The OSI model Essay Example for Free

The OSI model Essay Question: Write a 2-3 page paper describing the OSI model and how it relates to a network. Your response should include answers to the following: †¢ On which layers of the OSI model do WAN protocols operate? †¢ What are some of these protocols? †¢ On which OSI layers do switches and routers operate? †¢ If routers reside at more than one layer, what is the difference between the OSI layers? Introduction: The OSI model was introduced in 1984. Although it was designed to be an abstract model, the OSI model remains a practical framework for todays key network technologies like Ethernet and protocols like IP. The OSI model defines internetworking in terms of a vertical stack of seven layers. The upper layers of the OSI model represent software that implements network services like encryption and connection management. The lower layers of the OSI model implement more primitive, hardware-oriented functions like routing, addressing, and flow control. In the OSI model, data communication starts with the top layer at the sending side, travels down the OSI model stack to the bottom layer, then traverses the network connection to the bottom layer on the receiving side, and up its OSI model stack. How OSI model relates to a network: Information being transferred from a software application in one computer system to a software application in another must pass through the OSI layers. For example, if a software application in System A has information to transmit to a software application in System B, the application program  in System A will pass its information to the application layer (Layer 7) of System A. The application layer then passes the information to the presentation layer (Layer 6), which relays the data to the session layer (Layer 5), and so on down to the physical layer (Layer 1). At the physical layer, the information is placed on the physical network medium and is sent across the medium to System B. The physical layer of System B removes the information from the physical medium, and then its physical layer passes the information up to the data link layer (Layer 2), which passes it to the network layer (Layer 3), and so on, until it reaches the application layer (Layer 7) of System B. Finally, the application layer of System B passes the information to the recipient application program to complete the communication process. Interaction Between OSI Model Layers A given layer in the OSI model generally communicates with three other OSI layers: the layer directly above it, the layer directly below it, and its peer layer in other networked computer systems. The data link layer in System A, for example, communicates with the network layer of System A, the physical layer of System A, and the data link layer in System B. The following figure illustrates this example. Figure : OSI Model Layers Communicate with Other Layers On which layers of the OSI model do WAN protocols operate? A WAN protocols is a data communication protocols which is use in the data communications network that covers a relatively broad geographic area and that often uses transmission facilities provided by common carriers, such as telephone companies. WAN Protocol in WAN technologies, generally function at the lower three layers of the OSI reference model which layers are as following: †¢ Physical layer †¢ Data link layer, and †¢ Network layer. Following figure illustrates the relationship between the common WAN technologies and the OSI model. Figure : OSI Model Layers and WAN Technology specification What are some of these protocols? some protocols which are also operated in the WAN technology are PPP, X.25 etc. On which OSI layers do switches and routers operate? The Network Layer of the OSI model is responsible for establishing paths for data transfer through the network and router are the devices which are used to establishes the path for data transfer. So, routers operate at the Network Layer. And Data Link Layer of the OSI model is responsible for communications between adjacent network nodes. Hubs and switches operate at the Data Link Layer. If routers reside at more than one layer, what is the difference between the OSI layers? Routers generally do not reside at more than one layer, because the router devices are operated in the network layer and they can apply the data link headers when they switch the packet interface and put the signals at the physical layer wires . In this way the routers do work on three different levels, but each job is separate and distinct per layer.

Key Features of Business Process Management

Key Features of Business Process Management Key Features Of Business Process Management Suite: BPMS Vendors And Core Functions Reviewed. Introduction Organisations seek to improve their business process by making them more efficient, real time, automation and agile. The business demand was met with a suite of technologies, ranging from groupware and office automation, to workflow and more currently, BPM technologies (Bandara,Wasana and Indulska ). Finding a vendor and which tool to use that can be very daunting exercises. One the other hand, vendors introduced innovative ways to meet their customers demands. Gartner (Feb 2009) predicts that through 2012, managers and consultants will develop process centric methods and disciplines analogous to those used in territorial and function organization. This paper will review features are included in the BPMS suite. Discuss few vendors that are in the Gartner Major Quadrant, functions of BPMN, BPEL which are languages or execution standards that support a BPMS tool. Description Of Business Process Management Suite (BPMS) A BPMS is an integrated collection of software that enables the control and management discipline of business process (Gartner 2009). BPM enable-technologies have existed for so many years as point products supporting explicit control of particular aspect of a process, such as human workflow, document and image routing, system system interaction patterns (Garter 2009). The appearance of integrated BPM- enable technology is part of disaggregation of application software and is an example of the trend toward building software systems from small â€Å"chunks.† BPM-enabling technologies are available as separate specialty tools, integrated BPMSs, and are being adder to some major application packages (Janelle B. Hill, Jim Sinur, David Flint, Michael James Melenovsky, 2006) For some vendors it is a lucrative profitable business. Gartner research shows that the BPMS market will have a compound annual growth of more than 24 % from 2006 2011 (Janelle B. Hill, Jim Sinur, David Flint, Michael James Melenovsky, 2006) Business Process Management Suite Architecture BPMS has been divided into four layers; Middleware/Application, Engines, Utilities and Knowledge (Paul Harmon). There are no standards set on what should be included in the business process management suite. Some companies look for tools that are workflow centric, application integration or decision centric (Bptrends). BPMS products need to be able to manage the access of other application. Few BPMS products can handle this function; they have to rely on existing middleware and application server products to provide support (Paul Harmon). Rules Engine The heart of the BPMS product consists of the engine that manages the runtime execution of the business process instance (Paul Harmon). Rules Engine execute rules that abstract business policies and decision tables from the underlying applications, and make available more flexi process changes (Gartner 2009). When a decision point is reached, the rule engine will determine which business rule apply and then execute them to determine the appropriate decision (Paul Harmon). If customer applies for a loan, business rule will determine if the loan is granted or not, based on the customers credit history. Business rules are managed by tools called Business Rule Management. Workflow Engine Workflow is one of capabilities delivered with BMPS. Some important parts of the workflow are poorly understood. The BPMS helps reviles better workflows by making their process execution visible and audited (Garter 2009). Workflow management improved things not only by managing the flow of work, but also digitising the information, thereby making the process as automated and paperless as possible (Ryan K.L. Ko,Stephen S.G. Lee,Eng Wah Lee) EAI Engine Enterprise application integration (EAI) tool was developed to interface between systems. Paul Harmon in his book says that, â€Å"EAI engine manages the calling and coordination of the software application required for the execution of a process â€Å"(Bptrends) Modelling tools Popular process modelling tools that are supported by BPMS is UML and BPMN. BPMN defines a Business Process Diagram (BPD), which is based on a flowcharting technique tailored for creating graphical models of business process operation. BPMN was first released in May 2004 by Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI.org), the graphical, flowchart-based BPMN is a recent BP modelling language that is already gaining wide acceptance (Koskela and Haajanen, 2007). 1. Execution standards Execution standards enable business designs to be deployed in BPMS and their instances executed by the BPMS engine. 1.1 BPEL The Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) is the short name for BPEL4WS (Paul Harmon). BPEL is the currently the most popular and influential execution standard in the market. It is used together with Web Service Definition Language (WSDL) and other related technologies. This means that BPEL is used to define how the business process is built from invocations of existing web services and the kind of interaction of the process with external participants (Ryan K.L. Ko). BPEL is more widely adopted in several prominent software suites (e.g. IBM Websphere, BeA AquaLogic BPM Suite, SAP Netweaver, etc.) (Ryan K.L. Ko,Stephen S.G. Lee,Eng Wah Lee) Strengths of BPEL (Ryan K.L. Ko,Stephen S.G. Lee,Eng Wah Lee) 1. focuses on process that low level programming constraints 2. It subscribes to the web services paradigm 3. Its popular most vendors are using it. Weaknesses 1. Complex syntax and very difficult to implement its XML representation is difficult and readable to the trained eye 2. Does not example human involvement in business process well Workflow management systems have always able to model human participation in business process (Ryan K.L. Ko,Stephen S.G. Lee,Eng Wah Lee) 1.2 BPML The Business Process Modelling language is an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) process definition language that describes the structural representation of a process and the semantics of its execution ( Have,2005). BPML was designed for business processes to be executed in contemporary web service based BPMS (e.g. Intalio BPM) (Ryan K.L. Ko,Stephen S.G. Lee,Eng Wah Lee) Strengths of BPML 1. Zero code programming programmers dont need to dwell on coding but defining business process. 2. Encourages usability and scalability Weaknesses 1. BPML has its limitation ( Shapiro, 2002, Smith, 2004,Koskela and Haajanen, 2007) Garners Magic Quadrant for Business process management Suite (Janelle B. Hill, Jim Sinur, David Flint, Michael James Melenovsky, 2006) Gartner ‘s 2009 Magic Quadrant depicts the relative strength of the top 22 vendors offering multiregional, cross industry business management suits (BPMSs) . Magic Quadrant is one of the several tools that clients can use to evaluate BPMS market. Gartners Magic Quadrant for BPMS has been recognised by vendors that they reference to it in their websites. Leaders offers products and services that best enable all of the use cases and have customer references for each. Niche players focus on a specific area, where they have very good functionality to offer, but they do not have a comprehensive BPMS Suite Visionaries develop new and comprehensive concepts regarding architecture and functionality Challengers- companies in that have undergone major changes in their organisations and products that they offer. For the vendors to qualify to be placed in the leaders section of the quadrant have to meet all the required characteristics of the BPMS. Characteristics of BPMS (Janelle B. Hill, Jim Sinur, David Flint, Michael James Melenovsky, 2006) Following are functions that are delivered in the BPMS. BPMS tools must have all these functionality in order to meet the changing marker and user needs. Gartner suggest that in order for the vendor to be a leader in the marker, all these capabilities must be met. â€Å"Support the modelling and analysis of business processes, including all aspects of workflow: tasks,roles,decisions,approvals,reviews,escalations,collaborations,flows,rules,policies,forms and other documents, events, goals, objectives and scenarios. BPMS is not only an automate tool but support documents and ( check the source ) Support process change in the design and the execution of transactions, with auditing. ( support this statement) Coordinate any type of interaction pattern among users, system task and information resource, regardless the location of these resources. Interaction patterns include human to human, system to system, human to system, human to content and content interdependencies. Enable participants to manipulate and manage structured and unstructured information within the process, not just as referenced attachments to their tasks. Support the definition, manipulation and management of business rules by business and IT users. Support user and group collaboration on work items in the process (in real time and offline). Support the monitoring, reporting, analysis and notification of activities and events affect work, using data about completed and in progress transactions (in the real time and offline). Support process simulation and optimisation of desired business outcomes by using real-time, historical and estimated data. Interoperate with external software assets, especially SOA web services, and include these in the end to end business orchestration. Enable management of all process artefacts (models, process definitions, rule definitions, service definitions. Executables and more) throughout the entire process life cycle Include packaged business content, such as sample process models, rule sets; prebuilt user interfaces (UIs) and composite process frameworks†. BPMS vendors Only selected vendors from the Gartner Magic Quadrant that are reviewed below:- Intalio Enterprise And Community Edition BPMS Intalio community edition is the first that offers an open source reliable BPMS. This packaged is scaled for small companies. Intalio is lacking distribution channel and efficient marketing. (Janelle B. Hill , Nikos Drakos) Strengths In this unstable harsh economic climate, open source is gaining more attention. Intalio has a unique business model that uses open-source content, licensing and community marketing. The intelligence use of using open source business model, combined with adoption of industry standards, has resulted in more that 500, 00 companies downloading Intalio BPMS community Edition (open -source code). Intalio has more that 500 customers in 50 countries; six of these companies are located in South Africa. ( www.intalio.com) Caution Advanced features for business rules engine, BAM (Business Activity Monitoring) and ECM (Enterprise Content Management) are only available in the commercial Enterprise Edition. Companies that start using Intalio Community Edition should be prepared to send their employees on training as Intalio is not offering consulting services. IBM BPMS (Janelle B. Hill, Jim Sinur, David Flint, Michael James Melenovsky, 2006) According to Gartners Magic Quadrant, IBM is a leader in the BPMS. It meets most of the required capabilities to make it a leader. IBM suite contains a comprehensive set of role based capabilities that enable customers to model, simulate, run, rapidly change, monitor and optimise core business processes. IBM BPMS tools reviewed in this paper are: Business Leader widget which is available through IBM BPM Blueworks, WebSphere Business Modeller and Business monitor. Business Leader widgets: WebSphere business publishing server Enable users to share process models and BPM assets through a Web browser. Enable users to publish an array of BPM assets including process models, WebSphere Business Monitor dashboard designs, and user interface forms. WebSphere Business Modeller Business Analyst can document , test and share business process Simulate process runs and identified inefficiency and bottlenecks Define key performance indicators and business metrics for in the WebSphere Business Monitoring WebSphere Business Modeller can generate IT implementation artifacts for WebSphere Process Server and facilitate human centric- process in a server environment. WebSphere Business Monitor WebSphere Business Monitor is an integrated business activity monitoring (BAM) environment that provides end to end visibility of business activity on WebSphere Process Server, WebSphere MQ Workflow, FileNet ® Business Process Manager, and other enterprise application.  · WebSphere Business Monitor development toolkit provides templates and a test environment to further accelerate time to value  · Fully configurable dashboards that shows you what you only need to see  · Deliver alerts to email, pagers or PDAs Strengths IBM has marshalled all its resources including Global services, university, IBM staff and families, outreach industry and its partner ecosystem to accelerate user adoption of BPM as a management discipline. SOA companies has benefited its BPMS by showing how SOA and BPM work better together Has a vision for exposing process artifacts and data more directly to business professionals Caution IBM has multiple of BMPS products, it fulfils its BPM strategy through federated interoperability across two basic offerings augmented by extended offerings. Broader software divisions acquisition strategy will continue to augment IBMs BPMS vision and product road map. Customers are cautioned to monitor the integration of new technologies Individual products in the suite have strong and rich functionality. And in combination, the permutations of configuration possibilities are overwhelming. Customers usually require help from a service provider. WebSphere dynamic Business Process has few references. Lombardi BPMS Lombardis BPMS, called Teamworks , is best known for human centric process that change dynamically based on business factors such as dispute resolution, product returns, tax reconciliation, loan origination, or supply chain management. Lombardi describes Teamworks as focused on â€Å"operational processes,† meaning complex flows spanning organisation and system boundaries. Lombardi has customers in almost all sector; Financial Services, Government, HealthCare, Insurance, Life Sciences, Manufacturing, Retail, Telecommunications and companies like Ford Motors. Its evident why Lombardi is on the top leaders in Gartners magic quadrant. Its not surprising why companies like IBM have shown interest in it. (http://www.lombardisoftware.com/bpm-software-customers.php) Lombardi BPMS Tools These are the following tools that Lombardi is offering:- Lombardi Teamworks 7 Enterprise offers a complete Business Process Management Suite supporting modelling and simulation analysis, human workflow, integration, business rules and performance management. Lombardi Blueprint: Is a hosted web- based environment that provides an extremely business friendly front end to BPMN modelling and supports team collaboration. Means that Blueprint is a cloud- based process discovery and documentation platform that can be accessed from any browser. Blueprint models can be exported to Teamworks for implementation. Lombardi Services Included the entire range of BPM enablement services covering core competencies; Process analysis, process implementation, process optimisation, reporting and performance management, architecture and infrastructure and program leadership and governance. ( Bruce Silver Associates) Strengths Lombardi has keen insights into the functions required by each individual user role that is involved in business process life cycle. User friendly modelling tool, making business analysts life easier. Continuous process improvement programs where empowering business users or business analysts is key. Customer references are among the most advanced in BPM maturity. Blueprint which is a cloud based, appeals to business managers and strategic planners who seek for high process diagramming and knowledge capture. (Janelle B. Hill, Jim Sinur, David Flint, Michael James Melenovsky, 2006) Caution Customers with smaller deals will find it challenging to command Lombardis attention. And its case management is not strong as its competitors. (Janelle B. Hill, Jim Sinur, David Flint, Michael James Melenovsky, 2006) Metastorm BPM vs 7.6 (Janelle B. Hill, Jim Sinur, David Flint, Michael James Melenovsky, 2006) The Metastorm BPM suite provides an open standards based framework for integration, enabling organization to easily integrate external applications and data with Metastorm BPM processes (Metastorm). Strengths In 2008 customer experience was excellent. Enable Metastorm BPM processes to access SAP functionality and data during the development and execution of business processes Strong heritage in providing BPM software based on Microsoft technologies Product easy to use, even for non technical users. Caution Some users have reported support problems outside the U.S. Metastorm has developed a global presence through regional resellers to sell its BPMS and targeted solutions. Customers should understand the scope of the solutions they buy from a reseller and the path to further licensing options to ensure expectations are met. Some customers report difficulties in negotiating pricing and contracts. It may take longer than anticipated to determine the appropriate licensing configuration Conclusion Its been almost a decade since BPMS tools entered the market. Business Process Management (BPM) is the most talked about subject. Yet I have found that information about the tool that support BPM, which is BPMS is not easy to find. Or there is not much information available. I can only imagine how difficult it is for companies to decide what tool best fits their needs. Companies will have to purchase papers from companies like Gartner and Forester. Evidently BPMS is still new in the market. Their standard has not reached maturity. As much as BPEL and BPML are popular standards, their limitation and drawback have major impact in the BPMS. For companies looking to implement BPMS tools in the companies can be very difficult. Companies go to big vendors that can support globally and have customers references. Word of mouth is a big deal. With the help of Gartners Magic Quadrant, companies can save time to search for suitable products that can meet their needs. For companies who seek to explore the BPMS tools, or student who want to know what is about. Open -source vendors like Intalio and others who can offer their products for free. Its very interesting to see how this marking is growing. Vendors like IBM purchasing smaller vendors, but who are excelling to the BPMS field in order to improve their products. University of Cape Town ICTS department is planning to implement Enterprise Content Management (ECM). Its going to be an interesting observation to see how they will choose the vendor. Will the UCT look within the companies that they have been dealing with like Microsoft SharePoint. Or they will look for a new vendor, how they will base their findings. References (Harmon, www.bptrends.com) ; Janelle B. Hill, Jim Sinur, David Flint, Michael James Melenovsky, 2006. Gartners Position on Business Process Management, 1-26 Bandara, Wasana and Indulska, Marta and Chong, Sandy and Sadiq, Shazia (2007) Major Issues in Business Process Management: An Expert Perspective. In Proceedings ECIS 2007 The 15th European Conference on Information Systems, pages pp. 1240-1251, St Gallen, Switzerland. Ryan K.L. Ko,Stephen S.G. Lee,Eng Wah Lee. Business process management (BPM) standards: a survey, 1-47. Available: www.emeraldinsight.com/1463-7154.htm

Governmental Opposition of Cloning :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument Essays

Governmental Opposition of Cloning Human cloning is a prospect no longer left to the fantastic realm of science fiction novels; rather it is a modern possibility. In 1997, embryologists in Scotland cloned the first mammal, a sheep named Dolly. Shortly thereafter, scientists in the United States cloned a set of monkeys. These scientific advancements and the ethical dilemmas they pose quickly grabbed the attention of the President, Congress and the American public. In its desire to allay anxieties raised by human cloning, Congress proposed the Human Cloning Prohibition Act ( S. 1601, or the â€Å" Bill † ) (Cannon and Haas 637 ). Unfortunately, in their haste to pass federal legislation, the Bill’s drafters ignored important procedural safeguards, employed vague statutory language, and created a bill with significantly diverse implications. After exploring the ethical dilemmas associated with human cloning, the Recent Development critiqued S. 1601 and concluded that congress should craft more suitable legislation. One of the ethical concerns prompting anti-cloning legislation is that human individuality may be undermined if parents can custom order the traits and other characteristics of their children. In the article, â€Å" The Human Cloning Prohibition Act: Did Congress Go Too Far ? †, the authors Cannon and Haas have cited the views of President Clinton on this issue. President Clinton fears that human cloning â€Å" could lead to misguided and malevolent attempts to select certain traits, even to create certain kinds of children ---- to make children objects instead of cherished individuals. † ( Cannon and Haas 638 ). In 1997, within days of the announcement of Dolly’s successful birth, President Clinton instituted a ban on federal funding of human cloning research. President Clinton further ordered the National Bioethics Advisory Commission to report on whether the United States should either regulate human cloning or completely ban it with laws similar to those passed in Belgium, Britain and many other countries. Soon thereafter congress attempted to pass federal legislation. The Bill, as proposed by Senators Christopher Bond, Bill Frist and Trent Lott, prohibits any person or entity from using human somatic cell transfer technology and from importing an embryo produced through such technology.

Racial Prejudices :: essays research papers

Racial Prejudice What is prejudice? - set of learned beliefs and values that lead a person to be biased against other members of other groups. -prejudices are convenient(bequem,brauchbar,passend) and inaccurate. ----> people are not seen as individuals, biased people label other people to special groups -prejudice is mostly based on inaccurate information about people Prejudice originates from three common parts(these parts make up a prejudiced belief): 1.Generalisations -a very broad , simple statement about a group of people -here is perhaps an appropiate point to provide an example:"All catholics" or when the word "they" figures strongly -key words for generalisations are "all" and "they" --->generalisations are also very inaccurate , because we are not justified in saying that all members of these group or race share the same characteristic features. G. are unfair descriptions of people and they are mostly based on very incomplete information. Having met one member from a different group with an extraordinary behaviour ,we often assume that all mebers of this group show this same extraordinary behaviour. 2.Stereotyping -exaggerated,often negative image of a particular group of people -a stereotyp often contains a grain of truth , but this grain of truth is combined with an exaggerated and undue image of this group. Ethnocentricity -there are two types of prejudices: 1.prejudice against all outsiders-->your group is the only right and proper,all other groups are excludud,other groups are portrayed as being strange and inferior. 2.prejudice against specific groups----> you are able to cope with some other groups,but you disapprove a special group of their religion-->that's why you have a prejudice against this particular group.But this kind of prejudice does not express that your religion is the best and that all other religions are worser than your own one.You are only biased against this particular religion. ---->prejudice against all other groups is called ethnocentricity Prejudice and discrimination Discrimination: -Speaking of Discrimination against a special group we mean the combination of prejudice with actions - In this sense the word "discriminating" means that we are treating a group in a negative way. -the effect of people are discriminated against:loss in terms of money ,housing,education -the forms of Discrimination: 1.verbal abuse(anti-locution)--->through specific terms--->undermines their confidence-feeling of "I am not desired in this society" 2.Discrimination in jobs--->Refusal of jobs to a group-->disadvantage in terms of jobs,income,personal decline. 3.Attack on property-->destruction of cars-->Expulsion because there is a lack of physical security 4.Physical attack---->Assaults on group members;stabs;deaths--->further lack of security;anger;frustration;formation of self-defence groups 5.Genocide--->mass murder of all--->extermination of whole families and cultural groups Racial prejudice or racism -always aimed at special groups -racism bases on the belief that

Amazon.com Essay -- Biography, Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos, founder, chief executive officer, president, and board chairman of the mega Internet store Amazon.com is considered one of the most innovative entrepreneurs of the e-commerce industry. At the age of 31, with just a computer science degree, little funding from his family, and a challenging idea, Bezos set out to pursuit his entrepreneurial vision of a internet bookstore which had turn into the biggest online retailer of our times (Jeff Bezos, 2007). Born in January 12, 1964, Bezos demonstrated intense scientific and mechanical interests since an early age. Parents, Miguel Bezos, a Cuban immigrant engineer, and Jackie Gise Jorgensen were impressed when their three-year-old Jeff dismantled his crib apart using a screwdriver (Business, 2006). Bezos’ early age was not different, attending River Oaks Elementary in a Houston Texas suburb while playing scientist from their parent’s garage. From the garage laboratory Bezos assembled an electric alarm to keep his younger cousins away from his workstation. Bezos spent most of the summers at his grandfather’s ranch at Cotulla, Texas were he would display his mechanical skills by repairing tractors, windmills, among other tasks (Jeff Bezos, 2007). In late 1970’s the family moved to Miami, Florida were Bezos attended Miami Palmetto Senior High School. The young man continued his early achievement when he was named valedictorian of his senior class in 1982, and was awarded with the Silver Knight Award from the Miami Herald (Business, 2006). Easily accepted, Bezos attended Princeton University and graduated in 1986 with a degree in computer science and electrical engineering, earning Phi Beta Kappa membership in the process (Business, 2006). Bezos’ entrepreneurial personality... ...e (Esten, 2007). Bezos entrepreneurial visions when further that Amazon when in 2004 he helped found Blue Origin, a human spaceflight tourism start-up company. Recently, the 43 years old capitalist had been using a lot of his time and business knowledge to philanthropic work, heading his own foundation and addressing important issue to the whole world (Jeff Bezos, 2007). Jeff Bezos have proved to be a very successful businessman with an incomparable entrepreneurial vision for opportunities. He led a small garage start-up e-bookstore to become the biggest online retailer in the world. During the process he reaffirmed his position as a great leader, manager, and human being. Recognized by multiple institutions in the business world and out of it, Bezos deserves the respect of the global society for having revolutionized the way the world shops online.

Case Study: Not Just Another Outdoor Company

THE HONG KONG POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY MM2021: Management & Organization |Case Study: Not Just Another Outdoor Company | Case Scenario The company we are discussing this time, based in Portland, Oregon, was the brainchild of a small group of executives who left big-time jobs at Patagonia, Nike, and Adidas. These individuals shared a belief that â€Å"in addition to generating a profit, companies have an equal responsibility to create positive social and environmental change†.Putting their beliefs into action, the group formed Nau (which is Maori for â€Å"Welcome! Come in†). And Nau is not just another outdoor company! When deciding what Nau was going to be like and how it was going to do business, the founders know they did not want to do things the way they would always been done by traditional businesses. CEO Chris Van Dyke said, â€Å"We started with a clean whiteboard. We believed every single operational element in our business was an opportunity to turn traditiona l business notions inside out, integrating environmental, social, and economic factors†.From design to sales to finances, Nau is driven by these factors. Everything is Nau’s operation has been approached with a sustainability and social justice â€Å"Filter†. In the design area, the company, in partnership with suppliers, developed 24 of its 32 fabrics to be more sustainable and to combine performance and visual appeal. Each supplier, manufacturer, and even Nau itself is bound by a code of conduct. To ensure that all parties are living up to the standards, their actions are overseen by an independent, nonprofit auditing and research firm.In the sales area, the way the company retails its product is also unique. Using a concept it calls a â€Å"Web-front†, Nau has combined the efficiency of the Web with the intimacy of a gallery-like boutique. In the â€Å"store†, customers can try on clothes, but they use self-service kiosks to purchase from the Web . Because in-store inventory is greatly reduced, the stores are small (2,400 squares feet compared to the standard 4,000-plus-square-foot outdoor retail store). This approach saves operating expenses because less energy and fewer materials are used. Good for the planet†¦good for the business.Finally, Nau has a unique financial approach it calls â€Å"aggressive altruism†. The company has pledged 5 percent of sales to charitable organizations dedicated to solving crucial environmental and humanitarian problems. The â€Å"philanthropic gold standard† is 1 percent of sales, and the average among all corporations is . 047 percent. But although the amount it gives is unusual what happens with Nau’s dollars is really exceptional: Nau puts the giving decision in the hands of its customers. They are asked to indicate which â€Å"Partners for Change† they would like their 5 percent to go to.Using this â€Å"conscious choice† process, Nau is â€Å"call ing its customers out, daring them to connect the dots†. Discussions: 1. What do you think of Nau’s approach to doing business? Is it being ethical and responsible? Discuss. [pic] Sources: Nau Website, www. nau. com; and P. LaBarre, â€Å"Leap of Faith†, Fast Company, June, 2007, pp. 96-103. Robbins, S. P. and Coulter, M. (2009). Management. Pearson Prentice Hall. ———————– Each student is required to discuss Question 1 as short essay, i. e. 500 words (as 5% of your continuous assessment).

Virtue in Several Dialogues

Plato presents Socrates views on the question whether virtue can be taught in several dialogues, most notably in Protagoras and Meno. In Meno Menon puts the question to Socrates this way: â€Å"Can you tell me, Socrates–can virtue be taught? Or if not, does it come by practice? Or does it come neither by practice nor by teaching, but do people get it by nature, or in some other way?† [35]. Socrates claims to not â€Å"know the least little thing about virtue† and unable to speak as to its qualities. Moreover, he claims to know no one that does. [29]. There follows a discussion as to whether Gorgias, the Sophist, might not be such a person. Both Socrates and Menon know Gorgias' teaching. Menon obviously has a higher opinion of Gorgias' teaching than does Socrates. It is agreed, upon Socrates suggestion, that the conversation should proceed to explore what Menon, not Gorgias, knows about virtue. And so Socrates, puts the question to Menon: â€Å"[W]hat do you say virtue is?† [29] Menon finds â€Å"nothing difficult† in the question and attempts, forthwith, to answer it. But there are complications with the answer, for Menon has suggested that men, slaves, children, women all demonstrate a different kind of virtue, and concludes that there is a virtue â€Å"for doing each sort of work† associated with being a slave, a child, a woman, a free man. Menon's idea of virtue is what we would call role specific. Socrates attempts to show that Menon's initial answer misses the point because it does not show what is common to the virtues of these various actors. If the virtue of men and women, free men and slaves, does not share something in common then it cannot be said to be the same thing and one would necessarily call the one virtue, and the other something else. As Socrates puts it, â€Å"Even if there are many different kinds of them [virtues], they all have one something, the same in all, which makes them virtues.† [30]. Menon accepts Socrates criticism and argues that it is indeed one thing of which he speaks. In order to determine what the common quality of virtue is, Socrates observes that Menon has associated virtue with the ability to manage public affairs well. Socrates now sets out to question Menon on whether virtue would be present in the management of public affairs in the absence of temperance and justice and Menon readily agrees that it would not. Socrates has already disclaimed any personal knowledge of virtue and he has steered Menon away from a discussion of Gorgias' view of virtue. But when Menon fails to provide a persuasive account of his conception of virtue, Socrates poses a question with substantive content. Socrates may know nothing about virtue, but he knows enough to ask whether virtue can be present without temperance and justice. The question suggest that it is Socrates rather than Menon who knows enough about virtue to keep the conversation going. Socrates interrupts the dialogue to make a brief statement about the conversation he has been having with Menon. He distinguishes the conversation he is having with Menon from those where the questioner is â€Å"one of those clever fellow, who just chop logic and argue to win.† Questions such as the one that Socrates and Menon are discussing — whether virtue can be taught? — are best left, says Socrates, to â€Å"friends† who wish to talk together. In such a relationship argues Socrates, â€Å"I must answer more gently and more like friends talking together; and perhaps it is more like friends talking together, not only to answer with truth, but to use only what the one who is questioned admits that he knows.† [34] Socrates, in rapport with Menon, tries to clear up a possible confusion as to whether it is possible to seek that which is bad. Socrates suggests, as he does in other dialogues, that we â€Å"all desire good things.† Menon has responded to Socrates question by saying that one can desire bad things. Socrates tries to clarify this point by asking whether one desires that which is bad because of a mistake, that it is assumed to be bad. But Menon does not pick up on the point and contends that one desires the bad both as a result of a misplaced assumption as to its value and we can also desire the bad even when it is known to be bad. But upon further questions, Menon agrees with Socrates that no one seeks to inflict injury and misery upon himself, and it is injury and misery that are the results of that which is bad. Socrates summary of their agreement goes like this: â€Å"Then it is plain that those who desire bad things are those who don't know what they are, but they desire what they thought were good whereas they really are bad. . . .† [37] Menon has mentioned in passing that virtue consists of the desire of good things and to provide the good. Menon admits that one good thing it is possible to desire is â€Å"to possess gold and silver and public honour and appointments.† [38]. Socrates inquires now whether the virtue of possession of gold and silver must be qualified so that its possession is fair and just. Menon agrees that it is not a virtue to have such possessions if they have been unjustly acquired. On the contrary it would be a vice. â€Å"It is necessary,† Socrates says, â€Å"to add to this getting, justice or temperance or piety or some other bit of virtue, or else it will not be virtue, although it provides good things.† [39] Socrates rebuffs Menon for trying to talk about virtue by looking at it piece by piece and drawing into the discussion a sense of virtue that he has not yet presented. Menon agrees that it is a problem and comments on his reaction to what has gone on: Well now, my dear Socrates, you are just like what I always heard before I met you: always puzzled yourself and puzzling everybody else. And now you seem to me to be a regular wizard, you dose me with drugs and bewitch me with charms and spells, and drown me in puzzledom. I'll tell you just what you are like, if you will forgive a little jest: your looks and the rest of you are exactly like a flatfish and you sting like this stingray–only go near and touch one of those fish and you go numb, and that is the sort of thing you seem to have done to me. [40] Socrates response to Menon's description of his puzzlement is that he himself is â€Å"not clear-headed† when he puzzles others, and that he is â€Å"as puzzled as puzzled can be, and thus I make others puzzled too.† [41]. And where can the conversation go from here? Socrates says, that he wishes to investigate virtue with Menon's help so â€Å"that we may both try to find out what it is.† [41] Socrates argues that there is no such thing as teaching, only remembering. This notion of teaching comes out of Socrates belief in the immortality of the soul. The soul dies but is reborn and thus never destroyed. (This is given by Socrates as a reason for why â€Å"we must live our lives as much as we can in holiness. . . .†) â€Å"Then, since the soul is immortal and often born, having seen what is on earth and what is in the house of Hades, and everything, there is nothing it has not learnt; so there is no wonder it can remember about virtue and other things, because it knew about these before. For since all nature is akin, and the soul has learnt everything, there is nothing to hinder a man, remembering one thing only–which men call learning–from himself finding out all else, if he is brave and does not weary in seeking; for seeking and learning is all remembrance.† [42] After questioning the slave boy about geometry Socrates seeks Menon's concurrence in the proposition that the boy, shown to have been in error about geometry, is better off now, that he too is numbed but has knowledge about the limits of what he knows. By being numbed by the sting of Socrates' conversation the slave has come a step â€Å"onwards, as it seems, to find out how he stands.† [29]. Menon answers yes, when Socrates asked: â€Å"Then do you think he would have tried to find out or to learn what he thought he knew, not knowing, until he tumbled into difficulty by thinking he did not know, and longed to know?† Menon agrees, that he does not think he would and thus gains from being numbed. Menon takes up again his original question, whether virtue can be taught, or one gets it by nature or in some other way. Socrates agrees to proceed but contends that they need a common ground as neither of them can say at this point what virtue is. Socrates has Menon agree that if virtue is knowledge then it can be taught, and if not a knowledge then it cannot be taught. (Conclusion: All that is taught call be called knowledge.)