Structure Of The Ear How It Sounds - 1433 Words

Structure of the Ear (How we translate sounds) To understand how deafness occurs, we first need to understand how people regularly hear. The ear can be split into three divisions: the external ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear. The external ear collects sound waves and sends the waves down to the ear canal which then vibrate the eardrum. The middle ear carries sound waves to the inner ear and also contains the smallest bones in the body. The middle ear also contains the Eustachian tube which connects the middle ear to the middle throat. The inner ear converts these intercepted sound waves into neural signals and also contains the cochlea. There are other things in the ear besides these three divisions such as the organ of corti which contains the cells responsible for the hearing hair cells. There are two types of these hair cells in the ear: inner and outer hair cells. Both of these cells work within the cochlea and have a stereocilia, an organelle of hair cells, but the outer hair cells function specifically in the cochlea. The outer hair cells contain the stereocilia at the top of the cell and the nucleus at the bottom. When the stereocilia bends, an electromotive response occurs which changes the cell length with every sound wave. Also in the ear is the auditory nerve. The auditory nerve has fibers that rest below the hair cells and pass the sound wave signals to the brain. The hair cells also have sensory cells which sit on top of the basilar membrane. At the tipShow MoreRelatedThe Eye And The Ear882 Words   |  4 Pagesconsist of many structures of our body to provide these functions. The organs which are primary and absolutely crucial for this kind of sensory actions are: the eye and the ear. They are connected to the brain, and they are highly influenced by it to interpret what can be seen and heard. The different parts of the eye are responsible for the body to absorb light and perception objects in the true color, intensity and detail. While, t he ear’s components are important for detect, perceive sounds and controllingRead MoreAuditory System Essay621 Words   |  3 Pagesorgan is being used. If this information were auditory, the ear would convert sound waves in the air into electrical impulses that would further be interpreted by the brain as sound. A sound wave first enters the pinna, the fleshy part of the ear on the outside of the body. It then travels through the external auditory canal where it then meets the eardrum, a thin membrane in the outer ear. The eardrum then vibrates in response to the sound wave. What we hear will depend on the wavelength and frequencyRead MoreQuestions On The Human Ear1598 Words   |  7 Pageshuman ear is very complex in structure and fragile through growth and development. The structure of an ear is made of three parts; the outer ear, middle ear, and inner ear. In order to hear, sound waves pass through the outer ear, causing vibrations at the eardrum inside the middle ea r. From here, the vibrations are amplified and pass through fluid-like substance in a snail-shaped structure called the cochlea, located in the inner ear. The cochlea has tiny hairs that translate and send sound vibrationsRead MorePsy 340 Essay765 Words   |  4 PagesUniversity of Phoenix Material Neurological Structures and Functions Worksheet Short-Answer Essays 1. Describe why humans have a blind spot. Humans have blind spots because of the optic nerve information that is sent to the brain from the retina is through the optic nerve. Well the nerve has to have a way to exit the eye, that exit is where the blind spot is. 2. Describe the functional and anatomic differences between rods and cones. The retina is what houses the eye’s rodsRead More The Physics of the Sound Wave and its Effects on the Human Ear1341 Words   |  6 PagesThe Physics of the Sound Wave and its Effects on the Human Ear Could you imagine living in a world without sound? It would be enormously different from the world that we know. Our primary form of inter-human communication would be based on visual or tactile imagery. Our sense of perception would be changed. Telecommunication would be different. We would not have the pleasure of music or the soothing sounds of nature. Sound has had an immense impact on our world. This essay will explore the unseenRead More Physics of the Ear Essay examples1528 Words   |  7 PagesPhysics of the Ear The ear is an extraordinary human organ that many people take for granted until it doesn’t function. It is the only device that allows the human to hear sounds in their environment. The ear is made up of many parts that distinguish various sounds through different means. The ear anatomy and physiology along with how sound waves are transmitted into meaningful sounds will help one understand how hearing loss occurs. The ear is made up of three areas: the outer, middle, andRead MoreOur Five Senses Essays1144 Words   |  5 Pages Amy Eoff-Stanley, Kourtney Trehern, Amanda Basher, Nathan Palmer, Debra Lee General Psychology - 2027 May 15, 2010 Our Five Senses, Vision, Smell, Hearing, Taste, and Touch The following paper is an explanation of our five senses. How they work and why do we have them. Would a person be able to function if one or more senses were lost? All these questions are answered in following document. Our entire sensory system consists of numerous amounts of different sensors. The mainRead More The Ear And Hearing Loss Essay1120 Words   |  5 Pages The Ear and Hearing Loss The ear is the organ of hearing and balance in vertebrates. The ear converts sound waves in the air, to nerve impulses which are sent to the brain, where the brain interprets them as sounds instead of vibrations. The innermost part of the ear maintains equilibrium or balance. The vestibular apparatus contains semicircular canals which in turn balance you. Any movement by the head, and this apparatus sends a signal to the brain so that your reflex action is to move yourRead MoreThe Effects Of Music On The Body And Mind1684 Words   |  7 Pagesif someone is in a bad mood, listening to joyful music will improve the emotions. Perceived emotions and felt emotions are two emotions related to music. Listening to music can also improve the memory. In elementary school, children start to learn how to memorize something if they relate it to a melody or song. Children learn the fifty states of America in ABC order with just singing a tune. When the song is sung, the melody stimulates both sides of the brain making it more capable of processingRead MoreMath Music Theory850 Words   |  4 PagesTheory. Clifton Callender, Ian Quinn, and Dmitri Tymoczko, who attended Florida State, Yale, and Princeton Universities respectively, created this method of music analyzing. Geometrical music theory is based on the mathematics locked within the structure of music. Their theory is based on their research that shows that â€Å"musical operations, such as transpositions, can be expressed as symmetries of n-dimensional space (Geometrical Music Theory, par. 3).† Scales, chords, and rhythms can all be categorized

Using Peled ( 1993 ) - 1476 Words

Qualitative Studies Edleson only relied upon one sample for the Qualitative Study in this article using Peled (1993, (1998). The sample included 14 preadolescent children and 12 battered women which relied upon the measure of â€Å"6 semi-structured interviews with each child with an average of 4 – 1 hour interviews per child. Mothers were interviewed one time† (Edleson, 1999, p.859). Communicating Findings Comparison Group In Fantuzzo, et al. (1991), there appears to be a lack of base line in which to rely upon the facts, due to the exclusion of what one would consider the social norms. Fantuzzo, et al. should have had a baseline in which to rely giving their study more standing. In regards to Carlson (1991), the degree of age and maturity appears to be more stable and within a comprehensive age span for a determination than it did in Fantuzzo (Edleson, 1999, p.847). The study group consisted of all teenagers. Although the age was appropriate for a comparative study, out of the 50 samples only 12 had witnessed and 25 who had never experienced abuse or domestic violence for this study. Hughes (1988) showed higher levels of behavior problems in the witnesses comparison children.(Edleson 1999, p.848) In this sample, the mothers were the primary samples and not the subject children due to influence of the parent the children possibly were hindered due to influence of the attending parent. Due to the fact that the mental health was also at issue of the respondingShow MoreRelatedRumination, Hope and Depression1473 Words   |  6 PagesTyas, Cohen, and Silverstone (2007) screened 36,984 Canadian adults from a community setting using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI; WHO, 1990). The researchers found that the female to male ratio of experiencing major depressive disorders 12-months prior to the survey was 1.64:1 (women = 1098, men = 668). In addition, women reported more depressive symptoms than men. Another study using sibling pairs found that women also experienced a greater frequency of depressive symptomsRead MoreThe Applicability of Resilienc y Models in Explaining the Prediction of Depressive Symptoms From Rumination1597 Words   |  7 PagesLyubomirsky Nolen-Hoeksema, 1993, 1995; Lyubomirsky et al., 1998; Nolen-Hoeksema, 2000). Results from the current study provide additional support for rumination being a risk factor for depressive symptoms for both men and women in a sample of Australian adults. Rumination is a key antecedent for depressive outcomes as underlying cognitive effects interfere with adaptive thought processes in several ways (Lavender Watkins, 2004; Lyubomirsky Nolen-Hoeksema, 1993, 1995; Lyubomirsky et al., 1998;Read MoreCounseling Abused Women7410 Words   |  30 Pagesprofessional treatment. Suicide. Some women kill themselves or try to do so. Researches from some countries, including Sweden, and the US, have displayed that domestic violence is closely connected with suicide (Verme, Happer, Misra, and Neamatalla, 1993, p.67). Battered women who have PTSD symptoms prove to be most likely to try suicide. Alcohol and drug use. Abused women are more likely than other women to misuse alcohol and drugs (United States: Agency for International development, 1996. p.7)Read MoreThe Long Term Effects on Children Who Are Exposed to Domestic Violence7097 Words   |  28 Pageswitness violence between adults in their homes are only the most recent victims to become visible. These children have been called the silent, forgotten, and unintended victims of adult-to-adult domestic violence (Elbow, 1982; Groves et al., 1993; Rosenbaum OLeary, 1981). Studies of archived case records from social service and governmental agencies provide ample evidence that violence has long occurred at levels similar to those measured today and that children are frequently present during

Mammography free essay sample

A look at the history of mammography and its benefits. This paper addresses the history of mammography, new developments and technological improvement, and a discussion of the benefits and supporting statistics of increased mammogram use to increase womens quality of life. Mammograms have saved the lives of tens of thousands of women over the past 20 years. While not perfect, their ability to detect small tumors gives doctors and their patients the option of treating the cancer while it is in an early, more curable stage. Carcinoma of the breast remains a serious threat to womens health as we enter the 21st century. Breast cancer is the most common female malignancy excluding skin cancers, the number one cause of premature death in women, and the send most common cause of death from cancer. Approximately 1 of 8 women will have breast cancer during her lifetime, and one of 30 will die of the disease (American Cancer Society, 1995). We will write a custom essay sample on Mammography or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page

The Bread of Salt free essay sample

The pan de sal symbolizes the boy and by giving the task of buying the the pan de sal every morning to the girl, it shows how he is trying to escape from the reality so he could concentrate more on his dreams. He had wrongly regarded Aida as his world and thus it was painful to finally realize that he has no chance. He also had so many plans for Aida, including writing love letters and buying her a brooch. Unfortunately, how could one concentrate on his dreams if he is only at the aged of fourteen and has not even finished studying? Finally in the last part, the turning point of the story, where he hid the egg yolks dip in honey and peppermint in his pocket, he was caught by Aida. He has even thought of marrying Aida in the future. In the middle part of the story, the boy was relieved and was happy when he found out that her aunt brought a maid with her and that, his task of buying pan de sal every morning is now given to the poor girl. We will write a custom essay sample on The Bread of Salt or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This just shows that no matter how hard he tries to hide his true self, it will eventually, one day, come out. These things clearly show that the boy was very much in love with Aida so much so that he forgot that in this world not all dreams really come true. revolves around them and this is why the young boy had a lot of dreams and plans. He had already felt like he was part of the higher class since he was invited to the party but the truth is, his not. Some can be full of joy and happiness others not but no matter what, the realities of this world often dictates what will and must happen. If from the very start, the boy had accepted the realities of this world, maybe he would not have been to hurt at the last part.

Penelope And Sarah Essays - Book Of Genesis, Abraham, Vayeira

Penelope And Sarah BEHIND EVERY GOOD MAN IS A GREAT WOMAN Most ancient texts were written by men. It is important to remember this. The writers made sure that men were always the heroes, the powerful ones-- the important ones. Women always seem to lay in the background. However, we must not blame this solely on the writers. Historically, women have not been treated as equals. One cannot help but observe that in the specific area of family life a widespread social and cultural tradition has considered women's role to be exclusively that of wife and mother. As a wife, a woman was expected to obey and serve her husband. Men saw women as, what they believed to be, the fulfillment of God's intention: It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner (Genesis 2.18). Despite these biases, women play a central and crucial role in many historical texts. Even if the men are always the heroes, behind every good man is a great woman. Let's explore these two great women: Penelope from Homer's Odyssey, and Sarah from Genesis. They are both shadowed by the greatness of their husbands. However, if we read carefully, we can make them come out of their hiding place and let their true beauty shine! Sarah is the faithful and loving wife of Abraham. God favors Abraham and makes great plans for him. God promises Abraham that he will become ?a numerous people? (Genesis 17). However, becoming ?a numerous people? is impossible without the aid of women. Thus, Sarah plays an important role in God's historical purpose. Sarah plays an important role in Abraham's life too. She is a devoted wife that seems willing to do anything for her husband. When they are about to enter Egypt (Genesis 12.10) Abraham says to Sarah, ? I know well that you are a woman beautiful in appearance; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ?This is his wife'; then they will kill me..?. Abraham, of course, wants to save his life. He, therefore, tells Sarah to say she is his sister. Abraham thinks only of himself. The Egyptians shower Abraham with gifts. His content with such material possessions take precedence over the well-being of his wife. However, Sarah doesn't complain. She complies with her husband's wishes. By doing this, Sarah not only brings wealth to her husband, she also saves his life. Sarah's dedication doesn't stop there. Her devotion to her husband is also seen in Genesis 16. Here, Sarah, after being barren for some time, tells Abraham to, ?go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.?. Sarah is not pleased with her decision. She performed this sacrifice for her husband-- again. We can see her frustration and disappointment when she tells Abraham, ?May the wrong done to me be on you!? Looking at this statement, it seems that Sarah was forced to ?give? her slave-girl to Abraham. However, it was she that made this suggestion. Was she forced by Abraham, and the author just failed to mention this? Maybe she felt forced by society. It is, after all, a woman's ?role? to please her husband. Without Sarah's faithful actions there would be no Abraham. Without Abraham there would be no ?numerous people?. Without ?a numerous people? millions of nations would not exist. Sarah seems pretty important now, doesn't she? Another important woman in literature is Penelope from Homer's Odyssey. She, like Sarah, is extremely faithful. Her husband, Odysseus, sailed with his army in an expedition twenty years ago and hasn't returned since. In his absence, the nobleman of Ithaca and the surrounding states have converged upon his palace, hoping to win the hand of Penelope. She, ever faithful to her husband's memory, will not remarry. She goes to great lengths to keep from having to chose one of the suitors as a husband: ?She set up a great loom in her palace, and set to weaving a web of threads long and fine. Then she said to us [the suitors]: ?Young men, ...wait... until I finish this web, so that my weaving will not be useless and wasted' (II, line 94)?. Penelope never intended to finish the web,

North and South DBQ essays

North and South DBQ essays 1. Although New England and the Chesapeake region were both settled by people of English origin, by 1700 the regions had evolved into two distinct societies. Why did this difference in development occur? As England went through a boom in the 1600s after recovering from the black death two centuries earlier, the English and most of Europe had worldwide trade and prospered from it, but not all people came into wealth because of this boom and as the English introduce wool and it made open farmland less profitable so people left in search of a better life, and then when Elizabeth the I severed ties with the roman church it lead to religious outcry and reintroduce the religious differences that were in England. So this all lead to people going out and finding more land and exploring beyond their own back yard. So when the Americas where discovered, two types of people left for the new world, the religiously dissatisfied and the very poor trying to find riches in this far off land. Some settled in New England looking for religious freedom and others in the Chesapeake trying to work and earn a living or to find riches beyond their expectations, these people came for two different reasons and two different causes and settled in different places so it is no surprised that New England and the Chesapeake were two very different places. In the North lots came on the Mayflower and founded a colony on Plymouth and as they came for religious reasons, they bought their already establish families and sometimes even their slaves so they can start a new life, here is just what one typical family would look like according to a ships list heading for New England as referred to in document B: Musachiell Benard, of Batcombe, clothier in the county of Somerset As this document proves that the people went to New England to start a new life with ...

Funding of Media Venture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Funding of Media Venture - Essay Example It is the main concern of the following paper to discuss with examples of the key requirements for, and obstacles faced when, seeking funding for a media venture. For a media firm to be able to secure funding, one of the requirements in many cases is a business plan which contains a solid business concept. This is because the funding agencies like the donors, banks or sponsors expect a return out of the funds they invest in the media venture. For this reason, they believe that a media firm with a good business concept would be able to compete effectively with other media firms and in the end make profit. However, the media firms that do not have sound business concepts will in most cases find it hard to acquire funds because they are perceived to be risky businesses that may not compete effectively in the media industry. A good business concept in this case will include details of the winning product and services in form of quality advertisement and creative thinking by the media per sonnel especially the journalists, the presenters and writers. Hewlett-Packard Company for example required that those media companies that seek funding must first ensure that they have a sound business plan. Product viability is another key requirement that venture capitalists tend to look at before providing funding to the media firms. They first look at the probability of success of the product that the media wants to offer in the market. If they realize that the products that the media wants to offer have high chances of success, the funds will be provided with relative ease since they assume that their investments are not going to be put in a business that is too risky with limited chances of survival. Picard noted on the contrary that venture capitalists are in most cases reluctant to provide funds to media firms if they establish that the products on offer have very low chances of success2. Capital Threshold Most companies that provide funding to media ventures require that t he latter have a given amount as part of their financial base before they can be offered funds. This situation was witnessed when HP Company announced their funding program to internet startups in which they required interested media companies to have a financial base of $250000 in capital before they could be considered for funding3. This capital threshold is meant to indicate the seriousness of the media company. The capital base also ensures that the company can provide security to its customers and clients before the business can pick up. This means that those media companies that were seeking funding to venture into the internet services but lacked the stated amount could not get funds from Hewlett-Packard4. Compliance with Government Regulations Before the media venture can be provided with funding from outside sources, they are normally required to be in compliance with government regulations and policies5. This is to ensure that the business that is being financed is a legal entity and operates within the legal framework. The media ventures that comply with the government regulations show signs of seriousness in doing business as opposed to those that fail to comply. Those who provide funding to

Seagate Technology Plc. (STX) Company Analysis Essay

Seagate Technology Plc. (STX) Company Analysis - Essay Example In the next section, a more comprehensive analysis is rendered considering the whole economy, with both an industry analysis and company analysis as part of the overall analysis of this paper. It included both qualitative and quantitative assessments of the company to have an idea of the various threats and challenges it is currently facing as well as the opportunities in the market. The third section is the conclusion portion of this paper and summarizes what has been stated in previous sections. It also reiterates the important points raised by the company analysis so that a potential investor can make an informed judgment on the company based on facts the paper has presented so far. The fourth and last section is the recommendation which suggests a buy position for the company but only for the medium term investment horizon and further subject to a periodic quarterly review. This is because the very nature of the computer industry is that of rapid technological change and short pr oduct life cycles that can render even market leaders with an uncertain viability in a â€Å"nightmare moment† (strategic inflection point). Keywords: buybacks, data storage devices, flash memory, hard disks, hard drives, Seagate Table of Contents Section Page Number Executive Summary..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.......1 A. ... ..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..................... 4 B.1 Economic Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦... 4 B.2. Industry Analysis..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦................................................†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦5 B.3. Company Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦................................................................................6 B.3.1 History and Other Information.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..........................................†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦7 B.3.2 Qualitative Fundamentals†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...8 B.3.2.1 Management Team†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦8 B.3.2.2 Business Model†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.8 B.3.2.3 Competitive Advantage†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.8 B.3.2.4 Board of Directors†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..9 B.3.2.5 Negative Factors†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.9 B.3.2.6 Share Buyback Program†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦10 B.3.3 Quantitative Fundamentals.........................................†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦....10 B.3.3.1 Balance Sheet (3-year trend)...................................................................11 B.3.3.2 Income Statement (3-year trend ).................†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦....12 C. Conclusion.................................................................................................................13 D. Recommendation.......................................................................................................13 E. Bibliography..........................................................................................................14-16 A. Introduction This paper is a research report on the

Drilling for Oil in Alaska Essay Example for Free

Drilling for Oil in Alaska Essay Currently, there are more than 70 million drivers who drive more than 113 million vehicles each day. Compared to 30 years ago, drivers have increased their driving by about 44 percent in terms of the miles they have driven. It is likewise suggested that since 1970, traveling vehicles per year have increased about 145 percent. These information is according to the American Petroleum Institute; with increased driving miles and vehicles traveling on the road comes the corresponding increase in the need for fuel (Beyond, int). Though fuel can be considered the most reliable source of energy, it is unfortunate that it is not the most environmental friendly source. Any individual who choked walking behind a car due to exhaust fumes knows for a fact that it is not beneficial for the environment as an energy source. Right after cars leave noxious black smoke, the need to have some effective means of fuel refinement becomes a pressing concern. The gas industry did not take long to develop technology for cleaner fuels. Modern fuels including unleaded fuels in the market nowadays are said to be less of pollutants and less hazardous compared to fuels of the past decades. According to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, there was a dramatic 41% decline in vehicle emissions since 1970. While there was such a decline, this does not mean that the associated environmental problems on fuels are solved (Beyond , int). The major issue is in the process of getting crude oil from the earth. Transport accidents, oil spills and pipe leaks still remain common. The American Petroleum Institute asserts that there are many steps which are initiated to ensure that natural gas and oil can have minimal impact in the environment upon production. Moreover, the institute also asserts that with the use of diect technology in drilling, they are allowed to access gas resources and oil that lie beneath the sensitive areas of the earth (Chance 105). So far, despite the very impressive advancements in drilling technology, human intrusions and oil rigs still continue to modify the environment and cause habitat devastation. The Alaska Wilderness League’s legislative director, Brian Moore knows the harm produced by drilling. According to him, the Prudhoe Bay 400 toxic spills annually, and those spills do not only affect the drilling site but also nearby lands. The devastating effects are clear and real, and these are not made up by environmentalists. It is very difficult to forget the otters, seabirds and seals covered in oil, which slowly died during the spill of 10 million gallons of crude oil in 1989 from Exxon Valdez. It is very natural for environmentalists to campaign and strategize plans against the drilling in a wildlife dense area. The possibility of drilling the lands of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which is a well-renowned area for pristine habitat and unique wildlife is shocking and alarming news to all environmentalists and nature lovers (Exxon Valdez disaster—15 years of lies). Viewing the issue from a different angle, the oil drilled in Alaska can reduce the oil imports of the United States of America by 15%, since at present, the oil imports of the country is over 25% from the Middle East. The effect of oil from Alaska in helping in the management of oil prices is very essential. However, it can be quite pointless, given that all Americans can reduce their consumption of oil by simply eradicating commercial vehicle SUVs granted exemptions from the standards of fuel efficiency, developing hybrid technologies and drastically raising the requirements in fuel efficiency (Beyond, int). If the refuge of Alaska is made open for drilling, then the Rocky Mountains and the coast of California will come in next, and if oil drilling will be open everywhere without any limits, the available oil will increase by magnitude, which can probably ensure the energy source of the US for decades. Not only of the US but of the world. The availability of oil will help the industrialization of many nations; however, in the same measure, the risks to the environment will also substantially increase (Berger 40). The officials of the Bush administration claim that the drilling in the areas of the Arctic will pave the way to enhancing U. S security by diminishing imported oil dependence. They are also promoting this controversial undertaking by asserting that drilling will help reduce the shortages on energy of the country. On the other hand, only a meager portion of electricity comes from oil. It was explained by the American Petroleum Institute that crude oil prices are established in the world markets retorting to supply and demand. The fresh discoveries will be critically significant to supply. Each oil barrel domestically produced is one less barrel that should be bought from foreign sources. In the long term, added U. S. supplies will help reduce the prices of crude oil given that the demand for crude oil from sources which are not from the US is muck lower compared to what it will be without additional domestic production (Berger 85). To alleviate the emergency of frequent blackouts in California and the increasing prices of gasoline, President Bush is promoting the increase in supply of energy instead of decreasing its demand. It may be too late to put a stop to the rising prices of gas, especially for traveling seasons like summer. The president is supporting the plan of utilizing the oil supply of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (LaDuke 30). As expected, this proposition of the president has clashed with activists of the environment and with some residents of the targeted area. They are arguing that ANWR’s available supply of oil is insufficient to validate the potential damage to the environment. It is very hard believe that oil drilling in Alaska will guarantee benefits to the citizens of the US, since any kind of oil in existence will take almost a decade to enter the oil market and the estimates on the oil amount in the area are but tentative. Moreover, prices of oil will not change from drilling oil in Alaska given that the oil amount is minimal in the refuge. Harmful pollution and oil spills are foreseeable effects of this proposal of drilling from the area (Stage, int), and much more if it goes together with industrialization. In Alaska, there is an estimate of 300 to 400 oil spills annually, which is approximately greater than one oil spill a day (Oil spills in, int). America’s largest oil spill was the oil spill of Exxon Valdez in Prince William Sound, Alaska last 1989 on March 24. More or less, 10. 9 million gallons have spilled to over 1,100 miles of coastline in Alaska. It all began when an oil tanker hit a reef in the Sound (Heinrichs). The death toll of wildlife was extremely upsetting. Over 2,800 sea otters, 250,000 seabirds, 300 harbor seals, nearly two dozen whales and 250 bald eagles (Don’t, int) perished due to the event. Oil is still present in the area and it is now toxic (Exxon, int) even though Exxon insists that everything is been cleaned and paid for. A more recent event happened on December 7, 2004, where a freighter of Malaysia ran aground. It was carrying 21,000 of diesel fuel and 483,000 gallons of heavy bulk fuel (Oil spill devastates, int). The oil spill was so alarming and devastating, since oil is extremely difficult to clean up and threatens the refuge of nearby (Oil spill devastates, int). As the drilling increases, the occurrence of oil spills tends to follow in the same pace, such trend is sure to exist with more oil drilling in ANWR even as responsible large companies have promised to respond quickly. The risk of devastating wildlife is always there (Montgomery 38). How can people justify permission of oil companies to drill in an area rich with endangered wildlife? Why do oil companies still continue to drill even with the massive oil spills and its dangers? Is this activity truly worthwhile for the country? Sadly, these questions remain unanswered; however, it does not mean that these should not be asked incessantly. While importing foreign oil is a dire need, the solution is not in the destruction of pristine areas for oil supply. What should be done is for the government to invest dollars from taxes in renewable and clean energy (Stage, int). Together with this proposal for the government, Americans should act to help save what remains of our wildlife. ANWR is something that the United States of America can truly be proud of primarily because of its wildlife. It is unlike anything else. Its beauty is incomparable and unmatched. The prospect of drilling the land for oil should not be presented to oil companies. Such activity should be be discouraged as much as possible, there are many other ways to find alternative energy sources. Everyone must help to protect and preserve one of Alaska’s grandeurs or else, it will just be a picture of a beautiful landscape left in everyone’s memory. Works Cited Berger, Thomas R. Village Journey: The Report of the Alaska Native Review Commission, Hill Wang, New York. 1995. p. 40 â€Å"Beyond the Brooks Range: What is at Stake in Alaska Concerns More Than Just Caribou†. Ecoworld. com. 28 December 2004. http://www. ecoworld. com/home/articles2. cfm? tid=360. 25 March 2008. Chance, Norman A. The Inupiat and Arctic Alaska: An Ethnography of Development. Holt, Rinehart Winston Press, New York. 1990. p. 105 â€Å"Don’t Allow Big oil to drill in the Arctic National wild life Refuge†. Defenders of Wildlife. 17 March 2005. http://www. defenders. org/wildlife/arctic/print/overview. heml. 25 March 2008. â€Å"Exxon Valdez disaster—15 years of lies†. Greenpeace. 19 March 2005. http://www. greenpeaceusa. org/features/details? item_id=681778. 25 March 2008. LaDuke, Winona. Alaska: Oil and the Natives. Earth Island Journal. San Francisco: 2003. Vol. 18, Iss. 3, p. 30. Montgomery, David. ANWR 1002 area and development: One question, many issues. Oil Gas Journal. Tulsa: 2003. Vol. 101, Iss. 15; pg. 38, 5 pgs â€Å"Stage is set to drill in Arctic Refuge†. Greenpeace. 19 March 2005. http://www. greenpeaceusa. org/features/details? item_id=796496. 25 March 2008.

Impact of Identity Theft in E-Commerce

Impact of Identity Theft in E-Commerce ABSTRACT In the world of today, where time is money and information is a corporate asset, protection of data confidentiality and integrity has become critical. Today, companies are focusing much more on how to secure their businesses from identity fraud, which has emerged as the modern day menace. As I found research on identity theft is rather limited. This research will provide more knowledge of the subject. The aim of this research therefore was to find and assess the impact and the level of identity theft in e-commerce. This was achieved by using analytic induction from the existing research literature and analysis of feed back from the various business executives, industry specialists and company clients through a questionnaire. After introducing identity theft and its impact on the corporate sector in detail, in the first two chapters with the data protection laws; it discusses their merits, demerits, controls and loopholes, the third chapter of this study delves into the methods and techniques used to prevent identity theft, it discusses in detail their efficacy, efficiency, implications and limitations while the last chapter is a case study of an organization where , existing data has been collected from various sources and has been critically analyzed and reviewed. A quantitative method approach has been employed in carrying out this research, besides carrying out a case study of an organization Moreover, aim to decrease the risk and effects of identity theft in e-commerce possible best practice techniques were identified through this research which was achieved through a study of existing literature which results the formation of a policy document. This policy document was also evaluated by industry experts. INTRODUCTION Like Mcleod and Scheel (2001) says, â€Å"e-business creates higher customer satisfaction, by providing quicker service, less effort to buy a product or service, and less business cost compared to a business run without the use of information technology (IT)†. Internet is also called worldwide network of computers. It provides excellent opportunities for an organization to do their business online. To get more customers and to increase the publics awareness of the business, it is very important to represent themselves on the Internet and their products, resulting in increased sales volume and higher profits. Security implications hold back the business. Nowadays, Credit card companies, banks and software companies work together to produce a broad standard to do safe online business. Whereas on the other hand System Hackers are trying to get as much information as possible, which they can easily sell in the black market. Some of the staff in companies also busy in selling their customers details in the same black market. Specific guidelines should be followed by companies to develop a safe and successful appearance in the online business. Some critics like Professor Richard Walton CB, (2005) however quarrel, The rise of the Internet and other modern technologies has brought about a fundamental change in commercial life. He further says that thieves have been stealing wallets and credit cards for a long time, but the growth of online buying and on-line banking has made Identify Theft the fastest growing white-collar crime in the U.K. and America, Its a big problem, and it can happen to anyone. On the other hand, some people are disagreed that the major cause of Identity theft is internet. As per Thomas C. Greene (2005) he said, that The vast majority of incidents can be traced to (what he calls) skimming, or dumpster diving, he goes further to say that plain stupidity among those who own our personal data are also contributive. Only a small fraction of such incidences result from on line transactions. I found majority of research is on the topic of identity theft, which usually consists of some variations in the phrase identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the United kingdom or it begins with a quaint anecdote about the tens of thousands of identity theft victims that emerge each year. According to a report published in the American angle, Anne P.Minz (2002) which says that the consumer sentinel network of agencies gathering data on e-commerce fraud, reports that in 2001 alone, there were 204,000 complaints, compared to 138,900 reported in 2000. It is noticeable that 47% increase demonstrates the growing nature of the problem. Figures such as the ones noted above are apparently disconcerting, in other to glean possible remedies which in turn demands for additional research on this issue. There are so many occasioning of identity theft and different ways this may be consummate. The overheads and wounded are considerable to financial institutions as well as individuals, but the overheads are often difficult to reveal or enumerate, mainly for individual punter sufferers. If an individual is auspicious enough to avoid financial responsibility for the theft, in so many ways they still endure losses in different ways, which may not be substantial; most of the time the affecting damage is very heavy that some sufferers commend suicide while so many others hunt for therapeutic or psychiatric assistance. In an attempt to recover from the theft or loss, sufferer may end up costs more money and time. These two must not be perplexed as theft resembles fraud in that and both engagedin some form of unlawful takings, but fraud requires an extra component of false pretenses formed to persuade a sufferer to turn over wealth, property or other services. Theft, by difference, needs only the illegal captivating of anothers possessions withthe aim to enduringly divest the other of the possessions. Harsh punishment is for fraud because of more planning is involved in that than does the theft. However, for the use of this study we are going to focus on identity theft in e-commerce in accessing the effect on online business in UK. Definition of Identity Definition of Theft â€Å"Theft† can be defined as per English Law act 1968 section (1). Subsection (1), that a person is guilty of theft if he is deceitfully appropriates property belongs to another with the purpose of enduringly miserly the additional of it; and that steal and theft shall be construed consequently. It is irrelevant whether the appropriation is made with a view to expand, or is made for the thiefs own benefit. As per encyclopedia dictionary 2007, Sometimes theft is used synonymously with larceny as a term; however, we can say that, it is actually a broader term, encircling many forms of dishonestly taking of property, including cheating, double-crossing and false pretenses. Some states categorize all these offenses under a single statutory crime of theft. Property belonging to another is taken without that persons consent will be assumed as theft, where Theft could be regarded as criminal act. Sense of Identity Theft In the Identity theft and assumption prevention Act of 1998 the term identity theft was first codified, where the act makes it as a federal crime when someone deliberately uses or transfers, without legal permission, a means of identification of another person with the aim to commit, or to aid or support, any unlawful activity that constitutes a breach of federal law, or that constitutes a offense under any applicable state or local law. In addition, the act defines it as a means of identification as any name or number that may be used, alone, or in combination with any other information, to identify a specific person. Identifying information is noted to be, surrounded by other things, passport number, a name, date of birth, drivers license or national insurance number (NI), access device or telecommunication identifying information. Identity theft may be broadly defined as the unlawful acquirement or the use of any aspect of an individuals personal information for committing some form of criminal activity (Hoar, 2001; LoPucki, 201; Slosarik 2002). This definition is proposed to cover any type of crime that falsely uses a victims name, home address, bank account, credit / debit card number, national insurance number, date of birth, etc. (Federal trade commission, 2004) Formal Definition of Identity Theft Although the act of simply embezzlement ones private information is an offense, the key factor to be notable here is that this information is then used to declare to be someone else. In other words we can say when someone else uses your identity as his own with the ultimate ambition for fiscal, material, and monetary gain. The Internet, the evolution of e-commerce, online shopping, and wireless capability, the explanation of identity theft can be further extended to comprise such things as the hacking into the customer databases of large organizations; stealing of usernames and passwords; the theft and hacking of network login sessions; and onwards. The development of e-commerce and particularly Wireless has compounded the problem of identity theft. Basically, it can happen worst yet to anyone, anywhere and at anytime, at variable edges in the way that information can easily be stolen. For example, Identity theft can occur by an individual simply rummaging through the trash cans at the local dumpster (the technically it is well-known as â€Å"Dumpster Diving†, and will be discussed later). Identity theft can also happen at your workplace, particularly if you do most of your work through telecommuting over a wireless link. Suppose yourself sitting in a cafà © at the train station, and while you are waiting for your train. Your laptop computer is connected to the â€Å"Hot Spot† or wireless link at the cafà ©, and you access your confidential customer data as well as an important work e-mail, but how do you know if the wireless link is for authentic? For example, there could be someone sitting next to you, and this person could have set up a fake wireless access point, and you unintentionally logged into that, thinking that you have really linked to a legitimate, safe and encrypted wireless link. Now, you can see that, this person has all the right to use your customer information, usernames and passwords as a result of that fake link, or â€Å"rogue† Wireless access link, And then you are completely unaware to all of this (this situation is well-known as â€Å"The Evil Twins†). Nowadays, you can see every where there is always a case of theft of identity going on almost every day. First, it was simply stealing a Bank Account Number or 16 digits credit card numbers, but now this crime is going on a large scale, where it affects millions of people all at once. Some peoples working in companies where they are steeling and selling customers full details under the table. As according to the BBC world report (March-2008) on local TV news, that HSBC Bank lost one data disk (compact disk) of their customer details. As we move more towards a wireless and mobile world, people who launch identity theft attacks are becoming much more stylish in the manner in which these attacks are launched. We are also seeing a trend today where large corporations are becoming very complacent in protecting their customer databases from these attacks. There are also trends going on where small, Wireless devices with huge capacity are being used in identity theft crime, and private information is even sold during auctioning processes over the internet. Definition of the term â€Å"Electronic Commerce†: â€Å"Electronic Commerce refers generally to all forms of commercial transactions involving both organizations and individuals, that are based upon the electronic processing and transmission of data, including text, sound and visual images† (OECD, 1997), â€Å"Electronic commerce is about doing business electronically. It is based on the electronic processing and transmission of data, including text, sound and video. It encompasses many diverse activities including electronic trading of goods and services, online delivery of digital content, electronic fund transfers, electronic share trading, electronic bills of lading, commercial auctions, collaborative design and engineering, online products (e.g. consumer goods, specialized medical equipment) and services (e.g. information services, financial and legal services); traditional activities (e.g. healthcare, education) and new activities (e.g. virtual malls).† (EC document, 1997) â€Å"Electronic commerce is the carrying out of business activities that lead to an exchange of value across telecommunication networks† (EITO, 1997) â€Å"E-commerce involves business transactions conducted through computer networks. The e-business literature deals with the technical facilities needed to run a business smoothly.†(Laudon and Laudon, 2000) â€Å"E-business creates higher customer satisfaction, by providing quicker service, less effort to buy a product or service, and less business cost compared to a business run without the use of information technology (IT)† (McLeod and Schell, 2001). Both of these approaches to e-business point to changes in the entire vision of a classical understanding of business. Service industrys challenges Companies are using electronic funds transfer (EFT) for their customers as the fast and secure way of transactions, at present; there are two most excellent ways to handle money online: personal checks and credit cards, there are other fast and secure methods to exchange funds online. Electronic funds transfer (EFT) is another name for online money exchange. Here, the exchange of digital money is involved between buyers and sellers. In the front customer authorization is made over the Internet where Banks handles the transactions behind. To ensure higher level of security specialized authentication systems should be adopted. IDs and passwords are one of the most fashionable methods of data security are in use to access a server or Internet site, but these are often poor. To address this problem, Axent Technologies has developed hardware and software solution called Defender that creates unique, one-time passwords that cannot be guessed, shared, or cracked (Venetis, 1999). â€Å"The system incorporates software on the users computer that communicates with the Defender Security Server on the other end. When the user connects with the server, a software token is activated that automatically establishes a dialogue with the server. A new password is generated during each session, removing any possibility that the user will forget to change his/her password on a regular basis† (Venetis, 1999). This study aims not only to evaluate benefits of adopting secure solution to identity-theft, but also to see that what best practices should be adopted by the Companies, which add value to their online business. Through in-depth research, I will be able to examine why customers switch to new online companies for their shopping. I will see techniques other companys uses to give confidence to their customers to retain them. Although there is a very limited research available on prevention of identity theft in e-business, but my aim is to study how I can contribute from the experiences of other companys perspective. By using quantitative method approach, I will try to test the current literature available on the subject matter. The study is based upon research conducted throughout the report from a variety of sources. The scope of the study is the assessment of tools, technologies and architectures that may involve in identify theft in e-commerce. As the scope of â€Å"Identity theft in e-commerce† is a diversified, so I have limited my research to online fraud detection and prevention methods. Why this research? The Literature provides insights into factors underlying the impacts of identity theft on e-business and failure results: customers lack of confidence, inappropriate variety of technologies structures, lack of ability to control and secure online businesses, lack of adoptable techniques and processes, but lack of study on how to secure online business. Research Questions To concentrate the research primary and secondary questions have been devised to establish a central path to guide the research. PRQ:What technologies are currently in place to combat fraud and how do they work? SRQ:Looking at previous fraud prevention techniques, have new technologies actually prevented and deterred fraud from the mainstream areas? The past study on identity theft in e-commerce was not enough to solve the problems. As the cyber crime growing rapidly, it is very difficult to secure online business. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate why the organization like XYZ UK Limited not able to continue their online businesses and what new techniques and best practices are in use by others to run their online businesses. What are the techniques that were appropriate for identity management and how well the organization (XYZ UK limited) complies with these techniques? The quantitative data was collected through an online questionnaire addressed to approximately 50 business executives, partners, experts and consumers. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES This research emphasizes the issues in private company (XYZ-UK Limited) regarding the risk and impact of identity theft that company had faced while doing online business and also the problems they had been through in transactions, made on the Internet. I will also put forward what new techniques should be adopted to increase more business and customers satisfaction. To see companies involved in e-business and how to overcome their problems. Adopt new techniques and ideas to have secure online business. Following are research objectives: To analyze, the affect of cyber crime on businesses and with its consequences on customer relationship. Determine the protection level that the company has provided through its security Policy to maintain the privacy of their customers sensitive information and determine its compliance with industry best practices. To identify the reasons that results for the company in suffering loses and losing business opportunities and determining their plan to overcome those constraints. Analyzing new strategies acquired by the company to achieve the level of protection and review their effectiveness in accordance with existing practices. To provide opinion whether new methods for safe on-line business ensure customers satisfaction or need of improvement. Organization of Research This research is organized as follows. The first chapter, as noted, introduces the research and objectives. The second chapter provides the brief overview of literature on identity theft in e-commerce and describes the critical background identity theft associated with e-commerce., and third Chapter consists of Methodology. Chapter 4 Analysis of the findings of Survey as well as content analysis to assess the scale of the effect of these factors on e-commerce success as supposed. Chapter 5 is a policy document can be used as best practices. CHAPTER2 Literature Review â€Å"Whats my ROI on e-commerce? Are you crazy? This is Columbus in the new world. What was his ROI?† (Andy Grove, chairman of Intel) CHAPTER TWO Literature Review DEFINITION OF E-COMMERCE Various definitions of e-commerce are there; the one given at this point is an attempt to relate to this research. â€Å"Electronic commerce is about doing business electronically. It is based on the electronic processing and transmission of data, including text, sound and video. It encompasses many diverse activities including electronic trading of goods and services, online delivery of digital content, electronic fund transfers, electronic share trading, electronic bills of lading, commercial auctions, collaborative design and engineering, online products (e.g. consumer goods, specialized medical equipment) and services (e.g. information services, financial and legal services); traditional activities (e.g. healthcare, education) and new activities (e.g. virtual malls).† (EC document, 1997) While, defining the term â€Å"Electronic Commerce† ranges from broad (EITO) to the very narrow (OECD), basically they are equivalent. A patent description of transactions rather than the scope of activities are there. A hurdle in drafting a precise definition of e-commerce is the continuing evolution of science and technology and its impact on ever-changing environment. (Civil Jurisdiction, 2002) Identity theft may be broadly defined as the unlawful acquirement or the use of any aspect of an individuals personal information for committing some form of criminal activity (Hoar, 2001; LoPucki, 201; Slosarik 2002). This definition is proposed to cover any type of crime that falsely uses a victims name, home address, bank account, credit / debit card number, national insurance number, date of birth, etc. (Federal trade commission, 2004) Some authors and authorities have obviously been some hard work on the result of identity theft to those whom their identity had been stolen; they were trying to see how identity theft can be avoided and possible ways to avoid ones identity being stolen by the criminal specially in online business and to find what identity theft in e-commerce is about. For instance, Mehdi Khosrowpour (2002) defines â€Å"identity theft is a form of hacking which results in possession of personal data and information by the hackers to masquerade as the true identity owners for future use†. IMPACT OF CYBER CRIMES ON BUSINESS E-commerce oriented Businesses are often having a fear that exposing security weakness gives the opportunity to hackers to penetrate into business sensitive information and do the damage. These concerns have shown to have negative impact on consumer attitudes toward using the Internet to make purchases. (Koufaris, 2002) The outcome is failure in doing business online. The losses can be divided into â€Å"direct† and â€Å"indirect losses†. The complete impact of identity theft is not completely understood so far, but latest researches importance the fast development and major costs linked with the offense have discussed and looking to solve it. Near the beginning debate around identity theft relied on subjective proof which is mainly reported by the popular press Identity theft is in many ways a more harmful act that can have continuous effects on major financial effect on merchants as well as on customers. Recent studies have found that identity theft victims often suffer the same emotional consequences as victims of other crimes. The crime of identity theft can be difficult to track because it takes many forms and is used to facilitate other crimes, such as credit card fraud, immigration fraud, Internet scams, and terrorism. Identity fraud arises when someone takes over fictitious name or adopts the name of another person with or without their consent Rt Hon David Blunkett MP (2002) DIRECT LOSSES Direct losses can be defined as losses in terms of monetary value. Reflection of such costs can be seen as incorporated costs of the market incentives faced by such parties addressing the issue. Surveys conducted by experts show the range of financial losses that the businesses have suffered. Identity theft losses to companies are over two times greater whereas to consumers three times that are linked with conventional payment deception. Analysis of recent consumer surveys has suggested that while users may view the internet as a marketing channel valued for its convenience and ease of use for shopping, security and privacy issues are very influential on decisions to buy online†. (Smith and Rupp, 2002a, b) In e-businesses associated fraud losses are also normally charged back to merchants. From the perspective of the credit card issuer, the cost of identity theft for illegally purchased products is most likely to be claimed against the applicable retailers by the credit card issuer. Internet merchants fraud-related costs are high, and when those costs are combined with growing consumer fears of identity theft it results in significant damage to the business. For consumers, the main impact of identity theft is the unauthorized use of their credit card accounts that could make them suffer financial losses. Corporate identity theft provides perpetrators to conduct industrial sabotage resulting in possible fines to businesses for breach of regulatory rules. Another form of direct losses is the loss of data, according to studies data breaches cost companies losses in terms of administrative performance, management defections and loss of critical and sensitive business data as well as customer data. It will also allow consumers to sue if their personal information is improperly taken from online transactions (Tillman, 2002). It also results in cost overheads for companies to implement preventive measures and techniques. Additionally there will be costs for the recovery of loss-data. It also impacts the company to continue its business processes, above all companies may go out of business because of major data-loss. One more category of direct loss is the loss of equipments and products, since it is very easy for id theft criminal to divert the delivery or shipment of goods by having unauthorized access to the place where it is convenient to pick it up. INDIRECT LOSSES There could be many indirect losses because of identity theft. For example, the time and resources spent on corrective action after the identities and personal information have compromised. However, the ultimate indirect loss, in this regard is, the loss of goodwill, company reputation, customer confidence and relationship with trading partners. Reputation is one of trustworthy behaviour and plays an important part in determining the willingness of others to enter into an exchange with a given actor (Grabner-Kraeuter, 2002, p. 48). It has also estimated that businesses fear to accept large number of orders because of their susceptibility, especially they turn away overseas transactions and hence get to lose business. The combination of financial losses coupled with reputation and customer trust provide great level of damage to the e-businesses. In terms of reputation, it can said that any e-commerce scandal will become headline of news immediately and the media is always curious about such scandals, thus the publicity of any such incident ruins the company reputation largely. Consumers always worry about their privacy. Many researchers have found that, a majority of internet users worry about spreading of personal data, because the person stealing someones data can use it to misuse the bank accounts, conduct a crime using the details of somebody else, can easily get away from worst situations or can even cross countries borders using fake identities, all of the above can create problem for the person whose identity has been used for all such crimes. Liability issues are always in concern when companies are dealing with trading partners or doing the business within a country having strict laws for companies to be found liable if they do not protect their own and critical information of others. Theft of corporate identities may adversely affect morale of third party employees as well as the competitive advantages that a company may have with its trading partners. Using a network perspective, concerning interrelationships between people and organizations, economic relationships between organizations embedded in networks of social relationships (Galaskiewicz, 1985; Granovetter, 1985; Uzzi, 1997). Improper handling of information can also take companies to court where they can held accountable for negligence and can face severe fines including imprisonments. Another aspect of indirect loss is the damage to the credit history of both customers and businesses. Businesses will no longer be able to obtain business loans to boost their business and also cannot obtain insurance benefits from insurance companies. Similar things happens to customers, once their history has been marked susceptible they cannot obtain bank loans, credit cards, health claims and even a better carrier. In summary, the above psychoanalysis shows a picture what an individual or a business might suffer from if cyber criminals steal their identities. E-commerce and Main Categories Nowadays businesses are using heterogeneous computer environments to integrate their proprietary systems with the external world. Database servers and application servers supported with middleware to interface with online connections; these include HR management, supply chain management and customer relationship management. Through electronic networks where the purpose is to achieve businesses, E-Commerce can be separated into major categories: Business-to-Business (B-TO-B) relationship Business-to-Customer (B-TO-C) relationship Business-to-Government (B-TO-G) relationship Consumer-to-Consumer (C-TO-C) relationship Mobile Commerce (m-commerce) relationship The two core categories are Business to Business and Business to Customer. Business to Customer (B-TO-C) B-TO-C e-commerce is a part of the business, which deals with commercial activities between companies and customers. Companies can easily make their strategies according to the needs and requirements of customers, based on analysis of customers statistics in this model, these statistics can be based on marketing, sales and customer service components (e.g. ordering, online assisting, delivering and customers interaction etc.). E-tailing The most common form of business-to-consumer (B2C) transaction is E-tailing. (Electronic retailing) It is the selling of sellable merchandise over the Internet. E-Tailing: Revolutionary Trends in E-Business Recent studies have found that 1997 was the first big year for e-tailing. Dell Computers claimed as they processed a multimillion dollar orders taken through their Web site. In 1996, was the success for Amazon.com welcomed Noble Barnes to launch its E-business site whereas, Commerce Net/Nielsen Media disclosed that 10 million customers had completed purchases on-line. A systematic approach in this regard, needs a good combination of business strategies and dynamic networks. â€Å"The total of these structures is called a dynamic strategic network† (Dyke, 1998). One of the best examples of B-to-C e-commerce is Amazon.com, an online bookstore that launched its site in 1995. The benefits of B-TO-C e-commerce includes that it provides instantaneous communication between consumer and trader as well as products and services can be access globally and transactions happens in real time, whereas the risk includes, the confidentiality and privacy of customers information. Business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) transactions are used in e-commerce and is a type of online shopping. Advantages of B2C e-commerce; The subsequent advantages are: Shopping can be quicker and expedient. Prices and Offers can alter immediately. The website can be incorporated with Call centers directly. The buying experience will be improved by Broadband communications. Background of E-Shopping E-Shopping was in

Business Is Booming Essay

The Broadway Cafe needs to take advantage of e-business strategies if it wants to remain competitive. Create a document that discusses the many e-business strategies that The Broadway Cafe could use to increase revenue. Be sure to focus on the different areas of business such as marketing, finance, accounting, sales, customer service, and human resources. PROJECT FOCUS: * Explain how understanding e-business can help you achieve success in each of these areas. A few questions you might want to address include: 1. What type of e-business would you deploy at The Broadway Cafe? 2. How can an e-business strategy help The Broadway Cafe attract customers and increase sales? 3. What types of metrics would you want to track on your e-business Web site? 4. How could you use an e-business strategy to partner with suppliers? 5. How could a portal help your employees? 6. Would you use Kiosks in the cafe? By implementing the e-business strategy into broadway cafà © I believe that this would help us more to success in our small business. Referring to the e-business strategies I would deploy both the B2B and the B2C strategies. The B2B strategy is definitely a helpful tool that we will be used to deal with all our suppliers. This strategy makes communication between organizations easier.it will help us to keep track of our orders , make our data entry easier for our employee, helps to keep track of our shipment and orders.it will help us to have a good management plan as well.another plan that we can count on is the electronic data interchange EDI by implementing this we would be able to exchange private message between our business and other organizations. From another side we have the B2C strategy and it’s the relationship between our cafà © and its customer.by implementing this strategy in our coffee shop we will allow first all internet users to have access to our coffee sh op and have an idea what’s broadway cafà © is all about and second we’ll allow our customer to have access to their preferable coffee shop. This strategy will allow our customer to make online orders in a small or large quantity and it will make our base of customer larger than before. The e-business strategies in our broadway cafà © will definitely play a big  role in the marketing of our cafà © it will definitely help our customers to meet our new products and to stay attached to the old ones and at the same time it will introduce our product to some new customers . the e-business will definitely help in reducing cost through both strategies the B2B and the B2C.these strategies will allow our customers to have access to their products 24/7 and that help us to increase our sales. A portal is very important for our employee, it makes things easier to understand and clear and allow them to make any important changes that has to be done and showed to public.and from another side kiosk will help our customer to get all information they need online,any events or changes or how to use coupons for discounts etc.

Management Future: Water Management

Corporate water management: Risk for corporations – Opportunity for consultancy services Student Number: 440008 University of Portsmouth word count: 2646 (excluded figures, table of contents, references and executive summary) â€Å"This is to verify that this is my own work and that it has not been used in part in the assessment of other units in my degree† *********************** Executive summary: Water scarcity will be a vital resource for business in the future. In a report in 2008, it is indicated that water imports to UK accounted for 62% virtual water consumption [ (Chapagain & Stuart, 2008) ].It is predicted that the usage of water in agriculture will rise 30% in 2025 [ (Black, 2010) ] and water availability per capita has reduced by 5 times compare to statistic in 1950 [ (UNDP) ]. In correlation with the decrease in water supply, there has been significant increase in social concerns and customer attitudes toward environmental problems [ (Top of Mind Survey , 2010) ]. The water impacts on individuals, corporations, and communities have been realized and increasingly concern about over the same period.Water footprints, water supply-managements are identifiable practices which are introduced for public and private sectors [ (WWF, 2009; IBM, 2008) ]. However, despite the impacts of water issues, the business responses to the problems have been considerably weak [ (Barton, 2010) ]. At the same time, consultancy market has been indicated as a potential field of investment (Appendix 4). Triangulation of trends data suggests a potential market for consultancy service of water management.The article highlighted the business opportunities and profitability that it could bring which include: better knowledge of water supply chain to reduce environmental impact which is an essential value for business, understanding of water footprints practices hence improving CSR. It also proposed the main competitive advantages as low capital requirements and uniqueness of the services. However, it is predicted to have a reducing market share for the future. Low barrier of entries and the shortage in human-resource might be the main ressures. In order to examine this business opportunities, different sets of strategic and market analytical frameworks have been exercised aligning with discussion throughout the article. Contents 1 – Introduction:4 2 – Methodology4 3 – Trends data related to Water management5 3. 1 – Water – a scarce resource5 3. 2 – Escalating concern for social responsibility7 4 – Connections between trends8 5 – Future prediction8 5. 1 – Water scarcity – a worsening trend8 5. 2 – Demand for CSR trend10 6 – Opportunity evaluation and justification 11 – Conclusion12 References13 Appendices16 Appendix 1: Water stress map and Population density16 Appendix 2: Water and Water footprint17 Appendix 3: Opinion survey on climate changes (ONS, 2010)18 Appendix 4: Business Opportunity analysis20 1 – Introduction: Companies have been focused on â€Å"green washing† their images with environmental activities concern with fossil fuels, emission, carbon footprints, etc. But another major subject has been long omitted in this area however is water and water usage throughout the supply chain of the business.It is critical to understand that consumptions of goods and services play tremendous role in water preservation on a global scale [ (Ercin, Aldaya, & Hoekstra, 2009) ]. For the equality and sustainability in the future growth, better knowledge and insights to water management are required for businesses in order to achieve its CSR goals. Environmental consultancy services and business advisories, with timely response can play a proactive part in encouraging, promoting, and providing water management services for businesses in the near future.The service will focus on aligning economic growth of sustainabilit y with water preservation and other related-environmental problems in the business. The consultancy can also provide traceability service and educate traceability managers [ (Wylie, 2010) ] who can examines global supply chain through imports, exports, setting water standards, water footprint reporting, etc. The potential customers are massively wide-ranged from private companies to multinational companies as well as government and non-government agencies. Justification of business opportunity will be carried out in the last section along with the conclusion.The next section will briefly describe the research methodology of the study and key trends related. 2 – Methodology For this project, secondary data is used as the main source. Chris defined secondary sources as data which has been collected previously and reported by other people (2005). The secondary data are fact and figures from different environmental electronic source including United Nation (UN) website, Water Foo tprint Network (WFN) website and Office of National Statistic (ONS) website. Data about water footprint, CSR is from professional reports, and journal articles.Statistical and qualitative data gathered is the vital foundation to discussions of the business and triangulation of trends and figures. In fact, the major advantage of secondary data is its readiness for collection, extensive amount of empirical research are available in qualitative and quantitative forms from various sources. Secondary data are decoded and explained so that they are understandable and easy to read [ (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2009, pp. 195 – 200) ]. Secondly, it is inexpensive with information which cannot be easily obtained individually.However, limitations of secondary data are also considered. Secondary data are collected and analyzed for different purposes and therefore general and irrelevant to the topic of the project. Furthermore, data used in the research are collected variably thus its quality and reliability must be questioned [ (Francis & Wesley, 1963) ]. Primary data collection could be useful but will be costly and time-consuming for the project [ (Chris, 2005, p. 107) ]. Appendices provided statistics related to water footprint, opinion survey about climate change and other water-related data. Some of the figures and table will be irectly put into the content of the article for better explanation to viewer. There are a lot of strategic and marketing analytical frameworks have been used which are PESTEL analysis, Porter’s five forces, Longenecker’s opportunity recognition criteria (Appendix 4). 3 – Trends data related to Water management There are two main trends which are connected and interrelated to the business opportunity. There are also sub-trends discussed within each of the category to further analysis. 3. 1 – Water – a scarce resource â€Å"The Earth cannot withstand a systematic increase of material things. If we grow by using more stuff, I'm afraid we'd better start looking for a new planet. † (Spoken by Robert Shapiro) a) Water shortage Nowadays, problems with water have been a rising controversy for humanity. World usages of water have been quadrupled to 4000 km3 per years while population has growth 3 times in 60 years (figure 1). Major contribution for the increase is agriculture and a growing figure on industry and municipal water use. Figure 1: Estimated Annual water use of the world [ (Kirby, 2004) ] According to UN estimates, more than half of the world's population now lives in cities [ (BBC News, 2008) ].Population density map (Appendix 1) of UK shows an inextricable link of urban areas with water stress map (Appendix 2. 4). World supply of portable water declines, the density of population in urbanized area increases the inefficiency of water supplies and continuingly enlarges water problems [ (Cetron ;amp; Davis, 2008) ]. Human activities include industry, domestic u se, etc which could affect the water supply as well as other trends such as globalization and industrialization. [ (International Year of Fresh Water 2003) ] b) Water management – UK Case The amount of water used to produce food and goods imported by developed countries such as UK is worsening water shortages in the developing world† (Black, 2010) In the case of UK, import goods from other countries are contributing to the water shortage in other nations. According to Chapagain ;amp; Stuart (2008), 62% of the total water in the UK is accounted for by water from other countries, while 38% is used from domestic water resources (Appendix 2. 1) Previous data shows that water consumed by UK residents are averagely 152 litres per days from 1995 to 2008(Appendix 2. ). Nevertheless, the amount of water indirectly embedded in consumption are massively larger. Embedded water in 1kg of beef are 15000 litres while 1 chunk of cheese are 2500 litres; hence with this calculation UK co nsumers only see 3% of water usages they are accountable for (Black, 2010). From 1995 to 2001, 70% of water source are from import goods while 30% water of UK usage are self-generated (Appendix 2. 2). With the increasing trend of usage of importing water, water exhaustion will occur for the rest of the world. 3. 2 – Escalating concern for social responsibility ) Demand for social responsibility from customers and society. Consumers and society are growingly concern about climate and environmental issues. In an opinion survey of ONS, the number of UK residents who are worried about climate changes and environment is over 80% constantly from 2006 to 2009, 30% of people seriously concern about environmental problems (Appendix 3. 3). Nevertheless, the percentage believes environmental impacts to be top three priorities declined from 2007 to 2009 of 9% (Appendix 3. 1). This may due to a recession which introduced major economic problems during the period thus shifted societyâ€⠄¢s attention.On the other hand, 82% of respondents are ready to change their behaviour to reduce climate change’s consequences (Appendix 3. 3). b) Water CSR: responses for Business sustainability For businesses, CSR has been ranked 3rd in 2009 and 2nd in 2010 as concerning issues for consumer goods industry [ (Top of Mind Survey, 2010) ]. Friedman (2007) also identified in his article a strong link between good CSR and profitability of the firm. However, disclosures of corporate water performance from different sectors are surprisingly weak.From a benchmarking study of 100 companies [ (Barton, 2010) ] which examine water performance disclosure quality with a score range from 0 to 100 points, there is no company surpasses 43 points and the average highest score are achieved in mining sector with only 28 points (figure 2). Figure 2: Average score by sector of water disclosure quality from 100 companies [ (Barton, 2010) ] 4 – Connections between trends Water shortage and water-related stresses put corporations into potential problems. Recent reports of WWF and WFN (Or, Cartwight, ;amp; Tickner, 2008; Hoekstra A. Y. 2008) has identified four type of risk related to water issues that business could possibly face: * Physical risk: The shortage of water in the future will be a major problem for businesses. * Reputational risk: Disclosure, quality of disclosre, and other water CSR issues may be questioned by public thus damaging company’s image. * Regulatory risk: As water shortage is a global trend, government will introduce more strict policies and regulations on water resources. * Financial risk: The consequences of the above will be increase in cost/decrease in revenue. (Or, Cartwight, ;amp; Tickner, 2008)For CSR of water, Gerben – Leenes ;amp; Hoekstra, (2008) presented the â€Å"business water footprint† as total fresh water used directly and indirectly in a production process of a business. It categorized as 2 major type: ope rational water footprints which are water used directly in the operation and supply chain water footprint which are used indirectly. Barton, (2010) implies that reduction of water footprint should be part of business environment approach along with other methods like carbon footprints. International trade and business activities has a close link with local water depletion and pollution [ (Hoekstra ;amp; Chapagain, 2008, p. 8) ]. 5 – Future prediction 5. 1 – Water scarcity – a worsening trend â€Å"Forecasts suggest that when the world's population soars beyond 8bn in 20 years time, the global demand for food and energy will jump by 50%, with the need for fresh water rising by 30%. † [ (Black, 2010) ] Human activities especially agriculture will incessantly put pressures on water supply (figure 3). Climate change and population growth will burden agriculture to produce more which increase the demand for water while industry consumption of water will reduce as technology increases.Figure 3: projection of water usage in agriculture, industry and municipal Water availability is projected to keep a decrease for the future (Figure 3). Figure 3: Water availability per capita (UNDP) For a more depressing view, several projections illustrated that approximately 48 to 60 countries will face water scarcity by 2050 with at least 2 billion people in danger [ (UN-Water, 2010) ]. If the problem with water becomes critical globally, the UK development will also be influenced. Water imported to UK are majorly for agriculture products (Appendix 2. 2).The main source of water (virtual water ) in UK comes from imported goods and foods. 5. 2 – Demand for CSR trend Government in response to energy and environmental issues will impose strict regulations on corporate, industries will have more pressures for social responsibilities. Water responsibility should have a much wider-range of measurement and business should embrace a wider set of values to sustain economic growth in the future and prevent incoming water crisis. * Sustainability in future? Figure 4: risk over time associated with corporate water-related interventions. (WWF, 2009) ] In the time of government intervention and corporate responses to water-related issues and other mega-trends (Demographic shift, economic growth, and climate change), risks of water will decrease to a level that meet intervention level (figure 4). In fact, a sustainability future can be achieved with responsibilities shared for everyone [ (HMGovernment, 2005) ]. 6 – Opportunity evaluation and justification The growing concern of water scarcity and public interest in social responsibility are two main trends which will impose pressures to both policies makers and businesses.Pioneers with awareness to areas where water issues are most serious can express actual developments; and turn this to competitive advantage [ (Pegram, Or, & Williams, 2009) ]. However, in order to make clear a lignment between policies, water-based knowledge and corporate interests (shareholder values, profitability, CSR), there will be a gap for corporate water management developed whilst will encourage consultancy services. Water management consultancy service will have two main focuses: * Water footprints accounting practices for corporations Supply-chain water management The former will enhance business practices of CSR, assisting in building a green image for company and control, review efficiently and effectively the water supply-chain while the latter will analysis, evaluate and give advices to where business could improve its water supply chain. Both will be Unique Selling Points in consultant industry which other competitors do not have (auditors, financial advisors, etc). The uniqueness of the service and excellent quality will be main differentiations to competitors.There are insufficient data about market share and demand for consultant services presently; a primary data resea rch would be useful but the scope of this project does not allow. Nevertheless, the market demand are predicted to dramatically increase with the concerns about water-scarcity and social responsibility demand [ (Or, Cartwight, & Tickner, 2008) ]. Particularly, UK will require a wide range of knowledge about water supply-chain management. It is indicated via Porter’s five forces than 5 threats to this industry is considerably low (Appendix 4. 2) which can be explained by its service-nature and knowledge-based gaps.Nevertheless, in the long-term, demand for consultancy services could be decreased. Government regulations and business awareness increase [ (Barton, 2010) ] which may reduce water risks thus the need for consultant services will reduce. This will lead to the problem of sustainable profitability and development in the long-term of the business. Furthermore, reputation development will be crucial for consultant service to ensure quality, reliability and effectiven ess of the service provided. This is a long-term process which requires a lot of marketing and R&D funding.Another factor needs to be considered is financial side of the business. With small capital investment requirement, the investment in business is predicted to be low (estimation of ? 50. 000). With a small to medium-size enterprise which operates efficiently, business could have a payback time of 2 to 3 years and IRR rate amount to 10% cost of capital. However, what is critical is knowledge-based values (intangible assets), with the little people who can have water knowledge and corporate business knowledge about CSR and other consultancy areas combined.Training and Learning may be a problem for mid-long term development that business could possibly face. Last but not least, potentially large number of competitors could appear in the future. Demand for this knowledge gap of water will be filled with concerns about water crisis. IBM has run its program about water name †Å"smarter water management† to explore approaches to water management [ (IBM, 2008) ]. Master (Msc) course for water management has been introduced as part of education scheme for Unesco-IHI: Institute of water education [ (UNESCO, 2009) ].However this education development could as well turn into advantages when more water-managers are available to reduce bargaining power of suppliers. 7 – Conclusion In conclusion, with the water shortage as a predicted trend for humanity in the future and the demand for social responsibilities comes from society in which customers are the direct pressure. It is noticeable for firms and companies to have appropriate response to the problem in a global scale. Therefore, with the demand for water-management knowledge in the future, this would suggest that there is an unexplored field of water-consultant services for consultant industry.The uniqueness of the services provided by corporate water management package will be the main competit ive advantage for the companies as clients’ growingly concern for CSR. Low capital investment required, critical knowledge-based resources about water-management will contribute to the business success rate. However, the reduction in demand for the service in the future and reputation requirements will be the major issues that business may have to face in the long-term development. References Barton, B. (2010). Musky water?Corporate reporting on water risk: A benchmarking study of 100 companies. Ceres. BBC News. (2008, November 5). Retrieved November 17, 2010, from Growing Slums â€Å"face water crisis†: http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7708120. stm Black, R. (2010, April 19). BBC. Retrieved April 25, 2010, from UK water use â€Å"worsening water crisis†: http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/8628832. stm Cetron, M. J. , & Davis, O. (2008). 55 trends shaping tomorrow's world: Forcasts and implications for Business, Government and Consumers. Maryland: World fut ure society. Chapagain, A. , ;amp; Stuart, O. 2008). UK water footprint: the impact of the UK's food and fibre consumption on global water resources. WWF. Surrey: WWF. Chris, H. (2005). Doing your Master Dissertation. London: Sage Publications. Ercin, A. E. , Aldaya, M. M. , & Hoekstra, A. Y. (2009). A pilot in corporate water footprint accounting and impact assessment: The water footprint of a sugar-containing carbonated beverage. Delft: UNESCO-IHE: Institution for water education. Francis, R. J. , & Wesley, B. C. (1963). Research Methodology in Business (1st ed. ). New York: Harper y Brothers.Friedman, M. (2007). The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits. In Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance (pp. 173-178). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. HMGovernment. (2005). Sercuring the future: delivering UK sustainable development policies. Norwich: TSO. Hoekstra, A. Y. (2008). Water Neutral: Reducing and Offsetting the impacts of water footprints. Delft: UNE SCO – IHE: Institution for water education. Hoekstra, A. Y. , & Chapagain, A. K. (2008). Globalization of water: sharing the planet's freshwater resouces. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.IBM. (2008). Smarter Water management. Retrieved January 20, 2010, from IBM: http://www. ibm. com/smarterplanet/uk/en/water_management/ideas/index. html? re=sph International Year of Fresh Water 2003. (n. d. ). Retrieved April 22, 2010, from http://www. wateryear2003. org Kirby, A. (2004, October 19). BBC news. Retrieved April 22, 2010, from Water scarcity: A looming crisis? : http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3747724. stm (2008). Living Planet Report. Gland: WWF for a living planet. Longenecker, J. , Moore, C. , Palich, L. , ;amp; Petty, J. (2005).Small business management: an entrepreneurial emphasis. (13th, Ed. ) Ohio: Thomson South-western. ONS. (2010). Public attitude towards climate change and the Impact of Transport: 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 (January 2010 report). Office of Nati onal Statistic. Or, S. , Cartwight, A. , ;amp; Tickner, D. (2008). Understanding Water Risk – A primer on the consequenses of water scarity for government and business. WWF. Pegram, G. , Or, S. , ;amp; Williams, C. (2009). Investigating Shared Risk in Water: Corporate Engagement with Public Policy Process. WWF. Rickman, C. D. (2005).The small Business Start up workbook: A step by step guide to starting the business you have dreamed of. Oxford: How to Content. Salina, I. (Director). (2008). Flow – For the love of Water [Motion Picture]. Saunders, M. , Lewis, P. , ;amp; Thornhill, A. (2009). Research methods for Business Students (5th ed. ). Essex: Peason Education Limited. (2010). Top of Mind Survey. Paris: The Consumer Good Forum. UNDP. (n. d. ). United Nation Development Development. Retrieved from http://www. undp. org/ UNESCO. (2009). Education of master in water management. Retrieved April 17, 2010, from UNESCO-ihe: http://www. nesco-ihe. org/Education/MSc-Programm es/MSc-in-Water-Management UN-Water. (2010). Retrieved April 23, 2010, from http://www. unwater. org/ WWF. (2009). Water Footprinting:Identifying and Addressing Water Risks in the Value Chain. WWF. Wylie, I. (2010, January 9th). Jobs of the Future. Retrieved April 25, 2010, from The Guardian: http://www. guardian. co. uk/money/2010/jan/09/jobs-of-the-future/print Appendices Appendix 1: Water stress map and Population density 1. 2 Population density in the UK Sources: ONS (2003) 1. 2 Water stress in regions of UK Sources: ONS (2003)Appendix 2: Water and Water footprint Consist of 3 figures: Water footprint in UK, Water footprint versus water scarcity, self-sufficiency and water import dependency. Domestic water consumption in UK 2. 1 Water footprint in UK (extracted from WFN, 2010) | Water footprint| Water footprint by consumption category| | Total| Per capita| Consumption of domestic water| Consumption of agricultural goods| Consumption of industrial goods| | | | Internal water foot print| Internal water footprint| External water footprint| Internal water footprint| External water footprint|   Measurement: m3/cap/yr |UK| 73. 07| 1245| 38| 218| 592| 114| 284| 2. 2. Water footprint versus water scarcity, self-sufficiency and water import dependency per country period 1997-2001 (Extracted from WFN, 2010) Country| Total renewable water resources| Internal water footprint| External water footprint| Total water footprint| Water scarcity| Water self-sufficiency| Water import dependency|   | 109 m3/yr| 109 m3/yr| 109 m3/yr| 109 m3/yr| %| %| %| UK| 147. 00| 21. 67| 51. 40| 73. 07| 50| 30| 70| .| | | | | | | | 2. 3. Domestic water consumption in UK (source: ONS)Appendix 3: Opinion survey on climate changes [ (ONS, 2010) ] 3. 1 Percentage considering climate change to be the most important/in top three most important issues facing Britain 3. 2 Attitude to climate change and behavior change for UK residents 3. 3 How concern you are to climate change and environmental i mpacts Appendix 4: Business Opportunity analysis This part will consist of 3 figures: water management future – PESTEL analysis, water management consultancy market – Porter’s five forces anaylysis, Longenecker’s opportunity evalution criteria 4. 1 Water management PESTEL analysis.Corporate water Management Future – PESTEL AnalysisPolitical * Privatization of water has been demonstrated as a threat to water supply with concerns about politics, pollution, human right to access water and the threat of monopolization of water (Salina, 2008). * Sustainability development policies has been developed since 2005 by UK government (HMGovernment, 2005) which shows concerns of government about future environmental problems * Political issues between parts of the world will indirectly affect the supply of water especially to poor people. â€Å"Water war† as a black swan but actually happened in Bolivia in 2000 (Salina, 2008)Economic * Cost of water will go up as the water supply decrease, unstable supply of water will * Import/export goods will play a major role for water management in the 21st century (Chapagain ;amp; Stuart, 2008). Water consumption of developed countries outmatched other regions which is a serious misallocation. * Specialization, outsourcing will have major impact on water supply and quality.Agriculture, industry increasingly pose negative effects on water (International Year of Fresh Water 2003) * Businesses increasingly concerns about corporate social responsibilitySocial * Access to freshwater is a growing concern for the society. 1. 2 billion people are suffering from water shortage in 2009 (Living Planet Report, 2008) * Sanitation of water is an apprehension as diseases related to water are increasing. Changing attitude of community about climate change and water shortage in the future will * Water users does not realize the real amount of water they using hence exercise shortage of responsibilities * Drou ght, water-related epidemic are wild-cardsTechnological * Government spending on management and water preservation research * New method of calculating virtual water: water footprint * Water preservation practices * Innovations in water allocation, water protection methodsBreakthrough in technology, innovative discovery of water management can be a wild cardEnvironmental * Pollution of water reduce availability of water supply for humanity, chemicals from industrial activities cannot be fully absorbed by water lead to many other problems with the ecosystems * Carbon emissions, global warming: â€Å"According to UN-Water’s reports (2010) Global warming will be the cause of rising salinity level of water, sea level increases by 5 to 88 cm compared to 1990 figures.Consequently, it is revealed that 20% of water scarcity is responsible by climate change. * Water living stocks are reducing as rivers, lakes, other water sources deplete. (Living Planet Report, 2008)Legislation * The right to access fresh and clean water: Large non-government organizations (WHO, UN) set up policies and declaration that water is a fundamental source to life and health which people have the right to access regardless economic circumstances. * Control over import/export goods: Water footprint regulations on corporations to estimate virtual water| 4. 2 Water management consultancy market – Porter analysis (Content in the next page) 4. Longenecker’s opportunity evaluation criteria [ (Longenecker, Moore, Palich, ;amp; Petty, 2005) ] Market factors * The consultancy service will be based on business need to manage water-sources, it must be clear that firms start to realize the important of Water-related CSR. * Technology available (water footprints) but not widely adopted * Knowledge gap (corporate water management, manage water supply chain) Competitive Advantage * The product or service delivered must surpass competitors in some key areas. * Unique service provider: Wa ter management for businesses, footprint accounting. * Deliver long-term value in CSR for clients. Economics The financial feasibility of the project and the ability to grow and being profitable needs to be examined. (Rickman, 2005) ] * Possibly a very large market (apply for all corporation, organizations, and companies) * Low initial costs, setup costs, flexible. Management Capacity * Low capital requirement, small amount of management requires * Could operate as small business type. * Investigation of government policies changes, collaboration with resource-protection, environmental organizations (WFN, UN). * Marketing strategy aims for big organizations first then small and medium enterprises. Fatal Flaws * Business perception for CSR will remain limited (another short-term trend) ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Corporate social responsibility [ 2 ]. Robert Shapiro, CEO of the Monsant o Corporation which is a