Prevention of Terrorist Acts by Private Security Essay

Introduction The local public law enforcement agencies are aware and have recognized the fact that singly, they cannot cover the vast geographical area of their respective jurisdictions and enforce effective policing duties. They are limited in numbers, expertise and resources. For this reason, they have employed the services of the private sector specifically the members of the communities and forged with them agreements for assistance and collaboration in crime fighting and public disorder. In fact, the 1990s marked the emergence of a new mode of delivery of services in the public sector—law enforcement area. This mode of service delivery gave law enforcement an opportunity to employ resources and expertise which were not otherwise available to them before under the collaborative partnership and shared responsibilities with the private sector and communities (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). Even the government has recognized the importance of assistance from the private sector. Thus, this growing recognition was no longer limited locally but has spread across the states and the federal government. With financial support from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), the Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), National Sheriffs’ Association, and American Society for Industrial Security International joined efforts for the state and local to start a partnership with the private sector, specifically the private security organizations denominated as â€Å"Operation Cooperation† (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). This partnership however, was limited to crime fighting and public disorder. A growing success was noted in these partnerships and continued efforts are exerted to thresh out some identified problem areas. The September 11 terrorist attacks brought a new awareness and rekindled the imperative need for local law enforcement and private security organizations to work together to fill the gap for homeland security and in preventing terrorism (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). By reason of the success rate in the partnership between the private sector and the law enforcement in terms of peace and order, private sector was again requested to pitch in its efforts to help in combating terrorist attacks. After the summit in 2004, private security organizations were called upon to organize and develop as community counterparts in assisting law enforcement agencies. The U.S. Department of Justice holds the opinion that community policing has the same direct effect on counter terrorism strategies. â€Å"These include the use of crime mapping with GIS systems, data collection and analysis protocols, and technologies that may be used as platforms for gathering intelligence to assess terrorism vulnerability. In addition, the community partnerships formed by police in the course of community-oriented problem solving provide a ready framework for engaging citizens in helping police to identify possible threats and implement preparedness plans† (Docobo, 2005). Community policing affords the opportunity for law enforcement agents to have knowledge of activities in their respective territorial jurisdictions which can assist in counteracting terrorist activities. These crime prevention partnerships has proven effective through the years and for which reason, this has inspired a similar idea with respect to terrorism especially after the September 11 terrorist attack. Thus, public law enforcement-private security partnerships are now thought of as being replicated as to apply to homeland security and counter terrorism. For instance in New York, Area Police/Private Security Liaison was created to enhance mutual cooperation between law enforcement and private security primarily for exchange of information. This gives the New York Police Department a vast network and thus facilitating information reports on security updates and terrorists news bulletin (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). Terrorism in the United States is characterized by inflicting harm and damage to a great number of people all at once. For this reason it is crucial to forge partnerships and mutual collaboration with private security organizations to be able to cover that large territory. The country’s infrastructure is protected by private security organizations while the law enforcement agencies receive information regarding threats thus either one cannot protect alone (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). Infrastructure as defined by the 9/11 Commission as to include telecommunications and communication networks, buildings, energy facilities, etc. (9/11 Commission, 2004). Based on statistical estimates made by 9/11 Commission in its Final Report, at least 85% of the infrastructure is owned by the private sector and is protected by a number of private security agents which far exceed the number of law enforcement officers and agents (9/11 Commission, 2004). Private security organizations can perform civic duties in providing assistance in evacuation, food and transport in emergencies (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). There is also information sharing and close coordination with other private security practitioners and law enforcement agents which leads to exchange of information, access to others, exposure, training, and familiarity with the needs of each sector, i.e. private security and public law enforcement (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). There is a more creative manner of solving problems and a marked reduction in response time to disasters. There were many advisory committees both public and private institutions that embarked on studies to find out how to protect the U.S. homeland security. There was uniformity in their findings that there is lack of homeland security strategy, defects in â€Å"governmental organization and processes in dealing with threats to national security† (Parachini, Davis, Liston, 2003). After the September 11, President Bush created the Office of Homeland Security and also established the Homeland Security Council as an inter agency coordinating body. In 2002, the legislation H.R. 5005 or the Homeland Security Act of 2002 was approved by the U.S. Congress and was signed into law by the President (Parachini, Davis, Liston, 2003). The Department of Homeland Security was established with plans and programs it is supposed to implement through he discharge of the powers and functions which the law mandates it to exercise (Parachini, Davis, Liston, 2003). Directives and orders have been issued from that time to harness the various areas for counter terrorism from state, federal and local enforcement level. The Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that â€Å"there are 16,661 state, local, and county law enforcement agencies in the United States, and they employ a total of 677,933 sworn officers. Studies on private security staffing indicate there may be as many as 10,000 private security agencies employing slightly less than 2 million private security officers in the United States† (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). These numbers can be a good indicator of the extent of the large number that can assist public law enforcement agencies. A security organization has various functions, thus a security practitioner may be a director of security services of a large corporation or a manager of contracted security personnel at the place or office of a client or an investigator with expertise on computer crimes (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). There are two kinds of private security services, i.e. 1) â€Å"proprietary or corporate security;† and, 2) â€Å"contract or private security firms† (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). â€Å"Corporate security generally refers to the security departments that exist within businesses or corporations. Contract security firms by contrast sell their services to the public, including businesses, homeowners, and banks† (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). Public policing on the other hand, deals with the state, local law enforcement including sheriffs’ offices. Primarily these officers are responsible for peace and order and street crimes and have no concern with corporate internal operations or private economic interests (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). The advantages of private security organizations over the public law enforcement agencies are these agencies have vast resources and expert knowledge in the field. Moreover, insofar as headcount, the number of private security officers far exceed those in law enforcement which enables them to cover and protect effectively a small geographic area (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). It has been criticized for lack of certification, regulation standards, lack of rigorous pre- selection recruitment process and trainings with a high turn over of officers (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). On the other hand, law enforcement agents are subjected to rigorous screening process before acceptance in the service and the officers are subjected to background checks. They are trained and are subject to regulations. The enforcement powers given them are greater both in scope and strength. Most of the law enforcement agents and officers stay in their jobs for a long time as these jobs are considered careers (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). This enables them to establish trust with the inhabitants of the area and exchange information. However, the downside is that law enforcement work on limited resources and budget. During heavy call load days, response time most often is delayed because of the volume of incidents they respond to (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). The main problem which was identified in the public law enforcement and private security organizations partnerships is a weak information sharing. The private security organizations man private companies which are by nature organized for profit. Often, these private companies are reluctant in sharing information which may be detrimentally used against them thereby losing profits. In an interview with John Cohen, president and chief executive of PSComm LLC, he said that â€Å"A number of corporate security people are hesitant to share information with the government because they’re concerned that of the threat becomes public that could impact the value of the company’s stock. Businesses want to be sure that their information is handled in a way that doesn’t affect them from a business perspective† (Pelland, 2002). On the other hand, public law enforcement also is reluctant to share or give away information to the multi national companies who are headed by foreigners (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). This lack of trust can be attributed to the fear that these foreigners may be more inclined to protect their respective country’s interests than that of the United States. Conclusion Public law enforcement agencies in their discharge of their functions have made efforts towards proper and effective policing by eliminating crime in their respective jurisdictions through the â€Å"creation of effective partnerships with the community and other public and private-sector resources, the application of problem-solving strategies or tactics, and the transformation of agency organization and culture† (Docobo, 2005). It is on account of this that the concept of partnerships was adopted to be replicated in counter terrorism programs of the government. Even with the current declaration of homeland security, community policing in respect of crime prevention, is seen as to overlap with counter terrorism objectives (Docobo, 2005). With these partnerships, strategies become more philosophical as these are impressed in the mission and goals of the law enforcement agency. The public department itself undergoes an organizational transformation. The officers who are lower in rank are empowered to make their own decisions and take responsibilities for their acts. Thus, decision-making is decentralized and officers are given a chance to tap their creativeness in problem solving (Docobo, 2005). The idea and concept of partnership and collaboration has been widely accepted by the respective sectors. It is noted however that there is a need to increase their effectiveness in order that the purposes for which these partnerships were created would not be frustrated. The goal in these partnerships is collaboration in which their missions may overlap but they achieve the same goals through sharing resources and information. It gives many benefits for both sectors such as â€Å"creative problem-solving, increased opportunities for training, information data, and intelligence sharing, ‘force multiplier’ opportunities, access to the community through private sector communications technology, and reduced recovery time following disasters† (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). The benefits and advantages from the forged partnerships are countless. It is however important to address the weak information sharing between the groups. Working together is crucial. Communication lines also should be open with free exchange and discussion of limitations, scope of powers, lines of authority and functions of each sector is imperative so that an effective partnership can materialize. There must be a clear understanding of roles and the usefulness and necessity of the partnership, where leaders are identified. These leaders must develop trust for each and every sector executive considering that the weak information sharing was observed to be attributable to lack of trust between both sectors. By making both sectors fully and deeply aware of the roles they have to play and its importance to each of the sectors, trust may be developed. The essences of these partnerships are mainly communication, cooperation, collaboration and coordination (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). Communication refers to exchange of ideas and information while coordination requires knowledge of goals. Cooperation means sharing of personnel and resources for the accomplishment of the goal. Collaboration is based on clear understanding of the partners’ goals and the formulation of policies to achieve said goals which although may overlap, strengthens the partners (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). The Department of Homeland Security issued guidelines on how to improve the collaboration with the private sector in its report â€Å"Office for Domestic Preparedness Guidelines for Homeland Security† (DHS, 2003). It suggested among others that there be a clear understanding of the need to prevent terrorist acts; a clearing house for received information on terrorism; interpretation of this information; clear definition of tactics and strategies to counter terrorism; definition of funding priorities; formulation of assessment and procedures; and the preparation of written coordination agreements such as memorandum of agreement between public and private sectors that should contain clear delimitations of scopes of powers of each, facilitation of information, and the formulation of processes and procedures (DHS, 2003). The formalization of the coordination agreement signifies the institutionalization of the homeland security collaboration. These guidelines also identified areas which private security organizations can collaborate with the public enforcement agencies, i.e. â€Å"networking, information sharing; crime prevention; resource sharing; training; legislation; operations; and research and guidelines† (Connors, Cunningham, Ohlhausen, Oliver, and Van Meter, 2000). By entering into formal memorandum of agreement or understanding, each sector’s role, duties, and scope of powers are properly delineated to fit into the priorities and policies. Such formal agreements will give both sectors direction and clarity with respect to the procedures to be properly taken and implemented. Networking refers to discussion and meetings with the private sector to thresh out possible solutions to problems as well as limitations. Information sharing is the central component of the partnership. â€Å"Information sharing includes planning for critical incident response, protecting infrastructure, enhancing communications, minimizing liability, and strategically deploying resources† (Connors, Cunningham, Ohlhausen, Oliver, and Van Meter, 2000). Thus, meeting and conferences between representatives of both sectors is a must. Crime prevention also translates to terrorism. Terrorist acts may include initially lesser crimes to accomplish their goal of terrorism. Clearly, all information gathered from partnerships for crime prevention and peace and order may be very useful for combating terrorism. All information notwithstanding the absence of unlawful activity therefore must be shared such as those which involve unusual and suspicious activities. Technical knowledge and training may be shared by the private security organizations to the public enforcement agencies considering that the latter may lack this. Both sectors must identify legislation and assist the law makers in making these laws more responsive to the present situation. These laws should be modified if need be to be useful to both sectors in combating terrorism† (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). Both the public enforcement agencies and the private security organization may collaborate in the operational areas. This refers to joint sting operations, investigation of computer crimes and ‘white-collar’ financial fraudulent activities. Research papers and guidelines may be drawn by both sectors with respect to personnel policies and standards of the security personnel. Uniform standards and policies must be made for recruiting, selection, accepting and hiring security personnel. It is also suggested that liaison officers should be carefully trained and picked from the supervisors. They should have a clear and deep understanding of the goals and objectives of the partnership. The problem lies in the selection of those for the private security organizations as it has been recognized that they have the lack of prescreening and training standards. Thus, it was further suggested that an advisory council formulate these standards so that choosing a liaison officer as a representative of the private security sector would not be as difficult as it has been (Morabito and Greenberg, 2005). In sum, the success of these collaborative partnerships rest in the full sharing, cooperation, and coordination from both sectors which may only be achieved when each of the members have reached a deep understanding of the importance of their roles and scope of their powers. By reason of the importance of homeland security and on the part of the government, it has in fact allocated a larger amount of budget to counter terrorism. Partnerships are encouraged so that geographic territory can be covered extensively. Legislation is being addressed by modifying and or by enacting new laws to support the government’s call against terrorism. Representatives from both sectors must also coordinate with the legislators so that problem areas can be identified and can be resolved by means of legislative enactments or amendments to existing laws so that it can be more responsive to the needs and objectives of the existing collaborative partnerships. References Bocobo, J. 2005, Community Policing as the Primary Prevention Strategy for Homeland Security at the Local Law Enforcement Level Homeland Security Affairs. Retrieved on November 6, 2007, from http://www.hsaj.org/?fullarticle=1.1.4 Connors, E., W. Cunningham, P. Ohlhausen, L. Oliver, and C. Van Meter. 2000. Operation Cooperation: Guidelines. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Assistance. Department of Homeland Security–Office for Domestic Preparedness. 2003. Office for Domestic Preparedness Guidelines for Homeland Security. Washington, DC: DHS. Morabito and Greenberg, 2005 Engaging the Private Sector: Law Enforcement and Private Security Partnerships, USDOJ. Retrieved on November 4, 2007, from http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/bja/210678.pdf. Morriss, A. 2006 The Public-Private Security Partnership: Counter Terrorism Considerations for Employers in a Post 9/11 World. Retrieved on November 4, 2007, from http://www.hastingsblj.org/archive/volume2/files/number2/9_Morriss.pdf. The 9/11 Commission. 2004. The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, Official Government Edition. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Parachini, J., Davis, L., Liston, T. 2003 Homeland Security: A Compendium of Public and Private Organizations’ Policy Recommendations. Retrieved on November 6, 2007, from http://cipp.gmu.edu/archive/16_Randwhitepaper.pdf Pelland, D. 2002 ‘To help battle terrorism public and private sectors expand information sharing efforts. KPMG’s Technology: Insiders. Retrieved on November 5, 2007, from http://www.itglobalsecure.com/pdf/third_party/020913KPMG_Insider.pdf

McGerr

Progressive reformers attempted to reshape American society in the late Nineteenth into the Twentieth Centuries. Three distinct areas, the Temperance movement, the Food and Drug Laws and the Child Labor Laws are contrasting but characteristic examples of the struggles, successes and failures that Progressives faced during this period. As with all complex movements consisting of disparate groups with at times contrasting points of view, it is difficult to generalize regarding this attempt at reconstruction. But the Progressives, for better or worse, did have a profound effect upon American society that is still being felt today. McGerr mainly considers the actions of the middle class as no other group â€Å"advocated the full range of progressive positions as much as the middle class did† (McGerr, 2005). This was none more the case than within the Temperance movement. The temperance movement had quite a simple aim in mind. It sought to greatly reduce the amount of alcohol consumed, or, as was increasingly its aim, to ban alcohol entirely. The Movement started, at least during this period, with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, which established the Department of Scientific Temperance Instruction in many schools and colleges throughout the country. There was a purely rational and calculating method behind this attempt to convince young people of the evils of alcohol. Mary Hunt (the National Superintendent)   stated that people â€Å"must first be convinced that alcohol and kindred narcotics are by nature outlaws, before they will outlaw them†. The temperance movement was linked to the overall progressive movement through the fact that many drunken husbands beat their wives and families. Domestic violence was an example of the abuse of women’s rights, and so it was sensible for the progressive movement to support the temperance movement, even if some of the more religious and purely moralistic reasoning behind some temperance advocates were alien to them. The temperance movement was, at least temporarily highly successful. It is linked closely to the eventual passage of the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution, which banned alcohol within America. The advocacy of â€Å"temperance† regarding alcohol had led to the â€Å"prohibition† of alcohol just as Hunt had forecast. The temperance movement is an excellent example of how idealism combined with a good degree of shrewd political pragmatism could bring about change. The fact that the 18th Amendment was short-lived and that alcohol consumption was merely drive underground rather than being stopped somewhat dampens any claim for long-lasting success for the movement however. Prohibition also led to the rise of organized crime in many cities, again not exactly on the Progressive agenda. Most of all, the United States consisted of people who mostly did not want to ban alcohol consumption, however they had been temporarily persuaded otherwise. In contrast to the temperance movement, one cause of the progressive movement, that of introducing stricter food and drug laws to the United States, has survived and even expanded into the modern day. As McGerr suggests, a single books such as Upton Sinclair’s exposure of the disgusting, unsanitary practices at Chicago meat-packing plants   led at least in part to the enactment of the â€Å"Pure Food and Drug Act† and the â€Å"meat Inspection Act† in 1906. These Acts were an example of how the progressive movement could call a purely capitalist system to task and show that at least some degree of government intervention, oversight and even control was needed. A similar situation was seen within the child labor laws, that were brought about after progressives exposed the terrible conditions that even very young children worked in. Exposing these conditions through written descriptions by excellent writers and, most powerfully, through telling photographs of children at work, galvanized public support for changes in the law.   Lewis Hines produced unforgettable pictures of children at work. They were unforgettable because they were so sad, and brought guilt to nearly all Americans who saw them. This element within the Progressive Movement unapologetically used emotion to achieve what McGerr states they were looking for, namely â€Å"to change other people; to end class conflict; to control big business†.   The Child Labor laws that were introduced were in part an attempt to alleviate the terrible conditions experienced by many children and also, in the long run, to give them a chance at gaining the education that would allow them to rise above their low origins. Child Labor laws were thus part of the attempt bridge social gaps between the rich and the poor through enabling the poor to rise and by punishing the rich for their more exploitative practices. Essentially, they may be seen as part of the progressive agenda to make everyone middle class. Yet once again there was a very practical element to the method that these groups used. The National Consumers’ League was formed in 1899 and the National Child Labor Committee in 1904, both stemming from the work of the Working Women’s Societies. As with many progressive causes, movement towards actual change was at first slow and met with many failures before it finally succeeded. Federal regulations were declared unconstitutional in 1916, failed to become law in 1924 and initially in 1937. Finally, in 1938 the federal regulation of child labor was gained through the Fair Labor Standards Act. This set a minimum age for employment and set maximum hours that children were to work within federal law. It took more than thirty years since the first societies were initially set up for the movement to succeed. However, child labor laws have been strengthened ever since this time and have now become an unchallenged part of the American landscape. In this sense the Progressive movement was ahead of its time, pushing American to live out its promises to its most vulnerable citizens: children. Once again, pragmatism mixed with idealism succeeded, and unlike the temperance movement, its results were permanent rather than temporary. To conclude, McGerr ends his book by saying that the â€Å"basic lesson† is that â€Å"reformers should not try too much†. Perhaps this can be adapted to say that reformers should pick their causes carefully and then try as much as possible. Having too broad a range of objectives may be self-defeating. But picking a cause, such as child labor, that most rational human beings would consider the progressives possess the correct ethical stance on, is a way of advancing the agenda successfully.   At times, as is evidenced by the First World War and the defeat for the idea of government regulation that came from it, the progressive movement (as are all political movements) is influenced by matters beyond its control. The best laid plans may well come awry because of unforeseen or unpredictable circumstances. Works Cited McGerr, Michael. A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920. Oxford University Press, London: 2005.   

Pharmacophore development for identification of anti-lung cancer drugs Essay

Lung cancer is one particular type of cancer that is more deadly and common than any other. Lung cancer is treated with chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery depending on the type of lung cancer and the stage of the disease. Focusing on the drugs used for chemotherapy and their associated side effects, there is a need to design and develop new anti-lung cancer drugs with lesser side effects and improved efficacy. Pharmacophore model proves to be a very helpful tool serving in the designing and development of new lead compounds. In this paper, pharmacophore of 10 novel anti-lung cancer compounds has been identified and validated for the first time. Using LigandScout the pharmacophore features were predicted and 3D pharmacophore have been extracted via VMD software. A training set data was collected from literature and the proposed model was applied to the training set whereby validating and verifying their similar activity as that of the most active compounds. Therefore they could be recommended for further studies. Key words: Pharmacophore, anti-lung cancer drugs, Computer aided drug designing, LigandScout, VMD INTRODUCTION Lung cancer is known to have a high fatality rate among males and females and takes more lives each year as compared to colon, prostate, ovarian and breast cancers (1).Lung cancer is classified into two main types namely Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) and Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) of which NSCLC accounts for about 80% cases and SCLC accounts for 10-15% among all other types of lung cancers (2). Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a worldwide leading cause of death (3). The surgical resections are not applicable when first diagnosed as NSCLC is usually in an advanced stage. The patient may have a possibility of prolonging survival with chemotherapy (4). Chemotherapy for advanced NSCLC is often considered excessively toxic. However, meta-analyses have demonstrated that as compared with supportive care, chemotherapy results in a small improvement in survival in patients with advanced NSCLC (5). *Corresponding author. Email:drhamid@jinnah.edu.pk Abbreviations: HBA, hydrogen-bond acceptor, HBD, hydrogen-bond donor, NSCLC, Non-small cell lung cancer, SCLC, Small Cell Lung Cancer, EGFR Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor. Drugs developed for cancer are single agents although for the maximum advantage they need to be used in recipe with other drugs or therapeutic agents. Initial candidate chemicals or â€Å"leads†, are often recognized and tested for single agents that change cancer-cell proliferation or prolong survival. This led to the identification of most of the clinically active cancer drugs used today. Specific leads then must be further optimized and assessed to characterize their pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties and evident toxic effects. Clinical evaluation is performed by trails in humans to identify a maximum tolerated dose, define severe toxic effects, and estimate bioactivity. These trails are time consuming and expensive (6). Pharmacophore is the initial step towards understanding the interaction between a receptor and a ligand. Pharmacophore was often postulated as the â€Å"essence† of the structure-activity knowledge they had gained(7).Today’s researcher task is to interpret the binding of anatomically varied molecules at a common receptor site. To generate common feature pharmacophore from the set of compounds active for certain receptor, the characteristics necessary for binding receptor in a generalized way(8). The understanding of the common properties of binding group is vital for the determination of the type of inhibitor binding the target. Pharmacophore model is very convenient for attaining this goal. Surface of the cell are the regions where the ligand-receptor and receptor-receptor interaction occur. The process undergo Sequential levels of activity starts initially  from the cell surface and then moves towards the intracellular signaling pathways, then gene transcription which corresponds to cellular responses. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) was initially identified as an abnormally activated or mutated form which leads to a number of other abnormalities in the signaling pathway and hence leads to the formation of tumor (9). In our research, a 3D pharmacophore model was developed in order to promote the discovery of precise and effective EGFR inhibitor for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. The compounds used in this study have been characterized as reported in reference papers. In order to correlate experimental and computational studies we used their bioactivity data. MATERIALS AND METHODS The work was initiated using LigandScout software. LigandScout is a tool for deriving the 3D from structural data of ligand complexes more speedily and evidently in a completely automated and expedient way. It offers flawless workflow both from ligand and structure based pharmacophore modeling (10). LigandScout is thought to be an essential software tool for structure based drug designing, it is not only beneficial for carrying out analysis of binding sites but also for alignment based on pharmacophore and the designing of shared feature pharmacophores. LigandScout runs freely on all common operating systems. Till  date  a  number  of  successful  application  examples  have  been  carried out and standpublished (11). The very important and the very first step in pharmacophore model generation is the selection of data set compounds.  A  number  of  drugs have been reported that are in some way related to, or used in the treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer which include Platinol(generic name: cisplatin)( 12),carboplatin, Taxotere(generic name: docetaxel), Gemzar(generic name: gemcitabine) ,Taxol(generic name: paclitaxel) , Almita(generic name: pemetrexed), Avastin(generic name: Bevacizumab), Xalkori(generic name: Crizotinib), Navelbine(generic name: vinorelbine , Iressa(generic name: Gefitinib) and Terceva(generic name: Erlotinib) (13)( 14)( 15). The two dimensional (2D) chemical structures of the compounds were drawn using ChemDraw Ultra (8.0) and the structures were saved as .Pdb files. Subsequently the 2D structures as shown below ( Figure 1) in the form of Pdb files were imported into LigandScout and converted into corresponding 3D pharmacophore structures. Cisplatin Pemetrexed Docetaxel Bevacizumab Viblastine Carboplatin Gemcitabine Crizotinib Gefitinib Paclitaxel Vinorelbine Erlotinib Hydrochloride Figure 1. 2D structures of selected data set of anti non small lung cancer The pharmacophoric features include H-bond donor, H-bond acceptor, Hydrophobic, aromatic, positively and negatively ionizable groups (16).The pharmacophore for each compound was generated and the distances among the pharmacophoric features were calculated using VMD software. VMD is designed not only for modeling, visualization, and analysis of biological systems such as proteins, nucleic acids, lipid bilayer assemblies but it may also be used to view more general molecules, as VMD can read standard Protein Data Bank (PDB) files and display the contained structure with their features. A number of application examples have been published to date (17). Once the pharmacophore of all the compounds were identified, the ligand was then super imposed so the pharmacophore elements overlap and a common template i-e the pharmacophore model is identified. The training set consisting of four compounds was collected from literature and it was found that the groups show enhanced and similar activity as that of the most active compounds based on the 3D pharmacophore being generated for non small lung cancer. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Pharmacophore analysis is considered as an fundamental part of drug design. The pharmacophore generated by LigandScout for the selected data set of anti  non small cell lung cancer showed three main features i-e H-bond acceptor(blue vectors), H-bond donor(blue vectors) and aromatic rings(yellow spheres).The representative pharacophores of each compound are shown in Figures 2,3,4 and 5 Figure 2. A pharmacophore of Pemetrexed (Alimta ®) The pharmacophoric features for each compound on the whole are shown in Table 1.The pharmacophores of all the compounds were then matched and a unique pharmacophore was identified after a detailed analysis. Figure 3 . A pharmacophore of Bevacizumab Figure 4 . A pharmacophore of Gemcitabine (Gemzar ®) On the whole, the representative pharmacophoric features for each compound are shown in Table 2.Resembling features were identified after analyzing the pharmacophore of all compounds generated by LigandScout. Then the similar features of all the compounds were superimposed and merged into single pharmacophore. The uniquely identified pharmacophoric features are shown in Table 3. Figure 5. A pharmacophore of Gefitinib Our common featured pharmacophore predicted for three compound of anti non small lung cancer is based on three HBAs, six HBDs and four aromatic centers. The distance triangle measured between the common pharmacophore features of each compound using VMD is shown in Table 4.The distance ranges from minimum to maximum and have measured between the HBA and HBD,HBA and aromatic ring and HBD and aromatic ring. Table 1. Pharmacophoric features of each compound Compounds H-Bond Donor H-Bond Acceptor Aromatic Centre Paclitaxel + + + Pemetrexed + + + Bevacizumab + + + Carboplatin + + + Crizotinib + + + Erlotinib Hydrocholride + + + Gefitinib + + + Gemcitabine + + + Methotrexate + + + The distances among the common pharmacophoric features between the predicted pharmacophore are shown in Figure 6. The distances between aromatic ring and HBD range from 4.15-4.80, between aromatic rings to HBA range from 7.03-8.66 and between HBA to HBD range from 5.85-6.97. Table 2. Pharmacophoric features of each compound Compound H-Bond Donor H-Bond Acceptor Aromatic Centre Paclitaxel 4 6 2 Pemetrexed 3 6 3 Bevacizumab 2 3 1 Carboplatin 0 3 0 Crizotinib 2 4 3 Erlotinib Hydrocholride 2 6 3 Gefitinib 2 6 4 Gemcitabine 3 7 2 Methotrexate 3 9 3 Table 3. Uniquely identified pharmacophoric features of compounds Compound Bevacizumab Pemetrexed Gefitinib H-Bond Donor 2 3 H-Bond Acceptor 3 6 2 6 Aromatic Centre 1 3 4 A training set of three compounds was collected from literature i-e MethyNonanoate, MMDA, Flavopirido(18).The generated 3D pharmacophore model was applied to the training set whereby validating and verifying their enhanced and similar activity as that of the standard compounds shown in Table 5. This further confirmed our observation and proposals for a pharmacophore model as it corresponds to the predicted pharmacophore. Table 4.Pharmacophoric triangle distances of each uniquely identified compounds Compounds Acceptor ïÆ'  Aromatic Ring Aromatic Ring ïÆ'  Donor Donor ïÆ'  Acceptor Gefitinib 7.10 4.76 6.97 Pemetrexed 7.03 4.15 5.85 Bevacizumab 8.14 4.29 6.36 Figure 6. Distance ranges among pharmacophoric features in predicted pharmacophore To support the suggested pharmacophore model , distance was estimated. The predicted distance of the training set and the standard drugs respectively are shown in Table 6. This table shows the close resemblance of Flavopiridol with that of standard drugs whereby validating that the compound shows high correlation with the predicted pharmacophoric triangle hence having similar activity. Table 5. The distance triangle for compounds of the training set Model Acceptor ïÆ'  Aromatic Ring Aromatic Ring ïÆ'  Donor Donor ïÆ'  Acceptor MMDA 5.99 5.52 5.95 Flavopiridol 7.01 4.04, 4 6.18 MethyNonanoate 4.01 7.60 2.24 Table 6. The 3D pharmacophoric distance triangle of the training set and the standard drugs respectively Model Standard Drugs Training Set Acceptor ïÆ'  Aromatic Ring 7.37-8.84 7.01-8.96 Aromatic Ring ïÆ'  Donor 4.39-4.89 4.04-4.62 Donor ïÆ'  Acceptor 6.18-6.97 6.18-6.64 CONCLUSION The pharmacophore model is a very handy tool for new lead compounds discovery and development. In this study pharmacophore models were built for novel drugs of non small lung cancer, pharmacophoric features were predicted and 3D pharmacophore has been generated for non small lung cancer. A triangle of three different classes has been selected for pharmacophore and Hydrogen bond Acceptor, Hydrogen bond Donor and Hydrophobic character of standard drugs have been filtered out as key pharmacophoric feature. The generated model was applied to the training set and it has been validated and proposed that Flavopiridol shows similar enhanced activity as that of standard drugs, hence could be used for further studies. Moreover Pharmachopore based docking will be used for virtual screening and designing of some novel  drugs  for  non  small  lung  cancer  in  continuation  of  this  work. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We owe special thanks to Dr. Hamid Rashid, Ms. Saima Kalsoom , Faculty Mohammad Ali Jinnah University, Islamabad for support and supervision in the research work. REFERENCES 1. Thomas L, Doyle LA, Edelman MJ. Lung cancer in women: emerging differences in epidemiology, biology, and therapy. Chest. 2005;128:370-381. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. Molina JR, Yang P, Cassivi SD, Schild SE, Adjei AA. Non-small cell lung cancer: epidemiology, risk factors, treatment, and survivorship. Mayo Clin Proc. 2008; 83(5):584-594. Ginsberg RJ, Vokes EE, Raben A. Non-small cell lung cancer. In: DeVita VT, Hellman S, Rosenberg SA, eds. Cancer: principles and practice of oncology. 4th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott-Raven, 1997:858– 910 Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Collaborative Group. Chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer: a metaanalysis using updated data on individual patients from 52 randomised clinical trials. BMJ 1995; 311:899– 909 Rapp E, Pater JL, Willan A, et al. Chemotherapy can prolong survival in patients with advanced nonsmall-cell lung cancer — report of a Canadian multicenter randomized trial. J Clin Oncol 1988;6:633-41. Sridhar Ramaswamy, M.D. Rational Design of Cancer-Drug Combinations, 2007. Peter Gund Evolution of the Pharmacophore Concept in Pharmaceutical Research. Pharmacopeia Inc., Princeton, New Jersey. Omoshile O. Clement and Adrea Trope Mehl. HipHop: Pharmacophores based on multiple commonfeature alignments. Molecular Simulation Inc. San Diego, California,2000 Mendelsohn J, Baselga J. The EGF receptor family as targets for cancer therapy. Oncogene 2000; 19: 6550–65. Drc :A Review of LigandScout, 2008 Wolber, G.; Langer, T.; LigandScout: 3-D Pharmacophores Derived from Protein-Bound Ligands and Their Use as Virtual Screening Filters. J. Chem. Inf. Model; 2005; 45(1); 160-169. Quality of life and survival in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer receiving supportive care plus chemotherapy with carboplatin and etoposide or supportive care only. A multicentre randomised phase III trial. Joint Lung Cancer Study Group. Helsing M, Bergman B, Thaning L, Hero U Eur J Cancer. 1998 Jun; 34(7):1036-44. NSCLC Meta-Analyses Collaborative Group (October 2008). â€Å"Chemotherapy in Addition to Supportive Care Improves Survival in Advanced Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review and MetaAnalysis of Individual Patient Data From 16 Randomized Controlled Trials†. J. Clin. Oncol. 26 (28): 4617– 25. doi:10.1200/JCO.2008.17.7162. PMC 2653127. PMID 18678835. Curran WJ Jr, Paulus R, Langer CJ, et al. Sequential vs. concurrent chemoradiation for stage III non-small cell lung cancer: randomized phase III trial RTOG 9410. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2011;103(19):1452-60. Lynch TJ, Bell DW, Sordella R. Activating mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor underlying responsiveness of non-small-cell lung cancer to gefitinib. N Engl J Med. May 20 2004;350(21):2129-39. Kapetanoic,I.M., 2008. Computer aided Drug discovery and development: insilico-chemico-biological approach. chem. Biol. Interact. 171, 165-176 Huang, Xiaoqin, Zheng, Guangrong, Zhani, Chang-Guo Microscopic Binding of M5 Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptor with Antagonists by Homology Modeling, Molecular Docking, and Molecular Dynamics Simulation journal of physical chemistry b, 116:532-541, JAN 12 2012 2012 Bose P, Perkins EB, Honeycut C, Wellons MD, Stefan T, Jacobberger JW, Kontopodis E, Beumer JH, Egorin MJ, Imamura CK, Douglas Figg W Sr, Karp JE, Koc ON, Cooper BW, Luger SM, Colevas AD, Roberts JD, Grant S. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2012 ;69(6):1657-67. doi: 10.1007/s00280-012-18395. Epub 2012 Feb 15.PMID

TRICARE. The Health Insurance Company Research Paper

TRICARE. The Health Insurance Company - Research Paper Example At this time TRICARE developed the program entitled Emergency Maternal and Infant Care (EMIC). This program provided maternity and infant care to dependents of service members in the lowest four pay grades. There was another change when the Korean Conflict arose and problems began. This was known as Civilian Health and Medical Program of Uniformed Services in 1966 CHAMPUS was formed. In the 1980’s this company wanted to improve access to health care programs and TRICARE was formed in 1998. TRICARE offers three options. â€Å"TRICARE Prime- This program provides the most comprehensive benefits at low cost. It allows a primary care manager to be assigned to each enrollee and military base hospital for the primary source to healthcare.†1 â€Å" This program also has TRICARE Remote and it is for active-duty service members not served by the traditional military healthcare system. Another program this includes is TRICARE Senior and this is for retirees who are 65 years of age and older and their dependents and survivors. â€Å"2 ... ovided to participants.’ TRICARE Standard This program incorporates the services previously stated in the other programs and the beneficiaries can choose any physician or healthcare provider. It pays a set percentage of the providers’ fees and the enrollee pays the rest. It allows the most flexibility, but may be the most expensive for the enrollee particularly when the providers’ charges are higher than the amounts allowed by the program. Survival of Program The program will survive into the next decade for there will always be a need for the military and their families will need medical insurance to receive necessary care for them. Some services may change, but that would depend on the circumstances that occur with the enrollee or the family. Possible changes that could occur would be who can receive benefits and how much they will need for coverage. This program will also depend on how the government uses the military and if they will still let service members ’ families be entitled to services and if they will be entitled to services which of them will they be allowed. Quality of Improvement This process will mean that the programs will have to meet governmental standards and have the participants fill in questionnaires telling how the services are working for them. Questionnaires include questions about the program itself and the physicians and other care providers who provide the care and if they are fulfilling their obligations. This program has changed through the decades and changed or developed new programs to fit society needs. This program does this by holding to the basic vision of the original program. It also measures success, delegates, listens to staff and asks them what will make the programs better, and they must be willing to make changes. In

The Lady With The Toy Dog Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Lady With The Toy Dog - Essay Example The story ends with the two of them preparing to take on the beginning of their mysterious relationship. The relationship that Gomov was trying to create with Anna was similar to the relationship he had built up with his wife. He had loved his wife, but found himself waning in his attraction to her. This was something that he did not see coming. Gomov was looking for something new, but the ending of the story, which is no ending at all, reveals that his new relationship with Anna is as uncertain as his relationship had been with his wife. The lack of a proper ending suggests that what happens to Gomov and Anna is as unexpected as what took place between Gomov and his wife. The relationship was perfect at first, but then Gomov started to stray. By not ending the short story, Chekov carries on the concept that anything could have happened to the new couple, just as anything happened to the previous couple. The majority of the relationship between Gomov and Anna was based on silence, another aspect of mystery and uncertainty. Their togetherness and love was built on silence, as was the growth of their relationship. Chekov strengthened this silence by continuing to remain silent as to Gomov and Anna’s future, playing on the mystery that their relationship was already shrouded in. This same mystery covers every relationship, fictional or real. There is no definite outcome for any relationship, but there will always be something more, though it will remain a mystery until it

Environmental Issue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Environmental Issue - Essay Example Mr. Brown thinks problems like global warming, soil erosion, water shortage and population growth should be addressed first; whereas, Mr. Paarlberg argues that aids directed to the betterment of education, agriculture, infrastructure development etc. will be sufficient to address the problem. Parties to the effort are also a subject of disagreement. Paarlberg thinks developed countries especially the US should take the initiative; whereas, Brown thinks all the counties together should make an effort to solve the problems like water-soil crisis, global warming etc. (Easton, 2011). In some respect both of them are right; but Mr. Brown is more right. For a sustainable and long term solution to the problem of food shortage soil condition and water condition of a region must be improved and global warming must be harnessed on a long term basis by â€Å"restoration of forest, soils and aquifers†. Poverty must be eradicated and population must be stabilized. For the last two efforts developing countries can use some foreign aids (Easton, 2011). 2. Genetically Modified Foods Scientists have found out a way to transfer genes from one living organism to another and give bacteria, plants, animals etc. new features. When similar modification is done in our sources foods like grains, fruits, vegetables or live stocks we get Genetically Modified (GM) food. ... Mr. Coleman argues that to meet the growing demand of food GM food is a solution; whereas, Mr. McDonagh thinks that the problem lies in distribution, not in demand-supply. Mr. Coleman claims that production of GM food requires less chemical and water, whereas yield is higher. Mr. McDonagh completely disagrees and said that though there is an initial saving of cost, the cost of producing GM foods increases after few years and there in no significant increase in yield. Mr. Coleman tries to argue that farming of GM corps for a continuous period of 10 to 12 years has produced no adverse effect on environment and human being; therefore it is harmless. Where as Mr. McDonagh thinks this period is too short to draw any conclusion (Easton, 2011). It is hard to accept Mr. Coleman’s argument and even harder to consume GM foods. Until now there is no real food shortage in the world; only distribution must be improved greatly. Land- reform, social equality and cheaper credit will improve t he distribution of food. Another point is: production of GM food will make us dependent on few big corporate and there is no guarantee that they will help the poor. Moreover, playing with god’s creation and questioning his might is not good (Easton, 2011). 3. Organic Farming Organic farming refers to a practice that utilizes natural, non synthetic nutrient cycling process; almost exclude synthetic pesticides; and sustain or regenerate soil quality. The practice may include cover crops, manure, compost, crop rotation etc. (Easton, 2011). The topic of debate is: â€Å"Can organic farming feed the world?†. Ms. Catherine Badgley says yes and Mr. John J. Miller says no. Badgley claims that organic farming has enough potential to produce sufficient

Modern women in modern songs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Modern women in modern songs - Essay Example As it is, the song invites men to become insensitive to women and it gives men the right to treat women badly under the premise that women are liars and that they cannot be trusted. To give us a clear picture of the way the artist sees women, let us take a look at the lyrics of the song, the tempo of the music, the style, the phrasing and the tone. II. The Anatomy of the Song The song â€Å"Superman† is divided into three parts, namely the intro, the verses and the choruses. To put the song in context, the singer tells the listener about his experience with women and how his experience shaped his opinion about the female population. Although the singer did not really expound on what sad or bad experience he had with women, from the tone of his song, one can clearly see that this person does not trust the female specie and that he does not want to be in a serious relationship with any of them. The song starts with a woman’s voice moaning in the background and Eminem rapp ing in multisyllabic rhymes. Eminem rap along the beat of the drum as he delivers his lines in a rhythmic pattern. The voice of the woman moaning gives the intro of the song a sexual context which picture women as creatures who are meant to sexually satisfy the male. This personification of the female is rather disturbing as females are complex creatures and although they may have a sexual side to them, this sexual side does not define them as persons. Note that as complex creatures, women are capable of a lot of things and to box them in as sexually charged creatures moaning with pleasure is demeaning. The rhythm of the background music does not change much as the song graduate from the introduction and move into Chorus A. The voice of the singer goes with the beat of the drum as we move from the intro of the song to Chorus A and the woman moaning in the background fades away. In Chorus A, he describes how he might love the girl and how the girl might love him too so he comes to re scue the girl like superman does. If we take a closer look at the message of Chorus A, the singer implied that women cannot protect themselves and that they need men to save them. The song shows an even more blatant disregard of women’s potentials and capacities while trying to project men as the superior specie. Stereotyping women as â€Å"weak† creatures is not only grossly unfair, it is also demeaning especially when most women are actually more than capable of taking care of themselves. Verse 1 of the song pictures a woman as somebody who wants to trap the man in marriage. In an effort to get away from the grasp of the woman, the man tries to demean the woman by calling her a â€Å"slut† and saying â€Å"I would never let another chick bring me down.† The first few lines of Verse 1 are rather telling about the mental state of the man especially when he said â€Å"save it bitch, babysit†. Aside from fearing commitment, the singer seem to send a message to the listener that he sees women as homemakers who are only fit to do household chores and babysit. Asking a woman to babysit is not so bad but when you put babysitting in the wrong context, it can become quite offensive to the female sensibilities. Note that parenting should be a shared responsibility so both men and women have the duty to take care of the kids. Verse 1 of the

History of Washington State Wine industry and it's global future Research Paper

History of Washington State Wine industry and it's global future - Research Paper Example This will be followed by the global future of the industry. The Washington wine is produced from grapes grown in the Washington region and this industry ranks second in the overall production of wine, falling only second to California. The industry has seen immense growth and development and the number of vineyards has grown to over 30,000, which cater to the export needs to almost forty different countries from around the world. The main production of wine takes place in the eastern half of the state, and this half is desert like in nature. Irrigation and water rights are a major interest to the industry and this is solely due to the rain shadow of the Cascade regions (Matthews). Also the Viticulture of the state is also a result of the high levels of sunlight that the area receives. The wine industry was started way back in 1825, when the first wine grapes were planted by Hudson’s Bay Company at the Ford Vancouver. As time passed by 1910, the state saw a high level of increase in the growing of grapes across the state (Gregutt). The credits for pioneers of the plantations however go to the French, Italians and Germans. There were number of efforts for the Wine Projects from wine experts and historians like Ron Irvine and Dr. Walter Clore. These experts were the ones to start the early planting at Fort Vancouver. The year 1854 saw the hybrid varieties of grapes and these were got to the Puget Sound region. As time passed by 1860, wine grapes were being started to plant in the region of the Walla Walla valley. The early 1900s specifically around 1903, found a large number of irrigation projects that were developed. During this time there was a large melt down of the Cascade Mountains and this was a huge opportunity for the people as the soil in these areas was rich volcanic and the weather here was sunny and arid. It was now that the Yakima and Columbia regions also saw the plantations of Italian and German varieties. As time passed by this

Eating disorders Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Eating disorders - Annotated Bibliography Example Mainly, people lack awareness of these disorders or they are ashamed of discussing their symptoms with other people (Becker et al 1999, p. 1092). According to the authors, these disorders mainly occur in young women who are in adolescent age. Nevertheless, 40 percent of binge-eating problem appears in young men and boys. The authors insist that the disorders are prevalent in societies that are highly developed in comparison to undeveloped societies. The occurrence is also along socioeconomic classes. According to the authors, the disorders appear to be caused by genetic, psycho-developmental and also social-cultural aspects of a person. They also argue that in some cases eating disorders may cause depression which may result to suicide by the individual. Treatment of eating disorders can be through outpatient management and medical treatment. Although outpatient setting is more adequate in critical cases, inpatient care is more appropriate. Some of the indications of inpatient care include; extreme loss of weight which is rapid. On the other hand, high risk of suicide and acute medical disorders are symptoms of outpatient treatment (Becker et al 1999, p. 1092). The authors insist that medical treatment mainly aim at both preventing and correcting the complications of excess weight and purging. Treatment also occur routinely mainly involving educating the patients on the importance of taking a keen notice on the symptoms and monitoring any body weight change. Educating about how to adjust nutrition and caloric intake is also an important aspect in medical treatment. This treatment involves individual, group and family support for the task to be successful (Becker et al 1999, p. 1095). The authors also propose that psychiatric treatment approaches can play an important part in treating people with eating disorders. Anorexia nervosa is a condition that responds well family therapy. Interpersonal interaction is also

The impact of anti-abortion laws on women in North America Essay

The impact of anti-abortion laws on women in North America - Essay Example No society, religion, government or group has the right to push any woman into motherhood, unless one voluntarily and willingly intends to do so (Trib 14). Denying a woman the right to have an abortion is akin to pressurizing a woman into accepting a submissive and subservient role in the society. In such a scenario, the dominant ideologies and influences resort to exploiting pregnancy and motherhood as a tool to accord women a second class status (Trib 16). In case of the women, access to legal and safe abortion facilities is recognition of one’s fundamental right to have a control over one’s body. No individual or society has the right to control what happens to the body of an individual or what an individual chooses to do to one’s body to assure personal well being (Trib 17). In North American and especially in Canada and the US, the struggle against anti-abortion laws has been long and unrelenting, accompanied by both favorable and adverse impacts on the wome n in North America. Canada- Abortion Laws In the year 1869, the Canadian legislature passed strict anti-abortion laws (Tatalovich 23). ... The women who most suffered were the ones from small towns or rural areas (Tatalovich 29). In the year 1988, in a ruling famously known as the â€Å"Morgentaler decision†, the Supreme Court of Canada, repealed the harsh and draconian anti-abortion laws and declared them to be null and void (Tatalovich 53). The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that such anti-abortion laws amounted to an inequitable treatment towards women and interfered with the rights extended to them under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Tatalovich 56). The Court observed that abortion constituted a Charter right of women, guaranteed under the right to life, right to liberty and the right to freedom of conscience (Tatalovich 56). The Canadian government tried to pass strict anti- abortion laws in 1990, but was forestalled by massive public protests and media outrage (Tatalovich 58). So, today Canada is the only country with no anti-abortion laws. The Canadian Experience In a post 1869 scenario, t he strict Canadian anti-abortion laws directly translated into untold and multifarious emotional and medical turmoil for women. Women having no access to safe and legal abortion resorted to unsafe and bothersome options. Not to say, a great proportion of the women having no option of a safe and legal abortion, willy-nilly reconciled with a forced and undesired motherhood (Faur 312). Things stood to be worse for those who owing to a lack of legal and safe abortion facilities, resorted to risky and unsafe abortion procedures, resulting in sever medical complications and many a times in death (Faur 314). Unsafe and botched abortions performed by quacks were the only option left to many, and this option was mostly loaded with severe

Criminal Justice Bill of 2003 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Criminal Justice Bill of 2003 - Essay Example The proposal says that there are fundamental problems, first in the investigation process and then in subsequent trial. The seriousness of the alleged office and the mentality that leads to such offence should be fathomed by jury because a careless acquittal or a ready acceptance of non-existing innocence could spell abortive justice though it is difficult to achieve unanimity in this matter . As it is establishment of fraud is a highly time consuming procedure warranting diverse evidence and corroborative facts. If judge has to educate jury on all of them it is naturally further waste of Court time. All investigation cannot claim transparency and it is neither easy nor compulsory to have it. Commercial investigation might involve even distant parties and inside knowledge of such parties’ financial dealings might encourage jurors to use it later for their own advantage. There might be juries who had fallen prey to fraudulent financial issues and might have developed bias towar ds fraudulency and such jurors will be prejudiced while dealing with the case . If it is necessary to choose sides, perhaps it is better to have trials without the jury. First of all, it is the right of the Court to decide on the trial and not that of the defendant, as told by Lord Justice Auld . He also recommended for creation of an ‘intermediate’ Court with a bench consisting of a District Judge and two Magistrates and Government rejected this idea, but the Minister agreed that such arrangement could be considered in certain cases . Clause 36 will allow the defendant to opt out of jury trial by making an application and the judge will examine the feasibility. If there is a co-defendant, his views are of paramount importance . There are mixed reactions to this issue and the Bar Council and the Criminal Bar Association were rather uncomfortable and opined: â€Å"Rather than trying a cross section of cases and defendants, judges are likely under these proposals to have a diet of unpopular sexual allegations; unattractive middle or upper class fraudsters; and cases where the defence lawyers hope for a technical victory, either in the court of trial, or on appeal following defects in the reasoned judgment" . Roger Smith, Director of Justice said: â€Å"the jury is often presented as something which is to defend the defendant's interest; it is actually wider than that. The jury protects the public's interest in the system. That is not just the defendant; it is a protection for the professional judiciary in the system because they take the decision on guilt or innocence" (Ibid). The Select Committee on Home Affairs supported the view expressed by Lord Judge Auld.

Costa Coffee Essay Example for Free

Costa Coffee Essay The remote environment comprises factors that originate beyond and usually irrespective and out of Costa Coffees control. Economic factors Since Costa Coffee is a multinational business, top-level managers must consider the economic situations on both the National (Egypt) and International levels. Currencies exchange rate (Forex) affects Costa Coffees final products prices as well as operation costs. Costa Coffee imports high quality coffee beans from rainforest farms where it pays for in local currency, and sells as coffee in another country with its local country. Hence, when the Egyptian Pound depreciates, the cost of beans relatively increases; therefore, causing a fall in profit margin and vice versa. If depreciation is too much, then Costa might increase its selling prices. Moreover, interest rate is vital for a business considering expansion as Costa Coffee. As interest rates increase, Costa Coffee’s ability and willingness to expand or open new branches decreases; due to the high cost of capital. Furthermore, the stock market plays a significant role in encouraging investors to invest in Costa Coffee due to the increasing profits and the good reputation. Finally, high economic growth rate of a country leads people to increase their consumption of Costa Coffees products; since they have more income. Social Factors Egyptians’ culture and lifestyle has dramatically changed in the last 10 years. People are more willing to go to cafes for lunch, dinner or simply a snack. Considering the Egyptian demographics of lifestyle and age groups, most of the Egyptian population falls in the youth age group. Hence, Costa Coffee plays music and offers an atmosphere that is convenient for all ages with special attention to youth. Costa Coffee respects the religion of each nation in which it operates. To clarify, Costa Coffee neither sells alcoholic drinks nor pork-containing food. In addition, Costa Coffees menu is written in both English and Arabic languages. English is the most widely spoken language, and Egypt is known as a touristic attraction. Plus, Egyptians like to come across a menu written in their own language for simplicity and showing cultural respect. Also, many people nowadays are concerned with their health; Costa Coffee is providing low-calorie food, a variety of fresh salads, sandwiches, and fresh fruit juice. Political Factors Governmental rules and regulations could affect the firms suppliers and the price of the raw materials. Imposed taxes or tariffs on the imported coffee beans add to raw materials cost. Rules regarding social insurance add to labor costs. Political instability and strikes do affect labor and consumers of Costa Coffee. Technological Factors Advanced machines affect the firms performance and efficiency through producing tasty coffee as quick as possible. High quality and speed of service affects customer satisfaction and loyalty. Costa Coffee uses highly advanced brewers and coffee makers for the best coffee cup. Besides, the use of the Internet to facilitate transactions between Costa and its suppliers lowers transaction costs and decreases lead time. As a result, stakeholders are more satisfied with increased profits and lower costs. Ecological Factors Costa Coffee uses recyclable paper bags and paper cups. And, it tries to reduce its energy consumption as steps towards a greener environment. It also ensures adherence to responsible farming practices, so that natural habitats are protected thereby reducing deforestation and carbon emissions. Furthermore, Costa is working to deliver green (LEED) certification for new stores beginning later this year and is working closely with its suppliers to develop more environmentally friendly packaging. Industry Environment Operating Environment A firm’s operating environment is related to environmental factors that directly affect the firm and its success in obtaining necessary resources. Yet, they are still factors beyond its area of control. 1. Competitors Costa coffee in Egypt faces high direct competition where around almost every corner in the cities, a coffee shop exists. Therefore, product differentiation is a must, and persistent high-quality is the way to keeping customers. Whichever Costa Coffee shop you enter, you are greeted the same, indulge in the same taste and pay what you see in the menu. Menu prices are tax inclusive which is different than most of other coffee shops. Competitors include, but are not limited to, Starbucks Coffee, Cilantro and Beano’s cafe. Creditors Costa’s past payment records and working capital position are the main attributes affecting creditors decisions. Considering the Egyptian markets, banks are not rare to find. Costa might be dealing with several banks, and may be granted loans from several areas. Hence, creditors have little leverage; since interest rates are controlled by central bank of Egypt as well. Customers Costa coffee is a service firm. Therefore, its utmost goal is customer satisfaction and loyalty to yield profits. Constantly monitoring Egypt’s demographics is essential in keeping a convenient atmosphere. For instance, Costa must always recognise what the youth are listening to these days to be able to play the optimum collection of songs in its branches while abiding by the brand’s image. Accessibility of location and parking spaces are of the main issues regarded by people when deciding on their hang-outs. And, the customer buyer behaviour of whether they prefer more salads and sandwiches rather than desserts; affects how much of each should be available at Costa’s branches. Labor Costa’s reputation and image is kept through its workers. Costa has to respect labor rights especially now that people are more aware of the rights than ever before. Also, Costa has to be selective in its waiters and baristas to keep the brand’s image and reputation. As a result of Costa’s reputation, highly-qualified workers apply for jobs at Costa Coffee. Suppliers Supplier relationships are as important as customer relationships. A good supplier relationships decreases yield time and enhances firm’s productivity. In Costa’s case, supplier power is not high as Costa has multiple suppliers, with low switching costs. However, supplier relationships are well-attended to at Costa Coffee; as part of its social responsibility towards coffee-growing countries.

Business report on a hotel

Business report on a hotel I have given you the assignment of preparing a detailed business research report on any good business problem or opportunity or may be you can prepare a report based on a problem related to your institute or may be on some other factors. The purpose of this term report is to enhance your professional skills in terms of practicality and research skills. The body of report should be prepared and presented to me by November 8, 2011 It should be a survey research for the collection of primary data. You may use secondary sources for gathering information. I would like you to make use of SPSS software for feeding and analyzing the data. It would be better if you support your findings with visual aids that would illustrate the facts in a more meaningful form. A hostel is a facility where students, families, back payers and other travelers can stay. The trend of hostel facility is very low in Pakistan, the main reason of which is self satisfaction. We are not quite confident as a student to avail the hostel facility within the campus. Also the hostel fees, security, room safety and size are the main factors of not availing the hostel facility. These issues happen to take place everywhere but we wanted to know the core reasons behind the low trend of hostel facility in Pakistan. We have collected relevant data via well designed questionnaires and interviewed some of the students of IoBM. We tabulated and analyzed our data using SPSS software. The results interpret that the students of IoBM are aware of this concept and have the tendency to avail the hostel facility but factors like financial issues and security of these services not being trustworthy is refraining the students from availing this facility. If the respective improvements are considered then there is a high opportunity for such services to flourish in IoBM in the near future which in turn will benefit the academic progress of IoBM. LITERATURE REVIEW A hostel is a low-priced facility where students, families, backpackers and other travelers can stay. But in our research we are only focusing on students to avail this opportunity if provided to them.hostel.jpg The primary purpose of this research is to identify the most important factors that predict undergraduate students level of satisfaction with the student hostels they are living in. This research will also explore the difference in the satisfaction levels of students living in hostels within the campus and the ones who live in their own houses and homes etc. Based on literature review, our hypothesized will be is there any difference in the satisfaction level between these two groups of students. This means the ones who will avail this facility and the ones who will not avail this type of facility if provided to them. In our research the most important factor or the keyword would be satisfaction. For example Satisfaction with fees, Satisfaction with distance from university facilities, Satisfaction with room safety, Satisfaction with room size, Satisfaction with hostel security, and Satisfaction with hostel facilities are the most important factors which predict undergraduate students. Satisfactions with hostel influencing factors: Many researches have been conducted on the impact of hostels on the life of students among which most of the researches showed a positive and a far reaching impact on students life. Following are the factors that influence the satisfaction level of students. Academic Challenges According to the previous researches it has been revealed that most of the students who live at university hostels/boarding schools face many academic challenges. They are very competent because of the living environment provided to them over there. It is also revealed that students that lives at hostels spend 17 hours a week on their home works and academic work where as other students who lives at their own home or not availing the facilities of hostel spends 8 to 9 hours a week. This is one of the satisfactory factor with which 95% of the students living at hostels are agreed. Time Productivity Time is a very important factor about which most of the people remain curious. As everyone knows that ones the time is over it wont come back again. Therefore spending the time productively isnt an easy task. Most of the people keep on trying to manage the time better and productively. Students living at hostel better know about how to spend a time and productively because they have been taught in such a way that it builds sense of responsibility in them. According to the previous researches students live at hostel spend their time equally in extracurricular activities and studies. They spend less time in watching television and computers and spend more in other activities like painting, sports etc. Personal Development Hostels play a vital role in shaping the values of the students and ethics. Hostels not only focus on making the student more competent in academics but also focus on the personal development of each student. More specifically they focus on their self-discipline, maturity, self-determination and critical thinking skills. Hostels not only provide accommodation but their objective is to make a student competent in each and every aspect of the life. Therefore this is also a satisfactory factor for most of the students for being the part of the hostels. Career Development As students learn how to live independently and how to cope with the particular situation as well as they come to know about stress management as they go through a hard and tough time, they become more career oriented. Hostel life creates such abilities and potential in them because of which when they go into the market for searching jobs the recruiter take them at first hand. Hostel not only provides opportunity to develop their personal skills and abilities but also helps them for their career. There are many more factors that provide satisfaction to the students lives at hostel but most important of them has been discussed above. These all factors have been taking from the perspective of those students who lives at their university or college hostels not from those who have their own accommodation. INTRODUCTION The prime objective of Hostel is to provide the students with the necessary amenities to develop an integrated personality, besides providing a calm and peaceful atmosphere for students. The hostel can provide an environment that certainly provides self-confidence and instills discipline in the minds of students. The personal development of students could also be nurtured and supported through living in a community environment. The secondary objective of establishing hostel for students of Institute of business management is to provide them a Home away from their Home where they can feel some ease and put their best in academics. Our research has been divided into two groups of strata. This means the ones who live in Karachi but far away and the ones who live outside Karachi. We have conduct this research through survey and will ask the IoBM students that would they like to avail this facility (if provided) to them or not? RESEARCH METHODOLOGY SamplE design QUOTA TOTAL Students of IoBM: At least 60% long-route 100 People (students) Students live in Karachi: 60% 60 Students live outside Karachi: 40% 40 Our population includes every student who lives in Karachi but little far away from IoBM and as well students who live outside Karachi. No age or gender limit is imposed. However to get a mature result, we would be targeting people above seventeen years of age. The above mentioned table shows how we have distributed the total transport users. We have set a quota that our respondents must contain at least 60% of the people who live in Karachi but little far away from IoBM and the remaining population should belong to some other areas of Pakistan. This quota is set because of the fact that they are the ones who are the most frequent users of such type of hostel facilities if provided to them. Because of many factors like time and control of work, we are keeping our sample size small. The total sample size is of 100 respondents. Moreover, we are not dividing the population geographic regions. Therefore, people from every part of the city have the equal participation opportunity. Research design We selected survey methodology because it is quick and inexpensive. The cost of contacting the respondents is very low and respondents will contact randomly from classes, library, and activity centre of IoBM etc. Person-administered questionnaires were developed which are more accurate than face to face interviews in which many open ended answers would be given. A short and simple questionnaire was designed for this research. As our segment of the target audience includes students from IoBM only. Name and contact number of every respondent is recorded for the back checking of the data. This eliminates the most common researcher bias in which the field researchers cheat by self filling the questionnaires. We tried to keep things very transparent so that our course instructor or other concern authorities may any time randomly check our data collection efforts. This will eventually increased the credibility of our research findings. Data collection Every group member worked as a field worker in carrying out the research. The female group members as well as male group members collected data from boys and girls. We wanted to make sure that there shouldnt be any gender biasness involve in our research. We went and interviewed students from activity centre, library and etc. We tried our best to cover the students who live in all areas of Karachi and as well as outside Karachi. HYPOTHESIS Null Hypothesis: Students of IoBM prefer the hostel facility. Alternative Hypothesis: Students of IoBM dont prefer the hostel facility. DATA ANALYSIS All of the questions were close ended except the remarks of the respondents. This made our analysis work much easier. We developed a complete database of all the hundred questionnaires in SPSS software. Limitations Initially, we thought to target 200 respondents. But then we realized that as the questionnaires are person-administered, so it will increase our time per respondent. That is why we restricted our sample size to 100 respondents. As the research is carried out by a group of six students, limited human resource definitely restricted us from covering a large sample size. This research is compiled under immense time pressure. Some more time might have improved the accuracy of this research. RESEARCH PROPOSAL PROBLEM The problem of the topic is that students who live far away from Korangi get chaotic and tired because of their long routes which tend to affect their performance. The law and order situation of Karachi is deteriorating day by day so many a times the students who live far away and in the areas which are not safe have to miss their classes as they are unable to reach university in strikes and calamities. Secondly, the students who live outside Karachi are hesitant to come to IoBM even after getting admission, because of the absence of hostel facility. So IoBM loses valuable students who can add to its prestige. So our research problem is Should there be hostel facility for the students of IoBM. OBJECTIVE The prime objective of Hostel is to provide the students with the necessary amenities to develop an integrated personality, besides providing a calm and peaceful atmosphere for students. The personal development of students could also be nurtured and supported through living in a community environment. The secondary objective of establishing hostel for students of Institute of business management is to provide them a Home away from their Home where they can feel some ease and put their best in academics. DESIGN Secondary Data: Google search engine, Jstor.com, Springerlink.com, Yahoo search engine. Primary Data: Descriptive Survey Research. SAMPLE Sampling quota: At least 80% long-route people (students) Students live in Karachi: 60 Students live outside Karachi: 40 QUESTIONNAIRE Language: English only (Because we are targeting only students of Iobm and therefore we dont required multiple languages) No. of Questions: 15-18 Variables: Positive Impact on Studies (Dependent Variable) Easeful routine (Dependent Variable) Hostel Facility (Independent Variable) Competency (Intervening Variable) Ease of registration (Moderating Variable) PROJECT MANAGEMENT Members: 6 Researchers All students of MBR 20 questionnaires per researcher Scheduling: Oct 20, 2010: Secondary data collection Oct 20, 2011: Questionnaire design Oct 30, 2010: Sampling Quota setting Nov 1, 2010: Survey starting Nov 4, 2010: Collection compilation of questionnaires Nov 6, 2010: Evaluating (results) studies variables Nov 17, 2010: Interpretation of results in meaningful forms. COSTING For Questionnaire: No. of prints (P) = 100 Total Pages (TP) = 200 Cost per print page (CP) = 10 Photocopy per page (PC) = 1 rupee 2(TP) * 10(CP) = 20 rupees 198(TP) * 1(PC) = 198 Total Cost = Prints Cost + Photocopy Cost + Travelling Cost Total Cost = 20 + 198 + 150 Total Cost of Questionnaires = 368 For Report: No. of prints (P) = 38 Cost per plane print = 10 Cost per colored print = 15 Total colored prints = 20 Total plane prints = 17 Colored Prints Cost = 20 * 15 = 300 Plane prints Cost = 18 * 10 = 180 480 TOTAL COST: Questionnaire Cost + Report printing cost 368 + 470 850 approx. FINDINGS ANALYSIS SECTION: A GENDER 68.9% Male respondents 31.1% Female Respondents 68.9% 31.1% Question: 1 When asked about the residence of the respondents 40% replied that there permanent residence is outside Karachi and 60% claimed that they are permanent residential of Karachi. QUESTION: 2 The permanent residential of Karachi are from diversified locations that cant be calculated through SPSS QUESTION: 3 When the respondents were asked about how they come to university in the sense of mode of transport than 61% respondents replied that they come through Universitys own transport (University Van), 30% replied that they prefer their own conveyance to reach IoBM where as only 9% respondents claimed that that use public transport (Buses, Taxi or Rickshaw) to come to IoBM QUESTION: 4 On asking about the time they spent in coming to IoBM 40% respondents claimed that it takes them an hour to reach university, 49% respondents claimed that it takes them 1-2 hours to reach IoBM where as 11% respondents claimed that it takes More than 2 hours to them to reach IoBM. QUESTION: 5 On asking the question that how many of respondents from the sample of 100 would like to avail Hotel facility if IoBM provides? 41% respondents replied that they wont like to avail such sort of facility but 59% replied in favor of availing such hostel facility if IoBM provides. SECTION: B (Only those people who want to avail Hostel Facility QUESTION: 6 Among 59% respondents who want to avail hostel facility, 19.7% replied that hostel facility should be near IoBM whereas 80.3% respondents replied that it should be with in IoBM. QUESTION: 7 63.9% respondents replied that the hostel should be only for students and 1.6% respondents replied that it should be only for faculty where as 34.4% respondents replied that it should be for both Students and Faculty QUESTION: 8 On asking a question about the sharing of a room,18% respondents replied that there should be separate room for every person, 73.8% replied that 2 persons should share a room where as 8.2% respondents replied that the room should be shared by 4 or more people. QUESTION: 9 On asking about the attached bath in a room, 82% agree that its essential, 18% replied that it is not essential whereas no one replied in no idea. QUESTION: 10 On asking about the 24/7 security, 93.4% respondents agreed that its essential, 4.9% replied that they dont have any idea about that whereas 1.6% replied that it isnt essential. QUESTION: 11 On asking about the Wi-Fi facility that should it be there 24/7; 83.6% respondents replied that yes its essential that there should be 24/7 Wi-Fi, 8.2% respondents dont have any idea whereas 8.2% of respondents dont feel that its essential. QUESTION: 12 On asking about the Mess/Cafà © facility, 93.4% respondents showed there interest that there must be a cafà ©, 3.3% respondents were with no ideas and 3.3% respondents dont feel that its essential. QUESTION: 13 On asking about the recreational facilities (i-e, Indoor games, gym and swimming pool), 67.2% respondents says that its essential, 11.5% have no idea where as 21.3% respondents dont feel that its essential QUESTION: 14 For knowing the impact of the hostel facility on students a question was asked that will hostel facility be helpful in providing learning environment, 80.3% respondents said yes its very helpful, 16.4% said that its somewhat helpful whereas only 3.3% respondents said that it will not really be helpful. QUESTION: 15 On asking to what extent hostel facility would be helpful to you in extracurricular activities, 49.2% respondents replied that it will be very helpful, 41% replied it would be somewhat helpful whereas 9.8% respondents replied that it wouldnt be really helpful. QUESTION: 16 On asking about the impact of socializing in hostel facility ,72.1% respondents replied that it will be really helpful for them to socialize, 23% replied that it would be somewhat helpful whereas 4.9% replied that it wouldnt be helpful QUESTION: 17 On asking about the saving of travel time and cost due to hostel facility if provided, 83.6% respondents replied that such facility would be very helpful for them to save time and cost, 13.1% replied that they dont have any idea where as 3.3% replied that it wouldnt be that much helpful for them. QUESTION: 18 On asking that will your parents allow you to live at hostel or avail hostel facility, 83.6% respondents replied that yes their parents will allow them to avail such sort of facility if provided but 16.4% respondents replied that they are not sure that whether their parents will allow them or not. QUESTION: 19 On asking the question that what charges are you expecting per month of hostel facility, 63.9% respondents replied that it should cost 5000 per month, 23% replied that it should cost 8000 whereas 13.1% replied that it should cost 10000 per month for such facility. QUESTION: 20 When a question was asked about the political interference in such sort of facility, 88.5% replied that No there shouldnt be any sort of such interruption whereas 11.5% replied that Yes it should interfere. HYPOTHESIS TESTING Null Hypothesis: Students of IoBM will prefer the hostel facility. One-Sample Test Test Value = 0 t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper Would you like to avail hostel facility? 11.936 99 .000 .590 .49 .69 Alternative Hypothesis: Students of IoBM wont prefer the hostel facility. One-Sample Statistics N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean Would you like to avail hostel facility? 100 .59 .494 .049 RESULT: Since 0.49 CONCLUSION: From this we can conclude the the students of IoBM are willing to avail Hostel Facility in case IoBM provides to them. CONCLUSION This research has shown some very enormous facts. Almost 59% of the students of IoBM want the hostel facility and out of those 59%, 80% of the students want to have this facility within the IoBM campus only, with a Wi-Fi facility, low-cost, no political interference, security should be good enough and also with a cafà © facility. 80% of the students said that the hostel facility will be helpful in providing them the learning environment, so that they could concentrate on their studies and should be able to perform well in this competitive environment. About 72% of the students also said that the hostel facility will also help them in socializing with other students and their fellow members and as well as with the management also. About 83% of the students responded that the hostel facility will reduce the travelling time and cost, which will eventually help them in giving more time to their studies and extracurricular activities. So, after analyzing all the questionnaires and the respondents answer to those questions, we can easily accept our null hypothesis and can easily conclude that the students of IoBM are willing to avail the hostel facility if IoBM provides it to them. REFERENCES www.schools.com www.research.com.au www.tarsa.edu.au www.springerlink.com www.jstor.com www.wikipedia.com

Analysis of Nokias Competitive Policies

Analysis of Nokias Competitive Policies Nokia’s Competitive Policies In Handset Industry in Asia Chapter 1. Introduction The progress of technology has altered our daily life routine dramatically. In recent 2 decades, people have seen the big convenience brought by colour TVà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  telephoneà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  laptopsà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  mobile phone and etc. Among them, the contribution of mobile phone is especially prominent: given the integration of technologies of Internet, laptop, and communication etc, the small and good looking handset will enable us ubiquitous application of modern multi-functions. The advantage of 3G even further attracts our minds with colourful imagination. During the upgradation of our living style, we owe a lot to the companies of the handset industry, especially those popular giants including Nokia, Motorola and Samsung. When they change our living successfully, they realize their developing targets as well. For example, according to the Fortune Global 500 in 2005, Nokia and Motorola ranked 130th and 138 respectively1. Thus, they are recognized by the society. It’s unpredictable for a company to achieve great goals without correct strategies to employ. In the fierce competition of handset industry in China, the correct competitive strategies are required for the participant to win market shares. Surely, sometimes the right strategies are difficult for survival. Nokia, as the no. 1 in the handset industry of China, is certainly the biggest winner through exertion of correct competitive strategies. As is mentioned above, the competition in handset industry in China will become even more fiercer along with the emerging trend such as the advent of 3G, the alteration of distributing channels, and the improved leval of industrial centralization etc. So competitors should promptly adopt relevant changes of their competitive strategies to adapt to new environment. This dissertation aims first to analyze the competitive strategies already employed by Nokia 1 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, The List of Fortune Global 500 in 2005 http://brand.icxo.com/brand500/top500_1.htm During the progress of Chinese handset industry. To confirm whether the competitive strategies are acurate, I use Porter’s 5 forces theory as the frame to anatomize the factors such as Economies of scale, Product differentiation, Capital requirements, Cost disadvantages, independent of size, Access to distribution channels, Government policies, and Competitor’s Retaliation. Thereby, the rationalities of Nokia’s competitive strategies in Chinese handset industry may be authenticated. According to the great lots of evidence collected from website newspapers and catena, new trends of handset industry appear gradually. To grasp the future flux on market share and industrial environment, it is necessary for Nokia to nip in the bud. As a natural extending of the aforesaid analysis on competitive strategies, this paper also expounds the reason causing the new industrial trend in Chinese handset industry and suggests the probable strategies Nokia may adopt. As is well known, according to the Moore’s law, the chips of the handset is developing at a very rapid speed. Moreover, the handset is still influenced by the fluky vanguard fashion. It is not easy to survive in the fluctuate market, and say nothing of being leading company in the industry. I wish textual analysis might benefit the readers to recognize the industrial situation and use Nokia for reference. This text takes a logical sequence to discuss the total analysis, so the chapters are in turn as follows: Introduction to Reportà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Introduction on Nokia Corporateà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  The Mobile Handset Industryà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Industrial Analysis Using Porter’s 5 Forces Theoriesà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Analysis on Nokia’s Competitive Strategiesà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Evolution of Nokia’s Competitive Strategies and Conclusion. The content of each chapter encircles its name, and the detailed discussion will be deployed in the following chapter. Chapter 2. Introduction on Nokia Corporate With hundreds of years’ development, Nokia has successfully realized its industry transform within the world-wide range, and gradually established its leading position in the handset industry in China as well as in other area of all the world. The whole experience is full of legendary color, as is introduced as follows: Section 1. Nokia’s Developing History 1à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Brief Review on Nokia’s History According to the introduction from Nokia’s autobiography, the roots of Nokia go back to the year 1865 with the establishment of a forest industry enterprise in Southwestern Finland by mining engineer Fredrik Idestam. Other relative events were the foundation of Finnish Rubber Works Ltd in 1898 and in 1912 Finnish Cable Works began operations. After decades of operation, the three companies were merged to form Nokia Corporation in 1967. The worlds first international cellular mobile telephone network, NMT, was introduced in Scandinavia in 1981 and Nokia made the first car phones for it. At the beginning of the 1980s, Nokia strengthened its position in the telecommunications and consumer electronics markets through the acquisitions of Mobira, Salora, Televa and Luxor of Sweden. In 1987, Nokia acquired the consumer electronics operations and part of the component business of the German Standard Elektrik Lorenz, as well as the French consumer electronics company Oceanic. In 1987, Nokia also purchased the Swiss cable machinery company Maillefer. In the late 1980s, Nokia became the largest Scandinavian information technology company through the acquisition of Ericssons data systems division. In 1989, Nokia conducted a significant expansion of its cable industry into Continental Europe by acquiring the Dutch cable company NKF. In 1992, Jorma Ollila became the CEO of entire Nokia Group, who made a strategic decision to concentrate solely on telecommunications in the coming Digital Age. Thus, during the rest of the 1990s, Nokia continued to divest itself of all of its non-telecommunications divisions. This strategic shift consolidated the foundation for Nokia to become a worldwide famous leading company in telecom industry.2 2à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Nokia’s Performance in Recent Years After the strategic shift in 1990s, Nokia has established its leading position in the global telecommunication market. Every business item, especially mobile phone item, has exhibited high-speed of development ever since. At present, Nokia comprises four main business groups: mobile handsets, multimedia, enterprise solutions, and networks. Among them, the mobile handset is the pillar business for entire group operation. According to annual report of 2005, Nokia ´s net sales arrived at EUR 34 191 million3, realizing an increase rate of 12.56% when compared with EUR 30376 million in 20004. Among the total net sales, sales of mobile phones reached EUR 20811 million, occupying 60.87% of the total net sales. In 1992, the mobile handset business only account for 20% of the total sales of entire group. Nokia ´s operating profit for 2005 reached EUR 4 639 million, representing a 2005 operating margin of 13.6%, and Operating profit in mobile handsets decreased 5% to EUR 3 598 million (operating profit of EUR 3 786 million in 20045), representing a 2005 operating margin of 2 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, The History of Nokia 1865-2002, http://r2.nokia.com/nokiahistory/index.html 3 Accessed on Feb. 23rd, 2007, Key data of Nokia http://www.nokia.com/link?cid=EDITORIAL_4026 4 Accessed on Feb. 23rd, 2007, Annual Information 2000, http://www.nokia.com/A4126501 5 Accessed on Feb. 23rd, 2007, Annual Information 2004, http://www.nokia.com/A4126497 17.3%. However, in comparison with the EUR 83 million in 19926, the operating profit of mobile handset in 2005 represents more than 43 times increase. As is recognized by the global consumers, Nokia brand was ranked 16th among The World 500 Most Influential Brands in 2005 by the World Brand Lab. According to the Fortune Global 500 in 2005, Nokia group ranked 130th and represented no. 1 among the Industry of Network and Other Communications Equipment, taking a position higher than any other competitors. From the aspect of mobile handset, till Sept. 2006, Nokia captures 35.1% of the global market. According to the Gartner institute, Motorola was in second place, with market share of 20.6%, and Samsung of South Korea saw its share of the world market fall to 12.2 % from 12.5 in third quarter 2005. 7 Obviously, Nokia has firmly established its leading position in its industry and has become the worlds leading provider of mobile telephones. Section 2. Nokia’s Development in China The year Nokia traded with China can be traced back to 1950s. And later, until 1985, Nokia opened its first branch in Beijing to initiate its development of early stage in China. In 1995, Nokia set its joint venture in China to produce large scale of GSM system equipment. Then, in 1997, Nokia deliver China the first GSM 1800 network. Soon later, in 2000, Nokia started up the Chinese GPRS network that is first one compatible with newest business 6 Martti Haikio (2003) NOKIA THE INSIDE STORY. Published by Edita Publishing Ltd and Nokia Oyj, Copyright 2002, Chinese Edition First Printed in Sept. 2003. pp.272-273. 7 Accessed on Feb. 23rd, 2007, Nokia is top mobile phone maker for Q3-Gartner, Nov. 23,2006 http://telecomasia.net/article.php?id_article=2793 standards in the world.8 In 2001, Nokia invited its main global partners including mainly hardware providers to invest about RMB 10 billion together in Star Net Industry District in order to form integrated production capabilities and to decrease cost.9 During 2003, Nokia released 15 styles of handsets and ranked no.1 of the GSM mobile handset. As is reported, the top 3 brands of GSM in 2003 are Nokiaà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Motorola and Samsung, with market shares respectively 17.23% à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 16.46%à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ and 11.81%.10 When entering into the new century, Nokia strengthens its cooperation with China in the field of communication technology and takes active part in the development of Information Industry in China. At the same time, Nokia commits itself to employment and cultivating of the local talents. To the end of 2004, Nokia arrived at no. 1 of the whole handset sales in China. In 2005, the rising trend continued. It is calculated that Nokia captures 25.8% of domestic handset market share in 2005, realizing 10.8% more than in 2004. By contrast, the second brand Motorola only gets 8.7% of market share11. After decades of tillage, Nokia has really established its leading position in the handset industry in China; it is believed that Nokia will actualize greater success in the mobile 8 Martti Haikio (2003) NOKIA THE INSIDE STORY: Beijing Strategies of Nokia, Published by Edita Publishing Ltd and Nokia Oyj, Copyright 2002, Chinese Edition First Printed in Sept. 2003. pp.234-236. 9 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Explore Star Net Industry District, by Wangshucheng, Huoxiaoguang, Yujingzhong, Source from Xinhua Agency. Yesky.com-Chinese IT website, http://www.yesky.com/135/215635.shtml 10 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Synthesized analysis report on handset in China by YiGuan, Jun. 29th, 2004, http://www.c114.net/zhuanti_simple/3g/Read_3g.asp?action=3gzlkstyptID=3articleID=26 11 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Domestic Handset Market Share Declines March, 28th, 2006, http://www.chinamobile.gov.cn/200603/61242.shtml communication market in China under the 3G era. Chapter 3. The mobile handset industry As is well known, competitive strategy is the outcome resulting from competitive environment. Without given circumstance, it will become meaningless to discuss whether the employment of certain competitive strategies by some enterprises is successful. Therefore, before anatomizing the competitive strategies of Nokia, we need to describe the notion of mobile handset industry and its main composing elements. 1. Definitions —What is a mobile handset A mobile or cellular phone is a long-range, portable electronic device for personal telecommunications over long distances. Most current mobile handsets connect to a cellular network of base stations (cell sites), which is in turn interconnected to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) (the exception are satellite phones). Cellular networks were first introduced in the early to mid 1980s (the 1G generation). Prior mobile handsets operating without a cellular network (the so-called 0G generation), such as Mobile Telephone Service, date back to 1945. Until the mid to late 1980s, most mobile handsets were sufficiently large that they were permanently installed in vehicles as car phones. With the advance of miniaturization, currently the vast majority of mobile handsets are handheld. In addition to the standard voice function of a telephone, a mobile handset can support many additional services such as SMS for text messaging, email, packet switching for access to the Internet, and MMS for sending and receiving photos and video.12 2. Brief Introduction on Global Mobile Handset Industry Broadly speaking, the mobile handset industry consists of upstream suppliersà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ whole handset 12 Accessed on Feb. 23rd, 2007, Mobile phone Definition Introduction, Sirchin-The Free Encyclopedia And Other Stuff Beta. http://www.reference.sirchin.com/?wiki:directories:mobile-phone manufacturersà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ network operatorsà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  downstream distributorsà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ terminal retailers etc. From raw materials to handset product, from hardware suppliers to software providers, from the handset per se to service and content providers, mobile handset industry can be identified as the whole value chain encircling the handset’s substance concept. From the narrow sense, mobile handset industry consists of the companies engaging in producing hardwareà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ componentsà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ and accessories of handset ¼Ã…’as well as assembling handset. As is well known, the worlds largest mobile handset manufacturers include Audiovox, BenQ-Siemens, High Tech Computer Corporation, Fujitsu, Kyocera, LG, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Panasonic (Matsushita Electric), Pantech Curitel, Philips, Sagem, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, SK Teletech, Sony-Ericsson, TA Alcatel and Toshiba. And the worlds largest mobile phone operators include Orange SA, China Mobile and Vodafone. According to report on global mobile market in Q4 2005, the top 5 manufacturing companies are Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG, and Sony-Ericsson, with their global mobile handset market of 35%, 16.3%, 12.1%, 7.2% and 6.9% respectively13. As is calculated, the mobile handset sales continue to grow worldwide, going up from 482.5 million in 2003 to 561 million in 2004. This growth rate is expected to gradually slow down over a period of five years. The estimated growth figures for these five years are—10% in 2005, 7.7% in 2006, 6.4% in 2007, 4.8% in 2008 and 2.6% in 2009.14 Clearly, the global handset industry has been growing fast and will continue to grow for next 3 years. However, the rate of industrial growth will calm down, a status leading to prudential optimism. 13 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Big Six Dominate Expanding Mobile Phone Market, by John Leyden. Feb.28th, 2006, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/28/gartner_mobile_market_2006/ 14 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Changing Faces of The Global Mobile Handset Market –2007, Research and Consultancy Outsourcing Services, March 2005, Pages: 95 Researchandmarkets http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reportinfo.asp?report_id=63375 3. Mobile handset Industry in China Since China ushered in mobile handset in 1987, the handset users has reached 0.443 billion people, with the penetration rate of 33.9%; and the business revenue from mobile communication has occupied about 50% of whole revenue from telecommunication. Mobile communication has grown to be the main impetus of industrial development. 15 —3.1 Network operators After many years of evolution, there are now 6 network system operators in China: Chinatelecomà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Chinanetcomà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Chinamobileà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Chinaunicomà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Chinasatcomà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ and Chinatietong. Till May 2004, Chinamobile is No. 1, because it occupied more than 30% market share according to the business revenue. According to the 2005 annual report, Chinamobile achieved revenue of 243.04 billion RMB and net profit of 53.549 billion RMB, with customers covered 0.257 billion16. —3.2 Overview of industrial developing situation Chinese mobile handset industry keeps its rapid development in recent 5 years, and this trend is forecasted to be extended in the coming years. According to the MII, the handset output from year 2000 to 2005 is 52.57à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 83.97à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 120à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 186.44à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 231.75à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 303.67 million units respectively. The relevant yearly increasing rate reaches 59.73%à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  42.91%à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 55.37%à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 24.30%à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 31.03% respectively. Along with the high-speed increase in handset output, the handset users reaches 0.3934 billion people, and the popularization rate of mobile handset increase rapidly, arriving at 30.3 units per hundred people. However, compared with 60-odd units per hundred people in western developed countries, the future increasing space for handset is still optimistic.17 15 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, The address on the Seminar of Constructing Green Handset Culture by Mr. Xiguohua, vice Minister of Mii of China in 21st Nov 2006, Beijing, on Website of Ministry of Information Industry of the People’s Republic of China http://www.mii.gov.cn/art/2006/11/23/art_223_27118.html 16 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, the financial highlight, http://www.chinamobileltd.com/ 17 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Comment on the 2005 development of handset industry in China, Website of Ministry of Information Industry of the People’s Republic of China http://www.mii.gov.cn/art/2006/03/15/art_62_8307.html 2001-2005 Handset Output in China83.97120186.44231.75303.6759.73%42.91%55.37%24.30%31.03%050100150200250300350200120022003200420050.00%10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%60.00%70.00%OutputYearly Increasing Rate(%) (Note: Amounts in millions of units. Source: Comment on the 2005 development of handset industry in China, Website of Ministry of Information Industry of the People’s Republic of China http://www.mii.gov.cn/art/2006/03/15/art_62_8307.html) Simultaneously, China has gradually become the export base of mobile handset. According to the statistics of MII, the handset export in 2005 is 228 million units, occupying 75% of total handset production. Compared to the 43.3% of export rate in 2000, the higher rate for export in 2005 indicates the excess capacities of handset production and the advent of market maturation in China.18 It is estimated that in 2006, the output of handset will arrive at 0.34 billion units including 0.25 billion for export purpose19. Generally speaking, the developing trend of handset industry in China will maintain rapidà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ healthyà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ and harmony progress. 18 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Comment on the 2005 development of handset industry in China, Website of Ministry of Information Industry of the People’s Republic of China http://www.mii.gov.cn/art/2006/03/15/art_62_8307.html 19 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Comment on the 2005 development of handset industry in China, Website of Ministry of Information Industry of the People’s Republic of China http://www.mii.gov.cn/art/2006/03/15/art_62_8307.html —3.3 Brand vendors As is reported (Aug.13/2002, People’s Post Newspaper), Chinese mobile market was totally occupied by foreign brand handsets before 1998. According to the result of investigation on consumer products in main cities in China in 1998, the market share of mobile is as follows: Motorola 37.3%, Ericsson 28.6%, Nokia 15.6%, and the left 20% market share was distributed among other foreign brands such as Philips, Siemens, Alcater, and Sony etc.20 Following the market booming of handset, Chinese domestic brand vendors began to dissatisfy their original position of OEM only. In addition, with the reformation of approval system, more domestic powerful competitors enter handset industry. As is reported, there are now about 70 companies granted license to produce mobile21. Although domestic brand vendors showed its competence and achieved brilliant performance in 2003, due to the lack of core technology and small scale of production, their total domestic market shares begin to fall down from the zenith of 60% in 2003 to 40.6% in 2005. And the ranked top 3 domestic brands occupy only 17.5% shares in comparison with 31.6% in 200322. According to the 2005 rank on sale of GSM handset in China, the top 10 brand is in turn as follows: Nokiaà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Motorolaà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Samsungà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Birdà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Amoià £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Sony-Ericssonà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Lenovoà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ TCLà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Koncaà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Haier. Among them, top 3 brands occupy 60.05% of domestic market share, a number overpassing the total result of domestic brands23. 20 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, The competitive situation in handset market in China, http://www.china-qg.com/articleHistory/yingXiao/4/275.html 21 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Handset Market Increasingly Open, by Zhugangqi, Nov. 29th, 2006, http://www.cww.net.cn/consultation/shownews.asp?nid=207 22 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Market Shares of Foreign Handset Increasing Rapidly, Mar. 21st, 2006, Source: MII. http://www.ccw.com.cn/news2/mobile/htm2006/20060321_09RRM.htm 23 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Domestic Rank of Handset Sales, by YiGuan, Source: CNETNews.com.cn, http://www.cnetnews.com.cn/news/review/story/0,3800057985,39445251,00.htm The following is the overview on the major participants, which probably possess potential capacity to challenge Nokia: 3.3.1 Motorola Motorola is known around the world for innovation and leadership in wireless and broadband communications. Motorola came to China in 1987 when it opened a representative office in Beijing. In 1992, Motorola (China) Electronics Ltd. was established in Tianjin, a major manufacturing base where Motorola produces mobile phones, two-way radios, wireless communications equipment for the Chinese and global markets. 24 Today, Motorola has one holding company, three wholly owned companies, five joint ventures, 16 RD centers and 25 branch offices across China. At the end of 2005, the number of employees exceeded 10,000, and the total cumulative investment in China reached US$3.6 billion, making it one of the largest foreign investors in China. Investment in RD has reached US$600 million.25 The goal of Motorolas China strategy is to build China into world-class production and RD bases. While pursuing and maintaining market leadership in both mobile devices and infrastructure equipment, Motorola continues to develop businesses in digital trunking, broadband products, solutions and services. As a runner-up in the mobile industry, Motorola keeps fighting its way for market leading position all the while. Undoubtedly, relying on its high-tech RD and cogent brand, Motorola can be qualified as the strongest challenger for Nokia in the mobile handset manufacture industry, no matter in China or in global market. 24 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Motorola China is the biggest wholly foreign invested enterprise Source: Tianjin Developing District Investment Net, Jun. 26th, 2003, http://www.investteda.org/zxzx/tdtzdt/t20051025_6324.htm 25 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Motorola in China, http://www.motorola.com.cn/about/inchina/inchina_en.asp 3.3.2 Samsung Since it’s founding in 1938, SAMSUNG (Group) has maintained a mission statement that responds both to its own change, and to new developments in the world. After unremitting struggle for decades, the company grows from a domestic industrial leader into a global consumer electronics powerhouse. Following its management philosophy-We will devote our human resources and technology to create superior products and services, thereby contributing to a better global society, Samsung achieves quick pace of development. And Samsung’s brand value, a key engine of business growth, increased to US$8.31 billion in 2002 from US$6.37 billion in 2001 and was recognized by Interbrand Corporation as the fastest growing global brand.26 As one of its emphasized fields, Samsung endows mobile handset market with great efforts. It was reported that the expenditure of total RD in Samsung reached 5 billion USD, including 2 billion especially for mobile handset RD. Moreover, as an industrial newcomer compared with Nokia and Motorola, Samsung adopt several special developing strategies to overtake advanced companies, for example: à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ º Samsung prefer cooperation with strong technology leader to research alone. Samsung plays more attention on how to obscure know-how in shorter period, and to avoid confrontation with powerful competitors. Then, through reverse engineering, Samsung can absorb the newest technology with high efficiency. à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ º Based on owned technology, Samsung inclines not to further dig, but to emphasize on developing additional value of product in order to occupy the market rapidly. It’s not difficult to understand that Samsung’s mobile handset exhibits first design and fashionable appearance, the important feature attracting majorities of users. This feature benefits Samsung to be among global top 3 brands of mobile handset. 26 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Samsung’s Managing Philosophy, http://china.samsung.com.cn/public/gongyi.asp?sm=menu7 à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ º Expand rationally based on technology on hand. At present, Samsung has occupied already 65% of CDMA market in Korea, and the target at 20%-30% CDMA market share in China has become its next step, which means about 7.5-11million handset units. Believably, along with the deeper cooperation between Samsung and Qualcomm Incorporated, which is the owner of CDMA patent, Samsung will achieve more opportunities on market of CDMA handset, which is used by nearly 1/3 of global mobile user. In conclusion, Samsung, as an active and ambition participant in mobile industry, has found a unique way to boom, and has grown to be an important industrial power unable to be neglected. 3.3.3 Indigenous Brands Before 1998, domestic handset comes into the market in the form of joint ventures. During that period, they just assemble international brand handset. After 1998, domestic handset companies began to produce handset through OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) for international brands such as Samsung of Korea and SAGEM of France, which still not entered into China at that time. Simultaneously, some companies began to launch its own handset brand such as EC528 of Eastcom. In 1999, the market share of indigenous brand handset is less than 3% in China. However, until 2003, indigenous mobile handset arrived at its height of development, with a market share of 60%. However, indigenous brand soon began to decline all- the- round, with a market share of less than 40% at the end of 2004. During 2005, this declining trend continues, with 10 more percent market share lost than 2004 at the year-end. Relying on indigenous marketing advantage and OEM technology, domestic mobile handset manufacturers, as a whole, have grown up and gradually captured medium and low-end market. Although they encounter fierce competition and face present embarrassment, and even 3 brands that is Kejianà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Pandan and Gaoke fade away in 200527, certain individual brand still actualize rapid development against the current and emerge. It is Lenovo that achieved 4.1% market share and ranked 7th in 2005; by contrast, its market share rises to 6.5% with a rank of 4th in June 2006 (from IDC report), an achievement invigorating all indigenous brands. 28 Considering the advantages of indigenous brands such as: flexible distributing- channelsà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ sensitive price reflectionà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ strong end-user networks and deep understanding of domestic fashion trend ¼Ã…’we have no reason to doubt the future of indigenous handset development. In addition, Chinese government has shown its resolution to support domestic handset companies; surely the relative policies will be improved further. It is believable that indigenous brands, as a whole, will soon rally to enhance their market position. Generally speaking, due to the recent situation of handset industry in China including the advent of 3G, all the brand vendors are adjusting each competitive strategies referring to individual inherent and existing advantages. In a word, new turn of reshuffle on handset industry in China is unveiling. 27 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, March 16th, 2006, by Pengxuzhi, http://mobile.csonline.com.cn/jzsl/200512/t20051228_423095.htm 28 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Lenovo handset’s market share, Source: IDC, http://telecom.chinabyte.com/243/2576243.shtml Chapter 4. Industrial Analysis using Porter’s Five Forces Analysis Porter’s Five Forces Analysis is arguably the most influential analytical model in analyzing industrial environment. Logically, it will greatly facilitate comprehending the rationality of Nokia’s competitive strategies to use Porter’s Five Forces model to analyze the competitive environment where Nokia is operating in China, before expounding Nokia’s detailed competitive strategies. 1. Theory Brief Five Forces Analysis is a method used to contrast a competitive environment. It has similarities with other tools for environmental audit, such as PEST analysis, but focuses on an industry. It looks at five key forces namely the threat of entry, the power of buyers, the power of suppliers, the threat of substitutes, and competitive rivalry. Porter’s five-force model is arguably the most influential analytical model in strategy. In practice, it is best applied to cases in which strategic decision-making is closely associated with industry conditions. Porter’s Five Forces of Competitive Position New Market Entrants, e.g.: †¢ Economies of scale †¢ Proprietary of product differences †¢ Brand identity †¢ Switching cost †¢ Expected retaliation Supplier Power, e.g.: à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ º Differentiation of inputs à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ º Supplier concentration à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ º Presence of substitute inputs à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ º Switching costs of suppliers and firms in the industry à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ º Importance of volume to supplier Competitive Rivalry, e.g.: †¢ Industry growth †¢ Fixed costs/value added †¢ Intermittent overcapacity †¢ Product differences †¢ Brand identity †¢ Switching costs †¢ Corporate stakes Buyer Power, e.g.: †¢ Buyer choice †¢ Buyer information †¢ Ability to backward integrate †¢ Substitute products †¢ Buyer switching costs relative to firm switching costs Threat of Substitutes, e.g.: †¢ Relative price performance of substitutes versus firm concentration †¢ Switching costs †¢ Buyer propensity to substitute 29 Henry Mintzberg, Joseph Lampel, James Brian Quinn, Sumantra Ghoshal, (2002) THE STRATEGY PROCESS Concepts, Contexts, Cases FOURTH EDITH Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458, pp95. The only deficiency with his model lies that the same analysis often applies equally well to more than one company (hence, the notion of â€Å"strategic groups†). And Porter’s emphasis on the importance of external context is balanced by Barney’s insistence that sustainable advantage depends as much or more on the internal resources of the firm. As Jay Barney argued that sustainable competitive advantage is not the product of correct position in the external environment but is derived from the firm’s internal resources. More specifically, resources must meet four criteria to confer sustainable comp