Telephone’s Influence on Society

Over the centuries, people have been striving towards a fast, reliable means of communication. At first, those gaps were bridged with language, usable in face-to-face encounters and then written language, which could be transported over vast distances, though the timeliness of the message left something to be desired. Some civilizations used methods other than written languages to communicate messages accurately across long distances. Perhaps the most famous example would be the Incans of South America. When one village had to deliver a message to another village, several colored pieces of string would be knotted in a specific pattern then run to the neighboring village to deliver the message. Other peoples simply used oral messengers to carry the communication to others. Again, the problems with these systems were two-fold. If one simply sent a messenger, the communication could get lost in the traveling process, and if one sent some sort of written messages, those devices could easily be misplaced. Also, these methods relied on the speed of the messenger, which could vary, and the distance the message had to travel. For instance, in the War of 1812, the English and Americans signed the Treaty of Ghent in late 1814, effectively ending the conflict. However, it took six weeks for word to reach the capital of the United States and even longer for it to reach the outlying cities. Because of this, the bloody Battle of New Orleans occurred after the treaty had been signed, costing the British armed forces over 2,000 lives. Obviously, the need for instantaneous and accurate communication was reaching a paramount level with civilizations being spread across such vast distances. The telephone, invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, solved this problem by transforming human speech into a series of electrical signals that could be sent very much like a telegraph, though on different wires. This invention took quite a while to catch on as the now popular telegraph system had a stable infrastructure already in place. However, the benefits of instantaneous, clear communication eventually outweighed the convenience of the existing infrastructure, and the telephone became the preferred means of communication across distances. Before the telephone, people generally communicated through written prose, usually some type of letter or other document. Although the telegraph did much to speed up the communication process, it was still too cumbersome for everyday use and was not something that normal people used to communicate with their friends and family. Long letter were the norm, with face to face contact being preferred with neighbors unless there was some sort of dispute to work out. Men and women also spent much more time in face to face communication when catching up with the neighborhood gossip. Local clubs and gathering were often hot spots for these exchanges. The telephone made these interactions at once more personal and yet more distant. People were able to communicate instantly (at least they were by the 1960’s when telephones were in more than four out of five American homes) and cost-effectively. For exchanges that took place over great distances, this was quite an advantage, as the news reaching these people was no longer outdated. But it also brought a gradual reduction in the time spent in face to face contact with neighbors or other local peoples. The telephone gradually morphed into many forms involving both wired and wireless technology. From the phonograph to the dial phone to the Iphone these innovations have become almost central to everyday life of modern Americans. And without these products, daily life would be much different, especially with the value people now place upon instantaneous information. This sort of communication is now central to most civilizations, and it would be impossible without the services of the telephone.

Defining Capitalism and Command Economies

Defining Capitalism and Command Economies of Economics â€Å"Economics is the study of how wealth is created and distributed† which, includes â€Å"the products produced and sold by business† (Pride, Hughes, & Kapoor, 2011, p. 10). When studied, it is the science or the financial considerations of the buying, selling, and the production of goods and services that are consumed by our world and its people. There are two different perspectives when studying economics.Microeconomics and macroeconomics are different in that microeconomics is the study of the individual and business decisions that affect the economy, whereas macroeconomics is the study of national and global economy (Pride et al, 2011, p. 10). Together, micro and macroeconomics examine the decisions of individuals, businesses, the government, and society and how all of these people deal with making and distributing the money that is derived from the production of services and goods. These decisions combin ed with the prosperity of the nation, determine the economy.There are two different economic systems in today’s world. Capitalistic nations and those nations that are run under command economies are the two systems that can be found across the globe. The two systems differ in two major ways. First, they vary in the ownership of the factors of production. These factors are the land and natural resources, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship (Pride et al, 2011, pp. 10-11). Second, the way that particular nations system answers four questions listed by Pride, Hughes, and Kapoor (2011), determines a nation’s economy (p. 11).Those four questions listed are concerning what products, how the products, for whom the products are produced and who owns and controls the major factors of production as aforementioned. One major understanding on the impact a nation’s economic system has on all the economic activities of its citizens is when there is a consideration that a coun try’s system determines how the factors of production are used to meet the needs of the society it supports (Pride et al, 2011, p. 11). An eighteenth century Scottish economist, Adam Smith published a book in 1776, called Wealth of Nations.Smith argued that a â€Å"society’s interests are best served when the individuals within that society are allowed to pursue their own self-interest† (Pride et al, 2011, p. 11). Smith came up with a term called the â€Å"invisible hand† which describes how people work hard when they know they can benefit financially from the goods or services they can provide and as a result, these personal financial gains benefit others and that nation’s economy. Pride et al (2011), discusses how the success of people in the community and therefore the success of the nation, can be tied indirectly to the success of the individual small business owners (p. 1).Smith’s ideas promote individuals should have the ability to suc ceed and create wealth by owning property and resources. The government should not be involved in the market and should be limited to government duties owed to the nation. This system Smith describes, is known as laissez faire, declares the government should have no interference in the economy and solely provide defense against enemies, ensure internal order, and furnish public works and education (Pride et al, 2011, p. 2). Smith also believes in the concept of market economy, where the producers and buyers of good and services determine the amount produced and the selling price. As stated earlier, resources should be owned by individuals and they should be entitled to use and sell their goods as they choose, in addition to enjoying the benefits from ownership of these resources (Pride et al, 2011, p. 12). Very different from that of a capitalistic nation, is the economic system, called a command economy.Whereas capitalism suggests individuals own and operate the majority of busines ses that provide goods and services; the government decides what goods and services, how they are produced, for whom will they be available to, and who owns and controls those four major factors of production discussed earlier in command economies (Pride et al, 2011, p. 14). In essence, the government is the controlling and deciding entity of how the resources are used and produced and by whom they are controlled by.Today, most countries that fall within a command economy are considered to be a socialistic economy. Key industries such as transportation, communications, utilities, banking, and important industries that produce material such as steel are owned by the government (Pride et al, 2011, p. 14-15). Although small private businesses may be allowed to certain degrees, many citizens work in state-owned industries. Communism is another example of a command economy.This is a â€Å"classless society whose citizens together owned all economic resources† (Pride et al, 2011, p . 15). These citizens would then contribute to the economy as they could and would receive benefits that were needed back from the distributions by the government. Different than a socialist economy, workers do not have much of any choice when given a job, but those who had special skills or talents were often viewed as being compensated more than that of an average citizen.Often citizens of command economies go without the essential needs or the wants of society because the supply of good and services is determined by the government and not the consumers themselves. Today, many traditional countries that were though of socialist nations are transitioning to a free-market economy. According to Pride et al (2011), this is also considered a market economy where businesses and individuals decide what to produce and buy, and the market determines prices and quantities sold. Communism is fading out and these economies are now similar to what was considered socialist.Northern Korea and Cu ba are probably two countries that are the best examples of today’s communist economies whereas those that once were thought of communist countries are now considered socialist or even capitalist nations. The United States falls under what is considered a mixed economy, where there is both capitalism and socialism. Free market economies, which fall under capitalism, are those nations currently transitioning such as France, Sweden, and India (Pride et al, 2011, pp. 10-15).References Pride, W. M. , Hughes, R. J. , & Kapoor, J. R. (2011). Foundations of business (2nd ed. ). Mason, OH: South-Western.

Innovation & Risk Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Innovation & Risk - Assignment Example (Chevron Corporation, 2014). In terms of functionality, this organisation can be stated to be dealing with every possible aspect of the oil and natural gas exploration along with production. Chevron Corporation also deals with aspects regarding generation and harvesting of geo-thermal energy along with manufacturing of industrial grade chemical product, which gives it a competitive advantage over other players which are relied upon the extraction and refining of crude oil sources (Young, 2012). Apart from these, the oil manufacturing giant has also been facing issues, which in turn can be linked up with other aspects such as environmental degradation, incapability of meeting the increasing power demand and deterioration of the climate within that geographical area in which it is operational. Therefore, taking into consideration these issues, Chevron Corporation will have to bring about innovation within its functionality and manufacturing procedure, which in turn will ensure the growth opportunity of this oil m anufacturing giant within multiple domestic and international markets in the long run (Young, 2012). In this provided context, steps to protection of the surrounding environment can be considered as the background of the strategic innovation within the corporation. This entire report has been structured by taking into consideration the secondary available data including websites, online journals and news articles. Additionally, the scope of this analysis will be stretched to multiple areas, which are related to fuel production and power generation. The details of these mentioned analysis has been elaborated in the discussion section (Helman, 2013). Chevron Corporation, being the third rank holder within the fortune 500 companies in the year 2013, still face the risk of losing its ground if the legal charges against the environmental degradation done by

Consumer Behavior according to Demographics Assignment - 6

Consumer Behavior according to Demographics - Assignment Example The respondents are further subdivided into four categories with respect to their age. There are respondents with age ranging from 15 to 25 years old and this group is 27% of the total sample size. Another group of respondents consists of samples with age ranging from 26 to 35 years old. This group is 73% of the total sample size. Another classification of respondents is according to their gender. The percentage of male respondents is 47% and the remaining percentage which is 53% goes to female respondents. This is shown in Table 2 below. Respondents are also classified according to their lifestyle. As shown in Table 3 below, the percentage of respondents who are active and dedicated is 46% and about 7% for respondents who identified themselves as romantic. There are no respondents who are longing for security, relaxed and uninvolved and others. The 13% of respondents find themselves aggressive. Another 7% of the respondents identified themselves single-minded and the remaining 27% find themselves active but lack of time. This can be further justified statistically if the probability value (P-value) is greater than 0.05. This means that there is no significant difference observed between the means of the two compared population responses. Thus, Ho is accepted. On the other hand, in the event that the P-value is less than 0.05, then this result suggests a significant difference observed between the means of the two compared population responses. Thus, Ho is rejected. The first item is asking the respondents whether friends influence them to watch a film. The responses of the respondents can be affected by how socially active they are in making and hanging out with friends.  

In what ways are new technologies opening up new spaces of identity Essay

In what ways are new technologies opening up new spaces of identity for young people - Essay Example In this dissertation we explore the different technological aspects which have gone far in facilitating people to open up new spaces of identity. In reality when we communicate with another person we do not get to know about their likes and dislikes and other features and it makes us almost impossible to select the right one. If the entire profile of the person is revealed as in MySpace.com and Orkut.com it gets very easy to communicate with the right person. The technology has brought in powerful combination of Internet capabilities and web technologies that promotes creating such spaces over the internet in the form of online communities. There are several factors which promote the elasticity of the online communities and bring in more people to share information and make ones knowledge and resources available to the large section of people. 'Am a very busy person and literally had no time to check every company website to whom I applied for internship. MySpace.com was a global community which allowed posting of information meant for a community, I recently got a notification and it helped me to get a job'. (MySpace.com) 1. Anticipated Reciprocity: A person is motivated to contribute valuable information to the group in the expectation that one will receive useful help and information in return. Indeed, there is evidence that active participants in online communities get more responses faster to questions than unknown participants (Kollock, 1999). This is indeed very true for other sites like Orkut.com, a Google community where active participants use the technology to communicate with people. Even Yahoo.com has a service called Yahoo Answers which is pretty fast is responding to its members and also it acknowledges all the other members too. 2. Increased Recognition: Every being wants recognition for their contribution and they would want it to the degree of visibility in the entire community they belong. Myspace.com encourages elaborate profiles for members where they can share all kinds of information about themselves including what music they like, their heroes, etc. In addition to this, many communities give incentives for contributing. For example, many forums award you points for posting such as Yahoo Answers, who allot points to its members for asking and answering a question. EBay is an example of an online community where reputation is very important because it is used to measure the trustworthiness of someone you potentially will do business with. With eBay, you have the opportunity to rate your experience with someone and they, likewise, can rate you. This has an effect on the reputation score. 3. Sense of Efficacy: Individuals contribute valuable information because the act results in a sense of efficacy, that is, a sense that they have had some effect on this environment. There is well-developed research literature that has shown how important a sense of efficacy is and making regular and high quality contributions to the group can help individuals believe that they have an impact on the group and support their own self-image as an efficacious person. 4. Sense of Community: People, in general, are fairly social beings and it is motivating to many people to be responded

Auditing(Control activities and related assertions) Essay

Auditing(Control activities and related assertions) - Essay Example Type of control is C (physical controls). This is because the control pertains to cash, which is vulnerable to loss or theft.. This is one of the physical controls that can be utilized to secure the cash of the company. The assertion here is existence because this verifies the physical existence of the cash as of the date of the count. It also pertains to the completeness assertion as it ensures that the amount of cash counted is completely recorded in the cash register. This is a B (segregation of duties) type of control because it separates the person responsible for approval of overtime work from the employees who will do the overtime. This can also be an A – 2 (application control – input) because it ensures that the inputs to the system (overtime work) have been duly-approved by a higher authority prior to their entry in the data system. This is an A – 2 (application control – output) control because it verifies the accuracy of the voucher which was generated by the system. It may also be a B (segregation of duties) type of control because another person is responsible for reviewing the document and the transaction. The assertions addressed here are existence, occurrence and accuracy because the review of the voucher ensures that the liability actually exists or the expenses are actually incurred since it will entail checking against source documents or files and that the amount in the voucher is proper or correct. The assertions addressed here are existence and occurrence as maintaining the integrity of the records through restricting access will ensure that the transactions with employees (which affect cash, liability and expenses) are valid and existing. This is a B (segregation of duties) control because a person of higher authority reviews the results of the input of those responsible for making the entries. It may also be an A – 2 (application control – processing) control because it checks the classification of the accounts

Nursing Power Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nursing Power - Assignment Example Mrs. Jacksons’ tendency to favor other staff members is a likely reason for lack of motivation among staff members at the work place. Improper conflict resolution skills by nurse managers can be detrimental to the cooperation of members. Nurse Managers should adopt sound practices aimed at resolving any form of conflict at the workplace. Mrs. Jackson’s public humiliation of junior staff members depicts her poor conflict resolution skills. This is a most likely cause of underperformance of the employees. Junior members in the staff are likely to keep any information that may contribute to conflict resolution for fear of Mrs. Jackson’s demeaning treatments. Optimal team functioning in any nursing environment is achievable when leaders create perfect work environments (Cummings et al., 2009). Staff satisfaction is among the top considerations that nursing managers should ensure in the working environment. Nursing managers should focus on developing proper relationsh ips with staff members. This increases the level of satisfaction of the nursing workforce (Cummings et al., 2009). As Nicol (2012) identifies, collaboration between leaders and members of the nursing staff is necessary in improving service delivery. Education and training of staff members is vital in achieving a working environment that delivers quality services. Developing a definite framework for operation is important in ensuring a coordinated staff. Integration between nursing managers and staff members is critical in any nursing environment (Nicol, 2012). This helps harness leadership skills and promotes harmony and coordination among the members of the staff. This also ensures to the realization of quality service and full utilization of the expertise of the staff members. Strategies that offer platforms of addressing nursing concerns are instrumental in ensuring a good working environment. These include committees set to solve conflicts among members of the staff. Poor leader ship by nursing managers of nursing staff affects the quality of service delivery. Supervisors of nursing managers should ensure set up actions that address any concern of underperformance of nursing managers. The case of Mrs. Jacksons involves underperformance in executing the roles of nursing manager. Her supervisor can explore strategies that promote educational and professional skills development. The supervisor can recommend training sessions for Mrs. Jacksons to enhance her leadership skills. The supervisor can appoint a nursing practice committee to assess the performance of Mrs. Jacksons. The practice committee should make possible recommendations on the best remedy to ensure Mrs. Jacksons performs her duty. Re-establishing the strategies of monitoring the performance of Mrs. Johnsons can help improve her management of the unit. Involving the staff members in monitoring the performance of Mrs. Jacksons can improve her performance level. Staff members’ complaints are c redible avenues of assessing the performance of Mrs. Jacksons. The supervisor, therefore, can address the concerns in a timely manner to avoid the lack of motivation among the staff members. In situations when all options are inapplicable, the supervisor can reinstate Mrs. Johnsons. Observations can be appropriate in monitoring the

Scripts and Counterscripts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Scripts and Counterscripts - Essay Example The four distinct scripts merge into one dominant script evident throughout in the society, authorities and the press. This comprehensive script is widely acceptable; it is almost impossible to live without. They rule us every day and give a false sense of security, thus free of all threats. It promises false security, tells us that if we are safe then we are happy. Homelessness or residue of anger and insanity is fruits of war and destruction of the environment. This script challenges us via sales promotion, hearsays and ideologies that are pleasant to hear and affords us happiness. The safety illusion given to us by this script is deficient of critical reflection. He strongly states that although, they assure hums, safety and happiness, the scripts are dehumanizing leading people towards a false comfort zones. The scripts make us overlook the need to depend on the Creator and deny us true peace and personal satisfaction (Peter, 1976). He depicts the script as a complete failure, a stand he argues many people would not support. He adds that there is no happiness or safety attributable to the script and that more insecurity and unhappiness will arise from them. His closing remarks on the script are that, â€Å"the key to personal and spiritual wholeness lies in rejecting the script†. This article is a true representation of how to manipulate and indecisive human behavior. Through the use, of scripts and counter scripts, we are able to discern how humans react to different, influential factors. In the scripts, humans are victims of illusions of the world, which they totally believe to a point of even overlooking the true, reliable source of their help (explained in the elusive theory). I personally agree with Brueggemann, on his alternative script argument that, darned often we still are in crisis of enlightenment about the Creator. We shy off when expressing people’s thought about God acting in their midst for

Airline Industry Bangladesh Essay Example for Free

Airline Industry Bangladesh Essay ABSTRACT Air transport is one of the most dynamic and fastest growing transportation systems. Formation of regional and sub-regional co-operation will have a significant influence on air transportation system. Realizing the potential of air transportation in the country and region, after the recent air transport deregulation in Bangladesh, a number of private airline companies have started their operation which results in a better and competitive market. The paper focuses on the impacts of privatization on aviation industry of Bangladesh. This paper presents the results of a study on the comparison among various private and public airline companies and analyses their problems and provides some guidelines for their development. The results show that the supply cost of the private airlines is 40 percent lower than the same for public airlines. The results of this study can be used by the South and Southeast Asian countries to develop policies in this regard. INTRODUCTION Privatization of the airlines is more generally known as deregulation of the airlines industry. In the last two decades air transport world have witnessed dramatic changes in the deregulation in this sector. The movements towards the deregulation of the air transportation industries with the â€Å"1978 Deregulation Airline Act† have significantly altered the operating environment for the firms providing passenger and cargo transportation related services. With the airline deregulation, airlines were permitted to choose the routes and fares. These changes have had profound effects on many aspects of airline operations, particularly fares, level of service and routing. Through privatization of air transportation in Bangladesh the Government has opened up a new horizon. To achieve a competitive environment and maximize the benefit, private airlines can control their scale of operation, effectively pursue cost reduction measures, and generate additional demand through improved services and reasonable fares. By providing improved level of service and lower fare the private airlines may create new demand which will result in unit cost reduction and allow further fare reductions and service improvement. This virtuous circle should continue to strengthen the position of the operators and increase consumers’ benefit. Moreover, recent trends in the development of regional and sub-regional co-operation together with foreign investments in remote areas will have a significant influence on air transportation system. These cooperative frameworks will demand dynamic changes both in routing and scheduling of air transportation. Public airlines are incapable of dealing with these changes due to their bureaucratic structure and lack of motivation. To develop the policies for privatization and regulation of air transportation market it is necessary to analyze various aspects of the system. This paper focuses on the potentiality of the private air transport operators in Bangladesh. The paper has been prepared on the basis of a detailed study on demand and supply of air transportation in the country (Karim, 1998). The paper discusses the impact of deregulation on different cost items of airline operation. The aggregate cost of operating the airlines has been segregated into major cost items. Then comparison is made between public and private airline operators on the basis of these cost items. The paper also identifies several areas where adequate regulations are required for the overall betterment of t he system. The objective of the study is to investigate the potentiality of the changes brought about by privatization in air transportation in Bangladesh. The results will help the operators in the industry to develop their strategies. As the East, Southeast and South Asia are expected to experience a high economic development as well as a shift towards service and hi-tech industries, their demand for air transportation is also expected to increase accordingly. In this regard, the results of this study are important for these countries also. AIR TRANSPORTATION AND AIRLINES IN BANGLADESH The domestic air transportation network in Bangladesh is comprised of 8 conventional (full-size) airports, 8 airports for STOL (Short-Take-Off and Landing) aircraft including two airports under construction. The 8 conventional airports, which are used for commercial purpose, handle widely varying traffic volumes. The largest airport is Zia International airport near Dhaka and the smallest one is Cox’s Bazar airport. The most important corridors, as measured by air passenger volumes, are those between Dhaka, at one end, and Chittagong, Jessore, Sylhet at the other end. At present there are five airlines operating in Bangladesh. They comprise one public airline and four private airlines. The state owned national carrier, Biman Bangladesh Airline (BBA), is the oldest and has been the only operator in domestic arena until the recent past. It has generally been a losing concern contributed by many factors that could include inappropriat e size of aircraft to handle low volume of demand, insufficient level of operation and inefficient management. Although air transport carries only a small portion of total passenger and cargo movement in the country, its relative importance is much higher if aspects such as value of the product as well as time, speed and efficiency of the alternative modes are considered. Realizing its importance and considering the opportunities that exist, private airline companies (PAC’s) have now joined the fray of enticing domestic passengers and freights. This trend in domestic air transportation market is expected to reduce the monopoly of BBA and make air transport mode a better as well as competitive one for domestic transportation. Biman Bangladesh Airlines and four independent airline companie s are regulated by the government authority named Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB). Fares are subjected to the approval of CAAB and certain minimum standards of service are imposed on the airline companies. Initially the fares of private airlines were 39 to 50 percent higher as compared to that of BBA. Recently BBA has increased its fare by 25 percent. Although it seems that the fares of the private airlines are higher than the same of BBA, the demand of private airlines has been increasing. This may be caused by better quality of service which include punctuality, regularity, improved customer services and lower waiting time. INTRODUCTION OF PRIVATE AIRLINE COMPANIES In October 1993 the CAAB advertised for applications from the interested parties to start airline operation. Although about 50 organizations submitted their proposals, the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) permitted twenty-seven of them to operat e. Three of them have already started carrying passengers and one has ventured into cargo transportation. These airlines tended to become very popular and the passengers who used to travel by Biman for so long have started showing their interest in traveling by private airlines in domestic routes. A brief description of these airlines is given in the following section, which is also summarized in Table 1. Aero Bengal Airlines (ABA) Aero Bengal Airlines was the first private airlines in the country and started its flight operation on Dhaka-Barisal route with two Chinese built 17-seater Y -12 aircraft. Later a leased Russian built 48-seater N-24 aircraft was included in ABA fleet for the operation in Dhaka-Sylhet and Dhaka-Chittagong routes. Air Parabat The airline has started commercial flight operation with two brand new Czech-built 19-seater LET L410 aircraft on all the routes operated by Biman (except Ishurdi). It is now planning to add destinations like Thakurgaon, Lalmonirhat, Shamshernagar to its network in near future after procuring two more Czech-built LET L410 aircraft. Air Parabat has appointed Airspan as its General Sales Agent (GSA) which will be responsible for all the advertising and customer services for Air Parabat and in this way they are saving their overhead expenditure. At the moment, it is operating profitably and has no dues owed to the CAAB. The airline is expecting to recover their investment in 7 years. GMG Airlines Starting operation of commercial flights in early 1998, GMG airlines have emerged as the leading private airlines in Bangladesh. GMG started with Canadian manufactured Bombardier built 37-seater full- fledged aircraft. It operates a number of flights in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Jessore, and Barisal every day and has plans to expand the network of destinations at home and aboard. The airline has signed an inter- line traffic agreement with British Airways (BA) enabling them to sell tickets to different destination of the world via BA. GMG Airlines have already made an investment of Tk. 1.00 billion (US$ 20 million). It has also planned to spread wings overseas and already sought permission from the government to operate in international destinations. This is a good planning because if GMG make progress and can operate South Asian countries, they would probably become the leading private airline in the region. Omni Airlines This airline only deals with cargo operation. Most of the cases the company provide the logistic support via using aircraft of other companies. It has also started air cargo operation for international destinations. During the devastating flood of 1998 when most of the national highways and railways were inundated and surface transportation became inoperable, many exporters especially garments manufacturers used the airline to transport their product to the port. Table 1 presents a comparison among the inventories of BBA and PACs. This comparison indicates that BBA operates at lower load factor with respect to PAC’s. This may be caused by the size of aircraft, which seems to be too large for low level of air travel demand existing in the country. Table 1 Inventory of the Airline Companies Operating in Bangladesh. Name of the airlines Biman Bangladesh Airlines Aero Bengal Ailines Air Parabat Limited GMG Airlines Year of Starting Service 1972 No of Aircraft 4 Type of Aircraft F-28 ATP AN-24 Y-12 LET-410 UVPE. DASH 8SRS 100 No. of seats 85 70 48 17 19 37 No of weekly flights 68 Avg. Pass. Load factor 55-60% (approx.) 75-80% (approx.) 80-85% (approx.) 80-85% (approx.) Avg. No. of Pass. (Weekly) 5134 July, 1995 January, 1998 April, 1998 3 2 2 18 56 35 1016 1294 1520 For the three PAC’s the sizes of the aircrafts seem to be more preferable for profitable operation. Figure 1 illustrates as comparison of usage among BBA and PAC’s in the domestic routes. In most important routes BBA is still dominant whereas in other routes passenger movement of BBA and PACs are almost same. In the Dhaka-Barishal (BZL) route the number of passengers carried by PCAs is higher than the same for BBA because the latter does not operate regularly in the route. 1500 No. of Passenger 1200 900 600 300 0 CHI ZYL JSR SPD RAJ CXB BZL BBA Air Parabat Aero Baegal GMG Airlines Figure 1: Passenger Movement Comparison between BBA and PACs AIRLINE OPERATION COST IN BANGLADESH In this section, the cost of operating airlines in Bangladesh is analyzed. The costs for public and private airliners are analyzed separately to facilitate comparison between them. Here the cost elements are calculated on the basis of average monthly costs because actual data supplied by various airlines are monthly data for different cost items. This cost is transformed into the cost per passenger for different routes. For the development of cost function nine principal cost elements are included in the analysis. The cost variables included on the analysis are shown in Table 2. The values of these variables are calculated on the basis of twenty-two secondary cost factors, which are also mentioned along with the principal cost variables in the table. For the analysis, data has been collected for several years for all the routes considered in the study. Table 2 Cost Elements Analyzed in the Study with their Notations Cost Elements Administrative Cost Maintenance Cost Marketing Cost Civil Aviation Charges Running cost Capital Cost Contingency Cost Procurement Cost Profit Important Cost Elements To describe the supply analysis conveniently all the costs are grouped under two heading namely ‘Total Operating and Maintenance Cost’ (TOMC) and Total Cost (TC). TOMC includes administrative, maintenance, Civil Aviation charges, running, capital and marketing costs and TC includes TOMC, contingency and procurement cost. Among the nine principal cost elements, running cost is the most important one (on an average 39 percent of TOMC. Other important cost elements are capital cost (33 percent) and maintenance cost (19 percent). Small variation in these figures will result in a significant change in operator’s revenue and profit. Among the nine cost elements administrative, Civil Aviation charges and marketing cost do not vary significantly although these costs includes both fixed and variable cost. Fixed cost is the main portion of these costs because these costs don’t vary greatly with the increase in the number of flights or distances traveled. Effects of Scale of Operation on the Cost Elements Using small-scale aircrafts, civil aviation charges and capital cost can be saved significantly. For larger aircrafts greater charges are imposed by the Civil Aviation Authority. Similarly, capital cost is a function of cost per hour of operation and load factor, which also depend on the size of the aircraft. For example, private airlines use comparatively smaller size of aircraft that results in savings of 20 percent of civil aviation charges. Also by using smaller aircrafts these airlines are able to attain higher load factor than BBA. Due to higher load factor the capital cost per passenger reduces significantly. For the same reason a small amount of maintenance and running cost can also be saved. Although BBA purchased larger sized aircrafts to operate in domestic routes to achieve scale economy, it seems that smaller aircrafts are more suitable due to low air travel demand in the country. Symbol C1 C2 C3 C4 Secondary cost components No. of flight (Fl), Capacity of aircraft (Q), Load factor (I) No. of flight (Fl), Capacity of aircraft (Q), Load factor (I) No. of flight (Fl), Capacity of aircraft (Q), Load factor (I) Night surcharge (Ns), Hanger charge (Hn ), Cost of parking charges (Pa), Landing (La), Security charges (Su) and Navigation charges (N a). Cost fuel per liter (Fu), fuel consumption of aircraft per hour(Fc), Trip distance of travel (TD) Fleet size (La), Flying time of aircraft (Ft ), Cruising speed of aircra ft (Sp ) Total cost Number of flights (Fl) Total cost (TC) C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 One of the major cost items of air transportation for both types of operator is unexpected accident or technical fault of aircraft during the operation period. Contingency and procurement cost are 15 percent and 12 percent of TC respectively. If operators can maintain their aircraft more efficiently they can enjoy significant savings in these areas also. Cost Comparison between Public and Private Airlines Comparison between the public and private airlines on the basis of various cost items is given in Table 3. The values in the table represent the ratio between cost per passenger for BBA and average of the same for PACs for all the cost elements discussed earlier. It shows that the costs incurred by BBA are higher for all the cost elements. The differences are very prominent for administrative cost, maintenance cost and civil aviation charges. The negative ratios for the case of profit imply that for BBA the total cost is higher than fare, which results in losses for the airline. Table 3 Ratio between the Costs of Public and Private Airlines on the basis of cost elements. Routes DAC-CHI DAC-ZYL DAC-JSR DAC-SPD DAC-RJH DAC-CXB DAC-BZL Adm Cost (C 1 ) 1.6 1.58 1.66 1.88 1.89 1.93 1.51 Maint Cost (C 2 ) 1.37 1.31 1.39 1.56 1.57 1.44 1.14 Aviat. Charge (C 3 ) 1.23 1.23 1.23 1.19 1.19 1.24 1.24 Run. Cost (C 4 ) 1.16 1.19 1.21 1.03 1.39 1.04 1.04 Capit. Cost (C 5 ) 1.04 1.07 0.98 1.14 1.28 1.11 1.03 Mark. Cost (C 6 ) 1.15 1.11 1.16 1.19 1.21 1.11 1.12 Cont. Cost (C 7 ) 1.17 1.22 1.19 1.06 1.26 1.08 1.41 Proc. Cost (C 8 ) 1.23 1.21 1.14 1.09 1.25 1.09 1.23 Profit (C 9 ) -3.46 +.01 -2.38 -1.46 -1.16 +0.26 -1.36 IMPACTS OF PRIVATIZATION ON AIR TRANSPORTATION IN BANGLADESH The introduction of PAC’s in the aviation sector of Bangladesh is expected to bring about some short and long-term effects in the air transportation sector of Bangladesh, at least in the domestic routes. These effects are discussed below. Making Profit Oriented Service Introduction of private airline in Bangladesh will compel the state-owned BBA to be a profit-oriented organization rather than being only service oriented because the plane journey is made by the rich who do not require any subsidy. The competition is also expected to improve level of service. Increase in Fare Pursuing a wrong policy, the fares charged by BBA in domestic have always been less than the actual cost which resulted in huge losses (over US$ 4 million in 1997). Private airline imposes a higher fare pressuring Biman to increase fare. It increased fare by 15% in July 1996 and could make up losses of about US$ 1 million annually. In 1998 BBA ag ain raised fare so that it can reach breakeven point and make profit on the domestic sector. Improvement of Customer Service Due to the introduction of private airlines, the customer facilities have improved a lot. Customers seem to be very satisfied with the overall services provided by the private airlines. Private airlines provide regular and punctual services with less waiting time and, very easy and informal ticket confirming process that improves the level of service of the operation. Better Competitive Market In case of GMG Airlines the promoters have sought for permission from the government to operate air service on the international routes. Government is considering to accord permission to private airlines so that they can operate service among SAARC countries. In that case the government of SAARC nations will have to change their rules allowing more than one carrier of each country to operate air service among SAARC nations. All these changes will make the domestic as well as r gional air travel market a very e competitive one and this open air policy will construct a good future for the coming private airlines in this market. REGULATIONS NEEDED FOR PRIVATE AIRLINES Although PAC’s have shown a great a potential to improve the airline market of Bangladesh into a better competitive mode, but there exist some issues which should be carefully considered to develop a better future for the industry. Some of these issues are discussed in the following section. Schedule Problem in low Demand Routes Due to insufficient demand in some domestic routes, sometimes private airlines have failed to maintain their schedules properly or stopped operation in those routes. This may hamper future expansion in these routes. Government may consider subsidizing these routes. Choice of Aircraft One of the dominant factors of airline business is the appropriate size of aircraft. But some airlines have failed to procure proper and suitable aircraft for their operation. They have purchased aircrafts those are too backdated for safe and profitable operation. Proper advice and guidance are required in this regard. Development of long-term Strategic Plan Except GMG Airlines others have no long-term strategy or any specific future plan to expand and develop their operation. These airlines even had not even made any feasibility study before they started their business. As airline industry requires huge capital investment, long term strategies are vital for survival in the business. Level of Service Standards In some cases the private airlines have failed to improve quality service especially in the case of passenger compensation. Government should make strict regul ation in this regard and ascertain consumers’ right. Poor Performance in Analyzing the Current Condition The PCAs do not have good record keeping mechanism and thus unable to make routine performance evaluation or at least analyze or check the current cost and revenue conditions. Due to lack of experience in the aviation market, these new airline companies sometimes ignore the basic management principles. Lack of adequate consideration in this area may lead to financial and management crisis. Safety Aspect For profit maximization purpose, private airlines may neglect the safety issue, which is the most important factor of airline business in terms of reliability. Civil Aviation authority must impose some strict guidelines and safety precautions for providing the service on the private companies. At present twenty-seven airlines have the permission to operate in the domestic routes of Bangladesh. For the success of privatization policy it is essential for the airlines currently in operation to present a better and efficient performance. As the air travel demand in the country is still v ery low, entry of too many operators may jeopardize the situation. Also proper training related to the technology and systems need to be arranged. CONCLUSIONS A comprehensive review of the potentiality of privatization of domestic air transportation system of Bangladesh has been presented in this paper. The short-term trend suggests that the private airlines have a great opportunity in the domestic air travel market of the country. Their performances are quite satisfactory. There still exist a lot of room for improvement. This paper is concluded by addressing some implications in the light of the results of this study. (1)The trends in domestic air travel demand in Bangladesh suggest that in near future private airline companies will dominate the domestic market. (2) The operating costs of government operators are about 25-30 percent higher than those of the private operators under the same level of service. (3) From the cost elements it is evident that the administrative and maintenance costs of the public airline are significantly higher than the same for private airlines. This is indicative of the lack of management efficiency existing in the country. (4) Due to the introduction of private airlines the consumers’ benefit has increased significantly. (5) Although the private air line companies have so far performed quite satisfactorily, for betterment of aviation industry of the country and success of privatization policy of the government, some regulations need to be imposed. For this purpose a governing and advisory organization is required. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors are grateful to the private airline companies as well as to the authority of Biman Bangladesh Airline for their help during the course of this study. REFERENCES BBS (1996), Statistical Y Book of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. ear Karim, D.M. (1998), A Study on Demand and Supply of Domestic Air Transportation in Bangladesh, Research Project Report, Department of Civil Engineering, BUET, Dhaka.

Reading Is Fundamental Essay Example for Free

Reading Is Fundamental Essay Reading is the foundation that a child’s ability to learn is built on. The fundamentals of all learning are based on reading. Research has proven time and time again that reading to your child, even as early as pregnancy and infancy, helps to spark their curiosity to learn to read. By reading aloud during pregnancy and infancy, the ground work is being laid in the development for a child’s love of reading (Promoting Literacy). To help children develop a love of reading start by having books all around. In the words of Dr. Seuss, â€Å"The more that your read, the more things you will know. The more you learn the more places you will go. † (Dr. Seuss). An early start with teaching the concept of page turning, observing pictures, and sequencing will feed little ones curiosity. You can further spark their imagination and creative thinking skills by sharing a picture book without words. Also, reading at bed time will also help small children learn that reading is a relaxing and comforting activity. As children get older we need to make sure we don’t always make reading feel as if it is a task, but rather enjoyable. The U. S. Department of Education found that, generally the more children read for fun the higher their reading scores are in school (U. S. Department of Education, 2007). The answer to how to help children develop a love of reading mainly lies in how we as adults encourage them. Most of a child’s early learning comes from copying what they see their parents do, so if children do not see their parents read then they are not going to be compelled to read themselves. There are so many ways we can nurture a love of reading with children that in turn will help them develop in so many different ways. We read for so many different reasons and it is important that we convey those differences to our children so they can maximize the benefits they get from their own reading. Without being surrounded by people who read then it will be difficult for a child to make that vital connection between reading and enjoyment, thus hindering the development of a love of reading. Children should know books are not just purely for pleasure, but can also be used for a source of information. Once able to read then a whole world of literature opens up and as long as people write and read what is written then books will continue to provide education, information, and pleasure for all who participate. Works Cited Dr. Seuss. â€Å"I Can Read With My Eyes Wide Shut. † www. goodreads. com. Promoting Literacy. â€Å"Bonding With Your Unborn Baby Through Books. † www. earlymoments. com. U. S. Department of Education, 2007. â€Å"Facts About Children’s Literacy. † www. neg. org.