Thursday, November 27, 2008
Identifying the Research Design
Fundamentally, qualitative method has three distinct characteristics. One is that it applies symbolic discourse composed of discussion, conversations and texts. Secondly, qualitative method involves the study of interpretative principles, which people utilise to make their symbolic activities sensible. Lastly, qualitative method of research requires the knowledge of contextual principles, including the physical setting, roles of the respondents and the set of situational events which guide the interpretation of the discussion (Ting-Toomey, 1984). Hence, with this characteristic, it can be considered that the qualitative design is appropriate. On one hand, this study does not show any variables to be studied. The author has been able to describe well the procedure on how the research and all in all it can e said that the procedure used is logical.
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Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Hong Kong IT MAnagement
Indeed, IT has been an indispensable aspect of manufacturers in Hong Kong. Generally, this does not only help them enhance total business performance but also in developing new and more effective business strategies. As the impact of IT in the manufacturing industry tends to vary from one company to another, identifying the specific effects of technology will require a more in-depth investigation and research.
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Heritage Web Solutions gives the user the chance to have the most efficient authentic, distinctive, original, unique and “one of a kind” design to the clients and it will also helps the clients to build a better business. The main goal of this is to give the most suitable design to help you to portray with your target market in most efficient and intensive manner. the company has been regarded to be one of the best hosting sites and trsuted companies in the world wide web. What is also good about it is that it provides free quote about the work by just filling in some of the simple information ir it can be received by calling them.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Metal Strengthening and Skateboard
Metal strengthening is said to have effects on skateboards. There many types of skateboards and some of them have these adjustable features to suit board flexibility and for accommodating performance requirements of different maneuvers executed by skateboarders. A skateboard with hardened or strong can secure the underside of an arched end of the skateboard. Hardened or strengthened metal plate for skateboards can provide a ribbed-skidding performance. Strengthening metal mechanism can also provide mechanical strength for the skateboarder (Zong et al, 2007).
The strengthening of metals for skateboards also relates particularly to the enhancements in skateboards as well as the like, specifically to new and enhanced skateboard in which a protective shoe or plate. In the skateboard zone, it has been a major practice to use metal to provide durable and strong assembly. Although these materials have served their purpose, metals should still be hardened or strengthened to prove their importance in the skateboard (Flexible Skateboards, 2008).
The metals in skateboards can be found at the wheels which bear the weight the person and the skateboard integrated but also give or maximise movability. Although there are no particular standards or criteria for skateboard metals or bearings, it can be said that experts try to strengthen the metal to give them smooth rite and enhance their performance while riding with it (Flexible Skateboards, 2008). Skateboards can be made of woods, plastic and metals, but most prefer to use metals in order to enhance their presentations and routines. In addition, it also helps them to make additional exhibitions when they are performing or doing the sport.
All in all, it can be said that metal hardening or strengthening is important to secure the capabilities and the performance of skateboards. It helps skateboarders to run smoothly to give their best performance. In addition, strengthened metals secure that all parts is well-balanced (Zong et al, 2007). In choosing materials for skateboards, it is essential that one should choose materials that can be strengthened to ensure long-lasting durability and flexibility. Furthermore, skateboarders should often check their skateboards to know which parts to needs to be fixed and hardened.
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Wednesday, November 19, 2008
annotated bibliography
The annotation usually contains a brief summary of content and a short analysis or evaluation. Depending on your assignment you may be asked to reflect, summarise, critique, evaluate or analyse the source.
An annotated bibliography may be a component of a larger assignment or it may be a stand-alone assignment. While an annotation can be as brief as one sentence, the standard annotated bibliography consists of a citation followed by a short paragraph. An example is provided below.
Purpose of an Annotated Bibliography
Depending on your specific assessment, an annotated bibliography may serve to:
* review the literature of a particular subject;
* demonstrate the quality and depth of reading that you have done;
* exemplify the scope of sources available—such as journals, books, web sites and magazine articles;
* highlight sources that may be of interest to other readers and researchers;
* explore and organise sources for further research.
When set as an assignment, an annotated bibliography allows you to get acquainted with the material available on a particular topic.
Questions to Consider
You need to consider carefully the texts that you select for your annotated bibliography. Keep the following questions in mind to help clarify your choices.
1. What topic/ problem am I investigating?
2. What question(s) am I exploring? Identify the aim of your literature research.
3. What kind of material am I looking at and why? Am I looking for journal articles, reports, policies or primary historical data?
4. Am I being judicious in my selection of texts? Does each text relate to my research topic and assignment requirements?
5. What are the essential or key texts on my topic? Am I finding them? Are the sources valuable or often referred to in other texts?
Which writing style should I use in the annotations?
* Each annotation should be concise. Do not write too much—remember, you are writing a summary, not an essay. Annotations should not extend beyond one paragraph unless otherwise stipulated in your assignment guidelines. As this is not an extended piece of writing, only mention significant and relevant details.
* Any information apparent in the title of the text or journal can be omitted from the annotation.
* Background materials and references to previous work by the same author usually are not included. As you are addressing one text at a time, there is no need to cross reference or use in-text citations to support your annotation.
* Unless otherwise stipulated, you should write in full sentences using academic vocabulary.
* Refer to the Learning Centre’s online guides for more academic writing strategies.
Sample Annotation
The citation goes first and is followed by the annotation. Make sure that you follow your faculty’s preferred citation style. The summary needs to be concise (please note the following example is entirely fictitious).
In the sample annotation below, each element is numbered (see Key).
(1) Trevor, C.O., Lansford, B. and Black, J.W., 2004, ‘Employee turnover and job performance: monitoring the influences of salary growth and promotion’, Journal of Armchair Psychology, vol 113, no.1, pp. 56-64.
(2.) In this article Trevor et al. review the influences of pay and job opportunities in respect to job performance, turnover rates and employee motivation. (3) The authors use data gained through organisational surveys of blue-chip companies in Vancouver, Canada to try to identify the main causes of employee turnover and whether it is linked to salary growth. (4) Their research focuses on assessing a range of pay structures such as pay for performance and organisational reward schemes. (5) The article is useful to my research topic, as Trevor et al. suggest that there are numerous reasons for employee turnover and variances in employee motivation and performance. (6) The main limitation of the article is that the survey sample was restricted to mid-level management, (7) thus the authors indicate that further, more extensive, research needs to be undertaken to develop a more in-depth understanding of employee turnover and job performance. (8) This article will not form the basis of my research; however it will be useful supplementary information for my research on pay structures.
Key
(1) Citation
(2) Introduction
(3) Aims & Research methods
(4) Scope
(5) Usefulness (to your research/ to a particular topic)
(6) Limitations
(7) Conclusions
(8) Reflection (explain how this work illuminates your topic or how it will fit in with your research)
Monday, November 17, 2008
information Communication technology
Phone Lookup Service
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Mortgages-Theory Related Articles
The first article highlights downturn of homes and housing sales in Metro areas in US. According to this article, the US housing market has been on its odd periods since mid 2005 and in the latter years, the market has been giving mixed signs regarding the notion on how long such downturn will continue. In the article, it has been mentioned that the US government agencies responsible for this issues has been able to make some amendments on how home prices should be done. In addition, the article has also mentioned that economists expect downward pressure on prices to continue in year 2007. The article has also presented the notion that because of the fall of the mortgage interest rates, home prices becomes more affordable for the people. Herein, such idea has come from the result of the report made by the Mortgage Bankers Association through the use of index of applications for home-purchase mortgages. MBA has mentioned that home-purchase mortgage has trended upward after its major downturn in 2005. In an interview made, a mortgage strategist ahs mentioned that the average home prices will eventually rise to 2% to 3% even if it will decline in some metro area. The article has also mentioned that rise of wholesale inventories. All in all, this article is said to tackle how mortgage interest rates affects the prices of housings.
The second article chosen in this report provides information about the review on the fraud problem about loan mortgages. Herein, the article highlights the errors of the report made by Mortgage Asset Research Institute of the income loan mortgages which is more than 50% in 60% of the 50 loan cases. In this article, the author has given emphasis on one specific flavour of fraud which is the fraud for profit. Accordingly, the report made by MBA has been misleading since there is other kind of mortgage fraud which is the fraud for housing in which the loaner winds up with a more expensive asset than its financial standing within which the borrower is entitled with.
The article also gives attention to some ambiguous types of mortgage misbehaviour or fraud and one of these instances is noted out of proportion to its occurrence, in which the mortgage broker who exaggerates the income of the borrowers to sell a bigger mortgage and win the borrower a larger commission. It can be said that the article has been able to provide information about the negative impact or effect of these mortgage misbehaviour or mortgage fraud especially to the borrowers.
The third article in this paper gives emphasis on the concept of stable-value funds. According to the article stable-value funds is not the context for young people to stash the majority of their longer-term retirement assets. Herein, the labor department has been noted that stable-value funds may be used through the hybrids of fixed-income investments and insurance polices and also provides a good parking place of savings. The article has mentioned that stable-value funds are not mutual funds since they are not regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. These funds typically composed of a short-term bond portfolio which is wrapped with insurance contract. Because of this, stable-value funds have higher expense rations than money-market funds and provide lower yields than the conventional funds. The article has also given insightful details on the similarities of stable-value funds and bank certificates of deposits. Moreover, the article also highlights the importance of stable-value funds for investors. It also provides examples on how stable-value funds can be useful for saving and protecting an individual’s money. Although, it has been mentioned that this fund is a complex alternative, the investors still has the assurance that their savings are safe and secured. All in all, it can be said that each of the three articles has been able to provide some mortgage theories and contexts which are important for borrowers and investors.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Hassle Free moving
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Monday, November 10, 2008
Bernadeth joined SOTM contest
PRIZES
- $ 10 Paypal Cash
- 500 Entrecard Credits
- 88×31 or 468×60 Banner Ad 1 Month - http://xoxjanellexox.net
By the way, this SOTM will be decided by PTS SYSTEM. Meaning the contender with the most number of points will be awarded as SOTM December.
WAYS TO GAIN POINTS
1. Subscribe via email. - 10 pts.
2. Favorite these blogs on Technorati : 1, 2, 3 and 4 - 5 pts each.
3. Make a referral banner - 15 pts.
*You can make as many but it will only be counted as one.
4. Link me in your blog roll - 5pts.
5. Make a post about the contest - 5 pts.
*You can ask your friends to help you with this as long as they are NOT participating in the contest. Also, blog posts on day-old blogs will receive 0 pt.
You can submit your entries by sending an email to phinkness[at]gmail[dot]com.
It will be a PTS system, whoever has the most no. of points will win the contest it will end on November 30 and the winner will be announced on December 1.
Refer by: Bernadeth *post this to your blog too, pls?*
P.S email me the link url of the entry. Thanks.
--
Bernadeth @ http://lofty-dreams.net
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Content Management System
In a business organisation, content management system can help the management to store, control, version and publish any documents of the industry including operator’s manuals for technical staffs, news articles, technical and non-technical manuals, marketing leaflets and sales guides. The content which is being managed may also include image media files, computer files, web content, electronic documents and audio files. In an individual like me, content management system is very useful for my audio and image media and other computer files. Content management system has many forms and types depending on the needs of the individuals or the needs of the business (Content Manager, 2008). It is noted that each vendor of the software sees that the content management is considered from their product perspective. In this regard, an individual and an organisation must be able to choose the most appropriate content management system software available in the market,
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Situational Analysis: Analytical Tools
Internal:
Marketing Mix (4P’s Product, Price, Place, Promotion)
Product
- Description and assessment of the company’s product lines, their features and function
Price
- Description and assessment of the company’s pricing strategy
Place
- Description and assessment of the company’s distribution channels (e.g. direct selling, online retailing)
Promotion
- Description and assessment of the company’s marketing strategy (e.g. advertisements, media channels)
SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
Strengths
* Organizational strengths
- Skills and abilities enabling an organization to conceive of and implement strategies.
* Distinctive competencies
- Useful for competitive advantage and superior performance.
* Sustained competitive advantage
- Occurs when a distinctive competence cannot be easily duplicated and is what remains after all attempts at strategic imitations have ceased.
Weaknesses
* Organizational weaknesses are skills and capabilities that do not enable an organization to choose and implement strategies that support its mission.
* Weaknesses can be overcome by:
- investments to obtain the strengths needed.
- modification of the organization’s mission so it can be accomplished with the current workforce.
Opportunities
* Areas in the organization’s environment that may generate high performance.
Threats
* Areas in the organization’s environment that make it difficult for the organization to achieve high performance.
BCG Matrix
* A method of evaluating businesses relative to the growth rate of their market and the organization’s share of the market.
* The matrix classifies the types of businesses that a diversified organization can engage as:
• “Dogs” have small market shares and no growth prospects.
• “Cash cows” have large shares of mature markets.
• “Question marks” have small market shares in quickly growing markets.
• “Stars” have large shares of rapidly growing markets
Text Box: MARKET GROWTH (CASH USAGE)Text Box: HIGHText Box: LOW
• BCG matrix suggests
- Hold stars;
- Sell off dogs; and
- Milk cash cows for funds to
- Invest in question marks
• BCG matrix assumptions:
- Cash cows have lower costs than industry competitors, based on their superior position on their industry’s learning curve.
- Cash cows generate higher cash flows but have fewer investment opportunities than other businesses in the portfolio.
- The excess funds of cash cows are allocated into investments in new businesses to promote their growth.
- The firm has the entrepreneurial capability to grow the startup to dominance in its market.
- The firm has the general management talent to retain the value of the dominant startup as its industry matures.
- New cash cows are sufficiently successful to support a new round of new business development.
External:
Porter’s 5 Forces Model
* Rivalry/Competition
- typically the most powerful all forces
- is the threat of established firms competing away their economic profits
- the big factor that determines the strength of rivalry is how actively and aggressively rivals employ various weapons of competition in order to acquire a stronger market position and bigger sales.
Some sources of strong Rivalry:
• Large number and similar size of competing firms.
• Lack of product differentiation.
• Rivals are active in making fresh moves to increase sales and market share.
• Buyer demand grows slowly.
• When rivals have diverse strategies and objectives.
* Entrants
- the threat on entrants are dependent on barriers of entry
- the threat on entrants is low when barriers of entry are high
A barrier to entry is any factor that
- the threat on entrants are dependent on barriers of entry
- Increases the costs born by potential entrants (relative to incumbents), after they enter the market
- Decreases the market share potential entrants might receive upon entering the industry
Common Examples of Barriers of Entry:
• Trade restrictions (tariffs, quotas, voluntary export restraints, infant industry protection, embargoes)
• Government regulation of industries
• Industry certification boards (CPAs, Actuaries)
• Difficulties in gaining access to distribution channels.
• Strong brand preferences and customer loyalty.
• Inability to gain access to specialized technology.
* Buyers
- this factor pertains to the power of the buyers over the producer/company
Sources of Buyer Power:
• Many substitutes are available.
• Products sold to customers are undifferentiated
• The importance or value of the product to the buyer.
• Buyer concentration (few/many).
• Product demand.
* Suppliers
- this factor pertains to the power of the suppliers over the producer/company.
Sources of Supplier Power:
• Product demand.
• Supplier industry is highly concentrated.
• Suppliers are not threatened by substitutes.
• Supplier products are highly differentiated.
• Short supply of needed inputs (e.g. materials, technology, labor).
* Substitutes
- this factor pertains to the availability of product alternatives to the market
- the threat of the substitute factor increases when available alternatives are high
Threat of substitutes is higher when:
• Good substitutes are readily available or new ones are emerging.
• Substitutes are lower priced to the performance they deliver.
• Consumers grow more comfortable with using substitutes.
PEST (Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological)
- is an analytical too used to assess the macro environment of the company or business organization
- in order to effectively use this tool, one must know the country where the business is located and/or the location of its aimed international market/s
Political
• Monetary and fiscal policies: Marketing efforts are affected by the level of government spending, the money supply and tax legislation.
• Social legislation and regulations: Legislation against pollution, insider trading etc.
• Government relationships with industries: subsidies in agricultural, shipbuilding, and passenger rail transportation etc. Deregulation continues to have an effect on financial institutions, public utilities and telecommunications etc.
Examples of political factors involved in US marketing:
To regulate competition:
- Sherman Antitrust Act (1890). Prohibits monopolies and combinations in restraint of trade.
- Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act (1914). Prohibits unfair competition.
- Lanham Trademark Act (1946). Regulates brands and trademarks.
- Various deregulation laws:
• Natural Gas Policy Act (1978)
• Airline Deregulation Act (1978)
• Drug Price Competition and Patent Restoration Act (1984)
To Protect Consumers:
- Pure Food and Drug Act (1906). Regulates labeling of food and drugs and prohibits manufacture or marketing of adulterated food or drugs. Amended in 1938 by Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act.
- Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (1966). Regulates packaging and labeling.
- Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act (1966, 1969). Require manufacturers to label cigarettes as being hazardous to health and prohibit TV advertising of cigarettes.
- Children’s Television Act (1990). Limits the number of minutes of advertising that can be shown on programs designed for children.
Economic
- pertains to the income, employment and other related factors of the market (in order for the market to support the product, they must have the money and willingness to buy it)
- also includes the current economic status of the country and its past crises
Socio-cultural
- refers to lifestyles, values and beliefs.
- consumer behavior (e.g. consumers emphasis on the quality of life rather than on the quantity of goods consumed
- social issues (e.g. changing gender roles: increasing number of two-income households, a growing number of “house husbands”, women’s attitudes towards careers, shopping and products continue to evolve).
Example of socio-cultural analysis:
• A premium on time: consumers with less time are willing to pay for greater convenience, e.g. ease of preparation of food; less learning time for using a new computer; convenient locations and store hours; and internet shopping etc.
• Physical Fitness and Health: Participation in fitness activities from aerobics and yoga is on the rise. A large number of consumers have become more interested in diets for weight loss; foods low in salt, additives and cholesterol; and foods high in vitamins, minerals and fiber content.
Technological
- has a tremendous impact on people’s lifestyles, consumption patterns, and economic well being, e.g. airplanes, plastics, televisions, computers, internet, antibiotics and video games.
- technological breakthroughs can affect the markets:
– Starting entirely new industries, e.g. computers, lasers, and robots.
– Radically altering, or virtually destroying, existing industries, e.g. computers replace typewriters.
– Stimulating markets and industries not related to the new technology. New home appliances and microwavable foods give people additional time in which to engage other activities.
Monday, November 3, 2008
MANSARI
I know you can think of me as stupid, but I l0ve him and I can no longer wait to finally be with him. I guess, that's the true meaning of love, accepting the person in spite and despite of everything. Now, I am happy that my decision really turned out well. I mean, we are still together, though we have faced many struggles. We have our share of quarrels, disagreement and there comes time that we almost broke up because of third part. But we are still together and I know that its him whom I want to share my life with and its him whom I want to grow old and build a family with.
As i always say i love you nie, always forever and more.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
PAGE RANK
I am really surprised. I admit I am ignoring this but for now, i think I'll do more updates here.. Just random blog. I think I'll just make it more academically inclined or something that's is relevant to academic and technical writing.
Thanks for all those visitors of this blog. ahehe..





