Customer Experience Builds Brand Awareness Essay - 960 Words

Every customer interaction matters. And consistency throughout the customer experience builds brand awareness. Recognizable brands offer trust and reliability to your target audience. It gives shoppers an inside perspective about your company. â€Å"A truly effective customer experience is focused on opening up new paths of communication, as well as creating a friendly brand tone, and aligning actions with brand intentions,† writes Michelle Polizzi, content coordinator at Brandfolder. It’s all about making your customers feel comfortable across all channels. They expect the same quality product and helpful customer service, whether it’s email or social media. Start building a consistent customer experience today. Below are few strategies to help your team. 1. Describe Your Brand’s Mission According to a Forrester study, customers are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with organizations delivering inconsistent cross-channel experiences. To offer consistency, start with your brand’s mission. Mission statements describe the purpose of your company. A powerful mission statement affects every part of your company, from how you design products to how employees interact with customers. â€Å"Your customer experience mission = How you want your customers to experience the brand, and, perhaps more importantly, how you want them to feel. The customer is the star of this statement,† says Jeannie Walters, founder of 360Connext. Use your mission statement to build consistency. Let itShow MoreRelatedStarbucks Brand1422 Words   |  6 PagesGrowth Brand 1 One of the main keys for success for Starbucks in building the brand is their focus on quality, starting by the quality of the whole bean, the freshly roasted gourmet beans, its packaging, transportation, until its brewing. This has served as a main differentiator between Starbucks and other brands. Starbucks has succeeded to position itself as a unique quality coffee provider. Starbucks also managed to build its brand with the perception of a â€Å"complete customer experience† byRead MoreCustomer-Based Brand Equity Model (Cbbe)1111 Words   |  5 PagesCustomer-Based Brand Equity Model (CBBE) CBBE act as a bridge to add value on a product endowed to a product as a result of past investments in the marketing of a brand. It is also provide provides direction and focus to future marketing activities. CBBE model designed to assist management in brand building efforts. According to the model, building a strong brand involves four steps: establish brand identity, create brand meaning, positive, eliciting accessible brand responses, and building brandRead MoreFunction of a Brand Exploratory1137 Words   |  5 PagesBrand Exploratory A brand audit is a detailed assessment of a brand’s current ranking in the market compared to other competitors. It provides information on how the business is performing in the market. A brand audit also aims at examining the image and reputation of the brand as perceived by customers. The two key elements of brand audit are brand inventory and brand exploratory. Brand inventory provides up to date itinerary of how a company markets and brands its products. On the other hand,Read MoreThreat Of New Entrants - P R998 Words   |  4 Pagesnew entrants – PR †¢ Brand loyalty / plumbers tend to find a brand and stick with it. †¢ If plumbers do not have experience with PR brand they may find it too risky to change. †¢ PR Brand awareness is low for consumers. This opens opportunities for new competitors. Bargaining power of suppliers – PR †¢ Power of suppliers is low †¢ Manufacturing is done in-house at PR Bargaining power of buyers – PR †¢ Plumbers – distrust innovation / they tend to stick to a certain brand / they recommend Read MoreCreating A Solid Ecommerce Marketing Strategy Essay927 Words   |  4 Pagescornering the market by selling unique products and services to targeted consumers. For example, eCommerce store Beardbrand only sells beard care products, ranging from natural beard oil to mustache wax. To compete with mass retailers, niche stores must build up their presence within their targeted communities. That’s why creating a solid eCommerce marketing strategy is important. Here are five ways a niche store can jumpstart its eCommerce marketing strategy: 1. Answer questions on industry-specificRead MoreThe Meaning Of Corporate Identity832 Words   |  4 Pagessemantic interpretation—symbols/signifiers and their signified. Here, symbols are used interchangeably with logo or the brand name. The symbols serve as a representation of the brand and the design of symbols is infused with brand identity and symbolic meanings of the brand. Given that customers make their purchase decision without actually receiving any tangible service in service brands, symbols are often used as surrogate â€Å"evaluation variables† (Hansen, 1972). During the rebranding of Airbnb in 2014Read MoreCurrent Issue Of Sport : Globalization1307 Words   |  6 Pagesaware of the NBA brand and NBA.com/China averages 2 million unique users a month. Games are shown in China on 51 outlets, drawing 1.6 billion viewers in 2008-2009 (34% more than in 2006-2007). China is now the NBA’s biggest foreign market for its branded merchandise† (Van Riper Karmali, 2009).And after gaining the roaring success in China, NBA starting to move into their next step, to expand the India market. However, because of the lack of a star player, to popularize NBA brand in India is muchRead MorePpcl Thailand Case Study969 Words   |  4 Pagescontract and keep the Pizza Hut Brand Name. If PPCL signs the agreement, they will have no choice but to sign a non-compete clause which could be potentially damaging to its success moving forward. Pizza Hut currently occupies the majority of the pizza market in Thailand. Whether or not the deal goes through with Tricon, PPCL must also determine how to expand the pizza category. The question they face is whether they can survive not only without the Pizza Hut brand name, but also whether they canRead MoreEco Friendly Nursery s Marketing Approach952 Words   |  4 Pagesthey would. It is crucial for a business owner to be educated about their customers. This is done through marketing, so it is important to understand what marketing really is. Marketing is how a business create and retain their customers. Marketing allows one to learn, generate, stimulate, and fulfill the customer’s wants and needs. With marketing the first step is to find a market pain, a problem that is causing customers to be inconveniently affected. Once this market pain is identified the businessRead MoreMarketing Strategy: Enhancing Brand Equity by Developing a Brand Community1552 Words   |  7 P agesIntroduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..4 Brand Management Issues Recommended Solutions†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦....5 Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..9 Bibliography†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..10 Executive Summary This reports examines various successful hair care companies (Kevin Murphy/TreSemme), and through discussion of various of branding issues encountered, the following initiatives are recommended to enhance brand equity through our brand community: Partnership with

Fiscal Policy And Fiscal Policies - 1046 Words

Fiscal Policy Generally fiscal policy is the set of strategies that government implements or plans to use with certain activities such as the collection of revenues and taxes and expenditure that can influence the overall economic condition of the nation. A well written or planned fiscal policy can lead the nation to the steady path of the strong economy, increase employment and also maintains healthy inflation. Every country needs fiscal policy as fiscal policy plays a vital role on monitoring the pattern of the flow of nation’s expenditure to the economy and also the nation’s revenue generated from the economy. It also helps to stimulate the economic growth during the period of economic recession. The main aim of the fiscal policy is to maintain a steady fiscal growth with respect to both higher and lower economic cycle. There is an intimate relationship between fiscal and monetary policy though these both entities are conducted for different purposes. These are basically not the a lternative but the complement to each other. Fiscal policy always supports monetary policy during the time of recession such as Global Financial Crisis of 2008.Many countries enacted lots of stimulus plans related to fiscal policy in order to cope with the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. Among those India also adopted many different new techniques of fiscal policy in order to survive during the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. India is a federal democratic country located in South Asia regionShow MoreRelatedFiscal Policy And Fiscal Policies1193 Words   |  5 Pagesrecession to containing inflation, achieving full employment to increasing economic output. Fiscal policy is one of the tools often used to realise these goals and create financial stability. There are two ways in which fiscal policy can be implemented, either a contractionary fiscal policy, or an expansionary fiscal policy, which I will explore in this assignment. The aim of an expansionary fiscal policy is to raise expenditure, whereby economic output and household income will also increase. ThisRead MoreFiscal Policy And Fiscal Policies838 Words   |  4 Pagesactive fiscal policy† (CNBC) in order to have its economy back on the reasonable range. Fiscal policy affects aggregate demand depending on the government’s spending and taxation. Thus, if the government decides to make changes in its taxation such as discounting corporate taxes, the aggregate demand curve will shift. In addition to that, money spent on public services and welfares will increase government spending which will affect aggregate demand as well. Economic Analysis Fiscal Policy â€Å"FiscalRead MoreFiscal Policy And Fiscal Policies1560 Words   |  7 PagesFiscal Policy Brooks (2012) defines that fiscal policy is adjusting government revenue and spending in order to influence the direction of the economy and meet the economic goals of the country. The two main tools in fiscal policy are taxes and expenditure. Fiscal policy is set by the government and parliament and often used a combination with monetary policy, which set by Reserve Bank of Australia as an example. Furthermore, this essay discusses the Australian government fiscal policies during theRead MoreFiscal Policy2022 Words   |  9 Pagesnation. There are many tools to stabilize the economy and reduce the frequency and the altitude of economic fluctuations. Among these tools are the fiscal policy and monetary policy. This report discusses the fiscal policy and why the governments use this too to stabilize the economy and encounter the economic fluctuations. Definition Fiscal policy is a macroeconomic tool used by the government through the control of taxation and government spending in an effort to affect the business cycle andRead MoreFiscal Policy And Monetary Policy862 Words   |  4 PagesFiscal Policy vs Monetary Policy Fiscal policy is a way for the government to control the economy financially. The Federal Government sometimes partakes in actions to stimulate the economy. Fiscal Policy focuses on changing government spending, controlling inflation, encouraging economic growth, and to reach full employment. Monetary policy is a policy the Federal Reserve Board enforces which consists of changes in the money supply which influences the interest rates in the economy. This can helpRead MoreEssay on Fiscal Policy718 Words   |  3 Pages Fiscal Policy can be explained in many ways, for example. Fiscal policy is the use of the government budget to affect an economy. When the government decides on the taxes that it collects, the transfer payments it gives out, or the goods and services that it purchases, it is engaging in fiscal policy. The primary economic impact of any change in the government budget is felt by particular groups—a tax cut for families with children, for example, raises the disposable income of such families. DiscussionsRead MoreGDP and Fiscal Policy Essay698 Words   |  3 Pagesupon the capacity of GDP. Appropriate government bodies make the determination of national fiscal policies. Occasionally there are involuntary economic establishments and every now and then a discretionary fiscal policy is necessary. These elements are established by the government bodies, which are predominately the President or Congress. While economic activities rise and fall; both taxes and fiscal expenditures involuntarily act in response in ways that even out the economy. For instance, duringRead MoreFiscal Policy as an Economic Stabilization Measure1604 Words   |  7 PagesFISCAL POLICY AS AN ECONOMIC STABILIZATION MEASURE Fiscal Policy refers to the various decisions undertaken by the government regarding public expenditures and revenue. There are a large number of sub-policies that are encompassed by the fiscal system. But all the policies can be broadly categorized as being either ‘Public Expenditure’ or ‘Public Revenue’. It can be said that the fiscal policy is a direct government intervention in the economic processes of an economy. The fiscal policyRead More Demand Management and Fiscal Policy Essay1022 Words   |  5 PagesDemand Management and Fiscal Policy Fiscal policy is the manipulation of aggregate demand using taxation and or government spending. The government tends to make most of its fiscal decisions in the annual budget, usually announced in March of each year. However, there are a number of problems in using fiscal policy to control aggregate demand - one of the most significant is the problem of time-lags. 1. Time Lags Many aspects of fiscal policy have a delayed effect on aggregate demandRead MoreAnalysis of Discretionary Fiscal Policy Essay699 Words   |  3 Pagesdiscretionary fiscal policy the government spends and taxes to change the economy during a particular problem. Both Congress and the president have to take action when they agree that the economy is in need. When they do this they are trying to simulate the economy during a time of recession. Economists thought discretionary fiscal policy would eliminate the instability of the recession, however most had given up on the idea by 1980. The most noticeable discretionary fiscal policy is the discretionary

Digital Audio Free Essays

Digital Audio refers to the reproduction and the transmissions of a stored sound in a digital format. This includes things like CDs or mp3s and other forms of sound that can be stored on a computer. In contrast for instance say the telephone system, which is stored in a completely different format which is called the analogue system. We will write a custom essay sample on Digital Audio or any similar topic only for you Order Now In sound recording and reproduction systems, digital audio refers to a digital representation of the audio waveform for processing. Digital Audio came about due to its usefulness when recording and distribution in sound. The modern day usage of this system is through the internet to post put songs on web pages and videos on YouTube depends on digital recording and digital HYPERLINK â€Å"http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Audio_compression_(data)† \o â€Å"Audio compression (data)† compression algorithms. One of the good things about using this system is that it reduces the cost of the distribution because it is not a physical object. Also it is very easy to access because nowadays if people want something or need something they go on the internet. In an analog system sounds are usually made physically and are recorded into a mic which is transformed into a electrical representation of a waveform, which is stored or transmitted. Analog audio signals are susceptible to noise and distortion, unavoidable due to the innate characteristics of electronic circuits and associated devices. In the case of purely analog recording and reproduction, numerous opportunities for the introduction of noise and distortion exist throughout the entire process. When audio is digitized, distortion and noise are introduced only by the stages that precede conversion to digital format, and by the stages that follow conversion back to analog. Digital Audio Workstation or DAW is one of the commonly used terms in home music production environment. Yet some are still confused especially the beginners in music production with no electrical/sound engineering background as to what is really the meaning of Digital Audio Workstation? The fact is that, it’s so hard to understand what is digital audio workstation without giving the beginner; a complete information of how everything starts and end in music production. It’s why this lengthy post is perfect for those completely new in digital-based home recording or recording music using computers! I should have written this a long time ago, anyway its good that I put some importance of posting this one. Let’s get started.. First, you need to understand how the music goes into your computer. Your music is a sound wave which is an analog signal, a continuous form of signal(e. g. a sine wave). A musical instrument or a disturbance (e. g a water droplet falling into a pail of water) and can cause vibrations in the air that causes it propagate in the form of a sound wave. When these air pressure vibrations reaches your ear, you will perceived it as a sound if the pressure is strong enough to cause vibrations in your ear drum and if the frequency is audible (20Hz to 20,000Hz). The music you hear are actually composed of musical notes which are sinusoidal in nature and has two properties which are: a. ) Amplitude (how strong are the pressure vibrations, which is usually measured by SPL or sound pressure level using decibels). b. ) Frequency( how high or low is the pitch of the sound wave, measured in Hertz) How to cite Digital Audio, Papers

The Scottsboro Trials Essay Example For Students

The Scottsboro Trials Essay Imagine being a black teenager in the south amid the great depression. It was hard enough for whites to find jobs during this time; I cant even begin to fathom what it would be like being black seeking a job. Many blacks sought hoboing as a common pastime seeing it as an adventure to get them from one small job to another. And this is where the story of the Scottsboro Boys begins. Aboard a southern railroad car was a young black youth named Haywood Patterson. He clutched to the side of the car as it careened back and forth over the rusty tracks. Across the top of the car walked a young white man. Every time this man would walk past Patterson he would step on his fingers. Patterson finally said to the man, whenever you need to get through, tell me and I will move my hand. The young man believed that he did not have to ask someone to move their hands, especially a nigger. This outraged him and he began to shout obscenities and racial slurs at Patterson. Soon after, a stone throwing fig ht erupted between the white hobos and the black hobos that were riding on the train. All but one white youth was forced of the train by the rocks. This white youth named Orville Gilley was pulled back on. The train itself was picking up speed and Gilley could have gotten killed. A local stationmaster was told the attack by the white hobos that had been thrown off of the train. This stationmaster wired ahead to the next stationmaster to let him know of the situation. As the train slowed down and came to a stop in Paint Rock, Alabama, those that were accused of the future crime had no telling what they were going to be up against. Once in Paint Rock, 9 black youths were rounded up, tied together and taken to prison in Scottsboro Al. Here the boys were placed in a jail cell awaiting their charges. Little did they know an additional charge was going to be added that never even crossed their minds. While in Paint Rock 2 young women greeted the Posse that came to round up the men from th e train. One of these women (Victoria Price) told the posse that she had been raped by a gang of 12 blacks with pistols and knives (Linder, n.d.).They were escorted into the jail so that Victoria could point out her attackers. Here she claimed 6 of the 9 men had raped her. Thats when a guard replied If those six had Miss Price, it stands for reason the others had Miss Bates (Linder, n.d.).The accused turned out to be: Haywood Patterson, Andy Wright, Eugene Williams, Clarence Norris, Charlie Weems, Olen Montgomery, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson and Roy Wright. Let me tell you about the accusers in this case, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. Both women were from Huntsville, Al and daughters of widows. They grew up in the worst section of town living in shacks and associating with Negroes. Prior to Paint Rock, they had been working in Margaret Mill which produced cotton. The mill had shut down and they joined the other hobos seeking work (Goodman, 1994, pp20-21). When these ladies got older they were said to have fornicated with Negroes also. Now you have to understand that in the south there was a stigma between white woman and black men, when a white woman sleeps with a black man its considered rape (in the south). Now when these women were found on the train with Negroes, they did not want to be thought of as adulterers and tramps. Instead they claimed rape so that they could be thought of as southern women, poor but virtuous (Goodman, 1994, pp20-21). During their stay at the jail, the Scottsboro Boys attracted many people, and not always the nicest. One evening a lynch mob was hanging around the outside hoping that there could be a lynching. Their plans were foiled because Governor B.M. Miller ordered the National Guard to protect the suspects. On March 30th, 1931, a grand jury indicts all 9 boys. The boys were appointed council; however this was not an easy task. No one at the time wanted to represent them. A unpaid and unprepared Chattanooga real estate attorney named Stephen Ruddy agreed to take on the case as long as he had help. Up stepped local attorney Milo Moody. Moody was a 70year old man who hadnt tried a case in years. Their incompetence showed during the April 6th-9th trials before Judge A.E. Hawkins. Eight of the 9 boys are tried, convicted and sentenced to death. The case against the youngest boy, Roy Wright, whom at the time was 13, ended in a hung jury (PBS, 1999-2000). Beowulf: First Literary Superhero EssayThis was also the same year there was talk of a compromise. Knight met secretly with Liebowtiz to discuss the compromise. The cases were starting to drain Alabama both financially and politically. He offered to drop the prosecutions of 3, and give the others no more than 10 years in jail for either rape or assault. Both lawyers knew that they were never going to get a trial that didnt end without a conviction. Leibowitz agreed to the compromise but unfortunately never got to see it completed. Knight died suddenly in 1937. Keep in mind that 7 of the Scottsboro boys were still in jail awaiting their trials and it had been 6 years up to this point. The third trial of Clarence Norris began on Monday, July 12th, 1937. Judge Callahan rushed ahead and by Wednesday morning the jury had a death sentence. Attorney Watts had fallen ill during this time and left everything to Liebowitz. July 21st, Andy Wright is sentenced to 99 years. July 22nd, Charley Weems is sentenced to 75 years. July 24th Ozie Powell pleads guilty to assaulting a sheriff and is sentenced to 20 years. On this same day, Rape charges against the last four defendants: Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Eugene Williams and Roy Wright are dropped (PBS, 1999-2000). In 1938 there was a chance for the remaining five Scottsboro Boys to be pardoned by Governor Bibb Graves. Again this did not favor the boys. At the interview, Patterson was found carrying a knife, Ozie Powell refused to answer any questions presented to him by Graves, and Norris was in a battle with Patterson and threatened to kill him if released. Overall none of the boys admitted to the rape and knowledge of it, so no pardons came. Eventually through paroles or escape all of the Scottsboro Boys found their way out of Alabama (Linder, n.d.).Andy Wright was the last to leave Alabama in 1950. Some of the boys wrote books on their experiences. The case showed just how indifferent jurors were in the south during the 1930s, how two women could ruin the lives of 9 men and how politically minded everyone was involved in the trial. The Scottsboro Trials was the only case in history of the US that produced the most trials, convictions, reversals and retrials. In the end this case allowed jur ies to be open to blacks and helped to ease racial tensions in both the south and north. Reference ListGoodman, J. (1994). Stories of Scottsboro; The rape case that shocked 1930s America and revived the struggle for equality. New York, NY: Pantheon Books. Norris, C., Washington, C. D. (1979). The Last of the Scottsboro Boys an Autobiography. Toronto, Canada: Putnam Books. Linder, D.O. (n.d). The Trials of the Scottsboro Boys. Retrieved March 14, 2005, from http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_acct.htmlPBS. (1999-2000). Scottsboro Timeline. Retrieved March 27, 2005, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/scottsboro/timeline/index.html

Reflective Essay for Data Structure and File Management Project free essay sample

Reflective Essay on Data Structure and File Management Coursework C++ is an object-oriented, low-level ANSI and ISO standard programming language that can generate very efficient and very fast programs. As an object-oriented language large- scale programs C++ is one of the most popular programming. Initially when the project was given my first reaction was how will I be able integrate my limited programming knowledge of C++ and fact that it was done in the reverse of me currently doing C programming. This would however cause a conflict of interest that I ill not confuse the programming languages and I would have to do adequate research and revisiting my notes on C++. Given the draft of how the program will be coded, according to the task allotted to me (calculating salary) the first challenge faced was when the hours worked is entered an error check was needed to check the validity of the hours entered. We will write a custom essay sample on Reflective Essay for Data Structure and File Management Project or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page An error check was implemented in the function to calculate payroll when hours worked was entered. Whenever an error occurs the system will return an error message and prompt the user to reenter the hours worked according to the outlined criteria. After reentering the hours worked again a display was done and the gross pay and other calculations were not seen. However after many error checks and tests the decision was made to insert a new function called calcpay to calculate the salary while the payroll function was used to insert the hours worked and check for errors. Another occurrence of challenge that was face when programming the system is that the backup of the system was not writing to the file. This was because the writing of the â€Å"payroll. dat† was done when the system close (exit) and the backup was before the alling of the function to calculate payroll. The decision was made to merge the Backup and Store function in one â€Å"Case† in the switch so that while the system will be saving (writing) the â€Å"payroll. dat† and create a backup copy at the same time. What I have learnt from doing this coursework is that for me to write, test or debug a program especially in C++ is that I will have to revisit my previous knowledge of C++, sacrifices both personally and at work, sleepless nights and a break from my immediate studies for Mid Semester Exams. Based on my contribution towards this project I have a ore in-depth knowledge in C++. I also learnt how to set precision for the way in which the information will be displayed both on the screen and in the file. This was used to organize how the employee payslip will look and the use of a date code to print out the date on the employee payslip. There were other coding and its related terminologies that was learnt to aid in the accurate, consistent and limited amount of errors in creating the program which I know will better aid in my programming skills and approach to programming various application.

Gun Control misc7 essays

Gun Control misc7 essays Why Should We Ban Handguns in the United States Recently in Michigan a six-year-old brought a handgun to school and shot a classmate and killed her. In 1990 there were 23,438 homicides in the United States, 9,923 due to handguns (418). This was one of the points that Nicholas Dixon brings up in his article, Why Should We Ban Handguns in the United States. Dixons argues for the ban of handguns in the United States, with the complete ban outweighing the negative effects. He does not argue for the outright ban of all guns, that is questioning the Second Amendments right to bear arms. Arguing the complete ban of all guns would be impossible which is why he stays to strictly handguns. Dixons line of reason is that if we reduce the handgun population, we will reduce the handgun violence, which will lower the number of violent crimes (418). Handguns were chosen to be the gun of choice to be banned because of its easiness to be concealed. The handguns were also chosen because they were seen to be the primary cause of the violent crimes in America. In an International comparison the U.S. had a significantly higher rate of homicide, than all countries included (419). This was attributed to the more lenient laws that are in the U.S. more than anywhere else. The comparison of Seattle to Vancouver is used to present this point more efficiently. The two cities are similar in almost all aspects, the only difference being that Canada has stricter gun laws (421). In short Dixons argument is in order to reduce the number of violent crimes in the U.S., we need to decrease the number of handgun owners, which will lower handgun violence. Even though criminal offenders would still have guns, the amount available would be significantly decreased. The idea behind the ban is to lower the overall pool of guns (422). Lowering the pool of guns I feel that this will not lea...

Key challenges and pitfall to virtual team performance Essay

Key challenges and pitfall to virtual team performance - Essay Example Companies also face the challenge of training and updating the technology used by the virtual team members. Defining the best task technology fit is another challenge that influences virtual team performance. Organizations face the challenge of scheduling meetings since the virtual team members live in different geographical areas with distinct time zones (Kirkman, Rosen, Gibson, Tesluk, & McPherson, 2002). Companies/individuals require complex technological applications to enhance virtual team performance (Ebrahim, Ahmed, & Taha, 2009). Moreover, virtual team performance experiences decreased control of activities since it involves virtual members. Mistrust and communication barriers also depict pitfalls in virtual team performance. Virtual team members develop divergent thoughts subject to cultural and functional diversity experienced in virtual activities Ebrahim, Ahmed, & Taha, 2009). Moreover, effective virtual team performance requires special training and motivation of virtual team members. The members are invisible and virtual meetings are seemingly ineffective since they do not involve physical interactions and personal feelings (Robb, 2014). Virtual environments do not offer detailed analysis of salient issues (Robb, 2014). Moreover, the members face the problem of working in different time zones that is very confusing. Kirkman, B., Rosen, B., Gibson, C., Tesluk, P., & McPherson, S. (2002). The Seven Challenges to Virtual Team Performance: Lessons from Sabre, Inc. Retrieved from:

Case Study on Ontology Languages Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Case Study on Ontology Languages - Essay Example 20/Jul/2006 J B Conrad Semantic web creation conrad@xyz.com DAML+OIL: http://www.xyz.com J B Conrad conrad@xyz.com Semantic Web Creation May OWL: Comparison of the...While these languages represent the specifications for the Ontology, they do not represent the real programming languages that are employed like CycL, Ontolingua, F-Logic, etc., 1. XML: This uses a standard syntax laid down already by the W3C. The code is crisp and easy to write. The DTD can be defined the way it is required. However, this does not offer the flexibility of defining standard classes and then making use of the similar structure repeatedly. XML is easy to use in a program though of course, creating XML data which will have semantics in them is not possible with the existing structure of XML. 2. XOL on the other hand, offers all those features that are present in XML as well as in OIL. XOL employs modelling primitives that are in line with OKBC standards. This is based on XML and uses Ontologies to extend the features. Therefore, it is found that the language is supporting some of the insufficiencies in XML like standard class definition and other structure definitions. With these, the data gets verified and the mistakes in the data are avoided. In addition to these, this also supports extensive slot hierarchies. But however, it does not allow definition of relationships extensively. This makes it a weak relationship modeller. XOL is comfortable where only data is to be represented without any major relationship criterion which is hard to find in knowledge systems. 3.

What are the features of the constructivist theory and its Assignment

What are the features of the constructivist theory and its applications - Assignment Example tainer† exists wherein the individual can seek to categorize the new and incoming information, the constructivist approach dictates that a container will be made which is suitable to house such information within the mind, worldview, and culture of the individual in question. Accordingly, as a means to provide a positive learning result, it is incumbent upon the educator to seek to build such a construct first prior to seeking to impart key elements of knowledge upon which a larger construct can be understood. An example of this would of course be the need for a teacher to adequately express and detail all points of vocabulary and understanding to an elementary school class prior to launching into a broad overview of a new means of understanding. Similarly, psychological constructivists are primarily interested in how people construct key internal elements of cognitive reasoning. In other words, psychological constructivists seek to answer the question of precisely how human construct different containers within which to house information that is oftentimes otherwise viewed as somewhat absolute. On the other hand, social constructivism, as the name implies, relies heavily on the means by which constructs are built as a result of the societal constraints, culture, and norms that are present within group dynamics. Accordingly, as the text states, on the extreme end of the spectrum there is what is known as radical constructivism. This particular type of constructivism is what can be termed as a type of relativism in which those that espouse such a view contend that there is no reality whatsoever other that what the individual establishes for themselves. Accordingly, the means by which any type of constructivism takes place lie s solely within the grasp of the individual who is creating the reality (construction) for themselves. These unique and differing layers of understanding the way in which human beings classify and categorize key information is

An evaluation of impact on financial and operations consequence

An evaluation of impact on financial and operations consequence INTRODUCTION Choosing the Topic After completion of all my fundamental papers in August 2010, I waited till the next session to decide to submit a research and analysis project for the Oxford Brooke University. The reason for such delay was the pressure to complete three professional papers in December session. This report is also important to me because I believe by having combination of both Profession qualification and a degree will uplift my career. To base my project on ACCA provided me with a list of 20 recommended topics to choose from. After reading through the list, the topic that immediately attracted my attention was topic 19 which was â€Å"The financial and operational consequences of a merger between two organisations or of the acquisition of one organisation by another†. What attracted me the most about this topic was that, it was all very relevant to my studies as I am thinking to pursue financial management after ACCA. I knew this topic will allow me to try out and learn the all important, analytical skills. Other reason to choose this topic was the much talked about acquisition of KRAFT and Cadbury therefore it encouraged me to choose this topic. Another reason was availability of the vast amount of information through the internet and press release because of recent release of Krafts recent fourth quarter in the month on February 2011. Choosing the organisation Once I chose my topic, I had to choose an organisation to base my research on.   I chose Kraft and Cadbury for my analysis; it was an obvious choice as this was the acquisition that impelled me to select this topic. This was one of the most controversial and largest takeovers in the year of 2010. I believed the takeover by the 2nd Largest Food Giants in its industry would accomplish the objective I had in mind for the project. Aims Objectives The main objective of this report is to evaluate the consequences of the acquisition on the finance and operations aspect of KRAFT FOODS. The financial statements by themselves only provide the quantitative data which need to be analysed by drawn graphs. The main focus of this report, therefore, is as follows: * To analyse the reasons for Kraft to make a strategic choice of acquiring Cadbury and whether it satisfy the strategic fit as claimed by the CEO of KRAFT FOODS in terms of financial and business operations. * The second part of the research aims to analyse whether Kraft is on the track to achieve its targets it promised its stakeholders at the time of acquisition. * Since financial information wasnt sufficient for my research, I need to review the strategic decisions made by Kraft for its subsidiary Cadbury after the acquisition along with the friction identified while integrating both business. The anticipated future of Cadbury under Kraft Group. In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, I have done qualitative analysis using SFE (Suitability, Feasibility Acceptability) and Ashridge model along with quantitative analysis using financial ratios and linking both to get an overall picture. THE ORGANISTAION Company Profile Kraft Kraft Foods is the worlds second largest food company headquartered in North Field, Illinois manufactures and market packaged food products, including biscuits, confectionery, beverages, cheese, convenient meals and various packaged and grocery products.( KRAFT FOODS INC, 2009)The business was formed by James L. Kraft and his four brothers who began by wholesaling door to door cheese business in Chicago. Kraft then achieved growth by merging with other companies and increases the size of the business by expanding more product lines.( Wikimedia Foundation,2011) Being listed on NYSE, Kraft now has approximately 127,000 employees worldwide. Kraft sells products to consumer in approximately 170 countries. At 31 December 2010, Kraft had operations in more than 75 countries and made products at 223 manufacturing and processing facilities worldwide. Kraft portfolio included eleven brands with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion each: Oreo, Nabisco and LU biscuits; Milka and Cadbury chocolates; Trident gum; Jacobs and Maxwell House coffees; Philadelphia cream cheeses; Kraft cheeses, dinners and dressings; and Oscar Mayer meats. Kraft portfolio included approximately 70 brands which each generate annual revenues of more than $100 million. (KRAFT FOODS INC, 2010) Cadbury Cadbury was a leading global independent business in the exciting world of confectionery, a large, growing, brand-led industry. With an outstanding portfolio of chocolate, gum and candy brands, the largest emerging markets business and a focused and experienced team, Cadbury is committed to its long-term vision to be the worlds biggest and best confectionery company. Cadbury operated in more than 60 countries with a workforce of 46000. (Cadbury, 2008) Cadbury made its beginning by opening one single shop by John Cadbury. As time progressed John Cadbury moved into the manufacturing of drinking chocolate and cocoa. Cadbury grew bigger through some organic growth and some mergers. During the first world war Cadbury started to achieve great success, its products were regarded as necessities and Cadbury were at their peak. Cadbury kept investing in technology, new factories and in new products to remain ahead of competition. With factories all over the world and a host of well known brand names it has become a household name in many countries. (Birminghamuk, (n.d.)) INFORMATION GATHERING Sources of Data Data can be collected for any research by the following ways: * Primary Research: Under primary research new information is collected via interviews, survey or questionnaire etc; hence information is collected first hand. * Secondary Research: Also known as Desk Research is gathered from information which has already been provided but may not be for the same purpose. Such information are easy to access and are my cheaper than carrying out primary research. Such information gathered should be analysed and screened properly so that it fits for the purpose. Kraft and Cadbury both being listed companies although listed in different countries were required to issue annual accounts for its stakeholders by Sarbanes Oxley and Companies House respective. These companies especially Kraft issued Interim Reports as per the stock list requirement. Therefore much of the quantitative and qualitative date was readily available for analysis. Hence I chose to use secondary data over primary. The only complication I faced apart from time pressure was obtaining latest financial information for Cadbury (2009 accounts). Fortunately Kraft public relation team co-operated and emailed me 2008 and 2009 Cadbury annual accounts on my request. The following are the sources of secondary information I used for my project: Annual and Interim Financial Accounts and Reports This is the main source I used for financial aspect of my business and to draw graphs. I had to use interim reports even to demonstrate impact of Cadbury acquisition on Kraft at each and every quarter due to complexity of the business. Krafts annual accounts were available to view and download on Krafts Investors Website. However Cadbury financial statement isnt easily available. Internet This is the source of limitless information; hence it took me a lot of time to extract information which was relative to the point. Firstly it provided me the qualitative information which was missing or less in the financial statement of both entities. Secondly it also provided me information from a third party or neutral point of view. Letters and Reports Under this source, I analyzed the documents sent by Kraft to Cadbury management or reports addressed to Kraft shareholder explaining them the strategic fit of Cadbury acquisition. These documents were available over the internet. Library I used study text published by Kaplan for ACCA to brush my skills and be of aid when I got confused during an analysis phase. Apart from my course books I visited local library for reference books. As I mentioned earlier I didnt had an opportunity to visit British Library for the access of database such as Datamonitor and Mintel. However I was able to get access to Euromonitor through internet and used it as a tool to aid understanding of the application of analytical tools regarding acquisition and both the entities. Data Collection Methods Its easy to collect data, but skills are required to make sense of data and using it for the purpose. It was a fiddly job to collect reliable authentic information to base my reports on. Any negligence on my behalf may cause me a failure in achieving the report objectives. I was cautious and took my time to read through all the information once before starting with my project. As this acquisition was of the biggest acquisition in the year 2010, too much was written by the newspapers and media about it. Reading about the merger in 2011 gave me this idea to do a project on Kraft and Cadbury, as Kraft were about to issue its fourth quarter results. I started my data collection by reading articles from local newspapers as well as papers or journal published in other counties. I viewed them retrospectively. The most prominent newspaper I viewed was Financial Times, Guardian, Reuters, Wall Street Journal and Economists. After I got a general idea behind the acquisition and critics claiming the acquisition as a failure. I downloaded the fourth quarter as well as annual report. I need to know what did CEO responded on the acquisition as it had been a year. Then I looked at financial data provided to support any statement by the CEO. Internet provided me great deal of help in my project. I type in the keywords such as Cadbury Kraft in etc at www.google.com . Find the relevant articles and making notes as well as bookmarks of the WebPages if I needed to read it again for qualitative part of my research. I even visited many libraries in my local areas; the librarian helped me by giving me advice on referencing as I had no idea on references. Unfortunately I couldnt make a trip to British Library to access database which could help me in my project. But I was pretty content with the amount of information I already collected to carry out my analysis. Referencing I have used the HARVARD REFERENCING SYSTEM for the referencing in my research and to aid readability, I have cited the source below the paragraph if the whole paragraphs were written based on the same single source. Acquisition for Kraft PreAcquisition To systematic analyse the strategic choice by Kraft to acquire Cadbury, I will be using Johnson and Scholes framework (Suitability, Feasibility and Acceptability Model). (Wu, 2010) Suitability Kraft Foods Inc. being the second largest food company still looks for opportunities to grow and try to remain one of the market leaders in the industry and and to spread risk by a diversified portfolio. Kraft believes in rapid expansion by acquiring other businesses. Kraft adopted new strategy implemented by new CEO who believed low growth segment should be disposed of and adopt those strategies that will achieve rapid growth even by means of acquisition .Kraft will look for businesses that will build on its strengths and guide against its threats. Kraft has a successful track record of acquiring iconic brands and businesses and effectively using it for its expansion.   We will be using one of the criteria of Ashridge model under suitability. Under Ashridge model we will be examining two criteria; whether Kraft has sufficient skills, resources and understanding of the Cadbury business and whether there are opportunities for helping to achieve critical success factors. (Steiner, 20 09) * One key reason for Kraft to acquire Cadbury was to penetrate in those growing markets where Cadbury has good base such as China, India and Mexico. Brands such as Cadbury Dairy Milk dominated such markets by a vast length compared to its rivals. Cadbury did receive 40% of its revenue from fast growing emerging market.   Cadburys acquisition of Adams played a vital role to increase their market share in Latin America.   Cadbury has experienced 12% growth in revenue in emerging market over five years (EUROMONITOR, 2008) this can be beneficial for Kraft as it intends to use Cadbury s distribution network to sell its brands. (Cadbury, 2008) (Cadbury, 2009a) Kraft being aware of Cadbury s heritage and its strong confectionery business ranking and its iconic brands makes Cadbury globally number one in chocolate, gum and candy. By attaining all these eponymous brands Kraft will become a global powerhouse in snacks, confectionery and quick meals with exceptional portfolio of leading brands in the world. Hence will be one step closer in achieving organic growth objective. Feasibility Under feasibility we would evaluate Krafts position before acquisition in terms of internal resources of the organization this can even be connected to Ashridge s model criteria of possessing sufficient resource by Predator Company. Kraft being second largest business in its industry has huge cash reserve which reflects in its Cash flow Statements of 2008 and 2009 ($1.24 billion and 2.10 billion respectively). Buts its worth mentioning   the disposal of Krafts North American Pizza to Nestle for total consideration of $3.7 billion contributed majorly to its high cash reserve. High cash reserve helps them to with acquisition cost and integration cost and any other abnormal cost. Apart from cash reserve Kraft does have reasonable current ratio of 1.04 reflecting its above average liquidity position then its peers. Although Cadbury has a strong hold on overall emerging markets Kraft have a greater position in some markets such as Brazil and Russia. As Kraft being a huge conglomerate bu siness it has vast amount of resources in terms of specialist staff, a highly invested research and development teams and finance etc to back up Cadbury to face competition from other rivals such as Hershey and Mars. Kraft can eve use its power over major supermarket chains such Wal-Mart to increase shelf value of Cadbury as majority of its sales come from small convenient store. Kraft is even able to promote Cadbury heritage brand more rigorously due to available of immense resources. It would be worth mentioning the fact that billion dollar Kraft empire has been experiencing an average growth of impressive 5 % over period of four years to 2008 (where it achieved 13% growth than previous year).(Daltorio, 2009) Acceptability To carry on with a strategic choice it also need to be acceptable by the stake holders. As shareholders are key stakeholders their consent is highly important. Although Kraft assured them the acquisition would result in increase in shareholders wealth as it fits in into its business culture, some shareholders have different opinion. One of the reasons for such conflict of interests is the fear of increase in companys gearing. By 2008 Kraft had a high gearing of 1.34 (ratio) compare to its rival Nestle of (0.36). They fear by acquiring Cadbury, Kraft would issue more long-term debt that may adversely affect the gearing ratio and hence increasing the financial risk of the business and affecting the capability of paying out dividends, hence damaging shareholders interest. The other reason for conflict of interest was the reaction from one of the biggest shareholders Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway who regarded the acquisition as â€Å"bad deal â€Å".He believed Kraft has overval ued Cadbury for purchase consideration and the disposal of pizza business to Nestle for $3.7 billion   was a mistake. He firmly believed Kraft is paying high premium for the acquisition. One shareholders view didnt affected Krafts strategic choice and Kraft went ahead with the acquisition despite got rejected first time. (Barr, 2010) Ballast Businesses *CADBURY* Heartland Businesses Alien Business Value trap Business According to my analysis I think Kraft values Cadbury as Heartland Business as Kraft has the skills to exploit opportunities from Cadbury. (UNDER ASHRIDGE MODEL) ACQUISITION for Kraft The long clashing 5 month battle between Cadbury and Kraft was finally over on 2nd February 2010 as Kraft clinches control over Cadbury by 72% holding. Kraft then took total control of Cadbury on June 2010. Cadbury shareholders had a deadline of 2nd February to accept Kraft offer of 500 pence in cash for each Cadbury share and 0.1874 new Kraft shares for each Cadbury share which altogether values each Cadbury share at 840 pence including a special 10 pence dividend. This sums up the total valuation of Cadbury business to approximate of  £11.9 Billion ($19.4 Billion). Kraft offered this purchase price on 19th of January after a long negotiation with Cadbury management. Kraft tried to make hostile takeover on 7th September by a bid worth 300 pence in cash and 0.2589 new Kraft shares for each Cadbury share (valuing it 745 pence a share). However Cadbury rejected the bid immediately and regarded it â€Å"derisory†. Kraft sweetened the bid by raising the original offer and increa sing the cash component from 40% to 60% to make it more appealing for Cadbury shareholders. (Cimlluca et al, 2010) I have extracted this graph from Thomson Reuters to illustrate the impact on the share price for both involved parties after the announcement of take-over. We notice an increase of almost 40% in the market value of Cadbury. The increase in Cadburys share price was triggered by the initial announcement by Kraft of its intention to take over Cadbury in early September of 2009. The announcement was received well by Cadbury Shareholders causing an increase in demand and thereby price of the stock. However we see a fall in the share price of Kraft food at the time announcement (graph below), some analysts believe this was due to Warren Buffet dissatisfaction of Kraft Acquisition. He regarded the acquisition as ‘bad deal, which caused chaos amongst other shareholder hence a price falls. This price fall deteriorated the purchase price offered by Kraft which was immediately rejected by Roger Carr, Chairmen of Cadbury. KEY POINTS FOR FINANCIAL ANALYSIS Kraft foods acquired Cadbury plc in February2 2010. Hence Cadbury results are restricted to 10 months rather than full 12 years and its subject to fluctuate with moving exchange rates. Cadbury data was adjusted from IFRS (previously applied by Independent Cadbury) to U.S GAAP followed by its new Parent Kraft Foods Inc. Cadbury previous years figures couldnt be compared with unless comparison is made in percentile due to the size difference of both businesses. Kraft even revised its Net Revenue retrospectively 2009 onwards. Post Acquisition Financial Perspective The above graph represents s the growth and decline in sales over a period of 4 years by means of percentage. The 2010 information contains data post acquisition, specifically contribution from Cadbury of $9143 that has been converted using the exchange rate of $1.595 per  £1.00 for the aid of analysis. It can clearly be noted the reason why Cadbury was so desirable by Kraft. Cadbury attained significant growth from 2007. In June 2007 Cadbury introduced their Vision into Action plan which insisted in strengthening their position in emerging market. This strategy was immediately effective and can be reflected in the graph. As stated earlier in this research report one of the key reasons for Kraft to acquire Cadbury was their better position in emerging market as compared to Kraft. Although Cadbury has just been acquired for 11 months under Kraft we see a marginal fall of 4% in Cadbury sales than its preceding years. This maybe because Kraft maybe getting acquainted to Cadburys opera tion and network hence not utilizing Cadburys full potential. (Cadbury, 2009a) This graph explains what did Krafts CEO meant by â€Å"GLOBAL POWER HOUSE†. If we examine the two graphs we see a change in the revenue from developing and North American markets. The main reason for Kraft to takeover Cadbury was to derive maximum benefit of Cadburys strong hold in emerging market. Although Kraft is one of the largest companies in food industry it drives more than 57% of its revenue from its Home Market US. As US market is experiencing economic recession Kraft needed to adopt an effective strategy to broaden its operations globally. Hence Cadbury looked more attractive from Krafts perspective. Its worth mentioning that Cadbury earns more than 40% from the fast emerging markets portraying its position being better than Kraft.. It should be taken into consideration that fact that Kraft hasnt launched any new aggressive marketing scheme or any strategic step via Cadbury in emerging markets. In 2010 Kraft has continued to run Cadbury operation without making any m ajor changes. Talking quantitatively Cadbury boosted Krafts net revenue in emerging markets by $3382 million which can be seen clearly in the graph at the bottom. Krafts strengths in Russia, Brazil and China along with Cadbury great position in United Kingdom, India and Mexico has spread its revenue source which has reduce the risk of a recession affecting Krafts sales .By acquiring Cadbury Kraft enhanced its distribution channel which became effective in the first year of acquisition and clearly be seen in the 2010 net revenue segments. In 2010 revenue from US market contributed less than 50% to Total Net Revenue minimizing the business risk driven by recession. (Farrell et al, 2010) The above illustrated graphs represent the change in Krafts revenue source after the acquisition of Cadbury. Krafts adopt a rational approach and pursue the strategy of selling off less profitable brands and achieving quick growth by acquisition. Kraft faced fierce competition from private label companies in the cheese and packaged meat market. Therefore Kraft acquired Cadbury to diverse its revenue source as there were dangers of fall in revenue from its main segments. There is an increase of 16% in the contribution made by confectionery segment. This segment is a high potential growth segment and Kraft would like diverse its business risk by investing more in promotion of this segment. (Trefis, 2011) The Gross margin shows the amount of gross profit generated by the company as a percentage of the sales revenue. Kraft Gross Profit Margin has been plotted against each quarter from 2009. It can be analyzed by the graph that Kraft tried to maintain its Gross Profit Margin in mid 30s percentile despite economic downturn in US market and increase in raw materials Kraft is able to maintain its objective, the main grounds for such level gross profit margin was the acquisition. By acquiring Cadbury Kraft has widen its distribution network as Cadburys main selling networks are convenient stores open on High Street therefore reach of every individual. Talking in respect on cost of sales (100 Gross Profit Margin) Kraft will benefit from economies of scale especially regarding purchases as Kraft will be bulk buying and using Cadbury suppliers rationally to minimise cost of sales as possible. (Szalai, 2011) Net Profit Margin is an indicator of profitability, calculated as net income or net profit divided by net revenue. As shown by the graph, we see a downward trend in the net profit margin against each quarter in 2010.Despite the fact that there has been a 27% increase in Net Revenue in 2010 as compared to its preceding year, we notice a fall of 23% in net profit especially in the fourth quarters of 2009 and 2010 ($711m and $547 respectively. However in aggregate there has been an increase in the net profit from 2009. The major reason for such deteriorates result for the fourth quarter was the cost associated with integration between Kraft and Cadbury. The pizza business of Kraft did contributed to the net profit in 2009 , by the sale of its pizza business to Nestle ,Kraft has deprived itself from the positive contribution of its disposal component.(BBC, 2011) The Prime objective of making investment in any business is to obtain satisfactory return on capital invested. Hence, the return on capital employed is used as a measure of success of a business in realizing this objective. Return on capital employed establishes the relationship between the profit and the capital employed. It is used to show the overall profitability and efficiency of the business. By analysing we see a fall in return on capital employed although the sales and net profit overall has increased however it hasnt increased by the proportion of investment made by KRAFT FOOD. As Mr. Warren Buffet feared that Kraft did overpay for the acquisition this can be reflected in diminish of return on capital employed. I have also included a graph showing fall in earning per share that illustrate the point of less return for the investors this maybe due to issue of new share to Cadbury shareholders. (Wilson , 2010) I have included this graph in my research report especially to breakdown the positive and negative contribution made by Cadbury to Kraft operating income in 2010 as compared to Kraft in 2009. As announced by CEO of Kraft Foods, Kraft is highly likely to expect $1 billion in incremental revenue synergies apart from $750 million in cost saving by 2013. In order to achieve the synergies Kraft has budgeted to spend $1.5 billion in the first three years following the acquisition to combine and integrate the two businesses and already incurred $657 million in 2010. As stated in Kraft Annual Account 2010, Kraft incurred and expensed transaction related fees of $218 millions in 2010 and $40 million in 2009.Kraft has recorded the mentioned costs under selling, general and administrative expenses in Profit and Loss Statement (Statement of Comprehensive income). However in the above graphs include figures which has been given in the Kraft 2010 annual accounts analysis of operating profit rather than actual incurred cost as some cost have been taken under finance cost which hasnt been included in arriving at operating profit for 2010. This seems a draw back in the acquisition object ive and maybe criticizes by its stakeholders as integration cost has reduced Krafts earning by 33%. (BBC, 2011) Liquidity ratio expresses a companys ability to repay short-term creditors out of its total cash. The liquidity ratio is the result of dividing the total cash by short-term borrowings. This Graph represents the two liquidity ratio one normal current ratio and another quick test ratio. Unlike Current ratio, quick ratio focus on the most liquid assets hence it exempt inventory from current asset while calculating ratio. Some of the key points that need to be addressed before analysis of the graph are the disposal of the pizza business and all the working capital relating to it. We should also account for the current assets and current liabilities acquired by Kraft such as Net Receivable of $ 1333 m and Accounts Payable of $ 1605 m etc. Another point to be mentioned is that while calculating Quick ratio I havent excluded the deferred tax asset, while some analyst exclude deferred tax asset as they dont regard it liquid. We see a significant difference between both ratios as inventory has occupied much of the working capital. Comparing it to the last year it is almost consistent with the growing sales. We notice a slight deterioration in both the ratio of 2010. The $3.7 billion cash raised by disposal of the pizza business was used to pay cash component of the acquisition. The rise in the actually figure is in line with the growing and diverse sales (Kraft Foods Inc, 2010) Gearing Ratio is a measure of financial leverage, demonstrating the degree to which a firms activities are funded by owners funds versus creditors funds (investopedia).The above   graph represents   how much company has borrowed compare to equity raised by KRAFT FOODS. Kraft had issued a long term debt of $9.379 billion (net proceeds) to support the cash component of Cadbury of acquisition along with proceeds from Pizza Business. Kraft even made a repayment $2.1 billion of long term debt during the year. This has increased the total debt of the business from $18990 million to $28724 Million. Kraft has also issued 262 million shares to existing Cadbury shareholder as part of purchase consideration. This has enlarged Krafts share capital affecting the gearing ratio. By taking into consideration the above mentioned circumstances, we see an increase in the gearing ratio of 7%. This may cause some concerns amongst shareholders and lenders of Kraft as the financial risk of the business has increased as more interest will be paid from the profits available to pay dividends to shareholders. (Tradition Financial Concept.). This may even damage the creditability of KRAFT FOOD in lenders market as it has borrowed 80% to Equity, hence it may be charged high interest rate by the lenders in future. (Kraft Foods Inc, 2010) (Hoskins, 2010) Interest cover is a measure of the adequacy of a companys profits relative to interest payments on its debt. This ratio will help to explain the previously mentioned financial due to increase in gearing. Due to the increase in leverage we see a fall of 0.94 in interest cover which means there would be less profit available for dividends.   This maybe is one of the reasons why Warren Buffet (one of the major shareholder in Kraft) reduced its stake from 9% to 6%. The ratio is over 2 which is considered strong by analyst and reflects Krafts strong position in borrowers market. However Fitch, one of reputed credit rating agency, has downgraded the default rating on both companies to BBB-. However its rivals havent downgraded the rating as yet but our reviewing if they should follow their peers. Flitch has downgraded the rating due to anticipated increase in financial leverage of the combined Kraft/Cadbury. (Peters   et al, 2010) Operational Changes Post Acquisition The significant changes in operations along with their impact on KRAFT FOOD GROUP as a whole: Closure of Somerdale factory Days after acquisition Kraft announced the closure of Cadbury factory in Bristol. During the acquisition struggle, Kraft pledged to retain Somerdale Factory. The announcements created a chaos amongst Cadbury workforce and British Unite trade union as 400 employees were being made redundant. It would be worth mentioning; Cadbury prior to its acquisition (in year 2007) had already announced the closure of its Somerdale factory as they had invested more than  £100million in the production plant

Willy Russell’s Intention by the End of the Play :: Educating Rita Plays Willy Russell Essays

Willy Russell’s Intention by the End of the Play ‘Blood Brothers’ The stage production of ‘Blood Brothers’ helps to emphasise the social difference between Mickey and Edward. There are two main sets used, one for Mrs. Johnstone’s house and street and one which is the inside of Mrs. Lyons house. Mrs. Johnstone’s house is a poorer set; there are smashed windows and graffiti written on the walls. The houses are small close together terrace houses built out of red brick. There is lack of colour in this set Willy Russell is trying to show the gloominess, coldness and poverty of their area with this set. Whereas, Mrs. Lyons house is colourful and bright. There is a bookshelf which shows that they are privileged enough to have books and that this family is refined and educated. There is a carpet that is rolled out every time that the Lyons house is on stage. This shows comfort, softness and warmth as does the fireplace in the Lyons house. This is a contrast between the Johnstons house where they have broken windows which shows coolness and discomfort. This shows the difference between two classes in a Thatcherite Britain at the time to the audience. At the Johnstone’s house the lighting is always dim, not well lit, to show the gloominess and poverty in their lives. However the lighting in the Lyon’s house is always very bright. This is to show to the audience that the life of the Lyons is brighter than the Johnstones. In parts of the play (especially I found when the narrator was speaking) the lighting was red and black I think Willy Russell’s intention here is to show that there is death in the play and symbolises the bloodshed. Sometimes one person would have the spotlight on just them so the background is black. This picks out this one person so all our attention is focused on this person and the darkness in the background is very gloomy like a dark hole to symbolise the emptiness that will be in some of their lives because of the deaths at the end. There is a musical theme to suggest the same idea or place theme. Like the music that is played at the Johnstones house. When this song comes on it is to show the poverty of the Johnstons. The song that I remember the most is the game when Mickey, Sammy and their friends are all children and they are shooting each other. The words of the song are very childish and it’s just a game. However when they become older this game becomes reality and a lot more serious and it’s not so

“Panopticism” by Michel Foucault Essay

â€Å"Our society is not one of spectacle, but of surveillance; under the surface of images, one invests bodies in depth; behind the great abstraction of exchange, there continues the meticulous concrete training of useful forces; the circuits of communication are the supports of an accumulation and a centralization of knowledge; the play of signs defines the anchorages of power; it is not that the beautiful totality of the individual is amputated, repressed, altered by our social order, it is rather that the individual is carefully fabricated in it, according to a whole technique of forces and bodies.† (240, Foucault)In the essay, Panopticism, by Michel Foucault, he makes the argument that we live in a society of â€Å"surveillance†. It is mainly this surveillance that forms the basis of authority that draws the individual to believe that the world he lives in is one that is continually watching over him. This becomes another aspect of power where it underlies the main idea of separation as one of the many forms of forces in the Panopticon. The effects of surveillance are clearly discussed in Foucault’s essay. The infected population was always observed by presenting themselves at their windows for attendance. If they did not look out the window at that time, they would be considered and marked as dead. Their family would be removed, the house would be cleaned out, perfumed, and then, mere hours later, people would move back in. Obviously, the fear of not being watched would be strong in this situation, resulting in drastic measures taken once someone could not be watched. The plague stands as a representation against which the idea of discipline was created. The existence of a whole set of techniques for measuring and supervising abnormal beings brings into play the disciplinary mechanisms created by the fear of the plague. The Panopticon, is a prison that is â€Å"a machine for dissociating the see/being seen dyad: in the peripheric ring, one is totally seen, without ever seeing.† (228, Foucault) This means that those who are being seen can not see one another and the one who sees everything can never be seen. For the observer, the benefit of being observed is that is establishes the ability to control, change and influence the person. The observer separates the individual from the group by observation, thereby making them individually  aware of themselves, but mainly the observer. This helps obscure the concept of cohesion with others and prevents organization and conspiracy. The panopticon architecture in which everyone is observed and analyzed is incorporated in a building that makes these operations easy to perform. The theory of discipline develops out of the need for surveillance shown in the plague. Plague measures were needed to protect society, which as a result allowed the panopticon to operate power efficiently. Foucault makes this assumption about today’s society by saying that we are always being watched whether we know it or not. One always keeps an eye over their shoulder as a result of the constant fear that someone is watching them. The power gives those in charge a safety net, making the individual conscious of the presence of a hidden watcher, causing them to think twice before acting. An example found in today’s society would be the notion of Santa Claus and how Santa Claus can be used as a form of power to make children behave. â€Å"He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good. So be good for goodness sake.† The song about Santa Claus is more than a Christmas carol, it is used to plant the constant fear in the mind of a child that they are being watched even when they can’t see who is doing the watching. The mere threat at Christmas time of this hidden force is enough to keep children well behaved. Another example is that when we are born, we are given a social security number and a record of our birth. Information goes into a database that is accessible to many people. The government and head offices in the United States can track us with ease since ever job and school we can attend uses our social security number. There is not a single bank account we can open or a loan we can receive without people in higher places knowing about it. Even though we can not see people watching us, we are constantly being watched and tracked by our government. These are examples of many in our society. Also, verbal communication in the Panopticon was not an option. The prisoners  were not allowed to speak to one another. This limit on communication dehumanizes the inmate. If one cannot communicate, not only is new knowledge difficult to gain, but one cannot feel comfort in the simple knowledge that they are not alone. Throughout this endless mind-game, people do not have the idea that they are fabricated and reshaped. Being under surveillance has brought discipline. â€Å"In the central tower, one sees everything without ever being seen.† (226, Foucault) Foucault describes the inside of the Panopticon where in the center stands a guard. Whenever we walk into a retail store, we are always under observation. There is a circular glass piece on the top of the ceiling with a rotating camera looking down upon each of our movements. We think someone is watching us. And from that, we react with discipline. It has proven to be a form of behavior to give us a guilty conscious or the simple fear of being caught. In conclusion, Foucault’s argument may not be easily understood given the difficulty of his writing, but with the examples and proof of such the mind-games that we live in in our society today is a good way of understanding his point of view. Michel Foucault’s Panopticism shows that society is under surveillance. The panopticon represents the way in which discipline and punishment work in modern society, where it shows how the processes of observation and examination function. Schools, factories, hospitals and prisons resemble each other, not just because they look similar, but because they examine pupils, workers, patients and prisoners, classify them as individuals and try to make them conform to the â€Å"norm†. The fact that the modern citizen spends much of his life in at least some of these institutions reveals how far society has changed. We live in a society that watches over one’s movement to judge if their behavior is wrong. It is in ultimate fea r and anxiety that we live out our lives everyday.

Free Essays on Mental Illness

Dysthymic Disorder is described as chronic depression, but is less severe than a major depression. The main symptom for dysthymic disorder is an almost daily depressed mood for at least two years, but without the necessary criteria for a major depression. Low energy, sleep, appetite disturbances, and low self-esteem are signs of having this mood disorder. People who have this will often say they don't recall ever not feeling depressed, but they may be relatively functional in managing their life. The symptoms are severe enough to cause stress and interference with every day situations. It is important to have a complete physical with a health doctor to rule out any physical illnesses that might be causing the depression. If this is so then the correct diagnosis might be a Mood Disorder due to a general Medical Condition, even if all the criteria for dysthymic disorder are met. The question is whether the medical condition is physically causing the depression. Dysthymic disorder is a long term illness but psychotherapy is effective in reducing the symptoms, and assisting the person in managing their life better. Some use antidepressant medication and psychotherapy, and many respond better when using both at the same time. Dysthymic Disorder causes many changes in the way you think, feel, behave, and also you physically. * Changes in Thinking include experiencing difficulty with concentrating and making decisions. Some have problems with short term memory or forgetting things all the time. Negative thoughts and thinking are characteristics of depression. Pessimism, poor self-esteem, excessive guilt, and self-criticism are all common. Some even have self-destructive thoughts during more serious depression. *Changes in Feelings include feeling sad for no reason. Others say that they no longer enjoy activities that they once found fun. You might lack motivation or feel "slowed down" and tired all the time. Sometimes smaller p... Free Essays on Mental Illness Free Essays on Mental Illness Dysthymic Disorder is described as chronic depression, but is less severe than a major depression. The main symptom for dysthymic disorder is an almost daily depressed mood for at least two years, but without the necessary criteria for a major depression. Low energy, sleep, appetite disturbances, and low self-esteem are signs of having this mood disorder. People who have this will often say they don't recall ever not feeling depressed, but they may be relatively functional in managing their life. The symptoms are severe enough to cause stress and interference with every day situations. It is important to have a complete physical with a health doctor to rule out any physical illnesses that might be causing the depression. If this is so then the correct diagnosis might be a Mood Disorder due to a general Medical Condition, even if all the criteria for dysthymic disorder are met. The question is whether the medical condition is physically causing the depression. Dysthymic disorder is a long term illness but psychotherapy is effective in reducing the symptoms, and assisting the person in managing their life better. Some use antidepressant medication and psychotherapy, and many respond better when using both at the same time. Dysthymic Disorder causes many changes in the way you think, feel, behave, and also you physically. * Changes in Thinking include experiencing difficulty with concentrating and making decisions. Some have problems with short term memory or forgetting things all the time. Negative thoughts and thinking are characteristics of depression. Pessimism, poor self-esteem, excessive guilt, and self-criticism are all common. Some even have self-destructive thoughts during more serious depression. *Changes in Feelings include feeling sad for no reason. Others say that they no longer enjoy activities that they once found fun. You might lack motivation or feel "slowed down" and tired all the time. Sometimes smaller p... Free Essays on Mental Illness â€Å"Mental illnesses are socially constructed and are highlighting aspects of those illnesses that help define how both the mentally ill and normal people behave† (Text, pg. 72). There are three different explanations of mental illness: 1) the medical model, 2) the deviance approach, 3) the controversial argument that mental illness is not a disease but a way that the government can control people with the said disease. The medical model is a thought that holds a mental disorder to be viewed as a disease with biological causes (text, pg 72). Research on the medical model arose in reaction to the order that mentally ill people are â€Å"possessed† and should be locked up. The concept of mental disorder as a disease has certain disadvantages, because it concentrates on individuals and their immediate environment, it tends to disregard the wider social environment as a possible source of the problem. Especially for hospitalized patients, the medical model can lead to impractical criteria of recovery; people may have gained considerable insight into their inner tensions but are still unable to function correctly when they return to the outer tensions of home, job, or society (text, pg72). The mental disorders that cause severe social problems are the most extreme forms of mental illness, in which individuals become violent and irrational. Less threatening, but more widespread as a social problem, are severely ill individuals who are unable to care for themselves without specialized attention (text). The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has gone a long way toward standardizing the diagnosis of mental illness. However, many researchers believe that psychiatric diagnoses are arbitrary and amount to labels, describing behavior that is contrary to accepted social and psychological norms (text). Poverty is associated with high exposure to crime and violence, which creates stresse...

The eNotes Blog Jack Kerouac American Literary Baddie to theStars

Jack Kerouac American Literary Baddie to theStars Today were going to talk about an American legend: Jack Kerouac. Jack was a pretty amazing writer, not just in the work he created but also in his methodology for doing so. Like so many of us, he was not a big fan of the revision and re-write process. He was also  invested in the New York Jazz scene, and at the time that was about as cool as having backstage passes to a Justin Bieber concert, amirite? (I dont actually know what the cool kids listen toI still like jazz.) Read on to learn a bit about this literary icon, his books, and what makes him continue to be a big name on the list of American writers. [OVERVIEW] Why is Jack Kerouac Still a Big Deal? Jack Kerouac was one of the founding members of the Beat Generation of American literature. In fact,  Jack Kerouac was the acknowledged leader and spokesman for the Beat Generation. Its  underlying philosophy could loosely be described as  visionary enlightenment, Zen Buddhism, and Amerindian culture. The Beat Generation  as a whole adopted  these ideals and served to influence American culture in the post–World War  II era. Jack Kerouac Did a Great Job with Vernacular Part of Kerouacs aesthetic was his love of jazz and how freely the music seemed to come to the musicians- they didnt worry about whether  it would make sense.  Kerouac eventually developed the writing style (that still exists today, though its not often taught) known as spontaneous prose. Kerouac would observe and take notes  on a subject for months or  years at a time, and then put  all of these thoughts down on paper at once; after years on the road with friend Neal Cassady, Kerouac eventually settled down to write  On the Road in a period of about three weeks. He Was a  Master at Reflecting  His Point in Time The Beat Generation was extremely reflective of the Post–World War II  era. At this time, there was a huge exploration into alternative ways of life  (basically, a mini 60s-  and  70s-style revolution). Kerouacs work reflected  these views- his tone and subjects often conveyed  attitudes of excitement  that were  demonstrated in colloquial ways. He Had  Some Good Views on Freedom Kerouacs views on freedom may have  come from his difficult childhood and the number of doors that slammed in his face (the football team and the Marines, for example). As a result, he  rebelled. Kerouac and his character in  On the Road made their way by doing the exact opposite of what society told them to do- and the results are entertaining and a bit inspirational. In On the Road, Kerouac echoes ideas of American freedom and  the  boundless energy the country was experiencing in the aftermath of World War II.   Sal and Dean jump into the car and driveand driveand drive. There is little in terms of an exact destination because freedom and individuality are depicted as journeys in their own right, without a need for a defined end. He Was a Buddhist The Wests  interest in Eastern religions has been around for, well, a long time. But Eastern religions werent  commonly seen in practice until the later decades of the 20th century. Its arguable that it was the Beat Movement that led to this alternative view of religion. In his  book  The  Dharma Bums,  Kerouac writes about the spiritual experiences of  the character Ray and  his friends. The book  focuses in particular on the characters contact with  Buddhism. He Wasnt into Censorship Free speech has obviously been a thing in the United States since the whole drafting of the Constitution thing went down. We all know that there are some things that simply  arent always appropriate for a wide audience (like if I suddenly started talking about how Kim K. got famous- not appropriate here). Well, back in the 50s, this idea of inappropriateness was even more widespread, and that didnt really jive with Kerouacs wild experiences on the road. Kerouac also saw revisions on ones work as a form of literary lying and all but refused to do it. With all that in mind, it makes sense that the original version of  On the Road  that he attempted to publish was full of sex, drugs, and rock n roll, and no one knows if Kerouac folded on his principles and edited the novel or if his editor went ahead and did it for him. Were thinking the latter, though. P.S. He Was Kind of a Total Babe

Heroin Abuse Health Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Heroin Abuse Health Policy - Essay Example Abuse of heroin is becoming very prevalent among young women because of its high availability at lower prices. The individuals who consume the drug are mostly from the poor family background. Consumption of the drug often results in very bad consequences among maternal child parents during the withdrawal period. Among the withdrawal effects include malaise, sweating, insomnia, diarrhea, nausea, and cramps among others. With the implementation of this policy, it is expected that individuals will benefit from it a great deal. The people will be educated on drug abuse. They will gain the knowledge and life skills that will help them overcome drug and substance abuse related problems. The society will also benefit from this health policy in terms of the improved socioeconomic lifestyle of the people. Businesses are likely to blossom since the monies used to buy drugs will now be channeled into legitimate business activities (Cross, and Karen, 2001). The rate of crime is also probable to reduce drastically.

Global Management Styles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Global Management Styles - Essay Example The kind of the company I would like to manage is the registered limited company in which the liability of all the members is limited to a number of shares they hold. There are various management policies that the manager of a limited company needs to follow to ensure that the company runs smoothly. In this ISO 9000, certification represents a means of internal communication to customers and other constituents. I will be required to adhere to the ISO 9000 developed framework by constantly referring to the requirements in the operational manual. I will be required to use my skills to ensure that I make proper judgment especially in cases of disagreements. The company requires filing tax returns, and it will be my responsibility to ensure that there is complete compliance. ISO 9000 standards are not for evaluating finished products or the delivered service but assure that the organization has well-documented quality management systems such as written procedures and rules. Policies requ ired by the company include the keeping of the company's records in addition to ensuring that its accounts are true and fair (Mendel, 2006). As the manager the company, managing employees and ensuring that each performs his or her duties perfectly will be of great use. ISO guidelines will be our guiding factor to rationalization or conceptualization logic. Another challenge that I may be faced with is decoupling in which the returns on assets may diverge from their normal pattern of correlation.

Amazon's Kindle 2.0, (Pricing) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Amazon's Kindle 2.0, (Pricing) - Essay Example Therefore, Amazon decided to use the skimming model to make sure that they had increased short term profits and portrayed image of Kindle as a high end product. Later, in July 2009 the price of Kindle 2.0 was dropped to $299 when the new model Kindle DX was launched (Kindle Dx vs Kindle 2.0). There are numerous reasons why this would have been done. The most plausible reason for this is that the newer version, i.e. the DX had better features than Kindle 2.0 and it was priced above $400. Another reason was a report by PC World that stated that each Kindle 2.0 device cost approximately $186 to build (The Kindle Pricing Strategy & The Kindle Pricing History). While PC World forgot to include the price of the software that the device hosted, it made a mark on the audience and Amazon had to reply by reducing prices. Similarly, the reduction in price was also made possible by the decrease in manufacturing costs resulting from the Prime View International’s acquisition of E-Link. Prime View is Kindle’s assembler and E-Ink provided them with the screens. By the acquisition Amazon was able to get better prices which it passes onto its consumers by reducing the price of Kindle 2.0. The future pricing of the Kindle devices should be done by taking in to account the prices of competing devices such as Sony E-Reader and the Apple iPad. The E-Readers by Sony are available in three different models each priced at $399.99, $299.99 and $199.99 respectively (All Reader Digital Books) . While the Apple iPad (16GB) is priced at $499 and the one with 3G support is priced at $629 (Apple- iPad - Price ). Therefore, the future pricing of Kindle devices should be done based on the comparison of the features offered by the Kindle devices and the Sony’s E-Reader and the iPad. Today, Amazon charges $259 for the Kindle 2.0 and $489 for the Kindle DX. I propose that they should charge about $200 for the Kindle 2.0 and $300 for

Torts Of Negligence Essay Example for Free

Torts Of Negligence Essay Torts of negligence are breaches of duty that results to injury to another person to whom the duty breached is owed. Like all other torts, the requirements for this are duty, breach of duty by the defendant, causation and injury. However, this form of tort differs from intentional tort as regards the manner the duty is breached. In torts of negligence, duties are breached by negligence and not by intent. Negligence is conduct that falls below the standard of care established by law for the protection of others against unreasonable risk of harm. The standard measure of negligence is the omnipresent reasonable person standard. The assumption in this case is that a reasonable person is never negligent, thus the degree of care required is that of a reasonable person.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The creation of tort of negligence is a very important tool by which gaps in the law is filled. Often, actions require that some wrongful intent be present in the mind of the actor. However, intent is a difficult thing to prove. Moreover, there are cases where injuries arise without intent to cause them, but which necessitates compensation or correction by the person causing the injury, albeit negligently based on justice and equity. The vast coverage and minimum requirement of negligent torts give persons injured by these kinds of acts a definite remedy in law. However, important and useful as it is, the question arises as to whether the state should really punish negligence. It is easy to know why intentional acts should be punished. The deliberateness of the act shows the degree of moral corruption or perversity of the actor. However, negligent acts are just a degree higher than accident. Like accidents, simple negligence is sometimes unavoidable. Everyone is bound to be negligent once and while. The only difference is that some negligent acts are lucky enough not to result to injury. To punish each and every negligent act that results to injury is to reward those who are lucky enough for their negligent acts not to result to injury.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It becomes more problematic when a person considers liability imposed on persons other than those who committed the breach. An example of this the strict liability tort wherein a person is made liable even if he is without fault. This strict liability often exist in inherently dangerous activities or activities vested with public interest such as products liability, explosives and keeping of dangerous animals. Another is as regards persons who are made liable for the negligent acts of incapacitated persons under their care such as guardians and parents. They have not done anything to injure others and most of the things for which they are made liable happen beyond their control, but the state makes them liable for the damages caused because no one else may be made liable.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The law justifies all these through the word responsibility. Everyone has a responsibility for their actions. Everyone has a duty to avoid injuring others. This is the other side of the ethical dilemma. If the actor who committed the breach may find it unfair to find himself liable for the damage caused by a minor negligence, the party injured may also find it unfair to find himself burdened by the damage caused to him by the party who caused the breach. I believe what occurred is just a weighing down the scale of justice. It was a choice of which is more unfair. To burden the negligent party or to burden the innocent party who is damaged.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This same word, responsibility, is also used to justify strict and vicarious liability. Parents, guardians, employers and other similar persons are responsible for their wards and employees. I think this is also a balancing of the scale. Due to circumstances such as incapacity in law of inability to pay, the injured party may be again left with the burden of his own injury. Again, the law finds it less unfair to make people who are charged with responsibility and are thus deemed to be in a position of relative control, by which they can avoid damage, liable for the injuries that may result from the negligent acts.

Public Transport And Traffic In Penang Tourism Essay

Public Transport And Traffic In Penang Tourism Essay Chapter 1 Infrastructure is a broad concept linked to every facet of the economy and human life. Accordingly, the list of associated issues is long. For any purposeful analysis of issues in infrastructure development to lead to an action-oriented way forward, it is necessary to narrow down the definition of infrastructure and associated issues. The term infrastructure has been used since 1927 to refer collectively to the roads, bridges, rail lines and similar public works that are required for an industrial economy to function. Transportation, communication, sewage, water and electric systems are all a part of infrastructure. These systems tend to be high-cost investments. In general, infrastructure is location-specific and cannot be moved from place to place (www.unescap.org). Transportation infrastructure cannot operate without transportation and transportation cannot run without transportation infrastructure. Different transportations have their own infrastructure to support each other. For air transportation, their infrastructure will be the airport. Port will be the infrastructure for water transportation while infrastructure for land transportation such as public bus will be the bus terminal or bus stop. Transport infrastructure development in East and South-East Asia has played a key part in the phenomenal growth of world trade. The infrastructure backbone for international trade has been the container shipping network and increasingly the airfreight network. World container port traffic, which expanded by 9.2 per cent to 266 million TEUs in 2003, is dominated by Asian countries. They accounted for 46 per cent of container ship operations, 62 per cent of container port throughput, and 83 per cent of container ship building. Twelve major South and East Asian exporters together account for half of the worlds containerized exports (www.unescap.org). Bus terminal or known as bus station  is one of the most important transportation infrastructure where  buses  stop to pick up and drop off passengers. It may be intended as a  terminal or station  for a number of routes or as a transfer station where the routes continue. It is larger than bus stop where bus stop is usually built at the road side for the bus to stop for a while but not to wait for passengers. Tel Avivs new central bus station was officially inaugurated recently, after 26 years of off-and-on construction, legal and financial disputes (Encyclopedia.com). A majority of the Dan and Egged Tel Aviv-area buses are now based at the new station; 5,000 buses pass through the station daily, carrying some 150,000 passengers. The station is the largest bus station in the world, encompassing 197,600 square meters indoors, and 34,400 square meters outdoors (Encyclopedia.com). The largest underground bus station in Europe is  Kamppi Center  of  Helsinki,  Finland  completed in 2006. The terminal cost 100 million Euro to complete and took 3 years to design and build. Today, the bus terminal, which covers 25,000 square meters, is the busiest bus terminal in Finland. Every day, the terminal has around 700 bus departures, transporting some 170,000 passengers (www.webcitation.org). Since bus station play a vital role in strengthening the volume of traffic as well as in providing better services to the passenger, the bus service undertakings, specially in the public sector, should come up and encourage the emergence of the bus station management as an independent discipline in the field of traffic management. (Kulshrestha, 1993, p.9) Penang, as most of us may already know, is one of Malaysias most popular destinations for travelers coming from the local or the international communities (Talk Malaysia 2010). One of the main reasons for Penang to have so many travelers coming and going out annually is partly because there are a lot of interesting places to visit in Penang. Most of the interesting places in Penang are located at mainly around Georgetown and Seberang Perai (www.talkmalaysia.com). Therefore, transport infrastructure especially bus terminal or station in Georgetown play an important role in order to pick up and drop off passengers from a destination to another destination. This is because Penang has traffic problem, therefore public transport are used. Komtar Bus Terminal is the hub of bus services in George Town. All the bus routes of Penang radiates from this terminal. To be exact, Komtar Bus Terminal is not a terminal proper, but rather a bus station, because buses do not actually start from here, but rather, from the Weld Quay Bus Terminal. Nevertheless, most people will know it by that name. At the Komtar Bus Terminal, you can catch buses going to the north, central, south and west parts of Penang Island, as well as some buses that go to the mainland. Among the bus companies that use the terminal includes Rapid Penang, Milan, Transit Link and KGN-Hin. The terminal is located along Lebuh Tek Soon, although buses approach it via Jalan Ria and they emerge from the terminal into Jalan Ria once more (www.penang-traveltips.com). As a bus stop user, not satisfied with bus terminal in Georgetown. Some of the same complaint had been made by locals and tourists too. This is because they have the difficulties in determine which bus to ride in order to reach their destination. Therefore, this study is to find out what are the factors which make the tourists satisfied and not satisfied with the bus terminals in Penang. This study also includes, to identify the present condition of transport infrastructure, the cleanliness in the bus terminals and the safety and security in the bus terminals. From these factors, this study is able to conclude what are their expectations towards bus stop in order to let the government make improvement. 1.2 Statement of Problem Transport and traffic management have always been a bone of contention for Penang. Many feel that rapid economic development has not been met with an equal amount of attention given to proper traffic management and planning. There are about 1.4 million vehicles (motorcycles, cars and other vehicles) for a population of about 1.4 million people in Penang. This is about double the number of vehicles in 1999 (Sympologic, 2008). For the above reason, public transportation had played a very important role to reduce the traffic in Penang. But without a good infrastructure, public transportation will not be able to run smoothly. There are 2 main transport infrastructures for bus in Georgetown which are Komtar Bus Terminal and Weld Quay Bus Terminal. But, locals and tourists are not satisfied with the bus terminals in Georgetown. This is because there are no proper route information and bus timetable. It is difficult especially for tourists to identify which bus to ride in order to reach their destination. Tourists always have to ask the bus driver one by one to ask for the destination. This had slow down the traffic also. Besides, from the observation, the bus terminals are not well-maintained in term of cleanliness and safety. 1.3 Goal Objectives The goal of this research is to study tourists satisfactions and expectations towards bus terminals in Penang. In order to achieve the above goal, there are some objectives need to be done. To examine tourists satisfactions towards bus terminals To examine tourists expectations towards the bus terminals To examine the present condition of bus terminals To identify the cleanliness in the bus terminals To identify the safety and security in the bus terminals 1.4 Hypothesis From the objectives above, the below are the hypotheses which had concluded: Locals and tourists are not satisfied with the bus terminals. Locals and tourists have high expectations on the bus terminals in term of cleanliness and security. There is no proper route information or sign board in the bus terminals. The bus terminals are not clean. The bus terminals are not secure. The above hypotheses are made based on my own experiences and observation. Significance of the Study This research is able to let the government and private sector to make improvement on the bus terminals in order to let them become truly efficient. From the questionnaires which will be distribute and collected, they able to tell us the satisfaction level and expectation of locals and tourists towards the bus terminals. From their expectation, the improvement can be made. For example by putting up the route information and sign board, locals and tourists able to know which bus to ride to reach their destination. Besides, clean the bus terminals daily so that locals and tourists will feel comfortable and assign more security to secure the bus terminals. When the improvements have made, the locals and tourists will have the chance to use better bus terminals. All these will make the business of the bus increase too. 1.6 Scopes and Limitations of the Study The scopes for my research are Penangites and tourists in Penang. Penangites and tourists who are the user of bus terminals are targeted. 80% Penangites and 20% tourists are chosen to carry out this research. In order to complete this research, distribution of questionnaires will be made to these 2 groups of people mentioned above. Besides, observation in the bus terminals will be done by my own selves too. The bus terminals in Georgetown which would like to research on are Komtar Bus Terminal and Weld Quay Bus Terminal. These are the two popular bus terminals in Georgetown which crowded by people every day. This is because these are the two main stops which the bus will pick and drop passenger. There are also limitations for this research. The first limitation is resources. There is very few information on books, journals or articles about transportation infrastructure. The next limitation will be the time. Only 5 months to complete this research. Last but not least, the limitation is the manpower. I am the only one who doing this research. Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Transport and Tourism Page (2005) said that transport act as one of the important that contributed to the international development of tourism. According to Page (2007), the mode of transport can be one of the main motivations for the tourists to travel. He also said that in the growth of domestic and international tourism, transport is the most critical element in the promotion. He continued said that transport links the tourist from the origin area with the destination area. Therefore it enables the holidaymaker, business traveler and other categories of traveler to purchase the products and experience what they have purchased. He added that transport may be an attraction in its own right. Tourists who travel by road may use public transport or private transport to experience a variety of destinations. 2.2 Transport and Tourism in Penang, Malaysia A combination of East and West, Penang continues to grow in modernity but at the same time holding its traditions and old charm. Recently, because of the harmony of multiracial in Penang and the heritage buildings which are well preserved, these make the Georgetown being accorded a listing as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. Penang, long regarded as the food capital of Malaysia, it also attracts tourists with its beautiful beaches and delicious cuisines (www.tourismpenang.net.my). Transportation in Penang is convenient. You can travel in or out of Penang by the well-connected of road, rail, sea and air. Not only the air and train service is good in Penang but the seaways also offer good transportation. Ferry and seaports are there to create convenient to the people in Penang and Buttterworth. Penang ferry is provided by the Penang Ferry Service that connects George Town, Penang and Butterworth. There are four terminals, one on Penang Island (Swettenham Pier) and three on the mainland. Next, railway act as one of the transportation in Penang, but they are not popular due to their low speed. Besides, international flights are available in Penang International Airport which situated in the Bayan Lepas area of Penang, Malaysia (www.asiarooms.com). Goh (2010) said that traffic jams in Penang especially the major roads including Jalan Burma, Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, Jalan Jelutong and Jalan Mesjid Negeria re common although the population is small. Outside the city, jams are found even in Bayan Lepas and Telok Kimbar. He added that although the Jelutong Express Way had provided some relief to Jalan Jelutong and Jalan Mesjid Negeri, but the costs to Penangnites have yet to be calculated, although the highway is touted to be free. He suggested that Penang should follow the example of Crutiba. Crutiba is a city where the people rely on buses to avoid traffic jam. Recently, Rapid Penang buses are introduced for those who do not have car or have chosen not to use their cars. 2.2 Public Transportation Zegeer (2002) said that good public transportation is an important to the quality of a community as good roads. According Ramanathan and Parikh (1999, cited in Ramanathan, 2001; Banister and Berechman, 2001; Ramanathan and Parikh, 1999; Eisner, 1991), transport is a vital element for the modern society now and key to sustained economic growth. But, Ortuzar and Willumsen (2001) argued that the world of transport still face many problems of the past such as congestion, pollution, accidents, financial deficits and so on. They continued said that these problems will not get away until the traffic management improved. Figure 1 Car and Public-transport vicious circle Car and Public-transport vicious circle cited in Ortà ºzar, J.d.D., Willumsen, L.G., 2001, p. 8 They continue said that the transport problems have spread widely in both industrialized and developing countries. According to them, fuel shortages which are temporarily not a problem, but the increase in road traffic and transport demand has resulted in congestion, delays, accidents and environmental problems well beyond what has been considered acceptable so far. These problems have not been controlled to roads and car traffic alone. They added that economic growth seems to have generated levels of demand exceeding the capacity of most transport facilities. They continue argued that these problems are not likely to disappear in the near future. They suggested that it is necessary to ensure that a major effort in improving most forms of transport, in urban and inter-urban contexts. With respect to the quality of prices and services, transport services have been traditionally been subject to tight economic regulation with respect to entering and exciting the market. In many countries, road and rail networks and airport and port systems are traditionally designed, built, and operated by the public sector itself, which is the ultimate form of regulation. This type of government intervention has resulted in excessive costs that are not matched by prices or quality, therefore creating an outcome that reflects the interests of the sectors civil servants of contractors, unions, and other interests groups more than preferences of users and taxpayers (Estache and Rus, 2000). According to UITP (2004), government and public transport share a same goal to make sure the public transport is accessible to all especially the traffic environments have to be well-designed and managed to let the people to reach and use public transport safely and with confidence. UITP suggested that government and the public transport community to work together to reduce not only the physical but also the psychological barriers such as cognitive, information, fear and discrimination to travel safely in cities. UITP continues said that at any one time, an average of 25% of the population may have a degree of reduced mobility due to a physical or mental disability, impaired sight or hearing, or through having to carry heavy bags or travel with small children. UITP added, physical and sensory disabilities are often related to age and, as is well known, the proportion of the elderly population in western countries is growing and will continue to do so well into the 21st century. These are clear of the importance of improving accessibility to transport systems. According to UITP, benefits from improvements in transport accessibility are accrued not just to the disabled and ageing communities, but to all clients of the transport system. 2.3 Transport infrastructure Traditionally, building extra capacity has been addressed due to the blockages in transport infrastructure. But the possibility is small for the further expansion of infrastructure in many urban areas where the demand for transport is highest. Furthermore, a number of reports have found that the construction of new roads and airports to relieve congestion is ineffective because it only serves to induce new traffic. On the other hand, a study undertaken by a Norwegian research organization, the SINTEF Group claims that infrastructure capacity increases are directly linked to decreases in polluting emissions from motor vehicles. Using a traffic micro-simulation, it showed, for example, that upgrading narrow, winding roads or adding a lane to a congested motorway can yield decreases of up to 38% in CO2 emissions, 67% in CO emissions and 75% in NOx emissions, without generating substantially more car trips (EurActiv.com, 2008). According to Cà ¡rcamo-Dà ­az and Goddard (2007, cited in IADB, 2000), Infrastructure, defined as the set of engineering structures, equipment and facilities with a long-term, useful life employed by households and the different productive sectors of the economy, is essential for economic growth (cited in Easterly and Serven, 2003) and integration. As pointed out by IADB (2002), there is a positive relationship across countries between income levels and the quality of infrastructure. According to Tanzi (2005), the implicit assumption about the direction of causation goes from infrastructure to growth, although this issue is still debated in the literature. In many cases, the objective of transport infrastructure investment is to improve the accessibility of a given region by reducing travel time or increasing the potential to travel. Accessibility can be measured as the quantity of economic or social activities that can be reached using the transport labor, leading to increased competition and centralization. On the other hand, the impact for region concerned could be both positive and negative, depending on its initial level competitiveness (OECD, 2002). According to ITF and OECD (2008), there are some features of surface transport infrastructure that make its provision distinct from many other areas of the economy and which will likely have to be accounted for when different models are being considered. They claimed that transport system does not exist for their own sake but rather to serve other economic and social activity, this is because transport is a derived demand. This means that the possible wider implications of capacity shortages in, and overall standard of, the transport system, must be taken into consideration in the design if any model for providing transport infrastructure. 2.4 Transport Infrastructure in Different Countries 2.4.1 Luxembourg The pressure of congestion, excessive strain on transport infrastructure and environmental have led to a challenge due to a large and increasing number of commuters (OECD, 2008c). These pressures stem from both resident and cross-border commutes, which are broadly similar in number. High and increasing number of commutes among residents is reflected in Europes highest car ownership rate and one of the highest annual distances covered by automobile per capita. For cross-border commutes, 85% are made in passenger cars without use of public transport. These patterns lead to alarming levels of congestion on the main road transport corridors and there are now severe bottlenecks at the entrance to urban areas, notably in the city of Luxembourg. This results in wasted time, unsafe driving conditions, noise and high levels of emission and local air pollution (OECD, 2010). 2.4.2 France According to Willis (2010), the transport infrastructure in France is one of the most modernized to be found anywhere in Europe and this makes international freight movements streamlined and effective. In the area of modern tramways, France is a world leader in railway technology. Rail transport is therefore always a best option for shipping companies and freight forwarders operating in France. The transport network is built as a web, with Paris at the center. There is a total of nearly 32,000 kilometers of track in France, most of which is operated by the French railway company, SNCF. Over the last twenty years, a set of high speed LGV (lignes a grande vitesse) have been constructed to connect most parts of France with Paris. There are same gauge rail links to adjacent countries of Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Sweden, as well as the Channel Tunnel link with the UK. The TGV, the French high speed train has broken world speed records is a sign of the way that France is a tr ue global leader in rail transport. For freight transport, rail is a model in France. 2.4.3 Germany According to Willis (2009), Germany has a transport infrastructure that is the envy of the world and this has helped enable the development of a highly effective freight services industry. The phrase Germanic is often used as a byword for efficiency and with good reason, if the freight services industry in Germany is seen as a measure. He continued said that when consider that it is less than twenty years since the Berlin Wall came down and East Germany started its process of integration within Germany, the efficiency of the transport network throughout the country is all the more remarkable. There is a very efficient network of waterways, railways and motorways that make internal connections fast and straightforward and also connect Germany with other countries throughout the world. 2.4.4 Middle East Timon Singh (2010) claimed that the Middle East and North Africa region has invested heavily in its transport infrastructure and for the likes of the UAE in particular over the past few years. He continued claimed that the money has gone into planes and trains in order to better improve between states, but to turn the region into both a business and tourist hub. Air traffic in the Middle East is the fastest growing in the world, and in order to cater for the increasing number of passengers at their various airports and thus improving their general transport infrastructure, the UAE has been implementing various aviation projects. According to him, rail is another part of the regions transport infrastructure that has gathered support in the Middle East from Dubais Metro System to plans for an expansive network connecting the GCC states. Qatar and Bahrain have one of the most ambitious projects, combining both rail and metro lines, which is set to transform the emirate into a major transport hub. The project, which is rumored to be costing over US$36.6 billion (QR133.5 billion) and estimated to take six years, is expected to be finished in phases over the next six years, with three major sections being the focus of the scheme the metro network within Greater Doha, the over-ground railways covering the whole of Qatar and then, linking it to the rest of the GCC region and cargo trains. 2.4.5 London, United Kingdom McDougall (2010) asked how do cities meet the needs of a growing population, promote diverse and healthy communities, improve the environment and tackle climate change. The answer is its a tall order and one that London is tackling head on with their aptly named London Plan. He said that the London Plan sets out to ensure that Londons transport is easy, safe and convenient and encourages cycling, walking and electric vehicles. The ambitious plan sets out the overall strategic direction for an integrated economic, environmental, transport and social framework for the development of London over the next 20-25 years. He continues said that the London Plan identifies what are termed Opportunity Areas in and around Londons major reservoirs of brown-field land. These areas are characterized by their potential to accommodate new housing, commercial and other development linked to existing or potential improvements to public transport accessibility. It is important to make sure that they can be developed without undue additional pressure on Londons already-crowded public transport, or on the limited funds available for anything beyond committed transport improvements. 2.4.6 India According to Pradhan (2010), transport is a key infrastructure in the present study, as causes energy consumption as well as economic growth in India. Therefore, he suggested that increasing transport facility along with energy consumption will lead to more economic growth in India. The achievement of higher economic growth through transport infrastructure and energy consumption could be due to its various direct and indirect benefits in the economy. But he claimed that the level of transport infrastructure is not so good, both in quantity and quality, in contrast to developed countries in the world. He suggested that if there is sufficient transport infrastructure in the economy, the result would be much better. He continued suggested that a suitable transport policy should be required urgently to boost economic growth and to maintain sustainable economic development in the country since transport infrastructure is a big deal to economic growth. 2.4.7 Malaysia The greatest advantage to manufacturers in Malaysia has been the nations persistent drive to develop and upgrade its infrastructure. Over the years, these investments have paid off and serious bottlenecks have been avoided. Today, Malaysia can boast of having one of the well-developed infrastructures among the newly industrializing countries of Asia (www.mida.gov.my). The latest development of Kuala Lumpur Sentral has become a futuristic self-contained city, providing the perfect live, work and play environment. A modern transportation hub integrating all major rail transport networks, including the Express Rail Link to the KLIA and Putrajaya, the governments new administrative center. Besides, the Peninsular Malaysias network of well-maintained highways is a gain to industries. These highways link major growth centers to seaports and airports throughout the peninsula and provide an efficient means of transportation for goods. (www.mida.gov.my). Malaysias central location in the Asia Pacific region makes her an ideal gateway to Asia. Air cargo facilities are well-developed in the five international airports the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), Penang International Airport and Langkawi International Airport in Peninsular Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu International Airport in Sabah, and Kuching International Airport in Sarawak. Malaysias biggest airport, the KLIA, surrounded by four main cities of Kuala Lumpur, Shah Alam, Seremban and Melaka has a capacity of handling 25 million passengers and up to 8 million tons of cargo per year. Cargo import and export procedures are fully automated at the KLIA to cut down delivery time (www.mida.gov.my). Recently, Rapid Penang has introduced a state-of-the-art Intelligent Commuter Information System (ICIS), which provides real-time information on the arrival times of buses at terminals in Penang. The ICIS system, the first of its kind used by stage bus companies in the country, would enable some 75,000 commuters who use Rapid Penang buses daily to plan their journey more efficiently. It proved to be a success and has since been expanded for usage at the Komtar bus terminal, which sees the highest number of people boarding buses daily. A total of 200 buses operate from the Komtar bus terminal on a daily basis. The ICIS display system uses global positioning system (GPS) to map out the movement of all Rapid Penang buses and calculate the exact time of arrival of each bus at the Komtar bus terminal. The ICIS display system will later be extended to other strategic areas throughout the state including the possibility of having it installed in shopping complexes (newstraitstimes, 2010). 2.5 Bus Stop and Bus Terminal There are bus stops all over the Penang and there are three main bus terminals for buses in Penang, Malaysia. They are Weld Quay Terminal, Komtar Bus Terminal and Sungai Nibong Terminal. According to Zegeer (2002), a well-designed transit routes a reachable stops are essential to usable system. He continues said that bus stops should be located at intervals that are convenient for passengers for safety purpose and should be comfortable places for people to wait. UITP (2004 cited in Grenoble, 2004) argued that if the related infrastructure is inaccessible or inappropriately designed, much of the accessible vehicles will lost. Grenoble has carried out extensive research and development work to design tram and bus stops, starting some 20 years ago. The principle adopted by Grenoble was that the bus services should be made as accessible as the tram. According to Grenoble, the design standards found to be most effective for accessible bus stops were 14m(standard bus) and 20m(articulated bus) for overall length of bus boarding platform, 2.1m(minimum) and 2.6m(if a shelter is provided) for overall breadth of boarding platform, 3% for gradient of access ramp at end of platform, 21cm for height of boarding area, 60cm back from front edge of boarding area for safety line and 1.1m(minimum) and 1.3m(preferred) for clear space between front end of bus shelter and front edge of boarding area. Zegeer (2002) said that besides the bus stop signing, a bus shelter with seating, trash receptacles, and bicycle parking are also desirable features. He suggested that bus stops should be highly visible locations where pedestrian can reach them easily by means of accessible travel routes. Therefore, a complete sidewalks system is essential to support a public transportation system. Convenient crossings are also important. He continued suggested that proper placement of bus stops is key to user safety. For example, placing the bus stops on the near side of intersections or crosswalk may block pedestrians view of approaching traffic, and approaching drivers view of pedestrians. Approaching motorists may be unable to stop in time when a pedestrian steps from in front of a stopped bus into the traffic lanes at the intersection. Far-side bus stops generally encourage pedestrians to cross behind the bus. Reallocating the bus stop to the far side of the intersection can improve pedestrian safely since it climates the sight-distance restriction caused by the bus. Placing bus stops at the far aside of intersections can also improve motored vehicle operation. Besides, he also suggested that the bus stops should be fully accessible to pedestrians in wheelchairs, should have paved connections to sidewalks where landscape buffers exist, and should not block pedestrian travel on the sidewalk. Adequate room should exist to operate wheelchair lift. Yet, it is also useful to install curb ramps at bus stops so that a passenger can board from the street if bus-lift deployment is blocked. According to Iles (2005), problem may arise at bus stations which are used as intermediate stops for buses passing through the town or city when services are operated to schedule. Iles gave an example on when a full bus with a few passengers drop enter the station, they have the capacity to pick up same number