Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Japanese tariff on imported rice Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Japanese tariff on imported rice - Research Paper Example These policies were modified sequentially thereafter until early 1980s when, as a result of pressure from Trading partners such as US made them open up rice borders. For instance, California rice producers in 1986 filed a petition to the government of United States under section 301 of the constitution that the policies of Japan were detrimental to the industry. During this time, Japan was imposing a subsidy of up to $2,200 per metric ton to domestic producers in Japan. As a result, the subsidies were about 10 times the World prices (Bergsten, Fred, ItoÃâ, & Noland, 2001). A tariff is a levied tax on the imports that raise effectively the cost of the goods imported in relation to the domestic products. Some specific tariffs are imposed as a charge that is fixed for very unit of imported good. In tariffs, there are entities that lose and those that gains. In more general terms, the state in most cases increases significantly since tariffs increases the revenue of the state. In addition, domestic producers gain since the tariff offers them protection against external competitors by cost increase of the foreign goods imported. As a result, consumer loses since they must pay extra for the imports. Thus, tariffs are anti-consumer and pro-producer, and they reduce the global efficiency of the economy (Bergsten, Fred, ItoÃâ, & Noland, 2001). As part of the policy introduced by the government, imports on rice have been banned by the government in Japan except the processed forms. In the same regard, disproportionate governing authority wielded by rice farmerââ¬â¢s production of rice has been subsidized. Trade friction between US and Japan has worsened. Tokyo logical basis on imposing such policies is to attain self-sufficiency in the production for food security reasons. In the same vein, farm groups domestically have maintained that cultivation of rice is part of their cultural diversity. Hayami (1988) argued that consumers of rice
Monday, October 14, 2019
I-phone and I-teach Essay Example for Free
I-phone and I-teach Essay The highly anticipated and much celebrated release of the newest and perhaps hippest cellular phone on the market has spurred a number of discussions on the applicability of these devices to other forums. With an increasingly large number of prepubescent teens and children carrying cellular phones everywhere they go, a number of educators have begun to inquire as to its applicability as a teaching aid while there are some who argue that cellular phones have no place in todayââ¬â¢s educational institutions. There is certainly no clear yes or no answer to this issue and instead it is important to arrive at a certain compromise in order to resolve this issue. There are basically two schools of thought behind this issue, the pros and the cons. The first argues that the changing times and evolving technology necessitate the use of these new devices in order to improve educational methods and take advantage of the ever decreasing attention span of students with regard to traditional teaching methods. The second school of thought, on the other hand, argues that the older methods which have been tested and tried are always better and thus these distractions (cellular phones) should be strictly kept out of classrooms. In order to, however, come up with a reasonable discourse concerning this topic it is first important to examine just how these devices have affected classroom activities. ââ¬Å"Cell phones connect friends and families. In a moment, across the country or oversees a parent can call his son to see whether he is doing alrightâ⬠. Businessmen can make their business deals and get everything done when away from office. Newer programs event take advantage of the cameras that most of todayââ¬â¢s cellular phone models have by allowing one to take a picture of a page and have that file converted into a document that can be edited as reported in the October 29, 2007 issue of Newsweek entitled, ââ¬Å"How to Make the Cellular Phone a Portable Scanner. â⬠(Ellison, 2007, p. 1) In the same way that businessmen take advantage of the ever increasing conveniences that cellular phones have provided, students at schools all over the country communicate frequently with each other through the use of cell phones and this is the case of concern for most of the countryââ¬â¢s school administrators (Armbruster-Sandoval, 2005, p. 64) The first school of thought, as presented earlier, argues that instead of banning these cellular phones from classrooms, an alternative can be reached. There is no need to reject this technology advancement but rather there is a need to embrace it and take advantage of it. With the average classroom attention span in the United States dropping, more and more educators have come to realize that there is a pressing concern to come up with new methods of teaching that is able to reach out to these children and one of these solutions is the cellular phone. In response to this, however, detractors have argued that this instant method of communication has its own drawbacks as well. Cellular phones are said foster interpersonal relationships as opposed to direct communication which provides a certain level of personal interaction. The essential factor or edge of having the instructor or teacher personally present to ensure that the student is able to learn will certainly be diminished by using cellular phones as a mode of conveying lessons and learning modules. The second bone of contention with regard to cellular phone use in the classrooms has arisen out of the recent traumatic events that have rocked the American educational institutions. The Columbine tragedy and even perhaps 9-11 have made parents more concerned over the safety of their children and have demanded that schools allow the children to bring these devices into the classroom. In response to this rising safety issue, more and more schools in the United States have begun lifting the ban on cellular phones in classrooms (Shaw, 2005, p. 1). When Mayor Bloomberg banned cellular phones from New York public schools, most of the uproar that resulted from the institution of that policy came, not from the school children as previously anticipated, but rather from concerned parents who argued that the lack public payphones in the area made it more dangerous for their children (Williams, 2006, p. 1). While certainly it may not have an effect on the lessons that these students learn in classroom, it does affect the quality of education a child may receive since a concerned parent may relocate the child to safer place which may not provide as good a quality of education as the previous school. While there is certainly no doubt that the safety of children is of the highest priority, there is also a need to educate todayââ¬â¢s youth if they are to stand a chance of surviving in this world. Another issue that has been presented is that cell phones lead to the deterioration of writing skills as the use of the text messaging feature leads to what has been termed txt-lingo. For some, ââ¬Å"text messages, a popular phone feature has affected the English languageâ⬠ââ¬Å"That is (that the use of) abbreviated messages has also affected the use of vowelsâ⬠(Silin, 1999, p. 20). This issue has even been made worse by the fact that the new dictionaries or rather predictive text feature on cellular phones make it easier for students to just tap away at the keypad with the phone doing the corresponding spelling changes. The loss of not only personal but grammatical communication skills is indeed an issue which must be tackled in response to the topic on whether or not children should be allowed to bring cellular phones into the classroom. It is important to remember, however, that even though the above argument may present a grain of truth, learning is simply much more that just missing vowels and spelling. Education has never been confined to the teaching of English but rather even to the discussion of the propriety of bringing cellular phones into the classrooms (Shaw, 2005, p. 1). As such, to even argue that cellular phones should not be brought into the classrooms because it leads to bad spelling skills would be totally disregard the other benefits that can be derived from the use of such a device. Benefits such as being able to send images of certain objects that may be used for a lively and scholarly discussion in class, encouraging discourses between students over certain topics and certainly the building of foundations for the educational improvement of todayââ¬â¢s youth, far outweigh the simple problem of lacking vowels which can be easily remedied (Shaw, 2005, p. 1). Perhaps the answer to this problem lies in the students themselves who use these devices as argued be certain concerned parents. There are some parents, who can claim that their children are very responsible, and they know when to put on or put off the cell phone and therefore should be allowed to use cell phones even in schools (Fretcher, 2000, p. 69). According to Armbrustor-Sandoval, ââ¬Å"Teenagers have learned to heavily rely on cell phonesâ⬠thus transforming this into a serious issue. This is why the government is contemplating on banning cellular phones in not only classrooms but inside campuses as well. Banning cellular phones in most educational institutions is a good idea but some exceptions should be allowed since cellular phones can be used in reporting emergencies and the like (Armbrustor-Sandoval, 2005, p. 71). If parents cannot control their own children with regard to the use of cellular phones in education institutions, the question that begs to be asked therefore is whether or not the government is more qualified to make that decision and enforce is it for the students. There is no doubt from this brief discussion that there are indeed a number of pros and cons concerning this issue. On one hand, allowing the use of cellular phones promotes the safety of students and minimizes the concern that parents naturally have over their children and at the same time, the use of cellular phones presents new opportunities to extend teaching to beyond the confines of the classroom. The cons of this issue can be basically be summarized in a single thought which is the concern over the deterioration of quality of education a child will receive in an environment which may no longer be perceived as conducive for teaching if the use of cellular phones is allowed. Cellular phones have improved dramatically over the last few years. With the rate of technological advancement today, it is not far off into the future when cellular phones will be able to do certain things that were but unimaginable in the present. The question, however, is whether or not all these advances will remain to be benefits for just a certain group or if they can be used to improve every aspect of life (as most of the cellular phones are currently trying to do i. e. I-phone). The benefits and drawbacks are certainly very clear. The problem for the government and most educational policy makers is on how to balance these benefits and drawbacks so as to be able to take full advantage of the situation (Shaw, 2005, p. 1). As such, the only solution that remains is coming up with a well thought out cellular phone policy for the school in order for them to be able to continue to reflect the society which they serve. References: Armbrustor-Sandoval, R (2005): Is Another World possible? Is another classroom possible? Radical pedagogy. Activity and social change; social justice, vol. 32 Foust, R. C. , Soukup, C. (2006); Do I Exist? Transcendent subject and secrets in the sixth sense; Western Journal of communication, Vol. 70. Fretcher, H. G. (2000); Power up, Donââ¬â¢t Power Down: Barring students form cell phones, my space, and other communication technologies. Once they enter, the classroom is the wrong approach. A better move would be integrating. Those tools into instructions; The journal (Technological Horizons in Education), Vol. 33 Luke, A. D. (2005); Getting the big picture; community science. Methods that capture context; American journal of community psychology Vol. 35. Shaw, Katherine (2005) Students and Cell Phones: Controversy in the Classroom from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/4903/students_and_cell_phones_controversy.html
Sunday, October 13, 2019
Oman Cement Company
Oman Cement Company Oman Cement Company (SAOG) was formed in 1978. Rusayl Cement plant was completed in 1983 with an annual integrated cement production capacity of 624,000 tons, of cement. In 1999 clinkering capacity expanded to a total of 1.2 million tons per year. The second production line came on stream in mid 1998. Presently the company is working on expanding the capacity of plant form 1.26 MTS per year to 1.70 MTS per year by upgrading production line No. 1 and No. 2. The company facilities are: 1- Computerized Manufacturing Oman cement manufacturing process is fully computerized. This avoids major hazards in manufacturing and needs less manpower. 2- Central Laboratory The Quality Control is supported by central laboratory consisting of robotics, X-ray spectrometers, laser particle size analyzers and computerized physical properties testing equipment. 3- Quality Management System and Environmental Management System oman cement Quality Management System is in accordance with the Quality Assurance Procedures of ISO 9001 : 2000 certification. 4- Pollution Control. The Oman cement company produces many types of cement which are: 1- Ordinary Portland Cement: It is type I Portland cement. Its uses are reinforced concrete buildings, bridges and railway structures. The typical compound compositions of this type are: 55% (C3S), 19% (C2S), 10% (C3A), 7% (C4AF), 2.8% MgO, 2.9% (SO3), 1.0% Ignition loss, and 1.0% free CaO. 2- Sulphate Resistant Cement: It is type V, is used where sulfate resistance is important. Its typical compound composition is: 38% (C3S), 43% (C2S), 4% (C3A), 9% (C4AF), 1.9% MgO, 1.8% (SO3), 0.9% Ignition loss, and 0.8% free CaO. 3- Moderate sulphate resistant: It is type II cement. This type of cement can be used in structures of considerable mass, such as large piers, heavy abutments, and heavy retaining walls. Its use will reduce temperature rise especially when the concrete is subject to hot weather. Its typical compounds composition is: 51% (C3S), 24% (C2S), 6% (C3A), 11% (C4AF), 2.9% MgO, 2.5% (SO3), 0.8% Ignition loss, and 1.0% free CaO. 4- Oil Well Cement Oil well cement, used for oil wells grouting, usually made from Portland cement clinker or from blended hydraulic cements. It is used for cementing work in the drilling of oil wells where they are subject to high temperatures and pressures. Its typical compound composition is: MgO: 6.0% SO3: 3.0% Loss On Ignition: 3.0% C3S: 48%-65% C3A: 3.0% Insoluble Residue: 0.75% C4AF+2C3A: 24% Production methods: There are four stages to produce cement that Oman cement using which are: 1- Preparation of the raw material at quarries 2- Heating and cooling to produce clinker 3- Preparation of the cement 4- Cement packing Process description: 1- Preparation material at quarries The raw material contains of limestone (80% of raw material), silica, aluminate and iron ore. The quarries located around the Oman cement plant. At quarries the raw materials are extracted with heavy equipments. Then the limestones are crushed with mobile crushers connected with long conveyer belt to transport them to storage passing the auto lab to analysis the samples with x-ray each two hours. After that the raw material are moved to reservoirs. Then they are moved with conveyor belt to the raw mill to grind the raw materials. Finally the grinding raw materials are moved to mixture reservoirs to get proper mixture before fed them to kiln. 2- Heating and cooling to produce clinker The raw materials are moved to channel, where heat exchange is occurred between these material and the raising hot gases from kiln, then the materials are separated from the gases. After that the material moved to calciner where the limestone is converted to calcium oxide, and then the calcined materials arefed to the kiln where the temperature about 1400 c and then leave from kiln to get clinker. Then the clinker leaves from kiln to air to reduce its temperature to 100 c to be ready to be moved to cement mill. Kiln process 3- Preparation of cement The clinker that came out of the cooler will be transported by the bucket chain conveyor to the silo. The bag filter on the top of the silo is sized for the feeding by the bucket chain conveyor and thermal air expansion in the storage. The clinker extracted from the silo is transported by belt conveyors to the cement proportioning. The gypsum is added to the clinker. Then the proportioned materials are conveyed via belt conveyor to cement grinding. Materials ground by ball mill are transported separator by bucket elevator. The coarse particles separated return to ball mill for regrinding while the fine product is collected by the bag filter behind the separator and then conveyed to cement silo with an air slide and bucket elevator. Cement silos is used to store the cement. Cement mill 4-Cement packing The cement from extraction systems under the cement silo is delivered to the buffer bin by air slide and the bucket elevator and vibrating screen, before being fed into each packer. The bagged cement can be loaded directly or stored in storehouse temporarily. Machinery and Equipments: No. Name function 1 Limestone Crusher used in stone quarry to crush limestone 2 Clay crusher used in stone quarry to crush clay 3 Limestone Stacker Used to move limestone to preblending stockpile 4 Limestone reclaimer Used to take preblended mixture from preblending stockpile 5 Coal and iron ore Crusher Used to crush additive materials 6 Coal and iron ore Stacker Used to move iron ore to conveyor belt then to proportioning station 7 Coal iron ore reclaimer Used for reclaiming all additive materials and coal 8 Raw mill used for raw materials grinding and drying 9 Raw mill fan Used to adjust the mill inlet temperature. 10 Preheater fan used to dry the raw materials 11 Preheater and precalciner Preheater used for preheating and partial decarbonation, and precalciner for calcination 12 Rotary kiln used to raise raw materials to a high temperature 13 Grate cooler Used for quenching 14 Cement mill Used to grind cement 15 Bag filter Used to collect dust 16 Coal mill Used for coal drying 17 Bulk loader for truck Used to load the bulk 18 Cement packer Used to pack cement product Quality control system: The quality control department in the Oman cement company function is to monitor product quality in every stage of production starting with extracting the limestone from the quarry till the stage of cement mills, by taking samples and analysis them. 1- The computer and x-ray analysis: The automation lab consists of robot, x-ray spectrometers, laser particle size analyzer and computerized physical properties. The samples will be taken by an automatic sampler from a point between the raw mill and homogenizing silo and then transported manually to the central auto lab, where it will be semi-automatically prepared and sent to an X-Ray analyzer. The results analyzed will be sent to a proportioning computer. The computer will calculate the ratio of raw materials and send out the set value to constant feeder according to the chemical compositions and raw meal module required. 2- Physical analysis: To test the fineness, soundness, setting time, strength, specific gravity, heat of hydration and loss on ignition of the cement to achieve the American specifications requirement. Maintenance procedure: The department functions are: -Checking all machinery and equipments are work properly. -Scheduling and planning for preventive maintenance, predictive maintenance. Coordinating with all departments for daily problem. Planning, coordinating of preventive and breakdown activities for achieving high plant availability to meet production target. The procedure that the Oman cement follows in case of breakdown, preventive and shutdown maintenance are: 1. Breakdown maintenance In case of any breakdown maintenance in the production department, they give information regarding the breakdown to the maintenance department, and maintenance workers are sent to the production plant to fix machine failures. 2. Preventive maintenance here, a team of maintenance workers is sent directly to the production plants to check out whether there is any failure in the machinery or not. 3. Shutdown maintenance When the plant is shut down the employees in the production department sent a letter to the maintenance department and successive steps are taken by maintenance department to solve the failures. The plant shutdown occurs every 6 month in March and September. The process of operating and monitoring production lines and machines instantly, so they can watch the failure and damage of the machines and equipments to repair them or replace them. Technical management The technical management responsibility is to supervise all the mechanical, electrical things and maintain the various equipments and everything that related to maintenance procedure, and this management divided in many sections: a- The machine section The responsibility of this section is prepare emergency and planning schedule and do it to all the equipments and report it to diagnose the unusual failure and fix it. Inspect the machinery, check with drawings and specifications and rectification. It contacts with store section to provide the required replacement parts and also contacts with other sections to maintain the equipments at the workshop. At the workshop they fix the equipments in emergency conditions, check the equipments if they work properly and routinely, takes care the equipments and help to clean them. b) The machine operation section The responsibility of this section fabricate the replacement parts, make an order outside the company to get new parts, lathe the machine parts the required the workshops. c) The immediate machine maintenance section The responsibility of this section is to check and fix the production lines. d) The electrical section The electricity department is responsible to repair and ensure the continuation of the work of all electrical and electronic equipment and precision instruments on the production line and also supervises contact with other sections to that the electricity working properly.
Saturday, October 12, 2019
The Important Role of Transcendentalism in American History Essay
The Important Role of Transcendentalism in American History In 1830, a movement known as Transcendentalism began to gain popularity in America. Representing an idealistic system of thought, "strength, courage, self-confidence, and independence of mind"1 were some basic values admired by the followers of the Transcendental movement. Transcendentalists opposed many aspects of their government, where they felt "many unjust laws existed."2 Therefore, they became the leaders of many modern reform movements. Transcendentalists also had a major affect on their society. Transcendentalism became a "powerful force for democracy."3 Originating in the area in and around Concord, Massachusettes, Transcendentalism was recognized as having an "underlying relationship to the Romantic movement as a whole."4 Three of the most obvious or well known sources or origin of Transcendentalism are neo-platonism, German idealistic philosophy, and certain Eastern mystical writings which were introduced into the Boston area in the early nineteenth century."5 Transcendental beliefs focused on "the importance of spirit over matter."6 Ralph Waldo Emerson, a well known Transcendentalist, felt that "all men aspire to the highest, and most of them spend their lives seeking money and power only because they see nothing higher."7 Followers also believed in a spiritual hunger, or the need to find themselves one with the world. In addition, they believed in "an ascending hierarchy of spiritual values rising to absolute good, truth, and beauty."8 Transcendentalists also believed in a supreme being, the Oversoul, and felt that "if the Oversoul is all powerful and at the same time good, then evil does not exist."9... ...reconciled few of them."19 It was never united by a set program. Transcendentalism was comprised of the various interests and labors of many different personal concepts. Therefore, there were many conflicting values which made it an unsteady system to follow. At the time of the Transcendentalism movement, "it preached, practiced, an idealism that was greatly needed in a rapidly expanding economy."20 However, soon people began to find other, more comprehensible means of dealing within society. Therefore, they began to turn away from Transcendentalism. However, even though Transcendentalism is non-existent as a whole today, many of its ideas, values, and morals are still present in many of the religions and beliefs of today's society. In conclusion, Transcendentalism will always be present in the world, it just will not have as obvious a presence.
Friday, October 11, 2019
Past Semester Questions
CONFIDENTIAL LW/JUN 2012/LAW416 UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA FINAL EXAMINATION COURSE COURSE CODE EXAMINATION TIME BUSINESS LAW LAW416 JUNE 2012 3 HOURS INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES 1. This question paper consists of SEVEN (7) questions. 2. Answer any FOUR (4) of the questions in the Answer Booklet. Start each answer on a new page. 3. Do not bring any material into the examination room unless permission is given by the invigilator. 4. Please check to make sure that this examination pack consists of: i) the Question Paper ii) an Answer Booklet ââ¬â provided by the Faculty DO NOT TURN THIS PAGE UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SOThis examination paper consists of 4 printed pages à © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL 2 LW/JUN2012/LAW416 QUESTION 1 a) Parliament of Malaysia is vested with the powers to legislate law. Explain the procedure of the law making process before any law is passed by the Parliament. (20 marks) b) With regards to sources of the Malaysian Legal System, discuss the doctrine of judicial precedent. (5 marks) QUESTION 2 a) Explain the rules in Hyde v. Wrench (1840) 49 ER 132 under the law of contract. (10 marks) b) Ahmad proposed to sell his house to Badri for RM 100,000 on 1st August 2011.It was agreed by both parties that acceptance of the proposal was to be completed on or before 25th August 2011. They also agreed to use the post as the mode of communication. Badri then sent a notice of acceptance to Ahmad through a registered post on 20th August 2011. However, the notice was only received by Ahmad on 27th August 2011. Ahmad then refused to sell the house to Badri. Badri intends to sue Ahmad for breach of contract. Advise Badri on the matter. (15 marks) QUESTION 3 With regards to the law of agency, discuss the following: a) Creation of agency by necessity. (15 marks) b) Termination of agency by operation of law 10 marks) à © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL 3 LW/JUN2012/LAW416 QUESTION 4 a) Ire ne went to Cantikmuka, a shop selling cosmetic products, to buy a set of blusher. The sales assistant, Janet recommended a particular type of blusher, said to be the best in the market and imported from France. Irene told Janet that she was suffering from dermatitis, a skin disease that made her skin very sensitive. Janet told Irene that the blusher was suitable for her and relying on Janet's expertise, Irene bought the blusher. Unfortunately, when Irene used it for the very first time, nasty rashes appeared on her face.Irene now intends to sue Janet and Cantikmuka. Advise Irene on the matter. (15 marks) b) Explain the remedies of a buyer when there is a breach of contract under the Sale of Goods Act 1957. (10 marks) QUESTION 5 Fazril entered into a hire purchase agreement under the Hire-Purchase Act 1967 to purchase a Honda City. Bahrin, the dealer told Fazril that the car was in good condition. Fazril then purchased the car. With respect to the provisions of the Hire-Purchase Act 1967, advise Fazril on the following matters: a) Fazril wishes to let his younger sister, Fazreen, continue with the hire-purchase agreement. 9 marks) b) Fazril wishes to shorten the duration of the hire purchase agreement. (8 marks) c) Fazril wishes to know the current financial status of the hire purchase agreement from the owner. (8 marks) QUESTION 6 Discuss the definition and characteristics of a bill of exchange under the Bills of Exchange Act 1949. (25 marks) à © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL 4 LW/JUN 2012/LAW416 QUESTION 7 By reference to section 16(5) of the Companies Act 1965, discuss the effects of incorporation. (25 marks) END OF QUESTION PAPER à © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIAL
Thursday, October 10, 2019
Honesty in Pride and Prejudice and A Dollââ¬â¢s House Essay
Henrik Ibsenââ¬â¢s A Dollââ¬â¢s House and Jane Austenââ¬â¢s Pride and Prejudice are set in similar time period and feature protagonists who go through different struggles, but whose themes have some overlap. Honesty is a theme that is played out in both stories resulting in opposite consequences for the protagonists. The power of honesty can either hurt or enhance lives. The truth means ruination in Nora and Torvaldââ¬â¢s marriage in A Dollââ¬â¢s House whereas the truth brings Elizabeth and Darcy together in Pride and Prejudice. Honesty in both male and female protagonists is equally important in forging good relationships between each other. In both stories, strong honesty shapes the two couplesââ¬â¢ fates. Both novels begin with the dishonesty of female protagonists ââ¬â one who has lied to her husband for eight years and one who keeps denying to herself her feelings about a man. Nora, the female protagonist of A Dollsââ¬â¢ House, seems happy about her marriage to Torvald. She does not seem to mind Torvald treating and patronizing her like a doll. However, Ibsen foreshadows Noraââ¬â¢s dishonesty with the very first word on the first page of the play: ââ¬Å"Hide the Christmas tree awayâ⬠¦(1)â⬠, and Noraââ¬â¢s action is eating macaroons and lying to Torvald about it. She also acts like an impulsive and dependent child to Torvald as if she is hiding something, which is her knowledge of her business details ââ¬â debt ââ¬â that she acquired to loan in order to save Torvaldââ¬â¢s life. Elizabeth, the female protagonist of Pride and Prejudice, is a young, intelligent woman whose virtue and independence enable her to overcome the bounds of social class and harsh society. However, her course of making rash and imprudent judgment often leads to her failure: she prejudged Darcyââ¬â¢s personality as the most ââ¬Å"proud and conceited (11)â⬠after only meeting him once. She hated everything about him based only on her prejudgment. As a result, she was not able to admit her inner affection toward him and kept denying her true feelings about him. Although Darcy proposes to Elizabeth in a most honest and gentle manner ââ¬â though indirectly insulting her family and status ââ¬â Elizabeth replies only with lies: ââ¬Å"From the very beginning, from the first moment,â⬠¦fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain,â⬠¦which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to arry (166). â⬠Elizabethââ¬â¢s dishonesty to Darcy and to herself is the major obstacle to understand each other. Fortunately, Elizabethââ¬â¢s mind starts to change as she learns about the truth of Darcy, but on the other hand, when Nora decides to reveal the truth, only disaster awaits her. Although Nora and Elizabeth both started as dishonest, they both decide to reveal and admit the truth that they must affront. Nora has been hiding the truth for several years from her husband because Torvald disallows anyone to make debt. However, she decides to test the truth of her husbandââ¬â¢s love by revealing the truth of herself. Nora, who has been a doll of Torvald, is no longer a ââ¬Å"little sky-lark chirrupingâ⬠or a ââ¬Å"pretty little petâ⬠as her husband calls her. Her decision to confront the truth shows how ambitious, determined, and courageous a woman she is. Elizabeth, who has been trapped by her own prejudice, finally awakens and becomes honest to herself: she admits that she loves and feels compassion for Darcy. ââ¬Å"How despicably have I acted! â⬠¦ prided myself on my discernment! how humiliating is this discovery! Had I been in love, I could not have been more wretchedly blindâ⬠¦ but vanity, not love, has been my follyâ⬠¦ Till this moment I never knew myself. (178-179)â⬠When Elizabeth acknowledges the truth about herself, her prejudgment vanishes. She allows herself to look back at what she has done and realizes her mistake in the relationship with Darcy. Both Nora and Elizabeth have changed since the beginning of the novel. They discover the importance of honesty in marriages and relationships despite experiencing different results. The two contrasting consequences not only depend on Nora and Elizabethââ¬â¢s honesty, but also depend on their spouses. Nora believed that Torvald would understand her dishonesty because she trusted his love. However, when Torvald learns about the blackmail, Nora and Torvaldââ¬â¢s marriage falls apart: ââ¬Å"Miserable womanâ⬠¦who was my pride and joyâ⬠¦ a hypocrite, a liar, worse than that, a criminal! â⬠¦they [people] might even think I was the one behind it all, I who pushed youâ⬠¦Iââ¬â¢ve taken such good care of youâ⬠¦done to me?â⬠¦ youââ¬â¢ll go on living hereâ⬠¦you will not be allowed to bring up the children, I canââ¬â¢t trust you with them (75-76). In this moment of truth, not only Nora but also Torvald shows his true color. In order to keep his pride and reputation, he makes Nora live with him and pretends that they are married. Even worse, when Torvald receives the IOU letter back, he suddenly hides his true color, as if nothing has happened after he had said horrible words to Nora: ââ¬Å"We are saved, Nora! â⬠¦I forgive you everything. I know you did what you did because you loved me. (77)â⬠Nora ââ¬Å"understandsâ⬠the truth of Torvald after revealing the truth of herself. She learns that Torvaldââ¬â¢s love is not genuine, and their marriage has been fake and artificial. Nevertheless, honesty in Pride and Prejudice empowered Elizabeth and Darcyââ¬â¢s relationship. Although Darcyââ¬â¢s first proposal to Elizabeth was not successful, he tries once more as he writes a letter with honesty. ââ¬Å"â⬠¦may be offensive to yours, I can only say that I am sorryâ⬠¦I believed it on impartial conviction, as truly as I wished it in reasonâ⬠¦pardon me, It pains me to offend you (169-170). â⬠In this honest letter, he apologizes for the past arrogance and misinterpretation in Jane ââ¬â Elizabethââ¬â¢s sister ââ¬â and Bingleyââ¬â¢s ââ¬â Darcyââ¬â¢s intimate friend ââ¬â relationship. In the relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy, honesty enables them to understand each other and to succeed in the goal of marriage. Neither Nora nor Elizabeth was able to accomplish a powerful and lasting connection with their spouses until they knew who they were themselves, and until they learned the truth about their prospective spouses. Two male protagonistsââ¬â¢ opposite reactions and attitudes in honesty shaped the fate of Nora and Elizabeth ââ¬â separation and bond in relationships. Honesty makes Nora and Torvaldââ¬â¢s relationship to decline but Elizabeth and Darcyââ¬â¢s relationship to succeed. Honesty does not always triumph; it can also worsen a situation. In A Dollââ¬â¢s House and Pride and Prejudice, both women learn that they also have to be honest with themselves, not only with other people. They also see the ultimate consequences in relationship will also depend on their spouses, not only on herself. Although both women were equally honest, perhaps Elizabeth was more fortunate than Nora in her choice of spouse and in finding the opportune moment to be honest, which allowed her to forge a fulfilling and sustained marriage.
Management Information System Essay
Maxis Berhad is a leading telecommunication company in Malaysia with more than 11.4 million mobile subscribers, Maxis has been providing a full suite of services on multiple platforms to fulfill the telecommunication needs of individual consumers, SMEs and large corporations in Malaysia. Other than that, Maxis Berhad is offering on postpaid services under the Maxis brand and via prepaid formast under the Hotlink. It uses the dialling prefix identifier of ââ¬Å"012â⬠, ââ¬Å"014â⬠and ââ¬Å"017â⬠. The uses of different brands are to support each other by synergy value. It helps Maxis Berhad to maintain and develop prepaid businesses while keep on maintaining their growth in postpaid field. Maxis Berhad is the first telecommunication company who build up integrated communication service and launched 4G LTE which is the highest internet speed in Malaysia. Besides that, Maxis Berhad is a trendy company that brings in iPhone, BlackBerry and Samsung Galaxy to the local mar ket compare to the other telecommunication companies, it helps local users to catch up their technology knowledge with other countries. In addition, Maxis Berhad is having customer service center throughout the countries, which provides conveniences to the customers for paying bills, signing up, and reporting problems. Customers are now able to reach Maxis service representatives via telephone, web and social media platforms. Maxis Berhad had significant growth and strong track record of bringing innovation and excellent customer service. Maxis Call Centre was awarded the ââ¬ËBest of the Bestââ¬â¢ honor at the 2012 Customer Relationship Management and Contact Centre (CCAM) Annual Awards. They are the only service provider that awards scholarships to children of their own postpaid customers. Maxis Berhad had awarded as Malaysiaââ¬â¢s Top Ten Companies: Ranked 1 ââ¬â Asiaââ¬â¢s 200 Most Admired Companies, The Wall Street Journal Asia in 2006. Morten Lundal was appointed as a Director of Maxis on 1 October 2013. Maxis Berhad currently is streamlining its organisational structure into four business areas, each with its respective head in order to strengthen their core business areas for future growth. The first area, enterprise solutions, it manages the companyââ¬â¢s enterprise, government and SME business. For the second area is about consumer business. It is responsible for the end-to-end management of all mobile and fixed business for the consumer segment. Sales and service, the third area, focuses on customer service and channel andà supply chain management while the fourth, digital services, oversees the development of Maxisââ¬â¢ innovative digital media and cloud-based services including mobile apps. The four business areas will be supported in their day-to-day operations by the information services, network, finance, human resources, corporate affairs, regulatory & government affairs and legal divisions. In telecommunication industry, there are many companies to choose with, but finally our group end up with Maxis Berhad because we found that it is perform better when compared to its competitors. The primary reason that we choose Maxis Berhad as our company is due to Maxis Berhad has maintained their leadership among the telecommunication companies. They have approximately 13 million of customer during the year end 2013. They were also the first company that launched 4G LTE which is the highest internet speed in Malaysia. They always seek for new ideas and innovations by putting a lot of effort and capital on the R&D investment. Next, Maxis Berhad has achieves many awards and recognitions throughout its operations period. There are two awards we have to emphasize here due to these achievements have truly lead them to be more well known. Maxis Berhad has won the prestigious 2011 Global Telecoms Business Innovation Award for the Missed SMS Notification service in the Wireless Network Infrastructure Innovation, SMS network innovation category. Maxis is the first in the world to provide this service in partnership with Acision. Besides, Maxis Berhad has received the award, ââ¬Å"Asiaââ¬â¢s Best Employer Brand Award at the second Asiaââ¬â¢s Best Employer Brand Awards year 2011â⬠which was hosted by the Employer Branding Institute of Singapore. It succeeds in creating a culture of contribution and innovation at work and its belief in consistent improvements in Human Resources policies. Maxis was also recognised for its role in developing future leader. Part 2: Types of e-commerce used Electric commerce is commonly known as e-commerce, and it is defined as the exchange of goods, services, and money through electronic mediation using Internet technology. There are seven types of e-commerce we learnt, which are business to consumer (B2C), business to business (B2B), consumer to consumer (C2C), consumer to business (C2B), government to business (G2B), government to government (G2G), and government to consumer (G2C). First and foremost, one of the types of e-commerce used by the Maxis Berhad is the business to consumer (B2C) e-commerce. Based on the research made, there is a 80% of the internet user has looked for the goods and services to purchase in the internet, however, only 30% of them has really purchased the goods the services online as they may worry about the security system of the online payment. This trend has been observed by the Maxis Berhad and thus, the company has made a strategic decision to have collaboration with the PayPal, a popular online payment platform, to ensure that their consumers (customers) can easily and safely shop online. This will provide the convenience to their customers as the collaboration between the Maxis Berhad and the Paypal will simplify the process of the online shopping today which require the customers to repeatedly fill in payment card and contact details for each transaction or merchant. The customers can enjoy the speed of the online payment with the Maxis-PayPal account. They just need to log in with their Maxis PayPal credentials as well as their phone number to make the payment and the payment option is available online and in all major smartphone platforms, such as iPhone, Android and Blueberry. The most important thing is the customers do not need to worry about their financial details such as credit card number will be exposed to others as the process of the payment is highly secure. Besides, the business to business (B2B) e-commerce is used by the Maxis Berhad. Maxis Berhad offer an online business partnership application to those who are interested in on their main website, https://www.maxis.com.my/en/about-maxis/partnerships/business-partnership.html. On the website, the company show the brief introduction of their business partner, job description and partnership criteria to make the internet users more familiar with the business partnership which the company looks for. There are 3 types of select partners that the company desires, which are application solution provider, content provider as well as system integrator. Furthermore, the types of alliance displayed on the website are technology partners, device and hardware partners, and the consulting partners. As the appliers has been successfully selected, Maxis Berhad will collaborate with the selected business partner (applier) to create a variety of mobile services for the applierââ¬â¢s enterprise. Moreover, the collaborationà will generate repeatable and market-impacting mobility solutions for the selected business partners, within selected industries. There are also some benefits that the selected business partner will gain such as the leverage on the Maxisââ¬â¢s strong branding, leverage on Maxisââ¬â¢s global communications alliances, leverage on Maxisââ¬â¢s communications technology expertise & technology roadmap and so on. Part 3: Identify of the Information System The Information System is explained by the BusinessDictionary.com as a combination of hardware, software, data, telecommunications and trained personnel organized to facilitate planning, control, coordination and decision making in an organization. According to Valacich and Schneider (2014), Information System allows an organization to be more productive and profitable. It also helps the organization to gain competitive advantage towards the competitor in the industry. Most importantly is reaching out to more customers and improve the organization service to their customers. Maxis Berhad as one of the main organizations in Malaysia telecommunications industry, its business nature will generate a huge amount of transactions, each of the transaction contains a specified subscriberââ¬â¢s activity such as phone calls, SMS and data roaming. Maxis Berhad has to use the various information system to help its organization to deal with their customers correctly. 1) Transaction Processing System While any transaction occurs by the subscriber, Maxis Berhad is recording those transactions and encoded into various format. The recorded transactions is called Call Data Records (CDR). The CDRs could be encoded by various formats and protocols, for examples ASN.1, XML and CSV. To allow Maxisââ¬â¢s Transaction processing system to function, first those encoded transaction data will be separated into batches and periodically transfer to the position where this system can process it. The Transaction Processing System is arranged and grouped into batches and periodically to check all the new transactions data batch. The TPS uses standard network protocols to transfer the CDR batch file to the TPS. TPS is responsible in ensuring the integrity of each file transferred, ensuring that no IP network errors renders the file corruption. Other than that, it also ensures theà transaction data are not corrupt and not process more than once. After the error checking complete, those subscriberââ¬â¢s transaction data will back up in a long term memory for future use. Some Governments require that a record of every transaction need to be stored infinitely in its raw format. Once the Maxis Transaction Processing System gathers the batch of transaction data, it will decode the data into human readable format. Followed by, enhances the information within the transaction data regarding the subscriberââ¬â¢s activity and have a duplicate checking. After all the transaction has been processed, it will load into a particular datastore. The decoded CDR batches are then checked for duplicate records. While the intermediate processing on the CDR batches have completed, the CDR will loaded into the specific data store, the Transaction Processing System will summarize the important detail of the CDR and ready to present those details to the Maxis management in order for Maxis management to assess the performance of Maxis Berhad. Lastly, the Transaction Processing System enables Maxis Berhad to present its company performance through the annual report to the shareholder regarding the daily operation. 2) Management Information System According to BusinessDictionary.com, Managing Information System (MIS) is refers to an organized method to understand the information needs of an organizationââ¬â¢s management at every level in making operational, tactical, and strategic decisions. This system objective is to design and implement procedures, processes, and routines that provide suitably detailed reports in an accurate, consistent, and timely manner. In management information system, modern, computerized systems continuously gather relevant data, both from inside and outside an organization. This data is then processed, integrated, and stored in a centralized database (or data warehouse) where it is constantly updated and made available to all who have the authority to access it, in a form that suits their purpose. Managing Information System (MIS) is one of the commonly used information system by Maxis to verify the customers, recover pending bills, and distribute the bills to their customers. The information prov ided by MIS enable managers to plan and control the different strategies of Maxis in order to make better decision for the business. The purpose of MIS is to meet information needs for decision-making of all the managers in Maxis. The next objectives of MIS isà provide and set strategies and goals. Those processed data received will be used for different purposes in Maxis. Computer based MIS helps Maxis to gather process and information efficiently. Maxis using the concept of information technology to improve their overall performance and working capacity. Normally MIS is used by Maxis to process their data and present the output in different types of reports used at regular intervals. Different level of managers of Maxis is using the information to recognize the purpose of the organization, its policies, programs, plans and goals. Maxis mainly focus in Customer Verification, Recovery and Bill Distribution. Without using MIS, Maxis will face problems to check the status of customer verification, recovery or bill distributed to the customer. While using the concept of MIS, Maxis can easily determine the status and situation stated above. By developing TAT (Time Allocation Table) in MIS, the MIS executive gives predefine time to each customer verification executive to complete the case. The TAT will complete the verification case by showing the case, assigned executive, date of case allocated to executive and date limit. By using such TAT, the MIS executive or manager is able to check the status of performance of verification easily. In conclusion, MIS is one of the effective systems for collecting and managing the data for Maxis. The development of MIS for organization enables Maxis to find several types of report like pendency at executive level, pendency at agency level, the overall performance of Maxis in an effective way. 3) Electronic Commerce system According to Valacich and Schneider (2014), Electronic Commerce is defined as the exchange of goods, service and money among firms and their customers, and between customers, supported by communication technologies such as the Internet. From the previous study given, the business to customer e-commerce system (B2C) is used by Maxis Berhad. Maxis Berhad has made a world first strategic collaboration with the PayPal, the the worldââ¬â¢s leading online payment solution provider to provide their customer a better and efficient online service. With a Maxis PayPal account, the customers can carry out the online payment faster and conveniently. They did not need to go to the Maxis store/department purposely to set off the payment, but instead, they just need to log in with their Maxis PayPal credentials orà their phone number to make the payment and this changes will provide the convenience and save the time of the customers. Besides, there are major smartphone platforms where the payment option is available, such as as iPhone, Android and Blueberry. Furthermore, the customers do not need to have the security concerns about the system and their financial details such as credit card number will be protected under the system as the process of the payment is highly secure. Morever, the business to business e-commerce system (B2B) is also implemented by the Maxis Berhad to ââ¬Ëcommunicateââ¬â¢ with the potential partner. Maxis Berhad has created their own website and in the website, there is a webpage of online business partnership application which is used to attract the potential partner. The potential partner (webpage viewer) can get the enough information and details about the partnership in the webpage through the B2B system, thus, it will make them to be more confident in doing the business with the Maxis Berhad. Part 4: S W O T Analysis Strength (a) Quality of Internal and External Communications A good information system must be supported by electronic data communication network systems which are the extranet and intranet. With the proper application of intranet and extranet for their company communication management, both inside and outside party of the company especially among the staffs, customers and suppliers can exchange information more effectively and efficiently. By now, Maxis is no longer relied on papers, telephone and faxes to further convey their information to the public. (b) Quality of Planning Planning is an essential process for every business. Maxis use Management Information System (MIS) which is a computer systems used for data managing to make searching, analysing data and spring information easier. MIS are widely used by Maxis to analyse and facilitate strategic and operational activities to generate information to improve efficiency and effectiveness of decision making. (c) Quality Control and Supervision Maxis with the Transaction Processing System (TPS) and Management Information System (MIS) are built and maintained properly in their management, the activities within the business environment are constantly monitored. This is because monitoring is certainly an impact on improving control over every procedure and activities occurring within the company. By this, Maxis is able to reduce the loss of information and keep a better record of the management. (d) Quality and Responsiveness of the Competitorsââ¬â¢ Condition Aspect of business intelligence is very important since a long time with a variety of formats and needs. Maxis in order to reach the point of rapid and appropriate response on the dynamics of the competition, they rely on the Management Information System (MIS) to require, collect, analyze and compile the information needed by decision makers in the company. With the help of information system, Maxis is able to grow and remain competitive in the telecommunication industry. (e) Customersââ¬â¢ Satisfaction Maxis able to easily detect the activities and behaviour of their customers with the help of Transaction Processing System. Besides, Transaction Processing System (TPI) will speed up the process so that, the time required to serve a customer can be faster. This not only helps to improve the effectiveness and efficiency in operation but also increases their customersââ¬â¢ satisfaction of their services. Weaknesses (a) High Maintenance Fees Information Systems such as Transactional Processing System (TPS) and Management Information System (MIS) need a high cost to maintain its operation from day to day as the company need to hire maintenance team for the maintenance to run the system smoothly. Maxis Berhad has to hire employees or technical who can accurately maintain the operation of computers, company website, and other Information Systems as well. It means that Maxis Berhad has a huge budget on the wages and maintenance fees. For example, the organisation has to hire expert technical with high wage to monitor the systems and repair it when it is broke down. This would lead to the increasing of the labour cost and directly increase the company expenses. (b) Lack of internal securities control Information outflow is one of the serious problems faced by Maxis Berhad. Customersââ¬â¢ information is the top priority needed to secure for the telecommunication company. Maxis Berhad has approximately 13 million of customer during the year end 2013. For example, the outflow of confidential information of Management Information System (MIS) will cause the competitors to gain competitive advantages over Maxis and directly lead to the loss of the profit. The existing of the information outflow for Maxis Berhad are when their database system attacked by the outsider or taken from the inside employees. It is because the price for the information is very high. Besides, this is a very strong weapon for the competitors. (c) Unstable Services of the Information System Maxis Berhad has launched 4G LTE, which is the highest internet speed in Malaysia. However, Maxis Berhad has received some complaints from the customers about its 4G and 3G services. Even though the quality of Maxis service has been deemed to excellent in Malaysia, but, the services is yet to be enough stable to reach the customers expectation. The network service of Maxis often drops to edge, and sometimes is very slow and even has no connection. The 3G service still has not fully cover in the Malaysia and for the new 4G service; it only covers for the few particular place. Besides, information system may not be always function perfectly. It may cause by system break down, operations interruptions and so on. (d) Poor customer services Although the distribution of the Maxis outlet is very wide and available in many places, but, not all the Maxis outlet is able to provide the sufficient customer service. For example, some of the Maxis centre is only able to let customer make the payment and deal with some small case, and customers need to travel to urban areas to get further services. For example, the small Maxis firm is unable to help the customer if the customer has loss his simcard and want and get back the number, he might need to go to the Maxis centre in order to get this service. The most important thing is the customer even need to pay for the services. Opportunities (a) Increasing Visibility to Outsider By using the e-commerce system, the message regarding to the sales can beà transmitted to the public by Maxis Berhad more effectively compared to the other communication companies. In that case, the customers can get the latest sales information of Maxis Berhad all the time through their website, those users able to get most accurate data whenever they need. E-commerce system offers different ways to present data. Therefore, Maxis Berhad is more user-friendly when it adding more features to their website. (b) Decision Making of Investment Decision making of investing Maxis Berhad can be made through the reports provided by the Managing Information System (MIS) of Maxis Berhad. Decision supported with faultless information combined with the intelligence of the companyââ¬â¢s directors can lead to unexpected opportunities. Maxis Berhad provides their financial report to the public, so their potential investor will make decision whether to invest Maxis Berhad. (c) Speed time-to-market for new products B2C e-commerce of Maxis can introduce their new telecommunication plans more efficient in the market. When Maxis publishes their plans online, it is faster for the information to reach their customers in the market because it eliminated the time consuming processes such as printing and distributing the hard copies, flyers, leaflet and brochures to the customers. In order to compete with other potential competitors like DiGI and Celcom, Maxis have to be first letting the information of their products reach the customers. This way can lead them to have competitive advantage. (d) Focus on Market Segment Using Managing Information Systems (MIS) enable Maxis Berhad to analyse specified market, and narrow the target market in the telecommunication industry. This Managing Information Systems help organization to analyse consumersââ¬â¢ buying behaviour so that Maxis Berhad can efficiently advertising and marketing their business plans to the target market. (e) Lower procurement and distribution costs When there is a direct online interaction between Maxis and its customers, so this company able to understand the market better. The formation ofà relationship with the customers will lead to subscribe services or purchase electronic devices from Maxis directly. As a result Maxis can get rid of the middleman; it will result in reduction in cost. At the same time, customer of Maxis will be beneficial from the reasonable price. Threats (a) Strong Competitors In telecommunication industries, there are a lot of other strong competitors such as DiGi, U-Mobile, Celcom and so on. Strong competitor is one of the threats that almost all firms will experienced. Strong competitors will offer much more benefits to the consumers which might influence Maxisââ¬â¢ customer choices. This will cause Maxis to suffer loss on their sales and customer. For example, consumers will prefer a lower cost telecommunication network in order to save more expenses. (b) Malicious Emails Electronic messages enable easy communications between Maxis and their customers in B2C e-commerce but most of the electronic messages today cannot be easily trusted. This is because most of the emails were sent by anonymous and they might attach some phishing links in the messages. With an accidently click of the phishing link will lead Maxisââ¬â¢ computer software defects bugs which will automatically infect computers without further action. (c) Identity Theft and Internet Frauds The bigger the size of the organizations and the more advance information systems used, therefore Maxis will expose to more risk regarding the frauds on the Internet. For example, Maxis will face loss of important information if they fall into the trap of identity theft that uses false credentials to obtain information, services and credit while Maxis using Transaction Processing System (TPS). When TPS is processing the transaction data, the data might be alter and be stole in the process of encoding and decoding. Leak out of important information will give a big impact to Maxis as they might lose the competitive advantages in the telecommunication industry. (d) Blended Attacks Blended attack happens when the criminals use multiple methods to beat even the best security in order to get the confidential information of a company.à Since the competitive advantages are so strong in the telecommunication industry, the hackers might hack into the Managing Information System (MIS) to obtain Maxisââ¬â¢ various confidential reports, Maxis will be the next victim to be hacked as the criminals leak their companyââ¬â¢s confidential information to the competitors. Maxis will face losses of their confidential information which might affect the companyââ¬â¢s future performance and shareholdersââ¬â¢ confidence in their company. (e) Delivery Risk Business to Customer (B2C) as one of the e-commerce using by Maxis. While having online businesses, Maxis facing a very important issue which is how this company deliver the electronic devices. Company must be very careful in choosing the delivery methods to ensure the product reach the customer in time and no damage should be found or to minimize the damages that can be caused. For example, when Maxis deliver handphone device like Apple or Samsung to the customers, they have to ensure the deliver cost be minimized including the damages that might happen in the process of delivery. Part 5: Recommendation Weakness (a) High Maintenance Fees In the telecommunication services market, it is hard to reduce the production costs to set lower price in order to pay for the maintenances fees and compete with the others competitors such as Digi, Celcom, and U-mobile. Maxis Berhad may concentrate to focus on the product innovation and product features in order to fulfill the customer needs. For example, the launched of the 4G LTE services have huge increases in their profit. Besides, Maxis Berhad can apply for funds, discount or allowance from the government to minimize their maintenance fees. (b) Lack of internal securities control Maxis Berhad need to always update and improve their securities system in order to prevent attacked by the hackers and viruses. Maxis Berhad can hire security agencies to monitor and protect their system all the time. Besides, Maxis Berhad has to strengthen internal control policies, processes and procedures as well as monitor their employees which are responsible for the customerââ¬â¢s information to prevent information outflow. The information ofà the customer needed to fully secure to protect the companyââ¬â¢s image. (c) Unstable Services of the Information System Maxis has to concern about the unstable services. Most importantly, Maxis must spend for the regular upgrade and maintenance for the unstable services although the cost is very high. Besides, 3G and 4G services available place should be expanded in order to get more customers who stay at rural areas. It is because nowadays the 3G and 4G is very important, customers tend connect to internet wherever and whenever by using the services, so, the stability of 3G and 4G will be the important criteria for customers in choosing the telecommunication service. With a better 3G and 4G services and wider coverage, Maxis will have the competence to compete with the strong competitors, for example P1 wimax is a competitor of Maxis who offers cheaper packages. (d) Poor customer services Customer service plays an important role in the business especially in the telecommunication industry, with good customer service, itââ¬â¢s able to retain the existing customers and attract more potential customers to subscribe the Maxis services. Maxis has to make the Maxis centre become one-stop service in order to facilitate the customers and make them to be more satisfied with the Maxis service. Besides, Maxis has to promote their services and offer free services to the customer in order to attract more customers and improve companyââ¬â¢s image. Threats (a) Strong Competitors The business nature of Maxis Berhad is oligopoly competition, which is a type of market form in which the industry (telecommunication) is dominated by a small number of sellers. Competitive relationship between the Maxis berhad and other companies is strong. Therefore, the Maxis Berhad have to aware of the actions of others and make the most suitable decision based on the decision of other company. Thus, we will recommend that the Maxis Berhad could implement the market research and analysis system to investigate their competitors as well as deploy the job costing system to control and minimize the cost of production, and indirectly, they could adjust and lower their pricing in order to gain the competitive advantage. (b) Malicious Emails The other threat is the malicious emails. In this case, we would recommend that the Maxis Berhad could create their own unique symbol or signature on the email they sent to the customers in the B2C ecommerce transaction in order to differentiate it with the malicious emails. (c) Identity Theft and Internet Frauds The identity thief and internet fraud is also one of the threats the Maxis Berhad faces. In our opinion, the company could deploy the information security management system (ISMS) to provide an additional protection on the company information to make it secure. (d) Blended Attacks The other threat is the blended attack. In order to manage the blended attack, we will recommend that the Maxis Berhad should master the urge network administrators to make it more vigilant about patch management, employ server software to detect the malware and keep updating and using the firewall products. (e) Delivery Risk The delivery risk is also a threat the Maxis Berhad needs to concern about. In our opinion, the Maxis Berhad should implement the service delivery risk management (SDRM) to enable the Maxis having a better understanding on their client profitability, cost and revenue drivers, and exception management and governance process. Part 6: Conclusion In the beginning, our group decide to choose Maxis Berhad based the companyââ¬â¢s performance and its achievement. From the part of the type of e-commerce used by Maxis, our group found that there are two type of it which is business to consumer (B2C) and business to business (B2B). There are three type of information system used by Maxis which is transaction processing system (TPS), process all the routine transactions in the business which is necessary and able to track consumer behaviour at the same time; Managing Information System (MIS), system that produce detailed information to help manage the firm; electronic commerce system (ECS), system enable customers to buy goods and service from Maxis. From SWOT analysis above we recognise the strength part include Quality of Internal and External Communications,à Quality of Planning, Quality Control and Supervision, Quality and Responsiveness of the Competitorsââ¬â¢ Condition and Customersââ¬â¢ Satisfaction. As the weakness part of the information system brings to Maxis which is High Maintenance Fees, Lack of internal securities control, and Unstable Services of the Information System and Poor customer services. The opportunities are Increasing Visibility to Outsider, Decision Making of Investment, Speed time-to-market for new products, Focus on Market Segment and Lower procurement and distribution costs. In addition, there are also five threats of the information system assist Maxis which Strong Competition, Malicious Emails, Identity Theft and Internet Frauds, Blended Attacks and Delivery Risk. Reference Artem Evgenovich Babenko, h. (2014). E-commerce Systems. ITSource. It-source.net., from http://it-source.net/en/E-commerce/ Khurana,. (2014). Is Ecommerce Right for Your Business? 36 Pros and Cons. About., from http://ecommerce.about.com/od/eCommerce-Basics/tp/Advantages-And-Disadvantages-Of-Ecommerce.htm MalaysianWireless,. (2011). Maxis won Asiaà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s Best Employer Brand Award., from http://www.malaysianwireless.com/2011/08/maxis-asias-best-employer-brand-award/ Role of Management Information System in Telecom Agency. (2012). International Journal Of Computer Applications & Information Technology, 1(1). Themalaysianinsider.com,. (2014). Maxis streamlines organisation structure into four areas ââ¬â The Malaysian Insider., from http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/business/article/maxis-streamlines-organisation-structure-into-four-areas TRANSACTION PROCESSING SYSTEMS,. (2014). PROS AND CONS., from http://transactionprocessingsystem.weebly.com/pros-and-cons.html Valacic h, J., Schneider, C., & Jessup, L. (2010). Information systems today. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall. Winksite.mobi,. (2014). Maxis Wins Best In Consumer Innovation Award | Happenings | eNEWS July. from http://winksite.mobi/xhtml/ms_fo_pg_v?fid=34148&id=24628&susid=39495&s=1&s2=1
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