Industry Scenario Analysis Of Arcelormittal Economics Essay

Industry Scenario Analysis Of Arcelormittal Economics Essay Steel is a very important material used in everything from construction to machines, automobiles, appliances and even weapons. Steel has laid the foundation for modern civilization and it played a crucial part in the development of industries all over the world. Essentially it is an alloy with a major content of iron and the rest carbon varying anywhere between 0.2 percentage and 2.1 percentage. Steel itself has been in existence over many hundreds of years but the process of making it has evolved as years progressed along with technology. Steel distinguishes itself from other metals and alloys based on rust resistance, recyclability and weld ability. The advancement of the steel industry is often linked to the economic development as it played a crucial role in it. Around 1.3 billion tonnes of steel was produced in 2007. And according to reports it is expected to grow by more than 10 % in 2010. (Peter Marsh, 2009) ArcelorMittal Mittal steel acquired Arcelor in June 2006 to become the worlds largest steel producer. With operations in more than 60 countries it has its industries rooted in more than 20 countries over four continents. Arcelor based in Luxemburg was the biggest steel producer in Europe when Mittal acquired it after a dramatic five month long takeover battle. Currently Mr.Lakshmi Mittal is the Chairman and main owner of ArcelorMittal. According to ArcelorMittal, it had a crude steel production of 73.2 tonnes which is approximately 8 percentage of the total steel production in the world. It had revenue of $65.1 billion. Listed in stock exchanges of New York, Amsterdam, Paris, Luxemburg, Brussels and Spain it is a global industrial force to be reckoned with (ArcelorMittal, 2010). Major Competitors in the Steel Industry After the acquisition of Arcelor, ArcelorMittal firmly established itself as the leading steel producer in the world. According to the World Steel Association in 2008, the top 5 players in steel the industry were: ArcelorMittal Nippon Baosteel POSCO Hebei Steel Group Rank Company Amount of Production (Million Metric Tonnes) 1 ArcelorMittal 103.3 2 Nippon 37.5 3 Baosteel 35.4 4 POSCO 34.7 5 Hebei Steel Group 33.3 (World Steel Association, 2008) Key Competencies The steel industry focuses on core competency factors such as: advanced technology for example use of advanced laser cutting tools during the production stage environment sustainability by ensuring no damage or pollution to nature employee enrichment example good training and technological exposure effective management of competition with superior technology with constant research and development responsibility to shareholders ArcelorMittal claims the entire above core competencies required in the industry. It has developed a robust corporate social responsibility strategy with the four key points of focus: making steel more sustainable by making steel production greener and environmental friendly transparent governance by careful study of impacts and risks and improvement in quality of disclosure to stakeholders enriching communities by engaging them and progressing with partnerships and open communication investing in people by ensuring safe and healthy work environments which is also innovative These four key strategies form their core competency strategy and were formed soon after the merger of Arcelor and Mittal by careful research and studies into other major players in the industry (ArcelorMittal, 2010). Key Resources The steel industry depends on all or most of the following key resources for its sustainability and growth: Iron ore Coal Limestone Steel scraps Technological resources Research and development resources Human resources (Steel University, 2002) Growth rate and Profitability of the Steel Industry According to the World Steel Association, the major steel production over the world has increased as compared to the previous year. The production in 2009 November was 107.5 million metric tonnes (mmt) which was 24.2 % more than in November 2008. They claim that a month on month comparison with the previous year production definitely shows more production in 2009 as compared to 2008. (World Steel Association, 2010) In terms of profitability, steel prices have had a steady rise helping many companies like Fosun in China to move up in the list from fifteenth to sixth position. Reports clam that it had revenue of $5.7 billion last year. Price of steel has increased over the last year by 35 % and is currently at $ 230 per tonne (Michael Sainsbury, 2010). Many steelmakers in Europe and U.S are investing more in the industry indicating a possible increase in profitability (Alex MacDonald Alexander Kolyandr, 2010). Firms Performance Even though ArcelorMittal is the leading producer of steel in the world and even with the increase in production the same cannot be said of its profits. ArcelorMittal is said to make a net loss of $792 million. Mr Mittal expressed his opinion that the growth in profits would be slow and progressive over time. Mostly the low profits registered were due to efforts of the company to change its debt structure and bring it down from the current $ 22 million. ArcelorMittal is planning to invest around 4 billion in capital expenditure (Alex MacDonald Alexander Kolyandr, 2010). Industry Forces (Porter, 2008) Using Porters five forces framework examining Arcelor Mittals competitive forces we get the following results: Threat of entry: The steel industry has low potential threats in the form of new entrants in the market due to the heavy investment required. Even then new entrants such as Sererstal and Evraz in Russia pose considerable threat to existing steel producers. Rivalry among existing players: While new entrants maybe rare existing competition poses the largest threat to Arcelor Mittal. Close competition in mainly from China, Nippon. Analysts predict the steel industry growth is going to be concentrated in Asia in the future. Other competitors like Tata Steel, Baosteel and POSCO also have to be fought off from eating up profits. Power of buyers: The bargaining powers of buyers are not to be underestimated. Even with growing production the steel industry has not been able to show growth in profitability in the same light due to falling prices. Competition has also led to this state of economic crisis. Power of suppliers: The major suppliers where ArcelorMittal is considered are the iron ore suppliers. Main ore suppliers in the market like Vale, Rio Tinto, BHP and Gloucester were accused by major steel industries of raising ore prices and shifting bargaining power in their favour (Sarah, 2010). ArcelorMittal even raised concerns about possible joint venture by BHP and Rio stating that they were already in power were prices were concerned and this venture could affect the steel industry adversely. (Alex, 2010) Substitutes: Many substitutes to steel such as aluminium pose competition in areas like automobile and aircraft manufacturing. Opportunity or Threat? Entrants: Entrants into the industry are definitely a threat to ArcelorMittal as it would swallow profits and take up part of their space in the global market. The threat that exists may be more of a local nature for example when new entrants come at national level inside a country. Threat of new entrants are however a minor possibility and a rare occurrence and hence not much cause for concern. Existing players: Existing players pose more of a threat than new entrants as they are a force to be reckoned with. They pose a threat in terms of price. ArcelorMittal is the biggest steel producer in volume but not the most profitable. Low prices offered by other existing companies lure away customers and result in lower profits for ArcelorMittal. Power of Buyers: This could be more of an opportunity for ArcelorMittal in the sense that having the biggest resources in their hand they may be able to easily attract buyers. ArcelorMittal has modern technology which is a major attractive feature to potential buyers. Power of suppliers: This is the largest threat so far to the industry. They are hard to deal with. Price bargaining power seems to be concentrated on the part of suppliers and have negatively affected ArcelorMittal and the steel industry as a whole. Joint venture between Rio and BHP is most certainly an offensive strategy. Substitutes: Substitutes do pose a certain amount of threat. But it also holds an opportunity for the industry to research and develop more and more uses for steel and also make advancements in the production processes. As it is technology has enabled steel to be manufactured more thinly than ever before. Experiments in alloy compositions have resulted in more products and discovery of their applications. Industry Position As far as ArcelorMittal is concerned it strongly suggests that the steel industry is a developing industry with a lot of potential. Many of the risky decisions taken by the company were its strong belief in this industry. ArcelorMittal has not broken its stride in its development since it began. New acquisitions and entry into new markets have only confirmed this. ArcelorMittal plans on staying in this market and even acquired Uttam Galva Steels Ltd in India predicting that the next big steel consumer would be India with its rising population and automobile industry (ArcelorMittal, 2010). Mr Mittal also predicted a 10 % growth in the industry in 2010. Combatting Industrial Threats The steel industries face various industrial threats and have to be ready to overcome these threats and still stay in the game. Some examples are as below: Iron ore price: Suppliers are mostly in control of iron ore pricing and these are directly responsible for steel industry profitability. Recently Rio one of the largest suppliers in this market took a decision to price the iron ore on a quarterly basis changing the annual pricing standard. This is was a major setback for the steel industry. The World Steel Association was in negotiation with the iron ore suppliers to change this norm as the steel industries were still recovering from global recessions (James Regan, 2010). A good industrial relation would help overcome this problem. If the whole steel industry disagreed on this and refused to buy on this pricing norm, a change could be brought about. Also it is important to keep communication open between the suppliers and the market and make it clear that their survival depends on the growth of the industry and such decisions could be a setback affecting both the buyer and supplier in one way or the other. European Emissions Trading System: Many companies in the steel industry like ArcelorMittal and Lafarge faced heavy charges based on the carbon emissions according to the EU trading scheme. They were able to combat this problem by lobbying together and convincing the European Union that they deserved considerable reductions in this or they would be forced to shift location of their plants to more profitable nations. This would be an economic downfall or the EU and hence they succumbed to the threat (The Ecologist, 2010). Economic Recession: This is the most dangerous threat of all to the steel industry. In countries like Russia, an entire city depends on a steel plant for its livelihood and in times of recession these places are hit hard and employment rates soar. In such times the government adopts strict measures and sometimes even offer ultimatum to steel companies to improve performance or leave. During this global recession, Siberian government threatened to seize the assets of ArcelorMittal if they failed to increase coal production in their mines. Such situations call for a contingency plan. Companies must be ready for worst case scenarios instead of always looking at a brighter prospect (Stratfor, 2009). Competing firms can combine and combat threat in the industry through organizations like World Steel Association. A strong stand on any issue facing the industry would help to resolve the problem. Recent trends in the industry indicate a higher volume of steel consumption especially in the Asian region and companies are all set to take advantage of this situation by concentrating their efforts in this region. ArcelorMittal hopes to take advantage of this situation and have already set this in motion by purchasing Uttam Steel in India. They are all set to harness the high revenue automobile market by doing so. ArcelorMittal plans on staying in the leadership position by having a strong consistent management strategy. ArcelorMittal states that they lay special emphasis on product diversity, geographic reach, vertical integration both into raw material production, designed to minimize risk caused by economic cycles, and downstream distribution, providing value added and customised steel solutions through further processing to meet customer specific requirements .According to them customers form the core of their business. They also give prime importance to transferring tomorrow with Sustainability, Quality and Leadership (ArcelorMittal, 2010). Top Players in the Steel Industry The top ten players in the steel industry are as follows: ArcelorMittal Heibei Steel Group Baosteel POSCO Wuhan I S Anshan Benxi Shagang Nippon Steel JFE Tata Steel According to news reports, the Chinese are overtaking steel production. More than half the top ten steel producers in the world are from China. (China Tells, 2009) ArcelorMittal is the largest producer and will remain to be so due to its highly competitive investment strategy. Another fast growing company is Tata Steel with its acquisition of Corus, the second largest steel producer in Europe, it poses considerable competition to ArcelorMittal. Positioning of Players in the Industry The major players in the industry are positioning themselves based on the following factors: Environment: With the growing competition and supplier power, the major steel players are trying to find a balance between growth and profitability. Many reforms in the industrial laws and globalisation trends have proved to be both good and bad for the industry. The economic trends have been particularly bad for the industry over the past few years. But this is expected to change and growth in industry and profitability is expected in the next few years. Capability: Each player in the industry is vying for the top technological advancements and is investing heavily in their capital infrastructure as well as in research and development. It has become a highly competitive market. Purpose: The major steel companies are also turning more and more to corporate social responsibility and are taking efforts to implement an environmental friendly production plant and processes. (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington 2008) Role of Distribution and Logistics While the Chinese steel manufacturers are advancing they still lag behind in terms of distribution and logistics as compared to the developed countries. The Chinese government has however taken more interest in this after its entry in the World Trade Organization and are planning to invest more in this sector (China International Steel Distribution and Logistics Conference, 2007). Distribution and logistics play a crucial role especially in the case of automobile industry where new vehicles have a fluctuating demand for materials. ArcelorMittal stayed on top of the game by finding solutions for failings on of the buyer in terms of wrong order, changing order etc. In fact ArcelorMittal won the Logistics award from PSA Peugeot Citroen in March 2010 (Vincent Daenen, 2010). Acquisitions and Mergers and Ownership Patterns Acquisitions and mergers in the industry have definitely changed the ownership patterns in the global steel industry. The biggest change in the history of the steel industry was the acquisition of Arcelor by Mittal steel to form ArcelorMittal. This resulted in the company becoming the worlds top producer of steel. Acquisitions also have helped the companies to penetrate some markets. For example the Tata acquiring Concur resulted in its entry into European markets and Arcelor acquiring Uttam Steel in India also helped it enter a fast developing market. In this industry strategic alliances may not be always possible as it is a highly competitive industry with each player vying for more market share. In such a scenario spin offs or creating of new entity may be the solution. This would help create synergy by combining resources and moving in towards the same goals. Environmental Changes and Constraints Affecting the Industry The changes in the business environment in terms of technological, political, social , etc have a deep impact on the steel industry. Some examples are as follows: Economic changes: the global recession hit the steel industry hard. Profitability went down considerable and even the major players like ArcelorMittal faced threats of shutting down of some of their operations. This has also made them aware of their need to change their debt capital infrastructure after the recession receded. Climatic changes: the Emissions Trading directive has had a direct impact on the three main emissions in the industry which are the coke oven gas, blast furnace gas and basic oxygen furnace gas (EUROFER, 2010). Many of the steel producers have to ask for special treatment or risk change of plant locations. Technological changes: technological diffusion is called for in countries especially China who is expected to lead in the greenhouse gas emissions by early next century owing to its high economic growth rate and also its use of coal (Fisher-Vanden, Karen, 2010). Social changes: Social changes as in the treatment of employees have evolved with the advancement in the steel industries. ArcelorMittal is a company that invests heavily in manpower, its safety and development in its company (ArcelorMittal, 2010) Changes in Customer Demand Patterns The customer demand has been on a rise Financial Strategies in the Industry Conclusion Likely Scenario Pessimistic Scenario OptimisticScenario

Rigidity of Puritanism Exposed in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown Essay

Rigidity of Puritanism Exposed in Young Goodman Brown    Proverbs 10:28 implies the idea of the universality of sin in saying "The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing."   In "Young Goodman Brown", Nathaniel Hawthorne illustrates this through Brown's actions.   When Brown lives a righteous life with good faith, his thoughts remain pure and happy.   He has a wonderful wife, and he enjoys the presence of everyone.   As he takes his walk into the forest and into evil ways, his hopes and faith disappear.   He no longer loves his wife in the same way, and he despises everyone whom people consider were holy.   When he loses his faith, he loses his happiness.   To regain his happiness, Brown must find his righteousness again. Puritans believe there is no hope for a sinner.   Hawthorne uses a variety of writing techniques to condemn the rigidity of Puritanism.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   For example, Hawthorne uses a wide variety of diction to create a mystical and hopeless mood.   As Brown walks into the "dreary" forest, an " uncertain" feeling comes over him as he looks ahead to the "gloom" awaiting him.   The forest is very dark and dreary and these words help create the eerie mood.   These words create an insecure and unsure feeling in the reader's mind.   The reader feels as if he stands right there on the outskirts of the forest along with Brown. That type of feeling scares even the bravest of men.   Hawthorne also describes the events taking place in the forest as "devilish," "horrid," and "evil."   Evil completely surrounds Brown in the forest.   It puts a thought in him which drives him crazy. These words give a v... ...ands before him with the guilt of sin.      He can never remember these people in the same way in which he wants to. His views on the righteousness of humanity change from good to bad.   Hence, Brown loses his comradery with his neighbors, and he dies a lonely death with no hopeful verse on his tombstone.    Works Cited Benoit, Raymond.   "'Young Goodman Brown': The Second Time Around."   The Nathaniel Hawthorne Review 19 (Spring 1993): 18-21. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Complete Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Doubleday and Co., Inc.,1959. James, Henry. Hawthorne. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997. Martin, Terence. Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Twayne Publishers Inc., 1965. Wagenknecht, Edward. Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Man, His Tales and Romances. New York: Continuum Publishing Co., 1989.   

The American Olympic Association Essay -- Sports, Training, Olympic Ga

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC), initially named the American Olympic Association, was formed in 1896. Members of the committee sought to provide assistance to United States Olympic athletes with training and other needs. As the USOC is not government funded the committee has relied heavily on corporate funding and private donations (â€Å"Team USA,† 2011). However, over the years while the continued appeal of the Olympic Games remained, the increased cost of housing, clothing, and caring for U.S. athletes along with other professional sports vying for corporate sponsorship, made obtaining funding difficult. Thus, the USOC was challenged with persuading corporate benefactors that investing in the Olympic Games was a lucrative and cost effective venture (O’Rourke, 2010). Therefore, the methods used by the USOC to persuade companies to invest as well as motivating factors underlying corporate sponsorship are explored. Case Analysis Persuasion Message The ability to communicate effectively is essential in business (O’Rourke, 2010). In order to provide information, convey a message, and explain an idea, communication tools must be applied daily (N, 2005). The most important communication tool is the persuasive (N, 2005). This is due to the fact that whatever is being conveyed at the workplace requires a degree of persuasion (N, 2005). Hence, persuasion is the ability to move an individual or group into action. Boyer and Stoddard (2011), describe persuasion as â€Å"the act of getting a sentient being other than yourself to adopt a particular belief or pursue a particular action (p. 1). Therefore, in order for persuasion to be effective a level of trust between the parties must exist (O’Rourke, 2010). Thus, the challen... ... their association with the Olympic movement and develop interventions including updated marketing and promotional strategies to correct the problem. Moreover, an exclusivity right for some corporate sponsors has caused corporations without this type of contract to feel second rate which creates the possibility for ambush marketing to surface (Palomba, 2010). Ambush marketing is a company’s attempt to associate itself directly or indirectly with an event, team, or celebrity without being granted proper permission or pay the necessary licensing fees. As a result, official sponsors may not receive the full benefit or commercial value of paying to be legitimate sponsors (Palomba, 2010). Therefore, the USOC needs to protect legitimate sponsors by enacting or enforcing protective legislation to curtail or eradicate ambush marketing tactics (Palomba, 2010).

I Want to Learn to Take Risks Essay -- Personal Narrative Essay Exampl

I want to learn to take risks. I want to change my attitude about taking chances. Assessing my academic and extracurricular achievements, I am proud of my accomplishments. I see myself as an open-minded, goal-oriented person who achieves and succeeds through hard work and determination. How much of that success is a result of staying on comfortable ground? I began wondering about the range of my abilities when I attended Northwestern University's Theater Arts Program last summer. The theme of the institute, announced by the director, was: "Dare to fail gloriously." This idea encouraged participants to take bold risks on the stage. Over time I applied this philosophy to my acting and my life. I began the Northwestern program as a quasi-accomplished actress with a hunger to absorb all I could about acting. I emerged not only a well-rounded thespian, but also a more secure person with a new outlook. I knew that there was something about my life that I wanted to change and could change. Now, as I approach college, I am committed to continuing successes and occasional glorious fail...

Decriminalization and Legalizing Marijuana in America Essay -- Illicit

Marijuana prohibition in the American criminal laws is quite exceptional. There are no other laws that are both enforced so widely and severely across the country, but yet considered unnecessary by such an overwhelming portion of the country’s populace. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, â€Å"Marijuana is the most commonly abused illicit drug in the United States.† The advocacy group National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws claims that marijuana is the third-most popular recreational drug in America, behind only alcohol and tobacco. In the early 1900’s, marijuana was viewed by prohibitionists to be the worst narcotic known to man and the effects of use created insanity, murder, and death. And without any public debate, scientific inquiries, or political objection the Marijuana Tax Act was signed by then President Roosevelt in 1937. But after numerous years of research, scientists have proven repeatedly that marijuana is not the same as the harsher drugs such as heroin and cocaine and should not be classified as a dangerous, evil, killer narcotic. The Institute of Medicine and other bodies of research have concluded that there is no evidence supporting marijuana is a â€Å"gate-way† drug, certainly no more than either tobacco or alcohol is. Although, some people use marijuana in excess, most who smoke marijuana never become dependent. No one has ever died from an overdose of marijuana, unlike alcohol, and marijuana has not been associated with violent behavior either. People who have used marijuana describe the effects of the drug to be calming, enhancing their creativeness, increasing their appetite and making them sleepy. Dr. Daniele Piomelli at the University of California, Irvine is at the forefront ... ... the use and possession of marijuana has been ever-increasing over the past several years, rising to over 50% today – that is an all time record high. If the current trend continues, the pressure will definitely encourage the nation’s laws into compliance with the people’s desires. Works Cited (1) Drum, Kevin. â€Å"The Patriot’s Guide to Legalization.† Mother Jones Vol. 34, No. 4 31 Jul 2009: pg. 49. SIRS issues Researcher. Web. 27 Oct 2011. (2) Nadleman and Piper. â€Å"Should the U.S. Decriminalize Marijuana?† The Washington Times. Sunday read. 26 April 2009. LexisNexis News. Researcher. Web 27 Oct 2011 (3) Newport, Frank. â€Å"Record –High 50% of Americans Favor Legalizing Marijuana Use.† Princeton, NJ. 17 Oct 2011: pg. 1-3. Gallup. Researcher. Web. 27 Oct 2011 (4) NGC. â€Å"Drugged: High on Marijuana.† Documentary 2011 Vesta, Solomon. â€Å"Grass.† Documentary 1999.

The Journals Impact Factor Health And Social Care Essay

The diaries impact factor is at present, considered a pace stick for mensurating the comparative quality and significance of a diary. It is defined as the frequence with which the ‘average article ‘ in a diary has been cited in a peculiar twelvemonth or period. Despite the acknowledgment that the impact factor is an imperfect step and 45 old ages of unfavorable judgment, there is no obvious option. Thus, those forced to utilize this tool for direct diary comparing should be encouraged to stay open-minded and cautious, with an consciousness of the built-in restrictions of its usage. Extension of journal-impact-factor informations to single articles and writers is inappropriate and should be avoided. Some of alternate indices of impact factor ( Thomson Reuter ) include Google Scholar, PageRank, H-index, Y-factor, Faculty of 1000, Eigen Factor etc. Some of these options may be more recognized than impact factor in future. Cardinal words: Impact factor, h-index, commendation, AlternativeBackgroundThe construct of commendations as tool for ‘evaluating ‘ scientific discipline was foremost proposed by Eugene Garfield in 1955 ( Garfield, 1955 ) . As merely a limited figure of diaries could be included in the Thomson Reuters ( TR ) databases ( presently totaling about 10500 ) , analyses based on such a limited dataset ( besides selected in a non-transparent manner by the TR ) has been widely and badly criticized by both the developed and developing states ( Molloy, 2007 ) . Although holding been widely criticized, the impact factor ( IF ) published in the Science Citation Index Journal Citation Reports by the Institute for Scientific Information is the most normally used bibliometric standard. It quantifies the influence of a periodical on secondary publications ( Garfield, 1999 ) , and is normally used non merely to rank and measure diaries, but besides for academic publicity or for the choice of research grant applications ( ) . There were coincident attempts to happen alternate indexs utilizing the TR databases, and through other advanced methods. Some of these include Google Scholar, PageRank, H-index, Y-factor, Faculty of 1000, Eigen Factor etc. ( Satyanarayana, 2010 ) .Impact factorThe impact factor was first described in 1955 by Dr. Eugene Garfield ( Jacso, 2001 ; Lundberg, 2003 ) and was used in the early 1960s to assist choice diaries for what would germinate to go the Science Citation Index ( Garfield, 1999 ) . The Science Citation Index, a commercial belongings of the Institute of Scientific Information ( Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ) ( Opthof, 1997 ) , is used to bring forth the Journal Citation Reports, produced yearly. The IF is a simple descriptive quantitative measuring of a diary ‘s public presentation computed on the footing of the mean figure of times articles from the diary published in the past two old ages have been cited in the current twelvemonth. It is calculated from this equation: Journal X ‘s 2009 impact factor = Citations in 2009 ( in diaries indexed by Thomson Reuters ) to all articles published by Journal X in 2007-2008 divided by Number of articles deemed to be â€Å" citable † by Thomson Reuters that were published in Journal X in 2007-2008 ( Gisvold, 1999 ) . The diary IF is presently calculated by Thomson Reuters based on commendation informations from the 6650 plus diaries indexed in the Web of Science database, which is so reported in the Journal Citation Reports ( JCR ) , a database that lists the diaries as per their commendation ranking ( Lundberg, 2003 ) . Impact factor is calculated utilizing the undermentioned expression:Impact of impact factorEver since the visual aspect of the JCR in 1972, there has been efforts to utilize the IF informations for comparings of scientific discipline, scientists, groups of scientists, scientific subjects, states and, of class, scientific diaries ( Satyanarayana & A ; Sharma, 2008 ; Seglen, 1997 ) . The IF is chiefly meant to be an index of the success of a paper in a diary and a alternate of its direct application in subsequent research. Such broad and indiscriminate application of IF and commendation informations frequently resulted in lopsided and unacceptable quality opinions, particularly on the scientific discipline and engineering capableness and strengths of states led to severe and serious unfavorable judgment of the really usage of citation-based informations for intents other than journal rating. Despite broad and sustained unfavorable judgment, commendation informations and IF continued br oad application by research workers to take diaries for reading and referencing and more significantly, tracking challengers ‘ publications and commendation profiles to stay competitory. Journal editors and publishing houses merely love impact factors and they use the IF as a major USP for pricing and selling the diaries at their will ( Kurmis, 2003 ; Monastersky, 2005 ) . Librarians continue to trust on impact factors and other commendation informations for make up one's minding which diaries to subscribe. Potential employers use citation-based parametric quantities to measure campaigners ‘ bibliography for determinations of engaging. Many establishments and Universities all over the universe continue to utilize the commendation informations for appraisal of academic excellence, publicities, awards and wagess. Funding bureaus besides seek commendation indices from appliers to measure undertakings for support. Learned societies and national scientific discipline academies and other such organic structures confabulating awards and wagess all over the universe usage commendation informations for determination devising ( Balaram, 2009 ) .Incorrect Application of Impact FactorsThe quality of an single scientific research paper is an highly hard construct to specify and quantify ( Bloch and Walter 2001 ) . The frequence of commendation has been adopte d as a unsmooth index of quality ( Saper 1999 ) . Although a high commendation rate may non ever be associated with high quality, most commendations in most documents are non refuted or discredited by the writers of the paper ( Callaham et al. 2002 ) . Therefore, it is still widely accepted among writers that commendation of work by others imparts a grade of prestigiousness and professional acknowledgment ( Reyes 1998 ) . While impact factors may be utile for the qualitative rating of diaries, the utility does non widen to single articles. In fact, it has been reported that 50 % of commendations recorded in the Science Citation Index come from merely 15 % of articles published ( Walsh and Weinstein 1998 ) and that the most cited 50 % of articles account for about 90 % of commendations ( Seglon 1997 ) . Therefore, the impact factor of a diary is likely to be mostly influenced by a little per centum of its published articles ( Hansson 1995 ) . Similarly, it is of import to observe that the impact factor does non reflect the quality of the peer-review to which a diary subjects its articles ( Neuberger and Counsell, 2002 ) . The Institute of Scientific Information itself suggests that the primary public-service corporation of the Journal Citation Reports is to help bibliothecs and research workers in pull offing journal aggregations. In turn toing the extension of this tool to academic rating, the Institute of Scientific Information states that, while the impact factor may supply a gross estimate of the prestigiousness of diaries, it does non rede utilizing this value as the exclusive agencies of comparative rating. Misunderstanding of the impact factor and inappropriate weighting of its importance have affected the author-journal relationship, frequently greatly act uponing writers ‘ choice of the diaries to which they submit their manuscripts ( Linardi et al. 1996 ) . Many writers may be tempted, or experience pressured, to choose the highest impact-factor-rated diaries likely to accept their article for publication while rejecting diaries whose mark audience may in fact be more suited and recept ive to the publication itself ( Meenen 1997 ) .Restriction of impact factorThough impact factor is widely accepted globally, it is besides criticized every bit good for some restrictions it possess. Some of the restrictions of impact factor are discussed in the followers: 1. Impact factor clearly favours diaries which publish work by writers who cite their ain forthcoming work and who are geographically situated to do their work readily available in preprint signifier. The step punishes diaries which publish the work of writers who do non hold rank of these unseeable colleges and is virtually incapable of observing echt impact ( McGarty, 2000 ) . 2. The 2nd computation job is statistical in nature: the JIF calculates the average figure of commendations to an article in the diary in inquiry. However, many writers have found that commendation distributions are highly skewed. Seglen ( 1997 ) for case found the most cited 15 % of documents to account for 50 % of commendations and the most cited 50 % for 90 % of the commendations. Hence on mean the most cited half of documents are cited nine times every bit much as the least cited half. 3. The impact factor can be influenced and biased ( deliberately or otherwise ) by many factors. 4. Extension of the impact factor to the appraisal of journal quality or single writers is inappropriate. 5. Extension of the impact factor to cross-discipline diary comparing is besides inappropriate. 6. Those who choose to utilize the impact factor as a comparative tool should be cognizant of the nature and premiss of its derivation and besides of its built-in defects and practical restrictions ( Kurmis, 2003 ) . 7. It must be recognized that the Science Citation Index includes merely about 5000 diaries ( Lankhorst & A ; Franchignoni, 2001 ) of an estimated universe sum of 126,000 ( Whitehouse, 2002 ; Seglen, 1997 ) ; therefore, it represents & lt ; 4 % of all diaries. Diaries non listed in the Science Citation Index database are frequently crudely referred to as holding no impact factor ( zero ) . This suggests, falsely, that 96 % , or 121,000, of diaries are ne'er officially cited. 8. Citation Index do non lend to impact factor computations ( Talamanca, 2002 ; Callaham et al. , 2002 ) . Seglen reported that, within the field of mathematics, publications that were non included in the Science Citation Index database were cited more often than were publications that were included ( Seglen, 1997 ) . 9. Review of the diaries included in the Science Citation Index database has besides shown an tremendous prejudice toward those published in English ( Bloch & A ; Walter, 2001 ; Neuberger & A ; Counsell, 2002 ; Whitehouse, 2002 ; Golder, 1998 ; Winkmann et al. , 2002 ) , with non-English-language diaries given lower impact factors ( Rogers, 2002 ; Dumontier et al. , 2001 ) . 10. Differences in commendation ( Saper, 1999 ) and citing ( Linardi et al. , 1996 ) inclinations within single Fieldss limit the cogency of cross-discipline comparing. For illustration, it has been reported that the average figure of mentions per article of biochemistry periodicals is three times that of mathematics periodicals ( Linardi et al. , 1996 ) . Some Fieldss encourage drawn-out mention lists, whereas others dictate more concise or restricted bibliographic listings ( Sieck, 2002 ) . Because of this, Linardi et Al. ( 1996 ) suggested that comparings of diaries on the footing of their impact factors should be limited entirely to intra-area rating ; they warned that inter-area comparings may be both inappropriate and deceptive. 11. Ease of entree to diaries, publication immediateness, and type of publication stuff have all been identified as subscribers to the impact factor. The handiness of diaries to writers and research workers can change ( Curti et al. , 2001 ) . Theoretically, diaries published more often ( Linardi et al. , 1996 ) may be more readily available for commendation or may cut down publication slowdown. The fact that a diary or article is available electronically may besides increase the rate of commendation and therefore the impact factor. 12. The type of research being reported can impact the journal impact factor because of commendation restrictions. Scientific articles tend to mention merely scientific articles, whereas clinical articles cite both scientific and clinical articles, therefore leting a much larger pool for commendation. In a similar context, general diaries tend to hold higher impact factors than specialist diaries because of the larger pool for commendation ( Hecht et al. , 1998 ; Saper, 1999 ) . 13. Finally, those who choose to utilize the impact factor as a step of quality must acknowledge that the Institute of Scientific Information is a private for-profit company that enjoys an undisputed monopoly on the market of citation-frequency recording. Therefore, despite the valuable part that this company has made to the scientific community, it does hold a commercial involvement in the development and application of its merchandises, which may non ever aline itself with pure academic purpose ( Rogers, 2002 ; Sieck, 2002 ) .Recommendation for bettering impact factors of DiariesLack of impact factor does non needfully bespeak hapless quality, unacceptableness and deficiency of freshness in the research work published. It is obvious that there are published a good no of novel and exciting documents in Bangladeshi diaries, but missing of on-line handiness those are non punctually apprehended and cited. To better commendation and impact factor, the undermentioned recommendations can be suggested – 1. Like many other diaries around the universe, Bangladeshi diaries can propose their writers to mention a figure of ( 5-10 ) articles from Bangladeshi Journals related to their subject and it can be considered as added benefit in accepting a manuscript. This will increase the commendation ratio and h-index, hence impact factor of the diaries. 2. Rapid on-line publication of all diaries and articles. 3. Search engine optimisation for the published article. 4. Scientists and research workers of Bangladesh should seek to mention more autochthonal publications in their documents wherever found relevant. 5. Research articles published in local diaries should be circulated more extensively throughout the state in print version and by e- mail. 6. Research workers of Bangladesh should regularly visit and survey documents published in local diaries which is presently extremely unsatisfactory. 7. Local diaries should better their reappraisal and publication procedure doing it quicker to print a paper so that autochthonal research workers feel involvement to print their work in local diaries. 8. Diaries should seek to be indexed in worldwide accepted journal systems and archives and databases such as ISI, SJR, Pubmed, Elsevier etc. 9. More review articles should be published as these articles attract more readers and are cited more than research studies. Therefore, reappraisal articles can raise the impact factor of the diary and reappraisal diaries will hence frequently have the highest impact factors in their several Fieldss. 10. Diaries may take non to print minor articles, such as instance studies in medical diaries, which are improbable to be cited and would cut down the mean commendation per article. 11. Diaries may alter the fraction of â€Å" citable points † compared to front-matter in the denominator of the IF equation. Which types of articles are considered â€Å" citable † is mostly a affair of dialogue between diaries and Thomson Scientific. As a consequence of such dialogues, impact factor fluctuations of more than 300 % have been observed. For case, columns in a diary are non considered to be citable points and hence do non come in into the denominator of the impact factor. However, commendations to such points will still come in into the numerator, thereby blow uping the impact factor. In add-on, if such points cite other articles ( frequently even from the same diary ) , those commendations will be counted and will increase the commendation count for the cited diary. This consequence is difficult to measure, for the differentiation between editorial remark and short original articles is non ever obvious. â€Å" Letterss to the editor † might mentio n to either category. 12. Diaries may print a big fraction of their documents, or preferentially documents which they expect to be extremely cited, early in the calendar twelvemonth. This gives those documents more clip to garner commendations. 13. Several methods, non needfully with villainous purpose, exist for a diary to mention articles in the same diary which will increase the diary ‘s impact factor.Alternate Indexs of journal impactRight from early 1970s, there have been serious efforts to analyze the restrictions of IF and other citation-based indices and to device alternate matrices that can turn to the lacks to do the rating exercises more nonsubjective. Equally early as 1976, a recursive impact factor and tried to calculate and analyse commendation informations to give commendations from diaries that have high impact greater weight than commendations from low impact diaries was proposed ( Narin & A ; Pinski, 1976 ) . The increasing web-based entree to and usage of scholarly literature through powerful hunt engines as Google has facilitated the development of advanced methods and tools to rank scholarly diaries. Such methods have helped farther polish the rating of both scientific discipline and scientists bo th within and outside the citation-based systems. Some of these include Page Rank, Weighed Page Rank, h-index, g-factor, y-factor, Euro Factor, Faculty of 1000, Eigen factor etc. ( Resnick, 2004 ) . There have besides been several efforts to use parametric quantities other than IF to analyze the issue of ‘popularity ‘ V ‘prestige ‘ of diaries, a major restriction of the IF and other citation-based indices. Many surveies have besides been done to compare the commendation based informations with the new and improved methodological analysiss ( Dellavalle et al. , 2007 ) . One such comparative analysis has shown that Y-factor ranking has helped get the better of at least one important restriction of the IF i.e. , the higher ranking of reappraisal diaries as compared to original research documents ( Satyanarayana & A ; Sharma, 2008 ) .Google Scholar:Google Scholar ( hypertext transfer protocol: //scholar.google.com ) is a free-to-use hunt engine developed in 2004 basically to turn up information from learned diaries and other beginnings on the Web. Due to its easy handiness, Google Scholar is possibly one of the most widely used tools by bookmans in all subjects of scientific discipline and engineering. Some particular maps of the Google Scholar include the ‘cited by ‘ option that provides links to other articles that have cited this paper, and more. It is frequently hard to obtain relevant information rapidly due to absence of sifting harmonizing to quality. The major restrictions of the hunt engine are that non all records retrieved are peer reviewed and hence quality is hard to judge. Besides, there is deficiency of lucidity on how the beginnings themselves are selected, content analyzed, the clip span covered how the listing is done ( Satyanarayana, 2010 ) .PagerankTMPageRank is a package system for ranking web pages developed by Google and has besides been applied to rank research publications. The advantage with this tool i s that it uses a wide scope of unfastened informations beginnings from the Google Scholar ( GS ) etc. that can turn up and recover big figure of records. PageRank algorithm references is the issue of ‘popularity ‘ and adept grasp or ‘prestige ‘ of published research that remains the major restriction of other databases like SCI through the Weighed PageRank. Popular diaries are those that are cited often by diaries could be with small prestigiousness. These diaries hence could hold a really high IF and a really low weighted PageRank. Esteemed diaries, on the contrary, are those may non be often cited, but their commendations come from extremely esteemed diaries. These diaries may hold a really low IF but a really high weighted PageRank. Analysis of diaries harmonizing to their ISI IF and their leaden PageRank shows important convergences and differences.h-index and g-indexThe h-index was introduced by Hirsch ( 2005 ) and is defined as follows: â€Å" A scient ist has index H if H of his/her Np documents have at least h commendations each, and the other ( Np-h ) documents have no more than h commendations each. † As a consequence the h-index provides a combination of both measure ( figure of documents ) and quality ( impact, or commendations to these documents ) ( Glanzel, 2006 ) . Therefore, the h-index is preferred to merely mensurating the entire figure of commendations as it corrects for â€Å" one hit admirations † , i.e. faculty members who might hold authored ( or even be the twentieth co-author of ) one or a limited figure of highly-cited documents, but have non shown an academic public presentation that has been sustained over a longer period of clip. The H index is besides preferred over a simple measuring of the figure of documents published as it corrects for documents that are non cited and hence can be argued to hold had limited impact on the field. In amount, the h-index favor faculty members that publish a uni nterrupted watercourse of documents with permanent and above-average impact ( Bornmann & A ; Daniel, 2007 ) . Hirsch index therefore measures the quality and sustainability and diverseness of scientific end product and therefore addresses the jobs with the SCI where a methodological paper could bring the highest impact. A major restriction is that scientists who are really productive tend to hold lower H figure. A disadvantage of the h-index is that it ignores the figure of commendations to each single article over and above what is needed to accomplish a certain h-index. Therefore an academic or diary with an h-index of 6 could theoretically hold a sum of 36 commendations ( 6 for each paper ) , but could besides hold more than a 5,000 commendations ( 5 documents with 1,000 commendations each and one paper with 6 commendations ) . Of class, in world these extremes will be really improbable. However, it is true that one time a paper belongs to the top H documents, its subsequent commendations no longer â€Å" count † ( Braun, 2005 ) . Hence, in order to give more weight to highly-cited articles Leo Egghe ( 2006 ) proposed the g-index. The g-index is defined as follows: [ Given a set of articles ] ranked in diminishing order of the figure of commendations that they received, the g-index is the ( alone ) largest figure such that the top g articles received ( together ) at least g2 commendations. Although the g-index has non yet attracted much attending or empirical confirmation, it would look to be a really utile complement to the h-index. The h-index and g-index have several of import advantages over the Thomson ISI JIF. First of wholly, these indices do non hold an unnaturally fixed clip skyline. Second, the h-index, and to a lesser extent the g-index, attenuates the impact of one extremely cited article, because – unlike citations-per-paper steps such as the JIF – the h-index and g-index are non based on average tonss. H-index measures the overall commendation impact of the diary, non in the commendation impact of one or two extremely cited single documents in that diary. h-index for diaries provides a robust step of sustained and lasting public presentation of diaries, instead than articles. Third, both the h-index and g-index are influenced to some extent by the figure of documents that a diary publishes. A diary that publishes a larger figure of documents has a higher likeliness of bring forthing a higher h-index and g-index since every article presents another opportunity for commendations ( Saad, 2006 ) .The Y-factorThe Y-factor is a simple combination of both the IF and the leaden PageRank. Significantly, the writers claim that the ensuing journal rankings correspond good to a general apprehension of journal position. For illustration, while the IF superior lists five reappraisal diaries, the Y-factor column had none. Two primary research diaries Cell and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, rated extremely by equals, figure in the Y-factor list ( Satyanarayana, 2010 ) .Faculty of 1000Peer ranking of research documents outside the commendation figure game has besides been tried and a outstanding one being the Faculty of 1000, a subscription-based literature consciousness tool. Faculty of 1000 comprehensively and consistently high spots and reviews the most interesting documents published in subjects as biological science, medical specialty etc. , based on the recommendations of 1000s of carefully chosen research workers. ( hypertext transfer protocol: // f1000biology.com/ about/faq ) . These Faculty members evaluate documents based on their perceived virtue than where they appear to germinate a consensus. The restrictions: the manner of choice of the module itself as besides the pick of documents considered to be of high quality as the diaries sample is about 1000 merely. The concluding F1000 Factor is consensual integrating the evaluations it receives and the figure of times it is selected by different Faculty Members. Outstanding work therefore gets its merited equal acknowledgment irrespective and independent of commendation counts ( Meho, 2009 ) .Tocopherol I g vitamin E n f a hundred T O RDeveloped by Carl Bergstrom, the Eigenfactor ( Bergstrom et al. , 2008 ) provides an on-line suite of tools that â€Å" ranks diaries much as Google ranks web sites † . The informations are taken from the Thomson Reuters databases. Available at no charge, the Eigenfactor is considered a step of the diary ‘s entire importance to th e scientific community. The â€Å" Article Influence † metric within the Eigenfactor is comparable to the impact factor, but that is merely one facet of the broader model.Other initiatives-Other current enterprises include the MESUR ( MEtrics from Scholarly Usage of Resources ) undertaking supported by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a two twelvemonth attempt to enrich â€Å" the toolkit used for the appraisal of the impact of scholarly communicating points, and hence of bookmans, with prosodies that derive from use informations † ( Banks et al. , 2008 ) . The MESUR is considered the most comprehensive attempt until now to analyze article impact rating techniques visa- six modern scholarly communicating patterns that have undergone a sea alteration over the last decennary.DecisionWhile the impact factor may, in certain fortunes, be a utile subjective tool for rating journal quality, it is non appropriate for choice appraisal of single articles or writers. The impact facto r is a tool whose utility is declining, but there is non yet a to the full feasible option to it. Therefore, when utilizing impact factor for comparing of diaries, cautiousness should be taken sing the built-in restrictions of impact factor.

Marketing activities Essay

Jeans are just an ordinary piece of clothing to many people. To others, however, they are a powerful means of self-expression. This fact is confirmed by the sheer number of companies that produce jeans, including Levis, Gap, Old Navy, Calvin Klein, Armani, Guess, Miss Sixty, Tommy Hilfiger and many others. Jeans are one of many ways in which a person can send a message to other people concerning various aspects of one’s character, an easy and understandable way at that. Given the large scale of marketing activities of clothing manufacturers nowadays, if jeans did not send a message, the producing companies would invent a message for them. It is just so fascinating to impart a twist of meaning to a couple of pants so that the pubic can identify them with a particular style or trend. This is the age of individualisation and customization, and clothing manufacturers do not want to stay behind. They want to make their product specific and readily recognizable – and they do everything they can to appeal to their target audience with a specific message. For instance, Levis are now seen as a traditional American outfit, something that brings one back to the times of life on the frontier or something that our grandparents wore. Gap, on the contrary, is a more youthful, girlish look, and so is Miss Sixty. This process can be described as branding, a concept familiar to every marketer who knows that if a piece of clothing does not send a message, it is the job of the marketer to invent this message and make sure the potential buyers are able to recognise it. The marketers’ task is to plant in the mind of the consumer the idea that carrying a certain brand is linked to a philosophy, that a company does not stand merely for a set of machines with workers as appendages, that it can develop and sustain an ideology embodied in a simple pair of jeans. What kind of messages can jeans send out? First, a person can opt for a traditional or a modern design, underscoring the level of commitment to modernity and change. It is most often natural for older people to choose traditional fashion, classical fits that will last for many years without violating the norms of fashion. The young, on the contrary, will most often wear the fashions of this very season in order to underscore that they are at the forefront of fashion. When, for instance, an older person may opt for a more modern cut going to a youth venue for some reason. This can send out a message to the younger crowd that this person wants to be in many ways like them and share their experiences in different possible ways. Then there is the question to be solved as to how much sex appeal the jeans should hold. We all remember very well this trend towards super-tight men’s jeans that mostly young guys wore partly because it was fashionable and partly because they wanted to demonstrate their attractions to the opposite sex. Girls can also wear tight jeans or choose those that are very low-cut to emphasize their appeal. As with revealing clothing in general, a person wearing such clothing demonstrates that he or she is very confident of one’s ability to attract other people and happy or at least not shameful of one’s figure. This is not always the case, and those who think their bodies are distasteful are not likely to choose jeans that will reveal a large part of it. Another message linked to wearing sexy jeans is the manifestation of the desire to be liked by the opposite sex. Surely we all or almost all have this desire, but not everybody would dare to reveal it in public, either in words or in clothing. Many people are wary of being too open about this inner drive and try to suppress it as something indecent. The individual who chooses to demonstrate this natural instinct is sending a message to representatives of the opposite sex: â€Å"Look at me, I want you to appreciate me. Am I not good-looking? † Tight jeans will almost surely make guys inspect a girl’s figure more closely than that of her more modest friends even if those look like top models. She will then attract more suitors – but at the same time risks incurring girls’ anger as they recognize that she is out on a hunt and will grab a fair share of what could have been their prey. Thus, wearing provocative jeans can also be a sign of daring, ability to defy social norms and to disregard the opinion of other people. Since in most cultures flirting is reserved for informal surroundings, a person who puts on a sexy-looking pair indicates that he or she believes to be in a setting where flirting is acceptable and one can expect to find a partner. Few people would seriously consider putting on provocative jeans on a corporate outing since this would send the wrong message to the colleagues. Besides, jeans can look either sophisticated or sloppy, and this distinction, too, is meaningful. A person may choose to look sloppy in order to underscore the informality of the situation and to make others feel at ease. This effect can occur when, for instance, an official or top-level executive invents a little outing with subordinates and wants to appear in the image of a simple, down-to-earth man attentive to their needs and feelings. Choice of an upscale-looking, elegant pair of jeans may not be quite the right choice since this will remind the inferiors once again about the difference in the social status between them and their boss. A casual, sloppy pair will be more acceptable.