Sunday, September 15, 2019

Moving in High School Essay

Still, the thought of moving and starting over at a new school sent chills down my spine. And to my surprise, that’s exactly what happened. My mom had been laid off for over a year and had finally found a Job in a town about 45 minutes away from our home. It all happened so fast. I was about to become a senior in high school. I was so disappointed and angry with he thought of changing everything and leaving all that had ever known. It wasnt Just my high school that I’d be leaving. I was also enrolled in the Business Administration program at a local tech center. Going there was my favorite part of the day. I loved my accounting courses and my teacher made everything interesting and fun. It was leaving this program that felt the hardest, even harder than leaving behind friends I’d known since first grade. Luckily there was the opportunity to go to a different tech center that offered a similar program. Trying to get my head around moving, I visited the high school and the tech center where I would be continuing my classes. I must admit that I was still very frustrated, so it was difficult to see the opportunities the new schools offered. It was so different from my previous school that it felt like a whole new universe. To make matters worse, the school had a different credit system which made me question whether or not I would be able to graduate on time. In fact, it seemed pretty hopeless. The first day of school, as expected, was strange. Students were all excited to see each other after three months. while everyone else was concerned with catching up with friends, all I really wanted was someone to talk to me. Even if It was simply to ask who I was and what I was doing there. Things continued to be awkward during the first few days. Some people stared, and to others, I was invisible, but eventually I started talking to people in my classes, who turned out to be much nicer than I expected them to be. I also started making friends with the other students at the tech center – mainly because we already had so many interests. like accounting, business. and entrepreneurship, in common. As It turns out, changing schools my senior year wasn’t as bad as I had always thought it would be. Even though I’m no more popular than I was at my old school and, I went from being in a couple to being single (but that’s another story), changing schools turned out to be a great opportunity to make new friends and to collect new – and different – memories. But more than that, moving to a new school right before senior year made me realize that nothing is permanent and it’s given me the confidence to know that I can make new friends, pursue my academic interests, and develop new hobbies, regardless of my social environment. It’s funny; I hear a lot of ‘Of2 my Trlenas talk aoout now worrlea tney are aoout leaving tnelr Trlenas to go away to college and question about whether theyll be able to do it. Me? I’m not worried, because IVe already done it. And it turned out Just fine.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Hubspot Case Essay

The problem in this case is that Hubspot needed to make a transition from its initial start-up structure (organizational structure, target customers and pricing strategy) in order grow, and the dilemma was how to best approach this change. Hubspot faced three main issues for this: a) identify target customers, b) modify their pricing model and c) how to develop the growth strategy. Hubspot was good at building a community, e.g. over 300000 unique visitor in 2008, and thousands of freeware subscriptions in 2009. Nonetheless they had a diverse universe of customers, from small business owners (Ollies) to marketing professionals (Marys), different type of business ranging B2B or B2C, and size (over or under 25 employees). Table C shows there was a potential market evenly distributed among B2B and B2C. For Hubsport, the decision to identify a target customer was difficult. This is seen when contrasting exhibits 6 where 73% of customers were Ollies and exhibit 5 which indicated that Marys accounted for 68% of new customers from Sep-Dec 2008. Although the B2B customers were important for Ollies and Marys, there was an interesting growth of Marys in B2C. Thus a segmentation of customer was required to better assess their different needs. At the end of 2008, Hubspots’s products responded to the main two customers (Ollies and Marys), still its pricing model was similar for both, where Marys paid a slightly higher monthly amount as its software package included more features (exhibit 7). This was something Hubspot needed to analyze as Ollie and Marys had various pros and cons as customers. Ollies represented a lower cost to acquire ($1000) and where quick to sign in, but cancel subscription early, while Marys cost more to acquire ($5000) and took longer to sign in, by stayed for longer using the product. Assuming no churn rate an Ollie had to maintain subscription for 2 months and Marys had to maintain subscription for 9 months, to pay off their acquiring cost. The previous  scenario meant that HubSpot’s 2008 projections including the 100 paying customers from 2007 made the current pricing model not viable to support the high cost of Marys (see appendix 1). Another issued faced was the Hubsport was still a small company, seen in that it only had few engineers to build the software therefore it was hard to catch up with the sales team. Thus the product vs customer vs pricing situation presented an optimization and planning issue to keep the company growing. The previous two points require a growth strategy. At the same time it made the owners question their vision, i.e. to inbound or outbound. The strategy for growth had to clarify which customer to target, how to roll-out the respective products, whether to keep it a SaaS, and the transition into a new pricing structure to maintain current customer and capture more value from new ones. The objective of our proposed solutions is to keep Hubspot as the software-to-have for inbound marketing and grow financially from a start-up to an established business. For this we set out the following actions: Hubspot’s culture and vision should be maintained. Web 2.0 is continuing evolving as more businesses are using the various channels and HubSpot can differentiate itself as the inbound marketing which weighs more than outbound marketing (inbound represents 37% marketing budget while outbound 30%). HubSpot has the expertise to create traffic and analyze and qualify leads filling the respective demand of Ollies and Marys. At the same time we differentiate from our two main competitors by proving a lower price (Eloqua is more expensive) and focusing on inbound marketing (Marketo is a mix of inbound and outbound). Our conclusions are founded by overlaying HubSpot’s competitive field (exhibit 3) with customers’ needs a) traffic creation and b) leads analysis and qualifications, in line with HubSpot’s main strengths, as seen in appendix 2. Thus the company should not consider outbound as an alternative. As showed in appendix 4, our two segmented customers have showed different needs in terms of product features and consumption behavior. Based on the current churn out rate, we can estimate consumer lifetime value of Ollies is $4,750 and Marys $10,500 (see calculation in appendix 3). Therefore, according to our segmentation strategy, we propose following product bundles by differentiating product price and product features: 1) Product pricing: As Ollies have a shorter customer life and less marketing budget, we suggest keeping current up-front fee and a lower monthly fee. As suggestion, up-front $500 and monthly fee in the range of $150 to $250. As Marys have a longer customer life and lower price sensitivity we suggest increasing both up-front and monthly fee. As suggestion up-front $600 and monthly fee in the range of $600 to $750. Meanwhile, Marys are interested in deeper analytics, we suggest additional fee for each service of deeper analytics. As CMS system helps lower churn rate, we suggest initial fee of $300 covering 6 hours consulting to encourage both of them to use such service. 2) Product features: As Ollies prefer quick and simple solutions, we suggest tailor-made product focusing on generating leads. As Marys have a high demand of analytics, we suggest tailor-made product with more sophisticated tools to meet the needs of deeper analytics. As frequent log-in helps lower churn rate, we suggest to provide service update on a regular basis to encourage a continuous use of our service. After clearly identifying the segmentation of consumer and differentiation of products, we need ensure market-centered organizations that are capable of translating strategy into actions: 1) Engineering: To invest on product development and innovation to continuously provide with relevant service to enhance our competitive advantage of generating leads as well as analytics . 2) Sales force: To divide sales force to separately serve Maryer & Ollies by providing Maryer with long-term, more sophisticated support, providing Ollies with quick & simple service. 3) Marketing: To continue make a buzz for inbound marketing to create inbound marketing community rather than a simple business Finally the strategy has to be sensitive to our current customers, Appendix 5 indicates a tentative layout of the plan. Starting with the internal reorganization, then gradually change the product offering for consumers.

Friday, September 13, 2019

One child policy in China Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

One child policy in China - Research Paper Example Regardless, it must noted that the policy has some exceptions. For example, the policy does not apply to ethnic minorities. In some cases, a family is given a chance to have a second child if the first-born is a girl (Li, Yi, and Zhang) (Feng, Poston Jr. and Wang). The One Child Policy has affected Chinese families in many ways. The research paper evaluates the policy to determine the positive and negative effects of the One-Child Policy on families and the entire Chinese society. The implementation of the one-child policy began nationally in 1979. Approximately 6.1 million couples were given honorary certificates for giving birth to one child only. The couples swore never to give birth in the certificates. The number of one-child families continued to grow in the early 1980s. The rate of growth was approximately 4.4 million families every year (Feng, Poston Jr. and Wang 15). The one-child family norm has become a part of urban families. The growth of these families facilitated significant changes in the Chinese society, family relationships and family structure. Recent there have been changes in the one child policy law. A number of exceptions have been introduced. For example, a farmer who has a daughter only is allowed to give birth to have more than one child. Poor farmers who rely only on farming are allowed to have more than one child if the firstborn is a daughter or disabled. The family lifestyle of all China has been affected by the policy in varied. The policy has also been the source of many problems that currently face the Chinese society. The presence of one child in a family has made it possible for parents to concentrate on providing the best for the child. Most of the children are taken to private schools and given the best education because the parents can afford it. These factors have positively influenced the life that a child lives as he grows. This was not the case before the implementation of

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Analysis of LinkedIn Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Analysis of LinkedIn - Research Paper Example Current ratio- The firm’s current ratio is increasing and getting stronger as the year progresses. A ratio of above one indicates the firm can settle its short-term obligation within a financial year and still conduct its operation effectively. This is proven by the networking capital across the year which increases across the year. In the year 2012, the ratio was 2.45 it rose to 4.7 in the year 2014. Return on Assets- The value of assets owned by LinkedIn Corporation is increasing across the financial years that have been analyzed above. However, the return on this asset is decreasing. This simply means that the assets the firm have invested on are not been utilized to the maximum or the resources are in surplus. In the year 2014, the return was in the negative figure because the firm had incurred losses. The revenue generated across the three years was increasing as well as the costs for revenue generation. However, the rate at which the cost of revenue was increasing was hi gher than that of revenue being generated. This has to be taken into account because if this continues LinkedIn profits will be â€Å"eaten-up†. Equity ratio- This ratio indicates a firm dependence on debt to run its operations. From the above analysis, the equity ratio for LinkedIn is good because over 60% of the firm’s asset was financed by its shareholders. However, in the year 2014, the equity ratio dropped to 61.3% from 78.4 % in 2013. According to (Samuels, and Wilkes, 72), it indicates the firm had increased its borrowing.

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

INTRODUCTION TO EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL RESEARCH Essay - 2

INTRODUCTION TO EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL RESEARCH - Essay Example It involves two paradigms, rationalistic and naturalistic, in which the reflections of student teachers are compared through the Utrecht study and Trondheim study. Interactions between communicating persons – student teacher, teacher educator, and researcher -are the one creating â€Å"voices†. The researchers are part of the story they are telling. The researchers’ interpretation is the true voice of the refection in the study. The shift from a rationalistic perspective towards a more naturalistic one is mirrored in the Trondheim study. The direction of Admiraal and Wubbels’ (2012) study to take on a storytelling method from the traditional research methods is congruent to its purpose and nature, being focused on comparing two research approaches of reflective practice of two different modes of tele-guidance. This comparison is seen herein as an essential stance in order for the study to provide a clear view of the methodologies and approaches used. The position of the study is highlighted in the fact that it resulted in two different reports on student teachers’ reflective stances despite the fact that they share some perspectives on educational practices and reflections. Admiraal and Wubbels have emphasised that the different analyses and results are where the differences in beliefs in the Utrecht and Trondheim studies lie, apparently to see any alternatives to viewing the same phenomenon through two different lenses. One may infer that this direction of the studies seeks to adopt replicability and does so by employing mixed methods and qualitative method respectively, called ‘convergence’ by Gorard and Taylor (2004, p. 45). However, the production of two substantially different results in the Utrecht and Trondheim studies may surmise not having to produce such replication, as pointed out by Gorard and Taylor. It is clear that the Utrecht and Trondheim studies are in fact focused on adopting two different paradigms to seeing the two student

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Economics - Essay Example The short-run or long-run of one industry is often different from another. (Moffatt, 2011) A given firm’s costs may be reliant upon the time or period under consideration. Most of the decisions are fixed when a short-run time frame is taken into account and thus the long-run and short-run cost curves are different. Short-run costs and costs in the long-run are, however, related. For instance, a long-run average cost curve is more flat in comparison to a ‘U’ shaped short-run average cost curve. Short-run cost curves usually lie upon the long-run cost curves. Figure1. A graphical illustration of a short-run cost and a long-run cost curves Average costs LATC SATC1 SATC2 SATC3 Quantity Note: SATC stands for Short-run Average Total Costs while LATC stands for Long-run Average Total Costs. Short-run Average Total Costs of a firm differ from the Long-run Average Total Costs since the fixed costs in the short-run can be varied over the long-run. (Mankiw, 2008 p256) In the case of an operator of a port, cost efficiency occurs efficiency occurs where the throughput is made available at the lowest cost possible with resource-prices paid by the operator put into consideration. The economic cost of a port is represented by the relationship depicted by minimum costs of handling any given throughput levels. Over the short-run time period, there must be at least one of the port resources that should be fixed with regards to amount. For example, the buildings or the wharf of a port are some of the resources that cannot be varied in the short-run period. Unit costs in relation to a port’s costs are usually compared by dividing them with their throughput amounts. Figure 2: A graphical presentation of Short-run Total Costs, Short-run Variable Costs and Short-run Fixed Costs. That is; STC, SVC and SFC. Cost STC SVC SFC Port throughput Figure 3: Average costs in the short-run Cost per unit SATC SAVC SAFC Port throughput Note that SATC stands for Short-run Average Total Costs, SAVC for Short-run Average Variable Costs and SAFC for Short-run Fixed Costs. Short-run average total cost is gotten by dividing short-run total cost with throughput. On the other hand short-run average fixed cost is the short-run fixed costs divided by the throughput and short-run average variable cost is short-run variable cost divided by throughput. Average fixed cost reduces in a continuous manner as the level of throughput rises; that is, since a fixed cost continues to be divided by bigger and bigger amounts of throughput of the port. As the amount of throughput rises, average variable cost as well as short-run average cost reduce initially, get to a minimum and afterwards rise. In the port’s long-run, the costs in whole are variable. Therefore, long-run total costs that are incurred by the operator of the port of the port for the given throughput amounts are a total of variable costs. Long-run average total costs are equal to long-run total costs d ivided by total port’s throughput. A long-run average total cost curve has a negative slope for a given range of throughput and then it starts to increase. Figure 4: Long-run Total Cost curve and a Long-run Average Total Cost Curve. cost port throughput cost per unit LATC Port throughput (Talley, 2009 pp98-100) A convenience store is usually a type of retail business. Costs of a convenience store that maybe short-run may include costs of

The Condition of U.S. Bridges Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Condition of U.S. Bridges - Research Paper Example As a result of years of declining budgets with respect to bridge repair, it is estimated that only one in the ninth bridges are currently considered as â€Å"structurally deficient†. The underlying reason for the lack of funding that bridge repair has been able to affect over the past several years can be linked to various factors. One of the first factors that should be considered is with respect to declining overall revenue that gas taxes have been able to drive. As the cost of a gallon of gasoline has risen precipitously over the past 20 years the response by both federal and state government was to decrease the overall tax burden that was leveraged against this particular commodity. Naturally, the underlying goal for such an approach was to make the resource more affordable to the population; thereby increasing mobility and decreasing the overall rates of joblessness that the economy would otherwise experience. However, a downside to this approach was the fact that federal and state revenue that was earned on each and every gallon of fuel sold was not able to meet the same levels as it had during the 1980s and 1990s. As the reader can reasonably expect, the inability of revenue to keep up with the increased requirements of infrastructure repair created a situation in which a veritable avalanche of projects competed for repair by increasingly reduced levels of funding. Research into the current state of the nation’s bridges estimates that by 2025, fully  ¼ bridges will be over 65 years old.