Information Use Essay Example for Free

Information Use Essay Information can be used in an assortment of ways in today’s business world. Companies can use it to track profits and losses while others use it to forecast future industry trends so they can make informed decisions about what markets they should focus on. According to Opara (2003) â€Å"Information is the life blood of modern organizations. † Without this information, organizations would be making uninformed decisions. Information flows in a circular motion in today’s organizations. An example would be how a car dealership uses the information it gathers. A customer that is in the market for a new vehicle enters a car dealership unsure of what kind of vehicle he or she is interested in. An associate greets the potential customer and asks a few questions to ascertain what the customer is looking for. This information would be what the associate would enter into an information system (IS). From this system the associate can give the customer a listing of vehicles to choose from. The selection of vehicles is presented to the customer and after looking at all the information the customer chooses the vehicle he or she potentially wants to purchase. The associate inputs the customer’s personal information into an IS to qualify them for financing for the vehicle. The personal information is then used by the finance department to set up the financial terms that the customer will have to abide by. Once the financial terms are determined, the information is cycled back to the customer for his or her input. After the sale of the vehicle, the customer information is stored into a database so that the customer can be contacted their experience and also used for future sales. When the vehicle is sold it will need to be removed from the dealerships inventory using another IS program. This program will generate a report for inventory control and future ordering. The data that was collected through the sales process is extremely important to the sale of new vehicles. Not having this data would make it impossible to forecast future sales and inventory requirements. Larger businesses need to keep this type of information on hand for future data mining where â€Å"customer databases are unnecessary for small business. Most small businesses keep track on order-by-order basis† (Types of Information Systems in a Business Organization, 2012). An IS that enables the dealership to maintain correct inventory counts for its customers is a vital part in a profitable business. Maintaining an unobstructed flow of information is crucial to the life of a company. Without this flow of information companies could not maintain profits, and without profits there would be no business. If this data is not controlled a business could find itself in a crisis. If the IS fails in the finance department, the business would not be able to complete a transaction. The same holds true for the inventory control systems. If any of the systems in the cycle were to fail it would put every other system in the cycle in danger. Decision making processes are dependent on the systems working and communicating properly and the information flowing correctly throughout the system. With the collecting of information, organizations have to be aware of the sensitive nature of certain customer information that is inputted. Personal information (PII) has to be protected and stored in a manner that it cannot be accessed by individuals who do not have the authority to view it. Keeping this information secure can be a huge undertaking for any IT department when establishments are faced with situations like car dealerships. There are many individuals who need access to the information in the system at different times. Some information need only be viewable by one department while other departments will need full access to the entire file. This makes creating a secure environment challenging. Securing PII is probably one of the most vital tasks when dealing with data storage. If data is corrupted it is useless to the establishment, and if it is ever misused or stolen it then becomes a potential legal hazard. I am self employed and don’t see the correlation to my work, but I am familiar with Bi-Lo. Customers who sign up for the Bi-Lo Bonus Card fill out the application with their personal information. This includes their name, address, email, and phone numbers. This information is stored in Bi-Lo’s database system. Bi-Lo uses this data to track customer purchases. The store’s system also uses the card data to issue discounts on sale items and email coupons to customer emails. Bi-Lo keeps track of customer orders, types of items ordered, customer spending, and use this information to issue coupons after transactions. Observing the different ways information flows through an enterprise will give incite to how to control and protect it. Every organization has a unique circumstance nd with those circumstances come different ways of controlling the flow of information and its security. No matter which method is chosen, there are a few things that do not change and those things are system reliability and security. If companies do not have a reliable IS, their data becomes useless and if those ISs are not secured from unauthorized access or use, organizations are opening the door to potential lawsuits and stiff fines. Either situations could be costly and end their businesses.

Pollution and Environment Essay - Man Must Dominate Nature and the Envi

Man Must Dominate Nature and the Environment      Ã‚   How shall we deal with the environment? is an ethical question much discussed, but rarely answered with any well-thought-out justifications. Rather, individuals attempting to answer it have often made claims stating that certain things are "obvious." In this paper, I intend to analyze one of these ethical principles which is considered to be inherently obvious. For every culture has regarded certain things as "obvious" and needing no further explanation -- and every culture differs vastly on what it considers to be an "obvious truth." Thus, it seems that these "truths" are not, in themselves, "obvious." Rather, they require further scrutiny to determine their validity. Hence, in this paper I analyze a common environmental claim: "Everything natural has inherent value, and we should respect its right to exist." This paper is not meant to be a complete examination of environmental ethics; that would be beyond its scope. This question, however, lies at the heart of environmenta l ethics, and is certainly worth exploring.    Must we go through life refusing to do harm to any other natural entity, "living in harmony" with it, or "respecting its rights?" Or, if it is not true that we must, is it true that we should? In "Environmental Ethics," Barbara MacKinnon explains that ecocentrists believe "that we ought ... to regard nature with admiration and respect, because of their view that nature and natural beings have intrinsic value." (MacKinnon 327) MacKinnon also states that "ethical questions ... become matters of determining what is in the best interests of these life forms or what furthers or contributes to, or is a satisfactory fit with, some ecosystem." (MacKinnon 326)... ...n as the dominant species on the planet; moreover, it provides another explanation of why the proper concern of humankind is humankind, rather than an ecosystem or "life as a whole." If we are to remain a strong, healthy species, capable of employing the power of becoming everything that we can become, we must continue to see humanity as our own proper study.    Works Cited: MacKinnon, Barbara. "Environmental Ethics" in Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues, Second Edition. Ed Barbara MacKinnon. Albany: Belmont, 1998. Morris, Desmond. The Naked Ape. New York: Dell, 1967. Nietzsche, Friederich. Beyond Good and Evil. Trans. Walter Kaufmann. New York: Vintage, 1966. Nietzsche, Friederich. Thus Spoke Zarathustra in The Portable Nietzsche. Ed. and Trans. Walter Kaufmann. New York: Viking, 1954. Voltaire. Candide. New York: Dover, 1991.   

Economy figures of Australia Essay

The background is about the Electric Bicycles that we take from China, import them, and sell the products in Perth (Australia). We also have our own website that we can sell online to people and ship our bicycles to any where in Australia. In CIA Factbook, Australia is regarded as an example of a prosperous Western-style capitalist economy, with a per capita GDP at the level of the four dominant West European economies. Since Australia has many natural resources, the country becomes a major exporter of agricultural products, minerals, metals, and fossil fuels. Commodities account for 57% of the value of total exports, so that a downturn in world commodity prices can have a big impact on the country’s economy. In addition, the report from CIA also notes that Australian government is pushing for increased exports of manufactured goods, but competition in international markets continues to be severe. While Australia has suffered from the low growth and high unemployment characterizing the OECD countries in the early 1990s and during the recent financial problems in East Asia, the economy has expanded at a solid 4% annual growth pace in the last five years. Below is economy figure of Australia. Table 1 Economy Figures of Australia Population: 21,007,310 (July 2008 est. ) Age Structure: 0-14 years: 18. 8% 15-64 years: 67. 9% 65 years and over: 13. 3% (2008 est. ) Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 99% male: 99% Female: 99% (2003 est. ) GDP: Purchasing power parity – $773 billion (2007 est. ) GDP – real growth rate: 4. 3% (2007 est. ) GDP – per capita: $37,300 (2007 est. ) GDP – composition by sector: agriculture: 3% industry: 26. 4% Services: 70. 6% (2007 est. ) Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2. 3% (2007 est. ) Industries: mining, industrial and transportation equipment, food processing, chemicals, steel Industrial production growth rate: 4. 1% (2007 est. ) Exports: coal, iron ore, gold, meat, wool, alumina, wheat, machinery and transport equipment Exports – commodities: coal, gold, meat, wool, alumina, iron ore, wheat, machinery and transport equipment Exports – partners: Japan 18. 1%, US 8. 7%, China 8. 4%, South Korea 7. 4%, New Zealand 7. 4%, UK 6. 7% (2003 est. ) Imports: $160 billion (2007 est. ) Imports – commodities: machinery and transport equipment, computers and office machines, telecommunication equipment and parts; crude oil and petroleum products Imports – partners: China 14. 3%, US 12. 9%, Japan 9. 6%, Singapore 6. 1%, Germany 5. 2%, UK 4. 4%, Thailand 4% (2007) Source: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 2008 The above statistics show that selling bicycle in Australia is attractive since Australia rate China as main import partners. In addition, the market for electric bicycle is quite enormous considering that the number of people at age 15-64 year accounts 67. 9% of total Australian population. 1. Technology The development of technology in Australia is extensive as Australian university encourages the innovation and invention in all aspects. In addition, the country also consider the intellectual property, which help Australian business to establish and maintain international markets for new technology (IDC, 2008). 2. Legal and Political The International trade laws and regulations assembled by a country emerged from various national backgrounds. Countries possessing different geographical structure for example, would produce different export commodities, thus results a different ‘tone’ of trade laws. Other factors such as the culture of citizens and national politic tendencies have also significant contributions in making a country’s international trade laws. The trade between Australia and China is also based on the free trade agreement commencing in 2005 in which a study conclude that there would be significant economic benefits for both Australia and China through the negotiation of an FTA. Australia’s export and quarantine laws are design to meet certain standard of quality exports goods. It emphasizes on protection towards Australia’s animals, plants, human health and the overall environment. It also emphasizes strict standard regarding certain quality requirements to meet foreign countries’ satisfaction. They believe that export trade is vital to Australia’s prosperity and high standard of living. The commitment to ensure export goods and services quality goes all the way, as Australia implement their steps of ensuring quality, which are: a. In cooperation with the industry involved AQIS makes standard requirements on export goods and services and state them in the legislation. b. Industry are guided to implement management systems to achieve compliance with the stated laws c. AQIS systems are obligated to verify the compliance between the goods/service and the laws by investigations. d. AQIS takes a final action of allowing exports activities or not allowing, in case of non compliance. 3. Culture The Australian culture is considered as the most diverse culture in the world due to the people of Australian historically comes from English People; thus the main culture in Australia is â€Å"Anglo Celtic†. However, as the globalization occurs in Australia, the country’s culture tends to be more Americanized. It suggests that product offering in Australia would in some level follow the trends in the U. S. (Mapsofworld. com, 2008). 4. Ethical Considerations and their management The last mentioned issue in international trade that will be mentioned in this paper is ethics. Business ethics refers various moral and ethical problems that can arise in business activities. The study focuses on how each individual involved within trade activities are burdened with special duties and obligations that must be performed. It emphasizes the importance of ethical guidelines in making business decisions. Some might even say that ethics form the very foundation of international economic activities. What we have been surely witness is the increasing attention on business ethics and its applications in line with the more complicated nature of business and business activities. The importance of ethical guidelines has been increasingly popular lately because of several reasons. First, there is s growing public awareness that societies have the right to expect business to function within ethical boundaries. A company is a part of its community that must live in harmony with the surrounding environment like all individuals and organizations. Furthermore, companies take their resources from their environment, which implies that these companies give something back to their community. For the least, there is an invisible social contract between business and its societies that all business activities will honor and accord with the limitations of justice (England, 2008). In the light of this growing awareness of corporate positions in the community, most companies generate and implement a code of conduct that guides their behavior to internal as well as external parties. The code of conduct represents corporate assessment of what behavior is expected out of employees and managers. Furthermore, the latest development in international business revealed the consensus upon the necessity of an international code of ethical practice to survive the global economy. These global ethical guidelines consist of the following principles: a. Integration, which means all business activities must never be out of the ethical context b. Implementation, which means changing all existing activities to match the ethical standards c. Internationalization, which demands integrity throughout the entire chain of global partnership, frees from cultural sentiments and directed toward the global context (England, 2008). Reference A Successfull Global Trader. Retrieved October 29, 2008 from http://www. dfat. gov. au/facts/search Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).(2008). World Fact book 2004: Australia. Retrieved October 29, 2008 from http://www. cia. gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/as. html England, Lizabeth. Principles of Business Ethics. Retrieved October 29, 2008 from http://exchanges. state. gov/forum/journal/bus1background. htm IDC. (2008). Innovation & Technology Australia. Retrieved October 29, 2008 from http://www. innovation. org. au/ Mapsofworld. com. (2008). Australia Culture. Retrieved October 29, 2008 from http://www. mapsofworld. com/australia/australia-culture/.

Molecular Formula Definition - Chemistry Glossary

Molecular Formula  Definition: An expression which states the number and type of atoms present in a molecule of a substance. Examples: There are 6 C atoms and 14 H atoms in a hexane molecule, which has a molecular formula of C6H14.