The Conclusion for Judges Essay example -- essays research papers

The Conclusion for Judges The book of Judges tells of an era in Israel in which the people of the land had no king. This book follows the incidents of twelve individuals whom were selected by God and shown favor to lead the Israelites out of the hands of the oppressors of their days. A judge is a military official known for his or her bravery in battles or incidents and nothing more than a mere warlord. This individual was given authority over decision-making and political squabbles among the people of Israel since there was no king. A judge would arise in the time of need and lead the tribe or tribes to victory over their enemies. God would show favor unto the judges and they would lead the people of Israel for their lifetime. The book of Judges displays an era of chaos in which the people of Israel did what was right in their opinion. This period is full of utter chaos in which the lack of leadership led to idolatry, rape, murder, the absence of unity among the tribes, and disorder. The last verse in Judges reads, â€Å"In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what right in their own eyes† (21:25), this conclusion is perfect for a book whose entire writings describe a time of such turmoil. The most prevalent form of worship throughout the book of Judges is idolatry. This is one of the sins of the covenant but the people of Israel for some reason cannot abandon this tradition among themselves. Idolatry is the worship of an idol, statue, or some other god or gods. The most popular among the people of Israel were Baal and Astartes. The people of Israel may have been led in a different path if there would have been some sort of leadership or power. Instead, the people of Israel followed a judge by the name of Gideon who created an ephod out of golden earrings for them to worship. There are several incidents throughout the book of Judges that exemplify the worship of idols, which resulted in the anger of God. The people of Israel take up gods from other towns and worship them, also. The presence of a king may have changed this due to the fact he would have been able to shed insight on a specific religion among the people. A disturbing fact of the book of Judges was the senseless raping of women throughout this wretched era. A Levite man’s concubine was raped in a town of which he should be able to trust the people. The men of the town initiall... ...bout. Some of the worst battles were fought as a source of revenge of one person being wronged. Entire towns are slaughtered for the deeds of one or two individuals. Husbands are betrayed to the death by wives for the mere price of eleven hundred pieces of silver, entire races of people are nearly wiped out because of the action of several ruthless men. This disorder itself would allow the last verse of Judges to be a great conclusion for the book. In conclusion, the verse, â€Å"In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes† (21:25), is an apt conclusion for a book written of a disorderly era. The era in which Judges is written about needed the presence of a king or some type of monarchy. The people of Israel took the law into their own hands, they handled problems to the best of their abilities but this was not sufficed. They needed some form of true leadership so that all of the tribes would be of one accord. This could not be accomplished with the thoughts of all of the tribes being vaguely different. Everyone doing what they felt was right only caused for more problems, which would only lead to working harder on trying to fix those.

Themes In A Farewell To Arms :: essays research papers

A Farewell To Arms: Themes   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are three major themes in Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. The first themeis enduring love ended only by mortality. The second, the effects of war on a man’s ideals and morals, things which people can and do believe during war. The last and most important theme is Frederic Henry’s disillusionment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hemingway shows that love can persevere in a world ruined with war. Frederic is not looking for love, and when Rinaldi introduces him to Catherine Barkley, he thinks of her as merely a sexual conquest. Henry considers his flirting with Catherine â€Å"like moves in a chess game.†. Henry thinks Catherine is a little bit crazy, and both admit they are acting. At the front, Henry realizes he is lonely without her and misses her. But it is not until he meets her, after he is wounded and sent to an American hospital, that he realizes he loves her. Henry admits he didn’t want to fall in love with her, but even so he has. Their love continues to grow during his stay at the hospital. Their relationship is unusual since they rarely argue. Their ideal relationship provides them with refuge from the war. However, love, has it’s limit, mortality. Henry leaves for the front again he suggests that their romance is only ended by death. He notices because of his love he has become gentle. When he deserts and returns to Catherine he finds comfort, order, and courage. He says, foreshadowing the end of their love, â€Å"If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them.†. Henry has become dependent on Catherine. His love for her is strong enough to ease his disillusionment In Chapter 41 their baby is born dead. Henry hopelessly watches as Catherine dies and he is left without comfort or hope.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Henry’s ideals and morals change during the novel. He begins to question the legal and immoral theories of the war and replace them with illegal but moral ideas. For instance, in Chapter 7 Henry meets a soldier who wants to be taken to a hospital which is against the rules. At first Henry objects, but when the soldier asks him â€Å"You wouldn’t want to go in the line all the time, would you?†, he answers no and decides to return later and pick him up. Henry has been unable to find new morals, since he has lost faith in what the leaders proclaim. Another example is the Romantic ideology of the time, the belief

Events Management Case Study Big Day Out Essay

Conflicts of Interest and communications between founding partners Ken West and Vivian Lees can lead to internal organisational issues for example misguided and confused management, which could potentially hinder the whole event. (2) Host Community and Event Location: Big day out at the moment have a negative relationship Claremont council with the current councillor and mayor both believing that the music festival bringing more negatives to the region then positives. This also generates bad media for the event displaying it, as â€Å"detrimental† to the community and that it should relocate from the showgrounds. As the showgrounds is the only location in Perth that can safely house 40,000 people and is also close to public transport. Relocating to a more isolated and smaller venue would disinterest punters with greater cost of going to the venue and also a lower cap on ticket sales, which will lead to less revenue and inspire greater scalping margins. (3) New Management: With Lees leaving the event, Big Day Out management have to manage their first event working with new co managers C3 Presents. This is an issue because they will bring new techniques used over in America in the management of Lollapalooza which whilst being possibly effective, if the existing Big day out management isn’t dynamic, confusion and conflict could occur jeopardising the whole success of the event. (4) Maintaining Quality of event: Big Day Out organisers are under a lot of pressure to maintain the quality of the line up while dealing with higher and higher asking prices from headline performers, this makes it harder to obtain a higher number of â€Å"big name† acts as the event use to draw as the asking price of performers has risen greatly. Also because in previous years the Event has scored good quality bug name acts such as Nirvana, for a decent price, the pressure is on for the event to deliver equal too or greater than standards year after year. (5) Financing and Ticket Sales: Financing and Ticket Sales are somewhat complimentary in this case because even though BDO managers paid a lot to get headliner Kanye West it was not enough to spark the required ticket sales, not to mention cutting the line up for the Western and South Australia shows and abandoning New Zealand. Without high Ticket sales there is less profit and therefore lower finances to support the next years bill resulting in less headliners and less ticket sales. If C3 Presents had not bought into BDO this could have been the start of a relentless cycle for BDO, which could have resulted in its demise. (6) Competition: Apart from higher asking prices from performers, bidding against other events such as future and soundwave for headliners makes the asking price even higher. This can then determine who headlines which event, which can turn into a competition for punters. With the main demographic of music festivals being young low-income earners, generally they have to decide which one summer festival they would like to attend. This decision is generally made from how many big acts are on the line up. (7) Fan Loyalty: After completely scrapping the New Zealand leg of the even and cutting some headline acts fro the South and Western Australian legs of the event, Big Day Out managers have to work really hard to keep a loyal fan base and try make the regrettable cuts have as less impact as possible on the events fan bas and ticket sales. Will punters trust Big Day Out if it returns to New Zealand and will Western and Southern Australians pay the same price as the east coast for less of an event? (8) Bad Media: Big Day Out has recently come under fire from Claremont Councilman Peter Browne stated to the media â€Å"The benefits of such concerts are hopelessly outweighed by the intolerable noise, the late finish, the high level of criminal activity and general social misbehaviour in and outside of the grounds. This inspires a bad relationship with Big Day Out and the media because such a quote can trigger the media to produce stories that correlate the big day out with public disruption, un happy residence, criminal behaviour and delinquent youths. Which are all damaging to Big Day Outs’ public image. 3. What alternatives would you offer when recommending solving three of your major issues that you found in question 2? Be detailed in your answer. (10 marks each = 30 marks in total) (1) New Management- The Intro duction of C3 Presents to the management team of Big Day Out could be one of the best or worst things to happen to event. To ensure that it is a good thing a smooth integration must occur. Existing management must be willing to be dynamic and open to change whilst still employing standards and techniques that have shaped Big Day Out into what it is renowned as. Because C3 has shown to be very successful with Lollapalooza in the states they should be given quite a bit of control but given direction not to totally re shape the festivals image jeopardising its reputation and loyal fan base. C3 can bring a lot of good management traits to the table with the main two being effective HR and also industry contacts. With lollapalooza being such a large and successful even the managers at C3 Presents have been able to develop exception management and HR skills which would help BDO excel. The Managers at C3 would also have excellent contacts allowing possibilities for international growth and exposure, not to mention contacts with talent agents, managers and performers which leads to my next recommendation. (2) Competition – With Managers from C3 Presents at the helm of BDO the event can now excel in getting big name headliners at better prices and also reduce the risks of being out bid by other festivals such as Soundwave and Future Music. This is because of C3’s buying power and contacts. C3 can use past contacts from Lollapalooza to invite headline shows from their American festival to also tour as part of BDO. Almost every main headliner that has played BDO in the past has played at Lollapalooza and contract deals could be made where some headliners get paid to play both festivals, also knowing C3’s reputation acts could be inclined to take lower offers to play the event due to exposure and the chance to be asked to play at Lollapalooza after BDO. 3) Host Community – Although most venues are welcoming to the event, Claremont Council forced the event to relocate last year to Victoria Park. This venue is smaller and more isolated then the previous location of Claremont Showgrounds. To reclaim the Showgrounds as the venue for Big Day Out relationship with the mayor, council and local residents need to bee improved. Making the event more sustainable is a start as then there would be less environment al impacts on the venue itself. Improved Crowd controlling would also play in favour as most complaints come from how patrons of the event act outside the venue before and after. More external security and police presence should be employed after the event to make sure that public nuisance is reduced to a minimum and that the neighbouring community is kept safe. If the BDO managers can prove that they have a fortified and planned event that minimising impact on the host community they may have a chance of re hosting the event at the Claremont showgrounds, which would result in higher ticket sales due to the size and capacity of the venue. 4. Identify at least five main differences between marketing a product and marketing an event such as BDO (5 marks). Discuss and analyse five only in detail. (5 marks) (1) Lifetime of Marketing – The marketing of an event is only relative in its marketed regions until the event has ended and is marketed months before tickets go on sale sometimes even up to a year before the event is held. Marketing lifetime for a product is different because only some products are marketed before they are actually on sale and lifetime depends purely on the type of the product where the lifetime of a market campaign of events is generally similar. 2) Use of Media – Events are mainly marketed through newspaper magazines, social media and Internet, billboards and flyers with less frequent television advertisements. Products on the other hand generally have a lot more TV and catalogue advertisements placed. (3)Type of Marketing- Event marketing is normally very forward and will show part of an event or samples performers and activities where product marketing is generally more creative in use of characters, settings and narratives to help personify the inanimate objects. 4) Marketing Events – Events marketing especially in the case of music festivals employ the use of pre-events, for example stereosonic music festivals has a number of launch parties in venues with copious amounts of ticket and merchandise giveaways, this generates a lot of hype about the event and can increase ticket sales. Product marketers on the other hand generally don’t hold a lot of â€Å"Launch Party† type events to create hype and increase sales; although promotions are employed they are more of a rarity in product marketing. 5) Repetition of campaign – Events will use the same advertisement for the life of the campaign where several different advertisements can be produced to market one product 5. When it comes to planning for an event such as BDO, list at least ten aspects that event organisers need to take into account? Be as specific as you can. (10 marks) 1. Human Resources and Management. 2. Location of event 3. Marketing of Event 4. Auditing and Bidding for the Event 5. Event Insurance and Liability 6. Crisis Control and Crowd management 7. Sustainability 8. Host Community 9. Stakeholders 10. Financing and Sponsorship . From question 5, choose two aspects and go into detail with specifics relative to BDO. Topics can be chosen from the first 4 weeks of lecture topics and readings. (10 marks each = 20 marks in total) Sustainability of Big Day Out: In today’s day and age sustainability is one of the most important aspects in large scale event planning. Sustainability reduces the environment al impact of an event, which as a hole reduces the carbon footprint, reduces rubbish and waste litter, leaves less impact on the venue flora and fauna and also helps generate positive media and perception about the Event. Below I have listed ideas in detail, which would help make Big Day Out a more sustainable Event; Mobile App – This would include an E ticket QR code, event timetable and also an interactive music trivia app about the festivals band (to encourage use). This is app would reduce the use of printed tickets and timetables. Public Transport Tickets – Include public transport in the cost of ticket (as used for Suncorp Stadium events) reduce the amount of people who drive and cab to the event. Cup system- Make a system where either for every 6 cups you pick up off the ground and return you get a free refill or introduce a system where if you hold onto your cup you pay a cheaper rate for refills. Recyclable products – Make sure all disposable goods available from vendors, besides merchandise, are recyclable and have majority of bins at the festival recycle bins. Human Resource Management- Human resource management at a large-scale event has to be employed exceptionally for the event to run as smoothly and risk free as possible. The importance of HR’s contribution to the successfulness of events is shown through precedent such as case studies of the Sydney Olympics, which was deemed to be the most successful Olympics ever. For BDO managers and HR staff would be employed professionally, hopefully using staff from previous years. General vendors bar and cleaning staff would all be qualified volunteers working intermittent shifts allowing them to enjoy the festival after there shifts as there pay. A free festival ticket for a few hours work should be enough incentive to keep the workers motivated. Those who work till end of event would have monetary incentive, also enthusiastic employed managers should be able to keep their workers motivated. Crowd Controllers would be professionally hired, preferably those with experience, although they ask a higher wage one experienced festival crowd controller would be more beneficial then three rookies thrown into the mist of the Big Day Out. Police and professional Medical team will also be employed as per state law requirements.

Change King Lear

Why is change inevitable? Why is it feared by many but then embraced with open arms by others? Change is the cause to be different, the process or result of altering. And although changes may be difficult and problematic, they often DO bring rewards to those who undergo them. But that doesn’t mean every change has a happy ending. Students, friends, I’m here before you today to discuss with you the concept of change and its results, and with the help of arguably the most influential writer in English literature – William Shakespeare – and his play ‘King Lear’, as well as the movie â€Å"Life as a House’ and the famous Bob Dylan song ‘The Times They Are a Changin’’. With these texts, I’m going to distinguish and expose the outcomes and arduousness of change. The natural order – or in other words, the physical universe considered as an unchanging structure of life – in King Lear is absolute and when pushed, it pushes back. The most obvious example where the natural order is changed is at the beginning of the play when King Lear divides his Kingdom between his daughters. Regan and Goneril represent King Lear’s sinister attitude at the start with traits such as cruelty and greed. Their deception is seen when the two daughters use exaggerations of love to deceive the King for power. Goneril claims she loves her father, â€Å"As much as child e’er loved, or father found; a love that makes breath poor and speech unable†. But youngest daughter Cordelia –who represents the softer, purer nature of King Lear after he experiences an inner change- is seen to rebel against Lear by claiming her love as â€Å"†¦ according to my bond, no more nor less. † This scene spins the ‘wheel’ of change, beginning the random suffering of the members of the kingdom and creates the dire repercussions that follow. Bob Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are a Changin’’ states ‘Don’t speak too soon for the wheel’s still in spin and there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’’ which reinforces the metaphor seen in King Lear that entails how change is happening continually, without word of who it will affect and that once one change comes the ‘wheel’ will continue to ‘spin’ and will just keep on bringing more change, both good and bad. The continuing chain of change is reflected in ‘Life as a House’ when not only the two main characters – George and Sam – are affected by the change of their relationship and their journey of inner change, but when the whole community are affected by change also. When George is admitted into hospital, the whole neighbourhood changes their opinion of him as the town nuisance and begin to provide their time and service to ensure his dream of building a house is finished. This is shown through camera shots moving amongst those working on the house. The husband of George’s ex-wife also goes through some inner changes shown through costume changes and changes in his body language. The once ‘snobby’ business man becomes more of a laid-back family guy when he realises he may lose both his wife and kids if he doesn’t change; creating a sense that his family is his reward for changing himself for the better. ‘The Times They Are a Changin’’ implies that ‘history is in the making’; that a change is coming whether you are ready for it or not. A line in his first stanza reads ‘Accept it that soon you’ll be drenched to the bone’, which is seen as an extended metaphor of ‘water’, where the water represents change. Change is eternal; just as water is. It will never cease to exist and like a flood, it will come whether predicted or not, sweeping away those who are not prepared for it; for if you’re not riding the ‘wave’ of change, you’ll find yourself submerged in it. The line ‘Then you better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone’ is used to further enforce the outcome of life is you don’t adapt to change; that these ‘changes’ will drown you. This metaphor of ‘water’ is not only representing change, but also the process of change itself. Bob Dylan shows this through his lyrics that the journey undertaken to stay ‘afloat’ may be difficult, but brings rewards and happiness to those who undergo them successfully, as says in his words ‘For the loser now will be later to win’ and ‘The slow one now will later be fast’. During the movie ‘Life as a House’, both the father George and the son Sam jump off a cliff – at different stages of the movie – and plunge themselves into the ocean. The ocean symbolises change, and their jump represents their willingness to take the leap of faith into it regardless of the risk to change their life. Both of these characters have undertaken many hard times during their life, whether it be depression, losing their job or an extreme medical condition, but throughout it all they still manage to stay ‘afloat’ and embrace change into their lives; letting it alter them as they become new people. Unlike Bob Dylan’s song and ‘Life as a House’, ‘King Lear’ perspective on change doesn’t exactly bring rewards to those who undertake tough changes. In Act Three, King Lear finds himself caught in a storm that represents both the insanity infecting King Lear’s mind and the process of change that has been placed before him. Once again nature symbolises change; where it is seen to be the sinister quality used to exploit the weaknesses of the protagonist and is inescapable and inevitable, just like nature itself. Lear’s decline in power over both his kingdom and his family reduces him to a weak, mad man and through the storm Lear has found himself unable to stop the change that is occurring in his kingdom and that he cannot hide from the destruction that it is bringing. Willingly or not, King Lear must change himself and deal with the consequences of his actions, or drown trying. ‘Come mothers and fathers throughout the land and don’t criticise what you can’t understand. Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command. ’ This line from Dylan’s song was composed during the sixties when the younger generations were testing boundaries and moving away from the authority of their parents. I’m sure most of us here have dealt with boundary issues with parents before, so we can all understand why Dylan was giving these parents – who don’t understand or accept the changes within a society – a choice to step back if they are unwilling to change and to help by ‘lending a hand’. This step towards change within both society and families is represented as the reward at the end of the tunnel; not only satisfying the younger generation, but to the whole community. In ‘Life as a House’, the house that is being built is used as a metaphor of the relationship between father and son. At the beginning, the house is a rundown little shack reflecting the state of George and Sam’s relationship at the beginning. George is viewed as the naive parent who doesn’t understand their kid, and Sam is the child who is trying to move away from the authority of his parents. We’re all been there and done that, so we all know what it feels like to be in Sam’s position. But as the house is being pulled down and rebuilt, it symbolises how George rebuilds his relationship with Sam through the building of the house. The change shows on both the house and the family’s relationship, by putting everything that was ever wrong right. This transformation of the house and the relationship is seen as the happy ending brought by change to the family. Lear doesn’t understand his daughters just as George doesn’t understand Sam. He doesn’t know his two eldest daughters well enough to realise the deception behind their love for him as they proclaim it, and he doesn’t understand his youngest daughter Cordelia as he doesn’t recognise just how much she really does love him. King Lear banishes Cordelia along with his loyal subject Kent with a growing ‘blindness’. He says to Cordelia, â€Å"Hence, and avoid my sight† as he also says to Kent, â€Å"Out of my sight. † further showing his ignorance or ‘blindness’ of those who truly care about him. Throughout the play, Lear rebuilds his relationship with Cordelia by experiencing an inner change throughout the play, just as Sam changes himself when George rebuilds his relationship with him. But it is obviously too late for redemption as King Lear – along with many others – die as a consequence of interfering with the dark side of change. Change is inevitable. But it’s up to you to make the best of it. Because nothing worth having in this world comes easily, and although those changes may be difficult and problematic, they almost certainly bring rewards to those who undergo them. Even if they don’t always end the way you expect.

Vietnam War Outcome Influenced by the Media

Term 3 Paper: The Media and Vietnam War The Vietnam War was a war of mass destruction, leaving Vietnam to become bitterly divided and claiming the many lives of Vietnamese civilians as well as American soldiers. Out of all the wars in American history, the Vietnam War was the first war to be broadly televised and covered by the media. It came to be known as the first â€Å"Television War†. Journalists began to pour into Vietnam from all over the nation, to cover the lives of the American Soldiers as well as Vietnamese civilians.As television brought horrendous images of the war into American living rooms, the perception of an American solider as a hero slowly became the image of the American enemy. Thus, the media is a major factor that resulted to the Vietnamization of the conflict, following the end of the war during the fall of Saigon. Television was the main source of news for the American public, and perhaps the most influence on the public opinion of the war. A study sho wed that â€Å"In 1950, only nine percent of homes owned a television. By 1966, this rose to ninety-three percent. (McLaughlin). As television popularity rose, Americans began to depend of television as an accurate source of how they understood the war. In addition, no censorship was established to limit the amount of information being put out to the American public. In the website article, Vietnam: A Censored War, John a. Cloud states â€Å"the fact that there was no military censorship, there was still censorship among the government† (Cloud). Due to lack of censorship, journalists could follow the military into combat and report their observations without formal censorship.Therefore, journalists that experienced the violent combat were able to present the public with more graphic images that the nation has ever seen. One of the most influential journalists was Walter Cronkite, â€Å"Cronkite turned against the war and called for peace negotiations. † (NPR). As an a nchor for â€Å"CBS Evening News†, Cronkite made his statement against the war. This influenced all other journalists to follow his lead. As a result, journalists reported the actions of the soldiers negatively. Gradually, Support for the war began to decrease by the fall of 1967.One of the most turning events of the Vietnam War was the Tet Offensive in 1968. During the Tet Offensive, the media presented images of soldiers sweeping through over one-hundred southern Vietnamese cities. After the televised coverage of the Battle of Tet, majority Americans withdrew their support for the war. In the book Eyewitness Vietnam War, Admiral Grant Sharp argued â€Å"the reality of the 1968 Tet Offensive was that Hanoi had taken a big gamble and lost on the battlefield, but they won a solid physiological victory in the United States. † (Murray 18).This proves that, the media was creating false claims to provoke the people into pushing the government to stop the war. The media also portrayed the attack as a defeat for the United States, â€Å"the media, not the military confirmed the growing perception that the U. S was unable to with the war. † (McLaughlin). With this advantage, the north Viet Cong was using the media to win the sympathy of the American public, so that they would turn against their government. The anti-war movement by 1965 influenced many Americans to oppose their government’s involvement in the war.Thus, â€Å"†¦ after the Tet offensive, the number of protesters skyrocketed† (Langer 235). One example is the Kent State Massacre, which led to the death of four students. There was a significant national response to the shooting, such as the closing of schools thought the United States due to student strikes. However, the most damaging event for a U. S soldier’s reputation was the massacre of My Lai, â€Å"images of dead children, women, and families flooded newspapers and television. † (Murray 23). When the incident became public, it promoted the widespread outrage thought the world.The American solider was now portrayed as â€Å"monstrous killers with no qualms about killing Vietnamese civilians. † (Cloud). Critics of the war created accusations towards the soldiers such as: drug use, rape, and barbaric acts. This led the people to question the purpose of America’s involvement of the war. The media was also used to expose government information regarding the Vietnam War. There was a conspiracy that, an alleged attack on the U. S spy ship (USS Maddox) was purposely created to become the pretext for war in Vietnam. Also known as the â€Å"Gulf of Tonkin†, the event granted congress permission to invade Vietnam.American journalist, Nigel Sheehan exposed the documents that told the truth about the start of the war. As a  reporter  for  The New York Times,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"in 1971, Sheehan obtained the classified  Pentagon Papers  from  Daniel Ellsberg. † (Shah). Sheehan collaborated with Ellsberg (a former pentagon staff) to publish the series of articles that contained the history of the U. S involvement in the war. The official secret history of the war would reveal that â€Å"administration officials had drafted the gulf of Tonkin resolution themselves, two months before the attack of Maddox. †(Shah).This caused the people to become outraged, censuring the government for the start of the war instead of the Viet Cong. An article from Media Beat in 1994, explains that the â€Å"heavy reliance on U. S government officials as sources of information and reluctance to question official statements on national security issues, led to a lot of inaccurate media reporting† (Langer 256). Many stories about atrocities of the war were witnessed, but were initially never reported. Even if atrocities were reported, they were perceived as a tragedy because the government did not want to take the blame.For example, when the My Lai Massacre was reported on the â€Å"Newsweek† the banner headline was â€Å"An American Tragedy† (Murray). This caused sympathy for the invader and deflected from the truth about the atrocities. Above all, the atrocities were in fact, a Vietnamese tragedy. With the influence of media, the Americans failed to have public support for the war to carry on. Moreover, tensions between the news media and the Nixon administration only increased as the war dragged on. Finally, Nixon was pressured to find a resolution to end the war.As a result, on November 3, 1969, President  Richard M. Nixon  made a televised speech laying out his policy toward Vietnam, â€Å"promising to continue to support the South Vietnamese government and held out a plan for the withdrawal of American combat troops. † (Wyatt). With this he created Vietnamization to slowly withdraw troops out of Vietnam, along with plans to end the war. In brief, the media was a major factor that motivated the Am erican public to pressure the government to stop involvement of the war. As a result, the media is one of the factors that resulted in America’s cost of the war.Works cited Cloud, John A. â€Å"Vietnam: A Censored War. † Thecrimson. com. The Harvard Crimson, 9 Mar. 1991. Web. Considered, All Things. â€Å"Cronkite on Vietnam War : NPR. † NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts : NPR. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. . Langer, Howard. The Vietnam War: An Encyclopedia of Quotations / Howard J. Langer. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2005.Print. McLaughlin, Erin. â€Å"The Media and the Vietnam War. † The Warbird's Forum: AVG Flying Tigers, Brewster Buffaloes, Flying Wings, Japan at War, Vietnam, and Other Military History Stuff. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. ;http://www. warbirdforum. com/media. htm;. Murray, Stuart. Eyewitness Vietnam War. NY: DK Pub. , 2005. Print. Shah, Anup. â€Å"Media, Propaganda and Vietnam — Global Issues. † Global Iss ues : Social, Political, Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All — Global Issues. 24 Oct. 2003. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. ;http://www. globalissues. rg/article/402/media-propaganda-and-vietnam;. Cloud, John A. â€Å"Vietnam: A Censored War. † Thecrimson. com. The Harvard Crimson, 9 Mar. 1991. Web. ;http://www. thecrimson. com/article/1991/3/9/vietnam-a-censored-war-pbybou-cant/; Considered, All Things. â€Å"Cronkite on Vietnam War : NPR. † NPR : National Public Radio : News ; Analysis, World, US, Music ; Arts : NPR. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. ;http://www. npr. org/templates/story/story. php? storyId=1147965;. Langer, Howard. The Vietnam War: An Encyclopedia of Quotations / Howard J. Langer.Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2005. Print. McLaughlin, Erin. â€Å"The Media and the Vietnam War. † The Warbird's Forum: AVG Flying Tigers, Brewster Buffaloes, Flying Wings, Japan at War, Vietnam, and Other Military History Stuff. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. . Murray, Stuart. Eyewitne ss Vietnam War. NY: DK Pub. , 2005. Print. Shah, Anup. â€Å"Media, Propaganda and Vietnam — Global Issues. † Global Issues : Social, Political, Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All — Global Issues. 24 Oct. 2003. Web. 17 Feb. 2012.

Customer Fulfillment in the Digital Economy

Customer Fulfillment in the Digital Economy Amazon. com E-tail Customer Fulfillment Networks Pioneer â€Å"The logistics of distribution Scorecard are the iceberg below the waterline of online bookselling.B-web type —Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO, Amazon. comAggregation (e-tail) /Agora (auctions, Zshops) hybrid model KEY PARTICIPANTS â€Å"Ten years from now, no one will remember whether Consumers and business buyers Context providersContent providersAmazon. com and small online merchants (Amazon. com associates, Zshops, auctions) Suppliers and b-web partners (publishers; producers [OEM]; distributors e. g. Ingram Micro, Baker & Taylor Books, and others) Customers Amazon. com spent an extra $100,000 upgrading shipping from the West Coast to the East Coast. All that will matter is whether electronic commerceGave people a good or bad experience.2 —David Risher, senior vice president for merchandising, Amazon. com Commerce services †¢ Infrastructure providers â€Å"This [the Amazon. com distribution warehouses and CFN] is the fastest expansion of distribution capacity in peacetime history. † 3 —Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO, Amazon. com Offering Amazon. com and online merchants (Amazon. com associates, Zshops, auctions) Amazon. om and merchants participating in auctions and Zshops Third party shippers (UPS & USPS) Amazon. com Drop shippers such as Ingram Technology providers such as Oracle, Net Perceptions, and i2 Technologies Third party shippers (UPS, USPS) The largest online e-tailer of books, music, videos, toys, and gifts Recently expanded service offering to include auctions (March 1999) and Zshops (September 1999)—an aggregation of merchants on its Web site Aspires to become a one-stop shop for merchandise on the Web CFN value proposition â€Å"Earth’s largest selection† of merchandise at competitive prices, a validated product assortment, nd consistent customer service from â€Å"home page to home delivery†Ã¢â‚¬â€œ24/7 URL http://www. amazon. com 360 Adelaide Street W, 4th Floor Toronto, Ontario. Canada M5V 1R7 Tel 416. 979. 7899. Fax 416. 979-7616 www. digital4sight. com  © 2000 Digital 4Sight Corp. Reproduction by any means, or disclosure to parties who are not employees of Digital 4Sight member organizations is prohibited. Thank you for your cooperation. 1. 1 Customer Fulfillment in the Digital Economy Amazon. com few barriers to entry—but one of those barriers is customer fulfillment. In 1996–97, Amazon. com was largely alone in the e-tailing business. Now the Web is eeming with e-tailers like buy. com (which aggressively undercuts everyone else, including Amazon. com), CDNow, and barnesandnoble. com. There are also Web portal-run malls, many of which are copying and offering features (like the renowned â€Å"one-click shopping†) that have thus far differentiated Amazon. com. Yahoo’s online mall offers 7,000 stores with over four million items and walmart. com’s planned debut in 2000 poses a significant threat. Amazon. com’s first mover advantage, e-brand equity, and initial cost advantages (stemming from lack of investments in prime real estate for storefronts) are gradually eroding.Its margins are falling, while operating expenses from mergers and acquisitions are increasing. As of the end of 1999, Amazon. com expected to post approximately $600 million in losses for the year, at a time when growth in book sales is falling (from about 800% in 1997 to a little over 100% in 1999). On the plus side, customer retention rates exceeded 72% in the third quarter of 1999. 8 But average revenue per customer in 1998 was $98. 4, while average selling, general and administrative (SG&A) and distribution costs per customer (excluding cost of goods sold) were about $71. 30, leading to an average net earnings loss of around 21%. Amazon. com Founder Jeff Bezos wants to transform Amazon. com into the largest and most customer-friendly one-stop shop on the Web. Already the largest online e-tailer of books, music, and videos, the company has expanded its product offering to include toys, gifts, and electronics, and in September 1999 launched â€Å"Zshops,† a new initiative (online flea market on Amazon. com’s Web site) which offers customers â€Å"universal selection. †4 Zshops empower small merchants and customers to set up online stores on the Amazon. com Web site for a monthly fee of $10, and a transaction fee of 1–5% of every sale.With a market capitalization of approximately $31. 4 billion (as of November 1999), 12 million loyal customers, 18 million items on sale, projected 1999 sales of $1. 4 billion, and the most recognized brand name on the Internet,5 Amazon. com aspires to become the supermall of choice for online shoppers. Its recipe includes innovation driven by â€Å"customer obsession† and the ability to provide a secure, enjoyable shopping experience online, but its dominance is due to a customer fulfillment process that delivers. A carefully orchestrated and adroitly executed â€Å"sell all, carry few† strategy explains Amazon. com’s success ith e-tail customer fulfillment. Its business web (b-web) (for books) includes Ingram Book Group and Baker & Taylor, the two largest book wholesalers in the US, as well as dozens of others. In 1998, Amazon. com obtained 60% of its books through Ingram, which operates seven strategically located US warehouses. Amazon. com pays Ingram a wholesale markup a few percentage points above the publisher’s price for its drop shipping services. 6 How has Amazon. com responded to these formidable challenges? First, to increase revenue per customer, Amazon. com added product lines or capabilities practically every six weeks in 1999.In February, the company bought 46% of drugstore. com. The following month, it launched online auctions. It bought a 35% stake in homegrocer. com in May, 54% of pets. com in June, an d 49% of gear. com in July. The Zshops and All Product Search (a â€Å"search the Web† service) initiatives have moved it even closer to its goal of providing â€Å"earth’s largest selection. † For Amazon. com, the Zshops initiative is 80–90% grossmargin rich, since its marginal costs for providing one-click shopping and credit card collection on Zshops is nearly zero. In 1999, Amazon. com opened five new automated distribution centers of its own in the US (this is in ddition to two centers already operational in Seattle and Delaware). The intent is to improve declining margins in a cutthroat business (e. g. by sourcing books directly from publishers), lessen dependence on Ingram and other distributors, and extend and control its online fulfillment process to enhance competitive advantage. Amazon. com now offers its customers same to next day shipping (in the US) on most items. In the 1999 holiday season, the company sent more packages—perhaps in e xcess of 15 million—to more people than any other e-tailer or mail-order retailer in the country. 7 Amazon. com’s leadership in customer fulfillment etworking (CFN) will be critical to its success as the landlord of the largest shopping mall on the Web. Second, its customer fulfillment networking (CFN) strategy is designed to increase gross margins by sourcing directly from publishers and other producers, rather than from wholesalers (e. g. distributors like Ingram) who provide drop shipping for a premium. Amazon. com will also reduce costs per sale by cross-docking orders (books, electronics, and toys all in one order) at the warehouse closest to the customer through state-of-the-art demand forecasting and optimization solutions from i2 Technologies. 10 Business contextE-tailing is fast becoming a crowded marketplace with  © 1. 2 2000 Digital 4Sight Corp. Reproduction by any means, or disclosure to parties who are not employees of Digital 4Sight member organizations is prohibited. Thank you for your cooperation. Customer Fulfillment in the Digital Economy Amazon. com So, what are the implications of Amazon. com’s push into more warehouses for better customer fulfillment? While the investment in five additional warehouses has been immense (in excess of $200 million), it enables same or next day fulfillment in most cases—driving greater customer satisfaction and loyalty, and higher evenues and profits per customer. It also lowers operating expenses and empowers Amazon. com to respond to pressures from Wall Street for profits. The strategy appears to be paying off—5. 69 million unique Web users (excluding its 12 million registered customers) shopped at Amazon. com in the 1999 holiday season (an 81% increase over 1998), with average spending per customer of $128 (a 30% increase over 1998). 14 However, maintaining stock in seven warehouses also increases inventory carrying costs, which the company will need to balance and contr ol through efficient customer fulfillment planning and execution. 2000 Digital 4Sight Corp. Reproduction by any means, or disclosure to parties who are not employees of Digital 4Sight member organizations is prohibited. Thank you for your cooperation. Less compelling High Complex*E-BRAND AS BARRIER TO ENTRY E-CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS AMAZON. COM (Circa 2001)†¢ Landlord of largest Web supermall†¢ Universal selection, one-stop shopping, and same day customer fulfillment = competitive advantage†¢ Revenues: $2. 7 Billion (est. )†¢ Registered Customers: 19. 5 MM†¢ Items Offered: >18 MM AMAZON. COM (1998)†¢ Book E-tailer†¢ Investment in brand building†¢ Customer fulfillment largely outsourced to Ingram and Baker & Taylor†¢ Revenues: $610 MM†¢ Registered Customers: 12 MM†¢ Books Offered2. 5 MM Low Low This strategic shift (figure 1) makes sense because Amazon. com’s e-brand will be a less compelling barrier to entry beyond 2000, co mpared to its customized, collaborative, and integrated online fulfillment capability for â€Å"orders of one. † According to Andrew N. Westland, Amazon. com’s vice president of warehousing, transportation and engineering, it would risk losing its competitive advantage from its pioneering and innovative one-to-one customer fulfillment excellence if it hired another company to handle distribution.As he points out, â€Å"we would be the teacher and then they would offer those services to our competitors. †13 Designed and built for online order fulfillment, Amazon. com’s CFN and warehouse distribution system is among the first of its kind (another is Webvan). As such, it confers competitive first mover and learning curve advantage. ONLINE PRODUCT ASSORTMENT Amazon. com’s business model consists of two different but complementary revenue, pricing, and profit models. In the case of auctions and Zshops, relatively small topline revenues (at least as of t he end of 1999) contribute high gross and operating margins.In contrast, for the traditional e-tailing model, lower gross and operating margins offset high topline revenues. 11 The company wants to utilize both models: cross-sell the high margin Zshops/auctions offering to its registered e-tailing customers (immediately enhancing both revenue and profits per customer), and cut the cost of sales and operating expenses through efficient customer fulfillment. High Simple Third, its strategy of providing hassle-free, same or next day fulfillment on most items will enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty, driving repeat business, referrals, and increased market share.CUSTOMER FULFILLMENT AS CORE-COMPETENCE High * Complexity of product assortment implies both high breadth and depth of product lines offered. Figure 1. Amazon. com’s strategic shift: from book e-tailer to landlord of Web super mall. 12 Value proposition Amazon. com’s value proposition is â€Å"earth’s largest selection—24/7, at a competitive price. † The world’s most â€Å"customer-centric company† gives its customers what they want (universal selection), how they want it (in one consolidated package), and when they want it (same or next-day by the year 2000), by orchestrating an enjoyable buying experience at the front end and einforcing it with seamless fulfillment at the back end. Bezos, who describes his team members as â€Å"customer obsessed†¦genetic pioneers,†15 can take credit for numerous innovations, including customer recognition and one-click shopping, free book reviews, recommendations (suggestive selling), Purchase Circles (best seller list by region, country, company, and industry), All Product Search (shop the Web), free e-greetings, Auctions, Zshops, and seamless customer fulfillment. Each of these has been a first on the Web, and competitors have copied most of them. Recent innovations include a system that lets shoppers u t together a big order and then send each item, tagged with an individual message, to a different individual and address (September 1999); a â€Å"wish list†Ã¢â‚¬â€much like a wedding registry—that lets people tell the world what gifts they want to receive; and an â€Å"Amazon. com anywhere† initiative with Sprint (announced December 8, 1999) that facilitates wireless shopping through Sprint PCS Internet-enabled smart cellular phones. 16 1. 3 Customer Fulfillment in the Digital Economy Amazon. com 1 Customer places order; credit card processed for payment 4 E-Customer All items picked, packed and assembled at nearest warehouse & shipped ia UPS or US Postal Service 5 Order delivered from the nearest warehouse via UPS/USPS AMAZON. COM WAREHOUSE WWW Electronics OEM Amazon. com’s servers in Seattle Demand forecasting visibility and optimization through i2’s Supply Chain OptimizationSoftware 2 Customer order parsed out to appropriate suppliers (if not stocked in Amazon. com warehouse). Books sourced from Ingram or other book publisher Music company LEGEND Inventory Information 3 Producers dispatch goods to Amazon. com warehouse. Figure 2. Amazon. com’s customer fulfillment network (CFN)—circa 2000. CFN strategy Amazon. com is a CFN pioneer. Its innovative CFN trategy enables true dynamic commerce that provides a customized experience to not only fulfill, but also create demand—profitably, and in real-time. This is a virtuous cycle realized through integration of the customer relationship management applications with the order fulfillment applications and its b-web, as well as intelligent and dynamic demand-supply synchronization. It is rendered possible by the following CFN value drivers: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Business processes and applications Sourcing multiple line items from disparate suppliers and assembling them to a customer’s order and specifications for same/next day fulfillment invo lves ramatically greater logistics and supply chain complexity than delivering huge pallets from warehouses to shelf spaces (brick-and-mortar retail). Dynamic and intelligent personalization that ensures dynamic content insertion and cross-selling (enhancing revenues and profits per customer) while matching the customer’s demands with Amazon. com’s fulfillment abilities Virtual integration across the b-web (from customer to supplier and warehouses) that ensures synchronicity across business processes, delivering intelligent and profitable order fulfillment Dynamic demand and supply planning and ptimization to minimize inventory carrying and transportation costs and reduce cycle times, Three factors—selling an expanded selection of products online (Amazon. com offers 18 million items), the need to move a large volume of small parcels, and rising customer expectations—combine to put new pressures on order fulfillment systems. According to Toby Link, CEO of e-Toys, â€Å"Inventory management is the great ecommerce business process that no one seems to know much about. It is the true barrier to entry. †17 Amazon. com, which has depended largely on a drop shipping and just-in-time arrangement for books with  © 1. 4 aximizing profit and service levels Maximum visibility and responsiveness to supply and demand variability and anomalies through dynamic exception notification (e. g. an electronic alert signal if something goes wrong) 2000 Digital 4Sight Corp. Reproduction by any means, or disclosure to parties who are not employees of Digital 4Sight member organizations is prohibited. Thank you for your cooperation. Customer Fulfillment in the Digital Economy Amazon. com Order Management System (OMS) Credit card data verification, e-ordering (if needed), reconcilliation of shipping and customer charges Inventory Management System (IMS)Which items and categories to stock, where and in what quantities? What is available and what needs to be ordered? I2’s Demand Optimizer Inventory turnover data by product, category, country, region, state, industry, etc. I2’s Available to Promise (ATP) Can we fulfill these orders profitably? Oracle database of products and consumer profiles All Product Search What are customers looking for? Customer Orders What are they buying? Warehouse & Transportation Management System (WMS & TMS) Pick, pack and ship orders most efficiently & profitably Purchase Circles (Best seller listing by country, region, industry or company)WWW E-Customer New Customer Profile Who are the e-customers (demographics, etc. )? What are their preferences? Suggested Selling (Cross-sell and Net Perceptions up-sell profitable, Collaborative Filtering: in-stock items that What items and categories of customers want) products are customers likely to buy based on affinity? a nagement (CRM) Decision Support, S upply Chain Planning & Execution Customer Relationship M Figure 3. Amazon. com’s suite of CFN applications. 20 Ingram and Baker & Taylor, has now primarily moved to a from-stock hybrid model (that also includes the other options) with its seven US warehouses. In ddition to enlarging its Seattle and Delaware warehouses in 1999, the company has invested over $200 million to lease five distribution and warehousing facilities in Fernley, Nevada; Coffeyville, Kansas; Campbellsville and Louisville, Kentucky; and McDonough, Georgia. of Digital Equipment Alpha Servers and Netscape Commerce Servers built around an Oracle database server and Oracle Financials Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. 21 According to Jeff Bezos, 80% of the company’s investment in software development since its founding in 1994 has not gone into its famously user-friendly screens, but to back-office logistics. 2 In 1998, two-thirds of Amazon. com’s 2,100 employees worked on customer fulfillment. 22 These seven warehouses, comprising 3. 5 million square feet of total space, will en sure fulfillment in 24–48 hours in most cases in the US. 18 The CFN comprising Amazon. com’s warehouses, b-web of suppliers and drop shippers, and end-to-end integration is specifically designed for online retailing from the ground up (i. e. , shipping merchandise item by item to individual customers). 19 It is one of only a handful of such networks. Amazon. com developed most of its own front end e-commerce applications, including page design and rder management systems (OMS). The acquisition and incorporation of Junglee, a highly sophisticated XML-based shopping bot, forms the basis of Amazon. com’s New Product Search application. It sourced its highly acclaimed suggested selling collaborative filtering software from Net Perceptions and recently acquired a Supply Chain Planning and Optimization package from i2 Technologies. 24 All other software—including middleware and the much-praised and patented one-click shopping application—is customized fo r Amazon. com or proprietary, and zealously guarded for competitive advantage. Amazon. com’s CFN, including its network of istribution centers, is illustrated in figure 2; figure 3 shows CFN applications deployed. Amazon. com’s initial hardware and software consisted  © 2000 Digital 4Sight Corp. Reproduction by any means, or disclosure to parties who are not employees of Digital 4Sight member organizations is prohibited. Thank you for your cooperation. 1. 5 Customer Fulfillment in the Digital Economy Amazon. com Amazon. com is in the process of integrating its b-web (suppliers, distributors, and customers) with its supply chain planning (SCP) and ERP, as well as management systems for orders (OMS), inventory (IMS), warehouse WMS), and transportation (TMS) (figures 2 and 3). This strategy will lead to intelligent demand forecasting, optimization, and profitable distribution execution. The customer relationship management (CRM) suite at the front end, which consists of one-to-one personalization and collaborative filtering from Net Perceptions and Amazon. com’s own order management system (OMS), works in sync with i2’s Supply Chain Planning, Optimization (SCPO) and Decision Support Systems (DSS) at the back end. These form a virtuous cycle that creates profitable demand while delivering a customized buying experience in real-time, as well as ntelligent, profitable fulfillment that ensures customer satisfaction and referrals. Figure 3 presents a hypothesis of how the applications work to deliver intelligent end-to-end order fulfillment: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ This is a true â€Å"sense and respond† CFN based on Amazon. com’s move towards a â€Å"real-time inventory solution† (if the customer can order it, it is available, and can be shipped) to drive customer loyalty, revenues, referrals, and profitability. Data is gathered initially from the customer to form a customer profile in the Oracle data base. Information on items customers are looking for, and ctually buy, is gathered through the All Product Search function and customer orders, respectively. Data from All Product Search drives the categories and product lines that Amazon. com keeps adding to its colossal assortment. The buying data is queried to yield inventory turnover (for every item) by zip code, state, country, business, company, and industry. The inventory turnover data is used to stratify Amazon. com’s inventory on an A, B, C basis (e. g. ‘A’ items could be best sellers, ‘B’ items have medium turnover, and ‘C’ items are one-off orders). The inventory turnover data (XML tagged by zip ode) is fed back to the customer by way of Purchase Circles (best-seller listing) to seduce the customer into buying the item. As well, data from the customer profile and previous buying patterns are mined (using collaborative filtering from Net Perceptions) to predict affinities betwe en customers and products. This enables real-time suggestive selling recommendations (the right suggestions to the right buyer at the right time—right now) relevant to each customer’s buying objectives. These recommendations convert browsers into buyers, increase revenue and profits per customer, and stimulate repeat buying. 25 2’s demand planner uses the inventory turnover and buying data to dynamically anticipate customer needs by accurately predicting customer demand on an ongoing basis. By integrating these with i2’s available-to-promise (ATP) inventory management and distribution systems, Amazon. com ensures that B-web organization Amazon. com’s b-web is an Aggregation (e-tail) and Agora (auctions and Zshops) hybrid model powered by its CFN. Win-win b-web relationships and electronic integration with suppliers, distributors, publishers, producers, and software and hardware providers account for Amazon. com’s winning experience and fulfi llment.These partners contribute significantly to, and derive benefits from, its success. In addition to large and assured revenue streams, learning from this e-tailing and CFN pioneer assures competitive advantage in the high velocity arena of e-commerce. In book e-tailing, for instance, Amazon. com ties Ingram’s inventory data to its customer interface. This gives Amazon. com available-to-promise (ATP) capabilities that lets customers know when they can expect to receive their merchandise. As soon as an order comes in, Amazon. com sends it to Ingram electronically (if it doesn’t carry the ordered item); Ingram then ships the rder, usually the same or next day, to Amazon. com’s customer fulfillment center for cross-docking and shipping via UPS/USPS. Key lessons Four factors explain Amazon. com’s in success e-tailing: †¢  © 1. 6 it maintains an optimum inventory of its most ordered books, CDs, videos, toys, and electronics in its warehouses for in- stock fulfillment. Continuous reconciliation of order and inventory data via the ATP function enables Amazon. com to commit to lead times on its Web site that it can profitably fulfill. Distributors like Ingram will drop ship one-off items (‘C’), or Amazon. com will order them (through theOMS) on a just-in-time basis from other suppliers for cross docking at its warehouse closest to the customer (figure 2). Intelligent distribution, warehousing (WMS), and transportation (TMS) optimization ensures that Amazon. com picks, packs, and transports orders for delivery, via US Postal Service (60% of orders) or UPS (40% of orders), â€Å"from buy button to customer doorstep† 24–48 hours for in-stock items, and within seven days for others, in the US. 26 First, it translated its customer-centric understanding of market need into an easy-to-use, intuitive buying experience that pleases customers and drives evenues and referrals 2000 Digital 4Sight Corp. Reproduction by any means, or disclosure to parties who are not employees of Digital 4Sight member organizations is prohibited. Thank you for your cooperation. Customer Fulfillment in the Digital Economy Amazon. com †¢ Second, Amazon. com invested tens of millions of dollars in building the most valuable brand on the Web Third, Amazon. com built loyalty and barriers to entry by investing in innovative technology solutions such as suggested selling from Net Perceptions, Supply Chain Optimization (i2), Purchase Circles, and All Product Search, and integrating them into a irtuous cycle for dynamic commerce Fourth, and arguably most important, Amazon. com’s commitment to fulfillment has translated into deep and effective b-web relationships with distributors and suppliers like Ingram and a core competence in one-to-one inventory management and distribution †¢ †¢ Thanks to these four factors, Amazon. com forecasts a customer base of 22. 3 million and revenues of $3. 15 billion b y 2002. The company’s strategic investments in its warehouses, technology, and b-web integration (CFN) to enable reliable and accurate same or next day customer fulfillment are a key part of its first mover dvantage and a significant barrier to entry. Amazon. com can strategically leverage this â€Å"killer app† CFN in a number of ways:26 †¢ †¢ †¢ First, Amazon. com can offer excess capacity in its warehouses to Zshops’ merchants on a â€Å"fee for fulfillment† basis. This would accrue considerable marginal revenues for a significantly lower marginal cost incurred. Second, by installing Web-enabled buying kiosks (as well as interactive television sets and wireless Webenabled devices like PDAs) at high traffic areas in malls, office buildings, and other locations, it can move its Web buying experience to the real world for ess Web-savvy customers. Third, and perhaps most radical and innovative, Amazon. com can build free customer buying port als for each of its registered, loyal customers. For an incremental cost, Amazon. com can create customized buying pages (similar to Dell’s Premier Pages for its business-to-business customers) that will allow customers to go online and enter their buying requirements as needed. Amazon. com can then deliver the items it carries, and turn over remaining orders to its Amazon. com associates, Zshops, or other b-web affiliates for fulfillment. —Arindam (Andy) De  © 2000 Digital 4Sight Corp.Reproduction by any means, or disclosure to parties who are not employees of Digital 4Sight member organizations is prohibited. Thank you for your cooperation. 1. 7 Customer Fulfillment in the Digital Economy Amazon. com Amazon. com: Key Performance Indicators (see Table 1 and figures 4a to 4f) Table 1. Comparison of 1998 performance: Amazon. com, Barnes & Noble, and Borders. 28 †¢ †¢ †¢ 117. 8 million US adults, or 60% of the adult population, recognize the Amazon. com brand name, making it the most recognized brand name on the Web, followed by Priceline and e-Bay. 29 Amazon. com, with a low customer acquisition cost of around $2930 compared with $109 for a new e-tailer) and a customer retention rate of over 72%31 enjoys huge competitive advantage in terms of repeat revenue streams and significant growth in its customer base. Analysts estimate that Amazon. com’s customer base will be about 22. 3 million users by 2002 (figure 4a). 32 With an average revenue per user of $141. 25 (figure 4b), this would translate into $3. 15 billion in revenues. Gross margins over the same period would increase from 22% in 1999 to about 25% in 2002. †¢  © 1. 8 Amazon. com, with $610 million in sales in 1998 and revenue growth of 230% (June 1998–June 1999), had ero days of receivables, 23 days of inventory, 87 days of payables (figure 4c) and a positive â€Å"gap in finance cycle†(figure 4d) of 64 days. 33 This implies that Amazon. com, unl ike its competitors, is actually financing working capital with cash flow from suppliers. Amazon. com’s revenue per employee (1998) was $290,476 (figure 4e) and revenue per dollar of fixed assets (figure 4f) was $20. 47 (appreciably higher than the competition). Figures 4e and 4f show an interesting correlation between Amazon. com’s market capitalization of $31. 40 billion and its revenue per employee and revenue per dollar of fixed ssets, against the competition. This may help explain the significant upward disparity in market capitalization enjoyed by the company vis-a-vis its clicks-and-mortar competitors. 2000 Digital 4Sight Corp. Reproduction by any means, or disclosure to parties who are not employees of Digital 4Sight member organizations is prohibited. Thank you for your cooperation. Customer Fulfillment in the Digital Economy Amazon. com REVENUES ($ MILLIONS) 19,500 22,300 $3,150 20 $2,700 2500 16,500 2000 13,300 15 $2,100 1500 10 $1,403 1000 6,200 Total reven ue per user Annual net income per user $127. 27 Gross margins $138. 6 25% 25 $105. 49 90 $98. 39 22% 22% 21% 21% 20 60 15 30 10 0 ($8. 08) 5 500 30 $141. 25 120 $ PER USER 3000 $150 NUMBER OF REGISTERED USERS (MILLIONS) Revenues ($millions) Number of registered users (millions) GROSS MARGINS (%) 25 $3500 $610 -30 ($19. 57) ($20. 09) 5 ($36. 73) ($45. 37) 0 1998 1999 2000E 2001E -60 2002E Figure 4a. Amazon. com: Revenues & number of registered users (1998–2000). 34 0 1998 1999 2000E 2001E 2002E Figure 4b. Amazon. com: Revenues & net income per user, registered users and gross margins (1998–2002). 35 80 64 INVENTORY TURNOVER OR CASH-TO-CASH CYCLE 60 Inventory turnover (1998) Gap† in finance cycle (1998) Revenue growth (1998-99) 400% 40 20 16. 14 0 -20 300 2. 4 AMAZON. COM 1. 83 B&N BORDERS 230. 1% 200 -40 -60 -80 100 (80) 6. 3% -100 Figure 4c. Book retail: Age of receivables, payables, and inventory (1998). 36  © 2000 Digital 4Sight Corp. Reproduction by any mean s, or disclosure to parties who are not employees of Digital 4Sight member organizations is prohibited. Thank you for your cooperation. REVENUE GROWTH (%) 0 (90) 14. 5% 0 Figure 4d. Book retail: Revenue growth (June 1998–1999) vs. inventory turnover & gap in finance cycle (1998). 37 1. 9 Customer Fulfillment in the Digital EconomyAmazon. com $350,000 300,000 $35 Revenue per employee (1998) Market capitalization ($ billions) $30 Revenue per $ of fixed assets (1998) $35 Market capitalization ($ billions) $31. 41 25 $30 $31. 41 $30 $20 200,000 $15 150,000 100,000 $103,641 $10 $95,404 50,000 0 $20 15 $15 10 $10 $5. 89 $1. 21 $0 $25 $20. 47 5 $5 $1. 64 20 $1. 64 0 $5. 26 MARKET CAPITALIZATION ($ BILLIONS) $25 REVENUE PER $ OF FIXED ASSETS ($) 250,000 MARKET CAPITALIZATION ($ BILLIONS) REVENUE PER EMPLOYEE $290,476 $5 $1. 21 $0 AMAZON. COM B&N BORDERS Figure 4e. Book retail: Revenue per employee (1998) and market cap (November 1999). 38Figure 4f. Book retail: Revenue per $ of fixed assets (1998) and market cap (November 1999). 39 1. Anthony Bianco, â€Å"Virtual Bookstores Start to Get Real,† Business Week, 27 October 1998. 2. Saul Hansell, â€Å"Amazon’s Risky Christmas,† The New York Times, 28 November 1999. 3. Ibid. 4. Jeff Bezos quoted by Stefani Eads, â€Å"Is Amazon Shopping for Profits in its Zshops? † Business Week, 12 October 1999. 5. According to Opinion Research Corp. , 117. 8 million Americans, or 60% of the US adult population, recognizes the Amazon brand name, making it the most valuable brand name on the Web. 6. Anthony Bianco, op. cit. 7.Saul Hansell, op. cit. 8. As quoted in SS Investor Equity Research Report on Amazon, December 1999. 9. Analysis and estimates by Lauren Cook Levitan, analyst, Banc Boston Robertson Stevens, August 1999. 10. Jeanne Lee. â€Å"i2 Learns What Not to Say When Talking to Analysts,† Fortune, 29 March 1999. 11. Jeff Bezos, quoted in an interview with Robert D. Hof, Business Week, 31 May 1999. 12. Strategy map based on Digital 4Sight analysis of Amazon’s etailing strategy. 13. Saul Hansell, op. cit. 14. Media Metrix numbers quoted in â€Å"Amazon, e-Bay Get Most Holiday Visitors,† Los Angeles Times (Home Edition), 4 January 2000. 5. Jeff Bezos quoted by Chip Bayersin â€Å"The Inner Bezos,† Wired, (March 1999). 16. Amazon press release from its Web site, URL http://www. hoovers. com/cgi-bin/offsite? url= http://www. amazon. com/exec/obidos/subst/misc/investorrelations/investor-faq. html/002-5319771-2477605. 17. John Evan Frook, â€Å"Missing Link Emerges: Inventory Management,† Internetweek, 9 March 1998. 18. Bob Tedeschi, â€Å"Many Internet Companies Have Focused on Attracting Customers. The Bigger challenge Is Fulfilling Orders,† The New York Times, 27 September 1999. 19. Katrina Booker, â€Å"Amazon vs. Everybody,† Fortune, 8 November 1999: 120. 20.Digital 4Sight hypothesis based on secondary research. 21. Customer case study on Oracle’s Web site, URL: http://www. oracle. com/customers/ss/amazon_ss. html. 22. Anthony Bianco. op. cit. 23. Mary Beth Grover, â€Å"Lost in Cyberspace,† Forbes, 8 March 1999. 24. Jeanne Lee, op. cit. 25. Product data from Net Perceptions Web site. URL:http://www. netperceptions. com/product/home/0,,1091, 00. html. 26. Michael Krantz, â€Å"Cruising Inside Amazon,† Time, (December 1999). 27. Digital 4Sight analysis of Amazon. com’s e-tailing strategy. 28. Digital 4Sight Financial Ratio Analysis based on P&L and balance sheet data sourced from www. oovers. com.  © 1. 10 2000 Digital 4Sight Corp. Reproduction by any means, or disclosure to parties who are not employees of Digital 4Sight member organizations is prohibited. Thank you for your cooperation. Customer Fulfillment in the Digital Economy Amazon. com 29. Opinion Research Corp. survey quoted in â€Å"Equity Research Report on Amazon,† SS Investor, December 1999. 30. McKinsey & Company Data quoted in â€Å"Online Customer Acquisition Costs† Business 2. 0, (November 1999): 16-17. 31. As quoted in â€Å"Equity Research Report on Amazon. com,†SS Investor, December 1999. 32.Analysis and estimates by Lauren Cook Levitan, op. cit. 33. Gap in Finance Cycle = Days of Payables – (Days of Receivables + Days in Inventory). 34. Analysis and estimates by Lauren Cook Levitan, op. cit. 35. Digital 4Sight Financial Ratio Analysis, op. cit. 36. Ibid. 37. Ibid. 38. Ibid. 39. Ibid. 360 Adelaide Street W, 4th Floor Toronto, Ontario. Canada M5V 1R7 Tel 416. 979. 7899. Fax 416. 979-7616 www. digital4sight. com  © 2000 Digital 4Sight Corp. Reproduction by any means, or disclosure to parties who are not employees of Digital 4Sight member organizations is prohibited. Thank you for your cooperation. 1. 11

Causes of Disequilibrium in the economy

Causes of Disequilibrium in the economy Economists usually define general disequilibrium as the state in which contrasting market forces of supply and demand fail to reach a balance and there exist an intrinsic inclination for change. The main indicator of market disequilibrium is the continuation of shortages either in the demand or supply side of the economy. There are two main models that hold divergent views concerning disequilibrium namely the classical and Keynesian models   [ 1 ]   . Causes of disequilibrium Generally, the major causes for disequilibrium in the markets if the deficiencies created either in the aggregate demand or aggregate supply side of the economy. This means that in such circumstances the market does not clear. Main causes of disequilibrium are understood in the light of the economic model s followed by scholars. For instance, the Keynesian theory’s causes differ from that of classical economists. For instance, following Keynesians’ view, disequilibrium arises when there are di sparities between leakages and injections where as classical economists argue that if such cases arise, price always adjust to bring the economy back to equilibrium.   [ 2 ]    In the above diagram, equilibrium occurs at point P2-Q2 where AD2= AS. At that point, the economy is at full employment. Below this point the economy is in disequilibrium whereby it is operating below full employment. Keynesian theory’s view s about disequilibrium Keynesian theory is the widely used model that explains the general equilibrium using the IS-LM model. Keynesian model construe that markets may not be self-adjusting therefore the markets would not lead to full employment equilibrium if the economy is left to self-regulate. Keynes used the income-expenditure theory to explain the concept of disequilibrium and full employments. He came up with a detailed analysis of the functions of money, functions of interest rates as well as the aspect of relative prices. Keynesian theory postulates th at equilibrium usually occurs below the full employment level. Keynes argued that constant equilibrium cannot prevail due to the existence of involuntary unemployment.   [ 3 ]    In the commodity markets, Keynesians clearly outlines the major disparities that usually reinforce a state of disequilibrium. They compare the aggregate expenditure which includes household consumption, investment function as well as government spending with the effective demand. They postulate that when the economy operates below the intersection of the two, it means there is an imbalance/disequilibrium.   [ 4 ]    Keynesians denied the supply side of the classical economists. Keynes stated that firms should be given the supply schedule so that they can demand smaller amounts than the existing national demand schedule. Keynes explained the causes of disparities in supply and demand separately. According to him, supply creates income. He postulated that what people produce is the one which is bought therefore supply’s value at all times equals the income value. The income is spent by the earners in consumption of more goods. Keynesian economists advocate an increase in government spending when the economy is below full employment in order to stimulate the economy.   [ 5 ]    Classical economists Classical economists holds the notion that markets are self regulatory which is opposite of Keynesian views. They construe that whenever disequilibrium state occurs between the leakages and the injections, prices usually adjusts to re-establish the general equilibrium. They held assumption that there prices are flexible savings are equal to investments as well as embracing the say’s law which states that supply creates its own demand. Explaining the aspect of disequilibrium through say’s law, classical theorists construe that aggregate production in the economy have to create sufficient income that to buy all units of income, failure to which disequilibrium occ ur.   [ 6 ]