How to use marketing mix buile Chiang Rai province as a destination Dissertation

How to use marketing mix buile Chiang Rai province as a destination during winter season - Dissertation Example This report highlights on the areas such as the marketing mix which can be adopted to make this place as a favorite tourist destination. The report also highlights the way by which a tourist spot such as Chiang Rai can be developed. Another important aspect of the research paper is that it will show how segmentation in tourism can be achieved. The key findings of the project are how marketing mix influences the decision of a tourist. The other important findings are the data which shows the number of visitors coming to Thailand in a calendar year and also the expected number of turnouts in the years to come. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Literature Review 5 Research Question 10 Research Methodology 13 Conclusion 15 Reference 16 Bibliography 18 Appendix 1 19 Appendix 2 21 Introduction Siam was the name during 1940 to what we today know as Thailand. The country of Thailand resides in the heart of South East Asia. The country comprises of brilliant arts, green isl ands, an exciting nightlife and a tradition of openness towards the visitors. The nation is known to many as the home of some delicious cuisines, wonderful silks and some of the magnificent temples. These factors portray the great culture of the country. It has never been occupied by the European powers, possibly the only country in south- East Asia to have escaped it. The structure and geography of the country is that it is divided into 4 natural regions: the mountains and forests of the north; the vast rice fields in the central plains; the farm lands of the northern plateau and Tropical Island in the southern peninsula. Politically Thailand is again divided in 77 provinces such as Ang Thong, Mae Hong Son and Lop Buri, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai among others. While the capital of Thailand namely Bangkok is not a provincial area but it is referred as a special administrative area (Central Intelligence Agency, n.d.). All the provinces are governed by a Governor who is appointed by th e ministry of external affairs. The only contrary factor is that the Governor of Bangkok is chosen by its people through voting (Unescap, n.d.). A number of countries in Asia believe that tourism plays an important role in the economic and social development of a country. It generates foreign exchange earnings, employment and also assists in other factors. Tourism plays a major part in the economy of Thailand, contributing around 7% of the total GDP. Every year Thailand is visited by around 14 million visitors. The visitors come from different parts of the world (The Irrawaddy, 2010). The reason for this massive tourism development of the country is mainly due to the stable political situation and the availability of air transportation in Bangkok which serves as the gateway to this international venue. Industries like hotel and retail gets immensely benefited by the tourism industry. The Tourism Authority of Thailand has launched various programs to promote the tourism sector in the ir country as well as internationally with their catchy slogans like â€Å"Unseen Thailand† and â€Å"Amazing Thailand†. According to them there were nearly 19.09 million tourists who visited Thailand in 2011 which also means 19.8% growth as compared to the previous year. The tourism revenue generated around $23.08 million, which was the highest ever tourism revenue in a same calendar year. The tourists were mainly from Malaysia which accounts 2.47 million followed by China (1.76

Strengths-Based Leadership Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Strengths-Based Leadership - Term Paper Example Additionally, this paper explicates strategies for applying my leadership strengths in a health care organization to improve quality and safety. My top five strengths include restorative, responsibility, empathy, relator, and belief. The healthcare profession is today faced with many problems that hinder the provision of quality and safe care. In laymans terms, restorative strength is the ability to solve problems. This strength enables me to decipher challenges that affect provision of safe and quality care and therefore formulate new strategies to address them. Laureate Education (2013) asserts that health care professionals are provide care for patients from different age groups, different educational levels, and different levels of understanding. In this regard, my responsibility strength enables me to handle patients presenting with divergent needs with the highest of quality. Being responsible means that I value my responsibilities in relation to provision of quality and safe care. Empathy as a strength also helps me in provision of quality and safe care to patients. In explication, empathy is compassion or kindness. B eing kind means being sensitive of the needs of the patients and therefore, this strength helps me align care with the safety and quality needs of the patients. Being a relator denotes my ability to create and foster good and healthy relationship with my colleagues. Good relationships enhances teamwork and collaboration and as a result leads to improved job satisfaction. This also contributes to the provision of quality and safe care as all stakeholders work as a team. In relation to my strength of belief, I consider my job of more importance than the financial benefits I get from it. This means that I focus much of my attention on the welfare of the patients and in so doing, I achieve the highest possible performance in terms of provision of

Effective Communication In Workplaces

Effective Communication In Workplaces Effective communication has its own benefits in the workplace. Effective communication from managers to employees will result in the employees doing their job well. A good management style together with a positive communication approach will be quite effective in the workplace and will lead to better understanding between the employee and manager. For an organization to be successful communication should happen both internally and externally. Internal communication: between management and employees. External communication: this takes place between staff and clients. Let us consider Vodafone as a case study to illustrate the effective communication skills[3] Internal Communication[2]: this takes place inside the organization between the employees and management. Here the employees act as stakeholders. This communication may take place in any of the forms listed below: Vertically: this the top down approach which happens from the senior employees to juniors associates. The ultimate goal here is to improve the performance of tasks and make the junior employees understand the companys priorities and requirements. Horizontally: this takes places between various teams and across departments. The goal here is to make sure roles are effectively carried out and tasks completed. Intranet with restricted access to people within the business is a great tool for promoting better communication. External communication[1] :this takes place with customers. Vodafone has laid a principle for communication as We will communicate openly and transparently with all of our stakeholders within the bounds of commercial confidentiality. Vodafone believes that this will reduce the barriers to communication. It makes sure that its messages are conveyed both verbally and non verbally. For verbal communication the company has set contact centers so that the staff can be in direct contact with the customers and further giving an opportunity for its staff to talk to the customers about the issues. Non verbal communication can take place through various methods such as advertisements in television, newspapers and other media, the Vodafone logo. This also acts as a method of determining the position of the brand. Further methods of non verbal communication include SMS to contact certain customers. Sales information can be reached out to customers through literature in the Vodafone shops. The many forms of communication through which Vodafone reaches out to its customers are as below: Promotion and sales material- Vodafone makes sure that the advertising material is correct and follows its Business principles. This also helps the information reaches out responsibly to its stakeholders together with promoting its products and services. Awareness and Information: Vodafone promoted the use of mobile phones responsibly in the cars. It took the complex material and translated the information in easy to understand form and made the public aware of the new law and appropriate use of phones in the car. Explanation and guidance: mobile phones have health effects on human beings. But the latest scientific research has something new and Vodafone needs to convey these findings clearly to the customers. Motivation to dedicate Employees A well motivated staff is a key to a productive and pleasant environment in a workplace. Motivating the employees must be one of the key responsibilities of a manager. An effective management and leadership reflect through effective motivation of employees in the workplace. Understanding the human nature is a key to effective employee motivation. The key to performance improvement in an organization is motivation. Motivation is very essential for any business to survive and excel. Motivation is a skill and must be learnt. Performance can be defined as a function of ability and motivation as below Job performance= function (ability)(motivation) Ability depends on education and training. Motivation has the following seven strategies through which it can be initiated: Fair treatment of people Positive and high expectations Discipline Satisfying the needs of the employees Setting goals at work To restructure the jobs Set rewards and recognition for performance Every organization has its own ways to motivate the employees to ensure that goals and targets are reached [4]. Obstacles to Effective Performance The main obstacles to effective performance in an organization are as follows: Culture Change Conflict Culture Culture is related to beliefs, values and customary ways of doing things. The main reason for employees leaving the company is cultural mismatch. According to the present culture employees are required to have a clear understanding of short term and long term goals. The employees are required to have a shared vision and values as well as being productive and motivated. The organizational culture is determined by the leadership style and practices in an organization and hence plays an important role especially during acquisitions and mergers. Every organization has a set of values and beliefs. When an employee is exposed to a new culture, the individual goes through a state known as culture shock. When the companies merge the employees from the non dominant company need to adapt themselves to the new culture of the dominant company. Let us consider Barclay Plc for instance. Barclay acquired Lehman Brothers and one of the major issues for Barclay after this acquisition is to take into consideration the two different cultures in these two companies. Most of the employees of Lehman Brothers have left Barclay and a few did not join Barclay. This makes it clear that the employees are not ready to adapt to the new values, leadership styles, beliefs and practices of the Barclay culture. One of the biggest challenges to the management at Barclay is to make employees accept the new culture. The change in culture ultimately has an effect on the motivation level of the employees, their commitment to the organization and their engagement in work. Another consequence of an acquisition is that the individuals from the non dominant organization will feel like loss of identity and the others will have a superior feeling. This will ultimately affect the company achieve its goals and objectives. Another major issue of culture when the two organizations were merged is it will divert the attention of the employees and make the less productive. The attention of employees will be diverted to issues such as job security , feeling of discomfort working with new employees. Job security is the main issue as there will be duplication of departments and to manage the staff, the organization can reduce the manpower. The job profiles may be redesigned which may have an impact on the performance of the employees. The employees motivation, attitude and performance are determined by the culture. Motivation and culture go hand in hand. More an employee is motivated; the culture will be healthier. The key factor to be dealt in any organization is motivation. If an employee is not motivated properly then the employee will have problem accepting the new culture which will impact the individuals ability to do the job effectively and efficiently. The company should have flexible culture if a decision of acquisition is taken. This will allow the new employees to adjust to the new culture. Culture reflects the style of management and leadership. A slight change in the values, leadership style and ideas will help the new employees adjust to the new environment. This is not easy task, but since Barclays has taken a decision of merger it should be ready to consider changes in its culture and leadership style. Change Except for change nothing is constant in this world. Every activity in an organization results in some change. It can have a positive or negative effect depending on the communication made through change. The acquisition of Barclay and Lehman Brothers bought together a huge change in both organizations. New strategies and policies, procedures and work environment were created for work in both organizations. Change should involve people and not be imposed on people. Preparing the employees of an organization for change is a very vital task and it is the responsibility of the management to do this. This can be done through various methods such as through oral communication, via training programs or through counseling. The major reason for the Lehman employees leaving Barclays when the two organizations were merged is that the change was not managed properly. The key principles needed when planning to manage change are as follows: Every person reacts to change differently. Each person is different and has its own perceptions and preferences. A few people always look forward to change and new things and it easy to handle them. But it is a very difficult to handle people who always like things the way they were. These kind of people will experience stress and dissatisfaction and negative attitude towards their counterparts preferences. Every person has his own needs and priorities A few people work just for money but a few for the self and social identification. Change can be managed effectively by designing jobs in a better way through job redesign, job rotation management etc. Managing expectations realistically The organization should make clear to its employees that it cannot make everyone happy at the same time and this should be communicated effectively and realistically. The relation between expectations and reality is very important. The management should do the tasks listed below in order to manage change effectively: The management should inspire people and set certain objectives, goals and values for the organization It should set up a communication network such as face to face interaction so that new ideas and policies can be easily communicated. If there are any obstacles in the way of communication then those should be removed as this will help people accept change. Change can be made inevitable by promotions, recruitments and rewards. Conflicts When Barclays merges with Lehman conflicts were natural to arise as people from two different cultures and two different companies were merging. Starting with small disputes, conflicts may reach to higher levels which will ultimately affect the organization. Since the culture of both organizations is different each will have its own ideas, strategies, perspectives and goals. The different types of conflict that may arise when people of two different cultures merge are as follows: Conflict with boss Since the manager has a more experience and bigger perspective it will not be good to encounter conflict with the boss. In order to avoid such a conflict it is better not to question his authority and any ideas and views should be presented in the form of suggestions. Conflict with colleagues Different point of view will lead to conflict between employees. This can be done resolved through proper communication. Conflicts with the subordinates Conflicts can be handles effectively by one of the following ways: Each person should be given freedom to express their views. Conflicts can be sorted to a greater level by identifying positive minded people. Not everyone may have a broad vision as ours. So communicating and discussing our vision will help keep conflicts away. Changing nature of Modern Work Organizations [9] There many factors that contribute to the changing nature of work at organization, but the two main factors are: Current market scenario requires organizations to be more competitive and customer focused, hence there is an increased pressure on the organization The breakthrough in IT and communication is another factor. For example mobile and internet have made work to be separated from time and space. Organizations have changed their focus and their main principles are: Defining vision and values from the consumers perspective Creating a value chain i.e., defining activities and process that add value to customers and link them Remove activities that add no value to the organization. Reducing inefficiencies in the tasks in an organization. These principles have added value to the organization enabling them to respond rapidly to customers needs and supporting change and encouraging innovation. Conclusion The base of any organization depends on the policy, the values, the vision, the philosophy and goals set by the management. These act as the driving force for the organizational culture. Culture in a workplace determines the leadership style, the type of communication and group dynamics within the organization. The employees in the organization perceive the culture as a quality essential at work which has an impact on the degree of the employees motivation. This ultimately affects the performance, personal growth and self development which ultimately affect the organization from achieving its goals. The above discussed concepts such as communication, motivation, culture etc, make up only a small part of the theories of organizational behavior and theory. The success of any organization is determined by the application of the concepts of organizational behavior in the organization. The best way to handle conflicts in a workplace is to address them through discussions and debates. Conflict can have a positive effect within the organization if it is addressed effectively. A successful manager is one who takes time to address and deal with the conflict. This in turn will lead to a healthy and diverse work environment.

The Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe Essay -- History Soviet Union

The Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe Many political beliefs exist. Everyone has the right to chose what to believe in, what ideas to have, what to seek and how to achieve his goals. Political science is not very defined and strict. Specific rules saying that if one believes in a certain idea he should join a certain party do not exist. Certain things match certain group of people and other things this group of people would not accept. The same principle can be applied for countries. Communism appears to be successful for China, but it failed for Eastern European countries. It is very important the proper way of government to be found and used by the government of a country. The failure of the government can lead to failure in economics, defense, and all other spheres that have importance for the existence of a nation. Russian political leaders governing at the time of communism did not think clearly and they underestimated the negative sides of their policy. They believed that communism was appropriate and successful be cause it worked effectively for several years but it failed after all. Three of the major reasons for the fall of communism were the suppression of religion, the poor quality of life provided by the government and the command economic system. What is communism? The political term communism can be found in the online glossary, published by Paul M. Johnson who is a professor in the Political Department in the Auburn University. The definition states that communism is any ideology that is based on communal ownership of all property and a classless social structure. There is an authoritarian government that directs economic production and distribution, and it embodies the interests of the country as a whole. ... ...est. Works Cited Boshnakov, Sevdalina. Personal Interview. 04 April 2004. Chamberlin, William H. What You Should Know about Communism and Why. New York: Aberdeen Book Co., 1965. Hutchinson Encyclopedia. Johnson, Paul M. Communism – Glossary of Political Economy Terms. Dept. of Political Science, Auburn University 7 April 2004 . Szostkievicz, Adam â€Å"Religion after Communism: Churches stumble in Eastern Europe† Commonweal. 24 Sept. 1999. 7 April 2004. . Wikipedia Articles. Workhistory.com Bringing History to Life .7 April 2004 .

Ptlls Level 3 Theory Assessment 1

UNIT 1 PTLLS LEVEL 3 THEORY ASSESSMENT (1) / JOHN A F BRADY @ MERCIA 2011 Describe what your role, responsibilities and boundaries would be as a teacher in terms of the teaching / training cycle. The role of the teacher is to facilitate the learning aims of the taught group on behalf of them and their service provider. Examples of overall learning aims include the passing of knowledge-based examinations, the demonstration of a skill or competency and, in some cases, a combination of all such elements. The teacher’s responsibilities are a set of specific actions grouped to achieve desired learning outcomes. These responsibilities cover two distinct areas, namely the pastoral and the pedagogic. The former includes student health & safety and behaviour management, the latter teaching methods and student engagement. In this context, the term ‘boundaries’ describes the social contract between the service provider, teacher and learner group. Boundaries are concerned, for example, with service limits and the establishment and policing of codes of conduct. The teaching/training cycle is comprised of five activities, namely:- (i) the identification of needs, (ii) lesson planning and design, (iii) teaching the lesson and the facilitation of learning, (iv) assessing learner achievements, and (v) evaluating the contribution made of the teaching methods used. Identifying needs combines data collected before student induction, e. g. returned application forms and observations made at induction, e. g. during ice-breaker activity. My specialism of teaching adults English as a foreign language needs to ascertain a student’s ability to listen, read, talk and write. My role here includes assessing whether a student’s subject ability is appropriate or would be better addressed in a ‘special needs’ context. My understanding of the material and institutional teaching environments will also inform how best to cater for students with mobility issues/learning difficulties. Design and planning concerns the pedagogic and the pastoral. For the former, a series of lesson plans need to be devised to enable students to learn the syllabus content required by the awarding authority. Pastoral activities include social and institutional induction, e. g. ice-breakers, site-tours, H&S and other professional/legal requirements. A lesson is taught by the teacher and learnt by the student. A teaching responsibility is to gain insight into student ways of learning and to adjustdelivery to further facilitate learning. Consideration of inclusivity, diversity, behaviour and student inter-action will also improve teaching/learning performance. Assessing adults learning English as a foreign language is a challenge. The teacher needs to use proceedures as laid down but remain flexible enough to guage nuances between those whose vocal skills may disguise poor written skills vice versa. Assessment must be systematic, collated and intelligible to others. Evaluation likewise should be systematic and collated with clearly defined outcomes. Student feedback, CPD and self assessment are critical for the improvement of teaching performance and learning outcomes. (Recommended 300 – 500, actual 429 words,excluding titles)

Dual Core processors: A New and Better CPU Technology Essay

Most modern personal computers are based on a single-core processor – that is, a single processing unit in one integrated circuit. Never designs have integrated multi-core processors, which have more than one processing unit, integrated into a single chip. The most common design of commercial multi-core processor is a dual-core processor, which combines two processing units in one chip. These processors are used in most new Apple products, many Windows-based personal computers and many gaming systems. Major chip manufacturers AMD and Intel both offer dual core processors for use in consumer electronics. Other chip manufacturers such as Fujitsu and Pennsylvania Semiconductor have followed suit with their own dual core offerings. Manufacturers aren’t stopping at dual core offerings – they continue to increase the number of processing units in their multicore offerings, with four or even eight processing units available. Most dual core processors are RISC-based processors (Reduced instruction Set Computing), which offers faster processing than the standard single processor chip (Mears, 2005). Dual core processors have a number of advantages over the older single-core processors. They use less power, run cooler and are faster in some applications than the older chips, decreasing the possibility of overheating as well as reducing the device’s use of power (Lynch, 2005). Virtualization, or the abstraction of multiple resources into a single virtual resource or a single resource into multiple virtual resources, also is made possible by dual core chips (Lynch, 2005). This process greatly increases the efficiency of multitasking, or running multiple programs at the same time. Dual core processors were first introduced to the consumer market in mid-2005, with both AMD and Intel, the two largest chip manufacturers, bringing their products onto the market at about the same time (Lynch, 2005). They quickly became popular, particularly with graphic artists and gamers, who required the faster performance of the dual core processor. However, machines built with the processors had a steep price tag, slowing the consumer adoption of the processors. Dual core processors were at first only offered in high-end workstations intended for graphics-intensive gaming or graphics creation, and the machines often had price tags of $5,000 or more (Begun, 2005). Today, they are offered in most major computer lines, including Apple, IBM and others. Notebook computers also offer dual core processors. By the time dual core processors were introduced in 2005, single core processors had reached their speed limit due to limits on the size of chip components (Lynch, 2005) Dual core processors did not offer faster speeds for all programs at first. Because of the design of the chip, only programs that were able to run multithreaded (dividing the required calculations between two different processors) would see an increase of speed when used with a dual core processor. At the time the processors were introduced, this included operating systems such as Windows, some graphics programs like Adobe Photoshop and many graphics-intensive games, particularly multi-player Internet based games (Begun, 2005). Lynch (2005) noted that a popular consumer application of the dual core chip would be to download media such as television or movies while playing a game using the other core. More impressive than the efficiency games in high-calculation applications is the reduced power requirement and heat production. Wong’s analysis of the PA Semiconductor PA6T dual core chip demonstrates the gains made over single core chips in this area. The PA6T chip uses the 64 bit Power architecture, and uses a fine-grain clock gating approach to reduce the power usage even further (Wong, 2007). The chip uses only 13W of power for a 2-gHz chip, offering a significant advantage over a single-core processor. Lynch (2005) stated that while a single core AMD chip used 89 Watts, a dual core chip with twice the processing power used only 95. Lynch noted that the heat gains that were realized with the dual core architecture were especially important in reducing fan noise and emissions. Single core chips could not run faster than they did without producing significant, sometimes dangerous levels of heat, which required ever-larger processor fans to disperse. The dual core architecture, which ran far cooler than single core architecture, resolved this problem easily (Lynch, 2005). The ability to use virtualization is a major benefit of dual core processors. Virtualization originated as a distributed computing concept. Using virtualization, physical computing resources such as processing units, memory, and disk storage are overlaid with a virtual representation which reorganizes the physical resources into a virtual architecture, creating a single virtual resource out of more than one physical resource or partitioning a single physical resource into multiple virtual resources (Ernest & Fellenstein, 2004). Virtualization not only increases efficiency and reduces spending on physical computing resources; it can greatly reduce power usage (Information Week, 2006). This technique is used in Web services development, grid computing and a number of other areas of computer science. Application of virtualization to personal computers with dual core processors has been very successful in speeding applications and multitasking. VMWare, a popular implementation of virtualization for personal computers, began to support dual core processors shortly after their commercial introduction, offering their first dual core product in 2005 (Mears, 2005). Sun Microsystems is another major provider of virtualization software. In 2006, Sun announced plans to provide virtualization software that could run up to 32 processes on a single multicore processor, increasing to 64 processors the year after introduction (Information Week, 2006). Sun’s new systems immediately showed the benefits of the power-saving multicore processors. David Young, CEO of Joyent, a provider of e-mail and storage services, says he saw immediate benefits in moving to UltraSparc T1-based systems. With a customer base doubling each of the past two years, Joyent attempted to increase capacity at a co-location facility, but was told there was no available power. Joyent consolidated a number of older Intel-based Dell servers onto 20 Sun servers. Each Sun server saved the company more than $1,000 per year in power and cooling costs, and generated an additional $1,000 per year in rebates from the utility provider. â€Å"If I can save $4,000 a month, that’s someone I else I can hire to improve our service to our customers,† he says. (Information Week, 2006). Dual core processors have gained increasing acceptance in the consumer and business market. According to Lynch (2005), the majority of the consumer processor market was predicted to be dual core processors by 2007. However, there are even bigger and better things on the horizon. Multicore processors don’t stop at only two processing units – processors with up to 1,024 processing units have been designed in the laboratory, and commercial offerings now range up to 8 processing units. Apple has announced that their Mac Pro desktop machine can now be configured with two 3. 0 gHz quad-core Intel Xeon processors, for a total of eight processing units (eWeek, 2007). The machine, targeted to graphic designers, software developers and researchers, can support up to 8 displays, has 16MB total of L2 cache and a 1333 MHz front side bus. Although the Mac Pro is on the high end of consumer desktops, the Apple spokesperson stated â€Å"The eight-core Mac Pro gives pro software developers a platform to prepare new versions of their application for the future, when eight-core technology is more prevalent on the desktop (eWeek, 2007)†. If the enthusiastic consumer adoption of dual-core technology is an indication, the future Apple dreams of is not too far off. Dual core processors offer a wide margin of improvement over the older single-core processors in many areas. Increased speed for popular applications such as 3-d gaming and graphics programs make the processors attractive; decreased heat output and power requirements ease environmental and operations concerns. The benefit of virtualization has brought levels of computing previously only enjoyed by users of large-scale grid computing, multi-processor servers or other industrial or academic computing environments home to the desktop. Ever-widening horizons of multicore processing offer the promise of even greater and more powerful home computing. Dual core processors are only the start of the future of consumer computing. Works Cited Wong, William. â€Å"Judicious clocking subdues power-architecture cooling needs: this 2- GHz, dual-core processor uses thousands of gated clocks to cut power requirements by more than a factor of three. (LeapFrog). † Electronic Design 55. 9 (April 27, 2007): 34(2). Begun, Daniel, Rich Brown, and Matthew Elliott. â€Å"Maximum multitasking: dual-core CPUs double up for faster multithread processing. (Central processing units). † Computer Shopper 25. 7 (July 2005): 96(2). Joseph, J. , M. Ernest, and C. Fellenstein. â€Å"Evolution of grid computing architecture and grid adoption models. † IBM Systems Journal 43. 4 (Dec 2004): 624(22). Mears, Jennifer. â€Å"VMware virtually primed for dual core. † Network World (July 25, 2005): 25. â€Å"Sun Expands Virtualization Products, Services; Sun is introducing enhanced virtualization technology for its UltraSparc T1 CoolThreads servers that will let customers run up to 32 applications simultaneously on a single processor. (Sun Microsystems Inc. ). † InformationWeek (Oct 17, 2006): NA. â€Å"Analysis – Dual-core processors speed to market. More is most definately better that less when it comes to CPUs. With the ability to run numerous applications in tandem, the new product will dominate the PC market in no more than a couple of years says Martin Lynch. † Computer Reseller News (Oct 17, 2005): 27. â€Å"Apple Unveils Eight-Core Mac Pro. † eWeek (April 4, 2007): NA.

Media and Football Essay Example

Media and Football Essay Example Relationship Between the Media and Football Essay Relationship Between the Media and Football Essay Cooperative games first became mandatory in Harrow school, but they were encouraged in other educational institutions too, mainly because they somehow allowed students organizing their leisure. As a result, in 1840-1870, football has become one of the elements of educating loyalty to the team, as well as willingness to sacrifice personal interests for the sake of the team. In general, it became such internal unity of the spirit, which schools in England were famous for (Turnbull, Raab, and Satterlee 76). How and why has the Relationship Between the Media and Football Changed Over Time? By the middle of the 19th century, the educated classes established a cult of physical exercise, where football and cricket was the subject of worship not only in private schools, but also in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The number of participants was not limited; there were always fights and brawls, while one could play using both arms and legs. If there were any rules, they were going the rounds rather orally than in any other way. Two years later, several graduates of private schools, who arrived in Cambridge, tried to develop a common set of football rules, known as Cambridge Rules (Turnbull, Raab, and Satterlee 79). Now we know that the game of football was not confined to the walls of private educational institutions, being beloved among a much wider population. Sports newspapers of that time were full of advertisements about calls for football competitions, and often the game was for money. It was the first mention of football in general, and in newspapers particularly (Turnbull, Raab, and Satterlee 81). According to John Turnbull, the First Division appliance between Arsenal and Sheffield United became the initial football match to be aired live on the radio. The given event took place at Highbury, on Saturday, January 22, 1927. The first football commentator in the history was Henry Wakelam, who became a sports reporter only three weeks after the BBC had received its Royal Charter, which allowed it to transmit coverage of major sporting competitions. In order to encourage the listener to track the play, the Radio Times printed an enumerated grid of the pitch with Wakelam announcing grid numbers in his commentary. Arsenal was also involved in the first radio broadcast of an FA Cup Final (Turnbull, Raab, and Satterlee 92). Ten years later, on September 16, 1937, Highbury again organized a famous first, namely the first live TV broadcast of a football game. It should be mentioned that it was the period when television broadcasting was very much in its infancy. The event was an all-Arsenal affair, and the match itself was scheduled to examine the highly advanced technology of that time. Yet, there were only a few thousand TVs in the whole country; thus, not many people were able to watch this broadcast at the time but, as they say, the rest is history. Football was originally designed more to become a form of leisure time, and not a professional occupation. Young people, who founded the English Football Association, did not seek to professionalization of the game, and did not wish their offspring such a fate. However, by the early 1880s, it became clear that a new sport had become something of a mania, especially for the population of industrial cities in central and northern England, as well as Glasgow and Central Scotland. Thousands of people were ready to pay for the opportunity to watch Cups competitions of the leading teams. In turn, local businessmen gladly spent money to maintain the football clubs of their cities. Leaving a home and a job, the Scots went to play in the English clubs; 55 Scots played for eleven Lancashire teams in 1884 (Goldblatt 42). High and medium skilled workers and even many middle-class clerks had the opportunity to play football or just go to games; they regularly received sufficiently high salary, and Saturday night was a public holiday when the games were held. Football Association tried to prevent players from getting money, facing players to suspension in some matches or even disqualifying them for a long time. The decisive moment came in the 1884-1885 season (Goldblatt 45). In early 1884, Preston North End took in its field Upton Park in the fourth round of the Cup of the Football Association. After the match ended in a draw, guests, gentlemen amateur team from London, filed a protest, claiming that the Preston North End were professionals. The Football Association conducted an investigation, and although the fact that the participation of professionals had not been confirmed, Preston North End was accused of illegally luring away players from other clubs. The team was removed from the tournament, but in response, several major clubs held a meeting, at which they discussed the possibility of theirs exit from the Football Association, as its headquarters were located in London. Representatives of 40 clubs met in Manchester, threatening the creation of alternative British Football Association. A certain social, regional, and emotional subtext was standing over this attempt to split, since the essential role in the outlined conflict was played by confrontation between North and South, as well as strong anti-London moods. However, it was obvious for some FA managers, and primarily for its Secretary, Charles Alcock, that if the association wanted to maintain its position, it was necessary to find a compromise with supporters of professional football. A compromise was found in 1885, and professionalism in football was legalized within the English Football Association. It was the start of commercialization (Goldblatt 50-51). Sponsorship and sponsors’ logos on the form of football clubs have long been a â€Å"non grata†, unless one considered drawings of the agencies and organizations logos on the official team T-shirts. However, only in the second half of the 20th century (in the 1970s, to be precise), it became possible to break the consciousness stereotypes of those, who did not want to see commercial trademarks next to their favorite teams’ logos. Therefore, the first football uniforms with the printed commercial names or signs of the sponsors, appeared in Europe in the 1970s (Fizel 61). The first club that placed its sponsor’s logo on the shirt was the West German club, Eintracht Braunschweig. The management of the team has signed a contract with the producers of the famous Jgermeister, and the famous antlers, which symbolize this particular drink, became the world’s first image of the sponsor placed on a football uniform (Young 132). A few years later, other major professional leagues have adopted the West German experience. For example, the first mention of such cooperation between a football club and a sponsor was applied in the UK, in 1976. With regard to Major League of the United Kingdom, today Liverpool players are considered to be the first, who started to wear commercial company logo on their shirts. Liverpool became the first British professional club, which placed the logo of their sponsor on the shirt, after they agreed to a deal with Hitachi in 1979. A long-liver among the title sponsors of the British teams is JVC. Its logo has appeared on the Arsenal shirts in 1981, and this partnership continued until the year 2000 (Young 134). Spanish Football Federation endorsed the idea of selling advertising spaces on the teams’ game forms in the 1981-82 season. At the same time, Manuel Meyer, then head of the Espanyol, strongly opposed the decision, calling it a â€Å"betrayal of the club colors and values†. The decision was made on October 9, 1981, with 82 votes â€Å"for† among 124 clubs taking part in the vote. By now, since Athletic Bilbao signed agreement with Petronor in 2008, and Barcelona yet agreed to host logo of Qatar Foundation on their game shirts, La Liga does not have a single club that has never had a title sponsor (Fizel 68). Big money came into football in the 90s, and after the â€Å"Bosman case†, football player did became a customary employee, who worked for the money and had all the privileges of the employee. The moment of football becoming a business could be clearly shown on the example of Manchester United. Back in 1990, when the present Manchester United was just reborn from the ashes under the guidance of Sir Alex Ferguson, the board decided to issue shares on the public sale of the club (that is the IPO), which made it clear that the club would be positioned as a mixture of a football club and the company’s business. The club had various owners until that day, and they were formally the owners of a company called MU. However, the simultaneousness of shares release to the exchange and the overall commercialization of football in the 90s, certainly clarified in what direction the club would go (Dobson 121). It meant the fact that there was a chance that any more or less billionaire, who naturally could not have any idea that Theatre of Dreams was not a theater at all, having enough money, could fully buy the club and take it under control, that is even now impossible to imagine in Germany and in several clubs in Spain (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic). Considering that incomes of the Premier League clubs in the late 90s began to spring up like mushrooms overnight, attempts at such capture (capture by businessmen, who try to make profit) were inevitable and were only a matter of time. Certainly, this time had come (Dobson 125). The first man, who tried to grab a piece of sweet cake called Manchester United that was growing by leaps and bounds, was Rupert Murdoch from the BSkyB Corporation, and it happened 8 years after the release of club’s shares to the exchange. Then, there appeared the Glazer family, which seeing a huge financial potential of the club, slowly began to buy the club shares, reaching about 30% in October 2004. Then, in summer 2005, the Glazers brought theirs block of shares to 98% that gave them absolute power over the club. Later, there was information that the family took a debt of 265 million pounds by putting in pledge MU, and 275 million pounds of other debts. In general, the debt increased to an astronomical 660 million pounds, by which the club was obliged to return 62 million pounds every year (Dobson 129). Today, the debt fell to 367 million pounds mark due to the stable service and the first output of shares to the exchange. Summing up all these figures and facts, it can be said that the majority of big clubs now turned into the company’s business due multimillion TV and sponsorship contracts. Such clubs put profits rather than athletic performance for the sake of all. Generally, management style of big clubs can be divided into three types: Private owner who seeks only benefit; Private owner, who loves football, and spend a lot of money; Joint ownership of the club fans or small investors. Each of the mentioned types has its pros and cons. However, the fact remains that Premier League clubs have turned to the company’s business and the price of transfers, TV and sponsorship contracts are growing very quickly. As in any economic sector, protracted period of growth will someday reach its peak, and the correction will begin, that is, the bubble will burst, bringing great upheavals in this sphere. Nonetheless, only preventive measures, such as Financial Fair Play from European football officials could save the situation. Undoubtedly, commerce is very useful to football, making it brighter, more interesting and more accessible, but it also brings some pitfalls that one needs to successfully circumvent right now, or it will be too late (Fizel 94). Nowadays, more money is spent on players. It is the new reality and paradox at the same time. The best players in the world get paid more than they have ever been paid, when they played a brutal, utilitarian football. Consequence of enrichment of players on such a scale is the degeneration and destruction of command ethics, connection between player and fan. If such a gap occurs, one cannot possibly save the very foundations of this beautiful game. For example, Cristiano Ronaldo severed all relations that bound him to Manchester United fans, not to mention the relationship with his teammates. Commercialization of football led to a basis of transfers. There is a gulf between football science and football practice, and no one cares about this gulf. The most important things are money and entertainment events, which are ensured by the innate abilities of players-legionnaires. National football schools, which demand is rapidly declining, more and more serve as props. If the club owners were worried about the national football, they would make some efforts to impose a veto on further transfers, and would be seriously engaged in development of football schools. At a minimum, they should reduce an annual legionaries’ quota. Currently, the world football moves on the road, sunk in the transfer fog. However, there is another way that is clear, and where money is not the top priority. This is the way of development of national football schools and establishment of coaching schools, alongside with their radical reformation.