Flipkart Case Study Essay Example for Free

Flipkart Case Study Essay Flipkart.com is a story of the two young computer science graduates brothers Sachin Bansal (26) and Binny Bansal (25) from IIT-Delhi 2005 batch who left their jobs in amazon.com (an American multinational E-commerce company) in 2007 with a dream to become India’s top retail Outlet In E-commerce Industry. They came up with an idea to sell books including novels online. Flip kart’s timeline shows it was to start as a price comparison platform, but there werent enough e-commerce sites to compare. So, both the Bansals, who were colleagues at IITDelhi, and then at Amazon.com, thought, â€Å"why not start an e-commerce site?† That was the genesis of Flip kart. From an initial investment of Rs. 4 Lakh this So they started to make a website, although it was a bigger task to create a website with 50,000 titles but wouldn’t be impossible for IITians†¦ so finally they created which took about a month and a half to start a basic working website with 50,000 titles and grown our catalogue to over 1 Lakh available titles. On 5th September 2007 they launched the company’s URL i.e. Flipkart.com for the first time in just an apartment room. . The website was launched on 15th Oct 2007. Flip kart is an Indian ecommerce company headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. From a start-up with an investment of just four lakh rupees, Flip kart has grown into a 100 million revenue online retail giant in just five years. Flip kart focused on online sales of books initially. The process involved in online shopping for books has gone through drastic changes and is more secure right now. A customer could use our user-friendly web page to place an order, once the order is placed online – the book is taken off the online inventory. In case of unavailability – it will be purchased from a supplier. The Book will then get packed and couriered on the same day. Flip kart is currently tied up with around 12 courier service providers. Flip kart also use Indian Postal services to reach areas without courier providers. Logistics play an important role in our business. But it later expanded to electronic goods and a variety of other products. The key differentiators are Availability of variety of goods of various categories, online shopping experience on the site and post sales experience. Apart from this the Cash on Delivery service is also one of the main reasons which keep it apart from  other E- commerce portals. The cash-on-delivery model adopted by Flip kart has proven to be of great significance since credit card and net banking penetration is very low in India. . Flip kart offers multiple payment methods like credit card, debit card, net banking, e-gift voucher, and Cash on Delivery. IDEA Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal saw a good opportunity in the market around e-commerce. Also, regular job was not as challenging. The excitement and satisfaction that comes with building something of a long lasting value is addictive enough for them to continue this. They started flipkart.com because they themselves felt the need for a good online book store. E-commerce sector is one of the toughest to get into in India. They believe that they can make a difference here. They wanted to create something which has a long lasting value and which we can be proud of. An attractive neutral name is what they looked for. Good domain names were hard to get. They were looking at names that did not just speak of books alone, but one that could suit any category of Products that we may add in future. Also, they wanted to have a catchy name with high recall potential. Flip kart could in simple terms mean ‘Flipping things into your Kart’. CURRENT POSITION OF FLIP KART Flip kart started with selling books. In 2010, they added to their catalogue media (including music, movies and games) and mobile phones and accessories. In 2011, product launches included cameras, computers, pens office supplies, computer accessories, home and kitchen appliances, personal care, health care, gaming consoles, audio players and televisions. In 2012, product launches includes health beauty products, Life style products which includes watches, belts, bags luggage. In November 2011, Flip kart launched a new Electronic Wallet feature that allows shoppers to purchase credit to their Flip kart account using credit or debit cards, and can subsequently be utilised to make purchases on the site, as and when required. From June 2012, Flip kart allowed people to buy toys, posters and from October 2012, Flip kart entered into apparel retailing. ACQUISITIONS MADE BY FLIPKART.COM 2010 â€Å"WE READ†, social book discovery tool 2011 MIME260, a digital content platform com 2011 Chakpak.com is a bolly wood news site that offers updates, news photos and videos 2012 Letsbuy.com is Indias second largest e-retailer in electronics. Flip kart has bought the company for an estimated US$25 million. ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY FLIPKART.COM Flip kart owners have been featured in Business Today as one of the top 25 start-ups of 2009.They have been also nominated for Ernst and young award for the best entrepreneur of 2010. Apart from that they have been featured multiple times in start up news as well as mainstream news. Today, they are recognized as number one in the industry. As a testimony to the superior customer experience, the company has consistently recorded repeat purchase rates of more than 50%. They have also managed to get a registered buyer in every small town and city and hope to constantly improve their service standards. Flip kart’s reported sales as follows:- IN FY 2008–2009- 40 million IN FY 2009–2010- 200 million IN FY 2010–2011- 750 million IN FY 2011–2012- set to cross the 5 billion As Internet usage in the country increases and people get accustomed to making purchases online. Flip kart projects its sales to reach US$1billion by year 2014 and is aiming at generating a revenue of 50 billion (US$1billion)2015. Ranks among the countries top 30 website. Customer base of more than 2 million. 30 shipment on daily basis Daily sales have increased to 2.5 crores. POPULAR PRODUCT CATEGORIES 1. Clothing: T-shirts, Jeans, Sports Wear, Trousers, etc. 2. Footwear: Casual Shoes, Formal Shoes, Flats, Heels, etc. 3. Beauty Personal Care: Trimmers, Shavers, Soaps, Brushes, etc. 4. Mobiles Tablets: Samsung, Micromax, Nokia, Sony, etc. 5. Laptops Accessories: HP, Dell, Sony, Lenovo, Pen Drives, etc. 6. Books: Literature Fiction, Biographies, Novels, EBooks, etc. 7. Baby Care Toys: Vehicle Action Toys, Stuffed Toys, Diapers, etc. 8. Sports Fitness: Cricket, Football, Basketball, Badminton, etc. TOP BRANDS 1. Clothing: Adidas, Puma, Reebok, Lee, etc. 2. Footwear: Puma, Adidas, Reebok, Fila, etc. 3. Watches: Casio, Fastrack, Citizen, Timex, etc. 4. TV: Sony, LG, Samsung, Philips, Panasonic, etc. 5. Sports Fitness: Speedo, Nivia, Yonex, Cosco BUSINESS MODEL Creating and maintaining a person-to-person trading community Function as a value added facilitator Provide a supportive infrastructure Zero inventory without having traditional sales force Profit centers: Domestic business International business and Payment Largest online trading forum Compelling and entertaining environment Establishing trust safety programs Cost effective and Convenient trading Strong community affinity An intuitive user interface ORDER LIFECYCLE Get the item Procure from Supplier (Just-in-time) (Supplier selection) Keep Inventory (Inventory Prediction, Planning) Clean Check for sanity Pages missing, MRP printed lesser than told to you Pack the item Tamper proof, weather proof, breakage proof Select courier hand-over Courier performances vary across regions a LOT Get tracking id communicate to customer Follow-up for timely delivery Take care of returns (faulty product/user changes their mind) Minimize returns MARKETING STRATEGY Flip kart has been mostly marketed by word of mouth advertising. Customer satisfaction has been their best marketing medium. Flipkart very wisely used SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Google Ad-words as the marketing tools to have a far reach in the online world. Flipkart.com official Face book page has close to 9 lakh likes. Flipkart recently launched a series of 3 ads with the tag line No Kidding No worries Kids were used to create the adverts to send out the message if a kid can do it, you can also do it. All in all to create a great customer experience. EXPANSION PLANS They aim at 10 times growth and eyes at $ 1Billion sales by 2015. They will look at bigger investments in their supply chain and technology. Investment will be made in large warehouses and increased automation of their process, so that the product is not delayed. They intend to enter in to various new categories and expand their current categories as well. Everything except for groceries and automobiles will be available on Flipkart in future. To go further in the value chain, Flipkart is looking at associations with a larger number of suppliers and partners, both nationally and internationally. PERSONEL ANALYSIS Great customer service Easy to use website, hassle free payment system Cash on delivery/Card on delivery mode of payment Focused on user experience ADVANTAGES Attract users to the site Provide selection Make it easy to Find Discover products Provide details to evaluate a product Description, Specifications, UGC. Price well Have to be competitive to the most obvious options Provide convenient payment options Online, COD Confirm payment CONCLUSION They started off in 2007 by setting up three centres across India without funding. Six months ago, they reached number one status. They are also four times bigger than their nearest competitor. The company started off small; today they have grown ten times over the last one year and aim to touch the Rs 400 crore mark by March 2013.

Capital Punishment Essay - The Horror of the Death Penalty :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

The Horror of the Death Penalty      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The death penalty has existed for well over 4000 years.   In 1728 BC the code of Hamurabe was passed to allow legal execution.   For centuries capital punishment was a public spectacle: states used executions to demonstrate the ultimate consequence of attacking the state.   During the 18th century in England executions attracted tens of thousands of people and in some cases there would be riots.   Also in England the church was allowed to burn people alive at the stake for the crime of heresy.   Under Queen Mary Tutor (the infamous "Bloody Mary") thousands were executed just for not returning to the Catholic faith.   Most of these executions took place in the market place so the public would be aware of what would happen if you decided to follow your own religion.   Many burned at the stake were women and some were even children.   It is ironic that Christianity is built around forgiveness.   Many other gruesome mass executions throughout the ages were performed for minor crimes that today would be classed as mmisdemeanors.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the most vicious methods of execution ever invented was geared not only to inflict pain but to provide a gruesome spectacle for the public.   It was the English punishment for treason.   It is called hanging, drawing and countering.   First you would be dragged to the place of execution on a hurdle. This is a type of sled that was attached to the back of a horse.   You would be hanged to the brink of death before being cut down.   The third stage of the execution is that the persons gentiles would be cut off and burned in front of the body before it was cut from the going to the chest and the intestines would be taken out and also burned, after the body would be cut into four pieces and the head would be displayed for the public.   In one case a man at the point of the hanging took a literal running jump in order to break his neck but unfortunately the cord broke instead.   This caused him to be totally conscious for the rest of the execution.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In some parts of the world executions are still performed in keeping with traditions of the Catholic church.   In the Philippines, since the church believes that Christ died at 3:00 in the afternoon, every execution done in this country is performed at 3:00.   Even more unbelievable is the fact that in some Islamic countries executions are performed as they were throughout history. Under Islamic law there is no difference between the church and the state and

The Da Vinci Code Chapter 44-47

CHAPTER 44 â€Å"Ten digits,† Sophie said, her cryptologic senses tingling as she studied the printout. 13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5 Grand-pere wrote his account number on the Louvre floor! When Sophie had first seen the scrambled Fibonacci sequence on the parquet, she had assumed its sole purpose was to encourage DCPJ to call in their cryptographers and get Sophie involved.Later, she realized the numbers were also a clue as to how to decipher the other lines – a sequence out of order†¦a numeric anagram.Now, utterly amazed, she saw the numbers had a more important meaning still. They were almost certainly the final key to opening her grandfather's mysterious safe- deposit box. â€Å"He was the master of double-entendres,† Sophie said, turning to Langdon. â€Å"He loved anything with multiple layers of meaning. Codes within codes.† Langdon was already moving toward the electronic podium near the conveyor belt. Sophie grabbed the computer printout and followed. The podium had a keypad similar to that of a bank ATM terminal. The screen displayed the bank's cruciform logo. Beside the keypad was a triangular hole. Sophie wasted no time inserting the shaft of her key into the hole. The screen refreshed instantly. ACCOUNT NUMBER: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ The cursor blinked. Waiting. Ten digits.Sophie read the numbers off the printout, and Langdon typed them in. ACCOUNT NUMBER: 1 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 8 5 When he had typed the last digit, the screen refreshed again. A message in several languages appeared. English was on top. CAUTION: Before you strike the enter key, please check the accuracy of your account number. For your own security, if the computer does not recognize your account number, this system will automatically shut down. â€Å"Fonction terminer,†Sophie said, frowning. â€Å"Looks like we only get one try.† Standard ATM machines allowed users three attempts to type a PIN before confiscating their bank card. This was obviously no ordinary cash machine. â€Å"The number looks right,† Langdon confirmed, carefully checking what they had typed and comparing it to the printout. He motioned to the ENTER key. â€Å"Fire away.† Sophie extended her index finger toward the keypad, but hesitated, an odd thought now hitting her. â€Å"Go ahead,† Langdon urged. â€Å"Vernet will be back soon.† â€Å"No.† She pulled her hand away. â€Å"This isn't the right account number.† â€Å"Of course it is! Ten digits. What else would it be?† â€Å"It's too random.† Too random? Langdon could not have disagreed more. Every bank advised its customers to choose PINs at random so nobody could guess them. Certainly clients here would be advised to choose their account numbers at random. Sophie deleted everything she had just typed in and looked up at Langdon, her gaze self-assured.† It's far too coincidental that this supposedly random account number could be rearranged to form the Fibonacci sequence.† Langdon realized she had a point. Earlier, Sophie had rearranged this account number into the Fibonacci sequence. What were the odds of being able to do that? Sophie was at the keypad again, entering a different number, as if from memory. â€Å"Moreover, with my grandfather's love of symbolism and codes, it seems to follow that he would have chosen an account number that had meaning to him, something he could easily remember.† She finished typing the entry and gave a sly smile. â€Å"Something that appeared random†¦ but was not.† Langdon looked at the screen. ACCOUNT NUMBER: 1123581321 It took him an instant, but when Langdon spotted it, he knew she was right. The Fibonacci sequence. 1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21 When the Fibonacci sequence was melded into a single ten-digit number, it became virtually unrecognizable. Easy to remember, and yet seemingly random.A brilliant ten-digit code that Sauniere would never forget. Furthermore, it perfectly explained why the scrambled numbers on the Louvre floor could be rearranged to form the famous progression. Sophie reached down and pressed the ENTER key. Nothing happened. At least nothing they could detect. At that moment, beneath them, in the bank's cavernous subterranean vault, a robotic claw sprang to life. Sliding on a double-axis transport system attached to the ceiling, the claw headed off in search of the proper coordinates. On the cement floor below, hundreds of identical plastic crates lay aligned on an enormous grid†¦ like rows of small coffins in an underground crypt. Whirring to a stop over the correct spot on the floor, the claw dropped down, an electric eye confirming the bar code on the box. Then, with computer precision, the claw grasped the heavy handle and hoisted the crate vertically. New gears engaged, and the claw transported the box to the far side of the vault, coming to a stop over a stationary conveyor belt. Gently now, the retrieval arm set down the crate and retracted. Once the arm was clear, the conveyor belt whirred to life†¦ . Upstairs, Sophie and Langdon exhaled in relief to see the conveyor belt move. Standing beside the belt, they felt like weary travelers at baggage claim awaiting a mysterious piece of luggage whose contents were unknown. The conveyor belt entered the room on their right through a narrow slit beneath a retractable door. The metal door slid up, and a huge plastic box appeared, emerging from the depths on the inclined conveyor belt. The box was black, heavy molded plastic, and far larger than she imagined. It looked like an air-freight pet transport crate without any air holes. The box coasted to a stop directly in front of them. Langdon and Sophie stood there, silent, staring at the mysterious container. Like everything else about this bank, this crate was industrial – metal clasps, a bar code sticker on top, and molded heavy-duty handle. Sophie thought it looked like a giant toolbox. Wasting no time, Sophie unhooked the two buckles facing her. Then she glanced over at Langdon. Together, they raised the heavy lid and let it fall back. Stepping forward, they peered down into the crate. At first glance, Sophie thought the crate was empty. Then she saw something. Sitting at the bottom of the crate. A lone item. The polished wooden box was about the size of a shoebox and had ornate hinges. The wood was a lustrous deep purple with a strong grain. Rosewood, Sophie realized. Her grandfather's favorite. The lid bore a beautiful inlaid design of a rose. She and Langdon exchanged puzzled looks. Sophie leaned in and grabbed the box, lifting it out. My God, it's heavy! She carried it gingerly to a large receiving table and set it down. Langdon stood beside her, both of them staring at the small treasure chest her grandfather apparently had sent them to retrieve. Langdon stared in wonderment at the lid's hand-carved inlay – a five-petal rose. He had seen this type of rose many times. â€Å"The five-petal rose,† he whispered,† is a Priory symbol for the Holy Grail.† Sophie turned and looked at him. Langdon could see what she was thinking, and he was thinking it too. The dimensions of the box, the apparent weight of its contents, and a Priory symbol for the Grail all seemed to imply one unfathomable conclusion. The Cup of Christ is in this wooden box. Langdon again told himself it was impossible. â€Å"It's a perfect size,† Sophie whispered,† to hold†¦ a chalice.† It can't be a chalice. Sophie pulled the box toward her across the table, preparing to open it. As she moved it, though, something unexpected happened. The box let out an odd gurgling sound. Langdon did a double take. There's liquid inside? Sophie looked equally confused. â€Å"Did you just hear†¦ ?† Langdon nodded, lost. â€Å"Liquid.† Reaching forward, Sophie slowly unhooked the clasp and raised the lid. The object inside was unlike anything Langdon had ever seen. One thing was immediately clear to both of them, however. This was definitely not the Cup of Christ. CHAPTER 45 â€Å"The police are blocking the street,† Andre Vernet said, walking into the waiting room. â€Å"Getting you out will be difficult.† As he closed the door behind him, Vernet saw the heavy-duty plastic case on the conveyor belt and halted in his tracks. My God! They accessed Sauniere's account? Sophie and Langdon were at the table, huddling over what looked to be a large wooden jewelry box. Sophie immediately closed the lid and looked up. â€Å"We had the account number after all,† she said. Vernet was speechless. This changed everything. He respectfully diverted his eyes from the box and tried to figure out his next move. I have to get them out of the bank! But with the police already having set up a roadblock, Vernet could imagine only one way to do that. â€Å"Mademoiselle Neveu, if I can get you safely out of the bank, will you be taking the item with you or returning it to the vault before you leave?† Sophie glanced at Langdon and then back to Vernet. â€Å"We need to take it.† Vernet nodded. â€Å"Very well. Then whatever the item is, I suggest you wrap it in your jacket as we move through the hallways. I would prefer nobody else see it.† As Langdon shed his jacket, Vernet hurried over to the conveyor belt, closed the now empty crate, and typed a series of simple commands. The conveyor belt began moving again, carrying the plastic container back down to the vault. Pulling the gold key from the podium, he handed it to Sophie. â€Å"This way please. Hurry.† When they reached the rear loading dock, Vernet could see the flash of police lights filtering through the underground garage. He frowned. They were probably blocking the ramp. Am I really going to try to pull this off? He was sweating now. Vernet motioned to one of the bank's small armored trucks. Transport sur was another service offered by the Depository Bank of Zurich. â€Å"Get in the cargo hold,† he said, heaving open the massive rear door and motioning to the glistening steel compartment. â€Å"I'll be right back.† As Sophie and Langdon climbed in, Vernet hurried across the loading dock to the dock overseer's office, let himself in, collected the keys for the truck, and found a driver's uniform jacket and cap. Shedding his own suit coat and tie, he began to put on the driver's jacket. Reconsidering, he donned a shoulder holster beneath the uniform. On his way out, he grabbed a driver's pistol from the rack, put in a clip, and stuffed it in the holster, buttoning his uniform over it. Returning to the truck, Vernet pulled the driver's cap down low and peered in at Sophie and Langdon, who were standing inside the empty steel box. â€Å"You'll want this on,† Vernet said, reaching inside and flicking a wall switch to illuminate the lone courtesy bulb on the hold's ceiling. â€Å"And you'd better sit down. Not a sound on our way out the gate.† Sophie and Langdon sat down on the metal floor. Langdon cradled the treasure wadded in his tweed jacket. Swinging the heavy doors closed, Vernet locked them inside. Then he got in behind the wheel and revved the engine. As the armored truck lumbered toward the top of the ramp, Vernet could feel the sweat already collecting beneath his driver's cap. He could see there were far more police lights in front than he had imagined. As the truck powered up the ramp, the interior gate swung inward to let him pass. Vernet advanced and waited while the gate behind him closed before pulling forward and tripping the next sensor. The second gate opened, and the exit beckoned. Except for the police car blocking the top of the ramp. Vernet dabbed his brow and pulled forward. A lanky officer stepped out and waved him to a stop a few meters from the roadblock. Four patrol cars were parked out front. Vernet stopped. Pulling his driver's cap down farther, he effected as rough a facade as his cultured upbringing would allow. Not budging from behind the wheel, he opened the door and gazed down at the agent, whose face was stern and sallow. â€Å"Qu'est-ce qui se passe?† Vernet asked, his tone rough. â€Å"Je suis Jerome Collet,† the agent said. â€Å"Lieutenant Police Judiciaire.† He motioned to the truck's cargo hold. â€Å"Qu'est-ce qu'ily a la dedans?† â€Å"Hell if I know,† Vernet replied in crude French. â€Å"I'm only a driver.† Collet looked unimpressed. â€Å"We're looking for two criminals.† Vernet laughed. â€Å"Then you came to the right spot. Some of these bastards I drive for have so much money they must be criminals.† The agent held up a passport picture of Robert Langdon. â€Å"Was this man in your bank tonight?† Vernet shrugged. â€Å"No clue. I'm a dock rat. They don't let us anywhere near the clients. You need to go in and ask the front desk.† â€Å"Your bank is demanding a search warrant before we can enter.† Vernet put on a disgusted look. â€Å"Administrators. Don't get me started.† â€Å"Open your truck, please.† Collet motioned toward the cargo hold. Vernet stared at the agent and forced an obnoxious laugh. â€Å"Open the truck? You think I have keys? You think they trust us? You should see the crap wages I get paid.† The agent's head tilted to one side, his skepticism evident. â€Å"You're telling me you don't have keys to your own truck?† Vernet shook his head. â€Å"Not the cargo area. Ignition only. These trucks get sealed by overseers on the loading dock. Then the truck sits in dock while someone drives the cargo keys to the drop-off. Once we get the call that the cargo keys are with the recipient, then I get the okay to drive. Not a second before. I never know what the hell I'm lugging.† â€Å"When was this truck sealed?† â€Å"Must have been hours ago. I'm driving all the way up to St. Thurial tonight. Cargo keys are already up there.† The agent made no response, his eyes probing as if trying to read Vernet's mind. A drop of sweat was preparing to slide down Vernet's nose. â€Å"You mind?† he said, wiping his nose with his sleeve and motioning to the police car blocking his way. â€Å"I'm on a tight schedule.† â€Å"Do all the drivers wear Rolexes?† the agent asked, pointing to Vernet's wrist. Vernet glanced down and saw the glistening band of his absurdly expensive watch peeking out from beneath the sleeve of his jacket. Merde. â€Å"This piece of shit? Bought it for twenty euro from a Taiwanese street vendor in St. Germain des Pres. I'll sell it to you for forty.† The agent paused and finally stepped aside. â€Å"No thanks. Have a safe trip.† Vernet did not breathe again until the truck was a good fifty meters down the street. And now he had another problem. His cargo. Where do I take them? CHAPTER 46 Silas lay prone on the canvas mat in his room, allowing the lash wounds on his back to clot in the air. Tonight's second session with the Discipline had left him dizzy and weak. He had yet to remove the cilice belt, and he could feel the blood trickling down his inner thigh. Still, he could not justify removing the strap. I have failed the Church. Far worse, I have failed the bishop. Tonight was supposed to be Bishop Aringarosa's salvation. Five months ago, the bishop had returned from a meeting at the Vatican Observatory, where he had learned something that left him deeply changed. Depressed for weeks, Aringarosa had finally shared the news with Silas. â€Å"But this is impossible!† Silas had cried out. â€Å"I cannot accept it!† â€Å"It is true,† Aringarosa said. â€Å"Unthinkable, but true. In only six months.† The bishop's words terrified Silas. He prayed for deliverance, and even in those dark days, his trust in God and The Way never wavered. It was only a month later that the clouds parted miraculously and the light of possibility shone through. Divine intervention, Aringarosa had called it. The bishop had seemed hopeful for the first time. â€Å"Silas,† he whispered,† God has bestowed upon us an opportunity to protect The Way. Our battle, like all battles, will take sacrifice. Will you be a soldier of God?† Silas fell to his knees before Bishop Aringarosa – the man who had given him a new life – and he said,† I am a lamb of God. Shepherd me as your heart commands.† When Aringarosa described the opportunity that had presented itself, Silas knew it could only be the hand of God at work. Miraculous fate! Aringarosa put Silas in contact with the man who had proposed the plan – a man who called himself the Teacher. Although the Teacher and Silas never met face-to-face, each time they spoke by phone, Silas was awed, both by the profundity of the Teacher's faith and by the scope of his power. The Teacher seemed to be a man who knew all, a man with eyes and ears in all places. How the Teacher gathered his information, Silas did not know, but Aringarosa had placed enormous trust in the Teacher, and he had told Silas to do the same. â€Å"Do as the Teacher commands you,† the bishop told Silas. â€Å"And we will be victorious.† Victorious.Silas now gazed at the bare floor and feared victory had eluded them. The Teacher had been tricked. The keystone was a devious dead end. And with the deception, all hope had vanished. Silas wished he could call Bishop Aringarosa and warn him, but the Teacher had removed all their lines of direct communication tonight. For our safety. Finally, overcoming enormous trepidation, Silas crawled to his feet and found his robe, which lay on the floor. He dug his cell phone from the pocket. Hanging his head in shame, he dialed. â€Å"Teacher,† he whispered,† all is lost.† Silas truthfully told the man how he had been tricked.† You lose your faith too quickly,† the Teacher replied. â€Å"I have just received news. Most unexpected and welcome. The secret lives. Jacques Sauniere transferred information before he died. I will call you soon. Our work tonight is not yet done.† CHAPTER 47 Riding inside the dimly lit cargo hold of the armored truck was like being transported inside a cell for solitary confinement. Langdon fought the all too familiar anxiety that haunted him in confined spaces. Vernet said he would take us a safe distance out of the city.Where? How far? Langdon's legs had gotten stiff from sitting cross-legged on the metal floor, and he shifted his position, wincing to feel the blood pouring back into his lower body. In his arms, he still clutched the bizarre treasure they had extricated from the bank. â€Å"I think we're on the highway now,† Sophie whispered. Langdon sensed the same thing. The truck, after an unnerving pause atop the bank ramp, had moved on, snaking left and right for a minute or two, and was now accelerating to what felt like top speed. Beneath them, the bulletproof tires hummed on smooth pavement. Forcing his attention to the rosewood box in his arms, Langdon laid the precious bundle on the floor, unwrapped his jacket, and extracted the box, pulling it toward him. Sophie shifted her position so they were sitting side by side. Langdon suddenly felt like they were two kids huddled over a Christmas present. In contrast to the warm colors of the rosewood box, the inlaid rose had been crafted of a pale wood, probably ash, which shone clearly in the dim light. The Rose.Entire armies and religions had been built on this symbol, as had secret societies. The Rosicrucians.The Knights of the Rosy Cross. â€Å"Go ahead,† Sophie said. â€Å"Open it.† Langdon took a deep breath. Reaching for the lid, he stole one more admiring glance at the intricate woodwork and then, unhooking the clasp, he opened the lid, revealing the object within. Langdon had harbored several fantasies about what they might find inside this box, but clearly he had been wrong on every account. Nestled snugly inside the box's heavily padded interior of crimson silk lay an object Langdon could not even begin to comprehend. Crafted of polished white marble, it was a stone cylinder approximately the dimensions of a tennis ball can. More complicated than a simple column of stone, however, the cylinder appeared to have been assembled in many pieces. Six doughnut-sized disks of marble had been stacked and affixed to one another within a delicate brass framework. It looked like some kind of tubular, multi-wheeled kaleidoscope. Each end of the cylinder was affixed with an end cap, also marble, making it impossible to see inside. Having heard liquid within, Langdon assumed the cylinder was hollow. As mystifying as the construction of the cylinder was, however, it was the engravings around the tube's circumference that drew Langdon's primary focus. Each of the six disks had been carefully carved with the same unlikely series of letters – the entire alphabet. The lettered cylinder reminded Langdon of one of his childhood toys – a rod threaded with lettered tumblers that could be rotated to spell different words. â€Å"Amazing, isn't it?† Sophie whispered. Langdon glanced up. â€Å"I don't know. What the hell is it?† Now there was a glint in Sophie's eye. â€Å"My grandfather used to craft these as a hobby. They were invented by Leonardo Da Vinci.† Even in the diffuse light, Sophie could see Langdon's surprise. â€Å"Da Vinci?† he muttered, looking again at the canister.† Yes. It's called a cryptex.According to my grandfather, the blueprints come from one of Da Vinci's secret diaries.† â€Å"What is it for?† Considering tonight's events, Sophie knew the answer might have some interesting implications. â€Å"It's a vault,† she said. â€Å"For storing secret information.† Langdon's eyes widened further. Sophie explained that creating models of Da Vinci's inventions was one of her grandfather's best-loved hobbies. A talented craftsman who spent hours in his wood and metal shop, Jacques Sauniere enjoyed imitating master craftsmen – Faberge, assorted cloisonne artisans, and the less artistic, but far more practical, Leonardo Da Vinci. Even a cursory glance through Da Vinci's journals revealed why the luminary was as notorious for his lack of follow-through as he was famous for his brilliance. Da Vinci had drawn up blueprints for hundreds of inventions he had never built. One of Jacques Sauniere's favorite pastimes was bringing Da Vinci's more obscure brainstorms to life – timepieces, water pumps, cryptexes, and even a fully articulated model of a medieval French knight, which now stood proudly on the desk in his office. Designed by Da Vinci in 1495 as an outgrowth of his earliest anatomy and kinesiology studies, the internal mechanism of the robot knight possessed accurate joints and tendons, and was designed to sit up, wave its arms, and move its head via a flexible neck while opening and closing an anatomically correct jaw. This armor-clad knight, Sophie had always believed, was the most beautiful object her grandfather had ever built†¦ that was, until she had seen the cryptex in this rosewood box. â€Å"He made me one of these when I was little,† Sophie said. â€Å"But I've never seen one so ornate and large.† Langdon's eyes had never left the box. â€Å"I've never heard of a cryptex.† Sophie was not surprised. Most of Leonardo's unbuilt inventions had never been studied or even named. The term cryptex possibly had been her grandfather's creation, an apt title for this device that used the science of cryptology to protect information written on the contained scroll or codex. Da Vinci had been a cryptology pioneer, Sophie knew, although he was seldom given credit. Sophie's university instructors, while presenting computer encryption methods for securing data, praised modern cryptologists like Zimmerman and Schneier but failed to mention that it was Leonardo who had invented one of the first rudimentary forms of public key encryption centuries ago. Sophie's grandfather, of course, had been the one to tell her all about that. As their armored truck roared down the highway, Sophie explained to Langdon that the cryptex had been Da Vinci's solution to the dilemma of sending secure messages over long distances. In an era without telephones or e-mail, anyone wanting to convey private information to someone far away had no option but to write it down and then trust a messenger to carry the letter. Unfortunately, if a messenger suspected the letter might contain valuable information, he could make far more money selling the information to adversaries than he could delivering the letter properly. Many great minds in history had invented cryptologic solutions to the challenge of data protection: Julius Caesar devised a code-writing scheme called the Caesar Box; Mary, Queen of Scots created a transposition cipher and sent secret communiques from prison; and the brilliant Arab scientist Abu Yusuf Ismail al-Kindi protected his secrets with an ingeniously conceived polyalphabetic substitution cipher. Da Vinci, however, eschewed mathematics and cryptology for a mechanical solution. The cryptex. A portable container that could safeguard letters, maps, diagrams, anything at all. Once information was sealed inside the cryptex, only the individual with the proper password could access it. â€Å"We require a password,† Sophie said, pointing out the lettered dials. â€Å"A cryptex works much like a bicycle's combination lock. If you align the dials in the proper position, the lock slides open. This cryptex has five lettered dials. When you rotate them to their proper sequence, the tumblers inside align, and the entire cylinder slides apart.† â€Å"And inside?† â€Å"Once the cylinder slides apart, you have access to a hollow central compartment, which can hold a scroll of paper on which is the information you want to keep private.† Langdon looked incredulous. â€Å"And you say your grandfather built these for you when you were younger?† â€Å"Some smaller ones, yes. A couple times for my birthday, he gave me a cryptex and told me a riddle. The answer to the riddle was the password to the cryptex, and once I figured it out, I could open it up and find my birthday card.† â€Å"A lot of work for a card.† â€Å"No, the cards always contained another riddle or clue. My grandfather loved creating elaborate treasure hunts around our house, a string of clues that eventually led to my real gift. Each treasure hunt was a test of character and merit, to ensure I earned my rewards. And the tests were never simple.† Langdon eyed the device again, still looking skeptical. â€Å"But why not just pry it apart? Or smash it? The metal looks delicate, and marble is a soft rock.† Sophie smiled. â€Å"Because Da Vinci is too smart for that. He designed the cryptex so that if you try to force it open in any way, the information self-destructs. Watch.† Sophie reached into the box and carefully lifted out the cylinder. â€Å"Any information to be inserted is first written on a papyrus scroll.† â€Å"Not vellum?† Sophie shook her head. â€Å"Papyrus. I know sheep's vellum was more durable and more common in those days, but it had to be papyrus. The thinner the better.† â€Å"Okay.† â€Å"Before the papyrus was inserted into the cryptex's compartment, it was rolled around a delicate glass vial.† She tipped the cryptex, and the liquid inside gurgled. â€Å"A vial of liquid.† â€Å"Liquid what?† Sophie smiled. â€Å"Vinegar.† Langdon hesitated a moment and then began nodding. â€Å"Brilliant.† Vinegar and papyrus, Sophie thought. If someone attempted to force open the cryptex, the glass vial would break, and the vinegar would quickly dissolve the papyrus. By the time anyone extracted the secret message, it would be a glob of meaningless pulp. â€Å"As you can see,† Sophie told him,† the only way to access the information inside is to know the proper five-letter password. And with five dials, each with twenty-six letters, that's twenty-six to the fifth power.† She quickly estimated the permutations. â€Å"Approximately twelve million possibilities.† â€Å"If you say so,† Langdon said, looking like he had approximately twelve million questions running through his head. â€Å"What information do you think is inside?† â€Å"Whatever it is, my grandfather obviously wanted very badly to keep it secret.† She paused, closing the box lid and eyeing the five-petal Rose inlaid on it. Something was bothering her. â€Å"Did you say earlier that the Rose is a symbol for the Grail?† â€Å"Exactly. In Priory symbolism, the Rose and the Grail are synonymous.† Sophie furrowed her brow. â€Å"That's strange, because my grandfather always told me the Rose meant secrecy.He used to hang a rose on his office door at home when he was having a confidential phone call and didn't want me to disturb him. He encouraged me to do the same.† Sweetie, her grandfather said, rather than lock each other out, we can each hang a rose – la fleur des secrets – on our door when we need privacy.This way we learn to respect and trust each other.Hanging a rose is an ancient Roman custom. â€Å"Sub rosa,†Langdon said. â€Å"The Romans hung a rose over meetings to indicate the meeting was confidential. Attendees understood that whatever was said under the rose – or sub rosa – had to remain a secret.† Langdon quickly explained that the Rose's overtone of secrecy was not the only reason the Priory used it as a symbol for the Grail. Rosa rugosa, one of the oldest species of rose, had five petals and pentagonal symmetry, just like the guiding star of Venus, giving the Rose strong iconographic ties to womanhood.In addition, the Rose had close ties to the concept of† true direction† and navigating one's way. The Compass Rose helped travelers navigate, as did Rose Lines, the longitudinal lines on maps. For this reason, the Rose was a symbol that spoke of the Grail on many levels – secrecy, womanhood, and guidance – the feminine chalice and guiding star that led to secret truth. As Langdon finished his explanation, his expression seemed to tighten suddenly. â€Å"Robert? Are you okay?† His eyes were riveted to the rosewood box. â€Å"Sub†¦rosa,†he choked, a fearful bewilderment sweeping across his face. â€Å"It can't be.† â€Å"What?† Langdon slowly raised his eyes. â€Å"Under the sign of the Rose,† he whispered. â€Å"This cryptex†¦ I think I know what it is.†

Amazon.Com Case Studies

Name: PRASHANTH BALAKRISHNAN Student ID: 071090070 Course: BIS 541/03 –MANAGING INFORMATION SYSTEMS Program: CEMBA Commonwealth Executive Master of Business and Administration TMA 1: â€Å"Amazon. com†- A Business History Tutor: Prasanan P. T. Kannan Submission Date: 07. March. 2009 [pic] TABLE OF CONTENTS ChapterTitlePage 1. 0Executive Summary 2. 0Problem Statement1 3. 0Analysis of Causes 3. 1 Amazon’s Debt 2-3 3. 2 Competition3-4 3. 3 Expansion4-6 4. 0Decision Criteria and Alternative Solutions 4. 1 Reduce expenditure in inventories and better management7 in supply chain 4. Presenting a competitive edge to competitors7 4. 3 Expansionto Asia8 5. Recommended Solutions 5. 1 Technology Integration and R&D9 5. 2 Strategic Cost Analysis9 5. 3 Differentiation9 5. 4 Inventory10 5. 5 Visionary & Informative10-11 5. 6 Keep customers in the loop on everything11 5. 7 Shipping & Delivery11 5. 8 Expansion to Asia Region11-12 5. 9 Word-of mouth advertisement12 6. 0 Expand the product lines13 6. 0Appendices14-16 7. 0References17 Executive Summary The study comprises of Amazon. om which started its history by selling books and now one of the online market leaders globally not only for books but products from various categories. Company started with a mission to be Earth’s most customer centric company. In order to become the largest and convenience online store for all, there are major problems or threat being faced by Amazon. com in succeeding its mission. The major problems are Amazon facing high amount of debt, it’s less initiative in not expanding to other developed countries, and also competition from other online retailers and one tough opponent is Barnes & Nobles. Many plans of actions can be taken and some of it is; Amazon. com should decrease long–term debt by increasing expenditure on research and development, increasing word-to-mouth advertisement and good customer service. Amazon. com should also expand the five most common languages in Asian region. Focus marketing strategies on customer feedback to find out what Asian customers tend to buy and willing to spend on. Strategize new plan on improving sites to be informative and attractive as much as possible so Amazon. com should also adapt to the best technology where it can sustain as a strong innovator in ever increasing retailer market. Amazon. com also must strive to give customers the best service in shipping and delivery as it’s an important aspect in online business to out beat its entire competitors on this online industry. Problem Statement The main problem faced by Amazon. com now being an online retailer can be divided to three in overall. Amazon. com is in confronting huge debt behind their successful screen. Amazon. com is lack of expansion to other regions or Asia which be said as another big market for a huge online bookseller as Amazon. com. Another problem is the competition being faced by them with one of the tough opponent as Barnes&Nobles. Analysis of the Problem Amazon. com’s in Debt 3. 1 Amazon’s Debt One of major causes of Amazon’s huge debt is its large expenditure. In order to keep its advantageous position, Amazon has no choice but to continue to spend astronomical amounts of money on sales & marketing, research & development and general & administrative costs. (Table 1 & Table 2) â€Å"One misstep, and its love affair withy investors and sources of capital could be over. (Kimberly Weisul, 1999) †¢ Competitors Although Amazon won the battle soon after entering the online cd and music market, there are some competitions in other product lines that may be too immensely strong to beat. For example, in March of 1999, Amazon introduced an auction service. After a few months effort, its auction business performed slightly, indicating how difficult it is to challenge the giant’s eBay and Yahoo! Auctions. |Auction Sites |27-Sep-99 |Multiplier needed to equal eBay listings | |Amazon Auctions |4. 0% |15. 3 | |eBay |73. 60% |   | |Yahoo! Auctions |21. 60% |3. 4 | Source: Auction Web sites and C. E Unterberg Towbin †¢ Consumer Behavior Amazon. com is widely regarded as having one of the best management team of any internet company. However, there are some outside forces that are not easy to manipulate. Security; as the number of Internet crimes increases, customers are becoming aware of the possible danger involved in the process of on-line shopping. This security problem may not be difficult to improve since security technology is innovated quickly, but to convince customer of this is not as easy ? Etailers vs. retailers Another factor is hard to manage customer purchasing habits. Most consumers still prefer the capability of seeing a product before buying it. Additionally, the number of people buying personal computers and that of the Internet population wil l directly affect Amazon’s sale. . 2 Competition †¢ Michael Porter’s Model ? Supplier ; Amazon started to build its own distribution centers in different locations and moving the products directly form the factory rather than from other distributors such that Amazon can lower its marginal costs. (Chao Janice C. Rice, Brandi S. Dec 8, 1999) ? Consumers ; Amazon. com continues to spend a lot of money in advertisement to reach customers as well as to increase customer awareness of eCommerce in general and brand name in particular. (Chao Janice C. Rice, Brandi S. Dec 8, 1999) ? Substitutes; The Substitute of eCommerce, the traditional retailers, is still more attractive than the Etailers. For example, we as consumers more than likely would rather go to the bookstore and browse through a book before we buy it. (Chao Janice C. Rice, Brandi S. Dec 8, 1999 ) 3. 3 Expansion †¢ Lack of Spanish website version (Latino and Hispanic Americans are the fastest-growing online ethnic group) †¢ Amazon. com is very less popular or it can said there are people without knowing the existence of Amazon. om †¢ Website is not more expanded with more languages options where currently there are options only for Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, France and China (www. amazon. com) Competition with Barnes& Nobles Amazon. com Weakness ? Difficulties of handling large number of customers ? Limited operating history ? Security awareness ? Low margins in the sector ? Risk of introduction of wrong new categories which could damage company’s bra nd ? Company’s offered free shipping might affect future financial outcome ? Certain products (high volume/weight) have high shipping costs which could confront with local offline retailers Threats ? eBay, Barnes & Nobles, and Wal-Mart ? Population segment not targeted to on-line sales due to their lack of internet access ? Weak economic performance of Germany and France in the last year ? Competition will increase due to the low barriers to entry in the market: offline companies are coming online ? Heavy investments in Partnerships (Dustin Nadeau & Donatas Sumyla. April 2006) Barnes and Nobles and Amazon. com are competing, but both stores and other online stores recognize what works and are studying one another – often duplicating one another’s business strategies. This has resulted in them having more similarities than differences and it helps the consumers find similarities across the Web such as; †¢ When a description of an item is given, Amazon and Barnes and Nobles both place the shopping cart option prominently displayed to the upper, right portion of the screen. This makes it very efficient and useable for the viewer and they do not have to search around the page for this button. (Clementina Imobhio May 5, 2001) †¢ In pricing, both Amazon. com and Barnesandnobles. com display the average price or their items above their own discounted rates so that the users feel as though they are saving money. (Clementina Imobhio May 5, 2001) †¢ Both sites are â€Å"Flexible†, there is an option of buying things at a later date and placing them in the shopping cart temporarily. This option is called the wish list and it is displayed just beneath the â€Å"Add to Cart† button. Users can access this saved information and acce ss it on their next visit. (Clementina Imobhio May 5, 2001) †¢ Both sites offer â€Å"Security† that provides safe shopping, privacy and efficiency by requiring customers to join as members at a certain point during a transaction. Membership is free and requires an email address, full name, home address and phone number. It allowing customers to maintain an order status and helps provide a history of what they bought. (Clementina Imobhio May 5, 2001) †¢   Both sites are very â€Å"Scalable†, allowing for a huge selection of items to be added to the product catalog or taken away. A Field size is accommodated in the database. (Clementina Imobhio May 5, 2001) 4. 0 Alternative Solutions 4. 1 Reduce expenditure in inventories and better management in supply chain ? Use increased income to pay down long-term debt ? Keep operating costs low (efficiencies of scales) ? Increase expenditure on Research & Development arena ? Strategic cost analysis ( WOU , MIS notes) ? Determining Differentiation ( WOU , MIS notes) 4. 2 Presenting a competitive edge to competitors †¢ Create more expertise in marketing and more product launches compared to competitors; †¢ Do a more through research on the customers needs and come up with something new that has its own brand and establishes as only Amazon. om could have the product. (Sujan Sarkar. April 23, 2007) †¢ A new Strategy on only books should be brought up in order to outcome one tough opponent as Barnes & Nobles. For example, Amazon. com’s booth’s can be set up in country sides where there is no access for Internet and give knowledge to country people that there also business through online. This is because; giving more exposure and awareness to people might be a business opportun ity as well. †¢ Product review information; Customers would have n a clear description, synopsis and other customer’s review on the book as it gives a clear rating of the book and there won’t be any sort of disappointments for them after purchase. 4. 3 Expansion to Asia †¢ Create different website versions based on the five most common language in Asian region †¢ Focus marketing strategies on customer feedback to find out what Asian customers tend to buy. †¢ Word of mouth advertisement (Onder Savas Devrim Dirik. January 9, 2003) †¢ Continue expanding its product lines 5. 0 Recommended Solution & Implementation 5. Technology Integration and R&D Amazon. com should increase expenditure in the research and development arena. We believe that Amazon should prepare itself for additional telecommunications implementations such as high speed internet and network security. These types of implementation, though representative of considerable R&D costs, ar e probably most significant factors that etailers must prepare for near future. As users, connections increase in speed, any delays on the part of the etailer they are connecting to will become obvious and less tolerable. Amazon can stay ahead of the pack by preparing a unique and comfortable interface for the users. 5. 2 Strategic Cost Analysis Amazon. com should also use Strategic cost analysis process where identify the firm’s value chain, diagnose the key elements that drive the costs of each value activity, identify competitors value chains, develop a strategy to lower relative costs by controlling cost drivers, ensure that any cost reduction does not erode differentiation in service and test the cost reductions if its sustainable in the end of the analysis. . 3 Differentiation They should also consider by costs by determining Differentiation where the process goes as determine who the real buyer is, identify buyer’s value chain and put in rank order the buyer’s reason to purchase, asses the current potential sources of diffentiation, identify the cost of these resources, design a value chain to maximize value relative costs, test for sustainiablity and reduce costs in activi ties that do not affect the chosen forms of differentiation. 5. Inventory; There are programs built to be extremely user-friendly, and most offer great support along the way of usage for online businesses to maintain the book database. Amazon should invest in software to best highlight and maintain the data on the site and importantly back up systems. Keep inventory accurate and up to date; This is also an important aspect that Amazon can out beat its competitors with as this is first step towards building a long-term relationship with that customer. Inventory of the books stock-out and sold out will be kept up to date on the site. 5. 5 Visionary & Informative A picture is worth a thousand words; Uploading pictures by decreasing explanations or descriptions could attract customer’s attraction and curiosity in exploring the book. Somehow it boosts up sales compared to other online booksellers who give attention in words. Product Review Information; In case of books, editorial reviews are provided by the company and it applies for all books. Customers can also rate each other’s review. A rating is placed against each review so that customers can decide whether to read or not based on that. Most online booksellers do not include this but they display the customer’s satisfaction on the delivery service provided by them which is less important to boost up sales. People out there want to pay you for your books; Amazon should use own merchant service account or a service offered by a listing site, make sure that customers can buy books quickly and painlessly with a credit card while you have them on the brink of finalizing said purchase. Don’t judge a book by its cover; First impressions are lasting impressions. When a customer receives the book they’ve ordered, make sure the first thing they see is a product and package that you are proud to have supplied by using use clean, new boxes without writing (or envelopes for low-cost paperbacks) for shipments. Customers will be expecting an excellent service but if its vice versa then they are chances for them to switch to other online retailers. 5. 6 Keep customers in the loop on everything; Amazon should update the status of order to customers on the order made and also keep them in loop by e-mail the listing service directly with questions about their orders and keep updating the latest events and new stocks of books through emails. 5. 7 Shipping & Delivery Follow-up; After shipping out an item to the customer, Amazon should send them an e-mail a day or two after expecting that they’ll receive their package, asking them if they’ve received it and are satisfied, and reminding them that there customer rep are there to help should they have any questions about their order. This is also a great time to remind them that you have similar items in stock or to offer them a coupon towards future purchases. 5. 8 Expansion to Asia Region Amazon should strive to expand its expertise to Asia region as well as high potentials are there which huge population. Education is becoming one important aspect in Asia and lack of important reference books are always a problem in many parts of Asia. It should diversify its marketing capability in Asia too to capture the market. Amazon is very less popular in Asia regions. Amazon. om should take Asia to consider for its business expansion. Amazon could also diversify its marketing and research ability to expand mostly to the developed countries of other territory. In order to grow big and always sustain in the market and competition, Amazon should takes this sort of steps to expand. International Sites; Amazon. com has got an added advantage of international sites on Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, France and China. All about what the customers have to do to browse the site with their language is by clicking to their national site. For example, if you clink Japan, immediately the whole website will change its descriptions and instructions into Japanese language. This is not at all applicable for a customer in Malaysia or any other regions of Asia. It should expand and add more languages options in its site to accumulate its customers. Giving customers what they want is also one strategy not all online business can do but if this can be proven in Amazon’s case then it have all the potential to be the one. 5. 9 Word-of mouth advertisement Amazon also should increase its word-of mouth advertisement. This might seem odd for an industry leader to rely upon such a quaint tactics as this, but we truly believe that in the world of Internet this is a powerful tool. We are quick to visit sites that our friends identify as being fabulous, and Amazon might capitalize on this by rewarding its customers who can reel in a new prospects. 6. 0 Expand the product lines Amazon should expand its product lines. Given’s Amazon’s vision and its unique position in the etailer industry, the cost associated with entering new markets is significantly lower than that of its competitors. There is no reasons to let this advantage slip away unused. Conclusion In order to stay focus on business Amazon. com has various ways and strategies that can be implemented with proper organizations communication networks. Financial reports should be reviewed annually and quarterly if necessary to come up with decisions whether to boost up sales or to maintain on a certain criteria for the wellness of business. Amazon. com also should have a frequent customer feedback program where they could exchange view on the services and products most desired to be acquired online by customers. Top level management meetings should be initiated to assure goals are achieved. A proper corrective action should be determined after the first year if annual objectives weren’t accomplished. However there are difficulties and competitions to overcome, and how companies attack these difficulties will separate the winners form the losers. Appendix |AMAZON. COM, INC. HISTORICAL INCOME STATEMENTS | |(in millions, except per share data)(quarterly information unaudited) | |Amazon. com Investor Relations | | | | | | | |Calendar Years Ended – December 31, | | |2008 |2007 |2006 |2005 |2004 |2003 |2002 | |Media |   | $ 5,350 | $ 4,630 | $ 3,582 | $ 3,046 | $ 2,589 | $ | | | | | | | | |2,270 | |Other |   | 448 | 326 | 263 | 222 | 130 | | | | | | | | | |110 | |International |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | |Media |   | 5,734 | 4,612 | 3,485 | 2,885 | 2,513 | | | | | | | | | |1,780 | |Other |   | 94| 57| 20| | | | | | | | | |8 |2 |- | |Consolidated |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | |Media |   | 11,084 | 9,242 | 7,067 | 5,931 | 5,102 | | | | | | | | | |4,050 | |Other |   | 542 | 383 | 283 | 230 | 132 | | | | | | | | | |110 | Table 2- Source; www. amazon. com (Investors Relations) |Total U. S. Home, Work and University Locations, Unique Visitors (000) | |Source: comScore Media Metrix | |Rank |Property |Unique Visitors |Rank |Property |Unique Visitors | | | |(000) | | |  (000) | |   |Total Internet : Total Audience |191,863 |   |   |   | |1 |Google Sites |151,010 |26 |Target Corporation |28,628 | |2 |Yahoo! Sites |146,131 |27 |Time Warner – Excluding AOL |27,209 | |3 |Microsoft Sites |125,568 |28 |Weatherbug Property |26,944 | |4 |AOL LLC |108,441 |29 |Bank of America |26,322 | |5 |Fox Interactive Media |90,510 |30 |United Online, Inc |26,048 | |6 |Ask Network |74,742 |31 |Gorilla Nation |25,585 | |7 |eBay |72,160 |32 |AT&T, Inc. 25,574 | |8 |Amazon Sites |64,768 |33 |Answers. com Sites |25,563 | |9 |Wikipedia Foundation Sites |62,737 |34 |Demand Media |25,447 | |10 |FACEBOOK. COM |57,232 |35 |CareerBuilder LLC |24,750 | |11 |Glam Media |55,293 |36 |Everyday Health |24,717 | |12 |Turner Network |54,877 |37 |Shopzilla. com Sites |24,097 | |13 |Apple Inc. 54,194 |38 |Photobucket. com LLC |23,928 | |14 |CBS Corporation |53,539 |39 |WordPress |23,730 | |15 |New York Times Digital |49,110 |40 |Real. com Network |23,359 | |16 |Viacom Digital |46,510 |41 |Expedia Inc |22,703 | |17 |Weather Channel, The |40,056 |42 |JPMorgan Chase Property |22,399 | |18 |craigslist, inc. 39,437 |43 |Mons ter Worldwide |22,244 | |19 |AT&T Interactive Network |38,184 |44 |Gannett Sites |21,829 | |20 |Adobe Sites |35,315 |45 |WorldNow – ABC Owned Sites |21,586 | |21 |Comcast Corporation |33,940 |46 |WebMD Health |21,185 | |22 |Wal-Mart |33,513 |47 |iVillage. com: The Womens Network |21,002 | |23 |Superpages. com Network |32,558 |48 |NBC Universal |20,974 | |24 |Verizon Communications Corporation |32,412 |49 |WhitePages |19,351 | |25 |Disney Online |30,345 |50 |ESPN |19,266 | Table 3; Media Matrix; http://www. comscore. com References 1] Chao Janice C. Rice, Brandi S. Dec 8, 1999 http://www. rhsmith. umd. du/faculty/jbailey/ents630/amazon. pdf 2] Dustin Nadeau & Donatas Sumyla. April 2006- Amazon. Com Inc 2004. (Accessed Feb 20, 2009) 3] Clementina Imobhio May 5, 2001 – E-Transaction: Shopping Carts Comparison (Accessed Feb 20, 2009) 4] Paul Larson. February 14, Amazon. com – Motley Fool Research, Stock Report http://www. fool. com/search/index. aspx? go=1&site=USMF &q=amazon. com (Accessed Feb 16, 2009) 5] Onder Savas Devrim Dirik. January 9, 2003 – Informat? on Management (Accessed Feb 16, 2009) 6] Strategic Analysis of Amazon. com (Accessed Feb 19, 2009) 7] www. wikinvest. com/wiki/E-Commerce, (Accessed Feb 20, 2009) 8] www. ikinvest. com/stock/Amazon. com_(AMZN), (Accessed Feb 20, 2009) 9] www. wikinvest. com/stock/Barnes_%26_Noble_(BKS), (Accessed Feb 20, 2009) 10] Sujan Sarkar. April 23, 2007 – Amazon vs. Barnes & Noble: www. santarosa. edu/~ssarkar/cs66sp07/fprj/abn. htm (Accessed Feb 16, 2009) 11] Table 1- Source; www. amazon. com (Investors Relations) (Accessed Feb 17, 2009) 12] Table 2- Source; www. amazon. com (Investors Relations) (Accessed Feb 17, 2009) 13] Table 3; Media Matrix; http://www. comscore. com (Accessed Feb 17, 2009) ———————– AMAZON Supplier New Entrance Substitute Consumers

Why Students Cheat and How to Stop It

Why Students Cheat and How to Stop It Cheating in our schools has reached epidemic proportions. Why do students cheat? What can we as parents do to prevent it? Here are some answers to these questions and much more in this article which features an in-depth interview with one of the nations top authorities on the subject, Gary Niels. Why do students cheat? Here are three reasons: 1. Everybody does it. Its disturbing to discover that young people in middle school and high school think that it is acceptable to cheat. But its our fault, isnt it? We adults encourage young people to cheat. Take multiple choice tests, for example: they literally invite you to cheat. Cheating, after all, is nothing more than a game of wits as far as teenagers are concerned. Kids delight in outwitting adults, if they can. While cheating is discouraged in private schools by tough Codes of Behavior which are enforced, cheating still exists. Private schools which devise tests requiring written answers rather than multiple guess answers discourage cheating. Its more work for teachers to grade, but written answers do eliminate an opportunity for cheating. 2. There are unrealistic demands for academic achievement from state and federal education authorities. The public education sector is accountable to government, largely as a result of No Child Left Behind. State legislatures, state boards of education, local boards of education, unions, and countless other organizations demand action to correct the real and imagined failings of our nations public education system. As a result, students must take standardized tests so that we can compare one school system to another nationally and at the state level. In the classroom these tests mean that a teacher must achieve the expected results or better, or she will be viewed as ineffective, or worse, incompetent. So instead of teaching your child how to think, she teaches your child how to pass the test. No Child Left Behind is driving most of the assessment teaching these days. Educators really have no option but to produce the best possible results. To do that they must teach solely to the test or else. The best antidotes for cheating are teachers who fill children with a love of learning, who impart some idea of lifes possibilities and who understand that assessment is merely a means to an end, not the end itself. A meaningful curriculum will shift the focus from learning boring lists of irrelevant facts to exploring subjects in depth. 3. Cheating is expedient. It can be the easy way out. Years ago cheaters lifted whole passages from an encyclopedia and called them their own. That was plagiarism. Plagiarisms newest incarnation is dead easy: you simply point and click your way to the site with the relevant information, swipe and paste it, reformat it somewhat and its yours. Need to write a paper in a hurry? You can quickly find a site which provide a paper for a fee. Or go to a chat room and swap papers and projects with students nationwide. Perhaps youd prefer to cheat using texting or email. Both work just fine for that purpose. Sadly, many parents and teachers have not learned the subtleties of electronic cheating What can we do about it?   Schools need to have zero tolerance policies concerning cheating.Teachers must be vigilant and alert to all the newer forms of cheating, particularly electronic cheating. SmartPhones and tablets  are powerful tools for cheating with uses limited only by a students imagination. How do you fight that kind of brain power? Discuss the issue with both technology-savvy students and adults. Their exploits and perspective will help you fight electronic cheating. Teachers:  Ultimately the best solution is to make learning exciting and absorbing. Teach the whole child. Make the learning process student-centric. Allow students to buy into the process. Empower them to guide and direct their learning. Encourage creativity and critical thinking as opposed to rote learning. Parents:  We parents have a huge role to play in combating cheating. Thats because our children mimic almost everything we do. We must set the right sort of example for them to copy. We must also take a genuine interest in our childrens work. Ask to see everything and anything. Discuss everything and anything. An involved parent is a powerful weapon against cheating. Students:  Students must learn to be true to themselves and their own core values. Dont let peer pressure and other influences steal your dream. If you are caught, cheating has serious consequences. Editors Note:  Gary Niels  is Head of  Winchester Thurston School  in Pittsburgh and the author of a very useful paper on cheating entitled Academic Practices, School Culture and Cheating Behavior. I am grateful to him for answering my questions.    Everybody does it. Unrealistic demands for academic achievement by state education boards. Expediency or the easy way out are some of the reasons students cheat. Are there other reasons of which you are aware? The first thing to recognize about cheating is that the vast majority of young people (and adults for that matter) believe that cheating is wrong. Yet, by nearly every poll, most young people cheat at least once in their high school career. So, the most important question is why do young people behave in ways that are inconsistent with their stated beliefs? I believe the answer to this lies in a survival instinct. I am not a psychologist, but I believe there is a mechanism within each of us which triggers a need to save face. Saving face can mean a desire to save oneself from the angry assault of a parent or teacher; it can mean avoiding embarrassment; it can mean economic survival or a perceived pressure be it self-inflicted or inflicted by some other extraneous force. Nowadays, college acceptance is the major instigator of this survival instinct. Of course, the survival instinct isnt the only reason young people cheat. They might cheat because they find a lesson or a course to be meaningless -having no perceived relevance to their lives. They might also cheat because they belief something is unfair, so feel justified in cheating. Lets examine each one of these reasons in more detail. First of all, Everybody does it. To me thats like saying everybody cheats on their taxes or lies about their age. Does this signify a lack of moral conviction on the part of society as we head into the new millennium? Are parents setting the wrong example for their children? Historically, sociologists and psychologists have studied cheating behavior under the classification of aberrant or deviant behavior. Psychologists and sociologists have applied theories of deviant behavior in order to understand cheating. However, cheating is no longer deviant behavior; it is now normal behavior. This change poses a significant challenge for those who seek to establish academic integrity in a school environment since the student code is stronger to break and is more prevalent. As for the role of parents, Id like to come back to that a little later. The demand for accountability has created a clamor for state testing of students. The pressures are enormous on both students and teachers. How widespread do you think cheating is in this area? Does state testing  ipso facto  encourage cheating to achieve acceptable results? Although I cannot excuse it, I understand why an educator might find state testing to offer an unbearable pressure to cheat by in some way giving your students an unfair advantage. If you tell a school administrator that his schools existence or employment might hinge on his students performance on a test, I believe you are tempting fate. Most human beings have a breaking point and when anything threatens a persons livelihood, income and/or social status, you put them in a survival mode. In other words, as you threaten that individuals existence, you tempt them to reach their moral breaking point. Cheating offers an easy way out. Why bother studying hard and doing all those term papers by yourself if you can use somebody elses work? Would you agree that expediency is a major reason for cheating? Expediency might be one reason for cheating, but Im not sure its the main reason. In fact, strangely, young people will sometimes go to greater lengths to cheat than to study for a test. Occasionally, this is due to boredom. Studies indicate that there is a high correlation between certain pedagogical practices and cheating behavior: lack of clarity in a lesson, perceived lack of relevance, and too few tests offered in a grading period are just a few examples. Ive even wondered at times if cheating isnt some form of student protest against certain types of curricular or pedagogical factors. One mathematics teacher had an interesting insight into a student who had gone to elaborate lengths to program his calculator to outsmart his teacher. I cant help but believe that a student who is so capable in using technology, couldnt ace an Algebra test. Also, I find when I prepare a test with calculator use, I emphasize the problem solving aspect, not the calculation. Those real world applications which we are encouraged by (the NCTM) Standards to employ in our classes actually defeat the need to cheat in classes, or dont provide the opportunity to cheat. Without wishing to appear to be blaming teachers, it is necessary to point out that the way we present our curricula and the type of assessments that we offer can influence cheating behavior. We need to demonstrate to students why it is important for them to know the material we are presenting and the purpose it will serve in the bigger context of their studies and lives. Forms of Cheating One of the reasons you and I are doing this interview is to make our colleagues, both teachers and parents, more aware of the highly sophisticated forms which cheating has adopted since the advent of technology in the classroom. Can you outline some of the kinds of cheating we adults ought to be vigilant for? The University of Texas complied a very comprehensive list of cheating strategies, which Ive included in the  Appendix  of my paper  Academic Practices, School Culture Cheating. Youve raised a good point with regards to sophisticated forms of cheating. One of the problems we encounter in deterring cheating is that some kids can simply outsmart us. While writing my paper I was in touch with many educators around the country. At one point I received an e-mail tip that there was a discussion going on among some students on one of the major graphing calculators listserv whereby students were sharing how they had outsmarted teachers. The following was one of the entries that day: Concerning teachers clearing memory before test, just write a memory clearing simulation program. I had a bunch of formulas I needed for an Algebra test stored in a program. I wrote a program that would simulate almost every function after [2ND] [MEM]. I even had a blinking cursor. The only problem I had was with Page Up and Page Down and having two menus at the bottom of the screen. When the teacher started around the room clearing memories, I went ahead and executed my program, doing a fake total memory clear. When she came around, she saw the memory cleared, defaults set screen, and went on to the next person. What a dumb ass! So, yes, dealing with the more sophisticated forms of cheating is a reality. How can teachers keep ahead of their students when it comes to recognizing electronic cheating? This might seem simplistic, but, first, students need to understand why cheating is wrong. Dr. Lickona defined a few in his book Educating For Character: It will ultimately lower your self-respect, because you can never be proud of anything you got by cheating.Cheating is a lie, because it deceives other people into thinking you know more than you do.Cheating violates the teachers trust. It undermines the whole trust relationship between the teacher and his or her class.Cheating is unfair to all people who arent cheating.If you cheat in school now, youll find it easier to cheat in other situations later in life - perhaps even in your closest personal relationships. Secondly, when essay topics are generic in nature, there seems to be more opportunity to cheat. However, when the essay topic is specific to class discussions and/or unique to the courses stated goals, it becomes more difficult for students to go to web sources to lift material or download papers. Additionally, when the teacher expects that the papers development will follow a step-by-step process that requires them to document their topic, thesis, outline, sources, rough draft and final draft there are fewer opportunities to cheat. Conversely, when a paper suddenly appears with no documented process, then teachers should be wary. Lastly, if there are regular in-class writing assignments, a teacher can come to know the students writing style. Lastly, teachers might want to familiarize themselves with the major web sites which offer papers to students for a fee. Plagiarism seems so much harder to spot when students only have to cut and paste materials. How can you recognize electronic  plagiarism? I suspect the teachers reading this might offer many worthwhile tips. To me, however, the best way is to simply know the students writing style. At times we have even asked the students previous teacher to help us to determine whether the paper or a section of a paper was consistent with the students work from the previous year. The difficulty comes when youre convinced that something isnt quite right and the student denies any wrongdoing. Different schools will handle this situation in different ways. Prevention at School Does a Code of Ethics or an Honor Code help keep most unethical academic behavior in check? Only if students and faculty have bought into the system! This is the biggest challenge with honor codes. It will be very difficult, if not impossible, to establish an honor code, or any effort to deter cheating for that matter, if students are not permitted to play a role in developing the solution. Social Psychologists, Drs. Evans and Craig speak of the weight of the communities attitudes in determining the potential success of an Honor Code. Intuitively, beliefs about the efficacy of strategies to reduce or prevent cheating may predispose success or failure. For example, if students believe that an honor system to promote academic honesty wont work, chances for success of the system introduced by their teachers may be jeopardized from the outset. Dr. Gary Pavela, the director of judicial programs at the University of Maryland and the past president of the National Center for Academic Integrity, fully supports the notion of student participation in formulating an Honor Code: Such balancing and sharing of authority is premised upon the assumption that control of academic dishonesty will not be accomplished by threat of punishment alone. Ultimately, the most effective deterrent will be a commitment to academic integrity within the student peer group. Only by giving students genuine responsibility in a collaborative effort with faculty and staff can such a commitment be fostered and maintained. Trusting students to participate in the establishment, promotion and enforcement of community values is a difficult challenge. Traditionally, schools have been hierarchical with students being at the bottom. But educators are realizing that when trusted and when given an opportunity to participate in the vision of the school, students have a great deal to contribute. Moreover, this participation has had other positive consequences. Namely, the adolescent desire to belong has results in expressions of loyalty to the school, rather than the sub-group. The more of this type of loyalty which we can inspire, the less cheating behavior we will see. Prevention at Home I have always felt that parents should review their childrens work regularly to see what is being accomplished. Does this help prevent cheating? I am sure that this is important, but as the student gets older and more independent, it is less likely that parents will be checking work. The most important thing parents can do is to model integrity. Just last night I was attending a movie with my family. My son ran into a classmate whose father was in the adjacent line. When we simultaneously reached the front to purchase our tickets, we all clearly heard the boys father say One adult, two children to the ticket agent. Since the childrens age for a reduced rate was clearly demonstrated on the board and our sons were the same age it was obvious that the father lied about his sons age in order to reduce his fee by a couple of dollars. Although such a white lie seems harmless, it models to children that corners can be cut, little lies dont matter and honest is good when its expedient. How Teachers Can Help Prevent Cheating Model integrity, no matter what the cost.Dont assume young people know why cheating is wrong, both from a personal and corporate perspective.Enable students to understand the meaning and relevance of an academic lesson.Foster an academic curriculum which perpetuates the real-world application of knowledge.Dont force cheating underground - let students know that you understand the pressures and, at least initially, be reasonable in responding to violations. Tips for Foiling Electronic Cheating Catching students who cheat has always been part of your job as a teacher. The wrinkle these days is that electronic cheating is wide-spread in addition to all the other forms of cheating you and I are accustomed to. Here are five ways to catch your students when they cheat. 1. Use a PDS (Plagiarism Detection Service) like  Turnitin.com  to catch plagiarism. The service is used by thousands of schools and universities worldwide. Basically Turnitin.com compares your students papers with those in their enormous databases. Similarities are highlighted so that you can review the findings easily. 2. Forbid the use of smart devices in exam rooms. Students are extremely savvy when it comes to devising ways to use common electronic equipment to cheat. Be alert to these techniques. Sending text messages via cell phone is more common than you realize. Watch for earphones which can be extremely tiny and are used to play back notes. 3. Lock down your grade program and database. Hardly a day goes by without some chilling story about hackers breaking into a schools academic database and changing grades. Keep your computer secure by using secure passwords. Set your screen saver to activate in password protected mode after 2 minutes of inactivity. 4. Look for crib notes anywhere and everywhere. Students can write notes on the most ordinary things like gum wrappers and bottle labels and bring them safely into the exam room UNLESS you are watching carefully or ban them completely. So, be a grinch and pick up wrappers and miscellaneous bits of paper wherever you see them. You can fit many pages of information on a small piece of paper using very small fonts. And its edible too. 5. Be vigilant. Trust but verify. A cautious Trust but verify! approach to dealing with cheating will pay off. Use the same approach in your classroom. Be aware of the possibilities for cheating which are all around you. Resources Cheating: Today’s High School Norm?High-Tech Cheating on the Rise at SchoolsOne Third of Teens Use Cellphones to Cheat in School Article edited by  Stacy Jagodowski

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Autobiographical story - Essay Example The conversations go on with more lies and chest thumping with juvenile descriptions of their dreams and fantasies. I was always the quite one in my clique. I shared my room with my younger brother and could not even mount pictures of my favorite female celebrities. I remember getting an old copy of Playboy from one of the boys in the group. It was difficult hiding it. I perused through the pages and before my brother or nosy sister could coming knocking on the door, I had tossed it out of the window. Fortunately, we lived in a flat, and no one could easily trace the trash to my room the following day. I remained aloof most of the time watching cartoon with my brother. I fitted the group simply because I had a beautiful older sister that most boys in the school admired. A perfect opportunity presented itself two days before my seventeenth birthday. The class had taken a trip out of the city to a zoo. Talks about girl and alcohol had beginning taking their toll on me. Every time we sat or met at the group, Tony, who claimed most of the experience, would introduce a topic charismatically. The topic would easily degenerate into a detailed description of his sex escapades and how much the girls loved him. I would look on fantasizing and wishing I were the one. From the groups, I would spend most of my time in bed or the bathroom ruminating and reliving Tony’s vivid description. I longed for the day I would remain alone with my dream girl. The trip to the zoo out of the city was that perfect opportunity. Tony suggested that we needed to contribute about one hundred and twenty dollars with which to buy refreshments. From the grim on his face, it was obvious what he meant. I was among the first boys in the group to contribute. I even contributed fo r some of my friends who could have otherwise either taken longer or hoped out of the plan. On the bus, I luckily sat next to Lucie, the most beautiful

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