My Father Free Essays

string(40) " and other information about the email\." Electronic mail, also known as  email  or  e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the  Internet  or other  computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be  online  at the same time, in common with  instant messaging. We will write a custom essay sample on My Father or any similar topic only for you Order Now Today’s email systems are based on a  store-and-forward  model. Emailservers  accept, forward, deliver and store messages. Neither the users nor their computers are required to be online simultaneously; they need connect only briefly, typically to an  email server, for as long as it takes to send or receive messages. Historically, the term  electronic mail  was used generically for any electronic document transmission. For example, several writers in the early 1970s used the term to describe  fax  document transmission. [2][3]  As a result, it is difficult to find the first citation for the use of the term with the more specific meaning it has today. An Internet email message[NB 1]  consists of three components, the message  envelope, the message  header, and the message  body. The message header contains control information, including, minimally, an originator’s  email address  and one or more recipient addresses. Usually descriptive information is also added, such as a subject header field and a message submission date/time stamp. Originally a text-only (7-bit ASCII and others) communications medium, email was extended to carry multi-media content attachments, a process standardized in  RFC  2045 through 2049. Collectively, these RFCs have come to be called  Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions(MIME). Electronic mail predates the inception of the  Internet, and was in fact a crucial tool in creating it,[4]  but the history of modern, global Internet email services reaches back to the early  ARPANET. Standards for encoding email messages were proposed as early as 1973 (RFC 561). Conversion from ARPANET to the Internet in the early 1980s produced the core of the current services. An email sent in the early 1970s looks quite similar to a basic text message sent on the Internet today. Network-based email was initially exchanged on the ARPANET in extensions to the  File Transfer Protocol  (FTP), but is now carried by theSimple Mail Transfer Protocol  (SMTP), first published as  Internet standard  10 (RFC 821) in 1982. In the process of transporting email messages between systems, SMTP communicates delivery parameters using a message  envelope  separate from the message (header and body) itself. The diagram to the right shows a typical sequence of events[48]  that takes place when  Alice  composes a message using her  mail user agent  (MUA). She enters the  email address  of her correspondent, and hits the â€Å"send† button. 1. Her MUA formats the message in email format and uses the Submission Protocol (a profile of the  Simple Mail Transfer Protocol  (SMTP), see  RFC 6409) to send the message to the local  mail submission agent  (MSA), in this casesmtp. a. org, run by Alice’s  internet service provider  (ISP). 2. The MSA looks at the destination address provided in the SMTP protocol (not from the message header), in this casebob@b. org. An Internet email address is a string of the formlocalpart@exampledomain. The part before the @ sign is the  local part  of the address, often the  username  of the recipient, and the part after the @ sign is a  domain name  or afully qualified domain name. The MSA resolves a domain name to determine the fully qualified domain name of the  mail exchange server  in the  Domain Name System  (DNS). 3. The  DNS server  for the  b. org  domain,  ns. b. org, responds with any  MX records  listing the mail exchange servers for that domain, in this case  mx. b. org, a  message transfer agent  (MTA) server run by Bob’s ISP. 4. smtp. a. org  sends the message to  mx. b. org  using SMTP. This server may need to forward the message to other MTAs before the message reaches the final  message delivery agent  (MDA). 1. The MDA delivers it to the  mailbox  of the user  bob. 2. Bob presses the â€Å"get mail† button in his MUA, which picks up the message using either the  Post Office Protocol  (POP3) or theInternet Message Access Protocol  (IMAP4). That sequence of events applies to the majority of email users. However, there are many alternative possibilities and complications to the email system: * Alice or Bob may use a client connected to a corporate email system, such as  IBM  Lotus Notes  or  Microsoft  Exchange. These systems often have their own internal email format and their clients typically communicate with the email server using a vendor-specific, proprietary protocol. The server sends or receives email via the Internet through the product’s Internet mail gateway which also does any necessary reformatting. If Alice and Bob work for the same company, the entire transaction may happen completely within a single corporate email system. * Alice may not have a MUA on her computer but instead may connect to a  webmail  service. Alice’s computer may run its own MTA, so avoiding the transfer at step 1. * Bob may pick up his email in many ways, for example logging into  mx. b. org  and reading it directly, or by using a webmail service. * Domains usually have several mail exchange servers so that they can continue to accept mail when the main mail exchange server is not available. * Email messages are not secure if  email encryption  is not used correctly. Many MTAs us ed to accept messages for any recipient on the Internet and do their best to deliver them. Such MTAs are called  open mail relays. This was very important in the early days of the Internet when network connections were unreliable. If an MTA couldn’t reach the destination, it could at least deliver it to a relay closer to the destination. The relay stood a better chance of delivering the message at a later time. However, this mechanism proved to be exploitable by people sending  unsolicited bulk email  and as a consequence very few modern MTAs are open mail relays, and many MTAs don’t accept messages from open mail relays because such messages are very likely to be spam. ————————————————- [edit]Message format The Internet email message format is now defined by  RFC 5322, with multi-media content attachments being defined in  RFC 2045through  RFC 2049, collectively called  Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions  or  MIME. RFC 5322  replaced the earlier  RFC 2822  in 2008, and in turn  RFC 2822  in 2001 replaced  RFC 822  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ which had been the standard for Internet email for nearly 20 years. Published in 1982,  RFC 822  was based on the earlier  RFC 733  for the  ARPANET. [49] Internet email messages consist of two major sections: * Header  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Structured into  fields  such as From, To, CC, Subject, Date, and other information about the email. You read "My Father" in category "Essay examples" Body  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a  signature block  at the end. This is exactly the same as the body of a regular letter. The header is separated from the body by a blank line. [edit]Message header Ea ch message has exactly one  header, which is structured into  fields. Each field has a name and a value. RFC 5322  specifies the precise syntax. Informally, each line of text in the header that begins with a  printable character  begins a separate field. The field name starts in the first character of the line and ends before the separator character â€Å":†. The separator is then followed by the field value (the â€Å"body† of the field). The value is continued onto subsequent lines if those lines have a space or tab as their first character. Field names and values are restricted to 7-bit  ASCII  characters. Non-ASCII values may be represented using MIME  encoded words. Email header fields can be multi-line, and each line ahould be at most 78 characters long and in no event more than 998 characters long. [50]  Header fields defined by  RFC 5322  can only contain  US-ASCII  characters; for encoding characters in other sets, a syntax specified in  RFC 2047  can be used. 51]  Recently the IETF EAI working group has defined some standards track extensions[52][53], replacing previous experimental extensions, to allow  UTF-8  encoded  Unicode  characters to be used within the header. In particular, this allows email addresses to use non-ASCII characters. Such characters must only be used by servers that sup port these extensions. The message header must include at least the following fields:[54] * From: The  email address, and optionally the name of the author(s). In many email clients not changeable except through changing account settings. Date: The local time and date when the message was written. Like the  From:  field, many email clients fill this in automatically when sending. The recipient’s client may then display the time in the format and time zone local to him/her. The message header should include at least the following fields:[55] * Message-ID: Also an automatically generated field; used to prevent multiple delivery and for reference in In-Reply-To: (see below). * In-Reply-To:  Message-ID  of the message that this is a reply to. Used to link related messages together. This field only applies for reply messages. RFC 3864  describes registration procedures for message header fields at the  IANA; it provides for  permanent  and  provisionalmessage header field names, including also fields defined for MIME, netnews, and http, and referencing relevant RFCs. Common header fields for email include: * To: The email address(es), and optionally name(s) of the message’s recipient(s). Indicates primary recipients (multiple allowed), for secondary recipients see Cc: and Bcc: below. * Subject: A brief summary of the topic of the message. Certain abbreviations  are commonly used in the subject, including  Ã¢â‚¬Å"RE:† and â€Å"FW:†. Bcc:  Blind Carbon Copy; addresses added to the SMTP delivery list but not (usually) listed in the message data, remaining invisible to other recipients. * Cc:  Carbon copy; Many email clients will mark email in your inbox differently depending on whether you are in the To: or Cc: list. * Content-Type: Information about how the message is to be displayed, usually a  MIME  type. * Precedence: commonly with values â€Å"bulk†, â€Å"junk†, or â€Å"list†; used to indicate that automated â€Å"vacation† or â€Å"out of office† responses should not be returned for this mail, e. g. o prevent vacation notices from being sent to all other subscribers of a mailinglist. Sendmailuses this header to affect prioritization of queued email, with â€Å"Precedence: special-delivery† messages delivered sooner. With modern high-bandwidth networks delivery priority is less of an issue than it once was. Microsoft Exchange  respects a fine-grained automatic response suppression mechanism, the X-Auto-Response-Suppress header. [56] * References:  Message-ID  of the message that this is a reply to, and the message-id of the message the previous reply was a reply to, etc. * Reply-To: Address that should be used to reply to the message. Sender: Address of the actual sender acting on behalf o f the author listed in the From: field (secretary, list manager, etc. ). * Archived-At: A direct link to the archived form of an individual email message. [57] Note that the  To:  field is not necessarily related to the addresses to which the message is delivered. The actual delivery list is supplied separately to the transport protocol,  SMTP, which may or may not originally have been extracted from the header content. The â€Å"To:† field is similar to the addressing at the top of a conventional letter which is delivered according to the address on the outer envelope. In the same way, the â€Å"From:† field does not have to be the real sender of the email message. Some mail servers apply  email authentication  systems to messages being relayed. Data pertaining to server’s activity is also part of the header, as defined below. SMTP defines the  trace information  of a message, which is also saved in the header using the following two fields:[58] * Received: when an SMTP server accepts a message it inserts this trace record at the top of the header (last to first). * Return-Path: when the delivery SMTP server makes the  final delivery  of a message, it inserts this field at the top of the header. Other header fields that are added on top of the header by the receiving server may be called  trace fields, in a broader sense. [59] * Authentication-Results: when a server carries out authentication checks, it can save the results in this field for consumption by downstream agents. [60] * Received-SPF: stores the results of  SPF  checks. [61] * Auto-Submitted: is used to mark automatically generated messages. [62] * VBR-Info: claims  VBR  whitelisting[63] Filename extensions Upon reception of email messages,  email client  applications save messages in operating system files in the file system. Some clients save individual messages as separate files, while others use various database formats, often proprietary, for collective storage. A historical standard of storage is the  mbox  format. The specific format used is often indicated by special  filename extensions: eml Used by many email clients including  Microsoft Outlook Express,  Windows Mail  and  Mozilla Thunderbird. The files are  plain text  inMIME  format, containing the email header as well as the message contents and attachments in one or more of several formats. emlx Used by  Apple Mail. msg Used by  Microsoft Office Outlook  and  OfficeLogic Groupware. bx Used by  Opera Mail,  KMail, and  Apple Mail  based on the  mbox  format. Some applications (like  Apple Mail) leave attachments encoded in messages for searching while also saving separate copies of the attachments. Others separate attachments from messages and save them in a specific directory. Lesson 1: Entering Text and Numbers The Microsoft Excel Window Microsoft Excel is an electronic spreadsheet. You can use it to organize your data into rows and columns. You can also use it to perform mathematical calculations quickly. This tutorial teaches Microsoft Excel basics. Although knowledge of how to navigate in a Windows environment is helpful, this tutorial was created for the computer novice. This lesson will introduce you to the Excel window. You use the window to interact with Excel. To begin this lesson, start Microsoft Excel 2007. The Microsoft Excel window appears and your screen looks similar to the one shown here. Note:  Your screen will probably not look exactly like the screen shown. In Excel 2007, how a window displays depends on the size of your window, the size of your monitor, and the resolution to which your monitor is set. Resolution determines how much information your computer monitor can display. If you use a low resolution, less information fits on your screen, but the size of your text and images are larger. If you use a high resolution, more information fits on your screen, but the size of the text and images are smaller. Also, settings in Excel 2007, Windows Vista, and Windows XP allow you to change the color and style of your windows. The Microsoft Office Button In the upper-left corner of the Excel 2007 window is the Microsoft Office button. When you click the button, a menu appears. You can use the menu to create a new file, open an existing file, save a file, and perform many other tasks. The Quick Access Toolbar Next to the Microsoft Office button is the Quick Access toolbar. The Quick Access toolbar gives you with access to commands you frequently use. By default, Save, Undo, and Redo appear on the Quick Access toolbar. You can use Save to save your file, Undo to roll back an action you have taken, and Redo to reapply an action you have rolled back. The Title Bar Next to the Quick Access toolbar is the Title bar. On the Title bar, Microsoft Excel displays the name of the workbook you are currently using. At the top of the Excel window, you should see â€Å"Microsoft Excel – Book1† or a similar name. The Ribbon You use commands to tell Microsoft Excel what to do. In Microsoft Excel 2007, you use the Ribbon to issue commands. The Ribbon is located near the top of the Excel window, below the Quick Access toolbar. At the top of the Ribbon are several tabs; clicking a tab displays several related command groups. Within each group are related command buttons. You click buttons to issue commands or to access menus and dialog boxes. You may also find a dialog box launcher in the bottom-right corner of a group. When you click the dialog box launcher, a dialog box makes additional commands available. The Status bar appears at the very bottom of the Excel window and provides such information as the sum, average, minimum, and maximum value of selected numbers. You can change what displays on the Status bar by right-clicking on the Status bar and selecting the options you want from the Customize Status Bar menu. You click a menu item to select it. You click it again to deselect it. A check mark next to an item means the item is selected. Move Around a Worksheet By using the arrow keys, you can move around your worksheet. You can use the down arrow key to move downward one cell at a time. You can use the up arrow key to move upward one cell at a time. You can use the Tab key to move across the page to the right, one cell at a time. You can hold down the Shift key and then press the Tab key to move to the left, one cell at a time. You can use the right and left arrow keys to move right or left one cell at a time. The Page Up and Page Down keys move up and down one page at a time. If you hold down the Ctrl key and then press the Home key, you move to the beginning of the worksheet. EXERCISE 1 Move Around the Worksheet The Down Arrow Key Press the down arrow key several times. Note that the cursor moves downward one cell at a time. The Up Arrow Key Press the up arrow key several times. Note that the cursor moves upward one cell at a time. The Tab Key Move to cell A1. Press the Tab key several times. Note that the cursor moves to the right one cell at a time. The Shift+Tab Keys Hold down the Shift key and then press Tab. Note that the cursor moves to the left one cell at a time. The Right and Left Arrow Keys Press the right arrow key several times. Note that the cursor moves to the right. Press the left arrow key several times. Note that the cursor moves to the left. Page Up and Page Down Press the Page Down key. Note that the cursor moves down one page. Press the Page Up key. Note that the cursor moves up one page. The Ctrl-Home Key Move the cursor to column J. Stay in column J and move the cursor to row 20. Hold down the Ctrl key while you press the Home key. Excel moves to cell A1. Go To Cells  Quickly The following are shortcuts for moving quickly from one cell in a worksheet to a cell in a different part of the worksheet. EXERCISE 2 Go to — F5 The F5 function key is the â€Å"Go To† key. If you press the F5 key, you are prompted for the cell to which you wish to go. Enter the cell address, and the cursor jumps to that cell. Press F5. The Go To dialog box opens. Type  J3  in the Reference field. Press Enter. Excel moves to cell J3. Go to — Ctrl+G You can also use Ctrl+G to go to a specific cell. Hold down the Ctrl key while you press â€Å"g† (Ctrl+g). The Go To dialog box opens. Type  C4  in the Reference field. Press Enter. Excel moves to cell C4. The Name Box You can also use the Name box to go to a specific cell. Just type the cell you want to go to in the Name box and then press Enter. If you wish to perform a function on a group of cells, you must first select those cells by highlighting them. The exercises that follow teach you how to select. EXERCISE 3 Select Cells To select cells A1 to E1: Go to cell A1. Press the F8 key. This anchors the cursor. Note that â€Å"Extend Selection† appears on the Status bar in the lower-left corner of the window. You are in the Extend mode. Click in cell E7. Excel highlights cells A1 to E7. Press Esc and click anywhere on the worksheet to clear the highlighting. Alternative Method: Select Cells by Dragging You can also select an area by holding down the left mouse button and dragging the mouse over the area. In addition, you can select noncontiguous areas of the worksheet by doing the following: Go to cell A1. Hold down the Ctrl key. You won’t release it until step 9. Holding down the Ctrl key enables you to select noncontiguous areas of the worksheet. Press the left mouse button. While holding down the left mouse button, use the mouse to move from cell A1 to C5. Continue to hold down the Ctrl key, but release the left mouse button. Using the mouse, place the cursor in cell D7. Press the left mouse button. While holding down the left mouse button, move to cell F10. Release the left mouse button. Release the Ctrl key. Cells A1 to C5 and cells D7 to F10 are selected. Press Esc and click anywhere on the worksheet to remove the highlighting. Enter Data In this section, you will learn how to enter data into your worksheet. First, place the cursor in the cell in which you want to start entering data. Type some data, and then press Enter. If you need to delete, press the Backspace key to delete one character at a time. EXERCISE 4 Enter Data Place the cursor in cell A1. Type  John Jordan. Do not press Enter at this time. Delete Data The Backspace key erases one character at a time. Press the Backspace key until Jordan is erased. Press Enter. The name â€Å"John† appears in cell A1. Edit a Cell After you enter data into a cell, you can edit the data by pressing F2 while you are in the cell you wish to edit. EXERCISE 5 Edit a Cell Change â€Å"John† to â€Å"Jones. † Move to cell A1. Press F2. Use the Backspace key to delete the â€Å"n† and the â€Å"h. † Type  nes. Press Enter. Lesson 2: Entering Excel Formulas and Formatting Data Lesson 1 familiarized you with the Excel 2007 window, taught you how to move around the window, and how to enter data. A major strength of Excel is that you can perform mathematical calculations and format your data. In this lesson, you learn how to perform basic mathematical calculations and how to format text and numerical data. To start this lesson, open Excel. Set the Enter Key Direction In Microsoft Excel, you can specify the direction the cursor moves when you press the Enter key. In the exercises that follow, the cursor must move down one cell when you press Enter. You can use the Direction box in the Excel Options pane to set the cursor to move up, down, left, right, or not at all. Perform the steps that follow to set the cursor to move down when you press the Enter key. Click the Microsoft Office button. A menu appears. Click Excel Options in the lower-right corner. The Excel Options pane appears. Click Advanced. If the check box next to After Pressing Enter Move Selection is not checked, click the box to check it. If Down does not appear in the Direction box, click the down arrow next to the Direction box and then click Down. Click OK. Excel sets the Enter direction to down. Perform Mathematical Calculations In Microsoft Excel, you can enter numbers and mathematical formulas into cells. Whether you enter a number or a formula, you can reference the cell when you perform mathematical calculations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. When entering a mathematical formula, precede the formula with an equal sign. Use the following to indicate the type of calculation you wish to perform: + Addition – Subtraction * Multiplication / Division ^ Exponential In the following exercises, you practice some of the methods you can use to move around a worksheet and you learn how to perform mathematical calculations. Refer to Lesson 1 to learn more about moving around a worksheet. EXERCISE 1 Addition Type  Add  in cell A1. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell. Type  1  in cell A2. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell. Type  1  in cell A3. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell. Type  =A2+A3  in cell A4. Click the check mark on the Formula bar. Excel adds cell A1 to cell A2 and displays the result in cell A4. The formula displays on the Formula bar. Note:  Clicking the check mark on the Formula bar is similar to pressing Enter. Excel records your entry but does not move to the next cell. Subtraction Press F5. The Go To dialog box appears. Type  B1  in the Reference field. Press Enter. Excel moves to cell B1. Type  Subtract. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell. Type  6  in cell B2. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell. Type  3  in cell B3. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell. Type  =B2-B3  in cell B4. Click the check mark on the Formula bar. Excel subtracts cell B3 from cell B2 and the result displays in cell B4. The formula displays on the Formula bar. Multiplication Hold down the Ctrl key while you press â€Å"g† (Ctrl+g). The Go To dialog box appears. Type  C1  in the Reference field. Press Enter. Excel moves to cell C1 Type  Multiply. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell. Type  2  in cell C2. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell. Type  3  in cell C3. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell. Type  =C2*C3  in cell C4. Click the check mark on the Formula bar. Excel multiplies C1 by cell C2 and displays the result in cell C3. The formula displays on the Formula bar. Division Press F5. Type  D1  in the Reference field. Press Enter. Excel moves to cell D1. Type  Divide. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell. Type  6  in cell D2. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell. Type  3  in cell D3. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell. Type  =D2/D3  in cell D4. Click the check mark on the Formula bar. Excel divides cell D2 by cell D3 and displays the result in cell D4. The formula displays on the Formula bar. When creating formulas, you can reference cells and include numbers. All of the following formulas are valid: =A2/B2 =A1+12-B3 =A2*B2+12 =24+53 AutoSum You can use the AutoSum button  Ã‚  on the Home tab to automatically add a column or row of numbers. When you press the AutoSum button  , Excel selects the numbers it thinks you want to add. If you then click the check mark on the Formula bar or press the Enter key, Excel adds the numbers. If Excel’s guess as to which numbers you want to add is wrong, you can select the cells you want. EXERCISE 2 AutoSum The following illustrates AutoSum: Go to cell F1. Type  3. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell. Type  3. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell. Type  3. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell to cell F4. Choose the Home tab. Click the AutoSum button  Ã‚  in the Editing group. Excel selects cells F1 through F3 and enters a formula in cell F4. Press Enter. Excel adds cells F1 through F3 and displays the result in cell F4. Perform Automatic Calculations By default, Microsoft Excel recalculates the worksheet as you change cell entries. This makes it easy for you to correct mistakes and analyze a variety of scenarios. EXERCISE 3 Automatic Calculation Make the changes described below and note how Microsoft Excel automatically recalculates. Move to cell A2. Type  2. Press the right arrow key. Excel changes the result in cell A4. Excel adds cell A2 to cell A3 and the new result appears in cell A4. Move to cell B2. Type  8. Press the right arrow key. Excel subtracts cell B3 from cell B3 and the new result appears in cell B4. Move to cell C2. Type  4. Press the right arrow key. Excel multiplies cell C2 by cell C3 and the new result appears in cell C4. Move to cell D2. Type  12. Press the Enter key. Excel divides cell D2 by cell D3 and the new result appears in cell D4. Align Cell Entries When you type text into a cell, by default your entry aligns with the left side of the cell. When you type numbers into a cell, by default your entry aligns with the right side of the cell. You can change the cell alignment. You can center, left-align, or right-align any cell entry. Look at cells A1 to D1. Note that they are aligned with the left side of the cell. Microsoft Excel 2007 – It is a program used to create, format, and compute numbers. It displays datain row-and-column format. MS Excel makes it easy to compute numbers andallows different ways to format data including charts and reports. It is a very powerful electronic spreadsheet that lets the user enter and usenumerical data with formulas and built-in functions. It consists of 16worksheets, 65536 rows, and 256 columns. A Workbook is a file in MS Excel that holds worksheets. A Worksheet is composed of columns and rows that are similar to an accounting ledger. Itdisplays characters like letters, a nd numbers, and can do computations. Parts and Uses of the MS Excel Environment 1. Toolbars – display commands that are commonly used for easy access 2. Name Box – displays the address of the active cell 3. Formula bar displays the contents and formula entered on the active cell 4. Status bar – displays the information about a selected command 5. Select all Button – selects every cell in a worksheet 6. Sheet Tabs – let you display worksheets in the open workbook 7. Row headers – a number used to identify a row 8. Column headers – a letter used to identify a column 9. Active cell – the cell that has a thick border that will hold any data that you type or  entered 10. Scroll bars – includes vertical and horizontal scroll bar and four arrow used to move thescreen display horizontally or vertically 11. Title bar displays the program and the name of the workbook that you are currentlyusing 12. Menu bar (7 Tabs) – lis ts the names of the menus or tabs in Excel 13. Minimize button – minimizes the window to a button on the task bar 14. Maximize/Restore button – switch between maximizing a window and restoring awindow to its previous size 15. Close button – closes the window Parts of the Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Environment Parts of the PowerPoint screen: * Title bar  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ displays the document name * Menu bar  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ click on a menu option to see a list of commands * Standard toolbar  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ frequently used menu options Formatting toolbar  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ displays formatting commands * Placeholder  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ click or double-click to add an element to a slide * Outline view button  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ displays document in outline form * Slide view button  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ displays slides one at a time * Slide Sorter view button  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ displays all slides in a single screen * Slide show button  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ displays slide show * Drawing toolbar  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ displays drawing tools * Status bar  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ shows the current page number and position of the insertion point in the document * Office Assistant  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ quick help when you need it This lesson introduces you to  PowerPoint 2007. You use the PowerPoint window to interact with the software, place text, graphics, and other features on a slide. When you launch PowerPoint 2007, the PowerPoint 2007 Window appears and your screen looks like the one shown below. Your PowerPoint 2007 Window screen will probably not look exactly like the screen shown above. In PowerPoint 2007, how a window displays depends on the size of the window, the size of your monitor, and the resolution to which your monitor is set. Screen Resolution determines how much information your computer monitor can display. If you use a low resolution, less information fits on your screen, but the size of your text and images are larger. If you use a high resolution, more information fits on your screen, but the size of the text and images are smaller. The Microsoft Office Button In the upper-left corner of the PowerPoint 2007 window is the Microsoft Office button. It’s similar to the old File Menu. When you click the button, a menu appears. You can use the menu to create a new file, open an existing file, save a file, print, and perform many other tasks. The Quick Access Toolbar Next to the Microsoft Office button in the upper left corner is the Quick Access toolbar outlined in red in the image above. The Quick Access toolbar provides you with access to commands that are frequently used. By default, Save, Undo, and Redo appear on the Quick Access toolbar. You use Save to save your file, Undo to rollback an action you have taken, and Redo to reapply an action you have rolled back. You can customize this toolbar by right clicking on it or click the small black down arrow to the right. The Title Bar The Title bar is located at the top in the center of the PowerPoint 2007 window. The Title bar displays the name of the presentation on which you are currently working. By default, PowerPoint names presentations sequentially, starting with Presentation1. When you save your file, you can change the name of your presentation. The Ribbon The  Ribbon  holds all of the commands and features of each of the tabs in the Ribbon. The Tabs are located across the top of the ribbon under the Title Bar. These contextual tabs will appear when you have something highlighted that calls for it. For example, if you have a picture highlighted on your slide, a Picture Tools tab will appear. Similar tools are located in Command Groups across the ribbon. Each Command Group includes Command Buttons to perform various actions on that group of tools. Getting PowerPoint to Do What You Want You use commands to tell PowerPoint what to do. In PowerPoint 2007, the commands you use are located on the the Ribbon. The Ribbon is located near the top of the PowerPoint 2007 window, below the Quick Access toolbar. At the top of the Ribbon are several tabs and clicking a tab displays several related command groups. Within each group are related command buttons. You click buttons to issue commands or to access menus and dialog boxes. You may also find a dialog box launcher in the bottom-right corner of a group. When you click the dialog box launcher, a dialog box makes additional commands available. Clipboard  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Contains the cut, copy, paste commands. The Format Painter tool is located here as are the Paste Special, Paste as Hyperlink, and Duplicate commands. Slides  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ All the commonly used commands for creating new slides Font  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Includes the most commonly used commands for formatting font Paragraph  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Includes all of the paragraph formatting commands, vertical and horizontal alignments, text direction, bullets, numbering, indenting, spacing before and after, columns, etc. It also includes the dialog box for tabs. Drawing  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Allow you to add shapes and draw on your slides. This is Format Shape Dialog Box. Rulers Rulers are vertical and horizontal guides. You use them to determine where you want to place an object. If the rulers do not display in your PowerPoint 2007 window: 1. Click the View tab. 2. Click Ruler in the Show/Hide group. The rulers appear. Slides, Placeholders, and Notes The Slide Window is broken up into several areas including the Slide Pane and the Notes Section. The Slide Pane appears in the center of the window while the Notes Section is at the bottom. There are also Placeholders on each slide depending on the slide layout that has been selected. These layouts may include placeholders for a slide title, subtitle, text, images, video, charts, graphs, etc. The placeholders hold the objects on your slides. Slides appear in the center of the window. You create your presentation by adding content to the slides. You can use the notes area to creates notes to yourself. You can refer to these notes as you give your presentation. For narrated presentations, this area is frequently used to write the script for the audio. Main Window Components, Status Bar, Tabs, View Buttons, and More The Status bar generally appears at the bottom of the window. The Status bar displays the number of the slide that is currently displayed, the total number of slides, and the name of the design template in use or the name of the background. The Outline tab displays the text contained in your presentation in an outline format. The Slides tab displays a thumbnail view of all your slides. You click the thumbnail to view the slide in the Slide pane. The View buttons appear near the bottom of the screen. You use the View buttons to change between Normal view, Slider Sorter view, and the Slide Show view. Normal View Normal view splits your screen into three major sections: the Outline and Slides tabs, the Slide pane, and the Notes area. The Outline and Slides tabs are on the left side of your window. They enable you to shift between two different ways of viewing your slides. The Slides tab shows thumbnails of your slides. The Outline tab shows the text on your slides. The Slide pane is located in the center of your window. The Slide pane shows a large view of the slide on which you are currently working. The Notes area appears below the Slide pane. You can type notes to yourself on the Notes area. Slide Sorter View Slide Sorter view shows thumbnails of all your slides. In Slide Sorter view, you can easily add, delete, or change their order of your slides. Slide Show View Use the Slide Show view when you want to view your slides, as they will look in your final presentation. When in Slide Show view: Esc| Returns you to the view you were using previously. | Left-clicking| Moves you to the next slide or animation effect. When you reach the last slide, you automatically return to your previous view. | Right-clicking| Opens a pop-up menu. You can use this menu to navigate the slides, add speaker notes, select a pointer, and mark your presentation. | Zoom In Zoom Out Zoom controls allows you to zoom in and zoom out on the window. Zooming in makes the window larger so you focus in on an object. Zooming out makes the window smaller so you can see the entire window. You can click and drag the vertical and horizontal splitter bars to change the size of your panes. What is a computer virus? A computer virus is a small software program that spreads from one computer to another and interferes with computer operation. A computer virus might corrupt or delete data on a computer, use an email program to spread the virus to other computers, or even delete everything on the hard disk. Computer viruses are frequently spread by attachments in email messages or by instant messaging messages. Therefore, you must never open an email attachment unless you know who sent the message or you are expecting the email attachment. Viruses can be disguised as attachments of funny images, greeting cards, or audio and video files. Computer viruses also spread through downloads on the Internet. They can be hidden in pirated software or in other files or programs that you might download. Symptoms of a computer virus For information about the symptoms of a computer virus, go to the   Microsoft PC Security  website. What is a worm? A worm is computer code that spreads without user interaction. Most worms begin as email attachments that infect a computer when they’re opened. The worm scans the infected computer for files, such as address books or temporary webpages, that contain email addresses. The worm uses the addresses to send infected email messages, and frequently mimics (or spoofs) the â€Å"From† addresses in later email messages so that those infected messages seem to be from someone you know. Worms then spread automatically through email messages, networks, or operating system vulnerabilities, frequently overwhelming those systems before the cause is known. Worms aren’t always destructive to computers, but they usually cause computer and network performance and stability problems. What is a trojan horse? A trojan horse is a malicious software program that hides inside other programs. It enters a computer hidden inside a legitimate program, such as a screen saver. Then it puts code into the operating system that enables a hacker to access the infected computer. Trojan horses do not usually spread by themselves. They are spread by viruses, worms, or downloaded software. What is spyware? Spyware can install on your computer without your knowledge. These programs can change your computer’s configuration or collect advertising data and personal information. Spyware can track Internet search habits and can also redirect your web browser to a different website than you intend to go to. What is rogue security software? A rogue security software program tries to make you think that your computer is infected by a virus and usually prompts you to download or buy a product that removes the virus. The names of these products frequently contain words like Antivirus, Shield, Security, Protection, or Fixer. This makes them sound legitimate. They frequently run right after you download them, or the next time that your computer starts. Rogue security software can prevent applications, such as Internet Explorer, from opening. Rogue security software might also display legitimate and important Windows files as infections. Typical error messages or pop-up messages might contain the following phrases: Warning! Your computer is infected! This computer is infected by spyware and adware. Note  If you receive a message in a popup dialog box that resembles this warning, press  ALT + F4  on your keyboard to close the dialog box. Do not click anything inside the dialog box. If a warning, such as the one here, keeps appearing when you try to close the dialog box, it’s a good indication that the message is malicious. Are you sure you want to navigate from this page? Your computer is infected! They can cause data lost and file corruption and need to be treated as soon as possible. Press CANCEL to prevent it. Return to System Security and download it to secure your PC. Press OK to Continue or Cancel to stay on the current page. If you see this kind of message, then don’t download or buy the software. What is malware? Malware is a term that is used for malicious software that is designed to do damage or unwanted actions to a computer system. Examples of malware include the following: Viruses Worms Trojan horses Spyware Rogue security software How to remove malware such as a virus, spyware, or rogue security software Removing a computer virus or spyware can be difficult without the help of malicious software removal tools. Some computer viruses and other unwanted software reinstall themselves after the viruses and spyware are detected and removed. Fortunately, by updating the computer and by using malicious software removal tools, you can help permanently remove unwanted software. For more information about how to remove a computer virus and spyware, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 2671662 – Microsoft resources and guidance for removal of malware and viruses Note  If you cannot access the Internet on your computer, use another computer to help you follow the steps in the â€Å"How to reset your Internet Explorer proxy settings† section on the computer that may be infected. To remove a computer virus and other malicious software, follow these steps in order. Install the latest updates from Microsoft Update Note  A computer virus may prevent you from accessing the Microsoft Update website to install the latest updates. We recommend that you set the Automatic Updates service  to run automatically so that a computer is not missing any important updates. For more information, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:   306525 – How to configure and use Automatic Updates in Windows Windows Vista  and  Windows 7 Click  Start, and then type  Windows Update  in the search box. In the results area, click  Windows Update. Click  Check for Updates. Follow the instructions to download and install the latest Windows Updates. Windows XP Click  Start, and then click  Run. Type  sysdm. cpl, and then press Enter. Click the  Automatic Updates  tab, and then click the  Automatic (recommended)  option. Click  OK. Use the free Microsoft Safety Scanner Microsoft offers a free online tool that scans and helps remove potential threats from your computer. To perform the scan, go to the  Microsoft Safety Scanner  website. Use the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool For more information about the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 890830 – The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool helps remove specific, prevalent malicious software from computers that are running Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, or Windows XP Manually remove the rogue security software If the rogue security software can’t be detected or removed by using Microsoft Safety Scanner or the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, try the following steps: Note the name of the rogue security software. For this example, we’ll call it  XP Security Agent 2010. Restart your computer. When you see the computer’s manufacturer’s logo, repeatedly press the  F8  key. When you are prompted, use the arrow keys to highlight  Safe Mode with Networking, and then press Enter. Click  Start  and check whether the rogue security software appears on the  Start  menu. If it’s not listed there, clickAll Programs  and scroll to find the rogue security software’s name. Right-click the name of the rogue security software program, and then click  Properties. Click the  Shortcut  tab. In the  Properties  dialog box, check the path of the rogue security software program that is listed in  Target. For example,  C:Program FilesXP Security Agent 2010. Note  The folder name frequently is a random number. Click  Open File Location. In the  Program Files  window, click  Program Files  in the address bar. Scroll until you find the rogue security software program folder. For example,  XP Security Agent 2010. Right-click the folder, and then click  Delete. Restart your computer. Go to the  Microsoft Safety Scanner  website. Follow the steps to run the scan and to help remove the rogue security software. If you suspect that your computer is infected with rogue security software that was not detected by using Microsoft security solutions, you can submit samples by using the  Microsoft Malware Protection Center submission form. For more information about rogue security software, go to the  Watch out for fake virus alerts  website. Install and run Microsoft Security Essentials Microsoft offers a free malicious removal program called Microsoft Security Essentials that helps protect your computer from becoming infected. To install Microsoft Security Essentials, follow these steps: Go to the  Microsoft Security Essentials  website. Click  Free Download. Click  Run, and then follow the instructions to install Microsoft Security Essentials. After installation, restart your computer. Click  Start, click  All Programs, and then click  Microsoft Security Essentials. On the  Home  tab, select the  Full  scan option, and then click  Scan now. Install Windows Defender Offline Windows Defender Offline is a malware tool that helps remove difficult to eliminate viruses that start before Windows starts. To use Windows Defender Offline, follow these steps: On an uninfected computer, go to the  What is Windows Defender Offline  website. Click  Download the 32 bit version  or  Download the 64 bit version, depending on which operating system that you are running. If you’re unsure of which operating system that you are running, go to the  Is my PC running the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows  website. When you are prompted, click  Save As, and then save the file to a DVD, CD, or USB flash drive. On the infected computer, insert the DVD, CD, or USB flash drive, and then restart the computer. When you are prompted, press a key to select an option to use to start your computer, such as F12, F5, or F8, depending on the kind of computer that you are using. Use the arrow key to scroll to the drive where you installed Windows Defender Offline file. Windows Defender Offline starts and immediately scans for malware. For more information about how to remove a computer virus, go to the  How do I remove a computer virus  website. How to protect your computer against malware There are actions that you can take to help protect your computer against malware. Turn on the firewall For information about how to turn on your firewall in Windows 7, go to the  Turn Windows 7 Firewall on or offwebsite. For information about how to turn on your firewall in Windows Vista, go to the  Turn Windows Vista Firewall on or off  website. For information about how to turn on your firewall in Windows XP, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 283673 – How can I turn on or turn off the firewall in Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later versions? Keep your computer up to date For more information about how to set Automatic Updates in Windows, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 306525 – How to configure and use Automatic Updates in Windows Install Microsoft Security Essentials and keep it up to date For more information about how to install and use Microsoft Security Essentials, go to the  Microsoft Security Essentialswebsite. Don’t be tricked into downloading malware Here are some tips that can help protect you from downloading software that you don’t want: Only download programs from websites that you trust. If you’re not sure whether to trust a program that you want to download, enter the name of the program into your favorite search engine to see whether anyone else has reported that it contains spyware. Read all security warnings, license agreements, and privacy statements that are associated with any software that you download. Never click â€Å"Agree† or â€Å"OK† to close a window that you suspect might be spyware. Instead, click the red â€Å"x† in the corner of the window or press  Alt + F4  on your keyboard to close a window. Be wary of popular â€Å"free† music and movie file-sharing programs, and make sure that you understand all the software packaged with those programs. Use a standard user account instead of an administrator account. For more information, go to the  Why use a standard account instead of an administrator account  website. For more information about how to protect a computer against viruses, go to the  How to boost your malware defense and protect your PC  website. How to reset your Internet Explorer proxy settings Malicious software might change Internet Explorer proxy settings, and these changes can prevent you from accessing Windows Update or any Microsoft Security sites. To have us change your Internet Explorer proxy settings for you, follow these steps: On an uninfected computer, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge base: 2289942 – How to reset your Internet Explorer proxy settings Go to the  Fix it for me  section. Click the  Fix it  button. Save the file to a flash drive or a CD when you are prompted. Insert the flash drive or CD in the infected computer. Start Windows, click  Start, and then click  Run. Click  Browse. Select the location of the flash drive or CD. Double-click the file that you saved, and then click  Open. To change your Internet Explorer proxy settings yourself, follow these steps: Click  Start, and then click  Run. In the  Run  box, copy and paste the following: reg add â€Å"HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionInternet Settings† /v ProxyEnable /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f Click  OK. Click  Start, and then click  Run. In the  Run  box, copy and paste the following: reg delete â€Å"HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionInternet Settings† /v ProxyServer /f Click  OK. How to cite My Father, Essay examples

Case study for Software giant Microsoft to produce the mobiles

Question: Discuss about the Case study for Software giant Microsoft though have taken the strategy to produce mobiles, but it has led to disappointment as it loses apps? Answer: Introduction Microsoft Corporation has been the most successful business enterprise on the last decade. It has delivered the best services and custom software that have resulted the highest revenue. Several products such as MS Office, Skype, Windows OS ( XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8,1, 10) and the latest Microsoft Smartphone makes Microsoft Corporation to be the competitiveleader globally. SatyaNadella the youngest CEO have improved the business of Microsoft by increasing the security system of outlook.com accounts. This approach have led the consideration of many users to gain faith in their security system. In the last decade the company was lacking behind in having a physical product. Most of the products were software based along with integrated platform of windows. On September 2013, Microsoft Corporation took over Nokia which fulfilled its motive of producing physical product. The Smartphone production have led the company to gain more revenue as well as keep the Nokia Brand sustainable on the market . In this report the smartphone production business area of Microsoft Corporation is studied Background of the business On September 4, 2013 it was officially announced that Microsoft will buy Nokias Devices Unit for $7.2 Billion (Microsoft.com, 2015). In order to stay in competition with Apple, Google and Samsung Microsoft thought of producing its own Smartphone. It took over Nokia which was by then struggling hard to survive, so that it has its own physical devices. 32,000 employees were transferred to Microsoft. This approach led in rising 34% shares of Nokia valuing 14.9 billion euros. The market capitalization of Microsoft rose to $265.6 billion (Spence, 2015). In the past year sales volume have increased that led to rise the revenue of Microsoft. Figure below shows the revenue earned by Microsoft in the last quarter. Selection of Customer target Primarily Microsoft thought of targeting the premium customers. Later it came to understand that it needs to target those customers who like the design of model rather than its functionality. For this Microsoft made the Lumia smartphones user interface quite simple yet attractive (CNET, 2015). Such customers were mostly corporate level individuals who like simplicity yet good performance. In consideration to price vs. needs, as the market of Microsoft Lumia is developing it needs to keep the price lower than Apple and Samsung. Targeted customer should be the one whose needs are limited to design and hardware. Such as corporate individuals who have less time to play games and access apps, rather they want the better durability of mobile. Price must not be high enough for the targeted customer as it is known that lower price attracts more customers. As a result, Microsoft Lumia constantly focuses on the design of the devices in context to their product price. Figure below shows the price vs. needs results. Yellow color = price, Green color = needs. With increase in needs, price was kept in balance so that demand is balanced with supply (Hall, 2015). This indicates that with a small change in price can lead to much change in demand of quantity.This makes the product to be elastic that responses to change in price. Thus elasticity and value of Smartphone is responsive to change in price. In future Microsoft has the opportunity to gain more customers if it designs more apps for limited Smartphone. This will drive more attention of customers. Positioning of New Smartphone In consideration to current scenario, Microsoft needs to extend its market in more countries such as Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Sri Lana. Such countries are developing in terms of technology (De Clercq, Danis and Dakhli, 2010). Considering Porter Five forces, these countries have the least substitutes and potential entries are limited. Microsoft image will drive out these customers to buy Lumia devices where the company can set a benchmark. Considering Kim and Mauborgnes article, distinctive tag line will be to reach the deepest customers who like model design more than its applications (Grn and Dolnicar, 2015). Below spider graph shows the relative market position of Microsoft that can be achieved in such countries: 4Ps of marketing Product- according to positioning, product must not have high price. Let the customers taste the product primarily (Hull and Covin, 2010). High price will not seek too much customer attention. Quality or hardware must be high class as software part is not considered. Price- people of the above countries are having average per capita source of income. Thus price much be average so that they can at least buy the products. Place- such countries are well developed in internet services. Thus primarily retail shops are not to be opened. Rather online promotions are to be done. Promotion- too much promotion is needed. Most of the customers tend to buy android devices. Thus discounts and coupons with proper tie-up from e-commerce will lead in better promotion. Business operating Model Business Model relates all the resources that the organization deals with so as to render total quality production and services for long term (Johansen, 2010). This model consist of core activities, costs and resources. The resources indicatefinancial, intangible, tangible and human factors that are quantifiable factors in the model. Core Activities Core activities relate to external customer satisfaction (Chamberlin and Doutriaux, 2010). The company needs to develop strategies in developing the user interface of the smartphone. For this more engineers are needed who will give the best processers idea, how to manage the hard disk and camera sensors. For managing improvement focus should be kept on out factors that what changes the market share and who is creating features of benchmarking (Laforet and Wright, 2010). At certain times audits are to be done and meetings are to be handled in order to identify the best strategic drift that is need for future. The research and patients give the most positive outcome. Innovation must not take much time or otherwise competitors are ready to introduce more substitutes (Chroneer, Johansson and Malmstrom, 2015). Figure below shows the core activities of the production oriented business unit: Costs Costs that are related to tangible asset are innovating hardware (Lam and Hannah, 2015). Microsoft tries to focus on camera build. Most innovative sensors are present today. This makes the unique features of Lumia phones. This even results in premium pricing. Often it is found that certain models are only concentrated in camera quality (The Verge, 2015). These are budget friendly devices. To increase customer relationship, Microsoft gives the warranty services to be increase for one more year if a least contribution is made by the user.The cash and debt structure is given below: Tangible and intangible resources Microsoft has built up its trust within years by the most custom build services. Current when Lumia smartphone is considered, it is running parallel to Xbox. The tangible resourcesare supplied by the contracts that have been taken by Nokia (Lee, 2015). Most of the hardware is well build. Intangible resources such as customer trust, customer satisfaction has led to increase more diversified features of Lumia. Previously app store consisted of applications that were mostly paid. Currently many apps are free of cost. These are intangible resources. Human Resource Human resource are the most diversified in nature for such a company. Top engineers are recruited to build the design that is performance effective and which keep a balancebetween cost and price (Lusis and Bauder, 2010). Thirty thousand employees are associated globally with Microsoft for production of smartphone. Figure below shows the Quantifiable Human Resource. Value Chain Microsofts unit of business that deal with Smartphone production has comfortably dealt with the logistics and supply chain at present. In future deeper distributers are needed to enhance the customer relationship. Success factors Table below shows the key success factors. Key success factor Current implication Future implication User Interface of Microsoft Lumia Customers those like the designing gets most attracted. Though its percentage is lower than other companies More apps are to be developed that will support the graphic user interface to deliver the best quality images Security system MSN is the trusted online messenger today that has much low usability MSN has to be improved to engage more customers like what Google did for Hangoutmessenger Platform Windows 8.1 OS is still the best operating system of Microsoft. This platform is available for most of the devices. Users get the opportunity to integrate their laptops, Xbox and Smartphone in the same platform Latest update of Windows 10 is to be made available for most of the Smartphone. This will engage more customers interest Resource and Capability Capabilities can be designed for many resources such as Tool, Machine, Vendor and Human Resource (Manikas et al., 2010). Tools are designed in such a way that those are capable to function in any research purposes. Core machine that develops the chipset, processor and hard disk of the Smartphone is best at the present condition. This machine is to be developed more to be integrated with secondary peripheral machines to ensure better productivity of camera lens. In future, wide angle lens is the most required. To retail in completion Human Resource are to be selected from top companies from different part of the world (Menzly and Ozbas, 2010). SatyaNadella though being young have taken certain strategies that raised the limit of Microsoft. Management Agenda Microsoft has taken a lot of strategies to get higher revenue from Smartphone production. But the current condition is not favorable for them. Microsoft thought of concentrating on hardware part. In caparison to other smartphone, Lumia devices are quite hard and sophisticated but it lacks features (The Verge, 2015). Hence to sustain in the competition more investment is need to redesign the software. Application developers are not willing to contribute in windows platform. Microsoft needs to pay them more so that they involve in developing apps. Future Action Plans Cut-down employees At present smartphone department is not generating much revenue. The cost factor is limited and so only way is to cut down employees on the Smartphone department. This will reduce capital investment. The savings are to be utilized in other departments (Mitchell, 2010). Cutting down employees will lead in cost minimization. Responsibility of Microsoft is touHuman appoint those employees to other business unit in Microsoft. Otherwise trust of these employees will be lost. Developers cooperation In comparison to android platform, windows lack in custom apps. Users mostly like the use of apps that attracts them more and more. Developers have refused to generate apps for windows. Hence Microsoft needs to invest more on the developers contract. Sales volume will be increased if new free apps are introduced in the store (Niosi, 2010). Customers can only be deviated if they get the same taste of android on windows. Operating System The latest operating system Windows 10 has been launched. This operating system is till now not available for any of the devices. It is recommended that only few Lumia devices will be having windows 10 update initially. Is will prove to be a market skimming strategy to cover up most of the expenseswithin a short time period. As windows 10 OS is brilliant enough to attract most of the users, it is an opportunity for Microsoft to cover much of the market globally. Blueprint Figure below shows the management agenda Blueprint: Internal Linkage Smartphone production is the latest business unit of Microsoft. The other internal areas of the business are Skype, MSN, Bing Bar, MS Silverlight, Windows Media Center, Microsoft Visual Studio, MS Office and a whole lot more.Xbox being one of the major video game console of Microsoft, Smartphone in future can be interlinked with Xbox to control it via air. Xbox security can even be covered by mobiles. Other area such as the online messenger if improved to support Windows 10 in Lumia Smartphone, then more accounts can be generated which in turn will lead in more customer access. Today most of the customers prefer Whatsapp. Time may arrive when MSN is the leading online messaging app. Windows Media Center is critically accepted globally due to its unique features. At present it only runs in Laptop. Smartphone can be interlinked with WMC in future. Conclusion Software giant Microsoft though have taken the strategy to produce mobiles, but it has led to disappointment as it loses apps. Most of the apps are chargeable. Thus customers are not attracted towards windows. The analysis in this project have evolved certain unknown facts about the marketing policies of Microsoft that it needs to focus more. Reference List Chamberlin, T. and Doutriaux, J. (2010). Sourcing Knowledge and Innovation in a Low-Technology Industry.Industry Innovation, 17(5), pp.487-510. Chroneer, D., Johansson, J. and Malmstrom, M. (2015). Business Model Management TypologiesCognitive Mapping of Business Model Landscapes.IJBM, 10(3). CNET, (2015).Microsoft gets hardware foothold as Surface, Lumia sales jump - CNET. [online] Available at: https://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-finds-foothold-in-hardware-as-surface-lumia-sales-soar/ [Accessed 2 Sep. 2015]. De Clercq, D., Danis, W. and Dakhli, M. (2010). The moderating effect of institutional context on the relationship between associational activity and new business activity in emerging economies.International Business Review, 19(1), pp.85-101. Grn, B. and Dolnicar, S. (2015). Response style corrected market segmentation for ordinal data.Marketing Letters. Hall, T. (2015). Firm Boundaries and Innovation: Empirical Evidence from Entrepreneurial Finance.Int. J. Innovation Technol. Management, p.1550023. Hull, C. and Covin, J. (2010). Learning Capability, Technological Parity, and Innovation Mode Use*.Journal of Product Innovation Management, 27(1), pp.97-114. Johansen, V. (2010). Entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial activity.IJESB, 9(1), p.74. Laforet, S. and Wright, M. (2010). Call for Papers International Small Business Journal Special Issue: Entrepreneurial Activity in the Venture Creation and Development Process.International Small Business Journal, 28(5), pp.435-436. Lam, C. and Hannah, M. (2015). Flipping the Audience Script: An Activity That Integrates Research and Audience Analysis.Business and Professional Communication Quarterly. Lee, W. (2015). The Relationship between Technology Planning Capability Enhancement, the Technology Roadmap, and Innovation.International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology, 6(1). Lusis, T. and Bauder, H. (2010). Immigrants in the Labour Market: Transnationalism and Segmentation.Geography Compass, 4(1), pp.28-44. Manikas, I., Manos, B., Vlachopoulou, M. and Manthou, V. (2010). An activity-oriented web application for fresh produce traceability.IJBIS, 5(4), p.348. MENZLY, L. and OZBAS, O. (2010). Market Segmentation and Cross-predictability of Returns.The Journal of Finance, 65(4), pp.1555-1580. Microsoft.com, (2015).Microsoft 2014 Annual Report. [online] Available at: https://www.microsoft.com/investor/reports/ar14/index.html [Accessed 2 Sep. 2015]. Mitchell, (2010). On Calculating Activity Slack in Stochastic Project Networks.American Journal of Economics and Business Administration, 2(1), pp.78-85. Niosi, J. (2010). Rethinking science, technology and innovation (STI) institutions in developing countries.Innovation: Management, Policy Practice, 12(3), pp.250-268. Spence, E. (2015).What Is Microsoft's Smartphone Strategy With Windows 10?. [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2015/01/26/microsoft-windows-10-smartphones/ [Accessed 2 Sep. 2015]. The Verge, (2015).Did Microsoft just give up on Windows Phone?. [online] Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2015/7/8/8913365/microsoft-lumia-windows-phones-strategy-2015 [Accessed 2 Sep. 2015]. The Verge, (2015).Microsoft's Q3 2015: Surface and Lumia up, but profit down. [online] Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2015/4/23/8484267/microsoft-earnings-report-q3-2015 [Accessed 2 Sep. 2015].

Operations Management Research-Free-Samples-Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss about the Importance of Operation Management. Answer: Operation management is an essential part of any organization. Operations can be defined as a transportation process through which inputs are converted into outputs. Operation management is a technique of managing people, processes and systems for successfully delivering useful products or services to customers. It plays very crucial role in the success of the company. Operation management is important part in both manufacturing and service industries. Till today many researchers have defined operation management in different ways but the concept discussed was same. Operation management includes all those activities from procurement to final distribution of goods or services (Aksin, Armony Mehrotra, 2007). The given essay elaborates role of operations management in current business world. From past several years it has been analyzed that companies are producing different products to remain in the market. Now companies have shifted their attention towards customers expectations. Now customers are demanding better quality products. Due to advancement in technology it becomes possible to deliver product anywhere with minimum efforts. Internet, telecommunication and transportation mediums have supported to maintain global link with customers. Countries are getting closer in commerce and trade. Companies are producing variety of products and properly supervising all the production activities (Miles Snow, 2007). In the companies mainly operation manager manages all operation management activities. The operation manager is mainly responsible for managing all operations. The operation manger ensures that all the products should be of good quality. The products should be delivered at right place on right time. Through operation management the cost of the products are also managed. The major requirements of any company are good quality, high productivity and customer satisfaction and these requirements can only be fulfilled through proper operation management (Singhal Singhal, 2012). I have analyzed that Competition among companies is rising as all the companies are targeting same market segment for similar products and services. Companies attract the customers by differentiating their products by adding unique characteristics from other companies. For creating unique products or services companies are giving continuous efforts. The uniqueness of products exists today may be copied tomorrow by other companies that can nullify competitive advantage. So to stay competitive the companies continuously design and manufacture new products (Cohen Kunreuther, 2007). Manufacturing companies also give focus on marketing activities. Customers needs help companies to get new ideas for product development. First priority of any company is to understand customers needs and expectations. Companies manage each function of production to maintain proper control over activities. In the modern business world each functional departments members have to interact with other members. High level of integration is required to manage all the operations within the organization. Today companies are adopting lean concept to manage all the operations. Initially only Japanese companies were using lean concept and companies were also getting benefits through it. Later companies from other countries also adapted the concept. Lean concept gives emphasis on quality, cost and productivity. By using compatible technology all the objectives can be achieved. Companies can only earn good amount of profit by producing products or services in low cost and of high quality. Companies can reduce operational cost by using different methods for reducing waste production (Sousa Voss, 2008). For achieving this companies should use right combination of raw materials and also should use right processes for production. The operation manager handles various activities like the manager gives training to workers to reduce production cost and time. Proper production layout is selected to manage production activities. Operation manager also maintains distribution network. The operation manager coordinates with other managers like finance manager, human resource manager and marketing manager to get all the required information. Operation management includes concepts from various subjects like psychology, mathematics, statistics and physics. For managing operations modern companies use the concept of time and motion study to increase productivity. Time and motion study is based on the concept that time and energy should be utilized efficiently. Companies control the quality of products by using sampling methods. Linear programing technique is also used in operation management to find the best solution from all available alternatives (Barratt, Choi Li, 2011). The operation manager motivates the employees to show their creative skills that can contribute in improving processes. The operation manager motivates employees to produce the best output to meet customers expectations. From the above description it can be concluded that operation management has a significant role in the modern business world. Irrespective to the size, all organization give efforts to deliver products and services effectively and efficiently. Companies may face some difficulties in managing operations but through proper planning and coordination the problems can be solved. In the given essay the role of operation management is described. Through proper operation management the companies can differentiate themselves and can attract more customers. References Aksin, Z., Armony, M. Mehrotra, V., 2007. The modern call center: A multi?disciplinary perspective on operations management research, Production and Operations Management, 16(6), pp.665-688. Barratt, M., Choi, T.Y. Li, M., 2011. Qualitative case studies in operations management: Trends, research outcomes, and future research implications, Journal Of Operations Management, 29(4), pp.329-342. Cohen, M.A. Kunreuther, H., 2007. Operations risk management: overview of Paul Kleindorfer's contributions, Production and Operations Management, 16(5), pp.525-541. Miles, R.E. Snow, C.C., 2007. Organization theory and supply chain management: An evolving research perspective, Journal Of Operations Management, 25(2), pp.459-463. Singhal, K. Singhal, J., 2012. Opportunities for developing the science of operations and supply-chain management, Journal of Operations Management, 30(3), pp.245-252. Sousa, R. Voss, C.A., 2008. Contingency research in operations management practices, Journal Of Operations Management, 26(6), pp.697-713.

Automation vs. Delegation Essay Example

Automation vs. Delegation Essay Automation versus Delegation According to Webster the definition of Delegation is a person or group of persons officially elected or appointed to represent another or others. Traditionally when we use the term in a business sense, the explanation is commonly that of passing lower priority work off to someone who is entrusted to complete it, so that the delegatorâ„ ¢s time and attention can be put to use on higher priority issues or activities. Any small business owner who started out in whatever line of work theyâ„ ¢ve chosen as a result of their own expertise in whatever industry theyâ„ ¢re in will tell you that the hardest part of growing their business is letting go of the idea that they have to have their hand in every process, on every product and in every service that they provide to ensure they are giving their customers the same kind of quality product or service that they gave would give their best friends. Knowing that they canâ„ ¢t do all the work themselves and still meet the expectations of their clients and their own financial goals, they pass off work to apprentices or representatives so that they can take care of the most important aspects of their business. They delegate work to accomplish specific objectives. We will write a custom essay sample on Automation vs. Delegation specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Automation vs. Delegation specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Automation vs. Delegation specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In a broad sense, thatâ„ ¢s why any company has employees ¦because the boss canâ„ ¢t do it all himself and meet the same financial goals. Itâ„ ¢s not so much the idea that the boss even wants to do everything himself, many times he or she doesnâ„ ¢t, however, if processes or activities could be completely automated, the need for employees would diminish and the bottom line profit margins (assuming that the maintenance would be less than salaries) would increase. The problem is that changes in technology are so fast-paced, that by the time you select some new revolutionary technology and get it implemented, it seems as though itâ„ ¢s already obsolete. In addition, most automated processes require a resident expert in the technology and use of the software, not to mention the IT people who maintain itâ„ ¢s healthy operation. Furthermore, given that employees are in fact internal customers, there are some internal processes that nearly demand a face and name as opposed to a button and password. Understanding that not every process or activity can or should be automated, any shrewd business owner will look for ways to do more with the least expenditure of their hard earned dollars. So they hire employees to do specific tasks that are core to the success of the business and unfortunately along with employees come the myriad of regulations, compliance issues and generally aggravating procedures that need to be created and adhered to. Not to mention the burden of taxes and benefits. Unfortunately most companies also hire employees to do specific tasks that are not core to their business success. For example, a dentist, regardless of the size of his practice, does not need an expert in payroll processing to give his clients better dental hygiene. Nor does a software company need an expert in Human Resources on staff to provide their clients with more innovative or better quality software applications. In both cases, the activities like payroll processing, HR, benefits and other various administrative tasks are not core to the business success. Literally, efforts devoted to these tasks are non-revenue generating and should be avoided if at all possible. Now donâ„ ¢t get me wrong. I am a huge proponent of the use of Human Capital Management as a strategic tool. Using HR experts to place the right people in the right jobs and complimenting that with the right policies and procedures not only reduces the cost of hiring and training, but also bullet-proofs the company against employee related lawsuits that can sap a companies profit margins in the pound of a gavel. However, in short, why pay top dollar to have these experts on staff when you tap service providers that have far greater expertise and are far less expensive No less am I a proponent that managing cash flow, budgeting, capital planning and financial analysis are strategic and unique to a company. However, accounts payable, accounts receivable, billing and general accounting are critical, but not core functions. As a potential investor, I would be reluctant to invest in a company whose management is focused on running the best accounting shop in their business, unless that is their industry. A service provider that can process these functions for multiple clients in the same facility can provide significant economies of scale and efficiencies, resulting in lower costs. Again, the short version is: Leave it to the people whose core business is accounting. And the functions above are by no means the only tasks that can be delegated to outsourcing experts. IT, manufacturing, e-commerce and even various types of sales are commonly outsourced to provide far-sighted business decision makers with both expertise in areas they lack and good fiscal sense to use. Yet few small and medium size business owners really understand outsourcing. To many it appears to be relinquishing control of specific areas of their business when in fact it is just the opposite. Outsourcers commonly have more procedural checks and balances in place because it is their core business, so the end result is generally of higher quality or accuracy. They have experts at the ready that some small businesses could not afford to talk to, much less use to administer a non-core function of their business. They also are in the practice of helping their clients grow by providing them with better and faster ways of doing business, not sapping them of their hard earned revenue. Delegating work to those who best know how to perform it and can do so at a lower cost is one of the most common sense business decisions and business owner can make. Outsourcing non-core business functions can provide small business owners with more time to do what they love, meaning do what they do best and not have to worry about back office (or in some cases even front office) activity. Experts say that those companies that are not developing an outsourcing strategy are behind the curve. The bottom line is that delegating business functions via outsourcing providers directly impacts the bottom line. Clearly we are leaps and bounds past where anyone would have dreamed related to automation of business processes on every level, but until we have talking heads on a computer screen that can answer literally any question that anyone asks and perform any procedural task with unfailing accuracy, Iâ„ ¢ll stick to what I know. And what I know is that I donâ„ ¢t know everything. That said Iâ„ ¢ll leave my non-core business functions to those who do.

Modern marketing approach

Modern marketing approach Introduction This paper supports the statement â€Å"the product/service dichotomy in marketing theory is no longer sustainable.† The present day marketing approach is a result of the many revolutions and changes that come about in marketing as a result of increased competition.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Modern marketing approach specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Modern marketing approach emphasizes â€Å"cost leadership, differentiation and focus† (Baker and Saren, 2010) The cost leadership attribute entails the product cost advantage of the product in relation to existing products in the market. Differentiation emphasizes creation of products with unique qualities that gives it an edge over the other products in the market. Focus on the other hand implies targeting particular market niches either based on age demographics, lifestyle geographic locations or any other appropriate attributes. Produc t/Service Dichotomy Product manufacturers often endeavor to achieve customer fidelity by delivering to them goods that satisfy their needs. This has led to the development of the â€Å"product/service mix† as pointed out by Baker and Saren (2010) in this scenario, service as a facet of the mix has continually been growing its importance. Technology and globalization have played a pivotal role in enabling different service providers reach out to the dispersed customers. Web applications for example, powered by the internet enables service providers to serve customers at any point. The earlier marketing approaches placed emphasis on the value within the product, which were always produced and distributed to the wider market. Because the value of the product was seen to be within the product, producers did not have to convince the buyer or persuade them the buy the product. The marketing practice therefore comprised distribution of the products to the â€Å"waiting† consu mer. The services marketing is said to have come in lime light during the 70s (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2000). The services’ marketing was uniquely packaged to center on individual services and making it different from the traditional goods marketing. There was a visible difference between manufactured goods and services in the sense that goods are tangible and can be felt whereas services are not.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Continuous market dynamics and technological advances have seen manufacturers shift from the old method of manufacturing for a speculated market to a situation where they accurately predict the customers needs and respond to them appropriately. By addressing the customers’ needs, manufacturers aim at creating customer dependency to their products and are assured of them buying. This process calls for the need to carry out a feasi bility study well in advance to establish what the customer needs and then customizing the products to feed the customers’ needs (Baker and Saren, 2010) Manufacturing companies have come with different ways of customizing products to fit individual needs; this can either be through use of colours that are synonymous to a certain group or tags that can be identified with a target market. The books sector is a good example where customers have widely applied the strategy of â€Å"product personalization† by providing them with unique names (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2000). High levels of competition and technological advancements have consistently pushed manufacturers and service providers into a need to pay more attention to the customer. They have been forced to categorize customers and strive to satisfy each customer’s unique need. There is a growing â€Å"perception that goods and service are similar,† this as pointed out by Lusch and Varg (2006) is as a â⠂¬Å"result of co-production.† The shift towards the notion that goods and services are similar has led to studies into the need for customer integration. Researchers on the subject-customer integration have often pointed out that the process allows customers to take part in adding value to the products. Through customer integration, Lusch, and Varg (2006) argues that three levels of serving the customer; â€Å"the facilities level, transformation and utilities.† The practice also enhances decision making, value addition and resource utilization. The support structure for the three levels of service provision is usually founded on the difference between â€Å"direct and indirect service provision.† In this framework, the resources service provision level brings integration when there is an exchange between a company and the customer (Lusch and Varg 2006). The structure also helps in identifying who between the customer and the service company is responsible for th e express and circuitous provision of services.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Modern marketing approach specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More At the decisions level, the support framework indicates that there is a relationship between the company and the customer at the point of making a decision. The value addition stage of value provision on the other hand indicates that customers and service companies collaborate in service provision. Niche Targeting Most recent marketing strategies target particular groups of people classified either according to age, gender, social status or job. Marketing attempts directing towards the youth for example are more frequent as a contemporary marketing approach. In this case, the marketing team studies the bahavor of its target market and develops a product that is customized to fit the needs of the chosen niche. This is common for example with the fashion companies, mobile phone man ufacturers and mobile service providers. Increase in the number of firms engaged in the production of similar goods or provision of similar services is responsible for the increased competition. Each organization strives to attain levels of competitive advantages over the others. Michael Porter formulated three important strategies which business organizations can use to gain competitive advantage; he points out â€Å"cost leadership, differentiation and focus† (Zeithaml, etal., 2005). As the main strategies for attaining competitive advantage. Current marketing strategies seem to have outgrown Porters’ strategies The modern marketing strategies emphasize the need for market segmentation as opposed to Porters’ three strategies alone. In the old days, price and product sophistication was used as a strategy to create market segments. Product pricing often meant that the product is affordable to a particular group of people by default and not some. Depending on the level of sophistication, a product would by default of preference to a particular social class. This type of strategy requires a substantial amount of promotional effort which results in a product that serves a narrow market segment rather than the mass market. The approach to niche marketing in the present day scenario requires inclusion to ensure sustainability. This means the modern approach to niche marketing is more focused to unique abilities and talents among people rather than in the different categories of people.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The unique abilities and skills may lie in the type of technology used by the organization or the unique talents among the organization’s manpower. (Palmer, 1997) points out the strategy that Apple Company has been using to make its i-products stand out of the competition as a typical example of this. The Dynamics of the Niche Market Niche markets are often very vibrant and keep on evolving with time. An organization can capture a niche and own it for time and loose it to other competitors in the field with time. Schiffman and Kanuk (2000) points out that shopping malls were niche markets for quite some time, he observes the changes that have occurred since then exposed malls to stiff competition. The same scenario is said to have happened to watch brands such as; Dual time. Changes in lifestyle, technology taste and preference among consumers contribute to the frequent shifts in the niche market. One would observe that what is considered fashionable within a given niche may not last long as other products keep on being launched into the market. Goods meant for niche marketing are often tailored to some technology and marketing procedure that fits the desired niche. The market usually begins with a boom but is filled up with competitors with time. This means that if an organization is to focus on niche marketing, then it must develop the most innovative strategies and be ready to continuously evolve and seek new niches for its products. Focus to a particular niche requires robust support in terms of resource but it does not necessarily translate into large revenue output. It is therefore not advisable for a particular firm to target niche marketing as a sole strategy for its product line. There is need to diversify into other strategies to cushion the organization from diverse effects of niche marketing incase of poor performance (Zeithaml, etal., 2005). Such an organization must also invest in developing right talents that can formulate and put into op erations appropriate strategies to achieve success. A niche in this case can not be looked at as a marketing strategy, rather it is a process resulting from an organizations’ proficiency in producing products that appeal to a particular group of people (Gilmore, 2003). Attaining sustainability in this course requires continuous innovation both in marketing skills and product development. Inclusive networking and sourcing ideas globally stands out as one of the strategies to successfully run a niche market. Niche marketing must strive to uniquely package products and invest in efficient manufacturing processes, cost effective distribution channels and adopt different marketing strategies. Technology serves as a major pillar in attaining the mentioned attributes. Technologically supported manufacturing, distribution and marketing helps in cutting down on cost and achieving high profit margins. Computer aided manufacturing and computer aided design are the key technological tool s that have helped in increasing manufacturing precision, reducing wastage and developing goods that suit the customers taste and needs. In supply chain, technological tools such as; RFID and EDI play an important role in speeding up the process and eliminating errors in the supply chain (Pasuraman and Berry, 2004). Leadership and sustainability in niche market is squarely based on the profitability of the strategy used. In order to attain leadership, there is needs a sound strategy that serves the whole market. This requires that an organization can be able to serve the market with as many products as possible at a minimum cost Pasuraman and Berry (2004) indicates that there is need to pursue â€Å"scale, scope and niche in a single business model in order to attain leadership in niche marketing.† Product/service dichotomy hampers development of marketing strategies The idea of creating a division between the approaches to service and product marketing makes it hard to devel op successful marketing strategies. Marketing of consumer and industrial services ought to be treated as one to allow the use of similar strategies in either. Often those who support the division of the product and services stress on differences in terms of the structure, marketing approach, response to environmental pressure and their markets. On the other hand, those opposed to this argument feel the dichotomy approach falls short in reality in the sense that; products and service marketing are similar. The only difference as pointed out by Rathmall (1974) could be in terms of the sizes of the companies involved. Division of marketing for products and services is often used as the platform for developing marketing theory and their application. Here, the dichotomy serves as a guide for developing distinct marketing actions tailored to particular products, enterprises and market divisions. Service marketing tends to target the final consumer as opposed to industrial product marketin g that targets buyers within the supply chain. Probably according to Rathmall (1974) this is what describes the difference between the two as far as marketing entails. Environment and company size are the main distinctions in product and service dichotomy. Environmental influences which undermine marketing efforts such as infrastructure can be a basis for differences between product and service marketing. Company size dictates the amount of resources available for investing in the marketing. Amount of resources available for marketing puts different platforms as far as marketing of products and services concerns. The Size of the Firm vs. Marketing Activities Most small firms often use contemporary marketing approaches building it both on the relational and transactional marketing theories. This brings on the same platform the marketing practice adapted by both small enterprises and the big ones. Traditionally, only the big firms used the transactional and relational marketing theori es to develop marketing strategies for their products. The size of an enterprise plays an important role in the manner in which the enterprise plans its marketing. Often, small enterprises adopt informal type of marketing plans unlike large enterprises which formulate formal marketing plans. Generally, there are several similarities between the informal and formal marketing plans adopted by small and large enterprises. There are wide similarities between in how the marketing decisions are developed and implemented. The general decision making strategies are used by both the small and large enterprises to develop marketing decisions. Another similarity is exhibited in customer relations duration anticipated by both product and service providers. They all aim at developing a sustainable customer relation, to achieve this; a lot of emphasis is placed on effective customer relations. Another similarity between small and large enterprises lies in the manner in which they develop and keep their customer contacts. Right from the first transaction with the customer, both large and small enterprises seek to keep the contacts of the customer for purposes of future communication and interaction. Enterprises often have a database of customers to act as a reference to track the customers buying behavior. Marketing as a process requires an investment to enable logistical procedures and planning. The only difference regarding investment in marketing is reflected in the budget but both the product enterprises and service enterprises must invest in marketing. It has also been noted that both small and large enterprises practice some aspects of traditional marketing. The problem of using traditional marketing approaches often has been lack of compatibility with the modern environment and customer behavior. Generally, by small enterprises adopting broad marketing strategies, they reduce the marketing distinctions between them and large enterprises. Small enterprises are continuo usly emphasizing investment of financial resources, time and effort in the development of personal relationships with the customers and raising their competitive levels in the market. Relational marketing provides an effective strategy for small firms to be as competitive as large firms. By enhancing the use of traditional marketing strategies, small firms can create a stable base from which they can strengthen their customer relations and be in a better position to compete the large firms. Planning and performance evaluation is another area that brings out more similarities between large and small enterprises’ marketing strategies. As pointed out earlier, small enterprises adopt a rather informal marketing plan, modern small business managers are increasingly coming to the realization of the need to adopt formal marketing plans to compete effectively with large firms. Another implication from marketing planning is that there is no empirical support of planning to performance in marketing. Palmer (1997) argues that whether a firm large or small adopts a formal plan, the difference might only be in the structure of the marketing approach but not necessarily in performance. Since evaluation of a marketing plan rates performance, planning may not be a strong factor as such. Firms should rate their marketing performance majorly from the customers’ response as well as their feedback. Marketing in the Service Industry Service industries, like industrial companies must constantly revolutionize their marketing strategies to put themselves in strategic positions in relation to the customers. There is in fact a higher need of growth and development in the service industry than in industrial markets. The major challenge in the service industry as pointed out by Palmer (1997) is the continuous fluctuation of overheads. The service sector became a prominent part of the economy towards the end of the twentieth century and has continued to play an important rol e in supporting economies. The sector continues to be a major source of employment, and therefore an excellent need for the services to be looked as importantly as the goods industry. Taking the service industry with the same weight as the goods industry should then be translated to the marketing approaches and strategies applied in both industries. Distinction of marketing strategies between goods and service industries would mean lead to making ineffective the traditional marketing strategies that have been existence for long. This is because the service industry as indicated earlier is a new venture in the world. Compared to goods industry which has been in existence for several years, with already established marketing strategies, it is important that the service marketing industry. Service purchase involves dealings which unlike the goods industry do not lead to material ownership. Since the emergence of the services industry, marketing of its products has been continually chan ging to take the same line as the products industry. The 4ps model of marketing has often been cited as inadequate in selling services Gronroos (1990) proposes an enrichment factor to this model in order to suit the service industry; â€Å"process and the participants should also be added to the list to make it effective as a services marketing tool. Time and speed are two other important elements of service marketing as pointed out by Palmer (1997) customers always make a repeat order for services from a provider that guarantees maximum effectiveness, efficiency and also delivers to the promise. The marketing speed is however an element that is controlled solely by the marketers. Services in which speed is important include; the food industry due to its perishable nature, transport service is another sector where speed of service delivery matters a lot. Integration of Product and Service Marketing Services do not have tangibility as opposed to goods, goods have evidence. Gronroos (1990) points out that â€Å"some pieces of evidence bundled with services can not be categorized as a true element.† However, service evidence as pointed with plays an important role in the fulfillment of the service. Customers use service evidence to appraise the performance of the service provider. Evidence in the service provision process helps minimize risks and gives the customer more confidence to purchase the service. Besides, evidence also helps to distinguish one service from another. Providing Evidence in Service Marketing Dichotomy is often used as evidence by service providers, â€Å"the quality of the product that accompanies the service they receive† (Bell, 1973) this includes the cost of equipment used to provide the service. Taking an example of a lodging or restaurant, cheap lodging or restaurant equipment implies poor service and expensive equipments on the other hand translates to classy services. This fact is used to differentiate service providers in terms of quality. Branding is also used as evidence in service provision. Borden (1965) points out that â€Å"service branding makes the product acceptable.† Once a service provider brands a service and runs a campaign to make it popular, customers develop more confidence in the service. A popular brand develops the customers’ confidence and reduces their perception of underlying financial risks in buying the service. The brand acts as evidence to what the customer can not feel or touch. Customers develop strong confidence in popular brands and buy them with same ease as a visible product. Branding consists of two stages; primary and secondary. The primary state consists of tangible evidence about the product which as earlier mentions lacks in services. Bell (1973) suggests that â€Å"the name of the service provider can be used as a primary brand.† The secondary brand then follows on the description given to the service. Companies distributing strong brands in the markets stand out of the rest because of the brand name. The environment in which the service is used can also serve as evidence for the service. Marketers can rely on this factor, to market the service as easily as they can to a product. The environment in which a product is used gives an opportunity for a marketer to create a mental picture of the service to the potential buyer. Borden (1965) indicates that a marketer out to create awareness of services provided by an amusement park can use words like â€Å"fun filled or enjoyment place† to create a mental picture about the park to the customer. The marketing message is another sort of evidence marketers in the contemporary world use to convince consumers about the service. Besides the message, customers are also given some incentives to lure them to the service. Mobile phone service providers for example promise free call time or launch a competition in which users of the service stand a chance to win some gifts. T his strategy is one of the best that marketers have focused on to convince consumers to use their services. This is described by Assael (1987) as the â€Å"power of communication† in which a market tends to glorify the service to the consumer. Along the same vein, the media has become a prominent tool with which marketers use to spread their service messages to the consumer. Service structure is another important tool for marketers, service marketers need to create structures which they can use to appeal and convince the customer why he or she should use the service. These structures could be in form of the tools that the service provider uses to deliver the service. Assael (1987) suggests that an air transport service provider can flaunt to the customer about the best airplanes in the company possession. With this structure, a marketer can make the customer imagine how good it is to use the service. By seeing the best rated airplane for example, a customer can be convinced t hat the service provided will be classy. Conclusion This paper has demonstrated that the product service dichotomy is increasingly loosing popularity in the modern business world. Although seen as a step towards the creation of market segments for products and service. Creating a distinction between products and services for the purposes of marketing is increasingly becoming a thing of the past as market researches continue pouring new approaches to integrate service and product marketing. References Assael, H., 1987. Consumer Behavior and Marketing Action. Boston: Kent Publishing Company. Baker, M. and Saren, M. 2010. Marketing Theory: a Student Text. London: Sage Publications. Bell, D., 1973. The Coming of the Post-Industrial Society. New York: Basic Books. Borden, N. H., 1965. The Concept of the Marketing mix. New York: John Wiley Sons. Gilmore, A., 2003.Services marketing and management. London: Sage Publications Gronroos, C., 1990.Services Management and Marketing. New York: L exington Lusch, R. F. and Varg, S. L., 2006. Theservice-dominant logic of marketing: dialog, debate, and directions. New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc., Palmer, A., 1997. Principles of Service Marketing.London: McGraw Hill. Pasuraman, A. and Berry, L. 2004. Marketing Services: Competing Through Quality.New York: Simon Schuster Rathmall, J. M., 1974. Marketing in the Service Sector. Massachusetts: Winthrop Publishers, Inc Schiffman, L. and Kanuk. L. L., 2000. Consumer Behavior. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Zeithaml, V. A. etal., 2005. Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus across the Firm. London: McGraw-Hill.