Most Effective Kicks in Tae Kwon-Do

Some kicks are more useful than others, so I'll be walking you through the most powerful/effective kicks that are In Ate Swoon-Do. Let's go through the attributes of a kick, we'll start off with the base leg, the leg that stays on the ground during the kick. This leg Is just as Important (If anything more important) than you're kicking leg, due to the fact that this leg has to grant you the flexibility to initiate the kick and also has to maintain balance throughout the kick.Whenever you begin a kick, you should allow the heel of the foot of your base leg to e raised slightly upward (Thus resting on the ball of your foot) to maintain maximum mobility while the kick is in motion, allowing you to turn in the correct position for the kick. If you need to shift your position as your Initiating the kick. You can also slide/ skip on the ball of your foot toward the desired direction.The knee of your base leg should be slightly bent whenever you perform a kicking technique, this adds to the over-all balance of your body; you will be able to adjust your position easily, by adding more or less bend to your knee, to compensate for the height and velocity of our kick. Now onto the striking leg, first off you never really want to fully extend your leg when kicking. The knee of the striking leg should remain slightly bent. This is accomplished by maintaining muscle control over the lower part of your leg, and not allowing the momentum of the kick to force your leg to hyper extend.Because the knee joint is one of the most sensitive joints of the human body be sure to keep both knees slightly bent, to prevent them hypertension or bending backward unnaturally. Side Snap The basic side snap, is performed by initially shifting the majority of your body eight to your base leg as your striking leg (Be it your front or rear leg) rises up with a bent knee to waist level. As your striking leg rises, you pivot on the ball of your base foot so your heel is facing your target. Your body leans sideways toward the ground as your striking leg is extended toward your target.The impact is made with the heel or outside ridge of your foot. You can substantially Increase the range of the side snap by allowing the momentum of its launch to drive you forward. To do so, enter into a fighting stance and begin by launching the side snap with the front or rear leg. Round. By performing the side snap in this fashion, you allow your base leg to slide slightly forward across the floor, propelled by the momentum developed when your striking leg is launched toward its target. Not only does this add to the range of the kick, but also increases its power as well, due to the fact that the force of your entire body is behind it.One of the main problems with delivering the sliding side snap is that many people will release the kicks power before they are in range of their target. When performing the side snap in this style, it is imperative to remember not to unleash your striking legs p ower from your hip, until your target is close and you are sure of making contact with it. If this kick is done to far from your target, the most you can hope to accomplish is that your extended leg will make touching contact with your opponent. You will not, however, have any debilitating impact. Therefore, keep your side snap retracted until target impact is ensured.Turn-around Side Snap Structurally similar to the side snap, the turn-around side snap is a spinning variation of the basic side snap. This kick is executed by first turning your head round, keeping an eye on your target. You turn your head simultaneously pivoting your body on the ball of the foot of you lead base leg so that the heel of your base leg is facing your opponent. Your kicking technique is then launched from rear-leg position, in side kick fashion The turn-around side snap is a muscle-driven technique. Impact with this kick is made with the heel or the outside ridge of your foot.The ideal targets for the tu rn-around side snap are your opponent's knee, midsection or head The turn-around side snap can be used both offensively and offensively; it can be used as a single offensive movement or as a rapid combination of kicks alternating from one foot to the next. It can also be used defensively as a counter attack when your opponent is throwing a punch or a kick that leaves him open. All-Around Swing Kick The all-around swing kick is one of the most powerful techniques in a Ate Swoon- Do practitioner's kicking arsenal. The momentum this kick can have has a devastating effect upon any object it strikes.The all-around swing kick is executed by turning your head around behind you, to make sure your target hasn't moved, as you multitudinously pivot 1800 on the ball of your base foot. Your rear leg lifts off the ground and proceeds toward its target in a circular fashion. This kick strikes its target with the back of your heel. The all-around swing kick is most effective when delivered to the h ead or mid-section of your opponent. It is important to drive your kick to go â€Å"through† your target, in other words, you don't want to stop Just as you hit your target, you want the kick to follow through.Doing this well result in greater power and making it harder to defend against. Like most kicks, the all-around swing kick can be used defensively or offensively Front Snap The front snap, is one of the first kicks that all Ate Swoon-Do students learn. Most devastatingly effective offensive/defensive techniques in your kicking arsenal when performed correctly. The basic front snap is performed by entering into a traditional fighting stance. You then launch your striking leg forward by quickly raising the knee of your striking leg up to the desired height (It all depends on where you planning to attack, be it the head, mid-section or legs).The lower section of your tricking leg is then immediately snapped outward in the direction of your target. The front snaps power is developed by a combination of upper-leg muscle strength and lower-leg snapping momentum. The impact of the kick can be made with either the instep of your foot of the ball of your foot. To strike with the ball of your foot, you need to pull back your toes, exposing the ball of your foot. Performing the front snap with the ball of your foot is more advanced and takes additional practice.Through continued practice, however, the ability to instantly pull back your toes will become tie natural. The reason it is so important to pull back your toes (Even if you are wearing shoes), is that if you leave them in their naturally extended position, they can easily be broken when target impact is made. The basic front snap is an ideal close- contact fighting weapon. As us commonly understood, a front snap to the groin of any individual is universally debilitating. Other close-contact targets for this kick include; the solar plexus, the stomach, or the bottom of your opponent's Jaw.Axe Kick The axe kick, is a close-contact offensive and defensive weapon. The axe kick is performed by quickly raising your striking leg (Depending if your kicking with your front or rear leg), in a linear fashion, and then forcefully bringing your heel/ball of your foot, down onto the shoulder/chest/face of your opponent. The basic axe kick is only effective in close-contact infighting situations, but it is quite easy to extend the range of this kick. Enter into a fighting stance and prepare to launch an axe kick from your preferred leg front of rear (although it's mainly used with the rear leg).Now instead of performing it with your leg locked into position, visualize a target several feet in front of you. Quickly lift your striking leg. As you target. There are two ways to execute an axe kick; the traditional axe kick is brought inward, across your body, and then down-ward onto its target. The out-to-in axe kick is swung outward and is then brought down onto you opponents shoulder. The out-to -in axe kick is also a close- contact infighting weapon. It can most effectively be dispatched when your attacker has been taken hold of your clothing, or you have hold on his.Then, like before, the kick is quickly brought up and delivered to your opponents shoulder region Conclusion As we can see, kicks play a huge part in Ate Swoon-Do, we only went through 4 different kicks, there are many other (Such as hook kick, turning kick, swing kick, crescent kick, all-around hook kick, all-around swing kick†¦ Etc,). Kicks don't need to be complicated or hard to perform in order to be effective, like we went through at the start, for a kick to be effective in combat, it needs to be fast, difficult to block and able to get through you're opponents guard and hit its target.

Powerful Poetry Essay

â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. † This line is from sonnet 18 and it is one of the best known of William Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets. William Shakespeare is the man who created beautiful poetry and he influenced people to create their own. In today’s modern day society, whether it’s widely read or not, poetry has the ability to be considerably moving and to truly touch people. Poetry is relevant and interesting in today’s society because it expresses a great array and depth of people’s feelings, it makes the reader connect with the poem, and it has a unique value. Also poetry is second-hand in music because in most hip-hop songs the words rhyme and create a rhyming couplet. Pursuing this further, poetry is a very powerful thing and it should be included in today’s up-to-date society. Unquestionably, all poems express feelings and emotions that the writer has dealt with throughout their life. Poetry expresses emotion in a form that delights the reader in one field and a feeling of sorrow in another. No other type of writing has the power or capability to arouse that much emotion other than poetry. Every living creature has feelings, but everything has its own way to express it. One way humans express their deepest feelings is through using their language to write and compose poetry. Reading poetry can help see through the eyes of the writer and see what they are experiencing. â€Å"This power rises from within, like the color of a flower which fades and changes as it is developed† (Shelley). This quote says that people have the ability to express themselves and that is very important in life. Poetry can make it easier to step into the shoes of someone else and learn about their personality. Without poetry, people would not be able to express their feelings and emotions and show people their real personality. Also poetry can help people by using it to release tension or stress that they need to get rid of. After a rough day at school, reading some poetry is a good way to get rid of the tension that is caused from problems such as taking a hard test or getting a lot of homework. Poetry helps soothe the mind and gives the mind a respite. Poetry uses the five senses to create a peaceful and pristine image using just words. One example that uses the five senses is, â€Å"All overgrown with azure moss and flowers/ So sweet, the sense faints picturing them† (Shelley). This quote uses the sense of sight because the image is so beautiful that your sense of sight faints. This style of writing can be very calming and comforting when read in a quite environment. Poetry is just like a car wash for the mind and soul; it freshens the soul and gives the mind a brand new start. Without poetry, there is one less way to get rid of stress and release tension. In addition to being used as a stress reliever, poetry is used to compose music. Just as in poetry, music also shares a basic element known as rhythm. In poetry there can be many different kinds of rhythm at the same time. Individual lines include unstressed and stressed syllables which is called a meter. There is also a rhythm between lines when metric patterns are repeated. In music, cadence is the beat of the music and the beats give the music its regular pattern. Poetry and music also display emotion and expression in their amazing works of art. Rap is made up of rhyme, rhythm, alliteration and many other poetic attributes. It is the most alike to poetry, however it is still music. Music without words is poetry, but not in the general state. Without poetry there would be no music because they are very similar and one can’t live without the other. Another reason why poetry is relevant is because it is much more entertaining to read compared to reading a book. Furthermore, poems are much more interesting to read instead of reading a long, boring book. Book plots and characters can be remembered for a limited period of time but poetry is one of the only forms of literary language that can be memorized. In the world of poetry, all of the rules that are applied to writing books are ignored and a piece of art is created that is completely unique. Poetry is such a short form of writing that the reader can think about the poem for hours without having their nose buried in a book. Poetry uses three ideas that are important to the text; mindful imagery, emotions, and language. Without these three things, poems would not have descriptions that use the five senses to create an image and people would lose interest in reading it. On the other hand, some people believe that poetry is irrelevant and this is why they are wrong. Some people might say that poetry is irrelevant and it is a waste of time. They might say that poetry is irrelevant because they believe it is boring to read and there is more people writing poetry than there is appreciating it. Poetry is relevant because it is much shorter and easier to read compared to reading a book. Poetry is very exciting to read because it expresses the feelings of the writer and puts the reader in the writer’s shoes. Poetry is enjoyable to read if you can understand and comprehend what is happening in the poem. Reading poetry is a surrogate form of reading and it is read by many people. Therefore, poetry is relevant and important in today’s society and should be respected more. In short, poetry is very relevant in today’s fast-paced, technological society for many reasons. Poetry is a way to let people express their emotions and show what their personality is like. Reading poetry is a salutary method to reduce stress and can relax the brain when it is overloaded with too many problems. Also poetry is a way to create a rhythm and there would be no music without poetry. Lastly poetry is much more entertaining to read compared to reading a long, boring book. Poetry is an aberration because it is much better than the standard. If poetry was never taught again in schools we would most importantly lose a vital language from our past. Poetry is only as relevant as the message of the poem, depending on how well it has been written. Works Cited Shelley, Percy Bysshe. â€Å"Ode to the West Wind. † Mcdougal Littell Literature. Evanston: Mcdougal Littell, 2008. 850-52. Print. Shelley, Percy Bysshe. â€Å"A Defense of Poetry. † Mcdougal Littell Literature. Evanston: Mcdougal Littell, 2008. 857. Print.

Creation Henry Ford, Ford Motor Co, Model T, and Assembly Line

Creation: Henry Ford -> Ford Motor Co. -> Model T -> Assembly Line Who is Henry Ford? The man who invented the automobile is the response received by 7 out of 10 college students when proposed with this question. The other 3 responded with the man who invented the Model T and when asked further how he developed that they went blank. So why the misconception on a man who without we would not have roughly 600 million passenger cars today around the world, which averages to about 1 per ever 11 individuals. Brinkley 243) That fact alone puts Henry Ford in a category in history of individuals whom without the world would be quite different. Was Henry Ford from the start set up for this role of changing the world? Born in a small village and living on a farm in Michigan some might think not. (Watts 15) But some also think he invented the automobile. Ford took a lot from the farm life style to get to the point of starting up Ford Motor Company.Despising farm work was a great inspir ation for Ford but without the invention of the automobile in France, the eagerness that the United States welcomed the concept of the invention of the automobile, and Ransom E. Olds, who was the first man to bring the automobile into mass production in the United States, the stage would not be set for Ford to create the evolution he had. (Sloan 9-15) Before founding Ford Motors Company Ford had quite a few set backs and experiences with other companies in the automobile industry. Fords determination led him to overcome these obstacles and resulting in Ford Motor Company being founded.Ford Motor Company produced the Model T and the Model T had success on its own because of its availability to the average American. (Douglas 123) Ford had a different approach then ever other business man had about the automobile production, he did not see the only way of making earnings was to pocket money, he wanted to create mass production. That is when Henry Ford applied the concept he had created which we know as the assembly line. That is the basic cause of and affect of creations established from Henry Ford. But was this easy, did Henry Ford just get in the business and succeed from the start?Let’s just answer that question without an assumption, not even close. Seventeen years before the founding of Ford Motors Company a man by the name of Gottlieb Daimler had demonstrated a makeshift gasoline motorcar on the streets of Paris. (Brinkley 20) Daimler was not only the inventor of the first automobile he also invented the high speed internal combustion gasoline engine, and after inventing that applied this invention to the creation of the first self propelled vehicle. (Brinkley 21) Because of this invention France was leading the world in the production of the motorcar. Brinkley 22) In 1903 France had surpassed the United States by producing 5000 more cars than us, this was the last year they would top the United States, and also coincidently the year that Ford Motor Co. was founded. (Brinkley 22) The United States was not only ready for this invention as an individual but also with resources.By 1890 the United States had one third of the worlds iron and steel. (Sward 15) Americas asset that could that be ignored was that they had the most wide ranging railroad system in the world. Sward 15) This meaning that they had the largest prospect of users for this invention and attaining the most distance of utter land. The United States was eager for the idea of the product, one that was affordable, could run properly, and practical for there lifestyle during this time period. (Sloan 122) But that took 10 years to receive because when the car was first produced in the United States every part of it was completed by hand and that resulted in quite a pricey penny. (Brinkley 63) In 1899 Ransom E. Olds whom managed Olds Motor Works, began his production of the original Oldsmobile. Brinkley 74) Olds was the first in the United States to create a factory tha t was just for the production of the automobile the followers of Olds idea were unbelievable. (Brinkley 74) Olds is even referred to as the â€Å"father† of automotive mass production. (Brinkley 74) But the automobiles may have sold for a cheaper penny but when you create a new method of doing things it cannot just be put into action and succeed because the inexperience with the factory methods the automobiles were equally unreliable and unrefined.These changes in history of the automobile really were just perfect for such a zealous man like Henry Ford. Henry Ford was born in Michigan in 1863 his father was a modestly successful farmer. (Sward 18) Growing up on a farm really was how Ford got the drive for what he aspired to but this drive was created with his hatred for farm work. Ford despised all the labor that had to be done throughout the day. Ford described in his biography that the only thing that kept him going while living on his fathers farm was â€Å"fiddling with machinery†. Sward 19) Ford would constantly fix things around the farm he completed lots of it with trial and error but taking apart the broken items and then working on putting them back together, he would even go to neighbors and ask if they had anything that needed to be repaired when everything was completed that needed fixing at his fathers farm. (Wattz 9)1879 Ford set out to follow the machinist’s trade and left the farm heading for Detroit. (Sward 22) Ford was hired right away to work as a machinist’s apprentice, but he never worked to hard he always wandered around the factory to see what everyone else was doing. Sward 22) After 8 years of working on machinery, Ford headed back to his fathers farm. (Sward 23) Now 24 and Ford had the wit to grasp what he could not quite understand as a child on the farm that the farm life was not for him. (Sward 24) Ford left again after 2 years and had been experimenting those 2 years with tasks that invoked the tinkering characteristic he so strongly possessed. (Sward 24) Ford went to work at the Edison Illuminating Company were he stayed employed for 11 years. Sward 24) In 1892 when Duryea shocked everyone with his invention of the first automobile like many other mechanics Ford was determined to make a car of his own. (Brinkley 82)Ford had to remain at his job because of basic need so it was even harder for him to complete this task that so many other individuals were striving to complete. It was trying and trying again and that was what Ford had been doing with items at the farm at such a young age that he was determined to complete the task. Ford had the luck of meeting Charles B. King who was also attempting to complete the same task as Ford. Brinkley 129) But King’s attempt was successful before Ford which had to do a lot with the advancement King had educationally and with experience when it came to machinery and the automobile. (Brinkley 129) In 1894 King’s automobile had a tr ial run but after that King decided he would head to Paris to study the French auto industry because he assumed that his creation here was probably already outdated by the French inventers, and lucky for Ford, King gave him a present before he departed of all his parts and designs of the car he had demonstrated in 1894. Brinkley 130)In 1896 Ford created his first successful work the automobile itself was nothing different or spectacular but what it did for Ford was complete his first set out task and continue to the next. (Sward 40) Ford completed two more experimental cars after that and was waiting for the moment he could dedicate himself fully to what he loved, the automobile. (Sward 40) By 1899 Ford was quite the established individual in the business with being credited to the creation of three automobiles. Sward 41) Individuals who wanted to start a business approached Ford and this was what he was waiting for so he accepted and became the chief engineer for Detroit Automobile Co. (Wattz 102)Is Detroit Automobile Company were Ford success started? Not quite Ford actually failed at manufacturing he used a lot of the budget for a high priced racing automobile in an attempt to perfect it. (Wattz 103) Ford resigned and in one year reattempted to enter the market this time as manager for the Ford Automobile Company. (Wattz 103) But yet again Ford repeated his mistake, and the company lasted one single year. Wattz 103) Fords success rate was not looking prosperous but he was determined to get into the industry and knowing Ford he does not give up or fail so he went back to correct what he had failed at when working for Detroit Automobile Company. Ford focused on perfecting the racing automobile he was working on at the company he did not have much interest in the racing events themselves but just wanted to show his work and the success it would bring in hopes of gaining attention and getting one more chance in the manufacturing industry.Ford characteristic of determination created just that with his first distinguished success at a racing event. Ford had produced his most famous racer automobile by the time he decided it was time to exit the racing industry in 1902. (Brinkley 302) The automobile was called the â€Å"999† Ford was not willing to risk his life driving the automobile because of the speed the car was built to reach. (Brinkley 302) Ford hired a driver to race with the â€Å"999† in a popular 3 mile race. (Brinkley 303) The â€Å"999† finished half a mile in front of the closest racer whom was Alex Y. Malcomson.Malcomson was a successful coal dealer who was getting ready to invest a moderate fortune in the automobile business. (Brinkley 303) Took Ford failing for two companies, working with determination to prove that the failure was not a representation of his work, and a heck of a automobile to get him into business. Malcomson knew what he wanted to do but was lacking an automotive inventor and after For d’s creation of â€Å"999† he choose Ford as that man. (Sward 62) Ford and Malcomson joined forces and created Ford Motors Company but did not just get straight to work it took them 7 months to lay out what needed to be done. Sward 63) Ford was suppose to create an sample automobile that could beat the competition and Malcomson had to deal with all the financial needs to get the corporation running. Ford Motor Co. was successful from the start. Selling more than 1700 cars in the first 15 months of the company opening. (Sward 70)Ford Motors was at is limit of success and needed to decide which automobile was best suited for the market and this is were Ford made his fortune and created his greatest input to modern times. (Sward 70) The first 5 years while Ford Motors was in business it had developed 8 different automobiles. Sloan 90) The first model in 1903 was set at a reasonable price and sold but after that in 1905 and 1906 Ford Motors had created automobiles thatâ₠¬â„¢s prices had ranged from one thousand to two thousand dollars. (Sloan 92) This drastically affected sales and everyone was concerned in the company so they lowered the price the next year and sales went up. Ford recognized that the lower the price the higher the profit, which is what the company had proved. Ford knew that to make the prices even lower that car would have to be as basic as it gets and the market he wanted to appeal to was everyone all the way down to the farmer.Ford envisioned it to be able to do everything he had despised as a child on the farm. The product that Ford created from this vision was the Model T. It was an automobile made to complete what was needed from it, durability, performance, strong, and the key to it all affordable. (Brinkley 253) The Model T sold for eight hundred fifty dollars. (Brinkley 259) Model T was instantly successful and for clear reasons and on top of it the automobile was simple in terms of mechanical principle that it could be pu t together quick and mastered to be put together by a new mechanic.With just one year of being on the market the automobile was established as a best seller and a leading moneymaker. (Brinkley 280) Ford sold 11,000 cars and he took over the industry by exceeding any producer or any profit made. (Brinkley 280) But with the product in such high demand it was soon established that the method of production needed to be altered to continue success for the quickly growing company. The process of putting the automobile together was one mechanic who was duty bound to move around in order to complete the car from bare frame to the completed automobile. Sward 71) Ford created minor changes by bringing all the tools needed in bins closer to the automobile so every time a new step of putting the car together had to be done the mechanic did not have to run to go get the correct parts and tools. (Sward 73)But this was not enough and Ford knew it so he called in a factory expert, Walter E. Flander s. (Sloan 157) Ford proposed a task for Flanders complete 10,000 cars in one year and he would be paid a bonus of twenty thousand dollars. Sloan 157) Flanders took on the task and went right to work by rearranging the equipment in the factor to make more efficient for the production. Flanders did successfully complete 10,000 cars and thanks to him Ford was now equipped with what was necessary for mass production and even more influential for Ford was what he had learned from Flanders work. (Sloan 163) Ford purchased a bigger factory and wanted to get straight to work applying what he had learned from Flanders but yet again this was a task that Ford would not complete quickly or easily.For 12 years Ford and his workers would alter a step of assembling an automobile and realize it worked in one aspect but prolonged another. (Sward 90) Ford Motors did this process over and over until at last Ford realized what he thought might be the solution he wanted to strive for straight line produ ction, placing what was needed in lines vertically so that as going thru putting together the automobile least amount of time would be wasted and they would have everything needed for each car in a long line.But this method was quickly outgrown by Ford Motors in 1913 they adjusted the method by giving each work a more narrow down task and they would just move from car to car completing that task. (Sward 92) This had positives but caused more cautious then the factory had ever seen people were constantly pushing against each other and confusion was being created. Ford Motors growth was not helping this stump in production because it was just getting more and more demands on the Model T. The demand for it was increasing every day and something had to be changed.The method of putting a car together from start to finish in motion was Ford and his men’s next inspiration. (Sward 100) They were ready in 1913 to put it to the test and the moving final assembly was to say the least su ccessful it could produce a Model T automobile in less than half the time it had previously taken. (Sward 102) Fords next invention was by accident when one of the assembly lines had broken because of too much weight and force on. (Wattz 267) This resulted in Ford creating the first complete continuing conveyor for the assembly of the car. Wattz 297) This made the process of assembling a car completely down to 93 minutes, now one tenth of the time it had taken 8 months before that. (Wattz 268) After this the rest was history, Ford continued to set multiple records and brought the company higher in every way, he created an empire. (Wattz 285) The story of Henry Ford is one with many setbacks and many accomplishments. The history changing events of the automobile itself with the first automobile and the first time it was brought to the United States to be mass produced started the spark for Ford.It leads to Fords first attempt and completion of an automobile. Leading to all the compan ies Ford worked for and ultimately to the creation of Ford Motors Company itself. The Model T the golden creation that came out of the company and then the assembly line that let that creation keep going successfully. Henry Ford was not educated and learned most of all he knew from trial and error and other individuals that was experienced and educated. But we cannot rule out Fords ambition, energy, mechanical genius, determination, and will to never stop without completing a task.All these characteristics merged with a mechanic from a farm created a man who created an empire that changed the world to this day. Henry Ford did not create the first automobile he created evolution in means of transportation, to say the least.Bibliography Douglas Brinkley, Wheels for the World (New York: Viking Penguin, 2003) Alfred P. Sloan, Jr, My Years With General Motors (New York: Doubleday & Company, 1963) Keith Sward, The Legend of Henry Ford (New York: Atheneum, 1968) Steven Watts, The Peopl e’s Tycoon Henry Ford and the American Century (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005)

Managerical stats problem Speech or Presentation

Managerical stats problem - Speech or Presentation Example The National Football League (NFL)records a variety data for individuals and team (http://www.nfl.com).Some of the year-end performance data for the 2005 season appear on the data disk in the file NFL Stats. Each row of the data set corresponds to an NFL team, and the teams are ranked by winning percentage. Descriptions for data follow: WinPct : Percentage of games won, DefYds/G: Average number of yards per gam given up on defense, Rush Yds/G: Average number of rushing yards per game PassYds/G: Average number of passing yards per game, FGPct: Percentage of field goals, TakeInt: Takeaway interceptions; the total number of interceptions made by the teams defense, Takefum: Takeaway fumbles; the total number of fumbles recovered by the teams defense, GiveInt: Giveaway interceptions; the total number of interceptions thrown by the teams offense, GiveFum; Giveaway fumbles; the total number of fumbles lost by the teams offense 6.Starting with the estimated regression equation developed in question 1, delete any independent variables that are not useful (i.e., the variable with p_value bigger than 0.05). Use the variables left, run the regression (Y variable is the same). 3. r2 = 0.419 meaning that 42 % of the dependent variable (Winpact) can be explained by the independent variables: DefYds/G, RushYds/G, PassYds/G and FGPct. This means that about 58 % cannot be explained as a result the equation is not very useful. 4. From the regression equation it seems the independent variable, RushYds/G has the largest positive effect on the independent variable by 0.004249, DefYds/G decreases the dependent variable by a multiple of 0.00333 while PassYds/G has a positive multiple effect by 0.000375 and finally FGPct decreases the independent variable by a scale of – 0.00064 7. r2 = 0.266 meaning that 26 % of the dependent variable (Winpact) can be explained by the independent variables:

The contemporary Legal landscape in the IT industry Essay

The contemporary Legal landscape in the IT industry - Essay Example For example, use of home made applications mobile applications is not clearly defined thus it’s a challenge. The contemporary ethical environment in the IT industry The main normative approaches to ethics – compare and contrast the main approaches that we have looked at virtue, consequentialist and deontological According to the BCS code of conduct, a professional should be conversant with the ethical issues and the legislations governing their profession. They must observe ethical the codes of conduct to be able to remain morally right. This is deontological ethics. Contemporary ethical dilemmas – how are recent developments in IT creating challenges for ethical behaviour? Can IT be used to make people and or organisation behaviour more ethical? If possible give some specific real-world examples taken from the guest speakers or your reading. The growth of IT has posed serious challenges to the ethical values in the society. The development in IT has brought about several lee ways for breaching ethical codes of conduct. Through development of software with unethical contents. For instance, the development of YouTube made it easy to access pornographic videos. YouTube does not as for age or require any authorization before you are allowed to watch a video(Gattiker, 2004). This makes it easy for even people below adulthood to view the contents that are not in compliance with ethical issues. However, IT can also be used to enhance ethics in our society. This is possible through creation of software that requires authentication and authorisation before someone is allowed to access an application. These applications can be embedded in both commercial and open source applications so that whenever someone uses, the ethical codes are taken into account. Technical aspects of security entail the security management. These are the parties that stand for the daily operation of IT

Servant leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Servant leadership - Essay Example Students shall receive desirable educational quality with the support of such control system. On the contrary, this system possessed certain loopholes. Firstly, no principal would state that their students were provided with lower quality of education. This indicates all teachers are given a rank of 5 on the grading system (Daft, 2013). Personal feedback given by master teachers cannot be considered as accurate. It is recommended that centralized external agency should exhibit operations related to feedback control system. Personnel needs to be hired who can evaluate efficiency level of teachers in context of subject area outside their expertise. Teacher grading system forms an integral component of feedback control system. Master teachers and principals were the key personnel involved in such grading system. Teacher evaluation system is important when there is a need to analyze performance of students as well as teachers. Feedback control system highlights contribution of teacher towards a system. Student learning progress is dependent on accountability of teachers. Grading system is an essential part simply because it helps in determining position of a teacher in educational system with respect to others. Master teachers and principal needs to cover wide set of areas in order to grade a teacher. Feedback system can operate efficiently only when a framework of grades or results is provided. This framework outlines performance of teachers over a specific time period. Perfection exhibited by teachers can be portrayed through such grading system. Accuracy is a critical element in the entire evaluation process. Principals are involved in the evaluation process and they might possess long term relationship with teaching staff. This form of relationship tends to violate the process. However accuracy standards can be retained only when state controls the operation through an external agent. Principals who are conducting the procedure also need to be

Family Social Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Family Social Science - Essay Example , vividly suggests that while capital and infrastructural destructions are the most obvious costs of conflicts whether internal or external, the long-term development potential of the country’s economy is more severely damaged by increase in fiscal deficit, uncertainty and transactions inefficiency (Carlisle 2010). From this research, it is noticed that different returns to war are experienced in several parts of the country. The regions that were greatly involved in the conflicts are generally lagging behind in terms of development and consumption capabilities (Carlisle 2010). In order to clearly understand the economic, development and social impacts of war in Afghanistan has been in war constantly for a very long time, normally approximated to be over a decade dating back to 1978 when it involved in a great combat with the United States of America. This caused effects on their economy and it is very vital to understand the origin of the wars between the periods of 1978-1992. These wars greatly impacted negatively on their products and produce both in the local and international markets. Like any other war in any part of the world, the social lives of the people were also affected to a large extent it is believed to have commenced after the resignation of the communist president Mohamed Najibullah (Carlisle 2010). From the onset of this war and conflicts, one factor that tends to be very much evident is the negative association between conflict and economic development of the whole country. However, while conflict may lead to poor economic performance, the reverse relationship seems equally credible, and this mostly complicates the analysis of the consequences of war on a country’s development strategies and goals. An economic analysis of the effects of conflicts is discussed below to determine its effects on the economic performance of a country at the micro level years after the war has ceased. The research paper clearly tries to illustrate the

Current Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Current Issues - Essay Example Now training and development is one of the main pillars of human resource management. There is a high level of involvement of computers in almost every field of life, so the employees need to excel the computer skills. Every organization is focusing on the vital importance of these job-training programs and thus tries to arrange the regular sessions of experts. These experts come, meet the employees, and give tips to them. These job trainings create innovation in the routine duties of the employees. The expert managers appreciate creative and innovative ideas from the employees. The training programs can be multidisciplinary and thus aimed at the long-term benefit of the organization (McKay 2). The associated benefits with these job-training programs are beneficial for the organization. Job training programs actually aim to polish the skills and expertise of the employees and managers of any organization. Now almost every organization is focusing on this perspective. The impact of training programs is very much effective. The employees and managers become more productive and thus improve the output of the organization. In this way, the organization is more profitable. These skilled labor or the expert individuals are beneficial factors for the economic development. They can play their role in the regional and economic development by the use of their expertise. A successful job training is always future oriented and thus can be linked t the economic development of the organization. By arranging such job trainings, an organization can achieve efficiency and effectiveness, build more production capacity in the employees, and motivate the employees to work faster. With the help of these future oriented job-training programs, an organization can prepare itself for the upcoming changes and challenges in the competitive market. The expertises of the employees are actually the real strength or the competitive advantage of the firm. An author is of the viewpoint

Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes - Essay Example The point is that Bacon considered the reality as perceptional, empirical thing, that’s why the only knowledge that can be reliable for humans is the perceptional one. Rational thinking only processes the empirical information. Descartes’ method or rational analysis of deduction is about thinking only. Descartes claims that any knowledge that we get must be questioned by doubt not to take wrong and mistaken information for truth. By deduction Descartes means analyzing the reality by finding the most elementary truth, which lately will lead to some bigger truth and this consistent order of research must reveal the origins of everything. But the main rule in this inquiry is to be skeptical, because only skeptical approach can discern wrong and truthful knowledge and select the appropriate one to move on in exploration. Bacon’s and Descartes’ methods are obviously totally different, because the fundamentals the thinkers use in their approaches are considered to be opposite. Descartes uses rational thinking and doubt-based analysis, while Bacon claims that the only thing researcher can rely on is empirical knowledge. Both Locke’s and Hobbes’ political theories are based on the concept of social agreement (contract). But the main essential difference between the roles of government in these theories is in their opposite views on basis of society: Hobbes claims that society is based on feud of people with each other, when Locke says that it is equality what makes people to conclude social agreement.

Development and Economic Sustenance in the Third World Context Essay

Development and Economic Sustenance in the Third World Context - Essay Example The "Third World" is seen as being a victim to the class struggle imposed from the top. There were strong roots in dependency theory which implies that developed regions continue to exploit developing regions for sustained growth. WAD theory adopts a rather mechanistic outlook on the role of women in development. It thus states that women are and have always been part of the process of development. The participation of women in the process of development is said to be in the form of both paid and unpaid labour considered an essential part of development. (Ramji: 1997). There is also a generalized inequity in role distribution in the WAD approach which assumes that women will contribute more in their traditional roles of home and hearth with supplemental roles being added through the forces of modernization. There is an implied inferiority-superiority dyad by which the determining role for development is not accorded to women. A detailed analysis of the other approaches to development will enable clarification of this concept. The â€Å"Women in Development† approach arose from the liberal trend in feminism. It recognizes the importance of roles and status of women in the process of development. Thus women are provided with a special role and status when development assistance is provided. Active involvement of women in the implementation of assistance is also underlined by aid-giving countries as Japan. The enhancement of opportunities for participation of women is said to lead to the improvement of the status of women in society in general.

Tort law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Tort law - Essay Example This case had to be referred to the Law Commission due to the uncertainties and lack of sufficient material to make judgment about the case. Another similar case was that of Addie v Dunbreck 1929 AC 358. In this case the judge ruled on that the owner of the land must avoid negligently avoid harming the trespassers. This judgment raised the question about duty of care. Because of this case a commission was formed in the UK to investigate this case which later decided that the legislature should come up with the duty of care to be owed to uninvited visitors or trespassers (Mullis, 2011). This proposal was also endorsed by the Pearson commission. The case of White v The council of the City and District of St Albans 1990 was the first case that endorsed this law. In the ruling of this case, the judge ordered that all working and especially construction places be well fenced to a reasonable ground to prevent damage and injury to the trespassers. It is however important to notice that the 1984 ACT has no valid statements which indicate that the duty can be excluded from the occupier. On the other hand there has been suggestions that this is possible especially because since there are no provisions which forbids the exclusion. The 1977 Unfair Contract Terms Act seems to weaken this law since it does not apply to the 1984 Act. The 1957 Act is however supported by the case of Beddeley v Earl Granville 1887 19 QBD 423 which shows that a statutory duty is not under any form of exclusion however no case is law is directly relating to the Act. Strict liability means that a party is imposed with a liability without evidence of committing any offense such as negligence or tort (Alix Adams, 2012). For quite a long time strict liability have been applied to animal cases since animals do not have the right conscious to make decisions (Elliott & Quinn, 2007). The defendant find him/herself imposed with a liability without fault for

Project Management Essay Example for Free

Project Management Essay I am sending out bid documents to look for a contractor to analyze my organization’s IT help desk needs, standardize policies, procedures, hardware and software, and provide the necessary training and documentation. But before that takes place the â€Å"Scope† of what will be procured needs to be defined. The fore knowledge that my wants it’s IT help desk analyzed is a good start. The definition of the â€Å"What† as Fleming mentioned is the most important aspects of managing a project. I would develop a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) after the project has been defined. (Fleming, 2003, 116) The question of who will perform the work will come after a Request for Proposal has been prepared for released to prospective sellers. (Fleming, 2003, 122) This step in the contracting phase is normally called The Pre-award Phase, pre-award is the first phase of the contract management process and comprises all buyer and seller actions from procurement planning through submitting a bid or proposal. The pre-award stage is where my organizations IT help desk requirements will be clearly described in an unambiguously fashion and our objectives as well as risk will be considered. (Garrett, 2007, 80) The request for proposals (RFP) includes the following documents: Section I Letter of invitation Section II Information to consultants Appendix to Consultants information Section III Terms of Reference Section IV Technical proposals Section V Financial proposal Section VI Standard Contract Form In the subsection of the RFP Fleming’s example of â€Å"Model Contract† will addressed. (Fleming, 2003, 148) †¢Statement of Work (SOW) †¢Technical Specifications †¢Terms Conditions (TCs) †¢Data reporting †¢Status Reviews †¢Management Requirements The Statement of Work (SOW) describes the buyer’s requirements in sufficient detail to allow prospective sellers to determine whether they can provide the product, service, of solution. (Garrett, 2007, 87) The technical specifications will always be added by the IT department for this project. (Fleming, 2003, 148) The terms and conditions are generally used when the source selection decision will be price driven. (Garrett, 2007, 89) Terms conditions will come from purchasing. (Fleming, 2003, 148) The key component to (TCs) is the main duty of (TCs) and that is to cover the critical issues and how the seller can make changes to an existing procurement. The (TCs) will also cover any legal requirements. (Fleming, 2003, 152) Evaluation: Any effort to win my organization’s IT contract will be based on an objective analysis. Once the proposals are received by all participating sellers the final selection will be made using the following evaluation criteria: Note the criteria were determined before RFP’s were issued: (Fleming, 2003, 165) †¢Technical †¢Management †¢Quality †¢Warranty †¢Price The final source will be made on the listed criteria and must be submitted in a written and oral presentation method. In a side note that would be clearly stated in my RFP and in the Contract the areas of Confidentiality Ownership, will be addressed with the following: Confidentiality: The Consultant shall not, during the term of this Contract and within two years after its expiration, disclose any proprietary or confidential information relating to the Services, this Contract or the Client’s business or operations without the prior written consent of the Client. Ownership of Any studies, reports or other material, graphic, software Material or otherwise prepared by the Consultant for the Client under the Contract shall belong to and remain the property of the Client. The Consultant may retain a copy of such documents and software.

Tesco And The Uk Oligopolistic Market Economics Essay

Tesco And The Uk Oligopolistic Market Economics Essay In the UK, supermarkets are the main places for customers to buy food and daily articles for use. The scales of these supermarkets are very big and they also provide customers with diverse and wide selection goods such as vegetables, fruit, meat, stationery, televisions and computers (Somucheasier, 2010). Chain supermarkets can be easily found all over the country and big scales of supermarkets also spread in every city (Baidu, 2010). Tesco, Sainsbury and Asda are three main companies in the UK supermarket industry (Somucheasier, 2010). For example, Tesco is the largest retailer in UK by both global sales and domestic market share (Baidu, 2010). At the end of 2006, the turnover of Tesco had reached to  ¿Ã‚ ¡3.83 billion(Baidu, 2010). Tesco is the third largest global retailer in the world which just behind Wal-Mart and Carrefour (Baidu, 2010). Oligopoly is one kind of market structure (Anderton. et al, 2008:298). There may be a large number of firms, but most are small and relative ly unimportant, while a small number of large firms produce most of the outputs of the industry (Anderton. et al, 2008:298). The supermarket industry in the UK could be described as an oligopoly market because it accords with three key characteristics of an oligopolistic market. Firstly, in an oligopolistic market, there are only a few major competitors in the market, so they control the supply in the industry (Anderton. et al, 2008:322). Secondly, firms should be interdependent, because firms collaborate to charge the same price as each other (Anderton. et al, 2008:322). Thirdly, there are barriers to entry to the industry, so they can prevent other firms from taking advantage of the abnormal profits characteristic of oligopolies (Anderton. etal, 2008:322). Customers can benefit from this kind of market structure because of the advantages of oligopolistic market; however, they may also lose their benefits because of the disadvantages of oligopolistic market. This essay will explain the advantages and disadvantages of an oligopoly structure and the appropriateness of that structure to the British supermarket industry. Body It is widely believed that there are many advantages of oligopolistic market, thus customers can benefit from this kind of market structure, for the following reasons. Firstly, in an oligopolistic market, price is often not the most essential factor in the competition, which means non-price competition (Anderton. et al, 2008:322). For marketing their products effectively, firms should think of their market mix which is known as 4ps (Anderton. et al, 2008:323). First, firms should pay close attention to the features of products to make sure their products are meeting the needs of their customers. Second, the price of products must not only fit in with the nature of products themselves, but also fit the way in which they are being promoted and distributed to customers. Third, promotion should take account of products and help firms gain new customers or retain existing ones. Fourth, products need to be available to customers in the right place (Anderton. et al, 2008:323). Secondly, according to Anderton et al (2008), many markets are dominated by brands. A branded good which has a unique formulation and unique design can appear thousands of customers, because a successful branded good can give buyers the imagined characteristics of the product in their minds (Anderton. et al, 2008:323). For example, the Tesco originally specializing in food and drink, but now, it has diversified into areas such as clothing, financial services, telecoms, car insurance and so on, because it can follow consumers different demands to enlarge its scale (Tescoplc, 2010). Thirdly, in the oligopoly market, price seems to be rigid. As Anderton et al (2008) points out, in the kinked demand curve (Figure 1), there will be an asymmetrical reaction to a change in price by one firm. For instance, if one firm increase its price in order to make much more profit, however, other firms disregard it, thus, the firm which has increase its price will lose its market share. On the contrary, if one firm decreases its price, other firms will also reduce its price in order to prevent the erosion of market share (Anderton. et al, 2008:328). Because of the price rigidity, firms would like to improve their profit; therefore they need to make a development and innovation in their services. The key to this process is gaining information about their customers and constantly communicating new products to them. Figure 1 Therefore, based on these three reasons, customers can benefit from oligopolistic market. However, not all the things come well; there are also some disadvantages of oligopoly. Firstly, Anderton et al (2008) argues that collusion is very common in oligopoly market. There is a very strong incentive for collusion firms-restrict competition and maximize their own benefit(Anderton. et al, 2008:323).The prices charge by oligopolistic firms is always higher .There will be potential buyers who would like to use the oligopolistic firms products but cannot afford the profit maximizing price set by oligopolistic firms. Secondly, there are only a few competitors in the market (Anderton. et al, 2008:322). Thus, the degrees of competition ability arent big, which means oligopolistic firms can hardly target diverse customers and provide them with differentiated products. Therefore, customers may lose their benefits from this kind of market structure. Conclusion In summary, oligopolistic market has both advantages and disadvantages, therefore firms should make good use of the advantages of oligopolistic market to guarantee consumers interest and avoid its disadvantages. Despite the disadvantages of oligopolistic market, firms can use the market mix to product goods effectively and take advantage of their brands to attract thousands of devoted customers; moreover, they can also make a development and innovation in service. However, if the firms in oligopolistic market can avoid their disadvantages, they can do better. They should not always charge higher price for customers and target diverse customers to provide them with differentiated goods. By doing these, consumers can benefit from this kind of market structure.

Leadership Success Model Implemented By Procter And Gamble Commerce Essay

Leadership Success Model Implemented By Procter And Gamble Commerce Essay Businesses require strong leadership as an unconditional factor for any kind of long-term success. The concept of leadership is exploited by many authors and there are hundreds of attempted definitions, however because of the complexity of the human actions per se, there is no clear, exact and universal one. Since the difference between high-ranking, multi-national companies and those striving to achieve such a status, lies predominantly in the skillful potential shown by their leading proponents, it is crucial to study some successful leadership models. A concrete example of such models is Procter and Gamble Company. Thus the highlights of effective leadership model are applied to this company, where the foundations and underlying structure of such a model are shown in a fashion where simplicity is idealized above all else. Definition of leadership Leader can be anyone who has an empowering vision, ability to motivate and deliver effective results. A little kid who suggests playing a new game which is more cheerful and involves all of the other children is a leader in his playground environment. That little kid encompasses some leadership characteristics which differentiate him from the rest of the group. He is able to propose something different which sounds interesting and promising and which is relevant to that particular group that follows him. A simple analogy can be drawn between that little kid and a grown up in his working environment. The characteristics that one possesses and the input he/she gives to a company determine his/her place in that working environment. For instance an employee, who finds an alternatively less costly way of producing a particular line of products and leads change in the company, distinguishes his/herself as a leader. The fast pace business world we live today does not allow for incremental c hanges, what you need is fundamental improvements. The person who can lead innovation and produces meaningful results should be at the top of the companys hierarchy. Leadership is a key to companys long-term profitability. But, what do we mean by leadership? An attempted definition of leadership is as follows: Leadership is both a process and a property. The process of leadership is the use of noncoercive influence to direct and coordinate the activities of the members of an organized group toward the accomplishment of group objectives. As a property, leadership is the set of qualities or characteristics attributed to those who are perceived to successfully employ such influence. (Jago 315) Basically what this definition implies is that leadership does not constitute only what one possesses but even what one does. The little kid that was mentioned above is not an appointed leader, but by his actions he establishes himself as such. At this point it is important to mention that leadership would not exist if there wasnt a followership. In order for a leader to succeed he needs to be listened to and followed by others. According to professor Stone followership constitutes 50% of the leaders success. If the little kid would scream and threaten to take the playing ball from the group he would not be exhibiting leadership, and most probably the other kids would not even pay attention to him. However, from that group of kids no one is a designated leader, and since leadership is an evolving process anyone who possesses some basic traits can become one. This represents the basis of the link between followers and leaders, leaders become followers and followers become leaders. At the same time leadership is not a restricted process, there might coexist multiple leaders in groups who are specialist to the function they serve. Contingency and continuity leadership What constitutes a successful leadership does not depend on the type of organization or any model that the leader operates. Leadership is a universal phenomenon as mentioned from Jago; It is the same for a corporation president and for the clergyman. (316). It is universal in the meaning that the two of them have to exhibit some essential leadership traits in order to be effective. On the other hand if we consider the leadership contingency dimension different people can express different patterns of leadership depending on the circumstances. Some leaders can be very effective and others can fail depending on the features of the situation and of the group of people they are leading. The earliest contingency theory pertains to Fiedler who asserts that the contingency of group performance related to the leader is based on the following three variables: group atmosphere, task structure, and leaders power position.citation Thus there are two important factors namely leadership style and situational favorableness. For a leader to be effective there should be an interaction between the leader himself and the features of the place where the leader operates.( Jago 316) Meanwhile, it is important to assess the fact that a good leadership model is the one which continuous even after the leader leaves. The continuity aspect of leadership is crucial therefore in determining an effective leadership. For instance if the manager of a company leaves and as a consequence the company fails introducing an assumed new product line, that would be a reflection of fake effective leadership. On the other hand if the company succeeds in introducing the new product line and achieves great revenues that shows that the formal leader was indeed an effective one. Leadership success model Procter and Gamble (PG) is a U.S based company employing 135,000 people in 180 countries including U.S, Europe and Asia.citation It is the worlds largest consumer goods company marketing about 300 brands, with a range of products such as beauty, health, fabric, home, baby, family and personal care. Based on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis (SWOT analysis) its strengths are: strong focus on research and development (RD), leading market position, diversified product portfolio and strong brand portfolio. As far as the focus on RD is concerned PG invests around $2 billion per year supporting engineers and scientists in different countries. Furthermore, based on its current approach connect and develop PG brings innovation from outside by partnership with external actors. The markets where PG establish itself as a leader constitute about two-thirds of its product categories. Along with that the company has diversified product portfolio of more than 22 product categories in the following segments: beauty, grooming, health care, snacks, fabric care and baby care. An important factor of the portfolio of this company is the range of brands it includes. PG portfolio includes 24 brands which are a crucial source of revenue. This strong portfolio allows the company to be at the top companies in the world by delivering what the consumers expect. Eventually, PG has established itself as one of the most successful companies in the world. The question raises, how does it manage to do so? How does the leadership model contribute to the success of this company? The business world we live today has set up its own rules of competition, change and innovation being the keys to survival and being competitive. The key to effective implementation of these rules is a strong leadership. It is up to the visionary leader to support the business infrastructure to quickly respond to business needs and enable the company to rapidly access information. The leadership model incorporated in an organization is the first and most important brick of success. PG for instance used a leadership program called build from within.citation This program prepares managers in any aspect of their operations ensuring thus that they are ready to climb the next stair. This tactic provides for rapid replacement of any of the top 50 jobs positions. PG recruits school graduates, named in the company as Proctoid, and offers them the opportunity to grow up within the organizations hierarchy.citation Through development of the Proctoids potentials according to their career goals and the needs of the company itself the leadership program ensures the fulfillment of any free working position. Continuous training of the employees who enter the new level is crucial. According to Moheet Nagrath, head of human resources at PG if your direct reports arent ready, neither are you [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] Internal reputation is crucial. citation For instance if an assistant aspires to become a Chief Operating Officer(CEO) he will be provided with all the necessary experience to do so. At the beginning he might be appointed at a lower level where he will be continuously trained until he gets assigned to the desired job. All executives, including the former CEO himself, oversee and train the top employees to occupy the next free spot. In this way, helping employees grow and improve contributes to the companys success as well. The culture of PG provides for high concentration on the people working for the company which assures the discovery of potential talents. It is important to emphasize that leadership traits are not only genetically inherited but are developed through continues and proper training as well. If individuals find the appropriate place and tools to develop themselves, they might turn into future leaders and head towards success. Therefore the PG leadership program is determined in encouraging talent from the inside and even the hiring process rarely occurs from the outside. There are disadvantages related to this kind of approach such as the building of a culture where all employees think alike. However, the most important thing is to realize the disadvantages and find an alternative way of outweighing them. That is a challenge for the leader, the need to undertake changes under pressure of losing the market. Build from within was the leadership program incorporated by PG in the early 2000, but was there a need of change in times of crisis? Who was responsible for designating the appropriate leadership model which would benefit the company billions of dollars and the employees as well? Even though, anyone in an organization has to be the leader in his/her specialization, at the top of the company pyramid stands its CEO. The PG CEO from 2000 to 2010 has been A.G.Lafley, who took the helm in midst of a crisis. At that time the company was totally distracted from meeting its projected goals. The price of the stocks had dropped dramatically and the company had lost $ 85 billion approximately. Citation PG found itself in a crisis, the biggest being a crisis of confidence. Pessimism was characterizing everyone in the companys hierarchy and notions of blame would be interchanged from the units to the leaders and the way around. That is when a true and strong leader can show his/her abilities of leadership. The famous quote of Faye Wattleton The only safe ship in a storm is leadership applies to the case of PG. Faced with such enormous problems up to the point of questioning the continuity of PG as a company Lafley had to prove himself as the leader and drive the company o ut of that ocean of troubles that it was trying to swim. Lafley based his leadership on the statement of Drucker, one of the Americas most famous CEO scholars, who said The CEO is the link between the Inside that is the organization, and the Outside of society, economy, technology, markets, and customers. Inside there are only costs. Results are only on the outside. Citation 3 This expression illuminated the mind of Lafley who could understand his role as CEO between these lines. By finding opportunities from the outside the CEO could enable the success of the company. In order to achieve the projected goals the company has to understand the needs of the outside. For instance, to achieve 4% sales growth the company had to produce a new tide brand.citation 3 Lafley perfectly understood that consumers should be in the center and that is what the company should create, a customer. At this point in time Lafley realized that the insiders of the company new how the organization worked but the input of outsiders were very crucial as well. What Lafley did is identifying the problem and solving it by adding to the model of build from within the connect and develop tactic. This way PG got the ideas from outside and applied its own potentials to them resulting in cheaper and superior products. Lafley is a pure example of showing what a leader should do. In the article written by him what only the CEO can do Lafley takes you to the insight of the job of a CEO. He emphasizes that the leader of the company is the only one who can connect the outside world with the inside of the company. That is the key of a successful leader. In order to connect the outside world to the inside one, there should be taken into consideration four important tasks. The first one is to determine what constitutes the outside, which for PG the most important one is the consumer. According to Lafley the second important task is to determine the business you are in. For instance in his early work as CEO of PG Lafley decided that the core businesses were low-income consumers and developing markets. The next important task is to balance the present and the future. For instance in order to fund long-term debts, PG chose to lower its short-term profits. The fourth task but not the least important is to show the companys values and standards such as trust in PG brands. citation Along with the other important goals stands the development of environmental leadership. PG manages to develop products on economically and ecologically sustainable basis. citation It employs some of the best practices of environmental leadership which deliver green values. The mission statement of PG provides for environmental friendly products which assure superior quality and values for the consumers all around the world. This is a strategic value statement which brings the company more profits as consumers are becoming more aware of the ecological problems and tend to choose products which harm less the environment. Thus, the compliance to environmental friendly products brings competitive advantages to the company itself. The road towards environmental leadership is hard and costly in the short term because there is a need to manage the cultural change of the company and educating the consumers as well. However, due to an effective leadership model undertaking strategic choices PG could outweigh the short-term costs by long-term benefits. The meaningful results of an effective leader Throughout the paper it was emphasized the importance of leadership as a key to companies successes. A.G.Lafley is one of the best concretizations of a great leader. Under his leadership PG market value increased by over 100 billion dollars, sales doubled, profits quadrupled and the companys portfolio brands has grown from 10 to 22. citation mla On average sales and earnings per share have grown by approximately 5% and 12 % a year, respectively. PG stands among the five most valuable companies in the U.S and is also one of the ten most important companies in the world. Lafley was the one who led the transformation of PG, which before he took the helm, did not perform that good on the world and American scale. Due to his abilities as a leader, PG became more consumer-driven and focused more on the external world. He focused mostly on core businesses and brands and tried to conquest firstly the developing market as a strategy to grow further. Lafley has led the transformation of PG. Strategically; he has focused the Company on core businesses and brands, faster-growing and higher-margin beauty, grooming and health care businesses, and winning in developing markets.citation According to A.G. Lafley the first lever to be pulled was getting the company refocused on its purpose and values. Next, he changed the culture to tap outside sources of innovation, developed the chain performance and entered different markets such as China. The Indian market penetration and building of strong supply is an important example as well showing the strategy of PG to enter the market and be innovative. A critical important move to success was bringing partners in to help build the supply chain. Another merit of Lafley and the incorporated leadership program build from within PG has guaranteed its leadership for the next decade as well. At the company level all the managers, including Lafley himself, have been working on creating the next leader, Bob McDonald as the best suitable choice. Lafley, as he leaves the company is very confident in the leadership skills of McDonald and the team that he has put in place. Continuity is one of the most important indicators of a successful leadership; PG seems to have embraced a strong leadership model which will sustain the company for at least the next decade.citation Leadership is an important key factor in guaranteeing long-term profitability for businesses and PG is one the best concretizing example of effective leadership. The attempted definition of leadership mentioned at the beginning of the paper implied that leadership is action and position at the same time. Two important factors determining successful leadership were contingency and continuity leadership. The former shows that leaders can be successful depending on the environment they operate in and the contingent of elements influencing that specific environment. The latter factor is an evidence of effective leadership, because at the moment that there is continuity it is implied that the leader and his model were successful. The definition and the factors of successful leadership were highlighted in the PG Company. It was emphasized that the person who leads the company, for instance the CEO, has a crucial role which only he could do; connect the inner world of the company with the o utside one. A thorough analysis of PG from 2000 to 2010 showed the importance of the leadership program in increasing the profitability of the company and how a leader can face challenges and approach change. The leader stands at the top of the pyramid and he/she is the only one leading transformation. There is no guaranteed model of successful leadership but there always is the chance to channel your energies towards achieving meaningful results.

Lord of the Rings :: essays papers

Lord of the Rings Tolkien's famous book, "The Lord of the Rings", has been repudiated as one of the best fantasies ever written. Tolkien creates a very deep intimacy between the book and the reader, he captures the reader's attention and lures him into the story. One of the ways how this cathartic relationship is created is through the use of reality of the situation in the story. Tolkien has conjured up a fantasy language, to show the actuality this novel may present. Some quotations of this language are: "eleventy-first birthday" "The invitation were limited to twelve-dozen (a number also called a Gross by the hobbits)" "Many young hobbits were included and present by parental permission for hobbits were easy going with their children in the matter of sitting up late." "What may you be wanting?" "It was a cheerless land" "The hobbits were merrymaking happily." Not only does the language create a land but it may also add a bit of humor. This humor can also express the merriness of the people that have been written about. The language, in English is not exactly incorrect but it is odd, strange, and different, which matches the theme and plot. Tolkien, like mostly every other author has one main, specific goal during the exposition of the story, which is to capture the reader's attention. In the beginning of "The Lord of the Rings," Tolkien presents events of happiness, mystery, tales of power, chase, by evil riders, battles, and strange encounters. Through this process, Tolkien has created a grasp upon the reader's attention, although, in the beginning, there is not much of a sort or understanding of the condition and the state of the tale. Later on in the story, in the "Council of Ehond," Tolkien regains control of the story and presents the understanding. At that time, the reader understands the story, and is also eager to read on. Tolkien thought of it better to catch the attention and then promote the comprehension of the tale. The Lord of the Rings is indeed a fantastic book with times of happiness, war, mystery, conflict, and passion. In order to create the full cathartic effect of presenting and expressing the magnitude of the potential of each feeling, emphasis must be exercised. If emphasis was not used, the essence of "The Lord of the Rings" could not be how it is; it would be a monotonous tale without any events of objects with great importance.

Representational Systems :: Communication Engineering Papers

Representational Systems This paper seeks to define a representational system in such a manner as to be capable of implementation in a connectionist, or neural, network. A representational system is defined and demonstrated to possess the ability to produce outputs which achieve global minima. The paper concludes by showing that, while a feed-forward neural network is incapable of representation, representation may be implemented in a recurrent, or internal feedback, connectionist network. Introduction Representational systems are commonly in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) domain of symbolic logic. Expert Systems are programmed into computer systems by recording the step-by-step logical methodology of experts to minimize the costs or maximize the utility of their decisions. Logical statements, or beliefs, be they fuzzy or hard, are established as "rules". Another branch of AI, Connectionism, attempts to build systems, often in artificial neural networks (ANNs), that implement the methodologies of the illogical, inexplicable, or intuitive capabilities of distributed systems such as pattern recognition systems. Here, it is not some logical mapping of input to output, but rather a holistic host of inputs which indicate micro-features which may or may not synergistically produce a desired output. While connectionist systems are recognized as being capable of distributed, non-representational processing, they may also possess the capability to additionally perform the rule-based logic of representational systems. As will be shown, not all connectionist networks possess the appropriate architecture for this task. Thus, a neural network, depending upon its architecture, may possess the

Emma by Jane Austen :: essays research papers

Emma by Jane Austen Setting Emma took place in small town called Highbury in 18th century England. During the time period set in the novel, there was a definite social rank, or hierarchy. Almost all of the scenes in the book take place in or around the estates of the characters. Their property mostly determined their social status. This setting has significance to the storyline, because of the social rank. Emma, who is constantly trying to play matchmaker, tries to convince her friend Harriet to marry someone of a higher class than her current love, a farmer. The characters are very aware of their status, and can be discriminating towards people of a lower class, such as the farmer. The book was most likely set in this place and time in order to include the conflicts of a hierarchal society. Character Analysis Emma Woodhouse: Emma is the main character of the novel. She is a beautiful, smart, and wealthy 21-year-old woman. Because of her admired qualities, Emma is a little conceited. She is the daughter of Henry Woodhouse. Since her mother has died, Emma has taken the role of taking care of her father, who is old and often sick. Because she feels she is obligated to stay by his side, Emma decides not to marry. Emma believes that she is a good matchmaker, and tries to put together several couples throughout the novel. Emma believes that social classes are very important and refuses to see anyone cross over to marry someone lesser than themselves In chapter 8-page 52, Emma is talking about Harriet’s situation with the farmer with Mr. Knightley. She says, â€Å"Mr. Martin is a very respectable young man, but I cannot admit him to be Harriet’s equal. As the novel progresses, Emma becomes more mature, and realizes how silly she had been in the past. In the end, she finally stops matchmaking others and marries Mr. Knightley, who was perfect for her all along. Mr. Knightley: Mr. Knightley is another main character of the novel. He is quite a bit older than Emma, at 38. He is also Emma’s brother in law. He often visits the Hartfield estate to play cards. He is a little protective of Emma, and often gives her advice to change her prying ways. Mr. Knightley, although high in status, does not fully believe in the hierarchal customs of Highbury. He thinks that people’s actions and feelings are better judges of themselves than their title or property. Emma by Jane Austen :: essays research papers Emma by Jane Austen Setting Emma took place in small town called Highbury in 18th century England. During the time period set in the novel, there was a definite social rank, or hierarchy. Almost all of the scenes in the book take place in or around the estates of the characters. Their property mostly determined their social status. This setting has significance to the storyline, because of the social rank. Emma, who is constantly trying to play matchmaker, tries to convince her friend Harriet to marry someone of a higher class than her current love, a farmer. The characters are very aware of their status, and can be discriminating towards people of a lower class, such as the farmer. The book was most likely set in this place and time in order to include the conflicts of a hierarchal society. Character Analysis Emma Woodhouse: Emma is the main character of the novel. She is a beautiful, smart, and wealthy 21-year-old woman. Because of her admired qualities, Emma is a little conceited. She is the daughter of Henry Woodhouse. Since her mother has died, Emma has taken the role of taking care of her father, who is old and often sick. Because she feels she is obligated to stay by his side, Emma decides not to marry. Emma believes that she is a good matchmaker, and tries to put together several couples throughout the novel. Emma believes that social classes are very important and refuses to see anyone cross over to marry someone lesser than themselves In chapter 8-page 52, Emma is talking about Harriet’s situation with the farmer with Mr. Knightley. She says, â€Å"Mr. Martin is a very respectable young man, but I cannot admit him to be Harriet’s equal. As the novel progresses, Emma becomes more mature, and realizes how silly she had been in the past. In the end, she finally stops matchmaking others and marries Mr. Knightley, who was perfect for her all along. Mr. Knightley: Mr. Knightley is another main character of the novel. He is quite a bit older than Emma, at 38. He is also Emma’s brother in law. He often visits the Hartfield estate to play cards. He is a little protective of Emma, and often gives her advice to change her prying ways. Mr. Knightley, although high in status, does not fully believe in the hierarchal customs of Highbury. He thinks that people’s actions and feelings are better judges of themselves than their title or property.

Business Intelligence Essay

1. Integration * 1.1 BI infrastructure * * All tools in the platform use the same security, metadata, administration, portal integration, object model and query engine, and should share the same look and feel. * 1.2 Metadata management * Not only should all tools leverage the same metadata, but the offering should provide a robust way to search, capture, store, reuse and publish metadata objects such as dimensions, hierarchies, measures, performance metrics and report layout objects. * 1.3 Development tools * The BI platform should provide a set of programmatic development tools and a visual development environment, coupled with a software developer’s kit for creating BI applications, integrating them into a business process, and/or embedding them in another application. The BI platform should also enable developers to build BI applications without coding by using wizard-like components for a graphical assembly process. The development environment should also support Web services in performing common tasks such as scheduling, delivering, administering and managing. In addition, the BI application can assign and track events or tasks allotted to specific users, based on predefined business rules. Often, this capability can be delivered by integrating with a separate portal or workflow tool. 1.4 Collaboration * This capability enables BI users to share and discuss information, BI content and results, and/or manage hierarchies and metrics via discussion threads, chat and annotations, either embedded in the BI platform or through integration with collaboration, social software and analytical master data management (MDM). 2. Information Delivery 2.1 Reporting * * Reporting provides the ability to create formatted and interactive reports, with or without parameters, with highly scalable distribution and scheduling capabilities. In addition, BI platform vendors should handle a wide array of reporting styles (for example, financial, operational and performance dashboards), and should enable users to access and fully interact with BI content delivered consistently across delivery platforms including the Web, mobile devices and common portal environments. * 2.2 Dashboards * This subset of reporting includes the ability to publish formal, Web-based or mobile reports with intuitive interactive displays of information, including dials, gauges, sliders, check boxes and traffic lights. These displays indicate the state of the performance metric compared with a goal or target value. Increasingly, dashboards are used to disseminate real-time data from operational applications or in conjunction with a complex event processing engine. * 2.3 Ad hoc query * This capability enables users to ask their own questions of the data, without relying on IT to create a report. In particular, the tools must have a robust semantic layer to allow users to navigate available data sources. These tools should include a disconnected analysis capability that enables users to access BI content and analyze data remotely without being connected to a server-based BI application. In addition, these tools should offer query governance and auditing capabilities to ensure that queries perform well. * 2.4 Microsoft Office integration * In some use cases, BI platforms are used as a middle tier to manage, secure and execute BI tasks, but Microsoft Office (particularly Excel) acts as the BI client. In these cases, it is vital that the BI vendor provides integration with Microsoft Office applications, including support for document and presentation formats, formulas, data â€Å"refreshes† and pivot tables. Advanced integration includes cell locking and write-back. * 2.5 Search-based BI * * This applies a search index to both structured and unstructured data sources and maps them into a classification structure of dimensions and measures (often, but not necessarily leveraging the BI semantic layer) that users can easily navigate and explore using a search (Google-like) interface. This capability extends beyond keyword searching of BI platform content and metadata. 2.6 Mobile BI This capability enables organizations to deliver report and dashboard content to mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablets) in a publishing and/or interactive (bidirectional) mode, and takes advantage of the interaction mode of the device (tapping, swiping and so on) and other capabilities not commonly available on desktops and laptops, such as location awareness. 3. Analysis * 3.1 Online analytical processing (OLAP) * * This enables end users to analyze data with extremely fast query and calculation performance, enabling a style of analysis known as â€Å"slicing and dicing.† Users are (often) able to easily navigate multidimensional drill paths. And they (sometimes) have the ability to write-back values to a proprietary database for planning and â€Å"what if† modeling purposes. This capability could span a variety of data architectures (such as relational or multidimensional) and storage architectures (such as disk-based or in-memory). * 3.2 Interactive visualization * This gives users the ability to display numerous aspects of the data more efficiently by using interactive pictures and charts, instead of rows and columns. Over time, advanced visualization will go beyond just slicing and dicing data to include more process-driven BI projects, allowing all stakeholders to better understand the workflow through a visual representation. * 3.3 Predictive modeling and data mining * This capability enables organizations to classify categorical variables and to estimate continuous variables using advanced mathematical techniques. BI developers are able to integrate models easily into BI reports, dashboards and analysis, and business processes. 3.4 Scorecards These take the metrics displayed in a dashboard a step further by applying them to a strategy map that aligns key performance indicators (KPIs) with a strategic objective. Scorecard metrics should be linked to related reports and information in order to do further analysis. A scorecard implies the use of a performance management methodology such as Six Sigma or a balanced scorecard framework. Market Leaders IBM. SAS. Oracle. 1 Oracle 1.1 Strengths * * In 2011, Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite, with its principal component Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE), continued to execute on its stated top-to-bottom BI vision. This year, the products have the highest aggregate Ability to Execute scores. References depict a customer base that is Oracle through and through — 85% run Oracle Database as their data warehouse, nearly 75% run Oracle Applications, and a majority utilizes Oracle Fusion Middleware. Oracle is deployed most broadly (in respect of global deployment) of any vendor in this Magic Quadrant, with average user populations nearing 3,000 and data volumes of more than 5 TB, and it is considered the BI standard for nearly 70% of firms surveyed. While complex workloads are below average, the breadth of use scores in the highest quartile. * * During the Magic Quadrant evaluation process, Oracle announced and completed its acquisition of Endeca, a search-based provider of e-commerce and analytic capabilities. Customer surveys were conducted before the Endeca acquisition was completed; therefore, Endeca is not factored into the Magic Quadrant evaluation of Oracle’s execution, but was considered as part of its long-term product vision. Relatively low numbers of existing references access hybrid data types using OBIEE. Gartner believes that this is a forward-looking acquisition that will have significant impact on the company’s business analytics future (see â€Å"Endeca Buy Extends Oracle’s Ability to Support and Discover Diverse Data† for a more detailed opinion of the acquisition). * * In October 2011, the company announced an engineered system — Oracle Exalytics In-Memory Machine — that leveraged assets across the Oracle stack. The integrated hardware/software analytics solution features a package of OBIEE with new in-memory capabilities (based on Oracle’s acquisition of TimesTen), optimized Oracle Essbase to support the range of traditional BI (reporting, dashboards and analysis), and dynamic planning, what-if and scenario analysis, as well as interactive visualization and data discovery capabilities. The system is designed to support high-performance BI and performance management use cases with the intention of improving the performance, scale and speed of reporting, analysis and planning applications. It is now generally available. * * References select Oracle primarily for functionality, enterprise application integration, and data access capabilities. Additionally, customers indicated that they valued the products’ ability to support large numbers of users. Like other megavendors, the product road map plays an important role in the evaluation process. Ease of use and cost do not factor significantly into the selection process. * * Oracle Business Intelligence Applications (OBIA) are predefined analytic applications for horizontal business processes such as finance, procurement and sales analysis. Customers and prospects find this combination of analytic applications built using the OBIEE toolset appealing, with many buyers selecting both at evaluation time. Additionally, the company also delivers vertical-specific analytic data models for industries such as retail and financial services for IT buyers looking to establish a common data model standard as the foundation for analytics. 1.2 Cautions * References rate OBIEE as difficult to implement, with only SAS Institute considered more difficult. Also, the product was rated as having lower than average ease of use scores. As ease of use for both developers and end users takes on an even more important role in business analytic deployments and evaluations, Oracle must explicitly address these issues or risk being marginalized in user-driven projects. The company has been slow to respond to the data discovery trend. However, some functions are now available in the Exalytics In-Memory Machine, and the Endeca acquisition will add more capabilities in this important area. * * Product functionality evaluation scores remain below average again this year, a trend that appeared in last year’s report. Additionally, customer support and product quality issues are rated below the average (in the fourth and third quartiles respectively) for all vendors in this report. In fact, both support and product quality were also noted as issues that blocked further deployments within customer organizations. This represents a slip from last year’s scores. While not huge red flag items now, they may become more problematic without dedicated company attention to address client concerns. * * Oracle customers use the product mostly for static report viewing, parameterized reporting and scorecard capabilities, leading to below average user complexity ratings. Slightly more than 25% of customers Gartner surveyed for this report run the most current version of the BI suite, which is significantly below average for vendors in this analysis. * * More than 10% of survey respondents indicate that they plan to discontinue, or are evaluating a discontinuation of, software use in the next three years — a relatively high response rate given responses from the prior year. This is above the average for all vendors in this research. 2 SAS 2.1 Strengths * * SAS gets high marks for its global footprint and broad industry initiatives. Unlike some other BI platform vendors, SAS focuses on advanced analytical techniques, such as data mining and predictive modeling, where references acknowledge it as a leader of the pack. SAS’s clients also have above average complexity scores (for the depth of use of different BI use cases) on larger than average data sources. SAS customers also access and interpret unstructured internal and external data more often than any other vendor’s clients surveyed for this Magic Quadrant. * * SAS’s solution-oriented analytic application approach to the market is a differentiator, giving the company the advantage of having a wide variety of cross-functional and vertically specific analytic applications out of the box for a variety of industries, including financial services, life sciences and manufacturing. While others are also adopting this approach, SAS remains in the lead. Customers also report an above average sales experience. * * The primary drivers for customers choosing SAS remain functionality and data integration. In addition, references reported that they select SAS because of availability of skills. In the past, we have heard concerns over a lack of available SAS expertise; we suspect that this improvement is linked to the aggressive stance the company has taken to forge substantial partnerships with services firms, specifically Accenture. This broadened ecosystem also expands SAS’ sales channels with multiple partners positioning SAS-based solutions to their customers. * * On the software partnership front, SAS has partnered with a number of database vendors (such as Teradata) to push the execution of its models directly into the database management system without moving the data. Not only does this reduce data duplication and movement, it also allows SAS users to leverage the power and scalability features of the database to run predictive models against very large datasets with high performance. * Overall, SAS has a wide and loyal user base, many of whom have built careers around these products. References have a solid, positive outlook for SAS’s success within their organizations, as well as in the market as a whole. The company recently reported double-digit revenue growth for 2011. 2.2 Cautions * * References report that SAS is very difficult to implement — it was the No. 1 firm in this category. Companies also indicate that the product is considered difficult to use for business users (it was ranked No. 2 in this category). Its dashboard capabilities were rated lowest of all the vendors in this research. SAS is very much aware of these criticisms, and in 2011 embarked on a major development initiative involving hundreds of resources to improve usability and implementation activities. While it is too early to see the results of these efforts in surveys, we expect to see improvement in these areas in next year’s reference assessment. If no improvement is noted, this will directly impact SAS’s Ability to Execute scores for 2013. * * SAS’s dominance in predictive analytics and statistics continues to be challenged on many fronts. In addition to the SPSS suite, IBM also acquired Algorithmics in 2011 to bolster its portfolio; we are seeing greater adoption of open-source â€Å"R† in some products and embedded predictive and statistical capabilities in others. New entrants to the BI platform Magic Quadrant Prognoz and Alteryx accentuate these capabilities as core components of their product suites. While SAS still remains the acknowledged front runner, buyers have more options now, and SAS must continue to defend its franchise. The company recognizes this and, for example, has reinvigorated its emphasis on placing its software products in higher education settings for student and teacher use. * * Customer references report that cost is the most common factor blocking further adoption. In fact, verbatim responses to the survey mention cost in many ways — leasing terms, expensive to maintain, ongoing costs and so on — and, again, the company is very much aware of this criticism. With more options now available, SAS should also remain responsive to customers and prospects in these areas. The average tenure of SAS’s reference customers that participated in this survey was five years. Over 10% reported that they are planning to replace or are considering replacing the software in the next three years. Despite SAS’s success and awareness as a leader in the predictive analytics space, the company is still challenged to make it onto BI platform shortlist evaluations when predictive analytics is not a primary business requirement. While a little less than 60% of references indicated that SAS was their company’s BI standard, functionality used in traditional BI areas (reporting, dashboards, OLAP and so on) was lower than for other BI leaders in this report. Like last year, ad hoc query remains the one exception, with clients aggressively using SAS BI for that component. 3 IBM 3.1 Strengths * * IBM maintains its leading position on the Completeness of Vision axis for this year’s Magic Quadrant. The company takes a holistic approach to what it calls Business Analytics and Optimization (BAO), combining comprehensive software, hardware and services in a coordinated market offering. IBM’s business analytics software portfolio includes a unified BI, analytics and performance management platform, and is complemented by IBM information management software and appliances (Netezza, for example). Services are made up of a consulting line of nearly 9,000 people, which is a growing part of IBM Global Business Services (GBS). IBM can offer both a tools-based and/or a solution-driven offering, along with significant vertical expertise, to customers and prospects. * In 4Q10, IBM introduced its latest business analytics platform, IBM Cognos 10. Throughout 2011, additional capabilities have been released and customer adoption has begun in earnest. Cognos 10 references who responded to this year’s Magic Quadrant survey painted a very interesting snapshot — on average nearly 4,000 users, over 12 TB of data, broad functional use, and very high platform integration scores, all at or near the top of all ratings for all vendors in this report. Overall, Cognos 10 references were significantly more satisfied than Cognos 8 customers, who were the majority of IBM’s survey respondents. While some indicated that upgrading from Cognos 8 to Cognos 10 had some complexity, the majority rated it as straightforward or very straightforward. This bodes well for IBM’s future ability to execute, providing the firm delivers superior service and support and problem-free software. * * The average tenure of IBM respondents was seven years, second highest of all vendors in this survey. Gartner often hears this long-standing customer commitment in inquiry, and this represents a strong customer loyalty factor. This year, less than 7% of references noted that they are planning to discontinue use of the software in the next three years (or are considering doing so), which is significantly lower than last year’s result. * * Advanced analytics is a particular IBM strength. The company’s SPSS software continues to advance nicely, readily allowing IBM to bid for predictive analytics and statistical use cases. Customers rated IBM’s predictive capabilities in the top quartile of all vendors. A secret weapon at IBM’s disposal — IBM Research — delivers another level of research and development prowess to the overall IBM value proposition. For example, Watson, the Deep Question and Answer system that interprets natural language and scores possible answers based on probability, is a visible example of IBM Research at work. While not a part of the Cognos 10 platform, it demonstrates the depth and breadth that IBM can bring to clients’ advanced analytic scenarios. * The top reasons why customers select IBM are functionality, ease of use for end users, and data access and integration. IBM’s road map and future vision weighed heavily in reference decisions. In 2011, IBM delivered a new Cognos 10 mobile application for the iPad that is included free in existing user roles. In early 2012 the company will introduce Cognos Insight, a personal, desktop BI product that enables independent discovery and â€Å"what if† modeling, while also providing full interoperability with the larger workgroup and enterprise solutions. 3.2 Cautions * Twenty-three percent of Cognos 8 references indicate that performance continues to be problematic (a persistent problem for the last several years), nearly three times the average response for other vendors evaluated in this Magic Quadrant. In contrast, Cognos 10 references reported below average performance concerns. This is a sure signal that IBM must encourage upgrades to Cognos 10 without technical and/or financial disruption. * Again this year, references consider the Cognos products more difficult to implement and use than those of competitors. While Cognos 10 was rated slightly below average, other IBM products (Cognos 8, SPSS software and Cognos TM1) were deemed significantly more difficult. These are cited as two major reasons that limit expanded BI deployments with Cognos 8. As such, improved system administration and end-user usability were major development themes of the Cognos 10 release. References indicate that Cognos software is used largely by a consumer/casual user population. Reporting is the most extensively deployed component, followed by ad hoc query and OLAP analysis. * * IBM’s customers also continue to have less than optimal customer experiences, with support and sales interactions, along with product quality, rated in the bottom quartile of all vendors reviewed in this report. References also rate product functionality slightly below the average for all vendors. The bright spot is that Cognos 10 references rated product functionality near the top of all vendors, and support, sales and product quality were rated better than for Cognos 8. These issues remain IBM’s Achilles’ heel, and will limit its ability to raise execution scores next year unless action is taken quickly. * * License cost continues to be another source of customer concern across all products in the IBM business analytics portfolio. Gartner client inquiry also bears out this concern. Higher than expected costs to upgrade from Cognos 8 to Cognos 10 have stalled some projects, but changes in configuration, user roles, and/or support costs appear to drive the increase. As a counterpoint, existing Cognos 10 users did not identify license cost as a concern.