Factors Influencing Decisions for Mobile Banking

Factors Influencing Decisions for Mobile Banking 5.1.0 Introduction If financial institutions are to successfully integrate new technology into their service delivery platform, it is essential that they should understand the impact of technology based delivery channels on customer perceptions and behaviour. The industry buzz has driven many financial and non-financial institutions in the Netherlands to take a tactical, just try something and get it up and running quickly approach to mobile banking and payments over the last decade. The research focused on the theoretical framework explored in chapter 3 discussing various constructs that affect users intention to adopt mobile phone banking and payments. The previous chapters have shade light on the major research question of this study which was as follows: what are the factors that could influence the use of mobile phone banking? Various variables such as self-efficacy, perceived cost, perceived risk, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use have been discussed and compared to the data analysis . The Netherlands shows different trends in adoption of mobile banking and payments, the population has all the requisites to implement mobile financial services but there are a number of hurdles that need to be overcome or taken into consideration by any financial institution wanting to setup such a venture. 5.2.0 Model Variables The intention to use mobile banking service is affected by a number of variables as discussed earlier. Speed has indirect influence on intention to use mobile banking. Consumers using mobile banking can perform the simple transactions easily and quickly. The variable speed implies that mobile banking and payment users seek a simple, easier and faster performance. Speed was one of the factors that users put on their wish list as a prerequisite for uptake of mobile banking. With advance of the 3G and 4G networks on newer mobile phone models makes speed a reality. Most users preferred to use SMS as it provides a speedier service. From the data analysis the respondents are not especially concerned with the number of functions provided by a mobile banking and payment functions. The above reason could be that simple functions may be enough for users to meet their mobile banking needs. Most banks in the Netherlands such as Rabobank, ING and ABN AMRO offer basic forms of mobile banking which range from simple transactions to complex tasks. Mobility access is an important feature of mobile banking and payment. This helps overcome time and space limitations of banking. It was obvious that respondents agreed with the importance of mobility access to mobile banking and payment. Perceived usefulness is another important variable that affect mobile banking and payments. There are very many alternatives /competitors to mobile banking in the Netherlands for users to choose from. Most users are reluctant to change their banking methods in the Dutch as they see no perceived usefulness in the mobile banking services provided by the financial institutions. One of the respondents views were as follows: Im choosing the bank which is safe and offer more attractive %. And I dont care about additional services, which are the plus, but not complementary. [sic] Perceived cost also has an impact on users intention to adopt mobile banking in the Netherlands. Mobile banking cannot compete in terms of lower costs. Consumers keeping funds in cash or in a pre-charged card e.g. Chipknip find it cheaper as compared to mobile banking. Most banks provide this service free for specific services. There is also the common end-user perception that many mobile payment solutions are fraught with insecurities. The above table 7 shows variables with negative effect on the adoption of mobile banking and payments in the Netherlands. Perceived cost, credibility, usefulness and risk were found to contribute to slow adoption of mobile banking and payments in the Netherlands. Other factors which come beyond the scope of this study will be discussed in the following sections. 5.3.0 General Issues relating to Mobile Banking and Payment adoption From the data analysis it can conclusively be deduced that mobile banking and payments in the Netherlands can only succeed when they extend the technology and behaviour consumers have already adopted and when their costs are in line with their benefits. The researcher asked the respondents who have mobile phones but dont use mobile banking and payment. The main reasons are as follows: They see no value. There are a number of alternative self-service channels like online banking, ATMs, cards (debit, credit, Chipknip) that allow consumers do most of their banking tasks by themselves already, it is not clear to many of them what additional benefits the mobile channel offers. This can be seen from the comments of one of the respondent as follows: Im choosing the bank which is safe and offer more attractive %. And I dont care about additional services, which are the plus, but not complementary. [sic] They do not know about it. When asked whether the respondents bank offered mobile banking, 26% said they do not know whether their bank even offers mobile banking services, or that they do not know enough about it. The researcher can conclude that retail banks mobile banking and payment marketing efforts in the Netherlands have been less effective. They dont think it is safe. 51% of the respondents agree that mobile banking and payments is risky. Risk could have a considerable effect on the adoption of mobile banking and payment. Most of the respondents still consider the plastic cards as the convenient method of settling their bills as they have never encountered any problems with them. Since there is low awareness and the fact that mobile banking is still in its early stage acceptance among the consumers has been very low. They think it is expensive. Confusion about the cost of mobile banking and payment is also another hurdle affecting its adoption. Each provider of mobile financial services comes up with their own cost structure. The researcher believes most consumers are not clear about what their bank will charge them or other financial institutions. It could be argued that price has certainly been an obstacle for mobile financial services to become a mass market application in The Netherlands. The reason given is that because it is quite expensive compared to other banking and payment methods, currently it is not adding any value for the customer. Users are young: according to the respondents, mobile banking adoption is highest among ages 21-35 year olds; these are young consumers, using their phones more for texting than talking. They are referred to as general Y. Many of them mobile banking is becoming a key criterion for where they choose to bank. Most of them said they conceived to switch banks if their bank does not offer mobile banking services. This generation Y is often described as the Mobile Generation because of their obsession with all things mobile and digital, and they are likely to embrace mobile banking and payment in large and ever growing numbers. It can be deduced from the data analysis that younger generations are now beginning to use banking services and traditional banking rules and behaviour may no longer apply. Cash, the first mover advantage: although the Netherlands has the highest debit card penetration in Europe, cash is still the preferred payment method of choice for almost all low-value transactions. There has been a push for more debit card transaction leading to the decrease in cash transactions. Various electronic purse initiatives have been pursued leading to one standard electronic chip-based purse called Chipknip. Its usage however is relegated to specific use cases e.g. parking machines, coffee machines and has not had a wide uptake in traditional retail environments, where it was intended to decrease the number of cash transactions for smaller ticket items. 5.3.1 Create awareness of useful applications among young consumers Mobile banking and payment still faces considerable hurdles in Europe, including consumers diverse mix of handsets and low adoption of mobile Internet services in general. But many financial institutions are shooting themselves in the foot by developing costly mobile banking services, only to launch them without a clear strategy, and then failing to promote them adequately. Remarkably, only a few banks like Rabobank, ING, ABN AMRO even mention mobile banking on their retail banking home pages. Banks and other financial institutions who want to encourage wider mobile banking adoption need to do the following: Firstly, broaden awareness Potential mobile banking users are confused about the benefits, the offer, the cost, the security, and the technology. More marketing needs to be emphasized before and after launching of these new innovations. One way which is easy and inexpensive vehicle for this is the financial institutions own Web site and within the online banking application. They should lay out relevant usage scenarios and use rich media like online video to educate potential users about scenarios where mobile banking and payment adds value. This could be very relevant in enabling the users be well informed about the new offerings and objectively weigh the perceived value over other channels. Secondly, targeted at the young technology-savvy online bankers The study has clearly shown that the mobile banking and payment is most popular among the young generation. As already indicated, most of them said they conceived to switch banks if their bank does not offer mobile banking services. This generation Y is often described as the Mobile Generation because of their obsession with all things mobile and digital, and they are likely to embrace mobile banking and payment in large and ever growing numbers. The typical early adopters according to this research are young males with above-average incomes who use the Internet daily. European banks and other financial institutions should think along these lines. Thirdly, focusing on simple applications with timely and location-relevant benefits What applications should banks and other financial institutions stress? Forrester research (2009), has long argued that to create compelling value for customers, companies should deliver mobile content that is timely, location-aware, and actionable. The first mobile banking services people in the Netherlands have adopted are simple and timely mobile services like balance checks and SMS alerts. It is important that mobile financial providers focus on simple transactions such as SMS about ATM locations, ticketing, parking, vending machines, customized video application (pay per view) among others. 5.4.0 Conclusion As discussed in Chapter 2, the literature review, the Netherlands are a typical giro country that heavily relies on the use of credit transfers and direct debits in retail banking and payments. It can also be reiterated that existing banking and payment methods (e.g., cash, cards) already meets consumer needs. In order to persuade consumers to change their behaviours the offerings will need to have some essential benefits over currently available alternatives: more convenient, cheaper, quick, secure and efficient. In Europe and specifically the Netherlands, there is a strong interest by key stakeholders in making mobile banking and payment successful. Exploring the factors influencing the use and adoption of mobile banking and payments is quite important for the key stakeholders who might need to improve and validate their services in order to satisfy more customers and eventually make profits. The research adopted TAM in the Netherlands context to investigate the research questions and achieve the objectives. It can be concluded that the research constructs of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived risk, convenience, speed, cost and self-efficacy were successfully used to explain the variance in the intention to use mobile banking and payments in the Netherlands. In order to attract mass market banks and service providers should improve the quality of these services. To take advantage of consumer willingness to use new mobile banking and payment mechanisms, the banks and financial institutions of devices enabled for mobile payment at the physical POS must be able to support mobile transactions that are convenient and easy to use to compete with plastic cards. The Dutch consumers are aware that they have alternatives and they are also more sensitive to security and privacy issues. Mobile banking and payment scenarios can enhance security and privacy. However , if consumers perceive that mobile banking and payment potentially involves loss of privacy, they will not accept it. 5.5.0 Recommendations The study has revealed that there is no compelling value attached to mobile banking and payments in the Netherlands to warrant mass market adoption. Amid the excitement and hype surrounding mobile financial services in the Netherlands, the question remains as to how these offerings will achieve mass market, especially in light of the fact that most of the Dutch find their current banking and payment options quite satisfactory. A number of factors have been pointed out from data analysis that hinder mass market adoption of mobile baking and payments in the Netherlands such as cost, low perceived value, density of banks, security and privacy issues, credibility, lack of cooperation among the stakeholders and the general Dutch banking and payment culture. Most of the Dutch are currently comfortable with their current offerings. In order to persuade customers to change their behaviour in the Netherlands which is always a difficult proposition and embrace mobile banking and payments, the offerings will need to have some essential benefits over the currently available alternatives. There are a number of new niches that financial providers should consider and which are experiencing positive response such as ticketing, vending machines, transport, loyalty programs, coupons, and ringtones among others. There is a huge potential in the Netherlands which has not been tapped, there are all ingredients for successful deployment of mobile banking and payment such as high penetration of mobile phones, high literacy levels, good infrastructure and high speed Internet connectivity all when combined with positive consumer attitude can easily turn a mobile financial service into a mass market. In order to determine whether a new offering represents a market opportunity, financial institutions should consider projected ma rket size, the maturity and complexity of the offering, and the number of stakeholder relationships that the institutions will be required to manage, this has always been one of the hurdles in successful implementation of mobile financial services. Mobile banking and payment, as has been demonstrated in this study, has gained non-negligible relevance for banks and other financial institutions today. For example, developments in the banking sector, e.g. increased competition on account of technological developments coupled with the process of globalisation have produced new challenges for banks. Mobile Banking therefore, presents an opportunity for banks to retain their existing, technology-savvy customer base by offering value-added and innovative services which might even help attracting new customers. 5.6.0 Research Limitations This study was conducted to find the factors influencing intentions to adopt mobile banking services in the Netherlands. As such, there is still room for further investigation into the adoption of mobile banking services especially focusing on other aspects apart from the consumers. There are some limitations associated with this study. The main focus of the research model cannot conclusively explain whether there is a market for mobile banking and payments in the Netherlands. The variables self-efficacy, perceived cost, perceived risk, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use only focuses on the consumer but in reality there are many stakeholders in the market who also need to be investigated such as the government regulations, interoperability, competition, infrastructure and technology among other factors. Another limitation could be the type of respondents utilized in the research. In as much as the study utilized questionnaire, most of the respondents were from Maastricht which might not be a representative of the mobile banking and payments consumer population in the whole Netherlands. The researcher had limited time and resources to explore the general Netherlands population. It can also be stated that the researcher was also biased to the student community in Maastricht as they were more likely to use and adopt mobile banking and payment. The participants were randomly selected which helped reduce bias towards the research outcome thereby increasing the credibility of the feedback. 5.7.0 Future Research It will be interesting to investigate the kind of result similar studies would produce in other Western European nations in modelling users attitude towards mobile banking and payments. Since the introduction of the European Union and Euro currency it could be interesting to investigate what factors could be hindering the uptake of mobile banking and payment in other Euro member countries. Mobility and one currency could be a key reason to undertake similar studies in the European Union for mass market adoption. A further study could also be carried out to investigate the role of other stakeholders such as merchants, government, banks and mobile operators among others in influencing the adoption of mobile banking services among the consumers. The role of government is considered as one of the most important contributing factors to the slow uptake of mobile financial services. Further research is required here. Since Mobile banking and payment is still relatively new in the Netherlands, more research needs to be carried out to measure the actual adoption rate of mobile banking and payments. Consumer behaviours and technology are not static; they keep on evolving hence more research need to be carried out to establish the adoption trends over time which can be used to predict the future that will be useful especially for potential investors.

Globalization and its impact on the Public Sector Essay

INTRODUCTION Globalization can be seen as a new phase of internationalization of forcing companies and countries reciprocally depend on degrees in the past. Here you can have globalization as the third phase of the internationalization of markets, the first of these phases properly called internationalization, ranging from late nineteenth century to the First World War, in which no economic sovereignty and international exchange – and the second phase of Globalization, which runs from the end of World War II until about seventy years, time in which multinational companies begin to operate on a truly global basis (Peter, 2006). With the globalization of the modern world, businesses and government entities are forced to confront their results beyond its borders, in the fields of production quality and public administration, being necessary to rethink traditional management schemes within organizations. High competition forces that improve the quality of products and services and modernize the processes required must necessarily create a culture of modernity and innovation, on the staff of the entities in the public and private sector. The goal of globalization is no longer penetration neighboring market, but world trade, and standardizing it is the best instrument to achieve new trade realities. Thus, this brings to light what is public administration, since it is closely linked to what is trade and market. _DISCUSSION_ Administrators agree perceive the organizational environment as uncertain and turbulent of increasing complexity, and draw attention to the shape or style of thinking required to address more effectively the change phenomena. At present, the intensity and speed of global changes in the economic and social environment determines the need to know in advance the direction you point these changes and megatrends. The major changes are slow to form and once installed, its influence is felt for a long time in individuals and organizations. In terms of some management specialists, the adaptability of the organization and therefore their ability to survive depends on its ability to learn and act upon the changeable environmental conditions. In understanding the phenomena that affect the public-private sphere, the State-Society is the major element in understanding the context in which hatch and informational processes and flows of the social world are developed. The State in its historic role as sociopolitical computer centralizer actions and decisions of socio-economic and cultural development of a country, is characterized by being constituted by institutional relevance actors: political parties and groups, trade unions, universities, media communication, among others, all active and engaged in the debate of major national issues participants. In this context, information channels are open and thus in the debate and discussion agendas are present from major structural changes to the discussion of basic problems of society, creating an interaction between all actors identified (Peters, 2001). From the change in the political system two elements characterize the new process: the role of the state comes into question, and the discussion focuses on the redefinition of it. Moreover, the market emerges as a new player with that also produces a redefinition of public-private relationships. The private sector breaks into many fields hitherto proprietary state action, the most notorious health, education and social security, resulting in double circuits of information: public and private. Radical changes in the early affect state-society relations are produced.  The state is directing its own administrative decentralization process and starts a new institutional framework. All these situations create new information flows in new directions and to new target groups. Centralized information becomes part of the State surpassed role. The legitimacy of the information is questionable and of course the reliability of it is also debatable. However, the changes that occur within the state and therefore in society begin to produce positive impacts on productivity levels, service efficiency, technological upgrade that streamlines the bureaucratic processes and a series of other events in the reformulation of the role of the state is designated as a profound reshaping of the state apparatus and at the same time, a substantial improvement of the State, as being able to regulate the production and processing of lead in achieving social equity. _Changes in Management Due to Globalization_ Within this perspective comes hard on the concept of intelligence, applied to the social field in general as well as to a particular organization. Concept defined as the ability to understand and even anticipate the behavior of the various environmental factors that affect or influence negatively or positively the development of a program or project. This advance knowledge is a prerequisite for organizing and planning the activities of organizations and individuals, in order to anticipate, minimize or neutralize impact or influence of changes in the internal activities of the organization and its relations with the surrounding frame of reference . Some organizations have the ability to adapt quickly to change, naturally occurring in the joints between the various work areas. It allows them to survive in the turbulent environment, among other conditions, your creativity or ability to conceive and imagine alternatives and new solutions beyond the traditional frames or thought patterns (Farazmand, 2012). The organization ceases to be regarded as a mechanism and tends to be conceived as a living organism, endowed with intelligence. In this context we can speak of a corporate intelligence internally structure the organizations and allows them to react to changes in their environment also based on the use of information. Such organizations, also known as the third type–enterprises, the authors G. Archier and H Serieyx have the following characteristics: Be constantly alert to events in the environment. Have organizational structures and rules that ensure flexibility and speed of adaptation. Individuals and groups articulate the organization and contribute to their full potential. Each member of the organization is constantly exposed to market pressures and customer expectations. The organization’s projects are conceived, shared and accepted by all members of the organization. The work structures are focused on problems without choking the hierarchy. The organization ensures each official smart, useful, challenging work, also investing in the continuing education of staff. _Productive Transformation Process_ The marked acceleration of scientific and technological change brings many challenges in the economic field, the need for flexibility from the production system to make competitive adjustments, to expand trade by way of differentiation. Each country must seek to create in the international market its own space on the basis of new technologies (Farazmand, 2004). In the field of production of goods and services, the world is in one of the greatest moments of innovation and change, based on the knowledge-defined as the most expensive of the products of the modern era. Knowledge management supported by advances in information, computing and communications, offers possibilities of radical change, creating opportunities for new technologies, competitiveness, new markets. In the public sector, production processes undergo changes to adapt to the new demands generated by the private sector in those areas in which the State assumed key roles in development. The scope, variety and extent of the changes, which are generated in the information sector, the new organizational paradigms, should trigger an intensive process of studies and research in the area, so as to make the necessary adjustments in the production processes of information current and / or, when necessary, to design new components in these processes (James Van, 2004). Oriented training human resources policy focuses on the essential aspects of productive transformation: growth and equity. The training of human resources in this context should also increase productivity, support worker flexibility to adapt to the changing needs of the productive sector. Technology policy should aim at strengthening the productive transformation policies and strengthen national and regional innovation system. Must be well integrated with the industrial, agricultural, educational and trade policy. You can achieve your goals if a suitable economic and social environment, since the innovation process has a systemic character and requires several interrelated elements. The strategic dialogue, as proposed by ECLAC, comprises a set of explicit and implicit reaching agreements between the state and the main political and social actors around the productive transformation with equity, and also about the consequences policy and institutional innovations needed to achieve it. The economic transformation strategy posed ECLAC is conceived as part of the conditions of the international economy in the outer and maintaining macroeconomic stability, development financing, maintaining  social cohesion and consolidation of democratic processes within (Gareth, 1988). _Transforming the Work Environment_ Associated with global changes in the organizational structures should be considered external factors: economic, social, political, technological and other as competition, labor market, etc. Such administrative language in examining the opportunities and threats presented by the environment to the organization and its members, comprising also analyze the implications that the forces of change are internal work processes in the organization. The work environment is undergoing major changes due to the impact of external factors among other aspects of the new objectives that organizations are posed by the internationalization of the same, the transition from production companies to utilities, the need for human resources in technologies, by increasing interrelationships of public and private sector, etc. It is argued that the technological revolution affects the levels of employment, working conditions and social organization and the application of computer science, robotics and other automation involving a small group of overspecialized workers and a large number of unqualified workers. However, the forces of change can also arise within the organization or individuals that compose themselves. The work environment of the organization is under pressure from those who want change and those who oppose tenaciously (Robert, 2009). The organization must adapt or fundamentally change strategies and plans created for different situations and contexts. In this scenario, the training of human resources is a must for the new management style component. Learning new technologies and developing new skills conducive to the efficient performance of individuals can not be absent from any policy to improve the work environment. While it is not the intent of this document describe enter multiple situations affecting the organizational structure and respective management approaches in solving  problems, mainstreaming workplace transformation aims to support the understanding of the issues new organizational forms, examining the competitive environment, adaptation to the new, the educational needs of human resources and the occurrence of the information sector in all strategies of the organization. _CONCLUSION_ Globalisation has catalysed the need to accelerate public sector reforms in developing countries and the need to set up correctly-working institutions. The time is ripe for reform. The challenge will be to adapt the model to different social, economic, political, legal and cultural contexts. REFERENCES Farazmand (2012), â€Å"Chaos and Transformation Theories: Implications for Organization Theory.† _Public Organization Review_ 3(4)/2003: 339-372; James Van (2004). â€Å"Resistance to Change and the Language of Public Organizations:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ _Public Organization Review_ 4 (1): 47-74. Farazmand (2004). â€Å"Innovation in Strategic Human Resource Management: Building Capacity in the Age of Globalization.† _Public Organization Review_ 4 (1): 3-24. Gareth Morgan (1988). _Riding the Waves of Change._ San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass (HR). Robert Golembiwski (2009). _Handbook of Organizational Behavior_, new edition. NY: Marcel Dekker. French and Bell (1999). _Organization Development_ Englewood Cliff, NJ: Prentice-Hall (HR). Connor and lake, _Managing Organizational Change_, 2nd ed. (1994) Peters, Guy (2001). _The Future of Governing_, 2nd ed., or the latest. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas PressSenge. Peter (2006). _The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of Learning Organization._ NY: Random House/Garden City, NY: Doubleday.Skinner, B.F. (1948, 1986, 2005), _Walden Two_ (small paperback–$2-3 online), Hackett Publisher.

Micro Economics

We stand in the beginning of the twenty first century with new groups in positions of great power within our economic. One would think that, with this peak strength, American man would be secure, ready to move forward. An uncertainty, however, seems to be besetting us. We are unsure of ourselves. Internally, we are ill at ease and suspect one another – so much so that sometimes we seem can forget our fundamental belief in the dignity of mankind. People enjoy a standard of living, but often we do not enjoy life. People are mobile in their cars and can see the whole world in television. Yet people are not sure where they want to go or what they want to see. Modern world baffles people, and we do not know how to turn our knowledge into creative expression both as a nation and as individual citizens. Such a situation, if to continue, is in danger of in the end to sap our viability. Unless people try to understand the fundamental nature of our society as interrelated systems of power – economic, business, political, and moral – we can misunderstand our mission in this world. I believe that the mission of every person is to establish a great civilization on this continent and to create peace and security for mankind. Therefore, the fulfilment of my aspirations for effective and moral living is, and must be forever, a never ending business. My life must be a business. It is the most important business I will ever be responsible forever. I will face challenges and risks with little or no planning. Economics is a kaleidoscope that touches all aspects of the business of living. According to several reports issued by the Small Business Administration (SBA), the single most dominant reason businesses fail is directly attributable to a lack of planning. This paper is intended to build my life’s economic plan. It will consider issues of wants and needs, supply and demand, long term employment probability, unexpected economic challenges, and what I believe the economic future to be and how I will adapt to it. Planning I can use the terms â€Å"plans† and â€Å"planning† to many different aspects of my everyday life. One use of the term â€Å"plan† I will use to describe a procedure for achieving a particular goal or desired outcome. For example, when somebody asks me â€Å"So, what's the plan?† I think of a set of directions to guide my thoughts and actions. That is, I create the directions on what to do and when to do it, and this in turn might tell me those things that are most important and those things to consider. Ideally, my plan should be complete. That is, the contents and ordering satisfactorily accomplishes the goal. The plan should be efficient and foolproof. The instructions of the plan should be easy to memorize, monitor and execute, with little chance of things going wrong (Morris 99). However, in my daily life, plans may still be useful without offering explicit guidance or instructions. A map of the new city or an architect's diagram detailing the layout of a house may also be correctly referred to as plans. However, these plans provide a representation or overview of a project or problem, rather than a set of directions. A clear understanding of the current state and what should to be done, together with awareness of the different means and methods at my disposal may greatly facilitate the efficacy of achieving my goals. Through using planning and strategies, a chosen subset of new alternatives may be found more quickly and more efficiently than would be the case if I used only pure trial or error, or if I regularly investigated each and every possibility in turn. Many theories of planning propose that the first stage is to form a suitable mental representation of the goals. The representation may include the initial state and the goal state as well as a range of possible actions that could be taken (Morris 123). Planning tips, strategies and tactics are known as heuristics and algorithms. My planning involves intended actions to be taken in the future, motivational control may be needed in order to carry them out appropriately. My planning is subdivided into four sections: first, a number of key goals are introduced; second, SWOT analysis is introduced; third, short summary descriptions are provided outlining the main themes and issues to emerge from the savings planning; fourth,   a view on the nature of man as consumer is presented. Goals I have specific goals that consistently pursue. There are a mixture of goals and success factors which are important to the achievement of my goals. True goals are probably confined to the first three categories. Long term employment Profitability Growth Of these three the one of primary importance to me is profitability. From my perspective this could be more specifically defined as Return. Growth and Long term employment are pursued to the extent that they yield a long term benefit in terms of Return. After graduating I am going to be a manager employed by a company. How do I as a manager make my decisions? Perhaps these decisions can be better appreciated by setting up a scenario and observing the behavior patterns of a manager of a factory. Let us suppose that the factory is part of a corporate empire in which top management is ensconced in a big city office and middle management runs the factories located somewhere in the hinterlands, far from the lights, fun, and frolic of the big city. Suppose that I am a middle-level manager of a factory that makes widgets along with an assortment of other products. I have both production and marketing responsibilities and report to a president who is held accountable for the overall operation of the factory by those in the corporate headquarters. In the game of Musical Chairs, the winner lasts as long as it takes to set up the chairs, turn the record over, and play a new round. And in the game of King of the Hill, one remains king for as long as he can fend off new attacks. There is a transient aspect to positions of power that is true in children's games of fun and in adults' games of life. Nevertheless, whether a king is attempting to maximize the profits of his company or trying to maximize his longevity in power, somewhere in the king's organization, there are middle-level managers. These aspirants to power have not yet risen in position to dream of toppling the king. They are still in the Musical Chairs stage of development. While biding their time until they are in a high enough position to try and topple the king, which may never come about for some, they have to think about something else to justify their jobs. And there is no better justification for a job than thinking about the profitability of the company. What this means is that, while top management and the members of the board may be taking a more tangential view of profitability, there is someone in the organization looking at the price of goods in the marketplace, the cost of making goods on the factory floor, and the inventory of finished goods in the warehouse. That person is making, or recommending, some important decisions: 1. Expanding or contracting production 2. Raising or lowering prices 3. Building a new plant or closing an existing one These are certainly important decisions if one is a worker employed by this company. The development and implementation of good system for a business will be a task for a manager. This involves a mixture of techniques and technologies. Related to this development and implementation process is the proper planning and leadership needed to identify and organize modern technology. Also, there is the cultural aspect. This aspect promotes an atmosphere of community and intelligence sharing among company employees. In its intention to get the required resources for its future success, the manager creates and then implements management practices that encourage new technology. In order to better understand the mixture of techniques and technologies used in the development and implementation of business system, the following four basic elements are recapped below (Hoctor 78): 1. upgrading current information systems to tie in with smart business system 2. employing data storage to its fullest extent for optimization. The focus is on using appropriate aged data and real-time data 3. utilizing smart business software for optimizing a company’s operations today as well as in the future 4. making great use of computer networking in particular on E-commerce In modern world, the creation of good system for business is leading the way to optimizing a company’s operations in quality control for changing times. Not only is computer technological innovations are changing more quickly each day, but also are business demands. Managers are being pressed to respond to customer needs. They also face competitive threats in days and weeks instead of months or years. Products and services that could wait for 6 to 12 months just a few years ago today need to get out the door in a much shorter period of time. And it is not just multinational companies or global organizations that are being pressed with shortening time frames. Almost any business, from a small firm up to the world’s largest corporation, is at risk of being replaced by a more quick-witted, E-business-enabled rival. The success of businesses will be estimated by how well managers have developed E-business applications to distinguish themselves from the competition. Therefore, how well the managers can respond to changing times is important factor for its success. Systems for a business can be the means to meet these fast changing times for a modern company. SWOT analysis SWOT is a widely used thinking framework for identifying Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It enables key factors to be visibly recorded as a high level summary of personal (or a business) situation. It is a summary that is simple but powerful. The technique can be used to document the key factors arising from the review of a particular project or business, through looking at the Opportunities and Threats it faces in the wider world. The SWOT summary may be used to consolidate key issues identified through other forms of analysis (Elkin 90). The uncertain world of the consumer Not all the money may be spent. Some may be saved. Savings will be important to me because we live in a world of uncertainty. The uncertainty aspect that worries me most might be death, but a close second is unemployment. Unemployment is a consequence of a free market environment in which employers not only are free to dismiss, lay off, or in other ways terminate employees but also are forced to do so by the workings of the free market itself. If a factory makes a product, and if for any number of diverse reasons that product cannot be sold, at some point the factory owner must reduce the factory's output. If he does not dismiss any workers, the factory owner is paying for workers who are producing goods that are not being sold. This is a cash outflow at the same time when he is not selling his product. Consequently, there is no revenue from sales to generate a cash inflow to counterbalance the cash outflow. What is his choice with regard to laying off his workers? Does he even have a choice? The answer is no. Thus, savings are necessary to provide some sort of cushion, a security blanket, a nest egg for the bad times. Savings are my safety net to protect myself when things turn against me. Savings have little to do with the running of a communist society. The economic philosophy behind communism is that the state will take on all the burdens of an individual such that he is never exposed to risk of any kind (Dunning 56). Housing, food, medical care, education, you-name-it -these are all the responsibility of the state. The communist system does not expect that an individual has to save, as he would in the free market system, because all aspects of personal security are guaranteed by the state. However, it must be noted that individuals in communist nations do save. Sometimes it is to accumulate the funds necessary to make a major purchase, such as an automobile. Sometimes the act of saving is a default condition in that there is nothing on the shelves that a consumer wants to buy. Saving then reflects the inability to spend. Perhaps this best illustrates the fundamental difference between the two economic systems. In one, a consumer saves because of the inability to guarantee a secure income. In the other, a person saves because of the inability to be a consumer. The philosophic underpinnings of the free market system assume that man is basically an unhappy and dissatisfied individual who abhors work (Dunning 90). People work for one basic reason: if they don't, the alternative is to starve to death in a dark, cold room. Relatively few people find satisfaction in work. Most work is tedious, repetitious, and boring. The primary incentive to man a machine is to earn some money to feed one's family, keep clothes on their backs, provide a roof over their heads, and keep the rooms lighted and warm. Because the very nature of the free market system hardly inspires confidence in the future, man as consumer saves a portion of his pay for a rainy day. The amount that he saves varies from individual to individual and depends on a number of issues. Among these are the extent of his present savings, his possession of material things, the general direction of prices, the relationship between the interest he receives on his savings and the effect of inflation on the price of goods, and his confidence in holding onto his job. While these are the more important considerations one takes into account in determining how much to save, one consideration overrides all others. That consideration is confidence. Possession of material things The desire to possess material things influences spending habits. If a person feels that he is behind, so to speak, on the possession of material things with respect to his peers, he will have a general tendency to. When people see the unemployment lines getting shorter and the want ads for jobs becoming more common, their attitude toward spending becomes more positive. Good times begin as soon as unemployment rates start decreasing. Even with continued high unemployment, the fact that things are getting better permeates the thinking of consumers. If unemployment rates are decreasing, and if one has a job, then the chances of being laid off are nil. The worst is over, and it is time to forget the bad times. Declining unemployment means that the security associated with a job is going to be much greater than during times of increasing unemployment. One can afford to be a bit more profligate than during less auspicious times. As the economy falters because sales are collapsing, fear of losing one's own job makes one more cautious in his spending habits. This is in the best interests of me – spend less, save more, and add to the nest egg in case things get even worse. References Dunning, John H. (2001). Global Capitalism at Bay? Rutledge: London. Elkin, Paul. (1998). Mastering Business Planning and Strategy: The Power of Strategic Thinking. Thorogood: London. Hoctor, James J. (2003). Smart Business Systems for the Optimized Organization. Praeger: Westport, CT. Morris, Robin. (2004). The Cognitive Psychology of Planning. Psychology Press: Hove, England.

Building A Foundation For Health Promotion Essay - 1277 Words

1. Partner with patients and other health care professionals to provide primary health care through health promotion, protection, and restoration, and end of life care. When we are signed patients for our shift we are not only concerned about what the patient can provide us with about their health care, but we are looking at everything that the health care team has addressed and documented. When it relates to understanding the health concern we must understand the patient and their social network to establish a foundation for health promotion. Health promotion is meant to protect the patient and keep health services going in a positive direction. Protection is utilized in many ways. Examples of this are written policies, consents and dignity for our patients. Protection allows the patient to speak freely about their health concerns. By doing so we have a greater understanding of their needs. Restoration is another step to completion of what we have set out to improve the health care of others. This also is seen with end of life care. Every area needs to be addressed with a plan of care based on interventions and outcomes. 2. Apply the nursing process, based on current knowledge and theory, to provide holistic care directly or indirectly to diverse patients across varied environments. Nursing process is taught to us to help patients from the very start. That starts at admissions and all the areas of health care until we reach discharge. 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