Motorola Essays - Motorola, Schaumburg, Illinois, Lenovo Smartphones

Motorola Essays - Motorola, Schaumburg, Illinois, Lenovo Smartphones Motorola Since it first entered the competitive electronic firm market, Motorola has continued to remain successfully as a world leader in mobile communication technology, ranking as the leading maker of cellular telephones, paging devices, automotive semi-conductors, and microchips that are used to operate devices other than computers. Although it has lost a few battles, Motorola has taken on the Japanese head to head, through these times of Japanese competition. In the 1980s Motorola controlled the emerging U.S, Market for cellular phones and pagers but they werent aggressively focused on competing with the Japanese, even though Japanese firms began to flood the U.S. market with low-priced, high-quality telephones and pagers, leaving Motorola pushed into the background. This is when Motorola heard the call to battle. Managers at first were not sure how they should respond, so they originally decided to abandon some business areas and even considered merging their own semiconductor operations with those of Toshiba. After a lot of searching they decided to fight back and regain the firms lost market position. This fight involved two main strategies: First learn from the Japanese, and then compete with them. To carry out these strategies, Motorola executives decided to to set a number of broad based goals that essentially committed the firm to lowering costs, improving quality, and regaining lost market share. Managers were then sent out on missions, mainly focused on Japan, to learn how to compete better. Some manager even observed Motorolas own Japanese operations to learn and understand how it fully functioned; while others focused more on how other successful Japanese firms operated. At the same time, the firm also drastically boosted its budget, R&D, and employee training worldwide. One important thing that executives learned from their trip to Japan after viewing a flag flying outside one of its plants was that they had altogether forgotten their old ways of doing business and this is the exact point where they decided to reinvent their firm from top to bottom. Old plants were closed as new ones were built. Workers received new training with a wide range of quality-enhancement techniques. They decided to place their new commitment to quality at the forefront of everything it did. They even decided to announced their goal of achieving a perfection rate of 99.9997% (Six Sigma), and when they actually achieved this level of quality they received the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Motorola has been continuously successful especially abroad in Japan. The firm has 20 offices and has more than 3,000 employees there. It is currently number three in market share there both in pagers and cellular telephones but is steadily approaching number two. Worldwide, Motorola controls 45% of the total market for these products, have regained its number two position in semiconductor sales, and is furiously launching as many new productions that seem to baffle its competitors. Today Motorola generates more than 56% of its revenues abroad. Major new initiatives are underway in Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe and the firm has currently made headway in Western Europe against rivals Philips and Thomsom. Motorola has set new and staggering goals for itself. It wishes to take quality to the point where defects will be measured related to billions rather millions. It wants to cut its cycle time tenfold every ten years. And by this year, Motorola wanted over 75% of its revenues to come from foreign markets. Even though Motorola has established and proven itself as a successful company, they have their strengths and weaknesses like every other company. Motorolas strengths are its net sales, its innovation, and marketing and software development. Their passion, openness of executives, Acquisitions, mergers, and business alliances are also part of Motorolas Strengths. Weaknesses of Motorola are the overall quality of its operations, products, and business practices. They seem to generate unhappy consumers and have poor consumer relations. Their products seem to have high numbers of defects while Motorola itself is viewed as being inefficient and has a reputation of lacking a strategy. There also have low employee education, training, motivation, and morale, which is an extremely important aspect. Opportunities that Motorola has are that they can learn from the Japanese, have untapped market opportunities around the world. They also have the

Analysis of Margaret Atwoods Happy Endings

Analysis of Margaret Atwoods Happy Endings Happy Endings by Canadian author Margaret  Atwood is an example of metafiction. That is, its a story that comments on the conventions of storytelling and draws attention to itself as a story. At approximately 1,300 words, its also an example of flash fiction. Happy Endings was first published in 1983. The story is actually six stories in one. Atwood begins by introducing the two main characters, John and Mary, and then offers six different versions- labeled A through F- of who they are and what might happen to them. Version A Version A is the one Atwood refers to as the happy ending. In this version, everything goes well, the characters have wonderful lives, and nothing unexpected happens. Atwood manages to make version A boring to the point of comedy. For example, she uses the phrase stimulating and challenging three times- once to describe John and Marys jobs, once to describe their sex life, and once to describe the hobbies they take up in retirement. The phrase stimulating and challenging, of course, neither stimulates nor challenges readers, who remain uninvested. John and Mary are entirely undeveloped as characters. Theyre like stick figures that move methodically through the milestones of an ordinary, happy life, but we know nothing about them. Indeed, they may be happy, but their happiness seems to have nothing to do with the reader, who is alienated by lukewarm, uninformative observations, like that John and Mary go on fun vacations and have children who turn out well. Version B Version B is considerably messier than A. Though Mary loves John, John merely uses her body for selfish pleasure and ego gratification of a tepid kind. The character development in B- while a bit painful to witness- is much deeper than in A. After John eats the dinner Mary cooked, has sex with her and falls asleep, she stays awake to wash the dishes and put on fresh lipstick so that hell think well of her. There is nothing inherently interesting about washing dishes- its Marys reason for washing them, at that particular time and under those circumstances, that is interesting. In B, unlike in A, we are also told what one of the characters (Mary) is thinking, so we learn what motivates her and what she wants. Atwood writes: Inside John, she thinks, is another John, who is much nicer. This other John will emerge like a butterfly from a cocoon, a Jack from a box, a pit from a prune, if the first John is only squeezed enough. You can also see from this passage that the language in version B is more interesting than in A. Atwoods use of the string of cliches emphasizes the depth of both Marys hope and her delusion. In B, Atwood also starts using second person to draw the readers attention toward certain details. For instance, she mentions that youll notice that he doesnt even consider her worth the price of a dinner out. And when Mary stages a suicide attempt with sleeping pills and sherry to get Johns attention, Atwood writes: You can see what kind of a woman she is by the fact that its not even whiskey. The use of second person is particularly interesting because it draws the reader into the act of interpreting a story. That is, second person is used to point out how the details of a story add up to help us understand the characters. Version C In C, John is an older man who falls in love with Mary, 22. She doesnt love him, but she sleeps with him because she feels sorry for him because hes worried about his hair falling out. Mary really loves James, also 22, who has a motorcycle and a fabulous record collection. It soon becomes clear that John is having an affair with Mary precisely to escape the stimulating and challenging life of Version A, which he is living with a wife named Madge. In short, Mary is his mid-life crisis. It turns out that the bare bones outline of the happy ending of version A has left a lot unsaid.  Theres no end to the complications that can be intertwined with the milestones of getting married, buying a house, having children, and everything else in A. In fact, after John, Mary, and James are all dead, Madge marries Fred and continues as in A. Version D In this version, Fred and Madge get along well and have a lovely life. But their house is destroyed by a tidal wave and thousands are killed. Fred and Madge survive and live as the characters in A. Version E Version E is fraught with complications- if not a tidal wave, then a bad heart. Fred dies, and Madge dedicates herself to charity work. As Atwood writes: If you like, it can be Madge, cancer, guilty and confused, and bird watching. It doesnt matter whether its Freds bad heart or Madges cancer, or whether the spouses are kind and understanding or guilty and confused. Something always interrupts the smooth trajectory of A. Version F Every version of the story loops back, at some point, to version A- the happy ending. As Atwood explains, no matter what the details are, [y]oull still end up with A. Here, her  use of second person reaches its  peak. Shes led the reader through a series of attempts to try to imagine a variety of stories, and shes made it seem within reach- as if a reader really could choose B or C and get something different from A. But in F, she finally explains directly that even if we went through the whole alphabet and beyond, wed still end up with A. On a metaphorical level, version A doesnt necessarily have to entail marriage, kids, and real estate. It really could stand in for any trajectory that a character might be trying to follow. But they all end the same way: John and Mary die. Real stories lie in what Atwood calls the How and Why- the motivations, the thoughts, the desires, and the way the characters respond to the inevitable interruptions to A.

Impacts of Cybercrime on Shareholder Value and Marketing Essay

Impacts of Cybercrime on Shareholder Value and Marketing - Essay Example This discussion declares that Yahoo.com, Ebay.com, and Amazon.com were attacked by cyber-terrorists in February, in the year 2000. It is believed that the attack was conducted by a hacker and Elias Levy the chief technology officer at that time, of CSIS, mentioned that it was difficult to find who did the attack since there were many machines that were used to do the attack, and the attack could have been directed from any part of the globe. In addition, according to him, the same group could have held all the attacks in these three online sites since it happened almost the same day. It was later discovered that a boy by the name of Michael Calce was the one who executed the crime. Michael Calce was a fifteen year old Canadian citizen whose nickname was Mafia boy. This paper highlights that Amazon announced to its users that their passwords had to be changed, what they termed as a preventive measure towards protecting the users passwords. This was after they detected various passwords and email addresses that did not relate to Amazon, posted online. So, they had to change their user’s passwords because they believed that the same passwords were used in other websites. Users were advised not to use their previous passwords for the sake of safety. The software helped him to hack into the websites of Amazon, eBay, Dell, CNN, and yahoo and made some harmful alterations to the program coding.

Phoenix Johnson and the Worn Path Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Phoenix Johnson and the Worn Path - Essay Example The character is able to become symbolic of the meaning of the overall story and what it means to change the worn path into something new as a transition. The first aspect of the character that is recognized as a part of the worn path is the name. Phoenix is a symbolic meaning of a bird that dies then rises through the ashes. In the story, Phoenix is seen as walking the same path continuously, always which is done for the illness of her grandson. This is combined with the routines and expectations that she has as well as the reoccurring events that everyone recognizes about the character. The idea of the phoenix then remains present in the story as the worn out path of the character continues until it dies. When Phoenix falls into a ditch, there is recognition of the character dying to the old and worn out path, which then leads to rising to the new. The presentation of the character as a bird that is not going to walk down the same path again then becomes a central part of the recog nition of the struggle that the character goes through as well as the problems which are associated with making a transition out of the old and into the new. The name of Phoenix which holds the symbolic meaning with the character is followed by the actions which are taken and the expectations that the character has. The worn path that Phoenix walks down is also symbolic of the mentality of the character and the difficulties which she continuously encounters throughout her life. The never – ending struggle of the character and the ability to overcome this is one of the highlighted aspects of the character. For instance, when walking the worn path, Phoenix states that the journey makes it â€Å"seems like there is chains on my feet, time I get this far† (Welty, 143). The statement is one that is not only based on the difficulty of the path but is representative of the path that Phoenix continues to travel and rise through each time that something occurs. The characteriza tion of Phoenix then becomes associated with the struggle that she continues to go through and the ability to overcome the difficulties which she has faced. The recognition of the character that has the chains on the path and which continues to struggle is not only based on the one struggles of the character. Phoenix is an African – American that lives in the south and which has lived through the Civil Rights movement and the changes toward blacks and whites in the nation. The representation of the character then moves into a deeper aspect not only of one character that has walked the worn path. It also relates to the struggles of those living in the South at the time and the continuous need to have bravery, the ability to overcome and to chase things away if they appeared as a threat. For instance, when Phoenix meets a hunter, he holds a gun to her to shoot. The response is not one out of fear. â€Å" ‘Doesn’t that gun scare you?’ he said, pointing it at her. ‘No, Sir, I seen plenty go off closer by, in my day† (146). This phrase and several others show the courage and the understanding of the meaning of the character as the worn path. The character is one that has seen guns, struggle and other difficulties based on the social order of the time. The development of the character is then to show how these struggles have allowed the character to overcome.

Asian American Women Essay Example for Free

Asian American Women Essay Dr. Eliza Noh from the California State University-Fullerton has spent much of her professional life studying depression and suicide among Asian-American women. She was inspired to do so and was triggered by her sister’s suicide incident in 1990. In one of her findings, she mentioned about the culturalist biases in psychology. This explained the tendency to expound on Asian-American psychology in culturalist terms (Confucianism and Acculturation model,) static and the dualistic portrayals of Asian American culture vs western culture (Traditional vs. Modern. ) She also explained the roles of race and gender issues that were experienced by many Asian American women. This included the role of orientalism and the stereotype of the â€Å"perpetual foreigner,† including the racial and gender dynamics in perpetuating cultural hegemonies, and the impact of racism and sexism. As described in the presentation, Asian Americans are often expected to be smart in math and science. Other educational expectations are also set because of their race and ethnicities. For most Asian Americans, suicide survivors had developed diverse healing strategies that challenged liberal approaches to recovery; there is this unfeasibility of recovery itself. One thing that was found helping Asian American women that reduced suicide commitments was writing. It also empowered these women to give themselves another chance in life. My thoughts on this presentation were normal, for I was Asian myself. It is a fact that Asian Americans often carry high expectation from parents, friends, or even from their own self-esteem. I personally experienced that something was inappropriate with regards to my academic ranking in junior high school. My academic stance in school was not as high as the expectations set by my parents that led me to believe that I was not love and that I was a useless child. I even thought about leaving home and just be part of the homeless. But my friends encouraged me to look forward and forget about the limitations at home, and enjoy my life the way I wanted. After all, I enjoyed my junior high with tons of fun and excitements; surprisingly I had also reached the expectations that were for myself improvement. Learning from this class and from Dr. Eliza Noh’s presentation gave me an insight of the many expectations set for women in all the cultural perspectives. This includes not only the bodily image that the public and media are looking for, but also the pressure from family and peers in pursuing educational goals. A failure in the accomplishment of goals normally results in many uncomfortable scenarios, and may even lead to suicide.

The Struggle to Get it All Straight :: Personal Narrative Writing Papers

The Struggle to Get it All Straight I. I first began writing--really writing--sometime around my sophomore year of high school. Since then, I have consistently received high marks and flattering compliments for my work. But I still suffer this insecurity which Judith Guest describes perfectly. She says that after achieving great success in her writing she found that she was "still telling [herself] that [she] wasn't really a writer, but a trickster" (xii). Ah, yes. I know that feeling. Every paper I am asked to write, I fear will be my undoing--that it will be the assignment which proves that I haven't been able to write the whole time, that I'm nothing but crafty. My undergraduate degree carries with it an emphasis in creative writing; for four years I wrote mostly poetry. I didn't know it, but the poetry courses gave me my first introduction to Rhetorical Theory. There I met the generative techniques of Peter Elbow and Natalie Goldberg which make so much sense to me. I appreciated these exercises, which, as Guest notes, "[give] people permission to think the thoughts that come, and to write them down, and make sense of them in any way they wish" (xii). Between the covers of my journal, I took on the premise of Goldberg's book Writing Down the Bones : Learning to write is not a linear process. There is no logical A-to-B-to-C way to become a good writer. One neat truth about writing cannot answer it all. There are many truths. To do writing practice means to deal ultimately with your whole life. (3) Because I understood the idea without understanding the possibilities, these courses didn't change my life--instead they were a reprieve from "real" life, a reprieve from the the standards of "real" academics. Although I enjoyed other English courses, I never felt the freedom that those writing courses offered me--the opportunity to create my own understanding from a personal perspective. Instead I wrote the essays about subject matter, and in the kind of language, I thought those teachers wanted to hear. This contradiction between these two types of English courses was something I accepted without question. Two years ago the issue really opened itself up for me. I had been out of school for a few years and was a little nervous about returning to the world of academic writing. That spring quarter I had three writing courses and an American Literature course.

Human Resource Essay

What is Strategic Human Resources Management and how does it link the people with the strategic needs of the business? â€Å"Strategic human resource management is designed to help companies best meet the needs of their employees while promoting company goals. Human resource management deals with any aspects of a business that affects employees, such as hiring and firing, pay, benefits, training, and administration†. (â€Å"http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-strategic-human-resource-management.htm†) The origin of Infosys starts initially in 1981 when six individuals decided that they would set out to change the structure of IT business and make the company known and respected in the industry. In the initial startup phase, however Infosys did not see immediate profit as with most startup companies and experienced very tough times and hardship. After a brief time of hardship Infosys started to see growth and expansion pick up and Infosys would see the company starting to gro w more rapidly. The problem Infosys faced when they had more growth than expected was employees that somehow became a little disengaged and became unhappy while working at the company. Infosys realized that employees were what made companies successful as they were who interacted with customers on a regular and they are the ones that kept customers engaged and build relationships with them. Issues Faced at Infosys Reading the article and looking at the organization from an external standpoint allowed me to see where issues where in the organization. The first issue which I though may not have been a particularly bad issue was the growth the company was seeing. Anytime there is growth and not enough staff available, the immediate thing to do would be hire more staff. Infosys was forced to hire more workers and in turn quickly became overstaffed with workers and soon found out they did not need as many people as they had hired for. Infosys soon found themselves with workers that had become disgruntled because of â€Å"slow periods† when work was minimal. Infosys offered stock to its employees in an attempt to counteract the negative feelings and attitudes that employees were starting to develop and employees were okay with this however it was not a complete solution and Infosys soon high turnovers from their employees and overall dissatisfaction. Employee Engagement could have been conducted in this matter and would have probably assisted with better retention of employees and the company’s HR objectives. â€Å"Engagement is the extent to which employees are motivated to contribute to organizational success and are willing to apply effort to accomplishing tasks. (Mello, 2011) Alternatives to be considered Infosys uses a very standardized method when it comes to managing and the managing employees. They will need to implement new and exciting methods to do this and they would need to start with better employee management relationships. They would need to get feedback from the employees and consider areas of opportunity and immediate needs for change. The organization would need to focus more on seeking out qualified individuals versus hiring individuals just to fill positions even if it’s on a temporary basis. They will need to seek out and discover the needs of their very best assets. Their employees. Recommendations Infosys is known for its recruitment opportunities of college graduates and competitive internships. Infosys should focus on providing opportunities to interns that will benefit from hands on experience instead of hiring individuals that will most likely be laid off due to cutbacks or not enough work to go around. If the need to recruit for a regular candidate then there needs to be a method to follow when recruiting which gives specifics on what is being sought after in a potential employee and not take a â€Å"cookie cutter† approach. Conclusion Infosys would need to develop employee relations programs and create ways to make sure the employees are happy, productive, and will be engaging. The company should revisit their objectives and goals both long term and short term and develop a solid business on completing those tasks.