Sunday, October 6, 2019
Religious diversity in Saudi Arabia and US Speech or Presentation
Religious diversity in Saudi Arabia and US - Speech or Presentation Example Saudi Arabia offers lesser freedom of religion to the residents as compared to the USA. The practice in Saudi Arabia is that all shops are closed during the times of prayers, so as to discourage the people from engaging themselves in other businesses while the call for prayer is made through Azan in the mosques. While scheduling business-related matters in Saudi Arabia, non-Muslims have to play special attention towards this matter because their Muslim partners would not be available at these particular times at least for the duration of Salat in the mosques. On the other hand, in the USA, all shops remain open irrespective of the time of prayers in any religion, be it Islam or Christianity or any other religion. Government may impose restrictions but they are for other kinds of reasons like saving power, and are not grounded in any religion. Another factor that elaborates lesser freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia than the USA is the fact that there are no churches in Saudi Arabia w hereas in the USA, there are churches, mosques, synagogues, and Temples to entertain the religious needs of all of the communities that make part of the American society including the Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Hindus etc. Presently, Saudi Arabia does not have any official churches with a Christian denomination. Lack of official churches makes it very difficult for the Christians to conduct religious meetings and acts. The Christian community living in Saudi Arabia conducts private meetings for the religious affairs. The usual practice for the foreign Christians living in Saudi Arabia is that church meetings are arranged in one of the embassies. Christians can attend those meetings after registration and proving their foreign nationality. Sometimes, church meetings are also conducted at private assemblies arranged in the gyms of the schools. Many Christians conduct religious services at one anotherââ¬â¢s residences. Although Muslims make a sizeable portion of the American soc iety, yet the Americans have many suspicions, doubts, and confusions about the religion Islam. These confusions, in part, are grounded in the fact that the way of life taught by Islam to its followers is very much different from the traditional American lifestyle. The non-Muslim Americans find a lot of restrictions in Islam upon things that make part of their everyday life of many of them. Such things include but are not limited to consuming alcohol, eating pork, socializing with the opposite gender without significant physical boundaries and physical interaction with them, the girlfriend-boyfriend culture, same sex marriages, and cohabitation. When a non-Muslim American observes that everybody but practicing Muslims consumes alcohol freely in parties, visits night-clubs, and has a girlfriend or a boyfriend, he/she thinks of the practicing Muslims as people out of this world. Some may think good of them while others may have negative perceptions about the Muslims, but one thing that is a common observation among a vast majority of the non-Muslim American community is that Muslims in general and the practicing Muslims in particular have a very different lifestyle from theirs, and the source of this difference is Islam. Apart from this observation, another factor
Saturday, October 5, 2019
Environmentally Sensitive Habitant Calls for Innovative Thinking Assignment
Environmentally Sensitive Habitant Calls for Innovative Thinking - Assignment Example In the past years, erosion has compromised the stability of the river meanders that resulted in ââ¬Å"numerous slip failures in the river banks and of the flood defense embarkments.â⬠The unstable river banks now possess hazards to the residents of the area as well as to those boats and crafts navigating through the river. Undertaking the riverbank stabilization project for Darford Creek is Team Van Oord4 under project Manager EC Harris. Team Van Oord shall work closely with ARUP5, the designer of the project. The task of the company is to ââ¬Å"maintain the integrity of the flood defense embankments along two sections of the west bankâ⬠6 and at the same time provide for environmental measures and enhancements to product the sensitive habitat of the Creek area. As a form of habitat enhancement, Team Van Oord creates an engineered salt marsh habitat. The total budget for the project amounts to à £ 3.6 million. The construction project is good for 60 weeks. The construction is under the supervision of the Environment Agency. To stabilize the flood embankments, the contractors need to install a combination of steel sheet piling and timber brushwood faggots. According to the design of the project, the brushwood faggots shall be placed in front of the piling and supported by brushwood stakes. The general idea of this design is that the current of the river will bring about silt which could be captured and trapped in between the brushwood. The trapped silt will eventually accumulate to a certain degree and bury the brushwood faggots. Once the brushwood faggots are completely buried under the silt and sediments, it will become part of the flood embankment system and at the same time create a new salt marsh habitat. The project is deemed as a long term solution to the river bank erosion problem as well as aid in the restoration and protection of the endangered habitat.
Friday, October 4, 2019
Creative Song Assignment Essay Example for Free
Creative Song Assignment Essay The Creative Song Assignment was an interesting assignment, because I have zero experience in mixing music. It was an interesting experience, because it did take me out of my comfort zone. When I first started, I felt lost. I had no idea what I was doing, so I decided to do a little research to see how I can best complete this assignment. I finally settled on using a program called Audacity and the genres of hip hop and alternative rock. I chose a program called audacity, because it gives you an option of mixing different songs. I am sure that there are a lot of other programs better suited for this assignment, but I found this to be pretty easy to use. I really enjoyed playing around with the different settings. It took me a couple of days before I finally picked two songs to work on. I am sure that there are many more experienced people out there that can mix my songs better than me, but I think I did a good job considering my experience level. I decide to pick hip hop and alternative rock, because they are two of my favorite genres. I know that hip hop and alternative rock have been mixed before, so I felt an intrigue in trying to accomplish this myself. I knew that I wanted to use Radioheadââ¬â¢s Karma Police as my alternative, because that is one of my favorite songs. I had a difficult time picking a rap song, because the lyrics did not match up well together. I finally decided to just use a hip hop beat that I found on soundcloud. In my opinion, I felt that this was best, because you can hear the lyrics of the alternative song, but still hear the hip hop beat. The part that took me a while was trying to get the songs in sync perfectly. I really wanted to find a way to lower the alternative rock songââ¬â¢s instrumentals, but I could not do it. I think it would have sounded better if I could mix the hip hop beat with the Karma Police vocals. I am sure it could probably be done with professional mixing equipment.
Thursday, October 3, 2019
Self Reference Criterion And Subculture Groups Cultural Studies Essay
Self Reference Criterion And Subculture Groups Cultural Studies Essay One of the keys to success mentioned Cateora (2001) to achieve a successful international marketing is to adapt to environmental differences between a market and another. (Cateora, 2001). He defines the self-reference criterion (SRC) as a reference unaware of our own cultural values, experiences and knowledge as the basis for our decisions. The SRC hampers the ability to assess a foreign market in its true dimension. The self-reference criterion (SRC) is especially operating in the customs business. If you do not understand the customs of our foreign counterparts, are more likely to assessment behavior of these people in terms of what is acceptable to us. It is important to note that one of the most important strategies for success in international negotiations is to consider cross-cultural analysis in such a way as to isolate the influences of benchmark employment or self-reference criterion when making decisions, since it is essential to understand culture of the foreign market in order to avoid cultural shock and errors when you start a negotiation on the basis of adaptation to the environment in which it operates, and, moreover ethnocentrism which limits our ability to accept cultural differences and therefore reduces the opportunity to develop effective international marketing programs. In conclusion, when formulating and developing an international marketing program must consider the possible occurrence of these barriers as determinants of decision making. To avoid disappointment for entering and remaining in foreign markets, it is important to have respect for cultural differences in each of the markets of different countries and it is really important to know the history, traditions and trends of potential markets for generate a truly global conscience and implement strategies with ethical trend in each of them. The key to adapting is to maintain ones culture but to develop a à ¬ entendimien and a willingness to accommodate the differences. A successful marketing professional knows that China is important to give opinions without overwhelming arguments, criticism, even when requested, may cause the host lose face. In Germany it is considered impolite to use first names unless one is specifically invited to do so, you should always address a person as Herr (Mr), Frau (Mrs.) or Fraulein (Miss) with your name. In Brazil should not be offended by the propensity to touch the person with whom he converses. This custom is not a violation of personal space but the Brazilian form of greeting or emphasize one aspect to or gesture of goodwill and friendship. For the employer you want to export as the international marketer and specialist in international trade must have a type of vision to observe and detect the different elements that may be important in the development of its function. These views consist of: The vision of company, which is to take into account the capacities, objectives and interests of the company. The national vision that involves taking into account the positioning, the possibilities and trade agreements and government and private support of the country of the offered. The vision for the country of the target market is to take into account the realities, barriers of values, culture, norms and customs of trade and business of the country that addresses the export effort. The overall vision is to consider the general situation and sectoral trends, technology and international marketing in addition to the regionalization and globalization processes of international norms established by entities such as the OMG and the ICC Adjusted for differences requires putting aside our own cultural values. James E. Lee proposed that the natural self-reference criterion the unconscious reference to our cultural values is the root of most international business problems. However, recognize and admit this, it is often quite difficult. (Negocios Internacionales, Michael R. Czinkota, Ilkka A. Ronkainen, Michael H. Moffett, 7th Edition, Pag 60) By ignoring important cultural aspects, it can fall into the self-reference criterion, for example the unconscious reference to cultural values. Thus, it has been the cause of countless problems in international business and more, when it came to high-context. Avoid ethnocentrism as well, which is to consider their own culture as superiors to others (Czincota and Ronkainen, 1996)à There are many dangers of the self reference criterion: Failure to explore the need to take precautions Do not measure the differences between the cultures of different countries. Having an offensive answer with the host response The steps for Cross Cultura Analisys: To clarify the problem of home business To clarify the problem of the foreign Separate the SRC, examining in detail a complicated problem Determine the problem without the SRC The progress of a global awareness Different cultures must be tolerated To know and accept different cultures, making working with others whose culture is different. Have a knowledge of different global cultures, such as history, social and political problems. Focus on global awareness Selecting managers with global knowledge Having relationships with people who are from other countries or nationalities Cultural diversity within the company executives Acoording to Usunier and Lee J. in the book Marketing across Cultures, Perceive the French about other cultures are: The Germans: Pretentious and offhand. Fashionable, womanizing, frivolous, fickle, well-mannered, resourceful. The British: Nationalistic, chauvinistic, intransigent, centralist, dependent on the state, polite but not open minded, humourless, short tempered. The Americans: Chauvinistic, well mannered, combination of good food and good conversation, curious about foreing people, pretentious, talkative, pleasant, intelligent. ETHNOCENTRISM Properties of ethnocentrism may include the following tendencies: (1) to distinguish different groups; (2) to perceive events in terms of their own group interests (economic, political and social); (3) to see one group as the center of the universe and consider your lifestyle superior to all others; (4) to distrust other groups and negligible; (5) to see one group as superior, strong and honest;à The phenomenon of ethnocentrism is a danger to global marketing. Ethnocentrism is not to buy a foreign product not because it more expensive or lower quality, but the fact of being ones own country. People affected by this fact tend to think that the product of your country is always better. Immoral even consider buying things from abroad. It is curious that in other countries, like Spain, the opposite happens: if a foreign product looks better. An Italian designer suit seems more elegant than a national costume. The effects of ethnocentrism on the process of marketing and sales can sales practices to coexist rational and irrational due to marketing consumer ethnocentricity (Walle, 1986). The central role of personal provide satisfaction and customer service quality may be adversely affected by wider influence of marketing in the development and communication of identity corporate (Thomas and Hill, 1999). Likewise, ethnocentrism can also affect negatively to the transfer of technology from countries with economies of third world developed nations, due to the ethnocentric and stereotyped behavior on the part of developed economy, this is particularly true in technology transfer social, for example, in the area of organizational development (Bourgeois and Boltvinik, 1981). Consumer ethnocentrism is related to the country effect origin, either as an independent concept (Herchen, 1992), or considering it, from academic point of view, a further element of the concept of country of origin on the explains how the patriotic feelings affect attitudes toward products and purchase intentions (Han, 1988; Hadjimarcou, Hu and Bruning, 1993, Good and Huddleston, 1995; Huddleston, Good and Stoel, 2001)à SUB CULTURAL GROUPS Internationalization Strategies Ethnocentrism: Oriented to the country of origin. The company has focused its sales targets in the local market will eventually be sold in other markets only if you experience any order. Consider export as a sideline, giving priority to domestic operations. There is no change in the commercial mixture. Polycentric: Oriented to the country of destination Each country is considered as an independent reality, planning and marketing strategies are defined according to the needs of this market .- The distribution is done with equipment sales channels and target market .- Participate in the national market but in a disorganized and unplanned .- Usual medium enterprises or those with some experience in foreign markets .- It is expensive to establish the structure and oil business management, emerging problems of coordination and Control. Region Centric: Oriented to the region, is establishing a strategic plan for the entire region. A regional sales target, market coverage program is organized and planned sales. Geocentric: global orientation. SUBCULTURE The subculture is a distinct group within a culture. Its members can meet for various reasons, such as age, ethnicity, sexual identity, musical tastes or aesthetics, among others. It is usual that the subculture defines itself in opposition to the dominant culture. There are times; however, that such opposition is not radical. The members of a subculture often share a similar appearance that identifies them as a particular hairstyle (the ridge in the case of the punks) or the color of the clothes (black for Goths or emos). Within a subculture usually speak a particular dialect or uncommon terms used in other groups. The emergence of a subculture is established by the existence of shared symbols. This distinguishes the simple groups of people who meet common tastes of subcultures. In the mentioned case of the goth subculture, its members appeal to the black clothes and white makeup to convey their skepticism and lack of hope for the development of mankind Cultural subgroup is the denomination to define those groups of individuals who share common goals and ways of representation communes. Sub cultural analysis to segment the market to reach the needs, motivations, perceptions and attitudes that are shared by members of a particular subculture group. A subculture is a distinct cultural group that exists as an identifiable area within a larger and more complex society. Its members have beliefs, values and customs that set them apart from other members of the same society. The main sub-cultural categories are: nationality, race, religion, geographic location, age, sex and education. EXAMPLES OF SUBCULTURES EMO The origin of the word emo itself is confusing, most people associate it with the word emotional from the 90s. More recently, the word emo was seen as a contraction of emotional hardcore or emocore, which were popular designations music genre. The term emo has also been used in recent years on the Internet by different field, especially to those who seem emotionally unstable. Others use the term emo to describe a feeling of depression. In English the term emo is also used as an abbreviation for the word emotive meaning affective or emotional. Floggers Flogger is known as a trendy teenager from Argentina, which is closely related to Fotolog.com, a website where you upload photos and where users can comment on them. It has become very popular among young people, to become almost a habit or lifestyle. Flogger The word comes from flog, short for Fotolog. The popularity of a photoblog is based on the number of signatures (comments) daily photos and their friends / favorites. The photos uploaded in their respective fotologs often self-portraits. GOTHIC This is a movement in several countries. It started in the UK between the late 70s and mid 80s in the gothic rock scene, a derivation of the Post-Punk. His aesthetic and cultural inclinations come mainly from the influences of horror literature, horror films, and to a lesser extent, the BDSM culture. The goth subculture shared aesthetic tastes, musical and cultural common ground. Although Gothic music encompasses several sub-genres and styles, all share a tendency to look and sound dark or dark. Styles of dress within the subculture, taking influences from death rock, punk, androgynous style, and even the Renaissance style of dress, but goths are aesthetics, which focuses on black. Gothic THE PUNK This is born in the UK since the early 70s where a stream of young people in Britain and other industrialized countries felt that the rock had gone from being a means of expression for young people, to a mere marketing tool and showcase to the grandeur of the musicians of the time, pushing the music of ordinary people. Punk emerged as a mockery to the rigidity of the conventions that concealed forms of social oppression. Philosophy punk can be summarized as: à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã ¢ Do it yourself, have it your way. à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã ¢ Rejecting the dogma and not to seek a single truth. challenge and contradict everything à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã ¢ Do not operate according to the fashion and media manipulation in addition to being against consumerism. à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã ¢ Think for yourself. Skinheads The skinheads are skinheads or groups considered to be Nazis. They advocate the ideology of German leader Adolf Hitler and say they want to rid society of what they call scum, although this will have recourse to violent methods they know as clean-up squads. The Rastafarian These comes from Jamaica, is linked to the liberation of black people, looking for the earthly paradise in this case would ethiopia, so their characteristic colors, green, yellow and red, the rasta culrtura more than a movement is a religion provided when carrying off the bottom of the letter, not consuming meat, and based on pure marijuana consumption, on the grounds that the Bible mentions that God has created all the plants for use by men, also stops at state of flight to achieve a better meditation. SEGMENTATION AND SUBCULTURES Culture is defined largely consumer behavior of a given society. However, within a culture more homogeneous subgroups coexist with a common customs and values. Distinguish consumers in each subculture facilitates the positioning of brands and products aimed at a culture. Segmentation in subcultures is based on a socio-cultural and demographic factors were clearly identifiable. Marketers must be aware of how sub-cultural influences interact, not just segmented by a unique subculture. The classification of subcultures is usually done on the basis of national origin, age, religion, sex and lifestyle. However, this type of segmentation is valid provided that belonged to one of these subgroups involving behavioral patterns and identifiable characteristics, since the fact of being black or white, yuppie or a housewife, may not be a factor significant for the purchase of certain products. If subculture is identified as the group of adolescents between 14 and 18, is because they have a different behavior than for people between 25 and 32, for example. In Spain, the development of advertising campaigns are often differentiated mainly by age, gender and lifestyle, rather than racial influences, for although the number of immigrants is increasing, especially from the early 90s, a group is not so ingrained as, for instance, Hispanics or African American. The choice of conditioning (shape, appearance, color) cannot ignore the symbolic meanings associated with the cultural environment. An example: Nestlà © launched a dairy preparation characterized by containing active bifid us and a rich supply of calcium. It differs by the higher calcium content and pleasant taste. And in Latin countries the gratification of taste is a key factor for the food products sector. If your taste or texture is not good, the product will not succeed. That makes it especially attractive given a subculture from the perspective of marketing is the fact that it represents a segment of consumers with unique shopping habits, which involves a significant purchasing power for the company. If cultures differ, and if consumers behave differently, marketing strategies must also adapt to different environments can be identified. In this sense, be regarded as cultural adaptations in market research and strategies of the marketing mix, product, price, distribution and communication. In any social group differences in manifest behavior patterns for marketers this fact offers advantages and disadvantages. Disadvantages as identify a greater number of differences in a society should lead to the segmentation process to continue to spread to other possible groups that show homogeneous patterns or cultural features, design marketing activities appropriate to each segment or any of them, and increase business costs arising from the differentiation. Advantages precisely because the market segmentation us to potential target sites which may constitute or niches where the company can rest, defend, or be strong. In a society there are groups that are usually values and cultural homogeneous, but that differ from other groups, all members of the macro cultural group. What is important for the marketing manager is to realize this potential cultural variety, and then follow a process similar to the following: à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã ¢ Analyze cultural diversity in a particular social group. à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã ¢ Identify the types existing subcultures according to nationality, race, religion or geography. à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã ¢ Analyze the main cultural and behavioral differences à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã ¢ Study the profiles of each group for demographic, psychographic and behavioral. à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã ¢ Evaluate the potential of each subculture as target market à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã ¢ Determine the implications for marketing and its key variables. In the light of new trends that have been imposed in the marketing, seen as a social process, there has been a school of thought supported by the relativistic paradigm. The culture has begun to be seen as the background which shows the consumption patterns and also some products which have acquired a symbolism not imagined before (Lindridge and Dibb, 2003). As a result, beyond instrumentalist considerations, sociological, social, mutually beneficial exchange, strategic, administrative, and engineering (Pà ¡ramo, 2004) has emerged strongly in recent decades on the world of academics and researchers, a tendency to view marketing as part of a particular culture (Douglas and Isherwood, 1979; Arnould and Wallendorf, 1994; Pà ¡ramo, 2000a, 2000b). This trend has upset the paradigm of a country regarded as a synonym of the same culture (Rao, 1997), since societies are constituted largely by subcultures that correspond to the existing human groups. In fact, for over 20 years marketing has witnessed a continuing growth of interest in the study of cultural differences between ethnic groups and its implications for marketing and this has forced him to resort to ethnicity and culture as criteria segmentation.
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Christianity versus Evolution :: essays research papers
For over a hundred years now a battle has been raging over the origin of the Universe and man. Soldiers of Science have drawn the battle lines with each side using various scientific and non - scientific theories as their weapons. Who will ultimately win the war depends on who holds the most powerful weapons. On one side we have the Evolutionists. On the other side we have the Creationists. Evolutionists believe in spontaneous generation: This is the belief that life came from non-living matter. Creationists believe that life was created by an intelligent supernatural being ( God ). Evolution: - depends on current scientific theories to show the origin of man and the universe. There is a problem with this: Science is constantly changing. Newer and different theories are always being formed concerning our origin. When one theory is found to be false, another theory is quickly postulated to cover the first error. For instance: 1 - Concentric theory - 15th century - taught that sun, planets revolved around the earth. 2 - Phlogiston theory - 17th - 18th century - taught that every substance that burns contained a mysterious ingredient called "Phlogiston". It was later shown to be oxygen. 3 - It was once an accepted scientific fact that mice came from dirty underwear. Do you dare put your trust in a belief or a theory that is that fickle? You do if you believe in evolution! The Evolutionists continue to build on shaky, ever shifting ground. Sometimes the ground that they build on is not even there. As I was sitting in my chair I knew it had no bottom there No legs, no back, but I just sat Ignoring little things like that Evolution, creation and geology (the study of the physical nature, history, development of the earth) Man has believed, for most of his existence, that the earth was only a few thousand years old. But a new theory surfaced in the 19th century called "Uniformitarianism". This is the belief that nature can be explained by natural causes. In other words, the complex structure of life that we have today slowly occurred over a long period of time. This changed the belief that instead of the earth being only a few thousand years old, it is now several billion years old (5) for that is how long it would take for the earth to develop if the theory of Uniformitarianism is true. Evolution was built merely on a supposition, but it was offered as fact; all the while Evolutionists went hunting for proof.
A Character Analysis of Daisy Miller :: Daisy Miller, Henry James
In Daisy Miller, Henry James slowly reveals the nature of Daisy"s character through her interactions with other characters, especially Winterbourne, the main character." The author uses third person narration; however, Winterbourne"s thoughts and point of view dominate." Thus, the audience knows no more about Daisy than Winterbourne." This technique helps maintain the ambiguity of Daisy"s character and draws the audience into the story. At first glimpse, Daisy is portrayed as a "pretty American flirt" whose innocence Winterbourne is unsure of, and yet he says he was "almost grateful for having found the formula that applied to Miss Daisy Miller" (James 1563)." Like many people do in first impressions, Winterbourne feels the need to label Daisy right away." In the beginning, the stereotype seems to fit." Daisy is young, unsophisticated, chatty, and brags about all the society, especially gentlemen"s society she had in New York (1562)." She enjoys teasing and getting reactions out of people just for the sake of it." For example, the second time she and Winterbourne meet, late one evening in the garden, she asks him if he wants to take her out in a boat on the lake." Of course, her mother and the courier protest while Daisy laughs and declares, "That"s all I want " a little fuss!"She had no intention of going; she just wanted to get a rise out of someone." Bidding good-night to Winterbourne, she says, "I hope you"re di sappointed, disgusted, or something!" (1572)." She is being flirtatious, but this kind of teasing is also just part of her sense of humor. Daisy Miller may be uneducated, as Winterbourne and his aunt describe her, but she is witty." One illustration of her humor takes place at Mrs. Walker"s party when Winterbourne is criticizing her for her relations with Giovanelli." He says they don"t "understand that sort of thing here"not in young married women."Daisy cries, "I thought they understood nothing else!" and goes on to say, "It seems to me more proper in young unmarried than in old married ones."Daisy typically speaks and behaves frankly, almost in a child-like fashion, but this shows, as the narrator describes it, a "startling worldly knowledge" (1587)." Daisy is somewhat rustic but smart." She has a "natural elegance" and a mixture of" "innocence and crudity," and yet, as seen in her response, her character proves to go beyond the boundaries of this character type of the natural beauty (1564 and 1574).
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
San Francisco Bay Consulting
San Francisco Bay Consulting (SF Bay Consulting), as described in the Harvard Business School case by Baker and Monsler (1995), is a leading business consultancy and litigation support group following the goal of providing ââ¬Å"practical application of economic theory to business problemsâ⬠(p. 1). In order to manipulate and analyze data, high-end software and computers are used to serve clientsââ¬â¢ needs.The company faces serious internal problems regarding the relationship between their consultants and the computer services (CS) staff because of disagreements concerning the transfer pricing system, which is applied to alleviate the procurement and payment of computer resources. The major challenges for this system are the heavy price drops for computer hardware and the broadness of the researchers demands.The management of SF Bay Consulting forbids their employees to purchase their own computer hardware and software which leads to frustration among the consultants, espec ially in the case when the CS department refuses to buy and supply certain hardware and software requested by the consultants. The worst scenario occurred when transfer prices produced charges to clientsââ¬â¢ bills that exceeded the current market price for the computer as it has happened with the SUN workstation.Donald Learner, Chief Financial Officer of SF Bay Consulting, now sees himself in charge to find a solution to the current problems that is able to satisfy both, the consultants as well as the CS employees. For this purpose, he has identified three options: a) Stick to the current system, b) make CS a profit center, or c) run CS as an expense center. Due to the fact that the current situation at SF Bay Consulting is going to escalade if it is further made use of, option a) is not recommendable and a different solution has to be found.Otherwise the working environment will be seriously affected in the long run and thus efficiency of the company might decrease to an undesi rable level. Option b), to make CS a profit center, would lead to the situation that consultants themselves are allowed to purchase any hardware or software they like and thus focus on problems, others as they are supposed to do. However, this option would lead to the freedom for researchers to purchase the equipment they would like to work with and might free them of their frustrations.Since IT specialists are running the CS department their core competency is not to focus on earning a profit within a competitive environment. While focusing on equipment procurement would distract researchers, the argument of distraction also holds true for the computer experts, which have to refocus and be in charge not only for maintenance but also running a business in a competitive manner. On the other hand this could lead to a more competitive price management that could cause lower costs for the two internal groups.Notwithstanding, Learner and Alex Whalen (founder, president, & CEO of SF Bay C onsulting) both agree that computer purchasing decisions should stay within CS to secure a certain level of compatibility among hardware and software and to avoid maintenance problems. Lastly, option three, to run CS as an expense center, would eliminate internal billing and lead to group profit generated from client charges greater than the CS overhead costs.Even though, there is a possibility of researchers ignoring the costs they provoke with a great deal of requests for CS, this problem might be minor due to the fact that they are not as frustrated as before and thereby reaching a higher level of overall satisfaction. In order to make all employees more sensitive for working efficiently an elaborated group-profit-related bonus system could be introduced at SF Bay Consulting.However, the impact of the bonus system for CS employees has to secure a balance between profit orientation and reasonable investments into hardware and software. Moreover, if all employees generate one overa ll profit together, there will not be any internal competition but a jointed overall goal. In conclusion, choosing option c), to run CS as an expense center is the right recommendation for SF Bay Consulting in order to solve its internal problems.
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