Family Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Family Business - Essay Example According to the report there is detailed presentation of three key factors; owner, potential successor and environment, and their effects in family business transfers that guarantees continuity. Wise management of these three factors will ensure elimination of key challenges hence ensuring business continuity. From the study, there is an indication that family businesses in Austria operate on long-term orientation with the objective of passing on the business from one generation to the next within the family lineage. This makes issue on business succession an important process of greater importance to families.  From this discussion it is clear that  the process of business transfers entails various aspects of concern such as emotional elements and occurrences of intergenerational conflicts. The study reveals several initiatives that are required in the process of planning successive transfer process in a timely fashion. Substantial preparation on both owners and successors is c onsidered one of the major success factors in business succession.  Family business transfers require detailed incorporation of intention as well as inclusion of various generational changes. Such changes are crucial in ownership and management processes since they pose considerable challenge to the process.Communication plays a role in overcoming such obstacles especially on the ability to question and translate strategy into profitable action. Such actions are considered superior especially when markets are facing uncertainties.

Health care Concepts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Health care Concepts - Essay Example It also provides us with the constraints faced by our health care arrangement. Week 4- Rising Costs of Health Care: The rising costs present us with some of the challenges that are faced by the health care arrangement. It helps identify these areas that would need further research and improvements to make the arrangement more efficient. It also shows the goals of the US health care arrangement. Pharmaceutical Industry: Presents us with some knowledge on the industry where drugs are developed, produced and marketed. It presents us with the process that a drug has to go through before it is licensed as a medication. Health care Reform topic provides us with a rubric for discussing the health care policy creation and the changes on the policies. It presents the policies that have been developed on matters affecting the health care arrangement. Health care Reform topic two, introduces us to the debates surrounding the health care arrangement and issues on access, fairness, quality and sustainability of the health care arrangement. Medicare/ Medicaid: In this week we are introduced to the concepts of Medicaid which is a government program that provides health care related services. These are rather separate programs but all fall under the section of health and human services. We are introduced to the services that are provided by these programs. Medical Ethics: This topic introduces the students to the code of ethics that ranges from: compassion, human dignity, and support in the health care, education, improvements in the community, responsibilities of the medical practitioners and the aspects of professionalism and upholding honesty in the health care arrangement. Alternative Medicine: We are introduced to a broad range of approaches, therapies, healing processes and those that are not commonly used and unacceptable in the health care arrangement. Health Care Literacy: In this topic we are introduced to the currency of success essential in

Hocheng Philippines Corporation Essay Example for Free

Hocheng Philippines Corporation Essay Hocheng Philippines Corporation has been well-known for their finest creations of bathroom fixtures and accessories. It has acquired latest high-tech machineries and equipped workforce to provide high-quality porcelain products which is considered to be their main priority. Most of their production relies on these machineries that might result to interruption if there will be some technical problems experienced. Back up plan should be established to at least avoid delay in production. Safety in workplace is essential and should not be neglected by the management. There is a Violation Receipt which is intended for strict compliance with the rules regarding proper attire for safety. Someone noticed to be in violation will be reprimanded. Though, while exploring all the sides of the plant, I saw employees not in their uniforms, only wearing shorts and are topless which maybe is permissible to the management since these specific employees are under casting process. On the other hand, I noticed that there are a lot of ceiling fans that help in fast drying of the clays molded/ceramics that make much of the dust spread in air around the place which requires wearing of masks whenever in the workplace, but none of them wears one. This could be a huge risk in their health. The company must provide a strong policy regarding the implementation of wearing mask every time they are exposed to dust, come up with an excellent way to oblige employees in obeying with the plant instructions for worker protection and inform them about the hazards. Furthermore, there is only a little supervision from the management to its employees in actual testing of the outputs. One of them disclosed that before packing, testing the ‘flush’ should be made, but this is sometimes made randomly, and not for the entire units. There should be someone responsible for ensuring that all products went under testing and that all the employees are doing their jobs, most especially for those employees sleeping during lunch breaks. Someone must be roaming around, to check if none of them does that during work hours. Good thing about the production process is that it is well automated which minimizes human intervention and speeds up the process. But its huge reliance to machines results to possible delay in production if even just one part of it fails to function properly. If the machine crashes or experiences some technical problems, the production will be in halt. Thus, back up equipment or plan should be prepared by the management in case this happens. Sanitation and freshness were well-emphasized by the company. Of course, those are essential and of a great deal to their consumers. As a matter of fact, it was shown in the video that the pans used in baking are regularly and intensively cleaned and how these are cleaned but none was indicated about cleaning the machines used. Dough is not only placed on the pans, these also touch other parts of equipment before reaching the packaging section. It is impossible that these machines will never be subject to dirt, even if it is in a closed area. Therefore, they should find a way to maintain these machines sanitized, cleaning them regularly as possible without affecting the time allotted for the production. Upon observing in a short span of time, though in a limited view, a huge bulk of dough came into my attention. It was at the floor. I have no idea regarding the plan for that filthy dough but most probably, it is not going near our mouth. Hence, it should be segregated to a separate container, clearly emphasizing that it is no longer to be used for production to ensure that confusion will be avoided and that there is no chance of accidentally including it to clean ones. Strength Hocheng Philippines Corporation has been well-known for their finest creations of bathroom fixtures and accessories. It has acquired latest high-tech machineries and equipped workforce to provide high-quality porcelain products which is considered to be their main priority. As what one of the employees said, â€Å"We do not let our product even with just a small slight crack reach our customers. † In fact, all processes have TQC (Total Quality Control). There is QA (Quality Assurance) every month, like an auditing to randomly check if quality requirements are met to have quality-products. It serves as systematic requirement, a comparison with a standard. In addition to this, every certain period, there is four-hour training for skills development of the current employees. Kanban System is implemented in the company. It is a scheduling system for lean and JIT (Just-in-time) production, which has been proven to be a great way for improvement in the entire production. And, there is automation in maintaining/monitoring inventory. To simplify and speed up in updating the inventory level, the company uses barcode. However, for those items that are broken or defective, updating in inventory system is done manually and it is handled by three people, eliminating the possibility of having false information regarding these outputs. HCG uses Proximity scan (through ID) in entering the plant. This improves efficiency and reduces the possibility of deception. Furthermore, check list of materials to be used for casting is prepared by an immediate supervisor and if the materials prepared are found out to be insufficient, the employees themselves will approach a person in charge to have material requisition. Also, there is move ticket to authorize every time there will be transferring of materials. Almost stages in the whole system require documentation. Even for those items that are to be disposed, are being accompanied by appropriate records which help in audit trail purposes.

Factors affecting customer perception

Factors affecting customer perception CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Introduction This is a report on the survey of the factors that affecting the customer perception in choosing their mobile service provider. The use of customer perception is to require the company figure out what their customers think. Customers always evaluate the perceived benefits before they decide to purchase a particular product. They also include costs of usage, the lost opportunity to use other offering, potential switching costs etc. Consumers always value these added benefits when making a purchasing decision. Therefore this is making it important for company to understand the customers need when marketing to their customers. Recently, the hottest topic in the Malaysias mobile industry which is Mobile Number Portability (MNP) are discussing by everyone. In simple, Mobile Number Portability (MNP) is taking our Mobile Number from one mobile phone network to another. It enables us to maintain their existing mobile phone numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another mobile network operator. This removed one of the major restrictions on changing mobile network operator, and allows users to freely select from among the mobile network operators on offer. In Malaysia, there are four main mobile service providers Celcom, Maxis, DiGi and U-Mobile. A desire for cheaper calls is the reason that most consumers cite for possibly changing to a new network. Everybody is looking to change networks give a heavy weighting to four major factors: cost, coverage, technology and service options. This indicates that service providers need to take a multidimensional approach to managing their corporate custom er bases. MNP will allow further flexibility in the mobile phone market, as a result of which mobile network operators will be subject to other competition. This will cause mobile network operators to clarify their features in various policies such as fees and services. We have seen some of the mobile network operators introducing measures such as fixed price for calling other users of the others mobile network operator. There are five factors that has been found out how on what factor that influence the customers to select the certain telecommunication service provider- peer influence, product quality, customer service quality, promotion and network coverage. The consumer are getting the benefits from the result of this fierce competition among the telecommunication service provider in Malaysia because these company will keep improving and offer more attractive promotion in order to maintain and attract the new customers. Background of the research Malaysias telecommunication infrastructure market was opened in 1989 when a second mobile operator, Celcom, launched service. From 1993 to 1995, the market was further opened when three additional companies were granted various operating licenses such as fixed, long distance, mobile cellular allowing them to compete as full service operators. The telecommunication companies are competing among each other and create a competitive environment in the telco industry. There are some of the companies had merged with others big company and some of them gone bankruptcy. Today, four companies make up the major telecommunication market segment. The companies are DiGi, Maxis, Celcom and U-mobile. Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad is the oldest mobile telecommunications company in Malaysia that was established in 1988 and Celcom had transform itself as the market leader by offering the quality services to the customers. It continues to spread its wings and is undeterred by the dynamic nature of the mobile communications industry. Currently, Celcom offers its mobile postpaid and prepaid services under the access codes 019 and 013, serving a combined customer base in excess of 5 million with network coverage spanning over 95 per cent of the populated areas in the country. Furthermore, businessman was the major user of this Celcom service provider due to the stable network coverage. According to the Maxis website, Maxis Mobile Sdn Bhd, which started operations in 1995, Maxis has steadily built up its role to become leading telecommunications service provider in Malaysia by focusing its core business, adding 600 base stations during 2003. In 2003, the company acquired an additional 25 MHz spectrum in the 1800 MHz band and with a 3G license which launched by 2006. Being the leader within the telecommunication industry, the corporation is the fifth largest Public Company in Malaysia with total subscribers of 6.4million, providing a wide range of innovative mobile, fixed and international network services to their customers. Maxis Mobile Sdn Bhd first used the Cardax System (CC Unix) since 1998 when they moved their operations into Menara Maxis, owned and managed by Tanjong City Centre Property Management (Tanjong Plc Group of Companies). DiGi Telecommunications is smallest of the major mobile service provider that is majority controlled by Telenor, is holding its own in the face of its two bigger rivals. DiGi is supported by Telenor with the financial and technical stability. DiGi as the smallest of remaining mobile cellular companies has benefited from the sustained growth in market demand for cell phones in Malaysia. DiGi tend to serve their customers with high quality services and products by offering an affordable price, convenient and easy to access the broadband services in order to enrich the customers life. DiGi is the first mobile service provider to launch the prepaid concept for mobile services in Malaysia and till today, DiGi Prepaid remains the market leader. To achieve the quality and innovation services, DiGi is placing a lot of emphasis upon backend systems, efficient billing system and customer relationship management system. Now they had come out the broadband package which has a higher speed so cal led 3.5G. U mobile Sdn Bhd is Malaysias new established mobile service provider by offering value added services such as 3G video call to attract the youth market. U Mobile is using 018 prefix and provide the call charges with per second per block charges. This uniqueness had become their strength and a point to attract the light users of mobile. They just need to pay as how many second they are using. In April 2007, U Mobile signed Malaysias first ever nationwide roaming memorandum of understanding as a precursor to an agreement with Celcom (Malaysia) Bhd. This initiative allows U Mobiles customers to experience nationwide coverage from day one of service availability, whilst U Mobile continues to progressively rollout its own unique HSDPA driven mobile network. KT Freetel of South Korea and NTT DOCOMO of Japans combined investment of USD$200 million in December 2007 marked an exciting new chapter for U Mobile. This strategic partnership supports U Mobiles rapid go-to-market and product enha ncement and diversification plan. U Mobile introduced 3G mobile phone bundling packages for its U38, U68, and U98 Postpaid plans at attractive prices in August 2008. These few companys core business is segmented of the Malaysia telecommunication market, mobile markets and also the broadband markets. Besides, the telecommunication companies are also provided mobile services such as Short Message Service (SMS), Wireless Application Protocol, subscription services, General Packet Radio Services (GPRS), and Third Generation known as 3G that enable the customer to connect with a video call. These companies are offering the price promotion in order to attract the customers. Now there is an aggressive competition among these companies, so the company should figure out the factors of playing a vital role to choose the telecommunication service providers The Malaysia mobile industry is going the new era of competition. Therefore, all these mobile service provider need to differentiate themselves from others and presence itself well to become the one of the market leader in telecommunication industry. They can differentiate themselves by delivering more value added service such as the superior call charges and quality and improve their network coverage to maintain their market position and generating more innovation in their performance to meet the customer expectation. Problem Statement To what extent do the peers influence, customers services quality, products quality, promotion and network coverage affect the customer perception in choosing their mobile service provider? Research Objective The overall goal of this study is to determine and identify the factors that affecting customers perception in choosing their mobile service provider. The following objectives are built to achieve the goals of this study: To access that how peer influence, customer service quality, product quality, promotion and network coverage going to become the factor for customer to using specific telecommunication service provider. To determine whether the customers like the mobile service providers marketing activities To determine the mobile service provider positioning strategies in serving their customers. Justification for the research The telecommunication industry is undergoing in a dramatic changes. The value of the paper will indicate the consumer behavior in the competitive market. This study provides insights of the factors that affecting the customer perception in choosing their mobile service provider nowadays. This research is done for the contribution that will bring for the family; society, country, and it also lead us to a better living environment with advanced technology. The result of this research will be beneficial for the telecommunication operator to serve as a guideline in implementing their business strategy. With the information, those telecommunication provider will be able to design packages that satisfying consumers to improve their company performance as well as to maintain their market share. This research is important because it can outline what the factors that affecting the consumers perception in choosing their mobile service provider. Also, this research able to provides the factors that cause the switching behavior. When service provider understand what is the wants and needs of the consumer. Thus, it helps to reduce their cost in research and development. By then, service provider can focus to increase their product features or quality that serves to the consumers. Superior customer service and products quality can affect customers perception in choosing their mobile service provider. Through this study, service provider can focus on what is the best business quality and services to consumers in order to maintain their life long relationship to create maximum life time value to the company itself. This research can figure out the relationship between product and service quality with the customers perception in choosing the mobile service provider. Therefore, Telecommunication Company should emphasis on its product quality and customer service aspect in order to improve customers satisfaction. Before taking any actions to change the customer perception, the most crucial thing is to understand what factors influence customer satisfaction, and then try to make improvements in these critical areas so that they can have more satisfied and loyal customers. Methodology The methodology used for the survey to collect data in this research is through questionnaire. The population of this study is individuals who are mobile users in Malaysia. It is impossible to get all mobile users to conduct the survey; therefore survey will conduct to selected samples to gather the data. Besides, non-probability purposive sampling method will be used as this is an exploratory study. Other than that, the questionnaire conducted would be self-administered and made from secondary data obtained from journals from other researchers due to the lack of local research on the topic. The methods used for this research also come from review of literatures and books from the internet as it is more time saving and less costly. Limitations of the research Despite the useful findings of this study, this empirical study has several limitations to be acknowledged. First, the findings in this study depend on the honesty of the respondents. It is known individuals would agree more on socially desirable answers and disagree more towards socially undesirable answers rather than fully and truly express the feeling and opinions. Next, the limitation of this research is that the data of this study is collected through the surveys, so there is a high probability of inaccurate information. The sample size of 300 is not enough to determine the actual factor. There are too many factors that will affect the customers perception. More researches need to be conducted on the higher population in order to get the actual factors. Outline of the research project report This research paper is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1: Introduction The background of study is mentioned in this chapter. The discussion of the overall question and the relevance topic are being carried out. This chapter includes the objectives and the problem statement of this study. Besides that, the explanation of who is gaining benefits from this study is included. Lastly, important terms are clearly defined to avoid confusion amongst readers. Chapter 2: Literature Review This chapter is the part to cite those relevant studies from authors and year of the study. Both dependent and independent variables will then be identified and highlighted as the foundation to build the theoretical framework and hypotheses development. Arguments and opinions from different authors are included to support the study. During this chapter, readers will have a clear idea about the problems and the possible solutions that can be made to solve. Chapter 3: Research Methodology Theoretical framework and hypothesis of study will be stated. Theoretical framework shows the relationship between variables. Next, testable hypotheses will be developed based on their relationships. These hypotheses are to examine whether or not the framework is valid by using appropriate statistical analysis. Chapter 4: Data Analysis Before proceed into this chapter, data collection is needed from respondents through various methods. The results will then be tested to analyze the response in order to get a clearer and more concrete result. Chapter 5: Discussions and Conclusion Chapter 5 contains the conclusions and justification on the hypothesis constructed in the research. Other than that, the chapter also summarized the research findings and suggestions on the future findings are given supported by assumptions made from the research. Figure 1 below shows the outlines of the research. Definition Peer Influence Past research shows that peer influence has emerged over the last 50 years to be the chief source of values and behavioral influence in adolescence, replacing the influence of adults. By examining the peer influence on the consumer perception, we can know why peer influence is a factor that affects consumer perception in choosing their mobile service provider. Customer Service Quality Customers service quality includes trust, reliability and responsiveness of the company in telecommunication industry. This study will figure out how this factor affects the consumers perception. Product Quality Product quality is the characteristics of a product that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. Customers always focus on the product quality when they purchase a product/service. Promotion Promotion is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. Promotion able to attract the customers to disseminate the information of a product. This study will discuss how promotion works as one of the factors to affect the consumer perception. Network Coverage Network Coverage is the range of mobile network signal provided by the telecommunication mobile service provider. This study will also discuss about how the network coverage will affect the consumer perception. Scope This research is particularly interested in investigating consumers behaviors and perceptions such as motivations of changing or remaining with mobile operators with the introduction of MNP. This paper is tending to find out what are the factors that affecting customer perception in choosing their service provider through this study. All respondents are assumed to have basic mobile knowledge. There are many factors that cause the consumers to choose their mobile service provider. The study will also include the implications of switching cost on the telecommunication industry, service providers and consumers. Conclusion This research is aim to complete successfully within the time frame so that the result would accurate and will achieve the research objectives. This research had confirms the significant positive relationship of peer influence, customer service quality, product quality, promotion and network coverage to affect the consumers perception. It is expected to provide a broader understanding of mobile service provider in Malaysia and explore the real factors that affecting the consumers perception in choosing their mobile service provider. It is also hope that the successful completion of the survey would have positive impact on the mobile service provider strategies in order to grab the customers and maintain their customer relationship. Chapter 2 Literature Review Dependent Variable Customers perception in choosing their mobile service provider The understanding of consumer perception in a virtual environment is limited. It is important to develop an understanding of the factors that affect consumer perception in this market space. This will enable mobile service provider to develop more effective and focused strategies for optimizing the visibility of their product offerings and to attract more customers. There are various factors that can affecting the consumer perception when making buying decision on a product. Independent Variables Peer Influence   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Peer influence is commonly defined as the extent to which peers exert influence on the attitudes, thoughts, and actions of an individual (Bristol and Mangleburg, 2005). There will be some of the people will affect the perception of the customer when they decide to buy a product. When they decide using which mobile service provider, most of customers will think which mobile service providers are currently using by their friends and family. Peers influences include the spread opinions of friends, family, colleagues and reference group. Mostly individuals will be influenced and get into following their trend and take their opinions as a standard of their purchase decisions. Peers can influence each other either in a positive way or negative way. The potential power of WOM (Word of Mouth) as a form of promotion is generally accepted (Arndt, 1967; Buttle, 1998; Dye, 2000). WOM is a strong factor to affect the customers perception. If the customer is less well understood the product, he/she will refer to the people around them. WOM can be negative or positive, so the company should utilize the effectiveness of WOM as a good promotional tool and build goodwill of the product in order to enhance their company reputation. The influence that a sources word-of-mouth information exhibits on the receiver has traditionally been explained by models of interpersonal influence (Bansal and Voyer, 2000; Bone, 1995; Cohen and Golden, 1972). Within this stream of research, it has often been suggested that interpersonal or social influence can be categorized as either informational or normative influence (e.g. Deutsch and Gerrard, 1955). Word of mouth can operate through both channels: Informational influence occurs when information is accepted as evidence of reality (e.g. Burnkraut and Cosineau, 1975). In contrast, normative influence operates through compliance, which means that the individual conforms to the verbalized expectations of referent others (Kelman, 1961) Customer service quality Service quality had become an important attention to the company due to its strong impact on their business performance. Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction. That is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation. Customer service quality is the perceived quality of service obtained by a customer when using the current mobile service providers. Customer service is what an organization provides to its customers and is relatively easy to measure. Typically the measures include response time, time required to provide service, ability to handle a customers issues on the first call, procedures for handling customer complaints. Customer service is always important and companies should enhance all the ways in which they touch their customer, the service they provide and their measures to continuously improve that service. Superior service quality measurably increases a firms overall profitability. Mobile users always requested the fast connection either in calling or sending short message from the mobile service provider. They will make judgment based on the service quality given by their mobile service provider in order to change the mobile service provider or being loyal to their current mobile service provider. If the customers maintain loyalty to their mobile service provider, thus it will bring continuous revenue to the company. Service quality is associated with the relationships between server and customer, The customers will consider the politeness, helpfulness, speeds of delivery, and pleasantness of the service (Berry, 1987) when they received the services from their mobile service provider. Customer service is playing an important role in mobile service provider; it helps to maintain the loyalty of consumer towards the company. According to Taylor, 1992, service quality enhancement differentiates the service providers from competitors. Consumer often compares the service quality within other mobile service provider companies. There is huge amount of support in the service quality literature for a link with customer loyalty and future purchases. Customers always put the service quality they receive as the factor that affects them to do purchase of the product. If the service is bad, the customer will tend to change to mobile service provider.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Service quality is very important that companies have gone to great efforts to evaluate and keep records of service quality levels. Service quality is about the consumers judgment about the overall excellence or superiority of a service (Zeithaml, 1988). If the mobile service providers provide the bad services in handling the customers issues, it will leave a bad impact of the brand name in the customers mind. In order to have a better understanding about service quality, there are few attributes about services: services are intangible; services are heterogeneous, meaning that their performance often varies with respect to the provider and the customer; services cannot be placed in a time capsule and thus be tested and re-tested over time; and The production of services is likely to be inseparable from their consumption (Gronroos, 1990). The service evaluation can be associated with service delivery process, along with output (Cody and Hope, 1999). These two underlying processes generally explain the contribution of service quality to profitability. First, service quality is regarded as one of the few means for service differentiation and competitive advantage that attracts new customers and contributes to the market share (Venetis and Ghauri, 2000, p. 215). Second, service quality enhances customers intention to purchase again, to buy more, to buy other services, to become less price-sensitive and to tell others about their favorable experiences (Venetis and Ghauri, 2000, p. 215).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reichheld and Sasser (1995) had proposed that the high level of satisfaction lead to increase the customer loyalty. There is growing evidence that customer perception of service quality they received when using the mobile service provider will affect their behavioral intention. Nowadays, the telecommunication industry is become more competitive and there are more new entrants of other small mobile service provider to grab the market. According to Melody (2001) public utilities is derived from the law in any country. Where the demand for a good or service is considered a common necessity for the public at large and the supply conditions are such that the public may not be provided with reasonable service at reasonable prices. Service is a form of attitude which is related to satisfaction and also leads to consumer loyalty (Johnson and Sirikit, 2002) and future purchase. In particular consumers prefer service quality when the price and other cost elements are held constant (Boyer and Hult, 2005). It has become a distinct and important aspect of the product and service offering (Wal et al., 2002). According to Leisen and Vance (2001) service quality helps to create the necessary competitive advantage by being an effective differentiating factor. Service qualit y was initiated in the 1980s as the worldwide trend when marketers realized that only a quality product could not guaranteed to maintain competitive advantage (Wal et al., 2002). Competitive advantage is a value-creating strategy, simultaneously which is not implemented by any existing or potential competitors (Barney, 1991). Service quality is essential and important for a telecommunication service provider company to ensure the quality service for establishing and maintaining loyal and profitable customer (Zeithaml, 2000; Leisen and Vance, 2001). Conversely, Johnson and Sirikit (2002) stated that service delivery systems have the ability to allow managers of company to identify the real customer feedback and satisfaction on their telecommunication service. Since, quality reflects the customers expectations about a product or service. Lovelock (1996) stated that this customer driven quality replaced the traditional marketing philosophies which was based on products and process. Product quality The quality of a product is a conceptualize service quality as the relative perceptual distance between customer expectations and evaluations of service experiences and service quality using a multi-item scale called the SERVQUAL model.(Parasuraman et al., 1988). The SERVQUAL model includes the five dimensions of tangibles which is the physical facilities and the appearance of personnel, reliability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately, responsiveness as the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service, assurance where employee knowledge base which induces customer trust and confidence, and empathy which is the caring and individualized attention provided to customers by the service provider.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To get products or services in good quality is a must in customers perception. Especially for telecommunication industry, customers cannot touch the physical product before they make their decision. To gain trust in consumers, it is necessary for the mobile service provider to provide the identity and complete information of the company such as their physical location, pass record, product quality approved. Besides, telecommunication company have to ensure they provide only good quality product or service to consumer because can gain word of mouth. Once they fail to do it, they will suffer it. According to lemons model (Akerlof 1970), product quality is the basic idea in a competitive market. Products only differentiated by their exogenous quality. If product quality is undistinguishable beforehand by the buyer, then there is one price. If cost are increasing in quality, then at that price the highest quality products may not be offered, and as a result buyers become reluctant to pay high price. They learn to expect low-quality products which mean the price must fall. Product quality is always an important aspect of a purchasing decision and in market behavior. Since, consumers regularly face the task of estimating product quality under conditions of imperfect knowledge about the underlying attributes of the various product offers with the aid of personal, self-perceived quality criteria (Bedeian, 1971 adapted by Sjolander, 1992). According to Sjolander (1992), the consumer behavior in modern market is different from the theoretical case of consumer decision making in free markets. Promotion In order to promote a companys product, a company often uses advertising to create brand and or product differentiation in order to soften the price competition. To the extent that persuasive advertising create customer loyalty through perceived differentiation over essentially identical products, they create market power in the sense that consumers may be willing to pay more for preferred brands, thus allowing Telco Company to raise prices above marginal costs. The most preferred outcome by firms is where one advertises while its competitors dont, leading to market share and profitability gain at the expense of its rivals. In the price promotion, the Telco companies are using game theoretic model (Axelrod and Hamilton, 1981) to provide a homogenous product and have sufficient capacity to serve the market demand. It is a non-cooperative game as there werent any enforceable agreements between them as they compete in the marketplace. It is a repeated one-shot simultaneous game as they were driven by quarterly performance accountable to shareholders. As such, they would decide on their pricing strategies independently and aware of rivals prices in the market while forming certain expectations about rivals pricing strategies. Actions available are Maintain Price and Undercut Price. Payoffs are ranked in order of preference (higher number is preferred). The most preferred outcome by firms is where one undercuts price while its competitors maintains price, leading to market share gain at the expense of its rivals. When all firms maintain prices, there is no change in market-share and profitability. When all f irms undercut prices, market-share remains with reduced profitability. Price plays a vital role in telecommunication market especially for the mobile telecommunication service providers (Kollmann, 2000). Its included not only the purchase price but also the call and rental charges. Generally, a price dominated mass market leads to customers having more choice and the opportunity to compare the pricing structures of different providers. Therefore, the company that will offer lower charges, the more customers will commit themselves to the telephone networks, so more call minutes will achieved. It will be interesting to study the impact of the two or more mobile service provider having price competition. One of the impact will be the customers will keep switching from one mobile service provider to another one. For example, there is a new customer will think of reducing its switching cost. The customers that keep changing their customer due to price promotion offered by the mobile service provider

Religious Rationale for the Plague in Rosemary Horrox’s The Black Death

Religious Rationale for the Plague in Rosemary Horrox’s The Black Death After the September 11th, 2001 attacks, prominent religious figures claimed that depraved American lifestyles were to blame for the bombings; Protestant leader Jerry Falwell came forth and stated that the attacks were a manifestation of God’s irritation at impious people. This attitude stems from a reaction to contemporary events, but possesses roots that date back to 1348. Throughout the time of plague in medieval England, priests and other spiritual leaders insisted that mass devastation via disease was a God-sent punishment for decadent lifestyles and impious behavior. These officials claimed that the promiscuous, the scantily dressed, and the flamboyant were all to blame for outbreaks of pestilence. Religious responses to the plague of 1348, found in passages of Rosemary Horrox’s The Black Death, clearly display this sentiment, signifying the fact that standards of propriety and decorum were highly relevant to medieval religious authorities attempting to pin down th e causes of plague. In 1348, religious authorities determined that the immodest behavior of certain groups led to outbreaks of ubiquitous plague. The tendency to regard indecency as the cause of plague is displayed in records of the day. Henry Knighton’s description of a guilty crowd attending the tournaments is a telling example. He laments that, â€Å"they spent and wasted their goods, and (according to the common report) abused their bodies in wantonness and scurrilous licentiousness. They neither feared God nor blushed at the criticism of the people, but took the marriage bond lightly and were deaf to the demands of modesty† (130). As one can gather from this passage, the 1348 religi... ...se of the plague’s presence by delimiting impious behavior according to biblical law, and condemning displays of impropriety. Individuals who failed to adhere to religious dictates regarding frugality and matrimony were blamed for ushering in the disease. Those who ignored social conventions regarding decent dress and gender codes were also accused of inciting God’s wrath and bringing society to ruin. According to excerpts of Rosemary Horrox’s The Black Death, the religious message of 1348 states that human pain and suffering are divine punishment for decadence, licentiousness, and frivolity. It is interesting to note that religious leaders of the 21st century state much the same thing regarding catastrophic events. This leads one to conclude that standards of propriety and decorum will always remain an inherent part of any religious diagnosis for societal ailments.

Autism Essay -- Chromosome Disorders

What is autism? "Autism is a potentially severe neurological condition affecting social functioning, communication skills, reasoning, and behavior. It is considered a "spectrum disorder," meaning that the symptoms and characteristics of autism can present themselves in a variety of combinations, ranging from extremely mild to quite severe" (Fergus 2002 para.1). Autism was first reported in 1943 by a Dr. Leo Kanner of John Hopkins University. Dr Leo Kanner based his theory on 11 children who showed signs of withdrawal from human contact, this started at age 1 between the years of 1938 to 1943. In the 1940’s, the research of autism was so rare and this was a new case, Dr. Leo Kanner based the disability to be schizophrenia which in the eyes of the parents they thought they were at fault. In the 60’s, that is when the knowledge of autism and the treatments came clear. (Edelson Para. 8) Having the basic history of autism will let people understand where and how Dr. Leo Kan ner had come across the disability. Some people have never heard about autism and the treatments that go into helping someone with autism. The three main points that will be discussed are treatment, prognosis, and the quality of life. Having a child with autism can make life difficult but with therapy and treatment children with autism can grow to be what society calls normal. With a child who has been diagnosed as autistic, this starts the wheels turning of what is to do next. The diagnosis of autism is based on I.Q. tests and observations; this will introduce what needs that the child may have. As physicians observe children with autism and evaluate how severe each child may be. Depending on the severity of the children depends on the course of treatment th... ...riskfactors Autism Research Institute. (2008). What is autism? Retrieved August 29, 2008, from Autism Research Institute: http://www.autism.com/autism/index.htm -Autism Society of America. (n.d.). Unique needs and abilities. Retrieved August 29, 2008, from Autism Society of America: http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer?pagename=life_edu_unique Autism Spectrum Disorder program. (2000) Wichita State University. Retrieved from September 20, 2008, from http://webs.wichita.edu/?u=vbain&p=/AutismSpectrumClinic/ Pediatrics (Oct 2005): 54(10). General OneFile. Gale. Apollo Library. R etrieved from September 20, 2008 from . American health line. (2007). Pediatrics: Reports on Autism. Retrieved on September 20, 2008 from University of Phoenix Library. Lee LC (2007) Quality of life. Retrieved from September 20, 2008 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez

OpenBTS

OpenBTS: A Way of Providing Internet Access to Developing CountriesAbstract The mobile network infrastructure of the twenty-first century is monolithic. It de facto closed and complex systems have few suppliers. They are mostly pre-internet protocol run, and their architectural concept keeps evolving. However, this evolution has not resulted in them being economical or flexible. Thus OpenBTS brings the empowerment that is needed to build and operate cellular networks. Given that the technologies and capabilities are necessary to make such systems is readily available. This paper will look at the OpenBTS. What it means, how it works, components needed to create it, how these components function about each other. Also, the paper will look at the cost involved in setting up OpenBTS and how viable it is in the developing nations.? OpenBTS: A Way of Providing Internet Access to Developing CountriesOpen Base Transceiver Station simply is known as OpenBTS is a GSM access point that is software based. It allows the use of mobile phones that are GSM compatible with voice over the internet protocol. The software is categorized as open source by its developers Range Networks. Its public release as an open source software revolutionized the lower three layers of the GSM protocol stack (Iedema, 22). The OpenBTS is abbreviated by the C++, as free software, its controlled by the GNU Affero General Public License terms and conditions. How the OpenBTS works. OpenBTS operates by replacing the third layer of conventional GSM operational infrastructure. As opposed to GSM system that forwards calls through the radio resource management protocol via base stations that are external, OpenBTS has internal units that perform this function. OpenBTS uses SIP to deliver calls to VOIP soft switch and therefore bypasses the need to route the call to the operator's mobile switching center Burgess (David ; Samra, 13). The VIOP software is installed, and the OpenBTS are installed in one computer to form a cellular network that delivers calls to VOIP soft switch and therefore bypasses the need to route the call to the operator's mobile switching center. The VIOP software is installed, and the OpenBTS are installed in one computer to form a cellular network that is self-sufficient. However, it also possible to configure several OpenBTS units to share a common VOIP switch to form a network.Other components of GSMGSM components can be divided into four areas. These are the MS (Mobile Station), BSS (Base-Station Subsystem, NSS (Network and Switching Subsystem) and OSS (Operation and Support Subsystem. These four elements within the GSM network operate together as one unit, and therefore users never realize the difference that exists in the System (Iedema, 32). The components would take the below shape regarding a diagram representation.The MS or mobile stations also known as the cell or mobile phones and is the part of the GSM network that is seen and operated by the users. Technological innovation has improved the size and functionality of this part of the network over the years. The mobile station has two elements that help it carry out its functions. These are the Hardware, and the Subscriber Identity Module often referred to as the SIM (David & Samra, 13). The SIM contains the user's information that the network uses to identify them and the IMSI which is the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI). The hardware contains the devices that are used to generate data and transmit it. It also contains the International Mobile Equipment Identity which is an international identification used to trace stolen phones. The BSS or Base Station Subsystem has two sections, the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) and the Base Station Controller (BSC). The BTS communicates with the mobile through an Um interface and associated protocols (Iedema, 24). The BTC provides radio resources that communicate with and control through an Abis interface. The NSS or Networking Switching Subsystem is the core element of the GSM network, and it contains several elements. These elements are Mobile Services Switching Centre which acts as the switching node and enables functions such as registration, authentication, and call location among other functions to be performed. The Home Location Register element contains the administrative information used to register the user to the network and direct calls appropriately. The Visitor Location Register contains information that allows individual users to access the services that they request. The Equipment Identity Register, checks for the International Mobile Equipment Identity to verify if the particular equipment is allowed to accesses the services. Authentication Center provides the link between the SIM card and the network through a key that helps in radio connection. The Gateway Mobile Switching Center is responsible for obtaining Mobile Station Roaming Number that helps in call termination.The other element of the GSM network is the OSS (Operation and Support Subsystem). It's the component that connects the NSS and BSC. The GSM network is controlled and monitored by this element. It also used to monitor traffic load that goes through the BSS. The connection between OpenBTS and other GSM network components OpenBTS can be connected to GSM through software or hardware. The software elements are the GNU Radio and the Asterisk. This is a software suite that has several modules that are combined with minimal hardware and used in implementing radio systems in personal computers. It's an interface that is graphical with blocks that represent stages through which data flows. This graphical representation is achieved through the use of Python programming language (David ;Samra, 13). The asterisk is the communication server that provides the capability that enables BTS to route calls accurately, perform correct registration and authentication processes in the GSM networks. The asterisk enables the network to read the Subscriber Identity Modules as the SIP user, and their International Mobile Subscriber Identity as the SIP username. This is achieved by connecting the Asterisk PBX to the OpenBTS. The other way of connecting OpenBTS to GSM network is through the use of hardware such Motherboard Ettus Research Universal Software Radio Peripheral. Also, daughterboards RFX900 with VERT900 antennas and GSM terminals equipped with SIM cards is required. The connection is made through motherboard that can accommodate several daughterboards (David ; Samra, 13). The interface between the motherboard and the daughterboards is provided by USB cable that can transmit Radio frequency bandwidth.Cost of OpenBTS and other components Compared to the traditional cell networks, OpenBTS is low in cost as most of the components needed are easily available. The software and the equipment used to create an OpenBTS through GSM network are readily available in stores and online (Heimerl et al., 3). This has made OpenBTS cost effective as compared to the traditional landline network or the other cellular networks such satellite. The only challenge that OpenBTS faces are the availability of power in rural areas that are of the grid. The use of other sources of power could prove to be expensive and drive the cost of the network high especially in a developing country where income levels are low.Feasibility of OpenBTS in the rural areaThe feasibility of OpenBTS in providing internet access in the rural and remote area is great. Through the use of simple and easily available material, networks that can cover a radius of up to 15miles is easily created (Heimerl et al., 3). This would drastically improve the coverage area of these of grid areas that would otherwise be impossible to reach. Various advantages would come with Using OpenBTS to provide internet to the rural area. The cost of OpenBTS is low compared to other forms of such as satellite or landline. The equipment and technology required to build OpenBTS are affordable and readily available. However, there are also the cons of OpenBTS (David ; Samra, 13). Several regulations hinder the development and use of this technology. The process of getting approval to develop OpenBTS network can be tiresome in some countries. Also, the radius covered by OpenBTS network can be relatively small requiring the creation of multiple networks to cover wide areas. OpenBTS in Indonesia In Indonesia, the OpenBTS is provided by an American startup Endaga. The company operates the module through the Village Base Station which is mounted on the small box and mounted on metallic poles (Heimerl ; Brewer, 3). The equipment is powered by solar panels that are mounted on the same pole. The box is further fit with management software that performs billing and analytics functions. These stations combine the function of a traditional GSM equipment and programmable computer allowing them to provide more value. They provide both voice and data capabilities to the rural villages. After experiencing success with this innovation in two primary towns, Endaga is preparing to expand to other locations within the country and the continent. Conclusion For the two first century to truly be a century of technological advance, there must be an equal distribution of internet services. Both the rural and urban areas must be covered effectively by internet services. There has been concentration on the urban areas with the number of services providers in these areas going up. However, the rural and poor areas have been given little attention or at times completely neglected. Most developing countries in Africa and Asia lack essential internet connectivity. In the areas where the services are available, they are still expensive for many who are poor. The OpenBTS promises to solve the two-fold problem that many remote and poor areas are facing. Since it allows for firms to provide for cheap internet services, it will eliminate the problem of affordability. Also, it will also offer off-grid areas that lack power. Through innovation like the one that has been exhibited by Endaga, it is now possible to provide internet services in any area. It is now upon the various governments of the developing nations to ensure that right policies that will facilitate the development of the concept is in place.