Garment Worker

Abstract: Garments sector is the life blood of Bangladesh as the agricultural land has there been turned to a country of garments industries. Employment in the Ready-made garment sector in Bangladesh provides workers with economic benefits and some empowerment. More than 3. 2 millions people are working in this sector and about 5000 garments factories are scattered across the country. 78 per cent of our foreign earnings come from this sector. So it will not be an overstatement to say that, we earn our bread from garments industries. The study attempts to explore the present socio-economic status of the garments workers.The study based mainly on economic and social status of 100 garments workers from Rampura and Badda areas of Dhaka City. It was found that the socio-economic condition of the Garments workers is not in a lofty stage. Amongst the workers about 70 per cent are women, who work dawn to dusk even up to late night when their wages are not in the satisfactory level. They cann ot afford their foods, cloths, housing, medicines, and educations of their wards as they are ill paid. On the contrary, their children are deprived from their care; they suffer from malnutrition and unhygienic complexities. They have no time or scope for recreation.During the study it was found that, worldwide economic meltdown has affected RMG sector of Bangladesh as some workers have lost their jobs and trend of works have been declined. At the end of the study, some recommendations were placed to improve the present conditions of the garments workers as well as garments sector of the country. The owners must treat the workers with respect. They should care about their lives and they must keep in mind that they are human beings. They have families, parents and children,† said Nazma Akhter, president of Combined Garment Workers Federation. â€Å"Is there anybody to really pay any heed to our words? â€Å"

Tesco Case Analysis

Tests had an In store policy that a new checkout line would be opened If there was m re than 1 person waiting In line and they were pioneers In self service checkout terminal. Tests was also innovative with its store formats. Tests stores ranges in size and service fro m; Express, Metro, Superstore, Extra, and Homeless. Tests used consumer purchase data to tailor assortments to local customer needs. Tests also increased the amount of non food items they stocked to include a clothing line.The Club card, which offered cash back rewards and redeemable vouchers, was successful In creating loyalty among Its consumer. Tests proved successful In International operations by expanding Into emerging entries with minimal competition such as those in Eastern Europe and Asia. It AC aired smaller, established retailers and kept local management in place. They were flexible in their strategy and acted locally using multiple formats.Tests also leveraged its brand loyalty to expand in other service a reas such as; flan telecommunications, and grocery delivery. This by partnering or eventually acquiring recognized and trusted brands/organizations. 2. Which success factors are or are not transferable to the US? Transitioning to the United States presented a challenge for Tests considering that t Eire major factor of international success have been the lack of strong competition in the new areas to expand.Clearly not this case, because there were around 35,000 supermarkets In t and in addition, almost every retailer from drugstores to home improvement centers sold some grocery items. There existed intense price competition as the U. S. Was over stored, according to some industry analysts, and the average U. S. Supermarket realized an operating proof t of 2% to 3% of sales, presenting a much different landscape from what Tests was transitioning g from in the U. K.Nevertheless, Tests identified an increasing consumer interest in wellness, in health conscious food choices and a contin uing trend towards on the go consumption, especially evident in California as a result of greater automobile commuting times compared to the national average. Tests hoped to avoid the headed head competition for the weekly family shopping trim with the established grocery chains, a niche it dominated in the U. K. , and rather focus s on targeting an undeserved niche in the marketplace. 3. Was Tests smart to enter the US market? In California, Arizona and Nevada?Although early analysis led decision makers to believe the US, especially the Southwest was a good market to enter actual performance leads one to think otherwise. Tests c inducted a great deal of due diligence prior to entering the US market. They analyzed trends I indicated by market research, sent senior managers to live with Californian families, and conducted d a mock store tour with 200 focus groups. By targeting an undeserved niche in the marketplace ace, Tests hoped to avoid headed head competition for the weekly fami ly shopping trip with established grocery chains.Several other factors demonstrated potential to include: o Grocery retailing in the US embraced multiple formats (in keeping with Tests strategy No national grocery retailer in the US None of the principal supermarket chains (Kroger, Safely, Supernal) commanded more than 15% of US grocery sales Market size: $600 billion Possible gap between convenience stores and supermarkets that might be filled by neighborhood markets o Increasing customer interest in wellness, in health conscious food choices, and a Tests specifically looked to the following benefits of California, Arizona and Nevada:S Grocery retailing not dominated by any one chain S Lower penetration by Wall Mart than in other US regions S CA: rapidly growing, ethnically diverse population of over 35 million, median house hold income well above national average S AZ, NV. Similarly diverse and growing rapidly Despite all of the potential benefits, Tests faced several challenges t o include: Competition (35,000 supermarkets) Almost every retailer from drugstores to home improvement centers also sold grocer y items (overstated) Intense price competition Economic downturn Low average operating profits of 23% of salesPrior attempts by British supermarket chains to expand into the US had proven nuns successful 4. What is the Fresh & Easy value proposition? Is it likely to be appealing in California, Arizona and Nevada? â€Å"C†¦ ] customers wanted great service, choice, and value† (p. 4) â€Å"offer fresh, wholesome food at affordable prices† (p. 7) â€Å"strong commitment to being a good neighbor and a great place to work† (p. ) emphasis on everyday low pricing rather than weekly specials hoped to leverage lower operating costs to deliver â€Å"honest low prices† on â€Å"fresh wholesome food† that â€Å"should be available to everyone† in a â€Å"neighborhood market† ( Employees from local community, careful ly selected to fit Deco's culture (p. 7) Nonfood items would account for only 5% of sales (p. 7) â€Å"ready to sell† approach, whereby many products sent from distribution center to store packaged, extending product freshness, protecting produce from damage, cutting down on spoilage, requiring less refrigeration, and reducing labor needed to stock shelves (p. ) Leveraging relationships with collaborators for distribution (p. 8); this centralized MO del was similar to Walter's Smaller stores = easier permitting process Taking over existing, vacant drugstores = cheaper than building from scratch New stores built from prepare materials = quicker construction, lower overhead, streamlined supply chain Energy efficient stores (30% less energy than comparable, traditional stores; some stores LED certified) Fresh & Easy emphasized everyday low pricing rather than weekly specials and hope d to on â€Å"fresh wholesome food† that â€Å"should be available to everyone† in a â€Å"neighborhood market. Fresh & Easy leveraged relationships with collaborators for distribution to create value e by minimizing costs and emphasize fresh. Their â€Å"ready to sell† approach, whereby prepare caged products went directly from distributors to local stores, promotes that it extended pro duct freshness. The prepackaging protected produce from damage, cut down on spoilage, required less refrigeration, and reduced labor needed to stock shelves. Fresh & Ease's appeal in new markets relied on various factors.California offered the rapidly growing, ethnically diverse population of over 35 million with a median house hold income well above the national average. The percentage of Caucasians had fallen to below 45 and 40% of people spoke a language other than English at home. Hispanic Americans accounted for 37% of the population, Seminarians for 12% and African Americans 6%. The populations of Arizona and Nevada were similarly diverse and growing rapidly. Ethnic ally diverse pop populations are likely to appreciate Fresh & Ease's value propositions.The emphasis on â€Å"honest 10 w prices† and a â€Å"neighborhood market†appeal to various ethnicities. However, Fresh & Easy built many stores in suburban neighborhoods. The population n in these neighborhoods tend to shop less times per week but spend more at each visit. These habits clash with the Fresh & Easy concept of daily visits to grab a quick and inexpensive vive bite. It may have been a better idea to have targeted urban cities like New York or Chicago w here the population's buying habits are more compatible with Fresh & Ease's intended target. 5.

The Politics of Management Thought: a Case Study of Harvard

Summary of ‘The Politics of Management Thought: A Case Study of the Harvard Business School and the Human Relations School’ HBR and HRS achieved an early success under leadership of Mayo and Donham, where HRS positioned HBS as solution to pressing social, economic and political issues. Historical context in article is about contemporary events to business leaders reacted. Alongside postwar, physical and philosophical reconstruction and labor concessions came. After few days armistice was signed, presidents announced end of labor concessions.Dewey et al advocated application of civic democracy principles to workplace, called idealists, where idealists advocate role of labor and realist advocate greater control by administrators. These debates played role in construction of HBS and HRS. Wallace Donham, was appointed as dean of HBS in 1919. At that time HBS was suffering from severe financial problems and was under attack from academicians and businessmen. The scholars crit icized academic men valuing their work just to earn money to counter this problem he hired faculty from well-known disciplines such as history and philosophy.Businessmen criticized business schools, giving nothing but useless knowledge. Donham successfully brought HBS out of financial crises building relationships with CEO’s of big corporations. In 1926, Donham purposed hiring of Elton Mayo, who enjoyed a strong support in corporate circle. Beardsley Ruml, Director of LSRM felt that Mayo’s can fill the space left in the area of industrial psychiatry. Thus addressing psychopathic factor involved in industrial discontent at that time and bringing stability in industrial relation to overcome dissatisfaction and strikes.Donham being very eagerly expectant of HRS wanted to project its role as a â€Å"Savior. Whereas, Mayo focused the Executives, concerned about the workers irrational and agitation-prone mind. In Hawthorne studies Mayo was criticized for having a mindset af flicted with class conflict, industrial unrest, threats to social, political and economic orders. Mayo was of the view that the human factor in industries remains highly neglected. Mayo explained contemporary events with the help of psychology.In one of his articles mayo criticized classical economics, he was of the view that economics ignore human factor. In his second article he identified uncontrolled mind as the most dangerous thing, leading to crime war and social revolution. His third article was about mind of agitator, in his view agitator is the person who blame society for the troubles he face, and as a result his mind becomes obsessed with rage. In the fourth article Mayo elaborated on the dangers of democracy that it leads to social disintegration.In the final article Mayo linked democracy with psychopathological tendencies. Mayo cited industry as having a social function and identified labor unrest a result of individual’s fundamental disorientation to life and di sintegration of personality leading to disordering of values and maladaptaion to the industrial environment. Mayo argued that labor is incapable of understanding his own problems and these cannot be solved through his participation in management, opposing the stance of industrial democrats.Mayo through his research demonstrated that fatigue causes reveries producing psychological agitation leading to social unrest. This conclusion led him using psychological theories to work place. Through Hawthorne studies Mayo persuaded that clinical interview was a treatment allowing interviewee to exactly know his real problem. Mayo was influenced by psychology to view workplace problems as symptoms of underlying unconscious disorientation. On this premise he developed agenda of research for industry and convinced leaders that it will solve their worries about labor strife.We find this article very interesting, as we got to know, how Mayo and Donham fulfilled their own needs ( i. e. Mayo was dro pped out of the Medical school and was virtually broke, he struggled to gain foothold in academic community whereas Donham struggled to build HBS’s financial security, as well as academic and corporate prestige, and he countered the criticism of academics and corporate) by proposing solutions for contemporary social political and economic issues.

Policy advice Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Policy advice - Research Paper Example East Asia countries and other western countries had established a course towards progressive development, amongst them Japan, Italy, West Germany and France (Zakaria 49). It should be noted that after the fall of the Bretton Woods system in 1970s, occasioned by the growing international trade, the stock market crash of 1973-1974 and monetary economics, countries that emerged later focused on strong economic policies. The rise of BRICs especially China was therefore a progressive and steady economic growth having learnt from the various depressions. It appears that such economies thrived on protective policies. The US may consider analyzing such foreign policies to unravel their contributions to economic growth and see whether they may be applicable for the US case (Masters 1). Emerging economies such as China, Russia, and India have established competitive economic policies. India has a steadily rising economy, which is poised to be very competitive in the next decade. China’s economic rise in the global market has boomed in what appears to be a plan that was awaiting implementation. China is has practically overtaken the US and other western countries on the African continent and other areas. It has steadily rising middle class. The US should not sit back and watch or accept that global economics have changed, but conduct an assessment aimed at reclaiming her position on global economic front. It may take time to recover but it will certainly reverse the US economic trend (Zakaria 98). In the meantime, the US should formulate policies aimed at short-term recovery of micro-economy of the small states as leader negotiates a fair global competition for goods and patent rights of all countries. Should countries realize real global integration, it would still be wise to formulate acceptable rules of economic engagement for equitable benefit to enable all countries realize benefits of economic integration. The US may consider treating developing countries as

VTI CASE STUDY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

VTI CASE STUDY - Essay Example It is in light of this that planning remains an important aspect of all organizational structuring and management. In the absence of planning, organizations loss focus and fail to have a yardstick for measuring and identifying the height of growth they want to reach (Fernandez & Rainey, 2006). Through planning also, it is always possible for the organization to identify aspects and areas for change. Currently, VTI has come to a crossroad where the need for thorough organizational planning that will bring about rapid change is more than a necessity. From the situational analysis of the company, it is time for the company to respond to its external factors of competitiveness, which is focused on the use of electronic commerce (e-commerce). The need for change Change has its own merits and demerits, depending on how it is implemented and the factors that bring it about (Hadaway, Marler & Chaves, 2003). Generally though, many are those who are not comfortable with organizational changes. These people, commonly referred to as administrative conservatives hold the opinion that undertaking organizational changes affect the organizational climate negatively because it forces stakeholders to adjust when they are not really ready to adjust (Hannan & Freeman, 2004). A very typical example of this situation could be said to be taking place among the old senior management team of VTI Ltd who are refusing any form of change from the traditional street sales that the company is involved in. currently, change is eminent for VTI Ltd and cannot be delayed any further. This is because the market in which the company is operating has become so influenced with competition and user definition, whereby it is no longer what the company wants to offer to the consumer that matters but what the consumer wants to have (Alversson & Willmott, 2002). The need for change is therefore in the need for the company to keep track with the changes that is happening outside its domain of control. Ca uses of change The fact that the company is currently experiencing all time low in sales and has not made any profits in the past 2 years is due to a number of factors, some of which are internal, and others, external. Internally, it can be noted that there is a total absence and lack of unified code of conducting business at VTI. Clearly, the old senior management team is in a world of their own whiles the relatively younger staff is in a world of their own. In such a situation, Neale, Tenbrunsel, Galvin & Bazerman (2006) note that organizational conflict becomes common, especially role conflict. Presently, there seem to be a major lack of understanding as to the focus that the company should have in the implementation of basic organizational objectives. This has created an apathy whereby each member of within the organization is defending what he or she feels is right for the organization rather than what the organization wishes to have for itself. In relations to the adage that i n unity is strength, it is important that the company has a common focus of the path it is going to trend to bring about the implementation of its goals and objectives. There are also major external causes of the poor performance that the company is currently experiencing. Firstly there is an absence of competitive advantage by the company to meet the competition it is faced with from its key competitors squarely. Currently, the global record sales market has become so competitive that there are new companies and outlines springing up with time. This has created brought about the need for

Week14 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week14 - Essay Example ernational Criminal Court (ICC), Human Right Watch, The White House, among other powerful human rights organizations as well as high profile celebrities such as Winfrey Oprah, Bill Gates and Justin Bieber coming on board (Goodman and Preston par 6). While everyone seems to be in agreement that Kony’s story is both horrific and tragic, a critical evaluation of the film’s oversimplified narrative coupled with the misinterpretation of facts reveals a false sense of what it takes to make a difference in a certainly complex situation. A conditional effectiveness of a social media campaign rests upon one fundamental principle: building a real-life/off-line political community capable and committed to a common cause. Contrary to the notion created on this particular case of the Invisible Children’s KONY2012 campaign, and elsewhere as was the case with the Arab spring, the reality is that Invisible Children worked for nearly a decade to build a willingly enthusiastic network of like-minded folks capable of driving across the United States to showcase its latest films to real people in schools and churches. Similarly, effectiveness and the subsequent success of human rights and democracy campaigners in the Arab worl d (Tunisia, Egypt and Libya among others) had long learned and been hardened by decades of training in human rights and civil disobedience experiences. The protests witnessed at the Tahrir Square in Cairo, for instance, gained root not due to the Tweeter or Facebook influence, but were driven by real grievances by real people with scars of years of outright humiliation (Kersten par 4-7). The Facebook Sharing and Tweeter re-tweeting of the KONY2012 was only a symbolic action done exclusively by non-activists with a minimal effect nearing zero. Simply put, war crimes cannot be fought at the comfort of somebody’s bedroom either sleeping or sited with IPads or IPhones as proof of his/her commitment to the liberal democratic values while real issues remain

Understanding people in organisations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Understanding people in organisations - Essay Example All these aspects are significant to ensure overall employee well-being (Lowe, 2012). Sears et al (2006) defined healthy workplace as an environment that enables an organisation to achieve its mission along with satisfying the needs of its employees. On the contrary, unhealthy workplace has unsupportive culture where employees do not enjoy the sense of participation, equity, success, empowerment, meaning, respect, safety, and autonomy (Sears et al., 2006). Unhealthy workplaces, according to the authors, represent dysfunctional organisations having communication gaps, unresolved conflicts, high turnover, and low employee morale. Appendix-I presents the characteristics of a healthy workplace as given by Sears et al (2006, p. 319). Emphasising on the importance of healthy and vibrant workplaces, Sears et al (2006) stated that such workplaces foster employee participation leading to mutual success. On the other hand, unhealthy workplaces are unsuccessful as they do not inspire employee dedication leading to job burnout, stress, absenteeism, and turnover; these outcomes of unhealthy workplaces are drastic and bring severe consequences and costs for the employers (Sears et al., 2006). Shukla (2008) defined organisational culture as the personality of an organisation that sets the unwritten norms and outlines the values shared among everyone within the organisation. Shukla (2008) explained that culture is not what the organisation has but what the organisation is. Organisational culture decides how people interact with each other, how they contribute, what are the shared norms and values, a formal and informal philosophy and the rules of the game. Organisational culture has a vital role in deciding if the workplace is healthy or unhealthy. The importance of organisational culture in deciding health of the workplace is evident from the fact that it is considered one of the major

REFUTE letter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

REFUTE letter - Essay Example take a position on the debate: is Bill Cosby’s criticism justified or, as William Ryan might ask, is he blaming the victim?† My response to this question was to formulate the essay as a rhetorical argument, and took the stance that all writing is persuasive writing. As a result, the responses to the arguments in the reading set were structured using the same logic Cosby, West, Dyson, and Ryan used; this means that rhetorical flourishes were used instead of the strict argumentative form that would be found in legal writing. You will notice that Cosby, West, Dyson, and even Ryan are guilty of using rhetoric to establish their arguments. Indeed, Dyson even refers to Cosby’s argument as, â€Å"classist, elitist, and rooted in generational warfare.† Furthermore, by referring to William Ryan’s ‘blaming the victim’ in the essay prompt, I took the statement ‘blaming the victim’ to be indicative of not only Ryan’s argument, bu t of the entire reading set that opposed Cosby. When considering the Cosby argument, one grader noted that the essay did not fully grasp Cosby’s arguments. I must respectfully disagree and point the grader’s attention to the Boondocks comic in which the boy’s father chastises him for needing to pull up his pants and refers to the boy as ‘dirty laundry’. This comic is a satire on those that would take Cosby’s argument literally. In the essay, I set out to defend Cosby’s argument on the grounds that, â€Å"Cosby is not a social scientist and his message is not meant to be judged by these standards; rather, he is a respected and influential leader whose statements need to be understood for their rhetorical efficacy. In attacking Cosby, Dyson is willfully committing a socially irresponsible form of ignorance. While this example may seem a fairly basic formulation of a complex social problem†¦Cosby’s comments aren’t meant to be interpreted as the literal proscriptive formulation of a policy maker, but as a rhetorically

Kants Moral Obligation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Kants Moral Obligation - Essay Example Timmons state in this regard, that the logic would play an important role in determining whether the perceived act will bring any good thing without ‘qualification’ (206). A good thing without qualification would only have two extremities including the good and the bad and nothing in between. Therefore, individuals use their reasoning capacity to identify the acts with good consequences. While individuals accomplish their desires out of good will, it is equally important to note that goodwill is the only virtue that has the aspect of universal absolute good (Timmons 207). This means that every good thing including wealth, honor, and riches may turn to be bad things in the end if individuals harbor ill wills for accomplishing their missions. However, people can perpetuate the good things if they have good intentions and wills making their deeds good in universal terms. In this sense, rationality comes into play in the sense that people who have good intentions motivated b y their positive reasoning will always accomplish good things in the society (Stern 45). While happiness may derive from a particular action does not accentuate the moral obligation of that action, as the idea of happiness is too empirical and indefinite to serve as a concept for moral obligation (Timmons 208). It is indefinite because people differ in tastes, preference, and enjoyments, while it is empirical in the sense that people actually understand that my experience, they can make decisions that bring them happiness. In a revisit of the concept of goodwill, people act because they strongly believe that they have a moral duty or they are morally obliged to perform certain tasks. The consequences in this case according to Stern, do not play an important role in deciding to engage in such deeds (Stern 62). Individual inclination principles, on the other hand, influence our actions in that reason recognizes our principles that in turn determine our motive in the quest of accomplishing our moral duty.

DVD Technology Essay Example for Free

DVD Technology Essay It is truly a fact that we are living in this modern world which all technologies are advanced and improved. One of these technologies is in the DVD technology. Before, we normally used CDs as main novelty to the PC’s world but now, DVD is more used and preferred by multitudes of masses due to its admirable features which the CD doesn’t have. DVD was formerly represented as Digital Video Disc but then changed into Digital Versatile Disc and is considered as the next generation of the optical disc storage technology which is predicted and awaited to quickly substitute the CD-ROM disc along with audio compact disc around the following several years. DVD contains 4. 7 information’s gigabytes on one of its both sides or sufficient for a 133-minute movie. Having two layers on every of its both sides, it will keep up to 17 gigabytes of audio, video and other data. DVD-Video is the typical term for the DVD format designed for full-length motion pictures and which will drive with our television set. The DVD-ROM keeps computer information and is read through a DVD-ROM drive which is connected to a computer, the DVD-RAM is the writeable version while the DVD-Audio is a player which is designed to substitute our compact disc player (see Bellis, Mary. â€Å"DVD†. http://inventors. about. com/library/inventors/bldvd. htm). A DVD with correctly structured and formatted video substance is a DVD-Video. The DVDs with correct structured and formatted audio are termed as DVD-Audio discs. And everything as well is named as a DVD-Data disc as well as the other types of DVD discs which have video (Wikipedia, free encyclopedia. August 27, 2006). The purposes of this study are to: (1) know the history of DVD technology; and (2) be acquainted with its useful features and its functions; and how it is being distinct from CD. History The invention of DVD was all started in early of 1990s which two high-density optical storage standards were being technology advanced: the first one was the MultiMedia Compact Disc which was supported by Sony and Philips; and the second one was the Super Density disc which was approved and accepted by Time-Warner, Hitachi, Pioneer, JVC, Mitsubishi Electric, Toshiba, Thomson, and Matsushita Electric. The IBM president named Lou Gertsner has exerted an effort to join and bring together the two companies to back up solitary standard, getting ahead a repeat of the expensive and inflated format war amongst Betamax and VHS in 1980s (Wikipedia, free encyclopedia. August 27, 2006). In 1994 of May, Philips and Sony promulgated that they would be willingly and jointly develop a newfangled high-density medium popularly known as Digital Video Disc or DVD. This new technology was considered as the successor to compact discs or CD-ROM for computers and substitute laserdiscs and VHS tapes in the amusement industry. Just like a CD, DVD discs have similar diameter-about 120mm and thickness is about 1. 2 mm- just as Compact disc has but DVD is more advance and useful due to its capability to use both discs’ sides for data storage. The large video games which need and require a number of CDs would merely necessitate only one DVD disc. Later on, newfangled technology’s development instantaneously induced dilemmas of a political nature. The Warner Home Entertainment and Toshiba declared their own project to work out the same but yet precisely distinct from DVD technology at the same time. Associations like the Hollywood Digital Video Disc Advisory Group had a sensible and rational interest in this technology’s development. Movie suppliers started to stir up disagreements and controversies which concern the essential of copy protections in the DVD requirement and description. But then, Sony was the first to display its DVD technology. In 1995, John Eargle explained and illustrated the presentation which was conducted at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show. In his writings entitled â€Å"The Great DVD debate† stated that: â€Å"its color and sharpness was more than a match for the Laserdisc â€Å". But Eargle’s attention was on the technological requirements which had been formally and legitimately promulgated in December of the same year. The DVD’s intensification and enlargement data density was credited to a laser of a color advanced in the light spectrum and a technology that were being technologically advanced with 3M which permit the laser to be focus again to one second â€Å"layer† in the disc. It has a double-layer disc which amplifies the volume and dimensions to 7. 4 gigabytes. Throughout the spring of 1995, the disagreement of both developers had been stimulated through Toshiba’s personal growth and advancement of a two-layer disc named as SD or Super density (Chapin, R. â€Å"History of DVD†). DVD recordable and rewritable DVD recordable and DVD rewritable denote to DVD optical disc formats which can be â€Å"burned† either rewritable or write once format. DVD recordable is an overall name which denotes to both rewritable and writes-once formats, while DVD writable denotes solely to rewritable formats. The DVD promoted and marketed as 4. 7 GB might seem to keep not more than that for the reason that manufacturers quote the volume of a writable DVD disc utilizing decimal prefixes instead of the binary prefixes utilized by number of software. On the other hand, a 4. 7 GB DVD can be able to accumulate 4. 7 billion bytes, utilizing the binary prefixes which has similar capacity is approximately 4. 38 GiB (Wikipedia, free encyclopedia. August 18, 2006). Dual Layer Recording Dual Layer recoding permits DVD-R and DVD+R discs to accumulate and put in storage extensively more info or data which is capable of 8. 5 Gigabytes per disc, when contrasted with 4. 7 Gigabytes designed for single-layer discs. The DVD-R DL or â€Å"dual layer† was technologically advanced for the DVD Forum by the Pioneer Corporation while the DVD+R DL or â€Å"dual layer† was technologically advanced intended for the DVD+RW Alliance by Sony. Below are the two figures of DVD-R DL and DVD+R DL (Wikipedia, free encyclopedia. August 28, 2006). Figure of DVD-R DL Double Layer DVD+R Its Restrictions The DVD-Video includes four corresponding systems designed to limit and constraint the DVD user in a variety of procedures and these are the Content Scrambling System, Region codes, disabled user operations (UOP) and Macrovision. *Content Scrambling System* It is a Digital Rights Management or DRM plan make used on various DVDs. It make uses a weak, proprietary 40 bit stream cipher algorithm which has successively been compromised. It was in 1996 that the system was presented and established (wikipedia, free encyclopedia. August 26, 2006). *Region Codes* it is the programming practice, chip, physical barrier, or code which is make used to stop or block the playing media designed for a device which comes from a place where it is introduced and distributed on the version of similar device distributed in another place. It is a kind of a form of vendor lock-in (Wikipedia, free encyclopedia. August 26, 2006). *Disabled User Operations* DVD-Video permits the disc to identify or indicate whether or not the handler may carry out any operation like skipping chapters, rewinding or forwarding, selecting a menu which is fundamentally any function on the remote control. This system is named as Prohibited User Operations or User Operation Prohibitions. *Macrovision* It is a company which makes electronic prevention plans and was established in 1963. The term is occasionally used to denote to specific video copy prevention plans which were technologically advanced by the company. Its features Some of the DVDs main features are: (1) copy protection built into standard; (2) DVD-ROM for improved multimedia and games applications; (3) every format uses a common file system; (4) DVD-Audio for advanced quality music, graphics and other features and surround sound and optical video and many others; (5) Backwards compatibility with current CD media and many others (see DVD (Digital Versatile Disk)†. http://www. usbyte. com/common/dvd. htm#Introduction). Hence, DVD it is widely used now globally. ______________________________________________________________________________ References: 1. Bellis, Mary. â€Å"DVD†. http://inventors. about. com/library/inventors/bldvd. htm) 2. †DVD†. August 28, 2006. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/DVD 3. Chapin, R. â€Å"History of DVD†. http://www. miqrogroove. com/writing/History%20of%20DVD. html 4. â€Å"DVD recordable†. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. August 18, 2006http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/DVD_recordable 5. â€Å"Content Scramble System†. August 26, 2006. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Content_Scrambling_System 6. â€Å"DVD (Digital Versatile Disk)†. http://www. usbyte. com/common/dvd. htm#Introduction

Impact of Advertising in Indian Telecom Industry

Impact of Advertising in Indian Telecom Industry Impact of Advertising in Indian Telecom Industry on Its Customers The research is to study the Advertising in Indian Telecom Industry and its Impact on Customers. For this research the attempt is made to understand the Telecom Industry of India. . I will also complement this with the internal study of companies. By studying their history, growth, market share and advertising strategies adopted by Vodafone, Airtel, Reliance communication, BSNL and Idea cellular. India telecommunication industry is one of the fastest telecom market in the world. The mobile sector has grown from around 10 million subscribers in 2002 to reach 250 million by early 2009 registering an average growth of over 90%. The project is based on advertising so I will first explained about advertising, its importance, managing advertising decisions and types of advertising. I have analyzed the growth in ad volumes of telecom sector, share of telecom sector advertising, segment wise growth in telecom sector, share of key players in advertising, new brands advertised in telecom equipments and service and share of sales promotion in telecom sector. The sources of data collection used in the study are both primary and secondary in nature. We are going to conduct a survey to know the impact of advertisements of telecom industry on customers which is part of primary data. The real aim of the project is to study the effectiveness and response towards advertisements provided by major players. Primary data has been collected in which focus group study had been conducted to design the customer survey questionnaire with a sample size of 200 respondents. This survey has been conducted in gujarat. Secondary data is to be collected through websites, newspapers, magazines and books. Research objectives. The objective of the project is an attempt to understand the consumer preference for telecom and how it is been affected by the advertisement done by the telecom industries main players. It will be done through a comparative study of all telecom operators which are available in Ahmedabad; we want to understand the impact of advertisement on the customers of all the segments in Ahmedabad. We have also divided our objective into two categories to make it more clear, which is as follows: Primary objective The primary objective is to know the impact of advertisement by telecom industry on customers. And to study the effectiveness and response towards advertisement provided by the major players. Also to understand the improvement and customers preference in telecom sector. And to study the service provider and their service quality in telecom sector. Secondary objective Other than the above primary objective, the other secondary objective behind this project is to find out who is the best preferred telecom company who has the attracted maximum customers through its advertisement. This could be done by studying the performance of telecom industry in India. Literature review For literature review we are going to undertake a deep study of marketing management by Philip Kottler, his contribution to the field of marketing is noteworthy, as we all know he is considered as the marketing guru. And more over we also going to include some basic definitions from various marketing books like Advertising and Marketing in Rural India:ÂÂ   Tej K. Bhatia,ÂÂ  Macmillan Publishers India, Marketing and Sales Management:ÂÂ   S P Sharma and Dilip B Joshi,ÂÂ  Paradise Pub, Marketing:ÂÂ   M. Vidhya,ÂÂ  MJP Pub, these books will help me to know how the telecom companies are promoting their brand in rural market of India. Even the management book named organizational theory, change, and design by: Richard L.Draft will help me to understand the potters five force model and diamond model for the telecomm companies. Newspaper likes The Times Of India, economic times, will provide us relevant materials that can help us in our research. Even I am going to study regarding TRIA that is Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. ÂÂ   TRAIs mission is to create and nurture conditions for growth of telecommunications in the country in a manner and at a pace which will enable India to play a leading role in emerging global information society. ÂÂ   One of the main objectives of TRAI is to provide a fair and transparent policy environment which promotes a level playing field and facilitates fair competition. ÂÂ   In pursuance of above objective TRAI has issued from time to time a large number of regulations, orders and directives to deal with issues coming before it and provided the required direction to the evolution of Indian telecom market from a Government owned monopoly to a multi operator multi service open competitive market. ÂÂ   The directions, orders and regulations issued cover a wide range of subjects including tariff, interconnection and quality of service as well as governance of the Authority . ÂÂ   To know regarding the telecom sector in India I have studied various papers and journal written by many journalist and economist which are as follow: Anand (1999), in his article named Indias economic policy reforms says that India was embarked on economic reforms in July 1991, in the wake of a balance of payments crisis. In this article, an attempt is made to review two books and a set of World Bank reports concerning the progress of these reforms. Issues concerning economic policy, impact of the reforms on poverty, sectoral issues relating to agriculture, industry and infrastructure are briefly discussed. As reforms enter a more difficult phase, several challenges remain. Some of this fall under the economic agenda of measures needed to maintain economic growth; others can be termed the development agenda of improving human development. Progress with regard to the former is not sufficient to produce results concerning the latter. Bhattacharya (2000) constructs a vision of the Indian telecommunication sector for the year 2020. The paper aims at isolating agents of change based on international experiences and situates India in the development continuum. The agents of change have been broadly categorized into economic structure, competition policy and technology. Das (2000), in her paper described the Liberalisation of the Indian telecommunications services which started in mid nineties with no change in the existing public monopoly structure, entirely controlled by Department of Telecommunications (DoT). In order to evaluate any proposed industry structure, it is essential to analyse the production technology of DoT so as to determine the rationale of liberalisation and sustainability of competition. Accordingly, the researcher estimates a frontier multi-product cost function for DoT, where the cost function has been duly modified to account for the production technology of a public monopoly. The study finds that although DoT displays high allocation inefficiency, it is still a natural monopoly with very high degree of sub additively of cost of production. This study implies that the choice of any reform policy should consider the trade-off between the loss of scale and scope economies and cost saving from the reduction in inefficiency of th e incumbent monopoly in the event of competition. Rao (2000), in her article named Internet service providers in India, provides a broad view of the role of an Internet service provider (ISP) and the factors to be considered before entering the ISP market. Describes the Internet/ISP scene within India and discusses the configuration of local, regional and national level ISPs, and the supporting infrastructure. She also identifies the various success factors. The global Internet scenario is discussed regarding the phases of the Internet in India, i.e. pre and post commercialization. The main players are described: ERNET, NICNET, STPI, VSNL, MTNL, Satyam Infoway and Bharti-BT. The financial and legal implications are highlighted in the Indian context. Many companies entered the nascent ISP business in Nikam, Ganesh, Tamizhchelvan (2004), analyses that changing face of India in bridging the digital device. He reiterated India lives in villages said the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. With 1,000 million people and 180 million hou seholds, India is one of the biggest growing economies in the world. With the advent of the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) revolution, India and its villages are slowly but steadily getting connected to the cities of the nation and the world beyond. Owing to the late Rajiv Gandhi, India is now a powerful knowledge economy, and though India may have been slow to start, it certainly has caught up with the West and is ahead in important respects. The Government, the corporate sector, NGOs and educational institutions have supported rural development by encouraging digital libraries, e-business, e-learning and e-governance. The aim of this paper is to touch upon and highlight some of the areas where, by using ICT, the masses have been reached in this way. A follow-up paper will outline collections of significant cultural material which, once national IT strategies are fully achieved, could form part of a digitally preserved national heritage collection. Dey (2004), in her article talks about the discussions between the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and communications policy makers and regulators in other countries and how they have gleaned several clusters of issues where further research would directly benefit them. Recently, there have been two notable shifts. First, as the acceptance of the competition model over the monopoly model for telecommunications markets takes deep effect in regulators all over the world, questions regarding process and procedure for regulation are becoming ever more urgent. This paper discusses current questions regarding decision making, enforcement, and understanding consumer issues that arise often in the FCCs discussions with other regulators. Second, technological change is potentially shifting market definitions. In the FCCs discussion with other regulators over the last two years, the overlap of wireline telecom, wireless telecom and cable television has become more pronounced. Singh (2005), in his article The role of technology in the emergence of the information society in India describes the role that information and communication technologies are playing for Indian society to educate them formally or informally which is ultimately helping India to emerge as an information society. Though India has a huge population, the illiteracy rate is also huge in this country. The paper has taken an approach to find the historical situation and present the prevailing scenario as well as the change that are taking place with the application of ICT to the advantage of the society in different areas including daily life. India is making all out efforts to be counted among the developed nations of the world. The article also describes the considerable attention India is taking for application of technology, development of infrastructure and human resource for meeting national needs. Basically India is building an information society. Technology has helped society to cu t across the traditional boundaries for getting converted into anemerging information society. The study concludes that The Indian software and services industry has significantly helped to boost the Indian economy. In IT-enabled services too, India has been clearly perceived to be the dominant hub. The Indian software sector is being recognized as the single largest contributor to incremental market capitalization in India but the sector is still small in terms of contribution to GDP, especially when compared to other large sectors in the economy like agriculture and manufacturing. Similarly, the telecommunication sector has contributed a lot but still has a considerable way to go. The paper also enforces that comparisons of Indias telecommunication statistics with those of developed and other emerging economies show that the country is still far behind its contemporaries. Mr. Banka (2006) gives an overview of the mergers and acquisitions in the telecommunication industry. According to him Governments decision to raise the foreign investment limit to 74% is expected to spur fresh rounds of mergers and takeovers in India. He foresees a sector that represents humongous opportunity waiting to be tapped by Indian and foreign conglomerates. Thomas (2007), in his article describes the contribution made by telecommunications in India by the state and civil society to public service, this article aims to identify the states initial reluctance to recognize telecommunications provision as a basic need as against the robust tradition of public service aligned to the postal services and finds hope in the renewal of public service telecommunications via the Right to Information movement. The article follows the methodology of studying the history of telecommunications approach that is conversant with the political economy tradition. It uses archival sources, personal correspondence, and published information as its research material. The findings of the paper suggests that public service in telecommunication is a relatively new concept in the annals of Indian telecommunications and that a de- regulated environment along with the Right to Information movement holds significant hope for making public service telecommunications a real alternative. The article provides a reflexive, critical account of public service telecommunications in India and suggests that it can be strengthened by learning gained from the continual renewal of public service ideals and action by the postal services and a people-based demand model linked to the Right to Information Movement. All studies done by the researcher suggests that the right to information movement has contributed to the revitalisation of participatory democracy in India and to a strengthening of public service telecommunications. Cygnus Business Consulting Research Pvt. Ltd. (2008), in its Quarterly Performance Analysis of Companies (April-June 2008) has analysed the Indian telecom industry in the awake of recent global recession and its overall impact on the Indian economy. The analysis is done in the background of wake of global recession and rising inflation. Cygnus estimates, the Indian telecom industry is expected to maintain the growth trajectory in the next quarter as well. With almost 5-6m subscribers are being added every month, and the country is witnessing wild momentum in the telecom industry. Maheshwari (July-September 2008), in her report analysed the Indian telecom industry and ascertain that Indian telecommunications has been zooming up the growth curve at an mounting pace, and India is has surpassed US to become the second largest wireless network in the world. This growing subscriber base is basically created by tapping into rural India, which is an emerging market for the industry. The estimate for the next five to ten years is that the rural market will form 40 % of the subscriber base. The study has analysed the human resource management process of the industry, and specially the latest trends of recruitment of this massively growing industry. Anderson (2008), in his single executive interview titled Developing a route to market strategy for mobile communications in rural India An interview with Gurdeep Singh, Operations Director, Uttar Pradesh, Hutch India suggests that managers need to go beyond traditional approaches to serving the poor, and innovate by taking into account the unique institutional context of developing markets. His practical implication says that the experience of Hutchison Essar in India provides some important lessons for mobile network operators (MNOs) and other firms in other developing markets who are hoping to serve the rural poor: Hutchison has recognized the value of corporate and non- corporate partners. The company has proactively established relationships with individual entrepreneurs, and has provided has provided development support to other partners such as distributors. The company has recognized the value of leveraging existing local institutions, and has seen gaps in local infrastructur e or missing services as potential opportunities rather than barriers to growth. The company has seen the rural market as an opportunity not just an obligation to be served because of universal service obligations. Also this article demonstrates that MNOs can deliver availability and affordability to achieve increased individual or household penetration through business model innovation. Mani (2008) addresses a number of issues arising from the growth of telecom services in India since the mid-1990s. It also discusses a number of spillover effects for the rest of the economy and one of the more important effects is the potential to develop a major manufacturing hub in the country for telecom equipment and for downstream industries such as semiconductor devices. The telecom industry in India could slowly become an example of the service sector acting as a fillip to the growth of the manufacturing sector. A beginning towards this has been made. The formation of a Telecom Equipment Export Forum and the announcement of the Indian Semiconductor Policy 2007 are steps in this direction. Success crucially depends on the response of the private sector to these incentives. Given the importance that a regulatory agency can play in this crafting, no effort should be lost in strengthening the powers of the TRAI. The benefits to the Indian economy from having both a strong service s and manufacturing segments in the telecom sector cannot be undermined. Narayana (2008) estimates the contribution of telecommunication (or telecom) services to aggregate economic growth in India. Estimated contribution is distinguished between public and private sectors to highlight the impact of telecom privatization on economic growth. Knowledge of policy determinants of demand of telecom services is shown to be essential to enhance growth contribution of telecom services. Using a recent sample survey data from Karnataka State in South India, price and income determinants of demand for telecom services are estimated by capacity of telephone exchanges. Estimation results offer evidence for significant negative own price elasticity and positive income elasticity of demand for telecom services. Sharma (2009) deals with the major challenges faced by Indias telecom equipment manufacturing sector, which lags behind telecom services. Only 35% of the total demand for telecom equipment in the country is met by domestic production. This is not favourable to long-term sustained growth of the telecom sector. The country is also far behind in RD spending when compared to other leading countries. India needs to see an increase in RD investment, industry-academia-government partnership, better quality doctoral education and incentives to entrepreneurs for start-ups in telecom equipment manufacturing. In 2006-07, 65% of the total consumption of equipment was met through imports. This trend has far-reaching implications for the economy and should not be allowed to continue for long. In a country like India which has a problem of massive unemployment, the manufacturing sector should be promoted to create more employment opportunities. Shah (February, 2009), has analysed Indian telecom industry and studied the sector keeping in mind three companies; namely Bharti, R.Comm and idea in the background of recent global meltdown. The study suggests that though there is no sign of slowdown in this sector, but surely a strong turmoil is going on in the industry. The study states that the sector is fairly immune from the current economic downturn does provide a good defensive bet in medium term. With the help of newer technologies, wireless penetration is expected to increase in the near future, which is basically fuelling the growth of the sector. While the 3G / Broadband adoption would ensure long term growth momentum, the article has thoroughly investigated about the intense competitive scenario, pricing pressure, high capital intensity substantial regulatory uncertainties currently faced by the industry. The article has also described the cause of being relatively safe of this industry. The causes described by Shah ar e increasing rural coverage, rising affordability, declining handset/subscription costs, substantially low tariffs established brand/distribution. However, the study also cautions the telecom industry that a steeper economic slowdown could start impacting the subscriber usage patterns as well as operator capital investments thereby could substantially restrict revenue growth rates going forward. GLOBAL OVERVIEW World telecom industry is an uprising industry, proceeding towards a goal of achieving two third of the worlds telecom connections. Over the past few years information and communications technology has changed in a dramatic manner and as a result of that world telecom industry is going to be a booming industry. Substantial economic growth and mounting population enable the rapid growth of this industry. The world telecommunications market is expected to rise at an 11 percent compound annual growth rate at the end of year 2010. The leading telecom companies like ATT, Vodafone, Verizon, SBC Communications, Bell South, Qwest Communications are trying to take the advantage of this growth. These companies are working on telecommunication fields like broadband technologies, EDGE(Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution) technologies, LAN-WAN inter networking, optical networking, voice over Internet protocol, wireless data service etc. Economical aspect of telecommunication industry: World telecom industry is taking a crucial part of world economy. The total revenue earned from this industry is 3 percent of the gross world products and is aiming at attaining more revenues. One statistical report reveals that approximately 16.9% of the world population has access to the Internet. Present market scenario of world telecom industry: Over the last couple of years, world telecommunication industry has been consolidating by allowing private organizations the opportunities to run their businesses with this industry. The Government monopolies are now being privatized and consequently competition is developing. Among all, the domestic and small business markets are the hardest INDIAN OVERVIEW Today the Indian telecommunications network with over 375 Million subscribers is second largest network in the world after China. India is also the fastest growing telecom market in the world with an addition of 9- 10 million monthly subscribers. The tele- density of the Country has increased from 18% in 2006 to 33% in December 2008, showing a stupendous annual growth of about 50%, one of the highest in any sector of the Indian Economy. The Department of Telecommunications has been able to provide state of the art world-class infrastructure at globally competitive tariffs and reduce the digital divide by extending connectivity to the unconnected areas. India has emerged as a major base for the telecom industry worldwide. Thus Indian telecom sector has come a long way in achieving its dream of providing affordable and effective communication facilities to Indian citizens. As a result common man today has access to this most needed facility. The reform measures coupled with the proacti ve policies of the Department of Telecommunications have resulted in an unprecedented growth of the telecom sector. The thrust areas presently are: 1. Building a modern and efficient infrastructure ensuring greater competitive environment 2. With equal opportunities and level playing field for all stakeholders. 3. Strengthening research and development for manufacturing, value added services. 4. Efficient and transparent spectrum management 5. To accelerate broadband penetration 6. Universal service to all uncovered areas including rural areas. 7. Enabling Indian telecom companies to become global players. Recent things to watch in Indian telecom sector are: 1. 3G and BWA auctions 2. MVNO 3. Mobile Number Portability 4. New Policy for Value Added Services 5. Market dynamics once the recently licensed new telecom operators start rolling out 6. Services. 7. Increased thrust on telecom equipment manufacturing and exports. 8. Reduction in Mobile Termination Charges as the cost per line has substantially reduced 9. Due to technological advancement and increase in traffic. ÂÂ   Research Strategy and methodology. Primary research: The research design is Descriptive studies. Descriptive studies are well structured, they tend to be rigid and its approach cannot be changed every now and then. Descriptive studies are undertaken in many circumstances:When the researcher is interested in knowing the characteristics of certain groups such as age, profession. When the researcher is interested in knowing the proportion of people in given population who have behaved in a particular manner, making projection of certain things. The objective of this kind of study is to answer the why, who, what, when and how of the subject under consideration. I have taken descriptive because my research includes the knowing the behavior of customer towards advertisement. I have analyzed how people of various age groups respond to different advertising or their perception towards advertisement. Also my survey is related to companies like Vodafone, Airtel, Reliance communications, BSNL and Idea cellular. This report Is going to be an comparative research so we have to undergo and primary research such as questionnaires, college gate interaction, personal interviews etc., but mostly I am think of undertaking the help of questionnaire so that we get an accurate result and that will help us to analyse in a systematic way. The questionnaire would be having very simple to understand questions, the questions would be Open format, Dichotomous questions Close format, Leading questions, Importance questions, Liker choice, Bipolar questions, In this report we are going to totally relay upon statistical data that can only be obtained with the help of questionnaire, and more we have seen in the past that Indians are very good at answering the questionnaire and are very non bias. Moreover my target respondents would students aged 16-18 18-21 21+ because this are the people who make the most use of mobile phone either to text or call or to use GPRS. I would be utilising this primary research as the base of research as these are going to be fact figure, here we cannot temper the primary data as we can do in secondary data. And it is said that if you want an accurate result you have to undertake a primary research. Secondary research: While if we talk about the secondary data, I would be collecting it from the official website of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India which will provide me the various insight of the laws and regulation regarding the telecomm sector of India. This website will also give me the information regarding the various incomes coming from these private telecom sectors. And their contribution to the Indian economy. Even the secondary source would be the journals and the magazines issued by the Indian government. The secondary research will also be the information provided by the various retailers regarding the sale of different private telecomm companies from their store. This will help me to know the demand of various companies among the people. Major players in telecom industry The Top five companies, on the basis of Market Share as on 31st January, 2010 are: Bharti Airtel Ltd. Reliance Communications Ltd. Vodafone Essar Ltd. BSNL Idea Cellular + Spice Advertising by telecom industry on TV : 2007 Telecom sector advertising on TV grew by 61 per cent during 2007 Telecommunication Services segment had more than 60 per cent share of overall Telecom sector advertising on TV. Telecommunication Services has seen a rise of 108 per cent in TV advertising, whereas Telecommunication Equipments saw a rise of 17 per cent during 2007 over 2006. Bharti Airtel Ltd was the number one advertiser under Telecommunication Services and Nokia Corporation led Telecommunication Equipments advertising on TV during 2007. 2008 TV advertising of Telecom sector saw a rise of 99 per cent during January August 2008 compared to January August 2007. Telecommunication Services garnered a high share of Telecom sector advertising on TV during January August 2008. TV advertising of Telecommunication Equipments saw a growth of 45 per cent and that of Telecommunication Services grew by 127 per cent during January August 2008. Nokia Corporation leads in advertising of Telecommunication Equipments and Vodafone Essar Ltd was number one advertisers for Telecommunication Services on TV during January August 2008. R Madhavan had the maximum ad volumes of Celebrity Endorsement of Telecom sector on TV during January August 2008. 2009 Telecom sector has seen a decline of 16 per cent in its TV ad volumes during Jan Mar 09 compared to Jan Mar 08. High share of telecommunication services advertising on TV during Jan- Mar 09. Sony Ericsson (India) was the top advertisers under telecommunication equipments and Bharti Airtel Ltd leads in telecommunication services advertising on TV during Q1 09. Sony Ericsson W595 and Sony Ericsson F305 were top two new brands advertised under telecommunication equipments on TV during Q1 09.Virgin vGlide Phones (slider) topped the chart of new telecommunication services advertised on TV during Q1 09. Growth in ads volumes of telecom sector: There is a growth of 27% in TV ads compare to 2009 in 2010. Which is shown in figure. Share of segments of telecom sector 2010 With 68% per cent share telecommunication services leads in advertising of telecom sector on TV, followed by telecommunication equipments and corporate brand image with 11 per cent and two per cent share respectively during Q1 10 Growth in ad vol.s of segments of telecom sector Telecommunication services have seen a increased by 2% in its TV ad Volumes during Jan Mar 10 compared to Jan Mar 09. TV advertising of telecommunication equipments recorded a increase by 172 percent during Q1 10 compared to Q1 09. Top five advertisers under the telecom segments : Bharti Airtel Ltd, Idea Cellular Ltdand Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd the top three key players of telecommunication services together accounted for 65 per cent share on TV during Q1 10. During Q1 10, top three advertiser together contributed for 46per cent of overall telecommunication equipment TV advertising share viz., Nokia Corporation , samsung India electronics Ltd and LG Electronics India Ltd. Questionnaire IMPACT OF ADVERTISING IN INDIAN TELECOM INDUSTRY ON ITS CUSTOMERS. Top of Form 1. Gender: Male Female 2. Age: 15-25 26-35 36-45 46 and above 3.Education: marticulate Intermediate Graduation post graduation 4.Who is your current service provider? Airtel Vodafone Idea Reliance BSNL other 5.For how long you are using this mobile connection? Le

Islamic Feminism: An overview

Islamic Feminism: An overview Introduction Feminism is a secular ideology and Islam today rests on fundamentalist foundations. Those who advocate that feminist projects be conducted within an Islamic framework have clearly despaired of secular options for change without considering how have elaborated Lilas argument against the possibility of the coexistence of Islam and feminism because it explains the anxiety many Muslim women public intellectuals, including Chandra Talpade (2003), Jasmine (2004), and Martin (2003), feel as they watch the Taliban taking away womens rights in Afghanistan, the Algerian Front Islamique de Salut targeting women intellectuals, the fundamentalist Sudanese government oppressing its women. Many are sure that compromise with such a religion is fatal. Some women are joining religious groups despite their gender conservatism. Others are fighting these same groups, fearing the dangerous chemistry of politics and religion. Whether through or against religion they are choosing to become part of the struggle for a better world. The question many pose to women who voluntarily Islamize is: Do they accept their communities reactionary norms or do they appropriate and in the process subvert them? If there are some who can be considered feminists according to my definition of the term, how do they adapt their convictions that women have certain rights with the perceived need to subsume them to the community interest? How will the ways in which they position themselves to assert responsibility for the construction of their own, new religious identity change the face of Islam? How does participation in jihad allow for feminist activism? These are the questions which are imposed and discussed by Amina Wadud, Badran (1995), Hamid (2006), Saba ( 2005), Lila (2002) and other writers in their respective books and articles. Feminism according to Holy Quran The Quran is unequivocally opposed to gender equality, and the Sharia is not compatible with the principles of equality of human beings (Afshar, 1996, p.122). Despite its growing currency throughout the Muslim world, Lila asserts that Islamic feminism has no coherent, self-identified and/or easily identifiable ideology or movement. Those who advocate its utility as a concept and a marker for a specific brand of feminism are not women from within Muslim societies but rather diasporic feminist academics and researchers of Muslim background living and working in the West (126). These women she later characterizes as exceptionally forgiving, postmodern relativist feminists in the West whose indigenized and exotic form of Western feminism excludes core ideas of legal and social equity, sexual democracy and womens control over their sexuality (146). The attitudes to Islamic feminism span the gamut of leftists like herself who reject its possibility because they consider divine laws inherently hostile toward feminism, to those who posit that feminism within an Islamic framework is the only culturally sound and effective strategy for the regions womens movement (134). The latter group may include secularists overwhelmed by the political and discursive influence of Islamic fundamentalism (134). Here lies the major problem in Lilas argument: she confounds Islam and Islamic fundamentalism, as though the two were the same. This affirmation, she dramatically asserts, relies on twisting facts or distorting realities, ignoring or hiding that which should be clear (135). Her very real fear is that to celebrate Islamic feminism is to highlight only one of the many forms of identity available to Middle Eastern women, obscuring ways that identity is asserted or reclaimed, overshadowing forms of struggle outside religious practices and silencing the secular voices which are still raised against the regions stifling Islamification policies (137-38). An Anti-Modern Feminist Perspective A considerably different perspective is presented in Anouar Majids â€Å"The Politics of Feminism in Islam.† Majid is wary of the dangers of imposing Western feminist traditions on non-Western cultures and attempts therefore to recuperate a feminist tradition within traditional Islamic culture, though he is not entirely successful in doing so. Majid recognizes that the problems women face in Islamic societies cannot be divorced from European colonialism. For Majid, the political and economic structures that have resulted from independence from European domination have not emancipated the poor (341). He feels that nationalist elites have established Eurocentric models of government, namely nation-states (342, n. 17). For Majid, representations of Islamic culture as undemocratic and patriarchal reify the history of Muslim culture and downplay the impact of imperialism on gender relations in Islamic countries (349). Majid finds that a major problem in attempting to develop Islamic feminist perspectives is the difficulty of overcoming the Western and often Orientalist biases that pervade feminist thought. These biases include a dehistoricised notion of human rights and â€Å"an implicit acceptance of the bourgeois political apparatus as a reliable mechanism for negotiating the grievances of the exploited† (339). Western feminism cannot be readily separated from hostility to Islamic culture, according to Majid. To illustrate the point, he cites the example of upper-class Islamic women who have sometimes embraced Western feminist values and in the process â€Å"condemned native customs as backward, proclaimed the superiority of the West, and uncompromisingly equated unveiling with liberation† (338). Females in Islam Even though women may have high-status professional jobs and make important decisions in the course of the day, and even though Islamic sharia insists that women have the right to keep their income, it appears that husbands continue to control the decisions concerning expenditures. The husband is pivotal in allowing his wife to work in the interest of the welfare of the family, he is also the final arbiter in defining what constitutes that welfare. In many instances, while accepting that she may work outside the home, he will not allow her to participate in public events. As already noted, Oven the power of the constitutions of various countries affirming the determination of the sharia that men are in charge of women, there is little chance for change in the foreseeable future. Modernization and urbanization, however, have brought about certain changes in family life. One is a preference for nuclear families. This has altered the traditional power of the mother-in-law which has been undermined by the new system. Instead of being a guest in her mother-in-laws home, the bride gets to be in charge of her own household. But, if she also has to go out to work in order to maintain private residence, her workload is doubled. In addition, the change in housing design from the traditional open courtyard with a garden and opening to the sky to the small apartment has confined the woman and restricted her contact with other members of the family as well as with nature. If her husband restricts her going out, she feels imprisoned and lacks contact with friends and intimate relations. Zine identifies what she sees as the roles for women, determined by the tripartite class structure of Arab society: the working class, the middle class, and the upper class. In the working class, she says, a sharp distinction is made between feminine and masculine characteristics (Zine, 2006, p.19). Conclusion One of the themes that emerges from contemporary writing about Muslim women is that of woman as victim of the experience of oppression in developing countries. The oppression is not unique to the Arab context but is a consequence of disempowerment and feelings of impotence. The condition of the woman serves to demonstrate the extremes of disempowerment. She has become the projection of the inadequacy of the society, shackled with the burden of failure and weakness. Her inherent worth is devalued in relation to her physique, intellect, gender, productivity, and status. At the same time, her role as mother is symbolically elevated. Islam provides security and equivalence to the females and it has made many laws which secures the importance of females in this male dominant world. References Abu-Lughod, Lila 2002. Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others. In American Anthropologist, Vol. 104, No. 3, pp. 783-790 Afshar, Haleh 1996. Islam and Feminism: An Analysis of Political Strategies. In Feminism and Islam: Legal and Literary Perspectives, ed. Mai Yamani. NY: New York University Press, p.122-138 Badran, Margot 1995. Feminists, Islam and Nation: Gender and Feminists, Islam, and Nation: Gender and the Making of Modern Egypt. Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press. Hamid, Shadi 2006. ‘Between Orientalism and Posrmodernism: the changing nature of Western Feminist thought towards the middle east’, HAWWA 4,1:76-92. Mahmood, Saba 2005. Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject (Princeton: Princeton University Press). Mahmood, Saba 2006. ‘Performativity, Agency, and the Feminist Subject‘, in (eds) Ellen Armour and Susan St. Ville, Bodily Citations: Religion and Judith Butler (New York, Columbia Uni Press). ISBN 0-231-13407-X Majid, Anouar 1998. The Politics of Feminism in Islam, Signs, Vol. 23, No. 2, p. 321-361 Martin F McLelland 2004 ‘Re-placing queer studies: reflections on the queer matters conference’, in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies vol 6, number 2: 299- 311. Talpade, Chandra 2003. Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity. Durham London: Duke University Press. P.71 Zine, Jasmine 2004. Creating a critical faith-centred space for antiracist feminism, in Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. Vol. 20, No. 2, Pages 167-187 Zine, Jasmine 2006. Between Orientalism and Fundamentalism: The Politics of Muslim Womens Feminist Engagement, Muslim World Journal of Human Rights: Vol. 3, p.19 Public Health Issue Analysis: Smoking Public Health Issue Analysis: Smoking ENHANCING HEALTH AND WELLBEING ACROSS POPULATIONS: INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this essay is to identify a public health issue related in my field. To facilitate the discussion smoking as a public health issue has been chosen. The holistic impact smoking have on the wellbeing of an individual will be explored. The stage of change model and the Healthy Lives (2010) policy will be explored in relation to smoking. The rationale for choosing this topic is because smoking is an important public health issue. The smoke is very toxic to every human tissue it touches on its way into, through and out of the smoker’s body (Ewles 2005). Smoking is considered as a health hazard because Tobacco smoke contains nicotine, a poisonous alkaloid, and other harmful substances such as carbon monoxide, acrolein, ammonia and tars.Gorvenment initiatives like the Public Health White Paper, choosing health; Making Choices Easier (DH 2004) will be addressed. The nurse’s role and other professions involved will be highlighted .Confidentiality shall be maintained throughout this essay as prescribed by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (2008). The impact of tobacco smoking on public health extends beyond the direct effects on the individual smoker and their personal health, plus taking into account the effect on their economic, environmental and social effects (Ewles 2005).). Smoking harms nearly every org an of the body thereby causing many diseases, reducing quality of life and life expectancy. Also it has been estimated that in England, 364,000 patients are admitted to NHS hospitals each year due to smoking related diseases which translates into about 7,000 hospital admission per week and 1,000 admissions per day (ASH 2006). In the UK, smoking causes about a fifth of all deaths, approximately 114,000 each year, most of which are premature with an average of 21 years early (Ewles 2005). According to Peto et. al. (2003) cited in Ewles (2005), most premature deaths caused by smoking are Lung and coronary cancer, chronic obstructive heart diseases and coronary heart diseases with 42800, 29100 and 30600 deaths respectively every year. In addition, smoking is known to also bring increased risk of many debilitating conditions like impotence, infertility, gum disease, asthma and psoriasis (Ewles 2005). Research has also shown that non-smokers are put at risk by exposure to other peopleâ₠¬â„¢s smoke which is known as passive or involuntary smoking and is also referred to as second-hand smoke (SHS) or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) (Cancer Research 2009). According to the Oxford Medical Companion (1994) cited in the WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic 2008, â€Å"tobacco is the only legally available consumer product which kills people when it is used entirely as intended†. Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death in the World which causes one in ten deaths among adults worldwide and in 2005, tobacco caused about 5.4million deaths, an average of one death every six second Certain behaviors have been labeled as risky behaviors associated with negative health outcomes among which smoking is and which has been the subject of UK national health strategies (Naidoo Wills 2005). Smoking causes about one fifth of all deaths in the UK, most of which are premature and has hugely significant impacts on the wider environment and community through causing air pollution, fires, litter and environmental damage (Ewles 2005). Prevalence of smoking among the low paid groups has been observed to be twice those of the affluent groups because of the great difficulty people in the less affluent groups experience in stopping smoking (Ewles 2005). Tobacco smoking is also widely recognized as a cause of health inequality in the UK because it is common among the deprived groups and also compromises the already poorer health of deprived population such as those that fall within the marginalized groups. Examples are people with mental problems and prisoners, who are more likely to smoke and less likely to have access to mainstream smoking cessation services (Ewles 2005). The Index of multiple deprivation ranks areas from the most deprived to the least deprived and the odds of smoking increases as deprivation in the area increases (The NHS Information centre 2008). Children smoke for all sorts of reasons. Some smoke to show their independence, others because their friends do while some smoke because adults tell them not to and others do smoke to follow the example of role models. There is no single cause. Parents, brothers and sisters who smoke are a powerful influence. Also is the way it is been advertised and the tobacco companies sponsor sport which makes children want to try it (DH 1998). The problems of smoking during pregnancy are closely related to health inequalities between those in need and the most advantaged. Women with partners in manual groups are more likely to smoke during pregnancy than those with partners in non-manual groups: 26 per cent of women with partners in manual groups smoke during pregnancy, compared with 12 per cent with partners doing non-manual work (DH 1998). Health promotion is a complex activity and is difficult to define. Davies and Macdowall (2006) describe health promotion as â€Å"any strategy or intervention that is designed to improve the health of individuals and its population†. However perhaps one of the most recognized definitions is that of the World Health Organization’s who describes health promotion as â€Å"a process of enabling people to increase control over their health and its determinants, and thereby improve their health (WHO 1986). If we look at this in relation to the nurse’s role in smoking cessation and giving advice to a patient, this can be seen as a positive concept in that with the availability of information together with support, the patient is then able to make an informed decision, thus creating empowerment and an element of self control. Bright (1997) supports this notion suggesting that empowerment is created when accurate information and knowledgeable advice is given, thus aiding the development of personal skills and self esteem. A vital component of health promotion is health education which aims to change behavior by providing people with the knowledge and skills they require to make healthier decisions and enable them to fulfill their potential. Healthy Lives Healthy People (2010) highlight the vital role nurses play in the delivery of health promotion with particular attention on prevention at primary and secondary levels.Nurses have a wealth of skills and knowledge and use this knowledge to empower people to make lifestyle changes and choices. This encourages people to take charge of their own health and to increase feelings of personal autonomy (Christensen 2006). Smoking is one of the biggest threats to public health, therefore nurses are in a prime position to help people to quit by offering encouragement, provide information and refer to smoking cessation services. In 2010 the white paper Healthy Live Healthy People set out the government long term policy for improving public health and in 2011 a new tobacco control plan was published (Department of Health 2011). The Whitepaper Healthy Life Healthy People set out a range of measures aimed at preventing people from starting to smoke and helping them to stop, such as banning cigarettes advertising on billboards, in size and action on tobacco intensified (DH, 2011). WHO defines health promotion a process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve, their health. It implies that the ideology moves beyond a focus on individual behavior towards a wide range of social and environmental interventions. Naidoo and Wills (2010), states ‘health promotion is based on theories about what influences people’s health and what are effective interventions or strategies to improve health.

Analyzing TM Berhad using Bolman and Deal’s Four Frames :: essays research papers

Bolman & Deal’s Four Frames: Case Report 1.0  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Introduction The purpose of this paper is to analyse TM Berhad using Bolman and Deal’s four frames, as per figure 1 below. Bolman & Deal suggests that ‘Leaders like everyone else, view their experiences through a set of preconditioned lenses and filters’ (Bolman and Deal, 1991, p 510) (Adapted from Bolman & Deal, 1997) In this paper, we have examined our company of choice, TM Berhad, utilizing each of these four frames as a â€Å"spectacle† to determine the leadership approach of its management, and then detailing the more prominent of the frames used. TM Berhad was chosen for our case analysis, due to availability of data from significant coverage on the company awarded by the media. 2.0  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Telekom Berhad (â€Å"TM†)- Profile TM is a government-linked corporation, through its substantial shareholder Khazanah Malaysia (Khazanah), the Malaysian Government’s main investment vehicle. It is a major component of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Berhad Composite Index. In 2004, a new Group Chief Executive Officer, Dato Abdul Wahid bin Omar was appointed by Khazanah under a general revamp exercise of the GLCs. TM is the main nationwide provider of telecommunication services. It has x no of subsidiaries and operates in three core operating areas of: †¢ Telco- Its core telecommunication business †¢ Telekom Multimedia- Develops new media businesses †¢ ServiceCo- Oversees operational activities such as fleet and property management. The fixed line business and residential telephone services remain the core business of TM. TM’s organization chart is depicted in figure 2 below: Figure 2 3.0  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Four –Frame Analysis Our four-frame analysis (Figure 3 above) reveals that TM, like any other modern large corporation, places heavy emphasis on the structural frame. Other frame elements are also present, for example, career development and training programmes are evidence of HR frame use, as well as deployment of a re-branding exercise and other symbolic rituals to provide symbolic frame elements. We may also make inferences that the political frame is also in play from agenda-setting, ambiguity and uncertainty caused by the rationalization and reorganization leading to scarcity of resources and internal conflict, and signing of a collective agreement to denote bargaining and negotiation. We have chosen to focus our detailed analysis on the more prominent structural frame. 4.0  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Structural Frame Analysis Bolman & Deal list six assumptions behind the Structural Frame. 1) Organizations exist to achieve established goals and objectives. 2) Organizations work best when rationality prevails over personal preferences and external pressures. 3) Structures must be designed to fit organizational circumstances.

Debating the Connection Between Birds and Dinosaurs :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Debating the Connection Between Birds and Dinosaurs We live in a world, where every question must have an answer. If that question doesn’t have an answer, somebody is determined to find out what the answer is. One of those very questions is simply, did birds evolve from dinosaurs? Many scientists have theories. There is no definite answer. I will, however, give you information on some theories scientists have, as well as information on a new discovery that may very well be indeed what scientists around the world have been looking for. I will leave it up to you, to decide who you think is right. The idea that birds and reptiles are closely related is not a new one. Since Darwin, similarities between modern birds and reptiles started speculation that these groups had something in common. Then, in 1861, the first specimen of the famous Archaeopteryx ("ancient wing") was found in Bavaria. It seemed to be a mixture of bird-like and reptile-like characteristics. â€Å"For many, this creature was - and is - a powerful confirmation of large-scale evolutionary change (â€Å"Are birds feathered dinosaurs?†).† Since then more and more new discoveries have been found influencing the dino-bird theory. The most recent discovery was in Northern China, of a feathered covered dinosaur that may very well be the answer to this very important question. This discovery not only presents questions about the origins of birds but also about the life of dinosaurs. It reinforces the case for the theory that birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs, while hinting that many other dinosaurs may have had feathers to keep them warm. The fossil skeleton is estimated to be somewhere between 126–147 million years old (Henahan 2001). However, according to the original scientific article the age is debatable. â€Å"Certain elements suggest a Late Jurassic age; radiometric work from several sites near Sihetun has suggested conflicting dates of 124.6 million years ago or 147 million years ago. The age of these beds is a complex problem and it is likely that several ages are represented at different quarry sites (Ji et al 2001).† According to the article the fossil was discovered by a team of American and Chinese scientists in the Yixian Formation in the Liaoning Province, China. This is the first dinosaur to be discovered with its body covering unbroken. The fossil has been identified as a type of dromaeosaur. The discovery may cause trouble in the paleontology community, where a debate continues on the link between dinosaurs and birds.

Handstar Inc Essay

Handstar Inc. was created a little over four years ago by two college roommates to develop software applications for handheld computing devices. It has since grown to ten employees with annual sales approaching $1. 5 million. Handstar’s original product was an expense report application that allowed users to record expenses on their handheld computers and then import these expenses into a spreadsheet that then create an expense report in one of five standard formats. Based on the success of its first product, Handstar subsequently developed three additional software products: a program for tracking and measuring the performance of investment portfolios- a calendar program, and a program that allowed users to download their email messages from their PC and read them on their handheld computers. The two founders of Handstar have recently become concerned about the competitiveness of their offerings, particularly since none of them has been updated after their initial launch. Therefore, they asked the directors of product development and marketing to work together and prepare a list of potential projects for updating Handstar’s current offerings as well as to develop ideas for additional offerings. The directors were also asked to estimate the development costs of the various projects, product revenues, and the likelihood that Handstar could retain or obtain a leadership position for the given product. Also, with the increasing popularity of the Internet, the founders asked the directors to evaluate the extent to which the products made use of the Internet. The product development and marketing directors identified three projects related to updating Handstar’s existing products. The first project would integrate Handstar’s current calendar program with its email program. Integrating these two applications into a single program would provide a number of benefits to users such as allowing them to automatically enter the dates of meetings into the calendar based on the content of an email message. The directors estimated that this project would require 1250 hours of software development time. Revenues in the first year of the product’s launch were estimated to be $750,000. However, because the directors expected that a large percentage of the users would likely upgrade to this new product soon after its introduction, they projected that annual sales would decline by 10 percent annually in subsequent years. The directors speculated that Handstar was moderately likely to obtain a leadership position in email/calendar programs if this project were undertaken and felt this program made moderate use of the Internet. The second project related to updating the expense report program. The directors estimated that this project would require 400 hours of development time. Sales were estimated to be $250,000 in the first year and to increase 5 percent annually in subsequent years. The directors speculated that completing this project would almost certainly maintain Handstar’s leadership position in the expense report category, although it made little use of the Internet. The last product enhancement project required enhancing the existing portfolio tracking program. This project would require 750 hours of development time and would generate first-year sales of $500,000. Sales were projected to increase 5 percent annually in subsequent years. The directors felt this project would have a high probability of maintaining Handstar’s leadership position in this category and the product would make moderate use of the Internet. The directors also identified three opportunities for new products. One project was the development of a spreadsheet program that could share files with spread-sheet programs written for PCs. Developing this product would require 2500 hours of development time. First-year sales were estimated to be $1,000,000 with an annual growth rate of 10 percent. While this product did not make use of the Internet, the directors felt that Handstar had a moderate chance of obtaining a leadership position in this product category. The second new product opportunity identified was a Web browser. Developing this product would require 1875 development hours. First-year sales were estimated to be $2,500,000 with an annual growth rate of 15 percent. Although this application made extensive use of the Internet, the directors felt that there was a very low probability that Handstar could obtain a leadership position in this product category. The final product opportunity identified was a trip planner program that would work in conjunction with a PC connected to the Web and download travel instructions to the user’s handheld computer. This product would require 6250 hours of development time. First-year sales were projected to be $1,300,000 with an annual growth rate of 5 percent. Like the Web browser program, the directors felt that there was a low probability that Handstar could obtain a leadership position in this category, although the program would make extensive use of the Internet. In evaluating the projects, the founders believed it was reasonable to assume each product had a three-year life. They also felt that a discount rate of 12 percent fairly reflected the company’s cost of capital. An analysis of pay-roll records indicated that the cost of software developers is $52 per hour including salary and fringe benefits. Currently there are four software developers on staff, and each works 2500 hours per year. Which option should they choose?

The beach, the place I come to when I finish the day

The beach, the place I come to when I finish the day†¦. It's the perfect place to relax after the pressure of working at a Caribbean bar. Everyday I come to the beach and sit around, it allows me to cool off from work and think about how bad or good my day has been. The beach is always empty at this time and is perfectly located, right outside my house. Stretching a mile in either direction there is plenty of room for people to go who want to be alone, who want time to gather their thoughts and work out what has actually happened to day nd what hasn't. It's also the time when you usually realise you forgot to do something, that's basically why I come here. As I look off down the beach I see the island as night approaches, in the distance the lights of hotels come on, the occasional car lights, the boats in the harbour turn their lights on and the lone cruise ship coming in lit up like a Christmas tree. The sunsets in the distance falling slowly behind the vast spread of water and already high in the sky the moon begins it's over watch. The beach, now cast in a reddish old light begins to cool off from the hot day and the sea, sparkling in the fading light rolls quietly in. The palm trees behind, mostly in shadows sway in the gentle breeze. The occasional bird fly's in to roost and the night creatures come out. On the beach a small crab dashes from hole to hole in search of food and like an opaque blob a jellyfish patiently waits for the sea to return. By now the beach is quiet, only the relaxing sounds remain, the sea as it sloshes up the beach the breeze as it gently blows through the alms, the birds calling their night calls and the nocturnal animals announcing that they are awake. I feel much more relaxed and cooled off now, it like someone has lifted all the weight of the days work off my shoulders allowing me to slouch here and do nothing. I start to play with the sand as a sit and stare out to see, I feel the grains running though my fingers like dry water, the coolness of the sand also helps to relax me. Also the cool breeze coming in from the sea seems to refresh me from the typical Caribbean heat. As I look around and consider going in another crag sidesteps in front of me, its legs sounding like small pebbles as the hit the sand, I smile as it randomly changes direction as though it were lost on to him is a vast desert like beach. Sitting here, alone makes me feel like nothing matters, that however bad things can get there is peace you just need to know where to find it and I have, here. Sighing I get up and plod back into my house, thinking of the horror awaiting me at the bar tomorrow.