Understanding The Resource Based View Concept Business Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 1981 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? Resource-based view (RBV) is a modern and promising concept that provides insights on both strategic and organisational matter. It is a manner of viewing the organisation and in turn of approaching strategy (Powell, 2007). Sustainable competitive advantages happen when a firm is executing a value-creating strategy that is not being executed by rivals and when these rivals are unable to replicate the benefits of this strategy (Henry, 2008). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Understanding The Resource Based View Concept Business Essay" essay for you Create order The achievement of sustainable competitive advantage can be anticipated to lead to higher performance measured in terms such as market-share and profitability (Sheehan and Foss, 2007). Thus, the main purpose of this critique is to determine whether resource based view analysis has a strong relationship with firms performance in attaining a sustainable competitive advantage. It is also to discuss the merits and demerits of RBV as the best strategy route in the development of a firms strategy and strengths and weaknesses of the RBV analysis in achieving competitive advantage and the contribution to firm-level value creation. 2.0 Body 2.1 Discussion In the dynamic environment faced by several firms, market positioning can become obsolete quickly because of new innovations, process enhancement and competitive environments. To compete successfully in these markets, it is said that organisations need to constantly craft new sources of competitive advantage (Powell and Thomas, n.d.) In order to achieve sustainable competitive advantage and good performance, it is said that resource based view theory is essential (Klein, 2011). RBV underlines the internal capabilities of an organisation in creating strategy to attain sustainable competitive advantage in its market and industries (Henry, 2008). RBV claims that organisations achieve and sustain competitive advantages by deploying valuable capabilities and resources that are inelastic in supply (Ray, Barney and Muhanna, 2004). Competitive advantage happens only in a situation of resource heterogeneity, diverse resources across organisations and resource immobility, the incapability of competing organisations to gain resources from other firms (Madhani, P.M., 2009). Given that competitive advantage occurs in a situation of resource heterogeneity, organisations should have some basic threshold resources in order to battle in the market (Andersen, J., 2011). A division should to be made between capabilities (resources or competences) that are at a threshold level and those that might assist the firms to achieve competitive advantage and higher performance. Threshold resources are significant but it does not of themselves generate competitive advantage or the source of higher performance. These are dependent on a firm having distinctive capabilities that rivals will find it complicated to replicate (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, 2008). It is held that RBV can be used to discover if the organisation have any strategic resources which can be utilised to base the firms strategy on. However, according to RBV, not each and every resources of an organisation will b e strategic resources. If managers can recognise these resources, it permits them to cherish it. Besides that, managers in low performing organisation may exploit the RBV to discover resources that are deficient and inspect if it can be alternate or replicate these resources (Sheehan and Foss, 2007). Strategic assets offer the organisation with a source of stable stream of rents so that it achieves a sustained competitive advantage over its competitors. Barney proposes that such advantages depend in a critical way, on the resource endowments controlled by the firm. Hence, it is the stock of strategic assets that are significant in determining the organisation profitability level. Moreover, managers should highlight on the utilisation of already controlled resources to attain economic rents for the organisation (Kochhar, 1997). 2.2 Comparison of RBV and Porters analysis RBV is constantly seen as a substitute to Porters five forces framework. Porters framework generally emphasises on the external impact on strategy execution and it assist organisation to examine the five forces in an industry. The core disagreement is that the theory deals with the success of the industries instead of individual organisation. Hence, it does not assist firms to achieve sustainable competitive advantages. In contrast, RBV implies that organisations must place their self deliberately based on their unique, valuable and matchless resources and capabilities. Resources and capabilities are more lasting compared to markets and goods. Thus, resources and capabilities can be considered as a platform for an organisation to develop diverse goods for diverse market. So, leveraging capabilities and resources across many markets and goods becomes the strategic driver instead of targeting particular products for particular markets as in Porters analysis (Trainmor-knowmore, 2008) 2.3 Merits and demerits of RBV as the best strategy development of a firms strategy According to Connor (2002), RBV is an important, crucial and an inside-out management theory that is functional in developing victorious strategy. One of the merits of RBV as the best strategy route in development of an organisations strategy is RBV strategy recognises and highlights on the importance of resources in achieving sustainable competitive advantage. It focuses on the capability and efficiency of internal resources. Tangible and intangible resources are integrated with RBV. The RBV of strategy also crafts a framework for the management to think about their strength and weakness, understand marketing problems that aids to improve organisations performance (Falkenreck, 2010). RBV is also useful in understanding the nature of internal resources and their optimal exploitation (Connor, 2002). Although there are merits of RBV, it is not without demerits. The general demerit of RBV is RBV does not address the vital issues of how resources can created and change over time. So me researchers also have argued that RBV of strategy lacks in detail hence it is quite difficult to implement in an organisation (Henry, 2008). 2.4 Why do some firms outperform and maintain their competitive advantages over others? Advancement in strategy basically relies on how good the field responds to the question Why do a number of firms outperform others? and other corollary questions like, How do organisations penetrate into a spot where they can outperform others? and How can organisation uphold this spot? The RBV is a brilliant means for explaining why some firms outperform others (Sheehan and Foss, 2007). It suggests primary approach on why organisations with valuable, rare, inimitable, and well structured resources may benefit from high performance (Barney, 1995). Distinctive competencies are one of the traits of an organisation that permit it to practice a strategy more effectively and efficiently than other organisations (Barney and Arikan, 2001). However, a firms competence is merely distinctive when they emanate from traits which others do not have. For it to be sustainable, the traits must continue over time. One of the distinctive competencies is general management competence. General mana gers can have a major impact on the strategies an organisation choose and on the capability of the organisation to execute the strategies it created. It is argued that naturally organisations that comprise of good quality general managers will generally outperform organisations that comprise of low quality general managers. Thus, choosing and training good quality general managers is the essential strategic option for an organisation (Barney and Arikan, 2001). Organisations with distinctive competencies have power that may facilitate them to get hold of high performance and leaders as creative thinker and organisation builders instead of a decision makers and administrators. These would be the important source for a firm to outperform others (Selznick, 1957). A firms ability to innovate fruitfully is also a form of distinctive competencies which is sustainable and appropriable. For example, a firm can produce innovative products such as Apple with i-tunes and i-pod. In a survey to d iscover 50 most innovative companies around the world, it is revealed that Apple got the third place. Apples unrivalled innovation in product function and design is verifying that it is hard for competitors to chase. Both these competencies allows firm to outperform others (Henry, 2008). Besides that, core competence is also a trait for organisation that permits it to outperform and maintain competitive advantage over others (Barney and Arikan, 2001). Core competencies is known as the combined learning of the organisation, particularly how to synchronize various production ability and assimilate numerous streams of technology (Zubac, Hubbard and Johnson, 2010). A core competence should offer broad access to variety of markets, create important contribution to the perceived customer benefits of the end products and should be hard for rivals to imitate (Henry, A., 2008). Organisation that has core competencies will regularly realise that it is less complex to achieve competitive ad vantages. Thus, if an organisation wants to achieve high performance, its managers need to consider the activities that the organisation desires to engage into and the kinds of resources the organisation needs to exploit to permit those activities to take place as well as the assets and capabilities that an organisations managers have to manage (Barney and Arikan, 2001). Toyota is able to outperform other competitors because of its core competence. Its core competence develops from its capability to combine core competencies across the whole organisation. Toyota is delighted with its victory of its Prius, an electric-and-petrol hybrid car that has sold well in America. Its rivals such as General Motors, BMW and Ford are trying hard to produce their own hybrid car. However, Toyota believes that with practice they can master the fuel-saving technologies faster than its competitors. While the competitors try to integrate hybrid engines in their cars, Toyota is trying to cut the price o f the engines in half to make it harder for the competitor (Henry, 2008). 2.5 Strengths and weaknesses of RBV analysis in achieving competitive advantage and the contribution to firm-level value creation For organisations resources to achieve sustained competitive advantage, it is stated that the resources need to be valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable (Powell and Thomas, n.d.) Thus, if an organisations resources possess these characteristics, it allows the organisation to enter into new market and add value to the customers such as Toyotas hybrid car and Apples I-pod (Henry, 2008). This is one of the strengths of RBV analysis in achieving competitive advantage and the contribution to firm-level value creation. Furthermore, firms focusing on RBV have potential that permit them to produce at lower cost which will lead them to the benefit of focusing on cost-leadership strategy or create a better goods or service at standard cost compared to other firms with lower capabilities which leads them to focus on differentiation strategy (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, 2008). The main critique of the RBV is that though it offers a theory of sustainability, it is not a con cept of value creation. If it is true, the usefulness of RBV as a strategic tool will be challenged (Sheehan and Foss, 2007).The RBV is mainly recognition of the uniqueness that resources have to generate rents in balance. This somewhat leave out the concern with process of crafting strategic resources through innovation and similar creative act or restoring such resources (Matthews, 2006). How should resources be pooled, in which proportions, quantity, sequence, etc. to yield value? These are vital implementation matters that are not considered in RBV (Sheehan and Foss, 2007). 3.0 Conclusion In conclusion, the existence of strategic resources is adequate to establish the potential for competitive advantage. Therefore, there is a strong relationship between resources and performance. The important elements of RBV of an organisation are the organisations main resources and the responsibility of management in changing these resources into situation of sustainable competitive advantage leads to superior performance in the marketplace (Sheehan and Foss, 2007). It is stated that RBV suits the best in a static or predictable context (Zubac, Hubbard and Johnson, 2010). Some research revealed that the RBV can be used at the level of the strategic group and the industry as well as the organisation (Fahy, 2000). RBV definitely has vast potential for assisting managers and organisations to improve their practices and performance (Klein, 2011). The flexibility of this framework makes it fairly adaptable to specific organisation or industrys situations (Stephane, 2007). Industries s uch as financial services are example of where sustainable advantages are hard to achieve and competitive moves are replicated quickly (Fahy and Smithee, 1999). As organisations industry environments have become unstable, thus the internal resources and capabilities have been suggested as a securer base for crafting strategy instead of external market focus (Grant, 2005).

Environmental Damage Due to Development Has Affected...

TOPIC: Environmental Damage Due to Development Has Affected Tourism in the Caribbean: Inevitable. Audience: Faculty of built environment and tourism management students. PURPOSE: To convince students that environmental damage is inevitable and precautionary measures should be taken to lessen this problem to ensure that the Caribbean keeps it title as a â€Å"tourist destination†. THESIS: Within in the Caribbean environmental damage is inevitable and one should focus on minimizing the effects of progress, change and advancement and take precautionary measures to lessen the potential damage which can occur and decrease the arrivals of visitors to the Caribbean. CLAIMS: I. The improvement to people’s standard of living, infrastructure and†¦show more content†¦Thus sing sustainable architecture to promote tourism while being environmental friendly C. Through the promotion of environmental awareness and encouraging the idea of being green and sustainable with a long term environmentally friendly development plan which facilitates economic growth also however because many of the Caribbean islands are small the issue is finding the suitable balance between sustainable development and economic prosperity while making the Caribbean the focal point for tourism development . REFERENCES Development and Environment Issues with Special Reference to Gandhian Perspective. Dr. Kavita Y. Suchak. (PhD). http://www.mkgandhi-sarvodaya.org/environment.htm Dohan, John. â€Å"Recession: How Deep?† World Link. March/April 1991: 10-12. A Guide for the Survival of Humankind, and Improving the World, Society, and Yourself! Economic Profit versus Environmental Safety. http://www.philforhumanity.com/Economic_Profit_versus_Environmental_Safety.html Economic Development vs. the Environment Summary: Is the economic development of developing countries more important than protecting the environment? Author: The Debatabase Book (UnitedShow MoreRelatedDiscuss the Social and Economic Impact of Natural Disasters on the Caribbean.2527 Words   |  11 Pageswhich cause great damage by disrupting the functioning of a society thus rendering the country incapable of coping through using its own resources as there is a need for outsider assistance in order to effectively preserve lives and the environment. Conversely, Natural hazards are natural phenomena that are potential threats to people within a society, structures or economic assets and may cause disaster. Natural disasters are inevitable and ubiquitous worldwide. 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Disasters and Emergencies Earthquakes and Floods

Question: Discuss about theDisasters and Emergenciesfor Earthquakes and Floods. Answer: Introduction A disaster refers to a situation which occurs and results to disruptions of the normal activities, hence causing damage to the affected people. On the other hand, an emergency occurs as a result of a disaster. It is a state where by normalcy is disrupted to avert or take care of an on already existing disaster. Recently the world is faced with numerous disasters and hazards that are posing threats to human life, and countrys development(Quaranntel, 2008). This paper will address the causes of emergency and disaster situations and identify resources and strategies that could be utilized to reduce and manage the risks associated with these conditions. Causes of Disasters and Emergency Disasters are caused by either natural causes or human factors. Natural factors are beyond human control. Examples of natural factors which are disastrous are earthquakes, floods, hurricanes among others. Examples of natural disasters that have struck the world are the tsunami that struck Japan on March 2011 and spread through the Pacific and the Katrina hurricanes that caused the most damage in the US. The Boxing Day earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia which resulted in strong water waves (tsunami) that left more than 230,000 people dead, and destroyed millions of properties and people livelihoods in 10 countries. A natural disaster is beyond human control, and in most cases, its very hard to control, since there may be no signs of the disaster striking(Blaikie, 2003). On the other hand, there are other disasters which are caused by human activities, for instances fires, which can result from oil spillage. Also, there are disasters resulting from environmental degradation. For example, droughts and famine which result to the death of many. Environmental degradation has as well greatly contributed to climatic changes, and as a result, most countries are already feeling the impacts of global warming, which are causing health and ecological disasters as was witnessed in 2003 in the European heat wave which killed thousands of people (Wilson, 2010). Emergencies are as a result of primary effects of disasters. Its in an attempt to avert the disaster from more damage. Either after it has already stricken or before it even strikes in case it shows signs of occurring. A primary disaster, for instance, is an emergency medical attention to several people injured during a mudslide or earthquakes or even from the fire. Secondary emergencies, on the other hand, are not directly linked to the disaster though they result from the extreme effects of disasters. For instance, a mudslide that can lead to breakage of sewers and hence disease outbreak which calls for emergency actions(Schepher-Pines, 2005). Framework and Plans for Emergency and Disaster Reduction As a result of the numerous changes taking place worldwide, many nations have resolved to form a framework for addressing the disasters and the arising emergencies. Since the year 2004when a great tsunami struck Asia, the nations realized the need to have effective strategies in place in case a disaster occurs, especially with the unpredictable nature of disasters. As a result, there is increased international cooperation because disasters know no borders. Countries have partnered to form multilateral and bilateral firm partnership as a strategy to reduce risks caused by emergencies as well as by the natural or human-related disasters. Many global countries have resolved into integrating the disaster reduction initiatives with their MDGs. There has also been a rise in the setting up of regional platforms to address the challenge of disasters and emergencies both at regional and at the international levels(McEntire, 2000). Countries have resolved into holistic strategies of dealing with the disaster challenges. There is, for instance, the Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015), formed in the year 2015, by the World Conference on Disaster Reduction. The framework aimed at strengthening the global goals of development and the disasters and risk reduction strategies. The framework has three main strategic goals; Integrating the disaster prevention plans with the overall sustainable development plans and policies. Systematically incorporate the risk reduction strategies to the implementing of disasters and emergency preparedness recovery programs as well as with the necessary responses. Develop and strengthen the institutions, available mechanisms, and the global capacities to create resilience towards hazards and disasters. Additionally, there is also the Gleneagles 2005 summit, which is a strategy in which the countries who are members of the G-8 commit themselves to offer all possible support to countries prone to disasters. There are also driven by the desire and motive of sharing information and knowledge regarding hazards and risk management, giving warnings to areas which are susceptible to disasters. The G-8 countries work hand in hand with the World Bank and the UN, as well as with all the other willing development banks and the developing nations, to help address the issue of risk management. The Hyogo Framework for Action and the G-8 are existing platforms with a driving, and of reducing occurrences of emergencies, they encourage bilateral and multilateral partnership, also advocate for regional countries community-based preparedness and efficient, responsive plans in efforts to mobilize the community to have effective responses to disasters(Dynes, 1994). Additionally, still on disasters reduc tion efforts, the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) is undergoing numerous to act as a strategic tool for implementing the Hyogo Framework for Action to be used by all the stakeholders, both the UN and non-UN contributors and through an efficient building of infrastructure and housing stocks. Its not possible. The Kyoto Protocol Climate Conference held in 1997 came up with plans for reducing risks caused by climatic changes resulting from industrial activities in developed countries. The countries developed an overall framework for cutting greenhouse gases emissions. The US promised to stabilize its emissions while the European Union promised a 15% decrease. During the conference, the agreed framework would help reduce greenhouse gas emissions(Aldrich Meyer, 2015). Strategies to Reduce the Risk of Emergency Situations and Disasters Disaster management should be treated as a holistic process involving all the sectors of development. It calls for an active planning and broad investments, failure to which significant losses will be incurred if a disaster hits a country. Some disasters are manageable hence there should be a collective measure by the regions which are susceptible to certain disasters. Below are some strategies that countries can put in place to help reduce the risk of disasters and emergency occurrences. Country level advocacy on risk reduction; the World Bank has a set up natural disaster hotspots known as the Global Risk Analysis, which will help identify the disasters susceptible regions and countries. This will help the countries being in prepared for the kind of disasters that can strike their region. If countries are aware of the imminent risks, they will be in a better position to put in place effective risk avoidance measures hence the occurrence of the disaster may be prevented or the impacts minimized. The World Bank in collaboration with other international bodies has come up with the several tools which help in risk management. What the countries should do is they should get the risk management tools and distribute them across their Ministries of Planning, Finance and Disaster Management; this will increase their level of preparedness towards disasters(Neumayer, 2007). Country-level hazard risks and poverty assessment; to ensure that poverty implementation strategies are sustainable the government should consider incorporating hazard risk assessment and reduction strategies of the region. Hazard risk assessment policies incorporate the hazard mapping, protecting economic and social developments as well as activities from danger through incentivization alleviate poverty without managing risks, since no matter the developments a disaster can bring them down in a day(Neumayer, 2007). Countries should make use of existing poverty elimination strategies to measure the levels of risks and disasters vulnerability. Identification of poverty causes can help identify the specific disasters that recurrently affect the prone areas, and this will ease the risk reduction process as they are already known which disaster to deal with. Sectorial risk management strategy; the impacts of a disaster impact negatively on all sectors. This, therefore, means that to overcome risks and disasters, countries should ensure they have specific strategies for all the sectors; this will help reduce the overall damage and losses incurred when a disaster strikes. These strategies include; Human resource development; to successfully overcome risks its important to educate the general public of the various disasters that exists, especially the human-related disasters, many human-related disasters occurs as a result of lack of knowledge of the dangers that their activities can lead into. For example, great fires have been caused by oil spillages; this means that the government should come up with strategies for educating the citizen about disasters. Also, the public should be informed about the disasters that the country is vulnerable to, enlightening them on precautionary measures as well as the best reactions they should turn to in case of emergence of the strike. Its important to alert people on how they should react to fire, floods, earthquakes and other disasters in case they strike. This strategy can help reduce losses and reduce the chances of risk occurrences. Risk management should be introduced in the learning institutions(Maskrey, 2009). Medical education and safety of health facilities; to take care of emergencies in case disasters occur calls for proper strategy inception in the medical sector. Medical practitioners, for example, should be trained on how to handle mass casualties. Managing the vast number of causalities also means that three should go through preparedness to be able to accommodate a large number of disaster victims. It, therefore, means that all the national government should strategically ensure that their medical facilities can handle large masses of casualties in case of a disaster. The Government should as well consider restructuring the health facilities infrastructure to suit the needs of disaster victim if a disaster occurs. This will also help reduce secondary effects of emergency in case an outbreak occurs. The facilities should be strategically built in a way that outbreaks are not easily spread within the hospital premises(Mileti, 1992). Public management capacities and administration enhancement; the Federal government as well as the local civil services like the municipal council play critical role in the creation and implementation of risk reduction strategies. Countries should, therefore, come up with disaster and risk refresher training programs towards the federal officers and the civil service. This will help increase their preparedness to disasters as well as provide them with knowledge of how to prevent risks from occurring. Informing them of the countries vulnerabilities to risks and disasters is also an important strategy of risk reduction and management. The national training policy of every country should strategize on achieving this as part of the public management and administration enactment strategy.The government must priotize provision of adequate capacities in the public management training as there will be an increase in disasters with the increase in population, the higher rates of urbanization, increased environmental degradation, climatic changes among others (Korstanje, 2011). Strengthening decentralization; three local communities and the local governments are responsible for handling emergencies brought up by impending risks and disasters. Their disaster management capabilities significantly affect the extents of damages caused by the risks(Korstanje M. E., 2001). To prevent risks from resulting into disasters, the government should come up with risk adoption and development strategies during the initial planning of the socioeconomic programs of development. Local governments should be given the capacities needed to empower the people on matters of disaster vulnerabilities, and on the various ways of reducing the occurrence of risks(Paul, 2003). Capacity enhancement to the vulnerable groups; when a disaster strikes vulnerable groups is affected most. These calls for a need to ensure risks are reduced on them by all means, the governments and the international group should collectively develop strategies acts as risk mitigation tools to enable the poor, as well as the vulnerable groups, reduce the risk occurrence. There should also be appropriate strategies to assist the post-disaster communities to get back to their lives and offer a quick response to the disasters to reduce the risk of secondary emergencies occurrences. For example, if an area is affected by floods the government should have appropriate strategies put in place to avoid disease outbreaks(Bankoff, 2004,). Strengthening the hydro-meteorological services; there are several disasters which arise as result of climatic and non-climatic hazards. The government should ensure to put in place appropriate strategies to learn of the possible disasters and provide a relevant warning to the people. For example, if mass rainfall is expected which might result to flooding the government should provide a warning to the people living in sloppy and flat areas which may suffer the consequences of the floods(Susanna M. Hoffman, 2002). This will lead to increased levels of preparedness among the people. This, therefore, calls for setting up of climatic risk management strategies which should long term. Vulnerable regions should work in collaboration with the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development (ESSD) and country teams to develop a framework that will help the country mainstream adaptation means to climate variability and climatic changes(Alexander, 2002). In conclusion, it's evident that many disasters are facing the world today, it, therefore, calls for a common measure to prevent the occurrence of disasters since some are manageable, and reduce risks of those that are not. The international and regional bodies have come up with frameworks and planned to help face these challenges. If these disasters and risks are to be effectively managed, the strategies employed must be collective. At the international level countries in the same region must collectively strategize on how to manage and reduce risks. Also within the country, the government must involve all parties to fight this epidemic together. No one developmental sector can fight disasters on its own. Strategies to help reduce risks and disaster occurrences have also been identified, and its worth noting the list is not exhaustive of all possible strategies. References Aldrich, D. P., Meyer, M. A. (2015). "Social Capital and Community Resilience. American Behavioral Scientis, 254-269. Alexander, D. (2002). Principles of Emergency planning and Management,. Oxford: Principles of Emergency planning and Management, . Bankoff, G. G. (2004,). Mapping Vulnerability: Disasters, Development and People,. Routledge, : ISBN 978-1853839641. Blaikie, P. C. (2003). At Risk Natural hazards, people's vulnerability and disasters, . Wiltshire: Routledge. Dynes, R. (1994). Community Emergency Planning: False Assumptions and Inappropriate Analogies. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, 141-158. Korstanje, M. (2011). "The Scientific Sensationalism: short commentaries along with scientific risk perception". E Journalist, 10. Korstanje, M. E. (2001). "Swine Flu in Buenos Aires: Beyond the Principle of Resilience. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 5973. Maskrey, A. (2009). Disaster Mitigation: A Community-Based Approach. OXFORD: Oxfam. McEntire, D. (2000). Sustainability or invunerable development? Proposals for the Current shift in Paradigms. Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 58-61. Mileti, D. a. (1992). The causal sequence of Risk communication in the Parkfield Earthquake Prediction experiment. Risk Analysis, 393-400. Neumayer, E. a. (2007). 'The gendered nature of natural disastersL the impact of catastrophic events on the gender gap in making disaster risk reduction gender-sensitive: policy and practical guidelines life expectancy 1981-2002'. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 551-566. Paul, B. K. ( 2003). Public Response to Tornado Warnings: a comparative Study of the May 04, 2003 Tornadoes in Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee. Quick Response Research Report, no 165, Natural Hazard Cent. Oxford: University of Colorado. Quaranntel, E. (2008). "Where We Have Been and Where We Might Go", What is a Disaster?: A dozen Perspecrives on the Question,. London: Routledge. Schepher-Pines, L. (2005). Katrina: the disaster and its doubles. Athropology today, 6. Susanna M. Hoffman, S. M.-S. (2002). Catastrophe and Culture: The Anthropology of Disaster. School of American Research Press, , 12. Wilson, H. (2010). "Divine Sovereignty and the Global Climate Change debate". Essays in Philosophy, 1-7.

What is Spam Anyway Essay Example For Students

What is Spam Anyway? Essay Ive found when people discuss spam they really have no idea what they aretalking about. There are as many different definitions of spam as there arepeople. In point of fact, this factor alone (not being able to define whatspam is and what it consists of) makes it virtually impossible to control. In order to control spam, a useful definition is necessary. Why? Simple. Inorder to control something, you must know what you are controlling. Whenyou understand the basic facts, then you can take whatever course of actionis necessary. Until you achieve that understanding, you will be shootingblindly at an undefined target. This makes it very difficult to actually doanything useful. So on that note, what kind of definitions for spam work and dont work?Commonly spam is defined as unsolicited email. Unfortunately, thisdefinition by itself is NOT spam and means absolutely nothing. Whats wrongwith it? This definition does not help you solve the problem, and thus isincorrect. If this definition was true, then to prevent spam you would haveto somehow contact a person to ask them if you could send them an email. We will write a custom essay on What is Spam Anyway? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now For example, I dont generally call someone on the phone and ask them foran email message. That would be silly. In fact, by definition most email isunsolicited; I dont, for example, expect my wife or a friend to ask me ifits okay to send me a message. Sometimes spam is defined as emails that are from unknown sources. Hmm. This really doesnt work well either. Ill get emails from my website frompeople I dont know these are not spam. Also, sometimes my friends willpass my email address to their friends, who send me email. These are alsonot spam, even though they were from an unknown source and wereunsolicited. How about just plain annoying emails? That seems to be the definition thatmost people have in mind when they mention spam. If the email is annoyingin some manner, and especially if it was unsolicited, it is spam. Thisdefinition probably gets a little closer to the heart of the matter, but itreally doesnt define spam well. What about unsolicited bulk email? This definition gets a little bit closerbut it still doesnt really define spam well. I mean I give my emailaddress to my bank and I really didnt ask them to send me emails (althoughI didnt ask them not to as well). Yet I would not call this spam as I dobusiness with the bank. Their emails might be annoying, but since I have abusiness relationship with the bank I expect them to communicate with meoccasionally. Okay, so what is spam?I like to think of spam as unethical mass email. By this I mean emailswhich violate the netiquette standards of the majority of users of theinternet. Note that by this definition, an individual email sent to a person is notspam. A commercial email, however, is another matter. Even a singlecommercial email might be unethical if it does not follow the rules below. Ethical emails are targeted well towards their audience. Unethical emailsare mass mailings sent out blindly to a large number of people. These are emails that are sent to thousands, tens of thousands, evenmillions of people, hoping against hope that a few dozen will be stupid orgreedy enough to respond. These emails are untargeted and will not pertainto the majority of the recipients. Since the majority of the people readingthe message (usually upwards of 99%) will simply delete it immediately,this makes the mailing unethical. .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f , .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f .postImageUrl , .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f , .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f:hover , .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f:visited , .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f:active { border:0!important; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f:active , .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u99b409746df8d2976f3f5bb8ebf6408f:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Homeless Assistance EssayEthical email messages include valid email header information. Thisinformation properly identifies the sender of the message. In addition, allof the other header data in the message is correct. Spam messages often have forged or invalid email headers. This means it isdifficult (if not virtually impossible) to trace the source of the emailbased upon the header information within the email message. Since thesender of the message cannot be identified the message is unethical. Inthis case, even a single email message would count as spam. Ethical mailings include a method for opting out which actually works. If you run a newsletter or do any kind of mass mailing, you must include atleast one method of removal in the email message itself. This removalmethod (and more than one is preferable) MUST WORK. Some things which Ioften see in opt-out schemes which ARE NOT VALID include the following: . Any email message which states that the reader must go to a web site,log in and then modify his email preferences is UNETHICAL. Thisrequires too much information from the user and forces him to do toomuch work. . If the email message includes an unsubscribe link (or other means)which does not work, then it is UNETHICAL. . Messages which validly allow for opt-out but then say you will beremoved in a week or some other long period of time are UNETHICAL. These are computers people, and there is no reason to include theselong delays. Remove the person immediately. Ethical mass mailings are double-opt-in. This means after a person signs upfor the mailing list, he receives a confirmation message. He must eitherreply to this message or click a link to activate the mailings to him. Anyother form of opt-in is UNETHICAL as it allows people to be subscribed byothers or by accident. Ethical mailings do not include webbugs, set cookies or perform any kind ofinvoluntary tracking. Email messages are often opened up by the recipient before he knowsanything about the message. This means if you are doing any kind oftracking, the person has no way to stop it, short of blocking the receiptof the message entirely. This lack of a choice on the part of the recipientmakes this kind of tracking UNETHICAL. The only time this would be ethicalis if it was clearly stated when the user signed up for the mailing. Inthat instance, this behavior is known and this makes it ethical. Note thatwhile the web site privacy policy should state this fact, it must also bestated clearly on the page where the person actually signs up for themailing. Ethical mailers do not use email harvesters. Using special robots to gatheremail addresses from web sites is UNETHICAL. These email addresses aregenerally included on web sites to allow individuals to communicate withindividuals. Rarely is the intention to join a mass mailing listdistributed on CD. ALL USES OF EMAIL HARVESTING IS UNETHICAL. Ethical mailers do not take advantage of open relays or use other spammertricks. If you are legitimate, then there is no need to attempt to hideyour whereabouts or cover your tracks. Using a relay without permission orsending millions of emails through an unprotected formmail script is simplybad manners. Get the idea? Spamming is NOT sending someone one or more email messageswithout their express permission. Spamming is simply ignoring the rights ofothers (your audience, system administrators and even the users of theinternet as a whole). Thats all it is.