Can Synthetic Biology Solve Our Problems - 1161 Words

Can synthetic biology solve our problems in biofuel production? In recent years the increased interest in biofuel production has been sparked by the environmental damage, economic impact and dwindling reserves of petroleum-based fuels and chemicals [1] causing a huge influx in investment in improving biofuel production processes. Synthetic biology has allowed biofuel production to advance by providing new methods in which they can create optimal biocatalysts for sustainable and efficient production of biofuels [2]. Synthetic biology itself is an interdisciplinary branch of biology concerned with designing, engineering and synthesising novel biological systems that are not found in nature, as well as redesigning existing ones. [3] It has also been said that is has enabled scientists to â€Å"create life from scratch† and has allowed scientists to not only better understand the underlying mechanisms involved in such processes but the basic principles of biology as a whole [4]. One particular popular definition states it is theâ€Å"designing and constructing of biological devices, biological systems, and biological machines for useful purposes.†[5]. A biofuel, by definition, is a fuel that’s made from living things or their waste [6] and the most commonly extracted and used is ethanol and diesel and are usually produced from crops such as wheat, soybeans, corn and sugarcane [7]. Obviously, as prices of crude oil are soaring biofuel is becoming more and more in demand and it does haveShow MoreRelatedBioengeneering: Improving Health and Lifestyle for Humans874 Words   |  4 Pagesimprove the health of humans by applying biology in engineering. Imagine a world without sick people, or people with deformity. This may be hard to imagine, but with the remarkable inventions and solutions developed and produced by bioengineers, this scenario we can currently only imagine in our heads will hopefully eventually become an ordinary norm. It is crucial to help people who were born with a body that restricts them from doing something everyone else can. They deserve to be able to move andRead MoreHistory of Engineering1060 Words   |   5 Pagesfor ingenium which means innate quality, especially mental power. Engineer dates back to 1325 when an engine’er, someone who operates an engine, was referred to by a conductor as an engineer. (Ford) Engineers go through much education before they can regularly get a job. Most engineering jobs require 4 years at a university. A degree in the appropriate field is highly recommended. Courses offering hands on training are important. Engineers usually must be registered and/or licensed. EngineersRead MoreThe Problem Of Global Poverty1609 Words   |  7 PagesPoverty is one of the largest dilemmas plaguing the world today. Solutions to solving the global issue of poverty are constantly debated, as world leaders try to find the best possible approach. However, in order to work towards solving the problem of global poverty, we must first identify the key cause. The main source of global poverty is the inaccessibility to food as a necessary biological need, otherwise known as world hunger. Food is necessary in order to live. It provides fuel for basic biologicalRead MoreBio Hackers : Saving The World !899 Words   |  4 PagesSaving the World! A chip that slips in under the skin to track a person’s critical information such as heart rate, pulse, temperature and other signs is currently being created and tested by Bio-hackers. Another Bio-hacker is developing crops that can resist cold temperatures such as orange crops. Biohackers are making a difference today with their eyes on tomorrow. Bio-hackers are tinkering with the DNA of existing organisms to create new ones and will lead to innovations of a biological natureRead MoreWhat Is Nature Or What It?1491 Words   |  6 Pagesespecially when discussing the topic of what is nature or what is natural. We all have different connotations attached to the word nature. None of these connotations are wrong they are just different. They are a product of our religion, our biology, and the experiences of our life. There have been many interesting pieces of writing that have ether directly or indirectly defined nature to us what nature is. Whether it is an acenet story passed down though oral tradition through out generations orRead MoreDevelopment And Growth Of The Global Agricultural Biotechnology Industry1171 Words   |  5 Pagesto of worthy of amassing 29.3 billion US dollars by the end of the year 2020 growing at a CAGR rate of 9.5% during the predicted period from the year 2013 to 2020. The global as the market has been separated into transgenic crops, tools, and synthetic biology-enabled items based upon its functions and uses Demand for food manufacture has grown owing to large population resulting in the requirement of more food to fulfill the food needs of the worlds people. This is a critical factor contributingRead MoreWhat Is Nature Or What It?1480 Words   |  6 Pagesnature or what is natural because it is not a question that has a clear answer. We all have different connotations attached to the word nature. None of these connotations are wrong. They are just different. They are a product of our religion, our biology, and the experiences of our life. There have been many provocative thoughts expressed about what is natural that have either directly or indirectly defined nature to us. Whether it is an ancient story passed down through oral tradition throughout generationsRead MoreImpacts of Applications of Chemistry on Society and the Environment3915 Words   |  16 Pagestimes, Chemistry has played a pivotal role in the advancement and enrichment of civilization, although sometimes it has also caused harmful and occasional long-reaching catastrophic effects on the environment. The importance of this sphere of science can be demonstrated by the fact that entire periods in history were named the Iron Age and the Bronze Age, according to the level of chemical endeavor of that time. The content in this report will comment on the various implications of science on societyRead MoreUnit 1 KEY QUESTIONS Essay2265 Words   |  10 Pagesdiscover more about biology and to gain insight on plant and animal species. The stated intent of the voyage was to obtain evidence that supported the biblical theory of creation as well as chart poorly known parts of the South American coastline. 2. Why does the Antibiotic resistance problem represent an example of evolution? The antibiotic problem is a perfect example of evolution because it shows how species have adapted and evolved based on their environment. It shows how bacteria can adjust and eitherRead MoreTechnological Singularity1755 Words   |  8 PagesRaymond Kurzweil, one of the leading inventors of our time, in his most recent futurist manifesto: â€Å"The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology† (2005). Kurzweil estimates that machines will inevitably be able to surpass our thinking capabilities within a few decades. Kurzweils speculative reasoning has been heavily debated and challenged. In Aamodt and Wangs article they point out that there are fundamental differences between our brains and computers that makes Kurzweils predictions

Sensitivity Analysis Free Essays

string(30) " solution remains the same\)\." Linear Programming Notes VII Sensitivity Analysis 1 Introduction When you use a mathematical model to describe reality you must make approximations. The world is more complicated than the kinds of optimization problems that we are able to solve. Linearity assumptions usually are signi? cant approximations. We will write a custom essay sample on Sensitivity Analysis or any similar topic only for you Order Now Another important approximation comes because you cannot be sure of the data that you put into the model. Your knowledge of the relevant technology may be imprecise, forcing you to approximate values in A, b, or c. Moreover, information may change. Sensitivity analysis is a systematic study of how sensitive (duh) solutions are to (small) changes in the data. The basic idea is to be able to give answers to questions of the form: 1. If the objective function changes, how does the solution change? 2. If resources available change, how does the solution change? 3. If a constraint is added to the problem, how does the solution change? One approach to these questions is to solve lots of linear programming problems. For example, if you think that the price of your primary output will be between $100 and $120 per unit, you can solve twenty di? rent problems (one for each whole number between $100 and $120). 1 This method would work, but it is inelegant and (for large problems) would involve a large amount of computation time. (In fact, the computation time is cheap, and computing solutions to similar problems is a standard technique for studying sensitivity in practice. ) The approach that I will describe in these notes takes full adva ntage of the structure of LP programming problems and their solution. It turns out that you can often ? gure out what happens in â€Å"nearby† linear programming problems just by thinking and by examining the information provided by the simplex algorithm. In this section, I will describe the sensitivity analysis information provided in Excel computations. I will also try to give an intuition for the results. 2 Intuition and Overview Throughout these notes you should imagine that you must solve a linear programming problem, but then you want to see how the answer changes if the problem is changed. In every case, the results assume that only one thing about the problem changes. That is, in sensitivity analysis you evaluate what happens when only one parameter of the problem changes. 1 OK, there are really 21 problems, but who is counting? 1 To ? x ideas, you may think about a particular LP, say the familiar example: max 2Ãâ€"1 subject to 3Ãâ€"1 x1 2x 1 + + + 4Ãâ€"2 x2 3Ãâ€"2 x2 + + + + 3x 3 x3 2x 3 3x 3 + + + x4 4x 4 3x 4 x4 x ? ? ? 12 7 10 0 We know that the solution to this problem is x0 = 42, x1 = 0; x2 = 10. 4; x3 = 0; x4 = . 4. 2. 1 Changing Objective Function Suppose that you solve an LP and then wish to solve another problem with the same constraints but a slightly di? erent objective function. (I will always make only one change in the problem at a time. So if I change the objective function, not only will I hold the constraints ? ed, but I will change only one coe cient in the objective function. ) When you change the objective function it turns out that there are two cases to consider. The ? rst case is the change in a non-basic variable (a variable that takes on the value zero in the solution). In the example, the relevant non-basic variables are x1 and x3 . What happens to your solution if the coe cient of a non-basic variable decreases? For example, suppose that the coe cient of x1 in the objective function above was reduced from 2 to 1 (so that the objective function is: max x1 + 4Ãâ€"2 + 3Ãâ€"3 + x4 ). What has happened is this: You have taken a variable that you didn’t want to use in the ? rst place (you set x1 = 0) and then made it less pro? table (lowered its coe cient in the objective function). You are still not going to use it. The solution does not change. Observation If you lower the objective function coe cient of a non-basic variable, then the solution does not change. What if you raise the coe cient? Intuitively, raising it just a little bit should not matter, but raising the coe cient a lot might induce you to change the value of x in a way that makes x1 0. So, for a non-basic variable, you should expect a solution to continue to be valid for a range of values for coe cients of nonbasic variables. The range should include all lower values for the coe cient and some higher values. If the coe cient increases enough (and putting the variable into the basis is feasible), then the solution changes. What happens to your solution if the coe cient of a basic variable (like x2 or x4 in the example) decreases? This situation di? ers from the previous one in that you are using the basis variable in the ? rst place. The change makes the variable contribute less to pro? . You should expect that a su ciently large reduction makes you want to change your solution (and lower the value the associated variable). For example, if the coe cient of x2 in the objective function in the example were 2 instead of 4 (so that the objective was max 2Ãâ€"1 +2Ãâ€"2 +3Ãâ€"3 + x4 ), 2 maybe you would want to set x2 = 0 instead of x2 = 10. 4. On the other hand, a sma ll reduction in x2 ’s objective function coe cient would typically not cause you to change your solution. In contrast to the case of the non-basic variable, such a change will change the value of your objective function. You compute the value by plugging in x into the objective function, if x2 = 10. 4 and the coe cient of x2 goes down from 4 to 2, then the contribution of the x2 term to the value goes down from 41. 6 to 20. 8 (assuming that the solution remains the same). You read "Sensitivity Analysis" in category "Essay examples" If the coe cient of a basic variable goes up, then your value goes up and you still want to use the variable, but if it goes up enough, you may want to adjust x so that it x2 is even possible. In many cases, this is possible by ? nding another basis (and therefore another solution). So, intuitively, there should be a range of values of the coe cient of the objective function (a range that includes the original value) in which the solution of the problem does not change. Outside of this range, the solution will change (to lower the value of the basic variable for reductions and increase its value of increases in its objective function coe cient). The value of the problem always changes when you change the coe cient of a basic variable. 2. 2 Changing a Right-Hand Side Constant We discussed this topic when we talked about duality. I argued that dual prices capture the e? ct of a change in the amounts of available resources. When you changed the amount of resource in a non-binding constraint, then increases never changed your solution. Small decreases also did not change anything, but if you decreased the amount of resource enough to make the constraint binding, your solution could change. (Note the similarity between this analysis and the case of changing the coe c ient of a non-basic variable in the objective function. Changes in the right-hand side of binding constraints always change the solution (the value of x must adjust to the new constraints). We saw earlier that the dual variable associated with the constraint measures how much the objective function will be in? uenced by the change. 2. 3 Adding a Constraint If you add a constraint to a problem, two things can happen. Your original solution satis? es the constraint or it doesn’t. If it does, then you are ? nished. If you had a solution before and the solution is still feasible for the new problem, then you must still have a solution. If the original solution does not satisfy the new constraint, then possibly the new problem is infeasible. If not, then there is another solution. The value must go down. (Adding a constraint makes the problem harder to satisfy, so you cannot possibly do better than before). If your original solution satis? es your new constraint, then you can do as well as before. If not, then you will do worse. 2 2 There is a rare case in which originally your problem has multiple solutions, but only some of them satisfy the added constraint. In this case, which you need not worry about, 3 2. 4 Relationship to the Dual The objective function coe cients correspond to the right-hand side constants of resource constraints in the dual. The primal’s right-hand side constants correspond to objective function coe cients in the dual. Hence the exercise of changing the objective function’s coe cients is really the same as changing the resource constraints in the dual. It is extremely useful to become comfortable switching back and forth between primal and dual relationships. 3 Understanding Sensitivity Information Provided by Excel Excel permits you to create a sensitivity report with any solved LP. The report contains two tables, one associated with the variables and the other associated with the constraints. In reading these notes, keep the information in the sensitivity tables associated with the ? rst simplex algorithm example nearby. 3. 1 Sensitivity Information on Changing (or Adjustable) Cells The top table in the sensitivity report refers to the variables in the problem. The ? rst column (Cell) tells you the location of the variable in your spreadsheet; the second column tells you its name (if you named the variable); the third column tells you the ? nal value; the fourth column is called the reduced cost; the ? fth column tells you the coe cient in the problem; the ? al two columns are labeled â€Å"allowable increase† and â€Å"allowable decrease. † Reduced cost, allowable increase, and allowable decrease are new terms. They need de? nitions. The allowable increases and decreases are easier. I will discuss them ? rst. The allowable increase is the amount by which you can increase the coe cient of the objective function without causing the optimal basis to change. Th e allowable decrease is the amount by which you can decrease the coe cient of the objective function without causing the optimal basis to change. Take the ? rst row of the table for the example. This row describes the variable x1 . The coe cient of x1 in the objective function is 2. The allowable increase is 9, the allowable decrease is â€Å"1. 00E+30,† which means 1030 , which really means 1. This means that provided that the coe cient of x1 in the objective function is less than 11 = 2 + 9 = original value + allowable increase, the basis does not change. Moreover, since x1 is a non-basic variable, when the basis stays the same, the value of the problem stays the same too. The information in this line con? rms the intuition provided earlier and adds something new. What is con? rmed is that if you lower the objective coe cient of a non-basic ariable, then your solution does not change. (This means that the allowable decrease will always be in? nite for a non-basic variable. ) The example also demonstrates your value will stay the same. 4 that increasing the coe cient of a non-basic variable may lead to a change in basis. In the example, if you increase the coe cient of x1 from 2 to anything greater than 9 (that is, if you add more than the allowable increase of 7 to the coe cient), then you change the solution. The sensitivity table does not tell you how the solution changes, but common sense suggests that x1 will take on a positive value. Notice that the line associated with the other non-basic variable of the example, x3 , is remarkably similar. The objective function coe cient is di? erent (3 rather than 2), but the allowable increase and decrease are the same as in the row for x1 . It is a coincidence that the allowable increases are the same. It is no coincidence that the allowable decrease is the same. We can conclude that the solution of the problem does not change as long as the coe cient of x3 in the objective function is less than or equal to 10. Consider now the basic variables. For x2 the allowable increase is in? ite 9 while the allowable decrease is 2. 69 (it is 2 13 to be exact). This means that if the solution won’t change if you increase the coe cient of x2 , but it will change if you decrease the coe cient enough (that is, by more than 2. 7). The fact that your solution does not change no matter how much you increase x2 ’s coe cient means that there is no way to make x2 10. 4 and still satisfy the constraints of the problem. The fact that your solution does change when you increase x2 ’s coe cient by enough means that there is a feasible basis in which x2 takes on a value lower than 10. 4. You knew that. Examine the original basis for the problem. ) The range for x4 is di? erent. Line four of the sensitivity table says that the solution of the problem does not change provided that the coe cient of x4 in the objective function stays between 16 (allowable increase 15 plus objective function coe cient 1) and -4 (objective function coe cient minus allowable decrease). That is, if you make x4 su ciently more attractive, then your solution will change to permit you to use more x4 . If you make x4 su ciently less attractive the solution will also change. This time to use less x4 . Even when the solution of the problem does not change, when you change the coe cient of a basic variable the value of the problem will change. It will change in a predictable way. Speci? cally, you can use the table to tell you the solution of the LP when you take the original constraints and replace the original objective function by max 2Ãâ€"1 + 6Ãâ€"2 + 3Ãâ€"3 + x4 (that is, you change the coe cient of x2 from 4 to 6), then the solution to the problem remains the same. The value of the solution changes because now you multiply the 10. 4 units of x2 by 6 instead of 4. The objective function therefore goes up by 20. . The reduced cost of a variable is the smallest change in the objective function coe cient needed to arrive at a solution in which the variable takes on a positive value when you solve the problem. This is a mouthful. Fortunately, reduced costs are redundant information. The reduced cost is the negative of the allowable increase for non-basic variables (that is, if y ou change the coe cient of x1 by 7, then you arrive at a problem in which x1 takes on a positive 5 value in the solution). This is the same as saying that the allowable increase in the coe cient is 7. The reduced cost of a basic variable is always zero (because you need not change the objective function at all to make the variable positive). Neglecting rare cases in which a basis variable takes on the value 0 in a solution, you can ? gure out reduced costs from the other information in the table: If the ? nal value is positive, then the reduced cost is zero. If the ? nal value is zero, then the reduced cost is negative one times the allowable increase. Remarkably, the reduced cost of a variable is also the amount of slack in the dual constraint associated with the variable. With this interpretation, complementary slackness implies that if a variable that takes on a positive value in the solution, then its reduced cost is zero. 3. 2 Sensitivity Information on Constraints The second sensitivity table discusses the constraints. The cell column identi? es the location of the left-hand side of a constraint; the name column gives its name (if any); the ? nal value is the value of the left-hand side when you plug in the ? nal values for the variables; the shadow price is the dual variable associated with the constraint; the constraint R. H. ide is the right hand side of the constraint; allowable increase tells you by how much you can increase the right-hand side of the constraint without changing the basis; the allowable decrease tells you by how much you can decrease the right-hand side of the constraint without changing the basis. Complementary Slackness guarantees a relationship between the columns in the constraint table. The di? erence between the â€Å" Constraint Right-Hand Side† column and the â€Å"Final Value† column is the slack. (So, from the table, the slack for the three constraints is 0 (= 12 12), 37 (= 7 ( 30)), and 0 (= 10 10), respectively. We know from Complementary Slackness that if there is slack in the constraint then the associated dual variable is zero. Hence CS tells us that the second dual variable must be zero. Like the case of changes in the variables, you can ? gure out information on allowable changes from other information in the table. The allowable increase and decrease of non-binding variables can be computed knowing ? nal value and right-hand side constant. If a constraint is not binding, then adding more of the resource is not going to change your solution. Hence the allowable increase of a resource is in? ite for a non-binding constraint. (A nearly equivalent, and also true, statement is that the allowable increase of a resource is in? nite for a constraint with slack. ) In the example, this explains why the allowable increase of the second constraint is in? nite. One other quantity is also no surprise. The allowable decrease of a non-binding constraint is equal to the slack in the constraint. Hence t he allowable decrease in the second constraint is 37. This means that if you decrease the right-hand side of the second constraint from its original value (7) to nything greater than 30 you do not change the optimal basis. In fact, the only part of the solution that changes when you do this is that the value of the slack variable for this constraint changes. In this paragraph, the point is only this: If you solve an LP and ? nd that a constraint is not binding, 6 then you can remove all of the unused (slack) portion of the resource associated with this constraint and not change the solution to the problem. The allowable increases and decreases for constraints that have no slack are more complicated. Consider the ? rst constraint. The information in the table says that if the right-hand side of the ? rst constraint is between 10 (original value 12 minus allowable decrease 2) and in? nity, then the basis of the problem does not change. What these columns do not say is that the solution of the problem does change. Saying that the basis does not change means that the variables that were zero in the original solution continue to be zero in the new problem (with the right-hand side of the constraint changed). However, when the amount of available resource changes, necessarily the values of the other variables change. You can think about this in many ways. Go back to a standard example like the diet problem. If your diet provides exactly the right amount of Vitamin C, but then for some reason you learn that you need more Vitamin C. You will certainly change what you eat and (if you aren’t getting your Vitamin C through pills supplying pure Vitamin C) in order to do so you probably will need to change the comp osition of your diet – a little more of some foods and perhaps less of others. I am saying that (within the allowable range) you will not change the foods that you eat in positive amounts. That is, if you ate only spinach and oranges and bagels before, then you will only eat these things (but in di? erent quantities) after the change. Another thing that you can do is simply re-solve the LP with a di? erent right-hand side constant and compare the result. To ? nish the discussion, consider the third constraint in the example. The values for the allowable increase and allowable decrease guarantee that the basis that is optimal for the original problem (when the right-hand side of the third constraint is equal to 10) remains obtain provided that the right-hand side constant in this constraint is between -2. 333 and 12. Here is a way to think about this range. Suppose that your LP involves four production processes and uses three basic ingredients. Call the ingredients land, labor, and capital. The outputs vary use di? erent combinations of the ingredients. Maybe they are growing fruit (using lots of land and labor), cleaning bathrooms (using lots of labor), making cars (u sing lots of labor and and a bit of capital), and making computers (using lots of capital). For the initial speci? cation of available resources, you ? nd that your want to grow fruit and make cars. If you get an increase in the amount of capital, you may wish to shift into building computers instead of cars. If you experience a decrease in the amount of capital, you may wish to shift away from building cars and into cleaning bathrooms instead. As always when dealing with duality relationships, the the â€Å"Adjustable Cells† table and the â€Å"Constraints† table really provide the same information. Dual variables correspond to primal constraints. Primal variables correspond to dual constraints. Hence, the â€Å"Adjustable Cells† table tells you how sensitive primal variables and dual constraints are to changes in the primal objective function. The â€Å"Constraints† table tells you how sensitive dual variables and primal constraints are to changes in the dual objective function (right-hand side constants in the primal). 7 4 Example In this section I will present another formulation example and discuss the solution and sensitivity results. Imagine a furniture company that makes tables and chairs. A table requires 40 board feet of wood and a chair requires 30 board feet of wood. Wood costs $1 per board foot and 40,000 board feet of wood are available. It takes 2 hours of skilled labor to make an un? nished table or an un? ished chair. Three more hours of labor will turn an un? nished table into a ? nished table; two more hours of skilled labor will turn an un? nished chair into a ? nished chair. There are 6000 hours of skilled labor available. (Assume that you do not need to pay for this labor. ) The prices of output are given in the table below: Product Un? nished Table Finished Table Un? nished Chair Finished Chair Price $70 $140 $60 $110 We want to formulate an LP that describes the production plans that the ? rm can use to maximize its pro? ts. The relevant variables are the number of ? nished and un? ished tables, I will call them TF and TU , and the number of ? nished and un? nished chairs, CF and CU . The revenue is (using the table): 70TU + 140TF + 60CU + 110CF , , while the cost is 40TU + 40TF + 30CU + 30CF (because lumber costs $1 per board foot). The constraints are: 1. 40TU + 40TF + 30CU + 30CF ? 40000. 2. 2TU + 5TF + 2CU + 4CF ? 6000. The ? rst constraint says that the amount of lumber used is no more than what is available. The second constraint states that the amount of labor used is no more than what is available. Excel ? nds the answer to the problem to be to construct only ? nished chairs (1333. 33 – I’m not sure what it means to make a sell 1 chair, but let’s assume 3 that this is possible). The pro? t is $106,666. 67. Here are some sensitivity questions. 1. What would happen if the price of un? nished chairs went up? Currently they sell for $60. Because the allowable increase in the coe cient is $50, it would not be pro? table to produce them even if they sold for the same amount as ? nished chairs. If the price of un? nished chairs went down, then certainly you wouldn’t change your solution. 8 2. What would happen if the price of un? nished tables went up? Here something apparently absurd happens. The allowable increase is greater than 70. That is, even if you could sell un? nished tables for more than ? nished tables, you would not want to sell them. How could this be? The answer is that at current prices you don’t want to sell ? nished tables. Hence it is not enough to make un? nished tables more pro? table than ? nished tables, you must make them more pro? table than ? nished chairs. Doing so requires an even greater increase in the price. 3. What if the price of ? nished chairs fell to $100? This change would alter your production plan, since this would involve a $10 decrease in the price of ? ished chairs and the allowable decrease is only $5. In order to ? gure out what happens, you need to re-solve the problem. It turns out that the best thing to do is specialize in ? nished tables, producing 1000 and earning $100,000. Notice that if you continued with the old production plan your pro? t would be 70 ? 1333 1 = 93, 333 1 , so the change in production plan 3 3 was worth more than $6,000. 4. How would pro? t change if lumber supplies changed? The shadow price of the lumber constraint is $2. 67. The range of values for which the basis remains unchanged is 0 to 45,000. This means that if the lumber supply went up by 5000, then you would continue to specialize in ? nished chairs, and your pro? t would go up by $2. 67 ? 5000 = $10, 333. At this point you presumably run out of labor and want to reoptimize. If lumber supply decreased, then your pro? t would decrease, but you would still specialize in ? nished chairs. 5. How much would you be willing to pay an additional carpenter? Skilled labor is not worth anything to you. You are not using the labor than you have. Hence, you would pay nothing for additional workers. 6. Suppose that industrial regulations complicate the ? ishing process, so that it takes one extra hour per chair or table to turn an un? nished product into a ? nished one. How would this change your plans? You cannot read your answer o? the sensitivity table, but a bit of common sense tells you something. The change cannot make you better o?. On the other hand, to produce 1,333. 33 ? nished chairs you’ll need 1,333. 33 extra hour s of labor. You do not have that available. So the change will change your pro? t. Using Excel, it turns out that it becomes optimal to specialize in ? nished tables, producing 1000 of them and earning $100,000. This problem di? ers from the original one because the amount of labor to create a ? nished product increases by one unit. ) 7. The owner of the ? rm comes up with a design for a beautiful hand-crafted cabinet. Each cabinet requires 250 hours of labor (this is 6 weeks of full time work) and uses 50 board feet of lumber. Suppose that the company can sell a cabinet for $200, would it be worthwhile? You could solve this 9 problem by changing the problem and adding an additional variable and an additional constraint. Note that the coe cient of cabinets in the objective function is 150, which re? cts the sale price minus the cost of lumber. I did the computation. The ? nal value increased to 106,802. 7211. The solution involved reducing the output of un? nished chairs to 1319. 72 7891 and increasing the output of cabinets to 8. 163265306. (Again, please tolerate the fractions. ) You could not have guessed these ? gures in advance, but you could ? gure out that making cabinets was a good idea. The way to do this is to value the inputs to the production of cabinets. Cabinets require labor, but labor has a shadow price of zero. They also require lumber. The shadow price of lumber is $2. 7, which means that each unit of lumber adds $2. 67 to pro? t. Hence 50 board feet of lumber would reduce pro? t by $133. 50. Since this is less than the price at which you can sell cabinets (minus the cost of lumber), you are better o? using your resources to build cabinets. (You can check that the increase in pro? t associated with making cabinets is $16. 50, the added pro? t per unit, times the number of cabinets that you actually produce. ) I attached a sheet where I did the same computation assuming that the price of cabinets was $150. In this case, the additional option do es not lead to cabinet production. 10 How to cite Sensitivity Analysis, Essay examples

Pak Railway Thesis free essay sample

Railways,  lifeline  of the country, is a  national  state-run transport service. It is under the administration of federal government and its head quarter is in Lahore. It is an important source of  transportation  throughout Pakistan. It carries millions of passengers throughout the country. It used to carry huge freight in Pakistan. This cheap and safe mode for passengers is now facing a number of issues. A number of services of Pakistan Railways have been cancelled, suspended or terminated and many more will be suspended in near future because of mismanagement and shortage of locomotives, fuel and money. The chapter of all major services, from Lahore to Karachi, has been closed. It is pertinent to mention that all  AC serviceshave been stopped. The incompetent administration has failed to attain locomotives from any quarter of the world. Passengers are suffering due to mismanagement of administration. Pakistan Railways decision to suspend goods  train  service due to severe shortage of locomotives and fuel is another blow to this organization. It is now basically financially bankrupt organization. In other words it is on the verge of financial collapse. The political interference, nepotism, corruption, poor maintenance of tracks bridges and mismanagement in almost every field are the major causes of failure of Pakistan Railways. Pakistan Railways purchased 69 completely built locomotive units from China under 2003 agreement. These are about 37% cheaper than the European locomotives but considered to be faulty. It is stated that 32 of these have already been scraped. Dong Fang  Electric  Corporation  has been severely criticized for producing low quality locomotives. The other viewpoint is that misuse of the machinery was the major cause of the failure of Chinese locomotives. According to Sheikh Rashid, the former railway minister, crankshafts of locomotives worth Rs10 million were damaged because of the use of substandard lubrication oil. It may be mentioned here that normally a locomotive consists of six traction motors while the Pakistan Railways is operating them with only three or four motors. This is the major cause of mid-way breakdown of trains. The passengers, in such a case, have to wait for a long time till repair or replacement of faulty  engine  takes place. Naturally trains are too late and passengers can be seen sitting at platforms with their  luggage. A number of trains lack facility of light at nights because of the failure of the  generators  and ill attitude of management. Another reason that prevents people to go by  train  is increase in corruption by the ticketing officials. The reservation of birth is an uphill task. There are  complaints  that reservation is confirmed after receiving bribe of hundred or more rupees by passengers. Pakistan Railways is no more the best choice to travel for the passengers. Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, federal minister for Pakistan Railways, is a very controversial figure. He is considered to be somewhat responsible for the deteriorating situation of Pakistan Railways. His viewpoint is that the whole railway system is obsolete. He complains that half of the total locomotives are out of order. Almost 86 % bridges are more than 100 years old. The trains, tracks and machinery are outdated or faulty. He says that Pakistan needs 25 to 30  engines  annually. He is now making a plan to repair, hire or lease locomotives in collaboration with the private sector. Moreover, he believes that a bailout package can be helpful to overpower the crisis. According to him delay in funds to Railways is the root cause of the crisis. He accuses the federal  government for  not releasing remarkable funds for the betterment of Pakistan Railways. All his plans may end in failure because of corruption in the management, financial problems, his ill-advised attitude and lack of vision. The efficiency of the railway minister is evident from its almost nil performance. He believes that two mafia gangs are very strong in Pakistan Railways but finds himself incapable to take any action against them. He seems to be too weak to solve the issues and problems faced by his ministry. The Chief Justice has expressed his disapproval for the high-ups of Railways in the following comments: â€Å"Ninety metric tons of  silver  worth millions was sold for mere Rs28,000 as scrap, while  a light bulb  worth Rs60 is being purchased at Rs400, whereas absence of maintenance turned expensive locomotives into junk one by one, besides a Grade-18 officer, a blue-eyed boy of the railways minister, is promoted to hold a Grade-20 post of secretary purchase. In the words of Chief Justice â€Å" the electricity wires meant for  electric  trains from Lahore to Khanewal have been stolen. † Moreover, he observed that â€Å"tickets were sold in advance outside  ticket  counters and tickets were not available at railway stations. † It is also in the notice of the apex court that land mafia has grabbed Pakistan Railways land in different areas of the country. He has already order ed the railways to approach the Sindh administration in this connection. Nonetheless, everybody knows the efficiency of the present Sindh government. Railways needed Rs2. 2 billion to pay the salaries and pension to its protesting employees but the government has not released enough money to overpower the deep financial crisis. The economy of the country is under severe pressure and the poor administration seems to be unable to solve the problem. The apex court has already remarked â€Å"Railways should take steps to make it functional as early as possible. † Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, former railway minister, blames corrupt officers of the department for the present situation in Pakistan Railways. According to him only 156 locomotives out of 500 are in normal working condition. According to his statement 15,000 freight  wagons  are not plying in the country and the business has gone in the hands of the private sector. He claims that 200  coaches  and several locomotives, imported from China, could have been manufactured in the local Carriage Factory in Islamabad. Due to imported  coaches  and machinery several labourers have lost their  jobs  or sent on forced leave. A limited number of loaders have been appointed by the administration on the platforms to carry the  luggage  of the passengers. It is stated that a particular amount of money is received by the administration as a bribe from these poor loaders. In return they are allowed to receive hundred rupees from the passenger to carry the  luggage. A private firm has been working under the contract to transport goods including medicines,carpets,  furniture and  electronic appliances through Pakistan Railways. The monopoly of this firm is an obstacle in the free trade of different goods. Pakistan Railways should create competitive atmosphere to provide the customers with more facilities. Pakistan Railways losses have reached billions of rupees. It seems difficult to bring trains back on tracks in the present circumstances. The situation may not change unless corrupt high-ups are removed, suspended and dismissed from the services. To restructure and modernise Pakistan Railways under the present administration seems to be the dream of a mad man. Pakistan Railways is sinking in the sea of corruption as no serious efforts are being made to eradicate it from this department. PAKISTAN RAILWAY CRISIS AND ITS SOLUTIONS Among the means of transportation railways are the cheapest and safest mode for passengers and goods. It also helps in growth of economy for the country. A plan for a rail system in  Pakistan  was first proposed in 1858. A survey for railway line was initiated by Commissioner of Sindh ,Sir Henry Edward Fere in 1858. It was proposed that a railway line from  Karachi  City  to Kotri, steam navigation from the Indus /Chenab up to  Multan  and from there another railway to  Lahore  and beyond be constructed. Thus, it was on 13th May, 1861 that first railway line was opened for public traffic between  Ã‚  Ã‚  Karachi  City  and Kotri, the distance of 105 miles. The line between  Karachi  Cityand Kemari was opened in 1889   and   by 1897 the line from Kemari to Kotri was doubled. Since 1861 when the first railway line was laid down between  Karachi  and Kotri, the expansion of the railway network by the British came at a rapid pace up until 1947. The driving factors for this growth were strategic and economic in nature. For instance to stop the invasion of the Russians from the West, the British built the Khojak tunnel, the fourth largest at that time, in seemingly inaccessible areas of Balochistan to reach Chaman railway station.

role of culture and management development Essays -

This paper offers a new perspective on international al management by examining the role of culture and management development in creating international al expertise, a sense of identity and realizing organizational control. A critical analysis of the culture transmission and management development philosophy and practice of a UK-based transnational reveals how the transmission of culture accomplishes management development objectives, while management development itself serves as a vehicle for the transmission of the desired corporate values. This recursiveness is sustained by a corporate ideology that urges the creation of integrative values and, in turn, is legitimized by the quest for favourable functional and symbolic consequences. Descriptors: management training and development, culture, ideology, functionalism, symbolism. Reconciling headquarter-subsidiary interests while maintaining a distinct identity continues to be a major challenge for multinational firms, hence the think global/act local paradox. For Ghoshal and Bartlett (1990) this problem can be addressed by effectively handling the network of exchange relationships. Other solutions include socialization and the management of expatriates (e.g. Edstrom and Galbraith 1977; Tung 1982); managing relationships between expatriates and host-country subordinates (e.g. Shaw 1990); creating cultural synergy (e.g. Adler 1980); fostering cooperative relationships and developing conflict-resolution mechanisms (e.g. Doz et al. 1981); diffusing 'best proven practices' (e.g. Rosenzweig and Singh 1991); reconciling organizational linkages (e.g. Borys and Jemison 1989) and diffusing and leveraging knowledge (e.g. Gupta and Govindarajan 1991; Kamoche 1996). Bartlett and Ghoshal (1989: 187) found that successful transnational firms used management development 'to build cultural norms, sha pe organizational processes and influence...

American Values and Morals

American Values and Morals Free Online Research Papers Where Have Morals and Values Gone in America Ethics: 1 the study of standards of conduct and moral judgment. 2 The system of morals of a particular person, religion, group, ect. (Webster, p.204) We as human beings are going to either hurt someone not meaning to or maybe we will plan to hurt them. No matter what a person’s view of life is, it is lead by ethics, whether the ethical idea a person follow be right or wrong. There are many different ideas on ethics and what theory is the best for the society a person lives in may decide what ethical view the person may have. Every choice we make has some form of ethics in it. The decline of morals and values has changed the people and families in the United States. In 1963 prayer and religion was removed from our public schools. Since we no longer pray or teach our young people the morals or values found in the Bible, there has been a negative impact on our young people. In the 1940’s and 1950’s our children committed crimes like running in the halls, cutting in line, or being loud, now in 2010 our children drugs and alcohol, rape, rob, and kill themselves. Taking prayer and religion out of our schools and away from our children has changed who our children will become. John Adams in 1798 said, â€Å"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.† (Adams J. 1798) His views where shared by others, such as, Benjamin Rush, Gouvernerneur Morris, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington. Prayer and religion has always been a way to teach our children moral values. Before they removed prayer from our schools children showed these values, after the removal we see drugs, fighting, sex, and killings. The lack of moral values has changed the way our young people act. The decline of morality is a growing problem throughout the world not just the United States. The world we live on is changing. Towns and cities are changing as well as the people who live in them. I grew up in a small town in Florida, as I grew up we were taught to have respect for others we prayed in school and at home. We held morals and values very high in our home. Thomas Jefferson was a moral man because he understood morality and was able to recognize immorality. We need to learn recognize morality in ourselves and our young. Some think moral decline is stimulated by immoral leaders. Leaders like Bill Clinton need to be moral to set a good example. But the people of America elected him twice, why? A society of generally immoral people. The transition back to strong values and good moral standards needs to start in everyone’s own home and mind. We need to make the changes for ourselves and our children. The increase in divorces and the decreases in marriages does not reflect breakdown of the family unit in the United States and the loss of moral values, I don’t feel the divorce is the cause of the loss of moral values, many people get divorced and their children grow up to be good people. Some of the ideas on ethics that affect people and the way they view moral values are ; Libertarian; an advocate for full individual freedom of thought and action (Webster, p.340) Libertarians believe everyone has a right to live their life any way he or she chooses as long as the rights of others right to life are respected. They believe success and harmony grow when there is as much liberty and as little government as possible. Cultural relativism; The ethical theory which asserts that ethical principles are relative to cultures; what is right or wrong is determined by the specific culture, and moral practices will differ from culture to culture (Waller,p.331) Cultural relativism is the belief that all customs, are relative to the individual within his own social context. What is right in one society may be wrong in another society .It is difficult to truly grasp the hardships or endearments of another person whose circumstances are uniquely different then their own. So what may be the right answer for one person with the same problem, it may be the wrong answer for another person. So we would have to say cultural relativism we learn our ethics from the society or culture we live in. Natural Law Ethics ; â€Å"an ethical theory that counts human acts ( and the laws and principles governing them) as morally good when they promote the development of our true human nature; maintains that our human nature and its proper development is assigned by God; and holds that the key element of our human nature is our God given rationality.† (Waller, p.332) Natural law is rationality of Gods will in accordance with Gods eternal plan. It is given by God and all human beings know it naturally. This law states that it is universal, but is it possible for any law or theory to be universal? Looking at a example; we have a mother a son and a man the son has great dislike for some unknown reason, the man walks towards them the son pulls a gun ready to kill the man, the mother in fear for the man and her son steps in front of the gun. Will the son shoot or will he pull the gun down and let the man pass. I think in most cases in any country the son would lower the gun rather th an take a chance on harming his mother. This could be considered universal respect for ones mother and/ or father. But I don’t feel this is enough to say Natural law is a good way to go. If it was reversed and the man had the gun would he have shot, harming the mother and son? Most likely he would have, but in rare cases there is respect for mothers or women and he may have put the gun down. Divine Command Theory of Ethics; the view that all values and ethical principles are established by God’s command or by God’s will; also known as theological voluntarism.( Waller,p.331) Divine command theory says that an act is either moral or immoral. This is because either God commands it or God prohibits it. I think this is a wonderful idea but it’s a crock, God gave us free will so that we could make our own choices and so on. So the idea to do whatever God commands is not going to work. Most church going people try to abide by what they learn from the Bible as to how one should act and treat others ( do unto others as you would have them do unto you ) , one problem we have with this is there are so many different religions and different beliefs that trying to do Gods will would be quite confusing. We all know the Ten Commandments and what they stand for and where they come from, but will ten small rules really are able to make us all ethically correct? Ther e also are the churches where the preacher is there to make money, and the Bible and Gods will is changed or misused for the preachers own benefit. I do think we as Americans do use Gods will and the Bible as our base for how we act and how we do most everything. But I feel it is a base we build off of not our complete structure for ethics. This would fail otherwise, because where would the people who does not believe in God or a higher power go what ethical choices would they make? No matter the argument there has to be a lot more then because God said so. I think that most people want to be good at heart, but the relaxed way of child rearing of our times has left out some very important factors, like respect, trust, honesty, truth. In today’s society when we have a child that acts out they are taken to a doctor and they are usually told the child has ADHD, in bygone days the child would have had consequences for his or her actions. I know when I grew up (I’m 44) there was consequences for every action, we didn’t play violent games or listen to vulgar music, we respected our elders and had values instilled in us that would prevent us from doing bad. Our parents believed in spare the rod spoil the child. Now it is against the law to spank a child, most all forms of punishment are against the law and are considered abuse. I received spankings when I was a child but I do not feel I was abused. I feel my parents loved me and wanted me to turn out to be a good person. There are so many medical excuses now for bad beha vior in children that parents do not discipline their children they medicate them, and the moral values we use to teach our children are pushed under the rug. There are so many various types of people with different ethnic backgrounds, cultures, and ways of living that are the cause of our distinct values in a family unit. These families have poor, mediocre or virtuous family values, however what one may conceder as a mediocre family value may seem poor to someone else and vice-versa. Family values differ from family to family and what each feels the most important differs as well. I feel that even though we have many theories on ethics and morals, that there may in fact be no right or wrong way to decide what is ethical. I feel very strongly that it really depends on the situation, the social setting, and the person’s home life. What one person finds wrong many more will say it is right and what one person finds right many more will find it wrong. The only ethics we really all can agree on is do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I feel we have a responsibility to our children to teach the right and wrong. In the United States moral values have made a big turn for the worse over the last 20 years. Everyone has their own set of values, (socially shared conceptions) our values influence our orientations, actions, reactions, and interpretations. Two core values are trust and honesty; these two values are claimed by many of us but contradicted over and over. Most everyone wants to hear the truth, and trust and honesty run hand in hand; if we are honest we gain a person’s trust. The world has changed so much that traditionally good things now often show negative consequences, while formerly bad things are seen in a much more positive light. For example, it used to be that transforming wilderness into roads, cities and arable land was a sign of progress. Nowadays, there are so few virgin forests left that most people would agree that they should be preserved at all cost. Similarly, in previous times sex outside marriage was viewed as an inherently dangerous phenomenon, responsible for spreading diseases and destabilizing families. Presently, thanks to the use of antibiotics and contraceptives, extramarital sex is seen as rather innocuous, and a matter of personal preferences rather than a danger to society. Recently, the spread of AIDS has made irregular sex dangerous again, but that might change once more with the development of an HIV vaccine.(unknown,2010) This information was found by a survey done by Adery Barrick â€Å"Thirty-one percent of the public is Orthodox Americas most religiously observant people who consider deep religious faith to be the most essential ingredient for living a good and moral life. Progressives those who advocate a secularized approach to private and public life and reject the notion that living a moral life requires deep religious beliefs accounted for 17 percent of the public. And 46 percent of the public are Independents those whose guiding principle is neither religious revelation nor secular ideology. Independents view religious beliefs as just one of many ingredients needed to live a moral life. With that, a major finding in the study showed that the majority of Americans, from the Orthodox to the Independents, say they believe the moral values in America are weaker than they were 20 years ago. Overall, 74 percent said so. Nearly half went further to say moral values today are much weaker. Most Americans attribute the media to the moral decline. The National Cultural Values Survey found that 68 percent of Americans say the media entertainment and news are having a detrimental effect on moral values in America. Moreover, 74 percent who believe moral values are weaker consider the media to be the second greatest influence on moral values after parents and families. Crumbling personal and societal sexual moral standards may also account for the significant moral decline. Survey results revealed that 16 percent say sex between unmarried adults is never wrong; 49 percent more say it depends on the situation; and 65 percent say they will excuse sex outside marriage. Additionally, 45 percent say divorce should be legal for any reason at any time. Only 67 percent believe premarital sex among high school kids is always wrong. On the controversial issue of gays and lesbians, only 49 percent think homosexuality is wrong. While 14 percent say homosexuality is right, 26 percent say it depends on the situation.† (Barrick,A. 2007/08/2007) I don’t agree with all of the findings from this survey but it gives us a look at what 2000 people in the United States has to say concerning our decline in moral values and a look at some of what may be the cause of the decline. â€Å"Lots of people with good moral values fail. To be human is to be vulnerable to all kinds of weakness from drinking or diets to having affairs. Some people are stronger and can face temptation, but its a hard thing to be moral, day in and day out.† Being selfish is far easier. History proves the point: the near annihilation of American Indians, the Salem witch trials, slavery, Japanese internment camps and McCarthy Era blacklists all marring the reputation of a country that calls itself the â€Å"land of the free† and all within a short span of a few hundred years. Based upon that historical view, Jost says, â€Å"Id argue society is getting better.† The tone of his voice, however, indicates the answer is far from simple. â€Å"Every culture and era has had important questions,† he says. â€Å"The questions we face are different in their complexity, but not more difficult.† Is what Larry Jost has to say about our morals? (Jost L., university of cincinnati) Is he right, is being selfish easier or do people just not know what morels are any more. I grew up in the south where being a Lady or a Gentleman is something that you are taught from birth, is all that gone? I think it is. It has been a very long time since I’ve met any lady’s or gentlemen. The big question is how we get back to bygone years, to when men opened doors for lady’s that wore dresses and knew how to talk without vulgar langue. Where families stayed together and went to church. Will we ever get those days back? I think they are gone forever that with technology and a rapidly advancing society I think we have to try to change for the sake of our way of life. Parents today have to take a stand and teach our young to have respect for themselves and others. To get back some of the moral values we use to hold so dear. The question we have to ask ourselves is do American want a change or not. References Andre, C., Velasquez, M. (2008). Calculating consequences: The utilitarian approach to ethics. Retrieved February 21, 2010, from www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v2n1/calculating.htm. (Barrick, 2007) Card, C. (2010, February 26). Feminist ethics. Retrieved February 26, 2010, from university press of kansas: www,kanaspress,ku,edu/carfem.htm1. Graber, G. C. (1972). In defense of a divine command theory of ethics. Retrieved February 26, 2010, from oxford journal: jaar.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pdf-extract/xliii/1/62. Lafave, S. (2010, February 26). Women and ethics. Retrieved February 26, 2010, from www.westvalley.edu/ph/women_ethics.htm1. (Rieselman, 2008) Murphy, M. (2002). Fundamentals of natural law tradition in ethics. Retrieved February 23, 2010, from www.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/phil%20115/natural-law-summary.htm. Studies, I. F. H. (1997). What is libertariante. Retrieved February 23, 2010, from www.theihs.org/contentdetails.aspx?id=626. Unknown. (2010, February 26). Women-philosophers. Retrieved February 26, 2010, from www.weomen-philosophers.com/Helen-Lucretia-Cornaro-Piscopia,htm1. Research Papers on American Values and MoralsMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite Religion19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseGenetic EngineeringCapital Punishment

Sympathy Quotes to Help You Express Regret

Sympathy Quotes to Help You Express Regret Grief is a heavy burden. Families that are grieving for their dear ones who departed, or for a missing member, find it difficult to hold back their tears. At such a time, words of solace can provide a healing touch. Offering Condolence at Funerals When a dear one has departed, you can extend your condolences with kind words. You may feel that words are hollow and dont do much to alleviate sorrow. However, your support can help the grieving family gain strength. If words seem empty, back them up with generous acts. Perhaps you could offer some assistance to the family. Or maybe they would appreciate your involvement in the funeral arrangements. You could even stay back after the ceremony to help the family get back to routine life. Sympathy for a Dear One Who Has Gone Missing If your friend or relative has gone missing, do every bit to help find them. Offer to talk to the local police, or help trace friends who last met the missing person. At the same time, express words of hope and encouragement. You could also help the grieving family get on with their lives to bring some normalcy. Dont speak of negative outcomes, even if you feel they are likely. Miracles happen, especially if you have faith. If you find the grieving family despairing, help them stay optimistic. Dont back out on promises. Even if you are not in a position to help the family, you can always send encouraging quotes about life. Let them know how you feel for their sorrow. If you are religious, you can also say a special prayer, asking God to help your loved ones through their difficult times. Offer Words of Support to a Heartbroken Loved One Heartbreak can be very depressing. If your friend is going through a bad patch in her love life, you can be the pillar of support. Your friend may need more than just a shoulder to cry on. If you find your friend slipping into a vortex of self-pity and depression, help her overcome the grief. Use these breakup quotes to brighten her mood. Or you can cheer her up with funny breakup quotes. Brooding often causes a person to despair. Take your friend to a mall, or a funny movie, to cheer her up. You could even help a friend whos suffering from chronic depression by allowing her to break some chinaware. It can be a great release to fling the china pots and plates on the ground and watch them break into smithereens.When you feel that your friend has overcome her sadness, help her rebound by introducing her to new people. She may find new friends a refreshing change, and who knows she may be ready to date again. Sympathy Quotes Offer Solace to the Grief Stricken Words may seem empty, but sometimes they are the best balm for the grieving soul. These sympathy quotes offer stability, hope, and strength. They remind us that life is good, and we are blessed. There is a silver lining to every grey cloud. Happiness and sadness are integral to life; they make us resilient, compassionate, and humble. Use these sympathy quotes in funeral speeches, obituaries, or in condolence messages. Express your grief eloquently; teach others how to stand tall during tough times. Stay dignified in moments of crisis. Corrie Ten BoomWorry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength. Marcel ProustMemory nourishes the heart, and grief abates. Jane Welsh CarlyleNever does one feel oneself so utterly helpless as in trying to speak comfort for great bereavement. I will not try it. Time is the only comforter for the loss of a mother. Thomas MooreWith what a deep devotedness of woeI wept thy absence - oer and oer againThinking of thee, still thee, till thought grew pain,And memory, like a drop that, night and day,Falls cold and ceaseless, wore my heart away! Oscar WildeIf there was less sympathy in the world, there would be less trouble in the world. Edmund BurkeNext to love, sympathy is the divinest passion of the human heart. Kahlil GibranOh heart, if one should say to you that the soul perishes like the body, answer that the flower withers, but the seed remains. Dr. Charles Henry ParkhurstSympathy is two hearts tugging at one load. Antoine de Saint-ExuperyHe who has gone, so we but cherish his memory, abides with us, more potent, nay, more present than the living man. John GalsworthyWhen Man evolved Pity, he did a queer thing deprived himself of the power of living life as it is without wishing it to become something different. Marcus Tullius CiceroThe rule of friendship means there should be mutual sympathy between them, each supplying what the other lacks and trying to benefit the other, always using friendly and sincere words. William JamesThe community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community. William ShakespeareWhen sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions. Robert Louis StevensonLike a bird singing in the rain, let grateful memories survive in time of sorrow. Julie BurchillTears are sometimes an inappropriate response to death. When a life has been lived completely honestly, completely successfully, or just completely, the correct response to deaths perfect punctuation mark is a smile. Leo BuscagliaI know for certain that we never lose the people we love, even to death. They continue to participate in every act, thought and decision we make. Their love leaves an indelible imprint in our memories. We find comfort in knowing that our lives have been enriched by having shared their love. Thomas AquinasSorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine. Victor HugoSorrow is a fruit. God does not make it grow on limbs too weak to bear it. Alfred Lord TennysonA sorrows crown of sorrow is remembering happier times. Laura Ingalls WilderRemember me with smiles and laughter, for that is how I will remember you all. If you can only remember me with tears, then dont remember me at all. Ann LandersPeople who drink to drown their sorrow should be told that sorrow knows how to swim. Johann Wolfgang von GoetheOnly by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid. VoltaireTears are the silent language of grief.

Issues Surrounding the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor Research Paper

Issues Surrounding the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor - Research Paper Example This paper explores the issues surrounding the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor was to deprive America of its naval strength so that Japan could easily expand into China and the Dutch East Indies. The nature of attack When the interests of a country are threatened, its government and military forces can go to any lengths to take measures to neutralize those threats. Same happened with Japan whose expansion in China was threatened by the placement of the oil embargo upon her by America. The US Military essentially served as a threat for Japan’s interests, and so Japan acted to neutralize them. History provides evidence that America herself has acted in similar ways to expand. For example, the Mexican people and the indigenous people of America were eradicated from the land so that the Americans could achieve their manifest destiny. Although the assassination of the American servicemen in the Pearl Harbor attack is tragic, yet the Pearl Harb or attack by Japan seems justified from an impartial standpoint. Lack of war declaration One argument that is consistently raised against Japan on the Pearl Harbor attack is that the attack was undeclared. Japan made a sneak attack rather than declaring a war formally simply because she wanted to win. It was not a kind of war in which Japan wanted to show its power or uplift its ego that she would feel the need to challenge America upfront. Instead, all Japan wanted was to oust a country that was intruding into her plans of expansion, and Japan would choose any way to achieve that because accomplishment of her plans mattered the most. Saying that the attack was illegal does not make sense because law and war are two terms that do not go with each other. Anticipation of war Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor was meant directed at the neutralization of the US Pacific Fleet, so that Japan’s advancement into the Dutch East Indies and Malaya that would provide Japan with access to a range of natural resources including rubber and oil could be ensured. Both America and Japan were aware of the possibility of war because of the growing tensions between the two countries since 1920s, though the invasion of Manchuria by Japan in 1931 marked the beginning of the most complicated terms between America and Japan. â€Å"The U.S. did not want to take military action in China, but it attempted to influence the foreign powers to take a strong stand against Japan† (Perkins, 1997, p. 111). During the 1930s, Japan’s continued expansion into China led to the commencement of war between Japan and China in 1937. The attack Nanking Massacre caused by Japan and her attack on the USS Panay increased the fear of Japanese expansion in the West and sharply turned the people of the West against Japan. As a result of the growing pressure from the people, the UK, France, and America resolved to provide China with loan assistance for the supply contracts related to war . In 1940, Japan tried to control the supplies that reached China by invading French Indochina (Gin, 2004, p. 651), but the shipment of machine tools, airplanes, aviation gasoline, and parts were halted by America. Japan understandably thought of it as an unfriendly act by America. However, to dilute the perceived unfriendliness by Japan, America continued to export oil to Japan. This was done, in part, because stopping oil export was perceived as an extreme step in Washington and was enough to provoke Japan. The ideological affinity between Britain and America was unquestionable in 1939, but large swathes of the American media and public were

FINAL EXAM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

FINAL EXAM - Essay Example eration of the position of climate, which can be statistically determined through mean, variation and duration of occurrence, qualifies as a climate change. One of the major discoveries for the cause of climate change concerns the human activity, which produce immoderate greenhouse gas. One of the major producers of such excessive gas is corporation, usually in the field of production. Hence, to rectify this major issue and evacuate their names form the list of greenhouse gas producers, companies started signing Kyoto Treaty, which incline these companies to work towards greenhouse gas reduction, where some firms vowed to reduce this gas by one percent and others were more determined changing the percent to 25 (Hoffman, 2005, pg. 21 & 22). In relation to the mentioned article by Hoffman and other resources, this paper will discuss about the current and possible threats and opportunities fabricated by the climate change for food making companies and suggestions about climate change st rategies. As the introduction has cleared out any misgivings that one might have regarding climate change being a scientific curiosity, it is obvious that the threat which this issue poses concerns the food manufacturing company, not only in food producing process but all those things that make up this organization. Hoffman in his article claims that even in food making companies climate change creates havoc by damaging the building, areas and factories in forms of flood, hurricanes or draughts, this in turn leads to heavy financial losses. Not only has this, but research (Goldenberg, 2014) concluded that around 81% of businesses fear that climate change will burden them with heavy losses. Furthermore, scientist have been giving warning about the advanced negative impact of climate change, which could be seen in the contemporary times where floods have given birth to raw food scarcity, meaning that companies like our own is in dire situation if the food supply flops down. This similar

Value Chain System Essay Example for Free

Value Chain System Essay The value chain concept was created by Michael Porter and explained in his book â€Å"Competitive Advantage†, published in 1980. The value chain is a series of activities that create and build value- culminating in the contribution of total value to the organization. Porter used the concept of value chain as a systematic approach to examining the development of an organization’s competitive advantage in the marketplace. In using the value chain concept, the total activities undertaken by a business are split into Primary Activities and Support Activities. Primary activities relate to inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service. Support activities include procurement, technology development, human resource management, and firm infrastructure. Intel  No doubt, Intel has emerged as the market leader in the design and manufacture of microprocessors, having an almost unbeatable advantage over its competitors. Yet Intel has realized that the best way to retain its market position is to make it easy and efficient for people to do business with the company. Since 1998, Intel has developed and used an e-business strategy to maintain relationships with its customers, employees and suppliers. The company’s goal is to become a 100% ‘e-business enabled’ corporation. In terms of the value chain concept, Intel has made remarkable progress and reaped tangible benefits in the volume of business it does on the Web, as well as created savings of time and money for both itself and its customers. (Pallato, 2001) Let us analyze Intel’s strategy in terms of the primary value chain activities: Inbound Logistics Prior to implementation of its e-business initiative, Intel used the traditional methods of pen, paper and telephone to place and track its supplies and suppliers. Furthermore it ordered supplies only in response to customer orders. Consequently the company lost out on many business opportunities, where it could not meet emergency demands, changing customer needs or large orders for want of adequate stock. However this all changed with the launch of its e-business initiative in 1998. Today, Intel uses the Internet to speed the flow of information between itself, its suppliers and customers. By tracking its deliveries and supplies over the Web, the company has reduced its order and manufacturing lead times. It tracks its supplies from various countries all over the world. Intel’s goal is to move towards a 100% automated system for its supplies and purchases. Operations Intel uses its Web based e-business system to aid in the quick exchange of details and queries pertaining to customer orders, design specifications and proprietary information. Design specifications and models can change every 6 months. Intel has many made-to-order deals with big volume direct customers and this almost instantaneous system can shave off a week or two in design and delivery of the final product, enabling the product and its suppliers to take full advantage of its novelty and price in the market. Outbound Logistics Intel uses its web based system to track deliveries to customers and resellers. It can thus expedite delivery by noting friction points, ascertaining the reasons and smoothing shipments there. Using its ‘vendor driven’ inventory management system, Intel can maintain its inventory levels to respond to fluctuating customer demand, make reliable forecasts and shipments on time. Marketing Sales Intel has also improved time to market for its products to customers. By putting its customer order entry system on the Web, it has reduced errors by 75%. It can take orders round the clock, where more than 25% of its transactions occurring after normal business hours. Its ability to establish links with over 75,000 system resellers worldwide has led to considerable increase in its sales volumes. Online sales doubled from US$ 1 billion to US$2 billion a month. Hundreds of Intel suppliers use the Web to check the status of inventory levels, payments and shipments. Service Intel focuses on many areas of support and service for all its products. From advanced data centers, application platforms, architecture planning, integration of business applications, e-commerce applications and solutions, system migration and server consolidation. Employing a set of highly skilled consultants having considerable technical expertise in designing, building, implementing and optimizing solutions on Intel architecture. Intel provides a variety of services in the areas of wireless, hardware design, networking and communications, software development, business strategies and solution providers. Intel has established alliances with other leading software technology providers and solutions such as Oracle and SAP to give added value to its customers. It has a variety of solution blueprints on its website advertising its successful applications from a variety of industries. A database of solution providers and resellers of Intel products and solutions has been provided on a technological, geographical and language basis for ease of access and use. Intel Website). The success of Intel’s value chain can be judged by the fact that it helped the company earn revenues of US$30. 1 Billion in 2003. The company has over 78,000 employees worldwide, with 294 offices and facilities for its 450 odd products. Intel was ranked 53 in the list of Fortune500 companies in 2003. By converting from its EDI systems to one using its RosettaNet business process standards with XML forms, Intel is expected to make further giant strides in the way it does business. (1) Spectrum Pharmaceutical Porter’s five force analysis is used to analyze Spectrum Pharmaceutical in the pharmaceutical industry. Porter’s five forces analysis is a method of analyzing an industry and a company’s business strategy. It uses five fundamental forces that determine competition within an industry and how a company functions within that industry. These five forces involve market forces and pricing power of the business, suppliers and customers. The first force that a company must deal with is the bargaining power of customers. In relation to Spectrum Pharmaceutical, the customers have very little power to bargain prices with the company. The products that Spectrum provides are unique niche products that the customer cannot obtain anywhere else. This gives the customers little bargaining power with the company. This makes the products that Spectrum produces more profitable for the company, but more expensive to the customer. This makes the products more expensive however, which makes them more profitable for the company. There are few substitutes for these products, which reduces the buyers leverage to negotiate lower prices. The buyers have little concentration which reduces their ability to negotiate lower prices. Due to lack of alternative products there are few substitutes for Spectrum’s products. All these reasons combined together give the buyer of the products little force to negotiate lower prices, but give the company a lot of power to maintain their high prices. The second force in the analysis is the bargaining power of suppliers. In this instance, the suppliers to Spectrum have little power to affect the price of the final product. There are several different firms that can supply Spectrum with the necessary products for spectrum to manufacture their products. This gives the suppliers little leverage to boost prices to Spectrum, which in turn helps to keep the price of supplies low. There are usually several alternative products on the market that Spectrum can use to manufacture the necessary goods. Due to the lack of concentration of suppliers, they have little leverage to negotiate higher prices which would squeeze the profits of Spectrum. In addition, the cost of inputs in the price of Spectrum’s products is very low compared to the final cost of the product. The regulatory process is a much more expensive input to the final cost of goods than the raw material inputs. All these reasons combined give suppliers little force to raise prices to Spectrum, and have little influence on the price to the consumer. The next force in the analysis is the threat of substitute products. Several different substitute products allow the consumer to switch to other products and lower price products. This price elasticity keeps prices lower for the consumer and limits the ability of the company to raise prices. There are few substitute products for drugs that Spectrum manufactures. Consumers have little alternative choices for Spectrum products. This reduces the ability of the consumer switch to lower cost products. This keeps the product prices high and reduces the leverage of the consumer has to keep prices lower. All these reasons combined, keep reduce the force of the consumer to exert little ability to keep prices low and allow Spectrum to charge higher prices for its products. The next force in the analysis is the threat of new entrants into the market. If it was easy to enter the market with new and competing products, the ability to keep prices high would be reduced. This however, is not the case with Spectrum. It is extremely expensive for new entrants to get into the pharmaceutical market. It is costly in both money and time to get new drugs to market. The regulatory process insures that new products to the market have been tested at several levels. This testing is expensive in time, money and expertise. It takes several years to get new products through the regulatory process and new products to market. This high cost limits the number of new entrants into the market. There are many barriers to entry into the market. In addition, Spectrum holds patents that limit market competition for several years. Even though the pharmaceutical business is highly profitable, there are few competitors in the marketplace due to the high entrance costs and other barriers. The capital costs to enter the marketplace limit the number of competitors in the marketplace. The high capital, labor and other costs limit the force of new entrants to compete against Spectrum in the marketplace. The barriers to entering the pharmaceutical business limit competition and ensure that drug companies can maintain higher prices. The last force in the analysis is the intensity of competitive rivalries. Industry rivalries can increase the competition for the consumer’s money. This can keep costs down and reduce profitability. Even though there are several companies in the pharmaceutical business, the total business is extremely large. The high costs of entering the market reduce competition. The high capital costs, the regulatory process and the barriers to entry, reduce competitive rivalries within the industry. The industry has a high growth rate, especially as the older population grows. In most cases there is little over production and over capacity. It takes a lot of technical expertise in many different areas to get into the pharmaceutical business. There are advertising campaigns in the few areas where there are substitute products, but this mostly limits the size of the market and not profitability. Due to the extremely high profits, most companies have a strong incentive to innovate, market and remain in the business. All these reasons combined limit the competitive rivalry that would reduce the profitability of firms in the pharmaceutical industry. In summary, the Porter’s five force analysis of Spectrum Pharmaceutical show few limits on its ability to compete. Customer’s have little ability to bargain lower prices with the firm. Suppliers to Spectrum have little ability to raise prices to the company and have little influence on the cost structure of the final product. There are few substitute products to the drugs that Spectrum produces, this reduces the ability of consumers to switch to alternative lower price products, and ensures the ability of Spectrum to keep prices high. The high capital costs and the regulatory rocess restrict the number of new competitors in the pharmaceutical industry. This reduces competition for companies in the drug business and helps to reduce completion and keep prices high. The last force in the analysis is threat of competitive rivalries. This is relatively low for Spectrum. The high capital costs to enter the business and the barriers to entry into the market help keep competitive rivalries low. Due to the size of the industry and few competitors that can overcome the entrance barriers, limit the rivalry and allow the industry to by highly profitable.

Western Influence on Japan Essay -- Geography

Western Influence on Japan Japan, as a nation, is a continually changing society. Ever since western nations became involved with Japan, its changes over recent times have increased at a substantial rate. Japan now faces cultural, economical and social differences as a result of the western involvement. The involvement was initiated by the Japanese themselves, beginning during the Meiji Period1 through current times. As time increases, Japan is slowly becoming more 'westernized' because of western involvement. Western involvement is greatly affecting Japan. Western involvement began in Japan during the late 1800's. The Meiji dynasty helped to carry it through, seeing the importance of western ideas. "Learn all you can from the Europeans and Americans"2 was what Emperor Meiji was saying to the Japanese in 1867. During this period, Japan agreed to change it's hereditary authority and class barriers between its people.3 Japan also opened their ports during this period4 and sold fuel to other countries such as the Us.5 The Japanese language took a major turn, too, with the addition of borrowed words from all over the world.6 Japan borrowed the American education system of elementary, middle school and universities during this time.7 A new western style army and universal military conscription program were soon set up by General Yamagata Autamo as well.8 The Meiji period was an important part of Japan's changing western ways. After World War II, Japan changed forever. With the Atomic bomb physically destroying their cities, and their defeat destroying their imperialistic mentalities, Japan was deeply wounded. Japan lost the respect of the world during the war and few people felt sorry f... ...R. Japan. p.113. 22 Davidson, Judith. Japan - Where East Meets West, p.107. 23 Pitts, Forrest R. Japan. p.46. 24 Davidson, Judith. Japan - Where East Meets West, p.101. 25 p.94. 26 Miller, Richard J. and Katoh, Lynn. Japan, p.57-58. 27 Greene, Carol. Enchantment of the World, Japan, p.97. 28 Pitts, Forrest R. Japan. p.78. 29 Davidson, Judith. Japan - Where East Meets West, p.48. Works Cited: Davidson, Judith. Japan - Where East Meets West. Minnesota: Dillon Press Inc., 1983. Greene, Carol. Enchantment of the World, Japan. Chicago: Regensteiner Publishing Enterprises Inc., 1983. Miller, Richard J. and Katoh, Lynn. Japan. New York: Franklyn Watts Inc., 1969. Pitts, Forrest R. Japan. Canada: Fideler Company., 1974. Reischauer, Edwin O. The United States and Japan. Massachusettes: Harvard University Press, 1965.

Competition in the Movie Rental Industry: Netflix and Redbox

The competitive forces in the movie rental industry are quite strong, as I will explain through the five forces model. There are a vast amount of substitutes for watching a movie. You can go to a play, sporting event, concert, out the lake/beach, go for a run, watch regular television, go shopping; I could go on and on. Also, torrenting or pirating movies is growing increasingly popular. Buyers have a strong presence in this industry mainly because they are picky about how much they will pay to rent or stream a movie.With the amount of substitutes and their pickiness, they make this industry more competitive than what it may seem. Suppliers can make this industry very difficult because there is so much red tape in the movie industry. There are copyrights and restrictions on everything. This gives the supplier a lot of leverage and for the most part, they know that they can demand a price of just about anything. I see the potential and threat of new entrants being moderate to strong. First off; many customers have their loyalties whether it be to Netflix, Redbox or a local hometown movie rental.Secondly; pricing, availability and quality are all key factors. Lastly you have to have a large sum of money upfront in order to get the ball rolling. As I mentioned prior, gaining rights from movie companies is not cheap. The rivalry among the competitors is rather intense as they are battling for the best prices, biggest variety, quickest accessibility for the customer, and quality movies (HD streaming, few scratches and number of blu-rays). With the growing increases in technology and home entertainment, there are major forces pushing for change in the movie rental industry.In addition to this; we now live in a world where people want something and they want it NOW. I work in retail and this â€Å"in the now† era is changing everything and is putting a lot of pressure on almost any company. This has increased the push for expansion of online streaming and or th e ease of access to movie rental kiosks. Also in this new world, there is a huge demand for entertainment. Our generation spends more time in front of the TV and now computers, tablets and smart phones than ever before.The increase in the quality of televisions, surround sounds and filming capabilities is pushing the envelope. People are also always looking for the biggest bargain while maintaining quality. When looking at a strategic map the two variables would be price and how quickly the product can be attained. Netflix and Redbox rank high within each category. On the other hand Blockbuster and Movie gallery would be ranked much lower due to their high prices and the fact that you have to go out of your way to a brick and mortar store.The biggest key success factor to me over the next 3-5 years will be the capability to stream HD content at home. I understand that this hinders on your internet provider due to bandwidth. But I believe that if a customer can stream HD content it w ill save them the cost of purchasing a blu-ray player and blu-ray videos. To stem off of this idea, it’s going to depend upon how quickly the customer can obtain the video. After those two factors, I think that price (low) will then come into play. People want things to be as simple and as user-friendly as possible.Whether this is how it easy is to navigate a website or make purchase at a kiosk machine. Lastly I foresee the variety being a component of success; I don’t know about you but I do miss some of the movies from the 90s. After performing a SWOT analysis of Netflix, the company looks increasingly more popular. First off, lets look at Netflix’s strengths. Overall Netflix has had strong financial stability as they have grown their margins year over year. They definitely have their brand name out on the market; much of this can be attributed to their amount of advertising.You can say that they have alliances given that their videos can be streamed on virtua lly any device (phone, tablet, and computer). This also allows their content to be viewed virtually anywhere. The fact that they teamed up with Oracle to work on their website was a very beneficial move as this gives them somewhat propitiatory technology. I personally enjoy their recommendations and it is obvious that with their next arrival that they have strong logistics. They have a big cost advantage too.If I can stream a whole season of How I Met Your Mother in one day, I feel as though the $8. 9 that I spent was a good investment and yet I still have another 29 or 30 days to go. The two times that I had to deal with their customer service; they quality of service was outstanding and I’ve heard many other wonderful testimonials. When looking at weaknesses, I feel that their inability to provide new releases is a major drawback. In addition to this, they need to amp the selection for online streaming since streaming is expanding rapidly. The issue at hand with streaming i s that it can potentially lead to server crashes if there are too many users on at once.Netflix can also be very enticing to hackers since there is so much personal information stored. I would say that the biggest opportunity for Netflix would to be to make deals with the movie production companies to allow Netflix to offer new releases. To feed off of that, they need to increase their variety; particularly in the selection of indie and international films. With as big as they have become Netflix should try to gain rights to more countries. They could try to test out the video rental industry. This would help them out as gamers can stream Netflix on their consoles.Since they have software to offer recommendations based off of likes, they could look into developing a music streaming service similar to Pandora. Lastly, they need to set up kiosks in high traffic shopping areas. Maybe they could start this by putting up kiosks in each of the 50 towns in which they have a distribution ce nter. I see the biggest threat being the increasing amount of pirating movies and people performing illegal downloads. The supplier has a lot pulling power as they can quote big prices. If other companies began to enter the online streaming idea; Netflix will have to look for ways to distinguish itself.Redbox’s SWOT analysis does not make it look as attractive as Netlfix, however it is still pretty strong. Again starting with strengths; Redbox has its kiosks placed in prime locations. It is much more convenient for a customer to pick up a movie as they are walking out of the grocery store or McDonald’s than it is for them to drive to a physical store location. It is good for both the store and Redbox. I feel that their prices give them a large competitive advantage especially when comparing to the price of a rental from Blockbuster or Movie Gallery.Their smartphone app allows the customer to decide whether or not they can go out and pick up a certain film. I know that many people appreciate the fact that Redbox has many new release films. Moving on to weaknesses; the biggest issue with kiosks is the amount of variety and inventory. There are only 20 to 30 films to choose and I feel that folks enjoy more choices. The other issue with kiosks is that nobody is there to inspect the condition of the disks therefore a customer can potentially rent a scratched up disk.The beauty of Netflix is that your movie will arrive on your doorstep or you can stream it instantly. With the increasing price in gas, it can be seen as somewhat of an inconvenience to drive out to a kiosk. On a positive note, Redbox has many opportunities available to it. They can start off by offering online streaming. Like Netflix, I suggest that they look into tapping into the video game market at their kiosks. After lifting their lawsuits from Universal and Warner bros, they should renegotiating the length of time that it takes to get their hands on new release films.Redbox’s biggest threat would if/when other companies also begin to offer rentals via kiosk locations. The advances in technology may one day lead us away from using discs and virtually everything will be done online. They also face uncontrollable threats such as snow days. It is much easier for the customer to stream a video with Netflix than it is for them to bundle up, clear off their vehicle and risk their lives in hazardous driving conditions. Financially Netflix has been quite sound since its creation.I am rather impressed with how well its gross profit and net income have steadily increased year over year. On the other hand, it does somewhat bother me that their stockholder’s equity has decreased each year since 2005. Recommendation: Netflix: I recommend to Netflix that they look into adding kiosk locations in attempt to drive out Redbox as much as possible. This will pull in any more customers because not everyone enjoys being on a subscription and paying monthly rates. By the time everything turns completely towards online streaming, you will be leaving Redbox in the dust with almost nothing.To further help with pulling customers away from Redbox, Netflix needs to look into gaining access to new release films. With their powerful software, Netflix should look into a streaming service similar to Pandora and or create something like iTunes where customers can purchase and download music. Redbox: Redbox has got to get with the program and offer online content. Along with this, they should offer some sort of subscription service to ensure that they are holding onto their customer base. They could also look into having a rental service via online so that they can offer their customers more variety in movies.