Crime, Media, Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Crime, Media, Culture - Essay Example This can also be used to control the behaviors of the public. Information about crime is gathered from media outlets such as television, newspapers, radio, and internet (Muncie, Talbot & Walters, 2010, p. 44). This information is supplemented with the experiences of the viewer in the definition of real representation. The media has been accused of representing crime and criminal activities as the norm. Through these representations, criminals are depicted as heroes while law enforcement officers are depicted as villains.Daily news media focuses on incidents rather than conditions. This means that media does not consider ideas. By focusing on incidents, media highlights conflicts rather than solutions (Mason, 2003, p. 69). For instance, the idea that imprisonment should be used to provide opportunities for rehabilitation initially enjoyed popularity from the public. However, correction and justice professionals with support from the media overturned the perception that imprisonment wa s meant to rehabilitate people to the perception that imprisonment was a punitive way of rehabilitating criminals. A rise in crime solidified public opposition to imprisonment as a correctional strategy. The tendency of media to focus on crime has led to the neglect of human needs of people living in impoverished neighborhoods. These people have deprived security because the media created impressions that security and law enforcement agents use criminal means during the implementation of the law.

The film Machuca, by Andrs Wood, explores a series of social relations Coursework

The film Machuca, by Andrs Wood, explores a series of social relations in Chile in 1973, ranging from inter- personal, familial, community, political organizations, and the Chilean nation - Coursework Example While Gonzalo belongs to an upper class family, Pedro belongs to a lower class poor family. But the egalitarian enthusiasm of the school priests and fathers leads them to grant scholarship to a few lower class boys so that they can attend school. This moment marks the beginning of a deep friendship between Gonzalo and Pedro, which the director has skillfully employed to construct the later plot of the story in a way that the theme of social classes and the political conditions of Chile become apparent. Then follows an appropriately paced sequence of scenes that delves the audience into the setting of the film: the Chile of 1973. Here onwards, the story unfolds to demonstrate the social, economic, and political conditions of the 1970s Chile through the lens of these two boys. â€Å"Class antagonism†, as identified by Martin-Cabrera and Voionmaa (2007), is an evident element of the film which is established quite early. The social experiment carried out by Father McEnroe allows children from shanty towns to obtain scholarship into the private English school run by him. As a result, poor lower class students get to study with their rich upper class counterparts. Gonzalo is among those who belong to the upper class living in a rich household whereas Pedro is a poor boy who lives in the shanty towns nearby. This social experiment allows the two polar classes to attend school together thereby bringing both sides to the extremes of the life they live. In a symbolic way, the social experiment closely resembles a real experiment reflecting the socialist, egalitarian policies of the government led by Salvador Allende. In Machuca (2007), as the new development of the experiment takes place the slum boys are mixed with elite bourgeoisie boys. However, the ex periment does not initially seem to be successful as the two antagonistic classes have a hard time integrating and assimilating with the

External And Internal Audit Of Zurich

External And Internal Audit Of Zurich The scope of the report is a comprehensive external and internal audit of the company Zurich Insurance, providing a base for formulation of its new 5-year marketing plan. The company, Zurich Financial Services (Zurich Insurance) is a global insurance-based financial services provider, which offers life insurance, non-life insurance, risk management and other related products. Group headquarters are in Zurich, Switzerland, it employs 60,000 people, while its main markets are in Europe and North America. The group operates thought three main units targeting three main segments (Zurich Insurance 2010): General insurance targeting the non-life insurance segment; Global life targeting the life insurance segment; and Farmers that targets the life and non-life segment in US. The analysis in the report identified several key issues of importance for the further activities of the company. Key emerging issues The current external and internal situational impact as provided with the audit identifies several important opportunities for development of the company in the period to come. In line with its current corporate objectives, these directions include: Expansion on emerging insurance market especially the non-life market; Capitalisation on its position at the mature markets for a better positioning in the new segment (ageing population) at the mature markets Improve its operational profit margin; and Placing Corporate Social Responsibility at the core of its strategic positioning reinforcing its brand and working towards decreasing the high level of groups risks. Table of Contents 1.Vision, Mission and Corporate Objectives 4 1.1 Vision 4 1.2 Mission Statement 4 1.3 Corporate Objectives 5 2.Situational Analysis 6 2.1 External Analysis 6 2.1.1.Macroeconomic Analysis-PESTEL 6 2.1.2.Industry Analysis 8 2.1.3. Market Analysis 11 2.1.4. Opportunities and Threats 11 .2. Internal Analysis 12 2.2.1. Value Chain Analysis 14 2.2.2. The Balance Scorecard 15 2.2.3. Core Competences and Capabilities 15 2.2.4. Zurich Insurance Culture Web 16 2.2.5. Identified Strengths and Weaknesses 16 2.3.Summary of the current situation impact- SWOT 17 3.Marketing Objectives Five year plan 20 4.Marketing Strategies 21 6. Marketing Implementation 7Ps 22 7. Budgetary Requirements 23 8. Gantt 25 Vision, Mission and Corporate Objectives The concept of vision and mission comes from the influence of the rationalists approaches towards strategy promoted by Chandler and Ansoff and the famous hierarchy of plans (Linstead et.al. 2004, p. 501). Within the hierarchy of plans, there are four levels of strategy: enterprise, corporate, business and functional plans, while at the top of the pyramid is the enterprise strategy. The enterprise strategy is the broadest level of strategy that articulates the role of the business entity in the society. Its main aim is to answer two questions why does the company exist and what does it serve for the society. In contemporary management language it seeks to provide the Mission and the Vision of the company as a whole. 1.1 Vision The Zurich Way or the Zurich vision is to become the best global insurer as defined by its customers, its shareholders and its people (Zurich Insurance 2010) in serving its three target segments. 1.2 Mission Statement Zurichs mission is to deliver help when it matters so that customers feel valued and taken care of (TheTimes100 2010, p121) is reflected in its comprehensive range of general and life insurance products and services accustomed to the needs of all of its customers, accompanied with an in-depth customer knowledge, a global network and local expertise, high-quality service and ease of doing business, backed by strong capital and talented employees (Zurich Insurance 2010). 1.3 Corporate Objectives According to Linstead et.al. (2004, p. 502) ,the corporate objectives should be specific, realistic considering the internal and external environment, achievable with a reasonable amount of effort, and must reflect the expected reality, or in short SMART. For Zurich Insurance they are (Zurich Insurance 2009a): 1.3.1 Profitable growth The company seeks to identify and exploit opportunities for profitable growth. These opportunities arise when there are strategic gaps in offer at target markets or locations. It is either achieved though the existing business of the company or through acquisition of new business. Key performance indicators (KPI) for this objective are groups operating profit margin and its net profits. 1.3.2 Operational transformation The operational transformation objective aims at building strength at core areas as risk management, investment management, underwriting and claims, measured through the level of quality of services. 1.3.3 Customer centricity The customer centricity is the centre of companys mission achieved through five specific indicators as presented in Figure 2. People management The companys objectives are to employ the best talent, and to provide opportunities for its further professional development. Situational Analysis A situational analysis in the strategic management, consists of analysis of the external and internal context of the company, and serves to identify possible gaps in the strategic positioning of the company that can be a strategic opportunity or threat, and in identifying its internal strengths and weakness. In essence, it is what practitioners call a marketing audit. A marketing audit is a comprehensive, systematic, independent, and periodic examination of a companys or business units marketing environment, objectives, strategies, and activities with a view to determining problem areas and opportunities and recommending a plan of action to improve the companys marketing performance (Kotler and Keller 2006, p.719). Thus it is a tool that assists the management in describing current activities and their outcomes, performed for setting new strategic direction of the company, or as in the case of Zurich Insurance for setting a new marketing plan. 2.1 External Analysis The analysis of the business environment is a significant step in understanding the external concept in which the company functions. According to Johnson et.al (2005, p.64) this understanding is built on several levels: the macro environment, the micro environment-the industry, the competitors (strategic groups) and the markets (segments). 2.1.1.Macroeconomic Analysis-PESTEL The PESTEL tool helps in identifying the factors that determine the external strategic opportunities and threats of companies operating in a certain industry (Johnson et.al 2005, p.57). Thomson and Strickland (2003, p.93) regard these factors as key drivers of change, shaping the strategic environment of the industry (Lynch 2009, p.79), and significant in the process of building scenarios of possible futures (Johnson et.al 2005, p.57). In the case of Zurich Insurance, these factors are given as follows. Political environment The more conditions which globalisation brings to businesses and their operations as are the openness of trade and easier movement of capital, the impact of the lack of more structured global governance represents a high systematic risk for the insurance sector. According to the Global Risk Report (WEF 2010), in most of the cases of risk identification, the experts identified weak or inadequate institutions or agreements in almost all of the risks covered. This is why global governance gap emerged as a systematic risk crucial in addressing many critical global issues over the coming years of importance for the insurance industry as are the climate change effects and the natural disasters. Economic environment The GDP growth is one of the most important pre-conditions for the profitability in the insurance sector. The global economy is a contrast of the stagnant growth in the developed countries (2-3% projected growth in the next 5 years) and a stronger positive growth in the developing regions (7% growth by 2015) (IMF 2010, p.4). This slowdown, negatively affects the insurance business in the areas of property and casualties, as the market is not growing causing a fierce competition pressuring margins. Many countries, especially the ones from the developed world as a response to the financial crisis from 2007, responded with overextending their fiscal positions, endangering unsustainable levels of debt which, in turn, may lead to full-fledged sovereign debt crises (WDF 2010). Based on IMF data, WEF (2010) reports of G20 budget deficits at 7.9% of their combined GDP. Although necessary these costs created a mountain of debt, that will have to be serviced on behalf of reduction in government spending on health and pensions, increasing the opportunities for the private life and pension insurance. Socio-cultural environment A key socio-economic driver influencing the environment of the insurance industry and thus Zurich Insurance is the ageing of the population in the developed countries. At the moment, many public health are not designed for meeting these needs, and will contract pushing the population towards the private insurers (WEF 2010). Technological environment Technology as a key driver of change, in particular affected the insurance sales channels, enabling transparency for the end buyers and a possibility to compare prices. In some target markets this possibility affected and still affects insurance premiums. From the aspect of the fast penetration of the IT/IS in the operations of companies, the risks of a major failure which could jeopardise the operations of the industry on a global scale are small, as the financial industry in general is very conservative towards the new trends of use of IT, while cloud computing is still out of industry comprehension. Environmental environment A key driver of change for the insurance industry coming from the environment is the global climate change. The severity of extreme weather accompanied global catastrophes in the form of natural disasters as hurricanes, wildfires and floods, may result in greater damage of the environment, infrastructure and property, even loss of life, increasing insurance claims (WEF 2010). Legal environment The financial industry in general, and the insurance sector is particular is one of the most regulated areas in the world that penetrates all its operations. In many cases, insurance is obligatory as is the motor-insurance, and in some countries the prices are set. As a result, it can be argued that the industry products in general are price inelastic. 2.1.2.Industry Analysis Economic theory defines an industry as a group of firms producing the same principal product (Rutherford 1985 as cited in Johnson et.al 2005, p.77) or, more broadly, a group of firms producing products that are close substitutes for each other (Porter 1980, p.5). From a strategic management perspective, analysing the attractiveness of the insurance means determining the profit potential through understanding the competitive forces in that industry and the way in which Zurich Insurance chooses to compete (Johnson et.al. 2005, p78). 2.1.2.1. Key Strategic Groups The insurance industry is characterised with two specific market segments, life and non-life insurance. The industry is highly fragmented with large number of players (Datamonitor 2010b, p.) of which most function in the both markets, and the markets are heavily regulated, as a result there are no specific strategic groups within this industry. 2.1.2.2. Five Forces Analysis While many times put on test, challenged and questioned, for almost three decades Porters five forces model (1980, 1985), is the dominant model accepted for analyzing the attractiveness of industries. Porters analysis shows that in the insurance industry the competitive rivalry is high and intensive. It is an industry in the shakeout phase of its cycle, characterised with small annual growth (Johnson et.al. 2005, p.86). The industry phase is characterised with a shakeout of the weakest competitors, encouraging acquisitions and consolidation. The main buyers in the industry are the policy holders, individuals and corporations, while the main suppliers are seen in the IT companies. Although the switching costs for the buyers are high due to contract obligations, the overall buyer power is assessed as moderate due to the large number of individual customers, which devaluates the meaning of the choice of an individual buyer. Within the business segment, the buyer power is lowered further due to the fact that businesses actually require insurance to protect their companies from risk; however, large companies excursive stronger negotiating power compared to the individuals. As the insurance industry works with information and stores huge amounts of data, the IT companies and software houses are its main supplier. It usually is a larger company as IBM, while the software systems are complex and interlinked, which increases supplier power and the switching costs. In recent years there have been trends of outsourcing the tasks to off-shore companies; however, this is not the dominant trend in this industry, which is why the supplier power is assessed as strong. It is a capital incentive industry which serves as a major entry barrier to newcomers; however, competitors from within the large financial industry as Banks, wherever the legislation allows them, can easily enter at the market. The overall treat coming from newcomers is assessed as moderate. There are no real substitutes to insurance. Many insurance products are legally required in many countries, which is why the threat coming from the substitutes is assessed as weak. Overall, the attractiveness of the industry in combination with its life cycle stage is assessed as moderate (Datamonitor 2010b). 2.1.3. Market Analysis The insurance market consists of two very important segments: the life and non-life insurance. Zurich insurance operates in the both segments. The life insurance segment participates with 57% in the total value at the market. The non-life segment has a significant growth potential in the emerging markets as China where this rate is very low (Datamonitor 2010c), where the state still covers the life-insurance. According to the estimations of Datamonitor (2010b), the market had a compound annual growth rate of 2.7% for the period 2005-2009 with an anticipated annual growth of 6.7% for the period 2009-2014, with a higher market growth expected on the Asian market. 2.1.4. Opportunities and Threats The external analysis presented in the preceding sections identifies the existence of several external strategic opportunities and threats for Zurich Insurance. The opportunities come from the process of consolidation and geographic expansion in the emerging markets, from the ageing population at the developed markets and the good developments at the assets management market. The industry faces tough times due to the slow recovery of the global economy and the increasing environmental risks for the only risk taker in the society. The risks from a catastrophe, either from a severe weather, or a major natural disaster, are high, and the insurance industry is the only one taking accountability for these occurrences on a global level thus there is a global governance gap that threatens the industry. Table 1.Telescopic ObservationFramework Technological considerations Economic considerations Legal and regulatory requirements Ecological and Environmental issues Sociological Trends Competition Organisational Culture Portfolio analysis International issues Cost efficiencies and cost structures New technology and fast penetration of IT in the insurance channels Slow growth of the global economy, Heavily regulated industry in almost all countries. Climate Change causing severe weather and catastrophes Ageing population in the mature markets; longer life expectations; Population growth at the emerging markets Intensive rivalry, many players Strong and unique Life and non-life products, and products for global companies Global governance gap a major risk for the insurance industry Strengths Zurich is successful in IT implementation. Zurich is 5thglobal player Unique Culture Proposition UPS Strong Weaknesses Needs more security Opportunity Increased demand for new life insurance products; Penetration at the emerging markets Opportunity to acquire competitors Threats It will decrease company revenues It will increase insurance claims No strong global governance increases global risks .2. Internal Analysis In the contemporary strategic management, the analysis of internal business environment covers a wide range of issues that developed in the past two decades mainly as a result of the emergence of the resource based view on strategy (Barney 1991, Rumelt 1991). Unfortunately, as Herrmann (2005) argues, since the RBV did not produce a dominant design, it developed in many different ways identifying key company resources, capacities, core capabilities, dynamic capabilities, ending with the knowledge-based competitive advantages (Johnson et.al 2005, Lynch 2009). At the end it got merged with the positioning school providing a strong academic background to the use of SWOT (used by companies from 1960s) (Linstaed et.al. 2004, p.502). Today there are several models available for the internal analysis. This report will use the Porters value chain (1985), which explains how the company is internally organised to reach its objectives. The chain further serves as a good base for identifying comp anys core capabilities and competencies (Hamel and Phrahald 1990), while the use of the Balance Scorecard (Kaplan and Norton 1996) as a tool, complements Porters Value chain as it provides the measures and the benchmarks against which the companys internal performance is measured in line with corporate goals. 2.2.1. Value Chain Analysis Zurich Financial is one of the largest insurance groups in the world serving approximately 60,000 people in more than 170 countries (Zurich Insurance 2010). Its value chain is developed using information from companys Annual reports. Table 2. Zurich Insurance Value Chain Analysis PROFIT MARGIN Firm Infrastructure (ZI Annual report 2009a) Successful integration of activities in a strong international value-chain with highly developed IT infrastructure; Centralised organisational structure, but with strong local adaptation decision making as products depends on national legal requirements and culture (EB 2008); Companywide culture emphasising customer centric behaviour. Human Resource Management (ZI Annual report 2009, ZI Business Review 2009,EB 2008) Recruitment and selection of the best high qualified teams of employees; Succession planning structures; Global approach to leadership development; Continuous training and development; Global performance management,; Global learning management system; Compensation programs with variable remuneration designed to encourage customer centric behaviour and creativity, but discourage risk-taking (ZI Annual report 2009, p.99); Innovative benefits scheme encouraging employee collaboration; Technology development Heavy investments in technology deployment 0 needs a good security (Insley 2010) Procurement (ZI Annual report 2009) Long-term contracts with major IT suppliers; Procurement systems in place for the other minor suppliers. Inbound logistics Information technology and internet Operations New Product development; Underwriting, Risk management, Investment management; Outbound logistics Forms, design management, filling and printing of the insurance policies. Marketing and sales Strong CRM build on a unique proposition deep customer understanding; Frequent promotional activities; Use of many sales channels and different compensation schemes of third party agents to reach customers but avoiding cannibalisation. After Sale Service Technology driven claims handling and servicing which enable easy fast way to deal with the company (ZI BR 2009b, p.27); Following up the client and its needs; Increasing knowledge on the client needs deep customer understanding; It is important to note, that Porters Value chain is designed to focus on a business unit, rather than on a group comprising of three core business units as Zurich; however, due to the merge of many of its core operations, the value chain can be simplified as provided in the Table above. 2.2.2. The Balance Scorecard The application of the Balance Scorecard propositions (Kaplan and Norton 1996), provides for the capability of measuring the financial and non-financial impact of the operations of the company, seen through measuring four thematic areas: Financial, Customers, Processes and People (Competence). It indicates that Zurich Insurance operating model as presented with the Portes Value chain, resulted in the 5th global rank of the Company in 2009 with an annual increase of the operating profit margin of 8% (target at 10%) (Zurich Insurance 2009b). The company in 2005, had a significant improvement in companys operations from 2007, when the group reported a decrease of 64.9% with a decrease in net profits of 46.8% . In the more mature countries, UK, US, Switzerland and Japan, it is among the top three insurers on every service (Zurich Insurance 2009b). Zurich strongest business unit is the general insurance, which brings the highest revenues and profits ((Zurich Insurance 2009b p.13), and with USD 34,157 million in premium fees, reflects the immense scale of companys global operations. Zurich Insurance employees more than 60 000 employees globally are one of its main stakeholder groups. Employees receive trainings and developments, while a sophisticated annually survey measures employee satisfaction (Zurich Insurance 2009b, p.35). The group as well implements annual customer feedback surveys. 2.2.3. Core Competences and Capabilities The core capability of Zurich lies in its right combination of tangible (finances, people, premises) and intangible resources (knowledge, expertise, culture and brand) (Grant 2005, p.140). Zurichs strong risk management knowledge combined with its social capital, supported with strong companys culture based on trust and knowledge-sharing, and its innovative, but risk-averse provision of new solutions, differentiates the company from the rest at the market and is the essence of its core competency and competitive advantage (Zurich Insurance 2009b). The strong customer relationship and customer dependability increase Zurich Insurance ability to introduce new products, charge premium price on certain products and cross-sell on others. It as well builds on the strong and unique Culture, which as Kingl (2010) argues is Zurichs Unique Selling Proposition, or Unique Culture Proposition. 2.2.4. Zurich Insurance Culture Web To better understand the premise of Zurichs UCP, we will use the culture web tool as recommended by Johnson et.al. (2005 p.202), based on the preceding analysis Zurich Insuranc and on the findings of Kingl (2010) case study 2.2.5. Identified Strengths and Weaknesses The company is characterised with a strong market position, a strong brand, a unique, value delivering culture and an impressive financial performance in terms of profits and revenues (compared to the results from 2008). Moreover, the company has an impressive record of successful integrations with acquisitions which indicates that it is using the opportunities presented from the shakeout phase of the industry business cycle (Zurich Insurance 2010). There are only very few weaknesses. First, the operating profit margin is still bellow the target of 10%. Second, the group is highly dependent from the revenues coming from the general insurance segment which participates with 53% in the operating profit. Third, the risk management system of the general insurance segment must improve to provide better capacity for accumulating larger number of claims in cases of natural or other type of disaster, having in mind that the main impact of the increased claims in these areas impacted the low financial results in 2007. Summary of the current situation impact- SWOT The current external and internal situational impact as provided with SWOT and with the telescopic Observation Framework (Panagiotou and Wijnen 2005) in the table below identifies several important areas of development for the company in the period to come. In line with its corporate objectives, Zurich should: exploit the good opportunities that come from the growth in the emerging and the developed markets; improve its operations, especially the operating profit margin. In addition, as the companys operations are extremely vulnerable to the effects of the climate change and the global governance gap, and as its interests are aligned with the interests of the majority of stakeholders (which is not the case in many industries as the oil or tobacco industry), it should make the CSR at the core of its strategic positioning in line with the model of Porter and Keller (2006). It can be done through promoting its knowledge, analysis and insightful perspective regarding the global risks as much as possible, and positioning in the minds of its current and potential customers as a business genuinely interested in reducing these effects. Marketing Objectives Five year plan Marketing objectives are specific and quantitative benchmarks of marketing goals that guide the implementation of marketing plans (Ferrell and Hartline 2008, p.140). Objectives exist because marketing goals without measurements are meaningless. Researchers and practitioners (Armstrong 2009 et.al., McDonald 2008, Kotler and Keller 2006) emphasise that they must reflect: (1) the corporate and business objectives; (2) the target market needs and companys competitive capability to serve these markets; (3) the industry and markets evolution, and be (4)SMART (Sustainable, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound). In line with the findings of the preceding analysis, and the Telescopic Framework (Table 3) the following marketing objectives should guide the Zurich Insurance five year plan: Increase its market share at the emerging markets, in all targeted segments, but in particular in the non-life segment which is underdeveloped; Increase its penetration at the mature markets of the developing countries thorough targeting current and new segments (the ageing population needs); Make Corporate Social Responsibility part of its positioning and tide it strongly to the word help associated with its customer centric culture and its strong brand. The CSR will reinforce the positioning of the brand across all segments. Marketing Strategies For accomplishing these objectives, the companys choice of market activities will depend on its choice of strategic development strategy. 4.1 Ansoff s Matrix According to Johnson et.al. (2005, pp: 341-347) the Ansoff product/market can be used for identifying directions for strategic development, taking into account the product/market coverage and the strategic capabilities of the company. Figure 6 Ainsoff Matrix of Zurich Insurance Market Development New capabilities (existing products in new markets) Life and non-life penetration into the emerging markets; Market Development New segments Increasing the scope of existing life insurance policies to certain segment of the ageing population at the mature markets in the developing world. Diversification with new capabilities (new products at new markets) Not suggested at the moment, as the finances are required to fuel the growth in the mature and the emerging markets. Market penetration Penetration and market share accumulation on the existing markets through acquisitions. Product development with new capabilities (new products at existing markets) New products for the ageing population at the mature markets in the developing world. 6. Marketing Implementation 7Ps According to practitioners (Kotler and Keller 2006, p), the implementation of the marketing strategies is achieved through making decisions regarding the content of the offer (product), its price, how it will be delivered to the customers and what distribution channels will be used, i.e. the 4Ps of the marketing mix. The 4Ps of the marketing mix were introduced in the 70s of the past century, and since then dominate the methodology used in strategic marketing. As Kotler et.al. (2008) services have three very distinctive characteristics compared to the physical products as are intangibility, inseparability and perishability. These characteristics made it difficult for the service practitioners to adapt the 4Ps model to their offerings, which is why the model expended with three additional elements: People, Processes and Physical assets. In its essence the insurance industry is a service industry, which is why the designed marketing mix will have 7Ps and will aim at accomplishing compa nys marketing objectives in terms of market share, development, or penetration. The 7Ps implementation model for the three business units of Zurich Insurance is given in Table 4. Table 3. 7Ps Segments General Insurance (non-life) Global Life (life) Farmers Product/Service: 1. The traditional product offer, strengthened with new products at the mature markets; 2. New products for the needs of the emerging markets. The traditional product offer, strengthened with new products in the pension insurance; The traditional product offer, strengthened with new products due to the good prospects of the market; Price: Price reflects the regulatory requirements in each of the sectors and the intense rivalry in some segments. Place:

Digital Technology: TV’s Next Step :: Television Media Essays

Digital Technology: TV’s Next Step Digital technology is a recent innovation to sweep through America. It has already become the standard for music purchases, and with the use of DVDs, it is now the preferred way to watch a movie in the home. Cell phones were once primarily analog, but now most service areas are digital. These changes came from the market place wanting better sound, picture, and more reliable signals. This is in stark contrast to television, because its change from analog to digital has been brought on by the FCC enacting regulations. The market place should be excited and the change, but not just for better picture quality. Though the FCC may be forcing the change in television, the market place should embrace the changes and even be excited about them. Picture quality is not the only difference between digital and analog television. The FCC has several reasons to switch to digital. A digital signal offers better sound than an analog signal. With analog, you are only able to get two channels of sound. Digital offers you the same 5.1 channels of digital surround sound you hear in movie theatres. The combination of better sound and picture is enough to make many want to upgrade, but there are more reasons. Digital television also allows for more bandwidth with the use of MPEG-2 technology. This is a way of compressing the information and using less bandwidth. It can reduce the number of bits by about 55 to 1, allowing more space on the spectrum. The practical use of this is multicasting. Although how this will be used is still to be determined. It is likely networks will run multiple programs in standard format during the day and use HDTV during primetime. Naturally, both analog and digital signals lose strength over long distances. With analog signals, this causes a horrible picture filled with static. This differs drastically with a digital signal. The signal still weakens over distance, but it makes no difference in quality of picture or sound. As long as the television receives the signal, no matter how weak it is, the picture and sound will be clear. Obviously, this could be a potential problem for cable and satellite providers. Many consumers will no longer have to pay monthly fees to have an acceptable picture.

Online Gaming and Academic Performance Essay

Students love to play computer games, and the West Virginia Department of Education is tapping into that love through a website called Learn21. The site offers all kinds of games that help students in every grade level brush up on their studies. Fifth grade students in Dottie Pownall’s classroom at Orchard View Elementary in Martinsburg have played Probability Pond, a math game offered on the Learn21 website that features a big green frog. The frog can eat fireflies in colors of blue, yellow, purple, and red. The students have to determine what the probability is that the frog will eat a particular color. The students take turns guessing the answer and entering it on a large smart board in front of the room. Special education teacher Sharon Collins led some lessons this year, incorporating as much technology as possible. â€Å"Almost every day, we find something online through Learn21 or other resources and incorporate it into our classroom,† Collins says. â€Å"With having an inclusion classroom, we have students who have vision problems. We have students who have speech problems, learning problems. We have an autistic student in our class, and then we also have regular ed. students, and it really appeals to their different types of learning styles.† The state education department started Learn21 two years ago. The website offers online games that go along with the curriculum. Teachers can use the games in class, and students can access the website from home if they want to practice some more. Donna Landin, the department’s e-learning coordinator, says Learn21 is meant to help students in a variety of ways. â€Å"They could find content on the website, go into that content, complete a game or an interactivity that went right along with what they were learning in their classroom, so it was either supplemental, or it helped them get at areas where they were having some problems, or it could accelerate their learning,† Landin says. Learn21 also offers the opportunity to review material. â€Å"They can go back and pick up concepts that they had gone over formerly, maybe in previous grades or earlier in the year,† Landin says. Vol. 05, Issue 03, Page 11 (www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2012/06/13/03bits_games.h05.html) Can first-person shooter skills really be taught? A development studio in Scotland thinks they can – and it has the browser-based instructional game to prove it FPS Trainer †¦ you too can shoot people with ease Some gamers are just naturally good at killing people. They have the fast responses, the pinpoint hand-eye coordination, the Rain man-like ability to memorize maps and power-up locations. Meanwhile, the rest of us bumble around in the darkness hoping to achieve a kills-to-deaths ratio that doesn’t utterly shame our entire ancestral line. Now Play2Improve, a fresh-faced development studio based in Scotland’s games industry capital Dundee, thinks it can help players in the latter camp. Launched recently as a free-to-play browser game, FPS Trainer is essentially a coaching aid for would-be virtual assassins. With simplified visuals that separate maps into different strategic zones, the idea is to help players develop the tactical base necessary to start dishing out effective slaughter. â€Å"FPS Trainer provides you with the necessary knowledge for playing online,† says designer Paul â€Å"acts!† McGarrity, himself a professional gamer who has triumphed in several major LAN and online events over the past decade. â€Å"It cuts out months of laborious practice time in FPS games by teaching the core skills and methods which experienced and professional players use when competing at the highest levels. â€Å"We do this by introducing the strategies for managing resources, controlling your opponents, positioning yourself, using the terrain or level features and setting up shots to maximize damage – all in a highly visual and intuitive manner. There are many levels of strategy in competitive FPS titles that can take years to even become aware of; FPS Trainer will introduce these at an early stage to take you up the ladder more easily.† With its stylized visuals and emphasis on quickly picking up weapons and health packs, the game most closely resembles twitchy arena shooters such as Quake and Unreal Tournament, but the studio, Play2Improve, reckons the strategies it teaches will help with all kinds of FPS title. â€Å"We don’t really see a distinction between an arena-based FPS and more ranged, free-roaming combat – with the exception of vehicles to traverse larger maps,† says founder Matt Sweeney. â€Å"Our premise is that first-person shooters are fundamentally strategic in nature, rather than purely twitch-based; therefore, we are focusing on the mental side of the game; including timing, positioning and appropriate weapon selection. This is what differentiates a good player from a bad one – not just blindly rushing in and shooting, but making sure you are fully prepared and taking a far more measured approach.† Set up in 2009 and based within the University of Alberta, Play2Improve has an interesting background. Although several of its staff has traditional games industry experience, Sweeney comes from the serious games sector, where simulations are developed to train workers in various professions. With his previous company, TPLD set up when he was a student at Alberta, he created games for the Scottish schools system and for corporations looking for assessed cooperation exercises – it’s probably a natural progression from Apprentice-style team challenges to the dog-frog-dog world of the first-person shooter. One of the key elements of FPS Trainer is the monitoring of player behaviors and the provision of post-game feedback – and apparently this extends to more than just hit percentages. â€Å"Basic accuracy stats can be misleading,† says McGarrity. â€Å"We will be providing information not just on whether you scored a hit or not, but on whether you maximized the damage with each shot. Along with this there will be information about which areas of a level you are most active in, which areas you have neglected and also indicators to show where you should ideally be positioned in key situations, along with your actual location at the time. The stats will also cover things such as item pickups, including the amount and frequency. They will show how long items have been left unclaimed, which will tie in with the positioning tips.† What’s really interesting is the way the game sounds like one of the fitness titles currently dominating the kindest software line-up. As Sweeney says: â€Å"There are detailed stats for debriefing, with intuitive graphs and visualizations to identify strengths and weaknesses; you can track your performance over time and compare stats with your friends and peers, and everything can be easily shared with friends via Face book.† It’s the same approach as Your Shape or EA Sports Active 2, but it’s about shooting at people; it represents the appropriation of mainstream coaching techniques for a hardcore gaming genre. I like that. At the moment, the game can only be played on PC and Mac (it runs on Unity so you’ll need the correct plug-in), and the next step will be the addition of premium paid-for features. But Play2Improve is also planning to create Xbox Live and PSN versions once they’ve achieved a benchmark of 100,000 users online. If it does make it too console, I’ll be near the front of the queue – though I’ll probably be shot in the back of the head by a sniper I failed to spot on my way in. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2010/dec/23/first-person-shooter-skills-training.) China’s Shanda Games takes majority ownership of eFusion MMOG By James Bright man The online games publisher is looking to boost its overseas strategy Eschborn, Germany-based eFusion MMOG GmbH announced today that Chinese online games publisher Shanda Games has purchased a majority stake in the company (financial terms were not disclosed). At the same time, eFusion just announced that its entered into an agreement with Eyed entity Games, a Korean online game development studio for the exclusive license to operate its action MMORPG Dragon Nest in Europe. Shanda views the move as an important step in shoring up its overseas business. The company said it â€Å"has a strong intention to enhance its presence in the European market, where its influence remains relatively modest compared to other regions of the world.† With the Shanda investment, eFusion noted that it will now â€Å"have all of the capital it needs in order to level up its position in the MMO games market.† The next step for the publisher will be to launch Dragon Nest across Europe. Michael Lim, founder and CEO of eFusion MMOG GmbH, commented, â€Å"We are really delighted to become part of Shanda Games and are also excited about the tremendous opportunity to offer Dragon Nest, a skill based high-quality MMORPG, to European gamers. Launching Dragon Nest in Europe will be a huge milestone for us, but most of all, we’re looking forward to Dragon Nest attracting lots of fans among European gamers. The online game market in Europe is growing very fast but the competition is becoming tougher. We are ready to face the challenge and to build on eFusion MMOG’s success in this market.† (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-07-25-chinas-shanda-games-takes-m ajority-ownership-of-efusion-mmog-gmbh.) Definition of terms 1. MMOG- refers to role-playing games where thousands of gamers play online in a virtual and persistent environment on the Internet. (http://geekdictionary.computing.net/define/mmog.) 2. First Person Shooter Game- A first person shooter, commonly called FPS in the gaming arena, is a game in which the player sees the action on the screen as if he or she were looking through the eyes of the main character he or she is playing. (http://vgstrategies.about.com/od/basicgamingtipstricks/g/fps.htm.) 3. Simulation game- By definition a simulation is an imitation. So computer simulation games are games that imitate a real-life situation. Another way to think about it is that sim games attempt to recreate a past event. (http://compsimgames.about.com/cs/gamingtips/g/simulation.htm.) 4. Educational game- An educational game is a game designed to teach humans about a specific subject and to teach them a skill. As educators, governments, and parents realize the psychological need and benefits of gaming have on learning, this educational tool has become mainstream. (http://teachinglearningresources.pbworks.com/w/page/35130965/Educational%20Games.) 5. DOTA- is an action real-time strategy mod for the video game War craft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, War craft III: The Frozen Throne, based on the â€Å"Aeon of Strife† map for Star Craft. The objective of the scenario is for each team to destroy the opponents’ Ancients, heavily guarded structures at opposing corners of the map. (http://dictionary.babylon.com/dota/.) 6. Diablo- is a word in Spanish meaning â€Å"devil†. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo.) 7. Dragon nest- A free-to-play Korean MMORPG playable in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, North America, SEA, Australia, and New Zealand. In North America, Nexon runs and operates the game on their servers. (http://www.soslang.com/term/dragon-nest.) 8. Ran online- is a free to play, 3D MMORPG developed by Min Communications, Inc. located in Daegu, Republic of Korea. The game is set in the modern world built around 3 schools. Players will belong one of these three distinctive schools and enjoy the game. Plus, one of the six special clubs in each school can be selected as the class of a character.

Developmental Delays and Trauma Essay

Developmental delays is when your child does not reach their developmental milestones at the projected times. It is an ongoing major or minor delay in the course of development. Developmental delays can have many different causes. There are many types of Developmental delays in children; they include problems with language or speech, vision, movement (motor skills), social, emotional and cognitive skills (van der Kolk, 1995). Developmental delays are easily distinguished if you pay close attention to the development and milestone periods contained by children; for example if you notice a child having a low attention span, they can’t stay still, they’re highly active and energetic all the time, that’s perhaps due to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, known as ADHD. There are so many different things that can cause developmental delays and children aren’t always born with developmental delays. Although, developmental delays can be genetic or born with , there are times when trauma at different ages can cause developmental delays such as a child being abused and suffering brain trauma, concussion, which could cause memory lost. Or there could be an accident and a child or adult undergo serious injuries to the spine, eyes, etc. Spinal injuries can be of damage to you motor skills. Spinal injuries or brain injuries if serious can lead to you basically having to start over as if you were a baby learning to walk, read, jump, or talk. The Shaken baby syndrome also can be a trauma that can cause brain injuries. There are numerous of things that have major components to play in developmental delays. Trauma definitely plays a one of those major parts in developmental delays. There are a number of Trauma’s that can cause development delays. It doesn’t always have to be abuse or accidents. Trauma can be caused by divorce, neglect, bullying, sports injuries, or even bad relationship breaks up. These types of trauma are called psychological trauma. Psychological  traumas effects are mostly emotional and it isn’t always permanent. Psychological trauma causes anger, irritability; mood swings, guilt, hopeless, anxiety, withdrawing, and disconnected to name a few. For divorce, Feldman says (2011) ch ildren and adults may experience depression, and disturbances and phobias and these things last from 6 months up until 2 years. Feldman states children whose parents are divorcing blames themselves for the breakup. He also states, evidence shows that twice as many children of divorced parents enter psychological counseling (Feldman, 2011). Children under the age 18 suffer 40% more anxiety as a result of divorce (van der Kolk, 1995). About 10-15 percent of students are bullied one time or the other (Feldman, 2011) and almost 85% of girls and 80% of boys are being bullied (Feldman, 2011). Those who are bullied lack social skills, cry easy (Feldman, 2011), and they experience depression, stress, anger, etc. Prayer and meditation help brain activity. Mediation to the mind is like an aerobic exercise to the body. Studies have also shown that meditation promotes mindfulness, decreased stress, insomnia, illnesses, depression, anxiety and panic. Spiritual connection brings comfort and healing to trauma. Researchers are learning the parts of the brain that are responsible for the spiritual thoughts, prayer and meditation. In one of our presentations his week, Dr. Jeanne Brooks stated that we have a spir itual part in our brain (2014). There are good and bad parts to everyone, I believe the good part is the spiritual part in everyone. For example, we’ve all seen cartoons in which there was a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. The shoulder with the angel is the part of us, the part of our brain or conscious that’s spiritual. References Brooks, Jeanne Dr. â€Å"Divorce and Stress† video presentation. LUO (2014) Feldman, R.S. (2014). Development across the Life Span (7th edition) Namka,, L. (2001). Children who are traumatized by bullying. alk, Trust and Feel Therapeutics., p. 18. Van Der Kolk, an der Kolk, B. (1995). developmental trauma disorder : Towards a rational diagnosis for children with complex trauma histories.