Policing Paper

Policing Paper Tyrone L. Sterling University of Phoenix Survey of Justice and Security AJS/502 Dr. Pamela Knothe June 14, 2012 Policing Paper The City of Chicago has adopted a new tool to use against fighting crime. This is what is known as the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS). Many people have never heard of the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS). The Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy came about in April 1993 and was first implemented in five of the 25 police districts in Chicago. Rogers Park, Morgan Park, Austin, Marquette, and Englewood were the first locations of the CAPS Program.The reasons these locations were picked was determined by their crime problems, economics, demographics, and their levels of community organization. In 1994 the other 20 districts of Chicago were participants of the CAPS Program. Outreaching is always a very important goal when there is a merger of organizations. In this case it is collaboration between a community and law enfor cement (Chicago Police department) agencies. The benefits of incorporating this idea could include (but not limited to) the sharing of information, and increase trust between parties hat were involved or mainly working together to prevent crimes from taking place.One key point that makes the CAPS a unique program is that it places the community, the police, and other city agencies on the same sheet of music in protect their neighborhoods against crime. In law enforcement it is always better to be proactive than reactive, and developing additional support always give him or her the upper hand. Crime prevention at the neighborhood level is effective because the use of new technology to help police and residents target crime hot spots. More efficient use of city services that affects crime, extensive training for both police and ommunity, neighborhood-based beat officers and regular beat community meetings involving police and residents. One main goals of the CAPS program is to impleme nt successful and effective way to make neighborhoods safer by improving the quality of life. With the United States the CAPS program has been recognized as one effective and proactive means of police and community involvement in the fight against crime. In relation to functions of patrol, crime investigation, emergency, and critical incident response and future trends of the CAPS program.One key point of functions of patrolling could be the proactive vigilance of the community (individual neighborhoods) in taking preventive measures in developing an increase of their crime rates. Crime investigations are still the sole responsibility of the Chicago police department; however, it is always easier to investigate crimes when he or she does have the support of the community backing him or her up. This has proven to be very effective means of adding in investigations, instead of the community not wanting to get involve, like it was in the past.With relation to emergency and critical inc ident response, there have been positive comments that have been said about the CAPS program involvement in reporting certain situations. It is hard to predict the future brings for the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) Program. Observing past trends from when the program was first started, one could see how crime has gone down, the community has gotten more involve in the prevention of crimes in their neighborhoods. Above all the CAPS program has been identified as one of the best programs in the United States in community and police collaboration.I know with any new program, there are budget stipulations. However, because this program has had positive reviews and comments, I think funding may not be an issue. In conclusion, the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) Program was explained as well as the origin. It was also noted when and above all why it was incorporated. There are ongoing discussions of how private security agencies and policing work together. The re are few (if any) discussions of the role that a particular community and policing affect each other.In this instance the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) Program should be followed and modeled in communities across the nation. In looking at the pros and cons of the CAPS Program, there are far many pros that outweigh the cons. In fact that alone shows the effectiveness of the program. For any other community, district, city, or metropolitan area; this program should be the basis of law enforcement and community collaboration. Reference: https://portal. chicagopolice. org/portal/page/portal/ClearPath/Get%20Involved/How%20CAPS%20works/What%20is%20CAPS

Deaf Again Journal

Deaf Again Journal Studying American Sign Language, I have learned a lot about the Deaf community and I also have learned a lot about their language, American Sign Language, hoping to be someday fluent. By reading Deaf Again By Mark Drolsbaugh, I have learned even more about the life of a Deaf person. Drolsbaugh not only tells you how he became Deaf he also tells the story of his life. This intriguing autobiography, by Mark Drolsbaugh, has taught me more about the life of a Deaf person than I can ever hope to find out.Many deaf children, born or soon after became deaf, are not raised by sign communication and, I’ve always wondered why. By reading more into this novel, I have realized that it has helped me to better understand how people can become Deaf or hard of hearing, and teaches me how Deaf people live their lives in the hearing world. Drolsbaugh wasn’t born deaf but later on in his childhood slowly became deaf. I saw him struggle in school. I saw him try to live t he life of a hearing person and pass his classes as such. Learning sign language takes time and concentration.In order to learn American Sign Language you must try to see through the eyes, or in this case, hear through the ears of a Deaf or hard of hearing individual. Drolsbaugh later learned that not learning to sign had impacted his academics negatively and his development through life. As a hearing person struggles through life to find their place in their community, Drolsbaugh struggles to find his place in the Deaf community. This novel is surrounding the audiences of teens and young adults dealing with their everyday lives.The novel, in addition gives the necessary advice to those people, young or old, who were born deaf, or who recently became deaf. The impactful life of Mark Drolsbaugh gives the audience the confidence to find out who they are in life and where they were meant to be. For the Deaf people, this novel gives them a safe haven inside their heads. It also gives th em something and someone to relate to. Drolsbaugh gives every reader a walk through his shoes. He shows you the ups and downs of being born with deaf parents and eventually becoming deaf himself and never earning sign language early in his childhood. He explains the battles living in a hearing world and barely knows sign language and ultimately learning and being able to correspond, but only with other Deaf people like himself. He didn’t really know it but he had the support of the Deaf community. Only when he went to Gallaudet University did he realize that they were there behind him. Gallaudet gave him even more confidence to continue his roller coaster journey to become an astonishing author. In my honest opinion I didn’t find many weaknesses in this book.Mark Drolsbaughs strengths were his capabilities to be born hearing with Deaf parents. Gradually become deaf and not know or understand a single sign of American Sign Language, attend hearing people schools which h ad little Deaf teaching. Attend a college in which he wasn’t too happy to attend. Make money by working in a supermarket surrounded by hearing people. Eventually studying at Gallaudet and finally being at peace when surrounded by people who â€Å"speak† just like him, in American Sign Language. Read also  Summary : Love Is Never SilentHes been through a lot showing the world that hes not just surviving through his life but he is living it for the moment, and hes living it as a Deaf person. Being an idealistic student with wonderful grades and academics getting into Harvard-type schools wasn’t so easy being deaf as he explained through chapter 6. After being accepted into Germantown Friends’ School he self taught himself, with help from a few caring people. He struggled through just as any student would through high school but he had to make sure he â€Å"heard† his teacher’s lectures appropriately.Drolsbaugh eventually took up Tae Kwon Do and it then gave him the assurance and self esteem he lacked living in a hearing world. It relieved him of any worries and stress and helped him through his effort in life. In his efforts to prove to the world that a Deaf person can live, no survive, in the Deaf community and in the hearing community, he succe eded. He, as any young adult, starts out working at a small temporary job, like a supermarket, and progressively makes his way in to bigger and better things. He graduated Gallaudet with his bachelors and decided to go for his Masters in grad school.He even got married, to Melanie. He showed the world that deaf people can make it in the hearing world. Mark Drolsbaugh’s main message in this book is â€Å"being Deaf isn’t a disability or handicap, it’s a blessing†. He portrayed this messaged when he showed the world that deaf people can go to a â€Å"regular† school and still be able to do extraordinary thing. He lost his self confidence when he became deaf but got it back whilst taking Tae Kwon Do. He met the girl of his dreams and married her. He went on to become an astonishing writer and wrote this autobiography.He found that he can depend on the Deaf community to be there for him as he is for them. He found that although he is Deaf, he can defy the expectations of the entire world and bring out the best in himself. He and Melanie also had 3 beautiful children, hearing. No matter whether they remain hearing or slowly become deaf they are still people and will go on to live their normal lives. I absolutely loved this book. To be able to read a book that actually catches my attention for longer than five minutes was almost impossible.After reading this autobiography about the life of a Deaf person it helped me to believe, although I am not deaf, that I can be what I amount to be, no matter my weaknesses. This novel gave me the strength to try n build my self esteem and also showed me that I am not alone when it comes to having a low confidence in myself. I’ve always been fascinated by the Deaf community and the American Sign Language. I have always wondered what it would be like to be Deaf, and would it be hard, but just like a hearing person in school its still hard.Life is never easy even if you are hearing. And just because you don’t have something that everyone else has, that doesn’t make you any less of a brilliant person. This book gave me the heart to go on to get my masters and become a Deaf elementary school teacher so I too can teach, not only deaf, but hearing students too, about being deaf and hopefully being able to teach them some Sign Language so it can benefit them to become a part of the Deaf community. Maybe I can enlighten a Deaf child to read Deaf Again and hopefully watch them grow to be a author like Mr. Mark Drolsbaugh.

Dubliners as a Transition from Childhood to Adulthood

â€Å"Dubliners† is a very particular short-story cycle because, unlike most other cycles, the link between its stories is not based on the recurrence of major characters. Instead, Joyce manages to unify the collection by exploring the same themes, such as the desire to escape a routine and the connection between life and death, from different perspectives. Interestingly enough, these perspectives are tainted by the perceptions that different age cohorts have of their surroundings.The text as a whole delves into these issues from, initially, a more naive and childish point of view and progresses towards a more discouraged and somehow renouncing tone. â€Å"The Sisters† is basically the tale of how a young unnamed boy handles and mourns the death of his friend and mentor, Father Flynn. Although the age of this unnamed boy it not specified, the text abounds in evidence that might lead the reader to believe that this boy is only just discovering the twists and turns of lif e. With phrases like â€Å"the word paralysis†¦ it filled me with fear, and yet I longed to be nearer to it and to look upon its deadly work† (p. ), Joyce invites the reader to presume that this boy has never encountered death and is therefore intrigued by it. Then, Old Cotter, a family friend, repeatedly makes reference to how â€Å"there was something uncanny about [Father Flynn]† (p. 1) and that he â€Å"wouldn’t like children of [his] (†¦) to have too much to say to a man like that† (p1). Such evaluations and the fact that the boy has strange dreams about Father Flynn confessing his sins to him, give way to the reader’s suspicions that Father Flynn is actually a malevolent figure who acted as much more than a mentor.The boy’s inability to make sense of the true nature of his relationship with Father Flynn is also a clue to realizing that this boy is so young he has not yet been exposed to the dark, more vicious side of life. Th en, in â€Å"Araby†, another –or maybe the same- unnamed boy describes an intense crush he had on a friend’s sister. To impress her, the boy promises to go to the Araby Bazaar she so longed to go to and bring her a present. The boy meticulously plans his day and even reminds his uncle of his intentions so that the uncle will return home early and provide train fare.However, the uncle’s tardiness and the â€Å"intolerable delay† (p. 3) of the train, resulted in the boy arriving at Araby when â€Å"nearly all the stalls were closed and the greater part of the hall was in darkness† (p. 3). The boy, noticing the â€Å"English accents† (p. 3) of the salesmen, immediately feels disenchanted. Araby was not, after all, the fascinatingly exotic venue he had imagined it to be. By saying that he â€Å"saw [himself] as a creature driven and derided by vanity;† and that his eyes were †burdened with anguish and anger† (p. ), the boy puts into words his feeling of utter disappointment and frustration. This particular remark, which seems somehow inflated, might lead the reader to believe that this is the boy’s first love-related frustration. The whole of â€Å"Araby†, actually, seems to be the story of a boy who, for the first time in his life, tries to do something special for someone special; and his failure to succeed hits him hard. â€Å"Ivy Day in the Committee Room† is a more grown-up story which unfolds around a political conversation several canvassers hold.In this discussion, it is revealed that the campaigners widely disapprove of the candidate they are allegedly supporting. Already, remarks such as â€Å"Tricky Dicky Tierney† (p. 4) and â€Å"how does [Tierney] expect us to work for him if he won’t stump up? † (p. 5), remind the reader that the men who are talking are adults. Typically, one associates conviction, idealism and blind belief with the young, un touched generations. Conversely, one can associate skepticism and even cynicism with adults, who are those who have experienced frustrations and disappointments that have rendered them more pragmatic.Furthermore, in this short story, the politicians discuss the character of Charles Parnell, already deceased. The manner in which Joyce discusses the issue of Parnell’s death is utterly different from how death is presented in â€Å"The Sisters†. Whereas in the first short story what is explored is an individual’s encounter with death, which culminates in a private mourning in the presence of a body; â€Å"Ivy Day in the Committee Room† presents the death of Parnell as a matter of public opinion and it explores its effects on the Irish society as a whole.Therefore, it could be said that, considering this particular corpus of short stories, â€Å"Ivy Day in the Committee Room† marks the beginning of the more mature and public phase to which Harry Levin makes reference. Last but not least, â€Å"The Dead†, set at the annual dance and dinner party hosted by the Morkans, presents an eventful ball in which several interesting characters are introduced. All along the evening, awkward conversations occur and, through them, it is revealed that these characters are frustrated, exhausted and have given up all hopes.As the main character, Gabriel Conroy, enters the scene, he asks the Morkans’ housemaid, Lily, â€Å"I suppose we’ll be going to your wedding one of these fine days with your young man, eh? â€Å" (p. 3) to which she bitterly replies â€Å"the men that is now is only all palaver and what they can get out of you† (p. 3). Later on, the always-drunk Freddy Malins arrives and Aunt Kate asks Gabriel to â€Å"see if he’s all right, and don’t let him up if he’s screwed† (p. 5) to which she sharply adds â€Å"I’m sure he’s screwed. I’m sure he is† (p. ). Afterwards, Gabriel is cross-examined by a fervent supporter of Irish culture, Miss Ivors, as to why he would rather go to Belgium or France instead of visiting his own country. Following an uneasy exchange of ideas, Gabriel finally retorts â€Å"I’m sick of my own country, sick of it! † (p. 9). As the night ends, Gabriel’s wife, Gretta, becomes absorbed and detached. Irritated, Gabriel confronts her about her unbecoming behavior and, when she tells the story of how Michael Furey, â€Å"a boy[ she] used to know† (p. 7), died, he begins to reflect about love and life and death and finally realizes that â€Å"snow was (†¦) falling (†¦) upon all the living and the dead† (p. 30). All of these characters seem to embody the state of mind one can associate with the outcome of a long life of experience. Lily is utterly disappointed and does not believe in selfless love any more. Aunt Kate doubts that Freddy could ever be sober and, instead of hoping for the best, she only wishes to disguise the worst. Gabriel resents the culture of polarization in which he lives and grows tired of people imposing their opinions on each other.Gabriel finally realizes that nothing can be changed and that all are equal in the end. â€Å"The Dead† illustrates the stage of adulthood in which people no longer believe in the possibility of change and openly act as if nothing had to be concealed†¦ as if there was no tomorrow. Gabriel’s final ruminations add to the reader’s feeling that the characters are near the verge of death. To conclude, it could be said that â€Å"Dubliners† is the story of a city, a culture and the way in which those immersed in it grow up.The cycle begins with stories with younger, more naive protagonists; and then moves forward into stories with increasingly aged characters. Furthermore, the stories themselves become more complex, intricate and lengthy. In a way, Joyce manages to tell the story of the average Dubliner as he moves across the different periods of a human life by integrating the stories of different characters. The fact that all the stories could become the story of the standard citizen, adds to the effect that the book is indeed the story of he who lives in Dublin.

Fate is responsible for the tragedy that occurs in Oedipus the king Essay

Fate is responsible for the tragedy that occurs in Oedipus the king - Essay Example The play â€Å"Oedipus the king† rotates around the life of Oedipus Rex, who in essence, according to fate was destined to kill his father Laios and sleep with his mother Jocasta. In this case, fate is responsible for generating the play’s theme, as the life and journey of Oedipus starts the instant that fate is stated. This fate comes from the oracle, Delphi, and it is made known through a blind prophet named Tiresias. The ultimate realization of this fate is at the time Oedipus is the ruler of Thebes. When Thebes is faced with calamities, and the gods are consulted, they state that Thebes’ calamites can only be solved if the murderer of king Laios is exiled from Thebes. In essence, exiling the murderer will surely reveal that the fate has occurred (Sophocles & Grene 34). As the play continues, Oedipus mother, Jocasta comes to learn of his son’s fate, and she does not want it to happen. Further, the tragedy is developed by Jocasta’s intention of reversing fate by getting rid of young Oedipus. She goes ahead and gives out Oedipus to a herdsman in Mount Kithairon. In the opinion of Jocasta, Oedipus’ fate is too hurtful, as she endeavors to evade the actual situation by giving away Oedipus with the hope that he will not kill his father and sleep with her. Jocasta is not aware that her actions are only buying time, and the eventful situation is bound to happen. Jocasta only creates a detour, which aids the stated fate to happen in a subliminal way (Sophocles & Grene 26). Another way in which fate is responsible for the tragedy in the play is the time that Oedipus comes to learn of his fate. Oedipus knowledge of the fate makes him to exile from Corinth, where he had adopted and lived. Because of his fate, Oedipus thinks that he will kill and sleep with Polybus and Merope respectively whom he thought was his real father and real mother.

The Souls of Black Folk Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Souls of Black Folk - Essay Example Du Bois specifically relates that â€Å"the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line† and this concept is further expanded on in the work with the concept of life behind the veil of race. He refers to this paradoxical condition as double consciousness stating that "double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others". Over time the concepts introduced by Du Bois have become instrumental in approaching the race issue in America. The author’s work also reflects on the progress of race, the obstacles present to such progress and future possibilities for the nation as it entered the twentieth century. Overall Du Bois examines life for African Americans in the years following the American Civil War with particular focus being placed on the works of the Freedman’s Bureau’s function in the reconstruction efforts. The author indicates that the Bureau’s failures stemmed from a combination of so uthern opposition and â€Å"national neglect† as well as mismanagement by courts which were biased â€Å"in favor of black litigants†. However the Bureau was successful on some fronts such as its contributions to the foundation and progress of African American schools. ... Instead the author argues that â€Å"the right to vote†, â€Å"civic equality† and â€Å"the education of youth according to ability† are critically important for sustainable progress of the African American racial group as a whole. The author also relates his personal experiences as a school teacher in rural Tennessee following which the author reflects on the state of material progress in Atlanta where accruing wealth seems to be the only target for people. The basic contention is to show that accruing wealth should not be the only focus of African Americans. Instead the author argues that there ought to be â€Å"standards of lower training† as well as â€Å"standards of human culture and lofty ideals of life†. Du Bois contends that African American colleges ought to train the â€Å"Talented Tenth† who would then provide contributions to lower education as well as playing the roles of liaisons for better race relations. Following this Du Bo is has examined the state of rural life for African Americans through a discourse on Dougherty County, Georgia in order to represent living conditions in the southern Black Belt region. The contemporary conditions as well as the historical conditions have been presented in order to make a strong case. It is shown that cotton is still the lifeline of the local economy while only a very few African Americans are allowed to enjoy the newly found economic success. The contemporary legal system and the tenant farming systems have been compared to the days of slavery and it has been proved that there are little differences if any and that the differences are merely superficial. The derivation of African

Texas Gov't - Identify the potential problems with Texas's judicial Essay

Texas Gov't - Identify the potential problems with Texas's judicial system. Describe the Missouri Plan for judicial selection, and compare it with the system used in Texas - Essay Example The fact that the Texass judicial system uses only election method to select judges increases the chance low accountability of judges as they are likely to be partisan in their actions. Judges have to be partisan because it is the party that will take them to this power. This leads to judges whose allegiance is not to the justice system but to the party that helps them to get the posts. Needless to say, these positions, right from the lowest positions which is the positions of a municipal court, are important careers, not only for the judge but also for political parties. This means that when the system of selecting a judge is based on the political party system, the quality of judges will play a smaller role while the political affiliation will be the main issue determining who will get these positions (Cheek & Champagne, 2005; 99). The judges require a lot of money for campaign and this may interfere with their integrity. The amount of financial investment needed for the campaign is too high for most of these judges to afford from their pockets and they have to be funded by outside sources. So the question is, how will a judge be able to be neutral and fair in cases where he finds himself or herself having to preside over case involving one of his main funders? This brings in an integrity issue and in this scenario it may not be possible for this system to offer the state a good team of judges. The electorate doesn’t know these judges personally and have to depend on partisan lines to vote them. Although the electoral vote system of selecting judges is hinged on the argument that people should be able to decide who judges them, the fact is that a major part of the population of these people don’t know the judges they are supposed to elect (Maxwell, Earl & Santos, 2013; 158). The work of a judge is not public and therefore unlike politicians whose leadership can be detected in the public arena, there is no way for the electorate to know the

Enligh Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Enligh Literature - Essay Example His wife continues to question him and on her insistence, he tells her he would not. Then, she storms out and shows his indifference towards him by reading and locking up herself. He continues with the chores and later finds her locked in the bathroom. He tells her he would marry her and she says, she'd see! Later, she asks him to switch off the lights and when she walks into the room, he finds himself with a stranger in his wife! The first issue we encounter in the journal is not the major theme of Racial Discrimination but that of the relationship between the husband and wife. The husband is shown as a compassionate and considerate husband, as he helps her with the chores. Later, however, we do feel that his love might be limited by racial undertones, as he says he would not have married her if she was black. This uncovers the fact that humans tend to overlook love and give more importance to trivial walls like race and colour. The basic emotions go for a toss when one possesses an attitude that divides humanity. The next issue

Submit Negative Message based on ideas in Chapter 9 Essay

Submit Negative Message based on ideas in Chapter 9 - Essay Example When interacting with workers and other members of management, listening helps in avoiding confusion, helps in understanding task and the creation of a positive connection with the speaker. As a leader, one must be a keen listener of others so as to understand their ideas and concepts. The understanding these ideas are helpful in the developing of a compromised system of communication that increases the understanding of the information put across by the speaker. In order, to be an effective listener, a manager must be able to have face to face encounter with the customer and speak effectively. Words aptly spoken are like petals of gold in a silver lining. This statement is true even in leadership and organization management. Speaking must not be underestimated because it has massive influence on the people both customers and workers. It is indispensable as a leader to allow coworkers to speak. There is no sense to call a meeting and interrogate or lecture coworkers without giving them a chance to contribute their ideas. As a leader, allow coworkers to participate and write notes on the various points or issues mentioned by the workers. Do not cut the short to respond to their pleas to show courtesy and respect. In response to their ideas, share your argument with them in an orderly manner without forcing your idea or belittling their idea to make them feel inferior. It is necessary for the leader to highlight the points of argument and reasons for the decision choice made. This is noteworthy because it helps in maintaining the goals and objectives of the organization. Eff ective communication allows every member of the organization to participate in the running of the organization. During the conclusion of the meeting, the leader must summarize the main points and conclusions arrived at, so that every member present at the meeting is informed of the final decisions

British Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

British Studies - Essay Example I have particularly concentrated on material I found and consulted in the Maritime London Gallery (level 1 to level 3) Neptune Court) of the National Maritime Museum, where it is described in depth regarding the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th Centuries as well as the fishing trade and exploration conquests of the British Empire during that period. The Cutty Sark Museum on the other hand is solely devoted to this fabulous clipper which became world famous and brought Britain laurels both in terms of trade as well as a living example of the perfection of the shipbuilding efficiency of the British shipyards in that time. The British Empire or Pax Britanica as it was called after the Waterloo Battle in 1815, was led towards an explosion of trade by the sea. There were many factors that influenced the growth of trade in the British Empire during 18th and 19th Century. The most important was that during that period the British ruled the seas by controlling the majority of the key naval trade navigational routes and thereby enjoying total sea monopoly; which was also the main trade highway of the period. The British Empire’s control was so powerful that it was even able to control China from the outside without any actual administrational or colonial involvement. British merchant ships were trading on a regular basis with North America and West Indies (after the acquisition on Virginia in 1607 and Barbados in 1625) and by the end of the 17th century , a huge number of people (apprx 350,000) managed to emigrate across the Atlantic Ocean with these very ships. These people base helped to propagate and facilitate new markets for trade and commerce from England. In order to cope up, the British Empire became the leading shipyard industry in the world. (National Maritime Museum) This continued to be so till mid 20th century when the Asiatic shipyards took over by producing

Conundrum engulfing Persian Gulf Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Conundrum engulfing Persian Gulf - Essay Example More leaders in the Gulf could take strict stances on issues such boundaries and religious issues, making the governance system be biased in some way3. The rise of conundrum in the Gulf could external influences such as the US coming in to install some more democratic systems and fighting those that offer a threat to its wellbeing4. The war between the Christians and the Islamic has been manifested to a great extent in the Middle East. The Jews, Christians and the Muslims have always disagreed to a great extent based on religious issues5. Islamic global terror has been significantly minimized since the death of Osama Bin Laden. However, the rise of radical Islamic terror groups such ISIS threatens the gains that have been made in the fight against terror6. Christianity, which is a more peaceful outfit, is threatened by the rise of the Islamic radicals. More persecutions of the Christians could be manifested due to the rise of Islamic global terror in the modern dispensation. Ian O. Lesser, Bruce R. Nardulli, and Lory A. Arghavan: Sources of Conflict in the Greater Middle East. 2014. Available at: Ziadeh, Radwan, Leon Hadar, Mark N. Katz, and Steven Heydemann. 2012. "Crisis in Syria: What Are the U.S. Options?."  Middle East Policy, 19, no. 3: 1-24.  International Security & Counter Terrorism Reference Center, EBSCOhost (accessed November 11,

Essay One Description and Narration Essay Example for Free

Essay One Description and Narration Essay Anyone who has ever achieved anything has had to face many obstacles to accomplish their goals. But what defines their success is never how many obstacles stand in their way, but how many obstacles they overcome. Even though I might have to overcome many tough obstacles in order to become a police officer, I believe that it is important to protect the public and prevent crime. In order to gain a position in the police force, I will have to pass various examinations, such as a written exam that will be based on correct wording, grammar, spelling and punctuation. In my opinion, this exam seems pretty easy because I am good in language arts and reading. Perhaps whenever it comes my time to take this examination, I will ace it. The police academy training also prepares police officers for active duty. The training probably has to be the hardest obstacle for me because it requires intense physical workouts. The first week in training I will have to run, and do calisthenics, which consists of push-ups, crunches, and jumping jacks. I will also have to use the medicine ball to do sit-ups, twist and hand offs, curls presses and extended workouts. Each week I will have to do the sets and reps for these physical workouts and each week the exercises double , so I will have to do double the work. Finding the job as a police officer will definitely be the second hardest obstacle. There will be a lot of competition in order for me to get into police training. In the past, becoming a police officer was not as difficult as it is today. One of the  main reasons that getting a police officer jobs is more difficult now, is that there are many more applicants than there used to be. Once I am a police officer, I can move into other areas like drug investigation. If I become a drug investigator I will have to have five or more years of police experience. Police dog services, also known as K9s is another advancement that I am interested. As K-9 handler I must be able to perform specific tasks with my dog, such as bomb and narcotic detection, human tracking, and finding hidden objects. Or even an explosives disposal technician, which are specialized in training to handle chemical, biological and even nuclear weapons. Out of all these three options, the main one that catches my attention has to be a drug investigator. Hopefully when I have a lot of experience in the police force I can work my way up and become a drug investigator or even a police k-9. It will also be personally gratifying to protect the public.

Geography and the Development of Human Civilization Essay Example for Free

Geography and the Development of Human Civilization Essay A. Without argument, the most significant geographic or environmental factor of Ancient Egypt to shape early civilization is the Nile River. The Nile has been referred to as lifes blood for the Egyptian civilization. (Fassbender, 2008). To begin understanding how the Nile River was the greatest factor, one must understand a few facts about the River itself. It starts from two separate sourcesÍ ¾ first the lakes of central Africa, called the White Nile, and second the Blue NileÍ ¾ that comes from the mountains of Ethiopia. The Blue Nile and the White Nile come together and flow northward to the Nile delta, starting the 4,000 mile length of the life blood of EgyptÍ ¾ finally spilling into the Mediterranean Sea. The Egyptian climate does not offer much in rainfall, averaging less than 2 inches per year in some areas and non existent in other areas. The early human civilizations were able to farm near the banks of the Nile River with much success compared to the outlying harsh climates of the Sahara and Arabian deserts on both sides of Egypt. Each summer the Nile River would swell as the rain fell and the snow melted in the mountains. Overflowing its banks and lightly flooding the land with fresh water and thick rich deposits of alluvial soil created a land that could yield two harvests before winter (Kreis, 2006)Í ¾ creating an ideal location for early human civilizations to settle and prosper. This flooding of the Nile River did more than create agriculture wealth for the early Egyptians, it also helped create some very early inventions such as the calendarÍ ¾ (Keita, n.d.) created from the expected annual nature of the floods, the end of the second harvest and the 2 winters. The Nile River also gave the people a sense of direction, creating the north, south , east and west concepts we now use. The flow of the Nile is basically south to north and the daily rising and falling of the sun from east to west created a concrete sense of direction for the Egyptians. (Fassbender, 2008). Egypt offered easy access to most of the resources it needed for survival and success which guaranteed the development of a large pop ulation. The promise of a harvest climate, new inventions, security of the deserts on both sides, transportation provided by the river into the sea, the Nile River was the greatest factor creating early civilization for Ancient Egypt. B. Tea is the most popular drink in the world, second only to waterÍ ¾ got its start in China as nothing more than a mere accident and has since traveled the world, started wars, and created millions of dollars for governments and plantation owners. The origin of tea dates back around 4,000 years ago ( History Future  ­ When did people start having tea?, n.d.). According to legend the Chinese Emperor Shen Nong discovered tea in 2737 BC while he was boiling water in the shade of a tree †¦ when a light breeze caused some leaves to fall into the water (Origins of Tea, 2012). The emperor tasted it and thought it was delicious, and so began the tea adventure. At that time, tea was bitter and mostly used for its health properties as a medicine for problems su ch as eyesight and stomach issues. At the end of the fifth century, tea was traded and exported with Mongolian and Turkish merchants. By the eighth century it was exported to far regions like Japan, Central Asia and Tibet. Tea began to spread further west with other foreign traders, missionaries, and ambassadors that were given samples and gifts of it to try and take home for others to try. The first agreement to export and trade tea was between China and 3 Russia. In the mid 1850s, Chinese immigrants heading to Taiwan would bring tea seedlings, tea growing and processing skills and the tea culture with them. In the seventeenth century, green tea was exported into Europe and was mostly used as a medicinal drink due to the bitter taste and the health properties it offered. The Dutch started to buy tea in Japan and China and then shipped it and sold it in France, Germany, and England. The Dutch also introduced tea to New Amsterdam in the 1650s. During this time tea was usually only for the very wealthy because it was so expensive, until the 1750s when it became a more modern drink with more availability for larger gr oups of people. (Saberi, 2010), (Origins of Tea, 2012), and ( History Future  ­ When did people start having tea?, n.d.). In the eighteenth century tea became popular in countries like North America and EuropeÍ ¾ however, China was the only country selling tea to other countries. Chinas tea business was soaring until India stepped into the tea business. When the British started ruling India, they found some tea plants in Assam (found in the North Eastern area of India) and decided that these tea plants had a sweeter taste. Tea plantations started growing in Assam, then Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka), Sumatra, Java and Formosa. It was discovered that the plants in China grew 5 meters shorter in height than those in IndiaÍ ¾ so the tea business naturally shifted there. This was very good for the British because their demand for the drink was huge, creating a huge deficit for them with China. The British government now had the surplus of tea, from the plantations in India (and the areas around there) and the trade agreements with China. The British now sold to other countries, like North America  ­ on ly they levied a sales tax on the tea leaves that they couldnt sale anywhere else and try to sale to the new American coloniesÍ ¾ this was faced with a fierce resistance  ­ known as the Boston Tea Party. (The Spread of Tea from 4 China, 2012). Tea was first created with a leaf in boiling water, then it was dried and steeped, then as the drink was being traded and sold  ­ tea leaves and buds were dried, pressed and packaged for shipping, including bricks of dried, crushed tea leaves. Each time the seedlings were taken to a new climate or country, new flavors were established and new ways of serving the drink were created. For instance, the Chinese sip it from tiny cups, the Japanese whisk it. In America they serve it iced. The Tibetans add butter. The Russians serve with lemon. Mint is added in North Africa. Afghans flavour it with cardamom. The Irish and the British drink it by the gallon with milk and sugar. The Indians boil it with condensed milk. In Australia it is brewed in a billy can (Saberi, 2010). The diffusion of tea may have started as a bitter, medicinal emperors drink, yet it has traveled the world, been raised or farmed in multiple corners of the globe, transformed from a drink for the wealthy to a world ­ wide drink of choice for all classes and races  ­ from bitter to sweet, from medicinal to being a part of the social sceneÍ ¾ including having restaurants, tea rooms, and clubs created just for the enjoyment of those that want a cup of the worlds most popular drinkTea. C1. One of the environmental factors that contributed to the expansion of the United States was the devastating Dust Bowl of the 1930s. The Dust Bowl, also referred to as the dirty thirties, Black Roller or the Black Blizzard, (Buonanduci, 2009 and Baumhardt, 2003) happened when a severe drought in 1930 to 1936 (to 1940 in some areas) caused extreme dust storms over the prairie lands of Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, and the border areas of Colorado and New Mexico. When the dust storms hit, visibility was reduced to a few feet or less and millions of farmland became uselessÍ ¾ the storms caused major ecological and agricultural damage to over 5 100,000,000 acres of farmland (Buonanduci, 2009). In addition to a severe drought, the people had over farmed without needed crop rotation or other farming techniques to prevent erosion which then created the inevitable wide ­spread disaster. This coupled with the Great Depression left the government without a lot of options to help the people of the prairie lands who were suffering from extraordinary financial difficulties. In a span of about five years over 500,000 Americans were forced to flee the area. About half of those people headed west to California where many settled into farming the Central Valley and Los Angeles areas. (Simkin, 1997). In response to the devastation of the Dust Bowl, President Franklin D. Roosevelts first 100 days in office (in 1933), were spent creating government programs designed to restore the ecological balance by encouraging diversified agricultural crop production using tested practices and improved tools (Baumhardt, 2003) The Dust Bowl created expansion of the U.S. when hundreds of thousands moved west to California bringing the lessons learned from farming successes and failures with themÍ ¾ it also contributed to the development of the U.S. as the entire country took the essential agricultural lessons learned and established programs to ensure the same mistakes would not be repeated again. C2. The Irish Potato Famine of 1845  ­ 1849 also contributed to the develop ment and expansion of the United States because of the nearly a million Irish that arrived in the United States (Gavin, 2000). The large number of people helped literally develop our county through the blood, sweat, and tears that hard work and desire brings to those making a home of peace and happiness for their families. In the early 17th century, the Irish were quite dependent on food exported from other 6 countries  ­ mainly the potato from America. However, by the 19th century about a third of Ireland was dedicated to potato farming, turning this into Irelands primary cropthe potato supported massive population expansion within Ireland. Within that time, the population doubled from four million to eight million citizens (Hawkes, 2012). The first report of the potato blight was recorded on August 20, 1845, and by October one ­third of the potato crop was lost to the blight. At first there was still enough food for the Irish people despite the potato blight, the problem for most of those who had the diseased crops was the fact that they didnt have enough money to buy other food. The blight reduced the Irish potato harvest by about 30%. This drastic loss caused many farmers to eat the potato seedlings that they were going to plant in the upcoming year. Now the starving people resorted to slaughtering their pigs and cows to keep from starving through the harsh winter, they also knew they wouldnt have food to feed their starving their animals. The situation in Ireland became grim, by this time the blight wasnt spreading any longer, but the farmers werent planting or harvesting enough potatoes to have enough food to feed the people of their country. Lasting about six years, the Irish Potato Famine had killed over a million people from a combination of starvation and diseaseÍ ¾ causing another million people to migrate to the United States (Smith, 2011), (Gavin, 2000) and (Hawkes, 2012). The Irish immigrants came to America to escape the certain death that they faced there, and for a promised future of the American dreamÍ ¾ however, it was not a welcoming place for many, instead it was a brutally hard, unkind and unwelcoming place for many. Boston might have been the hardest and most cruel place for those coming from Ireland, but New York wasnt that much easier in the end. One of the turning points for the unwelcomed Irish people was the Civil WarÍ ¾ over 140,000 enlisted in the Union Army, while those in the South enrolled in the 7 Confederate ranks (Gavin, 2000) and (Hawkes, 2012). The Irish immigrants provided many laborers needed for the backbreaking work that was needed for the American expansion that was happening at that time. The immigrants saw this move to America as permanent and brought over several hundreds of thousands of Irish immigrants during the following decades (Smith, 2011). Politically the Irish now had the numbers to influence votes, welcome at first or not, the Irish people could no longer be ignored. The Potato Famine started as a deadly killer in Ireland, turning into a large exodus of people immigrating to the United StatesÍ ¾ changing the face of the American laborers and changing who was running and winning political offices. The Anti ­Irish sentiment would be quieted at last when an Irish Potato Famine immigrants descendant was elected President of the United States  ­ President John F. Kennedy was that person. He is the great ­grandson of Patrick Kennedy, a farmer from County Wexford who had left Ireland in 1849 (Gavin, 2000). The Irish are considered the first large group of poor refugees to come to the United States and they paved the way for all the many refugees and immigrants that would follow their footsteps. Today, after years of hard work to overcome numerous amount of obstacles to find freedom, peace and happiness  ­ Americans of Irish descent are the third largest ethnic group in the country. Unfortunately, Ireland stayed a very sad place after the famine for decades. (Gavin, 2000). References Baumhardt, R. L. (2003). USDA  ­ The Official Website for The Conservation and Production Research Laboratory DUST BOWL ERA. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://www.cprl.ars.usda.gov/ Buonanduci, M. (2009, April 27). Dust Bowl. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/151818/ Fassbender, M. (2008, September 11). Physical Geography Ancient Egypt by Michael Fassbender | Humanities 360. Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/physical ­geography ­ancient ­egypt ­50663/ Gavin, G. (2000). The History Place  ­ Irish Potato Famine. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from 9 http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/ Hawkes, S. (2012, August 28). Fatal Potatoes: The Nineteenth ­Century Irish Potato Famine | US History Scene. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://www.ushistoryscene.com/uncategorized/fatalpotatoes/ History Future  ­ When did people start having tea? (n.d.). Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://humantouchofchemis try.com/when ­did ­people ­start ­having ­tea.htm Irish Potato Famine. (n.d.). Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://courses.soomopublishing.com/ Keita, M. (n.d.). Rise of Civilizations and Empires in Mesopotamia. Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://history ­world.org/rise_of_civilizations.htm Kreis, S. (2006, October 11). Lecture 3: Egyptian Civilization. Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture3b.html Origins of Tea. (2012). Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://www.higgins ­burke.com/About ­Our ­Tea/Pages/Origin ­of ­Tea.aspx PBS (2009, November 15). Video: Surviving the Dust Bowl | Watch American Experience Online | PBS Video [Video file]. Retrieved from http://video.pbs.org/video/1311363860/?starttime=1200000 Saberi, H. (2010). Chapter 2 China. In Tea: A global history (pp. 27 ­41). Retrieved from http://lrps.wgu/provision/8539375 Saberi, H. (2010). Chapter 5 Tea Comes to the West. In Tea: A global history (pp. 85 ­124). 10 Retrieved from http://lrps.wgu/provision/8539375 Simkin, J. (1997, September). The Dust Bowl. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://spartacus ­educational.com/USAdust.htm Smith, A. F. (2011). Potato: A global history. Retrieved from http://lrps.wgu.edu/provision/8539677 The Spread Of Tea From China. (2012, September 13). Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://thespreadofteafromchina.blogspot.com/

Current Issues Facing Revenue Management

Current Issues Facing Revenue Management This dissertation provides an analysis on how revenue management developed through out the years in different industries with more focus on hotels. It discusses the different revenue management strategies including pricing, capacity control, overbooking and forecasting. Related issues such as economic concerns, customer perception, competition, and common techniques and approaches used for solving revenue management problems are also discussed. Finally, I give my suggestion on some important areas that warrant further research. Introduction Tradditionally the main purpose of revenue management has been to maximise revenue. It is the business practice with aim to see the right inventory to the right customer at the right price at the right time in order to maximise total revenue. (B.C Smith, J.F Leimkuhler and R.M.Darrow Vol 22). The concept of right in this definition means achieving the maximum revenue for the sellers, and gaining maximum value for the buyers(S.E Kimes Vol 40). The basic of revenue management is to offer discounted rates to stimulate demand for inventory that would otherwise go unsold, while limiting the availability of the discounts to customers who are willing to pay a higher price. Hotel companies reported revenue increases of 2 to 5% as a result of using revenue management (Ibid) The Brief History of Revenue Management According to Carroll and Grimes 1995; Hanks, Noland, and Cross 1992; Smith, Leimkuhler, and Darrow1992) Revenue management, also known as yield management, has been widely adopted in the airline, hotel, and rental car industries, but has only recently gained attention in other industries (Kimes 2000; Kimes et al. 1998). Companies using revenue management have reported revenue increases of 2% to 5% (Hanks, Noland, and Cross 1992; Smith, Leimkuhler, and Darrow 1992). In 1980s The airline industry launched revenue management practices. During that time yield management techniques became a common practice among airlines. On January 17, 1985 American Airlines launched its Ultimate Super Saver fares in an effort to compete with the low cost carrier People Express. ( www.ehotelier.com ) The need to fill at least minimum number of seats without selling every seat at discounted was the main reason that triggered the born by revenue management. ( www.ehotelier.com) As new Airline companies started to enter the market in the 1980s, Airline companies were eager to sell enough seats to cover fixed operating expenses. Then once fixed expenses were covered, and there were now fewer remaining seats to sell, the remaining seats could be sold at high prices in order to maximise on revenue and profits. According to (Boyd,1998), the application of correct revenue techniques by US Airlines and Delta Airlines resulted of an increase in revenue of US$500 and $300 million respectively, on the other hand Cross (1997) reports that revenue management helps Marriott Hotel to gainUS$100 million additional annual revenue Elliott (2003) presents how revenue management can contribute substantially to cost savings and revenue maximisation while helping maintain quality. Research on revenue management has extended to several industries, with three major streams of investigation: descriptive (whether revenue management will work for a particular industry), pricing control, and inventory control. Industries that can use revenue management can be classified further by their relative ability to exercise pricing- and demand-control levers. An important aspect of implementing revenue management is to ascertain the extent to which customers will view pricing controls as being fair. While customers may initially view nearly any manipulation as potentially unfair, research on perceived fairness has found that customers generally will accept price manipulations as long as they believe they are gaining a benefit at the same time the business is receiving a benefit from pricing changes. Duration control involves some combination of manipulating customer arrivals and managing actual duration of use, depending on the industry in question. Revenue management uses the basic principles of supply and demand economics, in a tactical way, to generate incremental revenues. There are three essential conditions for revenue management to be applicable: There is a fixed amount of resources available for sale. The resources to sell are very perishable. Customers are willing to pay a different price for using the same resources. The hotel industry fits these criteria extremely well. Obviously, hotels have a fixed inventory of rooms to sell; these rooms are also extremely perishable. Hotel rooms perish every day, any room that is unsold tonight is gone forever. There is also no question that different segments of business are willing to pay different rates under various circumstances. Revenue management is of especially high relevance in cases where fixed costs are high as compared to variable costs. The less variable costs there are, the more added revenue will contribute to overall profit. This makes revenue management perfect for the hotel industry. Effective market segmentation is the key to successful revenue management for hotels. Market segmentation begins with seasonal demand. For years, hoteliers recognized that almost all hotels experience periods of high and lower demand. This is even more obvious in hotels, located in resort and attraction areas. Hotels quickly recognized that consumers would also pay more for rooms with a superior view, such as ocean or mountain views and other unique features of their location; larger or unusual rooms; and rooms with unique features. Hotel revenue management hit its stride when hoteliers examined airline RM and realized that the factors of supply and demand, beyond natural seasonal demand, present opportunities to generate higher revenue. As room demand increases and room supply decreases, hotel rate opportunities also increase. The airlines have taught us that supply demand opportunities appear all year long because of conventions, group bookings, room production through web site marketing, special events and local attractions; all create revenue management opportunities.( Ehotelier ) This dissertation address the way revenue management is applied in hotels in UK and discusses the latest issues that faced revenue managers during the economic down turn last year This dissertation Study has been undertaken through detailed analysis on how revenue management is applied in hotels and then discuss the issues facing Revenue managers today through the analysis of responses to a survey that was sent to revenue managers working at hotels in UK. The research also include several working papers, conference proceedings and case studies that I believe are valuable in this study. Overall, 20 articles have been examined. Several review papers have provided an overview of research on revenue management. A list of these papers is in Table 1. In This dissertation will focus on the progress of revenue management in recent years, especially after 1999. Literature review How Revenue Management is Applied Gallego and Phillips (2004) introduce the concept of flexible products for revenue management. They define a flexible product as a menu of two or more alternative, typically substitute, products offered by a constrained supplier using a sales or booking process. In this context, products include not only physical products but also service offerings. Researchers have applied revenue management models in a wide variety of industries where suppliers offer flexible products. Airlines, hotels and rental car industries represent three major traditional applications of revenue management. These industries share some similar characteristics. All of their products are perishable, the demand for their products vary significantly over time, and they have large fixed costs while variable costs are small in the short run. Because of revenue managements success in these industries, researchers and practitioners have begun trying to adopt it in a wide range of miscellaneous industries such as resta urants, casinos, cargo, Internet services and apartment renting. These industries share some similar characteristics with the traditional industries. Some of these practices have acquired great success. In fact, all service providers can take advantage of revenue management theory. Just as ( Berman 2005) says, revenue management is an effective mechanism to allocate a service providers relatively fixed capacity and to provide discounts on a much broader scale. The table below provides examples of revenue management application in different industries. We are not going to discuss the application of revenue management in every industry. In the following section, we provide a brief overview and examples of revenue management research in three non-traditional industries Revenue management practices in different industries (Berman (2005) Industries Example of practices Hospitality Industries Hotels Provide special rate packages for periods of low occupancy; use overbooking policy to compensate for cancellation, no-shows. Restaurants Move customers to off-peak periods by offering discount coupons, or charging reservation fees and higher meal prices on Friday and Saturday nights. Attractions Set different admission charge levels, provide joint-entry tickets, group discounts, coupons, membership rates. Cruise lines and ferry lines Provide luxury class, economy class; change prices frequently according to demand; sell more tickets than seats to avoid cancellation and no show. Casinos Customize offers such as complimentary room, tickets, gifts, discounts, etc., based on customers profitability. Saunas Determine price based upon factors such as room type, duration, and service type. Resort Provide different resort packages to attract different customers. Golf Use different prices to reflect the value of different times of the golf course. Sports events and distribution Determine ticket price for an event based on based on factors such as customer tastes and area of seating; determine the price of season tickets; determine the number of tickets sold for each seat segment. Conference Provide different packages and rates to satisfy different customers requirements. Transportation related industries Airlines Provide business class, economy class; adjust prices frequently according to demand; provide more tickets than seats to avoid cancellation and no-show. Rental cars Adjust prices frequently according to demand; serve highvalued fleet utilisation with priority; accept or reject booking requests based on length-of-rent controls. Railways Divide customers into standard class and first class; provide different prices based on the day of travel and the time of the day. Subscription services IT Services and Internet Services Allocate resources such as human resource, computing capacity, storage and network capacity among segments of customers and determine appropriate price for each segment, high class customers will be served with priority. Cellular network services Control call admission based on customer priority, higher class customers will be served with priority. Major revenue management problems Revenue management problems can be categorized into several different, but related, areas: pricing, auctions, capacity control (or inventory control), overbooking, and forecasting. In the following subsections, we will review each of these areas, but before we start, there are two points that need to be mentioned. First, although we categorize revenue management into several areas, this does not mean that these areas are completely isolated. In fact, these areas are highly correlated and need to be considered jointly when solving practical problems and some researchers are indeed trying to solve these problems jointly. For instance, Feng and Xiao (2006) present a comprehensive model to integrate pricing and capacity allocation. Second, auction is a specific type of pricing strategy. Here we separate auctions from pricing, because we want to emphasise the importance of auctions in the future application of revenue management. In addition, in this section, we also discuss other related issues regarding revenue management, including economic theory, the impact of competition and consolidation, customer perception and behaviour, the development and implementation of revenue management, performance evaluation of revenue management and techniques used for solving revenue management problems Managing Seasonal versus Daily Demand Revenue management principles apply to all levels of demand. Resort hotels with seasonal rates have been using a form of revenue management for years by posting higher or lower rates based upon seasonal demand; this is the essence of revenue or yield management. If these hotels thought they could get in-season rates all year long, they certainly would. They are adjusting for supply and demand. ( ehotelier) Yield management provides the ability to build a base of business by posting a wide range of rates, low to high, to appeal to the broadest range of consumers. For hotels which are capable of handling group business, this is the theory behind quoting lower rates for groups; getting the business on-the-books. Once this base business is booked, either by groups or transient individuals, lower rates can then be closed for sale. This is daily demand. Its important to understand that yield management is the process of closing-out lower rates when there are fewer rooms to sell; leaving only higher rates as occupancy increases. Rates are not increased; lower rates are closed for sale. There is an important distinction between the two. As demand increases, there are more methods of yielding higher revenue; the use of restrictions. Many hotels use restrictions very effectively. E.g. hotels with high weekend demand often restrict weekend reservations to a minimum of two nights by placing a minimum of two nights stay on Saturday, the more popular night. This limits stays to Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday, the two weaker nights. The same can be applied to holiday periods. The key to successful revenue or yield management is to review advance reservations and make rate close-out decisions as often as might be necessary; generally, three times per week. Hotels practicing revenue management gain an insight into the ebb and flow of business, knowledge of reservations booking pace, and a true understanding of factors which impact occupancy and average rate. Capacity control Koide and Ishii (2005) consider the hotel room allocation policies with early discount, cancellations, and overbooking, but without no-shows. The presented model can provide the optimal solution under certain conditions. They also derive an optimal allocation for a simplified problem, which considers early discount but ignores cancellations and overbooking. McGill and van Ryzin (1999) consider the allocation of capacity for rental businesses with two classes of customers. Their research suggests that the capacity reductions enabled by allocation schemes can help to lift profit margins significantly. Zhang and Cooper (2005) address the simultaneous seat inventory control of a set of parallel flights between a common origin and destination with dynamic customer choice among the flights. They solve this stochastic optimization problem through simulation based techniques. Most of the current capacity control practices are based on forecasting. However, forecasting is difficult, costly and the results are sometimes unsatisfactory. Therefore, researchers are trying to find alternative approaches. van Ryzin and McGill (2000) present a simple adaptive approach to optimize seat protection levels in airline revenue management. Instead of using the traditional method that combines a censored forecasting method with a seat allocation heuristic (EMSR-b), this approach uses historical observations of the relative frequencies of certain seat-filling events to guide direct adjustments of the seat protection levels. Their preliminary numerical studies suggest that this method can be used to augment traditional forecasting and optimisation approaches. Overbooking control A number of researchers have developed dynamic optimization approaches to the airline overbooking problem and the related problem in the hotel/motel industry. The usual objective in these formulations is to determine a booking limit for each time period before flight departure that maximizes expected revenue, where allowance is made for the dynamics of cancellations and reservations in subsequent time periods and for penalties for oversold seats. KOSTEN (1960) develops a continuous time approach to this problem, but this approach requires solution of a set of simultaneous differential equations that make implementation impractical. Rothstein (1968), in his Ph.D. thesis, describes the first dynamic programming (DP) model for overbooking and reviews the results of test runs of the model at American Airlines. ALSTRUP et al. (1986) describe a DP treatment of overbooking for a two-class, nonstop flight and describe computational experience with the approach at Scandinavian Airlines. A DP analysis similar to Rothsteins but developed for the hotel/motel industry and extended to two fare classes is described in LADANY (1976, 1977) and LADANY and ARBEL (1991). A control-limit type structural solution to the (one class) hotel overbooking problem is described in LIBERMAN and YECHIALI (1977, 1978 Since McGill and van Ryzin (1999) had already presented a list of publications in overbooking, we will only discuss the new publications. Zhang and Cooper (2005) focus on the overbooking problem for hotels with multiple tour-operators and conclude that an overbooking policy that treats the capacity of the hotel as a whole gives better cost savings than an overbooking policy that allocates the capacity to each tour-operator separately. Zhang and Cooper (2005) proposes two models (stationary-fares model and nonstationary-fares model) to deal with a multi-period airline-overbooking problem for a single-leg flight with a single service class and use the model to calculate the optimal booking limits. Coughlan (1999) presents an airline revenue maximisation-overbooking model at a fare class level for one service compartment-cabin where class level demand is used to determine the number of bookings for each class. He concludes that this model shows significant improvement over previous methods by testing the model with data of Irelands national airline, Aer Lingus. Biyalogorsky et al. (1999) propose that a strategy using overbooking with opportunistic cancellations can increase expected profits and improve allocation efficiency, then derive a rule of how to allocate capacity to consumers optimally. Under their strategy, the seller can oversell capacity when high-paying consumers show up, even if capacity has already been fully booked, then the seller will cancel the sale to some low-paying customers while providing them with appropriate compensation. Toh and Dekay (2002) create an overbooking model for hotels to find the optimal level of overbooking considering customer service level, unexpected stayovers, and cost of walking displaced guest. Forecasting Forecasting is a critical part of revenue management. The quality of revenue management decisions, such as pricing, capacity control, or overbooking, depends on an accurate forecast. PÃ ¶lt (1998) estimates that a 20% reduction of forecast error can translate into a 1% incremental increase in revenue generated from the revenue management system. Revenue management forecasting includes demand forecasting, capacity forecasting, and price forecasting, each of which has its specific requirements. All forecasting tasks need to address issues such as what to forecast, the type of forecasting method, the aggregation level, the data to use and the accuracy of forecast. Forecasting can have different aggregation levels, from full aggregated forecasting to semi-aggregated forecasting and to fully disaggregated forecasting. The data used in forecasting can be based on historical arrivals or bookings. In addition, forecasting must be adjusted according to special An overview of research on revenue management 111 events, for example, holidays. Zaki (2000) gives a summary of forecasting for airline revenue management. Weatherland et al. (2001) discuss different ways to forecast demand for hotel revenue management systems and assess the effectiveness of aggregated approach and desegregated forecast. Furthermore, Weatherford and Kimes (2003) use data from Choice Hotels and Marriott Hotels to conduct a comparative test on a variety of forecasting methods for hotel revenue management systems to find the most accurate method. Their research suggests that exponential smoothing, pickup method and moving average models provide the most robust forecasts. Despite the mounting forecasting methods, human judgment is still indispensable in forecasting demand. Schwartz and Cohen (2004) make a study on 57 experienced revenue managers to evaluate the bias of this kind of subjective judgment. They find that the nature of the user interface can influence the way the revenue managers adjust the computers forecasts, although the managers are given the same predictions. The managers with a deliberate computer and no chart made the smallest volume of adjustments to the computers forecast, while the managers with a slow computer and an interactive chart made the highest volume of adjustments. How to develop revenue management How to develop and implement revenue management systems is another key issue. Kimes (1999) and Kimes et al. (1999) present a 5-step approach for implementing restaurant revenue management and provide insights from the implementation. Secomandi et al. (2002) present a case of how PROS Revenue Management Inc. worked with three non-airline companies to determine the applicability of revenue management, and to design, develop, and implement Revenue Management systems. Skugge (2002) discusses issues that need to be considered when implementing a revenue management system. He presents risks associated with development and implementation and ways to reduce these risks, and then proposes a two-step process to maximise the likelihood of a successful project completed on time and within budget. Okumuss (2004) research reveals the complexity and difficulty of developing and implementing a centralised revenue management project. He argues that this is because revenue management implementation is often viewed as a tactical activity, but this is not correct. He suggests that researchers and practitioners should view the implementation from the perspectives of strategic management, and they should change management fields. Revenue managers play a crucial role in implementing revenue management. Skugge (2004) finds that one of the reasons why some companies enjoy much greater success with revenue management is they have more effective revenue managers and suggests several methods to improve revenue management education and training programs. Zeni (2003) presents a study performed at US Airways to measure the value of revenue managers contributions to a revenue management system and concludes that analysts can add up to 3 percent in incremental revenue. Parker (2003) presents that airlines need to establish and provide support for a community of practice, which is a group of revenue management related people who interact on an ongoing basis. This group takes responsibilities of establishing protocols and standard procedures with respect to revenue management. The implementation of revenue management requires management to make a series of business decisions. Yeoman and Ingold (2000) discuss the decision-making processes using examples from airlines and hotels. All business decisions have risks, as do revenue management decisions. Therefore, every company must evaluate the potential risks of revenue management. Lancaster (2003) focuses on the risk incurred in the revenue management policies and analyses how risk management measurements and methods can be applied to the revenue management practices. In addition, companies want to make sure that their investment on revenue management can achieve the expected return. Delain and OMeara (2004) illustrate how a company can build a business case to estimate the incremental revenues and costs associated with developing or enhancing a revenue management programme IT service and internet service Revenue management also has application opportunities in subscription services, such as on-demand information technology service and Internet service. Internet service is, in fact, a special case of on-demand information technology service. Nair and Bapna (2001) find that Internet Service Providers (ISP) have perishable capacity for users to log on, a fixed number of units, and the possibility of segmenting price-sensitive customers. These three characteristics are common with industries where revenue management is traditionally applied. They also identify that revenue management in Internet service is different than traditional applications. The Internet service is continuous in state and time, the request and the service happen simultaneously, and overbooking is impossible for ISP. Furthermore, they formulate the revenue management problem for ISP as a continuous time Markov Decision Process to maximize the discounted value while improving service levels for higher class customers. Wynter et al. (2004) introduce a revenue management model for a specific information technology service on-demand computing service. Dube et al. (2005) make a further analysis on the model of Wynter et al. (2004) both analytically and numerically, and conclude that the application of revenue management can significantly increase revenue of on-demand computing service providers Economic concerns To better apply revenue management in the industry, practitioners must have a thorough understanding of underlying economic theory, such as supply and demand, opportunity cost, competition, consolidation, etc. Dana (1999) presents how revenue management techniques, such as price dispersion, can shift demand even when the peak time is unknown. Firms must compete with each other to get customers, so revenue management decisions of one firm unavoidably affect the demand for other firms in the same industry. The sudden reversal in the lodging industrys fortunes from 2008 to 2009 made the focus on customer rate resistance, contract renegotiations, competition, and price wars as top priorities for revenue managers. This contrasts with a 2008 study by Cornell university , where human resources and technology issues were ahead of economic concerns. The recent bad economic situation made it for revenue managers to maintain price positioning, because the drop in demand has shifted considerable pricing power to the customer. Although many hotels can compete effectively on price (and others may have little choice), revenue managers may also draw on numerous non-price competitive techniques, including adding value. One pricing approach might be to create a set of targeted rate promotions that are protected by rate fences and designed to attract price-conscious guests. Another technique is to bundle services into packages that disguise room rates. Non-price techniques include competing on the basi s of quality, creating strategic partnerships, taking advantage of your loyalty program, developing additional revenue sources, and developing additional market segments Even as they agreed that customers have gained considerable negotiating power, a research by Cornell university see a larger role for RM as the economy recovers. In the meantime, revenue managers have a key responsibility to determine ways to offset the loss of business by creating special rates that are protected by rate fences to attract different market segments or to augment existing packages to retain current business Looking ahead, revenue managers should be aware that customers will be strongly focused on price and less so on brand loyalty. The common thread in this view of hotels future is that RM is a valuable tool for hotel marketers and managers as they consider tactical price setting and strategic price positioning. The managers are well aware that revenue management cannot help in all cases. Also revenue managers should broaden the perspective on revenue management to include as many customer touch points as is appropriate. In a sense, this represents a combination of marketing principles with revenue management tactics. As demand returns, application of RM approaches will be able to help hotels find the way back to rate integrity. Based on that idea, now is the time to set price strategies and be ready with revenue management tactics when the recovery comes. Customer perception According to Cornell University research many managers have been reluctant to adopt revenue management practices because of possible customer dissatisfaction. They may well find support for their fears in the fairness literature, which has shown that customers will refuse to patronize companies perceived as unfair. Customers from different cultures and nationalities often have different service expectations (Donthu and Yoo 1998). For example, Lee and Ulgado (1997) found that American fast-food customers considered low prices to be of paramount importance when evaluating satisfaction, whereas Korean consumers were more concerned about service dimensions such as reliability and empathy. Also, Asians often see eating out as more of a social or family activity than do Americans or Europeans (Hall 1966)

Essay --

The Sorrow of War is a novel written by Vietnamese writer, Bao Ninh. First published in 1990, it came from being his graduation project to one of the most prestigious piece of literature in history. This work of fiction focuses solely on a seventeen-year-old male named Kien and his life from pre-war to post-war. What many people are oblivious to is the fact that Ninh had his own share of time in war when he served in the Glorious 27th Youth Brigade. Having said that, it is utterly safe to imply that Ninh’s time in war has a strong reflection in Kien’s characteristic traits and experiences that he endured in the novel. The Vietnam war was the struggle between the nationalist forces attempt to unify Vietnam under a communist government and the United States effort to prevent Communism from spreading even further. This explicit war lasted from 1959 through April 30, 1975. It was a very long, costly war that disturbed the peace of many nations during the 20th century. In total, more than 500,000 soldiers were involved in the conflict and the price that the fighting nations had to pay economically, politically, and morally were annihilating figures to look at. The United States, alone lost over 60,000 soldiers in Vietnam. Most of them were killed while some vanished in the thick jungles located there. In total, between 3.2 and 5 million people were disables, disfigured, or wounded for life. In comparison to the author, Kien served in the 27th Battalion and only â€Å"ten men survived from the Battalion after fierce, horrible, barbarous fighting† (Ninh 5). Ninh was also one of the ten men that su rvived out of the five hundred that had went to war. That kind of fate and fortune shared by both men is conferred in the Saintil2 n... ...o terms with his new identity, a survivor just like Kien. He hoped that the novel, The Sorrow of War will open the eyes of many who are oblivious to the effects of war and will at the same time help anyone that are in the same boat as him. By the end of the novel, Kien regained his self-confidence and focuses more on making his life better in the future instead of reminiscing on the past. The Sorrow of War ended in such an abrupt manner that shocked most, if not all, of the readers. Ninh commented on that fact by claiming that the only reason why the he chose the ending to be like that was to reflect on the suddenness of the Vietnam war. He also admits to having a strong personal connection to the novel, and in many ways Kien and Kien’s troop represents him and his troop. Aside from everything else, Kien will always be a part of Ninh that nobody but him understands.

Structure and Function Essay -- Medical Research

First labelled an oncogene upon its discovery in 1979, p53 (or TP53 in humans), was correctly re-labelled a tumour suppressor a decade later following the discovery that the gene previously being studied was, ironically, a mutant. Now realised as the most common mutated gene, found in a staggering 50% of cancers, p53 is a keystone in the face of cancer. Its structure and functions continue to be delved into. Amino acids, genome stability, tumour suppression, iPS? Gene Structure 53 kilo-Daltons in size, 11 exons and 10 introns, p53 gene is located on chromosome 17. Using a clone isolated from a cDNA library of simian virus 40- transformed human fibroblasts, Mcbride et al. (1985), identified the location of p53 gene. Using karyotypic analysis and Southern analyses, they narrowed down the exact position of the p53 gene to the most distal band on the short arm of chromosome 17- the telomeric band 17p13. Structurally abundant in domains, p53 has three main functional domains and 393 amino acids in total. The first domain, the N-terminal (NH2 terminal) houses amino acids that are important in transactivation. In vivo, p53 requires amino acids F19, L22, and W23 found in the N-terminal for transcriptional activation (Lin et al., 1995). Present also, are the amino acid residues 22 and 23, although positive- regulators of transcriptional activity, are later to play a role in the negative-regulation of p53. In highlighting similarities between p53 protein-DNA interactions to other protein-DNA complexes, Cho et al. (1994), point out that p53 uses a loop packing at the NH2-terminal part of the alpha helix to make extra connections to the bases in the major groove of DNA. The C-terminal (carboxyl terminal) —61 important amino aci... ...anaka, S., 2009. Suppression of induced pluripotent stem cell generation by the p53-p21 pathway. Nature 460, 1132-1135. Lee, S., Elenbaas, B., Levine, A.J, and Griffith, J., 1995. p53 and its 14 kDa C-terminal domain recognize primary DNA damage in the form of insertion/deletion mismatches. Cell 81, 1013-1020. Levine, A.J., 1997. p53, the cellular gatekeeper for growth and division. Cell. 88, 323-331. Lin, J., Wu, X., Chen, J., Chang, A., and Levine, A.J., 1995. Functions of the the p53 protein growth regulation and tumour suppression. Cold Springs Harbour Symposia on Quantitative Biology LIX, 215-223. McBride, O.W., Merry, D.E., Oren, M., and Givol, D., 1985. The gene for human p53 cellular tumor antigen is located on chromosome 17 short arm (17p13). Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 83, 130-134.

Mobile Phones In Business :: essays research papers fc

Introduction to Mobile Phone Mobile Phone is a wireless device that emits RFR (radio-frequency radiation) to transmit data and allows people to communicate anywhere. It can be carried anywhere as long as there is a signal transmission. There are three types of Mobile coverage, which are: AMPS, GSM and CDMA AMPS (Analogue Mobile Phone System) It is an analogue signal and system for transmit data and be used for mobile communication. The strength of this system is it has a better network coverage than GSM. However it is the most insecure mobile phone. This system is also going to be closed in Australia until end of 2000 as the government states that analogue signal make the frequency too crowded. GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) It is a digital system that converts from our voice to digital (pulse) and transmits it to air for mobile communication. The strength of this system is it is more secure than analogue system. On the other hand, the weakness is the signal is not as strong as analogue system. CDMA(Code Division Multiple Access) It uses a digital systems but it is not pulsed as GSM did. The strength of this system is it has the best signal receiver, and it is secure communication. However, it is just being introduced in Australia and the rest of the world. <div class="sub-title">Network Provider in Australia Optus Optus stated that they have 93% population coverage, which means, the capacity of the network that Optus can carry is up to 93 % of total population. It also has strength, which it has the lowest congestion rate (making and receiving call) Telstra Telstra stated that they have 94% population coverage, which means they can carry up to 94 % of the total population. Their strength is they have better network signal compare to other competitors. Vodafone Vodafone have 91% population coverage. Their strength is they are international recognition so people will believe that they have more experienced worldwide. The market shares of these companies are as follow: Telstra 49%, followed by Optus 33 % and last by Vodafone 18% <div class="sub-title">The Users of Mobile Phones Business People It is obvious that most of business people in Australia use Mobile Phone now. It can be seen from the street that almost every business people have a mobile phone. Rural Business People It is important that rural business people to be able to communicate to other people, as sometimes the lines connection to rural area is not available.

Cola Wars Continue: Coke vs. Pepsi in the 1990s Essay

Question 1 The concentration producing industry has one buyer and through its value chain. Instead, costs for advertising, promotion, market research, and bottler relations were significant. On the other hand, bottling industry is the mid-way player in the soft drink industry. There are two suppliers and one buyer involved in its value chain (Exhibit 1). Whether two industries are profitable depends on soft drink consumption, which had increased for more than 20 years and plateaued in the 1990s. The economics of the CP and bottling is very different from each other in terms of number and size of rivals, and the scope of competitive rivalry. There are two giants competing head to head on the CP industry, smaller national producers, such as Seven-Up and Dr Pepper, are relatively trivial. There are a lot of players of same size in the bottling industry. Unlike the furious competition between Pepsi and Coke, no sense of competition can be felt in bottling industry. Reasons are that, first, Pepsi and Coke control the majority of bottlers in 1990s; second, intrabrand competition is restricted by the franchise agreement, which is protected by ‘Soft Drink Interbrand Competition Act’. From the view of capital requirement, it is easier for others to enter the CP industry than to enter the bottling industry, since comparing to $30-$50 million dollars requirement to establish a bottling plant covering only one 80th of ability to serve the entire US market, the requirement for one CP plant with a nation-wide capacity is only $5-$10 million dollars. In addition, brand loyalty is low in the CP industry since consumers are sensitive to price and there is little switching cost. There are many substitutes for soft drinks, such as tea, beer, and milk. There is no substitutes existing in the bottling industry, and no customer loyalty and switching costs for bottlers since they could only use packages authorized by the franchiser, which means no distributors can tell the difference of the same brand provided by two bottlers, and easily switch among different bottlers. Cost and financial structures of a CP and a bottler illustrate that high cost of sales is one of the major reasons behind the relative low profitability of the bottling industry. The ratio of cost of sales over net sales is 40% higher than that of CP. One possible reason is that bottlers heavily depend on CPs, and thus, CPs use bottlers to diversify expenses. Another reason is that bottlers hold much more inventory than CPs do since bottlers receive soft drink concentrates according to its processing capacity, while they sell products based on selling capability. Also, bottlers have plant and equipment that are ten times more than that of CPs, and a good will that is roughly 45 times more, which means that bottlers have to deduct more depreciation from gross profit than CPs do. One of the reasons why bottlers are backward integrated by CPs is that, as the Cola-war heating up, small bottlers were no longer able to handle CPs’ goals and thus they would not be chosen as Pepsi and Coke’s partners. Most of them were merged or driven out of the market by larger ones adopting the DSD method, which is the only delivery category that provides a positive net profit per unit. Other driving forces for Pepsi and Coke to integrate bottlers are that, by doing this, they can narrow down the number of packagers they deal with, lower costs of negotiation with bottlers, and set up barriers to find buyers for other smaller national CPs. Question 2 Bargaining power of buyers is the weakest competitive force for CPs. On the other hand, the strongest competitive force for the bottling industry is bargaining power of suppliers because of the interactional relationship between the two industries in question. Both of the two industries would like to weak each other’s bargaining power, however, CPs take the initiative in the negotiation. First, it is CPs who build franchise networks. CPs understand how the bottling process works, while the bottlers don’t know how to run a soft drink brand. Second, CPs negotiate with bottlers’ other suppliers to secure reliable supply, faster  delivery, and low price. Also, franchise agreement between CPs and bottlers has been becoming more favorable to CPs. So it is safe to say that bottlers have been affiliated to CPs to a deeper degree than CPs to bottlers. Finally, the bottling industry does not have giants who are able to penetrate into the CP industry. On the other hand, the CP industry has Pepsi and Coke to integrate bottlers. Threat of new entrants is the second weakest force for the CP industry. One of the major reasons is that it is difficult to access a bottler since like Pepsi and Coke are taking control of most of the packagers. Another reason is, although capital required to establish a soft drink concentrate plant with the capacity of serving the entire US market is low, costs for advertising, promotion, market research and bottler relations are a heavy burden and specialized know-how, such as brand management, is a natural barrier to penetrators. However, the fact that customers’ loyalty is becoming weaker makes the force not as weak as bargaining power of buyers. The bargaining power of suppliers to CPs also seems weak in the case since, as the advent of diet soft drinks, the expiration of the patent to aspartame, and oversupply of aluminum on the world market, suppliers to CPs are losing bargaining power. However, there is no detail of suppliers industry given to provide us with confidence to say that it is the weakest force. Threat of substitutes, and competitive rivalry among the incumbents are relatively weak for the CP industry. Comparing to its substitutes, such as beer, milk, and bottled water, soft drink is and will continue to be performing outstandingly (Exhibit 2). Type of competition in the CP industry is duopoly, two giants, Pepsi and Coke are competing with each other head to head. Other CPs are confined to a market share that is lower than 30%. The unsystematic competition makes competitive rivalry less intense when consider the industry as a whole. Threat to new entrants for bottling industry is weak since, unlike the CP industry, bottling industry has a high capital requirement, from $30 to $50  million, to build a plant of five lines with one 85th to one 80th of the national volume. There is even no profit margin for small bottlers because they are not big enough to be engaged in the DSD to make a positive profit. Bargaining power of buyers is the third weakest force for the bottling industry. To bottlers, they receive volumes of concentrates at the level of their processing capacity; while at the other end of value chain, number of cases they can sell depends on bottlers’ marketing capability. To retailers, they don’t have switch costs since Pepsi Cola from bottler ‘A’ is the same as that from bottler ‘B’. However, continual brand availability and maintenance is crucial to CPs, they don’t want to see that too much inventory held by packagers erode relationship with each other. So, CPs have to help bottlers work on marketing and how to deal with retailers. Threat of substitutes, and competitive rivalry among the incumbents are the weakest. First, there are no substitutes for packages. Second, there is no competition among bottlers in that not only is intrabrand competition restricted, but also competition among brands are concerned by CPs since the bottlers are heavily controlled by concentrate suppliers nowadays. Question 3 The reason why the Cola-War does not escalate out of control is that both of Pepsi and Coke understand the importance of keeping its rival alive. Strategically, they are vital to each other’s maintenance. There are three possible results of the Cola-war, monopoly, duopoly, and near prefect competition. All players in this industry are dreaming to be the king of monopoly. However, under current situation, it is difficult to defeat each other without harming themselves for both of Pepsi and Coke. Launching plans and actions aiming at eliminating its competitor will probably result in the third result, near prefect competition, in which the industry would only have players bearing the same size as nowadays Seven-Up and Dr Pepper. Obviously, duopoly is the best and easiest choice for the big two. First, as risk avoiders, they can maintain current size and dominant position in the market, keep small national brands at an inferior level. Second, they can keep business environment nearly unchanged. The duopoly situation has been lasting for more than two decades. It is the one they are familiar to. No matter whoever is driven out of business or both of them lose the dominant position, they have to re-evaluate the industry and re-plan their strategic plan. Third, they can lower the possibility of making mistakes by observing what each other are doing. Based on above reasons, Pepsi and Coke choose not to wage a war that is out of control. Methods Coke and Pepsi adopt to keep the war within ‘bounds’ are focusing on key success factors, following each other’s actions selectively, and realizing gap in international market. There are three KSFs in this industry, brand differentiation, relationship with packagers, and developing new beverages. Focusing on KSFs enable both of Pepsi and Coke stay in the right track leading to higher level competition of duopoly. Following each other’s actions selectively prevents them from distracting to dangerous actions. They both followed closely each other’s actions based on KSFs, such as launching marketing plans, vertical integrating bottlers, and develop new products. They also distinguish bad actions from good ones. For instance, Pepsi gave its employees one-day brake when it received the information that Coke decided to change its Coca-Cola’s formula. Pepsi has admitted that Coke is much stronger on international market. It is very important that it uses ‘guerilla warfare’ in selected international market instead a frontal attack with Coke everywhere, which would entrap Pepsi in the quicksands of international market. Question 4 Over the last century, firms specialized in tobacco, food, and restaurant, such as Philip Morris, Hicks & Haas, Triarc, R.J. Reynolds, and Cadbury Schweppes, tried to penetrate into the soft drink industry through purchasing small national CPs like Dr Pepper, Seven-Up, and Royal Crown Cola, however, few of them survived. Reasons for this fact fell with the faulty strategic planning process. Those who entered but do not end up with success failed to recognize three key success factors in this industry in the beginning, building brand recognition, developing packaging networks, and changing distribution channels. First, Pepsi successfully competed with Coke through adopting brand differentiation. In responding to Pepsi’s attack, Coke spent even more money on advertising, which gained two companies world wide fame, heated up the war between them, and shaped their capacity to remain as top players. However, other CPs did not cash in on the brand differentiation strategy, which can be illustrated by a compare of dollar amount spending on advertising by brand in the US. (Exhibit 3) Second, there was no evidence that small national CPs tried to secure packagers to build their bottling network. Instead, they had to resort to bottlers owned by Pepsi and Coke, while small bottlers do not have the capacity to handle national distribution. Costs for new entrants to maintain bottler relations or organize small bottlers are so high that may eat up gross profit. Finally, as discount retailers such as Wal-Mart and K mart prospered during the 1990s, CPs are facing pressures on lowering their wholesale price. Besides, it seems only Pepsi and Coke were involved in Door-Store Delivery method, CPs that sell products to private label and warehouse would be facing less distributors due to negative net profit/unit.