The Grapes Of Wrath By John Steinbeck - 1189 Words

Steinbeck’s uses of Socialist Ideas in â€Å"The Grapes of Wrath† Shortly after being released John Steinbeck’s book â€Å"The Grapes of Wrath† was banned because many critics viewed the novel as promoting communist propaganda, or socialist ideas. The ideas that many of these critics point to is Steinbeck’s depiction of the Big Banks/ Businesses as monsters, the comparison of Government camps to a utopia in contrast of the makeshift â€Å"Hoovervilles,† and the theme of the community before the individual, In his novel â€Å"The Grapes of Wrath† John Steinbeck uses the struggle of migrants on their way to California to show how certain socialist ideas and theories could make the Capitalist society better. Steinbeck compares banks to monsters very early in his book â€Å"The Bank--or the company--needs--wants--insists--musthave--as though the Bank or the Company were a monster, with thought and feeling† (31) . The owners of the land must force the tenants to leave not because they want to but because the â€Å" monster† forces them too. The Bank is all about profits and why would it let a family who keeps part of the crops they grow stay on land the bank owns when they can pay someone on a tractor to do all the farming for them and the crops go to straight profit â€Å"With the industrial revolution and the development of tractors, family farms were giving way to factory farming† ( Novels for Students 16). Not only did the bank force the migrants from the land that they were born on â€Å"Grampa took up the land,Show MoreRelatedThe Grapes Of Wrath By John Steinbeck Essay1622 Words   |  7 Pages The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck, widely viewed as one of the most finest and powerful American writer, born to a middle-class family in 1902 in the Salinas Valley of California. Steinbeck is a writer who often spoke for the people. The Grapes of Wrath is a great movie, published in 1939, filled with many universal truths and views on human nature and society, especially where class is concerned. In the article, John Steinbeck The Grapes a wrath: A Call to Action says, â€Å"Steinbeck’s novel showcasedRead MoreThe Grapes Of Wrath By John Steinbeck1075 Words   |  5 PagesKirsten Lloyd Mr. Eldridge AP Junior English 21 August 2014 Grapes of Wrath â€Å"Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.† (Seneca), In the 1939 novel, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, the reader accompanies the Joad family as they struggle to escape the crippling Dust Bowl of the mid- 1930’s. In hopes of establishing a new life for themselves after being forced off their land the family embark on a journey from Oklahoma to California in search of fruitful crops and steady work alongRead MoreThe Grapes Of Wrath By John Steinbeck1563 Words   |  7 Pages John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, depicts a migrant farming family in the 1930s. During this time, life revolved around the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, making circumstances difficult for almost everyone involved, especially those who had little. This time of drought and despair caused people to lose hope in everything they’ve ever known, even themselves, but those who did not, put their hope in the â€Å"promised land† of California. Here, the grass was thought to be truly greenerRead MoreThe Grapes Of Wrath By John Steinbeck1093 Words   |  5 Pages In John Steinbeck s The Grapes of Wrath, Tom Joad and his family are forced from their home during the 1930’s Oklahoma Dust Bowl and set out for California along with thousands of others in search of jobs, land, and hope for a brighter future. The Grapes of Wrath is Steinbeck’s way to expound about the injustice and hardship of real migrants during the Depression-era. He utilizes accurate factual information, somber imagery, and creates pathos, allowing readers connections to the Joad’s plightRead MoreThe Grapes Of Wrath By John Steinbeck1190 Words   |  5 PagesThe Grapes of Wrath April 14th, 1939, John Steinbeck published the novel, The Grapes of Wrath. The novel became an immediate best seller, with selling over 428,900 copies. Steinbeck, who lived through both the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, sought to bring attention to how families of Oklahoma outdid these disasters. Steinbeck focuses on families of Oklahoma, including the Joads family, who reside on a farm. The Joad family is tested with hardship when life for them on their farm takesRead MoreThe Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck702 Words   |  3 PagesJohn Steinbeck’s use of the intercalary chapters in The Grapes of Wrath helps weave the reader’s sympathy of the Joad family into a more broad sympathy for the migrant farmers as a whole, in the hopes that the readers would then be compelled to act upon what they have read. During the Great Depression, people had a big disconnect about what was happening in various parts of the country. People often struggle to find sympathy for events when they can’t even visualize a person who is suffering throughRead MoreThe Grapes Of Wrath By John Steinbeck2144 Words   |  9 PagesThe Grapes of Wrath is a well-known beloved novel of American Literature, written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. Whoever said a road is just a road has not read The Grapes of Wrath. From the time we read when Tom Joad, novel’s protagonist, returns home after four years in prison; the meaning of roads changed. Route 66, also known as the mother road the road of flight, was a lifeline road, which allowed thousands of families to pursue their hopes and dreams. This road is also the road thatRead MoreThe Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck1014 Words   |  5 PagesJohn Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, was first written and later published in the 1939. Fr om the time of its publication to date, the exemplary yet a simple book has seen Steinbeck win a number of highly coveted awards including Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and later on Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. Set at the time of the Great Depression, the book most remarkably gives a descriptive account of the Oklahoma based sharecropper Joad’ poor family in the light of economic hardship, homelessnessRead MoreThe Grapes Of Wrath By John Steinbeck1064 Words   |  5 PagesThe Grapes of Wrath, originated from a John Steinbeck’s book, a legendary film that focus on a major point of American history. The story follows the Joad family on their journey to California trying to survive the hardships. This film, focus on the social problems of America like the Dust bowl, The Great Depression, and industrialism. The Grapes of Wrath was filmed in a journalistic-documentary style, which displayed the realism of the epidemic in the thirties. The thirties the period The GrapesRead MoreThe Grapes Of Wrath By John Steinbeck1033 Words   |  5 PagesAshlyn Wieczorek Mrs. Benz AP English Language and Composition February, 6 2015 Socialism In John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, he used many clashes of tradition to imply socialism as the cure to California’s economic mess in the 1930s. Socialism started early in Europe and several experiments of it were done in America. To anyone who knows history at all, it always seems to repeat itself, and this philosophy of government style has always failed. Socialism tries to hide behind the concept of

Intercultural Media Studies The Next Frontier - 1172 Words

â€Å"Intercultural Media Studies: The Next Frontier in Intercultural Communication† Just when we thought communicating with others could not become any more complex, most of us find ourselves engaging in forms of communication that we never imagined. Instead of calling our friends on the phone, we send them a quick text message. Rather than having face-to-face meetings, we are able to meet via webcam or video chat. As opposed to asking people about their days, we already know what they’re up to by â€Å"friending† or â€Å"following† them on their social media platforms. Despite all the change in communication patterns that has occurred within our own networks, advancements in technology have also changed the way we interact with people of other†¦show more content†¦In fact, Shuter uses this article to establish and explore a new field of study known as Intercultural New Media Studies (p. 220). Shuter (2012) finds that there are five major th eories of intercultural communication in virtual communities, including cultural identity, intercultural dialogue, third culture, acculturation, and intercultural incompetence (p. 221). According to cultural identity, membership is derived from social groups (Shuter, 2012, p. 221). In â€Å"virtual cultures,† one can alter their pre-existing cultural identity, which threatens traditional identifications that are developed with social identity theory (Shuter, 2012, pp. 221-222). However, when virtual communities are composed of in-group members, the community supports and reinforces any pre-existing cultural identities. Additionally, while theorists have argued a â€Å"hybridized cultural identity† can emerge from being a part of a virtual community composed of diverse cultures, others say this is not possible since Western society dominates much of cyberspace (Shuter, 2012, p. 222). Intercultural dialogue, which requires communicators to challenge their values in o rder to develop a deep understanding of the other, has been found to be extremely difficult in a virtual community since it is much harder to express emotions through technology than it is in-person (Shuter, 2012, pp. 223-224). On the other hand, third culture, when individuals from different cultures

Gloablization Positive and Negative Impact Free Essays

Advantages of Globalization Globalization means increasing the interdependence, connectivity and integration on a global level with respect to the social, cultural, political, technological, economic and ecological levels. Advantages * Goods and people are transported with ease and speed * the possibility of war between the developed countries decreases * free trade between countries increases * global mass media connects all the people in the world as the cultural barriers reduce, the global village dream becomes more realistic * there is a propagation of democratic ideals * the interdependence of the nation-states increases * as the liquidity of capital increases, developed countries can invest in developing ones * the flexibility of corporations to operate across borders increases * the communication between the individuals and corporations in the world increases * environmental protection in developed countries increases Effects of Globalization enhancement in the information flo w between geographically remote locations * the global common market has a freedom of exchange of goods and capital * there is a broad access to a range of goods for consumers and companies * worldwide production markets emerge * free circulation of people of different nations leads to social benefits * global environmental problems like cross-boundary pollution, over fishing on oceans, climate changes are solved by discussions * more trans-border data flow using communication satellites, the Internet, wireless telephones, etc. international criminal courts and international justice movements are launched * the standards applied globally like patents, copyright laws and world trade agreements increase * corporate, national and sub-national borrowers have a better access to external finance * worldwide financial markets emerge * multiculturalism spreads as there is individual access to cultural diversity. We will write a custom essay sample on Gloablization Positive and Negative Impact or any similar topic only for you Order Now This diversity decreases due to hybridization or assimilation * international travel and tourism increases * worldwide sporting events like the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup are held * enhancement in worldwide fads and pop culture local consumer products are exported to other countries * immigration between countries increases * cross-cultural contacts grow and cultural diffusion takes place * there is an increase in the desire to use foreign ideas and products, adopt new practices and technologies and be a part of world culture * free trade zones are formed having less or no tariffs * due to development of containerization for ocean shipping, the transportation costs are reduced * subsidies for local businesses decrease * capital controls reduce or vanquish there is supranational recognition of intellectual property restrictions, i. e. patents authorized by one country are recognized in another Advantages in the Developing World It is claimed that globalization increases the economic prosperity and opportunity in the developing world. The civil liberties are enhanced and there is a more efficient use of resources. All the countries involved in the free trade are at a profit. As a result, there are lower prices, more employment and a better standard of life in these developing nations. It is feared that some developing regions progress at the expense of other developed regions. However, such doubts are futile as globalization is a positive-sum chance in which the skills and technologies enable to increase the living standards throughout the world. Liberals look at globalization as an efficient tool to eliminate penury and allow the poor people a firm foothold in the global economy. In two decades from 1981 to 2001, the number of people surviving on $1 or less per day decreased from 1. 5 billion to 1. 1 billion. Simultaneously, the world population also increased. Thus, the percentage of such people decreased from 40% to 20% in such developing countries. Globalization means increasing the interdependence, connectivity and integration on a global level with respect to the social, cultural, political, technological, economic and ecological levels. Advantages * Goods and people are transported with ease and speed * the possibility of war between the developed countries decreases * free trade between countries increases * global mass media connects all the people in the world as the cultural barriers reduce, the global village dream becomes more realistic * there is a propagation of democratic ideals * the interdependence of the nation-states increases * as the liquidity of capital increases, developed countries can invest in developing ones * the flexibility of corporations to operate across borders increases * the communication between the individuals and corporations in the world increases * environmental protection in developed countries increases Effects of Globalization enhancement in the information flow between geographically remote locations * the global common market has a freedom of exchange of goods and capital * there is a broad access to a range of goods for consumers and companies * worldwide production markets emerge * free circulation of people of different nations leads to social benefits * global environmental problems like cross-boundary pollution, over fishing on oceans, climate changes are solved by discussions * more trans-border data flow using communication satellites, the Internet, wireless telephones, etc. international criminal courts and international justice movements are launched * the standards applied globally like patents, copyright laws and world trade agreements increase * corporate, national and sub-national borrowers have a better access to external finance * worldwide financial markets emerge * multiculturalism spreads as there is ind ividual access to cultural diversity. This diversity decreases due to hybridization or assimilation * international travel and tourism increases * worldwide sporting events like the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup re held * enhancement in worldwide fads and pop culture * local consumer products are exported to other countries * immigration between countries increases * cross-cultural contacts grow and cultural diffusion takes place * there is an increase in the desire to use foreign ideas and products, adopt new practices and technologies and be a part of world culture * free trade zones are formed having less or no tariffs * due to development of containerization for ocean shipping, the transportation costs are reduced * subsidies for local businesses decrease capital controls reduce or vanquish * there is supranational recognition of intellectual property restrictions, i. e. patents authorized by one country are recognized in another Advantages in the Developing World It is c laimed that globalization increases the economic prosperity and opportunity in the developing world. The civil liberties are enhanced and there is a more efficient use of resources. All the countries involved in the free trade are at a profit. As a result, there are lower prices, more employment and a better standard of life in these developing nations. It is feared that some developing regions progress at the expense of other developed regions. However, such doubts are futile as globalization is a positive-sum chance in which the skills and technologies enable to increase the living standards throughout the world. Liberals look at globalization as an efficient tool to eliminate penury and allow the poor people a firm foothold in the global economy. In two decades from 1981 to 2001, the number of people surviving on $1 or less per day decreased from 1. 5 billion to 1. 1 billion. Simultaneously, the world population also increased. Thus, the percentage of such people decreased from 40% to 20% in such developing countries. The Negative Effects of Globalization globalization point out to its negative effects. Some of them are listed below. * Developed nations have outsourced manufacturing and white collar jobs. That means less jobs for their people. This has happened because manufacturing work is outsourced to developing nations like China where the cost of manufacturing goods and wages are lower. Programmers, editors, scientists and accountants have lost their jobs due to outsourcing to cheaper locations like India. Globalization has led to exploitation of labor. Prisoners and child workers are used to work in inhumane conditions. Safety standards are ignored to produce cheap goods. * Job insecurity. Earlier people had stable, permanent jobs. Now people live in constant dread of losing their jobs to competition. Increased job competition has led to reduction in wages and consequently lower standards of living. * Terrorists have access to sophisticated weapons enhancing their ability to inflict damage. Terrorists use the Internet for communicating among themselves. Companies have set up industries causing pollution in countries with poor regulation of pollution. * Fast food chains like McDonalds and KFC are spreading in the developing world. People are consuming more junk food from these joints which has an adverse impact on their health. * The benefits of globalization is not universal. The rich are getting richer and the poor are becoming poorer. * Bad apects of foreign cultures are affecting the local cultures through TV and the Internet. * Enemy nations can spread propaganda through the Internet. Deadly diseases like HIV/AIDS are being spread by travelers to the remotest corners of the globe. * Local industries are being taken over by foreign multinationals. * The increase in prices has reduced the government’s ability to sustain social welfare schemes in developed countries. * T here is increase in human trafficking. * Multinational Companies and corporations which were previously restricted to commercial activities are increasingly influencing political decisions. Disadvantages of Globalization So what’s the harm if the entire world is coming together on a common platform? Why are we even discussing whether globalization is good or bad for the world? As we said earlier, everything has a good side and a bad side. The bad side of globalization predominantly revolves around the fact that the preferences differ from nation to nation, and coming to a consensus on any issue becomes more difficult when too many nods are required. When it comes to globalization, the difference between the rich and poor nation can be a major hindrance. Even though the richer nations will try to assimilate and help poor nations come up, they will not sacrifice on their national interests willingly. Economic Problems:Â  If the entire world becomes a global village, any sort of economic disruption in one nation will have a disastrous impact on various other nations which are closely related to it in terms of trade and commerce. It will be a domino-effect wherein disturbance in one economy would result in disturbance in another, and so on! Cultural Problems:Â  Culture and globalization also seem to be at the loggerheads. Critics of globalization are also of the opinion that it will hamper the age-old cultures which have been followed religiously all over the world. There are many countries in the world which would never agree to compromise when it comes to culture or religion. Migration will become even easier, and the influence of local cultures and traditions will slowly start to wear down. Incessant westernization of Southeast Asian nations has already put western cultural beliefs and traditions under the scanner in these countries. Unemployment:Â  One may feel that globalization is promoting employment, but the fact is exactly reverse of this is happening, especially in developed countries wherein people are losing jobs as a result of outsourcing. Several major companies from the United States and United Kingdom have outsourced their jobs to the developing nations in Asia, this has in turn resulted in unemployment in these countries. Spread of Diseases:Â  Increase in flow of people will also result in spread of diseases, and thus make people more vulnerable to health issues. We do have many examples in history wherein outbreak of a particular disease happened in some part of the world, and before we could realize it spread throughout the world. The critics of globalization and those involved in anti-globalization movement often argue that the implications of this phenomenon will be seen in economics, culture, health and employment, and most of the countries are not ready to take on these disadvantages head-on. Taking their seriousness into consideration, it is not at all possible to turn a blind eye towards these negative effects of globalization. The need of the hour, therefore, is to evaluate the pros and cons of this concept to find out which of the two have an edge over the other. How to cite Gloablization Positive and Negative Impact, Essay examples

Advantage and Disadvantage of Facebook Commerce

Question: What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of f-commerce on both businesses and consumers? Provide two examples of companies that have used, either to an advantage or disadvantage. Answer: In the contemporary business world, Facebook provides an environment where a product gets popularity in a rapid speed. It offers 600 million users to shop online and recommend the products to others with the fan concept of Facebook. In this beneficial scenario, IdeaPaint has effectively taken the advantages and obtained a significant success. This particular B2B Company introduced a specialty-painting product that can transform the wall into a dry-erase surface of writing. It discourages the necessity of white board hanging and offers an impressive creative space. The company effectively created hot spots with social site links by using the welcome tab in Facebook. In addition, the company provided detailed videos regarding the installation and use of their product. This way the company has been able to increase interactivity with their customer along with offering them excellent first experience (Wu et al. 2015). Facebook also enabled them to recommend this product to the users frie nd, increasing the promotional boundary of the company. On the other hand, Facebook also briskly promote the negative image as well as controversy of the company that hinders the companys brand image (Jain 2014). Heinz QR Code has tremendously failed due to this particular disadvantage of the commerce in Facebook. The QR code on a tomato ketchup bottle of this food company ushered the users to pornography website. As the registration of that particular website lapsed, it was reassigned to a pornography website, which created this controversy. This blunder spread through the Facebook community in a stormy speed and the company got a tremendous blow to its brand image. Reference List: Jain, V., 2014. The Impact of Social Commerce on Consumer Behaviour: With Special Reference to F-Commerce.Available at SSRN 2403898. Wu, Y.C.J., Shen, J.P. and Chang, C.L., 2015. Electronic service quality of Facebook social commerce and collaborative learning.Computers in human behavior,51, pp.1395-1402.

Analysis Of The Characters In Death Of A Sales Man Essays

Analysis Of The Characters In Death Of A Sales Man In this paper I'm going to focus on the themes, and also do an analysis of the main characters in the book. I'm going to focus on the theme of the concept of illusion and reality and the nature of the characters and their impact and contribution to the play. The main theme in Death of a Salesman is illusion versus reality. Willy has lived his entire life in a world of illusions. These illusions include Willy's belief that being well-liked is the key to success, as well as the literal illusions that Willy has of his past. Originally, Biff shared Willy's illusions of success and greatness, but by the end of the play he has become completely disillusioned. Once Biff comes to fully understand his place in life, he says to Willy, I'm a dime a dozen, and so are you. Willy, however, has lived too long in his dreams and cannot understand what Biff is trying to say. If Willy had to face reality, he would then be forced to examine the affair he had in Boston, his philosophy, and all of his illusions. Instead, he prefers to live in the past. And now Biff, who is trying to confront the truth about himself, finds that he is completely unable to commuicate with his father. Another theme of Death of a Salesman is the old order of agrarian pride and nobility versus the new order of industrialization. In the beginning of the play, Willy foreshadows this theme by criticizing the changes brought about by industrialization. The street is lined with cars. There's not a breath of fresh air in the neighborhood. It is this conflict between the old and new orders that brings about Willy's downfall. Willy's father, a pioneer inventor, represents the traditional values and way of life that Willy was brought up on. So does Dave Singleman, the eigthy-four year old salesman that inspired Willy to go into the sales industry. Howard, the young boss of Willy's company, represents the impersonal and ruthless nature of capitalistic enterprise. When Willy goes in to ask Howard if he can be transferred to a job in New York, Howard refuses to help him even though Willy has been working for the company for several decades and was good friends with his father. When Willy asks why he cannot be reassigned, Howard replies, ?it's a business, kid, and everybody's gotta pull his own weight, thus demonstrating Howard's cold indifference to Willy's situation. The main conflict in Death of a Salesman deals with the confusion and frustration of Willy Lowman. These feelings are caused by his inability to face the realities of modern society. Willy's most prominent delusion is that success is dependant upon being well-liked and having personal attractiveness. Willy builds his entire life around this idea and teaches it to his children. When Willy was young, he had met a man named Dave Singleman who was so well-liked that he was able to make a living simply by staying in his hotel room and telephoning buyers. When Dave Singleman died, buyers and salesmen from all over the country came to his funeral. This is what Willy has been trying to emulate his entire life. Willy's need to feel well-liked is so strong that he often makes up lies about his popularity and success. At times, Willy even believes these lies himself. At one point in the play, Willy tells his family of how well-liked he is in all of his towns and how vital he is to New England. Later, however, he tells Linda that no one remembers him and that the people laugh at him behind his back. As this demonstrates, Willy's need to feel well-liked also causes him to become intensely paranoid. When his son, Biff, for example, is trying to explain why he cannot become successful, Willy believes that Biff is just trying to spite him. Unfortunately, Willy never realizes that his values are flawed. As Biff points out at the end of the play, he had the wrong dreams. In many ways Biff is similar to his father. In the beginning of the play we see that Biff shares many of the same ideas as

Definition and Examples of Active Vocabulary

Definition and Examples of Active Vocabulary An active vocabulary is made up of the words readily used and clearly understood by an individual when speaking and writing. Contrast with passive vocabulary. Martin Manser notes that an active vocabulary consists  of the words that [people] use frequently and confidently. If someone asks them to make up a sentence containing such and such a word- and they can do it- then that word is part of their active vocabulary. In contrast, Manser says, a persons passive vocabulary consists of the words whose meanings they know- so that they do not have to look the words up in a dictionary- but which they would not necessarily use in ordinary conversation or writing   (The Penguin Writers Manual, 2004). Examples and Observations An active vocabulary covers all those words people need to use and have no reservations about using to communicate with others on an everyday basis. The range of peoples active vocabulary is a unique reflection of their sociocultural position and the range of discursive practices engaged in. In other words, it depends on the range of relations people contract as a part of everyday existence, over a lifetime. Except for people who frequently make contact with the specialist meaning systems of professions or of other special knowledge categories, most peoples active words are high frequency words in the language and need little stimulus to activate them in the mental lexicon. They are ready for use in incoming and outgoing messages, with no noticeable effort.(David Corson, Using English Words. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1995)Developing an Active Vocabulary- When teachers tell you not to use the word get or to find a better adjective to replace nice, they are trying to encourage you to transfer words from your passive vocabulary into your active vocabulary.(Laurie Bauer, Vocabulary. Routledge, 1998)- As a writer, try to turn much of your recognition vocabulary into active vocabulary. In order to make the switch, you must be certain to observe the context, connotation, and denotation of every word you intend to transfer.(Adrienne Robins,  The Analytical Writer: A College Rhetoric. Collegiate Press, 1996)- Educationists believe that using vocabulary in communicative tasks is more beneficial to developing  active vocabulary  than requiring learners to memorize isolated words, or leaving them to their own devices.(Batia Laufer, Quantitative Evaluation of Vocabulary.  Experimenting with Uncertainty: Essays in Honour of Alan Davies,  ed. by C. Elder et al. Cambridge University Press, 2001)- While studies agree that knowledge of vocabulary is important for developing reading skills, they also show it is normally extensive reading that helps develop a wide voca bulary.(Irene Schwab and Nora Hughes, Language Variety. Teaching Adult Literacy: Principles and Practice, ed. by Nora Hughes and Irene Schwab. Open University Press, 2010) Graded Knowledge of WordsThe active vocabulary obviously consists of words that we know better than those that constitute our passive vocabulary. The same distinction holds for native speakers, who also actively use only a subset of the words they are familiar with. Another instance of graded knowledge of words is the fact that, even as native speakers, we often only know that we have heard or read a certain word before, but do not know what it means.(Ingo Plag, Word-Formation in English. Cambridge University. Press, 2003) Also see: LexiconVocabularyVocabulary Acquisition

Compare a character in Beloved with a character in one of the other Essay

Compare a character in Beloved with a character in one of the other texts we have read OR Compare a theme in Beloved with a theme in one of the other texts we h - Essay Example s the fictionality of history, the concept that history can never be more than a collection of stories with varying degrees of accuracy and numerous different perspectives. She demonstrates this fictionality of history through her main character Sethe as well as in the narrative structure, making it clear that no amount of storytelling will ever be able to contain the true horror of those days. During the time of Shakespeare, fiction was deemed to be the appropriate place for explorations into a nation’s history perhaps because of a similar understanding that there is no means of separating individual human perspective from historical events sufficiently to form an actual, factual history, thus recognizing the same concept of a fictionality of history. One author who certainly understood this concept was Miguel de Cervantes as shown in his Don Quixote. Through the various narrative styles employed as well as through the storyline, Cervantes is able to make his point that no hi storical account can be completely free of some fictionalized element. Thus, despite the wide gap of time between the writing of these two novels, both Morrison’s postmodern book Beloved (1988) and Cervantes’ Don Quixote written in the early 1600s struggle to illustrate both the concept of history as well as the inherent fiction that must accompany history. In Beloved, for example, Morrison establishes quickly that she is relating a story that took place in the past, even establishing the date to relate its proximity to the end of slavery: â€Å"For years each put up with the spite in his own way, but by 1873 Sethe and her daughter Denver were its only victims† (Morrison, 1988: 3). This establishes the novel’s fictional ghost story element, but only as it could occur in a society such as that which existed in 1873. The story of slavery is told in the bits and pieces that were left, â€Å"in all of Baby’s life, as well as Sethe’s own, men and women were moved around like

Why is Chinas Economic Growth Slowing Down Essay

Why is Chinas Economic Growth Slowing Down - Essay Example China single-handedly accounts for approximately one-fifth of the total world economic output; thereby, a slowdown in Chinese economy will hinder a global recovery. In addition, several of Asia’s largest and emerging economies have struck deal with China as a trading partner; hence, a downturn in Chinese economy will adversely affect them. Until 2010, Chinas economic growth rate was more than ten percent, which encouraged officials to boost domestic consumption combined with a reduction in exports to accomplish sustainable growth. Consequently, while the construction and industrial boom decelerated, the retail sales held up strong. Many of today’s economic issues can be traced back to the global financial crisis period between 2008 and 2009 when China attempted to accelerate economic growth through injecting capital and boosting government spending. Back then, the central government pumped tremendous amounts of money in the economy by investing in infrastructure and con struction industries. However, on the downside, this created excess capacity, property prices soared sky-high with a simultaneous rise in inflation and consumer costs. Faced with these economic plights and the fear of Chinese economy overheating, policymakers then implemented measures aimed at curtailing lending and slowing down inflation. Unfortunately, these measures along with a sharp drop in the global demand for Chinese goods triggered the recent cycle of a slowdown. A fact that Chinese policy makers failed to take into account is that credit does no more good to economy than steroids do to body, every time bigger injection are needed to maintain the desired effect. In 2011, Chinese economic growth rate was 9.2 percent in contrast to the rate of 10.4 percent during 2010. Despite the imminent cyclical weakness that will decelerate China’s economy, even more, Chinese officials claimed that there is a way out. The World Bank has also supported this argument as it stated tha t the prospects for a soft landing appear positive, as China has largely mitigated the domestic property bubble invigorated by speculation. Chinese officials hold that they are working to temper the super economic growth towards more sustainable growth without triggering an economic recession. One of such simulative measures included the recent cut in interest rates after June by The People’s Bank of China. Likewise, the central government is striving to spur growth by relaxing reserve requirements so that bank lending could accelerate, which in turn would lead to greater injections of credit in the economy (Bradsher â€Å"Heavy Lending Creates a Surge in Chinese Economy†). Although, the construction and industrial sectors have registered a slowdown; however, retail sales have stayed strong. The Chinese government is determined to rebalance the economy by reducing reliance on investment and exports and escalating domestic consumption (Bradsher â€Å"Chinese Official R eaffirms ‘Rebalancing’ of Economy†). Policymakers hold that the government is empowered with myriad tools to prevent an economic collapse. They pointed out how unlike other major economies such as America and United Kingdom, China managed to survive through 2009’s recessionary period, marked by extensive layoffs and social unrest. Officials contend that they are deliberately aiming for sustainable growth after double-digit growth registered in the previous years that overheat the economy. Therefore, for them, the economic slowdown is solely a planned action. Official economic statistics released by China are futile in stopping the economic squabbling about the soft landing prospects for Chinese economy. The increasing

Amazon.Com in Business Plan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Amazon.Com in Business Plan - Research Paper Example To sustain this new venture, Amazon Inc. has a good start off, as its traffic is attractive to buyers and sellers into Amazon market place. Firms likely to be acquired in this endeavor include Diapers.com, Zappos and Soap.com. Amazon intends to buy Quaidis, the parent company to Soap.co and Diapers.com for $540 million. The capital that was collected to fund this acquisition amounts to $78 million. In another strategy for up its competition with CPG companies, Amazon Inc. intends to acquire Zappos at a projected price of $1.1 billion. To compete with Google and Apple, Amazon Inc. intends to upgrade its Kindle to support mobile phone applications and functions. This will enable the incorporation expand from just providing physical goods to digital goods. The low margins strategy has been employed by Amazon regardless it is downcast by other companies. Amazon is offering its products and services at low prices as a strategy to attract more customers and increase its market share. This is a strategy aimed at increasing value to customers rather than increasing its value through high prices and high profits. Increased market share will see Amazon reduce its costs through economies of scale, as the costs will b e spread through many customers. For instance in 2011, Amazon had operating expenses of 91% expressed as a fraction of revenues. This demonstrated its big market share compared to Walmart. Amazon had revenue streams of up to $48 billion. Most of this is attributed to online retail store where it has managed to attract millions of shoppers and sellers to its website. This has led to a cost advantage for Amazon in relation to Walmart and Costcos. Amazon has grown from just a book retailer to be the largest online retail shopping for physical and digital goods and services. This has not stopped the company from further growth and development. The company is seeking to contract Google, which will see it use the Android technology. Although Amazon and Google are market rivals, Amzon seeks to cross the gap between the two and build its new devices on the Android operating system. 8. Implementation strategy: From a range of reasonable options (build or â€Å"go it alone† strategy, p artner via a joint venture or less formal business alliance, license, minority investment, and acquisition), indicate which option would enable the acquiring firm to best implement its chosen business strategy. Because of the nature of the course, you must indicate that an implementation strategy involving an acquisition is preferred to the other options and why. An acquisition is the best strategy for implementation. The acquiring firm’s stands an advantage of running a business that is well established compared to building up a new business. With an established business, the acquiring firm can use the existing financial records to forecast future performance to determine if the new firm to be acquired is profitable. This is not the case with a new firm being set up. Setting up a new firm may require more capital and time. The business’ future performance may not be correctly forecasted because there are many unseen occurrences, as the business has no experience. Part nerships on the other had result in legal disputes, as the partners are likely to disagree on decisions and business issues. Acquisition remains the

Analysis of the Security Management Market in Hong Kong

Analysis of the Security Management Market in Hong Kong The Security Management Industry INTRODUCTION Security management is the combination of hardware, software, and services that normalizes, aggregates, correlates, and visualizes data from disparate security products. Security management is a broad term that encompasses several currently distinct market segments. With the presence of the Internet, spam is becoming increasingly costly and dangerous as spammers deliver more virulent payloads through email attachments. According to a recent IDC (2004) study, the volume of spam messages sent daily worldwide jumped from 7 billion in 2002 to 23 billion in 2004. The Hong Kong Population has increasingly Internet users. This boom in the electronic commerce creates ease in communication and on business transactions however this has also compromised the internal data security with the presence of hackers. Industry analysts believe that increased spending on internet security products and the establishment of a corporate data security policy is equally important in avoiding information leakage. Estimated information security spending in Hong Kong will reach USD 231 million in 2003 and will maintain a stable growth to reach USD 252 million in 2004. U.S. security products enjoy an excellent reputation in Hong Kong and should continue to dominate the market. According to Braunberg (2004), a major early driver for security management products is the need to get a handle on event data emanating from intrusion detection systems. Many security management products are chiefly concerned with the consolidation, correlation and prioritization of this type of data. These event management and correlation products address the volume of data and its heterogeneous origin, both in terms of devices and vendors. SECURITY MANAGEMENT MARKET IN HONG KONG Market Highlights The continuous increase in demand for communication internationally, internet has been increasingly in demand. With the Internet in business transactions, companies expanded sales opportunities through e-commerce and reduce business costs. With the presence of Internet, companies can broadly expand customer base. However, in spite of all these benefits that companies experienced with Internet, it has also brought some costs to companies. Internet opens up network and servers to external and internal attacks. In order to guard against these attacks, Hong Kong companies have increasingly felt the need to purchase Internet security. According to the report of HKCERT (2004), the number of PCs installed in Hong Kong has skewed to the low end. In the survey conducted, it shows that 63.5% of the surveyed companies had installed 1-9 PCs and only 1.3% had installed 100 PCs or above. Consumer Analysis In the report of HKCERT (2002), industry players estimated that the Hong Kong market for internet security products and services in 2001 was USD 231 million and will reach USD 252 million in 2004. Generally U.S. internet security products are the major players and are enjoying an excellent reputation in Hong Kong and are continually dominating the market. Industry Estimates The survey of HKCERT in 2004 showed that Hong Kong companies adopted security technologies to secure their computer form attacks. The survey includes 3,000 companies from different industry sectors in Hong Kong. According to the survey anti-virus software was the most popular security measure, being used by 90.9% of the companies interviewed in 2004. Physical security (65.5%), Firewall (65.4%) and Password (60.6%) were the next three common security measures adopted (HKCERT, 2004). The information security awareness of the companies in Hong Kong has increased considerably as the percentage of companies without any security measures in place dropped from 10.1% in 2003 to 3.6% in 2004 (HKCERT, 2004) As the survey shows, the use of firewall has significantly increased in 2004. This is due to the increasing awareness of a number of companies that the basic security tools can not completely stop virus and because software vendors pay great effort in promoting their products. From the table above, US rank number one in the list showing that US is the major host of malware in 2006. On the other hand, Hong Kong only is on the 9th place however it is still a major contributor of malware in the world. Sophos notes that up to 90% of all spam is now relayed from zombie computers, hi-jacked by Trojan horses, worms and viruses under the control of hackers. This means that they do not need to be based in the same country as the computers being used to send the spam (IET, 2007). Sophos found that the most prolific email threats during 2006 were the Mytob, Netsky, Sober and Zafi families of worms, which together accounted for more than 75% of all infected email (IET, 2007). According to the report, email will continue to be an important vector for malware authors, though the increasing adoption of email gateway security is making hackers turn to other routes for infection (IET, 2007). Malware infection will continue to affect many websites. SophosLabs is uncovering an average of 5,000 new URLs hosting malicious code each day (IET, 2007). In 2006, it has been discovered that there is a decrease in use of spyware due to multiple Trojan downloaders. Statistics reveal that in January 2006 spyware accounted for 50.43% of all infected email, while 40.32% were emails linking to websites containing Trojan downloaders. By December 2006 the figures had been reversed, with the latter now accounting for 51.24%, and spyware-infected emails reduced to 41.87%.(IET, 2007) Market Channels In Hong Kong, consumer-oriented products such as anti-virus, overseas companies usually market their products via local distributors who will then channel the products to resellers and in some cases directly to retailers. For enterprise-oriented products, which require value-added services such as system integration and after-sales support, overseas companies can go through local distributors and/or resellers. (Chau, 2003) Competitive Analysis The internet security market has four segments: anti-virus, firewall, encryption software, and Security Authentication, Authorization Administration. Anti-virus Software Anti-virus software identifies and/or eliminates harmful software and macros. Anti-virus are mostly software based. The major players in Hong Kong for the consumer market includes Symantec/Norton which possesses 50% of the market share in Hong Kong, Norman, Nai/McAfee, and Trend Micro which are basically US origin (Chau, 2003). According to Chau (2003), consumers of Anti-virus are generally price sensitive and usually seek for products with established brand name. In the enterprise market of anti-virus, the major players include Trend Micro, NAI/McAfee, Norman and Symantec (Chau, 2003). According to the analysis, enterprise users will usually seek professional opinions from their I.T. service provider and are more likely to focus on brand reputation and offered features and pricing is not the main concern, although with the downturn in the economy, companies are becoming more price-sensitive (Chau, 2003) Firewall Firewall software/hardware identifies and blocks access to certain applications and data. There are two categories of firewall products: software and hardware. The players in Hong Kongs software firewall market are Check Point Software which dominates the market of 60% market share, Computer Associates, Symantec and Secure Computing (Chau, 2003). In the hardware firewall market, the major players are Netscreen with 50% market share, Cisco (PIX) with 20% market share, Sonic Wall, Watchguard and Nokie of Finland (Chau, 2003). According to the report, the price for software firewalls averages USD 20 per user. On the hardware firewalls side, the number of users and the kinds of features determine the price. A low-end firewall server costs USD 600 to USD 700, a mid-range server costs USD 2,000 to USD 4,000, and a high-end server costs USD 10,000 and above. Netscreen and Sonic Wall are quite common in small to medium-sized enterprises. Cisco targets large corporations. Brand reputation and price are the prime concerns for buyers. According to industry players, there is an increasing preference for hardware firewalls over software firewalls because the hardware firewall has a speed advantage and is easier to maintain. (Chau, 2003) Encryption Encryption software is a security product that uses crypto-graphical algorithms to protect the confidentiality of data, applications, and user identities. According to the study, the most commonly-used standards in Hong Kong are SSH, SSL, PGP, RSA, and DES. Different standards are used for different objectives. SSH is mostly used to secure TCP connections between remote sites. SSL is commonly used in web browsers to secure web traffic. PGP is used for email encryption. RSA is for PKI system authentication and authorization. DES or 3DES are commonly used in the banking sector. (Chau, 2003) According to the report of Chau (2003), the major players in encryption in Hong are PGP, Utimaco, F-Secure, SSH (Security Shell), and RSA. Security 3A Software Security 3A (administration, authorization, and authentication) software is used for administering security on computer systems and includes the processes of defining, creating, changing, deleting, and auditing users. Authentication software is used for verifying users identities and avoiding repudiation. Authorization software determines data access according to corporate policy. Administrative software includes internet access control, email scanning, intrusion detection and vulnerability assessment, and security management. The major players in PKI system in Hong Kong are Baltimore of UK, Verisign, and Entrust (Chau, 2003). Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) An intrusion detection system (IDS) examines system or network activity to find possible intrusions or attacks. Intrusion detection systems are either network-based or host-based. Network-based IDS are more common. According to the report of Chau (2003), the major players of IDS in Hong Kong are ISS (Real Secure) which dominate in the market of 65% market share, Enterasys (Dragon), Symantec (Intruder Alert), Tripwire (Tripwire), Computer Associates (Entrust Intrusion Protection) and Cisco (Secure IDS). In the analysis it has been known that IDS end-users are mostly medium to large enterprises and the most significant purchasing criteria for end users are reliability and compatibility and price is not a key factor (Chau, 2003). Content Security Products The major players of content security products includes Clearswift which has 50% market share, Websense which has 25% market share, Trend Micro and Serve Control (Chau, 2003). Market Trends According to the report, on corporate side, the demand for network-based anti-virus would likely to increase than the demand for desktop-based anti-virus products since mostly viruses attacks are usually via internet (Chau, 2003). On the other hand, in the consumer side, consumer market would likely to fade away since consumers are downloading free anti-virus from the Internet. It is expected that ISPs will increasingly provide AV protection as a value-added service to the users (Chau, 2003). In the firewall software, it has been expected that the demand for hardware-based appliance products would likely to increase for small and medium-sized companies. (Chau, 2003) For Intrusion detection and vulnerability assessment, it is predicted that it will become very popular as enterprises will shift to a balance between internal and external threats. In addition, the distinction between host-based and network-based IDS is becoming blurry with the creation of IDS consoles that receive data from both the network sensors and host agents. Integrated solutions will become the trend. (Chau, 2003) Market Driver There are several market drivers of security management market. Chau (2003) identified some of these market drivers. In his report, he enumerated three of these market drivers which includes the Internet growth, telecommuting trend, and government generated awareness of Internet security. Internet Growth In Hong Kong, the Internet has become the prevalent communication means between business transaction and even between employees with the increasing trend of globalization. According to Hong Kong Government survey in 2001, 1.25 million households or 61% of all households in Hong Kong has PCs of which 80% are connected to the Internet compared to 50% households with PCs in 2000 of which only 36% are connected to the Internet in 2000 (Chau, 2003). Generally, consumers are making use of the internet to send emails, surf the web, carry out research, conduct on line banking transactions, and make low-value purchases. The survey estimated that around 6% of all persons over 14 had used one or more types of online purchasing services for personal matters in the 12 months before the survey (Chau, 2003). On the other hand, on the business side, more than one third of businesses in Hong Kong have internet connections. In 2001, about 12% of businesses had delivered their goods, services or information through electronic means which is 4% higher than that in 2000. The estimated amount of business receipts received from selling goods, services or information through electronic means in 2000 was USD 1 billion. Increased connectivity to the internet creates higher chances of hacker attacks, especially if the users have a constant live connection, such as through a DSL line. (Chau, 2003) According to the Hong Kong Commercial Crimes Bureau, reports of computer-related offenses increased from 235 incidents in 2001 to 210 in the first nine months in 2002. Computer attacks had affected 5,460 computers in the past 12 months. Financial loss caused by computer-related crimes rose from USD 195,000 in 2001 to USD 236,000 in 2002. The Computer Crime Section of the Hong Kong Commercial Crimes Bureau believes that only 0.3% of the victims reported hacking incidents, fearing that doing so would damage their reputation. Facing increasing internal and external hacking threats, companies are seeking security tools to protect their network and to maintain public confidence. (Chau, 2003) Telecommuting Trend Another major driver of security products, according to Chau (2003), is the increasing decentralization of the work force, such as mobile sales teams in the insurance industry who need to access corporate networks via PDAs. There is an increasing trend of businesses and organizations which benefit from employees ability to dial into corporate networks via the internet, however, this often creates information security risks within the organization, resulting in increased dependence on, and greater deployment of, security products (Chau, 2003). Government-generated awareness of internet security Another major driver of security products is the government awareness on the importance of Internet security. With this awareness, government organizations are formed. Like for example the SAR Government. The SAR Government is committed to providing a safe and secure environment to foster the development of e-commerce in Hong Kong in which has built a public key infrastructure (PKI) through the establishment of a public certification authority and a voluntary CA recognition scheme in Hong Kong (Chau, 2003). Currently, there are four recognized certification authorities operating in Hong Kong which includes JETCO, Digi-Sign Certification Ltd., HiTRUST.Com and the Hong Kong Postmaster General. In addition to the establishment of the PKI systems, the Hong Kong Government has also engaged substantial resources to educate the public regarding the importance of information security. For instance, the Crime Prevention Unit of the Technology Crime Division of the Hong Kong Police is responsible for providing advice on all aspects of computer security. It also produces educational materials on raising computer security awareness and makes presentations on technology crime prevention topics. (Chau, 2003) In addition to the market drivers in which Chau has enumerated, there are still other market drivers of security management market. Braunberg (2004) identified two major groups of market drivers which are the near-tern market drivers and long-term market drivers. Under the near-term market drivers are manage or prevent, perimeter management, vulnerability assessment, embracing standards and the brains of the operation. Long-term market drivers include complexity and cost, device and security integration, knowledge database resources, lack of trust, on demand of computing and social engineering. Near-Term Market Drivers Manage or Prevent. In the analysis of Braunberg (2004), the chief driver of event management solutions is the continuing and hugely annoying number of false positives pouring out of intrusion detection systems. According to him, a counter driver to growth in the managed security segment is the emergence of intrusion prevention systems, particularly in-line solutions that can perform real-time data blocking (Braunberg, 2004). The adoption of intrusion prevention system could inhibit spending on event management systems and security management vendors should consider these products competitive to their own (Braunberg, 2004) Perimeter Management. Security management products has evolve due tot to the demand of securing the perimeter. According to Braunberg (2004), security management solutions are evolving to integrate data from a host of perimeter products in which event management systems often evolved along separate lines with products for firewall, antivirus, and IDS. Vulnerability Assessments. According to Braunberg (2004), one of the near- term drivers for which end-users are of concern is understanding what the security risks are. Generally, clients are looking to leverage vulnerability assessments to help prioritize emerging threats. Increasingly vulnerability data is being leveraged in event management systems (Braunberg, 2004). Embracing Standards. According to Braunberg (2004), the industry is a long way from embracing standards for sharing event information but some progress has been made over the last year. The Internet Engineering Task Forces Incident Object Description and Exchange Format (IODEF) draft specification is gaining some traction and its adoption would be a significant step forward for the market (Braunberg, 2004) The Brains of this Operation. According to Braunbergs analysis (2004), the infatuation with IPS will be short-lived unless significant improvements can be made in reducing false positives in events however security management products will increasingly play a major role in providing the analytic smarts behind IPS solutions. Long-Term Market Drivers: Complexity and Cost. With the increasingly complexity in the web-based business models, the more tangled is the security solutions for the end-users. According to Braunberg (2004), businesses building online strategies from scratch can be overwhelmed by the initial investment of security solutions, while those trying to adapt existing solutions to evolving security concerns are besieged by maintenance costs. Device and Security Integration. According to Braunberg (2004), equipment makers are paying much closer attention to imbedded security functionality in devices and are actively attempting to integrate security as a value-added service in order to change the thinking of the end users of security products as an â€Å"add-on† or an extraneous component of infrastructure. In addition, vendors are looking to unite service providers with standards programs that simplify client understanding and reduce the complexity of product buying (Braunberg, 2004). Knowledge Database Resources. Another market driver for security products is to actively secure the knowledge database from attack patterns and other descriptions of the enemies. The security products vendors should reinvent a faster response to the known threats. According to Braunberg (2004), multi-product vendors particularly will look to evolve from real-time monitoring to broader real-time management. Lack of Trust: According to Braunberg (2004), end users, whether they are corporate users putting a business plan on a server or a consumer buying a CD, have ingrained habits that they are not necessarily willing to give up. For example, no matter how good an online banks security system is, a consumer will have to be convinced that its services are not only as good as a brick and mortar banks services, but better (Braunberg, 2004). On demand Computing: According to Braunberg (2004), the availability of ubiquitous computing resources on demand will further drive the need for sophisticated, highly flexible security management solutions that combine both identity management and event management. According to him, the demand for more esoteric offerings such as GRID computing is the major long-term driver for security management solutions (Braunberg, 2004). Social Engineering. According to Braunberg (2004), clients are still facing risks in security that employees represent just through the human desire to be helpful, and hackers exploit this through â€Å"social engineering.† According to him, a component of managed security will need elements of employee training to build awareness of outside threats (Braunberg, 2004). According to the analysis of Braunberg (2004), the security segment will continually be strong in which the diversity of interest ranges from an array of different types of companies which indicates a leverage of controlling security function. In addition, since end users demand has also evolve in which they demand for more in-depth defensive strategies ad best of breed approaches to purchasing decisions, security solution in turn has become more complex. Case Study: Trend Micro Enterprise History In 1988, Trend Micro Incorporated was founded by Steve Chang and his wife in California. Trend Micro Incorporated is a global leader in network antivirus and Internet content security software and services. The company led the migration of virus protection from the desktop to the network server and the Internet gateway—gaining a reputation for vision and technological innovation along the way. Trend Micro focuses on outbreak prevention and on providing customers with a comprehensive approach to managing the outbreak lifecycle and the impact of network worms and virus threats to productivity and information, through initiatives such as Trend Micro Enterprise Protection Strategy. Trend Micro ha grown into a transnational organization with more than 2,500 employees representing more than 30 countries around the globe. Many of the leading high-tech and security industry analysts have tracked Trend Micros growth and performance for the last several years, hailing the company as â€Å"visionary†, citing its leadership and innovation in the security industry. According to Brian Burke, IDC Research Manager, â€Å"Trend Micro has consistently demonstrated a strong position in the Secure Content Management market. To remain successful Trend Micro has adapted quickly to market challenges and the evolution of security threats such as spyware, phishing and spam, in which financial gain has become the number one driving force. Given Trend Micros track record and its strong upward momentum, we expect the company to continue delivering innovative solutions that provide customers with timely protection against unpredictable threats.† Trend Micro has earned a reputation for turning great ideas into cutting-edge technology. In recognition of the antivirus companys strategy and vision, the analyst firm Gartner has hailed Trend Micro as a visionary malicious code management supplier for four consecutive years. Citing its flexible and efficient transnational management model, BusinessWeek acknowledged Trend Micro as one ofa new breed of high-tech companies that are defying conventional wisdom. According to IDC, Trend Micro has held the top global market share in internet gateway antivirus for six consecutive years. A history of innovation In 1995 Trend Micro became an industry pioneer in the migration of virus protection from the desktop to the server level, with the launch of Trend Microâ„ ¢ ServerProtec. In 1997 it launched the industrys first virus protection for the Internet gateway with InterScan VirusWall. Since then, it has demonstrated a history of innovation in server-based antivirus products that has contributed to the leadership position it holds today in this market (according to the recent IDC report Worldwide Antivirus 2004-2008 Forecast and 2003 Competitive Vendor Shares. Trend Micro continues to shift the paradigms of antivirus security with cutting-edge products, services and strategies like Trend Micro Network VirusWall, Outbreak Prevention Services, and its Enterprise Protection Strategy. Trend Micro is committed to following its path of innovation to help companies manage todays ever-increasingly complex, fast-spreading malware threats. SWOT Analysis Strengths Business and security knowledge Trend Micro has been a pioneer and innovator in the antivirus software market since 1988, anticipating trends and developing products and services to protect information as new computing standards have been adopted around the world. Service and support excellence, that is, Trend Micro products and services are backed by TrendLabs a global network of antivirus research and support centers. TrendLabs monitors potential security threats worldwide and develops the means to help customers prevent the spread of outbreaks, minimize the impact of new threats, and restore their networks. Flexible workforce through contingent workers for seasonal/cyclical projects Loyal, hardworking, and diverse workforce who, in addition to good compensation, have an opportunity to do well Multinational corporation operating through regional subsidiaries to minimize cultural differences Low employee turnover Relatively rapid product development processes that allow for timely updating and release of new products Revenues and profits rising at 30% a year with merger/acquisition or investment in 92 companies over past five years Software products have high name recognition, broad-based corporate and consumer acceptance and numerous powerful features that are in use worldwide, thereby promoting standardization and competitive advantage through their ease of integration and cost-effectiveness Top rating from Fortune for best company to work at and most admired company Worlds largest software company with global name recognition and strong reputation for innovative products Weaknesses Perceived by many as a cut-throat competitor that uses its dominant market position to marginalize competition by stealing/destroying the competitions products, stifling product innovation, and decreasing the availability of competitor products Products have a single application focus and do not work well with or on-top of other products Reputation has suffered because of entanglement in antitrust and â€Å"permatemps† Vizcaino litigation Misperceptions of securitys value or purpose Opportunities Cheaper global telecommunication costs open new markets as people connect to the Internet in which in turn increases the need for security products Mobile phone applications and exploitation of personal digital assistants represent a growth industry so that strategic alliances could provide the company with opportunity in a market where it currently has little or no significant presence Business Continuity Reduced Costs Potential Revenue Opportunities Trend Micro holds the top market share for both worldwide Internet gateway and email-server based antivirus sales. Threats Currency exchange rates affect demand for application/operation software and hardware, and fluctuating currencies can negatively impact revenues in the global marketplace Recession or economic slowdown in the global market impacts personal computer equipment sales and their need for an operating systems which in turn would slowdown the need for security systems Software piracy of commercial and consumer applications software on a global scale threatens revenue streams Technology life cycle is shorter and shorter Inconsistency across the enterprise Loss of sponsorship or visibility Current Strategy The continuous success of Trend Micro is guided by its strategies. Innovation was always been the strategy of a technological company however in Trend Micro, innovation was not the only strategy implemented. There are many essentials that are to be considered. The current strategy of Trend Micro are the following. â€Å"Focus On the Essentials and Sacrifice the Rest† It is known that focus is important and essential for the success of any business. According to Steve Chang, strategy is about focusing on essential and sacrificing the rest. (Chang, 2002) in addition, according to Peter Firstbrook, program director, security risk strategies, META Group, Trend Micro has done just that, having an amazing laser-like focus on their business. And the authors of a Harvard Business School case study commented: â€Å"Although very entrepreneurial, Steve Chang held fast to a single strategic focus for over a decade. Rather than attempt to provide all security products to all customers, Trend Micro concentrated on developing ‘best-of-breed antivirus solutions.† (Pain and Bettcher, 2003) Trend micros consistent and persistent focus allowed the company to build their strengths and consistently leading the market. Innovation Isnt Just About Your Software Products Trend Micro has many product firsts under its belt: the first antivirus product for a server in 1993; the first Internet gateway protection antivirus software in 1996; the first e-mail anti-virus software product in 1998; the first Internet content security service in 1999. However, for the Trend Micro innovation applies to more than just the products. It is a pervasive notion that applies to other areas of your business as well. Innovation should be seen new type of global organization and in a new service offering. According to Steve Hamm in a 2003 Business Week article, Borders are So 20th Century, Trend Micro is an example of a new form of global organization, transnational organization in which aimed to transcend nationality altogether. Hamm quotes C. K. Prahalad, a professor at the University of Michigan Business School, who says â€Å"Theres a fundamental rethinking about what is a multinational companyDoes it have a home country? What does headquarters mean? Can you fragment your corporate functions globally?† (Hamm, 2003) According to Hamm (2003) Trend micro was one of the first responder to viruses which can deliver services in 30 minutes before the market leader Symantec. He commented that â€Å"Trend Micro is able to respond so quickly because its not organized like most companies. (Hamm, 2003) The strategy of Trend Micro is to spread its top executives, engineers, and support staff around the world. The main virus response center is in the Philippines,

Essay --

There is a wide range of concepts and definitions for companies The company is a contract whereby committed by two or more people that all of them contribute in a project designed to profit .by providing a share of the money or work-sharing that may result from the project of the profit or loss. Because of the definition of the company as a contract that requires the company to need to undergo this decade, the general rules and laws in the contracts and therefore recognize freely contractors in the organization and determine what arises from the rights and obligations and duties . Another definition of the company which is an association or group of individuals, members and people sharing common goals , vision and unite in order to focus about various organizing skills collectively or available resources to achieve the stated goals specific. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company There is a wide range of companies in the Sultanate of Oman and the most important and oldest of these companies are Oman Telecommunications Company Omantel is the leading company in the provision of integrated telecommunications services in the Sultanate of Oman and through the provision of a variety of modern and advanced services . Oman Telecommunications Company offers range of services that keep pace with technological development in the world. Omantel provides transmission networks that cover all parts of the Sultanate of Oman and enjoy this network signal strength . Oman Telecommunications Company Characterizes in sophistication in dealing with clients it is always listen to their ideas and opinions , proposals. They try very hard to achieve all the promises to keep up the needs of customers . The Omantel is considered as one of the tributaries o... ...t obtain approvals from other competent authorities and the following companies : 1 - The financial leasing companies , banks and financial institutions, and exchange companies that want to establish a commercial activity in Oman obtain approval from the Central Bank of Oman 2 - the insurance companies and the relevant agencies that want to set up business in Oman must get approval from the Department of Insurance in the Ministry of Trade and Industry / Capital Market Authority . 3 - industrial companies that want to set up business in Oman should get approved by the Ministry of Trade and Industry. 4 - medical products must be obtained approval by the Ministry of Health. the activities of printing and publishing and broadcasting must obtained approval for by the Ministry of Information and Culture. http://www.pkf.com/media/506937/doing%20business%20in%20oman.pdf