The Microsoft Case: Protecting Competition or Competitors? :: Business Management Economics

The Microsoft Case: Protecting Competition or Competitors? "When a company of merchants undertake, at their own risk and expense, to establish a new trade with some remote and barbarous nation, it may not be unreasonable to incorporate them into a joint stock company, and to grant them, in case of their success, a monopoly of the trade for a certain number of years. It is the easiest and most natural way in which the state can recompense them for hazarding a dangerous and expensive experiment, of which the public is afterwards to reap the benefit. A temporary monopoly of this kind may be vindicated upon the same principles upon which a like monopoly of a new machine is granted to its inventor, and that a new book to its author." -Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, 1776 Introduction Protecting the competition, not the competitor, has become a commonly used statement in recent interpretations of the Sherman antitrust acts of the late 19th century. Such words, however, were not used in the preliminary decision of the U.S. v. Microsoft monopoly case. Just recently, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson cast Microsoft as a "voracious monopolist that has hindered innovation, harmed consumers, and run roughshod over its rivals." (Chandrasekaran, 1999: 1) A 207-page "findings of fact" report did not conclude whether Microsoft violates the Sherman Antitrust Act. The report suggests, however, that Microsoft is indeed a software hog with a decade of at least 90%-95% control of the Windows market share. Chief Executive Officer Bill Gates said he respectfully disagrees with a number of the court’s findings. "In the end we’re quite confident that our integrity†¦and the benefits we provide consumers will be upheld." (Chandrasekaran, 1999: 1). It seems that in an effort to protect the consumer, the government may have forgotten the power of the consumer’s dollar. Perhaps Microsoft has control of the market share because the product is superior to all others, and consumers know it. Is it possible that the government would be punishing the consumer, if in fact consumers truly are happy with the Microsoft product, and have chosen to buy it, not because Microsoft has a significant influence on the market, but because the product is more advanced? What makes a product superior to another? Vision, innovation, risk, marketing: the same elements that Adam Smith praises in a new venture, then rewards, if successful, by granting the company a temporary monopoly in the market.

Evaluate Is Acceptance Model Essay

There are many models have been developed to understand the factors affecting the acceptance of computer technology such as Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975, Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980), Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1985, 1991), Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1989), Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB) (Taylor & Todd, 1995), and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh et al., 2003). TRA proposes that individual beliefs influence attitudes which will create intentions that will generate behavior. There are two major factors that determine behavioral intentions which are the person’s attitude toward the behavior and subjective norms. Attitude toward the behavior refers to the person’s judgment that performing the behavior is good or bad according to his or her belief. While the subjective norms are a function of normative beliefs that reflect the person’s perception of social pressures put on him or her to perform or not to perform the behavior in question. TRA model TPB is an expansion of the TRA. TPB includes the construct, perceived behavioral control to measure and account for the extent to which users have complete controls over their behavior. Perceived behavioral control relates to the extent to which the person believes that she or he has control over personal or external factors that may facilitate or constrain the behavioral performance. TPB model TAM pioneered by Davis advances the TRA by postulating that perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEU) are key determinants that lead to the actual usage of a particular technology or system. Perceived usefulness is the degree to which an individual believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her productivity while perceived ease of use is the degree an individual believes that using a particular system would be free of effort. TAM model DTPB was formulated through combination of both TAM and TPB, which was intended for providing better understanding of behavioral intention by concentrating on the factors that are likely to impact systems use. This model explores dimensions of subjective norms and perceived behavior control through decomposing them into particular belief perception whilst constructs from the innovation characteristics has also been regarded as the basis of DTPM formulation. DTPB also offer a clearer understanding of behavior and behavioral intention by giving detailed information about impacts of normative and control beliefs over system usage. DTPM model UTAUT had synthesized the eight prominent user acceptance models including the TRA, TAM, the motivational model (MM), TPB, a model combining the technology acceptance model and the theory of planned behavior (C-TAM-TPB), the model of PC utilization (MPCU) (Ronald et al., 1994; Thompson & Higgins, 1991), the innovation diffusion theory, and the social cognitive theory (SCT) (Compeau et al., 1999 and Compeau & Higgins, 1995). This model was formulated with four core determinants of intention and usage including performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence and facilitating conditions and also with up to four moderators of key counting gender, experience, age and voluntariness of use. However, the authors argue that in order to strengthen this model, the culture also need to take consideration since different culture can affect the acceptance behavior among user towards the computer technology. UTAUT model There are more theories that had been developed and many variables had used to evaluate the IS/IT acceptance rate. For example, the interactive model of technology acceptance and satisfaction (IMTAS) which integrate the user satisfaction with and user acceptance of IT. This model expands user satisfaction and user acceptance into SME sector simultaneously as two basic constructs of system usage behavior (as the key measure of IT success) while addresses specific characteristics of SMEs such as resource constraints, management method and direct interaction of SME users with external environments. Base on this model, user satisfaction can be influenced by user involvement, system quality, and information quality. High quality of information and system enable the user to produce good decision making, hence, increase the user satisfaction. However, user involvement is the key determinant of user satisfaction since high user involvement allow the user  involve in major area of the system which this give the user opportunity to enjoy most of the benefits of the system. User satisfaction will increase the usage of the system and the usage will be even higher if the system has high user friendliness. Another key determinant that influence the system usage in SMEs is user computer competence. User computer competence can be enhance through providing training by assuming that assistance of SMEs’ external environment have a crucial impact on the success of newly implemented IS by increasing SME user acceptance and satisfaction since SMEs are typically suffering from lack of resources such as internal expertise, knowledge and user skills. The training can influence the perceived ease of use and perceived of usefulness among user, hence, influence the user attitude and intention which than influence the actual usage of a system in SMEs.

Using Examples Compare and Contrast the Characteristics

Using examples compare and contrast the characteristics of both managers and leaders. Introduction: Leadership and management are two bipolar systems of worker administration in current business environment as defined by Kumle and Kelly (2000, 8). It is a topic most debated upon due to the similar characteristic of the roles they play in an organization which often intertwine. Leaders and managers are however disparate in their nature of act. As applied in a team-based organizational structure, the argument is that managers and leaders differs in the perceived entailment of authority they posses as viewed by their employees.However, they compliment one another and can be cultivated in order to be effectual. In this essay we will discuss how the traits of managers and leaders contrast one another by comparison. We will then analyze and evaluate how these differences can offset the other leading to the conclusion that both positions are highly congruent in order to achieve an effective situational leadership approach in an organization, eliminating the â€Å"false dichotomy† between the two (Adair 2005, 31).It is vitally important for leaders to posses not only leadership quality but also substantiated managerial skills, and vice versa, especially in today’s cutthroat business environment. Leaders and managers are often confused due to the stark similarity of authoritative position they entails but are different in their defining factors. They are the same because of their essential role of being the person in the lead of the employees and being their source of command.However they are different in the effect they play in an organization as well as the perspective they emanates to the employees as well as the world. Leadership is the aptitude to guide and direct the embodying team towards an end goal while management is the astute means of completing the targets (Kumle and Kelly 2000, 9). As the famous saying by Warren Bennis (1989), â€Å"managers do things right while leaders do the right thing†. It is essential to realize the difference because some managers might not possess certain leadership qualities, as it is that leaders might not necessarily be an ffective manager. Managers are more structural in nature through perseverance, consistency and knowledge while leaders on the adverse lean more towards an artistic and innovative mindset (Zaleznik 1992, 127). The difference lies in the nature of act. Managers often referred to the position of authority while leaders refer to an inspirational and far-sightedness innate trait of a person. The style of corporate management distinguishes leaders from managers. Being a leader refers to the possession of innate characteristics and trait models of visionaries.They are the source of inspiration as they posses illuminating qualities and attributes which would be the driving force leading the company towards success. Personality traits such as charisma, gusto, honesty, assuran ce and the ability to foster genuine connection with people (Adair 2005, 29-30) is the fundamental composition that will bring together the entire workforce to advance towards success. A manager on the other hand is the behavioral model that these leaders ought to undertake in order to be effective in committing their roles.One might be an effective manager but they may not be the epitome of a leader that will push an advance the organization beyond their limit. For example, Apple Corporation have had fair management control but they only attained its high innovative achiever status due to Steve Job’s charismatic and ground-breaking input that transformed the company (Shontell 2011). Thus, this highlights the empirical quality that is characteristically of leaders and not necessarily of managers.Therefore, the style and characteristics of managers and leaders differentiate them in terms of extend of success they produce. The nature of relationship with employee is an evident difference between leaders and managers. Leaders guide with the instinct of gaining â€Å"followers† while managers have â€Å"subordinates† (Storms 2011). Leaders do not abide the conventional mode of commanding control instead act on the ground of emancipating inspiration (King 2010) and ensuring the wellbeing and progress of the team as whole.This is because leaders are â€Å"more emotional† (Leadership Pages 1997) and are concern of the human aspect of their company. For example Phil Knight of Nike emphasizes highly on allowing mistakes and keeping a positive environment in spite of times of turmoil (Jay 2001, 92) and this train an effective pool of workers which is a result of Knight’s leadership quality of emanating inspiration and garnering trust of employees and genuine loyalty. Managers on the other hand act on a stern basis of control system.This hierarchical positioning in turn ingests a pseudo psychological disdain of workers to managers as th ey feel they are being treated with contempt as subsidiaries (Katcher and Snyder 2007, 52). This will in turn limit the willingness for employees to put in the extra effort and they will thus not produce exemplary results due to the lack of loyalty and dedication. Richard Brandson (2011) instills the importance of leaders being supportive of their employees that led the success of Virgin Company.The structural construction of the role played by managers instills this notion of quality difference of employee control in the effectiveness of managers compared to leaders. Comparing in this light, leadership must be incorporated in managerial control because to attain corporate success, it is highly essential to sustain the passion, assurance and ambition of stakeholders especially the workers as Narayana Murthy (2011), Chairman Emeritus of Infosys, suggests. Each individual have their own defining qualities and the personalities describing them might be an advantage for one in certain i ndustries.When these traits are combined with the managerial position, the personality traits would suit the respect the manager receive when they have high aspect of certain traits such as the Big Five Personality Traits (Waddell, Jones and George 2011, 133). It is important for managers, being in their position, to possess certain unique individuality to propel their quality and attractiveness as a leader especially in the magnificently transformed prospect of the current business environment.Personality type is the factor that separates leaders and managers as all personals can become good managers, but good leaders are ones who are privileged with the narcissistic personality whom people look up to due to their gripping attitude and incredible ideas that galvanize others (Maccoby 2000, 72-73). Therefore, it clearly prove that in a real world situational analyses the characteristics of both managers and leaders may differ, but they are needed to corroborate one another in order t o advocate and augment an effective form of leadership and management in an organization.The inherent individual traits of a manager determine the quality of a leader it makes. At the same time, inborn leaders without the technical qualification of a manager could not execute as an effective leader. The effectiveness of an organization is highly reliant on the synergy of leadership and management quality and this create an empowerment that will transcend the organization well beyond the competitors. Leadership quality of supplying the vision of an end goal when combined with the resourceful conscientiousness of managers would create a highly effective company that has high visualization.At the same time the common exchange of respect and inspiration they give as a leader would ingest the essence of teamwork that will propel the organization further forward as every member of the organization shares the common dedication and passion to attain their ultimate goals. This loyalty from e very contributing body can only be attained when their leader has the charisma and ability to unite the organization, at the same time possess a conscientious managerial role that would instill trust in the employees that their leader would bring success.Hence the synergy of inborn leadership traits and hardware managerial skills is the highly regarded form of leadership style that is highly respectable by the companies’ employees as well as other stakeholders and eventually become the driving force that will push the organization forward especially in the new age of business environment and ethics that is increasingly demanding and critical, as well as the democratic progress that inspire people to be more conspicuous of exercising their rights. Reference List Adair, John. 2005. How to Grow Leaders. London and Sterling, VA: Kogan Page Limited.Bennis, Warren. 1989. On Becoming A Leader. New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. Brandson, Richard. 2011. Richard Brandson: Ad vice for Entrepreneurs. YouTube videos, 0:04. http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=VH35Iz9veM0&feature=fvwrel Leadership Pages: The Difference Between Management And Leadership. 1997. ME96 Leadership Page. http://www. ee. ed. ac. uk/~gerard/MENG/ME96/Documents/Intro/leader. html Jay, Ros. 2001. Winning Minds. Oxford, United Kingdom: Capstone Publishing Limited. Katcher, Bruce L. and Adam Snyder. 2007. 30 Reasons Employees Hate Their Managers.United State of America: American Management Association King, William. 2010. â€Å"Distinguishing between Manager and a Leader, Are they Really Different? † Team Building Articles, August 2. http://www. 212articles. com/distinguishing-between-manager-and-a-leader-are-they-really-different/ Kumle, John and Nancy J. Kelly. 2000. â€Å"Leadership vs. Management. †Ã‚  SuperVision,  61(4), 8-10. http://search. proquest. com/docview/195590555? accountid=10382 Maccoby, Michael. 2000. â€Å"Narcissistic Leaders: The Incredible Pros, The I nevitable Cons. † Harvard Business Review, January – February Issue. http://edocs. ibrary. curtin. edu. au/eres_display. cgi? url= dc60009629. pdf©right=1 Murthy, Narayana. 2011. Narayana Murthy on Values & Leadership. YouTube videos, 3:26. http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=QBaCRu7by10&feature=related Senior, Carl, Robin Martin, Michael West and Rowena M. Yeats. 2011. â€Å"How Earlobes Can Signify Leadership Potential†. Harvard Business Review, November Issue. Shontell, Alyson. 2011. â€Å"The Legacy Of Steve Jobs: How He Took Apple From Near Bankruptcy To Billions In 14 Years And Changed The World. † Business Insider, October 6. http://www. businessinsider. om/the-legacy-of-steve-jobs-how-he-took-apple-from-near-bankruptcy-to-billions-in-13-years-and-changed-the-world-2011-10 Storms, Cherie. 2011, April 10. â€Å"Managers have subordinates, Leaders have followers. † Cherie Storms – Saving the world one day at a time. http://cheriestorms . wordpress. com/2011/04/10/managers-have-subordinates-leaders-have-followers/ Waddell, Dianne, Gareth R. Jones, Jennifer M. George. 2011. Contemporary Management. 2nd ed. Australia: McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd. Zaleznik, Abraham. 1992. â€Å"Managers and leaders: are they different? † Harvard Business Review, March – April Issue.

FDR and his policies essays

FDR and his policies essays Franklin Roosevelts policies toward Europe and Japan leading up to the American entry into World War II was in my opinion, duplicitous. President Roosevelt seemed to be more concerned about the United States current interests rather than thinking ahead toward the future. International problems that England and France had with Germany were not given the recognition they warranted because Roosevelt felt that problems within our own country were more important at the time. Even so, Roosevelt was blinded by certain opportunities that kept him from seeing major conflicts that could have been avoided otherwise. The Pacific Trade policies were placed into effect by Franklin Roosevelt against Japan. These policies forced Japan into choosing either to go into war or to surrender. Knowing very well what capitulation could lead to, Japan chose war over surrender due to, it would seem, economic reasons. American citizens were more than likely wondering what was up President Roosevelts sleeve considering Japan was, and still is, Americas leading export market. The Good Neighbor Policy was a policy of non-intervention that Roosevelt expanded on, based off of Hoovers ideas. This new policy pleased the government because of the dispose of interventionism that Theodore Roosevelt felt was the right course of action. In 1933, Roosevelt stated, The definite policy of the United States from now on is one opposed to armed intervention. The Good Neighbor policy looked to be as a way to distance the United States from interventionist policies that were created earlier on. The Neutrality Act that was put into effect in 1937 made it look as if the United States were a silent accomplice of Hitler . The act was not helping the Chinese who, at the time, were fighting off the Japanese. In 1939, it became apparent that the Neutrality Acts seemed to be helping Germany while Britain and France we...

Habits and Traits of Japanese Beetles, Popillia japonica

Habits and Traits of Japanese Beetles, Popillia japonica Is there a garden pest worse than the Japanese beetle? First, the beetle grubs destroy your lawn, and then the adult beetles emerge to feed on your leaves and flowers. Knowledge is power when it comes to controlling  this pest in your yard. Description The Japanese beetles body is a striking metallic green, with copper-colored elytra (wing covers) covering the upper abdomen. The adult beetle measures just about 1/2 inch in length. There are five distinctive tufts of white hairs line each side of the body, and two additional tufts marking the tip of the abdomen. These tufts distinguish the Japanese beetle from other similar species. Japanese beetle grubs are white, with brown heads, and reach about 1 inch in length when mature. First instar  (a developmental stage between molting) grubs measure just a few millimeters in length. The grubs curl into a C shape. Classification Kingdom - AnimaliaPhylum - ArthropodaClass - InsectaOrder - ColeopteraFamily - ScarabaeidaeGenus - PopilliaSpecies - Popillia japonica Diet Adult Japanese beetles are not picky eaters, and thats what makes them such an impactful pest. Theyll feed on both the foliage and flowers of several hundred species of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous perennials. The beetles eat plant tissues between the leaf veins, skeletonizing the foliage. When beetle populations get high, the pests may completely strip a plant of flower petals and foliage. Japanese beetle grubs feed on organic matter in the soil and on the roots of grasses, including turfgrass. High numbers of grubs may destroy turf in lawns, parks, and golf courses. Life Cycle Eggs hatch in late summer, and grubs begin to feed on plant roots. Mature grubs overwinter deep in the soil, below the frost line. In spring, grubs migrate upward and resume feeding on plant roots. By early summer, the grub is ready to pupate within an earthen cell in the ground. Adults emerge from late June into summer. They feed on foliage and mate during the day. Females excavate soil cavities several inches deep for their eggs, which they lay in masses. In most parts of its range, the Japanese beetle life cycle takes just a year, but in northern areas, it may stretch to two years. Special Behaviors and Defenses Japanese beetles travel in packs, flying and feeding together. Males use highly sensitive antennae to detect and locate female mates. Though Japanese beetles are despised for their voracious appetites for just about anything green, there is one plant that stops them in their tracks, literally. Geraniums have an odd effect on Japanese beetles and may be the key to defeating these pests. Geranium petals cause a temporary paralysis in Japanese beetles, rendering them  completely immobile for as long as 24 hours. While this doesnt kill them directly, it leaves them vulnerable to predators. Habitat With such a variety of potential host plants, Japanese beetles are well suited to live just about anywhere. Popillia japonica inhabits forests, meadows, fields, and gardens. Japanese beetles even find their way to urban backyards and parks. Range: Although the Japanese beetle is native to eastern Asia, this species was accidentally introduced to the U.S. in 1916. Japanese beetles are now established throughout the eastern U.S. and parts of Canada. Intermittent populations occur in the western U.S. Sources: Eureka Alert: Geraniums Could Help Control Devastating Japanese Beetle

Lesson Plan Deconstruction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Lesson Plan Deconstruction - Essay Example Contents covered in the lesson are Reading various literary and informational texts and poetry, summarizing them and writing one’s own idea about the text read, learning to evaluate and organize the coherent details. The lesson also requires the students to engage in group conversations and writing sessions to develop oral and linguistic skills. Improvement of handwriting, stressing on daily reading, subject oriented research and in-depth teaching about phonetics is included in the lesson plan. Ample importance is given to improve comprehension, writing and language synthesizing skills of the students. 2. The Texas lesson plan objectives are appropriate for the students because it uses additional scaffolds to improve ELL student’s comprehension through the connected discourse strategy. It helps the ELL student’s understand the basic concepts of English in context of their own folk tales, culture, history and helps them notice the linguistic differences between both the languages too. ELLs without sufficient previous schooling experiences are also given extra support enabling them to cope up with regular school goers. 3. Instilling daily reading habits in them to improve their comprehension. The students should be taught to identify the meaning of the English word in their mother tongue, yet express it in perfect English without grammatical errors. Students should be taught to use the technology like using online dictionaries, spell check and pronunciation tools. 4. Less proficient learners especially ELLs with little or no previous English exposure needs special care which could be done with the help of their parents. Using pictures of an object, asking them to name it in their mother tongue and explaining its name in English usually helps. For example, many students do not know the right English words for several garage tools and gardening equipments. Showing the picture of the equipments, making them say the native

Pathophysiology of Sickel Cell disease Research Paper

Pathophysiology of Sickel Cell disease - Research Paper Example It results from homozygosity for a mutation in the beta globin gene and is transmitted by autosomal recessive inheritance (Passarge, 2007). A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) occurs in the beta globin chain, which results in the substitution of the amino acid residue glutamine at position 6 for valine. An individual may have one such abnormal gene and another normal gene and is said to be heterozygous. When a couple that is heterozygous for HbS give birth to children, there is a likelihood of one or more of the children inheriting these HbS genes from each of the parents. When this happens, the child has both HbS genes and is said to be homozygous for HbS. This is when a child suffers from sickle cell disease. This disorder has potentially serious complications and early medication (prior to the development of symptoms) can advance morbidity and mortality. It affects hemoglobin, a protein that is part of red blood cells, which is responsible for oxygen transport. It is characterized by the presence of sickle cells in the bloodstream, which is also known as erythrocyte sickling. This causes difficulties in circulating red blood cells as the blood vessels get clogged and cause symptoms such as pain in the extremities (Gordon, 2000). This disorder develops within the first 2 years, and the symptoms can be traced back to two main phenomena which are hemolysis and clots. Hemolysis causes chronic anemia, jaundice, lack of growth and sexual maturation. The vascular occlusions cause crisis musculoskeletal pain, increase susceptibility to bacterial infections (S. pneumonia, K. pneumonia, Homophiles influenza, etc.), cerebral infarction, and renal impairment. As a consequence of the mutation, when the hemoglobin is deoxygenated, it spontaneously undergoes polymerization to form a crystalline gel. Each polymer is composed of longitudinal beams 14 of deoxy-Hb which are arranged to form a tactoid body, insoluble and rigid