Business Research Methods Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business Research Methods - Assignment Example The information that was gathered from the research completed is of great help to the company. This is because the company is able to pinpoint their strong hold like customer’s satisfaction, loyalty to its products, and its products competitiveness in the market. This is very important in any organization in order to maximize the profits (Allan, 2007, p 45). In the first part of the question that gets to know how first the customers was attended to. It’s observed that most of the customers this is approximately 62% seem to have been attended to in less than 5 minutes. This is a ratio question that its goal is to establish an exact time. The therefore having more than half of the customers falling on the upper cut in terms of in time service it’s commendable. No one likes to wait for service delivery we all detest quest .In the business world service delivery is key (Fraser, 1990, p 23). The second question in the research is also out to establish the almost exact amount of time that the customer gets responded to. As a company apple is trying to establish its competence in customer service when it comes to responding to their needs. Most of the customers as well here seem to get their response in a span of less than 12 hours. It is all logical to know that customers especially if one is calling regarding problem with products provided by apple company among them phones which are an everyday use a 12 hour wait for them to attend and fix a problem is long. Therefore the response shows that most of the customers get delayed service hence it’s in order for apple to improve on the above (Trochim, 2000, p 78). Referring to the third question in regards to the second question. We come across customers calling for all the varied reasons this includes warranty claim, more information on the products, web pages among others. Looking at this in a customer’s point of view it clearly shows some sort of inefficiency. This is because when cu stomer is calling to inquire about for instance there settings with the web pages and they get the response after 2 hours or so. The information they needed might not be of any help later .People ask questions to get direct answers to solve their problems according to philosopher Rene Decartes. While information gets to an individual not immediately it does not serve the intended purpose. Only 19% of the customers seem to have gotten the information in less than 2 hours (Fraser, 1990, p 76). According to the research we gather that those with problems with functionality of the products, and service problem had to wait for the longest time. As indicated prior apple products are an everyday use therefore their failure to function or delayed fixing can cause an individual a job, money time, it has power even to spoil a day and even break a relationship either personal or professional. Apple customers as the research gathers are young people by young we are talking less than 40 year old s that is where the customer base is. The company has been able to detain this age group because of its products that are saying compatible with the age. This age comprises late teens this is where freshmen in college fall to the young entrepreneurs who are striving hard to climb the corporate ladder. Basically what this age comprises is the proverbial young and energetic. Therefore having established that apple company has the right information required to identify its strength and weaknesses among its customers (Trochim, 2000, p 57). The question that rates the customer service the research finds out the customer service at apple is rated very low that is it falls below average. The customer service

Audit Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Audit Project - Essay Example 3. New computerized manufacturing equipment that has a stamp â€Å"product of Welburn manufacturing, Detroit Michigan†. Under this condition, the fraud risk is significant since there is miscommunication. 4. Pinnacle employees constructed a building because of employee idle and to save time. The controller said there was coordination with the construction company responsible for the addition. The fraud risk under this case is very significant since there might be a coalition between the construction company and the controller. 5. Auto-electro accounts for nearly 15% of the companys account receivable balance and the customer has not made payments for several months. The fraud risk under this case can be very significant because it can lead to lose a lot of money. 6. The directors raised a significant amount of debt to finance the construction of new manufacturing plant for solar-electro division and modification to the property on which the plant will be built. The fraud risk under this circumstance is insignificant since there is approval by directors. 7. Pinnacle president while wearing a golf shirt with the words ‘‘Todd-Machine† and repairmen who repair company own by vice president of Pinnacle. The fraud risk is very significant because it seems the vice president has an interest in two competing companies. 8. Significant turnover in the internal audit department. There was a conclusion that the turnover is only present at the higher level positions. The fraud risk under this case is significant because high turnover is a bad sign 9. While review debt agreements, It several restrictive covenants was identified ,two requirements are to keep the current ratio above 2.0 and debt below 1.0 at all times. This is normal business adjustment, and the fraud risk is insignificant 10. CPA notification that Brian Sioux will be visiting pinnacle facilities to investigate an ongoing dispute between the internal revenue

New Land Essay Example for Free

New Land Essay When Europeans settled in the â€Å"New Land†, they had hard time adapting living with the Indians. However, the Indians feared what Europeans brought such as weapons. There was a huge difference between the tribes’ weaponry and the European because of their powerful advances with the most progressive rifles. The flintlock rifle was a new weapon that the Indians had managed to use, which proved to be â€Å"too heavy, cumbersome, and inaccurate to be useful in the kind of combat characteristic of Anglo-Indian struggles† (Brinkley 50). Later on they wanted the Europeans to behave as â€Å"fathers† to help them in their disputes and conflicts (Brinkley 60). Progressively, Europeans learned to fulfill some of their expectations. The Indians didn’t understand the meaning of the relationships between societies, furthermore Europeans â€Å"thought much more in terms of ceremony and kinship† (Brinkley 60). The Indians were quite satisfied to form closer relationships and doing marriage ceremonies. After 1776, the balance of power between Europeans and Natives Americans loosened because of the presence of British and American (Brinkley 61). It began to weaken the strength of their relationship because it was difficult for the newer settlers to give gifts to them and the mediations (Brinkley 61). The â€Å"middle grounds† were destroyed replacing other constructed buildings by the Europeans. It created other conflicts that led to once again difficult to adapt. It seemed that both Native Americans and early Euro-Americans had a love-hate relationship that made their relationship so hard to establish peace and conformity. At the beginning the tribes were afraid of the advances Europeans had with their weapons, but they had the chance to be taught by them on how to use the weapons. By the time Europeans were trying to gain trust to them, Indians were in the need to be protected and to form new relationships. Thus far, they both ended up having issues one more time because Europeans were ambition to acquire more land in Tribal territory.

Postmodernism and Hyper-Reality in Architecture

Postmodernism and Hyper-Reality in Architecture Introduction This essay will address architecture’s position in a consumer society. Consumer society can be described as the outcome of modernism where consuming material goods is the paramount feature of its balance and values. It is the result of the escalation in manufacturing and rapid industrial developments. It is also the outcome of the immense pace of diversification and growth of culture, creativity, technology and urbanism as a way of life. I will use the concepts of semiotic philosopher Jean Baudrillard’s as a basis in understanding the implications of this culture on the built environment, urban design and technology. I will also examine the desire for fantasy realms that mirror reality by examining Baudrillard’s three orders of simulacra and the â€Å"hyperreal†. To understand the expression of this phenomenon in our consumerist culture I have chosen to examine its manifestation in the urban context of Montecasiono and also virtual environment of Second Li fe. My aim is to better understand the architects’ position in this current culture and what it could mean for the future of architecture. Postmodernity and Hyper-reality The postmodern condition does not simply replace modernity but it rather opens up a new and complex layer of meaning of the modern by emphasizing its paradoxical aspects. Modernity has become deeply rooted in contemporary societies and thus it is almost impossible to find a condition where it has had no influence. Post-modernity by default cannot be separated from modernity as emancipation and liberation are inherent to the modern. In the post-modern era the electronic picture is the predominant force defining its figurative character. It is saturated with pictures in the degree which was not observed in history. (Asanowicz, 2014) To understand some of the complexities of our image driven culture I will first be exploring the writings of Jean Baudrillard. According to â€Å"Simulacra and Simulation† (Baudrillard, 1994) in our post-modern society, â€Å"It is no longer a question of imitation, nor duplication, nor even parody. It is a question of substituting the signs of the real for the real†. Baudrillard suggests that postmodern culture is not merely artificial, because the notion of artificiality still involves some sense of reality against which to identify it. What he conveys is that we cannot recognize the distinction between artifice and nature. Baudrillard then argues that there are three orders of simulacra. Simulacra (Simulacres in French means: stereotype, a pseudo-thing, an empty form, a blank form) is one of the key concepts of postmodern aesthetics. (Asanowicz, 2014). The first order of simulacra is related to the pre-modern period where the image is a clear imitation of the real. Baudrillard associates the second order of simulacra with the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century where mass product ion and the increase of copies break down the differences between the representation and the image. The third order of simulacra is specifically associated with the postmodern age. It suggests that the representation precedes and determines the real. The distinction between reality and its representation is has disappeared and there is only the simulacrum. Baudrillard defined this distortion of the lines between the original and its copy as the ‘hyperreal’ (Baudrillard, 1994). Not only does the simulacrum simulate the original but the simulacrum of truth is truer than true and thus the hyperreal is realer than real. (Horrocks Jevtic, 1999) This kind of simulated image is all around us, nature reserves are constructed to disguise the absence the natural environment in urban areas. Reallity TV programs are edited to romanticize the mundane. Baudrillard uses the example of Disneyland, â€Å"Disneyland is presented as imaginary in order to make us believe that the rest is real, whereas all of Los Angeles and the America that surrounds it are no longer real, but belong to the hyperreal order and to the order of simulation. It is no longer a question of a false representation of reality (ideology) but of concealing the fact that the real is no longer real, and thus of saving the reality principle.† (Baudrillard, 1994). To relate this theory to a South African context I will use the example of Montesasino. While the simulated environment is patently false, guests at Montecasino buy into the â€Å"reality† of fantasy because society will continually absorb simulacra and its preference for it over reality. Offerin g a surplus of services and entertainment options in a Tuscan themed environment, Montecasino disorientates and mesmerises its guests in a world of fantasy where spending money enhances participation in, and enjoyment of the retail and leisure experience. Baudrillard comments on the blurred distinctions between culture, consumerism and identity: â€Å"Work, leisure, nature and culture, all previously dispersed, separate, and all more or less irreducible activities that produced anxiety and complexity in our real life, and in our ‘anarchic and archaic’ cities, have finally become mixed, massaged, climate controlled and domesticated into the simple activity of perpetual shopping. All these activities have finally become desexed into a single hermaphroditic ambience of style† (Baudrillard, 2001). Another example of hyperreality is that of Multià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ User Virtual Environments. This has fascinated me since I engaged my first multi-player role-playing computer game and recognized the addictive qualities it stirred. Today these virtual environments are much more sophisticated with virtual worlds like World of Warcraft and Second Life simulating not only of our physical world but also of our social, political and economic condition. Second Life has an active socialist party, an opposing Marxist party and even an anarchist group. Prostitution, gambling and consumerism are central to the simulation. Users of these environments create avatars which they define as the most accurate reflection of theirrealself. Aside from hyperreality, many of the concepts Baudrillard postulates in Simulacra and Simulation are present. It is a semiological perfect world, where the users are deprived of the ability to move, eat and drink. The avatars have nothing else to consume but â€Å"sign s† of the real. Avatars can rent prostitutes to have sex which is devoid of human contact or experience consequently consuming the â€Å"sign† of having sex. The avatars buy expensive virtual clothes to express the distinction against the avatars wearing free clothes. No actual clothes have changed hands, but people spend real that they have actually earned to consume â€Å"signs† of goods. From a modernist this would seem irrational but Baudrillards states that, â€Å"Nothing resembles itself, and holographic reproduction, like all fantasies of the exact synthesis or resurrection of the real (this also goes for scientific experimentation), is already no longer real, is already hyperreal† (Baudrillard, 1994) , therefore it could be argued that there is no difference in consuming something â€Å"real† or a â€Å"sign of the real†. The newest phase of consumer society is accordingly concerned with the effect of digital consumption. This is intensified by globalisation, new information technologies and real-time communication. In the next section I will discuss the implications of society’s preoccupation with consumption and hyperreality on Architecture. Post-Modern Architecture in a consumer society Frederic Jameson suggests that Postmodernism replicates or reproduces and reinforces the logic of consumer capitalism. Thus when we study a consumer society we should focus on the seductive and alluring as this is inherit to the consumer lifestyle. In architecture terms such as image, ambience and enchantment of appearance are more important than modern notions of individualism, rationalism, naturalism and functionalism (Jameson, 2002). Few contemporary architects have consciously thought of their works with consideration to our image driven culture. In â€Å"Visions’ Unfolding: Architecture in the Age of Electronical Media†, Peter Eisenman postulates that by using computer programs which randomly fold surfaces and connect the building and landscape into one continuous whole, the architecture does not surrender to any particular explanation, but continuously disrupts what is defined as architecture (Eisenman, 1999). This does address the idea of surface being the most important aspect of design but the problem is that the works is possibly not seductive enough, rather the work is merely fascinating. On the other hand the work of Jean Nouvel is shrouded in the enchantment of appearance. In Jean Nouvel in Conversation: Tomorrow Can Take Care of Itself, he says that â€Å"image is the matter of architecture and thus the future of architecture is not architectural in the tectonic senseâ€Å". Nouvel emphasises that his architecture is not composed of space but of communicative surfaces, which he calls interfaces. He is not interested in details but only in images. Koolhaas and Tschumi are two other architects that have based their works on a conscious study of atmosphere rather than functions or meanings in architecture. Lastly one cannot forget to mention Bernard Tshumi. After the vertical, modern, in La Villette we have the horizontal, minimal, conceptual and postmodern hyperrealism. The â€Å"cinematic† adaptations in the architecture enable â€Å"events† and are said to provide new freedom for the visitor when choosing routes and viewpoints. Lastly the famous â€Å"congestion† in Koolhaas’ works can be recognised as an atmospheric effect created by â€Å"programming†. Koolhaas tries to create architecture congested with the masses in diverse actions. These actions have typically not been assigned a specific place. Rational individualism must be abandoned when interpreting mass society. Conclusion In its most recent forms, architecture is already becoming transparent, mobile, flexible and interactive. It almost tries to disappear in order to let a hypothetical mass creativity show through. It replaces the immaterial with floating rules of the game, a screen of deconstruction which leaves the subjects quite free to invent their own game rules. Besides, architecture is not the only thing to give way to this interactive utopia of exchange and playful recreation: all art, politics and virtual technology is going in this direction. These tendencies manifest themselves in contemporary architecture in the new possibilities for pluralism, â€Å"open† architecture, the flexible interrelationship between producers and consumers, interactivity, and â€Å"the innovative consumers†. Moralism against consumer society and commercial architecture does not work because it is characteristic of consumer society itself that it spreads moralities concerning how people should live and which kind of buildings they should have. These moralities concerning consumers are disguised in the form of â€Å"choices†. Neither building without architects nor pragmatist architecture can make the position of architects better in society, because these phenomena are already included in the mythologies of consumer society. As concerns the relevance of Baudrillard’s theory in architecture, it has become apparent through my theoretical work that this makes impossible such traditional architectural concepts in general as creativity, the fulfilling of needs and functionality. Architects can only speed up or slow down interpersonal socio-economic processes and in this way increase social reciprocity and cohesion. According to Baudrillard’s analysis of the present socio-economic patterns in society, it has become almost impossible to make truly seductive and reciprocal architecture. Baudrillard’s theory does not leave very much for architects to lean on, up to the question of asking whether architecture can at all be designed under Baudrillard’s terms, however believable he is in pointing out the crucial problematics of culture in consumer society. Source List HILDE HEYNEN, 2000, Architecture and Modernity: A Critique, Massachusetts, MIT Press, 8-24 JEAN BAUDRILLARD, 1994. The precession of simulacra, Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1-42. JEAN BAUDRILLARD, 1982, Modernità ©,† in La modernità © ou l’esprit du temps, Biennale de Paris, Section Architecture, Paris, L’Equerre, 27-28. PETER EISENMAN, 1994, Visions’ Unfolding: Architecture in the Age of Electronical Media, Michigan, A+U Publishers, 2-5. REM KOOLHAAS SANFORD KWINTER, 1996, Conversations with Students, New York, Princeton Architect ural Press, p 5-6.

Douglas MacArthur Essay -- essays research papers

Douglas MacArthur was a US soldier, born in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. The son of a Union army hero during the Civil War (they are the only father and son to win the Congressional Medal of Honor) and a mother ambitious for his success, he trained at West Point (1903), rose steadily in the army, and demonstrated his bravado on a secret mission to Mexico (1914). In World War 1 he commanded a brigade in combat in France (1918), where he earned a reputation for bravery (wounded three times) as well as foppery - he carried a muffler and a riding crop into the line, but not a helmet or a gas mask. After serving as the superintendent of West Point (1919–22), he completed his second tour of duty in the Philippines. Appointed army chief-of-staff in 1930 (the youngest ever), he offended liberal-...

Televisions Effects on the Natural Environment Essay -- Environmental

Television's Effects on the Natural Environment You may be thinking, â€Å"How on earth could the TV have an affect on our natural environment?† and you have every right to. At first glance, it may seem impossible that the TV can have an effect on our natural surroundings; but, nevertheless, it does. One of the ways that the TV can have an effect on our surroundings is by the amount of power that is needed to run all of the TV’s in the world. I realize, that compared to other appliances, a television does not use a huge amount of energy. But think about this: almost every family in America has at least one TV if not more (some people that I know have upwards of 6 and 7). Can you imagine the power it must take to run all of these televisions? And this is only in our country! Just think, if our society would stop watching television, we could save huge amounts of energy (fossil fuels) each year. This extra energy (fuel) could be used or saved in more efficient ways. The TV not only has an effect on our natural resources, but it affects our living organisms as well; in both bad and good ways. Lets discuss the bad first. Going back to what I discussed earlier, when we mine for fuels to produce the energy to power our TV’s, we are harming the habitat that our precious animals live on. Bet you never thought that a TV would indirectly be destroying an animal’s habitat? Television programming can also have an affect on our animals and their habitat. When programs and channels film documentaries and movies in the wilderness, they definitely have an effect on the environment. During the filming of a documentary or, especially, a movie the filmmakers need to transport their crew and equipment into very delicate ... ... viewing quality becomes and the more channels we can get, the more people are likely to stay inside. Don’t get me wrong, I love TV, and I feel that it is one of the most important inventions that this world has been blessed with; but I feel that it is taking away from some of the â€Å"realness† of our lives. People are becoming less healthy, they are developing eye and other health problems, and they don’t know what is real and what is not any more. I hope that in the future television designers and makers can develop so new technologies that would improve and not worsen our environment. The television is a very helpful and important tool that has had a great impact on our society, but we need to be aware of how this tool has also affected out environment as well, so next time you watch you television, think about what impact you might be having on our environment!

Reflection on My Learning Styles Essay

How do they reflect on my learning? I will try to do my own research for information but will ask others for their opinion whenever necessary. I tend or try to approach things with a constant logic, taking things step by step, considering all factors before coming to any conclusion, trying to leave nothing out. I act thoughtfully but efficiently and try and get on with my learning, taking my time over work to perfect it the best I can. I often question myself, does my work make sense? I may offer interesting ideas and concepts even when it may not be directly relevant at the time, but sometimes get worried when hurried or put under undue pressure. I find it difficult when I’m put on the spot or in the limelight; this makes me feel uncomfortable and pressured, as fast thinking isn’t a strong point. Although this may be more down to a lack of experience of being in this situation. What will this mean for my learning? This means I will take a step back to observe and listen to others, thinking before acting. I take time to explore and prepare between ideas, reviewing what I have learned and coming to a conclusion in my own time. I get my work done by due deadlines required but sometimes find it hard to work under pressure or in noisy areas. I need coaching and feedback at times to point me in the right direction and sometimes need things explained in a simple manner, sometimes in depth. What does this mean for me as a practitioner? I will take my time to think about activates to make sure I have covered all angles and with the experience of how things went. I will come to a conclusion at the end when I have had time to think it back; could I have done that better? Were the children interested? Would they like to repeat the activity again? After being on courses or observing others, if its good idea, I will implement it to my practices and give it a trial as I’m keen to try out new ideas. I will model ideas and take turns in activities. I will take on other people’s points of views without making any judgement, giving direct instructions on how things should be done.