Cry Freedom Essay

Cry Freedom was a movie that took place in South Africa in the 1970’s. It is a movie about a journalist, Donald Woods, and a black activist, Steve Biko. While Woods was around Biko reporting what was happening, Biko invited Woods to go see one of the impoverished black township so he could see where black people in South Africa lived. When they arrived, Woods was shocked. The black people of South Africa were living in terribly poor conditions due to the government imposed restrictions on their lives. Woods realizes how wrong the government is by putting these restrictions in place and begins to agree with Biko and his beliefs. Biko was a very outspoken activist for the rights of the black people in South Africa. The government had already banned him from leaving King William’s Town, his hometown, due to his past efforts for the cause. Latter on in the movie, Biko ends up getting arrested after a political speech which is outside of the area in which Biko is supposed to stay banned to. After being arrested, Biko is beaten to death. Since Woods had been reporting on the story, him and Biko had become good friends. After the death of his friend, Woods decided to work to expose the government’s part in the beating of Biko. After meeting with the South African Minister of Justice, Woods is banned by the government just as Biko was when the movie began. After being banned, Woods and his family are targeted and harassed by the government. Woods manages to escape the country of Lesotho disguised as a priest and the rest of his family joins him latter on. Woods escapes to Botswana with the help of an Australian journalist. Cry Freedom really shows us the issues of South Africa from the past. Black people from South Africa were severely discriminated against and were forced to live in terrible conditions. These terrible conditions were forced upon the black community by the government. This was the time of the apartheid system, so the government was the cause of much of the discrimination of the black people of South Africa. The movie really shows us the true face of the government. We see how the government was behind the terrible things that happened to black people during that time. Not only did the government  support this discrimination, but it also went as far as killing black people who were trying to speak out for their rights, just as they did to Biko. Cry Freedom shows us how horrible the government actually was in South Africa during the apartheid.

Book fair Essay

A book fair is a fair for selling and displaying books on various subjects. A book fair is usually arranged on the important days of a year. As 21st February is our Mother Language Day, the book fair named â€Å"Ekushey Boi Mela† is held in Bangla Academy on February is the most important and popular book fair of our country. The book fair of 21st February takes place in Bangla Academy under open sky. There are many stalls and pavilions in the fair of different publishers. In  a book fair huge numbers of books are found. Almost all the writers of our country wait for this fair to release their books. Thousands of books release in this book fair of 21st February and millions of books get published. Many new writers write books and publish them in this fair. Thousand of book lovers come to visit the fair and buy books. The security of the fair is always very tight for the safety of the visitor including close circuit cameras and many police officers. People stand in long lines to enter  the fair. All sorts of books such as books on literature, fictions, novels, dramas, science, medicine, religion, philosophy and so on are brought for display and sell in the fair. Besides bookstalls there are a number of canteens found in the book fair. There are also arrangements for songs and dance to entertain the visitors of the fair. Writers, poets and publishers visit the fair regularly. They speak with the visitors, listen to the problems they are having in the fair and sign  books for them. Book is the source of knowledge. A book fair is a place where we can get thousand of types of books. There are a few problems in a book fair like too much dust, pollution, lack of rules and regulations and sometimes some unpleasant incidents take for the evil motive of the miscreants. So, the complete interest for the fair is often marred. Despite these little untoward events a book fair is really important for the enlightened section of people.

“EU Design’s Rise in the Apparel and Fashion Industry Essay

Current Management Style EU Design’s management style was founded in a very small business environment. There was little standardization of individual tasks. In a small business, everyone on staff is expected to be involved in all day-to-day business activities. This creates a very informal relationship between workers and management. In addition to the small business aspect, EU Design is in a creative industry. Many of the people in this industry are not trained or educated in formal business practices. A creative mindset takes precedence over the structure of the business. For EU Design, quality of product is not an issue at the present time. The company is ISO 9000 certified with SA8000 accreditation. However, growing into a larger company requires a more formal management style to ensure this quality is kept up to standard. EU Design needs to develop a mission statement and corporate vision for the employees to have a common goal as a move toward a more formal management style. Without a defined mission statement, employees will have their own ideas of the company’s goals. Once a mission statement and business strategy is established, EU Design needs to identify which performance metric is most essential to the continued growth of the company. Balanced Scorecard While financials such as return on capital and cash flow are imperative to the sustainability of a company, customer-related metrics such as quality and timeliness of delivery are of upmost importance to keep the clients who will provide the profit. Customer feedback and surveys will provide the measurement of the value being created for clients. This will help EU Design’s management focus more on what the client’s actual needs are instead of focusing on what they perceive customer needs to be. An example of the balanced scorecard would resemble the exhibit below: Objectives Measures Financial perspective – Increasing profitability and revenue – Return on assets -Increased sales revenue – Profit ratio Customer perspective – Customer loyalty – Attaining new customers – Orders from current customers – Orders from new customers Internal perspective – Adherence to schedule – Customer driven products – Productivity – Ratio of actual delivery times to planned schedule – Ratio of on time deliveries – Number of new collections and designs added Learning and Growth perspective – Increased communication within the company – Increased education of employees – Number of monthly meetings held – Total budget for education courses – Number of employees attending courses Internal inadequacies need to be pinpointed for optimal efficiency. Formal procedures and work practices should be established and documented. This will highlight aspects such as time management, efficiencies, and employee competency. This will allow management to keep abreast of the working environment and augment employee stability. Fashion trends come and go very quickly, and being able to recognize what is trending and the ability to supply quickly is imperative to success. Management must track trends and concentrate on key suppliers that are providing the product for current trends, and all employee efforts must be directed toward this goal. Establishment of clear-cut goals and procedures is necessary to achieve  this. Formalization of management needs to begin from the top down. Berardi is too involved in day-to-day activities and cannot see the big picture of the company. He is functioning as an account manager and sales representative rather than performing duties of a CEO. He may not be able to make difficult decisions to cut or grow a particular segment because of his close involvement. Berardi needs to bring an employee up to take over his accounts so he can concentrate on his role of CEO. A new organizational structure would resemble the Exhibit 1. There needs to be standardization of communication between the two offices to ensure that all client information and requirements are shared and understood. Regular videoconference meetings with the staff of both offices can be implemented. Given the time difference one office would have to come in very early or the other office would stay late. This may be difficult but should be adhered to so all employees are receiving the same information. This could be tried on a monthly basis. These meetings would help to create a more cohesive environment between New York and Hong Kong. This would also give the Hong Kong office a chance to provide requested feedback to New York. As a supplement, an online open forum for questions from one office can be posted and answered by the other office when it opens. Incentive Systems Currently there is no formal incentive system. Many of the rewards are based on Berardi’s perception of employee performance. If he does not have the opportunity to have direct communication with all employees, it is a possibility that he is not able to appropriately assess individual performances. The employees themselves felt that â€Å"above-standard performance was not always noted.† This sometimes resulted in sub-optimal achievements being recognized while the employee going the extra mile was getting passed over. A new incentive system must include a formal evaluation method of employee performance. In order to evaluate, official job descriptions must be written to use as a benchmark. These descriptions give the employees the framework within which to efficiently perform their duties. The employee’s immediate supervisor must complete this evaluation. This is the person who has direct observance of day-to-day activities. Having the formal evaluation takes out the personal bias of the supervisors. Semiannual reviews will keep employees apprised of their performance and management  expectations. This will benefit both the company and the employees by keeping them both focused on a common goal. To encourage the employees to be sales oriented, a commission system could be introduced. Since company money is already directed toward training courses and classes, offering employees sales training courses will give them the opportunity to take advantage of the new commission system. If funds are limited and an official sales manager cannot be hired, then the classes would be the most efficient way to educate employees. These classes would be directed toward the Junior Merchandisers. The current duties for this position would fit best with the new sales system. Although hiring office managers would be beneficial, in the present financial climate this may not be feasible. However, one employee in each location needs to be responsible for office operations. Both offices have an accountant on staff that report directly to Berardi. This person could take on the role of office manager. Since the accountant would be the most business-minded person, he or she would be most qualified to monitor the costs and inefficiencies within the office. Overall EU Design’s growth has been slow and steady, as evidenced by a five-year gross margin increase of almost 300 percent. This growth has necessitated a change in management style. If Berardi acknowledges that changes need to happen, the implementation should happen rather smoothly.

Hunting as a Spiritual Exercise with the Earth Essay

Hunting as a Spiritual Exercise with the Earth - Essay Example Nature keeps the indestructible force or the whole universe and possesses the superhuman strength to heal itself – plants, animals and humans. Opposing the forces of nature for example inflicting with its rhythm through damaging the soil with pesticides, emitting carbon dioxide, dumping wastes, and killing uncontrollably animals for food or trophies destroys the balance between Earth and human beings. People have lost the vision to embrace and harmonize their life with nature and invested enormous efforts to modulate the environment in a way which opposes the holiness of the natural surroundings. Hunting uniquely carries in itself the self-actualization, wholeness and expression. These needs are more compound than simply protecting and feeding the tribe. Hunting connects people spiritually with their past and themselves. Shepard (1999) examines the people’s relationship with the natural work and how wildlife and hunting predators had shaped in developing human intellige nce. Shepard (1999) believes that hunting as a defense mechanism benefits humanity as it stabilizes the inner spirit of belonging to community. Hunters are actors into the rhythms of life and death, they bear the feeling of the ecological imagination (Shepard, 1999). Shepard (1999) has the strong determination that hunting is the act of organic relationship with the wildlife and insists that through hunting people inevitably reach out for their spirituality. What he claims in his essays (1999) is that hunting was the instrument which transformed the "tropical forest-dwelling prehumans" into an intelligent being. Hunting embodies the honest relationship between humans and nature, and the fact that hunters are in the border line between life and death. Hunting brings people in contact with the natural world through the most natural way - sacredly kill an animal and justify it as hunters have the responsibility to secure the food. Petersen and Williams (2000) point out that in our mass culture few are the tribes in the worlds that perform hunting as part of their cultural heritage and in the authentic role that hunting conceals - namely the fact that we kill an animal in order to feed ourselves. Hunting was a tribal ritual, which both unified the men against the animal and made it easier for the group to survive. Nowadays, hunters, despite their location, religion, or culture united so as to enjoy the pristine feeling of the "sacred game" - the instinctive and inexplicable moment of subordinating life to our power. Hunting is perceived as commercial and recreational pursuit, however, it is deeply hidden in our cultural heritage and brings its essence. Hunting is an ancient game. Hunting is the ultimate source of gaining power over nature and establishing a relation between the group of hunters and the prey and the hunters and other members of their society - women and children. Petersen and Williams (2000) explain that humans have an intrinsic yearning to hunt and fish. Moreover, he notes that the forest green colour is universally perceived as peaceful and reassuring, whereas the blood like red colour as bringing excitement and agitation. We can not miss mentioning that hunting involves a cycling element, because each species have to chase their prey and to victimize it in order to survive. The cycling element is that you have to kill in order to restore the balance in nature. Hunting also has a natural selection component. The strongest will predominate over the weakest, thus the strongest will pass their genes to the new generation and will secure that they will outlive. Hunting has profound

Spanish-American War Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Spanish-American War - Research Paper Example The war went smoothly for the Americans and proved devastating for the Spanish, which suffered defeat continuously. Although several drawbacks have been observed in the American military preparedness for this war, the same has been classified as â€Å"splendid war of short duration† by historians, even from outside America. Historian Harry Allen has described this event as â€Å"America’s swift and total defeat of Spain†(1). Due to lack of coordination between different wings of American defense forces, rivalry was visible between sailors and soldiers, while the war resulted in the charges of imperialism being levied against America, which still haunts the people of Cuba and Philippines. Michael Quinn, the author of this article has detailed the impact of this war on West Americans. According to Mormon theology, the church had a right to choose for participating or non-participating in an armed conflict, which the author refers as â€Å"selective Pacifism’. While Mormon Church lost its political and social power with the abolition of polygamy by the federal government in 1890, the option of selective pacifism became inapplicable in 1989, as a result of internal conflict within the Mormon Church on the participation issue. While â€Å"book of Mormon† has the evidences of pacifism, the internal conflict has been visible with one group refusing to participate in such defensive wars, based on religious and spiritual reasons.(1) Joseph Smith Jr discussed the theological aspects of pacifism, while proposing three essentials, which concern the Mormon participation in a war. These included the participating decision to be independent of secular government options, the Divine injunctions of war and peace being conveyed through a Mormon prophet, instead of any secular leader and the commands of the prophet to be given due respect in deciding on issues

Industry Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Industry Project - Assignment Example g, the company experienced exponential growth due to the high demand of their products that had cutting edge technology occupying the largest segment in the market. Recently however, Samsung expects a decline in the demand of their product due to the increased competition brought by more players in the industry selling cheaper smartphones who have comparative technology to Samsung. The things that affect the supply for smartphones is the sales projection of a company for it to be able to deliver profit for its shareholders. For example, Apple and Samsung have profit projections for a certain period that would improve its performance from the previous period delivering profit to its shareholders and also to project a positive image for the company so that its value and shares of stocks will increase. They will in turn stimulate demand in the market through their marketing campaigns so that the available supply will be bought and them realizing their sales objectives. Another would be the discovery and introduction of a breakthrough technology in their products that is not present in competition. For example, if Samsung can make its smartphones wearable just like watch because of its bendability, consumers will be surely be interested to have the new smartphone. Samsung would in turn increase its supply and jack up the price due to the increased demand. The demand for smartphones this product is elastic. It is elastic because the consumption and use of the product can be influenced by certain factors such as competition and price. Smartphones can also be replaced by cheap cellphones without drastically impairing one’s connectivity or by less known brands that have similar features. Concretely, this was evident when Samsung announced that the company expect a lower sales in Q2 of 2014 due to the increasing number of competition and availability of cheaper smartphones and indeed the company posted a poor sales performance (Triggs, 2014). The presence of

BUSINESS D M Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

BUSINESS D M - Essay Example All members of the team also agreed on most fundamental point that selected site should have maximum business potential otherwise no sensible promoter will ever risk their funds in a private venture. While doing strength and weakness analysis of each sites by group members following points emerged for each sites. Strengths Weaknesses Site A Site B Site C Plenty of land available Politically quite suitable site Semi-skilled and unskilled workers are available plenty. Most profitable site for business Professionals will love to live here Skilled professionals are available Plenty of the land available for the project A ‘mid cost’ site Not enough housing facilities Professional staff would not like to move here A lot of amount required to be spent on clean up and sterilization Not having enough business potential Protected wild life site Media is against in selection of this site Political activists oppose this site Road conditions are dismal Parking is an issue at this sit e Transport link would take huge budget The group members agreed after deliberations on the following main criteria/objectives of the hospital project that must be fulfilled while selecting the site and they are listed as per the following. 1.

Comparative Economic System Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Comparative Economic System - Term Paper Example On the contrary the government of North Korea in order to improve the economic system plans and develops strategies and even focuses on its major goal of being prosperous and a strong nation. The North Korean government gives more importance to the foreign investment and considers this to be the tool for improving living standard of the region. However the overriding concern of the government is its political control that is likely to inhibit certain fundamental reforms in the present economic system of the region. According to Gregory & Stuart (2013), the economy of South Korea grew enormously and the structure of the economy has even transformed radically since 1962 with the support of First Five Year Plan of Economic Development. The GNP of the region had expanded by 8% annually. In 1962 GNP of South Korea was US$2.3 billion which increased rapidly and in 1982 it became US$204 billion. The economic growth that rapidly increased however slowed down in the year 1989. In comparison to the previous year, the growth rate was decreased to half and even there was an increase in inflation rate which was associated with rapid increase of wages. In the year 1990, the region even had witnessed a trade deficit and the various forms of developments indicated slowing down of an economy that was rapidly maturing. However the domestic demand of South Korea was increasing that clearly stated that the economic system would be healthy until there is no such political crisis that would create an adverse effect on the economy. The growth of industrialization in the country was majorly due to the adoption of a strategy that was more of outward looking in the year 1960. This strategy proved to be very effective as the natural resource endowment was very poor in this region, the domestic market was small and savings rate was also low. There have been great economic reforms in

Organizational Behavior Principles Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Organizational Behavior Principles - Assignment Example The need for the division of work, narrow definitions of assigned duties and responsibilities, established rules, procedures and methods of work, can result in resistance to change (Dalziel, Schoonover, 1988). 2. If management employs formal communication, the selective perception of employees can become the main cause of resistance to change. It can lead to a biased view of a particular situation, which fits most comfortably into a person's own perception of reality, and can cause resistance to change. 3. Threats to power come from linear organization structure. Change may be seen as a threat to the power or influence of certain groups within the organization, such as their control over decisions, resources or information. For example, managers may resist the introduction of quality circles or worker-directors because they see this as increasing the role and influence of non-managerial staff, and a threat to the power in their own positions. Where a group of people has, over a period of time, established what they perceive as their 'territorial rights' they are likely to resist change. 4. Fear of changes in economic implications is typical for all types of organizations with informal communication patterns. People are likely to resist change which is perceived as reducing either directly or indirectly their pay or other rewards, requiring an increase in work for the same level of pay or acting as a threat to their job security. People tend to have established patterns of working and a vested interest in maintaining the status quo 5. Inconvenience or possible loss of freedom comes from matrix organizations and functional organizations grouping by task (each group does something different). If the change is seen as likely to prove inconvenient, make life more difficult, reduce freedom of action or result in increased control, there will be resistance. 6. In divisional organizations grouping by product and customer (each group does the same task but for different product and customer), the main cause of resistance to change is a habit. People tend to respond to situations in an established and accustomed manner. Habits may serve as a means of comfort and security, and as a guide for easy decision making (Dalziel, Schoonover, 1988). 7. Also, if there is a diverse workforce, there is a fear of redundancy and lower pay for old employees. There is a tendency for some people to find a sense of security in the past. In times of frustration or difficulty, or when faced with new or unfamiliar ideas or methods, people may reflect on the past.  

Class distinctions and dating Essay Example for Free

Class distinctions and dating Essay Willie Mossop started off at the beginning of this play as a shoemaker, in Hobsons Cellar. He was of a low class and had great potential but little ambition. His first step was when Mrs Hepworth said that she only wants her shoes to be made by Willie. The next step towards his final personality was when Maggie proposed to marry him. He then went off with Maggie and started off his own business and then, not only did he stand up to Hobson, his former master, but he also stood up to Maggie, his own wife. In this coursework I intend to explore the play from the perspective of Willie Mossops development. The shop windows and entrance from street occupy the left side. Facing the audience is the counter  The play starts off with a rather long description of the settings in the shop. This is because Harold Brighouse is making sure that the play should be in an entirely realistic scenery.  The first impression that we get of the family relationship is that the three daughters are quite friendly towards each other but together they all are against their father, Hobson. Maggie is the eldest of the children, all of whom are not yet married. Maggie has a stubborn nature and acts like a mother to the other two girls. She is strict, confident and she is very persuasive especially when she manages to get Albert out of the shop when it was very obvious in her mind that he wanted to speak to Alice. Hobson is fifty-five, successful, coarse, florid   When Hobson enters then for the first time we see the first time we see the whole family together. We can instantly tell that it is the girls that do the work in the shop and Hobson does nothing. His intention was to go to the Moonrakers which he usually spends most of the day, rather than working in the shop or being at home. He then feels very concerned about his family name, and about the daughters uppishness and bumptiousness so he doesnt go to the Moonrakers.  We see the three daughters dressed in nice clothes during the play. I find it hard to believe that Hobson actually cares about his daughters but rather he thinks that it is good for the business for the workers to wear nice clothes. When Hobson laughs at the thought of Maggie getting married and refers to her as being shelved, it is probable that she has been so busy looking after Hobson and her sisters that she did not have the time to get married.  The start of Willies success was when Mrs Hepworth comes in and instructs that her shoes are only going to be made by Willie. She then instructs further that she wants Willie to tell her if he is to ever move shops. During this episode Hobson manages to make a fool out of himself on numerous occasions. Firstly he tries to take the credit on himself, and then thinking the shoes were faulty made a further idiot out of himself. She then turns to Maggie ignoring Hobson and succeeds in getting an answer out of her. From this we see Mrs Hepworth as an upper class women and a well-respected customer in the Hobson shop. It is interesting to note that contrary to the belief of the times (that the husband was supposed to be in charge) Brighouse shows Maggie to champion the female sex and have total control over her husband. He cleverly reverses the commanding role from Willie to Maggie and represents her as the master of the house. Right from the beginning we see that Maggie has a very commanding and persuasive personality and as we move through the play we see Maggies persuasive nature winning. As she moves from minor things such as convincing Albert Prosser that he needed a new pair of boots to the outrageous act of marrying Willie and dismissing Ada Figgins whilst he was tokened to her. MAGGIE: Will Mossop, you take orders from me in this shop. Ive told you youll wed me.  WILLIE: Seems like theres no escape.  This was an innovative concept for those ages, for the daughter of a middle class bootmaker to marry a working class craftsman employed by her father. The social tradition was to marry into your own class or higher but certainly not into a lower class.  Another matter equally radical was her betrothal conflicting with her fathers views. It was particularly unusual in that period to marry without the consent and approval of ones parents. Here however Maggie exercises her views and would like to marry Willie Mossop ignoring all the social customs concerning class distinctions and dating. ALICE: I know, and if youre afraid to speak your thoughts, Im not. Look here, Maggie, what you do touches us and youre mistaken if you think Ill own Willie Mossop for my brother-in-law.MAGGIE: Is there supposed to be some disgrace in him?  ALICE: You ask father if theres disgrace. And look at me I had hopes of Albert Prosser till this happened.  MAGGIE: Youll marry Albert Prosser when hes able and that will be when he starts spending less on laundry bills and hair cream. Here we see her strong views concerning the elitists of the upper class. She strongly believes that they shouldnt be treated especially well because they have money, power and influence, unlike her sisters who grow into and marry upper class members. Maggie has clearly displayed her view on the stupidity of spending large sums of money on hair cream and laundry bills. The lower classes were unaccustomed to spending extensive amounts on these luxuries. She displays the honesty of her opinion by marring Willie, to the disgust of her relatives and succeeding to succeed over her father.

Organisational Change And Development In Royal Mail

Organisational Change And Development In Royal Mail This assignment has been undertaken in order to examine and evaluate the modernisation of the Royal Mail. It will begin with identifying the reason for change within the company, and how the need for change was detected. After which the implementation of planned change in the Royal Mail will be discussed and its effectiveness will be evaluated. The resistant factors they met whilst trying to implement this modernisations programme will also be discussed. An evaluation of the planned change will be conducted in order to assess the extent of its effectiveness. The report will conclude will an analysis of the Business Transformation 2010 and Beyond National Agreement between Royal Mail the Communication Workers Union, implications for failure will be assessed from this agreement; theory will be linked throughout the report with evidence and discussion. Table of contents Introduction (p. 4-5) Main Findings Reasons for modernising the Royal Mail (p. 6-7) How change was planned in the Royal Mail (p. 8-10) Types of change (p. 11) Resistance to change in the Royal Mail (p. 12-13) Kurt Lewins 5 Force analysis applied to the Royal Mail (p. 14) Kotters 8 step plan applied to the Royal Mail (p. 15) Effectiveness of the Planned change in the Royal Mail (p. 16) Implications of failure (p. 16) Reference/Bibliography (p. 17-) Introduction The Royal Mail is part of the fabric of the country and the lives of the millions of people who use it every day. Uniquely it has the network of people and sorting offices spanning the country that can deliver to every household and business at one price, six days a week. But the future of this network is under threat as people increasingly switch to digital technology as their preferred way of communicating (Mandelson, 2009). Rollinson (2005) identified the term change refers to an organisation having to move from one situation to another, in the modern world being able to change can also be the dividing factor of an organisations failure or success, Beer and Nohria (2000) also identified that 70% of all change initiatives fail. Martinez et al (1997) identified five change objectives set out by Royal Mail in the 1980s as: privatization, modernization, commercialization, separation and automation, of these modernisation, which is the main focus of this report, automation and privatisation are still not finalised, thirteen years after this article was written. The Labour government has been pushing for privatisation of the Royal Mail for years ever since the Thatcher government, it believed the move would aid in financing part of the pension deficit and also make the company more competitive in this liberalised market, which was introduced in 2006. Lord Mandelson was pushing legislation up to 2009 in the hope of selling parts of the nationalised company (Hooper et al, 2008; Porter and Griffiths, 2008; Porter, 2009; Datamonitor, 2008). Hooper (2009) states that modernisations without privatisation would be very difficult due to the constant intervention from government, Private postal companies throughout the world have identified this constant intervention as the major factor in union disputes (Hooper et al, 2008). Resistance from the CWU on modernisation has been a constant topic as they believe that modernisation will bring about job losses, such resistance has especially been seen in the last two years by way of two massive strikes by postal workers (Poulter, 2009; Hooper et al, 2008). These strikes came at one of the worst times in UK history, a recession was in full force for the second in 2009, however after recording loses over many years the Royal Mail made a 4% profit in 2009 of  £184 million compared to 2008 figured of  £177 million, unfortunately this profit was overshadowed with the overall drop in group revenue due to a decline in mail volumes because of the downturn and a rise in digital media, this has led to a 5-7% yearly drop in sales since 2005, during this time staff were informed there would be pay freezes which inflamed already tense relations with the union (Royal Mail, 2009; Prince, 2009; Hooper et al, 2008). In 2000 the postal services act which governs the postal industry within the UK was introduced, the act provided for the Post Office to be converted to a PLC, set in place a new licensing system, gave the postal services commission (Postcomm) powers to protect the universal service, promote greater competition within the UK market and offer more protection to consumers with the introduction of Postwatch (Hooper et al, 2008). Main Findings Reasons for modernising the Royal Mail Hooper et al (2008) has stated for the Royal Mail to become competitive in this it must first become more efficient, in order to become more efficient it must modernise. It must be noted that even though the country is in a recession which had a major impact on the company, this was not a reason for the company to modernise (Hooper et al, 2008). There are eight reasons for modernisation of the Royal Mail listed below: Universal Postal Service (UPS): The main reason for change which the CWU also agreed upon is the survival of the UPS, which is the collection of mail six-days a week from 28 million homes and business across the UK, at prices which remain independent and set at a tariff no matter the distance up and covers five areas: up to 2kg for letters and packets (priority and non-priority), up to 20kg for parcels (non-priority), registered and insured service, international outbound services and offering services which support the security of mail (Hooper et al, 2008; POSTCOMM, 2010). Pricing: The introduction of a 5% weighted average increases by Royal Mail in 2007-2008 led to a reduction in revenues, sales volumes fell as customers increased their use of electronic media, business switched to competitors and there was an increased use of second class mail. It is known that the UK offers some of the lowest postal costs compared too many other European countries so increases are justify but the implementation must be able to offset lost revenue. As volumes fall due to digital media the better choice may be to implement price decreases instead to stimulate growth (Hooper et al, 2008). Pension deficit: This is one of the largest within the UK currently standing at  £4 billion; also until recently it was still possible to sign up for this pension. Figures in 2008 showed it had risen by  £2.5 billion since 2006 (75% increase). Due to the costs in paying the deficit, which is currently  £280 million per year and will continue for the next 15 years, competing within Europes liberalised market is made very difficult. The deficit is almost six times larger than the cash generated by Royal Mail making it a very volatile problem (Hooper et al, 2008). Improved efficiency: The Royal Mail is 40% less efficient compared to its competitors. Its network of mail centres and delivery offices have not been upgraded in years, Automation is severely inefficient with 70% of mail being sorted by machine compared to 95% in European companies, also all mail is hand delivered compared to 15% hand deliveries in Europe with walking sequence machines cover the remaining 85% (Hooper et al, 2008). Working practices: Certain working practices such as early finishes restrict Royal Mails efficiency to provide a better service, upon finishing rounds postal workers are eligible to return home no matter how early, they can also claim overtime on extra hours worked to finish a round or can decide to simply not finishing the round. Covering for absence only when receiving overtime, not using equipment at the instruction of the CWU and demarcation, employees refusing to work in other areas of the same site (Hooper et al, 2008). New technology: The volume of mail sent has been on a decline even since 2005, this is due to the rising use of digital media, this is being felt across the world with the UK showing one of the highest fall off figures, -3.2% in 2006-2007, however the internet also provides opportunities by way of the online shopping market as home deliveries have jumped in recent years making this a highly profitable market, also the Royal Mails use of machines to sort letters covers 70% while the some of the leading European companies are hitting 95% (Hooper et al, 2008; Warner, 2009). Competition: 2006 saw the Royal Mail lose its 350 year monopoly on the UK postal market, going forward any licensed operator can deliver mail to residential and business customers in the liberalised market of which Royal Mail controls 99% , although the Royal Mail still is required to provide a universal postal service (BBC, 2005), research conducted by Lawson (2010) indicates that the national operators in countries such as Germany and Sweden continued to hold onto the majority share of the market years after it became liberalised. Electronic media such as email is also a threat to the company as it become more popular. Transportation net working costs: The rising costs of fuel is having a hugely negative impact on the Royal Mail, employees uses over 30,000 vehicles to deliver mail (Hooper et al, 2008), the Royal Mail (2008) has identified a loss in revenue due to higher costs of fuel. However, Attwood (2010) states the Royal Mail is set to trial new Ford Transit vans powered by hydrogen-fuelled internal combustion engines in an effort to reduce fuel costs, plus they are also environmentally friendly as they only emit water vapour. How change was planned in the Royal Mail Planned change was a term first coined by Kurt Lewin to distinguish change that was consciously embarked upon and planned by an organisation, as averse to types of change that might come about by accident, by impulse or that might be forced on an organisation (Burnes, 2004). Hooper et al (2008) had reported that the universal postal service cannot continue under present policies, problem areas have been identified as the pension deficit, performance and relations between the Royal Mail, unions and the regulator. The BERR report of 2009 includes recommendation made by the Modernise or Decline report compiled by Hooper et al (2008), in which it identifies three main areas for the Postal Services Bill to address: Regulation: Transferring responsibility of regulation which Postcomm currently holds to Ofcom, providing for future financial support for the UPS, extending competition law powers to the postal market and providing for a new access regime (BERR, 2009). Pensions: Provide powers to establish a new government scheme, rights to move members to the new scheme, amend the existing scheme, set out a new division for Post Office Ltd employees and the ability to transfer assets from the scheme to government (BERR, 2009). Partnership: Royal Mail companies providing the UPS will remain in the public sector, part- privatisation of the Royal Mail, Hooper et al (2008) has identifies this as being a necessity if the company is to achieve modernisation and additional legislation being obligatory for a Government to sell more than a minority stake in the company (BERR, 2009). Planned change is more related to the Royal Mail compared to Emergent change as it involves strategically thought-out and planned objectives/goals, which are used to change the environment of an organisation, whereas emergent change is unpredictable and dynamic, does not work off plans compared to planned change and is continuous (Burnes, 2004) Although these changes were planned and most were implemented in the 2010 National Agreement, part-privatisation of the Royal Mail received alot of criticism from other party members and the CWU. due to the currently climate Peter Mandelson admitted he was unable to find a suitable candidate for the investment so ended the proposed privatisation plans from the postal services bill (Wintour and Webb, 2009). To fully understand planned change it is necessary to look at the works of Kurt Lewin who is regarded as being the father of planned change, he believed that only through learning and the understanding of the environment in which an individual is based, could a resolution to social conflicts be achieved and improved. Lewin developed four methods which were necessary in reaching planned change; three-step model, field theory, group dynamics and action research (Burnes, 2004). The Three-Step model: This is praised as being Lewins contribution to the study of organisational change, although the three-step model was not intended to stand alone but be part of his over-all Planned approach to change, which also included the field theory, group dynamics and action research (Burnes, 2004). The three step model is based on Lewins belief that successful change is brought about by using three steps moving from one fixed state (Unfreezing) through an advanced shift (Moving), to another fixed state (Refreezing). Unfreezing involves the creation of the right conditions in which change can occur, people create a sense of familiarity with their surroundings and any change no matter how minor will cause resistance (Burnes, 2004). The goal is to move a person to a change ready/unfrozen state. This was accomplished between the Royal Mail and the CWU through the 2010 National Agreement in which both parties, after years of bitter disputes have agreed to improve their relationship for the better of the company, employees and customers (Burnes, 2004; National Agreement, 2010). Burnes (2004) identifies the next stage in Lewins model as Moving, which he describes as being on a journey taking people to the Unfrozen state, old ways are in the past and the new are in the development stage of being implemented, it is here that support should be given to employees to assist with the changes being introduced (Burnes, 2004). The Royal Mail is in the Moving stage of the 2010 National Agreement as they try to implement new modern and efficient changes to the company by way of automation, technology and industrial relationships. This will take time to fully execute, Lewins model states that without reinforcement change is short lived, both sides must begin to agree soon on the changes otherwise relationships will begin to break down once again (Burnes, 2004; National Agreement, 2010). Refreeze is the final step in which the environment is stabilised, its sometimes difficult to separate from moving, many organisations dont fully implement the whole extent of the change as another form of change is usually on the rise. This stage cannot be evaluated as the 2010 National Agreement between the Royal Mail and the CWU is still being implemented at this time (Burnes, 2004; National Agreement, 2010). Types of change Due to outside influences driving change organisations are forced to keep up to speed, if change is required the appropriate changes are implements to reflect these external environmental factors in a timely and smoothly manner so to avoid putting added pressure on the company (Price, 2009). Grundy stated that many managers viewed change as being the same whilst others viewed it as having a negative impact, he identified three types of change as smooth and incremental, bumpy incremental and discontinuous, the Royal Mail uses none of these types (Senior, 2002; Price, 2009). Incremental change Continuous Change Punctuated Equilibrium Burnes (2004) identifies two other type of change as continuous transformation, which identifies the need for regular dramatic adjustments in organisations change like regular training of staff, and punctuated equilibrium, this recognises that change can occur at erratic and explosive periods of time (Senior, 2002; Price, 2009). Punctuated equilibrium is the type of change more associated with the Royal Mail, one outlining factor is the company has not changed in many years but in 2010 reached a groundbreaking agreement with the CWU for implementation for such things as a 6.9% pay rise plus working hours reduced to 39 (Hooley et al, 2008; National Agreement, 2010). Resistance to change in the Royal Mail Resistance doesnt necessarily surface in standardised ways. Resistance can be overt, implicit, immediate, or deferred. It is easiest for management to deal with resistance with it is overt or immediate. The greater challenge is managing resistance that is implicit or deferred (Robbins, 2001) Burnes (2004) identified resistance to change as the obstacles created by others to stop change; some forces will be more resistant than others such as the actions taken when people feel change to be a threatening factor, such as the modernisations planned by the Royal Mail, this has received huge resistance from employees and their union through planned strikes throughout the last two years, as they perceived the modernisation process would reduce staff numbers. The report identifies four main forces against the change process at the Royal Mail: Union resistance: The CWU also known as the Communications Workers Union is the largest union for the communications industry in the UK; it has 250,000 members most of which are Royal Mail employees, and was formed in 1995 (CWU, 2010). The sheer size of union makes it a very powerful force to be reckoned with, its also well documented throughout the years that the CWU and management at Royal Mail have very different views on what is best for the company, resulting in strikes against the modernised plan proposed by the Royal Mail, this was because the CWU felt its members were at risk from new technological advancements that they felt would result in staff numbers being reduced (Hooper et al, 2008). This could also be a result of the CWU using this tactic as a means of living up to a unions reputation with Warner (2009) adding that the chronic union militancy that once characterised shipbuilding, steel, car making and coal industries lives on in Royal Mail. Management and employee relations is poor: There is a long history of poor industrial relations between the Royal Mail management and CWU which continues to this day, this has impacted severely on the company to the extent that it has prevented the Royal Mail from modernising and expanding which has led to a high level of inefficiency (Hooper et al, 2008). However, with the introduction of the Business Transformation 2010 and beyond agreement Both parties agree that central to success is the need to fundamentally transform relationships and quickly build a culture of mutual interest between managers, union and employees. Reluctance in staff to use new technology: Staff in the Royal Mail believes that through the use of new technology certain position within the company will become redundant, and due to advice from the CWU they have refused to use this modern machinery which would aid in the efficiency of the Royal Mail (Hooper et al, 2008). Employees disliking the modernisation plan: Adam Crozier who was the chief executive of Royal Mail from 2003 to 2010 is quoted as saying: Change is difficult for everyone, but Royal Mail has no alternative but to change and modernise if it is to compete in todays highly competitive communications market. This is against the wave of criticism from employees and unions against the proposed modernisation plan due to uncertainty felt for their position (Thomas, 2009). Management at Royal Mail have declared that the plan is already seeing results with operating profits up  £7 million in 2009 compared to the year previous, however employees and the CWU have stated that they believe they deserve to be rewarded for the success they have brought to this change process, which has delivered a 4% increase in half-year profits. A pay freeze is no way to thank staff who have seen colleagues leave and workloads rise (Thomas, 2009). This pay freeze was proposed due to the recession in a bid to counter its affects; it only resulted in already strained industrial relations becoming more intense (Prince, 2009). A gradual introduction of more work due to reduced staff numbers would have been a better plan when engaging with staff. Kurt Lewins 5 Force Field Analyses This analysis by Lewin was developed in the 1960s, its based on the assumption that when the need for change arises there will be forces for and against change; the theory states that when two forces are equal change can only happen if the force for change is strengthened and the force against change weakened (Senior and Fleming, 2006). The forces for and against change within the Royal Mail Group are listed below: Driving Forces: Restraining forces: Universal service Pricing Pension deficit Improved efficiency Working practices New technology Competition Transportation net working costs Modernisation process Union resistance Management and employee relations is poor Reluctance in staff to use new technology Employees disliking the modernisation plan The restraining force of staff reluctance to use new technology is in direct contrast to the driving force of new technology, the driving force of new technology can only be accomplished if the restraining force to use new technology is weakened. This was accomplished with the introduction of the Business Transformation 2010 and Beyond agreement which states, Royal Mails investment in new equipment and technology is a fundamental part of transforming the operation, this was accomplished by introducing new ways of working, including workload measurement, compliance to standard, engineering team coach, maintenance of equipment outside of the mail centre and technical operators (National Agreement, 2010). A new development plan for training and professional development plus apprenticeships in line with standards applying to Engineers based at HWDC. This was agreed by CWU which meant the restraining force was weakened so the driving force for new technology was strengthened and is in the process of being implemented (National Agreement, 2010). Kotters Eight-Step Plan Burnes (2004) identified that in order for change to be successful all of the eight stages in Kotters plan must be completed in sequence, any deviation from these steps will result in problems for the organisation. The Royal Mail did manage to achieve some steps but many more have still to come as the company finally embraces modernisation. Step 1 Create urgency: May 1997, deciding that modernisation was required, March 2010, finally implementing it. Step 2 Form coalition: Management and unions agreeing to work on a modernisation plan. Step 3 Create new visions discussions on the Business Transformation 2010. Step 4 Communicate the vision (Unfreezing): Introduction of the Business Transformation 2010. Step 5 Empower others Step 6 Reward wins (Movement) Step 7 Consolidate improvements Step 8 Reinforce the change (Refreezing) Effectiveness of the Planned change in the Royal Mail With the introduction of the Business Transformation 2010 it gives hope to the belief that harmony has finally been reached between the Royal Mail, CWU and employees. Adam Crozier, commented: This agreement is good for the business as it allows Royal Mail to get on with its modernisation, its a good and fair deal for our people, and its a good deal for our customers as it ensures stability over the next three years (ICM, 2010). The main points of the agreement will be the introduction of a 39 hour working week, 6.9% pay rise, more job security for employees, CWU to be involved in all change matters going-forward, and the Royal Mail to remain a 75% full-time industry (CWU, 2010). These changes have been agreed on the basis that employees will embrace the Royal Mails  £2 billion modernisation plan which includes the introduction of new automated machinery and delivery equipment (ICM, 2010). Dave Ward, CWU Deputy General Secretary, said: Its been a long time coming, but this deal delivers on the major issues which postal workers have fought for. Theres a balance of pay and operational changes which will help offset job losses and ensure our members are fairly rewarded for change. Both sides seem to be in agreement for the first time is years that modernisation is the way forward for the Royal Mail, but has this planned change been implemented too late, will the refusal of employees to let modernisation be implemented sooner be the downfall of the Royal Mail, rival companies such as Deutsche Post and TNT have still managed to make substantial profits even with the added downturn in the postal market due to the recession and the explosion of the digital era (BERR, 2009). There is also the added concern of the pension deficit which stands at  £4 billion, one of the largest in the UK, which the Royal Mail is required to make contribution into every year. It begs the question of how can a company who has such a huge cost output every year make proper investments into the future and still manage to return a profit (BERR, 2009), and will these investment in new technology and automation bring the rewards that Royal Mail believes it will, even with many people moving to digital media (BERR, 2009). Implications of failure The universal postal service is important. The ability to deliver items to all 28 million business and residential addresses in the UK is part of our economic and social glue (Hooper et al, 2008). As agreements listed in the Business Transformation 2010 for the organization have finally been reached, the implication for failure for the Royal Mail would be the loss of the universal postal service. It has been mentioned many times in this report the importance of the UPS to the UK and its people, also the loss of a public service that so many have fought to keep in the public domain, against recommendations made by the Hopper et al (2008) and BERR (2009) reports to part privatise the company. Without modernisation eventually the Royal Mail will decline taking with it masses amounts of tax payers money that was used to keep the company afloat, leaving many unemployed which would be a tragedy for the UK who are still suffering the effects of a world-wide economic recession.

Tibet on the Verge of Annihilation :: Economy Government Papers

Tibet on the Verge of Annihilation China’s foreign policy towards Tibet must be changed if the Tibetan people are to live happily. Since the early 1950s China has taken over and occupied Tibet. At first China made it seem as if they were just trying to modernize Tibet, and help it assimilate into society, but in fact, all China wanted to do was to take control over Tibet, and its people while exploiting the land for its natural resources. China’s original agreement was to not interfere with the Tibetan’s religion, and their general way of life, but slowly, similar to the way the Nazis took control of the Jewish population in Europe, China began implementing laws and making rules which went against their original agreements. People tried to protest peacefully at first, until they were stopped violently. People were arrested, tortured, and killed. Eventually chaos broke out, and martial law was established in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. The Chinese have been accused of genocide against the Tibe tan people and their culture. Tibet’s early history is one that is centered on isolationism mainly because they feared the Western world would corrupt their Buddhist way of life. Starting in the early twentieth century, only three non-Tibetans entered Tibet; they were Younghusband in 1904 and Heinrich Harrer and Peter Aufschnaiter in the mid 1940’s. Younghusband was the leader of a British expedition that entered Tibet from India. The British wanted to gain some control over Tibet for fear that Russia would gain an influence their by helping China, thereby, setting its sights on India, Britain’s crown jewel. Britain wanted to start negotiations with Tibet to begin trading there. They sent the Dalai Lama a series of letters which were later sent back to the British unopened. The Chinese would have been displeased with Tibet if they were to correspond with the British. The viceroy in India convinced Britain to send an â€Å"expedition† to Tibet. This expedition, which was led by Youn ghusband was to enter Tibet and start negotiations. Tibet refused to allow this expedition to continue, therefore the British sent troops and ordered the expedition deeper into Tibet to force communications. Battles between British forces and the Tibetan army ensued, but the Tibetan armies were soon crushed. The expedition entered and took over Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. China wanted the thirteenth Dalai Lama to negotiate with the British while all this was going on, but when the British got close to Lhasa, he escaped to Mongolia in hopes of getting the support of the Russians. Tibet on the Verge of Annihilation :: Economy Government Papers Tibet on the Verge of Annihilation China’s foreign policy towards Tibet must be changed if the Tibetan people are to live happily. Since the early 1950s China has taken over and occupied Tibet. At first China made it seem as if they were just trying to modernize Tibet, and help it assimilate into society, but in fact, all China wanted to do was to take control over Tibet, and its people while exploiting the land for its natural resources. China’s original agreement was to not interfere with the Tibetan’s religion, and their general way of life, but slowly, similar to the way the Nazis took control of the Jewish population in Europe, China began implementing laws and making rules which went against their original agreements. People tried to protest peacefully at first, until they were stopped violently. People were arrested, tortured, and killed. Eventually chaos broke out, and martial law was established in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. The Chinese have been accused of genocide against the Tibe tan people and their culture. Tibet’s early history is one that is centered on isolationism mainly because they feared the Western world would corrupt their Buddhist way of life. Starting in the early twentieth century, only three non-Tibetans entered Tibet; they were Younghusband in 1904 and Heinrich Harrer and Peter Aufschnaiter in the mid 1940’s. Younghusband was the leader of a British expedition that entered Tibet from India. The British wanted to gain some control over Tibet for fear that Russia would gain an influence their by helping China, thereby, setting its sights on India, Britain’s crown jewel. Britain wanted to start negotiations with Tibet to begin trading there. They sent the Dalai Lama a series of letters which were later sent back to the British unopened. The Chinese would have been displeased with Tibet if they were to correspond with the British. The viceroy in India convinced Britain to send an â€Å"expedition† to Tibet. This expedition, which was led by Youn ghusband was to enter Tibet and start negotiations. Tibet refused to allow this expedition to continue, therefore the British sent troops and ordered the expedition deeper into Tibet to force communications. Battles between British forces and the Tibetan army ensued, but the Tibetan armies were soon crushed. The expedition entered and took over Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. China wanted the thirteenth Dalai Lama to negotiate with the British while all this was going on, but when the British got close to Lhasa, he escaped to Mongolia in hopes of getting the support of the Russians.

Jeremy Rifkins The End of Work :: Jeremy Rifkin The End of Work

Jeremy Rifkin's "The End of Work"   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Individuals tend to develop a false sense of security concerning the certainty of their jobs. After working for an organization for fifteen or more years, it is difficult for them to understand that their employers may no longer need their service. Jeremy Rifkin wrote The End of Work in order to warn people about what he foresees may be happening to the global labour force because of a rapid increase in the use of automation in the workplace. He identifies what he believes are causes of the problems which we are currently facing within the organizational structure along with some potential solutions. Rifkin's ideas may be relevant to most peoples lives including ours. The reactions of six currently employed persons to Rifkin's message will be included in this text. These professionals include a technical manager, a convenience store owner, a cashier for Marriot food services, a Residence-Life Staff Coordinator, a Part- Time Credit Card Service Assistant and an Assembler for an Electrical Switch- Gear Manufacturing Company.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Rifkin observes that the main problem of mass global employment in both the private and public sectors is caused by the continuing advances in technology and it's impacts on organizations, it's structure and design and it's direct effect on the global labour force. In particular, organizations are using the concept of re-engineering and replacing human labour with labour saving technologies. Rifkin gives us a better understanding of the development of the cause of this problem by examining the three industrial revolutions. In the first industrial revolution, Rifkin identifies steam power as the major tool used by industrial and manufacturing sectors. In the second industrial revolutions the electrical innovation effected the manufacturing, agricultural and transport industries by further reducing the global labour force.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Unlike the past, two industrial revolutions where industrial technologies replace the physical power of human labour, the third revolution (The Information Age), at present, is contributing new computer based technology which are involving into thinking machines. These thinking machines will evolve to the extent that eventual the human mind will be replaced in all economic activities. In particular, advancements in computer technology including parallel processing and artificial intelligence (robots) are going to cause a large number of white collar workers to be redundant in the near future. Furthermore as a result of advancement in the information and telecommunications technologies, organizations are using the concept of re-engineering to restructure their organizations to make them more computer friendly. As a direct result of this, training employees in multi-level skills, shortening and simplifying production and distribution processes and streamlining administration. One example of this is the global auto industry which is

Oil Conspiracy Essay -- Environment Oil Fuel Essays Papers

Oil Conspiracy It is common knowledge these days that major oil companies are among the most wealthy and powerful entities in the world. Their massive incomes contribute enormously to economies all over the world and this gives them massive pull in these economies. It is no wonder then that conspiracy theories and myths of large scale evil plots surround these major oil producers. They range from the ridiculous to quite believable. Every thing from the deletion of alternative energies from ever making it into the market to wars has been blamed on these major oil companies. Some of them are very believable while others seem a stretch of the truth. Are oil companies really behind these vast conspiracies? Have they really been evilly plotting to start wars and destroy the environment? Believe it or not it is rather difficult to find real hard facts on either side of this dilemma. Those that say yes are often radical left wing liberals that blow this out of proportion and blame things like 9/11 on oil companies, claiming that it was an elaborate scheme to start a war in the Middle East to increase oil production. This seems way too farfetched and I personally hope to god that it’s not true. On the other side of the argument against oil companies (the sane one) it is equally as difficult to get information. When you sift through the articles it is apparent that there has been corruption and cases of oil companies using their vast power to influence government legislation and alternative energy uses. Whether or not these represent true cases of conspiracy is not clear. They do however show that oil companies have used less than ethical tactics to ensure high earnings for them selves. Cases like t... .... Rosentreter, Richard. (Sept. 2000) Oil, Profits, and the Question of Alternative Energy. Retrieved Feb. 9 from http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1374/is_5_60/ai_65133031 2. Liese, Lindsey. Disappearance of the Electric car Unveiled in Documentary. West World. Retrieved Feb. 8 from http://www.niles-hs.k12.il.us/westword/issue4,06-07/world5.pdf 3. Stop the Oil Company Greed. Nader.org. Retrieved on Feb. 9 from http://www.nader.org/template.php?/archives/276-Stop-the-Oil-Company-Greed.html http://aboutfacts.net/Conspiracy2.htm 4. Did General Motors destroy the LA mass transit system? The Straight Dope Retrieved Feb 9 from http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_335.html 5. General Motors Street car Conspiracy. Wikipedia. Retrieved Feb 8 from http://www.answers.com/topic/general-motors-streetcar-conspiracy

Strategic Drift

Identify four organisations that, in your view, are in the different phases of strategic drift (see Exhibit 5. 2). Justify your selection. Strategic drift, as defined by Gerry Johnson in Exploring Corporate Strategy, is the tendency to develop strategies incrementally on the basis of historical and cultural influences, while failing to keep pace with a changing environment. In such circumstances the strategy of the organization gradually drifts away from the realities of its environment and towards an internally determined view of the world of management. Strategic drift occurs when a company, especially one that has enjoyed considerable success, responds far too slowly to changes in the external environment and continues with the strategy that once served it very well. There are four phases in strategic drift; incremental change (phase 1), strategic drift (phase 2), flux (phase 3) and transformational change or death (phase 4). Phase 1 is characterized by relatively long periods during which strategies are either unchanged or change incrementally. This change is generally in keeping with the environment or may have slight variations around a successful theme as the company avoids drifting too far from some past successes. In phase 2 the environment grows at a faster rate than the firm’s strategies. This may occur for several reasons, that is ; while one may be aware that changes are happening, the extent may not be so easily appreciated except in hindsight or as reflected through the financials; it could also be that while the changes are observed they are interpreted in terms of the familiar thus resulting in the wrong conclusion being drawn. There is also the situation where although the firm may see the environmental drift, it refuses to align as it binds itself to the successful strategies of the past. These strategies become the company’s core around which it revolves and has its competitive advantage. Another contributory factor can also be unwillingness of the firm to alter the current relationships with suppliers, customer base or the internal skills to align with the market. Phase 3 may be a period of flux as management pressured to alter the firm’s strategies in response to downturn in profit does so but not in any clear direction. Internal rivalry may be high as solutions are sought to determine which strategy to follow. There may also be loss of confidence in the company resulting in lowering share prices. As the situation worsens there are three options in phase 4. The firm can die, be taken over by another organization or simply go through a period of transformational change. Motorola found itself in phase 4 of the strategic drift in the late 90’s as in response to depressed profits it was forced to conduct a series of layoffs, restructures and restrategising before transforming. According to Sydney Finkelstein article on â€Å"Why smart executives fail†, Motorola which was founded in 1928 has had a long tradition of technological innovations. It solidified its reputation as a world leader in this area through innovation with the television, pager, microprocessor, analogue phone among other things. Motorola’s first cellular system began commercial operation in 1983 with them becoming the world top cellular phone supplier shortly thereafter. They claimed 60 per cent of the US mobile market, revenues growing at an average of 27 percent to $27 billion in 1994, while net income surged 58 per cent a year to $1. billion. During this period, although digital mobile technology was introduced, it was not embraced by Motorola even after receiving several signals from the market. The market signals included – direct prodding by their customers requesting that they provide the new technology especially based on the benefits offered; increase in royal ty income from digital patent it licensed to Nokia and Erikson and finally the falling market shares and profit. Motorola’s shares dip to 34 percent in the early 1998’s, while Nokia’s share went from 11 per cent to 34 per cent during the same time period. That same year Motorola laid off 20,000 employees. Motorola was fully poised with the potential to maintaining their position as market leader using digital technology however they chose to rely on internal forecasting models that predicted carriers would be better off with analogue phones rather than digital. Sony whose mission statement was ‘a clever company that would make new high technology products in ingenious ways’ aggressively marketed its hardware entering the big league when it formed a joint venture with CBS Records in 1975 with the launch of the new technology – the Betamax home videocassette recorder. Within two years a new videocassette recorder (VCR) made by it arch-rival Matsushita using the VHS standard became the product of choice for consumers. This happened as Sony was too busy defending the hardware than marketing and creating customers. Matsushita, on the other hand, aggressively aligned electronics firms to their brand so that when motion picture studios began to release a larger number of their library titles VHS was the format of choice. ‘We didn’t put enough effort into making a family. The other side, coming later, made a family’, founder Akio Morita later stated. Sony also concluded that the compelling reason for the purchase of hardware is software. Resulting from lessons learnt from competition with arch rival Matsushita, Sony adjusted their strategy. Consequently, convinced that its record library had helped guarantee the success of the Compact Disc, Sony looked to CBS Records to provide the software necessary to ensure the success of its new Digital Audio Tape. In the years that followed Sony acquired expensive movie studios to showcase their impressive arsenal of hardware. As much attention was not paid to the American management team and the lavish spending spree on renovation production, management, and television ballooned. Overheads increased by 50 per cent to $300 million by 1991, some $60 million greater than other major studios, and its $700 million production budget were nearly twice that of its competitors. The average Sony motion picture cost $40 million versus the industry average of $28 million. In November 1994 Sony announced a $3. 2 billion write-off related to Columbia Pictures which wiped out nearly 25 per cent of Sony’s shareholders’ equity. It was not until Sony found itself here in phase 3 of the strategic, drift having major decline in shareholder values, that it restructured its management team and strategies. Wang Labs based on strategies created in an attempt to avoid the mistakes of the past found itself in phase 4 of the strategic drift as it filed for bankruptcy in 1992. An Wang, an inventor and innovator, sold several of his creations to companies who used them to make products for commercial uses. Resulting from one such deal with IBM in 1956, Wang’s feeling of being cheated by the computer giant biased his future decisions towards them. Starting from the late 80’s Wang Labs lost out when the world shifted from using word processors to PC, however they were blinded by their love for the word processors and made major losses as IBM took the PC to the market. Wang could have raise capital by issuing shares however because he felt that he had given up too much of the company in a similar past transaction he refused and instead opted to seek loans According to Paul Golding, prior to 1999 the Jamaican telecommunications sector was dominated by Cable and Wireless Jamaica (C&WJ), which changed its name in 2008 to LIME (Landline Internet Mobile, Entertainment). In 1988 the company was granted five exclusive licenses each for 25 years, which would be valid until 2013, with options for extensions for a further 25 years. The licenses made C&WJ the sole provider of the island’s domestic and international telephone service and guaranteed an after-tax rate of return of 17. 5% – 20%. C&WJ was quite comfortable with the strategies they employed especially as they were a monopoly in these early years. This resulted in the organization being stuck in phase 1 as they became complacent, relying on the same old strategies as technology boomed globally. They were â€Å"out of touch† with customer demand and the untapped potential of the market. Liberalization of the telecommunications market commenced with the granting of two new carrier licenses for the provision of domestic mobile voice, data, and information services. In April 2001 Digicel launched its mobile telecommunication company in Jamaica. Rates rose from 4 per cent in 2001 (Digicel’s launch year) to close to 100 per cent today – making it one of the most highly penetrated countries in the world and driving a grassroots level ICT development across Jamaica. Of the less than 2. million local population, Digicel Jamaica has 2 million customers, representing a 75% market share. Additionally, scores of small entrepreneurs owe their successes to a reliance on their Digicel phones, especially in areas where there were no previous mobile signals by the competition. On October 27th, Digicel announced its intention to move its Jamaica and Group offices to a bra nd new facility on the waterfront in downtown Kingston, demonstrating its commitment to spearhead the rejuvenation of this area of the capital city of the first country in which Digicel launched back in 2001. In April 2001, when Digicel launched its GSM mobile service in Jamaica, the company anticipated reaching the 100,000 customer plateau by the end of its first year in operation. Instead, it hit the 100,000 mark a mere 100 days after launch. Never before in the country’s history of mobile telecommunications had such tremendous growth been seen in a network, as Digicel broke record after record on its way to surpassing its major competitor as the mobile provider with the largest customer base in the island. It took LIME, its major competitor approximately 10 years to reach the 400,000 customer mark. In comparison, it took Digicel about 13 months to reach the same figure. Digicel's customer base in 2010 was over 2. 1 million customers in a population of 2. 8 million. Digicel raised the bar where an acceptable level of network coverage was concerned. Jamaicans living in rural parishes finally had a genuine option for mobile communications. With an island-wide network of over 1,000 cellular towers spread across all 14 parishes, Digicel firmly established itself as the mobile provider with the premier network coverage across the country. Digicel currently appears to be in Phase 2 of the strategic drift as its strategy of providing islandwide service has materialised and it continues to be poised towards supplying any further required hardware. However there is growing concern that Digicel needs to review its customer service as well as its rates. If you really want to understand a company, you need to understand its history and culture. In analyzing an organization one of the most common flaws is to disregard the past in trying to make sense of the present. Culture is also a major component of history, as is highlighted with Motorola that is known as an engineering-driven company. It is likened in its mindset to an ‘internal think-tank’, focused on the market while customers are secondary. Digicel is also similar in this regards as its main focus appears to be on the hardware and to a lesser extent the customer. Motorola’s had an insular culture where its workforce had a ‘fortress mentality, cut off from reality, in-bred, with tremendous self-confidence, and a lack of concern with the outside world’. One former CEO stated, ‘every time we stumble significantly it is because we have been so successful in one generation of the technology that we don’t focus on replacing ourselves with the next technology quick enough’ People make sense of new issues in the context of past issues; they are likely to address a problem in much the same way as they dealt with a previous similar one. Moreover, they are likely to search for evidence that supports those inclinations. So some data will be seen as more important than other data, and some may not be taken on board at all. The important points are: * The interpretation of events and issues in terms of prior experience is inevitable. The idea that managers approach strategic problems and issues entirely dispassionately and objectively is unrealistic. * Such interpretation and bias arise from experience of the past, not least with regard to what is seen to have worked or given rise to problems. So the future is likely to be made sense of in terms of the past. As with individuals, so also with groups – managers do not operate purely as individuals; they work and interact with others, and at the collective level, too, there are reasons to expect experience to count. This is reflected in the taken-for-granted assumptions and ingrained organizational routines that are collectively referred to as ‘organizational culture’. Such taken-for-granted assumptions and routines can be especially important as an influence on the development of organizational strategy. For a group or organization to operate effectively, there has to be a generally accepted set of assumptions which in effect, represents the collective experience without which people would have to ‘reinvent their world’ for different circumstances. As with individual experience, this shared understanding allows the collective experience gathered over years to be brought to bear to make sense of a given situation, to inform a likely course of action, and to gauge the likelihood of the latter’s success. Such collective thinking typically stretches even beyond the organization. Managers may assume that they can manage the environment, but the evidence is that the environment largely determines managerial action. If managers sensitize themselves to the influence of the history of their organisation they stand a better chance of better appreciating their current strategy and may be able to detect and avoid strategic drift. Managers would more likely to be able to question the extent to which the strategy they are seeking to develop is usefully informed by that history as distinct from being driven or captured by it.

Money Transfer in Ghana Case Study

The introduction of mobile money service is taking place in isolation but in parallel with the advent and expansion of other financial electronic payments services. One of these is E-Zwich, an electronic platform that enables the loading and spending of electronic cash and also allows the settlement of inter-bank claims in addition to online transactions. Others are being made available over the Internet and through SMS-text messages. The government regards these services as banking. They are strictly regulated and licensed by the Central Bank- Bank of Ghana under its branchless banking policy. Both MTN and ZAIN SIM cards are enabled to utilize the service but each new subscriber needs to register for the service at before it is activated. Upon activation, the user is provided with a secure electronic â€Å"wallet† where funds can be disbursed or uploaded. The users can either exchange electronic money for physical cash (cash out) at shops, partner banks and accredited agents or make use of it in making purchases or transfers. Enabling a Cash Flow to Rural Areas In general, the most popular mobile money service is money transfer. The trend is for users in urban areas to transfer funds to recipients in rural areas. Traditionally in Ghana, city dwellers often send money to members of their extended family living in rural areas. Other typical services include the purchase of mobile phone airtime, goods and services through electronic transfer of money from user's wallet to the merchant's account. Commenting on money transfer via mobile phones, Carl NiikoiAshie, an mcommerce (mobile commerce) specialist at Zain who works on ZAP, said: â€Å"The customers can ‘cash in' by loading money onto their ZAP wallet, then send the money to someone else on their phone in a simple process. The person receiving the money can ‘cash out' by going to any of our outlets and exchanging the evalue for physical cash. We're seeing tremendous growth in the service across the country, with more cash-in done in the major cities while cash-outs are seen predominantly in the smaller towns. † Ashie sees a lot of evidence that his product is reaching Ghana's unbanked. â€Å"Users do not need to have a bank account to use the service. Currently, there are a lot of monetary transactions that take place outside the confines of the banks and it will take a product like ZAP to fill the void while providing a secure, convenient and trustworthy channel of transaction,† said Ashie. â€Å"Some customers have also requested products that will allow them to use their ZAP wallets for savings and hence enjoy interest on their savings, just as pertains in the traditional bank setting. † Today, consumers have a variety of ways to send and receive funds or money transfers. Although using cash to send a money transfer is the most popular method for most people, more and more people want additional options: to send and/or receive funds on the internet, over the phone, and now, on their mobile phones. Mobile money transfer is simply another way to send money. It is a transfer of money to a receiver in which the funds are deposited into a mobile or â€Å"virtual† wallet. As the number of mobile phone subscribers in Ghana increases, so does the market for mobile money services. The majority of Ghanaians lack any formal bank account. mobile money could change the shape of financial transactions in the country. An estimated 80 percent of Ghanaians are â€Å"unbanked† – meaning they conduct their transactions outside the banking sector with no access to financial services. Products like â€Å"mobile money,† that enable safe and secure money transfers without the use of a bank account, could have a major impact on this unserved segment of the population. Mobile money gives anyone with a mobile phone the ability to transfer money, make cash payments and conduct other financial transactions over the phone. Mobile money is a relatively new phenomenon in Ghana. It was first introduced by the telecom company MTN some years ago. MTN Mobile Money operates in partnership with nine banks. Currently, more than 2 million Ghanaians are registered as active users. MTN expects this number to grow as a result of the resources they have committed to educating subscribers about switching from the traditional mode of cash payments to electronic payments. Earlier this year, Zain became the second mobile operator to provide mobile money services through the introduction of ZAP, working with three banks. The coverage and accessibility that mobile services provide is of increasing interest to the financial services sector. Countries are considering mobile technology to reduce the cost of delivering financial services to clients beyond the reach of traditional financial services. ECONOMIC BENEFITS Mobile money transfer has some socio-economic benefits in Ghana, some these are Firstly Improved Financial Access, consider a situation whereby a given business has to carry out a common payment operation, such as bill payment or funds transfer, and that operation demands transportation with all inconveniences attached to it. If the same transportation cost were paid to a service that would effect the same payment on behalf of the company over the mobile phone instead, this more convenient method brings about saving time and energy for other activities, in so doing increasing productivity by performing two tasks instead of one at the end of the day. It appears, therefore, that using your mobile phone to make payments represents to a very large extent convenience taken to another level. By exploiting the extensive reach of mobile networks, the mobile industry has the opportunity to complement and extend remittance channels, make transferring money significantly more convenient and also bring many people into the formal banking system. With more than 15,000,000 mobile phone subscribers in Ghana, the potential market for these new services is significant. Mobile money presents certain advantages for Ghanaians without access to banks. Penetration of mobile services across the world is increasing rapidly. In 1990 there were just over 11m mobile phone users worldwide. Today, over 3 billion consumers own mobile phones. At the same time, the possibility to technically integrate mobile and financial services is becoming increasingly apparent. A recent survey conducted by Edgar Dunn & Company and the GSM Association (GSMA) predicts that, given an improved regulatory environment, in 2012 7% of the subscriber base in developed countries and 4% in developing countries will initiate at least one cross-border remittance. This equates to just over 248 million consumers in 2012 using mobile money transfer services. Financial access for the poor is still an issue in many developing countries. There are currently approximately only 0. 5 million bank branches globally with only 1. 4 million ATM's compared to over 3 billion mobile customers worldwide. The mobile device has the potential to extend access to financial services for the banked, but also for the under-served and unbanked parts of the population. This improved, financial access can be achieved by exploiting the extensive reach of mobile networks. Traditional remittance channels can be complemented and extended with mobile money transfer services. Thus making mobile money transfers significantly more convenient, bringing many remittances from informal channels into the formal system. Secondly it reduces the transaction cost of money transfers. Bank transfers and specialist remittance companies can be prohibitively expensive for small denomination transfers, limiting the ability of individual workers to distribute funds to a larger number of people and penalizing those sending small amounts. Retail premises and staff costs increase overheads, leading to high commissions, especially for remittances below ghc100. It drastically cuts down the cost of providing service to customers. A study carried out proved that there is a substantial cut in customer care cost. This results from the fact that mobile money transfer eliminates the need for costly call centers and frees up customer service help desk. In addition real-time information is provided to customers and employees. Using a mobile platform such as SMS fro simple task as payment reminders and funds transfer can reduce the burden on IT and personal resources. This has also been found to reduce cost and errors associated with paper-base operations. Significant reduction in operational costs means additional revenues can be invested in other areas of the business. Mobile technology can lower the cost of remittances as it removes the need for physical points of presence and ensures a timely and secure method of transaction. This concept of ‘mobile money' is extremely attractive to low income users in particular Mobile money transfer services can make remittances more affordable. Mobile technology lowers the cost of remittances as it removes the need for physical points of presence by banks and ensures a timely and secure method of transaction. This concept of ‘mobile money' is extremely attractive to low income users in particular. It reduces the transaction costs of financial services for the poor, especially those in rural areas where financial services seldom exist. Mobile money saves the cost of travel and time spent visiting the nearest town to access financial services. As noted in AudienceScapes research, mobile money provides people with a way to transfer money safely and keep (or even increase) their savings. From the customers’ perspective, mobile banking is relatively easy to use, and this is another advantage compared to traditional means of banking as well as electronic banking, given the fact that text messaging has become a common application of mobile phones. Thirdly mobile money transfers drive growth and development. Mobile money has the potential to create jobs directly through hiring in the mobile phone companies, partner banks and the more than 4,000 merchants involved in Ghana's mobile money system. Key partners in the provision of mobile money services include commercial banks, mobile phone operator's shops, distributor shops and accredited agents. Jobs may be created indirectly as mobile money contributes to growth in Ghana's business and trade. If deployed successfully, mobile money could help individuals harness funds outside the banking system and channel them into the formal financial sector, thus making it easier to gather funds for investments. Not surprisingly, the general manager of Mobile Money-MTN, Bruno Akpaka, sees many benefits for Ghana as it continues adopting this service. Akpaka believes mobile money will â€Å"help trade activities within the country and foster strong business partnerships. † â€Å"The creation of wide merchant footprints in places where traditional banks cannot go also contributes to bringing people into this new model of financial transactions,† said Akpaka. â€Å"MTN Mobile Money is bridging this existing huge gap between the unbanked and the financial sector. † Mobile-financial convergence creates socio-economic benefits. It is widely accepted, that increased access to mobile telephony in developing countries brings considerable benefits to the economies of the respective countries. It is estimated that an extra 10 mobile phones per 100 people in a typical developing country lead to an extra 0. 89 – 1. 210 percentage points of growth in GDP per person. In addition, remittances are an important engine for growth and development in developing countries. The World Bank estimates that reducing remittance commission charges by 2-5% could increase the flow of formal remittances by 50-70%, boosting local economies. Reducing the cost of sending each individual remittance would encourage the delivery of lower value remittances, at smaller values than today's average transfer of ghc200. Financial regulators have the opportunity to use the development of mobilefinancial convergence to achieve their aims: ? ? ? ? New services offered to consumers, i. e. mobile money transfer services (innovation) Cheaper prices through more efficient use of the mobile infrastructure (competition) Across all consumer groups (banked, under-banked, unbanked) Transition remittances from informal to formal remittance channels (more visibility of money flows) Both the mobile and the financial industry benefit from this opportunity to cooperate in new ways providing innovative services to an increased customer base. The challenges facing the market. Access Access to the facilities to receive money is often limited, particularly for the poorest people in more rural areas where the banking sector is under represented and a largely cash-based economy exists. There are currently approximately only 0. 5 million bank branches globally with only 1. 4 million ATM's compared to almost 2 billion mobile customers worldwide. Those who would benefit the most are therefore the least likely to benefit from remittances from migrant workers, locked out of their market through their social, economic and geographical position. Cost Bank transfers and specialist remittance companies are prohibitively expensive for small denomination transfers, limiting the ability of individual workers to distribute funds to a larger number of people and penalising the poor who can only afford to send small amounts. Retail premises and staff costs increase overheads, leading to a high fixed commission cost per remittance with industry revenues estimated at an average 15% per transaction, increasing to over 25% for remittances below ghc100. Handset operability There are a large number of different mobile phone devices and it is a big challenge for banks to offer mobile banking solution on any type of device. Some of these devices support Java ME and others support SIM Application Toolkit, a WAP browser, or only SMS. Initial interoperability issues however have been localized, with countries like Ghana using portals like R-World to enable the limitations of low end java based phones, while focus on areas such as South Africa have defaulted to the USSD as a basis of communication achievable with any phone. The desire for interoperability is largely dependent on the banks themselves, where installed applications (Java based or native) provide better security, are easier to use and allow development of more complex capabilities similar to those of internet banking while SMS can provide the basics but becomes difficult to operate with more complex transactions. There is a myth that there is a challenge of interoperability between mobile banking applications due to perceived lack of common technology standards for mobile banking. In practice it is too early in the service lifecycle for interoperability to be addressed within an individual country, as very few countries have more than one mobile banking service provider. In practice, banking interfaces are well defined and money movements between banks follow the IS0-8583 standard. As mobile banking matures, money movements between service providers will naturally adopt the same standards as in the banking world. Security Security of financial transactions, being executed from some remote location and transmission of financial information over the air, are the most complicated challenges that need to be addressed jointly by mobile application developers, wireless network service providers and the banks' IT departments. The following aspects need to be addressed to offer a secure infrastructure for financial transaction over wireless network: 1. Physical part of the hand-held device. If the bank is offering smart-card based security, the physical security of the device is more important. 2. Security of any thick-client application running on the device. In case the device is stolen, the hacker should require at least an ID/Password to access the application. 3. Authentication of the device with service provider before initiating a transaction. This would ensure that unauthorized devices are not connected to perform financial transactions. 4. User ID / Password authenticationof bank’s customer. 5. Encryptionof the data being transmitted over the air. 6. Encryption of the data that will be stored in device for later / off-line analysis by the customer. One-time password(OTPs) are the latest tool used by financial and banking service providers in the fight againstcyber fraud . Instead of relying on traditional memorized passwords, OTPs are requested by consumers each time they want to perform transactions using the online or mobile banking interface. When the request is received the password is sent to the consumer’s phone via SMS. The password is expired once it has been used or once its scheduled life-cycle has expired. Because of the concerns made explicit above, it is extremely important that SMS gateway providers can provide a decent quality of service for banks and financial institutions in regards to SMS services. Therefore, the provision of service level agreements (SLAs) is a requirement for this industry; it is necessary to give the bank customer delivery guarantees of all messages, as well as measurements on he speed of delivery, throughput, etc. SLAs give the service parameters in which a messaging solution is guaranteed to perform. Scalability & Reliability Another challenge for the CIOs and CTOs of the banks is to scale-up the mobile banking infrastructure to handle exponential growth of the customer base. With mobile banking, the customer may be sitting in any part of the world (true anytime, anywhere banking) and hence banks need to ensure that the systems are up and running in a true 24 x 7 fas hion. As customers will find mobile banking more and more useful, their expectations from the solution will increase. Banks unable to meet the performance and reliability expectations may lose customer confidence. There are systems such as Mobile Transaction Platform which allow quick and secure mobile enabling of various banking services. Recently in India there has been a phenomenal growth in the use of Mobile Banking applications, with leading banks adopting Mobile Transaction Platform and the Central Bank publishing guidelines for mobile banking operations. Application distribution Due to the nature of the connectivity between bank and its customers, it would be impractical to expect customers to regularly visit banks or connect to a web site for regular upgrade of their mobile banking application. It will be expected that the mobile application itself check the upgrades and updates and download necessary patches (so called â€Å"Over The Air† updates). However, there could be many issues to implement this approach such as upgrade / synchronization of other dependent components. Conclusion. For customers and businesses in the country, it is a unique platform to bring convenience in financial transactions to customers, an area which before this period had been beyond our domain and reach for those of us in Ghana and most of Africa. For the customer, its time and cost saving elements cannot be over emphasized and the earlier we adopt electronic ways of financial transactions, the better it will be for a whole society that would see a transformation, resulting from the ability to cut down on time lost accessing basic services like funds transfer amongst businesses and individuals.