Ontela Picdeck Essay

Ontela PicDeck creative approach to have cellular customers have the ability to automatically have pictures and videos directly sent to their computer. This reduces time needed and simplifying the strenuous act of doing it manually. The U. S mobile phone service industry earned 150 billion dollars in 2007 and growing. This technology has potential of playing a role in that with critiquing the marketing strategy they have approached the market with. It is essential for a better marketing strategy for Ontela to show customers so they can better understand the benefits and how to efficiently utilize it. The qualitative research segments best defined the customer expectations. Sarah, the parent, loved the fact the pictures â€Å"just appear â€Å"on the computer automatically. Steve, the young professional, looked to not always have to lug around the digital camera. Instead have a phone that can take care of both jobs. Regina, the teen, expectation exceeded both Steve and Sarah, but still within the abilities of PicDeck. Regina wanted to manage her pictures from her phone and monitor the pictures for her social networking sites. Herzberg’s 2-factor theory can be used in this instance. Using this theory to understand and distinguishing what motivates the purchase while staying â€Å"relevant†. In other words you must keep up with the recent trends like the social networking wave. These three segments all produce various expectations but all acknowledged the expectations of a simplified and quicker method to transferring pictures. These segments age groups and lifestyles greatly vary so the solution to market them must be more specified to that target group. The improvement of creating a more knowledgeable customer base will require a critiqued advertising campaign. In the case of Regina, advertising within the social networking programs like Facebook and MySpace. This advertising will catch the attention of these teen and inform them of the product. Specifically push the simplicity, timeliness, and how the pictures are still stored even when your cellular device is lost. For the younger generation and phones being a huge commodity, phones are constantly being stolen and lost. If interpreted right, then the teen will approach their parents to have their plan changed to include PicDeck. Then the parent will be informed and furthering the utterfly effect of a strict advertising scheme to the teenage target customers. This is how Sarah would be notified. Social is a major influence in customer behavior through family, friends, and reference groups. All play as contributors to trusting a buy of a product. Continuously for people who aren’t very tech savvy like Sarah and Steve; they do though always have an email and usually check it frequentl y. So a mass email to the entire customer base informing them of the new product. Steve would be influenced more by the occupation. Besides using this program for personal use, Steve would use this for his real estate job. To be successful in a job market like Steve’s you must influence your work with newer technology so you may keep up with competitors. â€Å"With PicDeck, work assignments are accomplished more efficiently and simply†, statements like this boost the products equity and what customers like Steve would want to hear. For a product to blossom you must target the younger generation first. With constant technology improvements it’s hard for the older generation to keep up. The younger generation is constantly working with the new technologies so you inform the younger generation and it will spread to older generations. Ontela has created an inferior product and now need to raise awareness of the tech advances this product has influenced. The magazine Telephony stated PicDeck to be â€Å"helping the bridge the gap between phone and PC†. Continuous advertising is needed in magazines for the working class people to involve this program into their workplace. For instance putting an ad in the magazine SkyMall. The magazine you see on every flight you’re on. This can target a business class customer base because the individuals who travel most are individuals travelling on business. And this is the only reading material on the plane.

A Definition of the Word Trust Essay

When you think of a very special quality everyone should have, trust is the first thing that comes to my mind. Being able to trust someone is very important. We have to trust people in our lives every single day. Trust helps us to have relationships and friendships. Trust is defined as believing in someone in the dictionary. Although this seems simple, it is not that easy to understand and comprehend. Trust has a deep meaning as we continue to grow and change in life. We go through many things that make us change as we live, grow, and experience different challenges. Trust is believing in someone with your whole heart and believing that he or she will take care of it or appreciate it. There are so many types of trust. Three type of trust are: trusting in a family member, trusting in someone special, and trusting in friends. With our family members, we have deep trust. They have been through everything with us and most of deep dark secrets. They have been there for us during the good times and the bad. They watched us go through elementary, middle and high school. Your family has been there to watch you mature and become the person you are today. We have deep trust with them because they took care of us when we were sick or needed someone to cry on. Since we tell them everything, we are the most attached to them. They know when we are acting strange or weird and can tell when we are sad or ecstatic. They share all kinds of memories with us and understand what and where we have been. We let family know almost everything about us. We go back to them when we have nowhere else to go. We trust them with our lives because we know no matter what, that they will always love and care for us. Another kind of trust is trust in someone special or someone that we think is our true love. See more:Â  First Poem for You Essay We tell them everything about us because we believe that they really care. We tell him or her things that we keep to ourselves because we believe that he or she has committed to us. It takes a lot of time to have this kind of trust in a relationship. It takes a lot of time to confide our secrets and personal issues in someone else. When you have such a deep trust with him or her, there should be no secrets. There are no secrets when you truly love each other. This kind of trust is just part of the commitment to each other. In this commitment, you trust each other to be faithful, respectful and to always be there for each other. Another type of trust is the trust between friends. We let our friends know about some of our secrets. We keep the deep dark ones away from them. We also try to hide our past and do not trust them right away because we have had friends in the past betray and hurt us numerous times. We do not trust them right away because we do not know about their life or their past. We do not know where they come from or what they believe makes a good friend. So we as humans hide our feelings and do not trust them. It is only when we spend a lot of time and slowly open up to each other that we become closer and can eventually trust them. Trust cannot be given. It has to be earned. It is not as simple as believing. Trust is earned. When you earn trust, you realize that you can tell him or her anything and they will still be there for you. Trust is not easy to earn though. You have to really believe in the other person and know that they will not let you down. Therefore, trust is very important to humans everywhere. Trust is a huge factor of unity and without it people cannot live in unity. Only you can fully understand trust in your own way. Trust is having a special place in their heart and you having special place for them. Finally, trust is the base for all relationships and friendships. Without trust, we cannot find the true meaning of life. Trust is a must for everything in life.

Retailer Companies Essay

Amazon Amazon is an online retailer however there have been talks and news articles of the company planning to open a warehouse store in New York City. However being an online only retailer means the company can meet any customer target and offer shopping to anyone. This removes travel time, travel costs and parking costs which appeal to more customers. This can also appeal to younger shoppers aged 16+ who are unable to drive and must pay out a large charge in travel fare. There is also a larger reach in the consumer area and they now have the ability to reach a worldwide target. Also being an online only business they can give specific and limited discounting to their products. New Look New look is a multiple store that usually located in an in town area. Being located in town has many advantages and disadvantages. One of the advantages to being an in town store is the easy access by both public and personal transport. However a disadvantage to this is the large travel costs both paying for tickets on trains or busses but also petrol and parking costs. A second advantage in the allotted sale space can be increased and the store can have a larger floor space. However due to this the store costs more to rent and run meaning there are only a small amount of discounts the store is able to give. Pandora Pandora is a multinational company using a multiple store which is usually located in out of town areas. Because of the area where they are placed they have a long travel time making the easiest travel option the car however you can travel to them on public transport but many involve changes and larger fares. However due to the travel costs the areas slightly reduce store costs and also allow free parking. This means that although travel time and cost is high it holds more appeal due to the lower prices and free parking. Best One Newsagents Best One Newsagents is a franchised business that is based in local  locations. The areas that these stores are in are specifically placed in accordance to the surrounding area. They will be in an area where there are many houses surrounding them so that customers have east when going to the store. Due to the fact of them being a local store they are smaller than others and are able to sell items at cheaper prices. This appeals to the customers so that they can get bits they need without going to supermarkets and paying a higher price. eBay eBay is an online only auction site where people are able to sell unwanted items securely. This means they can sell items that people are looking for E.G a new iPad Air would usually be sold at retail price for  £399 but on eBay a new but used one could be sold at up to a 90% discount and that could be a set price or they could use the auction and consumers could bid to see who will be the one to purchase the item. As this is a selling site you will need to receive the money and many use PayPal as it is a secure way to pay the money however you can just pay cash if you are collecting the item.

How Does the Pavilion Store In Winchester Use Intangible Experiences Assignment

How Does the Pavilion Store In Winchester Use Intangible Experiences to Keep Customer Loyalty - Assignment Example This research will begin with the statement that the Pavilion Clothing Limited is one of the internationally recognized fashion retailers that meet its customers on a face-to-face basis. The Pavilion Clothing Limited has been in existence for the last seven years. The pavilion is a private fashion and clothing entity that was established in 2007 by private investors. Currently, the Pavilion Clothing Limited is rated as one of the fastest growing clothing companies in the United Kingdom. The company is located in Winchester, Hants in the United Kingdom. The company deals with precious and up to date men and women fashions. A part of dealing with male and female clothes, the company deals with other products that include: bubblers, water pipes, rolling papers, cleaning suppliers, hookahs, vaporizers, and hand pipes. The prices of Pavilion’s products depend on the quality of the product as well as the existing market value. The Pavilion Clothing Limited’s main customers ar e middle class young and old people who have sufficient amount of resources to cater for the price of its high-quality products. The essay will start off by explaining the manner in which Pavilion Clothing Limited conducts the promotion of its products as well as the price, quality, and potential customers of Pavilion Clothing Limited’s products. Secondly, the essay will also explain the internal and external aspects of the Pavilion Clothing Limited and its effects on the success of the company. The essay will further define the meaning of intangible and tangible experiences and its application in Pavilion Clothing Company. The negative side of intangible experience in a company will also be expounded in the essay. Finally, the essay will explain how the intangible experiences add value to the company’s products as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the entire process. The Pavilion Clothing Limited’s success is to a greater extent brought about by its commo nly known high-quality products and services. The Pavilion Clothing Limited has developed effective models of connecting the company’s products to its customers’ emotional needs.

Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Research Paper Example In this passage, Job seems to suggest that Gods severity on human beings is unjustified. He asserts over and over again that he is innocent and free of sin and challenge’s God’s decision to make him suffer. He questions God and even accuses him of torturing him, irrespective of whether he is virtuous or evil: â€Å"Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me† (King James Bible. Job. 8.17). This passage works both integrally in the Old Testament narrative of The Book of Job; as well as a standalone piece. This is because it falls within the dialogue between Job and his friends and is still a complete speech in itself. This particular passage is a distinct part of Job’s reply to Bildad, beginning from Chapter 9, where continues to assert his own innocence against the severity of God. Bildad had previously been appalled at Job’s suggestions and claimed that God does not reject a blameless man: â€Å"Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers† (Job. 8.20). This is followed directly with Zophar the Naamathite’s speech, beginning from Chapter 11, which scolds and criticizes Job for attempting to understand God’s mysterious ways of working: â€Å"Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?  It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? Deeper than hell; what canst thou know?† (Job. 11.7-8). But the shift between speakers is not the only reason behind the autonomy of this passage. Chapter 8 is marked by a change in tone also. Job’s arguments get more fervent and demanding. He accuses God of unjustly punishing him, ignoring his friends and their cautious admonitions. Job goes as far as to wish death upon himself, asserting time and again that he would rather be dead than undergo such suffering. Structurally, The Book of Job has a â€Å"poetic core surrounded by a prose

A Respectable Actress Does Not Have a Blind Side Essay

A Respectable Actress Does Not Have a Blind Side - Essay Example Soundtracks for The Blind Side were written by Alan Wilson and performed by Canned Heat. The Blind Side features Michael Other, a homeless teenager who is adopted by a wealthy and conservative family in the suburbs of Memphis, Tennessee. Michael is positioned as one of the most promising prospects in college football due to his natural athletic skills and the perseverant and unconditional support of his new family (IMDb). Michael Other (Quinton Aaron), a homeless teenager who has been running away from different host families in Memphis, Tennessee, is staying temporarily at one of his friend’s father sofas. Fascinated by Michael’s athletic skills and corporal features, and despite his academic insufficiencies, Burt Cotton (Ray McKinnon) helps Michael to get admitted to Wingate Christian School where he coaches. A friendly and smart little boy called Sean Jr. ‘SJ’ (Jae Head) approaches Michael at school while waiting for his mother to pick him up. Although t his is their first encounter, they meet once more when SJ’s father Sean Tuohy (Tim McGraw) is driving the family home. Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) is moved by the image of ‘big Mike’ shivering in the cold while walking in direction to the school gym to spend the night, therefore, she asks him to stay at their comfortable house in the suburbs of Memphis. Gradually the Tuohy family becomes Michael’s new family. Leigh Anne is a multitasking, persuasive and strong-minded professional and house-wife, working from home as an interior designer. She is very inquisitive woman and when seeking to become Michael’s legal guardian, she finds out he was cruelly separated from his drug-addicted mother when he was seven years old. The brutal separation from his mother caused a strong impression on Michael, who eventually developed resilient ‘protective instincts’. The protective nature of Michael gives him the opportunity to become one of the mos t highly prospects in college football. Michael is a leader on the field. The only problem is that in order to be accepted at NCAA Division I scholarship, Michael should improve his GPA which he does with the help of some teachers and a personal tutor, Miss Sue (Kathy Bates), hired by the Tuohy. Leigh Anne makes it clear that she prefers the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) because she and Sean are alumni of this university; and, in a rather indirect and persuasive way, she convinces Michael to commit to Ole Miss. As a result both Michael and the family Tuohy become the subject of an investigation of the NCAA. During the interview to find out Michael’s reasons to choose Ole Miss, Michael understands the game played by Leigh Anne to influence him; he gets angry at her and decides to return to his mother. Michael comes back to the Tuohy family after Leigh Anne approaches him and asks to forgive her. The inquiry conducted by the NCAA does not progress because Michael is rela xed and able to overcome all the questions from the investigator. The Blind Side makes a stereotypical portrayal of American families and society. A white, middle-class family becomes the worthy protector of a poor, huge, illiterate black teenager. Both, Leigh Anne and Sean (a prosperous businessman) are the parents of a beautiful teenager Collins and

CaseStudy Paper Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

CaseStudy Paper - Case Study Example Effective supply chain management strategies are essential for providing any organization a competitive edge over its peers. Excellence in the supply chain can be achieved if the organizational leaders attend to the particular details in the market infrastructure that make their organization more efficient and the transactions in the market fluid effective. Taking into account the complexity of supply chains more so those with global and regional scope, one must recognize that the magnitude of complexity in the task is immense (Jacobs and Chase & Chase, 2011). Therefore, it takes highly qualified and experienced managers to identify the correct issues to be prioritized and addressed as well as mark out new strategies and opportunities. In the long term, effective supply chain management is bound to deliver considerable benefits to any firm that recognizes and respects its necessity. To extrapolate on the importance of effective supply chain management this paper will dwell on several case studies in different industries where supply chains have been successfully or otherwise managed. The fashion industry is one where competition is ubiquitous despite the fact that most of the customers have very unique needs. However, given the low entry barriers, the stiffness in competition is understandable since many of the new entrants will offer customers and specialized products for customers forcing the firms already in the market to be constantly on their toes (Masson, MacKerron & Fernie, 2007). In this section, Zara, Adidas HM and Luis Vuitton and other firms are examined in respect to their specific supply chain management strategies. H&M has listed among its objective the intentions to be the price leader in the fashion industry, to this end they have restricted their supply chain such that it primarily targets the street trends which

Mental Health Court Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mental Health Court - Essay Example The judge granted the request but appointed the court to be the one to manage and monitor the treatment instead of the parents. According to one of the court reporters that I sat with, the case I heard occurs every day in 95b. One of the reasons mentioned in the hearing was that the defendant did not finish his treatment because he opted to work instead of attending treatment and was not dissuaded from doing so by his parents. It made me realize that though there are already significant channels being provided for mental health by the judicial system for those who need it, they are not being fully utilized. The danger is that these conditions can escalate the offense committed that is disincentive both to offenders who have conditions and those the crimes are committed against. When the court appointed one its own officers to oversee the treatment of the defendant who was still a minor, I realized the degree by which the courts have had to take a more active role in rehabilitating offenders. According to the UK based Democratic Health Network, health services should have greater responsibility in ensuring that courts be enlightened regarding the condition of individuals who have mental illness who have committed crimes.

Lean On Me Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Lean On Me Assessment - Essay Example He is very strict and he believes a lot in the value of discipline. In a way he acted like a dictator in the school. His leadership style worked well with the students, but it got him into trouble with the teachers because he did not show mutual respect. The teachers were not the enemy they are a part of the solution to fix the problems at the school. I would describe Mr. Clark’s organizational interventions as one sided. He controlled the interventions by imposing his authority into others. Due to the major problems the school faced Mr. Clark was the right person for the job. He made sure he resolved problems by imposing strict measures. Mr. Clark’s interventions brought clarity and changes to the school. He was a leader that got involved in every aspect of the school including students, teachers and parents. The students at this school needed the discipline. His style got him into trouble with the teachers because it seemed he did not respect their work. An example of a wrong decision by Mr. Clark was firing the music teacher for standing up to him. As the principal Mr. Clark had legitimate power over the teachers. Legitimate power is formal authority that can be used to control other people (Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, 2003). Mr. Clark was too tough on the teachers and he was not accepting their input. As time passed in the story of the movie Mr. Clark started to change his ways and he began to cooperate with the teachers in order to make the school a better place for

BRAND COMMUNICATION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

BRAND COMMUNICATION - Essay Example This piece of research paper is an attempt to provide a brief report on the IMC plan for Tango for the next 12 months. This report analyses the underlying concepts and theoretical perspective of IMC and examines how these can be applied with a plan for Tango, a brand by Britvic Company UK. This report outlines how a company’s brand and information can be effectively communicated to various target markets with example from Tango. According to Schultz and Schultz (2004), integrated marketing communication is a process by which companies accelerate returns by aligning communication objectives with business goals (p. 3). IMC has been regarded as a strategic managerial and marketing approach that can helps companies gain competitive advantages and brand loyalty in the market. Belch and Belch (2007) emphasized that IMC is a strategic business process used to plan, design and develop coordinated and measurable brand communication programs with customers, employees, prospects and associates for a certain period of time. It helps build short term financial benefits and long term brand value (p. 11). As described by Lamb, Hair and McDaniel (2008), integrated marketing communication is a careful coordination of all promotional messages including traditional advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, event marketing, interactive and pubic relation for product or services in order to assure the consistency in every messages at each and every contact that the company meets it customers (p. 413). The fundamental goal of IMC is to develop marketing communication program that helps management to coordinate and integrate all elements of sales promotion, advertising, personal selling, public relation in an effective way as the company can maintain a constant message. IMC is basically seeking to manage sources of brand and image or business contacts with existing as well

Entrepreneurial Behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Entrepreneurial Behaviour - Essay Example However, it has been provided so that the individual analyst can interpret what an entrepreneur is necessarily espouses in the broadest sense. Harkening back to the question at hand, whether or not an entrepreneur is born or made, the analyst should consider the fact that the ultimate answer to this question is both, neither, and some mixture in between. Far from being a clever manipulation of words, it will be the express intent of this particular analysis to define how the entrepreneur requires skills that are inherent to some individuals, how other individuals can learn these, and how a synergy between the two types of individuals is ultimately possible. Through such an identification is the hope of the student that the reader will come away with a more informed interpretation of what the entrepreneur espouses and how individuals without a certain level of entrepreneurial spirit or â€Å"gift† can effectively navigate within this particular paradigm. Firstly, it should be noted that as with any skill set that one learns in life, there are inherently individuals that are born to a natural level of talent in terms of being an entrepreneur. Some individuals have necessarily understood this to mean that the entrepreneur is with someone that is somehow genetically predisposed to be an effective entrepreneur and to gain a degree of notoriety and success in its accomplishment. However, flipping this argument on its head, the reader should note the fact that certain individuals are born with a certain proclivity to playing music, others with a certain proclivity to art, and still others with a certain proclivity to memorization etc. etc. However, this does not mean that educators, or the parents, should despair that their child will never be a musician, artist, etc., instead, it merely means that the educational process will need to be engaged at a further level of length and perhaps a further level of rigor in order for the

Assignment Internal Cash Control Essay Example for Free

Assignment Internal Cash Control Essay The weaknesses in the internal control over cash disbursements are, there should be only one person in charge of writing the checks for each task, and there should be numbered checks for both people so that the funds spend can be tracked easier, the cabinets were the checks are stored should be two locked cabinets, one for each person who writes the checks. Memo: I would recommend that to have a better control over money paid and items purchased, that you start having numbered checks in two separate accounts, one account for the treasurer and one account for the purchasing agent. This method will make it easier for moth parties to avoid mistakes, and it will also be easier to verify money spent and received. P4-1A The internal control principles implemented by the Guard Dog Company are, numbered checks so that the company has a number trail to monitor cash dispersment. Each check must have approval from Jane Bell, and Dennis Kurt before a check can be issued, this is an establishment of responsibility to ensure that not just anyone ion the company can write checks. Checks must be signed by either Tom Kimball, the treasurer, or Karen Thews, the assistant treasurer. Before signing a check, the signer is expected to compare the amounts of the check with the amounts on the invoice, this is also a form of establishment of responsibility and both of these procedures are a use of documentation procedures. After signing a check, the signer stamps the invoice â€Å"paid† and inserts within the stamp, the date, check number, and amount of the check. The â€Å"paid† invoice is then sent to the accounting department for recording. By doing this it is a way of verifying company cash dispersment and documentation control. Blank checks are stored in a safe in the treasurer’s office. The combination to the safe is known by only the treasurer and assistant treasurer. By locking the checks in a safe it establishes responsibility for the checks, and uses a Physical, mechanical, and electronic controls to narrow down any check problems to one source. Each month the bank statement is reconciled with the bank balance per books by the assistant chief accountant. By doing this it establishes document control, this way any discrepancies in the amount paid can be verified. Indicate the weaknesses in internal accounting control in the handling of collections. The weaknesses in the handling of collections are the way the money is deposited, the way the checks are made out and the way the money is verified and deposited. P4-2A List the improvements in internal control procedures that you plan to make at the next meeting of the audit team for (1) the ushers, (2) the head usher, (3) the financial secretary, and (4) the finance committee. The improvements the ushers need to make is that after each offering they should individually count their own collected baskets and log there amount in an offering log book, so that there is less room for error in the next step. By handing all the baskets to the head usher without counting the money themselves, the head usher can offer any amount on his final deposit. The improvements the head usher needs to make is to make sure that each usher counts their baskets, and that the head usher counts all the baskets and checks for discrepancies to make sure that no one is pocketing any money. The head usher should also check the amount given to him/her against what is written in the offering log. Have a book to log the amount of money that is put into the safe so that it is logged in a way that can be verified by the committee, a note is not a safe method because it can be thrown out, by logging in a book it is easier to find were the discrepancies came from. The improvements the financial secretary should make is that he/she should have a list of what needs to be paid and make a log of the amounts that need paid and to make sure the receipts are logged along with whatever bills or services that needed to be paid that week. The financial secretary should also verify the amount of money in the safe against the log that is kept by the ushers. The financial committee should show a more detailed list of what expenditures are needed each month so that the financial secretary knows what is needed for payment that month. They should also be involved in verifying the churches income. To improve internal control the church should have a log for money received during offerings, they should tell the congregation to make the checks payable to the church or to the account holder that the checks are deposited into, because anyone can cash a check made out to â€Å"cash†. The church should also verify that any money not deposited from the offering was spent properly and not used for personal things. Include how a company could use the five basic principles of cash management to increase accuracy for a business. A company can increase the collection of receivables by offering incentives for quick payment from their customers. A company can delay the payment of liabilities and bills to close to the due date of the liability or bill, so that if any expenditure is needed before the due date they will not have spent the money too early. A company can keep inventory low on the merchandise that does not sell quickly, so that the company has money for the merchandise that is popular and selling fast. A company that wish to expand should wait until they have excess money in a slow season so that they can expand their business and have new locations open in time for their busy season. A company should invest money that is sitting idle into low risk companies’, the most common form of liquid investments is interest-paying U. S. government securities.

Organisational Structure And Cross Cultural Management Icici Bank Commerce Essay

Organisational Structure And Cross Cultural Management Icici Bank Commerce Essay This paper explores the linkage between organizational structure and cross-cultural management. It suggests that a fluid and continuously evolving structure enables effective cross-cultural management. In support of this, the paper reports on the experience of the second largest bank in India and the largest private sector bank in India by market capitalization. The Bank has a network of 2,509 branches and 5,808 ATMs in India, and has a presence in 19 countries, including India. ICICI Bank offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and specialization subsidiaries and affiliates in the areas of investment banking, life and non-life insurance, venture capital and asset management. ICICI Bank is also the largest issuer of credit cards in India. ICICI Banks shares are listed on the stock exchanges at  BSE,  NSE,  Kolkata  and Vadodara (formerly Baroda)  ; its  ADRs trade on the  New York Stock Exchange  (NYSE). The Bank is expanding in overseas markets and has the largest international balance sheet among Indian banks. ICICI Bank now has wholly owned subsidiaries, branches and representatives offices in 19 countries, including an offshore unit in Mumbai. This includes wholly owned subsidiaries in Canada, Russia and the UK  offshore banking units in Bahrain and Singapore, an advisory branch in Dubai, branches in Belgium, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka, and representative offices in Bangladesh, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and USA. Overseas, the Bank is targeting the NRI (Non-Resident Indian) population in particular. ICICI reported a 1.15% rise in net profit to  Indian rupee1,014.21 crore on a 1.29% increase in total income to  Indian rupee9,712.31 crore in Q2 September 2008 over Q2 September 2007. The banks  CASA ratio  increased to 30% in 2008 from 25% in 2007. ICICI Bank is one of the  Big Four Banks  of India, along with  State Bank of India,  Punjab National Bank  and  Canara Bank   its main competitors. Introduction International business houses are increasingly operating with multicultural work forces. One key to competitive advantage for these business houses is effective cross-cultural management. Even conservative business houses such as traditional banks are finding that the thrust of competition requires them to manage diversity in their workforces. An example of one such traditional bank is ICICI Bank. ICICI Banks performance and aspirations are underpinned by a strong organizational culture of dynamism, meritocracy, excellence in execution and high standards of professional integrity that have helped us become an industry leader. The bank runs a leadership development program which aims to build leadership talent within the organization. The program attempts to tap into the potential of employees and develop them into global leaders. It has also extended its role beyond economic growth concerns to directly participate in the pursuit of human development.   CROSS- CULTURE MANAGEMENT Smiths Work View Smith (ICICI MD) and his original team did well. ICICI prospered. Their 8-8 banking service set a new benchmark in the industry BUT its grown too vast. Smith is surrounded by people who do not present the true status of the crippling retail dissatisfaction Smith has become risk averse and has appointed people whove been around him for years, as heads of divisions. They do not have the same drive and enthusiasm as Smith and hence the stagnation. The need of the hour is to expand infrastructure, bring in younger people in the top management (people in 30s and early 40s). and ofcourse until then, ICICI can be avoided. Work culture at ICICI Bank It is a tech-savvy, non-hierarchical, work environment where early responsibility and independent decision-making enable each employee to reach his/her potential. Coupled with this is a strong performance management system that has built a meritocracy where high performing-high potential individuals are duly rewarded. Employees Satisfaction Even during recession ICICI Bank did not cut back on employees But instead announced a policy of No promotion No bonus but no attrition too!! This policy is serving two purposes for ICICI bank, cutting down employee cost and employee retention. Employees also feel that as an employer the bank extends a lot of authority along with justified accountability. Employees perceived the working culture at ICICI bank to be very collaborative in nature. It can be owed to the fact that the bank is highly segmented with a lot of overlapping and mostly distinct roles and responsibilities. The Employees also considered that ICICI bank offers them with a lot of financial benefits ranging from your family health insurance to your kids school donations. But certain concerns in terms of Lack of time for fulfilling social responsibilities And more sales oriented culture are there. Dress Code ICICI Bank would issue dress to be worn by all Progamme Participants. This dress, as laid down, would be worn for all classes and other organised activities. Till the time the participants are issued with the dress they would abide by the following dress code: (a) Gentlemen (i) Formal office trousers and shirts with a tie. Most acceptable colours for trousers would be black, brown, blue and grey. Preferable pastel colours for shirts. (ii) Suits for formal occasions. (iii) Formal footwear (iv) Well groomed. (b) Ladies (i) Silk or cotton (starched) sari (ii) Formal western wear (formal trousers/skirts with a top or a jacket) or salwar kameez. (iii) Formal footwear. (iv) Well groomed. Role Of Women In ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar knew nothing about retail banking when she took over ICICI Banks fledgling retail operations in 1998 at the age of 36. That made Citibank and others think ICICI was only doing a small flirtation, she says, and they underestimated the growth in the market. They also underestimated this smart, assertive woman, known for her colorful saris and carefully matched jewelry. Today ICICI, Indias second-largest and fastest-growing bank, is the market leader in retail banking, with more than 15 million customers, accounting for more than a third of Indias total retail credit. And Kochhar No. 37 on this years list of the worlds most powerful businesswomen added corporate banking to her portfolio in April and is a leading candidate to become managing director and chief executive of the Mumbai bank when the job becomes vacant at the end of 2008. That a woman should achieve such success in a male-dominated industry, in an economy where women often play subservient roles, might be a surprise at any other Indian bank. But  ICICI  (Charts) has made a name for itself by recognizing female talent. Three of the five members of the banks executive board are women, as are 13 of its 40 top managers and one of Kochhars two rivals for the chief executive job Shikha Sharma, the 47-year-old managing director of ICICI Prudential. Once dubbed the petticoat brigade by Mumbais chauvinistic banking fraternity, these highly competitive women have helped build a business known for its aggressive, risk-taking attitude and its growth from a sleepy, bureaucratic development institution into Indias most diversified and customer-oriented bank. Almost all the leaders we have picked have succeeded, and most have been women, says K.V. Smith, ICICIs CEO, who has been responsible for empowering them. Kalpana Morparia, a lawyer and the other joint managing director, retires next May. Her peers at other banks say she has been the backbone of ICICI for the past ten years, looking after the raising of funds and the regulatory environment. She says she stayed at ICICI, when she could have earned far more elsewhere, because the empowerment gives an entrepreneurial framework, where you have all the support systems. Sharma, another early achiever and fast learner, admits she is fiercely competitive. When she was 33 she headed ICICIs side of a securities joint venture with J.P. Morgan, initially knowing little about markets. That led to a two-year stint at Morgan, after which she ran ICICIs corporate planning department and started its retail banking operation. In 2000, knowing nothing about insurance, she set up the joint venture with Britains Prudential, which is restricted by government policy to a 26% equity stake and has only a minimal management presence. That leaves Sharma in charge of Indias largest private-sector insurance company, with 12.5% of the market. She says women are good at succeeding without prior experience because they have smaller egos [than men], and its easier for me to say, Hey, I know nothing about this. Technology Department Very aggressive Bank in terms of adopting the best practices, technology and takng business for a young entrant a very good opportunity to learn and grow Extreme work pressures makes one to learn to respond quickly and efficiently and absorb pressure a trait useful for the future Senior management backing for new initiatves Fairly transperant Performance Appraisal system Open to changes in department for employees, allowing employees to grow Very professional, Good place to work It need only to sell product, brand awareness is high, very strong in systems, minimum paperwork, good training opportunities, opportunities given to do different things other than the regular job. Excellent place to learn marketing and strategy. Unearthly working hours usual. Less involvement from HR regarding welfare of employees, some established managers tend to push down people who dont perform instead of hand holding them, demotions in roles very common, even if you are a good performer. Senior Management care more for your employees, they are more than just another email id! Find ways to understand whats happening on the field, its very different from whatever impression you have! Flexibility in terms of changing job profiles; power and authority assigned at each level is very motivating; employees feel very powerful in ICICI as compared with other organisations. Literature Review The author reviews the theoretical and empirical literature to examine the traditional perception that the following trade-off exists between economic efficiency and stability in the banking system: a competitive banking system is more efficient and therefore important to growth, but market power is necessary for stability in the banking system. That this trade-off exists is not clear. Market power can have positive implications for efficiency, and the potentially negative implications of competition on stability may be manageable through prudential regulation. Neither extreme (perfect competition nor monopoly) is likely ideal. Rather, it may be optimal to facilitate an environment that promotes competitive behaviour (contestability), thereby minimizing the potential costs of market power while realizing benefits from any residual that remains. It can be very difficult to assess the contestability of a banking market. Recent work suggests that the number of banks and the degree of co ncentration are not, in themselves, sufficient indicators of contestability. Other factors play a strong role, including regulatory policies that promote competition, a well-developed financial system, the effects of branch networks, and the effect and uptake of technological advancements. Classical views of organizational structure have emphasized the durable arrangements within an organization. Jackson Morgan (1982) define organizational structure in line with the classical view as: the relatively enduring allocation of work roles and administrative mechanisms that creates a pattern of inter-related work activities, and allows the organization to conduct, coordinate, and control its work activities. This definition of organizational structure with the caveat that work arrangements need not always be relatively enduring. Early writers on the subject, including Taylor (1911), Fayol (1930), and Weber (Gerth Mills, 1958), had stipulated an ideal-type of organizational structure for all situations. In the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, the one best form fits all view was replaced by the contingency approach. A contingency perspective such as that of Lorsch Morse (1974) prescribes that an alignment should exist between structure, task, technology, the environment, and people. This approach takes into account that structures can be flexible and responsive to change. Contingency theorists such as Duncan (1977), Lawrence Lorsch (1967), Burns Stalker (1961), Minzberg (1979), Miles Snow (1978), and Galbraith (1973) recommended that organizational structure should be either organic or mechanistic depending on the nature of the external environment. A stable external environment called for a mechanistic structure, while a turbulent environment required an organic structure one flexible enough to evol ve. The power of the contingency theory was validated in two countries from the non-English speaking world by Boseman Simonetti (1975), indicating that non-traditional notions of structure apply in a variety of cultural contexts. In the past twenty-five years several researchers have made a case for viewing organizational structure in terms of transient features rather than durable ones. Duncans work (1977) was among the earliest in this genre. Duncan advocated a bifurcated initiation and implementation structure for creative organizations. It then became possible to envisage structures that were bifurcated in other ways, such as those that have organic and bureaucratic structures existing conterminously as described by Peterson (1981). Here, the segment of the organization that engages in creative activities is separated from the rest of the organization, which is essentially bureaucratic. Just as creativity exerted a pressure for organizations to adopt transient structures, lately, knowledge generation and transfer in high information-intensity and velocity contexts have likewise exerted pressures for looser structures. Miles Snow (1995) have argued for flexible networked structures for such organizations. In their literature review piece, Child McGrath (2001) too note how continuously changing structures, are de rigour in knowledge based organizations. Coulson-Thomas (1991) has predicted that corporations dealing with complex operations would opt for flatter and more fluid organizational structures that can develop into networks, as well as have greater flexibility and responsiveness to customer needs. This would be accompanied by a management approach which pushes organizational hierarchy to individuals, who require access to expertise and specialists. Pepper (1995) advanced an even more dynamic perspective on structure, which incorporated such elements as working relationships, actual experiences of members, and interpretations of occurrences. Pepper suggested that structure should be treated like a document that is authored by organizational members. Weick (1995) also postulated a dynamic view of structure. Weick talked about enacting organizations which are a function of organizational members preferences. He observed, Organizing is a continuous flow of movement that people try to co-ordinate with a continuous flow of input. Taking off from the notion of enactment, is that of inverted firms. Anderson, Finkelstein, Quinn (1996) have recommended that hierarchies be dispensed with in certain contexts; instead, structures be organised in the form of patterns tailored to specific needs. Also closely related to the notion of enactment is that of improvisation. Improvisation connotes flexibility of form, an area a few contemporary researchers are currently discussing. Volberda (1999) holds that the extent of flexibility of a firms structure should be aligned to the extent of turbulence prevalent in its environment. Additionally, a firm may on the whole be averagely flexible but have both a unit that is extremely flexible and a unit that is extremely rigid, functioning within it. Gold Hirshfeld (2005) have demonstrated how the principles of improvisation underlying jazz music can be used to promote strategic renewal within organizations. McHugh Wheeler (1995) described a particularly fluid structure called holonic network. This is a set of companies that acts integrated and organically; it is constantly re-configured to manage each business opportunity a customer presents. Each company within the network provides a different process capability and is called a Holon. This capacity for frequent re-configuring has been termed more recently by Eisenhardt Galunic (2001) as architectural innovation. Here, the different capabilities of an organization, including its structural components are re-combined in various ways to enhance performance. Table I: Consider how our view of structure has changed over time I From durable structures to flexible structures Theorist Essence of Theory Period Weber, Taylor, Fayol One best form of structure that is largely unvarying, durable and bureaucratic. Focus was on establishing order and maintaining predictability Early 20th Century Duncan, Lawrence Lorsch, Burns Stalker, Minzberg, Miles Snow, and Galbraith Structure should not be consistently unvarying. A stable environment necessitates a mechanistic structure, while a turbulent environment calls for an organic and flexible structure. The type of structure adopted should be contingent on the nature of the environment. 1960s 1970s Duncan, Peterson A creative organization should have certain elements of structure that are flexible. 1970s early 1980s Child McGrath, Miles Snow A knowledge generation and transfer organization should have a flexible structure. 1990s early 2000s Table II: Consider how our view of structure has changed over time II Different imperatives for flexible structures Theorist Essence of Theory Period Coulson-Thomas Complex, high-performance organizations require flat, fluid, flexible structures that enable responsiveness to customer needs. These structures can develop into networks. 1991 McHugh Wheeler Complex, high-performance organizations require a fluid structure that enables re-configuration suited to each business opportunity that arises. These structures can develop into colonic networks. 1995 Pepper High-performance organizations require flexible structures capable of incorporating such features as actual experiences of members, etc. These structures enable employee participation in and ownership of organizational processes 1995 Weick High-performance organizations require flexible structures that enable employees to enact their work-related preferences. These structures promote efficiency and employee participation. 1995 Anderson, Finkelstein, Quinn High-performance organizations sometimes require inverted structures that enable the removal of hierarchies. These structures can be tailored to specific needs. 1996 Volberda High-performance organizations should be internally differentiated so that units have varying extents of flexibility. This promotes efficiency and alignment with the environments demand. 1999 Eisenhardt Galunic High-performance organizations should emphasise the architectural innovation capability of its structure. This enhances performance. 2001 Gold Hirschfield High-performance organizations require structures that are capable of improvisation. This enables strategic renewal. 2005 Looking at organizational structure in terms of a historical perspective is useful, since it underscores the fact that its components do not have to be durable. Thus due to several imperatives, organizational structures are assuming flexible forms. Cross-cultural management can be a further reason why organizations should adopt flexible structures with transient features. That personnel can have preferences for structural forms that reflect their cultural heritage is indicated by the INSEAD study of Stevens (cited in Hofstede, 1991). In this study, MBA students from Great Britain, France and Germany were presented with a caselet about and interpersonal problem in a corporation. The students were requested to present a solution that involved re-engineering the structure. The interpersonal problem was that two department heads could not see eye to eye. The British students diagnosed the problem as being one of poor communication between the department heads. The problem could be resolved, according to the British students, by providing training in interpersonal skills to the feuding department heads. The French students suggested that the problem be referred one level up to the president of the corporation. The German students recommended that there should be greater clarity regarding the roles, responsibilities, and spheres of activity of the two department heads. These roles, etc. the German students opined, should be described and specified unambiguously. Stevens study specifically suggests that flexible structural forms may be appropriate in cross-cultural management contexts. Changs (2002) paper written notes that culture has implications for job design. Thus, managers from individualistic ethnic cultures will value personal accomplishments. Meanwhile managers from collectivist cultures would place a premium on working harmoniously with others. The challenge is to design structures so that managers from both types of cultures can work productively together. We present here the experience of ICICI Bank as indicative that a fluid, flexible structure enables cross-cultural management. The fluid, flexible structure at ICICI Banks enabled managers from different cultures (collectivist and individualistic, high power-distance and low power-distance, etc.) to work synergistically with each other. Flexible structures obviate the sense that a structure or work pattern is being imposed by one cultural group on others. It provides a mechanism whereby culturally different work patterns can be reconciled in a meaningful fashion. (Reconciliation is a term used by Trompenaars (1993) for the process he developed to work through the tensions created by cultural differences.) RESEARCH EFFORT This study constitutes an exploratory effort. Its purpose is to examine how a fluid, flexible organizational structure facilitates cross-cultural management. Huberman Miles (1994) have recommended that when a deeper understanding of management contexts is sought, qualitative research designs may be appropriate. Similarly, organization theorists like Marjoribanks (2000) and Vogel (1996) have deliberately used fine-grained case studies to capture how institutional diffusion occurs. The present study employs qualitative methods and a substantive case study to observe and report the co-evolution of a fluid, flexible organizational structure and cross-cultural management practices. ICICI Bank has a vast and a well-connected network of branches offering incomparable banking and other financial services to its customers. You need not look far for an  ICICI bank branch  and can get all the relevant information regarding the address, phone number and other information about the nearest branch of ICICI bank in your area using an online tool of branch locator to locate an ICICI bank branch. The ICICI bank has established its branches in easily accessible market places across India enabling its customers to avail a variety of retail banking products offered by the bank.   The ICICI bank branches are spread throughout India and the world having  1,488 branches both in India and  18  countries. The customer care executives at branches are willing to help in order to provide assistance in all sorts of bank related products and services. The current office timings of ICICI bank branches are 8AM-8PM which has been proposed to 9AM-6PM. The bank has spread its reach far across the globe with branches in  Canada, USA, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka. It has established its presence in places such as Kuala Lumpur, San Francisco, San Jose, New York, California  etc. As the bank is playing an important role in countrys Political, Socio- economic, Technological environment as it provides many facilities to many customers throughout many countries and future plans are to expand the branches across the borders to meet the pace of Globalization and contribute to maximum Optimum utilization of resources in a well structured manner. ICICI Bankà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Background in brief In 1955, The Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Limited (ICICI) was incorporated at the initiative of World Bank, the Government of India and representatives of Indian industry, with the objective of creating a development financial institution for providing medium-term and long-term project financing to Indian businesses. In 1994, ICICI established Banking Corporation as a banking subsidiary. Formerly known as Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India, ICICI Banking Corporation was later renamed as ICICI Bank Limited. ICICI founded a separate legal entity, ICICI Bank, to undertake normal banking operations taking deposits, credit cards, car loans etc. In 2001, ICICI acquired  Bank of Madura  (est. 1943). Bank of Madura was a  Chettiar  bank, and had acquired  Chettinad Mercantile Bank  (est. 1933) and  Illanji Bank  (established 1904) in the 1960s. In 2002, The Boards of Directors of ICICI and ICICI Bank approved the reverse merger of ICICI,  ICICI Personal Financial Services Limited  and  ICICI Capital Services Limited, into ICICI Bank. After receiving all necessary regulatory approvals, ICICI integrated the groups financing and banking operations, both wholesale and retail, into a single entity. At the same time, ICICI started its international expansion by opening representative offices in  New York  and London. In India, ICICI Bank bought the  Shimla  and  Darjeeling  branches that  Standard Chartered Bank  had inherited when it acquired  Grindlays Bank. In 2003, ICICI opened subsidiaries in Canada and the United Kingdom (UK), and in the UK it established an alliance with Lloyds TSB. It also opened an Offshore Banking Unit (OBU) in Singapore and representative offices in Dubai and Shanghai. In 2004, ICICI opened a representative office in Bangladesh to tap the extensive trade between that country, India and South Africa. In 2005, ICICI acquired Investitsionno-Kreditny Bank (IKB), a Russia bank with about US$4mn in assets, head office in  Balabanovo  in the  Kaluga  region, and with a branch in  Moscow. ICICI renamed the bank ICICI Bank Eurasia. Also, ICICI established a branch in  Dubai  International Financial Centre and in  Hong Kong. In 2006, ICICI Bank UK opened a branch in  Antwerp, in Belgium. ICICI opened representative offices in  Bangkok,  Jakarta, and  Kuala Lumpur. In 2007, ICICI amalgamated Sangli Bank, which was headquartered in  Sangli, in  Maharashtra  State, and which had 158 branches in Maharashtra and another 31 in  Karnataka  State. Sangli Bank had been founded in 1916 and was particularly strong in rural areas. With respect to the international sphere, ICICI also received permission from the government of  Qatar  to open a branch in  Doha. Also, ICICI Bank Eurasia opened a second branch, this time in St. Petersburg. In 2008, The  US Federal Reserve  permitted ICICI to convert its representative office in  New York  into a branch. ICICI also established a branch in Frankfurt. In 2009, ICICI made huge changes in its organization like elimination of loss making department and re-stretching outsourced staff or renegotiate their charges in consequent to the recession. In addition to this, ICICI adopted a massive approach aims for cost control and cost cutting. In consequent of it, compensation to staff was not increased and no bonus declared for 2008-09. On 23 May ICICI Bank announced that it would merge with  Bank of Rajasthan  through a share-swap in a non-cash deal that values the Bank of Rajasthan at about  Indian rupee3,000 crore. ICICI announced that the merger expand ICICI Banks branch network by 25%. On 18h October 2010, ICICI will inaugurate I-Express, an instant cross-border money transfer option for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). This service will be available through the ICICI Banks select partners in the  Gulf Cooperation Council. ICICI Bank is Indias second-largest bank with total assets of Rs. 3,634.00 billion (US$ 81 billion) at March 31, 2010 and profit after tax Rs. 40.25 billion (US$ 896 million) for the year ended March 31, 2010. The Bank has a network of 2,509 branches and 5,808 ATMs in India, and has a presence in 19 countries, including India. ICICI Bank offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and through its specialised subsidiaries in the areas of investment banking, life and non-life insurance, venture capital and asset management. The Bank currently has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Russia and Canada, branches in United States, Singapore, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Qatar and Dubai International Finance Centre and representative offices in United Arab Emirates, China, South Africa, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Our UK subsidiary has established branches in Belgium and Germany.à ‚   ICICI Banks equity shares are listed in India on Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited and its American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Controversies over timeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ ICICI Bank has been in focus in recent years because of alleged harassment of customers by its recovery agents. Listed below are some of the related news links: ICICI Bank was fined  Indian rupee55 lakh for hiring goons (known coloquially as goondas) to recover a loan. Recovery agents had ,allegedly, forcibly dragged out a youth (who was not even the borrower) from the car, beaten him up with iron rods and left him bleeding as they drove away with the vehicle. We hold ICICI Bank guilty of the grossest kind of deficiency in service and unfair trade practice for breach of terms of contract of hire-purchase/loan agreement by seizing the vehicle illegally,No civilised society governed by the rule of law can brook such kind of conduct said Justice Kaleem, who was born in Laddhawala, Muzaffarnagar is the president of the consumer commission. [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18] Four ICICI loan employees arrested on theft charges in Punjab. [19] ICICI Bank told to pay  Indian rupee1 lakh as compensation for using unlawful recovery methods. [20] RBI warns ICICI Bank for coercive methods to recover loans. [21] ICICI Bank drives customer to suicide Four men including an employee of ICICI Bank booked under sections 452, 306, 506 (II) and 34 of IPC for abetting suicide. According to the suicide note they advised him, If you cannot repay the bank loan, sell off your wife, your kids, yourself, sell everything at your home. Even then if you cannot n

Aluminium Metal Matrix Composites: Literature Review

Aluminium Metal Matrix Composites: Literature Review Literature Survey- Based on Aluminium Metal Matrix Composites. 1]Shilpa P.S et al They studied the effect of reinforcement of Boron Carbide with the Al2024. By adopting stir casting technique fabricated the specimen by varying the wt% of Boron Carbide. The specimens are developed as per the ASTM. In the end they come to know that as the reinforcement Boron Carbide increased by wt% increases the Hardness, Tensile strength and Yield strength. The percentage of elongation decreases with the increase of Boron Carbide in the composition. 2]F.Abdi et al-They investigated the effect of 5 wt% of TiB2 as a reinforcement with the Al356.1 metal matrix at various temperature i.e.750c, 850c, 950c using stir casting technique. They found that at temperature 950c shows best result s for Tensile strength and Hardness and the TiB2 particles are homogenously distributed. 3]Sandeep Kumar Ravesh et al(C)-They investigated the effect of the various weight fraction of SiC i.e.2.5%,5%,7.5% and 10% and 5% flyash is reinforced with Aluminium 6061 metal matrix composite by using the stir casting method. They observed that Tensile strength, Harness and Impact strength increased with the increase in weight fraction of SiC particle. A best tensile strength 115 N/mm2, hardness 93RHN and toughness value 7.8 for 10% SiC and 5% flyash reinforced composite material was obtained. 4]K.L.Meena et al(D)-They investigated the mechanical properties of the   developed SiC reinforced with Al6063 metal matrix composite material using Melt stirring technique where the experiment was carried out by varying the reinforcement particle size such as 200 mesh, 300 mesh, 400 mesh with the different weight percentage i.e..5%, 10%, 15% and 20% of SiC particle reinforced material. The stirring process was carried out at the speed of 200rpm using the graphite impeller for a period of 15min. A homogenous dispersion of SiC particle in the aluminium matrix was observed. The tensile strength, hardness and yield strength were improved with the enlargement of particulate size and weight percentage of SiC. Percentage reduction area and percentage elongation and impact strength decreases as the increase in reinforced particle size and weight percentage of SiC particle. Maximum hardness (HRB) 83 and impact strength 37.01 Nm was achieved. 5]H.G.Rana et al-They investigated the mechanical properties and wear properties of Al7075 with the reinforcement of Boron Carbide. They concluded that using the using Friction Stir casting the fabricated specimens provides uniform mixing and enhances the tensile strength and hardness. Hence the microstructure are studied with the help of Image analyser. Based on Zirconia as Reinforcement. 6]Ram Narayan et al They investigated the effect of flyash and zirconia with the mechanical properties of Aluminium 6061 alloy composite samples developed by using the technique Stir casting. They developed the specimen by varying the zirconia (5% and 10%) and kept the flyash 10% as a fixed percentage by weight fraction. They observed that due to the presence of flyash and zirconia Hardness and Tensile strength was increased where the elongation decreased as compared to the unreinforced aluminium. The characterization will be done using the scanning the electron microscope machine and image analyser. 7]S. Roseline et al They observed the mechanical properties of aluminium alloy mmc with the reinforcement of fused Zirconia alumina. They developed the specimens by varying by the weight fraction by percentage. They evaluated the mechanical properties which indicates the variations in the Hardness, Tensile strength and Impact strength. The optimum result for mechanical properties found on the reinforcement to be 90 and 10 by weight percentage of the matrix respectively. 8]Jithin Jose et al-They investigated the effect of flyash and zircon (zirconium silicate) with the mechanical properties of Aluminium 7075 alloy and the stir casting technique was adopted to develop the specimens by varying weight percentage .They after conducting the different test concluded that keeping the zircon at a fixed weight percentage and varying the flyash found that the wear rate decreases where the tensile strength and the hardness increases. 9]Adil Ahmed.S et al-They studied the incorporation of Zirconium Nano Particles in Al356.2.The stir casting technique was used for the development of composite specimen where the Al356.2 is heated at around 750c and the Zirconium Nano particles are added .Mechanical properties are increased for 15wt% of reinforcement particle developed at 750c shows homogenous reinforcement particle and through using the Scanning Electron Microscope the microstructure of the specimen shows homogenous reinforcement. 10]J.Jenix Rino et al-They investigated the mechanical properties of Aluminium 6063 alloy composite enhance i.e. strengthened by the addition of alumina particle and zircon sand with an overall reinforcement in the Al6063 material matrix. They observed the Hardness and Tensile strength of the composite having higher value at the composite developed specimen, which having reinforcement mixture of 4wt%ZrSiO4+4wt% Al2O3. 11]K.B. Girisha et al-They studied the effect of various weight fraction of zirconium oxide nanoparticle i.e. 0.5%,1%,1.5% and 2% reinforced with Al356.1 metal matrix composite by using stir casting technique. Here they observed that particle agglomeration in the composite is due to high amount of zirconium oxide nanoparticle. Hardness and wear properties are increased as the increase in weight fraction of zirconium dioxide nanoparticle. 12]M.A.Baghchesara et al They studied the mechanical properties of developed composite specimen using the stir casting method where they considered zircon and TiB2 ceramic particles with size 1 micron and the temperature 750c respectively. The microstructure were studied by using scanning electron microscopy and hence the dispersion of reinforcement as noted. Situation of compounds of the developed specimen were examined by XRD. The end results shows mechanical properties and microstructure behavior of composite was improved compared to the monolithic alloy. Microstructures of the composites in as cast conditions shows uniform distribution of the particles and reveals the better bending in case of zircon reinforced composites compared to the TiB2 composites. But increase in the amount of reinforcement shows better conditions in case of TiB2 reinforced composites. Based On Flyash with Aluminium- 13] H.C. Anilkumar et al-They investigated the mechanical properties of Al 6061 reinforced by flyash. They fabricated the composite specimens using the stir casting method. They developed three sets of composites with particle size of flyash of 4-25,45-50 and 75-100 µm was used. The three set of composites are developed by varying weight fraction of 10%, 15% and 20%. The mechanical properties are like Tensile strength, Compressive strength, hardness and Ductility are studied. They found that increase of particle size of flyash decreases tensile strength, compressive strength and hardness of the developed specimens. They also find that by increase of weight fraction of flyash increases compressive strength ultimate tensile strength, hardness but decreases with increase of flyash particle size. 14]Muruganandhan.P et al-They investigated the effect of flyash reinforced with Al6061.By varying the wt% of flyash using the stir casting method the specimens was developed. The found that increase of flyash increase the mechanical properties upto 20% of fly ash in the metal matrix but the corrosion resistance decreases with increase of flyash addition. 15] M.Sankar-They investigated the Silicon carbide and Flyash reinforced with the Aluminium 6061 alloy.They developed the specimens using the stir casting method.They found that as the reinforcement contents increased in the matrix material, the composites hardness also increased. Tensile strength decreased with increased amount of reinforcement.   The wear rate of the composites reduced with increased weight percentages of the reinforcements. Who was Responsible for the Cold War? Who was Responsible for the Cold War? When looking at the issue of who was responsible for the cold war, we have to look at what the relationship between the United States and USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) was like before the start of World War Two. By the end of the nineteenth century Marxism in Western Europe was becoming more and more national. The imperial implications of both Marxist thought and Russian history provide the broad background and context for understanding soviet involvement in cold war. The soviet worldwide had been shaped by a history that was dramatically different from that of the west  [1]  . For example the Bolshevik revolution, the civil war, and the experience of World War two all contributed to a unique soviet perspective. Furthermore after the revolution of 1917, soviet Russia assumed the responsibility of spreading the Marxist message. Stalin seen himself as the keeper of the Marxist faith, it would emancipate mankind  [2]  . In addition historians such as Zubok and Const antine suggest that history gave the Russians the reason to see themselves as saviours of the world. Due to the events that occurred before the Cold War we can see this. Furthermore historians believed that each of them would make his own intricate cold war journey, guided by the two misleading suns of empire and revolution. Many historians believe that it was because, the United States and USSR ideologies were so different and believed that to be the underlying cause for their fear of one another. For example Russia was communist which put the needs of the state ahead of personal human rights and was ruled by a dictator. The USA was a capitalist democracy which valued freedom and believed that communism was something to fear. Americans saw themselves as champions of the free world, and tyrants such as Stalin represented everything the United States opposed. At the same time, the Soviets, who believed that capitalism exploited the masses, saw the United States as the oppressor. To emphasise the difference between the two nations we can see this by looking at their visions of the world. For example Stalin saw the world as divided into two camps: imperialist and capitalist regimes on the one hand, and the Communist and progressive world on the other. In 1947, President Harry Truman also spoke of two diamet rically opposed systems: one free and the other bent on subjugating other nations. Although World War Two was meant to be the War to end all wars it was not, the repercussions and the aftermath of what the war had caused, it just lead to a more apprehensive atmosphere all over the world, and as we can see this was defiantly the case when considering the relationship between the US and USSR. Although relations went on a downward spiral after World War Two it was not always this way, they were once allies during World War Two. However things changed after WW2, once the threat of Hitler was over, they became fearful of each other, Russias hatred for capitalism deepened when they was not rewarded for their efforts during World War Two, instead they became focused back on by the world that they was the threat the red scare began to intensify. Moreover historians have suggested that because of the enormous sacrifice of the Russian people in the Second World War, had led to the soviet lea ders to believe that the allies owed them a great deal. The cold war emerged from the ruins of world war two  [3]  Stalin expected to be rewarded for their contribution in the war especially when Russia lost 27 million people. His primary task was to regain the territories lost to Russia during the war and revolution from 1915 to 1921: the Baltics, Finland, Poland, and Bessarabia. This goal was virtually fulfilled by the end of 1945. The Cold War was a period of East-West competition, tension, and conflict short of full-scale war. It was characterized by mutual perceptions of hostile intention between military-political alliances or blocs, both systems believed that they were doing the right thing. The events that happened before and after World War two had an irreversible impact on how both of these countries perceived one another. Furthermore Stalins foreign policies contributed an enormous amount to the tensions of the Cold War. His aim, was to take advantage of the military situation in post-war Europe to strengthen Russian influence, this was perceived to be a threat to the US and everything they stood for. Stalin was highly effective in his goal to gain territory, with victories for example in Poland and Romania. To the western world, this success looked as if it were the beginning of a series of Russian aggressions. The aggressive expansion in Eastern Europe was one of the main reasons for the cause of the cold war. Therefore it can be questioned that if the Soviets had not adopted the expansionist policy, then the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan may not have been initiated to keep Stalin and his spread of communism at bay. Furthermore Stalins own persona could be seen as another cause for the cold war, for example when Ivan Maisky and Maxim Litvinov were appointed in 1943. Maisky wrote that the main soviet goal after the war would be to ensure a durable peace enough for the USSR to become so powerful that no combination of powers in Europe or in Asia could even think of threatening her  [4]  . This suggest that even though Russia had not got the rewards they was expecting from World War two and the contribution of the west in the civil war in 1918 all contributed to Stalins view on spreading Communism and being strong enough to not be threatened or have a fear of being invaded by any other country. In addition Stalins actions to wanting to spread communism throughout the world, lead to policies such as the china policy which historian Odd Arne Westad came to the conclusion that Joseph Stalin china policy in the fall of 1945 was as aimless and incoherent as his European policy. However much he hoped to avoid post war confrontation with the United States, Stalin could not make his mind how to achieve this aim.  [5]  This view gives important insight into the impact of Stalins persona on the origins of the cold war. In addition Historians have also wondered whether another cause for the cold war was Stalins poor diplomacy. For example the diplomatic pressure he put on turkey caused him great problems with the west and later in 1948 his attempt his attempt to remove Tito in Yugoslavia by means of communist democracy backfired and only weakened their position. The errors Stalin made and the policies he created showed him to be aggressive and wanting to expand USSRS borders spreading they way of communism. This ultimately created more of a hysteria and fear in US, therefore being a main contributor to the cause of the Cold War. In addition when the Western democracies and the Soviet Union met up to discuss World War II, and the nature of the post-war settlement at conferences in Tehran 1943, Yalta February 1945, and Potsdam July-August 1945. At these conferences the Soviets agreed to allow the nations of Eastern Europe to choose their own governments in free elections. Stalin agreed to the condition only because he believed that these newly liberated nations would see the Soviet Union as their savoir and create their own Communist governments. When they failed to do so, Stalin violated the agreement by wiping out all opposition to communism in these nations and setting up his own governments in Eastern Europe, causing the situation to intensify. To make the situation worse, Stalin deepened the estrangement between the United States and the Soviet Union when he asserted in 1946 that World War II was an unavoidable and inevitable consequence of capitalist imperialism and implied that such a war might reoccur. This resulted in an increase in world spread fear of communism due to Stain basically going towards the thought of another World war, which could have lead to a nuclear war. In addition many of the tensions that existed in the Cold War can be attributed to Stalins policy of Soviet expansion. It is necessary to consider that the role of Stalin can be seen as a catalyst to the Cold War Furthermore the situation involving Poland was that Poland had always been the key state needed from which to launch an attack against Russia. He also wanted Poland to have a pro-Soviet government. Therefore after some time, he set up a communist government in Poland. He said that his control of Eastern Europe was a defensive measure against possible future attacks to the west it appeared to them that Russias attitude went against all of the promises that Stalin had made at Yalta mainly that Stalin would permit free elections in the eastern European states. Russia argued that it needed to maintain a sphere of influence in the area for security reasons. This caused further anxiety over Stalins policy of expansion. This then lead to the West to introduce the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, both of which sought to arrest the spread of communism. The initiation of the Marshall plan for European recovery, however from Stalins point of view the marshal plan was a large scale attempt by the United States to gain lasting influence in Europe. The marshell plan was a serious challenge to Stalin vision of a future Europe as well as to German- soviet relations. Thus he had to protect his borders but by doing so it caused him to look like an aggressive bully towards countries that would not follow his lead. For example when leadership of Czechoslovakia hesitated before ending their participation in the Marshall plan it outraged Stalin, he told Czechoslovakia immediately to cancel the plans to receive aid from the US, Gottwald (leader of Czechoslovakia) complied. This just shows the intimidation Stalin was willing to put other nations through to keep them communist and not wade to the side of the US. The nations that complied with Stalin and agreed not to participate in the Marshall plan, their economies deteriorated, while those of th e western European states began to recover and see improvement in their economies. To Stalin this was a challenge of his authority in Eastern Europe, therefore his next actions was to focus on Czechoslovakia, the communist group in Prague carried out a coup in February of 1948. Shortly after the coup the Czech president was replaced by the leader of the Czech communist party, Gottwald. Furthermore it was incidents like these that caused outrage in the western world, the intimidation of another country to not take a chance that could help their economy, to stop them countries from distracting from the way of communism rather than capitalism. Thus if Russia had not behaved and acted this way due to their expansion policy , it may not have ever got out of control and there would have been no need to implement the Marshall plan which lead to the implementation of the Truman Doctrine. To further Americas fear of communism, due to their aggressive foreign policy, between 1943-46 most western European Communist parties were at a peak in the years immediately following World War Two. The French Communist Party, for example, won almost 30% of the vote in 1946 elections. Greece was in crisis they were at the brink of civil war which finally occurred in 1946 after the Greek communists tried to seize power in 1944 due to a rise in communist leg guerrillas. This resulted in an economic crisis which at the time was being supported by Britain however this was no longer possible. Therefore America stepped in because they feared that the people would look more towards communism through desperation. This then resulted in the introduction of the Truman Doctrine in March, 1947. The Truman doctrine announced that was to be given to Greece and Turkey in the stated context of a general war against communism. The US gives $400 million as aid to help Greece in their economic crisis. However it can be said that in many ways, the Truman Doctrine marked the formal declaration of the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union .It also solidified the United States position regarding containment. However, even though this suggests that US started the war, but if Russia had not been aggressively expanding their empire and spreading communism then it would not have caused the US to intervene and introduce the Truman doctrine due to their fear of communism. By 1946, the United States and Britain were making every effort to unify all of Germany under western rule. The Soviet Union responded by consolidating its grip on Europe by creating satellite states in 1946 and 1947. One by one, communist governments, loyal to Moscow, were set up in Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. Stalin used Soviet communism to dominate half of Europe. This created more of a mistrust in the USSR and the US relations resulting in the build up to the Cold War, and evidently showing that the roots of the problem was the Russias expansion policy. In relation to the previous point made to show Russias expansion during the time leading up to the Cold war, we have to look at Winston Churchill Iron Curtain. Churchill said that From Stettin on the Baltic to Trieste on the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of central and Eastern Europe -Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia.  [6]  Therefore showing the scale of how fast Russia was expanding through Eastern Europe. It also emphasis the split between Russia and the US creating more of an estranged relationship between the two super powers, because it is showing the spread of communism and how quick it was occurring. The United States feared the most was the Red Scare which was becoming more serious with each invasion of the countries within Eastern Europe. Stalin also set up the Berlin Blockade with the idea that he could push western power out of Eastern Berlin, which only escalated the situation. The cold War was the brave and essential response of free men to Communist aggression.  [7]  Schlesinger believes that the soviets were wrong and that the USA was trying to stop the USSR from going any further. Another view is T.A. Bailey who also believed that the Soviets were to blame; he thinks that they always had one more plan for world domination up their sleeves. In addition further actions took by Stalin which was contributing to the end result in being the cold war, was the Berlin Blockade on the 24th June 1948. Stalin decided to blockade West Berlin by cutting off road and rail links. To break the blockade armed forces would have to smash the blockade, however this would be seen as an act of war which Stalin new US wouldnt do. He believed they would abandon their zones and leave the whole of Berlin in soviet hands. However Stalin failed to gain control of Berlin. Although he failed in this case, it still antagonised America causing them to retaliate. Therefore due to Stalin wanting to gain a foot hold in Europe and to keep aggressively expanding. This shows that each action Stalin made were all catalysts in causing the Cold War. In addition the relationship between Russia and the US escalated further to the extent were another proxy war was occurring, which was the Korean War (1950- 1953). The Korean War was a military conflict between the Republic of Korea, supported by the United Nations, and the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea and Peoples Republic of China (PRC), with air support from the Soviet Union. The war began on 25 June 1950 it was a result of the political division of Korea by agreement of the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War. In 1945, following the surrender of Japan, American administrators divided the peninsula along the 38th Parallel, with United States troops, occupying the southern part and Soviet troops occupying the northern part. It was soviets foreign policy that lead to them being involved in the Korean War however it was China who physically participated in the war, where as Russia was acting behind the scenes to not actually cause a physical war between them and the US. By being involved in the war it just caused the US to be more wary of Russia and showed how much influence and power the USSR had gained to have that control over China and other countries that were also communist. After looking at the events leading up to the cold war, the short term and long term causes when focusing on the US perspective we see that their view was flawed because they feared what they did not understand, they did not understand how a country could be ran under a communist government and still work, especially when the US system was capitalist. The USs response was based on their misunderstanding and fear of USSR which was more commonly known as the red scare. For example the US and Britain believed that just before WW2 they seen the USSR as more of a threat than Hitler at that time. Overall some historians such as the Traditionalist believed that Russia was to blame for the Cold War. They believed that the Soviet-led governments sought to overthrow existing capitalist governments, which can be reinforced by the fact that Russias foreign policy was aggressive expansion. In addition the US and its allies were merely responding to the threats of the Soviet Union, as we can see by the Truman doctrine. I agree with traditionalists idea due to the fact that Stalin and his successors were convinced that the legitimacy of their rule depended on validating Marxist-Leninist predictions of world revolution. If they believed that they would only succeed when these predictions were completed then they were to blame for the cold war. Russia actions of aggressive expansion throughout Eastern Europe support this.

Blogs - Power of Bloggers and the Magnitude of the Blogosphere Essay ex

The Power of Bloggers and the Magnitude of the Blogosphere What is a blog? Blog is a web-based writing space, an online journal, a virtual forum; it's self-maintained web page that provide a list of links to other web sites along with comments and critics about the links; it's a site containing chronologically ordered information, both personal and impersonal. It's something new - something that will change the way we write just like the way the invention of paper and printing press have influenced our culture. There are many ways to describe what the blog is or what it serves, but a single word can contain everything that blog represents; and that is 'LINK'. This link can be as small as a bridge between a person to another; but what blogging software such as the Movable Type provide is a virtual community where people of all ages, gender, and race come together and share ideas, give feedbacks to opinions of others, and to interact in a well-mannered way. The easy access to internet will draw more and more netizens to the blogosphere, t hus the network of the bloggers will be global in near future. Furthermore, unlike a one-way information route that a paper-based publication takes, bloggers will give, take, and also combine ideas to construct a multiple lanes of interactive information to be reached out to ears and eyes of the bloggers at first, then to the netizens and eventually the whole world at large. Like with the beginning of new things, the primitive bloggers didn't have a specific name for what they were doing. It took many years for blogging to become commercialized and subscribed by many internet users. Nevertheless, blogging has existed since the beginning of the internet. At first, certain knowledg... ...he local bloggers; nevertheless, the interactivities that linked each students and the professor within our own STS-osphere clearly project what will take place in every home, work place, classroom, and everywhere one can imagine in very near future. 1 Mumford, "The Invention of the Printing Press" in Communication in History: Technology, Culture, Society, Crowley and Heyer, eds. (p.96) 2 Foley, John. "Are You Blogging Yet?" July 22, 2002. http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020719S0001> 3 "From Accounting to Written Language: The Role of Abstract Counting in the Invention of Writing" in The Social Construction of written Communication, Denise Schmandt-Besserat p.125 4 Manjoo, Farhad. "Blah, Blah, Blah and Blog" Feb. 18, 2002. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,50443,00.html> 5 "Living in the Blog-Osphere" Newsweek, Steven Levy August 26, 2002

California SB 1386 Essay examples -- essays research papers

On July 1, 2003, California enacted an electronic data privacy law to protect residents from one of its fastest growing crimes: identity theft. SB 1386 (Civil Code 1798.29) requires businesses to notify California residents if a security breach results in disclosure of personal electronic data. All businesses are subject to this law regardless of size, location, or operations. Business owners should be aware of the problems associated with identity theft, the steps required to comply with SB 1386, and the preventative measures available. Identity theft is a significant problem to both citizens and financial institutions. The FTC estimates that over 27.3 million Americans have been the victims of identity theft in the past five years. The U.S. financial impact is staggering; in 2002 alone, losses were estimated at $48 billion to financial institutions and $5 billion to victims. The FTC reviewed trends from 214,905 cases reported in 2003, and California accounted for the highest number of incidents (39,452). In 20% of all cases, the source of the information breach involved disclosure of personal data over the internet or other electronic sources. In 55% of all cases, the identity theft resulted in credit card, bank, or loan fraud. Federal and state laws address this growing problem. The FTC provides some protection by aggressively enforcing existing federal laws. Under the unfair and deceptive trade practices law, a website operator must adhere to the company’s own privacy policy or face prosecution for failing to exercise a reasonable standard of care. Reasonable care includes addressing potential system vulnerabilities such as viruses and encrypting personal information so that it cannot be viewed. The FTC recently ordered several large corporations to implement stronger privacy controls after breaches exposed personal information. In January of 2001, Eli Lilly settled with the FTC after accidentally releasing the e-mail addresses of nearly 700 consumers who were using the company’s anti-depressant Prozac. Seven months later, Microsoft was targeted by the FTC for misrepresenting the security of its â€Å"Passport Wallet† web service. More recently, in April of 2004, Tower Records faced allegations for allowing and failing to correct a breach that disclosed consumer information including names, billing and shipping addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and ... ... 2003. http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/IDT_CY03/California%20CY2003.pdf January 18, 2002, â€Å"Eli Lilly Settles FTC Charges Concerning Security Breach†. http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2002/01/elililly.htm August 8, 2002, â€Å"Microsoft Settles FTC Charges Alleging False Security and Privacy Promises†. http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2002/08/microsoft.htm April 21, 2004, â€Å"Tower Records Settles FTC Charges†. http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/04/towerrecords.htm Articles: Cheryl A. Falvey, â€Å"Disclosure of Security Breaches Required by New California Privacy Legislation†. http://library.lp.findlaw.com/articles/file/00008/009186/title/Subject/topic/Antitrust%20and%20Trade%20Regulation_Unfair%20Trade%20Practices/filename/antitrustandtraderegulation_2_237 Whole Security, â€Å"Facts on Identity Theft†. http://www.wholesecurity.com/threat/identity_theft.html Auxillium West, â€Å"California SB 1386 – Personal Information: Privacy†. http://www.auxillium.com/californiaSB1386.shtml StrongAuth, Inc., â€Å"California’s SB 1386 – Frequently Asked Questions†. http://www.strongauth.com/regulations/sb1386/sb1386FAQ.html Legislation: California SB 1386 http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/01-02/bill/sen/sb_1351-1400/sb_1386_bill_20020926_chaptered.html

lots of words :: essays research papers

Why should we build up a Start-up vocabulary quickly? Draft v1.1. August 4, 2002 Rob Waring This page is at http://www1.harenet.ne.jp/~waring/vocab/principles/early.htm ?@ Abstract This article will examine the reasons why it is important both linguistically and psychologically to build a vocabulary quickly when learning a foreign language. The article asserts that very little can be achieved or learned in a foreign language with a small vocabulary and that by building a sizable vocabulary quite quickly one can soon be able to function adequately. You may also wish to look at http://www.jalt-publications.org/tlt/files/95/feb/meara.html ?@ Introduction ?@ It is obvious that in order to learn a foreign language one needs to learn many many words. But how many? Educated English native speakers have a vocabulary of about 20,000-25,000 word families (A 'word family' refers to a group of words that share the same basic meaning e.g. create, creation, creating, created, creative etc), foreign learners of English need far fewer[1].The speaking vocabulary is usually said to be half of the reading and writing vocabulary. Foreign learners of English only need about 3000-5000 word families to be quite competent in speaking and listening to English. This is great news for learners of English because their task is much easier than that of native speakers! ?@ One of the reasons for this seemingly small number is the nature of words and the frequency with which they appear in a language. Not all words are equal because some words such as time, the, come, make, and so on are very common whereas others such as parasol, bombastic and edifice are relatively rare and not met everyday. It therefore seems clear that these frequent words should be among the first words to learn because they will be met most often and will be needed frequently in speech or writing. Thus the pay off for learning them is higher than for an average rare word. These words are often called a General Service Vocabulary because these words are found in many kinds of situations and domains. This is a vocabulary of about 2000 word families. The best list (although it is a bit dated is Michael West's 1954 list called the General Service Word List.) These General Service words are found a very very wide range of contexts such as in the medical world, in novels, in scientific reports, on web pages, in daily conversation, in politics and so on. Because these words appear in so many contexts they are extremely useful to almost all learners.