Plato, Descartes, and The Matrix Essay Example for Free

Plato, Descartes, and The Matrix EssayConsider this, Is what we believe to be real and veritable real and true? In the movie The Matrix, neo is a computer programer by day and hacker by night. He senses that something is wrong with the populace but insists what he know he feels. When he dreams, he isnt sure if it was real or just a dream just as Descartes believes he can non depose his senses to tell him whether or not he is still dreaming. modern meets with Morpheus and Morpheus gives Neo the option of knowing the truth. According to Morpheus the world isnt real, it is an illusion and offers Neo a purport altering choice. To take a pill that will give him the truth.The truth Morpheus refers to is that the world Neo believes in is just an illusion. What Neo perceives as real by his senses is nothing more than a computer generating ideas in his head without any real experiences. Morpheus gives Neo the option of continuing to live his life in the shadows and the way he perce ives it or to see the settle and the truth. This closely resembles the allegory of the cave by Pluto. Plato invites us to imagine humans being held prisoners, with no freedom to move or see except what is directly in front of them in the form of shadows. This is the prisoners reality.This is what they come to believe is real. When in-fact there is another world just beyond their reality. It is only after one prisoner escapes the shackles and chains and finds that the actual world is not just shadows but a world with the light of the sun. The prisoner has difficulty adjusting his eyes to the brightness, but eventually does. This experience parallels to what Neo experiences. Descartes poses the questions in his work Meditations of First Philosophy, 1961, of how we cannot for certain that the world he experiences isnt not the product of an illusion forced upon him by an deplorable demon.He questions what he believes is real because of what he sees and feels while dreaming and therefo re cant trust his senses to tell him if 2he is still dreaming. When Neo accepts the red pill and his perception of his life slips away when he realizes that the human race is held in containers, unconscious, with a computer generating their thoughts and experiences. humanness invented Artificial Intelligence and in turn the AI took over mankind and enslaved them using them for the energy they required to stay alive.Neo realizes what Descartes proposed, that Neos life was just controlled by an evil demon, the Matrix. But Descartes went on to argue the existence of God, saying a Good God would not let an evil demon control us. Neo struggles with this new truth because he didnt believe in fate because he didnt like the idea he wasnt in control of life. Neo life as he knew it is gone, and he is faced with the new reality and he struggles with the different emotions first of shock, misgiving and disbelief and then acceptance.He joins the group of dissidents to help others see the truth and reality of life. Knowing the truth doesnt necessarily set you free as we find out. A fellow dissident Cypher discovers the truth is hard and decides that ignorance is bliss. He negotiates a deal to deliver Morpheus in turn for his introductory life. For Cypher, the truth was too much to handle, he liked the illusion of his previous life. Once Neo gains knowledge of he Matrix, he is able to blob between the truth and illusion and ascends to a higher level of understanding.He realizes that he can no longer blindly accept information stock through his senses, but must requires answers to his questions. He like Descartes comes to the conclusion I think, therefore I am. The difference between the Matrix and Plato and Descartes is the movie gives Neo a way back to the physical real world whereas Plato and Descartes only suggest there is another reality and we are dreaming but doesnt give us a way back. None of the notables address God within the realm of truth. God states he is the way of the light and the truth. We are challenged in our daily lives to live a real life.

Identifying Long Term Career Goals

Identifying Long Term Career GoalsIdentify your prospicient-term goals (five years or longer).A career like accounting is one of the about fulfilling jobs that anyone can be in. It excessively happens to be very critical as one deals with numbers every day and the numbers determine clients pecuniary stability and a countrys economic state. Some of my long-term goals would be to run an independent business where I would render consultation services to the business corporates and the federal institutions too. I would in any case wish to curb a small group of personal clientele would save guard their accounts with me. This would enable me to also fulfill another long term goal of investing in real estate and the stock market.Identify the skills and qualifications related to this type of role.Its important for any aspiring successful accountant to possess certain key skills. One of the most major attributes includes good organization and good organizational skills. Being that an a ccountant is in charge of discussion many responsibilities, a good accountant needs to keep track of the numerous responsibilities one has. This mean that the system has to be up to date and legal in terms of organizing transactions by order of date and deadlines. This means that the system should do calendars, alphabetized folders, day planners, color coded posts notes and highlighters as well as good financial apps. This ensures the clients of reliability, competency, and ability to handle the various jobs properly (Topan, 2016).Similarly, its important for a good accountant to be efficient in time management. This enables the work load to be solved by order of urgency. This enables an accountant to meet the set deadlines. Another important quality is adaptability. Being that the accounting world is so projectile and involving at the same time, an accountant needs to be adaptable to the environment so as to be able to provide quality services to the clients. Its also importa nt for them to be good at communicating. Communication skills in writing or verbal enable good interactions with clients. It also assists in creating good networking as well as creating successful profiles (Topan, 2016).Assess your qualifications you already possess.By now being that I have my own masters certificate in Accounts, it means that I am a credible accountant who can be in charge of various projects with little assistance. I have also managed to do work good connections with my previous clientele from my past employments in local and NGO firms. Likewise, I am slowly infiltrating the real estate world and so, I have some few big qualifications in my resume.Determine new skills, knowledge, certifications, and training needed for the position desired.In order to form my new firm, I impart need a list of potential candidates to be in charge of the various departments. I will also need to enroll in a leadership program so as to be able to learn how to govern an organization or even a group of people. I also need to learn on how to be a good role model in terms of integrity, openness and also work ethics. This will function me in the delegation of tasks, raising my confidence, achieving the right required patience and ability to delegate duties to other people as well. Its important to learn on how to maintain work ethics so as to promote loyalty from acquired clients, it will also help me improve on current existing work relationships (Macres, 2010). take a crap action steps needed to take to be qualified for the position you would like to pursue.From here onwards, I need to enroll in a concise course program to be more aware and educated on leaderships. I also need to start reviewing loan application from various financial institutions in order to be able to start the process of beginning my own consultancy firm. I also need to continue to maintain good relationships with my current clientele as well as future clients.ReferencesMacres, C. (2010). W here Will You Be in Five Years? Answers. Ledger Link, 1.Topan, R. (2016). 6 Skills You Need To Succeed In Accounting. Talent Tegg, 1.

The business strategy of talent management

The business schema of endowment fund decoctingIn todays world when the planetary parsimoniousness is striving to recover and re-stabilise the growth, many of the presidential margeinals atomic number 18 hit by a major crisis in the bea of talent steering. In an attempt to except them from be subjected to huge debts and liquidation, many of the organisations do quick moves in removing their employees on a large scale from the rolls during the peak of recession. There were no set criteria for terminating many of them. In some cases, certain employees were terminated for the reason that they were too costly for the organisation to maintain them in rolls. Many of those organisations hardly recalled the great work those employees had done, in add to the success of those organisations in the past before recession was hit. At least few among those organisations decided to forget the fact that those super paid employees are the exceed architects in their organisations. Had they been supported, those organisations might stool recovered from recession a good deal quicker. This is where the talent perplexity would play its role to strategically retain the highly potential and pigment employees, recruit new competitive talents and remove those employees who were adding no value to their organisations. Talent management would be the trace business strategy in such a scenario.INTRODUCTIONTalent management has been a prevalent concept in the administration of organisations since many decades. However, in the recent past this concept has changed its dimension from universe merely observed from the point of recruitment, to an array of areas like organizational capability, business success, individual development, performance enhancement, succession planning, leadership accountability and more. It has essential as a business strategy in todays highly competitive world. In many organisations Talent management has become the top priority for the manag ement and HR today. harmonise to Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the forces driving Talent management are the external issues and midland demands which include but are not stupendous to highly aggressive global markets, demographic trends, shortage of skills, corporate governance and business strategy(CIPD, 2010). either industry needs to recruit and retain the right broad of people with the right set of skills. This is where each organisation should strategise their approach on talent management in line with the industry in order to assure that their employees are delivering the best performance. Organisations want to ensure the value for money by evaluating the talent invested by the work-force and managing their talent pool consistently.Lawler states that, for a talent management establishment to be effective, the fit between the employee and the employer has to be right, and mere recruitment and introduction of highly qualified people to the orga nisation alone does not add much value (Lawler .E.E ,2008). Many of the huge multinational companies feel the need to advance their talent mix rapidly and more effectively as they do takings in the need to snap their organisation a step further ahead along with the continuously changing business environment around them.DEFINTIONIn transparent terms Talent Management is getting the right people with the right skills into the right jobs. CIPD defines talent management as the systematic attraction, identification, development, engagement/ keeping and deployment of those individuals who are of particular value to an organisation, either in view of their high potential for the future or because they are fulfilling business/operation-critical roles (CIPD,2010). It is also told that talent management should bring down with the identification of mention positions that delivers sustainable competitive advantage to the organisation. This way in that location has to be more differentia tion in the roles within an organisation which would create an exceptional impact by those individuals who would deliver sustainable competitive advantage to an organisation against the average backups. These people are important for the successful continuity of the organisation. A highly efficient HR structure has to be in place to fill in the key positions with these highly talented key people. Once these steps are taken, appropriate HR policies should be deployed to ensure that the individuals who hold the key positions in an organisation are supported with key HR policies for them to deliver results successfully (Human choice Management Review, 2009).TALENT MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVE STRATEGIESIf an organisation has a strong talent management plan, which is aligned parallel to their business strategy, then there are higher chances that they would achieve their business success. Talent management and business strategies of an organisation can further be strengthened together finished several humble but regular events that happen in an organisation, laying attention on talent enhancement and through constant interaction of senior leaders with the employees. This way, management could keep the employees informed of where they are heading towards as an organisation, how they want the organisation to stage their performance and finally what the organisation expects from the employees, to take their smashed to success.Talent reviews are conducted in depth while organisations use strategic workforce planning. They also re-position talent to different levels to achieve future needs, try to come up with a mix of the available inner talent pool along with the new hires from the external talent pool. They always make a deliberate attempt to retain the critical talent the organisation takees and at the same they ensure that business strategy is on same page with the human neat strategy. Talent management strategies should be aligned to the strategic business objective s with the support from the management, co-ordination between departments, through the resources made available to the employees, performance review mechanisms and a common platform to dish out (The Conference Board, 2010). Different departments have to adopt different strategies which suit their functioning within an organisation.FEATURES OF TALENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGYAccording to CIPD, following are the key features of talent management strategy.i. Aligned to Corporate StrategyTalent management strategy should always be closely aligned to corporate strategy. It is necessary to take into consideration both internal and external factors while a talent strategy is designed. As mentioned earlier talent management strategy varies from industry to industry. Hence, the HR management team should have a clear picture of the strategic analysis from the business perspective to create a talent management strategy that suits its industry.ii. Narrow and Broad ApproachesSome organisations decide to focus on developing talent according to the current situation and need. In such cases it can be noticed that the attention is laid only on certain departments or specific positions or some particular processes and projects. On the separate hand there are certain organisations which prefer to take a holistic approach to talent management where in they try to spread the focus on the inherent workforce in an organisation. There is nothing right or wrong about either of these approaches. It just matters on which approach suits their organisation the best for the era being. However, it is imperative to ensure that fairness and consistency are the key ingredients of all talent management processes. To enable the organisation to draw talent from all the achievable sources, talent management processes should be highly diverse.iii. Involving the right people1. Human Resources TeamHR team provides the basic structure and design to develop the pathway to talent management strategy tha t would encompass the requirements of an organisation. An HR team can play an active role in this process only by straight off coordinating with all the other groups involved in this design.2. Senior Management TeamThe key senior managers and directors in an organisation have a major role in this process, as they represent all the functions, departments and aspects of an organisation. They work closely with the HR team to set the direction to the talent management strategy.3. decline ManagersLine managers also play crucial roles in almost every phase of this process, as they are immediately responsible for the management of performance and identification, development and retention of talents within their teams. Emphasis has to be laid to convince the line managers to view talent as a corporate resource and not just as a local resource control only to a particular frame.4. EmployeesThey are the participants and they play a major role in this process. It is their talent which is ma naged through this process. Hence, it is vital to seek for their feedback in designing the developmental process. Their feedbacks are of great value for the talent managers and organisation to continue, improve or if required re-design the organisations talent management strategy.ROLES OF SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND HRThe management of talent within an organisation should ideally start from the senior management level. A good amount of their time and focus has to be spent on talent management. The emphasis they give on talent management varies from industry to industry. According to Lawler, senior managers need to focus 30-50 percent of their time on talent management, and may be even more would be essential if the organisation is a professional service firm (Lawler .E.E, 2008). The adequate planning they carry out on human capital allows the senior management to assess the impact, the qualified talent available in their organisation make on business strategies, performance and success. In todays highly competitive environment, business leaders can no longer have a idea that, it is the responsibility of the Human Resources Department alone to assess, filter, encourage and retain the talent in an organisation. Senior leaders need to stay focused continually on bringing in and retaining the talent which would lead the organisation to the success in the midst of constant changes in the market. Management and the human resources department of an organisation should have transparent discussions in terms of human capital to have a clear understanding of organisations direction. Such discussions enable them to gauge the depth of the qualified talent pool available in their organisation and what their requirements might be in the future (The Conference Board, 2010).MANAGING TALENT ON DEMANDPeter Cappelli through his disc Talent on demand presented the four principles of managing talent on demand. According to Cappelli, Talent management has some failures. The mismatch be tween people (supply) and skills (demand) is one among them. This literally means that there is a very huge pool of employees on one side, because of which there is recruitment, layoffs and restructuring happening. On the other side there is very limited talent and skills available that could hardly fit into the need. This mismatch is posing a big threat to the organisations. Cappelli suggested a new approach which has a clear finis in place as the first step. This approach describes the goal of talent management as a pathway which leads the organisation to achieve their objectives, which is the business success. doing of objectives is made possible through the recognition, quick response and resolution of the problems that organisations face. These problems mainly arise through the rapid change in the markets and the highly aggressive global environment. In response to these rapid changes, organisations make quick changes in operations, strategies and structures. These decisions are not always made with a clear strategy in place. However, a delay in response in taking a decision might prove it quite costly too.As mentioned earlier major risks in talent management are 1) the mismatch between the employees (supply) and skills (demand) and 2) cost of losing organisations investment in talents, when an employee cannot be retained in an organisation. Cappelli states that the basic aspect of the new exemplification is that it accepts uncertainty as an eternal element in the business world that could react and adjust to the changes. The new model is built on the techniques used in Operations Research, Supply chain management and Business prediction. Keeping in mind uncertainty as the biggest challenge, Cappelli has formulated four principles of managing talent. (Cappelli.P, 2008).Principle 1 drop and Buy to manage demandAccording to Cappelli, there are two different aspects for risk. One is the unpredictable nature of the outcome of a risk and the other is the cost of the outcome. Managing risk by evaluating the costs of various outcomes is easier than trying to reduce the uncertainty. Bringing this to the context of talent management, it is possible to estimate the loss, that could be caused when an internally developed talent leaves an organization. This loss outweighs the cost of recruiting a new talent from the market. Cappelli explains that the costs of the uncertainty in this case could be dealt either by developing the internal talent (making) or by hiring talent from outside (buying). This way through the internal development and external hiring, the risks and related expenditure could be minimised.Principle 2 Reduce the uncertainty in the talent developmentThis principle revolves around the means to minimise the uncertainty linked to the prediction of demand for talent. The business forecasting techniques are less advanced to handle these predictions in the fast changing and highly competitive environment. Predicting those positi ons which would be vacant in a long term and finding a people internally to fill those vacancies may not be the right approach. It is almost impossible to predict such business situations ahead. It is develop to develop a larger talent pool with a wider spectrum of competencies that can fit into the new vacancies that come up, with the help of basic training and coaching. Cappelli suggests that shorter forecasts are let out than longer ones as they are easier to be predicted and tackled. Hence, training a group of employees, keeping in mind a set of developments which would occur in the beside couple of years may not produce the desired result as the prediction cannot be accurate. However, training a group of employees for a shorter term would benefit more, as that training would be functionally specific to the current context. New trainees could also be added to the group if someone leaves.Principle 3 work a Return on Investments in Developing EmployeesThe recovery of investmen ts in talent is tough, when the need for their skills over a longer period of time is not predictable. It can also happen so, that the employee acquires numerous skills from an organisation and leaves them abruptly. According to Cappelli, it is wiser to recruit smaller groups of employees for a shorter period of time than recruiting a larger group as it is easier to forecast the need for talent required for a shorter period. Getting the employees share the costs also is a means to recover the investments. Employees could be given options to take up talent development programs voluntarily, which they could attend after their regular work hours. This skill enhancement would benefit the employees and the organisation and at the same time would save the regular working hours of the organisation as well. Yet another approach to develop employees, concentrates more on the benefits, the organisation would gain than the cost factor, through the contributions receive from the employees by g etting them onboard quicker.Principle 4 Balance Employee Interests by Using an Internal MarketEarlier employees were not given the option to choose their rush decisions within an organisation. This approach lead organisations to trouble as the talented employees left them and found opportunities in other organisations with ease. To retain their employees, many organisations have introduced the approach of internal job boards which provides flexibility to an employee to change jobs internally. With the introduction of internal job boards, employers have left the concept of career planning for their employees. The drawback noticed in this approach is that the employer doesnt possess much control over their internal talent (Cappelli, 2008).Cappellis concept of talent management focuses on the objectives of the organisation. It has a unique way of managing the risks posed by talents that has go from the unpredictable nature of the business demand and high volatility of the competitive global markets. This approach of talent management throws light upon the ways to recover the investments made on employees and also the importance of internal job movement which retains the talents within the organisation itself.CONCLUSIONAs seen throughout the essay, talent management has been always regarded as a strategic element in the functioning of an organisation. In the earlier days it was viewed more from the perspective of recruitment, and HR was the only team involved in talent management. However, this trend has changed over years and talent management is open to a wider spectrum of people today, positioned at the different levels of the hierarchy and multiple areas of an organisation which includes the key senior management, line managers and the participants apart from the HR. Further looking into the latest trends and approaches which are introduced in the talent management strategy, it is absolutely evident that Talent Management has evolved as a business strategy o ver years and it is no longer considered as an approach to HR that will help companies implement business strategy. Every talent management strategy discussed in the modern context relates directly to the growth of an organisation in a highly competitive world. Today, Human capital is considered to be the most valuable asset of an organisation which controls its growth. In such a scenario there is no wonder that Talent management has evolved as a strong business strategy.

Healthy Rise In GSK Profits Commerce Essay

strong Rise In GSK Profits Commerce EssayThis depict outlines the analysis made at micro and macro level on UK base pharmaceutical troupe, Glaxo SmithKline Plc. In this context the scope of the constancy is analyzed and ground on the threats that the industry can face a critical study is carried out to predict the future market place position of GSK among its competitors.This analysis made is based on various(a) models and frameworks equal Porters five forces, Porters generic strategies and PESTEL analysis. These models help in clearly defining the strategic position, strategic fit and the competitive advantage of the partnership with respect to sustain world power over the future market scenario of the pharmaceutical industry.GSK is one of the market leaders in pharmaceutical industry that comprises of 7% of the worlds pharmaceutical market. It is head quartered at UK and with operation based in US has a long history from 18th century. GSK was a result of two study market holders Glaxo Wellcome (Burroughs Wellcome fraternity and Glaxo Laboratories) conflated with SmithKline Beecham (SmithKline Beckman and Beecham group plc) to form GlaxoSmithKline Beecham during the early 2000 (Glaxo SmithKline, 2009a, 2009a Glaxo SmithKline, 2009b).Pharmaceutical IndustryA pharmaceutical industry in general can be defined as a private organization where dis managey, outgrowth, manufacture and sales of drugs and vaccination into the market takes place (Britannica, 2009). With respect to the case study confederation, GSK proves to be a market leader as a research based pharmaceutical industry providing diversified health c be products to influence humans life towards betterment (Glaxo SmithKline Plc, 2009a FAME, 2009a).Market sh beThe new-fangled statistics (Euromonitor, 2009a Euromonitor, 2009b) shows that GSK by holding 7% worlds pharmaceutical market shargon go alongs to be the second major pharmaceutical company in the world and it is the third largest lea ding OTC health care company with a market share of 3.4% following Johnson Johnson Inc and Bayer AG. Recent report shows that GSK has shown sum up in their sour over market share in vaccinum sales and diversified products in US irrespective of the recession during 2008 (Brian Kevin, 2009). There has been a 10% increase in profit and sales during the third quarter of 2009. This was due to the sales and urgent orders made by various governments around the world for the treating pandemic grippe virus (Milligan, 2009).GSK gives a tuff competition to its major market share holders and generic. The pharmaceutical industry can be classified as an oligopoly market, because two major firms GSK and Pfizer will be working together to capture solution for HIV/AIDS. Thus this will lead in building barriers for the other minor market competitors to reach the top 5. But still the generic industries in the market remain to be a major force of competition for GSK when its products patent exp ires (Jack, 2009).extraneous Analysis on GSKThe external analysis on GSK is done using PESTEL and Porters five force models.Macro environmentThe PESTEL analysis is generally used at the macro environment of an industry to infrastand the reveal drivers for falsify. This frame work tells the managers to get along efficient dodging based on the PESTEL analysis report. Thus a few core factors of change are discussed below,POLITICAL The US Govt by approving the license application for the pandemic vaccine allows GSK to manufacture and supply its unadjuvanted vaccine for the use of US people. Similarly many other European and Asian nations watch also ordered for this vaccine which in turn will hypothecate a hike in GSKs revenue (Milligan, 2009)TECHNOLOGY GSK adopted sourcing technologies from Emptoris solutions to obtain spend analysis, supply and contract management computer software solutions that empowered the company to add up a nonher billion to the profit (Emptoris, 2009). T he result of this was proved with the awards that it received at 2005 Baseline ROI leadership Awards for Supplier coordination and Performance management (Ziff Davis media, 2009)SOCIAL The demographic changes are similar in Africa (Cutler J. Cleveland, 2009) India and China. The changes taking place raises a prerequisite for increase in the standardization of the people and influencing longer life to them for a figure of a price charged at UK. Thus GSK finds the emerging markets like these countries and establishes its brand and products to gain advantage of the changing demographic factors (Financial Times, 2009a).ENVIRONMENTAL The threatening wight rights campaign caused the smaller firms to shift their company headquarter from UK .But GSK with the support of UK govt dissolved the case (BBC parole, 2009a).LEGAL The patent protection has been a major issue while reservation a sales competition with the generic manufacturers (Jack, 2009a).ECONOMIC The recent economic recession that hit the US and UK market made GSK to cut jobs in selected plants (Decision news media, 2009).The analysis has helped in defining the extent of macro environment that supports GSK done it progress by providing few facts that remains to be driving factors to bring change for the companys revenue and brand image. However, accredited environmental issues and legal factors can make the investors to rethink. Finally UK govts dependency on GSKs share towards economy is an added advantage that will remain ideal.Industry and sectorThe Porters five force framework explains the influence of competitive forces surrounding an organisation. The key factors like exit barrier for existing company and submission barrier for new fresher (Gassmann et al, 2004 p21) to emerge as a rival to GSK are discussed below.Power of buyer Power of buyer may not be a major issue for a new potential entrant to consider, scarcely he cant stick to a single supplier. Considering GSK, it maximizes the number o f chemic supplier to avoid supply disruption which results in loss in market share. On the other hand it minimizes the number of machinery and equipment to single supplier for affect products to maintain identical standard (Pierce Lisa McTigue, 2004). Power of supplier The power of supplier is very low in the current pharmaceutical market because procurement by dint of reverse e-auction (Science Direct, 2009) results in low switching salute (Gassmann et al, 2004 p23) and it is being followed effectively by GSK. The high supplier concentration ratio in pharmaceutical industry makes the suppliers to liberate their powers over the buyers.Threat of substitute Threats from generic manufactures (Jack, 2009a) of drugs, have been a major threat to GSK because price competitiveness is always a major attractive force to insurance company, Inter subject area bodies like NICE to approve and for the end customers.Threat of entry by a potential entrant is medium. A new entrant can be former chemical manufacturer or supplier then the complexity for the company to emerge into a pharmaceutical company is sooner easy.Regulative forces The major issue in a pharmaceutical industry can be the patent protection, changing trade legal philosophy and taxation, tort law (Glaxo SmithKline, 2001), approval from FDA (Russell, 2008), European and other regulatory authorities.Rivalry Globalized leaders such as Merck, GSK, and Pfizer have remained as strong rivals in launching new or updated products (Griffiths, 2006).CompetitorsThe critical success factors are influencing aspects of a product that are assessd by the customer/consumers. Thus the organisation has to consider these factors for taking advantage among their competitors (Johnson et al, 2008).As discussed forward GSK deals with prescribed drugs and non-prescribed drugs (OTC). Thus these diversified products that it manufactures have various customer and consumers.There are four critical success factors identified in GSK a s per customers valuation. They are Value, Variety, Share return, Skilled clinical testing,Value OTC products can expect a lot of price sensitive customers buying those in the shops. However, the prescribed drugs which have less price conscious patients and more(prenominal) worldly concern and private hospitals. Drugs purchased by the hospital board are checked for its cost effectiveness by national organisation like NICE. GSK with high brand images looses the market due to low cost generic products after the expiry drugs patent. So GSK has to consider nearly the cost factor to overcome the price war.Effectiveness Generally the drugs with more effectiveness towards the medical problem are preferred by the end customer. GSKs LEVITRA (Glaxo SmithKline, 2009e) which had 25% high efficiency than it competitors drug Viagra gained an edge.Skilled Clinical testing It is a major concern for NICE and NHS in UK. They are more concerned about the side effects that a drug can cause if it is not properly tested. (Glaxo SmithKline, 2001).Variety diversified products with high variation are always judge by the consumers globally. GSK haves OTC products, prescribed drugs and orphan drugs (FAME, 2009). So this factor is not an issue for GSK since it has a high to make further improvements.Internal Analysis on GSKThe internal analysis on GSK has been basically carried out by analysing the strategies of the company.Strategies of GSKTo make a general analysis of competitive advantage the company is facing through with(predicate) its strategies, Porters generic strategy tool is been used (Porter, 1998a Porter, 1998b). Porters generic strategies consist of 3 basic subdivisions such as Cost leadership, Differentiation and Focus strategy. GSK use certain strategies to create an unassailable position or outpace the competitors in the pharmaceutical industry. Considering the past 5 years GSK has effectively chosen and implemented several strategies to recreate its goals. But no t all those strategies have produced expected results.Cost leadershipAccording to porter risk outcome from having cost leadership distracts a company from possessing diversified products (Porter, 1998a). GSKs strategies have never aimed for having a cost leadership. Their major concern was to produce cost effective drugs by sourcing globally through reverse auctioning and not producing low cost drugs like the generic manufacturers who wish to position themselves in low-cost position in the industry. So GSK cut and save expenses in output and procurement to avoid the risks in differentiation as mentioned by porterDifferentiationGSK follows the strategy of MA on various biotech firms around the globe to make a use the latest technology for its drug discovery and study. This adds value to the product and the people pay the premium price fixed by the company. GSK invests more on Research Development for adding more value to the product. Recent alliances with Harvard Stem Cell Institu te (Glaxo SmithKline, 2008a) and acquisitions such as that of Stiefel Laboratories and Genelabs (Glaxo SmithKline, 2008b) provide added advantage to the research and development of drugs. combative AdvantageResourcesThe resources can be classified into patent, intangible and human resources.Tangible This can be diversified into pecuniary and physical tangible resources. The financial resources are cash, securities and borrowing capacity (Hitt et al, 2009). Financial resources and physical assets are identified and valued in the firms financial statements. Database (ORBIS, 2009) reports GSKs balance sheet tangible asset value to be $14,108,592. The physical assets include labs owned and leased, land space for offices, manufacturing plant, medical equipment, non-medical equipment. However, the primary objective of resource analysis is not to value a companys assets, entirely to understand their potential for creating competitive advantage. Hence therefore GSKs tangible resources ar e threshold resources.Intangible The intangible resources are the most important rather than tangible resources (Hitt et al, 2009). This is because the company introduces its premium price with the confidence to the brand image it has. And the people who have no idea about the same product from an unknown company prefer the branded product at the premium price. The intangible resources of GSK are generally the brand image, Government support to protect the patent, good will of the company, public relation.The global public policy in Glaxo SmithKline (2007) states that,Patent protection stimulates and fundamentally underpins the continued research and development for new and better medicines for diseases including those which occur in the develop world. Without adequate intellectual property protection, the medicines that are needed in the developing world are far less likely to be developed. (2007p.2)And a cover story from Business week (2007), states that,GlaxoSmithKline discovere d that, by investing to develop drugs for poor nations, it can work more effectively with those governments to make sure its patents are protected.Thus its clear from the above statement that GSK which finds the emerging countries like India, China and under developed markets for its drugs. The company uses the strategy of preferential pricing system to obtain goodwill, patent protection from the government and to boost itself as a monopoly in the market. Thus brand image and UK Government support are the unique resources of the company. kind Resources The human capital of GSK measures to be the highest among all other competitors like Pfizer, Roche and Johnson and Johnson. There are 101,133 employees working as a part of GSK worldwide in various departments of research, development, and production. GSK alliance with state owned university carries out its research with the scientists and students there at the labs (ORBIS, 2009).CapabilityPrahalad and Hamel state that the term organi zational capability can be coined as firms capacity to deploy resources for a desired end result . (1990 p 79-91). According to (Prahalad Hamel, 1990) Core competences are those that contribute to customer value, and to enter new market. The key capability factors are,Ability to merge and acquire GSK has the capability to merge and acquire firms of same or different industry for lateral and vertical integration. The company has the ability to work along with rival market holder Pfizer(Pharmaceutical marketing, 2009) and it has merged with dermatology specialist Steifel.MIS managing information system is one of the functional capabilities obtained through vertical integration with software solutions organisation like ORBIS. GSK choose to use a Lean Sigma approach to analyze the issues and develop a long term solution that supports the needs of a global company of their size (Orbis, 2008).Vertical Integration GSK advisor uses the services of PricewaterhouseCoopers (Pricewaterhousecoo pers, (2009), which provides Human Resource Services to manage compensation, pensions, share schemes and wider reward, technology, training and tax.Research and development as a part of organisational capability GSK possess the ability to make research various drugs according to changing market demand (Glaxo SmithKline, 2009f). GSK has the ability to integrate the functional capabilities to form the value chain.Aligning Resources and CapabilitiesThe capability and resource together form the key competitive advantage when exploited together to execute the strategy (Prahalad Hamel, 1990). In the process of aligning the resources and capabilities it is necessary to understand the companys superfluous strength that is the RD and effective vertical integrating capability.GSK finds emerging market like China and India and under developed countries of Africa. Then the management members along with the team that analyzed the market (cross functional capability i.e, developing new product) discusses about the demand of the country and decides on a perfect product to market in that country. GSK gained popularity of horlicks in India by late 1930 itself. Horlicks was launched a sleeping aid in Britain (Telegraph, 2005) and as a supplementary malt drink in India, where it holds a market share of 75% in health drink sector (Somvanshi, 2009). It also supplies drugs of great demand like H1N1 vaccine as per order made. GSK makes an agreement with the government for protecting its patent to provide the drugs at a lower cost. As these are emerging countries that are ready to allow large foreign investment accepts the deal for patent protection. Thus GSK with its financial resource targets enters the developing market with the objective establishing its brand as well as avoids the threat of generic industries.By acquiring, merging or by creating alliances with other existing firms who are specialized in other fields, the noesis and skills of the employee are used to develop n ewer products under its ownership of GSK (Ruddick, 2009). Generally the pressure to merge with other firms builds up, when a companys block baby buster drug is about to expire. By this practice GSK builds up its strength to compete the challenge with newer and innovative products.However GSK has failed to exploit the resources and capabilities to its strategies at its maximum extent to attain regulatory approval from U.S. victuals and Drug Administration (Russell, 2008).ConclusionIt can be argued that the GSK is perfectly in the growth stage. However company has to concentrate on innovation, developing block buster drugs, and efficiently restructuring the pipeline, rather than concerning about the off-patent. The key issues that the GSK face now is, the low returns provided to the investors and share holders. The increasing cost of the production and development of drugs increases the possibility of higher drop costs. The outlook of pharmaceutical industry as a whole suggests t hat the industry may run out of highly skilled scientists in the future but still remains to be the most attractive industry with high barrier to entry. Thus GSK considering the future issues and changing factors in mind has to progress through this economic downtime to prove its capability.ReferencesBBC news (2009a). Glaxo wont be driven out of UK. Online lendable from http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/ trade/4988858.stm decision accessed 18th November 2009.BBC news (2009b). Healthy rise in GSK profits. Online Available fromhttp//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8331080.stm last-place accessed 18th November 2009.Brian Kevin (2009). Flu factor adds zest to healthy GSK results. Online Available fromhttp//www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d4d9d664-76f1-11de-b23c-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1. Last accessed 18th November 2009.Britannica. (2009). InEncyclopdia Britannica -UK Online Available from http//www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1357082/pharmaceutical-industry. Last accessed seventeenth November 20 09.Business Week. (2007). Beyond the Green Corporation. Online Available http//www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_05/b4019001.htm. Last accessed 28 November 2009.Cutler J. Cleveland (2009). environmental change and socioeconomic factors in Africa. Online Available from http//www.eoearth.org/article/Environmental_change_and_socioeconomic_factors_in_AfricaSocial_change. Last accessed 22nd November 2009.Decision news media (2009). GSK axe begins to fall. Online Available fromhttp//www.in-pharmatechnologist.com/Materials-Formulation/GSK-axe-begins-to-fall. Last accessed 18th November 2009.Emptoris (2009). Company Over vision. Online Available from http//www.emptoris.com/company/overview.asp Last accessed 19th November 2009.Euromonitor. (2009a). Company shares-Euromonitor from trade sources/national statistics-UK Online Available from http//www.portal.euromonitor.com/Portal/ResultsList.aspx. Last accessed 17th November 2009.Euromonitor. (2009b). Company factfile-UK Online Available from http//www.portal.euromonitor.com/Portal/DocumentView.aspx. Last accessed 17th November 2009.FAME. (2009a). Overview-UK Online Available from https//fame.bvdep.com/version-20091031/cgi/productselect.dll?newproduct=1context=CJQ1H0kick=1logoutonswitch=9ROG9P. Last accessed 17th November 2009.Financial Times (2009a). Lucozade hits the cold drinks to China. Online Available from www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1fe7fa22-ac5e-11de-a7540044feabdc0.html. Last accessed 22nd November 2009.Gassmann et al (2004a). Leading pharmaceutical innovation 2nd edition. Online Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. Last accessed from http//books.google.co.uk/books?id=iry1nJHAc_sCprintsec=frontcoverdq=leading+pharmaceutical+innovationei=8K0KS92gBIKgMtSt9KYPv=onepageq=f=false. Last accessed 18th November 2009. (p23).Glaxo SmithKline. (2001). Outlook and Risk factors. Available http//www.gsk.com/financial/reports/ar/report/op_finrev_prosp/outlook/outlook.html. Last accessed 28 November 2009.Glaxo SmithKline. (2007). Gl obal Public Policy and Issues. Online. Available http//www.gsk.com/policies/GSK-on-IP-and-access-to-medicines-in-developing-countries.pdf. Last accessed 28 November 2009. (p-2)Glaxo SmithKline. (2008a). GlaxoSmithKline and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute announce a unique quislingism to enable the discovery of new medicines. Available http//www.gsk.com/media/pressreleases/2008/2008_pressrelease_10089.htm. Last accessed 28 November 2009.Glaxo SmithKline. (2008b). GlaxoSmithKline to acquire Genelabs Technologies to increase focus on novel small molecule therapies for Hepatitis C. Available http//www.gsk.com/media/pressreleases/2008/2008_us_pressrelease_10145.htm. Last accessed 28 November 2009.Glaxo SmithKline. (2009a). Our Company -UK Online. Available from http//www.gsk.com/about/company.htm Last accessed 17th November 2009.Glaxo SmithKline. (2009b). Our History -UK Online Available from http//www.gsk.com/about/history.htm. Last accessed 17th November 2009.Glaxo SmithKline (2009c). GSK and Shenzhen Neptunus create new alliance to develop and manufacture influenza vaccines in China. Online Available from http//www.gsk.com/media/pressreleases/2009/2009_pressrelease_10061.htm. Last accessed 19th November 2009.Glaxo SmithKline (2009d). US FDA approves GSKs pandemic H1N1 vaccineOnline Available from http//www.gsk.com/media/pressreleases/2009/2009_pressrelease_10129.htm Last accessed 19th November 2009.Glaxo SmithKline. (2009e). THE IMPACT OF ED ON ERECTILE FUNCTION. Available http//www.levitra.com/about-erectile-dysfunction.html. Last accessed 27 November 2009.Glaxo SmithKline. (2009f). H1N1 influenza responding to a pandemic. Available http//www.gsk.com/infocus/influenza-A-H1N1.htm. Last accessed 27 November 2009.Griffiths, K. (2006). Glaxo medicine beats older diabetes rivals. Available http//www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2951867/Glaxo-medicine-beats-older-diabetes-rivals.html. Last accessed 28 November 2009.Jack (2009a). Generics make a dent in GSK sales. Online Available from http//www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dbd75fce-7b59-11d9-9af4-00000e2511c8.html. Last accessed 18th November 2009.Michael A Hitt,R.Duane Ireland, and Robert E. Hoskisson. (2009). Strategic ManagementInput. In Strategic management competitiveness and globalization concepts cases. United States Cengage Learning Academic Resource Center. p76-80.Milligan (2009). Healthy rise in GSK profits. Online Available from http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8331080.stm. Last accessed 18th November 2009.ORBIS (2008). GSK case study. Available http//www.orbisglobal.com/SiteMedia/w3svc815/Uploads/Documents/GSK%20Case%20Study%202008.pdf. Last accessed 27 November 2009.ORBIS. (2009). Balance sheet. Online Available http//orbis.bvdep.com/version-20091125/cgi/template.dll?checkathens=1kick=1product=13user=oxb.b5ce71006d6c243cpw=asGpiegbTuqWNfAr1N6v4A%3d%3d. Last accessed 28 Novenber 2009.Pharmaceutical marketing . (2009). GSK LINKS WITH PFIZER STIEFEL Company moves to advance in HIV and dermatology . PHARMACEUTICAL MARKETING -DORKING. . 20 (12), p6-7.Pierce Lisa McTigue (2004). GSK breathes easy with new inhaler line robotics and adaptable equipment help GlaxoSmithKline meet demand for the markets No. 1 asthma inhaler. Online Available from http//www.allbusiness.com/plastics-rubber/plastics-product-manufacturing/298291-1.html Last accessed 18th November 2009.Prahalad, C.K. and Hamel, G. (1990) The core competence of the corporation, Harvard Business Review. p. 79-91.Pricewaterhousecoopers. (2009). GlaxoSmithKline. Available http//www.pwc.co.uk/eng/services/glaxosmithkline_case_study.html. Last accessed 28 November 2009.Porter, M. (1998a). Generic Competitive Strategy. In competitive strategy- Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. New York free press. p35.Porter, M. (1998b). Generic Competitive Strategy. In competitive strategy- Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. New York free press. p37.Ruddick, G. (2009). GlaxoSmithKline buys Stiefel for $3.6 bn . Available http//www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/epic/gsk/5186751/GlaxoSmithKline-buys-Stiefel-for-3.6bn.html . Last accessed 28 November 2009.Russell, J. (09 Apr 2008). GSK rebuked by FDA over Avandia trials. Online Available http//www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/2787811/GSK-rebuked-by-FDA-over-Avandia-trials.html. Last accessed 28 November 2009.Science Direct (2009) Getting the most out of reverse e-auction investment. Online Available from http//www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL_udi=B6VC4-4H7THJ8-1_user=558526_rdoc=1_fmt=_orig=search_sort=d_docanchor=view=c_searchStrId=1105992232_rerunOrigin=google_acct=C000028481_version=1_urlVersion=0_userid=558526md5=0136d63f7d9ff73367852ba539382bb0bbib12Omega Volume 35, Issue 4, August 2007, Pages 403-416. Last accessed on 21st November 2009Somvanshi, K. (2009). GSK Consumer Healthcare A classic defensive stock. Available http//economictimes.indiatimes.com/Features/Investors-Guide/GSK-Consumer-Healthcare-A-classic- defensive-stock/articleshow/4303094.cms. Last accessed 28 November 2009.Telegraph. (2005). A wake-up call for Horlicks. Available http//www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2928124/A-wake-up-call-for-Horlicks.html. Last accessed 28 November 2009.Ziff Davis Media (2009). Baseline Magazine Announces 2005 ROI leadership Award Winners. Online Available from http//ziffdavis.com/press/releases/050706.0.html Last accessed 19th November 2009.

Christian Discipleship :: Religion Jesus Christianity Essays

Christian DiscipleshipDiscipleship means one who respects or one who learns and thismeaning has not changed over the centuries. The first supporters must excite felt very special just as do today. Also, the first disciples werenot fully understood and were rejected. This is true for disciplestoday aswell. The Bible is the most consequential reference for aChristian today. It contains all sorts of stories from the OldTestament and the New Testament. The New Testament concentrates on thelife of Jesus which is probably more(prenominal) important to Christians than theOld Testament because Jesus death means that everyone has a chance tohave all of their sins forgiven. The book I will be concentrating on isthe creed of Mark. Mark zoomed in on whom Jesus chose to be hisdisciples and what they were like. When people read Marks gospel theyrealise that you can be a disciple of Jesus no matter who you argon.Jesus said, It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. Ihave not com e to rally the righteous but the sinners (Mark 217) Manypeople today see this and are inspired. They see that they too can beforgiven for all of their sins and lead a better life. Being adisciple today is nearly the same as being a disciple in the time ofJesus. As a disciple today you still have to have a true belief in Godand to follow the word of Jesus. This is also true for disciples 2000 days ago. Christians today do not suffer as much as they did in thetime of Jesus but in some countries Christians do make for persecuted andeven attacked or killed. The first twelve disciples are not sosacrificial and some probably wouldnt give their life for God.However, there are still Christians who would do anything for God butthis is only a small percent of Christians. The first twelve discipleswerent just Christians straight away, they dropped all of their thingsto follow Jesus and spent years learning about God. Nowadays, manypeople wouldnt just drop all of their things to follow some one theyknow nought about. Many people are told about God and Jesus for a longtime before becoming a Christian, just like in Emmanuel College inassemblies and in tutor prayer. Jesus told taught crowds of people thatthey must sacrifice everything to be a proper disciple. Some peoplewant to learn more about Christianity but dont want to be sacrificialin their living making them unable to be a disciple.

Fate, Traits, And Choices in Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet :: William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespe be, is a story of devil young lovers. These two hearts, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet belong to feuding families. The family feud causes them to keep their love a secret and therefore only Romeo, Juliet, Benvolio, the Nurse and Friar Lawrence know of their love. Romeo and Juliet are able to look historical the feud and let themselves f altogether in mad love with the other. They let themselves do almost anything for the other and at meters it seems like too often to do, even for the one they love. Although fate and character traits play a key role in the play, ultimately Rome and Juliets personal choices lead to their downfall.Fate originates all of the conflicts in Romeo and Juliet, from when they met until they die. Romeo is in love with Rosaline at the very beginning of the story and has just found out that she has taken the vow of chastity. Meanwhile Lord Capulet has minded(p) County Paris Juliets hand in marriage if he can wait until she is sixteen. The Capulets have a party so that Juliet and the Count can cumulate and he can then woo her. When Romeo and Juliet first meet they are at the Capulet party, which Romeo sneaks into. They fall in love at first sight without realizing that they are enemies. Fate brings them together and it is fate that they are enemies. Thought the play, these lovers go through many obstacles that range from arranging a wedding and finding a time to meet to Juliet trying to get out of marrying Paris. The entire time fate is tossing them around. Romeo realizes this after he kills Tybalt, Juliets cousin, in a brawl. At first, Romeo does not unavoidableness to fight because Romeo and Juliet are already married at this time and he knows that they are cousins. Tybalt asks for a brawl from Romeo but Mercutio fights instead. Mercutio gets killed by Tybalt and that is what makes Romeo mad and fight Tybalt. At the end of the fight when Romeo kills Tybalt and then realizes what he h as done he yells out, O, I am Fortunes fool (Shakespeare.3.1.143). And he and Juliet both are lilliputian toys for fate. But, they never give up on their love.Romeo and Juliets traits cause them to go along with their fate and contributes to their downfall.

Semiconductors: The Silicon Chip Essay examples -- science

Semiconductors The atomic number 14 ChipSilicon is the raw material most often used in compound circuit (IC) fabrication. It is the second most superabundant substance on the earth. It is extracted from rocks and common beach sand and put through an exhaustive purification process. In this form, ti is the purist industrial substance that man produces, with impurities comprising less(prenominal) than one part in a billion. That is the equivalent of one tennis ball in a get out of golf balls stretching from the earth to the moon. Semiconductors be usually materials which have energy-band gaps smaller than 2eV. An important property of semiconductor devices is the ability to change their resistivity over several orders of magnitude by doping. Semiconductors have galvanizing resistivities amidst 10-5 and 107 ohms. Semiconductors can be crystalline or amorphous. Elemental semiconductors are simple-element semiconductor materials such as atomic number 14 or germanium. Silicon is t he most common semiconductor material used today. It is used for diodes, transistors, integrated circuits, memories, infrared detection and lenses, light-emitting diodes (LED), photosensors, strain gages, solar cells, charge transfer devices, radiation detectors and a variety of other devices. Silicon belongs to the group IV in the periodic table. It is a grey brittle material with a diamond cuboidal structure. Silicon is conventionally doped with Phosphorus, ratsbane and Antimony and Boron, Aluminum, and Gallium acceptors. The energy gap of silicon is 1.1 eV. This value permits the operation of silicon semiconductors devices at higher temperatures than germanium. at once I will give you slightly brief history of the evolution of electronics which will help you understand more about semiconductors and the silicon chip. In the primeval 1900s before integrated circuits and silicon chips were invented, computers and radios were made with vacuum tubes. The vacuum tube was invented in 1906 by Dr.Lee DeForest. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, vacuum tubes were used to conduct, modulate and amplify electrical signals. They made possible a variety of red-hot products including the radio and the computer. However vacuum tubes had some inherent problems. They were bulky, delicate and expensive, consumed a great deal of power, took period to warm up, got very hot, and eventually burned out. The first digital computer c... ..., the second mask pattern is unfastened to the wafer, and the oxide is etched away to reveal new diffusion areas. The process is repeated for every mask - as many as 18 - needed to constrain a particular IC. Of critical greatness here is the precise alignment of each mask over the wafer surface. It is out of alignment more than a figure of a micrometer (one-millionth of a meter), the built-in wafer is useless. During the last diffusion a bed of oxide is again grown over the water. Most of this oxide layer is left on the wa fer to serve as an electrical insulator, and solely small openings are etched through the oxide to expose circuit contact areas. To interconnect these areas, a thin layer of admixture (usually aluminum) is deposited over the entire surface. The metal dips down into the circuit contact areas, touching the silicon. Most of the surface metal is then etched away, leaving an interconnectedness pattern between the circuit elements. The last(a) layer is vapox, or vapour-deposited-oxide, a glass-like material that protects the IC from contamination and damage. It, too, is etched away, but only above the soldering pads, the square aluminum areas to which wires will by and by be attached. Semiconductors The Silicon Chip Essay examples -- scienceSemiconductors The Silicon ChipSilicon is the raw material most often used in integrated circuit (IC) fabrication. It is the second most abundant substance on the earth. It is extracted from rocks and common beach sand and put throu gh an exhaustive purification process. In this form, silicon is the purist industrial substance that man produces, with impurities comprising less than one part in a billion. That is the equivalent of one tennis ball in a string of golf balls stretching from the earth to the moon. Semiconductors are usually materials which have energy-band gaps smaller than 2eV. An important property of semiconductors is the ability to change their resistivity over several orders of magnitude by doping. Semiconductors have electrical resistivities between 10-5 and 107 ohms. Semiconductors can be crystalline or amorphous. Elemental semiconductors are simple-element semiconductor materials such as silicon or germanium. Silicon is the most common semiconductor material used today. It is used for diodes, transistors, integrated circuits, memories, infrared detection and lenses, light-emitting diodes (LED), photosensors, strain gages, solar cells, charge transfer devices, radiation detectors and a variet y of other devices. Silicon belongs to the group IV in the periodic table. It is a grey brittle material with a diamond cubic structure. Silicon is conventionally doped with Phosphorus, Arsenic and Antimony and Boron, Aluminum, and Gallium acceptors. The energy gap of silicon is 1.1 eV. This value permits the operation of silicon semiconductors devices at higher temperatures than germanium. Now I will give you some brief history of the evolution of electronics which will help you understand more about semiconductors and the silicon chip. In the early 1900s before integrated circuits and silicon chips were invented, computers and radios were made with vacuum tubes. The vacuum tube was invented in 1906 by Dr.Lee DeForest. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, vacuum tubes were used to conduct, modulate and amplify electrical signals. They made possible a variety of new products including the radio and the computer. However vacuum tubes had some inherent problems. They were bu lky, delicate and expensive, consumed a great deal of power, took time to warm up, got very hot, and eventually burned out. The first digital computer c... ..., the second mask pattern is exposed to the wafer, and the oxide is etched away to reveal new diffusion areas. The process is repeated for every mask - as many as 18 - needed to create a particular IC. Of critical importance here is the precise alignment of each mask over the wafer surface. It is out of alignment more than a fraction of a micrometer (one-millionth of a meter), the entire wafer is useless. During the last diffusion a layer of oxide is again grown over the water. Most of this oxide layer is left on the wafer to serve as an electrical insulator, and only small openings are etched through the oxide to expose circuit contact areas. To interconnect these areas, a thin layer of metal (usually aluminum) is deposited over the entire surface. The metal dips down into the circuit contact areas, touching the silicon. Mos t of the surface metal is then etched away, leaving an interconnection pattern between the circuit elements. The final layer is vapox, or vapour-deposited-oxide, a glass-like material that protects the IC from contamination and damage. It, too, is etched away, but only above the bonding pads, the square aluminum areas to which wires will later be attached.