Nationalism in Music free essay sample

Nationalistic music Is often characterized by pieces having elements of folksongs, folk dances, and folk rhythms. Or subjects for operas and symphonic poems which reflect the national life or history (The Oxford Dictionary of Music 2013). Nationalism in music should inspire people to celebrate the glorious history, cultural characteristics, and cherished values and virtues of their own nations (G. Hubert 2012, p. L). However, Definitions of nationalism depend, of course, on definitions of the nation.It is not likely that consensus will ever be reached on the precise meaning, since different definitions serve different Interests (Tarsuss 2013). Composers such as Jean Sublime, Antonio Dobra, and Vaughan Williams are examples of nationalistic composers (The Oxford Dictionary of Music 2013). As stated above, definitions of nationalism can vary to serve different interests. The sources often use different definitions from other sources. For example, Grove Online states that the most commonly accepted definition (Tarsuss 2013) is from the Harvard Dictionary ofMusic, where the movement Is characterized as a reaction against the supremacy of German music (1 9691. We will write a custom essay sample on Nationalism in Music or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page While researchers may argue on the precise definition of nationalism, they also discuss the Impacts of the composers and their pieces In their countries. Academic sites such as Grove Online and Oxford have an objective view on composers, their music and nationalism; Grove goes into great detail on many composers. Other sources, such as David G.Hubert and Alexandra Cert. -Wells Patriotism and Nationalism in Music Education claim that nationalism is generally received as a negative phenomenon, and can be reduced to attainment of mere utilitarian goals, neglecting aesthetic values (2012, p. 2). Other sources, like foolhardinesss from listserv. Com, or sites like Talkback (20131 simply state who they think are the top composers who embody nationalism (2010). The sources vary from simple definitions to deep analysis, those who believe it has had a negative impact and those who believe it is a cause for celebration.

A Loyalist And His Life Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers

A Loyalist And His Life Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers A Loyalist And His Life The called me M.J., that stood for Michael Jones. It was the early part of April in 1760 when I departed an English port and headed across the waters for the North American colonies where I planned to settle, start a family, and begin what I hoped to be a very prosperous life. It was the summer if 1760 when I planted my feet and my heart in Boston along with several black slaves that I purchased when I arrived here. I brought a hefty 10,000 British pounds in my purse, which was my entire life savings. I was twenty-two years old, turning twenty-three in the fall. I had heard so many wonderful things about this place and I could not wait to get here. When I first arrived here, because of my better fortune it was very easy for me to become a landowner and the owner of a small but successful farm. I purchased a decent size piece of land and began to build a constructive family and life. It was not long before things began to take a turn for the worse. Parliament began to throw tedious Acts and Policies at the American colonies. For example, the Tea Act which placed taxes on all British tea and the Stamp Act which placed taxes on all legal documents such as marriage licenses, wills, and even letter. The Sugar Act placed taxes in all sugar, wine, linen, and silk. It was beginning to be ridiculous. It was then that a continuous patter began. Act...Protest...Repeal...Peace. Everyone seemed to be putting up with that but with each strike by Parliament the other people in the colonies became more and more angry and liked the idea of gaining independence form Great Britain very much. In my opinion the idea of independence was not necessarily a bad one but I felt that it was necessary to remain loyal to the British crown. I personally chose to adhere to the British cause during the revolution. Those of us who remained loyal to England wore the title of Loyalists and those w ho chose to turn their backs were referred to as Rebels or Patriots. The patriots referred to us loyalists as Tories, which was a derogatory nickname that they liked to use. Although loyalists were found in all classes and occupations, from all different walks of life the majority of us were farmers like artisans, shopkeepers, and myself. Most wealthy shopkeepers also chose to remain loyal to England as did Anglican ministers, especially in Puritan New England (Ward 264). Some of us were even black, these were slaves who the British promised freedom but never kept their promise. Some were Indians, some indentured servants, and some loyalists were German immigrants but only because George III was of German origin (VanDoren 119). The number of loyalists in each colony varied. John Adams estimated that one third of the colonials were loyalists. Us Loyalists were strongest in the far southern colonies like Georgia and Virginia, in the middle Atlantic colonies, and especially in New York and Pennsylvania. We constituted the majority in some colonies but a very large minority in all the colonies as a whole. It was not long before a very Thomas Paines Common Sense pamphlet hit the colonies like lightning. When his words and thoughts were distributed about the colonies all hell broke loose. His work was quite simple but just he instigation the colonists needed to stand up to the British crown. He told everyone exactly how he felt about the situation of the colonists. He believe that England had no right to govern the American colonies, for England was but a fraction of the size of America, and not everyone who has settled here has and England decent. Therefore, why should everyone here remain loyal to one such country as England? He truly believed that America would be better of without the whole monarchy system. I remember the very day when one of his pamphlets made its way to my front door. It was windy out side and when I reached to take it from the nail on which it was hanging it blew through the yard and I had

Sino-American relationship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sino-American relationship - Essay Example Due to this common interest, United States is facing challenges in Eastern Asia. The United States, by applying proper methodology, can still be able to consolidate stable Sino-American relations. This can be attained by concentrating on issues such as; This serves to reduce suspicions of the different parties’ strategic intentions and creates a way for development due to the good relationship established between the two nations. Moreover, cooperation on a variety of specific bilateral and international issues of utmost importance to both sides is ensured. Deep suspicions of the other parties long-term strategic intentions are reduced thus creating confidence between the two parties. (Hiebert, 2009) The US support for Southeast Asia’s economic integration and the process of strengthening regional trade and creation of investment structures will bring about increased chances for U.S. exports to the area and thus improving the status of the people in the region. Creation of economic ties will in return deal with the challenge of smooth development of bilateral relations resulted by the sharp differences the two countries have in relation to trade and human rights. The challenge of cross-strait relation which brings about tension and disagreement between the U.S and China is therefore reduced as a result of mutual understanding as a result of the trading activities (Hiebert, 2009).

Cystic Fibrosis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cystic Fibrosis - Essay Example Hence, the normal movement of chloride ions is disrupted, producing thick aggregates of mucus that clog air passages resulting in breathing difficulty and chronic bacterial infections. Since mucus also accumulates in ducts of the digestive tract, the normal release of digestive enzymes is also affected, causing nutrient malabsorption. Furthermore, cystic fibrosis also causes too much salt to be excreted in the sweat glands, resulting in electrolyte imbalance. The pattern of inheritance for cystic fibrosis is homozygous recessive. This means that the disease manifests only when two copies of the defective gene is inherited from the parents. Those people who harbor the mutation in one of the two copies do not present with symptoms and are called carriers. Although these carriers are technically not affected by the disease, they can still pass the defective gene to their offsprings. The standard approach to the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis is made by measuring the chloride content of an individual’s sweat. A value of more than 60 mEq/L salt concentration is diagnostic of this condition and differentiates cystic fibrosis from other disease entities that also present with salty sweat. However, detecting CRTF mutations through DNA testing is still considered as the gold standard for the diagnosis of this disease. Like the rest of single-gene disorders, cystic fibrosis can be cured theoretically by replacing the faulty gene with a functional one in a technique called genetic therapy. However, as of the moment, this modality is far from complete. Hence, the current management of cystic fibrosis consists of symptomatic treatments such as airway clearance therapy, antibiotic treatments to control infections, regular administration of bronchodilators, and pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy to improve digestion. It is estimated that more than 10 million individuals carry one

Jack Londons life, reputation, and characteristics of literature that Essay

Jack Londons life, reputation, and characteristics of literature that he has written - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that Jack London was a social activist, journalist, and an American author. He has written various short stories, novels, and poems and with time has shown the world that even exciting tales, taking place in bizarre places can have numerous intricacies of wonderful literature. It is without a  doubt that London’s literary work is based mostly on his childhood experiences, which he clearly illustrates using elements such as symbolism and imagery to develop exceptional themes such as existentialism and survival. Jack London was born on January 12th, 1876, in San Francisco. His childhood formed his personality as well as his outlook on his later literary life. Research shows that he spent most of his time in solitude; hence, developed competent skills in storytelling. He did not have a definite home; thus, most of his early ears he lived with his wet nurse and as time went by he lived with a black woman who was called Virginia Prentis s, then his mother flora Wellman. Despite Flora’s flaws as a mother, she instilled the significance of education in London; hence, by the time he was five years old, he could read and attend numerous grammar schools until the age of fourteen years. Therefore, in 1891, he graduated from Cole grammar school though his real education emanated from the public libraries. When he was ten years old, he started going to the public libraries and his voracious reading skills and quiet demeanor impressed Donna Smith, the librarian; hence, became his guide.

Ericsson Mobile Platforms Using Value Chain Model Information Technology Essay

Ericsson Mobile Platforms Using Value Chain Model Information Technology Essay The value grid approach allows firms to identify opportunities and threats in a more explicit way than the traditional value chain. This research aims to test the Value Grid in a multinational company: Ericsson Mobile Platforms (EMP). How does the value grid model help to define the organizations Key Success Factors (KSF)? For this case study, the value grid concept proved to be an interesting heuristic tool to locate opportunities that are not evident from a traditional value chain perspective. EMP can identify indirect ways of influencing demand by playing a coordinative role with network operators. Key Success Factors for Ericsson Mobile Platforms using Porters Value Chain model The value chain model, first depicted and popularized by Michael Porter in 1985, has proved to be an effective approach to analyze and capture the value generated along a chain of activities. But, with the increasing complexity of production and service delivery, critique has arisen from both academics and professionals in terms of value chain model applicability. The value grid approach allows firms to move beyond their industry lines and to identify opportunities and threats in a more explicit way. This research aims to test the Value Grid in a multinational company: Ericsson Mobile Platforms (EMP). How does the value grid model help to find novel opportunities and define the organizations Key Success Factors (KSF)? For this case study, the value grid concept proved to be an interesting heuristic tool to locate opportunities that are not evident from a traditional value chain perspective. EMP can identify indirect ways of influencing demand by playing a coordinative role with netwo rk operators. 1. Models of Value The purpose of this part is to analyze the evolution of value models from the value chain to the value grid through the value system, the value network and the added value chain. The intent is to clarify the relevance of the value grid choice for studying the case of Ericson Mobile Platform. The Value chain The value chain includes all the activities involved in product making. It is a useful tool to measure the value created for each activity in the process of product creation. It is a part of a firms strategic planning to arrange these activities in a way that the total value, the value that buyers are willing to pay, exceeds the total cost. According to Porter (1985), a company can create value through a cost advantage or product differentiation. Porter (1985) identifies two types of activities in the value chain: Primary activities and Support activities. Primary activities are those that create customer value. The goal of the primary activities is to produce value that exceeds the cost, thereby resulting in a profit margin. Support activities concern procurement, human resource management, technological development and infrastructure such as accounting, legal, finance, planning, public affairs, government relations, quality assurance and general management. The activities in the value chain are not independent. Linkages may exist between activities. In fact, one process may affect the cost and performance of the others. Linkage can exist between primary activities, as well as, between primary and support activities. Therefore, competitive advantages can also be derived from the linkages between activities. This is a highly relevant situation for EMP. The Value System Porter (1985) extends the concept of the value chain; a firms value chain is a part of the Value System, which is a network of interconnected value chains between suppliers and buyers. The value system includes the value chains of the upstream suppliers and downstream channels and customers. The available total margin is spread across suppliers, distributors and customers (Recklies, 2001) in the value system. The amount of how much part of this margin is received by each member depends on its market position and negotiation power (Recklies, 2001). A firm who has higher degree of vertical integration has a better position in coordinating its upstream and downstream activities and therefore get a higher margin, however a company with low level of vertical integration can also get high margins if it can achieve better coordination with suppliers and partners. The Value Network Porter (1980, 1985) measures value chain and the five forces model extracted from the organizations activities, in terms of financial value (margin) but ignore the fact that intangible assets such as competencies, internal structures and relationship with the environment are the driving factors behind the financial results (Sveiby, 1997). New methods appear to take into consideration the intangible assets. Value Network Analysis (Allee, 2003) is a method that combines tools that analyze strategy with insight into complexity of interactions among people (Middendorp, 2005). According to this analysis, the intangible assets should be considered as negotiable and exchangeable. Peppar and Rylander (2006) introduce the Network Value Analysis (NVA) method as a way to analyze competitive ecosystems. Combinations of players co-create the value in the network and the method focus not only on the company or the industry, but the value creating system itself (Peppar and Rylander, 2006). Firms cultivate an ecosystem a set of firms that can co-create value by building relationships among the different players in the industry: suppliers, partners, allies and customers (Peppar and Rylander, 2006). Firms that understand the sources of value in the network and are able to exploit them will be the winners in tomorrows more complex industries (Peppar and Rylander, 2006). The Added-value Chain According to McPhee and Wheeler (2006), focusing on the firms internal core activities is not sufficient to generate value in todays firms. The authors propose an added-value chain model that includes a set of expanded business activities from different business models and a redefinition of value that incorporates brand, reputation, and relationship-based value drivers of the firm. In the added-value chain model, the definition of value incorporates profit margin and intangible assets like leadership quality, innovate capability, brand equity and competences in strategic-alliance development. This new value definition gives to the firms the ability to evaluate how their strategies affect both hard and soft assets of the firms (McPhee and Wheeler, 2006). This model is incomplete for example in finding and exploring non-linear value opportunities. The Value Grid New research conducted by Pil and Holweg (2006) argues that this approach can also put a stranglehold on innovation at a time when the greatest opportunities for value creation (and the most significant threats to long-term survival) often originate outside the traditional, linear view. Based on this critic, Pil and Holweg (2006) develop an evolved concept of Value Chain called Value Grid, which has a variety of new paths to enhanced performance, resulting in a three dimensional grid: the vertical, the horizontal and the integrative diagonal dimensions. Regarding the vertical dimension, firms are seeking for competitive advantages in the value chain by reducing cost, reducing lead time between activities and improving coordination between supplier and customers. However, how the benefits are distributed across the value chain depends on the balanced power between suppliers and manufactures. Therefore companies need to focus on three areas: Opportunities to influence customer demand both upstream and downstream, opportunities to modify information access in either direction, and finally opportunities to explore penetration points in multiple tiers that are not immediately adjacent (Pil and Holweg, 2006). The horizontal dimension provides opportunities for companies to move across value chains, in order to leverage economies of scale across multiple sources of demand (Pil and Holweg, 2006). The potential of this dimension is to enable companies to manage risk, seize existing value (special products with advanced technology), integrate sources of existing value and explore new ways to create value. The horizontal thinking allows parallel value chains to be viewed from different industries, in this way companies can integrate these parallel value chains to offer package or price combinations, which cannot be achieved by the single value chain approach. Finally, in the diagonal dimension, firms explore the grid in an integrative fashion, in order to increase the control over inputs and customers. Firms looks at the upstream and downstream of other value chains for controlling the critical components of the supply chain and uncovering new ways of boosting customer demands (Pil and Holweg, 2006). Pil and Holweg describe the two strategies that take advantages from this dimension: The first is pursuing Pinch-Point mapping when companies shall monitor key component supplies and negotiate alternative source of components. The second is defining demand enablers when companies that have a particular expertise in a given value chain, can examine other value chains in other industries that can leads to new opportunities to leverage key competitive advantages (Pil and Holweg, 2006). Industry Background The telecommunications industry is undergoing radical transformations through liberalization, lowering of technological barriers to entry and the diversity of players (Li and Whalley, 2002). Originally, the process of manufacturing a complete mobile phone was finished within one company. However, as with the PC industry, the value chain for making a mobile phone has become more fragmented according to a more stratified approach (Anderson and JÃ ¶nsson, 2006). Companies like Ericsson Mobile Platforms (EMP) and Qualcomm are examples of this change in the industry. They provide technology solutions for mobile manufactures that enable them to make a new phone model much faster without having the core knowledge like radio access. New actors and new services enlarge the mobile communications value chain in both ways, functionally and institutionally (Buellingen and Woerter , 2004; Ballon, de Munck, Poel and de Pas, 2001; Fertig, Prince and Walrod,1999). The traditional concept of value chain may not be sufficient for todays firms (Buellingen and Woerter, 2004). Barnes (2002) tries to adapt the value chain analysis for m-commerce and analyses the players, technologies and activities involved. Full-size image (36K) The basic model consists of six core processes in two main areas: First infrastructure and services, and second the area of content. Pagani and Fine (2008) consider five principal actors in the supply chain: the content providers, application providers, infrastructure providers, network providers the device providers. They assume that the end consumers create demand, set the rules of engagement and then pull the supply chain system (Pagani and Fine, 2008). In the last decade with the entry of powerful new players, rapid technological developments and increasing market turbulences (Li and Whalley, 2002), the mobile handset industry has changed from a vertical specialization to a more horizontally stratified structure. A complex and rapidly evolving value network is developing (Li and Whalley, 2002). There are more parties involved in the process of making a mobile phone. Each party focuses on areas of the value chain where they have core competences such as new technology, customer relationships management, or infrastructure management. The market is then highly complex and competitive given the fact that companies compete also with companies from other industries operating under different value propositions and economics (Li and Whalley, 2002). Methodology: Research design and data collection There are several techniques for identifying Key Success Factors, Leidecker and Bruno (1984) propose the following: environmental scanning, industry structure analysis, industrial experts opinions, competitors analysis, best practice analysis, assessment of the companys internal feeling or judgment, intuitive factors and gathered data of profit impact and market strategy. This study mixes between internal assessment of a firm and industrial experts opinions. This internal assessment technique explores the firms forces and weaknesses. The KSFs are thus concluded from the interviews with experts in the industry. - Figure 1 about here - As designed in the research model, first a value chain analysis focuses on the firms core competences from an inside perspective. In parallel, the firms value chain is positioned into the value system of the industry, to identify adjacent players and external linkages and determine firms ecosystem. An analysis of the Value Chain aims to identify competitive advantages. From the Value System and the ecosystem, the Value Grid framework identifies competitive advantages from its three dimensions. The outcomes from Value chain and Value Grid are analyzed to test the Value Grid and to extract the KSF for EMP. An ideal analysis of the KSF for EMP would be to do benchmarking with other companies from the same Industry. Then it will be possible to define EMPs real strategic advantages. However, due to availability of information this research focuses on an inside-out perspective and tests the concept of the Value Grid using one source of empirical data (a single case study). Semi-structured interviews are conducted with a specific list of topics to be covered (Bryman and Bell, 2003). The advantage of this method is that the interviewer is free to reformulate the questions or simply ask new questions that may appear as a result of the answer of the interviewee (Bryman and Bell, 2003). According to Grunert and Ellegaard (1992), this type of interview with business decision makers can measure perceived KSF. Five key persons are chosen for an interview from EMP: Robert Puskaric, head of EMP, Martin JÃ ¶nsson, from Product Portfolio Management, Fredrik Dalhgren Deputy Director of System Management, PÃ ¤r Stigmer from Sourcing and Supply and Linda Wenerman from Product Management. Empirical Findings for Ericsson Mobile Platforms Ericsson Mobile Platforms is a business unit within the Ericsson Group. It was founded in 2001 as a result of a split from the Ericsson mobile handset division, Ericsson Mobile Communications. This split ended up in Ericsson Mobile Platforms (EMP) and the joint-venture Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications. Before that time, Ericsson produced mobile platforms for in-house use only. Through EMP, Ericsson started to license open-standard 2.5G and 3G technology platforms to other mobile phone manufacturers and other mobile communication devices. EMP offers stable platform deliveries that include ASICs and development boards (hardware), platform software, reference design, development and testing tools, training, support and documentation. The EMP platforms contain integrated circuits and softwares needed to build a GPRS, EDGE and/or WCDMA phone. It provides all the system functions such as Network Signaling, Data communications and Multimedia services. The system architecture of EMP is a modular design that is built on a use case analysis (Kornby, 2005). Examples of use cases are: imagining, video telephony, voice call, multimedia streaming, call handling, audio and video. The following criteria have been taken into account to develop this system architecture (Kornby, 2005): complete platform software (not only protocols), stability, flexibility, scalability to different market segments, adaptability to customer software applications, one single architecture for different mobile systems (GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA), maximum reuse of components and customer applications; and backward compatibility in software over the time. Customers build their applications on top of EMP platform software stack. Examples of customers applications are: multimedia players, phone call applications, web browsers, etc. EMP also supplies a suite of core applications where customers can use as a starting point for building their applications. EMP provides a complete application suite to support customers who do not build their own applications. This is especially for customers who want to focus in the low-end market. The goal of the EMPs Application Suite is to reduce time-to-market for customers in launching their phones. EMPs business model The EMPs business model consists of two parts: to license its core technology and to sell engineering support services to the customers. EMP charges a one-time up-front fixed payment for a Platform license and a royalty per unit that represent the major source of revenue (Kornby, 2005). EMP has built an ecosystem in order to ensure the maximum value creation for EMP. The five players in the EMPs ecosystem are depicted in figure 2. - Figure 2 about here - The first set of players relates to Network Providers; these companies offer the telecom infrastructure such as wireless communications systems. The main partner with EMP is LM Ericssons network group. They work hand-by-hand to provide end-to-end solutions, align roadmaps and ensure that EMP platforms can support the new network functionality offered by Ericsson (Kornby, 2005). Second, EMP has a closer relationship with the customers to ensure that new customer requirements are collected promptly in order to implement new functionality as early as possible. The third set of players in EMP ecosystem relates to Network Operators. These companies provide the services to the end-users (subscribers). They also purchase phones from mobile manufactures that are sold to the operators subscribers. Very often operators request mobile manufactures to use a specific mobile platform (Kornby, 2005). Thus EMP has built an important relationship in order to understand future operators requirements to secure that new functionality is available in the EMPs platform. Fourth, EMP and LM Ericsson are active at work with the standardization bodies such as 3GPP, OMA, JCP and OMPT. This is done in order to ensure interoperability of EMPs mobile platforms worldwide. And finally EMP works actively with ASIC, peripheral, IP and software suppliers in order to get fair prices for building EMP products. 4.2 The EMPs Value Chain and Value System The direct activities of EMPs value chain are: supply chain Management, hardware design activity, Software development and integration activity, a system reference design activity, a System Test and Interoperability Test (IOT), Product Use, External Networks and finally a customization activity. EMP has also a prototype unit that builds prototype phones for testing early functionality. The EMPs value chain and value system are depicted in figure 3. - Figure 3 about here - 4.2.1 Supply Chain Management EMP basically does not have any regular material flow, but outsource software and hardware through licenses. The task of the sourcing and supply department is to act as an internal consultant at EMP for deciding whether to buy an IP or develop hardware/software in-house. The sourcing department works tightly with the product definition and the RD organization; they work proactively to ensure fair prices. The decisions are based on three aspects: comparing the prices of buying from others and developing by itself, assessing the risk of buying and finally evaluating the total value by an in-house development. For example, to get a new IP in the platform, the sourcing department evaluates the total cost composed of the getting IP cost from supplier and the using IP cost (license) per ASIC. In this case customers pay the license directly, the cost of integrating an IP into the suppliers ASIC (a supplier may have already the knowledge of adding this IP, thus it becomes cheaper) and the co st of the final integration into the platform (how difficult is to make drivers and APIs to control the IP). The sourcing and supply department acts differently depending of what wants to outsource. For IPs, the negotiations are based on case, for ARM and DSP cores it builds long term relationship with the suppliers, and for a specific component such as Image Signal Processor (ISP) it chooses the best price in the market. Since ASICs are costly, EMP co-develops the design with suppliers and builds long term relationship. 4.2.2 Hardware design (HW) Regarding the Hardware, EMP only designs and specifies requirements for the different hardware components in the platform. As is shown in the Error: Reference source not foundASIC suppliers (or fabs) test and manufacture the hardware. EMP verifies the hardware components only when it builds the reference design. The design of the HW is divided into two main parts, Front-End and Back End design. For the Radio Frequency (RF) hardware EMP designs the Front-End and Back-End. For the Digital Base Band (DBB) EMP only does the front-end design. Finally, the analog base band (ABB) ASIC, EMP only specifies the hardware requirements and leaves the rest to the ASICs suppliers 4.2.3 Software development and Integration Software development and Integration refers to developing software solutions for the different stacks in the software platform architecture. This activity also involves developing EMP (in-house) software stacks such as Network Signaling protocols for WCDMA, GSM/GPRS and EDGE; data communication protocols such as, TCP/IP, RTP, and IMS; multimedia protocols for streaming music and video; developing a set of application platform interfaces to control the software platform and hardware. DBB, ABB, RF, and peripheral are to implement low level drivers to control hardware components inside the mobile platform. This activity also involves integration of third party proprietary software components such as, music codecs (like MP3 and Windows media player), and operating systems. This activity also involves testing the software at different levels: module tests, regression tests and integration tests. 4.2.4 Reference design EMP builds reference boards and real-size reference phones. These non-commercial phones are produced in small quantities that are internally used for software development and hardware verification, interoperability test and early-stage test of hardware for customers. 4.2.5 System Test and Interoperability test The system test consists of the verification of the complete reference design. The tests are conducted in lab, with network vendors and interoperability test with major live networks operators in the world. This is a very costly task and it is done to uncover ambiguities in the basic standards and specification. It also covers informal type approval test for the phone (Kornby, 2005). Value Chain Analysis According to the theoretical framework a company can generate competitive advantages by analyzing the different activities in the value chain. EMPs value chain basically works only in the service domain. EMP licenses its platform solutions and let the customers manage the manufacturing process with EMPs suppliers, thus the EMPs core activities are design (both in hardware and software), integration and testing of the platform (of the whole system). EMPs advantage appears in the fact that the firm has designed a holistic system architecture which makes easy to develop and test the functionality independently. This saves considerable a considerable time amount at the integration phase. Moreover, the system is designed to be flexible and scalable, so it is easy to re-use and add new functionality. Therefore, EMPs main strength is that the firm successfully manages to develop, integrate and test very complex new technologies to deliver a stable cost-effective platform solution when techn ology development is not in a mature phase. The main EMPs competitive advantage is to be the leader in providing cost-effective solutions for the mass market when the new technologies are emerging. Another interesting strength found is that the brand image of Ericsson plays an important role when meeting with new suppliers. The reputation of the Ericsson corporation is transferred to EMP and it facilitates the starting of new agreements and business opportunities. Potential Risks The value chain is an analytical tool that helps to find value in each activity; this can also be used for finding weakness and improvement areas. From the value chain we can identify two main weaknesses. First, the base band ASICs are the most costly part in the platform, despite that EMP says that it has managed to get fair licenses prices for the ASICs. The power of the suppliers is relatively high, thus EMP cannot have full control of the hardware prices. It seems that high margins still go to ASIC manufactures. Second, at this moment, EMP does not have the competence and the resources to integrate vertically in the upstream value chain. According to the interviewees, the most valuable strategic resource at EMP resides in personnels competence in the area of radio access technology and in the skills for designing a flexible and low cost system. These two competences are the driving forces for providing a cost-optimized mobile platform. The main risk in the value chain comes from the suppliers side. When technology reached a mature market, there is a risk that the technology becomes a commodity product and thus, suppliers can acquire knowledge on how to implement these technologies in their own ASICs. This implies that ASIC manufactures can produce ultra low cost platforms, due to the fact that they can control the price of the hardware. Another identified potential risk relate to how much EMP should outsource (Varadarajan, 2009). As is shown in the value chain (figure 3), EMP outsources a number of software components. An indiscriminate software outsourcing policy may lead to the loss of competences inside the EMP value chain (such as signal processing knowledge) thus reduce the value of the platform offering. 5.2 Benchmark What are the EMPs keys factors that are considered important for success? EMP is constantly evaluating and comparing with competitors in terms of cost, size, performance and power consumption of the product offering. From an end-users perspective, EMP is interested in delivering high quality multimedia functions for providing good speech and audio quality. Other benchmark measures are purely financial measures. All the interviewees agree that there are areas of improvement for EMP from a value chain perspective. 5.2.1 Horizontal integration In most of the interviews, a potential improvement for EMP consists in the integration of the value chain from a horizontal perspective by adding others technologies for example to offer an integrated solution with WLAN, BT or FM radio. The platform today provides the flexibility to add these peripherals, but this is a work that the customer must do when he done the product design (and it doesnt add a real value for EMP). This extended platform function offering in EMP platforms has the following impacts: 1) As customers will have less control over the price for these peripherals, they will not be able to bargain the prices 2) the cost of the EMP platform for customers will increase, 3) the total PCB area will go down due to integration of the peripheral in the ASICs and 4) the final product from a customer perspective (i.e. phone ready to launch with everything in place) will result in a total cost reduction. Thus, EMP would add value into the platform and customers will benefit fro m cheaper phones. In order to integrate these peripherals, EMP should create alliances with these suppliers in a cost effective manner (HÃ ¥kansson and Ford, 2002). It is not enough to just integrate any peripheral; it should be a peripheral that can be used by almost all customers in the different platforms, in a way that provide a common platform offering. Otherwise it will end up in a customized platform and the total value added from a portfolio perspective may not be that clear. An example of a peripheral that may fit with this approach is BT devices. The goal of EMP will probably be the re-use of the same platform as much as possible; however this is not defined yet. EMP has managed to have more than one ASIC supplier. This has increased the possibilities of getting fair prices. EMP is still looking to increase the number of suppliers to gain bargaining power. 5.2.2 Vertical integration Almost all the interviews discuss the fact, if the vertically integration must be in the upstream or not. As was described, the most costly part in the platforms is the ASICs and in order to offer competitive price, alliances must be created with ASICs suppliers. However, what if EMP chooses a fabless model? EMP would need then to focus more on the design of the hardware devices (today, it leaves it to some suppliers to design the hardware). EMP should start to do more IP designs, to focus on the back-end design of all the hardware components (ASICs) and create cell libraries for them. This vertical integration implies that EMP would leave ASIC manufacturing to a silicon foundry (for example, companies like TSMC, UMC, Chartered, etc). The advantage is that EMP would be able to choose suppliers, to get better prices and thus to get higher margins. For instance the EMPs competitor Qualcomm has this approach and uses TSMC as ASIC manufacturing. Nevertheless, complete back-end design requires EMP to build specific competence and skills for the complete hardware design. Moreover, EMP would need to take care of production issues like yield management, quality and logistics. This could lead to an expensive learning experience. Since EMP is a rather small company in global terms which focuses mostly in software design and system integration, a solution would probably be to invest in a company who has already the skills and experience. But in the near future this option will be not considered. Test of Value Grid Value Grid offers a variety of new paths to enhance performance, resulting in a three dimensional grid: the vertical, the horizontal and the integrative diagonal dimensions (Pil and Holweg, 2006). 6.1 Vertical Dimension From the theory of Value Grid and the analysis of the value chain in the previous section, there is a match between the External Networks from the value-added chain concept and how to influence customer demand in the downstream. In this case the relationship between EMP and network operators plays an important coordinative role (Andersen and Christensen, 2005). EMP cannot influence demand directly since this activity is mainly driven by EMPs customers who manufacture, distribute and sell the phones to operators and end-users by other distribution channels. Indeed, network operators distribute a great part of the mobiles phones to the end-users due to their infrastructure. In order to increase traffic in their networks, they finance partly the cost of the phone by tying it with contracts (fixed subscriptions periods normally for one or two years) or offering a phone at lower cost with the restriction that the phone can only be used exclusively with prepaid SIM cards. Therefore, to inc rease sales and market share, EMP can build a strong relationship with operators and persuade them to buy mobiles phones from EMPs customers. 6.2 Horizontal Dimension In this dimension similarities were detected betwee

Skating on Thin Ice :: essays research papers

Skating on Thin Ice   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Olympic Games have been around for hundreds of years. They are something that people everywhere around the world look forward to all year long. Athlete or not, everyone knows what the Olympics are. With the extreme popularity comes extreme broadcasting. Millions of people turned on their televisions and radios, read newspapers and magazines, and searched the web to hear the results and news about the games this winter. Broadcasting feeds people. They crave to hear the latest scandal, see footage of the most recent event, and be informed of what is going on in the world that they live in. This year the figure skating competition drew a particularly enormous audience. Because a scandal was involved, figure skating received special attention, which left the sport with a new reputation. Media is a powerful thing; this was proven this year during the winter Olympic games.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A lot was heard, and learned, about figure skating during the past month of Olympic coverage. This year, a problem with judging and secret deals caused two gold medals to be given out; one to the Russians and one to the Canadians. What happened off the ice seemed juicier than the actual competition, according to many sources of media. What is interesting, is that controversy is not uncommon to the sport of figure skating. A Newsweek article, â€Å"The Sleazy Side of Skating,† gives many examples of past figure skating scandals. In 1908, at the London Olympics, Russian Nicolai Panin withdrew from competition, saying the judges were stacked against him. At the 1936 Games, a Hungarian judge placed the Hungarian skaters second and third, which stood out when no other judge had placed them higher than seventh. In 1927 at the World Championships in Oslo, a Norwegian skater placed first, thanks to three Norwegian judges. That led the International Skating Union to restrict each country to one judge. Although these are significant examples of figure skating trickery, they were not really important until now. Journalists are researching the history of figure skating, and making known scandals that had occurred in the past. In 1993, Tonya Harding’s husband paid $6,500 to have Nancy Kerrigan injured so his wife could have an advantage. The Harding-Kerrigan scandal was this country’s first real taste of the drama that goes on with figure skating. Because a scandal involving money and crime took place, it was shown all over television, and talked about on the radio.