The current Shipbuilding market in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The current Shipbuilding market in China - Essay Example The chief products of the Chinese ship manufacturing consist of large sized carriers and oil tankers. China has 70 shipyards that have the capacity to erect ocean gliding vessels. CSSC and CSIC are the main (Schuster, A M.H 2000).ship constructing giants. By 2005, the ship manufacturing authority; COSTICN announced ambitious schemes for the evolution of the Chinese ship designing industry that, the industry is scheduled to control twenty five percent of the bazaar share in 2010 and ultimately five years later, the projection that China would dominate as the world’s ship constructing nation with respect to tonnages. The contemplations anticipated 24 millions DWT; the analogous control of 35% of the market share. CSSC, the largest shipbuilding category, have committed $ 3.5 billion to enhance a modern shipping base in Chanxing isle of Shanghai. After the accomplishment of CSSC, Changxing would emerge as the leading ship building company world over. Future projections hold the ax iom of thinking that by 2015, three large ship construction centers of the Chinese shipbuilding industry are to be constructed. (Schuster, A M.H 2000). The shipping industry in china is a fundamental monetary domain for China’s very existence. For quite along time, the industry has been the main foreign exchange earner for China. China ship construction entry into the international market commenced in 1978. The industry has proved successful for the last 26 years. On the fourth year of the 21st century, China’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was at 1.65 trillions, and as such it was positioned number seven globally, (Hutchins, J.G.B 1941). If rating is anything to go by, then China is the only developing country to feature among the top ten nations globally, in terms of GDP. For the last 25 years, the Chinese economy has maintained a high growth tempo, which is relatively at 9.4 percent per annum. With the impeccable statistics, it is therefore true that China is the

Internet gambling Essay Example for Free

Internet gambling Essay Gambling online is growing exponentially, without the protection of reliable regulatory structures that ensure age and identity verification, the integrity/fairness of the games, or that responsible gaming features are included on a site. In a poorly regulated Internet environment, this study investigates gambling on twenty online sites. Content analysis was utilised to evaluate whether the sample displayed responsible gambling features. In the absence of established, agreed, regulatory evaluation criteria, the researchers constructed their own, based on examples of good practice on available websites and following the recommendations of the Gambling Review Report 2001 and the Gambling Act 2005. The primary findings suggest that most online gambling sites are responsible and most show elements of good practice, which is of interest given the unregulated environment and absence of policing. While some features are derived from conventional gambling policies and regulatory influences, some are unique to the special ethical risks of gambling on line. Web designers and commissioning organisations appear to have anticipated social criticisms by incorporating guards against unethical outcomes before regulatory controls have been imposed. As the impossibility of regulating/controlling the Internet is a common cliche in many commentators’ analysis, this self regulation and willingness to refrain from taking revenue from vulnerable punters, is intriguing. The authors recommend further research to establish an accurate picture, including the size and characteristics of the UK online gambling market. Secondly, to study and compare online gambling with more traditional forms of gambling in terms of underage and problem gambling. More studies need to investigate which forms of responsible gambling are most effective in reducing underage and problem gambling. Lastly, the response of the industry to legislation and micro regulation would be a guide for policy makers and responsible industry practitioners. Introduction Since the increased popularity of Internet access into homes and workplaces in the early nineties, Internet gambling opportunities have expanded at a surprisingly swift pace and more people are gambling online (Wood, Williams and Lawton, 2007). The unregulated nature and uncontrollability of the Internet, with low or no tax gambling, have created a perfect environment for the proliferation of gambling (Crist and Yeager, 1998). Anyone, anytime, anywhere with a computer, a connection, and a credit card can gamble at hundreds of different online gambling websites. Recent statistics state there are as many as 2,500 gambling websites currently operating; consisting of 1,083 online casinos, 592 sports and race-books, 532 poker rooms, 224 online bingo sites, 49 skill game sites, 30 betting exchanges, 25 lottery sites and 17 backgammon sites (Casino City, 2006). Gamcare (2008) state that the number of Internet gambling websites is approximately 3,000. By 12 September 2007, the Gambling Commission had received only 146 applications for operating licences that include provision for online gambling, a minute proportion of the 2,500 sites worldwide. Internet gambling revenues in a single year were $651 million in 1998, more than double the estimated $300 million from 1997 (Sinclair,1999). Further, the global Internet gambling industry is forecast to grow from about $9,000 million in 2004 to $25,000 million in 2010 (European Commission, 2006). If the estimated figures are accurate, then the importance of Internet gambling will continue to rise. Gambling presents a large set of negative social consequences and online gambling has its own challenges beyond those of gambling in general; introducing many new potential problems and rekindling many old ones (Griffiths,1999). Internet and land based casinos have problems detecting and deterring addicted gamblers. Even with the opportunity presented to physically verify age in conventional gambling outlets, no gambling jurisdiction is 100% effective in keeping out underage gambling (Gambling Online Magazine, 2004). It is feared that the anonymity offered by the Internet will exacerbate this problem. Computer-based systems allow gamblers to self-exclude or establish loss limits and may stand a better chance of being effective than the current systems in most conventional casinos. Whilst a determined gambler can move from site to site, reports of players’ activities can be made readily available with contact details for bodies that aim to assist those with problem gambling issues. However, offline and online operators other than those regulated in the UK, do not collect information about a customer’s financial situation, spending or habits, for both practical and protection of privacy reasons. A person who has developed a problem must identify it themselves and take their own constructive steps to deal with it. Operators only train staff to help those who believe they have a problem and approach customer services. Presently there is no comprehensive research or definitive standard as to how to identify someone who has developed a gambling problem. The prevailing view is that it is the minority of players who develop gambling problems. The current regulatory response to this issue is influenced by this perspective (EGBA, 2007). The Growth of Internet Gambling Several factors have contributed to the growth of online gambling. †¢ Internet access has increased globally and technologies that drive the Internet have improved. Confidence in conducting financial transactions online has increased and some governments have licensed online operators within their borders. †¢ The personal computer extends the range of choice. Land-based casinos dictate which games are available to players. Online gambling lets players move through cyberspace to play the games they prefer. †¢ The Internet provides the highest level of anonymity for conducting gambling. The more pervasive concern has been that the Internet attracts people away from person-to-person contact, fostering alienation and real-world disconnection (Boase, 2006). †¢ The costs of establishing online sites are considerably less than those of land-based gambling operations. Flatt (1998) has estimated as little as $135,000. Problem Gambling The ability to gamble anonymously provides problem gamblers with a safe haven without physical scrutiny or surveillance (Scharf and Corrin, 2002). Problem gambling is categorised as an addiction. A severe disorder characterised by obsessive thoughts of gambling, a loss of control, often involving lying and stealing in order to recover gambling losses. As well as other negative consequences (Netemeyer,1998). Specific to Internet Gambling is the role that technology contributes to alteration in gambling habits (Griffiths, 1999). There are no regulated opening times, as exercised by terrestrial operations. It has been argued that there is an ‘exodus from reality’, in the sense that gambling online does not involve ‘real cash’. A gambler may lose control as he or she cannot see a money balance and does not suffer a physical loss. Online gambling loses the social aspect of gambling creating the disadvantage that there are no friends or peers to discourage a gambler from going too far (Griffiths, 1999). Underage Gambling. There is a high priority of protecting children from online gambling, considered more addictive than conventional forms of gambling, because of young people’s familiarity with and access to computer-based technologies (Conway and Koehler, 2000). They have a perception of control resulting from their skills honed playing PlayStation or interactive video games, and may have a false sense of security boosted by their fluency (Mackay, 2004). Another concern is that underage gamblers have easy access to sites and to forms of gambling, from which they otherwise would be excluded by conventional outlets. Many sites offer a ‘demo’ mode, i.e. play without wagering money. It is suspected that ‘demo’ games may give very good odds. Adolescents who are successful on these games could develop a habit which continues when they reach adulthood and are legally permitted to gamble for money, when the odds are no longer so favourable (Mackay, 2004). Regulation Gambling in its various forms is often seen as a deeply-rooted trait of the human activity, which although a source of gratification for many and not innately immoral, can cause harm to individuals. Gambling has long been subject to regulation by governments, reflecting moral, religious and political mores. A pragmatic motivation for such regulation is to generate revenue, which might result in a conflict of interest in regulatory regimes, as the industry grows. The objective of regulation can vary from protecting consumers by ensuring the probity and integrity of the gambling operators and the purging of fraud and abuse of criminal activities, such as money laundering, to reduction of the social cost of problem gambling. There is a gap in the literature concerning the efficacy of regulation. Regulation of online gambling is a comparatively new phenomenon and it is too early to measure its effectiveness. There are debates about appropriate licensing frameworks, legal and technical standards for operators and cover issues, such as protection of customer funds, continuous and repetitive play and intervention to tackle problem gambling. Methodology Content analysis, adopted for this study, has been defined as a systematic, replicable technique for compressing many words of text into fewer content categories based on explicit rules of coding (Krippendorff, 1980). Content analysis has four key advantages: †¢ it is unobtrusive †¢ it is flexible and applicable to unstructured materials †¢ it is context sensitive. †¢ it can be applied to large amounts of data. The lack of research applying content analysis to websites is partially a result of the complexity of Internet information, in particular; the definition of a website, the unit of analysis and the method of sampling. A major problem in conducting Internet content analysis is related to defining the term ‘website. ’ With a large volume of information on a website, it becomes unworkable to analyse the whole website. Therefore, parts of the website, the units of analysis, must be chosen for evaluation. In addition to size, websites differ in purpose, structure and content, therefore selecting a unit of analysis consistently across all samples is highly problematic (Ha and James, 1998). Coding an entire website is difficult and can introduce bias based on size. Selecting the unit of analysis is not an easy task as the volume of data can overwhelm the researcher. In this study the first step was to decide on the sample. The sample consisted of the top twenty most popular online gambling sites visited in Britain, according to: †¢ www. gambling. com, †¢ www. cam-orl. co. uk. Internet-betting-online. html and †¢ www. ukcasinoguide.org. uk . The sites were accessed and coded during a period of three days, in February 2006. The term website was applied on a general level, defined as a collection of pages or files linked together and available online. The unit of analysis was the homepage, plus drill downs. The study attempted to limit the analysis to the homepage. However, it was decided that the content available on a homepage was too limited and did not necessarily reflect the breadth and scope of content available on the whole website. The study experimented with gambling sites. A commonality of approaches indicated prima facie industry norms. The study observed evidence of good practice. The content of the websites was evaluated by characteristics providing factual information and of responsible gambling. The coding template was based on possible features associated with each of the two categories and was used to record the content of each website, within the unit of analysis. Ratings were based on how difficult it was to locate information. More drill downs meant the information was harder to find and scored a lower rating. It was believed that the more easily located and extensive the information, the more an online gambling operator was committed to responsible gambling. Reliability and Validity The reliability of a study involving content analysis refers to the stability and reproducibility of the results (Stemler, 2001). Stability requires researchers to code the data consistently. According to Weber (1990), concerns regarding reliability often stem from the ambiguity of word meanings, category definitions, or other coding rules. The validity of a study involving content analysis is determined by the extent to which the definitions (included in the tool) reflect the sub-categories. The validity of categories is enhanced by the inclusion of many words to arrive at the same judgment. For example, the words gambling and betting were considered interchangeable. One of the primary reasons to conduct content analysis is to collect objective information. Therefore, the study ensured that the procedure was clearly laid out and defined. It was consistently applied to the sample. The following three steps were taken to enhance the reliability and validity of the study’s findings and to ensure that the information gathered was objective. First, to enhance the reliability of the results, after the tool was applied to the website, the coder re-coded the website on the same day to ensure accuracy. Second, the coding scheme was tested to ensure the suitability of the categories and the overall reliability of the tool. It was important that the list of variables was exhaustive and mutually exclusive in order to avoid any confusion. Lastly, to improve the validity of the results, the definitions were reviewed and expanded to ensure that there was an exhaustive list of words for each sub-category where applicable. For example, for the sub-category ‘Addiction Help,’ words such as ‘problem gambling,’ ‘concerns about gambling,’ were included in the coding guidelines to broaden the category, allowing the coder to capture the data. Findings Considering the large amount of data collected, only the criteria of responsible gambling were analysed intensively. These are illustrated in Table 1. The key areas of concern, underage gambling and problem gambling are expanded in Tables 2 and 3 respectively. Sample characteristics Security Online gambling security is as good as most other e-commerce sites. There are no reported any security-related fraud (Turner, 2002). Online gambling sites know that cheating their customers is bad for business and therefore tend to be honest. The market is so competitive that the reputation of market leaders is paramount. Players are likely to switch to rival sites if practices are questionable. Payment systems are critical to the success of any online business and online gambling operators have their own particular challenges to face. The integrity of systems must be assured. [pic] Table 1 Voluntary Initiatives Systems must be secure from hackers and crackers, from both outside and from within. There are readily available codes to ensure security such as the use of encryption and digital signatures. These technologies are already in use. All sites accessed displayed secure transaction information. The ‘dot com boom’ followed by the ‘dot com crash’ has had Internet gambling casualties. Several Internet gambling operators have gone bankrupt. For example Netbetsports and Luvbet folded owing their customers money (Barker, 2007). These firms had a relatively high profile within the industry. Luvbet was one of the first bookmakers to promote an Internet site offering tax free betting. Netbetsports offered Internet customers high bet limits and tax free betting, when UK tax rates were still nine per cent. Internet gambling is expanding in ever-changing and unregulated websites (Hartman, 2007; Holahan, 2006). It is uncertain whether as an unintended consequence of domestic regulation; risk taking clients might be challenged to gamble with unscrupulous vendors. This could represent an extra excitement factor, perhaps generating worse personal consequences, than in an unregulated environment. Responsible gambling The concern with responsible gambling is the rationale of this study. It was intended to measure how online sites recognise that gambling can cause problems for customers and to investigate and record the measures to offer checks. The websites were evaluated according to how helpful responsible gambling information was. The study found no consistency in the responsible gambling information. British legislation requires mandatory procedures promoting socially responsible gambling. This should be clear and prominent on their homepage, if it is to be effective. Eleven sites displayed responsible features on the home page or easily accessible links. Most of the remaining sites contained these features, but access was difficult, hence their lower rating. Fair Gaming and Independent Audits Fair gaming refers to sites operating honestly and responsibly, ensuring monetary deposit safety and winning bets paid in a timely manner. Fifty-five per cent of sites accessed contained information stating that they were independently audited. Independent audits confirm the percentage of payouts of games, review the output and validity of the software, that it consistently produces random results and fair outcomes of games. For example Price Coopers Waterhouse at www. roxypalace. com. The Gambling Review Report (2001) recommends that online gambling software systems must be random-operated and tested by the Gambling Commission. Online sites must make payments only to the credit card used to make deposits or by cheque to the player. The study looked for evidence of these recommended features. Security and honesty of transactions are as important to the supplier as the customer. A bad reputation for online gambling sites could be commercially crippling (Griffiths, 2003). Therefore the responsible features recorded here do have an economic payoff. Ethical Statement An ethical code was a key criterion to be assessed when visiting each site. Only one ‘ethical code’ which covered policies on compliance and data protection, measures restricting minors and the risks of compulsive gambling, was observed. This might be seen as a ‘narrow’ interpretation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) focussing on legal/rule based elements. Legal safeguards are problematic, since any Internet relationship questions which law should be complied with. Smeaton and Griffiths (2004) found two-thirds of the sites they visited displayed no evidence of social responsibility and concluded that social responsibility was a low priority for online sites. Problem Gambling Social responsibility can be evidenced by attempts to offer services in a way that does not encourage repetitive play or by supporting a client with a problem. Sixty per cent of the websites provided problem gambling information. InterCasino UK |Ethics drill down finds the website is committed to detecting and reducing compulsive gambling with |Med | | |procedures including monthly deposit limits and analysis of gambling patterns (this information was not | | | |verifable for the study). | | |Coral Casino |Link to GamCare and facilities for daily/weekly deposit limits, self exclusion periods and access to customer|High | | |accounts. | | |Platinum Play Casino |Link to gambling support agencies and facilities for self-assessment tests, daily/weekly deposit limits, self|High | | |exclusion periods, access to customer accounts and filtering programmes. | | |Spin Palace Casino |Link to gambling support agencies and facility self exclusion periods. |Med | |City Club Casino |Link to a statement of encouraging sensible gambling and link to Gamblers Anonymous. |Low | |Roxy Palace Online Casino |Link to Gamblers Anonymous website. |Low | |32 Vegas Red |Link to Gamblers Anonymous website. |Low | |Victor Chandler |No link or message to be found. |Nil | |Crazy Vegas Casino |Link to gambling support agencies and facilities for self-assessment tests, daily/weekly deposit limits, self|High | | |exclusion periods and filtering programmes. | | |English Harbour |Link to Gamblers Anonymous website. |Low | |Casino Tropez |No link or message to be found. |Nil | |Vegas Red Casino |No link or message to be found. |Nil | |Ruby Fortune Casino |Link to gambling support agencies and facilities for self-assessment tests, daily/weekly deposit limits, self|High | | |exclusion periods, access to customer accounts and filtering programmes. | | |Eurobet Casino |Link to GamCare and facilities for daily/weekly deposit limits, self exclusion periods and access to customer|Med | | |accounts. | | |UK Casino Club |About Us link leads to a Responsible Gaming Policy which offers a self-assessment test, cooling off |Med | | |periods and exclusion options. | | |Golden Riviera |Link to Gamblers Anonymous website. |Low | |William Hill Casino |Link to GamCare and facilities for daily/weekly deposit limits, self exclusion periods and access to customer|Med | | |accounts. | | |Hammers Casino |No link or message to be found. |Nil | |King Solomons Casino |No link or message to be found. |Nil | |www. 888. com |Link to Gamblers Anonymous website. |Low | Table 3 Problem Gambling Information UK legislation requires training of gambling operators’ employees to identify problems and to have procedures to sensitively deal with these. Fifteen sites had problem gambling information. Five linked to the Gamblers Anonymous website. Four sites offered assessment tests. It was not within the parameters of this study, to determine if online gambling sites follow up on tests, when a result indicated a problem. Three of the sites accessed provided information relating to filtering programmes, which can block underage users. These could be found through links to other sites and there was a free trial download facility available. Self-exclusion and Deposit Limits A player who feels that he or she is losing control of play and requires help in restricting access to online gambling were served by eight sites in this study that provided the facility for self-exclusion. This option was never located on the homepage and accessed only through drill downs. The study could not determine if applications were processed immediately or if self-exclusion from one site meant exclusion from multiple sites. It was unclear if these schemes required the gambler to undergo counseling assessments prior to re-admission, or if after the self-exclusion period had lapsed; the player automatically was included again. The study was also not able to clarify if players who request self-exclusion were given information about problem gambling counseling services. Computer-based systems can allow gamblers to self-exclude or establish loss limits and may stand a better chance of being effective than the current systems in most conventional casinos today. Whilst a determined gambler can move from site to site, reports of a player’s activities can be made readily available, with contact details for bodies that aim to assist those with problem gambling issues. Internet gambling operators are equipped to collect adequate data and information to be able to identify patterns of problem gambling (DCMS, 2006). There is the technological ability for operators to collect enough data to be able to identify patterns of problem gambling. This is a requirement of the 2005 Act. However, this is a prescription only for operators with a British licence and the position of the European Gambling and Betting Association (EGBA, 2007) is that it is extremely difficult to monitor and identify when someone has begun to gamble irresponsibly. Therefore according to EGBA, offline and online gambling operators should not collect information about a customer’s financial situation, spending or habits, for both practical and privacy issues. Operators that act on this aim to establish a responsible reputation and may see it as a competitive advantage factor. Yet they may infringe the principle of privacy. An issue for regulators is whether to acquire the power to compel operators to intervene in the event of identifying a problem gambler. The technical provisions in Britain for socially responsible Internet gambling have been drafted and are in the process are being applied. Assessment of the effectiveness of regulations in curbing problem gambling has yet to be done. Some sites permit customers to limit the amount of money that they are able to deposit into their account on both a daily and/or a weekly basis. It was noted that amounts may be revised downwards at any time, but increases are implemented after twenty-four hours. The online gambling operators are unable to override limits set by customers. Some sites allow access to a player’s full history of transactions, withdrawals and deposits. The Gambling Review Report (2001) recommends online sites should be required to set up facilities that enable players to set maximum stakes, limits and to self-ban. Protection of Underage Gamblers In order to ensure child safety online sites were evaluated for identity verification and exclusion facilities, such as the use of filtering software. The Gambling Review Report (2001) offers guidelines to ensure that identification standards are comparable to those of off-line casinos. It asserts that all players who register to play online should be properly identified before they are permitted to play. Age Verification Most sites studied required a prospective gambler to only complete a registration form in order to play. These sites rely on the player to disclose their correct age and do not verify the accuracy of the information. Underage gamblers can use their parents’ credit cards or even their own to register and set up accounts (Schroeder and Versch, 1998). The Gambling Review Report (2001) recommends that players who register online should be properly identified, before they are permitted to play. All sites displayed an age warning on their homepage. 32 Vegas Red alone stated it had taken steps to ensure that their site did not attract young people and used software that stops the underage from joining. Smeaton and Griffiths (2004) have investigated underage gambling and found poor standards of verification. The concern is that many sites are not employing identity verifications systems to check the age of players and therefore allow underage play. Verification systems work by searching available government and financial databases, to find evidence to support the personal information supplied by the player. For example, credit ratings or inclusion on the electoral roll can verify that the player is of the required age. However such searching again might threaten individual privacy. InterCasino UK |Logo displayed on homepage. Ethics drill down reveals site requires customers to declare that |Low | | |they are of legal age. | | |Coral Casino |Logo linked to statement that the company reserves the right to request proof of age. |Med | |Platinum Play Casino |Logo linked to statement defining the customer as adult and sane as per laws of country of |Med | | |residence. | | |Spin Palace Casino |Logo linked to statement relying on responsible parenting. |Med | |City Club Casino |Terms of Use drill down states customer must be adult as per country of residence. |Low | |Roxy Palace Online Casino |Terms Conditions drill down states customer must be of legal age. |Low | |32 Vegas Red |About Us drill down leads to Responsible Gaming drill down stating it is illegal for anyone |High | | |under 18 to open an account or to play and that they have taken steps to ensure that the website| | | |does not attract young people and our website uses software that stops under 18s joining (this | | | |could not be verified by the study). Also requests responsible parenting. | | |Victor Chandler |Logo linked to statement defining the customer as adult as per laws of country of residence. |Med | |Crazy Vegas Casino |Logo linked to statement relying on responsible parenting. |Med | |English Harbour |Terms Conditions drill down states customer must be of legal age. |Low | |Casino Tropez |Terms of Use drill down states customer must be of legal age. |Low | |Vegas Red Casino |Terms of Use drill down states customer must be of legal age. |Low | |Ruby Fortune Casino |Logo linked to statement relying on responsible parenting. |Med | |Eurobet Casino |Logo linked to statement stating the company reserves the right to request proof of age. |Med | |UK Casino Club |Responsible Gaming drill down leads to downloadable Children Protection Software and urges |High | | |responsible parenting. | | |Golden Riviera |Terms Conditions drill down states customer must be of legal age. |Low | |William Hill Casino |Responsible Gaming drill down leads to statement that the company reserves the right to request|Med | | |proof of age. | | |Hammers Casino |Terms of Use drill down states customer must be adult as per country of residence. |Low | |King Solomons Casino |Logo linked to statement defining the customer as adult and sane as per laws of country of |Low | | |residence. | | |www. 888. com |Link leads to statement that it is illegal for anyone under 18 to play and that they have taken |High | | |steps to discourage and track young people (this could not be verified by the study). Website | | | |recommends software supporting responsible parenting. | | Table 2 Age Verification Telephone Betting The Gambling Review Report (2001) states that aspects of online gambling should be more heavily regulated than conventional gambling. However, the Internet’s characteristics make it more difficult to regulate. This study looked for evidence of telephone betting and considered implications of this facility. The three sites that offer the player the facility of telephone betting have a UK High Street presence. It could be argued that the reason why these organisations have added online sites to their operations is to expand opportunities. Using the BCG Matrix, the shops could be considered ‘cash cows,’ well-established with high market share. The new online sites could be ‘stars. ’ The prospect of growth is exciting as are the opportunities (McDonald, 2002). Land-based operators provide an online presence, giving extra services for the player, the anonymity of play compared to their shops, higher levels of usibility, and possibly even more security, simply to grow their businesses, rather than to offer player protection in this feature (Johnson, 1997). Ultimately this criterion failed to help evaluate the concept of responsible on line gambling, given the ‘virtual’ existence of most sites. Technical Support All sites provide ‘24-7’ telephone and technical support, with free numbers, player-to-technician online chatroom and email support. Every channel of communication is available to guarantee full access for a player. This measure is clearly very important to the site operators and customers. The sites are very competent in not losing customers through technical problems and offer very many points of contact. Yet the same form of in house supportive ‘counseling’ service is not offered to problem gamblers. Licenses It is not illegal for British residents to gamble online, nor is it illegal for overseas operators to offer online gambling to British residents. However, the Gambling Act 2005 requires an operator to obtain a licence if they site any piece of equipment, for example a database, presentation device, or determining device in the UK, regardless of whether other devices are outside the country (DCMS, 2005). Gibraltar |Canada |Caribbean |UK |Unknown | |5 |7 |6 |1 |1 |. Table 4 Sources of Licenses As an example the City Club Casino is licensed by the Island of Curacao, but displays US and UK freefone numbers, in prominent positions on their website, which may mislead the player into thinking that the site is American or British. Another disingenuous feature is when ‘UK’ appears.

Graduation Speech -- Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

Well, this is it. These are the only seniors who were able to survive the culminating exhibition. If I had known that there would be this many open seats, I would have invited my third cousins from Norway. You know, it's funny. As I look around at the familiar faces in the student section, I am reminded about something. Our class, particularly the girls, have been very fashion-conscious over the last four years. Some even seem to be in competition with one another. Well girls, here we are on the most important day of your high school careers, and you're all wearing the same thing. The guys, on the other hand, could care less. I know for a fact that a couple of you aren't wearing anything underneath your tailored tarps. For those who know me, it's common knowledge that I don't shy away ...

What Really Happened in World War 1 and 2 :: essays research papers

The definition of a world war is "a war engaged in by all or most of the principal nations of the world." The First World War was a unique even, because such thing has never happened before in history. Today it is still a topic discussed in details. The causes of the First World War are many, among which the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo. Other causes were the alliance systems and the nationalism . During the years before the war, a "system of secret alliances" was formed in Europe. The whole point for creating these alliances was maintaining peace throughout Europe. Everybody thought that if countries join forces together, there will be no point for a country to declare war on another. Should this happen, however, both countries will be protected from their allies. This "perfect" on first sight system did not really work well. In fact this is how the war started. Austria - Hungary declared war on Serbia, but both countries had other nations protected World War I was supposed to be the war to end all wars, so how was it that America had to yet again fight in what is considered our world?s second war? Throughout time fuel kept on being added to the fire and America found themselves in what is now called World War II. It seems funny to say that the very thing that ended World War I actually caused the second World War. The Treaty Of Versailles marked the end of World War I but not all countries were satisfied with this. The Germans thought it was unbalanced and unfair to them. Hitler detested the treaty by creating a military and occupying its surrounding neighbors, including Austria-Hungary. Germany continued to take over Czechloslovokia due to its strength in minerals. England and France watched as all this was happening becoming more and more angry. Then England and France decided to declare war if Hitler took over Poland. Another thing that sparked the beginning of World War II was something called militarism. Countries figured that if they provided themselves with a strong military that it would solve their economic problems. Germany started to develop an air force along with a fleet of submarines called U-Boats and battle ships. Along with this, Germany blamed the jewish people for the economic problems there. What Really Happened in World War 1 and 2 :: essays research papers The definition of a world war is "a war engaged in by all or most of the principal nations of the world." The First World War was a unique even, because such thing has never happened before in history. Today it is still a topic discussed in details. The causes of the First World War are many, among which the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo. Other causes were the alliance systems and the nationalism . During the years before the war, a "system of secret alliances" was formed in Europe. The whole point for creating these alliances was maintaining peace throughout Europe. Everybody thought that if countries join forces together, there will be no point for a country to declare war on another. Should this happen, however, both countries will be protected from their allies. This "perfect" on first sight system did not really work well. In fact this is how the war started. Austria - Hungary declared war on Serbia, but both countries had other nations protected World War I was supposed to be the war to end all wars, so how was it that America had to yet again fight in what is considered our world?s second war? Throughout time fuel kept on being added to the fire and America found themselves in what is now called World War II. It seems funny to say that the very thing that ended World War I actually caused the second World War. The Treaty Of Versailles marked the end of World War I but not all countries were satisfied with this. The Germans thought it was unbalanced and unfair to them. Hitler detested the treaty by creating a military and occupying its surrounding neighbors, including Austria-Hungary. Germany continued to take over Czechloslovokia due to its strength in minerals. England and France watched as all this was happening becoming more and more angry. Then England and France decided to declare war if Hitler took over Poland. Another thing that sparked the beginning of World War II was something called militarism. Countries figured that if they provided themselves with a strong military that it would solve their economic problems. Germany started to develop an air force along with a fleet of submarines called U-Boats and battle ships. Along with this, Germany blamed the jewish people for the economic problems there.

Concepts of Competencies to the Jobs Essay

1.How relevant are the concepts of competencies to the jobs in a chicken-processing plant? 1.How relevant are the concepts of competencies to the jobs in a chicken-processing plant? hirsagar had been with Horizon for over twenty years. Starting off as a substitute mill-hand in the paint shop at one of the company’s manufacturing facilities, he had been made permanent on the job five years later. He had no formal education. He felt this was a handicap, but he made up for it with a willingness to learn and a certain enthusiasm on the job. He was soon marked by the works manager as someone to watch out for. Simultaneously, Kshirsagar also came to the attention of the president of the Horizon Employees’ Union who drafted him into union activities. Even while he got promoted twice during the period to become the head colour mixer last year, Kshirsagar had gradually moved up the union hierarchy and had been thrice elected secretary of the union. Labour-management relations at Horizon were not always cordial. This was largely because the company had not been recording a consistently good performance. There were frequent cuts in production every year because of go-slows and strikes by workmen—most of them related to wage hikes and bonus payments. With a view to ensuring a better understanding on the part of labour, the problems of company management, the Horizon board, led by chairman and managing director Aninash Chaturvedi, began to toy with idea of taking on a workman on the board. What started off as a hesitant move snowballed, after a series of brainstorming sessions with executives and meetings with the union leaders, into a situation in which Kshirsagar found himself catapulted to the Horizon board as work-man-director. It was an untested ground for the company. But the novelty of it all excited both the management and the labour force. The board members—all functional heads went out of their way to make Kshirsagar comfortable and the latter also responded quite well. He got used to the ambience of the boardroom and the sense of power it conveyed. Significantly, he was soon at home with the perspectives of top management and began to see each issue from both sides. It was smooth going until the union presented a week before the monthly board meeting, its charter of demands, one of which was a 30 per cent across-the board hike in wages.

Zara and Its International Expansion Essays

Zara and Its International Expansion Essays Zara and Its International Expansion Paper Zara and Its International Expansion Paper Zara is one of the largest and the most internationalized retailers that Inditex Group owns. Inditex Group is based in Spain, which is a global specialty retailer that designs, manufactures, and sells apparel, footwear, and accessories for women, men and children around the world. Zara’s history The founder of Zara, Amancio Ortega, opened the first Zara store in 1975 in a central street in La Caruna, Spain. It was first featured as low-priced look-alike products of popular, higher-end clothing fashions. The first store proved to be a success, hence Inditex Group started to open more Zara stores in Spain.In order to reduce the lead time and also react to new trends in a faster way, Ortega decided to change the design, manufacturing and distribution process during the 1980’s. This is what Ortega called â€Å"instant fashion†. The company made their improvements by the use of information technologies and using a group of designers instead of individuals. The core concept of Zara is they sell â€Å"medium quality fashion clothing at affordable prices†, and the vertical integration and quick-response are also keys to Zara’s business model.Zara started to expand internationally in late 1980’s. The first Zara store outside Spain was opened in Portugal in 1988. Then they entered New York in 1989 and in Paris in 1990. The expansion of Zara stores keeps growing, and until now, it presents in seventy three countries, with 1,341 stores in prime locations of major cities. Business environment The apparel market is a consumer-driven industry, and globalization and new technologies have allowed consumers to have more access to fashion.Due to these reasons, consumer tastes are changing rapidly, competition is fierce, and companies are evolving to meet these demand. There are two types of considerations for Zara to successfully enter into the international market- internal factors and external factors, as will be explained in detail later in this paper in the section of international strategy. Market Structure for Clothing Industry ZARA is in a monopolistic competitive market. There are many competitors in this industry such as GAP and HM. The clothing industry is facing high ressure of reducing costs as they try to have a lower price than their competitors, and aggressive price wars, initiated by competitors working to improve their supply chain management, have slowly removed less efficient makers out of the business. Due to the global financial crisis, the clothing industry slowed down in profit growth from the beginning of 2008, and because of this huge negative impact to the global economy, there are downward pressures on price for clothing makers. The worldwide sluggish economy has decreased the demand since previous affordable prices may not be affordable now.Company such as Old Navy has been able to take over some of Zara’s market shares by offering lower prices. Competitors Gap, HM, and Benetton are considered three closest comparable international competitors. Zara is relatively more fashionable than all three competitors, and prices are less than Gap and Benetton but higher than HM. Among these three competitors, HM is considered the most closest competitor to Zara with some similarities and some differences. HM differs from Zara in the way they outsource all of their productions and spend more money on advertising, while Zara does little outsourcing and virtually does no advertising.Also, Zara sells only trendy products and not trying to produce â€Å"classic† clothes which would always be in style while HM does produce some â€Å"classic† clothes in addition to trendy products. The similarities are they both are European based companies, are fashion forward at low price retailers, and both have a strong international expansion strategy. Strategy and Core Competency Zara uses a combination of cost leadership strategy and product differ entiation strategy to support its business model’s core concept of selling the latest style, medium quality fashion clothing at affordable prices.This is achieved through its core competencies of a vertical integration, a vast range of products, and a unique instant fashion system, creating speed and flexibility to the market that provides the chain with a competitive advantage over traditional retailers in the industry. Vertical Integration Since the global apparel industry is high-labor intensive, most retailers and manufacturers seek to lower costs by outsourcing productions to developing countries with cheap labor.However, instead of relying on outsourcing and offshoring, Zara owns great control of its factories, stores, and distribution network because it believes it can minimize the time to market by carefully coordinate the entire production process. The company’s employees make about 50% of its finished garments, with a majority of them being the most time and fashion sensitive products, in any of its 20 fully owned factories, 18 of them clustered around its headquarters. Zara has a centralized distribution facility in Spain, it is cost-effective and time efficient as the distribution center is close to the factory.Also, for Zara the distribution center is a place where products are moved rather than stored, and products shipped to farther destinations or of larger quantities are shipped by air. As a result, not only inventory cost is decreased but the delivery speed is increased. In contrast, most large fashion manufacturers rely on low cost manufacturing in Asia or South America but have to pay higher inventory costs and it takes longer time for the products to move to market. Product Variation By owning its in-house production, Zara is also very flexible in the variety, amount, and frequency of the new styles they produce.Instead of creating a few styles with mass quantity, Zara uses the style greater than quantity concept, launching n ew collections in increasingly shorter cycles, as it produces approximately 1000 new styles per month while producing in small batches. This creates a rapid product turnover and an environment of scarcity and exclusivity, prompting the customers to buy the product now in case it is gone tomorrow and visit the stores frequently, as said by the Toronto store manager of Zara â€Å"We receive shipments on Tuesday and Saturday, which means that we have different items in the store at least twice a week.While each shipment replenishes items that sell well, each also includes new items. That’s why our customers come in often. † On average, Zara’s customers return to the store 17 times a year, compared to 3 times a year of most of the competitors. The vast range of styles also enables Zara to cope with the changing customers’ demand and to sell more items at its full price. Instant Fashion The instant fashion system, another core competency of Zara, permits Zara to respond to the demand of its consumer better than its competitors.Compared to the conventional idea of spring and autumn clothing collections, Zara is in favor of â€Å"live collectionsâ€Å" that can be designed, manufactured, distributed, and sold almost as quickly as its customers’ fleeting tastes. Instead of predicting the trend for the next season, Zara’s designers react to what they see in the current fashion, identifying and catching a winning fashion trend while the competitors are struggling to catch up. Zara is able to do this because it has a vertical integrated supply chain that reduces lead time as explained above.While it takes 60 to 90 days in order to design and deliver a new fashion style in a traditional value chain, it only takes 12 to 15 days for Zara. The fast fashion system also depends on the constant exchange of information throughout every part of Zaras supply chain. To speed the information flow of consumer desires to their designers, Zar a has teams in the manufacturing environment responsible for attending high-fashion fairs and exhibitions to provide the designers with the latest trends. Research on market and travels to the universities and clubs around the world are also conducted throughout the season.On the other hand, in the retail environment Zara’s managers and sales associates are responsible for providing sales analysis, product life cycles, and store trends to aid the designers. This communication system is further accelerated by the IT software for stores to report directly to the production centers and designers in Spain. For example store managers use PDA to check on the latest clothes designs and place their orders in accordance with the demand they observe in stores, while all salespeople are equipped with wireless handheld organizers that let them punch in trends, customer comments and orders.Value Chain Zara has a vertical integrated supply chain owning control of all of its retailing, desi gning, and manufacturing operations. As mentioned above, unlike most of its competitors that outsource their production to factories around the world, Zara has approximately 80% of its production carried out in Europe, with its various business elements such as the design and production centers in close proximity to each other, around its headquarter in La Coruna, Spain. Purchases: Zara purchases materials from external suppliers.It has purchasing offices in Barcelona and Hong Kong which gives Zara the competitive advantage towards the cost of goods sold as it can purchase from the region with lower prices. About half of the fabrics are purchased in grey to allow for flexibility in manufacturing a variety of colors and patterns, and by owning Comditel, a subsidiary to Inditex responsible for dyeing, patterning, and finishing the fabrics, Zara can always provide the necessary fabrics to the new styles of its products.As explained by Jose Maria Castella, Inditex’s executive, â €Å"We have the ability to scrap an entire production line if it is not selling. We can dye collection in new colors and we can create a new fashion line in days. † Design and manufacture: There is one design center for each of the women’s, men’s, and children’s lines with separate design, sales, and procurement and production-planning staffs. Though it is more expensive to operate three channels, the information flow for each channel is fast and direct, making the overall supply chain more effective.The designers work their designs on a computer system called CAD while communicating with the store managers to receive feedback. Once the patterns are finalized, they are made available to the computers that would guide the high tech cutting tools in the factory. Zara’s factories are heavily automated, specialized by garment type, and focused on the capital-intensive parts of the production process. Inditex owns 20 factories for internal manufacture t hat apply the just-in-time production system, making the production process fully under its control.Assembly: The assembly of the cut pieces is done by a network of small workshops that are not owned by Zara. They are provided a set of easy instructions to follow for the purpose of quickly sewing up the pieces and provide a constant stream to Zara’s garment finishing and packing facilities. Distribution: All garments, both internally and externally made, go into Zaras distribution centers in La Coruna or smaller satellite centers in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico to be distributed. Since Zara stores around the world receive new products regularly, Zara’s distribution center s a place for moving the products rather than for storage, therefore no style sits around very long at head office as products are shipped to stores within 48 hours. As mentioned before, this significantly reduces inventory cost and risk. Marketing: Zaea relies heavily on word-of-mouth to market its p roducts to deliver its brand image of high fashion, reasonable quality goods, and rapidly changing product lines instead of using the ordinary retail marketing practices. Zara spends 0-. % on advertisement investment as compared to traditional retailers of 3-4% , because instead of spending on collaborating with big-name designers and advertising campaigns, the money saved is spent on purchasing prime real estate locations around the world, for example Fifth Avenue, Tokyo’s Ginza, and Rome’s Via Condotti. Great emphasis is also placed on the store’s interior design and image by having frequent refurbishing of store layouts and common window display for all of its global stores, as shown as exhibit 1, that position Zara with a prestigious and elegant image.Service: Zara has been growing by looking to its customers for innovations. Instead of viewing the employees as costs, Zara’s in-store staff is young and very sensitive to fashion who serves as trend spo tters. Through providing services to the customers, Zara’s employees can understand the constantly changing demand of the customers and transfer this information to the designers to find better way to meet the needs of the customers. IT: The most important support activity in Zara’s value chain is the information and communication technology, which provides speed to the market and exists in every stage of the chain, as shown in exhibit 2.In the upstream supply chain, IT is needed for managing the inventory of supplies, design specifications, and trim specifications. In the downstream supply chain, it is used for managing distribution and collecting information on consumer needs. International Business For international companies, globalization radically influences their production and business model. More importantly, it provides growth opportunities for them to enter foreign markets and thus gain larger market share and increase revenue.Also, it has forced global comp anies to improve and upgrade themselves through increasingly fierce market competition. Zara has been taking advantage of the globalization to expand its global footprints all around the world. As of August 2009, there are totally 1,560 Zara stores around the world. About 80% of its stores are located in Europe. In North America, there are only 60 stores. In Asia, there are about 91 stores . Currently Zara is still planning to aggressively plot its global expansion though at a slower pace than before mainly due to the global economic slowdown.More new stores are set to open mostly between Europe and Asia . International Strategy To establish such globally diversified presence, the highly successful international strategy Zara has been implementing a strategy with a mixture of standardization and customization. There are three steps associated with Zara’s international strategy: market selection, marketing entry, and marketing approach. Market selection: there are many key con siderations involved like labor cost and productivity, distribution cost, shipment cost of raw materials.Characteristics or behavior of consumers, for example the people in France are more fashionable and quality oriented while the people in Germany are more price sensitive, and income per capita are also important considerations. By carefully considering these elements and following a systematic procedure to insure extensive market testing before expanding its operations, Zara so far hasnt retreated from any selected markets. Market entry: the related considerations include economics factors, government regulations, and entry barriers.More specifically, the economic factors include macroeconomic factors such as tax, political condition, and export tariff, and the microeconomic factors which include local competitors, demand, and location of stores. Zara adopted three modes of market entry- joint venture, franchise, and company-owned stores that depended on local factors. However, Z ara would always make sure it has the most control to its stores no matter what forms they take. Marketing approach: Zara customizes its marketing approach according to the unique conditions of each country.For products, the local stores would place order on products that reflect the local preferences and trends. For price, different pricing strategies are used for each country, for example prices in Italy and France are higher because the people there are less price sensitive but are fashion oriented while prices in Germany is lower as it is more price sensitive. For placement, Zara stresses on efficient distribution and ensures all the stores are located in the best locations. Offshoring and Outsourcing By definition, offshoring means outsource their works to another foreign country.In global apparel industry, the general trend for global fashion retailers is to totally offshore their manufacturing to tens of thousands of small apparel makers in developing countries and mainly foc us on design and marketing. However, counter-intuitively Zara is taking a different path. It still produces some of its products by itself. 50% of the Zara’s products are manufactured by factories fully owned by it in Spain, 26% in the rest of Europe, and 24% in Asian and African countries and the rest of the world.Only long shelf life clothes like T-shirts are mostly offshored to Asia and Turkey. Due to international expansion, Zara may consider more production out of Spain or Europe in the future, as the high transportation cost from Spain to other far foreign markets like Asia and North America is still a big concern especially when oil prices continue to remain high. Zara has purchasing offices in Beijing, Barcelona, and Hong Kong. Zara also purchases clothing materials from numerous suppliers in Spain, India, Morocco, and the Far East.Under Zara’s inter-connected network, suppliers are coordinated with Zara’s sales projection. Therefore, Zara’s produ ction demand can be quickly met on time. Problems Encountered in International Expansion As Zara continues its ambitious global expansion, there are still some problems that exist. One major problem is the increase of transportation cost and time for Zara as the company is expanding globally while trying to retain a centralized distribution system. In order to meet the global demand, Zara has been increasing its production through outsourcing and offshoring at a higher level.However, this raises the transportation cost and time since all of the products have to go through the distribution center in La Coruna or smaller satellite centers in Brazil and Mexico before being sent to different stores around the world. As a result, international customers have to pay higher prices to bear the transportation cost, as this goes against Zara’s principle of providing quality and fashion at a low price. Also, increasing outsourcing and offshoring means less control, which s one of the fu ndamental factors in achieving a successful vertical integrated value chain. Another problem regarding Zara’s global expansion is related to the North American market. North America is a highly competitive and vast market, with people living in different parts having different profiles and thus different fashion needs. Moreover, consumers in North America are price sensitive and less trendy. Many fashion retailers there are simply competing on price and discount which is not Zara’s favorite marketing strategy.Also, it is quite difficult to grow business in the North America without advertising. As earlier mentioned, Zara rarely advertises. These problems cause Zara to still not have a major presence in North American. Conclusion Trading higher production cost for competitive competency, Zara has been a successful retailer in the apparel industry; it also has been doing fairly well in expanding globally. It has been able to penetrate foreign markets by producing trendy clothes that satisfy most of the customers around the world with low prices.Zara however can still raise its global market shares by expanding more in North America. To do this, Zara has to conduct more research on North American markets. Another way to increase global market shares is to develop a second central distribution center or production center, perferably in the Americas, which will not only allow Zara to deliver goods in a faster manner, but the close proximity to the American market will also allow them to effectively interpret the particular American fashion.Zara has been increasing its production through outsourcing and offshoring to meet the global demand; they have to also be careful on these outsourcing and offshoring activities since they may have less control. Zara has to make sure that they keep their core competencies in order to maintain its competitiveness in the highly competitive clothing industry.BIBLIORGAPHY CUC, Tripa, Strategy and Systainable Competitive Advantage- The Case of Zara Fashion Chain, Oradea University, Volume VI, 2007, p. 2522 Craig A. , Jones C. , Nieto M. ZARA: Fashion Follower, Industry Leader(4/2/2004) Craig, Jones, Nieto, Zara: Fashion Follower, Industry Leader, Philadelphia University, 2004 Mukherjee, Sujit, Janmeja, Mohata, Rani, Shinde, Supply Chain Practices of Zara, Institute of Management Technology, 2009, p. 12 mbanerds. com/images/3/3b/ZARA. doc enotes. com/company-histories/industria-de-diseno-textil-s mbanerds. com/images/3/3b/ZARA. doc inditex. com/en/who_we_are/concepts/zara, INDITEX Group website banerds. com/images/3/3b/ZARA. doc, csus. edu/indiv/w/wilsonm/MBA%20209_sp%2007/scm/Zara_CASE. doc http://drillingfordiamonds. com/blog/2008/05/30/react-rather-than-predict/ http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Zara_(clothing) chinapost. com. tw/business/company-focus/2009/03/26/201780/Zara-owner. htm http://freepresentationslides. blogspot. com/2008/09/zara-case-study. html tx. ncsu. edu/jtatm/volume5issue 1/Zara_fashion. htm businessweek. com/magazine/content/06_36/b3999063. htm

Every Company Is a Publishing Company

Every Company Is a Publishing Company Every Company Is a Publishing Company Every Company Is a Publishing Company By Mark Nichol A recent Wall Street Journal article that beamed a spotlight on sophomoric speaking and grammar gaffes in the workplace covered the issue fairly thoroughly but left unsaid some pertinent points. The article discussed the epidemic of informality in critical corporate settings such as staff meetings and in-person communication with clients: What do you do when employees seem ignorant of expectations for adopting the appropriate linguistic register in these contexts, using chatting vernacular (â€Å"You guys, like, cut it out!†) when a moderate degree of formality (â€Å"Please, let’s just have one person talk at a time†) or even a sober formality (â€Å"I wish to remind you to raise your hand if you wish to be called on to comment†) may be expected? It also discusses disturbingly colloquial correspondence, or that which is rife with typographical errors and poor grammar. The answer, for some companies, is to require employees to have one or more colleagues review letters and emails before they are sent out. Others hire consultants to train workers to become better writers. But both strategies have their weaknesses: Two or three heads are not necessarily better than one, especially if they are empty when it comes to writing skills. And writing workshops can only accomplish so much unless they are intensive and extensive and expensive. A combination of these approaches is best but still won’t produce flawless results, and many businesses are not willing or able to invest in the effort. Is this issue such a big deal? It depends on who you ask. This word nerd says, â€Å"Hell, yeah!† (or, depending on the pertinent linguistic register, â€Å"Indubitably.†). What does every enterprise have in common, besides selling a product, a service, or an idea? The answer: communication. All businesses must connect with current and prospective customers or clients, and partners, through transmission of language (usually at least primarily written language). Even if the only text the recipient sees is a business card, an invoice, or an email, the company’s reputation is on the line on every line. What’s the ideal solution? Every business publishes information (and, believe it or not, clients and customers notice poor and careless writing, even if they don’t recognize specific errors). So, treat your business like a publishing company, and institute an editorial process. At my last job before I began the current freelancing phase of my editing and writing career, I was responsible for the presentation of all content on the website of a prestigious educational foundation. Therefore, I considered it of paramount importance that the content be of outstanding quality. In addition to editing the journalistic content, I insisted on editing all marketing and advertising copy, I vetted job postings, I even pored through the site’s terms of use. Eventually, this comprehensive quality control became onerous and I delegated some responsibilities, but visitors had to work hard to find errors on that site. If you work at a sizeable company and you have responsibility for or are otherwise involved in the generation of business-to-business, business-to-client/customer, or even internal content, I urge you to consider or recommend designating the resident grammar geek, or a hiring a staff or contract editor, to serve as the conduit for at least the most significant communications or correspondence. Of course, only the smallest enterprises can monitor all messaging, and even then, requiring inspection of all email messages seems repressive. But the solution discussed above, perhaps combined with workshops and one-on-one consultation conducted by the designated editor, will have a significant positive impact on the quality of your company’s communications. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Business Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Types of RhymeOne Sheep, Two Sheep, One Fish, Two Fish . . .While vs. Whilst