Modern Tragedy

This essay is a view on the tragedy and the common man, primarily circling around Death of a Salesman and All my Sons. It’s divided into three parts. First we’ll talk about Arthur Miller and his life and what could have motivated to write these plays, the second will be an analytical view of his plays. And the third part will give detailed idea on why it can be called a tragedy. The structure of tragedy has been altered time to time to suit the timeline of the society.The time when Arthur Miller writes the social scenario is rational and more psychoanalytical, hence the subject of the tragic hero also changes, from being a conventional tragic hero from a high status. Arthur Miller’s plays have a common man as the tragic hero. This paper will elaborate on the views of Arthur Miller and his idea of a tragic hero. We will keep in mind the timeline and the scenario of the society and the country of the time Miller wrote his plays to understand the idea behind the pla ys. Basic theme in both his plays Death of a Salesman and All my sons is related to the almighty illusion of American dream. The dream which plays a major role in downfall of both tragic figures, Willy Loman and Joe Keller.LIFE OF ARTHUR MILLERArthur Miller was born on October 17, 1915 in New York and died on February 10, 2005 in Connecticut, United States. He is a very well-known playwright and essayist; he got immensely popular during late 1940s to early 1960s. Arthur Miller’s family was a victim of the Economic fall, he belonged to a very wealthy family, his father owned a women’s clothing manufacturing company and had around 400 employees, they had all the wealth , a summer house etc. But because of the Market Crash they lost almost everything and Miller had to deliver bread before attending school in order to help his family, and had to do several menial jobs to pay up for his college tuition fees.What is a tragedy?According to the dictionary tragedy is â€Å"A p lay dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending, especially one concerning the downfall of the main character.† Tragedy is basically the downfall of the hero, for the actions  he has taken in the past, or some fallacy in him, causing him his misfortune. According to Aristotle in poetics;â€Å"Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action of high importance, complete and of some ampli ­tude; in language enhanced by distinct and varying beauties; acted not narrated; by means of pity and fear effectuating its purgation of these emotions.† However, the definition of tragic hero has changed from the Ancients and the Elizabethan times to now. Both these times[ Elizabethan and the Greeks] potrays the tragic hero as a man of rank and high stature, a king or a noble man, on whom the entire nation depended, but in modern times the hero of the tragic fall especially in Miller plays is the common man, under the pressure of society, illusions, and liar to himself and t he society.The notable differences between the three timeline is that the ancients had a religious aspect playing a major role in it, and the fate of the gods did matter a lot, the Elizabethan or especially Shakespearean tragedies were self-inflicted, because of the tragic hero’s one quality that makes him powerful and weak. Modern times the tragedy surely is self-inflicted, but it is more society oriented, and man thinking in term of keeping his status in the society. The hero in both Greeks and Elizabethan period are the same, coming from high ranks, but the in the modern tragedy it has drastically changed, portraying the hero from a common class.I am only keeping Arthur Miller in picture and not everyone in the modern times to justify the characteristics of the tragic hero as the common man. Ultimately tragedy what in general is that which depicts the down fall of the protagonist after a lengthy suffering of him, provoking the emotions of pity and fear in the audience. Art hur Miller’s idea of tragedyIn Arthur Miller's essay, â€Å"Tragedy and the Common Man,† he outlines his ideas on what a tragedy and tragic hero are today. He says that the tragic hero does not have to be a king or of a noble background, but instead, the common man can be considered a tragic hero. Miller makes the point that the tragic flaw is the idea that the tragic hero is unable to accept anything that may affect their status or self-image. Miller also states that tragedy is not supposed to be pessimistic, but rather an optimistic display of human qualities. â€Å"I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were.†-Arthur Miller â€Å"Tragedy and the Common Man†In his first argument, Miller states that the tragic hero does not need to be royal or noble, for the common man can fit the role as aptly. Miller explains that this is now obvious through the concepts such as the Oedipus complex, which were origin ally â€Å"enacted by royal beings, but which apply to everyone in similar situations†. He believes that if tragedy were to only apply to kings, then it would be impossible for everyone else to cherish and comprehend it.The most crucial characteristic of a tragic hero according to Arthur Miller is that of the character possessing a sense of personal dignity. This is his notion of having a tragic hero not from high stature or rank. He is modifying the characteristics of tragic hero from the ones in Ancients and Elizabethans. â€Å"I think the tragic feeling is invoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing — his sense of personal dignity.†-Arthur Miller, â€Å"Tragedy and the Common Man†Arthur Miller believes that if tragedy were to only apply to kings, then it would be impossible for everyone else to comprehend with it. The only quality needed for a character to be a tragic hero, according to Miller, is the readiness to â€Å"lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing-his sense of personal dignity† This concept of the average man being a tragic hero is evident in The Crucible, through John Proctor, a local farmer.The play is about witchcraft practices in a small town, and towards the end John Proctor gets trapped in the wrong accusation that he forced his maid to sign the devil’s book. In the end of The Crucible, Proctor is supposed to sign a confession which will be put on Church notice board, but he refuses that because he doesn’t want to be in that position because it is not true; that is how Proctor's sense of personal dignity is conveyed when he tears his confession in order to preserve his good name, even at the cost of his life.According to Miller there is not anything like tragic flaw in particular, it is but â€Å"his inherent unwillingness to remain passive in the face of what he conceives to be a challenge to his dig nity, his image of the rightful status.† Meaning the tragic fall is occurred because, it comes to gaining his rightful social status. The common man, like in All my Sons, Joe Keller is lying to himself and to the society about his involvement in the faulty plane parts so that he can his rightful position of being a businessman back in the society. He elaborates on this point by saying, â€Å"The quality in such plays that does shake us, however derives from the underlying fear of being displaced, the disaster inherent in being torn away from our chosen image of what and who we are in this world. Among us today this fear is strong, and perhaps stronger, than it ever was. In fact, it is the common man who knows this fear.†Though the tragic hero commonly receives punishment for his or her way of being, Miller finds the connection between tragedy and pessimism to be a misconception. According to Miller, tragedy promotes â€Å"a condition of life, a condition which the huma n personality is able to flower and realize itself,† and therefore does not correctly associate with pessimism. Because according to Miller Tragedies do not promote pessimism but it strengths the viewpoints of the spectator towards the human. â€Å" There is a misconception of tragedy with which I have been struck in review after review, and in many conversations with writers and readers alike. It is the idea that tragedy is of necessity allied to pessimism.Even the dictionary says nothing more about the word than that it means a story with a sad or unhappy ending. This impression is so firmly fixed that I almost hesitate to claim that in truth tragedy implies more optimism in its author than does comedy, and that its final result ought to be the reinforcement of the onlooker's brightest opinions of the human animal.†-Arthur Miller, â€Å"Tragedy and the Common Man†Miller has written plays which have a social context to it, because he was influenced by Henrik Ibs en. In All My Sons he uses the similar style of bringing the past into present, the action taken in the past become the consequences of the present. The action of no facing the lawsuit and ship the engines resulting something grave in the present. Likewise, incepting the idea of success with well-liked also results into a present failure. But these consequences which end in a tragedy is not pessimistic because it corrects the general audience to some extent. G.B Shaw’s plays although not tragedy did show the audience the contemporary scenario of his time reflecting the society. Likewise Arthur Miller shows the audience the present scene of society, blindly believing in American dream, and sense of personal dignity are some factors of it.Keeping in mind the two famous plays by Miller All My Sons [1947] Death of a Salesman [1949]; we will see how Arthur Miller has portrayed his tragic hero as an average man.Analysis on Death of a SalesmanIn Death of a Salesman Willy Loman is tr ying to achieve American dream blindly without believing in hard work and associating the success with being well liked, to some extent that is his flaw or Hamartia. I am using this term just to make the concept more straight forward, as we learnt that Miller doesn’t believe in tragic flaw. However trying to achieve the illusion of America Dream is what Willy Loman wants because that is what he wants his social image to be, to be a well-liked businessman. He fails to do so because of his misinterpreting the dream into being well-liked.Even though this play does follow most of Aristotle’s tragic conventions which are the unity of time, place and action; o bloodshed on the stage; instead of chorus use of music, action beginning from the middle; it fails to justify Willy as the classical tragic hero because even towards the end he doesn’t realize that this was the flaw [the will to attain the dream]. It was just a misconception. He does not realize that and commits suicide so that his son Biff gets Willy’s insurance money. And the social status varies in ancients and modern tragedies. Willy Loman can therefore be called a Modern Hero not the classic. Language and Style:-In Death of a Salesman because it is a box play with the possibility of props it didn’t have chorus to constantly comment on the play but the play uses the help of music and lights to highlight the past and present phase so that  the audience doesn’t get lost. The play also starts from the middle and we are made aware of the story with the use of past and present, due to the technological revolution since the Greek times, the play has a lot of symbolism using the stage props hence it is very much the visual connection which the audience can make rather than depending on simile and metaphors. For example in Death of a Salesman at the end of Act I, a magnificent contrast has been given in the speech and the light adjustment where Willy is talking about the greatness of Biff in football when he was young and Biff is standing in the darkened kitchen corner.Analysis on â€Å"All my Sons†In Miller’s other play All My Sons the tragic hero is Joe Keller, his downfall is caused because of his narrow point of view which is always about being rich and about his family, and to live up to the fact that he is living an American dream. All My Sons shows us images of the American dream and it really happens as Joe belongs to the lower class of society, rises up and achieves all the luxuries for him and his family. But his narrow minded thought process leads him to ship damaged aircraft engine cylinder heads so that he does not run out of business.Besides shipping off the parts, he does not accept the responsibility in the courtroom, making the excuse that he was ill the day it was shipped off and the blame goes to his partner Steve Deever. Well this can be connected to the scenario of Miller’s age when after the World War II d uring Nuremberg trials, the Nazi who were accused of certain charges were executed. Some of them committed suicides, other people did go through the trials and face the execution. Because of Keller’s decision of shipping faulty aircraft parts his son Larry Keller feels absolutely disgusted with him and we know of that at the very end of the play, and that is where the reversal of action comes.Because till now Larry Keller is not shown to the audience and Joe doesn’t know about his death, he is trying to escape the reality and go back to the normal life. But in the end when he hears the letter out from his other son Chris Keller, Joe is completely shattered and takes the blame on himself and kills himself. The letter was written to Ann Deever, who was supposed to marry Larry.   Larry in this letter states that he is extremely disgusted by his  father’s deed, and because of his father he can not face anyone, and he is going on a mission from which he is never going to come back. We some to a conclusion that Larry committed suicide, because he could not face what his father did to the military for his own benefit.Language and StyleThis particular play does not take us back and forth in past and present like death of a Salesman does, but it reveals the events occurred in the past through conversation, like Henrik Ibsen does, in A Doll’s House which is the story of Nora and Torvald Helmer. The language in this play is very straightforward making it sound natural. And the action takes place in a backyard of a house, which is symbol in itself. The play is about the ugly truth that lies behind the American dream. A backyard can be significant in one of two ways.One, it could imply the â€Å"backdoor† idea, which is selfish and ethically wrong ideas. It could also mean backyard being one of the center of American families and a happy place, but where all the ugly truths come out and where the perfectly happy, normal living the Ame rican Dream family crumbles and experiences downfall. This play is about the betrayal, about American families, about guilt, about denial, about money, about needs, about egotism, about father and son relationship.According to the Ancients and the Elizabethan playwrights the protagonist is always of a high position or stature i.e. king, prince or an important person from the army, Miller excluded this notion from his plays by making the average man the protagonist. We will call this average man the common man- someone who is like us, who has a regular life and whose tragic fall is not going to affect the whole nation.Arthur Miller has highlighted American dream in both these plays and has also successfully made it the cause of tragedy. Both these plays have followed many tragic conventions making them tragic plays even after changing the idea of having a tragic hero belonging to the noble family yet invoking the particular set of emotions in the audience.What is American Dream?I wou ld like to highlight the major idea in Miller’s plays, the action of these two plays are based on the American Dream. The well-known definition of American dream is ‘The traditional social ideals of the United States, such as equality, democracy, and material prosperity.’ But this idea is deeply rooted in the American history. â€Å"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;† -Thomas Jefferson, United States Declaration of Independence [1776]â€Å"The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper c lasses to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.† – James Truslow Adams, The Epic of America [1931]In The Epic of America James Truslow Adams Coined this term called ‘American Dream’. He says that the American Dream is not about the motor cars and high wages, the dream is about the social order, that everyone can achieve the maximum of what they are capable of, and people will recognize them for it. It does not matter how fortunate they were when they were born. Well but these definition has resulted in having a dream of materialistic values. Even widely pictures depicting American dream shows the lux urious objects in it like a car, a big house, two children and a dog and so on. Well the pictures only show white families in it, so American dream is also misinterpreted as having a white family with all the luxurious amenities. So there has been an idea of how American dream looks like, but even California Gold rush in 1849 has contributed to the modern definition.â€Å"The Ð ¾ld American Dream †¦ was the dream of the Puritans, of Benjamin Franklin's â€Å"Poor Richard†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ of men and women content to accumulate their modest fortunes a little at a time, year by year by year. The new dream was the dream of instant wealth, won in a twinkling by audacity and good luck. This golden dream †¦ became a prominent part of the American psyche only after Sutter's Mill.† -W.H BrandsMost people know about the Sutter’s Mill, as it was one of the foremost mills to dig out gold. Sutter's Mill was a sawmill owned by 19th-century pioneer John Sutter in partnership with James W. Marshall. It was located in Coloma, California, at the bank of the South Fork American River. Sutter's Mill is most famous for its association with the California Gold Rush. On January 24, 1848, Marshall found several flakes of gold that began the transformation of California from a sleepy outpost to a bustling center of activity. Sutter tried to keep the discovery secret, but eventually the word got out. During the next seven years, approximately 300,000 people came to California (half by land and half by sea) to seek their fortunes mining for gold or selling supplies like picks and shovels to the gold prospectors.The idea can be applied to Willy Loman’s older brother Ben from Death of a Salesman. As he goes to the forest of Africa and finds diamonds there, because of his hard work and he was lucky. Looking at these definitions now we might have an idea of images associated to the American dream, these ideas were converted to the will of possessing good wealth and good family. But this American dream fell flat on its face during the Great Depression.Because after the economic fall people started to disbelieve in the America Dream of ‘anyone’ can reach the top. And this was when Arthur Miller had hardships in his life. Hence he tries to criticize this illusionary concept of the American dream in Death of a Salesman as well as in All My Sons. This dream was largely held by common men, because the images of this dream showed him there, hence every average man wanted to attain this dream that is what was performed in Miller’s play Death of a Salesman. And Joe Keller achieves it in All my sons.ConclusionRaymond Williams in his Modern Tragedy had come up with a concept of tragedy and social disorder. In this he talks about revolution, revolution which is in general violent but it is to reshape the conditions, and it is honored and justified; but only successful revolution becomes epic. When the revolution is in progress it is chaotic and tragic. Hence it is not an epic in time of its progress but it is tragic. If we apply this theory of revolution in the society and the tragic effects to it, we can makes sense out of Arthur Miller’s both the characters i.e. Willy Loman and Joe Keller, as these characters are present in the time of capitalism, depending on the new world’s economy.Now I being from the post-modern world can see this revolution of economic change as an epic; but keeping in mind the Arthur Miller’s timeline and the characters based on the same timeline, it is tragic. Seeing revolution as the powerhouse of chaos they are tragic heroes, but seeing the change as an epic they are revolutionary heroes. But this idea of seeing them as revolutionary heroes can only happen now, because we see from a different age. Maybe Miller chooses the tragic hero as a common man because the time when he wrote the concept of royal people and their tragedy was out of fashion.Because Arthur M iller was an American playwright and because America has functioned in a democratic way, so there is not only one person at the highest and there is no monarchy. And the people of New England had started thinking rationally, even the literature of that era had begun to talk about psychoanalysis and sociology and the audience had become more literate because of the printing press and the daily newspaper service, and also because of the explosion of novel writers and readers. People started to have a voice of their own and a thought process of their own because America was a democratic country, they might have not wanted the tragic hero of a high stature but a tragic hero that they could connect to.The age had seen the sudden economic twist, like a tragic story, one day you know that there is The Great Gatsby like scenario with the economic boom and the parties and richness and happiness and the very next day you know people jumping off the building due to stock market crash. Maybe th is could have made Arthur Miller to write about the current tragic hero which is common man. Ultimately his experiment did achieve the success, as the audience did appreciate seeing common man as the tragic hero.

History of Volleyball

The History of Volleyball According to (Stengenth and Power of Volleyball), for the first time in the history of volleyball, volleyball was played in the Pan American Games in 1955. In 1957, volleyball was designated as an Olympic team sport by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In 1959, the International University Sports Federation (FISU) had volleyball be one of the eight competitions held in first University Games in Turin, Italy. In 1960, seven Midwestern institutions formed the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA). In the 1960's, new volleyball techniques were developed. Off-speed hits, open hand tips, forearm passing, blocking at the net, and defensive plays such as diving and sprawling become a big part of the game. With the FIVB already having its own world championships, the FIVB directed its attention to the Olympic Games. Thanks to the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation, a tournament took place in Sofia in 1957 during the International Olympic Committee meetings. As a result of this event, volleyball became an Olympic Sport. In 1964, volleyball was first played in the Olympics in Tokyo. Volleyball became a part of the Olympic Games, which allowed it to grow even more. Also, in the 1964 Olympics, the Japanese used a volleyball that consisted of a rubber casing with leather panels. A similar ball is used in modern volleyball competitions. In 1969, a new international event, the World Cup was introduced. The World Cup would be turned into a qualifying event for the 1991 Olympic Games. In 1974, Japan telecasted a major volleyball event in Mexico, the World Championships. In 1983, the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) was founded by Leonard Armato. The organization started its own beach volleyball tour in the United States in 1984. By the late 1980's, the AVP tour was growing fast due to the promotion of the sport by the professional beach players Tim Hovland, Sinjin Smith, Randy Stoklos, and Mike Dodd. In 1986, the Women's Professional Volleyball Association (WPVA) was formed to administer, govern, and protect the integrity of Women's Professional Beach Volleyball. In 1987, the FIVB added a Beach Volleyball World Championship Series 1989 – The FIVB Sports Aid Program was created in 1990, a men’s volleyball competition called the World League was created. The World League is the longest and most flourishing of all the international events organized by the FIVB. The tournament is an annual event. In 2006, prize money became a major deal with $20 million dollars being distributed amongst 16 participating teams from 5 continents. The World League is sometimes confused with the other international volleyball competitions – Volleyball World Cup and Volleyball World Championships. In 1995, the sport of Volleyball turned 100 years old. In 1996, for the first time in the history of volleyball, beach doubles volleyball is included in the Olympic Games. Major events in the 90’s took place including the establishment of annual competitions for men's and women's volleyball (the World League, in 1990, and the Grand Prix, in 1993), the indication of Beach volleyball as an Olympic event (1996). These events and many rule changes in the game were made the purpose of enhancing the popularity and public visibility of the sport. William G. Morgan (1870-1942), invented volleyball in 1895 in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Morgan, who was born in New York, is known as the inventor of volleyball which he originally named Mintonette. Later, Alfred Halstead re-named Mintonette volleyball because the object of the game was to volley a ball back and forth over a net. Morgan studied at the Springfield College of the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) where he met James Naismith. Naismith, in 1891, had recently invented the game of basketball. During the summer of 1895, Morgan moved to the YMCA at Holyoke where he became Director of Physical Education. In this role, Morgan had the opportunity to direct a vast program of exercises and sport classes for male adults. His leadership was eagerly accepted, and his classes grew in large numbers. He came to realize he needed a different type of competitive recreational game in order to vary his physical fitness program. Basketball, which sport was beginning to develop, seemed to suit young people, but it was necessary to find a less violent and less intense alternative for the older members. Morgan took some of the characteristics from tennis and handball along with basketball. Morgan liked the game of tennis, but tennis required rackets, balls, and a net. He didn’t like all the equipment, but he did like the idea of a net. Morgan invented volleyball, which was originally called Mintonette. Mintonette was designed to be an indoor sport. Mintonette was less rough than basketball for older members of the YMCA, while still requiring some athletic ability. The first rules required for a net to be 6 feet 6 inches (1. 98 meters) high, a 25 ? 50 foot (7. ? 15. 2 meter) court. Each team could have as many players as a team wanted. A match was nine innings with three serves for each team in each inning. There was no limit to the number of ball contacts for each team before sending the ball to the other side of the court. (Stengenth and Power of Volleyball)In case of a miss serve, a second try was allowed. Hitting the ball into the net was a fault, with loss of the point or a side-out, except in the case of a first serve attempt. References (n. d. ). Retrieved from Stengenth and Power of Volleyball.

Disruptive Technology

Disruptive Technology Abstract The objective of this project is to explain the emergence of disruptive technology in the IT industry that will enable and help the organizations growth in a cost effective manner. One of the hottest topics in today’s IT corridors is the uses and benefits of virtualization technologies. IT companies all over the globe are executing virtualization for a diversity of business requirements, driven by prospects to progress server flexibility and decrease operational costs. InfoTech Solutions being dominant IT solution provider can be broadly benefited by implementing the virtualization. This paper is intended to provide the complete details of virtualization, its advantages and strategies for SMEs to migrate. Introduction 2009 IT buzz word is ‘Virtualization’. Small, medium and large business organizations seriously started to re organize their e-business strategy towards the successful disruptive technology of virtualization. Virtualization of business applications permits IT operations in organizations of all sizes to decrease costs, progress IT services and to reduce risk management. The most remarkable cost savings are the effect of diminishing hardware, utilization of space and energy, as well as the productivity gains leads to cost savings. In the Small business sector virtualization can be defined as a technology that permits application workloads to be maintained independent of host hardware. Several applications can share a sole, physical server. Workloads can be rotated from one host to another without any downtime. IT infrastructure can be managed as a pool of resources, rather than a collection of physical devices. Disruptive Technology Disruptive Technology or disruptive Innovation is an innovation that makes a product or service better by reducing the price or changing the market dramatically in a way it does not expect. Christensen (2000) stated that ‘‘disruptive technologies are typically simpler, cheaper, and more reliable and convenient than established technologies’’ (p. 192). Before we do any research on disruptive technology it is useful and necessary to summarize the Christensen’s notion of disruptive technology. Christensen was projected as â€Å"guru† by the business (Scherreik, 2000). His work has been broadly referred by scholars or researchers working in different disciplines and topics like the development of new product, strategies like marketing and management and so on. In his book â€Å"The Innovator’s Dilemma,† (Christensen 1997) Christensen had done significant observations about the circumstances under which companies or organizations that are established lose market to an entrant that was referred as disruptive technology. This theory became extremely influential in the management decision making process (Vaishnav, 2008). Christensen’s arguments, from the academic references (Christensen 1992; Christensen and Rosenbloom 1995; Christensen, Suarez et al. 1996) instead of looking in to his famous paperbacks (Christensen 1997; Christensen and Raynor 2003), explains that the entrant might have more advantage then the incumbent and it requires the understanding of three important forces: technological capability (Henderson and Clark 1990), organizational dynamics (Anderson and Tushman 1990), and value (Christensen and Rosenbloom 1995). He argued further that company’s competitive strategy and mainly its earlier choices of markets to serve, decides its perceptions of economic value in new technology, and improves the rewards it will expect to obtain through innovation. Christensen (1995) classifies new technology into two types: sustaining and disruptive. Sustaining technology depends on rising improvements to an already established technology, at the same time Disruptive technology is new, and replaces an established technology unexpectedly. The disruptive technologies may have lack of refinement and often may have performance problems because these are fresh and may not have a verified practical application yet. It takes a lot of time and energy to create something new and innovative that will significantly influence the way that things are done. Most of the organizations are concerned about maintaining and sustaining their products and technologies instead of creating something new and different that may better the situation. They will make change and minor modifications to improve the current product. These changes will give a bit of new life to those products so that they can increase the sales temporarily and keeps the technology a bit longer. Disruptive technologies generally emerge from outside to the mainstream. For example the light bulb was not invented by the candle industry seeking to improve the results. Normally owners of recognized technology organizations tend to focus on their increased improvements to their existing products and try to avoid potential threat to their business (Techcom, 2004). Compared to sustaining products, disruptive technologies take steps into various directions, coming up with ideas that would work against with products in the current markets and could potentially replace the mainstream products that are being used. So it is not considered as disruption, but considered as innovation. It is not only replacing, but improving ahead what we have now making things enhanced, quicker, and mostly cooler. Either it may be disruptive or innovative; technologies are changing the â€Å"future wave† in to reality and slowly started occupying the world. On one hand, the warning of disruption makes incumbents suspicious about losing the market, while emerging new entrants confident of inventing the next disruptive technology. Perhaps, such expects and worries produce more competition in the market place. It seems that every year there is a laundry list of products and technologies that are going to â€Å"change the world as we know it. † One that seems to have potential to achieve the title of a disruptive technology is something that has been around for a while now: virtualization. Gartner (2008) describes disruptive technology as â€Å"causing major change in the accepted way of doing things, including business models, processes, revenue streams, industry dynamics and consumer behaviors†. Virtualization is one of the top ten disruptive technologies listed by Gartner (Gartner. com). This virtualization technology is not new to the world. As computers turn into more common though, it became obvious that simply time-sharing a single computer was not always ideal because the systems can be misused intentionally or unintentionally and that may crash the entire system to alt. To avoid this multi system concept emerged. This multi system concept provided a lot of advantages in the organizational environment like Privacy, security to data, Performance and isolation. For example in organization culture it is required to keep certain activities performing from different systems. A testing application run in a system sometimes may halt the system or crash the syst em completely. So it is obvious to run the application in a separate system that won’t affect the net work. On the other hand placing different applications in the same system may reduce the performance of the system as they access the same available system resources like memory, network input/output, Hard disk input/output and priority scheduling (Barham, at,. el, 2003). The performance of the system and application will be greatly improved if the applications are placed in different systems so that they can have its own resources. It is very difficult for most of the organization to invest on multiple systems and at times it is hard to keep all the systems busy to its full potential and difficult to maintain and also the asset value keeps depreciating. So investing in multiple systems becomes waste at times, however having multi systems obviously has its own advantages. Considering this cost and waste, IBM introduced the first virtual machine in 1960 that made one system to be as it was multiple. In the starting, this fresh technology allowed individuals to run multiple applications at the same time to increase the performance of person and computer to do multitask abilities. Along with this multi tasking factor created by virtualization, it was also a great money saver. The multitasking ability of virtualization that allowed computers to do more than one task at a time become more valuable to companies, so that they can leverage their investments completely (VMWare. com). Virtualization is a hyped and much discussed topic recently due to its potential characteristics. Firstly it has capacity to use the computer resources in a better potential way maximizing the company’s hardware investment. It is estimated that only 25% of the total resources are utilized in an average data center. By virtualization large number older systems can be replaced by a highly modern, reliable and scalable enterprise servers reduce the hardware and infrastructure cost significantly. It is not just server consolidation, virtualization offers much more than that like the ability to suspend, resume, checkpoint, and migrate running Chesbrough (1999a, 1999b). It is exceptionally useful in handling the long running jobs. If a long running job is assigned to a virtual machine with checkpoints enabled, in any case it stops or hangs, it can be restarted from where it stopped instead of starting from the beginning. The main deference of today’s virtualization compared to the older mainframe age is that it can be allocated any of the service’s choice location and is called as of Distributed Virtual Machines that opens a whole lot of possibilities like monitoring of network, validating security policy and the distribution of content (Peterson et, al, 2002). The way virtual technology breaks the single operating system boundaries is what made it to be a significant part of technology that leads in to the disruptive technology group. It allows the users to run multiple applications in multiple operating systems on a single computer simultaneously. (VMWare. com, 2009) Basically, this new move will have a single physical server and that hardware can be made in to software that will use all the available hardware resources to create a virtual mirror of it. The replications created can be used as software based computers to run multiple applications at the same time. These software based computers will have the complete attributes like RAM, CPU and NIC interface of the physical computers. The only different is that there will be only one system instead of multiple running different operating systems (VMWare. com, 2009) called guest machines. Virtual Machine Monitor Guest virtual machines can be hosted by a method called as Virtual Machine Monitor or VMM. This should go hand-in-hand with virtual machines. In realty, VMM is referred as the host and the hosted virtual machines are referred as guests. The physical resources required by the guests are offered by the software layer of the VMM or host. The following figure represents the relationship between VMM and guests. The VMM supplies the required virtual versions of processor, system devices such as I/O devices, storage, memory, etc. It also presents separation between the virtual machines and it hosts so that issues in one cannot effect another. As per the research conducted by Springboard Research study recently, the spending related to virtualization software and services will reach to 1. 5 billion US dollar by the end of 2010. The research also adds that 50% of CIOs interested in deploying virtualization to overcome the issues like poor performance system’s low capacity utilization and to face the challenges of developing IT infrastructure. TheInfoPro, a research company states that more than 50% of new servers installed were based on virtualization and this number is expected to grow up to 80% by the end of 2012. V irtualization will be the maximum impact method modifying infrastructure and operations by 2012. In reference to Gartner, Inc. 008, Virtualization will renovate how IT is bought, planed, deployed and managed by the companies. As a result, it is generating a fresh wave of competition among infrastructure vendors that will result in market negotiation and consolidation over the coming years. The market share for PC virtualization is also booming rapidly. The growth is expected to be 660 million compared to 5 million in till 2007. Virtualization strategy for mid-sized businesses Virtualization has turn out to be a significant IT strategy for small and mid-sized business (SMEs) organizations. It not only offers the cost savings, but answers business continuity issues and allows IT managers to: †¢Manage and reduce the downtime caused due to the planed hardware maintenance that will reduce the down time resulting higher system availability. †¢Test, investigate and execute the disaster recovery plans. †¢Secure the data, as well as non-destructive backup and restore Processes †¢Check the stability and real-time workloads In these competitive demanding times, SME businesses organizations require to simplify the IT infrastructure and cut costs. However, with various storage, server and network requirements, and also sometimes might not have sufficient physical space to store and maintain systems, the company’s chances can be restricted by both less physical space and budget concerns. The virtualization can offer solutions for these kind issues and SMEs can significantly benefit not only from server consolidation, but also with affordable business continuity. What is virtualization for mid-sized businesses? In the Small business sector virtualization can be defined as a technology that permits application workloads to be maintained independent of host hardware. Several applications can share a sole, physical server. Workloads can be rotated from one host to another without any downtime. IT infrastructure can be managed as a pool of resources, rather than a collection of physical devices. It is assumed that the virtualization is just for large enterprises. But in fact it is not. It is a widely-established technology that decreases hardware requirements, increases use of hardware resources, modernizes management and diminish energy consumption. Economics of virtualization for the midmarket The research by VMWare. om (2009) shows that the SMEs invested on virtualization strategy has received their return of investment (ROI) in less than year. In certain cases, this can be less than seven months with the latest Intel Xeon 5500 series processors http://www-03. ibm. com/systems/resources/6412_Virtualization_Strategy_-_US_White_Paper_-_Apr_24-09. pdf [accessed on 04/09/09] The below image explains how the virtualization simplified a large utility company infrastructure with 1000 systems with racks and cables to a dramatically simpler form. Source : http://www-03. ibm. om/systems/resources/6412_Virtualization_Strategy_-_US_White_Paper_-_Apr_24-09. pdf [accessed on 04/09/09] Virtualization SME advantages 1. Virtualization and management suite presents a stretchable and low -cost development platform and an environment with high capability. 2. Virtualization provides the facility to rotate virtual machines that are live between physical hosts. This ability numerous advantages like business continuity, recovery in disaster, balancing of workload, and even energy-savings by permitting running applications to be exchanged between physical servers without disturbing the service. . Virtualization can help you take full advantage of the value of IT Pounds: †¢Business alertness in varying markets †¢A flexible IT infrastructure that can scale with business growth †¢ High level performance that can lever the majority of d emanding applications †¢ An industry-standard platform architecture with intellectual management tools †¢ Servers with enterprise attributes—regardless of their size or form factor 4. Virtualization can help you to advance IT services: †¢The provision to maintain the workloads rapidly by setting automatic maintenance process that can be configured to weeks, days or even to inutes. †¢Improve IT responsiveness to business needs †¢Down times can be eliminate by shifting the †¢To a great extent decrease, even eliminate unplanned downtime. †¢Reducing costs in technical support, training and mainte ¬nance. Conclusion: This is the right time for Small and mid-sized businesses like InfoTech Solutions to implement a virtualization strategy. Virtualization acts as a significant element of the IT strategy for businesses of all sizes, with a wide range of benefits and advantages for all sized businesses. It helps InfoTech Solutions to construct an IT infrastructure with enterprise-class facilities and with a with a form factor of Return Of Investment. It is expected that more than 80% of organizations will implement virtualization by the end of 2012. So SME organizations like InfoTech Solutions should seriously look in to their E-business strategy for considering the virtualization or they may be left behind the competitors. References 1. Adner, Ron (2002). When Are Technologies Disruptive? A Demand- Based View of the Emergence of Competition. Strategic Management Journal 23(8):667–88. . Anderson, P. and M. L. Tushman (1990). â€Å"Technological Discontinuities and Dominant Designs – a Cyclical Model of Technological-Change. † Administrative Science Quarterly 35(4): 604-633. 3. Barham, B. Dragovic, K. Fraser, S. Hand, T. Harris, A. Ho, R. Neugebauer, I. Pratt, and A. Warfield. Xen and the art of virtualization. In Proc. 19th SOSP, October 2003. 4. Chesbrough, Hen ry (1999a). Arrested Development: The Experience of European Hard-Disk-Drive Firms in Comparison with U. S. and Japanese Firms. Journal of Evolutionary Economics 9(3):287–329. 5. Chintan Vaishnav , (2008) Does Technology Disruption Always Mean Industry Disruption, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 6. Christensen, Clayton M. (2000). The Innovator’s Dilemma. When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. 7. Christensen, C. M. (1992). â€Å"Exploring the limits of technology S-curve: Architecture Technologies. † Production and Operations Management 1(4). 8. Christensen, C. M. and R. S. Rosenbloom (1995). â€Å"Explaining the Attackers Advantage -Technological Paradigms, Organizational Dynamics, and the Value Network. † Research Policy 24(2): 233-257. . Christensen, C. M. , F. F. Suarez, et al. (1996). Strategies for survival in fast-changing industries. Cambridge, MA, International Center for Research on the Management 10. Christensen, C. M. (1992). â€Å"Exploring the limits of technology S-curve: Component Technologies. † Production and Operations Management 1(4). 11. Christensen, C. M. (1997). The innovator's dilemma : when new technologies cause great firms to fail. Boston, Mass. , Harvard Business School Press. 12. Christensen, C. M. and M. E. Raynor (2003). The innovator's solution : creating and sustaining successful growth. Boston, Mass. , Harvard Business School Press. 13. Cohan, Peter S. (2000). The Dilemma of the ‘‘Innovator’s Dilemma’’: Clayton Christensen’s Management Theories Are Suddenly All the Rage, but Are They Ripe for Disruption? Industry Standard, January 10, 2000. 14. Gartner Says; http://www. gartner. com/it/page. jsp? id=638207 [ accessed on 04/09/09] 15. Henderson, R. M. and K. B. Clark (1990). â€Å"Architectural Innovation – the Reconfiguration of Existing Product Technologies and the Failure of Established Firms. † Administrative Science Quarterly 35(1): 9-30. 16. MacMillan, Ian C. nd McGrath, Rita Gunther (2000). Technology Strategy in Lumpy Market Landscapes. In: Wharton on Managing Emerging Technologies. G. S. Day, P. J. H. Schoemaker, and R. E. Gunther (eds. ). New York: Wiley, 150–171. 17. Scherreik, Susan (2000). When a Guru Manages Money. Business Week, July 31, 2000. 18. L. Peterson, T. Anderson, D. Culler, and T. R oscoe, â€Å"A Blueprint for Introducing Disruptive Technology into the Internet,† in Proceedings of HotNets I, Princeton, NJ, October 2002. 19. â€Å"VirtualizationBasics. † VMWare. com. http://www. vmware. com/virtualization/ [Accessed on 04/09/09] Disruptive Technology One of the most consistent patterns in business is the failure of leading companies to stay at the top of their industries when technologies or markets change. Goodyear and Firestone entered the radial-tire market quite late. Xerox let Canon create the small-copier market. Bucyrus-Erie allowed Caterpillar and Deere to take over the mechanical excavator market. Sears gave way to Wal-Mart. The pattern of failure has been especially striking in the computer industry. IBM dominated the mainframe market but missed by years the emergence of minicomputers, which were technologically much simpler than mainframes. Digital Equipment dominated the minicomputer market with innovations like its VAX architecture but missed the personal-computer market almost completely. Apple Computer led the world of personal computing and established the standard for user-friendly computing but lagged five years behind the leaders in bringing its portable computer to market. Why is it that companies like these invest aggressively-and successfully-in the technologies necessary to retain their current customers but then fail to make certain other technological investments that customers of the future will demand? Undoubtedly, bureaucracy, arrogance, tired executive blood, poor planning, and short-term investment horizons have all played a role. But a more fundamental reason lies at the heart of the paradox: leading companies succumb to one of the most popular, and valuable, management dogmas. They stay close to their customers. Although most managers like to think they are in control, customers wield extraordinary power in directing a company's investments. Before managers decide to launch a technology, develop a product, build a plant, or establish new channels of distribution, they must look to their customers first: Do their customers want it? How big will the market be? Will the investment be profitable? The more astutely managers ask and answer these questions, the more completely their investments will be aligned with the needs of their Customers. This is the way a well-managed company should operate. Right? But what happens when customers reject a new technology, product concept, or way of doing business because it does not address their needs as effectively as a company's current approach? The large photocopying centers that represented the core f Xerox's customer base at first had no use for small, slow tabletop copiers. The excavation contractors that had relied on Bucyrus-Erie's big-bucket steam- and diesel-powered cable shovels didn't want hydraulic excavators because, initially they were small and weak. IBM's large commercial, government, and industrial customers saw no immediate use for minicomputers. In each instance, companies listened to their customers, gave them the product performance they were looking for , and, in the end, were hurt by the very technologies their customers led them to ignore. We have seen this pattern repeatedly in an ongoing study of leading companies in a variety of industries that have confronted technological change. The research shows that most well-managed, established companies are consistently ahead of their industries in developing and commercializing new technologies- from incremental improvements to radically new approaches- as long as those technologies address the next-generation performance needs of their customers. However, these same companies are rarely in the forefront of commercializing new technologies that don't initially meet the needs of mainstream customers and appeal only to small or emerging markets. Using the rational, analytical investment processes that most well-managed companies have developed, it is nearly impossible to build a cogent case for diverting resources from known customer needs in established markets to markets and customers that seem insignificant or do not yet exist. After all, meeting the needs of established customers and fending off competitors takes all the resources a company has, and then some. In well-managed companies, the processes used to identify customers' needs, forecast technological trends, assess profitability, allocate resources across competing proposals for investment, and take new products to market are focused-for all the right reasons-on current customers and markets. These processes are designed to weed out proposed products and technologies that do not address customers' needs. In fact, the processes and incentives that companies use to keep focused on their main customers work so well that they blind those companies to important new technologies in emerging markets. Many companies have learned the hard way the perils of ignoring new technologies that do not initially meet the needs of mainstream customers. For example, although personal computers did not meet the requirements of mainstream minicomputer users in the early 1980s, the computing power of the desktop machines mproved at a much faster rate than minicomputer users' demands for computing power did. As a result, personal computers caught up with the computing needs of many of the customers of Wang, Prime, Nixdorf, Data General, and Digital Equipment. Today they are performance-competitive with minicomputers in many applications. For the minicomputer makers, keeping close to mainstream customers and ignoring what were initially low-performance desktop technologies used by seemingly insignificant cus tomers in emerging markets was a rational decision-but one that proved disastrous. The technological changes that damage established companies are usually not radically new or difficult from a technological point of view. They do, however, have two important characteristics: First, they typically present a different package of performance attributes- ones that, at least at me outset, are not valued by existing customers. Second, the performance attributes that existing customers do value improve at such a rapid rate that the new technology can later invade those established markets. Only at this point will mainstream customers want the technology. Unfortunately for the established suppliers, by then it is often too late: the pioneers of the new technology dominate the market. It follows, then, that senior executives must first be able to spot the technologies that seem to fall into this category. Next, to commercialize and develop the new technologies, managers must protect them from the processes and incentives that are geared to serving established customers. And the only way to protect them is to create organizations that are completely independent from the mainstream business. No industry of staying too close to customers more dramatically than the hard-disk-drive industry. Between 1976 and 1992, disk-drive performance improved at a stunning rate: the physical size of a 100-megabyte (MB) system shrank from 5,400 to 8 cubic inches, and the cost per MB fell from $560 to $5. Technological change, of course, drove these breathtaking achievements. About half of the improvement came from a host of radical advances that were critical to continued improvements in disk-drive performance; the other half came from incremental advances. The pattern in the disk-drive industry has been repeated in mar/y other industries: the leading, established companies have consistently led the industry in developing and adopting new technologies that their customers demanded- even when those technologies required completely different technological competencies and manufacturing capabilities from the ones the companies had. In spite of this aggressive technological posture, no single disk-drive manufacturer has been able to dominate the industry for more than a few years. A series of companies have entered the business and risen to prominence, only to be toppled by newcomers who pursued technologies that at first did not meet the needs of mainstream customers. As a result, not one of the independent disk-drive companies that existed in 1976 survives today. To explain the differences in the impact of certain kinds of technological innovations on a given industry, the concept of performance trajectories – the rate at which the performance of a product has improved, and is expected to improve, over time – can be helpful. Almost every industry has a critical performance trajectory. In mechanical excavators, the critical trajectory is the annual improvement in cubic yards of earth moved per minute. In photocopiers, an important performance trajectory is improvement in number of copies per minute. In disk drives, one crucial measure of performance is storage capacity, which has advanced 50% each year on average for a given size of drive. Different types of technological innovations affect performance trajectories in different ways. On the one hand, sustaining technologies tend to maintain a rate of improvement; that is, they give customers something more or better in the attributes they already value. For example, thin-film components in disk drives, which replaced conventional ferrite heads and oxide disks between 1982 and 1990, enabled information to be recorded more densely on disks. Engineers had been pushing the limits of the' performance they could wring from ferrite heads and oxide disks, but the drives employing these technologies seemed to have reached the natural limits of an S curve. At that point, new thin-film technologies emerged that restored- or sustained-the historical trajectory of performance improvement. On the other hand, disruptive technologies introduce a very different package of attributes from the one mainstream customers historically value, and they often perform far worse along one or two dimensions that are particularly important to those customers. As a rule, mainstream customers are unwilling to use a disruptive product in applications they know and understand. At first, then, disruptive technologies tend to be used and valued only in new markets or new applications; in fact, they generally make possible the emergence of new markets. For example, Sony's early transistor adios sacrificed sound fidelity but created a market for portable radios by offering a new and different package of attributes- small size, light weight, and portability. In the history of the hard-disk-drive industry, the leaders stumbled at each point of disruptive technological change: when the diameter of disk drives shrank from the original 14 inches to 8 inches, then to 5. 25 inches, and finally to 3. 5 inches. Each of these new architectures, initially offered the market substantially less storage capacity than the typical user in the established market required. For example, the 8-inch drive offered 20 MB when it was introduced, while the primary market for disk drives at that time-mainframes-required 200 MB on average. Not surprisingly, the leading computer manufacturers rejected the 8-inch architecture at first. As a result, their suppliers, whose mainstream products consisted of 14-inch drives with more than 200 MB of capacity, did not pursue the disruptive products aggressively. The pattern was repeated when the 5. 25-inch and 3. 5-inch drives emerged: established computer makers rejected the drives as inadequate, and, in turn, their disk-drive suppliers ignored them as well. But while they offered less storage capacity, the disruptive architectures created other important attributes- internal power supplies and smaller size (8-inch drives); still smaller size and low-cost stepper motors (5. 25-inch drives); and ruggedness, light weight, and low-power consumption (3. 5-inch drives). From the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, the availability of the three drives made possible the development of new markets for minicomputers, desktop PCs, and portable computers, respectively. Although the smaller drives represented disruptive technological change, each was technologically straightforward. In fact, there were engineers at many leading companies who championed the new technologies and built working prototypes with bootlegged resources before management gave a formal go-ahead. Still, the leading companies could not move the products through their organizations and into the market in a timely way. Each time a disruptive technology emerged, between one-half and two-thirds of the established manufacturers failed to introduce models employing the new architecture-in stark contrast to their timely launches of critical sustaining technologies. Those companies that finally did launch new models typically lagged behind entrant companies by two years-eons in an industry whose products' life cycles are often two y. ears. Three waves of entrant companies led these revolutions; they first captured the new markets and then dethroned the leading companies in the mainstream markets. How could technologies that were initially inferior and useful only to new markets eventually threaten leading companies in established markets? Once the disruptive architectures became established in their new markets, sustaining innovations raised each architecture's performance along steep trajectories- so steep that the performance available from each architecture soon satisfied the needs of customers in the established markets. For example, the 5. 25-inch drive, whose initial 5 MB of capacity in 1980 was only a fraction of the capacity that the minicomputer market needed, became fully performance-competitive in the minicomputer market by 1986 and in the mainframe market by 1991. (See the graph â€Å"How Disk-Drive Performance Met Market Needs. ) A company's revenue and cost structures play a critical role in the way it evaluates proposed technological innovations. Generally, disruptive technologies look financially unattractive to established companies. The potential revenues from the discernible markets are small, and it is often difficult to project how big the markets for the technology will be over the long term. As a result, managers typically conclude that the technology cannot make a meaningful contribution to corporate growth and, therefore, that it is not worth the management effort required to develop it. In addition, established companies have often installed higher cost structures to serve sustaining technologies than those required by disruptive technologies. As a result, managers typically see themselves as having two choices when deciding whether to pursue disruptive technologies. One is to go downmarket and accept the lower profit margins of the emerging markets that the disruptive technologies will initially serve. The other is to go upmarket with sustaining technologies and enter market segments whose profit margins are alluringly high. For example, the margins of IBM's mainframes are still higher than those of PCs). Any rational resource-allocation process in companies serving established markets will choose going upmarket rather than going down. Managers of companies that have championed disruptive technologies in emerging markets look at the world quite differently. Without the high cost structures of their established counterparts, these companies find the emerging markets appealing. Once the companies have secured a foothold in the markets and mproved the performance of their technologies, the established markets above them, served by high-cost suppliers, look appetizing. When they do attack, the entrant companies find the established players to be easy and unprepared opponents because the opponents have been looking upmarket themselves, discounting the threat from below. It is tempting to stop at this point and conclude that a valuable lesson has been learned: managers can avoid missing the next wave by paying careful attention to potentially disruptive technologies that do not meet current customers' needs. But recognizing the pattern and figuring out how to break it are two different things. Although entrants invaded established markets with new technologies three times in succession, none of the established leaders in the disk-drive industry seemed to learn from the experiences of those that fell before them. Management myopia or lack of foresight cannot explain these failures. The problem is that managers keep doing what has worked in the past: serving the rapidly growing needs of their current customers. The processes that successful, well-managed companies have developed to allocate resources among proposed investments are incapable of funneling resources into programs that current customers explicitly don't want and whose profit margins seem unattractive. Managing the development of new technology is tightly linked to a company's investment processes. Most strategic proposals-to add capacity or to develop new products or processes- take shape at the lower levels of organizations in engineering groups or project teams. Companies then use analytical planning and budgeting systems to select from among the candidates competing for funds. Proposals to create new businesses in emerging markets are particularly challenging to assess because they depend on notoriously unreliable estimates of market size. Because managers are evaluated on their ability to place the right bets, it is not surprising that in well-managed companies, mid- and top-level managers back projects in which the market seems assured. By staying close to lead customers, as they have been trained to do, managers focus resources on fulfilling the requirements of those reliable customers that can be served profitably. Risk is reduced-and careers are safeguarded-by giving known customers what they want. Seagate Technology's experience illustrates the consequences of relying on such resource-allocation processes to evaluate disruptive technologies. By almost any measure, Seagate, based in Scotts Valley, California, was one of the most successful and aggressively' managed companies in the history of the microelectronics industry: from its inception in 1980, Seagate's revenues had grown to more than $700 million by 1986. It had pioneered 5. 5-inch hard-disk drives and was the main supplier of them to IBM and IBM-compatible personal-computer manufacturers. The company was the leading manufacturer of 5. 25-inch drives at the time the disruptive 3. 5-inch drives emerged in the mid-1980s. Engineers at Seagate were the second in the industry to develop working prototypes of 3. 5-inch drives. By early 1985, they had made more than 80 such models with a low level of company funding. The engineers forwarded the new models to key marketing executives, and the trade press reported that Seagate was actively developing 3. -inch drives. But Seagate's principal customers- IBM and other manufacturers of AT-class personal computers- showed no interest in the new drives. They wanted to incorporate 40-MB and 60-MB drives in their next-generation models, and Seagate's early 3. 5-inch prototypes packed only 10 MB. In response, Seagate's marketing executives lowered their sales forecasts for the new ‘disk drives. Manufacturing and financial executives at the company pointed out another drawback to the 3. 5-inch drives. According to their analysis, the new drives would never be competitive with the 5. 5-inch architecture on a cost-per-megabyte basis-an important metric that Seagate's customers used to evaluate disk drives. Given Seagate's cost structure, margins on the higher-capacity 5. 25-inch models therefore promised to be much higher than those on the smaller products. Senior managers quite rationally decided that the 3. 5-inch drive would not provide the sales volume and profit margins that Seagate needed from a new product. A ‘former Seagate marketing executive recalled, â€Å"We needed a new model that could become the next ST412 [a 5. 5-inch drive generating more than $300 million in annual sales, which was nearing the end of its life cycle]. At the time, the entire market for 3. 5-inch drives was less than $50 million. The 3. 5-inch drive just didn't fit the bill- for sales or profits. † The shelving of the 3. 5-inch drive was not a signal that Seagate was complacent about innovation. Seagate subsequently introduced new models of 5. 25-inch drives at an accelerated rate and, in so doing, introduced an impressive array of sustaining technological improvements, even though introducing them rendered a significant portion of its manufacturing capacity obsolete.

Brain Death Scenario Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Brain Death Scenario - Term Paper Example The battle intensifies and begins to disrupt the medical and nursing staff. Thesis Brain death is a physiological condition which is underpinned by heavy legal, ethical and medical implications and must therefore be handled with a wholesome and informed approach. Purpose of the paper The purpose of this paper is to discuss the ethical, legal and medical implications that surround brain death, and to divulge on how physicians should handle brain death. a) Ethical Issues Surrounding the Situation One of the ethical issues is that of organ donation or harvesting. The law consents that organs can be harvested from patients who are brain dead, provided that all provisions specified within the law are observed. This is because, brain death can lead to legal death despite the patient’s heartbeats and respiration being sustained through mechanical ventilation, thereby making the sustenance of vital organs for organ transplantation very possible. In this case, it is impossible to carry out organ harvesting since the patient’s brain death has not been conclusively established. This failure to establish the patient’s status precludes the law of any jurisdiction since all laws only give injunctions on where the patient’s status is clear. Thus, whether the patient is an automatic donor or not does not yet apply. In almost the same wavelength, organ transplant cannot be carried out because the consent of the next-of-kin or family members is a prerequisite for organ donation, if the patient had previously not stated his desire to be a donor. Nonetheless, even in this case, organ harvesting and donation will be ethically impossible since the patient’s family members are in total disagreement (Dubler, 2011). Another ethical twist to this matter concerns the scarcity of healthcare or medical resources. Because healthcare or medical resources are scarce and barely able to satisfy its large demand, there is pressure that such resources are extend ed to only viable cases. It is against this backdrop that brain dead patients who are non-organ donors are disconnected from the ventilator and drug support so that cardiac death may subsequently ensue. However, in this case, the patient must not be denied the ventilator, drugs and all manner of healthcare support since it has not yet been established whether the patient is brain-dead or not. Physicians must always diagnose the patient fully, in order to know his status, before administering any form of medical intervention on any patient. The case in point is not only applicable, but is also serious, warranting thorough diagnosis. b) Legal Issues Relating to This Situation Though physicians are the ones who ascertain whether legal criteria of death have been satisfied or not, it is the law that sets the criteria by which the description of death is to be done. Thus, it is important to reiterate the fact that the patient, despite his state of brain death, is legally still alive. The reason for this patient being rendered alive is twofold. First, it is important to note that even when legal indicators of life (respiration and heartbeat) are being artificially run (through the use of a ventilator), the patient is still considered living. Secondly, the law marks death as having taken place upon legal consequences starting to take effect. The most serious legal consequence is the distribution of the patient’s estate either under intestacy or a will. Another consequence is the

Late 20th century United States history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Late 20th century United States history - Essay Example Truman operated on the policy of containment through war by proxy. This was due to the Truman doctrine that said that the United States would supply aid and weapons to those people in nations that were being threatened by communist pressures. In addition, the Truman administration made great use of the CIA, Central Intelligence Agency. This was in order to gain intel on the enemy and combat their espionage program, the KGB. Thus, the Truman administration took a far greater stance on containment than did any other president, most notably with the failed attempt in Vietnam. The Regan administration, seeing the response and failures of his predecessor, took a different route on containment. He was more in favor of peaceful coexistence, which was achieved through diplomatic channels. Rather than aiding forces directly with American troops, the Regan doctrine allowed the United States to supply enemies of communism with weapons and economic support. Because the United States had a stronger economy, Regan built up a nuclear stockpile in which the Soviets could not keep up. Ultimately, this along with other internal failures, lead to the fall of the Soviet Union and the survival of the world’s last superpower. Between the two presidents, there was a lot learned from the differing strategies on the policy of containment. Adaptive leadership helped the United States adapt and overcome obstacles, which lead to the fall of the Soviet

International politics- alignments and alliances Research Paper

International politics- alignments and alliances - Research Paper Example The president despite making the emancipation proclamation fears that certain forces who did not want to see the end of slave trade may inculcate it back to the society. In this regard, the president makes an effort to ensure that the amendment is passed within the end of the month so that slaves who had been freed are taken back to captivity. It is clear that the political class has their own issues and fighting slave trade is not such a bid deal to them; this is more evident from politicians who had just lost their seats. Other political intrigues were evident. Politicians are willing to take advantage of the fight against slavery for their own personal gain. For example President Lincoln seeks the help of Preston Blair who had influence over Republicans. In return, for his support, Blair expected the president to give a political favor. The favor meant more problems because it would upset another faction. The president was however forced to comply with those demands. 12 years a slave shows the predicament of African Americans through the story of Northup and his family. It is clear that slavery was propagated because of the economic gains they made to the masters. Northup ends up in the hand s of Freeman who eventually sells him to Ford who later sold him to Epps. Epps was a sadist who treated slaves with contempt because, like many other masters he believed that they have no dignity and deserve to be treated as such. Through the life of Northup it is clear that slaves were used for economic purposes. Those who worked as slaves were required to work hard because as such they fetched their masters more money. This explains why Northup was able to work for many masters. There is an instance when Ford engaged Northup and told him that he had, â€Å"a debt to pay† and as such would not consider Northup as a free man. To Ford and other like him slaves were purposely for economic gain to the masters. Slaves such as Northup

2 Reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

2 Reflection - Essay Example Part of it can be external, with us investing in causes that we think are appropriate. Another way to do it is through values and codes of ethics. A question that has troubled many people since the dawn of time is how should a person lead a good, ethical life? Furthermore, how should a business behave in an ethical manner? There are as many theories as there are grains of sand on the beach, but a few ideas over the years have been more popular than others. Some people are born into religions where these questions are answered for them. They are able to know from an young age what their god tells them is the right thing to do and what is the wrong thing. Others question their faith and try to revise their morality, bringing in parts of other religions or philosophies. Still others have no real faith and try to build a moral foundation out of their personal experience adding rules and content to it as the years go by. In the world of today we see a new strain of thinking: the professional code of conduct. This is the form of CSR that may be most cost effective to a company. It is easy to impose, sounds good to the public, and co sts a company little. Plus, in the end it will pay dividends. This code would set out what members can and cannot do. But not all codes are created equal. Some are exhaustive, others merely illustrative. Some make suggestions, other state explicitly. However, it is important to be aware of the counterargument that exists to all CSR strategies. There are many unintended consequences for those who push the Corporate Social Responsibility agenda. It does not always lead to the results that a company might expect. Let businesses be businesses and let charities be charities. It is simply too confusing and leads to too many unintended consequences for things to be set up in any other manner. The bottom of a company sometimes falls out there: there are no sure

To Spy Or Not To Spy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

To Spy Or Not To Spy - Essay Example However, there is no consensus with many members having dissenting opinions on the capacity of embracing technology to solve their problems at hand. Some of dissenting opinion with being pro technology is the capability that the technology bring, which the chief executive officer so much believe in and has to building trust when the subordinate are under the watch always with the spyware. This presents a problem of mistrust and fear within the company. Trust is needed for the company to be reputable and cooperative. It emerges that the transitioning from the founders of the company to the current CEO of the company did not have more of technology but it advanced. The previous regime based their property on the research that enabled them to know area of opportunity, threats, weaknesses and strength. With such knowledge, it was easy for the company to grow. The root cause of the stalemate and problem was the new chief executive office coming up with almost sudden change. According to research done by Carr & Trahant change is not something that should be done once but introduce slowly to allow people to familiarize with. The new chief executive came with philosophy of embracing technology, which appeared to be skewed toward spying employees. This cause discourse within the board. The strategic position has negatively affected by the problem in a number of ways. First, the resistance of being pro technology delays the program. Use of spyware is also observed as absence of trust hence bringing the divisions in the company. The current marketing of Globe Alive, Inc is Edmonton area. They have good customer base in Edmonton area. In addition, this organization has very clear objectives. For example, facilitate efficient communication between global partners, discern in-bound supply chain elements from out-bound shipments, expedite customer orders in a timely manner, electronically transfer funds around the world, and monitor employees to ensure

Summarize the main points Griffin, Khan and Ickowitz make in favor of Assignment

Summarize the main points Griffin, Khan and Ickowitz make in favor of redistributive land reforms - Assignment Example In addition, the authors argue the redistribution land reform of the twentieth century developed a broader vision of land reforms in 1920’s and 1970’s. Land Reform is considered to an effective effort to overcome the unequal distribution of the allocation of the land ownership and the use of rights. Land policies have historically played a significant role to shape experience of different countries (Griffin and Khan). Griffin and Khan (reviews the previous argument and compares it with the contemporary land reform policies. In addition, the author favor redistributive land reform on the bases of segmented factor market and labor control systems. Similarly, Ray elaborates economical benefits and significances of the land reforms in the contemporary times. In the article, he draws attention of the reader towards the unequal distribution of land that has a major obstacle in the development of economy. In addition, the author highlights economic efficiency in agriculture through political, environmental and economic perspectives (Ray). Analyzing the both article, it shall be noted that both authors have highlighted importance of the redistributive land reforms. Griffin and Khan highlights the significance to the issue through discussing the historical issues (Griffin and Khan). It further incorporates arguments throughout the time to develop a broader understanding towards the land reform (Griffin and Khan). I believe the statistical and historical data and information provides a brief understanding towards the issues. Ray illustrates the importance of equal distribution of land as a source of economic growth and prosperity. Ray focuses on the effective and maximizing output of the land, as a social, environment and economical prosperity (Ray). I believe the article develops importance and significance of the issue with the economical aspect. It associates unequal distribution of land market as an important element for the

Drug Abuse Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Drug Abuse - Research Paper Example However you will notice that the knowledge gained from observation and the propositions collected by doing general research, were used to support the facts drawn from qualitative analysis. The main source of information was the Internet. This is because the Internet is the richest source of information and it is easily accessible. The Internet, as a source of information, is also cheap, reliable and time-saving. The major disadvantage of using the Internet is that information collected over the Internet can be inaccurate. This is because everybody in the world has the permission to upload whatever information they have. This information is mostly not well researched hence it is based on assumptions. This problem of inaccurate information can be corrected by using more than two sources over the Internet and lucky for you, this is what the author did so as to prepare this report for you. Various web pages, which have been cited in the report, were used to collect the information and yo u can have a look at them to build on your curiosity and to expand your knowledge about drug abuse. ALTERNATIVES Alternative methods of information gathering included; observation, carrying out interviews, administering questionnaires, experimental analysis, general survey and sample survey OBSERVATION This is a primary method of data collection that would involve the author going to the field, meeting drug users and drug addicts, then drawing information from what would see. The field here implies schools, cities, home area, campus, offices, homes, wherever the author can find a group of people to study. Observation does not involve asking questions or interacting with the people. It is simply being a quite onlooker of what goes on in the people of interest; in this case they are the drug users and abusers. The author would have to follow those people everywhere they went so that he could see what drugs they took, how often and how the drugs affected them immediately they took them , later in the day and the long-term effects. A substitute method would be to monitor the people under research using CCTV cameras. If the author would have chosen observation, he could also have hired people to follow the drug users and collect the relevant information. This observation project would take months or even years to study many people, to be able to see the log-term effects and to come up with a factual, comprehensive report. Apart from time being the major disadvantage, observation would be extremely costly. The author would have to use money to follow the people under study wherever they went. He would need money to pay the people he hired and also pay for their transport when following the drug users. He would also need money for the CCTV cameras, if he would have chosen to use them. Observation is also extremely tiring because following somebody or people for days and months, and watching them closely for twenty four hours every day is exhausting. One can even lose focus of the client in the process of following them. Another limitation of observation is that people would easily agree to being followed! Even if they agreed, drug-addicts turn violent when they are under influence of drugs. This makes observation a very risky method because the author could be attacked by the person he is studying when the

Symbols in “the Masque of the Red Death” Essay Example for Free

Symbols in â€Å"the Masque of the Red Death† Essay â€Å"The Masque of the Red Death† is a Gothic style story written by Edgar Allan Poe. In this story, many setting and descriptive details contain symbols. These symbols are very important because each symbol stands for something and gives readers much thought. For example, the red color represents the blood and the clock represents the time, etc. Through these symbols, we can learn the story teaches us that no matter you are rich or poor, you can not avoid death. There are seven chambers in Prince Prospero’s castellated abbey. Each chamber is painted in different color. The last chamber is described as â€Å"was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the wallsThe panes here ware scarlet—a deep blood color.†(Poe,84). The colors black and red represent the death and blood, which is the symbol of the Red Death. The chamber the guests fear just as they fear death. These hint the readers something about the Red Death will happen in the last chamber and leave reader a guess of the outcome. Another symbol in the story is the gigantic clock of ebony. This clock reminds all the guests how time flies because â€Å"the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Poe, 84). It also represented the countdown to death, â€Å"And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay.†, which is the theme of the story, death is inexorable.(Poe,88) This symbol gives meaning to the story by pointing out the theme. Symbols play an important role in writing because they make the story more mysterious and more interesting. Readers can find out what the author want to express instead of telling by the author. It’s a necessary way of writing Gothic style story. Symbols represent the theme and mind of the story. They leave people deep thoughts and something to recall.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay Example for Free

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay #1 -Huck has a grim attitude towards Widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson. Huck has a grim attitude toward people he disagrees with or doesnt get along with. Huck tends to alienate himself from those people. He doesnt let it bother him. Unlike most people Huck doesnt try to make his point. When Huck has a certain outlook on things he keep his view. He will not change it for anyone. For instance in Chapter Three when Miss Watson tells Huck that if he prayed he would get everything he wished for. â€Å"Huck just shook his head yes and walked away telling Tom that it doesnt work because he has tried it before with fishing line and fishing hooks. † This tells us that Huck is an independent person who doesnt need to rely on other people. #5 How is Jim betrayed? How does Huck react? What does this show about his character? How has he changed his mind about Jim at this point? Jim is very much like a father to Huck. He looks out for Huck and he is respected and looked upon by Huck. This is also more significant because Huckleberry Finn never had a father and he never really had a role model. Jim serves this purpose perfectly. Throughout all of his adventures Jim shows compassion as his most prominent trait. He makes the reader aware of his many superstitions and Jim exhibits gullibility in the sense that he Jim always assumes the other characters in the book will not take advantage of him. One incident proving that Jim acts naive occurs halfway through the novel, when the Duke first comes into the scene â€Å"By right I am a duke! Jim’s eyes bugged out when he heard that † In the novel, Huck Finn, one can legitimately prove that compassion, superstitious and gullibility illustrate Jim’s character perfectly. To begin with, among the many characteristics of Jim, his compassionate nature shows throughout the book. When Huck and Jim come across the floating boathouse, Jim finds a dead man inside. He advises Huck not to look as he says, â€Å"It’s a dead man dead two er three days come in Huck, but doan’ look at his face. † At the end of the book the reader finds out that the dead man turns out as Huck’s father. Further on down the river, Huck and Jim engage in a deep conversation. Jim speaks of the family he feels he has left behind. Jim tries hard to save up all his money in hopes of buying back his wife and children when he becomes a free man. He expresses that he feels terrible for leaving behind his family and misses them very much. As a result, Huck feels responsible and guilty for ruining Jim’s freedom. Huck decides that he wants to reveal the truth, that Jim really isn’t a free man. His conscience tells him not to and instead he finds himself helping Jim rather than giving him up. Jim feels so thankful to Huck when he says . . . it’s all on account of Huck, I’s a free man, you’s the best friend Jim’s ever had † #6 Huck is constantly rebelling against â€Å"civilization† in the story. Has he become more â€Å"civilized† at the end of the novel? Why or why not? The conflict between society and the individual is a theme portrayed throughout Twains Huckleberry Finn. Huck was not raised in accord with the accepted ways of civilization. He practically raises himself, relying on instinct to guide him through life. As portrayed several times in the novel, Huck chooses to follow his innate sense of right, yet he does not realize that his own instincts are more moral than those of society. From the very beginning of Hucks story, Huck clearly states that he did not want to conform to society; The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me I got into my old rags and my sugar hogshead again, and was free and satisfied. When Pap returns for Huck, and the matter of custody is brought before the court, the reader is forced to see the corruption of society. The judge rules that Huck belongs to Pap, and forces him to obey an obviously evil and unfit man. One who drinks profusely and beats his son. Later, when Huck makes it look as though he has been killed, we see how civilization is more concerned over finding Hucks dead body than rescuing his live one from Pap. This is a society that is more concerned about a dead body than it is in the welfare of living people. The theme becomes even more evident once Huck and Jim set out, down the Mississippi. Huck enjoys his adventures on the raft. He prefers the freedom of the wilderness to the restrictions of society. Also, Hucks acceptance of Jim is a total defiance of society. Ironically, Huck believes he is committing a sin by going against society and protecting Jim. He does not realize that his own instincts are more morally correct than those of society. In chapter sixteen, we see, perhaps, the most inhumane action of society. Huck meets some men looking for runaway slaves, and so he fabricates a story about his father on the raft with smallpox. 6. Huck constantly rebelling against â€Å"civilization† in the story. This is a book of social criticism. Twain has his ways of criticizing people of their actions and the things they do. Twain does a good job expressing the characters social behaviors. Instead of upfront making fun of Hulks actions he hints towards them or tries to glorify them when he does something that is socially wrong or unintelligent. Huck stages his death. This is not a real bright thing to do even though Hucks father is real mean and is a threat to his life and Hucks life. Huck wants to get away from him so bad that the first thing that comes into his mind is to stage his death so Pap will think hes dead and wont be looking for him ever again. Twain feels that by making Huck do this Twain is poking fun at Hucks intelligence. Not his nature intelligence but his book intelligence. In other words Twain is making fun of Huck. #8 – In what way is Huck a slave? Throughout the incident on pages 66-69 in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck fights with two distinct voices. One is siding with society, saying Huck should turn Jim in, and the other is seeing the wrong in turning his friend in, not viewing Jim as a slave. Twain wants the reader to see the moral dilemmas Huck is going through, and what slavery ideology can do to an innocent like Huck. Huck does not consciously think about Jims impending freedom until Jim himself starts to get excited about the idea. The reader sees Hucks first objection to Jim gaining his freedom on page 66, when Huck says, Well, I can tell you it made me all over trembly and feverish, too, to hear him, because I begun to get it through my head that he was most free-and who was to blame for it? Why, me. I could get that out of my conscience, no how nor no way. Huck is hearing the voice of society at this point, not his own. He does not see a moral dilemma with Jim being free; he is opposed to the fact that he is the one helping him. This shows Huck misunderstanding of slavery. Huck does not treat Jim like a slave when they travel together, this shows the reader that Huck views Jim as an equal in most ways. Huck sees having a slave only as owning the person, not actually being a slave to someone. Therefore, when he helps Jim runaway it would be like stealing. This conscience is telling him that Miss Watson, Jims master, never did anything wrong to him and that he shouldnt be doing a wrong to her by helping Jim escape. This is a totally different view of Miss Watson from Hucks perspective. Huck always disliked Miss Watson, but now that this society voice plays a part in Hucks judgment his views are changed. This society views allows Huck to see Jim, a friend, only as a slave and Miss Watson, almost a foe in his young views, as a dear friend. Twain is showing the reader the gross injustices of slavery in this little incident, as well as his moral opposition to slavery. #2 – Describe Pap. Use his own words (textual examples) to support your description. My heart wuz mos broke bekase you wuz los,(Pg. 85) was what Jim told Huckleberry when he found him again after they had been separated. This is a perfect example of how much Jim sincerely cares about Huck. Huck definitely has very close and father-like relationship with the runaway slave, Jim. On the other hand, his real father, Pap, is less father figure to Huck than a runaway African American slave. Pap is very violent and abusive towards Huck. By looking at Hucks relationships with Pap and Jim and how they are different and similar in some ways, Hucks relationship with Pap, and Hucks relationship with Jim the reader can see how they all relate. Although the relationships between Huck and Pap and Huck and Jim may seem extremely different, they are also quite similar in some ways. Both are father figures for Huck in a way. Although Huck is related to Pap through blood, Jim, who is a slave, cares more for Huck and is more nurturing than Pap is. Come in, Huck, but doan look at his face its too gashly. (Pg. 50) Jim said this as he found the body of Hucks father, Pap. This shows how Jim didnt want Huck to be upset by knowing that his father is dead. Also, Huck is in danger staying with both of these people. With staying with Pap, Huck is in danger because of his fathers abusiveness. Jim and Pap are also alike because of the fact that both of these people dont like their place in society. Pap wants to be wealthier and higher up in society, whereas Jim only wants to escape slavery and own himself. Pap is a very violent drunk. He lives on the outskirts of town, and goes into town only to get alcohol and become intoxicated. I borrowed three dollars from Judge Thatcher, and pap took it and got drunk, and went a-blow-ing around and cussing and whooping and carrying on; and he kept it up all over town, with a tin pan, till most midnight; then they jailed him, and next day they in had him before court, and jailed him again for a week. , (Pg. 21) #2 – What commentary is Mark Twain making about his society in this novel? Choosing Right Over Wrong Maturity is knowing when to do the right thing and following up on ones commitment even when he or she is tempted to do wrong. Huck Finn, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is faced with such temptations and situations where he is able to make the right choice and mature physically, mentally, and spiritually. He is able to avoid bad decisions, which leads him to become a more mature, established young man. Although Huck Finn finds himself acting immature at times, he still fully demonstrates maturity by the end of the novel. Throughout the novel, Huck is able to recognize what is wrong and decipher what should be right. Huck realizes that the King and Duke are taking advantage of the girls inheritance money. He realizes that what they are doing is incorrect and something should be done. This is first demonstrated when Huck states, It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race (175). This shows that Huck is developing a conscience and that he is able to recognize that what the Duke and King are doing is morally wrong. He determines that taking and robbing from innocent people is not what humans are supposed to do. This is also evident when Huck states, I say to myself this is a girl that Im letting that old reptile rob her of her money! (188). This thought established by Huck shows that he can distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. Huck also shows maturity by allowing negative situations to pass by and misdirected conversation to stop, by not arguing more excessively than necessary. This is recognized when Huck states, Well, I couldnt see no advantage in going where she was going, so I made up my mind I wouldnt try for it. But I never said so, because it would only make trouble, and wouldnt do no good (11).