A Quiz About Attribution

A Quiz About Attribution A Quiz About Attribution A Quiz About Attribution By Mark Nichol Punctuation associated with attribution identification of the source of a statement can, when used incorrectly, confuse rather than clarify communication. Troubleshoot these troublesome sentences, paying attention to the relationship of the attribution to the rest of the sentence, and then compare your revisions with my solutions at the bottom of the page: 1. â€Å"Now he needed ‘new worlds to conquer,’ in his own words.† 2. â€Å"She makes this moral argument, ‘Taking whatever we need from the world to support our comfortable lives is not worthy of us as moral beings.’† 3. â€Å"Only a few days before the sisters flew off to the Caribbean, Smith said Jane had moved from her apartment in San Francisco.† 4. â€Å"Unfortunately, he estimated that it’s 25 percent less effective at eliminating odors than standard brands.† 5. â€Å"I think they’re going to have that mentality of: ‘How dare he?’† 6. â€Å"And while Osama bin Ladens killing has dealt a crippling blow to his terrorist organization, she said, ‘Nobody should believe individual al Qaeda leaders cannot be replaced.’† 7. â€Å"To pass a necessity test usually means a negative response to the question: ‘Can the same result be obtained by other means?’† 8. â€Å"He explained that unlike during the previous droughts, ‘When the drought breaks, we will not return to cooler, wetter conditions.’† 9. â€Å"‘We were very worried,’ says Jones, ‘It was the winter from hell.’† 10. â€Å"He voted against the bill, declaring: ‘The only thing this bill will stimulate is the national debt.’† Answers and Explanations 1. The original sentence is correct, but there’s more to good writing that correct grammar. There’s a great opportunity in this sentence for a rhythm of tension and release, so exploit it: â€Å"Now he needed, in his own words, ‘new worlds to conquer.’† 2. When an attribution is in itself grammatically self-contained (â€Å"She makes this moral argument† is a complete sentence), use a colon, rather than a comma, to signal the setup (as I’ve done when prefacing each correction here): â€Å"She makes this moral argument: ‘Taking whatever we need from the world to support our comfortable lives is not worthy of us as moral beings.’† 3. The punctuation in this sentence conveys that Smith made the statement shortly before the sisters’ flight. But â€Å"Smith said† is a parenthetical attribution that tells the reader who made the comment that the move occurred just before the trip: â€Å"Only a few days before the sisters flew off to the Caribbean, Smith said, Jane had moved from her apartment in San Francisco.† 4. This sentence’s problem is the same as the preceding one; it’s only the length of the introductory part of the sentence that differs. The estimate described was not unfortunate; â€Å"unfortunately† is part of the larger sentence, not part of the attribution: â€Å"Unfortunately, he estimated, it’s 25 percent less effective at eliminating odors than standard brands.† 5. By contrast with the second sentence, above, in this case a colon immediately preceding the quotation clumsily brings the sentence to a halt. No punctuation is necessary in this type of construction: â€Å"I think they’re going to have that mentality of ‘How dare he?’† 6. When a person’s comments are partially paraphrased, and an attribution separates an indirect quotation from a direct quotation, the latter element, because it doesn’t constitute a complete sentence, should not begin with a capitalized word even if it is grammatically complete: â€Å"And while Osama bin Ladens killing has dealt a crippling blow to his terrorist organization, she said, ‘nobody should believe individual al Qaeda leaders cannot be replaced.’† 7. As in the fifth example, above, this sentence requires no punctuation preceding the quotation: â€Å"To pass a necessity test usually means a negative response to the question ‘Can the same result be obtained by other means?’† 8. As in the sixth example, above, though the direct quotation is a complete sentence, a preceding paraphrase has been attached to it as an introductory phrase. Even though, unlike in the similar example, the attribution begins the sentence rather than appears between the indirect and direct quotations, the two elements constitute a single statement and the direct quotation should not begin with a capitalized word: â€Å"He explained that unlike during the previous droughts, ‘when the drought breaks, we will not return to cooler, wetter conditions.’† 9. This sentence consists of two complete statements separated by an attribution, so the attribution should be followed by a period: â€Å"‘We were very worried,’ says Jones. ‘It was the winter from hell.’† 10. When an attribution includes a verb, the punctuation following it should be a comma, not a colon: â€Å"He voted against the bill, declaring, ‘The only thing this bill will stimulate is the national debt.’† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Exquisite AdjectivesStory Writing 10135 Synonyms for Rain and Snow

Nick Stephenson on Reader Magnets and Amazon SEO Reedsy

Nick Stephenson on Reader Magnets and Amazon SEO Reedsy Reader Magnets and Amazon SEO - Nick Stephenson on Author Marketing Last update: 07/06/2017â€Å"You’ve got to think about what the benefit is for the reader.† This is what author marketing is all about, according to bestselling author Nick Stephenson, who we have the pleasure of interviewing today.We first reached out to Nick over a year ago, when he had started implementing this mindset and his reader magnets technique. In a year, he has built a hugely profitable business out of his writing career, hitting bestsellers lists, writing full-time, and now offering a premium marketing training program for authors: "Your First 10k Readers".He shares his insights on email lists, incentives (reader magnets), reviews, and Amazon search engine optimization. If you want 24 minutes of exceptionally condensed marketing advice, just hit â€Å"play† below. For the lovers of the written word, we also provide, as always, a nice, clean transcript. Enjoy! Hi Nick, great to have you here! You’re a UK bestselling indie author of crime and thrillers. Can you give us a bit of background on what your books are about?Thanks for having me. I write mystery and thrillers, the Leopold Blake series, and I write non-fiction as well: books specifically designed to help authors find their first 10,000 readers and build their platform.My fiction work is based on a modern-day Sherlock Holmes character and is great fun. It’s all based in the US, with American characters and American language. There are 6 books in the series; I’ve been publishing for about two years now and started seeing some amazing results about 12 months ago, when I started really focusing on building my marketing strategy and on what works. It’s been a very exciting year or so for me.I can imagine. And it’s actually a year ago that I first got in touch with you to present you the idea we had about Reedsy, so I’d say it’s been a gre at year for both of us!Absolutely, yes! It’s great to see so many emerging authors and services to help grow this industry, because it’s such a new market! It’s just great to see all this exciting stuff happening.Exciting is definitely the word! You also have a free webinar on the Your First 10k Readers website that I really enjoyed, especially the first video, because that video starts by effectively setting the right mindset for book marketing. I see many authors out there thinking â€Å"how can I sell my books†, when it should actually all be about adopting a reader’s perspective.Absolutely. I think the problem with a lot of authors, like you said, is that they see marketing as a problem, when marketing can be fun as well! Because when you’re building a real connection with your fans, you get to have that exchange of ideas. Getting emails from people telling you how much they love your books and how they can’t wait for your next on e, every day, is a wonderful feeling.And when you have a next book to launch, knowing that you can launch it into the top 200 on Amazon, go to the top of the charts on your bestseller lists, without having to pay for advertising, that is amazing, because you have this built-in platform that you have direct control over. Whereas if you’re relying on Amazon or other ebook stores, or even Facebook, to do that for you, the rules can change at any minute.That’s because you don’t own that platform: it’s their platform, so they can change the rules. But if you have your own platform, you don’t have to worry about that: you control it, and therefore control your career. So my premium training is all based around how to develop that for yourself and how to build that up, so you can take control over being an author.The webinar you mention are the free videos that I show to people to let them know exactly what they can do to get this process started. There a re currently 3 videos and you can sign up for them at Your First 10k Readers.The first one will essentially take you through how the online retailers work. And this is a big one because most authors think about marketing like old school, traditional marketing that publishers used to do (and some still do), where it’s all about the physical bookstores.It’s nothing like that, because Amazon and the other stores are really search engines. They’re like Google for products, Google for books. And if you don’t understand how a search engine works, how it indexes books and pages and how you can get to the top of those search results, you’re leaving a lot of visibility on the table. So I talk about exactly how to get that right mindset.So how can authors do SEO (Search Engine Optimization)? How should they, for example, decide which keywords to enter for their book?It’s difficult I think, because Amazon and the other retailers don’t publish th eir search traffic. If you’re on Google, you can go to the Google Keywords tool, type some keywords and see how much traffic they get, what the competition is like, etc. Amazon doesn’t do this, they keep it very much to themselves, so you’ve got to be manual about it - you have to use a bit of common sense.The easiest way to do it is to use the search bar at the top of the book page and start typing in some relevant search terms that you think might apply. Amazon will suggest some for you, so you just pick some suggested terms and check out whether the books listed under those terms are selling well. If they are, it’s a good keyword, so you have to determine whether you can compete at that level of sales. So if you’re currently selling one copy a day, you don’t want to be in a keyword pool of books that are selling hundreds of copies a day. It’s a lot of manual work, trial and error, but keywords are so important.Do your recommend cha nging them often and testing/iterating?It depends, I don’t change mine that often. If I see my sales drop, I’ll go back and check, but really there is no kind of set that you want to change them out, there’s no magic answer.One post I really liked on your blog was the one about readers magnets. Because often, I finish an indie book and I read something like â€Å"we indie authors rely on reviews/on our newsletter, so please leave a review/subscribe to my newsletter†, and that to me is not a real incentive. You, however, offer a real incentive. Can you tell us more about these reader magnets?Yes, you’ve got to think about what the benefit is for the reader. Because if you put a call to action at the end of your book like â€Å"buy the next book† or â€Å"subscribe to my mailing list† or â€Å"leave a review†, the reader’s thinking: â€Å"what’s in it for me? Why should I do that?†I mean, some people will do it, of course, but most people will just completely ignore that. What you have to do to get more results is offer the reader something for them, something of value, to get them to take action. And personally I’d rather have them subscribe to my mailing list than anything else. Because if you get their email address and get their consent for you to contact them in the future, you can ask them for reviews or sales later on down the line, when you’ve built up that brand and that relationship. And this is where reader magnets really come in.Reader magnets are basically something of value that you give to your readers in exchange for an email address.That has made a tremendous difference. We’re talking more than a 1000% increase in signups, just from doing that. I offer them a book as a magnet, a full book (either another book in the series, or a related book if it’s a non-fiction book), but you don’t have to offer a full book, you can offer bonus chapt ers, deleted scenes; or in non-fiction: cheat sheets, case studies, videos, anything you want as long as it’s related to the book that the reader has just finished.It just makes all the difference because with reader magnets you’re thinking about what is in it for your readers, not what’s in it for you.Exactly, I think that is definitely the key in marketing. And it’s funny because in January, we’ve seen a couple of indie author stars like Hugh Howey or Joanna Penn posting videos about their reading habits and how they find their next reads. It shows that they have this right mindset: they easily put themselves into their readers’ shoes because they are readers themselves.Absolutely, and they build a connection with their readers that way. I’m always going to make as much effort as possible to build a connection with readers, because from a reader’s point of view, you’ve got a book out there but they have no idea who you are, they don’t know what your life story is, what their personality is, all they know is your book.If you’re publishing videos like Joanna Penn and Hugh Howey, you really build that connection and readers start to understand who you are as a person. And then they’re much more likely to buy from you because they’re invested in your success: they feel like they know you.Another great thing about indie authors is the community they’ve built, and the collaborations that emerge between authors. You’ve been working very closely yourself with Matt Iden, another author in your genre, right?I think collaboration is absolutely key, because this kind of old school mentality of â€Å"book launch is the be all and end all† is gone, you know. It used to be that where your book didn’t sell 20 or 30 thousand copies in the first three months, your publisher would either drop you or reduce your advances, or be less invested in marketing your n ext book. The indie mentality is different because we don’t rely on huge sales in the beginning, we can be happy with a few hundred sales in the first month, or a few dozen, or even ten!We’re not â€Å"in competition†, because we don’t have to compete for shelf space with this or that bestseller during launch week: we’re available forever. So we can actually work with other authors to benefit everybody because in the end we all have the same objective, which is to reach more readers and get our work out into the world. And there’s no reason we can’t do that together: I email out my audience all the time, and if I’ve got nothing of my own to promote, I’ll recommend other authors’ books. I want my readers to trust me so if I can give them something good to read that’s a great way of doing it!Another thing I wanted to discuss was your brand, that you’ve built across the years, and that is particularly e vident in your covers. Would you say that branding is one of your selling points or is it just there to support your other marketing activities?Branding is very important because it basically means that your readers know what to expect. Your name is a brand, so if someone is going to read the next Nick Stephenson book, they should understand what that’s going to be like.From a visual point of view, having those covers, almost identical across the series, means that when they’re scrolling through a list of books, they immediately know it when they see a Nick Stephenson book. And if they look at it, they’ll see the â€Å"also bought† at the bottom of the page and there will be all my covers lined up. And on my website they can see them in a banner too. It creates a very strong visual trigger that gets people excited about looking at your books.One of the most important things you should do is have a nice, professional cover, and if you’re writing in a series, having those covers match as closely as possible can make a very big difference.Do you do â€Å"perma-free† on the first book in the series?Yes, I do, and there is a reason for this. We talked about ebook stores being like search engines, right? Well, this is like any other online business, you need two things: traffic, and conversion (turning traffic into customers).Perma-free is a wonderful way to get traffic, because you can get 50x to 100x more downloads on a book if it is free, compared to if it was even 99c. Then, if you’re smart about it, you can find ways to convert that traffic into paying customers (using reader magnets, typically).Even if you don’t do perma-free you can do regular free promotions if you’re enrolled in KDP Select, and use those 5 days every 90 days when your book is free to really promote it. You’ll get subscribers that way that you can then lead on to your other books. It just makes a huge difference.One thing I’ve noticed in the latest numbers you disclosed about your expenditures for your books, is that you’re not afraid to spend money as long as it brings more back. I’ve heard that you’ve even tried Facebook ads, is that right?Yes, I do, even if I didn’t include it in the breakdown (I’d only been doing it for a couple of months). It’s like anything, you know, if you want to take your business to the next level, you’re not going to be able to do it using free marketing tools, or a $5 add.I’m not saying that you cannot have sales without paid marketing, I’ve started making serious money from publishing without really spending that much money. But you hit a plateau pretty quickly. And if you want to go to the next level, you really need to think about how you can invest in your own business.Then, it’s not about cost, it’s about how much value that investment is going to bring. If it’s going to earn you money, save you money, or save you time, then it’s a good investment.Facebook ads have been absolutely incredible. Aiming it at my non-fiction author marketing side of things (and advertising my free Reader Magnets book), I’m getting subscribers through Facebook ads that cost me around a dollar, but they’re earning me around $15, so it’s just an incredible amount of ROI. I actually don’t think that will last forever, Facebook will catch on to how much money people are making through this, and prices will go up. But while it’s like that, it’s just fantastic!Thanks for these insights, Nick, and for your time!  For more insider tips on author marketing, check out our free Reedsy learning courses on marketing.How do you build your mailing list? Do you use any reader magnets? Leaves us your author marketing thoughts and tips in the comments below! And don’t hesitate to ask Nick Stephenson any questions!

E business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

E business - Essay Example Esure was launched in 2000 offering insurance cover using the internet as the primary sales channel. Using technologically advanced systems they became the fastest growing insurers ever. They are known for their quality cover, their online services and their innovative marketing. They aimed to harness the efficiency of the internet to give a better deal to responsible drivers and the careful home owners. They clubbed together several factors and ensured that esure was exceptionally well placed to harness the benefit of the internet as the major distribution channel for insurance (BBC News, 2000). These factors included the strength of the Hallifax brand, the vast potential of the internet, and the founder’s experience of launching mould breaking companies offering best prices and best services to the customers. They were confident that e-commerce would transform the insurance sector and they wanted to be at the heart of the revolution with esure. Esure uses the internet and the phone as the channels and they kept the premia low. They then launched the Sheilas Wheels brand in 2005 initially offering only car insurance. Sheilas’ Wheels is now one of the most recognized female insurance brands in the UK. Today they offer insurance cover for anything that a person could think of – home, vehicles – such as car, motorbikes and vans, pet insurance, and not to forget travel insurance. They offer online quotes, they accept online payments and they also allow online renewal of insurance. They keep the customers updated on insurance news through their website. They also have abundance of guidance provided to the insurance buyers so that they can take an informed decision. They offer special rats for those who opt for more than one insurance cover. Esure, a part of the HBOS, adopted a slick marketing campaign, a brand awareness that soon became the envy of many and a service that delivered what they promised (Net

Discusses the nature of contemporary societal problems in general and Essay

Discusses the nature of contemporary societal problems in general and Dubai in particular (two to three pages) - Essay Example Even though the pollution problem cannot be considered new and is apparently diminishing within the developed world, it is still a rapidly growing problem globally and it’s most common effect today being global warming and unpredictable weather patterns. The rapid population growth is yet another problem and is considered as the side effect of advancements in improved life expectancy and diminished child mortality rates. The rapid population growth has put a lot of strain on the available resources and some of the recent wars can be linked to fighting over control over limited resources. Dubai has in the recent years rapidly developed to become a prototype of a modern city. Dubai’s advancements have of cause come with a lot of modernization advantages but have at the same time come with major disadvantages to the society. Among the problems experienced today is prostitution which involves adults and unfortunately, children too (Mooney, Knox & Schacht, 2008). There have been a few cases of children being abducted from other parts of the world and smuggled into Dubai to serve in prostitution rings. While there have been recent attempts to this vice, there still remain wide areas within the city where the vice goes on unchecked especially within low class hotels and parking lots where the police rarely intervene (Davison, 2008). Dubai’s successful free port is a haven for human traffickers and has provided them with an opportunity to do carry on with their illegal trade and in most cases, go unpunished. Dubai’s human trafficking trade has flourished to a point where Dubai is regarded as a major human trafficking centre. The large heterogeneous expatriate population, combined with Dubai’s attempts to create a friendlier environment for foreign tourists and investors has resulted in major erosions of some important components of the society in Dubai. Dubai is mostly made up of Muslims and the cases of binge drinking and

Copyright Law in United Arab Emirates

Copyright Law in United Arab Emirates Introduction Media Law is a branch of law that concerns governance of the telecommunications industry, broadcasting, advertising, the entertainment industry, censorship, and internet and online services inter alia. There are several branches of this law that help maintain an effective control over different media. An important aspect of media law is the Copyright law. Protection of a person’s, be it a natural person or a legal person, creative expression can be called as copyright. It usually pertains to the protection of intellectual property (Forstenlechner, Mellahi, 2011). Discussion Legal copyright issues can come to light with respect to several original works including trademarks for various brands, patents for technologies or processes involved in media. Among several issues, licensing occupies a huge space in this regard as illegitimate distribution of copyrighted works has become exceedingly persistent. Although, peer-to-peer sharing of technologies or spreading of online streams for audio/visual content is extremely beneficial to disseminate news of a new creativity in the market, it is incredibly anti profit for TV, movie and music industry. For free consumption it works like a blessing, for the legal networks, it is nothing short of a curse (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). This report describes the provisions of copyright laws in the United Arab Emirates. Copyright Law in the UAE as per Federal Law No. 7 of 2002, as Amended in 2006 The following is a summary of the important aspects of the copyright law as followed in UAE. Items forming part of the copyright law Chapter one, article two: Under this law, the losses of authors and other concerning right holders are covered if their violation occurs within the boundaries of the UAE (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). Certain works that can be compensated for, if violated, are mentioned below: Literature including books, booklets, articles, computer software, applications and databases, lectures, speeches, sermons, plays, musicals and pantomimes, musicals both accompanied and unaccompanied by dialogue, audio visual work, architectural work and plans, work involving drawing, painting, sculpturing, etching, lithography, screen printing, relief and intaglio prints and other similar works of fine art, photographic work and the like, works of applied art and plastic art, charts, maps, plans, 3-D modeling for geographical and topographical applications and architectural designs, derivative works etc (Forstenlechner, Mellahi, 2011). Items not forming part of the copyright law This copyright shall not only provide coverage of losses against violation in respect of title of the work but also in case of the use of the concept of the work by someone not authorized for (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). Article three of the chapter one of the copyright laws in UAE further explains that ideas, procedures, business methodologies, mathematical algorithms and basic principles and facts are not covered under this law but only their way of presentation or expressions are covered. That means, that one two persons can use the same idea provided both their presentation differs. A very common example of such a thing can be the design of a water cooler and that of a water dispenser. Both have the same idea but both have utterly varied designs (Hassan, 2009). Copyright also does not provide coverage to any of the following: 1. Official documents, regardless of what is their source or the language they were designed for, for instance, provisions of law, regulations, decisions, international conventions, court judgments, arbitrators’ awards and decisions issued with concern to judicial matters by administrative committees (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). 2. News of current events and issues falling under the spectrum of media coverage. 3. Works that are now owned by the public, such as books, magazines, novels etc. Regardless, the items contained in paragraphs one, two and three of this article can be covered if some sort of innovation has been involved in the way these works have been sequenced or collected. Retention rights of the author and his successor Article five of chapter two explains that the author and his general successors get perpetual and inalienable rights to the work in question (Hassan, 2009). These rights include: 1. The right for publication for the first ever time. That means that no one can publish before the first author. 2. The right of paternity/ attribution to receive credit as the author. A patent is automatically raised for the author. 3. The right of integrity for objection to belittling treatment of a work including alteration of a copyright work that alters the work negatively or impacts the honor or reputation of the author. 4. In the light of newly made discoveries, the right to remove a work from circulation that provides sufficient reason for doing so (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). Effect of translation on copyright Article six of chapter two explains that alteration in the work by translating it into another language can also be a base for violation of copyright laws at the places where the translator does not point out specifically where the alterations were made or if these alterations affect the honor or image of the author (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). Right of author, successor of author or copyright holder to license use of the work Chapter two, article seven describes the rights of the author and that of his successors. Exclusively, the author and his general successors or whoever the copyright holder may be, shall have the right to license any utilization of the said work. This can be done via any of the following channels particularly reproduction including electronic loading and storage, any form of representation, broadcasting or re-broadcasting, public performance or broadcasting, translation, modification, alteration, leasing, lending or any form of publication including access through computer or information networks, communication networks or other means (Hassan, 2009). Transfer of economic rights of the work Article nine of chapter two further explains that the economic rights of the work can be assigned by the author or his successor to a third party whether it is a natural or a legal person. This assignment must be in black and white and clearly refer to the right in question, and the objective, period and place of the assignment must also be referenced. And the rights that have not been transferred explicitly, in writing, shall be retained by the author (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). The author shall respecting the moral rights of the person to whom he has assigned the right, shall not obstruct any use of the same. Quid pro quo Article ten of chapter two explains that the author, keeping in mind quid pro quo, shall do the assignment of rights in exchange for monetary compensation based on the pro rata share of the revenue generated from the consequential utilization of the work. The author has also been allowed to add another sum of money to it or can also use both of these methods (Hassan, 2009). Disposal of the work shall not be considered as transfer of right Article thirteen of chapter two explains that the disposal of the author’s work by him shall not count as a transfer of right to use it, but only as a transfer of right to ownership unless the author has agreed for any such clause (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). International case laws featuring infringement of copyright laws The following legal issues arose due to infringement of copyright laws. These followed opinions and judgments by the laws of their respective countries or states (Hassan, 2009). Case one Brown v. Bandai America, Inc., et al., 2002 WL 1285265 (N.D. Tex. June 4, 2002) Plaintiff Brown owns the copyright for cartoon drawings called Bone Masters. In the Brown’s version of it, the cartoons are a unique figure that can add bones on the outside of their small structures, and can further turn into dinosaurs. Sunrise and Bandai are the defendants. They are a Japanese company (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). They make and sell toy action figures called Dinozaurs. The Dinozaurs exhibit features much similar to Brown’s characters inclusive of dinosaur-like bones on their head, legs, arms and torsos. The Fox and the Children’s Network broadcasted the character of Dinozaurs from July to November 2000. Therefore, the plaintiff filed a copyright infringement case against Bandai and later made the addition of Sunrise and Fox as defendants in the federal court of Dallas, Texas. Case two United States vs. Elcom, Ltd., etc., et al., 203 F.Supp. 2d 1111 (N.D. Cal. 2002) Elcom Ltd is a Russian software company that violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by fooling its anti circumvention defenses to bring and sell a computer program that removed restrictions from Adobe Acrobat PDF files and made formatting possible for the Adobe ebook Reader Programs. Such a program had been developed to accommodate ebook publishers in their respective distributions but it had been exploited by Elcom. United States was the plaintiff here with Elcom being the defendant (Hassan, 2009). UAE case laws featuring infringement of copyright laws Case one Sturdza vs. United Arab Emirates, et al., 281 F.3d 1287 (D.C. Cir. 2002) For a new embassy of the UAE in Washington D.C a competition was held for architects where plaintiff Sturdza submitted a design. The plaintiff was told by the defendant that her design had won the competition and that she was going to get the contract for the embassy. However, later the UAE gave the contract to another architect Demetriou (Samuelson, Wheatland, 2009). Demetriou’s design had close resemblance with that of the plaintiff’s. Using Demetrious design, the UAE began building its new embassy. The plaintiff filed a case against the UAE and Demetriou in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, blaming the UAE, inter alia, for copyright infringement. Sturdza’s copyright infringement claim, along with other claims, was dismissed by the court. However, the court revoked the dismissal of the copyright infringement claim as the jury found profound similarities between the two designs (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). Case two Dubai which is a renowned city of the UAE has now been highlighted for copyright infringement cases by the world’s largest networking website, Facebook. A hairdresser in Dubai’s Discovery Gardens seems to have adopted Facebook’s logo and has a name quite similar to that of the famous and large website. It has even used the same color scheme for its logo. In fact, the font of the logo is also identical to Facebook (Samuelson, Wheatland, 2009). This case was brought into light by International Media Houses. Several small time companies take the liberty to adopt logos or trademarks of larger companies in the hopes to draw their customers, quite forgetting that in doing so they are committing a breach of law (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). Case three Another case that had been reported by Emirates 24|7 pertained to a clothing store in Dubai that had adopted the name of Europe’s large retailer Primark. After realizing that the fact that they had committed a breach of law, they altered their name to ‘Mercato’ (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). Case four Likewise, a grocery store in Dubai had unintentionally named itself after United Kingdom’s retail giant Tesco. Apparently, they had also not realized their crime. Case five On another note, an Emirati internet pirate was arrested by the local authorities in Abu Dhabi. He had the charge of downloading and distributing TV content on free online website. By the time he was caught, he was penalized was one million US dollars. He had been apprehended on 802 counts of piracy breaches (Samuelson, Wheatland, 2009). He was caught by a complaint filed by the Arabian Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAA) with pay-TV network OSN. He made a clear confession of willingly establishing a website where free users could download the subscription only content of the OSN network. His total penalty amounted up to $962400 (Samuelson, Wheatland, 2009). Case six The month before apprehension of this pirate, another one had been convicted for establishing a website where altered Xbox 360 consoles were offered and pirated Xbox 360 games were also traded (Daghfous, Barkhi, 2009). As per the law, the pirate was sentenced to a three month jail on the charge of copyright infringement and illegitimate alterations in Xbox 360 consoles by the court of first instance in Dubai (Samuelson, Wheatland, 2009). Conclusion According to the CEO of AAA these current apprehensions express the efficiency of the government coordinated operations against profit makers from internet sharing websites. However, the International Intellectual Property Alliance believes differently. Keeping in view the above cases, it understands that UAE be put back on the Special 301 Watch List in 2014. References Daghfous, A., Barkhi, R. (2009). The strategic management of information technology in UAE hotels: An exploratory study of TQM, SCM, and CRM implementations.Technovation,29(9), 588-595. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166497209000765 Forstenlechner, I., Mellahi, K. (2011). Gaining legitimacy through hiring local workforce at a premium: the case of MNEs in the United Arab Emirates.Journal of World Business,46(4), 455-461. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090951610000635 Hassan, M. K. (2009). UAE corporations-specific characteristics and level of risk disclosure.Managerial Auditing Journal,24(7), 668-687. Retrieved from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/02686900910975378 Samuelson, P., Wheatland, T. (2009). Statutory damages in copyright law: A remedy in need of reform.Wm. Mary L. Rev.,51, 439. Retrieved from: http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/wmlr51div=15id=page=

Business Model and Strategic Plan Essay

INTRODUCTION Why do businesses need innovation is simple, the world is changing at a rapid speed and no one can predict what is coming in the future. Organizations are facing many new types of vulnerabilities everyday. Innovation helps to determinate the strategic management within an organization and prepares organizations for the unforeseeable change and to make the change. Although very organization have different priorities, or balance the unique issues of their own, ignoring the innovation, or implementing the strategic plan inefficiently can bring risks of losing key employees, inefficiency of the operation, and lose competitive advantages to the competitors. This paper will create a new division for Starbucks Coffee Co. Using this division as an example to explain the importance of the innovation in company’s vision, mission, and values, and how it related to strategic management. THE NEW BUSINESS MODEL Starbucks Corporation, doing business as Starbucks Coffee, is an American global coffee company and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Today, with more than 21,000 stores in 65 countries, Starbucks is the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world. And with every cup, the company strives to bring both their heritage and an exceptional experience to life. (Starbucks.com) Since the first Starbucks opened in 1971, the company has a goal to share great coffee with friends and help make the world a little better place. (Starbucks.com) To better server Starbucks Coffee’s customers, and provide quick and easy coffee for the people who have to fight the morning or anytime traffic, Starbucks coffee co. has purposed a new business model of Self Severed Coffee Machine. This new Machine will be located outside of Starbucks stores, shopping centers, and large office buildings to better server the consumers who does not have time to wait in line and get their favorite cup of coffee. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES In this tough economic climate, Starbucks needs to compete smart, this means to stay a step head on ensuring the best response to customers’ need and demand. It is often to see a line of customers either inside the store or in the drive through. While we appreciate the their patience to wait in line, we also share their frustration. It is our intention to ensure everyone loves his or her coffee. While we are proud that every cup is made to earn our customers’ satisfaction, we are also spending a considerable amount of time on making them. The Self Served Starbucks machine has an ability of produce majority flavors of the coffee, which our customer likes. Simply pay the cash, wipe the credit card, or scan the mobile Starbucks App on your smartphone, the machine will make a fresh brew cup of coffee in just 45 seconds. With this machine outside of store or mall, our customer can save time on waiting in line. Even more convenient, the machines outside of the office building not only can save our customer a trip to the coffee shop in the morning, also be able to enjoy a hot fresh coffee when they sat down by their desk. This new machine can ensure the competitive advantage by its product differentiation, more focused group on customer service, and operational efficiency. MISSION VISION AND VALUE Starbucks’ mission is a reason for the company’s existence. With the unique style of combining both, our vision and mission statement is â€Å"to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.† (Starbucks.com) To align with this mission statement, our new division’s mission statement is to † bring the best quality coffee and convenience to our customers on the go, one machine at the time† This mission statement reflected the company value and beliefs to show our costumers that we care, it will also guide our employees on understand and establish what the company truly does. A good mission statement inspires employees and provides a focus and direction for strategic planning. While mission statements vary from organization to organization and represent the distinctness of each one, they all share similar components. (Mission and Vision Statements, 2010) The new division’s mission statemen ts include descriptions of Starbucks’ target market, the geographic domain, and concern for survival, growth, and profitability. SWOTT ANALYSIS Being the giant leader of the coffee and snacks industry, Starbuck coffee company needs to develop a strong strategic plan through the analysis of SWOTT. SWOTT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and trends. A SWOTT analysis identifies strengths and weaknesses within a company, and outside opportunities and threats. The most important parts of a SWOT analysis specify the actions that correspond to the elements the company identify. By using the results of the analysis to improve the situation of the new division, we can reduce the likelihood of developments that negatively affect the business while improving performance. (Smallbusiness.Chron.com) EXTERNAL SWOTT Starbuck is currently in the retail coffee and snacks industry. The  self-serve coffee machine will be able to satisfy customers not just a cup of coffee but also tea, water and juice, which Starbuck currently provide in the store. The loyal based reward programs provide customers with convenience, giving presents, and increasing frequency of the machine visit. Although there will not be any customer service involved, but the efficiency of leveraging technology with the capability of mobile App will still attract customers. The machine will provide extra ideas on the screen related to recycling and reducing waste; this is a great way to communicate with people about the social responsibility initiatives of the company. Due to the economic crush in 2008, this industry has experiencing a major downfall in sales. Because of the sensitivities to the macroeconomic factors, most of industry consumers have to give up extra expenses such as over priced drinks, snacks, and food. However, with economy slowly recover, consumers will start feeling the relaxation of the financial situation, it is safe to say, this industry will has a considerable amount of growth in the near future. With Starbuck having the most of market share in the industry, they have a monopolistic competition. By far the biggest threat the company face is the mature stage of the industry. Dunkin donuts, McDonalds, or Pete’s coffee are all the main pressure on Starbucks. Starbucks brand recognition and the convenience of the self-severed machines differentiates itself, the brand and the machine will draw more customers’ attention, gain competitive advantages for the company. INTERNAL SWOTT The self-served Starbucks coffee machine will be located in some of the most prime and strategic location across the city such as universities, office buildings, and grocery stores. They will primarily targeting mid-income individuals and students. This strategy will gain competence due to the customer convince factor. The Starbuck coffee-pricing factor does pose a weakness to some targeted consumers; however, the self-severed machine will be 5% cheap because there are no labor costs involved. Expansion into a global market is an opportunity for these machines. Starbucks has a great growth potential in further expanding into the emerging and developing  markets. The company can leverage their size, experience, financial prowess and efficiencies to make new market share. (Forbes.com) Starbuck has putting significant amount of time and money on training their employees. Their employees are known for highly knowledge and experienced. They are the main assets of the company and they are provided with great benefits like stock option, retirement accounts and a healthy culture. This effective human capital management translates into great customer services. It was rated 91st in the 100 best places to work for by Fortune Magazine. (CNN.com) The internal threat for Starbucks currently is the change of life style and taste choices of consumers. More and more customers are shifting towards healthy foods and drinks; this treading can hurt the coffee culture of the company, even to industry in the future. BALANCE SCORECARD The Balanced scorecard is a management system that enables organizations to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into action. It also provides an organization with feedback of both the internal business processes and external outcomes, which allows for continuous improvement of strategic performance and results. Develop the strategic objectives for the new division of the Starbuck in the balanced scorecard format in the context of key trends, assumptions, and risks. The strategic objectives are measures of attaining the new vision and mission. Below are the three strategic objectives for each of the four balanced scorecard areas identified (Financial, Customer, Process, Learning and Growth). FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE How to gain the market share is the objective in financial perspective. This is aggressive strategy the new division can use to power our organization and weaken the competitors. The new † Self served coffee machine† can gain market shares by: One: New technology. This market has always been a high growth market, and high growth markets has less competitors, it means they will not fight our  efforts as fiercely. Two: Innovation. This new machine is absolutely a breakthrough innovative idea once it is release into the market. Innovation can help the new division obtain large market share. Three: Strategic Alliance. The new machine can advertise other products, which is great choice when drinking coffee. If the alliance company can help with founding, we can lower our coffee price. This is efficient way to lure customers from competitors. CUSTOMER VALUE PERSPECTIVE How do we create value for our customers are the objective for the customer perspective? Customers are the key factor to an organization success. Creating value for our customers in three ways: One: New Value. This is the most challenging way to impress customers. By setting new machines by the office buildings or school parking lots will be most convenience for people do not have time to stop for coffee in the morning, or anytime during the day. Two: More value. The machine will provide the same product as in a Starbucks coffee store, but cheaper. Three: Better Value. To expend on the existing value, the customer will be able to purchase snake from the machine. The addition product provided will simply delivering more powerful impact to consumers. PROCESS OR INTERNAL OPERATIONS PERSPECTIVE How we measure the new division performance? The new division will have its own survey attached to the machine. Customers are the top choice for us to know what does the new division do to make them come back for more. Also, customers can leave feedbacks and advice via Facebook, Yelp, or preferred  social Media. Our new division will make huge impact on the organization, because it will release the busy traffic in the morning for the store location. LEARNING AND GROWTH (EMPLOYEE) PERSPECTIVE There is no employees’ turn over or retention involved with the â€Å"Self served machine† However, the mechanics are needed for the daily maintenance and refill. The new technology will notify the mechanic department if the machine needs any attention or checkups. COMMUNICATION PLAN While having a strategic plan, mission and vision Statement is crucial for the new division, but crafting and developing this plan is only the half of the battle. To have a communication plan is one of the most important factors after the plan and analysis is finalized. Although the new division will not have any human operating the machine, there are still the needs of new policies and procedures to be carried out. The effective of these policies and procedures are most likely effect the success of the plan. For example, machines maintenance schedule, or refill of the machine. Failure to take communication plan into account can cause disastrous. MONITORING AND CONTROL Our new business plan is a comprehensive document that outlines key elements of how we going to operate this new division. The plan typically includes an assessment of the market and the competition, operating budget breakdown, and short and long-term business goals. (smallbusiness.chron.com) There are three suggest way to monitor and control our new plan: CREATE PLAN REVIEW DATES Any new business plans within an organization needs to be reviewed on a regular basis, especially the expectancy of the busy traffic with the new  self-served machine. The new division management needs to set a date, this can be quarterly or annually, to review the long-term and short-term goals. Conducting the comparative analysis will help to ensure the strategic plan is on the right path. DEVELOP A TRACKING SYSTEM The management team of new division needs to develop a new tracking system to assess how the sales are doing regularly. For example, if the target sales goal is 5000 cups per month, then track the sales weekly or twice a month to monitor and control the process. Monitor key elements frequently. Key elements of the business plan include research on the market and competition as well as revenue projections. Each of these elements is subject to rapid change, and the management team should remain aware of where you stand with regard to these issues. (Smallbusiness.chorn.com) COORDINATE BUSINESS AND MARKING PLANS Our new division will have both business and marketing plans. Sometimes, they overlap in several ways. For example, if the Marketing plans calls for a major launching campaign with the media, but the business plan’s revenue prediction rejects that plan, then the managers needs to revise the plan to stay on track. ETHICS WITHIN THE NEW DIVISION Ethical behaviors and organization social responsibility is one of the key factors to bring large benefits for the business. With the new self-served coffee machine, it attracts customers with Starbucks signature products, thereby to boosting sales and revenue. It will create more jobs, therefor, help with unemployment. It will also attract more investors and keep the company’s share price high, therefor, protecting the business and employees’ benefits. CONCLUSION The fact is brutally simple: the accelerated change within the business world is unavoidable. Evidence shows in current business world, customers are changing their needs and interest each day, markets are relentlessly unstable, and competitors are more aggressively capture any chance possible at new ideas. With technology advances faster and faster, and modifying the traditional strategic management that it touches, Innovation has become what shapes the current strategic management trends, and the right strategic management is the key to business success. References: Starbuck. Retrieved from: http://www.starbucks.com/about-us/our-heritage Mission and Vision Statements. Retrieved from: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Mar-No/Mission-and-Vision-Statements.html History of Starbuck. Retrieved from: http://www.starbucks.com/about-us/our-heritage How to Monitor & Control Your Business Plan. Retrieved from: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/monitor-control-business-plan-41401.html by Lisa McQuerrey, Demand Media The new plan of the Starbuck coffee. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/walterloeb/2013/01/31/starbucks-global-coffee-giant-has-new- growth-plans/ Why Perform a SWOTT Analysis? Retrieved from: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/perform-swot-analysis-5050.html 100 best company to work for. Retrieved from: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/best-companies/2013/snapshots/94.html

A Research Study On Business Education - 1565 Words

Running head: LEVERAGING RESEARCH TOENHANCE UNDERGRADUATE BUSINESS EDUCATION 1 Leveraging research to enhance undergraduate business education Luke Maass Northwest Missouri State University Authors note This paper was prepared for Student involvement in research activities in U.S. business schools used to be primarily offered to graduate students. However, many universities are now offering undergraduate research opportunities that can provide students with a deep understanding of the academic environment. Research allows the exploration and questioning of significant issues in today’s world. This type of learning can provide students with more understanding than can be taught in a classroom or read in a textbook. Research challenges students to engage in the process of identifying and evaluating major issues and trends impacting businesses and society. Students also explore potential business implications that can drive innovation (The Boyer Commission). One goal of business school research is to enhance the prestige of the business school where the research is done. There is evidence that research does achieve that goal, as research has, historically, been regarded as the primary determinant of a school s prestige (Armstrong, 1995: 103). For example, Business Week magazine has added a research influence measure in its ratings of business schools. If a school scores highly on that measure, it enhances the overall prestige ranking.Show MoreRelatedWhat Are the Main Factors to Influence Overseas Students to Choose Higher Education in the Uk?1206 Words   |  5 PagesTo : Stephen Malone From: Ceci Leung Date: 08 February 2010 Subject: Research proposal Proposed Research Topic: What are the main factors to influence overseas students to choose higher education in the UK? Significance of the study As the number of overseas student in the UK’s higher education sector has expended substantially during the last 15 years. The research intends to investigate factors determining overseas student’s decision to apply for a UK university. Understanding these demandsRead MoreCareer And Technical Education Program1499 Words   |  6 PagesInterest in Career and Technical Education programs as well as Career and Technical Student Organizations has heightened over the past ten years (Wood, 2006; 2012). When I was a high school sophomore, I sat in an Introductory Accounting course taught by a gruff teacher named Edward Key. While everyone else complained and fussed at learning the Accounting Equation of Assets = Liabilities + Owner’s Equity, I hung on every debit and credit and soon discovered that my love of numbers and financialRead MoreEmotional Intelligence and Locus of Control as Correlates of Career Choice in Business Education Among Undergraduates1266 Words à ‚  |  6 PagesCHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1. BACKGROUND OF STUDY Generally, researchers have investigated issues relating to aspects of career choice by teenagers (Breakwell, 1988; Dick Rallis, 1991; Jawitz, 2000; Woolnough, 1994). Southwick (2000), for example: observes the trend toward a decline in graduate enrolments in health-related fields, as well as science and engineering, having recorded enrolment decline from 1993-1997, after four decades of annual increases. A continuing decline of admissionsRead MoreQualitative And Quantitative Problem Statements Res 722 Adw Essay689 Words   |  3 PagesStatements Studies are published to solve a problem in a unique and clever way. Studies manifest from a problem statement. The problem statement is one of the most important aspects of the dissertation. The problem statement illustrates the paradigm and the methods. This paper will disclose one qualitative problem statement and one quantitative problem statement as they relate to two problems in the field of dentistry. Qualitative Problem Statement The importance of teaching the business of dentistryRead Moreâ€Å"Emerging Trends in Commerce Education to Face the Challenges of Dynamic Business World†1621 Words   |  7 PagesIndian Streams Research Journal Volume 2, Issue. 6, July 2012 Available online at www.isrj.net ISSN:-2230-7850 ORIGINAL ARTICLE â€Å"Emerging trends in Commerce Education to face the challenges of dynamic business world† Jitendra Ahirrao1 and Prakash Ratanlal Rodiya2 1 Asoociate Professor, Department of Commerce,Smt. Dankunwar Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Jalna.E-mail: drahirrao@indiatimes.com 2 (M. Com., M. Phil., UGC NET)H. No. 135, Near Vitthal Mandir, Mahada Colony,Mantha Road, Jalna-431203. E-mail:Read MoreThe Balance Scorecard1638 Words   |  7 Pagesï » ¿SFU The Balance Scorecard Initiative BUS 322 – Written Case Miranda Zhang 7/29/2014 Executive Summary This report provides the analysis of case study given to me. Gail Palmer Ashton Graduate School of Business ranks among the top schools of USA but the dean of the institute feels that the school has deviated from its foundations. This analysis proposes implementation of the balanced scorecard and performance metrics in order to achieve the four strategic goals of the institutionRead MoreClassification And Interpretation Of Research Essay1451 Words   |  6 Pages4148005 Task 2 Research theory 2a. 3 definitions of research are: Definition 1 Research =The systematic collection and interpretation of data or information with the clear purpose to find out the things (Saunders, lewis, Thornhill, research methods for business students, 2009). Definition 2 Research =The work undertaken in an systematic order to increase the stock of knowledge to devise new applications (Manual, 2012). Definition 3 Research =The blueprint for fulfilling research objectives andRead MoreRelationship Between Leadership And Employee Job Satisfaction Essay1501 Words   |  7 Pagesthe relationships between the leadership, gender, diversity, education, and job satisfaction for the restaurant professionals is an issue. This study helps to understand the relationship between the leadership and employee job satisfaction in the Lubbock, TX area. A total of 100 restaurant professionals from the Lubbock Restaurant Association were surveyed using a Job Satisfaction Survey and a Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Education, gender, and transformational leadership accounted for 33%Read Morerecruitment and selection process1124 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Research proposal on RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PROCESS OF MOE (Ministry of Education) By Benafsha Musafirzada Supervised By Nisar Khan Sir موØ ³Ã˜ ³Ã›â‚¬ Ø ªÃ˜ ­Ã˜ µÃ›Å'Ù„Ø §Ã˜ ª Ø ¹Ã˜ §Ã™â€žÃ›Å' Ø ±Ãš ¼Ã˜ § RANA Institute of Higher Studies 2014 RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PROCESS OF MOE (Ministry of Education) INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study This project is titled as study of Recruitment and Selection Process of MOE. In this project the readers will come to know about the process of RecruitmentRead MoreAnalyzing The Scientific Method : Retention And Student Population1286 Words   |  6 Pagesis not a new topic of research for any education major or education provider to look at, but in recent years as the student populations have been on a steady decline, it has been a topic that has been a hot button topic, for both research and round table conference room discussions, as it relates to student retention once they have matriculated to a program. Being an administration at a for-profit college, I have had many of these discussions myself, looking at other research it is a critical point