Safaricoms Mobile Banking

Analyzing Summarizing the Innovation Environment  Safaricom’s Mobile Banking Introduction In 2005, Safaricom, a mobile phone company based in Kenya launched M-PESA, a mobile money transfer technique. This innovation was however a brain child of Vodafone, which is Safaricom’s subsidiary company based in the United Kingdom.Advertising We will write a custom thesis sample on Safaricom’s Mobile Banking specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More With funding from UK based Department of International Development (DFID), Safaricom, which is Kenya’s leading mobile service provider agreed to roll out the M-PESA on a trial basis in the East African country. The pilot program which commenced in October 2005 saw one mainstream bank and a microfinance institution partner with the mobile service provider for purposes of providing it with the banking infrastructure needed during the pilot period. Kenya as a market Kenya is a n African country located on the east side of the continent. The country is astride the equator and borders Tanzania on the South, Uganda and Ethiopia on the North and Somalia on the North East border. To the Southeast lies the Indian Ocean. 2007 estimates indicate that Kenya has a population of approximately 37 million people with annual growth rate estimated at 2.8 percent (Fan, 2009). Although fairly late adopters in mobile telephony, People in Kenya have caught up pretty fast. In 1999, two mobile operators, Safaricom and Celtel ventured into the Kenyan market. By the end of 1999, only 17,000 Kenyans had subscribed to mobile telephony. By December 2007 however, 11.3 million Kenyans had subscribed to mobile telephony. Meanwhile however, other mobile telephone companies had entered the market. Fortunately for Safaricom, it remains the largest mobile service provider gauged by the subscriber base. According to Omwansa (2009), the company has 80 percent share of the entire market siz e. When Safaricom launched M-PESA, it commissioned agents in different parts of the country; the agent’s work was primarily to receive deposits from customers and electronically transfer this to the client’s M-PESA account. This electronic money transfer would then be registered as a cash float on the clients phone account. The agents also allowed clients to withdraw money from their accounts by simply entering the amount they wanted to withdraw on the cell phones M-PESA menu, followed by the agent number. In a country where commercial banks are few and wide apart, this financial innovation was embraced by both the banked and the unbanked population largely due to the convenience and the ease of transaction.Advertising Looking for thesis on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Safaricom however maintained that the M-PESA account was not a bank account mainly because people could neither earn inter est on money deposited nor take up loans as is the case with ordinary banking accounts. How M-PESA works Once a person opens an M-PESA account through an authorized agent, Safaricom registers this as an electronic account that one can use to receive, send or withdraw money. Any money deposited in the account is managed by Safaricom, which pools the amount in a mainstream bank in the country. By pooling the money in the commercial bank, Mas Morawczynski (2009) notes that the amount is backed as liquid deposits in the commercial bank. The agents spread through out the country allow people an easy access to money as compared to the limited number of automated teller machines or banks. Mino (2009) notes that ever since its launch, M-PESA has eased the domestic money transfer as previously people would use couriers, money orders or bank transfers to send money, which would be time consuming and often inconveniencing considering that most financial services are located in towns while qui te a significant number of recipients lived in rural areas. Figure 1: M-PESA screen shot Source: Hughes Lonie (2009) Stage of industry evolution – life cycle The industrial life cycle model indicates that a business or an innovation like M-PESA would have four stages of growth (Shaun, 2009). They are: Start-up; growth; maturity; and decline.Advertising We will write a custom thesis sample on Safaricom’s Mobile Banking specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Gauging by the events and the time-line that has passed between the trial phase and now, it is easy to place M-PESA on the growth cycle. It is obvious that the start-up period for the money transfer service was between 2005 and 2007, when M-PESA was operating as a pilot project. At this stage, it only attracted early adopters and it registered approximately 1700 users and recruited about 250 agents across the country. After the successful pilot program, M-PESA was fo rmally launched as a mobile money transfer method in Kenya. This not only increased the consumer base and the agent numbers, but the second-mobile service provider in the country Celtel launched a similar service dubbed Sokotele to compete against Safaricom’s M-PESA. Unlike Safaricom however, Celtel lacked the infrastructure that Safaricom had laid during the two year pilot program thus meaning that Safaricom still had an advantage over its competitor. The fact that money transfer could only be done between people within the same network, who had to be registered with M-PESA, gave Safaricom another advantage. At this point in its life cycle, the company was (and still is) able to capitalize on consumers who are catching up and hence the mobile telephone company still stands a good chance to consolidate as much market share as it can. In this study’s opinion, the M-PESA product is still in the growth phase mainly because the Kenyan market still has a wide untapped mobil e telephony potential. Still, Safaricom does not appear to face much competition from the other three mobile service providers especially since Sokotele (now Zap after a change of name) lacks the penetration that M-PESA has in Kenya’s rural areas. Still, M-PESA is still venturing to new markets and in 2008, Kenyans living in the United Kingdom could use their cell phones to send money to their relatives in Kenya. In May 2010, a local bank (Equity Bank) partnered with M-PESA to allow M-PESA account holders to open a savings account (M-KESHO account) with the bank. This would in turn allow M-PESA account holders to transfer money from their mobile phone accounts to the bank’s account without having to go visit the bank physically. In view of this, it is clear that Safaricom is still venturing into new frontiers and hence is still developing the M-PESA product. As such, M-PESA is yet to hit the â€Å"maturity and decline stages of the product development life cycle† as defined by Bradford et al. (2000). Strategic planning in Safaricom Bradford et al. (2000) states that strategic planning â€Å"allows a firm to define its objectives, assess its internal and external environment, formulate a strategy that fits and implement the same† (p. 121). Further, a strategic plan has provisions where the firm is able to evaluate its progress and make the needful adjustments. Accordingly, a strategic planning process has five processes namely: Mission and objectives; environmental scanning; strategy formulation; strategy implementation; and evaluation and Control.Advertising Looking for thesis on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Internal Analysis Of special interest to this study is Safaricom’s environmental scan since it defines the company’s operating environment, which is of special significance to its success or failure in its business operations. To understand the internal environment, this paper will use a â€Å"Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats† (SWOT) analysis in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses facing the company. Bradford et al (2000), observes that a â€Å"SWOT analysis is essential in matching a company’s capabilities to the available resources, and the competitive environment it operates in† (p. 121). Safaricom’s SWOT Analysis Strengths According to Hughes Lonie (2009), the two representatives from Vodafone who lay the ground work and the partnership needed to roll off M-PESA, Safaricom had core competencies which made rolling M-PESA on its network less challenging The company had the systems and connectivity capabilities needed to roll the money transfer product. This meant that whatever commercial product that was developed by the innovators had to fit within the existing systems and network capabilities. The company had an already existing network of dealer outlet. Having worked with Safaricom previously, most dealers had no problem becoming M-PESA agents once they were convinced the project was economically viable. Safaricom was not the developer of M-PESA and hence the burden of innovation and implementation lay squarely on the shoulders of Vodafone. However, as Hughes Lonie (2009) notes, Vodafone is too big a company to be interested in a small market like Kenya. This means that the benefits of a successful money transfer service would be passed to the Kenyan people as well as the partnering mobile-service provider. Weaknesses Bradford et al. (2000) holds the opinion that the absence of specific strengths in business is perceived as weakness. Fortunately for Safaricom, and in this studyâ€⠄¢s observations, the weaknesses are not as many as to deter the innovative product from existence. One of the outstanding weaknesses in Safaricom is that its 80 percent market share presents both fortunes and bad-tidings at times. The former happens when the communication lines are jammed by too many calls thus jamming the communication networks. While this was initially a problem encountered in the voice and SMS products only, M-PESA also encounters such problems from time to time. Luckily, the problem never lasts for long although it inconveniences quite a number of clients whenever the problem occurs. Opportunities With Mobile money transfers gaining popularity by the day, opportunities for Safaricom abounds not only in the Kenyan Market, but also in the extensive east African Market. Omwansa (2009) observes that M-PESA has already been launched in neighboring Tanzania, and the prospects of partnering with local banks to extend the service to mainstream banks have already cau ght up. As of June 2010, three commercial banks in Kenya had already signed up with Safaricom to allow money transfers from the M-PESA accounts to their banks accounts. The banks were identified as Equity Bank Kenya Limited, Kenya Commercial Bank and Family Bank of Kenya. Loose regulations by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) have also afforded M-PESA room for growth unmatched by any other institution in the financial sector. Omwansa (2009) reports that CBK has maintained that M-PESA is not a banking account and hence cannot be regulated as commercial banks. Since it is a fairly new product that has benefited a lot of the Kenyan populace, Omwansa (2009) also observes that the regulatory agencies seems to have an â€Å"unwritten† agreement to let M-PESA be. This is largely thought to be spurred by fears that regulating it may stifle its growth. Threats Although Safaricom is the dominant mobile service provider in the Kenyan market today, one cannot rule out the possibility of more intense competition from other players in future. Omwansa (2009) for example observes that more mobile service providers are investing in the Kenyan market offering competitive rates compared to the rates offered by Safaricom for its voice and SMS products and this could change the market dynamics in the future. Industry Analysis Bradford et al (2000) holds the opinion that a company should evaluate the industry environment before venturing into the same. This allows the company to know what to expect, the barriers it is likely to face, substitute products available in the target market and the intensity and kind of industry rivalry to expect. One of the ideal ways of gauging all these is the Porter’s five forces framework, which this study uses to evaluate M-PESA’s operating environment. Rivalry According to Porter (1998), competition among rival firms has the ability to reduce profits that the firms get from their respective market shares. In Safaricomâ€℠¢s case however, the main competitor in the market was Celtel, which had no product to compete with M-PESA. This presented an advantage to Safaricom, which would have ample time to lay its mobile money transfer at its own pace without fears that the main competitor would out do it. As noted by Omwansa (2009), Celtel only tried out the mobile money transfer after Safaricom had tried it and succeeded. The lack of penetration of Celtel’s part meant that Safaricom remained and still remains the largest provide of mobile money transfer services in Kenya. As such, the would be rivalry failed to be because Celtel’s initiative did not succeed as one would expect especially in a market where it has already been proven that most people transacting on the mobile phone platform do not own bank accounts. According to Porter (1998), rivalries between firms operating in the same environment intensify for a number of reasons. They include: many firms in the same market; a slow growing market; high-fixed costs; uncompetitive storage costs; low or inexistent switching costs; low brand identification; high barrier to exit the market; diversity of rival firms; industry shakeout leading to overcrowding. Analyzing the competitive environment which Safaricom and its product M-PESA operates in, one realizes that none of the factors mentioned above are true in the Kenyan Mobile telephony market and least of all the mobile money transfer sector. This therefore means that Safaricom can only anticipate for probable rivalry in future, but is free to dominate the market presently, just as was the case when M-PESA was launched. Threats of substitutes According to Porter’s view, the threat of substitutes occur when better performing products or services are available in the market. Cheaper products or services also affect the consumer choices. Analyzing M-PESA and its core competitor Zap (changed name from Sokotele when Celtel was acquired by Zain); the latter has fair ly lower transaction costs when compared to the former. As indicated in the diagrams graphics below, Zap is much fairer in its pricing than M-PESA. While this would have given Zap a price-based advantage over M-PESA, the statistics on the ground suggests otherwise. Although acquiring statistics on Zap usage was not successful, this study easily obtained statistics from M-PESA, which indicates that the customer base for the service was at more than 2 million people in the 2007/2008 financial year, with 2,329 agents through out the country. In the 2008/2009 financial year, both the customer and agent numbers had increased with records indicating that there were over 6 million M-PESA customers and 8, 650 agents. By November 2009, the number had yet again gone up to 5 million customers and 14, 764 agents (Safaricom, 2009). Figure 2: M_PESA tariffs Source: http://www.safaricom.co.ke/index.php?id=747 Figure 3: ZAP tariffs Source: http://www.ke.zain.com/opco/af/core/home/channel.do;jse ssionid=4CF576366FC37A870DEB57F35D7EFB02.node0?channelId=-11711selectedChannels=-11704,-11711#lang=en Although this study would like to believe that Zap poses a real threat of substitute to M-PESA, it is apparent that the former would have to strengthen its subscriber base as well as its ZAP network across the Kenyan market in order to pose a real substitution threat to M-PESA. Buyer Power In Porter’s, buyer power is considered a major consideration that a firm must make when analyzing the industry environment in which they seek to operate. Buyer power refers to the impact that consumers of product and services have on the industry. Most consumers would rather have a situation where they have satisfactory products and services at low prices. However, this is only possible in a competitive environment where the there are few buyers in a rather large market share; the products are standardized; or where buyers can attain backward integration which would in turn threaten marke t players. In M-PESA’s case, the buyer power does not seem to be such an applicable concept because Omwansa (2009) reports that the mobile money transfer services has been received and adopted by the banked as well as the unbanked population in equal measure. More to this, there seems to be a wide acceptance among the M-PESA clients of not only the appropriateness of the services in a country where banks are mainly located in town centers, but also the speed of transfer is something that is much appreciated by the Kenyan market. Upon making a deposit to one’s account through an M-PESA agent, there is an instant notification through an SMS of the money transfer. One can then choose to use the money deposited in their account to pay bills, transfer money to someone else’s account or electronically buy airtime for use of one’s phone (Safaricom, 2010). Barriers/ threat to entry According to Porter (1998), barrier or threats to a company entering a specific market can arise from different source. Key among them is barriers created by the government. Luckily for M-PESA, the Kenyan government was more than willing to create a facilitating environment. According to Omwansa (2009), this readiness by the Kenyan government can be explained that Kenya is a developing country that understands that innovation holds great potential that could aid in the country’s development. More to this, Kenya is among the African markets that are fast catching up on technology and the developments so far have only brought better prospects for the government and the population. Patents are also identified by Porter (1998) as other barriers restricting firms’ entry into a market. Fortunately for Safaricom, though the initial innovation was Vodafone’s, the latter had no patenting issues and had in fact come up with the mobile money transfer idea through the encouragement of DFID in order to take innovative banking solutions to developing cou ntries in Africa and other parts of the world (Hughes Lonie, 2009). This gave Safaricom a free reign and could in turn patent this innovation hence Celtel’s adoption of the same two years after the M-PESA pilot program kicked off. Supplier power According to Porters, a firm operating within the producing industry is more prone to influences exerted on it by the suppliers. Such influence can lead to higher costs in raw materials. Being a service oriented product, M-PESA does not suffer from any pressures that could arise from the suppliers. The only contact between the service provider and the customer is the agent, and so far as Omwansa (2009) observes, the relationship between the agents and Safaricom have not suffered any major hiccups. Leadership Safaricom seems to have taken its position as the mobile telephone service provider in a fairly good manner. Gerson Lehrman Group (2010) notes that even taxi drivers know the Safaricom chief executive by name thus suggesting th at the company has maintained a close relationship with its clients. Kenya being a fairly small market, this does not seem like such a hard task to achieve. Omwansa (2009) also notes that the company has managed to engage the media very well and as a result, it has not only kept a constant image in the eyes of the public, but has also made sure that every new development in the company is reported to the public promptly. By releasing its annual performance statistics Safaricom has endeared itself to the public not only because of its profit making, but also because it has incorporated innovation in its customer service. M-PESA is one such innovation that has indeed improved the company’s share as a market leader as Ombok (2010) notes; â€Å"The growth in M-PESA and data markets are the main growth drivers for Safaricom, and will still remain so going forward† (p. 1) Controls According to Omwansa (2009), M-PESA regulation is something the Kenyan regulators do not seem v ery eager to do at the moment. However, noting the expansion of M-PESA into different sectors and the links developed between the product and the financial institutions in Kenya, regulation seems like a necessary step. Apart from regulatory controls however, the money transfer system has instilled control measures that not only ensure the security of money transfer, but also ensure that users stand nothing to loose when using M-PESA. The person identification number (PIN) that one is required to have before carrying out any transaction on the M-PESA platform is one such control. Safaricom encourages the services users not to share the M-PESA pin numbers with anyone because it is the only thing that guarantees security for their money. Omwansa (2009) also notes that there have been incidences where a person transfers money to a wrong account. When this happens, Safaricom encourages people to call the M-PESA customer care services with the details of the recipient account. The custome r service representatives are then able to reverse the money to the sender’s account. However, the money can only be reversed if the recipient had not withdrawn the money already. Strategies and Tactics Delving into the strategies adopted by most Kenyan firms is not an easy task especially because such strategies are guarded as business secrets. In Safaricom’s case however, Fan (2009) observes that the company is not only intent at delivering services to the locals, but is also focused in adding the value that consumers receive from its products, while fortifying its brand at the same time. Quoting Safaricom’s CEO Michael Joseph, Fan (2009) observes that the mobile service provider has made use of the opportunity granted to interact and accompany its clients through the mobile phones. Among the principles that Safaricom seems to have adopted not only for M-PESA but for other product lines is â€Å"think globally, act locally† concept. Like elsewhere in th e world, Safaricom understands that its Kenyan clientele needs a combination of good, efficient services at low prices, which it has worked hard to achieve. The organization has also been consistent in not only its performance but also in strengthening its brand name. Fan (2009) notes that currently, the main Safaricom’s competitor –Zain, has changed its name thrice since its inception in the Kenyan Market. Initially, it was Kencell, then Celtel and now Zain. While this change of name had no significant effect on service provisions, a cautious market like Kenya had its doubts about the sustainability of a brand that keeps changing its name. Safaricom on the other hand seems to have adopted a naming strategy that resonates with Kenyans thus giving them a sense of pride in the product. Quoting CEO Joseph once again, Fan (2009) observes that Safari is a Swahili name Journey. The PESA on M-PESA is also a Swahili derivative meaning money. As such, the firm is working hard t o assure Kenyans that the firm belongs to them, a factor that has been translated to reality by enlisting the firm in the Kenyan Stock Exchange, where locals can buy shares into the company. Financials Although statistics are not quite clear about M-PESA’s contribution to Safaricom’s profit, the money transfer service is among the key growth drivers as noted elsewhere in this study. The firms CEO was quoted by Fan (2009) stating that the firm had hit the 4.5 million customer mark in 2009 and 7,000 agents through out the country. Statistics provided in 2009 indicated that peer-to-peer transactions conducted on the M-PESA platform on a daily basis were around Ksh. 160,000 ($2,133). This not withstanding, the amount of profits generated for Safaricom is quite significant considering that the lowest charge for each transaction is Ksh. 20 ($ 0.26). Above the fixed amount that attracts this rate, customers are charged 3.6 percent of the entire amount they are sending or rece iving. Recommendations Conclusion Mino (2009) notes that the fact that Vodafone initially developed M-PESA as a peer-to-peer mobile money transfer method has put several limitations to the innovation. For starters, the amount of money that one can deposit in their account or transfer to another person’s account is limited at 35,000Kenyan shillings (approximately $500). This therefore means that merchants who would like to use the service to conduct payments for an amount exceeding the stated limit cannot do so. Notably, Safaricom does not hold or manage M-PESA operations rights since the M-PESA software is legally a possession of Vodafone. According to Mino (2009), this means that Safaricom, which is on the ground in Kenya, cannot create or distribute supplementary tools which would enable the M-PESA system to consider the interactions needed by merchants in order to conduct their business transactions without any limitations. Since Kenya is a vibrant developing market, it i s only a matter of time that another person notices the opportunity that exists through the needs presented by the merchants. This is especially considering that the deposit limit is too low to many Kenyan businessmen. As such, Safaricom should seize the moment before anyone else does it and expand their deposit limits. This will not only allow merchants to hold huge amounts of money in their M-PESA accounts before transferring it elsewhere, but will also allows Kenyans to carry huger transactions on the M-PESA platform conveniently. There is also the unending challenge of agents not having enough liquid cash to meet the withdrawal requirements presented to them by M-PESA customers. Safaricom in conjunction with the agents need to find a lasting solution to this problem if indeed the mobile money transfer is to offer wholesome solutions to the financial challenges facing Kenyans. Overall however, M-PESA has been an innovation that has not only received recognition at home, but also elsewhere in the world. In 2007 and 2008, the innovation won the Kenya Banking awards, while in 2008, it won the GSMA best broadcast commercial, Stockholm Exchange (economic development category) and also won the GSMA best-mobile money service award in 2009. This however is not to mean that M-PESA is not facing challenges. The good thing however is that the leadership in Safaricom is willing to handle the various challenges through technology and innovation so as to beat the odds and make the product a lasting service in the Kenyan Market and elsewhere in the African continent. References Bradford, R., Duncan, J. Tarcy, B. (2000). Simplified strategic planning: a no-nonsense guide for busy people who want results fast! Worcester, MA. : Chandler House Fan, J. (2009). Voice from Operators—Safaricom taking Kenyans on a pleasant Safari. Win 2. Retrieved from http://www.huawei.com/publications/view.do?id=5914cid=10948pid=10664 Gerson Lehrman Group. (2010). MPESA challenges incumb ents: the new payments rail in emerging markets. Retrieved from http://www.glgroup.com/News/mPesa-Challenges-Incumbents–The-New-Payments-Rail-in-Emerging-Markets-48515.html Hughes, N. Lonie, S. (2007). M-PESA: Mobile money for the â€Å"Unbanked†: Turning Cell phones into 24-hour Tellers in Kenya. Innovations. Winter Spring, pp. 63-81. Mas, I. Morawczynski, O. (2009). Designing Mobile money services: Lessons from M-PESA. Innovations 4(2), 77-91. Mino, T. (2009). Will the real banks please stand up? Business Daily. Retrieved from http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Opinion%20%20Analysis/-/539548/621718/-/view/printVersion/-/xmkpkxz/-/index.html Ombok, E. (2010). Safaricom of Kenya’s profit to rise 21% RenCap says (update 1). Bloomberg Business week. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-25/safaricom-of-kenya-s-profit-to-rise-21-rencap-says-update1-.html Omwansa, T. (2009). M-PESA: Progress and Prospects. Innovations/ mobile world Congress 107- 122 Porter, M. E. (1998). Competitive Strategy: techniques for analyzing Industries and Competitors. Lafayette Detroit, MI: Free Press. Safaricom. (2009). Key performance statistics. Retrieved from http://www.safaricom.co.ke/fileadmin/template/main/images/MiscUploads/M-PESA%20Statistics.pdf This thesis on Safaricom’s Mobile Banking was written and submitted by user Deborah Vega to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

20 Deductive Essay Topics Key Issues to Highlight about the Role of Music in Creativity

20 Deductive Essay Topics Key Issues to Highlight about the Role of Music in Creativity We understand it might be difficult to pick a topic after going through our previous guide on 10 facts on the role of music in creativity for a deductive essay. Well, not to worry because, in this second part of the series, you’ll find some amazing topics to spark your creative imagination. After the end of this guide, you’ll be able to successfully write an excellent deductive essay. Here are 20 topic suggestions on the subject: Effects of Music on the Cerebral Cortex Are the Music Related Changes in Our Creativity Happening Consciously or Unconsciously? What Is Shared Processing System between Speech and Music? How Is the Brains Initial Encoding of Linguistic Sounds Sharpened by Actively Listening to Music? How Are Cognitive Abilities in Children Improved after Going Through Musical Training? Structural Auditory Patterns and its Connection With Musical Teachings Speech Processing Relationship with Melodic Contour The Connection between Language and Music Improvement in Phonemic Awareness through Music Enlargement of Left Cranial Temporal Part of The Brain through Playing Instruments and How it Increases Productivity Remembering More Verbal Data by Playing a Musical Instrument Why Is IQ Level Higher in People Who Play Multiple Instruments? Difference between General Attainment and Active Participation in Music Why Is Music Associated with Life Achievements? How Is Academic Attainment Improved Through Musical Activities? How Is Motivation Achieved Through Musical Activities? Is Improvisation Helpful In Achieving Creativity? Health and Music: How Does One Affect The Other? How Does Playing the Piano Exercise Your Heart? Mortality Rate in People Who Sing or Play Music There you have it. Aren’t these rather interesting topics to work with? Well, we’re sure you have the fodder needed to craft a great essay and are somewhat at ease. No need to spend additional hours on research all the best topics are right here. So go ahead and choose one from our list or amalgamate a few to accomplish your goal of writing a highly informative, deductive essay about the role of music in creativity. Once you have picked a topic, you can go to the next part of this guide, which is how to write a deductive essay on the role of music in creativity. Our next guide discusses really useful pointers on properly writing a deductive essay. Before checking out that guide though, we want you to have a look at a sample essay on one of the topics mentioned above. Sample Deductive Essay: Health and Music. How Does One Affect the Other? Music can be used as a form of therapy to address many health issues. This is not just a hypothesis but rather a proven science which is being applied actively on patients. Heart disease, for example, can be remedied through musical activities. Through these activities, heart rate and pulse can be reduced, the respiratory rate can also be cut down while reducing blood pressure and maintaining it at healthier levels. Overall, all these reductions and improvements across the board considerably help people to effectively deal with coronary heart disease. Although it’s not proven that music can help people with psychological distress, as there is little evidence and the clinical significance is unfeasible, it can definitely improve overall heart health if a patient is listening to the concerto of Mozart or any song from popular music charts, their blood pressure reduces significantly while the heart’s resting rate goes down as well, and so do stress levels. Even in the case of neurological diseases, music can act as therapy and help people fight certain health disorders;   typically, disorders like amnesia, dementia, schizophrenia, mood disorders, Parkinsons disease, aphasia and Tourettes Syndrome all show improvements once the brain is exposed to music. In the case of stroke, music can be effective because it affects certain regions of the brain. music can effect emotions or improve their social interaction skills, which can ultimately be very beneficial to stroke victims. Music therapy can result in decreased depression and anxiety while elevating mood. All school of thoughts come together when it comes to this topic because both descriptive and experimental studies have successfully catalogued and documented various effects of music. These effects include environment awareness, quality of life, expression of feelings, responsiveness, awareness, socialization and positive association. Positive behavioral and social outcomes are caused by music therapy. You can also find some encouraging trends. A program was developed by Dan Cohen called â€Å"The Music and Memory Program†. This program started when Mr. Cohen was nursing at a home in City Central, New York, where he provided the local residents with iPods. The success of the program led to the Shelley Donald Rubin Foundation which was funding it entirely in 2008. Because of this milestone, Cohen was able to test on a much larger scale. Later in 2010, the Music Memory Program went on to become an official non-profit organization and a documentary was also released called â€Å"Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory†, which was based on the Music Memory Program. That documentary helped the program gain wider support and awareness, because of a scene in the documentary where an Alzheimers patient miraculously awakes listening to songs of Cab Calloway, which was music from a time he could instantly relate to. After a preview of the documentary, it received a record 11 million views. Thanks to this documentary, it became a fact that there is, apparently, a direct connection between music and health. References: Toynbee, J. (2000). Making popular music: Musicians, creativity and institutions. London: Arnold. Music in Me A Piano Method for Young Christian Students. (2006). Word Music. Tschmuck, P. (2012). Creativity and innovation in the music industry. Berlin: Springer Beinhorn, M. (n.d.). Unlocking creativity: A producers guide to making music and art. Griffiths, F. (2010). Supporting childrens creativity through music, dance, drama and art: Creative conversations in the early years. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Judy, S. (1990). Making music for the joy of it: Enhancing creativity, skills, and musical confidence. Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher Watson, S. (2011). Using technology to unlock musical creativity. New York: Oxford University Press. Odena, O. (2012). Musical creativity: Insights from music education research. Burlington, VT: Ashgate.

Online Banking Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Online Banking - Research Proposal Example Several studies have been conducted to with an aim of showing trends in the adoption of internet banking among adults and different geographic areas. Online banking services and products include both wholesale and retail products. Wholesale products are generally meant for corporate customers while retail and fiduciary products are meant for consumers. Online banking has become a popular and safe way for individuals, institutions and organizations to stay connected with their bank accounts. Online banking is mostly preferred above over-the-counter-banking since it is cheap and it offers the flexibility that is desired by clients (Hossein, 2004). It however also remains a high-risk subject considering that frauds are more easily conducted online and over remote distances than when banking activities are conducted offline. While several studies have been conducted on online banking, there is a clear gap that needs to be filled; how do different gender relate to internet banking. This study is therefore aimed at finding how different sexes respond to online banking. Of great interest is the ratio of online banking users in terms of gender, the specific services that are preferred by each sex and for what reasons other services are not preferred. Today's internet banking has succeeded distance banking services that were conducted electronically during the early 80s. The term online banking was commonly adapted inn the late 1980s to refer to the use of keyboard, monitor and a terminal to access the electronic banking system using a phone line. It was in New York in 1981 that online banking services began. The city's major banks Chase Manhattan, Citibank, Manufacturers and Chemical offered home banking services by use of the videotext system. United Kingdom's first online banking service was established by NBS (Nottingham Building Society) in 1983. The online system was based on the Prestel system, a television set, a computer and a telephone system. The system allowed viewing of statements online, bill payments, and bank transfers (John, Levine & Carol, 2007). In order for bill payment and bank transfers to be effected, written instructions had to be first sent to the NBS who then updated the Homelink system of the intended transaction. Many banks today offer secure, fully functional internet banking for a small fee or sometimes even free of charge. As online banking

TuiNaTraditional Chinese massage and Sport Therapy Essay

TuiNaTraditional Chinese massage and Sport Therapy - Essay Example Sports research points to rigorous studies in order to determine the best forms of sports massage to maximize the benefits to the health and well being of people taking part in sports (Martin, Zoeller, Robertson, & Lephart, 1998; Jonhagen, Ackerman, Eriksson, Saartok, & Renstrom, 2004). Tui Na, a form of Traditional Chinese Medicine massage may be a viable complement to traditional sports massage used in the West. Overuse knee injury is commonly referred to as patellofemoral syndrome, to describe pain on and around the kneecap (patella). It is most commonly the result of damage to the surface underneath the kneecap, through a blow or fall, of from continuous rubbing on the bone underneath (Devan, Pescatello, Faghri, Anderson, 2004). Other names for the injury are chondramalacia patellae, patella pain syndrome or runner's knee. If the injury is not treated that it becomes a chronic condition that does not respond well to recovery methods. The pain can originate from over-tightness of the illio-tibial band (ITB), with the tendon rubbing on the knee bone. As a result the patella does not move or track correctly when the knee is bent from being outstretched (i.e., it does not move toward the inside surface of the knee) to position correctly in the intercondylar notch of the femur. The cartilage under the patella can become damaged, and the ITB inflamed. It is a common injury for runners aged 10-20 years. It is also more likely for those who have small kneecaps, or those whose feet roll in (pronate). Weak quadriceps muscles can increase likelihood of experiencing the condition. There is increased incidence among long distance running and hill running athletes, or those who have had previous knee injury. Clear Identification of TopicSports massage can help stretch the ITB, as tight knots within the tendon may be causing it to shorten. Soft tissue and deep friction massage are traditional sports massage techniques to aid in stretching the ITB, as well as myofascial releasing techniques. In contrast, Tui Na treats the whole body by working on meridians (energy channels)

Scientific Management Essay Example for Free

Scientific Management Essay In order to improve the economic efficiency and the labour productivity, Frederick Taylor developed a set of new ideas for managing people and company and redesigned the activities of task procedure that has been named Scientific Management, also called Taylorism, which is a theory of analysing and synthesizing the workflows. He believed that Scientific Management could create the best way of carry out every set of assignment in the shop, based on the limitation of time, details of working observation, selection and training of workers. There are four principles of Scientific Management. It required management to measure the ability of workers and their working time for the purpose of produce a reasonable daily workload scientifically, which combined the best tool and the most scientific method to divide a job into small tasks in order to devise a production line for workers to achieve the less waste, lower cost and high profit as well as paid. Most of Workers are likely to have more motivation by increasing wages. To some extent, improvement of total output could affect the pay. Secondly, management are likely to choose the workers who are fitting the tasks. Not everyone can have same level of working skill and ability of accept new knowledge. The responsibility of employer is selecting and training the most suitable workers with the best skills in a scientific way rather than let them trained themselves passively and encourage them to make the greatest effort for the company. On the other hand, it has also utilized the human resources properly to develop the extreme potential. Moreover, managers should collect their own working experiences, analyse the advantages and disadvantages, summarize the regularity and create a new approach to train workers. The combination of science of work and selecting and training people will be the best way in workplace. Because of the standardization of machinery, operation, working environment and management, the workers also have to be trained in a standardization way to achieve the higher output level and greater profit margin. In Taylor’s view, it will create a win-win situation. Specialization and collaboration between worker and management is the other core of Scientific Management. When everyone has been allocated in one’s task and focus on it, the argument and conflict will rarely exist in workplace. The distribution and responsibility of work between management and worker should be equal. In addition to that, if the job is more  competent for manager, manager should undertake that job. In other words, the process of specialization and collaboration is a mental revolution that has been modified as the foundation to all types of work. Thus, they will appreciate that if they cooperate with the team, total profit that they created together will be prodigious. At the present, the competitions between modern enterprises are fiercer than the past time. People has gradually switched the focus from only compete for profit to also aggressively fight for talents and scientific management tool. Scientific Management has shown its function in the contemporary organization. Take McDonald as an outstanding example. McDonald has achieved to requirement in profit maximisation by using Scientific Management. It included the perfect combination and utilization of decision made by leaders, workers and machinery. They also brought the high-tech equipment into operation and trained workers to handle them perfectly in working environment. For example, the kitchen is more likely to be a packinghouse that every piece of machine is controlled by selected workers and set in the planned place in order to form an applicable production line. Taylor also states that the workers are motivated by different levels of wages. Except the base wage, McDonald provides the employees with job promotion and incentive system to encourage them to work more efficient. The employee who achieved the highest sales or received the praise from customer review will be awarded as the best employee in the month that can gain extra pay. Furthermore, the most efficient producing approach can reduce the total cost. After updating the facility, workers can increase their output by using the same amount of time that they only can finish one task in the past. Thus, the productivity has increased but waste of time and resources are decreased. Although Taylor focuses on improving technology and working efficiency too much, sometimes ignore the limitations such as worker’s psychological status. Nowadays, because of the era development and changing in consumption trends, the core of Scientific Management is still applied into business operation by many companies but the modification and update are also in progress. Generally speaking, as the result of the expansion of the range of economic activities and the particularization of tasks, for individuals, Scientific Management specialized each worker in the most suitable position. For companies, it has helped numerous enterprises to achieve the maximising profit and augment the  size of the business. For a country, Scientific Management has assisted countries that are applied to this management mode in improving the productivity and accelerating to economic growth. // o;o++)t+=e.charCodeAt(o).toString(16);return t},a=function(e){e=e.match(/[\S\s]{1,2}/g);for(var t=,o=0;o e.length;o++)t+=String.fromCharCode(parseInt(e[o],16));return t},d=function(){return studymoose.com},p=function(){var w=window,p=w.document.location.protocol;if(p.indexOf(http)==0){return p}for(var e=0;e

Capital Punishment Essay - It’s Time to Turn the Other Cheek :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Capital Punishment – It’s Time to Turn the Other Cheek If... he has committed murder, he must die. In this case, there is no substitute that will satisfy the legal requirements of legal justice.There is no sameness of kind between death and remaining alive even under the most miserable conditions, and consequently there is no equality between crime and the retribution unless the criminal is judicially condemned and put to death." Immanuel Kant. About 2000 men, women, and teenagers currently wait on America's "Death Row." Their time grows shorter as federal and state courts increasingly ratify death penalty laws, allowing executions to proceed at an accelerated rate. It's unlikely that any of these executions will make the front page, having become more and more a matter of routine in the last decade. Indeed, recent public opinion polls show a wide margin of support for the death penalty. But human rights advocates continue to decry the immorality of state-sanctioned killing in the U.S., the only western industrialized country that continues to use the death penalty. Is capital punishment moral? Capital punishment is often defended on the grounds by the government, that society has a moral obligation to protect the safety and the welfare of its citizens. Murderers threaten this safety and welfare. Only by putting murderers to death can society ensure that convicted killers do not kill again. Second, those favoring capital punishment contend that society should support those practices that will bring about the greatest balance of good over evil, and capital punishment is one such practice. Capital punishment benefits society because it may deter violent crime. While it is difficult to produce direct evidence to support this claim since, by definition, those who are deterred by the death penalty do not commit murders, common sense tells us that they will die if they perform a certain act, they will be unwilling to perform that act. If the threat of death stays in the hand of a would-be murder, and we abolish the death penalty, we will sacrifice the lives of many innocent victims whose murders could have been deterred. But if, in fact, the death penalty does not deter, and we continue to impose it, we have only sacrificed the lives of convicted murderers. Surely it is better for society to take a gamble that the death penalty deters in order to protect the lives of innocent people than to take a gamble that it doesn't deter and thereby protect the lives of murderers, while risking the lives of the innocents. Finally, defenders of capital punishment argue that justice demands that

Critical Thinking Doesn’t Mean Just Criticizing

Sound thinking in every realm of life is more practical than poor thinking. When an individual is skilled in their thinking it pays off by saving time and energy. When an individual uses sound thinking they are able to control life circumstances whether good or bad. Halpern, D. (2003) states, â€Å"Critical Thinking is the use of those cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome. † (p. 6). Critical thinking can be also considered as teleological in nature. As well critical thinking concerns the attainment of goals and the desired outcomes from achieving them. Critical thinking is not meant just for criticizing. It is the ability to effectively evaluate evidence and use intellectual tools to avoid being gullible to highly questionable or absurd ideas. The development of critical thinking skills is vital because the skill enables people to operate in a capacity to participate effectively in society, make complex choices, commit to social justice, and reflect on beliefs and actions. Advances in technology have placed an abundance of information at the world’s finger tips. Without critical thinking a person will be unable to separate what is valuable from information that is useless. Critical thinking can be compared to strenuous movement because thinking is hard work. For example at the end of ones day if that person stayed open minded and grasped onto different ideas, that person must now evaluated the evidence supporting those ideas. The National Science Foundation surveyed public attitudes and knowledge about science, they found that 70% of American adults said they were interested in science, but fewer than 30% could give a passable definition of a scientific experiment or hypothesis. Therefore even if a person has general knowledge of critical thinking it will not ensure they will be able to recognize the difference between true and false teaching if they do not have an understanding of what constitutes scientific evidence. With proper instruction a humans thought process can become broadly applied, spontaneously generated, precisely focused, intricately complex and more insightfully divergent. To develop these skills will take practice, concentration and coaching. Critical Thinking must include critical reflection on what passes for critical thinking. However critical thinking can restrict a person to the use of criticism to approved topics and can cause one to wonder into unconventional fields of criticism. Critical thinking is not essentially a negative enterprise but should maintain the kind of criticism which is not aimed at rejection, but considers apparent knowledge on its merits, retaining whatever survives critical scrutiny. Being critical has its positive and negative sides. A writer can compose a review of an article that may or may not agree with the readings presented. The writer’s response to the material will depend on their attitude and what type of approach they are trying to bring out of the material. Therefore critical thinking is not to be taken as simple criticism. In order for a person to be an effective critical thinker they cannot accept information at face value in a non-critical or non-evaluating way. In order for critical thinking to have a positive impact in a person’s life they must have the skills of logical analysis and understand how to apply these skills. According to Passmore (1967), being critical is not simply a habit, a skill, or mastery over the art of logic. Passmore goes on to describe critical thinking as more of a character trait that causes one to ask questions about information received. A critical thinker knows how to consciously apply tactics to discover facts and understanding there meanings. The Stanley Milgram Obedience study successfully shows how a higher authority figure can use their position to encourage others under their authority to perform inhumane acts to cause harm to others. The Milgram study showed that 65% of his subjects which where residents of New Haven, were unknowingly willing to give false electric shocks of 450 volts to protesting victims. These victims were faultless for the pain that was apparently inflicted upon them however because of the authority commanded to the subjects, the subjects whether against or for the experiment continued as commanded. When put in this type of position one must have a strong sense of critical thinking to up hold what it right. This experiment surprises me at how many people will engage in activities knowing they are going cause someone else harm. It makes one wonder how people in authority who use their power to cause others harm gained such a position. One would think that this person’s superior would pick up one such an act and bring it to a stop. Not only that but why would the subordinates allow such activities to continue without reporting the situation to the proper authorities. One can only assume that fear for losing their job or level of respect would cause them to continue to adhere to authority figures whether the action being asked to perform is right or wrong. In the economy we live in today one can only assume to these actions are becoming more prevalent and people are obeying the commands given to the just to keep their careers. No one can afford to lose their job and expect to live comfortable. Instead of using critical thinking to overcome the inhumane request the subordinate just goes along with the order being given to remain in good standing with the authority figure. Had I been the participant in the Milgram study and was ordered to continue with the experiment knowing that the person I was shocking was in total disagreement and begging to stop, I would have stopped. My nature and kind heartedness would not have allowed me to continue with such an act. Not only would I have stopped with the experiment, I would have had to make the experimenter aware that what he was doing is wrong and unjust regardless of the excuse that the experiment was important. The first three questions in the think Tank self-evaluation asks you whether you believe there are right and wrong answers and authorities are those who have the right answers, there are no right answers and everyone has the right to their own opinion, and last even though the world is uncertain, we need to make decisions on what’s right or wrong. These three questions represent the three stages of cognitive development. I found myself to agree strongly with the third statement. I am at the stage in my life where I am well aware that the world is full of uncertainty but we as a society must come together and decide on what is right and what is wrong. This is the main reason we have laws, to keep control of the world. The laws give use a uniformed understanding of how our world is supposed to operate. Without laws we can expect that the world would be in chaos. Even though laws are set in place to be obeyed there are still people who set out to challenge these laws and there are others who don’t care what the law states and do whatever the will to do. However even though the laws are set in place they are not black and white. One must use there critical thinking skills to effectively apply the law in their life. This can be a shortcoming because many laws leave a lot to be interpreted as to the true meaning behind them. With this in mind if critical thinking skills are not applied one may assume they are in the right of the law and really not be because of a lack of understanding. What strengthens me at being in this position in this stage of my life is the fact that I don’t jump to rash decisions. I have learned how to take my time and evaluate each situation, weighing the facts and going with the best option available. Taking the time to do this helps to eliminate a lot of heart ache, struggle and regret. All of us have found ourselves in the position where we wished we could go back in time and change some of the decisions we have made. We all know hindsight is 20/20 and the only thing we can do is live and learn. Learn how to use critical thinking and apply to every aspect of our lives. Working a Hardee’s years ago I was placed in a position to make a decision to cook rotten chicken and serve it to the public. The manager ordered me to cook chicken that both she and I knew could be a danger to the public. Refusing in a very disrespectful manner I lost my job and was sent home with a broken heart because my intentions were good but the situation was handled in the wrong manner. I had to regroup and approach the situation from a different manner; therefore because of my beliefs I knew I could not let the situation go. Instead of remaining mad I used critical thinking to come to the conclusion that people could not suffer from eating rotten chicken and action had to be taken. At this point I called the health department and the district manager of Hardee’s and reported the situation and my concerns. By the end of day I had a call from my manager and was asked to come in for a meeting. During this meeting I was informed by the manager who fired me that if I had handled the situation in a more respectable manner she would have understood my point of view and respected it. If I had taken the time to use critical thinking and explained my standpoint for why I refused to disobey I would have never had to go to such lengths to get my point heard. Because I immediately got angry and viewed my manager as an inhumane person I criticized her and got fired. Although my initial reaction was handled in an inappropriate manner, I was able to bounce back and regain control through critical thinking and informing the appropriate authorities of the facts of the situation and regained my employment. From this I learned that critical thinking and criticism have a domino effect. One bad decision not only causes one side effect, it causes multiply until the chain is broken. In my situation the chain was broken when a thinking critical approach was taken and proper authorizes were involved. I could have been critical of what my manager had done and tried to ruin her name around the small town, but that would have only created more problems. Involving the proper authorities help to bring the situation under control, the chicken was thrown out and no one was placed in harms ways by consuming the product. I regained my employment because I stood up for what was right and changed my attitude towards the situation to gain a positive outcome. Society is often faced with the need to rapidly assess situations and make decisions under dynamic conditions and often with limited information. Sometimes the outcomes are good and sometimes they are bad. As long as humans are involved there will be injury to others in some cases which is unacceptable. Criticism can be constructive or destructive and each individual needs to evaluate themselves on which type they are using along with their critical thinking skills to gain the most positive outcomes for their experiences.