The Evolution of the Banking Industry Essay Example for Free

The Evolution of the Banking Industry Essay At independence, there were only two foreign banks, Barclays and Standard Chartered Banks that were dominant players in the country. Naturally, their operations were structured to support the colonial economy. Research indicates that the Bank of Gold Coast was later split into Ghana Commercial Bank and Bank of Ghana in 1957. In contrast to the existing Foreign Banks GCB was set up to provide banking services to a wider populace of Ghanaians and to support the development agenda of the indigenous government. Research indicates that the National Redemption Council, (military government) as part of its indigenization policy acquired 40% ownership in the two foreign banks but his did not change their business strategy. The main complaint against the foreign banks was that their lending policies were too conservative. During the PNDC era, two foreign banks were licensed that’s BCCI and meridian Biao. The BCCI collapsed in 1991 with a large foreign Exchange liability it could not manage. Meridian Biao almost collapsed in 1995 due to an imprudent foreign exchange exposure to its distressed parent company. After the return of democratic rule in 1992, two Malaysian Banks were licensed. The two were Metropolitan and Allied Bank and International Commercial Bank. Besides, a South African Bank, Stanbic Bank, was also licensed. The collapse of two Ghanaian banks, that’s Bank for Housing and Construction and Co-operative Bank confirmed that the financial sector required effective management of risks. The assurance was however that the new regulatory regime was more effective and so it was unlikely that such bank failure could occur again. Banks with foreign equity participation became stronger and more profitable by the year 1990. Financial experts have argued that the collapse of BCCI and near collapse of Meridian Biao raises question about how well foreign banks are insulated from the difficulties of their parent companies. An IMF study of the banking industry in 2003 stated that Ghana’s market structure was slightly less competitive than that of Nigeria and Kenya. Nigeria is however a huge economy as the economy of Ghana grows at a faster pace, private Foreign Direct Investment facilitated by Nigerian Banks may play a key role if well directed. Indications are that Ghana will become the financial hub of West Africa soon. Due to common historical experiences, Ghana appears to be a natural next step for Nigerian businesses seeking to expand their operations beyond Nigeria. Foreign Banks in Ghana include Barclays Bank, Standard Charted Bank SG-SSB, Ecobank Ghana Limited and UT Bank. Others are International Commercial Bank, Stanbic Bank, Standard Trust Bank, Zenith Bank and the Guaranty Trust Bank. The rest are Intercontinental Bank, Access Bank Ghana and Sahel Sahara Bank.

History Of The William Colgate Company

History Of The William Colgate Company William Colgate Company was started in 1806. William Colgate was a maker of soap and candle by himself. The firm began selling bars in regular weights in the 1840s. The company was well-run as Colgate Company under the managing of his son, Samuel Colgate after the death of William Colgate. His son Colgate introduced a perfumed soap in 1872, by the name of Cashmere Bouquet and then in 1873 the firm introduced toothpaste, aromatic toothpaste sold in jars. In 1908 they initiated mass selling of toothpaste in tubes. In 1898, In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the B.J. Johnson Company was manufacturing a soap wholly of palm and olive oil, the technique of which was urbanized by B.J. Johnson. The soap was well-liked a sufficient amount to rename their corporation after it Palmolive. At the go round of the century Palmolive, which enclosed both palm and olive oils, was the worlds best-selling soap. A Kansas based soap manufacturer known as the Peet Brothers merged with Palmolive to become Palmolive-Peet. In 1928, Palmolive-Peet bought the Colgate Company to generate the Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Company. In 1953 Peet was dropped from the label, send-off only Colgate-Palmolive Company, the existing name. Colgate-Palmolive has extended been in fierce opposition with Procter Gamble, the worlds largest soap and detergent maker. PG introduced its Tide laundry detergent shortly after World War II, and thousands of consumers turned from Colgates soaps. When PG started putting fluoride in its toothpaste after that the Colgate lost its figure one place in the toothpaste market. In the commencement of television, Colgate-Palmolive wished to compete with Procter Gamble as a sponsor of soap operas. The company sponsored many events in part; they were for the most part famous for being the full sponsor of the entertainment in installments The Doctors. George Henry Leach was president, CEO, and chairman of the board of Colgate-Palmolive in the 1960s and 1970s, and during that time transformed it into a modern company with major restructuring. In 2006, Colgate-Palmolive announced the intended acquisition of Toms of Maine, a leading maker of natural toothpaste, for US $100M. Toms of Maine was founded by Tom Chappell in 1970. Today, Colgate has frequent subsidiary organizations with a leg on each side of 200 countries, but it is publicly scheduled in only two, the United States and India. The company built a status around the world as a successful company with the highest moral values. all the way through alive our values of Caring, Global Teamwork, and Continuous perfection, and adhering to the uppermost principles of honesty, admiration, and concern for the environment, we seek to: make available safe and quality products of value to consumers raise shareholder value Offer opportunities for personal and professional growth to all Colgate people Fulfill our corporate social responsibilities as a member of the global community Products: Around the world, people like you trust our family of brands to care for the ones they love. Toothbrushes and toothpastes to bar soap, household cleaners, every day our products get better the quality of life for consumers global. Toothpastes Sparkle Tooth Brushes New Palmolive Naturals Azadi Carbolic Soap Protex Max Bar Azadi Dish Bar Max Scourers Max Liquid Max Antibacterial Brite Total Express Power Bonus Colgate-Palmolives Mission Statement Our three fundamental values-Caring, Global Teamwork and Continuous Improvement-are part of everything we do. Caring The Company cares about people: Colgate people, customers, shareholders and business partners. Colgate is committed to act with compassion, integrity and honesty in all situations, to listen with respect to others and to value differences. The Company is also committed to protect the global environment and to enhance the communities where Colgate people live and work. Global Teamwork All Colgate people are part of a global team, committed to working together across countries and throughout the world. Only by sharing ideas, technologies and talents can the Company achieve and sustain profitable growth. Continuous Improvement Colgate is committed to getting better every day in all it does, as individuals and as teams. By better understanding consumers and customers expectations and continuously working to innovate and improve products, services and processes, Colgate will become the best. EXTERNAL FACTORS EFFECTIVE CHANGE: The weighted score of the EFE matrix comes out to be 2.67 which show that Colgate can take advantage of the profitable opportunities that the market is offering, to overcome the external threats. The highest weights in the external opportunities are given to new product development and the implementation of ERP which means automated system for supply chain management. Colgate is not yet into a large variety of personal care products and since people are becoming more fashion and hygiene conscious these days Colgate can enter into a much profitable market of products categories like shampoo, face wash, body wash, liquid hand wash, shower gel etc. Its major rivals in the personal care category namely Unilever and Lux are already manufacturing these products but Colgate with its large capital base can enter these markets easily and can increase the length of their Personal Care product line and become more profitable. The other major opportunity is that Colgate can fully automate their supply chain. Colgate is in fact planning to take advantage of this opportunity and is pursuing a strategy by the name of ERP (SAP) which will make whole supply chain automated. All local and foreign suppliers of Colgate will have their systems integrated with the Companys MIS (Management Information System) where they can take orders, check inventory levels, bargain prices. Awareness among the rural population has also increased over the past decade and some part of the population is shifting from miswak and home-made cleaning soaps to tooth pastes liquid and powdered soaps. There is also a large gap in the tooth brush market which means that Colgate Palmolive is far ahead in the tooth brush market as compared to its major rivals and can further increase this gap with more innovations. The major threat to the company is the increasing prices of raw material and energy which is mainly due to the inflation in the country. The suppliers are constantly demanding price increases and the company has to negotiate prices with them on a regular basis. Moreover the energy and fuel prices are also rising, as a result of which Colgate has to bear high cost of operations. Being a low-cost producer, it is a major threat to the company. Apart from this, the political situations are also causing major threats to the company. Post December 27, 2008 80% of Colgate factories in Kotri were burnt out which caused huge losses to the company. INERNAL FACTOR FOR EFFECTIVE CHANGE: The weighted score from the IFE comes out to be 2.96 which shows that the company has enormous strengthens to overcome its weaknesses. The highest weightage is given to the biggest strength that Colgate has, which is, that it is the market leader in Surface care category with 90% market share. Besides that it has cooling crystal patent in its tooth pastes as no other brand has cooling crystal ingredients in its tooth pastes. This particular strength gives it a competitive advantage over its close rivals like Medicam and English toothpaste (Filicetti, John). Another major strength of Colgate Palmolive is its good leadership that has been contributing to the companys success. The strategic objectives of the company are clearly defined and communicated throughout the company. Employees commitment is also a major contributing factor, there are no layoffs and people are committed to working hard consistently. Moreover, with high profits they pay their employees good salaries too and also carry out training programs at different managerial levels. Despite the current economic threats Colgate has managed to keep its share price at an above average level in the industry. Currently its share is trading in the market at Rs. 850. The major weakness of Colgate is that it is not utilizing IT Systems to the optimum level. In this fast moving world, with cut-throat competition it is a major weakness of a company which does not have proper MIS systems installed. It doesnt have a separate IT department either. Besides that there are no e-commerce facilities available to customers who buy in bulk. Another weakness is that Colgate Palmolive is not exporting its products to other countries. Colgate has subsidiaries in many countries but they are more profitable than CP because they export to other countries. If CP overcomes this weakness and start exporting to even in just a few countries it can earn high margins (Filicetti, John). PRIMARY ACTIVITIES COST INBOUND LOGISTICS: CP has efficient MIS systems that link their suppliers raw material with the firm production processes (Moore, E.R). OPERATIONS: CP has efficient plants installed that reduce manufacturing costs. Previously they had machines that used to take one day to switch from the manufacturing of one kind of product to the other. But currently the plants and machines that they have are much more cost effective and efficient. It takes only 30 minutes to switch from one product ma manufacturing to the other (Moore, E.R). DISTRIBUTION AND OUTBOUND LOGISTICS: CP has accurate and responsive order processing procedures. The delivery of raw material to the manufacturers and the delivery of final products to the various departmental stores like Aghas, Makro, Naheed etc is made on time (Moore, E.R). SALES AND MARKETING: CP has a highly trained sales force. They carry out various awareness programs in which they visit different localities with their sales team along with doctors who make people and especially children ( incase of Oral care products ), aware of the importance of hygiene. In this way CP has always strive to improve the quality of life. There products are not priced very high. Products are priced in a way that generates sales volume. CP spends a lot on advertising and television commercials (Sergiovanni, T.J). SERVICES: CP provides a help desk to its customers. They can write their comments and complaints directly to the colgate Palmolive. Colgate usually offers a free medical checkup for all at various schools, exhibitions and hospitals. CP is thus performing corporate socially responsibility (Moore, E.R) support activities and cost FIRM INFRASTRUCTURE: CP has a professional and strong infrastructure. Every manager in various department has to report to the GM of his department and the GM then report to the director. M.D is the person who is the head of the colgate Palmolive. The firm processes are made in such a way that it has helped the company to reduce its cost. Employee commitement has always been there. The culture is adaptive and professional. CP has a strong relationship with its suppliers (Moore, E.R). HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: CP value their employees commitment. Thats why they dont have any layoffs. Their employees are loyal to the company. They carry out training programs that further groom employees. CP also conducts management trainee programs in which they recruit fresh graduates and provide them training in almost all departments so as to make that individual well familiar with the organization (Sergiovanni, T.J). TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT: CP has investments in technologies but they still need to automate their supply chain in order to become more cost effective. Apart from that they are also not utilizing E-commerce facilities to the optimum level which can give them a huge cost reduction (Moore, E.R). PROCUREMENT: CP has systems and procedures installed through which they contact their local and foreign suppliers who are all CP Approved. They negotiate prices and place orders through these systems (Moore, E.R). COLGATE PALMOLIVES LOW-COST PROVIDER STARTEGY: CP has a large and efficient distribution network. Its distribution channels are located all over Pakistan (Moore, E.R) It caters to a broad customer base. It has developed itself in almost all the categories which are associated with customers on the daily basis. Colgate pursues low cost strategy. Its plant is automated. Only one plant is used for the manufacturing of three different detergents like bonus, express, brite The whole process is repeated for each of the detergent. By automating the plant, CP is able to save a lot of cost. CP value delivery network does not have any delays in it which helps CP to save cost. CP targets all segment, it has products for the lower class, middle class and the upper class. Its pricing is done accordingly. It has cost leadership in the detergent and the surface care category CP forecasting is very accurate which helps them to reduce cost because if estimated are accurate then it helps the company to avail cost advantages CP is allowed to deviate only 5% from its forecast both upwards and downwards CP has concentrated more on process efficiencies CP has access to large capital that is required to make significant investment. CP never compromises on the development expenditure. It is always ready to improve its production processes. Being a low cost producer it helps CP to better compete to its rivals. Being the low cost producer it has helped CP to insulate themselves from powerful suppliers who nowadays demand increasing prices due to rising inflation. Being he low cost producer, it has also helped to attract powerful buyers whom CP sells directly like MAKRO, DMART, IMITAZ, AGHAS, and NAHEED etc (Moore, E.R). Economic Factor The overall economy of the country is showing a stable growth. Therefore this industry is also showing a growth of 10%. But the inflation is growing rapidly which is not a good sign for the new entrants. Change in the interest rate also affects the industry. Hence the new entrants are also threatened by the increasing interest rates. Economic factors do influence the bargaining power of buyers as inflation is the major factor that is affecting the consumers hard. Economic factors do not affect the availability of substitutes. But since inflation is growing, so it is hard for the poor people to switch to more modern products like washing powder, tooth paste. They would rather prefer oil to clean their clothes and use miswak to brush their teeth. Economic factors do have an affect on the bargaining power of suppliers as inflation is rising fast. Suppliers demand that they would provide the necessary raw material at a higher price. Exchange rate fluctuations also affect the cost of raw material. Economic factors do affect the rivalry among the competitors as all the players in the industry want to have cost leadership. The economic factors are favoring intense competition from the last five years. People have more money at their disposal. Also Pakistan is a consumption oriented society (Hiatt, Jeff.). Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) STRATEGY 1 STRATEGY 2 Weights AS TAS AS TAS STRENGTHS Market leader in surface care with 90% market share 0.15 Good Leadership 0.06 Employee commitment 0.12 3 0.36 2 0.24 Cooling crystal patent 0.1 Accurate forecast with respect to demand 0.07 4 0.28 2 0.14 High EPS 0.08 3 0.24 2 0.16 Strong advertisement and promotional campaign 0.08 2 0.16 3 0.24 WEAKNESSES IT not used optimally 0.13 4 0.52 2 0.26 No ecommerce 0.1 3 0.3 2 0.26 No proper use of forward integration 0.05 2 0.1 3 0.15 They are not exporting their products to other countries 0.06 1 OPPORTUNITIES Exploring into new categories like shampoo, hand wash , body wash, shower gel 0.14 2 0.28 4 0.56 Rural population switching from miswak to toothpaste 0.06 Gap in tooth brush market 0.08 2 0.16 3 0.24 Implementation of ERP(SAP) 0.14 4 0.56 2 0.28 People becoming hygiene and beauty conscious 0.1 2 0.2 3 0.3 No layoffs 0.07 THREATS(T) Raw material and energy prices are increasing 0.12 3 0.36 2 0.24 Inflation in the country 0.07 3 0.21 2 0.14 Competitors re launching their products 0.1 2 0.2 3 0.3 Competitors increasing their marketing budgets 0.06 2 0.12 3 0.18 Unstable law and order conditions. 0.06 1 TOTAL 4.05 3.69 Rivalry among existing competitors Yes (+) No (-) The industry is growing rapidly. à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ The industry is not cyclical with intermittent overcapacity. à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ The fixed costs of the business are relatively low portion of total costs. à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ There are significant product differences and brand identities between the competitors. à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ The competitors are diversified rather than specialized. à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ It would not be hard to get out of this business because there are no specialized skills and facilities or long-term contract commitments etc. à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ My customers would incur significant costs in switching to a competitor. à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ My product is complex and requires a detailed understanding on the part of my customer. à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ My competitors are all of approximately the same size as I am. à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ INTERPRETATION: Threat of competitors is high because the product is not unique as there are no product differences. Same products are available with all competitors like Unilever, Procter and Gamble, Shield, Oral B. Therefore rivalry is also increasing as demand in the economy has also increased for the last 5 to years. Majority of the competitors are MNCs which means that they have the necessary resource and skill (Hiatt, Jeff). Government Factors: Government regulations do have an affect on the rivalry among the competitors. Political factors: Political factors do not affect the rivalry among the competitors Economic factors Economic factors do affect the rivalry among the competitors as all the players in the industry want to have cost leadership. The economic factors are favoring intense competition from the last five years. People have more money at their disposal. Also Pakistan is a consumption oriented society (Hiatt, Jeff). Social trends Social trends have changed, buyer are more aware of their purchases. So the players in the industry are always trying hard to increase their market share (Hiatt, Jeff). Technological change Technology is helping the companies to gain a competitive advantage over their rivals. Also research and development plays an important role in this (Hiatt, Jeff). KEY SUCCESS ACTORS FOR COMPETIVE SUCCESS Low cost production efficiency. CP has plants installed that take only 30 minutes for the plant to shift from the production of one product to the other. High quality manufacturing of products with very few defects. A strong network of wholesale distributors. Gaining ample space on retailer shelves. (Examples Naheed, Aghas, Makro and other small shops.) Attractive packaging and styling. Good length of product lines. Attractive commercials and advertising. Good reputation in the industry along with favorable reputation with buyers. Market penetration Colgate can do market penetration by increasing its advertising, people always associate Colgate with tooth paste and have no awareness that it produces personal and surface care products as well. They should show their logo on all its products so that people know the producers and this will increase customer loyalty and also when people will come to know that Colgate is the producer then new customers will also buy the product (Hiatt, Jeff). They should also increase their promotion efforts by going to school and doing health awareness programs, also they should go to residential areas and make women aware of their surface care and fabric care products such as max, bonus and express etc Product development: Colgate can also do product development by introducing new features in their already existing brands. They can improve their tooth brush quality and features by introducing flexi tooth brushes for special oral care. Also they can introduce whitening features in their feature in their tooth paste; different colors of tooth paste can also be introduced to attract the kinds market. In their fabric care they can introduce in special features of protecting the color of the cloth while washing and also whitening enhancing surfs to give a good shine to while clothes (Hiatt, Jeff). develop systems to involve appropriate stakeholders in the introduction of change SIX THINGS REQUIRED TO EFFECTIVELY IMPLEMENTING A STRATEGY According to Porter, to implement a strategy effectively six things should be followed: Create a formal plan: Distributor Quantity Item Price Negotiation, Inventory Reporting, Stock Details, Payment Terms HR Module Inventory / Store Create a multifunctional team: To effectively implement ERP, Colgate must first hire an independent resource firm. Acquire licensing for SAP Implementation. Establish an independent IT unit for the monitoring of ERP. This department will coordinate with all the other departments (Robbins S, Mukerji). Communication of strategy: inside and outside: All employees in the company should be made aware of the new automated system. Each employee must be provided a minimal insight of SAP but those employees who have to work on SAP the most should ofcourse be provided with proper training course of SAP. These include: Factory Manager Manager accounts Warehouse Manager Distribution team Consumer insight department Outside the company the strategy to implement ERP should be communicated properly to all the local and foreign suppliers of Colgate Palmolive (Hagberg). Consistency over time: As Information Technology is progressing day by day, new changes in ERP are expected after certain time periods. Therefore it would become very important for Colgate to cope up with the changes in the software. For this purpose it would need to update it employees by providing training whenever any change takes place in SAP (Hagberg). Use proper measurements: Other measures, not just financial measures would be required to test whether the system is working properly. These measures include: Whether the system is accurately forecasting demand, sales, price changes Whether or not there are any deviations in the actual versus projected sales Effectiveness of the internal processes after the strategy implementation (Robbins S, Mukerji). Test the strategy: Ask employees and senior management in all departments whether they are satisfied with the new system of working. Talk to suppliers and distributors whether they want any more improvements in the new system of working (Hagberg). KEY DRIVING FORCES Industry growth: Now most of the people have knowledge about the different products and its advantages. The intense competition in industry and high demand enables the new entrants to compete in this market (Hagberg). Product innovation: Innovation in product, as Colgate has just introduced Max fresh in which the coolant crystals are present which none of the competitors has adopted yet. There is also room in innovation in washing detergents (Hagberg). Changing societal concerns, attitudes and lifestyle: Since social issues are really effecting the use of product just like the use of Miswak which is the Islamic mode of cleaning the teeth (Hagberg). Use of E-commerce and Internet: Usage of online ordering and maintaining the stock level through e-commerce can be driving force in the industry. By using that they can provide products to customer which is value addition for them (Hagberg). This report is purely based on the finding from the Colgate expert and the secondary data analysis, and the reason for writing the whole report is to find the obstacle / hindrance a business men face and how the organization can minimize it through implementing the different strategies and analysis. The whole report research draws attention to  the fact that any problem can be eliminate if proper investigation and consideration can be observed the success is easy to get, Pakistan market is mature market and the competition is tough here because most of the customer is price conscious and act like butterflies, so targeting this kind of customer is quite difficult, but on the other hand it can be managed if the you can understand the market effectively and efficiently (Robbins S, Mukerji). Hiatt, Jeff. HYPERLINK http://www.change-management.com/tutorial-definition-history.htmThe definition and history of change managementHYPERLINK http://www.change-management.com/tutorial-definition-history.htm. http://www.change-management.com/tutorial-definition-history.htm. Filicetti, John (August 20, 2007). HYPERLINK http://www.pmhut.com/pmo-and-project-management-dictionaryProject Management DictionaryHYPERLINK http://www.pmhut.com/pmo-and-project-management-dictionary Moore, E.R., (accessed 1 April, 2001), Creating Organizational Cultures: An Ethnographic Study, Eastern Academy of Management Virtual Proceedings, Moore, E.R., (accessed 1 April, 2001), Creating Organizational Cultures: An Ethnographic Study, Eastern Academy of Management Virtual Proceedings, , R. Ph.D. Heifetz, D.Ph., 2000 (accessed 4 April, 2001), Corporate HagbergCulture/Organisational Culture: UnderJerryding and Assessment, Robbins S, Mukerji D (1994). Managing organisations. Prentice Hall of Australia, McPhersons Printing Group, Australia. Sergiovanni, T.J. (1984) Educational Leadership, Leadership and excellence in schooling, Volume 41, Number 5, United States of America, page 4-13 Kent State University 2000 (accessed 28thMarch, 2001), Kent State University Cultural Self-Study Internal Communication of Change By Dagmar Recklies Circling the Pyramid Building Lasting Commitment to Change  Ã‚   (pdf-file) by Edmond Mellina What Makes a Good Change Agent? by Dagmar Recklies The Role of the Change Master From Change Agent to HYPERLINK http://www.themanager.org/Strategy/Change Master.htmHYPERLINK http://www.themanager.org/Strategy/Change Master.htmChange MasterHYPERLINK http://www.themanager.org/Strategy/Change Master.htm By Ruth Tearle Managing Change Definition and Phases in Change Processes by Oliver Recklies Problems in Managing Change by Oliver Recklies AuditNet.org provides a downloadable PDF of change management best practices. Fred Nickols wrote HYPERLINK http://home.att.net/~nickols/change.htmHYPERLINK http://home.att.net/~nickols/change.htmChange Management 101: A Primer.HYPERLINK http://home.att.net/~nickols/change.htm SearchCRM.com provides resources on handling change management following a CRM upgrade. Neglecting your change control process can kill an IT disaster recovery plan.

Online Cinema Reservation System

Online Cinema Reservation System This assignment title for Introduction to Software Engineering assignment is to do a research and analysis of a software project. The topic chosen for this assignment is Online Cinema Ticket Reservation System. Following are the tasks need to be done of the assignment. To identify the requirements for cinema online ticket reservation system. To identify the design principles and concept and produce the design based on the mentioned concepts. To identify the testing strategies and techniques for the software and how it can be carried out. To identify the implementation strategies for the software Online Cinema Ticket Reservation System is an Internet based application that can be accesses throughout the internet and can be accessed by anyone who has an internet connection. This application will automate the reservation of tickets and enquiries about availability of the tickets. This application includes email confirmation for the tickets. Currently, this system is widely use by airline, cinema, and other sector of company. For the system, the methodology chosen to develop the software is Rapid Application Design (RAD). The Following will state the advantages of RAD and the description of RAD with timeline to develop an online cinema ticketing reservation system. Increased speed of development through methods including rapid prototyping, virtualization of system related routines, the use of CASE tools, and other techniques. Lower costing as rapid development saves time. Low complexity, emphasis on simplicity and usability. Before cinema online ticket reservation is created, the way that customer make ticket reservation is through phone reservation. However, using phone reservation has some problems. Following will discuss about the problems before the system is created and how the system solve the problem. Prank Call The most common problem occurs is prank call. In the past, there are no member login is required, therefore, anyone able to make a reservation. In the situation, many people will take advantage to make a prank call. They will make reservation for many times without collect the ticket. Solution: System required customer to register and login to their account before they can use the system. If the customer cannot collect the ticket after make the reservation, customer required to cancel the reservation 1 hour before movie start showing. Otherwise, the customer account will be blocked from using for certain period if they repeated the same action for more than 3 times. Phone line traffic The second problem occurs is phone line traffic. Customer will make phone call to enquire the movie show time and they will spend some time to choose movie section. In the other hand, other customers try to make phone call reservation. Therefore, phone line traffic will occur. Part of the customer unable contacts the phone call center. Solution: The online reservation system should be designed that able to check the movie show time and make reservation via internet. Therefore it can reduce the problem of phone line traffic. Operator The third problem is similar case with second problem. The company needs to hire a lot of operator to able all the call of customer. However, there is not always many phone call will call in. Therefore, those operators will have nothing to do. This would be a waste of financial resource if the man power is not fully utilized. Solution: By using the system, customers able to get all information about movie show time. Therefore, mostly customers prefer to use the system. It can reduce dependency of phone call reservation. Meanwhile, company can reduce the number of operator and avoid the problem of operator complain by customer. In fact, there is similar system on the internet, but there is cancelation method found in the existing system. This problem cause the members that make reservation have to collect their ticket 30mins before the movie start showing, and they have wait at least 30mins until the movie start showing. Solution: The new system developed allow member to cancel their reservation tickets in 2 hour advanced before the movie start showing. If a member did not cancel the tickets and did not collect the ticket, the member account will be banned for certain period. Requirement Analysis There are 2 types requirement available in software engineering research method, there are functional requirement and non- functional requirement. Functional requirement defines functions available in a system. Functional requirements are supported by non- functional requirements. It drives the application architecture of a system. Functional requirements can be technical details, calculations, data processing and manipulation and other specific functionality that defines the system and the functional of the system supposed to accomplish. Non-functional requirements also know n as quality requirements. It drives the technical architecture of a system. It is a requirement that specifies criteria that can be used to judge the operation of a system. Non- functional requirements can be category into 2 categories which is execution qualities and evolution qualities. Execution quality is observable at run time. Example of execution quality is security and usability. In the other hand, Evolution quality is embodied in the static structure of the software system. The example of it is maintainability, testability, scalability, extensibility and many others. Functional Requirement There are certain functional requirements that need to be carrying out by cinema online ticket reservation system. Cinema hall need to have a website that allows any user of internet access to the webpage. Besides that, there should have other functionality can be perform by the system. For example, a user able to do following activity in the system: Login to the system through the first page of the application. Change the password after logging into the system. Able to modify their own information after login. Able to create a new login for the accessing the reservation facility. View movie now showing list after login. Reservation can be making three day before the show. View his current reservations with the details. Able to choose the seats which can are available for a certain class. Cancel reservation Figure above show that activity that able to perform by customer The system need to respond to the activity done by user. The following is the activity should be performed by the system: A new password send to the user though email if the user forgotten about his or her password. A mail will be send to the concerned person about the confirmation of the ticket to the specified email address after user make a reservation ticket. Show the fare for the corresponding shows and amount of money needs to be pay for selected seats. The login ID and password should be sent to the mentioned email address if a new account is created. However, the same customer always makes ticket reservation but did not collect the ticket. The particular customer will block from using the online ticket reservation system for certain period if repeated the action for more than 3 times. Reservation ticket will automatically open for sales if the ticket has not collect 15 minutes before the show. It gives more time for customer that make online reservation to collect the ticket. Figure above show that activity that perform by system automatically Non Functional requirement Each system also consists of non-functional requirements. In this case, when a user makes a reservation via online, the database needs to make a record of it. It is consider as execution quality. All the information need to be update in real time. The system will compatible with the ticket selling system in ticket selling point. Following is different type of non functional requirement need to include in the system. Usability known as user friendly, the system should have the user guild of the system and cannot allow complex interface design Response time -System also needs to have a good response time. It needs to respond in the shortest time after customer click a button. Platform compatibility -System need to able to perform in different platform such as Linux, Window, and Mac OS. Privacy -It also should keep of customer and do not review any information of customer to other people without agreement of the particular customer. Supportability -system should able to perform in any type of web browser. For example is Windows Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google and etc. Maintainability System able to updated time by time. In this case, when a new movie released, cinema able to update the movie information to the system. Design The design concept use to develop the online cinema ticketing reservation is software architecture. It is the overall structure of the software and the ways in which that structure provides conceptual integrity for a system. In order to design the system, there is some hardware and software required. The following is the tools for design the software. Hardware requirements No. Description Alternatives (If available) 1 PC with 2 GB hard-disk and 512 MB RAM Not-Applicable 2 Server Not-Applicable Software requirements No. Description Alternatives (If available) 1 Windows 95/98/XP with MS-office Not Applicable 2 MS-SQL server MS-Access 3 Linux Not Applicable 4 Oracle database system POSTgres 5 Adobe Dreamweaver Microsoft FrontPage After the system architect equip with the tools, he will start design the interface, functionally of the system and database according the system requirement. The Following are the flowchart of the system. Once a customer enter the system webpage, the customer able to perform the activities such as login, view movie show times, register and request a new password if member forgot about his password. If the customer wants to check the movie show times, customer needs to enter the cinema or movie with watching date. Then the system will display the movie shows time. Meanwhile, if the customer wants to become a member, the customer needs to submit his personal information and automatically he will register as a member. Once a member login, he can make movie reservation, cancel movie reservation and modify his personal information. In case a member forgot about his password, he can request a new password send to his personal email account. The following will display the design of the webpage and database design. The diagram above shows the main webpage of the online cinema ticket reservation system. Customers able to login, view show times, select movie description and other action in this webpage. The webpage above is the page after a member login. The page will show all the reservation has made. Member can cancel reservation, make reservation and modify personal information at this page. Member need to select the movie, cinema and enter number of seat before proceed to the next step. Member can choose the seat for reservation purpose. After the reservation made, a reference number will send to member email. The webpage also will shows the reference number If a member forgot about his password, the member can request a new password and the password will send via email to the email account registered. The webpage above shows the screen of the movie shows time. The webpage above allow user enter his personal information to become a member. Member also can update his personal information on the same page. The database of customer personal information The database of customer reservation The relationship diagram of customer information and customer reservation Testing The system will be tested using component testing. Component testing is test the system individually. Test will be caring out for ensure the system able to meet the function requirement include functional and non- functional required. The following are the test plan need to carry out to ensure the system work properly. Test Procedure / Input Expected Result Customer able to register as a member and save all the personal information in database. Customer enter all his personal information include name,, phone number, email address, and etc. All the information store in database Customer able to view movie show times without login as member. Customer select movie, cinema, or day to view to movie. The movie show time schedule for particular information will show. Member able to login into the system. Member enter ID and password Member able to use the online reservation system service Member able to update personal information in database. Member enter new personal information New information will updated in database. Member able to make reservation and the reservation information will update in database. Member select movie, cinema, show time, and seat for reservation All the information store in database, member able view the information Member able to cancel reservation and the reservation will remove from database. Member select the reservation that wish cancel The selected reservation will be remove from database. Member able to request new password and the password will send to member email account. Member request a new password The new password will send to the member email account based on the email provided when register System able to perform in different platform System test in different operation system System able to perform in different operation system Able to perform at different web browser System test in different web browser System able to perform at different web browser Information able to update anytime Staff enter the new movie show time list New movie show time list able to store in database, and member able to view it Implementation For implement the propose system, hardware and software are needed. The following table shows the minimum hardware and software needed to implement the system. Hardware requirements No. Description Alternatives (If available) 1 PC with 2 GB hard-disk and 512 MB RAM Not-Applicable 2 Server Not-Applicable Software requirements No. Description Alternatives (If available) 1 Windows 95/98/XP with MS-office Not Applicable 2 MS-SQL server MS-Access 3 Linux Not Applicable 4 Oracle database system POSTgres Manpower requirements The estimation of the manpower required is 2 to 3 students for complete the system in 2 à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 3 months if they work fulltime on it. Implementation process In order to implement the system, company need to register a domain name. According to www.exabytes.com.my, it will cost RM650 to register a .com.my domain name for 10 years. After register the domain, software engineer will upload the system to the internet and link it with the server. Testing will be carry out to ensure to system show to error. Conclusion After the research is caring out, there are some advantages toward the company and customer. Company does not need to hire extra staff as mention at the problem definition section. It can improve the cost efficiency of the company by installing the online cinema ticketing reservation system. Besides that, it can attract more costumer as internet used by many people at current era. From the point of customer, they do not need to worry about all the ticket sold out if they have made the ticket reservation earlier. They also do not have long queue to purchase ticket. Besides that, they can make ticket reservation anytime. Therefore, company estimate can gain more profit if they implement the online ticket reservation system.

Sleep Problems Essay -- essays research papers

There are a wide variety of sleep problems in the world today. For example sleep apnea, snoring, sleepwalking, confusional arousals, sleep-related eating, sleep paralysis, nocturnal seizures, teeth grinding, Rapid Eye Movement (REM), and sleep talking. Many of these disorders can be damaging to your health, or might not effect you at all. Also, if one does have difficulties sleeping there are things that are recommended in order to get a good night sleep.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many different kinds of parasomnias. A parasomnia is a disruptence while you sleep. It has been proven that as one ages they are more likely to experience a number of brief arousals during the night. These arousals are often noticed if a person is crying or kicking around in bed. Usually the person appears awake, confused, and upset. They tend to push help away. An episode like this can range from a few seconds to a half an hour. When ended the person is usually calm, then wakes concisely, and then returns to sleeping. Sleepwalking is another common parasomnia. This is normally seen in older children. This is when a person gets up and walks around. They could just walk around the room, or could even walk around the whole yard. A sleepwalker could either return to bed, or wake up in a totally different part of the house. Sleepwalkers can carry on conversations, (that which may be difficult to understand) or even rearrange furniture. Nobody knows why, but usually sleepwalkers don’t inqu...

Leonardo da Vinci :: Renaissance Biography Biographies

Childhood Years "Leonardo da Vinci was a renaissance painter, architect, engineer, mathematician and philosopher. He was the greatest genius the world has ever seen." On April 15, 1452 Leonardo di ser Piero was born in Anchiano. From there he moved to Vinci. A famous misconception about this man is his last name. Most people would assume da Vinci is his last name, however, his last name is not da Vinci. Da means from therefore Leonardo da Vinci means Leonardo from Vinci. Instead of explained which Leonardo he was he would say Leonardo from Vinci so as to not confuse anyone. Vinci was a Republic of Florence, and in itself it is equivalent with our boroughs or counties. Leonardo's father, Ser Piero, got a woman named Catarina pregnant. It is likely that she was the daughter of a farmer and therefore he didn't marry her. She gave birth to Leonardo and then Ser Piero married another woman within the year. He was 25 years old when Leonardo was born. His father's occupation was a public notary. Leonardo was christened in Baptismal chapel in Vinci; he was christened by the parson Piero da Bartolomeo to the name Lionardo and not Leonardo. Leonardo lived with his father and his father's first wife in Anchiano until Leonardo was about five years old then they move to Vinci to live with Leonardo's father. Ser Piero and his first wife never had any children and even though Leonardo was illegitimate he was integrated into his father's family. Leonardo went to school in Vinci; his teachers were hopeless to the fact that Leonardo was always questioning and doubting his teachers. Leonardo lived in Vinci until he was 14 then he moved to Florence to begin an apprenticeship in the workshop of Verrocchio. From Florence to France Leonardo stayed in Florence for quite a while. He considered it his home and returned several times throughout his life. Verrocchio was very impresses with Leonardo's drawings so he gave Leonardo a place in his workshop. In this workshop Leonardo got a chance to work with Botticelli, Perugino and Lorenzo di Credi. Leonardo's apprenticeship ended with Verrocchio in June 1472 when he got his name red book of painters from Florence (Campagnia de Pittori). However, in ending the apprenticeship Leonardo did not leave Verrocchio's workshop. In fact Verrocchio and Leonardo worked together on several paintings. The first recorded drawing of Leonardo's was on August 5, 1473.

How to Brief a Case Using the “IRAC” Method

Located in an upscale neighborhood, then perhaps it could argue that its failure to provide security patrols is reasonable. If the business is located in a crime-ridden area, When briefing a case, your goal is to reduce the information from the case into a format that will provide you with a helpful reference in class and for review.Most importantly, by â€Å"briefing† a case, you will grasp the problem the court faced (the issue); the relevant law the court used to solve it (the rule); how the court applied the rule to the facts (the application or â€Å"analysis†); and the outcome (the conclusion). You will then be ready to not only discuss the case, but to compare and contrast it to other cases involving a similar issue.Before attempting to â€Å"brief† a case, read the case at least once. Follow the â€Å"IRAC† method in briefing cases: Facts*Write a brief summary of the facts as the court found them to be. Eliminate facts that are not relevant to the court’s analysis. For example, a business’s street address is probably not relevant to the court’s decision of the issue of whether the business that sold a defective product is liable for the resulting injuries to the plaintiff. However, suppose a customer who was assaulted as she left its store is suing the business.The customer claims that her injuries were the reasonably foreseeable result of the business’s failure to provide security patrols. If the business is then perhaps the customer is right. Instead of including the street address in the case brief, you may want to simply describe the type of neighborhood in which it is located. (Note: the time of day would be another relevant factor in this case, among others).Procedural History*What court authored the opinion: The United States Supreme Court? The California Court of Appeal? The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals? (Hint: Check under the title of the case: The Court and year of the decision will be given). If a trial court issued the decision, is it based on a trial, or motion for summary judgment, etc.? If an appellate court issued the decision, how did the lower courts decide the case?IssueWhat is the question presented to the court? Usually, only one issue will be discussed, but sometimes there will be more. What are the parties fighting about, and what are they asking the court to decide? For example, in the case of the assaulted customer, the issue for a trial court to decide might be whether the business had a duty to the customer to provide security patrols.The answer to the question will help to ultimately determine * This applies to case briefs only, and not exams. Use the IRAC method in answering exams: Issue/Rule/Analysis/Conclusion. whether the business is liable for negligently failing to provide security patrols: whether the defendant owed plaintiff a duty of care, and what that duty of care is, are key issues in negligence claims.Rule(s):Determine what the relev ant rules of law are that the court uses to make its decision. These rules will be identified and discussed by the court. For example, in the case of the assaulted customer, the relevant rule of law is that a property owner’s duty to prevent harm to invitees is determined by balancing the foreseeability of the harm against the burden of preventive measures.There may be more than one relevant rule of law to a case: for example, in a negligence case in which the defendant argues that the plaintiff assumed the risk of harm, the relevant rules of law could be the elements of negligence, and the definition of â€Å"assumption of risk† as a defense. Don’t just simply list the cause of action, such as â€Å"negligence† as a rule of law: What rule must the court apply to the facts to determine the outcome?Application/Analysis:This may be the most important portion of the brief. The court will have examined the facts in light of the rule, and probably considered a ll â€Å"sides† and arguments presented to it. How courts apply the rule to the facts and analyze the case must be understood in order to properly predict outcomes in future cases involving the same issue. What does the court consider to be a relevant fact given the rule of law?How does the court interpret the rule: for example, does the court consider monetary costs of providing security patrols in weighing the burden of preventive measures? Does the court imply that if a business is in a dangerous area, then it should be willing to bear a higher cost for security? Resist the temptation to merely repeat what the court said in analyzing the facts: what does it mean to you? Summarize the court’s rationale in your own words. If you encounter a word that you do not know, use a dictionary to find its meaning.ConclusionWhat was the final outcome of the case? In one or two sentences, state the court’s ultimate finding. For example, the business did not owe the assault ed customer a duty to provide security patrols.

Comparison Contrast of Death of a Salesman and Glengarry Ross

Sasha Schmidt Midterm Essay Question 4 Jeannine Russell 10/28/12 The True Criminal Being a salesman has always carried a negative stigma since the early 1900s. Being seen as pushy, high pressure, deceitful people; the dreaded activity of purchasing some car or new appliance has haunted everyone at some point or another. Many words have come to describe salesman such as â€Å"sharks†, â€Å"cons†, â€Å"thieves† etc. , and these words have stuck with the profession throughout the century. Two very realistic depictions of such phonies can be seen in Death of A Salesman by Arthur Miller and Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet.They depict the styles of two salesmen who have very similar selling techniques, but at the same time can be contrastingly different. Willy Loman, the protagonist of Death of a Salesman, is often regarded as a tragic figure with whom the audience feels sympathetic. At the same time, his deceitful, dishonest, adulterous ways are despised. In addi tion to this, his over confident attitude seems supercilious and creates more of a disdain for the character as can be seen when he says â€Å"Goddammit, I could sell them! † (Miller 1071). The same can be said as Mamet’s character, Shelly Levene, starts declaring how great of a seller he was.Basking in his own light he boldly exclaims that his success as a salesman is due not to his luck but his skill†( Mamet 1419). Both characters often times talk about how back in the day they were great assets of the company â€Å"averaging a hundred and seventy dollars a week in commissions† (p. 1089) and â€Å"Cold calling. Nothing. Sixty-five, when we were there†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Mamet 1419). Both characters meet their tragic ends as they realize that their deceitful and deceptive nature, the facade of great selling they lived behind, is a shattered reality. All both of them want is a chance and to live like they did in the old days and both are denied the chance.Whil e their characters mimic each other, the selling techniques of these two are completely different. Willy’s approach is to go in making natural conversation and the client feel as if they are human. Much to his chagrin is the new reality he is facing, where â€Å"it’s all cut and dried, and there’s no chance for bringing friendship to bear†(Miller 1089). In contrast, Levene takes on the role of â€Å"cut and dried† sales techniques, often using his other associates as pretend clients in order to just make the sell, whether or not he’s tricking extorting money out of his clients.Right from the beginning, he is trying to con â€Å"leads† out of Williamson, his supervisor. â€Å"†¦ I need the leads†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , he boldly tells Williamson who reluctantly begins to make him a deal (Mamet 1418). Right from the get go, Leven is already using the manipulation techniques he uses day in and day out on his co-workers even. Loman pushes hi s honest, integrity, and personality traits as the key to selling success, though we see an obvious decline in his selling abilities compared to the others. That being said, both characters are still very flawed with illusions of owning their own companies and waiting for the right client to come along.They both still have some nasty personality traits and are still putting on a facade to trick people; however, Willy Loman is tricking his family while Shelly Levene is tricking his consumers. Hard selling is a selling technique in which the salesman manipulates the psychological state of the consumer in order to achieve a sale, whether or not the sale is good (Baron & Branscombe). There is little concern for the consumer at all, in fact, often times the seller knows that the consumer is going to be placed into a bad situation, but they specifically rely on the ego-depletion of these buyers.They use a variation of techniques such as door-in-the-face and foot-in-the door just to name a few (Baron & Branscombe). Miller and Mamet depict this from the salesman’s side. They place this psychologically demanding technique at fault of the company, who requires them to sell a goal amount or face termination from the job. Such fear could incite higher pressure selling techniques, which actually make the consumer and the seller feel uncomfortable.Mamet and Miller criticize such deceptive techniques through their plays, highlighting the negative effects (the destruction of the central unit) and exacerbating the flaws of the technique. The role of a salesman has been part of America since the very beginning. With its recent revolution in the 1900s, it has now been associated with a negative stereotype often depicted by movies, literature, and plays. While there might be individual differences in the selling techniques, sellers are all perceived the same: dishonest, deceitful, and as con artists.Such a stigma created by their lack of concern after the sell has been mad e often reconfirms this stereotype. These prejudices notwithstanding, society often places a high demand on consumerism to help the economy and pushing the achievement of the American dream. Miller and Mamet uncover the treacheries of the salesman industry leaving the question as to whom the true criminal is : society or the salesman. Works Cited Jacobus, Lee A. The Bedford Introduction to Drama. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. Print. Baron, Robert A. , and Nyla R. Branscombe. Social Psychology. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.