Whose Life Is It Anyway

Introduction In the United States, genetic information is generally defined as personal property. Different states, however, use different wordings to imply the same meaning as far as defining genetic information is concerned. In Colorado, genetic information is regarded as the unique property of an individual (Patel, Roger Haux, 2001).Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Whose Life Is It Anyway? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In Florida, the results of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) are the exclusive property of an individual. Louisiana provides that an insured’s genetic information is the property of the individual while in Oregon, an individual’s genetic information and DNA sample are the property of the individual except in circumstances where the sample or information is used in anonymous research. According to Thompson and Chadwick (1999), genetic information is considered to be exclusively p ersonal and will enable scientists to identify each human being as genetically unique. It also provides a means to predict to some degree an individual’s future life especially in terms of physical and mental well being. Genetic information often reveals predictors of undesirable sicknesses such as cancer and other conditions that lead to mental illness (Thompson Chadwick, 1999). Access to Personal Genetic Information Due to concerns about the ways in which certain uses of personal genetic information can lead to various kinds of harm to persons, efforts have been made to come up with genetic specific laws (Tavani, 2006). In the United States, various laws exist to protect individuals against having their genetic information used in ways that can adversely affect their lives. The affected individuals may fail to secure employment or they may be denied access to medical insurance. According to Tavani (2006), a total of 41 states in the United States had enacted legislation on genetic discrimination by the year 2006 and 31 others had enacted legislation on genetic discrimination at the work place. Tavani (2006) identified two theories that are associated with informational privacy; the control theory and the restricted access theory. Under the control theory, an individual has privacy if and only if he or she has control over personal information. The restricted access theory states that one has privacy when access to information about him or her is limited or restricted in certain contexts. The control theory recognizes the fact that it is up to an individual to decide who should have access to his or her personal information. An individual can also choose to deny others access to his or her personal information. Restricted access theory on the other hand recognizes the importance of setting up contexts or zones of privacy (Tavani, 2006).Advertising Looking for term paper on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OF F Learn More According to Speaker, Lindee and Hanson (1993), the human genome project poses serious ethical, legal and social problems. Questions such as how information about genetic conditions which can be diagnosed, but not treated, will be handled and about who should have access to genetic information about individuals are of great concern to stake holders (Speaker, Lindee Hanson, 1993). Research has indicated that many institutions could use new genetic information to exercise control over individuals. Schools, health insurers and the criminal justice system have a stake in predicting and controlling behavior and knowledge of the genetic characteristics of individuals. Based on the genetic information, vulnerable people could be excluded from insurance coverage or students may be put in different academic categories. Some scientists involved in the genome project have suggested that the advantage of a complete genetic map is that it will permit the analysis of the in heritance of traits such as intelligence, personality and mental illness (Speaker, Lindee Hanson, 1993). Obviously, personal genetic information is personal property and belongs to individuals. However, genetic data may be accessed by different people who by law are allowed to handle such information. These include doctors, insurers, scientists, employers and government agencies. Using Personal Genetic Information According to Speaker, Lindee and Hanson (1993), the fact that genetic information will be used seems indisputable. However, how it will be used remains debatable. It is thus critical to have the issue of ethical implications to the use of genetic information dealt with as fast as possible. As explained earlier, genetic information may be used by different institutions or people and for varying reasons. Scientists will use the information to determine the characteristics of individuals and predict their future behavior, schools may use genetic information to figure out how to categorize students based on their intelligence level and insurers will use it to check whether or not an individual should be insured (Speaker, Lindee Hanson, 1993). Relationship between Personal Genetic Information, Individuals and Society Many people are afraid that genetic information may be used by institutions against them. Insurers for example, may end up using genetic data to give medical cover selectively. Children at school may also be discriminated on the basis of genetic information (Speaker, Lindee Hanson, 1993).Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Whose Life Is It Anyway? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More When information about people’s genetic information is let out into the public domain, the society may start creating categories that could have devastating effects on people. Based on personal genetic information, people may be singled out and treated very unfairly by others. Accordi ng to Jeffords (1998), researchers are particularly concerned that the fear of being discriminated will prevent individuals from participating in research studies or taking advantage of new genetic technologies to improve their medical care. Although scientific research guarantees higher quality of medical care in the future, Jeffords notes that it is only the federal legislation that can assure the public that whatever information is gathered about them is safe (Jeffords, 1998). According to Sateesh (2008), genetic discrimination may be experienced at the work place. He also cites concerns that insurers will use genetic information to deny, limit or cancel insurance policies while employers will use genetic information against existing workers or to screen potential employees. Given that DNA samples can be held indefinitely, there is the added threat that the samples will be used for purposes other than those for which they were collected (Sateesh, 2008). While in power, US Preside nt Bill Clinton signed an executive order prohibiting every federal department and agency from using genetic information in any hiring or promotion action. The order prohibits federal employers from requiring genetic tests as a condition of being hired or using genetic information to classify employees in a manner that deprives them of future opportunities. The order also provides strong privacy protections to any genetic information used for medical treatment and research (Sateesh, 2008). Effect of Genetic Information on Members of Minority Communities Researchers have argued that it is not possible for one to foresee all culturally specific risks that a minority group may face. This may be linked to the fact that minority community members’ perceptions of these risks may have been heightened by their historical experiences of being economically and politically disadvantaged with respect to the majority in the society (Sateesh, 2008). The differences in power and privileges between researchers and socially defined populations that lack significant economic and political resources may affect the ability of the latter to fully conceptualize and negotiate the conditions for research participation, and to take effective action on any subsequent concerns about sample misuse and adverse interpretations of genetic findings (Sateesh, 2008). Because of differences in economic power, researchers may be discouraged from using genetic tests and samples from minority communities. For this reason, community involvement and consultation are very critical during the planning stage of any genetic research. According to Trull (2002), genetic counseling in ethnic minority communities often requires the assistance of a knowledgeable member of the same community.Advertising Looking for term paper on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Any efforts from a stranger to penetrate the community may meet serious opposition and from the community members. The confidence of the minority community members can only be guaranteed when one of their own is involved. Part of the time set apart for the research must therefore be used wisely to try and win support from the community. Failure to do this will lead to poor response and a waste of time and resources (Trull, 2002). Murphy and Lappà © (1994) noted that no question is more pressing from the viewpoint of ethnic and racial minorities than understanding the ways in which new genetic knowledge will shape their self understanding and social standing. Concerns raised include whether the knowledge generated by the genome project should be used to identify, classify or label racial or ethnic groups or to establish the boundaries of their membership. When screening programs are undertaken for different groups of people, there are worries as to whether or not traditional, cultur al and political definitions of race should prevail. Minority groups seek to know if the information generated by the genome project will be used to draw new, more precise boundaries regarding membership in existing groups or if individuals who have tried to break their ties with ethnic or racial groups will be forced to confront their biological ancestry and lineage in ways that go against their own self perception and the lives they have built with others (Murphy Lappà ©, 1994). This is particularly important in places where homelands are established based on political considerations or the beliefs of social scientists about minority ethnic identities (Gorenburg, 2003). Conclusion Genetic information has tremendous social power (Speaker, Lindee Hanson, 1993). The wide variety of laws and sources of laws, present a challenge to administer and follow the applicable law or laws. However, protection of genetic information is a major concern for the public and must be handled carefu lly (Patel, Roger Haux, 2001). Rapid advances in genetic research and the emerging applications to medical practice have increased public awareness and public concerns about people that should have access to this information and how it will be used. Even with medical records privacy and confidentiality laws available in some places, possible loss of one’s genetic privacy can greatly influence an individual’s decision to undergo genetic testing. In the year 2001, researchers discovered that about 86% of people surveyed in the United States were concerned that insurers and employers might use genetic information against them (Patel, Roger Haux, 2001). It is quite unfair to allow genetic information to be used to cause harm to an individual (Paola, Walker Nixon, 2009). As a result, those involved with the maintenance and protection of genetic information face a daunting task of ensuring that they provide the protections allowed by their state laws and the Federal gover nment regulations. References Gorenburg, D. P. (2003). Minority ethnic mobilization in the Russian Federation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Jeffords, J. M. (1998). Genetic Information and Health Care: Hearing before the Committee on Labor and Human Resources, U.S. Senate. Darby, PA: DIANE Publishing. Murphy, T. F. Lappà ©, M. (1994). Justice and the Human Genome Project. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Paola, F. A., Walker, R. Nixon, L. L. (2009). Medical Ethics and Humanities. Burlington, MA: Jones Bartlett Learning. Patel, V. H., Roger, R. Haux, R. (2001). MEDINFO: proceedings of the 10th World Conference on Medical Informatics, Part 2. Amsterdam: IOS Press. Sateesh, M. K. (2008). Bioethics and Biosafety. New Delhi: I. K. International Pvt Ltd Speaker, S. L., Lindee, M. S. Hanson, E. (1993). A guide to the Human Genome Project: technologies, people, and institutions. Philadelphia, PA: Chemical Heritage Foundation. Tavani, H. T. (2006). Ethics, com puting, and genomics. Burlington, MA: Jones Bartlett Learning. Thompson, A. K. Chadwick, R. F. (1999). Genetic information: Acquisition, Access, and Control. New York: Springer. Trull, A. K. (2002). Biomarkers of Disease: An Evidence-Based Approach. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. This term paper on Whose Life Is It Anyway? was written and submitted by user Salvador Y. 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.

Cultural Studies, Multi-Culturalism, and Media Culture essays

Cultural Studies, Multi-Culturalism, and Media Culture essays Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism and Media Culture The society that we live in today is mostly reflected by the media. The media includes, television, radio, film, and many sorts of advertisements. The clothing we wear, our hair styles, the choice of food we eat all are influenced the culture we live in. I look back fifty years and from what I know and have read we did things that would help us live better lives. We bought items that would be beneficial and have longevity to us. Today, we buy things out of impulse. The products we buy, for example our clothes, cars, and homes all reflect on us trying to gain a certain status. People go through life thinking that money is the root to all happiness. For some, it can be the root to all problems. For instance, the movie Rocky, genuinely portrays the above statement. Rocky, is the "All-American,""white-collared," worker who eventually gets his chance at fame. He starts out working hard to accomplish something in his life. Eventually, through hard work and dedication he makes it to the top. In one of the later Rocky's, it call comes crashing down. With the more money he made the lazier he became. Then in a matter of a few seconds he lost everything. In Rambo, he also portrays the "All- American" guy. He fights for what he believes in. It also portrays everyone else who is not an American to be evil and the enemy. These type of war movies always portrays other cultures that are no a norm for us as bad. In the article, it says that Madonna was a resource to inspire gestures of independence and fashion rebellion and thus empowered the young girls to express themselves. This is very true. Celebrities, professional athletes, and the wealthy all inspire us to work harder to become what we want to be. But, they also portray many negative elements. Some of the lifestyles these people live go against a lot of our beliefs. We read a lot about celebrities who use dru ...

Final project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Final project - Essay Example The belief’s name came from the word â€Å"Buddha† which means â€Å"the enlightened one†. He was able to achieve this after meditating under the Bodhi tree. After this monumental event, Buddha was able to have a band of followers and he started teaching the path towards awakening. â€Å"The Four Noble Truths† are fundamental to Buddhism. These are: â€Å"dukkha† or suffering, its origins, the path to stop it, and the truth regarding the path to stop it. This leads to the Eightfold path which is the way to freedom that was mentioned in the fourth noble truth. The path has three main divisions: wisdom, ethical conduct, and concentration. Specifically, the eight pathways state that one should have the right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. Buddhists believe that reality should be viewed as how it actually is and not how it seems to be. There should also be an intention of repudiation of materialism a s well as nonviolence and freedom. Believers should speak in peaceful and truthful ways. Actions should be shown in diplomatic ways. A livelihood must be chosen basing on its nonviolent characteristics. Individuals should have ample effort to progress. The mind should be very much aware of the present and not shrouded with hatred. Lastly, proper meditation must be practiced. One of the Buddhism Temples in Massachusetts is located in Boston. At 930 Commonwealth Avenue, the Boston Center of Soka-Gakkai International-USA (SGI-USA) is situated. It is a Buddhist association for peace, culture, and education. Though the temple is near the street, the ambience is made serene with trees and other vegetation. Like any other church, they have weekly and other scheduled services. For instance, their calendar includes Sunday meditation and services, monthly Saturday evening services, and different night activities. They also seek to enlighten visitors with their 4-week-class, essentials of Budd hism. It focuses on their traditional texts, history, meditation practices, and others. To further ascertain knowledge regarding Buddhism, a temple-goer was interviewed. Ken has been attending regular services for a year. I was able to sit next to him during one of their Sunday services. He said that he became a Buddhist through a friend. He has been convinced to join this faith after becoming more well-informed about the practices and their elucidations. When asked about his prior religion, he said that he was an atheist. He added that he could have also been an agnostic. He agreed to be interviewed as long as the details of his personal life and identity will not be revealed. He was very cooperative and proved to have much knowledge about his belief. The steps of becoming a member of Buddhism are somehow vague. First off, there is still a debate whether it may be fully considered as a religion. Some authors say that several of its philosophical and empirical elements may classify it as more of a science than a religion. However, the traditions and rituals involved are much related to the definition of Buddhism. The commonly viewed paths to becoming a full-pledged Buddhist are the major teachings and the â€Å"Three Jewels†. The meaningful credos have two aspects: dependent origination and no-self. This means that a Buddhist must realize his connection to other beings, thus respecting them. Furthermore, one must understand that giving up of selfish desires is necessarily to truly attain liberation. In addition,

Health Promotion Teaching Plan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Health Promotion Teaching Plan - Research Paper Example at the rules stipulated in the memo can be reviewed and a thorough checking be conducted in order to ensure that the students have obeyed them to the letter. The historical exercise of â€Å"hands on† teaching in healthcare professions, whereby students learn through practice on real stress reduction strategies, diet and exercise under supervision, may not be justifiable as the principal model for preparing healthcare experts. This challenge could be aggravated by the advance of directed health plans; patients paying for their own healthcare may refuse to serve as â€Å"teaching material,† the price traditionally paid for receiving care at a teaching hospital or public clinic. Consequently, real people with wellness problems are needed to avoid of caregivers shortages under such situations ( Riley, 2008). The instructor will listen to how the other nursing students respond to a given incident and provide guidance where needed. The observational notes will be look over during the next class with all students. Nursing students learn in two ways, through text books, and by being in a hospital environment, which allows them to familiarize themselves with real life situations; as such, the lesson provide a way for the students to practice in an environment that is comparable to a real life situation. This will better prepare the students for their upcoming healthcare nursing studies (Loyd, Lake, & Greenberg, 2004). The main challenge faced by nursing students is that they are not familiar with carrying out proper procedures during circumstances that are covered in their textbooks, and it is for that reason that nursing students need to be able to have a way to practically apply the proper procedures of the medical field’s practices, especially in health and wellbeing. The practice of using role-playing scenarios at random throughout a course of study considerably helped students to be prepared to act on any situation as if they were in a real situation ( Sanchez,

Issue facing texas Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Issue facing texas - Research Paper Example A part from education, there are some other issues that must also be addressed in Texas. These issues involve poverty, budget and tax payment. These issues have been there for long time but there are current reforms that have been put in place in orders to control these challenges. Education policy (university & colleges) There have been many challenges that are affecting the education sector in Texas. Some have been there for long while others have been caused by the current legislation and the type of education system that have been put in place. One of the major issues facing Texas colleges and university education is the lack of funds for both the students and the schools. The cost of colleges and universities are very high in Texas. This blocks many students from pursuing there postsecondary schools courses. In the past, the cost of colleges was average. Many parents were able to take their children for high education. This dream has been erased by the rise of school fees. Recen tly, college costs have risen at a very high rate. This rise has even exceeded the rate at which inflation goes up. Parents and students now feel they are being exploited by the government due to the rise in school fees. Some cannot afford to pay all the fees and their children are forced to drop out of college. This rise of education fees has been caused by Texas failure to pay taxes. There has been a big hole in Texas budget that has forced the tax payers’ lot money in trying to reduce the budget deficits ("Challenges Facing Career and Technical Education"). This issue of rise in school fees has been dealt with to some extent. There are some policies that have been put in place in order to reduce the rise in school fees. These measures also help parents and students raise enough money for high education. One of the measures that have been put in place includes giving financial aids to the students who are studying in colleges and universities. This aid is made effective by giving loans to the students. These loans are given through private financial institutions or federal government. These institutions include education tax credits, state loans, work-study programs and federal grants. These loans help many students in colleges. Those who are in the two-year community colleges can also benefit from the loans. They will be able to give back to the society after completing college. The loan is also available for those who are going for five years in their high education. Most of the students who are going for four years have high chances of getting these loans as compared to those who are going for two years. This is because the four-year courses are known to cost more money than the two-year courses ("Challenges Facing Career and Technical Education"). From my opinion, this policy of giving financial aid to students is very important. It helps many students whose dreams were to study in colleges and universities. It is also very essential for students who come from poor families. When these students complete their education, they will be able to help the other members of their families. This means that the financial aid important will help the whole society. K-12 Education There many issues that is associated with K-12 education in Texas. Some of the issues are caused by larger number of students in the lower grade schools. This large population in

Diagram For Five Bus Power System Computer Science Essay

Diagram For Five Bus Power System Computer Science Essay The main objective of this project is to analyse the different parameters of five bus bar power system. Analysis of these bus bars parameters must be supported by both theoretically and simulated results obtained by using Power World Simulator (PWS). Power World Simulator (PWS) used for engineering analysis, power system visualisation, simulation and analysis tool [1]. In this project five bus bars attached to each other according to their specific input data. According to power system terminology, bus is the node at which two or more different devices joined known as buses. In electrical power distribution, bus bar thick strip that conduct electricity to other electrical apparatus [2]. In this project, input data for five bus power system provided and the required power system designed on the Power World Simulator as per requirement. When five bus power systems designed on PWS instructions completely followed in order to make required design. After that one-line diagram is obtained shown in figure 1. Then design critically analysed by performing simulation in order to check voltages and flows on other network components. Figure 1: One-line diagram for five bus power system 2. Problem Analysis When designing five bus bar power system different problem were faced because designing is quite complex and skilled operation. 2.1 Data analysis Before start designing in order to draw one-line diagram input data for buses were properly analysed and also transmission line data and transformer data. As four variables associated with each bus: voltage magnitude Vk, phase angle ÃŽ ´k , real power Pk, and reactive power Qk. By these variables analyse which were input data and which were unknown from the provided input data. 2.2 Designing analysis In designing, general designing principles were followed in order to design five bus power system. The five-bus power system modelled in Power World Simulator (PWS), this software used for power system analysis. Although some guide provided to start modelling the five-bus power system in PWS. Modelling was quite complex and take several times because of different adjustment and given parameters was properly entered for buses, transmission lines, and transformers in order to simulate model properly. After completing the required model on PWS, power flow can be visualized and also other parameters that were unknown when simulation performed. 2.3 Software analysis According to the main objective of the project mainly focused on the modelling as per requirement and five-bus power system modelled on the Power World simulator for the purpose of simulation. This software requires some technical skills. Thats why general principles must follow in order to simulate the desired model otherwise problem might occur. 3. Problem Solutions 3.1 Data solution The one-line diagram can obtain by inserting the bus data, transmission line data and transformer as per requirement for the five-bus power system. The bus input data enable to distinguish between different kinds of buses. These buses are as follows: Slack bus ( V and ÃŽ ´ input data) Load bus (P and Q input data) Voltage controlled bus (P and V input data) Similarly transmission line input data provide series resistance, reactance, and shunt charging, transformer input data provide series resistance and reactance. With the help of these input data one-line diagram can be achieved by using the software. 3.2 Designing solution The required model designed on Power World Simulator which permits the system to perfectly model as single phase system. The connection between devices drawn by a single line in order to join them, therefore one-line diagram achieved. The desired model has five buses and by available input data for all devices model can be achieved by inserting all devices parameters properly. Make sure that all the devices connected to each other, otherwise its impossible to achieve the required results. In PWS, generator have circle shape with a rotor at the centre, large arrows represent the load and transmission line represented by simple line. By following the general principles required one-line diagram can be achieved. 3.3 Software solution Five-bus power system modelled on PWS as per requirement and then simulation performed to determine the unknown variables. By this software different techniques like Gauss-Seidel and Newton-Raphson techniques can be performed. By PWS, Y bus (Bus Admittance Matrix) can be easily obtained and compare with theoretical values of admittance matrix. PWS has some different and interesting specification if compare with MATLAB and Proteus. Simulation can easily perform by PWS but make sure that all the given parameters properly inserted. 4. Implementation The main objective of this project to analyse the five-bus power system that means to critically analyse the parameters for buses, transformers, and transmission lines. These parameters can be determined theoretically by performing different theoretical techniques but the result obtained have some human error and time consuming, thats why in order to remove these error Power World Simulator used. By following the modelling analysis and solution, implementation of five-bus power system can be achieved by using the software Power World Simulator (PWS). PWS used in order to compare both simulated and theoretical results. Power World Simulator has two modes, Edit mode and Run mode. Edit mode used to add buses, load and many other components as shown in figure 4.1 Figure 4.1 As this project based on Power World Simulator as per requirement and by following the bus input data totally five buses inserted in order to full fill the requirement. In the Edit mode, five buses inserted to desired location. All buses parameters set as provided and adjusted in Bus Field Options dialog and there are three load buses, one slack bus, and one voltage control bus. Between bus1 and bus5 transformer line connected and similarly between bus4 and bus3. This can be done graphically by selecting insert, transformer. Buses 2, 4 and 5 connected by line, all these line have different parameters, line series resistances, series reactance and MVA limit inserted in the line information dialog. The required model has two generators one on slack bus1 and other on voltage control bus3, and also two loads, one load inserted on bus2 and other load inserted on voltage control bus3. Parameters for buses, transmission lines and transformers properly set as given. By following all these pr inciple required one-line diagram obtained as shown in figure 4.2 Figure 4.2 Power World Simulator also has other mode, Run Mode which is used for the simulation. When simulation performed all the unknown values appeared on the screen. The arrows show the direction of power flow as shown in figure 4.3. On this final model different technique and changes performed as per requirement. Figure 4.3 5. Results and Discussions After completing the one-line diagram on Power World Simulator simulation performed. Through simulation all the unknown values determined and these parameters shown in table 5.1 Table 5.1 After that Y-matrix can be easily displayed in PWS by selecting case information, solution details, Y-bus. The Y-bus derived by other system parameters which cannot be change directly. These simulated values compare with the theoretical values. Y-bus matrix shown in table 5.2 Table 5.2 Theoretical values for Y-bus admittance matrix elements are given below: Off diagonal elements: Y42 = Y24 = 089276 + j 9.91964 Y52 = Y25 = 1.42284 + j 15.8714 Y51 = Y15 = 3.72 j 49.72 Y54 = Y45 = 2.8568 j 31.7428 Y43 = Y34 = 7.458 j 99.44 Diagonal elements: Y11 = 3.72 j 49.7 Y22 = 2.3211 j 25.791 Y33 = 7.458 j 99.44 Y44 = 11.21 j 121.25 Y55 = 8.0053 j 97.324 The theoretical values compare with the simulated values as obtained in table 5.2 almost same result obtained. After computing the Y-matrix, Gauss-Seidel and Newton-Raphson techniques apply in Power World Simulator in order to solve the power flow problem and compare the solution obtained by PWS. PWS gives the calculation by default Gauss-Seidel technique, so the bus record table 5.1 shown above is the solution for Gauss-Seidel. The solution computed by Newton-Raphson technique shown in table 5.3. Table 5.3 After computing the solutions from both the techniques and compared with each other. It observed from both the results that there was not much difference in both results except in generated reactive power (MVAr). Newton-Raphson gives more accurate results because it performs more iteration as compare to Gauss-Seidel. In the case when demand increases at bus 2 set as almost double, as a result load on the transformer between bus 3 and bus 4 increases and also reactive power in generator at bus 3 increases which indicates that losses in the generator also increases. It is observed that the acceptable generated range at bus 2 is 844MW, demand increases but power at bus to not upto required demand. Figure 5.1 In PWS the shunt capacitor connected on bus 2 in parallel with load and this method of connecting capacitor in parallel with load is known as power factor correction and decreases the apparent power of source, so source current also decreases. As the line connected between the load and generator line losses decrease and less line voltage drop across the line. The capacitor of 210 Mvar rating inserted at bus 2 and decreases the losses from 46.50 MW to 29.1MW as shown in area field option dialogue below: The connected capacitor shown in figure 5.2 which supplying the reactive power of 188.1Mvar. Capacitive reactance rating depends on assumed voltage 1.0 pu and this loss due to capacitor reactance varies directly with the square of the voltage. The voltage at bus 2 increases to 0.95 pu as per requirement also shown in figure 5.2 Figure 5.2 After that another possible changing in five-bus power system performed to find the low voltage problem, for that another transmission line inserted in parallel between bus 4 and 2 having the same parameters with the already exciting model and then simulation performed. After that all the parameters analyse and at bus 3 MVar of the generator decreases and hence losses. Load on line between bus 3 and 4 also decreases. At bus 2 the voltage increases to 0.96 pu and losses at bus 2 decreases shown area field dialogue given below. By inserting transmission line power factor also improve and simulated one-line diagram shown in the figure 5.3. The choice for inserting the line is less preferable as compare to capacitor in real implementation because of the cost factor but both these can be used for power factor improvement. Figure 5.3 In PWS, the real and reactive mismatches equation by simply selecting the option mismatches option, the table given below shows real and reactive power mismatches. The convergence tolerance is  ±1% of their rated value. The transmission line between bus 2 and 4 is removed for maintenance. After that five bus power system again simulated and its operating condition is not acceptable because transmission line between bus 5 and bus 4 is overloaded. Then in order to run the system under normal condition the load at bus 2 and bus 3 are equally shared in such a way that the overloading on the transmission line between bus 5 and bus 4 is reduced. 6. Conclusion After completing this project, we get enough information about how to draw bus power system by using Power World Simulator (PWS). This simulation software easy to use and give brief description of each step, voltage, load angle etc. Most importantly this software is less time consuming and free from any human error. This project gives very good understanding and knowledge about bus power system and clear idea about the different parameters that mainly analysed during simulation. Now a days mostly all industries using such kind of softwares in order to check any fault and transmission losses. Mainly electric consumption have increased and also the number of interconnections, so future planning become more complex. The software like PWS efficiently calculates power-flow solution of any numbers of bus power systems. This project gives an idea to analyse different kind of transmission design.

A Disappointing Golf Game :: Reflection Memoir Essays

A Disappointing Golf Game A smooth swing backed by power propelled my Titleist 230 yards down the fairway. An explosion of emotions ran through me as I started off the most important round of golf to date. The first hole of regionals proved to be as challenging as the rest of the course would be that day. With temperatures in the lower forties, I teed off at approximately 10:40 a.m. I had a thirty-foot putt to save par. I drained it, right in the center of the cup. I thought to myself, "Now let's build off of that." The next tee shot was down the right side of the fairway and in perfect position to the pin. I was striking the ball very well, even though my swing felt like an unfolding lawn chair. I would have to keep this up for seventeen more holes. In the back of my mind, I knew that a 77 would get me to state for sure. At this same course, just two weeks prior, I shot 77 with a bogey and then a double bogey to finish my last two holes. I knew that if I could just replicate that round, I would be going to state. That 77 wasn't even a very good round for me. I made a lot of errors, mental and physical, that would have saved me a lot of strokes. A 73 won that tournament, so without those errors, I would have been right there. All I had to do was to play well. After carding a 39 on the front nine with five three-putts, I was on track to a 75. Things were looking up. Standing on the number ten tee was a very different experience than it was on the front nine. The cold, dark clouds moved overhead with a light wind blowing right to left. The wind soon raised goose bumps on all of our skin. It had become quite cold, and everyone knew that this was going to turn ugly. A decent tee shot started off the second half of my round. As I was walking to my ball in the fairway, the wind picked up dramatically and sleet was stinging the back of my neck. My hands were soaked, along with the rest of my body. My clothes were drenched, making the temperature seem much lower than it already was. I knew I would have to play through these elements well enough to post a good round.

Customer Value Propositions in Business Markets

Customer Value Propositions in Business Markets by JAMES C. ANDERSON, JAMES A. NARUS, AND WOUTER VAN ROSSUM Under pressure to keep costs down, customers may only look at price and not listen to your sales pitch. Help them understand – and believe in – the superior value of your offerings. â€Å"CUSTOMER VALUE PROPOSITION† has become one of the most widely used terms in business markets in recent years. Yet our management-practice research reveals that there is no agreement as to what constitutes a customer value proposition – or what makes one persuasive. Moreover, we ? d that most value propositions make claims of savings and bene? ts to the customer without backing them up. An offering may actually provide superior value – but if the supplier doesn’t demonstrate and document that claim, a customer manager will likely dismiss it as marketing puffery. Customer managers, increasingly held accountable for reducing costs, don’t have the l uxury of simply believing suppliers’ assertions. PETER HOEY march 2006 91 C u s t o m e r Va l u e P ro p o s i t i o n s i n B u s i n e s s M a r ke t s Take the case of a company that makes integrated circuits (ICs).It hoped to supply 5 million units to an electronic device manufacturer for its next-generation product. In the course of negotiations, the supplier’s salesperson learned that he was competing against a company whose price was 10 cents lower per unit. The customer asked each salesperson why his company’s offering was superior. This salesperson based his value proposition on the service that he, personally, would provide. Unbeknownst to the salesperson, the customer had built a customer value model, which found that the company’s offering, though 10 cents higher in price per IC, was actually worth 15. cents more. The electronics engineer who was leading the development project had recommended that the purchasing manager buy those ICs, even a t the higher price. The service was, indeed, worth something in the model–but just 0. 2 cents! Unfortunately, the salesperson had overlooked the two elements of his company’s IC offering that were most valuable to the customer, evidently unaware how much they were worth to that customer and, objectively, how superior they made his company’s offering to that of the competitor. Not surprisingly,We conducted management-practice research over the past two years in Europe and the United States to understand what constitutes a customer value proposition and what makes one persuasive to customers. One striking discovery is that it is exceptionally dif? cult to ? nd examples of value propositions that resonate with customers. Here, drawing on the best practices of a handful of suppliers in business markets, we present a systematic approach for developing value propositions that are meaningful to target customers and that focus suppliers’ efforts on creating super ior value.Three Kinds of Value Propositions We have classi? ed the ways that suppliers use the term â€Å"value proposition†into three types: all bene? ts, favorable points of difference, and resonating focus. (See the exhibit â€Å"Which Alternative Conveys Value to Customers? †) All bene? ts. Our research indicates that most managers, when asked to construct a customer value proposition, simply list all the bene? ts they believe that their Customer managers, increasingly held accountable for reducing costs, don’t have the luxury of simply believing suppliers’ assertions. hen push came to shove, perhaps suspecting that his service was not worth the difference in price, the salesperson offered a 10-cent price concession to win the business – consequently leaving at least a half million dollars on the table. Some managers view the customer value proposition as a form of spin their marketing departments develop for advertising and promotional copy. T his shortsighted view neglects the very real contribution of value propositions to superior business performance. Properly constructed, they force companies to rigorously focus on what their offerings are really worth to their customers.Once companies become disciplined about understanding customers, they can make smarter choices about where to allocate scarce company resources in developing new offerings. offering might deliver to target customers. The more they can think of, the better. This approach requires the least knowledge about customers and competitors and, thus, the least amount of work to construct. However, its relative simplicity has a major potential drawback: bene? t assertion. Managers may claim advantages for features that actually provide no bene? to target customers. Such was the case with a company that sold highperformance gas chromatographs to R&D laboratories in large companies, universities, and government agencies in the Benelux countries. One feature of a particular chromatograph allowed R&D lab customers to maintain a high degree of sample integrity. Seeking growth, the company began to market the most basic model of this chromatograph to a new segment: commercial laboratories. In initial meetings with prospective customers, the ? rm’s James C. Anderson is the William L.Ford Distinguished Professor of Marketing and Wholesale Distribution at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, Illinois; the Irwin Gross Distinguished ISBM Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Business Markets in University Park, Pennsylvania; and a visiting research professor at the School of Business, Public Administration, and Technology at the University of Twente, the Netherlands. James A. Narus is a professor of business marketing at the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University in Charlotte, North Carolina.Wouter van Rossum is a professor of commercial and strategic management at the School of Business, Public Administration, and Technology at the University of Twente. 92 harvard business review C u s t o m e r Va l u e P ro p o s i t i o n s i n B u s i n e s s M a r ke t s Which Alternative Conveys Value to Customers? Suppliers use the term â€Å"value proposition† three different ways. Most managers simply list all the bene? ts they believe that their offering might deliver to target customers. The more they can think of, the better.Some managers do recognize that the customer has an alternative, but they often make the mistake of assuming that favorable points of difference must be valuable for the customer. Best-practice suppliers base their value proposition on the few elements that matter most to target customers, demonstrate the value of this superior performance, and communicate it in a way that conveys a sophisticated understanding of the customer’s business priorities. VALUE PROPOSITION: ALL BENEFITS FAVORABLE POINTS OF DIFFERENCE All favorable po ints of difference a market offering has relative to the next best alternativeRESONATING FOCUS Consists of: All bene? ts customers receive from a market offering The one or two points of difference (and, perhaps, a point of parity) whose improvement will deliver the greatest value to the customer for the foreseeable future Answers the customer question: â€Å"Why should our ? rm purchase your offering? † â€Å"Why should our ? rm purchase your offering instead of your competitor’s? † â€Å"What is most worthwhile for our ? rm to keep in mind about your offering? † Requires: Knowledge of own market offering Knowledge of own market offering and next best alternativeKnowledge of how own market offering delivers superior value to customers, compared with next best alternative Has the potential pitfall: Bene? t assertion Value presumption Requires customer value research salespeople touted the bene? ts of maintaining sample integrity. Their prospects scoffed a t this bene? t assertion, stating that they routinely tested soil and water samples, for which maintaining sample integrity was not a concern. The supplier was taken aback and forced to rethink its value proposition. Another pitfall of the all bene? ts value proposition is that many, even most, of the bene? s may be points of parity with those of the next best alternative, diluting the effect of the few genuine points of difference. Managers need to clearly identify in their customer value propositions which elements are points of parity and which are points of difference. (See the exhibit â€Å"The Building Blocks of a Successful Customer Value Proposition. †) For example, an international engineering consultancy was march 2006 bidding for a light-rail project. The last chart of the company’s presentation listed ten reasons why the municipality should award the roject to the ? rm. But the chart had little persuasive power because the other two ? nalists could make mos t of the same claims. Put yourself, for a moment, in the place of the prospective client. Suppose each ? rm, at the end of its presentation, gives ten reasons why you ought to award it the project, and the lists from all the ? rms are almost the same. If each ? rm is saying essentially the same thing, how do you make a choice? You ask each of the ? rms to give a ? nal, best price, and then you award the project to the ? rm that gives the largest price concession.Any distinctions that do exist have been overshadowed by the ? rms’ greater sameness. 93 C u s t o m e r Va l u e P ro p o s i t i o n s i n B u s i n e s s M a r ke t s Favorable points of difference. The second type of value proposition explicitly recognizes that the customer has an alternative. The recent experience of a leading industrial gas supplier illustrates this perspective. A customer sent the company a request for proposal stating that the two or three suppliers that could demonstrate the most persuasive v alue propositions would be invited to visit the customer to discuss and re? e their proposals. After this meeting, the customer would select a sole supplier for this business. As this example shows, â€Å"Why should our ? rm purchase your offering instead of your competitor’s? † is a more pertinent question than â€Å"Why should our ? rm purchase your offering? † The ? rst question focuses suppliers on differentiating their offerings from the next best alternative, a process that requires detailed knowledge of that alternative, whether it be buying a competitor’s offering or solving the customer’s problem in a different way.Knowing that an element of an offering is a point of difference relative to the next best alternative does not, however, convey the value of this difference to target customers. Furthermore, a product or service may have several points of difference, complicating the supplier’s understanding of which ones deliver the grea test value. Without a detailed understanding of the customer’s requirements and preferences, and what it is worth to ful? ll them, suppliers may stress points of difference that deliver relatively little value to the target customer. Each of these can lead to the pitfall of value presumption: assuming that favorable points f difference must be valuable for the customer. Our opening anecdote about the IC supplier that unnecessarily discounted its price exempli? es this pitfall. Resonating focus. Although the favorable points of difference value proposition is preferable to an all bene? ts proposition for companies crafting a consumer value proposition, the resonating focus value proposition should be the gold standard. This approach acknowledges that the managers who make purchase decisions have major, ever-increasing levels of responsibility and often are pressed for time.They want to do business with suppliers that fully grasp critical issues in their business and deliver a customer value proposition that’s simple yet powerfully captivating. Suppliers can provide such a customer value proposition by making their offerings superior on the few elements that matter most to target customers, demonstrating and documenting the value of this superior performance, and communicating it in a way that conveys a sophisticated understanding of the customer’s business priorities. This type of proposition differs from favorable points of difference in two signi? cant respects.First, more is not better. Although a supplier’s offering may possess several favorable points of difference, the resonating focus proposition steadfastly concentrates on the one or two points 94 of difference that deliver, and whose improvement will continue to deliver, the greatest value to target customers. To better leverage limited resources, a supplier might even cede to the next best alternative the favorable points of difference that customers value least, so that th e supplier can concentrate its resources on improving the one or two points of difference customers value most.Second, the resonating focus proposition may contain a point of parity. This occurs either when the point of parity is required for target customers even to consider the supplier’s offering or when a supplier wants to counter customers’ mistaken perceptions that a particular value element is a point of difference in favor of a competitor’s offering. This latter case arises when customers believe that the competitor’s offering is superior but the supplier believes its offerings are comparable–customer value research provides empirical support for the supplier’s assertion.To give practical meaning to resonating focus, consider the following example. Sonoco, a global packaging supplier headquartered in Hartsville, South Carolina, approached a large European customer, a maker of consumer packaged goods, about redesigning the packaging T he Building Blocks of a Successful Customer Value Proposition A supplier’s offering may have many technical, economic, service, or social bene? ts that deliver value to customers – but in all probability, so do competitors’ offerings. Thus, the essential question is, â€Å"How do these value elements compare with those of the next best alternative? We’ve found that it’s useful to sort value elements into three types. Points of parity are elements with essentially the same performance or functionality as those of the next best alternative. Points of difference are elements that make the supplier’s offering either superior or inferior to the next best alternative. Points of contention are elements about which the supplier and its customers disagree regarding how their performance or functionality compares with those of the next best alternative.Either the supplier regards a value element as a point of difference in its favor, while the custom er regards that element as a point of parity with the next best alternative, or the supplier regards a value element as a point of parity, while the customer regards it as a point of difference in favor of the next best alternative. harvard business review C u s t o m e r Va l u e P ro p o s i t i o n s i n B u s i n e s s M a r ke t s for one of its product lines. Sonoco believed that the customer would pro? from updated packaging, and, by proposing the initiative itself, Sonoco reinforced its reputation as an innovator. Although the redesigned packaging provided six favorable points of difference relative to the next best alternative, Sonoco chose to emphasize one point of parity and two points of difference in what it called its distinctive value proposition (DVP). The value proposition was that the redesigned packaging would deliver signi? cantly greater manufacturing ef? ciency in the customer’s ? l lines, through higher-speed closing, and provide a distinctive look that consumers would ? nd more appealing – all for the same price as the present packaging. Sonoco chose to include a point of parity in its value proposition because, in this case, the customer would not even consider a packaging redesign if the price went up. The ? rst point of difference in the value proposition (increased ef? ciency) delivered cost savings to the customer, allowing it to move from a seven-day, three-shift production schedule during peak times to a ? e-day, two-shift operation. The second point of difference delivered an advantage at the consumer level, helping the customer to grow its revenues and pro? ts incrementally. In persuading the customer to change to the redesigned packaging, Sonoco did not neglect to mention the other favorable points of difference. Rather, it chose to place much greater emphasis on the two points of difference and the one point of parity that mattered most to the customer, thereby delivering a value proposition with resonating focu s.Stressing as a point of parity what customers may mistakenly presume to be a point of difference favoring a competitor’s offering can be one of the most important parts of constructing an effective value proposition. Take the case of Intergraph, an Alabama-based provider of engineering software to engineering, procurement, and construction ? rms. One software product that Intergraph offers, SmartPlant P&ID, enables customers to de? ne ? ow processes for valves, pumps, and piping within plants they are designing and generate piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&ID).Some prospective customers wrongly presume that SmartPlant’s drafting performance would not be as good as that of the next best alternative, because the alternative is built on computer-aided design (CAD), a better-known drafting tool than the relational database platform on which SmartPlant is built. So Intergraph tackled the perception head on, gathering data from reference customers to substantiate tha t this point of contention was actually a point of parity. march 2006 Here’s how the company played it.Intergraph’s resonating focus value proposition for this software consisted of one point of parity (which the customer initially thought was a point of contention), followed by three points of difference: Point of parity: Using this software, customers can create P&ID graphics (either drawings or reports) as fast, if not faster, as they can using CAD, the next best alternative. Point of difference: This software checks all of the customer’s upstream and downstream data related to plant assets and procedures, using universally accepted engineering practices, company-speci? c rules, and project- or process-speci? rules at each stage of the design process, so that the customer avoids costly mistakes such as missing design change interdependencies or, worse, ordering the wrong equipment. Point of difference: This software is integrated with upstream and downstream tasks, such as process simulation and instrumentation design, thus requiring no reentry of data (and reducing the margin for error). Point of difference: With this software, the customer is able to link remote of? ces to execute the project and then merge the pieces into a single deliverable database to hand to its customer, the facility owner.Resonating focus value propositions are very effective, but they’re not easy to craft: Suppliers must undertake 95 C u s t o m e r Va l u e P ro p o s i t i o n s i n B u s i n e s s M a r ke t s customer value research to gain the insights to construct them. Despite all of the talk about customer value, few suppliers have actually done customer value research, which requires time, effort, persistence, and some creativity. But as the best practices we studied highlight, thinking through a resonating focus value proposition disciplines a company to research its customers’ businesses enough to help solve their problems.As the exper ience of a leading resins supplier amply illustrates, doing customer value research pays off. (See the sidebar â€Å"Case in Point: Transforming a Weak Value Proposition. †) savings from reduced power usage that a customer would gain by using a Rockwell Automation motor solution instead of a competitor’s comparable offering: Power Reduction = [kW spent number of operating hours per Cost Savings year $ per kW hour number of years system solution in operation] Competitor Solution ? [kW spent number of operating hours per year $ per kW hour number of years system solution in operation] Rockwell Automation SolutionSubstantiate Customer Value Propositions In a series of business roundtable discussions we conducted in Europe and the United States, customer managers reported that â€Å"We can save you money! † has become almost a generic value proposition from prospective suppliers. But, as one participant in Rotterdam wryly observed, most of the suppliers were telling â€Å"fairy tales. † After he heard a pitch from a prospective supplier, he would follow up with a series of questions to determine whether the supplier had the people, processes, tools, and experience to actually save his ? m money. As often as not, they could not really back up the claims. Simply put, to make customer value propositions persuasive, suppliers must be able to demonstrate and document them. Value word equations enable a supplier to show points of difference and points of contention relative to the next best alternative, so that customer managers can easily grasp them and ? nd them persuasive. A value word This value word equation uses industry-speci? c terminology that suppliers and customers in business markets rely on to communicate precisely and ef? iently about functionality and performance. Demonstrate Customer Value in Advance Prospective customers must see convincingly the cost savings or added value they can expect from using the supplier’s off ering instead of the next best alternative. Best-practice suppliers, such as Rockwell Automation and precision-engineering and manufacturing ? rm Nijdra Groep in the Netherlands, use value case histories to demonstrate this. Value case histories document the cost savings or added value that reference customers have actually received from their use of the supplier’s market offering.Another way that best-practice ? rms, such as Pennsylvania-based GE Infrastructure Water & Process Technologies (GEIW&PT) and SKF USA, show the value of their offerings to prospective customers in advance is Some best-practice suppliers are even willing to guarantee a certain amount of savings before a customer signs on. equation expresses in words and simple mathematical operators (for example, + and ? ) how to assess the differences in functionality or performance between a supplier’s offering and the next best alternative and how to convert those differences into dollars.Best-practice ? rm s like Intergraph and, in Milwaukee, Rockwell Automation use value word equations to make it clear to customers how their offerings will lower costs or add value relative to the next best alternatives. The data needed to provide the value estimates are most often collected from the customer’s business operations by supplier and customer managers working together, but, at times, data may come from outside sources, such as industry association studies.Consider a value word equation that Rockwell Automation used to calculate the cost 96 through value calculators. These customer value assessment tools typically are spreadsheet software applications that salespeople or value specialists use on laptops as part of a consultative selling approach to demonstrate the value that customers likely would receive from the suppliers’ offerings. When necessary, best-practice suppliers go to extraordinary lengths to demonstrate the value of their offerings relative to the next best alte rnatives.The polymer chemicals unit of Akzo Nobel in Chicago recently conducted an on-site two-week pilot on a production reactor at a prospective customer’s facility to gather data ? rsthand on the performance of its high-purity metal organics offering relative to the next best alternative in producing compound semiconductor wafers. Akzo Nobel paid this harvard business review C u s t o m e r Va l u e P ro p o s i t i o n s i n B u s i n e s s M a r ke t s prospective customer for these two weeks, in which each day was a trial because of daily considerations such as output and maintenance.Akzo Nobel now has data from an actual production machine to substantiate assertions about its product and anticipated cost savings, and evidence that the compound semiconductor wafers produced are as good as or better than those the customer currently grows using the next best alternative. To let its prospective clients’ customers verify this for themselves, Akzo Nobel brought them sample wafers it had produced for testing. Akzo Nobel combines this point of parity with two points of difference: signi? cantly lower energy costs for conversion and signi? antly lower maintenance costs. Document Customer Value Demonstrating superior value is necessary, but this is no longer enough for a ? rm to be considered a best-practice company. Suppliers also must document the cost savings and incremental pro? ts (from additional revenue gener- ated) their offerings deliver to the companies that have purchased them. Thus, suppliers work with their customers to de? ne how cost savings or incremental pro? ts will be tracked and then, after a suitable period of time, work with customer managers to document the results.They use value documenters to further re? ne their customer value models, create value case histories, enable customer managers to get credit for the cost savings and incremental pro? ts produced, and (because customer managers know that the supplier is willing to return later to document the value received) enhance the credibility of the offering’s value. A pioneer in substantiating value propositions over the past decade, GEIW&PT documents the results provided to customers through its value generation planning (VGP) process and tools, which enable its ? ld personnel to understand customers’ businesses and to plan, execute, and document projects that have the highest value impact for its customers. An online tracking tool allows GEIW&PT and customer managers to easily monitor the Case in Point: Transforming a Weak Value Proposition A leading supplier of specialty resins used in architectural coatings – such as paint for buildings – recognized that its customers were coming under pressure to comply with increasingly strict environmental regulations. At the same time, the supplier reasoned, no coating manufacturer would want to sacri? e performance. So the resins supplier developed a new type of highperformance resi ns that would enable its customers to comply with stricter environmental standards – albeit at a higher price but with no reduction in performance. In its initial discussions with customers who were using the product on a trial basis, the resins supplier was surprised by the tepid reaction it received, particularly from commercial managers. They were not enthusiastic about the sales prospects for higher-priced coatings with commercial painting contractors, the primary target market.They would not, they said, move to the new resin until regulation mandated it. Taken aback, the resins supplier decided to conduct customer value research to better understand the requirements and preferences of its customers’ customers and how the performance of the new resin would affect their total cost of doing business. The resins supplier went so far as to study the requirements and preferences of the commercial painting contractors’ customers – building owners. The suppl ier conducted a series of focus groups and ? eld tests with painting contractors to gather data.The performance on primary customer requirements – such as coverage, dry time, and durability – was studied, and customers were asked to make performance trade-offs and indicate their willingness to pay for coatings that delivered enhanced performance. The resins supplier also joined a commercial painting contractor industry association, enrolled managers in courses on how contractors are taught to estimate jobs, and trained the staff to work with the job-estimation software used by painting contractors. Several insights emerged from this customer value research.Most notable was the realization that only 15% of a painting contractor’s costs are the coatings; labor is by far the largest cost component. If a coating could provide greater productivity – for example, a faster drying time that allowed two coats to be applied during a single eight-hour shift – contractors would likely accept a higher price. The resins supplier retooled its value proposition from a single dimension, environmental regulation compliance, to a resonating focus value proposition where environmental compliance played a signi? cant but minor part.The new value proposition was â€Å"The new resin enables coatings producers to make architectural coatings with higher ? lm build and gives the painting contractors the ability to put on two coats within a single shift, thus increasing painter productivity while also being environmentally compliant. † Coatings customers enthusiastically accepted this value proposition, and the resins supplier was able to get a 40% price premium for its new offering over the traditional resin product. march 2006 97 C u s t o m e r Va l u e P ro p o s i t i o n s i n B u s i n e s s M a r ke t s xecution and documented results of each project the company undertakes. Since it began using VGP in 1992, GEIW&PT has documented more th an 1,000 case histories, accounting for $1. 3 billion in customer cost savings, 24 billion gallons of water conserved, 5. 5 million tons of waste eliminated, and 4. 8 million tons of air emissions removed. As suppliers gain experience documenting the value provided to customers, they become knowledgeable about how their offerings deliver superior value to customers and even how the value delivered varies across ation can submit NPI requests whenever they have an inventive idea for a customer solution that they believe would have a large value impact but that GEIW&PT presently does not offer. Industry marketing managers, who have extensive industry expertise, then perform scoping studies to understand the potential of the proposed products to deliver signi? cant value to segment customers. They create business cases for the proposed product, which are â€Å"racked and stacked† for review. The senior management team of GEIW&PT sort through aBest-practice suppliers make sure the ir people know how to identify what the next value propositions ought to be. kinds of customers. Because of this extensive and detailed knowledge, they become con? dent in predicting the cost savings and added value that prospective customers likely will receive. Some best-practice suppliers are even willing to guarantee a certain amount of savings before a customer signs on. A global automotive engine manufacturer turned to Quaker Chemical, a Pennsylvania-based specialty chemical and management services ? m, for help in signi? cantly reducing its operating costs. Quaker’s team of chemical, mechanical, and environmental engineers, which has been meticulously documenting cost savings to customers for years, identi? ed potential savings for this customer through process and productivity improvements. Then Quaker implemented its proposed solution – with a guarantee that savings would be ? ve times more than what the engine manufacturer spent annually just to purchase cool ant. In real numbers, that meant savings of $1. 4 million a year.What customer wouldn’t ? nd such a guarantee persuasive? large number of potential initiatives competing for limited resources. The team approved Panichella’s initiative, which led to the development of a new offering that provided re? nery customers with documented cost savings amounting to ? ve to ten times the price they paid for the offering, thus realizing a compelling value proposition. Sonoco, at the corporate level, has made customer value propositions fundamental to its business strategy. Since 2003, its CEO, Harris DeLoach, Jr. and the executive committee have set an ambitious growth goal for the ? rm: sustainable, double-digit, pro? table growth every year. They believe that distinctive value propositions are crucial to support the growth initiative. At Sonoco, each value proposition must be: †¢ Distinctive. It must be superior to those of Sonoco’s competition. †¢ Measurable. A ll value propositions should be based on tangible points of difference that can be quanti? ed in monetary terms. †¢ Sustainable. Sonoco must be able to execute this value proposition for a signi? ant period of time. Unit managers know how critical DVPs are to business unit performance because they are one of the ten key metrics on the managers’ performance scorecard. In senior management reviews, each unit manager presents proposed value propositions for each target market segment or key customer, or both. The managers then receive summary feedback on the value proposition metric (as well as on each of the nine other performance metrics) in terms of whether their proposals can lead to pro? table growth.In addition, Sonoco senior management tracks the relationship between business unit value propositions and business unit performance – and, year after year, has concluded that the emphasis on DVPs has made a signi? cant contribution toward sustainable, double-digit, profitable growth. harvard business review Superior Business Performance We contend that customer value propositions, properly constructed and delivered, make a signi? cant contribution to business strategy and performance. GE Infrastructure Water & Process Technologies’ recent development of a new service offering to re? ery customers illustrates how general manager John Panichella allocates limited resources to initiatives that will generate the greatest incremental value for his company and its customers. For example, a few years ago, a ? eld rep had a creative idea for a new product, based on his comprehensive understanding of re? nery processes and how re? neries make money. The ? eld rep submitted a new product introduction (NPI) request to the hydrocarbon industry marketing manager for further study. Field reps or anyone else in the organi98 C u s t o m e r Va l u e P ro p o s i t i o n s i n B u s i n e s s M a r ke t sBest-practice suppliers recognize that construct ing and substantiating resonating focus value propositions is not a onetime undertaking, so they make sure their people know how to identify what the next value propositions ought to be. Quaker Chemical, for example, conducts a value-proposition training program each year for its chemical program managers, who work on-site with customers and have responsibility for formulating and executing customer value propositions. These managers ? rst review case studies from a variety of industries Quaker serves, where their peers have executed savings projects and quanti? d the monetary savings produced. Competing in teams, the managers then participate in a simulation where they interview â€Å"customer managers† to gather information needed to devise a proposal for a customer value proposition. The team that is judged to have the best proposal earns â€Å"bragging rights,† which are highly valued in Quaker’s competitive culture. The training program, Quaker believes, he lps sharpen the skills of chemical program managers to identify savings projects when they return to the customers they are serving. As the ? al part of the training program, Quaker stages an annual real-world contest where the chemical program managers have 90 days to submit a proposal for a savings project that they plan to present to their customers. The director of chemical management judges these proposals and provides feedback. If he deems a proposed project to be viable, he awards the manager with a gift certi? cate. Implementing these projects goes toward ful? lling Quaker’s guaranteed annual savings commitments of, on average, $5 million to $6 million a year per customer.Each of these businesses has made customer value propositions a fundamental part of its business strategy. Drawing on best practices, we have presented an approach to customer value propositions that businesses can implement to communicate, with resonating focus, the superior value their offerings pr ovide to target market segments and customers. Customer value propositions can be a guiding beacon as well as the cornerstone for superior business performance. Thus, it is the responsibility of senior management and general management, not just marketing management, to ensure that their customer value propositions are just that.Reprint R0603F; HBR OnPoint 3544 To order, see page 151. P VEY . C. â€Å"What we need are some fresh new ideas. You know, like we had last year. † march 2006 99 Harvard Business Review Notice of Use Restrictions, May 2009 Harvard Business Review and Harvard Business Publishing Newsletter content on EBSCOhost is licensed for the private individual use of authorized EBSCOhost users. It is not intended for use as assigned course material in academic institutions nor as corporate learning or training materials in businesses.Academic licensees may not use this content in electronic reserves, electronic course packs, persistent linking from syllabi or by a ny other means of incorporating the content into course resources. Business licensees may not host this content on learning management systems or use persistent linking or other means to incorporate the content into learning management systems. Harvard Business Publishing will be pleased to grant permission to make this content available through such means. For rates and permission, contact [email  protected] org.

Religious Views on Satan

Religious Views on Satan Free Online Research Papers In John Milton’s Satan shows a great deal of leadership throughout the book. There are many things that Satan says and does to get out of hell and becomes a leader. Satan can persuade many people to follow him. When Satan says So he with difficulty and labour hard Movd on, with difficulty and labour hee; But hee once past, soon after when man fell, Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain Following his track, such was the will of. He states that he is moving on and just got out of hell and now explaining heaven. Now he is going to earth to get revenge. Machiavelli shows this when he says He must therefore keep his mind ready to shift as he winds and tides of Fortune turn, and as I have already said, he ought not to quit good courses if he can help it, but should know how to follow evil courses if he must Machiavelli is saying that you got to know how to follow the good courses but then also know when to get revenge and be evil. We sunk thus low? Th ascent is easie then; Th event is feard; should we again provoke Our stronger, some worse way his wrath may find To our destruction: if there be in Hell Fear to be worse destroyd: what can be worse. Satan is saying that they have fallen so far to hell and they already have failed so what could happen that could be worse. They should have nothing to fear if they already have sunk to their lowest point. Machiavelli saysNevertheless he ought to be slow to believe and to act, nor should he himself show fear, but proceed in a temperate manner with prudence and humanity, so that too much confidence may not make him incautious and too much distrust render him intolerable. Machiavelli and Satan both are saying you should not fear anything. Machiavelli is always saying that its always better to be a leader than a follower and when Satan says To reign is worth ambition though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heavn he is saying that it is better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. This quote is similar to what Machiavelli is always trying to say. Machiavelli and Satan say many of things that are similar and different. Mostly they are trying to say you should never be feared, know when to be evil or good, and its better to be a leader than a follower. They both show good leadership skills in many different ways but can be compared to. Research Papers on Religious Views on SatanHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows EssayMind TravelBringing Democracy to AfricaWhere Wild and West Meet19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationHip-Hop is ArtThe Hockey GameStandardized TestingTwilight of the UAW

A Room with a View Close Contextual Analysis Essay Example

A Room with a View Close Contextual Analysis Essay Example A Room with a View Close Contextual Analysis Paper A Room with a View Close Contextual Analysis Paper ‘A Room with a View’ – Close textual Analysis p. 105-107 Throughout the whole of the novel the theme of light and dark is constantly reoccurring and is openly present within this extract: ‘thinking of the old man who had enabled her to see the lights dancing in the Arno’, this metaphor gives the reader an insight to how Lucy is desperate for the freedom of her own independence which the lights clearly symbolise. The passage begins with ‘‘The Curtains parted. ’’ This gives the reader an impression of a theatrical entrance, to then introduce Cecil appears to the reader as somewhat of a disappointment; ‘‘Cecil’s first movement was one of irritation. ’’ It is symbolic as this idea of parting the curtains draws in on the continuous contrasting theme of Lucy’s fight with restriction and her will for freedom. As the curtains part Lucy is being exposed to more of the freedom she is so desperate to gain. Cecil’s action ‘‘of irritation’’ is not in correlation with the previous images of independence and liberty. ‘Irritation’ implies to the reader that Cecil is not comfortable almost awkward in his current situation and acting ill-tempered, which shows immediately to the reader how opposite Lucy and Cecil are for one another and how ill-fitting a marriage between them would be. The idea of Cecil ‘‘parting the curtains’’ subsequently becomes ironic as his own actions associate him with darkness rather than with the light that we as the reader attach Lucy to. Previously in the novel there are other references to windows in a similar context; ‘Come away from the window, dear’, Showing Miss Bartlett’s concern and restraint of Lucy becoming exposed to the freedom she desires. The next passage starts ‘ Light entered. ’ showing instantaneously a new positive outlook. Giving a beautiful, elegant description of a ‘terrace, with trees each side of it, and on it a little rustic seat and two flower beds†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Forster lulls you into a false sense of optimism, ‘Lucy, who was in the little seat, seemed on the edge of a green magic carpet which hovered†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ This reminds the reader of Lucy’s purity and innocence using the fairy tale symbolism ‘‘of a green magic carpet’’. The whole metaphor of Lucy is cleverly constructed illustrating the idea of Lucy ‘hovering’ and ‘on the edge’ as to show her half way between her own personal discovery and the iddle class society that is so desperate to keep drawing her back in. In contrast the reader discovers that throughout the novel whenever Cecil appears dreams dissolve and reality is re-established; ‘†¦hovered in the air above the tremulous world. Cecil entered. ’ All imagination is lost. All the beauty and el egance of the paragraph is destroyed by this simple, blunt statement. Once more you see Cecil is portrayed in a negative sense, reserved, bold in some way starched, too conventional, the complete opposite of what Lucy wants making the idea of an engagement between them seem inconceivable. Even a simple embrace is an arduous task for him, he feels compelled to follow convention and displays a complete lack of spontaneity and passion; ‘Up to now I have never kissed you†¦Then I ask you – may I now? ’ Although in a different context, Cecil is still capable with little effort to ruin a perfectly romantic moment. Forster shows Cecil’s belief of his own self-importance clearly with his introduction along with his high position within society in the novel, ‘Cecil must at once be described. Comparing Cecil to a ‘Gothic statue’ gives an impression of power but a cold exterior. His character is a complete contradiction to that of Lucy’s. ‘He was medieval’, yet she is trying so hard to progress forward in time. ‘Medieval’ suggests that he is welded to tradition and very conservative which would hold her back, keeping Lucy away from her ‘view’. As the description of Cecil continues he becomes more pompous, ‘And a head that was tilted a little higher than the usual level of vision’, creates an image that Cecil calculates his self worth to be much higher than most. Cecil’s character is very dissimilar to that of George. He is depicted as free-thinking, ‘He stepped quickly forward and kissed her’, tolerant and willing to admit to his human failings; ‘I nearly fainted myself’, This illustrates to the reader that George Emerson is clearly a better choice for Lucy in comparison to Cecil who would only be keeping Lucy from the freedom she is so desperately in need of. The incessant medieval metaphoric descriptions of Cecil become an anomaly against the image of the renaissance. Comparing the images of ‘the gothic statue which implies celibacy’ and ‘the Greek statue which implies fruition’ is a hidden way of contrasting Cecil and George Emerson. ‘The end of the middles ages’, Forster cleverly uses historical imagery to give a sense of how society moves forward. Within Lucy’s current society she has moved on from medieval tradition as depicted by Cecil’s stereotypical middle class character. Lucy’s social circle could not create a finer choice than Cecil as he fits the marital ideal, but Lucy is not society and to the reader the only acceptable choice for her is George Emerson. Mrs Honeychurch enters the scene appearing excitable and seeming to over-act her interest, ‘Oh Cecil, Oh Cecil, do tell me’. This does not seem typical of Mrs Honeychurch’s general conduct; she has previously come across very differently regularly criticising her son Freddy; ‘Why shouldn’t my permission be asked? What do you know about Lucy or girls or anything? ’ However with Cecil she completely lets her guard down because she is trying so desperately to make him feel ‘as one of the family’. This is ironic as she does not treat her own son in this manner. She seems genuinely thrilled by the idea of her only daughter marrying a man of such high standard within society. Love and romance was not included in the idea of a good marriage, money and status were the key factors. Any possible romance that may have been associated with the idea of Cecil’s and Lucy’s engagement disappears when Cecil answers, ‘She has accepted me’. His answer is completely monosyllabic and he does not remotely seem overjoyed by her acceptance, maybe slightly content but that’s all the emotion you can find in his response. Cecil regularly answers or asks questions in a similar tone, like the staged kiss between him and Lucy where he asks ‘then I ask you – may I now? ’ Where in both situations the encounters seems awkward which are reinforced by his actions, ‘shifting his eyes to the ceiling’, obviously uncomfortable with the situation. Cecil is an authority figure but this is not how you would expect him to be with his fiance. He acts very causally in comparison to what people stereotype the enouncement of an engagement to be, ‘‘I say Lucy! Called Cecil, for conversation seemed to flag. ’’ This is very ironic that Lucy is hardly involved in this scene yet it’s her engagement that’s being enounced something that will charge the pattern of her life entirely yet she is completely uninvolved. He commands Lucy not asks her, ‘Would you take them into the garden and tell Mrs Honeychurch all about it? His tone comes across very patronising and not respectful at all. Cecil acts as though he is dismissing a child rather than asking his fiance a question. ‘I shall have our children educated just like Lucy. Bring them up among honest country folk, send them to Italy for subtlety, and then – not till then – let them come to London. ’ His patronising tone is constant, he talks as if she is not in the room and as though she no right to an opinion of her own, even on such an important matter as her children. ‘As if taking orders’, Forster makes this clear showing his control complex to be unhealthy it is not free or liberating. Although Lucy’s life would be different in marriage to Cecil, in reality it would only be another type of enclosure. The last line of the passage ‘They passed into the sunlight’ reengages the idea of light. Creating the image of light falling when Lucy is distanced from Cecil, shows how Cecil will only contribute to the darker parts of her life and will not contribute to Lucy’s self discovery and liberty. This further highlights the mismatch between the two people. It clearly accentuates the reasons as to why she should not marry a man with these characteristics. These faults in a man would be the cause of her own self destruction and personal downfall.

Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare Essay - 3

Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare - Essay Example For the sake of this analysis, the focus will be on love and how it has been developed by the author in the development of the story. In evaluating love as a central theme in the story, the focus will be on the two characters who are deemed as the protagonists. The relationship between Cleopatra and Antony is one which is full of resilience. In spite of the fact that they face so many challenges in the course of their affair, their determination and resolve to overcome everything in the wake of what they face is quite admirable. At the time of the two, the societies constantly faced hardships in the form of conflicts and wars. However, the love that Cleopatra had for Antony was steadfast. In fact, the play depicts what can only be described as a perfect love which was only marred the by challenges that the two faced. The love story in lay seems to unify the characters. It should be noted that at The love that Cleopatra had for Antony is quite strong and emotive. In fact, the face of the conflict that is ongoing between the Egypt and Rome, it is the only thing which is common between the two warring sides. From the story, it is revealed that Cleopatra had decided to take her own life if she could not get her love. The irony in this case is that Cleopatra is a queen who reigns of Egypt. In fact, the love between the Queen and the man from Rome inspires what genuine and true love is. Looking back at the tragedies in the story, it is evident the only thing that seems to unify and symbolize togetherness among the warring sides is the genuineness of the love that is shared by the two. However, it should be noted that the feelings that people have when they are in love are affected by the prevailing factors. For instance, in the course of the war, Antony denounced his own country and men to embrace the love which was from a far land. However, the betrayal in the love story comes from the fact that Antony was a man who

Ecommerce Assignment (National Bank of Dubai) Essay

Ecommerce Assignment (National Bank of Dubai) - Essay Example According to a study, by the Department of Psychology at Middle East Technical University, organizational success (of a web site) may be considered by the site's user-friendliness.4 The criteria specified in the study ("rollovers, pop-up menus, and search capabilities") to determine user-friendliness is, however; met by the NBD's web site. Therefore, based upon these criteria, it must be concluded that the site is an organizational success. The non transaction interactivity of the web site is sufficient and dynamic, yet rudimentary. The most attractive (and unique) aspect of this area is the "careers" section which shows the depth the bank has undertaken to inform potential employees of unique career paths. There is a very well formatted "site feedback" questionnaire as well as a separate link to contact the bank directly. However, an attempt to contact the bank, via this method (during working hours,) did not receive a reply as of the time of this writing. Privacy and security is a prime concern for all banks and customers and NBD appears to have a fairly good handle on the process.