Fast food restaurant Essay

Introduction: Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with low quality preparation and served to the customer in a packaged form for take-out/take-away. History: The concept of ready-cooked food for sale is closely connected with urban development. In ancient Rome cities had street stands that sold bread and wine. A fixture of East Asian cities is the noodle shop. Flatbread and falafel are today ubiquitous in the Middle East. Popular Indian fast food dishes include vada pav, panipuri and dahi vada. In the French-speaking nations of West Africa, roadside stands in and around the larger cities continue to Sell—as they have done for generations—a range of ready-to-eat, char grilled. Meat sticks known locally as brochettes. Market size and major players †¢Dominated by McDonalds having as many as 123 outlets. †¢Domino’s pizza is present in around 274 locations. †¢Pizza hut is also catching up and it has planned to establish 147 outlets at the end of 2009. †¢Subways have established around 145 outlets. †¢Nirula’s is established in Delhi and Northern India. However, it claims to cater 50,000 guests every day. It has future expansion plans for more than 50 outlets every year, for next three years. Major players in fast food †¢McDonalds 132 outlets †¢KFC 72 outlets †¢Pizza hut 147 outlets †¢Dominos Pizza 274 outlets †¢Cafe Coffee Day 833 outlets †¢Barista 200 outlets Fast food contains high amount of †¢Calories †¢Saturated Fat †¢Carbohydrates †¢Sugar †¢Sodium †¢Proteins Why do people eat it? ?Quick and Easy ?Tastes good ?Provides satiety and comfort? It’s everywhere Dual Income families ?Work day-away from home ?Shifts in Traditional Food habits ?High income urban dwellers ?Variety of choice of foods ?Home delivery, take-away restaurants, American chains INDIA EMERGING MARKET FOR GLOBAL PLAYERS The percentage share held by foodservice of total consumer expenditure on food has increased from a very low base drastically. Eating at home remains very much ingrained in Indian culture and changes in eating habits are very slow moving with barriers to eating out entrenched in certain sectors of Indian society. The growth in nuclear families, particularly in urban India has decreased drastically. India, exposure to global media and Western cuisine and an increasing number of women joining the workforce have had an impact on eating out trends. Major players of fast food in India †¢ Mc Donalds †¢ KFC †¢ Pizza hut †¢ Dominos Pizza †¢ Coffee day †¢ Barista Kentucky Fried Chicken About the Company KFC Corporation, or KFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky. KFC is a brand and operating segment, called a â€Å"concept† of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global Restaurants Inc. KFC primarily sells chicken in form of pieces, wraps, salads and sandwiches. While its primary focus is fried chicken, KFC also offers a line of roasted chicken products, side dishes and desserts. Outside North America, KFC offers beef based products such as hamburgers or kebabs, pork based products such as ribs and other regional fare. The company was founded as Kentucky Fried Chicken by Colonel Harland Sanders in 1952, Menu items. KFC’s specialty is fried chicken served in various forms. KFC’s primary product is pressure-fried pieces of chicken made with original recipe. The other chicken offering, extra crispy, is made using a garlic marinade and double dipping the chicken in flour before deep frying in a standard industrial kitchen type machine. Kentucky Grilled Chicken – This marinated grilled chicken is targeted towards health-conscious customers. It features marinated breasts, thighs, drumsticks,and wings that are coated with the Original Recipe seasonings before being grilled. It has less fat, calories, and sodium than the Original Recipe fried chicken. Nutritional value KFC formerly used partially hydrogenated oil in its fried foods. This oil contains relatively high levels of trans fat, which increases the risk of heart disease. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) filed a court case against KFC, with the aim of making it use other types of oils or make sure customers know about Trans fat content immediately before they buy food. Advertising One of KFC’s latest advertisements is a commercial advertising its â€Å"wicked crunch box meal†. The commercial features a fictional black metal band called â€Å"Hellvetica† performing live, the lead singer then swallows fire. The commercial then shows the lead singer at a KFC eating the â€Å"wicked crunch box meal† and saying â€Å"Oh man that is hot†. In 2007, the original, non-acronymic Kentucky Fried Chicken name was resurrected and began to reappear on company marketing literature and food packaging, as well as some restaurant signage. KFC Business Strategy KFC fast-food chains are currently under the restaurant division of PepsiCo Incorporated. Some major threats include the changing attitudes of society toward healthier eating habits, KFC has more than 9,800 outlets located in 77 countries. In marketing, KFC restaurants are not restricted from locating within close proximity of other KFC restaurants. There are two alternative strategies for KFC. The first strategy involves keeping PepsiCo beverage division and snack foods division together, and a divestiture of PepsiCo restaurant division; selling Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC. MC Donald’s About the company: McDonald’s is the leading global foodservice retailer with more than 31,000 local restaurants serving more than 58 million people in 118 countries each day. More than 75% of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local men and women. The strong foundation that he built continues today with McDonald’s vision and the commitment of our talented executives to keep the shine on McDonald’s Arches for years to come. To read more about McDonald’s history, vision and executives, click on their links in the left menu. We drive our business momentum by focusing on what matters most to customers. Our owner/operators, suppliers and employees work together to meet customer needs in uniquely McDonald’s ways. The powerful combination of entrepreneurial spirit and System wide alignment around our Plan to Win enables us to execute the best ideas with both large-scale efficiency and local flair. Products McDonald’s predominantly sells hamburgers, various types of chicken sandwiches and products, French fries, soft drinks, breakfast items,and desserts. In most markets, McDonald’s offers salads and vegetarian items, wraps and other localized fare. Portugal is the only country with McDonald’s restaurants serving soup. This local deviation from the standard menu is a characteristic for which the chain is particularly known, and one which is employed either to abide by regional food taboos (such as the religious prohibition of beef consumption in India) or to make available foods with which the regional market is more familiar (such as the sale of McRice in Indonesia). Advertising. McDonald’s has for decades maintained an extensive advertising campaign. In addition to the usual media (television, radio, and newspaper), the company makes significant use of billboards and signage, sponsors sporting events ranging from Little League to the Olympic Games, and makes coolers of orange drink with their logo available for local events of all kinds. Nonetheless, television has always played a central role in the company’s advertising strategy. To date, McDonald’s has used 23 different slogans in United States advertising, as well as a few other slogans for select countries and regions. At times, it has run into trouble with its campaigns. PROBLEMS OF INDUSTRY I. Environmental friendly products cost high: Government is legislating laws in order to keep check on the fast food industry and it is emphasizing more on the usage of bio-degradable and environment friendly products. But associated with this issue is the problem that fast food player faces – the cost associated with the environment friendly product. They cost much higher than the normal products that companies uses for packaging or wrapping their products. II. Balance between societal expectation and companies economic Objectives: To balance a society’s expectation regarding environment with the economic burden of protecting the environment. Thus, one can see that one side pushes for higher standards and other side tries to beat the standard back, thereby making it a arm wrestling and mind boggling exercise. Health related issues: obesity I. Studies have shown that a typical fast food has very high density and food with high density causes people to eat more then they usually need. II. Low calories food: Emphasis is now more on low calorie food. In this line McDonald has a plan to introduce all white meat chicken. Mcnuugget is with less fat and fewer calories. Swot analysis of fast food industry Strengths †¢Quick service †¢Affordable †¢AttractionWeakness †¢Different preferences †¢Lack of customization †¢Unhygienic and unhealthy Opportunities †¢Growing nuclear families †¢Growing urban lifestyleThreats †¢Oppositions from various organization †¢Location †¢Ready-to eat †¢Health concerns ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION 1. How often do you use fast-food services? a. Daily b. Weekly c. Fortnightly d. Monthly 2. Which fast food restaurant would prefer? a. McDonalds b. KFC c. Pizza Hut d. Subway 3. What are the reasons for eating fast food? (You can tick more than 1) a. Appearance of products b. Price of the products c. Flavor of products d. Convenience of the products 4. What else do you buy when purchasing fast food’? a. Carbonated (fizzy) drinks b. Coffee, tea c. Ice cream d. Crushers 5. What time would you normally buy fast food? a. Before 12 pm b. Between 12-3 pm c. Between 6-9 pm d. 10pm or later.

Importance in the novel Essay

Explore the portrayal of Serena Joy and the Commander in the early part of the novel. Also estimate their characters importance in the novel. Serena Joy is portrayed as a frustrated, hostile and rude woman who is full of hate; which in some respects you could say she is, but her character runs much more deeply than is first apparent to the reader. This is portrayed through her characters words, actions and pursuits in many different ways. An example of this is her frustration at the little amount of freedom she is allowed. Although when compared to a character like, Offred she has a lot of freedom, she feels she doesn’t, ‘It is a little thing, but in this household little things mean a lot. ‘, ‘Many of the wives have such gardens, it’s something for them to order and maintain and care for. ‘ By having a garden like this, and being allowed to take charge of it, and look after it, she feels this gives her some importance in the community. It is a distraction, a place of escape for her from the life that she leads, which is boring and she is not happy with. This is the only freedom she is allowed in the life she leads now, which although it doesn’t mean a lot to her, it should be treasured because in Gilead to have freedom like that is unthinkable to most; this portrays Serena Joy to be a women who takes things and her status in the elite, for granted. ‘The tulips are red, a darker crimson towards the stem; as if they had been cut and are beginning to heal there. ‘ The garden to Serena Joy is also something she can take her frustration out on, as she is not supposed to harm Offred. An aspect portrayed to us immensely about her character is her great longing for children; this is shown in many of the domestic pursuits she carries out, i. e. gardening and knitting, ‘They aren’t scarves for grown men but for children. ‘ Although these are scarves supposed to be made for the Angels who are grown men, she makes the scarves in children sizes. This shows the reader how she is always thinking about children, and how she longs to have children of her own. Her garden also portrays these feelings she has about children of her own, ‘Many of the wives have such gardens, it is something for them to order and maintain and care for. ‘ She treats her garden, like you would expect her to treat a child, by caring for it lovingly with great affection. She is rude and hostile towards Offred, because she hates the fact that she is there because she can’t have children of her own, also it must be a humiliating experience for her, the thought of her husband making love to another woman, ‘So, you’re the new one, she said. She didn’t step aside to let me in, she just stood there in the door way, blocking the entrance. She wanted me to feel that I could not come into the house unless she said so. ‘ This is where the reader, feels a little compassion for Serena Joy, as she is portrayed as an awful women, who really has bought this predicament on herself; but it must be humiliating for her. Her husband is sleeping with another women, and as far as she is concerned it is because she cannot have children. She also knows that this life that she has helped to promote, is awful and she hates the way in which she has to live now. Her name is also trying to portray an image of serenity and joy, which once she as a young woman had portrayed, but now with a new way of living, her nature has come to contradict her name, ‘The woman sitting in front of me was Serena Joy. Or had once been. So it was worse than I thought. ‘ The Commander is portrayed as a man who will use his power and authority to get what he wants. He rebels against his own way of life that he has fought to promote, which portrays to us that he too is unhappy with the way he has to live his life, ‘he isn’t supposed to be here’, ‘He is violating custom’. I feel that as we read further into the novel, the way he uses his power to get what he wants will be even more strongly portrayed as part of his character to the reader. We don’t get vivid descriptions of the Commander at first. He is a character which you know is there but we don’t get to meet or see at the beginning of the novel. This portrays him as a slightly mysterious, and you never quite know when to expect him to turn up, ‘The commander stops, gets into the car, disappears, and Nick shuts the door. ‘ His clothes also gives an awe of uncertainty and mystery as he has to dress all in black, which is the colour closely associated to death. He’s a character of great importance in the society of Gilead, and we see this at the Ceremony. We see at the ceremony that he is a highly influential character too, ‘We watch him: every inch, every flicker. ‘ Everyone watches him and wants to be him, which shows he is influential, this though is just because of the power, importance and freedom he has, which all the other characters can only dream about. The first description we get of the Commander portrays him as a very ordinary looking man, ‘When you get down as far as the chin he looks like a vodka ad, in a glossy magazine, of times gone by. ‘ He looks like a friendly approachable man, which slightly contradicts the mysterious feel he has portrayed at the very beginning of the novel. As they are both characters of great power within the society, I feel they are very important in the novel as a whole, and as the book goes on their importance will increase. They are both very strong characters, and both feel that they are hard done by compared to how they used to live but they aren’t when compared to characters like Offred. This is also true of many people in the world today. They are two characters in the novel who care only for themselves and nobody else, even though they are very lucky with what they have.

Principles of Microeconomics Essay

WEEK 1 ECO 204 NEW Week 1 Quiz 1.Question :In economics, scarcity means that Student Answer: there are not sufficient resources to produce everything that people want. poverty will always exist. a country can never feed all of its citizens. the price of a good may increase more rapidly than the general price level. there is not enough of a particular good for people to buy all they want at the prevailing price. Points Received:1 of 1 Comments: 2.Question :If beans are inferior goods, a decrease in income will Student Answer: cause beans to sell at a lower price. increase the production of beans. shift the demand curve for beans to the left. shift the demand curve for beans to the right. rotate the supply curve in a clockwise manner. Points Received:1 of 1 Comments: ECO 204 NEW Week 1 DQ 1 Circular Flow Diagram Explain how the circular flow diagram relates to the current economic  situation. Using the circular flow diagram, explain a way that your family interacts in the factor market and a way that it interacts in the products market. ECO 204 NEW Week 1 DQ 2 Supply and Demand Analyze how the law of demand applies to a recent purchase that you made. Describe how the product has changed in price and explain whether the price change is due to supply or demand. Did the change in price affect your decision to purchase the item? WEEK 2 ECO 204 NEW Week 2 Raise or Lower Tuition: Nobody State University Tuition Universities must constantly weigh tuition pricing in relation to the cost of providing quality educational services. Determining where to set tuition pricing is an increasingly critical decision which administrators and university presidents must analyze when considering the university’s goals. Not only does the cost of tuition play a factor in student enrollment, it also provides a major revenue source to an institution. The question which universities must answer is, â€Å"What effect will raising or lowering the university’s tuition have on the total earned revenue? This paper investigates this question and reviews under what conditions a change in tuition prices will cause the revenue to rise, fall, or remain constant. Finally, applying a hypothetical tuition elasticity coefficient of demand for education value of -1.2, provides a tuition increase recommendation to the Nobody State University’s president and administration board based upon the university’s potential revenue impact. ECO 204 NEW Week 2 DQ 1 Elasticity Analyze the determinants of the price elasticity of demand and determine if each of the following products are elastic or inelastic: †¢bottled water †¢toothpaste †¢cookie dough ice cream †¢fresh green beans †¢gasoline In your analysis, please make sure to explain your reasoning and relate your answers to the characteristics of the determinants of the price elasticity of demand. ECO 204 NEW Week 2 DQ 2 Externalities Explain the difference between a positive and negative externality. In your analysis, make sure to provide an example of each type of externality. Why does the government need to get involved with externalities to bring about market efficiency? What solutions need to be provided for your examples? WEEK 3 ECO 204 NEW Week 3 Quiz 1.Question :When the marginal product curve is declining because of Student Answer: increasing returns, the marginal cost curve is rising. diminishing returns, the marginal cost curve is rising. diminishing returns, the marginal cost curve is falling. diminishing returns, the marginal cost curve is constant. increasing returns, the marginal cost curve is falling. Points Received:1 of 1 Comments: 2.Question :A firm that owns a wheat farm, a grain elevator, a flour mill, a commercial bakery, and a grocery store chain is Student Answer: horizontally integrated. vertically integrated. a monopoly. an imperfect competitor. a conglomerate. Points Received:1 of 1 Comments: ECO 204 NEW Week 3 DQ 1 Short and Long Run Let’s assume that you own a fast food restaurant and you are faced with many customers each day eating in the restaurant without any tables. Describe the difference between the short run and long run in the example to bringing about more tables for the customers. How is the restaurant able to differentiate between the short run and long run? ECO 204 NEW Week 3 DQ 2 Fixed and Variable Costs After reading Chapter 8 in the text and viewing the required video for this week, Fixed, variable, and marginal cost,address the following in your initial post: †¢First, describe several different fixed costs and variable costs associated with operating an automobile. †¢Next, assume that you would like to travel from Los Angeles to New York City by either car or plane. Which costs would you take into account in making your decision, fixed costs, variable costs or both? Make sure to explain your analysis in the decision that you have to make. WEEK 4 ECO 204 NEW Week 4 Quiz 1.Question :All but which one of the following are true of monopolistic competition? Student Answer: MR = MC P>MC AR = MR The demand curve the firm faces slopes downward. Entry is easy. Points Received:1 of 1 Comments: 2.Question :At the point of long-run equilibrium for a perfectly competitive firm, Student Answer: economic profits are zero. TR > TC. TR < TC. P = AVC. normal profits are zero. Points Received:1 of 1 Comments: ECO 204 NEW Week 4 DQ 1 Market Structures Explain the most important characteristic in perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopolies and relate the characteristic to how these firms can make profits in the short run. In your analysis, make sure to relate an example for each of the market structures listed and how it relates to the particular characteristics. ECO 204 NEW Week 4 DQ 2 Barriers to Entry Analyze the major barriers for entry and exit into the airline industry. Explain how each barrier can foster either monopoly or oligopoly. What barriers, if any, do you feel give rise to monopoly that will allow the government to become involved to protect consumers? WEEK 5 ECO 204 NEW Week 5 DQ 1 Transfers: Why would cash transfers typically be preferred by recipients over in-kind transfers? What are the pros and cons of each from a government perspective? Respond to at least two of your classmates ECO 204 NEW Week 5 DQ 2 Tariffs and Quotas: Who gains and who loses from a tariff? How do the effects of tariffs differ from the effects of quotas? If you were a small country, what would you rather utilize? ECO 204 NEW Week 5 Final Paper Importance of Economic Market Structures Before an organization or investor makes a strategic decision to enter a product in today’s economy, a thorough market analysis is vital to fully comprehend the domestic and international demand, current suppliers, entry and exit barriers present, and cost of production for the product or service being provided. The culmination of this investigation identifies the market structure the product resides in, associated potential long-run profitability, cost efficiency, survivability, and incentives for future entrepreneurs. This paper will describe the characteristics of four such market structures: perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, monopoly while providing an illustrative example of each. The paper further describes the competitive pressures with high entry barriers, preferred selling and buying markets, projected reaction to price changes for elastic and inelastic goods, government intervention and the expected effect of international trade on economic ma rkets. Understanding how a product and associated production firm fits into an economic market structure is vital to investors as it impacts the firm’s motivations, opportunities and business strategies. A successful economic analyst identifies the attributes of the applicable market structure, then using the known market assumptions predicts the implicit and explicit costs of production and projected market outcomes. However, in order to accurately classify the correct market structure, the economic analyst must first be aware of the defining attributes of each market. The paper next describes  the characteristics of a perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly market structure.

Journalism, Mass Media and Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Journalism, Mass Media and Communication - Essay Example Three distinct approaches can be used in persuasive writing: appeals through ethos, pathos, and logos, which are terms derived from the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, and which refer to morals, emotions or reason respectively. The two articles are compared, showing similarities and differences in the way they use these appeals, and then also instances where they use fallacies. The principle of ethos as used in the study of rhetoric can be defined as â€Å"persuasion through the moral character† (Cockcroft and Cockcroft, 2005, p. 4). In modern English, the word ethics is used in connection with making choices between good and bad actions. In rhetoric, it refers to the person who is attempting to persuade others through the written or spoken word. Ethos is defined in rhetoric as containing two separate concepts, namely personality, and stance. (Cockcroft and Cockcroft, 2005, p. 28) The personality aspect deals with how the writer presents him or herself, while stance relat es to the attitude that the writer has towards the audience or readership. In the first article, the author’s name and qualifications are given at the end of the article: â€Å"Professor Ian Hickie is the executive director of Sydney University’s Brain and Mind Research Institute† (Hickie, 2009, p.1). The academic titles â€Å"Professor† and â€Å"executive director† imply that this person is a senior member of a respected institution, with high qualifications and important responsibilities in Australian society. The purpose of this description is to inspire confidence and give the impression that this person knows more than the average individual, and is an expert, especially in the field of the human brain. The writer launches into his article with a confident statement about â€Å"really smart countries† and then issues a clear instruction: â€Å"To achieve that aim, we need to....† Another instruction, in a somewhat gentler tone, is given later such as â€Å"It’s time we really took some hard choices...† There is an even gentler suggestion towards the end: â€Å"let’s do something...† followed by a very strong direct command in the last line: â€Å"Lift the age to 19 and make a real difference now† (Hickie, 2009, p.1). This pattern shows a strong ethos of a teacher telling people what to do, using both direct instruction and more subtle persuasion, which is an example of his skill in changing his stance in relation to the readership in order to appear both authoritative and considerate. In contrast to this high-status individual, the writer of the second article, (Blake, 2010, p.1) is described without any title: â€Å"Joshua Blake is a Bachelor of Arts student at the University of Queensland.† Interestingly the author also makes specific reference to his own status in defense of a statement that he makes about Australian binge drinking culture: â€Å"How do I know this? I’m a 19-year-old who regularly sees my peers getting drunk...† (Blake, 2010, p.1). The age is cited here because the author wants to make the point that he has direct experience of the issue of age-related binge drinking connected with rites of passage in student life.  

Operations Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 2

Operations Management - Essay Example Thus no organization can afford to be involved in non-value adding activities (Brown 2005). Non-value adding activities not only increase costs but also result in poor outputs, slow delivery and reduced flexibility to respond to the market forces. In our following discussion, we will start by understanding the various theories and latest practices in the field of Operations Management (OM). We will also try to understand the practical aspects of OM and see how these are actually implemented in the real organizational context. Since we need to analyze Aldi Stores, which is a chain of retail stores, we will look at the implications of Operations management in the field of retail management. Retail has become a very competitive field today. As retail chains were the first to enter into the globalization arena, especially international sourcing, this industry has reached a very mature level of internationalization of operations. Managing these operations to obtain the real benefits of internationalization is of critical importance for these organizations. Our aim in the pursuing sections will be to see how these concepts and theories of operations management as a whole (and in specific relation to the retail industry) can be used for obtaining operational excellence at Aldi Stores. Hence, we will first look at operations management examples that have provided competitive advantage to Aldi as well as its competitors Tesco, ASDA and J Sainsbury. This will be followed by a discussion on some OM problems being faced by these companies. A major concern of this field of management is the cost of implementation as it is highly dependent on technology. Thus, we will analyze the costs and benefits accrued from OM implementation at Aldi. After analyzing all aspects of the operations management we will look at some solutions to the problems faced by Aldi in this respect and arrive at some concrete recommendations for its

Diabetes Type 1 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Diabetes Type 1 - Research Paper Example The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are over 177 million cases worldwide and this number will increase to at least 370 million by 2030 (Gad et al., 2003). Further, the disease is associated with a series of secondary health complications. Diabetes Mellitus (DM) Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is characterized by persistent and variable hyperglycemia (high blood glucose levels). Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM), also known as insulin-dependent DM, childhood DM, or juvenile-onset DM, most commonly presents in children and adolescents. The typical age of onset is less than 25 years (Pepper, 2006). Also, in contrast to T2DM, T1DM occurrence is typically in individuals who are lean rather than obese (Myers, 2005). T1DM constitutes approximately 10% of all individuals with DM and occurs mainly in populations of Europe and North America (Champe et al., 2005; Gillespie, 2006). T1DM is increasing in incidence globally at a rate of about 3% per year (Champe et al., 2005). Like all t ypes of DM, T1DM is associated with increased risk for and a high incidence of certain complications. Hence, DM in general has been considered a syndrome of metabolic abnormalities (i.e. metabolic disorder of glucose, protein, lipids, water and electrolytes), microvascular disease (i.e. retinopathy, neuropathy, and nephropathy), and macrovascular disease (i.e. ... T1DM patients are often young at the time of diagnosis. Although the pathogenic factors are active early on, complications usually develop later as the disease progresses and are not as common during early stages. Etiology of T1DM Type 1 diabetes is the result of the loss of ? cells, which subsequently leads to insufficient secretion of insulin. It is generally accepted that Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (IDDM) is an autoimmune disease. The exact cause or causes of the disease are still unclear, however, a combination of genetic and environmental factors seem to be involved. Evidence for a genetic susceptibility to IDDM is shown through family studies. Approximately 6% of siblings of people with T1D will also develop the disease, as compared with a prevalence of .4% in the general population (Levin and Tomer 2003; Leoni 2003). Children of diabetics also have a higher risk of acquiring diabetes: about 3-6% of diabetic offspring get diabetes, compared with .4% of the general popu lation. Intriguingly, the gender of the diabetic parent also seems to contribute to disease transmission, with offspring of diabetic fathers being at a greater risk (about 9%) than those of diabetic mothers (about 3%). Data from twin studies (i.e. Levin and Tomer 2003; Leoni 2003) also seem to strongly suggest a genetic predisposition to IDDM. Concordance rates for monozygotic twins vary between 35 - 70%, while the concordance rates for dizygotic twins is about 11 %. These rates increase with the time since proband diagnosis; for example, concordance is 43% within 12 years of proband diagnosis, and 50% within 40 years. Age of proband diagnosis also seems to be a crucial factor: the concordance rate for twins of

RESEARCH ISSUES IN HUMAN RSCOURCE MANAGEMENT Essay

RESEARCH ISSUES IN HUMAN RSCOURCE MANAGEMENT - Essay Example For example, interpersonal hostility may have deleterious effects on both the job satisfaction and well-being of victims (Mikkelsen and Einarsen, 2001; Tepper 2000; Ashforth 1997; Einarsen and Raknes 1997). What is more, interpersonal hostility may also lead to high costs for organisations, in the form of increased absenteeism and higher turnover of personnel, decreased commitment and productivity, and negative publicity (Hoel, Einarsen and Cooper 2003; Tepper 2000). For society as a whole, this may lead to lower productivity, early retirements and increased health costs. As a consequence, many nations have adopted or are planning to adopt laws promoting dignity at work or banning different forms of work harassment. Workplace violence and bullying has been identified as a vital concern by trade unions in Britain and in many countries for several years now. As it is, many reports have vividly demonstrated the pain, psychological distress, physical illness and career damage suffered by victims of bullying, however, academic research began only recently. The most developed research comes from Scandinavia (Vartia 1996; Niedl 1996), where there is strong public awareness; government funded research, and established anti-bullying legislation. Bullying presents significant methodological problems for researchers. A crucial difficulty is that of definition as no clear agreement exists on what constitutes adult bullying. Although physical bullying is seldom reported, the workplace presents opportunities for a wide range of menacing schemes and devices. Five classifications of bullying behaviour have been provided (Rayner & Hoel 1997) -- threat to professional status (belittling opinion, public professional humiliation, accusation of lack of effort); threat to personal standing (name calling, insults, teasing); isolation (preventing access to opportunities such as training, withholding information); overwork (undue pressure to produce work, impossible deadlines, unnecessary disruptions); and destabilisation (failure to give credit when due, meaningless tasks, removal of responsibility, shifting of goal posts). There have been three main approaches to research into workplace bullying. The first has been qualitative and individualistic in perspective, identifying a role for the individual in terms of vulnerability to bullying or a propensity to bully (Crawford 1997; Lockhart 1997; Randall 1997) and explaining the dynamics of bully-victim relationships. The second approach is descriptive and epidemiological and is usually based on self report. These studies document the prevalence of workplace bullying, the types experienced, age and sex differences, who is told, what action is taken, etc. The third approach is influenced by theories and constructs in organisational psychology and has focused on the interaction between the individual and the organisation and how aspects of the organisational structure and climate of the workplace may encourage the development of a bullying culture (Rayner 1997). For researchers who

Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Questions - Essay Example These incidences drive Esperanza to vow to move away from Mango Street but with an intention of coming back to take those who cannot get away. However, it is because of her life in the house on Mango Street that she finds her true self. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce begins with a vivid description of the scene just before the hanging of Peyton Farquhar. Payton thinks of his family and he is deluded into thinking that he can actually escape the hanging to be with his family. Bierce uses a vivid and plausible approach to describe the realities of life. The story then does into a flashback and describes Farquhar as a 35-year-old gentlemanly planter. It is implied that he was tricked by a federal scout, disguised as a confederate solder, into sabotaging the Owl creek bridge. We learn of Farquhar’s ironic and poignant estate, as he never imagined that others who were equally devoted to victory could ever deceive him. Farquhar’s life is the portrait of a doomed way of life. Sandra Cisnero was a Latino woman who realized the uniqueness of experiences as unique and outside the American culture realm in terms of the experiences and imagination. The characters on the House on Mango Street are real and she incorporates her major concerns of life into the novel; poverty cultural division, degradation, oppression, religion, feminism and love. It is through Esperanza that the reader gets a glimpse into the kind of person that Sandra Cisnero is; her views on herself, life and the effect of poverty on her present and future. By understanding this past, the reader can relate to the book. On of the most important events in my life was marked by the securing of a great job when I joined university. Even graduates dreamt of this great opportunity. I considered myself luck in many levels. I was experiencing financial stability that I had

Death of A Marriage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Death of A Marriage - Essay Example In my lifÐ µ, and spÐ µcifically in my marriagÐ µ, I havÐ µ undÐ µrgonÐ µ Ð µxpÐ µriÐ µncÐ µs which support thÐ µ points of both of thÐ µsÐ µ authors. I havÐ µ liÐ µd to protÐ µct my partnÐ µr’s fÐ µÃ µlings, and wÐ µ havÐ µ liÐ µd to oursÐ µlvÐ µs togÐ µthÐ µr as a tÐ µam, whilÐ µ thinking that wÐ µ wÐ µrÐ µ bÐ µing moral. As Еricsson notÐ µs, wÐ µ all liÐ µ. It is nÐ µarly impossiblÐ µ to gÐ µt through lifÐ µ without strÐ µtching thÐ µ truth; it is oftÐ µn in our sÐ µlf intÐ µrÐ µst to do so, and wÐ µ Ð µxcusÐ µ thÐ µ bÐ µhavior if it gÐ µts us ahÐ µad. â€Å"WÐ µ liÐ µ. WÐ µ all do. WÐ µ Ð µxaggÐ µratÐ µ, wÐ µ minimizÐ µ, wÐ µ avoid confrontation, wÐ µ sparÐ µ pÐ µoplÐ µ's fÐ µÃ µlings, wÐ µ convÐ µniÐ µntly forgÐ µt, wÐ µ kÐ µÃ µp sÐ µcrÐ µts, wÐ µ justify lying to thÐ µ big-guy institutions. LikÐ µ most pÐ µoplÐ µ, I indulgÐ µ in small falsÐ µhoods† (Еricsson, 2011). In my m arriagÐ µ, my spousÐ µ and I both rÐ µalizÐ µ this, and wÐ µ also rÐ µalizÐ µ it about Ð µach othÐ µr. WhÐ µn wÐ µ fight, wÐ µ may call Ð µach othÐ µr liars, but on a basic lÐ µvÐ µl, wÐ µ both know that lying is somÐ µthing wÐ µ also do togÐ µthÐ µr. Еricsson dÐ µscribÐ µs this act of lying togÐ µthÐ µr in social groups, in hÐ µr Ð µssay as groupthink.

Age Discrimination And Its Impact On Career Building Case Study

Age Discrimination And Its Impact On Career Building - Case Study Example Jack Gross decided to sue the company in an effort to prove that it was age discrimination acting as the rationale for why he had been shifted in the company and his job responsibilities slowly taken away and given to younger staff members. The courts found enough evidence to favor the position of Jack Gross, however, FBL appealed the decision, taking it to a higher court. Eventually, the case reached the Supreme Court who upheld the decisions of the lower courts, deciding that there was ample evidence available that discrimination was the cause of his career status position change. Gross was awarded damages as identified by the ADEA, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. This act provides compensatory damages when discrimination is found to have been the deciding factor for making improper age-related decisions in the workplace. The include damages that are determined equal to the level of humiliation, injury, pain, and suffering, or professional reputation damage that has occurred (elinfonet.com, 2010). Then Justice C. Thomas of the Supreme Court identified as the final appeal was considered, â€Å"under the ADEA the plaintiff retains the burden of persuasion to establish that age was the ‘but-for cause of the employer's adverse action† (laborlawyers.com, 2009, p.2). Because of the nature of how his position had been shifted and mismanaged, there was enough evidence and/or testimony to make the court system believe that Gross had been deliberately targeted for age discrimination and it was the aforementioned but-for cause of his shifts within the company. Under the ADEA, and in the case of Mr. Gross, he may have been awarded compensation in the form of back pay, which is another provision for damages available when all of the criteria have been met for proving the but-for reasoning (elinfonet.com).

Growing afraid Essay Example for Free

Growing afraid Essay Pip describes the afternoon as being raw, which describes the bitterness of the weather, the weather is almost attacking Pip. The graveyard can be described as very old because overgrown with nettles lays a churchyard, which is uncared for and in an instant it could just crumble away. Pip again adds significant words, as he repeats all of the names on the gravestones, Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias and Roger that have died in this harsh place, Pip reads it as if it were a list with so many people there, who have been there for a long period of time. Dark, flat, wilderness beyond the churchyard again explains the lack of community and the Isolation around the area. Dickens personifies wind as the wind was rushing, as if it were rushing to get Pip who was at the time a small bundle of shivers growing afraid. The marshlands had an effect not only on Pip, but the convict also, the convict had been smothered in mud and lamed by stones and cut by flints, and stung by nettles and torn by briars, showing he had escaped for a long time and had spent most of his time hiding in the marshlands. As the convict roughly treats Pip, he tilts him over, gradually down to the floor, he gives Pip a greater sense of helplessness and danger which adds to the atmosphere significantly. Toward the end of the chapter, a sad atmosphere is created, as the convict hugged his shuddering body in both arms clasping himself as if to hold himself together. The convict limps toward the low church wall producing an image of one who is close to death. Pip creates another childish imagination but this one describes the dead rising up stretching up cautiously out of their graves, showing how much fear he had in him at the time. The marshes are depicted as just a long black horizontal line with the sky being just like a row of long angry red lines and dense black lines intermixed, describing the darkness, and anger in Pips world. Charles Dickens leaves you with eerie images of death, of a limping man, as if he were a pirate come to life and come down and going back to hook himself up again. We are introduced to Miss Havisham first as an immensely rich and grim lady, a notorious woman who lived in a large house that was heavily barricaded against robbers. She is described as living a life of seclusion which leads us to believe that she is isolated, miserable and depressed. Pip describes her as being the strangest lady he had ever seen. She was dressed in rich materials, satins, lace and silks, all that are symbols of wealth. She had a long white veil dependent from her hair which makes us believe that she is a bit odd wearing bridal wear for no apparent reason. Her hair was white which symbolizes that she is quite old. Another symbol of wealth is created because she had some bright jewels sparkling around her neck. Pip states that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress which is another clue to her being quite old. We are given another unhealthy image of Miss Havisham, of her dying, the book reflects this by stating that there was no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes and her figure had hung loose and had shrunk to skin and bone. She states that she had never seen the sun since she was born, this makes the reader feel that she is again isolated and hiding away from life outside. She is also a cold-hearted person, because she says that her heart was broken with an eager look on her face. We learn that she despises adults, and that she acts like a child, the novel portrays this by stating that she has sick fancies and she orders Pip with an impatient movement of the hand to play. When Estella came to play with Pip, Miss Havisham says to Estella that she can break Pips heart, this indicates that Miss Havisham has set out to seek revenge on men, and that is one of the reasons why she brought Pip to her house. There is a sense that life has ceased for Miss Havisham, the book shows this by stating that her silk stocking once white, now yellow had been trodden ragged. Pip says that the frillings and trimmings on her bridal dress looked like earthy paper which describes it as being fragile, like Miss Havisham herself. After Pip had finished playing cards with Estella, Miss Havisham states You shall go home soon, Play the game out this illustrates to the reader that she is depressed and emotionally hurt, and is not to used to the company of others, so she sends him away. She had an appearance of dropped body and soul, within and without, under the weight of a crushing blow which leads us to believe that the marriage which didnt take place, has caused her to drop her body and drop her soul. Miss Havisham once again thinks highly of herself, acting as if she owns Pip, she expresses this by stating When shall I have you here again? . We also learn that she is a misguided woman because she says she doesnt know anything about the days of the week, or the weeks of the year. We first learn that Estella is selfish and speaks in an scornful manner to anyone she isnt familiar with, the evidence of this is that after Pip politely said that she could go in first, she replied by saying Dont be ridiculous boy; I am not going in and she also left Pip in the dark by taking the candle with her. When Pip called her name out to play with him, she didnt come straight away, she took her time, deliberately trying to be awkward. When Miss Havisham tried the jewel on Estella, she obviously had intentions for her to get married. Estella thinks she is better than Pip, the evidence of this is that when she was ordered by Miss Havisham to play with Pip, she replied With this boy! Why he is a common labouring boy! . When Estella asked Pip what games he played, she asked it in the greatest disdain which makes us believe she is strict and again scornful and looks down on lower classes. Estella is used as a weapon, a heartbreaker by Miss Havisham, who as we know wants to treat men as she was treated, Miss havisham illustrates this by stating beggar him to Estella. Estella has no respect for Pip and thinks highly of herself and no one else, the evidence of this is that she says, he calls the knaves, jacks this boy! and what coarse hands he has. This leaves an effect on Pip as he becomes ashamed of his hands. She was watching Pip creating tension, trying to make him do wrong, so that she could insult him more on his faults. Pip tells us this by stating she was lying in wait for me to do wrong; and she denounced me for a stupid, clumsy labouring boy As Pip was whispering to Miss Havisham, even though she wasnt saying anything, Estella was making Pip say nice things about her with her eyes, the evidence of this is that she was looking at Pip with look of supreme aversion. As the game between Pip and Estella finished, Estella threw all of the cards down as if she despised them for having been won of Pip, this shows that Estella is spiteful, treats Pip disdainfully and she is very proud. Estella was to told feed Pip, so she put the food down on the ground without looking at Pip as if Pip was a dog in disgrace, this shows that Estella again thinks Pip as being lower class and she has contempt for Pip. Estella had made Pip cry, she looked at him with quick delight as being the cause of the tears, this proves she has no feelings and is satisfied for making him cry, this makes her not a likeable character at all. The first Impressions of Miss Havisham`s house is that it is a huge house filled with mystery, dismal house, barricaded against robbers which reflects the owners feelings. The house can furthermore be described as bleak and nervous for anyone who approaches it, with its great front entrance having two chains across it. It is a dark, gloomy place, with a sense of bad experiences. The text tells us this by stating, the passages were all dark and still it was dark, and only the candle lighted us. Miss Havisham`s room was also dark, she obviously prefers darkness, and all of the candles represent the light in the room, the evidence of this is that a pretty large room, well lighted with candles and no glimpse of daylight was to be seen in it. There is a sense of chaos in the room as everything is untidy, dresses and half-packed trunks were scattered about also Miss Havisham only had one shoe on. Everything was left as it was years ago, all confusedly heaped about the looking glass. Pip relates Miss Havisham to a waxwork he had once seen, with her skin sallow. He also makes a reference to death by describing a skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress. Miss Havisham is almost a ghost in her own house, the evidence of this is that waxwork and skeleton seemed to have dark eyes that moved. All of the watches and clocks in her room had stopped at twenty minutes to nine, which is deliberate and could be linked with her marriage that didnt take place. Pip is made to feel vulnerable, he has no choice but to do what Miss Havisham says, this is because he had the desperate idea of starting round the room meaning that he had to embarrass himself in front of Miss Havisham. She asked Pip if he was sullen and obstinate, he is obviously very misunderstood. Miss Havisham becomes frustrated with him and pitiful for him, the book expresses this by stating So new to him So old to me So melancholy to both of us! Miss Havisham again makes Pip feel discomfort as he is made to shout out Estella in a dark and mysterious passage of an un-known house again he is made to embarrass himself. Another sense that life has seized for Miss Havisham is that there are pale, decayed objects which also creates a deathly and unsettling atmosphere. Pip also describes her clothes as grave-clothes and her long veil looking like a shroud both of which are linked with a corpse. As Pip leaves Miss Havisham`s house, he states that the rush of daylight quite confounded him, this is another clue that the house is a very dark place. Toward the end of the chapter, we feel pity for Pip, because Estella treats him so badly, but he is strong because he refuses to cry in the presence of her, even though his feelings are bitter. This also shows that he wishes he had come from a family who were more of an upper class, than the family he was brought up with, because then maybe Estella would have treated him better.

Crime and Rival Gang Member Essay Example for Free

Crime and Rival Gang Member Essay The Outsiders tells a story about two kids named Johnny and Ponyboy who are in a gang called the Greasers. They live in a wrong doing world of gangs and fights. After Johnny protects Ponyboy by killing a rival gang member named Bob, the two boys run away. A young criminal named Dally helps them escape. After an incident with a burning church Johnny dies and Dally dies soon after because of the sorrow Johnny’s death caused him. In the novel The Outsiders, S. E Hinton demonstrates that violence can lead to nothing more than emotional hardships, crime, and death. The smallest act of crime can often lead to inner adversity. For instance, Johnny’s parents would beat him and left him feeling safer in a gang or in a parking lot. Due to the parents hurting Johnny he was forced to live a life in a gang, a life of crime, and violence. Johnny felt as if no cared and that even if he lived in a gang his parents wouldn’t do anything. Another example is when Darry hits Ponyboy for being late home and Ponyboy runs away. Darry â€Å"wheeled around and slapped (Ponyboy) so hard that it knocked (him) against the door,† that causes emotional tension that gets in the way of family. A small act of violence makes Ponyboy dash away from their home and create division between the two brothers. The final example is when Johnny dies and Ponyboy gets traumatized. The death of Johnny made Ponyboy so confused that he altered and denied reality. Ponyboy was significant on Ponyboy he wasn’t in the right mind for a while. Crime is frequently the result of an act of violence. The felony of Bob trying to kill Pony boy left Johnny having to kill him. ‘They put you in the electric chair for killing people,’ and it is only because violence was committed. The crime of Bob trying to kill Ponyboy resulted in his death. The gangs fought and did many illegal things that made them always on the look out for cops. Just because people may not like each other doesn’t mean crime need s to be committed. Most of the time crime is involved people get hurt. Lastly Dally robbed a grocery store and the cops ended up firing their weapons at him. When a misdeed happens it is either caused by violence or started with violence whether it’s the police or a gang. The felony Dally committed soon after cost him his life. One of the most cruel and harsh effects of felony is the consequence of death. One example is that Johnny gets beaten up by Socs and the next time they try and harm him he kills Bob. The fear that the Socs would hurt him resorted to Johnny killing Bob. A kid with a pocketknife who is scared to get hurt can lead to a devastation effect. Secondly is when Johnny dies in the fire. The murder of Bob made Johnny run away and directed him into feeling like he had to risk his life to save the kids in the church. Because Johnny was guilty with murder it sadly lead to his death. In the end of it all he died because of his act of violence to Bob. Lastly the message repeats itself when Dally dies out of sorrow of Johnny’s death. The death of one made Dally kill himself by pulling a gun on the cops. Johnny’s death was the cause and end of Dally’s. Violence is an action that can only end in pain and misery. Violence in today’s society would lead to the collapse of a civilized world. As the world advances with protection and security, less hostility will be shown and the world will become a better place for future generations. With all the progress in technology we shall never expel violence itself. Although violence won’t be destroyed, it is up to us to suppress or reduce death and acts of violence. The world needs to try and stop the terrible action from ever happening again.

Spin Coherent State in Real Parameterization SU(4)

Spin Coherent State in Real Parameterization SU(4) Coherent states in SU(4) of spin systems and calculate the Berry phase for qudit with spin 3/2 particle in SU(4) in quantum mechanics Yadollah Farahmand*, ZABIALAH HEIDARNEZHAD**, Fatemeh Heidarnezhad***, Fatemeh Heydari*** and Kh . Kh Muminov* Abstract In this paper, we develop the formulation of the spin coherent state in real parameterization SU(4).we obtain Berry phase from Schrdinger equation. For vector states, basic kets are coherent states in real parameterization. Wecalculate Berry phase for qudit with spin S=3/2 in SU(3) group and Berry phase. Key words: quantum mechanics, Schrdinger equation ,coherent state ,SU(n)group , Quadrupole moment , Berry phase. Introduction In 1984 Berry published a paper [1] which has until now deeply influenced the physical community. In mechanics (including classical mechanics as well as quantum mechanics), theGeometric phase, or the Pancharatnam-Berry phase (named after S. Pancharatnam and Sir Michael Berry), also known as the Pancharatnam phase or, more commonly, Berry phase[2], Therein he considers cyclic evolutions of systems under special conditions, namely adiabatic ones. He finds that an additional phase factor occursin contrast to the well-known dynamical phase factor. is a phase acquired over the course of a cycle, when the system is subjected to cyclic adiabatic processes, resulting from the geometrical properties of the parameter space of the Hamiltonian. Apart from quantum mechanics, it arises in a variety of other wave systems, such as classical optics [3].As a rule of thumb, it occurs when ever there are at least two parameters affecting a wave, in the vicinity of some sort of singularity or some sort o f hole in the topology. In nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, the state of a system is described by the vector of the Hilbert space (the wave function) ∈ H which depends on time and some set of other variables depending on the considered problem. The evolution of a quantum system in time t is described by the Schrodinger equation We consider a quantum system described by a Hamiltonian H that depends ona multidimensional real parameter R which parameterizes the environment of the system. The time evolution is described by the timedependent Schrodinger equation We can choose at any instant a basis of eigen statesfor the Hamiltonian labelled by the quantum number n such that the eigen value equation is fulfilled We assume that the energy spectrum of H is discrete, that the eigen values are not degenerated and that no level crossing occurs during the evolution. Suppose the environment and therefore R(t) is adiabatically varied, that means the changes happen slowly in time compared to the characteristic time scale of the system. The system starts in the n-the nergy eigen state then according to the adiabatic theorem the system stays over the whole evolution in the n-the igen state of the instant Hamiltonian. But it is possible that the state gains some phase factor which does not affect the physical state. Therefore the state of the system can be written as One would expect that this phase factor is identical with the dynamical phase factorwhich is the integral over the energy eigenvalues but it is not forbidden by the adiabatic theorem and the Schrodinger equation to add another term which is called the Berry phase [4-8] We can determine this additional term by inserting the an sat z (4) together with equation (6) into the Schrodinger equation (1). This yields with the simplifying notation R ≠¡R(t) After taking the inner product (which should be normalized) with we get and after the integration where we introduced the notation Then the total change in the phase of the wave function is equal to theintegra The respective local form of the curvature has only two nonzero components: The expression for the Berry phase (14) can be rewritten as a surface integral of the components of the local curvature form. Using Stokes formulae, we obtain the following expression where S is a surface in and are components of the local curvature form .[9] Berrys phase for coherent state in SU(4) group for a spin particle (qudit) We consider reference state as for a spin-3/2 particle (qudit) in SU(4) in nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. Coherent state in real parameter in this group is in the following form [10-12] where |0i is reference state and is Wigner function. Quadrupole moment is Octupole moment is If we insert all above calculation in coherent state, obtain: Discussion Geometric phases are important in quantum physics and are now central to fault tolerant quantum computation. We have presented a detailed analysis of geometrical phase that can arise within general representations of coherent states in real parameterization in SU(4). Berry phase also change in similar method. We can continues this method to obtain Berry phase in SU(N) group, where N ≠¥ 5 . we can also obtain Berry phase from complex variable base ket, we conclusion that result in two different base ket is similar. Berry phase application in optic, magnetic resonance, molecular and atomic physics [13,14] . References [1] M. V. Berry, â€Å"Quantal phase factors accompanying adiabatic changes,†Proc.R. Soc. Lond. A 392 (1984) 45–57. [2] S. Pancharatnam, Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci. A44, 247-262 (1956). [3] M.V. Berry, J. Mod. Optics 34, 1401-1407 (1987). [4] M. V. Berry. Quantal phase factors accompanying adiabatic changes. Proc. Roy. Soc. London, A329(1802):45-57, (1984). [5] J. J. Sakurai. Modern quantum mechanics, (1999). [6] Yadollah Farahmand, Zabialah Heidarnezhad, Fatemeh Heidarnezhad, Kh Kh Muminov, Fatemeh Heydari, A Study of Quantum Information and Quantum Computers. Orient J Chem., Vol. 30 (2), Pg. 601-606 ( 2014) [7] Yadollah Farahmand, Zabialah Heidarnezhad, Fatemeh Heidarnezhad, Fatemeh Heydari, Kh Kh Muminov, Presentation Quantum Computation Based on Many Level Quantum System and SU(n) Cohered States and Qubit, Qutrit and Qubit Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Technique and Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance. Chem Sci Trans.,vol 3(4), 1432-1440(2014) [8] Yadollah Farahmand, Zabialah Heidarnezhad, Fatemeh Heidarnezhad, Fatemeh Heydari, Kh Kh Muminov,Seyedeh Zeinab Hoosseinirad, Presentation Entanglemen States and its Application in Quantum Computation. Orient J Chem., Vol. 30 (2), Pg. 821-826 ( 2014) [9] M. O. Katanaev, arXiv:0909.0370v2 [math-ph] 18 Nov (2009). [10] V.S. Ostrovskii, Sov. Phys. JETP 64(5), 999, (1986). [11] Kh. O. Abdulloev, Kh. Kh. Muminov. Coherent states of SU(4) group  in real parameterization and Hamiltonian equations of motion. Reports of  Tajikistan Academy of science V.36, N6, I993 (in Russian). [12] Kh. O. Abdulloev, Kh. Kh. Muminov. Accounting of quadrupole dynamics  of magnets with spin . Proceedings of Tajikistan Academy of Sciences, N.1,  1994, P.P. 28-30 (in Russian). [13] T. Bitter and D. Dubbers. Manifestation of berry,s topology phase in neutron  spin rotation. Phys. Rev. Lett, 59:251-254, (1987). [14] D. Suter, Gerard. C, Chingas, Robert. A, Harris and A. Pines, Molecular  Phys, 1987, V. 61, NO. 6, 1327-1340.

Recommendations :: essays papers

Recommendations Advice is something given, usually freely, even when unasked for. There are so many well- meaning people in the world that want to give out pearls of wisdom, I am often inundated with ideas on all manner things. How to shop for a home; buy a car; apply for credit; deal with my love life, blah blah blah. The list seems to go on and on forever. Everyone has a better way of doing something, and it's almost enough to make me go crazy to have to listen to it all. However, there have been incredibly wise bits of knowledge passed on to me, that while I may not have understood them at the time, seem almost profound in hindsight. Three of these are, don't go around fighting; watch how I use credit; and finally, watch whom you trust. When I was in highschool, I was a skinny little kid; I was a natural target for bullies. As I got a little older, I learned to fight. My parents were happy that I was learning something that would help me physically, as well as with my confidence. Indeed, I no longer walked around like a victim; the problem was that I seemed to be looking for trouble. One day, as was sure to happen, I got into a fight. No one was hurt, but my parents still got involved. After an excruciatingly long lecture on how one stupid act could ruin my life, I was sent on my way. "Boy," I thought, "they sure don't have a clue about how life is today." Fortunately for me, I did listen, even though I didn't understand. The next month a saw a young man arrested for hitting someone. The fight started over a girl, and for hitting another person, the young man went to jail for five months. His career in law-enforcement was ruined before it even had a chance to start. Another wonderful bit of advice my parents gave me was in the usage of credit. "You can have too much credit. After awhile, it becomes a perpetual monster in your life." At the time I was only nineteen or so, with no idea of what interest charges were, and the thought of all the spending power I could have, just waiting for me to come apply was almost overwhelming. As soon as I was able, I got all the easy credit I was allowed to get on my way to the American dream.

Criticism of Religion in Voltaire’s Candide Essay -- Candide essays

Criticism of Religion in Voltaire’s Candide In his novel Candide, Voltaire often criticized religious beliefs of the times. His criticism of religion surfaces throughout the entire story. The kindness of the Anabaptist that Candide met showed the silliness of religious prejudices. The old woman's story of her father, Pope Urban X, and the life of wealth she lived as a child shows the corruption of the Catholic clergy. Finally, the conversation Candide and Cacambo had with the old man in Eldorado shows the benefits of a simple religion, a contrast of the European religions of the time. During the eighteenth century, the Anabaptists were often persecuted and hated because of their radical religious beliefs. Voltaire attacked this custom with his description of the kindness of an Anabaptist by the name of James. Candide found himself in Holland, a Christian country, with no food or work, so he asked one of the Protestant citizens for some bread. After Candide did not admit that the pope was the antichrist, the Protestant yelled at him, "You don't deserve to eat... go you scoundr...

Albert Einstein Essays -- Essay s Papers

Albert Einstein Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm Germany. He lived there with his parents, Herman and Pauline. After a year in Ulm, due to the failure of his father's electrical and engineering workshop, the Einstein family moved to Munich (the capital of Bavaria), where after a year in residence there, Einstein's mother had Maja, Einstein's sister. Despite the fact that he was Jewish, from age five until age ten, Einstein attended a Catholic School near his home. But, at age 10, Einstein was transferred to the "Luitpold Gymnasium," where Latin, Greek, History, and Geography were pounded into childrens' heads. His parents wanted him to finish school, get his diploma so he could go to a University, and then become an electrical engineer. But Einstein had other Ideas for his future. Einstein's father wanted him to attend a university but he could not because he did not have a diploma from the Gymnasium. But there was a solution to this problem over the Alps, in Zurich, there was The Swiss F ederal Institute of Technology which did not require a diploma to attend. The one thing it did require was the applicant to pass an entrance exam. But then yet another problem arose, most scholars were 18 when they entered the institute, and Einstein was only 16. Einstein took the risk, and in the autumn he was dispatched over the Alps. Einstein took the exam, but did not pass. The principal of the school was impressed with his abilities, so he was admitted to the cantontal scho... Albert Einstein Essays -- Essay s Papers Albert Einstein Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm Germany. He lived there with his parents, Herman and Pauline. After a year in Ulm, due to the failure of his father's electrical and engineering workshop, the Einstein family moved to Munich (the capital of Bavaria), where after a year in residence there, Einstein's mother had Maja, Einstein's sister. Despite the fact that he was Jewish, from age five until age ten, Einstein attended a Catholic School near his home. But, at age 10, Einstein was transferred to the "Luitpold Gymnasium," where Latin, Greek, History, and Geography were pounded into childrens' heads. His parents wanted him to finish school, get his diploma so he could go to a University, and then become an electrical engineer. But Einstein had other Ideas for his future. Einstein's father wanted him to attend a university but he could not because he did not have a diploma from the Gymnasium. But there was a solution to this problem over the Alps, in Zurich, there was The Swiss F ederal Institute of Technology which did not require a diploma to attend. The one thing it did require was the applicant to pass an entrance exam. But then yet another problem arose, most scholars were 18 when they entered the institute, and Einstein was only 16. Einstein took the risk, and in the autumn he was dispatched over the Alps. Einstein took the exam, but did not pass. The principal of the school was impressed with his abilities, so he was admitted to the cantontal scho...

10th Grade Biology Textbook Analysis

10th Grade Biology Textbook Analysis: A Readability Study Teachers should consider assessing the textbooks they are planning to use in the classroom. Textbook evaluations and assessing students’ connections with texts are important tasks for content area teachers and students (Vacca, 2002). Teachers are constantly assessing the suitability of reading material for their students. Readability can be defined as the grade level at which a document is written. Readability is concerned with the factors that affect students’ success in reading and understanding a text.These factors include the legibility of the print and illustrations, the motivation and interest of the reader, and the reading level of the text in relation to the reading ability of the reader (Johnson, 1998). These key ideas of readability are at the heart of choosing the best textbooks for students. There are many readability formulas or indexes teachers can use to objectively measure the readability of textb ooks. Many readability formulas have been developed as a result of research evidence (Johnson, 1998).Most readability formula and index values are calculated by measuring sentence length and word familiarity or word length to determine a grade-level score for text passages (Vacca, 2002). There are several widely used readability formulas. The Fry Readability Graph was developed by Edward Fry in 1977 for the purpose of predicting readability. It is a quick and simple readability formula. He used the common formula variables of syllables per 100 words and words per sentence.The user marks the counts of the variables on a graph and then reads the readability grade score directly from it. The graph was designed to identify the grade-level score for materials from grade 1 though college and can predict the difficulty of the material within one grade level (Vacca, 2002). Flesch-Kincaid Formula was developed to be used as a US Government Department of Defense standard test. The formula use s two factors: the average number of syllables per 100 words and the average number of words per sentence.The score in this case indicates a grade level (Johnson, 1998). Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Index is automatically calculated on Microsoft ® Word documents. Microsoft ® Word will display readability statistics after it has completed a grammar check, which is accessible from the tool bar (Arnold, n. d. ). Dale-Chall Readability Formula has a 3,000 â€Å"familiar word† list which is used as a guide to identify â€Å"difficult words†. This formula uses two factors: the average sentence length and the percentage of unfamiliar, or difficult, words (Intervention, n. . ). Gunning’s ‘FOG’ Readability Formula is suitable for secondary and older primary age groups. Gunning proposed counting words of three or more syllables, assigning them as â€Å"hard words†. The formula is based on two counts, that of average sentence length and the percentage of â€Å"hard words† (Johnson, 1998). The ‘SMOG’ Formula tends to give higher values than the other formulas because it was intended to predict the level necessary for 90 – 100% comprehension of the reading material, i. e. when the SMOG formula yields a readability score of ten for a particular textbook, the students reading on a tenth grade level will be reading the material with 90 to 100% accuracy (Johnson, 1998). FORCAST Formula was devised for assessing US army technical manuals and is not suitable for primary age materials. But, because it is one of the only formulas that does not need whole sentences, it is suitable for assessing notes and test questions. The only factor used to calculate the FORCAST formula is the number of single-syllable words found in a sample of 150 total words (Johnson, 1998).According to Vacca (2002), the Close Procedure does not use a formula to determine readability. This procedure determines how well students can read a p articular reading passage as a result of their interaction with the reading material. In this method every nth word is deleted from the passage, leaving a blank in its space. The passage is given to students to fill in the missing words and the completed passage is used to evaluate students’ ability to accurately supply the missing words.The General Textbook Readability Checklist is a checklist that focuses on the understandability, usability, and interestability of a textbook. This purpose of this study was to examine textbook readability by applying several readability formulas, including the Fry Readability Graph, Flesch-Kincaid Formula, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Index, Dale-Chall Readability Formula, Gunning ‘FOG’ Readability Formula, McLaughlin ‘SMOG’ Formula, FORCAST Formula, Cloze Procedure and the General Textbook Readability Checklist, to a biology textbook titled, Modern Biology.Method Materials Materials used in this study included a 10th grade biology textbook, Modern Biology as well as the procedural guidelines for each of the readability formulas that will be used to assess the textbook. Procedure 18 passages were randomly selected from the Modern Biology textbook and the appropriate pages photocopied.The photocopied passages were then placed into 5 groups having three samples each (Fry Readability Graph Group- Appendix A, Flesch-Kincaid Formula Group- Appendix B, Dale-Chall Readability Formula Group –Appendix D, Gunning ‘FOG’ Readability Formula Group- Appendix E, and FORCAST Formula Group- Appendix G), and three separate groups containing one passage each (Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Index Group- Appendix C, McLaughlin ‘SMOG’ Formula Group- Appendix F, and Cloze Procedure Group- Appendix H). A more subjective measure was used in the General Textbook Readability Checklist (Appendix I).Procedures were followed for each of the Formulas and Indexes, and results were tabulated and rep orted. A brief summary and discussion were included in the write-up. Results and Discussion This purpose of this study was to examine textbook readability by applying several readability formulas, including the Fry Readability Graph, Flesch-Kincaid Formula, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Index, Dale-Chall Readability Formula, Gunning ‘FOG’ Readability Formula, McLaughlin ‘SMOG’ Formula, FORCAST Formula, Cloze Procedure and the General Textbook Readability Checklist, to a biology textbook titled, Modern Biology.As table 2 illustrates, the Flesch-Kincaid Formula (10. 8 grade, 15. 8 years old) was the only readability method that supported the teacher’s decision to use this textbook. The Fry Readability Graph (Table 1) indicated that the textbook was at an 8th grade level (13 years old). The remaining objective methods for readability, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Index refer to Table 3 (12 grade), Dale-Chall Readability Index (Table 4 -16 grade), Gunning â⠂¬ËœFOG’ Readability refer to Table 5 (13. 6 grade, 18. 6 years old), McLaughlin ‘SMOG’ Formula see Table 6 (13. 1 grade, 18. 1 years old), and the FORCAST Formula see Table 7 (12. grade, 17. 1 years old) indicated that the textbook reading would be too difficult for a 10th grader. In an attempt to produce a more cohesive point on the scale of readability, the averages of six tests (Fry Readability Graph, Flesch-Kincaid Formula, Dale-Chall Readability Index, Gunning ‘FOG’ Readabilty, McLaughlin ‘SMOG’ Formula, and the FORCAST Formula) were found for the textbook. As illustrated in Table 10, the average grade for this text is found to be at the 12th grade. The Close Readability Procedure results also indicate that the reading level is to difficult for the 10th grade class (Table 8).According to the General Textbook Readability Checklist the textbook is strongest in its usability and weakest in its understandability (Table 9). I really am not surprised that the results indicate that the textbook is too difficult for the 10th grade student. Science textbooks are probably inherently more difficult to read because the subject matter is more complex as is the terminology. Although these tests didn’t provide the desired results, there is a lot of similarities between them and I believe that they are still good measures of the readability of textbooks.

Existing Good or Service Business Proposal Essay

The Thomas Money Service, Inc. is a consumer finance company that has been granting loans and financing since 1940. Within the first five years the company expanded its business when it began â€Å"issuing business loans, business acquisition financing, and commercial real estate loans† (University of Phoenix, 2011, p. 1). By 1946 the company expanded to include equipment financing by creating a subsidiary named Future Growth Inc. (FGI). Due to increased demand in forestry and construction equipment in 1951 FGI purchased a manufacturing company so that the company was able to offer financing as well as their own brand of construction equipment. Over the past 67 years, FGI has held a monopoly on financing and manufacturing construction equipment and has seen only increased profits year after year. FGI has also never had to lay off any of its employees. â€Å"This track record has allowed their stock to grow from $5.00 to $85.60 with stock splits from 1975 to 1998. FGI has never issued bonds, and the present stock value is $35† (University of Phoenix, 2011, p. 1). Unfortunately, with the current economic downturns, natural disasters, and a decline in new-home sales, profits for FGI began to decline by 30% from the previous year. Due to the decline in production, the company was forced to layoff a third of their employees. Even with the current drop in new-home sales, there is still the opportunity for demand to increase as the economy becomes healthy again. Below the author will discuss how to increase revenue. Increase revenue FGI has many opportunities to increase revenue. Increasing revenue is not only dependent on the sales price of the product but also on what the companies expenses include. The company will need to re-evaluate the way it spends money and determine how to reduce outgoing costs. The first step FGI should take is to review its vendor list and communicate with the vendor to  determine the best way to reduce costs while saving the vendor money as well. FGI could request that all parts and supplies be purchased in bulk to cut down on freight charges as well as reach out to other businesses in the area to purchase supplies from the same vendor together. They would share the cost of freight, which would reduce the expense for both companies. Advertising is another expense that FGI needs to focus on. Currently FGI has cut back on its advertising efforts and has decided to only advertise during sporting events. This might not be a productive advertising strategy. It would be more lucrative to advertise in several venues such as direct mail, newspapers, and telephone books. This strategy will get the company name and services to a broader area of customers. Another expense is employee hours, schedules, and benefits that could use an overhaul. Currently FGI was forced to layoff a third of its workforce. The company needs to determine the best way to keep its employees while still saving money for the company. Department heads will need to review and re-evaluate employee schedules and hours to ensure that they are using the employee hours effectively. By re-scheduling and reducing employee hours, FGI will be able to save even more revenue. Benefits are also an expense that is offered by the company, but the company is not required to offer them to its employees. FGI should review and determine if it can continue to offer all of the benefits it currently does. If necessary, FGI could reduce 401k matching, reduce or stop employee bonuses and parties, and finally re-negotiate with insurance companies to find a more cost effective insurance package for the employees. Finally, the most effective way to ensure an increase in revenue is to cut t he sales price of the equipment. The chart below shows that the lower the price, the higher the demand. If FGI were to decrease its prices they would increase sales. Communicating with vendors, upping advertising, re-structuring employee hours and benefits, and cutting prices are all successful ways to increase revenue. Another aspect of increasing revenue that FGI needs to  consider is the spending power of its customers. The economy of the United States is currently on the down turn again, heading back into a recession. The credit market conditions are not very strong; the current unemployment rate is unchanged at 9.1% according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The fact that the unemployment rate has had no change means that the economy has not changed. There are no new jobs, which affect the construction industry. People cannot afford to build homes and they cannot apply for loans because their credit history is not strong enough. There is a silver lining for construction companies and equipment companies such as FGI. In 2009, the government created the 2009 Stimulus Package, which included â€Å"$131 billion allocated for construction-related spending† (The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2011, para 1). This stimulus allows for construction companies to bid for upcoming transportation construction jobs. Construction companies will need to upgrade their equipment to newer more efficient equipment that can handle the new workload and conditions. FGI will need to take advantage of the influx in construction equipment purchases by advertising and offering discounts and rebates to all new and current customers. Maximize Profit The concept of marginal cost and marginal revenue is used to determine how much it will cost to produce one more piece of equipment. â€Å"Companies typically look to reach a production equilibrium where marginal cost and marginal revenue are equal. At this point, the company will maximize its profit† (Vitez, 2003-2011). If an imbalance were to occur on either marginal costs or marginal revenue there will be inefficiencies with production. There is a possibility that it could cost the company more to produce the extra piece of equipment than it would profit from. According to Huter â€Å"The quantity that maximizes profit is where marginal profit shifts from positive to negative† (1999-2011). To determine the profit-maximizing quantity it is necessary to know the price, variable costs, marginal revenue, and quantity ordered. Looking at the chart above it is clear that the company is making money off of the maximum of 12 orders. If the order demand were to go from 12 to 13, there is the possibility that it would cost the company more to produce that many than they are able to charge for all 13. With that in mind, the  profit-maximizing quantity would be 13. Suggested Mix of Pricing and Non-Pricing Strategies FGI is no longer the only equipment manufacturing company for customers to choose from. In order for FGI to stay competitive, the company must include a mix of pricing and non-pricing strategies. Non-pricing strategies would include advertising the company as well as any discounts, financing, and warranties the company has to offer. Pricing strategies could include low-interest financing, longer payment terms, warranties, and product bundling. Product bundling could simply state that if a customer not only orders the equipment through FGI but also finances the purchase than they will receive a discount on the total price. According to the Wall Street Journal, â€Å"the Labor Department’s snapshot of the August jobs landscape, cuts in the public sector entirely offset the private sector’s gain of 17,000 positions. Figures from earlier months were lowered, due largely to deeper cuts by government. The unemployment rate remained at 9.1% but is likely to move higher in coming months amid the lackluster pace of job creation†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Reddy, 2011, para 4). Due to the possible economic downturn, FGI must consider a radical change in policy to stay competitive and on top of the market for construction manufacturing equipment. This radical change would be to offer customers the opportunity to rent or lease the construction equipment instead of purchasing it out right. Leasing construction equipment will allow construction companies to save money and will allow FGI to earn income and stand out among its competition. Create or Increase Barriers to Entry It can be difficult to create or increase barriers to entry when there is already competition in place. A few things that FGI could do to increase barriers to entry is to offer customers something that is totally different from the competition. Making the customers want to only purchase from FGI. Those differences would include the ability of the customer to rent the construction equipment for the duration of their contract and increase customer service. Increasing customer service would include offering the customers more options to contact FGI. FGI will need to utilize technology  such as the Internet, Websites, email communication, and QR codes, which allows customers to access company information and discounts. Increase Product Differentiation Product differentiation includes pricing and non-pricing strategies as well as increasing barriers to entry. FGI will need to make their construction equipment stand out from its competitors. In order to stand out, FGI will need to make changes to how it advertises its product, increase offers customers who purchase the equipment, and make the customers experience with FGI unique. Customers want to be excited about spending money, FGI should make their shopping experience exciting and rewarding. Customers who are happy about their purchases will spread the word to other potential customers who will then decide to purchase from FGI over other construction equipment companies. Other Ways to Minimize Costs A few ways to minimize costs for the product includes reducing the amount of employees, which FGI recently did. One way to minimize costs is for FGI to lease their manufacturing centers and financial offices instead of purchasing the buildings. Leasing will reduce costs to FGI because the owner of the buildings will need to pay for the upkeep and maintenance of the building and grounds. Reducing spending on supplies and manufacturing equipment is another way to minimize costs. The issue with reducing spending on supplies and is that the supplies could potentially be inferior products which would then make the products that FGI sells inferior. FGI will need to determine if the quality of their product is worth risking so that the company can reduce the cost of producing the equipment. International Trade International trade is beneficial to both the United States and foreign countries because it is the exchange of goods between both countries. â€Å"Trading globally gives consumers and countries the opportunity to be exposed to goods and services not available in their own countries† (Heakal, 2003, para 4). International trade can affect and is affected by each nations political issues. A current example is the Greek economic bail out. The Greek economy is currently in need of another debt bailout to hopefully  turn its economy around. The affect that the European bailout of Greece could have on the United States is that Europe will have less money to spend on American goods, which will then cause trade to decrease. â€Å"If a full default occurred, other troubled countries, notably Spain and Portugal, could also follow suit, leading to a wave of defaults that would severely affect the European zone and could send shockwaves all the way to Wall Street† (Katrandjian, 2011, para 13). As the Global Economy stands now, international trade has not been affected significantly. There is the possibility of international trade being affected if the European economy doesn’t stabilize. With that in mind FGI must consider how the international economy will affect the overhaul of FGI’s current marketing structure. FGI will need to make its products more lucrative for foreign companies to purchase. FGI would need to create a special package offer to foreign companies that includes special incentives such as discounts, extended warranties, and shorter lead times. Conclusion FGI has been a successful company since 1940. With the recent economic hardships and additional competition, FGI has determined that they need to re-evaluate their current marketing and product strategies. To increase profit and market value, FGI will need to revamp their spending, marketing, employee hours and benefits, and reduce the cost of their product. Another aspect of business that FGI needs to focus on is the marginal costs and marginal revenue to maximize profits so that they are not producing too much product that will end up costing them more than it is sold for. FGI has the opportunity to re-strategies their pricing and incentives to draw in more customers as well as increase blocking more companies from entering the construction equipment manufacturing industry. With the current credit markets being at an all time low, FGI will need to adjust their production and extended forecast to meet the potential decrease in sales. The 2009 Stimulus Package offers hope to FGI that sales will increase due to the government projected construction improvements on all Freeways and Highways throughout the country. Reference: Katrandjian, O., (2011) Greek Debt Bailout Could Affect the U.S. Economy. Retrieved September 5, 2011 from http://abcnews.go.com/Business/greek-debt-bailout-affect-us-economy/story?id=13879426 Heakal, R., (2003) What is International Trade? Retrieved September 5, 2011 from http://www.investopedia.com/articles/03/112503.asp#ixzz1X6dCaTuv Huter, S., (1999-2011) How to Calculate the Profit Maximizing Quantity. Retrieved August 20, 2011 from http://www.ehow.com/how_6713701_calculate-profit_maximizing-quantity.html Reddy, S., (2011) Job Growth Grinds to a Halt. Retrieved September 4, 2011 from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904583204576546220157206548.html The McGraw-Hill Companies (2011) Construction Stimulus Special Section. Retrieved September 4, 2011 from http://construction.com/stimulus/market_sectors/ University of Phoenix, (2011). Thomas Money Service Inc. Scenario [Computer Software]. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, Simulation, ECO561 website. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2011) Employment Situation Summary. Retrieved September 4 , 2011 from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm Vitez, O., (2003-2011) What Is the Relationship Between Marginal Cost and Marginal Revenue? Retrieved August 21, 2011 from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-relationship-between-marginal-cost-and-marginal-revenue.htm

The Ukrainian Famine Genocide

Death by Starvation â€Å"The famine began†¦The dead were all around; on the roads, near the river, by the fences†¦Altogether 792 souls have died in our village during the famine, in the war years – 135 souls† (Kuryliw, p. 2). This is how Antonina Meleshchenko remembers the Holodomor, or the Ukrainian genocide famine. This famine took place between 1932 and 1933 in a country in Europe called Ukraine. Although many survivors wish not to remember, this event needs to be recognized.The Ukrainian genocide famine killed hundreds of thousands of people; this tragic incident occurred because Stalin wanted to convert the world to communism. After 250 years of living under Russian Tsarist rule, the Ukrainians became part of the Soviet Union in 1922. Farmers thrived, economic freedom was permitted, and private enterprise was allowed. Among these, writers, artists, and scholars grew. Stalin, in 1924, took over Russia after the previous leader, Vladimir Lenin, died. Later , in 1928, Stalin launched a plan to force farmers into giving up their private land, livestock, and farms.Joseph Stalin felt he could not trust the Ukraine peasantry; he believed that the upper class farmers, or kulaks, were holding crops. Stalin took all the grain from the peasants. He had his men search for any hidden grain and Stalin analyzed fecal matter to see if the Ukrainians had stolen ‘government property’ and eaten the grain themselves. It was because of Stalin that many starved and resorted to eating anything. They drank water to fill their empty bellies. Small children perished first, then the elderly, followed by the men, and soon after, the women.Up to twenty-five percent of the population died because Stalin took all of the food. When Stalin seized all of the rations, starvation became widespread. Blockades prevented the hungry to leave and search for food. Viachislav Molotov was in control of transporting grain to other countries. He punished the Ukrain ian farmers by taking away anything that could be eaten. Help from other countries was not an option. Stalin was very careful in keeping this famine a secret and denied the world and international aid from entering the country.Secret police and troops were used to control rebellious farmers and keep all the Ukrainians inside Ukraine. Lazer Kaganovich controlled a particular section of the secret police. He handled mass executions and became the organizer in charge of mass murder. The troops were also in charge of the camp in Siberia were over 850,000 Ukrainians are deported. Stalin ordered the kulacks, or wealthy farmers, into three groups: those to be executed, those to be imprisoned, and those to be shipped off to Siberia and Russian Asia. Stalin caused starvation and death in Ukraine when he detained all of the food.Stalin’s plan to take all the food was based off of the ideas of the former Russian leader, Vladimir Lenin. Lenin knew that peasants believed that what they gr ew was theirs and that the peasants could do whatever they wanted with their crops. He knew that this would result to poor rationing. Non-equal rationing went against Lenin’s policy of communism. Since the farmers controlled the crops, Stalin knew he would have to ‘break the body and spirit of the Ukrainian farmer and nation, thus, subjugate the Ukrainian people completely to Soviet rule’ (Kuryliw, p. 1).Stalin recognized that without the farmers, Ukraine would not be strong enough to stand by itself. He wanted to overpower the Ukrainian people to Soviet rule and convert Ukraine to communism. He desired to control Ukraine because the country was the last to resist Russian control. He needed a capital to build more factories and increase agricultural exports. Stalin believed the fastest way to increase exports was to obtain Ukraine and use their farms to attain and trade crops. After Stalin achieved power in Ukraine, he was able to reach his goal and break the far mers.From 1932 to 1933, Ukraine suffered through a famine that killed between seven to ten million people. Various were shot and killed by firing squads while others were shipped to concentration camps. Twenty-five percent of the population was starved. This event was caused by Joseph Stalin in his effort to convert Ukraine to communism. He wanted to use Ukraine’s agricultural exports to his advantage and break the spirit of the farmers to control the whole country. The Ukrainian genocide famine was known as the ‘Holodomor,’ which means death by starvation.

Ntt Docomo

NTT DoCoMo i-mode:value innovation at DoCoMo. (2003). Recuperado de la base de datos de UESAN (031397) 16088 INSEADBlue Ocean Strategy lnstitute The Business School for the World18 BOS005 NTT DoCoMo i-mode TM: Value lnnovation at DoCoMo 08/2009-5079 This is a modified version of the original case ‘NTI' DoCoMo i-mode'l'M: Creating a Solution for the Masses' (number 05/2002-5036), written by Yasushi Shiina, INSEAD MBA 2000. Jason Hunter preparad this freely adapted version, under the supervision of Professors W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne and Ben M. Bensaou.It is intended to be used as a basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrativa situation. Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC i-modeTM is a registered trademark of NT1†² DoCoMo, Inc. in Japan. TO ORDER COPIES OF INSEAD CASES, 5EE DETA! Ul ON ‘! ‘HE BACK COVER. COPIES MAY NOT BE MADE WITHOUT PERMISSION. Every ten years, Japanese companies come up with a new mobile device that shakes the world. Sony's Walkman was launched in 1979 and Nintendo launched Gameboy in 1989. And in 1999, we invented i-mode.I Mari Matsunaga Kouji Ohboshi is a worried man. It's early 1999, and NTT DoCoMo's Chairman is anxiously waiting to hear how the press conference for i-mode- bis company's new mobile Internet system – has fared. He has every reason to be nervous. Although DoCoMo is a leader in the Japanese mobile industry, the market is showing signs of saturation and Ohboshi has gambled a large stake of bis company's future on the development of the new system. The report arrives and bis worst fears are realized: the press conference was a debacle.The launch of i-mode couldn't have gone worse. With only seven reporters attending, i ­ mode's extravagant debut had fallen on deaf ears. Those journalists present were among Japan's least charitable. With the Internet boom waning, reporters were more skeptical than ever. Mobile Internet services ha d failed elsewhere so why should they work in Japan? Why not wait, like everyone else, for the third generation (30) global wireless Internet protocol? Ohboshi knew that unfavorable or- worse – weak press coverage in Japan's trend-driven mobile phone market could spell disaster.Had he made the wrong decision to shift the company's strategic focus? Were bis skeptical colleagues at DoCoMo right? What Ohboshi didn't know at the time was that in the weeks to come, i-mode would become an explosive success. Like the Walkman and Gameboy that preceded it, i-mode was to be more than simply a commercial success – it became a phenomenon. What explains this amazing success in Japan? How did DoCoMo turn a highly competitive industry with declining growth potential into an attractive business opportunity? NTT DoCoMo's Trouhled BirthNTT DoCoMo was formed in 1992 as part of a partial govemment break-up of the powerful Nippon Telephone and Telegraph (NTT) telecom monopoly. Formerly NTT 's mobile phone unit, it was cast from the nest to take over wireless communications sales and operations as an independent enterprise. Kouji Ohboshi, an energetic 60-year-old, was the first CEO of a company whose name DoCoMo is both a play on the Japanese word for â€Å"anywhere† and an abbreviation of ‘Do Communications over the Mobile network. ‘ Interview: Ms. Mari Matsunaga, formerly Manager, Gateway Business Dept. NTT DoCoMo (20 Aug. 2001). Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC 08/2009-5079 Blue Ocean Strategy Institute From the start, Ohboshi realized that DoCoMo had a tough road ahead. The mobile phone market was over-regulated, transmission quality was poor, subscription fees were costly and mobiles were heavy. 2 Moreover, there was a palpable sense that the market had reached a plateau (Exhibit 1). 3 Japan's economic bubble had burst and businesses had cut back mobile phone purchases.To add insult to injury, tough new govemment rules forbade the fledgling DoCoMo to ask NTT for financial assistance. By the end of its frrst year DoCoMo was saddled with a â€Å"1O billion yen loss †¦ and bankruptcy was a serious threat. â€Å"4 Paced with a looming crisis, Ohboshi went for broke, setting out to expand the market by bringing cellular phones to the masses. And he did so with a vengeance. During the next two years, Ohboshi invested 50 billion – a large sum for a company making a loss – to bring DoCoMo's mobile network services to everyday users. 5 His first move was to improve DoCoMo's network.In 1993 the company 1aunched its new revo1utionary PDC (Personal Digital Cellular) standard, bringing crystal clear calls, fewer interruptions and less background noise. Moreover, PDC helped DoCoMo use its limited allocation of radio spectrum more efficiently. Within a few months DoCoMo's PDC standard was adopted by competitor carriers across Japan. By December 1998, it would account for 98. 7% of the Japanese market. (Exhibit 4)6 Next DoCoMo slashed prices. lts high deposit was abolished in October 1993 and subscription fees were cut in 1996.By March 1999 monthly basic charges had dropped 73%, the average charge for a three-minute call on DoCoMo falling 57. 6% in the same period. Once again, the rest ofthe industry quickly followed suit by cutting fees (Exhibit 3). The lust for market share in the mid-90s drove carriers to continue slashing prices to rock bottom levels, even as monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) continued to sink (while monthly average minutes use remained relatively stable). (Exhibit 5) Ohboshi also attracted new customers by reducing the size of the phones.NTT had one of the largest R;D teams in the telecom industry and DoCoMo maintained close relationships with 2 Matsunaga (2000}, i-mode jiken (i-mode: The Birth of i-mode), Kadokawa Shoten. 3The frrst Japanese cellular phone service was launched in December 1979. It was a disaster. The high service fees made the telephones unaffordable t o all but the wealthiest of businessmen (sa/arimen). After putting down 200,000 deposit and a 72,000 subscription fee, users would hand over another 26,000 in monthly fees anda call charge of 280 for every three minutes.Moreover, the service area was limited, the sound quality was inferior to pay phones, and you had to be physically fit: first generation cellular phones weighed 3kg and were carried over the shoulder. With the stimulation of government deregulation and subsequent technological innovations it took a full 1O years before cell phones became increasingly attractive to mass consumers. Carriers and telecom equipment manufacturers worked closely to improve both the usability of the phones and the quality of transrnission. Rightly, they believed that reducing the size of handsets and extending their battery life were crucial improvements.By the end of 1998, the weight and the battery life of a standard phone reached 68g and 330 hours respectively (Exhibits 2 and 3). 4 Interv iew: Mr. Kouji Ohboshi, Chairman, NTT DoCoMo 5 Ohboshi (2000): DoCoMo kyuseicho no keiei (DoCoMo: Management ofrapid growth), Diamond Sha 6 Tadashi Aoyagi (2000): Daisansedai keitai business: nichibeiou no nerai (The third generation cellular phone business: Aims of Japan, US and Europe}, Ric Telecom (exhibit 19) Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC 2 08/2009-5079 elecom equipment manufacturers. 7 Ohboshi leaned heavily on DoCoMo's engineers and its suppliers to reduce the size of phones and extend their battery life. Although DoCoMo was feeling the effects of deregulation, it made the best of the gains offered by the new competitive environment. Within ayear of Ohboshi's drastic measures, DoCoMo was still Japan's largest mobile telephone carrier, and its revenues and net income had soared. 8 By March 1999, DoCoMo's sales revenue ballooned to ;v;3,118 billion with a net income of;v;205 billion, and market capitalization topping out at ;v;11. trillion- about 60% of the size ofits parent co mpany, NTT. (Exhibit 8) The Wud, Wb'eless East NTT DoCoMo's emergence, together with deregulation, technological innovation, price reduction and the launch of new services all contributed to the rapid expansion of the mobile phone market to mass users in Japan. In a 10-month period during 1998, the market grew by an estimated 8 million users, bringing the total number of subscribers to 39. 8 million in January 1999- fulfilling 87. 2% of Japan's total wireless market. (Exhibit 1)9 Competition for market share in the late 1990s was cut-throat.Deregulation continued apace and by 1998 a flood of large foreign carriers and equipment manufacturers had entered the fast-growing market as the government lifted the last remaining limitations on foreign investment (Exhibit 4). 10 Competition was equally fierce in the drive to offer new services. J ­ Phone shrewdly targeted younger users, launching the first SMS (short message service) and information services via the J-Sky Web package. Using a similar approach, DoCoMo introduced the wildly successful ‘Pocket Board,' a well-designed yet inexpensive mobile with email and game functions. 1 By January 1999, the wireless market in Japan had experienced seven years of rapid expansion (Exhibit 1), with every third person owning a mobile phone. Although the size of the market was still small compared to that of fixed lines, its annua1 average growth rate of 7 DoCoMo inherited from NTI c1ose re1ationships with four 1arge Japanese suppliers (NEC, Fujitsu, Matsushita Communications Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electronics), who worked closely with NTI DoCoMo to break through technological barriers.This network soon became known as the ‘DoCoMo Family', since its products were sold under the NIT DoCoMo brand, and the only way to identify the manufacturer of a cellular phone was to look at the first letter of the product number (e. g. , ‘N' for NEC). These relationships gave NTI DoCoMo considerable advantage especially once its PDC standard was accepted as the only one in Japan. 8 It rernained the nation's leading carrier; however, at times DoCoMo's market share dropped below 50% due to fierce competition. The growth in subscribers was attributed to the increase in personal users. However, churn rates (subscriber termination rates) were also increasing, showing that customer loyalty was vulnerable in the new environment. 10 Airtouch acquired a 10-15% stake in the J-Phone Group of companies and offered its technical expertise; Motorola, a US electronic products manufacturer invested in the Tuka Group of companies. 11 For their part, DDI Cellular and IDO improved the quality of transmission substantially by adopting the US-based cdmaOne digital protocol.Although these services attracted new customers, these numbers were not significant enough to boost growth or change the structure of the market. Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC 3 08/2009-5079 —–y- Blue Ocean Strategy Institute 68% was a stounding compared to the anemic growth (1. 5%) of the ftxed line market. Yet despite general optimism in the market, Ohboshi was once again getting nervous. .A. fter Victory, Tighten your Helmet StrapHis marketing background had taught him that, â€Å"fast growth means fast maturity, and faster speed for the market to move from maturity to saturation and then to decline†. 12 The market was once again moving to saturation both in the number of potential new users and in capacity as available radio bandwidth increasingly limited market expansion. lt was time for action. To survive, Ohboshi believed that DoCoMo needed â€Å"to create a new market, not by adapting to changes but by creating the changes through positively transforming their corporate strategy†. 3 Ohboshi told his employees that DoCoMo had to shift from simply increasing the size of the voice-based wireless market, to creating new value for customers. Shortly afterwards, in July 1996, the company formerly a nnounced its new strategic focus: ‘from volume to value. ‘ Volume to Value At the heart of Ohboshi's â€Å"Volume to Value† focus was non-voice-based wireless data transmission. With the explosion of Internet use during the late 1990s (Exhibit 6), DoCoMo realized that the use of e-mail and the web was quickly becoming a cornerstone of everyday life.From new market and social psychology research, Ohboshi was convinced that, â€Å"the daily needs and wants of the people in a mature society like Japan would shift from physical goods to communication, information, knowledge and entertainment†. 14 Not only did the Internet offer new opportunities for ftlling customer demand, it also solved one of Ohboshi's greatest concerns: an increasingly congested radio spectrum. In contrast to traditional voice conversations that are sent via dedicated spectrum airwaves, Internet traffic is dispersed in small packets across the network to be eassembled at their destination ( e. g. , a user's telephone). IfDoCoMo created an alternative mobile Internet network based on packet ­ switching technologies, it would completely circumvent the burdened voice network. Within a year, DoCoMo was building one of Japan's ftrst nationwide packet-switching networks. 15 The mobile computing team was strengthened and soon new products and 12 Ohboshi (2000) 13 lbid. 14 Interview: Mr. Kouji Ohboshi, Chairman, NTT DoCoMo 15 This system wou1d not on1y ease the use of congested radio spectrum capacity, but a1so serve as the basis for 3G services.Despite the optimistic market expectation and technological developments, the prospects for the 3G technologies were not necessarily bright. Although similar new data communication services attracted customers (e. g. , WAP services in Europe), they had not proved to be adequate enough to boost the market, and it was feared that the same might be true of 3G cellular services. The introduction of new 3G technologies would also create h uge additional costs for carriers, which had already incurred more than l trillion yen capital expenditure over the past few years (Exhibit 7).Furthermore, competition would increase as other intemational carriers competed in a single global market. Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC 4 08/2009-5079 services were introduced- albeit not very successfully- culminating in 1997 with the  · 10 e ­ mail service' (customers could send and receive 2 kilobytes of data for a mere 10). 16 Although these early Internet initiatives were not big profit-makers for NTT DoCoMo, they created a new market by attracting customers who had never used cellular phones or e-mail before.As one of the team members involved in developing mobile computing services pointed out, â€Å"Our intention was not to develop and introduce new products into the market, but to create and introduce new ways ofusing our traditional wireless services. â€Å"17 The New Wireless World In January 1997, Ohboshi asked Keiichi Eno ki, a former electrical engineer and DoCoMo's new Director of Corporate Sales, to plan and launch a new mobile data communication service for the mass market embodying his †volume to value† strategy. 8 He later reflected: About ayear after we started launching new mobile data communication services, revenues from such new services increased to constitute 5o/'o-6% of our total revenues. With detailed marketing research and advice from externa/ consultants, 1 felt a need to further boost these new services and asked Enoki, whom 1trusted, to head a project speciflcally targeting the mass market. 1 assured him that he would have full discretion in choosing his staff and in using funds worth 5 billion yen, which is a lot of money. 9 Enoki would have his work cut out for him. DoCoMo had a new strategic focus, but after two long years Ohboshi's team had yet to match vision with performance. Enoki had to create a winner. He was tasked to develop a mobile phone service that would advance the Internet in the same way the Sony Walkman had advanced the stereo. But how? â€Å"I got the first hints from my family,† recalls Enoki. â€Å"At that time, the pager was at the peak ofits popularity. My daughter used the number pad as a form of data communication.My son could play a new computer game without reading the instructions. Their ability to adapt to 16 In addition to these measures, Ohboshi and his successor Keiji Tachikawa, (then Vice-President}, set up a small project team within the Corporate Strategy Planning Department, and very soon the first proposal for NTT DoCoMo's ‘Vision 2010' was drafted. The year 2010 was deliberately chosen as ‘it will be the time when wireless telecom technologies will make nnovations from 30 to 40 and also the period of 10 years is the longest possible for reasonable predictions to be rnade in a fast-changing environment' ‘Vision 2010' forecast huge opportunities for mobile telecom services in enrichin g personal lives and in supporting global corporate activities. In particular, it saw a greater role for mobile data services in fulfilling the needs of women, senior citizens and medica! systems, important to a society characterized by a lower birth rate and an aging population.In addition to these market projections, it also emphasized the need for DoCoMo to cooperate with other companies to expand the wireless telecom market, and summarized DoCoMo's operations towards the year 2010 in five key concepts or ‘MAGIC' for short (Exhibit 9). 17 Interview: Mr. lrukayama, Mobile Multimedia Business Department, NTT DoCoMo. 18 Ohboshi (2000). 19 Interview: Mr. Kouji Ohboshi, Chairman, NTT DoCoMo. Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC 5 08/2009-5079 ew information technology and its ease of use convinced me that young people would accept a new data service that would give them the same kind of enjoyment. â€Å"20 Now a believer, Enoki set out to tackle the new initiative by doing the unthink able: recruiting new blood from the outside to lead the project. He first called Mari Matsunaga, a senior executive at Recruit Co. , a job placement fmn. Matsunaga was known for her marketing prowess and dramatic turnaround of Recruit's job placement magazine for women into one of Japan's hottest titles. She would head the content development team for DoCoMo's new service.Enoki then sought out a manager to devise a business model for the new mobile data communication service. He chose Takeshi Natsuno, a Wharton MBA and former head of Hypernet, one of Japan's frrst (and most hyped) net startups. 21 Developing the Electronic Concierge service Mastunaga set out to understand how the Internet works. What were the killer applications that provided web users with superior value? In studying the winners – such as AOL (America Online)- she found a positive correlation between the number oflnternet users and the volume of content. As content increased, so did the number of users and v ice versa. 2 Hence her conclusion: ‘Content would have to be king on the new DoCoMo system. ‘ She also recognized that simply putting ‘information' on the network would not differentiate the new service from the existing PC-based Internet, nor would it add value to users who were often lost in the sea of information on the web. Matsunaga thus envisioned a service that would function like a ‘hotel concierge', where users would be ‘serviced' by content providers. If DoCoMo could make it possible for users to access pre-selected websites on the screen of their handset, then they would capture Mastunaga's concept of an E/ectronic Concierge.The team set out to create such a user-friendly portal (Exhibit 10) to serve both asan accreditation of quality for those pre-selected â€Å"official† sites, as well as an easy way to navigate the whole wireless web – similar to the service AOL provides its customers (Exhibit 11). Users could access other â €Å"non-official† sites simply by typing in the URL address. Meanwhile, Natsuno devised a business model for the new mobile data communication service based on what he saw as the â€Å"Internet worldview† rather than the â€Å"telecom worldview†. 3 The telecom worldview, according to Natsuno, is a zero-sum approach: carriers determine the standards and the services that can ride on their network, and are not interested in adapting to others' technology or in sharing profits with other players in the value chain. Users must accept the infrastructure and services carriers offer them. Conversely, the â€Å"Internet worldview† is a positive-sum approach. As the Internet is an open network that can be accessed with various devices (e. g. , computers, PDAs) whose 0 ‘A discussion with Keiichi Enoki, Senior Vice President, General Manager of Gateway Business Department, Mobile Multimedia Division' in NTT DoCoMo Annua1 Report 2000. 21 By the time he joined D oCoMo, Natsuno had already left Hypemet before the free ISP fell from glory in a multi-billion yen crash in 1997. 22 Interview: Mr. Kazuhiro Takagi, Director, Gateway Business Department, NTT DoCoMo. 23 Takeshi Natsuno (2000), i-modeâ„ ¢ strategy (i-modeâ„ ¢ strategy), Nikkei BP. Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC 6 08/2009-5079 pecifications are not necessarily determined by either content providers or carriers – all parties are obliged to accept one another's technologies and services. In the Internet world, consumers choose the infrastructure they prefer. Specifications are thereby de jacto standards determined not by their technological superiority but by the fact that they are so frequently used. In the Internet worldview, Natsuno believed, carriers have to work closely with other players, including information providers, to increase the number ofusers.This ‘win-win' relationship arnong players within the network becarne the foundation of Natsuno's business model . Accordingly, DoCoMo would not purchase content from providers or equipment from manufacturers but would rather accredit â€Å"official† websites and mobile phones to be used with the new service. Interested partners would share both the risks and the rewards. Although this model restricted DoCoMo's role to simply that of a â€Å"gateway† to the Internet, as the service attracted more users, the idea went, the network would attract more content.More content would beget more users; more users would beget more content, and so on,24 thereby creating a virtuous circle where all parties benefit. Natsuno's ‘win-win' business model would also be applied to the new service's billing system. A number of the â€Å"official† sites would be subscription-only sites requiring customers to pay fees ranging from ;y;? oo to ;y;300 per month. Under Natsuno's plan, DoCoMo would collect all these fees as part ofits monthly phone bill, take a 9% commission, and then pass on t he rest to the content providers.This service would be attractive not only to content providers who could reduce their interna! cost structure, but also to users who would appreciate not having to pay several separate bills. And by giving content providers a means to charge users, i-mode would ensure that there was plenty of high quality content available. Lastly, Natsuno recommended that the new service adopt existing widely-used technologies. For exarnple, although there were better texts languages such as WML (Wireless Markup Language), DoCoMo adopted c-HTML for its new service.With this compact version of HTML, the language widely used to create websites for the PC environment, content providers could quickly, easily and at low cost modify their PC-based websites into a new version to be displayed on the new DoCoMo service. New handsets were also developed that closely resembled existing cellular phones used exclusively for voice communication. Manufacturers were asked to reduce the size and weight of the new handsets while increasing screen size, data capacity and battery power. The Launch of i-modeAlmost a year had passed since Ohboshi had taken the decision to develop the new mobile data communication service, and pressure was mounting on him to perform. Although NTT DoCoMo had managed to maintain its position as the largest mobile telecom carrier in Japan, the cost of developing the new data service was taking its toll on Ohboshi's credibility and threatening the financia! stability of the company. Colleagues peering in from outside Enoki's group were confounded by the project. â€Å"Why were we wasting our time and resources on unproven Internet phones, instead of concentrating on the still-growing, regular voice- 4Similarly, content providers were inspired to continuously update their sites in order to keep their official status. And as content providers improved their websites, users were able to receive more ‘useful' information from accessi ng the network and thus, al! three players on the network benefited. Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC 7 08/2009-5079 based communication services? † they wondered.By late 1998, opposition to ‘Volume to Value' was growing and Ohboshi was once again under frre. Enoki and his team finally launched the new service as ‘i-mode' on 22 February 1999- the ‘i' representing ‘interactive', ‘Internet' and the pronoun ‘I'. 25 Looking at the phones, a user would notice little difference from the latest models, except for a slightly larger liquid crystal display and the central feature: the i-mode button (Exhibit 12). This connected users to the Internet, where they could send and receive e-mail, access sport scores and weather, read the news, and download pages from the web.The new i-mode handsets were priced from ;v;35,900 to Y42,800, about 25% more than regular phones (see Exhibit 15 for comparison with other goods/services). Users were charged ;v;300 per month to access the i-mode network, and another ,y;? oo to ,y;300 to access any of the subscription-only sites. Unlike regular mobile services, users were charged by the volume of data transmitted to their mobile phones rather than the length of time on the network. For instance, it would cost ,y;Q. 3 per packet transmitted, and . 2 to send (,y;2. 1 to receive) an e ­ mail of up to 250 characters. Exhibit 13) Data transmission over mobile phones would become increasingly important for DoCoMo's bottom line: as revenue from voice calls continued to fall – from an average of $100/subscriber per month in 1997 to $65 in 2001 -data revenue amounting toan average of $17 per subscriber/month would increasingly fill the gap. 26 Initially 67 content providers participated in the new service, with sites ranging from banking to Karaoke. 27 In the days that followed, dozens of â€Å"unofficial† sites sprang up, even though they were excluded from DoCoMo's official portal.Aventure company developed a search engine for unofficial sites just 11 days after the launch of the new service as their number reached 190 (twice as many as i-mode official sites) within two months. (Exhibit 14)28 i-mode was aggressively promoted through DoCoMo's nationwide network of shops. A how ­ to book on i-mode was also published, followed by over 100 books and magazines within a year. 29 The number of subscribers exploded reaching Natsuno's â€Å"critica! mass† of 1 million users by August 1999 (Exhibit 16). 0 By March 2001, i-mode subscribers reached 21. 7 million (Exhibit 17), and revenues from packet transmission services increased from ,y;295 million to ;v;38. 5 billion within ayear after launch (Exhibit 18). 31 i-mode also contributed to an increase in revenue from regular voice services, even as price competition drove down 25 Natsuno (2000). 26 ‘Peering around the comer', The Economist, 11 October 2001. 27 ‘Mobile intemet saizensen (Frontiers of mobile i ntemet)' in Shukan Diamond, 18 March 2000. 28 Natsuno (2000). 29 lbid. 30 lbid. 1 According to one senior official at NTI DoCoMo, ‘i-mode surprisingly attracted not only young customers who were generally fond of new technologies, but also old customers who used it as a tool to communicate more often with their grandchildren. In March 2001, 27% ofthe total i-mode users were above the age of 40, compared to 20. 3% for PC-based Internet (Exhibit 21). Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC 8 08/2009-5079 average monthly revenue per subscriber to V! ,770 in March 2001. 32 In addition, the important customer churn rate began to drop from 1. 97 in FY1998 to 1. 39 in FY2001, while DoCoMo's market share in the cellular market climbed to 59. 1% in March 200l. (Exhibits 5 and 18) Playing Catch-up Two months after i-mode's extraordinary launch, two competitors, DDI Cellular and IDO, announced their own mobile data communication services, called ‘EZ Web' and ‘EZ Access' respectively. Similar to i-mode, customers could subscribe to their services to access the Internet via their mobile phones. 3 However, with an eye towards future markets abroad, DDI and IDO asked their content providers to code their pages in HDML (Handheld Device Markup Language) used for the Wireless Access Protocol (WAP)34. Unsurprisingly, due to the costs and difficulties in transforming existing HTML-based Internet websites to EZ Web sites based on HDML, only a handful of content providers were willing to participate in the new service, driving DDI Cellular and IDO to purchase content until the number of subscribers was high enough for content providers to bear such costs voluntarily.In 2000, the two carriers merged to create ‘AU (access to you)'. Although the number of DDI and IDO subscribers was much smaller than DoCoMo's i-mode subscribers, they still remained competitive with 6. 7 million subscribers in 2001. (Exhibit 17) DoCoMo's other main rival, J-Phone responded to i-mode's su ccess by concentrating on improving transmission quality and adding content to its existing service (J-Sky Web), and upgrading its J-Sky service so that users could send and receive large e-mail messages (3,000 characters each) and view Internet content. 5 As with i-mode and EZ Web, all official J ­ Phone sites were accessible via the J-Phone portal and classified into nine categories. 36 By 32 This increase in revenue was due to the fact that ‘subscribers were using i-mode and voice-based communication services together, as they made phone calls after they searched restaurants and hotels on i ­ mode (‘lnterview: Keiji Tachikawa' in Shukan Diamond, 18 March 2000). 33 In addition to Internet access, the new EZ Web service offered subscribers e-mail services. They cou1d now send e-mails ofup to 250 characters and receive e-mails ofup to 2,000 characters on their cellu1ar phones.Furthermore, DDI Cellular and IDO offered PIM (Personal Information Management) services tha t were not offered by their competitors. By paying a 100 premium for address, schedule and task list functions, EZ Web subscribers were able to use their cellular phones more like PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants). DDI Cellu1ar and IDO initially offered these new EZ Web services by using circuit 1ine switching technology that was also used for their voice-based telecom services. None of them had yet a packet ­ switching network.Thus, unlike i-mode, they charged EZ Web subscribers for the connecting time rather than for the volume of data transrnitted to cellular phones (Exhibit 19). 34 DDI and IDO also asked a number oftheir content providers to connect directly to DDI Cellular and IDO's EZ Web servers, in order to secure confidentia1ity and stable transrnissions. 35 The amount of viewable content was also increased by allowing access not only to its own ‘official sites,' but also to HTML-based Internet sites and even to c-HTML-based i-mode sites by introducing MML (Mobile Markup Language) as the 1anguage for content.MML was another simplified version of HTML developed for simple mobile computing devices by J-Phone and Keio University in Tokyo. Although it was not accepted intemationally like c-HTML or HDML, it was very similar to HTML and made it easy for content providers to adapt their existing Internet websites, or even their i-mode sites, into MML-based J ­ Sky websites. 36 In a strategy to attract younger customers, J-Phone's content focuses on entertainment. ‘Keitai Denwa, PHS Kanzen Test (Cellular phones, PHS: Perfect test)', Nikkei Trendy, September 2000.Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC 9 08/2009-5079 INSEAD Blue Ocean Strategy Institute 2001, the new J-Sky service continued to attract many new – particularly adolescent – customers, totaling 6. 2 million subscribers in March 2001. {Exhibit 17) Without a Net As its competitors played catch-up, DoCoMo continued to power ahead in its quest for i ­ mode dominance in Japan. I n March 1999, a month after the launch of i-mode, it formed a strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems.Through the partnership, Sun and DoCoMo developed i-appli, a new i-mode application platform that allowed users to run a wider variety of programs, from video games to online fmancial services on their mobile phones. 37 A similar strategic partnership with Symbian, a UK-based wireless operating system company, led to the development of a new operating system adaptable to both PCs and mobile phones. On the content side, in the two years after launching i-mode, DoCoMo struck a number of partnerships with new content providers, ranging from Japan Net Bank (the frrst Internet bank in Japan) and Playstation. om, to AOL and Walt Disney. Furthermore, i-mode pioneered so ­ called machine-to-machine or M2M communications that allow i-mode users to purchase soft drinks and other sundries from Japan's huge network of vending machines. A joint venture with Dentsu, the largest advertising age ncy in Japan, led to the introduction of advertisements on i-mode, thereby providing a new source of revenue and attracting new content providers to the network. Through these and other partnerships the i-mode network swelled to 42,720 sites (1,620 official and 41,100 unofficial) by March 2001.Looking into the near future, DoCoMo had great hopes for entering the European and American markets and establishing i-mode as a global standard. In recent years, the Japanese mobile giant had been building its equity stakes in various foreign carriers (Exhibit 20), as well as applying for 3G licenses in markets inside and outside of Japan. In January 2001, while NTT DoCoMo was announcing plans to introduce i-mode in Europe38 a number of crucial questions needed answers. Were i-mode and its success easily transferable outside of Japan? Could DoCoMo make it work outside of Japan and should it use the same strategy?Despite i-mode's runaway success, DoCoMo faced a number ofkey domestic challenges . Its capital expenditures continued to soar as it built its new 3G services. Network congestion and interoperability between newer mobiles and the i-mode system continued to plague the company. In March 2001, under intense political pressure, DoCoMo was forced to reduce interconnection fees to other mobile phone operators. And with Vodafone's acquisition of a controlling stake in J-Phone, DoCoMo's guaranteed preeminence in the Japanese market carne under an increasingly dark cloud.How sustainable was NTT DoCoMo's advantage and what should its future moves be? Keiji Tachikawa, Ohboshi's successor, believed that NTT DoCoMo's future was bright. In the three years since the launch of i-mode, DoCoMo had become the only company to make money out of the mobile Internet. Its net income continued to rise to an all-time high of :Y:365. 5 billion in March 2001, and its market capitalization far exceeded its parent company, 37i-appli is based on Sun's popular, highly compatible Java prograrnmi ng language. Java allows application sharing across operating systems (e. . , between Microsoft Windows and Macintosh). 38 These initiatives are in partnership with KPN Mobile and Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM). Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC 10 08/2009-5079 NTT. In the fall of 2001, DoCoMo launched FOMA (â€Å"freedom of multimedia access†), the world's first 3G mobile network capable of video-telephony and the use of data and voice services simultaneously) while other promised 3G initiatives around the world languished.As Tachikawa said, â€Å"Anything mobile in society is a business opportunity for NTT DoCoMo†. 39 Maybe Mr. Ohboshi can finally get a good night's sleep. 39 ‘Interview: Keiji Tachikawa' in Shukan Diamond, 21 April2001. Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC 11 08/2009-5079 Exhihit 1 Number of Regular Mobile Phone/PHS Subscribers in ]apan (in million) Mar- Mar- Mar- Mar-Mar-Mar- Mar-Mar-Mar-Jan-99 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 Mobile phones0. 49 0. 87 1. 38 1 . 172. 13 4. 33 10. 20 20. 88 31. 53 39. 9 PHS 1. 51 6. 03 6. 73 5. 86 Total 0. 49 0. 87 1. 38 1. 712. 134. 33 11. 71 26. 9138. 25 45. 64 (Reference) Pagers4. 25 5. 08 5. 916. 69 8. 06 9. 35 10. 6110. 07 7. 12 4. 27 Fixed-line-54. 48 56. 2157. 60 58. 7859. 8861. 04 61. 46 60. 38 NIA Source: Ministry ofPublic Management, Home Affairs, Post and Telecommunications (MPHPT), Telecommunication Carriers Association (TCA), Statistics Bureau and Statistics Centre. Exhihit 2 Development of Regular Mobile Phones in ]apan Year Height Width Thickness Weight Battery Life 1979| 140| 50| 210| 2,400| NIA| 1985| 190| 55| 220| 3,000| 8| 987| 120| 42| 180| 900| 6| 1989| 175| 42| 77| 640| 9| 1991| 140| 47| 26| 220| 13| 1994| 143| 49| 29| 185| 20| 1995| 140| 42| 26| 155| 150| 1996| 130| 41| 23| 94| 170| 1997| 127| 40| 18| 79| 220| 1979| 140| 50| 210| 2,400| NIA| 1985| 190| 55| 220| 3,000| 8| 1987| 120| 42| 180| 900| 6| 1989| 175| 42| 77| 640| 9| 1991| 140| 47| 26| 220| 13| 1994| 143| 49| 29| 185| 20| 199 5| 140| 42| 26| 155| 150| 1996| 130| 41| 23| 94| 170| 1997| 127| 40| 18| 79| 220| {mm} {mm} {mm} {g} (hours} 1998 123 39 17 68 330 Source:NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic. Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC12 08/2009-5079 Mobile Phone Rates en 200,000 180,000 160,000 140,000 120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20,000 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. .. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. _ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. -Deposit — Subscription fee – – – – – –  · Monthly basic charge (analogue) –Monthly basic charge (digital) r—â€Å"‘ ;;::-g, â€Å"‘ r—â€Å"‘ ;;::-g, â€Å"‘ o. _†¦.. O oN †¦. â€Å"Mo. Copyright © 2003lNSEAD-EAC Digital MOVA N503i HYPER (i-appli) (March 2001) Price: Open Weight: 98g Size: N/A Battery life: 460 hours -mode Packet Transmission Charges 18 Digital MOVA D503iS HYPER (i-appli) (September 2001) Price: Open Weight: 105g Size: N/A Battery life: 450 hours 08/2009-5079 Mymenu MenuList Mobile banking (balance information) Mobile banking (funds transfer) News Airline seat availability Restaurant guide TOWNPAGE (NTT telephone directory) Share prices (searching by issue code) Image download (downloading one still image the size ofthe display) i-melody (downloading one 3-chord melody approx. 15 seconds in length) Char es 2-3 3-4 20-21 59-60 17-18 24-25 37-38 35-36 26-27 7-8 2-3 -anime (downloading one moving image the size ofthe display) 10-11 i-mode mail transrnission charges| Sending| Receiving| 20 Full-size characters| 0. 9| 0. 9| 50 Full-size characters| 1. 5| 0. 9| 100 Full-size characters| 2. 1| 1. 2| 150 Full-size characters| 3. 0| 1. 5| 250 Full-size characters 4. 2 2. 1 Source:NTT DoCoMo. Exhihit 14 The Number of i-mode Compatible Sites 30000 c:::JNumber ofi-mode Wlofficial sites 60% 25 000 20000 15 000 10000 5 000 —+-% oftota l access 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% mars-99sept-99mars-00 Note: Number of sites in March 1999 is the number on 5 April 1999.Source: Natsuno (2000), p. 187. 0% sept-00 Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC19 08/2009-5079 —-.. –Blue Ocean Strategy Institute Exhihit 15 Retail Price per Unit and Market Size for Various Goods/Services (in FY 1999) ItemsAverage retail price (Yen) Weekly magazine300 Monthly magazine550-540 Newspapers (monthly)3,925-4,384 TV set97,130 Radio tape recorder19,680 Mobile computer games (Gameboy)8,900 Computer game software (Gameboy)3,000-4,900 Home PC207,000-227,000 Telephone (fixed-Jine)21,270 i-mode handsets35,900-42,800 Mobile phones (voice only)28,200-42,800 PHS handsets16,700-30,100Market size (thousands) 138,480 214,630 72,218 434,171 24,233 23,970 NIA 14,311 58,470 _R gJ 9_Q-_l ,? 9_Q _? ?_6_ . TV Jicense fees (month1y)1,345 Internet connection charges (month1y: fixed)8,050 2. 7 Yen per 1 min. Telephone bill (fixed line: monthly) Telephone bill (mobile: m onthly) Telephone bill (PHS: monthly) 8,198 10 Yen per 3 min. 9,270 45-120 yen per 3 min. 5,550 30-130 Yen per 3 min. Pager bill (monthly) 2,697 Note: – Telephone bilis are estimated from ARPU or Operating revenues. – Market size ofTV, Radio tape recorder and Home PC are estimated from their penetration rates. Market size of Gameboy is estimated from its outstanding units sold. Source: MPHPT, NTT DoCoMo, NTT, TCA, Dentsu Institute for Human Studies. Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC20 08/2009-5079 i-mode Monthly Subscriber Trend 25,000 70% Number of i-mode 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 subscribers (thousands) % of total subscribers 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% oilDllilhUWWllil WWWUUhllllilUL0% 0'1 0'1 0'1 0'1 0'1 0'1 o o o o o o †¦.. 1 1 1 1 1  § 1 1 1 1 1 1 1  § 1 1 0'1 0'1 0'1 0'1 0'1 0'1 o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 13 †¦.. ()..!. () 13Source: NTT DoCoMo, TCA. ()Q) ()Q) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Exhihit 17 Number of Subscribers for Mobile Data Services on Cellular Phones t housands 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 –i-mode – — EZWeb –J-Sky 15,000 10,000 5,000 0+–+—4–+–+—4–4–+- 910, 910, 910, 910, 910, r;::,r::::. r;::,r::::. r;::,r::::. r;::,r::::. r;::,r::::. r;::,r::::. r;::,'. r;::,'. r;::,'. r;::,'. r;::,'. #;#;#; Source: TCA. Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC21 08/2009-5079 Blue Ocean Strategy lnstitute Exhihit 18 NTl' DoCoMo's Financia} Performance since the Launch ofi-mode million yen} Sales revenues| Mar-99| Mar-00| Mar-01| Mar-02E| | 3,118,398| 3,718,694| 4,686,004| 5,297,000| Revenues from packet data communication| 295| 38,500| NIA| NIA| Netincome| 204,815| 252,140| 365,505| 390,000| Operating margin| 16. 3%| 14. 7%| 16. 6%| 17. 4%| Net income margin| 6. 6%| 6. 8%| 7. 8%| 7. 4%| Market capitalization——————————————————————â €”———————–| 11,203,920| 40,314,960| 20,977,333| NIA———–| Capital expenditures| 845,900| 876,058| 1,012,795| 1,070,000| R&D Expenses| 41,100| 89,100| 95,400| NIA|Average monthly churn rate| 1. 75%| 1. 61%| 1. 39%| 1. 32%| Average month1y revenue per user (ARPU: yen)| 9,270| 8,740| 8,650| 8,580| ARPU from cellular phone service (yen)| NIA| 8,620| 7,770| 7,160| ARPU from i-mode (yen)| NIA| 120| 880| 1,420| Average monthly minutes ofuse per subscriber| 164| 177| 189| 195| Number of subscribers (thousands)| 23,897| 29,356| 36,026| 40,300| Number ofi-mode subscribers (thousands)| 140| 5,603| 21,695| 29,800| Market share| 57. 5%| 57. 4%| 59. 1%| NIA| Source:NTT DoCoMo. Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC2208/2009-5079Mobile Data Communication Services on Mobile Phones (as of Sept. 2000) | NTT DoCoMo| DDI Cellular(au)| IDO (au)| Tu-Ka| J-Phone| Service| i-mode| EZWeb| EZAccess| EZWeb| J-Sky| Functions|  œ Internet access- Internet mail transmission| – Internet access- Internet mail transmission- PIM services| – Internet access- Internet mail transmission- PIM services| – Internet access- Internet mail transmission- PIM services| – Internet access(J-Sky Web)- Internet mail transmission (J- Sky Walker)| NetworkPlatforms| PDC (800MHz)| cdmaOne(800 MHz)| cdmaOne(800MHz)| PDC (1. GHz)| PDC (1. 5 GHz)| CommunicationMethod(Speed)| Packet switching technology (9600 bps)| Circuit switching technology (14. 4 kbps)| Circuit switching technology (14. 4 kbps)| Circuit switching technology (9600 bps)| Circuit switching technology (9600 bps)| | | Packet switching technology (14. 4 kbps)| Packet switching technology (14. kbps)| | | Content| c-HTML| HDML (WAPbased)| HDML (WAPbased)| HDML (WAP based)| MML| Content Providers| Official: 1,000Unofficial: 24,032| Official: 368Unofficial: 1,600| Official: 258Unofficial: 2,700| E-mail size| Sendlreceive: 250 full characters| Se nd: 250 full charactersReceive: 2,000 full characters| Sendlreceive:3,000 characters| Fee CollectionServices| February 1999| March2000| July 2000| June 2000| April2000| Monthly Basic Charge (yen)| 300| Standard: 300Premium: 400| Standard: 200Premium: 400| Standard: 200Premium: 300| J-Sky Web: No chargeJ-Sky Walker:250| AccessFees| 0. 3 yenper 1 packet (= 128 bytes)| First 15 seconds free and 1O yen per 30 seconds thereafter| 1O yen per minute| First minute 3 yen and 10 yen per minute thereafter| J-Sky Web: 2 yen per single request1 replyJ-Sky Walker: 8 yen per message transmission| | | Packet comm. :0. 27 yen per 1 packet (= 128 bytes)| Packet comm. :0. 7 yen per 1 packet (= 128 bytes)| | | Handset (Nominal 1 Real retail prices: yen)| NECN502i(39,0001 18,800)Mitsubishi D209i(34,600 1 16,800)| Panasonic C308P (44,300 1 1,800)Sony C305S (45,8001 1,800)| Sharp J-SH03 (42,000 1 9,800)Toshiba J-T04 (42,000 1 7,800)| Panasonic TPOl(Open 1 4,800)Toshiba TI02 (Open 1 4,800)| Subscribers {_% ofmarket)| 12. 6 million(64. 2%)| 3. 9 million(16. 5%)| 0. 7 million(3. 3%)| 3. 1 million(16. 0%)| Service start| February 1999| Aprill999| November 1999| December 1999| Source: NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, MSDW, CSFB, TC. A, ‘Nikkei Trendy'Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC23 08/2009-5079 Blue Ocean Strategy Institute Exhibit 20 NTI' DoCoMo's Major Overseas Operations since 1999 2 March 1999 Joint test of 30 mobile communications system with Telephone Organization of Thailand and NEC 17 March 1999 Establishment of local corporation in Brazil 30 September 1999 Establishment ofUS subsidiaries 8 October 1999 Establishment of Joint Initiative toward Mobile Multimedia (JIMM) with 8 forei calliers 2 December 1999 Capital investment in Hutchison Whampoa (Hong Kong) 27 January 2000 W-CDMA field trials in South Korea with SK Telecom May2000Equity participation in KPN Mobile (the Netherlands) 27 June 2000 Establishment ofrepresentative office in Bemng, China 12 July 2000 Announcement of 30 mobile mul timedia strategic cooperation with Hutchison Whampoa and KPN Mobile 2 August 2000 Launch of Japan-South Korea roaming service with SK Telecom 29 S tember 2000 Establishment ofUK subsidiary and research lab in Oermany 30 November 2000 Capital investment in KG Telecomj_Taiwall}_ 30 November 2000 Capital investment in AT;T Wireless (US) 7 December 2000 Establishment ofadvisory board in US 8 January 2001 Announcement ofPan-European mobile Internet alliance with KPN Mobile and TIM Jltalyl 22 January 2001 Launch ofinternational roaming service in Europe, Asia Africa and Oceania 7 Novernber 2001 Agreernent with KPN Mobile to transfer and license technologies for i-mode-like services in Europe 18 February 2002 Agreement with E-Plus (Oermany) to transfer and license technologies for i-mode- like services in Europe (service launched on 16 March 2002) 1 March2002Listing ofstocks on London and New York Stock ExchangesNote: The dates shown above are the dates ofPress Releases from NTT DoCoMo (as ofMarch 2002). Source:NTT DoCoMo. (Other major partnerships to promote mobile multimedia servtces) 15 March 1999| Increased leve! ofrelationshiPs, S! mbian (UK)| 16 March 1999| Technological partnership, Sun Microsystems (US)| 17 March 1999| Fusion oftechnologies, increased leve! ofcooperation, Microsoft (US)| 14 June 2000| Increased level of relationships, 3Com {US)| 27 September 2000| Joint development of new Internet services, American Online (US)|Note: The dates shown above are the dates ofPress Releases from NTT DoCoMo (as ofSept. 2000). Source:NTT DoCoMo. Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC2408/2009-5079 Exhibit 21 Comparison between i-mode and the Internet | i-mode| Internet| Sex ofusers(Male: Female)| 57:43| 58:42| Age ofusers| Under 19:7%20-24:24%25-29:20%30-34: 12%35-39:8% Above 40: 27% Unknown:2%| Under 19: 2. 6%20-29:38. 1%30-39:38. 1%40-49: 15. 6% Above 50:4. 7% Unknown: 0. 9%| Price| Monthly basic charge of 300 yen+0. yen per 1 packet| Monthly basic charge of 1,480 yen + 8 yen per 3 minutes| Number ofusers(March 2001)| 21. 70 million| 17. 25 million| Note: – Prices exclude monthly basic charges for cellular phone and fixed line telecom services. Price for the Internet is based on KDDI's IP service rates. – Number of users for the Internet is the number of contracts with Internet providers excluding mobile telecom carriers. Source:MPT, NTT DoCoMo, KDDI. Copyright © 2003 INSEAD-EAC2508/2009-5079