Iphone vs android Essay Example for Free

Iphone vs android Essay Over the years technology has been improving in terms of entertainment, social media, and communication. Today, smart phones are a verification of this improving technology, but how do we decide which one is the better device? IPhone and Android are the latest most powerful operating systems out on the market. There are advantages and disadvantages to both cellular devices, and the ongoing competition will improve the smartphones for years to come. Affordability and durability are the two key factors when it comes to purchasing a smart phone. Apple and Google have gone head to head on competing for the best products. Most people assume that the expensive device has better durability and can be used longer. Price wise the Android phones ranges anywhere from one hundred to three hundred dollars. In contrast, the iPhone price range is between two hundred to six hundred dollars. Most Android users report that they have dropped their phone multiple times and have not had major damage to their phone. On the other hand, iPhone users state that the front screen display can be shattered easily because of the front screen glass like display, and replacing the screen can often cost more than the phone itself. There is a wider range of android phones as they are made by a variety of manufactures. Android gives you the flexibility to choose from many different colors, sizes or distinct features. The iPhone is restricted and limited to one model each year, but recently Apple has now developed two phones with different colors to match your personal preference. Nonetheless, Apple phones have the same features. While these phones are more powerful and fun than any other smartphone, that fun comes with a price. Any smartphone user will recharge their phone almost  every couple of hours. The cellular data network on each phone drains the battery the most, because we use it daily either for social networks or important information for homework. A smartphone without applications is nothing but an ordinary dull phone. The applications are the hub of the operating system. Both the iPhone and Android have app stores which are the Apple App store for iPhone and the Google Play Store for Android. According to recent news, each store now has about 700,000 apps. Many of the apps are free for both stores, but Apple on the other hand has a reputation for being pricey. Its also worth noting that Android is still the second option for big companies developing applications. Many applications exist for both devices. It’s logical that the main focus is on releasing and updating the paid applications before the free ones. Each operating system has voice activated assistants which is an app on the android called S-Voice app and the well-known Siri for the iPhone. Siri is admired and amazingly beneficial to all the iPhone users. The voice activated assistants on each device, is an automated assistant that responds when one speaks to it, as if you were speaking to a person. There is also a free Android app called Robin, which pursues to rival Siri. Both of these devices contain a guided navigation system which help in getting around the local area. Apple Maps which is an app for the iPhone and Google Maps for Android. Google Maps allows the use of Googles Street View; Apple Maps does not. When using the GPS on the iPhone there have been complaints on how the GPS guides them to an unusual location rather than the original destination. The GPS for Android users is accurate and more reliable to use especially when going on road trips. Web Browser on Apple Safari for the iPhone and Google Chrome are both fine choices which work well on a mobile screen and offer touch screen capabilities, zooming in for instance is an example. In comparison the two phones have incredibly fast internet and it is basically like having a computer in your pocket at all times. Adobe Flash is available on the Android, and it aids in website where a user interface is needed and here is where Android has the advantage. A function that many people can’t seem to live without is the ability to text message. Both of these phones contain the ability to text, not just with one’s fingers but by just by talking to the phone’s speaker. This function is beneficial, because instead of a phone call that might take up your time, you can just send a message within  seconds. IPhone and Android phones are currently the latest, in demand phones. Some people wonder what the difference between the two is, or if they are just the same. Technology changes every day and there’s always new and different phones on the market. Ultimately it’s the user’s preference on which device they would like to purchase.

IKEA Franchising Strategy

IKEA Franchising Strategy IKEA is an international home furniture company that selling the wide ranges of well-designed and functional products which packed in form of ready-to-assemble. According to IKEA (2012), its business is founded in 1943 by 17 years old Ingvar Kamprad in Sweden. The headquarter company of IKEA is placed in Delft, Netherlands. With the time turned, furniture retailer IKEA becomes one of successful companies around the world and has ability to take advantage of globalization. Therefore, now IKEA has 325 stores in 38 countries in which 287 stores in 26 countries is wholly owned INGKA Holding (non-for-profit corporation) and the remaining 38 stores are run by franchisees which under Dutch company (for-profit corporation) (n.a, 2012). INGKA Holding is parent company of Dutch company. The largest stores around the world are placed in China, German and Sweden (IKEA, 2012). The IKEA business is developed starting with home selling and then turn to become international nowadays. Originally, IKEA only sold small home accessories and trinkets products in its home, Sweden. Until 1948, IKEA began to design its own furniture products and sold in low price with high quality (Ellis, 2010). The process of business development is from home selling the products, open a retail store in Almhult town, Sweden (1958), then develop a larger retail outlet in Norway (1963). In 2012, IKEA committees plan to develop a wholly-own subsidiary corporate in India countries after did the market investigation. Currently, majority of IKEA stores are wholly owned and managed by INGKA Holding (also known as Stichting INGKA Foundation). The wholly owned subsidiary strategy explain that majority of stores operations, management, its furniture design and manufacture are overseen by INGKA Holding. For the case, IKEA has long eyed the retail market in India, now plan to invest  Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬900 million to create a wholly own subsidiary in India (Kinetz, 2012). On the other hand, IKEA also implements the franchising strategy in some countries to manage minority stores. The franchisees who allowed using IKEAs concept and trademark to run business have to pay 3% of revenue back. Since the culture and value is different in every country, IKEA committees evaluate the countrys local market and its future expansion opportunities before go in. For the future expansion, we suggest that IKEA should take joint venture strategy as business expansion strategy in India country. Joint venture is a good strategy to assist a company enters into a different cultural market. As an example, Wal-Mart knew nothing about Asian retail market, they choose entered into Hong Kong via joint venture with Thai conglomerate (Neelima Mahajan-Bansal, 2012). Second recommendation we suggest to IKEA is using wholly owned subsidiary to enter Brazil. The reason we choose Brazil as another target market because it has stability of political economy environment which can reduce various risk of business (n.a., 2011). IKEA also can take the advantage of Brazil since there has full of high quality woods as the resource for business (n.a., 2011). 2.0 Current Expansion Strategy Wholly owned Subsidiaries IKEA use wholly owned subsidiary as their main expansion. The IKEA corporate structure is divided in to two parts which are operating and franchising. Most of the IKEAs operations practices are overseen and managed by INGKA Holding B.V. INGKA Holding B.V is wholly owned by Stichting INGKA Foundation, a non-profit registered in Leiden in the Netherlands which is controlled by the Kamprad family (IKEAFANS, 2009). In year 2011, there are IKEA stores in 38 countries operating around the world such as United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Netherland, France, Russia, Saudi Arabia, China, Malaysia, Australia, and etc. There are 287 stores run by the INGKA Holding B.V and the remaining 38 stores are run by franchisees (Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). IKEA can either set up new operation in the country or can acquire an established firm in the host nation and use that firm to promote its promote its product as long as IKEA own 100 percent ownership of the stock. Habitat Retail Ltd. is a household furnishings retailer in the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain and in the year of 1992, IKEA acquired Habitats UK and French chain with about pound 55m to expand their business (Moore. J, 1992). IKEA own all of their buildings and land, and stores are custom built and designed for efficiency and sales potential. In order to do that, IKEA do not cut back investment in retail stores. (Deniz, Marco Art, 2012) The main purpose of the IKEA use this expansion strategies is to ensure operational control, standardization, and provide a smooth entry into to a new market. The attractive way to use wholly owned subsidiaries is where IKEA can reduces the risk of losing control over their core competence and its concept. This expansion strategies give IKEA have the full control over operation practices such as marketing, logistics and decision in different countries to meet their standard. In addition, all the profits will go to IKEA due to having full control on every operation. It is necessary for them engaging in global strategic coordination. Wholly owned subsidiaries also required IKEA to realize location and experience curve economies (Hill et. al., 2011). This which means, IKEA able to achieve economic of scale by manufacture more products and reduce the average cost of products (Hill et. al., 2011). Indirectly, this also fulfill the IKEA porter generic strategies which is cost leadership. However, wholly owned subsidiary strategy is highly expensive choice for company that would lead to severe financial risk if not successful. IKEA have to bear the full costs and high risk by themselves of setting up the factories, stores and retail shops operations in other nations (Hill, et. al., 2011). Japan was the first country in Asia that IKEA considered to enter in 1970s during their expansion to the international market. Their first entry to Japan market was in 1974 (n.a, 2008). Due to the differences between culture, lifestyle and behavior lead to IKEA face the failure and they had to withdraw their store out of Japan. However, IKEA decided to re-enter the market in 2002. This time IKEA conducted a thorough study of the markets and understand their requirement (Alexandra, 2009). At present, there are five IKEA stores in Japan, last of which was opened in year 2011(Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Besides that, there are political risks of entering in to the market wholly in the form of nationalisation threats or corruption and bribery (Back et. al., 2010).   Recently in year 2009, there have been issues about corruption in the opening of retail store in Russia (n.a., 2011). It has been held by safely officials requests for payments and IKEA is refusing to so. Thus, IKEA has ended up by would not build more stores outside the Moscow region until Russian officials stop withholding permission and freeze expansions on Russia (n.a., 2011). Franchising Strategy The IKEA concept which bring IKEA franchise worldwide is belong to the Inter IKEA System B.V in Netherlands. Inter IKEA Systems B.V is the franchisor and it is the owner of the IKEA concept and trademark (IKEAFANS, 2009). The franchisees have the right to operate IKEA store under the franchise agreements in accordance with franchisors systems and methods to use IKEA trademarks establish by Inter IKEA Systems B.V(Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Besides, IKEA franchisees able to access to the product range of IKEA and opportunity to continuously take part in IKEA concept development in their own stores. (Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Then, IKEA franchisee has its own responsibilities to manage, develop and run their local market business with efforts after granting the rights of IKEA concept. The main concept of IKEA want to expand its market by implement franchising is due to the objective of Inter IKEA Systems B.V.. According to the objective of Inter IKEA Systems B.V., its objective is to increase the availability of IKEA products through world-wide franchising the IEKA concept (IKEAFANS, 2009). So, this encourages the IKEA wanted to create infinity for IKEA through franchising. Besides, the decisive factors for IKEA to franchise for long-term approach are due to its ownership structure and total independence in furniture market (Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Thus, IKEA bring out the franchising method so that it can secure an infinite life for the IKEA concept when the different companies in different countries able to build the resources needed to expand global under IKEA concept (Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Moreover, the franchisor, Inter IKEA Systems B.V. acts role to perform some important tasks such as expand IKEA business, improve and develop IKEA concepts, transfer know-how of IKEA to its retailers, monitor IKEA concept implementation and protect IKEA concept (Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Currently, total of 38 IKEA franchisees are located over 11 countries. The countries with IKEA franchisee included 2 stores in United Arab Emirates, one stores in Kuwait, 3 stores in Saudi Arabia, 2 stores in Australia, 7 stores in China Taiwan, one stores in Cyprus, 5 stores in Greece, 3 stores in Malaysia and Singapore, 5 stores in Turkey, one stores in Iceland, 2 stores in Israel, 1 stores in Dominican Republic and 4 stores in Spain (Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Franchises strategy not only provide the firm with high control of brand and strategy, but it is also a low financial investment risk and enabling the company to benefit from local knowledge (Back, Andrew Sparapani, 2010). Furthermore, some benefits can be able to gain through franchising by IKEA. For instance, it can earn extra source of income in term of loyalty and franchise fees since it franchises its retail stores located over 38 countries. The franchisees who allowed to use the concept and trademarks of IKEA is necessary to pay 3% of revenue earn to Inter IKEA Systems B.V annually (IKEAFANS, 2009). So, this intentionally provides other cash inflow for the IKEA. Although by using franchising strategy, IKEA can relief of many of the cost and risk of opening a foreign market (Hill Hernà ¡ndez-Requejo, 2011). However, this could make IKEA difficult to control the standards and quality where some franchisees may not concerned about these issues. This could be happened and hard to detect due to the geographic distance between franchisees and main franchisor. This might lead to affect consumer views of IKEAs product if the standards of products are not standardize in its own country compare with the IKEA main stores. 3.0 Future Expansion Strategy Joint Venture to Enter into India Market Joint venture is suitable for IKEA to enter into India Market. It refers to the set up of a new company that is jointly owned by two or more participants (Hill Hernà ¡ndez-Requejo 2011). Each partner must have something special and important such as knowledge, skill, and capital to offer the venture and simultaneously provide a source of gain to the other participants.  The reason for enter into India market is India furniture retail market has been classified by CSIL Milano as one of the 14 largest furniture markets in the world with the worth of US$8 billion and is growing at 30% annually (n.a., 2012). The second reason is that the furniture industry in India is highly unorganized. Nearly 85% of the home furnishing industry is in the unorganized sector and remaining 15% is in the organized sector which included domestic players and also imports (n.a., 2009). The reason to use joint venture is due to the government policy in inviting foreign company to invest in India. According to past policy in India, foreign firms can only own up to 51 percent of joint venture (Sharma Hansegard, 2012). The policy has changed last year by allows some retailers to own 100% of their Indian units. After the change of policy, IKEA have applied for permission to invest into India. However, the result of permission still has not come out. IKEA should not realize on the permission of the wholly own subsidiary given by the local government. If government reject its application, is it IKEA will not enter into the one of the 14 largest furniture markets in the world? There are many successful example of joint venture or cooperative between foreign furniture companies with local company in India today. Arrital Cucine, an Italian furniture company sells its products in India through its Indian partner, Overseas Connexions while the Germany company, Wilhelm Bolt C o. has a technical agreement with Arvind furniture to produce furniture at India (Mukherjee Patel, 2005). There is no time for IKEA to waste as they should quickly enter into India market through joint venture with local company to set up its manufacturing plants and also sell its product around the India. Culture is an important aspect that multinational company should consider before take an action to enter into a specific country (Hill et. al, 2011). Indian culture and their home decoration style are different from western country. Consumers may not accept the western design furniture as they are used to purchase traditional design of furniture which suit to their culture. Thus, set up a joint venture with local firm is a better way to doing business in India and hence can reduce the risk of failure. The difference of culture can directly affect the way how a business operates in that country. The experience of IKEA in China should be take note. Although there is a rapid increase in the number of visitors and sales volume in China, IKEA had yet to make a profit in China. IKEA showed local consumers new home decoration concepts using its various products but Chinese consumers do not accept it (Li Xu, 2007). IKEA have 25 years of procurement experience in China but yet still cannot understand deeply about the Chinese culture and consumers living style, preferences and taste. Thus, before set up its own retail store in India, they should make a deeply study on the local market. Joint venture with local company can bring more valuable information and knowledge for IKEA. IKEA can build relationship with local suppliers, distributors, and media. They can get the data and information form the joint venture firm. Besides that, cooperation with local branded company can quickly promote its brand name into consumers mind. Who should IKEA select to cooperative is crucial. Durian, Furniturewala, Zuari, Renaissance, Furniture Concepts, Millenium Lifestyles, are some of the key players in Indian furniture industry. Local company who can provide marketing expertise, local knowledge, have strong relationship with government, suppliers and distributors should be consider as they can provide many benefit to IKEA for their future operating its own subsidiary in India (Hill et. al, 2011). Besides that, good reputation and image of the local company also is one of the aspects to be considered for cooperative. Company with good reputation can bring IKEA into local market and also consumers mind easily. In contrast, cooperative with company possess bad reputation will straightly harm IKEA brand name and thus being bookmark as poor image company in consumers mind. Thus, companies mentioned above are the best local company for cooperation. According to IKEA Company, the requirement of purchase at least 30% of goods from local small and medium size enterprise under the new policy will remain a challenge for the company (Sharma etc. 2012). Thus, direct investment may not be a best strategy as they are not familiar with local business and industry. Until now, they still cannot truly build the supply chain network in India, so how are they going to set up its own retail store and run the business by themselves. Thus, when should they enter into India? If they do seriously consider the joint venture strategy, they should enter into India 1 or 2 year ago. With joint venture with local firm, IKEA can quickly access to local suppliers through the network of the local company and operate its business smoothly. The growing of furniture industry in India is due to two reasons, Indias large size and Indian tastes have started changed and Indian people are looking for more western furniture style (n.a., 2010). The market attractiv eness is not a problem and it is a chance to take the advantage for establishes its own retail store in coming year. As conclusion, due to local government policy, cultural difference, and also local business network, IKEA should use joint venture as entry mode to enter into India. This action enables them to build up a strong base for future expansion. Wholly Owned Subsidiary to Enter into Brazil IKEA needs to expand the business by entering into new foreign markets in order to ensure the companys future growth. We recommend IKEA can enter into Brazil in South America by considering the wholly owned subsidiary strategy. IKEA have entered into Europe, Asia, North America, Middle East and Caribbean but have yet entered into South America (IKEA, 2012). Two of the mandatory requirements for IKEA to move into Brazil are that the host country must be a member of the World Trade Organisation and a signatory to the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) (Back et.al., 2011). The reason we choose to enter into Brazilian market because of the stable political economy factors. Political factors, economic factors, demand factors are factors that will influenced the potential attractiveness of a foreign markets (Hill et al., 2011). The Brazilian economys entered into a stable growth stage after the recovery form financial crisis in 2008. Besides that, Brazil estimated to grow 4.0% in 2012 and the economy is expected will rises from the seventh worlds largest to the fifth within next few years (n.a., 2011). Comparing with other countries in South America, Brazil has the highest Market Potential Index (MPI) (n.a., 2011). As a result, Brazils economy is the best that all of other countries in South America (CIA, 2012). Since domestic savings are not sufficient to sustain long-term growth rates, Brazil is currently encourages foreign direct investment (FDI) and it is the largest recipient of foreign direct investment in South America (n.a., 2011). The entry of IK EA can increase the employment rate of Brazil and increase the revenue of government. Furthermore, IKEA may exploit the market of South America by grabbing this opportunity. Furthermore, the furniture and furnishings sales in Brazil has grown by 5% in 2009 to reach over R$18 billion (U$ 555,435,224.08) and expected continue to grow in the next few years (Ong, Ng and Wu, 2010). This indicated that the demands of consumers are increasing and providing the opportunity for business to grow. IKEA expand into the Brazil market would form early market entry because it enters first into South America markets before other foreign firms. According to Lieberman and Montgomery (1988), the advantages of first mover are the ability to pre-empt rivals, capture demand by building s strong brand name, rides the learning curve ahead of rivals and the ability to create switching costs that tied customers into their products and services. For example, Walmart entered into the China market as early mover, which gained the ability to pre-empt rivals and capture early demand and still dominating the market over the late over Tesco (Waldmeir, 2010). IKEA has experienced as an early mover into the markets in the past. The company has entry into Canada markets in 1976, USA in 1985 and China in 1998 (IKEA, 2012). Thus, IKEA have the advantages of pre-empt rivals and riding the learning curve ahead of its rivals. However, IKEA also suffered from the pioneering costs when they realised of the need for localisation of its American product range (Back et al., 2011). The reasons IKEA failed in the Japanese markets was because IKEA lack of readiness for the Japanese market and lack of readiness of Japanese consumers for IKEAs do-it-yourself concept  (Wijers-Hasegawa 2006). Consequently, IKEA need to beware that riding the learning curve can be a long ride if the market is not ready to adapt the products. We suggest IKEA use wholly owned subsidiary because there are around 16,000 furniture companies in Brazil and most are family owned companies. There are few key domestic players included Florense, Brazil Furniture Group, and others. The furniture market is keep growing and there is yet well known and large furniture company emerge in the market. (Evans, 2012). Thus, the furniture market in Brazil is still unexplored by multinational furniture company. Thus, a well known brand name is easily discover by the market and the consumer when large company entering into that industry. IKEA, a world famous furniture company, have the competency to entering into furniture industry in Brazil and create strong brand image to the entire furniture market easily. As there are many small furniture companies, it is easily for IKEA to enter and dominate the Brazils market. The worlds largest rainforest, The Amazon, is located in Brazil. Thus, Brazil has abundance of high quality woods as the raw material for IKEA produce high quality furniture to consumers. This is the main reason for IKEA to use the wholly owned subsidiary to entry into Brazil. Besides that, the labour cost in Brazil is cheap compared to Europe and America (n.a., 2011). In other words, Brazil has significant comparative advantages compared to others exporting countries because it has excellent quality of raw materials at low costs and flexible labor (n.a., 2004). Wholly owned subsidiary can enable IKEA gain full control over the businesss operations which will also lower the brand risk in the same time (Back et.al., 2011). By wholly owned subsidiary, IKEA can get 100 percent profits that generated in Brazil. Besides that, by adapting wholly owned subsidiary, IKEA can gain the ability to realize location and experience economics as the company is adopting transnational strategy (Hill et. at., 2011). Thus, IKEA can make full decisions to produce products that are customized to the local customer wants and needs. In the South America Context, Brazil is the most preferred country for investment. Entering into South America market is an imported step of the IKEAs globalization strategy. 4.0 Conclusion In conclusion, we knew that IKEA is a very successful worldwide home furniture company. But, they are also facing franchising control management problem due to geographic distance. If franchises do not operate well in the current market, this will affect IKEAs reputation. They tend to reduce this problem by using wholly owned subsidiaries for expansion. This strategy also not very well for IKEA because full control over their competence and its concepts but instead increasing the risks for entry the market due to cultural conflict. We can see that IKEA was failure to entry in Japan before due to diff culture, lifestyle and purchasing behavior. So, we recommended that joint venture is suitable for IKEA to further expand. This strategy can reduce risk for entry and for better handle the market culture and policy. The joint venture that enable IKEA cooperative with those company that fulfill marketing expertise, local knowledge and skill and the most important factor is have strong relationship with government. These benefits encourage IKEA enable to operating well in the specific country. A successful company should analyze all the variables that will lead to failure before enter into a specific market. Although this strategy has occurs some problem and risk but compare to previous strategies, this strategy is better for IKEA sustainable development. Furthermore, cooperative with well known company will also increase IKEA reputation and influence local consumer purchasing behavior. Finally, a very successful company will not stop growing their business and finding the ways that lead to further expansion. They must know well their limit and beat all the deadlines. IKEA has put a lot of efforts on developing their business that strengthen capacity for further expansion. Consequently, they should use joint venture strategy to expand in other countries. The more understanding other countries culture, lifestyle and behavior, the closer the gaps for success.

Measuring Happiness Levels in Mumbai: Methodology

Measuring Happiness Levels in Mumbai: Methodology Methodology Happiness has been defined either as a broad notion of how one feels about their life in general or as an emotional or affective state. Depending on the way researchers define the concept, there have been variable attempts at measurement. With decades of research, we have a better understanding of how to measure the happiness of others. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods appears to be most productive. (Helm, 2000) This chapter illustrates the methodology followed, tools used and ethical guidelines followed during the study. The following are the research objectives of the study. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES To determine the level of happiness among the residents of Mumbai To assess the mental healthcare facilities in the city To find out If there is any correlation between mental health and happiness among the residents of Mumbai On the basis of these research objectives, the following methodology was formulated. Quantitative measurement of happiness Over the past two decades there have been an increasing number of quantitative studies of happiness and well-being. In particular, there have been ongoing debates on whether happiness can be measured, whether it should be measured, how it should be measured and what are the factors affecting it (Ballas Tranmer, 2012).Psychologists and sociologists have used subjective questions regarding individuals’ happiness for over three decades. Cantril (1965) developed a question for life satisfaction. Similar question modules include the Likert (1932)-scale and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS). See also Bradburn (1969). The answer to these subjective questions has been indiscriminately termed ‘happiness’, ‘general satisfaction’ and ‘subjective well-being’. In the GSOEP the satisfaction question is: Please answer by using the following scale in which 0 means totally  unhappy, and 10 means totally happy. How happy are you at present with your life as a whole? Here, we call the response to this question the General Satisfaction (GS) level of the respondent. In this case, there are 11 numerical categories, but the question has also been posed with 7 or 5 categories or with verbal labels, such as ‘very happy/happy/so-so/somewhat unhappy/very unhappy’. The end result is invariably an ordered categorical evaluation of the quality of life of the individual.(Ferrer-i-Carbonell Frijters, 2004).The survey context, such as question order, introductory text and the survey source, can influence respondents’ understanding of individual questions within a survey, as well as the information that they draw on in order to answer those questions. In quantitative measurement, we measure the overall subjective well begin by quantifying certain constructs and concepts given below. Measurement of subjective well being Eudemonic questions like show happy are you with your life and how satisfied are you with your life have been asked to be rated on a cantril ladder. Subjective wellbeing is a broad category of phenomena that includes people’s emotional responses, domain satisfactions and global judgements of life satisfaction. Each of the specific constructs need to be understood in their own right ,yet the components often correlate substantially suggesting the need for the higher order factor.(Diener, Suh, Lucas, Smith, 2013). Quality of life is a broad term covering those aspects of overall well-being that are not captured only by material conditions(OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being, 2013). 12 different constructs were identified and worked upon to generate questions. The constructs namely are: education, employment, family, gender, health/lifestyle, personality/self-efficacy, relationships, work-life balance, communal living housing/income. Employment status – employment status is known to have a large influence on subjective  Well-being, with unemployment in particular associated with a strong negative impact on  measures of life satisfaction.(OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being, 2013). Hence 9 questions have been formulated on employment. Both physical and mental health are correlated with measures of subjective well-being (Dolan, Peasgood and White, 2008), and there is evidence that changes in disability status cause changes in life satisfaction (Lucas, 2007). Although health status is complex to measure in household surveys, there is a large pool of well-developed measures available, such as the health state descriptions from the World Health Survey (WHO, 2012), or more specialised question modules, such as the GHQ-12 for mental health (Goldberg et al., 1978). Environmental quality is inherently a geographic phenomenon, and integrating datasets on environmental quality with household level data on life satisfaction is costly. Nonetheless, there is some evidence that noise pollution (Weinhold, 2008) and air pollution (Dolan, Peasgood and White, 2008) have a significant negative impact on life satisfaction(OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being, 2013). Hence by merging both, 14 questions have been formulated beneath the heading Health/Lifestyle. There is significant evidence that aspects of work/life balance impact on subjective well-being, in particular commuting (Frey and Stutzer, 2008; Kahneman and Kruger, 2006), and time spent caring for others(OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being, 2013). To gauge its effect, 4 questions have been formulated on it. Education and skills have obvious interest both as variables for cross-classification and because there is good evidence that education is associated with subjective well-being at a bivariate level(OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being, 2013). To understand the effect and views of the respondent on education, 7 questions have been formulated. Generalised trust in others as well as more domain specific measures of neighbourhood and workplace trust are crucial factors when accounting for variation in subjective well-being(OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being, 2013).Social contact is one of the most important drivers of subjective well-being, as it has a large impact both on life evaluations and on affect(OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being, 2013). 5 questions have been formulated under communal living. One of the most consistent and robust findings in the field of subjective well-being (SWB) is that the components of SWB are moderately related to personality. Like personality traits, SWB is consistent across situations and is stable across the life span, even after the occurrence of intervening life events(Diener Lucas, 1999). 7 questions have been formulated on personality. Subjective sexual well-being refers to the perceived quality of an individual’s sexuality, sexual life, and sexual relationships. We focus primarily on evaluations of sexuality in terms of satisfaction judgments, which have been central for studying the concept of overall wellbeing(Laumann et al., 2006). Some of these questions have been asked under relationships (4). The relationship and effect of familial relations, housing and income has also been captured by asking 8 questions on it. Satisfaction with life scale The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) was originally developed by Diener, Emmons, Larsen and Griffin (1985), and was intended as a brief assessment of an individual’s general sense of satisfaction with their life as a whole. Although the SWLS includes only five items, it has demonstrated good psychometric characteristics.(Pavot Diener, 2008) The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, Griffin,  1985) is a widely used measure of life satisfaction. The SWLS consists of five items  which are rated on a seven-point Likert-type response scale? Scores on the SWLS vary  from 5 to 35 and can be compared with the scores of an international norm group (see  Pavot Diener, 2008). According to Pavot and Diener (2008), various studies confirmed  the internal consistency of the SWLS (with alpha coefficients varying from .79  to .89) (Rothmann, 2013) The authors began the development of the SWLS by generating a pool of 48 items intended to reflect life satisfaction and well-being. From this original pool of items, factor analysis was used to identify 10 items with high loadings (0.60 or above) on a common factor interpreted as global evaluations of a person’s life. After the elimination of redundancies, this group of items was then further reduced to five items, with minimal effect on the alpha reliability of the scale. A 7-point Likert style response scale (ranging from 1 ¼strongly disagree to 7 ¼strongly agree) was utilized in order to afford respondents an array of response options. The five items are all keyed in a positive direction, so the five responses can simply be added to arrive at a total score for the scale. The possible range of scores is therefore 5 to 35, with a score of 20 representing the neutral point on the scale. Scores between 5 and 9 indicate that the respondent is extremely dissatisfied with lif e, whereas scores ranging between 31 and 35 indicate that the respondent is extremely satisfied with life. Scores between 21 and 25 represent slightly satisfied, and scores from 15 to 19 are interpreted as falling in the slightly dissatisfied range(Pavot Diener, 2008). Quality of life has become a primary concern in the evaluation of both the quality and outcome of health care (Moons, Budts, De Geest, 2006). In a review of different conceptual approaches of quality of life, Moons et al. (2006) found life satisfaction to be the most adequate and appropriate conceptualization, as it successfully addresses all of the conceptual problems they examined with regard to health-related quality of life.(Pavot Diener, 2008). In most ways my life is close to my ideal 1. Strongly disagree. 2. Disagree. 3. Slightly agree. 4. Neither agrees nor disagrees. 5. Slightly agree. 6. Agree. 7. Strongly agree. The conditions of my life are excellent 1. Strongly disagree. 2. Disagree. 3. Slightly agree. 4. Neither agrees nor disagrees. 5. Slightly agree. 6. Agree. 7. Strongly agree. I am satisfied with my life. 1. Strongly disagree. 2. Disagree. 3. Slightly agree. 4. Neither agrees nor disagrees. 5. Slightly agree. 6. Agree. 7. Strongly agree. So far I have gotten the important things I want in life. 1. Strongly disagree. 2. Disagree. 3. Slightly agree. 4. Neither agrees nor disagrees. 5. Slightly agree. 6. Agree. 7. Strongly agree. If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing. 1. Strongly disagree. 2. Disagree. 3. Slightly agree. 4. Neither agrees nor disagrees. 5. Slightly agree. 6. Agree. 7. Strongly agree. Rating scale There are multiple scales, questionnaires and inventories of happiness. The following tools are mere examples: the Oxford Happiness Inventory, the Depression-Happiness Scale and the Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale Of Happiness. These scales and other contain multiple items, most frequently from 10-130 items. A plethora of studies on happiness have used single item self-rating scales with different options , mainly the Likert scale which offers 5 or 7 choice point.(Abdel-Khalek, 2006). Much quantitative research within psychology relies upon the use of numerical scales and in the main Likert scales have emerged as the dominant measurement tool(Ogden Lo, 2012). Although providing respondents with a rating scale may seem straightforward, there  are many ways in which response formats can vary. There may be differences in the response formats that may be optimal for evaluative, eudemonic and affective measures. Evaluative and eudemonic measures are similar to attitude measures in that it may be preferable for the response format to contain information about both the direction of feeling (positive/neutral/negative or agree/disagree), as well as its intensity (strong-weak). In the case of affect measures, it is often desirable to measure positive and negative affective states separately. Thus, rather than asking about the direction (positive-neutral-negative) of affect, respondents are often given a single adjective (e.g. happy) and asked to describe either the intensity or the frequency with which they felt  that way within a given time period. This may in turn have implications for the optimal  number of response options, as well as response scale labelling and anchoring. There is, however, considerable debate around the optimal number of response  categories – and a very wide range of opinions is available in the literature (Weng, 2004,  for a brief summary). This number will depend on respondents’ information-processing  capacities and preferences, survey mode, scale labelling, and, to some extent, presentational  concerns and questionnaire length. Increasing the number of response categories beyond  the optimal length could result in loss of information, increased error and decreased  reliability, because the individual scale points will mean less to respondents. The increased  response burden associated with longer scales may also lead respondents to become less  motivated to optimise and more likely to satisfice in their answers, thus also increasing the  risk of response biases and error Bradburn et al. (2004) argue that, due to the burden on memory and attention, five categories is the maximum number that a respondent can process in a verbal interview setting (telephone or face-to-face) without visual prompts. Furthermore, when the response categories are qualitatively different from one another (rather than being imagined on a sliding scale), these authors suggest that four categories should be the upper maximum. On the other hand, Alwin and Krosnick (1991) indicate that respondents may prefer to have response options denoting weak, moderate and strong negative and positive evaluations (i.e. a 7-point scale) in part because these are the categories that people often use to describe attitudes and opinions in everyday life. For evaluative measures with numerical response scales, longer scales (up to around  11 scale points) often appear to perform better. Using a multi-trait-multi-method  design, Alwin found that across all 17 domains of life satisfaction measured, the 11-point scales had higher reliabilities than the 7-point scales. In 14 out of 17 cases, the 11-point scales also had higher validity coefficients; and in 12 of 17 cases, 11-point scales had lower invalidity coefficients, indicating they were affected less, rather than more, by method variance – I.e. systematic response biases or styles. This overall finding is supported by Saris et al. (1998) who used a similar multi-trait-multi-method analysis to compare 100-point, 4 or 5-point and 10-point satisfaction measures, and found that the 10-point scale demonstrated the best reliability. For affect measures, one might be interested in measuring either the intensity of feeling  or the frequency with which that feeling occurred. Measures of recently-experienced affect  are less like attitude measures, in that one is effectively asking respondents to remember a  specific experience or to sum experiences over a specific time period. The method adopted for this study due to paucity of time and level of research expected from us at master’s level is using a 7 point scale for affect measures and using cantril ladder for eudemonic measures. The 7 point scale ranged from strongly disagrees to strongly agree. Background characteristics Questions on the respondent’s background characteristics were collected in the beginning of the questionnaire. Information such as the following was collected. Age Gender Marital status Religion Education Work status Family income Number of years residing in Mumbai Native state Number of family members Number of earning members in family No of rooms in house Ownership of house Qualitative measurement of happiness One open ended question was asked in the beginning of the questionnaire i.e. what does happiness means to you? The aim was to explore what people equate happiness with and how does it affect their overall living. The use of qualitative assessment methods, such as open- ended questions, provides information about the participants’ perceptions, views and beliefs in their own terms, in contrast to using outside researchers’ definitions and categories, which is typical of quantitative inquiries (Denzin and Lincoln 2000). Qualitative data show an additional crucial feature: it is possible to convert them into quantitative scales for purposes of statistical analyses(Fave, Brdar, Freire, Vella-Brodrick, Wissing, 2010). The entire questionnaire was formulated in the following way Data collection sampling Some surveys with the household as the unit of measure rely on a single respondent (such  as the head of household) to provide responses for the household as a whole. This cannot be  used for measures of subjective well-being, since the cognitive process of evaluating and  responding with respect to one’s own subjective well-being is very different to that of providing an estimate of another householder’s state of mind. Responses to questions on subjective wellbeing are inherently personal, and consequently the unit of measure for subjective well-being must be the individual. While this will typically not be an issue for surveys where the individual is the primary unit of analysis(OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being, 2013). The two modes most commonly used to collect information on subjective well-being are Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI), conducted by an interview over the telephone, and Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI), where the interviewer is personally present when recording the data.(OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being, 2013) Due to paucity of time, the mode was data collection was paper and pen method. The respondents were allowed to take the questionnaire home for a day and could be collected later based on their discretion. The sampling universe was people who had lived in Mumbai for more than 5 years and was targeted at literate working population. The sampling method chose was convenience sampling and the sample size is 200. Confidentiality and ethics Initially the respondents were informed about the purpose of the study and the collector’s identity and her affiliation to the institute. The confidentiality of the participants was not disclosed at any point during the course of the research. Furthermore, the respondents were assured that their responses would be used for academic purposes only.

Tosco Marketing Company Quality Control :: GCSE Business Marketing Coursework

Tosco Marketing Company Quality Control TOSCO MARKETING COMPANY Quality control comes in many forms. For some it is following a specific philosophy, such as those developed by Demming or Juran. For others it is achieving a specific degree of merit as that established by the Malcolm Baldridge Awards, or International Standard Organizations (ISO). However, the petroleum industry as a whole has compromised, shifted, and remained adaptable to an ever-changing world filled with government regulations and restrictions. The negative environmental impact of the petroleum industry is either not understood, grossly downplayed, or it is blatantly ignored. Government agencies have amended and abolished amendments in many of their policies so quickly that establishing best practices is nearly impossible. However, one thing in the petroleum industry remains the same. Safety is a key quality concept that must be adhered to. Tosco Corporation made a bad name for itself by ignoring certain safety issues. Quality control in the safety department was ineffective, and people died because of their neglect. Only recently have they outsourced the development of their safety program to Dupont. Introduction to Government Standards The Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) require an insurmountable amount of data, reports, testing, and auditing to ensure the compliance of all U.S. Oil Companies around the world. The most recent concern regarding the petroleum industry is that of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE’s) that are put in our fuel. Early on it was believed that adding MTBE’s to fuel would result in cleaner burning gasoline. However, according to the â€Å"Ground Water Monitor† small amounts seeped into the ground water and caused an unacceptable amount of contamination. The conception of MTBE’s was in 1967 with the passage of the Clean Air Act. This is the primary statute governing air quality in the United States. It assigns responsibilities to government and industry to reduce emissions from pollution sources such as automobiles, refineries, chemical plants, and power plants. However, it seems as though every solution to meet the stringent requirements poses another problem. The Clean Air Act has been amended several times, and most recently it is to be amended to ban MTBE’s by the year 2002.

Old And New Imperialism :: Imperialism History Essays

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There were two different time periods where Imperialism occurred. The first wave of imperialism, called the 'Old' Imperialism, lasted from around 1500 - 1800. The 'New' Imperialism lasted from around 1870 - 1914. The three main differences that we will discuss today are the differences in economics, politics, and the motive behind all of this.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The new and the old waves of imperialism were very much different through economics. The old economics was pretty much all about trading, they imply bought the wares brought to them by the native merchants. They didn?t have much of a money system; it was sort of a trade system. Also in old imperialism they had trade commerce on much of the coast in South America as well as Islands near Asia and England. So the wave of old imperialism was all about trading. However, the new imperialism had a different economic idea. They didn?t just want the goods of native merchants; they wanted special types of predicts. They would move into countries to get their products. Instead of having trade centers along coasts, they would set up plantations, docks, and factories in other countries. They also got as much money as they could out of people; it was all about getting money in the new imperialism unlike that of the old imperialism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The new and old waves of imperialism also differed politically. In new imperialism, they wanted to dominate politically, they wanted their politics to dominate and rule everything. They wanted to dominate in order to secure their investments. Although in old imperialism the people didn?t care so much to have political power everywhere, they just wanted someone to rule them and keep trade going in the countries that they are living in.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The motive in the new wave of imperialism and in the old wave of imperialism had a great difference. Old imperialism?s motives was mainly about bringing civilization to other countries, and teach them how to live. They just wanted glory, gold, and they wanted the satisfaction of thinking they did something good in Gods eyes. But the new motive is completely different. In the new wave of imperialism they wanted to take over already largely populated areas.

Characterization of Hamlet, Gertrude and Ophelia Essay

Hamlet is a character of extraordinary complexity and depth. No simple formula can serve to solve his mystery. A different Hamlet might have killed his uncle Claudius on the strength of the Ghost’s accusation, ascended the throne, married Ophelia and lived happily ever after . But such a typical hero was not likely to be of interest to Shakespeare. We can also say that in Hamlet Shakespeare presents a murderer and revenger who is both ruthless and reluctant and his death is the ultimate result of his being charged by the Ghost to carry out instructions which were offensive to his moral principles. Like other tragic heroes of Shakespeare he is also endowed with exceptional qualities like royal birth, graceful and charming personality among his own countrymen. He has a high intellectual quality as Ophelia observes: O what a noble mind is here overthrown! / The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s eye, tongue, sword, / Th’ expectancy and rose of the fair state ,/ The glass of fashion , and the mould of form ,/ Th’ observed of all observers. [Act III, Scene I] In spite of possessing all these high qualities which rank him above the other characters the flaw in his character leads to his downfall and makes him a tragic hero. The tragic flaw in the character of Hamlet is that he thinks too much and feels too much. He is often disturbed by his own nature of ‘self analyses’. What is required of Hamlet is prompt action, whereas he broods over the moral idealism which leads to his delay in action. When he gets an opportunity to kill Claudius, he puts aside the thought because he cannot strike an enemy while he is at prayer. Several causes account for his inaction . By nature he is prone to think rather than to act. He is a man of morals and his moral idealism receives a shock when his mother remarries Claudius after his father’s death. Chance too plays an important part in shaping his character. Chance places him in such a position in which he is incapable of doing anything. He becomes inconsistent and is no longer a person who reaches a conclusion only by reasoning. Like other tragic heroes Hamlet too has to face conflict, both internal and external. The internal conflict is between his moral scruples and the act of revenge which he is called upon to perform. Love of his father, the dishonor of his mother and the villainy of his uncle prompt him to take revenge while his nobility, his moral idealism, his principles and his religion revolt against such a brutal act. The result is that, torn within himself, he suffers mental torture. Hamlets wants to take revenge against Claudius, the murderer of his father, the usurper of his rights to the throne and the seducer of his mother . In Hamlet Shakespeare presents a revenger who is both ruthless and reluctant . As a revenger he must act, on behalf of outraged virtue, to restore a violated order, set right what is ‘out of joint’. But the act he is impelled to do, involves him in evil of the kind which he would punish. As the ruthless revenger he exemplifies in his own person the evil which is inseparable from the good in human nature; as the reluctant revenger he can symbolize the good’s abhorrence of it. As compared to Fortinbras and Laertes, Hamlet is slow in taking revenge because of his habit of thinking long and deep. Bradley clearly describes this condition and says he suffered from melancholia, a pathological state which may well develop into lunacy. (p. 121) There is an another aspect of Hamlet’s characterization i.  e. his madness. T. S Eliot argues that ‘the madness of Hamlet lay in Shakespeare’s hand; in the earlier play a simple ruse, and to the end, we may presume, understood as a rule by the audience. For Shakespeare it is less than madness and more than feigned. ’ (p. 102) By pretending to be mad, Hamlet kept open the safety valve and could speak order to relieve the pressure on his mind. This is what T. S Eliot means when he uses the words â€Å"more than feigned. † Samuel Johnson (1765) also considers his madness as fabricated even in his (Hamlet’s) treatment of Ophelia. Johnson says in this regard, ‘He plays the madman most, when he treats Ophelia with so much rudeness, which seems to be useless and wanton cruelty. ’ (Johnson, 1765) Shakespeare’s characterization of Gertrude and Ophelia in Hamlet is paradoxical as it challenges as well as complements the contemporary social traditions and norms. Gertrude is the best example of this paradox that is manifested through her extraordinary supremacy over all the major characters of Hamlet, her influence in the court matters and state affairs and her blind obedience to Claudius. Ophelia is also active in her domestic domain but her interest are restricted to amorous and matrimonial maters only and they are further directed by his father Polonius and brother Laertes. She is an epitome of traditional feminist expressions of the age that require chastity, compliance and acceptance of male dominancy from women. Ophelia remains passive in the domestic and emotional domain. Ophelia has no identity of her own and all her domestic and amorous matters are directed by her father. Polonius endeavors to fashion the life and attitude of Ophelia according to his own wishes. He considers his desires as her desires and tries to tailor her approach by various means. Ophelia is further guarded by his brother against any potential threat to her chastity and virginity. At Ophelia’s entry into Hamlet, her brother, Laertes escorts Ophelia advising her on her relationship with Hamlet. So right from the very start, Ophelia is under the sway of Laertes and Polonius. So her character is in complete conformity with the traditional values of that time. Polonius always responds from a position of authority over Ophelia, emphasizing his power as the decision-maker for her. Both her father and brother have a self assigned task of directing Ophelia how to act properly in every domain of her life. Although Shakespeare has characterized Ophelia as inferior to male characters, but characterization of Gertrude has dual characteristic. Sometime it challenges the traditions of the conformist society and sometime it itself become conforms to the values of the society by acting passively.

School Uniforms in the U. S.

There are many schools in the U. S. that require their students to wear uniforms, and there're also some that don't. I believe that school uniforms should not be required for a few reasons. Uniforms take away from a person's individual identity, and they can be costly to people depending on their financial status. School uniforms can also be a very uncomfortable fashion that students would not take a liking to. The first reason uniforms should not be required is that most schools across the country believe uniforms take away from an individuals identity, so they don't require their students wear them.In today's world your identity and having a good sense of self is important to the diversity that Americans have show in the past. In schools that require uniforms the student body all look the like same person, very bland and boring people. This is not what American society is, we are casual dressing diverse people, and dressing casual and the way you like is the best way to recognize s tudents as individual people and not as part of â€Å"those people. † Another reason for opposing uniforms is everyone especially kids like to be comfortable when having to sit still for an elongated period of time.When kids are uncomfortable in school they tend fidget and not pay attention instead they are worrying about fixing their clothes, which should not be their top priority. When guys wear the uniforms they will always have to be worried about whether their tie is straight or if their shirt is properly tucked in. Girls wearing uniforms might have to worry about their skirts if they are proper length and if they are twisted or not, and being a girl I know how easily female clothes can become askew from their proper place.All these minor irritations kids would have to go through limit their comfort and cause their minds to lack focus on schoolwork and concentrate more on fixing their clothes. Also some days kids may wake up and not feel to well and just might want to we ar the comfortable t-shirt and sweat pants. Wearing uniform when feeling under the weather might just agitate their wellness a little more. The last and most important reason for not requiring uniforms are they money. These uniforms might costly roughly between forty and fifty dollars per set, and on top of that parents would have to buy four or five to last the school eek, with a final purchase cost of two hundred and fifty dollars. Some parents can not afford these high prices depending on their financial situation, and forcing parents to buys these is just another way to put a damper on their already harsh feelings on their income. Also you cannot penalize a child for what their parents can and can't afford. After a while kids do grow and would grow out of their new expensive attire and even more money will have to be spent to buy more sets of uniforms.We all live in a country were we are free to make choices, like what we want to wear everyday. Taking away our right to choose is like a natural right, a right that you are born with, and as we all know Americans thrive on their rights set up by the constitution more than two hundred years ago. Bottom line school uniforms should not be required for students to wear, they take away from our individual identity, they can become quite uncomfortable to wear, and most important they can be very costly and a not needed financial burden. http://www. bookrags. com/essay-2004/12/20/11426/585/