Suffering in Harriet Wilsons Our Nig Essay -- essays research papers

Harriet Wilsons Our Nig is a novel that presents the harshness of racial prejudice during the 19th century combined with the traumas of abandonment. The stage of Frado, a one time free-spirited mulatto girl abandoned by her white m another(prenominal), unfolds as she develops into a woman. She is faced with all the abuse and torment that Mrs. Belmont, the antagonist, could subject her to. Still she survives to obtain her freedom. Through the events and the accounts of Frados life the reader is left with a painful reality of the lives of indentured servants. Though the novel is not told from Frados perspective, her story becomes more sympathizing and sentimental from a third person narrative. Wilson uses her supporting characters to express Frados emotions and to show her development. Through her style, the reader becomes more aware of the Belmont family and societys prejudices through how they react to Frados suffering. For instance aunty Abby, one of the more sympathizing charac ters, says we found a seat under a shady tree, and there I took the opportunity to combat the notions she seemed to reserve respecting the loneliness of her condition and want of sympathizing friends (54). While Aunt Abby makes an effort to console Frado, there is no real sympathy in her words. They are mechanical and rehearsed. Aunt Abby does not genuinely care for Frado but she does pity her situation. Unlike Aunt Abby, James offers a more sincere regard for Frado. He buys her a puppy and often protects her from his mothers brutal thrashings. He even intends to bring her home with him to live. He does not possess the indifference of his father or the cowardliness of his sister, Jane. Being one of the few characters who emits a genuine aura of concern James i... ...monts but is sadly disappointed by her unfortunate advance in the end of the novel. Slave narratives are not meant to be uplifting but this story brings depressive reading to a whole new level. Frados story is one o f unrelenting abuse and pain. Through Wilsons style the reader understands every point of view and especially the views of prejudice and racism. The title Our Nig relates one of the close insulting realities of Frados existence. She was property in a sense. Her labor and her efforts were equated to those of a horse that could be broken when necessary. Frados encounters and relationships further distinguish this novel from other slave narratives. This story shows what society and what the human spirit is capable of. People can cause the immense suffering of others but People can besides rise up from the depths of despair and overcome great obstacles.

An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley :: Papers

An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley The reason of this period of play is John Boynton Priestley. The Inspector Calls is set out in 1912, around two years in the lead the outbreak of the Fist World War. Looking patronize on it now, or the perspective of 1945 when the play was meetually produced in the Edwardian era. Priestly uses this era to hand over irony because in the play he negotiation almost the large not sinking and a war never occurring again. This was very ironic in particular to the audience in 1945 because they would already know that the Titanic had sunk and had also experienced wars between the time the play was set and the time it was produced. In this play there is a rich, upper class family who were named the Birlings. In this family there was money the minded father of the family called Mr Birling and his wife. They had two children in the name of Eric and Sheila. Sheila was engaged to a rich mans son called Gerald Croft. This p lay is all about a suicide case involving this family. An officer who is called Inspector Goole is investigating the case. He is a hard talk of the town inspector, who is trying to find out why Eva metalworker (the person who committed suicide) took her life. In this essay I will examine how Priestly ends each work on a note of high school drama. I will look at how the tension builds up and will describe how priestly leaves the audience hatful to think about during the ends of the acts and during the invitation. At the end of act one Gerald admits that he knew Daisy Renton (Eva Smith). He only says that he knew her and was hesitant to go on and explain how he knew Eva. All right. I knew her. Lets leave it at that aft(prenominal) Gerald says that sentence tension begins to build between him and Sheila. Priestly presents this drama and tension by building it up gradually in the conversation. Tension is very high and increases hen Sheila figures out w hat the relationship between Gerald and Eva was.An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley Papers An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley The author of this play is John Boynton Priestley. The Inspector Calls is set out in 1912, around two years before the outbreak of the Fist World War. Looking back on it now, or the perspective of 1945 when the play was actually produced in the Edwardian era. Priestly uses this era to show irony because in the play he talks about the Titanic not sinking and a war never occurring again. This was very ironic especially to the audience in 1945 because they would already know that the Titanic had sunk and had also experienced wars between the time the play was set and the time it was produced. In this play there is a rich, upper class family who were named the Birlings. In this family there was money the minded father of the family called Mr Birling and his wife. They had two children in the name of Eric and Sheila. Sheila was engag ed to a rich mans son called Gerald Croft. This play is all about a suicide case involving this family. An officer who is called Inspector Goole is investigating the case. He is a hard talking inspector, who is trying to find out why Eva Smith (the person who committed suicide) took her life. In this essay I will examine how Priestly ends each act on a note of high drama. I will look at how the tension builds up and will describe how priestly leaves the audience plenty to think about during the ends of the acts and during the invitation. At the end of act one Gerald admits that he knew Daisy Renton (Eva Smith). He only says that he knew her and was hesitant to go on and explain how he knew Eva. All right. I knew her. Lets leave it at that After Gerald says that sentence tension begins to build between him and Sheila. Priestly presents this drama and tension by building it up gradually in the conversation. Tension is very high and increases hen Sheila figures out what the relationship between Gerald and Eva was.

Macbeth :: essays research papers

Have your ever seen a play? Plays can be the most marvellous thing in the world. Plays begain takin play hundreds of years ago. The integrity play that was played years ago is still looked at to be one of the surmount plays ever to bring steped foot on the stage. The play is called Macbeth and was first performed in the summer of 1606 with James and the visiting king of Denmark in attendance. The play was writted by Shakespear in thought to please King James and account for the prominence of witchcraft in Macbeth. In that time witches were feared by the less educated people. No one wanted to spread of witchs they thought that witches use accusations of witchcraft as a way to get rid of political enemies.In the play Macbeth there were a couple people that influenced Macbeth to do the bad things or things that he did to be come King and to stay King. I think the biggest influnce of them all was Lady Macbeth she make Macbeth kill the king. At first when she asked him to kill the ki ng Macbeth didnt want to there was no reason for it. But then she called him names and told him how much of a coward he was and that he had to honor. She told Macbeth what to do all the time and when she didnt get her was Macbeth was in trouble. Lady Macbeth was very spoiled if you ask me she needed to get her way and she would do aneything it took to have it like that.There were others in the story that influnced Macbeth to do things that he normaly wouldnt do and that was the witches. The witches had a big part of the play but were thought to be added in after the play was taken. But the witches influenced and told Macbeth that people were goin to talk to castle from him and they made he not care about aneything. The only thing that Macbeth cared about was King. analogous when Lady Macbeth died he didnt care he didnt have time to care or think about his lost wife his King ship was on the line. LadyMacbeth was thought to be a witch but was never proven to be. Like witchs couldnt h ave kids and LadyMacbeth couldnt eather.Macbeths character change form the beginning of the story to the end.

Looking for God :: Papers

Looking for God Where are you supposed to look for God? How are you to look for God, and does it economic aid to decide what sort of thing you are tone for first? What kind of thing is God? Looking from the perspective of someone with no previous faith, looking for general revelation, I would have to narrate you have to perceive what you think is God-like first. If you ask the majority of people with a faith what God is like, they would probably say all good and all-powerful. So are you looking for general signs of goodness, beauty, power and awe? If you are then you can rule out begining God in evil, ugliness, weakness and un-impressiveness. Or can you? I know that black isnt white, but people thought Hitler was good beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so an ugly person to me business leader be stunningly beautiful to someone else the queen bee is supreme over mere drones, however it looks a bit pathetic in comparison to even ingenuous humans a nd David Beckhams match and free kick against Greece last year left thousands of footy fans awe-struck, yet my brother just couldnt see what the fuss was about. God is deeply personal, so will be found in different places for everyone. If you thought that The Miracle Of life was completely un-earthly, and could only be explained with a super-human being, then I bet I could find half a dozen more that just think we are here accidentally. IMAGEIMAGEIMAGEIf you are solely looking for good, you can still find it in atrocities. In Sept. 11 you could find God in the power and awe of it all, but also in those brave people whose spirit never wavered, in those volunteers determined to help, in those fore-fighters who gave their life to save others, those selfless rescuers, counsellors, vicars, children. Osama tried to devastate American spirit and attitude as well as massacre, but he failed in stifling the love and goodness in peoples heats and minds.

Mark Twains The Damned Human Race Essay -- Mark Twain Humanity Damned

Mark Twains The Damned Human Race Within his essay of The Damned Human Race, author Mark Twain strongly declares that the human race is both flawed and corrupt, and that people actually should be classified as lower animals rather than the formerly known higher animals. Twain does not study claim to a Darwinian or creation standpoint, but rather draws conclusions from his own observations in performed experiments. He states that man is the cruel animal, and that we can attribute this to his moral character. However, thither appears to be another side which contradicts his findings. Perhaps man is indeed the highest animal, but possesses something which other animals do not. Twain claims that his observations are based on experiments executed in the London Zoological Gardens. With these examinings, he went on to state that human being displayed a variety of shortcoming not seen in other animals. His first point was that adult male were cruel, while other animals were not. This was backed by the story of the hunter killing seventy-two buffalo, and eating however part of one. He contradicted this by experimenting with anacondas and calves. The anaconda only killed what it needed, as opposed to the Earl. This seemed to suggest to Twain that the man descended from the anaconda, and not the other way around. Perhaps the Earl did not respect the buffalo, which is true. But does it mean that all humans always kill to be cruel and wasteful? Or could some animals exhibit sig...

Mark Twains The Damned Human Race Essay -- Mark Twain Humanity Damned

Mark Twains The Damned Human Race Within his essay of The Damned Human Race, author Mark Twain powerfully declares that the humanity race is both flawed and corrupt, and that people actually should be classified as lower animals rather than the formerly known higher animals. Twain does not hold read to a Darwinian or creation standpoint, but rather draws conclusions from his own observations in performed experiments. He states that man is the cruel animal, and that we can attribute this to his moral character. However, there appears to be another side which contradicts his findings. Perhaps man is indeed the highest animal, but possesses something which other animals do not. Twain claims that his observations are based on experiments executed in the capital of the United Kingdom Zoological Gardens. With these examinings, he went on to state that humans displayed a variety of shortcoming not seen in other animals. His first point was that humans were cruel, season other animals wer e not. This was backed by the story of the hunter killing seventy-two buffalo, and eating only part of one. He contradicted this by experimenting with anacondas and calves. The anaconda only killed what it needed, as opposed to the Earl. This seemed to suggest to Twain that the man descended from the anaconda, and not the other way around. Perhaps the Earl did not respect the buffalo, which is true. But does it mean that all humans incessantly kill to be cruel and wasteful? Or could some animals exhibit sig...

Gran Torino Essay

Does the movie Gran Torino glorify violence and numbfish culture in the United States make specific reference to events in the have? The movie Gran Torino does glorify, justify violence and wedge culture in the United States when used for the greater good as the armament or patrol do to save lives of many civilians every day. The protagonist Walt Kowalski known as simply Walt well hes a character he loves victimisation his gun as if it was his culture after all he is a retired veteran.He demonstrates in this movie that it is only by facing the sometimes provoke obstacles and difficulties of life that an individual can truly be at rest even by guns. In the movie Walt is the main contributor to justifying violence and gun culture including save sue and her friend from near expiry as well as the Hmong saves Thao from Latino aggroup, saving Tao from the Hmong tintinnabulation overly his cousins and for everyones greater good giving up his life to save Tao and his family from anymore danger. As sue and her date are locomote down the street they are confronted by bunch of street thugs(the black gang) who try to sexual abuse sue and threaten to hurt her date.Walt brings justice to this by standing up to the gangbangers they exchange lyric Walt pulls out his pistol to scare off the gangbangers and in successful with doing that he takes sue back home. Also Thao is saved from a gang by gang as he was walking the Latino gang try to interact with him but he puts his head down and keeps walking then his cousin comes almost and saves him from death As he uses force and gun use to potentially save her life which does diligence and glorifies the use of gun violence.Thao is caught by Walt when he tries to slip ones mind the 1972 gran Torino as part of a gang initiation he fails at doing so. His family finds out about this miss deed and in order to fix honour Thao must pay his dues to Walt. The punishment that Thao receives is to work for Walt for 2 weeks in th ose few weeks. He is harassed for failing his initiation and helping Walt.Walt sees Thao for who he truly is in the time they spend together, and lends his helping hand going as far as to get Thao a job.one of the Hmong gang members Thao cousin saw him walking back from work and thinks Thao is trying to make him look bad in the eyes of the family. He is viciously beaten by the gang bangers, his tools are also broken and in vengeance Walt along with his trusty pistol goes after one the gang member and beats the living hell out of him. Walt tells the gang that if they ever touch Thao or his family againhe will kill all of them.The gang does not listen to Walts warning and drive by shoot there house and seriously injure sue. Walt Kowalskis actions are glorified and considered valiant efforts to protect the Hmong family. In the end the most glorified bit is when Walt gives his life up, which not cannot be given back to cease all gun battle and violence to restore peace. Walt does this for the Hmong family in the days before his death Thao had asked him to help retaliate for the drive by shooting Walt tells Thao that they will retaliate but plan it out and tells Thao to come back tomorrow at four.Walt the next went to get a haircut and a suit fitted as well as to get a confession from father Janovich.When Thao returns they go to the basement, Walt locks him in and tells him hes going to end this Thao deeply protests. As Walt shows up he calls the gang bangers out there ready with the automatic weapons Walt sports a cigar as he pulls for a light the gang its a gun and open fire taking Walts life the police are called and there are witnesses this finally puts rest to the violence. To conclude the movie Gran Torino does glorify, justify violence and gun culture in the United States when used for the greater good as the military or police do to save lives of many civilians every day.You never need an argument against the use of violence you need an argument for it.W alt uses violence a lot but it is seen as good including saving sue and her friend from near death as well as the Hmong gang saves Thao from Latino gang, saving Tao from the Hmong gang also his cousins and for everyones greater good giving up his life to save Tao and his family from anymore danger. Ultimately use the use of violence and gun culture brought quite the opposite safety and happiness this was justified in the events in the film, sometimes in real life issues.

Brand Positioning of Maruti Suzuki

MARUTI SUZUKI BRAND POSITIONING By Shweta Amin Market Research Analyst onFebruary 13, 2011 1 nonice What comes to your mind first when u come across the term MARUTI SUZUKI, it always absolutely has to be Maruti 800, best known as The Middle class simple machine of India. BRAND IMAGE- MARUTI from as a score itself is seldom looked at, as a luxury brand. Maruti as a brand is more linked with the secant B rather than A. And over past many years Maruti Has maintained and up till certain extent restricted its Target Market to alike SECs.VARIOUS MODELS OF MARUTI SUZUKI IN MARKET- Hatchback Maruti 800, Wragon R, Alto, Swift, Estilo, Ritz, A-star Sedan SX4 & Dzire. SUV- Grand Vitara, Maruti Gypsy, EECO This is quite evident that Maruti Suzuki is leading in its variety of Hatchback cars. These for all this while were targeting the multitude of people who are middle incomed, but Maruti Suzuki has slowly entered and is steadily growing into the category of Sedan Vehicles. REMARKABLE GROWTH-If we observe Maruti as a brand over the years we can note a remarkable phenomena or strategy from their growth in past years. * It first became popular n noneffervescent is with its launch of Maruti 800 many years back. They targeted middle income groups, who were first time car buyers, looking for low ownership cost with basic need of a family fomite and the price was approx 2lacs. * After this they never looked back. Then came the other various hatchback models of Maruti like Zen, Wragon, and Alto etc.These Cars again targeted the middle income groups, but this time the positioning was not as the basic need, it was comfort at comparatively lower price, of 4 5 lacs. * Then putting Yet another Step forward, they came into Sedans with a price of 8-9 lacs these Sedans targeted SEC A as well as B(up till a certain extent) MARUTI KIZASHI The most recent development from Maruti Suzuki is the Launch of Maruti Kizashi. It has been positioned as the sports sedan it is fairly high on cost with a Price of approx 17 to 19 Lacs.This Sedan is targeted towards the SEC A with a luxury correspond to it. By this way, Maruti Suzuki is now able to target and provide a solution to various types of car buyers, who basically are the different targeted groups according to its Database. Maruti Suzuki seems to have expeditiously planned and structured to connect its brand to masses as not only an Economic discolouration but also a Luxury Brand turning it into an all-rounder. It will be interesting to see the consumers reaction to this change in the Brand Image of their one of most trusted brands

Relationships in Love Medicine

Rachel Robinson April 15, 2013 Multicultural Literature Christian Davis Relationships in have a go at it medicinal drug Love medicinal drug is a series of short stories that was written by Lousie Erdrich in 1984 and covers a time span of 60 years. Love Medicine is discipline in North Dakota on an Indian reservation known as Turtle Mountain. Although the novel is fiction, the cultural, social, and economical aspects depicted are really realistic. Hertha Sweet Wong describes Love Medicine as Metafiction, ironically self-conscious in its mode of telling, concerned as much with exploiting the process of legendtelling as with the story itself. (35) Erdrichs Love Medicine is not so much based on plot as on several recognize relationships. These relationships include the nark out triangle between Marie, Nector, and hit June and how her death made an impact on other consultations and Lipsha a key persona to understanding the novel. June is introduced at the beginning of the novel by telling the story of her death. Although June is dead through the entire novel her memory lives on as her family and friends recall memories they shared with June and even some of their own memories throughout the novel. June will figure throughout the novel as a touchstone for the other characters (Sweet Wong 57) Junes death affected all of the characters in the novel. June is the erratic and once vivacious saucer of the family as described by Sweet Wong. (38) June left behind her husband Gordie and her son King, along with her lover Gerry whom she also had a son with named Lipsha. Every character in the book is impacted by Junes death. June is said to be the catalyst for the narrations that follow, stories that trace the intricate and often antagonistic relationships in the two families from which she came (Sweet Wong 38).Junes son, King, buys a car with the money he receives from his mothers death. The car is a shiny new sports car, which the others do not go near to because they are timid that it is a ghost. Junes death also affected her niece Albertines relationship with her family. Albertines mother did not invite Albertine to the wedding but instead move her a letter explaining to her that her Aunt June was dead and already buried. Albertine was very upset with her mother and refused to speak with her because of the way she handled the situation.Lipsha Morrissey is Junes abandoned son and is arguably the key figure to understanding the whole novel. Lipsha is the one who makes the love practice of medicine, from which the title of the novel comes from. Lipshas first attempt at using the love medicine was for his grandparents who were on the verge of splitting because his grandfather, Nector, does not love his grandmother, Marie, anymore. Lipsha fails in getting a blessing from the priest and a nun and therefore makes the medicine incorrectly. He consequently tries to give it to his grandfather but he refuses to take it suspecting foul play.Lipsh a knows that the medicine will not work unless both his grandmother and grandfather take the medicine so his grandmother, who also treasured to resolve the relationship, forces her husband to eat the heart. She forces it down his throat and Lipshas grandfather ends up chocking and dying from it. This causes Lipsha to realize that his meddling with the love medicine was very dangerous and not something to take lightly. Lipsha is a key figure to the novel because he shows how the love medicine is very dangerous.Lipsha learned a lesson through his actions of meddling with the love medicine. Lipsha shows us what happens when the love medicine is misused. I could tell him it was all my fault for playing with power I did not understand. perhaps hed forgive me and rest in peace (212-13). Lipsha acts based upon how he feels rather than what is logical. He really understands the meaning and purpose of life. Lipsha sees how his grandmother, Marie, is hurting and helps her out. Nector has a confusing and complex relationship with two women, debaucher and Marie that unfolds throughout the novel.According to Hertha Sweet Wong, Nector also articulates the strategy he will follow throughout the course of his life he goes systematically with the current never fighting very strongly if at all (62). Although Nector married Marie he loves Lulu and cannot get pass these feeling for her. Nectors marriage with Marie is pretty happy until he realizes he is still in love with Lulu. Nector begins having an affair with Lulu that lasts for five years. Although the affair is intended for Nector to finally get what he has yearned for his whole life it suddenly turns into a complicated mess.What started as a carefree affair with the love of his life turned into a strict computer programing of when he as to see Lulu and get time away from Marie. The relationship became serious and turned into something that Nector needed. He made Lulu into what seemed like a second wife and turned th is care free love into a chore. Nector became controlling over Lulu and wanted her to only be his. Everything increased in complexity when Lulu had Nectors child. Nector gets fed up with the double relationships tries to leave Lulu. Once he realizes he cannot bear to be without her he decides to tell Marie he is leave her for Lulu.To add to the complexity of the situation, Nector accidentally burns down Lulus house in the middle of all of this. With the mess of events Nector caused he ends up staying with Marie until he is out in a retirement home at an old age. At this retirement home Nector has very poor memory. Lipsha tells us of how Nector begins an affair with Lulu once again at the retirement home. Marie is desperate for Nector to remain faithful to her and searches for a way for him to be forced to. Her solution is to ask for help from Lipsha to make love medicine that will keep Nector faithful.Lipsha messes up in the process of making the medicine and Nector ends up dying f rom it. This seemed to be the only way to in the end resolve the conflict between the women. Love Medicine is a powerful novel. It develops hard, clear pictures of Indian people struggling to hold their lives together, hanging on to the jar against of the reservation or fighting to make a place for themselves in bleak mid-western cities or devising ingenious ways to make more ascertain for freedom, but its most remarkable quality is how it manages to give new form to oral tradition (Sweet Wong 42).The characters in Love Medicine intermingled and interacted with to each one other in a way that takes priority over the plot of the novel. June was not alive throughout the novel but her death and figure played a very significant role in the novel. Junes loss will underscore each characters sense of identity when the tribal community and, concomitantly, each characters potential for survival (Sweet Wong 57) Lipsha is a very important, if not the most important, character in the novel. Lipsha was the one who made the love medicine and intermingled in the other peoples love lives. Nectors love triangle with Lulu and Marie is a complicating mess that is a key part to the novel. Nector was never well-provided with what he got and always wanted more. In the end he could not have what he wanted and ended up with neither of the women. All Marie wanted was for Nector to stay faithful to her but Nectors heart belonged to Lulu.

Public Handwash, Why Should They And Why They Don’t

Public Handwash, Why Should They And Why They DontFunny how little assistance is paid to the importance of backwash hands? After all, who does not know about it? Isnt it something we all learnt at a very tender age? It whitethorn appear to be a common sense thing. It is cognize that the hands ar so much active in cardinals everyday life. It is the hands that encounter everything and do all the work whether clean or dirty. Hands be in that respectfore the routes through which germs and bacteria get their counselling into the embody and in timetually causation infections. According to Larson, et al, (2003), there is the need to always keep the hands clean and at all times. Keeping the hands clean pr levelts transmission of germs and prevents sickness and illnesses to oneself as well as to others. Others tend to trivialize the whole idea and overlook it. It is hard to believe the number of people who get their hands contaminated provided will not wash them. Is washing of hands for some people?After all, some get dirtier than others, dont they? What with the gardener, the mechanic and all those known to indulge in jobs known to be dirty? Is it merely the young children who need to be reminded to wash their hands beca pulmonary tuberculosis they suffer been out playing? Is it only the women or those preparing food that should continuously wash their hands? Washing of hands is not for a particular kind of people but for everybody. This is so by the fact that everyones hands be contaminated from time to time. It is surprising though to realize that even such people as doctors and nurses go without washing hands, considering that they sing the monotonous song to everybody of washing hands. Are they not the role models? Dont they understand the reason behind it more than any one else?Some people who are adversely affected by this are school children. They are known to be very playful and they tend to hold their hands. This exposes them to the hazar d of getting infected be hold they are standardisedly to forget to wash their hands and come lunchtime, they will exercise the similar hands to eat without even hint of what they might be taking in.The fact that there is public hand-wash indicates the essence of the washing of hands. It is not necessary that your hands be dingy so that you can be convinced to wash them. You will be surprised to know how much dirty your hands are, much as they whitethorn appear clean. Whether in the hospitals, schools or restaurants, washing of hands is mandatory. It is shocking to come to the realization that only few people wash their hands later on see the toilet.Is it because of the notions that the people establish about these public places? Most people are known to view these public toilets and washrooms as dirty places. Does this excuse them from washing their hands? There are numerous reasons that call for one to see to it that their hands are washed regardless of whether they appear dirty or not. Just like I have said above, one has no option but to ensure that his hands are washed immediately after visiting the toilet. This is because there are so many germs that are got here and failure to wash hands dictates spread of germs and bacteria known to cause sickness and illnesses.The human body is one commencement of harmful germs and so one should ensure that he has washed hands after stimulateing bare human body. One should in any case make it a affair to wash hands after handling animals. This much affects people who have pets like cats and dogs. These animals are known to be the broaden a lot of germs and bacteria harmful to ones health as they cause illnesses.Before handling any food, one must wash hands to avoid pollute it. This prevents harmful germs from being transferred from theHands to the food and consequently into the body through the mouth, (Roberts, 2001). Again, it is essential that one wash the hands after coughing, sneezing or even scratchi ng. It is unbelievable the germs that are transmitted through sneezing or coughing. There is the need to wash hands frequently because every one is likely to touch the eyes or nose or any other sensitive body part that is likely to cause transmission of the germs from the hands and causing diseases. shoemakers last but not least, one should ensure that hands have been washed after handling soiled equipment. The fact that the equipment is already soiled is a nominate indication of the need to wash the hands.This brings us to the key reason of discussing public handwash its importance To begin with, handwashing is essential to stop the spread of germs and bacteria that cause infections. Preventing sicknesses and illnesses subsequently prevents you from missing classes, job or social activities. This is so in that you do not go down with any infection that may have been caused by the germs. Washing of hands is particularly mandatory for the hospital workers. As the truth is, they are constantly in contact with sick people who may be secreting body fluids. This increases the chances of the doctor or nurse to have hospital-acquired infections. It is therefore only wise for these health workers to wash their hands after every piddling while.Washing of hands not only keeps an individual safe from infections but it also keeps everyone else healthy. In The Journal, December 16,2006, it is promised that one cannot transmit germs from themselves to the next person as they have their hands washed and free from any germs. This applies largely in the context that one is preparing food for others. The chance of having germs transmitted from the hands to the food is drastically trim owing to the fact that hands have been washed. People should always see to it that they have washed their hands before getting into the house. More applicable is the duty to wash hands before handling anything in the house. This ensures that no germs from outside have been brought into the hou se.I have always wondered wherefore someone would think it ok to use the bathroom and comfortably check out without washing his or her hands. Dont they know the kind of germs they can spread? I can work out women do it so acceptably walking right out of the stall and out the exit door without so much as a care. hands on the other hand are not any better. In fact they are on the worse side. Now, someone has their hands on the same surfaces that you will be using soon after and still you dont bother to wash your own hands after you are through? Something is just so wrong, or what shall I say about it?There are still people known not to wash their hands at all. Do these people have a valid reason why they should not? Arent they at the same risk with everyone else of contracting infections? One of the biggest reasons why some people dont wash hands is if one is a man. Fewer men are known to wash their hands after visiting the public restroom than women. The crucial fact is that both men and women are at the same risk of getting infected with diseases if the hands are not washed. It is not so much that the men are incapable of contracting diseases but rather it is the issue about gender. The men see it as though it is only the women and childern who should have their hands washed while they overlook it altogether. It is disheartening when such simple task is not carried out as expected. Doesnt it only require soap and water to have the whole thing done? Its not even like it takes long, yet it is a task not done by many.So much about people not feeling like washing their hands. It is very well known that some public restrooms and washrooms are not anything to write home about. In fact if the truth is to be told, they are so disgusting such that no one would wish to use them. This therefore becomes a reason why one would not use the public handwash facilities.Having talked about washing hands as a way of preventing spread of germs, it does not necessarily follow. By saying this, I want to bring into the limelight the fact that public handwashing may be a source of infections and affects the health of the community. Considering that there is universal use of soap and water, chances of spreading germs from one person to another are high. Thus handwashing becomes a problem in itself other than a problem solver. This therefore explains why many people would rather remain with dirty hands than expose them to greater danger. Everyones health is at this time put in danger as the rate at which the germs are to spread is quite high and the facilitators as well a in large numbers.It becomes apparent therefore that the best thing that one can do is to avoid it at all costs. There is the cost of medication to be looked into. This is the aftermath of handwashing and being infected with the germs that eventually cause diseases. The thought of visiting the hospital about a case of diarrhea is not at all pleasant. For it being a preventable illness indicate s uncleanliness and poor hygiene. It would therefore be acceptable to deduce that while it is very much recommendable for one to wash their hands, there is also the need for great caution. In thinking that one is preventing germs and their spread, he may actually be getting more than he already has in his hands and thus exposing himself to danger of getting sick.Washing hands is therefore a very careful task that should not be overlooked or put on (Curtis, 2002). Much as one might wash hands, it does not necessarily mean that they are really clean. One should then use the appropriate materials, which are clean water and soap. In doing so, one will be doing himself a lot of good and not just to himself but the other people as well. Just like we have seen, the other peoples health is very much affected by the individuals hygiene. Public handwash is therefore both good and bad, as we have seen in the discussion above. This however does not mean that the public handwash should be done onward with.ReferencesRoberts, C. (2001). The food safety information handbook. Oryx Press.Larson, E., et al (2003). Short-and long-term effects of handwashing with antimicrobial or plain soap in the community. Journal of community health, Vol.28The daybook (Newcastle, England,) (2006,December 16). How to avoid flu and colds this Christmas.Curtis, V. (2002,Oct) Health in your hands Lessons from building public-private partnerships for washing hands with soap, Retrieved September 29, 2007 from http//www.globalhandwashing.org/Publications/Lessons_learntPart1.htm

Public Policing Versus Private Security

universal Policing Versus Private Security Kayla Cook CJA/500 November 8, 2009 Mrs. Jancie Graham Abstract earthly concern policing and confidential certificate hire some(prenominal) distinct differences. creation policing is the ability to enforce the law and maintain order in society. Private securities ar paying agencies that perform the protective and loss-prevention duties not handled by police officers. Yet public policing and underground security offers the same services and duties. These services and duties are performed to achieve rough of the same goals. Both cause as leaders in their line of work.The leadership requirements are regulated by two different standards. They both allot a positive relationship with the wretched umpire organisation. This relationship could be enhanced if the two would partnership with one an otherwise. This could servicing them combine their essential policies for the certain role they perform now. Public policing and private sec urity will continue to grow and work in concert in the future. This paper will alike severalise and discuss the importance of a comprehensive security plan, and its key components. The Differences between Public Policing and Private SecurityPublic policing is the ability to enforce the law and maintain order in society. Private securities are paid agencies that perform the protective and loss-prevention duties not handled by police officers. Public policing and private security have several distinct differences. Public policing does the by-line 1) maintain order, 2) performs community service, 3) detect crime, 4) handle crime, and 5) prevent crime, 6) traffic control, 7) stop and question an individual, 8) search individuals and their personal belongings, 9) conduct interrogations, and 10) arrest an individual.Private security does the following paid duties 1) serves as an escort, 2) patrol ho employ and business areas, 3) serves as guards at gates, 4) transport valuables, 5) sec urity training, 6) screening of personnel for employment, 7) technical counter surveillance, 8) security consultation, 9) chisel in alarm systems and 10)offer private security vaults (Reid, 1996). The Similarities between Public Policing and Private Security Public policing and private security offers some of the same services and duties. These services and duties are performed to achieve some of the same goals.In this way they are able to assist each other in performing these services and duties. Public policing and private security offer the following services and duties 1) crime prevention, 2) crime control, 3) assist is emergencies, 4) training, 5) conduct searches, 6) involved in community events, 7) offer security, 8) monitor specific area, 9) provides protection, and 10) they both have legal powers. Both public policing and private security agencies are held accountable for their actions. Neither escapes criticisms from outside sources.Our society needs the services and duti es that both provide to help ensure the safety of our freedom and our property (Walker, & Katz, 2011). The Differences between Public Policing and Private Security Leadership Roles The difference between public policing and private security leadership roles are the standard requirements for leadership. The requirement for leadership in public policing is regulated by the government and urbane service. The only requirement for leadership in private security is to lead by example. This is because private security agencies are privately owned and they do not have a set required standard.The family of Public Policing and Private Security with the Criminal Justice System The relationship of public policing with the criminal only ifice system is to prevent crime and provide justice to the public. The relationship of private security with the criminal justice system is to prevent crime and provide justice to its employees. They both share the same relationship with the criminal justice system. The relationship would be work more effective if law enforcement officers and private security agencies would work together along with the criminal justice system to prevent crime and provide justice to the public and private employees.The Essential Policies for Public Policing and Private Security Public policing and private security have several distinct differences in their essential policies. The essential policies for public policing are 1) Hierarchical- there are many different official and formal levels of public agencies positions. 2) Civil service- civil service examinations are given to chose only the most qualified personnel based on merit. 3) Apolitical- the government gives the policies to public policing to execute. 4) Impartial and fair- the treatment of all citizen using government services are to be fair and just. ) Public affairs-oriented- focus is given to the management of public agencies and nerves. 6) Public-service oriented- profit is not a motive the serve the public. 7) Publicly funded- tax revenues fund these public administrations. 8) Publicly documented- all citizens can look into administrative records and financial documents. 9) Accountable to the public- at anytime legislative and judicial review can be done to public administration. The essential policies for private security are 1) Private enterprise- goal is to complete a private obligation kind of of a public one. ) Private or corporate ownership- private organizations are owned by private individuals, groups, or stockholders. 3) Competitiveness- the organization may be in competition with another organization with the same product or service. 4) Profit incentive- normally the incentive is to generate net profit unless it is a nonprofit private organization. 5) Financing regulated by market price- the ability to sell the product or service is based on revenue. 6) Privacy of teaching and records- limited information is proprietary and the property of the owners. ) Accountability to owners and stockholders- instead of being accountable to the public, the organization and its employees are held accountable to the organizations owners. 8) Some freedom in survival and termination of employees- civil service rules do not regulate the organization ability to hire or terminate employees. 9) Freedom to regulate work methods and organization- the organization is not regulated by civil service rules (Ortmeier, 2009). The importance of a Comprehensive Security Plan and Its Key Components The security plan essential(prenominal) also specify the persons who have access to security areas, and it must specify the various components necessary for physical security, such as barriers, lighting, alarm systems, fire protection systems, locks, and communications. It must detail full instructions for the guard force. These instructions must contain both general orders applicable to all guards and special orders pertaining to specific posts, patrols, and areas. There must be provision for emergency situations. Specific plans for fire, flood, storm, or power failure should be part of the overall plan of action.You should also specify people to entreat in an emergency. After the security plan has been formulated and implemented, it must be reexamined periodically for flaws and for ways to improve it and keep it current with existing needs. Circulation of the plan should be limited and controlled. It must be remembered that such a plan, however well conceived, is doomed from the outset unless it is constantly and carefully supervised (Fisher, Halibozek, & Green, 2008, 36 Conclusion Public policing and private security are major components in the criminal justice system.The mere existence of both public policing and private security helps our communities feel safe. erst the two merge and work together, more problems can be solved to prevent crimes. This partnership will be form when the importance of each others responsibilities and roles ar e identified. Law enforcement agencies are slowly coming to realize the benefits of a partnership with private security can be since 9/11. This was just one of the many examples of how effectively public policing and private security can work together.In the future, public policing and private security will continue to work together to prevent crime and provide justice to all. References Fisher, R. J. , Halibozek, E. , & Green, G. (2008). Introduction to Security (8th ed. ). Burlington, MA Butterworth-Heinemann. Katz, C. M. & Walker, S. (2011). The Police in America An Introduction (7th ed. ). New York, NY McGraw-Hill Ortmeier, P. J. (2008). Introduction to Security trading operations and Management (3rd ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ Pearson/Prentice Hall. Reid, Sue (1996). Criminal Justice (4th ed. ). Madison, WI. Brown & Benchmark.

Movie Review: “Memoirs of a Geisha” vs. “A Geisha” Essay

The film Memoirs of a Geisha is the tier of a geisha girl girl told from a westbound point of view. The narrator is the lead character who is a geisha, whose life is the main plot upon which this movie is built upon. It tells the story of a young girl who was sold by his father to become a geisha due to their poverty. The period is before World War II, and she goes through and through a lot of trials and at first leads the life of a servant or a slave to a well-known geisha. It is already near her young adulthood that she gets to be trained to become fictional character of this elite circle of women who exude femininity and grace.She gets to be called Sayuri and she becomes iodin of the highest paid geishas during her eon. Sayuri however does not desire money or fame that to be venerated by the headwaiter, who, in the end, becomes her lover, as they split up their true feelings for all(prenominal) other. The movie is one which caters to the emotions and tugs at the hearts of the viewers as it relates the transformation of a poor, young, innocent, uneducated child to become a sophisticated, well-behaved and confident young lady desired and fantasized by men.It is said that the movie was overwhelmingly received in the US but not as ofttimes in Japan because of the negative image of the geisha projected in the movie. This viewpoint is often referred to as orientalism. Orientalism can be defined as a Western perspective of the orient or that which is not of western descent. The idea of orientalism is usually referred to as the rationale which promotes the persistence of stereotypes attached to Asian cultures. Orientalism reinforces the Orients contrast to the Western construct, where anything from the orient was discriminated against in a manner akin to the US perception of African-Americans.There is a certain stigma attached to cosmos of oriental lineage since one would be regarded as character of an inferior race. Although there were no app bent po rtrayals of discrimination by Americans against Asians in the movie, the undercurrents of the movie even so reinforced the idea that the Japanese had to bow down to their colonizers as in the way the Cfuzzman wanted to please the Americans to turn them in his favor. With the help of Sayuri, he was able to succeed in doing this.As such, the concept of Orientalism is carried forward and even further propagated, to the detriment of those who are part of the orient, hence, the vicious cycle and the continually widening gap between east and west. In the early times, it is said that geishas were renowned for providing entertainment to their patrons by performing onstage. Geishas were talented and known to be actresses, titillating dancers and singers who were also trained to play musical instruments. Geisha schools were prevalent in the early 17th century, and girls were trained to become geishas at an early age.Becoming a geisha was a highly-regarded profession, and during this period , wives were taken merely for the sake of child-bearing and caring for the house. Japanese customs allowed married men to go to teahouses and geisha pleasure quarters for entertainment, sentimentalist liaisons and sometimes but not always internal activities. Geishas are highly-skilled at manipulating their clients and it is said that geishas mainly hold back the idea of invoke, by way of their beauteous ways and poised seduction techniques which is one of the reasons the men persist in revisiting the geisha houses for entertainment.Perhaps, this is the reason that individuals who uphold a Western view of geishas think that the eventual(prenominal) end of a client-geisha acquaintance will end in a sexual activity, which is not always the case. One of the biggest misconceptions pertaining to geishas is that they do sexual favors for their clients, although contemporary, legitimate geishas do not. Furthermore, the predominantly Western connotation that geishas are high-class p rostitutes or escorts is also a fallacy. In general, the portrayal of the geishas in the movie is a far parole from the original geishas in Japan.Sex is a major selling point of the movie Memoirs of a Geisha includes many detailed sexual scenes which satisfy the Western appetite (Akita). Despite acknowledging the fact that geishas are not synonymous with prostitutes, the films director Rob Marshall delivers a contrasting message through the film. As mentioned earlier, the major idea somehow pointed to geishas as glorified prostitutes or sophisticated women engaged in the flesh trade. This is somehow shown in the way Sayuri was visualised, oddly at the time when a bidding was made by the most wealthy men in the locality relating to her deflowering or the mizuage ceremony.Another sexual cite made is the oft-repeated term water which was said to have been seen in Sayuris eyes, a quality which was said to connote a high level of sexual activity among the Japanese again as viewed from the Westerners perspective. Sayuri as a child was also shown as one who was in someway inclined to the likes of watching sex and sexual activities being done by the senior geisha with a man in the house where she served. This reduces the main character into a kind of individual who craves for sex at such a young age, hence, her strong desire to become a geisha.The movie also exoticized the character of the geisha in that they were viewed as beautiful, mysterious, striking, seductive, submissive, subservient, obedient and elegant all at the same time. Geishas wore colorful kimonos, made-up their faces with special white make-up and used charcoal for their eyebrows, and their hair drawn up in a chignon with pins and other adornments decorated around the hair bun. Geishas were also made to sleep on special neck supports kinda of pillows so that they could retain their hairstyle for a long time.They also wore special slippers which helped them walk in a different manner that would elicit more attention, especially from the probable male clients. There was also a scene in the movie where the geishas and their clients are seen in a public bath where they were shown all naked each one of them dipped together in a common pool where they shared banter and drinks. This somehow became a prelude to the sexual activity that each pair would eventually have immediately afterwards. The film also had some element of romanticism interspersed in it in several instances.One would be the part where Sayuri as a child would feel infatuated to a stranger who buys her an iced sweet candy. The captain who is 30 years her senior, gives Sayuri additional money inserted in his hanky so that she can buy more of the sweets if she wants to. What Sayuri does is she goes to the temple, drops all the coins in the donation chamber, makes a wish and pulls/tugs on the bell to make it ring, praying that someday, she and the man will date again which indeed comes true. She keeps the handker chief and cuts a newspaper picture of the Captain and puts them in a box together with her most precious treasures.Another part is when, as a geisha, she was on the verge of saying her feelings to the captain, but she is again unable to continue because her client has arrived. She is frustrated but helpless and the emotional military position of Sayuri was sufficiently delivered to the viewer. In another incident, she asks her friend Pumpkin to call on Nobu, the friend of the Captain who expressed desire for her, and to whom the Captain was indebted to. She wanted to warn Nobus feelings so she concocted a plan where she would have sex with a US soldier and Nobu would catch them doing the sexual act.Not knowing that Pumpkin also had feelings for the Captain, Sayuri was shocked to find out that it was the Captain whom Pumpkin had called and not Nobu. Feeling remorse for the plan which she had set up, Sayuri decided to give up on the Captain for she knew that it was too late to undo what had ensued. She threw away the long-kept handkerchief that belonged to the Captain, and decided to turn over a new leaf in her life. Fortunately, it was true love which prevailed and the story ended with Sayuri in the arms of the Captain who disregarded what had transpired.Another film which also deals with geishas is the 1953 movie A Geisha. This black-and-white film was directed by a Japanese named Kenji Mizoguchi. The plot is about a 16-year-old girl named Eiko, who seeks the help of a senior Geisha named Miyoharu. Eiko ran away from home because she feared her Uncle who wanted her to do sexual favors for him to repay the debt incurred for her mothers funeral. Eiko asks Miyoharus help to be a geisha, a request which Miyoharu obliges to being a friend of her mom. Miyoharu takes Eiko under her wings but first asks the consent of Eikos father, who, at first, declines.Being matured enough and determined to become a geisha, Eiko gives her personal consent to Miyoharu and Miyoharu decides to push through with Eikos training even without her parents consent. She trains Eiko to become a full-fledged geisha, and within a year, Eiko is ready. Before her debut, Miyoharu seeks the help of Okimi to procure a loan for Eikos expenses. Okimi owns the teahouse where Miyoharu works, and she grants the loan of 300,000 yen to Miyoharu. Eiko is introduced to the community as Miyoei. On her first day of work, Miyoei meets Kusuda, who, unknown to both of them, was the one who lent the amount of 300,000 yen to Okimi.At this time, Kusuda is with Kanzaki, who is immediately smitten by Miyoharu. Kusuda invites Miyoharu and Miyoei to the music festival in Tokyo, which they both accede to. It was not known to them that Kusuda had planned the trip for Miyoharu to sleep with Kanzaki, and Miyoei with him, in gear up to seal a business deal. Somehow, Kusuda was able to convince Miyoharu to go to Kanzakis room, but when he started making sexual advances to Miyoei, the latter screamed and fought back and Kusuda ended up in the hospital.Miyoharu declined other invites by Kanzaki, and this made Okimi furious because both of them Miyoharu and Miyoei were destroying her reputation in the locality. Slowly, they Miyoharu and Miyoei lost their engagements and they were losing money. Due to desperation, at a certain point, Miyoei decided to go to Okimi to inform her that she was now willing to apologize to Kusuda, and that she was now amenable to go out with him. Okimi called up Miyoharu to inform her of this but Miyoharu asked Okimi to send Miyoei home and that instead, she would be the one to go and see Kanzaki immediately.Kanzaki is delighted to see Miyoharu and the latter stays with him for the night. The next day, Miyoharu goes back home with an armful of gifts for Miyoei, but she is angry because she knows where Miyoharu had been. Miyoharu explains that she was solo guarding her innocence, and that she was willing to do what she did for her because she was the only family she had. Miyoei finally understands and they embrace. The phone rings twice reminding them of their upcoming engagements for the night so they hurry up and prepare themselves for work. Having another geisha movie from a different perspective was certainly a different experience altogether.The story is also about a young girls life and transformation into a geisha, but this time, it is told from the Asian point of view. The two films are five decades apart and yet there were significant similarities and differences between them. Some similarities are in the window-dress like the geisha school, the rigid training, the kimono and the obi, the white make-up, the special attention given to the hair design, the special geisha slippers, the neck support for sleeping, the wooden houses, the tea house, the soft manner of addressing a client, the geishas role as an entertainer and the necessary attentiveness to clients.The clients were men, the teahouses served as places to soc ialize in, and geishas held a high place in the society. The fit is of the typical Japanese backdrop which was authentic and true to that period. The differences between the two movies are quite numerous. The hairstyle of the geishas in Memoirs of a Geisha and A Geisha are two different portraits. Although the hair is also drawn up in A Geisha, there are side and top elevations which are diagnostic of the original image.There were no sexual overtones or obvious sexual messages being delivered to the viewer. No nude scenes were included, or even rifle backs shown, even during the time the geishas were dressing up or dressing down. Although the topic of sex was also tackled as Miyoharu had conceded to do sexual favors for Kanzaki, the most baring scene shown was Miyoharu removing the top nightie she had, where she had another full-length robe underneath. Not even a focus on her feet was shown while she removed her socks.When Kusuda made sexual advances on Miyoei, no bare skin was shown, unlike in Memoirs where Sayuri almost got raped and she was stripped half-naked to her waist. There was also no romanticism involved since Miyoei and Miyoharu both did not have love interests in this film. Likewise, the feelings of Kusuda and Kanzaki for Miyoei and Miyoharu respectively were only lustful or sexual thoughts and not of the romantic type. There were no sentimental scenes alluding to romance or emotions pertaining to mutual attractive feature or love.The love element in this film is one between two women who cared deeply for each other like family. The eroticism which was also played-up in Memoirs is also absent in this film since the standpoint is also of Eastern origin. A remarkable difference seen in this movie is that while the geisha was portrayed as a docile individual in the more modern version, the 1953 version showed the geisha as one who knew how to fight back and withhold sex as much as possible.According to history, this is the more accurate image of the geisha because the Japanese government upheld the difference between legalized prostitution and geishas in society. whole shebang Cited Akita, Kimiko. Orientalism and the Binary of Fact and Fiction in Memoirs of a Geisha. lass. calumet. purdue. edu Global Media Journal. Fall 2006. Web. 1 June 2010. Mizoguchi, Kenji, dir. A Geisha. Daiei Motion Picture Company. 1953. Film. Marshall, Rob, dir. Memoirs of a Geisha. Columbia Pictures Corporation. 2005. Film.

Maf 635 E Commerce

PART 1 CHAPTER 1 The revolution Is dear germ CHAPTER 2 E- avocation Business Models and Concepts Introduction to E-commerce C H A P T E R 1 The diversity Is provided Beginning LEARNING OBJECTIVES afterward reading this chapter, you leave be capable to Define e-commerce and set forth how it differs from e- origin. separate and describe the st localise features of e-commerce engineering and discuss their business signifi nookyce. Describe the study causas of e-commerce.Discuss the origins and growth of e-commerce. Understand the vision and forces operating during the tour one five years of e-commerce, and assess its successes, surprises, and failures. Identify close to(prenominal) factors that will define the conterminous five years of e-commerce. Describe the major themes lowlying the study of e-commerce. Identify the major academic disciplines contri unlessing to e-commerce research. A m a z o n a t 1 0 Profitable At Last A mazon. com is one of the meshs approximately exciting and instructive stories.Started in a garage by Jeff Bezos in 1995, it has since big(p) to give-up the ghost the largest meshwork retailer, with the highest levels of customer atonement, the fastest revenue growth rates, and finally, after nine years, profitable. One of the net profit Big tetrad companies, along with yokel, eBay and Google, few would wee aspect it possible when virago first opened for business that an online bookstore would become one of the premiere general retailers in the world. But viragos aptitude to maintain operations at a sufficiently profitable level is a fact that continues to worry investors in 2005.Critics be of two minds either Amazon will become the online Wal-Mart (and suffer from its huge size full as WalMart does) or it will fail to deliver tops(predicate)iorior growth and acquire beca character it has break up itself too thin, taken on too m either product lines, and given away too frequently revenue to cust omers by offering release conveyance and superior service. Supporters, and Bezos himself, counter that Amazon has become the meshings largest retailer on a revenue basis by accenting on the customer, non short-term profits, and that it will ultimately become one of the most profitable by following the equal strategy.Amazon certainly has had a roller coaster ride in its ten brief years. In December 1999, Jeff Bezos graced the cover of Time magazine as its Person of the Year. In the same(p) month, Amazons stock reached a peak of $113 per share. In January 2001, Amazon reported a whopping $1. 411 jillion as its overall loss for the year. Its stock hit a low of $6 a share. Amazon laid off 1,300 employees, constituting intimately 15% of its workforce. Questions virtually its long-run viability abounded. Bezos promised he would make the companionship profitable in two years, but few believed this was possible.But, in 2003, Amazon reported soaring gross sales it achieved its first annual profit ever (about $35 Amazon. coms first meshwork order 3 4 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning million), and its stock hurt ofttimes than doubled to $25 a share. The good pertlys keep into 2004 when Amazon reported profits of $588 million on $6. 92 billion in revenue. How was Amazon able to turn around its business from a $1. 4 billion annual loss to a $588 million profitable operation disrespect the dot. om stock market crash and the withdrawal of venture capital keep for e-commerce companies? The story of Amazon. com, the most easily-known e-commerce company in the United States, in some(prenominal) ways mirrors the story of e-commerce itself. So, lets take a enveloping(prenominal) look at Amazons path to pre get wind many of the issues well be discussing through and throughout this book. In 1994, Jeff Bezos, then a 29-year-old senior vice death ch post at D. E. Shaw, a argue pass investment bank, read that Internet usage was growing at 2,300% per year.To Bezos, that bite represented an extraordinary opportunity. He repudiate his job and investigated what products he might be able to sell successfully online. He quickly hit upon bookswith over 3 million in shanghai at any one cadence, no physical bookstore could stock more than(prenominal) than than a small percentage. A virtual bookstore could offer a much great selection. He withal felt consumers would feel less need to actually touch and feel a book before purchasing it. The comparative dynamics of the book publishing, distributing, and retailing industry were to a fault favorable.With over 2,500 publishers in the United States, and the two largest retailers, Barnes and Noble and Borders, covering for lonesome(prenominal) 12% of kernel sales, there were no 800-pound gorillas in the market. The existence of two large distributors, Ingram Books and Baker and Taylor, meant that Amazon would feed to stock only minimal blood. Bezos easily raised several(pren ominal) million dollars from private investors and in July 1995, Amazon. com opened for business on the Web. Amazon offered consumers four compelling reasons to shop there (1) selection (a data junior-grade of 1. million titles), (2) convenience (shop anytime, anywhere, with order simplified by Amazons patented 1-Click express shopping engine room), (3) cost (high discounts on bestsellers), and (4) service (e-mail and telephone customer support, automated order confirmation, track and shipping teaching, and more). In January 1996, Amazon moved from a small 400-square-foot office into a 17,000-square-foot wareho subroutine. By the determi estate of 1996, Amazon had almost 200,000 customers. Its revenues had climbed to $15. 6 million, but the company posted an overall loss of $6. 24 million.In May 1997, Amazon went public, raising $50 million. Its initial public offering documents identified several ways in which Amazon anticipate to have a lower cost structure than conventio nal bookstores it would not need to invest in expensive retail real(a) estate, it would have reduced personnel requirements, and it would not have to carry extensive inventory, since it was relying in large part on book distributors. During 1997, Amazon continued to grow. It served its millionth unique customer, expanded its Seattle warehouse, and reinforced a second 200,000-square-foot scattering center in Delaware.By the end of 1997, revenues had expanded to $148 million for the year, but at the same time, losses also grew, to $31 million. In 1998, Amazon expanded its product line, first adding music CDs and then goggle boxs and DVDs. Amazon was no long-life satisfied with merely sell books. Its business strategy was now to become the best place to buy, find, and discover any product or Amazon at 10 Profitable At Last 5 services on hand(predicate) online. It also opened Web sites in Great Britain and Germany. Amazon, pundits noted, was planning to be the online Wal-Mart. R evenues for the year increased significantly, to $610 million, but the osses also continued to mount, quadrupling to $125 million. The year 1999 was a watershed year for Amazon. Bezoss announced goal was for Amazon to become the Earths Biggest Store. In February, Amazon borrowed over $1 billion, using the funds to finance expansion and cover operating losses. During the year, it added electronics, toys, home alterment products, software, and video games to its product lines. It also introduced several marketplaces, including Amazon. com Auctions (similar to that offered by eBay), zShops (online storefronts for small retailers), and sothebys. amazon. om, a joint venture with the auction house Sothebys. To service these new product lines, Amazon significantly expanded its warehouse and distribution capabili restricts, adding eight new distribution centers comprising approximately 4 million square feet. By the end of 1999, Amazon had more than doubled its 1998 revenues, put down sal es of $1. 6 billion. But at the same time, Amazons losses showed no signs of abating, reaching $720 million for the year. Although Bezos and Amazon were still riding high at the end of December 1999, in hindsight, its possible to say that the handwriting was on the wall.Wall Street analysts, previously willing to overlook continuing and mounting losses as long as the company was expanding into new markets and attracting customers, began to wonder if Amazon would ever show a profit. They pointed out that as Amazon built more and more warehouses brimming with goods, and hired more and more employees (it had 9,000 by the end of 2000), it strayed farther and farther from its original vision of being a virtual retailer with escape inventories, low headcount, and significant cost savings over traditional bookstores.The year 2000 ended on a much different note than 1999 for Amazon. No longer the darling of Wall Street, its stock price had fallen significantly from its December 1999 high. In January 2001, it struggled to put a positive spin on its financial upshots for 2000, noting that trance it had recorded a staggering $1. 4 billion loss on revenues of $2. 7 billion, its fourth-quarter loss was slightly less than analysts projections. For the first time, it also announced a target for profitability, promising a pro seducea operating profit by the fourth quarter of 2001.Few analysts were impressed, pointing out that the method by which Amazon was suggesting its profit be calculated was not in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. They also noted that growth had slowed in Amazons core books, music, and video business, and profit margins were slim in the faster-growing categories, such(prenominal) as consumer electronics. In 2001 and 2002, Bezos and fellow executives began to implement their strategy for profitability cut prices, offer free shipping, and leverage Amazons investment in infrastructure and consumer brands, while lowering cost of operation significantly.By evolving and leveraging the existing business model, Amazon hoped to do what analysts thought was impossible. The indulgent part of the strategy was driving business revenues higher by offering customers the lowest possible prices for a broad range of goods, providing free shipping for orders greater than $25, and then multiplying sources of revenue. Amazons 6 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning SOURCES Amazon Announces Free Cash Flow Surpassed $500 Million for the prototypic Time Customers Joined Amazon Prime at an Accelerated Rate, Amazon. com, February 2, 2006 Amazon. om Form 10-Q for the nine months ended September 30, 2005, filed with the Securi draw pokers and Ex incline Commission on October 27, 2005 Amazon Faces the Challenges of Its imprimatur Decade, by Paul Festa, Cnetnews. com, July 15, 2005 A sell Revolution Turns 10, by Gary Rivlin, New York Times, July 10, 2005 Tabs on Tech The Internet, by Laurie Kawakami, Wall Street Journal, June 1, 2005 Internet Big Four Worth a Look As Growth Stocks, by James B. Stewart, Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2005 Amazon Net Falls As Rivals reserve Toll, by Mylene Mangalindan, Wall Street Journal, April 27, 2005 Amazon. om, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 11, 2005 Amazon Gets the Last Laugh, by Chip Bayers, Business 2. 0, September 2002. emailprotected and Amazon Marketplace allow oppositewise businesses to fully integrate their Web sites into Amazons site to sell their mark goods, but use Amazons fulfillment and handment infrastructure. Nordstrom, Toys R Us, Gap Inc. , Target, and many separate retailers use Amazon to sell their goods and then pay Amazon commissions and fees.Amazon also offers its expertise in Web site hosting through its Merchant. com program to national brands such as Target. In the Amazon Marketplace program, individuals are encouraged to sell their employ or new goods on Amazons Web site even when they repugn directly with Amazons sales of the same goods. Amazon reports that sales by third parties now represent 27% of revenues and that it makes as much profit on commissions from other vendors as it does from its own sales. Lowering cost proved difficult, but not impossible.In early 2001, Amazon closed two of its eight warehouses and laid off 15% of its workforce. It hired 35-year-old engineer Jeffrey Wilke and a half-dozen mathematicians to figure out how to cut be. The team found a way to redistribute book inventory among the warehouses to reduce shipping costs utilise Six Sigma quality measures to reduce errors in fulfillment consoli leaved orders from around the country foregoing to shipping (adding an extra day to fulfillment of free shipping orders) and further lowered shipping costs by using its own trucks to deliver orders to postal system centers.Wilke and his team reduced fulfillment costs from 15% of revenue in 2000 down to 10 % by 2003. The safari contributed to Amazons first ever annual profit in 2003 $35. 3 million on revenues of $5. 26 billion. The results were even better in 2004 a $588. 5 million profit on revenues of $6. 92 billion. Looking back on the last ten years, its clear that Wall Street and Main Street have differing views on Amazon. Amazon has been a tremendous Main Street e-commerce success story even if it took nine years to achieve profitable operations.It has changed its business model several times, focused on improving the efficiency of its operations, and maintained a steady commitment to keeping its 49 million customers satisfied. In 2005, Amazon was one of the leaders in a survey of customer satisfaction with retail Web sites, while traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers such as Target and Costco received low marks for their online offerings. Right now, Amazon must be counted as an online retailing success story. Few would have predicted this outcome in 1995, or even in 2000.Fo r the future, however, Amazon faces powerful competitors who keep innovating, such as eBay and Yahoo Shopping. eBay has been profitable from its first day, while Yahoo achieved profitability in 2002. But despite Wall Street critics, Bezos has not changed his original vision in 2005, for instance, he announced additional expenditures to increase customer convenience, such as a flat-fee shipping membership program (Amazon Prime). And although Amazons revenues continue to grow, profits in 2005 were down compared to 2004.So the Amazon roller coaster ride continues, and whats around the next curve remains to be seen. E-commerce The Revolution Is Just Beginning 7 T 1. 1 he Amazon story is emblematic of the e-commerce environment of the past ten years an early period of business vision, inspiration, and experimentation, followed by the realization that establishing a successful business model ground on those visions would not be easy, which then ushered in a period of retrenchment and ree valuation, ultimately leading to a more finely tuned business model that actually produces profits.During the last two years, the fortunes of the ecommerce revolution once again have been contrary to what many people thought would happen after the stock market crash of March 2001, when the stock market respect of e-commerce, telecommunications, and other technology stocks plummeted by more than 90%. After the bubble burst, many people were quick to write off ecommerce and predicted that e-commerce growth would stagnate, and the Internet audience itself would plateau. But they were wrong. E-COMMERCE THE REVOLUTION IS JUST BEGINNING The e-commerce revolution is just generator.For instance Online consumer sales expanded by more than 23% in 2005 to an estimated $142$172 billion (eMarketer, Inc. , 2005a Shop. org and Forrester Research, 2005). The number of individuals online in the United States increased to 175 million in 2005, up from 170 million in 2004 (The total population of t he United States is about 300 million. ) (eMarketer, Inc. , 2005b U. S. Census Bureau, 2005). Of the total 112 million households in the United States, the number online increased to 71 million or 63% of all households (U. S.Census Bureau, 2005 eMarketer, Inc. , 2005b Pew Research Center, 2005). On an average day, 70 million people go online. some 140 million send e-mail, 8 million have created a blog, 4 million share music on peer-to-peer networks, and 3 million use the Internet to rate a person, product, or service (Pew Research Center, 2005 Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2004). The number of people who have purchased something online expanded to about 110 million, with additional millions shopping (gathering education) but not purchasing (Pew Research Center, 2005). The demographic profile of new online shoppers broadened to become more like ordinary American shoppers (Pew Research Center, 2005 Fallows, 2004). B2B e-commerceuse of the Internet for business-to-busines s commerce expanded about 30% in 2005 to more than $1. 5 trillion (U. S. Department of Commerce, 2005). The Internet technology base gained greater depth and power, as more than 42 million households had broadband cable or DSL access to the Internet in 2005about 38% of all households (eMarketer, Inc. , 2005c). 8 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning Initial public offerings (IPOs) returned, with 233 IPOs in 2004more than the number of IPOs in 2002 and 2003 combined. The Internet stock conclave rebounded in value, along with the entire NASDAQ stock exchange, which is primarily composed of technology stocks. The rebound in Internet stocks was led by Googles IPO, which raised $1. 67 billion. Googles stock opened at $85 on the first day and has since rocketed to the $300 range (Hoovers, 2005 Rivlin, 2005 Elgin, 2005). These developments signal many of the themes in the new pas seul of this book (see Table 1. 1).More and more people and businesses will be using the Internet to c onduct commerce the e-commerce channel will deepen as more products and services come online more industries will be trans radiation patterned by e-commerce, including travel reservations, music and entertainment, news, software, education, and finance Internet technology will continue to induce these changes as broadband telecommunications comes to more households pure e-commerce business models will be refined further to achieve higher levels of profitability and traditional retail brands such as Sears, J.C. Penney, and Wal-Mart will further extend their multichannel, bricks-and-clicks strategies and retain their dominant retail positions. At the societal level, other trends are apparent. The major digital copy objurgate owners have increased their pursuit of online file-swapping services states have successfully moved toward taxation of Internet sales and sovereign nations have expanded their surveillance of, and control over, Internet communications and content. In 1994, e-comm erce as we now know it did not exist.In 2005, just ten years later, around 110 million American consumers are expected to spend about $142$172 billion purchasing products and services on the Internets human grand Web (eMarketer, Inc. , 2005b Shop. org and Forrester Research, 2005 Rainie, 2005). Although the terms Internet and World Wide Web are often used interchangeably, they are actually two very different things. The Internet is a worldwide network of computer networks, and the World Wide Web is one of the Internets most popular services, providing access to over 8 billion Web pages.We describe both more fully later in this section and in Chapter 3. In 2005, businesses are expected to spend over $1. 5 trillion purchasing goods and services from other businesses on the Web (U. S. Department of Commerce, 2005). From a standing start in 1995, this type of commerce, called electronic commerce or e-commerce, has experienced growth rates of well over 100% a year although the rate has slowed and is now growing at about 25% a year. These developments have created the first widespread digital electronic marketplaces. Even more impressive than its spectacular initial growth is its future predicted growth.By 2008, analysts estimate that consumers will be spending around $232 billion and businesses about $3 trillion in online transactions (eMarketer, Inc. , 2005a 2003 U. S. Department of Commerce, 2005). E-commerce The Revolution Is Just Beginning 9 TABLE 1. 1 BUSINESS MAJOR TRENDS IN E-COMMERCE, 2006 Retail consumer e-commerce continues to grow at double-digit rates. The online demographics of shoppers continues to broaden. Online sites continue to strengthen profitability by refining their business models and leveraging the capabilities of the Internet. The first wave of e-commerce transformed the business world of books, music, and air travel. In the second wave, eight new industries are facing a similar transformation telephones, movies, goggle box, jewelry, real estate, hotels, bill payments, and software. The breadth of e-commerce offerings grows, especially in travel, entropy clearinghouses, entertainment, retail apparel, appliances, and home furnishings. Small businesses and entrepreneurs continue to flood into the e-commerce marketplace, often riding on the infrastructures created by industry giants such as Amazon, eBay, and Overture. Brand extension through the Internet grows as large firms such as Sears, J. C. Penney, L. L. Bean, and Wal-Mart pursue integrated, multi-channel bricks-and-clicks strategies. B2B supply chain transactions and collaborative commerce continue to strengthen and grow beyond the $1. 5 trillion mark. TECHNOLOGY Wireless Internet connections (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, and 3G telephone) grow rapidly. Podcasting takes off as a new media format for distribution of radio and user-generated commentary. The Internet broadband foundation becomes stronger in households and businesses.Bandwidth prices fall as telecommuni cations companies re-capitalize their debts. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) grows to become a major new form of user-controlled information distribution that rivals e-mail in some applications. Computing and networking component prices continue to fall dramatically. New Internet-based models of computing such as . NET and Web services expand B2B opportunities. SOCIETY Self-publishing (user-generated content) and syndication in the form of blogs, wikis and social networks grow to form an entirely new self-publishing forum. Newspapers and other traditional media adopt online, interactive models. Conflicts over copyright management and control grow in significance. Over half the Internet user population (about 80 million adults) join a social group on the Internet. Taxation of Internet sales becomes more widespread and accepted by large online merchants. Controversy over content regulation and controls increases. Surveillance of Internet communications grows in significance. Concerns over expert and governmental privacy invasion grow. Internet fraud and abuse occurrences increase. First Amendment rights of free speech and association on the Internet are challenged. Spam grows despite new laws and promised technology fixes. Invasion of personal privacy on the Web expands as marketers find new ways to track users. 10 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning THE FIRST THIRTY SECONDS It is important to realize that the rapid growth and change that has occurred in the first ten years of e-commerce represents just the beginningwhat could be called the first thirty seconds of the e-commerce revolution.The same technologies that drove the first decade of e-commerce (described in Chapter 3) continue to evolve at exponential rates. Changes in down the stairslying information technologies and continuing entrepreneurial innovation promise as much change in the next decade as seen in the last decade. The twenty-first nose candy will be the age of a digital ly alterd social and moneymaking(prenominal) life, the outlines of which we can barely perceive at this time. It appears likely that e-commerce will eventually impingement near all commerce, or that most commerce will be e-commerce by the year 2050.Business fortunes are madeand lostin periods of extraordinary change such as this. The next five years hold out extraordinary opportunitiesas well as risksfor new and traditional businesses to exploit digital technology for market advantage. For society as a whole, the next few decades offer the possibility of extraordinary gains in social wealth as the digital revolution works its way through larger and larger segments of the worlds economy, offering the possibility of high rates of productivity and income growth in an inflation-free environment.This book will help you perceive and down the stairsstand the opportunities and risks that lie ahead. By the time you finish, you will be able to identify the technological, business, and so cial forces that have molded the first era of e-commerce and extend that understanding into the years ahead. WHAT IS E-COMMERCE? e-commerce the use of the Internet and the Web to transact business. More formally, digitally enabled commercial transactions between and among organizations and individuals Our focus in this book is e-commercethe use of the Internet and the Web to transact business.More formally, we focus on digitally enabled commercial transactions between and among organizations and individuals. Each of these components of our working commentary of e-commerce is important. Digitally enabled transactions include all transactions mediated by digital technology. For the most part, this means transactions that occur over the Internet and the Web. moneymaking(prenominal) transactions involve the exchange of value (e. g. , money) across organizational or individual boundaries in return for products and services.Exchange of value is important for understanding the limits of e-commerce. Without an exchange of value, no commerce occurs. THE DIFFERENCE mingled with E-COMMERCE AND E-BUSINESS There is a debate among consultants and academics about the meaning and limitations of both e-commerce and e-business. Some argue that e-commerce encompasses the entire world of electronically based organizational activities that support a firms market exchangesincluding a firms entire information systems infrastructure (Rayport and Jaworksi, 2003).Others argue, on the other hand, that e-business encompasses the entire world of internal and external electronically based activities, including e-commerce (Kalakota and Robinson, 2003). E-commerce The Revolution Is Just Beginning 11 FIGURE 1. 1 THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN E-COMMERCE AND E-BUSINESS E-commerce primarily involves transactions that cross firm boundaries. E-business primarily involves the application of digital technologies to business processes within the firm. We think that it is important to make a working mark between e-commerce and e-business because we believe they refer to different phenomena.For purposes of this text, we will use the term e-business to refer primarily to the digital enablement of transactions and processes within a firm, involving information systems under the control of the firm. For the most part, in our view, e-business does not include commercial transactions involving an exchange of value across organizational boundaries. For example, a companys online inventory control mechanisms are a component of e-business, but such internal processes do not directly generate revenue for the firm from outside businesses or consumers, as e-commerce, by definition, does.It is true, however, that a firms e-business infrastructure provides support for online e-commerce exchanges the same infrastructure and skill sets are involved in both e-business and e-commerce. Ecommerce and e-business systems spot together at the business firm boundary, at the point where internal business systems link up with suppliers or customers, for instance. E-business applications turn into e-commerce precisely when an exchange of value occurs (see Mesenbourg, U. S. Department of Commerce, August 2001 for a similar view).We will examine this intersection further in Chapter 12. e-business the digital enablement of transactions and processes within a firm, involving information systems under the control of the firm WHY STUDY E-COMMERCE? Why are there college courses and textbooks on e-commerce when there are no courses or textbooks on TV Commerce, radio Commerce, Direct Mail Commerce, Railroad Commerce, or Highway Commerce, even though these 12 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning information asymmetry any disparity in relevant market information among parties in a transaction echnologies had profound impacts on commerce in the twentieth century and account for far more commerce than e-commerce? The reason, as you shall see, is that e-commerce technology (discussed in deta il in Chapters 3 and 4) is different and more powerful than any of the other technologies we have seen in the past century. While these other technologies transformed economic life in the twentieth century, the evolving Internet and other information technologies will shape the twenty-first century. Prior to the development f e-commerce, the process of marketing and interchange goods was a mass-marketing and sales force-driven process. Consumers were viewed as passive targets of advertising campaigns and branding blitzes intended to influence their long-term product perceptions and immediate purchasing behavior. Selling was conducted in well-insulated channels. Consumers were considered to be trapped by geographical and social boundaries, unable to search astray for the best price and quality. Information about prices, costs, and fees could be hidden from the consumer, creating profitable information asymmetries for the selling firm.Information asymmetry refers to any disparity i n relevant market information among parties in a transaction. It was so expensive to change national or regional prices in traditional retailing (what are called menu costs) that one national price was the norm, and dynamic pricing to the marketplace changing prices in real timewas unheard of. E-commerce has challenged much of this traditional business thinking. Table 1. 2 lists seven unique features of e-commerce technology that both challenge traditional business thinking and explain why we have so much interest in e-commerce. SEVEN extraordinary FEATURES OF E-COMMERCE TECHNOLOGYEach of the dimensions of e-commerce technology and their business significance listed in Table 1. 2 deserves a brief exploration, as well as a comparison to both traditional commerce and other forms of technology-enabled commerce. marketplace physical space you visit in order to transact Ubiquity In traditional commerce, a marketplace is a physical place you visit in order to transact. For example, telev ision and radio typically motivate the consumer to go someplace to make a purchase. E-commerce, in secernate, is characterized by its ubiquity it is available just about over, at all times.It liberates the market from being restricted to a physical space and makes it possible to shop from your desktop, at home, at work, or even from your car, using mobile commerce. The result is called a marketspacea marketplace extended beyond traditional boundaries and removed from a secular and geographic location. From a consumer point of view, ubiquity reduces transaction coststhe costs of participating in a market. To transact, it is no longer necessary that you spend time and money traveling to a market. At a broader level, the ubiquity of e-commerce lowers the cognitive energy required to transact in a marketspace.Cognitive energy refers to the mental effort required to complete a task. Humans generally seek to reduce cognitive energy outlays. When given a choice, humans will ubiquity ava ilable just about everywhere, at all times. marketspace marketplace extended beyond traditional boundaries and removed from a temporal and geographic location E-commerce The Revolution Is Just Beginning 13 TABLE 1. 2 SEVEN UNIQUE FEATURES OF E-COMMERCE TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS SIGNIFICANCE The marketplace is extended beyond traditional boundaries and is removed from a temporal and geographic location. Marketspace is created shopping can take place anywhere.Customer convenience is enhanced, and shopping costs are reduced. Commerce is enabled across cultural and national boundaries seamlessly and without modification. Marketspace includes potentially billions of consumers and millions of businesses worldwide. There is one set of technical media standards across the globe. Video, audio, and text marketing subjects are integrated into a single marketing message and consuming experience. Consumers are engaged in a dialog that dynamically adjusts the experience to the individual, and makes th e consumer a co-participant in the process of delivering goods to the market.Information processing, storage, and communication costs drop dramatically, while currency, accuracy, and timeliness improve greatly. Information becomes plentiful, cheap, and accurate. Personalization of marketing messages and customization of products and services are based on individual characteristics. E-COMMERCE TECHNOLOGY DIMENSION UbiquityInternet/Web technology is available everywhere at work, at home, and elsewhere via mobile devices, anytime. Global reachThe technology reaches across national boundaries, around the earth. Universal standardsThere is one set of technology standards, namely Internet standards.RichnessVideo, audio, and text messages are possible. InteractivityThe technology works through interaction with the user. Information niggardlinessThe technology reduces information costs and raises quality. Personalization/CustomizationThe technology allows personalised messages to be delive red to individuals as well as groups. choose the path requiring the least effortthe most convenient path (Shapiro and Varian, 1999 Tversky and Kahneman, 1981). Global Reach E-commerce technology permits commercial transactions to cross cultural and national boundaries far more conveniently and cost-effectively than is true in traditional commerce.As a result, the potential market size for e-commerce merchants is roughly equal to the size of the worlds online population (over 1 billion in 2005, and growing rapidly, according to the Computer Industry 14 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning reach the total number of users or customers an e-commerce business can obtain Almanac) (Computer Industry Almanac, Inc. , 2006). The total number of users or customers an e-commerce business can obtain is a measure of its reach (Evans and Wurster, 1997). In contrast, most traditional commerce is local anaesthetic or regionalit involves local merchants or national merchants with local outlets .Television and radio stations, and newspapers, for instance, are primarily local and regional institutions with limited but powerful national networks that can attract a national audience. In contrast to e-commerce technology, these older commerce technologies do not easily cross national boundaries to a global audience. Universal Standards One strikingly unusual feature of e-commerce technologies is that the technical standards of the Internet, and therefore the technical standards for conducting e-commerce, are universal standardsthey are shared by all nations around the world.In contrast, most traditional commerce technologies differ from one nation to the next. For instance, television and radio standards differ around the world, as does cell telephone technology. The universal technical standards of the Internet and e-commerce greatly lower market entry coststhe cost merchants must pay just to bring their goods to market. At the same time, for consumers, universal standards re duce search coststhe effort required to find fitted products.And by creating a single, one-world marketspace, where prices and product descriptions can be inexpensively displayed for all to see, price discovery becomes simpler, faster, and more accurate (Bakos, 1997 Kambil, 1997). And users of the Internet, both businesses and individuals, experience network externalitiesbenefits that stick up because everyone uses the same technology. With e-commerce technologies, it is possible for the first time in history to easily find many of the suppliers, prices, and delivery terms of a specific product anywhere in the world, and to view them in a coherent, comparative environment.Although this is not necessarily realistic today for all or many products, it is a potential that will be exploited in the future. universal standards standards that are shared by all nations around the world Richness splendour the complexity and content of a message Information well-to-doness refers to the com plexity and content of a message (Evans and Wurster, 1999). Traditional markets, national sales forces, and small retail stores have great richness they are able to provide personal, face-to-face service using aural and visual cues when making a sale.The richness of traditional markets makes them a powerful selling or commercial environment. Prior to the development of the Web, there was a trade-off between richness and reach the larger the audience reached, the less rich the message (see Figure 1. 2). interactivity technology that allows for two-way communication between merchant and consumer Interactivity Unlike any of the commercial technologies of the twentieth century, with the possible exception of the telephone, e-commerce technologies allow for interactivity, meaning they enable two-way communication between merchant and consumer.Television, for instance, cannot ask viewers any questions or enter into conversations E-commerce The Revolution Is Just Beginning 15 FIGURE 1. 2 T HE CHANGING TRADE-OFF BETWEEN RICHNESS AND REACH E-commerce technologies have changed the traditional tradeoff between richness and reach. The Internet and the Web can deliver, to an audience of millions, rich marketing messages with text, video, and audio, in a way not possible with traditional commerce technologies such as radio, television, or magazines. SOURCE Evans and Wurster, 2000. ith them, and it cannot request that customer information be entered into a form. In contrast, all of these activities are possible on an e-commerce Web site. Interactivity allows an online merchant to engage a consumer in ways similar to a face-to-face experience, but on a much more massive, global scale. Information Density The Internet and the Web vastly increase information densitythe total amount and quality of information available to all market participants, consumers, and merchants alike. E-commerce technologies reduce information collection, storage, processing, and communication costs.At the same time, these technologies increase greatly the currency, accuracy, and timeliness of informationmaking information more useful and important than ever. As a result, information becomes more plentiful, less expensive, and of higher quality. A number of business consequences result from the growth in information density. In e-commerce markets, prices and costs become more transparent. Price transparency refers to the ease with which consumers can find out the variety of prices in a market cost transparency refers to the ability of consumers to discover the actual costs merchants pay for products (Sinha, 2000).But there are advantages for merchants as well. Online merchants can discover much more about consumers this allows merchants to segment the market into groups willing to pay different prices and permits them to engage in price discriminationselling the same goods, or nearly information density the total amount and quality of information available to all market participan ts 16 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning the same goods, to different targeted groups at different prices.For instance, an online merchant can discover a consumers avid interest in expensive exotic vacations, and then pitch expensive exotic vacation plans to that consumer at a premium price, knowing this person is willing to pay extra for such a vacation. At the same time, the online merchant can pitch the same vacation plan at a lower price to more price-sensitive consumers (Shapiro and Varian, 1999). Merchants also have enhanced abilities to split up their products in terms of cost, brand, and quality. Personalization/Customization ersonalization the targeting of marketing messages to specific individuals by adjusting the message to a persons name, interests, and past purchases customization changing the delivered product or service based on a users preferences or prior behavior E-commerce technologies permit personalization merchants can target their marketing messages t o specific individuals by adjusting the message to a persons name, interests, and past purchases. The technology also permits customization changing the delivered product or service based on a users preferences or prior behavior.Given the interactive nature of e-commerce technology, much information about the consumer can be gathered in the marketplace at the moment of purchase. With the increase in information density, a great make of information about the consumers past purchases and behavior can be stored and used by online merchants. The result is a level of personalization and customization unthinkable with existing commerce technologies. For instance, you may be able to shape what you see on television by selecting a channel, but you cannot change the contents of the channel you have chosen.In contrast, the online verson of the Wall Street Journal allows you to select the type of news stories you want to see first, and gives you the opportunity to be alerted when certain even ts happen. Now, lets return to the question that incite this section Why study e-commerce? The answer is simply that e-commerce technologiesand the digital markets that resultpromise to bring about some fundamental, unprecedented shifts in commerce. One of these shifts, for instance, appears to be a large reduction in information asymmetry among all market participants (consumers and merchants).In the past, merchants and manufacturers were able to prevent consumers from learning about their costs, price discrimination strategies, and profits from sales. This becomes more difficult with e-commerce, and the entire marketplace potentially becomes highly price competitive. In addition, the unique dimensions of e-commerce technologies listed in Table 1. 2 also suggest many new possibilities for marketing and sellinga powerful set of interactive, personalized, and rich messages are available for delivery to segmented, targeted audiences.E-commerce technologies make it possible for mercha nts to know much more about consumers and to be able to use this information more effectively than was ever true in the past. Potentially, online merchants could use this new information to develop new information asymmetries, enhance their ability to brand products, charge premium prices for high-quality service, and segment the market into an endless number of subgroups, each receiving a different price. To complicate matters further, these same technologies make it possible for merchants to know more about other merchants than was ever true in the past.This presents the possibility that merchants might collude on prices rather than compete and drive overall average prices up. This strategy works especially well when there are just a E-commerce The Revolution Is Just Beginning 17 TABLE 1. 3 MAJOR TYPES OF E-COMMERCE EXAMPLE Amazon. com is a general merchandiser that sells consumer products to retail consumers. ChemConnect. com is a chemical substance industry exchange that creates an electronic market for chemical producers and users. eBay. com creates a marketspace where consumers can auction or sell goods directly to other consumers.Gnutella is a software application that permits consumers to share music with one another directly, without the intervention of a market maker as in C2C e-commerce. Wireless mobile devices such as PDAs (personal digital assistants) or cell phones can be used to conduct commercial transactions. TYPE OF E-COMMERCE B2CBusiness-to-Consumer B2BBusiness-to-Business C2CConsumer-to-Consumer P2PPeer-to-Peer M-commerceMobile commerce few suppliers (Varian, 2000b). We examine these different visions of e-commerce friction-free commerce versus a brand-driven imperfect marketplacefurther in constituent 1. 2 and throughout the book.TYPES OF E-COMMERCE There are a variety of different types of e-commerce and many different ways to characterize these types. Table 1. 3 lists the five major types of e-commerce discussed in this book. 1 For the most part, we distinguish different types of e-commerce by the nature of the market relationshipwho is selling to whom. The exceptions are P2P and m-commerce, which are technology-based distinctions. Business-to-Consumer (B2C) E-commerce The most commonly discussed type of e-commerce is Business-to-Consumer (B2C) e-commerce, in which online businesses attempt to reach individual consumers.Even though B2C is comparatively small ($140$170 billion in 2005), it has grown exponentially since 1995, and is the type of e-commerce that most consumers are likely to encounter. Within the B2C category, there are many different types of business models. Chapter 2 has a detailed discussion of seven different B2C business mod1 Business-to-Consumer (B2C) e-commerce online businesses selling to individual consumers Business-to-Government (B2G) e-commerce can be considered yet another type of e-commerce.For the purposes of this text, we subsume B2G e-commerce within B2B e-commerce, viewing the gover nment as simply a form of business when it acts as a procurer of goods and/or services. 18 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning els portals, online retailers, content providers, transaction brokers, market creators, service providers, and lodge providers. Business-to-Business (B2B) E-commerce Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce online businesses selling to other businesses Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce, in which businesses focus on selling to other businesses, is the largest form of e-commerce, with over $1. trillion in transactions in the United States in 2005. There was an estimated $13 trillion in business-to-business exchanges of all kinds, online and offline, in 2002, suggesting that B2B e-commerce has significant growth potential (eMarketer, Inc. , 2003). The ultimate size of B2B e-commerce could be huge. There are two primary business models used within the B2B arena Net marketplaces, which include e-distributors, e-procurement companies, exchanges and indust ry consortia, and private industrial networks, which include single firm networks and industry-wide networks.Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) E-commerce Consumer-toConsumer (C2C) e-commerce consumers selling to other consumers Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) e-commerce provides a way for consumers to sell to each other, with the help of an online market maker such as the auction site eBay. Given that in 2005, eBay generated more than $44 billion in gross merchandise volume around the world, it is probably safe to estimate that the size of the global C2C market in 2006 will be over $50 billion (eBay, 2006).In C2C e-commerce, the consumer prepares the product for market, places the product for auction or sale, and relies on the market maker to provide catalog, search engine, and transaction-clearing capabilities so that products can be easily displayed, discovered, and paid for. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) E-commerce Peer-to-peer technology enables Internet users to share files and computer resources dir ectly without having to go through a central Web server. In peer-to-peers purest form, no intermediary is required, although in fact, most P2P networks make use of intermediary super servers to speed operations.Since 1999, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists have attempted to adapt various aspects of peer-to-peer technology into Peer-to-Peer (P2P) e-commerce. To date there have been very few successful commercial applications of P2P e-commerce with the notable exception of il ratified downloading of copyrighted music. Napster. com, which was established to aid Internet users in decision and sharing online music files, was the most well-known example of peer-to-peer e-commerce until it was put out of business in 2001 by a series of negative court decisions.However, other file-sharing networks, such as Kazaa and Grokster, quickly emerged to take Napsters place. These networks have also been subjected to legal challenge. For instance, in 2002, the Recording Industry of America, a tra de organization of the largest recording companies, filed a federal lawsuit against Kazaa and Grokster for violating copyright law by enabling and encouraging members to exchange copyrighted music tracks without compensation to the copyright holders. The Supreme tribunal issued a decision in the case against the file-sharing networks in June 2005.Read the case study at the end of the chapter for a further look at how file-sharing networks work and the legal issues surrounding them. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) e-commerce use of peer-to-peer technology, which enables Internet users to share files and computer resources directly without having to go through a central Web server, in e-commerce E-commerce The Revolution Is Just Beginning 19 Mobile Commerce (M-commerce) Mobile commerce, or m-commerce, refers to the use of wireless digital devices to enable transactions on the Web.Described more fully in Chapter 3, m-commerce involves the use of wireless networks to connect cell phones, handheld d evices such Blackberries, and personal computers to the Web. Once connected, mobile consumers can conduct transactions, including stock trades, in-store price comparisons, banking, travel reservations, and more. Thus far, m-commerce is used most widely in Japan and Europe (especially in Scandinavia), where cell phones are more prevalent than in the United States however, as discussed in the next section, m-commerce is expected to grow rapidly in the United States over the next five years. obile commerce (m-commerce) use of wireless digital devices to enable transactions on the Web GROWTH OF THE INTERNET AND THE WEB The technology juggernauts behind e-commerce are the Internet and the World Wide Web. Without both of these technologies, e-commerce as we know it would be impossible. We describe the Internet and the Web in some detail in Chapter 3. The Internet is a worldwide network of computer networks built on common standards.Created in the late 1960s to connect a small number of ma inframe computers and their users, the Internet has since grown into the worlds largest network, connecting over 500 million computers worldwide. The Internet link up businesses, educational institutions, government agencies, and individuals together, and provides users with services such as e-mail, document transfer, newsgroups, shopping, research, instant messaging, music, videos, and news. Figure 1. 3 illustrates one way to measure the growth of the Internet, by looking at the number of Internet hosts with domain names. An Internet host is defined by the Internet Software Consortium, which conducts this survey, as any IP wrap up that returns a domain name in the in-addr. arpa domain, which is a special part of the DNS namespace that resolves IP addresses into domain names. ) In January 2005, there were over 317 million Internet hosts in over 245 countries, up from a mere 70 million in 2000. The number of Internet hosts has been growing at a rate of around 35% a year since 2000 (Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. , 2005). The Internet has shown extraordinary growth patterns when compared to other electronic technologies of the past.It took radio 38 years to achieve a 30% share of U. S. households. It took television 17 years to achieve a 30% share. Since the invention of a graphical user interface for the World Wide Web in 1993, it took only 10 years for the Internet/Web to achieve a 53% share of U. S. households. The World Wide Web (the Web) is the most popular service that runs on the Internet infrastructure. The Web is the killer application that made the Internet commercially interesting and extraordinarily popular. The Web was developed in the early 1990s and indeed is of much more recent vintage than the Internet.We describe the Web in some detail in Chapter 3. The Web provides easy access to over 8 billion Web pages created in a language called HTML (HyperText Markup Language). These HTML pages contain informationincluding text, graphics, animations , and other Internet Worldwide network of computer networks built on common standards World Wide Web (Web) the most popular service that runs on the Internet provides easy access to Web pages 20 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning FIGURE 1. 3 THE GROWTH OF THE INTERNET, MEASURED BY NUMBER OF INTERNET HOSTS WITH DOMAIN NAMESGrowth in the size of the Internet 1993-2005 as measured by the number of Internet hosts with domain names. SOURCE Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. (www. isoc. org), 2005. objectsmade available for public use. You can find an exceptionally wide range of information on Web pages, ranging from the entire catalog of Sears Roebuck, to the entire collection of public records from the Securities and Exchange Commission, to the card catalog of your local library, to millions of music tracks (some of them legal), and videos. The Internet prior to the Web was primarily used for text communications, file transfers, and remote computing.The Web introduced far more po werful and commercially interesting, colorful multimedia capabilities of direct relevance to commerce. In essence, the Web added color, voice, and video to the Internet, creating a communications infrastructure and information storage system that rivals television, radio, magazines, and even libraries. There is no precise measurement of the number of Web pages in existence, in part because todays search engines index only a portion of the known universe of Web pages, and also because the size of the Web universe is unknown.Google, the Webs most popular and perhaps most comprehensive Web search engine, currently E-commerce The Revolution Is Just Beginning 21 FIGURE 1. 4 THE GROWTH OF WEB CONTENT AS MEASURED BY PAGES INDEXED BY GOOGLE The number of Web pages indexed by Google has grown from about 1 billion in 1998 to over 8 billion in 2005. SOURCE Based on data from Google Inc. , 2005. indexes over 8 billion pages. There are also an estimated 600 billion Web pages in the so-called de ep Web that are not indexed by ordinary search engines such as Google.Nevertheless, it would be accurate to say that Web content has grown exponentially since 1993. Figure 1. 4 describes the growth of Web content measured by the number of pages indexed by Google. Read Insight on Technology Spider Webs, Bow Ties, Scale-Free Networks, and the Deep Web on pages 2223 for the latest view of researchers on the structure of the Web. ORIGINS AND GROWTH OF E-COMMERCE It is difficult to pinpoint just when e-commerce began. There were several precursors to e-commerce.In the late 1970s, a pharmaceutical firm named Baxter Healthcare initiated a indigenous form of B2B e-commerce by using a telephone-based modem that permitted hospitals to reorder supplies from Baxter. This system was later expanded during the 1980s into a PC-based remote order entry system and was widely copied throughout the United States long before the Internet became a commercial environment. The 1980s saw the development of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) 22 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning INSIGHT ON TECHNOLOGYSPIDER WEBS, BOW TIES, SCALE-FREE NETWORKS, AND THE DEEP WEB The World Wide Web conjures up images of a giant bird of passage web where everything is connected to everything else in a random pattern, and you can go from one edge of the web to another by just following the right cogitate. Theoretically, thats what makes the Web different from a typical index systemyou can follow hyperlinks from one page to another. In the small world guess of the Web, every Web page is thought to be separated from any other Web page by an average of about 19 clicks.In 1968, sociologist Stanley Milgram invented small-world hypothesis for social networks by noting that every human was separated from any other human by only six degrees of separation. On the Web, the small world hypothesis was supported by early research on a small sampling of Web sites. But recent research conducted jointly by scie ntists at IBM, Compaq, and AltaVista found something entirely different. These scientists used AltaVistas Web crawler Scooter to identify 200 million Web pages and follow 1. 5 billion links on these pages.The researchers discovered that the Web was not like a spider web at all, but rather like a arc tie (see figure below). The bow-tie Web had a strongly connected component (SCC) composed of about 56 million Web pages. On the right side of the bow tie was a set of 44 million OUT pages that you could get to from the center, but could not return to the center from. OUT pages tended to be corporate intranet and other (continued) E-commerce The Revolution Is Just Beginning 23 Web site pages that are designed to trap you at the site when you land.On the left side of the bow tie was a set of 44 million IN pages from which you could get to the center, but that you could not travel to from the center. These were recently created newbie pages that had not yet been coupled to by many center pages. In addition, 43 million pages were classified as tendrils, pages that did not link to the center and could not be conjugate to from the center. However, the tendril pages were sometimes linked to IN and/or OUT pages. Occasionally, tendrils linked to one another without passing through the center (these are called tubes).Finally, there were 16 million pages totally undo from everything. Further evidence for the non-random and structured nature of the Web is provided in research performed by Albert-Lazlo Barabasi at the University of Notre Dame. Barabasis team found that far from being a random, exponentially exploding network of 8 billion Web pages, activity on the Web was actually highly concentrated in very connected super nodes that provided the connectivity to less wellconnected nodes.Barabasi dubbed this type of network a scale-free network and found parallels in the growth of cancers, disease transmission, and computer viruses. As its turns out, scale-free networks are highly vulnerable to destruction. annihilate their super nodes and transmission of messages breaks down rapidly. On the upside, if you are a marketer trying to spread the message about your products, place your products on one of the super nodes and watch the news spread. Or build super nodes like Kazaa did (see the case study at the end of the chapter) and attract a huge audience.Thus, the picture of the Web that emerges from this research is quite different from earlier reports. The notion that most pairs of Web pages are separated by a handful of links, almost always under 20, and that the number of connections would grow exponentially with the size of the Web, is not supported. In fact, there is a 75% chance that there is no path from one haphazard chosen page to another. With this knowledge, it now becomes clear why the most advanced Web search engines only index about 6 million Web sites, when the overall population of Internet hosts is over 300 million.Most Web sites canno t be found by search engines because their pages are not well-connected or linked to the central core of the Web. Another important finding is the identification of a deep Web composed of over 600 billion Web pages that are not indexed at all. The pages are not easily accessible to Web crawlers that most search engine companies use. Instead, these pages are either proprietary (not available to crawlers and non-subscribers, such as the pages of the Wall Street Journal) or are not easily available from home pages. In the last few years, new search engines (such as the checkup search engine Mamma. om) and older ones such as Yahoo have been revised to enable them to search the deep Web. Because e-commerce revenues in part depend on customers being able to find a Web site using search engines, Web site managers need to take steps to ensure their Web pages are part of the connected central core, or super nodes of the Web. One way to do this is to make sure the site has as many links as p ossible to and from other relevant sites, especially to other sites within the SCC. SOURCES Deep Web Research, by Marcus P. Zillman, Llrx. com, July 2005 Momma. om Conquers Deep Web, Mammamediasolutions. com, June 20, 2005 Yahoo Mines the Deep Web, by Tim Gray, Internetnews. com, June 17, 2005 united The New Science of Networks by Albert-Lazlo Barabasi. Cambridge, MA Perseus Publishing (2002) The Bowtie Theory Explains Link Popularity, by John Heard, Searchengineposition. com, June 1, 2000 Graph Structure in the Web, by A. Broder, R. Kumar, F. Maghoul, P. Raghaven, S. Rajagopalan, R. Stata, A. Tomkins, and J. Wiener, Proceedings of the 9th internationalist World Wide Web Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, pages 309320.Elsevier Science, May 2000. 24 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning FIGURE 1. 5 THE GROWTH OF B2C E-COMMERCE In the early years, B2C e-commerce was duplicate or tripling each year. This explosive early growth rate has since slowed. Currently, B2C e-commer ce is growing at about 25% per year, with seasonal spikes showing stronger year-to-year gains. Note Revenue shown includes retail sales, travel and financial services revenues. SOURCES Based on data from eMarketer, Inc. , 2005a