Movie Piracy is Stealing Essay -- essays research papers

With the growing number of internet users participating in movie piracy, this creates a network of users who no longer need to go the movie theatre or video store to watch a movie. Movie piracy has grown enormously in the past few years making it easier than ever to find box office releases with the simple click of a button. This creates a world where it is okay to steal billions of dollars from movie producers, because most of those participating in piracy see nothing wrong with it. Although there are consequences for downloading copyrighted content, it is nearly impossible to prosecute each user who is downloading a particular movie. Instead of relying on punishing those who are downloading the content, it is most important to make this content unavailable getting rid of this problem altogether. In a recent survey conducted on 3600 internet users in nine countries, it was reported by the Motion Picture Association of America that twenty-four percent of internet users have downloaded a movie over the internet, and seventeen percent of those who hadn’t said they expect to start within the next year (Pruitt). Just about any internet user can easily find and download a movie within a few hours by typing its name into a search engine. With this method being more convenient and less costly than going to the movie theatre, it should not be a surprise that so many people are doing it. â€Å"Only two years ago, it took 72 days to get a highly watchable version of "Finding Nemo" online.† (Hernandez) Today, in the world of movie piracy this would rarely happen though. Most box office releases are available online within a few days or even hours of the box office release. â€Å"Last summer's blockbuster "Spider-Man 2," for example, was downloadable in first-rate form within seven hours of its premiere to the public†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Hernandez). This shows that movie piracy is becoming more important to internet users, and piracy will continue to grow unless something is done about the problem. With the availability of pirated movies being so great, you cannot place all the blame on those who are downloading the files, or buying the bootlegs. The problem is those who make these files available. The website vcdquality.com lists releases of pirated movies, and the source of the release. The most common source for movie releases is CAM or telesync (VCDQuality). This means th... ...g hands, making it almost impossible to determine the source of piracy. For this reason copy protection must be implemented into DVD screeners. With the growth of technology and the other forms of copy protection currently available it is a surprise to me that this has not already been implemented. Napster currently uses a form of copy protection on their music file that does not allow them to be copied or played without the license. If this was implemented into screeners and DVDs in general this would cut down on piracy drastically. With the problem being so widespread and the solution being so straight forward it is a surprise that barely anything has been done to prevent piracy. Security is used in just about every aspect of life, and the problem of piracy is just as extensive as that of shoplifting, Even to use the same security in a movie theatre as you would in a department store makes perfect sense. With security in movie theatres currently being next to nothing and copy protection on DVDs being unheard of, the amount of piracy that occurs should not surprise us. We are living in the digital age where we should expect these types of activities and take the proper action.

Improving Leadership Skills Essay -- Organizational Development, Team

Analytical Paper When seeking to improve leadership skills it is important to become immersed in concepts that foster an environment conducive to high performance teams. Two of these concepts have been discussed in length: Conflict Resolution and Team Building. This essay will discuss the importance of these ideas as they relate to leadership and what aspiring leaders can learn. Second, which of the topic readings create the â€Å"best† model for effective leadership within an organization? Lastly, what impact can be expected on the organization if these ideas are not implemented? All of these are relevant questions that those who aspire to be great leaders must answer. There a several areas of concern when discussing the traits of leadership. One of these areas relates directly to conflict. Every organization will experience conflict. It is up to leaders to resolve conflict that may affect organizations negatively. In doing so there are several approaches to consider in order to insure practical resolution; accommodation, avoidance collaboration, competition, and compromise. Of these options collaboration is cited as having the most benefit to the organization. A leader pursuing resolution through collaboration displays traits that can be identified as qualities associated with effective leadership per the BarOn Emotional Quotient Inventory (BarOn EQ~i), confronting problem employees and building and mending relationships (Wilcox & Rush, 2004, p. 8). Obviously problem employees can create conflict as seen in Dealing with Conflict by Masters and Albright. Dealing with this problem in a collaborative manner communicates the importance of the relatio nship between leadership and the individual with whom the conflict arose. In addition... ...ve to good organizational citizenship (Bolino & Turnley, August 2003, p. 4) Teams who fear conflict will waste time posturing for individual self interest and create greater conflict through â€Å"back-channel† attacks and politics (Lencioni, p. 615). In conclusion, aspiring leaders will find that conflict resolution and effective team building are important factors in building a successful organization. There are important lessons to be learned in the readings Dealing with Conflict and The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. The best model for organizational leadership would have to go to the later by default for lack of a clear outline in the former, but that does not take away from its importance. If any lesson is to be learned it is that very relevant questions can be answered from these examples and to ignore them would be detrimental to an organization and its leader.

Early Childhood Education Diversity Case Study Essay -- Inclusive Earl

Tom is a four year old boy and is attending preschool for the first time. He suffers from a condition called Cerebral palsy. According to Alvarez, (2014), Cerebral palsy (CP) is an abnormality of motor function, the ability to move and control movements and is acquired at an early age, usually less than a year of age. Tom and his parents represent the Rastafarian culture. His parents have long dreadlocks, but his dreadlocks appear to be in the initial growing stage. He is wearing a foot brace that serves as additional support for his body movements. Tom’s parents are eager to have him enrolled in the school, but is faced with a dilemma during the registration process. The teacher clearly demonstrated her lack of experience and the school’s inability to offer an environment that caters to the diverse needs of children. I will be examining the types of discrimination highlighted in the case study and reflect on examples of educational practices that respect and recognize the fundamental rights of children. I have explored numerous readings to validate my statements, perspectives and personal belief. My overall reflection is based on an understanding of the importance in creating an environment that is inclusive and represents diversity. I am deeply saddened that both Tom and his parents first encounter in a learning environment is tarnished by a negative experience. Issues Relating to Discriminatory Practices There are quite a few issues identified in the case study, the focus here emphasizes the importance of recognizing, addressing, and providing acceptable practice. The teacher reveals that the school is a faith school and Tom w... ...ional Research Journal, 27 (1/2), 31-44. Soodak, L. C. (2003). Classroom Management in Inclusive Settings. 42(4), 327-333. Retrieved fromhttp://muse.jhu.edu.library.open.uwi.edu/journals/theory_into_practice/v042/42.4soodak.html Trejack, P. (2010-2011). Highscope in the diverse and inclusive classroom. 29 (2), Retrieved from http://www.highscope.org/file/NewsandInformation/ReSourceReprints/Winter2010-2011/ReSource2010-11Winter_72.pdf Rouse, M. (N.d.). Developing inclusive practices: A role for teachers and teacher education. (16), Retrieved from www.abdn.ac.uk/eitn/uploads/files/issue16/EITN-1-Rouse.pdf‎ Winter, E.D., & O'Raw, P. (2010). Literature review of the principles and practices relating to inclusive education for children with special educational needs. Retrieved from http://www.ncse.ie/uploads/1/ncse_inclusion.pdf Poster Images: Retrieved from: Google

Women in Sons and Lovers

Sons and Lovers, published in 1913, is D. H. Lawrence's third novel. It was his first successful novel and arguably his most popular. Many of the details of the novel's plot are based on Lawrence's own life and, unlike his subsequent novels, this one is relatively straightforward in its descriptions and action. D. H. Lawrence has been always criticized for the content of his novel and his characters. Sons and Lovers is another novel which was even banned for years because of its explicit indications to sexual intercourse and the complex and complicated relationship of mother and sons.Society has a certain code fixed for a mother but Lawrence attempted to portray the mother figure in a quite different way. In fact, Lawrence puts question that to what extent a mother should care for her children and shows what happens if a mother becomes wife-submissive through the character of Gertrude Morel who is also known as Mrs. Morel. This paper would attempt to explore the character of Mrs. Mor el through the feminist point of view. Before discussing Mrs. Morel’s character through the magnifying glass of feminism, it is needed to focus what does feminism means and what does the feminist criticism deal with.The most straightforward definition of feminism says that is a movement for social, cultural, political and economic equality of men and women. It is a campaign against gender inequalities and it strives for equal rights for women. Feminism can be also defined as the right to enough information available to every single woman so that she can make a choice to live a life which is not discriminatory and which works within the principles of social, cultural, political and economic equality and independence.It is in fact a global struggle for gender equality and end of gender based discriminatory practices against women. Feminism is also related to men in the sense that all gender based equality is in fact a balance between the male and female with the intention of li berating the individual. In that sense the definition of feminism also includes all movements and campaigns that target men and boys for gender sensitization with a goal to end gender based discriminatory practices and achieve gender based equality. Feminist literary criticism is the critical analysis of literary works ased on the feminist perspective. In particular, feminist literary critics tend to reject the patriarchal norms of literature that privileges masculine ways of thinking/points of view and marginalizes women politically, economically and psychologically. Some critics find that feminist criticism makes space for and listens to women's voices previously muted or drowned out by dominant patriarchal literary-critical practices. In other words, what the text leaves out says much about the writer, literature in general, and society as a whole.By using this â€Å"hermeneutics of suspicion† literary critics hope to reveal how women are marginalized in the language of li terature. Now, in Sons and Lovers, Mrs. Morel is portrayed as the victim of the patriarchal society and the stones in Paul’s life road to success, to some extent. This paper would try to avoid the normal literary criticism to Sons and Lovers, and rather would focus on the analysis of the three tragic women through feminine position, and specially would explore how Lawrence has portrayed Mrs.Morel with all the issues of female essence (differance). Mrs. Morel, who came from a little capitalist class, aloof and cultured, is a woman of knowledge of a Victorian woman but her character can be read from Marxist-Feminist point of view. From very young, she has been struggling against patriarch, fighting for her existence and for women’s rights, longing to become an authoritative, independent and responsible man. As the England industrial atmosphere came, in the man-centered family, her husband treated her sadistically, Mrs.Morel naturally constitute an alliance with her sons to live, she taught them to change their social position and entered the middleclass, through knowledge and will, the children became Mrs. Morel’s tools to make her dream and ambition come true. But all these just paint deep tragic color to Mrs. Morel. Because Mrs. Morel chose the rood to setting up a union with her son to become hermaphrodite didn’t come true. She put her children in her bosom, cast her own dream and life outlook on her children, hoped to fill in her emotion empty because she is a wife-submissive.Although this abnormal maternal lieu helped her sons become outstanding, hold back free growth of individuality, cause their thought variant and their personality split. Mrs. Morel’s existence is the only support to Paul’s life road to become an artist. Through loving his mother, Paul tried to find man’s rights even in sleep. She should be responsible for this abnormal love, no matter what position she held in her sons’ growth, she got only the colored utilizable repay, she didn’t fulfill her emotion’s need, and this is her very most tragic thing.But this is just a simple summary of the whole novel and there are more left for discussion. D. H. Lawrence believed in male supremacy and that is why he wrote that â€Å"as a matter of fact unless a woman is held by man, safe within the bounds of belief, she becomes inevitably a destructive force†. Simone de Beauvoir terms this attitude â€Å"bourgeois conception† and states that Lawrence rediscovers this conception that woman should subordinate her existence to that of man. Thus, Lawrence can be regarded as an anti-feminist.An anti-feminist writing is not only satirical in tone but it represents women nature intended to conform her to male expectations and tries to decide what she ought to be and what is not her own. Mrs. Morel is presented by Lawrence as a proud woman as she came from an old burgher family and that made her pay higher r ent to the landlord which is a way of showing off superiority over other miners’ families. Lawrence defines it as â€Å"a kind of aristocracy†. Mrs. Morel did not take Walter’s earnings into account while they got married but after the marriage it became a huge issue for her.She could not accept it that her husband was not a gentleman rather he is a miner and ultimately, this became the reason of failure of their marriage life. Though she married Walter knowingly that he earns a little but after a certain period of time, she started hating her husband for being a miner and for not having a respected job. In the first half, Mrs. Morel is shown with sympathy to be the victim of a brutal husband and of an economic system that oppresses her. Later she becomes the over-possessive mother shifting her growing children and thwarting their natural development towards the independence of adulthood.It can be said that Mrs. Morel became too much authoritative because of her ‘penis envy’. She knew that though she came from a burgher family, still she is bound to obey Mr. Morel as he is the head of the family according to the patriarchal society. Apart from the issue of penis envy, Lawrence presented the relationship between man and series of female stereotypes. The mother’s disappointment with the father leads to the transfer of her deepest feelings from him to her offspring and particularly, the male offspring, whom, unconsciously she begins to treat as substitutes for her husband.The mother who has poured her love into her son instead of giving it to her husband does seem, in Lawrence’s own cherished meaning of the phrase, ‘wife-submissive’. But at the same time, that phrase is a give-away. It sounds an old familiar note. Here is the mother being wife-submissive to her son, says the exasperated voice of Lawrence, when she ought to be preciously that to her husband – a simple case of misdirected energy. I t has not been simply misdirected, but distorted as well.The woman does not feel now, for the first time, as a true wife might feel, nor does the son find her love quite so wonderful as all that. Sexual frustration inevitably follows, and this is excellently diagnosed in Sons and Lovers. His mother is far closer to him; she clings to him jealously, fighting against the younger woman’s power, and succeeding in holding the pair apart. Paul wants to marry Miriam but Mrs. Morel resists because she wants Paul â€Å"to marry a lady†. Apart from Paul, she also does the same thing for William. She wants William to be a gentleman unlike his father.Her possessiveness becomes clearer when a girl comes to meet William and Mrs. Morel replies â€Å"I don’t approve of the girls my son meets at dances. † In this novel, D. H. Lawrence has portrayed women, Specially Mrs. Morel with all he weaknesses (female essence) like nagging, orienting the children against their father , making the sons as husband-substitute, showy in nature and being over-possessive. Paul partly disassociated himself from the crude gender distinction he is voicing, although he still endorses the idea that women are by nature unfitted to full-time work.So, Lawrence reveals Paul’s opinion of women’s inferior capacity for work. After all these discussions, it seems quite clear that Mrs. Morel is the victim of one man and therefore can only live out her life vicariously through the progress made by her sons. Miriam also feels victimized by the men in her family and looks to Paul to help her escape from her servitude. Same thing goes for Clara. All of them, especially Mrs. Morel, are defined by men as their â€Å"Other† and thus, marginalized textually as well as socially and sexually.

Jorge Luis Borges – Use of Ambiguity

The Art of Being Ambiguous In his collection of short stories, Ficciones, Jorge Luis Borges uses dreams, imagination and fantasy to establish ambiguity in his stories. With the use of juxtaposition and symbols, Borges blends a realm of dreams and imagination into the individual’s everyday worldly experiences. Through these devices, Borges commonly blurs the line between aspects of reality for his characters versus the constructs of his or her mind.By combining the real with the fictitious, Borges incorporates ambiguity into his stories and introduces his readers to new perspectives of world around them. In â€Å"The South,† Borges establishes ambiguity by dropping subtle textual hints that would ultimately allow for the reader to attain vastly different interpretations of the same text. If taken at face value, the main character Dahlmann is released from a sanatorium after a serious head injury.On the train ride back from the sanatorium, Borges hints that Dahlmann perio dically transitions into his illusory past of the old South. Even as he enters the cab that would take him to the train station, he admits that â€Å"reality is partial to symmetries and slight anachronism† (175) meaning that his past, although misplaced and irrelevant to modern times, continues to have significance in the present. The reader can argue that Dahlmann’s nostalgia induces illusions of the world from a time he remembered and celebrated it.On the train ride back to his ranch, he describes that the car â€Å"was not the same car that had pulled out of the station†¦ the plains and the hours had penetrated and transfigured it† (177) and that Dahlmann â€Å"was traveling not only into the South but into the past † (177). Borges uses this description to indicate that Dahlmann transcends into his fantasies of the old South on the train ride home as a result of a longing for the past. However, Borges also hints that Dahlmann might not have left the sanatorium at all, but has actually only dreamed about his release.Some readers find it improbable how Dahlmann is told he is â€Å"coming right along† (175) by the doctors at the sanatorium when only the day before Dahlmann was told that he was on the brink of death from septicemia. For Dahlmann, dying in the sanatorium would be a humiliating ending. When he is informed of his near death experience, Dahlmann felt â€Å"suddenly self-pitying† (175) and broke down crying. Borges points out that Dahlmann aspires to be like his ancestors and die heroically in the old Argentinian manner. Because dying in the sanatorium would have een a disgrace for Dahlmann, Borges highlights the possibility that Dahlmann dreamed up a perfect, heroic death in which he would defend the honor of the Old South. This is portrayed when Dahlmann gears up to fight â€Å"a young thug† (179), symbolic of modern Argentina, outside a country store at the end of his journey. When Borges sta tes that â€Å"it was as the South itself had decided that Dahlmann should accept the challenge† (179), he emphasizes how Dahlmann viewed himself as about to fight in the name of the Old South.For this reason, it is arguable that Dahlmann fantasized his whole journey home and his dreams reflect how he desires to die a heroic death in reality. By incorporating these subtle hints throughout â€Å"The South†, Borges establishes ambiguity between whether Dahlmann had actually left the sanatorium or simply dreamed the whole story. Through this ambiguity, Borges allows for readers to form multiple interpretations to the same story. In â€Å"The Secret Miracle†, Borges blurs the line between the factual world and what constitutes as a fantasy by introducing the idea of having dreams transcend into reality.The main character Hladik has begun to formulate his own play through the inner-workings of his imagination. Aspects of this play mimic Hladik’s reality as he reveals in the end that the main character of his play, Jaroslav Kubin, actually dreams up the events that occurred before in the story. â€Å"The play has not taken place; it is a circular delirium that Kubin endlessly experiences and re-experiences (160). † As Kubin dreams up the plotline of his story, Hladik constructs and reenacts the plotline of the play in which Kubin is part of through a dream, thus incorporating a dream within a dream.By juxtaposing Hladik’s reality and the play he has constructed in his mind, Borges introduces the overarching idea of how the mind constitutes for a different realm in which the dreamers and thinkers can shape, share, and confide in. This idea is again prominent when the bullet that is intended to kill Hladik on the day of his execution stops seconds before taking him. Borges states that, â€Å"in Hladik’s mind a year would pass between the order of the fire and the discharge of the rifle† (162) as a result of God.I f taken at face value, God has intervened as promised in Hladik’s dream. If the reader was to interpret this story in this manner, it is clear that events from Hladik’s dream transform and impact his reality. In which case, Borges clouds the distinction between Hladik’s reality and dreams. However, oddly enough, when Hladik requests the assistance of God in a dream the night before, the librarian states â€Å"I myself have gone blind searching for it [God]† (161), indicating that presence of God is questionable at most.If God is not yet found, He could not have given Hladik the extra year. By incorporating these subtle hints, Borges also allows the reader to interpret that it was solely Hladik’s perception of time, rather than the intervention of God, that allowed him another year. By blurring the line between aspects of Hladik’s reality versus the constructs of his mind, Borges permits the reader to question the presence of God in Hladikâ⠂¬â„¢s execution and introduces the idea that time is relative to how an individual’s mind perceives it.In the last short story â€Å"Circular Ruins,† Borges again uses dreams to introduce the reader to a new way of perceiving the world. In this story, the protagonist would dream each individual part of a boy until he would have finally engineered a son using his own imagination. However, the irony lies herein that the creator realizes at the end of the story he too â€Å"was but appearance, that another man was dreaming him† (100). The protagonist was nothing but a dream of another dreamer like his son was the dream of himself.Through â€Å"The Circular Ruins,† Borges asserts that the individual’s perception of reality might simply be an elaborate illusion. The protagonist did not realize he himself was a dream until the end of the story when he steps into the flames. Similarly, Borges questions the credibility of the reader’s own existence . Borges uses the circular ruins where the protagonist dreams his son – and where his son might possibly dream his own creation – as a symbol to represent the infinite loop of dreams.Additionally, because a circle does not have a definite beginning or end, it signifies the dreams itself have an ambiguous beginning and an indefinite end. In essence, the ambiguity within this story lies in that the reader is left to question the original dreamer, had there even been an original. The individual is left to ponder whether the circular ruins are to constitute reality or whether the dreamer is simply experiencing a dream within a dream, another popular style of Borges as delineated within â€Å"The Secret Miracle. Overall, Borges opens up a door of possibilities that lead to a string of unanswerable questions left to the reader’s interpretation. In general, Borges uses dreams, imagination, and constructs of the mind to brilliantly incorporate ambiguity into his short stories and thereby allow his readers to ponder new thoughts and ideas. In â€Å"The South†, the readers are left to question whether Dahlmann’s journey back to the South had actually taken place or whether it was only a dream in which he portrays his desire to want to die a heroic death like his ancestors.Within â€Å"The Secret Miracle†, Borges weaves aspects from Hladik’s own imagination into his reality such as the possible presence of God. This in turn allows the reader to question the distinction between factors of Hladik’s real world versus that in his mind. Finally, in â€Å"The Circular Ruins,† the ending leaves the reader to question whether dreams constitute a reality of its own or whether these dreams had an original dreamer who was simply dreaming within a dream, a popular motif in other Borges stories.When Borges blurs the line between reality and fiction, he establishes ambiguity and often induces his reader to question the cr edibility of their own reality. Through this ambiguity, Borges asserts that there is no clear or correct way to understand his short stories and that each story is open to the individual’s own interpretation. As a result, the short stories are open to a wide range of interpretations. Through these multiple interpretations, the reader opens him or herself up to new ways of perceiving the world.

Digital Television †Is It Advancement?

Digital television is becoming a global trend with a startling velocity. Following the lead of North America and Western Europe, a host of countries in East/South Asia, South America, and Eastern Europe are also hastening the epic shift from analog to digital television. It is predicted that approximately 1 billion people will be viewing digital broadcast television by the end of this year. At the current pace, nearly 38 percent of the world's TV households will be receiving digital signals by 2010 (Informa Telecoms & Media, 2007, p. 2).Underlying this technological gold rush is an array of remarkable features that digital broadcasting presents: interactivity, multichannel capacity, immunity to interference by other signals, superb audio-visual qualities, and quasi-universal interoperability with other media that recognize digital language. These outstanding qualities are founded upon the quintessence of digital technology: the binary codification (comparable to the dots and dashes o f the telegraph code), which converts data into â€Å"a bitstream of zeros and ones† (Owen, 1999, p.151).Since digital technology can break down virtually any type of information (print, painting, music, sound, photography) into a uniform code of bits and bytes, it is now possible to establish universal compatibility among various media. As Timothy Todreas (1999) observes, â€Å"text, graphics, audio and video used to be within the purview of separate industries: print, radio, and television respectively. Once digitized†¦ bits can commingle effortlessly. Content can travel down the same distribution path and can be used interchangeably† (pp.78-79).Paradoxically, the atomize-ability of digital technology precipitates digital convergence, in which all the sophisticated traditional media taxonomies and typologies will become muddied and eventually obsolete. Aside from the universal connectivity of digital television with neighboring media, there are a few other prope rties of digital television: audio/visual excellence, multichannel capacity, and interactivity. The digital television is capable of delivering superior audio/video quality compared to its analog counterpart.However, the enhanced audio/visual fidelity of digital television is best exploited in a combined use with the Hi-Definition television system, an advanced method of injecting televisual signals onto the screen in a much more precise fashion than that of its predecessors, the NTSC and PAL systems. Contrary to common belief, HDTV is not an immediate offspring of the digital television system, although electronics makers, broadcasters, and policymakers of the digital television excitedly promote it as digital television's headliner.There are multiple, significant reasons behind the deliberate â€Å"passing† of HDTV as the figurehead of digital television, especially in a Japanese context. Compared to analog signals, digitized information takes much less bandwidth, i. e. , m uch less channel capacity to distribute content per unit of time. This technical â€Å"thriftiness† is an end result of the compression technology that can filter out redundant data and squeeze more data into a given bandwidth. The economic use of bandwidth means greater space to fit more channels, which ends the â€Å"distribution bottleneck† (Todreas, 1999, p.79) common to analog formats.The sudden abundance of bandwidth leads to an explosion of channel outlets, metamorphosing the television industry structure. The interactive function of digital television is yet another benefit of the efficient use of bandwidth. A broadened bandwidth not only increases the volume of channels and the velocity of information but also enables â€Å"two-way† traffic. With expanded two-way interactions between sender and receiver, digital television could transform the modality of broadcasting from a linear, unilateral communication to a cyclical, bilateral one.Apparently, the le vel of control for the user is strictly limited by the choices provided by the software programmer. However, the interactivity of television will incrementally open new modes of socio-economic and cultural interactions (Video-On-Demand and T-commerce, for instance) among the user (Swann, 2000). Still, all the perks of digital television don't come without costs and shortcomings. The multiple channels of digital television could inspire program diversification and perhaps contribute to a socio-cultural diversification.In fact, critics and viewers have already become disillusioned by the promise of channel multiplication, for it has impoverished, rather than improved, the program quality and originality in a way similar to what cable television did in the U. S. Likewise, the interactive functions of digital television could turn into a blight rather than a blessing. Tony Feldman (1997) posits that interactivity â€Å"runs the risk of giving the users so much power in determining thei r own experiences of content that the only message conveyed is the one the user chooses to receive.The freedom to chart your own course, therefore, can emasculate as readily as it can liberate† (p. 18). Development of HDTV The question of high definition television came up in the early 1970's when Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK), the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation, raised the possibility of HDTV. The technology was first developed by the Japanese to produce a better quality picture than previously available, and in 1978 NHK came up with two new HDTV systems. One of them was an 1,125 line system, the other a 2,125 line system that was transmitted by satellite (Fisher & Fisher, 1996).Japan started the HDTV movement in 1970 and spent over one billion dollars on its development by mid-1990 (Dupagne & Seel, 1998). In the early 1970's the major players in the effort to produce HDTV were Sony Pictures, Panasonic, Ikegami, and NHK. Most of the engineering was undertaken by Sony and NHK te sted the concept over the air. Panasonic and Ikegami (along with Sony) developed cameras, video tape recorders and other equipment needed for an entire HDTV package. Philips, the Dutch equipment manufacturer, developed a new HDTV system called Eureka in the early 1970's.The system scanned 1,250 horizontal lines at 50 frames per second, with the same 16 to 9 aspect ratio as the Japanese system. This system was sometimes referred to as Vision 1,250 (Gross, 2000). The American television industry was finally waking up and coming out of the doldrums it had been in since the early 1970's. The Japanese production had already taken over television, VCR's, and the stereo business. It looked as if they would also become world-leaders in the development of HDTV (Fisher and Fisher, 1996).The US was behind in the development of HDTV over Europe and Japan. The Defense Department pledged to spend $30 million dollars on the technology. The Defense Department sanctioned the spending of this money p artly because the superior picture quality would have application for military reconnaissance and pilot training (Hart, 2004). The House Telecommunications Subcommittee held a hearing with the intent to insure that this new technology would flourish in the United States (Gross, 2000).The electronics industry is in a high stakes race. A 1989 government report stated that the United States stood a chance to lose 2 million jobs, and suffer a $225 billion dollar annual trade deficit by the year 2010 if the US does not produce a coherent strategy to compete in the HDTV and associated industries (Dupagne & Seel, 1998). During the Reagan era an industrial consortium known as â€Å"Sematech† wanted to push the United States to become the leading technological manufacturer of the computer chip. This chip is used in HDTV.Chipmakers are of vital importance to the overall well being of the electronics industry. They represent the USA's largest manufacturing business, with revenues for 19 89 of $300 billion dollars. This is a business that is larger than the steel industry, aerospace, and the automobile industry combined (Dupagne & Seel, 1998). The American Electronics Association (AEA) wanted funds in US government loans, grants and loan guarantees to further produce and improve HDTV. They felt once the government committed itself that deeply it could not pull out (Hart, 2004).The AEA's attempt to persuade the government to enter into a government-industry consortium failed. It was an ambitious program to form a consortium to develop the next-generation of HDTV sets. The plan attracted only nominal support in Congress. The Bush administration actively opposed the idea. It received vocal support from the industry but no financial commitments (Hart, 2004). The Bush administration wanted to pull the plug on the high-tech industries. Washington was determined to cut the $10 million dollars pledged for research and development of HDTV in 1989.It also wanted to cut all fe deral support including the $100 million dollars it pledged for research and development in 1991. The Japanese manufacturers of semiconductors are encouraged by their government to spend 50 percent more on research and development of the chip. This is often subsidized by the Japanese government. This is more money spent on chip development than its US counterpart (Hart, 2004). In 1977 the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) formed a study group to investigate HDTV in the United States.As early as 1973 an 1,125 scanning line HDTV system was shown to engineers with CBS supporting the system. By 1980 SMPTE recommended using a system of about 1,100 scanning lines per frame and an interlace system (Fisher & Fisher, 1996). Since the US decided to take the lead in HDTV development the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) sponsored the movement by creating â€Å"The Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service† (ACATS). This was headed by former FCC Cha irman Richard Wiley (Schreiber, 1999). ACATS declared an open competition to help create a usable HD service for the US.The FCC requested those involved with this project to submit their proposals to the FCC for approval. Shortly after that 23 proposals were turned in to the FCC. All of them were in analog format (Schreiber, 1999). Many of the inventors felt that digital would not become available until the 21st century. Also many broadcasters were not interested in creating a new system that was not compatible with their existing system, since that would require them to invest heavily to create a new market form (Fisher and Fisher, 1996). CBS was the first network to actively pursue HDTV (Hart, 2004).This was unusual since at that time the broadcast networks had less money to invest in high cost programming. In part some of this was due as a result of the viewing audiences shifting over from the broadcast networks' programming to the cable stations. The loss of viewers to home VCR playback and rental movies, satellite delivery of Direct-TV, DBS and pay cable services also accounted for viewer erosion (Hart, 2004). In 1981 the Japanese company NHK was prodded by CBS to come to the United States to demonstrate their HDTV system.Members of CBS and SMPTE met with the Japanese in San Francisco, California, at the St. Francis Hotel at an annual television conference. The demonstration was very successful. The viewers were impressed with the NHK's system's â€Å"extraordinary resolution, rich saturated color and wide screen monitors and projection television displays (Hart, 2004, p. 92). † The general feeling of the people attending the conference was that the HDTV system broke all constraints of television picture quality imposed on them by the aging NTSC color standard.In 1983, based on what they saw at the conference, the Advanced Television System Committee (ATSC) was formed. Their goal was to improve the quality of video and develop new standards in tech nology. They were also instructed to come up with a recommendation for a usable HDTV standard for the United States by the spring of 1985. They were to present this standard to a subcommittee of the International Consultative Radio Committee (CCIR) which would set a world standard (Hart, 2004). The ATSC is a committee largely made up of engineers. In 1984 it had a yearly budget of $250,000.They decided to work on three parallel ideas to help improve the overall picture performance of US television. One group called the â€Å"improved NTSC† group headed by RCA Laboratories' Kern Powers, worked to improve the present standard by improving studio and transmission equipment and the television receivers. Another group called the â€Å"enhanced group† investigated new production and transmission systems that still used the 525 scanning lines and a 4 to 3 aspect ratio. They also sought to produce a better picture through different signal formats (Fisher & Fisher, 1996).The th ird group worked on HDTV at the CBS Technology Center and closely examined the Japanese NHK type of HDTV. This system would produce twice as many horizontal and vertical scanning lines as the NTSC system and would have an aspect ratio of 5 to 3 (Fisher & Fisher, 1996). Their goal was to have an HDTV standard that they could present to the FCC by the spring of 1985. Their standard would be compatible with NTSC, PAL and SECAM and they could transfer their video to 3 5 mm film for theatrical release (Dupagne & Seel, 1998).By March of 1985 ATSC did have a standard they felt they could present to the FCC. They picked 1,125 scanning lines as their standard because it was a compromise between twice the 525 NTSC standard, which equals 1,050 and twice 625 lines (used in Europe) which is 1,250. The system would also have a two-to-one interlaced scanning, a 5 to 3 aspect ratio and scan at 80 fields per second. This scanning rate was the only source of controversy, since the NTSC used 60 per se cond and most of Europe used 50 per second (Fisher & Fisher, 1996).The Europeans felt it could not be used by them because conversion could not take place without some degradation of picture quality. The Japanese approved of it since most of their experiments were conducted in a 60 field per second rate (Hart, 2004). By January of 1988 the ATSC voted on an HDTV system of 1,125 scanning lines, 60 hertz HDTV, 16 to 9 aspect ratio production standard. The vote approved of this standard 26 for and 11 against, with 8 abstaining. The Association of Maximum Service Telecasters (AMST) and the National Association of Broadcasters voted against the new standard (Dupagne & Seel, 1998).Late in 1987 the FCC steering committee submitted a list of five proposed guidelines in which to raise, or solicit, the funds from the participating companies involved with the development of HDTV. The most important guideline of the proposal was that â€Å"no one source contributes more than 15 per cent of the total, private funds raised,† according to the FCC (Hart, 1994, p. 216). In 1989 the American Electronics Association predicted that HDTV would reach the mass market by 1999 and that it would take until the year 2002 to reach 10 percent market penetration.They stated that HDTV would be megapixel, doubling the horizontal and vertical resolution of present television, with around 1,200 scanning lines by about 800 points across and close to a million pixels per screen. It was believed at this time that early HDTV sets would be expensive, large, projection TV's that would find their way into sports bars before they are accepted in private homes (Helliwell, 1989). It was the dawn of the digital age. â€Å"The leap from analog to digital could be as striking as that from black and white to color. † (Dupagne & Seel, 1998, p. 67).By 1990 General Instrument Corporation claimed it had perfected the first all-digital method of transmitting an HDTV signal that would be compatible w ith conventional broadcast channels. That year the FCC announced that it would select the new United States HDTV standard after extensive testing from applicants from six systems including European, Japanese and American companies (Hart, 2004). On May 24, 1993 the â€Å"Grand Alliance† was formed. The four leading pioneers of USA's quest for a high definition picture joined forces. General Instruments-DSRC, AT+T/Zenith, Thomson/Philips, and MIT were the companies that formed this alliance.The purpose of the Grand Alliance was to combine the various parts of their four separate systems into one complete system. This way they would produce a single, all-digital HDTV transmission system. The four HDTV systems that each company produced separately (before the alliance) had a good picture in a 6 Mhz channel, but none of them were deemed good enough to be considered the single acceptable standard (Dupagne & Seel, 1998). The new Grand Alliance systems comprised 1080 active scanning lines with 1920 pixels per line, interlaced at 59.94 and 60 fields per second, and a 720 active line with 1280 pixels per line, progressive scanning at 59. 94 and 60 frames per second. Both formats operated in the progressive scanning mode at 30 and 24 frames per second.The system used MPEG-2 video compression and transport systems and Dolby AC-3, 384 Kb/8 audio. It also used the 8-VSB transmission system developed by Zenith. This system was overwhelmingly approved by the ATSC membership. The old analog NTSC television will someday cease to exists as we know it. In its place high quality digital TV and HDTV will capture a larger and larger share of the market (Dupagne & Seel, 1998).The ATSC believed that its HDTV standard would rule the land-based-over-the-air broadcast not only in the United States but in the northern hemisphere, and even in a few Asian countries as well. Europe, Japan and Australia are going to have a different HDTV standard from the USA. America's standard uses a n eight-level vestigial sideband (8-VSB) 6- Mhz modulation for its over-the-air transmission. The European, Japanese, and Australian systems use an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) system (Strassberg, 1998). But politics intervened and a world wide standard was not to be.Different parts of the world will all have their own high definition standards. All the different formats will have more scanning lines than the present NTSC system, but they will not have the same number of scanning lines as each other. Therefore, conversion will be necessary between each country's systems (Hart, 2004). When the people involved in trying to set up a standard for HDTV moved from the chaotic to a more organized collaboration the marketing strategies did not keep pace with the development. There was a consensus among the manufacturers that HDTV would never happen, or at least it would be on a smaller scale than predicted.In Japan their HDTV development was stunted because of a lack of attractive programming. In Europe HDTV was abandoned because there was no consensus among programmers, signal providers, and the public (Hart, 2004). Both Mexico and Canada have refused to sign off on the channel assignments granted to the US stations in bordering areas. This will lead to a clouding up of the signals in those parts of the states. Detroit had to delay its planned digital/HDTV delivery launch on November 1, 1998, because of signal mix-up (Stern, 1998). The Thompson Manufacturing Company emphasized that the success of HDTV will largely depend on the broadcaster.Though HDTV sets are being manufactured it will depend on the number of hours of high definition signal that is being transmitted out there, to pull the audience to the television screen (Hart, 2004). . The FCC and HDTV By 1990 the FCC decided that the HDTV signal would have to fit into one channel. The Japanese were suggesting that the US use their MUSE (Multiple Sub-Nyguist Encoding) system. This system would use one channel for the picture and another channel with information to boost it to HDTV level (Schreiber, 1999). By Congressional order the FCC has assigned a second TV channel to each of the nations 1,600 television stations.Each of these stations will now be able to offer digital signal service to the public. It will be up to the broadcasters as to what kinds of services to offer and in what format they wish to transmit in (Hart, 2004). Originally then FCC Chairman, Reed Hundt, wanted to auction off the HDTV channels. The proposal for this auction was then introduced to Congress by Senate Majority Leader, Bob Dole. But, heavy lobbying by the broadcasters quickly killed the bill (Schreiber, 1999). Regulators were considering adding 30 Mhz, or channels 2 to 6, to the spectrum that broadcasters will be using when the shift to digital TV is completed.By the year 2002 the analog channels will be returned to the government. The FCC will then auction these returned channels off to pros pective buyers. Congress and the White House expected this auction to raise somewhere around $5. 4 billion dollars. If broadcasters are given this additional 30 Mhz this would set the FCC back by about $2 billion dollars (Schreiber, 1999). When the analog channels are no longer in use by the broadcasters and they are auctioned off, they will be used for non-broadcast use such as mobile phones, two-way paging, and wireless Internet access (Schreiber, 1999).The broadcasters will transmit both the existing NTSC analog signal on one channel and the new HDTV signal on another channel. This way the existing analog TV sets will not be rendered useless immediately. The FCC adopted this simulcast plan where each existing television station would be assigned a second 6-Mhz channel for the analog TV and a channel for HDTV service (Schreiber, 1999). On Thursday April 3, 1997, the FCC approved by 4 to zero the biggest advance to broadcasters since the 1950's when color was introduced to televisi on.The government announced that it was giving away to broadcasters free air-space. Critics of the FCC felt that giving this free air-space, without having the stations pay for it, was the biggest government give away of the century. To the 1,600 stations in this country this is an estimated $70 billion dollar gift of free channels (Schreiber, 1999). To create the necessary channels needed for HDTV the spectrum space was taken from UHF stations of channels 14 or higher. The government has had a history of setting aside unused channels in the past for the broadcasters.The government will be taking these channels back and making them available to fire, police, rescue, and other public safety groups (Schreiber, 1999). By November 1, 1998 the FCC ruled that the networks must begin to broadcast a digital signal. At first only the top 10 markets will get any of the new ATSC digital signals. Only about 5 hours of broadcast high definition signal will be available. The stations will be free to broadcast as little, or as much HDTV signal as they deem possible. By 1998 the first true high definition television sets were available for sale on the open market (Hart, 2004).The roots of HDTV lie in a 1996 decision by the FCC to require broadcasters to transmit two signals, one in analog (NTSC) and one in digital. The FCC required that broadcasters continue broadcasting the analog signal until the year 2006, although the deadline can be extended if digital grows too slowly in popularity. The FCC gave each TV station a second broadcast channel for digital signals used for the new HDTV programming (Schreiber, 1999). There has been some indication that the HDTV signal does not work as well as it was predicted, or promised, to work.The November 1, 1998 launch date for HD signal was to deliver crystal clear images and CD-quality sound. And it did, but only 40 percent of the time. After a test in Washington, DC, in 1998 it was found that a majority of the time the televisions usin g indoor antennas could not display a high definition image. It was an all or nothing at all thing with over-the-air digital signals. Test results stated that with terrestrial transmission, broadcasters and set manufacturers will be even more reliant on cable operators to reach their potential viewers (Schreiber, 1999).For someone who sets up their HDTV receiver during the winter months when the leaves are off the trees, there are some who did not receive a signal in the spring when the new leaves appeared. Often the first time a potential customer views an HD television set they have to become accustomed to some surprising effects. As a result of the image compression techniques that are used to squeeze such a high-resolution picture into a 6 Mhz channel there are no noticeable defects in the picture until there is motion on the screen.The motionless backgrounds appear in stunningly clear detail, but when an object moves the picture momentarily blurs and develops a â€Å"block lik e† image around the moving object (Strassberg, 1998). The bugs are still being worked out, but as it stands the first person to purchase a high definition TV set will not be sure it will work with an antenna, and they won't be able to connect to cable (Strassberg, 1998). Industrial Policy, Politics and HDTV In October 1988, the American Electronics Association (AEA) released a report forecasting the effect of HDTV on the U. S. economy and technological prowess.This report heightened fears of foreign threats to the domestic consumer electronics industry. A string of Congressional hearings followed. In May 1989, the AEA issued a second report, which included a recommendation for $1. 35 billion in government assistance (Hart, 2004, pp. 157-9). This was necessary, argued the report, to make American companies competitive with their international competitors. The resulting political fall out could have hardly been anticipated. The second AEA report was the proverbial â€Å"last st raw† in a very heated ideological battle over American industrial policy.One side of the argument feared that U.S. firms were unfairly disadvantaged against international competition because many foreign companies enjoyed generous subsidies from their governments, which often had much more cohesive industrial policies than that of the U. S. The other side argued that the best way to ensure American success could only be accomplished through the competitive process of a free market, which is what drove the American innovative spirit—not government mandates and funding. These differing positions were soon became part of a political battle between Capitol Hill and the Bush Administration (Bingham, 1998).The position of the latter was influenced by a stand against industrial policy taken by Bush during a campaign speech, where he declared, â€Å"I oppose the federal government's picking of winners and losers in the private sector. That's known as ‘industrial policyâ € Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ (Hart, 1994, p. 221). The debate had been percolating for some time. Just prior to the second AEA report, Senator Al Gore (D-Tenn. ) had been the most recent of a list of legislators to introduce yet another bill designed to spur HDTV development and push the Whitehouse towards a more proactive domestic industrial policy.The bill was motivated in part by Gore's unhappiness with Secretary Mosbacher, who had refused to attend a hearing by his Science Subcommittee (Bingham, 1998). Not all within the industry favored the Congressional push for government assistance. The Electronic Industries Association (EIA), whose members—unlike the AEA—included foreign owned companies as well as U. S. companies did not support government subsidization for fear they might not get a piece of the proverbial pie (Bingham, 1998). Philips and Thompson lobbied vigorously against this legislation.They argued that their system shouldn't be put at a disadvantage just because they wer e European companies. After all, their American subsidiaries provided American jobs just like their American owned counterparts, and their system, if chosen, would benefit the American public just like the other systems (Hart, 2004). This illustrates the problematic nature of industrial policy: provided you do decide that it is even in America's best interest to subsidize companies, how do you then rationalize subsidizing those very competitors all over again?Yet, if you do subsidize U.S. and not foreign owned companies, you still risk disadvantaging American workers (Bingham, 1998). As a consequence of the political battle over industrial policy, the Bush Administration developed an anti-HDTV policy. Secretary of Commerce Robert Mosbacher, who had initially supported the promotion of a strong HDTV policy, became a critic of such policies as a result of the political fallout. In one Congressional hearing, he criticized the industry for holding back research in hopes that it might ge t funding from the government (Hart, 1994, pp.221-222).The second AEA report came at the climax of the battle. A focal point of the battle was DARPA, which had begun an initiative to fund HDTV technology in the public sector for â€Å"dual use† purposes (i. e. encourage technologies that provide significant benefits to both the defense and civilian sectors) (Bingham, 1998, p. 110). By the end of May, the White House had ordered a halt to pro HDTV industrial policies, and Craig Fields, a vocal supporter of DoD funded HDTV development, would eventually be dismissed in April of 1990.Interestingly, in the midst of all this fallout, Al Sikes, former head of the NTIA and a big proponent of HDTV, became the new Chairman of the FCC in August of 1989. However, the nomination had actually been submitted before the political battle over HDTV had escalated (Dupagne & Seel, 1998, p. 184). The introduction of digital helped alleviate the conflicting goals of progress versus compatibility, by offering an option so significantly advanced that it superseded the goal of compatibility.The conflicting goals reflect the much broader conflict between the FCC's dual mandates to promote and police. It is interesting to keep in mind, however, that new technology was not the only factor in this move. After all, the FCC actually chose to pursue an HDTV approach vis-a-vis a more compatible EDTV approach at least two months before, GI revealed its digital system (Hart, 2004). It might be very easy to lay the problems of adoption that have resulted from choosing a digital system, which was not compatible to NTSC, at the feet of the FCC.We could speculate that commissioners were unable to grasp the complexities and significance economic principles or the staff was to rigid in its thinking to find a truly innovative solution to the problems already discussed. However, the fact remains that the move towards DTV was also made by industry participants. The FCC could not force manufacture rs to propose a system they did not want (Hart, 2004). Once full digital HDTV had been achieved, many manufacturers voluntarily scrapped their analog systems in order to pursue digital systems. In making this choice proponents were at the mercy of economic forces beyond their control.They could not afford not to choose a digital system following GI's breakthrough: the risk that the public and officials would perceive such systems as technologically inferior was too great. Digital threatened the successful adoption of any analog system, regardless of the outcome of the contest. In the end the analog systems failed to compete adequately with the digital systems anyway (Hart, 2004). Conclusion Now era of analog broadcast television in the United States will end as the nation completes its transition to an all-digital system, which is set on February 17, 2009 (dtv.com).The veneration of HDTV as the single source of spectacular televisual experience and as the epitome of digital televisi on is a necessary mythology for the joint endeavor of the broadcasting industry, HDTV manufacturers, and the MPT to move digital broadcasting in the world forward. HDTV is, by definition, a specific type of television receiver that provides higher resolution than the NTSC standard by way of compressing, storing, and delivering a greater amount of image and sound information than previous transmission systems.There are a number of competing HDTV standards, and unlike common mis/conceptions, not all HD televisions are digital. Nor does the digital HDTV necessarily guarantee a better audio-visual fidelity than the analog HDTV. Additionally, HDTV is not the sole foundation of the audio-visual grandeur of the digital television system. Technically, not all HDTV can assist or accommodate diverse functions (e. g. , interactivity) that the digital broadcasting service would normally offer. Nor can all digital television receivers, likewise, convey as good a picture quality as a HDTV would p roffer.As the digitalization of broadcasting became an irreversible national policy of U. S. in 1990s, electronics companies tended to blend the two technical specifications, manufacturing only digital HDTV sets. And as the digital HDTV becoming a norm in the industry, digital television and HDTV are often used interchangeably, regardless of their technical and conceptual differences. Digital TV alone could enhance audio-visual quality to a considerable degree, since it involves no mediation of transmission towers or ground cables, thereby decreasing the chance for the deterioration of broadcast signals.Accurate or erroneous, the adoration of HDTV as the end-all and be-all of visual excellence would place the entire edifice of digital broadcasting in U. S. on a pedestal. More specifically, it is expected to have a dramatic impact on the viewer's awareness of digital broadcasting, and consequently, adoption of more advanced, multifunctional digital TV sets. As the audience is exposed to the crisp, vivid images of HDTV, they will see a compelling reason to switch to digital broadcasting. A wide and speedy diffusion of digital HDTV is a prerequisite for the energetic growth of digital broadcasting and a barometer to measure such growth.Second, digital HDTV sets are considered an axial item for the reinvigoration of U. S. ‘s economy led by the three engines: the AV equipment industry, electronics manufacturing, and online business. With many years of rigorous R&D endeavors, U. S. begin to claims its share of the global HDTV and associated A-V equipment market. HDTV is no longer a plain â€Å"household appliance† but a core IT technology, equipped with cutting-edge apparatuses, ranging from memory chips, mobile transmitters, and LCD, PLP monitors, to various paraphernalia that enable interoperability with other digital devices.Conclusively, odd it may sound, U. S. ‘s development of HDTV is infused with what might be called â€Å"techno-nationali sm† that has intensified throughout its competition with the Japan for economic and technological supremacy. The four-decade long endeavor of promoting HDTV as the global standard has been at once a medium and a theater of the techno-economic contest between the two techno-egos. HDTV is, after all, as much a political game as a business matter; as culturally intense a project as a technology-intensive battle.But this battle is not over. As the latest news report, â€Å"the electronic company Sony will debut a flat-screen t flat-screen television powered by organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) that require less power and space. The OLEDs result in a television picture with stronger colors and a faster response time in pixels. The television will be introduced in Japan but will not be available in the U. S. for several years. † (Berhie, 2007)

Planning techniques Essay

According to the BCG matrix, companies’ business units can be categorized into 4 categories. These categories are based on the amalgamations of market share and market growth relative to the biggest competitor. Based on BCG matrix, it is very good for the company when its products have large market share or the product’s market is growing very fast. The Boston Consulting Group Portfolio Matrix Stars indicate that the business or the product has high market share and high growth. †¢Large amount of money are invested and so these businesses/products are expected to generate considerable amount of cash. They are the leaders in that particular business. †¢Usually approximately in balance on net cash flow. Nevertheless, if any effort is needed to be made to keep the share it should been done because if the market share is maintained then the returns will be a cash cow. Cash cows are companies or products which have low market growth and high market share. †¢These are mature and successful businesses with high profit and cash generation †¢There is little need for investment because of the low growth. Dogs represent companies or products which have low growth and low market share. †¢These businesses neither generate nor consume a large amount of money. †¢The number of dogs in a company should be avoided and minimized. Question marks display organizations or products with high growth and low market share. †¢Question marks require huge amount of investment and have low returns because the market share is low. †¢If the market share stays low than question marks will constantly demand large amounts of money and as the growth terminates, they will convert in a dog. †¢However, if the market share increases then the question marks may return into a star and ultimately a cash cow as the market growth slows. The BCG Matrix Method helps to understand a common strategy mistake make by the companies which is: having a one-size-fits-all-approach to strategy. In such circumstances: A.Cash cows Business Units will reach easily their profit target and their managers will be permitted to invest more money in  the businesses which are developed but not growing any more. B.Dogs Business Units will not stop investing in order to ‘turn the business around’ C.Subsequently the investment made in Question Marks and Stars Business Units is mediocre and thus they do not have the opportunity to become cash cows. In this scenario there are only two things that the companies should do. Either these SBU should receive decent amount of cash to allow them to become a cash cow (or star), or companies should not invest anymore and try to take whatever amount of cash out of the question marks. Some of the drawbacks of the BCG Matrix are: 1.Having a high market share does not mean that the company or the product will be successful. 2.The attractiveness of markets is not indicated only by the market growth 3.It may happen that Dogs can achieve higher returns than Cash Cows. Profit impact on market strategy (PIMS) The Profit Impact of Market Strategy (PIMS) is a program which started initially in the USA, to determine how profit impacted on marketing strategy and vice versa. Based on the information collected from participating companies, PIMS estimated businesses’ market position and proposed feasible strategies. According to Lancaster, Massingham and Ashford (Essentials of Marketing, 4th edition, McGraw Hill), PIMS seeks to address three basic questions: †¢What is the typical profit rate for each type of business? †¢Given current strategies in a company, what are the future operating results likely to be? †¢What strategies are likely to help improve future operating results? Dibb, Simkin, Pride and Ferrell (Marketing Concepts and Strategies, 4th European edition, Houghton Mifflin) cite six principal areas of information that PIMS holds on each business: †¢characteristics of the business environment †¢competitive position of the business †¢structure of the production process †¢how the budget is allocated †¢strategic movement †¢Operating results. Businesses which want to use the service have to present detailed information, containing details of their: †¢competitors and market †¢balance sheet †¢assumptions about future sales. In return, PIMS produces four reports, described by Lancaster, Massingham and Ashford as: 1. A ‘PAR’ report – demonstrates the ROI and cash flows that are considered ‘normal’ for that particular kind of business, displaying its market, competition, technology, and cost structure. 2. A ‘Strategy Analysis’ report – shows the likely effects of strategy changes on ROI/cash flow both short and long term. This is achieved by analyzing the information of other companies in an analogue business making similar moves, from an equal starting-point and in similar business environment. 3. A ‘Report on Look-Alikes’ (ROLA) – analyzes strategically equivalent businesses more closely and then predicts the best combination of strategies for that particular company 4. An ‘Optimum Strategy’ report – is almost the same as ROLA because it recommends the best strategy for the company based on the experience of othe r companies in the same position. One of the disadvantages of this model is that the data has been misinterpreted in some cases. In addition, another area which can be argued is connecting the profitability to the market share. Shell Directional Policy Matrix The Shell Directional Policy Matrix is another refinement upon the Boston Matrix. It has two dimensions, vertical and horizontal. Next to the vertical axe are company’s competitive capabilities and next to the horizontal axe are the prospects for sector profitability. Different strategic decisions will be implied depending on the position of a Strategic Business Unit (SBU) in the matrix. Each of the cells is explained below: Disinvest: Disinvesting is the best option when the SBU is running in losses  with ambiguous cash flow because the situation is not going to ameliorate in the future. These liquidate or move the assets. Phased withdrawal: SBU’s with average competitive capability in low growth market has almost no chance to generate cash and as such they should be eliminated sequentially. Double or quit: this is all about gambling. There are two possible options to gamble and these are either to invest more in order to take full advantage of the prospects displayed by the market or to abandon the business. Custodial: SBU’s are just like a cash cow, milk it and do not commit any more resources. In this situation the corporate has to make a decision whether to get help from other SBU’s or exit the scene to concentrate more on other attractive business. Try harder: SBU may be doing fine for the moment but the future does not look promising and thus additional resources to strength their capabilities will be required. By trying harder, the company may take advantage of the business prospects thoroughly. Cash Generator: This is like a cash cow where no further amounts of cash are invested and SBU may carry on with their operations because the generation of cash is strong and satisfactory profit is made. Growth: In order to support product invention and R&D activities the SBU’s need investment. So ensuring that enough resources are available is crucial to grow the market. Market Leadership: Significant resources are concentrated on the SBU and so it must be the first priority. SHELL DPM has its limitations. The first limitation is that it assumes that the similar factors are entirely applicable for appraising the prospects of any product/business.