At&T Wireless: Text Messaging Essay

1. Describe the cost behavior in the wireless industry. What are the implications of this cost behavior for cost-volume-profit (CVP) relationships? The term cost behavior is used to describe whether a cost changes as output changes. In this case the costs are tightly shielded. In order to describe the cost behavior of the industry, we have to study the process that results in cost incurrence. Based on the information in the AT&T case, the industry features a high proportion of fixed costs in relation to acquiring spectrum and building a network. Variable costs are relatively low and, in the case of text messages, are very low. The cost structure in the wireless industry is dominated by fixed costs, so the contribution margin ratio is high. The high fixed costs and large contribution margin ratio result in a relatively high percentage increase in profit. The greater the proportion of fixed costs in a firm’s cost structure, the greater the impact on profit will be from a given percentage change in sales. The wireless industry has high operating leverage, because of high fixed costs and low variable costs. Therefore, the industry has a high ability to generate an increase in net income when sales revenue increases. â€Å"Text messages did not use any extra spectrum – once the carrier had paid the cost of the underlying infrastructure and storage equipment. Any revenue received by the provider on incremental text message usage is almost pure profit†. So, we can assume that, the cost does not change as the output changes. As far as I understand, the costs are incurred when the message is actually sent, and all these cost are very low. 2. What are the key cost drivers? Can a cost driver be used to continually raise prices? Cost drivers 1. Number of text messages per minute 2. Number of cell towers per area covered 3. Number of databases needed for a certain volume of messages 4. Number of customers 5. Number of cell phone plans 6. Number of terabytes 7. Number of devices The choice of the cost driver in this industry is not obvious, and the cost behavior pattern can depend on the cost driver selected. In this case the key cost driver is the number of text messages sent/received per minute. Yes and No. It depends on the cost behavior of the business. If the business has high variable costs and low fixed costs then the organization is more effected by a change in the volume. If the business, like in AT&T’s case, has a high rate of fixed costs with minimal variable costs (we assume that they are at the low end of the range of volume per fixed costs because their profit margin is high) then a change in volume will have little to no effect on the actual costs incurred. 3. What does it cost AT&T to send a text message?[Consider costs of the channel, billing cost, storage cost] Based on this cost, what is AT&T’s profit margin as a percentage of its text messaging business? [Consider per-use pricing and package pricing]How strong a relationship should exist? In Plan Channel cost$.0008641 (.07/81) = using voice messages as a reference which cost $.07 cents a minute. There are 81 text messages/minute transmitted per channel. Billing cost .0017283 (.0008641 x 2) = assume billing costs are twice as much as wireless costs Data base cost.0002857 (10M/35B) = AT&T would carry approximately 1% of worldwide text traffic of 3.5 trillion (35B) in their database which costs ~ 10 million dollars Storage cost .0000003837 (13,430/35B) = Worldwide text storage is 1,343 terabytes. AT&T would carry 1% of this storage =  13.43 terabytes. Cost of storage is $1,000 x 13.43 = $13,430. To get the per text cost divide this by 35B. Total cost per text$.002878 Gross Profit Margin = Gross Profit divided by total revenue $.20 per messageplan of $5 for 200 messagesplan of $15 for 1500 messages (.20 – .00278)/.20(.025-.002878)/.025 (.01 – .002878)/.01 =99%= 88%= 71% 4. How strong a relationship should exist between the prices charged to a customer for a good or service and the cost of providing that good or service? We think that companies should calculate their break-even point for their goods and services and to charge the prices according to that figure. This way, they can make sure that their price covers their expenses. In case of AT&T’s text messaging they are charging much more than the cost. But because there are only four national carriers in United States and they control 90 percent of the market, and text messaging had become widely popular, they can afford high prices. They are considering the demand of the service and pricing the product according to demand and supply. 5. Why is the price that AT&T charges to transmit a kilobyte of data via text message so much higher than the price charged to transmit a kilobyte of data via a Smartphone? The fastest growing wireless industry is text messaging. This also reflects the earlier comment that demand for messaging far exceeds supply, therefore driving prices up. Even though it costs less to transmit a text message than data, it is still seen as a very low cost to the average customer. The customer feels like they are getting a good deal because they are using the text messaging more than the data messaging. Part of the wireless industries revenue is from the sale of the devices. Even the cheapest cell phones have the capability to send text messages. Since the company is not making as much of a profit off of the device (cell phone), they are making up the difference in charging more for the text messages. In addition, since voice  messaging is being replaced by data messaging, both text and email, almost all cell phone chains are developing their own version of an IPhone or smart phone. To compete with these other chains, AT&T must charge the lowest price possible for their data to entice customers to buy their products over the competitors. 6. As we move to a service economy, can we expect to have more or fewer businesses with cost behaviors similar to those in the text messaging sector? Explain. I would assume we would see more businesses with cost behaviors similar to the text messaging sector. The reason being is the service industry tends to have more fixed costs that don’t increase linearly with the increase in service. The fixed costs tend to be step-fixed costs, whereas they can maintain services within a certain range up to a point in which they have to increase the fixed costs. The variable costs tend to be minimal since they often don’t have the manufacturing costs of direct materials and direct labor. After a service industry covers the basic operations, less money is needed as sales rise. Once the fixed costs are paid, the expense of processing additional sales is so little that the profits will grow faster than the revenues. The precedence has already been set in multiple service organizations, particularly internet companies. They have shown that once you achieve the hurdle of covering your basic fixed costs, the increased volume of service is very profitable. 7. What should management of wireless firms seek to do now? AT&T should invest in improving the company‘s wireless broadband coverage and its performance. They can improve network coverage by adding cell towers, laying faster fiber-optic cabling, adding capacity to cell sites and upgrading current cell sites to improve internet speeds. By enhancing the network, they can carry a larger volume of data traffic. This will allow them to accommodate more customers and therefore increase their profits.

Raymond Carver - Short Stories with Depth Research Paper

Raymond Carver - Short Stories with Depth - Research Paper Example Precisely why we have very few accomplished short story writers in English literature. In this essay we are going to analyse two stories written by one such accomplished writer Raymond Carver. We are going to compare and contrast these stories and also discuss Raymond Carver’s style of writing. The stories we are going to compare are, ‘Nobody said anything’ and ‘Will you please be quiet please?’ Life of Raymond carver Carver was born in Oregon, in a small mill town. His father was a skilled sawmill worker. His mother supported the family by working as a waitress and retail clerk. Carver got married when he was nineteen and his wife was barely sixteen. Their first child, a daughter was born six months after they got married and a son followed next year. All this time Carver supported his family by doing odd jobs. He later moved to California where he completed his BA and also attended a creative writing workshop conducted by John Gardner. Gardner held profound influence on Carver’s life and career. Carver kept moving his family from one state to another. His wife supported him by doing various odd jobs such as cocktail waitress, salesperson, administrative assistant and even as local school teacher. She supported Carver’s heavy drinking and life as a writer even though he kept teaching in universities across America. She also completed her degree and began to do better jobs to support Carver. Carver took to bottle and by his own admission has stated that in those years of heavy drinking he rarely wrote and only immersed himself in alcohol. Even when his friend Cheever stopped drinking due to diagnosis of cancer, Carver continued to drink. He had resorted to drinking so much that he needed medical assistance thrice to help him back to life. Eventually with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous Carver stopped drinking and took control of his life again. He divorced his first wife and married Tess Gallagher in the year 1982 . He died at the age of fifty due to cancer. Reflection of his life in his work Carver came from a blue collared working family. He came typically from lower middle class background which is seen in his stories. He saw life of blue collared workers very closely. Like couple of his contemporaries Carver painted a picture of lower middle class people on his writing. He highlighted their misery, their problems, their losses, love, relationships, and compromises all in his stories and poetry. He developed a matter of fact approach of stating their lives in his works. For a writer it is difficult to overcome the influences of his life while writing. Personal experiences and feelings do find place in the work they produce. One has to look beyond words to understand and feel what the writer actually wants to convey as deeper meaning to the picture he is creating. All his life till forty Carver struggled with his life by doing odd jobs, teaching and writing. He saw life from close end of th e pavilion and hence all those experiences found place in his work. Carver’s style of writing Carver is said to have a style of ‘dirty realism’ in his work. He was a minimalist writer using words only when necessary. John Gardner whose writing workshop Carver attended mentored Carver to use minimum words required to express him. It was Carver’s publisher Gordon Lish who pushed this minimalist writing to the brim by further cutting down the number of words Carver wrote. Carver later broke the agreement with Lish

Kantian Argument Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Kantian Argument - Essay Example Budeau and Marshal Bedau and Cassell Budeau and marshal hold that the death penalty is morally wrong regardless of the crime committed by the offender. Both opponents of the death penalty have suggested that when analyzing whether a certain crime fit a given punishment, one must look at the impact of the punishment. This includes both the criminal and the society at large (Bedau and Cassell 118). The two argue out that capital punishment creates biased sense of security within the society. Community members feel better in the knowledge that the capital punishment is an option for a severe crime regardless of whether it is applied or not. According to Kant’s framework of ethics (to persons), capital punishment reduces the worth of the criminal who is also is a human being. He further states that the rightness or wrongness of an action is determined, not by the consequences, but by their ability to fulfill our duty. Kant argued that the only intrinsic good thing is a good will ( Bedan 100). An action can only be judged to be good if it fulfills its duty to the moral law. Kant, unlike Pojman, held that particular types of actions (including murder and the death sentence) were extremely prohibited. Before acting, he proposes that there are two issues one need to ponder first. The first is whether everyone will act the same way you act, and whether one’s actions are in contravention to the goals of human beings. With respect to the theory of utilitarianism, individuals ought to undertake an action because it will produce the most happiness than any other action. The act that the morally right action, the action in which everybody has a moral duty to do, is the one that maximizes utility. Utility comprises happiness, well-being, and welfare. Everybody’s happiness counts equally, thus death sentence should be the last option, provided it is the action that provides the most happiness in the end (Bedau and Cassell 159). Pojman Pojman is one of the m ajor proponents of capital punishment. His views strongly suggest that the death sentence acknowledges the offender’s right and worth as a person. This is because it entails treating him as fully responsible for his actions (Bedan 188). Pojman sets out to offer an argument in favor of Capital Punishment as morally right. He builds upon Kantian’s proposition on the importance of an equal penalty for a wrong committed. He accepts the fundamental position that the availability of the death sentence is critical with respect to the argument of justice. He reinforces his argument a critical premise. This proposition holds that a person cannot enjoy their right to life when they have denied the deceased theirs. Provided that our society treats people as free agents and autonomous, capital offenders are required to bear responsibility for their action. The option of an equivalent punishment for an equivalent crime supports the responsibility of nature and government as a citiz enry. MyView Death penalty presents a form of barbaric form of punishment as it is the ultimate denial of human rights. Capital punishment presents a cold-blooded and premeditated killing of human beings by the state. It is not morally correct that the degrading and human punishment be carried out in the name of justice. This is because, as a form of the application of justice, it breaches the right to life as provided in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Amnesty international is

High density Plasma CVD Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

High density Plasma CVD - Research Paper Example These include silicon, carbon, nitrites, carbides, oxides and also many others. In semi-conductor world, CVT is majorly used in the fabrication process of the semiconductor devices and to the exposure of the amorphous SiO2, Silicon Germanium and tungsten etc. The CVD is also the cause of the production of synthetic diamonds. The major importance of CVD in the industry lies in the fact that this process uses the gases as reactants. So the gas’s properties give much support to the reaction procedures. CVD is far most the best and reliable deposition phenomenon/process present. Its advantages include Versatile in nature – any element can be deposited either metallic or non-metallic About 99.99-99.999% pure results Formation of the material less than the melting point Nearly 100% density Economical There exist various types of Chemical Vapor Deposition. These include Atmospheric pressure CVD (APCVD), Aerosol Assisted CVD (AACVD), Hot Wire (HWCVD), Atomic Layer CVD (ALCVD), Low Pressure CVD (LPCVD), Metal Organic CVD (MOCVD), Plasma Enhanced CVD (PECVD) Rapid Thermal CVD (RTCVD), Remote Plasma Enhanced CVD (RPECVD), Microwave Plasma Assisted CVD (MPACVD) and Ultra High Vacuum CVD (UHVCVD). Introduction to High Density Plasma CVD Now I will start a proper introduction of the High Density Plasma Chemical vapor deposition HDP-CVD). The HDP-CVD process is majorly used for the dielectric gap filling in semiconductor devices manufacturing at very micro level. It is used for the Shallow Trench Isolation (STI) and the dielectrics inter layers in 180-nm, 130-nm and 90-nm technologies. Hope fully it will start for the 65-nm and 45-nm technologies too. Gap fillings at such a small scale are very difficult task. While doing the edge gap filling some factors are also keep in consideration like raising the wafer temperature, plasma density and lowering of the deposition pressure. The reaction chamber is used for the process. Scientists have developed the new generat ion tools for the higher plasma density. The HDP reaction chamber is included the two sources of the radio frequency (RF). These are coupled with the plasma as inductively and capacitively. Inductive RF controls the plasma density and capacitive RF controls the physical bombardment of ions to the wafers or substrates. The reaction chamber will be discussed in detail later on. HDP-CVD gives improved characteristics for the gap filling in the semiconductor fabrication. A process is explained here as an example. A semiconductor material or substrate is loaded in the reaction process chamber. The high density plasma is generated by the gases including oxygen, silicon, hydrogen and a chemical etching gas which is nitrogen free. This plasma is generated exactly on the substrate semiconductor. After this process the chemical semiconductor substrate is heated to a very high temperature. Normally it ranges from the 550 degree Celsius to 700 degree Celsius. This procedure helps in filling the gap regions without any side effects to the substrate. The layer for filling the gaps is of the silicon oxide. Fabrication Process The process of the high density plasma CVD comprised of the different claims which are as follows The steps which involved in the high density

Cause Related Marketing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cause Related Marketing - Assignment Example The paper tells that cause-related marketing is a two-way process in which a business is approached by those whoa re working for a cause and so in collaboration, the company markets its goods or services using that cause and end of the day a decoded portion of the profits goes to the cause. This is a two-way process because it helps both the companies and the causes. On one hand, with the sales of the companies, a lot of charity is generated for the cause, which might not be that much if asked just in the name of charity. On the other hand, it helps the company a great deal in making more profits because the companies gain the sympathies of the consumers that they attach with cause and so they buy the companies products more to help the cause. Cause-Related marketing helps the companies significantly in making more profits. When a cause is attached with the products of a company, the company gets the â€Å"halo† effect by being related to a noble cause and so the people attach same feelings for their products that they attach for the cause. A research has concluded that 89% of the consumers would prefer to buy a cause-related product by switching a brand if the prices are same. This benefits the company significantly because even if the prices are low to be kept equal with the competing brands, the tag of a cause would make up for the profits. More sales would be generated because of people, like buying for a cause and so the increased sales would automatically result in giving the company more profits. This cause-related marketing works in a win-win manner. It basically believes in â€Å"doing well while doing good†. Although some might think of it as only a business and marketing tactic in which the companies play with the consumer’s emotions to generate profits, it actually works in both directions. Apart from cause-related marketing, otherwise the companies also try to touch the soft sides of their consumers through advertisements etc s o this is not a new concept. Getting related to a cause does help that cause to earn charity and it helps the companies in generating more sales and thus profits too. Cause-related marketing helps the company’s profitability by polishing its reputation amongst the customers. It gives the company better visibility because people start spreading the word about such companies to raise awareness for the cause.

Managing Organizations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Managing Organizations - Essay Example Modern people differ much from the people of the previous century in terms of their goals, methods of their reaching, communication, ambitions, etc. Managing people now is not an easy task thus it needs new approaches. Thus, managers of the modern companies are looking for the new ways of employee motivation. Freedom for action is an essential factor to consider. Actually, when we hear about the organization, where employees make decisions themselves, we usually can’t believe that, because a great number of successful companies are hierarchical bureaucracies (Microsoft, Apple etc.). It seems impossible also for many managers to provide staff with opportunities to set the goals for the company instead of them and to realize these goals without being controlled and thoroughly supervised. Also we all know the conclusion made by Max Weber: bureaucratic organizations are the most successful players on the stage of the market economy. However, modern experts admit that Weber’ s conclusion can’t be considered fully grounded as the famous sociologist may not know some important facts on bureaucracies. Modern investigations show that workplace stress prevents people from high performance. Working in the conditions of hierarchical bureaucracy, people are able to realize only 60% of their potential. Thus, it is essential to look for alternatives. Moreover, as it was mentioned above, modern people often refuse to work in the atmosphere of dictate, when they should only fulfill somebody’s orders and do not have an opportunity to express their own opinion. Such working conditions prevent people from the realization of their creative potential and it is obvious that such realization would contribute to company’s success. New ways of managing people should be found by modern supervisors. Recent studies held showed that there are some companies who successfully practice freedom of employees’ action. Their success is built on the principl es of liberating leadership listed below. Liberating leader is a one who: listens to employees’ propositions instead of imposing his own views; openly shares his views on successful organizational performance in order not to make employees confused; does not motivate employees to give them an opportunity to motivate themselves; plays the role of â€Å"culture-keeper†. Actually, the behavior of workers in the organization is determined by the number of factors, external and internal. These factors contribute to organization performance in freedom action conditions. Among the internal factors is first of all trust in leadership. Leadership plays an essential role in any type of organization, no matter if it is freedom company or hierarchical bureaucracy. Workers of any organization usually tend to mirror the work of leadership and the supervision should be implemented in the way so that employees may feel its support but not a dictate. The second important internal facto r is organizational culture. The atmosphere in the company should be friendly and positive, work schedule should be flexible. The external factors also mean much, for example, it is interesting to cooperate and communicate with another companies in the market. â€Å"Research findings show that collaboration with other firms and with customers can be a significant source of product

English settlement in the Americas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

English settlement in the Americas - Essay Example The colonization had made Spain the wealthiest nation, during the later years of the 1500s. The inflow of the English was triggered by the need to colonize and explore the Americas, after they saw that Spain was growing extremely rich during the sixteenth century (Benedict 1996). However, the colonization and the exploration style of England was different from that of Portugal and Spain, as England privatized its exploration, through granting letters of Marquis and charters to the individuals that captured English colonies as economic strongholds. This paper will explore the motives behind the development of English settlements in the Americas, both from the perspective of the settlers and official policy formulations (Starkey 1998). The motives included mercantilism, which is the economic outlook of integrating private and government efforts, towards fostering economic development. The aims of the system included managing all the components of American trade, including transport, pr oduction and retailing – under the control of England. ... There was also the spread of Protestantism, partly due to Henry VIII’s pursuit of getting a male child. After the death of Edward in 1553, Mary I took over, and she started killing Protestants, so that she could restore England to Catholicism. On one occasion, she commanded the execution of 300 Protestants for heresy, and had them burnt. During the time of fleeing England to avoid persecution, and after the reign of Elizabeth, the English settled in the Americas – and in the process realized the goal of expanding their religious coverage (Spielvogel 2000). The English sought to expand the coverage of their religion, as there was the common view that Spanish Catholicism was evil. As a result, the attacks staged on Spanish ships by Sir Francis, while in the American waters were hailed as a heroic act, and not pirate activity. The demolition of the Spanish armada paved way for the English explorers to colonize the Americas, which was also an effort to contain the spread of Catholicism. The development of English settlements in the Americas was also triggered by the population increase of the 1500s. During the time, England passed laws on enclosure, making all land private, which made it very difficult for commoners to feed their animals at public lands. The shift towards privatizing land resulted from the increase in the price of wool. As a result, land owners decided to stop the competition for provision of wool by increasing their farm lands and to increase their wealth through the trade. The shift increased wool production, but also led to an increase in the number of landless people, who has sustained their livelihood by grazing at public lands. Also, between 1530