Discussion week 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discussion week 2 - Essay Example system results to wrongful conviction because a public defendant has very many cases to handle and lacks ample time to spend on each case, and this affects the quality of representation (Collica & Furst, 2012). In the long rand, there is wrongfully conviction because the Public defender does not comprehensively analyze the case. There is also poor contact between the public defender, and there is unfair conviction. In contrasting the level of representation illustrated by Bright to the level of representation to white collar, corporate, and environmental crimes is to say that money has power and influence. A plaintiff without money to hire a competitive Public defender receives poor representation in the court of law, and the case does not favor him/her (Collica & Furst, 2012). In solving these issues, every state should adequately fund the public defender system because everyone should get fair and justified trial. It becomes difficult to receive a fair trial if the representation is poor. Adequate resourcing and funding the public defender program results to a fair trial and effective representation. The war on drugs has resulted to increased imprisonment. There has been heavy taxation in order to imprison and rehabilitate the drug victims. According to Collins (2012), since the commencement of war on Drugs, there has been a great increase of those convicted. There has been unequal percentage of the minority groups convicted and imprisoned without proper investigation. In the year 2003, there was a high rate of imprisonment of African Americans accuses of drug abuse in US (Collica, 2012). However, the use and trafficking of illegal drugs among the white and the African Americans is equal, yet the African Americans are the ones accused and imprisoned. This is unfair and against the constitutional rights on discrimination based on race and color (Collica, 2012). The increase of immigrants in US has reduced the crime rates. Indeed, immigration has a

SALARY CAP Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

SALARY CAP - Research Paper Example In order to address the problem that occurs as a result of placing the salary cap, players union had came up with measures to negotiate for the welfare of players in a team to ensure that a the teams do not infringe the rights of their players (Rosner & Shropshire, 2011). For example, players union has put forth collective bargain agreement to negotiate with the Nation League on the amount of salary that each team should spend to their players. The aims of collective bargain agreement is to ensure that the National Federation league become more competitive. In addition, the salary cap helps to ensure that there is harmonization of salaries among different teams. This further prevents migration of players from one team to the other. Additionally, salary caps helps to ensure that each team retains the right talent and skill among its players. Moreover, the salary cap helps to prevent inequality among organizations sponsoring different players. For example, if there are no salary cap so me teams could be spending quit a lot of financial resources to fetch the best players from other teams but through salary cap such events may be prevented (Bryant, 2009). The benefits of putting in place the salary cap are numerous to both the organization and players. For instance, salary cap help prevent unnecessary inequality between clubs/organizations sponsoring the players by ensuring that no particular organization can spend more money in paying their players than the others. Further, it ensures that there is conformity with rules and regulations establish by the National Federation League. The first salary cap was introduced in 1994 where thirty four point six million dollars was set as the salary limit. The salary cap has been reported to continue increasing over the years and in 2011, collective bargain agreement was reached. The salary cap of one hundred and twenty million dollars was put forth. Moreover, in 2013, a

Monastic spirituality in the 21st Century Essay Example for Free

Monastic spirituality in the 21st Century Essay In the 21st Century, it could be said that monastic spirituality in an outdated concept. In the contemporary world we live in today, it has become increasingly difficult to live obedient to the Churches teaching. Some people would argue that there should be no real set of moral codes, and that the Church should not have such high authority. This contrasts to the Celtic Monks belief that Nothing must be refused in their obedience; to be Christs true discipleit will not be pleasing to the Lord. In society today, people dont see a need for a moral code. They make their own subjective decisions about what is right and wrong from them, and dont accept religious or government law. Grove argues People do not see the Church as having a real relevance in their everyday lives, and therefore do not recognise its authority in everyday matters. Some sociologists have said that it is this belief that has led to religious organizations watering down their beliefs to accommodate many beliefs, in the hope that this would make their religion more popular. However, in actual fact this can often lead to the religious organization becoming less popular, as they may lose the devoted members, who arent looking for a watered down religion. Pope Benedict said that relativismdoes not recognise anything as being certainits highest goals are ones own ego and desire. Relativism is the belief that concepts such as right and wrong, goodness and badness, or truth and falsehood are not definite and that they alter in different cultures and situations. It could be described as the cherry picking for faith. An example of this would be ignoring the rule of no contraception, for promiscuous reasons. An other common example would be the issue of sex before marriage. The Celtic monks had a huge sense of Divine Will that had to be obeyed. Saint Columbanus reminded us of this by saying by strict obedience shall the monk show his love of God. Many of these traits, that the monks found so admirable, have been lost in todays society. Monks believed that community was better than the individual, and that when we do something, it should be for the sake of the community, rather than for the sake of the individual themselves. The monks saw obedience as responding to Gods call. We can see a huge lack of obedience to God by looking at the large decline in vocations in recent years. In 2008, in Dublin, only three people were ordained into the priesthood. There are many reasons for this, a main possibility being the recent scandal the Church has been involved in in recent years. In 1968, 95% of Catholics went to mass. By 2004 this amount had dropped to a mere 50% (BBC Newsline). These figures support the view that as Christians, we no longer feel compelled to be obedient to God. This can relate back to what Pope Benedict described as The Culture of Relativism. Another debated issue is the importance of chastity and sexuality in our society today. Saint Columbanus said a monks chastity is indeed judged by his thoughts. He said that they were not only judged by sexual relations, but by the purity of the mind, and the sexual desires that they experienced. This view contrasts greatly to the view of society today. In our modern society, people are often sexually objectified. An estimated average of 75% of prime television shows include content of a sexual nature, and in soap operas it is estimated that extra-marital sex is referred to two out of three times every hour. This is because the television companys know that in todays society, sex sells. It is no longer thought of as a big deal, and there has been a massive increase in sexual promiscuity. This has led to a big increase in sexually transmitted diseases, which are becoming increasingly difficult to control. It also meant a big increase in the amount of unwanted pregnancies. Unlike monastic living which promoted the selfless giving of ones self to the community, we have adopted a hedonistic, narcissistic attitude. We have become our own lust. Michael Maher points out that the standards in Celtic monasteries are severe, particularly in the area of sexual morality. For many today, the idea of chastity is an outdated concept and is problematic for the future of the priesthood in the Catholic Church. This would lead me to believe that in regard to this aspect of monastic life, monastic spirituality could very easily be perceived as outdated in the 21st Century. Brigid of Kildare had a preferential option for the poor. She vowed to the king of Leinster, If I had all your wealth, I would take it and give it away to the poor, So Brigids monastery in Kildare, became known as the City of the poor. Aidan of Lindesfarm also expressed solidarity to the poor, when he gave away the kings gift of a horse to the first beggar he met saying Surely this son of a mare is not more important to you than that son of man. However, the Church didnt always share the same view. Leondardo Boff argues that the Church became an abstract speculation removed from the original spirit of the Gospel message, and out of touch with real life. The Church has been criticised for siding with the vested interest, and in its history has even been involved in colonisation and the removal of land from the peasantry, in its commitment to obeying the laws of the land. Richard Woods reminds us that justice and chastity were the main hinges of Celtic social action. This is another way, in that it could be said that monastic spirituality is an outdated concept in the 21st Century. Views that should be had today have slowly died off, and have left places worse off. However, Bishop Casadaliga reminds us that as long as there are poor people in the world, and as long as there is a God who cares for the poor, there will be a need for a theology of Liberation. The spirit of Liberation Theology is very much evident in Celtic Monasticism in many ways, from the care of the poor and the sinner, to the welcoming of the stranger. Hospitality was always extremely generous in the monasteries, and any stranger who came was very well looked after. In 2004, 19% of asylum seekers were allowed to find refuge in Britain, while 78% were turned away. The Celtic monks in their openness to all, especially the weakest turned no one away. This shows another way that Monastic Spirituality could be considered an outdated concept in 21st Century life. In conclusion, it would appear that Monastic Spirituality is in fact an outdated concept in 21st Century living, with our lackadaisical views on chastity and sexuality, and our selfish views on poverty, it seems that Monastic Spirituality has been lost, and I believe it would be in the Catholic Churches interest to try and retrieve some of this monastic spirit.

Swot Analysis Of Company Practices: PayPal

Swot Analysis Of Company Practices: PayPal The online payment systems provider that we have chosen is PayPal. PayPal is an e-commerce business that allows payments and money transfer to be made through the Internet. PayPal serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper methods such as cheque and money orders. The service allows members to send money without sharing financial information, with the flexibility to pay using their account balances, bank accounts, credit cards or promotional financing. PayPal is an example of a payment intermediary service that facilitates worldwide e-commerce. PayPal is an eBay subsidiary company and is made up of three leading online payment services: the PayPal global payment service, the Payflow Gateway and Bill Me Later. The companys open payment platform, PayPal X, that allows developers to build innovative payment applications on multiple platforms and devices. PayPal performs payment processing for online vendors, auction sites, and other commercial users, for which it charges a fee. It charges transaction fee for receiving money. The fees charged depend on the currency used, the payment option used, the country of the sender, the country of the recipient, the amount sent and the recipients account type. In addition, PayPal is also the preferred way to send secure payments on eBay. With PayPal, customers who have an online account can makes it easy to send money from a variety of sources to a variety of recipients without sharing his or her financial information. Besides that, the recipient never sees their credit card number or their banking information. So, as a buyer, customers can pay for their item online through PayPal. They have the choice of funding their payment with their debit card, credit card, bank account or PayPal balance. Sellers are notified by email of their PayPal payment immediately, and can confidently post the goods to them right away. As a seller, he or she can withdraw those funds to their bank account or use them to send a payment to someone else. If for any reason a refund is required, a seller can quickly and easily send a refund to the buyer directly into their PayPal account. PayPal is the result of a March 2000 merger between Confinity and X.com. Confinity was founded in December 1998 by Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, and Luke Nosek, and Ken Howery, initially as a Palm Pilot payments and cryptography company. Both Confinity and X.com launched their websites in late 1999. X.com was founded by Elon Musk in March 1999, initially as an Internet financial services company. Both companies were located on University Avenue in Palo Alto. Confinitys website was initially focused on reconciling beamed payments from Palm Pilots with email payments as a feature and X.coms website primarily featured financial services with email payments as a feature. In October 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay. PayPal had previously been the payment method of choice by more than fifty percent of eBay users, and the service competed with eBays subsidiary Billpoint, eBay has since phased out its Billpoint service in favor of retaining the PayPal brand. Currently, PayPal operates in 190 markets, and it manages over 223 million accounts, more than 73 million of them active. PayPal allows customers to send, receive, and hold funds in 19 currencies worldwide. These currencies are the Australian dollar, Brazilian real, Canadian dollar, Euro, pound sterling, Japanese yen, and others. PayPal operates locally 13 countries, residents in 194 markets can use PayPal in their local markets to send money online. SWOT Analysis of company practices Strengths The strengths of a business are positive elements, something they do well and are under their control. The following we will see the main strengths of the PayPal. The first strength we will talk about is the business alliance of PayPal. Because of social website that has users from all over the world- Facebook has brings the PayPal to manage its payment make PayPal increase more revenue. Facebook find out that 70 percent of its 400 million users live outside the United States, so it can be hard for them to transfer money to the company online. While PayPal has more than 81 million active accounts, it can help Facebook to collect money easily. Having alliances with other strong and popular IT businesses is a major plus point for PayPal as it helps bring in new customers and make business more effective. PayPal appear as the only online global payment system in the world. It is a key to success for PayPal to work hard for it boosts reputation, profit and market share. PayPal has an impressive growth from year to year. It has around 70 million active users in 2008 and it is 23% more than 2007. PayPal operates in 190 markets, 17 local languages, and transacts in 19 currencies and it operates with 27 global financial networks and 15,000 local banks around the world. No other companies have this advanced system except the market leader- PayPal. It has a high percentage of the market share, meaning it is ahead of many competitors. Competitive pricing is a vital element of PayPals overall success. With the cost effective payment system online such as the Pay as you go system that allow customers pay only if they are making money online unless they are using more advanced options. Such pricing keep PayPal above its rivals. PayPal need you just simply pay a percentage of the payments received, typically between 1.4 and 3.4% plus a fixed amount of 20p per transaction. And it is totally free to set-up a PayPal account for your business with no hidden start-up costs or yearly subscription fees. It is often the case that a potential customer may not heard of your business, but they certainly have seen or heard of PayPal before. PayPal logo can be easily seen by the users of internet because it appears in almost every auction website and even in many website that provide services as the payment method. They are therefore more likely to consider purchasing from your website as they some more do not have to give their financial details if use PayPal. A strong brand is an essential strength of PayPal as it is recognized and respected. Now the system has 100 million satisfied users worldwide and more websites use PayPal than any other payment gateway. The other strength of PayPal is convenience it brings to the public. PayPal website and payment service is user friendly. It is easy and simple to use, even for those who have no or little experience in selling or buying online. PayPal main focus is on the ease of use for both receivers and senders of cash. It also uses its securing system to help protects consumers personal information, and provides payments to merchants without ever providing your personal financial information. Merchants will not get the credit card information of the consumers, it decreasing the chance of breaching personal information. The ability to accept online payments typically only afforded to larger businesses with traditional credit card services but with the appeal of PayPal, it offers merchants, specifically smaller businesses can afford online payments. In essence, PayPal provide a per-to-peer payment channel by acts as a mediator between consumers and merchants. Weakness The first weakness of PayPal is the weak system of it. Currently, PayPal is not using a database-driven ordering system. For most of the online merchants with 25 to 500,000 products for sale online set up a spreadsheet or database that contains their product information by using specialized software. They make changes to the database on a desktop computer, such as price increases, inventory on hand, adding or deleting a product, altering color choices, initiating special sales, etc. These changes then will replace the older product database and show up the new product database on the website. But the PayPal system stores the order buttons of customers in an online database of sorts, but customers can only access it by using the web interface. It works quite smooth if customers only making one or two changes. But if customers have a lot of products, they forced to make the changes constantly. It will cause customers waste too much time while the time is most conscious for business. The other weakness is the bad communication between PayPal and its customer. The complaining system and the customer service at the PayPal website are too ineffective. Many complaints from time to time claim that PayPal has shut down a customers account arbitrarily and wont listen to any reason. But its not hard to know that PayPal works very hard to keep its system secure and fraud-free. When it finds out customers doing things that skid along the edge of its policies, it may shut them down arbitrarily. As PayPal is act in such way for good reasons, it should try to communicate with customers and let them know more about their action like send e-mail or phone call them so the misunderstand can be decrease. The limited flexibility of the PayPal system is due to its inflexible Hosted Ordering Interface. It provides an inflexible ordering interface that can be confusing to shoppers. PayPal allow customers to customize the interface a bit by adding their logo, selecting background colors, and border styles but customers ability to customize the order page is only in cosmetic ways. PayPal does not have an ordering system with open code that a programmer can manipulate to suit customers particular e-commerce needs. Some of the strongest conversion rate gains can be made by testing and streamlining an order interface in this way. Thats the reason why the PayPals order interface is clunky and can be confusing. Opportunities Acquisition is one of the opportunities for PayPal as it can bring more customers to PayPal especially with company that also run IT business. eBay announce that it will phase out its own competing service to PayPal that is eBay Payments by Billpoint and has acquire online payments company PayPal in a deal valued at $1.5 billion. This is very beneficial to PayPal as bulk of its business comes from eBay auctions. This event sure will result in improving PayPals profit, market share and reputation. Innovation of new technology can be defined as an opportunity to the PayPal. PayPal has reached an agreement with USAA Federal Savings Bank (USAA Bank) that will allow it to start developing a person to person payment solution for USAA members. This payment solution is something that USAA Bank plans to deliver in 2011. In future, USAAs members will be able to pay almost anyone with an e-mail address or mobile phone number, in real-time, and directly from their mobile phone. By keep working hard to provide more innovative product to the public, PayPal can gain more and more potential customer. Another example we can see is by releasing new APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), PayPal is challenging the developer community to change the way we pay through innovation and new technologies. As the only open global payment platform, PayPal is unlocking the door to an unparalleled business proposition to developers that is create new, innovative ways to pay and get paid. And, the globa l payments market represents a $30 trillion opportunity according to a recent McKinsey report. Furthermore, the efforts of PayPal on product and services expansion have upgraded its own mainframe system to every corner of the world. To show its efforts in product and services expansion, PayPal has expanded its micropayments pricing, available to any member with a PayPal Business or Premier account. Micropayments fees for US dollar transactions are 5% + 5 cents per transaction. When compared to PayPals standard fees (2.9% + 30 cents), the micropayments rate can save money for merchants whose average selling price is below $12. Although micropayments is not new to PayPal, but this micropayments pricing was previously available only to account holders in select countries. With this expansion, PayPal are making it available to any PayPal Business or Premier account holder worldwide using any of PayPals 19 supported currencies. In addition, this micropayments pricing can be used with any of PayPals payment products including Website Payments Standard, Website Payments Pro and for e Bay sellers. The massive power of the Web can be recognized in its global effect on commerce. A global commerce for business exchange known as PayPal has been required because this medium is so strong worldwide. PayPal is recognized as an actual commerce with value around the world, and it makes someone in Europe can purchase a product from the United States while the neither party without PayPal has to struggle with the transfer of money options or exchange rates. The creation of a global commerce exchange system at a local consumer level makes this result happen. Threats The actions of a competitor could be a major threat against PayPal, for instance, if they bring in new technology or increase their workforce to meet demand. PayPal has several competitors such as eMoney Mail, Ecount and payMe. eMoney Mail provide delivers payments faster than the competition and its additional security ensures money doesnt end up in the wrong hands. Ecount lets customers specify the day they want money to arrive and provides payees with an online account to spend money on the Web, and it provide 24/7 toll-free customer support too. payMe deposits money in credit card and checking the accounts and it do not limit to the amount you can send overall. Both of the competitors try to give their best services, if PayPal do not work hard and efficient enough, it will lose its market share and reputation. Price wars between competitors that occur due to competitor keep invent new technology could damage profits for PayPal. As in year2006, Google plans to use Checkout, a service released in June that lets users buy items from multiple stores using a single account. Its purpose is to generate commissions and encourage more merchants to buy advertisements. At that time, the PayPal payment unit was EBays fastest-growing business in the third quarter. PayPals revenue climbed 41% to $350 million, outpacing a gain of 22% in auction revenue to $1.02 billion. Google Checkout wants to attract customers and therefore make charges a 2% commission and a 20-cent fee per purchase. While PayPal, which EBay acquired in 2002, charges a 30-cent rate, plus transaction fees of 1.9% to 2.9%, depending on the total value of payments processed each month. But in EBays promotion announced, customers receive as much as $20 in cash-back rebates from PayPal when they make online purchases on EBay.com and certain merchant websites in North America. As we all can see, price wars will cut off the profit of the company. PayPal do not invest in the advertising on the internet causes the brand image of PayPal is not very well. So it also has a need to strengthen its brand through the Web. In the image of the public, PayPals brand is closely associated with smaller merchants, low-cost auctions, and P2P money transfer. As a result, some larger firms might not want their brands associated with PayPal brand image. They may think that by this way public could devalue a corporations stronger brand. The fact remains that consumers associate its brand with less expensive, cheaper items even though PayPal is an enormous corporation. In order to solve this problem, PayPal should look to network with larger companies through the possible branding of a service associated with corporations. Furthermore, PayPal has the ability to introduce and market a new brand, such as CorpXchange or CorpCash by promoting the same services but without the low-cost auctions associated with PayPal. Porters Five forces of company practices The threat of the entry of new competitors Nowadays, barriers to entry of e-commerce business is low because of anything that internet technology eliminates or makes easier to do reduces the barriers to entry such as in the need for a sales force, access to channels and physical assets. Besides that, internet applications are difficult to keep proprietary from new entrants. This lead to a flood of new entrants has come into many industries, and one of the industries is e-commerce business. There are many new companies which provide similar services as PayPal such as Billpoint, Citibanks c2it, whose service was closed in late 2003, Yahoo!s PayDirect, whose service was closed in late 2004, and BidPay, which was shut down in 2006. However, there are still some new and former competitors such as Google Checkout, Wirecard, Moneybookers, The InstantPay (launching Jan 2011), 2Checkout.com, CCNow and Kagi still remain in business. But this does not affects PayPals revenue as it has impressive growth throughout many years. In 2008, it s revenue is US$ 60 billion, which increased 27% compared to the previous year, and US$ 71 billion in 2009, an increase of 19% over the previous year. During the early year of PayPal, there are lesser competitors, which means PayPal has a bigger market shares and this lead to more customers are using PayPal for their services. As time goes on, internet technology has grown more advance and this makes internet applications are very easy and attract more new entrants. New entrants join the market make the market shares of PayPal is getting smaller. This is because customers have more choices when choosing a right online payment service provider to process their payment. Besides that, some of the competitors got better offer than PayPal, such as cheaper charges and safer transaction process. This leads to the decrease of customers loyalty to PayPal and becoming a threat to the company. Google Checkout is one of the new entrant and main competitors with PayPal. It is an online payment processing service provided by Google aimed at simplifying the process of paying for online purchases on 28 June 2006. Users store their credit or debit card and shipping information in their Google Account, so that they can purchase anything at participating stores at the click of a button. It also offers fraud protection, as well a unified page for tracking purchases and their status. It also provide service with lower cost compared to PayPal. Unlike who only provide fraud protection for sales of more than $50, Google Checkout provide 100% fraud protection and 100% refund, but users must report it within 60 days. All these has make Google Checkout to become a threat to PayPal. Another new entrant is Wirecard AG, a global financial services and technology company founded in 1999. In November 2006, Wirecard has launched an internet payment service called Wirecard. By registering online, consumer can opens an account at Wirecard Bank which he can load by cash, cards, direct debit, wire transfer or various local payment schemes. The service includes a free virtual prepaid MasterCard for consumers that can be used to pay at millions of MasterCard locations worldwide. Apart from standard MasterCard products, the Wirecard system also let users to send each other money in real-time. There is also optional physical MasterCard enables users to pay at 24.7 million MasterCard brickmortar acceptance points and to withdraw cash at nearly 1 million ATMs worldwide. People may consider to use Wirecard because it is operated by a true bank. Unlike PayPal, Wirecard cannot simply freeze or limit customers accounts without a reasonable explanations. It may get suit by customer s. Therefore, PayPal should start to consider not to be just protecting its own interest, but protect its customers interest as well so it would not lose its customers. PayPal has some solutions to overcome the threat of losing customers loyalty to the company. One of the solution is PayPal has acquired a company named Fraud Sciences, which is expert in online risk tools to enhance eBay and PayPals proprietary fraud management systems and accelerate the development of improved fraud detection tools. On the other hand. eBay, as the parent company to PayPal, has added Google Checkout to its banned payment methods list to prevent eBay users from using Google Checkout. With this way, PayPals competitors will become lesser, thus the market share of the company will become bigger and also secure the customers loyalty to PayPal. The intensity of competitive rivalry As internet technology become more advance from time to time, it reduces the differences among competitors as offerings are difficult to keep proprietary. Therefore, PayPal used the alliance strategy to get larger percentage of market shares than other competitors. For example, on 18 Feb 2010, Facebook announced a partnership with PayPal in which users can now pay for their Facebook Credits by using the payment provider. Facebook had test other payment solution before making decision to have a partnership with PayPal, however the ability to pay for the virtual transactions through PayPal is great considering they have more than 81 million accounts. this prove that PayPal is good enough to handle massive amount of online transactions. Thus the company is intensifying pressures to other rivals as this partnership give many benefits to PayPal its market shares are getting bigger. PayPal also intensify pressure on its mobile payment service rivals too. Obopay is the company founded in 2005 that provide mobile payment service in United States. It is a service that allows the transfer of money between mobile phones. After a customer creates an Obopay account, they can add money from a credit card, debit card, or a bank transfer. This make people a lot easier because most of the people will carry a hand phone with them. However, PayPal announced its inclusion in Sprint Nextels MyMoneyManager suite of mobile financial services in 2008. It is the innovation strategy that it used to attract new customers and provide a wider range of services to its former customers too. PayPal and partner mFoundry are on deck to provide banking services for Sprint, making it the first major operator in United States to have mobile money transfers between subscribers. Its fee is also cheaper than Obopay too. By doing this, PayPal has intensified pressure to Obopay and also show its i ntensity of competitive rivalry is very strong. Besides that, internet advance technology also leads to migrates competition to price among competitors. Although PayPal charges and fees for online payment processing are slightly higher than the other competitors, it can still have a lot of loyal customers and new customers using its services. The reason is currently, PayPal operates in 190 markets, and it manages over 223 million accounts, and more than 73 million of the accounts are active. PayPal also allows customers to send, receive, and hold funds in 19 currencies worldwide and it operates with 27 global financial networks and 15,000 local banks around the world. It also operates in 13 countries. The wide range of services provided by PayPal is a better choice than its competitors as none of them can provide such services. Customers with a PayPal accounts can also make payment for many other services and products which make things a lot easier. Customers do not have to open another account for just that particular payment. The threat of substitute products or services This analysis will identify the likelihood that customers to your industry will switch to purchasing an alternative product or use an alternative services from outside your industry. With the advance of internet technology, the proliferation of internet approaches creates new substitutions threat in many industries. There are many alternative apart from online payment providers in the e-commerce market such as, credit card, debit card, checks, money order and e-banking. For local transactions, consumers will use these kinds of traditional methods rather than PayPal. If a person buy a product with credit card, all he need to pay is the price of the product and interest charged by bank. However, if he pay the bank early, he would not be charged with any interest and this method will be cheaper than using PayPal. If a person does not has a credit card, they can use online banking to make their payment as all they need is just a saving account in the particular bank. Besides that, having a saving account at a bank are better than having a PayPal account as there are many complaint from its customers that PayPal freeze its users account arbitrarily and wont listen to any reason. PayPal can freeze its users account easily without giving prior notice because it is not supervise by the bank regulation. Therefore, this will lead to a higher threat to PayPal for its users to change to use other substitute services. There are also many complaint from its users that PayPal security against fraud is not good. Users are easy to get scam or the confidential data are easy to be stolen. To avoid this situation happens, buyers can use money order to make payment as well. money order As for merchants, their substitute service apart from PayPal is merchant account. Merchant account is a type of bank account that allow businesses to accept payments by debit or credit cards. A merchant account also serves as an agreement between a retailer, a merchant bank and payment processor for the settlement of credit card and/or debit card transactions. PayPal charges fees by per transaction, while merchant account is charging fees monthly and fix. Therefore, PayPal usually used by small business merchant as payment processor as the cost is cheaper. While for merchant that have massive transaction, most of them use merchant account as their payment processor because it will be cheaper than using PayPal. The bargaining power of buyers The bargaining power of customers is the ability of customers to put the firm under pressure, which also affects the customers sensitivity to price changes. The advanced internet technology has reduced switching costs of buyers and this makes the buyer would not simply switch to use other companies services. Although the fees charges to PayPal users are more expensive than its competitors, it still does not lower down the fees. This is because of PayPal provides to its users better services than its rivals, such as providing customers to hold up to 19 currencies of different countries so they can make their payment easily. It is the only company that can allows users hold that much currencies and requires high fixed costs to maintain this type of services. Customers that wishes to bargain for lower fees are maybe just a small portion among all the PayPal users too. If PayPal lower down its fee just for such small portion of unsatisfied customers, it may bring huge losses to the compa ny. Therefore, even though some users maybe price sensitive and bargain for a lower fees, PayPal will not make any changes as it would not greatly reduce its profit by losing a small portion of its users. The bargaining power of suppliers For PayPal, its suppliers are the banks and companies that provide financial networks in worldwide. The bargaining power of suppliers is low because with the internet, all companies has equal access to suppliers, and gravitate procurements to standardised products that reduce differentiation among competitors. standardised products or services makes the suppliers cannot charged high prices because there are too many similar products that other suppliers can provide. The banks, which are the suppliers to all online payment providers competing to each others with quality of services and low interest rates. Therefore, PayPal has many choices to choose for which suppliers is best suits with it. However, PayPal try to make deals with most of the local banks so it can have a wider range of services that can attract customers to use PayPal. It will not have to worry about the suppliers that charge excessive high price on unique products or service because if they do so, PayPal can just try to find another suppliers that charge reasonable price. Besides that, suppliers concentration to firm concentration ratio for PayPal is high because of its brand equity is high. Brand equity is brands power that derived from the goodwill and name recognition it has earned over time, and which turns into higher sales volume and higher profit margins against competing brands. PayPals high brand equity will keep attracts customers use PayPal services and this will lead to more services must be provided by the bank to PayPal. Banks will earn more profit by providing more services to it and indirectly makes the bargaining powers of suppliers become low as they need PayPal to generate more profit. Customer Relationship Management Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a widely-implemented strategy for managing a companys interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It includes one-to-one relationship between a customer and a seller which encourage customer participation in product development. CRM create one simple idea Treat different customers differently, which means that different customers are treat based on their different needs and different value to company. Besides that, CRM using information technology strategy aimed at identifying, acquiring, targeting and retaining the best mix of customers. CRM also describes a company-wide business strategy which including customer-interface departments as well as other departments. Furthermore, CRM also helps in understanding customer needs and building relationships with them and by providing the most suitable products with a high level of customer service. It integrates back and front office systems to create a database of customer contracts, purchases, information requested and technical support. This database helps the firm to present a unified face to its customer and improve the quality of the relationship. The primary goal of CRM is to improve long-term growth and profitability through a better understanding of customer behavior. There are 3 phases in which CRM support the relationship between a business and its customers are to acquire, enhance and retain. CRM can help a business acquire new customers through contact management, selling and fulfillment. A web enabled CRM combined with customer service tools offers customers service from a team of sales and service specialists, which offers customers the convenience of one-stop shopping. CRM software and databases enable a business to identify and reward its loyal customers and further develop its targeted marketing and relationship marketing initiatives. For any business to be successful employers need to look into various objectives which are beneficial for the customers. A good customer employee relationship always leads to positive outcomes for the business. CRM is a new introduction in E-commerce and played major rule in the development of e-business specially the CRM stands for customer relationship. It is a strategy used to learn more about customers needs and behaviors in order to develop stronger relationships with them. Good customer relationships are at the heart of business success. A primary objective of CRM is to provide the entire organization with a complete and 360-degree view of the customer, no matter where the information resides. The benefits of adopting CRM processes are develop better communication channels, create detailed profiles of individual customers, increased customer satisfaction, customer service and support and increased revenues of the organization. There are 3 types of CRM which are operational CRM, analytical CRM and collaborative CRM. Operational CRM describes the technology strategy of managing and interacting with customers across channels through client facing applications and integrated channel management. Operational CRM applications are technologies that enable sales force, marketing and customer care automat

Persevering Literature Essay -- essays research papers

The novel Sense and Sensibility was truly a masterpiece. Written by Jane Austen this ironic love story has captured the heart of readers for years. The popularity of Austen as a novelist can now be experienced through film. This book has been adapted into various screenplays, including one by Emma Thompson. Another version of the film was done by the BBC. Perhaps it is the manner in which it was filmed, the character choices or other aspects of the films that make them so different. Though they are based upon the same novel it is to be sure that the Emma Thompson version will preserve Austen’s talent in the world of film. The Emma Thompson version can be well spoken of in that its greatest strength is its ability to preserve and communicate the subtleties of women's life two centuries ago, of human feelings, of passion and reserve, and of wit and irony which are so essential in Austen's books. The movie is, therefore, a rather profound piece of work, which shows a great deal of devotion to it on the part of those involved in its making. Every detail (scenery, costumes, period "accessories", etc.) is carefully considered and is an integral part of the whole, so one watching it really has the feeling of being carried back to the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. Though the earlier version done by the BBC is much longer and truer to the novel it is with great pains. The acting is rather stiff as is the di...

Girl, Interrupted Essay -- essays research papers

Girl, Interrupted Part I: Critical Analysis Author: Susanna Kaysen. Girl, Interrupted: New York Division of Random House. Inc 1993. 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What is the author’s topic? The author’s topic is about a teenager name Susanna Kaysen. At 18 she voluntarily turned herself into McLean Hospital. 2.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Identify the author’s main idea(s). In other words, what is the main point the author is attempting to make about the book?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The author’s has 2 main points; one point is about her two-year stay McLean hospital. The second main point talks about how she handles and gets treated for being depressive and suicidal. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Identify the author’s overall pattern(s) of organization. Give examples and/or details to explain your answer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The pattern the author uses is time order; she starts off the book with her case record, which was submitted in 1967. The last example given is her recovery record; she left and had a recovery of her depression and being suicidal in 1969. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What biases, if any, can you detect from the author’s writing? Give examples and details to support your answer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The author isn’t biased about anything, she wasn’t for anything and she wasn’t against anything. Susanna Kaysen was simply trying to find her place in the world through the world of medicine. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Is this book mostly concerned with factual information, or does the author use conjecture and opinion to make his/her point? What detail and examples support your answer?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Girl, Interrupted is all factual information. Susanna Kaysen the author has put her reports from the doctors that were helping her in the book. On August 9,1967 the author Susanna Kaysen 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Identify the author’s purpose(s) for writing this book. In your opinion, does the author accomplish his/ her purpose? Support your answer with concrete evidence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The author’s purpose to the story is to make people notice how people are being treated in a mental institution. Susanna Kaysen writes about the girls in the ward as if nothing is wrong with them. She writes about being in a pschychiatri... ...ok. The girls in the book make up swear words about the weirdest things or how they act if they don’t get something they want. In a way I can relate to that because my mom is just a little bit like some of the girls in the story. If she doesn’t get what she wants she gets mad at the world and it is unnecessary, and that’s for everything. I think that’s just too spoiled. The girl I can most relate to in the story is Polly, because I can see myself listening to everyone and not complaining about anything really in life. But she was also a burn victim that didn’t complain about her face. I’m almost like her, I never once think I’m cute or beautiful, and I don’t complain about anything about my body. I know I have to live with what I have, so what’s the point in complaining about it. One more way I can relate to the story is my cousin is like my cousin she tried to the whole I swallowed this many pill thing. I never got why she did it. She never told me why, on the other hand she had some problems in the past with some things. So maybe that might have been the problem. But she never passed out like Susanna did in the beginning of the book. I’m just glad my cousin didn’t die.

The Bystander Effect

When the terms feelings, thoughts, and behavior are brought up, one does not automatically think these are quantifiable variables. To social psychologist, these words make up the basis of their studies. Trends have also been studied, tested, and analyzed as a way to understand the outcome of actions. They study what one is feeling, how those emotions are affecting that person’s thoughts, and how, or if, those thoughts become incentives or something that produces an action. Together, those analyses’ make up behavioral trends.Sociologists have been studying behavioral trends for decades, especially how people react in groups to a situation or stimulus. Researchers do not only study the behavior of people in a certain group but also how they act, as a whole, in society or within a culture. Psychologists have come to find that the way a person acts influences others either positively or negatively. Behavior, above all other things, describes why the bystander effect happens . In 1968, Bibb Latane and John Darley were the first to demonstrate the bystander effect.Darley and Latane arrived at the conclusion that the number of people within an area influences the likelihood of intervention during an emergency (Latane and Darley, 1968). Emergency, in this definition, refers to a number of situations such as a murder, someone that is homeless, or a person being ridiculed or discriminated against. It could be a person that was hit by an automobile or a child that was abandoned from a car and left to walk home. The bystander effect also influences the likelihood of someone reporting an emergency such as smoke coming from another room or a vent.After this phenomenon was introduced, Latane and Steve Nida (1981) explained it was the most replicated effect in social psychology according to their review (p. 305). Many factors are taken into account as to why this social phenomenon exists. Diffusion of responsibility and pluralistic ignorance, to name a few, descri be how groups are influenced by the bystander effect. Some case studies, that have been conducted, do not support the effect though. Altruism, personality, and morals are why people get involved occurs. Imagine there is a man lying on the stairs in front of an office building in the middle of a city.He is an average looking man in jeans and a plain t-shirt. The man appears to be hurt because he is face down and moaning. Many people stop to assess the situation. Here is where the diffusion of responsibility takes place. Diffusion of responsibility is the concept that each person is only responsible for an equal proportion of effort base on the number of people in a group (Latane and Darley, 1968). Considering it is a busy city, many people do not have time to stop and check to see if he is all right. No one is assigned to take accountability for a person in distress.All the people that see the man, and notice that something is wrong, automatically pin the responsibility on everyone e lse, figuring others will intervene. It is stated that as the number of bystanders [increases], the amount of responsibility any one bystander bears [decreases] (as cited in What Is Psychology 2002, p. 503). If there were one hundred passersby walking past that hurt man, the likelihood of anyone stopping is very low. When the liability of interference is singled out or placed upon one person, contribution to the circumstances is very high.There are a number of reasons why the diffusion of responsibility takes place. People that are aware of an emergency tend to look at what others are doing because they are inclined to follow normal behavior. People imitate what others are doing in order to achieve a sense of normalcy. Some people do not want to assess a situation incorrectly. For example, the man mentioned above may be hurt but to some people he may appear drunk. Witnesses sometime believe everyone else knows something they do not know. One person might have been watching that man drinking out of a bottle from a brown, paper bag.So assuming it was alcohol, the witness does not get involved which influences everyone else around that had not seen him drinking. If no one else is helping him, it gives other people the impression that the man in pain is not in need of assistance because of the unconscious control people have over one another. During an emergency, observers have the choice to analyze the situation and act or fail to act. People who fail to act usually fall victim to cognitive biases. When reasoning is distorted, immoral decisions are frequently made.Floyd Allport reported that pluralistic ignorance explain events in which virtually all members of a group privately reject norms yet believe that virtually all other group members accept them (p. 348). It is a bias when people follow a fallacy by rejecting a norm, which might not be the correct way to deal with an emergency. One of Latane and Darley’s first case studies was the influence of peop le in a smoke filled room. A number of confederates were in a controlled room with one person who was unaware of the test. They were filling out surveys when all of a sudden fake smoke started to fill the room.No one had noticed or said anything about the emergency. The woman that was being tested was fully aware of the situation but because of pluralistic ignorance, she did not report the smoke (Latane and Darley, 1968). When it is perceived or known that one person in the room comprehends what is happening and they are not doing anything, it influences the rest of the group because his or her opinion is casted onto the bystanders that what is happening is okay. Similar to this cognitive bias, false-consensus effect describes why diffusion of responsibility occurs.It is the tendency for people to project their own opinions when predicting the attitude, opinions, and behaviors of others (Ross, Greene, & House, 1977). This cognitive bias states that individuals believe to share the s ame beliefs or opinions as others, which is related to the bystander effect in the sense that people seem to project their thoughts onto those around them. People that prefer to follow a crowd portray why humans act out the bystander effect. As a result, the herd behavior or the bandwagon effect arises.If there is a man face down on the street and everyone is calmly walking around him, the chances are that everyone else will follow suit. Whatever decision the leader of the herd makes, the rest of the pack is sure to follow. Animals tend to walk in packs with one or more leaders and numerous followers, which keep them safe. Similarly, people want to conform to everyone else. The word society makes us human; without it, we are animals. We do what we need to stay alive and to protect others and ourselves; that is, until threats to our lives are taken into consideration.Carrie Keating, a psychologist at Colgate University, proves a point when saying; â€Å"We use [a] sort of intuition to get a sense of how dangerous people are† (Keating, 2008). If people see that an emergency is too dangerous, one will more than likely not take action. The least one can do is call the police and notify them of any violence. Neglecting the possibility is also another cognitive bias that people fall under during the bystander effect. It is that a person completely rejects any possibility when trying to decide something under uncertainty, or ambiguity.The more ambiguous the situation is, the less likely people are to intervene (Bickman, 1971). This goes back to people wanting to do what is normal. If there is a child being hauled away by a man, one can easily mistake the situation for a misbehaved son or daughter, when in fact, the man is a kidnapper. It is embarrassing to intrude on a situation that is misinterpreted. Neglecting the possibility that a child is being abducted, or that someone else will take care of the dilemma, makes it easier to stay out of the way.When there are fewer people around to distribute responsibility to, people tend to have all the weight on their shoulders. The responsibility is distributed among the other people and you are not singled out. People that are not in groups but are singled out tend to have excuses of their own that fall into other cognitive motives. Some excuses are that they were in a hurry and did not notice anything. Some people do not want to get into any legal processes. People like to mind there own business so if there was a woman getting verbally abused in a park, people tend to think it is none of their business.People are not expected to intervene if the situation looks like it is a dispute between couples or between spouses. Keating explained, on ‘What Would You Do’ that some people do not help men or woman that look low class or high class. They seem to help people that appear to be in the same rank as them (Keating, 2009). People think that just because they are not certified doctors t hat they have no sense in even stopping to help someone that is injured. Colin Tukuitonga and Andrew Bindman say that some men and women do not stand up for people of other cultures, religions, ethnicities (2002), or opinions.An episode of ‘What Would You Do? ’ revealed that people praised a clerk for not serving a Muslim customer even though she was from America. Another episode exposed a young girl to verbal abuse by three other girls but because it was not physical, no one saw a reason to intervene. Sometimes the situation looks to dangerous and witnesses think of themselves rather then the danger of someone involved. Don Hockenbury stated that when the personal cost for helping outweighs the benefits, the likelihood of helping decreases (p. 527), the costs being embarrassment, danger, and an endeavor.In rare cases, the number of people in an area does not influence the likelihood of a bystander helping or reporting an emergency. Prosocial behavior describes the soci al interaction when people help others knowing there will be no reward. It contradicts everything that psychologists study about decreased intervention. Altruism is a selfless way of decision-making where a person puts their general welfare in danger to help another in need without expecting a reward. People like to think of it as a moral obligation towards a person. Irving Piliavin, and others (1969), conducted an experiment on New York’s underground subway.Even though it is a busy subway, ninety percent of the witnesses helped an apparent disabled person when they fell down. When a drunken confederate fell over, twenty percent of the people on the subway helped the person. Piliavin concluded that bystanders see others as responsible for their own situation. Society is less prone to help those responsible for their predicaments. He also concluded that participation strengthens when a person seems similar to them. In addition, when they perceive the situation is not the victi m’s fault, such as if the person is unable to help him or herself (ex. lderly or disabled), intervention strengthens. People who are more attractive seem to get help faster then those who are unattractive. (Piliavin, 1969) According to Jane Pivialin and Hong-wen Charng (1990), factors that increase the likelihood of bystanders helping include the â€Å"feel good, do good† effect, guilt, seeing others helping, deserved help, knowing how to help, and relationships (p. 526 – 537). When a person is in a good mood, they are quick to help someone in need. Your conscious is a major influence on yourself. It tells you whether a decision is a good one or not.When one person has all the responsibility to intervene, that person feels obligated to make a move. If the person fails to fail, guilt sets in and intervention occurs. Morals also come into effect while deciding to intervene. If someone was brought up to do the right thing, that person will help or report a person o r situation. Empathy also determines how people will act. People, that have experienced the same situation that someone is going through, will more than likely act upon what their conscious is telling them to do because they know it is the right thing.For someone that used to be homeless, one will help someone asking for food or spare change. Whenever one person helps, a group seems to form, which strengthens the alliance. If one person has to carry ten rocks from point A to point B, those stones are going to be very heavy. If you have nine other people working with you to complete the task, the weight of the rock that one person has to carry, decreases provided each person carries one stone. The responsibility is distributed among the other people and the task is accomplished more efficiently.When someone intervenes, people also follow and then unconsciously form a group to ward off the violent person. When individuals act and get involved, it empowers stander-bys to take responsib ility for their society and it allows an opening to appear so others can also help. People that are stronger, more aggressive, or sympathetic seem to be of the dominate group of interveners while ambiguity slows down intervention â€Å"†¦The more crystal clear the situation, the faster intervention occurs† (Keating, 2008). When a woman is screaming as a man drags her through a park, ambiguity occurs.Until that woman specifies to onlookers what is happening, people most likely do not mediate between the two, whether they are related or complete strangers. Relation to the person in need increases likelihood too. William Howard and William Crano (1974) studied the effects of gender in relations to the bystander effect (p. 491- 507). Amoung many other psychologists, Howard and Crano hypothesized that men are more motivated to act in the case of an emergency then woman. Conversely, they concluded that men and women do effect the whether intervention takes place; they are equa lly present in the bystander effect.Marie and John Tisak, psychologists of Bowling Green State University, reported that whether it is direct family, friends, or simply acquaintances, those factors increase likelihood. Small talk and eye contact towards the victim automatically trigger a connection and when that connection is made, one feels associated with the other and is quicker to speak out for that person. Likewise, if the witness knows the aggressor, the witness is also more likely to step in. The type of relationship determines the likelihood.Relatives or very close friends to the bystander increase intruding whereas friends or acquaintances decrease likelihood (Tisak & Tisak, 1996). Many factors are correlated as to why intervention happens. Many famous events took place across history that people may not think as being the bystander effect. One of the first cases ever recorded was from the bible. Samaritan is the word that describes a charitable or helpful person but it als o holds a more powerful meaning. A Jewish man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho had been stopped by thieves who robbed him, beat him, and left him to die on the side of the road.A priest walked by and pretended not to notice the suffering man. A Levite, who was also a church official, looked at him and proceeded to walk on the other side of the street. The third man, a Samaritan, came across the man. It was evident that the Samaritan would not stop because Jews and Samaritans were enemies. He caught sight of the dying man and came to his aid. He brought him to a nearby inn to restore health and paid for his recovery (Luke 10: 25-37). It is hard to believe that the priest and Levite did not stop because of the bystander effect, but only because there was no compassion.The Holocaust is another time in history were the bystander effect was realized. Everyone fell victim to being a bystander. If society tries to state otherwise, they are saying that the Holocaust was not as horrifying as everyone made it to be. The entire world knew about the death of the Jews but no one said anything, not because no one else was taking a stand, but the fear of being executed filled their minds. Psychologists namely study feelings, thoughts, and behaviors and how each relates. By comprehending that concept, psychologists then go into detail and study groups and how they influence individuals, vice versa.John Darley and Bibb Latane hypothesized that the numbers of people in an area influence individual’s reactions to a response. After numerous controlled case studies, Darley and Latane concluded that the number of people does influence human behavior during an emergency. After this conclusion, the bystander effect became one of the most renown and replicated studies in psychology. Psychologists, such as Steve Nida and Floyd Allport, have been significant contributors in the development of this behavioral effect.Pluralistic ignorance and diffusion of responsibility are two major reasons that decrease the likelihood of intervention, among many other reasons. Altruism and morals, to name a few, enhance the likelihood that someone will interfere. There are many historical events that take place before the bystander effect happened Albert Einstein once said â€Å"No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong† (as cited by Calaprice, 2005). Which is a true statement because unless the case studies conducted are flawless and show a constant correlation between each data entry, nothing can be proven right.There are always biases and errors when researchers document data. There is no definite, reliable source to base information off because no one’s research can be one hundred percent accurate. When research is confirmed by a community it is usually accepted to be precise and true. When a theory appears in psychology and people begin to test it, replication of the same case studies can show bias. Su rveys that are taken on a computer or filled out on paper are not a true representation of what the general population would do in an emergency.The person has to experience the conditions to predict what they would do. Anyone can say that he or she would be the hero but when it comes time to stand up to an aggressive man, the meek, twenty year old would most likely shy away. The bystander effect has many different levels of complexity. Psychologists, when performing case studies on bystander effect, fail to record the mood someone is in which, from above, shows that it has an effect on whether someone responds to a stimulus. Attributions, altruism, morals, personality along with others explain why people intervene.Age defies the laws of the bystander effect. The size of a group does not matter to a child; they will not intervene. Alcohol consumption, mental health, maturity, ambiguity, experience, and reaction time are reasons that have to be taken into account when testing subjects and using the data to represent a statistic. It is all there in the numbers but they can also be misleading sometimes. We just have to believe that what researchers are telling us is true. Therefore, I agree with my hypothesis, to an extent, that the number of people in an area influences the likelihood of intervention.I do believe that certain people look to others when determining what to do in an emergency. I also confirm that the reason some people do not intervene is that they are following social norms and by doing so they do not get involved because they do not want to assess a situation inaccurately. The bystander effect is a very complex behavioral trend that involves a lot of testing and analysis. I do not believe that it can be proven completely true in less than forty years or in one semester by a first year student. More research is to be done.