Meaning of life Essay Example for Free

Meaning of life Essay Philosophy is â€Å"the study of ideas about knowledge, truth, the nature and meaning of life, etc†¦; a particular set of ideas about knowledge, truth, and meaning of life; and a set of ideas about how to do something or how to live† (Philosophy, 2014, para. 1). Philosophy plays a huge role in all of our lives. Studding of philosophy influences our lives in many ways and has many purposes. Philosophy has five major branches metaphysis, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, and logic. Each of these branches plays a role with culture to develop thoughts in human beings by wondering, a dynamic  process, the truth, and wisdom. â€Å"Philosophy is an attempt to reason clearly and critically about all areas of experience: science, religion, art, politics, and mortality† (What is Philosophy, Para, 1). The purpose of philosophy is to try to understand and evaluate our most basics, beliefs, values, and to integrate them into a coherent view of each of us and the world around us (What is Philosophy, 2014). Studying philosophy is important because it continues to play an important role in shaping the future of all human existence, Philosophy enhances personal growth,  professional opportunities, improves reading skill, critical thinking, communication, and helps in arguments by showing your philosophical knowledge (What is Philosophy, 2014). There are five major basic branches of philosophy. The branches are the metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, and logic. The metaphysics branch is the study of existence. For example, a few questions one might ask them self would be PHILOSOPHY 3 what else is out there, why I am here, and what is my purpose in life (Important of Philosophy, 2014). Epistemology branch is the study of knowledge. Individuals like to know as much as possible to help their selves understand what is going in life and around then. For example, a question one might ask their selves would be how I know about certain things. In philosophy, knowledge is looked at as factual senses, and not just guesses. People that are epistemology rather use statements and questions in factual form, such as, dogs are mammals (Important of Philosophy, 2014). Ethic branch is the study of actions. This is the branch of philosophy that helps the decision making in what is right and what is wrong; beliefs and values. An example of ethics is your conscious. On one side there is the devil telling you to do the wrong thing, and the angel on the other side telling to do the right thing. Many ethical people try to avoid judgment, but have high moral beliefs in specific things. Ethics also plays a role in religion and faith (Important of Philosophy, 2014). The Aesthetics branch (also known as politics) is the study of action. This is the branch that shoes what actions are permissible. An example, would be how politics work in the world. What laws should be made, and how they should come to be. Politics are the ethics that are applied to people based off what they are told to do or believe (Important of Philosophy, 2014). Finally, the last branch of philosophy is logic or esthetics. This is the study of art. The main question is what can life be like? This is the branch that allows mankind to see the world in an abstract way. According to Importance of Philosophy (2014) PHILOSOPHY 4 Esthetics is important because it delves into the reason why art has always existed, the burning need of mankind through the ages to see the world in a different, clear way it  further evaluates art by the standards of human life, and whether it accomplishes the job of satisfying man’s intellectual needs, or whether it tends to hurt or make worse those needs (Para. 3). Esthetics is bringing the emotion and idea together to make a decision (Important of Philosophy, 2014). Within all the branches there are arguments, these arguments helps in philosophy to create creative thinking and growth. We all have questions, and beliefs to the meaning of life, and we will continue to argue trough ethnic, logic, politics, and beliefs. Each of the five basic philosophy groups have to face basic arguments, These  arguments are structure of arguments, evaluating arguments, types of arguments, and informal fallacies (Chaffee, 2013). The structure of arguments includes: reason, reason, and conclusion. Evaluating arguments include truth of reason, validity of structure, and soundness of argument. There are two types of arguments deductive: conclusion follows necessarily from premises (reasons), and inductive: conclusion supported by premises to some degree. Finally, there are informal fallacies, these are unsound arguments that appeal to emotion and prejudice (Chaffee, 2013). Philosophy and culture interact to develop thought because there are so many different beliefs in the word. Philosophy is love and wisdom, while in culture there is so much hate. The more we talk about our beliefs, and talk out the way we each feel it creates creative thinking, and more open minds. For example, scientist see things one PHILOSOPHY 5 way, but when we are more philosophical it shows us that there are more than one answer to each question. Science believes in evolution, religions believe in god, while the rest of us are still trying to find the meaning of life. When it comes to me, I think ethics represents me the most. I believe in right and wrong, and I have faith. I believe that taking actions against wrong in the world is very important. In our culture, there is so much hate, and I am a very big advocate for equality. I fight for equality for all humans, and I also fight for the rights of animals. Philosophy is â€Å"the study of ideas about knowledge, truth, the nature, and meaning of life (Philosophy, 2014, para. 1). There are five major basic groups, and there will always be questions to create creative thinking, and open minds. Philosophy has  been around from the beginning of time, and will be around until the end of time. We will always want to know the meaning of life and why we exist. PHILOSOPHY 6 References: Chaffee, J. (2013). The philosopher’s way: Thinking Critically about Profound Ideas (1st Ed,). Pearson Education, INC. Importance of Philosophy. (2014). Retrieved from http://www. importanceofphilosophy. com/FiveBranchesMain. html Philosophy. (2014). Retrieved from http://www. merriam- webster. com/dictionary/philosophy What is Philosophy? (2014). Retrieved from http://www. etsu. edu/cas/philosophy/whatis. aspx.

Theoretical Perspectives On A Family

Theoretical Perspectives On A Family Theories have been useful as a tool for creating explanations for patterns of behaviour in families (Doherty et al:, 1993). Functionalism gives an extremely optimistic view of family life. Langs evidence on child abuse, violence against women and divorce statistics indicates that functionalists neglect the dysfunctional aspects of the nuclear family. Functionalism focused excessively on the nuclear family form and insufficiently on other family forms. Marxist and Functionalist theories of the family tend to assume that the nuclear family is the dominant family form and therefore neglect diversity. Both structural approaches to the family Marxism and Functionalism can be deterministic, and this can make their analyses inaccurate and maybe over-generalised. Feminists, interactionists and the radical psychiatrists of the 1960s (Laing, Leach and Cooper) have all helped to correct these weaknesses.  Postmodernism has helpfully emphasised diversity, but it can be argued that it goes too far, ignoring the evidence of structural trends and dominant norms in our society(Doherty et al:, 1993). Functionalist approach presents the most positive view of theory. Types of Family The nuclear family is traditionally known to be made of the parents and their siblings and this is the most basic family arrangement. While the nuclear family is made- up father, mother and their offspring, extended family refers to aunts, grandparents, cousins and uncles. I would like to think that most societies have a concept of extended family. The relative structure, functions and importance vary according to the particular culture. Traditionally, extended family is referred to as kinship network of economics and social ties made-up of the nuclear family plus other relatives. The economic and social importance of extended family can most readily be seen when family members are living together. Even when extended families do not live together, nuclear families may rely on extended kin to help with basic day to day activities and may also co-dependent on extender family for economically and emotionally support. Contemporary family is ..In any particular time and place, families have always been more varied than the prevailing image of what the ideal family should be. Although family types are even more diverse than in the past, most contemporary families are still variations on the traditional nuclear family pattern. Family structure Lone parent Single parent can be caused by death of a spouse, divorce, and separation. This may lead to single parents being overwhelmed with their loss and the responsibilities. Most single parents are women, who may face somewhat lower income and will often rely on child support and government subsides. When parents divorce or are widowed children often experience loss and a disruption of routine. Children may also need a lot of attention, affection, and reassurance (Meyerhoff, 2010). Reconstituted family As we tend to think of families consists of a mother, father and their children, the reality is that there is a lot of divorces and remarriages occurring in our society such that a large number of families are actually stepfamilies. In remarried families, parenting is shared among different sets of parents and different household. Children will tend to visit in and out of households for visitations. Issues with children not accepting parenting from their stepparents can be an issue and this can be hard on children as well as the parents. Strong sense of loss can recur in remarried families due to the families not feeling intact, which may sometimes cause emotional scars, conflicting loyalties. Remarried families can be complex. Each additional member of the family system allows for another relationship or another with every other member of the family. The family is made up of biological parents, grandparents, siblings, stepparents, stepsiblings, half siblings and step-grandparents (M eyerhoff, 2010). With this many relationships between so many people there is potential for stress, but there is equally an increased potential for a large support network if everyone cooperates and communicates well. Hence reward can be tremendous. Adoption family Adoption family structure is complex but potentially rewarding . Changes in family structure Family structure has changed significantly in recent years, with increasing divorce rates and single-parent households (Field, 2003). Evolving definitions of family include people who may not be kin, but who act as family for some individuals, Rothausen (1999). Bogan (1991) uses the term wider families to refer to the concept and opines that such families result from individuals lifestyles and may not involve the sharing of a household. This concept of family describes a group of people who are invested in one another due to bonds of dependence, obligation or duty, love caring or cooperation (Rothausen, 1999). In the same way Weeks, Heapy and Donovan (2001) refer to same -sex families which are founded on bonds of individual choice, as families of choice. There is also a great deal of cultural variability in how the term family is defined. Changes to the family structure is also happening through ethnic difference which is also influenced by religion within the society In many Asian countries, a normal family may include three or more generations living in one household (Rothausen, Kanye, 2005). And as life expectancy continues to rise the number of multigenerational families may increase (Levade et al, 2000). The dynamics of family have changed, with couples having children later on following economic stability and careers. A lot of women are pursuing careers thereby starting family in the late 30s. Families might only have one child, this could lead to the child being spoiled (through parents trying to over compensate) and lonely. With new legalisation allowing same-sex couples to adopt families in place, the traditional family structure has changed to contemporary. Discussion Family friendly government policies are helping families by providing childcare, pre and after school care benefits (tax credit), vouchers, extended maternity and paternity leave, flexible work / life balance, Finn (2010). This is allowing families to spend more time together there by forming strong bonds, which is essential for a better relationship between family members. The stronger the relationship the more family became a haven in this heartless world. The family is a social institution. Due to diversity, different cultures have different concepts of family values. Same families can be oppressive (oppress individual development), restrictive, inhibitive and repressive. This can lead to families masking undercurrents and patterns of abuse, violence and potentially exploitation. Finn (2010) states that majority of abuse is within family unit and close relatives. Hence for the abused people family might not be a haven. An example of abuse by family is baby P incident (whereby a little boy lost his life through abuse by family members and extended family members). Baby Ps abuse occurrence and pattern was masked by the same family members who abused him, therefore family was not a haven for baby P. More often abused people sometimes become anti-social because of their lake of trust and also often became withdrawn such that they are un-productive. Abused people may often confide in people outside the family unit and are most like to beco me estranged to their biological family and they will forge relationship with people who they will consider as family. They often get support from outside the family unit. The will make family of choice based on friendship and this family of choice might be their haven in the heartless world, Lasch (1977). Support from family members differ between same -sex and opposite sex couple. The research by Kurdeck (2001) found that gays and lesbians received very little support from their families of origin as compared to the heterosexual couples, Bravewoman et al (1998). For the gays and lesbians who do not have support from their family of origin family is not a haven of. They might face the pressure from society and family to conform to what is traditional. This can lead to unrest, but family is a haven for the gays and lesbians who have strong family ties. Lawrence Stone (1977) argued that, the new family ideal prescribed domestic privacy and strong emotional attachments between spouses and between parents and children. Todays life style has lead to longevity, meaning parent and child relationship can last fifty years or more. Family remains a central attachment in most peoples lives, thereby family acting as a haven in this heartless world. Summary The change in the perception of family in recent times is through people choosing a family life in whatever shape or form and that people still desire a family life and family is still a required lifestyle option for the majority of people, Finn (2010). Therefore there will always be a variation in family units. Families will come in different shape and sizes and such differentiation is expected. So family will vary from time to time and place to place. For the majority of people the family is a haven in this heartless world, for family is a source of great joy and warmth. Whatever your particular family situation it will have tremendous influence upon your childrens happiness, development and future. A strong relationship with extended families can be just as rewarding as close ties inside the nuclear family. However building those bonds inside the extended family can be a little more difficult because, obviously everyone does not live under the same roof. For young children, living in a big family can be a lot of fun. The traditional family will continue to exist along other alternative family and everyone has a right to choose which family they belong too and the one that suit their situation and circumstances. Hence family life in whatever chosen shape is still the desired and required lifestyle option for the majority of people.

Human Implanted Microchip Authentication System

Human Implanted Microchip Authentication System Microchip implantation as an authenticating technology, also covers authorization and access control, is gaining more concerns nowadays. This paper introduced some aspects of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. We took a look at the properties and functionalities of implanted microchip authentication systems and problems could happen if physically, financially or technically varied upon circumstance. Lastly we compared implanted microchip with fingerprints, iris scan, and tokens as a measure of authentication. Table of content Introduction Microchip authentication system properties Background: What is microchip implantationdefinition, and how it authenticates what are the properties and functions of human microchip authentication system Briefly describe: Establishment of the system, ways of injection and manufacturer. Implementation- how the system works, with respect to authentication, authorization, privacy/ information transmission control, and federation Development how it developed from the past and the analysis of the current market, develop /future trend and limitation/challenge (cost effective, public acknowledge, privacy control), maintenance, feedback reporting, issue brought Comparison with others,advantages, weakness Problems solution Security(something you have and something you are), convenience, reliability, fast, information tracking, easily carry Physical/ medical, health Technical support development Ethical, public acknowledge Legislation Energy source/ replacement Privacy /info transmission control, read/write, tracking Conclusion Reference Introduction Microchip implantation as a method of identification has drew a lot of attention in recent years. As the need for more secure and efficient authentication device is emphasized, microchip implantation is becoming very competitive and controversial. Further study in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) with human microchip implantation proves that authenticating an identity without carrying around anything you have or remembering something you might forget is very convenient. Such unique technology cannot be duplicated or forged easily, which makes authenticating processes secure and fast RFID had been used to identify Allied airplanes dated back to World War II. From then on, tracking animals or even items through the supply chain nowadays becomes more commonly used. However, when the technology is extended to humans, huge amount of applications could be developed since microchips have the capability to find lost people, or to determine illegal immigrants or criminals. Although microchips could accomplish the demand for authentication perfectly when carrying and identifying, it did not have a significant way of managing selected information. Problems and potential threats could also happen if physically, financially or technically varied upon circumstance. The control of information it stores, technical support and demanding equipment of the chip, moreover, moral and legislation enhancement has been brought up. However, there are more potential benefits associated as a controversial technology. This paper mainly discusses authentication system developed by human implanted RFID microchip, in comparisons with some other authentications, and further researches on identity and access management of microchips are presented. Background Human microchip implant is a form of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag encased in silicate glass with a size of a grain of rice and injected into humans body(Figure 1). Usually a subdermal implant involves a unique 16-digit ID number and directs to the information that stored in an external database. The first reported implantation was used to open doors, switch on lights and similar tests in 1998. Some years later in 2004, VeriChip Corporation officially got the approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration(FDA) for medical uses in humans. They changed the name of the company to be Positive ID Corporation in 2009, and named the implantable chip to be VeriChip(Microchip implant (human),2010). Figure 1 The core of implantable chip is RFID tag, which consists of a microchip with identification codes and an antenna attached to it. Data stored on the chip can be transmitted through the wireless antenna, and can be scanned at varying distances with special reader devices that operates the same frequency as the chip. Different companies run their systems on different frequencies anywhere in a range of 125 KHz to 915 MHz. Although it makes each other unreadable if the readers have different frequencies, it may not be a problem in the future. As passive emitters have no onboard battery, they send signals only when a reader powers them within a certain range, usually a few feet at most(e.g. 30 feet). Active emitters with internal power can have more than a hundred feet of range but require higher expanses. Depending on the manufacturers, chips could store certain amount of data such as name, address, and biometric data like fingerprint and other documents about the person who carries the R FID tag(Kim Zetter, 2005). Implementation Elaine M. Ramesh(N.D.) said in the article Time Enough? Consequences of Human Microchip Implantation, microchips could have three readability modes: read only, read-write and read-write with tracking capabilities. She indicates that read only character was not new, and it was thought to be used as an national identification card, and to reduce illegal immigrants. Another form of implanting microchip was to the tooth of a human, and simply scanning the teeth would identify someone. Read-write devices carry information that could be expanded if needed. This type of information is variable and programmable within a distance. For example, it could be modified without removing the implanted chip from human body, and stores large amount of data when required, even financial transactions, and credit card records. Criminal records might be particularly important for some companies when one were to apply for a job, this individual could be quickly scanned to view his background. Where this co uld also to replace the highway toll system with one scan, a bill will be posted to drivers account. Therefore, read-write type of microchip satisfies many commercial and governmental needs. Tracking is then executable when a read-write device emitted a radio signal. With the implanted microchip, by dialing up the correct signal will be able to track down a certain mobile identity. A special scanner is applied to read the unique identification code in the microchip in hospitals sot that medical person could input the code into database to get records for a patient in this most time-saving way especially when the patient is unable to communicate. For security uses, implanted chips can be act as an electronic key to gain highly sensitive accesses or to unlock a car with a wave of the hand or even contactless payment could be achieved(Legislative Briefs, 2006). RFID signals including all personal privacies like medical history and location can be encrypted, but hosts may be subject to compromise if the RFID database is cracked.. There are a lot of problems microchips potentially have, one problem is that ones privacy could be severely exposed while scanning; damage to human body when physically under pressure as the chip is planted beneath the skin; battery goes flat or hardware upgrading needs replacement. In terms of health concerns, some risks of VeriChip reported by FDA were stated in the Legislative Briefs(2006): adverse tissue reaction, migration of implanted transponder, electromagnetic interference, electrical hazards, and magnetic resonance imaging incompatibility. Kevin Bonsor and Candace Keener(2007) shows that in 1996, implants could cause cancerous tumors that affect body tissue in lab rats and mice. Although no further approval that cancer may appear on other animals, it still too risky to determine the positive effects on humans. We found that although microchips could accomplish the demand for authentication perfectly when carrying and identifying, it did not have a significant way of managing selected information. The secret information of the microchip carriers could exposed to unrelated person that works in between the organizations. VeriChip then developed annual fees depending on how much information you would like to store in the database, in addition to a one-time implantation fee(Kevin Bonsor and Candace Keener, 2007). Elaine M. Ramesh(N.D.)claims that in time microchip implantation would be mandatory although it is now a voluntary system. For sure, an argument of even having driver licence for everyone is not forced, how microchip implantation could overcome the barrier of religious and civil liberty for some people. Elaine quoted from Justice Cardozo that every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his own body. However, after the public knowing its advantages, implantation would not be far away. For example, a growth of 11% number of people agreed to accept health care ID number. Legislative measures must be taken into actions. Firstly, laws should protect weak individuals. Children might need a guardian to help on make decisions, and free to decide whether the implant should be kept at some age. If there is a contract signed, there should also be a way to end it, and even for a short time, the microchip carrier should always be free to instal l or remove a chip. Lastly, if none of the protection is strong enough to prevent mandatory implantation, the government must at least provide assurances. Furthermore, privacy of customers is always a big issue, they should be able to review their records and to correct them. Even once it takes action finally, a big worry is that massive implantation in human population will lead to large level of abuse(Legislative Briefs, 2006). Comparisons Unlike knowledge-based or object-based authenticators, ID-based authenticators are not easy to forge or lost. Knowledge-based is something you know, commonly password that cannot be shared with others. Object-based is something you have like photo ID or a token that cannot lose. Once something you are, a biometric is compromised, information are not that easy to replace as the previous ones. Typical physical type of biometric authentication is finger print, and iris scan that you are born to be capable of without learning any behaviour. Microchip implant involves both something you have and something you are, which is the highest level of security. However, like most biometric technologies, chips depend on machines. Once the scanning device has some errors occurred, battery went flat, or computing system went down, that all end up with a mess. As Lawrence OGorman(2003) stated that there are two types of biometric errors: verification and identification errors. Verification is one-to- one matching made to match against a single identity, where identification is one-to-many matching made to match one person in a database containing records plus many others. Statistics calculated from formulae of Lawrence OGorman show that the false nonmatch rate of finger print is in the range of 1%-2%, while iris scan is 0.25%. Iris is more accurate as it has six times more features than fingerprint but it arises more privacy concerns. Microchip is believed to be much less rate of error occuring as it does not have the difficulties of capturing of moving people or one at a certain distance by considering the technology itself only. Microchip flexibly relies on the chip and a reader, where iris scan requires stable position image taking, high resolution camera and run through large numbers of comparisons in database that are not as quite easy. However, it is undeniable that iris might be a better approach for now due to its lower equipment cost and less human rights arguments. The VeriChip Corporation had been sued regarding hospital figures, and subcutaneous sarcomas had been found around where microchip were implanted in mice Human microchip implantation can be fairly competitive when the devices being widely taken, well tested and universally acceptable in the future. Conclusion

Explore the ways in which the opening of an inspector calls sets the :: English Literature

Explore the ways in which the opening of an inspector calls sets the scene and prepares the audience for the downfall of the Birlings and Gerald Croft I am going to start my essay by looking at the way in which plays were written and what theatrical genres were about in J.B Priestley’s day, as this is likely to give an indication as to which genres influenced him. In Priestley’s day, there were four main genres that were performed at the theatre, these include glamorous musicals, Shakespearian tragedies, detective thrillers and serious drama like that of George Bernard Shaw and T.S Eliot. I think that the detective thrillers influenced Priestley to write â€Å"an inspector calls†. Most detective thrillers, in those days involved one body, six suspects and an inspector, they then try to find out who done it. These types of plays are called morality plays. J.B Priestley fought in World War I and had experienced life in trenches, which where hell, and was a victim of a gas attack. This might have been what formed his socialist view. He was not the only writer to have socialist views after WWI; there were others such as George Bernard Shaw. Priestley must have realised that if we don’t care for each other and take responsibility for our actions there will be more wars, so he wrote the play to send across the message that people they have to take responsibility for their actions. The class your family was in, in Edwardian times was very important and Priestley makes it obvious that this family is an upper class family from the very detailed stage directions at the beginning of the play. â€Å"The Dining room of a fairly large suburban house, belonging to a prosperous manufacturer. It has good solid furniture†. From this quote we can tell that Priestley wants the family to look well off because he describes their house as fairly big, and calls Mr. Birling a Prosperous manufacturer which means he is a wealthy person and that he has a well established business. He also describes their furniture as good and solid. People in them days could not normally afford solid furniture, so shows again this family’s wealth.

A Character Analysis of Sir Gawain as Presented In Sir Gawain and The G

A Character Analysis of Sir Gawain as Presented In Sir Gawain and The Green Knight In Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, the character of Sir Gawain is skillfully brought to life by the unknown author. Through the eyes of numerous characters in the poem, we see Gawain as a noble knight who is the epitome of chivalry; he is loyal, honest and above all, courteous. As the story progresses, Gawain is subjected to a number of tests of character, some known and some unknown. These tests tell us a great deal about Gawain's character and the struggles he faces internally. I will explore the various places in the poem where we learn about Gawain, either through others or through the tests he faces. By the end of the poem, we sense that we have come to know Gawain and have ventured a peek at his human side. However, we also realize that nothing short of perfection is acceptable to him. Our first glimpse of Gawain occurs when the Green Knight suddenly appears at the New Year's celebration at Camelot. He offers a challenge for anyone to come forward and strike him with his ax. Twelve months and a day later, he will return the blow. No one steps forward to accept the dare. Embarrassed by his knights' lack of response, King Arthur accepts the challenge himself. At the fateful moment when Arthur is about to strike the blow, Gawain jumps up and says: Would you grant me the grace, To be gone from this bench and stand by you there, If I without discourtesy might quit this board,... I am the weakest, well I know, and of wit feeblest; And the loss of my life would be least of any; That I have you for uncle is my only praise; My body, but for your blood, is barren of worth; And for that this folly befits not a king, And 'tis I that ... ...ee that Gawain is not the perfect knight he strives to be. Neither we, nor the Green Knight, nor his fellow knights of the Round Table hold him to this standard of perfection. We read about the turmoil Gawain experiences thinking about his impending death at the hands of the Green Knight, and we understand why he accepts the girdle. We know he remains true until his fear of death overcomes him. All this proves he is only human. Yet Gawain only sees that he has been inconsistent in upholding the chivalric code, and this means failure to him. This is an indication of the standard Gawain has set for himself, and we see why he has the reputation he has. Despite all that has happened, Gawain is still a loyal, noble, honest and courteous knight. Quotations from: Abrams, M. H. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1993.

First Ice Story

â€Å"Ok I'll pick you up at nine† â€Å"Thanks see ya later† As she hangs up the phone her mother lightly taps on the door to her room. She strolls in with a mixed look of worry and annoyance on her face. She takes an almighty breath waiting for the inevitable argument she is about to have with her mother. â€Å"Ok I'll pick you up at nine† â€Å"Thanks see ya later† As David puts the phone down he feels a small drop of sweat trickle down the side of his face. He decides to open the window and as he does so a numbing blast of freezing winter air thrusts through the open window. Whilst David is checking the local cinema listings for a film that he and Louise can watch, the first snow flake of winter falls to the ground outside the house nestling on a fallen leaf instantly melting and running onto a small spider that is hiding from the cold trying to keep warm. The room lights up suddenly from the TV set, the curtains drawn, and the cat fed and watered, Louise locks the door and continues down her garden path. Suddenly Louise slips on an unforeseen ice patch, snapping on of the heels of her shoe, she knew wearing high heels was going to be a bad choice! David climbed into his car and turned the heaters on so that when Louise got in it would be nice and warm. This was David's first car, a Ford Escort and it was his pride and joy, his baby that he looked after and cared for as if it had it owns life. Louise walks down the slippery side path and ahead of her she notices a small group of boys, no older than 14 or 15, she thinks shall I go another way? But decides she will be fine. As she approaches them one boy notices her walking their way and alerts his mates to her presence. As she gets closer she realises they were much older than she first thought. At about 6ft tall a piece the boys began to spread out as she got closer. Being polite Louise says thank you ands walks by but she feels a sudden grab of her arm and a freezing shock shoots all over her body. David tears down the country lanes heading for Louise, although he doesn't know what was happening to her, he can almost feel that all is not right. Not far now until he is with Louise, the speedometer increasing rapidly. What he doesn't notice is the police car slowly catching up with him, sirens blaring until David quickly checks his mirrors and notices the blue flashing light. Two things go through his mind, â€Å"Do I stop?† Or â€Å"Do I get to Louise and face the consequences later?† Unfortunately he chooses to wrong thought as he sped up to 75mph in a 30 mph zone. The inevitable happens. David collides with a parked car as he flies round a blind corner, he dies on impact. Louise struggles away from the group of boys and runs as fast as she can, aware of an ambulance screeching past her. Louise could hear the muffled sound of the ambulance radio and hears the words David and Ford Escort. She panics and gets her mobile out to call him, but her phone is dead. Heart racing she runs down the street to the nearest phone box puts the money in, dials the number only to have a man answer the phone. The man explains he is a police officer and David was involved in a fatal car accident. Her face turns as pale as a ghost, her hands a cold as ice and her legs turn to jelly as she replaces the receiver. She falls to floor huddles up in the corner of the phone booth sobbing and wondering what she has done to deserve this pain she was now suffering.

Customer Profitability Analysis Essay

Activity Based Costing (ABC) is best known for its appilcation in computing product costs, but firms also find it useful in determining the cost of serving customers and as a basis for evaluating the profitabilty of a specific customer or group of customers. Why is this important? Most managers agree that 80% of their profits come from the top 20% of their customers and most important, the bottom 20% of their customers are unprofitable. For example, to compete with Walmart,Best Buy works hard to attract profitable customers and equally hard to discourage the unprofitable customers which those that are price shopping and looking for discounts and promotions and comparing prices to Walmart. Best Buy studies demographic and sales data for each store location to identify profitable and unprofitable customers. Customer profitabilty analysis idetifies customer service activities and cost drivers and determines the profitability of each customer or customer group. Here, customer service include all activities to complete the sale and satisfy the customer including advertising, sales calls, delivery, billing, collection, service calls, inquiries and other forms of customer service. Customer profitability analysis allow managers to: Identify most profitable customers Manage each customer’s cost-to-serve Introduce profitable new products and services Discontinue unprofitable products, services or customers Shift a costomer’s purchase mix toward higher-margin products and service lines Offer discounts to gain more volume with low costs-to-serve customers Choose types of after-sale services to provide How to calculate Customer Profitability Analysis The first step of CPA is to create a simple model of revenue by customer on the one hand, and total business unit costs and overheads on the other. Second, subtract the direct product and service costs from each customer (costs of good sold/cost of sales) to arrive at a gross margin per customer. Third, it should be possible to identify other costs specific to the customer such as a particular sales campaign or servicing and retention  costs. Orders of magnitude will do rather than getting hung up on 100% accuracy. Be consistent if applying any proxy. Fourth, sort customers by net profit and draw a cumulative profitability curve staring with the most profitable to the least. This is an effective way to visualize the relative profitability of customers and it soon becomes apparent which customers are critical to the business. Fifth, before taking any decision on non-profitable customers, make sure that you have strong retention activities in place to secure your most valuable customers. Sixth, get behind the real reasons why some customers are unprofitable and determine the appropriate strategies and tactics to enhance the profitability of your customer portfolio. Thought about sacking customers, should be put to one side until you have gained a clear understanding of the reasons. As we’ve seen there are lots of reasons for being unprofitable, and it is important to think ahead to potential value over time, not just recent history. (Six step to Customer Profitability Analysis, 2007) A good understanding of the profitabilty of a firm’s current and potential customers can help firms improve overall profits and become more competitive. This begins with an analysis of the cost to serve the customer. Customer Cost Analysis Not all customers require similar activities either before or after sales. Examples of customer-specific activities include: Order processing costs Billing, collection and payment processing costs Account receivable and carrying costs Customer service costs Selling and marketing costs Customer cost analysis is the process of identifying the activities and cost drivers related to servicing customers. Traditionally these costs are hidden in the customer support, marketing and sales function. Activity based costing can help managers to understand their costs to serve costomers. Different activities often have different cost drivers. Based on the activities and cost drivers involved in services performed to acquire and compelete a transaction, customer costs can be classified into the following  categories: Customer unit-level cost – resources consumed for each unit sold to a customer. Examples include sales commission based on the number of units sold or sales dollars, shipping cost when the freight charge is based on the number of units shipped and cost of restocking each returned unit. Customer batch-level cost – resources consumed for each sales transaction. Examples include order-processing costs, invoicing costs and recording of sales returns or allowances every time a return or allowance is granted. Customer-sustaining cost – resources consumed to service a customer regardless of the number of units or batches sold. Examples are salespersons’ travel costs to visit customers, monthly statement processing costs and collecti on costs for late payments. Distribution-channel cost – resources consumed in each distribution channel the firm uses to service customers. Examples are operating costs of regional warehouses that serve major customers and centralized distribution centers that serve small retail outlets. Sales-sustaining cost – resources consumed to sustain sales and service activities that cannot be traced to an individual unit, batch, customer or distribution channel. Examples are general corporate expenditures for sales activity and the salary, fringe benefits and onus of the general sales manager. Customers profitability analysis provides valuable information to the assessment of customer value. In addition, firm must weigh other relevant factors before determining the action appropriate for each customers. The folllowing are among these relevant factors: Growth potential of the customer, the customer’s industry and its cross selling potential Possible reactions of the customers to changes in sales terms or sevices Importance of having the firm as a customer for future sales references especially when the customer could play a vital role in bringing in additional business. Customer Lifetime Value Many companies now see the impotance of looking at the long term value of the customers, the expected contribution to profit during the full period the company retains the customers. This concept is called customer lifetime value ( CLV), and it is calculated as the net present value of estimated future profits from the customer for a specified time, which may be three or five years. Present value is used because the profits from the customer are expected to occur over a number of years. To provide a more comprehensive  and strategically relevant measure of the value of the customer, CLV takes into account the company’s expectations about the future potential growth in profits for a customer. CLV can be used to measure the value of a customer or group of customers and to determine how marketing and support services should be allocated to these customers to improve the firm’s overall profitability. Since there is a significant level of judgment involved in estimating th e variables in the calculation. It is also important to compare different calculations of CLV made with different assumptions about profit forecasts and discount rates. It have three types of potentially unprofitable customer who might be retained: New and growing customers, who promise profitable business in the future and may provide a stepping stone for penetratig lucrative new markets Customers providing qualitative rather than financial benefits including customers at the edge in the development of new markets who provide valuable insights into likely trend movements in consumer demand Customers providing increased capability because of their status as recognised leaders in their markets or field of expertise. Thus, where customer profitability analysis reveals that a particular customer is unprofitable, it does not necessarily follow that this customer should be eliminated. Nor does it follow that the customer must be persuaded to accept terms and cindition will rwduce the customer’s level of satisfaction. Negotiations with customers might well reveals that less frequent deliveris would actually benefit the customers without causing cos tky stockpiles. Clearly, there is scope for negotiating with customers to influence their behaviour without compromising the customer’s level of satisfaction. Some aspects of improved negotiation might include: Non-cash incentives from sunk-cost investments for example sponsoring a season of a major cultural events primarily yields advertising benefits however seats in the accompanying corporate boxes might also yield enticing customer incentives. Similarly, a company’s accumulated frequent-flyer points may perhaps be spent on customers new or existing Restructure of delivery runs to create a more timely but less frequent service for the customer Capacity maximization on delivery runs that are required for profitable customers by offering a more frequent service for the potentially unprofitable customers with unpredictable demands Purchase of equipment on behalf of customers which they can use rent-free, in lieu of discounts or agent’s commissions. The  cash saved on reduced discounts potentially should exceed the cost of the assets. Additionally, ownership is retained and a stronger bond is forged with the customer thereby generating greater negotiating power in future Free short-term financial advice which will create efficiencies for the customer leading to reduced internal workload and consumption of resources New products at no cost in return for reduced discounts to serve a dual purpose, improving customer profitability while providing a useful vehicle for the promotion of new products A trade-off between quantity discounts and settlement discounts that minimizes the costs of cash overdraft and maixmizes long-run production scheduling The overriding consideration with a customer profitabilty analysis is that management will at least be armed with information about unprofitable customers and can focus attention on developing those innovations or strategoes that might reduce the lack of profits of a particular customer wi thout reducing that customer’s satisfaction. Alternatively provided a shift of thinking is possible, management can restructure the manufacturing process that will ultimately lead to a shift in the rsults of a customer’s profitability. The role of mechanics of activity based costing in developing a customer profitabilty analysis should not be underestimated with activity based costing, a general ledger amounts are dissected, making the assignment of costs to customer easier. In particular, the associated on costs of employing sales staff and motor vehicles would be analysed in detail and be readily available. This would embrace vehicle operating costs as well as fringe benefits and payroll tax, holiday and long service leave entitlements, worker’s compensation insurance, mobile telephone and training costs. Several of these items might conveniently be omitted from non avtivity based costing customer profitability analysis because of the complex analysis required to divide the general ledger amounts between the activities of different salesperson. Why Calculate Customer Profitability? The reasons why we calculate customer profitability is to help the company to improve its cost performance and also for manager to make decision about which customer or market channel to focus on. Besides, to improve the profitability by eliminating non-profitable customers and maximizing sales or services to profitable customers. Also act as an understanding of the  true costs of each segments including taking into account non-production costs when determine profitability. Definition and concept Customer profitability analysis based on the recognition that each customer is different. Therefore each dollar of revenue or each dollar of cost generated by the customers does not contribute equally to a company’s profitability. The general approach to customer profitability is based on the segmenting that customer base to determine the revenues and costs contribute to each segment. This is often combined with an Activity Based Costing (ABC) approach. ABC is a costing methodology that identifies activities in an organization and assigns the cost of each activities with resources to all products and services according to the actual consumption by each. Traditional cost accounting often supports a 20-80 rule that 20% of the largest customers, who purchase the most products, contribute 80% of the profits. Using ABC, analysis have often found that 20% of the customers generated 300% of the profits. The remaining 80% of the customers are actually unprofitable and can result in loss of 200% of the profits (Good Practice Guideline 2002, pg 21). Once the profitability and non-profitability segments are identified, profitability segments are maximized while non-profitability segment are reduced or eliminate. Based on the diagram above, basically there are two basic approaches to customer segmentation, for example demographic which could be categories into geographic area, customer age, gender, and income level. Second approach is psychographic which include customer values, attitude and customer interest, Once customer segmentation have been identified, the annual revenue is being calculated per segment. How this is done will depend on the product or service offered by the company, Discount, service fee should be included to determine the true amount of the revenue generated, Next, annual cost is calculated per segment. This will involve directly attributable product or services cost including overhead cost and ABC approach is the most effective way to allocate the cost. Profitable customer is equal to annual revenue exceed annual cost. And non-profitable customer is equal to annual cost exceed annual revenue. However, this will involve more accurate analysis to determine this. As for pr ofitable customer, it  need more detail planning to develop long term customer relationship to increase the revenue. Therefore, customer retention and loyalty program are needed The ability to determine customer profitability on an individual basis can add value to the company customer relationship. The customer can be helped to reduce its costs and the company can become more profitable. (Good Practice Guideline 2002, pg 22). However, for least profitable or non-profitable customer, there are two options of action: Eliminate – ceasing to supply these customer. This can be done by no longer marketing or raising the price, or even change the product. Re-engineering – turning the least profitable or non-profitable customer into profitable customer by decreasing the costs and increasing revenue. For example, using differential prices. With a new understanding of which customers were profitable and which were not, Kanthal become dedicated to turning unprofitable customers into profitable ones. The company developed ways to retain the customers and decrease their administrative and selling costs (Kaplan and Cooper 1998:188). In short terms Kanthal tried the following: reduce the size of its product lines, accept orders only for stocked items use external distributors to reduce the cost of small accounts, change compensation to salesmen to emphasis profit rather than only sales volume, and engineer to reduce set-up times and improve operational efficiencies. (Good Proactice Guideline 2002, pg 21) Last step is to implement new strategies, example changes in pricing, cost reduction should be reviewed to determine the impact on customer profitability. Recently, many companies have learn to understand the causal relationsip between employess and customers and the impact on revenue growth and firm profitability (Epstein, 2000). Customer performance measure is measurement used by organization to measure the revenue growth and firm profitability through market share, customer acqui sition, retention, satisfaction and customer profitability. CUSTOMER MEASURE DEFINITION Market share Reflects the proportion of business in a given market (in terms of number of customers, dollars spent, or unit volume sold) that a business unit sells. Customer acquisition Measures in absolute or relative terms, the rate at which a business unit attracts or wins new customers or business. Customer retention Tracks in absolute or relative terms the rate at which a business unit retains or maintains ongoing relationship with its customers. Customer satisfaction Assesses the satisfaction level of customers along specific performance criteria within te value proposition. Customer profitability Measures the net profit of a customer, or a segment, after allowing for the unique expenses required to support that customer (Epstein, 2000) Market share can be defined as the percentage of all sales within a market that is held by one brand / product or company. Market share can be measured in several ways. However, the two most important measures are by sales revenue and sales volume (the number of units sold). These are to analyze the impact of their own actions on market shares, as well as their profit implications. Lacking such knowledge, one might be tempted to oversimplify the cause-and-effect relationships between market shares and marketing variables, or to equate market shares to profitability (a not unusual tendency even among seasoned businessmen). Many individuals in business indeed keep a close watch over day-by-day changes in market shares, so much so that market-share movement to them is almost synonymous to market information (Cooper, 2010). By comparing the profit obtained from various market share the organization may identify which market share gives more profit and should be focus on those customer desire and wich customer gives less profit and the organization may choose either to improve their product/ service or lowering te product/ service on that market share. Characteristics of new, loyal and lost customers are particularly important for companies to understand. Marketing analysts group customers into segments of recent new purchasers, high-volume purchasers and non-purchasers using customer transaction data, and analyze the resulting segments to identify their common characteristics. Attributes of new customers provide a good appearance of a company’s likely acquisition target market. Similarly, characteristics of lost customers may define less desirable market segments, or may reveal problems in customer service or product satisfaction. Improvements in retention programs are saving companies significant time and money – keeping existing customers buying is much less expensive than  acquiring new customers (Customer Acquisition, Retention and Attrition Analysis, 2014) Measurement that will show the situation of business are : The number of new customers per quarter of year Total sales to new customers per quarter of year Sales to new customer as a proportion of total sales When business is good marketers can afford to take an evolutionary approach to customer acquisition and retention by continually optimizing branding, creative, advertising mix, and offer strategy. But during challenging business situations, an evolutionary approach is bound to yield underwhelming results (Customer Acquisition & Retention, 2014). The difference in sales in a market share from year to year, will act as indicator to the organization regarding percentage of new customers obtained or lost customers. Customer retention is the ongoing customer relationship that yields revenues from the sale of additional products or services. The revenues become more profitable as the customer becomes easier to serve. Since the customer is buying again it is assumed that less sales effort is required, customer service costs decrease, and the costs of acquiring customers decline. Customer loyalty encompass customer retention but also includes the customers’ recommendation of the produ ct or service to other potential customer. As for example, word of mouth recommendation is important to Southwest Airlines, whose reservation system has never been accessible to travel agents. It has relied on advertising and customer loyalty to spread its message to potential customers. The airlines which began flying in 1971, has consistently been profitable. Convinced that customer loyalty is a important factor in increasing profitability than is market share, Southwest Airlines strives to build customer loyalty by providing at low fares dependable, frequent service over relatively short routes, delivered by friendly employees (Epstein, 2000). Measures of customer loyalty were selected because they reflected both length (retention) and depth (cross sell) of the bank-customer relationship. Length of relationship is reported by both division-reported customer retention rates (percentage of customers who remained customers during 1993) and mean customer-reported relationship tenure. Relationship depth is measured by division cross-sell rates, which record the percentage of customer  households with multiple accounts (account cross sell) or multiple services (service cros s sell) (Hallowell, 1996). Companies are very aware that acquiring a new customer is more expensive than retaining an existing one, so companies cannot afford to lose customers due to poor service at the contact center level. The contact center must be viewed as an essential extension of the company, and an important part of the brand experience. Therefore, ensuring that the experience is pleasant, efficient, and satisfies the customer’s need is crucial to success. The most common method for measuring customer satisfaction is through surveys, either during or after the call. While this method provides some intelligence around the customer experience, it doesn’t offer the most accurate view of customer satisfaction. This is due to the small sample size and the fact that the only questions asked are those deemed important by the enterprise. Surveys also lack detail, such as which of a customer’s experience with your company caused the review, which agent handled the interaction and what was the root cause of a dissatisfied call. Lacking this critical information, enacting meaningful change is extremely challenging. Without the use of speech analytics, contact center operators are left w ith an incomplete view of customer satisfaction and a disconnect between the scores they receive and the actions that caused the scores. Speech analytics uncovers the reality of what happened during a call, enabling companies to improve the business processes and agent behaviors most affecting the customer’s experience. Nexidia’s Managed Analytic Services team uses speech analytics technology to locate the agent behaviors and business process that have the greatest impact on the customer. As example, the team first begins by identifying the calls which contain sentiments of dissatisfaction. By building searches that contain words such as â€Å"unhappy,† â€Å"speak to a manager† or â€Å"frustrating,† the team creates a category of calls in which the customer seemed upset, or the call escalated. More refined searches such as â€Å"this is the xth time I’ve called,† or â€Å"my hold time was excessive† will yield further insight. The team drills into this category of calls to create sub-categories. These sub-categories show which types of calls most often contain frustration, such as billing calls or calls for technical assistance. The team also identifies which agents have the most dissatisfied calls and compares the percentage of these calls to total volume. The second step in evaluating  customer satisfaction begins by identifying behaviors and processes that typically cause customers to become upset. These include excessive transfers, requests for call backs, and long non-talk times. The team creates call categories which contain these issues, providing a foundation for performing root cause analysis. Studying the root cause arms companies with the information needed to understand why these â€Å"trigger† events occur, and what steps can be taken to prevent them. As behaviors and processes are modified, monitoring customer satisfaction becomes a continuous cycle, thus ensuring maximum return on investment. (Nexidia Managed Analytic Services, 2010) The relationship of customer loyalty and customer satisfaction can be seen in the following categorization of customers; it is important to understand fully the environment which the customer is working, as extrinsic factors may drive them from one category to another: Apostles. Customer who are loyal and satisfied and recommend the service to others. Mercenaries. Customers who may switch service suppliers to obtain lower price, but are highly satisfied. Hostages. Customer who are highly dissatisfied but have few or no alternative. Terrorists. Customers who have alternatives and use them, and also try to convert other customers by expressing their dissatisfaction (Epstein, 2000). Customer profitability of a various group of customer may be identify by measuring the profit gain by a group of customer from year to year. Profitability measures were determined based on their hypothesized relationship to customer satisfaction and loyalty. Both of the measures used, ROA and NIE/Rev (non-interest expense as a percentage of total revenue), reflect profit at the individual division. See Roth (1993) for an analysis of similar performance measures in service firms. Given the intent of this study, NIE/Rev is preferred to ROA as a more appropriate measure of profitability. Retail bank profit can be separated into, first, the results of operations (revenue-enhancing as well as cost-incurring) which influence expenses and revenues that are not sensitive to interest rates, and second, treasury activities, which influence interest-sensitive costs and revenues. This paper addresses primarily non-interest-sensitive components of profitability, hypothesized to relate to customer loyalty. ROA contains both interest-sensitive and non-interest-sensitive components, while NIE/Rev is generated only from non-interest-sensitive costs (the revenue portion of NIE/Rev may be somewhat  related to customer-relevant interest rates). Appendix 1 discusses ROA, NIE/Rev and the other measures used in more detail (Hallowell, 1996). By comparing the profit of different group of customer, the difference amount of profit will act as indicator which group of customer that gives high profit and low profit. Other than that, customer profitability may be determined by other tools of measuring customer performance such as market share, customer acquisition, retention,and customer satisfaction. Five reasons why customers can be unprofitable. They are: (Six step to Customer Profitability Analysis, 2007) 1. The sales force is under continual pressure to close deals and offers discounts to secure business within the sales period. 2. Pricing errors due to incorrect estimates of time. 3. A one-size-fits-all approach to serving customers leading to over servicing where the business levels does not justify it. 4. Loss leaders are offered to customers who always shop around for a deal, in the expectation that profit will be recovered over the lifetime of the customer. 5. The connection between customers and costs is not made and over time some become a greater drain on resources. Conclusion Customer profitability analysis provides a method to help firms see and understand the profitability of their customers. It takes effort and management sponsorship to make it feasible and worthwhile. It is a method and not an end in itself, but without it that investment in slick technology might not be such a good idea, if it only speeds up your ability to attract the wrong customers. Your allocation of resources to customers may also be based on erroneous information. If you have this understanding it uncovers new options for profitable growth and can help you work out which customers to attract, which to really hang on to at maybe greater cost. To help decide which to grow, CPA must be augmented with an understanding of potential lifetime value. It is recommended that Customer Profitability Analysis (CPA) be measured through Activity Based Costing. There are various group of customer, therefore it would be better to differentiate them through segmenting b demographic or goegraphic or so on, to make it easier to recognised which group of customer that gives high/low profit, and which of  the customers should be focus on, eliminate or re-engineering. Other than that, CPA may be measured by analyzing the customer performance measure of market share, Customer acquisition, retention, and customer satisfaction. Increase in Customer Profitability might be caused by increase in market share, customer retention which wil lead to increase in customer acquisition and probably increase in customer satisfaction. REFERENCES Cooper, L. G. (2010). Market Share Analysis , 1. Customer Acquisition & Retention. (2014). Retrieved October 23, 2014, from Lenati: http://www.lenati.com/our-expertise/customer-acquisition-retention Customer Acquisition, Retention and Attrition Analysis. (2014). Retrieved October 23, 2104, from Microstrategy: Best in Business Intelligence: http://www2.microstrategy.com/download/files/Solutions/byDepartment/CRM/Customer_Acquisition.pdf Dikoli, M. S. (1995). Customer Profitabilit Analysis: An ABC Approach. 5. Epstein, M. J. (2000). Management Accounting Guideline. Customer profitability analysis , 8. Faculty of Finance and Management. (2002). Customer Profitability Analysis , 36. Nexidia Managed Analytic Services. (2010). Customer Satisfaction Analysis , 2. Six step to Customer Profitability Analysis. (2007, May 7). Retrieved October 23, 2014, from Accounting Web: http://www.accountingweb.com/topic/six-steps-customer-profitability-analysis