Venezuela’s Declaration of Independence in 1810

The republic of Venezuela celebrates its independence from Spain on two different dates: April 19, when an initial declaration of semi-independence from Spain was signed in 1810, and July 5, when a more definitive break was signed in 1811. April 19 is known as â€Å"Firma Acta de la Independencia† or â€Å"Signing of the Act of Independence.† Napoleon Invades Spain The first years of the nineteenth century were turbulent ones in Europe, particularly in Spain. In 1808, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Spain and put his brother Joseph on the throne, throwing Spain and its colonies into chaos. Many Spanish colonies, still loyal to the deposed King Ferdinand, did not know how to react to the new ruler. Some cities and regions opted for a limited independence: they would take care of their own affairs until such time as Ferdinand was restored. Venezuela: Ready for Independence Venezuela was ripe for Independence long before other South American regions. Venezuelan Patriot Francisco de Miranda, a former general in the French Revolution, led a failed attempt to start a revolution in Venezuela in 1806, but many approved of his actions. Young firebrand leaders like Simà ³n Bolà ­var and Josà © Fà ©lix Ribas were actively speaking of making a clean break from Spain. The example of the American Revolution was fresh in the minds of these young patriots, who wanted freedom and their own republic. Napoleonic Spain and the Colonies In January of 1809, a representative of the Joseph Bonaparte government arrived in Caracas and demanded that taxes continue to be paid and that the colony recognize Joseph as their monarch. Caracas, predictably, exploded: people took to the streets declaring loyalty to Ferdinand. A ruling junta was proclaimed and Juan de Las Casas, the Captain-General of Venezuela, was deposed. When news reached Caracas that a loyalist Spanish government had been set up in Seville in defiance of Napoleon, things cooled down for a while and Las Casas was able to re-establish control. April 19, 1810 On April 17, 1810, however, news reached Caracas that the government loyal to Ferdinand had been crushed by Napoleon. The city erupted into chaos once more. Patriots who favored full independence and royalists loyal to Ferdinand could agree on one thing: they would not tolerate French rule. On April 19, Creole patriots confronted the new Captain-General Vicente Emparà ¡n and demanded self-rule. Emparà ¡n was stripped of authority and sent back to Spain. Josà © Fà ©lix Ribas, a wealthy young patriot, rode through Caracas, exhorting Creole leaders to come to the meeting taking place in the council chambers. Provisional Independence The elite of Caracas agreed on a provisional independence from Spain: they were rebelling against Joseph Bonaparte, not the Spanish crown, and would mind their own affairs until Ferdinand VII was restored. Still, they made some quick decisions: they outlawed slavery, exempted Indians from paying tribute, reduced or removed trade barriers, and decided to send envoys to the United States and Britain. Wealthy young nobleman Simà ³n Bolà ­var financed the mission to London. Legacy of the April 19 Movement The result of the Act of Independence was immediate. All over Venezuela, cities and towns decided either to follow Caracas lead or not: many cities chose to remain under Spanish rule. This led to fighting and a de facto Civil War in Venezuela. A Congress was called in early 1811 to solve the bitter fighting among Venezuelans. Although it was nominally loyal to Ferdinand - the official name of the ruling junta was Junta of conservation of the rights of Ferdinand VII - the government of Caracas was, in fact, quite independent. It refused to recognize the Spanish shadow government that was loyal to Ferdinand, and many Spanish officers, bureaucrats, and judges were sent back to Spain along with Emparà ¡n. Meanwhile, exiled patriot leader Francisco de Miranda returned, and young radicals such as Simà ³n Bolà ­var, who favored unconditional independence, gained influence. On July 5, 1811, the ruling junta voted in favor of complete Independence from Spain - their self-rule was no longer dependent on the state of the Spanish king. Thus was born the ​First Venezuelan Republic, doomed to die in 1812 after a disastrous earthquake and relentless military pressure from royalist forces. The April 19 pronouncement was not the first of its kind in Latin America: the city of Quito had made a similar pronouncement in August of 1809. Still, the independence of Caracas had much longer lasting effects than that of Quito, which was quickly put down. It allowed the return of the charismatic Francisco de Miranda, vaulted Simà ³n Bolà ­var, Josà © Fà ©lix Ribas and other patriot leaders to fame, and set the stage for the true independence that followed. It also inadvertently caused the death of Simà ³n Bolà ­vars brother Juan Vicente, who died in a shipwreck while returning from a diplomatic mission to the USA in 1811. Sources: Harvey, Robert. Liberators: Latin Americas Struggle for Independence Woodstock: The Overlook Press, 2000. Lynch, John. The Spanish American Revolutions 1808-1826 New York: W. W. Norton Company, 1986. Lynch, John. Simon Bolivar: A Life. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2006.

Free Will Essay - 2309 Words

Many people in the western world hold very dear the idea of independence, that they can think freely, choose freely, and express themselves freely. This all is connected to the idea of free will that many believe is what makes us human. Many people cannot, however, define free will. There is always the feeling that one can do whatever he/she wants. That is probably why this idea is such a pleasing concept. There is just one serious flaw in the free will concept. People cannot determine everything; there are some things, even before one is born, that determines who he will be in the future. Since people do not choose their parents, or the nationality of their family this creates a serious flaw in the free will concept. Now if people were†¦show more content†¦On another note, the Qur’an is often wrongly interpreted as being based on determinism. This is false; if a life of a Muslim was determined for him/her at birth there would be no point in him/her trying to find out the nature of his sin, Allah would not have had to send prophets to teach his people the way, because all their actions would be already determined by them (Gorjian 2010). This suggests that, as far a religion goes people are free to do as they feel is right. This however does not justify the fact that governments take away this freedom from their citizens. Governments taking away freedom from their subjects can be traced back in history, and one the greatest examples for this would be the war of ideologies known as World War II. Political systems are based on ideas like fascism which helped Germans in their economic crisis, communism overthrew the Tzars in Russia which gave the proletariat all the influence they needed, while liberalism promised freedom. This all seems perfect, however, as it is all well known, there were flaws in each of those systems. Nazis under Hitler were only nice to a great portion of Germans as they were trying to create the master race. All others: Slavs, Roma, Jews were hated and discriminated against. In occupied Poland Nazis closed schools, denied access to education, confiscated automobiles, (Cosby 2010) houses, land and riches.Show MoreRelatedEssay On Free Is Not Free1887 Words   |  8 Pagesmight never know precisely but we can assume that as photos and videos constitute for the most part in terms of data storage. One might question how the companies who keep all this data for free make money? A simple answer to that is ‘data’ that we give to these companies for ‘free’ is not ‘free’, rather this ‘free’ data is what helps them make money. A common social media platform that most of us are familiar with i.e. Facebook recently reported a total revenue of $27.5 billion [2]. We do not payRead MoreEssay on Free Will648 Words   |  3 PagesFree Will A definition of free will, as we have seen, can be misunderstood and easily distorted. For the purpose of this essay free will, will be defined as the ability to chose, express ones feelings, emotions, or actions unconditionally. From the first time I understood the meaning of what free will was, I believed in it 100%. I had the right and ability to choose what ever I liked. Not only did I believe that I had free will but if I ever heard otherwise I felt that the other personRead MoreFree Essays : Free Soul Free Women1237 Words   |  5 Pages Free Soul Free Women Charlotte Brontà « once wrote â€Å"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will†. There are many literary works that illustrate stories about freedom and how sometimes to get that freedom one needs to do something or it naturally comes. 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Three stories, Oedipus the King, the Bible, and the Aenied, respectively, that we have studied and that fall in each society are examples of how free willRead MoreFree Essay3489 Words   |  14 PagesContents Contents 1 Introduction 2 1a.identify the mission, values, and objectives of organization and the influences of stakeholders for its organization 2 1b.the extent organization achieves the objectives of three stakeholders 6 1c.the responsibilities of the selected organization and strategies employed to meet objectives of stakeholders 7 2a. the economy of Vietnam 9 2b. the welfare policy in Vietnam 11 2c.the impact of macro-economic policy measures and influence of the globalRead MoreFree Essays6641 Words   |  27 Pages | |Standards groups |ANSI,  IEC,  IEEE,  IETF,  ISO,  W3C | |Professional Societies |ACM,  AIS,  IET,  IFIP,  BCS | |Free/Open source |Free Software Foundation,  Mozilla Foundation,  Apache Software | |software  groups |Foundation |Read MoreFree Essays6657 Words   |  27 Pages | |Standards groups |ANSI,  IEC,  IEEE,  IETF,  ISO,  W3C | |Professional Societies |ACM,  AIS,  IET,  IFIP,  BCS | |Free/Open source |Free Software Foundation,  Mozilla Foundation,  Apache Software | |software  groups |Foundation |Read MoreMarginal Returns and Free Is Not Free Essay929 Words   |  4 Pagesleading to a priceless product. 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The difficulty of thinking about death with dignity

Agrarian Discontent In The Late 1800s Essay Example For Students

Agrarian Discontent In The Late 1800s Essay Word Count: 1535Why the Farmers Were WrongThe period between 1880 and 1900 was a boom time for American politics.The country was for once free of the threat of war, and many of its citizens were living comfortably. However, as these two decades went by, the American farmer found it harder and harder to live comfortably. Crops such as cotton and wheat, once the bulwark of agriculture, were selling at prices so low that it was nearly impossible for farmers to make a profit off them. Furthermore, improvement in transportation allowed foreign competition to materialize, making it harder for American farmers to dispose of surplus crop. Finally, years of drought in the midwest and the downward spiral of business in the 1890s devastated many of the nations farmers. As a result of the agricultural depression, many farm groups, most notably the Populist Party, arose to fight what farmers saw as the reasons for the decline in agriculture. During the last twenty years of the nineteenth century, many farmers in the United States saw monopolies and trusts, railroads, and money shortages and the demonetization of silver as threats to their way of life, though in many cases their complaints were not valid. The growth of the railroad was one of the most significant elements in American economic growth. However, in many ways, the railroads hurt small shippers and farmers. Extreme competition between rail companies necessitated some way to win business. To do this, many railroads offered rebates and drawbacks to larger shippers who used their rails. However, this practice hurt smaller shippers, including farmers, for often times railroad companies would charge more to ship products short distances than they would for long trips. The rail companies justified this practice by asserting that if they did not rebate, they would not make enough profit to stay in business. In his testimony to the Senate Cullom Committee, George W. Parker stated, the operating expense of this roadrequires a certain volume of business to meet these fixed expenses.in some seasons of the year, the local business of the roadis not sufficient to make the earningswhen we make up a train of ten of fifteen cars of local freightwe can attach fifteen or twenty carsof strictly through business. We can take the latter at a very low rate than go without it. Later, when asked the consequences of charging local traffic the same rate as through freight, Mr. Parker responded, Bankruptcy, inevitably and speedy. While the railroads felt that they must use this practice to make a profit, the farmers were justified in complaining, for they were seriously injured by it. A perfect example of this fact can be found in The Octopus by Frank Norris. A farmer named Dyke discovers that the railroad has increased their freight charges from two to five cents a pound. This new rate, ate up every cent of his gains. He stood there ruined. (Doc. H). The railroads regularly used rebates and drawbacks to help win the business of large shippers, and made up this loss in profit by increasing the cost to smaller shippers such as farmers. As a result, many farmers, already hurt by the downslide in agriculture, were ruined. Thus, t he farmers of the late nineteenth century had a valid complaint against railroad shippers, for these farmers were hurt by the unfair practices of the railroads. Near the end of the nineteenth century, business began to centralize, leading to the rise of monopolies and trusts. Falling prices, along with the need for better efficiency in industry, led to the rise of such companies as Carnegie Steel and Standard Oil, which controlled a majority of the nations supply of raw steel and oil respectively. The rise of these monopolies and trusts concerned many farmers, for they felt that the disappearance of competition would lead to erratic and unreasonable price rises that would hurt consumers. James B. Weaver, the Populist partys presidential candidate in the 1892 election, summed up the feelings of many Americans of the period in his work, A Call to Action: An Interpretation of the Great Uprising. He wrote, It is clear that trusts arein conflict with the Common law. They are monopolies organized to destroy competition and restrain trade. Once they secure control of a given line, they are master of the situation They can limit the price of the raw material so as to impoverish the producer, drive him to a single market, reduce the price of every class of labor connected with the trade, throw out of employment large numbers personsand finallythey increase the price to the consumer. The main weapons of the trust are threats, intimidation, bribery, fraud, wreck, and pillage. However, the facts refute many of Weavers charges against the monopolies. While it is true that many used questionable means to achieve their monopoly, many were not out to crush competitors. To the contrary, John D. Rockefeller, head of Standard Oil, competed ruthlessly not to crush other refiners but to persuade them to join Standard Oil and share the business so all could profit. Furthermore, the fear that the monopolies would raise prices unreasonably was never realized. Prices tended to fall during the latter part of the 1800s creating what some have called a consumers millennium. Thus, the agrarian complaints against monopolies were not incredibly vali d, for the monopolies did very little harm to farmers of the time. .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd , .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd .postImageUrl , .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd , .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd:hover , .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd:visited , .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd:active { border:0!important; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd:active , .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u241761bb84152abb47c1bac831d30efd:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: The Consequences Of Guns EssayFinally, deflation and falling prices during the late 1800s led to the most heated complaint of farmers and the Populist party that grew out of agricultural discontent. Deflation had been running rampant during the latter half of the 1800s, as evidenced by the drastic fall in the value of wheat and cotton. To fight the deflationary trend, the Populists demanded a reversal of the Coinage Act of 1873, which demonetized silver. The Populist platform for the 1892 election called for unlimited coinage of silver and an increase in the money supply to no less than $50 per capita.. Here again, the farmers are wrong in the assessment of their problems. It is true that the countrys money supply was not adequate. United States government data from 1961 shows that though the countrys population between 1865 and 1875 increased by nearly four million, the countrys money supply actually decreased. However, many farmers used the money supply to explain problems that indeed had very little to do with the money supply at all. This fact is best summed up in a quote from J. Laurence Laughlins article, Causes of Agricultural Unrest. He says, Feeling the coils of some mysterious power about them, the farmers have attributed their misfortunes to the constriction in prices, caused, as they think, not by an increased production of wheat throughout the world, but by the scarcity of gold.. Furthermore, history has shown that battle between gold and silver had little real meaning. The real battle was not between gold or silver, but instead what would be done to check deflation. William McKinley, in his 1896 acceptance speech, said, Free silver woul d not mean that silver dollars were to be freely had without cost or labor It would not make labor easier, the hours shorter, or the pay better. It would not make the farming less laborious or more profitable.Many farmers saw silver as a cure-all for their problems, failing to see that changes in the world were to blame. Finally, the discovery of gold in Alaska and improved methods of extracting gold from low-grade ore did much to increase the nations money supply. These facts prove that the farmers view of silver was not sound, thus invalidating their complaints about the nations financial system. The farmers of the late 1800s had many reasons for being dissatisfied with their situation. Unfair railroad practices, such as rebates and drawbacks, hurt them severely. However, in some cases, these farmers complaints were not justified. Many of the fears that farmers had about monopolies, such as the idea of unfair and unreasonable price increases, happened in very few occasions; in fact, prices went down in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Finally, history has proven that their view of silver as a way to end deflation and the decrease in crop values was inaccurate. The farmers of the period, though, used these issues to change the shape of American politics and bring it face to face with the problems the country was facing.

Technology and Online Assessments

Abstract The world is embracing the use of technology to improve education at a very fast rate. Employers are now turning to the use of testing software to carry out staff recruitment exercises and for a long time, professional bodies have been using online testing software to test candidates. Online assessment methods are now also being implemented by educational establishments to assist in guiding students from early ages of schooling.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Technology and Online Assessments specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This paper looks at the role played by technology in the education field and more especially, in the area of assessment. Specifically, two online assessment tools; Scantron Performance Series and Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), are discussed. Introduction The quest for accountability in the education system and the desire to ensure that students are taught well has continued to grow over time. This has driven stakeholders to start considering alternatives to guide the teaching process for the good of both the teacher and the student. Educators are faced with a tough challenge to come up with innovative ways that guarantee the success of the education system besides ensuring that they are able to perform to the expectations of the public. Review and Literature Generally, the goal of any education system is to create of a healthy learning environment that provides the students with the opportunity to successfully learn and develop to their full potential. The key hurdle to deal with here is the huge variation that often is noticeable among students in terms of learning abilities. While others are perceived to be fast learners, some tend to be slow and require some special treatment and a lot of patience, understanding and support to enable them benefit from the entire learning process. The traditional approach to teaching req uires the teacher to use his/her own intuition to make judgment about the students’ abilities. While this might help especially is the teacher has the interests of the student at heart, more often than not it is flawed and leaves a lot to be desired.Advertising Looking for research paper on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More We cannot with certainty use our human judgment to clearly tell where each student is at in the learning process and who among the students have need of support. As a result, slow and poor performing students receive a very unfair treatment. The need to use improved assessment tools arose from the fact that teachers wanted to have faster, reliable ways of evaluating students so as to identify the challenges faced by the students in good time to be able to rescue them from any difficulty faced. Good feedback received within a reasonable time will help the teacher to know a student’s we akness and offer the appropriate form of support. Initially, very rudimentary methods were used to accomplish this very important step of the learning process. Teachers would have to carry out the assessment manually and since every stage of the entire process is manual, too much time has to be taken process and give the results. In most cases, feedback would come in very late for the teacher to use to address the student’s difficulty. Education officials then figured out that there was need to improve the assessment approach and make the whole education system relevant to the needs of the society. One development in this area was introducing the use of computers and palm handheld devices. These devices provide a means to quickly be able to evaluate students and with the outcome of the testing being received almost instantaneously, the process of helping the students becomes easy and reliable. Needless to mention that this has led to a great improvement in the way students ar e taught in school. With the hand held devices and computers teachers are able to set benchmarks used not only to gauge the students’ performance, but also identify areas where the teachers need improvement. Eventually, we have teachers who are self aware and well placed to make positive contributions. In view of the above challenges, and the benefits brought about by the use of technology, the use of online assessment has continued to gain popularity.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Technology and Online Assessments specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Technology is proving to be very useful as an aid for the teachers. Both teachers and students are able to see their weaknesses and do what they can to make improvements. Teachers are able to see areas where their students need help. The idea has been widely accepted and technology is now being applied in numerous learning situations. A number of onli ne testing solutions exist that are meant to help create a difference in the way the educators run their programs. Among the solutions are Scantron and DIBELS. These tools have significantly reformed the way teachers gauge student performance. They are discussed further below. Scantron Performance Assessment This was developed by Scantron Corporation and it uses a computer adaptive system to test students. Tests are designed in such that they can allow the maximum possible time required for a student to complete a test. Each student being tested gets a unique test and depending on how the student answers a question, the next question could get more or less difficult. Scantron performance assessment program comes with a backup system in place that guarantees recovery to the point when problems were encountered. Students taking the test are therefore not worried about any interruptions occurring while they are still taking the exam. The Scantron system is however, not without a negati ve side. Young students find themselves in difficulties and get confused when using the system. This means that the students have to be well trained to take advantage of the system. Students without computer skills are also greatly disadvantaged when it comes to using the system. Another noticeable danger is that teachers may end up delegating the teaching process. Due to the adaptive nature of the test some students may complete a test within a shorter time when others take a longer duration. Slow paced students who see their peers finishing early could easily get discouraged. According to SPSTR (2010), given the fact that a teacher might be required to supervise a huge number of students taking a test and with the examinees probably sitting close to one another, the test integrity is also questionable. It is therefore important that students are warned against sharing answers with peers Again.Advertising Looking for research paper on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) DIBELS is an early literacy assessment approach used to mainly establish whether students are experiencing reading problems and also, to monitor the students’ progress. The method uses benchmark goals that can be used by educators to check the progress of all students. The benchmarks are set by using well researched indicators (University of Oregon, 2008). The method offers great help in identifying students experiencing difficulties in the learning process. Furthermore, proper usage of the system can also provide a good basis for measuring the effectiveness of the student support system. Data collected can be used to identify students who are making progress in their learning process as well as those having challenges. Teachers are also able to interact and share ideas using the program. The test results of the DIBELS program can be used as indicators of how well a student is able to learn. By using the scores, an ed ucator can tell if a student is doing fine or if they need support (Dessoff, 2007). A concern for critics of the DIBELS program is the use of words made up including some that do not make sense to test the student’s reading ability. To some, this does not make sense at all. Others are strongly opposed to the idea of timing the DIBELS test and advocate for students being let to read at their own pace. (Dessoff, 2007). Conclusion Despite being considered disruptive especially for starters, and also being looked at as taking up teachers valuable teaching time, the use of technology in education has brought in major advancements. An efficient use of technological advancements will no doubt radically transform the education system to the benefit of the entire public. Unlike the traditional manual approach, we are presented with faster ways to carry out assessments as well as great feedback on students’ progress. We, however, must be very careful not to let technological ass essments to be the ultimate solution. Though credible to a larger extent, the results obtained may not always be reliable. Reference List Dessoff, A. (2007). DIBELS Draws Doers and Doubters. Norwalk: Professional Media Group. Web. Scantron Performance Series technical report (SPSTR). (2010). Scantron Corporation. Web. University of Oregon. (2008). General Information about DIBELS Measures. Web. This research paper on Technology and Online Assessments was written and submitted by user Antonio Gonzales to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Noix et arachides reduiraient le risque cardiovasc Essays

Noix et arachides reduiraient le risque cardiovasc Essays Noix et arachides reduiraient le risque cardiovasculaire Dev Brar Jan 2, 2017 Period 2 L'Article: Nombre des mots avant d'editer: 441 Nombre des mots apres d'editer: 417 lapresse.ca/vivre/sante/201711/13/01-5143412-noix-et-arachides-reduiraient-le-risque-cardiovasculaire.php Des personnes consommant regulierement une variete de fruits a coque comme des noix paraissent avoir moins de risque de maladies cardiovasculaires comparativement a celles en mangeant rarement ou jamais. Meme des cacahuetes, procurent des bienfaits pour les arteres et le coeur, demontre l'etude. Les chercheurs ont examine les dossiers medicaux, le mode de vie et les habitudes alimentaires de plus de 210 000 employes de services de sante. Pendant une periode de suivi de plus de vingt ans, 14 136 de ces personnes ont developpe une pathologie cardiovasculaire, dont 8390 une maladie coronaire et 5910 ont eu un accident vasculaire cerebral. Comparativement aux participants de l'etude mangeant rarement ou jamais des fruits a coque, ceux qui en consommaient une portion de 28 grammes au moins cinq fois par semaine couraient 14% moins de risque de pathologie cardiovasculaire et avaient 20% moins de chance de developper une maladie coronaire, conclut l'etude. Consommer une variete de fruits a ecale au moins quelquefois par semaine est bon pour la prevention de maladies cardiovasculaires, souligne Shilpa Bhupathi Raju, une nutritionniste a la faculte de sante publique de l'universite Harvard. Mais, souligne-t-elle, il ne faut pas en manger trop car ils sont riches en calories. La chercheuse deconseille aussi les fruits a coque sales. La consommation reguliere de ces aliments est liee a une reduction des maladies cardiaques, du diabete et de l'hypertension arterielle. Mais la plupart des etudes precedentes se sont concentrees sur la quantite ou la frequence de consommation de ces aliments plutot que sur l'identification des types de fruits pour determiner ceux qui conferent le plus de bienfaits. Cette derniere etude s'est penchee sur les differentes categories de fruits a ecale. Elle suggere que les personnes consommant des noix au moins une fois par semaine reduisent de 19% leur risque cardiovasculaire et de 21% celui de developper une maladie coronaire comparativement a ceux qui n'en mangent jamais. La consommation de deux portions de cacahuetes par semaine est liee a une baisse de 13% du risque de maladie cardiovasculaire et de 15% de pathologie coronaire. Deux portions ou plus hebdomadaire de fruits a coque comme des amandes, des pistaches et des noix de cajou paraissent reduire de 15% le risque de pathologie cardiovasculaires et de 23% les chances de maladie des arteres coronaires. L'etude n'a constate aucun lien entre la consommation d'un ensemble de fruits a coque et le risque d'accident vasculaire cerebral mais ce risque est reduit chez les personnes mangeant de grandes quantites de cacahuetes et de noix. Le Resume: Dans l'article, l'auteur dit que les personnes qui manger les noix posseder moins de risque de developper une maladie cardiovasculaire. Le texte dit que les chercheurs ont examine les cas medicaux et les styles de vie de 210,000 employes de services de sante. Pendant une periode de 20 ans, des 210,000 employes 14 136 de ces personnes ont developpe une pathologie cardiovasculaire, dont 8,390 une maladie coronaire et 5,910 ont eu un accident vasculaire cerebral. Les personnes qui mangent une portion de 28g des noix au moins cinq fois dans une semaine, ont un 14% moins risque de developper une pathologie cardiovasculaire et avaient un 20% chance developper une maladie coronaire par rapport aux personnes qui ne mangent pas ou mange un petit peu de noix. Shilpa Bhupathi Raju dit que consommer une variete de fruits avec la coque au moins parfois une semaine est bonne pour la prevention de maladies cardiovasculaires ... la consommation reguliere de cette nourriture est connecte e a une reduction des maladies cardiaques, le diabete et l'hypertension. Cependant, l'etude a conclu qu'il n'y a aucun lien entre la consommation d'un ensemble de noix, mais dans de plus grandes quantites a montre une reduction d'accident cerebro-vasculaire. Contrairement aux maladies cardiovasculaires et une pathologie coronaire que l'on a montre pour avoir un risque reduit avec un ensemble de noix. Je veux croire que ces informations dans l'article sont 100 % vrais et qu'il a la preuve la plus scientifique derriere l'etude que la preuve montree dans l'article. Cependant, puisque cet article

A Man For All Seaons essays

A Man For All Seaons essays A "Man for All Seasons" is about a man so subtle and saintly that an actor who takes on the role must be able to project an almost superhuman presence. As is evident, the story is based on the life of Sir Thomas More, man of God and chancellor to the court of Henry VIII. The year is 1530 and from what I know, actors in this movie typically wear transparent half-masks and double up on roles. More was the only member of Henry VIII's government who would not be seduced or corrupted by Henry's threats. When the king asked More to sign an oath establishing the monarchy as head of the Church of England, More refused. He could not alter the law, he said. As the play progresses and More loses his wealth and even his freedom, he becomes almost self-righteous in his strict adherence to the law. Exasperating, but he must remain sympathetic as his family goes down with him into grief and poverty. The man who plays him must show both his affectionate disposition and his unshakable piety or the script would be just an exercise in mouthing lines. What I saw from the story was how the wheels turn in More's mind, the glow of warmth and the bleakness of despair that flicker across his face. It is not enough to paint him as a man. He must be a man among grovelers and syncophants, a towering presence. A man for all seasons, in other words. In most cases, I am compelled to say that one probably would not be able to successfully preserve their integrity in a situation such as Thomas More's. But in response to the question of whether or not a man can reasonably hope to do so, I believe that More's behavioral response exemplifies a positive confirmation of such. Even if it could not be reasonably expected for a man to maintain his integrity when consistently faced with such a dilemma, it would probably be asserted that such was understandable. Somewhat i ...

3. To what extent has the ability of governments to improve economic Essay

3. To what extent has the ability of governments to improve economic performance diminished over the last two decades Analyse the efforts of the state to impro - Essay Example overnments do not have control over their populations, as crime syndicates control the economy, making it impossible for the government to improve the conditions of the majority. These issues are significant because they prevent many governments from looking out for their own country’s interests and forcing them to go along with the ideologies of others, which prevents them from improving the country’s economic performance, as â€Å"recently, many have argued that competitiveness is strongly influenced by government policyâ€Å" (Porter, The Competitive Advantage of Nations, 4). Michael Porter’s five forces of competitive analysis are the bargaining power of customers, the bargaining power of suppliers, the threat of new entrants, the threat of substitute products, and the intensity of competitive rivalry. This theory can be applied to how governments improve the economic conditions of their country in a variety of different manners, mostly due to their interactions with other countries, as â€Å"government actions can also dramatically increase or decrease the likelihood of international competition† (Porter, Competitive Strategy, 181). International trade is something that will always be debated because it is interesting to see who has the advantages and why. The most common manner by which to explain the advantages that certain countries have over others in trade in by using a comparative advantage model. There will always be different scales because of the various differences between countries’ finances, education levels, population, demographics, resources, and other factors. China, where â€Å"economic liberalization has registered great success without substantial political reforms,† (Feng 252) is a country that has traditionally been used for its labour, due to its extremely high population and its lack of good paying jobs. The variable in this situation is that Chinese companies are beginning develop their own products for distribution, which is a direct

Antitrust Laws Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Antitrust Laws - Coursework Example The price based competition results in exploitation of the customers whereas; they will not have cheaper products on their disposal. The process of research and development will become hindered as the monopolist does not need to develop new products because of the dying competition. Additionally, the term merger is used to define a contract in which two or more companies decide to construct a new one while, all of them become as one after the due process is complete. The acquisition on the other side involves a deal in which only one company loses its identity in order to become the part of another. In summary, one company buys another to become more prominent in the competition zone (Weber, Shenkar, & Raveh, 1996). Following section runs an analysis about effects of external environment on management’s decision making: - 1. Political Environment: - The political environment of the country encompasses the nature of government and stability of political atmosphere is also necessary for businesses to flourish (Boddewyn & Brewer, 1994). The national systems that are unstable do not offer good business environment. Additionally, the governmental policies radically change as well. In this kind of mechanism business management must resort on use of intensive risk management techniques. 2. Social Systems: - The social and cultural systems of the country govern the ways in which people relate to each other. The organizations need to blend in the system so that the customers and other stakeholders should consider them as their own (Dowling & Pfeffer, 1975). 3. Ethical Climate: - The organizations while operating in a specific national system require adapting to the cultural sense of right and wrong in order to avoid the possibility of committing a wrong just to repel all of the society (Payne & Raiborn, 1997). There is a significant difference in collective and individual cultures. The organizations have to

Oxidation-Reduction Series Essay Example for Free

Oxidation-Reduction Series Essay Place 10 drops of Zinc nitrate, Zn(N03)2 into well A3 of the 24-well plate. 5. Place 10 drops of Iron (Ill) chloride, FeC13 into well A4 of the 24-well plate. 6. Place 10 drops of Copper (II) sulfate, Cu S04 into well A5 of the 24-well plate. 7. Take the metal solids from your LabPaq 8. Use your tweezers to pick up and carefully insert the piece of magnesium into the sodium sulfate. Record your observations. 9. Carefully insert a piece of zinc into the magnesium sulfate. Record your observations. 10. Carefully insert a piece of lead into the zinc nitrate. Record your observations. 11. Carefully insert the lead into the iron Ill) chloride. Record your observations. 12. In the same way carefully insert the iron into the copper (II) sulfate. Record your observations. 13. Place a paper towel over the drain of your sink and pour the contents of the well plate through it. 14. Throw the paper towel and metal pieces in the trash Rinse the well plate and your Oxidation-reduction table (below) Reactions Mg Na2S04 -+ drain wit n running water. Da sodium is stronger than magnesium, turned iron duller, little amount of bubbles Zn in MgS04 Little to no reaction Less of an reaction than the Fec13, but kind of changed color Pb in FeC13 †+ Changed its color made it slimy green Fe CUS04 Completely stripped nail, turned the tip orange Conclusion I was surprised at the reaction that Iron had because although I did expect some reaction I didnt expect that much of a reaction. I was also surprise at how subtle Pb and Zinc and Pb in Iron could be, I feel that this lab was beneficial in honing our observational skills as some of the reactions where harder to see at first, such as Zinc in Magnesium. Potential Sources of Error I feel that human error could destroy this experiment because if you dont clean the well you wouldnt get an accurate response from the metal. I also thought that the pipet was hard to get the accurate amount of drops out (10). Also the time could play a role, if you recorded your observation at different points of the reduction series you might get different answers. Questions A. Based on your observations make an activity series of the metals used. List them in such a way that the most active metal is on the left and the least active metal is on the right. Remember, sodium and copper are metals, too. 1. Iron, Zinc, Lead, Magnesium B. Suppose you inserted a piece of copper into a solution of nickel chloride and bserved no reaction. Then if you inserted a piece of iron into the solution of nickel chloride a nickel deposit formed on the bottom of the well in the well plate. Where does nickel fit into your activity series? 1. Iron, Nickel, Zinc, Lead, Magnesium C. Suppose you inserted a piece of an unknown metal into a solution of zinc (II) nitrate and observed no reaction. Then if you inserted the unknown piece of the metal into the solution of iron (Ill) chloride a deposit formed on the bottom of the well in the well plate. Where does the unknown metal fit into your activity series? 1.

Renaisance Education: Values and Purposes :: European Europe History

Renaisance Education: Values and Purposes The Renaissance was a time of change. It began in Italy during the 14th century, and spread throughout the North. People all over Europe were affected, for the better and for the worse. Some people finally had a chance to control their own fate. Others, like upper class women, lost their social status. The values and purposes of Renaissance education were to improve the society, increase the economy, and restore the religious beliefs. The social lives of people were greatly influenced by advancements in education during the Renaissance. More people then ever before were send to schools and educated. Schools for girls were built, and they were taught sewing, reading, writing, and dancing. Some of these schools even had teachers for singing and playing instruments. Upper class women were taught language, philosophy, theology and mathematics. But their education only prepared them for social life at home. Women lost political power, access to property and their role in shaping society. People were taught to understand and judge the writings of others. Courtiers, aristocrats and nobles were able to write poetry and text. By being well educated, having good penmanship, knowing how to ride, play, dance, sing, and dress well, men of high status gained respect and reputation. These skills also helped attain preference and support among princes. Nevertheless, the school system did not teach youth how to behave in daily life situations. They spent too much time on Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic. Those studies that were realistic, enlightened men's minds, and prepared them for life, were reserved for the Universities. Therefore, students had a slight understanding of the meaning and the true use of knowledge. They were only able to write Latin, which no one of judgement would want to read, and when they went to universities, they wasted their friends' money and their own time. Afterwards, they would return home again, as unsophisticated and uneducated as they were before. In addition, many individuals thought that having to many schools was a terrible thing. They believed that only a minority of men should study literature, because more farmers were needed than judges, more soldiers than priests, more merchants than philosophers, and more hard working groups than dreamy and thoughtful individuals. Italian humanist Piccolomini, who himself was educated, believed that philosophy and literature, should be taught to every individual, because these studies reveal the truths about the past, the reality of the present, and the prediction of the future. Renaisance Education: Values and Purposes :: European Europe History Renaisance Education: Values and Purposes The Renaissance was a time of change. It began in Italy during the 14th century, and spread throughout the North. People all over Europe were affected, for the better and for the worse. Some people finally had a chance to control their own fate. Others, like upper class women, lost their social status. The values and purposes of Renaissance education were to improve the society, increase the economy, and restore the religious beliefs. The social lives of people were greatly influenced by advancements in education during the Renaissance. More people then ever before were send to schools and educated. Schools for girls were built, and they were taught sewing, reading, writing, and dancing. Some of these schools even had teachers for singing and playing instruments. Upper class women were taught language, philosophy, theology and mathematics. But their education only prepared them for social life at home. Women lost political power, access to property and their role in shaping society. People were taught to understand and judge the writings of others. Courtiers, aristocrats and nobles were able to write poetry and text. By being well educated, having good penmanship, knowing how to ride, play, dance, sing, and dress well, men of high status gained respect and reputation. These skills also helped attain preference and support among princes. Nevertheless, the school system did not teach youth how to behave in daily life situations. They spent too much time on Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic. Those studies that were realistic, enlightened men's minds, and prepared them for life, were reserved for the Universities. Therefore, students had a slight understanding of the meaning and the true use of knowledge. They were only able to write Latin, which no one of judgement would want to read, and when they went to universities, they wasted their friends' money and their own time. Afterwards, they would return home again, as unsophisticated and uneducated as they were before. In addition, many individuals thought that having to many schools was a terrible thing. They believed that only a minority of men should study literature, because more farmers were needed than judges, more soldiers than priests, more merchants than philosophers, and more hard working groups than dreamy and thoughtful individuals. Italian humanist Piccolomini, who himself was educated, believed that philosophy and literature, should be taught to every individual, because these studies reveal the truths about the past, the reality of the present, and the prediction of the future.

Differences between in India and China about Buddhism

The term Buddha is derived from the root word â€Å"vbudh† which means â€Å"to awaken or to be enlightened†; it is from ancient Indian languages â€Å"Pali† and â€Å"Sanskrit† which means â€Å"one who has become awake†. It denotes a person which have been many instances in the course of vast time, not just a person or a teacher who lived in a particular era. It is also a person who has truly awakened the true nature of existence. And based on the teachings of Siddharta Gautama (6th century BCE), Buddhism is both a religion and philosophy. Buddhist practices aims to â€Å"become free from suffering†, egolessness, and achieve enlightenment and Nirvana (paradise).Buddhist moralities follow the principles of harmlessness and moderation. Siddharta Gautama is a prince in the kingdom of Magadha (Nepal) who abandoned his rank, privileges, and even his wife and child; in search for an answer of the true existence in life. He is someone who did not claim any divine status or heroic symbol for himself. He also did not claim himself a personal savior inspired by Gods but rather, a teacher who guides those who chose to listen. Siddharta found difficulties in his life, dissatisfying himself with his needs, and while abandoning hi life to become an austere.According to Buddhist writings, Siddahrta was first enlightened during the time of his meditation. After doing continuous mediation, he performed his first sermon, which would be important in understanding the ideas held by Buddhism. The first message of Siddharta was sketched in The Four Noble Truths—1) pain, suffering, frustration and anxiety are negative that are given and that human could not escape, as it is part of the human life; 2) that suffering and anxiety are human caused choice; 3) that people is able to understand this weaknesses and; ) triumph is achievable by having a code of conduct.Buddhism originated in India, and gradually spread throughout Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asian countries including Japan, Korea, Mongolia and China. Up to these days, there are schools and practitioners from different part of the globe that still spread the word of Buddhism and teaches their followers to always perform good and wholesome actions and to avoid harm to others. For them, that this is the true meaning of enlightenment and existence. As Buddhism in India grow in large number, many people readily converted from Hinduism to Buddhism to achieve â€Å"enlightenment†.For them, being one follower of Buddha is easier because it does not require any traditions or set of Gods. Buddhist shrines were built but after a few centuries, Islam destroyed it. A great impact to Buddhism happened in India when Dalit (untouchable caste) leader converted from Hinduism to Buddhism which led hundreds of thousands away from Hinduism. After a millennium of Buddha’s death, Chinese adapted Buddhism to suit their old traditions of Taoism and Confuc ianism. But, as a way of Buddhism practices and beliefs, there are some differences between Buddhism in China and India.First one is that Chinese do believe in souls while Indians don’t. Second is that, Indians are disgusted with the dead, while Chinese praised and worship the dead and images of loved ones. But, whatever their differences are, according to Buddhism, no religion is â€Å"wrong†, any person of other religion can also be termed Buddhist, because all will lead to â€Å"enlightenment†. No rules are set to which God to worship, or what to do to achieve enlightenment. Both Chinese and Indians appreciate and follow the writings of Buddha, and adhere with his state of mind. The transformation of BuddhismBuddhism plays a very significant role in the history of Asia. It caused changes in some other realms of cultural identity. Soon after, Buddhism was already starting to transformations in the Indian lifestyle. Though Buddhism is worldwidely known, it also encountered criticisms form its skeptics. If analyzed, it could be realized that Buddhism is not just as a religion, but it is also a phenomenon on different aspects like social and cultural. During those times, the most promising aspect of Buddhism is cosmology that was widely used in the ancient Indian.This includes the beliefs of karma as the one that dictates one’s next life and samsara as the transmigration if souls by means of birth and rebirth. Cosmology has become a significant concept that affected art, social life and different challenges in the social life. It can be concluded that the almost everything in Buddhism, its roots, origin of popularity first existed in India. One of its most significant motivations is its indiscriminate ideology for male and female, educated and illiterate, etc.Buddhism also put high regards in a path when he concluded that there is no wrong or harm in praising and honoring gods, or even practicing rituals as long as they keep the obje ctive of enlightenment in mind. At this point, Buddhism has become safe while instilling that people does not have to throw their religious practices in order to follow the Eightfold Path. After Buddha’s death, followers continued to practice and send the message orally, and was only first written during the first century of C. E. Several changes occurred in the practices of monks.From eating one meal a day for about eight months, then shifted in introducing the Buddhist monasteries. Buddhism has also a great impact in the India’s politics in ancient times. King Ashoka, after deaths caused by battles, became a strong follower of Buddhism. He banned on animal sacrifices, sent missionaries in different known and popular countries. This has became the origin of art and architecture as a way of depicting Buddha in the human form. Another transformation of Buddhism is the development of sects, which are the Mahayana and Theravada.Mahayana is called â€Å"Great Vehicle† which is now exercise in China. Theravada was the first school of Buddhism, where it was formally taught. Undoubtedly, Buddhism spread to all different parts of Asia- first from India then after is China. Buddhism was firs received in China as a religion of merchants because of the environment of their primary contact with it then later became of more importance when missionaries started to came. Buddhism began to spread widely after the fall of Han’s Dynasty.Just like in India, Buddhism was viewed in China like something that could offer everything to everyone, like a sense of peace and unity, which enable it to be followed by a wide range of people For the rulers and powerful, Buddhism presented them an extraordinary power. Also, like in India, Buddhism introduced equality in the treatment of women, and opposing parties. By this time, there was huge increased in the number of temples, followers, changes in arts such as sculptures and architectures. The effect of Buddhism in the Chinese arts was obvious enough to change the culture of Chinese.This can be notably seen in arts with the execution in the arts that emphasized the concepts of meditations, empty space, etc. The ideology of Buddhism has greatly affected the Indian and Chinese culture, as well in the different countries worldwide. Its fairness and almost perfect ideology has become its power in creating a large span of followers. Buddhism achieved a degree of goodness in spreading its concepts like the fairness or the equality of nature. China and India were successful enough in fostering the improvement and growth of a revolutionary idea.

Challenges and Current Trends of Crm in Pc Industry: a Case Study at Dell Asia Pacific

Challenges and Current Trends of CRM in PC Industry: A Case Study at DELL Asia Pacific, Bukit Minyak ABSTRACT In the new millennium, customer service oriented performance has emerged as key success factors in maintaining the organizational competitiveness. This has led Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to take the driver seat role in creating a more loyal and profitable customer base at competitive cost. CRM has evolved from advances in information technology and constant pressing needs from customers to create value in the products and services. In current business environment, CRM is a strategic business tool that seamlessly integrates all the functional departments across the organization to work towards maximizing customer value through strategic partnership. CRM has played a key role in the PC industry by taking PC manufacturers closer to customers in terms of understanding their needs, buying behaviors and value creation in the supply chain. Armed with CRM strategies and, IT enabled customer and sales database, PC manufacturers have reoriented their business around the customer. DELL, as one of the world largest PC manufacturers, have strengthen its market share by positioning itself to provide customers with superior value, high-quality, relevant technology, and customized products and services, coupled with its IT integrated CRM solutions. At DELL, e-CRM oriented business solutions are initiated to automate and centralize customer database to embrace long-term partnership and PC market dominance. This project paper will analyze the current CRM trends and future challenges in PC industry based on the case study conducted at DELL Asia Pacific, Bukit Minyak. Furthermore, the paper will also address the selected DELL site, on its strategic effort in utilizing CRM methodologies supported by IT solutions to stay ahead of competitions. Categories and Subject Descriptors [Transaction Processing and Enterprise Resources Planning System]: Traditional Transaction Processing Application General Terms Management, Measurement, Documentation, Performance, Economics, Experimentation, Human Factors, Theory Keywords Customer Relationship Management (CRM), PC industry, Information Technology (IT), Web-based customer interaction (WCI) 1. INTRODUCTION Breakthroughs in Information Technology (IT) have changed the fundamental rule of the way business is being conducted in modern organizations. IT business icons like e-Commerce, K-Economy, etc have made things more complicated, where focus of the business has evolved and oriented around customer. Basically, customers are in the position to continuously demand and dictate what exactly they want at competitive cost – value-added products and services. Organizations are competing among each other to be the market leader, and emerging innovative IT solutions are helping organizations to achieve its competitive advantage. One of the key areas of business competencies is the ability of organizations to sustain the highest level of customer oriented service performance. The new business model is changing the producers’ mindset from product-centered to customer-centered business. This has led Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to take the center stage position to create a loyal and profitable customer base at competitive cost. 1. What is Customer Relationship Management (CRM)? CRM is a strategy used by organizations to comprehensively learn about customers’ needs and behaviors in order to establish constructive relationship with them; after all it is the core of business success. Basically, CRM is a notion regarding how an organization can keep their most profitable customers with increased values of interaction to consequently maximize the profits. This is achieved through the understanding of the drivers of current and future customer profitability to appropriately allocate the resources across all areas that affect customer relationships i. e. , communication, customer service, product/ service development, etc. Customer relationship management revolves around three key technology areas: the Internet, the customer call center and a data warehouse of customer-related information. Customer information is captured through company call center, the Internet, and other communications channels. It is this customer information, which established a â€Å"360-degree† picture of the customer that anyone throughout the organization can access when working with them. Through the Internet, both company employees and the customers themselves are able to access business transacted data from daily production systems, which are then enhanced with customer-centric information such as sales and service call activity, key customer contacts, and specific products purchased. From these technologies, there are also offshoots into emerging technology areas such as wireless technology, for facilitated remote access by customers and company field representatives; workforce management software, for streamlined back-office operations that are organized around the CRM business model; and Web-based customer interaction (WCI). Even though, there are many technological components to CRM, the useful way to view CRM is as a total business processes that will help bring together pieces of information about customers, sales, and marketing effectiveness and responsiveness, and market trends. Therefore, by integrating people, process and technologies, the relationship with both external and internal customers are maximized. 1. 2CRM Goals and Objectives Through the implementation of CRM, organizations would be able to identify their most profitable customers and leverage those relationships to the point of optimal profit. Furthermore, successful CRM programs will ensure active participation from all employees in the organization. CRM will utilize all possible ways to identify what exactly customer is looking for, market the organization’s strength, and ability to fulfill the customers’ needs, retained the customers through value added services. The main idea of CRM initiatives is that it helps businesses use technology and human resources to gain insight into the behavior of customer and the value of those customers. These are the fundamentals for customer loyalty program. There are several goals and objectives of CRM in a business framework (Kalakota & Robinson, 2000): †¢ Use existing relationships to grow revenue – enhance profitability by identifying, attracting the best customers. †¢ Use integrated information for excellent service – by using customer information to best serve customers’ needs. †¢ Introduce more repeatable sales processes and procedures – companies must improve consistency in account management and selling. †¢ Create new value and instill loyalty – the ability to respond to needs and accommodates requests. Implement a more proactive solution strategy – use proactive consumer relations that resolve problems on the first call. 1. 3CRM Architectural Framework In the CRM architecture, a company must first recognize the customer-centric approaches in the business processes. The demand of integrating the customer life cycles, interaction and servicing processes in an applicati on of CRM architecture is obvious. Thus, it is clear that the CRM is built to be customer-centric and in nature organizing CRM processes around the customer, rather than respectively to marketing, sales or any other internal function. Figure 1 illustrates the summary of CRM architecture. CRM architecture examined how products are built, how they’re deployed and customized, and integrated with external applications. A CRM product is selected primarily on its functionality; however its architecture should be a significant influence on the decision to buy or vice versa. 4. Integration with Business Application Tools CRM is definitely not a stand-alone program, it must be designed in away that it can be integrated into the company’s total business processes as shown in Figure 2. CRM must be able to work effectively with other business processes to value add the total operations. Basically, CRM tools will gather, analyze and store critical information captured at customer touch points. Together with ERP/ data warehouse, CRM database will provide the relevant information for business decision-making processes that relates to sales and marketing strategies, business development of new or existing customer and company’s strategic direction. 1. 5Role of e-CRM and Its Strategies -CRM refers to achieving CRM through using Internet technologies, primarily the web and e-mail – allied to database marketing to gear up for the new 24-hour global economy. e-CRM will focus on how to use the web site, databases and e-mails to manage customer relationships by providing online content and services. In order to achieve and support the organizational effort on e-CRM, companies must focus on few key strategies, as followings: †¢ Real time: e-CRM operates in a lmost instantaneous real time and it can be integrated seamlessly together, without the loss of efficiency. Closed loop: e-CRM operates within a closed loop system, resulting in huge gains in efficiency. †¢ Multi-channel: e-CRM is based on the architecture and available across all channels, where changes to activities through one channel are automatically and immediately updated across all channels. 2. Literature Review CRM is a highly fragmented environment and has come to mean different things to different people (Mckie, 2000). The same understanding of CRM, also have been agreed and shared by Winer (2001) and Goodhue (2002). One view of CRM is the utilization of customer related information or knowledge to deliver relevant products or services to customers (Levine, 2000). Another school of thought, CRM is inclusive of the whole organization including its internal and external environment and ‘key processes of the firm’s customers’ (Day, 2000). While such definitions are widespread, they tend to offer a narrow insight into the basic characteristics of CRM. As CRM evolves, comprehensive definitions are emerging, with an emphasis on multi dimensional business objectives. Goldenberg (2000) believed that CRM is not merely technology applications for marketing, sales and service, but rather, when successfully implemented, a cross-functional, customer-driven, technology-integrated business process management strategy that maximizes relationships and encompasses the entire organization. According to Light (2001), CRM evolved from business processes such as relationship marketing and the increased emphasis on improved customer retention through the effective management of customer relationships. Relationship marketing emphasizes that customer retention affects company’s profitability, in that it is more efficient to maintain an existing relationship with a customer than create a new one (Payne et al. , 1999; Reichheld, 1996). Christopher et al. (1991) also agreed that CRM has its roots in relationship marketing which is aimed at improving long run profitability by shifting from transaction-based marketing, with its emphasis on winning new customers, to customer retention through effective management of customer relationships. Sandoe et al. (2001) argued that advances in database technologies such as data warehousing and data mining, are crucial to the functionality and effectiveness of CRM systems. In later stage, relationship marketing emerged and had led others such as Newell (2000) to explore strategic methods for maintaining and improving customer loyalty. Furthermore, Peppard (2000) suggested that technological advances in global networks, convergence and improved interactivity, are key to explaining the growth of e-business and CRM. The increasing use of digital technologies by customers, particularly the Internet, is changing what is possible and what is expected in terms of customer management (Tamminga and O’Halloran, 2000). The appropriate use, for instance, of automation technologies, such as interactive voice response systems and Web-based frequently asked question pages, could be popular with customers and highly cost effective (Petrissans, 2000). Also for customers, CRM offers customization, simplicity, and convenience for completing transactions, regardless of the channel used for interaction (Gulati and Garino, 2000). CRM initiatives have resulted in increased competitiveness for many organizations as witnessed by higher revenues and lower operational cost. Managing customer relationships effectively and efficiently boosts customer satisfaction and retention rates (Reichheld, 1996a, b; Jackson, 1994; Levine, 1993). CRM applications help organizations assess customer loyalty nd profitability on measures such as repeat purchases, money spent, and longevity. In particular, customers benefit from the belief that they are saving time and money as well as receiving better information and special treatment (Kassanoff, 2000). Despite the diverging definitions, reality is that CRM is a complex combination of business and technological factors, and thus strategies should be formulated strategically and accordingly. 3. PC Industry The introduction of the first PC in the mid 1970s led to an industry that emerged as one of the largest and most dynamic sector. PC industry eventually became a multi-billion dollar worth of business that have gone through various growth phase. Today, the world’s PC industry is booming due to emerging demand for IT growth, which is parallel to explosive growth of world’s population. PC became the driving force for the whole computer industry. PC industry dynamics changed by the late-1990s when PCs became the means to get to the Internet. In the next decade a cellular-based packet communications network and broadband will further grow the Internet. Over the next 10 years the PC industry will prosper and thrive with two additional driving forces —consumer electronics devices built with computing platforms (information appliances) and mobile devices such as PDA and mobile phones. The PC industry is very competitive and has a good record of adapting to emerging technologies and market trends. This is likely to happen again and the PC industry will embrace information appliances and mobile devices. 3. 1PC Market Trends Trends in Table 1 showed that, the worldwide shipment for PC never stops growing from 1975 to 2005. In fact the industry volume had seen an increasing trend ever since the year 1990. However, the growth percentage began to slow down starting in late 1990s. This is the evidence that the PC industry is at the end of the growth stage, and soon will enter into the maturity stage. Apart from the effect due to the product life cycle maturity, other aspect of business such as globalization, economical and financial crisis, and presence of China market posed treat to the global PC industry. Table 1: Worldwide PC Market Growth (Source: eTForecasts, 2003) | |   | | | |Gender |Male: 31 (65%) |Female: 17 (35%) | |Occupation |Technical: 36 (75%) |Business: 12 (25%) | |Age Group |21 to 45 years old | |Income | < RM 2,000: Nil | | |RM 2,000 – 5,000: 29 (60%) | | |RM 5,000 – 8,000: 16 (33%) | | |> RM8,000: 3 (7%) | |PC Accessibility |100% | |Internet Accessibility |100% | From this survey, one important finding was all working group of people especially those who are from in dustrial organization, regardless of their income or position they hold, all of them some how able to access to PC either at home or workplace, as well as to Internet. This mainly because of current environment, which require PC and related electronics gadget to be a necessity items in day-to-day lifestyle. Furthermore the cost to purchase these devices is very much affordable, and for those who don’t own it, they are still able to access the Internet or Web-based services either at office during working hours or at Cybercafe at leisure hours. In this study, majority of the respondents is male and those who are working in technical areas, in fact both the gender and occupation background have some sort of relationship between them. Most of the male respondents are from technical background i. e. , technical or operations based managers, engineers or technicians. In contrast, most of the female respondents is working in the business related environment i. e. , sales or marketing, purchasing and finance executives. This indirectly relates to the way the understudy respond to the survey, basically, technical oriented person viewed this survey from product feature, functionality and technical superiority point of view. However, business people is more inclined to pricing, customization and human touch aspect i. e. , customer services. In this study also, majority of the respondents’ income falls in the range of RM 2,000 to RM 5,000, which indicating most of them are belongs to supervisory, executive and engineer category, with smaller group holding managerial and senior executive positions. Table 4, revealed the results based on the first section of the survey, which gave an overview of PC market trends and conditions among the understudy. The survey results shows that, educated and computer literate consumers are keeping abreast of current PC market trends in terms of product knowledge, service availability and PC manufacturers who is the trend setter. Today’s business society is more sensitive to changes surrounding them, they wouldn’t like to be left out in IT progress, and therefore they keep upgrading or changing the PC and its accessories within couple of years. Survey findings shows that, the understudy changed their PCs typically after 5 years and only 37% are changing within 3 to 5 years. This is due to majority of them are using the company’s PC or rather its costly for engineers or executives with reasonable income. Since the accessibility to Internet is possible, literally everywhere, today’s consumers are well informed and keep up with the changes in the PC market. There are consumers, who is still prefer to purchase PCs from computer shop, since they feel unsafe to do on-line transactions, however this trend will change in future as more consumers will be secured from spyware. Furthermore retailers will continue to loss their market share, mainly because of unavailability of after-sales support, and orders through mail became legacy. As for call-centers, business is expected to boom in future, since they have started to use some innovative IT solutions. Based on the findings of survey, it’s very obvious that desktop PCs are still the favorite product ype among the respondents, and those who are working in organization mainly use it. On top of that desktop PCs’ competitive price made it affordable by moderate-income group. As for mobile PCs i. e. , notebook and palmtop is common among managers and senior executives, and this product segment have bright future, since it is best suited for fast moving business environment. |Table 4: Part 1- PC Purchase Experience | |Survey Criteria |Results | |Frequency of changing PC hardware and accessories. < 3 years: Nil | | |3 to 5 years: 13 (27%) | | |> 5 years: 35 (73%) | |Purchasing Channel |Computer shop: 15 (31%) | | |Retailer: Nil | | |Internet: 29 (61%) | | |Toll Free Phone/ Call Centers: 4 (8%) | | |Mail Orders: Nil | |Product Type |Desk Top: 27 (56%) | | |Notebook: 14 (29%) | | |Palmtop: 6 (13%) | | |Others: 1 (2%) | |Brand |Acer: 5 (10%) | | |HP-Compaq: 6 (13%) | | |DELL: 18 (38%) | | IBM: 11 (23%) | | |Toshiba: 1 (2%) | | |Fujitsu: 2 (4%) | | |Clone: 5 (10%) | |Purchasing preference |Brand: 15% | | |Price: 31% | | |Service: 29% | | |Quality/ Reliability: 14% | | |Appearance: 1% | | |Functionality: 4% | | |Customization: 6% | As consumers become more knowledgeable, they tend to b e very intelligent in making decision, and selecting the right product, with excellent services from the competitive PC manufacturers. The PC market is volatile in the sense that superior product or service is expected at very competitive price, and only that manufacturer with efficient operations is able to survive. In today’s market, DELL emerged as the market leader, and this clearly reflected in the survey result, which revealed that 38% of the respondent had chosen DELL. The next contenders are IBM and HP-Compaq, however the pricing is still not as competitive as DELL. Whereas Toshiba and Fujitsu products such as notebooks are as considered as high-end products, and therefore it is serving only targeted market segments, i. e. , managers and senior executives with higher income. About 5% of the respondent preferred to purchase clone PCs, which is very low priced, and those consumer groups with lower income still can afford. In future, clone PC market will continue to deteriorate, as there will a price war. In this section also, assessment was made to study the respondents’ urchasing behavior, and what are the factors influencing the preferences that leads to the decision making of the purchasing process. Based on this study, there are two very important criteria that influence t he respondents, price and customer service factors. Basically, pricing was the main concern, due to majority of the group is moderate earners, and therefore they are looking for the best buy and next they expect are excellent services for worth of money. These factors is followed by branding and, product quality and reliability factors, which lately consumers are more sensitive of the brand, which is due to their vast exposure about the market trends, and the main contributing factor is the Internet and Web-based technology. Modern consumers have high expectations on PC performance in terms of quality and reliability. Other non-critical factors that influence the purchasing decision is high customization, product with more functionality and attractive and appealing appearances. Based on section two of the survey, only those respondents, who use DELL PC were assessed from various perspectives, such as consumers’ total experience with DELL, what are the customer touch points, DELL’s marketing and business strategies and, area that DELL can do better and how DELL can position itself as counteract from its competitors’ strategic move. Basically, findings from this section of survey were summarized into the SWOT analysis as shown in Table 5. A quick glance of SWOT analysis shows that internally DELL has tremendously improved and able to turnaround its weaknesses to further strengthen its position in the market. This was very obvious scenario couple of years ago, where DELL was competing with IBM, was then the PC market leader. However, DELL has aggressively worked on new strategies based on their identified weaknesses internally and market opportunities externally, and that made them capture the market leadership position. Without any hesitation, DELL continued on its strategic planning, with focus on key IT solutions, such as Web-based customer information portal, enhanced e-survey to capture voice of customers and other e-CRM strategies to monitor very closely on customer service performance metrics. Table 5: SWOT Analysis of DELL Product in PC Market | |Strength |Weakness | |1 |Build-to-Order approach |1 |No intermediary retailing channel | |2 |Value added customer service | | | |3 |Direct interface with end custome rs | | | |4 |Customer service specialist | | | |5 |Customer oriented business model | | | |6 |Good after sales support | | | |7 |On-Line purchasing | | | |8 |Product differentiation | | | |9 |Clear market segmentation | | | |10 |Comprehensive product information | | | |11 |Web based customer service portal | | | |Opportunity |Threat | |1 |Product leasing program |1 |Short product life cycle | |2 |Attractive payment scheme |2 |Competitive pricing | |3 |New potential market – Government agencies & higher learning|3 |No brand loyalty | | |institutions. |4 |Clone PCs | |4 |Completing the PC peripherals and accessories product range. | | Apart from that, SWOT analysis also revealed the market opportunities, which DELL should be focusing for future growth. The new opportunities are product leasing program and, emerging of new potential market segment, which is local government agencies and higher education centers. Most importantly, these are the untapped markets that DELL should c oncentrate its future efforts to maximize the return. Regarding the external threat, DELL came up with many effective counter strategies that the threats are no longer pose any risk. 5. 2 PC Market – DELL Competition Competition in the PC market remained fierce during the last few years as notebook adoption continued and consumers reacted to falling prices. Worldwide PC shipments were in line with forecasts, growing 15. 2% year-on-year to 44. 6 million units, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, Commercial demand showed some signs of recovery and consumers remained active during the holiday season. Strong growth in Europe and sustained notebook demand were key sources of growth, although limited supply of flat panel displays constrained shipments for some vendors. On an annual basis, shipment growth moved into double digits for the first time since 2000, boosting shipments to a record 152. 6 million on growth of 11. 4%. DELL’s underlying strengths are its abilities to penetrate into new markets with all the advantages under its belt. From the latest statistics, DELL’s server market is able to gain market share and grew by 31 percent during the last few quarters. This is contradicting to other PC vendors as they experienced declining server sales and market share and it shows that, DELL is able to strategize and implement very aggressive business and marketing plans to obtain success. 5. 3DELL e-CRM Strategies Being a giant PC maker and customer-oriented, DELL depends on sophisticated IT applications in carrying out their business processes ranging from line assembly across administration to customer relationship management. DELL has also invested substantially in building its IT infrastructure in order to create an advance and effective work place. Nonetheless, DELL also prepares its staffs to be IT oriented in performing their jobs, and this enables DELL to stay ahead of their competitors. As observed, DELL’s e-CRM strategies are closely in line with the model of CRM architecture frameworks, which was illustrated in Figure 2. The e-CRM strategy of DELL has begun with customer acquisition, value enhancement and customer relationship retention. In other words, DELL has fully utilized the IT edge in carrying out CRM operations and also use as their business analytical tools. DELL has prepared a very comprehensive web site and call centers to interact with its customers. Further enhancement of the web site and call centers, enable DELL to stand out as far as e-CRM is concerned. The Strategies In customer acquisition, DELL emphasize in direct interfacing with customers. In that sense, DELL eliminates the intermediaries in their distribution channel. All information of products can be obtained on-line and is assisted by well-trained e-CRM specialists. There are several creative features on the web that need to be highlighted. Among them are: 1. On-line configuration: Suitable for those who intend to purchase a customized system. 2. Automated order process: Once order is confirmed, the specification of goods will be informed to assembly floor to start the production and it is achieved via a fully automated process. 3. Payment on-line: The payment scheme prepared by DELL is user friendly. 4. Order status check: While waiting for PC system to be delivered, customer can check the good delivery status on-line. 5. Comprehensive technical support: DELL is well known for its technical support on-line and also call-center. DELL committed to reply their customers queries within 4 hours. 6. Information rich web site: Customers can easily access to detail information via on-line, such as E-value. DELL always emphasizes on the customer-centric approach, enhancing the customer value, thus creating sales opportunities. More importantly, DELL has managed to use strategically the innovative IT solutions in this process as following: 1. Value-add to customer: Customers are always delighted by the kind of service provided by DELL. 2. Customer database: To ensure customer have full accessibility of information they require, and should be maintained up-to-date. 3. Knowledge database: Product knowledge and experience is shared between customers and DELL employees for mutual benefits. More importantly DELL adds value to customer by creating opportunity of upgrading and cross selling of its product: 1. Continuous update of information: Educate customer awareness on DELL product update. 2. Voice of Customer: Using e-Survey to capture customer inputs and feedbacks regarding product and service performance. 3. Free software upgrades: DELL customers are entitled for selected operating and applications software through its website such as Windows XP and McAfee. 4. Customer Care: Providing additional product safety and security features in terms of quick on-line tips to combat spyware and adware. DELL continued to invest in keeping its infrastructure as one of the best IT platform. For instance, DELL staffs are able to access to internet or intranet through wireless broadband connection within the plant. This allows them to respond immediately to any issues pertaining to customer feedback and complaint. 6. 0Conclusions and Recommendations The customer expectations have risen in recent years and the firms have come up with a number of innovative ideas of serving customers. This has provided the customer with the flexibility and convenience. Similarly, various groups of customers would require different level of services and support. For first time buyer, they may require installation and training services while big corporations with internal computer specialist may expect more comprehensive CRM program coupled with other value added services. However, the important motto would be the exercise and implementations to keep the customers satisfied, and that would be the ultimate goal for each and every organization. DELL certainly has given their best to expand their customer horizon, and they are definitely on the right track towards creating profitable customer base. With that, we can expect more and more innovative business ideas from DELL in future, which will continue to delight the ever-demanding customers. We also would like to recommend that, DELL should explore further in areas concerning market opportunities, as mentioned in the SWOT analysis table. Carefully analyzing and turning each opportunity into their advantage would prepare DELL to scale at greater heights. DELL also needs to fine-tune continuously its e-CRM strategies to further strengthen their customer centric approach. REFERENCES [1]Agrawal, V. & Mittal, M. (2002). Customer Relationship Management: The e11 Way. White paper of Delhi Business Review, Vol. 3, No. 1, January –June 2002. [2]Boon, O. , Corbitt, B. & Parker, C. (2002). Conceptualising the Requirements of CRM from an Oraganizational Perspective: a Review of the Literature. AWRE 2002. [3]Bull, C. (2003). Strategic issues in customer relationship management (CRM) implementation. Business Process management Journal, Vol. 9 No. 5, 2003, pp 592-602. [4]Chen, IJ. & Popovich, K. (2003). Understanding customer relationship management: People, Process and technology Business Process Management. Journal, Vol. 9, No 5, 2003, pp672-688. [5]Christopher M. , Payne, A. and Ballantyne, D. (1991). Relationship Marketing. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. [6]Day, G. (2000). Managing Market Relationships. Journal of the Academy Marketing Sciences, Vol. 28, No. 1. [7]Goodhue, D. , Wixon, B. nd Watson, H. (2002). Realising business benefits through CRM: hitting the right target in the right way. MIS Quarterly, Vol. 1, Issue 2, pp74-94. [8]Jenkinson, A. (1996). Valuing Your Customers: From quality information to quality relationships through database marketing. McGraw-Hill, London [9]Kalakota, R. and Robinson, M. (2000). e-Business Roadmap for Success. Addison-Wesley, United States. [10]Kassanoff, B. (2000). Build loyalty into your e-business. Proceedings of DCI Customer Relationship Management Conference. Boston, MA, 27-29 June [11]Light, B. (2001). A review of the issues associated with customer relationship management systems. Proceedings of the 9th European Conference on Information Systems, pp1232-1241 [12]Newell, F. (2000). Loyalty. com: Customer Relationship Management in the New Era of Internet Marketing. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY [13]Payne, A. , Christopher M. and Clark, M. (1999). Relationship Marketing for Competitive Advantage. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. [14]Payne, A. A Strategic Framework for Customer Relationship Management. A BT CRM White Paper [15]Peppard, J. (2000). Customer relationship management (CRM) in financial services. European management Journal, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp 312-327 [16]Petrissans, A. (2000). Customer Relationship Management and the Challenge of the Internet. Cap Gemini Ernst and Young-IDC, Toronto. 17]Tamminga, P. & O’halloran, P. (2000). Finding the real value in CRM: leveraging IT solutions through the customer driven approach. Cutter IT Journal Vol. 13, No. 10, pp4-11 [18]Turban, E. et al. (2004). Information technology for management: transforming organizations in the digital economy. 4th Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc, USA [19]Winer, R. (2001). A Framework for Customer Relationship Management. California Management Review, Vol. 34, No. 4. [20]Xu, Y. et al. (2002). Adopting customer relationship management technology. Industrial Management & Data Systems 102/8 2002, pp 442-452. Appendix 1 PC Industry Research Questionnaire Respondent Particular | |Age: __ Gender: __ Male __ Female | | | |Occupation: __ Technical __ Business | | | |Income Group: __ Below RM2,000/= __ RM2,000/= to RM5,000/= | |(per month) __ RM5,000/= to RM8,000/= __ Above RM8,000/= | | | |Accessible to Internet: __ Yes __ No | Part I – PC Purchase Experience |1 |Have you ever own a PC (either at home or work place? __Yes |__ No | | | | | |2 |How many time have you bought a PC for the last 5 years? |Please state: __ | | | | | |3 |Through which channel the PC is purchased? |__ Computer shop | | | |__ Elect. Appliance Retailer | | | |__ Internet | | | |__ Toll free telephone | | | |__ Mail order | | | |Others: | | | | | | |4 |What type of PC do you purchase? |__ Desktop |__ Notebook | | | |__ Palmtop |Other: _____ | | | | | |5. |What is the PC brand have you purchased? __ Acer |__ HP-Compaq | | | |__ Dell |__ Toshiba | | | |__ IBM |__ Fujitsu | | | |__ Clone | | | | | |6. |What is sequence of criteria in purchasing a PC? __ Brand | | |(from top to bottom1 to 7) |__ Price | | | |__ Service | | | |__ Reliability/Quality | | | |__ Appearance | | | |__ Functionality | | | |__ Customization | Part II: Experience with Dell (For those who has bought Dell PC only) |1 |What are your experience using Dell products? __ Good |__ Fair | | | |__ Bad | | | | | | |2 |Have you ever visited Dell’s web site? |__ Yes |__ No | | | | | |3 |Have you called to Dell’s toll free call center? |__ Yes |__ No | | | | | |4 |Have you read through Dell advertisement on printed material? __ Yes |__ N o | | | | | |5 |What channel do you find the most effective to get information from Dell |__ Internet | | | |__ Toll Free Call | | | |__ Printed material | | | | | |6 |Do you find Dell web site user friendly? __ Yes |__ No | | | | | | |7 |Do you satisfy with Dell’s |Very Dissatisfied |Dissatisfied |Neutral |Satisfied |Very satisfied | | |i. service quality | | | | | | | |ii. product quality | | | | | | | |iii. technical support | | | | | | | |iv. rice | | | | | | | | | | |2 |Does Dell continuously provide information/promotion of its product to you? |__ Yes |__ No | | | | | |3 |Can Dell employee address you by name when you call them? |__ Yes |__ No | | | | | |4 |Can Dell identify you purchase immediately when you require after sale technical support? __ Yes |__ No | | | | | |5 |Does Dell employee friendly and helpful? |__ Yes |__ No | | | | | | |8 |Will you return to Dell for subsequent purchase? |__ Yes |__ No | | | | | |9 |Do you agree Dell has successfully created good relationship with you? __ Yes |__ No | | | | | | |10 |Do you have any suggestion for Dell to further improve its Customer Service | | |Please state: | | | | [pic] ———————– Receivable/ Payable Profitability Analysis Production Planning Inventory Mgm’t Shipping Personnel Planning Payroll Back Office Functions Front Office Functions Figure 1: CRM Architecture Framework Globally Dispersed Customers Customer Support Cross-Functional Processes Breaking Down Department Walls Complete Integrated Solution Integrated CRM Applications Enhance Partial Functional Solutions Retain Marketing Mgm’t Order Mgm’t Sales Mgm’t Sales Planning Pricing After Sales Service Sales Force Automation Figure 2: Integration of CRM with Business Application Tools Customer Support Traditional Touch Points Retail Store Front Service Departments Cross-sell & Upgrade Proactive Service Direct Marketing Electronic Touch Points Website/ Internet E-mail Call Centre Voice Response System Direct Marketing Customer Life Cycle Customer Touch Points Acquire CRM Technology ERP/ Data Warehouse

Imannuel Kant Life and teachings essays

Imannuel Kant Life and teachings essays Immanuel Kant was born in the East Prussian city of Knigsberg, which is today the Russian city of Kaliningrad. Immanuel studied at the University of Knigsberg where he tutored some of the wealthy upper class students of the university, eventually becoming a professor where he taught his ideals for more then forty years. Kant lived his entire life in the city of his birth, never venturing more then fifty miles from his home. Kants main philosophic thesis is: The possibility of human knowledge presupposes the active participation of the human mind (philosophypages.com, Kemerling). Immanuel Kant was born the forth child of the family, which eventually included five sisters and one brother, on April 22, 1724. Kant was born in East Prussia, during a time of recovery from war and plague which had cut the population of the city by almost half. Kants Scottish father and grandfather were leatherworkers who eked out a living making saddles and harnesses, so that he and his eight siblings knew continual poverty during their early years (Philosophy, Christian, P. 260). One of Kants early influences in his philosophical life was his mother Anna, who never herself attended higher education. Kants mothers insistence on facts and moral obligations was to remain with Kant through his life and played a leading role in his philosophy (Kant in 90 Minutes, Strathem, P. 11). His appearance was as much an oddity as his character. He was less than five feet tall, and his head was disproportionately large for his body. His frame suffered from a slight corkscrew twist, which made his left shoulder droop, his right shoulder curl back, and his head tend to lean to one side (Kant in 90 Minutes, Strathem, P. 15). At the age of eighteen Kant was admitted to the University of Knigsberg as a theological student. He received financial assistance from the local pietist...