The Awakening :: essays research papers fc

Every writer has an influence. Some are influenced by the ideas that the author has; some are influenced by the style, which the author writes with. Still others are so intrigued by a writer that they are not only influenced by their way of thinking and their writing, but they actually begin to mimic the author in many ways. This is the case with Guy de Maupassant’s influence on Kate Chopin, who is undoubtedly the greatest influence on Chopin’s writing. "Maupassant was born in Châteaude de Miromesnil, Normandy" (Encarta). He received his education at Yvetot and Rauen and there joined a literary team where he was trained as a writer of fiction by Flaubert, another well know French author (Encarta). He, like Chopin, wrote many short stories, for which he is remembered the most (Encarta). Like Chopin, Maupassant’s ideas were looked at as "immoral" and "mature," dealing with ideas such as "sex," loneliness, and "depression" (Jones 385). He questioned the standards of the day, and was therefore rejected by many people as an immoral person (Jones 385). Kate Chopin’s interest in Maupassant began after her mother died (Toth 181). At that time she had moved to a new location in the city where she lived and began to make new friends who were interested in the writings of Maupassant (Toth181). She described vividly how she felt upon reading Guy de Maupassant for the first time: His writing undoubtedly moved her. Chopin claims to have felt that he spoke to her "directly" and "intimately" (Toth 181). She admired him most for the things that made him the writer that he was. She was intrigued by his escape from "’tradition and authority’ and for having ‘entered into himself and looked out upon life through his own being and with his own eyes’"(Skaggs 205). Eventually Maupassant replaced other writers as her primary influence and "literary model" (Toth 205). Chopin had such and interest in Maupassant that she translated many of his stories from French to English (Toth 273). Due to there content, however, several were never published (Toth 273). Chopin had been taught French by her grandmother, who wanted her to know "how to speak and write French well" (Toth 35). Through this Chopin was able to take the stories of Maupassant and easily translate them. The more Chopin translated Maupassant the more she was influenced by his thinking and writing (Tonth 274). Even in reading Maupassant’s stories, while they are translated, you can still tell that there is a remarkable similarity to Chopin’s writing and his.

Running Head: North Sea Oil and Gas

Every business or industry is prone to various risks which include floods, earthquake, terrorists which the industry should put mechanisms in place to avoid such. Effective contingency planning has been of importance to most industries that embrace the idea. North Sea oil and Gas has for a long time been prone to the problem of changing weather conditions which is especially experienced in the sea. The companies that exploit the North Sea oil and gas have put a lot of emphasis on risk management and most of the companies have set up risk management departments (Leslie and Michaels, 1997).Numerous deaths had occurred during the exploitation of North Sea oil and gas in the 1970s and 1980s and this called for effective contingency planning to reduce the losses incurred by loosing workforce and by spillage of oil and gas due to buckles. The companies that exploit the gas and oil have invested in the contingency planning as a way of way of managing the risks (Leslie and Michaels, 1997).No rth Sea oil and gas has been a source of wealth to the countries that exploit the resource. North Sea oil has been used to refer to the oil and natural gas exists beneath the North Sea. The countries that exploit the North Sea oil and gas include Netherlands, Norway, Germany, United Kingdom and Denmark. Most countries and especially companies that have been given license to exploit the resource have taken proactive measures of risk. Mining beneath the sea has led to many deaths of the people involved and this has called for heavy investment in risk management projects undertaken by the companies.The pipes that transfer the oil and natural gas from underground reservoirs to processing plants which are mainly located some distance from the sea must be strong to withstand the waves in the sea. Depending on weather changes, waves differ in their height and this call for contingency planning otherwise heavy losses are incurred by the particular company (Leslie and Michaels, 1997).In the 1970s, the North Sea oil a gas companies took proactive measures to avoid heavy losses that resulted when waves exceeded the height of 3 meters. The operators laid many pipes which assumed the shape of S to maintain smoothness between the large barge and the ocean floor. The operators used bow anchors to further buckles by raising and resetting the pipes at the barges. The operators had to be keen because improper lowering of pipes would result into a pipe buckle which presented a serious threat in laying the pipes.The excessive height of waves which exceeded the anticipated height resulted in further risk of pipe buckles due to uncontrolled lowering of pipes. The companies therefore had to purchase a large number of steel pipes to avoid delays incase of any pipe buckle and this methods was not cost effective as the company would have desired. Any proactive measure that is taken to manage risk should be cost effective, utility effective and must therefore be maximizing benefits for the company while minimizing cost (Leslie and Michaels, 1997).An effective contingency planning in managing risks in project requires good planning and coordination of all the stakeholders in the project to ensure maximum desirable result. Risk management involves taking measures in dealing with uncertainty. The North Sea and oil contingency planning that was adopted in 19790s involves dealing with uncertainty because in favorable weather conditions, there is less cost involved in dealing with risks since pipe buckles will be few and hence very few new pipes will be required to be laid. However, since it’s hard to predict the height of the waves in the sea which can cause heavy losses if unchecked, the companies that explore the oil and gas in the areas must take precautionary measures (Leslie and Michaels, 1997).Exploration of North Sea oil any natural gas involves making wealth for the companies that are undertaking the projects. The importance of contingency planning in th e exploration project is very essential in risk management because it’s used to assess the possibility of bad weather condition which is a threat to the project. The assessment is consequently used to reduce the possibility of underperformance that may be realized when no measures are undertaken to reduce or avoid the pipe buckles. The cost of replacing buckled pipes reduces the profit margin that is realized in the project and therefore effective contingency planning help to manage the risk.Effective contingency planning helps to capture the benefits of fair weather. Uncertainty about weather conditions is a threat that faces the North Sea offshore pipe laying. If effective contingency planning is observed, long periods of bad weather can be sustained because the project major should be able to recognize and deal with the bad condition threat which is inevitable. The project managers should ensure there is plenty supply of pipes during bad weather condition to avoid delays i n replacing the buckle pipes.The project managers should observe good contingency planning by ensuring that the oil and gas pipeline are complete before the bad weather sets in and this will assist in reducing the costs associated with contingency planning. Laying pipelines in time helps in avoiding major delays in the project which may result in heavy monetary losses.Contingency planning for reducing possible threats that are associated with North Sea and oil exploration could be a possible way of increasing income to the companies that are undertaking the project. American project management institute (PMI) argue that there is a possible opportunity associated with the risks that threaten the project in winter, bad weather conditions has been known to lead to gas shortage in most cities which due to law of demand, the prices increase.This could be an opportunity for those companies that are concerned with the project. Effective contingency planning in managing risk North Sea oil a nd gas has created an opportunity to the companies undertaking the project. This is attributed to the precautions taken by the companies in anticipation of bad weather threat. The project involves paying for delivery before the contract begins. Most companies that want to protect themselves from the deficient supply of the resources therefore buy the resources before the contract begins. The high demand has contributed to higher revenue derived from the project and this consequently results to higher profitability (Leslie and Michaels, 1997).Contingency planning which is mainly associated with managing risks should not only focus on the threats that hamper the success of the project but should also view threats as an opportunity to achieve the objectives of the project. Achievement of objectives means the project has succeeded. Therefore effective contingency planning in addressing risks should recognize the close relationship of threats and opportunities. The actions taken by the p roject manager in reducing the risks should seek to create an opportunity for excellence (Leslie and Michaels, 1997).Effective contingency planning should not focus on managing threats. Instead the project should seek to identify the different sources of risks and consequently how to manage the risks. Focus on risks draw emphasis on the anticipated failure. Therefore, assessing the various sources of uncertainty and how those uncertainties can be a threat to the project and consequently how to manage the uncertainties involves application of effective contingency planning.North Sea oil and gas exploration is associated with many uncertainties which present various threats to the project. Focus on the opportunities created by the uncertainties management can lead to profitability and success of the project. The project manager should identify the origins of uncertainties instead of managing risk first and this will assist in addressing the root of the problem. Most projects have fail ed to meet the set objectives due to their failure to address the root of the problems. Superficial problem solving has led undesirable results. Therefore identification of the source of uncertainties should be considered as the beginning of the risk management process in effective contingency planning (Leslie and Michaels, 1997).Uncertainty is present in every project and in all stages of the project life cycle (PLC). The uncertainty is contributed by various reasons which are inevitable. All projects success is based on various assumptions which are the main sources of uncertainties. Differences in the performance of project concerning cost, quality and duration that is required to complete the project bring a lot of uncertainties. In laying pipes in the ocean in a way that will avoid pipe buckles involved a lot of uncertainties. This is attributed to the changing weather conditions.Its hard to forecast the height of the waves in the ocean in a particular season and this present s ource of uncertainties since its hard to know with certainty the cost of dealing with the threat since its hard to tell the amount of pipes to be knocked down and therefore requiring replacement (Leslie and Michaels, 1997).Proactive risk management in the North Sea oil and gas project should be entrenched in both base plans and contingency plans. It’s argued that if a project focuses very much on being cost effective it’s bound to fail on risk management in some occasions. However, crisis management should only be used as principal management in some occasions. However, crisis management should only be used as principal management mode if the risk management fails completely (Leslie and Michaels, 1997).ReferencesLeslie, Keith, J. and Michaels, Max, P. â€Å"The Real Power of Real Options†. The McKinsey Quarterly 3 (1997):134-225.

Odysseus vs Gandhi Essay

A hero, a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability (Merriam-Webster). There are two types of heroes, epic heroes and modern heroes. Odysseus, one of the most famous epic heroes ever, will be compared to Mahatma Gandhi, a modern day hero, to see if there really is a large gap separating the two types. However, one thing is certain, modern heroes can be identical to epic heroes if they are larger than life, embody the ideals of their culture, embark on a perilous journey, and possess super-human, prominent characteristics. Epic heroes are always larger than life; however, modern day heroes can achieve amazing feats too. Odysseus, an epic hero, demonstrated this through the gods’ interference with his affairs. Poseidon played a major role in knocking Odysseus off course (Applebee, 912). Also, he is so famous, that people all over Greece know him. For instance, the Phaeacians sung about Odysseus’ triumph in Troy to Odysseus just a couple of years after it happened (Mythweb). Gandhi, my hero, achieved independence for his country using only nonviolent protest. This is shown by the â€Å"Salt March†, in which he embarked on a 240 mile march, protesting about the British salt tax, which made it illegal to sell or produce salt, allowing a complete British monopoly (Thenagain). Also, he has quotes that will live on forever, such as, â€Å"Where there is love there is life†, â€Å"You must be the change you wish to see in the world†, and, â€Å"An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind† (Proverbia). These quotes are some of the most used and repeated quotes of all time. In different ways, Odysseus and Gandhi are both larger than life, proving that epic heroes and modern day heroes aren’t very different after all. Another characteristic of epic heroes would be how they embody the ideals of their culture. In â€Å"The Odyssey†, Odysseus warns Polyphemus, a giant, man-eating cyclops, that it would face Zeus’ wrath if he doesn’t treat him nicely (Applebee, 902). This shows us how the Greeks care a lot about a healthy host-guest relationship and vice-versa. The latter is proven when Odysseus slaughters the suitors who didn’t behave well at his castle in his absence (Applebee, 955-960). Also, having their lives spared, the two shepherds were rewarded for remaining loyal to Odysseus, proving that the Greeks admire those who are loyal (Applebee, 947-948). Gandhi, on the other hand, embodies the nonviolence of his culture. Within a month of him simply gathering salt from a beach in Dandi, people all over India were making salt illegally, and more than 100,000 were sent to jail; many fell victim to police violence, but none retaliated or even defended themselves (Herman, 99-101). In fact, as the wise Mahatma once said, â€Å"Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up†. Gandhi also embodies the humbleness of his people. In fact, a man wearing Gandhi’s picture around his neck considered Gandhi to be the sole cause of his recovery from paralysis (since he recovered after uttering the Mahatma’s name). Seeing this, Gandhi said, â€Å"It is not I but God who made you whole. Now will you not oblige me by taking my photograph off your neck† (Fischer, 288-289). This shows Gandhi doesn’t view himself as more than another average man, an amazing trait. Embodying the values in ones culture is also another shared aspect between epic heroes and modern day heroes, narrowing the rift between the two kinds even more. An epic hero always embarks on a long perilous journey. â€Å"The Odyssey†, describes Odysseus’ journey home in a very detailed way. Odysseus faces many dangers on the way, including Polyphemus, a ferocious, one-eyed giant, Circe, a deceptive enchantress, and two sea monsters, Scylla and Charybdis. Polyphemus was a big threat to Odysseus and his crew because he was going to devour all of them, ending their journey (Applebee, 906). Also, if Hermes, the messenger god, didn’t warn Odysseus about Circe’s powers, he would be another smelly swine on her island (Applebee, 920). Lastly, when Circe didn’t warned Odysseus Odysseus that he has to lose six men in order not to get sucked into Charybdis, a whirlpool, Odysseus may have never returned (Applebee, 930-931). Gandhi has gone on a long journey too, the journey to give his country independence. Gandhi began to think of ways for his voice to be heard, but not to hurt anyone. He immediately had followers that joined him in his passive protests. Gandhi’s protests didn’t always go as planned. In fact, he was imprisoned on numerous occasions, including the years 1922, 1930, 1933, and 1942. Just because he was in jail didn’t mean he would stop fighting for his rights. One of Gandhi’s most famous protests was the Salt March from March 12 to April 5, 1930. Gandhi and thousands of Indians marched 400 kilometers to produce their own salt. This was a major statement because any money spent on salt that was bought in India went to Britain. After his march, thousands of people were jailed, but were later freed when Gandhi and Lord Irwin negotiated a deal. Finally in 1947, India declared independence from Britain (Myhero)(Thenagain). Both Gandhi and Odysseus embarked on long, perilous journeys, proving to us once again that a modern day hero can have similar experiences with an epic hero. One trait Odysseus shared with Gandhi is leadership. Odysseus shows his leadership skills countless times in â€Å"The Odyssey†. One of the times it was most apparent was when he saved his men from being trapped on the isle of the Lotus-eaters; â€Å"All hands aboard:† said Odysseus, â€Å"come, clear the beach and no one taste the Lotus, or you lose your hope of home† (Applebee, 898). Another scene where Odysseus’ leadership skills shine is when he goes back to rescue his men from Circe’s hall. â€Å"Eurylocus tells Odysseus what has happened and begs his captain to sail away from Circe’s island. Against Eurylocus’ advice, however, Odysseus rushes to save his men from the enchantress† (Applebee, 920). Gandhi’s leadership skills were the sole reason for India’s independence. On March 12, 1930, Gandhi and 78 male â€Å"activists of truth and resolution† (satyagrahis) started their 23-day-long journey. To each village they passed, Gandhi gave a speech, and more men joined the march each time (Thenagain). This shows Gandhi was able to lead one of the most influential nonviolent protests India has ever seen with ease, using his speaking skills to embolden the shy into joining the resistance. It was he, Mahatma Gandhi, who led the Salt March. That march began a series of protests that resulted in the closing of many British shops and mills (Thenagain), and ultimately the independence of India. Leadership skills are yet another aspect that forms the close resemblance of the two heroic types, epic and modern. Bravery, the classic heroic quality, is what separates heroes from average men. Odysseus and Gandhi, both being heroes, do not lack this quality, but instead it thrives and prospers within their souls. Odysseus exhibits his bravery on countless occasions; one of them being when he worked up the courage to ask the giant cyclops Polyphemus, after seeing the petrifying beast for the first time, to treat them well, lest it face the wrath of the gods. †¦as is custom to honor strangers. We would entreat you, great Sir, have a care for the gods’ courtesy; Zeus will avenge the unoffending guest† (Applebee, 902). Gandhi has also shown ample amounts of bravery during his journey; an amazing feat showing this being when he started picking tiny lumps of salt in Dandi after his march (), an illegal act. This simple action, this minor crime, this is the pebble that started the rockslide, the small offense which caused India to be free. Heroes, these brave beings cause great things, no matter what type they are. Heroes, by definition, people noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life (Thefreedictionary), are classified into two types. Is there a vast difference between these two types, epic and modern? The answer is that it is plausible for a modern hero to be thought of as an epic hero if he/she has defining, distinctive traits, is larger than life, goes on some sort of dangerous trip, and personifies the values of his/her culture.

Dual Core processors: A New and Better CPU Technology Essay

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

Ford motor company Form 10-K review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ford motor company Form 10-K review - Essay Example The paper involves the requirements of the types of segments to be reported on the annual financial statements.This Statement needs that a public business enterprise to give a detailed report on the measure of the segment profit or loss, specific expense items and revenue, and the segment assets. The statement also requires the reconciliations of the entire total segment assets, segment revenues, total segment profit or loss, and additional amounts disclosed for the segments to which correspond to the amounts in the entire company’s financial statements. The statement also require that public company’s give a descriptive report on the information concerning the revenues resulting from the company’s products, services etc. , about countries where the enterprise do earn revenues and also possess assets, and the statement also require a list of major customers.

Thomas Cook Plc Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Thomas Cook Plc - Case Study Example Thomas Cool was a former Baptist minister and a very religious man and he firmly believed that alcohol was the major factor casing problems among the working class in England. It was with this in mind that the above-mentioned train journey was arranged. The first unofficial tour was this trip in open carriages, which took nearly 500 temperance supporters to Loughborough, and back in July 5, 1841. In 1845 Thomas Cook organized a tour to Liverpool which was accompanied by what must have been the first tour brochure ever printed in the world. His first international venture was to Paris during the time of an international exhibition which was held there. Further tours to other cities in Europe began and an established tour itinerary began to fall in place. A tour to Switzerland and later to Italy was conducted in 1864. With his clientele shifting from working class to middle and upper class passengers, Mr. Cook began to make arrangements with hotels in Europe by using something called t he hotel coupon. This enabled tourists to pay for the hotel rooms in advance and to stay at hotels without paying cash. Another innovation was the circular note, the forerunner of 'travellers cheque.' Trips to the US soon followed and later a trip by steamer up the river Nile was also arranged. All this success naturally led to thoughts of expanding further overseas to the US and Asia. Mr Cook himself was part of a trial world tour which covered the US, Japan, China, Singapore, Ceylon and India. This tour went on to become an annual event in the company's tour calendar.. An unexpected move by the then two owners saw the company being sold off to a Belgian tour operator called Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et des Grands Express Europens in 1928. Certain events during the world war saw the company near collapse and a deal was made where by the ownership changed back to British hands, this time by the government owned railway companies. Even though the company could benefit from the post war travel boom, things began to slow down by 1955 due to the emergence of new and dynamic tour operators. In 1972, Thomas Cook became privately owned once again through a purchase by a c onsortium of the Midland Bank, Trust House Forte and the Automobile Association. The famous red logo of Thomas Cook was introduced during this time. The company did well during this period and even managed to survive the 1970's depression. The Company came under the sole ownership of the Midland's Bank in 1980 and again sold of to Germany's third largest bank, Westdeutsche Landesbank (WestLB) and LTU group (an airline charter company). Thomas Cook later became the subsidiary of the German bank and soon acquisitions of Sun World, Time Off and Flying Colours took place. In 1999 a merger with Calrlsons Liesrue Group took place. The Company Thomas Cook Group PLC was formed in June 2007 through a merger of Thomas Cook AG and My Travel Group Plc. "It is now part of Thomas Cook Group plc (www.thomascookgroup.com) which was formed on June 19th 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG and My Travel Group plc." (A Brief History). Business Strategy: Corporate growth strategy: The merger of Thomas Cook and My Travel has resulted in a very powerful tour operating company and has a string presence in UK and some European countries. This merger came about so that both the companies could compete more efficiently in a

Network Security and Its Business Impact Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Network Security and Its Business Impact - Essay Example Securing and stabilizing the network ensures the confidentiality of data and effects positively towards the productivity and functionality of a business. Providing secure information technology (IT) services to colleges and universities is a special and unique challenge. Unfettered and timely access to all enormous quanti ­ties of information is higher education’s life ­blood and is a key to its success in educating its students and generating new ideas and know-how. The situation becomes more challenging when a new technology is added and integrated into the existing setup and same or advanced level of accessibility and protection is expected. Thus, the need of the hour is to identify the security loopholes and develop security policies especially for environments where the wired and wireless networks co-exist. 3 Situation Overview: The research is set in MajanCollege in the context of improvising the security of the college network after adding the wireless network (Wire less LAN) with the existing wired network (Local LAN). 4 Presenting the Problem Definition: The problem for the Network administrators is focused on understanding that the security needs to be strengthened when a wireless network is added to the wired network. 5 Real World Target: The major benefit in the real world if the problem is resolved or partially resolved is that the network administrators would confidently revise the security policies every time a wireless network is added to their network rather than continuing with the existing policies for the wired network and not being susceptible to security breaches saving the confidentiality of the data which is an asset to business. 6 What is Security? Computer security is a complex of actions and activities aimed at creating... This study declares that providing secure information technology (IT) services to colleges and universities is a special and unique challenge. Unfettered and timely access to all enormous quanti ­ties of information is higher education’s life ­blood and is a key to its success in educating its students and generating new ideas and know-how. The situation becomes more challenging when a new technology is added and integrated into the existing setup and same or advanced level of accessibility and protection is expected.   Thus, the need of the hour is to identify the security loopholes and develop security policies especially for environments where the wired and wireless networks co-exist.  As the discussion stresses the major benefit in the real world if the problem is resolved or partially resolved is that the network administrators would confidently revise the security policies every time a wireless network is added to their network rather than continuing with the exi sting policies for the wired network and not being susceptible to security breaches saving the confidentiality of the data which is an asset to business.  The importance strategically of this work is that the integrated network security for wired and wireless network will help the college in securing valuable data, improving network systems performance, protecting networks from internal and external threats, to enable higher availability and accessibility to the network.