Marketing and Promotional Tools Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Marketing and Promotional Tools - Coursework Example As the report declares the modern technology has made reception and dissemination of information quite simple for companies. Companies can share information regarding the products or services they offer to the world via the internet. In addition, there are various media that companies can use to market their products or services. These media include televisions, magazines, posters, social media platforms such as the Facebook and many others. It is essential to identify that marketing techniques are tailored to attract potential customers to buy the product or service in question. The aim of this project is to analyze the different media and promotional tools used to market the products of the Innocent Company and Coca-Cola Company. According to the discussion findings the innocent company is a multi-billion company that serves in the product sector. The company mainly provides drinks of varies taste to its customers. Some of the drinks produced by the company include smoothies and fruit juice. The company has established various strategies to promote the sale of its products in the competitive beverage market. The Coca-Cola Company holds over 90% of the company shares. In essence, the beverage market is very competitive since there are millions of companies in the world market. The Innocent Company has purposed to improve its communication structure in order to facilitate smooth interaction with the customer. The communication structure is aimed at ensuring proper dissemination of information regarding the products offered by the company to members of the public.

Brand extension for leveraging brand equity

Brand extension for leveraging brand equity Brand extensions are one of the most popular strategies for leveraging brand equity. By launching new products under popular brand names, firms hope that consumers will respond more favorably to the new offering, due to their familiarity with the parent brand, positive feelings toward the parent brand, and positive attribute and non-attribute associations they have with the parent brand. A brand is the identity of a specific product, service, or business. Brand extension denotes to the corporate activity in which companies bring in new products, new product variants or product improvements by leveraging the brand equity of the existing parent brand. It is believed that compared to launching a new product under a new brand name, brand extensions can increase the efficiency of promotional efforts, improve access to distribution channels, and reduce consumers perceived risk of purchasing a product or service (Keller, 2002). Another major factor for which Companies prefer to use brand extension is lower cost. Introducing a new brand into consumer market can be relatively much higher than introducing new product or product variants under the same brand name. This cost can range above millions of rupees and can not guarantee of any success. So instead of launching entirely a new product, most companies prefer brand extension. Successful examples such as Diet Pepsi and Diet Coke benefited from the brand franchise of their parent products. Coca-Cola introduced six extensions and captured a larger market share than the original brand. For example, Cokes extension, Cherry Coke, was successful even without considerable advertisement. On the other hand, the potential of brand extension problems can ranger from failure of the brand or partial failure such as brand Dilution and brand cannibalism. Instead of success, the failed extension might tarnish the image and reduce the market share of the parent product. Associations that are unique to the brand, strongly held, and favorably held, are vital for success. However, since the specific associations a consumer holds are dependent on personal values and individual purchase situations, managers must learn what they are and when they operate. For example in case of new Coke, Coca Cola did not pay attention to what the core brand meant to stand for. It mainly focused on the taste and thought that the taste is the only factor which consumers are looking for. This concept was wrong. Coca cola was unable to identify the attachment of the consumer with the original coke before launching New coke, even though Coca Cola spent a lot of money on conducting research before launc hing New coke. Brand dilution occurs when consumers loss the original grasp of brand perception on their minds and no longer associate the brand with a specific product. For instance, Sunsilk may experience brand dilution by loosing its strong identity of hair care and shampoo range by running a number of different categories like mashed potatoes, powdered milk and soups. Too broad varieties of product categories run under same brand can frustrate consumers in thinking which variations of products that actually fit to their perceptions. For Example, too many ranges of Sunsilk shampoo include Sunsilk black, pink, white, yoghurt, dandruff can make customers confused in buying a suitable product which actually fit to their needs. Even though todays consumers are selective in their buying habits and expect innovation, the reality of brand extension success is still low. This is because most of new product extensions are not unique and do not satisfy consumer needs. There are some factors that lead to b rand dilution. Among those include perception in consumer minds comparing between parent brand and product extension, level of familiarity with parent brand, fit level transferred from parent brand to extension and consumers perception to new product. Level of brand loyalty shown by a customer can switch to radical degree for brand extension case. When loyalty and level of familiarity with parent brand is high, new product extension failure may greatly diminish trust level to entire brand portfolio. In turn, low familiarity to brand affects low dilution when product failure occurs in new extension. As per early research regarding brand extension leads to brand dilution, Aaker and Keller (1990) found insignificant evidence between unsuccessful brand extension leads to brand dilution. Conversely, in a research Loken and Roedder-John (1993) pointed that inconsistency of product and brand beliefs may lead to brand dilution. Brand dilution and failure of brand can occur when consumer find it difficult to associate the extension with the parent brand, a lack of similarity and familiarity and discrepancy between Integrated marketing communication messages. Brand extension is a strategy which most of the companies are using, to minimize risk associated with introducing a entirely new brand and maximize their profits from the new brand. But in some of the cases brand extension fails, and the reason is the weak brand equity of the parent brand that bear upon the success of the brand extension. If the equity of parent brand is strong, brand extension can be successful and vice versa. Both Functional and non functional attributes of a brand can harm and eventually dilute the equity of an integrated oriented brand, which means due to the weak brand equity, brand dilution can occur across the parent brand. Such kind of failures of extensions can make customers to create a negative association with the parent brand or even with the brand family. These failures can also agitate and blur the original identity and meaning of a brand even positioning as well. Managers seem to be aware of the dangers and benefits of extending their brand franchise. Yet the number of failed extensions in the past few years indicates that some refinement in our knowledge of the brand extension process is needed. What factors determine whether or not a brand extension will be successful? The most important factor identified by prior research is perceived fit. Consumers respond more favorably if they are able to perceive a fit between the extension and the parent brand and this leads to the success of the brand extension. Conversely, If consumers are unable to perceive a fit between extension and the parent brand, the brand extension might become a failure and may lead to brand dilution. According to Martinez and de Chernatony (2004) brand image has two types: the general brand image and the product brand image. According to them there would be no negative impact on general brand image if the brand image is strong. For example, Nike or Sony. Dilution effect would be more on product image instead of general brand image. Therefore, mostly the customers would stick to their beliefs about the parent brand with respect to its attributes and feelings. Nevertheless their study shows that brand image can be diluted by brand extension, and beliefs and association with the parent brand can also be changed. In developing countries like Pakistan it is even more convenient for multinationals to try brand extensions. The reason is that most of the multinational companies come from developed countries like America, United Kingdom and Japan. Products from these countries enjoy positive country of origin effect in mind of consumers due to their previous track record in terms of customer satisfaction. This as a result lowers the amount of money spend over awareness creation and since they already enjoy good market and media presence, therefore more affordable for them to launch brand extensions in Pakistan. For instance, Pakistan Tobacco Company Limited (PTC) which is a part of British American Tobacco who sells their brands to millions of consumers in 180 countries worldwide. They were the foremost brands entering Pakistan as early as 1947. Ever since then they have launched new reputed brand extensions such as Benson Hedges, Embassy, Gold Flake, Gold Leaf and recently Capstan brand of cigarettes (Business recorder.com). STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The failure rates of new product over the last few decades have increased tremendously; therefore, firms have resorted to brand extensions, because of inherent advantages including its acceptability, low promotion cost and comparatively lesser degree of failures. Despite these advantages, the failure rate of brand extension has remained significant in the last one decade. Therefore, the researchers have been focusing in identifying the factors that consumers use for evaluating the brand extension, or the factors that are contributes towards the success or failure of brand extensions. The focus of this study is to identify whether the brand extension is favorable or lead to brand dilution. Researches on brand extensions have focused mainly over consumer evaluation of brand extensions. However as a matter of fact consumers generally cannot assess brand extensions in undifferentiated manner (Aaker and Keller, 1990, Keller and Aaker, 1992; Dacin and Smith, 1994; Smith and Andres, 1995). In spite of the extensive body of knowledge on consumer evaluations of brand extensions, very little or negligible attention has been paid as to what is brand or marketing managers view point over brand extensions strategy ( Nijssen and Agustin, 1999). The lack of brand managers view point input in the literature is odd as their analysis of consumer and competitors reactions coupled with their personal preferences are a fairly good indicator of success of a brand extension strategy. Therefore along with consumers perception about brand extension, viewpoint of brand managers of couple of companies will also be considered in this thesis. Over the past couple of decades we have witnessed a great number of companies both domestic and multinationals engaging in brand extensions in Pakistan. For example a few of the well known domestic brand extensions deals in retailing and fashion (Chen One Pvt Ltd), health care products (Z-Jans Pvt Ltd), Medicam tooth paste and Sweetener (Medicam Pvt Ltd Pakistan), Rafhan pudding mix and Custard (Rafhan Best Food Ltd), National Pickel, Salt and Spices (National foods Ltd), Haleeb Milk Pack, Yogurt and Cream (Haleeb Foods Ltd Pakistan). As far as multinationals are concerned Nestle and Uniliver Pakistan have carried out most of the brand extensions. For example, Nestle (Mineral Water, Milk Pack, Cream Yogurt), Uniliver has brand extensions (Lifebuoy Shampoo Soap, Express Surf, Colgate toothpaste, Walls Ice-cream). In this relation a study of brand extensions from brand managers perspective is important to find out successful practices which are prerequisites for a brand extension in Pakistan. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The significance of this thesis is to explore the use of brand extension strategies in the Pakistan context. Whether the strategy of brand extension is favorable or not, or due to brand extension, brands gets diluted or cannibalized? Since brand extensions is one of the most popular strategies for leveraging brand equity, this study will also focus on brand extension effect on brand equity. This thesis will focus on brand extension strategies of products from various companies which include Z-Jans Pvt Ltd, Haleeb Foods Ltd Pakistan, Servis Shoes, Lakson Group, and Chen one, Nestle, Sunsilk, Pakola and Fair Lovely. Various companies insights regarding brand extension will help us to study favorability or unfavorability of brand extension in a well manner. We will try to achieve this purpose by answering the following research questions. Brand extension is more beneficial than launching new products with respect to customers know how about the parent brand. Brand extension is beneficial in Terms of Consumer Knowledge and Consumer Trust about the quality and association of Parent brand? Brand extension is beneficial in terms of refreshing Parent brand. Brand extension can result in dilution of Parent Brand. Brand extension can lower the credibility of Parent Brand. Brand extension can result in cannibalization of Parent Brand Sales Brand extension can be a disaster and may lead to brand dilution if extension is not fit (Similarity and consistency) as per the concept of Parent brand. Moderating factors like brand quality, customer know how, customer certainty and brand equity affect brand extension? By answering above question, we will come to know whether brand extension is favorable or it leads to brand dilution, and whether brand extension is favorable for those companies who prefer extension and are involved in brand extension from couple of decades. This thesis will be beneficial in indentifying the success rate or failure rate of brand extension of those companies which have been chosen for this thesis. SCOPE AND DELIMITATION The study is carried out from a viewpoint of brand extension in our home country (Pakistan). The research conducted for this thesis is based on limited and chosen product category and Another constraint confronted during the course of research was the fact that majority of multinationals (MNEs) formulate brand extension strategies at their head quarters abroad. Finally, it was learnt that since the concept of brand manager in Pakistan is in infancy stages therefore normally it is the marketing manager who carries out the responsibilities of brand manager when it comes to brand extensions. DEFINITIONS Brand According to (American Marketing Association 2007 brand is: A name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition. Brand extension Using an established name of one product class for entering another product class (Aaker 1991). Using a successful brand name for launching a new or modified product or line is known as brand extension strategy (Kotler 1991). An expansion strategy in which firms use already established and successful brand name for introducing a new or modified product (Kotler Armstrong 1990). Using an established brand name for introducing a new product into product category which is new to the company is known as franchise strategy (Hartman Price Duncan 1990). Product Line Extension A product line extension is the use of an established products brand name for a new item in the same product category. Line Extensions takes place when a company stretches its product line and introduces extra items in the same product category under the same brand name for example new nips, forms, colors, added ingredients, package sizes. This is a little different from brand extension in which a new product is introduced in an entirely new category, While Line extension occurs when the company increases its product line outside its current chain. Product line can also be stretched as down market stretch and up market stretch. Brand Dilution Brand dilution is the subverting of a brand though its overutilization. This often happens when brand extension is done poorly. Price cut can also bring a brand down and can damage the brand, even though it increases the volume of the product. Brand dilution can be a severe headache for companies that rely mostly on their strong brand for higher profits. Companies who possess strong brand image wishes to leverage its equity to sell and earn as much profit as they can, but the same strategy to leverage a brand equity can also lead to damage a brand name and eventually result in brand dilution. Brand Cannibalization Brand cannibalization pertains to a decrease in volume, revenue of sale and diminution of market share of a product which results from the introduction of new products by the same producer. For example, when diet coke was introduced by Coca Cola, sales for original coke diminished, but eventually it led in expansion of diet soft drink market. Brand Equity Brand equity is a relationship between customers and brands, resulting in a profit to be realized at a future date (Wood 2000). Kotler and Armstrong (1996) were of the opinion that measuring brand equity is a tedious job. Nevertheless, a powerful brand means high brand equity that helps in achieving higher brand loyalty, name awareness, perceived quality, and strong brand associations. Some of the major benefits of brand equity are brand awareness and consumer loyalty which helps in reducing marketing costs. Brand is an important equity; therefore, it should be carefully preserved by adopting strategies that would help in maintaining or improving brand awareness, perceived brand quality and positive associations. (Kotler Armstrong 1996) Brand Association Brand association refers to level by which a brand is recognized by a consumer in a deep manner. If a brand is deep seated in the mind of the consumer in a positive manner, it will be recognized positively. Brand associations are the properties of a brand which consumers recall whenever brand is talked about. Consumer relates a brand name with its implicit or explicit meanings. Brand association can also be termed as the level to which a specific product/service is acknowledged amongst its product or service family. When choosing a brand name, it is important that the name selected must reinforce an essential dimensions and specification or benefit association that forms the position of a product.

Andy Warhol Essay -- essays research papers

Andy Warhol Never before have I encountered more intriguing works of art than those done by Andy Warhol. I have been curious about his life ever since I saw his work in Milwaukee. I saw his famous work of the Campbell's Soup Can. By viewing this, one can tell he is not your average artist. I'm sure his life is full of interesting events that shaped him into who he was. As an artist myself, I would like to get to know the background of his life. I may then be able to appreciate his styles and understand why and how his works were created. His life is as interesting as his artistic masterpieces. Andrew Warhola (his original name) was born one of three sons of Czech immigrants, somewhere in Pennsylvania on either August 6, 1928 or on September 28, 1930 (the date on his birth certificate). His father died when Andy was at a very young age. Thus, it forced Andy into a deep depression containing lack of self confidence. Much of his young life has been kept secret. However, he did report being very shy and depressed because he never felt comfortable with his homosexuality. His childhood life may have been full of the torture that children threw at him for being the different person he was. He was able to attend college. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in pictorial design from Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1949, he went to New York City with Philip Pearlstein, who was a fellow student that later became a well-known realist painter. In 1960, Warhol finally began to paint in earnest and to view art seriously as a career. He began his career with commercial drawings of women's shoes. In 1961, an early manifestation was his Dick Tracy, an enlarged version of the comic strip that was placed in the window of Lord & Taylor's department store. He followed in his own footsteps to keep going in the ever-so-famous "pop art" track. Warhol's use of images are so close to the images themselves, thanks to the photographic silkscreen technique, which is a process of applying the same image over and over again without changing the original. In 1963, he began turning film into his next aesthetic. He was the recorder of the world around him. Warhol saw this world as populated by hustlers of various sorts, motivated largely by money and the goods it would buy. Later that next year, he started to experiment in underground film. In the late 70's he ... ...Amis 1732). Others saw the diaries as a simplistic record of events. "His diaries are more or less just records of who went where and did what with whom, that anybody else who'd been along could have kept" (Plagens 1732). It's too bad he didn't start the diaries earlier in his life, such as the 60's, "when it would have been more interesting to know what he did and whom he was with, instead of waiting until 1976 to begin" (Plagens 1732). Some even complained of the editing job done by Pat Hackett. "One problem with the diaries is their postmodern polish, such as the casual proofreading and editing" (Trebay 1732). The reason the editor didn't fit up to par was the mere fact she wanted it to sound how Andy explained the day. "...still the book is great social history with its lip-smacking tales of loveless, sexless marriages, its gimlet-eyed view of other people's success, and its rampant unclosetings" (Trebay 1732). I, myself, found the book very entertaining and a great nonchalant look at the famous and their everyday lives. It may have been organized better and condensed a bit, but none-the-less it was still interesting and kept me reading.

Did the Court feel that equalizing the funding between schools in Texas would make school opportunity for students equal?

In 1973, the San Antonio Independent School District filed an appeal to the United States Supreme Court to decide whether or not the state of Texas financed public education in such a way to discriminate against students living in poor school districts.The Supreme Court (1973) held that â€Å"the Texas system does not operate to the peculiar disadvantage of any suspect class.† Although such is the case, the Court also held that education â€Å"is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms† (United States Supreme Court [USSC], 1973). There are, however, factors to consider before such an equal opportunity for students to exist.While believing that education must be made available to all on equal terms, the United States Supreme Court (1973) also believed that â€Å"the history of education since the industrial revolution shows a continual struggle between two forces: the desire by members of society to have educational opportunity for all children, and t he desire of each family to provide the best education it can afford for its own children.† The Texas financial system for public schools is a â€Å"product of the state and local participation† (USSC, 1973).Half of the revenues to provide basic education were derived from state-funded programs and each district aids in financing through taxes on properties within the district's jurisdiction. The appellees claim that Texas' reliance on local property taxation discriminates poor families who reside in districts having low generation of property tax.The United States Supreme Court (1973), however, held that the state of   Texas works its system of school finances such that â€Å"While assuring a basic education for every child in the State, it permits and encourages a large measure of participation in and control of each district's schools at the local level.†It was based on the efforts â€Å"devoted to establishing a means of guaranteeing a minimum statewide ed ucational program without sacrificing the vital element of local participation† and local control means†¦ the freedom to devote more money to the education of one's children† (USSC, 1973).There is no doubt that the United States Supreme Court feel that equalizing the the funds between schools in Texas would make opportunity for students equal as well.However, it held that the financial system has already provided the basic educational requirement and does not believe that the state of Texas is not making any efforts to provide such equal opportunity in education for its students. The 1973 decision states that:â€Å"In sum, to the extent that the Texas system of school financing results in unequal expenditures between children who happen to reside in different districts, we cannot say that such disparities are the product of a system that is so irrational as to be invidiously discriminatory.Texas has acknowledged its shortcomings and has persistently endeavored â₠¬â€œ not without some success – to ameliorate the differences in levels of expenditures without sacrificing the benefits of local participation. TheTexas plan is not the result of hurried, ill-conceived legislation.It certainly is not the product of purposeful discrimination against any group or class. On the contrary, it is rooted in decades of experience in Texas and elsewhere, and in major part is the product of responsible studies by qualified people† (USSC, 1973).The United States Supreme Court (1973) believed that â€Å"the Texas plan for financing public education reflects what many educators for a half century have thought was an enlightened approach to a problem for which there is no perfect solution† in which the justices are unwilling to assume â€Å"a level of wisdom superior to that of legislators, scholars, and educational authorities in 50 States, especially where the alternatives proposed are only recently conceived and nowhere yet tested.† ReferenceUnited States Supreme Court (1973). San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez. 411 US 1

Expanding the multicultural debate Essay

The authors use three specific examples to substantiate their arguments – first, the habit of the Japanese macaques to wash sweet potatoes; second, how an infant chimpanzee learns the American Sign Language from its mother; and third, the utilization of tools by wild chimpanzees. Primatologists in Japan found an unusual behavior that originated in a female Japanese macaque and was imitated by others in her troop in a short while. This female, known as Imo, began to wash sweet potatoes in the river before eating it. Soon she began to hold the potato in the stream of water with one hand and scrub it with the other hand. This novel behavior spread among the members of the troop in a very specific pattern. It was observed that young monkeys learned a new behavior faster than adult monkeys. It was also seen that female moneys learned a skill or habit faster than male monkeys, the reason for this pattern being that females have a greater tendency to stay within a group and participate in kin transmission of knowledge. A culture of washing sweet potatoes was thus transmitted from mother to child across a whole troop of macaques. Scientists in the United States of America studied the acquisition of the American Sign Language (ASL) by chimpanzees. Washoe was a chimpanzee raised since its birth as an ordinary American middle class child by a pair of foster parents who spoke with her and between each other only in ASL. By the time she was 51 months old she had an entire repertoire of signs to answer questions like what, who, how, when, whey, where, etc. The same experiment was repeated with four other chimpanzees and similar results were obtained with them. After Washoe moved to a lab she raised a baby chimpanzee named Loulis. Washoe taught Loulis ASL. His vocabulary comprised of 51 signs by the time he was 73 months old. Use of basic tools to crack open nuts and fruits has been observed in the chimpanzees living in West Africa. Those reared in captivity also showed this skill. When a group of chimpanzees who did not know to use anvil-like and hammer-like tools, were placed with three others who did know how to use stones as tools. It was found that this particular skill spread rapidly among the chimpanzees. The young ones learned it faster than adults and females learned it faster than the males. It was also found that those chimpanzees motivated by others in the group to use stone tools learned the skill better than those chimpanzees that lacked motivation. The author concludes that non-human primates are cultural beings even though they do not speak a language. He says that ‘animals’ and ‘humans’ are not different in principle. Charles Darwin placed human beings alongside animals to indicate the continuity of species. Therefore, says the author, there must be a radical revision in the manner in which animals are ethically treated and that they must be dealt with using the same moral principles that human beings use in dealing with other human beings. There are many evidences that both support and oppose the claim that non-human primates are cultural beings who entail the same treatment as human beings on an ethical level. The main focus of the supporting evidence has been on how primates learn new behaviors and skills. They learn by observation, instruction, social conflict, and group learning (Poirier & Hussey, 1982). While human beings also learn behaviors and skills in a similar manner, they are said to be set apart by the fact that they are still learning, and therefore differ from primates on an evolutionary basis (Farb, 1978). In other words, natural selection has decided the optimum amount of learning required by primates to survive in the wild. Innovation and learning have much to do with the evolution of the primate brain (Reader & Laland, 2001). Increased brain size did influence the learning skills of primates and their ability to innovate. Yet, the reverse is also possible. The evolution of the primate brain has depended on their ability to learn in various ways. It was not only greater brain size that allowed primates to acquire technical knowledge, but technology also enhanced brain evolution (Whiten and Byrne, 1997). Another argument goes that human beings are more adapted to culture compared to other species (Tomasello, 1999). Cultural adaptations might have started when children began to articulate new linguistic symbols. This must have set in place an entirely different cognitive apparatus compared to that of non-human primates (Tomasello, 1999). Language as an indicator of culture has been studied extensively (Cheney & Seyfarth, 1996). It is understood that many species of monkey posses language skills that might be considered to be precursors of human language. Vervet monkeys are known to communicate in signs comprising of a semantic structure (Seyfath et al, 1980). In this respect they can be considered to have a linguistic culture like human beings do. Culture has been defined in many ways. This definition of culture can be applied only to human beings, â€Å"†Culture †¦ is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other ca- pabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society† (Tylor, 1871). According to this definition culture is a domain of human beings (Holloway, 1969). While human beings and non-human primates both learn different skills and behaviors, they differ in the manner in which that experience is organized. Social structure alone cannot be used to say that non-human primates and human beings are both cultural species because all species have a social structure of some sort or the other. Human beings differ from other species in their ability to create arbitrary and abstract rules that shape social relations in manner than transcends all biological ties. Other criteria such as the ability of primates to resolve conflicts have been used to show that primates are not all too different from human beings (Greenberg et al, 2000). Yet this resolution comes with a clause. Aggression is common in social groups such as non-human primates. Chimpanzees are known to live in peace in their groups but are easily provoked into aggressive behavior (Goodall, 1986). Reconciliation usually occurs when an older member of the tribe intervenes. Some scientists define what elements must be used to specify culture – labels, signals, skills and symbols (van Schaik et al, 2003). According to a study done on orangutans and chimpanzees, it was found that only human beings possessed all the foul cultural elements, that is, the labels which signify preferences and ability to recognize food or predators and do not require much innovation; signals to social transmit messages particularly of group value; skills that entail technology and innovation; and symbols that were more sophisticated signals that became characteristic of a group. Orangutans and chimpanzees possess only the first three elements. Culture is a very abstract term when used to describe phenomenon that cannot be quantifies such as the ability to create art and sculptures and literature that are quite characteristic of the life and times of the creator. In an evolutionary and biological system where skills and semantics are measured, non-human primates can be considered to be cultured but when the cognitive functions are observed, culture appears to be truly the domain of human beings. References: Farb, P. (1978). Humankind. New York: Bantam Greenberg, M. , Pierotti, R. , Southwick, C. H. & Waal, F. B. M (2000). Conflict and Resolution in Primates-All Too Human? Science, 290 (5494). 1095-1097 Poirier, F. E. & Hussey K. K. (1982). Nonhuman Primate Learning: The Importance of Learning from an Evolutionary Perspective. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 13(2), 133-148. Reader, S. M. & Laland, K. N. (2002). Social Intelligence, Innovation, and Enhanced Brain Size in Primates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 99(7), 4436-4441. Seyfarth, R. M. , Cheney. D. L. , & Marler P. (1980). Monkey responses to three different alarm calls: evidence of predator classification and semantic communication. Science, 210, 801-803 Tomasello, M (1999). The Human Adaptation for Culture. Annual Review of Anthropology, 28, (1999), 509-529. Tylor. E. B. (1871). Primitive Culture. London: Murray Whiten, A. & Byrne, R. W. (1997) Machiavellian Intelligence II. Extensions and 30. Evaluations. Cambridge Univ. Press: Cambridge, U. K. Van Schaik et al (2003). Orangutan Cultures and the Evolution of Material Culture. Science, 299 (5603), 102-105.

Understanding Different Learning Styles in the Workplace

Understanding Different Learning Styles in the Workplace Thanks to Ron Gross for sharing this piece from his book Peak Learning: How to Create Your Own Lifelong Education Program for Personal Enlightenment and Professional Success. In the world of work, there is widening recognition of the need to capitalize on different learning styles within organizations. According to Dudley Lynch, in Your High Performance Business Brain, we can use this powerful new way of understanding people to design better organizations, ... do a more effective and productive job of hiring and placing people, and to frame our management messages so that they can penetrate the natural filters of the mind. That means you should be able to measure how well your learning style fits the tasks that compose your present job. You should also be able to recognize the styles of others, which will make for better communications. Understanding Your Style In a workshop, we illustrate this by forming a hemispheric circle. All the participants seat themselves in a semicircle so that each persons position reflects his or her degree of preference for either the stringer or the grouper style of learning. Those on the left side of the semicircle prefer to learn in a step-by-step, analytical, systematic way. Those on the right prefer a holistic, top-down, big-picture approach. Then, we talk about how these two kinds of people can best explain things to each other or convey new information. Hold on, now, one of the left-side folks will say. Id really prefer it if you could start out by giving me some basic examples of what youre talking about. You seem to be all over the map instead of starting with first things first. But the next minute someone from the right side will complain, Hey, I cant see the forest for all those trees youre throwing at me. Could we wrench ourselves up out of the details and get an overview of the subject? Whats the point? Where are we headed? Often partnerships are profitably forged out of two individuals who complement each others styles. In my workshops, we often see two people who work closely together take seats on opposite ends of the hemispheric circle. In one case, a couple in the fashion business found themselves in those places. It turned out that one of them was the idea person and the other, the financial wizard. Together they made a dynamic duo indeed. Teamwork Creating teams to work together or to solve problems is an important area in which an awareness of styles can assure greater success. Some highly technical problems call for team members who all share the same way of processing information, seeking new facts, interpreting evidence, and coming to conclusions. A narrow fact-finding or problem-solving assignment, such as determining how to expedite the passage of orders through the billing department, might be such a situation. In other situations, however, your success may depend on having the right mix of styles. You may need one or two people who take the top-down, broad view together with others who like to work systematically and logically. Creating a plan for the next years activities would be a task that could benefit from this mix of approaches. Recognizing Relationships With Superiors Another area in which styles of learning and thinking can crucially affect the success of individuals or organizations is boss-employee relations. This typical situation occurs every day in business and industry: a supervisor will complain that a new worker cant seem to learn a routine task. When the suggestion is made that the newcomer might learn it if shown it move by move, the supervisor - clearly a grouper rather than a stringer - expresses dismay, exclaiming, I never give instructions that way. It would be insulting and patronizing - anyone can pick it up if they really want to. Such conflict based on differences in style can extend right up to the executive suite. In their book, Type Talk, management consultants Otto Kroeger and Janet Thuesen tell how they helped straighten out troubled organizations by analyzing the disparities among the styles of the managers and executives involved. They even suggest developing a version of the organization chart in which each of the key individuals is identified not by his or her title, but by his or her learning style! Source Gross, Ronald. Peak Learning: How to Create Your Own Lifelong Education Program for Personal Enlightenment and Professional Success. Revised, Subsequent edition, TarcherPerigee, April 5, 1999.

Famous Medieval and Renaissance Couples

Famous Medieval and Renaissance Couples Throughout history, men and women have joined together in partnerships both romantic and practical. Kings and their queens, writers and their muses, warriors and their lady-loves have at times had an impact on their world and on future events. The same could be said for some fictional couples, whose often-tragic romances have served to inspire both literature and true-life romantic adventures. These passionate, political, and poetic couples from the Medieval and Renaissance ages will go down in history. Abelard and Heloise Real life scholars of 12th-century Paris, Peter Abelard and his student, Heloise, had a torrid affair. Their story can be read in A Medieval Love Story. Arthur and Guinevere The legendary King Arthur and his queen are at the center of a huge corpus of medieval and post-medieval literature. In most stories, Guinevere had a real affection for her older husband, but her heart belonged to Lancelot. Boccaccio and Fiammetta Giovanni Boccaccio was an important 14th-century author. His muse was the lovely Fiammetta, whose true identity is undetermined but who appeared in some of his early works. Charles Brandon and Mary Tudor Henry VIII arranged for his sister Mary to wed King Louis XII of France, but she already loved Charles, the 1st Duke of Suffolk. She agreed to wed the much older Louis on condition that she be allowed to choose her next husband herself. When Louis died shortly after the marriage, Mary secretly wed Suffolk before Henry could embroil her in another political marriage. Henry was furious, but he forgave them after Suffolk paid a hefty fine. El Cid and Ximena Rodrigo Dà ­az de Vivar was a notable military leader and the national hero of Spain. He acquired the title el Cid (sir or lord) during his lifetime. He really did marry Ximena (or Jimena), the kings niece, but the exact nature of their relationship is obscured in the mists of time and epic. Clovis and Clotilda Clovis was the founder of the Merovingian dynasty of Frankish kings. His pious wife Clotilda convinced him to convert to Catholicism, which would prove significant in the future development of France. Dante and Beatrice Dante Alighieri is often considered the finest poet of the Middle Ages. His devotion in his poetry to Beatrice made her one of the most celebrated figures in western literature. Still, he never acted on his love, and may never even have told her personally how he felt. Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville Handsome  Edward was attractive and popular with the ladies, and he surprised quite a few people when he married the widowed mother of two boys. Edwards bestowal of court favors on Elizabeths relatives disrupted his court. Erec and Enide The poem Erec et Enide  is the earliest extant Arthurian romance by 12th-century poet Chrà ©tien de Troyes. In it, Erec wins a tournament to defend the assertion that his lady is the most beautiful. Later, the two go on a quest to prove to each other their noble qualities. Etienne de Castel and Christine de Pizan The time Christine had with her husband was a mere ten years. His death left her in financial straits, and she turned to writing to support herself. Her works included love ballads dedicated to the late Etienne. Ferdinand and Isabella The Catholic Monarchs of Spain united Castile and Aragon when they married. Together, they overcame civil war, completed the Reconquista by defeating the last Moorish holdout of Granada, and sponsored the voyages of Columbus. They also expelled the Jews and began the Spanish Inquisition. Gareth and Lynette In the Arthurian tale of Gareth and Lynette, first told by Malory, Gareth proves himself to be chivalrous, even though Lynette heaps scorn upon him. Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell The story of the loathly lady is told in many versions. The most famous involves Gawain, one of Arthurs greatest knights, whom the ugly Dame Ragnell chooses for her husband, and is told in The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle. Geoffrey and Philippa Chaucer He is considered the quintessential medieval English poet. She was his devoted wife for more than twenty years. While they were wed  Geoffrey Chaucer  led a busy, successful life in service to the king. After her death, he endured a solitary existence and wrote his most notable works, including  Troilus and Criseyde  and  The  Canterbury Tales. Henry  Plantagenet  and Eleanor of Aquitaine At the age of 30, the bold, beautiful  Eleanor of Aquitaine  was divorced from her husband, the meek and mild King Louis VII of France, and married the brash young 18-year-old  Henry  Plantagenet,  future  king of England. The two would have a tempestuous marriage, but Eleanor bore Henry eight children- two of whom became kings. Henry Tudor and Elizabeth of York After his defeat of Richard III,  Henry Tudor  became king, and he sealed the deal by marrying the daughter of an undisputed king of England (Edward IV). But was Elizabeth really happy married to the Lancastrian enemy of her Yorkist family? Well, she gave him seven children, including the future king Henry VIII. Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn After decades of marriage to Catherine of Aragon, which produced a daughter but no sons,  Henry VIII  threw tradition to the wind in pursuit of the captivating Anne Boleyn. His actions would ultimately result in a split with the Catholic Church. Sadly, Anne also failed to give Henry an heir, and when he tired of her, she lost her head. John of England and Isabella When  John  married  Isabella of Angoulà ªme, it caused some problems, not least because she was engaged to someone else. John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford The third son of  Edward III,  John  married and outlived two women who brought him titles and land, but his heart belonged to Katherine Swynford. Though their relationship was at times rocky, Katherine bore John four children out of wedlock. When  John, at last, married Katherine, the children were legitimized, but they and their descendants were officially barred from the throne. This would not stop  Henry VII, a descendant of John and Katherine, from becoming king a century later. Justinian and Theodora Considered by some scholars to be the greatest emperor of medieval Byzantium,  Justinian  was a great man with an even greater woman behind him. With  Theodoras support, he reclaimed significant portions of the western empire, reformed Roman law and rebuilt Constantinople. After her death, he achieved little. Lancelot and Guinevere When political necessity joins a young woman to a king, should she ignore the dictates of her heart?  Guinevere  didnt, and her passionate affair with  Arthurs greatest knight  would lead to the downfall of Camelot. Louis IX and Margaret Louis  was a saint. But he was also a mamas boy. He was only 12 when his father died, and his mother Blanche served as regent for him. She also chose his wife. Yet Louis was devoted to his bride Margaret, and together they had 11 children, while Blanche grew jealous of her daughter-in-law and died with her nose out of joint. Merlin and Nimue Arthurs most trusted advisor may have been a wizard, but  Merlin  was also a man, susceptible to the charms of women. Nimue (or sometimes Vivien,  Nineve,  or Niniane) was so charming she was able to  ensorcell  Merlin and trap him in a cave (or sometimes tree), where he was unable to help Arthur in his time of darkest trouble. Petrarch and Laura Like Dante and Boccaccio,  Francesco Petrarca, the  founder of  Renaissance Humanism,  had his muse: the lovely Laura. The poems he dedicated to her inspired poets of succeeding generations, most notably Shakespeare and Edmund Spenser. Philip of Spain and Bloody Mary Poor Mary, the Catholic queen of England, loved her husband madly. But  Philip  couldnt stand the sight of her. To make matters worse, the largely Protestant population of her country simply would not convert back to Catholicism, and they resented the presence of a Catholic foreigner in Marys household. Heartsick and stressed, Mary had several hysterical pregnancies and died at the age of 42. Raphael Sanzio and Margherita Luti The charming, suave, amiable  Raphael  was so popular he became known as the prince of painters. He was very publicly engaged to Maria Bibbiena, the niece of a powerful cardinal, but scholars believe he may have  secretly married  Margherita Luti, the daughter of a Sienese baker. If word of this marriage got out, it would have severely damaged his reputation; but Raphael was just the type of man to throw caution to the wind and follow his heart. Richard I and Berengaria Was  Richard the Lionheart  gay? Some scholars believe it to be the reason he and  Berengaria  never had children. But then, their relationship was so strained Richard was ordered by the pope to patch things up. Robert Guiscard and Sichelgaita Sichelgaita (or Sikelgaita) was a Lombard princess who married  Guiscard, a Norman warlord, and proceeded to accompany him on many campaigns.  Anna Comnena  wrote of Sichelgaita: When dressed in full armor, the woman was a fearsome sight. When Robert died during the siege of Cephalonia, Sichelgaita was right by his side. Robin Hood and Maid Marian The legends of  Robin Hood  may have been based on the activities of real-life outlaws of the 12th century, though if so, scholars have no definitive proof of who precisely served as their inspiration. Marian stories were a later addition to the corpus. Tristan and Isolde The story of  Tristan and Isolde  was incorporated into Arthurian tales, but its origins are a Celtic legend that may be based on an actual Pictish king. Troilus and Criseyde The character of Troilus is a Trojan prince who falls in love with a Greek captive. In Geoffrey Chaucers poem she is Criseyde (in William Shakespeares play she is Cressida), and though she declares her love for Troilus, when she is ransomed by her people she goes to live with a big Greek hero. Uther and Igraine Arthurs father  Uther  was king, and he coveted the wife of the Duke of Cornwall, Igraine. So Merlin cast a spell on Uther to make him look like Cornwall, and while the real duke was out fighting, he slipped in to have his way with the virtuous lady. The result? Cornwall died in battle, and Arthur was born nine months later. William of Normandy and Matilda Before he seriously took aim at the crown of England,  William the Conqueror  set his sights on Matilda, daughter of Baldwin V of Flanders. Though he was distantly related to her and the pope condemned the marriage as incestuous, the pair went through with the wedding. Was it all for love of the lady? Perhaps, but his alliance with Baldwin was critical in cementing his position as Duke of Normandy. Still, he and Matilda had ten children, and to patch things up with the pope, they built two monasteries at Caen.

Understanding Stockholm Syndrome

Understanding Stockholm Syndrome Stockholm syndrome develops when people are placed in a situation where they feel intense fear of physical harm and believe all control is in the hands of their tormentor. The psychological response follows after a period of time and is a survival strategy for the victims. It includes sympathy and support for their captors plight and may even manifest in negative feelings toward officers who are trying to help the victims. Situations in which the victims have displayed this kind of response have included hostage situations, long-term kidnappings, members of cults, prisoners of concentration camps, and more. Key Takeaways: Stockholm Syndrome People exhibiting Stockholm syndrome become protective of their captors, even to the point of foiling the police efforts at their rescue.The syndrome is not a named disease in any manual but rather a description of peoples behaviors whove been traumatized over a period of time.While hostages and kidnapping victims can exhibit these behaviors, so can people in abusive relationships or members of cults. Origin of the Name The name Stockholm syndrome was derived from a 1973 bank robbery (Kreditbanken) in Stockholm, Sweden, where four hostages were held for six days. Throughout their imprisonment and while in harms way, each hostage seemed to defend the actions of the robbers. As an illustration of the hostages strange thoughts and behavior under psychological distress, History.com presents this example: [T]he hostage recounted to the New Yorker, How kind I thought he was for saying it was just my leg he would shoot.† The hostages even appeared to rebuke efforts by the government to rescue them. They pled for the captors not to be harmed during the rescue and orchestrated ways for that to happen. Immediately following the incident, the victims couldnt explain to psychologists their sympathetic feelings and lack of anger and hatred toward their captors. Months after their ordeal had ended, the hostages continued to exhibit loyalty to the robbers to the point of refusing to testify against them as well as helping the criminals raise funds for legal representation. They even visited them in prison. A Common Survival Mechanism The response of the hostages intrigued behaviorists and journalists, who, following the incident, conducted research to see if the Kreditbanken incident was unique or if other hostages in similar circumstances experienced the same sympathetic, supportive bonding with their captors. The researchers determined that such behavior was common among people whod gone through similar situations. A psychologist whod been involved with the Stockholm hostage situation coined the term Stockholm Syndrome, and another defined it for the FBI and Scotland Yard to enable officers to be able to understand that possible aspect of a hostage situation. The study of the condition helped inform their negotiations in future incidents of the same type. What Causes Stockholm Syndrome? Individuals can succumb to Stockholm syndrome under the following circumstances: The belief that ones captor can and will kill him or her. The feelings of relief by the victim for not being killed then turn to gratitude.Isolation from anyone but the captorsThe belief that escape is impossibleThe inflation of the captors acts of kindness into genuine care for each others welfareThe passage of at least a few days in captivity Victims of Stockholm syndrome generally suffer from severe isolation and emotional and physical abuse also demonstrated in characteristics of battered spouses, incest victims, abused children, prisoners of war, cult victims, procured prostitutes, slaves, and kidnapping, hijacking, or hostage victims. Each of these circumstances can result in the victims responding in a compliant and supportive way as a tactic for survival. It is similar to the reaction from brainwashing. Victims show some of the same symptoms as those who have post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), such as insomnia, nightmares, difficulty concentrating, distrust of others, irritability, confusion, a sensitive startle reflex, and a loss of pleasure in once-favorite activities. Famous Cases In the year following the Stockholm bank incident, the syndrome was widely understood by the masses because of the case of Patty Hearst. Here is her story and other more recent examples: Patty Hearst Patty Hearst, at age 19, was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). Two months after her kidnapping, she was seen in photographs participating in an SLA bank robbery in San Francisco. Later a tape recording was released with Hearst (SLA pseudonym Tania) voicing her support and commitment to the SLA cause. After the SLA group, including Hearst, was arrested, she denounced the radical group. During her trial her defense lawyer attributed her behavior while with the SLA to a subconscious effort to survive, comparing her reaction to captivity to other victims of Stockholm syndrome. According to testimony, Hearst had been bound, blindfolded, and kept in a small, dark closet, where she was physically and sexually abused for weeks before the bank robbery. Jaycee Lee Dugard On June 10, 1991, witnesses said they saw a man and a woman abduct 11-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard by a school bus stop near her home in South Lake Tahoe, California. Her disappearance remained unsolved until August 27, 2009, when she walked into a California police station and introduced herself. For 18 years she was held captive in a tent behind the home of her captors, Phillip and Nancy Garrido. There Dugard gave birth to two children, who were ages 11 and 15 at the time of her reappearance. Although the opportunity to escape was present at different times throughout her captivity, Jaycee Dugard bonded with the captors as a form of survival. Natascha Kampusch In August 2006, Natascha Kampusch from Vienna was 18 years old when she managed to escape from her kidnapper, Wolfgang Priklopil, who had kept her locked in a small cell for more than eight years. She remained in the windowless cell, which was 54 square feet, for the first six months of her captivity. In time, she was permitted in the main house, where she would cook and clean for Priklopil. After several years of being held captive, she was occasionally allowed out into the garden. At one point she was introduced to Priklopils business partner, who described her as relaxed and happy. Priklopil controlled Kampusch by starving her to make her physically weak, severely beating her, and threating to kill her and the neighbors if she tried to escape. After Kampusch escaped, Priklopi committed suicide by jumping in front of an oncoming train. When Kampusch learned that Priklopil was dead, she cried inconsolably and lit a candle for him at the morgue. In a documentary based on her book, 3096 Tage  (3,096 Days), Kampusch voiced sympathy for Priklopil. She said,  I feel more and more sorry for him- hes a poor soul. Newspapers reported that some psychologists suggested Kampusch may have been suffering from Stockholm syndrome, but she does not agree. In her book, she said the suggestion was disrespectful of her and did not properly describe the complex relationship that she had with Priklopil. Elizabeth Smart More recently, some believe Elizabeth Smart fell victim to Stockholm syndrome after her nine months of captivity and abuse by her captives,  Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee. She denies that she had sympathetic feelings toward her captors or captivity and explained that she was just trying to survive. Her kidnapping is portrayed in the 2011 Lifetime movie, I Am Elizabeth Smart, and she published her memoir, My Story, in 2013. She is now an advocate for child safety and has a foundation to provide resources for those whove suffered traumatic events. Lima Syndrome: The Flip Side When captors develop feelings of sympathy for their hostages, which is rarer, its called Lima syndrome. The name comes from a 1996 Peru incident during which guerrilla fighters took over a birthday party for Japanese Emperor Akihito, given at the home of the Japanese ambassador. In a few hours, most of the people had been freed, even some of the most valuable to the group. Sources Alexander, David A.,  and  Klein, Susan. â€Å"Kidnapping and Hostage-Taking: A Review of Effects, Coping and Resilience.† Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, vol. 102, no. 1, 2009, 16–21.Burton, Neel, M.D. What Underlies Stockholm Syndrome? Psychology Today. 24 March 2012. Updated: 5 Sept. 2017. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201203/what-underlies-stockholm-syndrome.Conradt, Stacy. The Bank Robbery Behind Stockholm Syndrome. Mental Floss. 28 August 2013. http://mentalfloss.com/article/52448/story-behind-stockholm-syndrome.Elizabeth Smart Biography. Biography.com. AE Television Networks. 4 April 2014. Updated 14 Sept. 2018. https://www.biography.com/people/elizabeth-smart-17176406.Inside Jaycee Dugards Terror Tent. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/inside-jaycee-dugards-terror-tent/5/.Klein, Christopher. The Birth of Stockholm Syndrome, 40 Years Ago. History.com. AE Television Networks. 23 Aug. 2013. https://www.history.com/news /stockholm-syndrome. Stump, Scott. Elizabeth Smart on the one question that wont go away: Why didnt you run? Today.com. 14 Nov. 2017. https://www.today.com/news/elizabeth-smart-one-question-won-t-go-away-why-didn-t118795.

Critically assess the Role of Trade in Development Essay

Critically assess the Role of Trade in Development - Essay Example In the context of low developed countries, trade becomes crucial to i) reduce economic vulnerability and protect the environment and ii) to mobilize financial resources (UNCTAD, 2010). The role of trade in the economic development and national development strategies are countless. Broadly the decisive role played by trade in economic development is discussed under five major heads in this paper. The goods and services which are produced locally have access to a larger market and the demand expansion effect of trade make the economy capable of overcoming the constraints of its local and domestic market size. This case becomes more relevant in the case of small and medium sized economies who have limited domestic purchasing power. The increasing returns to scale as a result of access to international markets can further reinforce the benefit of operating at a higher output level. The manufactured goods propose better prospects for export earnings by allowing for a more rapid productivity growth and production expansion and also offer the promise of greater price stability as volumes expand, thereby avoiding the declining terms of trade which hinders the long run economic performance of many developing countries (UNCTAD 2002) Trade leads to acquisition of newly affordable goods that are necessary for technological dynamisms, poverty reduction and increasing economic development. Those goods would not available unless export or import occur properly and even if they are available, those may not be for the scarce domestic resources. The import-supply role of the imports like food, fuel, capital equipments, spare parts, intermediate inputs and machinery for long run investment are very critical in the context of low developed and developing countries where the agriculture sector is more predominant and the productive capacities of manufacturing industries are weak. If the foreign earnings from exports are appropriately

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Windows 7 Workgroup Consultation for Sally Chu Assignment

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GE-Two -Decade Transformation - Case Study Example However, the company has in the past encountered severe challenges before attaining its current global position. In the late 20th century, the company encountered challenges which threatened its operations and stability. This paper will examine GE, discussing strategies employed by the company’s management in the wake of severe challenges. Welch’s Challenge in 1981 In the year 1981, when Welch took over management of GE from Jones, the company experienced numerous of hardships that threatened its existence. In 1981, the US economy suffered serious recession, which meant that banks lent money at unbelievably high interest rates. The high interest rates were especially disadvantageous to companies such as GE that required borrowed capital to sustain its business. In addition, the US dollar was quite strong at the time making GE’s international business operations quite unprofitable and unmanageable. The tough economic times experienced in the US also meant that GE had to lay off some of its employees and reduce hourly positions (O’Boyle, 1999). This put Welch and the company in a tough position, having to balance the company’s operations among the few remaining employees. Moreover, GE faced serious competition, particularly from Japanese companies. Global competitors had significant competitive advantages over GE as their nations of domicile were free of economic crisis like the US. However, despite the immense challenges, Welch was able to take charge of the company rather effectively through the adoption of numerous strategies. Welch first adopted the number one or two, fix, sell or close strategy that required all GE’s business units to be leaders in their respective industries or face closure. This strategy was effective in eliminating unproductive units of GE and strengthening the remaining units, which became leaders in their industries. The closure and sale of unproductive units provided necessary capital for produ ctive units to strengthen their operations. Welch’s strategy was effectual as it freed capital for strategic investments, which enhanced the company’s bottom line performance (Slater, 1998). Welch’s Objectives and Initiatives When Welch became the CEO of GE in 1981, he established the new company objectives to leverage GE’s performance within the company’s diverse business portfolio. In order to do this, Welch required all company employees to become â€Å"better than the best† in their positions and responsibilities (O’Boyle, 1999). In order to ensure the company achieved Welch’s objectives, the CEO initiated a series of strategies between the late 1980s and early 1990s. These initiatives centered on the spectrum of achieving organizational change through restructuring its staffing, layering and size. Through the adoption of the initiatives and strategic change, GE was able to achieve substantial competitive advantage within i ts markets. Welch’s initiatives were able to revitalize the company’s operations, bolster its image, and achieve massive profit margins. Welch streamlined the company’s staffing, especially in the company’s planning unit to ensure GE was lean and agile. The logic behind Welch’s de-staffing initiative centered on the notion that company or unit productivity does not rely on the number of staff in the unit, but rather the value each staff adds to the unit or company. Welch sought to instill the culture of strength in value addition

Leading a Multicultural Team through a Change Process Case Study - 18

Leading a Multicultural Team through a Change Process - Case Study Example The current discourse hereby aims to present an action plan to get the team back on track, using your new knowledge of multicultural teams and communication, the change process, decision making, and ethics. From the complaints that were relayed, as well as with the diversity of the team members, not only in cultural orientation but also in age and gender, it was evident that the team leader is currently faced with challenges to get the team back on track. The problems apparently stem from lack of unified interest and commitment to achieve a common goal. Likewise, there is lack of motivation to improve the performance and productivity of team members. As such, the means to solve the problems that were relayed by the members include application of leadership theories (leadership style and skills, motivational strategies), effective communication, change management, conflict resolution, as well as emphasis on the adherence to ethical, moral, and legal standards (Martires & Fule, 2004). Thus, emphasize time schedules, delineation of roles and responsibilities, reporting protocols, communication procedures, conflict resolution, and the need to change behaviour and attitude of members to attain the identified goal. Forge commitment from all the team members into collaborative and participative efforts to ensure that costs are minimized, identified projects phases and activities are undertaken according to schedule, and group cohesiveness is effectively manifested. Likewise, aside from the rewards, sanctions for violating policies and procedures for the project should also be developed. For instance, failure to produce expected outcome according to assigned tasks should be sanctioned or penalized according to the organization’s code of discipline (Hill & Jones, 2012). As emphasized, â€Å"the impetus for change is dissatisfaction with the old behaviour† (Martires & Fule, 2004, p. 358). The previous project leader was fired due to unethical behaviour.  Ã‚  

GE-Two -Decade Transformation Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

GE-Two -Decade Transformation - Case Study Example However, the company has in the past encountered severe challenges before attaining its current global position. In the late 20th century, the company encountered challenges which threatened its operations and stability. This paper will examine GE, discussing strategies employed by the company’s management in the wake of severe challenges. Welch’s Challenge in 1981 In the year 1981, when Welch took over management of GE from Jones, the company experienced numerous of hardships that threatened its existence. In 1981, the US economy suffered serious recession, which meant that banks lent money at unbelievably high interest rates. The high interest rates were especially disadvantageous to companies such as GE that required borrowed capital to sustain its business. In addition, the US dollar was quite strong at the time making GE’s international business operations quite unprofitable and unmanageable. The tough economic times experienced in the US also meant that GE had to lay off some of its employees and reduce hourly positions (O’Boyle, 1999). This put Welch and the company in a tough position, having to balance the company’s operations among the few remaining employees. Moreover, GE faced serious competition, particularly from Japanese companies. Global competitors had significant competitive advantages over GE as their nations of domicile were free of economic crisis like the US. However, despite the immense challenges, Welch was able to take charge of the company rather effectively through the adoption of numerous strategies. Welch first adopted the number one or two, fix, sell or close strategy that required all GE’s business units to be leaders in their respective industries or face closure. This strategy was effective in eliminating unproductive units of GE and strengthening the remaining units, which became leaders in their industries. The closure and sale of unproductive units provided necessary capital for produ ctive units to strengthen their operations. Welch’s strategy was effectual as it freed capital for strategic investments, which enhanced the company’s bottom line performance (Slater, 1998). Welch’s Objectives and Initiatives When Welch became the CEO of GE in 1981, he established the new company objectives to leverage GE’s performance within the company’s diverse business portfolio. In order to do this, Welch required all company employees to become â€Å"better than the best† in their positions and responsibilities (O’Boyle, 1999). In order to ensure the company achieved Welch’s objectives, the CEO initiated a series of strategies between the late 1980s and early 1990s. These initiatives centered on the spectrum of achieving organizational change through restructuring its staffing, layering and size. Through the adoption of the initiatives and strategic change, GE was able to achieve substantial competitive advantage within i ts markets. Welch’s initiatives were able to revitalize the company’s operations, bolster its image, and achieve massive profit margins. Welch streamlined the company’s staffing, especially in the company’s planning unit to ensure GE was lean and agile. The logic behind Welch’s de-staffing initiative centered on the notion that company or unit productivity does not rely on the number of staff in the unit, but rather the value each staff adds to the unit or company. Welch sought to instill the culture of strength in value addition

Deinstitutionalization Capstone Project Research Paper

Deinstitutionalization Capstone Project - Research Paper Example s that health behaviour is determined by one’s personal beliefs or perceptions regarding a disease or disorder and the available strategies one can access to prevent it. The four perceptions, namely: perceived seriousness, perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits and perceived barriers can be used to explain why a person behaves the way he does when it comes to health. All four perceptions affect an individual’s health and well-being so these must all be kept positive in order to achieve optimal health. Pedersen, P.B. and Kolstad, A., 2009, De-institutionalisation and trans- institutionalisation – changing trends of inpatient care in Norwegian mental health institutions 1950-2007, International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 3:28 This article chronicles trends in Norwegian mental health institutions from the 1950’s to the present that leads to current trends of deinstitutionalization and trans-institutionalization of inpatient care. It concludes wit h the observation that deinstitutionalization may mean fewer beds available in mental health facilities but not necessarily fewer patients treated since they are just transferred to other mental health services. It also identifies the factors behind deinstitutionalization in Norway as the expansion of welfare state; increased professional focus on active treatment and increased focus on patients’ preferences. Thompson, P., Lang, L. & Annells, M., 2008, A systematic review of the effectiveness of in-home community nurse led interventions for the mental health of older persons, Journal of Clinical Nursing Journal Compilation, Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. This article is a systematic review of the literature on in-home community nurse-led interventions for elderly adults with mental health issues. Main findings... Community care centers need to adopt a health promotion program to guide the health workers with a firm philosophy of health and wellness. A commonly used health promotion model is the Health Belief Model (HBM) which proposes that health behaviour is determined by one’s personal beliefs or perceptions regarding a disease or disorder and the available strategies one can access to prevent it.   Another good health promotion program is one by Ewles & Simnett (2005).   It   takes a holistic health care approach, taking into account all dimensions of a person’s development.   A study on how these two health promotion programs can be integrated to come up with the most appropriate program that would best suit elderly adults with mental illness would be interesting.a. Purpose statement for a Quantitative Study:   This study will compare the Health Belief Model (HBM) and the Holistic Health Care approach   as to its principles and features using a likert-scaled ques tionnaire to be distributed to nurse practitioners working in a hospital facility. It purports to determine the best features of each model and integrate it into one effective health promotion program.b. Purpose statement for a Qualitative Study:   The purpose of this study is to develop a sustainable community care health promotion program for the elderly with mental illness.   Input from families of residents in a psychiatric facility will be interviewed as to their preferences for their family members.

The expert system

The expert system Abstract The title for this report is Expert System. Statistically, the percentage of current organizations implementing expert systems for their usage is very minimal. This is due to the restraining forces of implementing expert system outweigh its driving force. Yet, as the technologies are frequently being upgraded, the constraints of implementing expert systems are getting easier to overcome. Hence, the reason I chose this title for my report is due to my strong interest in the future of expert system where it may potentially be used domestically for providing the best solutions for complex problems. Also, the knowledge gained from this research will contribute a lot for my final year project which will include in a simple expert system. This report will be explaining what an expert system is, the components of expert system, what a knowledge-based expert system is, the features of expert system, the advantages of using expert system, the drawbacks of using expert system and finally suggestions of implementing expert system into e-commerce systems. In the appendix part, the pictures which I have found from the Internet will be included in for providing better understanding regarding the details of expert system. What is Expert System? According to Wikipedia, an expert system is an advanced computer application that is implemented for the purpose of providing solutions to complex problems, or to clarify uncertainties through the use of non-algorithmic programs where normally human expertise will be needed. Expert systems are most common in complex problem domain and are considered as widely used alternatives in searching for solutions that requires the existence of specific human expertise. The expert system is also able to justify its provided solutions based on the knowledge and data from past users. Normally expert systems are used in making business marketing strategic decisions, analyzing the performance of real time systems, configuring computers and perform many other functions which normally would require the existence of human expertise. The difference between an expert system with a normal problem-solving system is that the latter is a system where both programs and data structures are encoded, while for expert system only the data structures are hard-coded and no problem-specific information is encoded in the program structure. Instead, the knowledge of a human expertise is captured and codified in a process known as knowledge engineering. Hence, whenever a particular problem requires the assistance of a certain human expertise to provide a solution, the human expertise which has been codified will be used and processed in order to provide a rational and logical solution. This knowledge-based expert system enables the system to be frequently added with new knowledge and adapt accordingly to meet new requirements from the ever-changing and unpredictable environment. Components of Expert System An expert system has many core system components to function and interfaces with individuals of various roles. In the appendix area, there will be a diagram (Figure 1.1) displaying expert system components and human interfaces. The major components are: Knowledge base a set of rules as representation of the expertise, mostly in IF THEN statements. Working storage the data which is specific to a problem being solved. Inference engine the code at the core of the system which derives recommendations from the knowledge base and problem-specific data in working storage. User interface the code that controls the dialog between the user and the system. There are certain major roles of individuals who interact with the expert system to fully exploit its functionality and capability. They are the: Domain expert the individual or individuals whose expertises are solving the problems the system is intended to solve; Knowledge engineer the individual who encodes the experts knowledge in a form that can be used by the expert system; User the individual who will be consulting with the system to get advice which would have been provided by the expert. Majority of the expert systems are built with expert system shells which contains an inference engine and user interface. The shell will be used by a knowledge engineer to build a system catered for specific problem domain. Sometimes expert systems are also built with custom developed shells for certain applications. In this scenario, there will be another additional individual System engineer the individual who builds the user interface, designs the declarative format of the knowledge base, and implements the inference engine. Depending on the size of the project, the knowledge engineer and the system engineer might be the same person. For a custom built system, the design of the format of the knowledge base and the coding of the domain knowledge are closely related. The format has a significant effect on the coding of the knowledge. One of the major hurdles to overcome in building expert systems is the knowledge engineering process. The process of the codifying the expertise into a required rule format can be a challenging and tedious task. One major advantage of a customized shell is that the format of the knowledge base can be designed to facilitate the knowledge engineering process. Since the major challenge in expert system development is the building of the knowledge base, it is encouraged that gap and difference between the experts representation of the knowledge and the representation in the knowledge base should be minimized. With a customized system, the system engineer can implement a knowledge base whose structures are as close as possible to those used by the domain expert. Knowledge-based Expert Systems Not all expert systems have learning components to adapt in new environments or to meet new requirements. But a common element each expert system possesses is that once the system is fully developed it will be tested and be proven by being placed in the same real world problem solving situation, typically as an aid to human workers or a supplement to some information system. Although reference books are able to provide a tremendous amount of knowledge, users have to read, comprehend and interpret the knowledge for it to be used. Conventional computer programs are built to perform functions using conventional decision-making logic having only little knowledge along with the basic algorithm for performing the specific functions and fulfill the necessary boundary conditions. The so-called knowledgebase was created in purpose of utilizing some knowledge representation formalism to capture and store the Subject Matter Experts (SME) knowledge. The process includes gathering that knowledge from the SME and codifying it according to a standardized format. Knowledge-based expert systems collect the small segments of human knowledge and combined into a set of knowledge-base which is used to aid in solving a complex problem. Any other problem that is within the range and domain of the knowledge-base can also be solved using the same program without reprogramming. Knowledge-based expert systems solve problems which normally require human intelligence. These said expert systems represent the expertise knowledge as data or rules within a system. These rules and data can be used and called upon for reference when needed to solve complex problems. When compared to conventional programming, the system has the ability to reason the process with explanations by back-traces and calculate the levels of confidence and deal with uncertainty. The knowledge has to be codified into programming code, hence as the knowledge changes, the program has to be changed accordingly as well and then rebuilt. Expert System Features There are a number of features which are commonly used in expert systems. These features allows the users to fully utilize the expert systems capability conveniently in providing the most logical and reasonable decision in a problematic situation. Backward chaining an inference technique which continuously break a goal into smaller sub-goals which are easier to prove via IF THEN rules Dealing with uncertainties the system has the capability to handle and reason with conditions that are uncertain and data which are not precisely known Forward chaining an inference technique which deduce a problem solution from initial data via IF THEN rules Data representation the method where the specific problem data is stored and accessed in the system User interface that portion of the code which creates an easy to use system; Explanations the ability of the system to explain the reasoning process that it used to reach a recommendation. Inference rule An inference rule is a statement that has two parts, antecedent which is an if clause and consequent which is a then clause. This rule is what the expert systems rely on and provides the capability to find solutions to diagnose and prescribe problems. An example of an inference rule is: If the song choice is in Latin, and the singers are in a group, Then the song choice is definitely from Il Divo. An expert systems rule base stores many inference rules such as this. They are stored in as separate rules and the inference engine will draw conclusions by going through all of them. Rules can be removed and added without affecting others since they are non-connected, yet it will subsequently affect which conclusions are to be reached. Inference rules has the better upper hand compared with traditional programming due to the fact that inference rules are able to imitate human reasoning and justify the solutions given. Thus, when a conclusion is drawn, the system is able to justify its course of solution and convince the user. Furthermore, since the expert system uses knowledge in a form identical to a certain expert, the solution provided will be not so different from an actual experts advice. Chaining When using inference rules, two main methods of reasoning used are backward chaining and forward chaining. Forward Chaining Forward chaining begins under the condition that the data is available and inference rules are used to conclude more data until a desired goal is reached. An inference engine using forward chaining searches the inference rules until it finds one in which the if clause is known to be true. It then concludes the then clause and adds this information to its data. It would continue to do this until a goal is reached. Due to the reason that the data available determines which inference rules are used, this method is also called data driven. A large number of expert systems require the use of forward chaining. The data driven approach is practical when combinatorial explosion creates a seemingly infinite number of possible right answers where no definite answer is specified. Forward chaining starts with the available data and uses inference rules to extract more data until a goal is reached. An inference engine using forward chaining searches the inference rules until it finds one where the antecedent (If clause) is known to be true. When found it can conclude, the consequent (Then clause), resulting in the addition of new information to its data. Inference engines will iterate through this process until a goal is reached. For example, suppose that the goal is to conclude the color of a pet named Fritz, given that he croaks and eats flies, and that the rule base contains the following four rules: If X croaks and eats flies Then X is a frog If X chirps and sings Then X is a canary If X is a frog Then X is green If X is a canary Then X is yellow This rule base would be searched and the first rule would be selected, because its antecedent (If Fritz croaks and eats flies) matches our data. Now the consequents (Then X is a frog) is added to the data. The rule base is again searched and this time the third rule is selected, because its antecedent (If Fritz is a frog) matches our data that was just confirmed. Now the new consequent (Then Fritz is green) is added to our data. Nothing more can be inferred from this information, but we have now accomplished our goal of determining the color of Fritz. Due to the fact that the data determines which rules are selected and used, this method is called data-driven, in contrast to goal-driven backward chaining inference. One of the advantages of forward-chaining over backward-chaining is that the reception of new data can trigger new inferences, which makes the engine better suited to dynamic situations in which conditions are likely to change. Backward Chaining Backward chaining starts with a list of goals or hypothesis and works backwards from the consequent (Then clause) to the antecedent (If clause) to see if there is data available that will support any of these consequents. An inference engine using backward chaining would search the inference rules until it finds one which has a consequent that matches a desired goal. If the antecedent of that rule is not known to be true, then it is added to the list of goals. In order for ones goal to be confirmed one must also provide data that confirms this new rule. An example of a system that uses backward chaining will be Google search engine. The aim of the system is to pick the best choice from many enumerated possibilities. For example, an identification problem falls in this category. Diagnostic systems also fit this model, since the aim of the system is to pick the correct diagnosis. The knowledge is structured in rules which describe how each of the possibilities might be selected. The rule breaks the problem into sub-problems. For example, the following top level rules are in a system which identifies birds. IF family is albatross and color is white THEN bird is laysan albatross. IF family is albatross and color is dark THEN bird is black footed albatross. The system would try all of the rules which gave information satisfying the goal of identifying the bird. Each would trigger sub-goals. In the case of these two rules, the sub-goals of determining the family and the color would be pursued. The following rule is one that satisfies the family sub-goal: IF order is tubenose and size large and wings long narrow THEN family is albatross. The sub-goals of determining color, size, and wings would be satisfied by asking the user. By having the lowest level sub-goal satisfied or denied by the user, the system effectively carries on a dialog with the user. The user sees the system asking questions and responding to answers as it attempts to find the rule which correctly identifies the bird. Note that the goals always match the affirmed versions of the consequents of implications and even then, their antecedents are then considered as the new goals which ultimately must match known facts which are usually defined as consequents whose antecedents are always true. Due to the reason that the list of goals determines which rules are selected and used, this method is called goal-driven, in contrast to data-driven forward-chaining inference. The backward chaining approach is often employed by expert systems. For a data driven system, the system must be initially populated with data, in contrast to the goal driven system which gathers data as it needs it. Figure 1.2 illustrates the difference between forward and backward chaining systems for two simplified rules. The forward chaining system starts with the data of a=1 and b=2 and uses the rules to derive d=4. The backward chaining system starts with the goal of finding a value for d and uses the two rules to reduce that to the problem of finding values for a and b. Uncertainty Often times in structured selection problems the final answer is not known with complete certainty. The experts rules might be vague, and the user might be unsure of answers to questions. This can be easily seen in medical diagnostic systems where the expert is not able to be definite about the relationship between symptoms and diseases. In fact, the doctor might offer multiple possible diagnoses. For expert systems to work in the real world they must also be able to deal with uncertainty. One of the simplest schemes is to associate a numeric value with each piece of information in the system. The numeric value represents the certainty with which the information is known. There are numerous ways in which these numbers can be defined, and how they are combined during the inference process. Data Representation For all rule based systems, the rules refer to data. The data representation can be simple or complex, depending on the problem. The most fundamental scheme uses attribute-value pairs. Examples are color-white, and size-large. When a system is reasoning about multiple objects, it is necessary to include the object as well as the attribute-value. For example the furniture placement system might be dealing with multiple chairs with different attributes, such as size. The data representation in this case must include the object. Once there are objects in the system, they each might have multiple attributes. This leads to a record-based structure where a single data item in working storage contains an object name and all of its associated attribute-value pairs. Frames are a more complex way of storing objects and their attribute-values. Frames add intelligence to the data representation, and allow objects to inherit values from other objects. Furthermore, each of the attributes can have associated with it procedures (called demons) which are executed when the attribute is asked for, or updated. In a furniture placement system each piece of furniture can inherit default values for length. When the piece is placed, demons are activated which automatically adjust the available space where the item was placed. User Interface The acceptability of an expert system depends to a great extent on the quality of the user interface. The easiest to implement interfaces communicate with the user through a scrolling dialog as illustrated in figure 1.4. The user can enter commands, and respond to questions. The system responds to commands, and asks questions during the inferencing process. More advanced interfaces make heavy use of pop-up menus, windows, mice, and similar techniques as shown in figure 1.5. If the machine supports it, graphics can also be a powerful tool for communicating with the user. This is especially true for the development interface which is used by the knowledge engineer in building the system. Providing Explanations One of the more interesting features of expert systems is their ability to explain themselves. Given that the system knows which rules were used during the inference process, it is possible for the system to provide those rules to the user as a means for explaining the results. This type of explanation can be very dramatic for some systems such as the bird identification system. It could report that it knew the bird was a black footed albatross because it knew it was dark colored and an albatross. It could similarly justify how it knew it was an albatross. At other times, however, the explanations are relatively useless to the user. This is because the rules of an expert system typically represent empirical knowledge, and not a deep understanding of the problem domain. For example a car diagnostic system has rules which relate symptoms to problems, but no rules which describe why those symptoms are related to those problems. Explanations are always of extreme value to the knowledge engineer. They are the program traces for knowledge bases. By looking at explanations the knowledge engineer can see how the system is behaving, and how the rules and data are interacting. This is an invaluable diagnostic tool during development. Why Use Expert System? In this section, the advantages and disadvantages of implementing the expert systems are provided. Then, the pros and cons will be reviewed according to my viewpoint and I will conclude as to why expert system SHOULD be implemented as a wiser alternative in obtaining the best solutions in overcoming complex problems. The Advantages of Using Expert System Expert system has been reliably used in the business world to gain tactical advantages and forecast the markets condition. In this globalization era where every decision made in the business world is critical for success, the assistance provided from an expert system is undoubtedly essential and highly reliable for an organization to succeed. Examples given below will be the advantages for the implementation of an expert system: Providing consistent solutions It can provide consistent answers for repetitive decisions, processes and tasks. As long as the rule base in the system remains the same, regardless of how many times similar problems are being tested, the final conclusions drawn will remain the same. Provides reasonable explanations It has the ability to clarify the reasons why the conclusion was drawn and be why it is considered as the most logical choice among other alternatives. If there are any doubts in concluding a certain problem, it will prompt some questions for users to answer in order to process the logical conclusion. Overcome human limitations It does not have human limitations and can work around the clock continuously. Users will be able to frequently use it in seeking solutions. The knowledge of experts is an invaluable asset for the company. It can store the knowledge and use it as long as the organization needs. Easy to adapt to new conditions Unlike humans who often have troubles in adapting in new environments, an expert system has high adaptability and can meet new requirements in a short period of time. It also can capture new knowledge from an expert and use it as inference rules to solve new problems. The Disadvantages of Using Expert System Although the expert system does provide many significant advantages, it does have its drawbacks as well. Examples given below will be the disadvantages for the implementation of an expert system: Lacks common sense It lacks common sense needed in some decision making since all the decisions made are based on the inference rules set in the system. It also cannot make creative and innovative responses as human experts would in unusual circumstances. High implementation and maintenance cost The implementation of an expert system will be a financial burden for smaller organizations since it has high development cost as well as the subsequent recurring costs to upgrade the system to adapt in new environment. Difficulty in creating inference rules Domain experts will not be able to always explain their logic and reasoning needed for the knowledge engineering process. Hence, the task of codifying out the knowledge is highly complex and may require high May provide wrong solutions It is not error-free. There may be errors occurred in the processing due to some logic mistakes made in the knowledge base, which it will then provide the wrong solutions. Summary It is entirely subjective as to whether the advantages of expert system overweigh the disadvantages of implementing it. It depends on the organizations viewpoint as to which objectives have the higher priority, whether in cutting cost or in producing a higher quality decision-making. However, in my opinion, the implementation of expert system is critical in providing the better service towards customers as well as possessing the competitive advantages over strong competitors. Cutting Cost VS Better Quality of Services If an organization is financially stable, the expert system is worth spending money and resources on, based on its fame and history of delivering many positive results. Though some organizations may have the cost-cutting objective as the top priority, if a wrong decision is made, it could lead to heavier financial loss. Adding insult to injury, the organizations reputation will be tarnished and customers may lose confidence towards the services of the organization. Expert System VS Human Experts Another main constraint of implementing the expert system would be the process of capturing the knowledge and codifying it into the system. However, an expert will not be available to provide his expertise around the clock. Hence, the importance of having the knowledge available all the time for critical decision-making far overweighs the difficulty that the organization will face in capturing the said knowledge. Humans also have limitations as to how much knowledge a human is able to digest and comprehend. As for expert system, it is able to store as much knowledge as possible base on its storage space. Hence, in terms of performance, expert system is capable to perform as good if not better then human. Implementing Expert System into e-Commerce System It has yet to be common for e-commerce systems to be implementing expert system to enhance its capability and experience for web users. There are still not many web developers willing to embed an expert system into their e-commerce system, mainly due to its difficulty in the knowledge engineering process to codify the human expertise. Yet, it is plausible to have a less complex expert system embedded in an e-commerce system to aid customers make decisions. The appropriate inference technique to be used in an e-commerce system will be forward chaining method, since customers will be providing part by part of data which will then be compared with the rule base to finally draw a conclusion. Providing questionnaires Through forward chaining method, the properly organized questionnaires will be able to obtain parts of small information from customers who couldnt make their decision upon which item to be bought. Every single question will have its purpose in determining the condition of the customers thoughts and liking, and then the answer provided will be compared with the rule base in the expert system to draw a final conclusion. This data-driven method is simple and productive since the process of codifying the human expertise of recommending an item that suits the customers liking isnt that complex. Example of Questionnaire The questionnaire below is used for the purpose of attaining small parts of information from the customer and the answers provided will be compared to the rule base in order to generate a decision for him Question 1 What is your budget range? (Determining the range of performance from the desktop) A. < RM 2000 B. lt RM 3000 C. > RM 5000 Inference Rules If X budget is less than RM2000 Then X needs no NVIDIA graphic card If X budget is less than RM3000 Then X needs NVIDIA graphic card(s) If X budget is more than RM5000 Then X needs NVIDIA graphic card(s) with better computer accessories Note: If user chose < RM 2000 Question 2 will be skipped. Question 2 What are the games you mostly play? (Determining the graphic card requirements) A. Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG) B. First-Person-Shooting (FPS) C. All Inference Rules If X needs NVIDIA graphic card(s) AND X plays MMORPG Then X needs NVIDIA GTX 260 If X needs NVIDIA graphic card(s) with better computer accessories AND X plays MMORPG Then X needs NVIDIA GTX 260 and High Resolution Monitor If X needs NVIDIA graphic card(s) AND X plays FPS Then X needs NVIDIA GT 9600 If X needs NVIDIA graphic card(s) with better computer accessories AND X plays FPS Then X needs NVIDIA GT 9600 and Gaming Laser Mouse Question 3 How frequent do you download files such as songs and movies from the internet? (Determining the needed storage space) A. Seldom B. Often Inference Rules If X seldom download files Then X needs 320GB storage space If X often download files Then X needs 500GB storage space Providing Explanations Based on the questionnaire above, if a customer selects C, B, and B, the explanation will be given: The user selects NVIDIA GT 9600, Gaming Laser Mouse and 500 GB storage space. User plays First-Person-Shooting games which require middle-performance of graphic card and a gaming laser mouse to increase precision of mouse-controlling. User often downloads files and requires large storage space. If a customer selects C, A, and A, the explanation will be given: The user selects NVIDIA GTX 260, High Resolution Monitor and 320GB storage space. User plays MMORPG which require high-performance of graphic card and a high resolution monitor to enhance the gaming experience. User seldom downloads files and requires moderate storage space. Conclusion To conclude this report, expert system is undeniably reliable in terms of providing reasonable and highly valuable decisions. Knowledge and experiences from a human expert can lead to the critical decision-making in achieving success. Yet, as humans have limitations in terms of how much of knowledge is comprehendible by a person and the possible fatigue of dealing with too much work, the expert system doesnt have any. As knowledge is a valuable asset to an organization, retaining the experts knowledge is critical for the future of the organization. The expert system can play a vital role in storing and retaining the knowledge from a human expert. This saves the trouble of having the need to hire experts within the same domain for years. The rapid change and improvement of technologies will gradually decrease the cost for implementing an expert system. This will significantly reduce the financial burden for small companies in deciding the implementation of expert system. In the business world, organizations often faced trouble in making tough decisions and overcome complex problems. Customers often require computerized systems to support their decision-making. All these criteria can be met with the implementation of the expert system.