Analysis of a cultural or MICE sector organisation Essay

Analysis of a cultural or MICE sector organisation - Essay Example usually planned well in advance and aimed at achieving a certain corporate, social, political or cultural purpose among many other purposes (Hass et al, 2008). Industry educators propose the use of ‘Events Industry’ as an overall term to represent the wide scope of works under this industry (Brotherton & Wood, 2008). The organizers or firms in this industry offer meeting and conferencing support equipment, catering services, accommodation facilities, transport facilities, training, and so much more that is akin to services in the hospitality industry. A large number of MICE’s components are comprehensively understood, except for incentives which is least understood by many. Incentive tourism is commonly undertaken as an employee reward scheme by organizations as a form of employee reward by companies for targets achieved and success in work. Thus, MICE tourism is, many at times, purely conducted for entertainment purposes rather than educational or professional purposes. This industry usually includes well planned agendas focused on specific topics or themes, such as trade and professional organizations, educational topics or special interest groups. Bidding for MICE events usually occurs long prior to the events. This article reviews a specific firm in this industry within the United Kingdom (U.K) market. The firm under highlight is the U.K based AVC Productions limited (AVC Productions, 2011). This article evaluates the company’s products and services as well as structure, organization, vision and mission of the c ompany. Furthermore, of interest will also be its special focus area or market niche in the industry. The study will also include an analysis that will look into the company’s strategy in order to identify how it competitively strategizes and positions itself within the United Kingdom market. The article will also carry out an analytical review of the company and its position and performance within the industry through common analytical

Cognitive Design Essay Example for Free

Cognitive Design Essay A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalid Hosseini is seen through the eyes of two young female protagonists, who have a strong and well-developed character. In the novel, the author shows their hardship, their lives in a hopeless society, Afghanistan, and how throughout their life they face cruelty and vulnerability. The author portrays the experiences of the two Afghan women, Mariam and Laila, who live in a society where women are mistreated. Mariam’s character is described as a quiet and thoughtful girl who questions the society and dreams of a luxurious life. She experiences physical and mental abuse from almost every person in her life and is brought up in an isolated environment by a bitter mother who puts her down. For instance, in the beginning of the novel Nana, Mariam’s mother, says: â€Å"You are a clumsy little harami† (Hosseini, 4). This very word â€Å"harami† helps the reader to analyze the struggles of an illegitimate child. Nana also prepares Mariam to expect nothing from men: â€Å"Like a compass needle that always point north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always . Mariam† (Hosseini, 7). This is also used to foreshadow Mariam’s husband, Rasheed, a cruel, abusive and hot tempered man, who physically and verbally abuses Mariam after marriage. Although Laila was also brought up in the same society as Mariam, her character is stronger as compared to Mariam’s. She has a strong desire to use her intelligence and education to improve the society and as her father, tells her: â€Å"Marriage can wait, education cannot You can be anything you want Because a society has no change of success if its women are uneducated No chance† (Hosseini, 114). The characters personality evolves over time, and this helps to analyze the tragic themes of the novel which are oppression, hope, and internal strength of women. The ability for any individual to imagine to endure the pain and sacrifices that Mariam and Laila endured are overwhelming. Yet the authors’ description of the characters makes it easy to analyze them to a great depth.

The Religious Right and the Crusade to Preserve Religion :: Essays Papers

The Religious Right and the Crusade to Preserve Religion This paper was written for my Writing 209 class. For the assignment ,Donna Marsh, asked us to find an article in a periodical that dealt with an issue in our American culture. We were then told to express our opinion on the topic discussed in the article and to analyze the argument presented in the article. I chose the topic of school prayer because I believe strongly in the separation of church and state that exists in our country. This is a controversial issue that is worthy of discussion, and hopefully my essay will provoke you in some manner whether you agree with my premise or feel that the views I express are totally invalid. In the presidential election of 1992 between George Bush and Bill Clinton, the topic of family values became one of the most controversial issues of the campaign. Vice President Dan Quayle emphasized this issue the most, with his frequent tirades on the subject including his criticism of the television character Murphy Brown. Once this issue reached the spotlight, the more conservative members of the Republican party religious right" delivered speeches calling for the nation to return to instilling "traditional values" in our children. One of the reforms that they called for was the legalization of a daily prayer in our public school system. They claimed that this would be a key first step in reinstituting the essential family values in our children. They called for a change in our laws which have forbidden prayer in schools. These laws have been upheld because courts have asserted that they violate the separation of church and state that is assured in our Constitution. Following this call for a new religious crusade many articles and editorials appeared calling for new legislation which would allow prayer in public schools. Polls were released which indicated that a large percentage of Americans favored new legislation on this subject, and more than one half of those surveyed claimed that they would be more likely to vote for a candidate in a national election who supported prayer in public schools. One has to question the intensity of this support because Bill Clinton (not a supporter of bringing religion into public schools) defeated George Bush (a supporter of school prayer) in the 1992 presidential election. Those who voiced their support for school prayer felt that it would strengthen the moral values of young children as they went through school. The Religious Right and the Crusade to Preserve Religion :: Essays Papers The Religious Right and the Crusade to Preserve Religion This paper was written for my Writing 209 class. For the assignment ,Donna Marsh, asked us to find an article in a periodical that dealt with an issue in our American culture. We were then told to express our opinion on the topic discussed in the article and to analyze the argument presented in the article. I chose the topic of school prayer because I believe strongly in the separation of church and state that exists in our country. This is a controversial issue that is worthy of discussion, and hopefully my essay will provoke you in some manner whether you agree with my premise or feel that the views I express are totally invalid. In the presidential election of 1992 between George Bush and Bill Clinton, the topic of family values became one of the most controversial issues of the campaign. Vice President Dan Quayle emphasized this issue the most, with his frequent tirades on the subject including his criticism of the television character Murphy Brown. Once this issue reached the spotlight, the more conservative members of the Republican party religious right" delivered speeches calling for the nation to return to instilling "traditional values" in our children. One of the reforms that they called for was the legalization of a daily prayer in our public school system. They claimed that this would be a key first step in reinstituting the essential family values in our children. They called for a change in our laws which have forbidden prayer in schools. These laws have been upheld because courts have asserted that they violate the separation of church and state that is assured in our Constitution. Following this call for a new religious crusade many articles and editorials appeared calling for new legislation which would allow prayer in public schools. Polls were released which indicated that a large percentage of Americans favored new legislation on this subject, and more than one half of those surveyed claimed that they would be more likely to vote for a candidate in a national election who supported prayer in public schools. One has to question the intensity of this support because Bill Clinton (not a supporter of bringing religion into public schools) defeated George Bush (a supporter of school prayer) in the 1992 presidential election. Those who voiced their support for school prayer felt that it would strengthen the moral values of young children as they went through school.

You Don’t Know What You Have Til It’s Gone

You Never Know What you Had ‘Til It's Gone To Kill A Mockingbird Is one of those stones that gives a deeper meaning to the simplest things. As it is in the title, obviously mockingbirds are important to this story. The first that these mockingbirds seen are when Scout and Jem got their ar rifles. Atticus, not wanting to teach them how to shoot, gave them a rule he wanted them to follow. â€Å"‘I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the backyard, but know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the blue]ays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember its a sin to kill a mockingbird. That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to o something. and asked Miss Maudie about It. ‘Your fathers right,' she said ‘Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They dont eat up people's gardens, don't nest In corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out tor us. Thats why its a sin to kill a mockingbird. ‘†(90) In To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, we are shown important lessons that even now we can use. The story tells us that mockingbirds are harmless, innocent creatures, and killing them is wrong, because they don't hurt anyone, nor do they want to.The symbols of the mockingird used in the story are generally important in he town of Maycomb. If one of them were taken away the whole town of Maycomb would be worse off because of It. Tom Robinson Is one of those people that we need these days. He would help others no matter what small thing It was, It might have not even mattered who It was, and wouldn't take or ask tor anything in return. He just knew how to be thoughtful like it was a second nature to him. In the story, Tom was first introduce as the man who was to be defended by Atticus, because it was claimed the he raped Miss Mayella Ewell.During his case he had two acclaims against him, Mayella Ewell and er Father 30b Ewell, but it was clear that Tom was innocent with every word he said In c ourt. When it was said that Tom was killed it pulls at anyones heart strings, even to the citizens In Maycomb. Even Mr. underwood, though without being exact, gave the message of the mockingbird In the editorial after Tom's death. â€Å"Mr. underwood didn't talk about mlscarrages of Justice, he was writing so children could understand Mr Underwood simply figured it was a sin to kill cripples, be they standing, sitting or escaping.He likened Tom's death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters nd children, and Maycomb thought he was trying to write an editorial poetical enough to be reprinted in the Montgomery Advertiser. â€Å"(241) He tries to get through to everyone In Maycomb to understand that Tom and the mocking bird are one in the same, because of him being a cripple. The senselessness of his death, as It seems, is the key: killing Tom didn't make things good nor did It prevent something bad, Just like shooting a mockingbird. The price of this mockingbird may have been Bob Ewells life, for trying to kill him offfor Mayella's mistake, tempting a negro.The next time a mockingbird turned up in the book is with the assultot Jem and Scout in the end of the book. Scout shows how she understand how they shouldn't drag Boo, Arthur Radley, into court. â€Å"Atticus looked like he needed cheering up. I ran reassured him. ‘Mr. Tate was right. ‘ Atticus disengaged himself and looked at me. ‘What do you mean? ‘ ‘Well, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it? ‘† (276) All that Boo did was watch the neighbourhood, gave trinkets to Scout and Jem in the knot of a tree, and protected them when they were attacked.Harming someone who never ment to harm anyone and tries to help is like killing a mockingbird, and arresting Boo would serve no real purpose. Though the next example is not the typical idea for the mockingbird symbolisum he still gives the same message as his character further developes in the story. Atticus Finch is on of those people who has a great influence on others because of his wisdom and kindness. â€Å"Judge Taylor was saying something. His gavel was in his fist, but he wasn't using it. Dimly, I saw Atticus pushing papers from the table into his briefcase. He snapped it shut, went to the court reporter and said something, nodded to Mr.

Google Strategic Analysis

Strategic Audit of Google Google Abstract Google was founded by two Stanford PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in 1998. The two recognized a need within the internet services industry for a search engine that would provide accurate results. The two opened Google, Inc. as an online company that provided a superior search engine, a platform for extremely targeted advertisements, and intranet solutions to internet users across the world. The company obtained the majority of its revenues by selling advertising space within the search results. Google employed an innovative system for selling this space to companies; companies would only have to pay Google for the advertising space if a customer â€Å"clicked† on their advertisement. As Google became the most-used search engine in the world due to its greater accuracy of producing relevant results, advertising revenues increased at a phenomenal rate. Google faced competition from others in the internet search services industry; specifically AOL, MSN, and Yahoo. Each competitor recognized the importance of a quality search engine to customers – as well as the opportunity to gain advertising revenues – and was attempting to develop an innovative search engine that would top Google’s. Competition from Microsoft was also a possibility. Microsoft indicated that they might attempt to add a search engine to their new operating system that was set for release in 2006. While Microsoft was not an established player in the internet search services industry, they had the technical expertise and massive resources to present a major competitive threat. The importance of the search engine to Google’s competitors as a stand-alone service was great but the development of a search engine rivaling or bettering Google’s would also attract customers to their other services. Google’s competitors offered many other services, in addition to their search services, such as email, online dating, and fantasy sports networks and were successful in doing so. Google’s success as a company hinged almost completely on the success of their search engine. Google, Inc. egan to diversify into other segments of the internet services industry in order to lessen the risk of having only one truly successful product and to build up both their customer base and customer loyalty. Google began to offer internet users the ability to search within a directory of 425,000 still images. Their collection of images tied with Yahoo’s as internet users’ first choice for image-searches. Google also began offering a directory of 50 0 million discussion topics that dated back to 1981 called Google Groups. Customers, in addition to being able to examine discussion topics within Google Groups, could add postings to a new group. Also, in 2004, Google began offering its users access to a compilation of 4,500 news sources located all over the world. Google then developed a service that would allow cell phone and handheld device customers to use Google’s search and other services on their wireless devices. In addition to these services and others, Google developed Google Catalog, a service that would allow users to search print mail order catalogs, and offered email accounts to select clients. In order to remain ahead of the competition and an industry leader in providing internet services, Google had to now make some strategic decisions. To assure the future of the company, Google’s management team knew that they would have to differentiate Google’s products from those offered by competing companies, such as Yahoo, MSN, and AOL. Google could either continue to expand the amounts of services it offered (i. e. include text messaging services, large email accounts, and others), it could work to improve the services it offered across the board, or it could focus on improving its most successful creation: the Google search engine. Each option had its merits and the company had plenty of resources to use in pursuing any of these three (or other) strategies. The difficult issue was choosing the most appropriate strategy for the company. I. Current Situation A. Performance ? Most-used website in the world ? Possesses global brand; one-half of internet users outside the United States ? High degree of user loyalty and brand identity ? Employs interface for over 88 languages ? Generally considered to possess the most accurate internet search engine ? Google network is utilized by 80% of internet users; used by 165 million people in the United States and United Kingdom per month ? Google’s 2008 revenues were $21,795,550,000, a 31. 34% increase since last year[1] ? Google’s 2007 revenues were $16,592,986,000, a 56. 47% increase over 2006’s revenues[2] ? Google’s cash increased 42. 34% from $6,081,593,000 in 2007 to $8,656,672,000[3] ? Google’s debt to equity ratio was 10. 44% in 2007 and 11. 1% in 2008. Yahoo’s debt to equity ratio was 22. 05% in 2007 and 17. 81% in 2008. Microsoft’s debt to equity ratio 50. 15% in 2007 and was 50. 7% in 2008[4] ? Google’s current ratio was 8. 49 in 2007 and 8. 77 in 2008. Yahoo’s current ratio was 2. 41 in 2007 and 2. 78 in 2008. Microsoft’s current ratio was 1. 44 in 2007 and 1. 69 in 2008[5] ? Google’s income from operations was 30. 64% of sales revenues in 2007 and was 30. 43% of sales revenues in 2008. Yahoo’s operating income was 9. 98% of sales revenues in 2007 and 0. 18% of revenues in 2008. Microsoft’s operating income was 36. 23% of revenues in 2007 and 37. 19% of sales revenues in 2008[6] ? Return on Assets (ROA) = 16. 6% in 2007 and 13. 3% in 2008. Yahoo’s ROA = 5. 4% for 2007 and 3. 1% in 2008. Microsoft’s ROA = 19. 3% in 2007 and 19. 9% in 2008. [7] ? Return On Equity (ROE) = 18. 5% in 2007 and 15. 0% in 2008. Yahoo’s ROE was 7. 2% in 2007 and 4. 5% in 2008. Microsoft’s ROE was 38. 8% in 2007 and 57. 4% in 2008[8]. B. Strategic Posture ? Mission Statement: â€Å"To organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. †[9] ? Objectives: ? Remain the industry-leading website in terms of internet traffic market share ? Remain the industry leader in providing the most accurate search engines ? Capture market share in the online advertising market and become the industry leader in providing directed, online advertising services ? Reduce risk by increasing market share in non-search internet services: Google catalog, Google Business Solutions, Google News, etc ? Begin licensing patented wireless technology and intellectual property to other companies ? Further diversify company from competitors C. Corporate-level strategies ? Pursue a strategy of concentric diversification by entering into other areas of the internet services market D. Business-level strategies ? Differentiate Google’s products from those offered by competitors ? Competitive rather than cooperative E. Functional-level strategies ? Google’s R strategy is to be a technological leader ? Google’s marketing strategy is to simultaneously pursue a market development strategy to gain market share for its search engine and pursue a product development strategy to increase the diversity of its product portfolio. In both cases, Google primarily uses a pull strategy to entice consumers to utilize its products. For example, Google uses Google Business Solutions to advertise the ways Google can help various businesses through the use of their products. This advertising results in businesses â€Å"pulling† Google’s products through the channels. ? Google’s financial strategy includes maintaining a low debt to equity ratio. Their debt to equity ratio was only 11% in 2008, which is much lower than that of the competition ? Google’s operations strategy includes increasing and maintaining global operations. They have offices and thousands of services in many different countries on several continents. This is more fully discussed in a later section. ? Human resources – Google’s HR strategy entails maintaining and further developing an extremely diverse work force. Its strategy is also focused on attracting employees with advanced technical skills and paying them well both monetarily and with many fringe benefits. This is more fully discussed in a later section. II. Corporate Governance A. Board of Directors[10] ? Eric Schmidt has served as our Chief Executive Officer since July 2001 and as a member of our board of directors since March 2001, where he served as Chairman of the Board from March 2001 to April 2004. In April 2004, Eric was named Chairman of the Executive Committee of our board of directors. Prior to joining us, from April 1997 to November 2001, Eric served as Chairman of the board of directors of Novell, Inc. , a computer networking company, and, from April 1997 to July 2001, as the Chief Executive Officer of Novell. Eric was a director of Siebel Systems until January 2006. Eric holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University and a Master's degree and Ph. D. in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley. Sergey Brin, one of our founders, has served as a member of our board of directors since our inception in September 1998 and as our President of Technology since July 2001. From September 1998 to July 2001, Sergey served as our President and Chairman of the Board. Sergey holds a Master's degree in computer science from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Science degree with high honors in mathematics and computer scien ce from the University of Maryland at College Park and is currently on leave from the Ph. D. program in computer science at Stanford University. Larry Page, one of our founders, has served as a member of our board of directors since our inception in September 1998 and as our President of Products since July 2001. From September 1998 to July 2001, Larry served as our Chief Executive Officer and from September 1998 to July 2002 as our Chief Financial Officer. Larry holds a Master's degree in computer science from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Science degree with high honors in engineering, with a concentration in computer engineering, from the University of Michigan and is currently on leave from the Ph. D. program in computer science at Stanford University. ? L. John Doerr has served as a member of our board of directors since May 1999. John has been a General Partner of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a venture capital firm, since August 1980. John is also a director of Amazon. com, Inc. , an Internet retail company, Homestore, Inc. , a provider of real estate media and technology solutions, Intuit, Inc. , a provider of business and financial management software, and Sun Microsystems, Inc. , a supplier of networking computing solutions. John holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School and a Masters of Science degree in electrical engineering and computer science nd a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Rice University. ? John L. Hennessy has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2004. Since September 2000, John has served as the President of Stanford University. From 1994 to August 2000, John held various positions at Stanford, including Dean of the Stanford Unive rsity School of Engineering and Chair of the Stanford University Department of Computer Science. John has been a member of the board of directors of Cisco Systems, Inc. , a networking equipment company, since January 2002 and chairman of the board of directors of Atheros Communications, Inc. a wireless semiconductor company, since May 1998. John holds a Master's degree and Doctoral degree in computer science from the State University of New York, Stony Brook and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Villanova University. ? Arthur D. Levinson has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2004. Since July 1995, Art has served as a member of the board of directors of Genentech, Inc. , a biotechnology company, and has served as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since September 1999. Prior to 1999, Art held various executive positions at Genentech, including Senior Vice President of R. Art has been a member of the board of directors of Apple Computer, Inc. , a computer hardware and software company, since 2000. Art was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Microbiology at the University of California, San Francisco. Art holds a Ph. D. in biochemistry from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Science degree in molecular biology from the University of Washington. ? Ann Mather has served as a member of our board of directors since November 2005. Since April 2004, Ann has been a director of Central European Media Enterprises Group and serves on its Audit and Compensation Committees. She served as a director of Shopping. com from May 2004 until it was acquired by eBay in 2005 and was Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee. From 1999 to 2004, Ann was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Pixar. Prior to Pixar she was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Village Roadshow Pictures. From 1993 to 1999 she held various executive positions at The Walt Disney Company, including Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration for its Buena Vista International Theatrical Division. Ann holds a Master's degree from Cambridge University. ? Paul S. Otellini has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2004. Paul became the Chief Executive Officer and President of Intel Corporation, a semiconductor manufacturing company, in May 2005. Paul has been a member of the board of directors of Intel since 2002. He also served as Intel's Chief Operating Officer from 2002 to May 2005. From 1974 to 2002, Paul held various positions at Intel, including Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Intel Architecture Group and Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Sales and Marketing Group. Paul holds a Master's degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a Bachelor's degree in economics from the University of San Francisco. ? K. Ram Shriram has served as a member of our board of directors since September 1998. Since January 2000, Ram has served as managing partner of Sherpalo, an angel venture investment company. Prior to that, from August 1998 to September 1999, Ram served as Vice President of Business Development at Amazon. com, Inc. , an Internet retail company. Prior to that, Ram served as President at Junglee Corporation, a provider of database technology, acquired by Amazon. om in 1998. Ram was an early member of the executive team at Netscape Communications Corporation. Ram holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Madras, India. ? Shirley M. Tilghman has served as a member of our board of directors since October 2005. Since June 2001, Shirley has served as the President of Princeton University. From August 1986 to June 2001, she ser ved as a Professor at Princeton University and from August 1988 to June 2001 as an Investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Shirley holds a Ph. D. n biochemistry from Temple University and an Honorary Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Queen's University. ? Three members are inside board members and seven are outside board members; two are female ? Committees include: audit, leadership development and compensation, nominating and corporate governance, executive, acquisition, and real estate[11] B. Top Management ? Eric Schmidt , Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer ? Larry Page , Co-Founder & President, Products ? Sergey Brin , Co-Founder & President, Technology Nikesh Arora , President, Global Sales Operations and Business Development ? Laszlo Bock , Vice President, People Operations ? Shona Brown , Senior Vice President, Business Operations ? W. M. Coughran, Jr. , Senior Vice President, Engineering ? David C. Drummond , Senior Vice President, Corpora te Development and Chief Legal Officer ? Alan Eustace , Senior Vice President, Engineering & Research ? Urs Holzle , Senior Vice President, Operations & Google Fellow ? Jeff Huber , Senior Vice President, Engineering Omid Kordestani , Senior Advisor, Office of the CEO and Founders ? Patrick Pichette , Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer ? Jonathan Rosenberg , Senior Vice President, Product Management ? Rachel Whetstone , Vice President, Public Policy and Communications ? Susan Wojcicki , Vice President, Product Management III. External Environment Analysis (EFAS, see Exhibit 1) A. General Environment[12] 1. Natural Environment ? Solar or geomagnetic storms in space could destroy or damage Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites as well as cause electric power outages on earth. In 1989, a geomagnetic storm caused a nine-hour power outage in Eastern Canada that affected millions of people[13]. The GPS satellites are used by Google to provide their Google Earth service. The power outages could affect internet traffic which would reduce Google’s advertising revenues. The power outages may also prevent Google from offering services due to a lack of power to run their equipment. Another possibility is that Google may have to use back-up power – such as generators – or purchase it temporarily at a higher rate from another source; thereby increasing their operating costs (T) ? Climate change is expected to result in an increase in the intensity and the frequency of severe storms. Weather issues that are expected to increase in both intensity and frequency are: windstorms such as tornados and hurricanes, heat waves and droughts, storms with extreme rains or snow, and dust storms. Floods and landslides are expected to increase as well[14]. This could affect Google by causing damage to the communications infrastructure – i. e. cable cuts – which would cause the internet connections to become intermittent or nonexistent until the cable cut or related issue is repaired. In the case of wireless connections, â€Å"wireless nodes† like cell phone towers may be knocked over. Other communications items such as switching networks may be damaged by extreme weather as well[15]. The extreme weather could prevent Google from delivering services to customers and could damage other businesses and industries as well; resulting in reduced revenues for Google and a slump in the overall economy (T) ? As mentioned above, storms with extreme winds are expected to increase which will likely increase the tumultuousness of the ocean. 5% of cable cuts in undersea cables are caused by ships’ fishing nets and 18% are caused by ships’ anchors. Extreme weather may increase the frequency of undersea cable cuts from ships; resulting in internet disruptions[16] (T) 2. Sociocultural Forces ? An estimated 577 million people worldwide access the internet using mobile devices. The number of people accessing the internet via mobile phones is expected to increase to 1. 7 billion by 2013. By 2014, mobile internet users are expected to make up around 50% of all internet users (O)[17] ? The pace of life is increasing for the average consumer. Due to advances in technology – like the cell phone, wireless laptop computer and email – each person with access to these technologies is pressured to complete more tasks. This increases reliance on the newest technologies to meet the demands of increasing expectations put upon consumers[18] (O) ? Consumers are worried about identity theft and privacy; especially how their information can be accessed and used by other companies and individuals online. [19] (O) ? The average American respondent spent 19 hours per week surfing the internet[20] (O) ? Email remains the most popular online activity. This is even more true with users 64 years and older. 73% of teenage users reported using email more than anything else on the internet and 74% of internet users aged 64 and older reported using email more than anything else on the internet[21] (O) ? The largest increase in internet usage can be found within the 70-75 year-old age group. Previously, 26% reported using the internet; this number has increased to 45%[22] (O) ? Internet users aged 18-34 are the largest group of internet users who use the internet for entertainment purposes. For this group, entertainment includes watching videos, playing online games, engaging in virtual worlds, and downloading music[23] (O) ? Internet users aged 12-34 are the largest group of users to read and write blogs and are also the largest group of users to engage in social networking via the computer[24](O) 3. Technological ? Internet speed is increasing[25] (O) ? Storage capacity on the internet is increasing (O) ? Internet software capabilities are increasing (O) ? Consumers are expecting a greater level of personalization in their web searches, frequently-visited websites, and internet services than in prior years[26] (O) ? Emergence of a new technology called The Internet of Things. This technology is designed to run hardware appliances – such as a refrigerator – as optimally as possible. Also, it runs sensors within appliances that can report back to the user via the internet. For example, in the case of a refrigerator, this technology would report what foods you are running low on and which foods may no longer be safe to eat[27]. e. g. , Google may want to examine providing an internet service designed to connect users with the hardware and software in use – especially via mobile device. )(O) ? 66% of internet users report using search engines when making complex decisions. (O) ? Respondents in the survey listed in the bullet above report only 25% of searches produce needed results the first time. Of these same responde nts, 30% report giving up on the search after failing to receive the desired result[28] (T) 4. Economic ? Period of American and global economic recession[29] (T) ? Fed. Chairman has declared that America’s recession is likely over and expects moderate growth for the next two years. [30] Around half of Google’s users are in the United States (see above). (O) ? An end to the recession in the European Union is expected during the third quarter of this year[31]. Around half of Google’s users are outside the United States (O) ? Federal interest rates are between 0-0. 25%, making capital more affordable for advertising customers and for Google[32] (O) ? Real GDP is expected to be -2. 6 this year but is expected to increase to 2. in the end of next year[33] (O) ? Consumer spending is expected to increase from -0. 9 this year to 1. 1 next year[34] (O) 5. Political – Legal ? Internet crimes (a component of these is copyright infringement), in one year, are estimated to have resulted in losses of $240 million dollars; as opposed to an estimated loss of $198 million dollars as a result of these crimes in the previous year. The increased amount of these crimes is likely to result in increasingly stringent regulations regarding crimes – including intellectual property-related crimes – perpetrated over the internet. The impact to Google is this: Google stores images and written works in their directory – exposing them to potential future legal liability for intellectual property related violations. Google has already been sued for this; Google was forced to remove 100,000 clips of copyrighted material from YouTube and paid out $90 million dollars to one party for a related issue[35] (T) ? Character defamation by anonymous bloggers has resulted in courts forcing companies like Google to reveal the identity of the anonymous blogger to the courts[36] (T). India is issuing subpoenas (or their equivalent) to â€Å"platform† companies like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft for content displayed on their â€Å"platforms. † The companies have court cases pending against them for content displayed on their sites including: copyright infringement, character defamation, hate messages, and gender selection advertisements[37] (T) B. Task Environment 1. Threat of New Entrants ? Threat of new e ntrants is medium ? Switching costs are virtually non-existent; customers can use search engines for free and can use them apart from other services offered by the company furnishing the search engine. Customers will likely try another search engine if the results they require cannot be obtained quickly and easily from the engine they are using. Google’s advertising customers are not required to sign a long-term contract; nor do they have to make a sizable investment up-front in order to place an ad with Google. Advertisers pay Google for space on their search engine results pages only when customers â€Å"click† on their ads and can therefore switch to another company without large sunk costs. ? Barriers to entry do exist, however, due to the amount of computer equipment necessary to be competitive with the likes of Google and Yahoo. Also, the large competitors within this arena have servers strategically placed all over the world. This may be difficult for a new company to this industry to replicate in a fashion that would make them competitive. Also, the large companies in this industry have vast amounts of information about their customers and online advertisers that would be difficult for a new entrant to amass. [38] 2. Rivalry Among Competitors ? Rivalry among competitors is high ? Google’s competitors (at this time) are all larger companies with large amounts of resources ? Google’s competitors offer other internet services as well as search services. The search engine attracts customers to their other services (for example, dating services, email, and fantasy sports league platforms); which raises the importance of possessing a superior search engine past its importance of a stand-alone service for Google’s competition ? Competition with Microsoft is expected to increase. Microsoft is attempting to integrate a search engine into its operating system and other products [39] ? Google considers Microsoft and Yahoo their greatest competition. These companies have greater cash resources and ability to make acquisitions, a longer operating history, and more established customer and end user relationships. They also operate internet portals and offer more products and services than Google does. In the case of Microsoft, they also have more employees [40] ? Google’s market share in the U. S. internet search market is 31%; Yahoo’s market share is 26% and MSN’s is 20%. This is very close. ? The industry is attractive and margins are high. Google’s success has increased the intensity of competition since these other companies want to share in the financial success ? Microsoft is working to develop a search engine to rival Google’s. This may be in lieu of the MSN search engine mentioned above[41]. This will definitely increase competition dramatically (in the short run at least) as Microsoft throws its resources in promoting their new product and attempting to steal market share from Google. Microsoft has a longer history of marketing than Google does, which may increase rivalry. 3. Bargaining Power of Suppliers ? Bargaining power among suppliers is low ? Google, as an internet-based service firm, requires few raw materials from outside sources. The supplies required, with the exception of electricity, are available from multiple sources ? Potential employees have some power over Google due to the short supply of qualified applicants. According to Google’s CEO, Google was having problems finding applicants that were either not technically proficient enough to complete the task at hand or of â€Å"insufficient quality. † 4. Bargaining Power of Buyers ? Bargaining power among buyers is medium ? Google has 31% of the internet search traffic market share, compared to 26% for Yahoo and 20% for MSN. This strengthens Google’s position with buyers since Google is the industry leader and is therefore more attractive than competitors to advertisers who would like to place ads on search engine results pages ? No buyer of Google’s services is responsible for larger than 3% of Google’s revenues. Because Google’s buyers are fragmented and none are responsible for a large amount of revenues, Google’s buyers do not have much power over Google[42] 5. Threat of Substitutes ? Threat of substitutes is high ? Although there aren’t any true substitutes for a search engine, there are different ways to organize information. In this case, a different method of searching might produce a substitute to the current method that may produce better results ? Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and Microsoft are working to develop search engines that will either equal or exceed the functionality of Google’s search engine and have the resources to allocate to a massive research and development effort. Time will tell whether they are, in fact, viewed as a substitute by search users. ? Google’s search-engine customers value accuracy of search results. Google’s competitors already offer search engines. Google’s competitors may be able to create a comparable search engine over time . Bargaining Power of Other Stakeholders ? Bargaining power of other stakeholders is medium ? Special interest groups, like the American Association of Publishers and the Authors Guild, have sued Google and won for copyright infringement for content used by Google on their Google Print and Google Books applications. These groups a nd other groups are constantly monitoring Google’s actions for incidents of actual or perceived copyright infringement on their applications. [43] ? Google has been forced, as a result of a lawsuit, to reveal the identity of a blogger who wrote offensive comments about a Canadian model. Google may be required to release the identity of other users upon request in the future because of this precedent which may reduce their customer base. [44]This example is meant to illustrate that individuals, as well as organized groups, may have the power to influence Google’s business operations ? Google’s employees have little power to exert when negotiating with Google. Labor within Google is not organized[45] IV. Internal Environment Analysis (IFAS, see Exhibit 2) A. Corporate Structure (See Exhibit 3 for organization chart) ? Google’s corporate structure is primarily functional. 46] ? Google is broken down into five functions: Engineering, Sales, Products, Marketing, Legal, and Finance ? Underneath the overarching functional structure, Google is further broken down into product markets or geographical areas, which technically makes Google’s structure a hybrid of functional, geographic, and product structures. ? Each product market or geographical a rea element under the functional areas is treated as a small business unit. The small business unit element of Google’s structure provides flexibility. B. Corporate Culture ? Corporate culture values innovation and ambidexterity. Employees (including corporate level managers) are encouraged to devote 70% of their time on core business activities, 20% of their time to core-business related projects, and 10% of their time to unrelated new business activities. According to Marissa Mayer (see top management section for job title), around half of Google’s new products are a direct result of actions taken by employees during their free time (S)[47] ? Culture seems to have high degree of intensity and integration ? Culture values include â€Å"an obsessive commitment to creating search perfection and having a great time doing it (S)†[48] ? Other priorities for Google members are innovation and keeping costs low ? Google values ability over experience and encourages everyone to share ideas. Also, Google created an informal atmosphere where anyone can ask the CEO or top management a question and be answered. [49] (S) ? Google’s corporate culture puts emphasis on not exploiting the user of their products. [50] ? Being quirky and having fun are also emphasized. Google’s work area has foosball tables, ping pong tables, volleyball nets, and several other games present (S)[51] C. Corporate Resources 1. Marketing ? Google promotes advertising packages through Google Business Solutions. Information is available to prospective clients on how Google can improve clients’ profitability through their advertising packages (S) ? Services – Google’s advertising customers often see Google’s service team as arrogant and find it time consuming and difficult to do business with Google because Google often switches the team assigned to handling the clients’ business before the clients’ advertising submission is complete (W) ? Google is second to Yahoo in being able to finalize agreements with advertisers (W) ? Television advertising is currently not being utilized by Google. In comparison, Microsoft is showing Television advertisements for their products. TV advertisements may reach a good portion of the older audience and inform â€Å"non-tech-savvy† about their products and services[52] (W) ? Google doesn’t advertise on their home page which is attractive to search customers (S) ? Extremely strong brand. Google has been added to the Oxford dictionary as a verb (S) ? Average sales per click per month were a little under 54. 5. However, Yahoo’s average sales per click were only 53 during the same month. Yahoo is currently Google’s biggest competitor[53] (S) ? â€Å"Adwords† system employed by Google to deliver advertisements is user-friendly for advertisers. Google’s system is also easy for advertising customers to use for changing the advertisement shown on Google’s results pages. (S) ? Product – Google’s search engine is most accurate in the world (O) 2. Finance ? Google’s revenues in 2004 were $3,189,223,000. This is 117. 56% greater than their revenues in 2003, which are $1,465,934,000 (S) ? Google’s cash balance in 2004 was $426,873,000; 186. 5% greater than their cash balance of $148,995,000 in 2003 (S) ? Google’s profit margin was 12. 52% in 2004. Yahoo’s, in 2004 was 23. 49. [54]Microsoft’s profit margin was 22. 17[55](W) ? Google’s quick ratio (acid test) was 7. 18[56] in 2004. Yahoo’s quick ratio in 2004 was 3. 38. Microsoft’s quick ratio in 2004 was 4. 44(S) ? Google’s Return on Assets (ROA)[57] was 21. 05% in 2004. Yahoo’s ROA in 2004 was 11. 83% and Microsoft’s ROA in 2004 was 9. 38%(S) ? Google’s Return on Equity (ROE)[58] was 25. 97% in 2004, as compared to Yahoo’s ROE in 2004 of 14. 65% and Microsoft’s ROE in 2004 of 11. 69%(S) ? Google’s debt to equity ratio was 13. 12% in 2004. Yahoo’s was 29. 24% in 2004 and Microsoft’s was 23. 47% in 2004[59](S) ? Net income was positive in 2002-2004. Net income was $399,119,000 in 2004; an increase of 277. 79% over 2003’s net income of $105,648 (S) 3. Research and Development ? In 2004, Google spent 7. 7% of sales revenues on R&D. This is very low for a tech firm (W) ? R&D is one of Google’s strengths. They have more market share in the search engine market because of the creation of their innovative search engine (S) ? Research and Development efforts have led to the creation of the most-used search engine in the world. Another notable innovation that relates to this is their creati on of a learning search engine. The more a customer uses their search engine, the more it learns and responds to the user’s individual preferences. Due to Google having the largest market share, their engine can learn faster than those offered by the competition which reduces its imitability[60]. (S) ? Google owns 13 registered trademarks and 7 unregistered trademarks as a result of R and D efforts[61](S) 4. Operations and Logistics ? One of Google’s biggest strengths is getting a large volume of users to their websites which makes them very attractive to advertisers (S)[62] ? Google has servers and locations all over the world to improve distribution of services[63] (S) ? Google has the ability to translate their information into over 88 different languages. This improves operations and logistics control when activities are taking place in a non-English- speaking country (S) ? Google’s Adwords system is self-managing; meaning that an advertising customer can change their campaign as their budget changes. This results in quick, efficient adjustments (S) 5. Human Resources Management ? Google employed 2,700 employees in 2005; 900 were â€Å"techies† ? Employees receive many fringe benefits in an effort to make them feel they are a priority. This strengthens corporate culture to a degree. Google has been listed as the top company to work for for two years in a row by Fortune Magazine. Employees have access to free high-end on-site dining facilities, snack stations, gyms, laundry rooms, barbers, massage rooms, dry cleaning, and several other employee fringe benefits[64] (S) ? Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, stated that the company was having problems recruiting employees who were both of acceptable caliber and technically proficient (W) ? Google maintains a diverse workforce and hires locals to work in its geographically dispersed locations (S) ? Google has a long hiring process that takes several months to complete. This would be a strength, except the company reported having problems finding people that were both quality employees and technically proficient (W) ? Employees are skilled at multitasking. For example, the individual who created Google’s holiday logo also was responsible for translating Google’s website into Hangul (Korean language) (S) ? Google’s technical employees work 70% of the time on regular business, 20% of the time on new but related business, and 10% of their time on completely new and unrelated projects. This makes Google more adaptable and builds â€Å"ambidexterity† into the organization (S) 6. Information System (IS) ? Google utilizes a system called â€Å"Live Out Loud† to promote communication between employees, to create a searchable database of related projects employees are working on to promote economies of scope and transfer of knowledge, and as a control system. How it works: Google employees weekly send an email to a central source concerning the specifics of the project they are working on and their progress. Google has used the same search engine it employs on its website Google. com to search through the emails to find the relevant ones. Managers simply have to search, using the Google search engine, for the employee’s progress they wish to evaluate. The system is user-friendly for both the employees and managers and it is simple. An employee working on a project can search the system for other relevant projects and obtain useful information they can incorporate when completing their specific task[65]. S) ? Google uses a triple redundancy system to ensure errors don’t disrupt the flow of timely information. If one computer doesn’t respond to an employee’s request for information within a few milliseconds, two others provide the information to the employee. All information is stored in three places. This makes their system very reliable and efficient in delivering timely information (S)[66] ? Google uses a database system called BigTable as part of their manag ement information system. Due to the volume of information Google must manage, Google has developed this software to break apart large files that are too big for any one server into smaller pieces so they can be stored on multiple servers. This ensures that capacity is available for their information[67] (S) ? Many of Google’s basic activities are automated (S) V. Strategic Alternatives and Selected Strategy A. Growth Strategies 1. Enter market providing legal music and video downloading services (S&O) a. Pros: ? Google has the intellectual capital to successfully develop the software to provide this service. Google has already proven that they can provide the search capabilities to link users with their desired songs or videos; their search engine is the most accurate in the world and the popularity of their product YouTube suggests they possess the capabilities to develop a desirable music/video downloading service ? With a large cash balance and the capabilities to obtain financing due to an extremely low debt to equity ratio, Google definitely possesses the financial resources to develop these services and bring them to market ? By providing different but related services, Google will be reducing their â€Å"diversifiable risk†, if you will, by increasing their product portfolio from one successful revenue generating product to several ? There is a large market for these services already in place; this market is likely to grow as digital media becomes more prevalent in society and obsolete technologies such as tapes, CDs, and records further decline ? Google’s brand strength would be beneficial in this market since the music and movie downloading industry is related to Google’s area of expertise (i. . it is equivalent to an industry leader in the manufacture of small power tools diversifying into producing concrete mixers and pumps, rather than the power tool company diversifying into diapers and other baby products. A DeWalt brand logo on a pair of diapers likely won’t transmit the same message of quality and expertise that it would on another type of tool) b. Cons ? Apple iTunes owns 82% of legal music downloading market. [68] Competing with a company that owns this much of the market share and has more experience in this industry will be very difficult ? Increases the probability of copyright infringement lawsuits ? Shifts emphasis away from Google’s core product – the search engine. If the search engine is imitated or surpassed by a better product before Google establishes a dominant position and greater profits and revenues from its new endeavor, Google may lose a large part of its almost sole source of revenues ? Regulation and trends concerning royalties paid to artists and music production companies may reduce the profitability of this industry ? Illegal downloading may increase; thereby reducing the size of the legal downloading market ? Requires maintaining existing advertising business model and creating and maintaining a new switchboard model (connecting multiple buying downloaders with multiple selling digital music and video suppliers 2. Develop new search engine designed for seniors markets – â€Å"Google Golden Life†. New search engine has an option for adjusting the size of the font used on the search pages based on the capabilities of the user’s vision and allows seniors to type in a question instead of just key words. In addition, it will contain a function that completes words for the typist if he or she so chooses (like an internet browser address box does) – concentric diversification (S&O) a. Pros ? First mover advantage could be gained by focusing on this market segment. Seniors have been ignored – for the most part – in the development of online products and services. No company currently caters to the needs of older internet users ? Seniors represent the largest growing demographic of internet users and represent a large segment of all societies ? The baby boomers are aging and will want/demand products focused on their needs soon ? Google possesses the financial resources to make this happen ? Google also possesses the brand strength and awareness to appeal to older users; older individuals tend to like larger, stable, established, well-known companies as opposed to small, new, relatively unknown startups ? Creating products geared toward older users may increase their interest in Google’s existing products ? Utilizes existing advertising business model to obtain revenues from pay-as-you-click advertisements b. Cons ? Today’s older internet user’s wants and needs are poorly understood by the online industry; this makes developing products/services focused at them a risky undertaking in the short-term. Younger baby boomers are familiar with current computer software but current seniors are less familiar and use computers more infrequently and for less activities (i. e. they may email but not shop extensively online) ? Once Google enters this market and proves the market is attractive, competition will increase and profits will likely go down as the market matures ? The idea of marketing online products and services geared toward older users is a newer one but an imitable one; other companies may have a greater understanding of the older consumer than Google since it has focused on products/services for a primarily younger audience with different needs. This means that other companies may prove to be more successful with this market segment than Google because of a greater knowledge of the older consumer ? Older users may only be interested in emailing and may have little interest in clicking on advertisements; thereby lowering the desirability of placing advertisements on Google’s new products ? May be hard to reach market segment to inform them of new product 3. Develop Social Networking System –â€Å"Google Linkage†Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Concentric diversification (S&O) a. Pros ? Facebook and MySpace are both very popular. Today, internet users 12-34 are largest demographic to engage in social networking. As this age group ages, they will likely continue to use social networking sites and younger individuals entering this age group will likely also engage in social networking via the computer; growth in the social networking industry is virtually assured. Why the growth in this industry is important for Google: advertising revenues will likely increase as ads are placed on social networking pages ? Creates the potential for another profitable advertising platform; reduces the reliance on advertising revenues created from one product – the search engine ? May increase interest in Google’s other products (i. e. a social networker uses Google Images to send a picture of a desert rose to another gardener via Google’s networking service) ? Could compliment Google’s existing mission of organizing the world’s information with a new addition to the mission: â€Å"Organizing the world’s information – and people – to make it and them universally accessible. † ? Google’s strong brand and reputation will likely spark interest from social networkers in Google’s new networking platform ? Google has the financial resources to create and advertise a social networking site either alone or through a joint venture ? Utilizes existing advertising business model to obtain revenues from advertisers through Google’s AdWords and AdSense ? Likely inexpensive to maintain once it is â€Å"rolled out† b. Cons ? Social networking market may be saturated. Customers may have all their needs met through Facebook and Myspace. These companies already dominate the industry and have more knowledge and experience in this market ? Google may not be able to provide any new innovations in social networking ? Doesn’t utilize their distinctive search competency ? May not prove profitable after a cost/benefit analysis is conducted since advertisements will be less focused on self-identified market segments. For example, if one conducts an internet search for Echeveria Subrigida seeds – a succulent plant – advertisements related to plants may be of interest to the searcher. However, an ad related to purchasing succulent plants online may not be of much interest to the random individual attempting to contact another individual whose interests and needs are also unknown ? Requires a different set of competencies than Google already possesses. Email is the most basic social networking method and Google did not perform well in creating a popular email system 4. Create open source network for the development of applications for mobile devices – Google Architects – concentric diversification (S & O) a. Pros ? Market is supposed to almost triple in size in the next five years ? Google already has knowledge of how to make internet applications compatible with mobile devices – i. e. connecting Google search engine to mobile devices ? It is forecasted that half of internet users will be mobile internet users ? Google has the financial resources to undertake both the product development and advertising ? Google has experience and ability when it comes to developing internet apps. ? Could be set up to accommodate Google’s existing business model – obtain advertising revenues through offering free products ? Takes advantage of innovative technical staff b. Cons ? Stiff competition – Apple already has a large market share for mobile applications that are used on the iPhone and others. Microsoft, as operating systems become more commoditized, will likely enter the mobile internet applications market ? May not generate much revenue if customers have a finite number of minutes on their mobile plan. Customers in this situation are not likely to engage in gratuitous searching for curiosity’s sake. ? While Google has proven adept at creating applications, their distinctive competency resides in search engine excellence. Developing apps for mobile users requires a different skill set and core competency. Google may not be able to gain competitive advantage in this market since generating applications may not be one their distinctive competencies 5. Create a search service designed to locate music in a superior manner – â€Å"Google Music. † The search system would allow a user to enter in any part of a song, a band name, a song name, or a CD name and the search will provide results that include not only what the searcher is specifically looking for, but also links to the band’s website, links to listening to or downloading a particular song or multiple songs from the artist, and links to other related sites (i. . sites that offer guitar tablature for the artist or song mentioned in the search) a. Pros ? Will attract more users to the Google search engine, which increases the desirability of advertising on Google’s web pages ? Google music will increase brand loyalty and strength as it meets more of Google’s customers’ needs ? Will strengthen the desirability of the search engine for existing customers ? Will capitalize on Google’s distinctive competency of creating a search engine that produces more accurate results than other search engines offered by competitors ? Will address the needs of the large segment of internet users that use the internet for obtaining and enjoying music ? May provide an additional source of revenues from bands that would like to advertise their products on Google Music’s results pages b. Cons ? Users can already find all of these items using the traditional Google search engine ? Will likely add little to Google’s revenue stream ? Doesn’t address the problem of Google only possessing one profitable product ? Doesn’t truly meet the needs of internet music users since it doesn’t allow users to download music directly from Google ? Most of the results will likely be advertisements. Users may not want to search through advertisements B. Stability Strategies 1. Pause/Proceed with Caution – Use resources to improve existing search engine until threat from Microsoft’s new search engine can be determined and countered. Then grow (S & T) a. Pros ? 99% of revenues are generated from ads placed on search engine pages – Google already dominates market for search services – this must be protected in the short term to protect the sustainability of Google as a company ? Google is currently doing well and doesn’t need to grow to stay in business in the short term ? Financial resources may be needed to counter Microsoft’s efforts to gain position in the search market ? Reinforces Google’s distinctive competencies ? Also allows for the economy to improve before expanding; advertisers may need to rest as well before further investing in ads in non-search related areas b. Cons ? Market dominance in the mobile applications market is being determined now. The opportunity to be the first to focus products toward seniors is open right now. The other opportunities presented above also are available now but may not be in the future ? Doesn’t address the problem and risk of having only one major income-producing product ? Google has the financial resources and ability to obtain further resources if necessary; there are no critical reasons not to grow ? Is only a short-term fix and may cause growth to be put off too long C. Retrenchment Strategies – Google, at this time, has no reason to retrench and should therefore stay away from adopting a retrenchment strategy. It is in good financial condition, its products are still desirable, and it has little to no chance of failing in the short term. D. Adopted strategy – Concentric diversification into mobile applications (Google Architect), music search services (Google Music), and products focused on older internet users (Google Golden Life), combined with investment in maintaining the superiority of the search engine. ? Rationale – both diversifying into mobile applications and products focused on older users deals with seizing opportunities by using organizational strengths (R&D, financial resources ,etc). Both areas represent growing markets and several opportunities to fill emerging or existing needs. Older users are the largest growing segment of internet users and mobile users are expected almost triple in the next five years to finally make up almost half of all internet users. Both allow focused advertising based on known customer needs and interests (the type of application utilized points out the interest – i. e. a customer uses an app to learn a new guitar chord; obviously the user has an interest in the guitar. Also, advertising can be focused on the users of the open forum. Both hardware and software tech companies can advertise on the forum. Elderly people have several universal needs and likely popular interests) and the use of the existing business model. By developing Google Music, Google will further strengthen their best product – the search engine – as well as utilize their distinctive competencies in search engine creation. This strategy diversifies the risk of having one profitable product, which eliminates a major organizational weakness, and is financially feasible given existing resources. The strategy doesn’t face a major threat of being derailed due to organizational weaknesses and outside threats don’t directly threaten the diversification efforts. Google would face virtually no competition by entering the market to deliver online products and services to older users and has the rare opportunity to obtain first mover advantage on a large scale (there are numerous elderly people in the world). Diversifying into these areas has a higher probability of success and is less risky than entering the social networking and downloading markets. Neither of these two areas of diversification would require major shifts in technological knowledge and would utilize the intellectual capital present in Google’s existing staff. This strategy does require an allocation of financial resources toward maintaining the superiority of the search engine because Google must rely on it for success in the short term and will aid in Google’s success over the long term. It represents their distinctive competencies and must be protected at all costs. Adding capital and effort to improving the search engine would not be mutually exclusive with the diversification strategy since Google possesses a large cash balance and a low debt ratio. Given Google’s situation, both parts – the concentric diversification and the concentration on the search engine should be focused on simultaneously. ? This corporate strategy requires a business level strategy of differentiation and functional level strategies of technology pioneer/leader in R&D and a product development strategy within Marketing E. Implementation 1. Product One (Google Golden Life -search engine designed for seniors markets. New search engine has an option for adjusting the size of the font used on the search pages based on the capabilities of the user’s vision and allows seniors to type in a question instead of just key words. In addition, it will contain a function that completes words for the typist if he or she so chooses (like an internet browser address box does) ? Product R&D should be allocated 2% of 2004 sales revenues for two years ($63,784,460/year) ? Organizational members must be chosen to head the new program and participate on R&D teams ? Required new activities must be evaluated for conflict with existing operating activities. ? At least two deadlines must be given to the teams: the first, a working beta version of the product must be created by the end of the project’s first year of existence. Second, a final product that is ready for use on the internet must be in place at the end of a year and a half. After the beta version is released, a team should be given a $1 million budget to obtain and forward on suggestions provided by older users on how to fit the program to their needs. Duration of team: 1 year. ? ROI after year two must be 6% or more and must be at least 10% by the end of year 5 ? Market share (of the existing older internet users) must be 5% at the end of year two and 20% or over after year 5 ? An updated version must be made available by the end of year two ? A flexible budget must be created for year o ne and year two. Pro forma income statements and balance sheets should be created for at least year two and five ? New product must make up at least 2% of total revenues by year two and at least 5% by the end of year five. ? Access to intranet databases must be given to staff working on both diversification products so that a. The wheel isn’t reinvented and, b. Learning can be transferred throughout the organization if relevant pieces of information are discovered during the creation of the new products ? Product must be available in at least three languages by the end of year 2 and 15 languages by the end of year 5 ? Economic value added should be positive at the end of year three 2. Product 2 (Google Architect – open source network for the development of applications for mobile devices) ? Product R&D should be allocated 1% of 2004 sales revenues for 2 years ($31,892,230/yr) ? Organizational members must be chosen to head the new program and participate on R&D teams ? Required new activities must be evaluated for conflict with existing operating activities. At least two deadlines must be given to the teams: the first, a working beta version of the product must be created by the end of the project’s first year of existence. Second, a complete product must be in place at the end of a year and a half ? ROI after year two must be 7% or more and must be at least 10% by the end of year 5 ? A flexible budget must be created for year one and year two. Pro forma income statement s and balance sheets should be created for at least year two and five ? New product must make up at least 3% of total revenues by year two and at least 6% by the end of year five. Access to intranet databases must be given to staff working on both diversification products so that cross pollination of ideas between projects can occur ? Product must be available in at least five languages by the end of year 2 and 20 languages by the end of year 5 ? After the beta version is released, a team should be given a $1 million budget to obtain and forward on suggestions provided by older users on how to fit the program to their needs. Duration of team: 1 year. ? Economic value added should be positive after year three 3. Product 3 (Google Music – The search system would allow a user to enter in any part of a song, a band name, a song name, or a CD name and the search will provide results that include not only what the searcher is specifically looking for, but also links to the band’s website, links to listening to or downloading a particular song or multiple songs from the artist, and links to other related sites (i. e. sites that offer guitar tablature for the artist or song mentioned in the search) ? Product R&D should be allocated 1% of 2004 sales revenues for 2 years ($31,892,230/yr) ? Organizational members must be chosen to head the new program and participate on R&D teams ? Required new activities must be evaluated for conflict with existing operating activities. ? At least two deadlines must be given to the teams: the first, a working beta version of the product must be created by the end of the project’s first year of existence. Second, a complete product must be in place at the end of a year and a half ? ROI after year two must be 7% or more and must be at least 10% by the end of year 5 ? A flexible budget must be created for year one and year two. Pro forma income statements and balance sheets should be created for at least year two and five ? New product must make up at least 1% of total revenues by year two and at least 2% by the end of year five. ? Access to intranet databases must be given to staff working on both diversification products so that cross pollination of ideas between projects can occur ? Product must be available in at least five languages by the end of year two and ten languages by the end of year five ? Economic value added should be positive after the year following the release date VI. Evaluation and Control A. Product 1 (Google Golden Life) ? Management should ensure a beta version is complete by the end of year one and a complete version is ready to be released on the internet by one and a half years ? Dupont Return on Investment (ROI) calculation (net profit margin x total asset turnover) should be used to verify whether or not ROI in year two meets or exceeds 6% in year two and 10% in year five. Management should audit the expenditures of the customer satisfaction team quarterly to determine if the team in charge of obtaining feedback by customers is staying within the budget and whether the budgeted amount of $1 million is adequate ? Management should determine whether or not market share (of the existing older internet users) is 5% at the end of year two and 20% or over after year 5 ? Management should ensure that a new version is available at the end of year two ? Management should evaluate product to verify whether or not it is earning 2% of revenues at the end of year two and 5% of revenues after year five. ? Product should be evaluated at the end of year two to ensure it has been translated into at least three languages and 15 or more languages after year five is complete ? Success of site should also be determined by whether or not it gets at least 10 million hits per month (eyeballs) after year two and 40 million hits per month by the end of year five ? Economic Value Added (EVA) should be positive at the end of year three B. Product 2 – Google architect ? Management should check to make sure that deadlines have been reached concerning the beta version of the product after year one and the first, complete version is completed by one and a half years after the start of the project ? Dupont Return on Investment (ROI) calculation (net profit

Free Essays on Long Live Sport Adidas

Advertising Analysis Rough Draft â€Å"Long Live Sport.† You’ve just come home from a full day at school, put in a couple hours at work, and the last thing you want to deal with is the bombardment of television commercials. Instead of relaxing in front of a television and being persuaded to buy, buy, buy I pick up a magazine to help me wind down after a long day. In an attempt to not be subject to commercials, I hope that reading some articles in a magazine will avoid this. But even then the first chunk of a magazine is full of companies trying to tell you that something has to be wrong in your life and buying their product will fix it. Rolling Stone magazine recently ran an advertisement for Adidas apparel simply stating the phrase â€Å"Long Live Sport.† When glancing at this advertisement I don’t even realize that there isn’t a product being sold to me. The way the images are clustered together, without fluid movement between the scenes, your eye wanders all over it. Moving back and forth trying to take in everything that is being shown to me. Looking at this advertisement of two team mascots fighting forces me to remember cheering on my favorite team at a sporting event. Looking closer at this page I can see why I feel this way, it’s the constant Hornke 2 movement of my eyes. Without really focusing on one area for too long, it’s very similar to being at a game. The fact that even the two team mascots get into the action, defending their own team, and ultimately joining the action of a rivalry is humorous. Which is a good thing for an advertisement or commercial to make a consumer feel, you’ll remember it better that way. The colors depicted here are deep green, and navy blue which are popular team colors that can remind almost anyone of their favorite home team. This allows everyone to relate to the advertisement, and not feel left out. The team jerseys have red an... Free Essays on Long Live Sport Adidas Free Essays on Long Live Sport Adidas Advertising Analysis Rough Draft â€Å"Long Live Sport.† You’ve just come home from a full day at school, put in a couple hours at work, and the last thing you want to deal with is the bombardment of television commercials. Instead of relaxing in front of a television and being persuaded to buy, buy, buy I pick up a magazine to help me wind down after a long day. In an attempt to not be subject to commercials, I hope that reading some articles in a magazine will avoid this. But even then the first chunk of a magazine is full of companies trying to tell you that something has to be wrong in your life and buying their product will fix it. Rolling Stone magazine recently ran an advertisement for Adidas apparel simply stating the phrase â€Å"Long Live Sport.† When glancing at this advertisement I don’t even realize that there isn’t a product being sold to me. The way the images are clustered together, without fluid movement between the scenes, your eye wanders all over it. Moving back and forth trying to take in everything that is being shown to me. Looking at this advertisement of two team mascots fighting forces me to remember cheering on my favorite team at a sporting event. Looking closer at this page I can see why I feel this way, it’s the constant Hornke 2 movement of my eyes. Without really focusing on one area for too long, it’s very similar to being at a game. The fact that even the two team mascots get into the action, defending their own team, and ultimately joining the action of a rivalry is humorous. Which is a good thing for an advertisement or commercial to make a consumer feel, you’ll remember it better that way. The colors depicted here are deep green, and navy blue which are popular team colors that can remind almost anyone of their favorite home team. This allows everyone to relate to the advertisement, and not feel left out. The team jerseys have red an...

The Ten Day War for Slovenian Independence

The Ten Day War for Slovenian Independence Free Online Research Papers Slovenia is a new independent country, since 1991, and was previously the northernmost country of the Former Yugoslav Federation. It occupies a valuable strategic position between the Southern Alps, the Northern Adriatic and the edge of the Central European Pannonian Plain. Slovenia shares a border with Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia. Traffic from South-Western Europe crosses Slovenian territory on its way towards the landlocked countries of Central Europe, including Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the former Soviet republics. Traditionally the port of Koper has served as a route to the Adriatic for Austria and Germany. Slovenia has the image of a country ‘That is between Russia and Prussia’ (FW Carter HT Norris. ‘The Changing Face of the Balkans’ P26). This is descriptive of the fact that Slovenia’s borders lie between the Germanic and Slavonic territories and has been heavily influenced by Latin traditions. Slovenes initially lost their independence more than a thousand years ago, when Prince Kocelj established the first state of Slovenes. This state was subsequently ruled by successive Bavarian, Frankish, Czech and Habsburg masters. In 1355 it became wholly part of the hereditary possessions of the Habsburg monarchy, and remained as such until the end of the First World War in 1918, when Slovenia became a constituent of the Kingdome of Serbs Croats and Slovenes, known from 1929 onwards as Yugoslavia. The history of Slovenia shows that for centuries the institutional government of the country was identical to that of Austria, and this Germanic influence had an important effect on Slovenian culture. Christianity had a strong influence, and yet, despite these powerful influences, the Slovenian people retained a strong Slavic identity, including the retention of their own language. Slovenia also remains ethnically homogenous, with about 90% of the population Slovenes, and the remainder mostly Serbian, Croatian, Hungarian and Italian, along with a small Muslim population. This ethnic homogeneity, and also the retention of a distinctly Slovenian culture is due in large part, according to historians such as James Gow and Cathie Carmichael, to the fact that, throughout history Slovenia acted more as a bridge between nations, rather than a crossroads or area of co-operation between different nations and cultures. In modern times, as part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), post World War 2, Slovenia enjoyed a high level of industrialisation and a limited market economy, along with open borders with Italy and Austria. The rapid post war economic growth in Slovenia led to an influx of ‘guest workers’ from the less developed parts of SFRY, and by the time of secession from the federation in 1991, with 8.2% of the total Yugoslavian population, Slovenia accounted for 20% of the GDP of SFRY, with productivity twice as high as in Yugoslavia as a whole. (FW Carter HT Norris. ‘The Changing Face of the Balkans’ P112 table 31). This boom in Slovenia was set against the backdrop of the post-Tito disintegration of Communist Ideology in SFRY. Since the death of Josep Boris Tito, leader of Yugoslavia for 37 years, voices of dissent had become louder among the multicultural republics of the federation. Throughout the 1980’s it became clear that a worsening economic crisis and the political inertia brought about by the inflexible institutions put in place by Tito, specifically to resist change, were causing a disaster in Yugoslavia. Rising ethnic friction in Kosovo and Bosnia, and the perceived failure of the federal model, was increasingly leading to (mostly Serbian) support for a return to centralisation. A condition that never really existed in Yugoslavia, where the six republics that made it up enjoyed much autonomy, and operated to a certain extent as ‘mini states’. The system was put in place to account for the different desires of the distinct nationalities that made up SFRY, and delive red limited political self determination. This system required two main prerequisites to succeed however. In disputes between the republics, a main arbiter was to have the final say. Tito was the arbiter, but after his death there was no effective replacement. Secondly there was a requirement for relative prosperity, and in the majority of Yugoslavia, this was failing. Indeed, in Montenegro ’30,000 desperate citizens took to the streets in August 1989 to protest against hunger and poverty and to demand effective action’ (Sabrina Petra Ramet ‘Balkan Babel’ P223). The consensus in SFRY, by 1989, was that ‘ A new economic system requires a new political system, a new economic system cannot be built in the framework of the old system.’ (Ciril Ribcic ‘Mladina’ September 1989). The ‘Old System’ was being held together from Belgrade by the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY), led since 1987 by Slobodan Milosevic. His leadership had stifled any consensus between the federal nations, and had essentially split the country into four emerging states, while annexing the provinces of Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia, to Serbia. According to some observers including Sabrina Ramet, Milosevic’s’ intention was to re-centralise the system, at the expense of the autonomy of the other republics, who, to all intents and purposes were already autonomous, and by now most cultural links between the states were largely superficial. This climate allowed ideas to be voiced, that would not have been heard just few years before. For example Antonje Isakovic, a Serbian writer argued for the confederation of the system and the redrawing of the republic boundaries. The open discussion of such subjects in Slovenia led to the highly controversial move by the Slovenian assembly, their first uni-lateral manoeuvre, that granted the republic the right of secession, and the right to approve or disapprove the actions of federal authorities in the republic. These amendments were attacked in Serbia, where the popular support was for consolidation around a strong centre (Belgrade). The warning from Serbia to Slovenia was the same as the warning from the Soviet Union in the 1960’s. That any break-up that took place without a federal consensus would result in a disastrous fratricidal conflict. The Slovenian public were mobilised for a confrontation with Belgrade by numerous publications, including ‘Inter Alia’ a protest at the status of the Slovenian language in SFRY. The first mass demonstrations, however, came with the trial of ‘The Four’. (Janez Jansa, Ivan Borstner, David Tusic, and Franzi Zavrl), who had published material in the magazine ‘Mladina’ that revealed a military plan to stop liberalism in Slovenia. The trial was carried out in Serbo-Croat, in Slovenia, and this inflamed the public further, leading to repeated demonstrations. The Slovene leadership, by now, were still hoping, publicly at least, that a quasi-confederal character would be preserved in SFRY, but with several important distinctions. Slovenia demanded, as the richest and most efficient republic, a special Slovenian Military Zone, with all the Slovenian recruits serving in Slovenian regiments and with Slovenian as the language of command. The other republics especially Serbia, were dismayed at the anti-federal stance of Slovenia, and declared the amendments illegal. Slovenia was undaunted though, and they went ahead and made their amendments. The events from now on will be the real focus of the dissertation. From the referendum in Slovenia in 1990 that passed with 88% in favour of independence, to the end of the fighting brought about by the Brioni Accord on 7th July 1991 there is much to be studied. The military campaign to resist the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) is an interesting one, with the Slovenes using a system that had been in place for years, but that was resurrected for this purpose. It proposed the use of an alternative command structure, known as ‘The Manoeuvre Structure of National Protection’ (Manervska Struktura Narodne Zascite MSNZ). This was a command structure unique to Slovenia, which allowed the government to form an emergency defence, similar to Britain’s Home Guard. The republic had previously had to resist efforts by Belgrade to disarm its federal territorial defence force (Territorialna Obrambra TO) after its free elections in 1990., and so the MSNZ served as a vital command st ructure. Of which the federal government was completely unaware. A superb account of this period is provided by the defence minister of the time, and current Prime Minister of Slovenia Janez Jansa, in his book ‘Premiki’ (Movements). He has published another book concerning the transitional period called ‘Okopi’ (The Barricades), and both offer a wonderful, factual, account of the conflict form a Slovenian perspective. There are a number of other notable figures who have already published their memoirs, particularly, Paule Celik, who published his thoughts in a series of interviews with Svetlana Vasovic-Mekina. This man was the head of the federal police force in Slovenia. Himself Slovenian, he has an interesting insight into the ‘cloak and dagger’ style strategy of MSNZ. As well as this Celik points out that the Ten Day War was ‘Fought on a much higher military and cultural level’ (S Vasovic-Mekina ‘A Summer Intervention’ Vienna Digest 1994), than the subsequent conflicts. Celik had his police training and most of his career in Belgrade, so it is clear his recollections are even handed as to the causes and outcome of the war. Aside from the published primary accounts of the conflict, there also exists a publicly accessible archive, Arkiv Republike Slovenje, which provides information from the 9th century onwards, and resides in Ljubljana, the capital of Slove nia. The archive also carries a lot of material concerning the transition from federal to independent republic. A further interesting source will be the court papers from the war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic, which contain interesting and controversial comments concerning the Ten Day War. The actions of this man, and the events in Yugoslavia leading up to the war are of crucial importance in understanding and answering the dissertations question. There are many books covering this period, including ‘Yugoslavia and After’ by Ivana Vejvoda, which presents contributions by leading authorities on the origins of the Balkan crisis and the decay of Yugoslavia, from a retrospective viewpoint. This is part of a series of books including ‘Eye of the Storm’, which identifies Slovenia as a focal point for unrest in SFRY. Another excellent book is ‘Love Thy Neighbour’ by Peter Maas, which analyses what the author describes as the ‘overlooked’ subject of Slovene secession, and points out that the conflict is usually ignored in most analysis on what went on later in Bosnia and Croatia. He insists that it is the relative bloodlessness that accounts for this. He also makes the reader aware of the tacit, but perhaps symbiotic relationship between Slovene secessionists and Slobodan Milosevic. With Slovenia out of SFRY, Milosevic had a 4 to 3 majority in the Yugoslav presidency. The book also explores the fact that after Slovenia, the JNA became a more pro-Serbian force, as opposed the impartial force it had represented in SFRY. This book has particular value in its description of the military forces fielded in the war. A further important source is of course the personal recollections of Slovenian people who were present. The relatively recent events means that peoples memory of them is quite fresh, and this will be particularly useful with the issue of mobilisation of the people, which involved a carefully managed media campaign, in Slovenia and internationally. It is fortunate that many Slovenians speak English, so it will not be necessary to learn a new language to gather primary information, and much of the literature is also translated. The dissertation is intended to explore the question as to whether or not the Ten Day War resulted in a political victory or a military triumph, and in essence, what forces enabled the country to avoid the bloodshed that characterised the conflicts in Bosnia and Croatia. Official Slovenian sources, such as the Office of the Prime Minister, insist that this was a ‘David and Goliath’ style encounter, with the Slovenian TO waging a meticulously planned guerrilla campaign against the aggressive JNA, a military behemoth, then the fourth largest army in Europe. Other observers, such as Dyer, contend that the JNA had limited objectives in Slovenia. These objectives (Border crossings, airport) were predicted by the TO, and their limited forces were able to hold them long enough for diplomacy to take over. The year leading up to the conflict will also be studied. The activities of the popular magazine ‘Mladina’ and the pluralisation of politics in this period serves as a good barometer of the tensions that were rising at this time. By 1989 certain groups had sprung up in response to the uproar at the trial of the four Mladina journalists. The Independent Centre of Human Rights received thousands of petitions from individuals and organisations, including trade unions and religious groups. These actions were to encourage the public at large to join and start new political parties. There seems to have been a consensus reached in Slovenia, and the dissertation will explore this, as part of the argument that a political victory was won. The relative bloodlessness will also serve to illustrate this point, along with racial homogeneity, relative affluence and long standing economic and cultural ties with Central and Western Europe. Possible collusion between Ljubljana and Belgrade will be addressed, but this hypothesis is extremely controversial and would be tough to research. The influence of the EC will also be researched, with Germany already identified as at least one country interested in Slovenian independence. The military argument, that Slovenian forces repelled, or at the very least held on against the odds is to be explored by studying the many military analyses made of the war. The tactic of blocking the mountain roads in order to halt the armoured advance of the JNA is well documented, as is the subsequent limited guerrilla campaign and the method of replacing the federal military with the MSNZ. The smooth application of this tactic led to the world at large to see the JNA as aggressors, since Slovene troops at border crossings simply switched uniforms, forcing the JNA to use force to capture them. In order to better complete this task, the help of a dissertation supervisor will be utilised, in the case of this dissertation, the advice of Dr Christina Chiva. The summer would be spent visiting Slovenia, identifying further sources, perhaps carrying out interviews with relevant individuals, in order to bring as much information to the beginning of the year as possible. The writing process will begin once my proposal subject has been refined, since there is little doubt the scope of the dissertation will likely change, at least slightly, between proposal and submission of the final work. So, with an eye on the history of the final years of Yugoslavia, it is hoped that the question set out in this proposal can either be proved or disproved one way or another, in agreement with the military or political hypothesis, a mix of the two, or perhaps some third source of influence, as yet unconsidered. Research Papers on The Ten Day War for Slovenian IndependenceAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeAppeasement Policy Towards the Outbreak of World War 2The Effects of Illegal ImmigrationPETSTEL analysis of IndiaQuebec and CanadaInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesBringing Democracy to AfricaDefinition of Export Quotas19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into Asia

Free sample - Review Of Hitlers Germany. translation missing

Review Of Hitlers Germany. Review Of Hitler's GermanyIn April 1933, during the early months after the Nazis ascended to power in Germany, a law which commonly came to be termed as the Aryanan Paragraph came into effect. It outlawed any person of Jewish descent from government employment. This was the first piece of legislature to be effected in a then heightening assault on Jews led by the Third Reich Hitler and evidently expressed in his toxic rhetoric and ideological imperatives. This placed German Churches at a focal point: They either had to resist these attacks on Jews or dismiss all Jewish preachers and employees so as to preserve their subsidies. Most of the churches publicly or silently fell in line with Hitler’s demands. These in effect became the onset of the world’s bloodiest World War II and the context of Roderick Stackelberg’s book on Hitler’s Germany: Origins, Interpretations and Legacies which provide an interesting read and meets its chief objective of introducing a ny reader to the history and the atrocities committed in the Nazi Germany. The book extends from the abortive 1923 Beer Hall Putsch to the World War II and the aftermath in the 1940’s. This therefore gives Stackelberg’s novel a wide coverage while ensuring the reader is totally engrossed in the narrative as the story unfolds. Stackelberg , a humanities professor at Gonzaga University in Spokane, he cogently sets out to argue out that the Nazi Regime was supported and maintained through a mass consensus by the majority of the German citizens rather than the implied coercion by most authors. He is hence in agreement with Daniel Goldhagen and his views as phrased in his narrative, Hitler's Willing Executioners of which he has recognized and praised. He points out that Germans expressed conviction and expediency in their support and collaboration with the Nazi regime. He endeavors to balance ‘intentionalist’ versus ‘functionalist’ approaches to th e Holocaust committed against Jews so as to amply show the Nazi’s adherence to the fatal eugenic belief of exterminating all those deemed to be "life unworthy of life". This resulted in the death of two-thirds of the Jews in Europe at the time. Stackelberg successfully combines dramatic writing with a dispassionate analysis so as to aptly provide a rich historical context the barbaric behavior and actions of the Third Reich by boldly depicting a pre-history of Nazism such as the absolutist rule put forward by his predecessor Otto Van Bismarck, the 19th-century nationalist propagandistsand the Free Corps hooligan squads who not only crushed the 1919 Spartacist revolt but also murdered Rosa Luxemburg. He further covers the Nuremberg trials, the German denazification and the modern-day resurgence of militant neo-Nazi extremists. Although the work presented herein has already been documented in other books, he manages to author an interesting and engrossing superb read on the Naz i Germany history. The book first provides a detailed coverage of the roots of fascist ideologies, its constituency and the conditions that facilitated its growth in Germany. It then reflects on the key problems facing German unity which Stackelberg clearly and comprehensively covers as absolutism and particularism. This serves as a basis as to why the German Empire changed from a democratic state to social imperialism and finally landed on the path to war. Stackelberg clinically examines the Germanic ideology that was instituted into the masses by the political class so as to influence support. He finds that the politicians managed to drive the cause for nationalism towards fanatism while coupling this with vulgarized idealism and anti-Semitism.   Stackelberg has also provided a rich context for German’s history and involvement in the First World War and the resultant crisis in imperial Germany under Bismarck. He goes on further to examine the Weimar Republic through a well-documented study a nd the weakness of liberal democracy in Germany. This led to the consequent fall of the Weimar republic and the rise of Nazism further facilitated by the Great Depression. The Nazis managed to consolidate power in the 1933-1934 under the Third Reich Hitler whose governance in the 1933-1939 period has been fully analyzed under the aspects of politics, society and culture hence providing a rich and diverse read. Further, Stackelberg manages to depict hideous details of the persecution of the Jews and the Holocaust in this period. The origins of the Second World War, its spread from a European to a global war and its ensuing transformation from triumph to defeat in 1942-1945 have been elaborately covered while providing ample contextual information that leaves a clear imaginative image in the readers’ minds. Finally, the book evaluates the aftermath of the war and Germany’s National Socialism. The last chapter examines Hitler’s place in history and memory and the v ital lessons learnt from the ordeal. In the introduction, Stackelberg clarifies why he wrote the book despite a myriad number of historical books in the market dealing with a similar subject matter. He feels there is a need to write a book that not only covers the Nazi regime but also the 19th century background and the aftermath. Despite the book’s title, only seven out of sixteen chapters are dedicated to the Nazi regime. It provides a rich and essential understanding of the Hitler-led Nazi regime. This was a decision he reached at after having taught the subject matter for over twenty years. Stackelberg feels that the book approaches the Nazi regime under a two dimension: He provides an accurate and complete account of Nazi rule and goes further to provide an interpretive framework that endeavors to explore the reasons as to the extraordinary occurrence in German history. The book provides a clear guideline to the reader whereas incorporating the complex and vast complexities of historical causation as experie nced by the contemporary figures that lived in that turbulent and violent era. In creating a rich analysis and reconstruction of the Nazi regime in 1933 to 1945, the author places the period in a larger context which enables him to ably provide a sufficient background of the regime while ensuring various critical arguments are brought forward. First, Stackelberg feels that history is inseparable from its interpretative analysis. No author, in Stackelberg’s view should present the bare facts of a historical occurrence without endeavoring to provide a parallel interpretive theory as to why the historical phenomenon took place. Historical books and journals have always depicted the Nazi era under a barbaric and destructive scope and it is almost viewed entirely as the world’s greatest battle of evil versus good. This approach is rather heightened by the atrocities committed such as the irrational racial obsessions and the Holocaust with an aim to wipe out all Jews. Any other approach, such as a metaphysical approach, would definitely not successfully account for the success and popularity of Nazism in Germany. However, rather than approach the Nazi era under a moral and evil conception as multiple authors’ have, Stackelberg endeavors to define the rise of the Nazi regime under a political analysis. Stacke lberg feels it is essential to establish why the Germans at the time felt that Nazism was a reconstructive force in the quest for National Socialism that would utterly propel them into a superpower state. He critically notes in a catchy headline that history is past politics, hence, even the atrocities committed under the anti-Semitism derive must have a cognitive understanding. Unlike facts which if in dispute can easily be ratified among historians, an analysis of the reasons as to why German Nazism was widely popular can only be perceived under the analysts own political and societal values. These are highly diverse among historians and are therefore bound to bring forth a degree of controversy. In a review of egalitarian governments, Stackelberg depicts how left-wing movements can easily gain popularity through â€Å"championing for emancipation from oppressive governments whereas the right-wing lobbyists defend traditional and hierarchical governments.† The left extremists can effortlessly apply authority in the running of governments so as to create egalitarian societies as depicted by the 21st century communist governments. The conservatives in the right wing endeavor to create liberal societies through curtailing government power and promotion of individual freedom. In this book, Stackelberg addresses this contemporary left-right spectacle in their respective egalitarian perspectives by a case scenario of American politics. American conservatives have been documented as in opposition of powerful governments bringing them closer to the left’s camp but with absolutely diverse goals which are the key to any government. In their campaign against the powerful g overnment and their defense for laissez-faire, American conservatives have been found to depict similar traits to those of 19th century conservatives in continental Europe and the Nazis’ fascism. In America, the highly liberal society either leans on personal freedom or social equality. The leftists rather lean on social equality while the right conservatives opt for freedom. Stackelberg further provides a distinction between moderates and extremists in which extremists are rather authoritative, prejudiced and inclined towards violence, deception and collectivism across the left-right extremists. They are intolerant of any opposition or deviations from the ideal entailed by freedom and seek to forcefully impose these ideals on individuals. Communism bordered on the left while fascism was composed of right extremist. However, most authors, with the exception of the well-sourced Stackelberg’s book, feel that communism and fascism are inherently related which a critical e valuation in Hitler’s Germany depicts that they are fundamental opposites. While communism mainly appealed to workers who owned minimal properties due to its enhancement of a greater degree of equality, fascism mainly appealed to the middle class and propertied workers who felt that they would in essence lose from the implementation of egalitarian principles. Therefore, proponents of each group were arch enemies since communism maltreated the higher and mighty classes while fascism greatly victimized the â€Å"lower races† and poor classes of humanity. In exploring the causative force behind the Fascism variant Nazism, Stackelberg examines counter-revolutionary concepts in contrast to revolutionary concepts in his apt and wide description of the Hitler Regime. He feels that in contrast to neo-conservatism in the United States, fascism in Germany is much related to the traditional continental Europe conservatism though it has some anti-conservative features. Multiple radical methods were adopted into German Nazism from the practices of its arch foe, communism such as mass mobilization techniques, violence and propaganda. This was a highly critical countermeasure identified by Stackelberg in which the Nazis used the tactics employed by the left against the left. Counter-revolutionary concepts however did not characterize the left-right distinction as much as the core goal of preventing equality much agitated for by the left by a vehement denial of its existence through the structure governing various races and their coexistence. In t his book therefore, Stackelberg finds it crucial that most historians have neglected the fact that these ruthless and radical measures were put in place to counter socialism by purported National Socialists through the eradication of the significant proportion of production contributed by private property. Stackelberg therefore feels that the term socialist has been misused since the party was not true to the doctrines it purported to support and further. Hence, he feels that the Nazis were counter-revolutionary since it endeavored to curb developments in the transformation of the property sector while upholding the Puritist nature of the fascist regime. This book also makes a very interesting and engrossing read since it answers the contentious question on the relationship between fascism and Nazism and their relation to other political movements of the past centuries. It further answers the crucial questions on how Nazism managed to ascend to power in such a civilized, industrialized and urbanized context. In a well-analyzed and well-sourced background study, Stackelberg examines the rise in popularity of Nazism by interpreting it basing heavily on the Sonderweg thesis. This is categorically analyzed in chapter 2 whereby the variation in the development of democracy in Germany was remarkably different from other European nations. Most authors have neglected to write a detailed account of the pre-Hitler administrations which would otherwise provide vital historical clues to the rise of Nazism. This is utterly reflected in the book. However, Stackelberg expresses caution that a study to chiefly analyze pre-Nazi Germany in the 19th ce ntury as a pure preliminary stage to the Nazi regime and its aftermath would not only be a narrow-minded approach but also historically inadequate and unjustifiable. Although Stackelberg feels that greater and much more vital events such as Russian Bolshevik Revolution, the defeat in the First World War and the conflict of political interests in the Weimar Republic provide a crucial basis for evaluation of Nazism, the lack of the development of democracy can partially be attributed to Nazism. Finally, Stackelberg furthers debate as to whether Nazism is a modernizing or anti-modern debate. At the time, Germany’s economy was at its peak but the inability of political liberalization and democracy to keep pace with the advances in technology led to a flaw in its development hence depicting a rejection of modernity. This point of analysis as put forward by Stackelberg is further supported by the Sonderweg thesis whereby major evidence of anti-modernity such as â€Å"blood and soil† ideology that depicts a German-only agrarian culture under threat of urbanization and the resultant industrialization. This was in effect promoting capitalism whereby the Jews were viewed as the major beneficiaries at the expense of the former chief producers, the Mittelstand. However, Stackelberg also evaluates Nazism as a facilitator of modernity through the implementation of advanced technology in the military during World War II. Though this is highly complemented by pioneer studie s in space technology, the rejection of Jewry physics in the development of nuclear weapons further served as a major factor in deterring modernism. Stackelberg has used a wide variety of sources that span from The German Empire, ideologies, the First World War, the Weimar Republic and its collapse, the Nazi consolidation of power, the society, culture and politics during Hitler’s rule, the Holocaust and the anti-Semitism, the Second World War, the Aftermath and the modernity debate. For instance, it is crucial to note on Stackelberg’s reference to Taylor’s famous and controversial book, The origins of the Second World War in which he strongly criticizes The failure of the British to conclusively put in place a pact with the then Soviet Union so as to put an end to the war. The sources used herein in this book are highly relevant and serve in meeting the objective of the book. It gives this work a high credential. Further, Stackelberg has written the sources in a well-organized and presentable manner depicting that the book was written after a conducting a research for a period of twenty years during which he was teaching a similar course. This therefore enables Stackelberg to write an objective, chronological account and a must-read book that not only expands on Hitler’s Germany, but also on the 19th century pre-Nazi period and the 20th Century post-war period and the aftermath. This serves to give the book an edge over other historical books written at the time. (Stackelberg, 1999) Reference Stackelberg, R. (1999). Hitler's Germany: origins, interpretations, legacies. Routledge Press.