Thailand1 essays

Thailand1 essays IINTRODUCTION Thailand, formerly Siam, officially Kingdom of Thailand, kingdom in Southeast Asia, bounded by Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) on the north and west, by Laos on the northeast, by Cambodia and the Gulf of Thailand (Siam) on the southeast, by Malaysia on the south, and by the Andaman Sea and Myanmar on the southwest. The total area of Thailand is 513,115 sq km (198,115 sq mi). Bangkok is the capital and largest city. IILAND AND RESOURCES Thailand lies within the Indochinese Peninsula (see Indochina), except for the southern extremity, which occupies a portion of the Malay Peninsula. The country's extreme dimensions are about 1770 km (about 1100 mi) from north to south and about 800 km (about 500 mi) from east to west. The physiography is highly diversified, but the mountain systems are the predominant feature of the terrain. A series of parallel ranges, with a north-south trend, occupy the northern and western portions of the country. Extreme elevations occur in the westernmost ranges, which extend along the Myanmar frontier and rise to 2595 m (8514 ft) atop Doi Inthanon, the highest point in Thailand. The peninsular area, which is bordered by narrow coastal plains, reaches a high point of 1790 m (5860 ft) atop Khao Luang. Another mountain system projects, in a northern and southern direction, through central Thailand. At its southern extremity, the system assumes an east-west trend and extends to the eastern frontier. Doi Pia Fai (1270 m/4167 ft) is its highest peak. The region to the north and east of this system consists largely of a low, barren plateau, called the Khorat Plateau. Making up about one-third of the country, the plateau is bordered by the Mekong River valley. Between the central and western mountains is a vast alluvial plain traversed by the Chao Phraya, the chief river of Thailand. This central plain, together with the fertile delta formed by the Chao Phraya near Bangkok, is the richest agricultural an...

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buy custom Development Through Interaction essay INTRODUCTION The role parents and adults play in a childs development is very essential if they were to grow up into normal adults. This is because children over the age of 2 and under the age of 6, as young as they may appear, learn fast through doing and copy pasting behaviors therefore they need proper environments and proper corrective measures whenever they go wrong. Proper day cares and play mates also define what they grow up into. For instance a boy that grows up in a family environment where the father is abusive, chances are high he may grow up to become an irresponsible adult living an extreme life of either being abusive or lacking self esteem and motivation. ESSAY A low self esteem is the first step into many of the problems found in our societies; rapists and drug addicts are only but a few of such resultants while a high self esteem means to be accepted and valued in a way that this growing future generation feels wanted and appreciated in their surroundings . Consider a family that values education in that every family member is expected to be a top performer. In such a setting, children who do excel in their tests are likely fit in well thus high self esteem. On other hand, children who appear helpless in their academics and are subjected criticism from their teachers and parents suffer from low self esteem. From a smile at a time and constant attention grows a child that feels loved and appreciated (NAESP 1991). This in turn helps them as they reach a school going age and learn to interact with their surrounding helping them ealuate and choose good playmates and adults they can look up to. Praising a child for hard work either at school or at home helps develop their talent, but over praising them makes it habitual and can be disastrous when at a given point in time they encounter failure at first glance this way, they are bound to get hurt. Finding therefore better ways of praising children not only builds their self confidence but also builds that character in a way that grows a balanced character that believes in hard work as a key to success. As much as children are not to be over praised for finishing their homework in time they also should not be praise whenever they do something wrong (Collins 1984). Learning to give constructive criticism to good performance in a way helps better growth, a proper example for is would be a mother who by reminding me of how hard I had studied whenever I brought home from school good results made me study even harder to make her happy. Every child is born in their own unique way. However the caregiver and a culture to which a child is attached to strongly affect their emotional control in a way that teaches us to understand how to take care of them and teach them whenever a bad habit if acquired. Where we live, how we interact with each other when we are near them and also who we name as their care givers whether a professional nanny, the male or the female parent, the grandparents, the elder siblings or it could be the neighborhood teenager who comes in as a baby sitter are just some of the care givers. A culture will include the parentage to which a baby is born for instance Black American family wwill have a way of life thats different from a traditional Asian family. A child with proper care in early life tends have proper social relations as they grow up and this may result in stable emotions.(Collins 1984) On the other hand, a child that grew up lacking proper care would end up emotionally under developed. Lastly, physical punishment is the intentional act of instilling physical pain by rod or by bare hand to punish errant children in order to prevent them from redoing their mistakes again. A saying goes spare the rod spoil the child supports physical punishment as an educative form of punishment as it instills instant discipline to the errant. Quick and less costly, this form of punishment saves time allowing both parties to get back to their tasks. A school example is where a teacher punishes a student that fails to do their homework an thereafter the two can do their remaining class hours without having to waste time. The cons against such type of punishment will include: lowering the self esteem of both parties which might have bad impacts; it being a method that has short term results renders it ineffective. Alternatively, we might use other methods that will prove why the action was wrong to the errant child in a way that they would not want to repeat the same mistakes; physical punishment may also train our children to be violent in a way that they turn into rebels(Vockell 1991), bully their peers and carry such an out dated form of punishment into their adulthood; and this form of punishment is outlawed in many states around the world as its a from of child abuse that might get the punisher into trouble. Buy custom Development Through Interaction essay

The civil war in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The civil war in America - Essay Example Though agriculture flourished in south, farmers did not focus on generating enough food to nourish southern residents rather they focused more on cash crops such as tobacco and cotton. The North conversely had ample food for their citizens and sufficient industries to produce arsenal for their armed forces. Indeed, the northern industries were buying the unrefined cotton and converting it into finished merchandise. In addition it had a widespread railway network that could transfer men and military hardware swiftly and economically. This inequality between the two created a great divergence in economic outlooks. Primarily, this pre-eminence of the North didn't appear to make much discrepancy; like many battles in the past, those concerned thought it would be finished rapidly. But northern compensation would prove vital as the war commences. It was astonishment for the whole world that in spite of so weighty discrepancies in manpower and industrial competence, south nearly succeed in the war. There was no means that the South could probably have got up to the North, which had all of the stuff and monetary rewards, and which did an outstanding job of closing off the only benefit the South had: cotton. Because most of the South’s economy generated by exporting cotton, the North planned to put up the shutters of this trade. In order to shut up this trade the Union Government obstructed the southern ports, as a result of which the quantity of southern cotton supplied to England crashed down. And then the only reliable form of South’s income set off, which was frantically needed by South to beat the North. From the time of rebellion, two groups appeared: those quarrelling for better states rights and those quarrelling that the federal government required having more power. The first structured government of America was under the Articles of Confederation. And there was a slack confederation among the thirteen states with a very fragile federal governmen t. Nevertheless when the troubles became more annoying, the fragility of this government awakened the leaders to unite and create clandestinely the US Constitution. However the strong supporters of the nation i.e. Thomas Jefferson  and Patrick Henry were absent at this unification. Many people were of the idea that the new constitution did not give importance to the rights of the nation to carry on to operate autonomously. They believed that the states must have the right to fix on if they were ready to accept certain federal acts. This gave birth to the thought of nullification, where the states would have the right to regulate the federal acts as unauthorized. But the federal government disagreed upon giving this right to the states. However John C. Calhoun fought passionately for giving this right to the states. Even then nullification did not work and states sensed that they were not given reverence, they moved to secession. A question was also one of the reasons of occurrence of civil war in America. The question was about being slave or free of the states which were acquired by America from the Louisiana Purchase and Mexican war. The rule made by Missouri Compromise suggested that there would be prohibition on the slavery in states acquired from Louisiana Purchase. The clashes aroused during the Mexican war about the happening with new areas that are expected to be acquired by America on victory. David Wilmot suggested that slavery would be forbidden in the new lands. To treat the free and slave states, southern and northern welfare evenly a Compromise was prepared by Henry Clay and many others in 1850. Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 further

Short response 6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Short response 6 - Essay Example According to Hunt (792), it was during this time that almost every revolutionary group wanted to take leadership reigns of the nation. One such group was the Bolsheviks band led by Lenin, who finally came to power. The revolution was a success because it occurred at the right time when Russia people needed change. This was after the World War when everyone including soldiers as well as civilians were tired of the suffering. According to Hunt (791), the revolution that followed this event in Russia was not just war but ended up being a civil war. This war was for power and domination between the Bolshevik party and the Provisional Government. Daniel (398) notes that the Bolsheviks revolution succeeded against incredible odds because of their disregard for any form of rational calculation previously done. Lenin saw a chance for the Bolshevik party to ascend to power and he took it. Together with other party leaders Lenin risked everything to gather enough force against the provisional government which was not ready to hand over power as it did everything to resist the takeover. Other party leaders including Zinoviev and Kamenev wished for a less radical and organized way of getting power. Lenin was keen to seize power once and for all and that is why he made vehement demands on the Bolshevik party to take the opportunity of the Provisional Government’s weakness and fight it with all their might (Daniels 399). He went ahead and chose Marxists ideologies of communism to govern Russia. According to Daniels (400), many of the decisions that Lenin made were widely influenced and pressured by his lieutenants from Bolshevik party. However, Lenin had his own convictions and as Hunt points out, he had devoted all his life to seeing socialism thrive and that is exactly what he did when he gained power. Lenin much feared for a counter revolution in his party leadership and that is why he accommodated other

Humans & others mammals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Humans & others mammals - Essay Example Animals like the chimpanzees, apes and bonobos are good examples which through their anatomy and behaviors, prove that evolution is real. The organization of internal organs in the African apes and the human beings is similar. The bone structure is similar and they only differ in shape and size. Human beings however lack tails and this depicts that at one point the humans were analogous to the African apes but they have evolved over time. All mammals are sexually dimorphic in that males are larger than females by about 5-10% (Barton 79). This shows humans are similar to other mammals and are only superior because they have evolved over time. Evolution principles show that body features develop based on habitual bipedalism. The hands of humans are shorter than those of apes. This is because they locomote more using their hands rather than legs. Similarly the legs of human beings are longer than those of apes. The human pelvis and the spinal column are adapted in such a way that the humans remain erect and offer more stability for waking and running. This adaptation is believed to have been achieved due to the competition between humans and other mammals and is evidence that evolution took place. Scientists have proved that the shape of the brain in apes and in humans is similar. However, they differ in size. This increase in the size of the brain proves that evolution has taken place. Human females reach the menopause stage at one point in life. However, other mammals like chimpanzees, apes and gorillas do not become sterile at any stage in life. The Scientific explanation of this difference is based on human selection t hat is a factor that proves evolution (Barton 211). Male Bonobos protect the female bonobos. This characteristic is also present in other mammals such as apes. Human beings also have the same character of males protecting the females. This similarity shows a connection in the origin of humans and apes.

The Value of a Human Life Essay Example for Free

The Value of a Human Life Essay We look at the words of one of the framers of our constitution, and we apply it to the concept of assisted suicide. This subject was one of the hottest issues of the late 20th century, but why was this issue so crucial? Why did it seem to have law writers and judges fumbling to grab for their red tape? There seems to be a more deep seated opinion on why the land that gives us the right to freedom of speech, expression, natural, and civil rights, can restrict the one right we should inherently have. The question I pose for you today isn’t to look at the morality of suicide, but rather look, and ask yourself, why don’t we have the right to die? This paper will be broken down into two sections, one will be the law, precedent, acts, etc. and the other will be the philosophy governing our actions as a collective body and why the ideals that the sound percentage of this united states are unrepresented. The Law There are many cases of assisted suicide, and legislation overseeing it, but the few examples I will give will show the stance that America has taken on the subject of assisted suicide. Jack Kevorkian was the front runner for euthanasia, advocate for a pro-choice death, and leader of one of the most controversial hot button issues of the late 1980s to 1990s. He fought for the legalization of assisted suicide in terminal patients and was known for saying â€Å"dying is not a crime†. He’s an important figure in this movement because he couldn’t be convicted until he was aired on 60 minutes as personally injecting the patient with the drug, instead of having them commit the suicide themselves. The importance of this distinction is that when Jack himself did not inject the patient, he was not found accountable, showing the importance of the word â€Å"assisted† in assisted suicide. [2] Secondly, the Terry Schiavo case was another landmark case pertaining to the death of a terminal patient. Theresa Marie Schindler (Terri) had entered a vegetative state and was comatose and on life support. Her husband had the power to order her feeding tubes removed, ultimately sentencing her to death, however, many people intervened and wouldn’t let her pass away, rather they kept her on feeding tubes for 15 years until she finally was taken off life support and passed 13 days after. During her life, the very controversial â€Å"Terri’s Law† was written up and gave the power to Florida’s Governor to put Terri back on life support. An interesting point in this legislation is that President George W. Bush flew to Washington just to sign this bill into action. â€Å"It should be noticed that this is the same George W. Bush who, as Governor of Texas, signed into state law the power of hospitals to remove a patient (in identical situations as Terris) from life support a critical factor being the familys ability to pay the hospital bills even if such removal was against the familys objections. †[3] This brings a completely different angle into the element of a patient’s death. From the parameters of this case it proves that the government will not intervene into the death of one of its constituents, unless of course that person is not financially able to keep living. I’ll explain this further, in the second section. Another fact to outline our government’s stand on suicide is the Washington v. Glucksberg case. In this case the Supreme Court agreed unanimously that the Due Process Clause of the Constitution did not protect the right to assistance in committing suicide. There was a previous case, Moore v.  East Cleveland, which decided that liberty interests cannot be protected if they aren’t deeply rooted in the nation’s history. Rehnquist wrote that it â€Å"furthered various compelling state interests, such as the preservation of human life and protecting the mentally ill and disabled from medical malpractice†. The Court also thought that protecting physician assisted suicide would create a â€Å"slippery slope† towards involuntary euthanasia. [4] Some things that must be discussed in this regard are as follows. The Due Process Clause protects the right to choice over abortion, which can be compared semi-closely in this case. 5] Why should those who are unborn have no say over their own demise, but yet someone who is suffering and wants to die with dignity cannot have the blessing and assistance of their physician? Furthermore, the slippery slope argument is not a logically proven one, it’s simply using something with shock effect and making it seem less distant than it really is, putting fear in those who notice nothing wrong with the argument. R. G. Frey, DPhil says it best in his book titled â€Å"The Fear of a Slippery Slope,† Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide: For and Against. Especially with regard to taking life, slippery slope arguments have long been a feature of the ethical landscape, used to question the moral permissibility of all kinds of acts The situation is not unlike that of a doomsday cult that predicts time and again the end of the world, only for fol lowers to discover the next day that things are pretty much as they were We need the evidence that shows that horrible slope consequences are likely to occur. The mere possibility that such consequences might occur, as noted earlier, does not constitute such evidence. [6] There’s no other way it can be put, the use of a slippery slope has no bearing on the actual case in front of the judges and should have never been allowed as reasoning for striking down the act. Another commonly cited document in this case is the Hippocratic Oath, the rule of law for doctors and alike as well as a document swearing in medical practitioners into the field. The cited phrase that those opposed to assisted suicide use is â€Å"I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone†. It seems that people are being too narrow-minded about the term, â€Å"harm†. As Philip Nitschke, Founder of Exit International, a pro-euthanasia group says, â€Å"The much-quoted reference to do no harm is also in need of explanation. Does not doing harm mean that we should prolong a life that the patient sees as a painful burden? Surely, the harm in this instance is done when we prolong the life, and doing no harm means that we should help the patient die. Killing the patienttechnically, yes. Is it a good thingsometimes, yes. Is it consistent with good medical end-of-life care: absolutely yes. [8] Another interesting quote in the Hippocratic Oath is the phrase, â€Å"I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion. †[9] This shows some contradictions in the Oath that the opposition has held so dear. The abortion line has since been removed, as well as the statement about a lethal drug, but in the updated version it also has no statement about â€Å"never do[ing] harm†. Some anti-euthanasia persons use an outdated version of the oath to make their points, but have neglected that there are also other statements in that old version that are no longer applicable to this day and age. [10] The last and final bit of information is the Death with Dignity Act, established in Oregon and Washington. It has been voted in by the citizens of each individual state by majority, challenged by the state legislature and rejected by voters, and even challenged by the Bush Administration and upheld in the Supreme Court by Gonzales v.  Oregon. The act establishes safe and enforceable guidelines to go through before the patient takes the life-ending medication. The guidelines include and enforce a waiting period, must be reviewed by two physicians, the patient must be free of a impairing mental illness, must be witnessed by two people, one of which isn’t family, and the request is voluntary and can be backed out of at any time. [11]/[12] This is the act we need established in the entire United States; one that gives patients the right to die with dignity. The point of this research is to show the clearly biased views of the American government; next, I’ll be demonstrating examples and reasoning for why we should be allowed the freedom to choose. Philosophy First, it must be said that to purely discuss the task at hand we must remove all prejudice about religion and morality. Those things can be used in one’s own personal value that they put upon this subject, but in front of us is the law, and it must be known that all religious aspects must be removed from government. Now, what we’re facing is the legalization and promotion of assisted suicide. Suicide is a non-punishable crime, so to speak. It’s not that they can convict a corpse, but in the attempt of a suicide attempt one can be taken into a mental institution to be assessed and treated. The first question posed is how can a crime that can’t be punished be illegal? How can we outlaw something that no government, law, or individual can persecute another for? Back in the earlier years of this country suicide used to be treated with a common law, governing all forms of the same type of suicide. However, the common law must always be updated in this ever changing society. Back when the precedent was decided there was no need so assisted suicide because the people with the illnesses would simply pass away, but today where there’s life support and other means of keeping sick patients alive, now we must choose where to draw the line in that individual’s suffering. There are different tiers of being â€Å"alive†. The fact that someone is breathing doesn’t mean that they’re alive. One may say that their life is running, playing with family, writing books, or painting pictures. This life is taken away from them when they’re sentenced to a hospital bed with tubes keeping them alive and no way to interact with others. They don’t want to ever let themselves get to the point where their family has to see them like that, and it’s an honorable, selfless thing to do. Human beings have certain unenumerated rights, sometimes known as natural rights, those not to â€Å"be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people†. Upon looking into the words of this phrase in the Ninth Amendment, we see that this amendment is plainly stating a sense of equality. If we apply this to the case of assisted suicide, the vast majority of Americans have the natural right that is life. If we were to break down the spirit of the word life, let it be seen that, as formerly stated, life has different acceptable meaning depending upon circumstances. The law cannot be taken at face value in this case and must be interpreted accordingly. Life, for one may mean freedom, and in this case the only freedom a terminally ill patient has is in death. The patient needs freedom, freedom from the constraints of suffering, freedom to move on to a better place than they are in now, whether that be a religious place, reincarnation, or a hole in the ground. As stated earlier there is a quandary in this argument when finance enters into play. We might ask ourselves why our government is so adamant on keeping us alive. Through legislation, passed by a man that became our president, it appears that a financially stable families can keep their loved ones alive even against the wishes of her husband who has the power of choice, while those not able to pay for life support must watch their loved one die as the feeding tube is removed against their will. The question of preservation of life is miniscule in this example. The real reasoning behind certain groups advocating for life is because of monetary gain, they force an individual who cannot communicate his wishes to continue living an unexamined life on his death bed, while the man who does have a say cannot choose his own path. This brings forward the one of the focal points of this paper; can and individual violate their own rights. The government is put in place to protect our individual rights and freedoms, and they use that title to protect our right to life by not letting us choose. Someone can violate the rights of another and be sent to jail in which their rights are revoked until their time is served, but are the consequences the same for one who attempts suicide? The answer is no, a human being may have the right to life, but that life cannot be violated by themselves. I can say this because of the inherent freedoms allowed by the Bill of Rights. In these, Americans are given freedoms to be their own person, to worship, and express themselves completely and fully within constraints of their own person. As long as the rights of other humans are not directly, or even indirectly, put at risk there is no fear of conviction. To explain further I must say that we cannot violate our own rights in the legal sense. If we are to take our own life, it is our right to, and one cannot be held accountable for their choices pertaining to themselves. This leads us to the discussion of positive and negative rights. Positive rights are those that permit or allow action, whereas negative rights are those who permit or allow inaction. For example, a person may want to be assisted in their suicide, and that should be their positive right to do so, but their physician, who may not morally agree with the procedure, has the negative right to refer the patient to a different doctor. This comes up most frequently in the case of abortion where the doctor may not want to go through with it for moral reasons, but the patient still has the right to have the procedure. This is important in the distinction because a person who does not agree with assisted suicide has the negative right not to have the procedure done on their death bed, and the fact that the wishes of other are not imposed on them is showing the freedom this country has not fully applied on both ends of the spectrum. They should have the right not to have the procedure done if they don’t want it, just as much as the person who wishes to have it should be allowed that right. Liberalist Thomas Szasz writes that, â€Å"If freedom is self-ownership—ownership over ones own life and body—then the right to end that life is the most basic of all. If others can force you to live, you do not own yourself and belong to them†. This is exactly what the framers of our constitution wanted us to believe in, self-ownership, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness. What better way to prove that the individual purely owns himself than to be able to make his own decisions up until and including death. Conclusion In conclusion, the proof if right in our own Constitution, and in the precedent set in past court cases and actions of the government. The right to a physician assisted suicide should be a part of our freedoms just as much as abortion, freedom of religion, and freedom of expression. The Bill of Rights sets up certain unwritten rules that everyone should have equal access to, and it should be stated that the right to life can intrinsically be attributed to death as well. There are already states with legislation in order, but it will take an act of government to make it federally acceptable. The arguments against suicide either come from the slippery slope argument or from an argument from morality. As we can see, the slippery slope argument has no proof or rational acceptance, unless more proof from trial comes forth, and since there are already states which have enacted legislation on the subject, and no problems have arisen, we can justify the disregard for such an argument. The argument from morality also holds no grounds because morality is different in each individual being, and we cannot make another mistake in our practice of government such as letting the thoughts of the many outweigh the few who have a constitutional equality. It is stated that we all have our own freedoms, which cannot be violated either by ourselves or by our government. The protections that are placed upon us are inalienable by any means, and it is contradictory to say that we’re violating our own rights and should be held accountable by anyone except for ourselves. To finish, I hope I have shown enough research, and voided enough counter arguments, to show that and rational being must be able to accept the proposition of assisted suicide from the view of legal equality and representation. I’ll end with two quotes that speak volumes to the desires of these terminally-ill people.

Effect of the Internet on Business Development

Effect of the Internet on Business Development The internet is a network of computers who can share data and communicate between them. Its reach is almost every place in this world (see table 1). Any other technology has never changed a business as fast as internet has done. There are many stories of how a business been transformed on internet. EBay, the biggest e-shop was created by his founder to trade niche goods but now, one can buy or sell almost everything in this world to virtually everywhere. You can transform your business if you are nicely connected to your customers, suppliers and other trade partners. Internet is the best possible connector in a business who is at your service for virtually nothing. There is whole world at your disposal and you dont need to open a shop everywhere. Only thing you need is internet connection with some computer system. If you are able to offer a better deal you are in business otherwise, irrespective of how big or small you are, you are going to run out of business. The impact of interne t includes: Less importance of economies of scale. Fewer barriers to internationalization. Lower marketing communication costs. Greater price standardization. Less information floating time. Easy and fast communication between buyer and sellers. Changes in intermediary relationships. The internet lowers transaction costs in three ways: Search costs: The amount of information available to the buyer and the seller can be increased with the help of internet and that can be accessed conveniently and timely. Contracting costs: The internet helps to establish better communication and monitor the performance of partners in business relationship. It is easier to negotiate and compare prices via internet. Co-ordination costs: The cost of sharing information is reduced due to internet and is helpful in integrating business operations. What is e-business? (Kotler and Keller, 2009) e-business describes the use of electronic means and platform to conduct a companys business. E-business is short form of electronic business, where internet and related technology is used for normal business operations. Here internet is used to increase productivity, reduce costs and thus to increase turnover. The effect of Internet on business Internet has changed the business immensely. It has made the world come closer and trade economically and efficiently. It has created a virtual market where everything is available, not physically but virtually. The greatest effect internet has done on business is that it made trade price sensitive and more logical. A customer now is able to do the research work or comparisons before buying a product or services. Not only customer but it has benefited firm as well. Now firm is able to reach distant customer easily and cheaply. They can create awareness about their product and can interact directly with customer to know their preference, problem and potential solution. There is lot more to come and has impact on almost every sector of business. In further chapters we will discuss about these impacts in detail. Dissertation Objective The objective of writing this dissertation is as follows: To analyse the role of internet in development of business. To highlight the way a firm can effectively use internet technology to gain competitive advantage over their competitors. Project Structure This dissertation is divided in seven chapters with each chapter dealing with a specific topic dealing how internet helps in developing a business. First chapter Introduction contains the basic detail about the internet and their business application. Chapter 2 with heading literature review discusses about the internet and its impact on international marketing, the internet and the e-value chain and international marketing strategy and e-business. Here, the things discussed are the essence of the academic work of known writers. Chapter three discusses about the virtual market (market space) and their different aspects (like how this market can be exploited, what the possible pitfall are and where opportunities lies). Chapter four is about marketing on internet. Here some of the important discussions are on interactive marketing, push marketing and advertising via internet. There is also discussion about global business strategy and driver that need to be adopted for international ma rketing via internet. In chapter five, the academic analysis of internet as a tool for development of business is done. Here porters generic competitive advantage model, Rayport and Sviokla model of marketspace and Dutta and Segevs market space model has been discussed in brief. Further a SWOT analysis of inter is done with some suggestions. In chapter sis a very brief case study of eBay is done. Chapter seven is about the managerial implication of the changing scenario due to internet and in marketplace. Literature Review The Internet and its impact on International Marketing The Internet (Fletcher et al, 2005) The internet is a global network of interlinked computers operating on a standard protocol that allows information exchange. (Carolyn Siegel, 2004) It is the worlds largest network of interconnected distributed computer networks. Thus we can infer that any system which is able to share information to other system through a globally accepted protocol is part of internet and this whole interconnection may be called as internet. Internet commerce (Kotler and Keller, 2009) e-commerce means that the company or site offers to transact or facilitate the selling of products and services online. The internet user in the world is growing fast and so is the market scope for the marketers. According to Internet World Stat, 23.8% of total world population are active internet user. Thus, a vast population of more than 1.5 billion is ready to buy and sell on internet given a better deal. It can be only imagined the vastness and growth of market that within 8 year (2000 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 2008) the world internet users grew by 342% and out of those users, 85% have purchased something on internet (Source, Nielsen, Feb 2008). The Internet and International Marketing (Carolyn Siegel, 2004) Marketing is a collection of activities that bring buyers and sellers together to make exchanges that satisfy and give value to all parties. (Carolyn Siegel, 2004) Internet marketing or e-marketing (electronic marketing) is marketing on internet with the help of emails, World Wide Web or other means. It also includes production and selling of internet related products. According to Fletcher in 2005, the introduction of electronic business has changed the fundamental principles of international marketing. He pointed out certain things that internet has changed are: Size of firm is no longer a barrier to internationalization. No need of overseas intermediaries as it became easier to locate customer and deal directly with them. No longer is traditional way of internationalization (moving from familiar to less familiar country) applicable as information became easily available and the communication medium is interactive. The internet (as a low cost medium) allows small and medium firms to become global marketer at their early stage. This is due to the fact that internet can help establishing better communication among overseas customers, suppliers, agents and distributors. We will discuss more about drivers of internet business model, impact of internet on international marketing in chapter 5. Characteristics According to Richard Fletcher et al, 2005, the internet is both communication and a marketing intelligence tool. As a communication tool it helps to build and maintain effective communication with overseas suppliers, distributors and customers. The internet has good information processing capability which acts as link between firm and external environment (discussed later). This ability of internet used as marketing intelligence tool. The internet is used as marketing channel and has following characteristics: Ability to store vast amount of data (information) inexpensively at virtually different location. Interactivity and ability to provide information on demand. Relatively low entry and establishment costs for sellers. Serve as distribution medium for goods like software, e-books etc. Powerful and cheap tool for searching, organizing and processing information. The ability to provide better insight of a product than that of other form of printed catalogue. The Internet and the e-value chain Netchising or Virtual value chain According to Beck and Morrison (2000), the physical value chain activity while globalization has not seen good results. This is due to the fact that a firm uses their resources in overseas activity at the expense of opportunities of domestic market. Not only that, there are other problem faced by an organisation like coordination of physical operations across the globe, the cultural differences, the cost of expatriates and vulnerability to environmental risk that can damage reputation of the firm. Most of these problems can be effectively solved by netchising, a term coined by Beck and Morrison (2000). Netchising is the practice of handing over overseas operations to partners (generally overseas) by outsourcing, subcontracting or franchising. Netchising has following advantages: Efficiency: generally overseas partners are more efficient and are specialized in carrying out the outsourced activities than the outsourcing firm. Convenience: exchange of information becomes easy. Now, orders can be directly placed to the firm without any local agent and a firm can also share information to the customers directly. Reduction in Transaction cost: It reduces the cost of carrying business operations which ultimately benefit the profitability of firm. International value chain According to Plumley (2000), international e-business value chain is the combination of e-commerce platform and secure transaction support (see figure 2.1). The e-commerce platform builds on the countries business rules and language where as secure transaction support builds on currency clearing and legal requirement. According to Gartner Group, internet affects the supply chain (see figure 2.2). It shows that a customer can buy and pay for the product or services easily and at the same time a supplier can also communicate directly with customer and with their own other internal departments. International information chain According to Karmarkar (2000), internet value chain is closely linked with international information chain. The language and cultural differences is the main hurdle in the path of globalization of a firm. When a firm deals with information product (like music, e-books or software) then it becomes easier to go global. In certain cases when product or services are not much attached to language or cultural factors (for ex. Technical publishing and industrial services), then also it is easy to become global. In production of information product and services low labour cost is the key as relative cost of hardware and software has come down. Now, firms look for low cost labour market (like India, China) to develop information products. Outsourcing of information services (customer care service such as call centres) and software development cell are some examples. Thus we can say that in information value chain, the physical infrastructure doesnt play a vital role. International Marketing Strategy and e-business Internet issue and foreign market entry According to Oxley and Yeung (2000), the e-commerce readiness of a market is determined by three factors: The rule of law: A customer is not able to see the original product while purchasing online. Therefore, they need to be assured that if they purchase a product or service online; they will get them as they were told or shown online in given time limit. According to survey by e-consultancy in 2008, 84% buyers look for the sign that a website is secure before making a purchase. Thus, a market (country) must be able to provide an environment where property rights are well defines, courts are efficient in resolving disputes and consumer credits and consumer protection regulations are well established and enforced (i.e. strong tradition of the rule of law). The transactional integrity of online business: It is difficult to track a e-business trader by their e-mail address or website. Also, the entry and exit barrier in e-business is low and this is used as a weapon by dishonest e-traders. They can execute fraud and again be able to do it with a new name (as they can entre again in market with new identity). When dispute arises, it is hard to practise legal action in a different country and can be costly. The availability of infrastructure: migration from traditional market to online market is not possible until customers have access to personal computer and internet connection at reasonable price. Apart from these facilities, they do have the facility of credit card or online payment system. Thus, internet related infrastructure and financial infrastructure are essential Electronic Marketplace Internet a virtual market According to Garrison, (1996), the internet acts as a catalyst for sociological change. It has changed the nature of market, the way of business operation and the mode of communication with customers and other business partners. It has created a market space which has affected the traditional marketplace and consumer preferences by providing greater facilities to them. Internet has become the largest market available to mankind where almost everything is been sell or bought. This market space doesnt exist in physical terms but can get everything available in physical market. Physical vs. Virtual Value Chain Value chain is nothing but a set of value adding activity for the product or services. Rayport and Sviokla, 1996, argued about a new value chain termed as virtual value chain where product or services exist as a piece of information and can be delivered through information based channel of communication. This virtual value chain is different from physical or traditional value chain where one can see or touch products. He said the virtual world as market space while the physical world as marketplace. According to Fletchar et al 2005, the virtual value chain is a realm where products and services exist as digital information delivered through information based channel. He also differentiates virtual value chain and physical value chain on the basis of information used. The virtual value system uses information as the source of value while in physical value chain it is used as a supporting element of value adding process. Thus we can say that now a day a firm has to compete in two busin ess environment, one is traditional and other is virtual business environment. The distinction between the two can be understood by this example. when consumers use answering machines to leave a message, they are using an object that is both made and sold in the physical world, however when they buy electronic answering services from the phone company they are using the market space à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬  a virtual realm where products and services are digital information and are delivered through information-based channels. (Rayport and Sviokla, 1996) Figure 2: The Virtual Value Chain in relation to The Physical Value Chain (source: Hollensen, 2001). Adoption of Value Adding Activities: Company adopts value adding information activities in the following three stages: Visibility: Here large scale information systems are used to coordinate activities in the physical value chain. Mirroring Capability: It is the capability of substituting physical activities with virtual and thus creating a parallel virtual value chain in the marketspace (see figure 2). New Customer Relationship: This is the flow of information to customer to deliver value in new ways. This parallel physical and virtual value chain operation allow firms to deliver value to their customer in both marketspace and marketplace. These operations create marketspace based relationship with customers. The virtual value chain consists of five steps, say, gathering, organising, selecting, synthesizing and distributing information. These value adding activity allow company to identify customers desires more effectively and fulfil them more efficiently. This happens, for example, when a car manufacturer shifts its RD from the physical to the virtual value chain. By doing so, they involve customers of different locations in the new product development process. The physical value chain is linear (a sequence of activities with defined input and outputs), whereas the virtual value chain is non-linear (a matrix of potential inputs and outputs that can be accessed and distribute by a wide variety of channels). Relationship marketing It is a way of marketing where marketers or firm try to attract, maintain and enhance relationship with customers and other business partners. Internet (or website) acts as the best medium to communicate with people related to business. Firms now focus on relationship marketing to gather information from customers, to develop customized product or services for a focussed customer group. The internet helps firms to improve relationship with their customers and suppliers; and help them to work effectively. Now a firm doesnt need a middleman or a agent as they can sell directly to the customer via internet. Thus the distance with customer is decreasing and a firm need a smaller supply chain which can increase their profitability. The lesser distance also allows firms to establish a close relationship with customer and provide those customized products or services as per their need. The firms (like eBay, Google etc) involved in innovative business have always realized the power of customer relationship. They bank on the ability to process large relationship database. With the help of this relationship database they formulate their strategy and develop innovative way of marketing. The relationship marketing not only benefit the firm but also the customers. The customers are benefitted because firm can develop customized and focussed marketing message. Mattsson, (1996), has described a relationship as combination of three main components, which affect the parties involved in a business. Those components are legal(L), behavioural(P), and atmospheric (E). These three factor determines the success and failure of a relationship marketing in a particular market. Thus it is possible to have a successful buyer-seller relationship in domestic market totally failure in overseas market. Finally we can say that relationship marketing includes the management of a firm and thus it must be included in the business plan Marketing on the Internet Internet and Global Business Strategy (Kotler and Keller, 2006) e-marketing describes company offers to inform buyers, communicate, promote and sell its products and services over the internet. Drivers of Internet Adoption in International Marketing Once a firm establishes an internet portal (website), they automatically become a MNC (Multi National Company). Quelch and Kelvin (1996) describe two evolutionary paths of a website: Information to Transaction Model (figure 4.1) adopted by existing MNCs where they offer information to address the needs of existing customers. Transaction to Information Model (figure 4.2) adopted by internet start-up companies where they begin with transaction and use the medium to build brand image and secure repeat orders. The basic purpose of these models is either to reduce cost or to increase revenue. According to Quelch and Kelvin (1996), these drivers fall into four quadrant as given in figure 4.3. Internal customers focus/ cost reduction (quadrant 1): This is applicable to the companies who use website as a tool to communicate with their customers. Their main focus is to provide customer services for domestic market. They just happen to attract international traffic. Internal customer focus/ revenue generation (quadrant 2): This is applicable to the companies who use website not only to communicate with their domestic customers but also offer transactions online. This enables a firm to reach those international customers who might be inaccessible via other media. External customer focus/ cost reduction (quadrant 2): This is applicable to the companies whose main aim is to attract international audience through their website. This happens to benefit all customers because of the international scope of operations. External customer focus/ revenue generation (quadrant 3): This is applicable to the firms who not only focus on attracting international audience but also offer transactions worldwide. Here transaction involves connecting buyers and sellers. Company target providing services to existing customers and attract new customers from global market. Impact of Internet on International Marketing Variables The modification in marketing mix variables is necessary while using internet for international marketing. The impacts of internet on application of marketing mix while going to international market are as follows: Pricing: Due to internet customers are more aware of prices in different countries and thus there is increase in price standardization across borders and price differential become narrow. One advantage of this is that price can be customized easily with customers need and their profile (segment). Distribution Channels: Internet has dramatically reduced the number of intermediaries earlier needed for worldwide distribution channels. As now, less capital is needed for inventory and thus the role of intermediaries has been changed. The new roles of intermediaries include collection, spreading, interpretation and distribution of information rather than traditionally handling and distribution of products. Creation of new Market: Internet offers new opportunities for firms to create market by helping buyers and sellers to locate and negotiate trade terms with each other (ex. eBay etc). There is also a market developed for executing transaction between traders (ex. PayPal etc). New Product Diffusion: The traditional test as you go practice where shifting products from one country to another is now outdated. Now, new product announcement or launch generates immediate demand (as information travel faster on internet) and that requires immediate availability of goods. Customization: Due to internet, getting demographic and purchasing profile of customer became easy. This allows firms to customize products for local adaption as per local market demand. Advertising on internet Internet is a low cost advertising medium having reach to global audience. Advertising on internet includes banner advertising on website, email, blogs and links to search engines. As traditional media of advertising is quite expensive and at the same time internet infrastructure is improving day by day and able to prove support to video and graphics on web. With this improvement a firm can successfully launch an online advertisement campaign. Interactive advertising According to Haeckel, Marketing interactivity is a person-to-person or person-to-technology exchange designed to effect a change in the knowledge or behaviour of at least one person. He also point out that interactivity is function of certain dimensions, which is given as: I = Æ'(N, C, F, SI, CI, T, CT, SY, M) Where, I = impact of interaction, M = Type of media involved (Other factors not discussed as not relevant to current topic). Now, as a technology, internet is the strongest media for interactive marketing. The reason for that is Internet is used by almost a quarter of the total world population. It is not limited to a particular geographic reason. The growth of user is fast. Cheapest and fastest way of interacting with majority of population (both for customer and marketers). Haeckel also pointed out that there is going to be much more business and marketing use through internet. He made a graph which shows how we find usage of a new technology with time (see graph below) and thus we can say there is more in store than what we are seeing and using presently. Even interactive marketing may see turnaround with this technology. Marketing with push technology (Wetzel, 2008) defined push marketing as, customers are provided information by receiving or viewing advertisements digitally, such as: e-mail, SMS, RSS, phone calls, etc., as subscribers of the latest product and service information provided by the company. The internet is the cheapest and most effective media that is used for push marketing. Advantages of Push Marketing via Internet Tracking of Customer Preference: It is easier to track user preference with the help of push technology (internet) and customize according to their preferences. A good example of this is Google AdSense that tracks the users visited website or keywords in mail and according to those criteria it shows advertisement (related link). Increase Accessibility: With the help of push marketing a firm can increase customer accessibility by the firms marketing and advertisement of the products. Subscribers get pushed by built in developed software called PointCast that enable users to receive automatic content updates via their internet connection and web presence as the channel to get information when their computers are not in use. Corporate identity in cyberspace Firms are now using web to extend and reinforce their companies brand image in a cost efficient manner. This serves as a complementary media device that re-establishes a firm in consumers mind. By providing valuable information to users a firm can expand their brand image. The regular updating of information may attract customers to visit website regularly, which will reinforce firms image and provide them a chance to create a new and extended cyber image. Analysis and Methodology Competitive Advantage via Internet Porters three generic strategies for competitive advantage According to Porter (1985), a firm can earn high return if they are able to position themselves well enough, irrespective of the structure of the industry and profitability of the industry. He pointed out the fundamental basis for above average performance is sustainable competitive advantage in long run. For that sustainable competitive advantage he gave three generic competitive strategies. Cost Leadership: According to porter (1985), a firm is having cost advantage over his competitors if the cumulative cost of performing value activity is less than the competitors. He further discussed that a firms cost position is a function of; (a) the composition of their value chain to their competitors, (b) their relative position in cost drivers. Now, we see that how internet helps them to achieve them cost leadership by affecting the above two functions. Differentiation: Porter (1985) describes another strategy for competitive advantage is to differentiate their product with competitors products. This means raising the quality with ignoring the cost for the sake of quality. Now internet can help them to do that by interacting directly with customer and customizing products according to target group. Many firms now use blog site to interact with customers and promoting their new or customized product. Focus: Porter describe this as customizing products or services to suit a focused or small segment of consumer group. The internet helps firms to focus on different aspects of the products and customer group. Internet even allow firm to receive specification from each and every customers and according to them they can produce customized products or services. As discussed in chapter 3, the relation of physical and virtual value chain (Hollensen, 2001), we find there is virtual value chain corresponding to each physical value chain. By applying this value chain a firm can become cost leader as it depends on two factors discussed above. A firm can shift to virtual value chain to gain cost advantage over their competitors physical value chain. For example Federal Express (FedEx), a shipment company allows consumer to track their parcels. This tracking system via internet is very efficient and economical. The FedEx has now reduced more than a million query calls per month by providing online shipment tracking system. This is one of the way of reducing cost and step towards cost leader position and at the same time it differentiate FedEx from their competitors. But this is not enough as sooner or later others will follow same practice and FedEx lose the competitive edge. The real edge lies on the innovative and creative way of finding or chang ing physical value chain to virtual value chain. So now apart from technology, innovative idea of using technology is the key for success of a firm. Stuck in the middle Porter (1985) points out a situation, where a firm try to achieve both generic strategy (cost leadership and differentiation) but fails to achieve any of them. He calls this situation as stuck in the middle. According to him, a firm stuck in the middle will compete at disadvantage as others competitors (cost leader, differentiators) will be better positioned to compete in any segment. In case of Google AdSense, Google is offering a differentiated advertising tool at very low cost (usually one get this via auction, where price is driven by customer not producer) is offering a differentiated (highly unique and effective) advertisement. Here both cost leadership and differentiation is achieved by Google with the help of technology. Johnson et al (1998) discuss about the core competency of a firm may be difficult to imitate because they are complex. The google is doing the same thing by making the internal structure complex, which is hard to imitate by competitors. Thus, they can put the mselves in a position where for an advertisement position (ex. Out of five position or space, advertisers bid for first position then second and so on), firms bid among themselves. Thus, it is possible to achieve a position where a firm can achieve cost leadership and differentiation without compromising one for the other with the help of technology (say internet) and their own creativity (say way of using internet). E-business marketing Models and International Competitiveness Rayport and Sviokla Model According to Rayport and Sviokla (1995), the internet has changed the nature of trade. Internet has made both physical location of inventory and the actual place (marketplace) of trade irrelevant. They argued that traditional marketplace (the physical market) transaction has been replaced by markets place (virtual market or e-market) transaction. They concluded that brand equity is created in marketplace through content (i.e. the product offering), context (the communication programmes) and infrastructure (i.e. the pricing and value chain activity related to distribution). While in market space (internet marketing); content, context and infrastructure has been transformed to innovate new ways of creating value. The changes are: Content: Now, everything possible is delivered electronically whether it is product, service or information. Even though operating system (Microsoft window) are available online. They tim