapped, nowhere to go until the truth is revealed. Although the play is about the death of a young girl called Eva Smith who has committed suicide. Due to this mysterious death, the Birling family has a nasty surprise waiting. The Birling’s are meant to have a high status in their community and they all have done bad things, which has forced a young woman to kill herself. In the play, it reveals what each of them did which leads to Eva Smiths death. As the play concludes we find out that, the inspector has been questioning the Birling family for moral values and their sense of social responsibilities. The inspector is not only a character in the play; he is a dramatic device who has seve... ...w yet, Are you sure you don't know†. J.B Priestly purposely does not use a question mark in this quote to show that the Inspector already knows the answer. This affects the characters as they are firstly surprised on how much knowledge the inspector has and the Birlings cannot give a straight answer. The Inspector knows so much about Eva smith due to finding her diary and some letters. â€Å"I had an idea from something the girl herself wrote". At the start of the play, we are introduced to the Birlings who are no other than an upper class family. The whole family all seem to be living peacefully. Until the moment where it all begins, â€Å"It can’t be any worse for me than it has been. And it might be better† Sheila says. Gerald replies, â€Å"I see†. At this stage the relationship shatters and then from there on the worst is spoken by the inspector to the Birlings.

Accounting Essay -- essays research papers

Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Accounting technician is an occupation that is needed in many aspects of our society. If you like to work with mathematics, computer and money management, a suitable occupation for you is accounting technician. To achieve your goal, you need to be familiar with the job description and duties, working conditions, education and training program, job opportunities and financial aspects. Job Description and Duties   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Accounting technicians keep systematic records of business transactions. For example, they make bank deposits and reconcile records of bank transactions. These technicians also assist with accounts receivable and accounts payable records, ledgers and journals. They use computers to calculate, prepare and process invoices, accounts payable and receivable, budget documents and other routine financial records. They also have other duties, such as performing computer data entry and analysis functions, preparing, typing and mailing monthly customer statements, taking telephone orders, making up cheques and assisting with payroll calculations. Working Conditions   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Accounting technicians usually work regular weekday hours in a comfortable office environment. During peak business periods, overtime may be required. However, in the service industry, standard hours may be different. Education and Training Programs   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The educational requirements for t...

Trade blocs: Economics and politics Essay

Trading BlocsThe key term in this essay is â€Å"Trading bloc† and my interest in this term has been as a result of the major economic changes that have taken place across the world. I have been able to note that there have been great developments in international trading and business (Haftel, 2004). Economic integration is considered as the new form of reality in carrying out international business (Macho-Stadler, & Xue, 2007). Business institutions as well as governments have formulated various institutions, agreements and treaties which help in dealing with trade differences, allow and boost the movement of goods, services and trade across boundaries of countries involved (Chase, 2005). Furthermore, my interest is as a result of the business relationships that I have noted between my country and that of the other nations. A â€Å"Trading bloc† can be defined as countries that have come together to form a set that is closely involved in business and international trade with each other. The countries that form the trading blocs are often related to each other through a mutual agreement known as â€Å"free trade agreement or even other form of association which promotes trade within those countries and among the countries involved (Macho-Stadler, & Xue, 2007). The trading blocs often have rules and regulations which have been set to govern how the member countries relate with each other on business and international trade matters while separate rules and regulations set for non-members that want to trade with the member countries (Egger, 2004). The purpose of the trading blocs’ formation is to help eliminate trade barriers as well as help improve coordination and cooperation among member countries in terms of international trade. The different types include Free Trade Areas, Common Market, Customs Union, Economic Union and Political Union (Krishna, 2005). Article Summary             The article â€Å"From the Outside Looking In: The Effect of Trading Blocs on Trade Disputes in the GATT/WTO†, written by Haftel, Y. Z. (2004) is a journal that discusses the effect of trading blocs on resolution of trade disputes between member countries. There have been major expansion and increase in the number of trading blocs in international trade, which have become part of the economies across the world (Haftel, 2004). Trading blocs have negative effects on third parties whereby there is multilateral trade taking place between countries and non-member countries. Non-member countries are often affected negatively as a result of the trading blocs as compared to the way the member countries are affected. The non-member states often tend to take political action against the trading blocs, which in turn results in to negative effects and fails to assist in the resolution of trade disputes (Haftel, 2004). From this article, the author notes that WTO (World Trade Organization) has become one of the major organizations that help in enhancing international or multilateral trade between countries across the world. The WTO has a system through which disputes can be settled between countries that are in disagreement on trade issues (Haftel, 2004). Furthermore, the author notes that there has been a lot of concentration by scholars on the effects that trading blocs have on the members and on the other hand they have paid very little, if any, attention to the effects that those trading blocs have on third parties or the non-member states. Trading blocs affect the prices of products from non-member states whereby the member states enjoy better prices for their produce as compared to the non-members, despite producing similar products (Haftel, 2004). The third parties often suffer since the members of the trading blocs change trade the products of the member countries, which in some cases are often cheap (Haftel, 2004). This in turn affects their production since the market share that their products command is overtaken by the trading blocs’ members. Formation of trading blocs has been part of international trade and nearly every country across the world has engaged in trading blocs (Haftel, 2004). However, despite the fact that trading blocs attract a lot of attention, scholars as well as policymakers have failed to fully define and appreciate the fact that these trading blocs have negative impacts on third parties and other multilateral institutions. Non-Member states often feel short-changed hence resulting in a lot of disputes brought by the non-member states (Haftel, 2004). Discussion             The primary reason that brought about the formation of trading blocs by countries across the world was to help improve on international trade between members by eliminating trade barriers (Macho-Stadler, & Xue, 2007). The members of a trading bloc enjoy several benefits which include free movement of goods and services between member states, reduction of trade tariffs on their products, and improvement of economic standards of the member countries. Furthermore, trading blocs also help in the improvement of cooperation and collaboration between member states hence political and economic stability in the member states (Krishna, 2005). Furthermore, trading blocs helps improve on competition, increase in productivity as well as affordability in price of products. In addition, it has also been seen that trading blocs helps in creation of employment in the member countries as a result of the increase in trade within the region hence better living standards for the citiz ens of the member countries. However, as noted by Haftel, (2004), trading bloc benefits the members while on the other hand, causes a lot of negative economic impacts on the non-member states. The formation of trading blocs often endangers firms that are less efficient in the non-member states since they lack the market for their products (Haftel, 2004). There is also the danger of over-exploitation of the countries that are less efficient by countries that are efficient, hence causing an increase the wealth-gap whereby the advanced countries continue to become richer while countries that are less developed become poorer. Therefore, it is important to strike a balance on how member states and the non-member countries can continue to trade (Egger, 2004). Despite trading blocs being important in international trade, disputes will continue to arise from the non-member countries since there is no uniformity in trade regulations. References Chase, K. A. (2005). Trading blocs: States, firms, and regions in the world economy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Egger, P. (2004). Estimating Regional Trading Bloc Effects with Panel Data. Review Of World Economics, 140(1), 151-166. Haftel, Y. Z. (2004). From the Outside Looking In: The Effect of Trading Blocs on Trade Disputes in the GATT/WTO. International Studies Quarterly, 48(1), 121-142. doi:10.1111/j.0020-8833.2004.00294.x Krishna, P. (2005). Trade blocs: Economics and politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Macho-Stadler, I., & Xue, L. (2007). Winners and Losers from the Gradual Formation of Trading Blocs. Economica, 74(296), 664-681. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0335.2007.00589.x Source document

Birth Control in China: the One Child Policy

Population Control In China â€Å" There are many ways to make the death rate increase† (Robert McNamara). The regulation of population via forced abortions, forced sterilizations, infanticide, and government programs does not only hurt the economy, but continuously damages it to a point of weakness and downfall. Population control in China has been hurting the Chinese people and destroying the Chinese economy for a span of 65 years, and continues to cause conflict even today. The one-child policy that exists within China’s communist government has and will continue to devastate the Chinese economy if forced sterilizations and abortions continue.Population control in China has been prevalent in the Chinese economy ever since the communists took over china in 1949. When Mao Zedong took over as the dictator of China in the 1950’s, he proposed what he called â€Å"The Great Leap Forward† (â€Å"China Passes the One-Child Policy† 1). This giant movement encouraged the peoples of China â€Å"to have as many kids as possible in order to prove China’s greatness as the world’s most populous country† (â€Å"China Passes the One-Child Policy† 1). Due to a major increase in China’s population, â€Å"famine and disease† became a major concern for the Chinese government (â€Å"China† 1).The â€Å"Wan Xi Shao† Program was introduced as a way to regulate China’s population by â€Å"promoting later marriages, longer intervals between births, and fewer children† (â€Å"One-child Policy† 1). â€Å"Deng Xiaoping† proposed the â€Å"wan Xi Shao† program in 1978 when he came to power; however, it was not passed until 1979 (â€Å"China† 2). The Wan Xi Shao program eventually evolved into the one-child policy which Encouraged and promoted the same ideals as the Wan Xi Shao program, but provided government funds to those Chinese families that followed th e policies (Friedman 5).With no â€Å"birth-control policy before the communists took over China in 1949, the fertility rate was 3. 7% per year†; As of a census in 2002, â€Å"the annual fertility rate in china has been reduced to 1. 2%† (â€Å"One-child Policy† 4,5). Chinese families are currently being pressured into having only one child by the communist government and the policies held by the government in China. The one-child policy was â€Å"designed to curb the overpopulation from the 1950’s-1980’s by limiting families to having only one child† (â€Å"China Passes the One-Child Policy† 1).The One-child policy is mostly encouraged on â€Å"a local level† instead of a federal level (â€Å"China† 4). For each extra child, or â€Å"surplus† child, the family is required to pay fines and financial penalties. Also, these â€Å"surplus† children are ineligible for â€Å"extra bonuses and special programsâ €  funded by the Chinese government (â€Å"China Passes the One-Child Policy† 4). In many rural parts of china, where the policy is less enforced, a family who has a first born female child may be allowed to have a second child â€Å"without being subjected to fees† (â€Å"China Passes the One-Child Policy† 5).This is because of the country’s traditional preference for boys; boys will regularly carry on the family name and care for their elderly parents. This is an example of the policy being enforced less federally and more locally where families can be accounted for. Also, in order to â€Å"promote ethnic minorities†, non-Han/Chinese families are encouraged to have more than one child without being subjected to any fees (â€Å"China† 6). However, even with these birth control policies in effect, â€Å"China’s population still ranks first in the world with 1,306,313,812 residents as of 2006† (â€Å"One-child Policy† 6).At this rate, â€Å"the number of people living in china is predicted to be as high as 1. 5 billion in 2025† (â€Å"One-child Policy† 7). If population regulation policies continue to be in effect in China, a massive gender imbalance may occur within the population of China. The Han, or Chinese culture’s, â€Å"traditional preference for boys† has led to many acquisitions of â€Å"female infanticide and abandonment† (Friedman 2). This means that because of the Han’s traditional preference boys, they have participated in killing off their female children.This may result in a large gender imbalance and may prove â€Å"disastrous to Chinese society in the future† (â€Å"One-child Policy†3). This imbalance within the Chinese population will eventually create a â€Å"shortage of women and leave some men unable to marry and reproduce† (Friedman 1). When these men will not be able to reproduce, a steady rise in â€Å"the il legal trafficking of women for marriage and prostitution† will occur in order to satisfy their needs (â€Å"One-child Policy† 13). Along with the rise in prostitution and trafficking of women, an increase in â€Å"the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases† will be imminent (Friedman 4).There are not many solutions to this particular problem and all of these solutions are delicate topics to discuss. The controversy on human rights in china is not likely to go away as long as it is argued in terms of â€Å"freedom vs. stability† (Shanor 2). As long as we are arguing for the people’s freedom of choice against the stability of a communist nation, a debate will never be won. Change may only come to china as it continues â€Å"to modernize and begins to see the extension of the rule of law not as a threat but as an advantage to its development† (Shanor 2).Winning this debate on human rights means â€Å"understanding that too much p ublic pressure of human rights† will only worsen the matter (Shanor 1). Only quite and gentle pressure could help such a change. The one-child policy is destroying the Chinese economy and social life within the Chinese government. The one-child policy has been in place for over 50 years and if it continues to prosper then life in china will not. Life in china will only head in a downward spiral. Population control must be terminated or it will continue to wreck and hurt the world’s economy. Birth Control in China: the One Child Policy Population Control In China â€Å" There are many ways to make the death rate increase† (Robert McNamara). The regulation of population via forced abortions, forced sterilizations, infanticide, and government programs does not only hurt the economy, but continuously damages it to a point of weakness and downfall. Population control in China has been hurting the Chinese people and destroying the Chinese economy for a span of 65 years, and continues to cause conflict even today. The one-child policy that exists within China’s communist government has and will continue to devastate the Chinese economy if forced sterilizations and abortions continue.Population control in China has been prevalent in the Chinese economy ever since the communists took over china in 1949. When Mao Zedong took over as the dictator of China in the 1950’s, he proposed what he called â€Å"The Great Leap Forward† (â€Å"China Passes the One-Child Policy† 1). This giant movement encouraged the peoples of China â€Å"to have as many kids as possible in order to prove China’s greatness as the world’s most populous country† (â€Å"China Passes the One-Child Policy† 1). Due to a major increase in China’s population, â€Å"famine and disease† became a major concern for the Chinese government (â€Å"China† 1).The â€Å"Wan Xi Shao† Program was introduced as a way to regulate China’s population by â€Å"promoting later marriages, longer intervals between births, and fewer children† (â€Å"One-child Policy† 1). â€Å"Deng Xiaoping† proposed the â€Å"wan Xi Shao† program in 1978 when he came to power; however, it was not passed until 1979 (â€Å"China† 2). The Wan Xi Shao program eventually evolved into the one-child policy which Encouraged and promoted the same ideals as the Wan Xi Shao program, but provided government funds to those Chinese families that followed th e policies (Friedman 5).With no â€Å"birth-control policy before the communists took over China in 1949, the fertility rate was 3. 7% per year†; As of a census in 2002, â€Å"the annual fertility rate in china has been reduced to 1. 2%† (â€Å"One-child Policy† 4,5). Chinese families are currently being pressured into having only one child by the communist government and the policies held by the government in China. The one-child policy was â€Å"designed to curb the overpopulation from the 1950’s-1980’s by limiting families to having only one child† (â€Å"China Passes the One-Child Policy† 1).The One-child policy is mostly encouraged on â€Å"a local level† instead of a federal level (â€Å"China† 4). For each extra child, or â€Å"surplus† child, the family is required to pay fines and financial penalties. Also, these â€Å"surplus† children are ineligible for â€Å"extra bonuses and special programsâ €  funded by the Chinese government (â€Å"China Passes the One-Child Policy† 4). In many rural parts of china, where the policy is less enforced, a family who has a first born female child may be allowed to have a second child â€Å"without being subjected to fees† (â€Å"China Passes the One-Child Policy† 5).This is because of the country’s traditional preference for boys; boys will regularly carry on the family name and care for their elderly parents. This is an example of the policy being enforced less federally and more locally where families can be accounted for. Also, in order to â€Å"promote ethnic minorities†, non-Han/Chinese families are encouraged to have more than one child without being subjected to any fees (â€Å"China† 6). However, even with these birth control policies in effect, â€Å"China’s population still ranks first in the world with 1,306,313,812 residents as of 2006† (â€Å"One-child Policy† 6).At this rate, â€Å"the number of people living in china is predicted to be as high as 1. 5 billion in 2025† (â€Å"One-child Policy† 7). If population regulation policies continue to be in effect in China, a massive gender imbalance may occur within the population of China. The Han, or Chinese culture’s, â€Å"traditional preference for boys† has led to many acquisitions of â€Å"female infanticide and abandonment† (Friedman 2). This means that because of the Han’s traditional preference boys, they have participated in killing off their female children.This may result in a large gender imbalance and may prove â€Å"disastrous to Chinese society in the future† (â€Å"One-child Policy†3). This imbalance within the Chinese population will eventually create a â€Å"shortage of women and leave some men unable to marry and reproduce† (Friedman 1). When these men will not be able to reproduce, a steady rise in â€Å"the il legal trafficking of women for marriage and prostitution† will occur in order to satisfy their needs (â€Å"One-child Policy† 13). Along with the rise in prostitution and trafficking of women, an increase in â€Å"the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases† will be imminent (Friedman 4).There are not many solutions to this particular problem and all of these solutions are delicate topics to discuss. The controversy on human rights in china is not likely to go away as long as it is argued in terms of â€Å"freedom vs. stability† (Shanor 2). As long as we are arguing for the people’s freedom of choice against the stability of a communist nation, a debate will never be won. Change may only come to china as it continues â€Å"to modernize and begins to see the extension of the rule of law not as a threat but as an advantage to its development† (Shanor 2).Winning this debate on human rights means â€Å"understanding that too much p ublic pressure of human rights† will only worsen the matter (Shanor 1). Only quite and gentle pressure could help such a change. The one-child policy is destroying the Chinese economy and social life within the Chinese government. The one-child policy has been in place for over 50 years and if it continues to prosper then life in china will not. Life in china will only head in a downward spiral. Population control must be terminated or it will continue to wreck and hurt the world’s economy.

Boutique Management System Essay

1. DESCRIPTION: The project is entitled as â€Å"BOUTIQUE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM† is developed by Visual Basic as front end and MS-Access as the back end. This project is designed to provide the easy access to maintain the reports of boutique service. This project is very useful to the all type of boutique service. By using this project we can maintain the reports of placing-order and delivery details, customer details, details, branch office details and working staff details. This project is developed with the help of visual basic 6.0. Boutique service is necessary and important for the society. A boutique is a small-scale to medium-scale shop employed to order raw dress materials, customized tailoring and delivered by the given date. Boutiques are distinguished from ordinary to expensive studio by features such as advanced techniques of perfect fashion tailoring, specialization and individualization of services, and committed delivery time, which are optional for most everyday services. As a special service, boutiques are usually expensive than usual boutique services, and their use is typically restricted to type of orders where one or more of these features are considered important enough to warrant the cost. Different boutique services operate on all scales, from within specific towns or cities, to regional, national and global services. In cities, there are often many boutique for various specialities. Owner operate alone or in small groups.. Here we design the project which involves the following data base. * Placing-Order and delivery details * Delivery Status * Customer details * Branch office details * Employee details The placing-order and delivery database contain the information about the cloth tailoring booking dates and customer name, delivery date, and delivery report. The delivery report has information such as the receiving person sign and whether the goods are delivered with good condition or not, the date and time of delivery. The customer database contains information about regular customer details such as customer name, address and their accounts details. Usually the boutique shops may or may not have branches across the cities and country so the branch office’s profit and booking, delivery details are maintained in the different database. The employee data base contain the personal details of staff such as employee name, address, data of joining, salary per month, mobile number, blood group. SYSTEM STUDY System analysis is a process of gathering the facts concerning the system breaking them into elements and relationship between elements. It provides a framework for visualizing the organizational and environmental factors that operate on a system. The quality of work performed by a machine is usually uniform, neat and more reliable when compared to doing the same operations manually. 2.1 EXISTING SYSTEM The Placing-Order details, the customer details and the Delivery Details are maintained manually. The study of the existing system revealed that the system has several drawbacks. DRAWBACKS * The existing system has no security measure against logging in and no checks are made for authorized users. * The end user has to remember a lot of command to make efficient use of the system. * The system does not have any descriptive reports and thus did not help management in decision-making. * The Delivery information per day is sometimes unable to find. * Enormous amount of time is consumed PROPOSED SYSTEM The proposed system is been developed to maintain the Boutique Management for customers to maintain the Placing-Order details, Customer details, Delivery details, etc., BENEFITS * The user can enter only if the username and the password are correct. * The process of planning will be easy since every process is computerized. * Time Saving. * The Delivery information per day and per month can be known. * The details of the all saved information can be viewed. * The data can be accessed easily whenever needed and so the manual work can be reduced SYSTEM ENVIRONMENT: HARDWARE CONFIGURATION: PROCESSOR: PENTIUM IV HARD DISK CAPACITY: 40 GB MONITOR: 14 â€Å"SAMTRON MONITOR FLOPPY DISK DRIVE: 1.44 MB PRINTER: TVS 80 COLOR INTERNAL MEMORY CAPACITY: 128 MB KEYBOARD: LOGITECH OF 104 KEYS CPU CLOCK: 1.08 GHz MOUSE: LOGITECH MOUSE SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION: OPERATING SYSTEM: WINDOWS XP FRONT END : VISUAL BASIC6.0 BACK END : MS-Access 2003 Software Details Front End Visual Basic (VB) is a computer programming language. VB is the third-generation event-driven programming language an Intregrated Development Environment (IDE) from Microsoft for its COM programming model. VB is also considered a relatively easy to learn and use programming language, because of its graphical development features and BASIC heritage. Visual Basic was derived from BASIC and enables the rapid application development (RAD) of graphical user interface (GUI) applications, access to databases using Data Access Objects, Remote Data Objects, or ActiveX Data Objects, and creation of ActiveX controls and objects. Scripting languages such as VBA and VBScript are syntactically similar to Visual Basic, but perform differently. A programmer can put together an application using the components provided with Visual Basic itself. Programs written in Visual Basic can also use the Windows API, but doing so requires external function declarations. Back End Microsoft Office Access, previously known as Microsoft Access, is a relational database management system from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software development tools. It is a member of the 2007 Microsoft Office system. Access can use data stored in Access/Jet, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, or any ODBC-compliant data container (including MySQL and PostgreSQL). Skilled software developers and data architects use it to develop application software. Relatively unskilled programmers and non-programmer â€Å"power users† can use it to build simple applications. It supports some object-oriented techniques but falls short of being a fully object-oriented development tool. Access was also the name of a communications program from Microsoft, meant to compete with ProComm and other programs. This proved a failure and was dropped. Years later Microsoft reused the name for its database software. Access version 1.0 was released in November 1992. Since that time, the following versions have been released: 2.0, 95, 97, 2000, 2002 (also called XP), 2003, and the latest, 2007. Microsoft specified the minimum operating system for Version 2.0 as Microsoft Windows v3.0 with 4 MB of RAM. 6 MB RAM was recommended along with a minimum of 8 MB of available hard disk space (14 MB hard disk space recommended). The product was shipped on seven 1.44 MB diskettes. The manual shows a 1993 copyright date. The software worked well with very large records sets but testing showed some circumstances caused data corruption. For example, file sizes over 700 MB were problematic (note that most hard disks were smaller than 700 MB at the time this was in wide use). The Getting Started manual warns about a number of circumstances where obsolete device drivers or incorrect configurations can cause data loss. Access’s initial codename was Cirrus; the forms engine was called Ruby. This was before Visual Basic – Bill Gates saw the prototypes and decided that the BASIC language component should be co-developed as a separate expandable application, a project called Thunder. The two projects were developed separately as the underlying forms engines were incompatible with each other; however, these were merged together again after VBA.

Marriage and Family Therapy Essay

Marriage and Family Therapy Abstract The purpose of this paper is to examine the field of marriage and family counseling beginning with the history and development of the profession and its importance in the field of counseling. This paper will also evaluate five major themes relevant to Marriage and Family Therapy which include: roles of Marriage and Family Therapists; licensure requirements and examinations; methods of supervision; client advocacy; multiculturalism and diversity. The author will discuss significant aspects to the field of Marriage and Family Therapy such as MFT identity, function, and ethics of the profession. This paper will assess biblical values in relation to Marriage and Family Therapists and to the field itself. In conclusion, the author will provide reflections on Marriage and Family Therapy and the personal commitment to provide counseling that is ethical, biblically grounded, and empirically based. Marriage and Family Therapy This paper is an examination of the history and development of the field of Marriage and Family Therapy. Education, licensure requirements, methods of supervision, client advocacy, and cultural sensitivity are the focus of the evaluation with specific attention given to counselor identity, function, and ethics. History and Development The field of Marriage and Family Therapy is an emerging profession with roots dating back to the late 1940’s. In 2009 licensure for Marriage and Family Therapists was attained for all 50 states and the District of Columbia but this dream began in 1949 when the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (originally called the American Association of Marriage Counselors) joined forces with the National Council on Family Relations to form a committee to create the standards that would one day regulate the practice of marriage and family counseling (Northey, 2009). Marriage and family counseling was once thought of as a subset of other helping professions but now Marriage and Family Therapy is one of the major mental health professions in the United States with over 50,000 licensed therapists (Northey, 2009). The profession has its own accrediting body, COAMFTE, for accrediting graduate and doctorate programs in Marriage and Family Therapy. To further strengthen the profession, 128 core competencies have been identified with six primary domains and five subdomains (Miller, 2010). The six domains include: admission to treatment; clinical assessment and diagnosis; treatment planning and case management; therapeutic intervention; legal issues, ethics, and standards; and research and program evaluation. The subdomains relate to types of skills and are comprised of: conceptual, perceptual, executive, evaluative, and professional (Miller, 2010). According to the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy website, a marriage and family therapist is a highly trained professional working in the mental health field that brings a family-oriented perspective to health care (http://www. aamft. org). In order to help families and married partners accomplish this, marriage and family therapists assess what kinds of emotional and mental disorders, behavioral and health problems, and relationship issues are encountered and then a treatment plan is devised. Treatment of the problems that families and couples face often results in greater understanding as well as more effective communication between members and couples which can ultimately aid in the prevention of crises for the individual and family. A main aspect of marriage and family therapy is the focus on the here and now and what can be done to remedy these current situations.

Financial Services Regulation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Financial Services Regulation - Essay Example In the context of the United Kingdom, the global financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2009 exposed significant failings in the corporate governance of banks. Narain et al. (2012) stated that as a result, the United Kingdom government introduced various reforms of which the latest was the enactment of the Financial Services Act on 19th December, 2012. This new act created new regulatory frameworks for the financial service industry and it subsequently abolished the Financial Services Authority. The two key regulatory frameworks that were created by this new act include the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority (Cunningham et al. 2012). This study seeks to discuss the features of the Prudential Regulatory Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority, Approved Person Regime. The discussion will further cover the extent to which the reforms associated with the Approved Person Regime will possibly solve some of the significant failings that were n oted in corporate governance of UK’s banks in the past global financial crisis. ... In the past financial crisis, Bakker et al. (2012) stated that the significant failings that were noted on the banks corporate governance were mainly attributed to poor risk management strategies as well as inappropriate ethics and culture of the banks’ board of governance. Cunningham et al. (2012) on their part added that the failure of corporate governance was attributed to the failure in the attitude, behavior, and in certain circumstances the competence of the members of the board of governance. Therefore, this means that in order to prevent future failure of banks that can equally result to the collapse of the financial sector, it is important for organisations to cultivate an appropriate culture that is focused on delivering long-term obligations that are of benefit to the society. In this regard, Abiad et al. (2008) noted that the right organisational cultures are mainly rooted underneath ethical frameworks that are strong and use principles in individual decision makin g rather than a rational criteria. Stringent re-enforcement is required to ensure that the members of the corporate governance act along the set principles, which will deter them from violating any ethical standard. The re-enforcements come in the form of regulatory authorities such as the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulatory Authority. Features of the Financial Conduct Authority Approved Person Regime According to Cunningham et al. (2012), the Financial Conduct Authority was established with the main mandate of regulating financial firms that are in the business of providing financial services to people residing within the UK. Consequently, this means that the regulatory body is tasked

Infosys in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Infosys in China - Essay Example These centers would look after new projects on software, IT and ITES (ICMR, 2006, p.9). The report deals with some of the issues faced by Infosys in China on its way to expansion and also the role of Global Delivery Model. It suggests measures for a better development in China and also other emerging countries. Background Infosys was started by a group of seven members in the year 1981. It incorporated with the name Infosys Consultant Private Ltd. From the very beginning Infosys was depended on the overseas business. The founder of Infosys, Narayana Murthy operated its business in India while the other seven went to US and started working for their corporate clients. Reebok was Infosys first US based client. The company earned revenue of Rs 1.2 million in 1981. 1981 was a period when India did not experience the growth of computers, so licensing of computers would take a longer period. Infosys did not have the space needed to install a computer, thus it hired a premise of a customer where the new employees would be provided training. It also concentrated in the fields like retailing, distribution, finance and telecommunications. Infosys has entered into a joint venture with Kurt Salmon Associate (ICMR, 2006, p.2). Infosys being the first company to get listed on NASDAQ stock exchange. It accounted a net profit of $US 152.1 million at the end of the quarterly result. USA is its main source of revenue; it is planning to expand in Europe and Asia. Infosys in china is merely focusing on its local clients. It has been recognized as one of the fastest growing company (IBEF, n.d., p.1). In the year 2000, 78% of revenue came from North America, 14.8% from Europe and only 1.4% from India. By 2005, Infosys mode of operation was proximity development, which consisted of 9 and off shore software development about 17, mainly operating in India. Infosys is also facing a tough competition from other It giants because of the liberalization that has effected India and its econo my (ICMR, 2006, p.3). An important achievement for the company came its way when it pioneered the Global Delivery Model. With the help of this model work can be done at places where it suited the most, its economical and least risk of acceptance. The company is using level 5 of CMM and PCMM. It has been awarded Asia’s Most Admirable Knowledge Enterprise in the year 2002. Infosys operates mostly in Bangalore, being the head quarter in India (Kochikar & Suresh, 2004, p.3). Issue Statement Factors that led to enter the Chinese Market In the year 2006, Infosys reported that it has achieved a milestone of US $ 2billion. Thus its revenue increased at a high rate by 33.5% in the financial year 2005-2006. But the subsidiary in China had suffered a loss of 83.9 million. The projected employee rate in China was in between 800-1000 but the China office had only 500 employees. Thus Infosys decided to enter the china market. In the year 2004, Infosys entered China as a part of its global extension plan. The reason behind Infosys entering China was the high demand of the employees due to globalization. Since the demand is rising there prevails a shortage of manpower. NASSCOM estimated that there would be a shortage of 250000 employees in the IT sector. Thus china was the option for Infosys as it’s comparable with India in terms of salary and quality of

ECON PAPER Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

ECON PAPER - Essay Example My small business is related to the development and marketing of herbal medicine for chronic ailments like arthritis, asthma, which when treated with allopathic medicines bring many side effects with them. Doctors prescribe the drugs, which are mostly NSAIDs and are used to provide relief from pain. Although, they are highly effective yet they have severe side effects too. They can instill stomach cramps, drowsiness, diarrhea, heartburn, edema (swelling of the feet), nausea and much of the discomfort. Over and above, NSAIDs carry a risk of causing heart attacks, stroke, clotting, and kidney failure, if taken for a long period of time. The risk is proportionate to the dosages. No patient would like to suffer such perils after continued consumption of these drugs. If they are given a choice for an alternative herbal medicine; it is certain that they will always switch over to a safer drug where the possibilities of any side effects are not there. My herbal medicines are made from rind of mangosteen, ginger, and many such herbs. My herbal medicines are targeted to those customers who do not get permanent cure from ailments as mentioned above. (See The Columbia Encyclopedia, p-30582) Mangosteen is a naturally available fruit and is said to be a queen of fruits in their growing countries. Extracts of it are used to formulate herbal medicines that work as a potent anti inflammatory. Its extraordinary ability to cure lies in a compound called xanthones, which are abundantly available in the rind of this fruit. Science has found 40 types of xanthones in mangosteen. Thus, this is the most potent source of xanthones naturally available. Xanthones are the most powerful antioxidants provided by nature. Antioxidants are the compounds necessary for our healthy life. They slow the process of ageing and work as potent anti inflammatory

Cse Study Analysis Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Cse Study Analysis Economics - Essay Example Instead the use of oil and gas has kept growing over the years. Though the oil price are now on a declining trend, but in the recent past the world was worried by the way oil prices started marching upward, touching a level of about $130. Events following the mortgage crisis have now led to a fall in oil prices, thus making the OPEC nations sit up and take note. Price of any commodity in general is determined by the law of demand and supply. As per this law, 'all other factors remaining constant, the higher the price of a product, the less number of people will demand it. Or in other words, the higher the price, the lower the quantity demanded.' But if we look at the historical perspective, it is found that oil, the source of energy has also defied this law. The demand for oil continued to increase even when the prices kept increasing. With majority of the share going in favor of Middle-East nations, the oil is not only the source of energy, but in today's global scenario, it has become an important source of political power as well. As pointed out in the case study, US is one of the largest consumer of oil from OPEC nations, therefore the recession hit economy of US has certainly led to an economic downturn all over the globe in varying degrees. But if we take a historical perspective we find that till the early 1970s, the prices of crude oil kept hovering around $15-20. But the huge strength of oil was realized by the oil producing nations in 1973, when they all decided to stop exporting oil to US and other western nations, in retaliation to the US assistance to Israel in the Yom Kippur War1. Oil prices started moving upward all around the globe as it became a much desired commodity in the consumerist society in western nations. Since then the OPEC nations have seen many ups and downs. With leadership positions in oil production, many OPEC members have seen tremendous growth and advancement during the last 2-3 decades. OPEC-SWOT analysis Strengths i. About five decade old organization: OPEC came into being in the year 1960, with Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela as the founding members. The stated objectives of the intergovernmental group are to co-ordinate and unify petroleum policies amongst member countries, so that a fair and stable price can be extracted for petroleum products. Later on some more countries joined the group, thus providing the group further strength. The fact that, despite many hiccups during all these years, the group has been able to able to sustain its monopolistic standing and continues to define the oil prices, speaks volumes about its clout in world affairs. ii. Well-knit grouping: Though Ecuador and Gabon had to leave the grouping on account of some differences of opinion, but the rest of the group is still intact all through these years, despite having serious differences amongst some nations like Iran and Iraq, Kuwait and Iraq etc. The group seems to have developed good mutual understanding on protecting the economic interests of the member states. iii. Big say in deciding oil prices all over the world: OPEC certainly has a control in deciding about the oil prices and quantity to be produced in such a manner that while fulfilling the demand for fuel, the member states are also able to command a good price for the product. iv. Membership has a Premium Value attached with it: Though many countries have been

Social and Economic Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Social and Economic Development - Essay Example Every urban planner and developer has to take into consideration land zoning policies that in most cases, map the different land uses in a city. For example, these land zones indicate where the industries are to be located, where the central business district is to be situated or what land is designated for which public utilities. Furthermore, they must be very careful when determining the value of any land zone as different user will be willing to pay different prices for its utilization. The bid rent function is major determinants of the land rent and prices (Calthorpe & Fulton, 2001). This is because it illustrates how a firm or household is willing to pay for a land at different distances from the market place mostly the central business district. Urban planners must put into considerations pitfalls like the differentiating between public goods and private goods as well as the issue of externalities. Moreover, issues like education, water and sewerage service provisions, transport networks to the CBD to avoid traffic congestion and provision of health services to the urban population should be well planned for to avoid future conflict between the urban dwellers and the local government. Furthermore, proper taxation mechanisms should be structured and well outlined as this is the major source of income for these local governments and without them development and maintenance of the already existing infrastructures would be paralyzed or fail

How the pen is Important Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

How the pen is Important - Research Paper Example It acts as a filter, blocking the processing of extraneous information. Writing letters with a pen or pencil on paper, we concentrate better and make the brain to pay attention to what we write. Virginia Berninger, a psychologist from the University of Washington, explains the differences between the handwriting and the keyboard, so that with handwriting a person commits more movements, because each letter has its own set of elements, and work on the computer is monotone, you need only to press a key (Berninger 72). Many famous writers preferred to write novels and plays by hand, even when their colleagues have chosen the keyboard. In 2009 psychologists of the University of Washington have found that students who wrote essays by hand, got the text which was richer and more diversified, they used more sophisticated phrases and coped with the tasks faster than their peers, who were typing on a computer (â€Å"Learning Disabilities Research & Practice†). Working at a computer overloads our sensory system. Staring of the screen, cursor movement, the temptation availability of any information in a single click – here are the factors which dull our creativity. On the contrary, when you have just a piece of paper and a pen in front of you, the brain does not receive any additional stimulation and focuses its resources on a specific task. Many professors believe that computers serve as distractions, detracting from class discussion and student learning (Yamamoto 56). Habit to record the experiences and thoughts on paper can reduce their severity. (Pennebaker 43) Natalie Rogers, an author of expressive psychotherapy techniques, considered diaries as an important way of self-expression and the awakening of creative energy. The more often we write by hand – the more frequently we express our individuality, is Rogers`s opinion. It is expressed in the shape and size of letters, handwriting fluency, and location of the text on the page. In the process of writing we

Accounting and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Accounting and Society - Essay Example However, no such conclusion was provided within the video as to which perspective is better of the two. This creates a knowledge gap and thus provides the researchers with the opportunity to bridge the gap by setting forth an in depth research regarding the best perspective that should be implemented in accounting practices. Previous literatures have suggested that the arguments in favour of implementing the pro regulation perspective of accounting and arguments against the utilization of free market perspective have been influenced by political, social, economic and research consequences. Thus the primary objective of this research is to do a critical evaluation providing evidence regarding the implementation of the above mentioned approaches. The paper will also highlight the political, social, economic and research influences that have historically impacted on the level of accounting regulation in a developed economy with established security markets. Following the in-depth analys is of the factors, remarks will be put forward as to which accounting standard should be implemented. In order to carry on the research efficiently and effectively specific set of tasks will be divided between the two members. One member of the group will be primarily responsible for doing a critical evaluation of the pro-regulation perspective whereas the other member will be assigned with the responsibility of analyzing the free market perspective.... Extensive literature review will be done in order to justify every comment that will be made. The literatures that will form the groundwork of this research are peer reviewed journals that cover different aspects of these accounting regulation perspectives. Three peer reviewed articles will be used in order to explain the implementation of the literature in order to explain the topic of issue. In addition to that, the video that has been used as the basis for initiating the research process will also serve as a useful resource. The overall time frame required for this research is 2 months. The tasks that will be performed over the course of these 2 months have been explained in the following table. Timeline (Source: Author’s creation) PART B Previous literatures in the field of accounting regulation acknowledged the social, economic, and political factors that are associated with the advancements made in the accounting rules and explained the events that led to the formulation of different regulatory frameworks that are internationally accepted. Those literatures have also highlighted the aims and purposes of accounting regulation and also identified the necessity for imposing these rules from many different perspectives, particularly, the social, economic and professional perspectives.  The present study endeavours to gather and to contrast in one place the different perspectives regarding the pro-regulations and free market approach to accounting practices. This study will only include reference papers and articles which have explained and established the theory of accounting regulation. Thus issues that have been discussed within this essay are not exhaustive they do not necessarily represent the last research dealing with these issues.   The relevance of

Northern Ireland Essay Example for Free

Northern Ireland Essay Within the results many important factors have arisen. Looking at the map produced using my national competition and local competition I can see that the stores are nearly evenly spread across Northern Ireland. This tells me that there is a large enough market for computer games in the Northern Ireland area as these stores can be sustained. On the other hand this tells me that there is already a lot of established national competition, and the business I am opening is not entering a gap in the market. A large number of the stores (4) are situated in Belfast, which can be easily accessed by Lurgan through the m1. So I would need to treat these Belfast stores as a serious threat, and I would need to keep the local market from buying there games there and also by enticing some of there customer to shop at our Lurgan store. This would mean that I would have to give the customers something that is not offered in the Belfast stores. The local competition consists of three stores in the Craigavon area which, although not in the immediate area, still pose the most serious threat to my business. The stores are already established, and this means that there is a market, although there may not be enough room for another games store. But the advantage I have is that none of these three stores are based in Lurgan town centre, so that would mean there is an untapped market that I can enter into. My covert observation of game shows me a successful business in the Belfast area. I taught me that a computer games store is one in which a lot of people browse and not buy the first time that they are in the store. This would tell me that we would need to tempt customer into buying what they may be interested in. This would require me to hire skilful staff who would have a keen interest in computers and would have a wide scope of knowledge about the games and equipment that would be available. I would hope to be a manager that has a lot say over each aspect of the business I would be able to adopt a McGregor theory Y approach. I would do this, as I would like to delegate to my workers to effectively use their skills to the highest level. It would also help in improving organisation and motivation, and also help in the costs that may be meet in hiring extra managers or staff. However, as I want a lot of control over my business I may have some characteristics of a theory X manager as I would be on the floor as much as I could, and also would try and make all the main decisions to be taken in the business. Analysis of my questionnaire results provides me with various important numeric results. The first important result that I came across was that every one of my respondents owned a computer. This was very significant, as my potential market would have to be persons who already owned a computer, and would be interested in my goods, and so if they did not already own a computer these goods would be useless to the consumers. Briefly this means that this question give me an estimate of how large my potential customers is. However these potential customer may not be interested in games and owning a computer may not mean that they could be persuaded to attend my store. Knowing now if the person owned a computer or not I then needed to find out what type of computer they may own. I found that the majority of respondents owned a PC or a Playstation. This was significant in that the second most popular was the Playstation which is a pure gaming machine, and this would suggest that there is a large number of persons living in the Lurgan area who enjoy computer games and may be interested in my store. Knowing who owns a computer games console I was then interested in knowing how frequently the respondents would buy computer games, to know how often customers would use my store. Over half of the respondents would buy their games over six months apart. This is a negative result as it tell me that there may be spells when the business may not have much custom and periods when it does, making balancing the books an up hill task. I was interested in knowing where my respondents would buy their games to know where most of my competition comes from (locally or nationally), and whether the Lurgan market would attract any of their custom. The results showed me that the majority of the respondents would not buy their games from the Lurgan area and so my national competition would pose a bigger threat than first expected. Lastly I was curious to whether the respondents would use a specialist store if it were available. The majority said that they would mean that a lot of the respondents who do not buy their games in Lurgan might if they had a better quality of service. My second questionnaire done to gain further information showed me a very significant result. Most of the first questionnaire respondents did not purchase games in the Lurgan area, and so I needed to look at where they would then purchase. I found that 3 respondents purchase games in Belfast, 1 in Lisburn and 3 in Portadown. But what was most significant is that the store in Belfast and Lisburn (part of the national market) were specialist store such as the one that I was planning. This could suggest that these specialist stores attract my local market away because of something that only a specialist store offers. When looking at the property values in the Lurgan area I came across various properties, which could be potentially busy locations, where I could attract a wide and large scope of my potential customers. I needed a retail property large enough to accommodate all of my products and their layout, including enough space that would be needed to present each part in a manner that is organised and invite the customer to look at our products. I also needed a property that was not going to push up my fixed costs so high that I could not possibly meet them, and would have problems in the long term in making a profit or be able to break-even. The first property that I had looked at was the most promising of all the properties in the Lurgan area. It was located at 35 William Street Lurgan. At 75000, this was the cheapest property that was currently available in the Lurgan area, and cost is an important factor, as I would wish to keep my possible costs to a minimum. I could attain a mortgage on the property meaning that I would not have to pay out such a large sum on start and not run into financial difficulties from the start. Also banks are always interested in investing in franchises as they are seen as less risky than most other business start-ups. The property is also a size that is feasible enough to hold everything that I require and also leave enough floor space for me to work with. I could use the top floors for offices for myself or to rent out to other firms. However these floors need some additional work done. The property is also located just 100-200 yards from the town centre and is adjacent from a car park meaning that this is a very accessible property. I found very few properties in the Lurgan area, with Century 21 stating most retail properties are sold before a brochure can be made. The other properties that I had found in the Lurgan area where either too small, expensive, or located too far from the town centre.