Stefan’s Diaries: Origins Chapter 18

That night, Damon invited me to play cards with some of his soldier friends, who were camped out for the moment in Leestown, twenty miles away. â€Å"I may not agree with them, but damn, can they play a good hand and drink a good pint,† Damon said. I'd found myself agreeing, eager to avoid Father and any questions about vampires. But by the time twilight rolled around and I hadn't seen any sign of Katherine or Emily, I wished that I hadn't agreed to accompany Damon. My mind was still jumbled, and I wanted a night with Katherine to reassure me that my desire was leading me in the right direction. I loved her, but the practical, sensible side of me was having trouble disobeying Father. â€Å"Ready?† Damon asked, clad in his Confederate uniform, when he stopped by my bedroom at twilight. I nodded. It was too late to say no. â€Å"Good.† He grinned and clattered down the stairs. I glanced wistfully out the window toward the carriage house, then followed him. â€Å"We're going out to the camp,† Damon yelled as we passed by Father's study. â€Å"Wait!† Father emerged from the study into the living room, several long branches filled with tiny, lilac-like purple flowers in his arms. Vervain. â€Å"Wear this,† he commanded, tucking a sprig into each of our breast pockets. â€Å"Y shouldn't have, Father,† Damon said ou tersely, as he plucked the sprig out of his pocket and shoved it into his breeches pocket. â€Å"I've given you latitude, son, and given you a roof. Now all I ask is that you do this,† Father said, slamming his meaty fist into his palm so hard, I saw him wince. Thankfully, Damon, usually so quick to pounce at any sign of weakness, didn't notice. â€Å"Fine, Father.† Damon shrugged easily and spread his arms as if in defeat. â€Å"I would be honored to wear your flower for you.† Father's eyes flickered with rage, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he simply broke off another sprig and tucked it into Damon's coat pocket. â€Å"Thank you,† I mumbled as I accepted my own branch. My statement of thanks was less for the flower and more for Father showing mercy on Damon. â€Å"Be careful, boys,† Father said, before retreating to his study. Damon rolled his eyes as we walked outside. â€Å"Y shouldn't be so hard on him,† I mumbled, ou shivering in the night air. The summer-like day had become a chilly fall evening, but the mist that had been everywhere last night had lifted, giving us a been everywhere last night had lifted, giving us a crystal-clear view of the moon. â€Å"Why not? He's hard on us.† Damon snorted as he led the way to the stable. Mezzanotte and Jake were already bridled and stamping their hooves impatiently. â€Å"I had Alfred get everything ready. Thought we'd need a quick getaway.† Damon swung his leg over Jake's back, then galloped him down the path and turned in the direction opposite of town. We rode in silence for at least a half hour. With just the sound of the hooves and the sight of the moon peeking through the dense foliage, it felt like we were riding into a dream. Finally, we began to hear sounds of flutes playing and laughter and the occasional gunshot. Damon directed us up over a hill toward a clearing. Tents were set up all over, and a piper played in the corner. Men were walking around, and dogs were stationed at the entrance. It was as if we'd arrived at a mysterious, hidden party. â€Å"Hello, sir?† Two Confederate soldiers came up to us, their rifles pointed toward us. Mezzanotte took a few steps back and whinnied nervously. â€Å"Soldier Damon Salvatore, sir! Here on leave from General Groom's camp down in Atlanta.† Immediately, the two soldiers relaxed their rifles and tipped their hats at us. â€Å"Sorry 'bout that, soldier. We're gearin' up for battle, and we're losing our men like flies, before they even hit the battlefield,† the taller soldier said, stepping up to pat Jake. â€Å"Y and not because of typhus,† the other, es, smaller, mustachioed soldier said, obviously pleased to share this information with us. â€Å"Killings?† Damon asked tersely. â€Å"How'd you know?† the first guard asked, stroking his rifle. I glanced at the ground, unsure what to do. I felt that Damon was getting us into a dangerous situation, but I didn't know what I could do to fix it. â€Å"My brother and I are coming from Mystic Falls,† Damon said, jerking his thumb back as if to prove that was the direction we came from. â€Å"The next town over, past the forest. We've had some of our own trouble. People are saying it's some type of animal.† â€Å"Not unless it's an animal that only goes for the throat and leaves the rest of the body untouched,† the mustachioed soldier said knowledgeably, his tiny eyes flicking back and forth between us. â€Å"Hmm,† Damon said, sounding suddenly uninterested. But then he changed the subject. â€Å"Any good games of poker going on tonight?† â€Å"Right there in that clearing by the oak trees.† The small soldier pointed a little ways off into the distance. â€Å"Have a good evening, then. I thank you for your help,† Damon said with exaggerated politeness. We walked in the direction the soldier pointed, until Damon stopped abruptly at a small circle of soldiers, huddled around a fire and playing cards. â€Å"Hello! Soldier Damon Salvatore on leave from General Groom's boys,† Damon said confidently as he slid off his horse and glanced around the faces lit up by the campfire. â€Å"This is my brother, Stefan. Can we be dealt in?† One ginger-haired soldier glanced at an older, grand-fatherly type whose arm was in a sling. He shrugged and gestured for us to sit on one of the logs set up around the fire. â€Å"Don't see why not.† Adrenaline seeped through my veins as we settled down and took our hands. Mine was good: two aces and a king. I immediately threw in some rumpled notes from my pocket, making a bet with myself. If I won money, then everything would be fine with Katherine. And if I didn't, then †¦ well, I didn't want to think about it. â€Å"All in,† I said confidently. After we settled the game, I wasn't surprised to emerge as the victor. I smiled as I took the pile of money and carefully put it in my pocket. I grinned in relief, finally feeling sure in my love for Katherine. I imagined what Katherine would say. Smart Stefan, maybe. Savvy Stefan. Or maybe she'd simply laugh, showing her white teeth, and allow me to take her into my arms and twirl her around and around the room†¦. We played several more hands after that, during which I lost the money I had won, but I didn't care. The first hand had been the test, and now my heart and mind felt remarkably light. â€Å"What are you thinking?† Damon asked, taking a flask from his pocket. He held it toward me, and I took a long swig. The whiskey burned going down my throat, but I still craved more. It didn't seem that any of the other soldiers were up for another hand. The five we were playing with had drifted off to chew tobacco, drink more whiskey, or tearfully talk about their sweethearts back home. â€Å"Come on, brother, you can tell me,† Damon encouraged. He took the flask, swigged from it, then passed it back toward me. I took another, deeper drink and paused. Should I tell him? Any hesitation I had earlier had disappeared. After all, he was my brother. â€Å"Well, I was thinking about how different Katherine is than any other girl I've met †¦,† I began evasively. I knew I was treading into dangerous territory, but part of me was dying to know whether Damon also knew Katherine's secret. I took another sip of whiskey and coughed. â€Å"How's she different?† Damon asked, a smile curving on his lips. â€Å"Well, I mean she's not,† I said, sobering up as I frantically tried to backtrack. â€Å"I just meant that I noticed that she is–† noticed that she is–â€Å" â€Å"That she's a vampire?† Damon interrupted. My breath caught in my throat, and I blinked. I glanced around nervously. People were drinking, laughing, counting their winnings. But Damon was simply sitting there, the same smile on his lips. I couldn't understand how he was smiling. And then a new, darker thought appeared in my mind. How did Damon know that Katherine was who she was? Had she told him? And had it been the same way, in the misty predawn, in bed? I shuddered. â€Å"So she's a vampire. What of it? She's still Katherine.† Damon turned to look at me, urgency in his dark-brown eyes. â€Å"And you won't say anything to Father. He's half crazy as it is,† Damon said as he scuffed his boot against the ground. â€Å"How did you find out?† I couldn't stop myself from asking. Suddenly, a shot was fired. â€Å"Soldier down!† a uniformed boy who looked to be about fourteen yelled as he charged from tent to tent. â€Å"Soldier down! Attack! Out into the woods!† Damon's face paled. â€Å"I need to help. Y little ou, brother, go home.† â€Å"Are you sure?† I asked, feeling torn and suddenly frightened. Damon nodded tersely. â€Å"If Father asks, I drank too much at the saloon and am sleeping it off somewhere.† Another shot was fired, and Damon took off into the woods, blending into the sea of soldiers. â€Å"Go!† Damon yelled. I ran in the opposite direction to the now-abandoned camp and dug my heels into Mezzanotte, whispering in her velvety ears and imploring her to go faster. Mezzanotte rode through the forest faster than she ever had before; once across the Wickery Bridge, she turned, as if she knew exactly how to head home. But then she reared and whinnied. I held on with my thighs and saw a shadowy figure with golden-brown hair, arm-in-arm with another girl. I stiffened. No women would be out after dark unaccompanied by a man in the best of circumstances, but definitely not in these times. Not with the vampire attacks. The face turned, and in the reflection on the water I saw a pale, pointed face. Katherine. She was escorting little Anna from the apothecary. All I could see were the dark vines of Anna's curls, bouncing over her shoulders. â€Å"Katherine!† I yelled from the horse, with a strength I did not know I possessed. Now, instead of wanting to hold her, I wanted to use my arms to restrain her, to make her stop carrying out the awful thing she was about to do. I felt bile rise in my throat as I imagined finding a jagged branch and ramming it into her chest. Katherine didn't turn around. She held Anna's shoulders tighter and led her into the forest. I kicked Mezzanotte hard on the flanks, the wind whipping against my face as I desperately tried to catch up with them.

Cabeza de Vaca

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Chinese Foreign Direct Investment Research Paper

Chinese Foreign Direct Investment - Research Paper Example This study examines Chinese investments in Zambia as foreign aid to the country. The general objective of the paper will be to find out whether Chinese foreign direct investments could lead to the long-term economic growth of Zambia. The paper seeks to fulfill these specific objectives:  This study examines Chinese investments in Zambia as foreign aid to the country. The general objective of the paper will be to find out whether Chinese foreign direct investments could lead to the long-term economic growth of Zambia. The paper seeks to fulfill these specific objectives:  1) To find out the extent of Chinese foreign direct investments in the Zambian Mines2) To establish the impact of the Chinese foreign direct investments on the performance of mining firms in Zambia.3) To investigate the effects of the mining firms on the economic growth of Zambia both in the short-term and long-term.Study questions based on the above objectives, this research will seek to answer these research qu estions regarding the foreign direct investment of China in Zambian Mining firms.  1) What is the extent of the Chinese Foreign direct investments in Zambian mining firms?2) What is the impact of the Chinese foreign direct investment on the performance of the Mining firms in Zambia?3) What is the existing relationship between Chinese foreign direct investments with short and long-term economic growth of Zambia?Study HypothesisThe Zambian economy is a small open economy that depends on the inflows of the foreign direct investments from China and export of the mining products from its economy. Therefore, this study seeks to fulfill the hypothesis that the Zambian economic growth is positively related to the FDI from China and increased export of Zambian mining products. Literature Review Financial Crisis and Chinese Economy The business environment experiences cycles that occur in different periods. Some of the cycles include the boom, recession, depression and lastly growth. As noted by Gruen, a recession is a cycle that occurs immediately after a boom. It

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Database security issues - Research Paper Example The paper analyzes security issues concerning both web based and traditional databases. Database inference is a security issue that multi level databases are prone to. Inference can be defined as the process in which a user can infer restricted information from results of queries. Typically, inference occurs when a user at a lower security level is able to put together trivial information accessible at that level to deduce a fact that requires a higher security clearance to access. To be able to access the higher security level information, a user may exploit correlated data. If for instance a user can access the values of H and K, then for a case whereby Z=H*K, the user can correctly infer the value Z even without security clearance. Another inference channel is missing data. When a user receives null values when querying certain fields, the restricted information can be inferred. A practical example is when a user cannot slot in a booking and yet the space is not yet reserved. Through cross-referencing, it can be known that some record is already stored in the given field. Another aspect of the inference problem is caused by value constraints. For example if attribute Y is not classified and X is secret with the constraint X+Y>100, the value of X can be inferred through a query. A technique to remedy the inference problem is through polyinstantiation. This is a relationship whereby elements of a given attribute are associated but have multiple independent instances of instantiation. This may end up creating a new problem of double records in the long run. According to Natan (2003), â€Å"the entries may result in major problems if the database is for mission critical systems like airliners.† The other security issue is SQL Injection. This refers to a scenario whereby unauthorized MySQL statement is run on a database. This technique takes advantage of un-validated user input vulnerability to pass commands from a web

Global Communication Paper Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Global Communication - Term Paper Example Gannon further explains that use of cultural metaphors makes it easy for an individual to comprehend the differences in cultures. For example, the Japanese Garden acts as a metaphor, which depicts the culture in Japan. In both modern and traditional settings, men have always grouped themselves into different regions, currently known as countries. Every country has its own unique practices best presented by various cultural metaphors. In addition, cultural metaphors have various advantages such as offering an in-depth understanding of a country’s culture. In that view, one may have the opportunity to witness experiences, which may include seeing the practical bit of a people’s culture. When an opportunity for cross-cultural interaction appears, cultural metaphors can prove to be of significant use as they may provide a deep understanding as to why people are doing things in a certain manner (Gannon, and Pillai, 2009). Subsequently, this understanding makes interaction sm ooth and fruitful. In addition, this understanding may prove to be of essence where global communication is bound to take place as it gives rise to peace among individuals from different countries that have different cultural practices. The US and Poland both present two countries that have different cultural beliefs and practices. They each bear different metaphors to distinguish them. In Poland, a significant metaphor found virtually in all the towns is the village church. The village church is a symbol representing Poland’s peasant roots, Catholicism, which is a religious belief highly upheld in Poland’s culture, and the foreign power that was dominating them a while back. Poland’s choice of the exterior and interior looks of the church is a form of another cultural metaphor of the Polish. This is so because the looks are unique and present a product of the many years Poland underwent foreign domination. It is also worth noting that the Polish churches are st rategically located as they stand at the central part of the village. Concurrently, we find US having different cultural practices from those in Poland. For example, in the United States of America, different religions dominate the towns and cities. Moreover, the churches do not have a particular site that defines them. However, the United States of America has its own cultural metaphors, starting from its distinct colorful flag, which is a symbol of the unity of the states within the continent of North America. It is also notable that the Polish are high-context speakers on comparison to the Americans. Currently, the Polish culture is diverging from its roots, a change that to Poles has a negative effect; however, others feel that it will bring about positive changes. A change in the role of Polish church is one of the changes Poland’s culture is facing. At first, the church acted as a central figure within the towns but currently there is a large-scale project, which involv es building churches all over Poland’s countryside. Over the recent years, people have lost touch with the church; this presents another cultural change among the Poles. Prior to this sudden change people viewed the church as a haven of resisting communism, however, it now disregards what the

The value of communication skills in the workplace Research Paper

The value of communication skills in the workplace - Research Paper Example o and Sanchez believe that â€Å"if the idea received is not the one intended, communication has not taken place; the sender has merely spoken or written† (Guo & Sanchez, 2005, p.78). The present study focuses on the skills of communication that are necessary within an organization for achieving successful communication between the organizational employees. As Guffey & Loewy reflect in their views, effective communication is essential within an organization for advancements of the organization. Organizational members including leaders, managers, supervisors and employees need to communicate well among themselves. Proper skills of communication are hence necessary both within the organization as well as outside. Excellent communication skills enable an organization to advance more than others. In today’s organizations there is a greater need to understand different data, figures and words where written communications also prove to be highly significant (Guffey & Loewy, 2010, p.30). It can thus be said that communication in any form proves significant in order to pass any message internal or external to an organization. Guffey & Loewy also mentioned that today’s business organizations reflect dynamic trends where there is tremendous need for excellent communication. This is accompanied by flattened hierarchies of the organizational managements, expansion of the management based on teams, use of innovative technologies for the purpose of communication particularly where the office works occur anywhere and at anytime, diverse workforce, as well as enhanced focus on business ethics (Guffey & Loewy, 2010, p.30). Hence it can be realized that modifications in businesses in the present times require that organizational members are strong in their communication capabilities. This would enable messages to be communicated effectively. Effective decision-making may be obtained in this way with exchange of needful information. Also, effective communication would allow

Piggy Essay Example for Free

Piggy Essay Piggy was the most technical and constructional boy in his group. Piggy represented technology, which must be built upon the basis of order of civilization. Under Ralph’s unstable rule, Piggy’s words were not listened. Because things that directly affect their daily life, such as safe food and concern of monster, were more important than hopes to be rescued, people overlooked Piggy’s opinions. Under barbarian society, technology was never used for its adequate purpose. When power takes over order, Piggy was abused frequently, for he was not an important source of dictator’s interest. Piggy frequently argued about Jack’s decisions, and, someday, Piggy would harm dictator’s position, with his practical methods to be rescued. First of all, Piggy had many useful items and smart idea to use them wisely for everyone. His glasses were the only method to make signal to outside of the island. He guaranteed warm, safe night and food as well. While superstitious rumor were merged from each boy, Piggy suggested another signal on the beach. By his death, he remembered his initial goal, to be rescued, while other boys were fallen in the lawless human nature. His actions were not only for himself, but also for everyone. As being a vestige of lost human civilization, he tried to remind boys the hope of being rescued, and to be organized. However, Piggy’s opinions were not convincing to uncivilized boys, who wanted plans that can make improvements in their lives immediately, but not a preparation that would gradually lead them toward better outcome. Second of all, Piggy had no leadership, because he was physically not appealing, and was not clever enough to send his messages explicitly. He had no interest in playing with other boys, so he did not have any friend, who could support his opinion. He spoke out his opinion regardless of others’ when something does not work in his mind. Most of conversations Piggy had were scolding others, like adult disciplining children. Having anything that would return other boy’s minds, Piggy became an irritant to other boys. Later, he was disregarded by other boys. Therefore, as he was disregarded, his saying also had only a little power. If only he showed his politeness and diligence like an adult, boys would have relied on Piggy. Last of all, Piggy developed plots by making a new topic in the group. He was a strong supporter of Ralph; accordingly he deepened the conflict between barbarism and civilization. He suggested practical and reasonable opinions that deserve to be praised in the civilized society. However, he was deserted and ignored by barbarism. In the correspondence with the theme, Piggy amplified the bad aspect of barbarism. Every boy was adapted in civilized world, but possessed savage instinct as well. Piggy did the job of the symbol of vestige of civilization after barbarism overwhelmed civilization. Golding advanced the theme with Piggy, by showing reckless behavior of boys, pretending to be civilized, but illustrating barbarism. Piggy was outstanding in thinking, but poor in eloquence. He deserves to be praised that Piggy did not care of other’s ungrounded blames, so he suggested his proper opinions. However, it is definitely wrong that Piggy didn’t consider other’s mind. However, Golding used Piggy in a sense that how people these days in a civilization may not care for others’ feelings and be selfish, but smart and effective in other way.

Dell Strategies of Innovation and Research

Dell Strategies of Innovation and Research JASMANJOT SINGH Q) 1 List the ways that dell conduct researches on its customers to continually improve products and services? What are the features of Dells research? Dell gets knowledge about their on their customers and products service through one special team named as Customer research team (CRT) Days are a case of how Dell can constantly gain from-our clients. When we chatted with clients amid the Day sessions, some were troubled; others were excited. All appeared to be pleased that we welcomed them to Dell for an open talk around their IT issues. Dell will hear specifically from clients about the sorts of things they utilize their frameworks for, what they like about it and see the arrangement they use to complete things. Different activities in progress incorporate a pilot of a day in and day out visit benefit in the U.S. whats more, different nations where talk appear wheeze mainstream over conventional telephone benefit, overhauling support.dell.com, redoing of service contracts, and an update of the Dell.com online setup experience to give some examples. The degree and bearing of these activities and others are formed by what we get n otification from clients. Dell anticipates sharing advancement on them in up and coming discussions. Q) 2 What is Dells unique selling point? Dell is a itself very unique brand and thats why Dell has large number of customers and although their services are very unique like they offer direct sale to customer through stores and online shopping site , secondly , the design of dell computers is very attractive and fair in price . they offer direct delivery to customer and customer can track that also . after all , they are number one PC providers in world. Q)3 What Three strategies Dell use to generate revenue? Essential products : These products are any non-physical merchandise or administrations that can be purchased on the web, for example, questions in amusements, advanced endowments and administration additional items. Asia advanced this model and it remains the prevailing district related with virtual merchandise. As per statistical surveying firm In-Stat, of the $7 billion in virtual great income produced in 2010, 70% originated from Asia. Mobile operators: Unlike the U.S. and Europe, mobile operators in Asia are absolutely crucial in being able to monetize services since smart phone and credit card penetration are relatively low. The most pervasive and easy way to do micro billing and transactions is via operators prepaid billing systems which have vast consumer reach. This is also a big source of growth for mobile operators, so there is a win-win in working with them. An August 2011 Amdocs survey found that mobile operator executives in Asia Pacific expect revenue from value-added services (VAS) to grow from an average of 14% to 24% within three years Marketing : The rate of income spends dispensed towards online networking publicizing advancement is tiny in Asia. Consequently, many organizations are attempting to reproduce the achievement of a promoting supported model in versatile and online networking in the additionally developing markets of this area, as they have in the West. Notwithstanding, in the more created nations and propelled versatile markets, for example, Japan and Korea, promoting models have demonstrated almost as fruitful as those embraced in the West. In those nations, the virtual products model keeps on beating the publicizing financed models. Then again, as advanced mobile phones infiltrate whatever is left of Asias market, advertisement based models are turning out to be progressively practical. Q)4 What does return on investment mean in relation to Dells marketing campaign and how is it measure? Rate of profitability is one of a few productivity proportions, one of the four essential classes of monetary proportions the others being liquidity proportions, movement proportions and obligation proportions. This, the Return on Investment, regularly called an organizations arrival on aggregate resources, measures the general benefit made on a venture communicated as a rate of the sum contributed. Like profit for resources, or return disparity, Return on Investment measures an organizations productivity and its administrations capacity to create benefits from the assets financial specialists have set available to its. It is regularly said that if goes with operations cant create net benefit as a rate of the sum contributed more prominent than the loan cost on money related markets, its future is horrid. Q)5 Identify three external threats and two internal weaknesses that Dell could face? Dangers Increasingly mainstream mark names in the opposition.- Strong connections that are held amongst rivalry and the retailers. Rivalry can fundamentally make similar PCs since Dell manufactures PCs, not plans them. Shortcomings Dealing with a lot of provisions from a wide range of nations can bring about an extensive issue when items are reviewed.- They fabricate PCs, not create them. Q) 6What types of information can a business gather from its internal systems about its customers to assist in the planning process? Customer general information- Customer feedbacks Customer general information Many businesses will want to keep track of their customers. They might want to store email addresses, phone numbers and mailing addresses because, for example, they want to tell customers about a new product or send them the annual catalog. A business may want to keep track of how much the customer has spent with the company or how many orders the customer has placed. Some companies may just work on an order-by-order basis, or have such few clients that a customer database is unnecessary. Customer feedbacks: Customer feedback is a great way to get ideas on how to improve your business. When seeking feedback, its best to: make it as easy as possible for your customers to give their suggestions or ideas for improvement ensure you take the time to action feedback thank customers for taking the time to provide their feedback Q)7 List four ways environmental scanning can be conducted to look for information? Environmental scanning is one of the basic segments of the worldwide natural investigation. Ecological observing, natural determining and natural appraisal finish the worldwide ecological investigation. The worldwide condition alludes to the full scale condition which includes ventures, markets, organizations, customers and contenders. Subsequently, there exist relating examinations on the small scale level. Providers, clients and contenders speaking to the miniaturized scale condition of an organization are broke down inside the business examination Undirected viewing Undirected viewing, a term first used by Aguilar (1967), takes place when environment to understand it. Information needs are ill-defined and fuzzy, and much of the information obtained is no routine or informal, usually gained through chance encounters. Since the environment is assumed to be unanalysable, the organization is satisfied with limited, soft information and does not seek comprehensive, hard data. Information seeking is thus casual and opportunistic, relying more on irregular contacts and casual information from external, people sources. Information use is concerned primarily with reducing the high levels of environmental equivocality. Conditioned viewing Conditioned viewing, again from Aguilar (1967), occurs when the organization perceives the environment to be analyzable but is passive about gathering information and influencing the environment. Information needs focus on a small number of relatively well-defined issues or areas of concern. These are often based on widely-accepted industry assumptions and norms. Information seeking makes use of standard procedures, typically employing internal, non-people sources, with a significant amount of data coming from external reports, databases, and sources that are highly respected and widely used in the industry. Enacting Enacting takes place when the organization perceives the environment to be unanalysable but then proceeds to intrude actively into the environment in order to influence events and outcomes. Information needs are those required for experimentation and testing the environment. This could involve identifying areas for fruitful intervention. Information seeking is from external sources and channels that the organization has created through its intervention and this may include feedback about the actions that the organization has taken. Searching Searching (labelled as Discovery in the original Daft and Wick paper) takes place when the organization perceives the environment to be analysable and it actively intrudes into the environment to collect an accurate set of facts about the environment. Information needs are based on well-defined search goals that are broad, detailed, and open-ended. The organization is prepared to be surprised by unexpected findings that reveal new information needs. Information seeking is for hard, formal, often quantitative data, typically from surveys, market research activities that are rigorous, objective. Q)8 Describe qualitative and quantative research and provide three ways research could conducted? Quantitative research Quantitative research is a more consistent and information drove approach which gives a measure of what individuals think from a factual and numerical perspective. For instance, on the off chance that you needed to know what number of your clients bolster a proposed change in your items or administration and how emphatically they bolster it. Qualitative Research Unlike quantitative research which relies on numbers and data, qualitative research is more focused on how people feel, what they think and why they make certain choices. Three ways research could be conducted: Research philosophy Research design Research approach Q)9 How could the Australian bureau of statistics assist with the research process? The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is Australians official measurable association. It helps and energizes educated basic leadership, research and exchange inside governments and the group, by giving a top notch, objective and responsive national factual administration. In the event that you cant discover the data you require from the ABS site, or require advance factual data you can get in touch with them by means of the ABS National Information and Referral Service (NIRS) which is a telephone data and referral administration, or Client Services. ABS prepared specialists can work with you to fulfill your measurable data needs. The ABS has workplaces in each State and Territory and contact subtle elements for these workplaces can be situated on the ABS site. Q)10 What is a business opportunity? Provide two examples listed below? A business opportunity (or religious administrator) includes deal or rent of any item, benefit, hardware, etc.that will empower the buyer licensee to start a business. The licensor or vender of a business opportunity more often than not pronounces that it will secure or help the purchaser in finding an appropriate area or give the item to the buyer licensee. This is not the same as the offer of an autonomous business, in which there is no proceeded with relationship required by the vender. Examples-Franchise Opportunities-Direct Sales Business Opportunities. Q)11 What is a business threat? Provide one example? Business dangers are quality benchmarks or determinations for your employment, items or administrations evolving? Is changing innovation undermining your position? Do you have terrible obligation or income issues? Could any of your shortcomings genuinely debilitate your business? A typical illustration: If you import merchandise for resale, then a negative move in return rates will drive up your expenses, in the event that you cant pass these expenses on to your clients, your edges will decrease. In this way, swapping scale instability could be a three. Q)12 What does the Pareto Principle mean? How could your business use the Perato Principle to grow market share of a product? The Pareto rule (otherwise called the 80-20 lead, the law of the indispensable few, and the guideline of component scantily) states that, for some occasions, about 80% of the impacts originate from 20%of the causes. Business-administration advisor Joseph M. Juan recommended the guideline and named it after Italian market analyst Vilfredo Pareto, who saw in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was possessed by 20% of the populace; he built up the standard by watching that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas. It is a typical general guideline in business; e.g., 80% of your business originate from 20% of your customers. Numerically, where something is shared among an adequately expansive arrangement of members, there must be a number k in the vicinity of 50 and 100 with the end goal that k% is taken by (100 à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ k) % of the members. The number k may change from 50 (on account of equivalent appropriation, i.e. 100% of the populace have rise to shares) t o about 100 (when a small number of members record for the majority of the asset). There is nothing uncommon about the number 80% scientifically, yet numerous genuine frameworks have k some place around this area of halfway lopsidedness in dissemination. The Pareto standard is just extraneously identified with Pareto effectiveness, which was likewise presented by a similar financial expert. Pareto created both ideas with regards to the dissemination of salary and riches among the populace. Q)13 True or False? As a result of increased competition, the lifespan of business opportunities in the marketplace is increasing-False The success of a new opportunity is always measured in terms of profit-False It is important that any new product or service is assessed at each stage of development process and should not proceed to the next stage until it has met the specified requirement-True if a number of new product or service ideas are developed, the ideas should be ranked against criteria to determine the best idea.-True Marketing information is available as software package-True Q)14 Describe how Ansoffs Matrix is used to develop new opportunities with range system of strategies? Diversification is the name given to the growth strategy where a business markets new products in new markets. This is an inherently more risk strategy because the business is moving into markets in which it has little or no experience. For a business to adopt a diversification strategy, therefore, it must have a clear idea about what it expects to gain from the strategy and an honest assessment of the risks. However, for the right balance between risk and reward, a marketing strategy of diversification can be highly rewarding. Q)15 Break-even Analysis: Calculate the break-even point for ice cream sales. Ice cream are bought for $2.00 each and sold for $2.50. The business has fixed costs of $400 per week? How many ice creams must be sold each week and therefore each day to break even Break even point= fixed cost/(selling price-variable cost) =400/(2.50-2.00) =400/0.50 =800 ice creams per week =114 per day.