Laddering Interviews Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Laddering Interviews - Essay Example This helped with clear articulation about the qualities of a backpack which stimulates purchase. The other two participants were light users of backpacks, meaning, they were not avid users of backpacks and as such did not know much about the brands that offer backpacks. These two respondents were essentially insensitive to brand name implying they had a preference for generic backpacks. The interview was dissected into questions that inquired about the reasons the participants bought backpacks and the associated characteristics of the backpacks which led them to do so. Next the interview progressed to go deeper to relate the consequences of the characteristics. Lastly, the interview attempted to link how the consequences were influenced by the values each respondent held with respect to backpacks. The responses to the interview showed that most of the participants sought value in the backpacks. A lower price was an attractive characteristic if the backpack was also complimented by greater quality. The more heavy users of backpacks preferred backpacks with high quality fabric, finishing, and water proof lining. This was more common among participants who did sports. On the other hand, participants whose needs were simple preferred lower prices backpacks. This is because the generic backpacks – as opposed to branded backpacks – met their daily needs which included spaciousness to accommodate books, pockets to keep laptop and other accessories, and partitions to keep notes and other books. The size of a backpack was also another important attribute which determined if participants bought the backpack. Size was related to the usage of different participants. Participants who used backpacks for sports needed a larger space to accommodate clothes, equipments, and other necessary accessories. Durability was also identified as a critical attribute

Functional areas of Business Essay Example for Free

Functional areas of Business Essay In today’s society, organizations need strong managers to lead their staff towards accomplishing goals. Managers are problem solvers, leaders, coordinators, communicators and planners. Managers fulfill many roles and have many types of responsibilities at different levels in an organization. Many roles Management can be very complex as they have to respond to planned and unplanned issues that can occur at any given time. Managers have a variety of duties to perform within an organization to help it function properly within the area of business. One of the areas of business that a manager plays a role in is Strategic Planning. Organizing and planning is a priority in businesses. Organizing and planning has objectives that involve developing business goals, organizing business resources to advance these goals. Both internal and external data is used about the industry, markets and competition provides information that is needed in order to direct the organizations resources and to also identify organizational needs. Managers are also responsible for making decisions in an organization, which involves choices that are related to changes that is needed to adapt internal and external factors that have an effect on business operations. Managers must also decide how and where to use resources within an organization. Other decision making responsibilities can include choosing suppliers and vendors for goods and services for the organization. Managers use accounting for financial decision making. Accounting for managers involves forecasting, relevant costing, cost-volume-profit analysis, investment appraisal techniques.(Accounting for Managers) Managers that use accounting sets targets for strategic business units as well as for departments, accounting assists in the assignment of responsibility for achievement of business targets by individual managers. Responsibility accounting is achieved by appraising the performance of managers responsible for their business units while giving due consideration for factors not within their control or influence. Mangers are also responsible for ensuring that all accounting procedures are within accounting standards, business ethics and legal requirements of business, and making th e organization financially, economically and legally sound. A manager in Human Resources create policies for employees, monitors training and performance evaluation, coordinates  new hires and employees, recruits and operate along with the vision and mission of the company. They become a positive influence to their work colleagues, sharing their experiences, to encourage employees to stay positive and perform at their best. The manager also directs his team to help monitor employees based on their performance, compensation and to carry out daily work tasks. As a manager considered a leader in an organization, you have to be able to motivate your employees in order to encourage productivity to ensure the highest level of job satisfaction. Leadership is defined as the action of leading people in an organization towards achieving goals. A manager must also have the ability to influence an employee in many ways. A leader sets clear realistic goals and vision for the organization, motivates employees and builds morale. Leadership is particularly important in senior management, such as VP, CEO, etc. To become an effective leader, a manager gas to lead people providing trust and purpose and self-management using influence and persuasion, achieving personal goa ls. It is important for managers to understand Economics in a business. Economics is very important because it enables managers to make decisions such as the price of goods and services to be produced, allocation of capital, and sales forecasting. Economics also helps managers to understand the possible effects on the way the organization functions. Resources can become scarce, and managers must be able to make financial decisions about what products and services to produce. Economics has an effect on businesses in many ways, which can have a negative and positive affect on an organization. Research and statistics enables managers to make accurate decisions based on available data, which allows them to make smarter decisions and provide more accurate leadership to staff relying on them. Statistics also helps managers to back up assertions. When managers needs to persuade people to move into a direction, or to take some toe of risk, statistics can provide them with objective goals with figures to substantiate positions or to provide a level of certainty as to what direction that the company needs to take. It is important for managers to know the law in an organization to protect the vital interest of the organization which that they manage. It will also help the manager to prevent the organization from legal problems. Not only would the law protect the workers, but it will also protect stakeholders and people that invest in  the company. If the organization is jeopardized, that can result in a huge lost. The law regulates contracts between businesses by laying down rules and regulations for the smooth running of the business and economy. Operations management is defined as the area in business where efficiency and effectiveness of operation support and development plays a role to achieve an organization’s strategic goals. Managers in this area are focused on the design and operations of systems to provide goods and services. Operations management involves planning, scheduling, and control of all activates that will transform inputs into outputs. Managers in particular have to communicate effectively to motivate other people, manage job projects and work on multidisciplinary teams. Marketing is another skill that managers should know to put their company products on the market. Marketing also enables managers to set prices for their products based on manufacturing costs. Directors also assist managers in deciding what type of advertising and promotion strategies that the organization will use. Managers may also assist advertising directors in establishing budgets for marketing and advertising their product. The manager can assist the marketing department with determining the right distribution product for the organization’s products. Great effective managers possess all of these skills to be successful in the workplace, along with other skills and assignments from upper-level management. References Role of management. (1992). Leadership Organization Development Journal, 13(3), 11. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/226916348?accountid=458 Tiffan, B. (2011). Four important roles of a manager. Physician Executive, 37(4), 94-6. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/878544673?accountid=458 Berri, D. J., Leeds, M. A., Leeds, E. M., Mondello, M. (2009). The role of managers in team performance. International Journal of Sport Finance, 4(2), 75-93. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/229346895?accountid=458

Google Internal Environment and PESTEL Analysis

Google Internal Environment and PESTEL Analysis ABSTRACT The purpose of this project is to strategically analyze a multinational company of our choice. Our case study is Google Inc. which we will analytically break down, using various sources. We chose Google because we found really interesting due to the fact that not only it is the biggest internet search engine to date, but also a pioneer in its industry. Based on existing literature and web references, will try to analyze its internal and the external environment. INTRODUCTION Google has occupied the dominating position in its industry since the beginning due to its unique product which is a result of its unparalleled working environment. It has gone on to attain the largest share of the online search engine market as it provides its users with a product that is difficulty substituted even though there are numerous competitors. By analyzing the internal and external environment of the corporation, it is evident that Google is running a well oiled machine, paying attention to even the least significant detail in order to ensure that it provides a prompt and reliable product to its customers. History Google was founded around 1995 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were still university students. The idea was based on pages PhD research project called Backrub. This involved mathematical properties of a link structure on the internet. Having indexed over 50 million web addresses, Google was formally incorporated by 1998.it has such significant influence that a company could either greatly benefit, or be seriously harmed depending on the search rankings. Besides being the top search engine, Google features other functions such as Gmail, Google Earth and Google Docs. Moreover, Googles extreme success and constant expansion and development are due to their unparalleled working environment which not only aims to keep everyone happy, but successfully does so. (Google, 2011, Keller et al, 2008) INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT Resources Capability Theory Sources The combination of sources and capabilities, defines a good strategy of a company. Google achieved to combine ideally its sources and capabilities, as we can see that its strategy, is working. Ones company resources can be separated to tangible, intangible and human. Referring to Googles tangible resources are the financial sources from advertising companies, raw materials, mechanical equipment, modern facilities, innovative design of homepages and hardware. As for the intangible resources they are, high technology, worldwide reputation with users and suppliers , strong brand name , huge data-base, patents like Google Earth and eco friendly Blackle. Another important intangible factor is the business culture of Google which does not only care about the service of users but also cares about vast working environment. Moreover as for the human resources, Google has a large amount of high-skilled and capable staff. Furthermore, another important factor of Googles success is its know ho w which cant be imitated by any other rival firm. In addition all employees are experienced in the market of information based services. Google has strong leadership combined with training which resulted in loyal staff. (Christodoulou, 2010, David 2007) Capabilities The combination of sources, tangible, intangible and human resources create the appropriate capabilities. Capabilities separated as marginal capabilities which cannot easily imitated and fundamental capabilities which can. By combining its resources, Google creates some very effective capabilities. Flexibility, quick response and speed of distributing the information are produced by the combination of huge data base with the highly advanced software. These capabilities are fundamental because they cannot be copied easily. Another fundamental capability of Google is innovative and effective human resources management. This is also a result of good leadership with highly skilled and specifically trained staff. Furthermore, the combination of human resources with the software and innovations has the result of design capability, which is imitated. The right transmission of information between leadership, employees and the culture of Google results in good communication, as a fundamental capability. The combination of the right organization in human resources with the program system creates the fundamental capability of quick responsiveness to customers. (Christodoulou, 2010, David, 2007) Competitive advantage Value Google provides a high value product which satisfies its consumer needs, whatever they may be, quickly and efficiently. A costumer can use its search engine when looking for information on literally anything as well known, or not, that would be. This is what keeps it in its market dominating position as the leading search engine as it provides such a rare product. Furthermore, Google uses a program call AdSense which is vital I order for businesses to generate income. This is due to the fact that there is more traffic, hence more exposure, which consequently leads to an increase in sales. (Morrow, 2009, Thompson and Strickland, 1998) Rarity Googles rarity can be seen even on its homepage which is unlike any of the rival companies. There is a 28 word limit policy for the homepage, meaning that it is the only one that which is completely clutter free, letting customers focuses on what they want to use the product for without any distractions. This in turn shows that Google inc. wants to provide a high quality product that meets consumer needs, rather than trying to gain profit from annoying advertisements .Furthermore, the relevancy of the results of the search engine make it evident that Google succeeds and reaches its aim to provide a product of the highest quality for each customer. Compared to its competitors, yahoo and Microsoft, it is the most efficient and accurate when providing a consumer with the result. (Morrow, 2009) Imitablility Googles unique homepage has not been imitated by its competitors due to the fact that they are more interested in what consumers need to feel relaxed using this search engine, rather than profiting from advertisements. In addition even if competitors try to imitate Googles results, they would require an enormous database, extremely fast computer memory, and servers all around the world. Furthermore, Google try traces what you search each time and in a way gets smarter in order to provide you with the most relevant results each time you search. It basically can tell what you are looking for even the word which have been used has more than one meaning. (Morrow, 2009) Substitutability The fact is that Google has substitutes, such as Yahoo, Microsoft, Ask and Bing however it continues to dominate the market as it provides the best product and therefore gaining strong customer loyalty. (Morrow, 2009) Value chain Due to the fact that Google provides information based services, which is a nonphysical product, its value chain differs from the traditional form. Their raw materials are the web users who use Google to search. The same users are then directed by text advertisements into their advertising partners websites where the sales occur, which is also the finished program. Furthermore, the search engine works in such a way that it keeps record of the users previous searches in order to provide more relevant results in future searches, which in turn means that web users are directed to websites where there is more probability that purchases will occur. In addition, due to highly skilled and qualified staff, the dependency of primary activities on human resource is quite high and so causes an increase in costs. Operations, sales, distribution and services are conducted with the aid of Googles servers and its internal software, all of which contribute to the value chain as they increase the fir ms profit. It also spreads its operations globally in order to be constantly aware of changes which in turn help Google maximize its profit. (Morrow, 2009) Mission Statement To organize the world information to make it universally accessible and useful From this statement we can see that Google Inc is not interested in profit maximization but strives to meet the needs of its customers with a high quality product. Also Google states that sharing information and giving access to it, so that every person in the world could find whatever he needs from a source of his preference. (Morrow, 2009) EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT PESTEL Political As for the political environment, Google has few political restrictions. Firstly, one of the political problems that it faces is with the Department of Justice, due to the fact that there are plenty of inappropriate content and classified documents. Secondly, it has problems with the Chinese Government, because of censorship of searching results. Google tries not to have problems with censorship globally, because of its cooperation with the U.S Government and the protection of personal privacy. For this reason, it has created privacy terms on its homepage, where users can find information. In addition, many countries of Asia have limitations on what can be searched, but generally the majority of countries around the world do not have restrictions. (David, 2007, Morrow, 2008) Economical Nowadays, there is an economic crisis all over the world witch significantly affects global sales. Furthermore, one of the countries that have been hit the most are the United States, where Google is located. However, this crisis has not affected Google, because it does not sell direct products, but services which are funded by advertisements. Also, the free provision of Google leads to an increase in its popularity, which in turn maintains its good relations with advertising firms. Finally, its excellent knowledge of the market allows Google to be able to respond to any kind of crisis. (David, 2007, Morrow, 2008) Social Googles great advantage is that there are no social restrictions, because its services can be used by everyone despite age, religion, nationality and living conditions. Another advantage is that is not a seasonal company, for the reason that its services are always desired. Also, the development of technology and the trend of using Internet through computers and mobile phones have increased in the last years, impacting Google expansion all over the world. Google has no geographical dependence because the technology of internet is widespread worldwide. An example of geographical power is that more than 115 countries use Google, many of which are not economically developed. Googles social environment is global, meaning that is a Multilanguage society. For this reason, Googles services have been translated into numerous languages. Furthermore, it allows access to sites which may be inappropriate or appropriate. However in many countries there is a prohibition to them due to cultural and religion differences. (David, 2007, Morrow, 2008) Technological The technology is always advancing, so this phenomenon makes Google expand rapidly. For this reason, it has to be updated constantly in order for it to follow its revolution. New technology in computers systems may aid Googles services to work faster and better, so it has to prevent its opponents from taking this new technological knowledge. Another advantage of technology for Google is that the costs are decreasing, while the quality of the services that it offers is improving and the innovation are strengthened. It also improves the speed of information, the ways of communication and transportation. These reasons help Google to expand and more important to survive. (David, 2007, Morrow, 2008) Legal The legal environment is an issue that concerns everyone who uses the Internet. Copyright is an issue that exists in legal environment because of the ability that third party persons and companies can copy pictures and steal information from others. As a result, Google has created a page with copyright information about what is legal and what is not. (David, 2007, Morrow, 2008) Five Forces As always analyze of five Porter forces play very important role for the study of business elements and contributes to develop the right strategy to be able to survive and become more competitive. (David, 2007, Morrow, 2008) Entry Barriers Regarding the search engines, they have accumulated a large amount of information on customer service. Therefore, Google updates its material, in order to compete with other online search engines. For a newly introduced company it is necessary to serve and meet its customers expectations and the services should be provided at high speeds with flexibility in search. When Google was established around 1998, there were other similar companies like Yahoo, AltaVista and Excite, which had big influence in the market place but Google achieved to dominate. The web environment of search engines is more enriched, compared with the past years and its more familiar for users. As a result, the entry of new firms is not such a big threat for existing companies, especially for Google. (Morrow, 2008) Suppliers The main suppliers of Google are advertisements of companies, which expect to be popular in the world, so this factor contributes to the direct profit. Therefore, the negotiating power of suppliers is relative low, because Google is the pioneer of searching services. Over the years, technology evolves rapidly and because of it, Google achieved to install new software in mobile phones. But in this case the negotiating power is very high, because there is other companies software, like Microsoft with more experience in the market place. (Morrow, 2008) Competitors The main target of Google is to be able to face the competitiveness and become dominant company in the world of search engines. The main source of income is based on advertisements, due to reliable information that is collected daily. Since 2007, Google noted an upward evolution with annual profit rate at 110%. The main competitors of the company are Microsoft and Yahoo which have significantly lower profit. For the achievement of their profits, trademarks like MSN and Live-search played very important role. The companys high market share gives it the advantage to improve the quality of information and make the search easier. As a result, Google creates successful advertisements rapidly in comparison with its competitors. (David, 2007, Morrow, 2008) Customers Since 2007, almost entirely, the profits of Google come from advertisements. The strategy of the company is to obtain new and more advertisements, of which the profit is maximum 3%. So it accumulates the profit from many small advertisements. Many firms want to advertise themselves and users have the opportunity to find them through keywords. Then, the percent of profits increased, because it is considered as an extra service. This attracts many companies which results in Google buying power in low levels. (David, 2007, Morrow, 2008, 1999) Substitutes In recent years the world of Internet is the first option for the users, who search direct information. Due to the uniqueness and immediacy, there arent specific substitutes for data search. In order to Google to serve the users and become more competitive, with the help of some tools, classifies the data by date. The leading position of Google and the possible future entrance of competitors depend on the satisfaction of customers and shareholders. (David, 2007, Morrow, 2008, 1999) Complementary The complementary goods are directly connected with services of Google and depend on them as these are portable computers and mobile phones. Generally, it is an industry with restricted amount of complementary goods. (David, 2007, Morrow, 2008, 1999) SWOT analysis Strengths There is a wide range of functions offered such as Google docs, Google earth, Gmail, Google translator and Blackle, besides its main operation as a search engine. Good reputation and strong brand name Loyal customers Google has developed very well its know how, Googles efficient and prompt results Pay high attention to the users Unique product-service Friendly working environment Does not distract its users by flooding the homepage with advertisements Weaknesses The requested search does not always coordinate with the results You cannot always find the information that you want in the fullest extent The information is mostly in English Hackers create many dummy site with spam Whoever is interested in using Google for advertising purposes does not have a clear idea where it would be more profitable to place their advertisements as the cost or click charging is very confusing There is a lot of useless and invalid information Opportunities Google can expand by merging Using higher value context on the web Can increase the internet usage Can local vendors advertisements on every local search It can provide more hand-held devices to capture a larger share of the market It can increase the advertising spending online Threats There are a lot of competitors and rivals Censorship A lot of legal trials due to users invasion of privacy The confusing policy for advertisements may disappoint the potential clients and Google may start losing them If it decides to follow its competitor by changing it minimal user friendly interface it may lose a lot of its users Privacy issues regarding the contents ownership It can lose its brand loyalty if it merge with other large firms (David, 2007, Thomson and Strickland, 1998) FINANCIAL Google is a company that has increasingly become popular since 2004. In recent years it has achieved to increase its incomes that helped it become a profitable company. Googles revenue is 99% from advertisement, because the products that it sells are free to use. According to the financial statement, Google is better than its main competitor, Yahoo because, it has 2.4 times more of its revenue. Additionally, Google is more profitable than Yahoo as it manages its debts better. In recent years, Google has slowed down the sales growth, income growth, assets growth, the profit Margin and the return of assets as we can see in table 1. However, it is still at a good level and it does not declare to be in a downward path, because it is still first in sales. This is a result of its steady growth, as know that no company can achieve an upward course. Googles revenue is increasing annually, even if it is not at the same rate as previous years, however, it has never been less. (Morrow, 2009) CONCLUSION To sum up, throughout its progress, Google has kept its dominant position over its competitors in the information based services industry. Furthermore, it is very important to note that Google has not only been consistent when it comes to providing a product of the highest and quality, but is also constantly developing, adapting, but more significantly revolutionizing the industry. In addition, what makes Googles product so unique in comparison to its competitors is the attention that it gives to consumer needs in order to provide a reliable and difficultly substituted product rather than focusing on maximizing its profit with every given chance which may compromise the quality of its search result; its product. Having analyzed the corporations internal and external environment it is evident that Google pays attention even to the smallest detail to ensure that it will be the leading company amongst the numerous other online search engines and has been able to create loyal customers t hat are constantly increasing. SOURCES-BIBLIOGRAPHY Morrow, B. (2009)Internal Analysis of Google Inc., 22 February, 2009. Available at: http://www.benmorrow.info/research/internal-analysis-of-google-inc [Accessed: 5 January, 2011] Morrow, B. (2008) External Analysis of Google Inc., 15 October, 2008. Available at: http://www.benmorrow.info/research/external-analysis-of-google-inc [Accessed: 5 January, 2011] Google (2011) Company Overview Corporate Information. Christodoulou, I.P. (2010) Strategy Strategic Management Perspectives. [PowerPoint slides] Lecture handouts. University of Hertfordshire.22 December, 2010 Keller, K.L., (2008) Strategic Brand Management. A European Perspective. 1st edn. England: Pearson Education Limited David, F.R., (2007) Strategic Management Concepts. 11th Ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall Thompson, A. A. Jr and Strickland, A. J III (1998) Strategic Management Concepts and Cases. 10th Ed. USA: Irwin/McGraw Hill (International Edition)

Essay --

Spinal Muscular Atrophy, also known as â€Å"SMA† is a genetic and also a motor neuron disease that affects the area of the nervous system that controls your voluntary muscle movements such as walking, crawling, and swallowing. When someone acquires this condition their muscles start to shrink as a cause to the muscles not receiving signals from the nerve cells in the spine that control function. Spinal Muscular Atrophy is a rare but serious condition. Spinal Muscular Atrophy affects about 8 out of every 100,000 live births and also causes death among more babies than any other genetic disease out there. About one in every forty people has this gene in them but may not have SMA so they are a genetic carrier. But in order for a child to have SMA, both parents have to carry the mutated gene and passed it to the child. Therefore this causes the child to have double copies of the abnormal gene. About 1 in 40 men and 1 in 80 women are carriers of the gene. Survival Motor Neurons are a protein that is produced by the survival motor neuron gene 1. The SMN protein is found all over the body, especially containing high levels in the spinal cord. This protein is important for maintaining specialized nerve cells called motor neurons that are located in the spinal cord and brainstem. When a person have An abnormal or missing SMN1 it causes serious problems due to the fact it isn’t receiving the proper communication from these cells resulting in nerve cells shrinking and over time dying. SMA is broken down into having four types. In order to determine the type you have is based on the physical achievement because each person is different. SMA is not a progressive disease, although over time people with this lose ability to coordinate due ... ...can see if this condition runs in the family. A physical examination is a good way to tell is there is any type of muscle weakness or spinal curvature. Treatment for Spinal Muscular Atrophy is currently unavailable to correct this condition. But a person can take other steps to try to help comfort the situation they are in but there is no stopping it. Physical therapy is important because it can help work the muscle to prevent contraction of them. Breathing machines are an important to have because a lot of trouble falls under the breathing when the weakness of these muscles occurs. In conclusion there are a lot of conditions to be aware of that people don’t really think of. It is important to take precautions and pay attention to symptoms and conditions are body shows us. And get educated about different disease out there to protect our families and ourselves.

Addiction and Genetics

Alcohol abuse is one of the most research subjects. Many people, young and old, are addicted to it though they already know the negative effects of it. Some researchers try to prove that alcohol abuse is inherited. To sum degree, alcohol abuse or alcoholism is adapted by an individual from his environment. What an individual observes daily may be inherited. It has great effects on our health and in our society.Many crimes and accidents happen because of drinking excessive alcohol. However, not all crimes are the result of alcohol intake but most likely, crimes happened because of excessive drinking of alcohol. True or false? In large amounts, alcohol is a depressant; in small amounts, it is a stimulant.False. Small doses of â€Å"spirits† may indeed, enliven a drinker, but they do so by slowing activity in brain centers that control judgment and inhibitions. Alcohol facilitates urges that the individual might otherwise resist by focusing attention on the immediate situation an d away from future consequences (Steele & Josephs, 2000). If provoked, people under alcohol’s influence respond more aggressively than usual.If asked to help, people under alcohol’s influence respond more helpfully than usual. In everyday life, alcohol disinhibits both harmful tendencies, as when sexually coercive college men try to disinhibit their dates by getting them to drink (Mosher & Anderson, 1999), and helpful tendencies, as when restaurant patrons tip more when tipsy (M. Lynn, 1999).Thus, alcohol makes us more aggressive or helpful—or self-disclosing or sexually daring—when such tendencies are present. Whatever urges you feel when sober, you are more likely to act upon if intoxicated.Low doses of alcohol relax the drinker by slowing sympathetic nervous system activity. With larger doses, alcohol can become a staggering problem: Reactions slow, speech slurs, and skilled performance deteriorates. These physical effects, combined with the lowering o f inhibitions, contribute to alcohol’s worst consequences—in America, the more than 100, 000 lives claimed annually in alcohol-related car accidents and violent crime (Lord, 2001).This paper scrutinizes the relation of alcohol abuse of an individual to genetic factor.II. BackgroundA. Negative effects of Alcohol abuseAlcohol has an intriguing effect on memory. It impairs neither short-term recall for what just happened nor existing long-term memories. Rather, it disrupts the processing of recent experiences into long-term memories.Thus, the day after being intoxicated, heavy drinkers may not recall whom they met or what they said or did the night before. This memory blackout stems partly from an inability to transfer memories from the intoxicated to the sober state (Eich, 2000). Blackouts after drinking may also result from alcohol’s suppression of REM sleep.Alcohol has another intriguing effect on consciousness: It reduces self-awareness. Compared with people wh o feel good about themselves, those who want to suppress their awareness of failures or shortcomings are more likely to drink. The Nazi doctors who selected â€Å"unfit† inmates for the gas chambers often did so while drunk, or got drunk afterwards (Lifton, 1999).As with other psychoactive drugs, alcohol’s behavioral effects stem not only from its alteration of brain chemistry but also from the user’s expectations. Many studies have found than when people believe that alcohol affects social behavior in certain ways, and believe, rightly or wrongly, that they have been drinking alcohol; they will behave accordingly (Leigh, 2002).For example, alcohol per se has some effect on sexual arousal, by decreasing cognitive inhibitions (Crow & George, 1999). But people become even more responsive to sexual stimuli if they believe alcohol promotes arousal and believe they have been drinking. From their view of research, Jay Hull and Charles Bond concluded (2001) that for so me people alcohol serves â€Å"as an excuse to become sexually aroused.†Consider one such experiment by David Abrams and Terence Wilson. They gave Rutgers University men who volunteered for a study on â€Å"alcohol and sexual stimuli† either an alcoholic or a nonalcoholic drink. (Both drinks had a strong taste that masked any alcohol.) In each group, half the subjects thought they were drinking alcohol and half thought they were not.Regardless of what they drank, after being shown an erotic movie clip, the men who thought they had consumed alcohol were morel likely to report having strong sexual fantasies and feeling guilt-free.Thus, being able to attribute their sexual responses to alcohol released their inhibitions—whether they actually had drunk alcohol or not. This illustrates an important principle: A drug’s psychological effects are powerfully influenced by the user’s psychological state.   

Barings Bank Case Essay

1. What was Nick Leeson’s strategy to earn trading profits on derivatives? Nick Leeson’s strategy to earn trading profits on derivatives was to trade futures on the Nikkei 225 stock index and the Japanese government bonds. This strategy would have either provided huge gains or huge losses. This went completely against what Barings was expecting him to do. He opened a secret trading account to avoid being caught. 2. What went wrong that caused his strategy to fail? Leeson oversaw trading and back office functions meaning there ws no checks and balances. That’s a big mistake. Also Leeson experience in trading was limited, from the beginning he was loosing money and he continued to loose money throughout the years. According to the article, â€Å"By mid February 1995, he had accumulated an enormous position—half the open interest in the Nikkei future and 85% of the open interest in the JGB [Japanese Government Bond] future. The market was aware of this and probably traded against him. â€Å" Instead of admitting to his mistakes Leeson continued to dig a deeper hole. He traded based on emotion versus taking calculated risks. 3.Why did Nick Leeson establish a bogus error account (88888) when a †¨legitimate account (99002) already existed? Leeson created this account to try to cover his tracks and not be noticed. If things went bad he could deny that account being his. 4.Why did Barings and its auditors not discover that the error account was used †¨by Leeson for unauthorized trading? Leeson had the background and experience in the paperwork department and new the system in and out. Baring’s computer system was not the best and was incapable of monitoring the bank’s trading. Leeson used his bck office knowledge to conceal the problem and he had the authority to as well. 5.Why was Barings Bank willing to transfer large cash sums to Barings Futures †¨Singapore? Barings Bank was willing to transfer large cash sums to Barings Futures Singapore because Leeson was respected and trusted and he was close to top management. He was allowed more leeway than any other counterparts in other firms. 6.Why did the attempt by the Bank of England to organize a bailout for Barings fail? Barings was declared insolvent. They were unable to meet SIMEX’s margin call, and this resulted in Dutch Bank â€Å"ING† purchasing Barings and taking on all it’s liabilities.