ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Understanding the Origins of the Shift Entertainment programming, as we know it today has undergone numerous iterations over the past 70 years ever since its inception during the early days of radio. In this instance, what will be focused on are the transitions in programming brought about through the influence of advertisers and sponsors. What must be understood is that radio and television programming is “free” only from the perspective of the viewer/listener. Behind the programs is an assortment of contractual obligations that beholden a network to a series of brands and corporate sponsorships that pay to have their brand or company at the forefront of the public consciousness. Schwoch (1990) explains that unlike the early years of radio broadcasting, which were characterized by little to no thought being placed on advertising sponsorship or commercialism, television programming from its very inception focused on the use of commercial support from the very start (Schwoch, 56). This was one of the early signs of the transition where commercialism would dictate entertainment programming given the level of control that was developed into television network culture at its very onset. On the other end of the spectrum, the culture of radio broadcasting advertising was far different wherein the approach was less “aggressive and bombastic” and instead focused on a softer and more cautious approach (Schwoch, 57). Instead of the desire to control, what was present was a form of careful “reverence” involving advertising through radio as a medium wherein it was thought that an overly aggressive attitude would have resulted in a negative reaction not only from the audience itself but from the broadcasters. Not only that, early advertising culture involving radio broadcasts were thought of as not only vehicles for the promotion and sale of products, but actually enabled a certain manner of self-improvement on the part of the listener through the broadcasted message. Examples of this can be found on classic advertising spiels (i.e., scripts) utilized during the 1920s to the 1930s wherein the brand name of a company was mentioned after which it was followed by some manner of uplifting message (ex: Kellogg’s cereal wishes you a pleasant evening, drive safe and be sure to kiss your children goodnight). The culture of broadcasting was less “in your face” and more focused on the projection of a positive brand image through association with a respectful and caring company. This changed in the coming years as advertisers transitioned from utilizing uplifting messages to aspects related to the present-day materialistic culture (i.e., utilizing visual mediums to show the use and advantages of products. Due to the lack of suffi
Introduction The first and foremost aim of marketing implies spreading knowledge about the value of a product and raising awareness with the purpose of selling it to consumers. It is done through marketing channels, which consist of producers, wholesalers, and retailers, where each of them is a separate independent business pursuing the maximization of their profits and performing separate marketing functions. None of the channels has control over other members, they do not tend to cooperate with each other, and these are the basics of the conventional marketing channel. However, this model is rather rigid and cannot always succeed in meeting contemporary challenges, so there have emerged two other developments, namely vertical and horizontal marketing systems. Main body The main distinction of a vertical marketing system (VMS) is that its participants group together to work as a whole. It helps to avoid frequent disagreements and competition among the members of the channel. Moreover, it is often the case that in conventional marketing wholesalers, producers and retailers might try to achieve their goals at the expense of their partners, and this is what this model manages to eliminate. For a channel to start operating as a VMS one of its participants should be designated as a leader, who is supposed to take risks and generally has the power of authority within the group. Depending on the type of relations between its participants, VMS can be of three kinds: corporate, contractual and administered. Corporate VMS is characterized by total control over two or more traditional marketing channels gained by one participant. The integration can go both ways: either a producer initiates it by purchasing its wholesaler and retail outlets, or a retail outlet might become the owner of the other two members of the channel. Apart from the greater channel efficiency, this system provides direct access to supply and demand control for the owner of the channel. Many contemporary companies are operating this way, among them are Apple Inc., Procter & Gamble, Zara, and Amway, which develop their products and distribute them in their own authorized stores, thus maintaining control over their goods at all stages. Contractual VMS suggests that relationships and obligations of channel members are regulated by contractual agreements and thus it distributes authority, duties, and risks among the participants. According to this model, every participant works individually, integrates their actions on a contractual basis, and holds certain liabilities towards their partners. In its turn contractual VMS is also divided into three most common types: franchises, voluntary and co-operative groups. In franchising, the manufacturer gives distributors the right to sell its pr
Introduction VRIO is a framework that refers to four questions which include: Question of values, rarity, imitability and organization. A framework is an analytical tool for examining the internal environment of organizations (Barney & Hesterly, 2006). Firms should answer all the four questions in the VRIO framework to determine their competitiveness in the market. Gulf Air Company resources can be analyzed using the framework to determine its competitive advantage in the market. The resources that determine the competitiveness of a firm include tangible, intangible and organizational capabilities. Question of Value The value of an organizational resource can enable it to gain a competitive advantage in the market. An organization can also reduce its environmental threat when its resources are valuable (Lin, 2012). Gulf Air Company has tangible and intangible resources that are valuable to the organization. Other rival companies within the airline industry are also having similar resources such as financial and human resources. The Question of Rarity The resources that Gulf Airline Company has been owned and controlled by a few of the rival firms. Many companies in the airline industry use different resources. This makes the resources of the company to be rare among other competing firms in the industry. Modern aircraft, airport facilities, skilled management and innovativeness are not only controlled by the Gulf Airline, but also other few organizations in the industry. VRIO Framework and the Value and Rarity of Gulf Air Company Resources Rare, valuable                                                         →  Competitive advantage but temporarily  The Question of Imitability Firms with no resources can experience a cost disadvantage in the market (Barney & Hesterly, 2006). It can become difficult for such firms to develop effective resources that can ensure competitiveness. Gulf Air Company has adequate resources which make it have a cost advantage in the airline industry. Other airline companies also have adequate resources that can enable them to imitate what Gulf Airlines is doing. The resources of the company can be easily imitated by other airline companies since they have appropriate resources and adequate skills. This implies that the resources of the organization are easy to copy and therefore can reduce its competitiveness in the environment. The Organization Gulf Air organization ensures that it exploits its rare and valuable resources that prove difficult to imitate. Its policies and procedures ensure that there is secrecy in the management affairs of the organization. The organization has policies that prohibit sharing of information and resources. The organization is theref
General description and development of wikis A website within which the users are allowed to undertake content modification by either deleting or adding some details is termed as a wiki. The modification of the website is usually carried out through web browsers by utilizing simplified rich-text editor or the markup language. The wiki software is used to power the wikis. In most of the cases, wikis are developed by numerous users collaboratively. Examples of wikis are such as corporate intranets, community websites, knowledge management scheme, as well as note-taking. Wikis can serve numerous diverse purposes. Some wikis allow the control of various functions (access levels); for instance, rights editing may permit removal, addition, or changing of material. Others allow access without imposing any access control 1 . Other regulations may be enforced to undertake content organization. The premier wiki software was developed by Ward Cunningham. This wiki software was referred by the name WikiWikiWeb. Cunningham originally defined it as the most simplified online database, which could practically work. Basically, “wiki” is a term derived from the Hawaiian language, which is literally translated as “quick” or simply “fast” in the English language. Ward Cunningham began formulating the WikiWikiWeb in 1994 within Portland, Oregon. After the WikiWikiWeb was developed, it was installed on the c2.com internet domain on the 25 th of March 1995. The name of this premier wiki was borrowed from that of the buses, which ply within the Honolulu International Airport’s terminals, which are known by the name “Wiki- Wiki Shuttle”. In accordance with Cunningham, wiki-wiki was the ideal choice of name, which made him not to name the website as the ‘quick-web’. Cunningham got the inspiration to develop the website partly from Apple’s HyperCard. Apple developed a unique system, which enables its users to make virtual “card stacks” which had supportive links within different cards. Moreover, Cunningham made use of the ideas of Vannevar Bush thereby permitting users to either post comments on other users’ text or change the text details. Within the initial years of the 2000s, wikis were adopted in big margins as enterprising collaborative software. The most basic applications of wikis were such as intranets, documentation, as well as, intranets, principally for the technical users only. As at present, wikis is the only single collaborative software, which is available in a good number of companies. Most of these companies make use of wikis as a substitute for the static intranets. Moreover, in various learning institutions such as schools along with universities group learning is enhanced through the use of wikis. There is a high likelihood that wikis are used greatly behind firewalls rather than within the Net. Wikis are developed to easy amend errors instead of proving it difficult to undertake corrections. Therefore, while wikis remain wide open, they offer procedures of verifying the recent added materials validity.
Mission and Vision Statement In order to create a market driven company it is important for such an organization to have high market responsiveness, fast developments, low cost, and finally high levels of creativity, innovation and efficiency. These are qualities that are necessary to respond to a wide variety of possible situations that can occur within the complex and constantly shifting business environment that many companies find themselves in at the present. It is based on this that the mission of the company would be to focus on market responsiveness, fast developments as well as the utilization of proper customer care strategies so as to create a sales environment that would be conducive towards future product patronage. The vision associated with such an organization would focus on implementing proper innovative and efficient practices in all levels of operations so as to not only increase the profits of the company through the creation of good products and effective services but also to lower the overall cost of operations. It can be expected that through the implementation of such a mission and vision, a company would be able to become sufficiently driven to be able to compete with its various rivals within the market that it currently operates in. Competition Issues Aside from the points that were mentioned earlier, a company also needs to take into account their competitors and develop a plan for the company based on their presence. For instance, a company could focus on being reactive wherein it orients its operations based on the actions of its competitors (Cravens, Piercy & Baldauf, 2009). This strategy entails responding to competitor developments in the form of lower prices, the release of new products, or other similar developments. Basically, this market driven strategy follows a “quid pro quo” method of operations wherein a company reacts based on the actions of its competitors (Cravens, Piercy & Baldauf, 2009). Another method that could be utilized would be a consumer oriented strategy wherein instead of reacting to the actions of its competitors, companies focus more on satisfying their customers. This strategy focuses more on developing better consumer experiences, creating environments that make consumers more amenable towards purchasing products within a particular location and is basically a “customer comes first” strategy. While either method can be applied in order to create a market driven comp
Introduction NPW is an organization that is involved in providing toy products to children in different markets across the world. In the recent past, the firm has witnessed a sharp rise in demand due to increase in population, which implies more consumers and markets. NPW has to fulfil its pledge to provide high quality products to kids on Christmas day. However, Santa can hardly keep up due to many changes in the supply chain of the business establishment. In fact, the company is facing the following problems in its endeavors to achieve its business objectives: demand planning, logistics, supply chain unpreparedness, production, information technology, and production. In order for the business enterprise to gain competitive advantage, it should work toward resolving its challenges. This paper focuses on selecting the best strategy that would have the greatest impact on future operations and performance outcomes of NPW. It also suggests the better approach between outsourcing of IT and manufacturing. The main goal of the paper is to help the management to fix the dilemma of the company. Strategies In order to select the best approach among the three proposed strategies for fixing the dilemma of the firm, it would be important to analyze them in detail. One of the experts in supply chain management has proposed that Santa should be at the forefront in creating fads with regard to the use of toys among children. In fact, the expert argues that Santa should stop reacting to fads because this would not help the firm to identify solutions to the dilemma that is facing. The toy business is characterized by a considerable amount of research that helps to understand the needs of children. For example, research is critical in assessing the types of toys that children in a particular market would require, which would certainly be different from other markets. With regard to this approach, it has been shown that even the best IT applications cannot be applied in predicting market demands due to the uniqueness that is associated with toy business. Thus, the expert contends Santa should focus on investing heavily on aiding children to comprehend cool toys in the market, which would be followed by the creation of an agile supply chain that would support the delivery of cool toy products. Old-fashioned advertising mig
Introduction Modern businesses have adopted technological tools to accomplish various tasks. As such, the competitive landscape has generally shifted and become so uncertain. Years of rapid growth and innovation have been succeeded by fierce rivalry, sustained fiscal pressure, and unforeseen forces such that survival, not a success, is the main concern (Elmorshidy 819). Consequently, managers continue to face critical decisions on business growth and investment for organizational objectives. These issues are spread across every business unit to global levels. Thus, business complexity has escalated as solutions become elusive. Among these rare solutions, technology has played a major role in business development globally. Nevertheless, business – IT (information technology) alignment is vital to ensure that IT and business objectives converge to support the overall strategic objectives of an organization. In most instances, however, business objectives and IT objectives appear to contradict. Many academics agree that alignment between the two and sustained over time could lead to favorable outcomes for an organization (El-Telbany and Elragal 250). The communication gap between IT and the business department is the main cause of concern. It is observed that the gap continues to widen significantly and now needs bridging. The business segment may make several claims, including a lack of confidence in the IT system to provide reliable solutions, limited risk, progress, and problem visibility, or that measuring IT investment value is difficult. Conversely, the IT department may note that the business or an organization has failed to provide adequate resources for its projects, the business does not know what it requires, or it does not understand solutions to develop or its processes. As such, the two sides argue that the other is responsible for misalignment. From a critical perspective, IT and business departments are both right. The purpose of this term paper is to present alternative solutions for closing the gap between IT and business. The Challenge As companies strive to innovate and introduce new IT tools, the gap between IT and business widens (Zhuang 13). Specifically, technological tools and business practices have coevolved fast in the last few decades. While coevolving changes have led to some commendable achievements, there have also been cases of IT failure to deliver its projected potential about the value to the business. As such, this situation has led to the business-IT gap. Some authors have associated misalignment with failure rates in IT projects (Elmorshidy 819). These failures are however not acceptable in some organizations,
Background Violent extremism is a complex phenomenon that is based on promoting and supporting the violence associated with or justified by certain ideological, political, social, or religious visions (Glazzard and Zeuthen 1). During the post-Arab Spring period, the development of violent extremism in Arab countries became associated with a variety of factors, triggers, or drivers. In this context, political, social, religious, and individual factors are discussed as key influences of the progress of violent extremism in Libya, Tunisia, Syria, Egypt, and Iraq, among other states (Allan et al. 2; Ranstorp 3). However, it is important to note that the role of communitarian drivers in developing violent extremism is even more influential because these drivers are based on complex community, ideological, cultural, and religious factors that are determined concerning Muslims’ identity and specific group dynamics. Statement of the Problem Although violent extremism can be observed in different states where the Arab Spring movement developed, the drivers for the progress of this phenomenon vary. The problem is in the fact that the development of communitarianism as a theoretical and ideological framework has led to the progress of extremism at all levels in such countries as Libya and Tunisia, among other states. As a result, it is possible to note that specific communitarian drivers can perform as reinforcers for the development of extremist movements in those Arab countries where collective opinions, religious views, and military interests play the key roles in provoking social changes (Allan et al. 3). The further examination of different communitarian factors that can stimulate the progress of violent extremism in Arab countries is important to understand the main aspects of communitarianism and violent extremism and recommend actions that can be taken by the global community to overcome the problem. The purpose of this research is to examine what communitarian drivers influence the development of violent extremism in Arab countries and discuss how these triggers affect the process. The focus should be on the cases of Libya and Tunisia. Theoretical Framework To understand the backgr
Introduction With regards to the topic considered in this study, the research focuses on the economic crisis facing USA amidst the foreign forces caused by the major economic competitors. Essentially, USA has been the biggest world economy for a substantial amount of time. However, the country is incurring crucial economic crisis which may deconstruct its stability in the near future. Whereas this situation is prevailing, most of the citizens are not aware because it cannot be observed openly or easily (Dimitriou & Simos, 2013). Additionally, it has become very difficult for the citizens to understand the current situation and adopt ways of lives that may help the country out of this situation. Importantly, when the country maintains its position as the superpower, it has been established that the country has transformed negatively into a second-class country with regards to a number of aspects. A close analysis of the economic position indicates that the country is importing more goods and services than the total national exports made to other countries. Additionally, it has been noted that USA is selling its assets and increasing the debts in order to maintain the status quo in terms of the living standards and other sectors of development. As such, it is clear that the country cannot sustain the standards that have been prevalent for the last few decades. As such, it is evident that the selling of assets, increasing debts, and adding the importations were not the core aspects that made the country a superpower. However, it is the surest way of lobbing off the status from USA to become a dependent nation (Dodek, 2011). When focusing on the international arena and the competition it poses to USA, they plan to make the country dependent of their products, innovational capabilities, and financial assistance among other aspects centered in the respective countries. Importantly, the loss of financial self-reliance and the increasing challenges in the national security are long term ingredients of losing the superpower status as well as economic competence. Accor