Health Economics And Policy Questions - 2412 Words

Health Economics and Policy Coursework Question 2 SN: 13026885 a) w=  £62,500 U= √w 50% chance of medical problem Costs of  £4,900 We can derive this individual’s expected wealth if we multiply the probability of each outcome with the associated costs. E(w) = 0.5 *  £62,500 + 0.5 * ( £62,500 -  £4,900) E(w) = 0.5 *  £62,500 + 0.5 *  £57,600 E(w) =  £60,050 To find out what level of utility will this individual’s expected wealth yield, we simply have to put the value of the E(w) in the utility equation. We know U= √w, so in our case - U(E(w)) = √(E(w)) ïÆ' ¨U(E(w)) = √60,050 ïÆ' ¨ U(E(w)) ≈ 245.051 To compute this individual s expected utility, we follow the exact same procedure as in point i), but this time for utility. So, we first†¦show more content†¦Not only will he be willing to purchase insurance, but he may also want to pay above the actuarially fair price, just to avoid additional expenses in case of sickness. The original risky gamble (in the absence of insurance) would leave him with an expected utility of 245, as shown in point iii) - this is the minimum utility this individual is willing to go to. That is, he will be willing to pay an amount of money that will leave him with a certain utility equal to the expected utility of the original gamble – 245. This uti lity is associated with a wealth of 2452 =  £60,025. So the maximum amount he is willing to pay for insurance is  £62,500 -  £60,025 =  £2,475 . Anything above this price would leave him with a certain utility lower than the expected one. This is illustrated in the graph, by the red arrow. b) Moral Hazard: Moral hazard is one of the market failures that occurs mostly in insurance markets. When consumers purchase insurance, and therefore, do not pay for the full price of health care – health care becomes relatively cheaper for them. Thus, consumers demand more health care than they would do in the absence of insurance – a phenomena regarded as moral hazard. It only occurs under the assumption that the demand for some types of health care is elastic – and therefore responsive to price changes. To illustrate this situation better – we use the following example. An individual A faces a 20% probability that he/she will have a car accident which

Fools Crow Essay Example For Students

Fools Crow Essay We turn back the clock as Welch draws on historical sources and Blackfeet cultural stories in order to explore the past of his ancestors. As a result, he provides a basis for a new understanding of the past and the forces that led to the deciding factor of the Plains Indian tribes. Although Fools Crow reflects the pressure to assimilate inflicted by the white colonizers on the Blackfeet tribes, it also portrays the influence of economic changes during this period. The prosperity created by the hide trade does not ultimately protect the tribe from massacre by the white soldiers. It does, however, effectively change the Blackfeet economy and womens place in their society. Thus, it sets the stage for the continued deterioration of their societal system. Although their economic value is decreased, women still represent an important cog in the economic structure. Indeed, women are central to the survival of the Blackfeet tribal community that Welch creates and in many ways this strength a nd centrality provide background for the strength of the women depicted in his more contemporary novels. Welchs examination of the past leads to a clearer understanding of the present Blackfeet world presented throughout his work. James Welch relies heavily on documented Blackfeet history and family stories, but he merges those actual events and people with his imagination and thus creates a tension between fiction and history, weaving a tapestry that reflects a vital tribal community under pressure from outside forces. Welch re-imagines the past in order to document history in a way that includes past and future generations, offers readers insight into the tribal world-views of the Blackfeet, examines womens roles in the tribe, and leads to a recovery of identity. Welch also creates a Blackfeet world of the late 1800sa tribal culture in the process of economic and social change as a result of the introduction of the horse and gun and the encroachment of the white invaders or seizer s as Welch identifies them. Significantly, Welch deconstructs the myth that Plains Indian women were just slaves and beasts of burden and presents them as fully rounded women, women who were crucial to the survival of the tribal community. In fact, it is the women who perform the day-to-day duties and rituals that enable cultural survival for the tribes of the Plains. Through Fools Crow, we enter a centuries-old society that was altered by the introduction of the horse and gun to the Plains Indians in the mid-1700s and by the devastation of two epidemics of the white scab disease. The novel is set in the late 1860s, and the Blackfeet have now regained their strength and are a powerful and confident people. More specifically, womens economic place in the community was affected by the introduction of the horse to the Blackfeet, which occurred around 1720 and changed the nature of buffalo hunting. Before the horse and hide trade, the life of Plains tribes was closer to the margins. Whe n American Indians hunted on foot with bow and arrows, the killing of the buffalo or blackhorn was a community effortan effort that offered women an equal role. The large-scale methods of hunting were the most successful and also included a large number of people, resulting in solidarity within the tribes and bands. These collective hunting methods affected the economic and political system and resulted in collective ownership of the hides and the goods traded for them. With the horse, hunters could travel to the buffalo, and their efficiency was increased. Thus, hunting was increasingly individualized. Social dynamics and the role of women changed, as hunting became primarily the work of young men. The horse was both a technological factor and a commodity. These changes affected not only womens economic status but also the dynamics of individual and communal relations. The women were necessary to process the hides that the men needed for trading, but horses were necessary for hunti ng the buffalo to obtain the hides in the first place. By the opening of Welchs novel, the horse is the center of Blackfeet society. Welchs protagonist, Fools Crow, assesses his wealth and status in life: He had little to show for his eighteen winters. His father, Rides-at-the-door, had many horses and three wives. He himself had three horses and no wives. His animals were puny, not a blackhorn runner among them. Because of the importance of the hide trade to the welfare of the Plains Indians, the two vital elements that a mans wealth and personal status depended on were the accumulation of wives and horses. Welch underscores the importance of the horse to the Blackfeet early in the novel. Fools Crow participates in a raid on a Crow village in order to strengthen his personal power through stealing horses and increasing his wealth. He earns twenty horses in the raid, and although he gives five to the medicine man, Mik-api, he feels that his change for fortune was complete. Mik-apis prayers in the sweat lodge for him had been answered. The yellow painted signs were strong, and he had been strong enough in his endeavor. He had not taken a buffalo-runner but he was satisfied. That Welch describes this raid in great detail signifies the importance of raiding to the Plains Indians. According to Klein, raiding represented a secondary institution to hunting. Since the Plains tribes did not breed their horses, the main way they obtained them was by stealing them from other tribes or whites during a raid. Other goods were taken as well but most importantly, all the goods taken in a raid became privately owned and since the raid was an essentially male activity, horses became the private property of men. Although in Fools Crow, Rides-at-the-door has three wives, Fools Crow has only one, Red Paint. In the novel, she initially tans hides as well as works on crafts such as her beadwork. She takes special pride in the work that will bring her personal ownership of trade goo ds and she is valued for the quality of her beadwork. She helps support her family by taking up beadwork for other people, particularly young men who had no one to do it for them. She was good and her elaborate patterns were becoming the talk of the camp. She exchanges the beadwork for skins, meat, and cloth to help her family. Hunting is a mans job and she realizes that without a hunter, they might have to move on to another band, to the Many Chiefs, to live with her uncle, who had offered to take them in. Later, after her marriage to Fools Crow, she does not complain of the intensive labor required for the hide tanning, but Welch depicts the toll the work has taken on her youth: Red Paint had fleshed and scraped the blackhorn hide and now sat waiting for the stones to heat up. In a pot beside her, she had mixed the grease and brains with which she would begin her tanning. She looked at her hands and was surprised to see how red and rough they had become. They were no longer the ha nds of a girl. Her knuckles seemed larger and the fingernails had dark crescents of grease beneath them.Womens roles are illustrated throughout the novel as he refers to their cooking kettles and bowls and spoons and dippers made out of the horns of the blackhorn. The women utilize every part of the buffalo that the men bring home: They used the hair of the head and beard to make braided halters and bridles and soft padded saddles. They used the hoofs to make rattles or glue, and the tails to swat flies. And they dressed the dehaired skins to make lodge covers and linings and clothes and winding cloths. The women in Fools Crow perform the jobs that give the tribal community the ability to exist on the plains. There would be no survival without their attention to the day-to-day necessities of life. .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301 , .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301 .postImageUrl , .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301 , .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301:hover , .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301:visited , .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301:active { border:0!important; } .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301:active , .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301 .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u7cfc4feff267901b08d22727189e2301:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: How has the recent arrival Essay Welch also paints a portrait of human behavior as he explores the relationship between women in the polygamous marriage of Rides-at-the-door. His first wife, Double Strike Woman, convinces Rides-at-the-door that she needs help around the lodge. Although she is glad he had taken Striped Face for his second wife, she felt strange the first time he had gone with Striped Face to her smaller lodge. Double Strike Woman and Striped Face have a warm relationship, but there is more distance between them and the third wife, Kills-close-to-the-lake. Rides-at-the-door had taken her in as a wife as a favor to a man who had been unlucky and poor all his life. As she left her fathers lodge with Rides-at-the-door and his two wives, she had felt bitter and was later unhappy in his lodge. She brought a tension to his lodge and saw herself as little more than a slave to the two other wives. Kills-close-to-the-lake desires a man of her own and attempts to seduce both Fools Crow and his brother Running Fisher. She ultimately sleeps with Running Fisher and when discovered, Rides-at-the-door sends her back to her father and banishes Running Fisher to the relatives of Double Strike Woman. In the actions of Kills-close-to-the-lake, Welch depicts a womans resistance to both polygamy and the subservient position often created within a marriage arrangement under the new economic system of the ninetee nth century. In Fools Crow, Welchs tribal community is not entirely patriarchal in nature but leans slightly to a bilateral position of power between men and women. The economic changes in the nineteenth century saw a slight shift in the gender balance in favor of male economic roles. Although in Fools Crow, men or councils of men make all major decisions, women are listened to and not ignored. For example, in the decision to banish Running Fisher from the community, his mother, Double Strike Woman, has no input; however the importance of her happiness to her husband is depicted as she mourns for her two sonsone banished and one missing for many sleepsand it is only by much talking and soothing that Rides-at-the-door can convince her that it was not time to mourn, that both were still alive and both would return to her. He goes with her into the winter night to pray to Sun Chief for their safe return. He also takes partial blame for Kills-close-to-the-lakes infidelity, and he tells her: I have wronged you, my young wife. I brought you into my lodge and then neglected you. I allowed my other wives to treat you badly. And now I caused you to commit this bad thing with my young son. I ask you to forgive mebut I do not forgive you. You bring dishonor into my lodge. Rides-at-the-doors concern for the emotional health of his wives reflects the hidden economic power the women held within the family as well as genuine concern for his wifes emotional well being. Just as Fools Crow reaches back to the past in an effort to provide for Yellow Kidneys family, he looks to the future near the end of the novel and tells the survivor of the massacre at Marias River: It is good you are alive. You will have much to teach the young ones about the Napikwans. He remembers Feather Womans vision of Pikuni children, quiet and huddled together, alone and foreign in their own country and says, We must think of our children. Transcending time through imagination leads to a unification of past and present, and reflecting on the roles women fulfilled in the past and their relative position of balance in contemporary Blackfeet society leads to the conclusion that it is the day-to-day functions they performed that enabled cultural survival. Tribal world-view demands attention to everyday tasks to achieve the balance needed for survival and it was the women who were grounded and provided the center for the community. The theme that James Welch has presented to us a bout a Blackfeet world endangered but intact where men and women know who and where they are. Plays a big part in our own lives; we all need to find our self in this world and act upon it.

Night And Eliezer Essays - The Holocaust, Holocaust Literature

Night And Eliezer Eliezer was a young boy when the Holocaust began. He saw his family, his friends, and his fellow Jews humiliated and murdered. This autobiography, Night, was written by Eliezer Wiesel. He wrote about what horrors he saw and went through during this dreadful period in time. The first part of the book is when he was very religious and prays with Moshe. When the German soldiers come into their town the townspeople fear them. But this is when he begins to become doubtful. For the rest of the novel, Eliezer starts to question his God. Eliezer Wiesel was twelve when he first met Moshe the Beadle. At this time in his life, he was a big believer in God. He studied the Talmud during the day and at night he prayed at the synagogue. One day Eliezer asked his father, who was a rabbi, "Can you find me a master to guide me in my studies of the cabbala?"(1) But his father simply replied, "You're too young for that. Maimonides said it was only at thirty that one had the right to venture into the perilous world of mysticism." (1-2) In return to this statement made by his father, he went out to find his own. This is when he found Moshe. Almost every evening, they would talk about God and sit in the synagogue and pray. Moshe became Eliezer's master to show him the mysteries of the cabbala. During these nights, Eliezer said, "We would read together, ten times over, the same page of the Zohar. Not to learn it by heart, but to extract the divine essence from it."(3) Since Moshe was a foreign Jew, he had been taken away to a concentration camp. He had escaped only to be able to tell the townspeople what he had seen. No one believed him. Even Eliezer did not believe his foolish story. But Eliezer could see that Moshe had changed. He no longer talked about God and the cabbala. People thought he was a madman. "What an imagination he has!" people said. (5) People continued to do their daily tasks as if he had not said anything at all. Although Eliezer heard horrible stories from Moshe, he still continued his studies of the cabbala. A while later, Germans were known to be in a town close by Sighet. The optimists thought they would not come to our town though because there are strategic and political reasons why they would not want to leave that town. But, three days later, they were in Sighet. At first, they acted friendly and one even gave gifts to Eliezer neighbor who was housing him. By the seventh night of Passover, the nightmare began. All the leaders of the Jewish community had been arrested. They had rules the people had to obey like wearing yellow star and staying in our house for a certain amount of days, etc. The next thing that came was deportation. The people had to wait on a blazing hot street waiting for their turn to come. Little by little, Eliezer started to disbelieve that there was a God. "Oh God, Lord of the Universe, take pity upon us in thy great mercy," the people said. (17) The night before they left they didn't pray to pass the time more quickly. When they arrived at the first camp, his father and Eliezer were separated from the rest of his family. He heard about people who went to the crematory and the gas chambers. His father started praying. "For the first time, I felt a revolt rise up in me. Why should I bless His name? The Eternal, Lord of the Universe, the All-Powerful and Terrible, was silent. What had I to thank Him for?"(31) Moving from one concentration camp to another, Eliezer saw many more deaths. While at Buna, he witnessed many more deaths and hangings. While watching three prisoners die slow and miserable deaths, Eliezer heard a man behind him say, "Where is God now?"(62) I replied in my head "Where is He? Here He is-He is hanging here on this gallows."(62) Later in the novel, his father gets very sick .The doctor's can not help him. While roll call his father called Eliezer's name, but the officer told him to be quiet. He did not hear and continued to call for me. He was shot in the head, but did not die immediately. He managed to get out the word one last time "Eliezer." When I woke up the

Tips for Selecting Your Storys Narrative Style

Tips for Selecting Your Storys Narrative Style Tips for Selecting Your Story’s Narrative Style Tips for Selecting Your Story’s Narrative Style By Mark Nichol Before writers can share their stories, they have to decide what type of storyteller they’re going to hire for a particular gig. Here are the job candidates: First Person For this narrator, it’s all â€Å"Me,† â€Å"Me,† â€Å"Me.† (Or, more precisely, â€Å"I,† â€Å"I,† â€Å"I.†) But it’s not that simple. The first-person narrator can be integral to the story, in which case they know only what they observe or discover. Alternatively, they can be a minor character, which may actually free them up to know more than the major players. The first person might also be once or twice removed from the story: They heard it from a friend or a friend of a friend (or some other indirect source). But keep in mind before you hire this applicant that it’s a challenge to keep the first-person narrator from telling too much, and that such a person is subjective and therefore unreliable. (Actually, that can be a good thing, dramatically speaking.) First person is an effective device especially for action-oriented genre fiction: detective stories, thrillers, and the like, because this type of narration keeps the reader close to the action and privy to the cogitations of the protagonist, who is usually trying to solve a mystery or foil a plot. Second Person The second person (â€Å"You†) doesn’t get much work. You might think second person is the most engaging type of narrative, because it puts the reader in the thick of the action, but the device gets old quickly. However, it can be used incidentally, in a prologue or in one or more asides, cued by the first-person or third-person narrator. Third Person This narrative device (â€Å"He,† â€Å"She,† â€Å"They†) is the most common, for good reason(s): The third-person narrator is an objective observer who describes and interprets the characters and their actions, thoughts and feelings, and motivations without direct knowledge. (That objectively doesn’t always prevent the narrator from making satirical or otherwise judgmental observations, however.) But before you leap up and cast this role, there’s one more decision to make: Is this narrator omniscient, meaning they know all, or are they, like the characters, limited in their knowledge? Beyond that, is the third person partisan about the proceedings, or neutral? Consider, too, that just like a first-person narrator, the third person might be unreliable: An observer, whether they have limited or unlimited access to knowing what the heck’s going on, may have a mischievous streak and decide to deceive the reader. Tense Regardless of who you hire, one more issue needs to be resolved: tense. Will the narrator describe occurrences in the present (â€Å"I steal over to the sofa and make sure the gun appears to have fallen out of her hand†), or in the past (â€Å"I stole over to the sofa and made sure the gun appeared to have fallen out of her hand.†)? Just as with second person, a little present-tense narration goes a long way, but a short short story can be effective in that form, or you can introduce present tense in digestible morsels in a longer work, such as when a character is recalling an incident. Choose tense and narration form carefully, and may the best person win. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Punctuating â€Å"So† at the Beginning of a Sentence36 Poetry TermsRite, Write, Right, Wright

Microeconomics Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Microeconomics - Case Study Example The firm has various assortments of brands which emanate from its strategies aimed at being among the leading marketers of automobiles alongside the core competitors such as Toyota, BMW, Ford motors among others. This paper will address the microeconomic issues relating to the firm’s operation globally. These include the manner in which the firm determines what to produce, how to produce, and the quantity to produce and for which market segment to produce for. Determination of the Quantity to Produce and Methods of Production The department of logistics and marketing are wholly responsible for determining the quantity that is to be produced and the methods to be used in the production of Mercedes-Benz. The departments in question applies Evidence Based Supply Chain Practice (EBSCP) in determining the in plant flow of materials which seem to increase the speed of production. As part of the attempts the teams makes decisions to invent new procedures in the warehouses given the c urrent procedures restricts it to carry out such duties such as selection, sorting, staging and hauling to the line of assembly. The departments ensure that raw material components are available on time at the line of assembly to enhance production process. The team starts by carrying out a brainstorming exercise of numerous ideas which seek for ways to enhance availability and complete efficiency in the firm. The teams seek to determine the type of ideas that would work and the best ways of implementing the ideas to enhance effective and timely production. The members in the teams carry out consultation from the websites in regard to the customer’s preferences, tastes, trends in demand and buying behavior to determine exactly the quantity to produce. The teams under these departments understand that the consumer always seek to maximize utility. Therefore in an effort to understand the consumer behavior, the teams make various assumptions about the consumers after a thorough research by the marketing department. Some of the assumptions made include; consumers’ preferences are complete in the sense that they are fully aware of their tastes and preferences. This occurs in such a manner that Mercedes-Benz is meant for luxury where consumers seeking luxurious automobile will have Mercedes-Benz as one of their choices. Consumers show a habit of not being satisfied which helps the teams to invent ways of changing the model of the Mercedes-Benz and varying the models to suit their tastes and preferences. The theory of the firm in relation to the team production is also very critical within the firm. Mercedes-Benz firm management fully understands that production of Automobiles requires team work and thus the employees and staff are to be mobilized to pool their ideas in an effort to meet the production targets in the market according to the demand (Pride & Ferrell, 2012, p. 211). Owing to this dimension of thinking Mercedes-Benz assembles about 20,000 c omponents and raw materials which are kept in the warehouse to ensure continuous flow of production. However, among these items only 0.5% was delivered just-in-time to the line of assembly upon being picked from the storage zone that was dedicated. The team then opted for pull system where the employees in the assembly plants give out internal orders in the materials resource planning system for production of the automobiles in batches. The team has ensured that cases of stock-outs do not occur in the near future.

Sexuality and identity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sexuality and identity - Essay Example There is need to provide them with useful learning materials, services and the opportunity to feel part of the society. The lack of appropriate sex education in Jake’s past life is the main undoing of the education system that he has gone through. By contrast the presence of only heterosexual lessons which attempt to address the needs of the community has resulted in gay people like Jake being labelled as ‘abnormal’. As Hoshall (2013) has argued, the procrastination to include sex education for the gay community (the absence) has triggered the ‘presence’ of labels, hatred and relegation of the likes of Jake as semi-human in society. Proponents of sex education argue that the incorporation of gay issues into such programs would limit homophobic intimidation, improve the welfare of gay community, and limit cases of seclusion that affect gay students (Williams, Prior and Wegner, 2013). Jake’s relegation from the social spheres of life, which is to blame for loss of self-confidence would have been resolved through tolerance programs for gays at school (Yip et al, 2013). Nonetheless, his suffering could have been the result of the ‘superiority’ of heterosexuals and sex education programs for the community as opposed to gays. According to Byrd (2011), the ‘weird’ programs for gays may have been shelved to avoid a political perception on learners that could deviate their thinking from supposedly moral ways of life. Gay sex education is as of now not included in many learning programs. This situation has cast Jake in bad light. Studies have also indicated that affected students usually do not find current sex education programs for gays to be appropriate (Woodford et al, 2012). Jake is one such case; he has pointed out that the whole learning environment including instructors, fellow students, and the immediate community have had conflicting perceptions on the

Sap America Case Study Essay Example for Free

Sap America Case Study Essay The case is about a company named SAP America, which is the abbreviation for Systems, Applications and Programs in Data Processing, which in three short years had gone from a smaller company to the heavy hitter within the corporate computing world. Within this case there were many details brought to light on the ambition of the founding members, and the eventual additions to the SAP team. The case details how this firm took their R/3 product, which was a real-time, integrated applications software, and changed the game of product market infiltration. In 1972 SAP was founded by four young software engineers who had come up with a concept for an integrated software package, and their current employer turned it down. This initial idea sparked their first major enterprise information systems product. This took their company public, and after five years SAP’s market capitalization was $15 billion. The expansion that occurred began in Walldorf, Germany where SAP was founding and spread to the America Group. This began in the late 1980’s and was crucial to the SAP’s growth. Once their overseas group took off, there were many elements of their business that needed to be altered and improved to account for their growth. Although they began as a product based company it was very clear to everyone involved that taking care of the client, through implementation and support was crucial to differentiating themselves from competitors within the market, and a key to their survival. The development of an industry strategy wa s another crucial action that paralleled the growth and support of SAP. This vertical industry strategy was to be delivered through industry centers of expertise (ICOEs), which to serve as a bridge between R/3 customers and the product development organization. This partnering was the key to SAP’s consistent growth, by using the manpower of outside and inside consultants. At the beginning of its cross seas venture, there was infrastructure and administrative problems. To solve these, more planning, budgeting, and Human resource involvement would be implemented. The organization of infrastructure was a crucial step taken by SAP, providing its salesman, consultants, and support with more clear guidelines on how to better operate and fulfill customer expectations. The new and improved structure that emerged from the alterations and evolutions of the processes began in a meeting in 1996. The two objectives were for SAP America to act more as one company, and to better leverage its size and skills. At that point in the market, SAP was the breadwinner, they had the product, knowledge, and fulfillment that trumped its competition. SAP was out performing its competition by 300%-800%, with results like that, they only had one piece of the puzzle remaining, granted it was a pretty large piece, but working as a single entity was the issue being dealt with. The new organization of lines of business became the big three; sales, consulting, and training. This was put in place to ensure the quality of its vertical organizational roles. Sales was subdivided by size of account, and by emerging markets. Changes with the ICOEs were a little more complicated, and were altered by bringing consistency and standardization to ICOE practices, and developing an integrated approach to marketing within the company by the distribution of knowledge. With the move to America SAP faced many challenges, they stepped back, looked at what needed to be changed, and took s teps to correct them. SAP AG was founded in 1972 by four software engineers. The key points within the case are, In just three years, SAP America went from a small firm to being the phenomenon of the corporate computing world. SAP AG, which is the parent company of SAP America, was the world’s fifth largest software firm and the leading producer of real-time, integrated applications software for client-server computing. SAP’s pinnacle product R/3 helped them dominate the enterprise information systems segment of the client-server market. All of this was under the Company and Industry background section. The case then shifted to Strategic Focus, and discussed SAP’s move to their America Group. Which also contained Canada, Mexico, Latin America, and Australia. Once the focus was set they needed to chart a course of action involving commissioning a sales force to sell their product, and target customers. The key point of regional organization discussed these challe nges. The next key point discussed was Resourcing Explosive growth. Once the product hit the market, it was a wild fire. With such high quality of implementation, fulfillment and results, companies were chomping at the bit to integrate the software. A vertical industry strategy was devised to penetrate markets and build the installed base, rethink and vastly expand their partnership strategy, and dramatically ramp up their service and support capabilities. Managing relationships and gaining cooperation was a crucial element within this point. Professional Services was the next key point in this case study. These were those activities provided to customers for a fee; support activities on the other hand had no fee. Consultation was the core of professional services, along with training. Within consulting SAP worked to provide its customers with the best service as possible when utilizing their product. Training was absolutely essential for all consultants or professional partners of SAP. The next key point within the case study was Support and Infrastructure. During this time of growth there was very little attention given to the licensing and contracts. Through administrative and human resource initiatives both elements were given their proper attention and improved. Also during this time the issues of organizational, systems, and infrastructure were addressed, and through several initiatives were corrected. The next key point within the case study was the Sales and Implementation Process. This point involved the discussion of Presales and Sales, and how in the beginning there was little cohesiveness throughout the company, yet that changed through time. This point also discussed implementation, in which mostly outside partners like Andersen and Price Waterhouse usually took the lead role in R/3 project management and implementation. The next key point was organizational challenges in a shifting market. This point showed challenges with internal and strategic shifts and opportunities. And the final key point was Reorganization, which involved the new structure. This also discussed the key point of challenges in professional services, both within professionalism, and with customer alternatives and involvement. Through this report on SAP America, I was able to learn more in depth about topics we have discussed in class. One thing we have talked about in Chapter 7 is the Benefits of Standards, which weren’t difficult to understand, but the report on SAP helped put it into perspective by applying it to a real life situation. Reducing consumer confusion is considered one of the benefits of Standards. SAP relates to these because part of their strategy to sell and build relationships was to offer demonstrations, test, and help out with setting up after selling to help the customer understand the product better. We’ve talked about making strategic alliances work during class, and SAP definitely puts in a lot of effort to make their partner relationships work. Through the report on SAP America, I definitely learned the importance of strong alliances and making it a goal to keep a good structure and relationship with any partner. I learned how important globalization for a company can be. Not only does a company have the opportunity to become more successful by branching out and starting up in new locations, but they can gain global alliance partners. The decision to spread SAP to America in the 1980’s was crucial to their growth. It helped SAP realize their business strategies need to be altered in order to improve their growth. From the case study, I learned a lot about changing strategy to fix current problem s within the company that may be happening from many different reasons. It seemed that SAP was constantly changing their strategy to better their growth and to fix problems inside and out. They had to do a lot of reorganizing and figure out where it was most important to focus on. I learned that even though a strategy may be working well, it is still okay to change your direction to help maximize growth and fix problems that may exist within a different part of the company. I found this study on SAP to be very understandable and easy to follow. It definitely helped out understanding some topics we have been going over in class and put them into a real world situation.