buy custom Cloud Computing essay

buy custom Cloud Computing essay 1. Differentiate between Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service and Software as a Service. According to Armbrust et al. (2010), the services that can be delivered through cloud computing are divided into Platform as a Service, Software as a Service, and Infrastructure as a Service. Software as a Service is the most widely used and user-friendly form of cloud computing as, in most cases, it can be accessed directly from the browser without a need to install or download applications. Vendors that provide Software as a Service can manage everything, from apps and O/S, to virtualization and networking. The example of Software as a Service is Gmail. Platform as a Services provides computational resources via a platform, allowing the developers to build a framework over this platform. Thus, they do not need to purchase additional layers of software and hardware. Unlike Software as a Service, with Platform as a Services, some aspects such as applications and data have to be managed by users, not by providers. Platform as a Services offers a wide range of benefits to the companies that look to increase the efficiency of their network performance and interactivity of a large personnel. The example of Platform as a Services is Apprenda that providers services for .NET and Java software development. Infrastructure as a Service provides computer infrastructure, storage, and networking. Thus, companies do not need to buy software and servers. Instead, users can pay for the services according to how many resources they use, which is similar to a rental fee. Out of all the three cloud computing services, Compared to SaaS and PaaS, with Infrastructure as a Service users are responsible for managing the most: apps, data, runtime, and O/S. 2. The authors claim: Developers with innovative ideas for new Internet services no longer require the large capital outlays in hardware to deploy their service or the human expense to operate it. Discuss the statement, pointing out whether and why you agree or disagree with the proposition. The companies do need to be worried about overprovisioning that tends to waste costly resources. In addition, they are not concerned about underprovisioning, which makes them miss potential clients and revenues. Cloud computing eliminates the capital expenses transforming them into operational expenses. It is beneficial when demand for a service is not constant for all times. Thus, a company can pay for using resources, leading to savings. Organizations that have the need for massive analytic tasks can use cloud computing to perform computations faster as using 1,000 machines for one hour is cost associative to using one machine for 1,000 hours. Such elasticity of resources without overpaying for large scale is a unique possibility for that has never been available in the history of IT before the companies (Armbrust et al., 2010). 3. Discuss the cloud computing economics, i.e. why cloud computing is an economic choice for companies of any size. Cloud computing is an economic choice due to pay as you go principle, as stated by Armbrust et al. (2010). Services obtained through cloud computing can be distributed unevenly. For example, a company can use 100 server-hours at one day and not use the service on the next one, and pay for 100. Thus, even if the services are more expensive than purchasing and maintaining ones own server over the same amount of time, Armbrust et al. (2010) argue that the expenses are compensated by such economic benefits as elasticity and transference of risk of over-provisioning and under-provisioning. Elasticity refers to the ability to change resources at a small scale, such as one machine at a time, and with a lead-time of minutes. In order to establish ones own servers, it can take weeks to order and install new equipment, so it must be purchased in advance. However, service providers cannot always make precise predictions. Therefore, the capacity is either overestimated or underestimated. Both cases lead to loss of revenuues, but while the overprovisioning can be easily estimated, the underprovisioning is more problematic to calculate. However, it can be more serious. Not only does a company lose potential profit, the rejected users may never come back (Armbrust et al., 2010). Cloud computing offer many benefits for companies of different sizes and their IT budget. Cloud services allow startup companies to quickly deploy into a rented infrastructure provided by a cloud vendor without having to buy loads of machines, hire operating personnel, and construct a data center. Small and middle-sized companies can use cloud computing services to instantaneously use the benefits of top-class infrastructure without having to obtain, install, and manage it. Large companies are less eager to use cloud services since they are being cautious. However, many of them use it to test the services with some non-mission critical application. 4. See table 2 for the article, on the main obstacles for cloud computing growth. Discuss each of the ten arguments presented in the article. 1. Business Continuity and Service Availability Users expect high availability from services similar to those of the popular services such as Google Search. However, it is sometimes difficult to achieve. The problem lies in the viability of results from entrusting the management of a cloud computing service to a single vendor. The service provider may share software and accounting systems, so in case of any problem, the user risks to lose all the data. Another threat is that a company can even go out of business. Thus, the best way to manage it is to use multiple providers. 2. Data Lock-In Often, customers cannot easily get their data from one provider to run on a new one. One way to solve that problem is to make a single standard of the APIs so that a Software as a Service developer could provide across different providers. Therefore, the problem with one company would not make it lose all the data. Buy custom Cloud Computing essay buy custom Cloud Computing essay Cloud computing is a concept that has at its core a single element: on demand, computing services are delivered over the internet from a remote location, rather than through a desktop, a mobile device, laptop or even on an organizations servers. This implies that computing will become location and device independent, meaning that where information is housed or where processing is taking place will increasingly cease to matter. In a nutshell, computing tasks and information will be available any time from any device, provided there is access the internet (Michael, 2010). The diagram above shows the arms of cloud computing. Use of Cloud Computing In Business For individuals and organizations alike, the cloud concept is increasingly being viewed as an infinite, and not as a finite resource. In the same way, people use and pay for electricity as their energy needs change, is the same way computing has taken an on-demand, scalable form, an additional computation capacity, network bandwidth and storage can be added as needed (Michael, 2010). The current paradigm shift in the evolution of computing only means one thing: the advent of cloud computing is changing both our work and our personal lives. Benefits of Cloud Computing In Business The Creation of New Generation of Products and Services This is among the most important benefits of cloud computing. The economics of cloud computing is allowing firms to create products that were either hard or are relatively less expensive than the competition. Businesses are in a position to incorporate the economic advantage of cloud computing in their product formulations once they have experienced their success, especially if it works for their competitors (Michael, 2010). New business models and business ideas that require prohibitive amounts of computing power or scale or those that were hard to implement due to existing technical limitations and effectiveness, can now be realized with ease (Charles, 2010). Cloud computing has also allowed businesses to improve their storage, processing power and technological innovations that were not possible before. Cloud computing is making these opportunities unusually accessible. Companies traditionally outsourced their IT services some years ago. Unlike this traditional outsourcing of IT, cloud computing provides agility and control unmatched by traditional outsource for the most part. Cloud computing is making it easier for companies to switch than changing IT outsourcers (Nikolov, 2011). The awareness of the greater internet has reached a new leverage. Most companies are using cloud computing to access and interact with the online world in many ways, and it helps them in he employment of social tools, non-relational databases and a host of other technologies in their new cloud. The benefits of these applications are serving companies well by allowing them to acquire the skills and perspectives necessary to compete effectively in the 21st century. Easy Storage and Maintenance The responsibility of storing, maintaining and processing information is outside the company. The company therefore does not handle any glitches or malfunctions, meaning that the business does not need to participate in such problems. Improving Internal Communication Businesses are using cloud-computing solution in improving their internal communications. With in-house software, the storage of data may need one or more computers, and often requires manual entry and tedious communication efforts. This increases miscommunication error. However, with a web-based software solution, all the company executives and other staff interact with the same interface that reflects the same information. Everyone therefore views the same information which ensures consistency and improves internal communications to a great extent (Charles, 2010). Access to Accurate, Real-Time Information Businesses can access accurate and current information via cloud computing solutions. Web-based solutions focused on customer relationship management, which are used to track, store and monitor all the trends of individual customers and more significantly, it is accomplished in real time (Michael, 2010). This means that any employee is in a position to retrieve data on-demand and compile an accurate report reflecting the most current information. Understanding the Customer Since the current and accurate information is easily accessible to sales and marketing departments, they can analyze this information and look for opportunities for growth by using sales strategies that are specifically formulated to meet specific needs and interests of different customers (Charles, 2010). Improving Customer Relationship Management Customer relationship management is crucial to any business success in todays market place. Since sales and marketing departments strategies can be tailored to meet the specific needs of customers, and since these customers are given the opportunity to personalize their purchasing exchanges with the firm, the customer relationship is entire improved. When administrative work is cut, the resources that would have otherwise been used to keep information current manually can be used elsewhere, like carrying out market research. Better Business Tracking Top executive, partners and company heads are using cloud computing to carefully monitor the profitability of the business with more up-to-the-minute information (Michael, 2010). The ultimate goal of adopting cloud computing both in business and governments is cutting costs. Costs are cut in the data entry, IT departments, marketing research and customer call centers. Uses of Cloud Computing By the Government Cloud computing offers attractive advantages to the public sector by delivering infrastructure, software and services required in its operations. One of the most advantageous cloud computing opportunities for the public is the ability to share ICT resources among different agencies. Although governments have tried hard to provide the framework for shared services, these efforts have not always been rewarded. Governments have particularly found cloud computing important, since it offers an easier and less burdensome pathway for the efficient and effective management of public information (Nikolov, 2011). Governments also benefit from cloud computing through decreased maintenance or upgrades of IT resources. This allows improved resource utilization, flexibility, elasticity and efficiencies. Governments are also realizing improved economies of scale as well as improved collaboration capabilities (Nikolov, 2011). Cloud computing has also contributed to improved disaster recovery capabilities, since the public can access information more easily. Cloud computing is also green friendly, and has contributed to the achievement of reduced environmental degradation. Traditional computing required that each work station is installed with software that functions independently of other work stations. The software must be legally licensed to that station, and its maintenance had to be independent. This requires cost, time and energy since organizations have had to hire IT personnel to ensure the maintenance and proper functioning of each stations software. With the advent of cloud computing, the software is web based and one only requires internet access and a web browser. Organizations and governments have been relieved of many IT duties, and thus, costs, that would have otherwise been handled in the house. Cloud computing is changing the way organizations access and use ICT products and services. Instead of owning and managing ICT products and services or using the traditionally outsourced IT services, organizations and are finding it easier to employ cloud computing services since they can meet their ICT services using a flexible, on-demand and rapidly scalable system that does not require ownership on their part or dedicated resources on the cloud services provider. Buy custom Cloud Computing essay buy custom Cloud Computing essay Cloud computing has transformed the delivery and management of IT services. As a utility, cloud-computing solutions reduce IT expenses for individuals, agencies and businesses. It moves data and computing from the traditional portable devices and desktops to large data centers. With this revolution, the demand for cloud computing can be expected to grow exponentially (Hartig, 2009). However, as this technology develops, so do threats and vulnerabilities that affect many users. These vulnerabilities and threats may result to illegal access of critical or confidential data. With the innovation of cloud computing, users do not have to purchase hardware, software and storage devices. A provider through servers and networks can provide these services. Organizations should be aware of these threats and vulnerabilities as they embrace this technology in order to protect their users from crime. Abuse and Suspicious Use of Cloud Users receive various types of services from cloud providers, such as bandwidth and storage capacity. Some service providers provide their users with a free trial period that gives hackers and malicious users an opportunity to access the cloud with nefarious intentions. Spammers and other criminals take advantage of the simple procedures, relatively anonymous access and convenient registration to access the cloud and launch malicious attacks (Hicks, 2009a). Some of the impacts of their attacks include cracking passwords, decoding and building rainbow tables. Hackers and cybercriminals also take advantage of the fact that cloud service providers have limited fraud detection capabilities to launch dynamic attack points, conduct malicious data hosting and execute botnet commands. For example, some hackers use flash files and other content rich applications that allow them to install malware by utilizing users browsers (Spitzner, 2011) To lessen this threat, service providers need to establish stricter initial registration and validation processes. Credit card fraud monitoring and coordination efforts should be enhanced, as well as stepping up introspection of customer network traffic. Another area requiring rigorous monitoring is the public blacklists for the service providers network blocks. This will assist in protecting the integrity of clients data, some of which could be sensitive (Backhouse Dhillon, 2000). Insecure Interfaces and Application Programming Interfaces Cloud customers are able to interact and manage cloud services through interfaces and APIs. Service providers need to secure their service models because they play an important role in the orchestration, provisioning, and management and monitoring of the processes of running the cloud. Customers on the other hand, must be aware of the security risks associated with the use, implementation and management as well as monitoring of the cloud services (Schreiber, 2004). The security of these service models affects the security and availability of cloud services, and therefore, they should include features of authentication, access controls, encryption and monitoring of activities. A weak set of APIs and interfaces results to a variety of security issues, including malicious or unidentified access, API dependencies, inflexible access controls, reusable tokens/passwords, limited monitoring/logging capabilities, anonymous access, clear text transmission and/or authentication of content and improper authorizations. These security issues affect the confidentiality, integrity, availability and accountability of a data in the cloud. The security model of cloud providers interfaces should be analyzed to ensure they are effective. Service providers should implement strong authentication processes and access controls and in concert with encryption transmission. They should also be aware and understand the chain associated with the API (Flavio Roberto, 2010). Malicious Insiders Advanced persistent threats are some of the threats facing cloud computing in this era. Insider attacks are becoming a common occurrence in this technology and are orchestrated by employees at the provider or users site (Anderson Rainie, 2010). A malicious insider can access cryptographic keys and files as well as passwords that can allow them to participate in information theft, damage and fraud. Insiders can also by-pass or bend of security control and engage in other acts of security breaches, and hence, compromise the security controls established to safeguard information systems from attacks against integrity, confidentiality and availability of IT systems, networks and the data in the cloud. The problem of insider attacks has been on the rise especially due to lack of transparency in the processes and procedures of providing cloud services (Underwood, 2012). This means that a provider may not reveal how access is granted to employees and how their access is monitored and how reporting and policy compliance is analyzed. Additionally, customers may not understand the hiring practices of their service providers that could make room for an adversary, hackers or other cyber-criminals to steal confidential information or even take control of the cloud. The level of access granted could be an avenue for accessing confidential data or taking control of the cloud services with little or no risk of detection. Malicious insider attacks pose a great threat to the brand reputation and productivity as well as the financial well-being of an organization (Underwood, 2012). The overall premise behind insider attack is the use of much unsophisticated methods of tricking or coercing users into doing something they would normally not do. For example, an insider may send a phishing email to a user who ends up downloading a malicious code onto their computer or whichever device they are using. According to Spitzner (2011), one hundred percent of all successful compromises are a result of an insider assisting the attacke r. It is imperative that organizations implement policies to mitigate the threat of an insider taking part in an advanced persistent threat. Separation of duties is an important concept in the internal controls, though sometimes difficult and costly to implement. This objectiveis achieved by allocating tasks and associate privileges to multiple people for a specific security process. Separation of duties in the IT organization is fundamental and its the mandate of firms to apply it for regulatory purposes (Backhouse Dhillon, 2000). As a result, IT organizations should lay more emphasis on separation of duties in all their functions, especially security. Separation of duties achieves two objectives in relation to security. First, it prevents conflict of interest, wrongful acts, errors, fraud and abuse that occur in case of conflict of interest (Backhouse Dhillion, 2000). The other very important objective is the detection of control failures including information theft, security breaches and by-pass or bending of security controls. Virtualized Technology Due to the cloud virtualization, service providers reside their users applications on virtual machines based on shared infrastructure. The virtual machines are not designed to accommodate a multitenant architecture and are based on the physical hardware of the cloud provider (Karthick et. al., 2011). Overlooked flaws in technology have enabled guest operating systems to obtain unauthorized levels of control and influence on the platform. In order to maintain the security of the users, service providers are isolating their VMs to prevent one malicious VM from affecting the others under the same provider. In order to provide virtual memory as well as schedule CPU caches policies to VMs, VMs are managed by hypervisor. In addition, since the hypervisor is the main way of managing a virtualized cloud platform, hackers are targeting it in order to gain access to VMs and physical hardware because it resides in between the two (Siani, 2009). This means that an attack on hypervisor can damage both the VMs and hardware. Service providers should employ strong isolation to ensure that VMs are not able to access or affect the operations of other users running under the same cloud service provider. Moreover, service providers should implement the best practices for configuration and monitor the environment for unauthorized activity. The authentication and access operations should be strengthened in addition to enforcing procedures for patching and vulnerability remediation. Vulnerability scanning and configuration audits should also be promoted. Data Loss or Leakage Data loss refers to compromised data that may include deletion or alteration of records without first making a backup of the original content which can be intentional or unintentional (Farell, 2008). It can also occur in the course of unlinking part of a record from the larger context, unauthorized access of confidential data and loss of an encoding key. Data loss and leakage can result from various issues including: operational failures; inconsistent use of encryption keys; authorization and audit controls; political issues; disposal challenges; insufficient authentication; inconsistent software keys; persistence and remanence challenges; risk of association; disaster recovery and unreliable data storage (Tim et.al., 2009). Unreliable data storage occurs when data is stored on unreliable media that will be impossible to recover if data is lost. Inconsistent use of encryption keys will lead to both loss of the data and unauthorized access of the data by illegal users, resulting to de struction of sensitive and confidential information. An example of data loss is the case of twitter hacks. Twitter online hackers accessed accounts and numerous sensitive corporate documents housed in Googles online web office service Google Docs were stolen. The security of twitter data was not efficient enough, since the entire company data was only a single password crack away from discovery. This shows the effect of a data leakage on a brand, its reputation and the trust of partners, employees and users. Loss of core intellectual property has noncompliance and legal consequences beside the competitive and financial implications involved (Farell, 2008). Cloud providers need to specify backup strategies and generate strong key generation, management, storage and destruction practices. The integrity of data in transit should be protected and such data should be encrypted if possible (Flavio Roberto, 2010). API access should be strongly controlled, while providers should be expected to wipe persistent media before releasing it into the pool. Account or Service Hijacking Account or service hijacking occurs when hackers gain unauthorized access and control users accounts usually by using stolen credentials. Such attacks include fraud, phishing and exploitation of software vulnerabilities. Attackers can use stolen credentials and spy on users sensitive activities, return falsified information, redirect information to illegitimate sites, manipulate data and hence compromise the integrity, confidentiality and availability of the cloud computing services (George, 2011). Attackers are using users accounts as a new base to leverage cloud service providers reputation by launching constant attacks. Monitoring should be proactive to detect unauthorized activity and prohibit users and services from sharing credentials. Clients should also understand the security policies of cloud providers. Unknown Risk Profile With the innovation of cloud computing, organizations are less involved with acquiring and/or maintain hardware and software. However, users need to understand software versions, code updates, intrusion attempts and other security practices (Hicks, 2009a). While these features and their functionality may be well advertised when adopting cloud-computing services, the details of compliance to the internal security procedures, patching, auditing, logging and configuration hardening may not be clear. Users need clarification about how and where their data and related logs are stored since an unknown risk profile may include serious threats. Infrastructural details should be partially or fully disclosed, as well as should the logs and data. Cloud Computing Vulnerabilities Several significant vulnerabilities exist that organizations should consider beforee they start to use cloud computing services as described below. Session Riding and Hijacking Session hijacking refers to the use of a valid session to obtain unauthorized access to the information in a computer system or theft of a user authentication cookie used in accessing a remote server. The cookie is also used in web application technologies weaknesses in the web application structure and is easily accessible to hackers, giving them an opportunity to carry out a wide variety of malicious activities (Brohi Bamiah, 2011). Session riding refers to hackers sending commands to web applications on behalf of users by tricking the targeted user. Hackers send an email to the user or coerce him to visit a specially crafted website. Session riding executes online transactions, deletes user data, and sends spam to an intranet through the internet. Other outcomes of session riding are changes to the system and network configurations as well as opening the firewall (Tim et. al., 2009). Additionally, web technologies and refinement evolve new ways of compromising data, provide access to otherwise secure networks and pose threats to the smooth running of online business. Virtual Machine Escape Cloud computing servers make use of the same web applications, OS and enterprise as localized VMs and physical servers. The probability of a malware or hacker to remotely exploit vulnerabilities in these systems and applications is a great threat to virtualized cloud computing environments (Hartig, 2009). Locating multiple VMs jointly increases the attack surface and the risk of compromise from VM to VM. Security systems should be capable of detecting intrusion and malicious activity at VM level, regardless of where the VM is located within the virtualized cloud environment. VM escape is a significant vulnerability that enables guest-level VM to attack the host VM. An attacker runs a code on a VM allowing an OS to run within it to break out and interact with the hypervisor (Schreiber, 2004). This enables an attacker to access the host OS and all other VMs running on that particular host. The complexity of Hypervisors and VMs may increase the threat to attack surface that weakens security, such as check pointing, migration of VMs and paging. Reliability and Availability of Service Another significant cloud computing vulnerability is reliability and availability. In the event of glitches in infrastructure such as failure to cloud storage, data may be inaccessible or even lost (Flavio Roberto, 2010). With more services being developed on top of cloud, computing infrastructures, a failure or outage can create a domino effect by interrupting many internets based applications and services. This raises questions such as what forms of settlement exist for stakeholders in cases of failures, what is the responsibility of cloud providers and what procedures should be put in place to overcome these issues. Insecure Cryptography Organizations have come up with algorithms and cryptographic mechanisms as means to secure their data. However, attackers have discovered means to decode these security mechanisms and hack them. This is so because it is common for crucial flaws to exist in the implementation of cryptographic algorithms, which can change strong encryption into weak encryption that is vulnerable to attack (Spitzner, 2011). Although VMs provide more flexible and efficient set-up than traditional servers in cloud providers data centers, they still lack enough access to generate random numbers required to properly encrypt a data, and this becomes a big problem. How do computers generate truly random numbers that cannot be replicated or guessed? In PCs, mouse movements and key strokes are monitored by an OS to gather bits of a data that is collected in an entropy pool (Underwood, 2012). In servers with neither a mouse nor a keyboard, random numbers are pulled from the movements of the computers hard drive. According to Schreiber (2004), the random numbers gathered from the movements of VMs internal clock is not enough to generate strong encryption keys. Data Protection and Portability Services are offered on contractual bases between a client and the provider. However, it is not clear what happens when the contract is terminated and the client does not want to continue. Is the clients sensitive data going to be deleted or is it going to be misused by the provider. The other issue is what would happen to the services and the clients data if the provider were to go out of business for any reason. Data portability therefore becomes a main weakness in cloud computing (Karthick et. al., 2011) Vendor Lock In New business models and immature service providers has raised the risk of business failure. Lock-in makes a client unable to deal with another provider without a good amount of switching costs due to dependence on one provider for products and services. Before the process of selecting a provider, clients need to be sure of their potential provider (Hartig, 2009). Clients may also remain locked in to one provider due to lack of standards. They do not have the freedom to migrate easily from one provider to another because of the heterogeneous policies and standards set by each provider. Cloud computing is dependent on the internet technology where users access services via the web browser. With internet outage, critical clients systems and operations such as healthcare that are supposed to run 24 hours cannot be accessed, and the outcome could be disastrous. Cloud computing is flexible, multi-shared and scalable with a high capacity that gives business an innovative shape. However, these benefits are reduced by the vulnerabilities and threats that face the cloud. Significant contributions are required to ensure the safety of this technology and its development (Siani, 2009). In-depth security mechanisms and policies need to be designed to counter these threats and vulnerabilities and ensure the security of users and maintain their trust. Buy custom Cloud Computing essay

The Best Way To Start Out In Freelance Writing

The Best Way To Start Out In Freelance Writing The Best Way To Start Out In Freelance Writing The Best Way To Start Out In Freelance Writing By Sharon When youre thinking of becoming a freelance writer, you will find a lot of advice about starting a writing career. However, theres one thing that you should do above anything else. Thats to write. If you dont write, you are not a writer. Skills Development There are several reasons why its a good idea to form the writing habit. First of all, you get to practice your writing skills. The more you write, the better your writing will become. Its as simple as that. Writing every day is a good opportunity to try out different types of writing and see what you like best. Its also a chance to study the writers you want to emulate and use what you learn as a basis for developing your own style and writing voice. Creative Freedom Another good reason to write is to enjoy the creative freedom of writing what you want. When you start writing for clients, you wont be able to do that as often. I find that most of my writing time is taken up with clients work, with very little time left for my own creative pursuits. However, its essential to spend some time on your own projects. That will keep you motivated to write and creatively fulfilled, helping to stave off the burnout that affects many freelance writers. Forming The Writing Habit Third, writing gets you in the writing habit. I recommend writing every day, even if its only for a little while. It makes writing part of your daily routine and it makes it easy to draw on the skills you have built up even if a particular writing project isnt very inspiring. The great thing about writing for practice is that you dont have to show it to anyone if you dont want to. However, once you feel confident, try showing your work to a critical friend or a group of fellow writers who will give you constructive criticism on where to improve. This will make you a better writer. Building Your Confidence As you get more confident, you will begin to find freelance writing opportunities that appeal to you. You have nothing to lose by trying to get a freelance writing commission. In fact, theres everything to gain. Since you have been practicing every day for the last little while, you have the skills you need to do the writing and you will be able to deliver a competent job. Im not saying that freelance writing is always easy. At first, there may be rejections and days when you doubt your own worth. But forming a writing habit and sticking to it will help you to overcome these obstacles and start a successful freelance writing career. Notice: Due to popular request we have finally released our Freelance Writing Course. Come check it out if you want to get started freelance writing online. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Freelance Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Math or Maths?10 Techniques for More Precise WritingThe 7 Types of Possessive Case

Globalisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Globalisation - Essay Example Even while imposing ethical values on other cultures, globalization leaders should be careful not to hurt the regional feelings. Mollifying the jihad enthusiasts had been impossible till now. Future cultural uniformity is threatening the uniqueness of their regions and religions. Here Globalisation is seen as a threat to their very integrity and habitat. As the famous dictum goes â€Å"men who got the same things, shared the same culture;† Naturally it depends on the inherent economics and consumption similarities. Modernity threatens with its underlying uniformity. Expansion of western civilization is always combined with the dominance of western culture and this is not always palatable to other cultures. Old World has cultural diversities, differences of every kind. Rarities and peculiarities of regions are fast diminishing under globalization. â€Å"In short, new economic geographies are in the making: economic geographies that are global in their reach, changes that produ ce competition on a global scale and that reflect new conditions of production,† according to Cox p.2. It is believed homogeneity will over-last the differentiation. Today’s issues are mainly McDonald hamburger, cola world and its clash with the local cultures. The clash will continue between local and international in every sphere of life and it will go on till locally becomes international and international is accepted as local. Globalization cannot be termed as a homogenizing force, but it could be used as a tool towards that end.

Dollar Tree Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Dollar Tree - Case Study Example As such, multiple branches are needed of any one retailer in order to truly realize profit on the scale that would sustain the viability of any company for any length of time. Dollar Tree has been able to become such a company, gradually acquiring other discount chains over the years, to now have a presence throughout the entire continental United States and Canada. This paper serves to explain some of the reasons behind their success, as well as providing a description of some future challenges on the horizon. Case Challenge 1 The first challenge facing Dollar Tree rests in the reality that the company’s initial growth was accomplished almost exclusively through acquisition. The question then becomes whether or not this will be an attractive option in the near future. The reality is that expansion through acquisition will likely be quite difficult in today’s economic climate. The company is already struggling to keep its pricing model in tact (all items at $1), and the cost of acquiring other companies will make this increasingly difficult. With the company now poised to pass the 5,000 location mark in the near future, the reality is that it does not need to continue to grow in the manner. Already being considered the industry leader, there are few chains that are in direct competition with it to begin with. If they desire to acquire even more discount dollar chains, it will likely only be in areas of the country where they do not already have an established presence. Case Challenge 2 Dollar Tree also faces the challenge moving forward of being able to continue to offer

Perception of an Object Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Perception of an Object - Essay Example Hence, whatever we do, it is based on reasoning or motivating forces that influence our thinking process and the way we think. Â  Although we react as per the perception of the event, it is equally true that our reactions are also influenced by the manipulations of the information that are retained in the memory of the brain. Some of the forces that might determine our form of ‘thinking’ may include gender, ethnicity, scientific background, official compulsions or socio-economic parameters. Hence our judgment of events is largely dependent on the memory that stores information about that event. As a student, we are often faced with situations that are often interpreted in different ways by different people including my friends, teachers, relatives etc. Â  In one of the school trips, Danny, despite being the brightest students in our class, refused to go. Everyone was pretty annoyed and little upset also because Danny was not only the brightest in the class, he was also a great fun. Since the examinations were also around the corner, everyone concluded that he did not want to waste time but would rather use the time to study. As I later found out, everybody was wrong! Danny very much wanted to go but he was not able to go because his parents were getting a divorce and he was heartbroken. I was only able to find out because when I accused him of being selfish, the whole thing came out. He had confided only because I was his good friend so I had to keep silent while my friend’s absence was made a subject of ridicule. It was a lesson in perception. What is perceived to be an easy explanation of events often has a deeper meaning which can only be understood by rationalizing the actions of other people? Indeed, we need to rationa lize other people’s action and try to look at the events from their perspectives. Why the person acted the way he did.

How Ethical Issues Can Affect Each Component

How Ethical Issues Can Affect Each Component This report aims to describe, how ethical issues can affect each component of the marketing mix. The report starts of by introduction to the ethics in an organisation and the importance of business ethics in the society. The report also examines the various factors which have a impact on the ethical nature of the marketing decisions. Two well-known companies have been taken into account for better understanding and demonstration of the discussion. INTRODUCTION A rose à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. By any other name would smell as sweet. SHAKESPEARE, Romeo and Juliet There is an inevitable and universal cycle between consumers and marketers. The main aim of any marketer is to satisfy customer needs and wants. Marketing provides the exchange link between customers and marketers which would eventually help in increasing return on investment for shareholders. (Smith 1995; Dunfee, Smith, and Ross 1999) Both marketers and the consumers have different mind set while selling or purchasing the products. The sole main of companies is to maximise their profit and consumers is to have a value for money product and services. This difference in thinking leads to conflicts on the basis of ethics. (Smith 1995, 1993) The basic ethical issues like, justice, rights, fairness and equality can be perceived in a different manner by consumer and the companies. (Dunfee, Smith, and Ross 1999) In some instances both consumers and the companies may believe on the same ethical grounds for e.g. in principle, providing a unique, value for money product and services. Whereas, research has shown that there is a wide gap between the ethical philosophies of both consumers as well as marketers, (Singhapakdi et al. 1999) which results in unethical behaviour by consumers including boycotts and protests. (Smith and Cooper-Martin 1997) IMPORTANCE OF ETHICS A CONTINGENCY APPROACH- The ethics era began around early 1980s, when researchers and businesses started giving more attention to the ethical side of the business. (Macchiette and Roy 1994; Smith 1995) Many theories have been proposed since then in order to draw promote consumers rights and moral values. Including- social contracts theory, moral decision-making theory (Laczniak and Murphy 1991), general theory of marketing ethics (Hunt and Vitell 1986) and social contracts theory (Dunfee, Smith and Ross 1999). These theories are basic and are developed over from the old, classical theories including Kantian ethics and perspectives of rights, duties, and justice. The main aim of all these marketing ethics theories and even business ethics in modern world is to increase consumers confidence and develop trust for the companies and thus having customer loyalty. The business ethics also helps companies to gain competitive advantage in the market for instance- Anita Rodick- Body Shop and Richard Bransons Virgin group. REFERENCE NEEDED ETHICAL ISSUES IN MARKETING Marketing in any companies starts with the basic step of marketing research which is then followed by segmentation and targeting the market. Thought marketing research is followed to gain knowledge about the market and the competitors but some how- knowingly or un-knowingly, companies tend to invade the privacy of the consumers by following un-ethical method of gathering information. Even while conducting the research, researchers tend to stereotype among people in order to get the desired result which in turn results in wrong information about customer needs and demands. While s In terms of targeting the market, companies also aim at the young children, who do not have the right knowledge, thus they choose the market audience of their choice knowing they will benefit the maximum. For instance- a chocolate ad will show a kid playing and eating melted chocolate but it never says, brush your teeth after having it. Now, to be more specific, we will look at the ethical issues related to the marketing mix- 4Ps. PRODUCT PRODUCT MIX There are four major issues with products: deceptive packaging, product safety, brand divisive and planned obsolescence Product safety Safety is first. A major impact is being made to make the product safe and secure for the consumers to use. Almost all the products in the market use some or the other form of technology which may or may be harmful for the consumers. It is the duty of the marketers to ensure the safety of the product before placing it in the market. For instance, according to BBC news, 2007, the biggest toy making company in China Mattel had recalled 9 million products due to danger from magnet and lead paint. This violates the consumers right to safety. BBC news, 2007 Planned obsolescence Nothing lasts forever but the question is who and how is to decide the time frame for deciding when is the replacement required. Cars rust, clothes fade or go out of fashion. If companies make efforts to increase the quality of the products, there are many customers who would love to keep their cars for a longer period of time than they can. However, for the producers its a wear-out is positive as it results in increase in demand of their other goods and services/ repeat purchase. Some people argue that if the product has been planned to be obsolete form the market, it violates customers right to choose. The car manufacturers like Ford have recently come up with their latest cars having their body shells much more resistant to rust proving a 3 years minimum guarantee. Ford, 2010 Deceptive packaging This is a very common practice, also known as slack packaging followed by many companies as they show the product to be over sized by packaging effects giving customers an idea of buying more for the same price than the competitor. Product such as- cereals, crisps or even soap powders are such examples. Packaging sometimes also includes misleading labelling. In terms of missing information on package about various ingredients or even a sentence which could be useful in consumers decision making process leads to violation of consumers right to information. Brands Divisive Branding is something that is used by companies to differentiate their product than that of the competitors. The well known sports brand NIKE is supposed to be sport-wear of high quality, durability and is also proposed to be in the top segment in the market. Some people argue that Nike is a brand rather than a product, much similar to the Apple ipod from Apple. Nike does not produce anything of its own. The entire production is outsourced to less developed countries like India and Indonesia. The retail price of a Nike today may be  £100 on an average but according to a report from 2001, the full time wages for an employee were around the legal minimum of 17,000 Rupiahs ( £1.22/) per day. The problem with branding is that big brands like Nike, Apple have all the power, even though they get their products made in poor countries, wealth is still in few hands only. Working is Nike leads to a disproportion of profits and power on a global level due to which poor countries are left with low margin production units. PRICE Price is something of value charged by the producers in exchange of his products or services. The various un-ethical pricing practices are: Price fixing: It is a situation where the competitors agree to charge a fixed, raise or maintain price, in simpler terms manipulate price. Price fixing can be done for different reasons- to discriminate against small firms, remove competition by fixing price in specific areas and enjoying monopolistic market. Thus in 1980, the Sherman Act was introduced to ensure fair pricing between both consumers and businesses. http://bizcovering.com/business-and-society/price-fixing/ Bid rigging This is a situation or fraud where the commercial contracts are promised to only one party even if there are other bidders present. Price rigging is a form of price fixing itself and is illegal in many countries. Usually occurs in big tenders for governments or private companies for construction. The ill-effects of price rigging fall on the local consumers [tax payers] as well as the agencies who seek to bid and thus effects the overall economy. Price discrimination It is often referred to as price differentiation due to the fact that different price are being charged by companies for the same product or service to different customers depending on the market segment and rules set prior to the service, for instance in the travel industry a flight may charge $160 from destination A to B and the same flight may charge $200 to the same destination due travelling on a weekend. Another example can be if u book British Airways from A to B for next day travelling you might end up paying almost double, what you could have paid if you would have booked in 2-3 months in advance. Price skimming Many companies follow price skimming strategies in order to gain more revenues before competitors enter the market. Apple iPhone could be the best example to explain the skimming of prices. iPhone was launched with the buzz marketing and unique technology. They made sure that their target market will jump on the products whenever they launch. Having a high introductory price for one year, Apple gain the all the money and confidence of consumer of a superior product and later slashed the price to gain more markets. Price skimming is a temporary form of price discrimination allowing companies to recover their sunk cost. Dumping: Dumping or selling lower than the fair value is a situation/act where companies charge less in the foreign markets compared to that from the home markets for the same products. Dumping according to WTO is condemned but not prohibited PROMOTION Promotion plays a very important role in welfare of the company and thus sometimes companies do anything possible to promote their offered product and services even by unscrupulous means. Advertisements tell the consumers what they would want to hear about the product. No company would ever promote or say negative aspects of their products. The Ads thus, lack in honesty and the complete truth about the features of the product. Some times while promoting certain products, companies need to make sure, they do their homework by knowing about the culture of the country in order to telecast any ad on the television as no person in Saudi Arabia would like to see women advertising about suits and fairness creams. Or no person would like to see promotion of beef burgers by McDonald in India. Competitive ads sometimes can be misleading and create controversy. Ads also have a Some Taste and controversy Negative advertising False and misleading advertising Creating demand for vice or unwholesome products Tobacco? Alcohol? Fattening foods? Pornography or sexually explicit material? Intrusive promotions PLACE Slotting allowances: The fee charged to have their products placed on the shelves by the retailers to produce companies or manufacturers is called a slotting fee, slotting allowance, pay-to-stay, or fixed trade. It depends on factors such as the product, market conditions and the manufacturer of products and so varies greatly. For instance while the initial slotting allowance in a regional group of stores for a new product can be approximately $25,000 per item in high demand markets it can go as high as $250,000. Promotional, stocking and advertising fees are amongst the other fees that can be charged by the retailer. This practise, according to an FTC study, is widespread in the supermarket industry. Many grocers even earn more profit from agreeing to carry a manufacturers product than they do from actually selling the product to retail consumers. Buyback / stock lift / lift-out Gray market merchandise: Generally, it is a single importer a manufacturer would work in a particular area to sell and support their products. The importer further has local dealers and distributors to whom he resells the imported products; this results in a distribution channel. Gray Market, on the other hand, refers to use of methods other than these normal channels to sell and import merchandise. Items thus sold may not be meeting mandatory safety and certification codes, and so are not supported by the authorized importer and are not designed to be sold in a particular market. It also follows that as there is not a particular market for these items they may not function properly, or the authorized importer may not be equipped to provide service, support or software. OR the unofficial trading of securities that have not yet been formally issued Diverted merchandise Exclusive geographic territories Exclusive dealing agreements Tying contracts Refusal to deal Ethics and the supply chain A claim to be an ethical firm would be hypocritical , if a firm turns a blind eye to the unethical practices of suppliers in a supply chain. In particular: The use of child labour and forced labour Production in sweatshops Violation of the basic rights of workers Ignoring of health, safety and environmental standards An ethical producer has to be concerned with what is practiced by all firms (upstream and downstream) in the supply chain. CASE STUDY On July 4, 1977, a boycott was launched in United States against the Swiss based Nestle corporation over the companys marketing of its infant formula (breast milk substitute) particularly in less economically developed countries. Protesters claimed that the infant formula caused unnecessary death of suffering of babies, largely among the poor. The movement quickly spread throughout United States and expanded into Europe as well in the early 1980s. Professor Derek Jelliffe and his wife Patrice, who had contributed to establish the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), were particularly instrumental in helping to coordinate the boycott and giving it ample visibility throughout the world. Did you know that the most efficient step in fighting infant deaths is breast milk? Breast milk works as natural vaccinations against many diseases. If all mothers in poor countries would breast feed their children for the first 6 months, and partially the next 6 months, millions of children would survive. They would develop a natural resistance against deadly diseases. Baby bottle disease, according to the finding by WHO, kills more than 1.5 million children every year. The cause of this is that the substitute for breast milk is made with unclean water and in an unhealthy environment. Even mothers with HIV would be better of breast feeding their children. In these countries breast milk substitute is lethal! They are poisoning their own children to death! This is murder! This is child murder! So why do these poor mothers give their children breast milk substitute? Nestle told them to Nestle tells them their own breast milk is unhealthy Gives away free samples Buy their way into hospitals to push their product Against the law uses direct advertise to mothers. Because companies like Nestlà © uses unethical methods to get mothers hooked on their products, World Health Assembly (WHA) made a resolution called the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes which Nestle and other manufacturers have signed. Still Nestle do not follow this code, and is reported every single year for violations. Primark tops list of unethical clothes shops in poll that shames high-street brands by Jennifer Whitehead, 08-Dec-05, 15:00 LONDON Low-price fashion success Primark has been named the least ethical clothes brand in the UK, with Marks Spencer also scoring poorly, by a new survey highly critical of the way high street brands source their wares. The survey, which has been conducted by Ethical Consumer magazine, found that only five high street brands scored 10 or over out of 20 assessing their ethical standards. Primark was the worst offender, according to the survey, with a score of 2.5. It is followed by Mk One, at 3 points, with Marks Spencer, Debenhams and Gap filling out the bottom five. http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/532319/Primark-tops-list-unethical-clothes-shops-poll-shames-high-street-brands/ Child labour On 23 June 2008, Panaroma, a BBC show, broadcasted a programme that showed unethical manufacturing practices in Primarks supply chain. Child labour practise was exposed by undercover reporters in three of Indias garment factories sub-contracted by Primark. The BBC alerted Primark to their findings, to which Primark replied: Under no circumstances would Primark ever knowingly permit such activities. Primark has since halted business with the mentioned suppliers, but this action by the company was criticised by child protection groups as being irresponsible and likely to cause additional hardship to the labourers. They argued ensuring better working conditions would have been a better solution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primark#Criticism CONCLUSION All in all, it can be seen that in developing countries ethical issues in are highly sensitive to cultural, social and ethnical issues. Thus it is not just an issue of the orient versus the occident. The onus lies on the marketers themselves to not indulge in unethical practices and to respect local values and morals, in order to be a good ethical citizen in the marketing fraternity. Counterfeiting: imitation, faking, pre-emption, prior registration. Consumer ethics: warranty deception, mis-redemption of vouchers, returns of merchandise, recording of music and videos, software copying, false insurance claims RECOMMENDATIONS With public attention focused on ethics, there is a need for stricter controls in business practices, right from framing marketing strategies to finally delivering a product to the consumers.

The United States and the Normandy Invasion :: World War II History

The United States and the Normandy Invasion The year was 1944, and the United States had now been an active participant in the war against Nazi Germany for almost three and a half years. During this time, numerous battles had occurred which were fought with determination and intensity on both sides. Amongst the many invasions of World War II, there is one day which stands out more in the minds of many American soldiers than the others. That day was June 6, 1944, more commonly known as D Day, part of the invasion of Normandy, known as "Operation Overlord." This operation was the largest amphibious assault in history. It was a day in which thousands of young Americans, who poured onto the beaches of France, matured faster than they would have ever imagined. Little did they know of the chaos and torment that awaited them on their arrival. The attacks on Utah and Omaha were strategically made, and carried out in careful preciseness. The Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France began on June 6, 1944, and the American assault on the Utah and Omaha beaches on this day played a critical role in the overall success of the Normandy operation. An extensive plan was established for the American attack on Utah and Omaha Beaches. The plan was so in-depth and complex, its descriptions detailed the exact arrivals of troops, armour, and other equipment needed for the invasion, and where exactly on the beach they were to land. Before the landings were to begin, the coastal German defences had to be broken down by a combination of a massive battering by United States Naval ships, and by bombing from the United States Air Force. Between the hours of 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. on the morning of June 6, over 1,000 aircraft dropped more than 5,000 tons of bombs on the German coastal defences. As soon as the preliminary bombing was over, the American and British naval guns opened fire on the Normandy coastline. A British naval officer described the incredible spectacle he witnessed that day: "Never has any coast suffered what a tortured strip of French coast suffered that morning." Along the fifty-mile front the land was shaken by successive explosions as the shells from the ships' guns tore holes in fortifications and tons of bombs poured down on them from the skies. Through smoke and falling debris German defenders crouching in their trenches would soon faintly see the hundreds of ships and assault craft closing in on the shore.