Personal Experience that Changed my Life Essay Example for Free

Personal Experience that Changed my Life Essay America may be experiencing the worst financial crisis this year. People may worry about losing jobs and missing opportunities for bigger earnings. But at age eighteen and fresh from high school graduation, I am all hopes and all set to start the best years of my life. Just a few years back, I was enjoying the comforts of home in Wooster, Ohio, simply unconcerned about my future. My parents were worried about my lagging interests so they decided to send me to a boarding school in Ashtabula called Grand River Academy. The school was noted for its effective programs built especially for struggling students. My parents’ decision was not in vain. I blended so easily in my boarding school and felt at home. I was smoothly able to realign my perspectives and developed the motivation to accomplish many things. Grand River Academy provided just the right push that I needed. While in the academy I developed computer skills and vast knowledge in computer networking. Soon an unexpected opportunity came that changed my destiny. Read more:Â  An Experience That Changed My Life The director of Grand River Academy offered me a workload in one of the special projects for community extension. The project aimed to develop a computer system for the school specifically for the programs involving the school’s beneficiary communities. I was tapped to be part of the team to develop the system. For the first time I was depended on and trusted that I could make a difference for the academy. It was an experience that changed me and made my vision of the future clearer and attainable. The high school project experience was significant to earn me a $6,000 scholarship and college admission into one of the best universities in the country: Ashland University in Ohio. It is a dream-come-true for me. I give special gratitude to the Grand River Academy community for my ample preparations and being part of my achievements. Participating in the project team earned me this scholarship privilege and the key to my college education. No amount of financial crisis or global recessions can stop me now because I am determined to succeed.

Attitudes and behavior

Attitudes and behavior ABSTRACT The paper focuses on attitudes and behavior on the concept of the youths buying behavior towards branded sports shoes, different consumers have got different decision making process. The buyers ultimate goal is to buy the product of qualitative, quantitative with low/best affordable price. In order to identify different kinds of consumers behavior towards buying of different branded shoes and Nike sports shoe. I have carried out buying behavior of youth and different kind of consumer behavior models, literature and theory of consumer behavior; finally, I analyzed and concluded with research based on questionnaire of Nike shoes and case studies of Nike sports shoes at Halmstad University. 1. INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND Introduction: Why studying youth buying behaviour? Youth is perhaps the most difficult demographic group to communicate with. Not only they have a short attention span, they are also elusive in media consumption, fickle in brand preference, and simply challenging to engage and entertain. Marketers spend millions in marketing research every year trying to predict, or anticipate, changing youth behaviours. With the continually proliferating choices of sports shoe, not only does this group embrace technology at an early age, it quickly becomes the early adopters of all new trends and convergent platforms. One can argue that whatever youth does today foreshadows what older demographic groups will adopt in the near future. All this makes it extremely difficult to understand and target their behaviours. Background Consumer has been elated with the kind of reception; they are getting from various companies these days. The reason behind a drastic change in consumer behavior is because the consumer is no more treated as a hire purchaser but, he is treated as the decider of the companys fortune. Companies or marketers cannot hire any fortuneteller to guess the consumers attitude. Guessing or measuring the consumers attitude is not a cake walk but this is because predicting consumers attitude is as tough as predicting consumers mind (Bheri, 2004). Consumers are continuously choosing among the various products though they are not aware of the products and usage, even though they are intentionally purchasing the various new brands without any knowledge about the new products, furthermore if new company enters into the market, for every consumer it is very difficult to understand the features of the news products and this makes confusion among the consumers to obtain the information. For example: If one local company enters into the market then to gain the knowledge about the features of the new product, it will take long time for the consumers to understand (Nelson, 1970). The term consumer can be described as a person who acquires goods and services for self satisfaction and his often used to describe two different kinds of consuming entities: the personal consumers and organizational consumers. The personal consumers buy goods and services for his/her own use. In this context, the goods are bought for final use by individual, who are organizational consumers, they encompasses for profit and not for profit business, government agencies, institutions, all of them must buy products, equipment and services in order to run their organization (Hawkins, Best and Coney 1998). The consumer will respond according to the product quality and reliability, the fundamental understanding of products is necessary to understand the product features, products reliability and product benefits (Baker, 2004). The consumer is the end user for the product; consumers buy the products in market; in order to perform successful sales operations in the market an effective distribution channel and networks are required for the organizations. Distribution channels and networks play an important role in the consumer goods industry. Consumer is the ultimate user of every product, without any consumer there is no market as such (Baker, 2004). Every region wise the different consumers are using different kind of products. Every consumer has their own tastes and preferences. So, every consumers opinions and preferences are different from one another. The local marketers have good idea about, what the local consumers are using (region wise). For example: The south Indian food habits and tastes and preferences are different, when compared to north Indian food habits (Thomas, 2004). Based on above paragraph, direct marketing activities have big impact on every consumer, because through direct marketing every company knows about the behavior of every consumer in the market. Manufacturing companies, retailer and suppliers do not have an idea about the consumer behavior in the local market. So, author suggested that direct marketing activities should be left to the local market leaders, because the local market leaders have best idea of local market and local consumer behavior. This theory helps for the organization and sub-organizations to know the consumer behavior in different market environments, taste and preferences of the consumer behavior (Thomas, 2004). McDonalds would not have made a big impact in the Indian market had it persisted with its U.S. product line that included beef products, moreover, McDonalds repositioned the brand as family-oriented and children-friendly, catering the traditional Indian middle- class segment that finds pride in its family culture and is especially conscious of childcare. So in this point of view Mc Donalds have approached differently, because they identified that, which they followed earlier that will not get good impact on their business so, they immediately changed the business line to achieve the targets, thus, this is one kind of business strategy to achieve the set goals in huge populated countries (Dash, 2005). For perspective of globalization we can not change the system of tastes and preferences of Consumers. Another instance demonstrating the ignorance of local tastes in the wake of globalization features the multinational mobile phone makers, Nokia had tasted success with its soap-bar designed phones and ceased producing the flip phones that consumers found irritating to use (Zaccai, 2005). The Chinese business people are giving importance to Chinese traditional, patriotic values; the business people are running their businesses by showing their traditional, patriotic advertisement and promotional campaigns to get the business from the Chinese people. The Chinese consumers perspective, by assessing their preferences amongst a host of advertisements and promotional campaigns, later on the business people are started the global Advertisement campaigns with status and social appeal, they sought immense pride in clinging to the traditional, cultural and patriotic values through the local campaigns, with this theory helps by knowing the Chinese consumer behavior and also they are giving same importance to traditional and patriotic values in the name of advertisements. Finally, they want the advertisements with traditional and patriotic values of Chinese culture (Zhou and Belk, 2004). The consumers mind is different from one another in this as author said in the definition that according to the human psychology, demographical differences, age sex and to understand people needs. (Kotler, 2004), to assess the influences of every consumer approach is different, in theory explained that consumer is treated as decider of the company, what ever the product comes to the market, the consumer is the ultimate purchaser for every product, some times the consumers are choosing, selecting and going for family decision making to choose differently, in one point of time the consumers differentiated and explained that they are going for personal and some of the them are using products for profit. Demographical differences make new food habits for every consumer. The choice of variation for every consumer (Kotler, 2004). The example of above paragraph, two countries, therefore Chinese consumers are giving respect to traditional and patriotic values, where as Indian consumers are more religious when they are using the products. These are influences that make the consumer to purchase different products; mostly those influences are more related to the physiological, demographical, social, cultural, economic, family and business influences. According to Kotler (1994), consumer behavior is the study of how people buy, what they buy, when they buy and why they buy. It is a subcategory of marketing that blends elements from psychology, sociology, socio psychology, anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics, psychographics, and behavioral variables in an attempt to understand people needs. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from group such as family friends, reference groups, and society in general (Kotler, 1994) for example while consumers purchase the shoe, then they go for family decision, comfort, satisfaction, price and quality. Every family member doesnt have the same opinion to buy the same product; different family members have different choice to buy the product. So, in one family consumer behavior is different (Kotler, 1994). 2. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to a better knowledge of consumer buying behavior towards purchasing the sports shoes. The aim of the thesis is to find out the factors influencing the youth in purchasing sports shoes. The purpose of the study could be expressed by the following research question. Assessment factors, which influence the youth to buy sports shoes? 3. LITERATURE REVIEW The Definition: Consumer-buying behavior according to Kotler (2004, p.601) is defined as The buying behavior consumers individuals and house holds who buy goods and services for personal consumption. the term consumer can be described as a person who acquires goods and services for self satisfaction is often used to describe two different kinds of consuming entities: the personal consumers and the organizational consumers. The personal consumers buy goods and services for his/her own use. In this context the goods are bought for final use by individual, who are organizational consumers, encompasses for profit and not for profit business, government agencies, institutions, all of them must buy products, equipment and services in order to run their organization (Kotler, 2004). Peter and Olson, (1993) mention that interactions between the peoples emotions, moods, affection and specific feelings is called consumer behavior, in other words in environmental events which they exchange ideas and benefits each is called consumer behavior . Buying behavior of people, who purchase products for personal use and not for business purposes (Peter and Olson, 1993). The Physical actions of consumers that can directly observe and measured by others, by influencing behavior profit can be earned (kotler, Armstrong and Cunningham, 1989). The study of consumer behavior has evolved in early emphasis on rational choice (microeconomics and classical decision theory) to focus on apparently irrational buying needs (some motivation research) and the use of logical flow models of bounded rationality (Howard and Sheth 1989). The latter approach has depended into what is often called the information processing model (Bettman 1979). The information processing model regards the consumer as a logical thinker who solves problem to make purchasing decision (Holbrook and Hirschman 1980). Compares the four major approaches to create successful inter-organizational relationships and integrates them into a single prescription for managing important inter firm relationships (Palmatier, Dant and Grewal, 2007). Service fails, in satisfying the customers and developing customer loyalty over time in business to business markets. Cyert (1956) may have been the first to observe that a number of managers in addition to the purchasing agents are involved in buying process, and the concept was labeled buying behavior and popularized by Robinson (Faris and Win 1967). Webster and Wind (1972) famously identified five buying roles, they are: 1. users 2. Influencer 3.buyer 4. decider and 5 Gatekeeper (Webster and wind, 1972). Further categories have been suggested as the initiator (Bonoma, 1981), and the analyst and spectator by Wilson (Wilson, 1998). The product purchase decision is not always done by the user. The buyer necessarily purchases the product. Marketers must decide at whom to direct their promotional efforts, the buyer or the user. They must identify the person who is most likely to influence the decision. If the marketers understand consumer behavior, they are able to predict how consumers are likely to react to various informational and environmental cues, and are able to shape their marketing strategies accordingly (kotler, 1994). The consumer behavior influences are follows: The consumer behavior influences in 3 aspects, they are acquiring, using and disposing. The acquiring means that how the consumer spends money on the products, such as leasing, trading and borrowing. Using means some of the consumers use the high price products and some of the consumer sees the quality. Disposing is nothing but distribution, order or places a particular product (Hoyer, Deborah, 2001). By understanding consumer behavior deeply, different authors have given different information about the consumer behavior, how consumer buys the products, it involves four steps they are: need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase behavior, the marketer can pick up many clues as and how to meet the buyer need and develop an effective program to support an attractive offer to the target market (Kanuk, 1990). According to Kotler (1994), the Consumers buying decision process is influenced by four steps those are as follows: Types of consumer buying decision behavior: Consumer buying behavior decision-making varies with the type buying decision. There are different types of buying behavior decisions. Complex buying behavior: Consumers undertake complex buying behavior when they are highly involved in purchase and complex buying behavior and perceive significant difference among the brands. Consumers may be highly involved when the product are expensive, risky, purchased in frequently and are highly expensive (Kotler, 1994). Dissonance Reducing buying behavior occurs when consumers are highly involved with an expensive, infrequent or risky purchase, but sees little difference among various brands (Kotler, 1994). Variety Consumers undertake variety seeking buying behavior in situations characterized by low consumer involvement, but significant perceived brand difference. In such cases, consumers often do a lot brand scrutiny (Kotler, 1994). 4. THE BUYING DECISION PROCESS Introduction of buying decision process Consumers make many buying decisions every day. Mostly large companies do extensive research on consumer buying decision, to answer questions like what does consumer buy, where they buy, how they buy, how much they buy, when they buy and why do they buy a product, for this question to reorganize the decision different stages needed they are, information search, and evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase decision etc., The consumer passes through all five stages with every purchase, but in more routine purchases, consumers often skip or reverse some of these stages (Hawkins, Coney, 1998). The buying decision process The buying process starts with need recognition, where as buyer recognize the need. The buyers decision is depending on his/her internal external stimuli of consumer behavior. The internal and external stimuli of consumer behavior means that the consumer, which product should purchase, how much wants to purchase and externally which products are more reliable and usable. According to this internal and external stimulis the buyer will take the decision (Hawkins, Coney, 1998). The consumers are searching the information from the various sources those are information search, personal source, commercial sources, public sources and experimental sources; this is also process of the buying decision process before purchase of the product (Hawkins, Coney, 1998). Information search: The consumer can obtain information from any of several sources, which includes: Personal source: family, friends, neighbors, acquaintance etc. Commercial sources: advertising, sales people, dealers, packaging, displays. Public sources: mass media, consumer-rating organizations etc. Experimental sources: handling, examining, using of the product. Consumers receive most of the information about a product from commercial sources, which are controlled by the marketer. The most effective source however tend to be personal. Personal sources appear to be even more important in influencing the purchase. Evaluation of Alternatives: The consumer evaluates all the alternatives available to him/her to arrive at a brand choice. The consumer will see the product as a bundle of attributes with varying capacities, which satisfies his or her needs. The consumer will pay more attention to those attributes connected with their needs. The consumer is likely to develop a set of brand beliefs about, where each brand stands on each attribute. These of beliefs held about the particular brand is known as brand image, according to the beliefs and preferences of the consumer, evaluates the alternative products instead of using existing products (Kotler, 2004). Purchase decision: In the evaluation stage, the consumer ranks all the brands and makes a purchase intention. Generally the consumer purchase decision is to buy the most preferred brand, when purchasing a products, consumer will think about two things, which can be, purchase decision and purchase intention. The attitude of others and unexpected situation factors both directly or indirectly effects the consumers final decision to buy a particular brand. (Kotler, 2004). Post purchase behavior: The buyers job does not end when the product is brought. After purchasing the product, the consumer will be satisfied or dissatisfied and will be engaged in post purchase behavior. The satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the purchase of a particular product depends on the relationship between the consumer expectation and the consumer disappointment, if it meets the consumer expectations, the consumer can get satisfied. And if it exceeds he/she is delighted (Gilly and Gelb, 1986). 5. THEORETICAL FRAME WORK Consumer Involvement Theory The consumer involvement theory means that, how the consumer involving the purchase of various products in the market, after purchasing the product, how the consumer responding towards the products called consumer involvement theory. The consumers get the information through advertising, for that they purchase, use, and react that they see and hear about the products that they buy (Barry, 1987). Level of involvement an individuals intensity of interest in a product and the importance of the product for that person, those are enduring involvement and situational involvement (Homewood IL Irwin, 1987). Routinized response behavior is that the process used when buying frequently purchased low-cost items that requires little search- and decision-effort (Homewood IL Irwin, 1987). The consumer involved in purchasing of products and usage and, also, various aspects like high involvement and low involvement in process of purchasing of products. The consumer some times involves high and low in purchasing products, so, theory of involvement is explaining that the consumer recognizes the importance of the purchase and it considers that the degree of perceived risk, moreover, it reflects on self image perhaps information processing may be different from one another (Ray, 1973). The low involvement theory is explaining that the consumer would accept wide range of products with positive attitude with do-feel-learn strategy, firstly the consumer select any kind of product, use the product, if they are not sure about how to use the product, and they learn how to use the product. To purchase a new computer in market and using of the computer, if they are not satisfied then they go for learning of how to use the computer. The low involvement of consumer will be in manner that do-feel-learn strategy (Ray, 1973). In one of the consumer article author explained about the consumers, are influenced by television commercials and their relationship effectiveness of advertisements (Krugman 1987). High involvement theory is rational and emotional, and it is explaining about the consumers participations in the context very actively without any hesitation, moreover, they look after extensive problem solving. In this theory of involvement the consumers learn about the product, use the product, if they are feeling that the product is comfortable to use it, and then they go for buying the product, so this is called high involvement because after usage, they definitely buy the products. The high involvement theory is reversible order to low involvement theory like learn-feel-do strategy (Debruicker, 1979). How the involvement theory is useful, the emotions, specific feelings, learning of every product and involves when they want to use it and when they want to purchase it. So, this theory helps when the consumer purchasing any kind of product or after using the product. 6. CONSUMER BEHAVIOR MODELS Introduction Intergradations of three models There are three types of models, which will explain about consumers process of basic needs to selecting one particular product, In order to process consumer behavior the following three models are important, the first and foremost model is that the Hierarchy model of consumer behavior, in this model the author said that, without any basic needs the consumer can not survive, so, the consumer should have some basic needs, which have been explained below, secondly the consumer behavior model. In this model author mentioned about research and planning, in this process, the researchers are taking samples from consumer before manufacturing the new products in the market. Finally, lens model has been explained that in order to choice/select a product by the consumer. Most early psychologists studied people who had psychological problems, but Maslow Hierarchy needs tells us about the needs of consumer behavior. Hierarchy needs of consumer behavior model (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987) Maslow believes that people seek to fulfill five categories of needs. (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987) Maslows given the hierarchy needs for consumer behavior, before starting about the consumer behavior, the consumer needs are important; usually every consumer have some hierarchy needs, they are; self actualization needs, esteem needs, belonging needs, safety and security needs and psychological needs (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987). The self actualization needs: The term actualization means that the intrinsic growth of what is already in the organism, or more accurately, of what the organism is called self actualization needs. For example: one can play the music, he is called musician or artist, and one can paint the art is called painter, one can write the poems, is called poet. For surviving in competitive world one profession is important, this profession is not only for surviving, but also one kind of need for human being. In small words to understand simply one individual potentiality develop him by doing something; it is called the self actualization (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987). The author suggests that the self actualization need is important when the consumer wants to survive, consumer came with new professions, and it is one kind of need, it will help the consumer to survive in this competitive world (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987). Esteem needs: The term esteem means that need for things that reflect on self-esteem, personal worth, social recognition, and accomplishment, for example one can travel in the bus, motor bike, and car respectively, depends on his/her financial position they can travel. In this case travel is a need, so, in smaller words, if one can economically sound, then he/she arranges the esteemed need according to their financial possession (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987). The author said that, if she/he needs the esteem needs, then they should have good economic possession, if not no necessary to maintain the car or motor bike, it is very easy to use the public bus or walk (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987). Social needs: The social needs includes love of family or friends, for example, the boy loves his girl friend, the relationship between husband and wife, one child belongs to one family This is called belongingness or love (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987). This is one kind of need for every consumer, because every consumer has their personal belongingness and love. Safety needs: The safety might include living in an area away from threats. This level is more likely to be found in children as they have a greater need to feel safe. For example one wants to live safe and secure life in the society. Finally, always consumer wants to live a life, which is safe and secured (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987). Physiological needs: It includes the very basic need air, warmth, food, sleep, stimulation and activity. People can die due to lack of biological needs and equilibrium common needs like food, water, oxygen and other common minimum needs are wanted for every one to survive in the world. This is also a basic need of consumer (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987) Consumer behavior model The concept of consumer behavior model is that, all the consumer minds are not the same, because every consumer thinks in different manner and purchasing of products also different. The below figure is saying about the research and planning, now a days the products are many, the consumer is attracting towards new products and its features. The manufacturing companies are designing the products, before manufacturing of new products the researchers are taking the samples for research from the consumers, after taking the samples from the consumers, researchers are doing the research about the products, it encourages companies to constantly innovate better ways to serve the consumer needs (Yeowzah, 2003). The research planning depending on product design, insights and action. As author saying about the design, if products designs are good then every consumer attracted towards purchasing of new products, the product design is possible only by doing research. The insights is nothing but the product features, the product features are depend upon good research and planning, without any research and planning there is no product as such. In between these two aspects the action takes place to do good research and to get good results in the market (Yeowzah, 2003). 2. Consumer behavior model (Yeowzah, 2003) http://www.yeowzah.com/consumer_behavior_model.htm The significance of consumer behavior decision theory in some cases consumer has clear and strong choice or preference for particular product to purchase. According to the customer preference, companies can increase their sales to develop the 4 Ps marketing to affect the customer preference and test. Company can design the product to attract the customer to make the better sales. To analyze the competitor activity and make the most battle plan to fight in to the market (Hauser, 1993). Lens Model Product Features Perceptions Preferences Psycho-social cues Availability, Price Choice Lens model (Hauser, 1993) Description: The above lens model says that, the product features and perceptions are inter dependent, because the consumer see the product features before purchasing any product in the market, the product features arrow showing towards perception, the perception is nothing but understanding of the product, in this process consumer will understand about the product, after understanding the product, the perceptions is going to be preference of various products (Hauser, 1993). In this process of preference product, the consumer prefers the products, after preferring the product, consumer select the particular product that is called choice. The final arrow showing towards choice, but this whole process depends on consumer psycho-social cues and availability price of the products in the market (Hauser, 1993). The second way is that the psycho-social cues and perceptions are also inter dependent with the help of these two terms the consumer prefers the product and finally choose/select the product (Hauser, 1993). The third way is that the consumer chooses the product with the help of psycho-social cues, which means psychological influences, understanding of the product and availability price of the products (Hauser, 1993). NIKES INTRODUCTION (NIKES CASE STUDIES) The company was established in 1968. Philip H. Knight is the chairman and CEO of the company. The first idea was given by Philip knight to manufacture the shoes, the idea behind this concept is that, when he was studying MBA in Stanford University in USA, he completed the course and he was trying to do the project in different marketing contexts, for this project, he went to Japan to do project in tiger shoes in Japan, it is one of the best shoes brands in Japan, at the same time he presented himself as an American representative and started manufacturing of shoes and he has given name for that company is blue ribbon sports company later on he has changed the name Nike. Later he started manufacturing shoes, apparel and equipments and he renamed his company name like Nike hope for the best to happen after some time he turned in to his coach Bill bower man in his school for what to do next in this industry. So, Bill bower man came up with new idea. In 1979 the Nike was the worlds top companies in the world. Nike mainly concentrated on athletics, the main competitors was Reebok and Adidas. Now Ni

Solar Photovoltaic Cells Essay -- Solar Energy Heat Sun essays

Solar Photovoltaic Cells Solar energy is a general term referring to any process that turns sunlight into energy. Two common forms of solar energy are used today: Solar photovoltaic cells and solar thermal technology. Solar thermal technology uses the heat generated from sunlight to create energy. Most commonly, this can be used to heat water for a house or other projects. Or, with increasing complexity, it can turn the heat into electricity. Unfortunately, much of this technology is too expensive and complex to be practical in the United States on any large scale. However, solar photovoltaic cells are a far more promising technology. They provide a simple way of turning light directly into energy. This paper will examine how this technology works on a basic level while accessing the possible benefits and problems this technology has. It will also examine possible technology in the future in an attempt to overcome these problems. How solar photovoltaic cells work: A photovoltaic cell uses semiconductor material to transform light into electrical energy. Photons from light hitting the material excite electrons, releasing them from their atoms into the material. Once electrons are excited, they are able to move freely within the material. The semi-conductor then serves to force the electrons in the desired directions. By creating a junction of a p and n type semiconductor, an electrical potential is created. The electrons move from the n-type to the p-type. Meanwhile, the positively charged atoms move from the p-type to the n-type. As a result, the n-type material gains a positive charge and the p-type gains a negative charge. When an electrical circuit connects the p-type and n-type ends, difference in e... ...rrent conventional energy. It has promising chances of reducing carbon dioxide emissions and thus reducing global warming. But, it sill cannot compete economically with current energy means and as a result, more research must be dedicated into the cause in order for its benefits to be fully realized. Works Cited Berinstein P. 2001. Alternative Energy: Facts, Statistics, and Issues. Wesport (CT): Oryx Press; 208p. Current Solar Systems: Modern Photovoltaic Solar Cells. http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/t/s/tss178/pvcells.htm [2004 Oct 19] Ramage J. 1997. Energy, A Guidebook. New York: Oxford. 194p. Sorensen B. 2000. Renewable Energy: Its physics, engineering, use, environmental impacts, economy and planning aspects. 2nd ed. San Diego: Academic Press. 912p. http://www.worldbank.org/html/fpd/energy/subenergy/solar/solar_pv.htm [2004 Oct 18]

The Working Poor Essays -- essays research papers fc

American factories can comprise of about up to 1000 workers. If American factories are shut down and moved to other countries, this takes many American people out of work. Companies are now also importing jobs. This is where employers hire people such as immigrants to work less than minimum wage. For that reason, many Americans are stuck with the other minimum wage, and low-paying jobs that barely get them through life. Because of this, many Americans are working full time jobs that are below the Federal poverty line. These types of people are often called the â€Å"working poor†. Due to this the working poor have to run to welfare. This affects all Americans because taxpayers are the ones paying for welfare. The more jobs that are taken overseas, the more poverty we will have.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is now said that the middle-class Americans are now becoming the poor in America. According to William H. Jasper of the New American magazine: To stop this job exporting for happening, American middle class workers must combine to force Congress to reverse the destructive policies that are importing foreign workers and exporting our productivity. That means abolishing the H-1B and L1 visa programs, drastically reducing all other levels of immigration, and insisting on credible INS and Border Patrol enforcement levels. It also means defeating all proposals to grant yet another amnesty to millions of illegal aliens who have come to the U.S. since the last amnesty. I...

Michael Crichtons The Lost World Essay -- Michael Crichton Lost World

Michael Crichton's The Lost World I read Michael Crichton's The Lost World. In the following paragraphs, I will not only explain the book, but also give my critique of it. I will also give a paragraph that was probably the best paragraph in the book, in my opinion. The book starts out with Ian Malcolm, a mathematician who had already had an experience with live dinosaurs a couple of years ago on another island. He has pretty much blocked that experience from his mind. Anyway, it also talks about a man named Doctor Levine. This man talks at a lecture that Malcolm is watching about the theory of there being a lost world, an island, undiscovered, that has extinct animals on it, particularly dinosaurs. Malcolm dismisses this idea saying that is the dumbest thing he ever heard. After the lecture, Levine talks to Malcolm to help him in finding this "Lost World." Malcolm again dismisses him. After a couple weeks of Levine nagging him, he sort of gets more into the idea, and starts to believe it. Levine Narrows it down to one island, Isla Sorna, and just leaves without telling anyone. Two of Levine's students, Kelly and Arby, get worried when he wasn't there to teach their class, because they were supposed to go on a field trip with him that day. They go to a guy named Doctor Thorne, a guy that was making specialized equipment for their trip. He said that he didn't know what was going on. They contact Malcolm and they go to Levine's apartment. They go to his computer room and see all this stuff on the wall about site B. They go onto the computer and Arby gets all this stuff about site B on it. Malcolm then finds out that the island that Levine went to was Isla Sorna. They plan this whole trip to go there, just Malcolm, Thorne, and Thorne's assistant, Eddie. They also call a woman named Sarah Harding, a scientist in Africa, to come with them. She had to take a flight in a while, she was too far to just go with them. They told the kids that they couldn't go. They leave for a helicopter with a specialized explorer, and two trailers, with a lot of equipment. On the way there, Thorne gets a call from Arby saying good luck. They get to the island and search for Levine, with this device they have, the find him and go back to the trailer. Before the go back, you find out that that Kelly and Arby hid in a compartment in the trailer. The... ...ey take the boat off the island, and go home. I think the only weakness of the book is that it is too much like the first book, Jurassic Park. â„ ¢ The characters have similar strengths and weaknesses, two kids, etc. I also thing that there are numerous strengths to the book. It was very compelling, and some nights I'd be up until stupid hours in the morning reading it because I couldn't put it down. It was a thrilling book. It kept you wanting more. A particular passage which impressed me was PP 422 & 423, Chapter Exit, the whole chapter. I particularly liked this chapter because it sort of turned the table on humans. We always think we are superior to every other animal in the world, always taking them for granted, killing them and eating them. The T-Rex brings Dodgson back to the nest for the babies to eat, sort of like when a bird brings a worm home for its babies, only we're the worms. In conclusion, I really liked this book, it is my favorite book now. I would definitely recommend it to anyone. No matter what they are interested in. I didn't read Jurassic Park, â„ ¢ but I am definitely going to, and I can't wait to see the Lost World â„ ¢ on the big screen.

Sales Management

What are the pros and cons of Mr. Evans’s e-commerce strategy? What is the best argument that Ms. Miko can make to keep her sales force intact? In your opinion, should Cardinal Connectors Inc. eliminate its sales force? Explain. 2. Assume your company, which sells paper products, has 60 percent of the business at your largest account. What factors would make it relatively easy for you to get a larger share of that customer’s business, and what factors would make it harder? 3. One manufacturer of dictating machines recruits only experienced people and does not recruit among graduating college students.A competitor recruits extensively among colleges in its search for salespeople. How do you account for the difference in sources used by firms selling essentially the same products? Explain your analysis in detail. 4. A manufacturer of small aircraft, designed for executive transportation of large companies, has decided to implement the concept of a selling center. Which pe ople in this company should be on the selling teams? What problems is this firm likely to encounter when it uses team selling? 5. You must choose between two sales recruits.One has scored very high in terms of the quality of his interview, but not very well on the series of psychological tests to predict qualities the firm thinks are necessary for success. Another person did well on the psychological testing, but not very well in the personal interview. All other things being equal, which one would you hire, and why? What do you think the strengths and weaknesses would be of the one you hired? 6. â€Å"Salespeople are born, not made. It’s futile to try to train a person to be a salesperson, so I don’t. How would you answer a sales manager who said this to you if you were trying to get her or him to hire you as a sales trainer? 7. In what respects would a compensation plan differ among salespeople for the following firms? a) the manufacturer of small airplanes used by executives; b) a wholesaler of office equipment and supplies; c) an automobile dealer. 8. Do you approve of Kathryn’s plans of action? If so, why, and how could she improve her plan of action? If not, what changes would you suggest she consider making? Describe your views in detail. 9.A petroleum firm with a sales force of 300 people planned to sell its fleet of company-owned automobiles and have the salespeople use their own cars instead. What problems are involved in this change? What actions should the petroleum firm take to address them? 10. As a sales manager for HighRising Company, Rocky Foster oversees 15 sales reps. Foster is an outstanding transactional leader, but he is hopelessly ineffective as a transformational leader. Is this a problem? Why, or why not? What recommendation, if any, would you make to the Vice President of Sales? 11.What advice would you give Michiko Takanaga on how she should reduce her departmental budgets? Justify your recommendations. 12. What control unit would you recommend in establishing sales territories for each of the following companies? Explained why you picked the control unit you did for each. a) manufacturer of laptops; b) food broker; c) appliance wholesaler; d) manufacturer of outboard motors; e) lumber wholesaler 13. What supporting points could be made over allocation of indirect marketing costs, by the proponents of each side, in the full-cost versus contribution-margin controversy ?Which of the two concepts do you advocate, and why? 14. If a company made a territorial volume analysis and found some subpar territories, how might these facts affect the following activities relating to salespeople? a) supervision b) compensation c) training 15. â€Å"Let’s face it. Our product is no different from that of 20 other competitors. It sells for the same price and for the same terms. We all give the same service. It really doesn’t matter to the buyer which of us gets the order. So the only way we can get an edge is through our aggressive entertainment and gift program.We work hard at making our buyers happy with us. They enjoy doing business with us. † Do you see any ethical problems involved here? What possible consequences are there to the company? What would you do differently, if anything? 16. As a sales manager for a baby food concern, you want to evaluate the ability of your representatives to obtain good shelf space in grocery stores. How would you do this? Before implementing this process, you call a meeting of your reps to explain your evaluation process to them. What would you say? Sales Management One of the major problem facing sales managers is on what criteria to judge a new salesperson when hiring him. In most cases, the sales managers look at the sales person’s past records and his performance in the previous organization but many a times, they see that a successful salesperson in one organization does not perform when hired in the new organization. One of the main reasons for that it is the difference in culture and values. The new recruit might be very good but he might not be compatible with your organization. Another major problem being faced by the sales managers is that even though the sales people meet their targets, they barely ever follow the sales process of their own company. Every salesperson tries his own tactics that he thinks will bring business. When giving bonuses to salespeople, sales managers find it difficult to determine the metrics on which to evaluate the salesperson’s performance. Should they judge the salesperson depending on how much business he brought and in that case, they will have to ignore the ways the business was brought, to what extent was business rules followed and how ethical was the deal, etc. Ethical issues are one of the major problems that are faced by the sales managers. Many sales people bring in a lot of business for the firm but in return, they are being paid kickbacks by the customer which means that unethical behavior is practiced. It is very difficult for a sales manager to oversee any unethical practices taking place in the organization from his office and therefore, they find it extremely difficult for stop unethical practices in the organization. Almost all sales managers face this problem. The sales manager has to evaluate the performance of the sales people and this responsibility makes the sales manager a judge and on the other hand, the sales manager is required to train and coach the sales people and this responsibility makes the sales manager a coach and a helper and both these roles are very conflicting so the sales managers find it difficult to fulfill both roles since both roles require different type of a relationship with the sales person. Many sales managers when evaluating the sales person give more emphasis to whether they like the sales representative or not rather than on the fact that sales person is bringing in business which is not the right thing. Because even if the sales manager does not that sales representative, if the representative is bringing in the expected business, then the manager has to reward him either through commission or bonuses. Sales managers find it difficult to decide whether they want to have a salary plus commission or salary plus bonus. In the first method, the commission is the percentage of the sales made in actual dollar terms whereas in the second method, you give a certain percentage of the sales representative’s salary as a reward to the sales person. Both have their advantages and disadvantages and one method works better for some sales people whereas the other method works better for other sales people and deciding which one to implement is an issue that is faced by sales people on a more strategic level rather than operational level. Sales managers also have to decide whether they assign sales teams or one sales person to each account. And if they have a whole sales team for one account then how do they plan to reward those sales people. Will those sales people be evaluated on the basis of team performance or individual performance and if they will be evaluated on team performance then will the rewards be given to a whole team equally or depending on each sales person’s contribution towards the goal because these things will affect the motivation level of the sales people. Answer 2: The emphasis on training the sales people cannot be emphasized enough. Sales people’ training is very essential for both new and old sales people. Training in communicating with people is important for both old and new sales people since they come across all sorts of customers. For example, a sales person who is selling detergent will be selling the detergent to all sorts of people whether the customer is in higher socioeconomic class or lower, whether he is a man or a woman or whether he is Asian or America. Sales people should know how to communicate with all sorts of people so that they can cater to more customers. Administrative training is really important because the sales people whether old or new should be told to keep all sorts of documentation because safely keeping all sales documents is important therefore, sales people need training about what documents they need to create when a sale is made, how the documents are maintained and how they need to be filled, etc. Sales people also need training regarding knowledge development. They need to be told how to keep themselves abreast about all the products of the company, its competitors and also information about substitute products because the customer of today is very knowledgeable and therefore, to sell to such a customer, a sales person must know everything in and out so that he can convince the customer to buy his product. The new sales people need to be trained regarding the sales practices of the company, the sales culture of the company and also the sales process. You need to have the new recruit get integrated into the new environment so that he can perform well and secondly, all organizations do not have the same way of selling so the sales representative need to be made aware of what is expected out of him so that he can strive to achieve that and in a way that is accepted and practiced by the new organization. The importance of training is also important since the world is becoming global and sales people are transferred from one region to another so they need to be aware of the differences in culture, language, etc so that they can sell to the locals without transgressing the boundaries or offending them in any way. Experienced sales people have to be trained because if they are not trained, they become outdated. They need to be taught about the new ways of selling which are practiced by the big companies so that they can utilize them to sell to the customers. Experience sales people will also have to be made aware of the new technologies. For example, now many companies are using Sales Force Automation systems which enhance the selling of the organization. These are new technologies and the sales people will have to learn these new technologies to remain current and competitive. Training is also essential for new sales people to let them know what they need to do to move higher up in the rung which helps to reduce employee turnover since if they know that doing so and so will lead them to a new destination then they will not look outside the organization for career opportunities. Moreover, it makes it clear to them about what they need to do to get a certain thing so that they can work towards it. Answer 4: The major advantage of building customer relationships via the internet is the cost factor. It is much cheaper to sell, answer queries, and provide customer service to thousand customers on the Internet because very few people can handle all this since most of the work is automated. However, in a brick and mortar environment, it would require hundreds of sales people to manage all these relationships and it will be costly because you need to pay them, you need to train them and secondly, the consistency will not be there. Another major advantage of building customer relationships online is that you can cater to a wide range of audience. The Internet is used by people around the world so if you are selling books on the Internet and your business is in Chicago then you are not just limited to people living in Chicago. People from all around United States and also outside the country can buy from you since all they need is that they have to do is go to your website. The communication becomes very quick when you are handling relationships on the Internet. For example, if the customer is finding some problem with a new appliance he bought from an online store, he can just e-mail them or chat with some online representative who will solve the query faster than in traditional stores. The Internet helps you to display millions of things to a customer who gets to have a wide range which is not possible with traditional methods. So you can display millions of goods to the customer which will keep him happy without increasing your cost since you do not have to buy a huge storefront to keep all those goods. When you are selling an electronic item in a traditional store, you need to train all the sales people so that they know how to operate the item and whenever a customer arrives, the sales person will have to demonstrate to him how the item works. With online websites, you can put videos of demonstration of how the item works which is cheaper plus the customer can view any time and he can watch multiple times even after he has bought the item. However, there are also disadvantages of this method. For example, it is very difficult to attract traffic to your online service or store. Many companies do not have enough funds to pay websites such as Google for advertising them and with online websites; there is no other way of attracting customers. Another problem with this is that customer and sales person cannot see each other And due to that the communication is not as effective as with traditional methods. In all sorts of communication, a communication becomes more effective if the other person can see you so that you can study his body language and facial expressions. Secondly, many people find it uncomfortable talking to a machine. There are many prospective customers whom you can sell but they do not access the Internet either because it is not accessible to them or because they are too busy so there are chances that you can miss out on important customers which results in lost sales. When you have to interact with a customer online, it is much more difficult than using the traditional ways. Therefore, when recruiting people, you need to ensure that they are capable of communicating with someone over the Internet effectively. Moreover, they should be trained well so that they can help the customer properly. Sales Management One of the major problem facing sales managers is on what criteria to judge a new salesperson when hiring him. In most cases, the sales managers look at the sales person’s past records and his performance in the previous organization but many a times, they see that a successful salesperson in one organization does not perform when hired in the new organization. One of the main reasons for that it is the difference in culture and values. The new recruit might be very good but he might not be compatible with your organization. Another major problem being faced by the sales managers is that even though the sales people meet their targets, they barely ever follow the sales process of their own company. Every salesperson tries his own tactics that he thinks will bring business. When giving bonuses to salespeople, sales managers find it difficult to determine the metrics on which to evaluate the salesperson’s performance. Should they judge the salesperson depending on how much business he brought and in that case, they will have to ignore the ways the business was brought, to what extent was business rules followed and how ethical was the deal, etc. Ethical issues are one of the major problems that are faced by the sales managers. Many sales people bring in a lot of business for the firm but in return, they are being paid kickbacks by the customer which means that unethical behavior is practiced. It is very difficult for a sales manager to oversee any unethical practices taking place in the organization from his office and therefore, they find it extremely difficult for stop unethical practices in the organization. Almost all sales managers face this problem. The sales manager has to evaluate the performance of the sales people and this responsibility makes the sales manager a judge and on the other hand, the sales manager is required to train and coach the sales people and this responsibility makes the sales manager a coach and a helper and both these roles are very conflicting so the sales managers find it difficult to fulfill both roles since both roles require different type of a relationship with the sales person. Many sales managers when evaluating the sales person give more emphasis to whether they like the sales representative or not rather than on the fact that sales person is bringing in business which is not the right thing. Because even if the sales manager does not that sales representative, if the representative is bringing in the expected business, then the manager has to reward him either through commission or bonuses. Sales managers find it difficult to decide whether they want to have a salary plus commission or salary plus bonus. In the first method, the commission is the percentage of the sales made in actual dollar terms whereas in the second method, you give a certain percentage of the sales representative’s salary as a reward to the sales person. Both have their advantages and disadvantages and one method works better for some sales people whereas the other method works better for other sales people and deciding which one to implement is an issue that is faced by sales people on a more strategic level rather than operational level. Sales managers also have to decide whether they assign sales teams or one sales person to each account. And if they have a whole sales team for one account then how do they plan to reward those sales people. Will those sales people be evaluated on the basis of team performance or individual performance and if they will be evaluated on team performance then will the rewards be given to a whole team equally or depending on each sales person’s contribution towards the goal because these things will affect the motivation level of the sales people. Answer 2: The emphasis on training the sales people cannot be emphasized enough. Sales people’ training is very essential for both new and old sales people. Training in communicating with people is important for both old and new sales people since they come across all sorts of customers. For example, a sales person who is selling detergent will be selling the detergent to all sorts of people whether the customer is in higher socioeconomic class or lower, whether he is a man or a woman or whether he is Asian or America. Sales people should know how to communicate with all sorts of people so that they can cater to more customers. Administrative training is really important because the sales people whether old or new should be told to keep all sorts of documentation because safely keeping all sales documents is important therefore, sales people need training about what documents they need to create when a sale is made, how the documents are maintained and how they need to be filled, etc. Sales people also need training regarding knowledge development. They need to be told how to keep themselves abreast about all the products of the company, its competitors and also information about substitute products because the customer of today is very knowledgeable and therefore, to sell to such a customer, a sales person must know everything in and out so that he can convince the customer to buy his product. The new sales people need to be trained regarding the sales practices of the company, the sales culture of the company and also the sales process. You need to have the new recruit get integrated into the new environment so that he can perform well and secondly, all organizations do not have the same way of selling so the sales representative need to be made aware of what is expected out of him so that he can strive to achieve that and in a way that is accepted and practiced by the new organization. The importance of training is also important since the world is becoming global and sales people are transferred from one region to another so they need to be aware of the differences in culture, language, etc so that they can sell to the locals without transgressing the boundaries or offending them in any way. Experienced sales people have to be trained because if they are not trained, they become outdated. They need to be taught about the new ways of selling which are practiced by the big companies so that they can utilize them to sell to the customers. Experience sales people will also have to be made aware of the new technologies. For example, now many companies are using Sales Force Automation systems which enhance the selling of the organization. These are new technologies and the sales people will have to learn these new technologies to remain current and competitive. Training is also essential for new sales people to let them know what they need to do to move higher up in the rung which helps to reduce employee turnover since if they know that doing so and so will lead them to a new destination then they will not look outside the organization for career opportunities. Moreover, it makes it clear to them about what they need to do to get a certain thing so that they can work towards it. Answer 4: The major advantage of building customer relationships via the internet is the cost factor. It is much cheaper to sell, answer queries, and provide customer service to thousand customers on the Internet because very few people can handle all this since most of the work is automated. However, in a brick and mortar environment, it would require hundreds of sales people to manage all these relationships and it will be costly because you need to pay them, you need to train them and secondly, the consistency will not be there. Another major advantage of building customer relationships online is that you can cater to a wide range of audience. The Internet is used by people around the world so if you are selling books on the Internet and your business is in Chicago then you are not just limited to people living in Chicago. People from all around United States and also outside the country can buy from you since all they need is that they have to do is go to your website. The communication becomes very quick when you are handling relationships on the Internet. For example, if the customer is finding some problem with a new appliance he bought from an online store, he can just e-mail them or chat with some online representative who will solve the query faster than in traditional stores. The Internet helps you to display millions of things to a customer who gets to have a wide range which is not possible with traditional methods. So you can display millions of goods to the customer which will keep him happy without increasing your cost since you do not have to buy a huge storefront to keep all those goods. When you are selling an electronic item in a traditional store, you need to train all the sales people so that they know how to operate the item and whenever a customer arrives, the sales person will have to demonstrate to him how the item works. With online websites, you can put videos of demonstration of how the item works which is cheaper plus the customer can view any time and he can watch multiple times even after he has bought the item. However, there are also disadvantages of this method. For example, it is very difficult to attract traffic to your online service or store. Many companies do not have enough funds to pay websites such as Google for advertising them and with online websites; there is no other way of attracting customers. Another problem with this is that customer and sales person cannot see each other And due to that the communication is not as effective as with traditional methods. In all sorts of communication, a communication becomes more effective if the other person can see you so that you can study his body language and facial expressions. Secondly, many people find it uncomfortable talking to a machine. There are many prospective customers whom you can sell but they do not access the Internet either because it is not accessible to them or because they are too busy so there are chances that you can miss out on important customers which results in lost sales. When you have to interact with a customer online, it is much more difficult than using the traditional ways. Therefore, when recruiting people, you need to ensure that they are capable of communicating with someone over the Internet effectively. Moreover, they should be trained well so that they can help the customer properly.

America Involvement in WW1

Zieger, R (2001) brings out the American experiences in the Great War describing it as a Mr. Wilson war (p1). When the war broke out in Europe the American people wished for it to remain a European affair. They wanted to remain a neutral force supporting neither of the warring sides. This was the period in the United States history when the country was deeply embedded in the isolationism principles, when it came to this war they did not want to be dragged in the political affairs of Europe.Their main focus was economical; they just wanted to expand trade in different parts of the world. They felt that their involvement in the war would jeopardize their expansionist ambitions. They believed that the war would not last for long and the world would be in peace after a short while. In keeping with true neutrality spirit America had in the beginning refused to supply either side or extending any economic assistance to any of the nations involved in the warfare.The American pacifists thoug ht that the conflict would not extend to the other parts of Europe; it would just remain a German and French affair. They were of the view that though the war was not necessary, America interests were not threatened by the activities that were taking place in Europe. (Zieger, R 2001) The neutrality policy was tested when Germany issued threats that any ship approaching British zone would be sank. President Wilson warned Germany against such a threat, according to him they were to be held responsible for any American ship that would be attacked or sank.German use of boats which were known as the U boats posed real threat to the United States and perhaps was the reason why the country could not remain neutral anymore; they had to join the war to protect their interests. The announcement by German pertaining targeting all ships approaching Britain zone angered America prompting their reaction. This was heightened when one of the American ships by the name Lusitania was sank by the Germ an forces killing one hundred and eight Americans who were on board.Though this issue was resolved without attracting much conflict America was forced to adopt a new stand which was to go a long way in taming Germany which was threatening to tear the world apart with its domination ambitions. There are other factors that led to America move from the pacifist view and actively participate in this Great War. They felt that their interests as a country were threatened by Germany threats. The ultimate decision to join the war was reached by the congress when they got some information which indicated that Germany was intending to enter into an agreement with Mexico where the America interest would be attacked.This made the President to move with swift speed declaring an all out war with the enemy. They could no longer sustain their neutrality and isolationist attitude since this would have meant doom for this great nation. (Coffman,E1998 56) For any nation to rally its people to the cour se of the war ,there must be some information distributed urging people to support the course. This is what happened in America during the First World War. A body was formed with the purpose of influencing the americans opinion regarding participation in the war.President Wilson appointed advisers who included Walter Lippmann and Bernays Edward. Propaganda played a key role in getting the American public who intially were jittery about entering into the war. It was a necessary method through which Americans wanted to promote democractic policy around the world. There are various methods that were adopted to advance the propaganda ,movies depicting Germans as an evil lot. They warned the Americans to be wary of Germany spies. Patriotic organizations came up where effrots were made to try and get spies and traitors.The committee set up used various medium such as posters,cables and radio to convey the message to the people. Propaganda was a very effective tool during this war,American government was able to paint Germany as the biggest enemy of democracy and as the country having the worst human rights record where they killed even innocent babies in the name of the war. Through this methods the government gained the much needed support from the people who intially wanted nothing to do with a European war. (Degler,C 1984 604)The same tool has been used in many other occassions ,for example during the war in Afghanistan,change of regimes in Panama,Iraq,democratization of Nicaragua,The Philipines,Cuba,Hawaii,Puerto Rico and many other. The American government has used the same method in painting dictators in these countries as the enemies of democtatization process. The information given to the people as Kinzer chronicles highlighted waas meant to paint the leaders of these countries as bad and should be removed so that the natives can be liberated from their bad rules and oppressive systems.American interest were also in the picture in most of these undertakings. In both cases there are people who felt that the government was overstepping its mandate through its involvement in affairs which had nothing to do with America. These are some of the people who were the targetted by these propaganda machinery and in most casesthey worked right as america was able to intervene and bring some changes in some of the worst regimes in the world. (David,K 1980 24)Kinzers had expolored some of the examples where the American government has successfully used the similar method to rally its citizen behind it and helped win a war. The American people have been made to believe that the government is doing this as a noble course. It has portrayed itself as a machinery that intervenes to liberate masses without result to bloodshed,where innnocent civilians are killed. Starting with 1893 invasion of Hawaii , in the end there were no serious casualties but political stability was restored in these countries.This has been called interference with other nations af fairs in many occassions but the government has managed to get the support of the citizens who in the real sense fund these activities through the taxes they pay to the government. Though not all of these wars have been successful the American government has succeeded to bring sanity to some of these countries. Fot it to have succeeded ,it required much support from home,if this was not forthcoming it could have meant doom as it has happened in the recent years in Iraq and Afghanstan. (Degler,C 1980 304)The great war can not be said to have made world safe for democracy but it was a beginning of a long jorney. This is a process that woukld meet all forms of challlenges ranging form the spread of socialism and the emergence of new dicators who were determined to rule by their fists. America began a process where it aimed to bring sanity in the world politics a system where people would be free in their own countries. Through this method of governance peace would prevail in the world avoiding another ugly situation as had happened before in different palces in the world.(David,K 1980 27) There are some activities that the american governemnt has engaged in which seem to defeat the very cause they have been extending. One of them is the palmer raids conducted in the 1920s. This was a crakdown that aimed at neeting those who harbored different opinions from that of the government. Passing of some legisaltion such as Epsionage act and seditous act have been pointed as killing of democracy since they deny the citizens their right to speak their minds. They are contrary to the constituion which guarantees the American citizens frredom of speech.They have been criticized for having violated the very rights protected in our constituion. Some have even gone further with comparing American government with the world dictators who have been targeted before as they have used the same method to silence their subjects. (Mac Cormick,2005 45) One can draw some similaries betwee n the war on terror and what was happening at this period. War on terror is fight against force who do not believe in democracy. It is against a group of people whose ideologies aim at extending systems where people are denied fundamental rights.Various methods have been used to fight the war on terror,laws have been made to net the terror agents,legislation which are similar to the ones made during and after the great war. Some of these laws for example The so called Partiot act have met resistance since they violate the human rights where the government security agents have been given too much power to an extent of interfering with people’s privacy. America involvement in the great war changed the course of its history,it started a process that have brought order in some parts of the world where masses have liberated from oppressive regimes.This process have meeet opposition within and outside america but the government has in most cases rallied its people behind it through use of propaganda machinery. In most of the cases it has emerged voctorius. Work Cited Zieger, R. America Great War, Rowman and Littlefield (2001) David, K. The First World War and American Society, Oxford University Press (1980) Mac Cormick, C. Hunt for Red Scare Terrorrist Bombers, University Press of America (2005) Gegler, C. Out of Our Past. The Forces That Shaped Modern America, Harper and Row (1984) Coffman, E. The War to End Wars, University Press of Kentucky (1998)