Super Size Me Analysis Essay Example for Free

Super Size Me Analysis Essay To some, eating solely off the McDonald’s menu for thirty days to see what the effects may be is looked down at as an attack on unhealthy and fast food corporations, but to many, Super Size Me is an incredible documentary that helps shine a light on the horrendous effects that fast food has on our society. Morgan Spurlock’s rules are simple: only food off of McDonald’s menu may be eaten, he must consume three meals a day, if asked to super size he must, and everything on the menu must be eaten at least once. On day one he goes and gets baseline measurements of his body from numerous health and medical experts to be able to gauge himself as the month progresses, and from there on out, it’s chow time. Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me digs beyond the obvious correlation between fast food and poor health. Spurlock exposes the flaws in our society’s choice of food, makes the point that personal responsibility is essential, and openly criticizes corporate and government deniability. By using an extremely personal setting, a plethora of unforgettable visuals, interesting dialogues, a steady change in tone, and incorporation of children, Spurlock effectively delivers his message that fast food is a fast way to deteriorate your state of health. Morgan Spurlock, unlike many other documentary producers, creates an extremely personal point of view. He does so by allowing the viewer to see over his own shoulder, and not a random test subject, to watch his month long McDonald’s binge. Spurlock immediately, and at times humorously, opens up completely to the audience. Before the viewer knows it, Spurlock is half naked at the doctor’s, throwing up on camera, and being torn apart by his wife about his in ability to perform in the bed. By having this more personal and open point of view, Spurlock is able to earn more of the audience’s trust making it easier for him to get his message across. Second to the personal setting, the visual effects utilized by Spurlock make the message of the documentary hard to forget. Without fail, every two to five minutes a McDonald’s â€Å"Golden Arches† appear somewhere on the screen, making it hard for the audience not to pair a negative denotation with it by the end of the film. Aside from all of the McDonald’s signs, the camera consistently zooms in, as close as one would ever want to be, to Spurlock’s super sized french fries and extra greasy Big Mac. Watching the repetitiveness of close ups on processed, fried, and poorly made food is enough for any viewer to not want to east fast food for quite sometime. Spurlock also uses simple charts, such as the ones to display his portrait as days pass, to allow the viewer to easily see the trend of negative health increasing directly with the amount of time spent on his McDonald’s diet. Another interesting visual Spurlock uses is the satanic drawings of what appears to be Ronald McDonald. The pictures are demonic and are supposed to depict Ronald as a ruthless clown and not someone a little kid would like to be around. And if all of these visuals weren’t enough, Spurlock goes even further when he shows a common body weight reduction surgery in action. The viewer first sees probes with cameras and tools inserted into the patient’s repulsively large belly, and then ends up inside the patient’s fat filled stomach watching the surgeons nip and tuck away. Spurlock makes it very hard for the viewer to forget what his message is with all of these images that stick in the back of your mind. From the head of McDonald’s to a middle school kid buying lunch, Spurlock carries out an assortment of dialogues throughout the documentary. Although many are significant, the most memorable and effective would have to be the conversations Spurlock has while visiting Madison Junior High School. He first confronts a girl with only cookies and french fries on her plate and asks her if she’s going to eat anything else. The girl simply says no. Spurlock moves on to the lunch line and asks a girl if she was going to get anything else other than french fries on her plate and she responds, â€Å"Well I’m getting milk†¦ its my calcium and my vegetables. † If you weren’t disgusted with the kid’s food choices alone, Spurlock moves on to the lunch ladies to get their two cents on the food being served at their school. The lunch ladies were content with the saying â€Å"ignorance is bliss. They serve the kids french fries, swiss rolls, and high sugar drinks, assuming that they had brought their own sandwich from home, but none of them ever checked to see. They all claim that they are setting up the kids to make the right choices yet most of the kids aren’t. All of these dialogues Spurlock has at the Junior High School in Illinois were very eye opening, and made the viewer feel obligated to see more of what is going on behind the scenes at their own local schools. Further on in the film, Spurlock calls McDonald’s  Headquarters trying to set up an appointment with someone high up in the corporation. Nearly every phone call he made he is promised either a message be delivered, a return phone call, or a good time to call back. Following close to twenty phone calls later, Spurlock gives up trying to schedule an appointment with the head of McDonald’s. After seeing Spurlock get shot down time and time again, it makes the viewer wonder if McDonald’s is trying to dodge a question that could damage their reputation, as well as contemplate how unprofessional their business is run. Another key strategy Spurlock uses throughout his month long McDonald’s stint is the gradual change in tone. From the beginning, Spurlock is very excited to kick off his McDonald’s exclusive diet and has a cheerful tone and positive attitude. After a couple of days turn into a couple of weeks, Spurlock’s tone changes drastically. Instead of optimistic and cheery, like from the beginning of the month, Spurlock now has a rather negative and dire one. Phone calls between him and his girlfriend that once were normal, turn in to him seriously questioning his will to continue with his experiment. Spurlock’s tone and attitude are easily noted as having a negative correlation with days spent on the McDonald’s diet. By showing this trend, Spurlock is able to emphasize the emotional, rather than just the physical, effects of his diet to the viewers. Throughout the documentary, Spurlock continuously incorporates children to capture the viewer’s attention and to show that the obesity problems start at a young age. â€Å"A Pizza Hut, a Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and a Pizza Hut. McDonald’s, McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and a Pizza Hut† is sang by young children, some being obese, right at the start of the film. If this doesn’t raise a red flag in one’s head that children are being taught how to sing America’s most unhealthy fast food restaurants in school, I’m not sure what will. Spurlock also spends a decent portion of his documentary in schools. He examines the food choices available to the kids, asks them about what they eat, and observes their physical education class. The most effective use of incorporating children is the interviews he conducts by holding up pictures of famous Americans and famous fast food icons, then asking the children who they are and what they were. Some of the children could identify George Washington and what he did, but as soon as Spurlock showed them a picture of Jesus all were stumped, one boy even guessed he was George W. Bush. Then the pictures of Wendy and Ronald McDonald were shown, and to no surprise every kid there knew exactly who Ronald was and that he is associated with McDonald’s. By putting this emphasis on young children being led down the wrong path at an early age, makes the viewers compelled to believe that our society is going wrong with teaching healthy food choices. Whether it was the personal touch, visuals, dialogues, change in tone, real footage, or incorporation of children, Morgan Spurlock does an impeccable job provoking Americans to question their choice in food and influencing them to take action. When the final results of Spurlock’s experiment are posted (13% weight increase, cholesterol level of 230, and dysfunctional liver) it’s going to be very hard for me to walk into a McDonald’s. So, next time I’m faced with the choice of eating at fast food or taking a little time of my day to cook myself a meal, I definitely know which one I’ll be doing, but the real question is will everyone else?

People and animals Essay Example for Free

People and animals Essay Your role is to find a minimum of three connections between the reading and the world at large. This means connecting the reading to your own life, to happenings in the local and/or global community, to similar events at other times and places, to other people or problems which you are reminded. You might also see connections between this portion of the novel to other parts of it; other writings on the same topic, or similar issues being raised in other classes. Realize that whatever the reading connects you with is worth sharing. PLEASE TYPE YOUR RESPONSES. There are many connections to be made between Crichton’s Jurassic Park and life today. Michael Crichton is not exactly a scientific writer, but he uses real science to back up everything about his novels. He extrapolates the concepts, much as other science fiction writers do. The first example are the sentences â€Å"They are not free at all. They are essentially our prisoners. Unable to survive in real world† (Crichton). This reminds me of animals at a zoo or even the idea of cloning. Natural reproduction in animals is one thing, but making animals for only our purposes is questionable. I realize people breed dogs and other animals to sell, but large scale cloning becomes a little scary. In fact, there are some people now who believe in more rights for animals. These people would be very unhappy with a theme park that clones animals. They are already extremely unhappy with people who keep animals for pets. The next part that reminds me of something else is all the reliance on fences. The people who built Jurassic Park believe the fences will protect them. In the poem â€Å"Mending Wall,† Robert Frost says that before he built a fence, he would want to know what he is walling in or out. The same is true for this novel. First of all, the fence gives the characters a false sense of security. They believe the fence will protect them from the dinosaurs when, in reality, the dinosaurs can escape. However, in walling the dinosaurs out so heavily, they are also walling themselves in. It will be much harder for them to get away if anything would happen. I think we rely on all kinds of fences to give us a false sense of security. I think about gated communities. People buy expensive homes in gated communities to keep â€Å"undesirables† out, but really, it is not hard to leap a fence. If people want your wealth badly enough, they will go over the fence. The Mexican American border is another example. We believe that if we can staff the fence enough with la migra, we can protect ourselves from illegal immigration. The fact is that there is not enough fence to keep the United States from gaining thousands of illegal immigrants each year. Mexico is poverty, and the United States is wealth. Those fences won’t protect us at all. The whole concept of being able to visit a dinosaur park makes me think of eco-tourism and how popular it has become. We all want to get glimpses of true nature. We are willing to make our own land into parking lots, but we will travel to exotic places to see nature unspoiled. Unspoiled nature is not meant for tourists. Before long, garbage and refuse will be left in the rainforests or wherever and destroy the delicate balance of life there. Dinosaurs went extinct for a reason. Maybe we don’t know what the reason is, but they should not be brought back for our amusement. We should not travel to other countries to see animal life and primitive people. It is disrespectful. The last sentence to discuss is â€Å"The history of evolution is that life escapes all barriers† (Crichton). This is what we always forget in creating new things. Once we give something â€Å"life,† anything can happen. People and animals are not meant to be controlled and will always surprise us. The fact that the dinosaurs are breeding should not surprise anyone, but it does. The scientists actually believe that they can create an artificial environment that they can control. But adaptation is always in the works.

E-commerce in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

E-commerce in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Analysis of innovation of e-commerce in small and medium-sized enterprises In the last decade large organisations have realised the increasing impact of new and cutting edge technology. Clark (1989) emphasized on the importance of technology to gain competitive advantage but at the same time he warned that building and maintaining such advantage will always be a challenge. Information technology in the form of internet has allowed organisations and their management to benefit from better quality information and better decision making. White (1997) adds that the internet is extremely effective in attracting computer literate people. Especially Internet has made a prolific influence on the business world. The internet has become an area where consumers are able to find what they need (Amor, 2002). This is clearly evident by the growth of internet in the last few years as shown in figure 1. Being involved with the new technologies brought many opportunities and easiness to reach products to consumers anywhere, anytime in the world (McKenna,2002). The new technological innovations have allowed organisations to conduct business in a completely new way by using online electronic transaction mechanisms and the concept of E-Commerce evolved(Gunasegaram Love, 1999; Westland and Clark, 1999). Today in most of the business and commerce sector IT has taken the form of E-Commerce. Figure 1 Growth of internet E-commerce is a major innovation, which has benefited industries across the globe even the Small and Medium Industries. The SME’s in Itself amount to a large part of the economy, at the moment there are12000 SME’s using EDI, electronic data interchange to further their businesses. Although the SME’s are contributors to the national economy of any country, the whole framework used to build them lacks transparency. There are problems around the financial resources available to keep them going; there is not enough legislative and administrative support from the government. On the business front these enterprises lack the right kind of management vigour, style, knowledge, and experience in handling more developed innovative technologies, which are inundating the markets. This is something they need to be aware of in order to survive the competitive environment. The SME’sdon’t have a single development system, which can safeguard theirinterests. They need an integrated approach, which encompasses threelevels, strategic, institutional, and enterprise. The government andthe public/private sector need to offer support for the fulfilment ofthis long-term strategy, which will make SME’s into profit centres’-commerce brings in a host of advantages as well as disadvantages tome’s and this project is an attempt to learn more and develop deeper understanding into the effect of technical innovations in e-commerce on Small and medium sized enterprises [Kyiv, 1997]. This study attempts to add to the existing literature by looking at hawse’s are approaching to incorporate e-commerce into their business strategy or how they are trying to improve their existing approach. This study will also evaluate consumer experiences of online shopping and how e-commerce has impacted on their expectations and goes on to suggest how online stores may need to improve if they are to meet these new expectations. 2. Aims and Objectives Aims The main aim of this project is to explore how the SME’s are important to the national economies and how the use of e-commerce help them gain a better position in terms of growth and profitability. There search context is based on SME’s in England to get an even background to this research question. As one knows technology and innovation always have repercussions, this project would also explore how theses ME’s deal with the disadvantages and convert them into viable benefits. This project will also find out to what extent do small firms use-commerce in their business processes and what are the barriers to the adoption of e-commerce? Customers as well as organization’s perspective towards e-commerce will be found out. Alongside the study will also try to find out how much electronic transaction have influenced the small-scale industry? Additionally this dissertation will also provide with accurate, up-to-date, research-based information about possible future trends in e-commerce. And lastly, this research will provide some suggestions and recommendations to be considered for the improvement of-commerce for small firms to develop ideas for further research in this context. This study on SME’s under different situations and circumstances would help present an overall portrayal and even help understand the issues under a magnifying glass when faced in certain sectors like manufacturing. To summarize some of the questions that will be addressed through this research are as follows: †¢ What is the status of SME’s in today’s global business environment? †¢ What is the contribution of the SME’s in the national and global economies? †¢ How will innovations like the Internet in e-commerce help the businesses in SME’s grow and become more profitable ventures? †¢ What are the problems/mistakes in the E-business strategy adopted in general by small firms in U.K? †¢ What are the problems faced by customers and organisations while dealing on internet? †¢ What are the factors that influence the development of e-commerce? †¢ Does e-commerce open up new markets for small scale industries in the United Kingdom? Objectives 1. Critically evaluate the relevant literature on small firms and the importance/usage of the internet. 2. Understand small firms’ problems and barriers to the use of e-commerce through articles, newspapers, interviews and surveys. 3. Gain specific knowledge of internet usage for small firms in business through interviews, publications and company information. 4. Provide recommendations to improve the usage of internet as a competitive tool. 5. The advent of the e-commerce, its advantages and disadvantages. 3. Literature Review E-Commerce E-commerce may be defined as â€Å"The sharing of business information, maintaining business relationships, and conducting business transactions by means of Internet-based technology† (Riggins Rhee, 1998, p. 90). Alternately it may also be defined as â€Å"Anything that enhances your relationships with an existing customer and increases the revenue you get from the customer.† (Sullivan, 1998, p.24). The Internet and Electronic Commerce have made the world market smaller place to trade in. The Internet has opened up many possibilities of organising and running an online business. It has created a universal platform for buying and selling of goods which has resulted in faster transaction times and reduced transaction costs. Colin Turner (2000), in his book on the information of e-economy, talks about the e-commerce business accomplishment and strategies. E-commerce has its benefits and shortcomings, along with this belief; the companies are also battling with the pressures of information technology revolution coming to an end. â€Å"Despite all the hype surrounding electronic commerce, and the recent failure of many of that com companies, it does present real opportunities to small entrepreneurs in many countries.† (Fatal and Janet, 2004) Classification of E-commerce According to the applications or the nature of transaction of E-commerce, it can be categorized as follows: Turban et al (2000) divided E-commerce into three categories in terms of its applications: a) Electronic markets: It refers to buying and selling goods and services at an electronic marketplace, where the business centre is not a physical building but rather a network-based location. The market handles all the necessary transaction, including response to information request, purchase acknowledgement, shipping notice, purchase/service delivery, payment acknowledgement, and the transfer of money between banks and so on. In electronic market, the principal participants transaction handlers, buyers, brokers, and sellers, are not only at different locations but seldom even know one another. The means of interconnection varies among parties and can change from event to event, even between the same parties. b) Inter-organisational systems: They are facilitating inter and intra-organization flow of information, communication and collaboration. An IOS (inter-organisational information systems) involves information flow among two or more organisations. Its major objective is efficient information and transaction processing. All relationships are predetermined and there is no negotiation, just execution. A typical IOS includes a company and its suppliers and/or customers. Through it, buyers and sellers arrange routine business transactions and information is exchanged over communications networks using prearranged formats. Its main types aired (Electronic data interchange), extranets, electronic funds transfer, electronic forms, integrated messaging, shared databases and supply chain management. c) Customer service: It is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction, helping customers to resolve problems they encountered in any phase of the purchasing process. E-commerce plays a dual role in customer service. First, it provides customer service to a process that is done completely offline. Second, it provides help to online transactions. Types of customer service include answering customer inquiries, providing search and comparison capabilities, providing technical information to customers, allowing customers to track order status, and allowing customers to place an online order and so on. Kalakos Whinstone (1997) contended that there are three distinct general classes of electronic commerce applications: a) Inter-organizational Electronic Commerce: Like Turban et al above, Kalakos Whinstone consider that-commerce can be applied in following inter-organizational business: Supplier management: Electronic applications help companies reduce the number of suppliers and facilitate business partnerships by reducing purchase order (PO) processing costs and cycle times, and by increasing the number of Pops processed with fewer people. Inventory management: It shortens the order-ship-bill cycle and time of transmitting information. Businesses can also track their documents to ensure that they were received, thereby improving auditing capabilities. This also helps reduce inventory levels, improve inventory turns and eliminate out-of-stock occurrences. Distribution management: Electronic application facilitate the transmission of shipping documents such as bills of lading, pur chase orders, advanced ship notices, and manifest claims, and enable better resource management by ensuring that the documents themselves contain more accurate data. Channel management: Electronic application quickly disseminates information about changing operational conditions to trading partners. By electronically linking production-related information with international distributor and reseller networks, companies can eliminate thousands of labour hours and ensure accurate information sharing. Payment management: Linking companies with suppliers and distributors enables payment to be sent and received electronically. Electronic payment reduces clerical error, increases the speed at which companies compute invoices, and lowers transaction fees and costs. b) Intra-organizational commerce The purpose of intra-organizational applications is to help a company maintain the relationships that are critical to delivering superior customer value. Its applications are as follows: Workgroup communications: It enables managers to communicate with employees using electronic mail, videoconferencing, and bulletin board, hence increase the dissemination of information, resulting in better-informed employees. Electronic publishing: It enables companies to organize, publish and disseminate human resources manuals, product specifications and meeting minutes using tools such as the World Wide Web. Meanwhile, it reduces costs for printing and distributing documentation, faster delivery of information and reduction of outdate information. Sales force productivity: These applications improve the flow of information between the production and sales forces, and between the firms and customers. The goal is to allow firms to collect market intelligence quickly and to analyse if more thoroughly. c) Consumer-to-Business Electronic Commerce Social interaction: Consumers can communicate with each other through e-mail, videoconferencing, and news group etc. Personal finance management: El ectronic applications enable consumers to manage investments and personal finances using online banking tools. Purchasing products and information: Consumers can find online information about existing and new products/services. Turban et al (2000) further goes on to describe E-Commerce based on the types of transactions and are more popularly known as: B2B (Business-to-Business): Most of E-commerce today is of this type. It includes the IOS transactions and electronic market transactions between organisations. B2C (Business-to-Consumer): These are retailing transactions with individual shoppers. C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer): In this category, consumers sell directly to consumers. C2B (Consumer-to-Business): In this category, consumers sell directly to organisations. Challenges to E-Commerce Although the Internet offers great deals of advantages to electronic commerce and businesses, it also provides a number of challenges. Some of these challenges as mentioned by Turban et al (2000) are discussed below: 1. Unsuccessful Business Models Not all companies that implement electronic commerce make benefits. Technologies changes so rapidly that keeping pace with change ultimately becomes too expensive or results in a failure. 2. Channel Conflicts Sometimes a company uses more than one distribution channel (Online as well as traditional channels) to sell its products and services. This can cause conflict between the dealers as it becomes important in such case to maintain a balance between the different channels. For e.g.it might be possible that a particular company tries to sell its product online at a lesser cost with some discount and maintains the original cost while selling it offline. This disparity can cause its dealers to create a problem. 3. Legal Issues Internet Law s are confusing and mostly non-existent. Also the Internet’s global and is used by individuals from different countries and thus it becomes difficult to decide which law to apply if a conflict arises. 4. Security Privacy This is the most important issue concerned with online transactions and businesses. Important information and valuable data like credit/debit card details, personal information, business plans and other company data can be easily leaked and tracked by hackers. Security risk in electronic payments has been one of the major reasons in making online businesses not to grow rapidly over the Internet. Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Different countries define small medium enterprises in different ways. Teethe and Burn (2001) define small medium enterprises (SME) as â€Å"firms with less than 500 employees. This is further broken down into micro companies, those with less than 5 employees; small companies, those with 5 to 20 employees and medium companies, those with between20 and 500 employees. On the other hand, the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI, 1999) define SME’s as firms with 250 employees or fewer. The European Commission (2003) defines SME’s as follows: microenterprises are enterprises with a maximum number of 10 employees, maximum turnover of 2 million euros and a maximum balance sheet of total of 2 million euros. While small enterprises are enterprises with maximum number of 50 employees, a maximum turnover of 10 million euros and a maximum balance sheet of a total of 10 million euros. Finally medium enterprises are enterprises with a maximum number of 250employees, a maximum turnover of 50 million euros and a maximum balance sheet of a total of 43 million euros. Figure 2 SME Thresholds (European Commission, 2003) Buncombe (1999) points out that a number of studies have attempted to collect information on the make-up of Botswanas SME sector, by gaining access to official statistics and by conducting field surveys in connection with various research projects. According to the report, he defines enterprises according to the number of employees, annual turnover, and level of formality. There is no real universally standard definition for Small firms. In a study carried by the ILO, more than 50definitions were identified in 75 different countries, with considerable ambiguity in the terminology used. For the purpose of this study the author will go with the definition of Small firms which defines Small firms as firms with 49 or fewer employees. From the foregoing definition of small medium enterprises (SME’s) by different researchers, it can be seen that the number of employees and turnover are the determinant factors in the definition of SME, but, the criteria is different from country to country. SME’s and E-Commerce Internet became a main way for effective marketing in business. It is one of the most effective media all over the world and this makes it compulsory channel to use for market entries. Specifically, small firms have major problems with strong companies and existing small firms about market entries in the market. They have to prove their identity in the market as an enterprise despite all these rivalry and difficulties such as web design, domain name, site security responsibilities to customers, etc. They have to let customers know that they are in the market and internet is an efficient way to do so. Furthermore, cost advantages which come with e-commerce are reasonable for market entry. Small firms have a lot of to do as they are new tithe market or they need to grow in the market. They try to cut costs and increase investments in their business. Internet provides great opportunity to small firms for their activities in the market. Even as they serve a local or regional market rather than a national or an international market, it might be difficult to enter market or to reach customers. E-commerce appears as the most efficient way to gain successor small firms in existing fierce rivalry. The small firms generally provide the majority of the jobs and are significant contributor towards the national economy (Baldwin, 2001).Small and medium scale enterprises are considered to be the core out’s economy. According to Smith et al (2000) 99% of UK business firms can be categorized as small businesses and they employ up to 58% out’s total workforce. Hence small firms are extremely important in UK’s economy and the government expends considerable resources to support this sector. The UK government admits that small firms are neglected and left behind while the larger companies getting advantage over small businesses in the e-commerce world (Simpson; Docherty, 2004) Thus it’s very important to study the problems and barriers encountered in adopting a new economy cycle by the sector which represents the majority of the countries businesses. Sadowski et al (2002) notes that even after the widespread use of internet technologies in the corporate world, the amount of Internet use varies to a great extent in the small-scale sector. The adoption of any new technology in this sector is influenced by the several variables as stated by Martens et al (2001). These factors may include the characteristic of the firm, its competitiveness, the influence it has on third parties in the decision process, the management strategy and the characteristic of the new technology itself. All these factors lead company to strategic advantage if they used as they should be. It is important that the company sustains strategic advantage from e-commerce. Competitive business environment makes this matter more important (Hiding, 1999).As long as the company provides well designed web-site that suits with business and its requirements, then strategic advantage can be sustained. Thomas H. Davenport (1993), in his book, ‘Process Innovation –Reengineering work through information technology talks about, how revolutionary approach to information technology and its integration in our business processes can change the scenario. This can dramatically change the way business is conducted in small and medium enterprises also improve the performance keeping in view the competitive environment. New technologies and process innovation brings a new commitment and strategic evolution to these enterprises. Resources like information technology and e-commerce are largely untapped by the SME’s but once that scenario changes, there will be a lot of improvisations and growth avenues. Mandel (2001) says that every technological innovation and discovery finally has it downturn. When these new opportunities like e-commerce come into play, all businesses want ashore of this market. In their rush to get more profits, the investments are so heavy and lacking direction that invariably it leads to a loss since the economy infrastructure cannot support it. This has been proven with the dotcom burst and doom. According to some authors, these SME’s can actually use the innovation of e-commerce to march forward and become integral contributors to the economies. Due to their sizes they lack the initiative and financial power to go all out and compete in different markets, e-commerce could be the solution to some of the marketing gaps, which hold them back from becoming more successful. Importance of SME’s to countries’ economies Baraka (2001) reports that growing evidence indicates that Small Medium Enterprises play an important role in promoting the national economic development of any country. They create a lot of new jobs and produce much of the creativity and innovation that fuels economic progress. Ninety present of the total number of companies in most countries is comprised of small medium enterprises, which provide on average 70% of job opportunities (OECD, 1997). 26% of OECD exports and35% of Asias export are directly produced by small medium firms as suggested by Tendon (2002). The existing literature from research in different studies points out that Small medium enterprises (SME) world-wide have found that Internet use has become a critically important aspect of their business. Porter(2001) supports this view and suggests that companies of all sizes should have a strategy of reacting to competitors and increased adoption of the Internet technology, which will lead to increase in competition within markets. He further points out that e-commerce reduces the difference among competitors offerings and frequently migrate competition to price rather than products features or brand perceptions. He also suggests that smaller businesses could improve their business competitiveness with either other small businesses or larger companies by adopting e-commerce. Porter (2001) is backed up by an earlier study (Jacobs and Rowland 2000). They suggest that smaller businesses have, in particular, been encouraged to adopt e-commerce as a means of improving their competitiveness, either with other small medium enterprises or with larger companies, where they have been promised that e-commerce can level the playing. According to Daniel and Wilson (2002), small and medium-sized enterprises are now increasingly making use of e-commerce. Daniel further suggests that â€Å"responding to competitive pressure was the main reason leading to companies to adopt e-commerce. Information sharing and communication between employees within the firm were found to bethe e-commerce activities where firms are realizing the greatest benefits. Hence, though the future of e-commerce is still unpredictable, it is important that developing countries, their governments and businesses should prepare for these new developments. Benefits of e-commerce to SME’s A growing number of organisations have implemented e-commerce in the hope of improving decision making, lowering costs and improving customer satisfaction levels. A major benefit of e-commerce is cost reduction as Tagliavini et al (2001) pointed out a correct adoption of-commerce could lead to a reduction of transaction costs and coordination costs. Also, Davies and Garcia (1999) argue that benefits for SME’s are faster communication, effective dissemination and collection of information and closer relationships throughout the supply chain. Meanwhile, Liu and Arnett (2000) suggested theatre-commerce can help business organisations cut costs, interact directly with customers, run more smoothly and in a timelier manner, and even better, it can help an organization outperform its competition. Further driving factors of e-commerce for SME’s are also identified by Auger and Gallagher (1997) as follows: access to an Affluent Customer Base, lower Information Dissemination Costs, lower Transaction Costs, broader Market Reach, increased Service, additional Channels for Customer Feedback and Consumer and Market Research. Reducing costs, better communication with customers, access to larger customer base, and extended market are the major benefits of using-commerce agreed by a number of authors. At the same time, the more detailed benefits of e-commerce to SME’s are summarized as follows: †¢ Innovative products, better services and exploring new market opportunities; †¢ Shift in value added and content components of what is made and sold; †¢ Changes to economies of scale and the traditional barriers and advantages of large enterprises; †¢ Untying work functions from specific locations and time constraints; †¢ Flattening and disaggregating of organisational structures; †¢ Scope for customization at low cost; and †¢ Commercialization of in-house content and know-how. However, a study conducted by Poon (1999) found that the benefits of Internet commerce could be classified into long-term and short-term benefits, direct and indirect benefits. He suggested that the short-term benefits should be achieved within a few months, while the long-term benefits may take longer and unable to be predicted. The use of e-commerce can benefit SME’s in terms of reducing costs and access to larger customer base in the short term, and business transformation in the future. The use of e-commerce will also have a great deal of effect on the SME’s business activities as Tagliavini et al. (2001)indicated that E-Commerce has an important influence on SME’s; range of activity, providing increased competition on a global scale and allowing them to access wider markets. From the above literature it could be rightly said that E-Commerce adoption is an essential business strategy for SME’s to obtain competitive advantage. Opportunities and Threats faced by SME’s There are major opportunities for new entrepreneurs and small- to medium-sized businesses to flourish in the maturing of e-commerce(Drew, 2003). The use of e-commerce has provided a variety of benefits for SME’s as well as a number of potential opportunities. â€Å"The Internet’s usually presented as an opportunity for smaller firms because it helps reduce transaction costs and level the playing field (Evans and Wurster, 1997). The opportunities for SME’s include expanding scope of marketing, wider and richer communication, reaching new market and reducing cost of operations and partnering with suppliers (Drew, 2003). According to a report conducted by Prevost (1998), there are variety of opportunities added to SME’s, including efficiency and productivity for business process, the development of new market opportunity (B2C andB2B) as well as access to global market. Also, the e-commerce give SME’s opportunity to exploit competitive and know how benefits as suggested by Tagliavini et al. (2001). Nevertheless, how to use e-commerce as an opportunity to SME’s will depend on the industry and firm factor implied by Drew (2003). These influenced factors include: The smaller firm’s technical and Internet knowledge; The rate at which the market is growing; The pace of innovation and change in the industry; The technical and Internet strengths of the larger competitors; The sources of competitive advantage for the smaller business; The strategic intent of the larger competitors; and The structure of the industry in which the firm competes. Generally, the market, industry structure, and macro-environment will be the major influenced factors that decide e-commerce as an opportunity or threat for SME’s. Therefore, although it is not doubt that e-commerce has provided a huge opportunity for SME’s in the range of business activities, the external and internal factors must be considered strategically while adopting e-commerce. However, Tagliaviniet al (2001) argued, the real opportunity of E-Commerce adoption force’s is still unclear(p.211). Global Trading The significant opportunity for SME’s is to extend existing market to international market addressed by a number of authors (OECD, 1998;Webb and Sawyer, 1998; Walczuch et al., 2000 and Giessen et al., 2001).Giessen (2001) remarks â€Å"the twin phenomena of globalization and-commerce pose new challenges and provide competitive opportunities for large and small firms alike†. It is an imperative opportunity force’s to access the global market, as the one of the important feature of e-commerce is global reach as stated by Loudon (2001). Therefore, ME’s are expecting the opportunity to extend existing market into globalization by using e-commerce. Undoubtedly, Internet has provided chance for SME’s to diminish the entry barrier and costs into global trading market as electronic commerce offers companies the possibility to sell internationally, effectively removing constraints of time and location and substantially enhancing their competitiveness, and it is the most imperative opportunity for SME’s to increase productivity andthe capability to entry markets and discover business partners globally(OECD, 1998). Indeed, the reach of global market is an exciting opportunity for SME’s to grow in terms of the size of company and competitive advantage. However, Jutland et al. (2002) proclaims that â€Å"globalization pressures arising from e-commerce operations often mean that SME’s have to acquire international trade knowledge. Publishing company’s website in the Internet is simple but trading in the global market is not so simple task for any of the SME’s. As Teethe and Burn (2001) points out that the challenge for SME’s are complicated byte general lack of clearly defined frameworks for analysis of the entire processes of strategy building, implementation and management with aspect to the emergent global information economy. However-commerce truly provides the great opportunity for SME’s to increase competence with lager firms in variety of business opportunities as well as an opportunity to extend trading geography. The various opportunities offered by e-commerce are the significant riving factors that encourage a firm to adopt e-commerce as its business operation. Threats Although the use of e-commerce has provided a huge opportunity force’s in range of business activities, e-commerce might become a threat for SME’s while trying to explore a variety of opportunity by using-commerce. As Drew (2003) indicates there are a number of threats of-commerce for SME’s. These threats include increasing competition from larger firms as the new medium allows larger firms to mimic the traditional strengths of SME’s in serving niche markets, developing customer intimacy E-commerce in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) E-commerce in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Analysis of innovation of e-commerce in small and medium-sized enterprises In the last decade large organisations have realised the increasing impact of new and cutting edge technology. Clark (1989) emphasized on the importance of technology to gain competitive advantage but at the same time he warned that building and maintaining such advantage will always be a challenge. Information technology in the form of internet has allowed organisations and their management to benefit from better quality information and better decision making. White (1997) adds that the internet is extremely effective in attracting computer literate people. Especially Internet has made a prolific influence on the business world. The internet has become an area where consumers are able to find what they need (Amor, 2002). This is clearly evident by the growth of internet in the last few years as shown in figure 1. Being involved with the new technologies brought many opportunities and easiness to reach products to consumers anywhere, anytime in the world (McKenna,2002). The new technological innovations have allowed organisations to conduct business in a completely new way by using online electronic transaction mechanisms and the concept of E-Commerce evolved(Gunasegaram Love, 1999; Westland and Clark, 1999). Today in most of the business and commerce sector IT has taken the form of E-Commerce. Figure 1 Growth of internet E-commerce is a major innovation, which has benefited industries across the globe even the Small and Medium Industries. The SME’s in Itself amount to a large part of the economy, at the moment there are12000 SME’s using EDI, electronic data interchange to further their businesses. Although the SME’s are contributors to the national economy of any country, the whole framework used to build them lacks transparency. There are problems around the financial resources available to keep them going; there is not enough legislative and administrative support from the government. On the business front these enterprises lack the right kind of management vigour, style, knowledge, and experience in handling more developed innovative technologies, which are inundating the markets. This is something they need to be aware of in order to survive the competitive environment. The SME’sdon’t have a single development system, which can safeguard theirinterests. They need an integrated approach, which encompasses threelevels, strategic, institutional, and enterprise. The government andthe public/private sector need to offer support for the fulfilment ofthis long-term strategy, which will make SME’s into profit centres’-commerce brings in a host of advantages as well as disadvantages tome’s and this project is an attempt to learn more and develop deeper understanding into the effect of technical innovations in e-commerce on Small and medium sized enterprises [Kyiv, 1997]. This study attempts to add to the existing literature by looking at hawse’s are approaching to incorporate e-commerce into their business strategy or how they are trying to improve their existing approach. This study will also evaluate consumer experiences of online shopping and how e-commerce has impacted on their expectations and goes on to suggest how online stores may need to improve if they are to meet these new expectations. 2. Aims and Objectives Aims The main aim of this project is to explore how the SME’s are important to the national economies and how the use of e-commerce help them gain a better position in terms of growth and profitability. There search context is based on SME’s in England to get an even background to this research question. As one knows technology and innovation always have repercussions, this project would also explore how theses ME’s deal with the disadvantages and convert them into viable benefits. This project will also find out to what extent do small firms use-commerce in their business processes and what are the barriers to the adoption of e-commerce? Customers as well as organization’s perspective towards e-commerce will be found out. Alongside the study will also try to find out how much electronic transaction have influenced the small-scale industry? Additionally this dissertation will also provide with accurate, up-to-date, research-based information about possible future trends in e-commerce. And lastly, this research will provide some suggestions and recommendations to be considered for the improvement of-commerce for small firms to develop ideas for further research in this context. This study on SME’s under different situations and circumstances would help present an overall portrayal and even help understand the issues under a magnifying glass when faced in certain sectors like manufacturing. To summarize some of the questions that will be addressed through this research are as follows: †¢ What is the status of SME’s in today’s global business environment? †¢ What is the contribution of the SME’s in the national and global economies? †¢ How will innovations like the Internet in e-commerce help the businesses in SME’s grow and become more profitable ventures? †¢ What are the problems/mistakes in the E-business strategy adopted in general by small firms in U.K? †¢ What are the problems faced by customers and organisations while dealing on internet? †¢ What are the factors that influence the development of e-commerce? †¢ Does e-commerce open up new markets for small scale industries in the United Kingdom? Objectives 1. Critically evaluate the relevant literature on small firms and the importance/usage of the internet. 2. Understand small firms’ problems and barriers to the use of e-commerce through articles, newspapers, interviews and surveys. 3. Gain specific knowledge of internet usage for small firms in business through interviews, publications and company information. 4. Provide recommendations to improve the usage of internet as a competitive tool. 5. The advent of the e-commerce, its advantages and disadvantages. 3. Literature Review E-Commerce E-commerce may be defined as â€Å"The sharing of business information, maintaining business relationships, and conducting business transactions by means of Internet-based technology† (Riggins Rhee, 1998, p. 90). Alternately it may also be defined as â€Å"Anything that enhances your relationships with an existing customer and increases the revenue you get from the customer.† (Sullivan, 1998, p.24). The Internet and Electronic Commerce have made the world market smaller place to trade in. The Internet has opened up many possibilities of organising and running an online business. It has created a universal platform for buying and selling of goods which has resulted in faster transaction times and reduced transaction costs. Colin Turner (2000), in his book on the information of e-economy, talks about the e-commerce business accomplishment and strategies. E-commerce has its benefits and shortcomings, along with this belief; the companies are also battling with the pressures of information technology revolution coming to an end. â€Å"Despite all the hype surrounding electronic commerce, and the recent failure of many of that com companies, it does present real opportunities to small entrepreneurs in many countries.† (Fatal and Janet, 2004) Classification of E-commerce According to the applications or the nature of transaction of E-commerce, it can be categorized as follows: Turban et al (2000) divided E-commerce into three categories in terms of its applications: a) Electronic markets: It refers to buying and selling goods and services at an electronic marketplace, where the business centre is not a physical building but rather a network-based location. The market handles all the necessary transaction, including response to information request, purchase acknowledgement, shipping notice, purchase/service delivery, payment acknowledgement, and the transfer of money between banks and so on. In electronic market, the principal participants transaction handlers, buyers, brokers, and sellers, are not only at different locations but seldom even know one another. The means of interconnection varies among parties and can change from event to event, even between the same parties. b) Inter-organisational systems: They are facilitating inter and intra-organization flow of information, communication and collaboration. An IOS (inter-organisational information systems) involves information flow among two or more organisations. Its major objective is efficient information and transaction processing. All relationships are predetermined and there is no negotiation, just execution. A typical IOS includes a company and its suppliers and/or customers. Through it, buyers and sellers arrange routine business transactions and information is exchanged over communications networks using prearranged formats. Its main types aired (Electronic data interchange), extranets, electronic funds transfer, electronic forms, integrated messaging, shared databases and supply chain management. c) Customer service: It is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction, helping customers to resolve problems they encountered in any phase of the purchasing process. E-commerce plays a dual role in customer service. First, it provides customer service to a process that is done completely offline. Second, it provides help to online transactions. Types of customer service include answering customer inquiries, providing search and comparison capabilities, providing technical information to customers, allowing customers to track order status, and allowing customers to place an online order and so on. Kalakos Whinstone (1997) contended that there are three distinct general classes of electronic commerce applications: a) Inter-organizational Electronic Commerce: Like Turban et al above, Kalakos Whinstone consider that-commerce can be applied in following inter-organizational business: Supplier management: Electronic applications help companies reduce the number of suppliers and facilitate business partnerships by reducing purchase order (PO) processing costs and cycle times, and by increasing the number of Pops processed with fewer people. Inventory management: It shortens the order-ship-bill cycle and time of transmitting information. Businesses can also track their documents to ensure that they were received, thereby improving auditing capabilities. This also helps reduce inventory levels, improve inventory turns and eliminate out-of-stock occurrences. Distribution management: Electronic application facilitate the transmission of shipping documents such as bills of lading, pur chase orders, advanced ship notices, and manifest claims, and enable better resource management by ensuring that the documents themselves contain more accurate data. Channel management: Electronic application quickly disseminates information about changing operational conditions to trading partners. By electronically linking production-related information with international distributor and reseller networks, companies can eliminate thousands of labour hours and ensure accurate information sharing. Payment management: Linking companies with suppliers and distributors enables payment to be sent and received electronically. Electronic payment reduces clerical error, increases the speed at which companies compute invoices, and lowers transaction fees and costs. b) Intra-organizational commerce The purpose of intra-organizational applications is to help a company maintain the relationships that are critical to delivering superior customer value. Its applications are as follows: Workgroup communications: It enables managers to communicate with employees using electronic mail, videoconferencing, and bulletin board, hence increase the dissemination of information, resulting in better-informed employees. Electronic publishing: It enables companies to organize, publish and disseminate human resources manuals, product specifications and meeting minutes using tools such as the World Wide Web. Meanwhile, it reduces costs for printing and distributing documentation, faster delivery of information and reduction of outdate information. Sales force productivity: These applications improve the flow of information between the production and sales forces, and between the firms and customers. The goal is to allow firms to collect market intelligence quickly and to analyse if more thoroughly. c) Consumer-to-Business Electronic Commerce Social interaction: Consumers can communicate with each other through e-mail, videoconferencing, and news group etc. Personal finance management: El ectronic applications enable consumers to manage investments and personal finances using online banking tools. Purchasing products and information: Consumers can find online information about existing and new products/services. Turban et al (2000) further goes on to describe E-Commerce based on the types of transactions and are more popularly known as: B2B (Business-to-Business): Most of E-commerce today is of this type. It includes the IOS transactions and electronic market transactions between organisations. B2C (Business-to-Consumer): These are retailing transactions with individual shoppers. C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer): In this category, consumers sell directly to consumers. C2B (Consumer-to-Business): In this category, consumers sell directly to organisations. Challenges to E-Commerce Although the Internet offers great deals of advantages to electronic commerce and businesses, it also provides a number of challenges. Some of these challenges as mentioned by Turban et al (2000) are discussed below: 1. Unsuccessful Business Models Not all companies that implement electronic commerce make benefits. Technologies changes so rapidly that keeping pace with change ultimately becomes too expensive or results in a failure. 2. Channel Conflicts Sometimes a company uses more than one distribution channel (Online as well as traditional channels) to sell its products and services. This can cause conflict between the dealers as it becomes important in such case to maintain a balance between the different channels. For e.g.it might be possible that a particular company tries to sell its product online at a lesser cost with some discount and maintains the original cost while selling it offline. This disparity can cause its dealers to create a problem. 3. Legal Issues Internet Law s are confusing and mostly non-existent. Also the Internet’s global and is used by individuals from different countries and thus it becomes difficult to decide which law to apply if a conflict arises. 4. Security Privacy This is the most important issue concerned with online transactions and businesses. Important information and valuable data like credit/debit card details, personal information, business plans and other company data can be easily leaked and tracked by hackers. Security risk in electronic payments has been one of the major reasons in making online businesses not to grow rapidly over the Internet. Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Different countries define small medium enterprises in different ways. Teethe and Burn (2001) define small medium enterprises (SME) as â€Å"firms with less than 500 employees. This is further broken down into micro companies, those with less than 5 employees; small companies, those with 5 to 20 employees and medium companies, those with between20 and 500 employees. On the other hand, the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI, 1999) define SME’s as firms with 250 employees or fewer. The European Commission (2003) defines SME’s as follows: microenterprises are enterprises with a maximum number of 10 employees, maximum turnover of 2 million euros and a maximum balance sheet of total of 2 million euros. While small enterprises are enterprises with maximum number of 50 employees, a maximum turnover of 10 million euros and a maximum balance sheet of a total of 10 million euros. Finally medium enterprises are enterprises with a maximum number of 250employees, a maximum turnover of 50 million euros and a maximum balance sheet of a total of 43 million euros. Figure 2 SME Thresholds (European Commission, 2003) Buncombe (1999) points out that a number of studies have attempted to collect information on the make-up of Botswanas SME sector, by gaining access to official statistics and by conducting field surveys in connection with various research projects. According to the report, he defines enterprises according to the number of employees, annual turnover, and level of formality. There is no real universally standard definition for Small firms. In a study carried by the ILO, more than 50definitions were identified in 75 different countries, with considerable ambiguity in the terminology used. For the purpose of this study the author will go with the definition of Small firms which defines Small firms as firms with 49 or fewer employees. From the foregoing definition of small medium enterprises (SME’s) by different researchers, it can be seen that the number of employees and turnover are the determinant factors in the definition of SME, but, the criteria is different from country to country. SME’s and E-Commerce Internet became a main way for effective marketing in business. It is one of the most effective media all over the world and this makes it compulsory channel to use for market entries. Specifically, small firms have major problems with strong companies and existing small firms about market entries in the market. They have to prove their identity in the market as an enterprise despite all these rivalry and difficulties such as web design, domain name, site security responsibilities to customers, etc. They have to let customers know that they are in the market and internet is an efficient way to do so. Furthermore, cost advantages which come with e-commerce are reasonable for market entry. Small firms have a lot of to do as they are new tithe market or they need to grow in the market. They try to cut costs and increase investments in their business. Internet provides great opportunity to small firms for their activities in the market. Even as they serve a local or regional market rather than a national or an international market, it might be difficult to enter market or to reach customers. E-commerce appears as the most efficient way to gain successor small firms in existing fierce rivalry. The small firms generally provide the majority of the jobs and are significant contributor towards the national economy (Baldwin, 2001).Small and medium scale enterprises are considered to be the core out’s economy. According to Smith et al (2000) 99% of UK business firms can be categorized as small businesses and they employ up to 58% out’s total workforce. Hence small firms are extremely important in UK’s economy and the government expends considerable resources to support this sector. The UK government admits that small firms are neglected and left behind while the larger companies getting advantage over small businesses in the e-commerce world (Simpson; Docherty, 2004) Thus it’s very important to study the problems and barriers encountered in adopting a new economy cycle by the sector which represents the majority of the countries businesses. Sadowski et al (2002) notes that even after the widespread use of internet technologies in the corporate world, the amount of Internet use varies to a great extent in the small-scale sector. The adoption of any new technology in this sector is influenced by the several variables as stated by Martens et al (2001). These factors may include the characteristic of the firm, its competitiveness, the influence it has on third parties in the decision process, the management strategy and the characteristic of the new technology itself. All these factors lead company to strategic advantage if they used as they should be. It is important that the company sustains strategic advantage from e-commerce. Competitive business environment makes this matter more important (Hiding, 1999).As long as the company provides well designed web-site that suits with business and its requirements, then strategic advantage can be sustained. Thomas H. Davenport (1993), in his book, ‘Process Innovation –Reengineering work through information technology talks about, how revolutionary approach to information technology and its integration in our business processes can change the scenario. This can dramatically change the way business is conducted in small and medium enterprises also improve the performance keeping in view the competitive environment. New technologies and process innovation brings a new commitment and strategic evolution to these enterprises. Resources like information technology and e-commerce are largely untapped by the SME’s but once that scenario changes, there will be a lot of improvisations and growth avenues. Mandel (2001) says that every technological innovation and discovery finally has it downturn. When these new opportunities like e-commerce come into play, all businesses want ashore of this market. In their rush to get more profits, the investments are so heavy and lacking direction that invariably it leads to a loss since the economy infrastructure cannot support it. This has been proven with the dotcom burst and doom. According to some authors, these SME’s can actually use the innovation of e-commerce to march forward and become integral contributors to the economies. Due to their sizes they lack the initiative and financial power to go all out and compete in different markets, e-commerce could be the solution to some of the marketing gaps, which hold them back from becoming more successful. Importance of SME’s to countries’ economies Baraka (2001) reports that growing evidence indicates that Small Medium Enterprises play an important role in promoting the national economic development of any country. They create a lot of new jobs and produce much of the creativity and innovation that fuels economic progress. Ninety present of the total number of companies in most countries is comprised of small medium enterprises, which provide on average 70% of job opportunities (OECD, 1997). 26% of OECD exports and35% of Asias export are directly produced by small medium firms as suggested by Tendon (2002). The existing literature from research in different studies points out that Small medium enterprises (SME) world-wide have found that Internet use has become a critically important aspect of their business. Porter(2001) supports this view and suggests that companies of all sizes should have a strategy of reacting to competitors and increased adoption of the Internet technology, which will lead to increase in competition within markets. He further points out that e-commerce reduces the difference among competitors offerings and frequently migrate competition to price rather than products features or brand perceptions. He also suggests that smaller businesses could improve their business competitiveness with either other small businesses or larger companies by adopting e-commerce. Porter (2001) is backed up by an earlier study (Jacobs and Rowland 2000). They suggest that smaller businesses have, in particular, been encouraged to adopt e-commerce as a means of improving their competitiveness, either with other small medium enterprises or with larger companies, where they have been promised that e-commerce can level the playing. According to Daniel and Wilson (2002), small and medium-sized enterprises are now increasingly making use of e-commerce. Daniel further suggests that â€Å"responding to competitive pressure was the main reason leading to companies to adopt e-commerce. Information sharing and communication between employees within the firm were found to bethe e-commerce activities where firms are realizing the greatest benefits. Hence, though the future of e-commerce is still unpredictable, it is important that developing countries, their governments and businesses should prepare for these new developments. Benefits of e-commerce to SME’s A growing number of organisations have implemented e-commerce in the hope of improving decision making, lowering costs and improving customer satisfaction levels. A major benefit of e-commerce is cost reduction as Tagliavini et al (2001) pointed out a correct adoption of-commerce could lead to a reduction of transaction costs and coordination costs. Also, Davies and Garcia (1999) argue that benefits for SME’s are faster communication, effective dissemination and collection of information and closer relationships throughout the supply chain. Meanwhile, Liu and Arnett (2000) suggested theatre-commerce can help business organisations cut costs, interact directly with customers, run more smoothly and in a timelier manner, and even better, it can help an organization outperform its competition. Further driving factors of e-commerce for SME’s are also identified by Auger and Gallagher (1997) as follows: access to an Affluent Customer Base, lower Information Dissemination Costs, lower Transaction Costs, broader Market Reach, increased Service, additional Channels for Customer Feedback and Consumer and Market Research. Reducing costs, better communication with customers, access to larger customer base, and extended market are the major benefits of using-commerce agreed by a number of authors. At the same time, the more detailed benefits of e-commerce to SME’s are summarized as follows: †¢ Innovative products, better services and exploring new market opportunities; †¢ Shift in value added and content components of what is made and sold; †¢ Changes to economies of scale and the traditional barriers and advantages of large enterprises; †¢ Untying work functions from specific locations and time constraints; †¢ Flattening and disaggregating of organisational structures; †¢ Scope for customization at low cost; and †¢ Commercialization of in-house content and know-how. However, a study conducted by Poon (1999) found that the benefits of Internet commerce could be classified into long-term and short-term benefits, direct and indirect benefits. He suggested that the short-term benefits should be achieved within a few months, while the long-term benefits may take longer and unable to be predicted. The use of e-commerce can benefit SME’s in terms of reducing costs and access to larger customer base in the short term, and business transformation in the future. The use of e-commerce will also have a great deal of effect on the SME’s business activities as Tagliavini et al. (2001)indicated that E-Commerce has an important influence on SME’s; range of activity, providing increased competition on a global scale and allowing them to access wider markets. From the above literature it could be rightly said that E-Commerce adoption is an essential business strategy for SME’s to obtain competitive advantage. Opportunities and Threats faced by SME’s There are major opportunities for new entrepreneurs and small- to medium-sized businesses to flourish in the maturing of e-commerce(Drew, 2003). The use of e-commerce has provided a variety of benefits for SME’s as well as a number of potential opportunities. â€Å"The Internet’s usually presented as an opportunity for smaller firms because it helps reduce transaction costs and level the playing field (Evans and Wurster, 1997). The opportunities for SME’s include expanding scope of marketing, wider and richer communication, reaching new market and reducing cost of operations and partnering with suppliers (Drew, 2003). According to a report conducted by Prevost (1998), there are variety of opportunities added to SME’s, including efficiency and productivity for business process, the development of new market opportunity (B2C andB2B) as well as access to global market. Also, the e-commerce give SME’s opportunity to exploit competitive and know how benefits as suggested by Tagliavini et al. (2001). Nevertheless, how to use e-commerce as an opportunity to SME’s will depend on the industry and firm factor implied by Drew (2003). These influenced factors include: The smaller firm’s technical and Internet knowledge; The rate at which the market is growing; The pace of innovation and change in the industry; The technical and Internet strengths of the larger competitors; The sources of competitive advantage for the smaller business; The strategic intent of the larger competitors; and The structure of the industry in which the firm competes. Generally, the market, industry structure, and macro-environment will be the major influenced factors that decide e-commerce as an opportunity or threat for SME’s. Therefore, although it is not doubt that e-commerce has provided a huge opportunity for SME’s in the range of business activities, the external and internal factors must be considered strategically while adopting e-commerce. However, Tagliaviniet al (2001) argued, the real opportunity of E-Commerce adoption force’s is still unclear(p.211). Global Trading The significant opportunity for SME’s is to extend existing market to international market addressed by a number of authors (OECD, 1998;Webb and Sawyer, 1998; Walczuch et al., 2000 and Giessen et al., 2001).Giessen (2001) remarks â€Å"the twin phenomena of globalization and-commerce pose new challenges and provide competitive opportunities for large and small firms alike†. It is an imperative opportunity force’s to access the global market, as the one of the important feature of e-commerce is global reach as stated by Loudon (2001). Therefore, ME’s are expecting the opportunity to extend existing market into globalization by using e-commerce. Undoubtedly, Internet has provided chance for SME’s to diminish the entry barrier and costs into global trading market as electronic commerce offers companies the possibility to sell internationally, effectively removing constraints of time and location and substantially enhancing their competitiveness, and it is the most imperative opportunity for SME’s to increase productivity andthe capability to entry markets and discover business partners globally(OECD, 1998). Indeed, the reach of global market is an exciting opportunity for SME’s to grow in terms of the size of company and competitive advantage. However, Jutland et al. (2002) proclaims that â€Å"globalization pressures arising from e-commerce operations often mean that SME’s have to acquire international trade knowledge. Publishing company’s website in the Internet is simple but trading in the global market is not so simple task for any of the SME’s. As Teethe and Burn (2001) points out that the challenge for SME’s are complicated byte general lack of clearly defined frameworks for analysis of the entire processes of strategy building, implementation and management with aspect to the emergent global information economy. However-commerce truly provides the great opportunity for SME’s to increase competence with lager firms in variety of business opportunities as well as an opportunity to extend trading geography. The various opportunities offered by e-commerce are the significant riving factors that encourage a firm to adopt e-commerce as its business operation. Threats Although the use of e-commerce has provided a huge opportunity force’s in range of business activities, e-commerce might become a threat for SME’s while trying to explore a variety of opportunity by using-commerce. As Drew (2003) indicates there are a number of threats of-commerce for SME’s. These threats include increasing competition from larger firms as the new medium allows larger firms to mimic the traditional strengths of SME’s in serving niche markets, developing customer intimacy

The Big Dig :: Tunnel Construction Essays

The Big Dig The Central Artery Tunnel Project, more commonly known as the Big Dig, is said to be the largest, most complex and technologically challenging highway project in American history. It is the culmination of decades of planning and forethought and is hoped to alleviate the traffic congestion that has plagued the Boston area since the invention of the automobile. The project incorporates a major underground highway system, a revolutionary cable-stayed bridge, and a series of impressive tunnel crossings, each a considerable feat on their own, all constructed in the midst of a bustling city. The idea for a Central Artery through Boston has been talked about since a 1909 special commission determined that a 100-foot wide road should be built through the center of downtown Boston. Little was done with the project until the 1940Ï€s when Boston city planners saw on the horizon a tremendous proliferation of automobiles and decided something must be done. The Massachusetts Department of Public Works eventually came up with a plan that called for an elevated highway 1.5 miles long through the heart of downtown Boston, accompanied by an Inner Belt that wrapped around downtown Boston to the west. In 1948 City and State officials approved a master plan, construction commenced in 1950. As soon as construction had started it became quite clear that the supposedly revolutionary highway had major flaws. The roadway devoured and divided neighborhoods, cut off the city from waterfront, and created confusing traffic situations below. In 1954, it was decided to sink the rest of the roadway underground. Once completed the artery was able to handle about 75,000 vehicles a day. However, a lack of breakdown lanes, an abundance of on and off ramps, and numerous sharp curves makes the artery a treacherous drive. Residents were so unhappy with the Central Artery that officials decided not to build the Inner Belt. That meant that the Central Artery had to handle all of the traffic that was meant to be split between the two. This only exacerbated the existing problems. By the 1980Ï€s conditions on the road had worsened so much that officials were forced to once again step in. Toda the Central Artery carries 190,000 vehicles a day. It has an accident rate four times the national average for urban highways, and is backed up bumper-to-bumper six to eight hours a day.

Sound :: essays research papers

Basis of Processing Sound Strategies Introduction to Coding Strategies: D.J. Allum Coding strategies define the way in which acoustic sounds in our world are transformed into electrical signals that we can understand in our brain. The normal-hearing person already has a way to code acoustic sounds when the inner ear (cochlear) is functioning. The cochlea is the sensory organ that transforms acoustic signals into electrical signals. However, a deaf person does not have a functioning cochlea. The cochlear implant takes over its function. Technically, it is relatively easy to send electrical current through implanted electrodes. The more difficult part is to make the electrical signals carry the appropriate information about speech and other sounds. This responsibility is taken over by coding strategies. The more efficient the coding strategy, the better the possibility that the brain will interpret the information as having meaning. Without meaning, sound is only unwanted noise. Some basic vocabulary is useful in understanding coding strategies: Frequency. Speech is composed of a range of frequencies from high-frequency sounds (sss, piii) to low-frequency sounds (ah). These frequencies also occur for sounds in our environment. The speech-frequency range is from about 250 Hz to 6,000 Hertz (Hz). Amplitude. The amount of amplitude, or intensity, defines how loud a sound is heard. The usual range from the softest to the loudest sound is about 30 dB. The normal range for human hearing is around 120 dB. Tonotopic. A special characteristic of the cochlea and the auditory nerve. It means that the apical region of the cochlea (and the nerve near this region) is more sensitive to low frequencies and that the basal region is more sensitive to high-frequencies. The relationship between the most basal to the most apical region is a progression from high-to-low frequency sensitivity. Filters. Filters are used to divide, electronically, acoustic signals into different ranges. For instance, for a speech-frequency range of 4,000 Hz, we could divide the total range by 10 and each filter would hold 400 Hz. Stimulation Rate. The number of times an electrode is turned on and off, i.e., activated with electrical stimulation. The normal cochlea is like a series of filters. Sounds that have high-frequencies will fall into filters at the basal end of the cochlea and those with low-frequencies will fall into filters in the apical end, i.e., in a tonotopic arrangement. Since the cochlea cannot accomplish this for a deaf person, the cochlear implant takes its place. It is important to remember that the auditory nerve is tonotopic even if the cochlea cannot transmit information because of deafness.

Macbeth :: essays research papers

Historical MacBeth compared to Shakespeare's MacBeth Although most of Shakespeare's play " MacBeth " is not historically accurate, MacBeth's life is the subject of the tragedy. There are characters and events that are based on true events and real persons but, Shakespeare's "MacBeth " differs significantly from history's MacBeth. The first example of a difference between the Shakespeare "MacBeth" and historical MacBeth is the death of Duncan I. In Shakespeare's " MacBeth ", Duncan I was murdered by MacBeth. A prophecy said to MacBeth by one of the three witches "All hail, MacBeth, that shalt be King hereafter1 ." was what prompted Gruoch, MacBeth's wife to plot the murder of Duncan I as he slept in their castle. In history, MacBeth established himself as the King of Scots after killing his cousin Duncan I, in battle near Elgin not as in Shakespeare's play by killing him in his sleep. Duncan I was killed on August 14, 1040. MacBeth then reigned as king for seventeen years. As previously stated Duncan I and MacBeth were cousins, a fact not brought out in the play. Shakespeare loosely based the play," MacBeth " on events he found in Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland. " Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, are the materials that furnished Shakespeare with his plot2. The chronicles were an account of the history of the country of which they came from. Another major difference, is that Duncan I was not the ageing and respected king Shakespeare makes him out to be, In real life, Fiona Summerset Fry author of History of Scotland says " He was actually an impetuous and spoilt young man whose six years of kingship brought glory neither to Scotland nor to his family3." In the play's last scene, McDuff kills MacBeth and automatically becomes the new King of Scots. In actual history MacBeth is killed by Malcom III but Lulach, MacBeth's stepson, becomes the king after the noblemen of Moray fight for his succession. Lulach reigned for seven months and was then dethroned by Malcom III of Caenmore. MacBeth is presented in the play as clumsy and unorganised. In reality though, he was one of the best kings that Scotland ever had. " During his reign, he went on a pilgrimage to Rome for several months4." His kingdom was in well enough order and he was in high enough regard with his nobleman that he could leave for a long period of time. Another way you could tell that MacBeth was a good

“3 idiots” Reaction Paper Essay

Phunsuk Wangdu. This was a main character played by Aamir Khan in the movie 3 idiots, a famous Indian movie directed by Rajkumar Hirani. The story was basically about three engineering students who faced everyday life challenges together for their whole stay in college. They stayed in one room causing them to treat each other like a real family. Unfortunately, their institution was ruled by a heartless genius man who always believed in the thought that life is a race, one must compete to survive and also, he never cared about his students dying out of pressure through committing suicide. This ruler was a total perfectionist and had very high standards on everything, he wants everything to be under his control. While everyone was terrified following his authority, Phunsuk Wangdu dared to be different, well, he stayed as who he really was. His perspective in life was completely different from that of their institution’s director. He was a very simple student and a total definite genius who applied the things he studied in the real world. And as the years went by, he showed that undeniably impossible things could possibly happen. His character had enlightened me so much and watching the whole movie for more than 2 hours gave me goosebumps. Putting your whole trust in God, sharing,helping and inspiring others, doing your best at all times and bringing positivity to everything – things we need to survive and enjoy life. He once said that putting your trust to God won’t be the solution to your problem but it will give you enough courage to face it. These are very simple lessons to keep in mind yet the most important ones to keep our life meaningful. Now i want myself to be like him in my own simple ways and prove people that happiness is the key to success. To sum it up, we’ll have everything we need and want if we have God. And as he commonly said, ALL IS WELL. 3 Idiots Reaction Paper Essay INTRODUCTION The movie â€Å"3 Idiots† is an Indian film about the life of three engineering students who went to study at one of the best colleges in India, the Imperial College of Engineering. Coming from different walks of life, the three â€Å"idiots†, Farhan Qureshi, Raju Rastogi , and Rancchoddas â€Å"Rancho† Shyamaldas Chanchad, will become best of friends. But the movie will circle on how the wisdom and ideals of Rancho will influence the life of his two friends and other characters in the story. At first, Rancho’s giftedness seemed entertaining to his friends and classmates. But his free spirit and wit will irritate his lecturers including the college director, Professor Viru Sahastrabudhhe (ViruS). Standing by their new beliefs as inspired by Rancho, the three friends will face obstacles that will test their loyalty and determination. Valuable lessons can be learned from the characters portrayed in this film, even from the antagonists. The movie all throughout illustrated how the elder people of India (in the story) make themselves prisoner to the expectations and high regard of others. They pass on this burden to their children who had to sacrifice their passions, happiness, and future. The movie also seemed to point out how important open and honest communication is within the family. Communication is so important that failing to be understood or to understand may lead to serious heartbreaks and depression among family members. I have also observed that verbal wit is entertaining. But in the long run, our actions are what will win the respect and the hearts of people. BODY Farhan Qureshi is studying engineering to pursue his father’s wishes. But his one real passion though is wildlife photography. As said by his father to Rancho during a confrontation, they have invested all their money in Farhan’s studies. They didn’t buy a car or an extra air conditioner (only Farhan’s room had AC) because they prioritized Farhan’s study needs. Coming from a struggling middle class family, Farhan is pressured to finish engineering to compensate the sacrifice of his family. But in the course of the story, Farhan adopts the outlook of Rancho to pursue one’s true passion. He gathers the courage to take a stand and convinces his father to believe in his dream of becoming a photographer. Farhan demonstrates the lesson of courage to believe in your passion and follow your happiness, and not just to live for the approval of others, as seen in the words of his father when they argued over his career change, â€Å"The world will laugh. They will say that you reached the final year and quit.† But in the end of their quarrel, the final response of Farhan’s father demonstrated and taught us humility, open-mindedness, the willingness to understand, and the untiring love of a parent. Raju Rastogi comes from a poor family. Raju’s father is a retired post master who had become a paralytic. His mother is a retired school teacher. Most of their income went to his father’s medication. The scene in Raju’s house depicted a poverty stricken family with a paralytic father who â€Å"lay on a small bed†, a coughing mother, a sofa with springs coming out, a dripping roof, and â€Å"a sister waiting to get married† (because they had no dowry to give for her marriage). Raju was always afraid and so relied on lucky charms for a less scary future. Later, Raju will face a possible expulsion from college which can only be revoked if he witnessed for Mr. ViruS, the college director, for the expulsion of his friend, Rancho. Not wanting to betray his friend nor face his parents’ heartbreak with his getting expelled, Raju attempts suicide and ends up in a comma. But with the constant care and support of his mother and friends, Raju recovers and gains new-found confidence as influenced in him by Rancho. With this, he will impress corporate agents in one job interview and get hired. In the story, Raju gets a chance to cheat to pass a difficult exam but re fuses to, and chooses to make it with â€Å"his own ability†. Raju’s character demonstrated valuing genuine friendships, courageous honesty, and earning your way fairly. And there was Rancchoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad, or Rancho, who came to ICE for the pure passion of learning. He was introduced as a gifted student with a practical mind, a noble character, and an outlook that didn’t agree with the school system and the family traditions in the story. Rancho didn’t bother to compete for grades or adopt to the college’s dog-eat-dog system. Professor ViruS despised Rancho and how Rancho outwitted him in most of their arguments. Professor ViruS thought that grades and the favor of his teachers didn’t bother Rancho because he was a rich man’s son. If he doesn’t graduate on time, he could afford to come back the following year. Rancho, Raju and Farhan will become best of friends. In the movie, we see how the attitudes and outlook of Raju and Farhan are reformed by Rancho’s friendship and by the excellence he exhibited in his studies andprojects. Rancho would also later win the respect of Professor ViruS. This is after the professor experiences for himself Rancho’s nobility and witness Rancho’s gift with machines when his daughter would give birth in a table-tennis room. This incident will change the way the director perceived Rancho. Despite the hurdles Rancho faced at ICE, he earns the engineering degree and graduates as the top student. He then vanishes, to be sought after by his friends 10 years later. As they searched for Rancho, they are surprised to discover Rancho’s true identity. Rancho is really the son, not of a rich man, but of a rich man’s gardener. Since childhood, Rancho already displayed so much desire to learn. Because his father’s boss wanted a good reputation for his son—the real Rancchoddas Chanchad—the rich man proposed to send Rancho to school to earn an engineering degree using his son’s name. Finally finding Rancho, his friends learn his real name, Phunsukh Wangdu, now a renowned scientist who is sought all over the world. We learn a lot from Rancho’s free spirit. He refused to imprison himself in competition and expectation. He was excellent but his purpose is not for recognition or just to impress others. He lived the desires of his heart, which are machines and great friendships. His mantra, â€Å"All is well. All is well†, reminds us that we cannot control situations, but we can control our attitude and perspective. Rancho also talks a lot. He does a lot of explaining and convincing to his friends. But he backed up his words with weightier deeds of love, kindness, and sacrifice. And I think that is what the writer intended to convey—that his deeds more than his words are what really won the people around him. In real life, I believe that the qualities of Rancho—nobility and excellence without conceit—are attainable through passion combined with faith in God. Going back to Professor Viru Sahastrabudhhe (ViruS), director of ICE, he is the â€Å"adversary† of Rancho and the one who sets the â€Å"compete or die† system at ICE. By excellence he meant being ahead of everyone else. He despised Rancho who opposed these beliefs, However, Rancho alwa ys outsmarted him. In the story, Professor ViruS is the figurative â€Å"murderer†. His extreme conviction to always push oneself to the limit provoked three suicide incidents in the story—that of Raju, of another student named Joy, and of his own son (as a backstory). At first, Mr. ViruS thought his son’s death was just an accident. Later, he will learn that his son committed suicide because he wanted to quit engineering and become a writer instead. After learning this, and after Rancho performs the emergency birth delivery of Prof. ViruS’ daughter (as mentioned earlier), Prof. ViruS outlook changes as well as his perception of Rancho. Here, we learn that the best way to a man’s heart is through â€Å"junior† (or daughter). Also, we are reminded again of the importance of communication. Prof. ViruS didn’t know that his son detested engineering so much that he preferred to commit suicide. One character who shared and followed after Prof. ViruS’ morals is Chatur Ramalingam, who was known in ICE as â€Å"Silencer†. He was called as such because he drank pills that would make him pass gas. He would take these pills nearing the exams so when he passes gas, the unpleasant odor would distract his roommates from studying well. He thought this would give him a better chance of topping the exams. Chatur was also excellent. In fact, he was second in score rank to Rancho. But Chatur was always miserable, because like Prof. ViruS, getting ahead of everyone was his ultimate goal. Chatur reminds me of the story of a frog who wanted to be the highest â€Å"jumper† in his pack so he cut the hind legs of the other frogs. From Chatur’s bad example, we are reminded of a good lesson that says, the only person you need to be better than is the person you were yesterday. Towards the end of the story, Chatur, along with Raju and Farhan, finds Rancho 10 years later. Thinking that Rancho became a primary school teacher, Chatur mocks Rancho’s work and salary. Another good lesson here is to not be quick to speak, judge, or boast as Chatur did who belittled Rancho just before finding out who Rancho had actually become. Rancho, who is actually the renowned scientist, Phunsukh Wangdu, and who had 400 patents to his name, is the same man he’s looking for to woo and get to sign a multi-million dollar deal with his company. CONCLUSION Overall, 3idiots is a truly engaging film. The story is brilliant and the lessons to be learned are immense. We see the importance of extending a little understanding and consideration and the danger of holding it back. A little understanding could mean a lifetime of happiness; and depriving it could lead to serious depressions, miseries, and even death. I believe that the life stories of the characters in this movie are very relatable—peer pressure, poverty, and family’s expectations. But the story is also very liberating— don’t be a prisoner of expectations and competitions. Be free to live your dream!