Creative Story: The Ride :: essays research papers

Creative Story: The Ride It was a beautiful day and definitely not forewarning of the events that would change my life. The warm Las Vegas sun was shining brightly in the blue and cloudless sky. A light breeze cooled the warm air just enough to stop the body from sweating. The breeze was clean and crisp that blew along with the scent of a spring day. The only noise was the roar of the engine as I twisted the throttle and accelerated through the twisted roads near my home. As everything raced by me, I felt a rush of adrenaline, then the fateful turn approached. I had taken the turn a hundred times before but today it would change my life. Around the turn would be my motorcycle accident that would cause me to take life much more seriously. Before the accident my lifestyle was very fast paced. I spent almost all of my time with my friends going out to parties every night. My life was in control without any abusive habits, it was just fast paced and fun times with friends. Never being at home added to an already stressful family environment. My high school education suffered from too much fun and too little studying. My father made being at home a very uneasy feeling, making me want to stay away even more. He never took any time to help me with school, car or money. I always had to work to earn everything, the only thing I wasn't paying for was rent. In turn I wanted little to do with my father, stepmother or brother, never contributing or helping out. I even stopped going with them on vacations. The feelings I had were that I just wanted to be alone by myself, independent. For four months after the accident I was unable to do anything that I had previously done in the normal routine of my life. With a full leg and hand cast I spent almost all my time during the four months recovering on the couch in the living room. I finished my junior year of high school at my bedroom desk. During this period I developed a lot of patience from the slow healing process of my bones. I also spent a great deal of time thinking, assessing, and contemplating my life and my future. Some of my thoughts were "What was I doing with my life?", "Where was I headed?", "What was in my future for myself?", "What did I want to do with my life?", "How my family life was affecting me?

Womens Liberation in the 1920s: Myth or Reality? Essays -- Essays Pa

Women's Liberation in the 1920's: Myth or Reality? The decade following World War I proved to be the most explosive decade of the century. America emerged as a world power, the 19th amendment was ratified, and the expansion of capitalism welcomed the emergence of consumerism. The consumer era was established, which generated new spending opportunities for most Americans in the 1920’s. From the latest fashions to the world of politics, ideologies collided to construct a society based on contradicting principles. These powerful ideologies infected men and women of all classes with an inescapable desire for material possessions; however this ideological tug-of war affected women the most. Although legally declared citizens, society’s assumption of motherhood and domesticity, being the only professions for women, still remained supreme in the country that supposedly promoted equal opportunity. New sex role stereotypes appeared throughout society and women became identified with the consumer culture for they were "major purchasers of products" and "constituted a crucial underpinning of the economy" (Dumenil 144). No group was more responsive to this than the advertising industry, which introduced new images while reinforcing traditional stereotypes. As speculation on women’s rights grew tiresome after suffrage had been won, women separated in search of their own individuality; however a woman’s identity was based on the sex-role stereotypes advertisements continuously portrayed which in turn transformed cultural expectations and thwarted women’s autonomy. The emergence of consumerism allowed advertisements to be viewed worldwide. "Across the nation, women in cities, towns and farms paged through issues of mass-circulation... ...ture and Society in the 1920’s. New York: Hill and Wang, 1995. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "Echoes of the Jazz Age" Flappers and Philosophers. New York: 1921 Harriman, Helga H. Women in the Western Heritage. Sluice Dock, Guilford, CT. Danshkin Publishing Group, Inc. 1995 Kroger, Jane. Identity in Adolescence: The Balance Between Self and Other. London: Routledge, 1989 Scanlon, Jennifer. Inarticulate Longings: The Ladies’ Home Journal, Gender, and the Promises of Consumer Culture. New York, NY: Routledge, 1995 Sivulka, Juliann. Soap, Sex, and Advertising. Belmont, California: Wasworth Publishing Company, 1998 Stearns, Peter N. and Jean Lewis eds. An Emotional History of the United States. New York, NY. New York University Press, 1998 Stevenson, Elizabeth. Babbits and Bohemians: From the Great War to the Great Depression. New York: Macmillan, 1967.

Social environment

This is an example of a business changing to meet the needs of customers. Subways are trying to be more socially responsible by stunning their animals first, to appease consumers with strong moral objections. This Is Important because a study by Forbes showed that 65% of workers would seriously consider leaving their Jobs if they worked for a company that harmed the environment. Research has shown that over 88% of consumers think companies should try to achieve their business goals while Improving society and the environment.So therefore Subways diverse workforce may provide ideas that a more homogeneous workforce could miss. Also, they might eve a greater understanding of markets that may be segmented on these factors. They may also provide more natural links to market opportunities abroad, through linguistic skills, cultural knowledge and knowledge of foreign markets. This can explain why Subway operates in 83 countries, with a rapid rise in sales in Germany, its second most valuab le Western European market.Income Income can affect business. A company's products usually appeal to certain income groups. People with lower incomes are more sensitive to price and may prefer purchasing discount products. Permeates are experiencing a change In market share because of the increase of people with lower incomes and less disposable income who are sensitive to price (elasticity of demand) and a shift in tastes and trends, with cheap foods becoming Increasingly In demand.This means that the demand for discount food stores Is Increasing. Tests; an example of a food store that is experiencing a decrease in market share because people cannot afford Tests foods and prefer bargain stores like Lid. Deco's market share over the last 12 weeks (from outhouse) compared to a year ago Is down from 29. 6% to 28. %. Tests have responded to the threat with ‘hard discounters' by launching a poorly war on milk and other essentials. Tests has cut the price of pant milk to El to matc h budget chains.People are more aware of the importance of the environment and becoming ‘green consumers'; prefer environmentally-friendly goods which have less Impact on the environment e. G. Prefer to travel by bus. Cutbacks; expanding their recycling programmer to reduce waste developing more environmentally-friendly cups, evaluating store design and operations to identify ways to reduce the amount of water used, use responsible alluding materials and energy efficient designs for their stores The changing nature of the ethical environment Moral principles that should underpin decision making.Ethical behavior involves actions and decisions that are seen to be morally correct Ethics are the set of moral values held by an individual or group. An organization may make decision that it believes to be morally right, rather than one that suits the needs of some of its stakeholders. Thus a decision made on ethical grounds might reject the most profitable solution for an organizatio n in favor of one of greater infinite to society.Possible ethical stances Organizations may take different stances in relation to ethics, including: Viewing shareholders' or owners' short term interests as their only responsibility Recognizing that well managed relationships with other stakeholders bring long term benefits to shareholders or owners Including the interested and expectations of stakeholders in their mission Taking an ideological approach and placing financial considerations secondary Ethical Codes An instruction from an organization to its employees to indicate how they should exact to situations relating to moral values The focus of the code will depend on the business concerned. A typical code may include sections on Personal integrity in dealing with suppliers and in handling the firm's resources Corporate integrity such as forbidding collusion with competitors and predatory pricing Social responsibility Critics believe there is nothing more than public relations e xercises Ethical Investment Stock market investment based on a restricted list of firms that are ethically sound Ethical investors do not invest in firms thatFinance weapons deals to oppressive governments Make products involving tobacco, fur, animal testing and exploitative farming Do not act responsibly towards the environment or are not good employers Advantages/Disadvantages with Ethical Behavior Reviewing a firms ethical position A number of elements should be considered when reviewing a company's ethical position. Individuals Each person has their own set of personal standards derived from their upbringing, educations and background. As they make decisions, their own ideas of what is right and wrong is involved Corporate culture Set of unwritten rules that affect the attitudes and management style of a business. This can affect how employees behave in order to do well at the business Public standards Operate in an environment that affect everything they do and the results they achieve. A public outcry against a particular type of activity will force a business to look at itself and decide if it needs to change.It may also mean other businesses look at themselves as well Competitors A USPS can be built based on emphasizing their ethical stance. Other businesses may then review their operations Ethics, Business Culture and Delegation Organizations have cultures and codes of behavior that affect attitudes, decision making and management style. If there is conflict between the ethical position of the organization and the moral values of the individuals it employs, then delegated decision making may not reflect the ethical position of the organization. The potential of this problem can be minimized if the culture is one which all employees understand and take responsibility for.Changing business cultures is not easy and investment in effective training and communication is important to ensure that all Taft behave in an agreed ethical manner. Creating an ethic al culture within a business can actually improve motivation and can become part of a wider policy of employee empowerment. The duties of an organization towards employees, customers, society and the environment Benefits to Society Problems such as unemployment and pollution are likely to be reduced Quality of life is likely to be improved Society longer term needs are likely to be considered rather than simply the short term needs of a business Life and business activity will be easier if everyone involved s working together for the common good Simply the right thing to do.Firms have a duty to be concerned with the wider impact of their activities Benefits to Firms Improved financial performance Reduced operating costs due to greater recycling Enhanced brand image and reputation which could bring in more customers, trading partners and makes it easier to attract capital investment Increased sales and customer loyalty Increased ability to attract and retain employees Access to capit al Arguments against CARS Efficient use or resources is likely to be reduced if business are restricted by how hey can produce and where they can locate which could lead to higher costs and prices Socially responsible policies can be costly to introduce Stakeholders tend to have differing objectives and are therefore unlikely to agree on what is socially responsible behavior Social responsibility may be Just a passing fashion and nobody can be sure of the value of firms being socially responsible During a recession the objectives are profit and survival – social responsibility doesn't matter here If something is important to society at large it can be argued that the overspent should pass laws to ensure everybody acts responsibly Just an extension of a firm being market orientated, meaning its only done as the customer wants it Overall, in the long term, CARS could benefit businesses, as the local community may improve in terms of wealth, quality of life and standard of livin g, meaning the firm could also benefit. Most large firms will produce an ethical code of practice. This will uphold the firms social responsibilities. This might include being environmentally-friendly wherever possible. Cutbacks CARS; giving back to the environment Environmental mission statement;Understanding environmental issues and sharing these with staff Striving to buy, sell and use environmentally-friendly products Recognize that fiscal responsibility is essential to our environment future Installing environmental responsibility at a corporate value Example; serve high quality coffee that is ethically traded and responsibly grown. They do this through forest conservation efforts and farmer Why be ethical Marketing opportunities: A good reputation in relation to environmental issues can act as a positive marketing tool that encourages customers to choose one brand over another. They can also build a loyal customer base through USPS. Financial opportunities: Can actually make i t easier to get money off certain banks – banks like Cooperative will not lend money to firms with a reputation for damaging the environment. Lower costs through recycling and less waste.Human resources opportunities: Motivation, attract the best workers who want to work for a company with high standards. Poor reputation can damage reputation and the ability to attract high quality applicants Why not be ethical; More expensive to source raw materials, more expensive capital goods to cut pollution, Training workers to be ethical costs money, losing custom from more ruthless competitors Ethics or Public Relations? Public Relations – Activities to boost the public profiles of an organization Public relations usually involves obtaining favorable publicity via the press, television or radio. Unlike advertising, it is not paid for and there is no control over its content.When a business behaves ethically it may be good for PR. It has been suggested that the good PR is the ma in reason for ethical behavior – it can help enhance the image of a business and is likely to generate more goodwill. This in turn will lead to improved sales and may eventually boost the company's share value. Example; Foxing (public relations)(benefits of not being ethical) Criticized for polluting nearby rivers with factory chemicals, black-green water dumped twice a day. Foxing said it is complying with emission standards and bring the factories into full compliance with policies and that other companies within the same industrial park are dumping water into the rivers too.This shows they are stating that their complying with emission standards for public relations because really they onto want to lose their competitive advantage from more ruthless competitors; doing it to save costs, generate profitability quick, keep costs low, keep up with demand etc†¦ More evidence that they care more about public relations is that they installed solving underlying problem of sui cide so the social responsibility doesn't reflect genuine values, don't care about their staff, only care about deadlines and money. Example Primary: (genuine values) The roof of their factory in Bangladesh collapsed, killing more than 1000 people.Long-term compensation and support services for the errors and families who were working in the factory payments end this month ($mm) = High cash outflows so less revenue. They also had building surveys to assess the structural integrity of factories which means they are addressing the underlying problem. However this may not actually affect Primary, this may be cheaper in the long term than paying their staff higher wages; a significant variable cost. This shows that corporate social responsibility is Just a form of public relations and a way to back their reputation and offer a method to ‘shut them up'. Could be because of public relations?

Horizon Foods Corporation Essay

1. What are the characteristics of the market served by the Horizon Foods Corporation? Poor Delivery, high cost of shipping crate, small quantity, high stocks, and high competition. Horizon’s product lines have focused on ethnic food specialties including salad dressings, sauces for Italian pasta, and condiments such as specialty pickles. Is a national company that provides food products. Customers in this market are in many places, diï ¬â‚¬erent points; they prepare meals for small retailers who are demanding customized products, customers’ demands small quantities. 2. What problems exist at the Horizon Foods Corporation? Horizon have problems with the distribution of products, the amount of inventory control problems in warehouses, the increasing demands of customers on products, services, the costs of transportation are high, coordinate issues within the company, also they need a better communication. Orders are generally small, amounting to five to six cases per order, or about 150 to 200 pounds at a time. 3. Why do you think the problems exist? Marketing and production departments are not lined. They need information on time. Inventory of products that require a special request of customers, the demands of the customers due to the fact that small amounts of 5-6, shipping crate increase the cost of 150-200 pounds, negotiated warehouse is not enough quality service as provided by other companies, the company’s determination of the amount of inventory in the structuring, planning and transport issues the contract warehouses intricacies of product quantities. The two plants: one in the Central Valley of California at Fresno and the other in Illinois about 60 miles south of Chicago, the transport between are expenses too. 4. What would you suggest the task force recommend in order to gain â€Å"control over this product movement process†? The changes required to gain control over the supply chain, Horizon need a better level of communication system. They need to keep an eye and to implement new systems that would help in these areas: Business administration, accounting systems.

A Water Filled Radiator for Domestic Heating Essay

As the winter sets in its time for all of us to look for space heaters that causes less inconveniences and inefficiencies compared to the conventional ones. Most of the older ones available in the market is found to consume considerable amount of energy and also result in skyrocketing the energy bills. Further, the noise it generates is another aspect that needs to be eliminated in any type of product model used for space heating. The disturbance its fans would cause to the indoor environment would prevent any peaceful reading activity or undertaking any work that demands a quiet ambiance. The poor material choice on internal moving parts is another problem that might result in improper operation. The clogging of the air intake pipes with rust and dust is a common problem that most of the heater service men are forced to handle frequently. In addition to these, poor thermostats in these units often result in the wide variations in the indoor temperatures causing severe irritations and cannot ensure consistent comfort levels. The equipment if had the flexibility in operation like option to adjust its wattage level would result in higher energy efficiency and lower cost of power. It would also be better if it causes very less inconvenience in its assembly and installation. Some of the equipments in the market had cumbersome process in its assembly which needed any strong support of the installation manual and personnel, which certainly need to be addressed in any of the new models. And ultimately the buyers need to feel the cost effectiveness of the product that can turn out to be the best valued piece for the space-heating requirement. (Mmclynne, 2008) Most of the house doesn’t have uniform thermal environment in the house. The kids space have considerable lower level of temperature causing severe discomfort levels. The installing the water filled radiator heater have found significant advantages over the other type of models available in the market. The major attraction on these units are the total absence on the noise and the awkward operational steps that most of the earlier models had. The opinion from various users were tremendous and all of them unanimously favored the water filled radiator heaters. The positive opinion being given for the Holmes Water Filled Radiator Heaters clearly establishes the merit of these type of models for their efficiency and effectiveness. Most of the operators were amazed on the total elimination of the noise for this type of models as they hardly realized whether the system was working. On the electricity bills too, all the users realized significant reduction in their bills and the heating offered was uniform thus if a parameter like volume heated per unit energy consumed the Holmes model outclassed most of the conventional ones as it ensured uniform heating across the entire room space rather than partial heating observed in the other types. Even the safety aspect the Holmes model has considered in design is enormous. Though the external surface is at a slightly higher temperature even the kids were not hurt when they tried to have a feel their surface when in operation. Most of the buyers have rated it as the most valued product for the money. Specification of the Product The technical specification of the product is as follows (Holmes, n. d. ) Wattage : low to high variability in operation 100 W to 1500 W Working voltage : 120 V AC (60 Hz) Effective control of heat generated using better control of thermostats. Better safety features with automatic cut off and strong carrying case. User friendly fan heater with access control from the top Measures approximately 2. 5 to 3 pounds. Product Design Philosophy The significant difference in the product design statement exist in the water filled radiator based water heaters. The principle heat transfer mechanism is through convection. The radiator type of heaters undertakes the heating of the rooms trough the convective movement of the air for circulating the warm air for the entire volume. Another major advantage in design of this type of system is that it is not required to function on a high power level for heating the entire room space. These types of units consume very low levels of energy as they are able to cycle between the wattages in their effort to make the inner space at the design temperature levels. Besides these, these units also help to eliminate the problems caused from the corrosion of the metal components and the problems caused from the highly combustible nature. As the water is the major liquid in the water heater radiator type room heaters, the problems of corrosion and possibility for combustion can be eliminated. The space heaters are unavoidable gadgets in the cold regions across he world. To give a better thermal environment is necessary to make the indoor stay more comfortable. These heaters vary in size quite differently from the being a small portable heater to large wall or ceiling mounted heaters that are most fixed permanently. The small and portable ones are preferred in the residential units while the permanent ones are preferred in large industrial and commercial centres, though the exceptions always exist. On the different type of fuels being used in them, it could be either electricity, natural gas, biomass or any liquid fuels like furnace oils. They are mostly applied or chosen in some of the situations that necessitate to isolate the part of facility in a central heating system or heating a small unit space in an generally unheated area etc. The efficiency of the system is measured based on the intended use of the system and the expectation of a customer from using it. The illogically using a space heater would result in higher consumption of energy with very low levels of comfort to the occupants. But when done in the most appropriate application these devices can ensure the desired comfort levels and lesser energy costs. Comparison of different type of space heaters -Radiant and Convective The radiant heaters operate on the similar principles of any heat-radiating body. The simplest example is the sun where the sun rays emits large amount of radiation and tries to warms up any body, which receives the radiation. This type of equipments emits the radiation only in some specific direction and the bodies or objects placed in the direction of the emitted source would receive them and helps in the heat gain. The radiating heaters can be operated either on electricity or on any other type of fuel like propene, kerosene or natural gas (MGE, n. d. ). The heating elements in the radiating type heaters are also of different types. The important ones being quartz tubes, carbon tubes , halogen lamps or metal coils. In order to have a uniform spread of heat in different direction, rather than heating up in some specified direction, some of the radiant type heaters use reflectors. Thus these type of heaters are ideal for heating the specific objects than large volumes of spaces and hence is recommended in large open spaces with less openings or hindrances. The bodies that need to be heated must be located in the direction of emission of heat rays . These bodies absorb the temperature when the rays fall them and as the temperature of such bodies increases and they in turn transfer some of the heat to the neighbouring volume of air too. This helps in the complete rise in the temperature of air volume in its surrounding (MGE, n. d. ). It is also recommended to have some percentage of fresh air for mixing up with the inside air in order to avoid the build up of excessive accumulation of pollutants in the enclosed space. If the objective is to receive the heat only for a very short interval of time then the radiant heaters are the ideal choice. The radiant heaters don’t heat up the entire space uniformly and just transfers heat to the occupant and the immediate neighborhood and hence ensure higher efficiency for these type of purpose. The convection heaters operate based on the ability of the hot air to move across the entire space that required to be heated. It depends on the natural movement of the rising hot air. The equipments allow the cold air to move into its compartment and warms it up and then releases into the desired space that need to be at a higher temperature (MGE, n. d. ). Thus it tries to warms up the air directly and the objects would gain heat from the air that is at a higher temperature. Thus they are the most ideal for the small enclosed spaces or rooms that are well insulated and cut off from the surrounding. They are available in different type of designs like the electric heater based radiator and water or oil filled heaters. The water filled radiant heaters are among the high efficient devices in the class of convective heaters. The heating element placed in the bath of water is heated as the unit is turned on it will result in heating the surrounding air. The heated air is allowed to move through the room based on the principles of natural convection. These heaters require fresh supply of air to maintain consistency in its operation (MGE, n. d. ) References Andi, (15 February 2008) , Holmes Water filled heater wars my heart Retrieved from < http://www. propsandpans.com/2008/02/15/holmes-water-filled-heater-warms-my-heart/ > on 16 August 2010 Holmes (n. d. ) , Owners guide, Retreived from < http://www. holmesproducts. com /Manuals/MANUALS/HFH110-UM_43_77278402. PDF. on 16 August 2010 MGE (n. d. ), Business energy advisor, http://www. mge. com/business/saving/BEA/_escrc_0013000000DP22YAAT-2_BEA1_PA_PA_Heating_PA-59. html on 16 August 2010 Mclynne, J. A. (9 January 2008) Proccut review Holmes water filled whole room radiator model , HWH 2605 http://www. associatedcontent. com/article/520241/product_review_holmes_water_filled. html? cat=5 on 16 August 2010

About Employment

Although the attraction for foreign employment is increasing everyday, employment is not safe, secured and managed well. Skilled and trained manpower appropriate to the nature and requirement of foreign demand are not available. So, people are going to foreign countries as unskilled or semi-skilled work force. Because of this, foreign countries are getting on one hand cheap labor and on the other Nepalese working abroad are not getting rights and honorable jobs. This has compelled Nepalese people to sell their labour at a throw away price whereas they have to invest a lot of money. Foreign Employment Act 2064 has clearly made a legal provision for sending Nepalese for foreign employment. But, this act is not correctly implemented. Various foreign employment services are in operation without government permission. Brokers are taking advantage of the simple and innocent people and cheating them badly. It is a pity that even those who have gone through resistered agencies and also having required skill, training and knowledge are not getting good jobs and salary. Not only this, there are many instances when such labour forces have returned prematurely not having required qualifications, ability, skills and knowledge suitable for these jobs offered. This is indeed a big and serious challenge. There is a need of legal, technical and professional training for these people so that they can meet the challenges and can take benefit of the advantages of the opportunities available in the market. Technically trained, skilled and competent people can compete with others and secure right jobs, which fetch them good salary. There is also need of providing them accidental and life insurance to make their life more secured. The demand for Nepalese workers is increasing greatly. The Three Year Interim Plan has provision to have labour contract with those countries where there are a large number of Nepalese working. This indicates that the opportunities for employment are increasing day by day. According to the government reports, more than one billion rupees remittances are earned every year from foreign employment. This has largely contributed to national economy. Many factories and industries are established from such money which helps in generating local employment and revenues. However, continuous fleeing of trained and skilled human power would adversely affect in their own economic development. They should gradually bring down the number of out going labour force. The country’s development is own development. It is a fact that one gets due respect only when his own country is developed. Those Nepalese working in other countries as Bahadur and Kanchhas are giving their sweat and blood for the development of other countries. Whereas it is sad to say that Nepal remains always poor, underdeveloped and backward. For this, they (Nepalese) have to get appropriate training, knowledge, skills and contribute to their own economic development. We should love our own country and foster patriotic feeling among us. On this lies our over all welfare and well being

Business Mgt Essay

Part I. Assume you have taken over responsibility to play the lead Information Technology (IT) management role in Magnum Enterprises. Your boss, Rachel Heigl, is Magnum’s CIO. The IT management group is comprised of six people who you will be supervising. Ms. Heigl is an enlightened manager, and she believes that if you are to carry out your responsibilities effectively, you need to work with her in defining your IT management role. As a first step, she invites you to write a short statement where you describe what you see to be your role as head of the IT management effort at Magnum. Proper IT Management requires researching and discerning information technology as a company resource guiding both operational and crucial company capabilities. Using information technology to maximize satisfaction of the customer alongside productivity and profitability will ensure that our competiveness with other business stays at a maximum. In turn IT can make business processes more effective and efficient to provide said resources to customers. The lead IT shall ensure performance of the company through managing technology while encompassing priorities of the business into the role. Striving to be a partner with great initiative this business will discover its leader will have accomplished and achieved what they desired. My first role of business would be to establish the parameters and to understand the IT knowledge areas. These are made up of development processes; management challenges information technologies, business applications and foundation concepts. Concepts of the foundation are making sure the role of information systems paired with business and technical concepts are a familiarity with the end user. Familiarity of concepts in entry level information systems bind with a competitive strategy can lead to an overwhelming strategic advantage. Educating Magnum’s team upon the significance of information technology with the three roles that the business world performs in order to combine business management, software, and hardware capabilities. At the Management level, decision making would lead to significant improvements for IT utilization. Business operations see information systems as a huge support to review and collect data from financial operations, managing manufacturing processes that are very sophisticated, tracking company inventory, and productivity. The use of metrics paired with identifying trends to assist the company in making informed decisions faster to provide information about our competitors. IT  is used quite often to provide a strategic support advantage for the company. Automated inventory and ordering systems an assist with the savings costs. With this information we would need to review our mission statement that identifies the company’s functions, provides oversight on the overall goal, a sense of direction, and guides decision making. Investigating and development towards understanding how we generate money and ensuring a customer base for our company. Envisioning the business plan, mission, with current IT structure and the ability to communicate with senior leadership will guide me with necessary tools to assist the Chief Information Officer (CIO). To ensure a strategic IT plan is created in which will be shared and implemented with my team. Planning to have Magnum’s team familiar with data resource management capabilities, hardware, networks, telecommunications, and software within the company is the second area of information systems known as information technologies. In today’s society PDA’s (personal digital assistants; IE. Blackberry’s ETC.) Personal computers and network servers are integral computer hardware and are crucial in our business environment. Being extremely knowledgeable is vital to our team troubleshooting and resolving hardware issues instead of having to call anot her company for maintenance. We have the ability to break down our company’s software into two categories, application software and system software. Both types normally off the consumer shelf as commercial software instead of having an employee on the team write the software codes for these programs. I plan to ensure my teams are extremely familiar with all software programs and have a firm foundation when troubleshooting and resolving technical issues. Additionally, if not already formed, I will institute a configuration control board and implement test scenarios to ensure future hardware and software being purchased will not have compatibility issues. Also a part of information technologies is data resource management. This is essential in sustaining and maintaining our company. We will require a database management system of good quality that is capable of data consolidating into a database in turn can be accessed my several program applications. Within the past fifteen to twenty years networks and telecommunications software have played a vital role. To ensure the expansion and growth for Magnum Enterprises, we will need out network to be consistent, reliable, monetary sufficient. I would prepare the team to  either install or review and change as needed our network management system that assists with traffic management, capacity planning, network monitoring, and security in essence that our system will grow and change with modern day business culture and practices as the company expands. In order to have the most dependable and proven with the cost of it a ring network should be put into place. The next area, development processes, deals with designing, planning, identifying ideas, and implementing information systems to meet potential business opportunities. It is critical that we ensure our business management capabilities alongside our hardware and software are integrated successfully within our company. Basis within t he development process and depending upon the circumstance, there are a couple of processes we want our team to employ as resolving problems com along with our business systems. Those processes are considered or known as the prototyping approach and he systems development life-cycle. The synopsis of prototyping involves quickly developing or constructing test modules of a desired system in which we will engage when we cannot determine or classify the end user requirements. These systems would be used to assist our personnel with the capabilities to design or create an information system that will be intuitive and easy to navigate for consumers. Prototyping involves four steps with the first being investigation and analysis step. This step, requirements grouped and defined. Second, is the analysis and design step in which a model is developed and constructed to meet consumer business requirements. Next, in the design and implementation, this finalizes the model that was tested and begins the initial installation. The last step to this four step process is implementation and maintenance, which would consist of the business system being accepted, used, and maintained. Prototyping advantages are: decrease in the development time, development costs and requires user i nvolvement. This generates higher satisfaction results. I plan to employ this type of approach to small initiatives. The next area is business application for information systems. This will consist of being familiar with commerce and business applications for our employees and which are used within the company to make strategic leadership and management decisions. A few of the most used business applications within a majority of companies are accounting, human resource management, enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, customer relationship management, financial management,  and supply chain management. An Architectural picture of or IT business applications will ensure that I will have familiarity with all applications that we use. This approach will identify the current interrelationships, interfaces with customer, employees, business applications, and stake holders. We will then need to review the chart and see if there are any potential process improvements that we can make to integrate those systems cross functionally and keep operational costs to a minimum. The systems devel opment lifecycle employs the systems approach to create IT solutions. This lifecycle is often utilized for large applications and it is composed of five processes that I expect my team to know and become familiar when employing the systems development lifecycle: systems investigation, systems analysis, systems design, systems implementation and systems maintenance. The first process, systems investigation, involves project brainstorming, planning and performing a feasibility study. During the brainstorming and planning initiative, a project management implementation plan is created identifying the detailed steps that will be accomplished during the creation and development of the system. The feasibility study is critically important as this outlines all requirements for the system. It also explores four major areas, organizational, economic, technical, and operational feasibility, which determines if it’s worthwhile to invest in potential business ventures. In reviewing the organization’s feasibility, we need to determine if the system is in line with and supports our company’s strategic objectives. The economic feasibility identifies and evaluates the project’s tangible and intangible cost and benefits. Technical feasibility is assessed by confirming if the necessary hardware and software will be available or can be developed and tested before implementation. Operational feasibility is determined by the motivation, desire, willingness, and competence of the stakeholders (management, employees, customers and suppliers) to use and operate the proposed system. Systems Analysis consists of consolidating requirements and includes a detailed breakdown of the business needs and requirements of the organization. This starts with an organizational analysis from one of the business end users. This individual must be keenly aware of the organizational management structure, business requirements, and current IT systems operati ons and its proposed relationship with the newly created system. Some of the outputs generated from the systems analysis  include system flowcharts, data flow diagrams, and connectivity diagrams which aid in the development of the analysis report The next process, systems design, focuses on the design, process diagrams, business rules, and developing specifications for the hardware, software, data resources that will meet the proposed requirements for new business system. The three major outputs produced from the systems design phase are user data, interface, and process design. The fourth process of the systems development lifecycle is system implementation. This encompasses either acquiring the hardware or software or developing it from company resources and then testing the products in a test environment to see how well they operate and integrate with your existing IT architecture. If testing goes well, an implementation plan including training end users and developing system documentation will be accomplished prior to incorporating and execu ting this system within our IT architecture. The final process, systems maintenance consists of consistently monitoring and evaluating the newly implemented system. This also includes correcting errors and discrepancies not identified during the testing phase and continuously making system improvements, advancements and upgrades. The final area of information systems is management challenges. There are numerous challenges that our IT team may be faced with at Magnum Enterprises. One challenge is addressing our security concerns which involve several areas. For instance, our IT team needs be constantly vigilant and on the alert for potential competitors trying to or actually hacking into our systems to steal or damage our data. Additionally, we may also be challenged with setting up restrictions and locking down the network for personnel to only use the network and its software applications for official business. Ensuring that our software is controlled and that employees are not illegally making copies of software for personal use is another area of concern. Preventing virus attacks to our network and installing anti-virus software to diagnose and remove computer viruses is of utmost concern. Failure to maintain a secure network can potentially halt our business from being productive and resulting in thousands of dollars in lost revenue. Additional challenges the IT team may be faced with may involve expanding our infrastructure and network to address our growing business. Ensuring our network provides our employees accessibility to the data they need, wherever they require it, regardless of their location will test our innovativeness.  The company may not have a backup plan to allow it to operate effectively and efficiently in the event of a forced relocation. If that is the case, I will recommend to our management staff that we establish a continuity of operations plan enabling us to relocate with minimum impact to our business operations like a hot site for temporary functionality. In the dynamic world of IT we will always be faced with challenges, however, utilizing IT and being on the leading edge of new IT systems provides our business with many benefits and makes our organization more effective and efficient. For example, IT can be used to improve and promote new business processes such as creating an automated inventory system which will save money in additional labor costs. Another use of IT in making it more efficient and effective is that using certain software programs enables us to identify and target our top customers in terms of profitability to our business. In summary, IT enables our company to successfully plan, integrate, manage, and carry out strategies which lead to profit. Part II. Six months after you take over the lead IT management role at Magnum, the CIO, Ms. Rachel Heigl, is pleased with your work. She has just attended a meeting of Magnum’s executive committee (the committee comprised of the most senior managers of Magnum), where the CEO and Vice President of marketing have indicated that Magnum’s mediocre e-business capabilities must be strengthened. As CIO, Ms. Heigl is given primary responsibility in improving Magnum’s e-business performance. She in turn puts you in charge of a small task force comprised of representatives from the marketing, operations, finance, and legal departments. In order to advance and improve Magnum’s e-business performance operations, it’s vital I establish a cohesive team with representatives from the marketing, operations, finance, and legal departments. Their input and perspective is necessary and essential in developing a way ahead and strategic plan for the future of our e-busin ess department. Developing success with our e-business begins with marketing the company. Marketing is concerned with developing and creating an innovative plan so that the product or service can be promoted and sold. Promoting our products and services are key and critical in attracting new customers as well as maintaining our current customer base. It is important that I develop an understanding of the marketing role and how it can benefit  by using Information Technology systems. Marketing information systems support well established and e-commerce processes that sustain major elements within the marketing function and is described as a continuing and interacting structure of people, equipment and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute pertinent, timely and accurate information for use by marketing decision makers to improve their marketing planning, implementation, and control. The major components of marketing information systems include interactive marketing, sales force automation, customer relationship management, sales management, product management, targeted marketing, and market research. Two of the seven components I will be discussing are interactive marketing and customer relationship management. In our environment today, marketing information systems aid marketing personnel in a variety of tasks associated with branding products and customer service initiatives. For instance, interactive marketing is largely dependent on utilizing the internet, which permits the business and its customers and potential customers to become partners in developing, socializing, acquiring and advancing products and services. With the IT department enabling this type of communication, the company benefits from generating new ideas for other products and services as well as establishing strong customer loyalty. Another area within the marketing information systems is C ustomer Relationship Management (CRM). This incorporates and automates many customer service processes. It consists of utilizing an IT framework to construct, automate, and integrate marketing processes with the company’s business operations. CRM is usually comprised of a software suite that allows a business to provide efficient, effective and reliable service to its customers. Additionally, CRM permits a company to identify and target their most important customers as well as facilitate real-time customization of products and services based on the customer’s wants and desires. Understanding the marketing department’s views and concerns enables the IT department to implement and install an IT infrastructure that will be capable of supporting various information technologies. Some of the benefits that can be obtained from the marketing department are: an opportunity to increase sales and revenue, a chance to touch new market areas, 24/7 accessibility for the customer, and more flexibility and convenie nce for the customers. The production and operations function is supported by  manufacturing information systems. Manufacturing information systems are designed to be used specifically in an operations and production environment. Different types of manufacturing information systems consist of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM), process control, machine control and robotics. CIM involves using computers to control the total manufacturing process, from design to distribution, to produce produces products of the highest caliber. Process control involves utilizing computers to oversee and control continuing physical processes. Machine control consists of using a computer based system to direct the actions of a machine. Robotics involves designing, constructing, and building machines that have the intelligence of a computer and human like physical capabilities. It’s key I understand how the operations representative depends on these information systems to operate effectively as well as their expec tations for these systems. Working together as a team will enable the IT and operations department to develop better ideas to increase the manufacturing and production process. Developing an understanding of all the accounting and financial based systems within our business and discussing these systems with the finance representative enables our IT and finance departments to plan effectively when troubleshooting and performing upgrades. These systems include but are not limited to order processing, inventory control, accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll, general ledger, cash management, investment management, capital budgeting and financial planning. The success of these systems is integrally connected with its information technology and services. For example, the order processing system â€Å"captures and processes customer orders and produces data needed for sales analysis and inventory control and the accounts payable system keeps track of data concerning purchases from and payments to suppliers. Communicating with the finance representative is essential in setting up or modifying these systems to meet the needs of our business. Any interrupti on or degradation in service can lead to severe damage to the business and financial services that Magnum Enterprises relies on to function and operate. As with any business, competitors are always looking for an advantage to get them ahead in their particular discipline or industry. Unfortunately, being extremely aggressive and ambitious can sometimes cloud your decision making capabilities to the point that you may  be committing breaking privacy laws and monitoring and copyright violations. As the IT lead manager for Magnum Enterprises, I’m charged with ensuring our network infrastructure and IT systems are operating proficiently. However, when it comes to addressing privacy issues from an IT perspective, opinions and viewpoints from a legal expert are necessary. In regards to privacy, several websites accumulate usernames and passwords and personal information such as home addresses and phone numbers without authorization from users. Applying internet monitoring technology within the workplace raises concerns about where the boundaries lie between personal use and public resource use. Copyright concerns and violations has become an issue with the development of the Internet and upgrades to technology. Discussing these concerns with a legal expert and implementing and adhering to strict guidelines will help prevent our company from committing these violations. In addition to the goals of strengthening the capabilities of the e-business, attention must be paid to some key technical challenges. Overseeing secure information throughout our business is extremely difficult to implement and maintain successfully. Key technical issues that may be encountered when re-engineering our e-business include privacy and confidentiality, authenticity, data integrity, access control, availability and infrastructure. Privacy and confidentiality involves businesses protecting and securing personal information while being stored or t ransmitted through email. This can be accomplished by utilizing encryption devices or firewalls. Authentication is used to confirm an individual’s identity and during e-business transactions, the purchaser and buyer wants assurance that proper identity is established. A secure way to assist with confirming identity to both individuals is to utilize a virtual private network. Data integrity means the data is correct and has not been altered while being stored or transmitted. The use of firewalls assists in preventing unauthorized users and safeguarding data. Another way to ensure data integrity is through the use of antivirus software which also aids in keeping your data free from viruses. Access control exists when you’re authorizing certain individual’s permission to restricted systems or data. Several measures that can help with access control include firewalls, access privileges, passwords, digital certificates and virtual private networks. Availability is an issue when customers and employers need information  without any disruptions. Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) systems, data backups and the use of anti-virus software assist with ensuring data is always available. Our e-business infrastructure constantly needs to be monitored to ensure its meeting the needs of our business. An infrastructure that is unable to consistently support the network traffic load can potentially cost our company thousands of dollars in lost sales. If the network is continually slow, increasing the speed of the network backbone will assist in providing faster and reliable support for our customers. In addition to increasing the speed of the network backbone, implementing cross-functional enterprise systems will assist in improving critical business processes throughout Magnum enterprises. A final technical challenge is ensuring all of our systems are compatible and can operate on several different hardware platforms. By having this capabi lity, our operating costs from a technical refresh perspective will decrease. While strengthening capabilities and addressing technical issues, there are management challenges within the e-business that must be addressed. As discussed earlier, our team must be vigilant in addressing security challenges such as hacking into our systems, software theft, and protecting our software applications. In addition to security issues, there are ethical concerns that must be addressed. Privacy has always been a serious and contentious issue amongst employers and employees. For instance, computer monitoring is considered by many personnel to be an infringement on the employee’s privacy and shouldn’t be allowed. However, employers argue that since the computer is a company owned resource, they should be allowed to monitor the work of their employer. In reality, many employers are concerned as to whether or not the employee is actually working and producing or just goofing off and surfing the internet. Utilizing IT equipment at work has been mentioned to cause a variety of health issues which management must address. For example, if your job consists of being in front of a computer all day, some of the health problems you may experience damage to the neck and arm muscles, eye strain, carpal tunnel syndrome, job stress, poor posture and poor circulation. Resolutions to some of these health concerns can be through the science of ergonomics. The objective of ergonomics is to devise and create safe health work conditions with the goal of decreasing health issues and increasing employee morale and work productivity. If  Magnum Enterprises has customers internationally, they also may be faced with political, geo-economic and cultural challenges. From a political concern, there are countries that have restrictions regulating or denying the transfer of data across their borders which can potentially result in customers or businesses from having to pay import or export fees. Geo-economic concerns involve issues such as identifying and locating personnel with IT skills to work at remote sites and communicating with personnel across all 24 time zones. Cultural challenges â€Å"include differences in languages, cultural interests, religions, customs, social attitudes, and political philosophies†. For example, if Magnum Enterprises was conducting a business transaction via a Video Teleconference it would be disrespectful to look them in the eye when introducing yourself. Before meeting an international customer, it would prudent to review their customs and courtesies to ensure a smooth business relationship. Improving Magnum’s e-business performance faces several challenges. Consulting with key department personnel from operations, marketing, finance and legal as well as addressing technical and management obstacles will assist me in charting a plan to put our e-business on the right track towards success.