Strategic Analysis Sabic free essay sample

Keen on stability in the career development of the company through knowledge and training of these strategic plans to ensure optimum utilization of talent. New production capacities Search for the operation of complex industrial projects, even if it was common to lead to increased production and strategic business unit. Alpha Cooperation for sustainable solutions: Work with global automotive manufacturers to develop new types of metals used in manufacturing to the cars and gives designers a wider field of design. Participate to promote innovation: Applications using the latest status of development and cooperation with the engineers to produce high quality products and strong hardness. Complete the needs of customers: SABIC is working to expand the list of products and the discovery of new ideas in products, chemicals to meet the diverse needs of customers. Manufacturing excellence: Follow-up and strategic business unit managers and to give accurate information in a timely manner, leading to reduce the need for subsequent maintenance. We will write a custom essay sample on Strategic Analysis Sabic or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Technology and innovation: Product life cycle, and processing of iron using the techniques and new technology, and made it one of the most developed companies in the field of chemical industries. Alpha Human Resources: Great concern for the communities of all staff and ensure the safety of the various sectors of the company, making it a global industrial company Environment, Health and Safety and Security: Striving to better environmental standards and health and safety and security and to ensure that affected industrial operations on the environment surrounding. Criteria for global leadership: SABIC to invest human resources investment optimization, which achieves creativity, innovation and achievement levels in the latest technical

A Biography of American Spy Hercules Mulligan

A Biography of American Spy Hercules Mulligan Born in Ireland’s County Londonderry on September 25, 1740, Hercules Mulligan immigrated to the American colonies when he was just six years old. His parents, Hugh and Sarah, left their homeland in hopes of improving life for their family in the colonies; they settled in New York City and Hugh became the eventual owner of a successful accounting firm. Fast Facts: Hercules Mulligan Born:  September 25, 1740Died: March 4, 1825Lived in: Ireland, New YorkParents: Hugh Mulligan and Sarah MulliganEducation:  King’s College (Columbia University)Spouse:  Elizabeth SandersKnown for: Member of Sons of Liberty, associate of Alexander Hamilton, secret agent  who worked with the Culper Ring and twice saved General George Washingtons life. Hercules was a student at King’s College, now Columbia University, when another young man–one Alexander Hamilton, late of the Caribbean–came knocking on his door, and the two of them formed a friendship. This friendship would turn into political activity in just a few short years. Thinker, Tailor, Soldier,  Spy Hamilton lived with Mulligan for a period during his tenure as a student, and the two of them had many late-night political discussions. One of the earliest members of the Sons of Liberty, Mulligan is credited from swaying Hamilton away from his stance as a Tory and into a role as a patriot and one of America’s founding fathers. Hamilton, originally a supporter of British dominion over the thirteen colonies, soon came to the conclusion that the colonists should be able to rule themselves. Together, Hamilton and Mulligan joined the Sons of Liberty, a secret society of patriots that was formed to protect colonists’ rights. Following his graduation, Mulligan worked briefly as a clerk in Hugh’s accounting business, but soon branched out on his own as a tailor. According to a 2016 article on the CIA website, Mulligan: â€Å"†¦cater[ed] to the crà ¨me de la crà ¨me of New York society. He also catered to wealthy British businessmen and high-ranking British military officers. He employed several tailors but preferred to greet his customers himself, taking the customary measurements and building rapport among his clientele. His business thrived, and he established a solid reputation with the gentleman of the upper class and with the British officers.† Thanks to his close access to British officers,  Mulligan was able to accomplish two very important things in a very short time. First, in 1773, he married Miss Elizabeth Sanders at Trinity Church in New York. This should be unremarkable, but Mulligan’s bride was the niece of Admiral Charles Saunders, who had been a commander in the Royal Navy prior to his death; this  gave Mulligan access to some high-ranking individuals. In addition to his marriage, Mulligan’s role as a tailor allowed him to be present during numerous conversations between British officers; in general, a tailor was much like a servant, and considered invisible, so his clients had no qualms about speaking freely in front of him. Mulligan was also a smooth talker. When British officers and businessmen came to his shop, he flattered them regularly with words of admiration. He soon figured out how to gauge troop movements based upon pickup times; if multiple officers said they’d be back for a repaired uniform on the same day, Mulligan could figure out the dates of upcoming activities. Often, he sent his slave, Cato, to General George Washington’s camp in New Jersey with the information. In 1777, Mulligan’s friend Hamilton was working as aide-de-camp to Washington, and was intimately involved in intelligence operations. Hamilton realized that Mulligan was ideally placed to gather information; Mulligan agreed almost immediately to help the patriotic cause.   Saving General Washington   Mulligan is credited with saving George Washingtons life not once, but on two separate occasions.  The first time was in 1779, when he uncovered a plot to capture the general. Paul Martin of Fox News says, â€Å"Late one evening, a British officer called at Mulligans shop to purchase a watch coat. Curious about the late hour, Mulligan asked why the officer needed the coat so quickly. The man explained that he was leaving immediately on a mission, boasting that before another day, well have the rebel general in our hands.  As soon as the officer left, Mulligan dispatched his servant to advise General Washington. Washington had been planning to rendezvous with some of his officers, and apparently the British had learned the location of the meeting and intended to set a trap. Thanks to Mulligans alert, Washington changed his plans and avoided capture.† Two years later, in 1781, another plan was foiled with the help of Mulligan’s brother Hugh Jr., who ran a successful import-export company that did a significant amount of trade with the British army. When a large amount of provisions were ordered, Hugh asked a commissary officer why they were needed; the man revealed that several hundred troops were being sent to Connecticut to intercept and seize Washington. Hugh passed the information along to his brother, who then relayed it to the Continental Army, allowing Washington to change his plans and set his own trap for British forces.   In addition to these crucial bits of information, Mulligan spent the years of the American Revolution gathering details about troop movement, supply chains, and more; all of which he passed along to Washington’s intelligence staff. He worked in tandem with the Culper Ring, a network of six spies engaged directly by Washington’s spymaster, Benjamin Tallmadge. Effectively working as a subagent of the Culper Ring, Mulligan was one of several people who passed intelligence along to Tallmadge, and thus, directly into Washington’s hands. Mulligan and his slave, Cato, were not above suspicion. At one point, Cato was captured and beaten on his way back from Washington’s camp, and Mulligan himself was arrested several times. In particular, following the defection of Benedict Arnold to the British army, Mulligan and other members of the Culper ring had to put their covert activities on hold for a while. However, the British were never able to find hard evidence that any of the men were involved in espionage. After the Revolution Following the end of the war, Mulligan occasionally found himself in trouble with his neighbors; his role of cozying up to British officers had been incredibly convincing, and many people suspected he was in fact a Tory sympathizer. To reduce the risk of his being tarred and feathered, Washington himself came to Mulligan’s shop as a customer following an Evacuation Day parade, and ordered a complete civilian wardrobe to commemorate the end of his military service. Once Mulligan was able to hang up a sign reading â€Å"Clothier to General Washington,† the danger passed, and he prospered as one of New York’s most successful tailors. He and his wife had eight children together, and Mulligan worked until the age of 80. He died five years later, in 1825. Nothing is known of what became of Cato after the American Revolution. However, in 1785, Mulligan became one of the founding members of the New York Manumission Society. Along with Hamilton, John Jay, and several others, Mulligan worked to promote the manumission of slaves and abolition of the institution of slavery. Thanks to the popularity of the Broadway hit  Hamilton, Hercules Mulligans name has become far more recognizable than it was in the past. In the play, he was originally played by  Okieriete Onaodowan, an American actor born to Nigerian parents. Hercules Mulligan is buried in New Yorks Trinity Church cemetery, in the Sanders family tomb, not far from the graves of Alexander Hamilton, his wife Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, and many other notable names from the American Revolution. Sources â€Å"The Legend of Hercules Mulligan.†Ã‚  Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 7 July 2016, www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2016-featured-story-archive/the-legend-of-hercules-mulligan.html.Fox News, FOX News Network, www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/07/04/this-july-4-let-thank-forgotten-revolutionary-war-hero.html.

6 Ways to Help Beat Student Stress - Proofread My Paper

6 Ways to Help Beat Student Stress - Proofread My Paper 6 Ways to Help Beat Student Stress The pressures of college life are many and varied, but the effects are undeniable: More students than ever are suffering from stress and stress-related mental health issues. Hopefully youre not facing anything quite this stressful.(Photo: Bernard Goldbach/flickr) As such, it’s vital that you know what to do if you’re feeling stressed. And these six tips are a good starting point. 1. Know the Signs of Stress The first step to beating stress is recognizing when you are stressed. After all, it can be easy to miss the signs when you’re busy with a dozen other things! Prominent symptoms of stress include: Irritability or feeling overwhelmed Difficulty concentrating Low self-esteem or constant worrying Headaches, tension and muscle pain Loss of appetite or difficultly sleeping Stress is experienced differently by everyone, so this list isn’t definitive. But if these symptoms do sound familiar, it’s important not to ignore them. 2. Know Your Stressors The best way to deal with anxiety is to cut it out at the source. Common stressors for college students include: Academic stress (i.e., worrying about grades and workload) Personal stress (i.e., anxiety about your personal and/or romantic life) Family stress (i.e., pressure from your family or adjusting to being away from home) Financial stress (i.e., making ends meet on a student budget) Uncertainty about the future (i.e., not knowing what you’ll do after college) The solution to these issues will depend on your situation, but knowing what makes you feel stressed will make it easier to make positive changes. 3. Talk It Out In many cases, simply talking to someone can be a great help. This could be friends, family, your professors or even a counselor (most colleges offer a counselling service for students). Discussing your problems is especially effective if you can talk to the people involved (e.g., talking about workload issues with professors). But even just chatting with a friend is better than keeping it all bottled up inside. 4. Eat Well and Exercise Your diet is important when you’re feeling stressed. Eat healthy food whenever possible, don’t skip meals, and cut out excessive caffeine (especially in the evenings). The suitcase is optional. Similarly, regular physical exercise has been shown to be important to stress management. 5. Rest and Recuperate Sometimes, stress is a result of burnout, especially when you’re juggling a lot of responsibilities. Getting plenty of sleep is therefore crucial. However, since anxiety can also cause insomnia, you should make sure your bedroom is set up to make sleeping easier (e.g., having a good mattress) and that you have a regular evening routine. 6. Relaxation Taking time off is also vital. Simply put, you’ll never be able to beat stress if you don’t give yourself the chance to relax occasionally. This could be as simple as hanging out with friends or binge-watching something on Netflix, as long as it takes your mind off work! For extra help, though, you might also want to try meditation and relaxation exercises. A little quiet time can go a long way.

Position Paper - Vygotsky Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Position Paper - Vygotsky - Essay Example This concept is based on the idea that â€Å"cultural inheritance is carried in the meanings of artifacts and practices. Resources of knowledge and skill brought to a situation depend upon the past participation of the individual within the culture. Resources are dependent upon culture, also the stage of human development† (Golbfarb, 2000). In discovering how people learn and develop, Vygotsky suggested that children develop and gain control of their thought processes through the use of artifacts, one of the most important being the artifact of language, becoming increasingly able to incorporate their potential into inherent ability through zones of proximal development. This development takes place through various means, one of the most important being creative imitation of others. A second important means through which children develop control over their mental processes is through play and interaction with others. These theories have significant impacts upon how best to ins truct students attempting to learn a second language and attain some degree of mastery. To understand how this might be so, it is necessary to understand the importance of language in formulating thought and definition which is itself essential in bridging zones of proximal development (ZPD) to formulate true and lasting learning and development. One of the fundamental building blocks to Vygotsky’s theory is contained in the concept that individuals are only able to gain control over their naturally biologically endowed brains through the power of social and cultural means. â€Å"Thus, there is a tension, or as Vygotsky characterized it, ‘a drama’, between our natural inheritance and our sociocultural inheritance, and it is in this drama that we develop† (Lantolf, 2003: 350). The primary means of this mediation between the biological and the social or cultural is through the media of symbolic artifacts. In other words, humans understand the world around

Microsoft and Monopoly Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Microsoft and Monopoly - Essay Example Monopoly as such is stated to have negative connotations, as it tends to do away with healthy competition, resulting in costly products and services to the customer. But, in the software industry things are quite different. In the software and services industry, there are a number of key players offering their products and services. The products and services being offered by the companies like Cisco, Microsoft, Firefox, Linux, Mac, Oracle, Sun etc. are different from each other in many features. These products might be useful for similar computer applications, but some of the features are quite distinct from each other. In such a scenario, when most of the companies produce 'similar yet not perfectly substitutable products' is termed as monopolistic market (Investopedia, 2009). Microsoft is an international company, in the software industry, with stakes in almost every nook and corner of the world. As the industry needs to cater to almost all other industries, the global software and services industry has become worth $2,239 billion, registering a growth of 10.5 percent in the year 2008, i.e. even during the period hit by recessionary trends (Datamonitor, 2009). This goes on to prove that the industry is indeed quite attractive. Microsoft is a well known brand the world over. Anybody having anything to do with the field of IT, computers or technology finds the italicized brand name easily distinguishable and identifiable. Microsoft, with a brand value of $76,249 million was firmly placed at second position after Google in the ranking of brands prepared by MillwardBrown for the year 20091. In order to protect the industries and give room for healthy competition countries and regulatory authorities come out with anti-trust laws. Such antitrust policies and regulations are meant to safeguard the interests of companies carrying out their business operations in fair manner. Such laws encourage healthy competition; discourage monopolistic trade practices, while coming down heavily on unfair trade practices. For the overall economic development of the country, what is more important is to see the economic welfare of the country and its populace while guarding the business interests of the corporate world. For example, 'United States antitrust law' is a set of 'such laws' which discourages anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices from the corporate world. The stated objective of the antitrust policy of US government2 is to promote and protect the competitive and the American economy, by using a host of antitrust laws. Microsoft, has been at number one in position in system software as well as application software. Despite their best efforts, no other company is able to match the power of its operating system software. Windows is the first name that comes to our mind when we talk about operating system. In fact Windows itself became a brand identity for operating software. Now with valuable upgrades like Vista, the OS range is quite wide. While trying to propagate its cause, the company has been accused many a times of adopting unfair trade practices. Having corporate rivalries or business disputes is not uncommon amongst leading companies. Such disputes arise on account

A Wallet Full of Money and a Life Full of Nothing Essay Example for Free

A Wallet Full of Money and a Life Full of Nothing Essay In â€Å"Citizen Kane†, Orson Welles shows the viewer how an adult’s life can be tormented by their divested childhood. In his movie, Welles portrays Kane to be a man with the world in his hands yet he possesses nothing of sentimental value. Not being able to appreciate the people who surround him the way that they appreciate him, Kane turns to money and power to fulfill the love and affection he didn’t receive as a child. Welles portrays Kane’s robbed childhood, his vanity, and his hunger for power as the cause to Kane’s failed relationships and his lonely death. Shortly after the beginning of the movie, Welles uses symbolism to expose how Kane’s childhood innocence and purity had been taken from him at an early age. In this scene, Kane is out playing in the pure and white snow, which can be interpreted as Kane enjoying his innocent years in the essence of purity that comes with childhood. When his parents, along with Thatcher, go outside to inform him about his trip, Kane uses his sled as a defensive tool against Thatcher. This can be a reflection on why Kane never accepted Thatcher’s attempts at discipline and guidelines. Kane saw Thatcher as the person who deprived him of his childhood and took him away from his most prized possession, which was Rosebud, his sled. Towards the end of the scene, the sled is left out in the snow for years as the snow begins to pile up on it; this could be seen as a metaphorical correlation to Kane leaving his innocence and the purity of his childhood to become a man with a polluted soul who is ruled by money and power. As Kane grows up to become a man of wealth and power, many of his personality issues can be traced back to his childhood upbringing. The viewers are given an insight to the controlling and manipulative person Kane is when they come across the scene where Kane walks into the Inquirer and tells the editor-in-chief that he is literally going to live in his office. Because he couldn’t control his unsatisfactory childhood upbringing, Kane grew up to be an awfully controlling man. His controlling personality then led him to publish subjects that would on ly bring him attention. As a child who was taken away from his parents at only eight years old, he wanted all  the attention possible, hence the deceptive subjects he would publish. Kane’s childhood lacked the essentials of parental love and attention, which later transformed him into an egocentric, power-hungry monster. Possessing both money and power, Kane became obsessed with himself; the more power he obtained, the more he felt in need of it. At the age of twenty-five, Kane buys the New York Inquirer without even the slightest clue on how to run a newspaper business. One can thus determine that Kane would use his money to help him gain a voice. Kane never cared about his money, or the spending of, because he had plenty of it. What Kane really wanted was to affect the people. His original plan, when taking over the Inquirer, was to help and become the voice of the poor and underprivileged, but he quickly forgot about his promises, as he continually grew more and more corrupt by printing stories that would only get him attention. His hunger for power became bigger than him when he ran for Governor of New York and would print insulting cartoons of his opponent. Kane started out with a plan that would affect the people in a positive way but consequently became a highly unlikeable man who would only t hink about the power his money could bring to him. Not only was Kane a man who wished for more power but also he was a man who was also ruled by vanity. Throughout the movie, Welles interprets Kane’s vanity by showing the viewer how Kane would use his controlling personality to make sure all his surroundings were nothing but perfect. A good example of this is when Leland writes a newspaper article about Susan’s mediocre singing skills and Kane reads it. After he reads Leland’s notice, he is determined to make Susan a better singer so he forces her to train and perform in numerous cities. Because of his vanity, Kane is concerned with the public’s opinion of his wife. He does not want to be known as the man who married a singer with amateur singing skills. Welles also does a magnificent job in portraying Kane’s vanity in the scene where Susan leaves him and all Kane is truly worried about is all the guests in Xanadu who might witness her departure. How he appears to the public is much more important to him than the fact that his own wife is leaving him. As a man who was drunk on his own power and rule d by his vanity, Kane failed to see how much he would hurt the people who were closest to him, especially his second wife, Susan. Ever since he met her, the first sign of his complicated personality was shown when he demanded her to sing for him. In that scene,  the viewer could foresee the kind of controlling and demanding spouse Kane would be. Throughout their relationship, one could notice how he would treat Susan more as an object than his wife. By forcing her to perform and become a better singer, he was treating her as one of his statues. His statues were beautifully sculpted and that is what he wanted Susan to be. A beautiful woman who lacked a beautiful voice was not an option for the wife of Charles Foster Kane. As Susan grew tired of Kane being absent most of the time and being forced to live in their home as one of his many statues, she decided to leave him. Kane always treated people as if they were his property and Susan was no exception. When she informed Kane of her intention to abandon him, he said to her, â€Å"you can’t leave me† which goes to show how he thought of Susan as one of his statues. Kane’s statues would literally and physically never leave him, which is why he was shocked by Susan’s decision. When she does leave and Kane can’t do anything about it, he becomes f ull of anger and destroys Susan’s room. For a man who was just left by his wife, his anger towards her is also a big sign to the viewer that Kane only saw her as his property. Because of so many failed relationships throughout his life, a man of endless wealth and power ends up in his deathbed alone with no one to care for him. Throughout the movie, as Thompson goes on a search to figure out the meaning behind Kane’s last words before his death, the viewer is exposed to the many reasons why Kane died a lonely man. His relationship with Thatcher never developed further because Kane always saw him as the person who robbed him from sharing his childhood years with his family. The friendship he had with his closest friend ended when he fired him because of a simple statement that offended his vanity. The relationship with his first wife not only ended because of his infidelity but also because of his need for more power. Kane would spend more time at the Inquirer than with Emily, which made the relationship bound to terminate. Last but not least, his relationship with Emily was a complete failure because he saw her as an object as opposed to his wife. Every person who would get emotionally close to Kane would eventually end up leaving him. As a result of his big ego, Kane never managed to develop relatio nships with those who surrounded him therefore, the only company he had while lying in his deathbed was a snow globe and his childhood memories. As one can conclude, because of his miserable childhood, Kane grew up to lead a life  full of luxury and riches but he lacked the true meaning of life- to live. Money only bought him objects and power but never bought him true love of any kind. His last words were in reference to an object that he owned as a child and that goes to show that his only happy memories were back when he lacked the fortune he now had. Kane’s robbed childhood, vanity, and his hunger for power were the reasons why Kane lived such a lonely and unfulfilled life up until the day he died.

Essay --

In King Lear by William Shakespeare, it is a play mostly about tragedy like most of Shakespeare’s plays. Shakespeare uses a vast amount of animal imagery to describe the characteristics of the villains to refer back to. He also presents an ample amount of symbolism throughout the play. The play starts by King Lear trying to settle matter of his estate between his three daughters: Goneril the eldest daughter and his also favorite daughter, Regan his second daughter, and Cordelia the youngest daughter. Based on their adulation Lear would decide who would get the largest share based on who â€Å"loves† him the most. Both Goneril and Regan declare in lavish terms that they love him more than anything in the world, which pleases Lear. For Cordelia, there is nothing to compare her love to; she being honest declares that there are no words that would express her love, which makes King Lear furious. In his anger he disowns Cordelia, and divides the kingdom between Regan and Goneril bringing tragically consequences throughout the play. Goneril and Regan plan to take all of Lear's power out of h...

Game Console Industry

The game console industry is unpredictable, as the market leader changes as frequently as new games being released. Currently, the most prominent console manufacturers in the industry are Sony (PlayStation), Microsoft (Xbox), and Nintendo (Wii). While Sony and Microsoft focus on powerful machines and games targeted at older teens and young adults, Nintendo’s family friendly, less graphically polished consoles target an entirely different market, and is not applicable to the Sony/Microsoft battle. The adoption of consoles depends heavily on one factor: the content available.A console manufacturer needs to have third-party developer support in order to have a steady stream of quality video games being released throughout the year. Although brand loyalty, technical capabilities and price certainly plays a part on the purchase decision of an individual, consumers tend to buy the console that offers the games that the consumers enjoy the most. Sony and Microsoft both publish a cata logue of a unique line up of video games made in-house as well as receive royalties from third-party video game developers such as Electronic Arts and Activision (ATVI).Microsoft and Sony both use a loss leader strategy, pricing their consoles lower than the production cost; thus, increasing the market for higher margin sales of related software, licensing fees, accessories, and downloadable content. As such, both firms sacrifice console profit to attract customers to adopt their ecosystem. This pricing strategy for game consoles, coupled with each console’s respective launch dates, has immense effect on setting the competitiveness of the companies for years to come.Historically, higher initial pricing methods bottlenecked initial uptake on consoles, and is often followed by price cuts to encourage greater adoption. During the launch of Xbox 360 and PS3, the price disparity and subsequent price drops hugely altered consumer purchasing decisions. The lower initial price point for Xbox 360 resulted in a quick grab for market share, but Sony followed with price cuts; thus, resulting in a price war – one that was won by Sony in total number of sales, but also the most amount of losses.To most consumers, these consoles are mutually exclusive and purchase decision is mostly based on value for money. Timing of the launch is also crucial as many gamers aim to be first adopters for new consoles. Relationship with Gaming Suppliers and Consumers The winner’s curse exists due to the biased optimism of bidders and the unknown value of the object being bid on. This is especially true in the heated rivalry between Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The bid that these two giants are trying to win is the hearts of the console gaming community.However, both companies are unable to actually quantify how much the console gaming industry is worth as bidding takes place during the production phase, prior to sales. Generally video game players can be segmented into PC gamers, Console Gamers, or Casual Gamers. The PC gamers are currently being served by Gaming PC's, with the latest technology and the widest variety of customization regarding multimedia; this is essentially the enthusiasts market.The Casual Gamers are generally younger gamers who have less of a focus on the depth and graphical intensity of games. This demographic is currently being satisfied by Nintendo's Wii & DS or a normal home PC. Both the PS4 and the Xbox One can be categorized as serving the console gamers, for these gamers often demand high quality machines, certain elements of media integration, and high degree of innovation from new generation consoles. However, above all else, the quality of games and price of systems are the primary order winners for console gamers.The quality of games is generally determined based on the two factors of aesthetic and gameplay. The aesthetics of a game depends largely on the processing capabilities of the system while the gameplay comes f rom the creative minds of the game developers. Thus, for Sony and Microsoft to accurately predict the relative demand for their consoles, they need to evaluate the strength of both these key success factors. In the eighth generation of consoles, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 have very similar processing power and graphics rendering capabilities.The similarity of the two devices mean that the order winner for a console gamer will not be based on the internal capabilities, rendering demand predictions using aesthetics of a game irrelevant. With regards to game play, this falls squarely on the shoulders of game developers and publishers. Both Sony and Microsoft have their in-house gaming development arm under subsidiaries. Microsoft's game developer, 343 industries are responsible for the blockbuster hit â€Å"Halo 4†, which has  already sold 4 million copies to date.On the Sony side their in-house developers, Naughty Dog has created the â€Å"Uncharted† franchise and has sold 5 million copies with its second instalment alone. From an exclusive content perspective, both companies all have clear winners and it is very difficult to predict which exclusive content will outsell the other. Aside from exclusive titles, there are also independent game developers such as Activision-Blizzard and Square Enix.These independent game developers are capable of influencing player behaviour by releasing exclusive content on specific systems. For example, Microsoft's partnership with Activision on Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 (COD MW3), ensures that specific content only gets released over the Xbox platform, thus incentivizing players to choose Xbox during the game’s release in November 2011. Microsoft's success with Call of Duty does not however spell doom for Sony, as Sony's partnership with developers like Square Enix’s Final Fantasy franchise creates enormous success as well.In the end, not only are most games playable across the two different plat forms, but even for the exclusive contents the two firms are essentially ensuring competitive exclusives are available on their respective consoles. Adding to this uncertainty is the fact that games are very much like animated blockbuster movies, while having a talented cast of game developers certainly lowers the risk of creating an unpopular game, it is not guaranteed to always be a hit. A perfect example of this is the game â€Å"Haze†, supported by Sony's PS3 and developed by the All-Star developer Free Radical Design.Prior to its release it was deemed to be the Halo (one of Xbox's most successful franchises) killer. However, once the game hit the shelves it was met with lukewarm reception and only 500K in sales, which resulted in the closure of Free Radical and a huge write-off for Sony. At the time of production for Xbox One and PS4, many games for the consoles have yet to be developed; therefore, making it almost impossible to foresee which franchise will continue to d o well and which will fail.One key order winner for console gamers is the quality of games, yet on this specific metric Microsoft and Sony are practically non-differentiable and it is nearly impossible to predict which console will fare better than the other. Subsequently, because of this ambiguity, it contributes to the notion that in this common value auction, the players do not know the actual market value of the item they are bidding on, and will likely overpay due to the uncertainty. The launch of PS4 and Xbox One As the launch of PS4 and Xbox One is extremely recent, there has been little market data to show who is winning out the competition.Because these consoles are the eighth generation of gaming platforms, observing current actions in comparison to past events can grant us a view into their individual competitive advantages and assess their strategy. The pricing strategy for Xbox One is to offer the console at a much higher premium. At $499USD, the Xbox is $100 more than the PS4, which is largely attributed to the Kinect 2 motion-sensing technology as part of the package. It is yet too early to tell how consumers will react to this huge price discrepancy, as the value added for the bundled technology creates an interesting value proposition.This pricing strategy is also noticeably opposite of what Microsoft has done in the past. In the previous generation of consoles, Microsoft sold each Xbox 360 at a loss of $126, while Sony saw $130 loss per PS3. Microsoft claims to be, at minimum, breaking even per unit of Xbox One to cover variable costs. While this discourages a price war like what has taken place in the pass through Sony and Microsoft’s use of loss leader strategy through their pricing, it is yet to be seen if consumers will be able to swallow the $100 difference. In contrast, Sony is selling the PS4 at an average loss of $60 per console, at a price of $399 per unit.Even with the addition of PS Eye, a similar accessory to the Kinect 2 t he $100 premium of Xbox One is still higher the PS4 cost with PS Eye. We can see that Sony chose to continue to pursue a loss-leading strategy, potentially overestimating the revenue that can be reaped from future sales. Sony is still operating with the optimistic idea that by incurring a high initial loss, they will be able to reap higher benefits in the future, continuing their vicious cycle of the Winner’s curse. Microsoft’s marketing expenditure for the Xbox One launch is expected to exceed $120 million USD.Assuming that Microsoft is breaking even per each console sold, that means it needs to sell at least 200K consoles just to see a return on marketing investment. Noting the fact that Xbox One’s controller itself cost over $100MM USD to develop, a small snippet of full R&D costs, the timeframe at which Xbox makes a positive net present value remains to be seen. Xbox 360 sold just over 79MM units over its time-span; with shifting consumer focus away from con soles to PC gaming, it is hard to predict just how profitable or unprofitable the One will be for Microsoft.The situation is just as devastating for Sony; with a unit contribution loss of $60, it would take a lot of cross-product sales to achieve a return on investment. Sony is just as heavily invested in terms of development and marketing costs compared to Microsoft. Even with the uncertainty of consumer adoption and market share capture rate, the two firms are going head-to-head in hopes of securing a return on their investment through capturing more of the pie. Beyond competing on price and marketing, Sony and Microsoft are competing for first adopters through launch dates.Historically, Sony entered the gaming console market first with the original PlayStation while Microsoft waited a whole generation before entering. PS2 dominated the sixth generation of gaming consoles while the original Xbox only gained about 1/8th of the pie. By launching 13 months ahead in in Europe, Microso ft effectively out competed Sony and was able to gain almost half of the market share. This neck to neck competition means the launch of the eighth generation of consoles will determine who truly wins out in the console world, as clearly both firms are much more concerned about getting their consoles into people’s homes at any cost.Interestingly, Microsoft decided to launch in the Eurozone ahead of Sony while the situation is reversed for the North American market. The two firms are essentially trying to steal shares from each other’s respective strongholds. There are many competitive strategies at play for this battle, but regardless of these actions, both firms are losing money. Microsoft has been making a net loss with the gaming division in the past decade, largely attributable to the winner’s curse and also price wars. There has been signals that Microsoft wants to shift away from this competition that has resulted in such heavy losses on both sides.With a pricing that supposedly creates a unit contribution of zero, Microsoft is no longer suffering from the Winner’s curse to win out the bid of each individual consumer’s wallet. Although it has yet to be seen whether this will be effective as consumers are price sensitive in this industry, Microsoft is also trying to change its value proposition and appeal more to the mass market. Microsoft’s marketing launch strategy focuses largely on pushing the entertainment hub aspect of the product, as opposed to solely the gaming aspect.Many of Microsoft’s marketing ads have been focused on the multimedia content and screen sharing technology of the console. This aims to shift Xbox’s value proposition away from Playstation’s game centric focus, and attempt to communicate to consumers the value for money. In contrast, Sony continues to align their image to fit the hard-core gaming segment alongside the pursuit of the loss-leading strategy. This image is n ot only reflected in marketing techniques, but also the technical specifications of the consoles.Even with the lower price of the PS4, Sony chose to integrate a more powerful console, in hopes that the ‘hardcore’ gamers will buy more games. The heavy initial spending on R&D and marketing is in essence a bid for greater market share. Contrary to the winner’s curse, in this competition between Sony and Microsoft there is no ‘winner’ as increased spending has not translated to greater profits. The pricing and technological attributes of the product is also a bid for each consumer’s purchasing dollar in which the winner makes either a loss or no profit for the console sold.These individual transactions amalgamate to result in the desire to gain a larger share of the pie through greater console sales which leads to heavy losses on both sides. Winner’s Curse Winner’s curse occurs in a common value auction due to incomplete information. In the case of Sony and Microsoft, the adoption rate of their respective consoles is the objective of the auction. Since the value of each customer is worth roughly the same to both Microsoft and Sony, they have equal incentives to win the bid and they are differentiated only by their individual valuations.Prior to the launch of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, Microsoft and Sony independently evaluates the value of the market which historically has been inaccurate. At the end, the player that wins the auction and sells the most amount of consoles will often be the one that incurs the largest losses. This is perfectly exemplified in the seventh generation consoles of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, where PlayStation won the bid and outsold Xbox, but in doing so, it cost Sony's console gaming division $5B relative to Microsoft's loss of $3B. These corporations can justify such large losses as they have cash cows in other divisions.The fact that these losses are justifiable is due to both firms’ competitive orientation; if one pulls out of the market, the other would dominate and be profitable. This has been seen in Olympic broadcast rights bidding where stations are willing to lose just so competition won’t gain. The reason for such over-bidding comes down to optimism. Since the value of consumer adoption is nearly impossible to estimate, Sony and Microsoft are essentially guessing what their potential monetary success would. From this uncertainty, the ‘winner’ is simply the one that made the bigger and more optimistic mistake.In the last generation Sony won the auction by making aggressive price cuts following the launch of their console as well as investing heavily into marketing and development expenditures. This spending exceeds the actual value generated from sales of the console and games; thus, resulted in a large deficit of $5 billion dollars. Both firms have been extremely stubborn in their strategies, going head to head to ensur e the other firm does not win. As discussed previously, there has been signs that both firms are acknowledging this winner’s curse scenario, resulting in both aiming to focus on different segments of the consumer market.As this industry is relatively young and consumer interests are fickle and unpredictable, there has been uncertainty in the value of the market. The loss-leading strategy was extremely effective and profitable for Sony during the sixth generation of consoles, prompting Microsoft to enter into the industry. As such, now it is impossible for one to pull out as both realize the market potential when there are no direct competitors. Another strategy for Microsoft or Sony to adopt is to occupy another space and focus their appeal to specific consumers.Nintendo’s Wii was able to be extremely profitable and outsell both Xbox 360 and PS3 as it appealed to a wider demographic, stressing the value proposition of social gaming. The Xbox One is aiming to occupy a d ifferent space by becoming a multimedia hub rather than just a gaming console. However, the success of this is yet to be determined. Analysts suggest that the Xbox should be priced lower in order to compete against the PS4 and PS Eye bundle. However, looking back at this price war and continued winner’s curse, it may be a better strategy for Xbox to maintain its price position.Sony at this moment is more on the defensive where they are not able to raise their price without suffering backlash from consumers. As well, it may be prudent for Sony to wait and see Xbox’s transition away from hard-core gaming to see if they regain adoption rates from this demographic. The winner’s curse has plagued this segment of the gaming industry severely in the past decade with Xbox and PlayStation. As Microsoft tries to redefine its appeal and shift to a more middle segment of the market, this winner’s curse will start to be alleviated.This can only be realized if consumer s accept Xbox’s new position, otherwise the negative spiral continues. Ideally, a consumer will be educated in the differences between the two and purchase based on pragmatic reasons as opposed to perceived value. Xbox pricing their product at cost is a strong indication there is desired change to avoid the winner’s curse. Similarly Sony is losing less per unit of PS4 as well. With less incremental loss per unit, the firms will hopefully generate a profit in the long-run for their gaming divisions.

Bill Clinton’s Doctrine of Enlargement of Foreign Policies

Bill Clinton’s Doctrine of Enlargement of Foreign Policies Tommy Wong American History Mr. McCarthy May 2, 2011 During his inauguration from 1993 to 2001, United States President William Jefferson Clinton, also known as Bill Clinton, promoted democracy and improved foreign relationships by using non-aggressive policies. These policies were based on Clinton’s belief and principle, which was also known as the Doctrine of Enlargement. The Doctrine of Enlargement asked for a free competition in global trade and promoting democracy with minimum intervention in foreign political affairs while America to be remaining as the global leader.Clinton had planned and created this doctrine of enlargement before he inaugurated as the President of United States. His education at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service also marked his specialty in dealing with foreign affairs. In a speech he made before the congress on February 17, 1993, only a month since his inauguration, Clinton gav e his view on global economy: Standing as we are on the edge of a new century, we know that economic growth depends as never before on opening up new markets overseas and expanding the volume of world trade.And so, we will insist on fair trade rules in international markets as a part of a national economic strategy to expand trade, including the successful completion of the latest round of world trade talks and the successful completion of a North American Free Trade Agreement with appropriate safeguards for our workers and for the environment. In his speech, Clinton implied that a free global economy is the key to American’s economical growth. During his presidency, Clinton will follow his doctrine and reform the American financial system and foreign relationships.When he first became President in 1993, Bill Clinton had made decisions in foreign affairs that damaged his reputation, although he did not cause the problem in the first place. One of which was the humanitarian mi ssion in Somalia sent by the previous President George W. Bush a few weeks before Clinton’s inauguration. Since the American troops showed little effect on solving the situation in Somalia, Clinton withdrew the entire force next year, which the embarrassment led to the resignation of the Secretary of Defense Les Aspin and damaged Clinton’s reputation.Yet Clinton had only withdrew the troops in order to decrease deficiency and unnecessary deficit. His action is also based on his beliefs of minimizing intervention in foreign affairs. Despite of some missteps in issues in Somalia early on in his presidency, Clinton did bring some exceptional accomplishments in foreign affairs. In 1994, he successfully persuaded Russia to withdraw its troops from Baltic Republic of Estonia and Latvia. In dealing with Russia, Clinton help created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization including Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.It restricted the number of troops and nuclear weapons all owed into the Russian regions. Together with the Nunn-Lugar Act, which reduced Russia’s nuclear weapons, Clinton helped unbuilt the tension developing between Europe’s greater powers, thus decreasing the possibility of a devastating world war of nuclear weapons in the near future. Clinton’s Doctrine of Enlargement also planed to keep peace in the world by international alliances and intervene foreign affairs only if necessary. An organization that represents such qualities is the United Nations.In his remarks to the U. N. general assembly in the White House on October 22, 1995, Clinton gave a speech of his thoughts about the United Nations: The U. N. helps the peacemakers, the care providers, the defenders of freedom and human rights, the architects of economic prosperity, and the protectors of our planet to spread the risk, share the burden and increase the impact of our common efforts . . . the United Nations has not ended war, but it has made it less likely, and helped many nations to turn from war to peace.The United Nations has not stopped human suffering, but it has healed the wounds and lengthened the lives of millions of human beings. The United Nations has not banished repression or poverty from the Earth, but it has advanced the cause of freedom and prosperity on every continent. The United Nations has not been all that we wished it would be, but it has been a force for good and a bulwark against evil. From his speech Clinton explained the importance of the United Nations is and what effects it has brought and can bring to the world.Clinton actively participated in the United Nations during his presidency as a fulfillment of his doctrine. He believed that reforming the United Nations is an efficient way to make the world a better and safer place. William Clinton, as a part of his Doctrine of Enlargement, encouraged free global trade, which America has always not been able to do. He promoted several plans to allow free trade with other countries. One of which was the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in December 1993, which removed the trading barriers with Mexico and Canada.The NAFTA was an extended version of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement, and the purpose was to foster trade between the three countries by lowering the tariffs, and thus creating American jobs over the borders. While the agreement sounded beneficial to the American economy, some argued that it would lead to moving American jobs to Mexico, where the wages and working conditions were lower than that of United States. Some also argued that the lack of antipollution laws in Mexico would also damage the environment.President Clinton made his remarks to such arguments in the White House: So when people say that this trade agreement is just about how to move jobs to Mexico so nobody can make a living, how do they explain the fact that Mexicans keep buying more products made in America every year? Go out and tell the Americ an people that. Mexican citizens with lower incomes spend more money — real dollars, not percentage of their income — more money on American products than Germans, Japanese, and Canadians. That is a fact. And there will be more if they have more money to spend. That is what expanding trade is all about.His response to the anti free-trade argument explained how the NAFTA would bring more financial benefit to the American economy, and losing some jobs is inevitable. The trading deficit of United States with Mexico has decreased from 5. 7 billion dollars in 1987 to 5. 4 billion surplus in 1993 after efforts lowering the tariff by the President Salinas of Mexico, even though they had lower wages than many other nations. Mexico was also the largest consumer of US products per capita. Clinton also believed that the first five years of NAFTA would create a millions jobs by looking at previous trends.The side agreement of the NAFTA would also sanction countries that did not en force the environmental laws. The establishment of NAFTA was America’s attempt to prosper from the global economy by lowering tariffs, thus creating jobs. While the NAFTA promoted trading with Mexico and Canada, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) focused on promoting trade with Asia-Pacific countries. President Clinton was also actively involved in the cooperation. Currently the Member Economies consisted of United States, Australia, China, Canada, Japan, Russia, and other countries to a total of twenty-one countries.The three pillars of the APEC were trade liberty, business facilitation, and economic cooperation, which were the also the goals of the Doctrine of Enlargement. Clinton started the trend of annual APEC Economic Leaders’ Meetings, which increased the significance of the APEC. The meetings generated ideas to reduce trading barrier among the country members. The APEC had reduced the average trade barrier from 16. 9% at the beginning of establishment to only 5. 5% in 2004. Clinton’s contribution to APEC helped promoted global trade, which was a part of his doctrine.Clinton’s administration also changed the relationship between America and China. American government has been reluctant to trade freely with China because of its human right violations and its influence on local industries. In 1999, however, Clinton signed an agreement with China to lower trade barriers. Although both democrats and republicans hesitated to support free trade with China, the congress voted in 2000 to share permanent normal trading with China and support China’s World Trade Organization membership. This soon became beneficial to the America’s economy as it opened a billion people market.Aside from promoting global trade, Bill Clinton also improved foreign relations by offering financial aid. During his presidency, Clinton organized several loans to help out countries in trouble. In the January of 1995, he organized a 50 bil lion loan to the Mexican government to overcome a financial crisis, which the price Mexican currency peso drops significantly. The Mexican government repaid all the money in 1995, three years before the proposed schedule. The International Monetary Fund together with the World Bank and Japan organized a 17. 1 billion dollar loan despite the unpopularity.In 1997 to 1998 Clinton helped also a currency crisis in Thailand, South Korea, and several other Asian countries by giving more power to the International Monetary Fund, assisting developing economies to build regulations, and asking private sectors to assist the situation. Clinton helped other countries that were financially struggling by organizing loans, thus improving the global economy and relations. Clinton’s administration proved to be a success in globalization by promoting free trade, reducing mass destructive weapons, and offering assistance to countries in financial crisis.These achievements were based on the belie fs of Clinton’s Doctrine of Enlargement. Bill Clinton was the first democratic president for over thirty years to be reelected for the second term of office. Footnotes Clinton, William Jefferson. â€Å"Address Before a Joint Session of Congress. †   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Speech, U. S. Congress, February 17, 1993 2 William Jefferson Clinton â€Å"Remarks by the President to the U. N. General Assembly † (speech, United Nations, General Assembly Hall United Nations Headquarters, October 22, 1995). William Jefferson Clinton â€Å"Remarks by the President Clinton, President Bush, President Carter, and Vice President Gore in signing of NAFTA Side Agreements† (speech, United States, White House, September 14, 1993). Bibliography 1. â€Å"REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE U. N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY . †   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Speech, United Nations, General Assembly Hall United Nations Headquarters, October 22, 1995. 2. Issues and Controversies. â€Å"Key Events in Cli nton's First Term, 1993-96   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (sidebar). † Issues and Controversies. Last modified February 2, 2001. http://www. 2facts. com/icof_story. aspx? PIN=ib600110&term=clinton. 3.Issues and Controversies on File. â€Å"The Clinton Presidency. † Issues and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Controversies. Last modified February 2, 2001. http://www. 2facts. com/   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  icof_story. aspx? PIN=i0600100&term=clinton. 4. Melanson, Richard A. â€Å"Post-cold War Policy. † Encyclopedia of American Foreign   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Policy. Last modified 2002. http://ic. galegroup. com/ic/uhic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow? displayGroupName=Reference&prodId=UHIC&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE|CX3402300118&mode=view. 5. NEUMANN, CARYN. â€Å"Clinton Administration (1993–2001), United States National Security Policy. In Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence and Security, edited by Brenda Wilmoth Lerner and Lee Lerner. Vol. 1. Detr oit: Gale, 2004, 3 Mar. 2011. http://ic. galegroup. com/ic/uhic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow? displayGroupName=Reference;prodId=UHIC;action=e;windowstate=normal;catId=;documentId=GALE%7CCX3403300152;mode=view;userGroupName=s0965;jsid =3436a7b1e80c61f11c08c92784b65d74. 6. University of Virginia. â€Å"Bill Clinton: Foreign Affairs. † Miller Center Public Affairs. http://millercenter. org/president/clinton/essays/biography/5. 7. CNN Politics. â€Å"Clinton to sign China trade bill Tuesday. CNN. http://articles. cnn. com/2000-10-10/politics/clinton. pntr_1_wto-membership-china-global-trade-regime? _s=PM:ALLPOLITICS 8. Deng, Yong. â€Å"Promoting Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Perspectives from East Asia†. Gale U. S. History In Context. http://ic. galegroup. com/ic/uhic/AcademicJournalsDetailsPage/AcademicJournalsDetailsWindow? displayGroupName=Journals;disableHighlighting=false;prodId=UHIC;action=e;windowstate=normal;catId=;documentId=GALE|A21135725;mo de=view ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Clinton, William Jefferson. â€Å"Address Before a Joint Session of

Preceding a Gerund with a Possessive

Preceding a Gerund with a Possessive Preceding a Gerund with a Possessive Preceding a Gerund with a Possessive By Maeve Maddox A gerund is an -ing verb form that is used as a noun. Like any other noun, a gerund can function as the subject or object of a verb, or as the object of a preposition: 1. Gardening is my favorite hobby. (noun, subject of is) 2. He likes shooting skeet. (noun, object of likes) 3. He loves to talk about hunting. (noun, object of the preposition about) 4. Do you mind my asking a question? (noun, object of mind) This post is about the use of my in the fourth example. Why precede the gerund asking with the possessive adjective my? Why not write, â€Å"Do you mind me asking a question?† In this sentence, the word asking is a gerund. A gerund is a noun. Nouns are modified by adjectives, not by other nouns or pronouns. Consider: Because some people don’t like animals, I ask a guest, â€Å"Do you mind my dog?† I wouldn’t say, â€Å"Do you mind me dog.† Ergo, I wouldn’t say, â€Å"Do you mind me asking?† That’s the reasoning and the rule. Then there’s popular usage: If you don’t mind him calling you at work, give him your business card. If you don’t mind them losing your possessions, then this is the hotel for you. You should take out the garbage without me asking. H. W. Fowler calls the construction of preceding a gerund with a noun or accusative pronoun a â€Å"fused participle† and devotes several tetchy pages to it in Modern English Usage. He illustrates the problem with three sentences: 1. Women having the vote share political power with men. (This example is grammatically correct: having is a participle modifying the subject women.) 2. Women’s having the vote reduces men’s political power. (This example is grammatically correct: having is a gerund modified by the possessive women’s.) 3. Women having the vote reduces men’s political power. (This example is ungrammatical.) Fowler points out that because the verb reduces is singular, women cannot be its subject. Yet, having can’t be the subject because that would leave women â€Å"in the air† without a grammatical function. He says the construction is a compound notion that fuses the noun women with the participle having. He calls this construction a â€Å"fused participle,† denouncing it altogether as â€Å"grammatically indefensible.† Modern grammarians still prefer preceding the gerund with a possessive in formal usage, but do not uniformly condemn the fused participle as Fowler did. A writer at a site about legal prose observes that sometimes a fused participle is the only idiomatic choice: There are exceptions–sentences in which idiom simply demands that a participle be fused, or else the sentence rewritten altogether.–Lawprose.org/. Some of the exceptions cited as being accepted by â€Å"respected usage commentators† are: The likelihood of that happening is nil. He frequently felt a chance of this happening. He disapproved of politicians still in their prime writing memoirs. Blindly following the rule with these sentences would produce the following unidiomatic constructions: The likelihood of that’s happening is nil. He frequently felt a chance of this’s happening. He disapproved of politicians still in their prime’s writing memoirs. Careful writers will continue to think carefully about which word precedes a gerund in formal writing. Even in informal speech and writing, a construction like, â€Å"I hate my husband being passed over at work† is to be avoided. As the speaker does not, presumably, hate her husband, the better choice is, â€Å"I hate my husband’s being passed over at work.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Math or Maths?"Confused With" and "Confused About"Using "zeitgeist" Coherently

30 Best Content Research Tips That Will Make You More Influential

30 Best Content Research Tips That Will Make You More Influential Trust. Authority. Influence. What do these three things have in common? They’re all traits of successful content that establishes brands and content creators as real thought leaders. Every piece of content you publish should seek to achieve this trifecta. So, how do you create content that truly shows you’re a trustworthy and authoritative source? The answer can be summed up in one word: Research. Not the most exciting answer, right? Well, it is if you’re a dedicated content marketing nerd and you’re committed to blowing minds with amazingly in-depth stuff. The kind of stuff that digs deeper than the competition and doesn’t just make bold claims, but backs them up with facts and real data. The key to successful content research is to put a clear and repeatable process in place. In this post, we’ll cover thirty different ways you out-research and outsmart your competitor’s content marketing with better information. Roll up your sleeves and get ready to think outside the box.

Identify at least three types of project procurement contracts Essay

Identify at least three types of project procurement contracts. Describe each and discuss the risk associated with both the buyer and the seller - Essay Example This contract settle the costs incurred by the seller and a pre-determined fee above the actual costs which represent the profit enjoyed (Carstens, Richardson & Smith, 2013). The seller therefore embarks on a project without limitations to expenditure but files all expenses incurred to be passed on to the buyer. This contract exposes the buyer to more risk than the seller because valuation will contain all expenses despite cases of poor workmanship and material resource mismanagement. An example of risk is where the buyer only receives receipts of purchases that are subject to negligence of the seller who may overlook good pricing of commodities in favor of convenience. Time and Material Contracts contain elements that are characteristic of the Cost Reimbursable Contracts and The Firm Fixed Price Contract. The contracts are best applied in cases of ambiguity or unclear statement of work (Carstens, Richardson & Smith, 2013). An example is where the workers need to be increased for shorter executions with an aim of meeting challenges previously unforeseen on the project. Alternatively, engagement of experts on certain aspects of work may require such contracts. This type of contract shares the burden of risk between the sellers and buyers. The risk falls more on the partner who requires the adjustments beyond basic agreements of project procurement contract. However, most cases call for open ends on buyers cost increase during periods of