Dell Computer

PREFACE We are living in the era of information. The 21st century has come with more than ever powerful working tools: the computer, the Internet, and Information technology. The computer has been playing an increasingly important role in the daily lives of people, families, organizations and businesses. With their huge computing and processing power, computers have boosted up productivity, increased accuracy, saved time, and become essential equipments for almost every business today.Windows 7 Check Your UnderstandingTogether with the widely application of the Internet and Information technology, the computer has become even more powerful tool which improves every aspect of people’ lives. Owning to its power and functionalities, the demand for computer has increased continuously over years, pushing the PC (personal computer) industry become one of the most competitive and dynamic. Within 6 years from 2006 to 2010, the worldwide PC sales almost doubled and stay at more than 30 0 million units in 2010.Large computer companies today spend billions of dollars annually on innovating new technology, developing new products in order to gain the top position on the market. Besides, due to the fast pace of changing, as a feature of the industry, computer firms have to adjust their overall strategies continuously to stay strong. Dell Inc. is one typical example of successful computer enterprise by using appropriate strategies toward technology innovation and operation.With innovation based on standardization, direct sales model, and the support of modern and fast information technology system, Dell keeps in hand key comparative advantages to win the first position in the market for many years. Until now, Dell still remains as the toughest competitor for any PC maker. Being attracted by the eventful computer industry and efficient operation of Dell Inc. , the writer decides to choose the PC industry as the theme and Dell Computer is in the centre for this working p aper. Within the limited volume of this thesis, the writer will go through three parts:The first part introduces briefly about the computer industry, technology development, strategies of enterprises regarding technology innovation and development as well as some short stories of leading companies. The second part talks about Dell Inc. , including its history of development, its strategies of technology innovation and operation, and its global expansion. This part will analyze how the combination of creative technology development policies and business model help this firm becomes one of the leading computer makers in the world.The third part will be about technology development in Vietnam in globalization scenario, Vietnamese technology enterprises and some lessons withdrawn from Dell Computer’s success and failure for them. Due to the limited time and knowledge of the writer, this paper inevitably contains some limitations and shortcomings. Therefore, the writer would like to receive every feedback or comment from teachers and people who interested in this topic to improve the quality of the thesis.Chapter 1: OVERVIEW OF TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY OF COMPUTER ENTERPRISES IN GLOBALIZATION 1. 1. Overview of technology development in computer industry in the world: The personal computer (PC) industry is one of the strangest and most dynamic in the world. Probably there is no other kind of product that is so technologically sophisticated, changed so rapidly, sells for so much money, and is sold by so many companies for not much profit. The fierce competition in this industry is the reason why so many problems are encountered by those who deal with PC vendors.Since PC could be assembled from standardized components without much expertise required and the barriers to entry are not as tough as in the past, new computer business is established on a frequent basis. As a result, there are thousands of companies making PCs that perform similar functions pushing the market to be extremely price-competitive. Since the market is so competitive, vendors often sell at very low margins. Computers are not the same as many other products, where the company selling the device is making upwards of 50% of the price of the product as gross profit. For PCs it is often around 10%.Additionally, there is probably no other industry that has prices change as dramatically and frequently as the PC industry. Usually, prices are decreasing. This is good for the consumer but very bad for vendors, because it means that their already low margins get squeezed if prices drop between the time that they buy a product and the time they sell it. Drop in the price of PC comes from both severe competition and rapid changes in technology. As a consequence, PC makers often prefer to keep low inventories. Whenever prices fall, the vendors potentially lose money on every component in inventory at the time.Due to the rapid frequency of changes in technology, functiona lities and capacity of computers are improved continuously, broadening PC’s definition over time. In the dawn of PC industry, a computer was a bulky device, furnished with some simple functions and small volume, but extremely costly. Today, people could possess small handheld devices which are integrated with processing power and functions tens times better than huge mainframes decades ago. The PC industry has a strong connection with the software industry and the application of the Internet.These two peripheral industries have accelerated the speed of technology innovation even faster. In years recent, a computer device has evolved into a centre for all the digital peripheral such as music players, digital cameras, video recorders, internet TV, etc. With the technology evolution, computers have become the ever powerful tools that are essential for any success business and modern families; and the PC industry become one of the most strategic industries in the world in the 21s t century. 1. 1. 1. Velocity of development and innovation:The personal computer industry has grown from a hobbyist industry in the 1970s to a highly profitable industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars worldwide. Driven by consumer demand to access the Internet and the advancements of microprocessor technologies, the demand for PCs for personal and business use has climbed continuously in the early 21st century The PC industry is one among the fastest growing industries in the world. According to a research carried out by Etforcasts, the annual worldwide PC sales has a trend to double every six years. By 2000, the PC sales was 132 million; and almost doubled in 2006.The velocity of increase in this industry is at a staggering rate of around 9% annually compounded. (Table 1) Table 1: Worldwide PC Sales Unit: 1 million PCs |Year |1990 |1995 |2000 |2005 |2010 | |Worldwide PC Sales |24 |58 |132 |207 |325 | (Source: etforecasts) Another noticeable index is the number of PC in use. In 2000, there were more than 500 million units in-use and the figure in 2010 is over 1400 million units almost three times higher. Table 2) Table 2: Worldwide PC in use Unit: 1 million PCs |Year |1990 |1995 |2000 |2005 |2010 | |Worldwide PC in use |100 |225 |529 |910 |1,425 | (Source: Etforecasts) The figure above shows that the computer industry has a huge growth potential. These growth potentials are fostered by the upgrading of obsolete machines, newly established business around the world, new generation or innovation of computer devices integrated with digital functions.Yearly PC sales for the U. S. and the main regions of the world are summarized in the next figure. North America will remain the largest region through 2007. All figures are in millions of units. Figure 1: Annual PC Sales of the main regions of the world [pic] (Source Etforecasts) In 2003, the number of PCs sold in the US was roughly about 30% of the total worldwide sales. This data indicates that the remaining 70% of the PC sales happened outside the US. This shows that there are many opportunities yet to be discovered by firms around the world.According to etForcast , Asia will be the region with the fastest growth in computing devices. This trend is confirmed by the rapid urbanization and modernization of China in recent years, and expected to continue to grow in the next decade. Therefore, it is logical to move the PC manufacturers in the US into the global arena. PC revenue was growing slower than unit growth due to considerable price declines and saw a pause the last two years due to lower unit sales growth than price declines. The worldwide PC revenues were $251B in 2000, which increased to over $333B in 2007. Worldwide PC revenue declined to $320B in 2010.According to experts of Etforecasts, worldwide PC revenue has a trend to grow again in the next five years to around $400B in 2015, which is due to the unit growth boost from the iPad and competing products. To get a clearer pict ure of the potential of IT industry, have a look at the following figure about computer and peripherals industry in the period from 1999 to 2004. This computer and peripherals industry include products which are computer-based and inter-connected to computers. These products are indicators of how well the entire industry is doing in terms of new innovations and future development.Figure 2: Computer and Peripherals Industry 1999 – 2004 Unit: billion Dollars [pic] This figure is a good indicator of the huge potentials in the IT industry. Although the industry had a minor setback in 2001, the net profit and sales remains high for 2004. As mentioned above, IT industry has become a center for computer and peripheral devices. There will be a greater demand in networking because computers are more connected to each other. Wireless technology will continue to grow in range and speed for more and more information need to transmit between computers and across networks. . 1. 2. Overall impact to the development of economies in the world The 21st century comes with more than ever powerful tools which based on the widely use of computers and the Internet. The popularity of PCs is phenomenal because it has revolutionized the way people communicate, how information is stored, and people’s ability to access knowledge at their fingertips. Besides, PCs have become necessities in the corporate world simply because business processes involve heavy use of computers and Internet.In fact, the percentage of population with computer connected to the worldwide network has become one of the key indicators for the level of modernization and human power of economies in the world. Following is the figure for some typical countries: Table 3: Internet users per 100 people |Country |2007 |2008 |2009 |2010 | |US |75. 2 |74. 1 |78. 2 |79. 3 | |Japan |73. |74. 7 |77. 4 |79. 4 | |Germany |75. 4 |78. 3 |79. 7 |82. 5 | |Australia |69. 6 |71. 7 |74. 1 |75. 8 | |China |16. 0 |22. 7 |29. 0 |34. 4 | |Singapore |67. 9 |68. 0 |68. |70. 1 | |Vietnam |20. 9 |24. 2 |26. 8 |27. 8 | (Source: World Bank estimates – World Development Indicators) There are two things that can be easily seen from the above table. First, the advanced economies often have high percentage of population with computer connected to the Internet. Developed countries such as US or Germany have a very high rate, almost four-fifth of the population; meanwhile, developing countries like China or Vietnam stay at much more humble levels.This means that internet connection is one of the indicators for the power and modernization of the economies. Second, the percentage in general has the trend to increase continuously over time which denotes the increased demand for computers and Internet using. People’s job will more and more related to the application of computer and Internet’s functions. Information technology has shifted the paradigm of economies. In a macroeconomic sense, informati on technology affects the patterns of production, investment and employment.Production structure: as the information technology evolves, the world is now in paradigm shift from the industrial age to the information age. As a result, there is a growing demand in the service fields that require expert knowledge and information. Thanks to information technology, existing service industries such as banking and distribution are enhancing efficiency and expanding their business areas. New industries on the basis of information technology such as software industry and information processing service are rapidly growing.The following table is about information and communication technology goods exports include telecommunications, audio and video, computer and related equipment; electronic components; and other information and communication technology goods of some countries. The number is taken as percentage over the total goods exports. Table 4: ICT goods exports (% of total goods exports) |CountryYear |2007 |2008 |2009 | |US |14. 2 |12. |13. 0 | |Japan |15. 7 |14. 3 |14. 7 | |Germany |7. 9 |6. 9 |6. 8 | |Australia |1. 8 |1. 5 |1. 4 | |China |29. 1 |27. 5 |29. | |Singapore |36. 2 |35. 9 |35. 4 | |Malaysia |41. 6 |26. 2 |38. 1 | (Source: United Nations Statistics Division's Commodity Trade) The table shows clearly that ICT products is an important part in the production structure of countries, especially Asian developing countries since the percentage is very high (times higher than developed economies).This can be explained as the trend of outsourcing in big technology firms of developed countries to take advantage of cheap labor force and market potential in Asia-Pacific area. Investment structure: as information technology changes the aspects of competition, investment is made more in the area of information and communications that promotes productivity and efficiency of knowledge-based products. As the demand for high technology goods has increased continuously, th e IT industry becomes a highly profitable but competitive industry.Severe competition in home countries forces computer firms to expand globally, finding new market for their growth. In addition, the pressure of price-competition requires them to find ways to cut cost. As a result, large multi-national technology tend to invest in potential markets such as countries in the Asia-Pacific area or India, changing dramatically the investment structure of both home countries and investment receiving countries. According to OECD Factbook 2010 regarding to investment structure of the world, ICT shares in total non-residential investment doubled, and in some cases, even quadrupled between 1980 and 2000.In 2008, ICT shares were particularly high (at 24% or more of the total) in countries like the United States, Sweden and Denmark, etc. Software has been the fastest growing component of ICT investment. In many countries, its share in non-residential investment multiplied several times between 1980 and 2008. In 2008, software's share in total investment was highest in Sweden, the United States, Denmark, Finland and the United Kingdom. In the recent years, software accounted for 50% or more of total ICT investment in France, Finland, Sweden, Japan, Korea, Denmark, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Switzerland and Netherlands.Communication equipment was the major component of ICT investment in Portugal and Greece. IT equipment was the major component in Belgium and Ireland. Changes in employment structure: In advanced economies, the number of workers in manufacturing sector is drastically reduced by shrinking share of its production. But employment in information and knowledge-intensive service sector is increasing with automation and investment in information technology. In the occupational categories, there are more demands for experts with creativity and information technology.Meanwhile, for developing countries, a large number of people move from the agricu lture sector into manufacturing due to the trend of outsourcing of big technology firms in the world. Investment in infrastructure of high technology firm in developing countries to take advantage of the cheap manufacturing factors has created jobs for millions of employment in the local areas. In a microeconomic sense, information technology changes business activities. It is important today that how much information a company have and how much of them could be converted into useful knowledge.The global modern economy has proved that knowledge itself, not a physical good, is a valuable product. In other words, owning to advanced information technology, knowledge-based workers, who create and utilize information, play a key role in economic activities and knowledge creating organizations like research institutes and universities will find their increased roles as a place for economic activities. Changes take place in every part of the business from the communication system to develo pment of goods and technology, procurement, production, sales, distribution, and after sales services.Enterprises depend heavily on rapid development of diverse goods and technology in order to satisfy customers. Time to market is also getting an important position in today economic environment. Modern communication methods such as email or fax have been widely used in companies since they accelerate the whole business process and save a lot of time. Meanwhile, enterprises have a trend to change production system from mass production under economy of scale into production on demand thanks to the application of E-commerce and advanced communication tools.Keeping a smooth flow of information both internally and externally has become one of the key comparative advantages of companies in technology field. It helps companies save time and keep them updated constantly with information about the real demand of the market. That is the basis for their customization to truly meet the need of theirs customers. In short, the informatics era come with the technology evolution has restructured and speed up people’s lives, business operation, and the whole economic scenario of every countries in the world. The technology power of countries in the 21st century comes with the economic and politic power.Information, communication and computer-related industry have become the strategic focus of development in almost a large number of countries and regions around the world. National policies to promote technology development and innovation: When talking about the countries growing fast and increasing their power with technological means today, people often mention the role of information technology, the widespread use of computers and the Internet. Information technology sector has proven itself to be the most strategic power in the development of national economies due to its productivity, speed, and versatility.As a consequence, countries in the world have set up and cha nged their own policies and strategies to develop their technology power on a continuous basis. On of the main indicator regarding to the policies for technology development and innovation of countries is how much they spend on research and development activities (R&D). The following table shows a brief comparison of this expense in some typical countries in the world. For even a clearer look, the second column takes this expense as percentage over the GDP of those countries. Table 5: Domestic expenditures on R&D by country 2009-2010 (most recent year available) Country |R&D expense (million current ppp) |R&D expense/GDP (%) | |US 2009 |401 576. 00 |2. 90 | |Japan 2009 |137 314. 21 |3. 36 | |Germany 2010 |86 209. 64 |2. 82 | |France 2010 |49 990. 76 |2. 6 | |South Korea 2010 |53 184. 86 |3. 74 | |United Kingdom 2010 |39 137. 82 |1. 77 | |Canada 2010 |23 970. 09 |1. 80 | |Italy 2010 |24 269. 15 |1. 26 | |China 2009 |154 147. 6 |1. 70 | |Singapore 2009 |5 733. 23 |2. 27 | |South Afric a 2008 |4 708. 22 |0. 93 | (Source: OECD, Main Science and Technology Indicators) In general view from the above table, developed countries often have a higher rate of R&D expense over their GDP, more or less of 3%. This is relevant with the result of strong technology power and potential in these countries.Meanwhile, developing countries such as China has also spent a substantial amount to develop its technology power to catch up with developed economies in the world. In deed, the location of R&D investment has a trend to move toward new emerging economies such as India or China. This is considered as the direct consequence of outsourcing activities of many large technology firms in the world in the process of global expanding and cost cutting. According to an estimation of European Commission, between 13 years from 1995 to 2008 the world’s gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) almost doubled in real terms.Over this period real GERD increased by about 50 % in the EU, 60 % in the United States, 75 % in developed Asian economies, 855 % in China, 145 % in BRIS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, South-Africa) and almost 100 % in the rest of the world. As a result, less than 24 % of R&D expenditure in the world was located in the EU in 2008, compared to almost 29 % in 1995. The share of the United States and Japan also decreased substantially from almost 38 % to 33 % in the United States and from 16 % to 13 % in Japan.Moreover, this global trend has been accelerating since 2004, which marked the beginning of a steeper increase in R&D expenditure in China and developed Asian economies. Figure 3: Changes of World GERD in real terms [pic] (Source: DG Research and Innovation Data: Eurostat, OECD, UNESCO Notes: BRIS: Brazil+Russian+India+Singapore) This evolution is expected since rapid economic growth in China and a number of other countries in the world allows for rapid increases in R&D expenditures in these countries. Also, high growth rates are more easily reached when the initial level is relatively low.In that context, the share of the EU and other advanced economies is bound to shrink and the figure below quantifies this shrinkage. This re-balancing in knowledge production has important consequences for the EU in terms of international scientific and technological cooperation and knowledge flows in the world. In the 2002 Lisbon Strategy, the EU set the objective of devoting 3 % of its GDP to R&D activities by 2010. In 2005, with the re-launch of the Lisbon Strategy, Member States set their own national R&D intensity targets to be met in 2010.In the Europe 2020 Strategy adopted in 2010, the EU maintained the 3 % objective for 2020 and in the following months, Member States adopted their 2020 national R&D intensity targets. Despite a 25 % real-terms increase in research expenditure over the period 2000–2008, R&D intensity in the EU has stagnated at around 1. 85 % of GDP between 2000 and 2007 with a slight increase in 2008 and 2009 to 2. 01 % of GDP (Figure I. 1. 2). This late increase in R&D intensity is, however, due to a more rapid decrease in GDP than in R&D expenditure.In the United States, after a continuous decline during the first half of the decade, R&D intensity started to increase from 2005 to 2. 77 % of GDP in 2008, slightly above its 2000 value (2. 69 % of GDP). This quasi-stagnation of R&D intensity in the EU and the United States contrasts with the strong increases observed in Japan, South Korea and China during this period, up to 3. 44 %, 3. 37 % and 1. 54 % of GDP respectively. Part of the very high R&D intensity growth observed in China is due to its low initial position. It is to be noted that this increase slowed down in 2007–2008 in Japan.Of the largest contributors to R&D expenditure in the EU, France and the United Kingdom have followed a similar path to the EU average, while Germany is closer to the US level. 1. 2. Development strategy of technology enterprises: Although th e market for computer is huge and profitable, the competition is truly fierce between leading providers including Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Sony, Toshiba, Acer and Apple. As the demands for computer and computer-related products are getting higher day by day, there is also a pressure for PC vendors to drive the price down to compete with others.It is often down to the level where profits are questionable; as mention in the previous sector, around 10% of price margin. Meanwhile, PC vendors also have to cope with rapid product cycle because high technology is changing so quickly. As the result, IT enterprises have to keep their costs down and try to maximize their market share. The use of information systems to gain competitive advantage becomes very attractive to the companies in this industry. Each firm follows their own strategy of technology innovation and doing business. Dell: The innovative Direct-Sales Business Model eliminates the need for a retail chain.The ability to custo mize PC on an individual customer basis is one of the main comparative advantages of this vendor. Dell’s PCs are built and upgraded based on standardized components of collaborative partners. Hewlett-Packard: It merged with Compaq Computer to compete against Dell. This computer giant still relies on the more traditional retailer channel business model. HP also offers variety of computer products such as printers, scanners, and digital cameras. IBM: Traditionally IBM is in the mainframe and large scale computing market. It holds the most patents in the world as an attempt to stay ahead in the competition.The PCs from IBM are gear towards corporate and business use. Lenovo: Lenovo is the world's second largest PC maker after its 2005 acquisition of IBM's personal computer business. . Lenovo markets its products directly to consumers, small to medium size businesses, and large enterprises, as well as through online sales, company-owned stores, chain retailers, and major technolo gy distributors and vendors. Sony: a Japanese consumer electronic giant becomes a computer maker. Their computers gear toward the consumer market and offer tools for video editing.It is aiming towards the overall design and appearance of the computer. The main Laptop line of Sony is Vaio which tend to concentrate on the high end market. Toshiba: a Japanese diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services. In PC venture, Toshiba focuses on portable computers. Their computers offer a balanced between price and performance. Acer: Taiwan PC maker which has been staying in top 5 PC vendors regarding the market share in recent years after its acquisition of US-based competitor Gateway.In the early 2000s, Acer changed it business strategy a manufacturer to a designer, marketer and distributor of products, while performing production processes via contract manufacturers. Acer’s prod ucts are competitive both in the quality and the price. Apple: Last major PC maker that is not using Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Apple has moved from competing directly with the Wintel market to a more leisure computer market. Their computers focus on design and user-friendliness. The customers for Apple are personal users, educational institutions, and graphics design firms.The following table is about global market share of leading vendors in recent years: Table 6: Global PC Market Share 2008 – 2011 |Rank |2008 |2009 |2010 |2011 | |1 |HP |18. 4 |HP | Customers |Individuals |Corporate |Education |Government | Markets US |Europe |Asia |Latin America | Manufacturing strategy |Customized |Fixed features | Sales and distribution |Direct Sales |Retain Chains | Company’s structure |Alliances |Independent |Any enterprise in the computer industry has to choose at least one primary and perhaps some combinations of the supplementary strategies. The two primary strategies are low cost and product differentiation, and the supplementary strategies include innovation, grow, and alliance. In order to implement the low cost strategy as the primary strategy, the firms have to notice a few important points. In the least-cost competition there is only one winner, and this is to say there is only one company that can achieve the least cost in the production. Low cost strategy emphasizes on ways to cut cost as low as possible.For example, the most popular way is based on economies of scale which means the firms have to sell a lot of the same products to sustain the extremely low profit margin on each item. Other ways include the policies to keep low inventory, direct sales to cut the cost of middleman. Generally, the firms need to use information systems to exploit cost reductions and form strong business alliances with suppliers and other logistics providers. Dell Inc. is the best example of companies successful in applying this strategy. The direc t sales model and the ability to maintain almost-zero inventories have ontributed greatly in the forming of extremely competitive price of its products. On the other hand, the differentiation strategy focuses on separating the product from the industry standard. This is a strategy that focuses on unique products that exceed the industry average in terms of performance and design. The product must be highly customizable so it caters to individuals rather than having a generic form. Firms using differentiation as a strategy need to constantly make adjustments to the product because of the competitor’s imitation.As an illustration, Apple’s primary strategy is in product differentiation. It tries very hard to differentiate itself from the rest of the PC manufacturers through better design and performance. Through Apple’s own brand image, it tries to convince the customers that its computers are superior to other competitors. The PC industry offers a wide range of pr oducts. Desktops and laptops are computers that target at home customers. For business, government, and educational customers, they will find the tablets and servers both very attractive to fit their needs. In the 21st century, the PC industry is truly global.Computers can be shipped to different places around the world with the minimal modifications. The computer itself is the same for all countries; however, the documents and manuals that come with the computer will have to be localized to the specific countries. Besides a clear primary strategy, a good combination of the supporting strategies is also important. Innovative use of information systems in Supply Chain Management will enable the firm to cut costs to support the primary strategy. Total Quality Management allows a company to provide and sustain a good customer service time after time.Strong Alliances are formed to foster a closer relationship with the suppliers and logistics providers. Alliances can also drive the costs down and increase the profit margin on each product. The options for strategy are limitless. The goal for all firms is to make a well-balanced choice – a choice that will ensure the competitive edge of the firm in the industry. Failure in doing so will result in loss of market share and perhaps the end of the business opportunity for the firm. 1. 3. Development strategies of some MNCs in the world and achievements: 1. 3. 1. Globalization of the Personal Computer industry:Table 7: Share of global PC production by region | |1985 |1990 |1995 |2000 | |Americas |53% |32% |32% |34% | |EMEA |24% |27% |20% |19% | |Asia-Pacific |23% |41% |48% |47% | Source: Reed Electronics Research, Yearbook of World Electronics Data Note: EMEA: Europe – Middle East – Africa) The computer industry has long been one of the most global of industries. The Asia-Pacific production network was concentrated in Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore and Taiwan. In Singapore, many U. S. and oth er MNCs set up production of computer hardware, especially disk drives. In Taiwan, entrepreneurial local companies found opportunities supplying the major PC makers, beginning with simple parts and moving up to more sophisticated components, and assembly of PCs and peripherals.Over time, labor-intensive activities were relocated to low-wage locations such as Thailand, Malaysia and China, with Singapore and Taiwan coordinating production in these sites and handling more sophisticated manufacturing processes at home. Japan and Korea were less successful as global PC producers, but were the major suppliers of high volume components such as memory chips and flat-panel displays. As early as 1988, the Asia-Pacific region had surpassed the Americas as the largest producer of computer hardware, even though the largest market was in the Americas and most leading PC vendors were U. S. companies.Asia-Pacific gained production at the expense of both the Americas and Europe/Middle East/Africa (E MEA) until 1990; since then it has grown relative to EMEA while the Americas’ share of production has remained stable. In absolute terms, production has continued to grow in all regions. In Europe, production was concentrated in Germany, the UK, France and Italy during the 1980s. Each of these countries had a â€Å"national champion† computer vendor that had been nurtured through government procurement and other policy measures. However, none of the national champions made a successful transition from mainframes to personal computers.As a result, production stagnated in the mid 1990s in all of the countries except the UK, which attracted IBM and Compaq to locate PC production in emerging industry clusters in Scotland and Wales. In the Asia-Pacific region, production was dominated in the 1980s by Japan, which nearly tripled production between 1985 and 1990 to surpass the U. S. as the world leader. During this time, Singapore and Taiwan also saw rapid growth, followed by Korea. In the early 1990s, Japan continued to see solid growth in production, while Singapore and Taiwan each tripled their production to become the third and fourth largest producers in the world.In the late 1990s, however, Japan’s production declined precipitously, and Singapore and Taiwan saw much lower growth rates. The fastest growth was now occurring in the less developed ASEAN countries of Malaysia and Thailand, and most dramatically in China, which has leaped to number four in world production. This shift to developing countries was driven by investments by U. S, Japanese and Taiwanese firms looking for lower cost production sites and, in the case of China, looking for market access as well. 1. 3. 2. Strategies of some leading PC makers in the world and achievements: Hewlett-Packard (HP):HP is a PC vendor that operates in more than 170 countries all over the world. HP was founded in 1939. Corporate headquarters are in Palo Alto, California. In recent years, HP has re mained as the largest IT company in the world, with revenue totaling $127. 2 billion for fiscal year 2011. In 2011HP stayed at number 11 in Fortune 500 ranking. In 2002, HP and Compaq have merged together to gain the market competing with the main competitor Dell. These steps in the strategy of HP has boosted the market share of this PC enterprise become much larger than Dell and help the company stay at the first place in the world for years.Probably no other company offers as complete a technology product portfolio as HP. The company provides infrastructure and business offerings that span from handheld devices to some of the world's most powerful supercomputer installations. HP offers to consumers a wide range of products and services from digital entertainment and from computing to home printing. This PC vendor divides its products into three groups to meet the need of each market segmentation, including: The Personal Systems Group: business and consumer PCs, mobile computing de vices and workstations.The Imaging and Printing Group: inkjet, laser-jet and commercial printing, printing supplies Enterprise Business: business products including storage and servers, enterprise services, software and networking In order to innovating its technology constantly, at the moment HP scientists are focused on 24 large-scale projects that fall under eight high-impact research areas: printing and content delivery; mobile and immersive experiences; cloud and security; information analytics; intelligent infrastructure; networking; services; and sustainability.However, in recent years, HP has shifted from creating entirely new technology to using standardized components in producing PCs. The clear figure is that this company has reduced it R budget continuously. In 2009, HP spent $2. 82 billion on R, down from $3. 54 billion a year earlier. In 2007, HP’s R spending was $3. 6 billion. This movement in its strategy has supported greatly to lower cost. HP keeps a balance in its products, good quality PCs integrated with updated technology but at a competitive price level. Apple Apple Inc. , formerly Apple Computer, Inc. is a multinational corporation that creates consumer electronics, computer software, and commercial servers. Apple's core product lines are the iPad, iPhone, iPod music player, and Macintosh computer line-up. Founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak effectively created Apple Computer on April 1, 1976, with the release of the Apple I, and incorporated the company on January 3, 1977, in Cupertino, California. For more than two decades, Apple Computer was predominantly a manufacturer of personal computers, including the Apple II, Macintosh, and Power Mac lines, but it faced rocky sales and low market share during the 1990s.With the introduction of the successful iPod music player in 2001, Apple established itself as a leader in the consumer electronics industry, dropping â€Å"Computer† from its name. The latest era of phenomenal s uccess for the company has been in the iOS range of products that began with the iPhone, iPod Touch and now iPad. As of 2011, Apple is the largest technology firm in the world, with annual revenues of more than $60 billion. The main lesson from Apple’s success, however, is the central importance of focusing on strong products that are well-designed for the market.For years in this century, Apple has become the best leading innovator with continuously updated generation of its products and brand new ones. Steve Job, the company’s leader, is a genius at minimalist designs that integrate technology breakthroughs to fill a newly emerging need with unusual style. The result can be seen in the way he describes the attraction of the iPad â€Å"It’s like holding the Internet in your hands. It’s so much more intimate than a laptop and more capable than an iPhone. It’s truly magical. † The following figure presents the budget Apple has spent on R&D as percentage of revenue.In general, spending on R&D of this company is high, keep this vendor among the top 50 R&D spenders in the world. However, company’s revenue increases faster than this expense (as illustrated as decrease trend of the figure), especially since 2010 with the introduction of the ever successful tablet – Ipad. Figure 6: Apple’s R&D % of sales [pic] (Source: Larry Dignan – ZDNet news) Behind such great products, Apple thrives because it has been described as a well-oiled machine. The company has outsourced its manufacturing operations, while 317 Apple stores are wildly popular and profitable.The Apple music store – iTunes – has expanded into a powerful vehicle for trading videos, movies, and possibly other information products. Lenovo: Lenovo is the world's second largest PC maker in 2011. This Chinese company is established on November 1, 1984. In 1985, the company launched the first Chinese-made motherboard with Lenovo te chnology. The brand name, Lenovo, was born from this. Lenovo operates factories in Chengdu and Hefei in China, Japan, and as of December 2011 has plans to start production in Argentina.Lenovo focuses on vertical integration in order to avoid excessive reliance on original equipment manufacturers and keep costs down. This PC maker offers to the market the ThinkPad, IdeaPad line of notebook PCs and ThinkCentre line of desktops. These brands became part of Lenovo's offerings after its 2005 acquisition of IBM's personal computer business. As its strategy, Lenovo markets its products directly to consumers, small to medium size businesses, and large enterprises, as well as through online sales, company-owned stores, chain retailers, and major technology distributors and vendors.This direct sales model helps the company to reduce cost of middle man and retailers, and form the basis to get instant feedback from its customers. This all reduces the cost of producing and selling products and k eeps this enterprise stay competitive on the market. Besides, Lenovo owns the greatest track record for innovation in the PC industry and remains committed to innovation in its products and technology. As stated in the company’s statement, Lenovo’s innovation strategy is based on a two-tiered approach to solving real-world customer problems: Focus the majority of development on ideas that can be brought to market within 24 months; and, Invest longer term in research targeting â€Å"game changing† big plays† At the moment, Lenovo operates seven research and development centers and more than 46 world-class laboratories, including major research centers in Yokohama, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, New York City. The company employs more than 1,700 engineers, researchers and scientists and has received more than 100 major design awards.Lenovo’s R centers have produced some of the world's most important advances in PC technolog y, ranging from the original Bento Box PC notebook design in 1992 to the 2008 launch of the innovative ThinkPad X300, considered as one of the world's lightest, thinnest and most innovative full-featured notebook PCs ever. Lenovo's commitment to innovation introduces more industry breakthroughs and technology that sets the technical standards for business users as well as consumers. Chapter 2: DELL COMPUTER’S TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 2. . Overview of Dell computer’s development: This section of the paper deals with Dell Computer in the PC industry in terms of how they fit in the global PC industry, their technology innovation, their competitive strategy, the significance and the roles of the information systems, and the strengths and weaknesses of Dell Computer in the industry. In 2011, Dell reported $61,494 billions in sales, 16% increased in comparison with the previous year, and employed 100,300 people worldwide in production, development, and customer support of the operation.Dell is truly a global business with products range from desktops, laptop, workstations, servers, networking devices, and computer peripherals such as printers, cameras, LCD TV, mp3 music players, and recently tablet. Each Dell’s product can be further customized to meet the needs of the customers. Dell’s direct sales business model has been refined and modified to support the changing product line and customer service. However, the main idea behind the direct-sale business model remains unchanged.From a statement on Dell’s website, â€Å"Dell is doing business directly with customers, one at a time, and believe we can do it better than any one else in the industry. † The successful direct-sales business model puts much emphasis on the customers. From the beginning to the end of the transaction, Dell understands completely what the needs of its customers are. This results in a satisfied customer with the potential to do b usiness again and again in the future. After two decades of growth, Dell has become the world leading direct-sale computer vendor in the PC industry.As a relatively young company, Dell finds themselves constantly competiting with old, more established companies like Hewlett-Packard and IBM. In many years in the early of this century, Dell reclaimed the title of the number one PCs supplier in the industry. The success of Dell Computer is not possible without the vision of Michael Dell and his innovative strategies of technology development and operation. The following is a brief history of Dell Computer and its development. 2. 1. 1. Introduction to the company: Dell, Inc. s an American multinational computer technology corporation headquartered in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States. The company is founded on November 4th, 1984 by Michael Dell who at that time was still a student in University of Texas. In 1983, Michael Dell started his computer hardware retail business by s elling hard drives and RAMs for IBM PCs. Dell bought his products from IBM dealers at cost, and later resold it through newspaper and magazines to individuals and businesses at lower cost than the retailers.By April 1984, his dorm room computer business was already making about $80,000 a month, and the success was strong enough to persuade him to drop out of college. As a result, Dell founded Dell Computer with $1,000. In the next few years, he was making IBM clones computers under the name PC-Limited and sold it to customer directly without retailers. This approach allowed PC-Limited to sell computers to its customers at 40% of the price of the IBM computers. The direct-sales business model propelled Dell Computer to the leading PC supplier in the industry.Table 8: Dell market share and rank from 2001 to 2010 |2001 |2002 |2003 |2004 |2005 |2006 |2007 |2008 |2009 |2010 | |Market share |13. 3 |15. 2 |15. 0 |16. 4 |16. 8 |15. 9 |14. 3 |14. 3 |12. 2 |12. 9 | |Rank |1 |2 |1 |1 |1 |1 |2 |2 |3 |2 | |(Data: Gartner Inc. ) For many continuous years, Dell was the number one PC maker in the industry. However the situation has changed dramatically since the merger of HP and the direct competitor Compaq in 2002, together they own the market share bigger than Dell. Besides, bigger size allows HP to foster it low cost strategy due to economy of scale.Some years later come the rise of Lenovo and Acer with the acquisition of IMB and Gateway respectively. As a result, Dell keeps the third position in the market in 2011. The direct-sales business model is just one tool for Dell to do business. If the success of Dell is based solely on this model, Dell would have lost its competitiveness a long time ago. The competitors of Dell can duplicate the model and do business the same way as Dell. There are other factors staying at the core of Dell strength. Following is a summary of Dell comparative advantages based on several analyses about this firm:Leading technologies: Dell always k een to embed latest technology in its products. Following standards-based innovation, Dell PCs are built with standardized components which are well-recognized by the market. Dell has spent much effort and money to push its product to the limit of capacity in order to serve customers with the best computing solution. In addition, due to its direct relationship with customer, Dell is able to introduce the latest relevant technology compared to companies using the indirect distribution channels. Moreover, Dell launches newer technology far more before the other companies that hold inventories.The focus of Dell on technology personnel has helped this firm to catch up with every change in high technology. Customer Direct: one of Dell’s core strength is its firm belief in upholding the direct business strategy. Going direct has benefited this firm in many ways. Since it cut off all the role of wholesalers as well as retailers, it reduces greatly the cost of manufacturing and selli ng computers, resulting in products with very competitive price level. In addition, direct relationship is the basis for its ability of customization.The information and feedback from customers could be collected easily and quickly. And this information will be of help in choosing the most appropriate computing solution to serve the customers. This process results in higher satisfaction and trust of customers on Dell’s products and services. This form of innovation has been of great importance in pushing it from the bottom all the way to the number one supplier of Desktops, notebooks, and server in the world. Information Systems: no one can deny the importance of Dell’s Information Systems as a competitive advantage.Information Technology has been around for some time now and is available to everyone at fairly low costs, so it only makes sense for a company to have one. But by just having Information Systems they do not inherit a competitive advantage. The advantage co mes from strategies built around solid business models. And Dell’s overall implementation of the customer direct business model which uses Information Systems is one of its most powerful competing forces. The efficient Information System at Dell has kept the flow of information run smoothly in the operation of this company.It turns Dell Inc. into an extremely flexible machine which is always up-to-date. Leadership: Michael Dell, the founder of the enterprise is the one who has contributed greatly to Dell’s top position. His innovative vision about the PC industry and market trend has driven Dell to where it is today. Besides Michael Dell, Dell takes on some of the top executives in the world including its own employees such as Kevin Rollins who manages its day to day operations and helped develop strategies around the direct selling of computer systems and services.As Dell Computer is moving towards a multi-products, multi-national, and multi-services business, it beco mes impossible for one entrepreneur to have all the right skills in managing the company. The collaboration of leaders combines the talents of people in a company that is growing at a tremendous rate. Dell most certainly has more strengths than weaknesses as a company, but that just means it needs to keep a closer watch on its weaknesses. Rivalries as weakness: Industry rivalries are perhaps the greatest weakness of Dell. As one of the top PC manufacturer, Dell has everybody as a competitor.HP and Compaq have merged to counter the strength of Dell. The new merger can lower their costs significantly so they can continue to use the retail approach to compete with Dell. In addition, when Dell expands globally, it also faces with strong competition from local region. From previous section, Asia is the area with the highest demand of PC at the moment. Therefore, some Asian computer firms have been emerging strongly; become the direct competitors of Dell. For instance, Japanese and Korean consumer electronics makers are switching to manufacture PC in recent years.Their advantage is the abundant of cheap and skilled workers. They focus on product designs as a differentiation strategy. Especially in recent year, Lenovo has become one of the top PC makers after the acquisition of IBM. In 2011, this firm even overcomes Dell and gains the second position of global market share. That is a clear illustration for the competition from Asia. Another potential problem for Dell is from the suppliers. Dell relies on the suppliers to provide them with the necessary components to build a PC.If the suppliers cannot deliver the components to Dell, Dell will face with a delay in production. It will create a ripple effect to the rest of the business processes. Limited Technological Selection: even the strategy regarding technology innovation has brought Dell a lot of successes; it also causes a minor weakness that Dell is faced with is its choice of technology. Dell has the opportunit y to employ technology as soon as it comes out, but this enterprise usually waits to verify how a technology will perform in the market before implementing it.Dell’s cautious nature of adoption could possibly lead to a loss of market share to other companies willing to take a risk. And sometimes it is not necessarily a risk that it would be taking. One of the illustration could be pointed here is the success of Apple with the famous tablet Ipad in 2010. This enterprise spent 3. 1% of its revenue in 2009 on R&D and come up with the first tablet Ipad in the market. This product become a big success and helps this company gain the main market share for tablets after that.Meanwhile, Dell has waited for a period of technology standardization to release its first tablet Latitude ST. Strategy Mimicking: Dell’s strategies of standards-based innovation and customer direct are well known and its business processes can be duplicated by any company. This is not seen as a direct we akness of Dell but an indirect weakness of Dell’s in relation to the market. In fact, many competitors of Dell have changed some parts of their technology focus when perceived the fact that Dell has born a much lower R&D cost while still gained the biggest bite of the cake.For instance, in recent years, HP has shifted its technology innovation strategy into using some standardized components in stead of building their own technology. On another side, the emerging Taiwan firm Lenovo is also keeping a direct relationship with its customers, lowing down the cost and price of products. Strategies which help Dell stay competitive for years at the same time, could help its competitors, especially with newly emerging firms which do not stuck with any old and complex system need to change.In general, Dell’s innovative strategies regarding technology innovation and direct business model enable it to become and stay competitive in the changing global market. With strong global s ales and growth, Dell will continue to own a large market share in the PC industry. 2. 1. 2. History of development since establishment: Timeline of development: 1980: Michael Dell purchases his first computer-an Apple II-and promptly takes it apart to understand how it was designed and made. 983: Declaring he ultimately wanted to beat IBM, the young Dell conducts a lucrative business out of his dormitory room at the University of Texas, selling upgraded PCs and add-on components. 1984: With $1,000 in startup capital, Michael registers his business as Dell Computer Corporation, doing business as PC's limited, and leaves school in May of that year. The company becomes the first in the industry to sell custom-built computers directly to end users, bypassing the dominant system of using computer resellers to sell mass-produced computers. 986: Dell unveils the industry's fastest-performing computer, a 12 MHz, 286-based system, at the Spring Comdex national computer tradeshow. The system quickly attracts a large number of reviews from the technology press. The company also pioneers the industry's first thirty-day money back guarantee, which becomes the cornerstone of Dell's commitment to expand its service offerings and offer superior customer satisfaction, and offers the industry's first onsite service program. 987: In a bold move for the risky operation, Dell establishes its first international subsidiary in the United Kingdom. Eleven more international operations would open over the course of the next four years. 1989: The fast-growing company experiences its first major stumbles: It accumulates excess inventory of memory components, which results in write-downs, and cancels an ambitious product development program code-named â€Å"Olympic. † 1990: Dell becomes the first computer company to jump into the burgeoning market for computers sold through consumer retail stores such as CompUSA and Best Buy.The company later becomes the first company to exit this segment as well, after determining the retail-store model did not meet its financial objectives. 1992: Dell achieves slightly more than $2 billion in sales for the fiscal year ended January 1993, which represents a remarkable 127 percent increase. 1993: Suffering from the pains of extremely rapid growth, Dell cancels a secondary offering and posts its only quarterly loss resulting from a temporary withdrawal from the notebook market, its exit from retail stores, and a restructuring of European operations. 996: Dell challenges the traditional market for premium-priced servers based on proprietary technology with its introduction of its Power Edge server line. In less than two years, PowerEdge vaults Dell from the tenth position in market share to the third largest server vendor in the world. The company's quiet bid to sell custom-built computers over the Internet quickly becomes a public revolution when the company announces that sales over www. dell. com have exceeded $1 million pe r day. During the same year, Dell introduces its first custom-made web links for customers.Called â€Å"Premier Pages,† the links allow customers to tap directly into the company's own service and support databases. 1998: Dell solidifies its Internet leadership when it tops $12 million per day over the Internet, expands its Premier Page program to more than nine thousand customers and establishes web-based connections with its suppliers to speed the flow of inventory and quality information. Dell opens an integrated sales, manufacturing, and support center in China. 1999: Dell becomes the number one PC company in the United States, the largest worldwide market for personal computers.To accommodate its growth, Dell opens new manufacturing facilities in Nashville, Tennessee and Eldorado do Sul, Brazil. Sales over www. dell. com top $35 million per day. 2001: It's a year of firsts as Dell becomes the No. 1 computer systems provider worldwide, and reaches No. 1 in U. S. Intel-bas ed server shipments. The PowerConnect line of network switches launches Dell into the networking equipment market. Dell signs an agreement with storage leader EMC to enable more affordable enterprise-class storage area network solutions for customers of all sizes. 003: The Company expands its product portfolio with Dell-branded printers and officially enters the consumer electronics market to serve as a single source for its customers. 2005: Dell

Intercultural Communication Essay

There is always the existence of power in the society when people communicate, although it might not be evidently observed. At most instances, communication is assumed to take place between equal people, but this might not always be the case. There are basically different types of hierarchy that exists in the society which makes some people to be more powerful than others. This is a communication that takes place in intercultural communication. Those who are powerful either knowingly or unknowingly creates an environment that makes their communication more profound, hence asserting their authority over the others. People can be found in one communication group due to involuntary or voluntary cases. Involuntary occurs for instance when a person is of a certain gender, race, ethnic group, age and physical ability. The voluntary orientation occurs because of education background, geographic location, marital status, and socio-economic status. Basically those in the dominant group of communication usually impede those who are not in the same category with them. The most powerful in the society in terms of communication are usually also more privileged when it comes to many issues. There are some power relations that are usually rigid than others. For instance, power that occurs between gender is more rigid in changing than power that occurs for instance in a relationship between a student and a teacher. There are however many complication that can occur in intercultural communication due to the barriers that exists. The minority have been mostly powerless in communication compared with the other groups in the society. Basically the whites have always believed to be superior over many minority groups, especially the blacks. This is being ethnocentric. Many developed countries have looked down upon the less developed countries especially from Africa as they believe that the people from these countries can not be equated with them. The blacks whether immigrants or those who were born in the developed countries thus continue to be seen as less important people in the society, hence can not even be listened to, or be given an opportunity to prove their prowess in any arena by the whites. The white race believes to be the most dominant race than all the other races, hence undermining the rest. Many of the black people are also stereotyped in the American society. Many blacks can be found to be imprisoned more than the whites, yet in essence, it can not be said that the blacks are the ones who commit crimes more than the whites. But because of stereotypes, they are just considered to be naturally criminals. Any black seen walking around the white dominated area is usually looked at as a person who is bound to commit a crime even if a person has got no such intentions. This can occur because of generalizing issues that blacks are criminals, yet the whites commit crimes just as the blacks. In fact, because of stereotypes, the black suspect is more likely to receive punishment or a harsher punishment than a white suspect charged with the same offence. In most cases, stereotypes occur in unconscious manner, thus the only way to overcome it is by having a conscious way of avoiding it. In many white homes, children might grow up hearing the N word often used by their parents against the black people, hence the children also grow up with the same stereotypic nature the elders have over the blacks. Because of stereotype and prejudice that is rampant in the society against the blacks, they usually find themselves victims of discrimination. The blacks have been discriminated over many issues in the society ranging from political, social, and economic perspectives. In many instances, the blacks have been denied equal opportunity in the society by the more powerful whites. Discrimination can be exhibited in various forms that include subtle non verbal to verbal insults. Because of prejudice and stereotyping the less powerful people find themselves being even eliminated in the society through various means that can include genocide. This is a very mild form of discrimination. Discrimination can be at interpersonal or institutional level. Although there are nowadays less cases of interpersonal discrimination, the institutional level discrimination are still very high. At institutional level, the blacks are usually denied equal representation in different institutions in the society compared to their white counterparts. As already explained, the blacks usually find themselves at the wrong hand of the law more than the whites, not because the blacks commit crimes than whites, but because the law enforcers are bound to look for mistakes among the blacks than they would do with the whites. Discrimination is even evident in the law paying job application fields in which a white man, who has got a criminal record, has got higher chances of getting employed than a black man who has got a clean criminal record. In such a case, the employer is not interested in the records of the employees, but rather concerned with the race of the applicant. Therefore, despite many efforts that are put in the society to show that there is equality in different spheres, intercultural communication still plays as a major hindrance in the achievement of this.

Compare and contrast the ethical issues concerned with due process v Essay

Compare and contrast the ethical issues concerned with due process v. street justice. in U.S - Essay Example On considering the ethics behind whether to implement 'due process' or 'street justice', it may be of ample relevance to point out inquisitively about up to what extent is one necessary over the other. By 'street justice', policing in the U.S. takes its origins out of the increasing urgency to develop a community-based politically decentralized institution to manage social regulation within communities that barely cope with keeping norms as urbanization progresses in them (Sykes). This is especially true during the early years when accredited justice institutions overlooked adequate fulfillment of tasks that the police was summoned over for complementary aid and allowed thereby to conduct informal procedures on peacekeeping to settle tolerable disputes at least. Since local governments admit imperfection and inefficiency or neglect on certain aspects that seem quite inevitable at times of facilitating criminal cases, police officers are hence granted the opportunity to exercises flex ible authority to apply measures they suppose may be suitable for a particular occasion. As this tradition proceeds so that American policemen fully recognize the functional worth of 'street justice', it readily yields for these law enforcers the thought of having broader options in performing their designated duties. More often than not, the idea of versatility with role naturally comes out as an initial impression that lasts as long as each police officer assumes that their overall job equates that of the judiciary system. Having a wider sense of responsibility in the process is remarkable, however, the risk of operating beyond the required control occurs at a stage of reasoning that locates community-based policing as more of a privilege. This way, there are cops who, reportedly, have become abusive of their profession to obtain favor which satisfies personal interests. The disadvantage of accruing potential greed or inclination to corrupt practice as from such eventually obscure s the sight of justice in achieving fair ends upon targeted goals with which the welfare of the innocent is the chief concern. On the other hand, subjecting moral issues under the 'rule of law' is known to be a classic organized way of evaluating which side deserves a specific portion of verdict. Though it is conventionally tedious to hold court proceedings, appeals and positions of each of the people involved are thoroughly examined, with scientific investigation in the process, and are judged accordingly in this setting in order that one is assured of fair and equal treatment with the rest during prosecution. Where evidences are adequately presented, an appreciable chance of attaining to just consequences duly deserved follows after the most reliable scrutiny by a number of lawfully educated individuals. Typically, a systematic means of arriving at righteous judgment is unquestionable for being objective by nature, but the harsh realities of officiating a correct yet rigid or aust ere punishment is unlikely translatable to a form which is rather compassionate and life-transforming for a culprit who might so profoundly hope to change and be wholly renewed apart from the former immoral character. Dr. J.M. Pollock further argues that by 'due process' in the 'rule of law', â€Å"

Transforming of Olympic Games Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Transforming of Olympic Games - Assignment Example Budgetary transformation has been one of the leading factors. The International Olympics Committee’s (IOC) budget during the early half period of the 20th century was quite meagre. The then president of IOC, Avery Brundage was quite aggressive in his approach not to allow commercial stakes to play a role in Olympic Games. A shift in approach was seen in 1980 when Juan Antonio Samaranch was president of the IOC, as he wanted to bring about a change for making the IOC monetarily strong. The Olympic Program (TOP) was initiated by Samaranch in 1985. Still TOP membership fee is quite high, to the tune of US$50 million for a period of 4 years (Buchanon & Mallon, 2006). Coubertin was against making IOC a commercial organisation, as he defined Olympism â€Å"not a system but a state of mind...created by the cultivation of both effort and eurhythmy...the basis of absolute virility,† as cited by (Buchanon & Mallon, 2006, Introduction ci.). Politics has interfered in Olympics different ways. Take for example the holding of 1936 Olympics at Berlin, facing large scale boycott to raise voice against Nazism although the movement could not succeed. Racism was widely prevalent in American society at that time, as the African American Jesse Owens had to live in a racist environment even after winning four gold medals in track. The 1968 Olympics faced demonstrations from black athletes, inspired by the civil rights and black power movements.

Global Trends in Corporate Power Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Global Trends in Corporate Power - Assignment Example However, the 1970s experienced a failure of the Keynesian economic policies to address unemployment and inflation issues. Conservative politicians fought for the growth of large corporations by faulting the enforcement of anti-trust laws and lowering tax rates on corporations.The fall of the Eastern Bloc nations and the Soviet Union near the end of the twentieth century also gave room for the spread of free-market capitalism. Capitalism played a crucial role in enhancing quick expansion of large American corporations such as Coke, McDonald's, and Levis into new markets that had been dominated by Communist countries. International agreements on free trade and privatization are fueling the removal of trade barriers. Corporations are now riding on preferential treatment by nations. Their impacts on people’s welfare are felt from Wall Street to the poorest country on the globe.Global distribution of Multinational Corporations (MNC) suggests the vast influence of corporate power. T he United Nations reported that there were approximately 75000 MNCs operating globally in 2005. The developed industrial economies boast of being the mother countries of about three-quarters of the MNCs. Denmark is a home to 12% of the total MNCs, followed by South Korea. Germany follows with 8%, then Japan (7%), China (5%) and lastly U.S. (3%). India and Brazil are the leading developing countries that home a significant number of MNCs. However, a greater share of the geographic distribution of only the very largest corporations is in U.S. and Japan.

Mohammed Ail Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Mohammed Ail - Research Paper Example He rose to fame even outside the boxing ring for his outspoken and brave behavior. When the government demanded of him to join the military in 1957 to fight in Vietnam he refused citing religious reasons. He said that he cannot fight until and unless it is justified through religious teachings. The US government did not recognize this excuse and arrested him for draft evasion charges. The American public shifted their perception about Ali after his conviction (Ezra, 2009). People turned sympathetic towards him and saw him as an inspiration. Due to this incident, he could not professionally box for four years at the prime time of his career. Later Ali’s appeal worked its way to the Supreme Court. He won the case in his favor. His court victory made him an icon for a generation that would reject forceful inclusion in the military or any action against their will. Finally in 1971 he returned to the ring. He won the world heavyweight championship title three times; 1964, 1974 and 1978. His career as a boxing legend involves historical matches with boxing greats like George Foreman and Joe Frazier. Muhammad Ali rose above his sport after mastering it (Remnick, 2011). Ali brought the game of boxing to a whole new level. With his charismatic personality, his sheer power in the ring and his butterfly movements he became an icon for the sports of boxing. Ali is an entertainer when it comes to interviews and TV shows. He is an outspoken personality and would love to talk about issues other than boxing. He was the first African-American athlete who would shout his pride of being from the black race. He stood firm against the white establishment. Ali was kept under surveillance by the FBI, and received the same treatment as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X (Remnick, 2011). He lived a high-profile life and move the masses. Ali was born in Louisville Kentucky. His father Cassius Marcellus Clay

Outline presentation+PP presentation slides Essay

Outline presentation+PP presentation slides - Essay Example In the past, electronic cigarette has been seen as a media ploy. However, with technological change, it is possible to develop unique products and services. The E-cigarette is a product of innovation and intelligent product. The amount of money spent on cigarette has been increasing over time due to increasing costs of production. However, with the production of the E-cigarettes have been effective in reducing the cost of cigarette consumption (Malaval and Benaroya 89). The research by the Howie Zee, the average consumption cost reduces over year, and the graph below illustrates the changes in costs after the uptake of the new product. The results are based on the personal consumption rate of one pack per day The graph above illustrates the performance of E-cigarette compared to the tobacco cigarette which has been in use for a long time. However, the establishment of the e – cigarette brand has been poor due to poor investments over the years. Media use has improved the performance of the cigarette for the last decade with the main beneficiary being the Blu brand of E-cigarette. The blue cigarette has been developed with several flavors making it diversified with exceedingly many options. The product comes with seven flavors namely cherry crush, classic tobacco, Java Jolt, Magnificent Menthol, and vivid vanilla. Other flavors are peach schnapps and Pinna Colada. The variety offered makes the products better in providing options in the cigarette industry. The products do not have smoke, ash or smell making them valuable especially when used in public areas. The products contain rechargeable packs and the flavors are presented using cartridges in order to facilitate easy change of flavors (Preston 23). The flavor cartridge has great vapor and come with a single design, and each cartridge is equivalent to one pack of cigarettes. In addition, the company obtains smoke juices, which are manufactured in Wisconsin and the flavors

What Factors Affect the Gender Pay Gap in the UK Industries Essay

What Factors Affect the Gender Pay Gap in the UK Industries - Essay Example This research will take both a mixed method approach where both qualitative and quantitative methods will be applied. The incorporation of a mixed method approach will help increase reliability while increasing both internal and external validity. The qualitative method will be used in order to explain the beliefs and the behaviors that surrounds gender pay gap. This method will involve interviews with various individuals that will shed light on the disparity in pay between men and women. The interviews will involve corporate managers; ten shall be interviewed where at least four should be of the opposite gender. In addition, employees drawn from various sectors will be interviewed. Ten companies that are involved in manufacturing of various products and provision of diverse services will be chosen, for every organization, one individual shall be interviewed. In this case, at least 40% of the interviewees should be of the opposite gender. For the quantitative research, a survey of th e payments of individuals across various industries will be done. This data shall be provided under the consent of the management of the respective organizations. Payment data from twenty-five organizations shall be collected. This will help create an understanding of the disparities in gender across occupations as pointed out by Farrell. Both research methods will adhere to ethical standards of research. Firstly, there will be informed consent for both the interviewees as well as the management shall be aware of the use of the payment data. Another aspect is confidentiality; both the interviewee’s information as well as their individuality will be kept confidential, the same will apply to the payment data that is meant for survey purposes. The variables under considerations are two; gender (dependent) and the independent variable will be payment. A relationship will be drawn between the two from the quantitative data obtained through the surveys.

Management, Personal Relationship and Decision Making Essay Example for Free

Management, Personal Relationship and Decision Making Essay The concept of interpersonal relationships and management involves ideas, taught, and beliefs that are related with social association and affiliations which are employed as approached to marketing, operations, training, management and executive decision (Giddens, 2001). These taught and perceptions constitute different philosophies used by various organizations that create a harmonious place for members and personnel. These beliefs allow the organization’s business to improve. Business improves since personnel performances are able to maximize their potential because people are working perfectly as a team. It is no secret that in order for business to be successful, management plays a very important role (Virine, 2007). Thus, for business to prosper, philosophy in management should be carefully taken into consideration (Virine, 2007).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     In order to successfully manage an activity or personnel it is important that a manager is strong-willed, determined and possessed the â€Å"drive† needed to achieve the desired goal.   It is significant that a person should do a specific thing really well. In order to achieve this, a fine plan should be accomplished and when the plan is executed it is necessary that the plan is strictly followed. It is also important that the existing plan can adapt to changes that when problems are encountered, it can easily be resolved. Also in managing, it will be fitting to add that it is not enough that a person would know how to do things correctly, but it would be a welcome addition to recognize that a person knows how to things better.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A person should understand and put into his mind that there are occasions when great just isn’t good enough. He should not settle for less instead strive and work harder to deliver and perform things way beyond what people have expected. He should not be satisfied by saying â€Å"this will already do† and â€Å"this is alright†. He should always work to be the best. Being the best should not be the endpoint that will mark the conclusion of a venture, but it should be a starting point of something that is great. Through sheer innovation one should take something that works, it could be ideas, or various products such as electric appliances, glassware or simple things like papers and plastics, then transform them and improve them to something that is really unexpected. A person should always try to work to achieve excellence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, in order to properly manage things there are other factors that should be taken into account. One major factor is inter-personal relationship. Relationship with others influences the way we manage things our everyday life (Kahneman, 2000). It is because of our relationship to our love ones that we strive to make things better. It is because of these people who are close to us and we hold dearly in our hearts that we struggle in order to create a better living condition. Because of them we â€Å"shoot for the stars† and aim for the best. Furthermore, our relationship in our workplace with fellow personnel and with the manager dictates the success or the failure of an activity. As mentioned before, it is important to achieve a working area that is surrounded by people which are friendly and are always prepared in lending help. Somehow, they can be your family that during the most challenging times in the work one would have somebody to lean on (Lauria, 1964). They would provide you support and the much needed boost during office hours. With someone to call on, personnel can fully utilize their skills and maximize their talents. Workers do not need to be worry of accidents that may happen, since a sense of security and protection is given to them, as a result they become more focused. Also, in return workers and personnel would work doubly harder to showcase their affection to the people who have helped them in work and their gratitude to the organization and their bosses. Another essential issue that arises from the proper managing of things is decision making. Making a sound decision is hard and when at one point an organization has arrived to a decision, it is always certain that not everyone would be pleased, there would always be contentions. Generally, there are no rules that would make a person a good decision –maker (Plous, 1993). There are always risks that are involved and often times these risks impose immense problems that lead to the downfall of what seems a fair decision at the beginning. There are, however things that can help a person in making decision. Information should first be gathered and accumulated about the issue at hand. Careful study and precautions must be done to properly weigh things. In making a decision it is important to first ask who will be affected once the decision is handed out. Then, we should also understand who will benefit and to whom the decision is detrimental. In making a decision, one should decide for the good of majority and sacrifice his own self interest. To be a good decision maker one needs to be self-less. It is a noble act, a supreme sacrifice. A situation that recently took place in my office is the grudge that happens between two of my colleagues. The conflict occurs because of a misunderstanding for the division of labor in the office. Due to the misunderstanding, a part of the job was left undone. When the deadline arrives and portion of their proposal was still incomplete, pressure started to build up and emotions run high. As a result, a dispute between them existed. For a period of one month or so they started not to talk with each other after their proposal was dumped. Since, both are my friends and I am the one who is being caught from their fight I decided to talk to them and invite them to be part of a project that was assigned to me. Although they were hesitant to work with each other, I convinced them telling they are the most trusted person I knew that could help me and the only person which fitted the job. Professional as they are, they put aside their differences, and worked as a real team. With me calling the shots, and making sure everything is carefully attended and no single detail taken for granted we finished an astonishing job with lots of time to spare. We can infer that by setting aside their argument and their pride for a better cause, and giving each other another chance to work a fine output is achieved. They decided to be selfless and put the organization on top of their priority. References Giddens, A. (2001). Sociology. Cambridge: Polity. Kahneman, D. (2000). Choice, Values, Frames. Cambridge: The Unviersity Press. Lauria, A. (1964). Respeto, Relajo and Inter-Personal Relations in Puerto Rico Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 3 (No. 2). Plous, S. (1993). The Psychology of Judgement and Decision Making New York: McGraw-Hill. Virine, L. (2007). Management Concepts: Vienna.

A White Heron Essay Example for Free

A White Heron Essay A White Heron is a short story about a city girl who came to live with her grandmother in the country. She met a young ornithologist hunter looking for a rare white heron he heard that was seen in the area and to stuff it for his collection. She discovers her infatuation for country life and her love and values for the animals that are living there. She became part of nature and loved it. Sylvia is so overcome by nature’s beauty. When she went home, she could not tell of what she found. She knew she would be awarded with money for telling of the bird’s location, but she determined that it was more important to save the bird’s life. Sylvia was overwhelmed with the fact that it was more than a beautiful bird, she realized it had every right to continue to live in its own innocent world. The story gives us better understanding about the relationship among men, women, and nature. We can see women’s involvement with nature, men’s domination over women and nature, and the return of women’s unity with nature. The relation between men and nature was seen as men dominate nature because men saw nature as a supply for free enterprise, while the relation between women and nature was seen as women were closer to nature than men. Women and nature were valuable companions. And because nature was dominated by men, women and nature help each other and were enlightened from men’s domination. Women understand how to live harmoniously with the world. It was seen in the beginning of the story that Sylvia lives cordially with the nature near her even if she is new to the community in the countryside. Before being disrupted by men, women have good relationship with nature. The story represents the relation between women and nature, which is very close to each other and are seen as close friends. Even though Sylvia and nature are harmonious, they do not feel they are forced to be united. Nature gives her a warm welcome to be an important part of it. It is also seen that the animal is eager to be Sylvia’s friend and presents her a tour in the woods. The bird takes care of the girl with compassion because the bird considers her as a valued companion. This shows that nature welcomes Sylvia as a member of the countryside. This short story recommends that when women stay close to nature, women can greatly understand nature through their senses. In the story, Sylvia takes in nature when she is on her way home. Sylvia’s admiration of nature reveals that Sylvia can deeply understand and grasp nature through seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. This short story totally expresses how women are a valuable friend of nature. It shows the importance of being friends. Without Sylvia, the old cow would be an ordinary cow in the farm. The story articulates that Sylvia treats the cow very well. Nature helps Sylvia at first by being her friend in the woodlands because she’s new in the countryside and a life in her grandmother’s isolated house, the girl doesn’t have any friends. The relation of women and nature, without men’s interruption, is absolutely compatible. Sylvia and her grandmother live contentedly in the countryside because they have great admiration and value for nature. The women in the story have good understandings of nature and nature can be good companions without men’s interference. In the beginning of the story, Sylvia and her grandmother symbolize women who live in harmony with nature. But when the young man arrives at the countryside, both of them become gradually influenced by him. Even though Sylvia thinks that the young man is not as friendly as her old cow, she shows warm hospitality to him. It is seen when he asks her for accommodation and some food and Sylvia eventually takes the young man to her grandmother’s home. While at her house, the young man exhibits men’s approach towards women and he positions himself higher than women. His experiences from the city shape his views and lead him to offend the countryside. He believes that he is from a better group of people because â€Å"The young man had known the horrors of its most primitive housekeeping, and the dreary squalor of that level of society which does not rebel at the companionship of hens (14). † Opposite to his expectation, he found that Sylvia’s house very clean and comfortable. In the story, the view toward natural science is demonstrated in a different way through the young man and Sylvia. Sylvia’s attention and the young man’s curiosity in birds are also different. The girl sees the birds as her friends and becomes their caretaker. Though the young man was influenced by the patriarch and industrialization, he doesn’t perceive the close relation between women and nature. He tells the real purpose of his travel as he tracks a white heron flying three miles away from Sylvia’s house. Sylvia and the white heron are influenced and exploited by the young man as the girl becomes his worker by helping him look for the white heron. The bird is stimulated like it is one type of the resources which provide for the growth of capitalism. Because of temptation, Sylvia came to a decision to go into the woods alone to find the white heron’s nesting ground. Her voyage into the woods demonstrates that Sylvia is captivated by the young man’s charm and money. The trip exemplify that women are dominated by men to take advantage of nature. As Sylvia becomes the young mans worker, her knowledge and bravery are oppressed to provide the young man’s demand. Although Sylvia is familiar with the woods, she abandons her unity with nature. It is obvious that Sylvia’s sensitivity about wild creatures changed and when she started to climb the tree top, she is not unified with nature. The girl destroys nests as she climbs and her attitude to nature changed. Instead of being a caretaker of animals, the girl is illustrated as a housebreaker (31). Nature and Sylvia become divided from each other. As Sylvia go up to the top of the tree, she absorbs a natural feeling again as nature tend to bring her awareness back. The white heron makes his entrance almost at the end of the story. This is to remind her that the bird is still her good friend. Sylvia has realized pain and fatigue of being inferior to the young man. She also recognized that nature is her true friend and not the young man. She experienced the world from a different point of view as: Yes, there was the sea with the dawning sun making a golden dazzle over it, and toward that glorious east flew two hawks with slow-moving pinions. How low they looked in the air from that height when one had only seen them before far up, and dark against the blue sky. Their gray feathers were as soft as moths; they seemed only a little way from the tree, and Sylvia felt as if she too could go flying away among the clouds. Westward, the woodlands and farms reached miles and miles into the distance; here and there were church steeples, and white villages, truly it was a vast and awesome world (34). It stated how she was impressed by nature and her attraction with the young man gradually lessens. These show that even though the relation of women and nature is interrupted by men, the relation can be easily brought back together because women are close to nature. In the end, the story suggests that women will be powerful when they work in assistance with nature. Sylvia makes a decision not to tell the young man about the white heron making them free from exploitation of the young man. People cannot sit around expecting to achieve a goal. They have to follow and do something in order to achieve it. The story relates to sustainability as Sylvia managed to overcome the influence of the young man with the help of nature. Sylvia starts to understand what it means to have maturity and to overcome her self-centeredness. Her experience in putting the bird first before taking money shows how Sylvia has matured. The Power of nature bears out to be much greater for her tough most people would have told the location of the bird and ran away with the money. Her relationship with nature was much stronger than any human relations she had, and she knows she gain more satisfaction from nature than from money. She saved not just the bird, but also herself. It relates to conservation of the environment so much. It made us realize how important the role of nature is for all of us. We take nature for granted. We experience calamities because of our own doings to nature. We should learn to appreciate the things nature gives us. It is not that hard to conserve our environment even if it is our source of livelihood. We should remember that it is also the source of our lives. The forest where Sylvia lives is second-growth forest, where the land was highest, great pine-tree stood, the last of its generation (28). And she finds knowledge in: Whether it was left for a boundary mark, or for what reason, no one could say; the woodchoppers who had felled its mates were dead and gone long ago (28). The rare old tree had emphasized the value of preserving the land. Without the help of nature, how do you think we could ever survive? So, the short story tells us how important it is to conserve our environment for it will benefit us so much for so many centuries to come. The conservation of animals is also simple like with the conservation of the environment. There are so many animals now that we can’t appreciate their beauty because of extinction and there are so many animals that are endangered of becoming extinct. We should appreciate their beauty and respect their right to live as part of nature. They belong to the open wide spaces of nature and not as a stuffed animal that hangs in our walls or as fur coats people wear. Works Cited Jewett, Sarah Orne. (1886). A White Heron Houghton-Mifflin http://andromeda. rutgers. edu/~ehrlich/224/w_heron. htm

Property Law Rights of a Tenant

Property Law Rights of a Tenant Part 1 In this scenario, Raj has allowed his sister-in-law, Joyce, to live in his property. The question is whether Joyce enjoys the rights of a tenant, or if she is actually a mere licensee. There is, in English property law, a crucial distinction between the tenant and the licensee; the former enjoying significantly greater and more secure rights than the latter. It is often not, however, a clear cut distinction. In the present case, the terms of the occupation agreement that the parties drew up will need to be considered. Firstly, the document itself needs to be considered. The first term of it expressly states that Joyce is living in Rajs house as a licensee, and not as a tenant or lessee (that is, that no lease has been created). The document itself, however, might well represent a contract, which would put Joyce in the position of a contractual licensee (following such cases as R v Tao (1977) ). Even a contractual licensee, however, enjoys no proprietary interest in the property in question, as was evidenced in the case of Ashburn Anstaldt v Arnold (1989). A contractual licence can be contrasted to a bare licence, which is simply a personal permission, granted in this case by Raj to Joyce, without Joyce paying consideration, for her to enter his property. The purpose of the bare licence is to provide a defence against an allegation of trespass, so long as the licensee does not overstep the permission of the licence, as happened in the case of Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council (2003). A contract ual licence, by contrast, must involve (as in any contract) valuable consideration moving from the licensee. This was established by Megaw LJ in Horrocks v Forray (1976). Joyce pays a monthly rent of  £600 to Raj, and this could well qualify as the consideration put the licence agreement on a contractual footing. The second term of the occupation agreement states that Raj can nominate a third party to share the premises with Joyce. This relates to the issue of exclusive possession, which is an essential element of any lease or tenancy. This was described as â€Å"the proper touchstone† of a lease by Windeyer J in Radaich v Smith (1959). Two seminal cases highlighted this distinction between leases and licenses. In Street v Mountford (1985), Lord Templeman stated that a tenant is entitled â€Å"to keep out strangers and keep out the landlord unless the landlord is exercising limited rights reserved to him by the tenancy agreement to enter and view and repair.† In AG Securities v Vaughan (1990), however, it was held that a licensee has â€Å"no legal title which will permit him to exclude other persons†. The agreement in the present case expressly allows for Raj to install a third party at his wish. This certainly argues strongly against anything other than a license govern ing the situation. Certain factors, however, suggest that it is not such a simple case of Joyce being merely a licensee. She pays a periodic monthly rent of  £600, and the occupation agreement states that she will live there for a fixed term of four years commencing 1 October 2005. To return to Street v Mountford (1985), the House of Lords, in that case, identified three inherent components of a lease or tenancy. The first was exclusive possession, which has been discussed already, and which is not apparently in evidence in this case. The second, however, is that the lease or tenancy must be granted for a fixed or periodic term certain. This means that the maximum duration of the lease or tenancy must be clearly ascertainable from the outset. Although the strict application of this rule was relaxed somewhat, the principle was reaffirmed in Prudential Assurance Co Ltd v London Residuary Board (1992). The 2005 agreement that granted Joyce the right to live in Rajs house clearly identified a term of fou r years after which the right would expire. In this respect, then, it would seem that the arrangement more closely resembles a lease. This is also a characteristic, however, of the contractual licence. The third element identified in Street v Mountford was the consideration that was discussed above. This too would suggest the arrangement is more akin to a lease, or at least a contractual licence, than a bare licence. It seems, then, that although the arrangement shares some of the characteristics of a lease, the rights enjoyed by Joyce are, in fact, only those of the licensee; that is, a person whose presence is only grounded upon the personal permission of the licensor. Joyces position is stronger than that of a bare licensee, however, by virtue of the contractual arrangement. A further blurring of the limits in this area exists between contractual licenses and equitable or estoppel-based license, which has increasingly become proprietorial in character. A contractual licence does not, however, confer any proprietorial interest on the licensee, as was illustrated in Cowell v Rosehill Racecourse Co Ltd (1937) by Latham CJ who stated that â€Å"fifty thousand people who pay to see a football match do not obtain fifty thousand interests in the football ground.† A longer contractual licence, however, such as the one enjoyed by Joyce, for a period of four years, begins to resemble a proprietar y interest in Rajs property, despite the absence of a right of exclusive possession. It is in relation to this last area that the decisive factor is most relevant. That factor is that when determining whether Joyces occupancy is a tenancy or a licence, the parties intentions (which were clearly that a mere licence should be granted to Joyce) are largely irrelevant. In Aslan v Murphy (1990), the court found that its task was to â€Å"ascertain the true bargain between the parties†. A crucial case of relevance to the present one was that of Addiscombe Garden Estates Limited v Crabbe (1958), in which an arrangement which purported to be a licence was in fact held to be a lease. Despite the fact that Raj and Joyce clearly intended the occupancy to be on the basis of a licence, and the contractual agreement was labelled as a licence, the court is at liberty to overturn this if the reality is that Joyce enjoys a lease. It seems unlikely, however, because of certain terms of the agreement, that Joyce enjoys a sufficient proprietorial interest in the property to becom e a lessee or tenant; but rather her position resembles that of a contractual (as opposed to a bare) licensee. Part 2 Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 relates to the repairing obligations in short leases. Briefly, it obliges the lessor (that is, the party owning the greater estate, usually the freehold, out of which the lease has been carced) to undertake certain works and repairs to ensure that the property remains in good working order. An example is the obligation on the lessor to â€Å"keep in repair the structure and exterior of the dwelling house (including drains, gutters and external pipes)†. In recent years, this section has been considered in a number of cases. A crucial case in the development of property law was Bruton v London Quadrant Housing Trust (1999). The relevance of section 11 to this case was that the claimant (or plaintiff as he then was) claimed that he was a lessee of the property in question, which was owned by the Trust. Of course, if he was a mere licensee, he would not benefit from the statutory protection afforded by the Act. The county court found that he was a licensee and there was therefore not any breach of section 11. The House of Lords overturned this, however. Subsequently, in Sykes v Harry (2001), the section was considered again. In this context, the issue considered by the court at first instance (and subsequently re-considered by the Court of Appeal was whether the landlords (that is the lessors) statutory duty under section 11 relating to the repair of properties subject to a short lease was co-extensive with the landlords contractual duty to keep in repair (that is, the obligation created by the lease instrument). Potter LJ stated that there is â€Å"implied into the tenancy a covenant by the tenant that the landlord may, at reasonable times of day, and on 24 hours written notice, enter the premises for the purpose of viewing their condition and state of repair.† Although at first instance the judge had found that the landlords duty to take care had been coextensive with the contractual duty of repair, the Court of Appeal overturned this using section 4 of the Defective Premises Act 1972, and the duties imposed on the landlord under this as the principal factor. Later that year, in Southwark London Borough Council v McIntosh (2001), section 11 was once again before the court. Here the property in question, which was owned by the council, became defective due to the effects of severe damp. The question before the court was whether the landlord (the council) was in breach of its section 11 duty of repair. The landlord appealed against a first instance decision that it was in breach, and the High Court said that the tenant had failed to establish sufficient evidence to the effect that the damp had been caused by the landlords breach of its section 11 duties. As such, there was no liability and the appeal was allowed. In Shine v English Churches Housing Group (2004), the question of damages awarded under section 11 was considered. The first instance judge had awarded damages to the tenant due to the landlords breach of section 11, but the Court of Appeal found these damages to be â€Å"manifestly excessive†. Research strategy My research began, in both instances, with a textbook. I used the contents page and the index of such books and Gray and Grays Land Law, 3rd Edition; and their Elements of Land Law to identify key sections, such as â€Å"lease† and â€Å"license†. I conducted some background reading on these two legal interests in property, in order fully to understand the potential issues relating to each. It became apparent that there is often a blurred boundary between the type of legal interest a party enjoys in a property, despite what that interest might be labelled as. Having conducted this initial reading of key sections in various textbooks, I began to look for specific cases in which the issue of the lease/license distinction, and the application of section 11 had been considered. For this I used both textbooks, and electronic resources. I accessed LexisNexis Butterworths online, and was able to start by doing basic keyword searches in the case locator engine. From here I was able to read the judgments in the various cases, as well as (in some instances) abstracts of the key issues. In researching section 11, I began by finding the statute itself at the Office of Public Sector Information (again, available online) and was able to locate cases where it had been considered and applied. BIBLIOGRAPHY Statutes Defective Premises Act 1972Landlord and Tenant Act 1985Law of Property Act 1925 Cases Addiscombe Garden Estates Limited v Crabbe [1958] 1 QB 513, CAAG Securities v Vaughan [1990] 1 AC 417Alker v Collingwood Housing AssociationAshburn Anstaldt v Arnold [1989] Ch 1, CAAslan v Murphy [1990] 1 WLR 766, CABruton v London Quadrant Housing Trust [1999] 3 All ER 481Cowell v Rosehill Racecourse Co Ltd (1937) 56 CLR 605Horrocks v Forray [1976] 1 All ER 737, CAPrudential Assurance Co Ltd v London Residuary Board [1992] 2 AC 386, HLR v Tao [1977] QB 141, CARadaich v Smith (1959) 101 CLR 209Shine v English Churches Housing Group [2004] All ER (D) 125Southwark London Borough Council v McIntosh [2001] All ER (D) 133Street v Mountford [1985] AC 809, HLSykes v Harry [2001] EWCA Civ 167Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council [2003] UKHL 47 Secondary sources Gray, K. and Gray, S.F. (2003) Land Law, 3rd Edition (London: LexisNexis)Gray, K. and Gray, S.F. (2005) Elements of Land Law (Oxford: OUP)