Thursday, December 19, 2019

What Is the Connection Between Religion and Terrorism

What is the Connection Between Religion and Terrorism? Recalling the last twenty years, what is observed is the resurfacing of the drive for terrorism all due to one’s religious belief. One can accept that there is a logical link between religion and terrorism. The link being complicated in nature, aims attention to the role religion plays in violence being legitimized. Religious terrorism is considered to be a type of political violence that is driven by the outright faith that a deity has authorized the act of terrorism for a much greater triumph in that faith. Gus Martin defines religious terrorism as a religion legalizing violence as long as such violence is the desire of an individual’s deity. In today’s society, religion has become†¦show more content†¦It was in the 1980’s that the surfacing of religious terrorism took place. Other decades however has seen a development of secular motivation ethnonationalists. In 1979, the sovereignty of Shah Muhammed Reza Pahlavi was overthrown; this was one of the significant points in history. In addition to that, a Theocratic Islamic Republic of Iran was created by The Revolution. Throughout the 1980’s terrorist development in many countries was sponsored by Iran. Its primary goal was to institute an Islamic regime identical to the one found in Iran. Its own revolution gave affirmation to what could be achieved. It showed the world how powerful the driven force of religion is in the period of a decrease of ideologies. Its alliance with Hezbollah, the Islamic political body currently in power in Lebanon, can be used as a good example for Iranian support. The Shi’a movement Hezbollah (Party of God) in Lebanon was an advocate for the population of Shi’a. It was during the Israel’s 1982 invasion and the Lebanese civil war that the organization emerged being a great advocate for the independence of Lebanese and with justice for the population of Shi’a. The actions of Hezbollah provide great support for the profound link between terrorism and religion. Their actions derived from extreme religious motives merge with the rigid political environment in which it functions. The Lebanon’s Shi’a population makes up about half of the Muslims in Lebanon. Under the rulership ofShow MoreRelatedSuicide Terrorism And Islamic Fundamentalism991 Words   |  4 PagesDying To Win, Robert A. Pape challenges the views about why suicide terrorists do what they do and to whom. Pape is trying to convey that suicide terrorism is rising around the world (Pape pg. 6). Since many terrorist attacks have been perpetrated by Muslim terrorist motivated by religious beliefs, it makes people think that Islamic fundamentalism is the central cause. The connection between suicide terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism is incorrect, and encourage foreign countries to harm manyRead MoreEssay on The Religious Terrorist1509 Words   |  7 PagesSubstantive Analysis: Introduction: Terrorism is used around the world to create fear and influence the public on political views (Siegel, 489). There are four views of terrorism including the psychological view, socialization view, ideological view, and the alienation view. A religious terrorist would most likely fit under the ideological view. In this view the terrorist feels the need to change a wrong opinion and believes that, because they are sacrificing themselves for something theyRead MoreThe Central Intelligence Agency Defines Terrorism1505 Words   |  7 PagesCentral Intelligence Agency defines terrorism as â€Å"premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents† (CIA). This term was specifically created to differentiate terrorism between other acts of violence. These doings of terrorism are not just any act but are specific acts of violence. A dominant reason behind terrorism tends to fall upon religious beliefs and culture ties. Terrorism has been an important part ofRead MoreThe Muslim Brotherhood By Donald Trump1129 Words   |  5 Pagesare not involved in terrorism but identifies as Muslim in fear for their lives. Muslims should not have to live in fear of being banned for what religion they are apart of, Trump also needs to not be ignorant when it comes to the problems he is causing by scapegoating the Islamic religion and all Muslims. Now that Trump is the President-Elect he needs to reassure everyone that he has the best interest for all people and will not blindly ban Muslims simply because of their religion and the stereotypesRead MoreIslamophobia: Muslims and Terrorism1162 Words   |  5 Pagesnegative attitudes towards Muslim peoples who tend to be strongly associated with any act of terrorism. The media has played a colossal role in developing such negative association wherein it constantly portrays Muslim people in combination with violent terrorist acts. It does so in a way that they both go hand-and-hand. In other words, it has made it as though the Islamic religion is synonymous with terrorism. The media has perpetuated Muslim stereotypes over the years that followed the 9/11 incidentRead MoreReligion Of The World : Is It Worth It About These Fields That Lend Themselves?1435 Words   |  6 PagesZoe Zamora RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD REL 100, Fall 2015 Dr. Chad Haines FINAL EXAM Section 1 (10 Points – 5 points for each question) Answer any two (2) of the following questions. Your answer should be one to two paragraphs in length, no more than  ½ page. 1) Analysts have observed that the most common occupations and education background of religious fundamentalist leaders is engineering, computer science, and medical doctors. Why do you think that is? What is it about these fields that lend themselvesRead More The Ultimate Fulfillment in Mans Fate by Andre Malraux Essay1531 Words   |  7 Pagesinterior life, as well as societys influence, molded him into a terrorist. Chen is self-destructive; he is controlled by his religion of terrorism and his fascination with death.   He is representative of the dedicated soldier who begins as a sacrificial priest (4) and ends as a martyr.   After all, the ideologies of communism and terrorism were practically a religion to those involved in the revolution.    An examination of Chens past gives us an idea of how he formed his beliefs, andRead MoreWhich Terror Is Greater: Secular or Religious? Essay1420 Words   |  6 PagesWhich Terror Is Greater: Secular or Religious? Alexandra C. Zuà ±iga CJ290/ Terrorism Mr. Scott Thompson Kaplan College 12/20/2012 Abstract Secular terror is anything that does not have to do with religion; however, religious tactics can be used to get ahead in secular terrorist organizations. Religious terror is based on the protecting, converging, and maintaining beliefs of a religion upheld by a religious terrorist group. Although different tactics are carried out by each different groupRead MoreTerrorists versus Muslims1151 Words   |  5 Pagesmoments in the U.S., may have been the start of the pressure towards defining Islam as a violent religion. Islam was developed in the Middle East and spread around the world to form a following of over 1.5 billion people, which is over 1/7th of the total population of the world. Islam is the 2nd largest religion in the world, to say that the majority of Muslims are terrorists or criminals because of their religion would mean that a large fraction of the world are criminals. Most Muslims in modern societyRead MoreViolence Is A Quality And Characteristic Of Mankind1457 Words   |  6 Pagesfair share of violence, particularly since the religion inception in the 7th century just like any other religion like Christianity and Judaism. ISIS, al-Qaida, book Haram etc., are violent non-state terrorist actors who have used the name of Islam to justify their intolerable crimes and action around the world. Their actions are affecting more than 3billion of Muslim lives in today’s world? While international  terrorism  started before 9/11, terrorism association with Islam was often limited to the  Palestinian-Israeli

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Kosovo Was An Intervention Needed Essay Example For Students

Kosovo: Was An Intervention Needed? Essay Was an Intervention Needed? If you asked somebody about Kosova three years ago, they would hardly even know where it is. They would maybe respond with an attitude that Kosova should be somewhere in Asia or Africa. Today, however, people in all continents have at least some information about the conflict. The year 1999 brought Kosova conflict to the television screens all over the world. Daily images of fleeing refugees or the ones of the NATO air raids could be heartbreaking for everyone who had prejudices about the sides of the conflict, or for a person living far away from the region and knowing nothing about it. To correctly approach the causes and effects of NATO intervention, it is necessary to place the plot some ten years earlier in 1989, when the change in the constitution of Kosova occurred. Set in 1974 the constitution ensured Kosova an autonomy within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Therefore, the change of this constitution in 1989 whereas Kosova was denied its autonomy brought about the first signs of disagreeable institutions based on national identity. Over the next ten coming years, Kosova is about to accumulate in itself the demands and dissatisfaction of both Albanians, who firmly advocated separation from the Serbia’s full administration, and Serbs, who constantly promoted the necessity of remaining under the govern of the Republic of Serbia. The long disputed conflict in this region between ethnic Albanians and Serbs living in Kosova reached a big eruption of violence in 1998. In spring of 1999, the nine most powerful countries of the world started peace negotiati ons in Rambuillet, France, between both sides of the conflict. Rambuillet gathered together the Albanian delegation made of moderate leader Ibrahim Rugova and the representatives of the KLA (Kosova Liberation Army) that was fighting for the independence, and the Serbian delegation made of Yugoslav selected officials of the government. It is inevitable fact that neither of the delegations involved in the conflict was satisfied with the peace terms set by the Rambuillet mediators, since they did not comply with all demands made by both delegation. However, the closing stages of the Rambuillet negotiations brought about the acceptance of the given peace terms by the Albanian delegation and refusal of the same peace terms by the Serbian delegation. The refusal furthermore led to the utilization of the bombings, which were purposely used as a pressure on the Serbian side, until they accepted the agreement. Apart from the two different sides in the conflict, NATO intervention itself caused the separation of the pro and contra promoters and an open political debate. There were two major sides advocating and opposing the military intervention. One was the survival of media in the country of Yugoslavia that is described by Peter Goff in his book Kosovo News and Propaganda as â€Å"one of the worst pseudo-democratic countries in the world to work in as a free-minded journalist† (29). This statement includes the fact that TV channels always informed from the perspective of the Government of Serbia and thus denied people’s freedom of speech. The Yugoslav media accused NATO for violating the country’s sovereignty and called it a criminal organization. The other major side was the alliance of the NATO countries led by the U.S. media, a media that justified NATO’s attack by referring to it as a purely â€Å"humanitarian intervention.† However, as Bruce Franklin presents the success of the American media to justify its deeds by stating that: â€Å"In this magnificent triumph of techno war, America’s images of its wars had seemingly reached perfection.† (449). American media, according to Bruce Franklin is facing a constant advance towards betterment in providing war information. Franklin’s example of the military intervention in the Gulf War against Iraq in August 1990 and the use of technology of warfare in it can be applied also in the latest case of intervention in Kosova, where NATO applied American technology in informing. Saving Private Ryan Summary Essayâ€Å"NATO’s action released a humanitarian catastrophe. The international ‘community’ let Macedonia and Albania carry 98% of the burden, and relieved itself of the frightening perspective of having the refugees flood EU Europe. The US – generously – suggested that it would take 20.000 and store them on its military base†¦in Cuba!† (Oberg 2)However, Solana was hoping that President Milosevic would quickly accept the demands of the international community that included â€Å"the return of all refugees;†(2) Solana admits the consequences and the risk that could occur by the start of the bombing campaign in Yugoslavia stating:The humanitarian tragedy was not likely to be stopped within a few days. The military risks to our soldiers would be significant. Civilian casualties might occur. Our important relationship with Russia was likely to suffer. And last but not least, NATO would be charged by some w ith taking international law into its own hands.(1)At the near end of the article Oberg introduces the idea of â€Å"Telling the truth†(4), by a fair argument commenting on both sides of the conflict:It is often said that the West cannot rely on Milosevic/the Serbs/ Belgrade regime. True- but remember! The West supports democracy but openly and tactically supported authoritarian regimes in Zagreb, Sarajevo and Albania (including the KLA leadership)(4). From the presentation of both articles which justify and accuse NATO for its intervention in Kosova, it is obvious the fact that such a political debate will continue to be argued about. The topic will remain controversial whenever a new conflict emerges and whenever NATO intervention is about to occur. Even though there is a time difference between the articles; Solana’s article was published during the air strikes, while Oberg’s article was published right after the end of the bombing, they both address the problem from the broader perspective. Therefore, the arguments from these two articles will also be valid to be contrasted now, tomorrow, or in the long-term future. Political Issues

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Medeas Fatal Flaw Essays - Argonauts, Women And Death, Operas, Medea

Medea's Fatal Flaw The Curse of a Fatal Flaw Every highly tragic and dramatic figure has a fatal flaw that leads to his or her downfall. The character of Medea fits into this category perfectly. Excessive passion is what leads Medea to her destruction. Her love for Jason, her selfishness, and her rage are all factors of Medea's harmartia. First, the strongest factor contributing to Medea's fatal flaw is her love for Jason. During Jason's quest of searching for the Golden Fleece and meets the Princess of Colchis, Medea falls madly in love with Jason and runs off to lolcos with him. Medea and Jason get married and have two children. Medea's excessive love for Jason started showing when she killed his uncle, who was the king of lolcos at the time, so that Jason could take over the throne and rule. But his uncle's murder resulted negatively for Medea and Jason. They were forced to flee from lolcos to the kingdom of Corinth. Once in Corinth, Jason meets the king of Corinth's daughter. He leaves Medea and their two children and marries the princess. Because Medea is madly in love with Jason, Medea is crushed to find out that Jason has left her. Medea explains to the women of Corinth that, It has crushed my heart. Life has no pleasure left, dear friends. I want to die. Jason was my whole life; he knows that well (24). Theref ore, Medea becomes outraged and over powered with excessive passion. Secondly, Medea's selfishness provides power to her fatal flaw. Medea's selfishness is displayed through the act of killing her own two sons. Medea understands that the slaying of her children will make Jason miserable. During this time, the chorus recognizes her self-worship and states, O miserable mother, to destroy your own increase, murder the babes of your body! Stone and iron are you, as you resolved to be (56). Medea does not stop to think what pain she may cause to herself by murdering them. She is only concerned about her happiness that will be derived from Jason's grieving. Medea comes to the conclusion that it is worth the suffering just to see her ex-husband unhappy. Medea states, ...my pain's a fair price, to take away your smile (59). This exhibits Medea's selfishness by the slaying of her sons just to cause sorrow to Jason for her own pleasure. Therefore, selfishness contributes to Medea's harmartia. Medea's rage also leads to her fatal flaw of excessive passion. Her excessive passion, fed by rage, leads to Medea to do uncalled for acts of violence and murder. Medea kills Jason's uncle in lolcos for the reason that she wanted Jason to be the ruler. The murder of the princess of Corinth is another example of Medea's rage. Her passion drove her to poison clothing and send it to the princess. Not only is Medea proud that she killed her, but when the messenger tells her of the death of the princess, Medea responds by saying, ...But take your time now; tell me, how did they die? You'll give me double pleasure if their death was horrible (52). Also, the Nurse acknowledges Medea's rage. While in conversation with the tutor she says, She'll not relax her rage till it has found its victim (20). This proves to be true since Medea does not give up until she has made Jason miserable. These acts of murder show the wrath of Medea's rage. In conclusion, Medea's fatal flaw of excessive passion is due to the three main reasons of her love for Jason, her selfishness, and her rage. These factors all contributed to the downfall of Medea's character.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

wood essays

wood essays Wood is one of the most fundamental construction materials for the past hundred years and it is consider as the most basic form of material for constructing a house in North America. A wood can be made as a pillar, a drywall, or even for flooring. There are many different ways to make the good use of wood. There are many types of wood to choose from, but mainly there are two types, the hardwoods and the softwoods. For the hardwoods, it is heavy, hard and strong with outstanding wear-resistance. Very resistant to impact and wear. For the softwoods, usually medium to low weight, low shock resistance and stiffness, and generally low strength properties. Mainly the hardwoods were from North America and Europe, and the softwood was mainly from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Generally, hardwood is mostly is build for something that can resist wear ness over a period of time and still remain its own original form. Therefore, for flooring, hardwood is considering one of the most abundant materials to construct the flooring for most of the homes in North America. There are mainly five most common types of wood to choose from: Red Oak, Maple, Birch, Ash, Cherry, and Beech. Red Oak, also known as Northern red oak, Eastern red oak, gray oak, American red oak, Canadian red oak, and mountain red oak. It has a straight grained with a coarse texture and prominent rays. Maple, also known as soft maple, scarlet maple, swamp maple, and water maple. It is a straight, close grain with a fine, even texture. Wide, creamy white sapwood and beige or tan-colored heartwood. Birch, also known as canoe birch, red birch, silver birch, white birch, Canadian white birch and Kenai birch. It has a straight grained with a fine, even texture and a Pale-brown heartwood and creamy w hite sapwood. Ash is also known as American ash, Biltmore ash, and cane ash and generally straight grained with a coarse texture. Cherry is also known as cherry, wild cherry, g ...

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Worldbuilding Resources for Historical Fiction Writers

Worldbuilding Resources for Historical Fiction Writers Worldbuilding Resources for Historical Fiction Writers Amy Arden is a history enthusiast. She holds a graduate degree from the University of Kent at Canterbury where some of her happiest moments involved unfurling parchment at Canterbury Cathedral Archives.  In this article, she talks about the challenge of worldbuilding in historical fiction - and how attention to detail can make or break a reader's experience and the authenticity of a story. Luckily, she has also provided  a list of resources where authors can go to research such details. Beta readers with some knowledge of the period you are writing about can be a tremendous help.Lastly, Goodreads and Quora  are also useful for finding someone with the expertise to answer your questions. In fact, Goodreads gave me the answer to when and how a Regency hostess would â€Å"turn the table† - which is a signal to guests that they should talk with the person on their opposite side. Understanding this old custom allowed me to create opportunities for Kate to have pivotal conversations.These resources are only a few of the many available to historical novelists. As with any research, use discretion when assessing the credibility of your sources. With a little luck and a little searching, you can make amazing discoveries that will bring your story, and the world that it takes place in, to life.Amy  is actively seeking representation for The Admiral’s Wife. Visit her  website  to read an excerpt!Worldbuilding can be a fine line of imagination and accurac y. As Amy says, the world you write about needs to make sense so that the reader can become immersed without distraction. Do you have any thoughts or questions for Amy? Leave them in the comments below!

Thursday, November 21, 2019

An Online Estate Agent in Saudi Arabia Research Proposal

An Online Estate Agent in Saudi Arabia - Research Proposal Example With every endeavour in this world calls for business opportunities, and since around the year 2000, online estate agents started to offer an option to the customary fee structure, maintaining cheaper, predetermined fee selling packages (Lecinski, 2012). These internet estate agents declare to grant private property vendors the capability of advertise their property through the leading property portals (the ideal medium utilised by customary high street estate agents) for a portion of the price of the customary estate agency. New-fangled models have been brought in, which applies digital media screens on behalf of the agents’ customary high street window (Lecinski, 2012). These screens permit these agents to convey their listings into a remote area where setting up a workplace might otherwise not be achievable. A report, in 2010, confirmed that online estate agents normally charge a fixed fee of  £400 to  £1,000, with others charging an extra commission on sales (Lecinski, 2012). Also, others charge extra fees for additional services like the supply of a "For Sale" post, professionally and efficiently taken photographs, as well as accompanied viewings. In Saudi Arabia, particularly, real estate is considered as one of the fastest growing businesses second to oil (Dabholkar & Overby, 2005). Financial experts argue that the construction of 500,000 housing units planned by King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, at a price of SAR 250 billion, would assist ease real estate rents and prices. The newly developed mortgage law, as well as its executive bylaw, contain principles for real estate finance and growth and allow banking institutions to support real estate projects. Internet users in this country were last reported at 13,000,000 in 2011, according to a report by World Bank published in 2012 (Muhanna & Wolf, 2013). These are individuals with access to the worldwide web. Therefore, as the nation’s economy and internet user population continues to enhance rapidly, demand for house units will also continue to increase (Muhanna & Wolf, 2013). This opens a window of opportunities for realtors. So, if someone is short of business ideas, then online real estate investment should be considered. Aims and Objectives This dissertation will dwell on this business venture (online house agents) discussing the possible advantages of starting an online house agent website instead of using the customary method. The paper will incorporate sections such as aims and objectives, literature review, research methods and planning to execute the recommendations. This paper will adapt the Goggle and NAR (National Association of Realtors) study in order to come up with its findings. The goal is to assist the reader understand the growing role of digital media in the client home search procedure. It will uncover the trends, as well as insights, around digital media application amongst home shoppers, whether they were searching for home,

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Protective security research project Assignment

Protective security research project - Assignment Example The study found out that most of the security firms and Close protection Officers were in favour of including a compulsory physical fitness test as a pre-requisite for SIA front line license award. With all the technological advances being made in the world today, security is being recognized globally as one of the areas which has greatly benefitted from these developments while at the same time suffered from it. Many people are becoming more aware of the security risks they face everyday. They seek the services of Close Protective Officers (CPO) who basically offer security services to anyone who feels that he/she is at risk and therefore in need of security services. As the need of security services increases, the effectiveness of CPO’s is coming under close scrutiny. It has been noted that physical fitness is one of the key areas that has the potential of increasing the overall effectiveness of CPO’s. In order for an individual to practice as a CPO, he/she has to be licensed. Security Industry Authority is the body mandated to award licenses to individuals who meet the criteria. Among the requirements for the award of a CPO license is a clean criminal record a nd undergoing CPO training. This study was conducted with an intention of evaluating whether CPO’s need to complete compulsory fitness tests in order for them to gain their Security Industry Authority (SIA) front line license. A brief background at this point would be of great value as it would assist contextualize this study. The Security Industry Authority (SIA) is a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) that was established under the PSIA Act of 2001. It is an independent body that has the mandate to license all the individuals who meet the criteria for licensing. Any individual who wants to work as a front line operative, they must have a clean criminal record, undergo an identity check and a competency

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Equality and Diversity Essay Example for Free

Equality and Diversity Essay In this module I am going to discuss about the aspect of equality and diversity within the health sector, about Act and legislations and the role official bodies (CQC and OFSED). Moreover, I am going to define the terminology of equality and diversity. The example of the policies and procedure that I am using is the one from the company that I am currently working for; Positive Community Care (PCC) and the names of the service users has not been mentioned because of data protection Act1998. Equality means being in the same in quantity, size, degree, value or status, evenly or fairly balanced. A good example is two football teams were playing a game and the pitch was slanted in one direction, thus making it an unfair situation for one of the team. It will be unfair for them and they won’t have an equal opportunity of winning. Equal means to have the same value but it does not mean that thing have to be identical, for example one kilogram of rice and one kilogram of flour in weight is the same., but they don’t have the same â€Å" physical characteristics†. In the UK equality means that everyone is valued as individuals. It also means that everyone has equal rights and that there is a balance of power in the county. One good example is democracy where all the citizens living in the UK have the liberty to vote. Furthermore, Health care in the UK is unequally distributed because it is linked to other life factors, namely socio-economic groups. Poverty is one of the major contributions to ill health; the government is trying to implement changes like clean water supplies, efficient sewage works, less overcrowded housing, improved diet in order to minimise inequality among people. Besides, people and children from lower income families are more likely to suffer from infectious and parasitic diseases, poisonings, accidents, respiratory diseases and cancer than those with a higher income groups. â€Å"Diversity is generally defined as acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing, and celebrating differences among people with respect to age, class, ethnicity, gender, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, spiritual practice, and public assistance status (Esty, et al., 1995).† http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hr022 (accessed on 21.04.12) The National Health Service (NHS) was set up to help to eliminate the worst excesses of ill- Health when people could not afford to seek medical attention but this does not give people the right to health care. The homeless and travellers were not able to have access to General Practitioners (GP) as they didn’t have a permanent address. As hospitals, NHS, GPs and primary care trusts are public organisations; they are required to operate within the law set by the Equality Act 2010, which means they have a duty to promote equal opportunity and not to discriminate on the grounds of protected characteristics. In every study or work place, they are required to have policies and procedures relating to equality and diversity. Codes of conduct are also very important. These are the statements about how an organisation intends to implement the laws that exist and prevent any type of discrimination. In order to protect and maintain equality at work, laws are in place to make sure people is not discriminate on the grounds of race, age, sex (including maternity and pregnancy), Marital status (including civil partnership status), Gender reassignment, Sexual orientation (gay or lesbian), Disability, Religion/ belief, Trade union membership or being a non-member and Employment statues (full-time, part-time or bank). Policies and procedures and codes of conduct are aimed to encourage values and manage diversity and thus, provide equality for all. Moreover, it also creates a work force that is representative of the communities from which employers are recruited and say what is expected of employees regarding equality and diversity. Finally, it is to set out legal rights and responsibilities of employees in relation to equality and diversity. Thompsons PCS Model According to Neil Thompson (2009): It is a model that has been developed by in his work place to enables and guide us to have a better understanding of how discrimination works in society. It explains the features of the model clearly as it help to demonstrate how discrimination is much wider and difficult than the views, attitude and behaviors of the person. Furthermore, it helps us to distinguish how prejudice, stereotyping, labelling and discrimination are surrounded in different part of our society. How does the PCS Model work? P Refers to the personal or psychological level (thoughts, feelings, views, attitudes and actions of the person involved in the decision or case). C Refers to the cultural level, which focuses on shared ways of seeing, thinking and doing (Thompson, 2009). He also defines it as ‘an assumed consensus about what is right and what is normal producing conformity to social norms. For example â€Å"Children should be bought up by mother and father† or â€Å"men are better with manual work than women†. S Refers to the structural level, which Thompson defines as being associated to the network of social divisions that make up society. He argues that oppression and discrimination are institutionalized and thus sewn in to the fabric of society (2009). It is also worth considering how institutions such as the health service, the education sector and other public services might be prone to structural influences, and what impact this may have on certain groups within society. Here is an example of that has been broken down using the Thompsons PCS Model: A severely disabled woman who is confined to her wheelchair and needs help with eating and drinking goes on day out with staff at a theme park. At the restaurant, the manager asks if she would mind eating in a separate room as it is putting the other guests off their food. P Personal: The disabled woman who is witnessing the situation is being subject to direct discrimination due to her disability. It is linked to her thoughts, feeling and the negative attitude of the hotel owner. C Cultural: In our modern society it unbelievable of where do his views come from? What are his assumptions about disability? That disabled people are worthless and has no right to sit down with other people in the dining room (e.g. their right to eat where they want doesnt count)? S Structural: What part do the media play in this? Do the media include the voice of people with a disability? How many disabled people do we commonly see on the television? This means that disabled people remain invisible and â€Å"dehumanized†. On a more positive note the DDA 2005 puts a duty on organizations to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people the DDA would have given the disabled woman who suffered a discrimination redress. The Thompson’s PCS Model is explained using Acts and Legislations: In 1975 and 1976 the Sex Discrimination Act and Race Relations Act came into force. Thirty years later, it was recognized and reinforced because of the inequalities and abuses in societies that continued to occur. The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 and the Equality Act 2006 came into force in order to strengthen the Act as inequalities and discrimination continues to prevail on gender and ethnicity. The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 (following previous legislation in 1995) was amended. â€Å"An advocate should be free from conflicts of interest with those providing services to the person they are working with and should represent the other persons interest as if they were the Advocates own.† http://www.devon.gov.uk/advocacy.htm (accessed 30.04.2012). It helps people to voice their opinion and to be understood. It also gives them support, information, backing, and a service to help them and to make choices. Furthermore, it is cost effective as it is free and is a confidential service which is easily available to everyone.

Friday, November 15, 2019

Critical Evaluation On ASP Net Computer Science Essay

Critical Evaluation On ASP Net Computer Science Essay ASP.net is a new technology and powerful web development language to build a web application much faster. Lately, we can always hear the news of ASP.net especially on the web developer sites. ASP.net is not only is the transformation from ASP, ASP.net can be said that is new era in the web development field. In this seminar, I will explain what is all about for ASP.net. First of all, I will briefly explain what ASP.NET is and what are the main differences between ASP.net and ASP classic version. Describe how efficiency of ASP.net that can achieve compared to ASP classic and what are the features that ASP classic cannot archive in the ASP.net Secondly, I will compared the different version of ASP.NET such as ASP.NET 1.x, ASP.NET 2.0 and ASP.NET 3.5. Among the different version of the ASP.NET, what and how much the improvement that latest version of ASP.net has bought it to us to develop a web application. I am also list out the advantages and disadvantages for the different version of ASP.net. On the other hand, I am also cover the topic for ASP.net AJAX which is developed by Microsoft. ASP.net AJAX is a extensions to ASP.net to implement the AJAX functionality. That means AJAX functionality added to ASP.net web application without writing the Javascript. Therefore, I will explain how ASP.net AJAX helps in the web development. Introduction of ASP.NET ASP.net is the new web programming tools from Microsoft. Why ASP.net is needed when the ASP classic version is working fine. ASP.net is not only is the next- era of ASP but it is a technology that improves much more than the ASP classic version and can increase the productivity. ASP.net is look similar to the ASP classic version if we not see the functions that ASP.net provided. Some of the features and items look very similar in the ASP classic. ASP.net allows us to use 2 type of the programming language which is C# or VB.net to write the web application in the easy way. It is also provide a huge range to let different background of the programmers can use ASP.net to build their web applications. ASP.net concept like Web Services, Server controls and web forms is a power features to build a real web application. What is ASP? ASP is known as Active Server Pages which is produced by Microsoft Team in the early of year 1990. Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP) is allowed us to build dynamic and interactive web applications. ASP classic is easily to let web application link to database inside the web application. The web application created by ASP does not affect by using different type of the web browser. The file extension for ASP is .asp. Example: http://www.asp.com/test.asp. The default programming language to build ASP web site is using VBscript to buid, but it is support other programming languages like JSscript (JavaScript from Microsoft). But ASP.net allows web developer use either visual basic (VB) or ASP.net language to build the web applications. Compilation Process There are 2 type of compilation that available which is pre-compiled code and interpreted code. Pre-compiled code Pre-compiled code is mean when the web developers are finish writing the code. Before start to use the code, the code is completely compiled. So, pre-compiled code is only need to compile once. It will make the performance is much faster. Pre-compiled is Machine dependence. Interpreted Code Interpreted Code compilation process is totally different from Pre-compiled code. That is because interpreted code will only compiled the coding when there have user to request the web pages and it compiled while the execution time is. Interpreted code compilation will only compiled the code when there is any request from the user. So, the performance will slower than Pre-compiled code. Interpreted code is machine independence. .Net solves the problem by using a two-step process for compilation The 2 step of the compilation is common intermediate language (CIL) and common language runtime (CLR). .Net is compiled all the code to CIL. Then change it to become machine independent language (CLR). The CLR is to execute the web application code. When the web developers write a web application with the programming language such as VB .NET or C#, the web application source code will not compiled into machine code directly. Instead, the VB or C# compiler will convert the web application source code into another language called as MSIL (Microsoft Intermediate Language) or CIL (Common Intermediate Language). CIL is quite similar to object-oriented assembly language. CIL is a platform-independent language. This is because when execute or running a web application, CIL code will only compiled the source code into machine code. The entire web application is not compiled from CIL into machine code. Instead, the methods will only be called or executed while the code is compiling. Actually the .NET Framework will only understands one language which is MSIL or CIL. However, the web developers can write a web application by using Visual Studio which provides the languages such as .NET and C#. Because Visual Studio.NET Framework consist the compilers for these languages that enable web developers to compile their code into CIL . The web developers can write code for the .NET Framework using any one of dozens of different languages, including Caml, COBOL, JavaScript, PHP, Small Talk, PERL, Oberon, Ada, Apl, Eiffeel and more. Below the diagram is to explain how the CIL and CLR work in the .Net framework. First of all, the web developers using different type of programming languages to write their web application. After that, the code is compiled using their own compiler to convert into Common Language Infrastructure. .Net compatible language compile to a second platform-neutral language called Common Immediate Language (CIL). After the Common Language Runtime compiles the CIL to machine readable code that can be executed on the current platform. What is Web server? Web servers are the tool that can manage web application that built by the web developers and make all the web application available to the client web browser. It can success connected through a local network or over the Internet (two different machines or same machine). While there are many Web servers available which one of the common ones is Apache, Internet Information Services (IIS), and iplanet Enterprise Server. (DotNetNuke, 2009) To test or run ASP.NET Web applications, you need a Web server Internet Information Services (IIS) IIS Web server comes bundled with Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, and Windows Server 2003. UltiDev Cassini Web Server ASP.NET Development Server How does ASP work? An ASP page is stored at server-side. So, client cannot simply view an ASP page on the web browser. They need to request the ASP page through the web server which is supports for ASP. When a client request an ASP page through the web browser, the web server will locates the ASP file on the hard drive and interpret it. After that, it will remove all the ASP Script and replace them with HTML Text. Below is the diagram: (picture 1) This is the ASP script for a page called HelloWord.asp Web server locates the ASP file and replace with HTML text and send back to the web browser. Problem with ASP Classic ASP is using html controls to interact with the user. Although ASP is having few good functions to build web application, it still not perfect yet to satisfy web developer in some of the areas. For example, ASP needs to code all the things in a single web page including the functions and interface. It is not very convenience when need to modify or update some of the data on the web page. Besides that, another disadvantages using ASP classic to build web page is lack of the performance and scalability, which means the web page that built by ASP classic will not auto fix the web pages with the web browser. The layout of the web page will out of the margin and the content cannot show as what web developer have designed for. How does ASP.net work? Think of ASP.NET web pages as normal HTML pages that have sections marked up for special consideration. When .NET is installed, IIS Web server on the local machine will automatically to check for files with the extension .aspx and it will use the ASP.NET module that have a a file called aspnet_isapi.dll to handle them. First of all, the client requests the web page from the web server. Then the web server started to locates the instruction file. Meanwhile, the ASP.net code is sent to the Common Language Runtime for compilation. After that, the HTML stream returned to the web browser. After the web browser get the HTML code. It will processes the HTML code and display the content of the page to the client. ASP.NET compared with ASP Classic Now, I will differentiate the asp version between ASP.net and ASP classic. What are the changes in ASP.net instead of the ASP classic and what is the improvement from ASP classic. Besides, I am also focus on what are the new features in ASP.net. First of all, the mainly ASP.net difference from ASP classic is ASP.net is ASP.net is support more language for scripting. For example, Asp.net supports visual basic language, C#, C++, Jscript and ADO.net as well. Support multiple languages will getting more web developer choose ASP.net as their first choice to develop a web page and web applications and let different background programmer can work together by using a same application. Besides, there are few points to compare between ASP.net and ASP classic. One of the aspects is compilation. ASP classic is built up by Jscript and it only interpreted the Script line by line when the page is requested. Moreover, ASP.net compilation is totally different with ASP classic. ASP.net is automatically compiling all the code while the code is first time executed. The compiled code will store inside .NET classes within assembly. .NET classes are including the server-side coding and HTML code. So, when ASP.NET page is executed for first time, the compiled code will store inside the .NET classes. Next time will render the ASP.net page by execute the compiled code that has created. The performance for ASP.net will be increased because there are no longer like the ASP classic has the difference between the compiled code and the coding within the server-side languages within asp web page. ASP.net performance is faster due to the compiled code but ASP classic is using the scripting languages like VBScript. VBScript is representing to machine code and did not require any additional parsing. That is why web developer is preferred to use ASP.net instead of using ASP classic. On the other hand, the difference between ASP.net and ASP classic is the scalability factor. For ASP classic, the components inside the web pages are not easy to update, replace and maintain it. If want to update particular component, IIS is required to shut down then only can successfully replace or update the component. After done all the modification, IIS need to restart once.( Neel Sus. 2009). For ASP.net, it was different with ASP classic which it is scalable and easy to do modification on the web pages. The term of Xcopy command is used to build an efficiency ASP.net web application page. The Xcopy term is to copy a file to another location. It is allow to do the modification without need of restart of web server. The web developer can do the changes on the web application and no web server restart is required to take effect. It will direct take effect once the web application is requested.(Bean Software. 2002). Advantages of using ASP.NET After compared the version between ASP.net and ASP classic, here is some of the advantages of using ASP.net. ASP.net has reduced the need of code to build a web application; it required lesser code to build a large web application. This will help web developer save time, and more efficiency to build a large web application. Another new feature from ASP.net which does not include in ASP classic is the authentication function. Authentication is the processes to obtain and validate the information that provide by user are valid or not. If it is valid, the user will get the authorization and the authorization process will check the user whether have permission to access the particular resources on the web pages. It will increase the security of the web application and make sure all the user information is secured and not grab by someone. (MSDN. 2010). Besides that, ASP.net file extension is .aspx and it has a code behind page which is .aspx.cs. The difference between .aspx and .aspx.cs is .aspx is the interface for the web application. It stored all the html coding and some of the C# language label for some of the particular components. Meanwhile, aspx.cs is a place to let web developer to code all the functionality for the button, and the business logic on that page. Moreover, ASP.net is server-side technology. It means all ASP.net coding is executed and compiled on the server side before it send it back to the web browser. Below is the example of code behind on aspx.cs: The ASP classic need to code a web application coding inside a same page including the HTML and the function code. It will become messy if web develop wanted to do the modification on the web pages. It need take some time to analyze the code first before doing any modification. (Steve Kozyk. 2008). The disadvantages of using ASP.NET One of the main disadvantages of using ASP.net application is it only support on Windows platform. That means other based Operating System is not allowed to use ASP.net to develop their web application. The limitation of the ASP.net will make some of the web developer abandon to use ASP.net to develop their web application and choose other more appropriate application to develop their web application such as PHP support in any platforms. ASP.net 1.x compared with ASP.net 2.0 We move to the next topic which is the comparison between ASP.net 1.x and ASP.net 2.0. ASP.net 1.x release on year 2002-2003 and ASP.net 2.0 is released on year 2005. Firstly, we compared the compilation models for this 2 version. ASP.net 1.x will only automatically compile few files such as asp page (.aspx), user control, http handler, web services and Global.asax class files. Others file that not automatically compile, web developer need to compile the rest of the files before publish the web application to the web server. ASP.net 2.0 has increase the efficiency in the compilation process. ASP.net 2.0 will automatically compile the file types that include asp page file (.aspx), asp and asp page behind code (.cs). So, the web developer only need to create the web application and publish it. ASP.net 2.0 have a folder called App_Code which can keep the helper classes, business object inside but cannot put the asp pages (.aspx), Global.asax and other non-code files. ASP.net 2.0 will compile elements inside the App_Code folder and name as code.dll. In ASP.net 1.x, when the web developer need to do the modification on the web application, they need to open the entire project file do modify and update it. After done the modification, they need to compile the entire project and publish it to web server again. But ASP.net 2.0 allows web developer just open the particular file that wants to modify. After done the modification, web developer just need to publish the file code to the web server and no need to recompile. In ASP.net 1.x, the code behind page of web application are require an IIS virtual directory to run and the IIS is require to store inside the local computer which used to develop the web application. ASP.net 2.0 code behind page can access the local host IIS directly and the IIS has store inside the web server. In ASP.net 1.x, the procedure to process the web application page is send the client request to the web server. First, the Init event is called. After that, called the Load event by the PreRender event is called net. Lastly, the Unload event is called and the generate output will sent it back to the client. In ASP.net 2.0 has added few new attributes. The attributes will help web developers to have a control for the new framework features which is theming and personalization. Besides, ASP.net 2.0 Page class has provided new method, event, and properties. The 3 important script for the properties is ClientScript, Header.IPageHeader and Master. There are 3 new important methods such as GetValidators, setFocus, and RegisterRequiresControlState. In ASP.net 2.0, there are few new events implements. First, PreInit is called before initial the web page. Then, InitComplete will be occur when the page is completely initial. Next, the PreLoad event is called immediately after the InitComplete event and before the web page begin to load. The LoadComplete event will occur after the page is load complete at the end. Last, PreRenderComplete event is occur and this event will store personalize data and page HTML is rendered. Web developers can use all these events to build up their web application in a dynamic way. Summary After compared the version between ASP.net 1.x and ASP.net 2.0. ASP.net 1.x is unable to open a particular page not inside the project but ASP.net 2.0 can modify particular page without open the entire project. We can know that the code behind pages is a efficiency way to write all the functions, logic to make the web development process become more efficiency and effectiveness. As the conclusion, ASP.net 2.0 has added more features to increase the performance and the secure of data. (Benoy Baskaran. 2006). ASP.net 3.0 compared with ASP.NET 3.5 The ASP.net 3.0 is using a base of the ASP.net 2.0 but there are added several of the new features on it such as Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) and Windows CardSpace (WCS). First of all, The Windows Presentation Foundation is one of the interface sub-system using at windows. Windows Presentation Foundation has using the Windows function like create, view and manage of the files, media and user interface (UI). Because it will make the web developers can create the more attractive, better impression on the interface and the different use experience on it. Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is built with 2 important parts which is display engine and the framework. The mainly function is to build the 3D graphic and use the Direct3D technology. Next, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) or name as Indigo. It is a service-oriented communication system. It has all the current .Net features like .Net remoting, ASMX,WSE and MSMQ. The WCF is built on the version of the .net Framework 2.0 and above. It also is a core of the Windows Vista. Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 operating system also support once install the WinFX Runtime Components. Besides, Windows Workflow Foundation is the next features on the ASP.net 3.0. It is a new workflow development on the .net Framework. Windows Workflow Foundation include the namespace, workflow engine for Visual Studio 2005. It support in Windows XP, vista and Windows server 2003 as well. Lastly, Windows CardSpace (WCS) is an application that stored the user information in a more secure way and in digital form. It has provide a unify interface to select which identity need to use for transaction. For example, use an identity to login to a specify website. As the conclusion of ASP.net 3.0 is a combination of ASP.net 2.0 and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) and Windows CardSpace (WCS). (Mnaveenrao. 2009). What is new in ASP.net 3.5 After we view the new features of ASP.net 3.0, let us see what other new features that will be added in ASP.net 3.5. ASP.net 3.5 is implementing inside the Visual Studio 2008 and it released on year 2007. The ASP.net 3.5 is using the same engine in the ASP.net 3.0 and it has added new features in it. So, let check out what are the new features in ASP.net 3.5. First of all, one of the new features that added inside the ASP.net 3.5 is the ASP.net AJAX. Although ASP.net 2.0 can use the features of the ASP.net AJAX, it still needs to install the extension to ASP.net 2.0 and ASP.net 3.0 only can successfully use the features. It is totally different which ASP.net AJAX is integrated in ASP.net 3.5. So, it is help web developers to build a better quality user interface easily. (Suprotim Agarwal. 2009) Next features that added in the ASP.net 3.5 is LINQ. LINQ (Language-Integrated Query) is to display the query that capability to the programming language such as C# and VB.net. The format of query in LINQ is something like the format of SQL. It is contains Select, From and Where keywords which have the same functions in the SQL. Here is the example of LINQ. Int Rental = from house in Rent where rental > 100 select house; ASP.net AJAX have added several new controls that can easily to call a control that can link to the datasource. The first new control is called ListView. ListView control is consist of some of the features like can show the result of the datasource in different view such as Datagrid, Gridview, repeater and the controls that available in ASP.net 3.0. It allows web developers have the ability to insert data, edit data, delete data, sorting the data. These controls are flexible because the web developers can design how the data present the result. After view the features of ASP.net AJAX, ASP.net 3.5 is added few new assemblies like System.Core.dll, System.Data.Linq.dll and System.xml.Linq.dll is an assembly to implementation for LINQ. System.Web.Extensions.dll is the implementation for ASP.net AJAX. ASP.net 3.5 allow different version of ASP.net store on the same computer. Security in ASP.net Securing an ASP.NET application requires a clear understanding of all the security options provided in ASP.NET, and show how the security subsystems interact each other. Since ASP.NET is built on the Microsoft .NET Framework, the web application developers will has the full access to the full set of the built-in security features inside the Visual Studio .NET. For example, the code access security and role-based user-access security. It is important to know how the different security subsystems interact each other and how it will be able to make the web application more secure. Before web developers configure the security for the web application, they need to configure the web application to implement the two security function that described in the following table. Security function Description Authentication It is a process of getting identification credentials from a user such as name and password, and to validate those credentials against some authority. Authorization It is a process to control the access to the resources regarding on the authenticated identification credentials ( such as role ). ASP.NET achieves the authentication security function by using the authentication providers, the security modules consist the code that able to authenticate the user credentials. To enable authentication security function in ASP.NET web application, the web developers need to create an authentication section entry first in the application root configuration file. The authentication session syntax are showing below: Using ASP.NET Configuration Files ASP.NET configuration file is written in a hierarchical structure format. Web.config is a file to store all the configuration data for the ASP.net web application. It also contain another file called Machine.config which is store configuration information as well. Web.config file and other web application files is located under same directory. But Machine.config file is located in the install root directory. All the sub-directory will inherit all the settings in the directory unless it has overridden by the Web.config file which located in the sub-directory. In Web.config file, it contains all the ASP.net functionality in the section. The Web.config file is written as below: In the web.config configuration file, it is contains 3 sub-sections which are authentication, authorization, and identity. The values that set for these 3 section configuration file is to overriding the configuration file in the application root. All sub-directory will inherit those settings automatically. However, sub-directory can have their own web.config file that override the directory web.config settings. Besides, the web developers may use the syntax to specify a particular file or directory. Critical Evaluation on ASP.net After the evaluation of the ASP.net, we can know that there are a lot of changes and improvement that involve in the latest ASP.net version. But there are still got competitor in the web development field. There are still got another language and platform to let web developers to choose their favorite web development tools to build their web application. One of the competitors for ASP.net is PHP. Introduction of PHP PHP is stands for Hypertext Preprocessor. PHP is open source language and it is a cross-platform because it compatibility with different operating system such as Windows, Unix system. PHP is a scripting language to build dynamic web site and it is run at the server-side. The PHP syntax is similar with the language of C, Java and Perl. So, it will help web developers build their web application efficiency and quickly. PHP allows web developer write the simple PHP syntax in HTML files directly, it can done this by eliminating the need of cgi programs. Moreover, PHP make web developers easy to supervise to the large web application by put all the components inside one html file. For example, when creating the catalogue for online trading web site, the web developers must have to design all the design templates for all the catalogues web pages. In the early day, the web page design is written in the html format and shows all the data by using different type of design templates. In PHP, is only need one application to build all the web application pages that link to the database in the appropriate pages, correct location and related content. This is to avoid any redundancy web pages is created and easy to maintain and manage the web application. As we know, PHP is a cross-platform scripting language. So, we not only can use the PHP code to build web application, but it can use all the PHP libraries and all the code written in PHP. One of the big features in PHP is it supports for numerous databases such as Oracle, MSSQL, MS Access and others. Besides, it is support networking, zip and consist a set of built-in functions. IT is free to download from the PHP website by everyone. PHP is a language easy to learn because most of syntax is similar to language C. In my opinion, I think that ASP.net performance is higher than PHP. That is why I choose ASP.net as the web development tool in my project. ASP.net application is developed using Visual Studio which produced by Microsoft. It is easy to build the web application interface and component easily added in the web application. It makes the coding part for the web application is much simpler and development more productivity. Although PHP is an open source scripting language for all the web developers, it does not have own web development tool to build their web application. They need to use third party software to implement their PHP concept and coding inside. Some of the third party software like Adobe Dreamweaver is one of the software that can write PHP scripting language. Although there are free to charge in use of PHP scripting language, but some of the third party software may need to buy license to continue use for web development. So, it also needs to cause the cost of web development increased. Besides, Visual Studio .NET is provides a huge of features to make the web development easier. Web developers also provide students to download a free scaled down Visual Studio version which can provide better features. The features that come with the PHP is lesser and it was very simple features that use to build web application. It will make web developers have the limitation to build their web application. However, there are a lot of add-ons which available on the internet for web developers to download. With the PHP add-ons, it will make the PHP has some same function inside the Visual Studio. It is very troublesome to ask PHP web developers download the add-ons one by one and implement to PHP. It will waste a lot of efforts and time to download and install the add-ons. . For example, AJAX is not built in in PHP, web developers need to download themselves. So, ASP.net is better than PHP which the Visual Studio will come with a full set of the features that need to use in web development. It will make the web development process running smoothly and more productivity. On the other hand, Jasir Javaz (2010) noted that PHP getting a huge support from the web developers. This is because the PHP is an open source and it is free to everyone. Besides, PHP version 5 has provide many object oriented development concepts to the web developers to build their web application in a better way. It will make the structure of the web application and the coding is easy to implement each others. In ASP.net, it is different with PHP which is has better languages support. ASP.net able to let different language background web developers use Visual Studio.Net to build their own web application. The supported languages for ASP.net got VB.net, C#, J#, C++, COBAL. PHP is run on Apache server and Apache also is an open source. ASP.net is run on IIS which is Internet Information Services. The benefits of using ASP.net are the user interface design and application coding part is separated to 2 parts. So, it is easy to let web developers to focus on design the overall web application interface. Besides, the code-behind pages also easy to manage and update if there have any changes or any new logic need to implement in it. So, ASP.net is more user friendly in use to design a web application design. This is one the reason I choose ASP.net in my project. It is not only provide more features and it is easy to let me design the web application interface and easy to manage and update. As the conclusion, there are a lot of factors and reasons to make a web developer choose their own web development tool. A web developer chooses the suitable web application tools will make their more understanding on the application and use specialize programming language. Summary PHP is an open source and free to everyone. PHP also work on Linux OS which is open source as well. Using Linux OS, the performance will be higher, more secure than using Windows. It is low cost for whole web development. PHP is easy to learn especially for the beginners because the scripting language is similar to language C. ASP.net is an powerful which full set of the features that easy to build up an efficiency and effectiveness web application. ASP.net is using the pre-compiled concept which I have mentioned above. Better programming language support and easy design for user interface and code-behind. Conclusion As the conclusion, I f

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Distributive Justice and Its Relevance Under Indian Constitution

PAPER ON THE TOPIC THE PHILOSOPHY OF DISTRUBUTIVE JUSTICE AND ITS RELEVANCE UNDER INDIAN CONSTITUTION The jurisprudence of distributive justice, according to juristic cynics, is an essay in illusion. The basic social system is built on gross inequalities and the power to lobby and mould State policy, even judicial policy, is heavily in the hands of the proprietariat. Being social realists and meliorists we have to work with the materials that we have and try to read the constitutional provisions in such a manner that the human essence of distributive justice is won by dynamic interpretation and socialist understanding.The Indian Constitution visualizes an affirmative State action for bringing about a new social order based on justice, social, economic and political (Art. 38). The Directive Principles of State Policy contain the directions of change towards such a new social order. The researcher has examined various theories of justice and has examine how the John Rawl’s theory of justice which means that justice is fairness is the most apt for the Indian situation. Even in th e Constitution we find different strategies of justice. Keywords: Justice, Distributive Justice, Constitution.INTRODUCTIONEver since the birth of society, justice has been one of the most important quests of human endeavor. Justice means giving one what is due to him. As a principle of law, justice delimits and harmonises the conflicting desires, claims and interests in the social life of the people. In the modern society if we take the view that all its problem of distribution then the recourse is left open to distributive justice and nothing else. Distributive justice embraces the whole economic dimension of social justice, the entire question of distribution of goods and services within the society.It demands equality in the distribution or allotment of advantages or burdens. The aim of distributive justice is to strike a balance in the socio-economic structure of the society and bring equipoise between the conflicting interests of individual citizens. It is submitted that the pr oblem of distributive justice in one sense is more a matter of procedural fairness to individuals than of substantive rightness or wrongness of the rules themselves. More specifically, it would seem that even bad rules can be applied justly and good rules in an unjust way, but it does not mean that it is not the concern of the substantive law.Much will depend upon the structure of the society. To establish distributive justice we must create a public system of rules by reference to which the conflicting claims which inevitably arise can be authoritatively determined. Distributive justice essentially is the function of a just society. The problems of Indian society are so complex, perplex and varied that a single formula for distributive justice cannot be found. The Constitution of India talks of justice in the Preamble as well as in Article 38 of the Constitution which is a directive principle of state policy.The Constitution talks not of justice but of social, economic and politica l justice. It does not merely envisage a system of corrective justice in which rights and obligations arising out of the present social structure are enforced. It clearly saw that the existing structure was unjust and needed to be changed. This is what we call distributive justice.PHILOSOPHY OF JUSTICE AND DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICEEver since men have begun to reflect upon their relations with each other and upon the vicissitudes of human lot, they have been preoccupied with the meaning of justice.Justice shares with natural law an institutional immortality which presents a constant paradox: it is so ancient that everything has been said about it, and so modern that it constitutes a continuous and inescapable problem in the ever-changing context of a contemporary society. Justice, as Aristotle said, â€Å"is the bond of men in society. † and â€Å"States without justice† are as St. Augustine said, â€Å"robber-bands. † Fiat justitia ruat coelum let heavens fall, justi ce had to be done became the abstraction of many religious, political, moral and legal philosophers of all ages.The power of justice is so great that it strengthens and excites a person fighting for just cause. All wars have been fought by all parties in the name of justice, and same is true of the political conflict between social classes. On the other hand, the very fact of this almost ubiquitous applicability of the principle of justice prompts the suspicion that something may be wrong with an idea that can be invoked for any cause. Social groupings of today are dynamic, not static, and they do not find the ideal equipoise in a condition of mere imperturbability.Justice is considered to be the primary goal of a welfare state whose very existence in turn rests on the parameters of justice. The greatest contrast, however, between ancient and modern thinking about the social harmony of justice is in the changed conception of individual personality in relation of law. I. The problem of Justice The importance of the subject of justice and the frequency of its use would naturally lead one to believe that there is an accepted definition of justice or, if not, at least a workable definition of justice is capable of being carved out.But defining justice is not as easy as it appears to be. There are difficulties inherent in the concept of justice and it is because of this reason that it is wholly indeterminate and belies all attempts to define it. Hens Kelsen perturbedly remarked: No other question has been discussed so passionately; no other question has caused so much precious blood and so many bitter tears to be shed; no other question has been the object of so much intensive thinking by the most illustrious thinkers from Plato to Kant; and yet, this question is today as unanswered as it ever was.It seems that it is one of those questions to which the resigned wisdom applies that man cannot find a definitive answer, but can only try to improve the question. What i s ‘just’ is again a question which largely remains unanswered and mostly hinges on the hunch of the bench as it nowhere informs us how to recognise or distinguish a just man from the other. The term justice has two aspects, namely, abstract justice and concrete justice. In the abstract sense ‘justice’ means a course of conduct both legel and moral, which tends to augment human ‘welfare’.Those human actions which do not intersect mankind have no significance either for ethics or for jurisprudence. The answer to the question as to what actions affect human welfare varies from age to age or generation t generation depending on divergent conceptions of human welfare prevailing in a given society during a given period of time. It is through the abstract notion of justice that its true significance in its practical application can be ascertained and appreciated. In the concrete sense, justice plays a positive role in regulating the procedural safegua rds afforded to litigants in the courts of law. II.Meaning of Justice and Distributive Justice Grotius and Leibniz believed in the concept of society as the co-operation of beings endowed with reason defined justice as custodia societatis Justum est quod societatum ratione utentium perfecit. This means justice puts an end to the conflict between the individual and the universal, the microcosm and the macrocosm, and brings about the synthesis between the whole and the parts. Justice thus seems to entail the conflict of competing claims and not infrequently the clash of powerful social interests with the right of individuals ensnared from time to time in the mechanism of raison d’ Etat.That is why justice is by its very essence a justitia communis, which reconciles in itself and transcends the commutative, distributive, and universal principles. To Plato, justice is a virtue of that psyche or soul which is the quint-essential personality of human creature. In the Republic the q uest is for justice as the complete expression of the soul’s excellences and, therefore, of the whole moral man. Plato tells us that the four supreme moral qualities both in state and the individual are wisdom, courage, temperance or moderation and justice; and the greatest of these, the indispensable, is justice.Aristotle said that justice implies a certain degree of equality; this equality might, however, be either arithmetical or geometrical, the first based on identity and the second on proportionality and equivalence. Arithmetical equality leads to commutative justice, geometrical equality to distributive justice. The second is the business of the legislator, while the first is the business of the judge. Political rights and goods should be apportioned according to distributive justice, punishments should be imposed and damages paid according to commutative justice.The theory of justice thus involves an examination of the body of rights and duties accepted in a society i n the light of the formal principles of equality, the aim being to rid it of arbitrary elements; that is discrimination not grounded on relevant differences. According to John Stuart Mill, a society which is governed by the legal philosophy of distributive justice is one which: Should treat all equally well who have deserved equally well of it, that is, who have deserved equally well absolutely.This is the highest abstract standard of social and distributive justice; towards which all institutions and the efforts of all virtuous citizens should be made in the utmost degree to converge. It is thus universally considered just that each person should obtain that (whether good or evil) which he deserves; and unjust that he should obtain a good, or be made to undergo an evil, which he does not deserve. This is perhaps the clearest and most emphatic form in which the idea of justice is conceived by the general mind. As it involves the idea of desert the question arises of what constitutes desert.The characteristic of distributive justice is the expansion of the spirit of collectivism, the promotion of the feeling of co-operation and the exercise by society of its collective powers in support of the legitimate claims of individual life. Its formula is â€Å"to every man according to his needs† rather than â€Å"to every man according to his deserts. † The distributive justice considers how it can secure too each individual a standard of living and such a share in the values of civilization as shall make possible a full existence of human life.In all these ways, the notion of justice according to law is gradually pervaded by the notion of justice and the distributive justice in the law. III. Concept of Distributive Justice Modern social and economic developments have made it clear that individual justice, justice between the wrongdoer and the victim is only a partial and incomplete form of justice and it is in the notion of distributive justice, i. e. , rendering to each man his due, the essence of justice lies.The development of the welfare state is generally thought of as an application of the notion of distributive justice. Moreover, the cry for equality of opportunity for the underprivileged and weaker sections of the society is being increasingly heard these days and this demonstrates the importance of the notion of distributive justice in modern consciousness. Distributive justice embraces â€Å"the whole economic dimension of social justice, the entire question of proper distribution of goods and services within the society†.It demands equality in the distribution or allotment of advantages or burdens. The advantages or burdens which are to be distributed are of numerous kinds such as wages, taxes, property, punishments, individual or social performances or rights and duties as allocated and apportioned by the legal system. Distributive justice aims to strike a balance in the socio- economic structure of the society t o bring equipoise between the conflicting desires, interests and claims of the individual citizens. Justice P. N.Bhagwati succinctly explains distributive justice as: And when I talk of justice, I mean not commutative justice but distributive justice, justice in depth, justice which penetrates and destroys inequalities of race, sex, and wealth, justice which is not confined to a fortunate few, but takes within its sweep the entire people of the country, justice which ensures equitable distribution of the social, material and political resources of the community. This is the kind of justice which we in India are trying to realize through the process of law and our substantive law is being geared to this task.Distributive justice includes the quality of being just and fair to all the individuals in the society or group. It seeks to give everyone what is due to him. What is due cannot be ascertained by absolute standards because the standards change with changes in the socio-economic c onditions of the society. It does not mean only a just distribution of the material goods of life, but also means and includes the reasonable requirements of human body, mind and spirit. It takes in both the means and the end, the process as well as the product.It seeks to meet out justice through just means, unjust means may satisfy some, but cause injustice to others. Distributive justice means justice to all and not to a few or a favored class. It does not introduce class conflicts, but seeks to improve and harmonise the society with a view to avoid the socio- economic imbalances. The readjustment of social claims may involve a transfer of resources from one section of the society to another, but the transfer is only an equitable reallocation of the resources and not a destruction of the structure itself.Distributive justice demands preferential treatment of the weaker sections of the society, but that is only to correct the imbalances existing in the society and not to cause unn ecessary harassment or injustice to the advanced sections thereof. Thus, it seeks to remove the imbalances in the social, economic and political life of the people. There cannot be distributive justice unless the society progresses in all the directions. In short distributive justice helps to bring about a just society.The right to distributive justice may be defined as the right of the weak, aged, destitute, poor, women, children, and other underprivileged and downtrodden segments of the society to the protection of the state against the ruthless competition of life. It seeks to give adventitious aids to the underprivileged, so that they may have an equal opportunity to compete boldly with the more advanced sections of the society. It is a bundle of rights; in one sense it is carved out of other rights; in another sense, it is a preserver of other rights.It is the balancing wheel between the haves and have- nots. Its aim is not to pull down the advanced sections of the society, but only to uplift the backwards and the underprivileged sections thereof without unduly and unreasonably effecting and undermining the interests of the former. It only prevents unjust enrichment at the expense of the underprivileged and ensures a balanced and harmonious development of the society. It is this approach and understanding of the concept of distributive justice which permeates the Indian Constitution and is adopted here for the purposes of this work.This takes us to the study of principles of distributive justice which serve as the criteria for evaluating the propriety or justice of distribution. IV. Theories of justice The theories which take in their sweep the above mentioned principles of distributive justice are: – Utilitarian, and – Contractarian. The former represents an established tradition of ethical thought, though subject to continuing refinements and restatements. The later owes much to John Rawls, who, in recent times has most illuminatingly used the idea of primordial social contract to arrive at the basic principles of justice.It is often reiterated that the theories of justice must take into consideration at least three important facets of distributive process: a) The ‘total amount of goods (or utility) to the distributed’; b) The ‘pattern of distribution arrived at’; and c) The distributional procedure described aptly as the ‘principle of selection by means of which the distribution is arrived at’. An attempt is made here to examine the different facets of these theories and to ascertain the extent to which they satisfy the demands of distributive justice.Utilitarian Theory of Justice Utilitarianism is essentially an aggressive theory. Its premise is the greatest good of the greatest number. Justice in its essence is distributive in character. The three principles of justice enumerated above demand that a person’s share of good should be proportional to some quality he posse sses. It is, therefore, unlikely that utilitarian theory will be able to accommodate principles whose form contrasts directly with that of the greatest happiness principle.It is submitted that why someone committed to aggregating good should care how that good is distributed among different people. The main weakness of the utilitarian theory from the perspectives of distributive justice is that it accords a paramount role to the quantity of good or welfare distribution. This has been pointed out by Brandit in the following words: â€Å"If quantity of welfare can be raised by a grossly unequal distribution- for instance, as in an efficient system of slavery- then we have to favour inequality.Equality, on utilitarian scheme, is a servant of quantity of welfare. † John Rawls takes this insight as his starting point in developing a contractual theory of justice which is intended to remedy the deficiencies of utilitarianism. It may thus seem that the utilitarian theory does not br ing home the expectations of society because our needs and desires differ qualitatively and are mutually incommensurable.Man harbours the most varied needs, for example the need for food, rest and sleep, occupation, sexual activity, culture and knowledge, artistic experience and recreation, love and respect, power and social esteem, etc. If all the needs of an individual cannot be satisfied, and if he is faced with a choice, for example, between listening to symphony and eating a good dinner, this choice cannot be described as a rational alternative between two measurable quantities of pleasure. Contractarian Theory of JusticeAccording to John Rawls: â€Å"Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override†. Rawls understands society as a co-operative venture for mutual advantage. In a co-operative society, there is a social union and a shared end, conceived not as a substantive goal, but as a plan of conduct which will assure that the endowments of each will be complementary to the good of all. The actual differences between individuals in terms of natural abilities, social advantages, wealth, etc. are viewed as a cause of social discord; the differences tempt men to pursue their own advantage, what all have in common is a moral personality and this must be the basis of justice. The utilitarian theory fails to accommodate this very conception of justice. To replace it, Rawls has offered the following principles of justice: All social primary goods- liberty and opportunity, income and wealth, and the bases of self- respect are to be distributed equally unless an unequal distribution of any, or all, of these goods is to the advantage of the least favoured.V. The Constitutional Scheme of Distributive Justice Indian Constitution opens with the preamble which states in unequivocal terms that the people of India have solemnly resolved to secure to all its citizens: Justice – social, ec onomic and political, equality of status and of opportunity and to promote among them all fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation.The Objectives Resolution from which this phrase has been carved out states: This Constituent Assembly declares its firm and solemn resolve to proclaim India as an Independent Sovereign Republic and to draw up for her future governance a Constitution: a) Wherein shall be guaranteed and secured to all the people of India justice, social, economic and political; equality of status, of opportunity, and before the law; freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship, vocation, association and action, subject to law and public morality; and b) Wherein adequate safeguards shall be provided for minorities, backward and tribal areas, and depressed and other backward classes. Referring to socio- economic justice, Dr. S.Radhakrishnan said that it intended to effect a smooth and rapid transition from a state of serfdom to one of freedom. Then emphasizing the need for such a change, he said, â€Å"it is therefore necessary that we must remake the material conditions†. The phrases thus used by the Founding Fathers clearly indicate that socio-economic justice in its realization is distributive in character. It contemplates a change in social structure in order to effect a transition from serfdom to freedom and attempts to remake the material conditions of the society. Granville Austin has also observed: â€Å"The Constitution was to foster the achievement of many goals. Transcendent among them was that of social revolution. Through this revolution would be fulfilled the basic eeds of the common man, and, it was hoped, this revolution would bring about fundamental changes in the structure of the Indian society†. Thus, the scheme of distributive justice as visualized in the Objectives resolution was incorporated in the preamble, the fundamental rights and the directive princip les of state policy and other provisions of the Constitution. You can read also  Justice System Position PaperThe gist of the scheme may be stated thus: Constitution ordains the state to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which justice- social, economic and political shall inform all the institutions of national life. For the establishment of social order, the people of India have been given the following fundamental rights: a) Right to equality; ) Right to six freedoms- freedom of speech and expression; to assemble peaceably and without arms; to form associations or unions; to move freely throughout the territory of India; to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India; to practice any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or business; c) Right to life and personal liberty; d) Right against exploitation; e) Right to freedom of religion; f) Cultural and educational rights; g) Right to constitutional remedies. In addition to these, the directive principl es of state policy also express in categorical terms the ideals of distributive justice. Article 38 requires the state inter-alia, to minimize the inequalities in income and endeavor to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities, not only amongst individuals, but also amongst groups of people residing in different areas or engaged in different vocations.Article 39 requires the state to make available to all the citizens adequate means of livelihood; to distribute ownership and control of material resources so as to sub serve the common good; to operate the economic system in such a way that it does not result in concentration of wealth and means of production to the common detriment; that there is equal pay for equal work; to protect the health and strength of workers men and women and the tender age of children against abuse and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age and strength, that children are given oppo rtunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment.The state is also required to provide equal justice through the mechanism of free legal aid in order to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizens by reason of economic or other disabilities; to provide right to work, to education and public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement and other cases of undeserved want; to make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief, to provide work, a living wage, conditions of work ensuring a decent standard of life and full enjoyment of leisure and social and cultural opportunities; to secure the participation of workers in the management of undertakings, establishments or other organizations engaged in industry; to secure for all the citizen s a uniform civil code throughout the country, to provide free and compulsory education for children below the age of 14 years; to promote the educational and economic interests of the Scheduled castes and Scheduled Tribes and other weaker sections; to raise the level of nutrition and standard of living and to improve the public health. Thus, it can be said that the Constitution of India has twin objectives: First, to usher in a new social order ensuring distributive justice to all the citizens and; second, to protect the liberties of the people from the onslaughts of autocratic and arbitrary power. These two ideas run like a golden fabric through the entire scheme of the Constitution.Indeed, the substantive and the procedural provisions of the Constitution harmonizing the said two concepts give a new philosophy and sustenance to our socialist, democratic republic based on rule of law. But to our dismay, many of the legislative actions destined at distributive justice pursuance to t he implementation of the directive principles of state policy were struck down by the courts from time to time. The directives have been relegated to the position of inferiority. The bewildering judgments of the Supreme Court right from the days of Champakam Dorairajan,Quaresh, Kerela Education Bill, including the Golaknath, the Bank Nationalisation, the Privy Purse and the Minerva Mills have shattered all the hopes of the Government to implement the directive principles of state policy.These ecisions crippled the state machinery and paralysed the movement of the nation towards an equalitarian social order. These decisions represent a saga of judicial misunderstanding of the avowed ideals of the Constitution. This approach is inherently inconsistent with the spirit of the Constitution ignoring the realities of the Indian societal structure. The poverty of the Indian masses cannot be mitigated by eulogizing the fundamental liberties and mellowing down the positive efforts of state de stined at distributive justice. The Constitutional goals of distributive justice can be achieved only if the courts adopt a pragmatic and sociological approach without making such ado about the rights in interpreting socio-economic legislations.It is submitted that both fundamental rights and directive principles of state policy aim at establishing a just social order based on the philosophy of distributive justice ensuring dignity to the individual not only to the few privileged persons, but to the entire masses of the country including the have nots and the handicapped, the lowliest and the lost. Both these represent a broad spectrum of human rights. The concept of distributive justice as embodied in the Constitution is a living concept of revolutionary import. It gives sustenance to the rule of law and meaning and significance to the ideals of a welfare state. The freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution are not an end in itself, but the means to achieve distributive justice.Ou r Constitution is the unique document for the upliftment of the down-trodden and weaker sections of the society. The greatest need of the hour, therefore, in our society in social integration of the weaker and oppressed sections of the people with the rest of the society. This demonstrates that our Constitution does not leave the individual at the mercy of the law of nature representative of competitive modal of society. It assigns a prominent role to and imposes heavy responsibilities upon the state to assure a dignified life to each individual irrespective of what he deserves on meritarian consideration. Yet, in a way it incorporates the need-based principle of justice.It means securing to each and every human being the basic necessities of life like food, clothing, housing, medicine, education and the like etc. This is the voice of distributive justice and the very Dharma of the Indian Constitution. ——————————à ¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€œ [ 1 ]. Sudesh Kumar Sharma, Distributive justice under Indian Constitution, Deep & Deep Publications, New Delhi, 1989 [ 2 ]. http://www. spotlaw. in/text/910011996/9100119961206001. htm (accessed on 9 march 2013) [ 3 ]. http://www. spotlaw. in/text/910011996/9100119961206001. htm (accessed on 9 march 2013) [ 4 ]. Sudesh Kumar Sharma, Distributive justice under Indian Constitution, Deep & Deep Publications, New Delhi, 1989 [ 5 ]. VII Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences, 512 (1953) [ 6 ].Quoted by Justice George Vadakkel in his paper entitled â€Å"Law, lawyers and political development†, Vol. VIII (4), Journal of Bar Council of India, 629 at 635 (1981). [ 7 ]. Address by Justice P. N Bhagwati at the opening session of the Sixth Commonwealth Law Conference on 18th August, 1980 in The challenge of social justice, 20-21 (1985). [ 8 ]. John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (1976 Reprint) [ 9 ]. R. B. Brandit, Ethical Theory, 415 (1959) [ 10 ]. John R awls, â€Å"Distributive Jusitce† in P. Laslett and W. G. Runciman (ed. ), Philosophy, Politics and Society, 3rd ser. 50 (1967) [ 11 ]. I C A. D 59 [ 12 ]. II C A. D. 269 [ 13 ]. II C A. D. 273 [ 14 ].Granville Austin, The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation, introduction (1979 Reprint) [ 15 ]. Art. 38(1) [ 16 ]. Art. 14 to 18 [ 17 ]. Art. 19(1)(a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (g). [ 18 ]. Art. 20 to 22 [ 19 ]. Art. 23 and 24 [ 20 ]. Art. 25 to 28 [ 21 ]. Art. 29 to 30 [ 22 ]. Art. 32 [ 23 ]. Art. 38(2) [ 24 ]. Art. 39(a), (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f). [ 25 ]. Art. 39-A [ 26 ]. Art. 42 [ 27 ]. Art. 43 [ 28 ]. Art. 43 A [ 29 ]. Art. 44 [ 30 ]. Art. 45 [ 31 ]. Art. 46 [ 32 ]. Art. 47 [ 33 ]. 1951 SCR 525 [ 34 ]. AIR 1958 SC 731 [ 35 ]. AIR 1958 SC 956 [ 36 ]. AIR 1967 SC 1643 [ 37 ]. AIR 1970 SC 607 [ 38 ]. (1971) 1 SCJ 295 [ 39 ]. (1980) 3 SCC 625

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Shangri-La Hotel and Resort

[pic] Prepared By: Yee Shan (Sarah) CHUNG, Yan Sin (Jessy) LI, Kim Sang (Anson) HO, Kit Yat (Donald) TAI Table of Contents 1. Introduction3 2. Summary of Macro Environment4 3. Summary of Industry Analysis8 4. Summary of Internal Analysis12 5. Gap Analysis14 6. Recommendations22 7. Appendices26 8. References52 1. Introduction Since the parent company, the Kuok Group, is established in 1949 and until 1979 the home-grown Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore, was opened its doors in 1971 and it was opened under the management of Western International Hotels.However, Shangri-La International Hotel Management Ltd was founded in 1982 and from that time until now, Shangri- La endeavoured through countless challenged from the Asian financial crisis to the outbreak of SARS in 2003 and a lot of other challenges, Shangri- La Hotels and Resorts (SLHR) recently was announced and located its properties premier city addresses and some of the world's most exotic destinations across Asia, Middle East, North Am erica and Europe. As of 2006, SLHR was the largest Asian – based deluxe hotel group in Southeast Asia.The company managed a total of 50 hotels under three brands: the five-star Shangri-La, the four-star Traders and Kerry – with total inventory of over 23000 rooms across 39 locations. Furthermore, SLHR also join the stock market of Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand. As of SLHR’ mission statement â€Å"To delight our guests every time by creating engaging experiences straight from our heart†, SLHR also produce new product differentiation such as Chinese theory spas which named the â€Å"Chi† in most of its organization.The success of SLHR does not stop there expanding its market or increase their inventory, but the management always concern its competitors who can bring the better product and service base on SLHR’s ones. SLHR management also requires having strategies for long term running the organization. The aim of this strategic analysis re port is to create vision for organization in future; by identifying and analysing the major macro-environmental trends which believe the major issues affect to the future growth of SLHR.The report also quickly examines the five forces within the industry analysis to rough idea the current effectiveness of the industry and also based on evidences to expect the future profitability of SLHR. Besides, to create the advantage competitive of SLHR, all of internal operations in term of resources and capabilities could inspect. Moreover, to have an overall the difference between the desired situation and the actual situation of SLHR, a gap analysis will be point out for bringing all analysis together and base on this analysis gap, organization will have an overall difference.Lastly, it is definitely not absent in this report will be a list of recommendations which help formulating for SLHR in relation to achieve to greater its position in all markets in the future. 2. Summary of Macro Envir onment Macro environment or PESTE analysis is the first step in creating the Environmental Analysis. The macro environment examines the general business climate as it relates to the organisation, but the organisation has nothing to do with it. It has an impact to influence Shangri-La Hotels by four different factors, such as Political or Legal, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technology and Environmental.These four factors had been analysed in the Appendix 1, which is based on the Shangri-La over the world. The Global economic has more negative factors that impact the Hotels, Global Financial Crisis nowadays is one of the big issues for most of the industries around the world, as it leads recession which will affect the finance of the countries or industries. Because of the Global Financial Crisis, the unemployment rate of some countries is still increasing in the beginning of 2012, such as Euro Area increased to 11%, Italy increased to 10. 0%, Spain and Greece has increased over 20%, but some of the countries are decreasing such as Japan, Thailand, Turkey and Hong Kong(Trade Economic, 2012). The unemployment rate is increasing because of the cost of labour is increasing as well which the current financial situation is not good enough to support. People are more concern on price or become price sensitive now because of global financial crisis, as they will think the product is worth with the listed price or not.Some of the countries had announced Carbon Tax scheme which will affect the hotels, as every organisations need to pay a certain amount for the carbon that they produced. These negative factors may leads the guests rarely go travel and stay in hotels because they have less income, as the net income of Shangri-La Hotels Group had decreased to $253. 0 million (Bloomberg Business Week, 2012). However, the Gross Domestic Product around the world is increasing while the inflation is decreasing in most of the countries. Same as the Economic factors, the Political a lso has more negative factors impact the hotels.Over 90% of the countries had established a legislation of minimum wages, the legislation is to prevent the employers when there is the intense market competition and they in order to save costs, at the same time the wages of the employees are unable to meet their basic needs. On the recent years, there are some conflict occurs between nations, for example, there was two attackers rammed a border post with a rubbish truck and threw two grenades, and then attacked policemen with knives in Kashgar, Beijing; and a roadside bomb explosion in Diwaniyah.The most recent hotel bombing is the Marriott Jakarta bombing in 2009 because of terrorism which leads at least 9 people killed and 50 people injured. For a hotel chain as Shangri-La, the properties are everywhere in the world, they need to prevent and consider about the location’s political issues before or after they take over or establish a new Shangri-La. On the other hand, some na tions have a legislation to control the people own arms or guns. But when the numbers of arms holding increase, the country and properties need to increase the insecurity as well (Shah, 2011).By having legislation of arms controlling is good for Shangri-La. As in 21st Century, everything is being high technology which means there are lots of new technology products invested and announced into the market such as 3D televisions and surrounding audio systems. When those products had announced to public, the guests may expect the hotels will have one of these products in house. Most of the technology factors are neither positive nor negative impact for Shangri-La, as the number of the internet users is increasing rapidly every year, nearly everyone will have at least one computer and smartphone.When most people have at least one technology product, some of the companies will start produce some up-to-date communication softwares and some new applications will announce to the sociality. B y the time when the number of internet users is increasing rapidly, Shangri-La can take advantages from that, as they can do marketing via internet, especially the social networks (e. g. Facebook, Twitter, Myspace). The guests can book a room via their official website or some travel agents website, and Shangri-La can announce the latest news on their official website and social networks for the guests to read.For the industry, the socio-cultural has average impact. As the population in the world is increasing which is good for all the industries, there are more consumers to consume their products. But at the same time, the fluctuating death rate is increasing which is the age population is increasing as well, because the medical technology has been improving year by year, the people will have longer life than the past. Most of the people will expect a better quality of life, such as for living and for travelling, they would like to have good experience on everything, especially on travelling and accommodation.Multi-cultural is a good for the business as well, because Shangri-La can adopt the culture and develops a different experience for the guests, for example, in India, Shangri-La can design an Indian style hotel to cater and adopt the environment to attract the guests to stay in. However, because of different culture and the religion of the culture, they need to understand and get known about these before they establish the hotel in a country or city. In addition, there are several environmental issues that affect the industry, for example, natural disasters will occur in some countries such as Earthquakes, Floods, Tsunamis and Hurricanes.Nowadays, natural disasters had become more serious and more often, because of the climate change within a decade and global warming, ozone depletion are caused primarily by increases in â€Å"greenhouse† gases as Carbon Dioxide. Due to the natural disasters and the global warming, the lands will be destroyed and lead land shortage. Land shortage will influence Shangri-La as there is no enough land for it to build new hotels, it can make them could not expand their business.While they building new hotels or running existed hotels, pollutions will be produced, for example, building new hotels will produce lots of dust and the lighting of running existed hotels as the light will open 24hours 7days. On the other hand, 3Rs policy has been announced as Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, the government encourages people to reuse and recycle the products that they used. According to Lincoln (2007) Shangri-La have a wide of environmentally friendly measures such as fitting all guestrooms with water saving device in taps and showers as well as using energy-saving lamps in more than half of the group’s guestrooms.For saving energy and resources, Shangri-La has variety of methods, as by rainwater harvesting, hot water production using solar panels or heat pumps and improvements in building envelope desi gn to reduce heat loss or heat gain as well as air filtration. Shangri-La also has several methods to reduce the greenhouse gases, such as through existing systems and processes, the use of new technologies and alternative energy sources and by building more efficient buildings. In summary, the luxury hotel industry has opportunities and threats associated with the macro environment. There is variety of positive, balanced and negative trends.There are still opportunities for reasonable growth in this industry despite the threats. 3. Summary of Industry Analysis Industry environment has a more direct effect on the firm’s strategic competitiveness and ability to earn above-average return as compare to the general environment (Misangyl et. al, 2006). Hitt et. al (2011, p. 51) mention â€Å"Industry analysis will be using the five forces model of competition such as the threats posed by new entrants, the power of suppliers, the power of buyers, product substitutes, and the inten sity of rivalry among competitors to understand the profitability potential within the industry†.The strength and interaction of the five competitive forces are what influence profit potential. This section will discuss about the industry analysis of hotel industry and a more detailed analysis can be seen in Appendix2. The threat of entrants in the hotel industry is not significant which leads to high industry profitability. New entrants need to have sufficient amount of budget in order to build and run the hotel such as require substantial upfront investment in building, specialized equipment, infrastructure and staffs.Products and services are easy to replicate in hotel industry, therefore, brand identity is the differentiator in the hotels. It is difficult for new entrants to gain access to the capital requirements needed to develop and build hotel. The industry’s incumbents have established relationships and experience, which enables them to achieve significant cost savings. In addition to brand loyalty and costs the new entrants must also contend with the probability of retaliation from the established hotels. The xisting businesses in the industry have a high degree of absolute cost advantages as they have built good relationship and trust between the suppliers and customers. The number of suppliers to the hotel industry is extremely high. The types of suppliers for hotels include construction suppliers, monopoly suppliers such as electricity, gas and water, furniture suppliers, linen and bedding suppliers, food suppliers, decor suppliers, appliance suppliers, uniform suppliers and most importantly then staffs. The suppliers have medium bargaining power which will affect the attractiveness and profitability of the industry.There is high concentration of suppliers. However, the majority of hotels have regional contracts with suppliers. This locks the hotel companies into using certain suppliers and creates switching costs. The volume being so ld to the industry is important to the raw materials sources suppliers and equipment manufacturers because hotels will purchase in bulk to operate the business. Contracted suppliers costs and employees’ costs are high because they are needed to work for the operation of the business. These suppliers have high bargaining power.However, they are unable to bargain and will make close to their best offer at the first opportunity in order to gain profit for their business. Differentiation of outputs from suppliers is necessary to deliver performance in order to be more profitable in the industry. Hotels and resorts are part of the accommodation in the lodging industry. Rooms are highly perishable products. There are other options to stay when the customers are away from home such as apartments, condos, cabins and town houses. Buyers have high bargaining power in choosing the accommodation that they would like to stay.Hotels can create differentiation strategy to add value to attra ct customers such as dealing with the pricing strategy, good customer services and provide up-to-date technology in the hotels. However, there is high concentration of buyers relative to the industry. There is very little threat of backward integration from the consumer due to the high costs of start up in the hotel industry. Hence, when the buyers have medium to high bargaining power, then the industry profitability will be low. Substitutes to the hotel industry have a high level of power which leads to low industry profitability.There are a lot of substitutes in the industry. Leisure customers have more alternatives when they travel overseas as well as business customers, they can plan whether to fly to a city in order to have meetings. Nowadays due to the advance technology invented, Internet helps the business people a lot. Business man can do video-conferencing in their own country without flying to other country. This helps the business to save a lot of money. In regards to le isure customers, they have more choices to choose such as staying in boutique hotels, motels, apartments, camping, cruise ships and even caravan.Substitutes gave greater power. The substitutes can provide similar services and products and providing better value for money which make economic sense for buyers to switch. The intensity of rivalry in the industry is medium to high which leads to low industry profitability. Hotel industry is in mature stage, there is no industry growth. With the increase of competitors such as the expansion of luxury Asian brand – Mandarin Oriental, it makes it difficult for the hotels in the industry to maximize its profit by strengthening its occupancy rates.The high cost of building, furnishing and servicing the hotels in the industry create high fixed costs and high exit barriers. This increases rivalry as they need to maximise profits to have significant returns on investment. It makes it difficult to withdraw from the industry and has to comp ete with other existing rivals. The level of diversity among the companies is medium because the majority of the hotels provide similar types of high quality service. Due to this reason, it is easy for buyers to switch from one competitor’s product to another.While there is great rivalry in this industry, there are opportunities for expansion into national and international markets. Moreover, there are many stakeholders involved and large dollar investments, thus, it involves high commitment from every members in the organisation. Overall, analysis of the five forces in hotel industry found out that hotel industry’s attractiveness is rated as medium-low in terms of the potential to earn adequate or superior returns.It is considered as a partly unattractive industry because it has low entry barriers, medium to strong bargaining position of suppliers and buyers, strong competitive threats from product substitutes and intense rivalry among competitors. 4. Summary of Inter nal Analysis Internal analysis is an analysis about the organisation itself, it finds out organisation resources and capabilities to create value to customers and identify area of weaknesses to be addressed by future strategic and evaluate core competencies (Evans, Campbell and Stonehouse, 2003).Acknowledging those resources and capabilities can understand company position and competitive advantage to achieve superior performance and profitability by strategic (Hill and Jones, 2012). Resources Tangible Shangri-la group comprises 110 hotels and resorts throughout Asia Pacific, North America, the Middle East and Europe. In future development more than 20 hotels and resorts will be built in variety countries. Revenue has growing up nearly a quarter from 2009 to 2010, US $1,729 million to US 2,145 million.But, Share of profit of associates of hotel operation total is 15. 0, and property rentals total is 47. 7. Intangible Shangri-la group has great reputation in public, goodwill value is US $84,504,000 in 2010, because create green image to public, ‘Sustainability’ is umbrella brand which has several action to reduce energy consumption, waste water and carbon dioxide emission. It shows the low turnover rate, this is because company pays respects, cares and aware their employee and provide work-life balance program to motivate staffs to work productively and efficiently.Capabilities It has strong human resource capabilities which is compare to others hotel property, the staff turnover rate is low, Shangri-la provide a series training to staff ensure reach service consistency that ensure meet the expectation of service quality, so this is the competitive advantage. The distribution channels are strongly developed, it has several internet distribution channels, e-commerce is the best way to deliver and receive information nowadays.However, the product differentiation, marketing and management are not strong enough to be core competencies. 5. Gap Analysis Macro-environment Business Strategy Gaps |Trend |Date of Impact |Business Strategy match or Mismatch | |Economic Growth in Asia |1-5 years |Match – Currently Shangri-La group is focusing on developing the | |(especially in China) | |market in China. |Euro economic crisis |1-5 years |Match – Europe is not an essential market segment for the Shangri-La | | | |group and does not have big influence on the hotel financial | | | |performance | |Increasing value of Chinese |Now and ongoing |Mismatch – As the exchange rate of RMB is getting higher, tourists | |RMB’s | |prefer going to other Asian countries while China is the main market | | | |for Shangri-La | |Green Awareness |Now and ongoing |Match – Shangri-La really makes an effort on sustainability, creating | | | |a green organisation image to the public and gaining goodwill from | | | |that. | |Use of Technology |Now and ongoing |Match – Shangri-La spends significant resources on network pro moting, | | | |for example customer can book a room through Shangri-La’s Facebook | |Diminishing Target Demographic |3-5 years |Mismatch – Even Shangri-La group has other brands like Traders and | |Segment | |Kerry, but the target market is also focusing on up-scale market. | Industry Environment Business Strategy Gaps Industry Environment Element |Opportunity of Threat |Effect on Industry Profitability |Business Strategy Consistency or | | | | |Inconsistency | |Suppliers |Natural |Average |Consistent | |Buyers |Threat |High |Consistent | |Threats of New Entrants |Opportunity |High |Limited Consistency | |Substitutes |Threat |High |Limited Consistency | |Rivalry |Threat |High |Consistent | |Government |Opportunity and threat |Various by Location |Some Consistency | |Complementors |Opportunity |Low |Limited Consistency | Key Competitor Business Strategy Gaps |Competitor | |Physical | |Brands | |Decision Making | |Values | | | ECONOMIC FACTOR |Recession |Negative | | | Global Finance Crisis, spend money discreetly (Shah, 2010). | | | | | | | |Good & Service Tax, spend more money in good (Kalia, 2010). |Negative | | | | | | |Some of the countries had announced Carbon Tax which increase | | | |expense (World News Australia, 2012). Negative | | | | | | |Gross Domestic Product is increasing which stimulate people spend | | | |in hospitality (The Economist Online, 2011). |Positive | | | | | | |People are more concern on price due to Global Financial Crisis | | | | |Negative | | |High Labour cost, especially in China grow up rapidly fast. | | | | | | |The inflation in most of the countries are decreasing , | | | |China still growing so fast (Global-Rates. com, 2012) |Negative | | | | | | |The unemployment rate in most of the countries are decreasing | | | |(Trading Economics, 2012) |Positive | | | | | | |Negative | | | |(China) | | | | | | | |Positive | |Overall Negative | |POLITICAL/LEGAL FACTOR |Around 90% of countries had established a l egislation of minimum |Negative | | |wages that increase labour cost extremely (Herr and Kazandziska, | | | |2011). | | | | | | |Conflict between nations, it is not safety for travelling that |Negative | | |influence hospitality industry (Global Conflict Map. com, 2011)( The | | | |World Bank, 2011). | | | | | | | |Arms control in some nations, limit import and export goods (Shah |Positive | | |2012).For instance, North Korea has strict control rules in | | | |hospitality industry. | | |Overall Negative | |TECHNOLOGICAL FACTOR |Growth of Internet with fast broadband can assists consumers to |Positive | | |search for rooms available via websites. They can make | | | |reservations easily which help the costs of industry’s marketing | | | |activities. | | | | | | |Communication software or technology improved every year such as |Positive | | |Facebook and Twitter are Social Medias for marketing. | | | | | | | |Many new technology products announced into the market, energy | Positive | | |saving light reduce pollution. For example, the installation of | | | |solar energy system in hotels which can help saving the budget of | | | |the company. | |Overall Positive | |SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTOR |Fluctuating Death Rate which mean age Population is increasing |Negative | | |(Population Reference Bureau, 2011). | | | | | | | |Expectations of service quality. Consumers now expect to get | | | |intangible experience and want to be recognized by the employees. Negative | | |As long as the industry keep up the standards with what the | | | |customers are expecting then it will bring positive effect to the | | | |industry. | | | | | | | |The number of population is increasing over the world; it | | | |increases the workforce and potential customer (Rosenberg, 2011). Positive | | | | | | |Multi-culture around the world, allow knowledge and technique | | | |exchange. | | | | |Positive | |Overall Balance | |ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR |Greater awareness in global warming i ssues is a concern.Energy |Negative | | |consumption needs to be considered to reduce greenhouse gas. The | | | |most cost-effective greenhouse gas reductions can be made by using| | | |existing low technology in building insulation, lighting, | | | |air-conditioning and water heating systems and electricity standby| | | |(Enkvist et. al, 2007), (Fenger and Tjell, 2009). | | | | | | |Climate change (Shah, 2012) & Global Warming (National Geographic,| | | |2012). For example, mountainous areas reduce snow cover and winter| | | |tourism; southern areas decrease summer tourism period. |Negative | | | | | | |Water use management, reduce water use is a long-term strategic. | | |(Queensland Government, 2012) | | | | | | | |Waste disposal management, Use filters in deep fryers to extend | | | |the life of | | | |cooking oil or sale to driver(Lincoln, 2007) | | | |Indoor air quality, more countries forbid smoking in indoor than |Positive | | |last decade(Lincoln, 2007) | | | | | | | |3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) reduce waste cost in daily operation. | | | |For instance, use mugs to instead of disposable cups (USA |Positive | | |Recycling Facility Service, 2012) | | | | | | | |Some countries may need to face the natural disasters, e. g. | | | |Earthquake, Tsunami, and Hurricane (Shah, 2011). Negative | | | | | | |Land Shortage in nations, less land available, so the cost of land| | | |is become expensive. For example, rise around 9% of the total |Positive | | |property price, since 2001 in Australia (Hopkins, 2012),(Asia for | | | |Educators, 2009), (Your Investment Property, 2012). | | | | | | | |Negative | | | | | | | | | | | |Negative | |Overall Negative | 2. Industry Analysis |Forces |Issues |Impact | |Threats of new |Economies of scale |Medium | |entrants |New entrants need to have a certain large-scale production and huge finance because | | | |hotel industry requires substantial upfront investment in building, specialized | | | |equipment, infrastruc ture and staffs. | | |Small lodges will find it difficult to enter to the industry and compete with | | | |Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts because it requires large investment, however, the other| | | |well-known brands hotels such as Marriot International, Hyatt and Hilton might find it| | | |easier to build new hotels. | | | |Proprietary product differences |Medium | | |Product differentiation in hotel industry is low. It is relatively easy to replicate | | | |differentiation such as the products and services. Every hotels and resort can provide| | | |rooms that meet the demands of the customers and also train their staffs well to | | | |provide personalized service. | | |However, Shangri-La Hotels and Resort have built good brand and reputation; thus, it | | | |is the differentiator to compete with other new competitors. | | | |Brand identity |Low | | |Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts have built a good brand image in the mind of customers. | | | |Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts is alrea dy the leader in Asia (Dogan, 2010). They have | | | |established high product differentiation and brand loyalty.Other new brand hotels | | | |that want to come into the industry, they have to spend lots of costs to attract the | | | |customers to be competitive advantage. | | | |Buyer/customer switching costs |Medium | | |It is simple and easy for customers to switch costs. Customers can be easily attracted| | | |to different hotels that offer more value for money, or affordable prices. Due to the | | | |presence of Internet, customers will search and compare the hotel’s price via | | | |websites. Loyalty program can prevent the guests from switching costs. | | |Capital requirements |Low | | |High capital requirement is required for new entrants even though the competitors plan| | | |to do franchise, merger and acquisition, there is still high investment costs involved| | | |such as costs of inventories, high risk and law return situation and marketing | | | |activities. H ubbard & Beamish (2011, p. 76) state â€Å"New entrants with good ideas but | | | |without finance are unable to break into the industry†. | | |Access to distribution |Low | | |New entrants may have limited sources to access such as raw materials and distribution| | | |channels, as existing hotels have regular customers and partners. | | | |Absolute cost advantages |Low | | |The existing businesses in the industry have a high degree of absolute cost | | | |advantages.They have built good relationship and trust between each others; already | | | |establish hotel’s experience, favourable raw materials, advertisement expenses and | | | |favourable location. Thus, it is hard for new entrants to enter into the industry | | | |because there is low level of trust and familiarity with the suppliers. | | | |Government policy |High | | |Depends on the country’s regulations, government has the opportunity to set many | | | |restraints in the industry or encourage and facil itate the development of hotels. | | |Expected retaliation |High | | |Retaliation is expected as existing hotels will low down price and promotes some | | | |packages to attract customers. Unique and differentiated products by diversifying it | | | |can therefore persist the retaliation. | | |OVERALL RATING: LOW – MEDIUM | |Bargaining power of |Differentiation of inputs |Medium | |supplier |Supplier’s input is crucial to the final product. Good quality of the products and | | | |services provided by the suppliers will create a good outcome.Hence, it will have to | | | |boost the economy of the business. Hotels in the industry are the buyers and the | | | |producers of inputs that are the suppliers (Buffett & Munger, n. d). There are many | | | |suppliers involve in hotel industry such as: | | | |The construction companies tend to have a particular strong position when it comes to | | | |the hotel owner who would like to build a hotel. Thus, it strengthens the power o f | | | |being a supplier. | | |Monopoly suppliers who control electricity, gas and water supplies have high | | | |bargaining power. | | | |Hotels need to spend lots of money in the operational costs. Hotels need to buy | | | |Property Management System and Point of Sales to help the effectiveness of business | | | |operation. Hotels also need to buy amenities products, chemical products and raw | | | |materials for catering. Moreover, it needs to spend money on maintenance and servicing| | | |the equipments.If the hotels are locked into a contract, then the power of suppliers | | | |will be lower, they cannot increase the prices when they want to. | | | |Hotels are in the service industry. Hence, it needs people to provide exceptional | | | |services to the customers. High education and good experience employees will have | | | |higher bargaining power. They may negotiate the wages that they would like to receive | | | |and they think is reasonable before working with the hotels. | | | |Hotel customers are fragmented. Hence, as a supplier to the customers, the argaining | | | |power is low because there are substitutes that the customers can choose such as | | | |Marriott International Hotels and Hilton Hotels. | | | |Switching costs of suppliers and firms in the industry |Medium | | |Suppliers have power if there are few firms supplying the product or if there is no | | | |reasonable substitute for it (VBulletin Solutions, 2012). However in large hotel | | | |chains, many things are done by signing contract legally. Legal costs may increase if | | | |one party is not working as per contract listed. Thus, the switching cost is low. | | |Supplier concentration relative to industry concentration |Medium | | |There are high concentration of suppliers to choose from for Shangri-La Hotels and | | | |Resorts. Therefore, the suppliers have lesser power. | | | |Importance of volume to suppliers |Low | | |The volume being sold to the industry is important to the raw materials sources | | | |suppliers and equipment manufacturers because Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts will | | | |purchase in bulk to operate the business.Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts have a great | | | |deal of power over the suppliers when purchasing raw materials sources and equipments. | | | |Cost relative to total purchases in the industry |High | | |Supplier cost is a huge part of the total cost. Contracted suppliers costs and | | | |employees’ costs are high because they are needed to work for the operation of the | | | |business. Suppliers retain the power. | | | |Information about supplier’s product |Medium | |Hotels are highly aware of the quality of the products they purchase such as raw | | | |materials, equipments and even labour sources. Hotels will not take the risks to | | | |change the suppliers before they did research and compare the market price among the | | | |supplier’s industries. | | | |Supplier profitability |Low | | |Hotel industry ha s higher profitability as compare to the supplier industry.Suppliers| | | |will be unable to bargain and they will make close to their best offer at the first | | | |opportunity in order to gain profit for their business. | | | |Decision makers’ incentives |Medium | | |Hotels need to motivate their employees by giving incentives in order for them to | | | |provide good service to the customers. | | | |Hotels will do promotional packages when it is in low season to attract more customers| | | |to stay in the hotel. | | |Threat of forward integration |High | | |Suppliers can sell their products via Internet and even to the supermarkets. They have| | | |the power to enter the industry (Hubbard & Beamish, 2011). | | |OVERALL RATING: MEDIUM | |Bargaining power of |Differentiation of outputs |High | |buyers |Customers determine the profitability of the hotel’s business by choosing which one | | | |they would like to stay with, they have high bargaining power to choose.Hotel s create| | | |differentiation strategy to add value to attract customers such as: | | | |Customers place products and pricing strategy at first. For instance, the hotels | | | |should plan for low price strategy during low season or include complimentary goods | | | |for customers. | | | |Staffs provide good quality of service. | | | |Good geographic location which convenience the guests. | | | |Good atmosphere of the rooms and restaurants. | | |Give service for disable such as have disabled rooms in the hotels which located in | | | |the first floor to convenient the handicapped people. | | | |Switching costs of buyers |High | | |Shangri-La Hotel and Resorts have created a loyalty program named â€Å"Golden Circle† to | | | |attract existing customers by earning points and then the customers can redeemed for | | | |hotel stays, dining or spa experiences at any  Shangri-La hotel, resort, Traders hotel | | | |or Kerry hotel (Shangri-La International Hotel Management, 2012) .Thus, this group of | | | |customers will most likely be repeat customers and choose to experience services from | | | |Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts. There are low switching costs for customers. | | | |Presence of substitute outputs |High | | |There is an important level of the industry’s output has to the buyer. Hotels and | | | |resorts are part of the accommodation in the lodging industry. There are other options| | | |to stay when the customers are away from home such as apartments, condos, cabins and | | | |town houses (CarrHallCastle, 2012). | | |Industry concentration relative to buyer concentration |Medium – Low | | |Tourism industry is growing rapidly and the demand of hotels for customers increased. | | | |Travellers are highly concentrated relative to the industry, thus, the buyers do not | | | |have lots of bargaining power. | | | |Importance of volume to buyers |High | | |Large volumes of customers are expected to stay in the hotels because they are th e | | | |main source of income for hotels to generate profit.For example, tour operators, who | | | |book thousands of customers into hotels, have a strong bargaining position and can | | | |demand lower prices from hotels. Rooms are perishable, thus, hotels must try to meet | | | |the occupancy level. Buyers have more bargaining power. | | | |Cost relative to total buyer purchases |Medium | | |Corporate customers might invest large amount of money into the hotels when there is | | | |conference happens. They will reserve lots of rooms and meeting rooms. Therefore, they| | | |have more bargaining power. | | |Buyer information about the industry output |High | | |Customers can survey on the best firms that offer great services. They can have | | | |assistance from the travel agents, corporate travel consultants, internet and words of| | | |mouth to determine where they can get the services that they would like to experience. | | | |Positive words of mouth will build good reputation a nd image to the hotel whereas bad | | | |words of mouth will badly impact the business of the hotel. | | |Buyer Profitability |High | | |Customers have the freedom to choose which property they would like to stay in and | | | |dine for. They will gain ‘profit’ when they receive more services as compare to what | | | |they expected. They are still holding high bargaining power. | | | |Decision makers’ incentives |Low | | |When there is a large group coming to stay in the hotel, hotel will provide a discount| | | |price. | | |Threat of backward integration |Low | | |It is impossible for individual customer to enter the hotel industry due to large | | | |investment required. | | |OVERALL RATING: MEDIUM – HIGH | |Power of substitutes |Relative price/performance of substitutes |High | | |Hotelmule (2008) states â€Å"Continual developments in technology keep changing the | | | |potential threat from substitute products†.Technological advancements in th e internet| | | |make the overall market to be more efficient and at the same time expanding the size | | | |of the potential market and create new substitution threats. For example, | | | |video-conferencing has been used instead of holding a conference in hotel. Business | | | |customers tend to travel lesser. | | | |The substitutes for lodging such as camping, hostels and motels, the invention of | | | |cruise ships and trains causes travellers to have alternative choice when travelling | | | |to another country. | | |Switching costs |High | | |It is easy for buyers to switch costs, thus, the substitutes have greater power. | | | |Buyer propensity to substitute |High | | |Substitute products or services will be a threat. Capon (2008, p. 63) states â€Å"This can | | | |be achieved by the substitute being equally good and cheaper, or by it being equal on | | | |price, but offering a better product or more added value†.When other lodges such as | | | |apartments, condos, ca bins and town houses providing similar or equally good function | | | |and providing better value for money, it may make economic sense for the buyers to | | | |switch. | | |OVERALL RATING: HIGH | |Intensity of industry |Industry growth rate |High | |rivalry |There is no industry growth. The hotel industry is in mature stage. Severe industry | | | |rivalry occurs. | | |High fixed costs |High | | |The high cost of building, furnishing and servicing the hotels in the industry create | | | |high fixed costs. This increases rivalry as they need to maximise profits to have | | | |significant returns on investment. Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts must sell more rooms | | | |to cover those costs and increase hotel market competition. Hence, it makes it | | | |difficult to withdraw from the industry and has to compete with other existing rivals. | | |Intermittent overcapacity |Medium | | |Due to there are a lot of competitors in the market, there might be a lot of rooms | | | |that are av ailable and cannot be sold out. | | | |Product differences |High | | |There are no product differences because majority of hotels provide similar types of | | | |high quality service. Products and services in hotels are easy to imitate.It is | | | |difficult to reduce the rivalry through the differentiation of the products and | | | |services. | | | |Brand identity |Medium-High | | |Brand is important because through branding, a business can stand out of the crowd. | | | |People remember the organization and will choose to go to the well-known hotels as it | | | |can heighten the level of self esteem and be part of the social group. Shangri-La | | | |Hotels and Resorts have developed their brand name and are well known in worldwide. | | |However, other hotel groups such as Marriott International and Starwood have great | | | |brand identity as well. | | | |Switching costs |High | | |It is easy for buyers to switch from one competitor’s product to another; industry | | | |riva lry will be increased (Hubbard & Beamish, 2011). Thus, Shangri-La Hotels and | | | |Resorts create a loyalty program named Golden Circle to retain their customers. | | |Informational complexity |Medium-High | | |Consumers can look at rooms available in different hotels and compare prices online. | | | |Internet will have information about the price and service differences. Furthermore, | | | |some hotel websites provide virtual tours which introduce the guests about the real | | | |experience spending time in the hotels. There are also lots of travel websites such as| | | |trip advisor which provide guest’s review about the hotels. Information is readily | | | |available on the Internet. Thus, industry rivalry is enhanced. | | |Concentration and balance |High | | |Cline (n. d) mentions â€Å"Hospitality customers increasingly seek predictable services | | | |that support their ability to move quickly and easily around the world†. International| | | |hotel chains are e xpanding their business to meet the demand of the customers and to | | | |determine the way to be ‘happy’ with their position in the industry. Hence, rivalry | | | |will be significant. | | |Diversity of competitors |Medium | | |The level of diversity among hotels is medium because majority of the hotels provide | | | |similar types of high quality service. However, some hotels like Marriott | | | |International; it diversifies its business into planning and organizing wedding events| | | |for the couple who would like to marry. Marriott provides free assistance from | | | |certified wedding planners and help with everything from selecting centrepieces to |