Through outsourcing and strategic alliances

At the beginning of 1992, the computer hardware industry had become completely vulnerable to commoditization. This resulted in a vicious price war which took market share away from premium priced brands like Apple.As a result, the company had to formulate new strategies in order to build and maintain a competitive edge. In this respect, Apple stood in a unique position because its level of vertical and horizontal integration was matched only by IBM’s and IBM was competing in a different market.One of the strategies that the management undertook was to open its system to other standards and expand market share that way. This strategy was implemented through outsourcing and strategic alliances.Through outsourcing and strategic alliances, the company was able to not only minimize costs but also to differentiate its product line in order to widen its market appeal. However, as mentioned before, Apple stood in a unique position to exercise a considerable level of impact on the indu stry whether competing with a closed system or an open-ended one.Porter’s five forces before opening the systemWhen Apple had first started selling its computers, the threat of new entrants had been minimal because the company was implementing a proprietary technology. However when IBM entered the industry with its open-ended systems, most manufacturers could manufacture clones at a fraction of the cost.This increased the threat of new entrants. Because the threat of new entrants was high, the threat of substitute products was also high. In this context, Apple began to lose market share because even though it was generating considerable value through packaging hardware and software together, the fact that it manufactured all the components in-house meant that the company was forced to sell its products at a premium price.This was a severe disadvantage for the company as competitors could offer the same level of features in their products at a fraction of the cost. Because of the high threat of new entrants and substitute products, the threat of competition was also very high.The competitive strategies that major players in the industry were implementing at the time were based on both hardware and software. In this respect, Apple’s graphical user interface had gained considerable market share because of its ease of use. However Microsoft had also been developing the Windows operating system which had competing features and which had the additional advantage of greater market penetration.Competitive strategies in the computer hardware industry in the mid 80s started to focus more on software as hardware was becoming increasingly commoditized. This meant that the only way for hardware manufacturers to develop a unique selling proposition was to package more software features into the hardware.The hardware manufacturers could not incorporate the Apple operating system because it was not compatible with any hardware specifications other than those man ufactured at Apple. This resulted in increased market penetration for Microsoft’s operating system. However because Apple was developing a proprietary technology, it could not take advantage of the fast growing size of the market. As a result, the company was forced to confine its marketing and selling operations to the existing clients.However the availability of low priced competitor products meant that Apple was losing even its existing customers to the clone manufacturers. In this respect, the most profitable customer group was that consisting of corporate clients. However this segment of the market was price sensitive and therefore prioritized cost considerations ahead of other product features.This was the reason why Apple had been experiencing decreasing returns at the beginning of the 90’s. In spite of the nature of its organization structure which enabled it to offer complete solutions, Apple began to suffer a distinct disadvantage from its high prices.The fac t that there was a high threat of new entrants and substitute products resulted in a high threat of bargaining power from the customers. Clone manufacturers like Dell did not have to engage in extensive research and development activities in order to manufacture new products. Instead they manufactured products based on standards pioneered by IBM.As a result, cost of production was considerably lower for these companies than they were for companies like IBM and Apple which had to conduct capital-intensive research and development activities periodically in order to bring out new product lines. With Dell for example, the competitive advantage lay in its unique distribution structure which cut costs further. This enabled clone manufacturers to offer a wide variety of product offerings, in the process facilitating a considerable level of bargaining power for the buyers.The bargaining power of suppliers was medium because most hardware manufacturers tended to maintain a joint venture fra mework in developing their products.For example, IBM had a partnership with Intel for sourcing the latter’s microprocessors. This partnership meant that manufacturers and their suppliers did not have to negotiate prices every time they developed a new standard. Therefore the industry was favourably positioned in terms of the bargaining power of suppliers for those manufacturers who maintained open standards.

Education Speech Essay

A Chinese proverb, â€Å" If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people’’. Good morning to all. Knowing what a great impact education plays on the world, I decided to investigate the various education systems. Today, we look into the education systems of: Ghana, Finland, South Korea and Argentina I begin with Argentina. Argentina has the highest levels of education and literacy .The school year in Argentina runs from March to December and lasts about two hundred days. Schools are closed for national holidays and two weeks in July for vacation. Normally, public elementary schools are in session for four and a half hours each weekday. Saturdays are generally reserved for extracurricular school activities. Often, a school will have a morning and afternoon session, allowing pupils and teachers to choose their sessions. The country’s public university system is also free of charge and all students are required by law to complete thirteen years of schooling this is from pre-school up to twelfth grade. When researching into the Ghanaian education system I found a few really interesting facts. Education in Ghana from nursery school up to an undergraduate level takes about twenty years. Primary and secondary education is free and compulsory in Ghana. Children begin around the ages of six and end at seventeen. There is a unified national curriculum for the entire country. And lastly, there are â€Å"Culture† classes in nearly every school that involve students practicing African drumming and dancing. Now, moving on to South Korea. The school calendar has two semesters, the first extending from March through to July and the second from September through to February. There are summer and winter breaks. A typical day finds high school scholars studying before school begins at about 8 am Classes run for fifty minutes each. The afternoon session resumes at about 1 pm and classes continue until about 4 pm, followed by the cleaning of the classroom. Students may then take a short dinner break at home, or they may eat at school. Teachers typically move from room to room, while students stay in one place. Students return to the school library to study or attend private schools or tutoring sessions until between 10 pm, and midnight. And lastly, Finland. The education system which has been rated the most  innovative and unique education system in the world. Ninety three percent of Finnish students graduate from high school and education in Finland is a system with no tuition fee. In Finland, classes are small, seldom more than twenty pupils. Inside the school, the atmosphere is relaxed and informal, and the buildings are so clean that students often wear socks and no shoes. Outdoor activities are stressed, even in the coldest weather. Most commonly, pupils are issued a report card twice a year. Pupils are entitled to receive free books and materials and free school trips or even housing in the event that they have a long trip to school. In elementary school students get seventy five minutes of recess a day. Teachers only spend four hours a day in the classroom, and take two hours a week for â€Å"professional development†. All teachers in Finland must have a master’s degree, which is fully subsidized. And can you believe, Finnish teachers are actually given the same status as doctors and lawyers. So as we can see, education systems all around the world are different: however, each system succeeds in planning children for a career. And always remember Nelson Mandela’s wise words: â€Å"education is the most powerful weapon, which you can use to change the world†.

American Pageant-13th Edition: Dbq 1

In 1606, hundreds of settlers embarked on a journey from England to the Virginia colony, in search of wealth and treasure. Although they experienced much destitution early on in their journey, they were able to transform their colony with the use of the indentured servants and slaves by basing their economy around tobacco. With tobacco, they were able to create an industry in which the colonists would depend on socially and economically. The journey for the new colonist was brutal. They were crammed onto ships, so communicable diseases spread very easily. There was little food, so many of them died of starvation. When they finally arrived, they were introduced to even more diseases. On top of starvation, and chronic diseases, some died in wars. The most common cause of death for the new colonist was famine. Some of the colonists said that there were never any Englishmen left in a foreign country in such misery as their newly discovered Virginia. After they reached Virginia, they were given contracts with various people who had already settled there. With the use of tobacco, they transformed their economy. The demand for tobacco products in Europe was increasing, and the Virginians knew it. The tobacco rush soon swept over Virginia. The father of the tobacco industry, John Rolfe, became an economic savior in 1612, when he perfected methods of raising and curing the pungent weed. The colonists now focused most of their attention, concentration, and energy on planting this demanded crop. They had created one of the first products to be marketed with name-brand advertising. The industry had now built the economic foundation for the colony of Virginia. However, intense tobacco farming depleted the rich Virginia soil. The vile weed would soon ruin the soil and eventually make it unfit for planting in subsequent years. Due to the barren lands after planting, there became an increased demand for large-acre plantations. When more tobacco was planted to fill the needs of the Europeans, there also became a need for more labor. A massive workforce was now needed to work the new tobacco plantations and this demand would soon be fulfilled with the use of forced laborers and indentured servants. The colonists now faced the problem of a greater need for labor. However, families procreated too slowly, the Native Americans died too quickly from disease, and slaves were too expensive. At the time, England had an abundance of displaced farmers in search of long term employment. These laborers, known as â€Å"indentured servants,† willingly rented out their work. They signed binding contracts to their masters, to work for a number of years to pay their passage. Approximately fifteen hundred indentured servants were coming from England, Scotland, and Ireland every year. These settlers also changed the colony of Virginia socially. When they first arrived, the population of Virginia was basically zero, excluding the Native Americans. Within 71 years, there were approximately two thousand black slaves and six thousand Christian indentured servants. The population had also reached forty thousand people. The tobacco plant was the main reason for the successful changes in the Virginia colony. The profit from the plant was the reason for the economically, and the increased population of the workers was the reason socially. Without the tobacco plant, there would have been such a significant change in the new Virginia colony.

Network Security of LAN used in Small Office and Home Office Essay

Network Security of LAN used in Small Office and Home Office - Essay Example Another fact worthy to note is that less than two thirds (62 percent) of these small businesses use automatic patching. Those that do not use automatic patching has the risk of not getting a critical update and most likely leave their systems open for the next round of attacks that will undeniably come. Recommendations for enhancing these best practices are put forth. With each passing day, interconnectivity in today’s marketplace develops and numerous businesses are putting their trust on the Internet and other network technologies for the smooth functioning of their businesses. Even small businesses now have the capability to compete with effectiveness compared with larger companies as the internet offers the ability for them to expand the geographical scope of their market. In addition, the Internet is able to make 71 percent of small businesses to begin conducting different business tasks, such as servicing the customer and doing procurement, as a recent survey shows (American Express, 2002). However, this wonderful news does not come without a catch. Internet connection particularly a 24/7 broadband connection is also a security threat to small businesses which probably lack the resources and technical skill to deal with it. The deficiency of small business to hire a diverse IT staff as commonly found in bigger companies is a hindranc e. Managers of these small businesses are unsurprisingly unable to fully comprehend yet the information and business implications of the security threats and risks. The significant factor in the creation of a standard security program for a company is still its size, where smaller business most unlikely to have very complicated security for themselves (Kotulic & Clark, 2004). In a worldwide survey done by Ernst and Young, 34 percent of respondents found they are less than sufficient in telling whether or not their systems are being attacked. 32

Human Development and Learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Human Development and Learning - Essay Example According to Piaget's theory, cognitive development takes place in four separate stages and each stage progresses onto being more refined and conceptual levels of thought. Sensorimotor, the first stage (birth to 24 months) is characterized by knowledge being achieved mainly through sensory impressions and motor action. At the end of this stage, the child will have a little understanding outside what can be sensed. The subsequent stage is the preoperational stage (2 to 7 years) describes how child shifts from sensory testing to the progression of language and using of symbols. The basic characteristics of the stage are reading and a quick increase in vocabulary. The third stage is concrete operational (7 to 11 years) shows significant developments in perception and in the last phase known as the formal operational (11 to adulthood) explains the child's developing the skill to think about hypothetical conditions and reflect abstractly. Lev'Vygotsky, another renowned theorist, proposed the Sociocultural Theory of Development which suggested that children learn through socially interacting with their surrounding culture and communicate with others to learn the cultural values of the society through dialogue. Children progress in the direction of more individualized thought process during these social interactions. The co-constructed development incorporates individuals interacting through shared activities. Once the child is assisted in this process, he or she may be able to use enhanced strategies in the future if a familiar situation arises. This leads to internalization, which further results in the child's independent thought process. There are essential similarities between the natures of development of intelligence in children. This is particularly obvious in their views on the stage-related development process of cognitive abilities. Vygotsky is well known on his position on the importance of social factors in development. Piaget stressed the vital role of social factors in the building of knowledge. According to Piaget, social interaction is necessary in order to develop logic. Furthermore, both Vygotsky and Piaget agreed that it is the development of the individual which ultimately takes place. They also stated that internalization is not a process of copying material from the environment but is a transformative process. Piaget investigated the fundamental mechanisms in the individual constructing its thoughts, while Vygotsky dealt with socially developed mechanisms for constructing language meaning and learning. But both of them relate mental processes to the generative constructions of systems that maintain development, that is, in culture or in the individual interacting with its environment. In Vygotsky's opinion language is makes human species humanized and makes human thought a part of culture. On the other hand, language for Paiget is one of the five behavior patterns that manifest representational intelligence in children. Paiget's theory of intelligence is based on biological factors, but it also implies social dimensions as well. The

Response and Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Response and Analysis - Essay Example â€Å"Somewhere his family is weeping for him. His friends call for my blood. Maybe he had a girlfriend who really believed he would come back† (Collins 240). However, at the beginning of the game she thought that he is a enemy for her, that she will have to kill him to live. And after the claim that both of tributes can win the game, pace of the book suddenly speeded up. And the fight against the powerful tributes began. We can consider Catone as a negative character to be one of the tributes, despite the fact ,that he had the alliance with other experienced in killing tributes, he also didn’t have understanding of respect to the groupmates. He was cold-blooded killer and he left the Glimmer dying from the bites of insects. He didn’t want to help her, probably because she will fight with him when all other tribute will die. â€Å"Glimmer and another girl, the one from District 4, are not so lucky. They receive multiple stings before they’re even out of my view. Glimmer appears to go complete-190 ly mad, shrieking and trying to bat the wasps off with her bow, which is pointless. She calls to the others for help but, of course, no one returns.† Moreover, he was very sadistic and cruel for other tributes, even helpless and weak. He had no mercy towards the people who were less experienced. And after betrayal of Peeta, Cato has hate to everybody. â€Å"What are you still doing here?† he hisses at me. I stare uncomprehendingly as a trickle of water drips off a sting under his ear. His whole body starts sparkling as if he’s been dipped in dew. â€Å"Are you mad?† He’s prodding me with the shaft of the spear now. â€Å"Get up! Get up!† I rise, but he’s still pushing at me. What? What is going on? He shoves me away from him hard. â€Å"Run!† he screams.

Tort of Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Tort of Law - Essay Example c injury to liability will also turn on questions relative to the duty of care and the extent to which that duty can be extended to Peggy and her injury was reasonably foreseeable.4 Ian’s possible defence turns on whether or not he can legitimately claim contributory negligence or non volenti fit injuria on the part of the victim: Ben.5 To begin with, a duty of care exists in cases where injury of the kind suffered is reasonably foreseeable, there is proximity between the parties, and the imposition of a duty of care is fair.6 In determining whether or not a duty of care exists it is also necessary to ascertain if the defendant assumed the duty of care and if the plaintiff could have reasonably relied on the fact that the defendant assumed the duty of care.7 In assessing the duty of care in potential claims against WTW and Marcus it is necessary to examine the duty of care in respect of claims for pure economic loss: monetary award where no physical damages are claimed.8 In Hedley Bryne v Heller, it was established that liability for pure economic loss in cases of negligent misstatement arise where the plaintiff is relying on the advice or information of the defendant based upon trust that the defendant will exercise a degree of care and knew or ought to have known that the plaintiff was relying on that information and/or advice.9 In addition, the defendant is required to have represented that he had the unique skills and knowledge with respect to the advice and/or information requested by the plaintiff.10 Based on the facts of the case for discussion there is no doubt that WTC held itself out has having a specific skill and knowledge: investment expertise. Through its agent, WTC as an investment business held itself out as having special investment skills that it ought to know Ian relied on in seeking its services with respect to investing his profits. Based on the special skill and expertise that WTC held itself out to have, the company ought to have known