The concept of sky credit card Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The concept of sky credit card - Essay Example From the research it can be comprehended that aggressive marketing and easy availability of credit cards has resulted in credit cards being used to finance consumer purchases as a way of life. Research suggests that socialization as a consumer begins in infancy with children making their first purchase at the average age of eight years. There has been a change in attitude towards credit card which implies that consumers are more willing to use credit to finance their consumption. The widespread us of credit cards reflects the consumer preference for using credit cards and technological advancements have made it possible for the creditors to offer revolving credit. The credit card has allowed for convenience in purchasing but still one needs to go to the shops and cash machines to use the credit card. For the first time, Sky TV and Barclays have joined hands to introduce an interactive credit card known as Sky Credit Card which offers the convenience to make purchases right from the c omfort of the living room through the television. The users will be able to place the SkyCard in the second slot of their set-top boxes and through the remote control they can manage their accounts and make purchases. The attitude-behavior relationship in consumer finance differs from that in social settings. The consumers may have favorable attitudes towards borrowing but having low incomes poor credit history may impose constraints on the level of credit that they would like to enjoy.

English Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

English - Essay Example Things are not going smoothly and there are two areas which they have to work on. The first is a problem with honesty, because they are hiding things from each other. The second area is communication, because they are not very good at talking about their problems. They were not honest with each other from the beginning regarding their feelings about each other. When they got a chance at the end they cleared out all their differences and it is obvious that they are not going to continue with each other. In the beginning it is Frances who takes the lead. She confesses that she wants to spend the day with her husband alone â€Å"I have an idea, Frances said. â€Å"My wife has an idea. That pretty girl.† â€Å"Let’s not see anybody all day†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (lines 38-39) Frances is being very honest in saying exactly what she wants from her husband. The way that Michael responds is quite negative. By showing surprise at her idea, and referring to her pretty appearance, he is making himself look smart, and suggesting that pretty girls don’t normally have ideas. This is an arrogant attitude, and it shows that he does not value her very much, except for her appearance, which he likes to look at. The conversation continues but Frances becomes annoyed when Michael looks at all the pretty girls and women in the street. She wants only to be with him. He seems to want all the girls in the street. They are both aware of this difference and Michael does not think it is a problem. He admits that he looks at women but claims that he looks at â€Å"only pretty ones† (line 85) Frances believes that he looks at â€Å"every damn woman in the City of New York† (Line 81-82) This conversation reveals that they have not been honest with each other in their relationship so far. Frances realizes that Michael has probably been with other women, and will probably be with many more, and she forces him to be very clear about what he feels for all these women he looks at. When he admits that â€Å"Sometimes I feel I would like to be free† (p. 239) he is being honest, but this is not what Frances wants to hear. In the end they give up trying to be so honest with each other. Frances asks her husband to â€Å"stop talking about how pretty this woman is, or that one†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (line 267-268) which means that she wants him to hide what he is feeling and just pretend to be faithful. When they return to their plan to spend time with the Stevensons, this is a metaphor for their return to a life where they present a false picture of themselves to the world. Their real feelings are hidden, and their relationship looks like it is going to fail because of this. The story is interesting because it presents a difficult problem and shows that sometimes people look at such a problem and then turn away from it again because they do not have the strength to face up to it. In life honesty is a very good approach for most things, but in love rel ationships sometimes it can cause a lot of pain. For example if I tell someone at a party that his or her hair looks terrible, this may be the truth, but it is not a kind thing to say. Every person is different, and when we become close friends with someone, we have to make compromises. This is especially true for marriage . I hope I would never be in a relationship like the one in the story and I think that this story reminds me to be very clear at the start of a relationship about what each person really wants. Reference

Application of Marketing Theories to Practice

Application of Marketing Theories to Practice Introduction This report shows the different field of businesses and the methods that our company was using in SimVenture comparing with theories. Marketing and Sales Our companys main marketing tool was advertising but we were using different like direct marketing, exhibitions and our website. However, digital marketing is limited only to website in the game, although this is getting more popular these days (Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette, 2006). Digital marketing defined by Jobber, 2007: The application of digital technologies that form channels to market (the Internet, mobile communications, interactive television and wireless) to achieve corporate goal through meeting and exceeding customer need better than the competition. Digital marketing is almost completely missing from the game, it is only limited to website. Network theory studies relationships of all sorts, whether between people, animals or things. Social network analysis is an overlapping tool for learning about patterns that develop within social networks and how they influence behaviour. Digital marketing channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Instagram are useful in this reg ard, as they allow marketers to listen to what consumers are saying, and they allow marketers to leverage the power of influential users to spread messages throughout their networks (Harvard Business Review, 2006.). Generational marketing theory holds that consumers born of the same generation defined as a 20-year period have common attitudes and behaviours because of shared experiences that influenced their childhoods and shaped their views of the world. The relevance of generational theory to digital marketing is primarily in the ways in which each generation communicates and the online places where marketers can reach them (Zickuhr, 2010.). The customer research in the game is only limited to where the customers heard about but nothing who they are (age, gender, education, etc.). All in all the game had good opportunities in traditional marketing channels like direct marketing and advertisement but digital marketing part is really limited which makes it less realistic. Operations Efficient operations management is a key element to make a company successful. Without supply network a company cannot exist. A supply network perspective means setting an operation in the context of all the other operations with which it interact some of which are its suppliers and its customers. Materials, parts, other information, ideas and network of customer-supplier relationships formed by all these operations (Slack, Chambers, Johnston, 2004.). The supply network view can also help in decision making about the design. The design activity in operations has one overriding objective: to provide products, services and processes which will satisfy the operations customers. During the game our company used Just in time method for the production because if there was more order then our organisation was able to produce then we contracted some out when it was financially possible. Furthermore, in the meanwhile of last year in the game, all of our production was contracted out because t he four employees werent enough to build the product and to handle other task that were essential to run the company at the same time. High dependency theory is one of the explanation of the Just in Time approach to operations management. With high inventories insulating each stage in the production process, the dependency of the stages on one another was low. Take away the inventory and heir mutual dependency increases. The Just in Time practice of empowering shopfloor staff makes the organisation dependent on their actions (Slack, Chambers, Johnston, 2004.). However, this theory perfectly suits with SimVenture, thus it is realistically show the opportunities and limitations of Just in Time delivery and production because in the first year when financially it was not a possibility to contract out some of the production we bumped into some limitations according to the Just in Time manufacture technique. Finance All investments carry with them some degree of risk. In the financial world, individuals, professional money managers, financial institutions, and many others encounter and must deal with risk. Investors can either accept or try to mitigate the risk in investment decision-making (Baker Filbeck, 2015.). However, the game is limited to only two choice of grants and family and bank loans. Decision parameters are: amount, period, interest rate. The game also offers an opportunity to set bank overdraft which can be really useful especially in the beginning of the game when the company has to buy the products component and has to wait until the clients paying. The payback period can be up to 3 months. According to Deakins and Freel (2009) our companys stage of finance is at young stage, due to we paid back our only  £3000 loan from friends and family, although the company is owed 100% by the founders. Business angels capital, internet crowd funding Michael Jensen and William Meckling, in ‘Theory of the firm: management behavior, agency costs and ownership structure’ (1976), note that ‘agency costs arise in any situation involving cooperative effort’ and that, as the firm is essentially ‘a nexus for a set of contracting relationships among individuals’, agency problems are endemic to it. Their analysis focuses on how agency problems can help to explain such questions as: The degree to which a firm is financed by debt or equity; Why firms in some industries are usually owner-operated; Why firms would voluntarily supply shareholders and lenders with accounting reports and have them independently audited. The last point is of most interest for our purposes. Essentially, firms will voluntarily provide shareholders and lenders with independently audited accounting reports because this reduces the monitoring costs associated with contractual relationships with these parties. In the game there is opportunity to make the finance reports in house or to ask an agency to do it for extra costs per each months. Setting up the right price for the product is a key element for running a successful company. Our gross profit per unit is 43% of the whole price which is around average in this industry (Stefan, 2015.). Organisation and growth SimVenture is a game which is run on a managerialist philosophy not an enterprising one (Grant, 2015.). Theories of the small business life cycle have been heavily criticised in recent years for being reductionist and ‘speculatively normative’, relying on formalistic, deductive approaches rather than inductive heuristic methods (Gibb and Davies, 1990). In particular, it is the ‘deterministic assumption that all firms grow through a series of predictable series of preordained stages’ (Merz et al, 1994; p49). Small business growth is characterised by a number of predictable, discrete and consistent stages (Churchill and Lewis, 1983; Hanks et al., 1994; Kazanjian, 1988; Steinmetz, 1969). These stages are sequential in nature and occur as a hierarchical progression not easily reversed (Dodge and Robbins, 1992; Quinn and Cameron, 1983). An important aspect of theorising on the organisational life cycle is that many stage models of small business growth can be con ceptualised as ‘metamorphosis’ models (dAmboise and Muldowney, 1988; Kazanjian, 1988), where the fundamental transition from one stage of growth to another requires considerable change. However, in SimVenture when the firm moved to a bigger office and purchased new equipment for the company the efficiency of the company have been developed to a higher level that also meant that the company is growing. The life cycle literature emphasises that such periodic crises have an important role to play in the development of both the organisation and the individual. (Dodge and Robbins, 1992.). Hiring more employees and train them to be professional in different business fields is also a great method to rise the organisation to a higher level. Upon interpretation, it seems that entrepreneurs have to develop new behaviours and learn to think in radically different ways as a result of managing developmental crises (Greiner, 1972). As Greiner (1972) states, ‘these periods of te nsion provide the pressure, ideas, and awareness that afford a platform for change and the introduction of new practices’ . From this viewpoint, a key assumption behind life cycle theorising is that for a small business to grow, the owner-manager must adapt and modify their perceptions and actions as a result of these discontinuous events in order to facilitate organisational growth. For instance, in the game when the company was financially able to advertise not only in printed media but use the more expensive although more efficient TV and Radio as a marketing channel, the number of orders rising exponentially. That caused profit and sales growth which helped to increment the firm to a higher level as it displayed in the Figure 1.1 below. Figure 1.1 Even though such statements indicate a fundamental process of personal learning and development on behalf of the owner-manager, most life cycle theorists do not address this issue in any significant depth. On the other hand, there are opportunities for training and learning for the owner as well, and it is also developing the skills during the game. The important point to draw from this significant recognition is that learning to become an effective small business owner is not always simple, or inevitable for that matter (Burns and Harrison, 1989). Leadership Entrepreneurs and small business owners are very different because entrepreneurship can be distinguished from small business ownership by a venture strategy oriented toward growth and innovation (Grant, 2015.). Using Team Role theory the word ‘shape’ indicates to us ‘shaper’, whilst the word ‘vision’ implies ‘plant’. Looking at leadership using Handy’s definition is interesting for vision is certainly important to leadership, but does it have to be unique to an individual? Where it is unique to an individual with a drive to enact it such as a ‘Shaper’, strong Solo leadership is likely to prevail. Vision alternatively may be ‘borrowed’ by a ‘Shaper’ who treats it as a product of the self and similarly will adopt a Solo leadership style. Many organisations have rewarded Solo leadership behaviour by promoting individuals to management and leadership positions, for such individuals have met past organisational needs (Handy, 1992.).

Anthrax and Bioterrorism :: Biological Terrorism Terrorist Homeland Security

Bioterrorism, in the last decade, has become a real threat to the world. Since the anthrax attacks on American soil in 2001, the world has become aware of the potential risk of an anthrax attack. Anthrax is the disease caused by the Bacillus anthracis bacteria. Ever since early history, anthrax has occurred in livestock animals and in humans. The bacteria prevent the macrophages from communicating with the rest of the body. Thus, the body cannot fend of anthrax and slowly organs begin to deteriorate. However, a series of antibiotics and vaccinations are available in case of an exposure to anthrax. Bacillus anthracis, or anthrax, has recently become a greatly feared pandemic. The breakout of anthrax on American soil in October of 2001 opened the world's eyes to the possibilities of bioterrorism of anthrax. Since then, government associations, such as the CDC and EPA, have taken precautions in case of another bioterrorist attack, particularly an anthrax attack. The history of anthrax dates back to biblical times in ancient Egypt (Anthrax Info 1). In 16th Century B.C., the Israelites were under the control of powerful Ramses II. According to Bible, a series of plagues fell upon Egypt in attempt to free the Israelites. One of these plagues involved the death of the cattle, sheep, and goats. Many historians believed the cause of death was due to anthrax inhalation. The first non-livestock case of anthrax occurred in the early 19th Century (Anthrax Info 4). After coming into contact with anthrax infected animals, many farmers were cutaneously inoculated with anthrax. This outbreak sparked the scientific research of anthrax. 2 Written documentation of anthrax began with Robert Koch's discovery of the bacteria that caused anthrax. Koch performed experiments that explained the attributes of anthrax. Using the spleens of anthrax infected animals, Koch inoculated mice (Elsevier 3). The mice later died and Koch concluded that anthrax could be transferred through the bloodstream. Koch also grew Bacillus anthracis in a culture to further his research. During the incubation process, Koch noticed that the bacteria formed spores when faced with a harsh environment (Elsevier 4). He later discovered that such spores could still cause the anthrax disease. Because of his revolutionary findings, Koch is credited with discovery of anthrax. Using Koch’s discoveries, 20th Century scientists began developing weaponized anthrax. Due to the spores’ durability, anthrax has been a very favorable biological weapon. The first incident of weaponized anthrax was recorded during the First World War.

Memory Essay

Autobiographic memories are known to be frequently inaccurate. In fact, when a person recalls the past, the images of real events are intermingled with events that either never occurred or are distorted so severely that there is little opportunity to recognize the true happenings in them. This occurs because of the operation of certain principles of memory that render exact memories difficult and almost unrealistic. These principles include schemas and mechanisms of interference explaining why memories can often be inaccurate and misleading. Schemas Schemas directly affect human perception of the outer world, other people. They are even more significant in the conceptualization of what one is and what one believes oneself to be. A person operating on a schema has a distinct perception of one’s own self that fits into a framework pre-specified in the schema. This framework includes a variety of attributes directly related to the life of an individual. An elderly woman could see her life as one of a devoted Christian. In such a case, she can be willing to shove away the memories that do not demonstrate such a trend in her life. Thus, she may be willing to repress memories of youthful fun that do not fit into her current beliefs and attitudes so that she could feel more comfortable about her past. This can occur not because of intended self-deception, but because of the stated schema that operates at the subconscious level. A man whose schema is that of a courageous hero will live the life based on this schema. In this case, he will tend to repress memories of his childhood episodes in which he acted as a coward or a villain, in his own current perception. Such incidents will not fit into his schema and thus are repressed as conflicting. The schema in this way governs not only what occurs in the present, but also memories of the past. Interference Interference is another powerful influence on the mechanisms of memory that makes remembrance of the past often inaccurate. It occurs because a human mind cannot store infinite amounts of information. When new information comes in, it may interfere with the older layers. Interference falls into two types: proactive interference and retroactive interference. The first kind occurs when â€Å"an older memory interferes with remembering a newer memory† (Borree, 2002). This is especially relevant to the successive study of several foreign languages when the knowledge of the previously studied language can interfere with the knowledge of the current one. Retroactive interference, in contrast, occurs when â€Å"newer memories interfere with older ones† (Borree, 2002). The latter type is more relevant to the exploration of autobiographic memory inaccuracy. When the current information conflicts with older layers, it can take precedence over them. A person who has achieved high socioeconomic status in the present may inaccurately believe that his past was also more glorious than it really was. A common occurrence is to see the harsh treatment from parents as intolerable abuse when one is consistently told, for instance, in a therapy course, that he or she was the victim of abuse. Evidence shows that â€Å"some of the people who remembered terrible things like being abused as children were discovered to have created these memories under pressure from their therapists† (Borree, 2002). When people in society are continuously being told about abuse in families, they tend to see their past in the same light, inventing instances of abuse even where they were not present. This represents a case of interference where the past interferes with the present. Repression Repression is a term that was introduced by Sigmund Freud, the psychologist who invented the psychoanalysis theory. According to him, memories can be repressed if they are too painful or disagreeable to people. Humans tend to â€Å"push painful memories out of our awareness and into a deep, dark place called â€Å"the unconscious mind† (Borree, 2002). This mechanism, too, can explain how memories are stored in places from which they are never retrieved. This distorts the real picture of the past events. Manipulation Many people with susceptible psyche can fall prey to conscious manipulation that leads to the change in their memories post factum. A skilful person using hypnosis can put them in this state. Manipulation can be used in a less conspicuous manner – through the use of specific language, for instance. The lawyer in court who uses the word â€Å"tragedy† to describe the misfortunes of the victim will force the victim to believe that he or she has indeed been through a terrible tragedy. Conclusion Distortions of events in autobiographic memory can arise for a number of reasons. Schemas, interference, repression and manipulation are just a few mechanisms that can affect human memories. In each case, the result is the distorted perception of the past reality which is influenced by the current cognitive state of the individual. Reference Boeree, C.G. (2002). Memory. Retrieved August 2, 2006, from http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/memory.html                     

Relationship Diagram (ERD) for the following scenario Essay

A salesperson may manage many other salespeople. A salesperson is managed by only one salespeople. A salesperson can be an agent for many customers. A customer is managed by one salespeople. A customer can place many orders. An order can be placed by one customer. An order lists many inventory items. When the order is made for number of inventory items, the date and the amount is recorded. An inventory item may be listed on many orders. An inventory item is assembled from many parts. A part may be assembled into many inventory items. Many employees assemble an inventory item from many parts. While the employee assemble, if any fault, it is identified with fault-log-id, fault-log-name. A supplier supplies many parts. A part may be supplied by many suppliers. Draw the Entity- Relationship Diagram (ERD) for the following scenario: UPS prides itself on having up-to-date information on the processing and current location of each shipped item. To do this, UPS relies on a company-wide information system. Shipped items are the heart of the UPS product tracking information system. Shipped items can be characterized by item number (unique), weight, dimensions, insurance amount, destination, and final delivery date. Shipped items are received into the UPS system at a single retail center. Retail centers are characterized by their type, uniqueID, and address. Shipped items make their way to their destination via one or more standard UPS transportation events (i.e., flights, truck deliveries) . These transportation events are characterized by a unique scheduleNumber, a type (e.g, flight, truck), and a deliveryRoute. Please create an Entity Relationship diagram that captures this information about the UPS system. Be certain to indicate identifiers and cardinality constraints. Draw the Entity- Relationship Diagram (ERD) for the following scenario: The company is organized into DEPARTMENTs. Each department has a name, number and an employee who manages the department. We keep track of the start date of the department manager. A department may have several locations. Each department Controls a number of PROJECTs. Each project has a unique name, unique number and is located at a single location. We store each EMPLOYEE’s social security number, address, salary, sex, and birthdate. Each employee works for one department but may work on several projects. We keep track of the number of hours per week that an employee currently works on each project. We also keep track of the direct supervisor of each employee. Each employee may have a number of DEPENDENTs For each dependent, we keep track of their name, sex, birthdate, and relationship to the employee. Draw the Entity- Relationship Diagram (ERD) for the following scenario: A Bus Company owns a number of busses. Each bus is allocated to a particular route, although some routes may have several busses. Each route passes through a number of towns. One or more drivers are allocated to each stage of a route, which corresponds to a journey through some or all of the towns on a route. Some of the towns have a garage where busses are kept and each of the busses are identified by the registration number and can carry different numbers of passengers, since the vehicles vary in size and can be single or double-decked. Each route is identified by a route number and information is available on the average number of passengers carried per day for each route. Drivers have an employee number, name, address, and sometimes a telephone number. Draw the Entity- Relationship Diagram (ERD) for the following scenario: A lecturer, identified by his or her number, name and room number, is responsible for organising a number of course modules. Each module has a unique code and also a name and each module can involve a number of lecturers who deliver part of it. A module is composed of a series of lectures and because of economic constraints and common sense, sometimes lecture son a given topic can be part of more than one module. A lecture has  a time, room and dateand is delivered by a lecturer and a lecturer may deliver more than one lecture. Students, identified by number and name, can attend lectures and a student must be registered for a number of modules. We also store the date on which the student first registered for that module. Finally, a lecturer acts as a tutor for a number of students and each student has only one tutor.†