You have been appointed as a Marketing Consultant. In this role you Assignment

You have been appointed as a Marketing Consultant. In this role you are required to prepare a three-year marketing plan for Bonobos in the U.K market - Assignment Example But according to Dunn there was a gap for the fashion companies which took inputs but created something which a consumer can never do on its own. Thus the company to fill this gap established community driven platform where the customers through social media, purchase behaviour and commentary would affect the offerings made by the company. Eventually the company’s goal evolved from merely solving men pant problem to solving men shopping problem. Bonobos.com also provides access to products which are mad locally but lacked an optimal distribution and promotions; these items were termed as ‘Stuff’ which included belts, shoes and accessories. Bonobos used social media sites to promote its products which proved to a success for the company. These communities enabled Bonobos to markets its products and sell them without investing any dollar in traditional form of promotional techniques. Bonobos used Twitter, Facebook and the company’s blog to promote and gather inputs from the customers. In the first year of its business the company earned net revenue of $1.6million selling almost 30,000 pairs of pants. By 2009, Bonobos introduced trousers at a low price and Dunn expected the company to finish between $3.5millions to $4.5millions (Kinsey, 2009). Internal Environment refers to the internal factors of a business which are generally controlled by the business itself. It refers to the environment that exists within the organisation. The internal environment includes objectives of the organisation, its managerial policies, different departments of the company, the employees and the management of the organisation, brand image as well as corporate image, relationship between labour and management, physical resources which includes infrastructure, vision of the top level management, research and development of the organisation, and the working conditions of the organisation. Human resource an important component of the internal environment is largely

The True Meaning of the American Dream Essay Example for Free

The True Meaning of the American Dream Essay The American dream has been changing over the past many years with many meaning to many people. One would think that the American Dream is about owning a large house in a quiet suburb with many luxurious automobiles parked in the driveway. Additionally going to vacations and being able to purchase countless items without hesitation has been part of the American dream. However, the American dream is not about materialistic goals only. Although one can achieve whatever they want to through hard work, the American dream is ultimately about being able to work and not be judged by your social class unlike some of the other countries in the world. Furthermore, the American dream has different meanings to different people. As James Truslow Adams states in his book The Epic of America which was written in 1931: The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position. As you can see this has many different meanings to different people. For one person it can mean that the opportunity to achieve an enormous amount of artificial material prosperity is greater in America than the country that they came from. For some other people, they can see the America dream as a place to open a business and work as whatever they feel like or are passionate about without being judged. Many other’s see the American dream as a wonderful country for their children to grow up and receive an outstanding educatio n and a lucrative career path. In addition the American dream is the opportunity to make individual choices without the limitations of class, religion, caste, gender, race, or ethnic group.

Literature Review on Risk Management

Literature Review on Risk Management Software Project Management (CI6113) Title: Reviewing the Past Research Papers on Risk Management Abstract Risk Management is nowadays the important research topic in the many critical business areas and industrial areas. Project teams do not achieve their projects goals of reducing cost and gaining much profit without assessing risks and managing risks. This term paper analyzes research papers done by many researches in the field of the Risk Management within 2000 and 2007 and describes the results of the analysis of those research papers. Our goal of this paper is to inference and to justify the trend of the Risk management in research areas and business areas. There are many topics in the Risk Management such as Risk Analysis, Risk Assessment, Risk Control and others. This paper’s analysis path is starting from the project risk identification and end with the risk control topic. This paper provides the results what the gaps between researches are. Furthermore, this paper learns briefly what the problems and trends before year 2000 are. Introduction This paper examines the results of the past research papers published from 2000 through 2007. We focus on Risk Management and their related topics. In addition, we also examine the trends of the Risk Management within this period. We analyze which topic had been researched most in a particular year and which methods were used in that year. This paper learns publications issued by year by year and group them in each year. In addition, we analyze the topics which are relating to the specified topic. We found trends of the research in a year while we were learning them. According to the past results came from publications, we can make sense of mind for future of the Risk Management. This paper examines the situation which can become in future according to the study. Background Many project managers and strategic management are concerning about risks in long term strategic basic. So, we need to learn the risks. Risk is the uncertainty in the life cycle of the project. In 2003, Webster’s New Explorer College Dictionary defines the risk as â€Å"the possibility of danger and sufferance of harm or injury†. Risk cannot be seen without any emphasize upon it. In addition, risks can also give hopes to the successful project. So, if risks which cannot be seen before could be found and assessed then the proposed project will be successful. But risks found and assessed can never be avoided. It can be reduced by using the some techniques or adjustments. Some risks can be ignored without any executing. Risk may terrify to some persons related to the project because if it could not be uncovered, the team may incompetent in managing the project. According to the problems, risk management was critical issue of the project management. Researchers were doing researches to reduce and manage the risks which can be encountered in a project. People in the business areas were also finding the ways how to ignore the encountered risks. Some are finding how to control the risks. In addition, they were finding what risks can violate the project management unless they did not control the risks encountered. A risk which encounters in a year is not the same as the problem in another year. Because of the nature of project which depends on the World’s business. As changing the nature of the business, the nature of the risks is becoming change. Furthermore, research area is also changing according to the nature of the risk. So, the research trend for a year may not same as the trend of another year. To learn the research trend turmoil, we need to learn publications issued from 2000 through 2007. The next section will explain the importance of our paper. Situation of the paper There are many researches for the project management. Past research (Timothy Warrren, 2002) had done a research for the whole project management. It covered research published in English from 1960 through 1999. This paper covered within the period of 2000 and 2007 learned the topics of the risk management. We separated the research areas according to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). These are Risk Identification and Assessment, Risk Qualification, Risk Response Development and Risk Control. Objectives of the paper The objective of this paper is to learn the trend of the Risk Management in past research publication. We restricted the period to be learned for each topic. This paper is intended to learn that how the risks emerged during the project time, is handled using which tools and methods. This paper intended to find the gaps between researches in each year and whole period of year 2000 and 2007. The paper learned only risk management out of topics of project management for the period. So, the other topics can be learned like our paper. These are Communication, Cost, Procurement, Human Resource, Outsourcing, Integration, Quality, Scope and Time Management. Literature review In this era, many companies conduct a great portion of their jobs in project form. Traditionally projects were mainly found in the construction industry and sections of the military, but the competitiveness of the markets of today with fast-changing technology encourages almost all companies to adopt project management (Burke 2003). Project management is the application of knowledge, skill, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirement. Project management is accomplished through the use of the processes such as: initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing (PMBOK guide 2000). Because of global economical pressures, turbulence in the corporate environment and market forces leading to the increasing demands and tougher competition projects have to be implemented at lesser time, cost and with better functionalities. This causes growing demands on the management’s ability to forecast and react to unforeseeable events- risks. Risk is an abstract concept whose measurement is very difficult (Raftery, 1994). The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary – 5th Edition defines risk as â€Å"The possibility or chance of meeting danger, suffering loss or injury†. The British Standard BS 4778 defines risk as â€Å"A combination of the probability, or frequency, of occurrence of a defined hazard and the magnitude of the consequences of the occurrence†. Risk may be expressed in a mathematical form as follows: Risk = (Probability of the occurrence of a defined event) x (Consequences of the occurrence of that event) Therefore, risk management is nowadays a critical factor to successful project management. Overview of Risk Management Project risk management is the art and science of identifying, analyzing, and responding to risk throughout the life of a project and in the best interests of meeting project objectives. (Schwalbe, 2006) Risk management has been practiced informally by everyone, with or without conscious of it, since the dawn of time. Modern risk management, which had become a widely accepted management function during the period from 1955-1964 (Snider, 1991) has its roots in insurance to which it has been closely aligned for more than three centuries (Ibid). The story of risk management has not all been positive and supports the argument that it is currently ineffective at managing surprise. In the 1960’s project management was under heavy criticism for project failures due to technical uncertainty, contact strategy, community opposition and project environmental impacts (Morris, 1997). A project manager may still today argue that the last two are external project factors and outside the immediate project environment under their control (Ibid) and it may be often assumed that these will be passed up the line to higher management levels (Chapman Ward, 1997). The main objectives of risk management include (Yee et al., 2001): To enable decision-making to be more systematic and less subjective. To provide an improved understanding of the risks facing a project by identifying risks and response scenarios. To assist in deciding which risks require urgent attention and which can be addressed later. To force management to realize that there are many possible outcomes for a project, and appropriate measures should be planned for any adverse consequences. Flanagan and Norman (1993) proposed a risk management framework as shown in Fig.3.1 which depicts the elements of the risk management system – risk identification, risk classification, risk analysis, risk attitude and risk response. Risk Identification Risk Classification Risk Analysis Risk Response Risk Attitude Figure 2.1 Risk management Framework (Source: Flanagan Norman, 1993) According to (PMBOK, PMI 2000) and (Schwalbe 2006), Project Risk Management has following processes Risk Management Planning Risk Identification Qualitative Risk Analysis Quantitative Risk Analysis Risk Response Planning Risk Monitoring and Control The following Fig.3.2 depicts how risk management processes involved in each of the project management process Initiation Planning Executing Controlling Closing Risk Identification Risk Identification Risk Response Control Risk Quantification Risk Response Development Fig 2.2 Risk Management Processes in each Project Management Process (Source: Dan Brandon, 2006) Risk management will not eradicate all the risks. It will enable decision to be made explicitly which will reduce the potential effect of certain risks. It will also assist in rational, defensible decisions regarding the allocation of risk among the parties to the project. Risk analysis is not a substitute for professional judgments and experience. On the other hand, it helps professionals to make use of the full extent of their experience and knowledge by liberating them from the necessity of making simplifying assumptions in order to produce deterministic plans and forecasts. Risk analysis is supplement to, not a substitute for professional judgments. Recent Approaches to Risk Management Project risk management is a topic of major current interest. It is being actively addressed by many government agencies and most of the professional project management associations around the world, and many relevant standards are extant or being developed. Some examples from the many approaches in use include: (Cooper D., Grey S., Raymond G., Walker P., 2005) Project Management Institute (PMI), USA (2003), Project Management Body of Knowledge, Chapter 11 on risk management; Association for Project Management, UK (1997), PRAM Guide; AS/NZS 4360 (2004), Risk Management, Standards Association of Australia; IEC 62198 (2001), Project Risk Management—Application Guidelines; Office of Government Commerce (OGC), UK (2002), Management of Risk; and Treasury Board of Canada (2001), Integrated Risk Management Framework We fill the research gap in risk management field from year 2000 to 2007. Methodology We conduct a quantitative bibliographic study on pass papers published from year 2000 to 2007. We collected papers and journals from electronic databases– ACM, IEEE and ProQuest. Our objective of this paper is to find the current research trend on Risk Management by analyzing and categorizing those research papers. Project Risk Management Research It is the process of finding what current researchers are emphasizing in. It includes defining the current works on project management, particularly on Risk Management articles and papers. Then make generalized conclusion based on collected and analyzed works. This conclusion or judgment is made based on project risk management processes– risk management planning, risk identification, qualitative risk analysis, quantitative risk analysis, risk response planning, risk monitoring and control (PMBOK 2000, Schwalbe 2006). Sources of data We collected articles and papers published in years 2000 to 2007 from these databases which are known to be rich information about project management. ACM Digital Library ACM digital library includes magazines, journals, transactions, publications by affiliated Organizations, SIG news letters, Conference Proceeding Series. ACM digital library provides service for individual, universities, libraries and corporations. We find that risk management is one of the research fields in many businesses and industries. ACM includes diversity of business and industrial processes which enables us to inference the future trend in different fields. IEEE Explore To support our conclusion and get strong analytical results, we also collect articles and papers from IEEE explore which has more technical articles and papers than ACM digital library. It includes 1,682,970 online documents to be referenced. ProQuest Another supporting database which we extracted articles and papers is ProQuest. That includes ABI/INFORM databases, dissertation and theses, etc. Data analysis from that database will be icy on our research cake Data selection from the databases We conduct full text search in above databases using author, title, keywords based on year. Then tasks are separated among us based on years and combined later. Papers and articles are found based on the following criteria: Keywords: Risk Management, Risk Identification, Risk Analysis, Risk Transfer, Risk Control, Risk Response Years: 2000 to 2007 Output format and research data representation Output format will be as the following: Researchers Title Database Risk Category Year Business Category Sub Category Method The papers and articles are attached in the appendix B. We classified each paper into specific risk management processes (PMBOK 2000, Schwalbe 2006). We also analyzed which business category that each paper falls into and which specific method do they use in conducting the specified risk management Process. To get the consistent taxonomy in risk management, we identified the papers and articles into the categories guided by (PMBOK 2000, Schwalbe 2006). They are: Risk Management Planning: This is how businesses and industries plan and handle for risk. Risk Identification: This is how businesses and industries emphasize on identification of risk throughout their organizational processes. Risk Analysis: This involves how organizations conduct quantitative and qualitative risk analysis based on sampling and probability/impact matrixes. Risk Response Planning: This shows how organizations develop risk response strategies like how to avoid, how to have tolerance, how to mitigate risk, how to transfer risk etc. Risk Monitoring and Control: This involves how organizations monitor the identified risks, new risks through out the execution of the projects. Business and industrial categories are identified as follow: Construction Education Finance Healthcare Insurance Information Technology Disaster E-commerce E-banking Internet Business Information Security Software development Maritime Marketing Organizational Process Pure General Research Terrorism We also found that information technology risk management plays a great role in modern businesses and industries because of wider usage of internet and web technologies. Our analyzed data will be represented in pie chart, bar chart and line chart by comparing different categories, different risk manage processes, different years etc. Data Collection and Analysis Data Collection We used digital databases web site – ACM, IEEE and ProQuest for scholar paper and articles and the existing search engines – google and yahoo. But we are not unable to get some papers from the search engines. So, we used these to get only information which papers are located in which databases. Using information returned from the search engines, we search the desired papers in the databases. The following chart, Fig 1 shows the state of the materials found in the three sources – ACM, IEEE and ProQuest. Figure 1 Distribution of papers There are 113 papers found in those databases. We summarized the papers found in the three sources. We categorized by the papers by using PMBOK guide. We provided the Risk Analysis, Risk Assessment, Risk Control, Risk Response and Risk Identification. The following diagrams show the results. We learned that ACM database has more papers related to the risk management as in Fig 2. Other two databases have papers. But some papers are general for risk management. So, we discarded the papers and then we collected the more specified papers which are related to the above titles. We prepared the results with some charts as shown in below figures. Figure 2 Research papers found in ACM database by category Figure 3 Research papers found in IEEE database by category Figure 4 Research papers found in ProQuest database by category The above figures, Fig 2, Fig 3, Fig 4 show that the papers found in the ACM, IEEE, ProQuest database are shown by categories. Risk analysis is mostly conducted by majority of researchers. It was conducted mostly in year 2005 and 2006. Risk assessment and risk response research areas are fewer than other risk management process areas. Research for risk response is very rare, not fairly distributed and found in certain year. Data Analysis The trends of the risk analysis for the year 2000-2007 are shown in graph, Fig 5. We learned that IT project management was highest in recent 7 years. Figure 5 Trends in different business and industries within year 2000-2007 Information Technology We learned that there are varieties of IT projects. We categorized it as follow. Software Development E-Banking Disaster Information Security E-Commerce Internet Business When we categorized these topics, we found that some fields are ambiguous to group them. Some fields are software performance testing and fields emerged after the development phase. We grouped these fields were in the Software Development part. We grouped Networking security and other Internet security fields into the Information Security part. We formed a group for the Internet Banking as a E-Banking. In the Disaster group, we put the some disasters in the Disaster parts. These disasters sometime can be seen when processing some tasks in IT such as software error, hardware crash, and wrong information usages. We collected the potential security risks and group them into the Information Security group. Internet Business can be confused with E-Commerce and E-Banking. We intended the Internet Business to group the fields of the some businesses which are using Internet and make transactions via internet such as Online Registration. We found that Software Development risk analysis is most famous. In 2006, Software Development trend is the more than year 2005 and 2007. But year 2007 is not ended. So we can’t make any decision for that year. Figure 6 Risk management processes in different information technology fields Internet Business is the second thing to be learned. But Information security is down in 2006. Internet Business is coming up. Construction Construction group has the fields of which are architectural fields and construction works. We learned that in 2000 and 2001, there are some interests upon that field. In 2001, the construction field can be seen as a hottest field. Education We grouped the some fields in to Education group that fields are Education fields, learning methods in Education. The research related with the Education can be seen in the year 2004 only. Finance Finance group is wide. We formed the Finance group for some fields that are Cost Estimation, Accounting, Management Accounting and Banking. The finance is most famous in 2004. In the subsequence year, trend for the finance is running down to bottom. Healthcare We collected the data for the healthcare. But it is difficult to collect for the healthcare. We learned that in 2005, healthcare was appropriate level. But later, we cannot see it until 2007. Marketing In 2002 and 2005, marketing was in regular level. In 2003 and 2006, it was high up to 2. So, we learned that marketing was the regular level. Organization In the organization group, we combine the Oil Field, NASA, and some other organization-oriented fields. There are some researches for the organization in every year. There are some researches in the organization group within 2002 and 2006. Terrorism Terrorism was the new emerging fields after 9/11 problem. But later, we were not available for that field later years. This group is an exception for the risk management. But it is one thing to be considered later. Maritime Maritime was the individual fields. We did not combine any fields to that group. This category can be seen in only 2001. Insurance Insurance is the same as the Maritime. We learned that that group is only one field. We learned that the field was in the 2004 and 2005. But Insurance can become an interesting topic in future. General In General group, we combine other fields such as some theory approves and lecture views. Before conclusion section, we intended to present the findings as summary of data collection and analysis. Risk management is the sub-set of Project management. In academic field, risk management researches are becoming increasingly. According to our analysis, risk management researches related to Information Technology are highest topic of the research filed. But one of our exceptional cases is that we need to learn many research papers from many databases. We studied only three databases and 113 research papers. If we learned more papers, we can get more perfect result. In this paper, we categorized only 11 fields. It is general for the risk management. To get the better result, we also need to categorize the exact fields out of many fields. We can also categorize the risk management fields more according to the PMBOK guide. Conclusion and recommendation Business organization and industries suffer from lost and harm because of poor handling in risk management. They have been enduring the agonizing outcomes of failure in the form of unusual delays in project completion, with cost surpassing the budgeted cost and sometimes failed to meet quality standards and functional requirements. Competition among rivals makes the companies to deliver projects in less time and cost with better functionality. Risk management is a predefined and structured approach for identifying and analyzing potential risks associated with a project so that effective risk treatment can be done at the lowest cost. It is not impossible to eliminate all risk and costly to overdo risk management, but it is also unwise to think of eliminating risk. There will be, sometimes, positive risks those will lead to profit if properly analyzed and identified. Our term paper provides an analysis on papers and articles and conduct bibliographic study by particular risk management process and business category. Risk management researches are mostly done in mission critical environments and risky projects. As internet booms, information security and e-business issues are associated with a lot of risks. We found that majority of research papers are related to information technology in last decade. Risk in credit portfolio management, supply chain, pricing and insurance fields are also researched as they are related to financial lost and harm. Though risk management can offer significant benefits to a project in order to reduce nasty surprises and identify and act upon opportunities, it is, however, not a ‘panacea’ for the problems and surprises which befall many projects and should not be seen as the ‘silver bullet of project management’ (Pavyer, 2004) as Murphy’s Law is the governing law of project management: if something can go wrong, will go wrong. As we collected from three databases, mainly from ACM, our result can be a little affected by other finding and papers. Results will be slightly different as we go though several databases. Even thought we titled to 2007, we believe that other findings and papers will come out during this year. But based on our analysis, some inferences and emerging trends can be seen. Recommendations As people and management are aware of the importance of risk management processes, it would be more affective and appropriate to put more emphasis on formal and or informal education and training to further enhance their awareness of risk management. Formal education could be graduate studies in financial project management, software project management and construction project management etc. Informal education and training could be in the form of career development programs or workshops within organization or organized by academic institutions or professional seminars. Each organization should have own risk management plan, risk response plan, and human risk factors plan. Risk management team should be formed according to project manager’s guidelines and organizational goals. Project manager must aware of current risk management trends and technological trends for long term strategic planning. Researchers on risk management should cooperate and conduct on research areas which have been done less like autonomous agent systems, spacecraft systems, information security management. Appendix A. Reference Burke, R. (2003). â€Å"Product Management.† Biddles Ltd, Guildford. Brandon, D. (2006) â€Å"Project Management for Modern Information Systems† IRM Press Cooper D., Grey S., Raymond G., Walker P., (2005) Managing Risk in Large Projects and Complex Procurements. Chapman, R. J., and Ward, S. (1997). â€Å"Project Risk Management Processes, Techniques and Insights† John Wiley Sons, Chichester, UK. Flanagan, R., and Norman, G. (1993). Risk Management and Construction, Blackwell, Oxford, UK. Pavyer, E. (2004). â€Å"Evaluating Project Risk.† Strategic Risk Management, Auguest 2004, 24-25 Project management institute (2000). â€Å"A Gide to Project Management Body of Knowledge† Project management institute, 6 Raftery, J. (1994). Risk Analysis in Project Management, E FN SPON, London, UK. Snider, H. W. (1991). â€Å"Risk Management: A Retrospective View.† Risk Management April, 47-54 Schwalbe, K. (2006). â€Å"Information Technology Project Management.† Thomson Course Technology, 425 Yee, C. W., Chan, P., and Hu, G. (2001). Construction Insurance and Risk Management- A Practical Guide for Construction Professionals, The Singapore Contractors Association Ltd., Singapore. Appendix B. List of papers Researchers Title Database Risk Category Year Business Category Sub Category Steven L. Cornford, Martin S. Feather,John C. Kelly, Timothy W. Larson, Burton Sigal,James D. Kiper Design and Development Assessment ACM Risk Assessment 2000 IT Mary Sumner Enterprise Wide Information Man

The Story of Evolution as a Utopia and the Evolution of the Story of Utopia :: Theory of Evolution Utopia Essays

The Story of Evolution as a Utopia and the Evolution of the Story of Utopia In my first semester I had the college seminar that focused on the idea of Utopia in fiction, politics, and philosophy. Our discussions and readings went through a process of evolution that begin as rather simplistic and then followed a steady path to much more involved. Honestly, a reason that I chose the class was because I had done many of the readings before, but once the work began I realized that myself, and all the others in the class, would be looking at works, such as Candide and 1984, in an entirely different fashion. Many of the stories we read were written a substantial amount of time in the past and it was interesting to see how their meaning changed and evolved over different generations. While reading the books on biological evolution I could not help but see aspects of a desired Utopia in the theory of evolution. In this paper I hope to explore the evolution of selected works from my class last semester and address my feelings on the idea that the theory of evolution is a utopian notion. One of the works we focused on a great deal was George Orwell's 1984. This counted as a utopian and distopian society because the higher powers in the book were able to control the underlings exactly as they wanted to; whereas the underlings who were suffering it all, lived in great fear and unhappiness. Orwell wrote the book in 1948 as a warning to what he felt the world may become. As we well know, his prophecies were not entirely fulfilled but the meaning of the story has evolved over time and still has relevance in today's society. When 1984 was written it was a lightly disguised reflection of the communism and capitalism. It also served as a warning for where the world might become if there came to power only a few dictators to reign over the entire world. My father read the book in 1983 on the suggestion of my mother and he said that, at the time he only felt like it was fiction but in the newspapers everyone was raving about how IBM and other up and coming corporations were tu rning into exactly what the book made them out to be. He then added that society today is more like the society in the book than ever before, especially with the war going on.

How Do We Measure Development?

In this assessment, I will be comparing two very different countries: France and Zimbabwe. I will be comparing their development using development indicators. I have chosen a MEDC (More Economically Developed Country) which is France, and I have chosen a LEDC (Less Economically Developed Country) which is Zimbabwe. I will be using development indicators to show how they relate to the country's development and how the two countries are different. The development indicators that I have chosen are: Life Expectancy, GDP per capita, Mortality Rate, and Unemployment. These indicators are very different from each other and will be excellent in comparing France and Zimbabwe. The North – South Divide is the division in the World between developed countries and undeveloped countries. This is an indicator to wherever of not a country is a MEDC or LEDC. There is a development gap between the MEDC's and the LEDC's which is the difference in economic wealth that exists. The gap is largely due to the fact that developing countries have not undergone modern industrialization. There are eight main characteristics that identify a less developed country: Little or no modern industry, High Birth Rate or rapidly increasing populations, Farming is the main economic activity, High poverty, High illiteracy rate and low technological levels, Poor diets which causes starvation, malnutrition and other diseases, Poor Transport facilities, Lack of sufficient services. I will use the eight main characteristics above in my assessment when explaining the indicators as a confirmation to why Zimbabwe is a LEDC and why France is a MEDC. I will now start my assessment by providing background knowledge about my two chosen countries: France and Zimbabwe. France is located in Western Europe and also has various other territories in North America, the Caribbean, South America, the southern Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and Antarctica. France covers 547,030 square kilometres (211,209 square miles), and has the largest area in the European Union and second largest in Europe. France has a variety of landscapes, including the low-lying wetlands and the high mountain ranges known as the Alps in the south-east. Across France there are rivers, lakes, salt marshes, gentle hills as well as mountains, flat plains and coasts. France has four main rivers, the longest of which is the Loire. Most of France has mild winters and warm summers however the mountainous areas such as the Alps have much colder winter and bring heavy snow falls. In France there are many historic towns, such as Chartres, Orleans and Reims, with lots of historic castles in the Loire Valley, which attract tourists. The capital city of France is Paris and is famous for the Louvre museum and Notre Dame Cathedral. France is also known worldwide for the wood that it produce, in particular its wine and cheese. France is a very developed country and it possesses the fifth largest economy in the world. It receives 82 million foreign tourists annually and is a member of the European Union, United Nations, G8, NATO, and the Latin Union. France also owns the largest number of nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants in the European Union. France is a democracy in which the people elect member of the National Assembly and Senate, which together make up the Parliament. France does not have a royal family since it became a republic in 1789. Every seven years, a President is elected for the French Republic. France's economic wealth is created by different types of production: Primary (farming and mining), secondary (manufacturing industries) and tertiary (high- tech industries and services). Until recently, manufacturing industries provided most of France's wealth and jobs, but this has now changed. Since the oil crisis in 1979, the secondary sector in the employment structure has been decreasing while the tertiary sector has been increasing. This has resulted in huge numbers of unemployment and France is now the country with the second highest unemployment rate, which has deeply affected the country's wealth. France was issued the single European currency, the euro, in 2002, together with 15 other EU member states. This forms the Euro zone. Zimbabwe is located in Southern Africa, between South Africa and Zambia. Zimbabwe covers an area of 390,580 square kilometres. The terrain of Zimbabwe is mostly high plateau and mountains in the east of the country. The terrain is therefore highly useful for the primary industry especially farming. Like many countries in Africa, primary industry is the main economic activity in Zimbabwe. It generates most of the country's income, however to reach development, industrialization is need but the country cannot afford this. The climate is tropical but a rainy season occurs between November to March. The official language of Zimbabwe is English, but the majority of the population speak Shona which is the native language of the Shona people. The other language that is spoken widely in Zimbabwe is Sindebele by the Matabele people. In a full flood, the massive Victoria Falls on the river forms the world's largest curtain of falling water. The population of Zimbabwe is 13,349,000 million although the life expectancy is only 38 years which is extremely low. Life Expectancy and Infant Mortality Rate: Life Expectancy is the number of years that an individual is expected to live as determined by statistics gained over a year for a selected country. It is calculated for men and women separately as well as together. Generally women live longer than men in most countries but that is not always the case in some countries. Many simple things affect life expectancy which is the main problem in developed countries such as France where the main problems are smoking, obesity, and drugs. However, these problems are in people's control and are mostly people's actions. However in undeveloped countries like Zimbabwe, the main problems would be AIDS, malnutrition, curable diseases, and civil strife. These factors take a tremendous toll on human life. The Life Expectancy for France and Zimbabwe are: France Zimbabwe World Male 80. 87 39. 73 66. 12 Female 77. 68 40. 87 64. 18 Male and Female 84. 23 38. 55 8. 2 It is very clear that the life expectancy is significantly lower in Zimbabwe than in France. Zimbabwe's population has such a low life expectancy because of the variety of diseases and also the climate. The warm welcoming climate attracts mosquitoes which carry the disease, malaria. Hepatitis A and typhoid are also common in Zimbabwe because of the poor hygiene standards and unclean water. In Zimbabwe there is not much clean water around therefore people are forced to drink this unclean water and combined with poor health care this gives Zimbabwe its low life expectancy. Another explanation to Zimbabwe's low life expectancy is its high infant mortality rate. Infant Mortality Rate is the death rate during the first year of a newborn baby's life. Over one tenth of every newborn African dies within its first year. Infant Mortality Rates greatly affects a country's life expectancy because every newborn baby dieing in its first year still applies to the number of years an individual lives. Compared to France, the life expectancy of France is higher because of its good health care and constant supply of clean water. The Infant Mortality Rate of France is 3. 6 deaths/1,000 live births which is very low compared to Zimbabwe. The population per doctor in Zimbabwe is 16,667 therefore treatment in Zimbabwe is extremely limited and most people relying on natural healers who provide sick people with herbs and plants which usually don't have much effect on curing diseases. The Life Expectancy is higher in France because France provides excellent healthcare whereas in Zimbabwe the healthcare is very poor and there are only a few hospitals. Because the healthcare is poor many of the people die or they refer to tribal healers who use ancient healing methods which most of the time fail to work. They can also make the illness worse. The Infant Mortality Rate is also low in France because of the excellent services that hospitals provide during the operation and after the baby is born. In France there are 303 people per doctor and so this confirms that healthcare in France is widely available. Also the climate in France is perfect to avoid catching diseases, resulting in less early deaths increasing the life expectancy. Clean water is supplied to houses through safe taps whereas people in Zimbabwe live in huts and have to collect water from lakes which are usually infected. To conclude, life expectancy is an good indicator in measuring the development of a country, because it takes into account healthcare, standards hygiene i. e. food and water, disease, and infant mortality rate, and the availability of medical services. However, it is not a brilliant indicator because diseases in Zimbabwe like malaria are unavoidable due to the fact that mosquitoes are found in Zimbabwe because of the hot weather. Zimbabwe has a much lower life expectancy because it suffers from problems like malaria, malnutrition, unclean poor, and poor healthcare which developed countries like France do not suffer from. However developed countries like France suffer from minor problems that can be easily prevented such as obesity, smoking, and drugs. These minor problems are increasing in the modern world. It is already affecting many countries and therefore needs to be prevented. I have mostly explained the difference between the countries of Life Expectancy and Infant Mortality Rate but there is one important similarity and that is that both countries have problems that need to be extinguished. GDP per Capita and Unemployment: GDP per Capita is a commonly accepted measure of development and stands for Gross Domestic Product per Capita. It is used to help identify the standard of living for a country by measuring a countries wealth. So GDP per Capita is the net value of all goods and services produced by a country in that specific country only in one year divided by the population of that country. France has a GDP per Capita of $32,700 whereas Zimbabwe's GDP per Capita is $200. This is a considerable difference and there are many reasons for this. Human factors as well as physical factors both affect Zimbabwe, resulting in the low GNP per capita. Since Zimbabwe's independence, it has been through many wars. The most recent war with Congo took millions of dollars out of the economy and reduced Zimbabwe's chances for development. Zimbabwe's low GDP per Capita is the result of low industrialization in the country. For this to occur the country needs money to spend on the machinery and Zimbabwe doesn't have a vast amount of money to spend. This is the reason why Zimbabwe's economy is based around the primary industry of farming and mining as the country has a large quantity of expensive minerals. However many of the mines are owned by foreign companies and not by the Zimbabwe Government, resulting in no change in wealth. Also, developed countries like France trade with primary- based countries like Zimbabwe because France doesn't have enough primary resources in the country. However, MEDC's purchase the crops and minerals at an extremely low amount. Zimbabwe cannot refuse because the country needs the money to avoid falling in debt. France would then use their advanced manufacturing industry to produce secondary products. France has the wealth to do this because the economy is high. Zimbabwe would then purchase the secondary goods from MEDCs like France at an extremely high amount. Zimbabwe has no choice but to purchase the developed goods because the country doesn't have the machinery to convert its primary goods into secondary products. Zimbabwe in the past have tried many National Plans to industrialize the country which is a step towards development however to do this Zimbabwe needs Capital and the only say to get this is to barrow huge sums of money from the world banks. In the end, the plans did not work out because the country could not afford to pay back the loans and the factories were never complete. With huge loans to repay and no complete factories, the country fell into the â€Å"Third World Debt†. Through trying to industrialise, the country's economy collapsed resulting in an even worse state than before the plans proceeded. Zimbabwe is therefore stuck in the vicious circle of development at the step where they have no money left and so the output per person is low. Another reason why the GNP per Capita of Zimbabwe is so low is because the education system is very poor. Without education, people cannot achieve high paid jobs. At the moment in Zimbabwe, most of the jobs are based around farming and mining which doesn't need education and leads to low payment. However most of the population in Zimbabwe is unemployed with the rate being 80% which is roughly 9 million people. As I have mentioned earlier, the war with Congo took millions out of the country's wealth. This money could have been spent on the education system in Zimbabwe which would have over time increased the GNP per Capita as well as reducing the unemployment rate. Now due to the country debt situation, it cannot afford to spend money on the education. This is the main reason why Zimbabwe's GNP per Capita is extremely low. France differs greatly from Zimbabwe however the two countries have some similarities. France's high economy is the reason for the vast amounts of money entering the country. This wealth is spent to improve the country to continue its advanced development. France takes a keen interest in the education system resulting in high paid jobs, increasing the money injected into the economy. This gives the country a high GNP per Capita. A similarity is that France unusually has the second highest unemployment rate in the industry. The percentage is 12. 6% which is extremely high even though the economy is well- developed. I conclude this section by stating that even though France has an advanced economy, it has some problems. In the future, Zimbabwe needs to consider all its possibilities for development before making a definite decision because the country could just keep shrinking in terms of its economy.

Digital Fortress Chapter 40

Outside Node 3, Chartrukian looked desperate. He was trying to convince Hale that TRANSLTR was in trouble. Susan raced by them with only one thought in mind-to find Strathmore. The panicked Sys-Sec grabbed Susan's arm as she passed. â€Å"Ms. Fletcher! We have a virus! I'm positive! You have to-â€Å" Susan shook herself free and glared ferociously. â€Å"I thought the commander told you to go home.† â€Å"But the Run-Monitor! It's registering eighteen-â€Å" â€Å"Commander Strathmore told you to go home!† â€Å"FUCK STRATHMORE!† Chartrukian screamed, the words resounding throughout the dome. A deep voice boomed from above. â€Å"Mr. Chartrukian?† The three Crypto employees froze. High above them, Strathmore stood at the railing outside his office. For a moment, the only sound inside the dome was the uneven hum of the generators below. Susan tried desperately to catch Strathmore's eye. Commander! Hale is North Dakota! But Strathmore was fixated on the young Sys-Sec. He descended the stairs without so much as a blink, keeping his eyes trained on Chartrukian the whole way down. He made his way across the Crypto floor and stopped six inches in front of the trembling technician. â€Å"What did you say?† â€Å"Sir,† Chartrukian choked, â€Å"TRANSLTR's in trouble.† â€Å"Commander?† Susan interjected. â€Å"If I could-â€Å" Strathmore waved her off. His eyes never left the Sys-Sec. Phil blurted, â€Å"We have an infected file, sir. I'm sure of it!† Strathmore's complexion turned a deep red. â€Å"Mr. Chartrukian, we've been through this. There is no file infecting TRANSLTR!† â€Å"Yes, there is!† he cried. â€Å"And if it makes its way to the main databank-â€Å" â€Å"Where the hell is this infected file?† Strathmore bellowed. â€Å"Show it to me!† Chartrukian hesitated. â€Å"I can't.† â€Å"Of course you can't! It doesn't exist!† Susan said, â€Å"Commander, I must-â€Å" Again Strathmore silenced her with an angry wave. Susan eyed Hale nervously. He seemed smug and detached. It makes perfect sense, she thought. Hale wouldn't be worried about a virus; he knows what's really going on inside TRANSLTR. Chartrukian was insistent. â€Å"The infected file exists, sir. But Gauntlet never picked it up.† â€Å"If Gauntlet never picked it up,† Strathmore fumed, â€Å"then how the hell do you know it exists?† Chartrukian suddenly sounded more confident. â€Å"Mutation strings, sir. I ran a full analysis, and the probe turned up mutation strings!† Susan now understood why the Sys-Sec was so concerned. Mutation strings, she mused. She knew mutation strings were programming sequences that corrupted data in extremely complex ways. They were very common in computer viruses, particularly viruses that altered large blocks of data. Of course, Susan also knew from Tankado's E-mail that the mutation strings Chartrukian had seen were harmless-simply part of Digital Fortress. The Sys-Sec went on. â€Å"When I first saw the strings, sir, I thought Gauntlet's filters had failed. But then I ran some tests and found out†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He paused, looking suddenly uneasy. â€Å"I found out that somebody manually bypassed Gauntlet.† The statement met with a sudden hush. Strathmore's face turned an even deeper shade of crimson. There was no doubt whom Chartrukian was accusing; Strathmore's terminal was the only one in Crypto with clearance to bypass Gauntlet's filters. When Strathmore spoke, his voice was like ice. â€Å"Mr. Chartrukian, not that it is any concern of yours, but I bypassed Gauntlet.† He went on, his temper hovering near the boiling point. â€Å"As I told you earlier, I'm running a very advanced diagnostic. The mutation strings you see in TRANSLTR are part of that diagnostic; they are there because I put them there. Gauntlet refused to let me load the file, so I bypassed its filters.† Strathmore's eyes narrowed sharply at Chartrukian. â€Å"Now, will there be anything else before you go?† In a flash, it all clicked for Susan. When Strathmore had downloaded the encrypted Digital Fortress algorithm from the Internet and tried to run it through TRANSLTR, the mutation strings had tripped Gauntlet's filters. Desperate to know whether Digital Fortress was breakable, Strathmore decided to bypass the filters. Normally, bypassing Gauntlet was unthinkable. In this situation, however, there was no danger in sending Digital Fortress directly into TRANSLTR; the commander knew exactly what the file was and where it came from. â€Å"With all due respect, sir,† Chartrukian pressed, â€Å"I've never heard of a diagnostic that employs mutation-â€Å" â€Å"Commander,† Susan interjected, not able to wait another moment. â€Å"I really need to-â€Å" This time her words were cut short by the sharp ring of Strathmore's cellular phone. The commander snatched up the receiver. â€Å"What is it!† he barked. Then he fell silent and listened to the caller. Susan forgot about Hale for an instant. She prayed the caller was David. Tell me he's okay, she thought. Tell me he found the ring! But Strathmore caught her eye and he gave her a frown. It was not David. Susan felt her breath grow short. All she wanted to know was that the man she loved was safe. Strathmore, Susan knew, was impatient for other reasons; if David took much longer, the commander would have to send backup-NSA field agents. It was a gamble he had hoped to avoid. â€Å"Commander?† Chartrukian urged. â€Å"I really think we should check-â€Å" â€Å"Hold on,† Strathmore said, apologizing to his caller. He covered his mouthpiece and leveled a fiery stare at his young Sys-Sec. â€Å"Mr. Chartrukian,† he growled, â€Å"this discussion is over. You are to leave Crypto. Now. That's an order.† Chartrukian stood stunned. â€Å"But, sir, mutation str-â€Å" â€Å"NOW!† Strathmore bellowed. Chartrukian stared a moment, speechless. Then he stormed off toward the Sys-Sec lab. Strathmore turned and eyed Hale with a puzzled look. Susan understood the commander's mystification. Hale had been quiet-too quiet. Hale knew very well there was no such thing as a diagnostic that used mutation strings, much less one that could keep TRANSLTR busy eighteen hours. And yet Hale hadn't said a word. He appeared indifferent to the entire commotion. Strathmore was obviously wondering why. Susan had the answer. â€Å"Commander,† she said insistently, â€Å"if I could just speak-â€Å" â€Å"In a minute,† he interjected, still eyeing Hale quizzically. â€Å"I need to take this call.† With that, Strathmore turned on his heel and headed for his office. Susan opened her mouth, but the words stalled on the tip of her tongue. Hale is North Dakota! She stood rigid, unable to breathe. She felt Hale staring at her. Susan turned. Hale stepped aside and swung his arm graciously toward the Node 3 door. â€Å"After you, Sue.†