Strategy of Apple Brand

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STRATEGY OF PARENT COMPANY When a firm decides to go international with their business they must face many competitive decisions. Two of the most important decisions a company will face are the pressures for cost reduction and pressures for local responsiveness. The pressure of cost reduction forces a firm to lower their value of the cost of creation. Firms can outsource to places where costs of their products are much cheaper or they can mass-produce a standardized product in one location. A firm must have the feeling of local representation.Every country has its own way of life. If a company does not adhere to each country’s differences in traditional business practices, distribution channels, and the demands from the host government, there will be no reason going international. Customers in different countries all hold to their own ways of doings things. It is important for a multinational firm to become aware of all traditions and rules in the countr ies of entry. There are four different strategies an international corporation can choose from. They are global standardization, localization, transnational and international.Each strategy leads to the deciding factor that firms will use to determine the amount of pressures for cost reduction and local responsiveness. Global standardization is used to increase profitability by obtaining cost reductions through economies of scale. A firm whom wants to pursue a low-cost strategy on a global scale will normally offer a product that can be mass-produced at a low cost. A localization strategy offers a product that is custom to the host country. The product satisfies the countries preferences and taste. The third strategy is transnational.It is used when the firm is faced with strong pressures for both reduction and localization. This strategy is hardly used when competitors are in the market because it is hard for a firm to please the local tastes and preferences of its customers at a lo w cost. The last strategy is international. This strategy is used when firms are confronted with low pressures for both cost reductions and local responsiveness. This strategy is scarcely used when competition enters the market. With each strategy, business can find which one works best for their organization. Also Case Study will describe why Apple Inc. is a very successful company.Companies will decide to go international depending on the country it chooses to enter and the amount of profit it can earn. In corporate strategy there are two types of diversification, linked and constrained. â€Å"Companies using linked diversification, enter new businesses when it relates in some way to another business they are already in but it does not necessarily have any connection to their other businesses. If they are using constrained diversification, they only enter a new business if it is based on their core resources or competencies.Companies based on linked diversification have little coherence to their overall corporate strategy, while companies using constrained diversification tend to be more focused. Constrained diversification allows companies to maximize the effect of their resources because they are shared (100). † Apple is a personal computer, hardware and software company, inhere ntly leading to use constrained diversification because they utilize their competition and they share resources between businesses. For example iPods, iPads, iPhones, MacBooks and Apple TVs all run on the same operating system.This intends customers to link their music with laptops, TVs, cell phones and other Apple products. This allows for a more appealing product to the customer. Apple is saving money by sharing resources throughout their multinational business. The product of Apple has such a distinct business that competitors have not been able to match their techniques. Each electronic device is unique, allowing for them to be used anywhere in the world and each is different from any of its competitors. Apple’s goal for a mobile business is to be fundamentally innovated and differentiable.It does not concentrate on the size of its industry because it maintains strong profit margins that have high percentages in the industry’s profit share. Apple does not focus on the quantity of its products but the quality and relevance. â€Å". Peter Drucker wrote that â€Å"What makes the future happen is always a business’s embodiment of an idea of a different economy, a different technology, a different society. It need not be a big idea; but it must be one that differs from the norm of today†. This means defining what the devices are (e. . , a pocket-sized device, or a tablet-sized device), and what they do. Apple must do this through constant innovation. † Apple has secured itself as the industry innovator and a position of strength by constantly defining what their products are and what their products do. Since Apple is continuously redefining the industry, they do not need an overwhelming market share. Apple can dominate the market through their intelligence of inventing new electronics and the respect they have for their customers.Apple’s basic business model is to sell hardware; every other product, iTunes, Apps, operat ing systems, is to make their hardware more valuable. The main goal of this strategy is to maximize the value of the firm. Customers are willing to pay high prices to obtain products of high value and high quality. Within an international business setting, firms are competing to receive the highest profit against one another. Apple is competing at a differentiation strategy. They increase the attractiveness of their products, making the products stand out so customers will purchase their products over another.Apple’s strategic positioning choice is to have high valued electronics that all customers want. Apple products are unique compared to the rest of the world. This allows Apple to charge a higher price. Many people are willing to buy Apple products because they are well produced, have a high quality and are known as a luxury item to the customers of Apple. Apple’s main goal is to maximize all values for the firm. This includes increasing shareholder value in a lega l, ethical and a socially responsible manner. Managers can increase the profitability of a firm by pursuing strategies that lower costs or by pursuing strategies that add value to the firm’s products. Managers can also increase the rate at which the firm’s profits grow over time by pursuing strategies to sell more products in existing markets or by pursuing strategies to enter new markets†. Apple is always looking at new ways to increase its value and shareholder profit. Our main strategy to increase profit is to add value, raise prices and to enter new markets.

Data Case

Group Project Berk DeMarzo Data Case chapter 10 1. Collect price information for each stock from Yahoo! Finance Professor has provided it for us. The specific data of question 2-4 is in the appendix. We only include the functions and simple answers below every question. 2. Return=(P2-P1)/P1 3. mean monthly returns, standard deviations for the monthly returns and annual statistics Ticker| AAPL| ADM| BA| C| CAT| DE| HSY| MOT| PG| SIRI| WMT| YHOO| Mean| 8. 39%| 3. 70%| 2. 68%| -0. 26%| 2. 87%| 3. 40%| 0. 43%| 0. 48%| 1. 25%| 3. 34%| 0. 69%| 2. 22%| SD| 0. 1584| 0. 1050| 0. 0697| 0. 0709| 0. 0742| 0. 0867| 0. 0491| 0. 934| 0. 0455| 0. 1963| 0. 0477| 0. 1299| Annual Mean| 1. 0068| 0. 4444| 0. 3215| -0. 0315| 0. 3444| 0. 4077| 0. 0519| 0. 0576| 0. 1505| 0. 4010| 0. 0827| 0. 2660| Annual SD| 0. 5489| 0. 3638| 0. 2414| 0. 2457| 0. 2569| 0. 3002| 0. 1702| 0. 3236| 0. 1577| 0. 6800| 0. 1654| 0. 4499| 4. Monthly return to an equally weighted portfolio of these 12 stocks. The mean and standard d eviation of monthly returns for the equally weighted portfolio. | Mean| Mean| 0. 0389| Standard Deviation| 0. 0925| Annual Mean| 0. 4671| Annual SD| 0. 3204| 5. Standard deviation (volatility) on the x-axis and average return on the y-axis Solution: 6.What do you notice about the volatilities of the individual stocks, compared to the volatility of the equally weighted portfolio? Solution: The volatilities of the individual stocks are mostly bigger than the volatility of the equally weighted portfolio that implies the portfolio tends to have more stability and less risk than the individual stocks themselves. Appendix Date| AAPL return| ADM return| BA return| C return| CAT return| DE return| HSY return| MOT return| PG return| SIRI return| WMT return| YHOO return| Mean| Apr-03| 26. 30| 8. 63| 13. 06| 5. 02| -0. 88| -0. 82| 9. 48| 7. 79| 2. 19| 116. 22| -6. 57| 20. 42| 16. 4| May-03| 6. 12| 7. 49| 11. 92| 4. 35| 6. 74| 5. 17| -2. 03| 11. 19| -2. 87| 5. 62| 2. 17| 9. 58| 5. 45| Jun-03| 1 0. 60| 2. 06| -3. 50| 5. 47| 21. 96| 11. 07| 4. 52| -4. 20| -0. 96| 5. 33| 4. 17| -4. 83| 4. 31| Jul-03| 7. 31| 6. 07| 13. 45| -3. 23| 6. 45| 11. 29| -3. 46| 18. 75| -0. 65| -5. 62| 5. 85| 7. 26| 5. 29| Aug-03| -8. 40| -5. 48| -8. 18| 4. 98| -4. 16| -5. 25| 3. 98| 11. 76| 6. 32| 8. 33| -5. 62| 5. 99| 0. 36| Sep-03| 10. 42| 9. 41| 12. 12| 4. 94| 6. 96| 13. 69| 6. 09| 13. 23| 6. 42| 29. 12| 5. 71| 23. 52| 11. 80| Oct-03| -8. 65| 0. 00| 0. 18| -0. 78| 3. 77| 1. 00| 1. 29| 3. 81| -2. 10| -11. 49| -5. 61| -1. 60| -1. 8| Nov-03| 2. 30| 6. 53| 9. 79| 3. 21| 9. 18| 6. 62| -0. 92| 0. 00| 3. 78| 51. 92| -4. 49| 4. 70| 7. 72| Dec-03| 5. 52| 2. 88| -0. 94| 2. 76| -5. 46| -3. 77| -1. 92| 18. 41| 1. 67| -14. 56| 1. 50| 4. 35| 0. 87| Jan-04| 6. 03| 10. 37| 4. 28| 1. 59| -3. 05| 2. 60| 10. 30| 11. 30| 1. 42| 8. 89| 10. 60| -5. 62| 4. 89| Feb-04| 13. 04| -1. 97| -5. 30| 2. 86| 4. 39| 8. 37| -0. 06| -4. 40| 2. 31| 15. 65| 0. 44| 9. 34| 3. 72| Mar-04| -4. 66| 4. 08| 3. 95| -6. 20| -1. 25| -1. 83| 7. 2 9| 3. 72| 1. 35| -2. 94| -4. 50| 4. 21| 0. 27| Apr-04| 8. 84| -4. 85| 7. 79| -3. 45| -3. 05| -3. 46| 0. 26| 8. 28| 1. 93| -9. 09| -2. 01| 21. 38| 1. 8| May-04| 15. 97| 0. 92| 11. 54| 0. 13| 5. 42| 7. 21| 4. 30| -7. 47| 0. 97| 2. 67| -5. 78| 18. 72| 4. 55| Jun-04| -0. 61| -8. 04| -0. 66| -4. 30| -7. 01| -10. 44| 4. 69| -12. 76| -3. 75| -18. 51| 0. 95| -15. 38| -6. 32| Jul-04| 6. 68| 3. 95| 3. 32| 5. 64| -1. 08| 0. 70| 0. 14| 1. 42| 7. 31| -7. 57| -0. 39| -7. 44| 1. 06| Aug-04| 12. 35| 6. 37| -1. 16| -5. 29| 10. 65| 2. 52| -3. 25| 11. 99| -3. 31| 37. 93| 0. 99| 18. 94| 7. 39| Sep-04| 35. 19| 14. 02| -3. 33| 1. 51| 0. 62| -7. 41| 8. 50| -4. 34| -4. 98| 21. 88| 1. 37| 6. 72| 5. 81| Oct-04| 27. 98| 9. 89| 7. 77| 0. 86| 13. 69| 19. 98| 2. 63| 11. 61| 4. 50| 70. 00| -3. 46| 3. 5| 14. 12| Nov-04| -3. 97| 5. 24| -3. 35| 7. 65| 6. 51| 4. 12| 7. 24| -0. 06| 2. 98| 14. 93| 1. 71| 0. 16| 3. 60| Dec-04| 19. 41| 8. 46| -2. 28| 1. 81| -8. 22| -6. 67| 5. 30| -8. 50| -2. 92| -13. 12| -0. 78| -6. 56| -1. 17| Jan-05| 16. 67| -0. 09| 9. 15| -1. 85| 6. 66| 2. 40| 8. 10| -0. 47| -0. 27| -15. 86| -1. 51| -8. 35| 1. 22| Feb-05| -7. 11| 2. 01| 6. 35| -5. 82| -3. 79| -5. 16| -4. 03| -4. 19| -0. 17| 0. 90| -2. 62| 5. 05| -1. 55| Mar-05| -13. 46| -26. 80| 1. 82| 5. 49| -3. 27| -6. 84| 5. 69| 2. 47| 2. 70| -15. 30| -5. 93| 1. 77| -4. 31| Apr-05| 10. 26| 10. 81| 7. 80| 0. 30| 6. 89| 5. 77| 0. 81| 13. 29| 1. 85| 26. 26| 0. 0| 7. 83| 7. 70| May-05| -7. 42| 7. 71| 3. 28| -1. 85| 1. 28| -0. 53| -3. 28| 5. 35| -4. 36| 7. 82| 2. 05| -6. 85| 0. 27| Jun-05| 15. 87| 7. 31| 0. 02| -4. 98| 13. 64| 12. 29| 2. 84| 15. 98| 6. 01| 5. 25| 2. 39| -3. 78| 6. 07| Jul-05| 9. 94| -1. 49| 1. 91| 0. 62| 2. 93| -11. 09| -7. 10| 3. 28| -0. 26| 0. 88| -8. 62| -0. 06| -0. 76| Aug-05| 14. 33| 9. 56| 1. 39| 4. 01| 5. 88| -5. 92| -4. 72| 0. 87| 7. 16| -4. 94| -2. 53| 1. 56| 2. 22| Sep-05| 7. 42| -1. 17| -4. 87| 0. 56| -10. 09| -0. 85| 0. 94| 0. 57| -5. 36| -4. 74| 7. 96| 9. 25| -0. 03| Oct-05| 17. 76| -2. 93| 5. 88| 7. 09| 9. 87| 14. 30| -4. 16| 8. 74| 2. 14| 14. 77| 2. 5| 8. 82| 7. 08| Nov-05| 6. 00| 4. 59| 3. 02| -0. 05| -0. 02| -1. 25| 1. 89| -6. 07| 1. 21| -6. 29| -3. 34| -2. 61| -0. 24| Dec-05| 5. 04| 27. 73| -2. 76| -4. 01| 18. 01| 5. 37| -7. 33| 0. 51| 2. 82| -15. 37| -1. 46| -12. 25| 1. 36| Jan-06| -9. 30| 1. 05| 6. 86| 0. 62| 7. 63| 6. 30| 0. 37| -5. 74| 1. 18| -9. 88| -1. 65| -6. 75| -0. 78| Feb-06| -8. 42| 6. 07| 7. 22| 1. 84| -1. 74| 4. 15| 2. 11| 7. 26| -3. 84| -0. 78| 4. 55| 0. 62| 1. 59| Mar-06| 12. 23| 7. 99| 7. 08| 6. 85| 5. 80| 11. 05| 2. 13| -6. 82| 1. 58| -7. 69| -4. 69| 1. 61| 3. 09| Apr-06| -15. 09| 14. 65| 0. 10| -1. 29| -3. 68| -2. 49| 7. 16| -1. 23| -6. 81| -3. 85| 7. 8| -3. 63| -0. 68| May-06| -4. 18| -0. 69| -1. 62| -2. 13| 2. 10| -1. 98| -3. 22| -4. 22| 2. 49| 5. 56| -0. 57| 4. 46| -0. 33| Jun-06| 18. 67| 6. 57| -5. 48| 0. 12| -4. 44| -13. 09| -0. 18| 12. 97| 1. 65| -11. 58| -7. 63| -17. 76| -1. 68| Jul-06| -0. 16| -6. 19| -2. 88| 3. 20| -6. 37| 7. 63| -1. 35| 2. 71| 10 . 14| -2. 86| 0. 88| 6. 23| 0. 92| Aug-06| 13. 46| -7. 98| 5. 28| 0. 63| -0. 83| 7. 94| -0. 94| 7. 16| 0. 14| -3. 92| 10. 29| -12. 31| 1. 58| Sep-06| 5. 33| 1. 61| 1. 28| 0. 99| -7. 33| 1. 47| -1. 03| -7. 76| 2. 78| -2. 30| -0. 09| 4. 19| -0. 07| Oct-06| 13. 05| -8. 57| 11. 25| -0. 16| 2. 18| 12. 75| 0. 64| -3. 85| -0. 5| 11. 23| -6. 46| 2. 54| 2. 80| Nov-06| -7. 44| -8. 95| 0. 35| 12. 31| -1. 14| -0. 51| -5. 99| -7. 06| 2. 37| -16. 90| 0. 55| -5. 44| -3. 15| Dec-06| 1. 05| 0. 13| 0. 80| -1. 01| 5. 00| 5. 48| 2. 48| -3. 44| 1. 41| 4. 24| 3. 26| 10. 85| 2. 52| Jan-07| -1. 31| 7. 68| -2. 19| -7. 72| 0. 56| 7. 98| 4. 18| -6. 71| -2. 13| -1. 08| 1. 30| 9. 01| 0. 80| Feb-07| 9. 81| 6. 86| 1. 90| 1. 91| 4. 03| 0. 74| 3. 31| -4. 33| -0. 51| -12. 33| -2. 36| 1. 39| 0. 87| Mar-07| 7. 42| 5. 45| 4. 61| 4. 44| 8. 82| 0. 70| 0. 56| -1. 94| 2. 51| -7. 50| 2. 08| -10. 39| 1. 40| Apr-07| 21. 43| -9. 17| 8. 56| 2. 66| 8. 21| 10. 13| -3. 61| 4. 97| -1. 1| -1. 01| -0. 22| 2. 35| 3. 58| May-07| 0. 70| -5. 57| -4. 41| -5. 87| -0. 36| 0. 58| -3. 95| -2. 40| -3. 71| 3. 07| 1. 08| -5. 47| -2. 19| Jun-07| 7. 96| 1. 55| 7. 56| -9. 22| 1. 06| -0. 26| -8. 94| -4. 04| 1. 66| -0. 33| -4. 49| -14. 30| -1. 82| Jul-07| 5. 10| 0. 65| -6. 19| 1. 84| -3. 84| 12. 99| 1. 53| -0. 24| 5. 58| -1. 33| -4. 57| -2. 24| 0. 77| Aug-07| 10. 82| -1. 85| 8. 57| -0. 43| 3. 51| 9. 47| -0. 19| 9. 65| 7. 70| 17. 51| 0. 05| 18. 08| 6. 91| Sep-07| 23. 77| 8. 18| -6. 10| -10. 22| -4. 42| 4. 36| -7. 12| 1. 39| -0. 68| -3. 72| 3. 57| 15. 87| 2. 07| Oct-07| -4. 07| 1. 89| -5. 80| -19. 49| -3. 63| 10. 91| -6. 1| -15. 00| 6. 44| 13. 99| 5. 95| -13. 79| -2. 44| Nov-07| 8. 70| 27. 73| -5. 48| -11. 59| 0. 91| 8. 70| -1. 28| 0. 78| -0. 77| -20. 89| -0. 33| -13. 24| -0. 56| Dec-07| -31. 66| -5. 27| -4. 90| -3. 20| -1. 61| -5. 97| -8. 19| -28. 29| -10. 46| 5. 61| 6. 75| -17. 54| -8. 73| Jan-08| -7. 64| 2. 85| 0. 03| -15. 85| 1. 89| -2. 69| 3. 34| -13. 33| 1. 17| -11. 25| -2. 26| 44. 84| 0. 09| Feb-08| 14. 78| -8. 73| -10. 17 | -9. 66| 8. 24| -5. 30| 1. 60| -6. 30| 5. 87| 0. 70| 6. 74| 4. 14| 0. 16| Mar-08| 21. 22| 7. 06| 14. 10| 17. 97| 5. 06| 4. 51| -0. 79| 7. 16| -3. 76| -10. 14| 10. 06| -5. 25| 5. 60| Apr-08| | | | | | | | | | | | | |Mean| 6. 16| 2. 80| 2. 23| -0. 22| 2. 26| 2. 65| 0. 50| 1. 05| 0. 91| 3. 86| 0. 26| 1. 94| 0. 0203 | Standard Deviation| 0. 118500359| 0. 084954962| 0. 061336785| 0. 061929002| 0. 064312603| 0. 070978888| 0. 046175086| 0. 088335566| 0. 038977677| 0. 220687247| 0. 045999568| 0. 114508009| 0. 0437 | Annual Mean| 0. 7386| 0. 33654| 0. 26758| -0. 02684| 0. 27156| 0. 31746| 0. 05988| 0. 12642| 0. 10964| 0. 46308| 0. 03112| 0. 23252| 0. 2440 | Annual SD| 0. 410497285| 0. 294292621| 0. 212476856| 0. 214528357| 0. 222785393| 0. 24587808| 0. 159955189| 0. 306003375| 0. 135022634| 0. 764483048| 0. 159347179| 0. 39666738| 0. 1514 |

Construction Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Construction - Assignment Example Joint sealant ought to be planned and built to permit free augmentation and pressure amid the opening and conclusion of joints. In the event that joint sealants are appended to the joint filler so development is disallowed, they can scarcely perform their planned capacities to seal the joints against water and garbage section. Polyethylene tape is usually utilized as bond breaker tape A capillary break is a hydrophobic substantial that halts capillary movement. They form the house’s core defense against the water under the building’s foundation from entering the house. Adhesive bond forces prevent water from dropping vertically, a drip Infill wall, Include glass-aluminum glazing systems. A backup wall is required; wind loads will be transferred from the backup wall to the buildings structure. Can be used with a frame or bearing wall structure Exterior wall system is used on the CU to prevent and protect the building from rain water, moisture and air infiltration. The wall system acts as the insulator against present and future natural environmental negative

The Politics Community Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Politics Community - Assignment Example This interferes with the political structure of institutional development in the developing countries as these institutions still need support. Increased interdependence among countries has led to political interference among countries. For instance most of the developed countries’ political organization is determined by the donor countries. There is a tendency of the donor countries threatening to stop their donations if their beneficiaries support not their governance mechanism (Michaels, 2002). Foreign countries have also influenced the political operations of developing countries as they are required to adhere to certain requirements in order to maintain good relations with the former. For instance some countries have been required by the United States to send their troops to fight in countries grappling with political instability. This case has happened between Uganda and Somali whereby the Ugandan troops had to interfere with the political structure of Somalia. Countries have also interfered with each other’s politics due to resources endowment. For instance the action of the United States on the countries in the Middle East was greatly influenced by its interest in oil according to Michaels (2002). The United States has tried to legitimize its actions as well as redefine the doctrine of the Middle East countries.

Conflict and Political Order Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Conflict and Political Order - Essay Example Both of these theories have foundations of democracy. Conflict is found at the centre stage of politics because of the struggle for power between individuals. Up to the modern concept of political order, conflict remains contentious when it comes to politics. These concepts have drawn from the ancient view of politics advanced by individuals such as Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, and Aquinas among others. Some of their concepts and propositions have been dispelled while others have influenced the philosophy of politics for centuries. Conflict among human beings is as old as history itself. War is found to have begun very long time ago because of the desire to control resources. Conflict has been founded on religious differences, ethnic differences, differing political ideologies, and social motivations. Politics is a broad subject that has influence over all humans directly or indirectly. According to Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, political science has massive influence over all other things, he mentions about its authority and the control it has over humans under his theory of natural slavery. His assertions that humans are naturally political present a situation that depicts them as differing in opinions and thoughts. His view was that humans are unique, with each playing a specific role just like the way organs functions in a body. The aggregation of communities together is a natural affair because it achieves self-sufficiency among the individuals. The political nature of persons induces them to engage in conflicts between one another. The conflicts may not be based on any personal view but the political affiliations. According to the arguments presented by Aristotle in the Book V the affiliations that appears between individuals creates factions based on common interes ts. In the first place, the mindset of an individual prompts them to affiliate to a certain group and will tend to have disparity in opinion and behaviour with the other factions. Secondly, factions are developed depending on the benefits that are derived from them, it is also possible that some things are lost in joining the groupings thereby some resentment to the differing groupings is experienced. Finally, political disputes are potential sources of factions where there are ideological differences between groups. The traditional approach of conflict seems to have been avoided since its focus was mainly on functionalism. The approach gives weight to the fact that each individual in an organization or community is designated from a specific role in the community. This is contrary to the modern conflict theory where the opinion shapers are the elite in the society. However, to the modern theorists there is consensus with Aristotle’s point of view that all humans are wired to be political. The modern view presents a situation where social classes arise hence creating a huge disparity and dispelling the functionality notion that humans have a specific role that each is supposed to play. Conflict is very much associated with rise to power. According to Machiavelli use of force is one the strategies that power can be obtained, these results in conflict that results to loss of lives and betrayal. These individuals kill the people they want to lead and the existing leaders in order to find their way to power. A situation that does not involve much conflict happens when power is obtained through the favour of the people. In such a situation the conflict arises between the common people and the nobles, however, the funny thing is that the nobles have much influence over the common people such that they are capable of manipulating them to have one of them

Research Proposal on The Rape Shield Law Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

On The Rape Shield Law - Research Proposal Example To quote from Rudstein, â€Å"are obstacles to convictions of rapists because juries presented with evidence concerning a complainant's past sexual history make use of such information to form a moral judgment of her character and then are likely to be sympathetic to the assailant1.† It also discourages rape victims from going to the police, for fear that their dirty laundry may be washed for all the world to see. As a net consequence of this, there would be low convictions for rape and many rapists would not be made accountable for their crimes. This becomes especially true when a majority of all rapes committed are acquaintance rape2, where in all likelihood the rapist would be able to present some form of evidence or information about the sexual past of the victim by virtue of having moved in the same circles. The first rape shield law in the United States was passed in Michigan in 1974, and other states followed suit. It mainly arose from the lobbying of feminists who beli eved – and rightly so – that rape was a power issue and that the way it is being treated and dealt with in the courts of law reinforced the hierarchical gender relations. Allowing evidence of sexual history perpetuates stereotypes of women, e.g., women who slept around cannot be raped, women with a lot of partners must have â€Å"asked for it†, prostitutes can never secure a conviction for rape against a man who sexually abused her. In fact, there have been studies showing that there is a â€Å"credibility gap†3 between men and women in the court room. Haddad4 divided rape shield laws in the United States in roughly four categories. According to him: These laws can be roughly divided into four categories, distinguishable by the basis and form of their exceptions: (1) â€Å"legislated exceptions† laws, which contain general prohibitions on evidence of prior sexual conduct, subject to at least one legislated exception; (2) â€Å"constitutional catch -all† laws, which, in addition to prohibiting evidence of prior sexual conduct, subject to at least one legislated exception, contain an explicit exception allowing the admission of any evidence that, if excluded, would infringe upon the rights guaranteed to a defendant by the federal Constitution; (3) â€Å"judicial discretion† laws, which, instead of including legislated exceptions, simply grant to judges the broad discretion to admit or bar evidence of a woman’s sexual history; and (4) â€Å"evidentiary purpose† laws, which determine the admissibility of a woman’s sexual history based on the purpose for which the evidence is offered at trial. The issue of rape shield has gained contemporary platform once more in the case of Kobe Bryant, where the judge ruled that the victim’s sexual activity seventy two hours before she was subjected to medical examination in relation to the rape charge. Many legal experts believed that this dealt a crushi ng blow to the prosecution of the case and led to the eventual dismissal of the charges against Kobe Bryant. B. Statement of thesis My thesis intends to explore the possible inconsistencies between the rape shield law and the right of the accused to due process. The core of my argument is that the state policy to spare a survivor of rape from the possibility of being humiliated on the stand should not be held in higher regard than the right of an accused to be able to present all

EPIC systems as the chosen Information Management Application for Essay

EPIC systems as the chosen Information Management Application for California Pacific Medical Center - Essay Example The application incorporates the use of both computer and information science technologies. The application provides a wide base of operation and ensures the use of practical dimension of the recent technology as prescribed by the nursing informatics principles. The application is used in the hospital and has brought efficiency in the operations of the hospital. Incorporation of the application has worked in hand with other information management application to ensure continued efficiency and effectiveness. Consequently, use of Information Management Application help organizations improves on the quality of service delivered to the hospital clients. The applications support the core values of the organization; quality, effectiveness, efficiency and integrity. Introduction The EPIC system is a series of computer related technologies adopted in the health sector to yield efficiency and effectiveness in the area of operation used for one. EPIC system interlinks various departments and u nits of an organization with the aim of facilitating functionality in the operations of the organization. The inpatient and outpatient admission-discharge-transfer application (ADT) focuses on building internal hospital efficiency. The EPIC ADT application integrated in California Pacific Medical Center has key components with features that support effective operation of the hospital (Armoni, 2002). The diversity of the EPIC system ranges from their functional ability to the nature of patient handling. Outpatients and inpatients possess different data packs to meet their specific objectives. The outpatient EPICADT component package allows a quick registry of the incoming patient, keeping a mark on the number of patients visiting and leaving the hospital. It also keeps the focus on clinical data management of the patients. This starts with creating an account for every patient and which act as the core tool for identity of the patient (Scaffzin, Prichard, Bisig, Gainor, Wolfe, Salon, Webster, & McCarthy, 2013). All the details of the patient are kept in that account and can easily be accessed through use of the patient user name or identification details. The system stores information and data relating to the individuals who visited the hospital (Saba, 2006). Such information includes a description of the health status of the patients. The areas visited by the patients are also included in the system and EPIC ensures keeping a record in every unit. For example, a patient visiting the consultancy department will have his or her name written in the system. If the patient visits another unit in the hospital, for example the laboratory department, the name of the patient will have to appear automatically since it was once used in the system. The EPIC system has a working scenario of â€Å"one client, one file†. Ambulatory services will also reflect on the system. The inpatient systems also have its category of packages available for the patients. It keeps a smooth and updated record on the admissions made in the hospital (Tan, 2011). As well, the system keeps information and data on the discharges and transfers made in the hospital. The importance of such information is articulated in the database of the hospital and aid easy retrieval and access to the information. Information on patients in a hospital is a crucial tool and a management aspect that aid smooth operations (Hewwet, 2002). Furthermore, ease of