Monopoly Of The Postal Service Essays - United States Postal Service

Monopoly of the Postal Service In the United States economy most markets can be classified into four different markets structures. But, each and every market in the United States is completely unique from the others. Generally the best type of market structure for the general public is per-fect competition because it creates the lowest possible price for the public. There are some exceptions were perfect competition isn't the best choice for the public on account of various reasons. The United States Postal Service is one of them and since the Postal Service is a monopoly, it is its own market. This paper will discuss the budget dilemmas that the postal service has faced for the past twenty years and if it is in the best interest of the economy for the United States Postal Service to continue as a monopoly. The first time there was talk of privatizing the Postal Service was in 1979 when the Postal Service was losing vast amounts of money in the long run. But since the Postal Service is a necessity for America, the government had to subsidize the service in order for it to continue in operation. In 1979 the United States Postal Service had a cash flow of $22.5 Billion and was additionally receiving $176 million from investing(#1, Intro). Even with this added revenue the Postal Service was still greatly under funded on its own (#1, Intro). During this time it was discussed to privatize the postal service and introduce competition because of the extreme losses that the service was experiencing. A positive argument for privatizing the Postal Service was with numerous competitors in the market there would be more efficiency and the public would receive lower prices. But this would also increase the usage of resources, for example airplanes and cars. One of the problems the Post Office had was its receipts from consumer purchases that were submitted the next day after the transaction (#1, i). If the receipts were submitted earlier the postal service would receive more money because they could invest that money sooner (#1, i). Another way the Postal Service could increased profits was by competitively selecting banks that would give them higher interest rates and such (#1, ii). Probably the most relevant and final way to improve the budget of the Postal Service is to improve the bookkeeping poli-cies and banking techniques (#1, ii). Not only did the Post Service propose to increase profits but they also proposed to cut costs in a number of ways. There were three methods that were proposed in 1946 for the protection of salaries that no longer exists (#2, Intro). These have to do with the rural mail carriers. Under this antiquated method of delivering mail the Postal Service was los-ing money to any mail that went to "rural" areas (#2, i) There are 48,000 mail carriers that deliver mail to millions of families that are considered to be living in rural settings; this costs the postal Service 858 million dollars a year (#2, i). This is a fairly easy problem to fix considering how much money is being lost. It was proposed that money loss could be significantly cut down if the Postal Service corrected the following problems. The rural mail carriers were assigned a certain amount of time to deliver to a specific rural area, this method was out of date and because of this the carriers have free time for which they got paid for (#2, ii). The next problem was that other mail routes based pay on how many miles the route covered, so the carriers were getting paid by the mile (#2, iii). With this problem fixed the Postal Service could saved 26.8 million a year (#2, iii). There was also an hourly rate that was in effect which indirectly promoted inefficient service (#2, iii). A stop to this could have saved the Postal Service $255,000 a year (#2, iii). From the num-bers mentioned above, it can be seen why the United States Postal Service was losing so much money. These problems did indeed eventually did get solved over the past fifteen years and now the Postal Service is making record breaking profits. Now in the first quarter Monopoly Of The Postal Service Essays - United States Postal Service Monopoly of the Postal Service In the United States economy most markets can be classified into four different markets structures. But, each and every market in the United States is completely unique from the others. Generally the best type of market structure for the general public is per-fect competition because it creates the lowest possible price for the public. There are some exceptions were perfect competition isn't the best choice for the public on account of various reasons. The United States Postal Service is one of them and since the Postal Service is a monopoly, it is its own market. This paper will discuss the budget dilemmas that the postal service has faced for the past twenty years and if it is in the best interest of the economy for the United States Postal Service to continue as a monopoly. The first time there was talk of privatizing the Postal Service was in 1979 when the Postal Service was losing vast amounts of money in the long run. But since the Postal Service is a necessity for America, the government had to subsidize the service in order for it to continue in operation. In 1979 the United States Postal Service had a cash flow of $22.5 Billion and was additionally receiving $176 million from investing(#1, Intro). Even with this added revenue the Postal Service was still greatly under funded on its own (#1, Intro). During this time it was discussed to privatize the postal service and introduce competition because of the extreme losses that the service was experiencing. A positive argument for privatizing the Postal Service was with numerous competitors in the market there would be more efficiency and the public would receive lower prices. But this would also increase the usage of resources, for example airplanes and cars. One of the problems the Post Office had was its receipts from consumer purchases that were submitted the next day after the transaction (#1, i). If the receipts were submitted earlier the postal service would receive more money because they could invest that money sooner (#1, i). Another way the Postal Service could increased profits was by competitively selecting banks that would give them higher interest rates and such (#1, ii). Probably the most relevant and final way to improve the budget of the Postal Service is to improve the bookkeeping poli-cies and banking techniques (#1, ii). Not only did the Post Service propose to increase profits but they also proposed to cut costs in a number of ways. There were three methods that were proposed in 1946 for the protection of salaries that no longer exists (#2, Intro). These have to do with the rural mail carriers. Under this antiquated method of delivering mail the Postal Service was los-ing money to any mail that went to "rural" areas (#2, i) There are 48,000 mail carriers that deliver mail to millions of families that are considered to be living in rural settings; this costs the postal Service 858 million dollars a year (#2, i). This is a fairly easy problem to fix considering how much money is being lost. It was proposed that money loss could be significantly cut down if the Postal Service corrected the following problems. The rural mail carriers were assigned a certain amount of time to deliver to a specific rural area, this method was out of date and because of this the carriers have free time for which they got paid for (#2, ii). The next problem was that other mail routes based pay on how many miles the route covered, so the carriers were getting paid by the mile (#2, iii). With this problem fixed the Postal Service could saved 26.8 million a year (#2, iii). There was also an hourly rate that was in effect which indirectly promoted inefficient service (#2, iii). A stop to this could have saved the Postal Service $255,000 a year (#2, iii). From the num-bers mentioned above, it can be seen why the United States Postal Service was losing so much money. These problems did indeed eventually did get solved over the past fifteen years and now the Postal Service is making record breaking profits. Now in the first quarter

Rational self determination Essay Example

Rational self determination Essay Example Rational self determination Essay Rational self determination Essay Name: Course: Institution: Date: Rational Self Determination The positive concepts surrounding autonomy involves complying with the ethical principles in which a person recommends for himself. This means that the liberty found in one’s will is based on the acquired independence. The will is termed as liberal since it is not established using external factors and hence becomes defined by internal factors. For example, an individual with independence can give him the liberty in decision-making and hence one’s personal understanding becomes the evaluating factor of what is ethical or unethical. The concept of autonomy is similar to that of rational self-determination, where rationality is perceived in its constricted logic. The significance of autonomy in individuals can therefore, be used as a means to show the relevance of rational self-determination. The act of becoming rational involves a person having the ability to make sound choices independently. However, self-determination involves making personal or individual choices on thinking, behaving or doing something in a particular manner. For example, a teenage girl can decide to take a pregnancy test without confiding or checking with any person. However, in rational self-determination, an individual is required to have a sound or logic purpose and be alert of the logic behind his determination when making the personal decisions. The connection between self-determination and independence brings in the significance of rational self-determination through representing the liberty of will. The significance is drawn from the benefits obtained from free will including the freedom to make decisions without hindrance from limitations set in a particular environment. The liberation is significant for identifying and analyzing the origin of the system involving people’s beliefs. It is essential to establish why an individual possesses certain desires and the means in which he allows or refutes their mode of origination. As a result, the basis on which personal decisions are made is well comprehended. Freedom in the place of rational self-determination alerts the individual on his reasons for deciding to act or behave in a particular manner. The individual is able to comprehend that he must have certain grounds for doing certain actions alongside the desires he possesses that are autonomously identified from his known wants and inclinations. Rationalized self-determination is very significant especially in developing certain significant skills required in an individual. This is because it involves applying abilities such as boldness, originality, self-advocacy and decision-making in daily life experiences. Self-determination is witnessed when a person takes control or responsibility of her own life. In this case, a person should be acquainted with setting goals, evaluating alternatives and making sound decisions. Although this process can appear as difficult for beginners, growth eventually takes place through learning and practicing the required skills. The view of rational self-determination where people are expected to base their decisions on logical grounds minimizes the cases of unsolvable inconsistencies. In addition, people develop honest attempts in perceiving things from views of other people. Autonomy is considered important because it gives people free will in making judgments in various situations. However, it is important to restrict that freedom when based on rationality since a society developed with irrationality could lead to individuals suffering greater consequences in the future.

Early Western Civilization (4000-1000 B.C.E.) History Research Paper

Early Western Civilization (4000-1000 B.C.E.) History - Research Paper Example 2008). The pastoral peoples of these societies played a significant role in the history. It was the start of emergence of new states in the third and second millennia BCE. Eurasia was militarized, and major trends were seen in Eurasia and Africa. It all began when irrigation was started on the floodplain of Mesopotamia in Southwest Asia, which initiated a drastically novel trial in human organization on earth. Although the valleys of the lower Tigris and Euphrates were rainless, yet they had an abundant supply of water due to which these areas could provide land to vast concentrations of population, and could support higher cultural density than any hill country. 4000 BCE was followed by the emergence of large walled cities along the two rivers. This paper details the chronological series of developments in the western world history from 4000 to 1000 BCE. Spielvogel (2011, xxix) writes in his book that, â€Å"Although early civilizations emerged in different parts of the world, the foundations of Western civilization were laid by the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians.†i These were the people who struggled with the newly emerging problems of the new states and communities in 3000 BCE (Noble 2008, 14). This era saw the emergence of major civilized societies. The appearance of four great floodplain civilizations was significant. First was in Mesopotamia, which was followed by a second one in the Nile valley, and the third one appeared in the Indus valley in 2500 BCE. These civilizations had a great impact upon each other through intercommunication, agriculture and trade. Then, the fourth civilization appeared in the Yellow River valley of northwestern China. Agriculture went on spreading, and urban centers emerged on the rain-watered lands of Syria and the island of Crete. When agriculture and trade was extended on large areas, new complicated societies arose in the Aegean Sea Basin and Western Europe. It was the era when most of the population of the world r esided in small farming areas, with the main occupation of hunting and foraging. This population had to make a lot of struggle to adapt to the changing world of new civilizations. New social circumstances demanded a lot of effort on their part. This was also the era of pastoralism- the emergence of pastoral peoples (Embree and Gluck 1997, 916). Larger communities that emerged in Eurasia and Africa fed on animals, which were the main source of food in those areas. The pastoral peoples started migrating from the steppes of Central Asia in the second millennium BCE, and this brought about a major change in the west including Europe, and the Mediterranean basin to India. Spielvogel (2011) writes that these people developed writing and created literature that tells about the culture and societal values of their era. They also constructed monumental architecture which symbolized their power and culture. It was the era of militarization of some societies and appearance of new kingdoms, in which the main language belonged to the Indo-European family. This era also saw some of the most fundamental inventions, discoveries and institutions of the world, which also formed the basis of subsequent communities and civilizations. 4000 BCE is also famous for its great flood stories whose archeological evidence has been found in 1929, which showed that there was a great flood at Ur near the Persian Gulf in the delta of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. These floods were considered as punishments from God, because they were also talked about in the Epic of

Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of a performance driven Essay

Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of a performance driven strategy - Essay Example Also, there are some firms which will be performing poorly, in a conglomerate these firms are stressed upon and the management makes them do better. There are three approaches to this strategy: the BTR approach, the Hanson approach and the Minorco approach. We will continue on with the Hanson approach. The Hanson growth strategy has eight categories on the basis of which it operates. It has been initiated by James Hanson, who has proved that by following these eight principles an organization can be successful. These eight principles are: The Hanson approach concentrates on the growth of the whole organization, not just one company within the organization. The idea is to generate more profitability than other competitive businesses, have excess cash which can be invested back to acquire more new firms and to pay corporate dividends. In today’s world with so much competition every organization is trying to find performance driven advantages which will help it achieve a competitive edge in the market. A linkage between the business practices and IT will enable firms in achieving this edge. A business should understand three major points: who are the most satisfied customers? Which corporate investments will and are yielding the highest returns? And which business units have an above average performance? Once the answers to these questions have been determined, the strategy can be applied effectively and will yield even better results. The private sector has readily adopted this principle while the public sector has been hesitant, but is slowly adopting the approach. For the HR, improving performance through pay and motivation techniques is advantageous. According to the Hanson approach, employ managers who are motivated and productive, this way the organization can restructure itself and employ less people who can do the same job, thus reducing costs. A downside to this is that the employees may react negatively to this, make sure that the employees are

Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Case Study - Essay Example ng on this, Aaker (1992) contends that, brand equity is a combination of assets such as loyalty, awareness, and perceived quality with brand associations. This study focuses on the case study of Snapple as a brand. The paper is subdivided in to four different sections with each section addressing a specific question. The fifth part of the paper however provides the conclusion and recommendation of the study. Positioning products in people’s minds and making them attractive to market segments requires careful formulation of the marketing mix. Getting the right blend of the product, promotion price and distribution is essential to put the carefully carried out analysis into operation. The aim is to portray an image for the product or service that will match with how one wants the product to be visualized in people’s mine. Following Keller (2003) brand equity model, modernity should be reflected in the design, aesthetic, or ergonomic aspects of a brand. Snapple brand should has the same style, features and characteristics that help consumers get value for their money. With these, all products are position and identify under the brand name â€Å"Snapple.† To gain the loyalty of the customers, Snapple’s vision is not necessarily about what others are doing. It’s about bringing to market products that capture the imaginations of consumers and enhance their lives in the process2. It brand features are associated with amateurish approach to marketing, it distribution strategies, and unconventional marketing. The company through its brand extension emphasizes on supprises. Other brand related features that accelerated the development of the brand equity include, the brand natural ingredients, No artificial preservatives or additives, real taste, hot filled processing and upscale packagi ng that conveys quality. Brand elements are the trademarks, logos be it visual or audio and any other methods used by a company to trigger response or feedback from the public.

Improving the Performance of Overbooking

Improving the Performance of Overbooking Improving the Performance of Overbooking by Application Collocate Using Affinity Function ABSTRACT: One of the main features provided by clouds is elasticity, which allows users to dynamically adjust resource allocations depending on their current needs. Overbooking describes resource management in any manner where the total available capacity is less than the theoretical maximal requested capacity. This is a well-known technique to manage scarce and valuable resources that has been applied in various fields since long ago. The main challenge is how to decide the appropriate level of overbooking that can be achieved without impacting the performance of the cloud services. This paper focuses on utilizing the Overbooking framework that performs admission control decisions based on fuzzy logic risk assessments of each incoming service request. This paper utilizes the collocation function (affinity) to define the similarity between applications. The similar applications are then collocated for better resource scheduling. I. INTRODUCTION Scheduling, or placement, of services is the process of deciding where services should be hosted. Scheduling is a part of the service deployment process and can take place both externally to the cloud, i.e., deciding on which cloud provide the service should be hosted, and internally, i.e., deciding which PM in a datacenter a VM should be run on. For external placement, the decision on where to host a service can be taken either by the owner of the service, or a third-party brokering service. In the first case, the service owner maintains a catalog of cloud providers and performs the negotiation with them for terms and costs of hosting the service. In the later case, the brokering service takes responsibility for both discovery of cloud providers and the negotiation process. Regarding internal placement, the decision of which PMs in the datacenter a service should be hosted by is taken when the service is admitted into the infrastructure. Depending on criteria such as the current loa d of the PMs, the size of the service and any affinity or anti-affinity constraints [23], i.e., rules for co-location of service components, one or more PMs are selected to run the VMs that constitute the service. Figure 1 illustrates a scenario with new services of different sizes (small, medium, and large) arriving into a datacenter where a number of services are already running. Figure 1: Scheduling in VMs Overload can happen in an oversubscribed cloud. Conceptually, there are two steps for handling overload, namely, detection and mitigation, as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2: Oversubscription view A physical machine has CPU, memory, disk, and network resources. Overload on an oversubscribed host can manifest for each of these resources. When there is memory overload, the hyper visor swaps pages from its physical memory to disk to make room for new memory allocations requested by VMs (Virtual Machines). The swapping process increases disk read and write traffic and latency, causing the programs to thrash. Similarly, when there is CPU overload, VMs and the monitoring agents running with VMs may not get a chance to run, thereby increasing the number of processes waiting in the VMs CPU run queue. Consequently, any monitoring agents running inside the VM also may not get a chance to run, rendering inaccurate the cloud providers view of VMs. Disk overload in shared SAN storage environment can increase the network traffic, where as in local storage it can degrade the performance of applications running in VMs. Lastly, network overload may result in an under utilization of CPU, disk, and memory resources, rendering ineffective any gains from oversubscription. Overload can be detected by applications running on top of VMs, or by the physical host running the VMs. Each approach has its pros and cons. The applications know their performance best, so when they cannot obtain the provisioned resources of a VM, it is an indication of overload. The applications running on VMs can then funnel this information to the management infrastructure of cloud. However, this approach requires modification of applications. In the overload detection within physical host, the host can infer overload by monitoring CPU, disk, memory, and network utilizations of each VM process, and by monitoring the usage of each of its resources. The benefit of this approach is that no modification to the applications running on VMs is required. However, overload detection may not be fully accurate. II. RELATED WORK The scheduling of services in a datacenter is often performed with respect to some high-level goal [36], like reducing energy consumption, increasing utilization [37] and performance [27] or maximizing revenue [17, 38]. However, during operation of the datacenter, the initial placement of a service might no longer be suitable, due to variations in application and PM load. Events like arrival of new services, existing services being shut down or services being migrated out of the datacenter can also affect the quality of the initial placement. To avoid drifting too far from an optimal placement, thus reducing efficiency and utilization of the datacenter, scheduling should be performed repeatedly during operation. Information from monitoring probes [23], and events such as timers, arrival of new services, or startup and shutdown of PMs can be used to determine when to update the mapping between VMs and PMs. Scheduling of VMs can be considered as a multi-dimensional type of the Bin Packing [10] problem, where VMs with varying CPU, I/O, and memory requirements are placed on PMs in such a way that resource utilization and/or other objectives are maximized. The problem can be addressed, e.g., by using integer linear programming [52] or by performing an exhaustive search of all possible solutions. However, as the problem is complex and the number of possible solutions grow rapidly with the amount of PMs and VMs, such approaches can be both time and resource consuming. A more resource efficient, and faster, way is the use of greedy approaches like the First-Fit algorithm that places a VM on the first available PM that can accommodate it. However, such approximation algorithms do not normally generate optimal solutions. All in all, approaches to solving the scheduling problem often lead to a trade-o↠µ between the time to find a solution and the quality of the solution found. Hosting a ser vice in the cloud comes at a cost, as most cloud providers are driven by economical incentives. However, the service workload and the available capacity in a datacenter can vary heavily over time, e.g., cyclic during the week but also more randomly [5]. It is therefore beneficial for providers to be able to dynamically adjust prices over time to match the variation in supply and demand. Cloud providers typically offer a wide variety of compute instances, differing in the speed and number of CPUs available to the virtual machine, the type of local storage system used (e.g. single hard disk, disk array, SSD storage), whether the virtual machine may be sharing physical resources with other virtual machines (possibly belonging to different users), the amount of RAM, network bandwidth, etc. In addition, the user must decide how many instances of each type to provision. In the ideal case, more nodes means faster execution, but issues of heterogeneity, performance unpredictability, network overhead, and data skew mean that the actual benefit of utilizing more instances can be less than expected, leading to a higher cost per work unit. These issues also mean that not all the provisioned resources may be optimally used for the duration of the application. Workload skew may mean that some of the provisioned resources are (partially) idle and therefore do no contribute to the performance during those periods, but still contribute to cost. Provisioning larger or higher performance instances is similarly not always able to yield a proportional benefit. Because of these factors, it can be very difficult for a user to translate their performance requirements or objectives into concrete resource specifications for the cloud. There have been several works that attempt to bridge this gap, which mostly focus on VM allocation [HDB11, VCC11a, FBK+12, WBPR12] and d etermining good configuration parameters [KPP09, JCR11, HDB11]. Some more recent work also considers shared resources such as network or data storage [JBC+12], which is especially relevant in multi-tenant scenarios. Other approaches consider the provider side of things, because it can be equally difficult for a provider to determine how to optimally service resource requests [RBG12]. Resource provisioning is complicated further because performance in the cloud is not always predictable, and known to vary even among seemingly identical instances [SDQR10, LYKZ10]. There have been attempts to address this by extending resource provisioning to include requirement specifications for things such as network performance rather than just the number and type of VMs in an attempt to make the performance more predictable [GAW09, GLW+10, BCKR11, SSGW11]. Others try to explicitly exploit this variance to improve application performance [FJV+12]. Accurate provisioning based on application requirements also requires the ability to understand and predict application performance. There are a number of approaches towards estimating performance: some are based on simulation [Apad, WBPG09], while others use information based on workload statistics derived from debug execution [GCF+10, MBG10] or profiling sample data [TC11, HDB11]. Most of these approaches still have limited accuracy, especially when it comes to I/O performance. Cloud platforms run a wide array of heterogeneous workloads which further complicates this issue [RTG+12]. Related to provisioning is elasticity, which means that it is not always necessary to determine the optimal resource allocation beforehand, since it is possible to dynamically acquire or release resources during execution based on observed performance. This suffers from many of the same problems as provisioning, as it can be difficult to accurately estimate the impact of changing the resources at runtime, and therefore to decide when to acquire or release resources, and which ones. Exploiting elasticity is also further complicated when workloads are statically divided into tasks, as it is not always possible to preempt those tasks [ADR+12]. Some approaches for improving workload elasticity depend on the characteristics of certain workloads [ZBSS+10, AAK+11, CZB11], but these characteristics may not generally apply. It is therefore clear that it can be very difficult to decide, f or either the user or the provider, how to optimally provision resources and to ensure that those resources that are provisioned are utilized fully. Their is a very active interest in improving this situation, and the approaches proposed in this thesis similarly aim to improve provisioning and elasticity by mitigating common causes of inefficient resource utilization. III. PROPOSED OVERBOOKING METHOD The proposed model utilizes the concept of overbooking introduced in [1] and schedules the services using the collocation function. 3.1 Overbooking: The Overbooking is to exploit overestimation of required job execution time. The main notion of overbooking is to schedule more number of additional jobs. Overbooking strategy used in economic model can improve system utilization rate and occupancy. In overbooking strategy every job is associated with release time and finishing deadline, as shown in Fig 3. Here successful execution will be given with fee and penalty for violating the deadline. Figure 3: Strategy of Overbooking Data centers can also take advantage of those characteristics to accept more VMs than the number of physical resources the data center allows. This is known as resource overbooking or resource over commitment. More formally, overbooking describes resource management in any manner where the total available capacity is less than the theoretical maximal requested capacity. This is a well-known technique to manage scarce and valuable resources that has been applied in various fields since long ago. Figure 4: Overview of Overbooking The above Figure shows a conceptual overview of cloud overbooking, depicting how two virtual machines (gray boxes) running one application each (red boxes) can be collocated together inside the same physical resource (Server 1) without (noticeable) performance degradation. The overall components of the proposed system are depicted in figure 5. Figure 5: Components of the proposed model The complete process of the proposed model is explained below: The user requests the scheduler for the services The scheduler first verifies the AC and then calculates the Risk of that service. Then already a running service is scheduling then the request is stored in a queue. The process of FIFO is used to schedule the tasks. To complete the scheduling the collocation function keeps the intermediate data nodes side by side and based on the resource provision capacity the node is selected. If the first node doesn’t have the capacity to complete the task then the collocation searches the next node until the capacity node is found. The Admission Control (AC) module is the cornerstone in the overbooking framework. It decides whether a new cloud application should be accepted or not, by taking into accounts the current and predicted status of the system and by assessing the long term impact, weighting improved utilization against the risk of performance degradation. To make this assessment, the AC needs the information provided by the Knowledge DB, regarding predicted data center status and, if available, predicted application behavior. The Knowledge DB (KOB) module measures and profiles the different applications’ behavior, as well as the resources’ status over time. This module gathers information regarding CPU, memory, and I/O utilization of both virtual and physical resources. The KOB module has a plug-in architectural model that can use existing infrastructure monitoring tools, as well as shell scripts. These are interfaced with a wrapper that stores information in the KOB. The Smart Overbooking Scheduler (SOS) allocates both the new services accepted by the AC and the extra VMs added to deployed services by scale-up, also de-allocating the ones that are not needed. Basically, the SOS module selects the best node and core(s) to allocate the new VMs based on the established policies. These decisions have to be carefully planned, especially when performing resource overbooking, as physical servers have limited CPU, memory, and I/O capabilities. The risk assessment module provides the Admission Control with the information needed to take the final decision of accepting or rejecting the service request, as a new request is only admitted if the final risk is bellow a pre-defined level (risk threshold). The inputs for this risk assessment module are: Req CPU, memory, and I/O capacity required by the new incoming service. UnReq The difference between total data center capacity and the capacity requested by all running services. Free the difference between total data center capacity and the capacity used by all running services. Calculating the risk of admitting a new service includes many uncertainties. Furthermore, choosing an acceptable risk threshold has an impact on data center utilization and performance. High thresholds result in higher utilization but the expense of exposing the system to performance degradation, whilst using lower values leads to lower but safer resource utilization. The main aim of this system is to use the affinity function that aid the scheduling system to decide which applications are to be placed side by side (collocate). Affinity function utilizes the threshold properties for defining the similarity between the applications. The similar applications are then collocated for better resource scheduling. IV. ANALYSIS: The proposed system is tested for time taken to search and schedule the resources using the collocation the proposed system is compared with the system developed in [1]. The system in [1] doesn’t contain a collocation function so the scheduling process takes more time compared to the existing system. The comparison results are depicted in figure 6. Figure 6: Time taken to Complete Scheduling The graphs clearly depict that the modified (Proposed overbooking takes equal time to complete the scheduling irrespective of the requests.

19th Century Art Essay -- Art History

19th Century Art During the 19th century, a great number of revolutionary changes altered forever the face of art and those that produced it. Compared to earlier artistic periods, the art produced in the 19th century was a mixture of restlessness, obsession with progress and novelty, and a ceaseless questioning, testing and challenging of all authority. Old certainties about art gave way to new ones and all traditional values, systems and institutions were subjected to relentless critical analysis. At the same time, discovery and invention proceeded at an astonishing rate and made the once-impossible both possible and actual. But most importantly, old ideas rapidly became obsolete which created an entirely new artistic world highlighted by such extraordinary talents as Vincent Van Gogh, Eugene Delacroix, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Claude Monet. American painting and sculpture came around the age of 19th century. Art originated in Paris and other different European cities. H owever, it became more popular in United States around 19th century. Painting in the 19th century, still highly influenced by the spirit of Romanticism, proved to be a far more sensitive medium for the kind of personal expression one should expect from the romantic subjectivity of the time. At the very beginning of the â€Å"modern period† stands the imposing figure of Francisco Goya (1746-1828), the great independent painter from Spain. With much indebtedness to Velazquez, Rembrandt and the wonders of the natural world, Goya occupies the status of an artistic giant. His artistic range goes from the late Venetian Baroque through the brilliant impressionistic realism of his own to a late expressionism in which dark and powerful distor... ... which contains a subtle but explicit expression of two lovers tightly embracing with a kiss. In conclusion, the art of the 19th century was composed of a sequence of competing artistic movements that sought to establish its superiority, ideologies and style within the artistic community of Europe. These movements, being Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, ultimately spread far beyond the confines of Europe and made modern art an international entity which can still be felt in today’s artistic world. Works Cited Holt, Elizabeth G. From the Classicist to the Impressionists: Art and Architecture in the 19th Century. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1966. Needham, Gerald. 19th Century Realist Art. New York: Harper & Row, 1988. Peillex, Georges. History of Art: 19th Century Painting. New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1964.

High Employee Turnover Among Travel Agencies in Malaysia Essay

1.0 Introduction The tourism industry in Malaysia has grown immensely due to its potential and unique competitive edge. The sector has increased its importance within the Malaysian economy, since the 1990’s according to Bashir, M. and Ahmad, N., et al. (2008). It carries on to be a leading foreign exchange achiever, continually acting as a crucial contributor to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, business and employment opportunity, investments, and empowering the balance of payments account. Within the last decade, the tourism industry has made rapid progression and this progression is reflected in the increase of tourist arrivals and receipts. Tourist arrivals have increased significantly by almost 59% from 10.22 million in 2000 to 25.03 million in 2012 (Corporate.tourism.gov.my, n.d.). Tourism receipts in Malaysia contributed 56% of the total services receipts average between 2008 and 2012, generating a surplus in the country’s balance of payments accounts (Cor porate.tourism.gov.my, n.d.). The tourism sector has become the second-largest contributor towards economic growth of currency exchange (Table 1). Table 1. Tourist Arrivals & Receipts to Malaysia Source: (Tourism Malaysia, 2013) In a recent study, Mazumder et al. (2011) concluded that tourism not only impacts service sectors but contributes substantially to all sectors of the Malaysian economy. The economic after-effect of tourism exists extensively within the expansion of the globalization process; this in turn increases the industry’s development worldwide. Furthermore, it not only generates a ripple effect but boosts the intersectoral links within the economy, through these links; international tourism consumption will impact nearly all sectors of the economy. Therefore, looking at how important this industry is for the economy, this report aims to find methods to retain employees in various sectors of the travel sector with the main focus towards travel agencies. 1.1 Issue The main issue being assessed in this report is focused on high staff turnover. However the main component of this research is strongly related to â€Å"turnover intent†, rather than turnover itself. 1.2 Study Aim In today’s competitive world, the travel industry has proved to become one of the most unique tools used for economic progression. Along with that, it has also helped improve social incorporation and multinational interpretation and understanding of diverse cultures. This allows travel agencies to expand target markets. Moreover, also in this unstable business environment, travel agencies that wish to succeed need to be accepting of change. They need to be able to not only meet but also surpass the threats and opportunities presented to them by their competitors. Numerous researches have been carried out to study the relation between turnover intent and job satisfaction. However, little interest is given to travel agencies, although they make up an important part of the tourism industry. When turnover intent occurs among service occupations such as those of the travel industry, there is not only a negative impact on the management and firms but also on the servic e and products quality, hence this may show a negative result in customer satisfaction. This research discusses how travel agencies need to focus on employee management and retention. The main issue being assessed is focused on high staff turnover intent among employees in travel agencies. 1.3 Research Objectives 1) The factors that influence turnover intent among newcomers in travel agencies. 2) To provide recommendation that could prevent or at least reduce this issue. 1.4 Purpose of study According to Kennedy and Berger (1994), turnover rate is generally at its highest among those employees who are newcomers in the company, and occurs within the duration of the first four weeks on the job. Therefore, the first objective is to identify factors that influence turnover intent among newcomers in travel agencies. However, every problem also normally has a solution or at least if there is no specific solution, there are various methods that can be applied to ‘control’ the problem. Hence, understanding the methods that can either solve or control turnover intent is the second objective of this research. 2.0 Literature Review Employee turnover is deliberated as an obstacle to attaining high levels of productivity and efficacy in business jobs or operations (Deery & Shaw, 1997), especially in the travel industry, where the relationship among employees and customers is crucial. A high employee turnover rate is a major factor that reflects a decrease in customer satisfaction; this in turn impacts a loss in repeat customers and reputation of being a good business. Prior researches state that the more work experience an individual has, the less likely they are to leave (Boles et al., 1995). It was also said that hiring individuals who have experience within the travel industry could reduce turnover intent among travel agencies. 2.1 Defining job turnover intent Turnover can be defined as the decision to withdraw from current jobs by taking part in a series of psychological steps (Mobley, 1977): ââ€" ¡ Evaluation of job ââ€" ¡ Experienced job dissatisfaction ââ€" ¡ Thinking of quitting ââ€" ¡ Evaluation of expected utility search and cost of quitting ââ€" ¡ Interaction to search for alternatives ââ€" ¡ Search for alternatives ââ€" ¡ Evaluation of alternatives ââ€" ¡ Comparison of alternatives vs. present job ââ€" ¡ Intention to quit/stay ââ€" ¡ Quit/Stay 2.2 Factors influencing job turnover intent There are a number of factors that have been associated with turnover intent in studies that have been conducted in the past. However, most researches have mainly focused on personal differences, age, education, knowledge, income, gender, and job level to name a few determinants that have been identified to influence job satisfaction (Fournet et al., 1996). Researchers believe that age, tenure, job level, and income are associated with job satisfaction (Herzberg et al., 1957). Mei-Chih et al. (2007) showed there is a relationship between job satisfaction and age. According to De Vaney and Chen (2003) age has an effect on job satisfaction. Results from several studies indicate that there is a relationship between sex and job satisfaction (Bilgic, 1998; Lumpkin & Tudor, 1990; Goh & Koh, 1991 and Oshagbemi, 2000). Some studies conducted by Lumkin & Tudor (1990) and Stedham & Yamamura (2003) showed that female managers are given less pay and ar e hence, surely less satisfied with their compensation, promotions, and overall work satisfaction. Studies established that job occupancy has been determined as a factor related to job satisfaction (Herzberg et al, 1957; Lee & Wilbur, 1985; Schuh, 1967). Sokoya (2000) instituted that there is a major difference between job occupancy and job satisfaction. Raymond and Elizabeth (1985) demonstrated that job occupancy has impact on job satisfaction. Cotton & Tuttle (1986) focused their theory on the supplements of turnover and then into their factors: (1) external correlates; (2) structural or work-related factors; (3) personal characteristics of employees. In a different, more recent study conducted by Griffith et al. (2000), gave a more comprehensive explanation about antecedents of turnover. These antecedents were classified into four groups, these include: 1) Demographic predictors 2) Job satisfaction, organization factors, work environment factors 3) Job content, external environment factors 4) Other behavioral predictors 3.0 Methodology The research conducted for this study is qualitative, using the probability method for selection of candidates. The primary method was interviews conducted focusing on focusing on the factors that influence ‘turnover intent’ among employees. Whereas, the interviews helped grasp knowledge as to why employers/managers think ‘turnover intent’ occurs and what sort of precautionary measures can be implemented to control or better reduce turnover intent. Then secondary information was gathered on previous studies regarding the same issue i.e. turnover intent among employees in travel agencies. This information was found through books, journals, and reliable websites. 3.1 Interviews Technique The survey was conducted amongst employees of five different travel agencies. The employees were selected at random to avoid any biasness. The interviews on the other hand, were conducted amongst people at the top of the food-chain in the tourism and travel industry in Malaysia. Interviewees were selected at random to gain perspective from various individuals regarding the same issue. 3.3 SIZE OF SAMPLE As mentioned previously, the survey was conducted among employees from five different travel agencies in Malaysia. Within each of these travel agencies, 7 employees from any department were selected to fill out the survey at random. The total number of survey samples analysed were 30, although the total number of survey forms distributed personally were 35. The reason was that every respondent may not fill in the form completely and correctly and therefore, out of 35 survey’s 30 properly filled out surveys were carefully examined to ensure validity of results. The survey was also made available online on surveymonkey.com to gather results in a convenient and fast method. This information gave insight for the thoughts of employees from different regions and states in Malaysia. The interviews were conducted with five individuals who are managers or CEO’s at the five travel agencies from where the employees were surveyed. 3.4 SAMPLING PROCEDURE There are different methods of distributing the surveys; by post, e-mail, or personally. For this particular research the surveys were distributed personally and also conducted online to receive results from travel agencies that are out of reach. Also a higher number of responses increased the accuracy of results. 4.0 Findings and Discussion 5.0 Recommendations So many questions arise as to what factors cause turnover intentions among employees in travel agencies, one of the questions is: Could the problem possibly root from the tourism education and training itself? Since, the operations of travel agencies are not very precise and adequate (i.e. there is no exact procedure to be followed in jobs of those working in travel agencies), it may be possible that students who graduate with a diploma/degree in tourism related studies are not well-prepared to deal with globalization and the effects it has on the tourism industry. Therefore, training and development has an important impact on the development of skilled professionals prepared for the business operations taking part in travel agencies on a daily basis.

The Difficulties of Female Entrepreneurs in the UAE

The Difficulties of Female Entrepreneurs in the UAE Overview Introduction Entrepreneurs, regardless of their inherent location or gender, share similar problems in relation to properly accessing sufficient capital to start their business, developing a sufficient cash flow to sustain their venture and a variety of other distinctions that are connected to the process of developing a business.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Difficulties of Female Entrepreneurs in the UAE specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More With the development of new internal policies within the UAE comes an era where women have become more empowered, both in the workforce and in entrepreneurship. This is evidenced by the fact that nearly 54% of all university graduates within the UAE are women and that a growing percentage of them focus on furthering their own careers and the development of their family business or their own business [1]. This is not to imply that women themselves cannot be entreprene urs within the country, far from it: women are actually actively encouraged to take part in business and several have become successful entrepreneurs. However, there is some empirical evidence indicating that women are not actively involved in entrepreneurial activities. For instance, one can speak about a low rate of female entrepreneurship since only 3 out of 10 businesses started by women [2], [3]. It is possible to examine the situation in other countries, for example, one can mention that in Russia, 44 percent of entrepreneurs are represented by women [4]. Overall, the increasing number of female entrepreneurs is a trend that has been observed over the last two decades, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Similarly, it is possible mention such a country as Thailand where the populations of male and female entrepreneurs are relatively equal [5]. This tendency has been prevalent since 2002 [5]. To some extent, this phenomenon can be explained by the growing economic devel opment of this country and the absence of legal barriers to entrepreneurship. Thus, the level of female entrepreneurship in the UAE is lower in comparison with other states. Therefore, it is possible to conjecture that there are some barriers that prevent women for pursuing entrepreneurial career. These restrictions come in the form of: women needing permission from a male to start a business insufficient support from the government, lack of collaboration with other women.Advertising Looking for essay on gender studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In this research what will be analyzed are the inherent difficulties experienced by female entrepreneurs within the UAE from 10 year back to now. It is expected that through the various facts and arguments presented in this research, a clearer picture can be developed regarding what difficulties female entrepreneurs experience within the UAE and what processes have been put in place by the government in order to address such issues. It is expected that through proper investigation and analysis, this research will create effective suggestions as to how female entrepreneurs within the region can best respond to the financial opportunities and challenges they are currently experiencing. Problem Definition Ten years ago, female entrepreneurs within the UAE suffered from a string of limiting factors that prevented their expansive growth. This came in the form of traditional cultural practices, insufficient government support and lack of proper access to financial institutions [6]. Since these factors were in place ten years ago, this research will thus seek to determine whether these problems continue to exist at the present, how female entrepreneurs view such problems and what solutions may be needed in order to effectively address them. It is based on this discovery that in the following section an investigation will be conducted regarding the curren t perception of female entrepreneurs involving the problems they face and what possible means of addressing them could be developed. It is possible to hypnotize that the current policy system within the region suffers from significant gender specific biases. This creates barriers towards the creation of a better business environment for female entrepreneurs. What is necessary is the development of better policy initiatives in not only removing gender barriers in entrepreneurial activity but also in developing the necessary networks for female entrepreneurs to thrive. Another necessary examination is to elaborate on the current status of female entrepreneurial funding within the country and how this has affected the success/ failure rates of entrepreneurs. Another question that must be explored into is whether all the recent programs aimed at creating better conditions for female entrepreneurs have been effective or have things remained the same despite their implementation? The end result of such an analysis is to understand what methods of funding can contribute to the development of female entrepreneurial activities.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Difficulties of Female Entrepreneurs in the UAE specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The question of the research is: What are the key obstacles that women entrepreneurs in the UAE believe they faced 10 years ago, and what has changed, for better or worse ?, Women entrepreneurs in the UAE face a lot of challenges [3]. Studies indicate that despite the rapid growth of women entrepreneurs in both developed and developing countries as the UAE. The issue of gender equality, particularly within the UAE cultural context, stands not efficiently resolved [7], [8], [9]. Entrepreneurship plays a significant role in boosting economic growth. The UAE happens to be among the country that shows impressive progress in economic growth, through encouraging entrepr eneurship projects. Most of the women entrepreneurs in the United Arab Emirates participate in small-scale businesses, and hence receive socially little support [10]. However, women in the UAE go through lots of challenges running their own businesses [8], [9]. There are several factors against women entrepreneurship in this region. These include cultural factors, religion restriction, opportunity recognition, work-family balance, motivation, gender discrimination, financial support, and performance among others [11]. Recognizing opportunities is a bit hard for the Emirates women, considering that gender differences are linked to the varying variables of human capital. The differences primarily revolve around work experiences and education. In the UAE, men receive more advantages than women, considering that their experience in entrepreneurship and management of employees is a bit higher. Researchers indicate that women have less human capital to invest in businesses compared to men [10], [9], [10]. This makes it hard for women to identify opportunities and utilize their potential skills, experience, and power. The restricted structure in labor markets of the UAE, demotivate women entrepreneurs on grounds of gender inequality. The cultural and religious factors to some extend play a significant role in denying women right to own businesses without the support of their male partners.Advertising Looking for essay on gender studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More On the contrary, the womens entrepreneurship experience in other countries such as Jordan and Kuwait is quite different. This trend can be partly explained by the educational differences between the countries. For instance, in Kuwait, female graduates outnumber male graduates by more than 20 percent [12].. However, the same thing cannot be said about the UAE. The recognition of womens entrepreneurship’s contribution to economic growth is higher in these Arab countries compared to that of UAE. For instance, the Kuwait Economic Society implements projects that empower women. These projects enhance trade and investment [13], [14], [15]. They also focus on creating a business environment that supports women entrepreneurship. For instance, an already established KES program in Kuwait provides women with opportunities such as training, sharing of experience, business networking, and growth among others. In Jordan, there are numerous funded projects that create awareness of issues s urrounding business environments. Here, women receive training concerning entrepreneur issues such as performance and decision making processes [15]. This promotes their entrepreneur projects. Jordan and Kuwait also strengthen legal awareness of issues surrounding women entrepreneurs. This increases the depth of their skills, techniques and offer capital to women for starting new businesses. This all in the long run contributes a lot to the economic growth of the country [14]. For instance, Saudi Arabia offers them 3,000 Saudi Riyals every month to start new businesses [15]. To a great extent, this strategy has been effective since it contributed to increasing the percentage of entrepreneurs from 14. 8 to 26 during the period between 2009 and 2011 [16]. There are several measures that should be put in place to help women entrepreneurs in UAE to overcome challenges in businesses. These include education, training, and support of the UAE governmental funds among others [15]. The UAE s hould copy some practices from countries like Kuwait, Jordan KSA, and other developed Arab countries, which encourage women entrepreneurship [16], [17]. These countries understand the importance of women entrepreneurs in economic growth, and employs strategies that influence them to become entrepreneurs. However it is clear that the UAE has made a progress in addressing issues associated with the Emirati women. For instance, the Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Foundation in collaboration with the American University of Beirut came up with a plan supporting women innovation and entrepreneurship in 2008. New programs have also been introduced in the country enabling the emergence of many partnerships of women entrepreneurs and large corporations. In 2009, the chamber of commerce and industry registered more than 4,160 women as members [18]. Motivation and Relevance to Masdar/UAE Since Masdar City is a clean, green and sustainable city, this atmosphere requires innovational yet responsi ble business ideas. The UAE Women entrepreneurs could try translating, their creative business ideas to sustainable technologies, producing useful products, providing environmentally friendly services or maybe help with creating new jobs in Masdar. Objectives The primary objective of this paper is to compare the situation of female entrepreneurs within the UAE 10 years ago with their current situation in 2013. Through this analysis, this research will be able to show whether sufficiently positive developments have been enacted that would be conducive towards developing a better environment to encourage female entrepreneurship within the UAE or not. In this research what will be examined is the current state of SME’s within the UAE and the situation of female entrepreneurs in 2014 as compared to how they were ten years ago. This paper will be able to determine whether sufficiently positive changes have been implemented resulting in a better overall situation for the growth of female entrepreneurship within the UAE. Through this section, a greater understanding will be developed regarding the various factors that restricted the growth of female entrepreneurship within the region and if such factors continue to take a dominating role in gender based entrepreneurial growth. So far, what this section has shown is that the problems female entrepreneurs currently face within the country come in the form of traditional cultural practices, insufficient government support and lack of proper access to financial institutions. When comparing the data from the article â€Å"Small Enterprises: Women Entrepreneurs in the UAE† by Hans Christian Haan with current academic articles examining the state of female entrepreneurship within the country, it was shown that the issues have remained roughly unchanged from the time that the Haan article was written. It is based on this that the primary objective of this paper is to expound on such issues and determine how the y can be resolved. In conclusion the main objective of this research would be to attempt a 10-year review of Haan’s study results to see whether the same conclusions apply today – after many innovational attempts nationwide were formed or not. What factors faced women in the past get improved, and which still stand and needs further investigation, action or regulation. Some ways to inspire and assist woman entrepreneurs in the UAE would be: Empowering UAE’s woman entrepreneurs to seek collaborations with educational and research institutes that promote development of novel innovative and practical business ideas. Educating enterprising entrepreneurs on development and creation of creative innovations that have high chances of legalization, with potentially big impacts on the economy where ready market is available. Empowering woman entrepreneurs with knowledge of identifying the processes and procedures those innovative ideas must pass through in order to be so cially accepted as viable and worth investing in. Educating entrepreneurs on ways of getting government funding and reaching out to non-governmental organizations to fund their innovations and noble ideas; entrepreneurs fail to venture into markets due to inadequacy or complete lack of funds and under-informed on available sources of funds. Literature Review Entrepreneurship Development in the UAE The main measures of entrepreneurship skills are scores on motivation, personal attitude and aptitude. Action planning in entrepreneurship is of importance to create solution oriented task and strategy implementation function for quantifying task orientation levels [30], [31], [32]. Thus, a budding entrepreneur must possess task orientation leadership skills at an individual task management level in reviewing actual and expected outcome of any business opportunity [33], [34], [35]. With the number of entrepreneurs supplying or dealing with similar products and services on the rise, it is imperative for entrepreneurs or businesspersons in UAE to understand factors influencing the consumer purchase decision in order to design the best strategy for meeting consumer demands [32], [37] [36]. Scholars in the field of economics have approached entrepreneurship from different perspectives with numerous views regarding entrepreneurships and innovation. Peter suggests that entrepreneurship goes in hand with innovation, changes and opportunities for innovation [38]. On the other hand, Steve Blank, a business school professor avers that entrepreneurship is about getting out into the world and doing and not basically researching and writing [24]. These scholars do agree that entrepreneurs face difficulties of finding the right opportunities and the needed innovation, creating competitive brands using strong products and finding the right markets [39]. Rob and Marry postulate that innovation involves doing things differently or doing different thing in order to arrive at large ga ins in performance at micro and macro level of entrepreneurship [36], [37], [38]. The two authors further recognize that lack of capital and funding is the main obstacle for innovation. Others however contrast with Rob and Marry by associating innovations with the rise of technical inventions such as the computers and steam engines [10], [34]. As opined by Schawbel [35], [36], [37] an excellent entrepreneur should possess transformational leadership skills that identify a range of problematic situations that an individual faces in his or her social environment, and generates multiple alternative solutions to those problems. Besides, he/she should lay a series of procedures that are necessary to achieve desired results rather than postponing response strategies [38], [39]. The three building blocks of situational management skills include learning intra personal performance, supportive learning environment, concrete learning processes, and practice leadership that reinforces performa nce [40], [41], [42], [43]. Entrepreneurs in the developed countries (USA, Sweden and Finland) Although government policies, infrastructure and large markets provide vast investment opportunities in developed countries, young entrepreneurs continue to face challenges [8]. [15] Point out that the decline in economic growth has resulted in decline in entrepreneurship opportunities and constant increase in business’ start-up costs. Young entrepreneur’s sale their ideas to capital ventures and find themselves exploited as capital ventures benefit and leave them with nothing [19]. Other scholars argue that the content of entrepreneurship in the local education especially in Finland is so wide; the methods of teaching entrepreneurship in schools are poor and the goals of the entrepreneurial education conflict with the local business environment [7], [18], [19]. According to MoniaLougui, young entrepreneurs in Sweden and in the developed countries face entry barriers; these a re obstacles that promote existing firms to make constructive economic proceeds while making it difficult for new firms to make impacts in the market. They also face financial barriers and cultural and value barriers [17], [20], [21]. Challenges Facing Swedish Entrepreneurs Rojewski [34] shows that entrepreneurship and small firms play a significant role in economic growth. Entrepreneurship is considered as innovation. It drives people to create their own jobs, and hence improves their living standards [11]. The author identifies the obstacles that entrepreneurs go through, when starting businesses. Most of the Swedish entrepreneurs, particularly the women, find impediments and challenges when starting businesses [21]. Through the use of a multinomial regression, the author confirms that administrative costs and financial problems are the primary barriers to success of new businesses in Sweden [29]. In addition, the self-employed individuals who invest in manufacturing industries fa ce many obstacles during the early stages of product development. In relation to the Emirates women entrepreneurs, it can be confirmed that women entrepreneurs in most parts of the world, particularly those in the developing world face lots of problems when starting their businesses. Considering that the link between entrepreneurship and economic growth is positive, countries all over the world should modulate entrepreneurship. The UAE, for instance, needs to call off the cultural and religious barriers that restrict women from starting their own businesses. Economic growth enhances high living standards, and hence improves the lives of women who would have otherwise been left to depend on their husband for everything [30]. Entrepreneurs in Gulf Countries The Gulf region has attracted a lot of attention in the recent past due to its rapidly growing economy, especially Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Researchers suggest that the main obstacles facing young entrepreneurs in the Arab world is hav ing access to capital [21], [22], [23]. To a great extent, this opinion is shared by women who were surveyed during my study. Saifur Rahman [24] further says that despite Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) contributing greater percentages in national GDP, they are highly neglected and Lending for SMEs in the Gulf Coast Countries is very low and access to finance is the Greatest Challenge. Khalid Al Ameri argues that that the Middle East education system has not shifted to meet the needs of the current technology and young entrepreneurs may not have enough knowledge about the business environment [23], [25]. HanifaItani, Yusuf M. Sidani and ImadBaalbaki [17] support Khalid Al Ameri saying that insufficient managerial and financial information and lack of government support are major obstacles to UAE SMEs and entrepreneurs. Bruhn et al point out that lack of managerial capital is the key restriction for young entrepreneurs in most developing countries [26], [27], [28]. Consumer Behav ior in UAE and Entrepreneurship Development Consumers in UAE exhibit a particular sequence of purchases or proportion of purchases that may be predictive of consumer behaviors such a brand loyalty due to their unique Islamic culture. Consumer behavior can be determined through listening carefully to what the customers say about a product or service. The focus here is to consumers feeling through assessment of her voice and comments about a product or service [44]. Understanding of consumer behavior facilitates effective entrepreneurship and promotion resources through ensuring that such activities are well planned in order to yield the desired result in the most efficient and effective way possible [45], [46], [47]. Consumer behavior in UAE is not only of great importance to entrepreneurs but also crucial to consumer protection agencies, ethicists, public policy makers and regulators and consumer advocacy groups who protect consumers from any unsafe offerings or decisions by markete rs [46]. Understanding consumer behavior in UAE enables entrepreneurs to strategize on the best way to reach out to the clients. It also assists in establishing ways of changing unfavorable consumer behaviors as well as reinforcing positive behavior patterns [48], [49]. Factors Undermining Entrepreneurship Development in UAE The detrimental of insourcing to entrepreneurship attitude in UAE is often negative. The outsourcing UAE government has lost considerable taxes when only the foreign entrepreneurs carry out insourcing services. The outsourcing government cannot claim revenue on taxation because this benefit ends up with the foreign country that insources [51]. In addition, there is great concern regarding the rate of unemployment of local countries that outsourcing some activities to the insourcing countries. The situation became even more critical when developed countries compose the insourcing team as is the case in UAE. As a result, the rate of entrepreneurship development in UAE has been slow [51]. UAE has a reputation of setting high legal expectations of a business which is a repellent to internal and external entrepreneurship investors. Federal law of 1975 no. 5 on commercial registration makes verification of a business difficult since it has to pass many a lot before approval [4], [5]. Federal law drafted in 1992, no. 37 defines the provision of patent and trademark rights in UAE has helped eliminate the chances of fraudulent attempts on a company’s product to ensure that the company is not disadvantaged. Besides, federal law no. 13 drafted in 2007 defines the legality of import and export business to ensure that entrepreneurs are protected [4], [5]. We could take up this as an assurance of the protection to be offered to their products against illegal dealers though the registration process is very expensive in time and cost. For the social dimension of the evaluation of the UAE market for entrepreneurship products, it is necessary to tail or such products to suit the acceptable cultural norms. This way, it is necessary for the entrepreneurs who are carrying out the research to evaluate the literacy levels of the UAE people. Specifically, it is recorded in the World Fact book of the CIA that literacy level by 2003 was at an average of 97% among young generation who are the target of entrepreneurship activities. [50], [51], [52]. This will include the evaluation of the education system and levels. Most importantly is to link the findings to the target market of entrepreneurship products. By doing this, entrepreneurs in UAE will establish the level of awareness of the people of UAE. Several questions may pop up during this feasibility study. Comprehensively, it would be necessary to establish how conversant the people of UAE are to technological advancements constantly changing a cross the global arena [53], [54], 55]. The answers to this question could be relative as it depends on the country’s technological adv ancement. Research has it that UAE though very populous, have a high percentage of the literate in its population [56]. UAE has a high number of literate young who would be the target consumers for entrepreneurship products [57]. This is as a viable business opportunity. Women Entrepreneurs in the UAE Haan [58] gives a clear explanation concerning the UAE women entrepreneurs, their experiences in the field, and the roles played by public and private agencies in modulating entrepreneurship [59]. The author provides an analysis and a survey of 30 UAE women entrepreneurs. The survey involves in-depth interviews concerning how they run their businesses, the challenges they face, and the support they get to pursue or continue running their enterprises. The Haan’s article provides a study about two different segments namely, the modern and traditional activities in the UAE women-managed enterprises. The latter is engaged in the most recent economic activities. In incorporates advan ced information and communication technologies and updated practices of businesses [60]. It is in most cases run by young UAE women, educated and business-oriented [57]. On the other hand, the traditional activities segment consists of simple manufacturing and trading [56]. The study in Haan’s article analyses the constraints faced by the UAE women entrepreneurs, and gives suggestions for the most appropriate recommendations. For instance, there is a need to formulate policies and create institutional capacity that promotes women entrepreneurship. There is also a need for pursuing specific support services for segments, as well as the government support and other agencies in the UAE [51]. Entrepreneurship, Emirati perspective [26], [55] narrate that globalization, technological advances, and innovations among others are instrumental in the transformation of societies in the world [32]. However, there are challenges and opportunities associated with the aforementioned shifts p articularly in women entrepreneurship. According to the authors, for the UAE to become a fully transformed entrepreneurial nation, it has to inculcate entrepreneurship at an early stage. This should include teaching children at their early age about it, incorporating it in the education system, and using awareness platforms to inform, educate and influence people, particularly women, on the need to pursue entrepreneurship [33]. There is also a need to formulate policy insights to give policy makers a direction to assist them formulate efficient policies and programs to support the UAE women entrepreneurs. As mentioned earlier, the UAE has shown an impressive progress in the recent past with regards to social development and economic growth sustainability [38]. For instance, in 2011, the GEM study survey in 54 economies confirmed the UAE as one of the most innovation-driven country in the world. However, the nation needs to continue making immense progress in strengthening entreprene urship, particularly women entrepreneurship [39]. This will not only help them become creative and create new jobs, but also enable them to empower others to do the same. This will ensure that the future generations of the UAE will be vibrant both in entrepreneurship and in growing the country’s economy [40]. Women business owners in the UAE In the article â€Å"Women business owners in the United Arab Emirates† it is clear that the UAE women entrepreneurs are more educated than those from Jordan, Tunisia, and Kuwait among other countries [37]. According to the survey conducted in UAE, more than 89% of women entrepreneurs have an optimistic outlook towards their businesses and the country’s economy at large [38] [39], [40]. More than 73% of the women surveyed focused on growth and expansion, but needed financial opportunities. Only 8% felt that running a business was disadvantageous for them. This confirms that most of them love managing their own businesses com pared to those from other Arab nations [39]. Female business students in the Middle East Hossan, Parakandi, and Saber suggest that there are several barriers that restrict female students in the Middle East from pursuing entrepreneurship interests [23]. The authors analyze the strengths/opportunities, weaknesses/issues and challenges that these students get exposed to in the country. From their research, it is evident that despite having potential to start ventures, these students lack enough knowledge about the organizations that support ventures [68]. Prior work experience and different entrepreneurship barriers, which are based on gender discrimination, deny women opportunities to participate in business ventures [23]. Current Attitudes Regarding Business Financing Based on the article â€Å"Small Enterprises: Women Entrepreneurs in the UAE† by Hans Christian Haan, it was noted that women within the UAE rely on their own personal savings as their primary method of creating startup capital [4]. This is an incredibly laborious and time consuming process which would of course slow down the process of entrepreneurial activity within any country that utilizes such a system [5]. Such a situation is in stark contrast to the way in which the entrepreneurial sector in other countries such as China, the U.S., the UK and even in certain sectors in the Middle East work since it is often seen that investing in entrepreneurs creates numerous beneficial actions, such as a better local economy, greater amount of bank deposits and helping out what could potentially develop into a larger enterprise [13]. As a rule, financial institutions are very cautious when deciding whether to invest in a start-up enterprise. In many cases, they need to see guarantees showing that the loan can be repaid. Therefore, in many cases, entrepreneurs find it challenging to accumulate capital. After conducting an analysis of the Erogul article which examined the current situation of women entrepreneurs within the UAE, it was revealed that female entrepreneurs still continue to rely on their own slowly accumulated capital as compared to merely taking out a bank loan [3]. This shows that from 2004 till the present, there has been little change in the cultural attitude regarding entrepreneurial financing among women [8]. One of the potential reasons behind such a state of affairs has been connected to the currently arduous process of taking out a loan within a bank wherein a male sponsor is needed in order to sign and guarantee all aspects of the loan [13]. Since female entrepreneurs have to rely on a sponsor who may not always be there, this further impedes the process of business development which actually discourages women from relying on banks as a source of capital 10]. It was seen that in the article â€Å"Small Enterprises: Women Entrepreneurs in the UAE† by Hans Christian Haan that in the case of the UAE, family played a crucial role in the funding and de velopment of small to medium scale business ventures for women wherein more than 25% of local businesses started by female entrepreneurs were a result of family members contributing towards the initial starting capital of the entrepreneur and actively gave advice regarding the proper management of the business [10]. In fact, it was noted by researchers such as Mostafa (2005) that it is the strong interfamily ties within the countrys culture that limits the export market of the UAE. This is due to the development of a business culture where it has become preferable to deal with family members or friends of the family when it comes to joint business ventures and business opportunities. This in effect severely curtails the ability of a business to expand beyond its current market due to the inherent hesitance in dealing with the unfamiliar [5]. While there is nothing inherently wrong with family based methods of capital financing, studies such as those by Mostafa (2005) stated that it often came with certain conditions related to the types of business that can be gone into by female entrepreneurs [5]. This often entailed clothing, textiles, and manufacturing that were often detailed as the â€Å"traditional domain† of female entrepreneurs within the UAE. This conditional funding through family based methods of capital development can actually be considered a limiting factor in the capacity for female entrepreneurs to establish themselves in new types of business and, as such, can be considered a detrimental feature of the current â€Å"entrepreneurial funding† system within the UAE [13]. Analysis of Government Policy Initiatives An analysis of government policy initiatives that were mentioned in the Haan article showed the presence of gender specific barriers in entrepreneurship wherein male sponsorship, male networking and overall male assistance was required when it came to women entering into any form of entrepreneurial activity. The problem with the implementation of male sponsorships is that it is not needed in the case of women entrepreneurs since males basically just sign their signatures on a piece of paper [59]. They are not partners in the business nor do they take an active role in it; basically the Haan article shows that men are just there to show that there is a level of biased gender supervision occurring. Through the work of Madsen (2010), it was revealed that at the present, there have been no government policy initiatives to address such issues with the same policies continuing to exist [60]. Contributing to this problem is the lack of sufficient government funding in the development of female support networks which are there to help women in connecting with each other and developing the necessary relationships to grow and expand their business. While it may be true that the UAE government states that it actively promotes female entrepreneurship and even gives awards to prominent female entrepreneurs, the fac t remains that the current policy system within the region suffers from significant gender specific biases. This creates barriers towards the creation of a better business environment for female entrepreneurs [6]. In a presentation, a number of things have changed over these ten years, yet the issue concerning women in business somehow remains just as unsolved as it used to be, mostly because the basic initiatives still revolve around introducing agencies that will help regulate the issue within the market. However, certain changes are definitely worth being mentioned. While the issue regarding women in the UAE business still leaves much to be desired, considerable concessions have been made over the past decade. The initiatives of the UAE government To start with, the formation of the Khalifa Fund can be considered the stepping stone of female empowerment in business in the UAE. Khalifa Fund was created in 2007 in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The fund was originally intended to help SMEs and en courage the development of small businesses across the country. Offering to invest in new and promising industrial and service sectors within the Abu Dhabi area, the fund allowed for small business growth. Funded by the government, the organization reflects the attempts of the latter to change the UAE business landscape. In 2012, the organization announced its determination to invest in microbusinesses [61], [62], [63], [64]. In fact, the given organization can be considered by far the most supportive and efficient of all; being one-of-a-kind project, it provides â€Å"venture capital, training, development, data and consulting services, and even marketing support† [3], which is very impressive. However, financial assistance does not have a tangible impact on the Emirati society and its concept of women in business: â€Å"However, unlike other countries, there is a lack of support targeting female entrepreneurs in UAE† [4]. Recently, the organization has been paying sp ecial attention to women in business. In 2013, nearly 30% of $14 m was provided to allow for more options for UAE women in SME. At present, the Khalifa Fund is tackling the issue quite efficiently. However, there is still a long way for the Khalifa Fund to go in order to provide UAE women with the same options as men have in business. What is necessary is the development of better policy initiatives in not only removing gender barriers in entrepreneurial activity, but also in developing the necessary networks for female entrepreneurs to thrive [65], [66], [67], [68]. Furthermore, there are organizations that enable female entrepreneurs find experienced mentors. For example, one can mention Ro’Ya. Secondly, it is possible to mention the organizations that assist females in developing their leadership skills. In particular, one can refer to Dubai Business Women Establishment. Research Plan Methodology The methodology that will be utilized within this particular research will be , a serial of questions sent to a variety of female entrepreneurs within the UAE. In order to determine the various difficulties they experience on a daily basis when it comes to entrepreneurial activities. To achieve statistical significance results and conclusions, we chose the initial number of surveys distributed to be 200 with the goal of obtaining 100 useful responses. Survey In women business owners in the United Arab Emirates, 2007 paper, 44 survey questions were analyzed in their study [21]. Haan conducted a survey of 30 questions in his UAE women entrepreneurs’ paper [13]. In this research a similar set of questions will be incorporated in the survey. To provide solid and statistically useful data, around 200 candidates will be asked to answer these questions. Then an analysis of the results obtained in this step will be made. This all will help us perform a sampling campaign for candidates of the next step. Personal Interviews Thenwe will narrow down the number of candidates, to a reasonable number of candidates from UAE women business owners, to conduct personal interviews with them in order to obtain qualitative assessments of the factors explored in the survey. We will be choosing candidates who follow a certain pattern, to better measure the problem in hand. The candidates will be sharing their experiences before and after they started their businesses. For instance they will talk about the challenges, opportunities, and the support they needed to make their businesses a success. Mentioning strategies that helped them succeed as entrepreneurs, despite the constraints that acted as barriers. Again all information gathered will be analyzed for the in depth interviews. In Depth Interviews This will be the last step on the methodology, and the number of candidates will get even smaller than step 2, because the questions in this stage will get more specific and detailed and more personal. All information that will be obtained via any method of the data gathering will be kept strictly confidential.. Their feedback would give a huge impact on the recommendation section of this research. The Gantt chart demonstrates the monthly milestones of the research for spring semester. Gantt Chart Appendixes The initiatives of the UAE Government Name of the Initiative Intention Khalifa Fund This initiative is aimed at providing investment opportunities for the owners of small businesses Abu Dhabi Business Women Council This organization strives to help women better cope with the role of entrepreneurs Ro’Ya This program has been launched to enable female entrepreneurs showcase their business projects and find mentors. 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