Birchfield Bread and Breakfast Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Birchfield Bread and Breakfast - Essay Example This essay stresses that there are some small lodging facilities in this region which have the blessings to be established in the beautiful places of Honolulu. Birchfield can acquire these to expand its business at a large scale. This has been recommended considering the projected increase in the tourist arrivals in the next years. Moreover, in such a way Birchfield would be able to remove some of its competition. At the same time, by acquiring these small lodging establishments it can compete against the large establishments in this region. This paper makes a conclusion that Birchfield Bed and Breakfast has been in operation for the last two years. However, recently it has been experiencing a slowdown in its guest arrivals. As a consequence, in the last year the company experienced a considerable amount of loss in its operation. It is high time for the company to pull off all its resources to enhance its services by offering its customers a comfortable luxury experience with all required amenities. Moreover, the establishment is required to be more focused on its marketing and promotional activities as the competition in this industry is real high. It is very much important to make people aware of the quality services, delicious food and beverages offered by Birchfield. The establishment must drive its resources to carry out a well developed marketing plan to retain its customer base and at the same time to ensure new arrivals.

Frankford Avenue Bridge (Pennsylvania) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Frankford Avenue Bridge (Pennsylvania) - Essay Example Frankford Avenue Bridge was constructed in Poquessing Creek of Bristol Pike-Frankford Avenue, Route 13 between Cornwells Heights of Bucks County in the state of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia city in Philadelphia County (Beckman 200). The bridge was constructed in 1904 by JohnMcMenamy, Webster and Henry H as chief and assistant engineer respectively. The Bridge is current owned by Transportation Department of Pennsylvania. The bridge provides an early example of concrete bridges that were supported by steel with closed-spandrel arch that was single spanned. The exterior parts of the bridge resemble stonework with scored spandrel walls that demarcate voussoirs surrounding the arch ring. The parapet of the bridge is decorated by urn-shaped balusters that was common in the early 20th century Introduction There was a rapid evolution of bridge engineering in America during 19th century. During this period, patents were mostly given to contractors who had new designs with new construction m odes. By the year 1900, wooden timber was no longer used to construct bridges across rivers and streams. Wood was replaced by iron and steel as the latter constructed strong massive bridges that supported heavy locomotives. Wood was also sidelined because it could easily burn and be washed away when the river overflows. Steel bridges became more common in the late 19th century and they gave birth to a new era of designing and constructing bridges. Many Americans did not accept this new bridge design because of their industrial outlook. Steel bridges had no or minimal ornamentation and were vulnerable to rust. By late 19th century, France invented concrete, a new material that was accepted by many American engineers because of its comprehensive strength. In addition, concrete could be combined with steel to make bridges that were strong and fireproof (Beckman 215). By the year 1900, there were a small number of concrete-steel constructions of bridges in Midwestern US. Many eastern pa rts of the country had not explored the new technology but useful bridge making ideas and technology, begun in eastern US in late 19th century (Condit 39). In 1904, Philadelphia city and Bucks county begun the construction of a barrel arch bridge (7T-0") using steel and concrete. It had ornamented balustrade that was urn-shaped with a facade that resembled masonry. The bridge signified an important moment in bridge engineering history (Bromley 17). The construction of Frankford Avenue Bridge begun in 1895 and continued up to 1910.Steel-concrete bridges at this time were characterized by spandrel arches that were closed that later declined after 1910. Spandrel arches were meant to ensure that performs the intended function while at the same time reducing the amount of concrete used (Condit 42). Concrete and Steel Frankford Avenue Bridge was the first bridge in southeast US that utilized concrete and steel and was constructed along Pine Road over Penny pack Greek in Philadelphia (1983 -94).It was a two-span bridge with arches of 25’-5†. It also had a wire mesh which acted as a binding element. Bridge’s exterior resembled masonry. The most popular concrete reinforcing system in USA in the year 1904 was the system patented by Joseph Melan. It was used in construction concrete arch bridge in America. It included curved soffit steel I-beams which later developed other variations that included

Summary 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Summary 3 - Essay Example On the other hand, other people like and encourage the violence in hockey. They see it as a customer magnet. Clubs sponsors and media also demand this violence since it increases profits as games are sold out and papers sell(Miedzian, 187). Therefore, a child who views these players are inclined to think naturally and Little does he or she know that the extreme violence he sees often grows more out of the owners commercial interests than players inclinations as players who do not participate in violence endanger their jobs(Miedzian, 188). A child knows violence outside sports is disapproved of but violence in sports is approved of by society. This unbalances the child who thought sports is about skill and talent but now knows sports is about winning and it means doing anything to win bad or good(Miedzian, 189).What are sports all about? It is about competitiveness not to win but to be the best. It is also about being a task master, by setting goals and achieving them. It is having self-esteem and confidence in

The predictions of corporate failures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The predictions of corporate failures - Essay Example Corporate failures gained higher rates in last two decades. There are lots of factors that lead businesses to fail. Those factors attributed by different economists are high interest rates, heavy debt burdens and recession-squeezed profits. There are lots of industry-specific factors such as government regulation and the nature of operations, can results into to a firm’s financial failures. Studies have found that small, private and newly opened companies with poor cash flow planning and ineffective controlling systems are more exposed to financial crisis than the large and well-established firms. It is very important to have robust and reliable models that predict corporate failure accurately and promptly. It is very important for the management to take either preventive or corrective measure to secure the interest of all the stakeholders. This study would go to discuss about different models for preventing corporate failures and the study would assess the strengths and weakn esses of those models. Financial satiability is very important for any corporate house. Corporate houses are having lots of stakeholders attached with it. It is also an important duty of Government and Financial regulating authorities to keep a close look on the financial health of firm. There are lots of models are there to take preventive actions but it is very important to chose the right one for the right problem. Every model has its own strength and weaknesses. Identification of the proper model for the specific crisis is very important things to follow for any corporate house to avoid corporate failures. Failure of one firm can cause for a serious disaster for all those stake holders related with that firm. According to Beaver (1966), who used classification test to identify different financial ratios for corporate failure predictions. Author used 30 financial ratios and 79 pairs of companies for test

Interview an entrepreneur or small business owners Assignment

Interview an entrepreneur or small business owners - Assignment Example It integrates a comparison of my theoretical learning about entrepreneurship and the practical application of the theory in the business world. The reports reflects upon how entrepreneurs face failure initially and then they become successful. INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY The entrepreneur I interviewed is a young cook, who has opened up her own business of made-to-order fancy cakes and pastries. At the age of 23 years, Maham Baber began her business inspired by a few fancy birthday cakes she observed. Being a food fanatic and her passion for cooking and baking, she decided to open up a small business of made-to-order fancy home sweets of all kinds. Before opening her new business she took a few essential basic baking courses of professional baking. Based in her home town of Lahore, Pakistan, her business has flourished immensely over the past two years of the company's existence. The name of her bakery is Fiesta: Designer Cakes n Pinatas. Currently she works solo in the preparation of or dered sweets. The product offering includes designer cakes, desserts and pinatas. Each of these categories are available in numerous flavours. Cakes are custom made mainly fondant cakes with designs according to the customers' requirements. Desserts include all kinds of sweets like cupcakes, brownies, eclairs, macaroons, fruit and carrot cakes, moose, caramel crunch and tiramisu. Recently Fiesta has introduced a new variant to the business named Oh Ohs, which are chocolate coated cream filled rolls. The company takes orders through a Facebook page. Since it’s a young organization, it does not have a proper website as yet. However, the company works professionally as the orders are taken a week earlier and delivered to customers on the deadline. Sometimes the orders are picked by customers themselves from the owner's residence. At the inception of the business, the entrepreneur had to face certain challenges. For the initial few months, her business was running at a loss since at the time the demand for such fancy products was minimal. The product used to prepare the cakes were expensive as at times imported products were used which are usually expensive. She practically created the demand for designer cakes and other such sweets which took her more than an year. Moreover, her only communication was through Facebook which meant initially she was unable to reach her potential customer base. Also, since she took only a few courses in the beginning before starting, she had some cake and sweet disasters in the beginning which increased her cost immensely. One other main challenge was to convince customers to try out her product. This required good marketing skills which she lacked and hence gaining loyal customers was an extremely difficult phase for the entrepreneur. ANALYSIS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL CHARACTERISTICS As an entrepreneur, there are numerous characteristics which she embodies in her work and these entrepreneurial characteristics are the key to her im mense success in just two years of the business operations. However, her working solo on the orders hinders her way of developing some of the most essential entrepreneurial characteristics. Like every successful entrepreneur, Fiesta's owner loves her work. Her passion for baking is what led her to

Psychological Effects on Subprime Mortgage Crisis Essay Example for Free

Psychological Effects on Subprime Mortgage Crisis Essay The day of owning a home was a wonderful experience that Janet Wilson discovered after closing on her first home. She’s a single mother with two sons and when her loan officer explained that her mortgage loan would be approve and she felt her dream of homeownership will be reality. The closing costs were at a minimum due to the loan officer explained it would be an easy closing with low out of pocket costs. Janet worked for a healthcare organization for several years and was able to save enough money to buy needed furniture for her home. Janet enjoyed her new home and finally felt the independence and accomplishment in her life. At 45 years old, she waited a long time witnessing others in her family and friends reaching that goal of homeownership. Janet desperately wanted to reach that goal as well as experience the feeling of obtaining the American dream. In three years of homeownership she was able to pay her mortgage with no problem and was able to start to re-decorate her home. Her boys loved the neighborhood and had developed close friends their age. Ms.  Wilson forgot all her about her closing until one day she received in the mail a letter from her mortgage company that her interest rate is being increased. Janet saw her new adjusted mortgage payment and she almost fainted with disbelief. She was extremely concern of why she wasn’t informed of this possibility from her loan officer at the initial closing. Janet called the mortgage company and they showed no compassion that made the ordeal even more stressful. Janet did not know what to do and the fear of losing her dream home and not having a roof over her son’s head made the situation completely worse. After a couple of months passed with the increased mortgage payment in effect, Janet was unable to make the mortgage payment so then a barrage of letters was received about a pending planned foreclosure. Janet could not work, sleep, or eat due to the enormous stress about the horrible thought of having no place to live and becoming homeless. The thought of losing her home and turning her life upside down with the automatic backlash on her credit score brought psychological effects to her mentality. She knew it would be harder to get another residence to live with bad credit score and with her limited amount of income. According to Steve Berger’s article; â€Å"Legislators presiding over the subprime crisis hearings should look in the mirror and pose a few hard questions before assigning all blame to predatory lenders and mortgage brokers (Berger, 2007). Ms. Wilson experience was the fundamentals of many other in the mortgage meltdown. With limited regulations in place when Ms. Wilson took out the mortgage loan, the predatory lenders gain an opportunity to make money on the backs of someone else dream. There a great deal of pundits stating that many are to blame and that nearly three out of every four subprime mortgages originated by brokers were either fraudulent or misleading tactics used to trick borrowers and lenders (Bitner, 2008). In the meantime, Janet Wilson is facing foreclosure and in a difficult position to choosing what to do in her stressful crisis. She is torn between trying to save her home with a tight budget or to walk away due to the limited availability – to avoid paying the increased mortgage payment. Janet is listening to every news update on the government attempt to assist homeowners in the mortgage crisis as the investors were assisted. In addition, to the rise of foreclosures across the country similar to the situations like Janet Wilson, the financial industry must and will change in order to bring the United States economy back on track (Lee, 2003). In the meantime, the homeowner is stuck not knowing what tomorrow will bring or if their home will be taken away due to misleading practices.

Impact of the Digital Environment on Copyright

Impact of the Digital Environment on Copyright Critically assess the blurring of the boundaries between the expression of an idea in a material form (which is protected by copyright) and an idea itself (which is not). In your response, you will need to examine the impact of the digital environment on copyright and initiatives like open access and Creative Commons. Discuss whether protecting original works is becoming obsolete, considering the effect of a copyright-free world on individual creators, producers and distributors. Be explicit about how you respond to and extend the examples presented in the topics podcast and town meeting. Copyright can be defined as the ownership of the expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves (Bourne 2008). The issue of copyright is perhaps facing its greatest challenge. The line between the expression of ideas in a material form (which is protected by copyright) and an idea itself (which is not) is being increasingly blurred due to the increasing prevalence and penetration of digital technologies in the national (Australian) and international (global) communication environment. With the proliferation of copyright violations as digital technologies offer file sharing capacities, the development of author favouring initiatives approximating to Open Access and Creative Commons eroding the corporate power of copyright corporations, the existence of legally protected copyright protections a creator craves, corporations pursue and governments protect, is under serious threat. Traditionally the free market economy has envisioned a hierarchy from producer to consumer in the development and dissemination of cultural information. Conventionally, the mode of production had envisioned a role for creator, manufacturer, distributor and consumer. This was a centralised system. Copyright pervaded and that which was protected by copyright was difficult if not impossible to illegally obtain without paying the royalties to the creator or copyright holder. Yochai Benkler believes there has been a decentralisation of the process due to the onset of the digital revolution, particularly with Internet technologies, while technology simultaneously sustains the centralisation of cultural information. I will suggest that we call the combination of these two trends the radical decentralization of intelligence in our communications network and the centrality of information, knowledge, culture, and ideas to advanced economic activity the networked information economy (Benkler 2003, p.1252). The strength of Benklers argument is that its a fresh idea that argues somewhat from a political economy perspective, the production process. The production process has been decentralised due to digital technologies and therefore individuals who previously held no part can create their own ideas by either mimicking, disseminating, copying, plagiarising without consequence. This networked information economy (or decentralisation of production) has led to a blurring of the lines between the expression of ideas in a material form (which is protected by copyright) and an idea itself (which is not) due to the increasing mobility and creativity individuals can utilise as a result of the onset of digital technologies. Benkler believes ubiquitously available cheap processors have radically reduced the necessary capital input costs. What can be done now with a desktop computer would once have required a professional studio (Benkler 2003, p.1254). According to Benkler, a primary contributor to cultural production is pre-existing information, a publicly accessible good while others include human creativity and the physical capital necessary to generate, fix, and communicate transmissible units of information and culture like a recording studio or a television network (Benkler 2003, p.1254). The Internet and digital technologies have to an extent decimated the dominance of the capital generators, those owners and proprietors of copyright such as the television networks and publishers, and allowed consumers to edit pre-existing copyrighted material, or create their own, to the detriment of copyright holders. This leaves individual human beings closer to the economic centre of our information production system than they have been for over a century and a half (Benkler 2003, p.1254). The failing of Benklers argument is that it views digital technologies as offering endless opportunities for individual production. While this may be true, usually the product produced is usually distributed for free and those who attempt to make economic gain are wiped out by the competition that produce free and higher quality software and programs. The impact of the digital environment has led to the proliferation of copyright violations and use of materials by consumers in their own productions and ideas without regard for the intended royalties. This has been seen no better than in the rising prevalence of file sharing software on the Internet, its popularity, dominance, and targeting by corporations for law suits. The most radically new and unfamiliar element in this category is commons-based peer production of information, knowledge, and culture, whose most visible instance has been free software (Benkler 2003, p.1254). An example of these peer network systems Benkler speaks of includes file sharing systems such as Limewire, BitTorent, eMule and Gnutella. Based on peer-to-peer technology (Fattah 2002; Oram 2001), so-called filesharing systems offer the possibility to exchange any sort of digital data for free and without restriction (Quiring 2008, p.435). Considerable losses in revenues have resulted in the film, gaming and particularly communications industries due to the illegal copying and sharing of their products. According to the communications industry, it misses out on considerable revenues each year due to the illegal exchange of communications data (Quiring, von Walter Atterer 2008, p.435). Similarly there has been propagation in the amount of quality free programmes on the Internet that supplant those supplied by corporations and have no copyright protections of their own. The networked information economy opens for radically decentralized collaborative production peer production† a process by which many individuals, whose actions are coordinated neither by managers nor by price signals, contribute to a joint effort that effectively produces a unit of information or culture (Benkler 2003, p.1254). Free software has become the quintessential instance of peer production in the past few years. Over 85 percent of emails are routed using the sendmail software that was produced and updated in this way (Benkler 2003, p.1254). Over 60% of Australians use msn, yahoo, Google or other free E-mail providers as their primary E-Mail account and the development of free virus scanning software such as AVG, free communications composing and artistic programs have gradually eroded communications corporations copyright power and grip on the consumer market. However here, within these filesharing and producing communities the lines between the expression of ideas in a material form and an idea itself are more deeply blurred as the providers of free programmes and those who illegally copy and distribute software, programmes and cultural files (such as communications), known as warez have developed their own codes of production and consumption. An academic of Southern California University, D. Thomas alludes to this in his article Innovation, Piracy and the Ethos of New Media identifies three key fundamentals in the warez ethos (Thomas 2002, p.87). Firstly, keeping information free and open in the face of corporate control, an act which they see as embodying the spirit of the Internet; communications or game lovers right to redistribute goods they have purchased providing they do not profit financially. Secondly the sense of an entitlement to digital content, as after buying a computer and internet access they see the content as already paid for (Thomas 2002, p.87). It can therefore be seen that the digital environment erodes copyright protection and the benefits copyright brings to its owners and distributors. Due to the erosion of copyright protections, debate has arisen as to whether the erosion of copyright is desirable. According to Spinello, while they are evermore protected by government legislation, property rights are often dismissed or disparaged in academic circles. Post-modern critics, for example, find it hard, to accept that creative works have a single author, so the assignment of a property right loses intelligibility (Spinello 2003, p.2). It has therefore been argued by many academics, including Lessig that innovation and creativity depend upon free, uncontrolled resources and more precisely, according to Lessig the Internet forms an innovation commons,† that is, a space where innovation and creative expression can flourish (Spinello 2003, p.3). In an effort to protect themselves from the increasing breaches of copyright brought about by these kind of principles and digital technologies that facilitate these breaches of copyright, copyright owners have lobbied governments to extend copyright protection to lifetime plus seventy years and are attempting to override exceptions granted to institutions such as universities and parliaments along with removing the copyright ownership from creators to themselves. This has facilitated the rise of movements against this trend known as Open Access and Creative Commons in order to protect creators and consumers. Open Access and Creative Commons are two organisations that espouse opposing, yet fundamentally similar goals to deal with the blurring of the boundaries between the expression of ideas in a material form and ideas themselves. On the one hand Creative Commons argues for the protection of creators through the benefits of minimal copyright protections known as moral rights by issuing their own legally recognised copyright licenses. The moral rights extend the rights of creators to the basic entitlements of attribution and integrity that have adopted in the developed world, including Europe and Australia (excluding USA). While attribution is the right of the creator to have his work recognised by attribution, integrity is the right of the creator not to have his work falsely portrayed or misused. Creative Commons aims to promote better identification, negotiation and reutilization of content for the purposes of creativity and innovation. It aims to make copyright content more active† by ensuring that content can be reutilized with a minimum of transactional effort (Fitzgerald Oi 2004, p.1). Alternately, Open Access seeks to minimize copyright in its entirety. Open Access† means access to the full text of a scientific publication on the internet, with no other limitations than possibly a requirement to register, for statistical or other purposes (Bjà ¶rk, Roos, Lauri 2008, p.1). The purpose of this initiative is to accredit creators with their copyright and offer access to materials at minimum or no cost so as not to stifle creativity due to excessive copyright protections under the law. However one must consider the implications of the erosion of copyright as discussed above and whether protecting old works is becoming obsolete. Some scholars and economists believe that copyright is crucial to the development of society and its advancement due to the protections of copyright and their benefits owners of copyright aspire to. A particular point raised in the town meeting was the relevance of copyright if individuals can merely download audio, visual and software files from file sharing programs on the Internet for no-charge. However a report commissioned by the Australian government in 1998 raised the interesting point that copyright is crucial to the capitalist system of innovation and development. These industries form a significant and, to date, growing part of the Australian economy in 1992-93, the net contribution of copyright based industries to the total economy was an estimated $11 billion in constant prices, or 2.9% of the total GDP and the report concluded Copyright is the glue in the various transactions between creators and investors the legal mechanism which ensures that the value of creative effort or investment is not undermined and devalued by others taking a free ride on that effort or investment (McDonald 1999, p.2). It can be affirmed then, that a system of copyright, limited even, is desirable, if not to protect creators, then to at least achieve a balance between the rights of creators and copyright producers and distributors for revenue and moral accreditation, while allowing access to the public for consumption. A system of limited intellectual property protection is justified both as an inducement for future creative activity and as a reward for the intellectual labor associated with that socially valuable activity (Spinello 2003, p.2). It has been argued by many academics that the complete erosion of copyright protections may dislodge the profitability of many industries such as the gaming, communications and film, to the detriment of future production as creators see no purpose in creation without economic gain (McDonald 1999; Lee 2005). For example Illegal file sharing on the internet leads to considerable financial losses for artists and copyright owners as well as producers and sellers of communications (Quiring, von Walter Atterer 2008, p.434). It can therefore be strongly stated that while at times, when applied without distinction, copyright can be an encumbrance if argued from n Open Access perspective. However one must consider copyright as the glue that McDonald describes it as when considering the incentive effect copyright has in relation to the development and dissemination of cultural information (McDonald 1999, p.2). In conclusion it can be seen that the blurring of the boundaries between the expression of ideas in a material form (which is protected by copyright) and an idea itself (which is not) has led to the development of what Benkler has named the networked information economy (Benkler 2003, p.1245). The networked information economy makes it possible for nonmarket and decentralized models of production to increase their presence alongside the more traditional models, causing some displacement, but increasing the diversity of ways of organizing production rather than replacing one with the other (Benkler 2003, p.1247). This has led to the decentralisation of the process of cultural production files (mp3s, film, communications, etc) and is what has ultimately led to the blurring between ideas in material form and ideas themselves as seen with the development of filesharing and peer-to-peer production networks against the backdrop of the digital environment. This has gradually led to the erosion of copyright and the strengthening of legislation in reponse, in turn leading to the development of movements such as Creative Commons and Open Access. The ensuing debate over whether copyright is desirable to retain in the digital environment has led me to conclude that while copyright can act as encumbrance to creativity and learning, by removing its protection the incentive it generates for innovation and cultural production, have necessitated the need for a balance of the two. References: Thomas, D. (2002) Innovation, Piracy and the Ethos of New Media, pp. 82-91 in D. Harries (ed.) The New Media Book. London: British Film Institute.