External and Internal Environment Analysis - 2372 Words

Big 5 Sporting Goods External and Internal Environmental Analysis Big 5 Sporting Goods (Big 5) has operated within the sporting goods industry, predominantly in the western United States, for over 50 years (Hoovers, 2013). To understand the organizational structure and strategic path chosen by Big 5, it is critical to analyze various factors found within its external and internal environments. Big 5’s external environment includes remote, industry, and operating factors whereas the internal environment includes human capital resources and organizational structure factors. Ultimately these external and internal environmental factors provide opportunities and threats that help to develop and alter generic and grand strategies to meet Big†¦show more content†¦Ultimately understanding and analyzing the effect of each remote environmental factor will allow Big 5 to implement targeted strategies to capitalize on opportunities and minimize threats. Industry Environment Industry environment pertains to how an organization copes with the five basic forces that shape the competitive market in which it operates. How these forces relate to each other will determine the competitive nature of the industry and control how much profit can be made. In a perfectly competitive market, where new entrants are fairly consistent and lack barriers, the likelihood of long-term profits is low. This is seen in such industries as plastics and rubber. The five basic forces consist of suppliers, buyers, new entrants, substitutes, and industry competitors (Pearce, Robinson, 2011). Big 5 Sporting Goods industry environment starts with determining the possibility or ease of new entrants into the market. The ease of the market depends on how many barriers exist for entrants. There are six major sources of barriers, the first being economies of scale. Economies of scale allows Big 5 to purchase a large quantity of a product at a reduced per item cost. This in turn allows them to sell that product at a competitive price in the market. This creates a capital barrier for new entrants. An organization would need a significant amount of capital to take advantage of the economies of scale and stay priceShow MoreRelatedExternal and Internal Environment Analysis1429 Words   |  6 PagesRunning head: EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL ENVIRONEMNT External and Internal Environment Analysis Bharti Gupta University of Phoenix External and Internal Environment Analysis: Mayo Clinic The purpose of this paper is to analyze the External and Internal environmental factors of Mayo Clinic (MC). Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life (Mayo Clinic,  2011). Various types of external and internal factors affect theRead MoreExternal and Internal Environment Analysis1565 Words   |  7 PagesExternal and Internal Environmental Analysis This environmental analysis will provide a complete external environmental scan designed to provide RoyalBlu Invites with the tools needed to identify the organizations strength and weaknesses. Furthermore, including an assessment of the company resources. This analysis will assess the organization competitive position and possibilities of growth. An explanation of how the external environment affects RoyalBlu Invites structure and organizational performanceRead MoreInternal And External Environment Analysis Essay1260 Words   |  6 Pagesbusiness strategies, organizations must thoroughly analyze both the internal and external environments in which they operate (Hill, Jones, Schilling, 2014, p. 11). This analysis will enable them to pinpoint those elements that threaten their current and future profitability as well as those elements that offer the potential to increase current and future profitability (Hill, et al., 2014, pp. 44-45). The external environment analysis specifically looks at the industry within which a business functionsRead MoreExternal And Internal Environment Analysis835 Words   |  4 Pagesextensive external and internal environment analysis. When conducting external environmental analysis, a company must consider six factors. These factors include competition, economic growth, political trends, legal issues, advances in technology, and sociocultural trends (Ferrell Hartline, 2014). I have a strong interest in technology and gadgets. With that being the case, I chose the iPhone as the product and will analyze the six external environmental factors using that. The first external factorRead MoreExternal and Internal Environment Analysis Essay1101 Words   |  5 PagesExternal and Internal Environmental Analysis DSW is the leading footwear specialty retailer in the United States operating 305 shoe stores in 39 states as of January 30, 2010. The shoe warehouse offers a wide assortment of better-branded dress, casual and athletic footwear for women and men, as well as assessories. The company’s main focus is to create a distinctive shopping experience that satisfies both the rational and emotional needs of DSW customers by offering a vast, exciting assortment ofRead MoreAnalysis of Subways internal and external environments2247 Words   |  9 PagesIntroduction This essay will analyse the organisation Subway’s internal and external environments and their impacts on this organisation. This will include a swot analysis on resources and capabilities which are a part of the internal environment and on customers, suppliers, competitors, pressure groups, economic, political, technological, natural environment and emerging trends in the external environment. â€Å"A SWOT Analysis is a useful technique for understanding your Strengths and Weaknesses, andRead MoreInternal Analysis And External Environment Assessment1869 Words   |  8 Pages1) Internal Analysis and External Environment Assessment Industry’s Dominant Economic Characteristics Market Size: Annual sales revenue for 2014 according to NASDAQ $68,775,000. Scope of Competitive Rivalry: Global for Comcast and NBC Universal. Market Growth Rate: According to NASDAQ 11.21% over the next five years. Stage in Life Cycle: Residential Area = Mature, Small and Medium Business Area = still growing and the Enterprise (Ethernet Area) = Early development rapid growth. NumberRead MoreInternal Analysis And External Environment Assessment1865 Words   |  8 PagesI. Internal Analysis and External Environment Assessment Industry’s Dominant Economic Characteristics Market Size: Annual sales revenue for 2014 according to NASDAQ $68,775,000. Scope of Competitive Rivalry: Global for Comcast and NBC Universal. Market Growth Rate: According to NASDAQ 11.21% over the next five years. Stage in Life Cycle: Residential Area = Mature, Small and Medium Business Area = still growing and the Enterprise (Ethernet Area) = Early development rapid growth. NumberRead MoreCompany s External And Internal Environment Analysis1387 Words   |  6 PagesExecutive summary The main purpose of this paper is through the company s external and internal environment analysis to evaluate the company in the industry and future developments. Assess the external environment mainly through PESTLE Analysis and Porter s 5 Forces. Strategic Recourses Capability Analysis for internal environmental assessment is conducted. Finally, the company somehow SWOT analysis, concluded †¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ This article mainly refer to the company s annual financial reports, industryRead MoreSwot Analysis : The Internal And External Environment Of A Firm1658 Words   |  7 Pages1. SWOT analysis is a technique to analyze the internal and external environment of a firm. What are its advantages and disadvantages? SWOT provides a useful starting point for improving firms and better positioning them for success. However, SWOT is a limited technique with at least 4 problems. First, SWOT may identify strengths, but these do not always translate into competitive advantages. To generate competitive advantages, firms have to understand the source of their strengths and focus resources

Noahs Ark vs. Gilgamesh Epic - 1560 Words

The Gilgamesh Epic is an ancient Mesopotamian story about life and the suffering one must endure while alive. Included in the story, is a tale of a great flood that covered the earth, killing all but a select few of its inhabitants. This story of a great flood is common to most people, and has effected history in several ways. Its presence in the Gilgamesh Epic has caused many people to search for evidence that a great flood actually happened. It has also caused several other religions and cultures to take the same basic story, claiming it for their own. Whether in Christianity in the form of Noahs Ark, or through Mesopotamian history in the form of an immortal, the idea of a great flood has proven to be a common story throughout the†¦show more content†¦This story can be found with great variation in over two hundred separate cultures all over the globe. Though these stories are, for the most part, all unique to their own culture, they all have at least these four things in common: The cause of the flood was a moral one, and people brought it on themselves; one person is warned of the oncoming flood, and he saves himself and friends and family; the world is depopulated except for the few survivors; and animals play some sort of role. All other details differ in such a way that borrowing from the Bible or the Gilgamesh Epic is almost excluded altogether. These separate accounts from different cultures are probably recollections of an event that was never forgotten, although the details may have become blurred. All the evidence collected from the different cultures suggests that a worldwide flood did occur. A flood of this size would have needed more water than the Earth currently has. If all the water vapor in the Earths atmosphere fell to the Earth in rainfall right now, it would only increase the worlds sea levels by two inches. How could it be possible for the world to be covered in water when there isnt enough water on Earth? Two possibilities are that the water flooding the world did not just come from rainfall, and the Earth before this great flood was much different than afterwards. Many scientists believe thatShow MoreRelatedEssay on Noahs Ark vs. Gilgamesh Epic1552 Words   |  7 PagesNoahs Ark vs. Gilgamesh Epic   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Gilgamesh Epic is an ancient Mesopotamian story about life and the suffering one must endure while alive. Included in the story, is a tale of a great flood that covered the earth, killing all but a select few of it’s inhabitants. This story of a great flood is common to most people, and has affected history in several ways. It’s presence in the Gilgamesh Epic has caused many people to search for evidence that a great flood actually happened. It has alsoRead MoreFlood Narrative ( Genesis 6-9 ) Vs. Epic Gilgamesh And Genesis1259 Words   |  6 PagesFlood Narrative (Genesis 6-9) vs. Epic Gilgamesh, Tablet XI The Flood Narrative (Genesis 6-9) and the Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet XI have certain parallels that are undeniable, yet many noticeable differences. The parallels are strange yet oddly common in any flood narrative and the differences often lie behind the reasons, responses, and decisions made by the main characters. In both texts, each of the main characters, Noah and Uta-napishti, were ordered to build an ark or a boat due to an incomingRead MoreBiblical Vs. Classical Phenomenon2078 Words   |  9 PagesBiblical vs. Classical Phenomenon Throughout the semester, we have analyzed various texts that constitute some of the most important publications in the history of humankind. These myths and legends are known as the oldest in centuries and possibly the first sight of written text that humans have encountered. Dating back to the times of traditional oral-based stories, texts such as The Epic of Gilgamesh have given humankind a sense of emergence in the old times of script and literature. The Epic of Gilgamesh

Indian Telecom Industry Free Essays

Price War in Indian Telecom Industry An academic project submitted by students of eEPSM at IIMK eEPSM -02 Student Name Roll Number Amitabh Kumar Patnaik eEPSM-02-003 Balasubramaniam T eEPSM-02-006 Manmeet Singh eEPSM-02-023 Rahul Mishra eEPSM-02-034 Somashekar Lingaraju eEPSM-02-047 Table of Contents Table of Contents†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 2 Executive Summary†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 3 Methodology†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 3 The Indian Telecommunications Industry†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. We will write a custom essay sample on Indian Telecom Industry or any similar topic only for you Order Now 3 Mobile Growth – Twist in the Game†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 3 Revenue and Growth†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 4 Beginning of Overcrowding and Price War†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Industry perspectives on Price War/ Falling Rates†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 5 Opinions from Industry Stalwarts and Watchers†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 7 3G on the Horizon†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 8 Growth at Home and Abroad†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 8 Conclusions†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 0 The Indian telecom sector could be going the airline way. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 10 Hypothesis on future trends of structure conduct and performance of Industry†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 10 Who wins who looses?†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 10 Appendix†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 13 Exhibit 1: Indian Telecom Industry Key Milestones†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 3 Exhibit 2: India Telecommunication Industry – Facts and Figures†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 15 Exhibit 3: Subscriber Base in Key States†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 15 Exhibit 4: operator wise wireless subscriber base in India †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 16 Exhibit 5: Performance of QoS Parameters for Cellular Mobile Services †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 17 List of References:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 17 Executive Summary This document is the result of an academic case study an attempt to analyze and understand the present dynamics of Indian Telecommunication Industry with special focus on the Price war in mobile telecom that has overwhelmed the industry. In this study we attempt to look at the causes that lead to the price war, impact thereof and also hypothesize future trends. Methodology Methodology used for the case study is as follows. We have made a set of hypothesis and arrived at key questions which are used to gather the data around the hypothesis. We have retained hypothesis hich are supported by the data and expert views and presented the hypothesis and conclusions. The Indian Telecommunications Industry The Indian telecommunication industry, with about 506. 04 million mobile phone connections (Nov 2009), is the third largest telecommunication network in the world and the second largest in terms of number of wireless connections. The Indian telecom industry is one of the f astest growing in the world and is projected that India will have ‘billion plus’ mobile users by 2015. Projection by several leading global consultancies is that India’s telecom network will overtake China’s in the next 10 ears. Looking at the Industry marked milestones for last 4 to 5 years (Exhibit 1), 2 issues are obvious – Mobile Growth and completion that will lead to a shakeout sooner or later. Mobile Growth – Twist in the Game For the past decade or so, telecommunication activities have gained momentum in India. Efforts have been made from both governmental and non-governmental platforms to enhance the infrastructure. Telecommunication as a technology not only serve all segments of India’s culturally diverse society, would play key role transforming India a country a techno savvy one. The historical journey and the milestones of Telecom revelation in India have been shown in the Exhibit 1 of Appendix section. Currently, India’s mobile phone market is the fastest growing in the world, with companies adding some 16. 67 million new customers a month. Some of the key drivers to the exponential growth of this industry are ?A large population ?Low telephony penetration levels ?Rise in consumers’ income and spending owing to strong economic growth The first and largest operator is the state-owned incumbent BSNL, which is also the 7th largest telecom company in the world in terms of its number of subscribers. BSNL was created by corporatization of the erstwhile DTS (Department of Telecommunication Services), a government unit responsible for provision of telephony services. Subsequently, after the telecommunication policies were revised to allow private operators, companies such as Bharti Airtel , Vodafone, , Tata Indicom, Idea Cellular, Aircel and Loop Mobile have entered the space. In 2008-09, rural India outpaced urban India in mobile growth rate. The wire line segment subscriber base stood at 37. 16 million with a decline of 0. 13 million in Nov 2009, The Cellular Operators’ Association of India forecasts the country’s mobile phones ill number one billion by 2013, up from around 500 million currently, a clear indication that the shift is happening radically to wireless handheld devices on the CDMA and GSM Platforms. This is the key trend across the country, lead by the states which have experienced high commercialization and urbanization (See Exhibit 3) – Mobile S ubscriber Base in Key States Revenue and Growth The total revenue in the telecom service sector was Rs. 86,720 crore in 2005-06 as against Rs. 71, 674 crore in 2004-2005, registering a growth of 21%. The total investment in the telecom services sector reached Rs. 00,660 crore in 2005-06, up from Rs. 178,831 crore in the previous fiscal. It is difficult to ascertain fully the employment potential of the telecom sector but the enormity of the opportunities can be gauged from the fact that there were 3. 7 million Public Call Offices in December 2005 up from 2. 3 million in December 2004. The value added services (VAS) market alone within the mobile industry in India has the potential to grow to a whopping $10 billion by 2010. Beginning of Overcrowding and Price War Though Indian telecom market might be growing fast, but surviving in this highly competitive market s not easy for telecom companies. Liberalization and globalization combined with the market potentiality lead to many aspira nts enter in to the market in less than 7-8 years leading to a cut throat competition which manifested in a price war. Following is the list of schemes that fuelled the tariff war in India and ultimate manifestation of this was a major decline in the ARPU of the Mobile Telecom Industry itself. Product / Service / Scheme Player Description Post card or Phone call Reliance Reliance Infocomm launched mobile services in India at 40 paise per minute fulfilling Dhirubai Ambani’s dream o make a phone call cheaper than a post card in 2003. Chotta Recharge Hutch Hutch (Vodafone now) launched the chotta recharge voucher at Rs. 10 when the lowest add-on recharge card available was about Rs 50. What’s the message? Lowering the price by 20-30% to the competitors won’t help much in gaining the market share. Think five times cheaper to make an impact. Non-stop Mobile Tata Though the chotta recharge was broadly accepted , But there were issues in prepaid mobile. You need to rec harge regularly as the validity period is limited. With the recharge card of Rs 200, you will get validity only for one onth. So people have to spend at least Rs2000 per year for their mobile just to receive the incoming calls. Tata Indicom launched Non-stop mobile, a scheme where you don’t need to recharge for 2 years but still get free incoming calls. Soon other players responded to Tata Indicom’s plan and then come in Lifetime validity plan by all major telecom players in India. Get Paid for Incoming Virgin Adding logs to the fire Virgin Mobile jumped into the competitive Indian mobile telecom market with the breakthrough-marketing scheme Get paid for incoming calls. 10 paisa free for every minute of incoming call. However this campaign was not well received. Daily telephone allowance Reliance Going a step further (what if one does not get any incoming call? ) Reliance Communication launched its GSM services in Mumbai offering subscribers Rs 10 talk-time every day for the first 90 days. That’s free talk-time worth Rs 900! Directly passed on to consumer Per Second Billing TATA – DOCOMO Taking the bargain to the next level Tata Docomo introduced per second billing 29 Paisa Per Call Uninor A completely new way of pricing plan offers the customer a fixed price for every call regardless of the duration , hich is aimed at young customers who prefer long calls VAS and SMS Reliance On November 28, RCom opened another front in the price war — SMS (short message service). The company unveiled two plans charging one paisa per SMS message. Under the first, customers pay Re. 1 a day and are entitled to send an unlimited number of free SMS messages. Alternatively, you can buy a Rs. 11 mo nthly voucher and each SMS message will cost just one paisa. VAS and SMS Tata Docomo Tata DoCoMo has been heavily promoting its one paisa per character Diet SMS plan. Now, it is inevitable that they and other competitors will have to match RCom’s ates. This will not mean a huge drop in revenues: According to estimates, SMS brings in about 5% of total telecom revenues for Indian companies. But companies’ bottom lines will still be affected. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has found that each SMS costs the service providers less than one paisa, while they have been charging customers 60 paise to Re. 1 (depending on the plan). Industry perspectives on Price War/ Falling Rates In June this year, Indian telecom service provider Tata DoCoMo announced that it would bill at the rate of one paisa (around 0. 02 cents) per second. In a market that is cluttered with many operators and confusing options, we will offer simplicity to consumers by being the countryâ⠂¬â„¢s most transparent, innovative and liberating telecom brand,† said Deepak Gulati, Tata Teleservices president, GSM (global system for mobile communications) Business. A few months later — in September — it unveiled the Diet SMS plan, one paisa per character with no charge for spaces between words. On November 22, it extended the one paisa per second plan to roaming services also. â€Å"When a subscriber is roaming, most telecom operators in India charge a minimum of 50 paise to 60 aise per minute, even when the call duration is less than a minute,† Gulati said in a press statement. â€Å"Under the Tata DoCoMo roaming offer, subscribers will be charged only for what he or she uses — at one paisa per second. For instance, a 15-second call made or received while roaming will elicit a charge of 15 paise only — not up to Re. 1 on a per minute basis, as is the industry norm. † ‘We are responding as we did not have a Choice’ Bharthi Airtel On October 30, market leader Bharti Airtel took the plunge with the one paisa tariff. In November, it lso cut roaming rates to 60 paise per minute for calls within its network and 80 paise per minute for calls to other networks. On November 24, Bharti took its lowered rates overseas: U. S. customers using calling cards to make calls to India would also be billed at one paisa per second. The company was not happy about these forced countermeasures and their inevitable impact on profits. â€Å"The tariff war has not been launched by us,† Bharti chairman and managing director Sunil Mittal told journalists at the World Economic Forum meeting in Delhi in early November. â€Å"We responded as we did not have a choice. We have always said we will never lead the price war, but responding to the needs of the market is something that every sector and industry has to do. † Although Bharti is the market leader, it has never directly pursued market share; its focus has been share of industry revenues. A survey shows that it is holding its own. â€Å"While the telecom sector’s revenues and profits have plunged in the quarter ended September 2009, large private operators such as Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications (RCom), Vodafone Essar, Idea Cellular and Aircel have all managed to increase heir revenue market share during this period,† according to the survey report. Bharti’s revenue market share has increased to 29. 3% as of September 2009, compared to 27. 6% in June the same year, while Vodafone Essar now accounts for 15. 7% of the total earnings of the sector as against 14. 6% in June 2009. Plunging Revenues On the losing side are the public sector telcom firms — Bh arat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL). On December 1, however, MTNL fired its own salvo by reducing its rates to half a paisa per second for in-network calls and one paisa per second for calls ade outside its network. â€Å"Our pay-per plan is the most affordable in the industry,† said MTNL chairman and managing director R. S. P. Sinha in a press statement when the new rates were announced. The price war’s impact on revenues is already apparent. The brutal tariff war that has forced all operators to slash call rates has also resulted in the sector’s sales figures dipping over the past six months despite the addition of 80 million customers in the period. The industry clocked about Rs. 38,755 crore in September 2009, which was lower than the sector’s revenues in the quarter ended December 2008, when it recorded Rs. 9,408 crore despite having 125 million fewer customers then. The report notes that 13 operators are fighting for share in a market that many believe can optimally support four or five — and four more players are planning to enter the market by next year. At this point in time, it is all about grabbing subscribers. â€Å"Industry revenue growth for the quarter ending September 2009 was 1. 7% quarter-on-quarter (Q-on-Q) and 8. 7% year-on-year (Y-on-Y), substantially lower than subscriber growth at 10. 4% Q-on-Q and 49. 6% Y-on-Y,† says a report by equity research firm Enam Securities. â€Å"The aggressive ntry by new GSM players has compelled the incumbents to reluctantly join the tariff war to protect their market share. † At Vodafone Essar, for instance, service revenues dipped 7% from the June quarter to the September quarter. The EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) margin is also down from 28. 4% in the first half of 2008-09 to 24% in the corresponding period of 2009-10. The decline in the EBITDA margin was primarily as a result o f the expansion into rural areas and market price reduction offset by scale efficiencies. That this is entirely in line with industry performance; as oted by ETIG, Vodafone has actually done better than most of its competitors on the share-of-revenue metric. Vodafone has also joined the one paisa bandwagon. â€Å"One paisa per second tariff is one of the several tariff options available to our customers,† says Parida. â€Å"We continue to also offer many per minute tariff options. Our customers can make the choice. † Giving a choice is not necessarily pro-consumer. According to Mahesh Prasad, president of RCom, Indian telecom companies combined have 2,700 different billing plans across the country. On October 5, RCom launched a 50 paise per minute plan called Simply Reliance. Under the plan, all calls — whether local or long distance, to landline or mobile — will cost only 50 paise a minute. Currently, RCom itself has 265 plans. â€Å"Henceforth there will be just one plan,† said Prasad, though older customers will be given a six-month period to migrate. There are a couple of other reasons for this frantic activity. On November 20, TRAI announced that mobile number portability (MNP) would be introduced beginning on December 31. This allows users to move from one service provider to another or even from one technology to another. More importantly, TRAI said the maximum porting charges would be Rs. 9. This makes operator-hopping quite cheap. â€Å"MNP will add more pain to the situation,† says Mahajan of KPMG. According to a report by Anand Rathi Financial Services, the move will lead â€Å"to churn rates higher than the current 4. 5% to 8. 0% per month — at least in the short run. † The level of satisfaction with s ervice providers is low in the Indian telecom space. According to a July Nielsen Mobile Consumer Insights study gauging consumer attitudes and behavior towards mobile operators in India, 18% of Indian mobile phone subscribers plan to change their mobile operator when MNP is introduced. The study found that attrition rates would be the highest for RCom and Tata Indicom. Opinions from Industry Stalwarts and Watchers â€Å"Overcapacity is a characteristic of bubbles,† said Idea Cellular managing director Sanjeev Aga. â€Å"At the national level, overcapacity implies wasteful deployment of national resources (like spectrum) and just offers falling tariffs temporarily. † Since June, the country’s telecom players have been indulging in a price war that had seen tariffs being slashed by a large quantum. After Tata DoCoMo introduced the one-paise-per-second rate, ther competitors have had to follow suit, prompting most companies to witness a fall in profitability. Analysts too derated telecom stocks post the country’s biggest tariff war that brought down call rates. And, that’s not the end. Along with new capacity, competition is expected to rise as new players with deep pockets make a line for what was till last year, one of the India’s fastest growing sectors. Mr Aga said markets tend to be merciless in working out the sector overcapacity. â€Å"The greater the overcapacity, the greater the short-term pain. But, this is the market’s way of separating the efficient rom the inefficient, and restoring balance. The efficient usually emerge stronger from the test and are unchallengeable,† he added. The sector’s woes began when the government handed out new licenses to players in 2007, despite not having enough spectrums. Rekha Jain, executive chairman of the Telecom Centre of Excellence and professor at IIM Ahmedabad, said: â€Å"When the government knew that an operator requires a minimum amount of spectrum (4. 4 Mhz for GSM) to start services, how could it allow everybody to come in? And now, everybody is setting up networks. The government wanted competition, but it has created vercapacity, which will lead to consolidation. † Banks have added fuel to the fire thr ough indiscriminate lending. â€Å"Bank and vendor financing is encouraging overcapacity in the sector, despite the fact that new players’ plans look unsustainable in the long-term,† HSBC Securities and Capital Markets analyst Rajiv Sharma said in a recent report. â€Å"Some of the leading operators are now restructuring their loans,† said industry sources. â€Å"If that continues to be the case, there may be some bankruptcies in the sector within two years from now,† said a top official at a telco on condition of anonymity. A top official at a public sector bank said telecom has received easy lending because it is an important part of infrastructure. â€Å"The current state is an aberration and will correct itself,† he opined. HSBC’s Mr Sharma, however, said: â€Å"The current scenario, with 10-11 players, is unsustainable and a reflection of poor government policies. We are of the view that market with 5-6 players is ideal in the Indian context. † He pointed out that even if the entire spectrum were to be made available in India, it would still be insufficient to cater to all the players. â€Å"It may be more logical to promote investments in elecom infrastructure, encourage rural penetration and rural broadband rather than focus on market structure,† he added. 3G on the Horizon The second big event on the horizon is the launch of 3G (third generation) services next year. The auction for 3G licenses has been delayed. But the proceeds are needed to trim the fiscal deficit. In his budget, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had estimated that Rs. 20,000 crore would come in through the sale of these licenses, so there is enough incentive for the auction to happen during this financial year (ending March 2010). The base price for these licenses has now been fixed at Rs. 4,040 piece. Analysts estimate that Rs. 30,000 crore to Rs. 40,000 crore could come in through the sale. The department of telecommunications proposes to hold the auction on January 14, 2010. â€Å"An apparent lack of interest in the auction for high-speed 3G and broadband wireless access spectrum won’t stop the government from getting bidders to cough up the cash that it needs to control a burgeoning deficit,† according to business daily Mint. â€Å"That’s because many potential bidders running 2G services, already scrambling for scarce spectrum to carry mobile phone calls, desperately want the additional frequencies that will come with a 3G license. Analysts say this i s the very reason why foreign companies don’t seem too interested in bidding for the 3G licenses. â€Å"Foreign interest in the form of participation in the pre-bid conference has been low probably on account of two factors,† says K. Raman, practice head, telecom, media technology at the Tata Strategic Management Group (TSMG). â€Å"First, there are regulatory uncertainties with respect to eligibility of 2G spectrum along with a winning 3G bid. Secondly, a pure 3G play may not be attractive for operators and would not make as much business sense as an overlay on 2G. † Adds Alok Shende, principal analyst at Ascentius Consulting: â€Å"A standalone 3G service is unlikely to succeed. The business will start with virtually no consumers, unlike the current players who will have the advantage of captive 2G customers. † According to Shende, â€Å"Indian telecom markets are likely to undergo a tectonic shift with the introduction of new licensees, MNP and the launch of 3G services all scheduled in the next one year. New players will nibble at the market share of the incumbents and — with regulatory constraints on MA activity — consolidation, a process that could have cleared the market, will be artificially estrained. The rural markets will continue on their growth trail. Today, only 28% of the subscriber base is contributed by the rural segment. † Growth at Home and Abroad The rural market is the other problem area. This is where the growth is — but it is also where very little money can be made. â€Å"Rural markets are still un der-penetrated† — at about 15% — â€Å"so there is still a strong upside merely on customer addition,† says Parida of Vodafone Essar. The hitch is that some of the plans don’t make money. The average revenue per user (ARPU) is now down to around Rs. 200 a month for the industry. In rural areas, however, it is estimated to be in double digits. â€Å"It certainly makes it harder to ensure viability, as the bulk of users are lower-income and less tech-savvy,† says Rajesh Chakrabarti, assistant professor of finance at the Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business (ISB). â€Å"The most [celebrated] aspect of the Indian telecom revolution, as well as its prime driver, was the mind-boggling reduction of rates in a short span of time. Competition among private players was most certainly the key for this. But the model seems to have been that high-margin products would subsidize access. It now seems that most Indian users are unlikely to use the more sophisticated and high-margin features for a long time to come. Nor is the typical handset amenable to most such features. So ARPUs are likely to stay low for a long time, and the subscriber may not move beyond the most basic functions. The per-second billing will just worsen the ongoing price war. † If looking inwards — to rural India — doesn’t work in terms of immediate returns, there may be a solution in looking outwards. Indian companies are trying to balance their bets by foraying abroad. If the low-cost model works there, it could bring some relief to the bottom line. The second merger attempt between Bharti and MTN of South Africa may have failed (See Now That the MTN Merger Deal Has Collapsed, What’s Next for Bharti Airtel? ), but the Essar Group (which owns a 9. 9% stake in Loop Telecom, apart from its Vodafone Essar interests) has just bought up Dhabi Telecom’s African assets. And the public sector MTNL and BSNL are eyeing Zain Telecom of Dubai. â€Å"Indian telecom companies are looking at markets outside India to be able to grow revenues at the historical pace they are used to,† says Raman of TSMG. â€Å"The markets that they have attempted to enter are ones here tariffs are relatively high and future growth through subscriber addition is possible. In other words, replicating an Indian model of telecom growth is possible in such countries. If execution is handled well, there is no reason to believe that such an approach will not work. † â€Å"Telecom is essentially a business of scale,† says Chakrabarti of ISB. â€Å"So the bigger the scale, the lower the costs — proportionately — are going to be. Hence, venturing abroad would be natural in some sense. It may work, provided the regulatory issues and infrastructural and cross-border operational integration challenges can be handled. Chakrabarti sees problems, but he is not pessimistic. â€Å"The industry should be growing steadily in the years to come. There is likely to be a shake-up with some consolidation and exits, and rates may stabilize or even rise a bit. What we are seeing is not so uncommon for new industries — recall the dot-com bubble and bust in the first phase of Internet growth — when players overshoot on the basis of overoptimistic projections. This may be the time for a reality check and reassessment for the players as well as regulators. But in the long run, the prospects for the industry are quite good. † The future of the industry needs to be seen across various timelines,† s ays Raman of TSMG. â€Å"The next six months will see new operators completing their footprint and at least three serious operators launching services in the country. All of this points to an intense phase of competition and price cuts. Factor in the 3G auction, and one would see below par profitability for [telecom companies] over the next six to eight quarters. The industry could also expect to see consolidation as much as and as fast as regulation allows it to happen. † According to Parida, the number of players in the Indian market has led to fragmentation, and that eeds to be addressed. â€Å"We feel market forces must be allowed to have a freer play in India and that will certainly lead to a consolidation phase ahead. Telecom, particularly mobile telephony, has become an integral part of India’s social and economic fabric. As an industry, it is here to stay. † The industry will stay, but not the large number of companies in the fray, according to Raman. â €Å"Operators with access to resources through internal accruals or credit lines will stand to gain from [any coming] consolidation. † Conclusions The Indian telecom sector could be going the airline way. Once the rising star of India Inc, the local telecom industry is now grappling with the problems of overcapacity created due to unregulated lending, new licensing norms and excess vendor financing. The growth is evident as mobile phones are becoming common. In a country of 1. 15 billion, the mobile subscriber base totals about 500 million people. New as well as existing operators are expanding infrastructure to service more people at lower tariffs. The same trend was witnessed in the aviation sector, which has now nose-dived from its peak in 2007. According to industry estimates, elecom operators are ready with lines to accommodate another 200 million people in the next one year. Hypothesis on future trends of structure conduct and performance of Industry Hypothesis Supporting Analysis Consolidation is the only way for further growth and there will be less than 5 players in next 3 years ?Every Players suffers from Churn Rate which would pose pressure on the players to keep growing th e subscriber base ?Industry / Market which is close to maturity cannot support this many players ?Only rural markets are having lower tele density which may apparently show some potentiality owever due to very little ARPU of Rural Customers , companies will not be able to achieve revenue targets All players including the ones which maintain premium image yield to price war pressure and will experience revenue loss and high cost ?Already a no-holds-barred price war has driven down billing rates to under a cent a minute, hitting revenues and profits of market leaders such as Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications. ?Advertising billboards have sprouted everywhere offering new per-second billing plans. Who wins who looses? Company Supporting Analysis Bharthi Airtel would stay and emerge as a igger MNC ?Having dominated the industry for the last half decade Airtel seems to have learnt the tricks of the trade and has become the market leader in a short span of time. ( see exhibit 4) ?H aving adapted innovation agenda Airtel has out sourced part core activities like IT to service providers like IBM, have gained the core focus on the product development, promotion and delivery. Company is also developed long term sustainability focus by building capability on Unified Services Delivery platform to leverage on the consolidation plans ?Looking for international route for further growth and expansion hich was evident from its move to acquire MTN, though this has resulted in a set back to do duel listing policy issues , Bharti Airtel will look forward to time its future moves and will be back in action when the legislation changes ?However due to a massive subscription and growth Airtel’s quality of service has taken a serious hit due to network congestion , this could be a major weakness and lead to increased churn rate ( See Exhibit 5) Reliance Likely to Stay ? Have achieved 2nd position in the Industry in a short span of time. ?With a huge capital base Reliance will surely be one of the 4 – 5 layers who would remain in the Industry Vodafone Likely to Stay and Grow ?One of its key competence is growth by acquisition and integration ?Being a global player with financial capability Vodafone may be a major beneficiary of any shakeouts that happen and consolidations that occur in the near future Tata CDMA and GSM to Stay ?The Tatas, already have an established presence in the market through Tata Indicom. ?For the Tata Docomo, the paisa per second plan appears to have worked. According to TRAI data, the number of telephone subscribers in India increased to 525. 65 million at the end of October, up from 509. 03 million in September. Tata DoCoMo grew 23. 16%, the highest for all operators. In absolute numbers, the Tatas added about four million subscribers against three million each for Vodafone and Bharti and two million for RCom. This is no flash in the pan; in July and August, the Tatas showed the fastest growth as well. BSNL ? Likely stay in the long term as a WireLine and Enterprise Service Provider with its cost leadership strategy. ?Unlikely to do well in the mobile space due to lack of Innovation , Flexibility , Organization Structure , Performance Management reasons. Idea Cellular ? Having adopted few of the strategies from Airtel , Idea has also jumped into Outsourcing, technology capability development. However it is highly unlikely to stay in the market without quickly developing its international plans Other New Entrants ? Uninor, controlled by Norwegian telecom company Telenor, is the 14th player to enter India’s cellular market, where subscriber numbers are rising so fast that in October the country added a record 16. 67 million users. Through Innovative campaigns Uninor has gained quick access and a decent subscriber base, however its future plans are not clear and company will soon fail to emonstrate the uniqueness in value proposition and aggression that is required to stay in the market. ?But after soaring growth, industry revenues are flattening as rivals slug it out in a savage price battle ?Etisalat’s success in Emirates is mainly in the Enterprise Services Space. Their public sector management out look and style, Organization design a nd performance ?Etisalat’s Islamic Origin may become a major weakness in succeeding in Indian Market Appendix Exhibit 1: Indian Telecom Industry Key Milestones Year Key Milestone 1975 Department of Telecom (DoT) was separated from PT. DoT was responsible or telecom services in entire country until 1985 when Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) was carved out of DoT to run the telecom services of Delhi and Mumbai. 1981 In a move towards liberalization , Prime Minister Indira Gandhi signed contracts with Alcatel CIT of France to merge with the state owned Telecom Company (ITI), in an effort to set up 5,000,000 lines per year. But soon the policy was let down because of political opposition. She invited Sam Pitroda a US based NRI to set up a Center for Development of Telematics(C-DOT), however the plan failed due to political reasons. During this period, after the ssassination of Indira Gandhi, under the leadership of Rajiv Gandhi, many public sector organizations were set u p like the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) , VSNL and MTNL. Many technological developments took place in this regime but still foreign players were not allowed to participate in the telecommunications business. 1990 Telecom sector was opened up by the Government for private investment as a part of Liberalisation-Privatization-Globalization policy. Therefore, it became necessary to separate the Government’s policy wing from its operations wing 1994 The demand for telephones was ever increasing. It was during this period that he P. N Rao led government introduced the national telecommunications policy [NTP] in 1994 which brought changes in the following areas: ownership, service and regulation of telecommunications infrastructure. They were also successful in establishing joint ventures between state owned telecom companies and international players. But still complete ownership of facilities was restricted only to the government owned organizations. Foreign firms were eligible to 49% of the total stake. The multi-nationals were just involved in technology transfer, and not policy making. During this period, the World Bank and ITU had advised the Indian Government to liberalize long distance services in order to release the monopoly of the state owned DoT and VSNL; and to enable competition in the long distance carrier business which would help reduce tariff’s and better the economy of the country. The Rao run government instead liberalized the local services, taking the opposite political parties into confidence and assuring foreign involvement in the long distance business after 5 years. The country was divided into 20 telecommunication circles for basic telephony and 18 circles for mobile services. These circles were divided into category A, B and C depending on the value of the revenue in each circle. The government threw open the bids to one private company per circle along with government owned DoT per circle. For cellular service two service providers were allowed per circle and a 15 years license was given to each provider. During all these improvements, the government did face oppositions from ITI, DoT, MTNL, VSNL and other labor unions, but they managed to keep away from all the hurdles. 1995 The government set up TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) which reduced the interference of Government in deciding tariffs and policy making. The DoT opposed this. The political powers changed in 1999 and the new government under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee was more pro-reforms and introduced better liberalization policies. They split DoT in two- one policy maker and the other service provider (DTS) which was later renamed as BSNL. The proposal of raising the stake of foreign investors from 49% to 74% was rejected by the opposite political party and leftist thinkers. Domestic business groups wanted the government to privatize VSNL. Finally in April 2002, the government decided to cut its stake of 53% to 26% in VSNL and to throw it open for sale to private enterprises. TATA finally took 25% stake in VSNL. This was a gateway to many foreign investors to get entry into the Indian Telecom Markets. After March 2000, the government became more liberal in making policies and issuing licenses to private operators. The government further reduced license fees for cellular service providers and increased the allowable stake to 74% for foreign companies. Because of all these factors, the service fees finally reduced and the call costs were cut greatly enabling every common middle class family in India to afford a cell phone. 1995 India has become one of the fastest-growing mobile markets in the world. The mobile services were commercially launched in August 1995 in India. In the initial 5–6 years the average monthly subscribers additions were around 0. 05 to 0. 1 million only and the total mobile subscribers base in December 2002 stood at 10. 5 millions. However, after the number of proactive initiatives taken by regulator and licensor, the monthly mobile subscriber additions increased to around 2 million per month in the year 2003-04 and 2004-05. 1999 The New Telecom Policy in 1999, the industry heralded several pro consumer initiatives. Mobile subscriber additions started picking up. The number of obile phones added throughout the country in 2003 was 16 million, followed by 22 million in 2004, 32 million in 2005 and 65 million in 2006. As of January 2009, total mobile phone subscribers numbered 362 million, having added 15 million that month alone. India ranks second in mobile phone usage to China, with 506 million users as of November 2009. 2000 The Government of India c orporatised the operations wing of DoT on 01 October 2000 and named it as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). Many private operators, such as Reliance Communications, Tata Telecom, Vodafone, Loop Mobile, Airtel, Idea etc. successfully entered the high potential Indian telecom market. 2005 The mobile tariffs in India have also become lowest in the world. A new mobile connection can be activated with a monthly commitment of US$0. 15 only. In 2005 alone 32 million handsets were sold in India. 2007 Going forward on its Globalization Strategy Vodafone Takes over Hutch in India for 11 Bil USD 2008 In March 2008 the total GSM and CDMA mobile subscriber base in the country was 375 million, which represented a nearly 50% growth when compared with previous year. Exhibit 2: India Telecommunication Industry – Facts and Figures Exhibit 3: Subscriber Base in Key States State Subscriber base Wireless density'† Maharashtra 58,789,949 51. 96 Uttar Pradesh 57,033,513 26. 32 Tamil Nadu 45,449,460 63. 66 Andhra Pradesh 37,126,048 42. 58 West Bengal 32,540,049 34. 28 Karnataka 28,867,734 46. 76 Rajasthan 27,742,395 39. 09 Gujarat 27,475,585 45. 49 Bihar 27,434,896 25. 04 Madhya Pradesh 24,923,739 33. 09 All India 471,726,205 37. 71 Exhibit 4: operator wise wireless subscriber base in India As of September 2009 Operator Subscriber base Bharti Airtel 110,511,416 Reliance Communications 86,117,663 Vodafone Essar 82,846,046 BSNL 58,756,598 Idea Cellular 51,454,402 Tata Teleservices 46,796,033 Aircel 25,728,633 MTNL 4,680,141 Loop Mobile 2,495,087 MTS India 1,960,532 HFCL Infotel 379,654 All India 471,726,205 Exhibit 5: Performance of QoS Parameters for Cellular Mobile Services List of References: 1. www. airtel. com 2. www. vodafone. com 3. Trai. gov. in 4. The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators : July – September 2009 5. www. bsnl. com 6. www. uninor. in 7. Indian telecom news. com 8. www. indian-cellular. com 9. www. wikipedia. com 10. The Economic Times 11. Harvard Business Review 12. Wharton Publications 13. Etisalat : IT Organization Restructuring Engagement Experiences – an IBM Case Study How to cite Indian Telecom Industry, Essays

Health Care and Affordable Care Act free essay sample

What steps of the lawmaking process did it go through? Is it in effect today? It was introduced in the House as the Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act of 2009 by Charles Rangel on September 17, 2009. Committee consideration by: Ways and Means. It was passed the House on October 8, 2009. Passed the Senate as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on December 24, 2009 (60-39) with amendment. House agreed to Senate amendment on March 21, 2010 (219-212). Signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. Its currently still in effect but it will be experiencing changes. What did people think about the bill or law? What did supporters say? What did critics say? Many were against it because they didnt know what it would do. Supporters said that this would help those who dont have proper health care. Critics said this is an exact copy of Romneycare and that this was only going to cause more issues. We will write a custom essay sample on Health Care and Affordable Care Act or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page How could this bill or law affect everyday Americans? Many get health insurance through your employer or the government as 80 percent of Americans do its very unlikely that youll interact with Obamacares coverage expansion at all. There are other provisions in Obamacare, like some of the efforts to improve care quality or cut health-care costs that could affect others. How could this bill or law affect other levels of government? Many are blaming the government for the failure of the ACA. This has become a huge issue for the government, for as of now, many are worried.

Distributed Computing Essays (1426 words) - Distributed.net

Distributed Computing Distributed Computing Chapter 1 As the technology we use today increases in speed and usability, there are those that are happy with the fastest computer. But then there are those that either want or need to go faster than the fastest. The solution lies in and around the Internet, the solution has been rightfully termed Distributed Computing. Put simply, distributed computing is the splitting of a task among multiple computers. Hence using the power of many computers that people already have, thus sparing the cost of buying a supercomputer of equal proportions, which in some cases is impossible. Distributed Computing isn't all that hard of a concept to grasp. The first thing that would be done when setting up a distributed computing operation is the selection of the problem that you to tackle. This allows you to decide what the basic architecture of the network is going to be. To help describe the process better, I will step through the process of setting up an imaginary distributed computing project. I am bored one day, and surfing the web, and I run into RSA's homepage, were they had just announced a new competition in which they have put up an offer to give ten thousand dollars to the person that successfully cracks any one of their encryption standards under the RC5 brand. You know that RC5-56 has been cracked, and RC5-64 is being cracked using brute force distributed computing. So you decide to take on RSA most secure encryption standard, tackling the challenge to take on RC5-128, officially called RC5-32/12/16. Tackling this problem with brute force is probably the easiest method, but this cipher is 2^64 times stronger than RC5-64, so we are going to need quite the backing for this. Seeing how money is only a slight problem, we go out and buy a web server, a key server, and a so-called stats server. We also buy a copy Visual Studios 6.0, (for coding the clients). I introduced some possibly foreign terms in the last paragraph, so let me explain. A key server is possibly the most important part of a distributed computing project. Its only purpose is to keep the clients supplied with blocks of keys. The stats server being a part of the network that isn't critical to the project, but to get the amount of people we will need to crack this code, we want to make sure their happy, and geeks love stats. The client is a program that runs on a workstation, in our case, it will be testing a key against the encrypted message that was supplied to us by RSA, for this project, the encrypted message is: d9 3b 27 72 11 8a 65 cb ef 5b 06 74 63 76 22 16 84 f9 ec 21 56 3b 1c 1c 02 e1 70 10 50 d1 71 00 06 aa bf c1 38 e1 f1 f8 2d 63 57 bb 24 a9 7d 5d All the client needs to know is the first line or so, this is for speed issues, as it takes less time to test against one line, than it does to test against three, if the client thinks it has a possible code, it will put a flag on that key and send it back to the key server, which sees the flag, and tests the key against the rest of message, if it works, we send it off to RSA, and they make it official and send us our check. To reduce the load on the key server we send the keys over the internet in blocks, with somewhere between 2^34 and 2^64 keys, the bigger blocks containing 1,844,674,407,000,000,000 keys, roughly .000000003 percent of the total 33,402,823,669,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 keys, just to give you an idea of how big of a project this is. We send the keys over the Internet for the simple reason that we need lots of people and the Internet provides the perfect medium for communicating with all these people. So, we have all the hardware we need to take on this project, and now we have to code the client. We follow all basic procedures in making any program, including beta testing. After the client is ready to be released, we start

Free Essays on Escher

Maurits Cornelius Escher was born on June 17th, 1898 in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. His father was a civil engineer. Escher’s great skill for art and drawing was realized at an early age. This led his father to decide to send him to study at the School of Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem. But, when he was 21 years old, Escher gave up architecture to study in the field of graphic arts. Escher spent most of his life travelling in Europe looking for inspiration for his works. In 1921 he got married and stayed in Rome. This is when his works of art began to show landscapes with impossible perspectives. In the 1930s, Fascism in Italy made life impossible for Escher and his family, so they moved to Switzerland. In 1936, Escher visited the Alhambra in Granada. The Moorish tiling he came across was amazing too him. Escher read and understood Pà ³lya’s paper on the 17 planes of symmetry, even though he didn't understand all of the ideas in the paper. Between 1936 and 19 42 Escher concentrated on colored drawings using all of the different symmetry types. He invented a highly mathematical system of study using a process which he invented himself. In 1941, Escher went home to the Netherlands. His popularity began to grow, and in the 1950s, articles on his work were written. His drawings of symmetry began to be displayed in science museums more than art galleries. In his later years several books were published about him. One of these books described his works of art as he neared death. â€Å"When Escher's view of the world turned inward he produced his best known puzzling prints, which, art aside, were truly intellectually playful, yet he was not. His life turned inward, he cut himself off and he had few friends. ... He died after a protracted illness...† Escher died on March 27th, 1972, in the Netherlands.... Free Essays on Escher Free Essays on Escher Maurits Cornelius Escher was born on June 17th, 1898 in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. His father was a civil engineer. Escher’s great skill for art and drawing was realized at an early age. This led his father to decide to send him to study at the School of Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem. But, when he was 21 years old, Escher gave up architecture to study in the field of graphic arts. Escher spent most of his life travelling in Europe looking for inspiration for his works. In 1921 he got married and stayed in Rome. This is when his works of art began to show landscapes with impossible perspectives. In the 1930s, Fascism in Italy made life impossible for Escher and his family, so they moved to Switzerland. In 1936, Escher visited the Alhambra in Granada. The Moorish tiling he came across was amazing too him. Escher read and understood Pà ³lya’s paper on the 17 planes of symmetry, even though he didn't understand all of the ideas in the paper. Between 1936 and 19 42 Escher concentrated on colored drawings using all of the different symmetry types. He invented a highly mathematical system of study using a process which he invented himself. In 1941, Escher went home to the Netherlands. His popularity began to grow, and in the 1950s, articles on his work were written. His drawings of symmetry began to be displayed in science museums more than art galleries. In his later years several books were published about him. One of these books described his works of art as he neared death. â€Å"When Escher's view of the world turned inward he produced his best known puzzling prints, which, art aside, were truly intellectually playful, yet he was not. His life turned inward, he cut himself off and he had few friends. ... He died after a protracted illness...† Escher died on March 27th, 1972, in the Netherlands....

Dior Homme Perfume Commercial Directed by Guy Ritchie Essay

Dior Homme Perfume Commercial Directed by Guy Ritchie - Essay Example The approach taken with this specific advertisement is able to take a new form with commercials that allows the audience to gain a sense of intrigue and attraction to the product. The director focusing on the advert this way allows the audience to remember and to become fascinated with the product of perfume while highlighting the brand to one that holds a persona as opposed to only showing a short 30 second clip that advertises the product. The style which is used with the Dior Homme perfume takes the approach of a film. The advertisement is longer than most in timing. This is combined with beginning and ending credits so one immediately associates it with a media production as opposed to a commercial. The advertisement moves through a story line with Jude Law and the models that are assisting with the main production. The story line combines with the main character of Jude Law while creating dialogue as the main appeal while he speaks on the phone, followed by the actions taken with the story line. The suspense which builds stays through the end of the production when the two individuals meet, breaking the suspension. The suspension of the story line follows with the meeting of the two individuals as well as the advertisement of the cologne. The breaking of the suspension as well as the confirmation of the dialogue follows specifically with the cologne that is used with the main production. The purpose behind the production is based on grabbing the attention of the viewers while advertising the main product. The purpose is achieved not only by making a blanket set of images or statements about the cologne that is advertised. ... ttention of the viewers and the intrigue which is created is followed by the movement of the main actor to find the individual that he is speaking with on the other side of the phone. This furthers the suspense and builds the interest of the viewer until they want to know what the advertisement is about as well as how the cologne is able to create an understanding of the intrigue of the cologne. One is able to be a part of the style and the characterization of the perfume while carrying suspense and growing interest in what the advertisement is for. This helps to attract the target audience and to allow them to remember the cologne as it becomes the climax of the story. To enable the audience to act with suspense and intrigue, specific elements are used with the process of the story. To further this, latent function is used throughout the story. The latent function is defined as an unknown that is used to create the end result. When first listening to the story, there is not a voice that is heard through Jude Law. This is followed by a woman who also speaks in monologue but is not able to tie together the main plot line. Having the monologue of both characters carry the unknown or inconsistent function is able to create various interpretations of what is expected with the story. This is combined with the unknown of what is being advertised until the end of the story when the perfume and cologne are being shown and the man and woman meet at the Eiffel Tower. It isn’t until the very end of the commercial that the unknown becomes the known, which adds into the suspense and intrigue of the commercial. The use of the overall concepts of creating a story line further with this to show the latent function, specifically because this approach to a commercial is not commonly

Asgnmt Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Asgnmt - Assignment Example terus, increased amniotic fluid, prolonged or rapid labor, medical instruments which cause trauma during delivery and placental problems such as placenta previa can lead to postpartum hemorrhage. In order to ensure the safety of the mother a thorough assessment is done by the nursing staff after labor. During the postpartum assessment nurses need to include any history of postpartum hemorrhage along with the present condition of the mother. The video clearly explains the various assessments and interventions that are required to be done. The video gives a clear explanation of the procedures for carrying out various preliminary investigations postpartum such as palpitation of the uterine fundus and determining the firmness of the uterus. Massage is given in case the uterus does not appear to be firm. In case of a full bladder the mother should be encouraged to void. The video also explains how to determine the amount and color of lochia and that increased bleeding could be indicative of risk of hemorrhage. Medication is administered in case of a prolonged uncontracted uterus by injecting into the IV fluid followed by constant monitoring. The labia and perineum are examined for pain. In addition the episiotomy and presence of hemorrhoids are also examined. The mother is taught about the various methods by which pain can be reduced using ice and analgesics or narcotics. Sprays are used to decrease topical discomfort and tucks can help decrease pain due to hemorrhoids. Immediate assessments also include recording of vital signs such as temperature and blood pressure, skin temperature and color and mucus membrane are also assessed. In case of a C-section, the mother is additionally examined for the level of consciousness in case of general anesthesia and for epidural anesthesia the feeling and movement of extremities are assessed. The respirations, oxygen saturation are also monitored in case narcotics have been used. In addition, the intactness of the surgical

Research paper about geographic Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

About geographic - Research Paper Example ay, the whole world—especially those who have developed a strong relationship with and dependence on Japan in one way or another—will also feel the consequences of the great economic and social challenge that Japan is now facing. Japan’s Geographical Location. Unlike the giant China which is located in the large mass that forms the continent of Asia, Japan is an island country separated from mainland Asia. It has an archipelagic location and is surrounded by the â€Å"Sea of Japan and the western Pacific Ocean† (â€Å"Japanese Archipelago,† 2008). According to Duiker & Spielvogel (2006), it is made up of four main islands and thousands more of smaller ones. These larger islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyusu and Shikoku. It is relatively small, with an approximate size like that of United States’ Montana (p. 239), and about â€Å"1/48 the size of Russia and 1/25 the size of China in land area† (Yamada, 2001; Kurashige, 2003). In numbers, its total land area is 145,883 square miles including land and water (WorldAtlas.com, n.d). The country is further made up of mountainous terrains and forests, which gives the people only a little space for agriculture and living (Asia for Educators, n.d.). Lying behind most of its mountains are volcanoes that compose 10 percent of the world’s most active ones that are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire; Mt. Fuji—notably dormant—is the most popular and also the highest peak in the country (Kirk, 1966, pp. 26-28). Japan also lies exactly on the juncture of the â€Å"Pacific-Philippine-Eurasian triple tectonic plates† which mainly answers why Japan experiences earthquakes every so often that it records an average of 1,500 minor shocks per year (Encyclopedia of the Nations, n.d.). Japan’ Climate. Japan has got the four seasons of winter, spring, summer and fall. In Deal’s (2006) book, however, it was emphasized that the country’s climate patterns is continuously changing as an effect of its East Asian monsoon zone

Water transportation through a ship dock

Water transportation through a ship dock Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Research Background A port can be simply defined as a location where ship can dock and move personnel or cargo to or from land. in the last 50 years, ports have evolved from this definition, and have acquired a vital place in value-driven logistic-chain systems. They now are international logistic platforms forming a common boundary between production and consumption centres .Being an international logistic platform port sector deals with the volatile world market and are influenced by political factors, international trade, and overall world economic conditions than other sectors. These complex environments in port sector has made the port planning and port development into a very challenging task (Taneha,2010).Port functions can be compared to a self sustaining industry with domestic and international trade. As a part of supply chain management they also act as foreign exchange earner by providing logistics services to the industry. Thus while expansion of an existing port or planning of a green fiel d project, ports can be treated as an industry. Water transportation is a relatively energy-saving and environment friendly way of transporting many goods. However, coastal zones are particularly sensitive regions, and coastal ecosystems often are very fragile. Planning of an industry is driven by lot of factors such as demand and supply, institutional framework, application of technology, marketing strategy and ultimately economic impact analysis for the development and implementation of a project. The vigorous development of waterways in promoting sustainable development of transportation could potentially lead to negative environmental impacts on ports and the waters surrounding around ports ,and hence planning of a port should not only be concerned on simply demand and supply but need to pay more attention the importance of port environmental protection and planning 1.2 The reason of the choice of this subject There have been a lot of researches and papers done on port planning but much of these researches were dominated by financial-economic aspects of port planning. .Author being a port management aspirant believes that focusing on other factors in port planning may contribute to the acceptance of the port activities and the sustainable development. The planning of a port should not only be concerned on simply demand and supply but need to pay more attention to the issues such as environmental factors ,safety and security, local mobility, noise, pollution, etc of the port area The Existing Doha port has become somewhat hemmed in by all the development going on around the citys waterfront, and thus a new Doha port is under construction. it has already been recognized that the location of the new port is close to environmentally sensitive coastal areas and the government has already ensured that the environmental impacts of the project, during both construction and the subsequent operation of the port will be mitigated to the maximum extent possible .Author consider this as opportunity to attain practical knowledge apart from theoretical studies on environmental considerations in port planning. Since the author has lived and visited Qatar several times he was able to generate some personal relationships which he believes to be vital in doing this thesis. 1.2 Overall Aim The aim of this research is to investigate the role of Environmental factors in strategic port planning and development .The research will be done taking new Doha port as case study 1.3 The objectives of this research include: Analyzing the role of Institutional framework in def ining the Port ownership model and hence to define the objectives of port To evaluate the power and influences of stakeholder in port development and planning process To investigate the limitations of port Planning in terms of environmental considerations To provided an overview of proposed new Doha port 1.3 Propose Methodology Research will be done by using both primary and secondary data .The secondary data will be collected from book, journal, company report and website which will be used to construct the framework of this research. Primary data will be collected from the ports and port authority in the form of documents, questionnaires and interview. After that, the findings from primary and secondary data together with the literature review will be employed to conclude this thesis. 1.4 Research Overview Chapter 2 Literature Review 2.1 Introduction There is relatively little academic literature concerning planning perspective of environmental management within ports .The literature review will first cover a comprehensive summary of the basic features of strategic port planning including the definition, with the emphasis on the importance of port environmental protection, planning and management. Thorough analysis of the environmental issues related to ports will be conducted to gain a more comprehensive understanding of port environmental protection in New Doha port. A review will also be done in analysing the present methods followed in mitigating existing problems. Secondly an outline of the new Doha port will be done involving Qatars new policy and the reasons for conceiving the new port. 2.2 Strategic Port Planning Planning and development of ports requires extensive organization and collaboration .Strategic planning in port can be defined as â€Å"systematic and continuing process which enables a port and its management to clearly determine mission, direction and activities† (AAPA,1998). One of the key principles to be followed on planning a seaport is that it should be flexible to accommodate the periodic emerging changes happening in the technology of ships and cargo handling. Therefore identifying the factors that effects the port in the future including an appraisal of the port s external and internal environment can be considered as a top priority objective in strategic port planning . The major function of environment appraisal is to utilize the identified opportunities by developing appropriate responses and to act upon the counter threats in its market share. To evaluate the strategic investment required in terms of human resources, training, facilities and infrastructure, a clear assessment of ports strength and weakness is essential. It is imperative for a port to identify its environment and its competition, its vision and mission and its strategies. Ideally a port is designed according the demands of the objectives of the port, which in turn depends on the mission statement. Mission statement includes four elements purpose, strategy, behaviour standards and values. The purpose elements explains why the company exits, strategy explains the competitive position and distinctive competence of company, values suggests why the company exits and behaviour standards look in to the policies and behaviour patterns that underpins the distinctive competence and the value system of company. (Gaur,2009) An ideal single typology for port planning can rarely be achieved.The facilities which a port provides is designed by considering ships which uses them, the land transport and the port facilities at the other end of the route-that is, as part of an integrated transport system. A planner should always consider the problems in the port, in the context of the larger transport system of which the port is a part. He should also be aware of that fact that that strategic and social considerations play an important role in the location of a new port. Within these limits he should, however must be able to encourage and assist the industrial planners to search for the overall optimum economic resolution. Port development and planning is largely influenced by numerous factors such as demand, competition, changes in trade patterns,port management, cargo handling technology ,environmental pressures etc. Environmental Issues of Port Sea ports are very multifaceted system when viewed from environmental point of view. The, the very existence of ports, as well as any expansion can always results in a certain loss of habitat .In fact most of the elements including construction and operation of ports in one way or another way can be associated with environmental impact. Pollution in ports can take place either under normal conditions or accidentally(Darbra et al., 2004). The constant and movement of ships in a limited and compact area can lead to collisions between ships or between ships and the coast at frequent intervals, following risk the of the release of hazardous materials (Trozzi andVaccaro, 2000).Ports faces with different environmental issues and is greatly influenced by the characteristics of each port (Casal, et al., 1999). Table 2-1 (A) summarizes the ranking of the major environmental issues in sea ports, according to the results obtained from the Europe Sea Ports Organization (ESPO) The have been a lot of changes occurred over the thirteen years ase shown in the table .Port waste which not even present in the 1996 top 10 ranking was able achieve the first placed in 2003.In 2009 pollution caused by noise topped the chart. These changes can be considered as the result of increased environmental awareness in ports and the actions carried out as a result of increasing pressure from environmental legislation. Contributions of Port Activities in Pollution A wide range activities in port and harbour including dredging operations, materials disposal, shore zone development, increased maritime traffic and vehicular traffic in the port has an outcome in the form of anthropogenic contaminants to the environment (Trozzi and Vaccaro, 2000). Pollution problems caused by port activities can be characterized into the following: Destruction of coastal habitats and silting of navigational channels due to causeway construction and land reclamation; Unregulated mariculture activities in the port and harbour areas may threaten navigation safety; Surface water quality deterioration can happen during the construction and operation phases; Operations in port and harbour can generate sewage, bilge wastes, solid waste and leakage of harmful materials both from shore and ships; Contamination of coastal water by urban effluent discharge can affect the human and fish health Pollution caused by oil due to the port/harbour and shipping operations is one of the major environmental hazards . This includes bilge oil released from commercial ships handling non-oil cargo as well as the more common threat from oil tankers Air pollutant emissions due to ship emissions, loading and unloading activities, construction emission and emissions due to vehicular movement. Gupta et al. (2002, p. 199) Air Pollution The major air pollutants related to port activities are particulate matter (PM), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen oxides (NOx), ozone, and sulphur oxides (SOx). Other pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO), formaldehyde, heavy metals, dioxins, and pesticides can cause problems as well (Bailey and Solomon, 2004).Construction and vapours, gas oil produced during oil product transport, emissions of transport vehicles are considered to be major sources of air pollution in ports. Specific analysis is as follows (Bailey, 2004): A mixture of lime dust is produce during port construction which involves land piling, excavation, road resurfacing, materials transport, and cement casting .These have a definite impact on the air in the port area. Another source causing air pollution is the dust released during the process of handling and transporting of coal, ore, grain and other substances.The secondary stirring of dust may also occur whenever natural wind blow are produced with storage of similar merchandises bulk yards. Atmospheric dust pollution may result from the fuel used in assisted lifting facilities; Gases produced during port operation also causes serious air pollution.During the loading, transporting and storing of oil products and liquids at oil ports and container zones exhaust gases are emitted .These gases are referred as oil gases.Exhaust gases are also emitted from freight trucks and transportation vehicles. (Bailey, 2004). Another source includes indirect GHG emissions associated with the import and consumption of purchased electricity by a port for port-owned buildings and operations http://iaphtoolbox.wpci.nl/GreenG_strategies.html The largest emission sources within ports are from marine vessels, trucks and cargo handling equipment. Together they account for over 90% of emissions at ports. Figure 2-2 shows the PM emissions and NOx emissions (Bailey, 2004). Largest Emission Sources within Ports (PM Emissions and NOx Emissions)Sourceï ¼Å¡Bailey, 2004. Noise Pollution Noise can be transferred through waterborne, airborne and structureborne. Most of the noise pollution is the airborne noise and it can influence related area nearby ports (Trozzi and Vaccaro, 2000) Theory of ergonomics states that ‘when the noise operating environment is more than a certain threshold the operating efficiency will decline sharply. it will lead operation errors then cause security incidents Noise in the shore:Construction and operation of a port are the main sources of noise pollution In port areas.This include the noise of construction machinery, traffic noise , mechanical noise of loading and unloading and other shipping activities. Ship noise includes the noise of ship operation, cabin mechanical impacting, air flow vibration, which can seriously affected staffs physical and mental health.. Water Pollution Port activities and development process have larger contribution in water pollution. Major pollutants include direct pollutants during construction and operation phases and indirect pollutant occurring from the port under development. Construction of a new port or development includes building of Cofferdam, land reclamation, waterway dredging which can result in sea water turbidity; and the possible discharge of hazardous substances in sediments at the surface of water cause secondary pollution; Port activities causing water pollution are listed below: Ballast water, washing process of oil tankers, cabin water, gas stations on shore, repair machinery and moving machinery wash water are example of wastewater containing oil by products; Runoff water from storm sewers and coal storage iron ore, non-metallic ore, the terminal yard, the wash water of the terminal surface, the belt corridor and other places, and the leaked sewage water from coal and or mines Toxic, hazardous materials and bulk liquid from containers and transport ships can bepresent in the cleaning sewage Port region and ship sewage, mainly from local canteens, bathrooms, toilets, office buildings and other ships anchored in port; and,Industrial wastewaters produced from the nearby port industrial zone. Mishandling and breakage of cargo process ,fault in machine or fault of stevedores and lack of maintenance can lead to leakage of oils, fuels, chemical substances, toxic material and liquids International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), 1999): 2.3 Environmental Planning and Management in Ports The purpose of environmental management is to protect environment and natural resources systems in the port surrounding area and to ensure the sustainability of development efforts over a long-term basis(Environmental Impact Assessment of Irrigation and DrainageProjects,1995).Throughout the history of port planning there has been only a little attention paid to the major environmental aspects Planning process at ports is basically in the hands of civil engineers and surveyors (Anon,1997) and hence the priority has always been on technical standards and land values. The environmental aspects considered during port development have generally been the by-products of related legislation, such as Health and Safety regulations, dangerous goods area spacing, waste reception and disposal, and traffic planning for ship safety (Couper, 1999).

Trinculo and Stephano of Shakespeares Tempest :: Tempest essays

Trinculo and Stephano of Shakespeare's Tempest Trinculo and Stephano though not major characters in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, serve a large role in the story itself. They mainly serve as the story's comic relief and they also contribute to demonstrating to the audience how evil has no boundaries. Much of the play revolves around Prospero's contempt for everyone who betrayed him, and Prospero forces the conspirators to a remote island. Trinculo and Stephano had nothing to do with the plot against Prospero, but end up being dragged along with the conspirators. Their parts were small but were probably the most interesting in the story. Trinculo and Stephano were primarily used for comic relief. Comic relief is very important because the story must be able to keep the audience interested. What better to make someone laugh than a pair of drunk servants. During the duration of the story their drunkenness causes them to do things that normally they wouldn't do. They blindly attempt to take on Prospero, a powerful sorcerer and scheme how to defeat and kill him. Who in their sober mind take on an all powerful sorcerer? This is quite amusing because it shows us how incredibly foolish we act when we are drunk. Of course their attempt to take on Prospero proves to be futile, instead they play dress up with his cloaks and when Prospero shows up, Stephano and Trinculo run for their lives and leave Calaban behind carrying the clothes they attempted to steal. Trinculo and Stephano were also quite amusing by being drunk throughout the entire story, they even stated that they wouldn't drink anything else until the wine ran out. "Tell not me. When the butt is out, we will drink a drop of water, not a drop before."(Tempest 288) Trinculo and Stephano also contribute to the play the idea that evil in men shows no boundaries. While Antonio and Ferdinand are making a plot to kill the King, Alonso, for power, Trinculo and Stephano are doing the same towards Prospero. They were enchanted by the story told by Calaban that they would become in charge of the island once Prospero was disposed of. Another display of their lack to purity comes in the speech by Trinculo on finding the resting Calaban. Trinculo stated that if he were back home that he would have people pay to see Calaban. "Were I in England now, as I once was, and had but this fish painted, not a holiday Trinculo and Stephano of Shakespeare's Tempest :: Tempest essays Trinculo and Stephano of Shakespeare's Tempest Trinculo and Stephano though not major characters in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, serve a large role in the story itself. They mainly serve as the story's comic relief and they also contribute to demonstrating to the audience how evil has no boundaries. Much of the play revolves around Prospero's contempt for everyone who betrayed him, and Prospero forces the conspirators to a remote island. Trinculo and Stephano had nothing to do with the plot against Prospero, but end up being dragged along with the conspirators. Their parts were small but were probably the most interesting in the story. Trinculo and Stephano were primarily used for comic relief. Comic relief is very important because the story must be able to keep the audience interested. What better to make someone laugh than a pair of drunk servants. During the duration of the story their drunkenness causes them to do things that normally they wouldn't do. They blindly attempt to take on Prospero, a powerful sorcerer and scheme how to defeat and kill him. Who in their sober mind take on an all powerful sorcerer? This is quite amusing because it shows us how incredibly foolish we act when we are drunk. Of course their attempt to take on Prospero proves to be futile, instead they play dress up with his cloaks and when Prospero shows up, Stephano and Trinculo run for their lives and leave Calaban behind carrying the clothes they attempted to steal. Trinculo and Stephano were also quite amusing by being drunk throughout the entire story, they even stated that they wouldn't drink anything else until the wine ran out. "Tell not me. When the butt is out, we will drink a drop of water, not a drop before."(Tempest 288) Trinculo and Stephano also contribute to the play the idea that evil in men shows no boundaries. While Antonio and Ferdinand are making a plot to kill the King, Alonso, for power, Trinculo and Stephano are doing the same towards Prospero. They were enchanted by the story told by Calaban that they would become in charge of the island once Prospero was disposed of. Another display of their lack to purity comes in the speech by Trinculo on finding the resting Calaban. Trinculo stated that if he were back home that he would have people pay to see Calaban. "Were I in England now, as I once was, and had but this fish painted, not a holiday

What to Do with a Ba in History

The Value of a Liberal Arts Education When you see the word â€Å"college†, what comes to mind? For most of you, you probably immediately think of partying, drinking, and meeting new people. Those who choose to go to college will have the opportunity to experience the social life, but what you choose to study can control your future. In â€Å"How to Get a Real Education at College† by Scott Adams and â€Å"What Do You Do with a B. A. in History† by Ken Saxon, they agree that college is worth going to but they have different outlooks on what to do with that college education.Scott Adams believes in the concept of â€Å"B students†, which are just average students, and thinks they should study entrepreneurship because he has personal experience in this major. He is against the idea of â€Å"B students† studying liberal arts and finds this major to be useless for them in the real world. Ken Saxon has completely opposite views. Saxon believes that a lib eral arts education is very valuable because with this education, you can do anything you want. He also argues that the skills you learn in these classes will help you become a better person and will prepare you for whatever you decide to do.Although both Adams and Saxon relate to their audiences and form strong ethos through their personal examples, Adams fails to be as convincing as Saxon because Saxon uses more objective evidence, is open-minded, and uses a more inspiring tone which establishes strong pathos. In â€Å"How to Get a Real Education at College†, Scott Adams does a fair job of establishing ethos. He uses his business experience in college as the basis of his evidence. For example, he worked at the Coffee House as the minister of finance, designed a plan to become student manager of his dormitory, and even started a soccer club (Adams 528).His anecdotes give him credibility because he has experience in the field of entrepreneurship, but he lacked objective evide nce. If he included more statistics or expert testimonies, then it would make his argument more convincing and appealing to the readers. At the beginning of the article Adams stated, â€Å"I speak from experience because I majored in entrepreneurship†¦ † (527). This makes him seem like he knows what he is talking about, but this statement also worked against him and makes him seem one-sided.He is biased toward an education in entrepreneurship. This is evident when he wrote â€Å"some of my peers were taking courses in art history so they’d be prepared to remember what art looked like just in case anyone asked† (528). This shows he thinks other majors, especially liberal arts, are a joke. He doesn’t think people need to study liberal arts because what you learn in these classes is common sense. Although Adams lacked objective evidence and came across as bias, he made his article very appropriate for his audience.With his audience being college student s, it is easy to persuade them because some of those students don’t really know what to study and entrepreneurship could seem more appealing after reading this article. Adams related to his audience but his sarcastic tone and snide comments were a turn off. He wrote many things that discredited the majority of students, or as he calls them, the â€Å"B students† (527). For example, at the end of the essay he said, â€Å"Remember, children are our future, and the majority are B students. If that doesn’t scare you, it probably should† (529).Adams said this to be humorous but it can be easily misinterpreted as rude and snide. He also talked about how easy it is to become an entrepreneur and how it doesn’t even take real knowledge to be successful. When he was talking about selecting a new leader for the Coffee House he stated, â€Å"I pointed out that my friend-the soon-to-be fired bartender-was tall, good looking and so gifted at b. s. that heâ€⠄¢d be a perfect leader† (528). This statement makes it seem like to be successful in business it’s all about being sly and tricky, making Adams appear less sincere.Scott Adams was convincing in some ways but his sarcastic tone, lack of evidence, and bias hurt his overall appeal to his audience. Similar to Adams, in â€Å"What Do You Do with a B. A. in History? † Ken Saxon manages to appeal to his audience in his speech by using personal experiences. His speech is for freshman students at UCSB and the evidence he uses relates specifically to this audience. He gives lots of examples of liberal arts classes and how those classes helped him develop life skills.For example, Saxon says, â€Å"from studying philosophy, I learned that abstract theories were intellectually interesting to me, but not so satisfying. Turns out, I’m a doer, an entrepreneur† (525). Saxon also talks about qualities he looks for in people when hiring employees, these include, â₠¬Å"initiative and leadership, work ethic, communication skills, and emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills† (523). These are skills that you don’t necessarily learn in a certain major, but you learn by experience, and Saxon learned these qualities by taking liberal arts classes.Unlike Adams, Saxon used a variety of evidence. He uses many personal experiences and also uses objective evidence. One piece of effective objective evidence is the commencement speech by Steve Jobs. In this speech to Stanford, Jobs stated that a calligraphy class helped him create â€Å"the first computer with beautiful typography† (524). This helps make Saxon’s argument convincing because Steve Jobs was a very successful man and this example reemphasizes Saxon’s claim that we cannot predict our future, so we should take some liberal arts classes.If Steve Jobs never took this calligraphy class, who knows if Apple would be the same as it is today. He also uses the ex ample of his friend who went to med school to later find out he hated what he was doing so he studied business instead (522). This example shows that not giving liberal arts classes a chance, can lead to you wasting your time because you haven’t discovered what you truly want to do for your career yet. Another way that Ken Saxon is convincing in his article is by being open-minded and by using an encouraging tone that establishes strong pathos.He isn’t forceful with his claim even though he feels strongly about his argument. He is just saying that college is a time for experimentation so, what the heck, why not just take some liberal art classes? He even says, â€Å"there will likely be no other time in your life when it will be easier to try so many interesting things† (522). He is encouraging us to just take a few liberal art classes and give it a chance. Saxon also makes some good points when he discusses the expensive price of college and feeling the pressur e to choose a major in which we will get repaid in the future (522).Saxon’s argument to this is â€Å"how can you be sure you know where the better paying fields are going to be in five years? † (523). The point he is trying to make is if you spend all your time in college focusing in one specific major, what happens if that area in your career field goes down the drain in a couple years? In the closing paragraph Saxon says, â€Å"Think forward. In 15 or 20 years, many of you will be buried in responsibilities- work, family†¦this opportunity will be gone before you know it† (527). Saxon is stressing the point that college is only a few years of our lives so we might as well make the most of it.This â€Å"can do† attitude and inspiring tone made his article more convincing and more enjoyable to read then Adam’s. All in all, Ken Saxon’s argument that we should take liberal arts classes was more convincing than Scott Adams’ claim th at we should just study entrepreneurship. Both of them clearly understood their audience and use effective personal examples, but Saxon’s use of objective evidence and an inspiring tone led to his speech being more persuasive. If a group of students were to choose what to study after reading these two articles, a large portion of them would choose to take some liberal arts classes.