Information Systems Increases Revenue Essay

According to a research project completed by CFO Research Services, a Senior Vice President of a large U. S-based global services firm stated, â€Å"The CFO should always allow IT organization to innovate, to experiment, and [should] understand that there is financial risk associated with innovation. Not every IT investment will have an ROI, but allowing IT to be thought leaders is imperative in today’s evolving technology landscape. † Therefore, technology and IT is central to building relationships with customers’ thereby increasing revenue for the company. The research project also noted that business intelligence, mobility, and cloud computing will be the most important technologies for business over the next three years. Using technology is difficult in today because it is constantly evolving. According to the research conducted by CFO Research Services, it states that â€Å"old models based on enterprise silos are giving way to a new hybrid – business technology – as IT organizations, finance functions, and business operations alike acknowledge you can’t have one without the other. By increasing the integration of advance technology to its fullest potential a company can accurately and effectively meet the customer’s needs and operate efficiently, thereby increase revenue. In order for companies to build relationships with their customers they must be able to gain the customers trust. According to Jean-Pierre Lauzier of Jean-Pierre Lauzier Communications, â€Å"trust is based on a feeling, in impression or a perception – meaning something intangible – and is not based on anything rational or logical. Studies have shown that 15% of a customer’s trust in [a company] comes from the [company’s] technical competency, and 85% from the [company’s] human qualities†¦ To build trust it must be natural and authentic. † In order for a company to effectively build trust with a customer they have to make the customer feel that they know them and are sincerely interested in helping them. One great way for a company to do this is through the use of Customer Relationship Management software (CRM). According to Dr. Ruth N Bolton, â€Å"CRM is a strategic approach concerned with creating improved shareholder value through the development of appropriate relationships with key customers and customer segments. CRM unites the potential of relationship marketing strategies and IT [information technology] to create profitable, long-term relationships with customers and other key stakeholders. CRM provides enhanced opportunities to use data and information to both understand customers and co-create value with them. This requires a cross-functional integration of processes, people, operations and marketing capabilities that is enabled through information, technology and applications. † Therefore it is the CRM system that makes it possible for a company to effectively and efficiently communicate with any number of customers so that each customer feels unique. At a high level companies interact with their customer in four ways: Strategic Marketing, Pricing and Revenue Optimization, Tactical Marketing, and Customer Experience Management. Successful companies are efficient and effective in all four categories. Customer Relationship Management software make this possible. CRM provide detailed information about a customer’s interactions with the company as well as analytical information geared to enable the company to successfully provide tactical marketing and enhance the customer experience. They do this by allowing a company to track and record all of the customer’s interaction with the company so that the company can customize their interaction with the customer based on the customer’s previous behavior. According to a Computerworld survey in 1996, companies implement CRM systems in order to 1) increase customer retention, 2) respond to competitive pressures and 3) improve customer service. CRM systems are able to also reduce company costs by reducing employees time spent with customers by eliminating repetitive tasks that might be required if the company did not have a CRM system. For example, when a customer is transferred from one customer service representative to another the CRM system would transfer all customer information and conversation notes so that the employee does not have to waste time asking all the same questions that the first representative asked before being able to attempt to help the customer. However, CRM’s primary focus is to create higher revenue by helping companies build a larger percentage of loyal customers through the use of building trust and relationships with their current and future customers. Acquiring new customers is extremely costly for a company. Surveys have shown that it could cost a company six times more to acquire a new customer than to keep a current customer. Not only that, but if a company is able to build a loyal customer base those loyal customers are worth much more than their own personal purchase volume. A loyal customer is likely to share their experience with others about companies that they are very loyal to and have a close relationship with. Therefore, the company is able to acquire repeat sales to the current customer and able to obtain new customers without any additional cost required to try to attract a new sales and customers. In addition, it has also been shown that it is 16 times easier to sell to an existing customer than it is to sell to a new prospective customer. Therefore, CRM systems recognize the long-run value in potential and current customers. Building customer relationships also require companies to communicate effectively with customers in a multitude of different methods. In today’s environment people are constantly connected and on the go. Companies need to be able to meet the customer’s needs when and how the customer want their needs met. Therefore, it is imperative for companies to offer multiple avenues for customers to communicate with them. Some of those methods include the ways for the older generation such as via the telephone and letters know now days as â€Å"snail mail†. However new technology methods are now being required such as through the company’s website, e-mail, and Social Customer Relationship Management system (SCRM). According to Chris Bucholtz of CRM Outsiders, Social Customer Relationship Management is â€Å"the response of businesses to the advent of social media and the eager adoption of the new communications channels by B2B [Business to Business] and B2C [Business to Customer] buyers alike. It creates a new environment for customer conversations, a new opportunity to learn about customers, and a new opportunity to engage, build peer-to-peer relationships and strengthen brand perception. † He goes on to state that SCRM is more of a strategy than a process or product. It can include many different technology platforms and tools. CRM is the foundation of SCRM and not a replacement for CRM. A company must have a good CRM in place in order to effectively utilize SCRM. According to Bucholtz, the definition of Social CRM â€Å"is a philosophy and a business strategy, supported by a technology platform, business rules, workflow, processes and social characteristics, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted and transparent business environment. It’s the company’s response to the customer’s ownership of the conversation. This definition simply states that it is about people (customers) interacting with people (businesses) and not people (customers) interacting with machines. Due to new technology and people having unique styles of communication, SCRM is about businesses using social media in order to best meet the needs of the customers in the best style of communication for each unique customer. Social media comprises of various online technology tools and can include: text, audio, video, podcasts, and various social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Google+. Social Media can increase revenue and growth of a company by 60% versus only 8% for companies that do not use social media, according to Daya Baran on PRWeb. com. The article goes on to state that â€Å"consumers are spending more time and conducting more business online and businesses that have incorporated social media are reaping the benefits as they are gaining visibility with the consumer across the entire online purchase cycle. Social media technologies are fundamentally changing the sales, marketing and operations process. It is redefining the way businesses acquire customers, generate leads, creates competitive differentiation, customer response, branding and manage crisis. † Therefore, Social CRM’s aim is to enhance the customer’s experience and relationship thereby building loyalty with the company. And as we have already discussed, a customer’s loyalty is worth much more than their customers’ individual value thus increasing revenue for the company. Another customer relationship building mechanism is Customer Experience Management. The e-zine, Customer Experience Exchange, states that companies sometime have a hard time seeing what they look like in the customer’s eyes therefore companies have to invest in technology tools to inject that accurate outside-in view from customers. In the past, companies spent much effort on ensuring the share holders were happy rather than customers. Now with new social media outlets customers are able to make themselves heard to companies much easier than ever before. Take for example the recent backlash that millions of Bank of America customers showed when Bank of America announced they were going to implement a new $5. 0 debit card fee. Never before have we seen customers be able to so quickly pull together and force big corporations to think twice before acting. Bank of America was in jeopardy of losing over 300,000 customers if they did not listen closely. Another company that needed to listen to their customers was Netflix. Netflix issued a price increase of 60% to subscribers that wanted both online streaming of movies and home DVD’s. This cause Netflix to lose more than 200,000 subscribers which in turn made Netflix CEO offer a public apology to customers and eliminate their original plan of separating the two companies. With all this being said, it can be seen how imperative it is to a company to be able to attentively listen to their customers. Without an attentive ear and without a company being focused on Customer Experience Management, a company will have difficulty growing and increasing revenue. Anna Fiorentino, of Customer Experience Exchange stated that in order to develop the best customer experience through CEM systems companies not only need to listen as shown in the Bank of America and Netflix examples, but they must also measure and monitor customer conversations and feedback. Through the use of CRM systems a company is able to analyze customer satisfaction. She stated that Coca Cola, Inc. established a customer reward system called My Coke Rewards. This system enables Coca Cola, Inc. the ability to not only listen to their customers but to also measure customer satisfaction and â€Å"deliver real time results creating value for its members as well as internal and external partners. † Kaitlyn Dennihy a strategist at Engauge, the social media agency of record for My Coke Rewards states, â€Å"Measurement is key. Translating business goals into measurable actions within social has allowed us to track the impact of our communities as well as manage and exceed expectations for the social space. Every content piece in social must include a call to action for the user that can be measured. My Coke Rewards provides insight into areas such as customer service, product merchandising and exclusivity. † ING Direct, an online-centric bank that is part of Netherlands-based ING, also believes that meeting customer needs is the basis for creating a thriving social media campaign. ING Direct was able to increase their evenue by listening to online consumer conversations with the help of a program called Radian6. Radian6 is a social media monitoring platform that allows companies the ability to know what’s being said about their brands, industries and competitors online, but to also help them measure, analyze and report on their social CRM efforts. There are many tools on the market now that provide business the ability to obtain statistical information on company website visitors, Google analytics for summarizing search trends, as well as the ability to summarize searches for tweets known as text mining. Radian6 tells companies such as ING Direct who is saying what and whether customers are communicating through a news site or blog and what percentage of influence the customer will have on the company based on web traffic. Gloria Chik, social media lead at ING Direct stated, â€Å"If we get a client complaint, it’s been fantastic to get a full profile of that person. † Companies should be prudent in privacy issues when handling confidential client financial information, making sure to look at each client complaint or compliment individually. No matter what method companies use to track return on investment on Customer Relationship Management, one thing is certain, business must focus on providing excellent customer satisfaction and when faced with unsatisfied customers they must listen. Without satisfied customers a company will have a much more difficult and sometimes impossible climb toward growth and increased revenue. In todays technologically advance world business must constantly be evolving in order to meet the customers’ needs. No longer are businesses able to simply dictate what customers will pay for a product or service. With the today’s generation companies must be diligent in building strong lasting relationships with their customers. Business should look at their customers’ relationships like a marriage. Just as in a marriage a couple must communicate and listen to each other so should a business communicate and listen to their customers. When a company does this they will be able to reap the rewards by having increased revenue and growth. In order to reap these rewards companies must effectively utilize a CRM system and also incorporate SCRM as well as a myriad of other platforms such as mobile apps, mobile websites, QR Codes and much more. By utilizing technology business are able to develop stronger customer relationships by knowing the customer better. Research Comments When I started this research project I struggled at first trying to find enough information on the subject I had chosen. However, once I got started and finally developed an outline and thought process as to what I was going to talk about, I was able to find all kinds of information. Some of the websites listed below were uncovered during the research phase but not necessarily used. Some of the websites were not used because I found the information redundant and others had to be eliminated due to the need for limiting material so that it did not go over the stated maximum for the paper.

Marketing Communication and Branding Essay

Introduction After careful market research of some of the different phone markets in today’s industry; the market that was the most interest to the writer was the disability phone market. Of all the mobile phones researched, none were found to have Braille included; only speaking activated commands – designed to send text messages as well as calling. The idea the writer proposes is a phone for the visually impaired which has a sole purpose for calling people. The keys will be fitted with Braille so that the individuals are able to effectively feel what number they are pressing. SOSTAC – Situation Analysis Upon research it was found the size of the disability phone market is small in comparison to others, such as android where there are thousands of brands available. â€Å"Around 360,000 people are registered blind or partially sighted in the UK† (Action for Blind People, 2011), showing that, with the assumption that everyone needs a mobile phone in today’s society, the key segments that this brand will relate to are the 360,000 potential customers within the visual impairment mobile phone market. The key competing brands include Doro, an established competitor who supply a range of mobile phones for the disabled. They supply too many online retailers, ranging from handheld mobile phone to home landlines. Alternatively, Amplicom is another competitor who develops mobiles with large buttons, aimed at the visually impaired market. These competitors will be the toughest to compete with due to their experience and current market share; a large investment and money will be req uired to make sure that the proposed brand can gain a decent amount of market share. Porter’s five forces is an appropriate model which can be related to overcome such competition, due to its ability to â€Å"†¦evaluate entry barriers, suppliers, customers, substitute products and industry rivalry† (Freitag, 2005). Furthermore Porter’s five forces can determine what the current market is for the brand, as well as the outlining any existing competitor’s positions in relation to the developing product. Moreover, it can also show how a firm’s stakeholders can influence the company with the use of bargaining power (Chee and Harris, 1998). This  information would be vital to obtain prior to the launch of the brand to reduce the chance of product failure. The macro-environmental factors will be implemented to the brand through PEST analysis; Political, Economical, Situational and Technological. Political factors which relate appropriately to the disability mobile phone market include the strict laws on the disposal of production ma terials such as batteries and any forms of radioactive waste, as well as any compulsory health and safety procedures during the production and contribution of the developing products. Breaking these rules could result in heavy penalties including fines and even the termination of the company in severe cases. Suitable economic factors include the assessment of the current poor financial climate. This leads to the assumption that it is currently not attractive to place investments as money is generally tight for most, reducing the overall customer base for the developing product. Example solutions for this could include enticing consumers with bargain phone prices or even reduced fixed monthly contract payments which will include a suitable amount of minutes for the target segment. Furthermore by offering all deals at lower end prices will suitably fit the market, as there can be a general assumption that those who are visually impaired may also fit well within the retirement market, a segment that generally has less money spare. Regarding social factors the main issue considered is ethics; relating to how products are developed and distributed, in addition to advertising techniques used to help promote the brand. Equal opportunities and fair working conditions should be issued to all employees involved in the development and promotion of the brand so that the product can represent diversity; relating appropriately to the disabled mobile phone market. Advertisements should be honest and not have any misleading content to confuse any consumers; and all information promoted will be fully implemented into the design of the mobile phone. Technological factors are by large the most relevant and important to consider within mobile phone industries. Due to the constant development of technology within the actual mobile phones, it is an competitive industry to be involved in. Nevertheless within the disability phone market the ‘look’ of the phone is a lesser important factor during purchasing; it is what the phone provides to the consumer to aid their special needs when contacting someone. Simple, up-to-date software is required so that all relevant  features are implemented, in addition to having an appropriately sized screen with higher contrast settings so that the visually impaired are able to read clearer. Large number buttons are essential so the Braille fits comfortably and the user is able to identify what number they want to press with ease. Objectives Here are three objectives that are going to be set for the new developing brand: * Increase awareness of the service in disabled people by 50% within 6 months * In three years time production costs should be reduced by 10% * In the next two years revenue should be approximately  £7 million These objectives act as sufficient targets and in turn will motivate staff and drive productively due to the time scaled that these objectives must be achieved. The chosen objectives all appropriately relate to the current disability phone market and the specific areas that could be improved, such as increasing the awareness of service for people with special needs. This could therefore encourage other companies to develop other suitable day-to-day products to suit their needs also, which could furthermore promote the idea of developing a whole new organisation specially aimed at designing products to aid people with special needs. Strategy The push/pull strategy involves creating demand from two aspects; push strategy involves the demand being created by the manufacturer’s distributers, and pull relates to the manufacturer creating demand via their own promotion techniques (Frazier and Summers, 2011). The brand will follow a pull strategy because it is envisioned that demand will be created through advertising and an effective, unique selling point. This is good because through a push strategy, it is sometimes required to distribute a higher volume of goods, which is better related to a mobile phone industry with a larger audience, unlike the niche, disabled market. Another benefit of this is that because the developing brand is unheard of an unproven; preventing stock piling of products if they are not sold, saving money. Although, a pull strategy will require a large investment for advertising, it is estimated that the cost of production and potential stock piling outweighs this in fiscal terms. Relating to the objectives, the pull strategy will aid  the accomplishment of said targets with the use of an advertising campaign, creating the demand that will create supply to the blind market. To engage the consumers, advertising campaigns will hosted at specific events which relate to the disability market, such as the Cambridge Disability Sport and Arts festival. By doing this it will allow the promotion of the developing product to be recognised and positively received by the disabled. This will allow potential consumers to try out the mobile phone and leave feedback regarding their thoughts and opinions. The Paralympics 2012 is taking place in London, an excellent occasion which can be related to individuals with special needs. It is a global event which promotes diversity of all sorts within the sponsoring organisations and sport activities; which can be related to the promotion of the brand’s developing product and encourage consumers to try it out to see if it can suit their needs. Combined, by implementing such advertising campaigns during the Paralympics and obtaining a respected and relatable celebrity sponsor can help achieve the completion of the increasing awareness objective. Additionally, after appropriate research, selling the phone at a competitive price will create demand; and furthermore help achieve the  £7 million revenue objective. To achieve the reduced in production costs objective, mass production will need to take place, which will effectively lower production costs, or even investing in a new technology to produce more units at a cheaper rate, over a period of time, may even reduce costs by 10%. Tactics Expanding further within the advertising campaigns aimed to help achieve the awareness and revenue objectives, this will include visual posters on noticeable areas of everyday life such as telephone boxes, buses, taxis and even billboards. To carry out ethical diversity promotions, the advertisements will also be located within care centres for the visually impaired, as well as any social and youth clubs to increase awareness. Radio adverts will also take place as it is fair to assume that a wide diversity range of people listen to the radio, allowing the promotion of the  developing product to all audiences. Any user feedback from testing the developing product will be noted down and kept for future improvement, allowing management to raise questions on how to improve the brand and image it represents to consumers. By doing so will potentially improve the awareness of the disability market as well as increasing the possibility of generating revenue due to the improvement of the product to suit the special needs. Ade Adepitan, a wheelchair basketball sportsman and TV presenter can be a suitable celebrity endorsement to help promote the product as he is someone the key segment can truly relate to will help achieve awareness and furthermore create a positive brand reputation which will create demand; and therefore revenue and profits. Issuing the mobile phone with a competitive price of  £60 is suitably competitive and will create demand; helping to achieve the  £7 million revenue objective if 116,666 units are sold within the 2 year time scale. Promoting this product in the UK only can help assess if the product is largely successful to its key segment, and after the 2 year objective is attained, further action can take place to help make the product go global. Lower production costs will occur if an appropriate manufacturer is found; who follows all ethical procedures the brand wants to promote, in addition to supplying the company with great production unit price rates so that the most possible revenue and profits can be generated. Furthermore, a ‘green policy’, known as a policy to help lead greener lives, can promote the brand to be extremely sufficient with its production, enticing customers and portraying the brand image to be ethical and fair. Nevertheless green policies are very expensive, which would mean that either a generous sponsor would have to be applied for, or even a loan would have to take place to implement such activities. Action Firstly, finance will have the overall responsibility of distributing budgets to all departments so that the entire production and launch of the new brand is successful. Once all budgets have been issued the marketing department will be able to effectively form a plan on when the launch will take place and what is proposed to take place during the entire duration. Within the marketing department a market research team will be organised so an investigation of production methods and price rates of manufacturers is performed, as well as making sure all ethical procedures the brand would like to follow are implemented. Relevant findings will be informed to the finance department to see if there are enough budgets to apply any new changes. All tasks taking place for the launch will be managed by a team leader – essential for the success of team member communication and task success. This will then be approved by a main, overall manager of the entire launch, so all task deadlines are met and workloads are of a high standard to boost the quality of the promotion. A time management tool named a Gantt chart will be implemented so all tasks are clearly shown, along with their time deadlines to help guide leaders and encourage team members to strive to complete a task to benefit the brand’s launch. This will be combined with a critical path analysis, where all shortest possible times in which tasks can be completed are shown to avoid delaying the entire launch. Example Critical Path Analysis, Source: http://tutor2u.net Example Gantt chart, Source: www.ganttchart.com/ Control Two things will effectively measure the growth of awareness and gather an accurate estimate. Firstly the sales records will be analysed. A growth in sales indicates the rise of awareness and any initial sales from year one indicate consumer’s knowledge of the product. A questionnaire will also be released to specific geographical locations and the results will give an indication as to how many people and how far spread the awareness of the branch has reached. An appropriate measure to identify whether or not the production costs have been reduced would be to look at energy bills to see if the change in production equipment or manufacturers has been an effective adjustment. To determine whether or not revenue will reach 7 million pounds can be monitored by customer loyalty and re-purchasing. A high customer re-purchase rate is a strong indicator that the brand is respected and trusted with their products and service. References Action for Blind People, (2011), Facts and figures about issues around sight loss, [online] available at: http://www.actionforblindpeople.org.uk/about-us/media-centre/facts-and-figures-about-issues-around-sight-loss/ [accessed 05/05/2012] Chee, H. and Harris, R., (1998), Global marketing strategy, London: Financial Times Pitman Publishing. Frazier, G. L. and Summer, J. O., (2011), Contemporary Views on Marketing Practice, [e-book] Marketing Classics Press. Available at: Google Books http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eqn23RV52hEC&pg=PA217&dq=push+pull+strategy+definition&hl=en&sa=X&ei=IHeqT7y9DIqw0QWDgOXlAw&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=push%20pull%20strategy%20definition&f=false [accessed 24/04/2012] Freitag, N., (2005), Critical The Impact of Culture on International Marketing Plans and Review of the French Wine Industry, Munich: Grin Publishing, 1(1), p.15. GanttCharts, (2012), [image online] available at: [accessed 04/05/2012] Tutor2u, (2012), [image online] available at: [accessed 01/05/2012] Bibliography Doro, (2011), [online] available at: http://www.doro.co.uk/products/Specialneeds/ [accessed 25/04/2012] Matobmobile, (2010), [online] available at: http://matobmobile.co.uk/index.php?id=elderly_mobile_phones [accessed 25/04/2012] Scribd, (2012), Pest Analysis, [online] available at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/58834389/Pest-Analysis-Nokia [accessed 21/04/2012]

Biography of William Shakespeare Essay

It is known that he was born in April 1564 and that he died on 23rd April 1616 at the age 52. He was baptized on 26th April 1564. How fitting that the great English writer is so closely identified with the patron saint of England. Shakespeare had seven siblings. They were: Joan (1558); Margaret (1562); Gilbert (1566); Joan II (1569); Anne (1571); Richard (1574) and Edmund (1580). Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway when he was 18. She was 26 and she was pregnant when they got married. Their first child was born six months after the wedding. Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway had three children together – a son, Ham net, who died in 1596, and two daughters, Susanna and Judith. His only granddaughter Elizabeth – daughter of Susanna – died childless in 1670. Shakespeare therefore has no descendants. Shakespeare died a rich man. He made several gifts to various people but left his property to his daughter, Susanna. The only mention of his wife in Shakespeare’s own will is: â€Å"I give unto my wife my second best bed with the furniture†. The â€Å"furniture† was the bedclothes for the bed. Shakespeare was buried in the Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. He put a curse on anyone daring to move his body from that final resting place. His epitaph was: â€Å"Good friend for Jesus’ sake forbear, To dig the dust enclosed here: Blest be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones. † Though it was customary to dig up the bones from previous graves to make room for others, Shakespeare’s remains are still undisturbed. During his life, Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets! This means an average 1. 5 plays a year since he first started writing in 1589. His last play The Two Noble Kinsmen is reckoned to have been written in 1613 when he was 49 years old. While he was writing the plays at such a pace he was also conducting a family life, a social life and a full business life, running an acting company and a theatre. Few people realize that apart from writing his numerous plays and sonnets, Shakespeare was also an actor who performed many of his own plays as well as those of other playwrights. During his life Shakespeare performed before Queen Elizabeth I and, later, before James I who was an enthusiastic patron of his work. Shakespeare’s profession was acting. He is listed in documents of 1592, 1598 and 1603 as an actor. We know that he acted in a Ben Jonson play and also in his own plays but it’s thought that, as a very busy man, writing, managing the theatre and commuting between London and his home in Stratford where is family was, he didn’t undertake big parts. There is evidence that he played the ghost in Hamlet and Adam in As You Like It. In Elizabethan theatre circles it was common for writers to collaborate on writing plays. Towards the end of his career Shakespeare worked with other writers on plays that have been credited to those writers. Other writers also worked on plays that are credited to Shakespeare. We know for certain that Timmons of Athens was a collaboration with Thomas Middleton; Pericles with George Wilkins; and The Two Noble Kinsmen with John Fletcher. Some scholars have maintained that Shakespeare did not write the Shakespeare plays, with at least fifty writers having been suggested as the â€Å"real† author. However, the evidence for Shakespeare’s having written the plays is very strong. Shakespeare is the second most quoted writer in the English language – after the various writers of the Bible. Suicide occurs an unlucky thirteen times in Shakespeare’s plays. It occurs in Romeo and Juliet where both Romeo and Juliet commit suicide, in Julius Caesar where both Cassius and Brutus die by consensual stabbing, as well as Brutus’ wife Portia. Some of Shakespeare’s signatures have survived on original documents. In none of them does he spell his name in what has become the standard way. He spells it Shakespere and Shakespear. Shakespeare lived a double life. By the seventeenth century he had become a famous playwright in London but in his hometown of Stratford, where his wife and children were, and which he visited frequently, he was a well known and highly respected businessman and property owner. The American President Abraham Lincoln was a great lover of Shakespeare’s plays and frequently recited from them to his friends. His assassin, John Wilkes Booth was a famous Shakespearean actor. Although it was illegal to be a Catholic in Shakespeare’s lifetime, the Anglican Archdeacon, Richard Davies of Litchfield, who had known him wrote some time after Shakespeare’s death that he had been a Catholic. Candles were very expensive in Shakespeare’s time so they were used only for emergencies, for a short time. Most writers wrote in the daytime and socialized in the evenings. There is no reason to think that Shakespeare was any different to his contemporaries. It was illegal for women and girls to perform in the theatre in Shakespeare’s lifetime so all the female parts were written for boys. The text of some plays like Hamlet and Antony and Cleopatra refer to that. It was only much later, during the Restoration, that the first woman appeared on the English stage. There are only two Shakespeare plays written entirely in verse: they are Richard II and King John. Many of the plays have half of the text in prose. Shakespeare wrote many more plays than the ones we know about. It’s certain that he wrote a play titled Cardenas, which has been lost, but scholars think he wrote about twenty that have gone without a trace. Shakespeare’s shortest play, The Comedy of Errors is only a third of the length of his longest, Hamlet, which takes four hours to perform. Two of Shakespeare’s plays, Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing, have been translated into Klingon. The Klingon Language Institute plans to translate more. All Uranus’ satellites are named after Shakespearean characters. William Shakespeare’ is an anagram of ‘I am a weakfish speller’. Shakespeare’s original grave marker showed him holding a bag of grain. Citizens of Stratford replaced the bag with a quill in 1747. â€Å"William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England’s national poet and the â€Å"Bard of Avon†.

How Poverty and Poor Education Affects Life

Getting an education is considered a blessing too many, in America many of us believe that everybody should get equality when it comes down to education, but is that really the case? I believe that education is something that many of us take advantage of, especially when you are a kid and you think your education is free and you dread waking up early in the morning for school. Though, when you grow older we are glad that we have received an education and we can contribute to new technology, or we have the opportunity to create a top selling novel, learn about the history of the world, or just knowing why the sky is blue. We all know, and if you don’t you should, that many of the poorer regions in the world don’t receive a proper education, but could living in a poorer region of the United States of America affect your opportunity for education? I hold this to be true. Many of us believe that we can accomplish just about anything when we set are minds to it, but does this inspirational quote fluctuate when you are poor? Poverty perpetuates poverty and the reason for this is that poverty provides the factors preventing proper education in America (Jayashanker, 2009). Public taxes are mostly funded by property taxes, so if the houses cost less, that means less funding for computers, good teachers, books, and anything else a school need in order to thrive. Also people with money can also obviously hire private tutors. When the No Child Left Behind act was passed in 2002 by George W. Bush, it awarded the schools that preformed better then other school, by awarding them with a source of supplies and materials, while schools that performed unwell, were punished by less funding to the school. I believe that the NCLB act was not reasonable, because the schools that perform better are usually the schools that are in higher income areas, I believe this act w as another reason why poorer people receive less education. Poverty also could have other negative affects on an individual such as; absence of health care, the consumption of less nutritious food, the on going influence to join a gang, or desperate attempts to make money such a robbing and selling drugs. At the same time I do realize that being rich could also have it negative affects such as a less strive to receive and education, because they may feel that they don’t need to, because everything is already given to them on a silver platter, but I believe this to be true to the ones that were spoiled. Bad influences are all around in poverty areas, or the â€Å"ghetto†, these â€Å"bad influences† will usually convince the children in the ghetto region, to do things that severely impact their education, which just adds to the ongoing cycle where the rich stay rich and the poor remain poor. I found a study on www.virtualcap.org, the found statistics that show children living in poverty areas that there 2 times as likely t o repeat a grade, 3.4 times as likely to be expelled from school, being a dropout from the age of 16-24 were 3.5 times as likely, and the chance of them from graduating from a four year college was cut in half. Poor education in children does not just affect them; it affects the rest of the nation. â€Å"Child poverty costs the U.S. about $500 billion a year, the equivalent of nearly 4 percent of the GDP (the total market value of all the goods and services our country produces)† (Baer, 2010). â€Å"Poverty puts children at an unfair disadvantage for future opportunities (Defining Poverty and Why It Matters for Children, 2005)†. I believe that children who are living in poverty areas are lacking the inspiration because of there economic conditions, so I wanted to talk about the story of Oprah Winfrey whose story inspired me to go to college and get an education, and also to strive to become financially successful. Oprah Winfrey was born to a 13 year old mother, In Kosciusko, Mississippi. While growing up she said she learned how, â€Å"to turn misery to wisdom†. She first grew up with her grandmother on a pig farm with no running water. â€Å"She then lived with her mother who moved to Milwaukee where she was sexually abused for the first time by a friend of her family and her own relative (Best Inpirational Stories, 2009)†. Oprah Winfrey, at the age of 14, gave birth to a baby boy, but unfortunately he died a week later. Her mother lost her patience with young Oprah, the result of this was the punishment of sending her to live with her dad. While living with her dad she learned discipline and learned how to use her great intelligence, from potential to kinetic use. At school she was know for her intelligent speaking and she received a scholarship at Tennessee University. She majored in broadcast communication and she scored a job as a reporter at a Nashville TV station. â€Å"Oprah left school at the age of 19 years old to become the first Afro-American woman broadcaster in Nashville (Best Inpirational Stories, 2009)†. She made various amount of mistakes at her new job, she felt exhausted all the time. The Nashville station management team didn’t like her attitude towards the camera; too, on top of that, they didn’t like her â€Å"appearance†. â€Å"They complained about her hair style, her big nose and the distance between her eyes. Tempted to glamourize her appearance, they sent her to a good salon in New York which did a disastrous remodeling that made her hair fall off (Best Inpirational Stories, 2009). She was ranked down from a TV boardcaster to a presenter of the show called â€Å"People Are Talking†, which was basically a talk show for housewives. After seven years of presenting the show â€Å"People Are Talking†, she gained the attention of a station in Chicago. They offered her to be the host of there show called â€Å"A.M. Chicago†, in basically a month she made the show â€Å"A.M. Chicago† to one of the most viewed shows in Chicago. In 1985 the â€Å"A.M. Chicago Show† was rename â€Å"The Oprah Winfrey Show†, and it began to be nationally broadcasted. Oprah said, â€Å"Failure is the way God chooses to remind you that you are on the wrong track†. Despite her troubled childhood the Oprah Winfrey show is one of most nationally viewed shows today. Oprah Winfrey is now estimated at an astonishing $2.4 billion dollars, according to Forbes Magazine. Oprah’s story was inspirational to me, and I hope for many others, to succeed in life. I believe when growing up in a ghetto region there are many roadblocks on receiving a superb education and go to a good college, but this is not impossible, nothing is considered impossible now-a-days, especially in America. It is relevant that as a country we need to break out of the cycle of poverty. Anne C. Lewis suggested that low levels of an individual’s literacy will usually result in low paying jobs. Anne C. Lewis suggests four steps in leading individuals out of the cycle of poverty. â€Å"For young children already in the system, educate their parents, especially the mothers, to the hilt. The educational level of mothers is the most important influence on the educational attainment of children (Lewis 186). Adults need to take advantage of educational programs that are sponsored by the schools. The second step is, â€Å"for welfare mothers (most of them teenagers) who must now make it in the job world, combine educational and contextual training. This means direct education for meaningful job goals. Cognitive researcher Thomas Sticht, drawing on results from the military, business, and education, argues that young people can learn basic skills best when education is embedded in job preparation (Lewis 186). It has been proven that improved literacy skills can raise their productivity levels in the workplace, while it can also increase your child’s vocabulary. The third step is to implant the idea of going to college in the child’s head as early as you can, according to a survey by Educational Longitudinal, students who have thrive to go to college in 8th grade were much more likely to graduate. The fourth and final way to break out of the ongoing cycle of poverty, according to Anne C. Lewis, is to start the development of literacy in the child as soon as they are born. Young parents from poor circumstances ought to leave the hospital as participants in support networks that will help them develop the language abilities of their babies. That support should be consistent and continuous until the school system becomes a partner with parents (Lewis). So basically what I’m trying to say is that poverty does have its severe impact on an individual’s education, but even though it may be harder for a child from the ghetto regions of Los Angeles, California to receive an equal amount of education then a person living in Beverley Hills, California. Just remember that is nothing is impossible in American, and a college education is available to almost anyone! This quote helped me with my education, and I wanted to end my conclusion with this quote, and it states, it's not about stuffing people's minds with knowledge. It's something inspirational and more†¦. It's about instilling a love for learning. It's about educating kids from your heart. It's about teaching others and oneself to learn from mistakes. It's about encouraging one to have the courage to lead one's life, and about helping others to raise to a higher level of awareness. When you choose to educate with a heart full of love, what you can do will reach far beyond what you can ever imagine.

Communicating in the Workplace

Tasha Wright April 23, 2013 Assignment 1. 1 Complete assignment 1. 1 from Ch. 1 of Communicating in the Workplace. Choose two misunderstandings you experienced and fill out the chart for these. Respond to questions 1 and 2 shown under the chart for each example of a misunderstanding. In your response, include the following: * Cite a meaningful misunderstanding rather than a general or less material misunderstanding. * Use business- or work-related examples rather than personal ones. Identify the roles of the sender and receiver, such as manager, peer, subordinate, client, vendor, and so forth. Question| Misunderstanding One| Misunderstanding Two| Who was the sender? | My Co-worker | My Manager| Who was the receiver? | I was| I was| What was the message? | â€Å"Refill the ink toner in the mail room. †| â€Å"Make sure you open all tickets and provide your daily log assignments†. | What channel was used to sendthe message? | Via Email| | What was the misunderstandingthat occurred? There were three different ink toners and three machines located in the mail room. Sender didn’t state which Ink toner that was needed and machine. | The email was not specifying of which ticket to open in order to provide our daily log assignment. | How could the misunderstandinghave been avoided? | The sender could have specified informed the correct Ink toner and machine. | The message could have been clearer on which ticket to review. | 1. What did you learn about the communication process from this activity?Answer: When using communication via email, you have to make sure the details are informed, where, what, when. In via email you should have more clarification within the message to communicate better so that you can resolve the issue. 2. What seemed to be the main causes of the misunderstandings? Answer: The lack of information, if I haven’t asked questions the wrong ink toner would have been installed into the wrong machine and would have delayed pr ojects. To prevent misunderstanding in communication the body of the message should include details about the subject.

Transgenic Plants and Animals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Transgenic Plants and Animals - Essay Example Transgenic plants can help in the area of food sufficiency, through production of high yielding crop varieties; improving plant tolerance against extreme conditions such as drought or floods; increasing resistance to pests; and increasing resistance to herbicides. These improvements would reduce production cost, reduce wastage, increase yield per hectare and thereby increase food availability. Today, varieties of peanuts and corn resistant to pests are already grown throughout the world. In health, genetic modifications can aid in making life saving drugs in large amounts. Transgenic livestock that produce recombinant proteins in their milk can provide an economic and safe system for production of valuable proteins, such as pharmaceutical proteins for treatment or prevention of human disease or biomaterials for medical use (Keefer, 2004). As an example insulin and the clotting factors are made by human systems. If we insert the gene that is capable of producing insulin from humans into cows in the right way, then we can get the cows to produce the insulin or clotting factors in their milk. Then we have a potential mass producer of insular greater than human is capable of doing. In the areas of nutrition, common staple crops like rice, corn, root crops, and others can be modified to produce varieties high in necessary nutrients. In the area of environment, organisms can de modified to degrade non-biodegradable plastics and other materials and make them more useful to the environment. Major concerns on transgenic plants and animals The production of transgenic plants and animals has faced several concerns among conservatives in Europe, America, and almost every corners of the globe. Thro (2004) emphasized that there are conflicting views about the idea... The researcher states that recent development in biotechnology that gains attention in the scientific world is the alteration of genetic components of plants and animals. The process involves adding and integrating foreign genetic material into the genetic structures of the plants and animals. Transgenic technology affords methods that allow the transfer of genes between different species. The produced organism is generally called as GMO or transgenic plants or animals. A transgene is a gene with desirable characteristics that is moved from a source organism implanted into a new organism in order to improve the desired characteristics of the recipient organism. This is an improvement from the traditional process of breeding wherein a plant or animal with a desired trait is mated with an existing plant or animal of the same type, to transfer the desired trait to the offspring. The limitation of this old method is that the only genes that are involved are the genes already present in t he parental plants or animals. For example, if you bred dogs, you get dogs with genes coming from both dog parents and nothing else. In genetic modification, genes from plants can be integrated into animals or vice versa; genes from birds can be integrated with horses. Production of transgenic plants is expensive and complicated since it uses costly technology and facility. Companies producing GM seeds in countries such as the US desire to produce more revenues on them because they put a lot of resources into making them.

Outback Steak house Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Outback Steak house - Essay Example An effective employee selection method helps achieve a competitive advantage for organizations in terms of accepting only those applicants that are deemed fit, qualified and competent to perform identified responsibilities. As indicated, Outback Steakhouse further assess successful applicants though a series of tests that gauge their cognitive ability, personality and judgement (Author, date, p. 234). These tests are known as psychological testing instruments which are designed to effectively â€Å"predict job skills acquisition and job performance† (Schieltz, 2011, p. par. 5). According to Schieltz (2011), â€Å"the idea of competitive advantage essentially underlies the use of psychological tests to select employees. To achieve a competitive advantage in the marketplace, organizations and businesses need qualified employees with personalities, skills and talents that best fit the organization and its culture. To hire these types of individuals, a company must have a set o f procedures at its disposal that can accurately identify the characteristics of an individual who can ultimately contribute to the success of the organization† (Schieltz, 2011, p. par. 3). As rationalized, organizations who have successfully selected the right human resources who are perfectly fit for the responsibilities, perform better and deliver accurate results which increase the competitive advantage of the organization. The importance of fit to Outback Steakhouse is crucial since they structurally sift the potentially good applicants from a number of recruits and get the best among the screened applicants depending on the Dimensions of Performance, the responsibilities and the organization’s culture. Only those applicants who perfectly fit the qualifications with the standards are accepted to ensure that low employee turnover would be achieved. A perfect fit would ensure that human resources are utilized to the fullest