Movie Review of Batman - The Dark Knight Rises Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Of Batman - The Dark Knight Rises - Movie Review Example Just like mere mortals, Batman underwent hindrances. Bruce Wayne took up the cudgels for his bankrupt Wayne Enterprises. Wayne erroneously funneled most of his Wayne money in Miranda Tate’s clean energy program. Wayne was wrongly persuaded that the nuclear power project would improve Gotham City’s community life. However, the project was shelved because of the possible environmental damage. Nuclear power generates a deadly by-product, radiation. Bruce Wayne was distressed, just like an average person. And just like most happy endings, he was able to bounce as Batman. As Batman, Wayne saves Gotham city by bringing the bomb outside the city’s boundaries. The bomb explodes over the bay area, thanks to recuperated Bruce Wayne. I admire Alfred Pennyworth. He is a person who has character (Darius 59). Alfred Pennyworth decided to spend his life caring for the needs of Bruce Wayne. He was not discouraged because he was not born with a silver spoon, living in a rich family. Pennyworth gave his 150 percent to each of his Wayne Mansion responsibilities. He used all his persuasive power to convince Bruce Wayne to make the original Batman crop up again. His loyalty was finally broken when the butler could no longer stand Bruce Wayne’s wasting his valuable time away in rotting flesh fashion. The former felt he was no longer effective as Bruce Wayne’s personal adviser, counselor, Butler, and friend. I deeply hate Bane. Bane is the epitome of a criminal, especially with the likes of Joker, Penguin, Cat Woman, and Mr. Freeze.

How to Write a Good Speech Essay Example for Free

How to Write a Good Speech Essay Writing a good speech isnt the same as writing a good essay. It can be achieved by considering a few extra necessary but simple points. The audience needs to be engaged and thinking about what you’re talking about. A good way to do this is to ask a question the audience hadnt considered, and force them to think of the only obvious answer. This is called a rhetorical question. Rhetorical questions arent meant to be answered, but still allow the audience to think about the question and relate to what you’re talking about. These questions are great to use as an introduction to your speech and can never be overused throughout the rest of your speech. Using complicated language in essays is fine. If the reader misreads or doesnt understand, they can just track back a few words or do a quick Google search of the phrase in question. This is the opposite in a speech. Hammering your audience with a few clauses in one sentence can cause you to lose your audience very quickly. Use simple language that you can read and the audience will understand well. This can be achieved by reading your speech aloud a few times before presenting it. Reading speeches aloud allow you to filter out those confusing statements. It helps a lot if you have a test audience to tell you when there is something a bit too tricky for them. It’s a good idea to replace the trouble sentence with one or two extra sentences, spreading the information out giving the audience more time to think. Don’t drag the speech on for too long. It’s good to end when your information starts to seem irrelevant or repetitive. If possible, don’t just keep the most interesting or important information at the beginning of the speech. If the audience thinks that your information is unnecessary or repetitive, they’ll stop paying attention to what you’re saying. Don’t include a personal introduction or farewell in the written speech. For instance don’t include â€Å"Hi, my name is Ashneil and I’ll be talking about soup standards across Australia†. You should always introduce yourself on the spot because this prevents reading line by line of your speech. Basically, to write a great speech, it’s important to use rhetorical questions to engage the audience, avoid complicated language and lengthy speeches to keep the audience’s attention, and not include a personal introduction in your written speech to keep yourself from reading line-by-line.

Essay --

The analysis explored in this document is implementing a program UNIT for parents adopting a different race from their own. Adopting outside of a race is a life altering decision because of regulating mechanisms that condition people to accept or reject individuals based on their appearances. There are not any programs that guide transracial adoptions after they occur. Society as a whole has its own prejudices. The adoptive parents should know about their children’s cultural backgrounds. Society is not very conscience of prejudging it is just something that is a part of life. This is unfortunately one more issue dealt with by adopted children. The program that is trying to be implemented will allow both the parents and children throughout life are preparing and building strong foundations for a great future. There is no program as of yet that is design for post transracial adoptions. UNIT will be very beneficial to the adoption community. The focus will be to strengthen adopted children’s cultural identity. Having that interaction between race and family shapes the future of a great outcome for adopted children. UNIT will provide the avenues allowing each and every child the opportunity to learn and experience their own journey toward self-discovery. Program UNIT will definitely back the Multiethnic Placement Act, commonly known as MEPA of 1994. This act was set forth to keep children of color from staying in the system longer than necessary because parents of their own race and cultural groups are not obtainable. Race should not be factored in when dealing with adoption but it is. Religions and education often are factors that determine whether adoption will transpire. Many studies show the higher up the education ladder you ... ... system today. The need for a program like this one focusing on post transracial adoption is great. One of the leading problems among adopted teens today is teen suicide. Puberty is a time where emotions are at an all-time high. UNIT will be the outlet for the children’s emotions. Another common issue among adopted children is the feelings of isolation and loneliness. Children believe that no one understands these feelings; within this program children of all ages will learn there are others that are in the same predicament they are in. This program will teach children to believe in themselves because everyone has something to bring to the table. UNIT is going to connect the dots helping parents take care of the body, mind, and spirit of each and every child they adopt. Bonds will be formed among the children and also the parents bringing together a united community

Mandatory Minimum Sentences Are Not Effective Essay -- Mandatory Minim

Mandatory minimum prison sentences are punishments that are set through legislation for specific offenses. They have been used throughout history for different crimes. The four traditional goals of punishment are: deterrence, incapacitation (incarceration), retribution, and rehabilitation. With the state of our national economy, cutting prison and corrections costs would be a huge savings. On the surface, it may seem that mandatory minimum sentences would serve the traditional goals of punishment. They would discourage potential criminals, keep society safe for longer periods of time, they would punish the offender and they would rehabilitate the offender. What they did not do, however, is take into account the individual circumstances of each case and each defendant. Mandatory minimum sentences are not effective and they should be repealed. The United States enacted mandatory minimum sentences for drug convictions beginning in 1951 with the Boggs Act. The Boggs Act provided both mandatory minimum sentences for first-time drug convictions and it increased the length of sentences for subsequent convictions. In 1956, the Narcotics Control Act increased the minimum sentences spelled out in the Boggs Act. It also forbade judges from suspending sentences or imposing probation in cases where they felt a prison sentence was inappropriate. In 1970, the Nixon Administration and Congress negotiated a bill that sought to address drug addiction through rehabilitation; provide better tools for law enforcement in the fight against drug trafficking and manufacturing; and provide a more balanced scheme of penalties for drug crimes. The final product, the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, repealed man... ...tp://www.newyorkcriminalattorneyblog.com/2009/01/a_brief_history_of_federal_man.html History of Mandatory Minimums. (2005, August 31). [Brochure]. Retrieved from http://www.famm.org/Repository/Files/Updates%20short%20HISTORY.pdf Mandatory Minimum Sentences [Briefing]. (n.d.). Retrieved August 2, 2010, from Connecticut General Assembly website: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2005/pridata/Studies/Mandatory_Minimum_Sentences_Briefing.htm McVay, D., Schuraldi, V., & Ziedenberg, J. (n.d.). Treatment or Incarceration? Retrieved from Justice Policy Institute website: http://www.justicepolicy.org/images/upload/04-01_REP_MDTreatmentorIncarceration_AC-DP.pdf Sabol, W. J., PhD., & Couture, H. (2008, June). Prison Inmates at Midyear 2007 (NCJ No. 3221994). Retrieved from US Department of Justice website: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/pim07.pdf

Case Study of an Architect: Steven Ngu

Ar. Steven Ngu Ngie Woon is an designer working in Garis Architects house. He is one of the senior designers working at that place and he leads the designing squad. Get downing from his childhood, Steven has already been exposed to this field because of his father’s business as a contractor. Bing the eldest boy in the household, he was brought up in a really rigorous mode. His slogan â€Å"do more, learn more† was besides an influence from his male parent. And because he was brought up to larn to be responsible for the things that he make, he ne'er does his work half-heartedly. Therefore, he was ever one of the top winners in his instruction. He is presently 34 old ages old. He graduated from University Malaya in twelvemonth 2006, he got his Ar. rubric two old ages after graduation. Ar. Steven’s favorite work is the Symphony Hills in Cyberjaya which he handled from the start till the completion of the undertaking, and it is besides a undertaking that has won legi on PAM awards. The intent of this essay is to understand the linguistic communication of architecture based on the designers childhood, instruction and working experience, the messages and significances the edifice carry, and the context of which it is applied within. Therefore I chose the direction office of Symphony Hills. Pic 1 – Front lift of the office Bing in a state with tropical clime, the designer has to believe of different methods as solutions to the rough clime in Malaysia. Cyberjaya is a topographic point that is bare and has no trees to supply shadiness from the searing heat from the Sun. There is non much precipitation and the air current is non really strong. Therefore, some design solutions are used against the climatic conditions in Cyberjaya. In order to avoid direct warming of the infinites of the edifice, green walls are placed on the frontage of the edifice. In add-on, in conformity to the way of the sun way, the green walls besides work as a perpendicular shading device to forestall blaze from the Sun rise and Sun set. Not merely that, big overhangs on the North and south facing of the edifice to supply shadiness. As for the edifice stuff, concrete is used because of it high capacity as a thermic mass and maps as a heat sink. Not merely does it absorb heat easy and detain the peak temperature of the indoor infinit es until the residents have left, it merely releases heat when the outside temperature is lower and that is merely during the dark clip when there is cipher in the office. Furthermore, in order to increase the heat optical density capacity, a green roof is used where the dirt will besides work as a heat sink. Besides, because of occasional heavy rain in Cyberjaya, a polycarbonate roof that extends out to about five metres is used to forestall the rain from making the gallery infinite where people walk from the office to the surau. Pic 2 – demoing the overhand and the construction of the edifice Compared to other subjects, architectural theory is limitless. It encompasses theories of architectural engineering, architectural history, and architectural design. Harmonizing to Professor Korydon Smith, architectural theory is defined as â€Å" the apprehension of nonsubjective rules and subjective values that guides the persons in determination about their ain and others architectural works.† Through this, what i identified was sustainable architecture and late modernism, besides known as structural expressionism. The chief intent of sustainable design is to â€Å"eliminate negative environmental impact wholly through adept sensitive design.† In order to accomplish the optimum comfort in the office without devouring much energy, the edifice uses H2O characteristics environing the edifice as an indirect evaporative chilling method. A green roof garden is besides used to take down the temperature of the edifice through the vaporization of H2O stored by the workss and the dirt. To farther cut down the heat of of import infinites like the office, non merely is the green wall is used as a perpendicular shading every bit good as a chilling device. By using assorted inactive chilling methods into the edifice design, the edifice is able to utilize less air conditioning system. Additionally, the edifice besides uses egg crates in the edifice design to avoid direct sunshine and warming into the infinites. However, it besides uses curtain wall on the frontage of the edifice to maximize the entry on sunshine into the infinites. Another theory used in this edifice is late modernism, besides known as structural expressionism. It normally exposes the structural elements of the edifice, together with the usage of drape walls. Its design is besides largely based on the map of the edifice, big interior infinites and easy entree to each floor. Pic 3 – Diagrams on theory Another factor analysed is the user, the simple program layout makes it easy for the user to do usage of the infinite efficaciously. When in an office, teamwork is of import, therefore an unfastened program was used to avoid individualizing infinite for each staff. With an unfastened program, the staffs are able to pass on with each other with minimum walking distance. The edifice besides has balconies to let people to hold private conversations while looking out to the beautiful landscape. Furthermore, since this is an office for Symphony Hills itself, the multipurpose hall was made to let Symphony Hill to do a impermanent flat salesroom. The salesroom takes into consideration that during the launching twenty-four hours of the undertaking, there will be many viewing audiences to come position the salesroom, therefore public furniture are placed in forepart of the salesroom to let the invitee to hold treatments with the gross revenues people after sing the show unit. Additionally, th e edifice scaled harmonizing to human proportion, non doing the user to experience alien in a on the job environment. Curtain walls are besides used to buoy up the infinites, doing it more environmentally friendly for the staffs when working, as a brighter infinite improves their on the job efficiency. Pic 4 – Diagrams on user Based on the factor analysed, the personal values that Steven used to plan in this edifice is evident. Since immature, Steven has been really discipline about his life style. He is a hardworking individual and he gets along with other people, even though he is busy, whenever person needs any aid or inquiries, he willing teaches them. Bing him, he makes certain that the edifice is functional and it responds to the site. He takes serious consideration on the site context of the edifice. Based on the climatic factor, he has placed much importance in environmental response of the edifice. Though Garis Architects is a topographic point that designs undertakings with a in-between scope budget, Sympony Hills is a undertaking that is considered to be on the higher scope, most likely because of the client. The client this clip is UEM Land and they manage to acquire 98 estates of freehold land in Cyberjaya cardinal concern territories. So due to the location, the clients purpose was to plan the topographic point for the high terminal community with incorporate installation and services. Using a green roof requires the usage of proper technology on the edifice roof and it is non inexpensive. To cut down the temperature of the milieus, Steven proposed the usage of H2O fountains and pools to environ the topographic point, non merely does it take down the temperature, it besides fits the clients demand to do Symphony Hills into a high-end luxury residential country. Pic 4 – Birdseye position of Symphony Hills Furthermore, while Steven has a avocation of traveling and sing celebrated architectural edifice, he tries to larn from the experience gained from the edifices and use it into his ain design. Previously, during his visit to Chandigarh in India, he took the chance to see Le Corbusier’s edifice every bit good. Throughout architecture classs, we have learnt that Le Corbusier is a maestro of designers and he is a modernist. However, modernism is a paradigm of architecture for the machines, it was a clip where the designers pushed their ain political orientation of making a perfect edifice that is suited for anyone. Modern architecture focuses on the honestness of stuffs, usage of modern stuffs and systems, generous usage of glass and natural visible radiation, accent on unfastened infinites, usage shadowing devices to accomplish optimum human comfort, and the accent on rectangular signifiers and consecutive lines. Steven learns from it, nevertheless he took it a measure farther in to late modern architecture, besides known as structural expressionism. Though there is non much of a difference between late modern architecture and modern architecture itself, there is one, nevertheless obvious differentiation between the two. That is late modern manner edifices are non as simple and straightforward as modern manner edifices, albeit rectangular signifier, it is considered as a extremely articulated structural signifier. Common characteristics include open structural frames, truss work, and it tends to be metallic. Pic 5 – demoing the metal constructions of the green wall and the stairway Additionally, whenever Steven designs, he takes into consideration the poetics of infinite, and the experience of the user and the residents of the infinite during the design procedure. Before this, he mentioned that his front-runner designer is Peter Zumthor. In a book Thinking Architecture written by Peter Zumthor, he mentioned that every edifice is built for it’s targeted usage, in its ain topographic point for its really ain society. He designs his edifice to seek to reply those inquiries every bit critically as he can. Though Steven learnt to plan following Peter Zumthor’s train of ideas, he used his ain method of using it into his edifice design instead than the usage of phenomenology architecture. What the client wanted for this office infinite was for it to advance efficiency in the on the job environment while making a friendly infinite to better the sociableness of the staffs. By utilizing a mixture of both type of infinites, an unfastened program together with a private infinite, Steven aimed to hold a big infinite where the staffs would be able to pass on with each other without traveling from their infinites. Through this, there will be less miscommunication between the staffs because they are able the discuss everything in the unfastened. As for the private infinite, it is the balcony, where the staffs will be able to hold a more relax conversation during lunch clip or break clip. Not merely does it assist in let go ofing emphasis and tenseness between the staffs, it helps in conveying them closer and understanding each other in a better manner. Furthermore, because there is no mosque near the site, the surau is located merely opposite the office to let the Malays to be able to pray with privateness and without perturbation. It besides makes it easier for them as they don’t need to go out of the compound to look for the mosque and in the terminal have a shorter clip spent for tiffin. And he places importance in the lighting of the infinite. What Steven did to buoy up up the infinite was through the usage of drape walls and skiding doors. When human plants, they will necessitate a minimal sum of illuming to work expeditiously, if non they will hold to strive their oculus in order to see, and sing the long sum of clip they spend in the office, if there is non adequate lighting, their efficiency lower and their wellness will deteorirate every bit good. In decision, with his slogan of â€Å"do more, learn more† , Steven ever tries to larn the values, and replies from whatever he does and attempts to use it in his design. He aims to ne'er halt larning throughout his life-time, and by making so, he will ne'er halt seeking to look for ways to better himself and his designs. Through this design, one can see the sum of work and clip spent in the design and development of the undertaking. Even though he is considered as a immature designer with small experience because of his age, he worked difficult to come up with a design that he is confident plenty about his design and be able to convert the client with it. Mentions A2modern.org, ( 2014 ) .What is modern: features of modern architecture – a2 modern | modern architecture in the Midwest | ann arbor modern | michigan modern | modern architecture in ann arbor. [ on-line ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //a2modern.org/2011/04/characteristics-of-modern-architecture/ [ Accessed 23 Jun. 2014 ] . De Gruchy, G. ( 1988 ) .Architecture in Brisbane =. 1st erectile dysfunction. Brisbane, Qld. : Boolarong Publications with Kookaburra Books. Epa.gov, ( 2014 ) .Green Roofs | Heat Island Effect | US EPA. [ on-line ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.epa.gov/heatisland/mitigation/greenroofs.htm [ Accessed 23 Jun. 2014 ] . Historicdenver.org, ( 2014 ) .Historic Denver | Resources | Late Modernism. [ on-line ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.historicdenver.org/resources/late-modernism/ [ Accessed 23 Jun. 2014 ] . Nyc-architecture.com, ( 2014 ) .New York Architecture Images-. [ on-line ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //nyc-architecture.com/STYLES/STY-struc.htm [ Accessed 23 Jun. 2014 ] . Passikoff, A. ( 2011 ) .A fac?ade of edifices. 1st erectile dysfunction. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. Pritzkerprize.com, ( 2014 ) .Biography: Peter Zumthor | The Pritzker Architecture Prize. [ on-line ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.pritzkerprize.com/2009/bio [ Accessed 23 Jun. 2014 ] . Riorenewables.com, ( 2014 ) .Evaporative Cooling of Buildings: Improving Energy Efficiency. [ on-line ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.riorenewables.com/efficient-design/evaporative-cooling [ Accessed 23 Jun. 2014 ] . Smith, K. ( 2012 ) .Introducing architectural theory. 1st erectile dysfunction. New York: Routledge. Topdevelopers2012.iproperty.com.my, ( 2014 ) .Symphony Hills | Top Developer. [ on-line ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //topdevelopers2012.iproperty.com.my/project/symphony-hills [ Accessed 23 Jun. 2014 ] .

Essay on letter fits word

Essay on letter fits word Essay on letter fits word Letter Fits Word Nothing is meant to be caged; so is our foot. Foot binding started in Sui Dynasty, stemming from folklore. One day when Emperor Yang of Sui sightseeing River Dong, one girl was selected to tow a boat for the Emperor. Hoping to end Emperor Yang of Sui’s tyranny, the girl bound a bayonet under her foot, trying to kill the Emperor. As the Emperor approached her, she took off shoes and stabbed at the Emperor, but she failed. Since then, the Emperor ruled that all women should bind their foot as small as no bayonet can be hided. â€Å"The American political scientist Gerry Mackie, an expert on social norms, gives the example of a large group of families in a rural area south of Beijing, in which 99 percent of women born before 1890 had bound feet.† In the early 20th century, some people started an against-foot binding campaign in China, committed to liberate women from this painful rule; however, the movement did not run smoothly. From Sui Dynasty to early 1 0th century, a thousand years have passed, and foot binding, along with the years passed, regardless of its antihuman character, became a major social trend. Women with tiny foot were, to our surprise, welcomed; and those with â€Å"normal†-size foot were â€Å"monsters†. The tiniest feet - three-inch â€Å"golden lotuses,† as they were known - were important as a sign of status for women who could afford not to work in the fields or walk to market; the bound foot was a sign and instrument of chastity too. To those with knowledge and normal aesthetic standard, foot binding was teeming with sickness, rending people sense of low culture. This huge disparity between modern and ingrained way of thinking unmasks us an alarming predicament: as the society marches toward its future, the mainstream social conception is unable to keep pace. In The Art of Social Change, essayist Kwame Anthony Appiah, using the example of foot binding, suggests that no easy change can be made to a â€Å"thousand-year-old practice. With the huge progress made by The Industrial Revolution, Western countries, from 17th century, such as England and Germany, started to use steam power in factories, as well as replacing old carriages by trains as a long trip transportation tool. However, Chinese Qing Dynasty, trying to protect itself from being invaded and preserve its ‘culture’, adopted the Seclusion Policy. Foot binding was considered an important ‘culture’. We can see that, even in the era where people started to use technology to better their daily life, people’s conceptual ability still remained in the past. Despite the unimaginable difference between today and thousands years ago, some people are still immersed in the past way of thinking. Against Exercise exposes how the idea of Mark Greif, a 21st century writer, contradicts with present mode of thinking. Effected by ancient Greek culture, Mark Greif concludes that modern exercise , which intends to build exercisers into good shape, changed what nature intended to do on us, and we have deviated from the traditional Greek â€Å"box gym† to the more quantitative and obsessive modern form of exercise. Also, he agrees with Ancient Greeks, whose exercises have belonged at home with other processes it resembles: eating, sleeping, grooming, and cleaning. It is true that in the past, humans would not have needed organized exercise, since a hunting or farming lifestyle was strenuous enough to provide adequate physical exertion. However, centuries have passed and we live in a sedentary world nowadays, an era when eating foods promotes weight gain and disease. Letting one’s body function in a â€Å"natural state† in this present day and age leads to the disintegration of health. A natural state at this point is not a healthy one. Attempting to exercise at home may be a solution, but many individuals lack the willpower to force themselves into work without external pressure. Going to the gym, in front of other individuals, is like a promise to oneself to maintain health.

Quipu - South Americas Undeciphered Writing System

Quipu - South Americas Undeciphered Writing System Quipu is the Spanish form of the Inca (Quechua language) word khipu (also spelled quipo), a unique form of ancient communication and information storage used by the Inca Empire, their competition and their predecessors in South America. Scholars believe that quipus record information in the same way as a cuneiform tablet or a painted symbol on papyrus do. But rather than using painted or impressed symbols to convey a message, the ideas in quipus are expressed by colors and knot patterns, cord twist directions and directionality, in cotton and wool threads. The first western report of quipus was from the Spanish conquistadors including Francisco Pizarro and the clerics who attended him. According to Spanish records, quipus were kept and maintained by specialists (called quipucamayocs or khipukamayuq), and shamans who trained for years to master the intricacies of the multi-layered codes. This was not a technology shared by everyone in the Inca community. According to 16th-century historians such as Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, quipus  were carried throughout the empire by relay riders, called chasquis, who brought the coded information along the Inca road system, keeping the Inca rulers up to date with the news around their far-flung empire. The Spanish destroyed thousands of quipus in the 16th century. An estimated 600 remain today, stored in museums, found in recent excavations, or preserved in local Andean communities. Quipu Meaning Although the process of deciphering the quipu system is still just beginning, scholars surmise (at least) that information is stored in cord color, cord length, knot type, knot location, and cord twist direction. Quipu cords are often plaited in combined colors like a barber pole; cords sometimes have single threads of distinctively dyed cotton or wool woven in. Cords are connected mostly from a single horizontal strand, but on some elaborate examples, multiple subsidiary cords lead off from the horizontal base in vertical or oblique directions. What information is stored in a quipu? Based on historical reports, they were certainly used for administrative tracking of tributes and records of the production levels of farmers and artisans throughout the Inca empire. Some quipu may have represented maps of the pilgrimage road network known as the ceque system and/or they may have been mnemonic devices to help oral historians remember ancient legends or the genealogical relationships so important to Inca society. American anthropologist Frank Salomon has noted that the physicality of quipus seems to suggest that the medium was exceptionally strong in encoding discrete categories, hierarchy, numbers, and grouping. Whether quipus have narratives embedded in them as well, the likelihood that well ever be able to translate story-telling quipus is very small. Evidence for the Quipu Use Archaeological evidence indicates that quipus have been in use in South America at least since ~AD 770, and they continue to be used by Andean pastoralists today. The following is a brief description of evidence supporting quipu use throughout Andean history. Caral-Supe culture (possible, ca 2500 BC). The oldest possible quipu comes from the Caral-Supe civilization, a preceramic (Archaic) culture in South America made up of at least 18 villages and enormous pyramidal architecture. In 2005, researchers reported a collection of strings twisted around small sticks from a context dated to approximately 4,000-4,500 years ago. Further information has not been published to date, and the interpretation of this as a quipu is somewhat controversial.Middle Horizon Wari (AD 600-1000). The strongest evidence for the  pre-Inca use of quipu record keeping is from the Middle Horizon Wari (or Huari) empire, an early urban and perhaps state level Andean society centered at the capital city of Huari, Peru. The competing and contemporary Tiwanaku state also had a cord device called a chino, but little information is available about its technology or characteristics to date.Late Horizon Inca (1450-1532). The best-known and largest number of surviving quipus are dated to the Inca period (1450-Spanish conquest in 1532). These are known both from the archaeological record and from historical reports- hundreds are in museums around the world, with data on 450 of them residing in the Khipu Database Project at Harvard University. Quipu Usage After the Spanish Arrival At first, the Spanish encouraged the use of quipu for various colonial enterprises, from recording the amount of collected tribute to keeping track of sins in the confessional. The converted Inca peasant was supposed to bring a quipu to the priest to confess his sins and read those sins during that confession. That stopped when the priests realized that most of the people couldnt actually use a quipu in that manner: the converts had to return to the quipu specialists to obtain a quipu and a list of sins that corresponded to the knots. After that, the Spanish worked to suppress the use of the quipu. After the suppression, much Inca information was stored in written versions of the Quechua and Spanish  languages, but quipu use continued in local, intracommunity records. The historian  Garcilaso de la Vega based his reports of the downfall of the last Inca king Atahualpa on both quipu and Spanish sources. It might have been at the same time that quipu technology began to spread outside of the quipucamayocs and Inca rulers: some Andean herders today still use quipu to keep track of their llama and alpaca herds. Salomon also found that in some provinces, local governments use historical quipu as patrimonial symbols of their past, although they do not claim competence in reading them. Administrative Uses: Santa River Valley Census Archaeologists Michael Medrano and Gary Urton compared six quipus said to have been recovered from a burial in the Santa River Valley of coastal Peru, to data from a Spanish colonial administrative census conducted in 1670. Medrano and Urton found striking pattern similarities between the quipu and census, leading them to argue that they hold some of the same data. The Spanish census reported information about the Recuay Indians who lived in several settlements near what is today the town of San Pedro de Corongo. The census was split into administrative units (pachacas) which usually coincided with Incan clan group or ayllu. The census lists 132 people by name, each of whom paid taxes to the colonial government. At the end of the census, a statement said the tribute assessment was to be read out to the natives and entered into a quipu. The six quipus were in the collection of the Peruvian-Italian quipu scholar Carlos Radicati de Primeglio at the time of his death in 1990. Together the six quipus contain a total of 133 six-cord color-coded groups. Medrano and Urton suggest that each cord group represents a person on the census, containing information about each individual. What the Quipu Say The Santa River cord groups are patterned, by color banding, knot direction, and ply: and Medrano and Urton believe that it is possible that the name, moiety affiliation, ayllu, and amount of tax owed or paid by an individual taxpayer could well be stored among those different cord characteristics. They believe they have so far identified the way the moiety is coded into the cord group, as well as the amount of tribute paid or owed by each individual. Not every individual paid the same tribute. And they have identified possible ways that proper names might have been recorded as well. The implications of the research are that Medrano and Urban have identified evidence supporting the contention that quipu store a great deal of information about the rural Inca societies, including not just the amount of tribute paid, but family connections, social status, and language. Inca Quipu Characteristics Quipus made during the Inca Empire are decorated in at least 52 different colors, either as a single solid color, twisted into two-color barber poles, or as an unpatterned mottled group of colors. They have three kinds of knots, a single/overhand knot, a long knot of multiple twists of the overhand style, and an elaborate figure-of-eight knot. The knots are tied in tiered clusters, which have been identified as recording the numbers of objects in a base-10 system. German archaeologist Max Uhle interviewed a shepherd in 1894, who told him that the figure-of-eight knots on his quipu stood for 100 animals, the long knots were 10s and single overhand knots represented a single animal. Inca quipus were made from strings of spun and plied threads of cotton or camelid (alpaca and llama) wool fibers. They were typically arranged in only one organized form: primary cord and pendant. The surviving single primary cords are of widely variable length but are typically about a half centimeter (about two-tenths of an inch) in diameter. The number of pendant cords varies between two and 1,500: the average in the Harvard database is 84. In about 25 percent of the quipus, the pendant cords have subsidiary pendant cords. One sample from Chile contained six levels. Some quipus were recently found in an Inca-period archaeological site  right next to plant remains of chili peppers, black beans, and peanuts (Urton and Chu 2015). Examining the quipus, Urton and Chu think they have discovered a recurring pattern of a number- 15- that may represent the amount of tax due to the empire on each of these foodstuffs. This is the first time that archaeology has been able to explicitly connect quipus to accounting practices. Wari Quipu Characteristics American archaeologist Gary Urton (2014) collected data on 17 quipus which date to the Wari period, several of which have been radiocarbon-dated. The oldest so far is dated to cal AD 777-981, from a collection stored in the American Museum of Natural History. Wari quipus are made of cords of white cotton, which were then wrapped with elaborately dyed threads made from the wool of camelids (alpaca and llama). Knot styles found incorporated in the cords are simple overhand knots, and they are predominantly plied in a Z-twist  fashion. The Wari quipus are organized in two main formats: primary cord and pendant, and loop and branch. The primary cord of a quipu is a long horizontal cord, from which hangs a number of thinner cords. Some of those descending cords also have pendants, called subsidiary cords. The loop and branch type has an elliptical loop for a primary cord; pendant cords descend from it in series of loops and branches. Researcher Urton believes that the main organizational counting system may have been base 5 (that of the Inca quipus has been determined to be base 10) or the Wari may not have used such a representation. Sources Hyland, Sabine. Ply, Markedness, and Redundancy: New Evidence for How Andean Quipus Encoded Information. American Anthropologist 116.3 (2014): 643-48. Print.Kenney, Amanda. Encoding Authority: Navigating the Uses of Khipu in Colonial Peru. Traversea 3 (2013). Print.Medrano, Manuel, and Gary Urton. Toward the Decipherment of a Set of Mid-Colonial Khipus from the Santa Valley, Coastal Peru. Ethnohistory 65.1 (2018): 1-23. Print.Pilgaonkar, Sneha. The Khipu-Based Numeration System. ArcXiv arXiv:1405.6093 (2014). Print.Saez-Rodrà ­guez, Alberto. An Ethnomathematics Exercise for Analyzing a Khipu Sample from Pachacamac (Perà º). Revista Latinoamericana de Ethnomatemtica 5.1 (2012): 62-88. Print.Salomon, Frank. The Twisting Paths of Recall: Khipu (Andean Cord Notation) as Artifact. Writing as Material Practice: Substance, Surface and Medium. Eds. Piquette, Kathryn E. and Ruth D. Whitehouse. London: Ubiquity Press, 2013. 15-44. Print.Tun, Molly, and Miguel Angel Diaz Sotelo. Recovering An dean Historical Memory and Mathematics. Revista Latinoamericana de Etnomatemtica 8.1 (2015): 67-86. Print. Urton, Gary. From Middle Horizon Cord-Keeping to the Rise of Inka Khipus in the Central Andes. Antiquity 88.339 (2014): 205-21. Print.Urton, Gary, and Alejandro Chu. Accounting in the Kings Storehouse: The Inkawasi Khipu Archive. Latin American Antiquity 26.4 (2015): 512-29. Print.

The Internal Conflict of Good vs Evil essays

The Internal Conflict of Good vs Evil essays Good day. My name is Matthew Henson. I was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1866. My life was going well until my parents died when I was twelve years old. I went to my parents funeral. Their caskets side by side. Being an only child made it hard. No one to lean on. So I became a sailor. The crew took me in as if I was a part of the family. By the time I was 21, I had traveled the world! It was extremely exciting. I have never seen so many different people and cultures ever. After I traveled the world, I worked in a small shop in Washington D.C. I decided to take a break from the world. While I was working in the shop, a man named Robert Peary came and asked me to go to the North Pole with him. He heard about me and how Ive traveled the world. He said he could use me as an assistant. I was excited about the idea and I asked my boss if I could go. At first he said he needed me at the shop, but I talked him into letting me go. So I shook hands with Robert and we were on our way. On April 9,1909 Robert and I set off on our expedition. It was cold in the Artic. There were even a couple blizzards. Sometimes I never thought I would make it, but we did. It was the most amazing thing placing the American flag on it. I thought I had just landed on the moon. I will never ever forget that day. Back in the U.S.A., I was forgotten for many years. That was until 1954 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower awarded to me a medal for being the first black man on the North Pole. The geography of the land helped me because I was able to use sled dogs and that way I was able to travel far distances and I would never get stuck in a ditch. The geography also helped me because it was challenging to get there and that is how I became famous. If it was easy I wouldnt be famous because no one would care. The advice I would give world leaders today is to do their jobs. Dont act like a fool by fool ...

International Trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 1

International Trade - Essay Example Dinner in the Sky operates in about more than 15 countries (Dinnerinthesky.com, 2010). Dinner in the Sky will use a crane to elevate the furniture, crew, food and 22 to 350 diners as high as 180 ft up. The company will also built a separately-supported "flying stage" to hold a piano and musicians so the guests can enjoy live entertainment while they eat aloft. The structure of the eatery will be portable and will need a space of almost 1500 sq.ft, hence can be held anywhere (sea side, public place, historical sites and fields etc), (Dinnerinthesky.com, 2010). The company's suspended table measures 26 ft x 19 ft (8m x 6m) and weighs approximately 17,600 (7983.25 kg) lbs fully loaded (11,000 lbs (4989.6kg)unloaded). Eight cables, connected at points on all four sides, bind the table to a crane. The company has planned to work with safety agencies before introducing the concept to the public. During inspection, seats will be overloaded with weights of more than 330 lbs (150 kg) each. Di ners will be locked into their chairs by six-point seat belts that operate from the back side of the seat so they cannot disconnect themselves. The company will certify its system for safety by European-based testing agency (Mills et al, 2003). ... smati rice, or an Asian grilled shrimp with spinach, tofu and black bean sauce, a special pasta dish entree every day, plus the 'all American meal' such as barbecue beef ribs and baked beans. The menu will change every 3-4 months, keeping the favorites. All these mouth watering delicacies will be offered at competitive prices. The restaurant will open seven days a week, serving from 6 pm to 2 am. Dinner in the Sky is available for a session of 8 hours. It can be divided or personalized according to the client's wishes. Dinner in the Sky accommodates 27 diners around the table at every session, with a chef, a waiter and an entertainer. Dinner in the Sky’s management team will comprise of personnel holding experience of being associated with restaurant management. The Restaurant Industry of Pakistan is the size of around more than a hundred. The web page of Karachi Snob.com, a famous tourism web site of the city contains comprehensive details of all kinds of restaurants which ar e spread out through the city (karachisnob.com, 2010). The restaurants are categorized with the type of cuisines which they offer. The customers usually dine out on weekends with their families and prefer to visit those places which offer good food at reasonable prices and a comfortable seating arrangement so as not to cause any inconvenience to the family. The size of the Target Market which the company will be specifically catering to would be the 10% of the population of the city who belong to the Social Economic Class A and B. The lower middle class and the middle class would also be welcomed through trade promotions and discounts to leverage the revenues of its business. The restaurant industry is growing at a steady rate as shown in the â€Å"Hotel, Restaurant & Tourism Directory of

Social Security Reform Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Social Security Reform Plan - Essay Example The first aspect that needs to be changed in the current Social Security policy is the issue of life expectancy. As we speak, most of the payments made are based on the nineteen thirties and forties. At that time, many beneficiaries were expected to live up to an age of fifty five, however, this life expectancy has increased upwards and it is currently at seventy seven years. Experts agree that it would definitely make sense to include this age related issue in the process of making reforms. (Concord Coalition) There are two major options which the US government can take to tackle this issue. They can either increase the amount of taxes being collected from social security contributors or they have the alternative of reducing the amount of benefits going to retirees. The latter proposals are based on the following interrelations When life expectancy has increased, then it may be very difficult for the current crop of workers to meet the total social security payments. This is because beneficiaries must be paid social security for as long as they are alive and this means more payments. Additionally, if the amount of payroll contributions is not changed, then it may be inadequate to cover these costs. In order to avoid extremities or the winner-takes-it-all approach, it is essential to split these costs between the two parties involved i.e. the social security contributors and the beneficiaries. ... Additionally, they also need to involve the payroll tax contributors too. Half of the additional costs brought on by increased life expectancy can be covered by increasing payroll taxes so that no group will feel that they have been treated unfairly. (Cauthen, 38) Dealing with historical debts It has been noted by some researchers that not all workers in local and state institutions pay their taxes. This is one of the reasons that is causing the huge debt that has accrued over the past few years. In order to tackle this problem sufficiently, there is a need to impose mandatory taxation to this group. However, because implementing such a system on pre-existing workers would cause a lot of uproar and unfairness, it would be advisable to introduce that reform for every new worker that enters local or state departments and institutions. If these numbers are curbed, it is estimated that close to four million workers will be able to pay their taxes and this will greatly contribute towards eliminating that large debt that has been accumulated by past generations. Another manner in which the US government can handle this issue is by imposing a form of legacy taxes on high earners. (Springs, 9) As we currently stand, there is a maximum taxable amount and those who make more than this amount are not obliged to pay taxes depending on how much more they earn. This approach is creating a serious loophole and if left unchecked could lead to greater levels of historical debt. These higher earners can be informed that they are contributing towards the historical debt that has accumulated over the past few years. Additionally, the rates may be determined by how much more a contributor is earning above the maximum taxable income. Besides the latter

Thunderstorm Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Thunderstorm - Article Example The theatrical attraction and general characterization of the plot, in line with the thematic relevance of the play is magnificent. Despite the play exhibiting more of the ancient settings of the time, the relevance and the brilliance of the actors is exceptionally fascinating. The paper is an analysis of general plot, characterization, the cultural influence and reception by the audience, and the general commentary on the contemporary society of the Chinese through interactions and actions. The thunderstorm is in this case used to describe the complex blood relationships as well as the various tragic incidences that are perceived inevitable. Therefore, it is a dramatic occurrence with significant connotation together with heart-stirring artistic expertise. Zhou Puyuan, the head of the coal-mining modern company is portrayed in the light of a selfish and arrogant person, who has little interest in the whereabouts of both his family and the workers within the company. He is equally hypocritical, cold-blooded, and selfish, as evident through the brutality and dictatorship evident in the scenes. The Chinese culture is characteristically inclined towards male superiority over the female gender, and Zhou Puyuan plays a perfect role of chauvinism in the society. The role is well brought out in the scene through the actor, especially the command tone that inevitably restores dominance in the settings. It is a massive privilege on the part of the modern generation to witness such characterization of their forgotten roots in the modern generation. However, I find the experience complicated for other non-Chinese audience interested in the play, particularly due to the strong translated message of the play, but it is easy to appreciate the colorful and moving acting, which only prompts an urge to see more. I must confess that watching the play was one of my favorite moments, with

Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 4

Strategic Management - Essay Example 277). The Walt Disney Company's mission has evolved through the years as the company has gained more success. Walter Disney founded the company in 1923; it was after he visited amusement parks with his daughters where he would be bored while they played. The original mission was to provide entertainment of the kind that children and adults both could enjoy, making the whole experience family oriented. However, as the years have progressed, the Disney mission has evolved as well. The official mission statement of Disney is the following: â€Å"The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be the largest and most trusted producer and provider of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we will become the most responsive and adaptable to serve the needs of the consumers’ in our target markets. We will maintain our integrity and adhere to the core values upon which our company was founded as we creat e the most innovative and profitable entertainment experiences, most reliable and relevant informational services, and related products in the world† (Walt Disney Mission Statement: Creativity + Innovation = Profits, 2013). One of the key reasons due to which it is as successful as it is due to its strong vision, which is to be one of, if not, the mot major producer and provider of entertainment and information in the world. In fact, the company is now seen to be the most innovative and creative in providing entertainment to children and adults alike, with rides, characters, detailed storytelling, hotels, spas and a sports complex. Important Stakeholders: Stakeholders and risk bearers exist in every business, be it a small home-based one or an expansive multinational. Therefore, naturally, the multibillion-dollar worth, Disney Theme Parks has their share of stakeholders. These include the employees, consumers, communities that live near the resorts, suppliers, factories, retai lers, contract workers, nongovernmental organizations and charities, media, governmental organizations and, of course, the shareholders (The Business Communication Casebook: A Notre Dame Collection, pg. 251). Since it is a company of a large scale, it has numerous stakeholders to consider and engage with when making plans or addressing issues (The Business Communication Casebook: A Notre Dame Collection, pg. 251). It is, in fact, a mark of strength of a company of this large a size to engage with its stakeholders in order to better address their needs and the needs of the communities they work in, to result in more cohesion and better returns. Opportunities and Threats: Although Disney has become a huge corporation in terms of the services it provides, there are still several opportunities and aspects that it can perhaps tap into. Disney, due to its major clientele, can be a good source of promoting world peace and other noble causes. Because it is a theme park stemming from childho od stories and cartoons, it could be a rich source of providing education to the needy since it can reach out to many people. Another philanthropic opportunity it could pursue would be to give employment to citizens that cannot find work elsewhere, as a way of giving them a second chance to make a difference to society. Since Disney is

The Gaia Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Gaia Theory - Essay Example An example of this is the central belief in Gaia Theory that says the composition of the atmosphere is closely regulated by biological reactions to changes in the atmosphere. For example, an increase in CO2 in the atmosphere should result in a corresponding growth in vegetation that would absorb the additional CO2. In this way, Gaia theorists say that the biological reaction to changes in the atmosphere help keeps the earth in a state of habitable stasis. Some Gaia theorists argue that instead of stasis, the biological changes will actually work to optimize earth’s ability to sustain life. I agree with the criticism leveled against the Gaia Theory. While I find the thoughts and hypothesis generated by this theory, I think the author’s discussion of how historical evidence shows that once earth cools, it actually works to keep itself cool and after it has heated it tends to stay hot is at odds with the theory. The levels of C4 and C2 evidenced in arctic ice core samples seems to show that biological changes cannot counter all changes in the atmosphere to create a situation of stasis or even optimization. Forests affect global climate change in several important ways. The manner that they affect global climate change is different depending on whether the forest is located in a tropical, temperate or sub-arctic region. Tropical forests affect global climate change greatly through high levels of evaporative cooling and carbon sequestration. The humid climate contributes to rapid growth in woody flora of all types. The competing species of trees organize themselves into a climax forest consisting of a deeply shaded floor with low surface temperature with massive amounts of carbon stored in the trunks to the trees. Much study has been made of the clearing of tropical forest for agricultural uses.

Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 4

Strategic Management - Essay Example 277). The Walt Disney Company's mission has evolved through the years as the company has gained more success. Walter Disney founded the company in 1923; it was after he visited amusement parks with his daughters where he would be bored while they played. The original mission was to provide entertainment of the kind that children and adults both could enjoy, making the whole experience family oriented. However, as the years have progressed, the Disney mission has evolved as well. The official mission statement of Disney is the following: â€Å"The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be the largest and most trusted producer and provider of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we will become the most responsive and adaptable to serve the needs of the consumers’ in our target markets. We will maintain our integrity and adhere to the core values upon which our company was founded as we creat e the most innovative and profitable entertainment experiences, most reliable and relevant informational services, and related products in the world† (Walt Disney Mission Statement: Creativity + Innovation = Profits, 2013). One of the key reasons due to which it is as successful as it is due to its strong vision, which is to be one of, if not, the mot major producer and provider of entertainment and information in the world. In fact, the company is now seen to be the most innovative and creative in providing entertainment to children and adults alike, with rides, characters, detailed storytelling, hotels, spas and a sports complex. Important Stakeholders: Stakeholders and risk bearers exist in every business, be it a small home-based one or an expansive multinational. Therefore, naturally, the multibillion-dollar worth, Disney Theme Parks has their share of stakeholders. These include the employees, consumers, communities that live near the resorts, suppliers, factories, retai lers, contract workers, nongovernmental organizations and charities, media, governmental organizations and, of course, the shareholders (The Business Communication Casebook: A Notre Dame Collection, pg. 251). Since it is a company of a large scale, it has numerous stakeholders to consider and engage with when making plans or addressing issues (The Business Communication Casebook: A Notre Dame Collection, pg. 251). It is, in fact, a mark of strength of a company of this large a size to engage with its stakeholders in order to better address their needs and the needs of the communities they work in, to result in more cohesion and better returns. Opportunities and Threats: Although Disney has become a huge corporation in terms of the services it provides, there are still several opportunities and aspects that it can perhaps tap into. Disney, due to its major clientele, can be a good source of promoting world peace and other noble causes. Because it is a theme park stemming from childho od stories and cartoons, it could be a rich source of providing education to the needy since it can reach out to many people. Another philanthropic opportunity it could pursue would be to give employment to citizens that cannot find work elsewhere, as a way of giving them a second chance to make a difference to society. Since Disney is

Murder of Santiago Nasar in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Chronicle of a Essay

Murder of Santiago Nasar in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold - Essay Example Since Santiago was responsible for Angela’s loss of virginity, his death would be expected to be caused by a member or members of the Vicario family; more precisely, Santiago Nasar was killed by two brothers, Pablo and Pedro, from the Vicario family.  Santiago Nasar was going to be killed according to Marquez (67). The two brothers from the Vicario family had vowed to avenge their sister’s virginity since it robbed their family of honor. A bishop’s visit to the town threw the events of the day into disarray and shifted the attention from the foretold murder. The bishop decided, at the last minute, to stay on the boat on which he had travelled rather than get in town. Santiago Nasar was a member of the ruling class, together with his friends’ family. The family of the narrator in the story was close friends with Santiago’s family, which gave the narrator the expectation that before the bishop left the town; he would have personally paid them a visi t. Everyone, for sometime forgets about the saga that involved the return of Angela to her home after the wedding. The Vicario brothers were going to kill Santiago. Except few people, almost all the dwellers of the town including the priest and the mayor were aware that two identical twin brothers, Pablo and Pedro Vicario, were in a mission to find Santiago Nasar with the intention of killing him (Marquez 163). Santiago Nasar remained unaware of the plot by Vicario brothers to kill him until the time they accosted and attacked him. The manner in which the story unfolds is inverted, hence does not give very clear evidence of the murder at first. The story unfolds backwards rather than forwards. The possible reasons for the murder, the circumstances surrounding the murder and the motivation behind it are traced. The evidence that the Vicario brothers were going to kill Santiago is built from the importance they give to accomplishing their revenge mission. Angela Vicario was married by Bayardo San Roman in a flamboyant wedding ceremony. Barely five hours later, Bayardo returned her to her parents. The consequences of not being a virgin were potentially dangerous, a fact that Angela was very much aware. She, in fact, wanted to stop the marriage knowing very well that there existed no love between them. The Vicarious family, were so much impressed by Bayardo’s wealth and were, therefore, opposed to the decision by their daughter to stop the marriage. Her brothers were particularly not pleased by the incident and had vowed to kill whoever had deflowered their sister. Bayardo did not love Angela and neither did she love him. Rather, Bayardo was excited about the idea of marrying a beautiful woman. Bayardo San Roman used the wedding ceremony as an excuse to show off the power and wealth he wielded. According to the narrator’s comment, Bayardo San Roman could marry any woman he wanted to. His wealth and power came from the fact that he had been born of a decorated hero, the only one to defeat Colonel Aureliano Buendia, in a civil war fought in the nineteenth century. Lack of love may not have been a reason good enough to stop the marriage between Angela Vicario and Bayardo San Roman. However, the fact that Angela had lost her virginity to somebody other than her proud husband, Bayardo, was a reason enough to make her return to

Ethics of Marketing to Schools in America Essay Example for Free

Ethics of Marketing to Schools in America Essay Public schools across America are struggling with their budgets and looking to outside corporations for help. Conveniently, private corporations realize the potential buying power of students and have decided that elementary schools are the best channel to reach them. It has become routine for corporations to market there products in schools, and in exchange these schools receive various financial benefits. This new partnership has become the focus of much controversy as 80% of Americans feel that corporations should have no place in schools (). The two most cited concerns are the health of children and the growing commercialization of schools. This paper looks at this issue in detail by answering the following two questions. Is it ethical for corporations to market products in schools? What is the most socially responsible course of action for corporations to take? This paper will use a utilitarian and distributive justice framework to prove that marketing in schools is unethical and propose that the most ethical arrangement is to make schools commercial-free zones. This paper will also discuss the issue of corporate social responsibility through shareholder and stakeholder lenses to prove that there is a strong business case for corporations to? Children in schools are marketed to in a variety of ways. Schools can participate in incentive programs where a school receives funds to take part in a specific activity such as collecting box tops (). Some corporations offer free educational materials to schools that promote their corporate message. Pepsi encourages a thirst for knowledge on a popular textbook cover(). Each year over half of the students in schools in the United States receive free textbook covers(). McDonalds, Burger King and Dominos sponsor reading projects in schools with free meals(). Other schools receive free electronic equipment like computers and satellites for participating in programs like channel one. This is an arrangement where school receive free electronic equipment for having their students watch a 10 minute broadcast of which 2 minutes are corporate sponsored commercials (). All of these marketing techniques pose there own unique ethical dilemmas, however the most controversial type of marketing in schools today is the use of exclusive agreements. This is when corporations give schools a percentage of their profits in exchange for the right to be the sole provider of a product or a service(). The most prominent example of this is the soft drink company, Coca-Cola and their exclusive distribution rights with schools. As a result, Coca-Cola advertisements have become the most visible types of advertisements in schools today (). A US National School Health Policies study found that students could purchase soft drinks in 60% of elementary schools and 83% of middle schools (). Of these schools over 85% were under an exclusive contract with the Coca-Cola company (). For the aforementioned reasons the remainder of this paper will use the soft drink giant Coca Cola as a symbol to make it easier to understand the larger debate of marketing in elementary schools. A deontological framework can not determine whether this issue is ethical or unethical. In 1990 under $100 million was spent on advertising targeted at kids, just a decade later that number was up more than twenty times to over $2 billion (). This large increase in spending indicates that there is a strong motivation for corporations to market to youth. One way to determine if marketing in schools is ethical is to deconstruct these motivations through a deontological framework. The motivation for companies to market in schools could be a philanthropic opportunity to contribute to education. However, I do not believe this because companies like Coca-Cola make schools sign exclusive agreements, which means that they block competition and are profitable. I believe the main motive for companies to market to youth is to make money. Marketing to students in schools is an effective strategy as it reaps both short and long term rewards. Children in elementary schools have a lot of spending power. Kids ages 4-12 spend $40 billion each year (). Furthermore, these same kids influence $600 billion of household spending (). It is wise for companies to try to earn a share of this large market. Surprisingly, the sales of sodas in schools account for a miniscule slice of soda sales worldwide, less than 1 percent of sodas 66billion dollar industry (). Clearly profit in the short run is not the main motivating factor for companies like Coca-Cola. Marketing in public elementary school promises long run benefits. Soft drink companies can create brand loyalty with their consumers at an early age. In other words, they foster and retain a captive audience for its products. If you consider the cutthroat competition among soft drink makers for customers, this brand loyalty becomes a vital business pursuit. A deontological framework can better help us deconstruct the ehics of marketing to youth purely for financial reasons. Specifically, this paper will employ some of W. D. Ross duties. It can be argued that marketing in schools violates the duty of non-malefiicence (to do no harm). Some children will substitute a nutritious meal for a sugar laden soda. That is harmful to their health. Marketing in schools also violates the duty of gratitude. It does not thank customers for their business by protecting their health. Instead, companies like Coca-Cola continue to aggressively market their unhealthy product to vulnerable youth. On the other hand, if one considers a corporation a person, then a corporation fulfils Rosss duty of self-improvement by marketing in schools. It improves its own condition by increasing its profits in the short and the long run. Additionally, if a company honestly abides by the contract it signs with a school then it is upholding Rosss duty of fidelity. The framework of deontology is inadequate to determine the ethics of marketing in schools because it presents us with conflicting duties and no hierarchy to put them into. There is an incompatible difference between the various duties. However, this situation did not become controversial simply because some believe that a corporation might have bad ethics, instead people are worried about the consequences of marketing in schools. A utilitarian framework shows us that marketing in schools is unethical. Marketing in elementary school is controversial because it offers many direct benefits to schools, but negatively impact students. Through a utilitarian framework this paper will deconstruct the pros and cons of the scenario to determine whether marketing in schools is ethical. This paper will conduct a cost-benefit analysis to determine what results in the greatest good for the greatest number of people. The main players that benefit in this scenario are schools, shareholders of the Coca-Cola company, and employees. All of these players benefit in financial terms. Vending machines are a valuable source of revenue for schools. They support programs that might otherwise go unfunded. Elementary schools have reason to be concerned about their finances, the state of California cut the elementary school budget by $10 billion dollars in 2003 (). If a school district signs an exclusive contract with a soft-drink company it can generate an additional $3 million per year (). School districts receive all of this money for virtually no additional work on there part. This is why the cliche that: one day our schools will have all the money they need, and the Air Force will have to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber could become true (). Company shareholders benefit in the long run if we assume that marketing in schools create brand loyalty among consumers. Company employees also benefit from the sales of sodas in schools, simply because their company is continuing to be competitive in the marketplace and provide work for them. However, the positive impact of selling sodas in schools impacts company employees considerably less than other players in this scenario, because these employees will not be receiving a pay raise as a result of this practice. While there are some positive effects of marketing in schools, I feel that the cons greatly outweigh the benefits. Students bear the burden of the negative effects of marketing in schools. Marketing to youth perpetrates problems of childhood obesity, materialism, eating disorders, violence, and family stress (). This is especially problematic because children are more cognitively immature and prone to believe that products marketed in school carry their schools endorsement. For instance, if a school sells soda it signifies that it is acceptable to consume drinks that are high in sugar and have poor nutritional quality. A childs health is not an acceptable trade-off for increased revenues. Childhood obesity is an epidemic in America. One-quarter of children in the United States are overweight which means they are at risk for lifelong health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and cavities (). Competitors also suffer in this scenario because ? exclusive agreements create a monopoly on a school and therefore promote unfair competition and can charge whatever price they want. The difficulty of examining ethics from a utilitarian perspective is that is impossible to predict the future. It is not clear how much the financial revenue schools gain from executive agreements helps them to fulfill their purpose of teaching. It is also not clear how high the correlation is between marketing in schools and negative outcomes like obesity. What is known is that most of the negative consequences (and there are a lot of them) fall on the shoulders of the students. Having the burden of this issue fall on the shoulders of millions of students nationwide is bad for society as a whole. Children need to be educated in a healthy atmosphere so that they can become productive members of society one day. It is detrimental to the future if children are not provided with the best learning environment possible. The best learning environment possible is one that is free from commercial influences. The Distributive Justice framework shows that monopolies are unethical. According to John Rawls we should determine ethical dilemmas like whether marketing in schools is ethical by making the decision from behind a veil of ignorance. The distributive justice framework tries to ensure that the interests of the worst off in society are considered. According to this theory, students well-being should be put before business interests because students are the most vulnerable group in this scenario. However, there is an inherent conflict of interest within this framework. Corporations believe that marketing in schools is ethical because they are exercising their 1st amendment right to free speech. Everybody has this right, thus they are utilizing the equal liberty principle: equal rights to liberties as long as all may be provided such liberties. The problem is that not even all corporations are being provided the liberty of free speech. As previously mentioned Coca Cola has an exclusive agreement with 85% of elementary schools in America, this is just a nice way to say that Coca Cola has a monopoly on the elementary school market (). Companies that engage in exclusive distributive contracts are trying to block competitors. They can not justify this action on the ground that they need to do this to spur innovation, they want a monopoly so they can control the school market. Thus the difference principle comes into play because the inequality that these companies are creating in the market place needs to be addressed. The most ethical thing to do is to make schools commercial free zones. Marketing in schools is unethical. The most ethical thing to do is to make elementary schools commercial-free zones. Students should be able to pursue learning free of commercial influences and pressures. Eighty percent of adults in the United States agree that schools should be commercial-free zones as well (). While this may be the most ethical course of action, it seems highly unlikely as marketing in schools has become entrenched. Schools continually need more money and the government is unable to provide it. If marketing in schools must continue at the very least it should be regulated. It does not seem probable that the industry will regulate itself, so it should be subject to more government oversight. Right now there is very little the government has done to restrict marketing in schools. Laws forbidding it are perceived to be a breach of the 1st amendment. A study found that only nineteen states currently have statues or regulations that address school-related commercial activities (). This number includes states that have statues that encourage commercial activities. The government should establish an independent commission to regulate marketing in public schools. This agency should make regulations that encourage schools to provide a healthy learning environment for students. The agency could regulate the sale of foods high in fat, sodium, and sugars. For example, it could decide that vending machines can not be stocked with sodas; however juices (100%) and water could still be sold. There would be greater social acceptance of this issue if it were implemented more appropriately. The business case for CSR prevails. This paper has established that the most ethical thing for corporations to do is to stop marketing to students in schools, or at the very least to regulate what they market to children. If a company were to stop marketing to children for the aforementioned ethical considerations it would be following a normative line of reasoning. The company would be interested in doing the right thing for society with little regard for how the proposition would effect its own bottom line. While I would applaud its efforts on a moral basis, this would be a very poor reason to engage in Corporate Social Responsibility. There needs to be a business incentive for corporations to engage in Corporate Social Responsibility. A company has to be successful financially if it is going to survive in the long run. However, there is always a business case for corporate social responsibility with respect to companies that sell consumer products. In the long run the closer a company aligns with the values of society the more successful it will be. Good ethics and good business are mutually reinforcing. In this case 80% of society wants commercial-free schools or at least commercialism that is regulated. It is socially responsible for a company to accommodate the wishes of society because it is in their long run interest to build a good reputation. A company like Coca-cola may be more successful at recruiting, retaining, and engaging with its employees and customers if it demonstrates that it is socially responsible. Critics might argue that this is just mere window dressing. However, a good reputation leads to higher sales in the long run. Both shareholder and stakeholder frameworks would support the business case for corporate social responsibility in this scenario. Milton Freidman is an advocate of the shareholder theory which maintains that a companies corporate social responsibility is to maximize profits without breaking the law or violating basic rules of society. Coca-Cola is not breaking any laws by marketing in schools, it is merely exercising its first amendment right to free speech. It is also not violating any social norms, children get to choose whether they want to buy unhealthy products. On one hand it may seem that Freidman would say that corporations should continue to market in schools because they are making a profit and therefore helping society. However Freidman would agree that companies need to balance there short term gains against their long-term interest. In this case, Freidman would advocate for the restriction of marketing in schools because it is in the long run self-interest of the company because companies like Coca-Cola needs to reassure their customers that they care about them. . An alternative approach to corporate social responsibility is the stakeholder theory. This theory maintains that companies should balance the interests of all stakeholders involved. In this scenario the stakeholders would be the students (customers), parents, teachers, corporations, suppliers, employees, shareholders, and society. Students are harmed by marketing in schools because marketing is correlated with problems like obesity and materialism. On the other hand these same students benefit because their schools are receiving additional funding for programs. Parents suffer because they have less control over what their children are exposed to, and it could undermine their values. Shareholders may benefit in the short run from marketing in schools, but in the long run the values of the company must be aligned with society if it is going to succeed. Therefore, the stakeholder theory would advocate a business case for Corporate Social Responsibility as well: to limit marketing in schools. Marketing in schools is a complex issue with many players. In this case, students are the most important players because schools are public institutions and schools are supposed to make students a top priority. Marketing in schools can not stop on its own, it needs to be either strictly prohibited or at the very least limited by the government.

Looking At Presales Bid Management Information Technology Essay

Looking At Presales Bid Management Information Technology Essay This topic s not a primary focus of this book but this is included here for greater awareness. The chapter has a major real-time case study at the end. This chapter takes you through the preliminary concepts and then introduces the third party consultants and their role in large deals. Role of onsite relationship managers is also discussed here. What Is Presales Bid Management? Presales involves lead generation follow-ups, solution preparation, final proposals, product demonstrations, proof of concepts (POC), and many other marketing related activities till the customer is acquired. Bid Management is a vital Presales support service that provides copywriting, administrative and technical resources to ensure the quality of proposal documentation and presentations. A bid managers role is to present a proposal to client that meets their business and cost objectives, while minimizing business risks and maximizing profit margins (to her parent organization). Bid manager is the owner of proposal making process. She studies the request for proposal (RFP docs) from the client, which can be very comprehensive and legal in nature. She plans the whole proposal making like any other project and is solely responsible for keeping quality, costs and schedule for the whole bidding process. She needs to work very closely with sales, technical, delivery and commercial teams to co-ordinate the preparation of a winning proposal. The sales, delivery and technical teams can belong to different verticals and might be scattered across the globe, so the effective coordination and inter personal skills are the key here. A bid manager may not have any direct control over any of the teams, she is working with. For participating executives from different verticals, proposal making may be an extra add to their already tight day-to-day schedules, so getting quality time from them can be one of the biggest challenge in the process. The term winning proposal is very important here; because if we dont win, the whole exercise will be just a big overhead to the organization and how many such overheads your organization can absorb without significantly affecting the bottom line? Following are the main functions that can be categorized under presales and bid management. Qualification and prioritization of proposal and tenders. Co-ordination with sales, solutions, delivery and finance departments To ensure the availability of complete and quality information from each source within set timelines. Proposal documentation. Final presentations to the client with sales team that may involve technical consulting and product demonstrations. Who Fits? A good fit here would be a person who knows the company and its offerings inside out. Good communication, co-ordination, presentation, and interpersonal skills are usually required. It will help if the person for the bid manager post has work in similar projects/ products (as required by RFP) and can appreciate their commercial as well as technology aspects. She will be required to do a lot of number crunchings say for schedule, cost and scope and quick what-if computations to deal with variations in these factors. A thorough understanding of industry segment in which she is working will be a big plus. Not to forget stress and round the clock working under extreme pressures of dead lines is an integral part of this job. The Organization For Presales And Bid Management This will vary from company to company. In IT services companies there may be a few people marked working for presales function at each vertical/ department level. Typically it is headed by a manager presales. For large deals there can be a presales group working at corporate level that helps presales managers at different verticals. The corporate level presales group might involve very senior and seasoned professionals as far as the whole process of bid management is concerned. Whenever the organization receives a RFP (Request for Proposal), pre sales group may need to draw people from different verticals as per the expertise required in making proposal. Technical writers, commercial and legal managers are invariably required in case of large deals. There can be a bid manager designated for every individual RFP depending upon the size of the deal. In case of smaller deals, a single bid manager might takeover multiple bids. A bid manager is like a project manager with a responsibility of complete bid process. The bid manager typically belongs to the presales organization but there can be variations; if the stakes in proposal from a particular vertical are more, they may like to appoint the bid manager in consultation with pre sales. Once the bidding process is complete, expert from other verticals may go back to their regular assignments. Role Of Third Party Consultants In Execution Of Bids Companies typically specialize in their line of business; floating a tender and managing the whole process may altogether be a different ballgame. Its true especially when the stakes on the buyer side are high and tenders floated globally. The buyers side may find it an uphill task to manage the whole bidding process and fortunately consultants are there to help. In the whole process of bid management, consultants can be employed by both buyers as well as sellers. On buyers side they help in writing documents for RFP (Request for Proposal) and manage the whole bid process till the right vendor is selected. RFP document is important as it tells exactly what goods and services are required along with location, price, constraints and other terms and conditions. Its a legal document and forms the base for writing proposal on the suppliers side. Similarly on buyers side, third part consults help in evaluating the proposal. Typically they can take the role of a bid manager on the suppliers side and do coordination with verticals as required, and manage the whole bidding process. When third party consultants are engaged by the buying organization, they are the sole contact points for vendors for the whole bid-life-cycle. For buyers, they ensure quality of RFP and supporting documents, the right placement of the RFP (putting to select qualified vendors), the assessment of vendor capabilities and fit, the the documentation is as per agreed standards and finally help the buyers to rate the vendor proposals to conclude the bidding process. They may also monitor the transition and change management for buyer and typically oversee steady stare operations for an agreed period. Role Of Onsite/ Customer Relationship Managers (RM) Its often onsite relationship managers, who are first to know yes! Some thing right is going on there. They may bring in the lead; much before the official tender is floated. They help to ensure, their company is also a party to the bidding process. In many strategic deals the tender may not be floated publicly but the buyers place it to select companies, who they believe, have the capabilities to deliver as per their requirements. Onsite coordinators can bring in vital information about buyer groups, managers and their motivation behind floating such a tender. Some time approximate budget is also known. All this information can be vital in upbringing of a winning proposal, in fine-tuning the commercials and other details in last minutes if required. Post win onsite managers play a lead role in transition and ensure required levels of co-operation from clients end. Its the familiarity of onsite coordinators with client managers and their business (and also on what will fly) that ma kes them a crucial link in the whole process. Section B: Sales marketing of IT Companies Definitions Many of us do not appreciate the fact that sales are an important sub-part of marketing. Marketing is everything you do to promote your business. If you have an apt marketing strategy, most of the job is done. If the customer values your product services, she will herself make an effort to buy them. And you need little or no sales effort at all. The primary job of marketing is to create interest of the customer in your companys products and services. Marketing strategies deal with business development, selling techniques, communication and customer relationships. Marketing creates value for your customers as well as the company. With this, I think we understand the difference between sales marketing. Now; when we talk of IT we are generally concerned with marketing selling our solutions. For the purpose of this discussion; a solution is a mutually agreed-upon answer to a recognized problem that should provide some measurable improvement. So whats different here? We have two processes in any business scenario purchase and sale. The solution sales processes depends more on the buyer, who must feel the need for value from the organization, beyond its standard product or services being sold. The buyer must also perceive the prospective seller as having the credibility to deliver that expertise. At the same time the buyer must feel trust in supplier to discuss a problem share information that may be crucial for his survival. After that only a supplier may be allowed to do due-diligence and offer a solution and associated commercials (to the buyer). So we can make out the difference between a buyer in two situations solutions selling and selling standard products services. Fair enough! Critical Success Factors In Solutions Selling Already so much has been written on this topic in the management literature. We will discuss only a few of key points for the sake of completeness. Believing the emotional value and benefits of solution offerings: It is important to get an emotional understanding of your service offerings along with technical and business aspects. You need integrity and a strong belief in your offerings. For making a sale you should be able to transfer all this into the hands of buyer. Ability to find qualified buyers: Meaningful selling happens when you can find people who have a certain need and you can fill that need. Establish trust: Selling always requires building relationships and determining the buyers true needs. If trust cant be established; selling a solution might be extremely difficult. Match needs/wants to product benefits: It is critical to understand the buyers true needs and be able to match them with the solutions benefits. Ability to ask for the sale and deliver: Simply presenting the benefits of solution isnt enough. You must be able to ask the prospect to take an action in the form of placing an order. Once the order is placed you must be able to deliver on what you proposed. This is directly linked with your credibility to make next sale to the same customer or in the greater market place. How Technical Background Helps? It is very difficult to find people who are well-versed in selling solutions. Companies are investing a lot many $ in training qualified people with relevant technical backgrounds so that they are able to find the right solution for the customers. An effective solutions sales executive should be capable of processing a potential clients business needs, comprehend the technologies available and help designing a solution that delivers desired value to the customer and maximize the profits for her company. Most successful solution sales profiles have good engineering and business backgrounds. They have the right soft-skills, and thorough understanding of market. The key soft-skills that count here are business communication, public speaking, conflict management, and negotiation. Challenges Faced By A Customer Relationship Manager (RM) One of the most important skills RM needs is the ability to multitask and utilize various skill sets depending on the assignment at hand. Each day can bring its own set of unique responsibilities and challenges. For example it is anchoring a series of client meetings to discuss a large proposal for outsourcing their infrastructure ERP maintenance. It can well be a networking event to congregate the important stake holders, both from business and IT for a big project. Managing several different tasks at the same time might be challenging. The variety of responsibilities a RM has, to keep the business and relationship running can be very interesting at times. Back in office, there can be reviews of ongoing projects in onsite- offshore model with a couple of meetings per week. There can be one-on-one meetings with the client and other stake holders. Other meetings can be with the offshore teams late in the evening. Effective presentation and negotiation skills are very important for a RM. It can be periodic presentations to clients CIO on overall engagement or it can be presentation regarding resolution to a major break down in IT services. At times RM is there only to listen and make a compromise or mediate difference of opinion on project scope between project owner and the offshore project manager. One major task for RM is Bids and new initiatives as we have discussed in earlier sections. RM is one of the very few persons present on client side (from vendor) so she is the one who takes the first reaction from the client for both good and bad of offshore teams. She needs to be a true diplomat if you want to say it short! RM vs. BRM We are very much familiar with the role of customer relationship managers (RM) in solutions selling. The role of Business Relationship Manager (BRM) is a relatively new role in IT organizations. The BRM is an important link between IT and the business. The BRM needs to have significant knowledge pertaining to both technology and the commercials. BRM generally talks for the business within an IT organization, without any additional responsibilities to sell products or work on upcoming business deals. BRM role was actually created by CIOs in IT as a solution to what business sees IT as a barrier. Many times business doesnt understand how swiftly IT organization can respond to their fast changing needs or simply doesnt appreciate the capabilities of IT? BRM is supposed to fill this communication gap. BRM needs to know both business and technology to a reasonable level. This position also requires an ability to understand the business adequately to communicate the substance of projects t o the technology teams. On the other hand, BRM also needs to comprehend the technology sufficiently to communicate its complexity in simple terms for the business. Case Study: A Complete Bidding Cycle for a Multimillion $ IT Outsourcing Deal Y Inc. is a US based IT outsourcing company dealing in Information Technology products and services. It has marketing and development offices in more than 50 countries all over the world with sales revenue running in multi billion dollars from services alone. The services IT portfolio covers almost every segment ranging from high end ERP consulting, internet, mainframes to legacy applications. Y Inc. has development centers in all Indian metros with total staff exceeding 40,000 in India alone. ERP services and Web Applications are the most revenue earning activities throughout the globe. Y Inc. had received a request for proposal (RFP) from a European conglomerate (AtoV inc.) for managing their IT operations worldwide. They wanted to outsource their entire IT operations in order to achieve better operational efficiencies, substantially , reduce IT operations costs and get an ability to focus more on their core manufacturing and retail business. AtoV Inc. has diverse interests throughout the world that include heavy engineering, consumer goods, house hold electronic equipment, electric distribution grids, automobiles and retail businesses. They also have a fully owned IT company (IT Ltd.) that is supposed to manage IT operations for all their group companies. The group IT Company (IT Ltd.) is seriously short of skilled manpower to support other group companies in a cost effective manner. Also there is a lot of interference in the operations of IT Ltd. itself by the corporate (AtoV Inc.) and its not free to price its services as per market standards. Many a times IT Lt d. is forced to give resources free of cost or at nominal rates to other companies in the conglomerate to manage their IT operations. Appointments at top level in IT Inc. are also dictated by the corporate (AtoV Inc.); and there are many more such reasons, this group IT arm (IT Ltd.) is fast becoming economically not-so-viable for providing IT services to the group. The corporate was forced to look outside for better options (vendors) that are market driven and can be held responsible incase of non performance. This was the first occasion in past several decades where AtoV Inc. had floated a RFP outside to its group empire for outsourcing IT operations. They were extra cautious and are taking every possible effort to make it a success. The RFP was not advertized publicly but only a few major players across the globe were invited to put forward their proposals. AtoV Inc. thought these were the IT services companies who could sale up to their standards in terms of quantity, quality and reliability. Total nine global IT service providers were invited to participate in this prestigious worldwide bidding exercise. Each one of the participants had annual sales revenues well exceeding $ one billion. All were global players. They all had expertise build up over the years in the areas desired by AtoV Inc. These nine service providers were selected based upon a comprehensive research project undertaken as a part of preparing formal RFP documents. The selection of final vendor would depend upon how well these service providers understand the requirements of AtoV and present a customized solution. Pricing and other commercials of the proposal were to play an important role. However the contract could be awarded to a vendor who se quality and solution perfectly suited the needs of AtoV. In that case the pricing could be second or even third best (amongst all the bids submitted). We see therefore, the pricing was not the sole criteria. The total pricing of goods and services asked by AtoV Inc. was likely to run into several hundred million $, spread over the contract period. Depending on the annual performance reviews, the contract was likely to be extended up to 5 years. As expected, this bidding exercise attracted the attention of business press, the worldwide. In India it was in headlines in national business news papers, as much of the contract was likely to be executed from India (that is perceived a low cost region). Almost all the contestants for this contract had major back office presence in India. Executives of AtoV had no prior experience in dealing with the bidding processes of this magnitude and geographical spread. So they engaged a third party consultant (TP Con.), specializing in bid management for large deals, to manage the selection of most suitable vendor for them. TP Cons were given complete responsibility from concept to closure. The selection of a suitable vendor was the closing point of the bidding process. TP Cons were also supposed to monitor the transition and work out a plan for change management. Both AtoV Inc. and TP Cons were headquartered in California. TP Cons started talks to various department heads and CXOs of companies within AtoV group that were likely to be parties in this off shoring exercise. It required almost a months due diligence for TP Cons to figure out the IT needs of various participant companies. It was decided to contract out IT operations in phases. For the first phase Infrastructure Services (IMS) and ERP were chosen. These services ba dly needed an overhaul and they were the ones, consuming the maximum portion of IT budget; almost in all the cases (Companies). After everyone agreed in concept for inviting proposals in order to contract ERP and IMS services, the first step was to write a request for proposal (RFP) document. RFP is a comprehensive document that mainly focuses on the scope of goods and services requirements and conditions governing the bidding process and the contract there after. As stated earlier this was to be a multimillion $ contract spanning over 5 years. The RFP document itself was running close to hundred pages including many annexure. The main document had many sections. The first section included company back ground (AtoV Inc.) and the intentions behind floating the RFP. Various acronyms used in the main RFP document and its annexure were defined. It had contact points for the purpose of proposal from AtoV side. It also had proposal submission timelines and terms and conditions governing the whole process of proposal making. It also had the general requirements that a vendor and its proposal needs to fulfill as a prequalification note. It had executive summary of the overall scope being outsourced. And as main content it had two sections on the detailed scope of goods and servi ces sought from prospective vendors. One section contained detailed description on ERP services and the other one detailed infrastructure service (IMS) outsourcing requirements. It had a NDA (non disclosure agreement) to be signed by prospective vendor as AtoV was sharing a lot of confidential information regarding their applications and infrastructure. All this information was vital to the prospects for an accurate proposal making. The RFP also had a template (an outline format) for proposal and broad guidelines on what proposal would contain terms of solution and commercials. Apart from the said details in the main body of RFP; there was a number of supporting annexure documents in including some detailed spread sheets. They included NDAs, formats for commercials, legal terms and conditions governing proposal, application landscape and their interface details with multiple ERPs in the scope of proposal, details of servers and diagrams of network architecture and many other details to work out the solution and commercials of the proposal as accurately as possible. After issuing RFP, the suppliers were given a chance to raise their questions regarding proposal and bid processes. The proposal was to be submitted by email before a stated due date (fixed) and time that was to be followed very strictly. After two weeks of making proposal, each one of the 9 prospects was to be given a chance of oral presentations to a selection committee comprising of senior executives from AtoV and TP Cons. The period between floating of RFP and final award of contract was approximately 2 months that is typical to deals of this magnitude. After the contract award date, there was a transition period of 3 months to transfer application and Infrastructure services to the bid winner, Y Inc. in our case. TP Cons were to chalk out and execute a plan for transition and change management. During transition all expenses were 50-50 between Y inc. and AtoV. Expenses included salaries for Y Inc. and AtoV, all overheads, software/ hardware and whatever it takes for smooth trans ition of services to Y Inc. The transition was to work under an onsite/offshore model from India as offshore base. Main onsite locations were spread in North America, UK, Germany, Japan, Singapore and Australia. After all transition is done TP Cons were to monitor the steady state operations for an additional quarter. Once Y Inc. officially received the RFP; a RFP response team was to be formed. First member, the bid manager was from presales team as it happens in many cases. He was the project manager for this mega proposal making exercise. The team members were required from infrastructure group and ERP competency. Almost all the elements of IT infrastructure like mobile devices, phones, copiers, PCs, servers, data centres, software, networks and the processes including help desk were involved and IMS was the biggest component of RFP. Three to four senior experts were needed to cover all the areas of IMS required in the proposal. As usual the resources were already busy doing other billable projects. Making a proposal was important to organization but it cant be billed to any client obviously. So taking a project manager out from his billable role for a couple of month was a difficult call for any functional head. For ERP stream we required experts from SAP, Oracle Apps and People Soft HRMS syst ems both technical and domain experts. Though the size in terms of $ value of ERP stream was smaller but we needed many more members there because of diverse nature of functionalities involved and we had 3 core ERPs to support. In ERP stream also the story was the same all designated members for proposal making were busy in billable roles. To start with, the members in both the streams were put in dual roles of working in their regular work and contributing in proposal making s well. All the team members including bid manager were busy in study and analyzing the RFP documents from the client. Legal and finance teams also studied the proposals. Around 35 questions from all the streams were sent to the client for clarifications. Sending too many questions is considered as if you have not done your home work in analyzing information supplied in RFP and at the same time sending too few (of them) may be taken as if you have not studied the RFP in the depth required for making the proposal (so its a fine balancing act). All the nine prospects sent in their list of questions to AtoV for getting more information and clarifications, which they thought were required to make a decent proposal. AtoV executives took about one week to get back with answers. QA from all the 9 prospects was combined and this combined list was circulated to each participant. This is a typical practice to make sure each prospect is benefitted by the questions raised by others and all of them have maximum possible information (right information) before they start working the proposal. AtoV along with TP Cons also hosted a pre-bid face-to-face meeting in whic h all the prospects could discuss the answers and ask on any remaining questions. This was the last chance for all the participants to raise their questions or ask for more information. After closing of this meeting till the submission of final proposals, any officials from the potential vendors (9 prospects) were not supposed to talk to ANYONE from the client (AtoV). Any such attempt could disqualify the prospect from making a proposal. With all this information now it was imperative for Y Inc. to work on proposal on a war footing. They had 40 calendar days time left and team was not in place yet. Except bid manager himself nobody else was confident on content, clauses and scope of the proposal. Y Inc. decided not to engage a third party consultant for writing a proposal. Being an IT services major, making such proposals was routinely done. More over they had a specialized team under presales for such large deals. Even with large deals team, the experts were to come from respective team of ERP and IMS competency verticals. Including bid manager and two members from the large deal group a total of 14 members were identified for making this proposal. All had prior experience in making such proposals. Two technical writers were also included in the team. One of the team members from large deals group was of the level of general manager. The day came when all designated proposal team members were detached from their regular work and they were all packed in a conference hall of the corporate office. No land lines in the conference hall (conf hall) and all mute cell phones only hot discussions! They were sometimes useful and sometimes not so useful. But great, all team members were available in a room to exchange ideas and technical writers standing, to take notes and make things presentable. First bid manager presented a schedule on how to make it who will do what by what date? A net 30 calendar day program no offs; not even weekends. Start by 7:30 or 8:00 AM till half past mid night sometimes but no compulsions. Breaks for tea and smoke; snacks made available inside the room; all make to order. The motto only one, get it done whatever it takes. You can take your offs later. Some model proposals were studied and things start taking shape. 0.1 draft versions was ready first everybody is seen disappointed. A senior member from the large deals wanted everything to be redone. The onsite manager insisted inclusion of everything as per ITIL standards as it was very important from the clients perspective. One ITIL expert and one graphics designer were also added to the team now. First draft was ready. Technical writers had to compile 485 pages for it. But finally things started taking shape. Suddenly a new policy decision came from the client side. Written proposal was OK but more emphasis was now on the oral presentations. So everything was redone on power point slides. Thanks to the timely inclusion of a graphics designer in the team. Commercials, the heart of proposal was still under making. Commercials took about a week but they occupied only two slides in the final proposal. It was close to $300 Million proposal. Real strategic for the company! Need to win it any cost. Nearly 8 to 10 what-if scenarios were worked out using different combinations in schedules, effort, resources, onsite-offshore ratio, scope and rates. Approval for all of them was taken from the corporate and the finance department in advance. These scenarios were for accommodating last minute changes prior to or during live proposal presentations. Excel work sheets were kept ready to work out any more custom scenarios if required. In the last minutes inputs from sales team become very important and y ou might need to change the commercials accordingly. The final day in a San Francisco hotel witnessed three different committees from consisting of client and TP Con officials. And the final presentations made. Written proposals were submitted a couple of days advance in emails and seven print copies in sealed envelopes. All dropped in a designated physical mail box. AtoV wanted a month to study different aspects of the proposals made. They came back in just two weeks. Now its up to you to guess who was the winner? TP Con made evaluation matrices and criteria and the whole process was transparent only to AtoV. Now it was transition of a huge number of applications and infrastructure. TP Con was the boss. They explained the process to transition team. They gave around 30 elaborate templates and forms to be filled for each stream at each step. All this was to be loaded in an orderly fashion on a web portal, designated for this transition. The progress of transition in real time was now available to everyone including top management of Y Inc. and AtoV, one more challenge, probably tougher than making the winning proposal. Main transition sites were offices and plants in Texas and New York. A couple of them added from Germany, UK and other places too. Y Inc. roped in 4 transition managers one each in California, Texas, Chennai and Noida. The transition team structure was 50-50 for offshore and onsite. More onsite presence was required to cover the learning curve and attend face to face learning sessions with AnV subject matter experts. Later the onsite offshore was to be reduced to 80 20 an d finally 90 10 in the long term. TP Cons deployed not more than 3 members from RFP till the transition was over. A total of 6 months; end to end! As it was learned later TP Cons walked away with a handsome consulting fee. Much better than one could have imagined in the starting! Want to manage bids as third party consultant Summary RFI, RFQ, RFP, Bid manager, Large Deals, raising a Team For Proposals, Proposal making, What Ifs, Commercials, legal,