New Media Technology Essay Example for Free

New Media Technology Essay Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the worldwide web, initially intended his invention to be a haven of collaboration where people could share their knowledge (Gauntlett 2009:39). Although the prospect of such public journalism corresponded with democratic and egalitarian principles, journalists took this idea with a pinch of salt. This was almost 20 years ago, before the information highway had, for better or for worse, stretched its limbs across the globe. Today, the new media has redefined both journalism and self expression in conflicting ways that leave an individual wondering at the veracity of digital information. In the last decade, internet has gone through an explosive growth and diversification. No one could have foreseen how the internet would pervade our lives and transform the very notion of being part of a society. It has provided the ultimate freedom of the new age: a single blogger can speak to the entire world, a concept virtually impossible two decades ago. However, with this flourishing and unbound growth, the internet brings a unique set of predicaments and dilemmas. The most profound and relevant of such problems is the age-old clash of a person’s right of self-expression with the hazards of misinformation of the whole society. Whether this deceit comes about due to ignorance or design is irrelevant; in a society that promotes freedom of speech, misinformation is bound to occur on both grounds. While conferring infinite freedom to the common person, this means of self-expression comes with the acrid realization that words from a layman, presented as the predominating views of his community, are not necessarily a blessing. The news on the new media of today is more about gossip and entertainment then first-rate journalism. Since when did journalism begin to cater to the ever-growing need of the populace to be entertained? In an interview to BBC World News America, Ted Koppel, former Nightline presenter, criticized the digital journalist of today for being a mere supplier for consumers (Whitlock 2010). The commercial expansion of new media and ever-growing competition in the free market means that journalists have to write what sells; or rather, gets the most â€Å"hits† on a website. How did we come to a situation where the populace demands not to be informed, but to be perpetually entertained? Discussing news on the television, Daya Kishan Thussu (2007: 9) states: â€Å"There is a concern that too much news is creating an information overload, contributing to a structural erosion of the public sphere in the Habermasian sense, where the viewer, bombarded with visuals, is unable to differentiate between public information and corporate propaganda. † If that is true regarding television news, it most definitely holds water concerning internet news. The gargantuan flow of information, most of which lacks in credibility, is bombarded on any user who wades through the mire of pop up advertisements, banners, and mass e-mailing. Although, these devices are some of the tools used in the race to get more traffic on ones website, the capitalist agenda is far from being the most unfavorable feature of journalism. It is the ubiquitous use of new media, especially by the youth that yields the most detrimental effects. The frivolous writing that is spilt across the new media today may be the first literature some of us encounter, and draw heavily from. However, there have been examples of the internet doing its job where other media have failed. Earlier this year, on January 12th, an earthquake hit the Caribbean island of Haiti. All landlines and mobile connections were suspended. The production team of the news program Sunrise at Sky News, London, was finding it difficult to channel in the first reports from the disaster-struck area. It was to be a young member of their team, Emily Purser, who used Twitter and instant messaging via Google and Skype, to secure the first reports of the incident (Elward 2010). Another, much publicized affair was the use of Twitter by the political opposition in Iran to protest the presidential elections. The protestants took to all sorts of media, but the loudest dissent was voiced, surprisingly, through microblogging. This medium proved to be fast, portable, and most importantly very difficult to contain. Ironically, this very accessibility makes the medium too erratic, unreliable, and mundane to be of any journalistic value (Grossman 2009). An obvious embodiment of the debate between free speech and quality journalism is Wikipedia. This resource epitomizes the â€Å"by the people, for the people† ideology, but this trait alone does not give it any credibility whatsoever, at least not in academic circles. A former editor-in-chief of Encyclopedia Britannica compared Wikipedia to a â€Å"public toilet†, accusing it of delivering information that has no authenticity (Shirky 2006). On the other hand, notions that anything that appears in print media will always be more accurate than digital information are absurd. What Wikipedia envisions is the process through which one can witness the knowledge of its users evolving and perfecting itself through countless revisions (Shirky 2006). The trump card in the argument for Wikipedia comes from a comparison of veracity of data between itself and Britannica; the scientific journal Nature declares them to be of similar accuracy (Giles 2005:900). This collaboration is a sign for those who think people are becoming ever more antisocial and misanthropic, for this is a global effort in creating something for the benefit of all and no monetary gain (Gauntlett 2009:42) . Patricia Wallace, in her book, The Psychology of the Internet writes about how free flow of information can be used to cultivate critical and analytical thinking amongst students who access it (1999:245). Nevertheless, the fact remains that the new media is losing credibility day by day. Although, the global sharing of information and its revision by collaboration is a noble idea, public journalism makes it exceedingly difficult to acquire accurate information; and to accept the new media as a genuine journalistic medium. BIBLIOGRAPHY Gauntlet, David. (2009). Case Study: Wikipedia. Eds. Creeber, G Martin, R. Digital Cultures. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill. Thussu, Daya Kishan. (2007). News as Entertainment: The Rise of Global Infotainment. London: SAGE Publications. Wallace, Patricia. (1999). The Psychology of The Internet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Shirky, Clay. Interviewed on Imagine, BBC1, UK (aired 5th December 2006) Giles, Jim. (2005). Internet encyclopedias go head to head, Nature, 438:900. www. nature. com/nature/journal/v438/n7070/full/438900a. html (5th May, 2010) Grossman, Lev. (2009). Iran Protests: Twitter, the Medium of the Movement. Time. http://www. time. com/time/world/article/0,8599,1905125,00. html (5th May, 2010) Whitlock, Scott. (2010). Ted Koppel Slams Undisciplined Internet Journalism. NewsBusters. http://newsbusters. org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2010/04/13/ted-koppel-slams-undisciplined-internet-journalism-longs-good-old-da (5th May, 2010) Elward, David. (2010) Work of a trainee newspaper journalist. (5th May, 2010) http://davidelward. com/2010/03/09/the-digital-revolution-need-not-sound-the-death-knell-for-good-journalism/

Development of a Brand Image

Development of a Brand Image Introduction What is exactly Brand Image? Brand Image is defined as the face of a business. It is how you want the market or your audience to perceive the product, brand or service. It represents what the company believes in, values, services and ideas. It can generate audience loyalty and attract customers to your business. It Includes elements like logo, design, tagline etc. Brand identity for a start-up is one of the key elements in the present time because of the number of start-ups coming up in the market. Brand Identity is considered a key element because it can make you stand out from other businesses and your competitors. Advertising Campaign Detail Beard Oil came out with their first commercial video featuring the actor, Isaiah Mustafa. Mustafa quickly became Beard Oil Guy, and the brand capitalized on with an interactive video campaign in which Mustafa was a part of and actively participated with comments on Facebook and Twitter and other social media websites including short, personalized videos. In about two days, Our brand had churned out 186 personalized and quite funny video responses that too ft Mustafa responding to fans online. According to the data, these videos saw over 12 million views, and Beard Oil gained about 30000 Facebook fans and 58,000 new Twitter followers. We were sending sending mini TV commercials back to individual. Also the consumers that were personalized, and we were rapid-fireÂÂ   doing it on a rapid-fire basis, The creator creative director at that time was and a writer for the campaign, told Beard Oil Data. No one expects to ask a lot of question and then we can consider and then be responded to. I think thats where we broke through. We find that the campaigns gained momentum with most of the your fans and followers, do everything you really can to keep all ofÂÂ   them engaged while keeping your messaging true to your brands voice and image. Our campaign name is Beard Oil, Grow beard like a man What are the takeaways from this campaign, if you ask that then The first is the way they marketed to a whole new to their new target audience. In the past, Beard Oil was advertising to the older target audience that passed on the products to the younger generation, 40-60 year old market.ÂÂ   they switched their target market After assessing market trends to users who are in the range of 18-34 year range. This is much not so easier said than done. When switching up the market,ÂÂ   target market to this extent, our company needs to completely re-vamp its strategy that includes marketing strategy. One way that Beard Oil achieved this is by using a mix of the marketing skills andÂÂ   appeals that the younger generation responds well to. These appeals being humor, wittiness and sex. You might be wondering, why would our brand actually, why would we use a male sex symbol to a product that caters to male and if their target market young men? This is mostly because the research has shown that women purchase almost 70% of all male toiletry products. By using appeals this was much easier that are both male and female friendly, the new campaign that saw an impressive response allowing this and all the video to go viral almost immediately. The next takeaway from our brand Beard Oil is that, what they did once they and after launching the campaign. After the flood of responses that came in, Beard Oil decided to actually interact with their fans in the form of questions that were from and for the Beard Oil man. Thousands of questions were asked and almost 180 video responses by the Beard Oil man were created which included a very interesting thing, a marriage proposal andÂÂ   also frequent exchanges from celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres, Hritik, Demi Moore, Alysa Milano, and others. This kind of frequent interaction that our brand had actually decided and this is what gets people talking about your brand and also a major reason for the success of this campaign. Many companies and brands assume that once they have actually created a much successful advertisement or a new campaign, that the work is actually done. Wrong. It is so important to interact with viewers (as a response and feedback also) on social media platf orms like facebook and twitter if you want to create a very long lasting reaction that people will and should remember for a long time. To sum all of this up, human beings in a short attention spans. One minute they see a great advertisement and boom the next minute its forgotten. Half of the battle is about creating the effective advertisement that they recall but maybe the most challenging step is the way that you get people to remember it. Social media is a great platform to get feedback and respond to questions, build on the previous successes, and keep the intended brand imageÂÂ   fresh and create a new idea in the minds of the consumers. Results Over the past month, sales jumped over 55 percent and in this month, they rose a total of 107 percent as per the data. Recent sales figures from MarketA also show a lift for Beard Oil Face Wash products. The disclosure ofMarketA data, which is usually not made public and only provided to companies and also, came after a report in Brandweek whichÂÂ   cited MarketA data for the products that featured in the campaign, Blue Zone, AF Body Wash. Sales for Blue Zone hit $1.8 million for the four to six week period ended with 55 percent jump over the four-week period. MarketA data shows that the other four Beard Oil Body Wash products also show a lift. Overall sales for Beard Oil Body Wash rose 105 percent for mostly that period The sales figure that and the research data even the analysis from experts said its targeted to both sexes, Its targeted to people that are involved and who are attractive or really want to be attractive. A lot of people are buying Beard Oil now and it isnt because theyre young. On the engagement in front of the results, the campaign, which was enhanced by a new real-time component that has recently been introduced earlier this month also in which Mustafa personally and individually responded to blogger, facebook and Twitter-based comments which was astonishing for the viewers about the campaign via video, is also a clear success.

Impact Of Workplace Stress On Organizational Performance Psychology Essay

Impact Of Workplace Stress On Organizational Performance Psychology Essay Stress in the workplace is a new phenomenon in modern life and has become an increasingly one of the most discussed topic over the past decade. Workplace stress can be defined as the change in ones physical or mental state in response to workplaces that pose an appraised challenge or threat to that employee (Thomas W. Colligan, 2005). It is already established that the stress in the workplace represents threat not only for physical health of one worker, but also for the health of all labour collective. As a result, it does not only affect the employees performance, reduces their work efficiency but also may have huge impact to an organisations performance and can lower an organisations profit (Ton, Huckman, 2008). Statistical figures indicate stress is a bigger problem than people give it credit (Ornelas and Kleiner, 2003). According to survey which was conducted by Health and Safety Executive in 2006, one in six working people in the UK believed that their job was very or extremely stressful (Bupas health information team, 2010). There are many factors that can cause stress in the working place. Most known factors are work overload; job insecurity; long working hours; insufficient training; poor work organisation and etc. Workplace stress has been proved to lower productivity, increase absenteeism, and create pervasive patterns of dysfunction in the workplace (Anderson Puluch, 2001; Levin-Epstein, 2002). Finally, in modern day most of the organisations understand very well that one of the main reason of unwanted expenses of the organisation are the costs caused by stress according to the Health Safety Executive (HSE) in the UK, work-related stress, depression or anxiety accounted for an estimated 13.5 million lost working days in Britain in 2007/08. This makes stress an extremely expensive loss for businesses: the HSE estimates that British industry loses  £370 million a year due to stress (UK HSE stress statistics). Although, most organisations spend a lot of time, money and efforts to prevent or control the stress, unfortunately in most cases these efforts are not effective. Therefore organisations need to develop new ways to deal with increasing stress in working place. Scope of study This paper aims to explain an aspect of organizational performance that has not been extensively examined the impact of stress on organizational performance. The paper attempts to make an emphasis on how impact of stress in organizations can be perceived and understood, and it also argues that the stress is an important element in the theory and practice of organizational performance. Research will be carried out using both secondary data and primary data in the forms of interviews and questionnaires with organisations. Specific Research Questions Do the organisations really take the impact of stress seriously and how they intend to deal with it? Hypothesis H 1: In spite of rising expenses, organisations will still ignore impact of stress as useless knowledge. H 2: Having realized the impact of stress organisations will develop new mechanism in minimising and controlling stress. Objectives O 1: To identify main factors behind workplace stress O 2: To evaluate the costs which are caused by stress at a workplace and how they impact on the organizational performance? O 3: To establish workable stress management techniques for managing the workplace stress. Literature review This chapter will critically analyse the stress development process and its impact to organisational performance. The literature review is structured into two sections. The first section the theory of organizational stress examines the theory of stress development and the main factors of the organizational stress. The second part reviews the impact of stress to an organisational performance and suggests ways how to manage it. Theory of organizational stress According to Cote S. Morgan LM (2002), stress is basically a form of unpleasant emotion and has got the potential to increase employee turnover. But other authors such as Hart and Cooper (2001) point out that the scientific community still has not reached an agreed position on the meaning and definition of occupational stress. In the past three decades, a lot of studies have been carried out in order to explore the main factors of organisational stress and to find out link between employee job stress and organizational performance. The studies have been conducted in a various organisations. The early studies indicate deadline pressures, job dissatisfaction, job insecurity and repetitive work (Kasl, 1973) as the main factors of organisational stress. More recent studies have explored some others factors such as inadequate feedback regarding performance, lack of training and lack of control (Doby Caplan, 1995). The lack of opportunity of interaction with other workers or in other words isolation is another important factor in increasing workplace stress (Wachtel, 1989). The feeling of isolation does not only involve machinery or assembly line jobs, it may also take place in boring or repetitive jobs such as computer data entry which tend to increase employee stress levels (Karasek Theorell, 1990). Impact of stress to an organisational performance and how to manage it Stress at workplaces is on rise which in its own turn results higher rate of sickness (absenteeism) among employees, reduced productivity and overall, having negative impact on the efficiency of organisational performance. Managing stress and its attendant health and productivity consequences may be one of the biggest challenges facing organizations in the 1990s (Murphy, 1995). In the article, Management: Principles and Practices written by Holt D. H. (1990), the author suggests that in order to manage job stress effectively, two conditions should be met. First, the individual worker must be able to recognize causes of stress and realize their consequences and second, organizations must develop stress prevention and stress reduction techniques. The book Managing workplace stress written by Susan Cartwright, Cary L. Cooper (1997) can be considered one of the best book in the field of organisational stress. The book on the one hand provides detailed information about the source of stress at a workplace, examines the cause of the rise in work-related stress; on the other hand, it proves clearly the important role of organisational culture in stress managing process. According to Nelson Quick (1996) excess stress has direct impact in lowered individual and organizational performance, as a result both production and quality suffering. In other words, stress is a main factor that causes organizational inefficiency, absenteeism because of sickness, increased costs of health care and decreased job satisfaction (AbuAlRub, 2004). Meantime, both field and laboratory studies are always carried out to find out the best ways to reduce work-related stress. Some findings have been proved very effective. One of them is involvement of employee in decision making process that significantly lowers job-related stress (Landy, Quick and Kasl, 1994). Another finding is the measures developed by authors like Khanka (2000) and Cole (2002) which can be adopted to reduce workplace stress. The measures require the organisations to set up clear objectives that will assist to minimize job and role ambiguity; to maximize employees job fit through careful screening and selection. Specific questions to focus on in the study This study seeks to answer the following research questions: Objective 1: Identify what stress is and main factors behind stress at a workplace? Is there a relationship between impact of stress and organisational performance? What is role of stress in organisational productivity? What are the roles of the modern technologies in rising workplace stress? Does stress have always negative impact or can it have positive impact to organisational performance as well? Objective 2: Why is it important to manage causes of work-related stress? Apart from financial cost, what affects have stress on organisational performance? What is best strategies and techniques for preventing job stress What is role of organisational culture/climate in reducing stress? Methodology The section will assess all available research methods and choose most suitable methods in order to accomplish the proposed tasks. Main aim of the section is to find out how seriously is taken the impact of stress by organisations. 5.1 Approaches to research For all objective of this study the author will be using a scientific approach. The author intends to use statistical data throughout the research to support the analysis. 5.2 Research Design Multiple method of data collection will be used for this study. The reason for this is that using mixing modes will maximise responses as the author plans to take interview from some respondents face-to-face, from others by mail. In addition, a structured questionnaire will be used to collect data from the respondents on the variables of the study. 5.3 Sampling Sampling is a fundamental method of inferring information about an entire population without going into any trouble or expense of measuring every member of the population (White, Wilson Pfoutz, 2006). As this study will be carrying out survey, random sampling technique will be used in the sample selection. Sampling will be conducted in both interview and questionnaire forms. 5.4 Data collection Though, the study includes both primary and secondary data, the author will mainly use primary data for this study. Face-to-face interviews will be carried out with representatives of a number of organisations. Because of time and physical constraints, questionnaires will be sent via e-mail. Secondary data will be gathered from different online libraries and databases. 5.5 Evaluation of primary research methods for this specific study Surveys and questionnaire will be used in the study in order to gather primary data. Main purpose of surveys are to assess the distribution of some variables such as proportion of the population of different age groups, sex, religion, castes and languages, knowledge, attitude and adaption of practices about particular issues, and other information of similar nature about the population (Commonwealth of Learning, 2000). 5.6   Ã‚  Possible Conclusion to research objective From this study, it can be concluded that stress can have both negative and positive impact on organisational performance. Organisations can encourage productive stress by assisting employees to build challenge into their work, can organise stress-reduction workshops and also can change element of stress by redesigning jobs to reduce role conflict and role ambiguity.

The Sons Veto Essay examples -- The Sons Veto Thomas Hardy Essays

The Son's Veto Thomas Hardy was a novelist and a great poet. He was born into the working class until he married into the upper class, forgetting about his past because of the embarrassment it caused him. He was born in 1840 and died in 1928. Sophy is an upper class woman with a lower class background who is used to working class expectations and 'not up to the standard of the upper class'. Sophy had worked as a maid in the house of the reverend as a young girl and after his first wife died had stayed to look after the reverend. After an accident which left her partially lame, the reverend asked her to marry him. Her life would have been happier if she had married Sam instead. She would not have been caught between society's boundaries. An example of his embarrassment about his background is shown when he is alleged to have destroyed evidence of his past when working on his autobiography about him. He was reluctant for his upper class acquaintances to know about his poor past. Another example is the fact that he did not invite his family to his wedding. He was embarrassed about them and did not consider them good enough to mix with his new family. This is reflected in 'The Son's Veto when Mr Twycott ensured that the wedding was held in secret because it would destroy Mr Twycott's reputation. In those days people from the two classes could never mix. Another example is that Sophy and Rev Twycott gave up their home in Gaymead and went to live in a small 'dusty house' in London. 'They were however away from everyone who had known her former position'. This is an example of Rev Twycott wanting to get away from observation and gossip. They were prepared to give up everything to avoid gossip and hide ... ...ship with Sam, thus denying her any happiness and so contributed to her downfall. The Son's Veto is written in the third person. Hardy however, intrudes on the narration with his personal comments such as his comments on Sophy's hairstyle and the amount of time and work she spent on it. She had done it all herself, poor thing. She had no maid and it was the only accomplishment she could boast of. Hardy evokes the readers sympathy for Sophy by giving her a hard life who never gets what she wants because of the restrictions of society. Sophy had a number of weaknesses but I believe that the restrictions of society played a great part in her downfall. If she had married a working class person she would have had a far happier life. Generally, it is far easier today for the two social classes to mix, people are more tolerant about other people's origins. The Son's Veto Essay examples -- The Son's Veto Thomas Hardy Essays The Son's Veto Thomas Hardy was a novelist and a great poet. He was born into the working class until he married into the upper class, forgetting about his past because of the embarrassment it caused him. He was born in 1840 and died in 1928. Sophy is an upper class woman with a lower class background who is used to working class expectations and 'not up to the standard of the upper class'. Sophy had worked as a maid in the house of the reverend as a young girl and after his first wife died had stayed to look after the reverend. After an accident which left her partially lame, the reverend asked her to marry him. Her life would have been happier if she had married Sam instead. She would not have been caught between society's boundaries. An example of his embarrassment about his background is shown when he is alleged to have destroyed evidence of his past when working on his autobiography about him. He was reluctant for his upper class acquaintances to know about his poor past. Another example is the fact that he did not invite his family to his wedding. He was embarrassed about them and did not consider them good enough to mix with his new family. This is reflected in 'The Son's Veto when Mr Twycott ensured that the wedding was held in secret because it would destroy Mr Twycott's reputation. In those days people from the two classes could never mix. Another example is that Sophy and Rev Twycott gave up their home in Gaymead and went to live in a small 'dusty house' in London. 'They were however away from everyone who had known her former position'. This is an example of Rev Twycott wanting to get away from observation and gossip. They were prepared to give up everything to avoid gossip and hide ... ...ship with Sam, thus denying her any happiness and so contributed to her downfall. The Son's Veto is written in the third person. Hardy however, intrudes on the narration with his personal comments such as his comments on Sophy's hairstyle and the amount of time and work she spent on it. She had done it all herself, poor thing. She had no maid and it was the only accomplishment she could boast of. Hardy evokes the readers sympathy for Sophy by giving her a hard life who never gets what she wants because of the restrictions of society. Sophy had a number of weaknesses but I believe that the restrictions of society played a great part in her downfall. If she had married a working class person she would have had a far happier life. Generally, it is far easier today for the two social classes to mix, people are more tolerant about other people's origins.

Winter Olympics :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Welcome to the 2002 winter Olympics men’s bobsledding finals. We have gone though many icy events today but one of my personal favorites, bobsledding, is now ready to rumble. We will be going though three different rounds. All four competitors will race against the clock. The three teams with the lowest combined time will move on while the last remaining team will be eliminated. They will move on to two more final race which their scores will be combined to receive the metals. On track one is the Jamaican team coached by Lamar Dabua and is sponsored by the Coconut Canyon. On track two is the two time finalist the U.S.A team looking for that third chance for the gold and is coached by Bob Morin. On track three is a beginning team for Brazil that is coached by Travair Lapidaz which commented that the team feels they are lucky to have gotten this far and are still going to make this sport fun with a competitive attitude. And on the final track are Norway†™s finest bobsledders that are coached by Brillin Concoordz. These teams will be racing down an icy track at speeds well over 90 mph. All teams have a regulated sled for fair speeds. As we get ready to start we ask all contestants to have a good attitude and good luck to you all. The flag is now rising. And they are off. Down the tasks they go. Now zooming as fast as speeds of lightning. So far it is close. They still have mileage to go. Here they go rounding the biggest and the sharpest corner of them all. From here it looks like the U.S.A team is ahead but very close behind is the Jamaican team. The Norway team looks like they are getting off balance. Yes, they are. It looks like they are going to tip. They are! We are having paramedics down there right away. Now the three teams that are competing are getting more and more spread apart. With the U.S.A team still in the lead there is no question that things could go wrong and turn this race around. Speaking of that, it looks like the all teammates of Norway has successfully gotten out with no broken bones but I’m sure they will be a few cuts and browses. All teams that are still racing will move on and yes, Norway team is eliminated.

Health Care Reform Recommendations Essay

The topic of heath care reform is a highly debatable one. Many different organizations have diverse ideas on what is essential to ensure a successful healthcare system is developed in the United Sates. After reading recommendations to advance health care reform from the Mayo Clinic’s (2008), The Wall Street Journal’s Health Care CEO Council (2008), consisting of CEO’s from multiple different medical organizations, and America’s Health Insurance Plan (AHIP)(2007), the following is a list of three recommendations considered by all to be valid ideas for healthcare reform: 1. Access: Universal Health Insurance A. A comprehensive health care reform recommendation of providing universal access to affordable, guaranteed, quality insurance plans for those not covered by employer-based programs. This plan would require individuals to buy insurance, giving them choice, accessibility, control, and peace of mind. B. This reform would require adults to purchase private health insurance for themselves and their families. Employers could continue to participate by buying insurance for their employees or giving them stipends to purchase it. However, the individual would own the insurance. C. Appointing and independent agency to provide coordination, oversight and education for individuals choosing insurance options. 2. Quality: Reform the Payment System A. Change the reimbursement system to reward preventive care and evidence-based care, and extend government efforts to no longer reimburse inappropriate, unsafe or wasted care. Define and measure desirable outcomes for most common diseases. B. Payment to providers should be changed in order to improve health and minimize waste. Create payment systems that provide incentives for various providers to coordinate care, improve care, and support informed patient decision-making. Models of payment should be developed based on the success of chronic care coordination, care coordination teams, shared decision-making and episode-based payment. C. Change Medicare to a pay-for-value model. Redistribute Medicare payments to favor physicians who perform well, as opposed to the current system that rewards volume not value. Paying providers based on value can help produce desired results such as: great outcomes, safety, and service at an affordable cost over time. 3. Affordability: A. Poorly coordinated care also drives up costs when individuals seeing several health care practitioners receive the same diagnostic tests and procedures multiple times because one physician did not know that the other already had conducted them. Access to information that compares the effectiveness and cost of treatments: give providers, patients and purchasers access to a trusted source where they can find up-to-date and objective information on which health care services are most effective and provide the best value. B. Provide positive personal health habit incentives. Lifestyles characterized by smoking, poor diet, and lack of exercise leading to obesity are key contributors to high health care costs in the United States. Childhood obesity significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease in adulthood (CDC, 2006) and according to a study done by the Office of the US Surgeon General (2007), the complications from obesity: cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer are estimated to cost $92 billion (Finkelstein, 2003) in lost productivity per year whereas estimates suggest that the health consequences of smoking may lead to more than $75 billion per year in medical expenditures. C. Provide tax credits to individuals, families for the purchase of insurance, and to small business owners that provide medical coverage to employees. On January 24, 2007, while speaking about healthcare at Families USA, a healthcare advocacy group, then Senator Obama said â€Å" The time has come for universal health care in America [†¦ ] I am absolutely determined that by the end of the first term of the next president, we should have universal health care in this country. † (Wikipedia, n. d). Senator McCain however, proposed tax credits and open-market competition as opposed to government funding control (Wikipedia, n. d. ) In comparison, President Obama and Senator McCain, had similar plans in regards to cost and quality improvement. Both parties suggested the adoption of medical malpractice reforms, allowing drug re-importation, focusing on healthcare costs as a reflection of quality service, prevention and care of chronic conditions, and development/deployment of HIT. In addition to similarities in cost and quality improvement, both also believed that prevention is the key to creating a healthier population. Senator McCain focused more on individual responsibility in maintaining and healthy lifestyle whereas President Obama supported increased funding to community based preventive interventions. Overall, a comparison of both parties preliminarily health reform plans reflect multiple similarities in general ideas of needed reforms to the United Sate’s current healthcare system. Whether by adopting a universal healthcare system or implementing changes to the current system; extending coverage, lowering costs, and improving quality of care are all issues agreed upon by both parties as needing attention. References America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)(2007). Guaranteeing Access to Coverage for all Americans. Retrieved 26 January 2009, from http://www. ahipbelieves. com/media/AHIP%20Guarantee%20Access%20Plan. pdf Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2006). National Center for Health Statistics. Retrieved 26 January 2009, from http://www. cdc. gov/nchs/data/hesate/preliminarydesths05_tables. pdf. Finkelstein E. , et al. (2003). National medical spending attributable to obesity: How much and who’s paying? Health Affairs. W3: 219-226. The Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center (2008). Building Upon the Cornerstones: Recommendations, action steps and strategies to advance health care reform. Retrieved 26 January 2009, from http://www. mayoclinic. org/healthpolicycenter/recommendations. html The Wall Street Journal (2008) CEO Council: Shaping The New Agenda, Health Care. Retrieved 24 January 2009, from http://blogs. wsj. com/ceo-council/2008/11/23/health-care/ U. S. Surgeon General (2007). Overweight and Obesity: Health Consequences. Retrieved 26 January 2009, from http://www. surgeongeneral. gov/topics/obesity/calltoaction/fact_consequences. htm. Wikipedia (n. d. ). HealthCare Reform in the United States. Retrieved 26 January 2009, from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Health_care_reform_in_the_United_States#cite_note-152

Quikr vs Olx Essay

Before you sit down to plan the future of your club’s marketing activities, you need to take stock of where your club is now and why you are there. One useful way to get a clear picture of where your club currently sits is by using a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. By using the SWOT analysis you can identify where your club stands in the market, which provides a useful launch pad for making future marketing plans. Take the time to work through the SWOT process carefully and you will have a clearer idea of: The things your club does well, and the things you need to improve on (strengths and opportunities). †¢ What types of competition exist for your club and which ones can be defended (strengths and threats) †¢ Whether your club needs to change the product itself to protect from outside influences (weaknesses and threats) †¢ Which issues your club needs to make as its priorities (weaknesses and opportunities). Stre ngths When you look at the strengths, concentrate on the club itself and whether it can achieve the outcomes you want. Examples of strengths include: †¢ Strong financial base. †¢ Strong local need for your product, many new members, etc. †¢ Group of skilled volunteers. †¢ Support from local businesses, politicians, etc. †¢ Well-equipped clubhouse. †¢ Committee is well-structured, enthusiastic, capable, etc. Weaknesses Weaknesses often appear as the direct opposite of the strengths listed above and include: †¢ Weak financial base. †¢ Diminishing need or desire for your product, fewer new members, etc. †¢ Few volunteers. †¢ No support from local businesses, politicians, etc. Out of date ill equipped clubhouse. †¢ Committee is poorly structured, overworked, disinterested, etc. Opportunities Opportunities refer to the possibilities of new growth because of the changes in the external environment and can include such things as: †¢ Promotion of sport by government authorities, e. g. renewed ‘Push Play† campaign. †¢ New population of potential users moving into the area, e. g. with children. †¢ Grants by local and national government to encourage sport and recreation. †¢ Organisations looking to sponsor local activities. Seasonal interest in particular sports, e. g cricket in summer, football in winter. †¢ International or national interests the activity your club is involved in, e. g Commonwealth or Olympic Games. †¢ Promotion of your activity to a different age group or gender e. g. lawn bowls to teenagers, rugby to girls. Threats As with strengths and weaknesses, the threats are often very similar to the opportunities. Examples of threats include: †¢ Traditional sponsors of sport and recreation changing the way they spend their sponsorship dollars. Seasonal interest in particular sports or activities which is in direct competition with your own, e. g. competing codes of Rugby. †¢ Promotion of sport to different age groups or gender which competes with your club’s interest e. g. ballet and soccer for girls. †¢ Other interests including television, video games, school activities, part-time work for teenagers, and so on. †¢ Time related issues for example, competition for volunteers time, longer working hours, both parents working – children unable to attend, limited available free time for both children and parents. Other organisations with better facilit ies. †¢ Lack of knowledge and interest in your product. A SWOT Analysis should be drawn up to look like this: |Internal |STRENGTHS |WEAKNESSES | |Factors |Vision : simple and quick |Not having international experience, therefore diversification | |(Things about |Strong funding |might be a problem at later stage. |your club) |Experienced partners: Norwest Venture Partners brings in a lot of |No acquisition till date as a result OLX has surpassed quikr. | | |experience |Employee base is very low: Need to increase the sales force and| | |Horizontal rather than vertical |target other opportunity to increase market share. | |Customer Centric, not just technology centric : Free missed call | | | |Investment in analytics, mobile platforms | | |External |OPPORTUNITIES |THREATS | |Factors |Internet penetration(10%) is bound to increase |Low entry barrier | |(Things |Internet surfing through mobiles has surpassed PC. Competitors have international experience and deep pockets. | |outside of |Mobile base is huge and recently they have introduced a mi ssed call |Zero switching cost. | |your club) |feature. |Intense Competiton | | |Cloud computing (SaaS, PaaS) could be useful in reducing the cost. | | | |Network Effects | | It’s a great idea to draw this up on a whiteboard or large piece of paper and use as a brainstorming base at a committee meeting.