Applying the VRIO Framework Essay

1Barney and Hesterly (2006), describe the VRIO framework as a good tool to examine the internal environment of a firm. They state that VRIO â€Å"stands for four questions one must ask about a resource or capability to determine its competitive potential: 1. The Question of Value: Does a resource enable a firm to exploit an environmental opportunity, and/or neutralize an environmental threat? 2. The Question of Rarity: Is a resource currently controlled by only a small number of competing firms? [are the resources used to make the products/services or the products/services themselves rare?] 3. The Question of Imitability: do firms without a resource face a cost disadvantage in obtaining or developing it? [is what a firm is doing difficult to imitate?] 4. The Question of Organization: Are a firm’s other policies and procedures organized to support the exploitation of its valuable, rare, and costly-to-imitate resources?† What types of resources should we evaluate (e.g., what types of resources lead to a competitive advantage)? 1) tangible resources, 2) intangible resources, 3) organizational capabilities. Reputation with customers for quality and reliability Reputation with suppliers for fairness, non-zero-sum relationships Organizational Capabilities Firm competences or skills the firm employs to transfer inputs to outputs Capacity to combine tangible and intangible resources, using firm processes to attain desired end. Examples Outstanding customer service Excellent product development capabilities Innovativeness or products and services Ability to hire, motivate, and retain human capital Applying the VRIO framework. According to the VRIO framework, a supportive answer to each questions relative to the firm being analyzed would indicate that the firm can sustain a competitive advantage. Below is an example of how to apply the VRIO framework and the likely outcome for the firm under varying circumstances. Applying the VRIO Framework—the value and rarity of a firm’s resources If a firm’s resources are: The firm can expect: Not valuable Competitive Disadvantage Valuable, but not rare Competitive parity (equality) Valuable and rare Competitive advantage (At least temporarily) Then, if there are high costs of imitation, the firm may enjoy a period of sustained competitive advantage. Costs of imitation increase due to some combination of the following: 1) Unique Historical Conditions (path dependence; first mover advantages), 2) Causal Ambiguity (links between resources and advantage foggy), 3) Social Complexity (social relationships not replicable), 4) Patents (double-edged sword since period of protection eventually runs out). Applying the VRIO Framework, integrating the notion of Inimitability If a firm’s resources are: The firm can expect: Valuable, rare, but not costly to imitate Temporary competitive advantage Valuable, rare, and costly to imitate Sustained competitive advantage (if organized properly) Organized properly deals with the firm’s structure and control (governance mechanisms—compensation, reporting structures, management controls, relationships, etc). These must be aligned so as to give people ability and incentive to exploit the firm’s resources. Summary of VRIO, Competitive Implications, and Economic Implications Valuable?

Article: the Folly of Subsidizing Unemployment

Introduction In The Folly of Subsidizing Unemployment article written by Robert Barro, it contains information regarding the generous unemployment insurance package and how it compares to the unemployment rate. Is it worth subsidizing? The author expresses his views on the unemployment rate in 2010 in comparison to the worst unemployment rate ever, which was in 1982. Obama’s administration policy; is expanding unemployment insurance eligibility to 99 weeks from the standard 26 weeks. This in return would cause higher taxes to pay for the insurance program associated with the unemployment compensation. Summary The current administration is to focused on government expansion these days, they believe the cost is ineffective because the tax deductions in the package had no cut effects in the marginal income tax rates that encourage investments, work efforts, and productivity growth. The cost is ineffective because the program subsidizes unemployment, therefore resulting in insufficient job searches, job acceptances, and levels of employment. The unemployment system has the largest extension ever for unemployed workers. The author blames the Obama administration, they should have predetermined that the extension is reckless and an all around bad idea. Expanding to 99 weeks was unwise both economically and politically incorrect. Normative Arguments The normative issues associated with the state of economy and or the current policy relate to what should be rather than what is. The expansion of employment-insurance eligibility is 99 weeks compared to the standard of 26 weeks. People during this time should be resourceful looking for jobs and going to interviews, but instead people are taking the entire unemployment package as a vacation or keeping a low end job on the side. The peak of the unemployment rate in 2009 was 10. 1%, but the rate was higher in 1982 at 10. 8% with a less generous package than now. In 1982 at a rate of 10. 8% unemployment the duration of pay lasted 17. 6 weeks. Those unemployed longer than 26 weeks were at the 20. 4% long term unemployment rate which peaked in 1983 when the unemployment rate fell to 9. 4%, which then the mean of duration of unemployment reached 21. weeks and unemployment was at 24. 5%. Unemployment of less than 21 weeks plus the share of long term unemployment less than 25% (mean) in contrast to unemployment in today’s world. At the peak of unemployment in June 2010 was at 35. 2 weeks and long term reached 46. 2%. Positive Arguments The positive argument is information that supports the argument and has pre dictions about the economic relationships. The author does not agree with the Obama administration economists. They believe that if the insurance plan had been reduced unemployment would be reduced as well. The dramatic expansion of unemployment-insurance eligibility to 99 weeks is the reason unemployment is so high, because people believe that it won’t run out, or this won’t happen to me. We agree that the demand for unemployment is ridiculous, and people need a smaller time frame and more rules/regulations in order for the government to restrict people from just living off of unemployment. People take it as a joke, or as it won’t happen to me, a job will come when the time is right but for now I’ll sit back and just wait for my check. Conclusion In conclusion, the research and statistics made the article stronger. It only addresses one side of the issue which is the negative side. The normative analysis could have a little more positive feedback analysis to give his opinion more of a backbone and core to his findings. The author could go into more detail about changing the system and how people could be more positive and not sit and wait till the check or job comes to them. Works Cited Barro, Robert. â€Å"The Folly of Subsidizing Unemployment. † The Folly of Subsidizing Unemployment (2010). Print.

History of Arts and Artists Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

History of Arts and Artists - Essay Example Like civilization, art has its own progress and/or decline as an observer might consider. Art has primarily been known as the appreciation of beauty which has been expressed early on through paintings and carvings in various forms. In this essay author pays exclusive attention to the history of art through human civilization. Ancient art on the other hand followed a quite similar way of expressing one’s appreciation of beauty but could be said to have improved in details. Prehistoric and ancient art have been expressed mostly in paintings on walls and stones. Egyptian art, for instance, made use of more vivid illustrations, adding more details to the subject which usually picture their culture. The pyramids themselves were an expression of the artistic point of view of ancient art. This essay covers the renaissance era, that brought artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti. Their beautiful paintings were concentrated more on culture and religion illustrations with the use of more deeper colors. It also pays attention to the baroque period which was borne in France and dominated by artists like Bernini, Caravaggio and Rembrandt. Realism was described, as style that came to existence with its objective rejecting the ideas set by romantics. Contemporary art movements like Dadaism, which was an effect of World War I are also explained in detail. Artists at this time saw the atrocities of war and used art as their instrument of sending their messages to the world, facing the realities of war and not just concentrating on the beautiful things.

Week 3-peer's comment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week 3-peer's comment - Assignment Example Maggie provides the characteristics of Usonian architecture. Key is its application in making homes affordable to the common man. Simple and organic, the architecture utilizes simple natural materials. The post fails to link the two styles of architecture. Notably, the Usonian style is a simplification of the Prairie style architecture. Diandra provides a simple yet cohesive analysis of the prairie style. The post links the prairie style with Wright’s vision of making a building part of the environment. Specifically, Diandra acknowledges the characteristics of the style. The mention of the building’s interior provides further insight into the style. The post mentions the primary role of the fireplace in the style. Moreover, Diandra mentions carefully the style’s incorporation of open plan layouts that replaces â€Å"isolated rooms† with â€Å"interwoven spaces† (Roth, 306). The Ward W. Willits house serves as an example of the style. However, detail lacks in describing the house specifically. Diandra links the two style by acknowledging their similarity. Moreover, the post sees the Usonian version as a simpler version of the Prairie style. However, it is necessary to mention the specific details eliminated in the Usonian style. These include the garage and the basement. The post m entions the Jacob’s House as a prime example of this

The Globalization Crisis Explanation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Globalization Crisis Explanation - Essay Example In addition, the technological developments advanced this globalization thing and made the process even faster and more acceptable on the greater percentage. Although there are still gaps to bridge, it could be said in a general sense that the world has become one again. Even the food that we eat, in a way, brought together people from different countries to work in order to bring food on our tables. Kelsey Timmerman in her article, â€Å"It’s From Where?†, looks a lot deeper into this globalization phenomenon and presents arguments which are quite obvious but are generally disregarded perhaps because of the result of globalization also. It is interesting though, for her to bring out the issue on globalization and draw her readers to the underlying problems which should become the concern of every citizen, in every country and if it may be mentioned, especially those who are from highly developed countries. The author points out that highly developed countries like the United States should become aware and be concerned about the workers from which the finished products that reach their houses, come from. This is because most of the workers are painfully paid too little in exchange for their quite difficult jobs. This paper then wants to dissect the arguments of Zimmerman, her approach, including her writing style and purpose. Timmerman does not only inform her readers. She also questions them. This technique is quite effective for her purpose to hold the attention of her readers and get them to take action. She informs her audience to convince them that she did not only read about some distant places and fictitious people in a well-crafted narrative. She does this by showing that she dealt with the people in her article and that they are as human as her readers. She also uses questions in order to appeal to the emotions and conscience of her readers. For instance, Timmerman points out that instant coffee comes in packs, ready for consumption where in what the end buyer needs to do is simply mix hot water with it.

The First Movement of Beethovens Symphony No. 5 Essay

The First Movement of Beethovens Symphony No. 5 - Essay Example The composition of this particular piece of classical music ensured that Beethoven’s name was ingrained into the foundations of genius artistry and established what can be termed as an everlasting presence on the influence of future classical positions. The Symphony No. 5 in C minor was written by Ludwig van Beethoven was composed over time and actually took a number of years (four) to be completed(Fandel, 2007). This goes to demonstrate the amount of work and effort that was put into this creation and establish the fact that this particular composition was not just another musician playing around with his instruments but the product of an utmost professional who put 100% into his work. This masterpiece was written between the years of 1804-1808 and after its completion, it became one of the most if not undoubtedly the most popular classical pieces of music in the world. The symphony was played in a wide and vast collection of musical performances where classical enthusiast would gather together in appreciation of this beautiful work of art. It was first performed in 1808 just after its completion in a theatre in Vienna known as Theatre an der wien and soon after that the piece of music received critical acclaim around the world. Over a century has gone by since then and this piece of classical music is still being played in theatres around the world by different bands specializing in classical music and by amateurs as well(Fandel, 2007). Lovers of the classical music genre have joined together to ensure that what can be considered to be one of Beethoven’s best pieces would not fade into obscurity regardless of the time elapsed since its creation.

Academic Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Academic Response - Essay Example In Rodriguez’s case, when his sibling started communicating to him in English at home in order to help him gain public confidence by learning a bit of English, the whole family underwent changes as the parents and the relatives were no longer at ease with him as marked by the silence spell in the house especially at dinner time. English transforms the entire family therefore limiting the intimacy they had with Spanish. This is a disadvantage to young children as supporters of bilingual education assert that children should first be taught in their first language. Rodriguez also argues that the ability of a bilingual person to speak two languages especially a language spoken by most people in public makes him more comfortable when speaking in public. The use of the first language only impedes social growth as one cannot communicate in English effectively thereby causing alienation from the public. When Rodriguez mastered English, he started viewing himself and his family as part of the American society as he could now fit in the public. He learned that Spanish is something that was not socially acceptable and appropriate in public and he got the feeling that he has the obligation and the right to communicate in English. This made him feel like a complete fully-fledged and worthy member of the American society. He says, "At last†¦I was an American citizen." Rodriguez also implies that speaking a language different than his private language in public makes the person lose a part of his identity. This is because bilingual education requires that the largest part of the first language is neglected thereby intensifying the separation among cultures. Rodriguez asserts that there must be a sacrifice in order to gain the acceptance and worthiness of being an American. His philosophy is that learning English requires that the native language is buried and forgotten in the mind of the students like the way he

The blue sky laws Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The blue sky laws - Essay Example It is a common practice for the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) to regulate the security trading activities and enforce laws which are against fraudulent trading. However, the sky blue law has granted authority to state officials to share the responsibility of the SEC (the reduction of fraudulent securities trading and/or ensuring the punishment of violators). The sky blue law has been successful, to a significant extent, in regulating the securities trading. Even though every state implements the law, but take a different approach, there are similarities which form the basis of the effectiveness of the law. First, every state, in pursuant to the law, demands the registration of all players in the security market. The law requires that the stock brokers, the brokerage companies, and private security sellers register or be excused from the requirements of the registration (Legal Information Institute par. 1). Based on the registration strategy, the security agency of various states has successfully managed to reduce the fraudulent securities trading by denying a trading license or certificates to unqualified brokerage companies and/or individual stock brokers. Second, the sky blue law contains subsections that compel companies to release true and fair information to facilitate informed decision making. Third, the law provides for the punis hment of individuals or entities that engage in fraudulent securities trading and/or the release of false information. However, the law has not been very successful in the security regulation of national securities such as those listed on the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ among others (Legal Information Institute par. 1-3). In conclusion, the law has been successful in regulating securities trading. The registration process required to be followed by the players in the security market, the issuance of qualification certificates, the pressure to release true and fair information, and the punishment to

Answer the math problem Speech or Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Answer the math problem - Speech or Presentation Example (A) Perform a t-test testing whether CDC and Brinks have the same average collections per day for the area that they were responsible for (ie, not 1-A). Show your work, either via calculations or providing a log of your stata session (or other program) or the formulas you used in excel. Can you use the result to create an estimate of the total amount stolen from June 1979-April 1980 (10 months)? If you can, do so. If not, explain why. From the results, note that the p-value is 0.0001, for the absolute difference in the means. This implies that the mean of average collections between the two companies is statistically different at a significant level of 5%. The t test shows the statistical difference between either two variables or a variable and a constant but cannot be used for estimation. Therefore determining, the total amount stolen requires an estimation method, different from t-test such as regression. (B) Create a 95% confidence interval for the average amount stolen per month based solely on the difference between CDC and Brinks time periods (ie, use the same data as (A). Again, show your work, either via calculations or providing a log of your STATA session (or other program) or the formulas you used in excel. (D) Create a new variable called â€Å"winter† that is equal to 1 from November – February, and 0 otherwise. Create a second new variable called â€Å"summer† that is equal to 1 from June-August. Summarize these variables; what are their means and standard deviations? You are trying to decide whether to use T-Mobile, AT&T or Verizon as your cell phone carrier. You have data on average costs each month over a series of years for an individual who has similar phone habits (for data, texting and voice). The only difference is that this person travels internationally in the summer, and so has a higher bill then. (A) Load the data into your statistical program and create a variable that takes

Food Addictives Essay Example for Free

Food Addictives Essay This food additives essay is basically an advantages and disadvantages essay. You need to be careful with the word ‘outweigh’ as this often confuses students. The word ‘outweigh’ can be placed in different ways in the sentence so rather than work it out, it is better to think of it simply as ‘are there more advantages or disadvantages Decide what you think there are more of and then state this in the thesis statement without mentioning the word ‘outweigh’. For example, look at the thesis statement from the food additives essay model answer: In my opinion, the potential dangers from this are greater than the benefits we receive. ‘Outweigh’ questions do suggest, though, that there are definitely both advantages AND disadvantages, so you should discuss both. However, make sure your essay supports your opinion. For example, if you have said there are more disadvantages, it would not make sense to then write mostly about advantages. As you can see from the model answer, advantages are discussed, but the focus is on the disadvantages as this is what it is stated are greater in the thesis statement. Model Essay 15 Food Additives Essay You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Present a written argument to an educated reader with no specialist knowledge of the following topic. Do the dangers derived from the use of chemicals in food production and preservation outweigh the advantages? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own experience or knowledge. You should write at least 250 words. www.ieltsbuddy.com Free online IELTS Advice www.ieltsbuddy.com Free online IELTS Advice Food Additives Essay Model Answer Most foods that are purchased these days in small stores and supermarkets have chemicals in them as these are used to improve production and ensure the food lasts for longer. However, there are concerns that these have harmful effects. In my opinion, the potential dangers from this are greater than the benefits we receive. There are several reasons why chemicals are placed in food. Firstly, it is to improve the product to the eye, and this is achieved via the use of colourings which encourage people to purchase food that may otherwise not look tempting to eat. Another reason is to preserve the food. Much of the food we eat would not actually last that long if it were not for chemicals they contain, so again this is an advantage to the companies that sell food as their products have a longer shelf life. From this evidence, it is clear to me that the main benefits are, therefore, to the companies and not to the customer. Although companies claim these food additives are safe and they have research to support this, the research is quite possibly biased as it comes from their own companies or people with connections to these companies. It is common to read reports these days in the press about possible links to various health issues such as cancer. Food additives have also been linked to problems such as hyperactivity in children. To conclude, despite the fact that there are benefits to placing chemicals in food, I believe that these principally help the companies but could be a danger to the public. It is unlikely that this practice can be stopped, so food must be clearly labeled a nd it is my hope that organic products will become more readily available at reasonable prices to all.

Dsdm and information security management standards iso 27001

Dsdm and information security management standards iso 27001 Abstract This report presented two different topics related to information technology, specifically Dynamic Systems Dynamic Modelling and the ISO 27001. The first part of this paper discussed advantages and disadvantages, relevant case histories and potential issues of the two topics. This section included reflection on issues of social responsible computing. The second part reflected the relevance of the content of the assignment and unit while the last part will conclude the topics presented. Both of these systems have their own purposes and implementation of these standards and methods often provides benefits to the organizations involved. DSDM focuses on how software is developed while the ISO27001 ensures that protection against security is ensured within the organization. On the other hand, computer professionals as well as organizations that focus on information technology must also consider the disadvantages presented by these methods and standards before incorporating it within the o rganizational processes. 1. Introduction This report will present two different topics related to information technology, specifically Dynamic Systems Dynamic Modelling and the ISO 27001. The first part of this paper will discuss the advantages and disadvantages, relevant case histories and potential issues of the two topics. This section will also include reflection on issues of social responsible computing. The second part reflects the relevance of the content of the assignment and unit while the last part will conclude the topics presented. 2. DSDM 2.1 Advantages and disadvantages The DSDM or the Dynamic System Dynamic Modelling method serves as an effort to define an industrial standard for IT systems development. This approach provides an iterative product-centred procedure model that is employed to establish incrementally the target. This method is also a user-centred technique which is mainly based on the combination of the user input on its entire software development process (Lind 2001). However, DSDM is not created as a general purpose technique; but rather as a specialized process for specific business applications in which most of the functionality of the system can be accessed through its user interface. In addition, the functions of the target system must be decomposable into several sub-functions and the technique can only be applied when the groups of designated users are already identified and when these users are available to the development team (Lind 2001). The advantages of DSDM are that it is more formal than usual prototyping techniques and it is also independent of specific tools and techniques. This method provides a technique-independent process and adaptable in terms of changing requirements. It also implements strict time and budget adherence and often considers stakeholders during the development process (University of Ottawa 2008). In addition, the DSDM supports institutional learning, an aspect often disregarded by other approaches (Lind 2001). One of the disadvantages of DSDM is that it is only appropriate to particular classification of applications and because of its heavy reliance on its user interactions; it needs a specific institutional framework for the software development process (Lind 2001). DSDM also involves progressive development of requirements and its emphasis of RAD may result to decline in code robustness. This method also needs full commitment to the process and considerable user involvement. DSDM also needs skilled development group in both technical and business areas (University of Ottawa 2008). 2.2 Relevant case histories During the early 1990s, a new phrase ‘Rapid Application Development was introduced within the IT industry. RAD is designed differently from the Waterfall techniques for development of application. Clearly, RAD emerged because of the users frustrations and people involved in the IT alike with approaches that were considered unsuitable for a rapid moving business environment. On the other hand, RAD developed as a movement in an unstructured manner since people involved did not created a generally accepted definition of a RAD process and various vendors and consultants created their own interpretation and approach (The History of DSDM Consortium). In 1993, a momentum in the market place has been increasing with expanding number of instruments for RAD and vendors repositioning their products to satisfy a growing demand for customers of RAD. However, each customer has their own specific needs in terms of development process. These forecasted requirements gave rise to the development of DSDM Version 1. The group improves DSDM through releasing different versions (The History of DSDM Consortium). DSDM has been providing solutions for those companies who have been experiencing problems with software delivery. One good example is an Online Computer Library Centre (OCLC). When they employed the DSDM, the operation of OCLC has improved. Their teams have tailored to work better for the organizations needs and implemented additional tools and techniques (DSDM Case Study nd.). 2.3 Reflection on issues of social responsible computing. Even though IT developers are aware with the issues regarding the disabilities, only few of them have made a step in supporting disadvantaged people. If an organization is supporting employees and customers who are disadvantaged, being service providers, the software developers should create programs that cater to their respective needs (Shneiderman 1992). They could also develop software intended for community communications and improve softwares intended to support entrepreneurs. Software development, whether for personal computers, mobile phones or for any relevant electronic devices, should also focus in satisfying the needs of the minorities, the elderly and other disadvantaged communities (Shneiderman 1992). 2.4 Potential issues in the future (five years ahead) Given the constant emergence of new IT programs and changing needs of customers and organizations, five years ahead, DSDM might either become an obsolete system or it may decrease its value for the organizations that use the system. Other systems might emerged which is more effective than DSDM (Guidelines for Introducing DSDM to the Organization 1998). However, assuming that the DSDM will not become obsolete since it will adopt to the changing trends of its industry, the potential issues that the company will face is the training and education of their existing development team. Since DSDM should undergo necessary changes, it would be necessary for the organization to give training and education to their development team (Guidelines for Introducing DSDM to the Organization 1998). 3. Information Security Management standards ISO 27001 3.1 Advantages and disadvantages ISO/IEC 27001 oversees all forms of organizations including government agencies, not for profit organizations and commercial firms. It presents requirements for implementing, developing, operating, monitoring, assessing, sustaining and enhancing a documented Information Security Management System considering the organizations business risks. It presents standards for the establishing security controls tailored to the needs of individual firms or its divisions. Certifying ISMS can bring various benefits for the firms (ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security 2010). The ISO 27001 provides an independent assurance of the organizations internal controls and satisfies business community and corporate governance standards. This is also effective for firms that handle information in behalf of other parties such as IT outsourcing firms. It assures customers that their information is fully secured. ISO 27001 illustrates that applicable policies and relevant rules are adhered and give competitive edge through satisfying the requirements contractual requirements and proving to the organizations customers that their security of their information is of the highest priority (ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security 2010). These standards independently assure organizations risks are appropriate identified, evaluated, and supervised while formalizing information security procedures and documentations. Following to these standards signifies that the organization has full commitment to assure security of information. Regular assessment encourages the organization to monitor their performance and improve further (ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security 2010). One of the few disadvantages however of ISO certifications is that the organization focuses too much on the certification and giving less attention to other necessary aspects of the business; for example, creating a good working environment that intrinsically motivates people involved within the organization. Although improving systems leads to better services, organizations tend to focus on the following audits and assessments but may ignore ‘human aspect of the business such as not giving incentives for the people who did the job well done since the budget concentrated on improving the systems to acquire the certification (Advantages and Disadvantages of ISO Certification 2010). 3.2 Relevant case histories ISO 27001 served as the replacement for BS7799-2, which is withdrawn. This standard for the ISMS matches with ISO 17799 and is compatible with ISO 4000 and ISO 9001 (PC History n.d.). Different organizations have implemented the ISO27001 and reaped significant number of benefits. One good example is the Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service. After the implementation of guidelines and processes towards acquiring ISO 27001, the agencys security environment has improved and they have now greater transparency. The ISO 27001 also provided the agency stronger rules and operational processes. The agency also serve as a role for model for other organizations, whether for profits or not for profit. It also ensures good corporate governance within the organization (ISO 27001 Case Study n.d.). 3.3 Reflection on issues of social responsible computing. Some public agencies and non-governmental organizations as well as investment analyst function as critics and evaluators of organizations to ensure that minimum standards are implemented within the workplace and ensure that workers are equally treated. While ISO 27001 ensures transparency within the organization, public agencies, NGO and employees are increasingly assessing organizations dedication to ensure fair and equitable working environment and this trend signifies that every organization must not only adhere to ISO certification but also they should demonstrate social responsibility (SA 8000 Social Accountability 2010). An organization that implements social responsible computing enhances its brand image and reputation and becomes more effective in enticing new customers. Social accountability also attracts ethical investment, demonstrate transparency to its stakeholders and it also improves employees morale and effectiveness (SA 8000 Social Accountability 2010). Therefore, social accountability reinforces the benefits provided by the IS0 27001. 3.4 Potential issues in the future (five years ahead) Potential issues that the ISMS will clearly face are the never ending evolutions of worms, viruses, Trojan horses, spywares and malwares. No one knows how these problems may evolve and become more serious that security programs implemented might find it hard to prevent them from entering and damaging the computer systems. Even though antivirus programs are performing great jobs in protecting the computers, new viruses that have not been recognized by antivirus programs can enter and damage computer programs, similar to Melissa worms and Love Bugs (Love Bug Virus 2007). 5. Refection on the relevance of the content of the assignment and unit The content provided as well as the unit itself can serve as guidance for researchers and students if they are planning to develop potential security standards and software development methods or even software. As part of curriculum in information technology, professors require students to create thesis or projects related to software or security standards. IT professionals also engage in similar endeavours. Developing software clearly requires systematic structure while establishing security standards must rely on the existing standards and make some modifications to satisfy the needs of the clients and to adopt with the changing trends of security threats. 6. Conclusion The DSDM or the Dynamic System Dynamic Modelling method serves as an effort to define an industrial standard for IT systems development. This approach provides an iterative product-centred procedure model that is employed to establish incrementally the target. ISO/IEC 27001 oversees all forms of organizations including government agencies, not for profit organizations and commercial firms. It presents requirements for implementing, developing, operating, monitoring, assessing, sustaining and enhancing a documented Information Security Management System considering the organizations business risks. Both of these systems have their own purposes and implementation of these standards and methods often provides benefits to the organizations involved. While DSDM serves as a technique-independent process and adaptable in terms of changing requirements, the ISO 27001 independently assures organizations risks are appropriate identified, evaluated, and supervised while formalizing information security procedures and documentations. DSDM focuses on how software is developed while the ISO27001 ensures that protection against security is ensured within the organization. On the other hand, computer professional as well as organizations that focus on information technology must also consider the disadvantages presented by these methods and standards before incorporating it within the organizational processes. DSDM also involves progressive development of requirements and its emphasis of RAD may result to decline in code robustness. This method also needs full commitment to the process and considerable user involvement. DSDM also needs skilled development group in both technical and business areas; otherwise they might need to hire additional staff to fill insufficient areas. Organizations that often aim for acquiring certification sometimes ignore other important aspects of the business such as social responsibility and ‘human aspects of the business.

War And Peace :: essays research papers

The book â€Å"War and Peace† by Leo Tolstoy is a story about the lives of the Russian royal family from 1805 to 1815. This book describes things and events that happened during the war. The story begins at a cocktail party being held at the home of Anna Pavolvna in St. Petersburg. Most of the action, however takes place in Moscow, at the home of the Rostov family, and the battle front in the war with Napoleon. Their are the good people and the bad people. The good people being Natasha Rostov, a teenage girl who grows and matures throughout the book and Pierre Bezuhov, the son of Kirill Vladmirovitch Bezuhov, who speaks much of the novel expressing his purpose on earth. Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, the leader of the Bolkonsky family and a great war hero. The â€Å"bad† people are: the protagonists themselves, as they torment themselves and Napoleon Bonaparte, (who, by some, is believed to be an impostor) the emperor and military leader of France. Bent on world domination. Secondary characters are the families of Bolkonsky and Kuragin, Anna Pavolvna, a famous St. Petersburg socialite and Kutuzof, the military leader of the Russian forces. The basic conflict is the effects of the changes to the protagonists through the Napoleonic wars. One important event occurs when Prince Andrei is wounded during the battle of Austerlitz, and he is given a chance to recollect on his wartime experiences. Another important event occurs when Pierre is take prisoner by the French, (this is where he has the chance to look into his feelings and come to a peace with himself.) The climax of Pierre’s story occurs when he is held before a firing squad by the French. This is his climax because he is convinced that he is going to die, and after he is spared he becomes more caring and it is obvious that he will continue on this course until the end. The climax of Natasha’s life occurs when Andrei dies. It makes her reconsider the way she has lived her life, maturing her further from her state of mind as a seventeen year-old. The climax for Andrei occurs when he is mortally wounded while attempting to protect Moscow from Napoleon’s forces. This is his climax because his outlook on life becomes so negative and morbid that he can only wait to die.

Segregation: The Processes of Inclusion and Exclusion Essay -- Sociolo

Race is an ambiguous concept possessed by individuals, and according to sociologists Michael Omi and Howard Winant, it is socially constructed. Race divides people into categories which causes needless cultural and social tensions. The concept of race also causes inclusion, exclusion, and segregation in U.S society. Both inclusion and exclusion tie together to create the overall process of segregation — one notion cannot occur without resulting in the others. Segregation is a form of separation in terms of race that includes the processes of inclusion and exclusion. Race was the main factor that caused conflicts among people in society in the realms of culture, education, and residential. Historians, sociologists, and other educators such as Macias, Kelley, Menchaca, Valencia, and Sugrue have researched the issue of segregation, how people use it to include and exclude others, as well as the consequences that followed. In the U.S society, Whites have fought to prevent interactions between them and Blacks throughout the centuries. One method of segregation that included inclusion and exclusion was through public housing — Whites reinforced means to drive Blacks out of their neighborhoods. In Thomas J. Sugrue's article, "Crabgrass-Roots Politics: Race, Rights, and the Reaction against Liberalism in the Urban North, 1940-1964," he addressed this issue of segregation in public housing for African-Americans. Whites in Detroit, Michigan were preventing the black population from "invading their enclaves." (65) The city of Detroit attracted many African-American migrants after World War II and those who sought upward mobility wanted better housing in primarily white sections of the city. Therefore racial tensions and segr... ... when people wanted to mix despite their races, authorities prevented them because of their races. Segregation with its processes of inclusion and exclusion existed in the cultural sphere even when people wanted to mix despite their races, but authorities prevented them because of that. People's beliefs in the superior and inferior races led to segregation that included and excluded people in U.S society. People disassociate with others because they have dissimilar interests and they look different. Races are biologically and genetically vary by nature but the activity of people physically distancing themselves because of their differences is what causes conflicts. When people engage in inclusion and exclusion in the process of segregation, that is when conflicts arise among them. It is when people start to believe in the superior races versus the inferior ones.

Reasons for Being in College Essay

If your child ever asks, â€Å"Why should I go to college?† here are five reasons! 1. Make more money. People who graduate from college make more money than those with just a high school diploma. A lot more money, actually. People with a college degree make around $1,100 a week. Someone with a high school diploma makes just $638. 2. Have more opportunity. People who go to college open up their choices for jobs. Many jobs these days require a college degree. Plus, college graduates have less chance of losing their jobs. In 2009, there were 9.7 million unemployed high school graduates, compared with 5.2 million college graduates without jobs. 3. Make connections. In college, students make new friends and other connections that will be helpful when it’s time to get started in a career. Those friends they make in college will help them get jobs, and these connections and networks will help them throughout their lives. 4. Live a healthier and happier life. Studies have shown that college graduates are healthier and are less likely to get divorced. The divorce rate for college graduates who married between 1990 and 1994 is about 25 percent. That’s compared with more than 50 percent for those without a four-year college degree. Plus, people with just a high school diploma are nearly twice as likely to be in poorer health than college graduates. 5. Start a tradition. If your child goes to college, your grandchildren will be more likely to go too: 71 percent of students with at least one parent who has a bachelor’s degree apply to college themselves. Only 26 percent of first-generation students (those with no parent who went beyond high school) apply to college.

Counseling Youth in Times of Crisis

Counseling Youth in Times of Crisis â€Å"Teenagers can be like elephants. If youVe spent any time around them, this thought has probably crossed your mind, but hopefully wasn't said out loud. † We sometimes think teenagers aren't able to go far in life, or be anything but a problem. Living a carefree life not worried about anything or one around them. Some adults have no idea of all the struggles teenagers have to deal with. Just like adults they deal with stress, death, peer pressure, and lots more.It is sometimes hard to see past the shield these youth have put up around them. They will test you until they trust you, ut only once they trust you will the real test come. Youth struggle with crisis Just like everyone else, and need a counselor or caregiver to help them through it. Eating Disorder â€Å"Eight million people in the United States suffer from an eating disorder, the most common of which is bulimia nervosa. Eighty six percent of suffers report the onset of the dis order before the age of twenty; only half report being cured.Six percent of serious cases die of the disorder. † This is very serious and should never be taken lightly. It is getting harder and harder to be a youth in our culture. They have to deal ith constant scrutiny of their peers and coaches; often comparing themselves to the airbrushed, photo shopped models in todays' magazines. They try to be perfect while knowing they never can be. Some feel extremely guilty about what they are doing but the stress and guilt only leads to them doing it more.Here are some characteristics that are hints of Anorexia Nervosa: Looks not Just lean, but abnormally thin Extreme attraction/avoidance language and behavior regarding food Obsessive weighing Baggy clothes to hide shape Now here are some characteristics that are hints of Bulimia Nervosa: Abnormally requent trips to the bathroom abnormal fixation on exercise, no matter what Cuts and calluses on knuckles and backs of hands Car or clos et smells of vomit When dealing with this in teenagers the first thing you need to do is make sure they are going to get proper treatment and counseling for their disorder.They need help and telling you was probably very hard, so don't make them get other help by themselves and also help them inform their parents. Suicide If you are going to work with youth there is a chance that you will work with someone that has attempted suicide, contemplated suicide or had a friend commit uicide. â€Å"Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-old Americans. An average ot one person dies by suicide every 16. 2 minutes. † A very good triend ot mine from high school committed suicide; although no one knows why he did it the last thing posted on his Facebook wall by a friend was the comment mfou're gay'.His friend who posted this goes to the school counselor once a week now; he blames himself for his friend's death; thinking it was Just an innocent Joke. Some of the signs that may alert a parent, teacher, youth leader, pastor or friend to a possible uicide attempt include: Previous suicide attempts Threats of suicide Talking about death Preparation of death (cleaning out locker, giving away possessions, etc. ) Depression Sudden change in behavior (acting out, violent behavior etc. Moodiness Withdrawal Somatic complaints (sleeplessness, sleeping all the time) Fatigue Increased risk-taking Drafting a suicide note We need to watch for these signs when dealing with youth and remember it is better to be safe in checking on a youth's life, than sorry if they take their life. If you ask a teenager about an issue like this, I think, they are more likely to be thankful than to hink you upset. And if they are upset about you asking those questions about their feelings and life the chances are they are trying to hide something from you or their parents.When someone comes to us about suicide it is vital that we listen to them and not throw the bible in their fa ce. â€Å"Be nonjudgmental. Statements such as mfou can't be thinking of suicide, it is against the teaching of your church† or â€Å"l had a similar problem when I was your age and I didn't consider suicide† are totally inappropriate during a crisis situation. † We as caregivers should never make the are receiver feel unworthy of your time or lower their self-esteem. There are a few different reasons that youth attempt suicide: for attention, depression, loss, manipulation, and lots more.In saying that my sister has attempted suicide three times; she has done it for attention and she has also threatened suicide for the purpose of manipulation. But we should always remember that while the person attempting suicide may be your first concern the family and friends are suffering Just as much if not more. One of the times she was threating to commit suicide she grabbed a kitchen knife and tried to run to her room. Her boyfriend saw her grab it and was attempting to t ake it from her when my then 9 year old brother walked into the house.He could not see the knife and didn't know what was going on; he only knew that his sister looked like she was being beaten up by her boyfriend. Naturally the first thing he did was try to get her boyfriend off of her. This led to the boyfriend yelling at my brother, â€Å"Go away! She is trying to kill herself. † When my brother heard this he ran to his room in tears. It was his snapping point after losing two of his grandparents and his Dad moving away. Now he is taking three medications and ees a counselor once a week. He has been diagnosed with depression, bipolar, and schizophrenic tendencies.He has never tried to attempt suicide but we a constantly watching for signs and praying for his health. I believe that he will never attempt suicide because we saw the signs as soon as they started to appear. But I believe that way too many times the siblings ot the suicide attempter are overlooked and not given the help that they may need. Always remember that suicide affects everyone around that person. Death I have never met someone who hasn't dealt with death in some way; whether that s a friend, a parent, a grandparent, a significant other, a sibling, or they themselves are dying.The five stages of grief are: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. These steps may come in order, they may Jump around, or experience more than one at a time. There is no correct way to grieve it is a process that is different for everyone involved. Some youth may begin to act out when dealing with grief because; they don't know what else to do. For some students this may be their first experience with death. When dealing with death we must explain to the youth ho is dealing with it that grief is a process. â€Å"Listen.When a teenager is grieving, this isn't the time to view the conversation as a teachable moment. You don't need to correct his perceptions or theology, nor do you need to giv e advice. You need to quietly and attentively listen to him. † When a teenager losses a parent or parents, make sure they don't Just Jump into their new adult responsibilities before they are ready. Help them to realize the changes that have to be made in their daily life with the death of this person. Let them see what has to be changed and what kind of help they need to do that.Always make sure to be available to youth after a death. Be the one to text or call them they won't always take the initiative to ask for help. Some common mistakes youth workers make when helping a teenager deal with grief are: Being overbearing, looking for teachable moments, hiding their own grief, etc. We want to help but we need to still be aware that the youth has a whole lot to deal with and needs some space to process everything. One of the worse things you can do is try to teach a grieving youth theology; they have enough to worry about and don't need to have your opinions shoved at them too.

Formative assessment Essay

Formative Assessment: raising standards inside the classroom Black. , P. (1998), provides a brief overview of the evidence, both qualitative and quantitative about the quality of teacher’s classroom assessment practices, about the effectiveness of good formative assessment in promoting pupil’s learning and the features of classroom assessment that enhances students learning. Paul Black carried out two practical inquiries in various schools. The first experiment involved twelve classes of thirty pupils each in two schools. This experiment work was structured around pupil’s tools of systematic and reasoned inquiry and greatly emphasized on student’s communication skills and peer assessment. The students were required to carry out a science group project which involved experimentation. The results showed that the students who had the best assessment process achieved the highest scores. This was only possible where students were able to communicate effectively with each other and were able to evaluate their own understanding of the concept being taught. Thus, the author showed that self- and peer assessment can be achieved by giving pupil’s opportunities to reflect their learning. Similarly, the second experiment involved forty eight eleven year old Israeli pupils from twelve classes across four schools where half of those selected being in the top quartile of their class on tests of mathematics and language and other half being in the lower quartile. They were taught materials not directly related to their normal curriculum, and given written tasks to be tackled individually under supervision, with an oral introduction and supervision. Then the pupil’s were divided into three groups and feedbacks were provided. The first group was given comments only, the second group was given grades only and the third group was given comments with grades. The research showed that for ‘comments only’ showed an increase in the performance of the students while the other two groups showed a significant decline in the scores across the three sessions. Therefore, this research article tries to show that if feedback comments are in principle, it is operationally helpful for a pupil’s work, and literature also indicates that ‘task-involving’ feedback is more effective than ‘ego-involving’ feedback. Likewise, the reports studied by Paul Black and his colleagues showed that formative assessment helps to enhance feedback between the students and the teacher as it increases new modes of pedagogy and will cause a significant changes in the classroom practices. Similarly, formative assessment increases pupil participation in the classroom and can help affect motivation and self-esteem of pupils. Therefore, effective teaching must be carried out in a classroom that will enhance students learning. However, posing of questions is a natural and direct way of checking on learning, but is often unproductive. It becomes important for teachers to generate good questions and this can be obtained from outside sources such as internet and library sources. Thus, teachers should ask themselves that: Do I really know enough about the understanding of my pupils to be able to help each of them? Therefore, what seems both obvious and problematic is that the whole area is at the heart of pedagogy and may have been appraised and shaped further in terms of a theory of larger scope to encompass school learning comprehensively. One of the limitations of this article is that this has not been attempted, so that what is here needs the discipline of a broader context. Thus, a classroom must be implemented that focuses on the policy for raising standards that will help improve formative assessment. (Black. , P. 1998. Formative assessment: raising standards inside the classroom. School Science Review.

Legaliza of Medical Marijuana

Assignment 2 Write your outline for your research paper by filling out the following template. Outline – Topic: Should Marijuana Be Legalized For Medical Purposes Introduction: Thesis Statement: Medical marijuana should be legalized but in the strict control of the doctor. Paragraph 1: PRO 1 Idea(s) to be developed: marijuana can relieve certain types of pain. Evidence/Examples: The evidence is overwhelming that marijuana can relieve certain types of pain, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms caused by such illnesses as multiple sclerosis, cancer and AIDS.Source(s) used: Joycelyn Elders, Mar. 26, 2004 Paragraph 2: PRO 2 Idea(s) to be developed: It's a matter between doctors and patients. Evidence/Examples:If doctors believe that it does help, and will be useful to the patient, they have the right to appoint it! Source(s) used: Aug. 9, 2007 – Dennis Kucinich Paragraph 3: PRO 3 Idea(s) to be developed: Marijuana clearly has medicinal value. Evidence/Examples: Thousands of seriously ill Americans have been able to determine that for themselves, albeit illegally. Source(s) used: 1999 – Lyn NofzigerParagraph 4: PRO 4 Idea(s) to be developed: Study of marijuana . Evidence/Examples: I have found in my study of these patients that cannabis is really a safe, effective and non-toxic alternative to many standard medications. There is no such thing as an overdose. Source(s) used: Nov. 17, 2005 – Philip Denney, MD Paragraph 5: PRO 5 Idea(s) to be developed: Cannabis is remarkably safe. Evidence/Examples: Although not harmless, it is surely less toxic than most of the conventional medicines it could replace if it were legally available.Source(s) used: 1 oct. 2007 – Lester Grinspoon, MD Paragraph 6: CON 1 Idea(s) to be presented: It is addictive. Refutation :Marijuana is not the safe drug portrayed by the marijuana lobby. It is addictive; it adversely affects the immune system; leads to the use of other drugs such as cocaine; is linked to cas es of cancer; causes respiratory diseases, mental disorders, including psychosis, depression, panic attacks, hallucinations†¦ Source(s) used:Oct. 1, 2004 – Janet Lapey, MD

Workers without Jobs

GAP cannot reflect positive or negative externalities Involve In the consumption and production UT these externalities do affect on people's living standard. Negative externalities such as pollution brings environmental costs to society but not calculated by GAP. Positive externalities such as technological advance benefits to society but it is not count in GAP. Economic well-being would be under-value or over-value if GAP is the only single measure of economic well-being. 3. Leisure helps people enjoy a better life.In countries with lower GAP, the welfare gain from leisure can compensate the welfare loss from low GAP. Explain why frictional and structural unemployment are unavoidable in most of the economies. There are always some workers without Jobs, even when the overall economy is doing well. For example, people now prefer cell phones from Apple than from Monika. Monika decides to cut down Its employees due to the decrease of revenue. It takes time for him (the worker) to search another job that is best suited for him. In this period when matching jobs and workers, he is unemployed and it is called frictional unemployment.Another example is that now most of the textile factories decide to move to mainland China. A worker in one of these factories loses her job, however, he Is unable to learn or change new working skills or knowledge on other specialist or other field. And therefore, she cannot find a new Job In her Orlando Industry and also in other industries. This imbalance between the skills and other characteristics of some workers and the needs of workers in the labor market causes unemployment called structural unemployment.When unemployment consist only frictional and structural unemployment, unemployment is at natural rate. In most of the economies, there are always some reasons causing frictional or structural unemployment. Employment rate never fall to zero it fluctuates around the natural rate of unemployment. Therefore, frictional and structura l unemployment are unavoidable in most of the economies. What are the three major functions of money? Discuss how these functions be affected by inflation. Account and a store of value.A medium of exchange is an item that buyers give to sellers when they purchase goods and services. When you buy a shirt at a clothing store, the store gives you the shirt, and you give the store your money. This transfer of money from buyer to seller allows the transaction to take place. When you walk into a store, you are confident that the store will accept your money for the items it is selling because money is the commonly accepted medium of exchange. A unit of account is the yardstick people use to post prices and record debts.When you go shopping, you might observe that a shirt costs $30 and a hamburger costs $3. Even though it would be accurate to say that the price of a shirt is 10 hamburgers and the price of a hamburger is 1110 of a shirt, prices are never quoted in this way. Similarly, if yo u take out a loan from a bank, the size of your future loan repayments ill be measured in dollars, not in a quantity of goods and services. When we want to measure and record economic value, we use money as the unit of account.A store of value is an item that people can use to transfer purchasing power from the present to the future. When a seller accepts money today in exchange for a good or service, that seller can hold the money and become a buyer of another good or service at another time. Money is not the only store of value in the economy: A person can also transfer purchasing power from the present to the future by holding monetary assets such as stocks and bonds. The term wealth is used to refer to the total of all stores of value, including both money and monetary assets.What assumptions are necessary to argue that the quantity equation of money implies that increases in the money supply lead to proportional increases in the general price (a) Discuss two reasons why the GAP deflator gives a different rate of inflation than the ICP does. 1. 12 PEP (6 marks) (b) Explain the likely effect of a binding minimum wage on the unemployment rate. (5 marks) (a) Suppose an economy that is initially at full employment faces a tremendous drop n imports. I.

Plato Euthyphro, Aristotle, Hobbes, Hume, Kant Assignment

Plato Euthyphro, Aristotle, Hobbes, Hume, Kant - Assignment Example 3. Socrates explains that the reactions or effects of things are different, as an action loved is said to be loved because someone is loving it. When someone does not love the action then it is not an action loved anymore. 1. Aristotle claims that we gain virtues by adaptation, and this I believe is true. I believe that humans are not naturally good or evil, we just absorb whatever it is that we are socially exposed to. As we mature, we learn to question things so we begin to choose for ourselves which are virtuous deeds and which are not, in our own perception. 2. I agree that there is no fixity with matters concerned with conduct and what’s good for us. As we mature, we, as humans learn how to preserve ourselves by accepting and rejecting beliefs that are beneficial for us. 3. Aristotle explains that virtuous men are only the ones capable of doing virtuous acts. I believe that virtuous men are more important than performing virtuous acts since it is a given that virtuous men will do virtuous acts but those who do virtuous acts may also do non-virtuous acts. 4. I find the premise rather contradictory. Aristotle states that the mean is between extremes but he says that there are some things that are wrong in all circumstances, such as adultery or stealing. According to Aristotle himself, we only adapt to our social environment, that’s how we learn virtues. One’s wrong may be one’s right and the differences in the opinion clouds the premise that some actions is always wrong. So then, wrong actions become wrong only because the social environment rejects the behavior. 1. Hobbes claims that men can be equal when a weaker man conspires with other weaker men or use machineries or such to fight a stronger man, whether it is physical or mental strength. And I agree with this since there are instances, like in wars

Race and Your Community Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Race and Your Community - Research Paper Example However, globalization has come to change how people perceive those from other races. There is more appreciation nowadays that people irrespective of race are just but human beings and can live in peace as brothers as sisters. For a society to grow racial tolerance is essential. This paper looks into various influences of race in my community in Phoenix, Arizona. Discussion Working in a copper mining company in Phoenix has helped me to develop the way I perceive people from different racial backgrounds. It is however not easy to intermingle freely with people from other races. There are still minor tensions that exist which get eroded as people work together more and share experiences. I work as a clerk whereby I attend to all people irrespective of their position in the company. I have come to disregard the popular belief that people exhibit differences based on their racial affiliations. It is however true that people from different races normally behave and perceive things differe ntly. My analysis on this issue is that this happens based not on their race but their background or environment. The basic issue is that all people be they Caucasians, Hispanics, Asians or African Americans, exhibit similarities in their values and beliefs. From my family background we were always taught that all people are equal in the eyes of the Creator and as such we should see them in the same light. Racism therefore forms a less important issue of debate in my community but should not be neglected altogether as scattered incidences still happen (Hartmann & Cornell, 2007). I can remember vividly when I was little where both in school and at home children used to play together irrespective of their race. It is after we grew up that we started taking racial differences more consciously. What we were being taught as children was basically to respect other people especially the elders. Respect for each other was also heavily emphasized by our parents where fighting or insulting an other child was heavily punished. Looking back in my childhood neighborhood I can recall that older people from the same race tended to socialize more despite there being no other major differences among people. I think this was due to the fact that the racial differences were quite intense when they were growing up and segregation became part of their life and routine. The media in Phoenix has been unbiased along racial lines. What forms the basis of news is what is worth being aired as news and not an individual’s race. For this media what is important is the way they will deliver their stories to captivate their listeners and viewers. Due to heightened competition between media houses what matters to them is how many listeners and viewers they have managed to capture (Hartmann & Cornell, 2007). As such, they try their best to remain unbiased irrespective of the character at the center of news or controversy. This is partly due to the realization that without people from al l races forming their clientele base, success in the media business is impossible. The media in Phoenix therefore offers African Americans, Hispanics and Caucasians a level playing field when it comes to content in their news and programing. In Phoenix leadership is well shared by people from different races. It therefore presents the rich diversity of races that inhabit this state. It is important to appreciate that inhabitants of Phoenix hail not only from

A critical theoretical and visual analysis of my experience of work Essay

A critical theoretical and visual analysis of my experience of work - Essay Example During my work experience I had faced situations where my favorite project was cancelled though I worked very hard on it, also there were times where the customers treated me badly though it was totally unfair, my best friend at work was terminated, my colleagues were being unfair towards me and also my boss use to shout at me although I was really working hard. All these things pile up and you feel like shouting at the top of your voice or probably run away from your work. At work showing your emotions especially negative emotions can seriously harm your professional reputation along with the productivity. Stressful situations are very common at workplace where we have to deal with budget cuts along with department changes. It becomes very hard to deal with your own emotions in such circumstances. There is a lot of work load along with a constant push of getting promoted and becoming more efficient. It was very important to know how to handle your emotions in such circumstances. It is important to know how to react in bad situations. It is important to always share positive emotions, both ways constructively and also professionally. It is very important to have that in a workplace.... It is important at work to avoid anxiety and worry. I made a worry log where I would write down all the worries which churn my head and then tried finding solutions to the problems. Physical relaxation plays an important role here with proper risk analysis. Anger is another important factor which is very obvious in the picture, anger management is very crucial at work in order to achieve success, we need to properly deal with unfair criticism. It is very important to be respectful towards others and also to be assertive if the other person is rude and unprofessional. Disappointment can be dealt positively by keeping a proper check at one’s mindset and to adjust the goals properly. My work experience taught me that smile is a very important and also a very crucial factor which helps in solving many problems. We all have to deal with negative emotions and we have to learn how to cope up with them as it is very important. It is crucial to know what type of feelings cause such emo tions and also how you can deal with them before they become very prominent. The other picture I have selected is depicting the importance of team work in an organization and how a good team can make work experience a very memorable one and amazing, and a bad team can sabotage the experience and also affect your performance negatively. Now there are few things which are important to analyze before going for team work that includes why the team is developed, what can make teamwork successful, group dynamics overview along with encouraging positive and productive groups. The picture is showing why the team is made and how various individuals with similar

Financial Analysis for Managers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Financial Analysis for Managers - Essay Example The WACC takes into consideration the relative weights of each element of the capital structure and presents the predicted cost of new capital for an organization. In this way the WACC is important for any firm or organization operating as it not only helps them identify the minimum returns they need to earn but also helps them maintain a constant stock price. The WACC also provides greater accuracy and stabilizes fluctuations (Robert Libby, Patricia Libby, 2005). The WACC is also an important decision variable in investment appraisal and capital budgeting. Every company or firm wants to increase its wealth and earn profits hence it invests wherever it sees an opportunity. To find the profits that would be earned in the future through the investment at present WACC is a very effective tool. WACC helps a firm take on greater range of projects, because with a lower WACC, more projects will have a positive NPV plus it provides greater firm value, and therefore, greater Stock Price, beca use you discount cash flows by a smaller number. Capital expenditures are the allotment of resources to huge, long-term projects. The capital budget is a declaration of the intended capital expenditures. It is far more than a straightforward listing, and is not the "budget" in the common sense. Provided the nature of capital expenditures, the capital budget is thought of as a declaration of the goals and strategy of the firm. Formation of the capital budget is an essential assignment that affects and is affected by all other areas of decision-making in a firm. Current and future business situations are the opportunities and constraints through which the goals of the firm are formulated. The goals force the strategic decisions of capital budget and financing but likelihood and uniformity with the mutually dependent financing and capital budget decisions must be measured in situating the goals. For projects that are similar to the normal operations of the firm and have a similar risk profile the opportunity cost can be estimated by the firm's weighted average cost of capital (WACC) (Paul D. Kimmel, Jerry J. Weygandt, Donald E. Kieso. 2006). The WACC is the rate of return that just meets investor expectations, leaving the worth of the shares of the firm unaffected. WACC is computed by initially approximating the rate of return compulsory to meet the obligations for each basis of capital. These obligatory rates are then weighted according to the objective capital structure of the firm to attain the in general rate of return required to meet the mutual obligations. This is the return that could be achieved by reinvesting the finances within the company. What are the risks and uncertainty related to capital budgeting There are plenty of risks and uncertainty associated with capital budgeting, Capital budgeting involves a lot of analyzing and studying because a wrong decision can be fatal for a firm. Mostly projects that have a positive NPV are selected to be undertaken. Capital Budgeting involves the risk of losing the invested money. As capital budgeting involves future investing decisions hence constraints such as

An analysis on the dyadic network relationship of BMW AG and Research Paper

An analysis on the dyadic network relationship of BMW AG and Brilliance Auto Ltd - Research Paper Example In August  2002  the Jinbei Automotive Company, a subsidiary of Brilliance China Auto, launched their first car; the ‘Zhonghua’ (China). 3.2 Network after 2003: The dyadic network of BMW and Brilliance in 2003 has made a big impact in the automobile industry. BMW launched its first car in 2003 and has made the 50,000th in 2007 and has now launching the new model in 2010 as the 10,000th car. After 2003, BNW and Brilliance has been mounting amazingly at high momentum, carrying out the highest manufacture within 2 years. It had observed, joined and occupied a part in the progress of Chinese automobile industry. They are prepared to hail a dazzling opportunities by this combined set-up and it has fruitfully included into the Chinese culture and dynamically thinking business shared tasks. This network has found its boundaries and kept an eye on the opponents. These has manufactured the quality products which gave the customer maximum satisfaction. It has set the target to develop into a superior business dweller. They have kept the horizons as learning, civilization, client commitment and business authority in the corporate world. These horizons clearly show the liability of BMW towards the Chinese humanity. These also prove the assurance and obligation to the long-standing improvements in China. There has been lot of risks in this network relationship. There always had a pressure to meet the client demands with the new automobiles over ever more smaller product growth phase and they have to reach the market to the further sectors with the pioneering new products as like Sedan which will decides the upcoming success. Also the risk comprises the capability of dyadic network to get sufficient funding as and when required at competitive rates and profitably expand, produce and trade the innovative products in China. A Concluding Analysis of the Evolution of the Dyadic Network BMW / Brilliance: BMW decided to enter into a joint venture with Shenyang Xin gYuanDong in the year 2003, XingYuanDong is a 100% subsidiary of Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd. (Bermuda), a publicly listed Chinese car manufacturer founded in 1993. BMW enter into this joint venture to produce and locally service BMW branded cars as well as gaining wider network legitimacy within the Chinese market. â€Å"The  first  BMW  Brilliance  factory  was  built  in  2004.  It  is  running  at  full capacity  as  the  luxury  market  continues  to  boom† (Tianyang, 2011). BMW is increasing their sales growth in China at more than nine times the pace of the wider industry, defying the nation’s attempts to unclog its roads and discourage â€Å"lavish lifestyles†. Brilliance China is one of the leading automotive manufacturers in China through its subsidiaries, associated companies and joint ventures in PRC. The joint venture with BMW which was established in the year 2003 was to produce BMW 3-series and 5 series sedans in China. Brilliance auto has many strategic partners and alliances. They have established strategic and working relationships with global automotive manufacturers. In the production of minibuses their partner is Toyota, and in the case of automotive components their partners are Mitsubishi motors, FEV, TRW automotive, and Johnson Controls. Brilliance has a wide range of 15 subsidiaries in China and announced

DIGITAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

DIGITAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT - Essay Example The paper also demonstrates an overview of the website that supports the cost of projects and schedules their control in a manner that is highly integrated (Cadle & Yeates, 2008). The website will use the object oriented modeling in representing the deliverables of the project. There are collections of control objects that are designed in mapping the project cost control processes. There are 18 website indicators that represent the amount of resources used in every project control object and is used as sensors in highlighting the areas that are associated with their dismal performance. The website uses a server that is designed in implementing the methodology that is developed. The website also has a central database that is used in storing and organizing the project budget and their actual progress data. The website generates a day to day, week to week, monthly and yearly performance of projects that are used in generating the project status at the level of resources used and the control object (Cleland, 2009). Managing time and cost for implementing a project within an international organization is a crucial management function for attaining successful delivery of projects dealing with procurement, construction, and even engineering. Several international charity organizations have designed their website in relation to this. From the past website, it is evident that improvements need to be made on their implementation, development, and design of the project control system. Such areas include the configuration of the project that includes the performance breakdown structure, the generic and standardized, generic earned status reporting and the diagnosis and analysis of the project variance on the website. Additionally, the recommendation section should be incorporated for reasons behind dismal performance and ideas for corrective actions and forecasting the duration and costs of the projects before completion. Consequently, it is important for efficient

How Attitudes Are Formed Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

How Attitudes Are Formed - Essay Example Attitudes once formed play a vital role in governing the behaviors of the people (Albarracin, Johnson & Zanna, 2005). Many factors can have an influence on forming the attitude of the people, which includes learning from social environment, evaluation of social aspects, personal beliefs, cultural and religious norms, heredity factors, and personal or family life experiences. Since the attitude is directly in proportion to behaviors and behaviors have a direct impact on the actions of an individual, therefore, a positive attitude can only come under formation when one’s perception is optimistic. Cognitive, behavioral, and affective components also help in forming one’s attitude. There can be many theories that define how a person can form his attitude, amongst which two theories – Mere Exposure and Classical Conditioning comes under discussion below (Albarracin, Johnson & Zanna, 2005). Mere Exposure is one theory that defines that a recurring confrontation with an object or a person presides over the fondness of an individual as it influences the perception. For example, if a person is repeatedly watching a television serial or listens to a song repeatedly, each time his understanding of the images he watch or the sound he listen becomes better and his perception transforms into either his liking or boredom (Fiske, 2010).

Abusive Relationship Essay Example for Free

Abusive Relationship Essay Physical, emotional, verbal, and sexual abuse are some of the different types of abuse that can be found within a relationship. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of adolescent dating aggression, and to define, compare and contrast different points of view. The author of the novel Faultline, Janet Tashjian, describes a series of events in the life of Becky, the main character of the story, where she is getting involved into an abusive relationship with Kip, presenting all the warning signs that every adolescent should know. This story represents the millions of adolescents that are in this same situation. I will be presenting real cases from different sources to demonstrate that adolescent dating aggression is a serious problem for many teenagers. Yet like other forms of aggression, warning signs are often present that a young couple may be at risk. By understanding these precursors we can help adolescents avoid problematic situations and instead develop healthy dating relationships that will set in place a solid foundation for satisfying relationships throughout life. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in four teenagers report being verbally, emotionally, physically or sexually abused in a dating relationship. The issue of dating violence is so critical that it was included in the 2005 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, along with the crimes of sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking. Statistics indicate that males who are exposed to domestic violence as children are twice as likely to be abusive in their own relationships. Many teens use cell phones and computers as tools of control and abuse in dating relationships. There have been millions of reports of abuse in a relationship; one of these cases was reported by Nicky who was 12 when she fell in love with Richard who was 13. What Nicky has to show for their years together are a chipped tooth, a nose bent several degrees by his fist, three children â€Å"all of whom were born before their due dates because of beatings†, she says, a nd emotional scars that are hard to fathom in someone so young. She shares her story to Los Angeles Times: My earliest memory of abuse? I was 13. When he went into high school, I was still in junior high and he didnt trust me. One time I was wearing this see-through blouse. I had a slip on underneath it, because my parents taught me how to dress. [But] he got mad, and he pushed me on the ground and started calling me a bitch and everything. I thought, `Well hes just mad, I shouldnt have worn that. I couldnt go home. What was I gonna tell my mom? So I went to school and I put on my P.E. clothes and that is what I wore all day. In the last two decades, domestic violence has emerged from the black hole of taboo subjects to become highly visible. And what has long been happening between spouses or adult lovers is now recognized as a problem for teen-agers as well. Surveys show that about 28% of high school- and college-age students are in abusive relationships, roughly the same proportion as adults. But while adults have shelters and well-publicized hot lines, adolescents typically have only each other, if that. They often cannot or will not turn to adults for help and may not even talk to their peers. Young girls and women often do not know how to get out of abusive situations. More schools are providing programs to teach teens the warning signs of abusive relationships and provide them with the tools they need to leave violent and controlling partners. Some people think that dating violence is increasing because many girls are afraid to stand up to an aggressive and controlling boy. Others blame the violent and sexual content in the media as a contributing factor in dating violence. According to a New York Times article, â€Å"The high incidence of adolescent abuse distresses Barrie Levy, a Santa Monica therapist and a founder of the Southern California Coalition for Battered Women†. Levy, who edited the book Dating Violence: Young Women in Danger became aware of the problem in 1982 during a domestic violence education project in Los Angeles-area secondary schools. Our focus was on the development of an education program that would target adolescents, thinking that the way to start dealing with domestic violence was presumably before it started, Levy says. Violence in adolescent dating relationships is a large-scale problem, and may result in long-term trauma and psychological aftermath for victims. I provided some data, statistics, facts and opinion about this issue. An abusive relationship can be prevented if parents, teachers and counselors talk to the adolescents about the warning signs and how get away from that abusive relationship. The novel Faultline is a great example that can be used to teach teenagers about this serious topic.

If I were President Essay Example for Free

If I were President Essay I know theyve hurt you bad. Wide, the scars you have. Baby let me straighten out your broken bones, All your faults to me make you more beautiful. I cant help it, I love the broken ones, The ones who, Need the most patching up. The ones who, Never been loved, Never been loved, Never been loved enough. Maybe I see a part of me in them. The missing piece always trying to fit in. The shattered heart, Hungry for a home. No youre not alone, I love the broken ones. You dont have to drive, With your headlights off. Its a pocketknife, Not a gift from God. Dont you learn of love from the love they kept. I will be your anchor slowly, Step by step. I cant help it, I love the broken ones, The ones who, Need the most patching up. The ones who, Never been loved, Never been loved, Never been loved enough. Maybe I see a part of me in them. The missing piece always trying to fit in. The shattered heart, Hungry for a home. No youre not alone, I love the broken ones. I love the broken ones. Maybe we can rip off the bandage. Maybe you will see it for what it is. Maybe we can burn this building, Holding you in. I cant help it, I love the broken ones, The ones who, Need the most patching up. The ones who, Never been loved, Never been loved, Never been loved enough. Maybe I see a part of me in them. The missing piece always trying to fit in. The shattered heart, Hungry for a home. No youre not alone, I love the broken ones. I love the broken ones. I love the broken ones. I love the broken ones. Lost Im out on my own again Face down in the porcelain Feeling so high but looking so low Party favors on the floor Group of girls banging on the door So many new fair-weather friends ooo: Have you ever been so lost Known the way and still so lost Caught in the eye of a hurricane Slowly waving goodbye like a pageant parade So sick of this town pulling me down My mother says I should come back home but Cant find the way cause the way is gone So if I pray am I just sending words into outer space Have you ever been so lost Known the way and still so lost Another night waiting for someone to take me home Have you ever been so lost Is there a light Is there a light At the end of the road Im pushing everyone away Cause I cant feel this anymore Cant feel this anymore Have you ever been so lost Known the way and still so lost Another night waiting for someone to take me home Have you ever been so lost Have you ever been so LOST. The One-Eyed One-Horned Flying Purple People Eater Well I saw the thing coming out of the sky It had one long horn and one big eye I commenced to shakin and I said oo-wee It looks like a purple people eater to me It was a one-eyed one-horned flying purple people eater Sure looks good to me Well, he came down to earth and he lit in a tree I said mr Purple People Eater dont eat me I heard him say in a voice so gruff I wouldnt eat you cos youre too tough It was a one-eyed one-horned flying purple people eater It sure looks strange to me I said mr Purple People Eater whats your line He said eating purple people and it sure is fine But thats not the reason that I came to land I wanna get a job in a rock n roll band Well, bless my soul rock n roll flying purple people eater Pigeon-toed under-growed flyin purple people eater one-eyed one-horned it was a people eater What a sight to see Well, he swung from the tree and he lit on the ground he started to rock really rockin around It was a crazy ditty with a swinging tune Wop bop a lula wop bam boom one-eyes one-horned flying people eater Ooh, it sure looks strange to me Well he went on his way and then what do you know I saw him last night on a TV show He was a blowin it out and really knockin them dead Playing rock n roll music through the horn in his head The Lion Sleeps Tonight : (A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh) (A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh) In the jungle, the mighty jungle The lion sleeps tonight In the jungle the quiet jungle The lion sleeps tonight Near the village the peaceful village The lion sleeps tonight Near the village the quiet village The lion sleeps tonight Hush my darling dont fear my darling The lion sleeps tonight Hush my darling dont fear my darling The lion sleeps tonight (A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh) (A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh) In the jungle, the mighty jungle The lion sleeps tonight In the jungle the quiet jungle The lion sleeps tonight Near the village the peaceful village The lion sleeps tonight Near the village the quiet village The lion sleeps tonight Hush my darling dont fear my darling The lion sleeps tonight Hush my darling dont fear my darling The lion sleeps tonight YOU’RE GONNA GO FAR KID Show me how to lie Youre getting better all the time And turning all against the one Is an art thats hard to teach Another clever word Sets off an unsuspecting herd And as you get back into line A mob jumps to their feet Now dance, dance, dance Man, he never had a chance And no one even knew It was really only you And now you steal away Take him out today Nice work you did Youre gonna go far, kid With a thousand lies And a good disguise Hit em right between the eyes Hit em right between the eyes When you walk away Nothing more to say See the lightning in your eyes See em running for their lives Slowly out of line And drifting closer in your sights So play it out Im wide awake Its a scene about me Theres something in your way And now someone is gonna pay And if you cant get what you want Well its all because of me Now dance, dance, dance Man, I never had a chance And no one even knew It was really only you And now youll lead the way Show the light of day Nice work you did Youre gonna go far, kid Trust, deceived! With a thousand lies And a good disguise Hit em right between the eyes Hit em right between the eyes When you walk away Nothing more to say See the lightning in your eyes See em running for their lives Now dance, dance, dance He never had a chance And no one even knew It was really only you So dance, dance, dance I never had a chance It was really only you With a thousand lies And a good disguise Hit em right between the eyes Hit em right between the eyes When you walk away Nothing more to say See the lightning in your eyes See em running for their lives Clever alibis Lord of the flies Hit em right between the eyes Hit em right between the eyes When you walk away Nothing more to say See the lightning in your eyes See em running for their lives Keep Holding On Youre not alone Together we stand Ill be by your side, you know Ill take your hand When it gets cold And it feels like the end Theres no place to go You know I wont give in No I wont give in Keep holding on Cause you know well make it through, well make it through Just stay strong Cause you know Im here for you, Im here for you Theres nothing you could say Nothing you could do Theres no other way when it comes to the truth So keep holding on Cause you know well make it through, well make it through So far away I wish you were here Before its too late, this could all disappear Before the doors close And it comes to an end With you by my side I will fight and defend Ill fight and defend Yeah, yeah Keep holding on Cause you know well make it through, well make it through Just stay strong Cause you know Im here for you, Im here for you Theres nothing you could say Nothing you could do Theres no other way when it comes to the truth So keep holding on Cause you know well make it through, well make it through Hear me when I say, when I say I believe Nothings gonna change, nothings gonna change destiny Whatevers meant to be will work out perfectly Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah La da da da La da da da La da da da da da da da da Keep holding on Cause you know well make it through, well make it through Just stay strong Cause you know Im here for you, Im here for you Theres nothing you could say Nothing you could do Theres no other way when it comes to the truth So keep holding on Cause you know well make it through, well make it through Keep holding on Keep holding on Theres nothing you could say Nothing you could do Theres no other way when it comes to the truth So keep holding on Cause you know well make it through, well make it through What Doesnt Kill You (Stronger) You know the bed feels warmer Sleeping here alone You know I dream in color And do the things I want You think you got the best of me Think youve had the last laugh Bet you think that everything good is gone Think you left me broken down Think that Id come running back Baby you dont know me, cause youre dead wrong What doesnt kill you makes you stronger Stand a little taller Doesnt mean Im lonely when Im alone What doesnt kill you makes a fighter Footsteps even lighter Doesnt mean Im over cause youre gone What doesnt kill you makes you stronger, stronger Just me, myself and I What doesnt kill you makes you stronger Stand a little taller Doesnt mean Im lonely when Im alone You heard that I was starting over with someone new They told you I was moving on, over you You didnt think that Id come back Id come back swinging You try to break me, but you see What doesnt kill you makes you stronger Stand a little taller Doesnt mean Im lonely when Im alone What doesnt kill you makes a fighter Footsteps even lighter Doesnt mean Im over cause youre gone What doesnt kill you makes you stronger, stronger Just me, myself and I What doesnt kill you makes you stronger Stand a little taller Doesnt mean Im lonely when Im alone Thanks to you I got a new thing started Thanks to you Im not the broken-hearted Thanks to you Im finally thinking about me You know in the end the day you left was just my beginning In the end What doesnt kill you makes you stronger Stand a little taller Doesnt mean Im lonely when Im alone What doesnt kill you makes a fighter Footsteps even lighter Doesnt mean Im over cause youre gone

Online Property Management System

Online Property Management System Study and Develop of an online property management system for City 2 Property Chapter 1: Literature Review 1.1 Overview In this chapter, the author conducts literature review mainly on the studies of online property management system to find out how property management works on the internet. The author also focuses on the technologies and tools involved in making online property management system more efficient. 1.2 Online Property Management Online property management basically contains most of the business method that renovate to the internet. It is the management of property management using online tools. When online property management implemented, it make many things like booking keeping, collecting rental fees, managing properties and contact with clients more easy and efficient. Online property management is simple and usually do not require any high performance or complicated application to work on. Usually, many real estate company in Malaysia still prefer paperwork instead of using property management system to enhance their operation. One of the reason is the preference of paperwork and not use to working on system when think about working using a system. Therefore, less complicated interface and process in online property management system give advantages to those who considering on implementing system work into their business. And for this reason, it encourages online property management system to a higher demand level in online business nowadays. 1.3 Supporting Technologies One of the advantages of online property management system is the usage of available technologies that are provided to all users that enhance their online business operation. Other than some common technologies that are usable in all business that provide different usage and advantage to the business, there are also some technologies that provide great advantage on online property management business. 1.3.1 Google Map Google map is a web mapping service application powered by Google. It provide mapping service that show a geographical mapping just like a dynamic country map, it provide the street name and route in many different view and also paths travel by own vehicle, foots or public transport. One of its supports towards property management is to show the direction from one location towards another, as well as showing the shortest route among few paths. All these benefits support users to find out the exact location of a place, and also make users know more about the places surrounding the targeted location in case they want to know more or when they are lost. 1.3.2 Visual Tour Visual tour is a new snapshot technology that able to capture numerous of pictures in a room or environment, using visual tour software and photo stitching software to stitch all the pictures together and produce a 360 degree virtual home view. This technology tend to provide a visual home tour to the property buyers by showing how is the inside of a property looks like when buyers does not need to travel all the way to the property location but using the internet to enjoy a tour just like when they are exactly in the building. To produce a visual tour video, a RTV tour builder kit contains of a camera and custom rotator mount on the side of the camera is needed. To start capturing, place the tripod on a best capturing spot, usually on the middle of a room, then manually rotate the camera one side to another from left to right, and then from top and bottom until every view of that room is being taken. Upon completing the capturing process, a visual tour software by overlapping the sides of all images together to utilize a 360 degree panaromic images. Lastly, the completed visual tour video need to upload to the RTV tour server through the internet to allow tour video automatically customize with owners banner, logo or photos, and then features like hyperlink to post into their websites, google map, and others will be added and send back to the owner. 1.3.3 Other Supporting Tools There are other technologies or tools supporting online property management as well. These tools are not mainly for online property management but also benefit the system operation like other businesses do. * Search function Search function is a common tool that filter information according by using a keyword enter by user and match data available in the current system, and display or show to the users Usually property buyers tend to have a property expectation in their mind before looking for agents to locate the property they want, search function in a system allow buyers to go through some simple steps to find out if theres any property that match their expectations or requirements, instead of searching all the properties one after another. * Mortgage loan calculator A mortgage loan calculator is to calculate the loan needed to pay by a property buyers per months. It usually require user to input some basic information like property value, interest rate, years and down payment to obtain the loan result. This is a simple tool that requires very little effort in developing but requires a correct formula to obtain the accurate result. * Reminding tools A reminding tool usually require user to enter a task name and an expired date. Upon reaching the expired date, user will receive a notification regarding the task. Property agents benefits from reminding tool in various ways. Collecting rental fees is an important process when properties are rented. Sometimes delay rental fees can be quite troublesome and if does not handle carefully, a delay rental fees could be forget or paid rental fees may not recorded properly. Therefore, the task of a reminding tool not only notify user regarding incomplete task but also ensure user about completed task. * Looking for agent Usually it is a good idea to record agents information in a system to allow buyers to look for a particular agent. In a system, not only agents brief personal and contact information could be found, buyers can also found the agents available listing. In case there are buyers who prefer a particular agent service and listing in that area, they can contact the agent directly without contacting the company or other agent. * iExpert A simple Question and Answer (QA) in a system that contain questions ask by the user regarding property issues, and can be answered by other users and working agents. It work like a forum but much more simple than it, it only require user to enter a question if he or she has one, or choose to view all available questions and answer any question if they know. 1.4 Summary As a summary of this chapter, the author has understood how online property management system work compares to real time business. More importantly, the author had conduct studies on the technologies that support online property management system which offer great advantages to the user when using the system. Chapter 2: Analyze Existing Websites 2.0 Overview In this chapter, the author visit and investigate several existing real estate websites to gain understanding in common features and also how other real estate websites manage their information. The author focuses more on some feature that is unique for real estate websites. The author also tend to list out some of their strengths and weaknesses to gain knowledge about pros and cons when manage a real estate business online. 2.1 ThinkProperty ThinkProperty is a free property service website that allows all real estate agents in Malaysia to post their property listing for free. It is owned by Think Media Sdn Bhd and was launched at October 2007. Powerful tools in ThinkProperty make properties more manageable and easier to search. It tends to provide great advantage to the sellers and buyers. 2.1.1 ThinkPropertys Features 2.1.1.1 Member features i) Managing properties Users are requiring registering as a member in order to use the features offer to all members. Register link can be found under login or the side navigation regarding all the features on the right. By clicking on registering, user will navigate to a page listing eight benefits to become a member. On the bottom on the page, user can click on â€Å"Register now† button to register as member by filling up the registration form and upon completing the form, user need to validate their account through e-mail. Then user will be successfully registered as a ThinkPropertys member and allow to login using the registered username and password. Once login, user can see their registered name and a dropdown list contain all available members features on the login interface. The dropdown list contains auto post back function, which means when user selects any option within the drop down list, user will automatically navigate to the page according to the selected option. For features under â€Å"Create new listing†, users will be direct to a form to submit the property they want to add. When they have done submitting it, the added property can be found in features under â€Å"Manage my listing†. User can check back their added listing anytime they want, and can choose to modify the information or delete the added listing. In ‘My properties and ‘My Auctions page, user can choose to filter the order of the listings by selecting property type, posted duration and other option. In property wanted, user can submit a wanted property to the moderator and wait until further notification. Usually agent will notify user by e-mail or contact number regarding the property they want. ii) Personal Profile Some of the information in a member personal profile is filled up during registration, while most of the information is blank. The information in personal profile included user type, company information, contact information, and websites. All this information will be useful if some other user need to find out more about a particular user for some business issues. This will be needed especially in the forum. User will be allowed to use the forum to post new thread or answer to any existing thread when they had become member. Providing all this information will be convenient to other member as well as the agents in case they need to contact the member. Other than entering their personal information, user can upload picture and video of themselves. Added picture will be shown in the profile page when it is viewed. As for video, user need to click on the video button located on the left side to view video in a new pop out. Brief information of the properties owned will also show in this page, as well as latest 10 posted threads in the forum can also be view by clicking on the â€Å"Forum† button. All this function is to ease other member in finding out more about a particular member. iii) Think Mail Think mail serve as a mailing service for members to receive messages sent by other member or agent. This is a simple service to read and delete mails; however it does not support sending message here. User need to go to another member page and click on the ‘Message button to send him or her Think Mail message or e-mail message. Other than this, user can set his or her e-mail alert option. This service is to receive property alert message in case user got use any service like property wanted and awaits agent finding. 2.1.1.2 Forum Just like other forum, ThinkProperty forum contain all types of topic discuss about buying properties, selling properties, property investment, finance issues and much more. Only registered member are allowed to post any question on the suitable thread and await other member to reply or reply to any existed thread. With the support of a forum, all members can get more help and information regarding property issues and problems, and also get to know more about agents and people from other place. A forum also serve as another way to obtain information and solving problem, otherwise user can only communicate to the moderator by using customer support and sending messages. 2.1.1.3 Customer Support In ThinkProperty, there are three ways to obtain supports. First is to use the most common method like many websites do, using the feedback form to send question and awaits reply from the moderator. Second is to use the forum to post new question and awaits replies from other member and moderators. Third is to use the live help desk located on almost every pages on the top right, right below of the main menu navigation. Live help desk is an instant messaging service. When click on it, a new window will pop up and there will be someone there to answer any question asks by the user. This is one effective way to obtain answers instantly without waiting like other two customer support. However, live help desk is not always available to be use. There is no specific time when it is available, but user can found it available many times in a day. 2.1.1.4 Viewing Properties To view the available properties, user has to enter a desire location in the search box on the top of the website. This is a more direct way to find property around an area, instead of viewing all properties from other places at one page. While entering data into the searching box, a drop down that contain some location that match the entered data will show to let user navigate quickly if the target location is within the drop down. When random data being entered, especially when input character is less than 3, location that is not related to the entered data will show. Otherwise, it will show no result match in the drop down. A ‘Display map check box under the search box is to indicate navigate user to view all properties page with its detail or navigate to Google map that shows the entered location and properties contain on that area. 2.10 shows an example of Google map result when display map is checked. The red house symbol below shows the properties that are available around the area. When mouse hover on one of the red symbol, a small dialog box pop out and show brief information about the property. User can click on the click on the bottom of the box to see more information about that property. Without checking the â€Å"Display Map†, when a location is selected, it will navigate to a page that shows all properties with some information located in that searched place. For example, 2.11 shows all properties available in Damansara when user enters Damansara in the search box. On the left side of the page, there is one filtering function to sort the wanted property details. By clicking on any of the filtering option, the function of it will show and allow user to choose or enter related information 2.15 shows the bottom of the property page. Google map of a particular property will be show if the property has information about it. At another side will be the seller information. In case user interested to find out more, they contact using the provided information or use the form below to e-mail the seller. In case user found that a particular property is not available anymore but it is still tag as available, user can simply click on the link beside the red icon below to notify the unavailability of this property to any user that view this property later. When user had done with one property, user can always choose to go back to all the property listing or simply click on the next button to view another property, or click on the previous button to view visited property before this, this two buttons located on top of the view all listings page. 2.1.1.5 Find Agent ThinkProperty does not offer a direct page to view all agents features. To find an agent, user needs to click the â€Å"Find Agent† link above the search box and then choose either find agent by area or by name. In case user knows any particular agent name and hoping for their service, they can try this search box to locate the agent to see all their posted listing. This also eases users when they know the agent name and where they work, but did not have any contact information about the agent. This may not work only if the target agent is not a member of ThinkProperty website. 2.1.2 Strengths and Weaknesses 2.1.2.1 Strengths * Simple, user-friendly interface. Overall web pages do not contain much unnecessary things. Simple looking and direct way to navigate to pages provide good browsing experience to users * Less complex function and process. Most of the process like job application form, submitting properties, searching functions are step by step methods and does not consist of much complicated process, this helps in reducing user confusion when using ThinkPropertys website * Good functionality and features. Sufficient features to provide good properties searching and managing experience * Good customer support service. Contain of more than one types of customer support feature for the purpose of increase efficiency in providing helps to the users when browsing ThinkProperty 2.1.2.2 Weaknesses * Risk might be unavoidable. ThinkProperty may not responsible for any information risk like fake agent or propertys information as they have no control over agents or members information * Searching function is the only way to view all properties and agents. As searching for properties and agents only depends on the searching box provided, first time user may not know how to find property and agent information. 2.2 iProperty During Jan 2009, iProperty was declared as the top property portal in Malaysia by Google Ads Planner. Operating their business in Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, India and Philippines allow clients from different states to use their service. For further development, they are working towards capitalize the property market and maintain their top leading position and continue working on online property advertising. (Sorensen, 2009) 2.2.1 iPropertys Features 2.2.1.1 Members Features Like other websites to use all the features offer to members only, user has to proceed to registration and approved as a member first. Before login, there will be several links under login like My shortlist, My Property Ads and others, but when user click on those link without login, they will be directed to the login page, which contain registering and forgotten password feature. To register, user just has to click on â€Å"Register Now† link located on the top left side of every page or under the login field on login page and navigate to the registering page. Upon submitting the form, user will receive a random generated password in their registered e-mail, user has to use that password and registered username to login, and then they can choose to change the password later on. i) Create Personal Profile Upon registering as member, user can choose to create their personal profile. This feature is optional, other than letting the agents to know more about them when using iPropertys service like property wanted and property ads, it also allow other member to find out more about a particular agent through iExpert. ii) My iExpert iExpert is a service designed to ease the sharing of property information sharing among members. All users are allow to use iExpert to search and view questions and answers provided by the members, however, only members are allow to post new questions and answer existing questions. It serves like a partial forum but does not contain much feature like forums do. iii) My Property Wanted Like other property website, iProperty offer a property wanted feature to all members only that allow them to submit a form consist of the property requirement a buyer want, and let the agents to perform a property search to find available property match the buyer requirement and notify buyers about it. Members who use this feature will keep property wanted information in their profile. 2.2.1.2 Viewing Properties The â€Å"New Property Review† button contain under the drop down of â€Å"New Properties† located on top of the main menu navigation direct users to the latest property listing in iProperty. User can choose to view different types of property by months by selecting from a list box on the right side of the main title. This is one of the ways to view property owned by iProperty. Another way of finding properties is to use the searching function located on top of the page under the main menu or view properties through related developers or agents. Viewing a property consist of several parts. The first part is the propertys review that contain of long description of the particular property. It consists of some pictures regarding the property with describing the surrounding, environment and facility to attract the interest of people to know more about it. The second part is the propertys specification. This page usually of one picture regarding the property and all details like address, property type, land title, tenure, land area, price range, posted date, and side information which are nearby transportation, schools, and amenities. Next part is viewing the property gallery. This page usually consists of photo gallery taken by camera about the property environment. Visual tour will also available in this page if the particular property has any video about visual tour. Map is available in most of the properties to show the location of a property and also direction to approach to it. For those properties that has Google Map details, a map will be provided as well. Lastly, user who interested in a property can register to it using a provided form to let the agent to contact and brief user about further information. Other than property specification, there are extra corner for sending enquiry to the agents or related person, sending enquiry to the developers and also a home loan calculator provided by Maybank with the information of preferred MPF, interest rate, loan years that is already provided according to the property and the monthly repayment result is provided automatically to the user. 2.2.1.3 Visual Tour iProperty provide visual tour service for user to experience a virtual visiting property experience. Visual tour video can be found on the bottom of each property under gallery view. However, not all properties provide visual tour service. User can found properties that contain visual tour service on the â€Å"Visual Tour† link under new properties on the main menu navigation. 2.2.1.4 Find an Agent Finding an agent in iProperty only require a click on â€Å"Find An Agent† button located on top of the page in main menu navigation. From this page, user can see their name, contact number, e-mail and self description. On top of it, there is a search agent function to find an agent by name, state and area, or user can filter all agents according to the first alphabet of their name. By clicking on their name, user will direct to their page that contain all of the listing they hold. User can also send a message to a particular agent in their page by submitting a form above the holding listing. 2.2.1.5 Search Function There are basically three types of search function depend on each pages. Different types of search function shown in different page for different purpose. 2.29 show a search function located on the main page and new project page. There are sufficient data for user to specify the searching information to obtain better matching property. User can click on â€Å"Advance Search† to have more option to search. Alternately, user can choose to filter properties according to different state by clicking â€Å"By Area† or different country by clicking on â€Å"Overseas†. The second searching function is searching agent function. This feature available only in â€Å"Find An Agent† page and the concept is the same with normal searching function. User just has to input the agents name, area or state, or choosing the first alphabet of their name to find a particular agent. The third searching function located on â€Å"Home Service† page. This searching function use to search for available furniture or home products. 2.2.2 Strengths and Weaknesses 2.2.2.1 Strengths * Rich supporting technologies. iProperty consist of several tools like Google Map, Visual Tour, and some other function that make their service very efficient. * Detail properties information. All properties information included location map, floor plan, transportation and amenities nearby, image gallery and other related information provide information more than what the clients want to know. 2.2.2.2 Weaknesses * Too much information in a page may be unnecessary. Most of the pages contain a lot of information even if it is not related to the page. Users may found it confusion on information that is related or none-related to what they need. 2.3 Summary In this chapter, the author analyze some existing real estate company websites. As understanding features they use to enhance their operation is the main priority in this objective, the author has more knowledge on developing a real estate websites, as well as some of the strengths and weaknesses, to be learnt and avoid when developing an online property management system. Chapter 3: Conduct Interview and Survey 3.1 Overview In this chapter, the author conducts interview and surveys to the head of City 2 Property and also some agents who are experience in real estate business. The author uses this two fact finding method to determine the user requirement of the proposed system and the agents expectation towards it. In the end, the author will record the fact finding result and present on this chapter. 3.2 Interview The author decided to conduct an interview to the head of City 2 Property, Mr. Koo Kam Swee, because he is the most suitable person that understands the requirement or the needs of this proposed system. The interview question will be produce base on the purpose of understanding what will Mr. Koo expect the proposed system can do and how it benefits the business operation and the agents in the company. All the interview questions and answers show below contain main questions and some new questions that were asked during the interview. 3.2.1 Interview Questions and Answers 1. What give you an idea of using a website for your business? (To understand the purpose of the proposed system towards the company) Our companys operation mostly depends on paper work as we have already used to it. We never thought about creating a website until I realize the advantage of a website that can help people from the outside to access to our service faster and anytime even after our operation hour. Therefore, creating a website like other real estate company helps the customers to reach us easier. Author finding: The author uses this question to find out the interviewee main purpose of having this proposed system. The author now understand that the manager get the idea that online business provide fast and easy ways to interact with clients, therefore he decide to implement a website for the company. 2. Without a system, what types of problem your company and the agents faces? (To understand how should the proposed system benefit the company) As I mention, most of our works depend on paperwork. Upon completing a document work, if require sending to clients or others, we need to send through letters, awaits receiving, and finally reply back to us. The overall process takes up a great amount of time. If there is a website, we can shorten the time of this type of process so that we can complete a task much faster. Author finding: From above statement, the author understands that the manager hope that the proposed system can benefit by completing a task faster using electronic mail instead of delivering letters which is very time consuming. 3. Other than that, what are other problems exist? For instant, what you think other real estate company with websites benefits compare to your company? (To understand more on the benefits of the interviewee expect towards the proposed system) Having a website for the company nowadays is a type of competitive advantage. I know some of the other real estate company having their own websites, this give them the advantage of allowing clients to reach them easier, meanwhile this become a disadvantage for us as we lack of this service to offer to the clients. Author finding: Spontaneous question continue from the second question, the author try to find out more about the expectation of the manager that the proposed system can benefit the company. The author gives an example of other real estate competitive to make interviewee to think more critical on the benefits he expects. By the answer of the interviewee, the author know that the manager expect the proposed system can be a competitive advantage when compete with other real estate company. 4. For the website, what features you expects most? In another words, what feature you think is the most important in the entire website? (To understand what feature the interviewee concern the most) The most important part in the website would be allowing people to view our properties. We hope that people who view our properties using the website can know all the details of a property when they access the page. Author finding: The author wanted to know what is considering as the most important feature in the proposed system. The answer given shows that the manager expect viewing properties as an important feature that should put effort on for the purpose of allowing the users to know the full details of a property. 5. Other than viewing propertys details, what other feature you hope to be implemented to make viewing properties a better experience for the users? (To make the interviewee consider more on the functionality of the concerned feature) To be able to view propertys picture with all the details, this would be good enough. Additionally, I hope the website can handle some clients services like sending enquiry about a property or provide information about our contact so that their can call us or send message to us whenever they need our service. Author finding: A spontaneous question follows by question number 4. The author trying to make the interviewee think more on adding some functionality that can make viewing properties better for the users. But the manager does not have too high expectation on other function about it, and suggest other feature regarding serving clients by receiving enquiries and mail from them using the proposed system. 6. Will you expect people to be able to register as a member of City 2 Property website? If yes, what do you hope to benefit from this feature? (To understand what the manager think about member system and how to benefit from it) Possible. Having members in our website help us know more about them, in case we want to contact them using mobile phone, we may be able to locate their contact information through the website. Author finding: The author finds out that the manager does not have high expectation on the member system as well. The manager hopes that this feature can be used to find out the members contact information so that the agent can contact them when necessary. 7. If a member system is implemented, what you think about allowing members to sell their properties using the website? (To understand what the manager think about selling properties online) I guess this should be no different than clients call up to offer their properties to us. If what I think is correct, th Online Property Management System Online Property Management System Study and Develop of an online property management system for City 2 Property Chapter 1: Literature Review 1.1 Overview In this chapter, the author conducts literature review mainly on the studies of online property management system to find out how property management works on the internet. The author also focuses on the technologies and tools involved in making online property management system more efficient. 1.2 Online Property Management Online property management basically contains most of the business method that renovate to the internet. It is the management of property management using online tools. When online property management implemented, it make many things like booking keeping, collecting rental fees, managing properties and contact with clients more easy and efficient. Online property management is simple and usually do not require any high performance or complicated application to work on. Usually, many real estate company in Malaysia still prefer paperwork instead of using property management system to enhance their operation. One of the reason is the preference of paperwork and not use to working on system when think about working using a system. Therefore, less complicated interface and process in online property management system give advantages to those who considering on implementing system work into their business. And for this reason, it encourages online property management system to a higher demand level in online business nowadays. 1.3 Supporting Technologies One of the advantages of online property management system is the usage of available technologies that are provided to all users that enhance their online business operation. Other than some common technologies that are usable in all business that provide different usage and advantage to the business, there are also some technologies that provide great advantage on online property management business. 1.3.1 Google Map Google map is a web mapping service application powered by Google. It provide mapping service that show a geographical mapping just like a dynamic country map, it provide the street name and route in many different view and also paths travel by own vehicle, foots or public transport. One of its supports towards property management is to show the direction from one location towards another, as well as showing the shortest route among few paths. All these benefits support users to find out the exact location of a place, and also make users know more about the places surrounding the targeted location in case they want to know more or when they are lost. 1.3.2 Visual Tour Visual tour is a new snapshot technology that able to capture numerous of pictures in a room or environment, using visual tour software and photo stitching software to stitch all the pictures together and produce a 360 degree virtual home view. This technology tend to provide a visual home tour to the property buyers by showing how is the inside of a property looks like when buyers does not need to travel all the way to the property location but using the internet to enjoy a tour just like when they are exactly in the building. To produce a visual tour video, a RTV tour builder kit contains of a camera and custom rotator mount on the side of the camera is needed. To start capturing, place the tripod on a best capturing spot, usually on the middle of a room, then manually rotate the camera one side to another from left to right, and then from top and bottom until every view of that room is being taken. Upon completing the capturing process, a visual tour software by overlapping the sides of all images together to utilize a 360 degree panaromic images. Lastly, the completed visual tour video need to upload to the RTV tour server through the internet to allow tour video automatically customize with owners banner, logo or photos, and then features like hyperlink to post into their websites, google map, and others will be added and send back to the owner. 1.3.3 Other Supporting Tools There are other technologies or tools supporting online property management as well. These tools are not mainly for online property management but also benefit the system operation like other businesses do. * Search function Search function is a common tool that filter information according by using a keyword enter by user and match data available in the current system, and display or show to the users Usually property buyers tend to have a property expectation in their mind before looking for agents to locate the property they want, search function in a system allow buyers to go through some simple steps to find out if theres any property that match their expectations or requirements, instead of searching all the properties one after another. * Mortgage loan calculator A mortgage loan calculator is to calculate the loan needed to pay by a property buyers per months. It usually require user to input some basic information like property value, interest rate, years and down payment to obtain the loan result. This is a simple tool that requires very little effort in developing but requires a correct formula to obtain the accurate result. * Reminding tools A reminding tool usually require user to enter a task name and an expired date. Upon reaching the expired date, user will receive a notification regarding the task. Property agents benefits from reminding tool in various ways. Collecting rental fees is an important process when properties are rented. Sometimes delay rental fees can be quite troublesome and if does not handle carefully, a delay rental fees could be forget or paid rental fees may not recorded properly. Therefore, the task of a reminding tool not only notify user regarding incomplete task but also ensure user about completed task. * Looking for agent Usually it is a good idea to record agents information in a system to allow buyers to look for a particular agent. In a system, not only agents brief personal and contact information could be found, buyers can also found the agents available listing. In case there are buyers who prefer a particular agent service and listing in that area, they can contact the agent directly without contacting the company or other agent. * iExpert A simple Question and Answer (QA) in a system that contain questions ask by the user regarding property issues, and can be answered by other users and working agents. It work like a forum but much more simple than it, it only require user to enter a question if he or she has one, or choose to view all available questions and answer any question if they know. 1.4 Summary As a summary of this chapter, the author has understood how online property management system work compares to real time business. More importantly, the author had conduct studies on the technologies that support online property management system which offer great advantages to the user when using the system. Chapter 2: Analyze Existing Websites 2.0 Overview In this chapter, the author visit and investigate several existing real estate websites to gain understanding in common features and also how other real estate websites manage their information. The author focuses more on some feature that is unique for real estate websites. The author also tend to list out some of their strengths and weaknesses to gain knowledge about pros and cons when manage a real estate business online. 2.1 ThinkProperty ThinkProperty is a free property service website that allows all real estate agents in Malaysia to post their property listing for free. It is owned by Think Media Sdn Bhd and was launched at October 2007. Powerful tools in ThinkProperty make properties more manageable and easier to search. It tends to provide great advantage to the sellers and buyers. 2.1.1 ThinkPropertys Features 2.1.1.1 Member features i) Managing properties Users are requiring registering as a member in order to use the features offer to all members. Register link can be found under login or the side navigation regarding all the features on the right. By clicking on registering, user will navigate to a page listing eight benefits to become a member. On the bottom on the page, user can click on â€Å"Register now† button to register as member by filling up the registration form and upon completing the form, user need to validate their account through e-mail. Then user will be successfully registered as a ThinkPropertys member and allow to login using the registered username and password. Once login, user can see their registered name and a dropdown list contain all available members features on the login interface. The dropdown list contains auto post back function, which means when user selects any option within the drop down list, user will automatically navigate to the page according to the selected option. For features under â€Å"Create new listing†, users will be direct to a form to submit the property they want to add. When they have done submitting it, the added property can be found in features under â€Å"Manage my listing†. User can check back their added listing anytime they want, and can choose to modify the information or delete the added listing. In ‘My properties and ‘My Auctions page, user can choose to filter the order of the listings by selecting property type, posted duration and other option. In property wanted, user can submit a wanted property to the moderator and wait until further notification. Usually agent will notify user by e-mail or contact number regarding the property they want. ii) Personal Profile Some of the information in a member personal profile is filled up during registration, while most of the information is blank. The information in personal profile included user type, company information, contact information, and websites. All this information will be useful if some other user need to find out more about a particular user for some business issues. This will be needed especially in the forum. User will be allowed to use the forum to post new thread or answer to any existing thread when they had become member. Providing all this information will be convenient to other member as well as the agents in case they need to contact the member. Other than entering their personal information, user can upload picture and video of themselves. Added picture will be shown in the profile page when it is viewed. As for video, user need to click on the video button located on the left side to view video in a new pop out. Brief information of the properties owned will also show in this page, as well as latest 10 posted threads in the forum can also be view by clicking on the â€Å"Forum† button. All this function is to ease other member in finding out more about a particular member. iii) Think Mail Think mail serve as a mailing service for members to receive messages sent by other member or agent. This is a simple service to read and delete mails; however it does not support sending message here. User need to go to another member page and click on the ‘Message button to send him or her Think Mail message or e-mail message. Other than this, user can set his or her e-mail alert option. This service is to receive property alert message in case user got use any service like property wanted and awaits agent finding. 2.1.1.2 Forum Just like other forum, ThinkProperty forum contain all types of topic discuss about buying properties, selling properties, property investment, finance issues and much more. Only registered member are allowed to post any question on the suitable thread and await other member to reply or reply to any existed thread. With the support of a forum, all members can get more help and information regarding property issues and problems, and also get to know more about agents and people from other place. A forum also serve as another way to obtain information and solving problem, otherwise user can only communicate to the moderator by using customer support and sending messages. 2.1.1.3 Customer Support In ThinkProperty, there are three ways to obtain supports. First is to use the most common method like many websites do, using the feedback form to send question and awaits reply from the moderator. Second is to use the forum to post new question and awaits replies from other member and moderators. Third is to use the live help desk located on almost every pages on the top right, right below of the main menu navigation. Live help desk is an instant messaging service. When click on it, a new window will pop up and there will be someone there to answer any question asks by the user. This is one effective way to obtain answers instantly without waiting like other two customer support. However, live help desk is not always available to be use. There is no specific time when it is available, but user can found it available many times in a day. 2.1.1.4 Viewing Properties To view the available properties, user has to enter a desire location in the search box on the top of the website. This is a more direct way to find property around an area, instead of viewing all properties from other places at one page. While entering data into the searching box, a drop down that contain some location that match the entered data will show to let user navigate quickly if the target location is within the drop down. When random data being entered, especially when input character is less than 3, location that is not related to the entered data will show. Otherwise, it will show no result match in the drop down. A ‘Display map check box under the search box is to indicate navigate user to view all properties page with its detail or navigate to Google map that shows the entered location and properties contain on that area. 2.10 shows an example of Google map result when display map is checked. The red house symbol below shows the properties that are available around the area. When mouse hover on one of the red symbol, a small dialog box pop out and show brief information about the property. User can click on the click on the bottom of the box to see more information about that property. Without checking the â€Å"Display Map†, when a location is selected, it will navigate to a page that shows all properties with some information located in that searched place. For example, 2.11 shows all properties available in Damansara when user enters Damansara in the search box. On the left side of the page, there is one filtering function to sort the wanted property details. By clicking on any of the filtering option, the function of it will show and allow user to choose or enter related information 2.15 shows the bottom of the property page. Google map of a particular property will be show if the property has information about it. At another side will be the seller information. In case user interested to find out more, they contact using the provided information or use the form below to e-mail the seller. In case user found that a particular property is not available anymore but it is still tag as available, user can simply click on the link beside the red icon below to notify the unavailability of this property to any user that view this property later. When user had done with one property, user can always choose to go back to all the property listing or simply click on the next button to view another property, or click on the previous button to view visited property before this, this two buttons located on top of the view all listings page. 2.1.1.5 Find Agent ThinkProperty does not offer a direct page to view all agents features. To find an agent, user needs to click the â€Å"Find Agent† link above the search box and then choose either find agent by area or by name. In case user knows any particular agent name and hoping for their service, they can try this search box to locate the agent to see all their posted listing. This also eases users when they know the agent name and where they work, but did not have any contact information about the agent. This may not work only if the target agent is not a member of ThinkProperty website. 2.1.2 Strengths and Weaknesses 2.1.2.1 Strengths * Simple, user-friendly interface. Overall web pages do not contain much unnecessary things. Simple looking and direct way to navigate to pages provide good browsing experience to users * Less complex function and process. Most of the process like job application form, submitting properties, searching functions are step by step methods and does not consist of much complicated process, this helps in reducing user confusion when using ThinkPropertys website * Good functionality and features. Sufficient features to provide good properties searching and managing experience * Good customer support service. Contain of more than one types of customer support feature for the purpose of increase efficiency in providing helps to the users when browsing ThinkProperty 2.1.2.2 Weaknesses * Risk might be unavoidable. ThinkProperty may not responsible for any information risk like fake agent or propertys information as they have no control over agents or members information * Searching function is the only way to view all properties and agents. As searching for properties and agents only depends on the searching box provided, first time user may not know how to find property and agent information. 2.2 iProperty During Jan 2009, iProperty was declared as the top property portal in Malaysia by Google Ads Planner. Operating their business in Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, India and Philippines allow clients from different states to use their service. For further development, they are working towards capitalize the property market and maintain their top leading position and continue working on online property advertising. (Sorensen, 2009) 2.2.1 iPropertys Features 2.2.1.1 Members Features Like other websites to use all the features offer to members only, user has to proceed to registration and approved as a member first. Before login, there will be several links under login like My shortlist, My Property Ads and others, but when user click on those link without login, they will be directed to the login page, which contain registering and forgotten password feature. To register, user just has to click on â€Å"Register Now† link located on the top left side of every page or under the login field on login page and navigate to the registering page. Upon submitting the form, user will receive a random generated password in their registered e-mail, user has to use that password and registered username to login, and then they can choose to change the password later on. i) Create Personal Profile Upon registering as member, user can choose to create their personal profile. This feature is optional, other than letting the agents to know more about them when using iPropertys service like property wanted and property ads, it also allow other member to find out more about a particular agent through iExpert. ii) My iExpert iExpert is a service designed to ease the sharing of property information sharing among members. All users are allow to use iExpert to search and view questions and answers provided by the members, however, only members are allow to post new questions and answer existing questions. It serves like a partial forum but does not contain much feature like forums do. iii) My Property Wanted Like other property website, iProperty offer a property wanted feature to all members only that allow them to submit a form consist of the property requirement a buyer want, and let the agents to perform a property search to find available property match the buyer requirement and notify buyers about it. Members who use this feature will keep property wanted information in their profile. 2.2.1.2 Viewing Properties The â€Å"New Property Review† button contain under the drop down of â€Å"New Properties† located on top of the main menu navigation direct users to the latest property listing in iProperty. User can choose to view different types of property by months by selecting from a list box on the right side of the main title. This is one of the ways to view property owned by iProperty. Another way of finding properties is to use the searching function located on top of the page under the main menu or view properties through related developers or agents. Viewing a property consist of several parts. The first part is the propertys review that contain of long description of the particular property. It consists of some pictures regarding the property with describing the surrounding, environment and facility to attract the interest of people to know more about it. The second part is the propertys specification. This page usually of one picture regarding the property and all details like address, property type, land title, tenure, land area, price range, posted date, and side information which are nearby transportation, schools, and amenities. Next part is viewing the property gallery. This page usually consists of photo gallery taken by camera about the property environment. Visual tour will also available in this page if the particular property has any video about visual tour. Map is available in most of the properties to show the location of a property and also direction to approach to it. For those properties that has Google Map details, a map will be provided as well. Lastly, user who interested in a property can register to it using a provided form to let the agent to contact and brief user about further information. Other than property specification, there are extra corner for sending enquiry to the agents or related person, sending enquiry to the developers and also a home loan calculator provided by Maybank with the information of preferred MPF, interest rate, loan years that is already provided according to the property and the monthly repayment result is provided automatically to the user. 2.2.1.3 Visual Tour iProperty provide visual tour service for user to experience a virtual visiting property experience. Visual tour video can be found on the bottom of each property under gallery view. However, not all properties provide visual tour service. User can found properties that contain visual tour service on the â€Å"Visual Tour† link under new properties on the main menu navigation. 2.2.1.4 Find an Agent Finding an agent in iProperty only require a click on â€Å"Find An Agent† button located on top of the page in main menu navigation. From this page, user can see their name, contact number, e-mail and self description. On top of it, there is a search agent function to find an agent by name, state and area, or user can filter all agents according to the first alphabet of their name. By clicking on their name, user will direct to their page that contain all of the listing they hold. User can also send a message to a particular agent in their page by submitting a form above the holding listing. 2.2.1.5 Search Function There are basically three types of search function depend on each pages. Different types of search function shown in different page for different purpose. 2.29 show a search function located on the main page and new project page. There are sufficient data for user to specify the searching information to obtain better matching property. User can click on â€Å"Advance Search† to have more option to search. Alternately, user can choose to filter properties according to different state by clicking â€Å"By Area† or different country by clicking on â€Å"Overseas†. The second searching function is searching agent function. This feature available only in â€Å"Find An Agent† page and the concept is the same with normal searching function. User just has to input the agents name, area or state, or choosing the first alphabet of their name to find a particular agent. The third searching function located on â€Å"Home Service† page. This searching function use to search for available furniture or home products. 2.2.2 Strengths and Weaknesses 2.2.2.1 Strengths * Rich supporting technologies. iProperty consist of several tools like Google Map, Visual Tour, and some other function that make their service very efficient. * Detail properties information. All properties information included location map, floor plan, transportation and amenities nearby, image gallery and other related information provide information more than what the clients want to know. 2.2.2.2 Weaknesses * Too much information in a page may be unnecessary. Most of the pages contain a lot of information even if it is not related to the page. Users may found it confusion on information that is related or none-related to what they need. 2.3 Summary In this chapter, the author analyze some existing real estate company websites. As understanding features they use to enhance their operation is the main priority in this objective, the author has more knowledge on developing a real estate websites, as well as some of the strengths and weaknesses, to be learnt and avoid when developing an online property management system. Chapter 3: Conduct Interview and Survey 3.1 Overview In this chapter, the author conducts interview and surveys to the head of City 2 Property and also some agents who are experience in real estate business. The author uses this two fact finding method to determine the user requirement of the proposed system and the agents expectation towards it. In the end, the author will record the fact finding result and present on this chapter. 3.2 Interview The author decided to conduct an interview to the head of City 2 Property, Mr. Koo Kam Swee, because he is the most suitable person that understands the requirement or the needs of this proposed system. The interview question will be produce base on the purpose of understanding what will Mr. Koo expect the proposed system can do and how it benefits the business operation and the agents in the company. All the interview questions and answers show below contain main questions and some new questions that were asked during the interview. 3.2.1 Interview Questions and Answers 1. What give you an idea of using a website for your business? (To understand the purpose of the proposed system towards the company) Our companys operation mostly depends on paper work as we have already used to it. We never thought about creating a website until I realize the advantage of a website that can help people from the outside to access to our service faster and anytime even after our operation hour. Therefore, creating a website like other real estate company helps the customers to reach us easier. Author finding: The author uses this question to find out the interviewee main purpose of having this proposed system. The author now understand that the manager get the idea that online business provide fast and easy ways to interact with clients, therefore he decide to implement a website for the company. 2. Without a system, what types of problem your company and the agents faces? (To understand how should the proposed system benefit the company) As I mention, most of our works depend on paperwork. Upon completing a document work, if require sending to clients or others, we need to send through letters, awaits receiving, and finally reply back to us. The overall process takes up a great amount of time. If there is a website, we can shorten the time of this type of process so that we can complete a task much faster. Author finding: From above statement, the author understands that the manager hope that the proposed system can benefit by completing a task faster using electronic mail instead of delivering letters which is very time consuming. 3. Other than that, what are other problems exist? For instant, what you think other real estate company with websites benefits compare to your company? (To understand more on the benefits of the interviewee expect towards the proposed system) Having a website for the company nowadays is a type of competitive advantage. I know some of the other real estate company having their own websites, this give them the advantage of allowing clients to reach them easier, meanwhile this become a disadvantage for us as we lack of this service to offer to the clients. Author finding: Spontaneous question continue from the second question, the author try to find out more about the expectation of the manager that the proposed system can benefit the company. The author gives an example of other real estate competitive to make interviewee to think more critical on the benefits he expects. By the answer of the interviewee, the author know that the manager expect the proposed system can be a competitive advantage when compete with other real estate company. 4. For the website, what features you expects most? In another words, what feature you think is the most important in the entire website? (To understand what feature the interviewee concern the most) The most important part in the website would be allowing people to view our properties. We hope that people who view our properties using the website can know all the details of a property when they access the page. Author finding: The author wanted to know what is considering as the most important feature in the proposed system. The answer given shows that the manager expect viewing properties as an important feature that should put effort on for the purpose of allowing the users to know the full details of a property. 5. Other than viewing propertys details, what other feature you hope to be implemented to make viewing properties a better experience for the users? (To make the interviewee consider more on the functionality of the concerned feature) To be able to view propertys picture with all the details, this would be good enough. Additionally, I hope the website can handle some clients services like sending enquiry about a property or provide information about our contact so that their can call us or send message to us whenever they need our service. Author finding: A spontaneous question follows by question number 4. The author trying to make the interviewee think more on adding some functionality that can make viewing properties better for the users. But the manager does not have too high expectation on other function about it, and suggest other feature regarding serving clients by receiving enquiries and mail from them using the proposed system. 6. Will you expect people to be able to register as a member of City 2 Property website? If yes, what do you hope to benefit from this feature? (To understand what the manager think about member system and how to benefit from it) Possible. Having members in our website help us know more about them, in case we want to contact them using mobile phone, we may be able to locate their contact information through the website. Author finding: The author finds out that the manager does not have high expectation on the member system as well. The manager hopes that this feature can be used to find out the members contact information so that the agent can contact them when necessary. 7. If a member system is implemented, what you think about allowing members to sell their properties using the website? (To understand what the manager think about selling properties online) I guess this should be no different than clients call up to offer their properties to us. If what I think is correct, th