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Does the passage you have chosen demonstrate that you have read the novel and thought about its meaning?

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sell “+%

X   Season of Migration to the North b…

Season of Migration to the North, book response
Due: Monday, December 9 at 4pm

Originally published in 1966, Tayeb Salih’s Season of Migration to the North is a work of postcolonial fiction that offers “deep insights into the complexities of life in a colonized place after the colonizers depart.” Salih’s unnamed narrator returns to his village in recently independent Sudan after studying in England and meets a newcomer, Mustafa Sa’eed, who is trying to put his own brilliant and terrible years in Britain behind him. The novel challenges the reader to consider the consequences of

colonialism by playing with the concepts of power, identity, and conquest between “North” and “South.” Salih’s novel is a

primary source for understanding the period of decolonization following World War II. It shows that the impact of colonization did not end when colonized people gained their political

independence.

For this assignment, please choose a passage or short paragraph
(2-4 sentences in total) that you think best captures the novel’s
message about the legacy of colonialism in newly-independent
nations. Underneath your selected passage, please write a short
(500 word minimum) explanation or reflection on why you

chose that passage and what you think the author is trying to
convey with this novel about colonialism and decolonization.

You must cite the page number of your passage, as well as any additional quotations you include in your reflection like this: “Passage or quotation here.” (Salih, 38.)

This assignment is worth 5% of your total grade. You will receive a 10/10 if it is completed satisfactorily, or a 0/10 if unsatisfactory. There will be no grades in between. A

satisfactory paper must demonstrate the following:

– Does the passage you have chosen demonstrate that you
have read the novel and thought about its meaning? Note: I

strongly suggest that you avoid choosing a passage from the first or last 5 pages of the novel. If you do, please make sure that your reflection clearly demonstrates that you have also read the middle of the novel!

– Does your explanation/reflection engage with the plot and
themes of the novel? Please do not merely summarize the

novel or use long, block quotations!

– Is your reflection mostly free from major grammatical,
spelling, and punctuation errors? Have you run

spelling/grammar check?

 

Again: DO NOT JUST SUMMARIZE THE PLOT OF THE NOVEL. Please think critically about the novel’s themes and ideas. Ask me if you need any clarification.

You will submit this assignment on Blackboard using
software that detects plagiarism. You may read reviews of
the novel (see below) and even refer to them in your
reflection, but you MUST cite the review using the footnote

 

format below, or
V V.
….A..
,
V v.,  es
on this

What is the state’s interest in providing 1st Amendment protections to hate speech? Does the state have an equally compelling interest in limiting it?

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Final Paper Instructions

Your final paper should reflect a firm command of a specific issue related to the themes covered in this course. The paper is your opportunity to display your particular insights and cultivate expertise on your topic. Make the most of it!

Purpose

Upon completion of your paper, you should be able to clearly explain your issue, answer basic empirical questions about the topic, identify the important normative questions related to it, and offer your own analysis of its significance.

You will be drafting a research paper. A research paper consists of a clear thesis (articulated in the introduction), supporting evidence, and your own original analysis of that evidence. Analyzing evidence entails not only citing the facts or text that support your argument, but also interpreting them for your reader. It is your job to connect the dots for your reader – a good analysis clearly explains how the evidence cited leads to drawing the conclusion asserted in the thesis.

Understanding your topic and garnering evidence for your argument will require that you conduct academic research. To this end, you should consider taking advantage of campus resources, including subject guides available through the library. Please use academic, peer-reviewed sources. This includes books published by university presses and articles available on ProQuest, JSTOR, and other databases accessible through the university library. Generally, these databases include a search option that limits your results to only peer-reviewed sources, which can be helpful if you are in doubt. Additionally, the McGill University Writing Centre offers assistance to students who wish to improve their writing skills.

Specifications

  • The paper is due on December 1st
  • Papers should be approximately fifteen to twenty pages in length (double spaced), with standard margins. Title pages and bibliographies are required, but are not included in the page count. If you wish to develop your paper further (as a graduate school writing sample, for presentation at the Moore conference, or for submission to a journal), you may opt for a longer paper (20-25pages).
  • You may choose a citation style (APA, MLA, or Chicago). Please apply that style consistently throughout the paper.
  • Pages must be numbered.

Choosing a Topic

You will need to invest a significant amount of time in preparing, drafting, and refining this paper, so I encourage you to choose a topic that interests you. Topics should be broad enough to have clear significance, but narrow enough that it is possible to give a thorough treatment in the space allowed. All topics and thesis statements must be approved by the instructor, either during office hours or via email. Be prepared to explain your topic choice and how you plan to go about researching it. Questions to consider in choosing a topic:

  • Why is this issue important? If you were to explain your topic to someone who is not in this class, how would you persuade them that it is an issue they should care about?
  • What is your position on the issue and what reasons can you give for holding it? You will need to support your argument by offering evidence. When you give evidence, it is useful to imagine presenting your argument to someone who does not support your position or who is even opposed to it. As such, your evidence must be strong and as unbiased as possible.
  • What kind of argument do you want to make? Will it involve significant empirical elements (for instance, evaluating social, moral, or political psychology research and drawing some conclusion relevant to politics in a democratic society from it)? Is it wholly normative? Empirical arguments make a statement about what “is” or “is not.” Normative arguments concern what “ought to be.” Both types of argument require strong evidence – stating an unsupported opinion is not sufficient. Because this is a political theory course, your primary claim should be normative. 


Research Questions and Thesis Statements

A research question is a concise articulation of the issue you are exploring. You should be able to formulate a research question if your topic has been sufficiently narrowed. Examples include:

  • What is a commercial association, and should it be treated differently from other types of association (expressive, intimate, etc.)?
  • What is the state’s interest in providing 1st Amendment protections to hate speech? Does the state have an equally compelling interest in limiting it?
  • Should “obscenity” be abolished as a category of unprotected speech? Why and under what circumstances?
  • Should the Court treat privately owned platforms like Twitter or Facebook as if they were public forums? Why or why not?
  • Which religions do not merit recognition by the state? Why not?

Your thesis statement is your answer to your research question. It should also briefly explain the significance of your argument.

Writing, Organization, and Evaluation 
While this is not a composition class, a well-written paper will receive a higher grade than a poorly written one. There are several reasons for this:

  1. Well-written papers are clear. There is no confusion about what the author is or is not claiming. It is impossible to evaluate an argument’s merits if it is not clear what that argument is.
  2. A poorly written paper distracts the reader, weakening the effect of your argument. Unnecessary sentences, tangential paragraphs, and extraneous words take your reader’s attention away from your argument, and so are not effective ways of making it.
  3. This is an upper-division course, and it is expected that by this stage, students have mastered the basics of composition.

Your paper does not need to be a great piece of literature. You will not be graded on merely stylistic or aesthetic elements, but it does need to be clearly written and well organized. I recommend having another person proofread your paper for clarity and errors.

A minimally sufficient (C grade) paper:

  • Has a thesis statement, but may not state it clearly or explain its importance.
  • Offers evidence, but does not clearly explain its relationship with the thesis.
  • Includes some logical fallacies or arguments that have serious flaws in their construction.
  • Has typographical or grammatical errors.
  • Does not clearly convey information.
  • Is disorganized, rendering it difficult to follow.

A good (B grade) paper:

  • Has a clearly stated thesis (usually at the end of the introduction).
  • Conveys why the central argument (stated in the thesis) is important.
  • Offers evidence supporting the thesis, drawn from reputable sources.
  • Explains clearly why the evidence given does, in fact, support the thesis.
  • Is free of typographical errors and grammatical mistakes.

The very best (A grade) papers will meet the requirements of a good paper, and also:

  • Situate the issue in broader debates.
  • Review and evaluate opposing arguments (Fairly, no straw men!).
  • Offer reasons why those opposing arguments are incorrect or 
inapplicable to the case under consideration.
  • Give a persuasive, detailed interpretation of what the evidence says about the thesis (analysis). This entails giving an account of what the evidence means in context.
  • Offer original insights.
  • Include insights from the entire course, synthesizing ideas and drawing clear connections between them. I recommend reading The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. It is a good primer on how to write a clear, organized paper, and also gives a good grammatical refresher.

While I am happy to discuss papers with students during office hours, I do not read and evaluate finished drafts. It is not possible to do this for all students, and it is unfair to other students to allow some what is, essentially, two chances at the same assignment. I will offer comments on outlines, however.

 

 

How to refurbish existing commercial office buildings to meet the energy strategies of 2050.

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Contents

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.. 2

1.1 Background. 2

1.2 Aim… 3

1.3 Objectives. 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW… 3

2.1 Introduction. 3

2.2 An Understanding of Existing Commercial Office Buildings and Their Energy Usage. 4

2.3 Analysis of the Different Refurbishment Methods that are available in the Industry and How They Will Help Achieve the Net-Zero Low Emissions Standards. 6

2.4 Eco-Friendly Materials and Refurbishment Methods to be used in Different Projects. 8

2.4 Compliance with the UK’s Net-Zero Emissions Law.. 9

CHAPTHER 3 : METHODOLOGY.. 10

3.1 Introduction. 10

3.2 Books. 10

3.3 Online Research. 10

3.4 Case Study. 10

3.5 Problem Encountered. 11

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

The UK government considers climate change to be the greatest challenge facing humanity and in May 2019, Parliament declared a ‘climate change emergency’, (ref at the bottom of page) for this reason the government have recommended the need to reduce its carbon emissions. Prime Minister Theresa May said there was a “moral duty to leave this world in a better condition than what we inherited”. She goes on to say that Cutting emissions would benefit public health and cut NHS costs. (second ref at the bottom)

 

Published in 2008, the Climate Change Act was the UK’s way of approaching and responding to climate change (ref 1). The Act makes it the duty of the UK government to ensure that the net UK carbon account for greenhouse gas emissions for the year 2050 is at least 80% lower than the 1990 baseline, (ref2). Also introduced were ‘carbon budgets’ which cap emissions over successive 5-year periods and must be set 12 years in advance (ref 3) The Climate Change Act also requires the UK to produce a UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) every five years, this assesses current and future risks to and opportunities for the UK from climate change. In addition, the Climate Change Act requires the UK Government to produce a National Adaptation Programme (NAP) to respond to the risk assessment. (ref 4)

 

The Climate adaptation policy is a devolved matter: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have each established their own adaptation programmes. This NAP is primarily for England as well as covering UK reserved matters. The UK Administrations are committed to working closely together to share best practice and develop UK wide initiatives where appropriate (ref5).

 

In line with advice from the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) on 2 May 2019, The Scottish Parliament’s Environment Committee acted immediately by lodging amendments to the Bill to set a target date of 2045 for reaching net-zero emissions. The amendments to the Bill also raised the ambition of the 2030 and 2040 targets to 70% and 90% emissions reductions respectively. The Scottish Parliament’s Environment Committee voted in favour of these targets on 18 June 2019 (ref6)

 

All parts of the UK must contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including the built environment, (ref 7)

 

The built environment will face a variety of challenges from a changing climate, including overheating and flood risks. Impacts will vary in scale and intensity between locations and countries, but all urban areas will, to some extent, have to adapt. Buildings and infrastructure that make up the built environment inevitably have long lifetimes (ref8). These buildings affect the environment during their entire lifetime, which includes production materials, construction, operation, maintenance, disassembly and waste management.

 

Natural resources are consumed during these phases, the land is used, waste produced, and emissions are released to the environment. The effect on the environment may remain for years after a building has been demolished. (ref8)

With over 1.35 million non-domestic buildings being over 25years old: the need for more practical refurbishment strategies to help decarbonise and future proof old buildings against climate change is vital (NG et al. 2018) (ref 8)

1.2 Aim

 

This dissertation aims to focus on a variety of ways to improve the energy efficiency of an existing commercial office building; to comply with the UK’s net-zero emissions law that was introduced into the UK and to make sure that it does not affect the use of the building. It focuses only on commercial office buildings, but it can be integrated into any other commercial office building.

1.3 Objectives

 

  1. To develop a more comprehensive understanding of existing commercial office buildings and their energy usage.
  2. To analyse the different refurbishment methods that are available within the industry and how they will help achieve the new low emissions standards.
  3. To gain knowledge of new eco-friendly materials and refurbishment methods that can be used in a variety of different projects.
  4. To look at different countries that have already implemented to low emission materials and see how that can be implemented into a building in the UK and if there are any changes that need to be made.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

 

In recent years, there has been significant progress in the improvement of the energy efficiency of new buildings. The current technology developments and various regulatory frameworks, combined with policy initiatives, have been critical in driving forward the concept of energy efficiency in buildings. Even though much focus has been on the new buildings, there has been a shift toward the older buildings with efforts being directed toward the refurbishment of existing commercial office buildings aimed at meeting the energy strategies of 2050.

 

Further, there is a large percentage of existing commercial buildings, which have significantly lower efficiency state compared to the new ones. Consequently, the existing commercial buildings are likely to consume enormous amounts of energy going into the future. Thus, there is concern about what needs to be done to address the issue of refurbishing existing commercial office buildings to ensure that existing structures meet the established energy strategies of 2050. Concerning that, various regulatory policy instruments have been utilised across the globe that are aimed at driving energy performance improvements in current commercial buildings. The goal is to ensure that existing structures meet the established regulatory guidelines with regards to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Here, a detailed review is provided, which aims at demonstrating the knowledge of existing commercial office buildings regarding their utilisation of energy. Next, an analysis of different refurbishment methods available is described and how they can help attain low emission standards. Finally, the review will highlight new eco-friendly materials and refurbishment methods to be utilised in different projects to reduce emissions while meeting the energy strategies of 2050.

 

2.2 An Understanding of Existing Commercial Office Buildings and Their Energy Usage

 

Commercial office buildings play a critical role in the campaign against climate change. The understanding of the global status of such buildings concerning energy usage is essential since it highlights progress in policies, stalling of investments growth in the energy efficiencies and understanding of emissions.

 

According to the 2018 Global Status Report, trends in energy consumption and energy-related carbon emissions for global buildings are varied. In particular, there is an increase in final energy consumption by buildings by roughly 5% between the years 2010 and 2017. Further, the report suggests a decline in efficient energy gains that mainly can be attributed to strong growth in the building sector activity and energy service demand. Also, commercial buildings have witnessed an increase in the use of electricity usage that is not a clean energy transition as depicted by a raise in fossil fuels in global electricity production. In essence the report affirms the fact that the current commercial buildings have not adhered to practical energy usage. Allouhi, El Fouih, Kousksou, Jamil, Zeraouli, and Mourad (2015) reiterate the need to adopt a good understanding of the structure and nature of energy use in commercial buildings for the establishment of adequate future energy change policies. In the study, Allouhi et al. (2015) indicate that there is a need for building to adopt measures that would be critical in ensuring the attainment of sound energy states. Despite concerted efforts to ensure proper energy usage, more needs to be done to meet the established 2050 goals in commercial buildings. The sentiments are echoed by Gandhi and Brager (2016), who states the need for further research in commercial buildings to examine the issue of energy use. The findings of Gandhi and Brager (2016) show that commercial buildings have adopted behaviour-based interventions, including reductions of plug load energy consumption, to reduce usage. The results are an indication of the state of commercial buildings and some measures being undertaken to mitigate against rising energy usages.

 

Ürge-Vorsatz, Cabeza, Serrano, Barreneche, and Petrichenko (2015) explored the utilisation of energy in buildings, drivers with reference to the past, present and future trends in the global and regional basis. According to the researchers, there is substantial growth in the role of electricity while the direct use of coal is declining. The commercial buildings have embraced mainly electricity and natural gas to meet their energy demands. Further, the authors indicate that there is little dominance in the use of biomass. The findings are a reflection of the limited diversity regarding the forms of energy use.

 

Consequently, in advocating for the 2050 goals of green energy, there is a need to explore the alternative sources of energy. Mainly, this can be achieved through innovation and the building sector working toward more renewable sources. Ürge-Vorsatz et al. (2015) further identified the driving factors of energy demands in commercial buildings that included aspects of specific energy consumption for heating and cooling, floor space per capita, and GDP. Such factors are critical in determining the overall energy consumption by commercial buildings. Lazarova-Molnar, Kjærgaard, Shaker, and Jørgensen (2015) report that the existing commercial buildings depict significant challenges with regard to energy efficiency domain.

 

Further, Lazarova-Molnar et al. (2015) the need for commercial buildings to measure business performance and energy performance and ways the two factors relate with each other. A crucial issue highlighted regards the need to consider other factors, including actively involving the occupants of commercial buildings in the optimisation of overall energy performance. Commercial buildings have a mandate of ensuring that they actively address the issue of energy usage from different perspectives (Deloitte, European Powers of Construction report, 2008). Most importantly, the adoption of critical measures such as investment in green energy is essential.

 

Ruparathna, Hewage, and Sadiq (2016) explored the improvement of energy efficiency in commercial buildings. Efforts toward the enhancement of energy efficiency are vital since it will address the issue of climate change while achieving energy independence to net-zero energy. In the research, the authors review the knowledge on the improvements in energy efficiency in commercial and institutional buildings. The findings of the review primarily indicate the lack of building behavioural changes in mitigating technical and organisational changes as a way of dealing with the issue of energy use (McNeil, Feng, du Can, Khanna, Ke, and Zhou, 2016). Therefore, the ability of existing commercial buildings to achieve efficient energy utilisation is dependent on the adoption of strategies that will improve their energy consumption practices. A key finding is a desire by most commercial buildings to attain sustainability concerning energy usage. The International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (2017) reports that there is a large percentage of existing buildings which are less efficient but have significant opportunities for improvement. However, there is the challenge of determining and implementing the most efficient set of policies to improve the existing building stock, especially for energy policymakers across the globe (Barnes and Parrish, 2016). Concern exists regarding the overall consumption rate of buildings that were constructed before the implementation of current improvement energy performance regulations. Such fears are further confirmation of the fact that contemporary commercial buildings lack efficient energy usage; hence, the need to strive toward their implementation. Ideally, with the vision 2050 in places, the existing commercial buildings can be restricted to meet the goals and ensure buildings are sustainable.

 

2.3 Analysis of the Different Refurbishment Methods that are available in the Industry and How They Will Help Achieve the Net-Zero Low Emissions Standards.

 

The exacerbating effect of climate change establishes the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Consequently, there is a need for different sectors to work together to ensure the attainment of improved energy performance by the year 2050. Therefore, the adoption of sound refurbishment methods for existing commercial buildings will be critical in improving energy usage and an overall reduction in greenhouse gases, which are emitted (Rahman, Srikumar, and Smith, 2018). However, in order to adapt effectively to sustainable refurbishment methods, it is vital to understand the technical merits and feasibility of the options in consideration. Ng, Gong, and Loveday (2014) explored existing refurbishment methods to enhance energy performance in buildings. In a study that involved a total of 46 potential approaches, the researchers identified a range of techniques that could be adopted by upcoming buildings to improve energy performance.

The first method that can be adopted by existing commercial buildings in doing the refurbishment includes energy efficiency appliances. Ideally, utilisation of electricity appliances entails huge amounts of energy; therefore, selecting efficient methods can help in reducing overall consumption (Bianchi, Tran, Mendoza, Smith, and Didier, 2016). Existing commercial buildings can embrace the method and ensure, and restructuring is done to adhere to efficient appliances (Wang, Xu, Lu, and Yuan, 2016). The method would be critical since it would lead to a reduction in the amount of energy which is utilised by the commercial buildings (Borgstein, Lamberts, and Hensen, 2017). For example, owners of the commercial buildings can look out for those with labelling schemes, including Green Seals that indicate their reduction in energy use. The method can be scaled up to major commercial buildings because of the potential that it has been in ensuring the overall decrease in the amount of energy utilised.

The next method that can be adopted entails the use of the motion sensors. The technique has been proven sustainable, and this can be fitted to existing commercial buildings. For example, the buildings can be equipped with light switches that automatically turn off the lights in an empty room. Therefore, if an individual leaves the room and forgets to turn off the lights, energy still can be saved since the light would automatically go off (Greco, Konstantinou, Schipper, Binnekamp, Gerritsen, de Graaf, van den Dobbelsteen, Habert, and Schlueter, 2016). The commercial buildings need to ensure that they install occupancy sensors in areas that have intermittent usage, in addition to the easy to understand labels that remind the users of the need to turn off the lights if they are not in use (Kim and Srebric, 2017). Investments should be directed towards such refurbishments since it would help in reducing the overall usage of electricity while striving to meet the vision 2050 goals on sound electricity usage.

The use of LED Lighting can be adopted as an acceptable refurbishment method through the utilisation of low energy lamps. The existing commercial buildings can utilise such techniques since they do not generate excessive heat when they are switched on. Commercial buildings currently employing other sourced of energy can embrace the identified alternatives of energy sources for the potential that they have in ensuring the reduction in overall energy usage (Santamouris, 2018). However, in adopting such methods, it is vital to ensure that other factors such as cost, performance, and electrical efficiency must be taken into consideration when adopting them. The goal is to ensure that the refurbishment meets the established standards aimed at mitigated against Climate change that is becoming a global issue.

Akadiri, Chinyio, and Olomolaiye (2012) evaluated methods that can be adopted to help buildings toward the reduction of energy use while promoting renewable sources. According to the researchers, insulting buildings envelopes can help address the issue of energy use. Akadiri et al. (2012) state that the method has the most significant impact on energy expenditure and can help reduce the usage. The technique involves designing and installing the insulation material that will reduce the amount of heat that is lost via the buildings (Zou, Jiang, Yang, Xie, and Spanos, 2017). The heat loss and draughts will be eliminated through an airtightness strategy with a modified plaster (Vrettos, Kara, MacDonald, Andersson, and Callaway, 2016). Further, through the method, it would be possible to recover heat, especially in areas that have high temperatures, such as kitchens and bathrooms that at the same time achieve the optimal energy efficiency via mechanical ventilation units (Touchaei, Hosseini, and Akbari, 2016). The method further makes it possible to redirect the saved energy to other alternative areas within the building, significantly reducing overall consumption levels.

Finally, the refurbishment method that can be adopted includes the use of recycling materials that cut results in a reduction in the amount of energy which is utilised within the building. Further, the emissions that cause pollution can be managed, and this will be critical in helping toward measures aimed at addressing the vision 2050 goals of sustainable energy usage in existing commercial buildings. The designers can adopt the suggested methods in refurbishing buildings in line with climate change mitigation efforts (Khosrowpour, Gulbinas, and Taylor, 2016).

2.4 Eco-Friendly Materials and Refurbishment Methods to be used in Different Projects

 

The ability to achieve net-zero energy use in the existing commercial buildings largely depends on the decision by their owners to adopt the use of eco-friendly materials. While making adjustments for the buildings, there is a need to ensure that appropriate materials are utilised for such projects (Hong, Piette, Chen, Lee, Taylor-Lange, Zhang, Sun, and Price, 2015). The adoption of innovative approaches can be instrumental in the realisation of success concerning the achievement of the vision 2050 on sustainable commercial buildings. New materials and technological devices have allowed flexibility that is needed in developing plans that can satisfy the established standards of sustainability that largely depends on the use of eco-friendly materials (Babaei, Abdi, Lim, and Nahavandi, 2015).

The first eco-friendly material that can be adapted in refurbishing the buildings entails the use of architectural films. This material is effective in helping reduce the heating and cooling costs by considerable measures. This material is effective in helping reduce the heating and cooling costs by significant measures. This material can be adopted for existing commercial buildings. Mainly, it can be applied to the windows and helps in keeping away a significant percentage of heat from the sun while allowing streamlined regulation of the building’s interior temperature. Also, the film is effective in reducing CO2 emissions while providing protective properties that deflect the ultraviolet rays (Luo, Hong, Chen, and Piette, 2017). Therefore, in refurbishing the existing commercial buildings, it can be essential to consider the adoption of architectural films (Arcuri, Spataru, and Barrett, 2017).

The use of prefabricated construction materials can equally be vital since they are eco-friendly. For example, in using precast concrete, it results in the production of little waste and has no impact on the quality of air (Ma, Du, Yu, Lu, Zhang, Deng, and Li, 2017). In addition, the material is made from recycled components, hence, reducing overall waste demolition. Therefore, existing commercial buildings can opt for this form of eco-friendly materials for refurbishment.

 

Recently, a Biowall was developed at Purdue University, and its essential function is reducing CO2 emissions. Mainly, the contaminants that are found within the specific commercial building flow via the plants and microbes in root zones metabolise the harmful compounds. However, using Biowall commercial buildings save over 25% of HVAC energy use. The wall has filters with the ability to eliminate irritants that are likely to linger in an airtight room. Thus, existing commercial buildings can opt for such a material to ensure that there is an overall reduction in the number of greenhouse gases emitted to the atmosphere (Park and Krarti, 2016). Overall, the future of sustainable buildings and net-zero energy usage in commercial settings can be achieved through improved building practices and moving away from the traditional methods to green alternatives (Cai, Ramdaspalli, Pipattanasomporn, Rahman, Malekpour, and Kothandaraman, 2018). In practical, utilising eco-friendly materials can help in achieving the 2050 goals of net-zero energy usage.

Finally, the use of passive solar buildings design in the existing commercial settings can be instrumental in reducing overall energy usage. The design is eco-friendly since it ensures that the sun id made an integral part of the heating and cooling system of the sun (Shiel, 2016). The design is heap compared to the formal solar panels. In addition, the building materials contain high thermal mass that makes it possible to retain heat effectively. Therefore, in making the design, commercial buildings can adopt the technique and use it in the process of refurbishment (Chakraborty, 2017).

2.4 Compliance with the UK’s Net-Zero Emissions Law

In working toward the attainment of the established goals of 2050, commercial office buildings have the mandate of ensuring that they comply with the UK net-zero emissions law. Mainly, the focus is on adopting necessary actions which are critical in accelerating refurbishment but within the confines of the UK law. The initiatives can be utilised through various approaches. For example, there is the concept of educating the workforce involved in the refurbishment process. According to the UK taskforce report in 1998, it was established that quality improvement and cost reduction would only be at if the workforce where skilled enough to achieve such initiatives. Therefore, it is critical to identify key measures that are vital and can be taken into consideration to help in making the defined goals of net-zero energy usage in commercial buildings (Amasyali and El-Gohary, 2018).

In summary, existing commercial office buildings can be restructured in such a way that they comply with the established standards aimed at improving energy performance. The identified refurbishment methods can be critical in helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring sustainability. In doing so, established laws must be taken equally into consideration to ensure compliance with UK laws

CHAPTHER 3 : METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

The Author has an interest in the conservation and refurbishment of existing office buildings in Scotland while still retaining the characteristics of the building and recycling as much of the waste materials as possible. This chapter will explain the different methods of research that have been involved in completing this research paper sucssefully.

3.2 Books

While researching material for this research paper the author came across two books that helped the author understanding the topic more and gave a good insite to what materials and methods have been used in the past and what can be used in the future and how the methodes have evolved into what some of them are today. The author read throought a lot off different book but the two that helped her write this papaere were (add book titles here)

3.3 Online Research

As it is easier to get upto date articles and papers on the internet that is where a large part of the Literature Review came from. While researching articles to put into that section the author focused on researching office resurbishments, refurbishment methods and materials and also researching the carbon 2050 legigslations to see what materials and methods can be used to meet these standards set by the UK government. The author the read and analysed all of the papaers to see what information would be relevant for this research paper. Once this was all done it was just a case of getting the structure of the literature review right so that the information that the author has collected would be able to read and flow well.

3.4 Case Study

For this research paper a lot of different off buildings were looked at and compared to see what or if some of the methods talked about in the literatre review have been implemented into the office building and if they are helping to reduce the CO2 emmisions of the building and what still could be done to the building to help it meet the building standards for 2050. The case study was finally decided on when there was a building in Aberdeen that had been refurbished and the author had previously worked on the building.

3.5 Problem Encountered

There were a few problems when trying to research papers for the literature review as a lot of papers being too old or they did not have the information that was needed for the research paper. Another problem that I encountered was not a lot of people filling in the survey fast enough so that p ushed the analysis of the results back by a couple of days. The final problem I encountered was finding the right case study for the research paper that had some of the methodes and materials that have been discussed in this research paper and being allowed access to complete the survey.

 

 

Explain the difference between strategic, tactical, and operational controls. What tactical control reporting areas must be used to monitor the Human Resources department?

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PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW ALL DIRECTIONS

***USE AS A REFERENCE: Kinicki, A., & Williams, B. (2013). Management: A practical introduction. (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.***

1. Review the Better Health Association of Central Ohio Case Study, The Case Continues, the Organizational Overview and the Financial Statement (all items attached).
2. Review the Human Resources “PLAN” document (attached).
3. Review and be familiar with the Mission, Vision, and Strategic Goals (shown in the “CONTROL_template”, attached).
4. Use the “CONTROL_template” to write the paper (attached).
o Describe the steps of the control process.
o Discuss the control mechanisms and their function that you will put in place to monitor the performance of the plan. (“PLAN” document attached for reference/context)
o Explain the difference between strategic, tactical, and operational controls. What tactical control reporting areas must be used to monitor the Human Resources department?
5. Follow the instructions [RED, IN BRACKETS] in the attached “CONTROL_template” to complete the paper.
o Note: Keep in mind monitoring and evaluating the level of progress with a strategic or tactical plan is critical to its success since the business environment is constantly changing. Leaders or managers who fail to do this risk that their best developed plan fails.
6. The plan needs to be 3 pages in length, not including any appendices and references you may wish to include. Use APA format in the body and the references of your work.
7. Include a minimum of one reference and citation from the textbook (Kinicki, A., & Williams, B. (2013). Management: A practical introduction. (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.) or a scholarly article.
o NOTE: Web sites are not scholarly articles.

What are the basic and central values of the educational technology professional community?

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Ethics in educational technology: towards a framework for ethical decision making in and for the discipline

  1. Michael Spector1

Published online: 5 October 2016

Association for Educational Communications and Technology 2016

Abstract This special issue of ETR&D is devoted to ethics in the broad domain of educational technology. Many ethical issues arise involving the study and use of educational technologies. A well-known issue involves the digital divide and the degree to which the introduction of new technologies is increasing the digital divide and disadvantaging some students while benefitting others. The potential of educational technologies to improve learning and instruction is generally well known. Many of the problems associated with the successful implementation of educational technologies are also generally well known. However the ethical issues involved with educational technology implementation, use and research are not well explored nor widely known. This paper provides a preliminary framework for ethical decision making with regard to educational technologies.

Keywords Educational technology ethics  Ethics framework  Educratic oath  Ethics framework  Value-driven educational practice

Introduction

The definition of educational technology embraced by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is as follows: ‘‘Educational technology is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources’’(Januszewski&Molenda,2007, p. 1). This definition, developed and approved by the AECT definitions and terminology committee is striking due to the inclusion of ethics as an essential aspect of educational technology. Given that emphasis by such a prominent international association of scholars and professional practitioners,it is worth exploring the role of ethics in educational technology.This

& J. Michael Spector

mike.spector@unt.edu

1   Learning Technologies, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76207, USA

article is a step towards creating a framework for the inclusion of ethical decision making in efforts aimed at facilitating, improving and supporting learning, instruction and performance. The discussion is primarily conceptual rather than being research based.

Professional practice, standards and values

As a precursor to the argument and framework to be presented, consider the broad domain of medical practice. There are many professions within that domain, within each of those professions there are specializations. Consider nursing, for example. A general definition of that profession is basically that it involves the practice of promoting health, caring for individuals and preventing illness, not unlike a parallel definition for physicians (see http://www.icn.ch/ who-we-are/icn-definition-of-nursing/). The word ‘ethics’ does not appear in the definition of the profession or discipline. Rather, the International Council of Nurses publishes a separate code of ethics that emphasizes respect for the rights and dignity of individuals(ICN,2012).That code begins with four basic value statements involving the promotion of health, the prevention of illness, restoring health and alleviating suffering. What follows those value statements are a number of elements comprising the code of ethics, which can be considered performance standards for ethical conduct as a professional nurse. One can find other such frameworks that distinguish professional practice, ethical standards and values. As a result, that general organizing framework that separates practice and ethics is adopted herein.

I believe that those who crafted the AECT definition of educational technology did so to emphasize the importance and centrality of ethics in the broad domain of educational technology. I share that general inclination but embedding ethics in what educational technology professional practitioners and scholars do glosses over the important distinction between performance and standards (ethical standards in this case but one could also include quality standards).

To make these distinctions concrete, consider a certified nurse performing a particular job task. The nurse is clearly a practicing professional and has gone through extensive training to become certified. Nonetheless, that nurse may be careless in drawing blood from a patient on an occasion. In such a case, a quality standard is relevant. If carelessness recurs, some kind of action or remediation may be required. On another occasion, a certified nurse may refuse to treat or interact with a patient on account of the patient’s race, religion or other characteristic. That is not a violation of a quality standard. It would be a violation of the nursing code of ethics and a failure to fully embrace the four values that guide nursing practice and ethical standards. While additional training may be appropriate for quality violations, ethical violations often require a different kind of response, including the loss of a job or certification.

One might then ask how far from such a framework is professional practice and scholarship in the domain of educational technology. Responding to that question is the specific task undertaken herein.

Defining ethics and values

The word ‘ethics’ is used by many people in a variety of contexts without an attempt to provide a definition. For that reason, many will separate ethics from morals, which this author believes is wrongheaded. Classically, ethics is a branch of philosophy that dates back thousands of years. Modern philosophers often divide ethics into three categories: (a) metaethics that focuses on the origin and meaning of ethical principles, (b) normative ethics aimed at establishing standards to distinguish and regulate right and wrong conduct, and (c) applied ethics that tends to focus on difficult to resolve cases and issues (see http:// www.iep.utm.edu/ethics/ for an elaboration of these categories).

What seems most appropriate for this discussion is the notion of normative ethics, as that category is typically associated with codes of conducts and distinguishing good or acceptable behavior and practice from unacceptable or harmful behavior and practice. The representative ethical statements presented in the next section clearly fall into the category of normative ethics. Normative ethics represent the specific behaviors and practices that a community, culture, institution, or profession expect all members to follow. In some cases, failure to adhere to an ethical principle is also a violation of the law. For example, delaying treatment of an individual in need of immediate attention may result in that patient’s death. In such a case, the medical practitioner who delayed treatment not only commited a violation of a basic ethical principle (e.g., do no harm), but may also be guilty of involuntary homicide. Regardless of the legal implications, ethical violations should be regarded as serious and reported to the responsible authorities, as a general rule (and perhaps also an instance of a normative ethics statement). The honor code at the United States Air Force Academy states that ‘‘we will not lie, steal, or cheat nor tolerate among us anyone who does’’ (see http://www.academyadmissions.com/the-experience/character/honor-code/). The implication of that code is that not reporting a violation is also a violation.

Codes of conduct and ethical principles can be found for many professional associations and communities of practice. A few are presented below. Such normative ethical statement cover a wide range of behaviors, including such things as taking unfair advantage of others, misrepresenting relationships, overlooking evidence, violating trust and confidentiality, and much more. Such statements are generally representative of the values of an association, community, or profession. That leads to several questions: (a) What are the basic and central values of the educational technology professional community? (b) How were those values established? (c) How are those values to be interpreted?

AECT’s TechTrends; Linking Research and Practice to Improve Learning periodically has a column on professional ethics written by Andrew Yeaman. Those columns provide insight into a number of aspects of normative and applied ethics in educational technology practice (see http://link.springer.com/journal/11528). For example, in a recent issue, Yeaman (2016) presented a scenario about problems in a training department that lead to a decision with regard to whom responsibility should be delegated to improve the situation. The value involved is commitment to the profession, and the ethics involved focus on fixing the situation rather than assigning blame.

One way to conceptualize values is in terms of a hierarchy of responsibilities and obligations. One interpretation of Plato’s early dialogues that recount Socrates’ trial and last day, is that Socrates had such a hierarchy which proceeded from self to family to state to the voice of the oracle. The reason a hierarchy is needed is that values can conflict. One may value one’s own well-being or prosperity, but that would be superseded by the well being of family or community or profession or society if there should arise a conflict. The most difficult cases when there are conflicts at the same level within such a hierarchy. Jonassen (2007) calls such ethical dilemmas the most challenging kind of problems because there is essentially a lose–lose aspect to such dilemmas—whichever choice is made, an ethical principle will be violated.

As an example, consider a professor who is supervising a doctoral student with a severe disability that prevents the student from writing and speaking clearly. The student’s speech is difficult to understand, and the writing often incoherent. Nevertheless, with support from the professor, friends and the medical profession, the student has managed to successfully complete all of the required coursework for the degree. The problem now is completing a dissertation. The student is passionate about completing the degree, and the professor wants to help the student succeed. However, the level of support from the professor to complete a dissertation given the student’s condition appears challenging (as much as 10 h a week based on recent experience). In spite of having spent a great deal of time with the student, there has not been much progress, and the date for the dissertation proposal defense is approaching. Failure to defend the proposal on that date will result in the student being put on probation; a previous extension has already been granted to avoid that outcome. Being on probation means that the student’s financial aid will be discontinued. Another extension could be requested, and that would support the professor’s commitment to the student. However, the professor believes that will only postpone the inevitable, which would violate the principle of being honest with students. What to do? Such decisions are not easy, and intuitions can often be misleading. Passionate and dedicated students can often far surpass one’s expectations.

The framework of ethical decision included herein is encapsulated in the Educratic Oath (see below). While specific categories and contexts are not mentioned, the general notion of doing no harm and respecting individual rights includes (a) not being persuaded by money but being persuaded by evidence, (b) recognizing that not every solution helps every student, (c) being fair to all while providing as much support for individual initiative as possible, (d) considering what is best in the long run for learners, teachers and the institution, (e) recognizing the impact of introducing any change into an educational context. In other words, this is intended to be the basis for a broad ethical decision-making framework.

Professional ethics statements

The international board of standards for training, performance and instruction (ibstpi) periodically conducts large-scale surveys of practice in a number of education professions (e.g., evaluation, instructional design, instructor, online learner, training management) that form the competencies and performance standards for the discipline. With regard to instructional design, there is one competency statement in the foundations area that ibstpi included in spite of lack of strong support from surveys – namely, identifying and responding to ethical, legal, and political implications of design in the workplace (Koszalka et al., 2013). It is worth noting that while AECT and ibspti place strong emphasis on ethical practice, that emphasis is not as evident in other educational technology associations (see, for example, the standards of the International Society for Technology in Education at http://www.iste.org/standards/standards).

The American Psychology Association has a set of principles and code of conduct that begins with five principles or values: (a) beneficence and nonmaleficence, (b) fidelity and responsibility, (c) integrity, (d) justice, and (e) respect for people’s rights and dignity (APA, 2010a). Section of the APA code of conduct pertains to education and training and has been considered in developing the educational technology ethical framework to be presented below. The APA publication manual (APA, 2010b) also has ethical guidelines pertaining to authorship—namely, authorship should include all those who have made a primary or significant contribution to the data collection, concepts, and interpretation of work to be published, including those who do not do the actual writing. Unfortunately, there are far too many violations of that ethical standard pertaining to authorship in the educational technology professional and scholarly community.

The Educratic oath

There is a great deal of commonality among the various ethics statements just reviewed. They bear a remarkable similarity to the Hippocratic Oath (attributed to a Greek physician who lived in the fifth century BCS; see https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/greek/greek_oath. html for the original version and http://guides.library.jhu.edu/c.php?g=202502&p= 1335759 for a modern version). While the first principle of the Hippocratic Oath is often cited as ‘‘do no harm,’’ that statement did not appear in the version attributed to Hippocrates. Nonetheless, that phrase does capture a general of medical practice in ancient Greece that still exists today.

Based on an interpretation of the Hippocratic Oath and the kinds of ethical principles reviewed above, Spector (2005) proposed a similar oath for educators, the Educratic Oath:

(1) do nothing to impair learning and instruction; (2) do what you can to improve learning and instruction; (3) base your actions on evidence that you and others have gathered and analyzed; (4) share the principles of instruction that you have learned with others; and, (5) respect the individual rights of all those with whom you interact. (p. xxxvi).

The Educratic Oath has not been widely embraced, nor has any other such ethical code for educators. As a result, Spector (2015) decided to move from principles, such as those in the Educratic Oath, to a more general concern with values. Figure 1 represents the values that might be associated with a learning environment effort.

One could take each of the values statements in Fig. 1 and develop specific principles that might represent how that value could be articulated. Regardless of agreeing or disagreeing with the values in Fig. 1, that framework is incomplete in many ways. First, it primarily represents an instructional design perspective. Second, it does not take into

Fig. 1 A values hierarchy for learning environments (adapted from Spector, 2015)

account the many activities in which instructional designers engage, nor does it take into account those with whom instructional designers interact nor any of the technologies involved. The next section takes up these shortfalls.

Educational technology practice

Recalling AECT’s definition of educational technology will provide pointers to those involved in educational technology and what they do. Those who facilitate learning and performance are involved (e.g., teachers, tutors, teaching assistants, coaches, etc.). Those who create technology resources and processes are involved (e.g., instructional designers, graphics artists, media specialists, writers, web designers, etc.). Those who manage those resources and processes are involved (e.g., lead instructors, department chairs, deans, technology coordinators, information specialists, etc.). Those who make use of the resources are involved (e.g., students). Those who conduct studies about the design, development, deployment, use and evaluation of the processes and resources are involved (e.g., researchers and evaluators). The educational technology community includes a number of sub-communities, disciplines, and people with different backgrounds, training and interests. Given the complexity of the AECT definition, as elaborated above, there is no such person as a representative educational technologist, just as there is no such person as a representative nurse. There are emergency room nurses, oncology nurses, pediatric nurses, neonatal nurses, and so on. Nurses interact with other nurses, physicians, patients, family members, and others. Educational technology is at least as complex in terms of sub disciplines and specializations as is nursing. The implication is that the ethical principles and kinds of ethical decision making involved are likely to be specific to a particular context.

If one considers the sub-discipline of instructional design and what has been written about instructional design practice, one will not find much with regard to ethics other than AECT’s ethical standards and the one ibstpi competency referred to earlier that also includes adherence to legal standards as well as ethical standards (Koszalka et al., 2013). The importance of values is emphasized in Spector’s (2005, 2015) works and values are mentioned briefly in a few chapters in the Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technologies (Spector et al., 2013). However, in major treatments of instructional design practice, there is very little discussion of ethics or values (see, for example, Dijkstra, 2004; Larson & Lockee, 2014; Merrill, 2013; Reigeluth, 1983). In the influential roadmap for education technology (Woolf, 2010), there is no mention of ethics or values. Yet the digital divide remains a reality and is prioritized in the 2016 National Education Technology Plan (see http://tech.ed.gov/files/2015/12/NETP16.pdf). Surely the digital divide involves ethical issues due to the fact that some students (especially those without access to new technologies or with little experience in using advanced learning technologies) are falling further and further behind as new technologies are integrated into teaching and learning. While educational technologists are generally well-intention ed and seek to promote learning and improve instruction, it often happens that the introduction of a new technology will have a negative impact on some students as well as some teachers. Planning to minimize negative impact and properly supporting both students and teachers when introducing a new technology should be a high priority for educational technologist.

As new technologies emerge at an increasing rate, an educational technologist may decide to try something new just because it can be done. The operational outlook should not be ‘‘because we can.’’ The educational technologist’s motto should be ‘‘because we can do better for all involved.’’ Adhering to that creed requires taking an evidence-based approach rather than one based on fads and fancies.

A preliminary educational technology ethics framework

Figure 2 provides a somewhat deeper framework for thinking about ethical issues involving educational technology. This framework is intended to be a starting point for further development and exploration of the usefulness of such a framework for educational technology ethics.

There are three interacting dimensions in this framework: values, principles and people. Two additional dimensions are relevant but not depicted: context (e.g., school, university, workplace, culture, country, regulatory environment, etc.) and technology (e.g., specific technologies and their intended use and purpose). If the simplified framework presented here gets those involved with educational technology to think more seriously about the ethics of practice and research involving educational technology, then this framework is perhaps a step forward.

To encourage the progressive development of this framework, an elaboration of the intersection of these three dimensions is provided: (a) students in the people dimension, (b) evidence in the values dimension, and (c) the ethical principle of being fair and open in assessing and evaluating progress. The intersection of these three dimensions in the framework is one that is commonly encountered and, as a consequence, perhaps useful as a starting point for further elaboration.

Suppose the context is a public high school course that involves history. A major portion of the grade in that course is a student-authored paper analyzing and discussing the causes of World War II. The technologies involved include the internet, media and word processing. Students are required to (a) include links to at least three internet sites that provide different analysis of the causes, (b) include a figure or diagram that represents the resolution of the differences among a variety of perspectives, and (c) submit the final paper as a PDF file to an online learning management system. The instructor has provided

Fig. 2 A preliminary educational technology ethics framework

students with a rubric that indicates how the paper will be graded. The rubric includes requirements such as due date, length, format, required components (e.g., overview, perspectives explored, differences and similarities among those perspectives, etc.), how the quality of each requirement will be determined, and the weight assigned to each of the requirements. Additional notes in the syllabus are provided with regard to plagiarism and other related matters.

The rubric is in the course syllabus and students have been given frequent reminders. Specific drafts of the major components (overview, internet sites found, etc.) have been assigned along the way and feedback on those drafts provided to students. In short, the instructor has created a clear and coherent course plan that includes emphasis on evidence to be used in assessing the final paper.

Student Y has received a failing grade based on making use of another’s work without credit or citation. The student claims it was a simple oversight and is asking the instructor to be given another chance to correct the problem in order to get a passing grade that is required for graduation. What specific ethical issues and principles are involved?

There is the value of making evidence-based decisions, and the evidence of plagiarism in this case is clear. There is the principle of making open and fair assessments. The rubric was well known in advance as was the penalty for plagiarism. Other principles are also involved. The instructor did establish clear and specific goals and expectations. The student failed to recognize the contributions of others. More fundamentally, the instructor has an obligation not to disadvantage others who may want a second chance to improve a grade.

The decision of the instructor to stand by the grade seems to be ethically defensible and perhaps obvious. However, there is a consequence for the student that may be harmful— namely, failure to graduate. Due to the failing grade, the student may be severely punished by a parent or drop out of high school. This instructor happens to know the student’s parents and is aware of some abusive treatment. In addition. The instructor knows with whom the student associates and how well the student has done in other courses. The instructor believes this student could be successful in college and would like to see the student continue education after high school.

Given that knowledge, the instructor now confronts an ethical dilemma—namely, promote benefits and minimize deficits for this student or make fair and open assessments for all students. As Jonassen (2007), ethical dilemmas are challenging. For some, this situation may not seem like a dilemma, but for others it may well be a difficult decision making process. Regardless of how one may perceive this imagined situation, it is clear that the instructor should not decide based on what is easy or convenient for the instructor. What is best for this and other students should be the primary consideration. What might be good for oneself is seldom the primary ethical perspective. Ethical decision making is often other directed rather than being self-directed. There is a self-directed aspect to ethical decision making, however. Basically, that aspect involves reflecting on the kind of person one is becoming on account of the decisions and choices one is making.

Concluding remarks

Some will be inclined to say that this approach to ethics in educational technology is unnecessary or is making something that is quite simple more complex than it needs to be. Ethical decision making in any aspect of life is quite challenging and complex. Ethical decision making should be introduced early and often in the development of a child.

Simply adhering to a law, rule, policy, or guideline involves no ethical decision making. Recognizing the many interacting aspects of a situation is a step toward understanding how different people, values and ethical principles might guide desirable behavior and the responsible conduct of using and studying educational technologies. A suggested earlier in this paper, the attitude that might inform values and ethical principles is the notion that we can do better with regard to supporting learning, improving instruction and understanding how best to make effective use of educational technologies. We can do better.

References

APA. (2010a). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/jms/ Documents/PDFs/apa-principles.pdf.

APA. (2010b). The publication manual of the American Psychology Association. Washington, DC: American Psychology Association.

Dijkstra, S. (2004). Theoretical foundations of learning and instruction and innovations of instructional design and technology. In N. M. Seel & S. Dijkstra (Eds.), Curriculum, plans and processes of instructional design: International perspectives. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.

ICN. (2012). The ICN code of ethics for nurses. Retrieved from http://www.icn.ch/images/stories/ documents/about/icncode_english.pdf.

Januszewski, A., & Molenda, M. (Eds.). (2007). Educational technology: A definition with commentary (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.

Jonassen, D. H. (2007). Toward a taxonomy of meaningful learning. Educational Technology, 47(5), 30–35. Koszalka, T., Russ-Eft, D., & Reiser, R. (2013). Instructional design competencies: The standards (4th ed.). Charlotte: Information Age Publishing.

Larson, M. B., & Lockee, B. B. (2014). Streamlined ID: A practical guide to instructional design. New York: Routledge.

Merrill, M. D. (2013). First principles of instruction: Identifying and designing effective, efficient and engaging instruction. San Francisco: Wiley.

Reigeluth, C. M. (Ed.). (1983). Instructional-design theories and models: An overview of their current status. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Spector, J. M. (2005). Innovations in instructional technology: An introduction to this volume. In J. M. Spector, C. Ohrazda, A. Van Schaack, & D. A. Wiley (Eds.), Innovations in instructional technology: Essays in honor of M. David Merrill (pp. xxxi-xxxvi). Mahwah: Erlbaum.

Spector, J. M. (2015). Foundations of educational technology: Integrative approaches and interdisciplinary perspectives (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.

Spector, J. M., Merrill, M. D., Elen, J., & Bishop, M. J. (Eds.). (2013). Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (4th ed.). New York: Springer.

Woolf, B. P. (Ed.). (2010). A roadmap for education technology [National Science Foundation Grant#0637190]. Washington, DC: National Science Foundation.

Yeaman, A. R. J. (2016). Competence and circumstance. TechTrends, 60, 195–196.

  1. Michael Spector is a Professor and Former Chair of Learning Technologies at the University of North Texas. He earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy from The University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on intelligent support for instructional design, assessing learning in complex domains, and technology integration in education. Dr. Spector served on the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance and Instruction (ibstpi) as Executive Vice President; he is a Past President of the Association for Educational and Communications Technology as well as a Past Chair of the Technology, Instruction, Cognition and Learning Special Interest Group of AERA. He is editor of Educational Technology Research & Development and serves on numerous other editorial boards. He edited the third and fourth editions of the Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology, as well as the Encyclopedia of Educational Technology, and has more than 150 publications to his credit.

 

Educational Technology Research & Development is a copyright of Springer, 2016. All Rights Reserved.

What is your opinion of the article? Do you agree with the author’s findings?

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Read the assigned article by Linstrom (2004), and create an article critique.
After reading the article and briefly summarizing the purpose for the writing, answer the following questions:
What is the author’s main point?
Who is the author’s intended audience?
Do the author’s arguments support the main point?
What evidence supports the main point?
What is your opinion of the article? Do you agree with the author’s findings?
What evidence, either from the textbook or additional sources, supports your opinion?
Your response must be at least 725 words in length. All sources used, including the article, must be referenced. Paraphrased and/or quoted materials must have accompanying in-text citations and references in APA style.

How did the organization develop? What is the story behind the work? How has it changed over time?

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EDCO 705

COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION IMPACT PAPER INSTRUCTIONS

This is an investigative paper analyzing and assessing the effectiveness and impact of a mental health organization in your community. You will set up an appointment with an executive or director and conduct a face-to-face interview with him/her. Recording the interview is

recommended. While much of your paper will be based on information gleaned from the

interview, the substance should come from critical assessment and evaluation based on

secondary research and best practices articulated in scholarly research. You must incorporate the June & Black and the Scott & Wolfe texts in substantial and meaningful ways and draw on
recent journal articles. A minority of your sources may consist of professional web sources such as local news and the organization’s own materials. This must be a 12-15 page paper in current APA format with 12 sources, not counting the interview. Include the following content, using appropriate headings:

1   Demographic information about the organization: Disclose the name of the

organization; its location(s) and current address, phone number, website URL, etc. Name the person you interviewed, and explain his/her title and function within the organization.

2   History and funding: How did the organization develop? What is the story behind the
work? How has it changed over time?

3   Present status: What is the organization’s purpose/mission statement? Who does it
serve? How is it funded? (Private, public, fundraising, special interest groups, etc.)
Describe the staffing. How many counselors, social workers, psychiatrists, behavioral
specialist, etc. work with the organization?

4   Community collaboration: Who does this organization work with, collaborate with, or
network with to accomplish its goals? (Some organizations began a couple of decades
ago and worked from a “one stop shop” kind of model. Today, many of these same
organizations work with various mental health providers to provide the same services that
once were provided in-house.) Is collaboration a central focus of this organization?

5   Community impact: Describe the organization’s community impact and/or effectiveness
in serving its clients, both from the interviewees own perspective and from secondary
sources. Has public policy been impacted by this organization?

6  Evaluation: From your research and analysis, assess the organization’s strengths and
weaknesses. What does this organization do well and not so well? What do you see as
possible action plans to improve what this organization does and how they carry out its
mission and purpose?

Evaluate the strategies used by international retailers, whilst expanding their business into Germany.

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Marketing Project: The Research Proposal

Table of Contents

 

1)    Industry Background and current Market Trends ……………………………………….. 2

 

2)    Research Problem and Aim …………………………………………………………………………… 3

 

 

3)    Objectives ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4

 

 

4)    Scope of the Study ………………………………………………………………………………………… 5

 

 

5)    Usefulness of the Topic …………………………………………………………………………………. 5

 

 

6)    Literature Review Topic Areas ……………………………………………………………………… 5 a)    Cross-cultural buying behaviour ……………………………………………………………………. 5 b)    International Retailing …………………………………………………………………………………… 6 c)    Standardisation vs. Adaptation ……………………………………………………………………… 6

7)    Suggested Methodology ……………………………………………………………………………….. 7 a)    Secondary Data ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 7 b)    Primary Data ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7 c)    Sampling ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 8

8)    Timeline ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 9

 

 

9)    Indicative Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………………… 10

 

1)  Industry Background and current Market Trends

 

The food retail market in Germany, with a value of $277.2 billion, accounts for 14.9% of the European food retail market value. After seeing a decline in 2012 of 0.1%, in 2013 it experienced a growth of 1%. The market is expected to grow with further 7.4% until 2018 and reach a market value of $297.7 billion. In comparison to this are the France and UK markets, which are forecasted to grow towards values of $252.3billion and $203.3 billion respectively (Marketline, 2014). German consumers expenditure on food products has also clearly increased in the period of 2001-2011 by 13.4% to a total of 155.8€ billion. The food and beverages sector also accounts for 38.3% of the total private demand of consumers in

Germany (Metro Retail Compendium, 2013). The German food retail market is saturated and high in price competition amongst the retailers. Included in the food retail market are the

sales of food products along with beverages.

Consumers increasingly demand for organic food products, which experience a growth of

 

10% per year. Another segment that is increasingly requested by German consumers is international good, which is relatable to the current trends in the whole of Europe (Marketline, 2014).

 

Germany counts predominantly as a developed country and a majority of consumer from a country of that nature put significant importance on products with a certain standard of quality rather than the focus on low-priced products (Euromonitor, 2014).

 

Supermarkets and hypermarket are the biggest players in the German food retail industry with a share of 59.4% (Marketline, 2014). Independent and Specialist Retailers follow with

33.7%. Convenience stores have the lowest share with 5.2% (Marketline, 2014). Hypermarkets are not a very common format of retailing in Germany, due to the fact that a majority of consumers find these too complex and prefer the straight-forward layout of supermarkets. This also reflects in the statistics in terms of sales by channels. Over the period of 2008-2013 hypermarkets experienced a slight decline of 0.7%, whereas in comparison to that supermarkets saw an increase of 10.1% (Euromonitor, 2014). Another outstanding increase in the value of sales was experienced by discounters with 8.1%. German consumers increasingly show higher loyalty to the most successful retail format, discounters, as these improved their standards over the last years (Euromonitor, 2014).

 

Discounters are typically characterised by offering very low prices, with low cost margins and a high degree of self-service (Cox, R & Brittain P., 2004, p. 35). Discounters in Germany lately also introduced higher quality products, such as brand-based and fresh foods, which gain more attention by consumers that put great emphasis on regional products, with higher

 

trust in those. International products are also offered, mainly specialised for younger generations, due to higher interest and experimental attitudes amongst the age group (Euromonitor, 2014).

In terms of food retailers brand shares, Edeka (under Edeka Zentrale AG & CO KG) gained

15.6% and is therefore the brand with the highest share in Germany. Lidl and Aldi (under Lidl

Dienstleistung GmbH & Co KG and Aldi Süd) follow with 8.6% and 7.7% share respectively in 2013 (Euromonitor, 2014). Competition is very high in the German food retail market, due to the high price wars and choice criteria of consumers. This results in generally equal shares in the food retail industry, which complicates and raises the entry barriers into the mature and saturated market.

International retailers generally adapt to the German retail market in order to succeed, or even approach the market in a different manner, such as Royal Ahold from the Netherlands, which might attract customers with its uniqueness (Euromonitor, 2014). However, international retailers, specifically in the grocery retail market struggle to enter the market and proceed with standardised strategies. This was the case for the American discounter department store, Walmart, which approached Germany in 1997 and was forced to exit the market in 2006 with an estimated loss of $1 billion (Financial Express, 2006).

 

The purpose of this study is leading from that, to understand the failure of international retailers and to answer the question of why they found it difficult to succeed in the German market.

 

2)  Research Problem and Aim

 

The purpose of this research Project is to analyse the German retail market and determine the reasons that make it difficult for many international retailers to succeed in this market, described on the case of Walmart.

International Retailing has been very popular amongst retailers in the last decades, specifically also in food retailing, where the total revenue of global food and staples reached

$6,56 billion in 2010 (Food and Staples Retail Industry Profile: Global, 2011).

Generally known is that a firm’s global competitiveness is mainly reliant on one aspect, which is a strategic global marketing plan (Hollensen, S., 2013, p. 6).

 

Walmart is the biggest retailer in the world with a share of 3.3% in 2013 (Euromonitor, 2014 [2]). The company saw a great future in the German food retailing market and entered in

1997 by using acquisition. It took over 21 stores of the German Wertkauf chain and in 1998 acquired further 74 hyperstores from Interspar. Walmart’s idea was to operate with its American ethics in Germany, with turned out to be a mistake and forced Walmart to leave the country in 2006 with a loss of approximately $1 billion (dw, 2006). The 85 stores were taken over by the German retail company Metro, in order to open more of its Real hyperstores.

Walmart clearly did not consider the cross-cultural buying behaviour, when entering the German food retail market. Considering different cultures across different countries is of major importance as cultures play a major role in people’s attitudes and behaviour, as stated by Gelfand et al. (2007) cited in Patel, T. (2013). Consumers in Germany did not like the American approach of the retailer and its low price strategy, as this strategy was carried out by almost all the German food retailers. Walmart chose to use standardisation, rather than adaptation in order to succeed in Germany; however, this made Walmart less competitive and not successful in the German market.

Therefore, the aim of this study is to understand the German consumers buying behaviour and evaluate the strategies used by international retailers, such as Walmart, which failed in Germany. Understanding the mistakes will enable to develop recommendable strategies to successfully enter the German market.

3)  Objectives

This study is set out to achieve four specific objectives:

Objective 1:  To provide an overview of the German retail market in terms of size, value, competition and characteristics.

Objective 2:  To analyse the buying behaviour of the German consumers in order to determine whether there are cultural characteristics that differentiate and influence their purchase behaviour.

Objective 3:  To evaluate the strategies used by international retailers, whilst expanding their business into Germany. Also understand and analyse the mistakes that occurred, shown specifically on the example of Walmart.

Objective 4:  To generate recommendations for actions aimed at retailers that contemplate expansion into the German market in the future.

4)  Scope of the Study

The study is reviewing the German retail market, particularly focusing on the food retail industry. It will analyse consumer buying behaviour in Germany, in order to understand the choice criteria and purchase behaviour of the German consumers. The international marketing aspect will play a major role in this research project, as international retailers need to develop a sophisticated marketing strategy in order to be successful in expanding

globally. Cultural aspects play a major role in an individual’s attitudes and behaviour and specifically finding out, which cultural aspects have an impact on individuals, is one of the areas this research project is going to focus on.

Furthermore, the focus will briefly also be put on a fashion retailer that failed to succeed in Germany – Gap. A comparison between the retailers will be given in order to understand the differences and similarities in the strategies of approaching the German market.

5)  Usefulness of the Topic

Being a German citizen, I always have a keen curiosity to understand the extent to which German consumers differ culturally in terms of purchasing behaviour compared to other consumers in developed markets. In addition, I am interested in discovering possible cultural dimension that are underlying these differences.

Furthermore, this research project could benefit international retail firms that are considering entering the German market. It could propose some tactical and managerial implications and provide strategies in order to reduce difficulties, whilst moving into the German market, providing products and services in favour of German consumers buying behaviour.

6)  Literature Review Topic Areas

In the progress of this research project, several marketing theories, such as the cross- cultural behaviour and international marketing theories were found that support the main arguments of this study.

  1. a) Cross-culturalbuying behaviour

‘The world is full of confrontations between people who think, feel and act differently’

(Hofstede, 2010)

This quote describes the main question of this study in a simplified way, which is to understand if cultural differences, based on the fact that this research is focusing on Germany, have an impact on consumers buying behaviour.

According to Hofstede (1994) as cited in Patel (2013), there are four dimensions in terms of how nations differ in cultural aspects. These are:

  • High versus low power distance
  • Masculinity versus femininity
  • Individualism versus collectivism
  • Uncertainty avoidance versus risk taking

These four aspects play a major role in understanding the German consumers’ cultural motives towards their purchasing behaviour.

  1. b) InternationalRetailing

According to Michael Porter (1980) as cited in Huggins and Izushi (2011) competitive rules and advantages are highly reliant on the industries structure. The main aspects for this are:

  • Threat of new entrants
  • Rivalry amongst existing competitors
  • Threat of substitute products
  • Bargaining power of buyers
  • Bargaining power of suppliers

For this research project the rivalry amongst existing competitors is of high importance, as one of the reasons for Walmart’s failure was the high competition in the mature food retailing market in Germany.

  1. c) Standardisation vs. Adaptation

‘A fundamental decision that managers have to make regarding their global marketing strategy is the degree to which they should standardize or adapt their global marketing mix.’ (Hollensen, 2013)

Whilst globalising, a company has to wisely choose if it is going to target the new countries with a standardised or adapted approach. In Walmart’s case a standardised approach was chosen which lead to a rejection in the German food retail industry. The theory stated by Hollensen can lead to identifying strategies in order to approach different countries. This will underline  and support the findings of this research project.

7)  Suggested Methodology

The data collection for this report will include secondary data as well as primary data collection in order to meet the stated objectives. The approach will be causal (conclusive research) and explain why the failure of Walmart happened, and what motives are linked to consumers purchasing behaviour in Germany.

  1. a) SecondaryDat

Secondary Data will be gathered in order to evaluate the German food retail market in terms of value, growth etc.. Furthermore, this source will be used in order to identify and analyse the problems experienced by Walmart in trying to approach Germany.

During the research, conducted so far, the database of the LSBU library was used in addition to academic sources from the free web, such as newspaper articles and journals.

Mainly, journal articles, academic literature and e-books have facilitated and supported the key arguments in this research and will also be used in further stages of the study.

The Business resources for Marketing, such as Euromonitor, Marketline and Mintel have been of key use for this study and will base further arguments and findings in the progress of the research.

  1. b) PrimaryData

In order to analyse the buying behaviour of German consumers, primary research will be conducted.

study will collect primary data in form of quantitative research. A total of 100 questionnaires will be given out to German consumers. Quantitative Research has many advantages; one of them is the ability to get beneath the surface of a survey individual.

‘While not as detailed as in-depth interviews or focus groups, it is common to ask questions about motives, circumstances, sequences of events, or mental deliberations, none of which are available in observation studies’ (Burns and Bush, 2014, p.173).

This is of major importance for the study, as we would like to understand the German consumers’ choice criteria in how they purchase their grocery and which the most important motives are that influence their buying behaviour.

The consumers will be enabled to answer both, open-ended and closed-ended questions

Furthermore, from the results of the surveys, different consumer profiles can be developed, in order to understand diverse types of consumers in Germany.

 

  1. c) Sampling

The sample population that will be used includes consumers in Germany from the age of 16. A key aspect while screening the surveys is, if they are the mainly or partly purchasing body in the household in order to understand their buying behaviour.

The target population for the questionnaires will be approached on the streets and asked a screening question in order to understand, if they belong to the target population, which my focus is on.

This leads to the fact that non-probability sampling will be used in order to find the targeted population, specifically judgement sampling. The research will be conducted in different areas of Germany, in order to collect perceptions and buying behaviour motives from

individuals of different statuses.

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8)  Timeline

   

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9)  Indicative Bibliography

Cox, Roger;Brittain, Paul. 2004., Retailing. [online]. Financial Times/ Prentice Hall. Available from:  http://www.myilibrary.com?ID=60092 [Accessed on 15th November

2014].

 

Euromonitor (2014) Grocery Retailers in Germany. [Online]. Available from: Euromonitor http://0-www.portal.euromonitor.com.lispac.lsbu.ac.uk/portal/magazine/homemain [Accessed on 14th November 2014]

 

Marketline (2014) Germany – Food Retail [Online]. Available from: Marketline  http://0- advantage.marketline.com.lispac.lsbu.ac.uk/ [Accessed on 14th November 2014]

 

Metro Retail Group (2013) Metro Retail Compendium. [Online]. Available from: Metro Retail Group, Bad Oeynhausen  http://www.metro- cc.com/internet/site/mcc/node/308042/Len/index.html [Accessed on 14th November

2014].

 

The Financial Express (2006) Wal-Mart exits Germany with $1bn loss. [Online]. Available from:  http://archive.financialexpress.com/news/walmart-exits-germany-with-1bn-

loss/172670 [Accessed 15th November 2014].

 

Food & Staples Retail Industry Profile: Global (2011), Food & Staples Retail Industry Profile: Global, pp. 1-39, Available from: Business Source Complete [Accessed on 15th November 2014].

 

Hollensen, Svend. 2013., Global Marketing. [online]. Pearson. Available from:

http://www.myilibrary.com?ID=515961 [Accessed on 16th November 2014].

 

Euromonitor (2014) [2] Walmart’s Healthy Food Subsidy Could Revolutionise the Food Industry…but not Anytime Soon [Online]. Available from: Euromonitor  http://0- www.portal.euromonitor.com.lispac.lsbu.ac.uk/portal/magazine/homemain [Accessed on

14th November 2014]

 

DW (2006), World biggest retailer Wal Mart closes up shop in Germany [Online]. Available from:  http://www.dw.de/worlds-biggest-retailer-wal-mart-closes-up-shop-in-

germany/a–2112746 [Accessed on 15th November 2014].

 

Patel, Taran. 2013., Cross-Cultural Management: A Transactional Approach : A Transactional Approach. [online]. Routledge. Available from: http://www.myilibrary.com?ID=553015 [Accessed on 16th November 2014].

 

Hofstede, G. (2010), Cultures and Organizations : Software for the Mind, Third Edition. [online]. McGraw-Hill. Available from:  http://www.myilibrary.com?ID=296125 [Accessed on 16th November 2014].

 

 

 

Huggins, Robert;Izushi, Hiro. 2011., Competition, Competitive Advantage, and Clusters: The Ideas of Michael Porter. [online]. Oxford Scholarship Online. Available from:

http://www.myilibrary.com?ID=359478 [Accessed on 15th November 2014].

 

Burns, Alvin C;Bush, Ronald F.. 2013., Marketing Research, International Edition. [online]. Pearson. Available from:  http://www.myilibrary.com?ID=523720 [Accessed on

15th November 2014].

What were their main challenges faced in their role?  What do they enjoy about their work?

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Part 3 – Skill Portfolio Activities

Students can select and work on a range of skills that will be needed for their working life.  The following Skill Activities form part of the available portfolio – for assessment purposes students need submit only THREE Activities but are encouraged to do as many as possible to broaden their skills and widen their networks.  Currently we have five Skill Activities on offer:

  1. The construction site visit activity & report
  2. The external exhibition visit & report
  3. The AutoCAD On-line training & drawing activity (Linkedin Learning)
  4. The Excel calculation spreadsheet.
  5. The Mentee report (working with L6 final year students as a Mentor)
  6. Manufacturing visit to Mini factory.

Note that:

  • For students on BEng (hons)/MEng courses the AutoCAD activity is COMPULSORY.
  • For students on all BSc (hons) courses the EXCEL activity is COMPULSORY
  • All Activities are equally weighted.

Student need to plan and manage their time to meet all the required deadline whereby feedback can be provided.  This process of managing your work is a key part of Mental Wealth and needs to be documented in your Reflective Logs and will also be assessed as part of your Self-Reflective Diary.  Students who demonstrate their ability to participate in other activities will receive credit through their Reflective Log and Final Reflective Report parts of the portfolio.

Skill Activity 1- Manufacturing visit to Mini factory Activity & Report

Introduction

This report involves you submitting a written report about Mini car production plant that you personally attended on Friday 22nd November 2019 as part of a UEL organised trip.  . Details of the UEL organised site visits are published on Moodle EG4019 and student’s need book up according to the information given below in this document.  , attend and to bring with them all the necessary PPE.

Brief

The purposes of the visits are to describe the car production plant visited under a range of headings, such as:

  • Types of facilities available for car production? Machinery/laboratory/research/design software?
  • What are the main technologies used in car production?
  • What are the orderly steps of car production?
  • Who did you meet during the visit? What was their role?  Their profession?
  • What were their main challenges faced in their role? What do they enjoy about their work?
  • How is care for workers demonstrated, e.g. health & safety and general tidiness?

 

During the visit Students are strongly recommended to use the site prompt sheets shown in Table to aid note-taking and questioning of site personnel during the visits – See Site Prompt Sheet below for further information.

Resources

, fully prepared with 5-point H&S Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).  They also must have submitted and had approved their Medical Declaration form

 

Booking the Trip

All Engineering Students in groups EG4019 04 & 05 are invited to attend.   The cost of the tour and coach travel to and from the event will be met in part by the University but will require a contribution from each student  of £20 to cover the full cost of the visit. To secure your place you need to book and pay by following the attached link to the UEL eStore:

https://estore.uel.ac.uk/product-catalogue/schools/architecture-computing-and-engineering-ace/ace/ace/level-4-engineering-student-day-visit-to-the-mini-plant-cowley-oxfordshire-221119

Learning Outcomes & Assessment

 

The Learning Outcomes covered in this piece of work are:

EG4019 – Subject-based practical skills

 

  1. Undertake discipline specific codes of practice and industry standards.
  2. Apply appropriate knowledge and skills to communicate effectively with a wide range of audience – construction, technical specialists and laypersons.
  3. Develop self-awareness and awareness of local and global issues; identify their roles within a team and their positive/negative impacts on the environment and society.

 

The marks to be allocated for this piece of work are based around the coverage of the UEL Mental Wealth Competencies as noted below

The UEL Competencies that can to be demonstrated are:

 

 Mark Allocation
Digital Proficiency (DP), e.g. 20%
Ability to use MS Word presenting text and images in good professional English; understanding and demonstrating the use of Turnitin for submission works.  
   
   
Industry Connections (IC), e.g. 40%
Understanding the work undertaken in Industry; understanding the roles of industry personnel and their responsibilities; Understanding what industry personnel  like/dislike about their jobs; understanding your need to make connections and network.  
Social Intelligence Development (SID), e.g. 40%
Understanding leadership and entrepreneurship; understanding meeting the needs of the client; understanding the need to work in partnership with other stakeholders.  

 

Submission Format & Feedback

 

By Turnitin link in Word or PDF format located on Moodle Site EG41019 by the DEADLINE ACCORDING TO THE OUTLINE SCHEME OF WORK  at 4pm as stated in Table 1.  The Word count should be @ 500 words   with use of clear labelled photographs to show what was seen.

You are encouraged to make use of the CfSS review of work by submitting to ‘My Feedback’ at least 2 weeks before the deadline.

Work will be marked and returned by your tutor via the Turnitin Grademark within 15 working days

 

Links to Diary & Final Reflective Report.

Note that the you will also be assessed for your individual and group working methods whilst working on this Engineering Challenge and evidenced in your Reflective Log and Report.  Make sure you log what you do as part of your Reflective Log using the Reflective Log Template provide on MS Teams and shown in Table 3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EG4019 Manufacturing Visit –

Question Prompts & Log

 

Real automobiles do not get manufactured on paper! Seeing productions take place in the realm of dirt, materials, labour, and equipment, is an important part of learning about the making of cars. The ability to knowledgeably observe work in progress is also an important skill for the design, engineering or manufacturing professional.

 

 

Over the course of this semester you will be able to visit several sites to observe work in progress, record your observations, and where necessary, follow up later with analysis of what you have seen. You may record details during a single site visit or span a series of regular visits to a site over the course of the Semester.

The production of this ‘Site Diary Log’ will be a culmination of both the University organised visits and visits that you will arrange by yourself or in groups of two or three.

Take plenty of images and ask questions about what you see and hear.

Observations should be made in the form of notes, and annotated sketches or photographs. In cases where follow-up comments or research are needed, provide concise, clear explanations, and note your sources of information. You may use the form on the following pages as a template for recording your observations and follow-up notes. During each visit, try to answer as many of the following questions as possible:

 

 

  Topics Descriptions / Facts Questions / Notes
1 Types of facilities available for car production? Machinery/laboratory/research/design software.  

 

 
2 What are the main technologies used in car production?  

 
3 What are the orderly steps of car production?  

 
4 What are the main methods of construction seen or equipment used on the visit?  

 
5 Who did you meet during the visit?  What was their role?  Their profession?  

 

 
6 What were their main challenges faced in their role?  What do they enjoy about their work?  

 

 
7 How is care for workers demonstrated, e.g. health & safety and general tidiness?  
8 Other Notes – Remember to take and include at least FOUR interesting photos.  

 

 

 

Our staff identifies itself closely with Bharti. How are they going to take being transferred elsewhere?”

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Strategic Outsourcing at Bharti Airtel Limited
Budgeting for capital expenditures was a nightmare. Every time we had a change in the network plan we were forced to go back to the vendor and start over. . . . We would have three or four reviews per year. . . . It showed a real conflict of interest between the operator and the vendor.
— Akhil Gupta, June 2005
Akhil Gupta, joint managing director of Bharti Airtel Limited (the Indian telecommunications firm formerly known as Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited), dropped a newly penned purchase agreement with network suppliers into his inbox, but Gupta did not feel like celebrating. It was early 2004, and the deal had taken three months and a quarter of his time to finalize. Bharti’s customer base was growing 100% per year, and it was a huge challenge to keep pace with network expansion. Very soon Bharti Airtel would be back at the negotiating table for the fourth time in 12 months. “Budgeting and the tendering1 process for network expansion is taking up a tremendous amount of management time and bandwidth—bandwidth that is needed elsewhere,” said Gupta.
Managing the firm’s IT capital expenditures was another challenge. As Gupta explained:
Our CIO would come to me with a budget, reflecting that the equipment we bought in the last couple of years was no longer of much use; the new software wouldn’t run on it. This was painful because we realized that we spent $15 to $20 million and there was already talk of throwing it away because its only use was as a mail server. That’s a heck of an expensive mail server!
In the midst of these wildly unpredictable expenditures, Gupta felt that Bharti badly needed a lean and predictable cost model:
We want to exploit the potential of 300–400 million Indian phone customers. Their purchasing power is relatively low compared to the U.S. and Europe—there is no way our average customer will pay $10 a month for this service. We need a lot of customers with $4 and $5 revenues per month. If we had a reliable, predictable usage-linked cost structure then we could become the lowest-cost producer of minutes not only in India but perhaps in the world.
1 Soliciting vendors’ bids for contracts. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
From the inbox, Gupta’s eye strayed over to the opposite side of his desk. There in the corner was the plan that he and his team hoped, would solve his capital expenditures nightmares. This plan consisted of two outsourcing proposals: one to Bharti’s key telecom network equipment vendors, Ericsson, Nokia, and Siemens; and the other to its IT equipment vendor, IBM. The documents proposed completely handing over the buildup and management of Bharti’s telecom and IT network to these vendors. Gupta explained:
For the first time in telecom history, perhaps anywhere in the world, the network equipment vendor and the operator would be on the same side of the table. Right now, the equipment vendors make more money when they sell more boxes to us, whereas we needed to ensure that we buy fewer boxes but get maximum capacity and coverage to stay competitive. This [caused] an inherent conflict of interest between the two of us. I felt that we needed a completely different equation.
Although Sunil Mittal, the company’s chairman and managing director, had given Gupta free rein to investigate the idea with his colleagues and vendors, thus far he had encountered either stunned
silence or outright resistance. “They reacted as if I had suggested giving the family jewels to outsiders,” said Gupta. The vendors, on the other hand, were worried about taking on additional risk. He wondered whether he would be able to overcome the objections of his colleagues and the vendors and make this idea work.
Bharti History and Background
Mittal founded Bharti in 1995 with $900 in start-up capital.2 Mittal was an entrepreneur who had created and successfully managed several businesses, including a bicycle components business, a portable generator import business, and a venture with Siemens to produce telephone equipment. His goal in creating Bharti Airtel Limited was to take advantage of the liberalization of the Indian telecom market and to bid for a government license to operate the first private mobile telecom service in the Delhi area. Bharti won the government tender and immediately launched its service, known as “Airtel,” using the GSM (Global System for Mobile communications technology).
In the first eight years of its existence, Bharti grew by having what Mittal called “a single-minded devotion to the project and the industry.” As he also put it, ”Our business is telecom and nothing else.”3 Bharti was the first private provider on the market in Delhi and, in 1998, was India’s first private provider to turn a profit.4
As part of its drive for continuous expansion, Bharti aggressively pursued the acquisition of licenses for mobile operations in other geographic regions, or “circles.”5 This strategy required ever- greater capital inflows. In 1999, Bharti sold a 20% equity interest to the private equity firm Warburg Pincus. Soon after, New York Life Insurance Fund, the Asian Infrastructure Group, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and SingTel6 all acquired equity interests in Bharti. In 2002, Bharti went public on the Indian National Stock Exchange, the Mumbai (Bombay) Exchange, and the Delhi Stock
2 IBM website, www.ibm.com/news/us/en/2005/05/Business_Leadership_Forum.html, accessed May 10, 2006.
3 Krishna Palepu, Tarun Khanna, and Ingrid Vargas, “Bharti Tele-Ventures,” HBS No. 704-426 (Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2003). Original source: Sunil Mittal quoted in Chakravarti, “Tour de Telecom.”
4 Ibid.
5 Telecom service in India was divided into geographical areas, called circles, for the purpose of awarding mobile and fixed- line telephone licenses.
6 SingTel: Singapore Telecommunications Limited, a large Singapore-based telecommunications group.
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Exchange, raising $172 million in its initial public offering (IPO). In total, Bharti raised over $1 billion through foreign direct investments by the end of 2002.7
The capital inflow allowed Bharti to finance its next stage of growth. In 2001–2002, it obtained mobile licenses for 15 out of India’s 23 total circles and also obtained fixed-line licenses for six of them. In addition, leveraging its arrangements with SingTel, Bharti subsequently obtained licenses to become
the first private telecommunications service provider in India to launch national and international long-distance service.
By 2003, Bharti was present in all of the major economic and industrial centers—representing 91% of all mobile users in India (see Exhibit 9). It was also targeting growth in the remaining eight circles, even those in the most remote regions. Mittal and his team anticipated achieving full coverage of India by 2005.
From a financial perspective, Bharti’s position had significantly improved. March 2004 year-end results showed revenues of $1,113.4 million, a 100% increase over 2003. Able to take advantage of the economies of scale due to its larger network, Bharti improved its operating margins from negative (–2.25%) in 2003 to 16.9% in 2004. And while it had suffered a net loss in 2003, the next year saw a net income of $117 million. Return on equity in 2004 was nearly 12%. (Highlights of Bharti’s year-end financial statements in March 2004 are shown in Exhibits 1 and 2.)
Bharti Management and Organization
Bharti, like many of the large Indian industrials, was a family- or close to family-run business. Sunil Mittal was chairman and group managing director of Bharti Airtel Limited. His brother Rakesh Mittal was a board director; Rajan Mittal, another brother, was the joint managing director, overseeing the functional directors of marketing, business development, corporate affairs, and corporate development.
Gupta had known the Mittals for many years and was with Bharti Airtel from its inception. A chartered accountant with a degree from Delhi University, he was CFO from 1995 to 2000, becoming joint managing director in 2001. As joint managing director and CFO, Gupta had responsibility for overseeing the functional directors of finance, information technology, special projects, and regulatory and secretarial concerns. (Bharti’s organization chart as of February 2004 is shown in Exhibit 3.)
Indian Market for Telecommunications
Prior to the 1990s, the Indian telecommunications environment showed very little change from the 1950s. It took several months, sometimes years, to install a telephone in a home or business, and mobile phones were a foreign luxury. “Even up to 1995, the biggest favor anyone could do for you in India was to get you a phone,” said Gupta.8
In 1991, India embarked on a policy of economic liberalization, opening up the sector to private competition and foreign investment. Private telecom firms could tender for licenses to operate in each of 23 designated circles. In 1989, before liberalization, there were 4.2 million telephone subscribers; by
7 The equity funds received by Bharti were classified as foreign direct investment and required approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), two of the bodies governing the inflow and outflow of funds in India.
8 Interviews with Ahkil Gupta, June 2005.
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2003, telephone subscriptions numbered 54 million, and India’s telecom network had become the eighth largest in the world.9 Total Indian telecom revenue for 2003 was $8.5 billion and was growing at 17% per annum.10
Wireless services contributed about 18% of the $8.5 billion in telecom revenues (see Exhibit 4 for breakdown).11 Estimates for the wireless market through 2008 showed the market growing from US$1.5 billion to US$10.9 billion.12
Most Indian mobile operators had adopted one of the 2G (2nd generation) technologies—either GSM or CDMA. By 2003, it appeared that India would soon jump to 3G technologies, or at least to 2.5G technologies.13 Value-added services—including data transmission, short message service (SMS), games, ring tones, and ring-back tones (different kinds of music that the caller would hear)— were already being offered in urban areas.
Aside from the growth in 3G, huge potential remained in the development of basic phone services. The number of telephone connections (fixed and mobile) per 100 inhabitants in India in 2003 was fewer than six, whereas among all but four OECD countries it was over 100.14 Customer demand for telecom connections increased daily, and many were bypassing fixed lines and going straight to cell phones. In 2003, over 1.5 million people were signing up for cell phones every month.15
Unlike European and American operators, Indian operators chose to sell mobile phones and mobile telephone services separately. As a result, there was no handset subsidies burden on the operator. Mobile services were sold either on a postpaid or prepaid basis. About 60% of the business was prepaid—cards allowing the customer to recharge his telephone with telephone time were sold in kiosks, drugstores, and small convenience stores. The remaining 40% of the business was postpaid, for businesspeople or business customers who were billed for their telephone use on a monthly basis.16
Market Competition
By 2002–2003, the Indian market had grown highly competitive. Mobile rates were as low as three to four U.S. cents per minute, and ARPU—the average monthly revenue per customer unit—had fallen by 50% in three years as telecom providers fought to capture new subscribers. 17 The top
9 PricewaterhouseCoopers, “Telecommunication,” India Brand Equity Foundation, 2004, www.ibef.org. “Current Issue and Trend in Indian Mobile Market,” Report # 04025.
10 JM Morgan Stanley Equity Research Asia-Pacific, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd., June 9, 2005. 11 Ibid. 12 Ibid.
13 3G mobile technology for mobile telephony is analogous to broadband technology for fixed line in that it provides a similar level of enhanced service—rapid data transfer and the capacity to manage all manner of communication (video, voice, data, multimedia). 2.5G technologies are improvements to 2G technologies that provide many of the same advantages as the 3G technologies.
OECD,
14 http://caliban.sourceoecd.org/vl=4373012/cl=20/nw=1/rpsv/factbook/06-03-02.htm, accessed August 2, 2006.
OECD Factbook 2006—Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics. Published by Source
15 “Current Issue and Trend in Indian Mobile Market,” Report # 04025. Research on Asia Group 2003. 16 Ibid. 17 Ibid.
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competitors were able to lower their unit costs as their market shares increased through acquisitions or bankruptcy of smaller competitors.
By 2003, there were seven major operators in the Indian telecommunications market: Bharti, BSNL, Hutchinson, Reliance, Tata, Idea Cellular, and MTNL. Bharti and three others had operations in both the fixed and mobile segments. The others operated only in the mobile segment. There were also several strong regional mobile operators, such as Spice and BPL.
With industry consolidation, the focus was switching from having a national footprint to having the ability to provide value-added services. Operators needed 2.5G or 3G technologies to provide those services, and the transition upward from 2G represented a major capital investment challenge for any telecom operator. It was thought by some observers that the strong capital resources of players such as Reliance or Tata might give them a competitive advantage over the other operators.
Exhibit 6 describes each of Bharti’s top competitors. Exhibit 7 breaks down market share by competitor.
Bharti’s Telecommunications Network
By 2003, Bharti had obtained licenses for mobile operations in 15 out of the total 23 circles. It had a 25% market share of the total Indian mobile market and 6 million mobile subscribers. In fixed-line services, it had 1 million customers and licenses for six circles. Upcoming regulatory changes would also allow Bharti to expand wire-line services into any of the circles in which it held a wireless license. Growth in both sectors—wire line and wireless—was expected to be exponential over the coming 18 months as Bharti obtained licenses and built up operations to achieve nationwide coverage.
Operations and Service
Bharti’s operations were structured into three strategic business units (see Exhibit 8 for a detailed breakdown):
• Mobile Services: Providing 64% of Bharti revenues, this unit was where Bharti had achieved the most in terms of market dominance and customer service. In six out of 15 regions, Bharti had over 40% market share. It focused on providing excellent customer service through “error-free” service (low call drop rates, broad coverage, etc.), cost efficiency, and innovation in new products and services. Bharti offered postpaid or prepaid billing options, BlackberryTM service, conferencing, fax and data transmission, and other services such as jokes, games, news, and even astrology via the mobile phone.
• Long-Distance, Group Data, and Enterprise: Providing 30% of revenues, these services allowed Bharti to leverage its recently completed high-speed fiber-optic network. This network spanned 24,000 kilometers (kms) and connected almost all the major cities in the country. Bharti could now provide “end-to-end service,” broadband, long-distance, videoconferencing, and dedicated data and voice line services to business customers.
• Broadband and Telephone Services: Providing 16% of revenues, this unit provided wire-line- based telephone services in six circles and broadband services in all major economic centers. Broadband-related services included DSL to homes and businesses, WiFi, virtual private network (VPN), and video surveillance.
Ten percent of revenues pertained to intersegment eliminations.
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Technology and Development
By March 2004, Bharti’s mobile network connected 1,400 towns using GSM technology. By the end of 2007, Bharti expected to have GSM service up and running in all the 5,161 census towns. To meet this objective, 100 towns per month on average were to be brought into the system.
Bharti had roughly 5,000 base stations at the end of March 2004. In order to accommodate the required demand for service by March 2007, that number would need to jump to 40,000 and would require the hiring of over 2,000 to 3,000 people to build and maintain them.18
Bharti had also begun deploying EDGE, a 2.5G GSM-compatible technology that allowed it to upgrade its services to 3G performance levels. This was first done in Mumbai and would later be introduced elsewhere in the network. (See Exhibit 9 for Bharti’s mobile footprint as of mid-2003.)
Bharti’s long-distance network used fiber-optic cables around India. It was present in the international carrier business through the group’s participation in the i2i undersea cable system—a joint venture with SingTel. Its international capacity had been further enhanced by a joint venture it had entered into with SingTel and 13 other telecom groups for the construction of SEA-ME-WE4, the Singapore-France submarine cable.
Bharti’s Relationships with Its Vendors
As Bharti’s presence in the Indian market grew, so did the number of relationships Bharti had with network suppliers. Its initial GSM network was set up with the help of Ericsson. By early 2003, Bharti was also working with Nokia and Siemens, among others. Bharti purchased equipment, installation, and maintenance services from each of these suppliers in one or more of the regional circles in which it was present.
Because the GSM technology was a very open standard, Bharti was comfortable working with several suppliers and could change suppliers if the services offered by one proved unsatisfactory. “In today’s telecom world, it’s very easy, because everything is ‘plug and play,’” said Gupta. This also meant that the environment was very competitive between telecom vendors. As Sunil Mittal explained, “Every six months there was a fresh tender for network expansion. There used to be a parade with one vendor playing against another.”19
Along with the operations teams, Gupta managed the process of tendering, negotiating, and working with the vendors to install the expanded capacity, but he was uncomfortable with the results. “Typically in the industry, these vendors will sell you a list of components, ‘boxes’—an MSC [a switching station], a BSC [a base station], etc.,” said Gupta. There was an inherent conflict of interest in this approach since the vendors always tried to sell more equipment, while the operator wanted
maximum coverage and capacity with as little equipment as possible. A typical network used only 60% to 70% of its installed capacity at any point of time. “What we needed was capacity— erlangs,” Gupta said. Erlangs were a measure of telecom traffic. One erlang equaled a circuit that was occupied for 60 minutes in a busy hour.
Industry practice was to purchase about 30% to 40% excess capacity in order to keep one step ahead of customer demand and to compensate for the estimation error of models used to predict capacity of different network configurations. For the telecom operator, that also meant purchasing
18 Shelley Singh and Rajeev Dubey, “The man who gave away his network,” by Business World India, October 4, 2004, www.businessworldindia.com/oct0404/coverstory01.asp., accessed May 12, 2005.
19 Company source.
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more sites, installing electricity in those sites (generators and air conditioners, if necessary), hiring staff to maintain the sites and, of course, installing the telecom equipment required. For Bharti, in terms of capital assets on its balance sheet, the 30% excess capacity through 2007 would represent something in the range of $300 million to $400 million.20 Financial requirements were not Bharti’s only concern; there was also the delay, which the firm could ill afford given its rapid growth, between the time that the need for additional capacity was identified and the time that the additional capacity could be up and running. The process of planning, tendering, financing, purchasing, and installing could take anywhere from six months to a year.
IT Requirements
Bharti needed an IT network that could scale up to match the size of the organization it projected to become in a few years. “There was the problem of scalability in our system. With the very rapid growth, we would soon be making decisions that could not be altered later on and for which we might be sorry,” Dr. Jai Menon, group CIO for Bharti, explained.
Bharti looked increasingly to its vendors to provide expertise in integrated systems design. “Our core competency was in operations, not IT design, and thus we could not do much of the architecture software and hardware design we required,” said Menon.
Generally speaking, Bharti’s IT requirements fell into one of three categories:
1. The telecom network systems and software. These specifically related to the basic functioning of the telecom connection and switching system.
2. Customer management information systems that allowed for the collection of data on customer use, service quality, and network reliability, and programs that gave customers access to value-added services such as ring tones or Java games.
3. Business-support software and hardware architectures, including internal programs such as billing, security, user programs, Internet access, and human resources or financial databases and systems.
Bharti contracted with IBM, Sun Microsystems, HP, and Oracle for business-support software and hardware architectures and customer management systems. Bharti’s IT infrastructure was further complicated by the fact that it had inherited other IT systems—frequently incompatible with existing ones—through acquisitions of telecom operators. The company had also been forced to look outside of its established vendors for certain applications they did not offer, such as fraud management. Unfortunately, many of these arrangements could be described as “fragmented bubbles of outsourcing,” as Menon put it. Many were incompatible and could not be built upon to meet Bharti’s anticipated requirements. As a result, Bharti knew that it was facing huge up-front investments in IT in order to get the right architecture in place and ready to support its growth over the next 10 years.
Human Resources Issue
Related to both IT and network development requirements was the question of human resource scarcity. With constant growth in the market, Bharti was finding it more and more difficult to hire and retain the best and the brightest. In network development alone, Bharti would need to hire 2,000– 3,000 people to accompany network development in 2004. As Gupta put it: “Think of it from the
20 Ibid.
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perspective of a talented IT or telecom guy. Would you rather go work for one of the world’s top multinational firms, large in size and reputation, or for a local upcoming operator like us?”
Bharti’s Proposed Deal
In the folder on the corner of his desk, Gupta had the proposed outlines of a two-pronged outsourcing structure for Bharti with its vendors. Gupta’s strategy included handing over responsibility for the buildup, maintenance, and servicing of the telecom network to equipment vendors. Gupta and his people were talking with Nokia, Siemens, and Ericsson as potential partners. In addition, Gupta was planning to outsource the buildup, maintenance, and servicing of Bharti’s core IT infrastructure to IBM. Other vendors besides IBM had been considered, but discussions had gone the farthest with IBM since few IT vendors had experience handling all of the aspects of the proposed deal.
Below are excerpts from each proposal:
Ericsson, Nokia, and Siemens:
• The vendor will provide Bharti with network capacity—erlangs—in accordance with Bharti’s projected erlang requirements in each of the circles in which Bharti operates and for which they are responsible according to this agreement. In exchange, Bharti agrees to pay the vendor a fee according to the amount of erlang capacity installed. The actual payment for network capacity will be made only when the capacity is up and running and has been used by Bharti customers, thereby excluding payment for unused capacity at any point in time.
• Once erlang capacity is installed, ownership of the assets responsible for producing that capacity belongs to Bharti. The responsibility for maintaining the network in good working
order, however, rests with the equipment supplier under an operations and management (O & M) agreement.
• In order to ensure the quality of Bharti’s service to its end customers, network capacity provided by equipment suppliers will be subject to a number of quality controls specified in service level agreements (SLAs). These are measures of network quality, such as the number of dropped calls and the number of incomplete calls, that will be determined jointly by Bharti and the equipment supplier. [Penalties and rewards linked to quality achieved were provided.]
• This agreement is to be for an initial period of three years, subject to renewal by mutual agreement.
IBM:
 IBM will provide Bharti with complete and comprehensive end-to-end management service for supplying, installing, and managing all of its hardware and software requirements as concerns the basic IT architecture of the company and all of the applications needed to operate it. The outsourcing includes everything from the computer on the desktop all the way up to the mainframe, but excludes all telecom network-specific structures and networks. It includes all internal customer service and all negotiations with external software and hardware suppliers. It also includes the maintenance of all hardware and software, including those provided by other vendors such as security, data warehousing, fraud management, business intelligence, human resource management, financial, and enterprise management systems and software, among various others.
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• In order to ensure the quality of Bharti’s service to its employees and end customers, IBM services will be subject to a number of quality controls specified in the SLAs, such as hotline customer satisfaction and new application implementation delays. [In the network proposal, a penalty and reward mechanism was provided for.]
• In exchange for these services, Bharti agrees to pay IBM a share of its revenues. This agreement is to last for a period of five years, renewable for another five years, for a total of 10 years. The percentage of revenue shared will progressively decline as overall revenue increases.
In discussing the proposals with his vendors, Gupta made it understood that the Bharti personnel presently carrying out tasks that would be taken over by the vendors would be transferred to the vendor in question. A network manager at Bharti today, for example, would become an Ericsson, Nokia, or Siemens employee tomorrow. Should the proposal be accepted by the vendors, around 270 IT staff and 800 network staff could be transferred out of Bharti.
Reactions at Bharti
Don Price, the CTO of Bharti’s Mobile Services, was one of the first with whom the new idea was discussed. He had been in the mobile telecommunications business from its inception in the U.S. with McCaw Communications and was one of the most experienced CTOs in the world. He had never seen such an arrangement before and had expressed serious reservations about handing over network management and operations to the vendors. “The vendors may have access to the world’s best technology, but we have the operating expertise,” said Price. He grumbled, wondering whether “the financial ‘eggs’ with no network operations experience thought this one up. Operations . . . it’s our bread and butter.”
The IT and marketing departments were concerned that software or hardware applications not supported by IBM would no longer be available. Would IBM be willing to work fairly with other vendors, or would the agreement mean that Bharti would no longer have access to certain creative new applications? They were also concerned about the implications the deal would have on the time to market of new IT-based services for customers. “OK, give the large fundamental innovation to IBM . . . but keep the quick shots in-house!” was what one senior marketing manager had to say.
Meanwhile, the human resources department was wondering how they would manage the transfer of nearly 1,000 staff members. Some staff might not want to be transferred, or perhaps the vendors might not want to take them. One manager worried: “Bharti is a much smaller company, an Indian company. We have a different way of working with people—India is not a hire-and-fire country. The vendors are much bigger, and they’re worldwide companies. The cultures are different. Our staff identifies itself closely with Bharti. How are they going to take being transferred elsewhere?”
Reactions within the company ranks were mild when compared with comments Gupta received after presenting the project to the board of directors. Many were longtime telecom industry practitioners, and to them it was difficult to justify changing from the accepted practices. Gupta had heard one board member comment, “What makes you think that Bharti, an upstart in this industry, could teach the world what to do?” The main concern expressed by all of the board members was the risk of excessive dependence upon the vendors. Gupta recalled the prevailing sentiment of the board: “You will become their slaves.” In response to their concerns, SingTel—which was represented on the board—sent a group of experts in to evaluate the project. “Needless to say, the initial reaction of the board was not highly supportive—in fact, the general feeling was negative,” explained Gupta.
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Vendor Reactions
Initial reactions from vendors were mixed. They liked the opportunity to do more business with a major player—Bharti—but they were concerned with the risks and the need to get ”buy-in” from the top levels in their organization. A major concern was that they might be stuck with important investments in network equipment that they made on behalf of Bharti in the event that Bharti did not use the equipment. If Bharti was transferring the equipment investment risk to the vendors, what was the upside in the deal for them? It was unlikely that they would be able to increase equipment prices to cover all the increased risk.
They were also concerned with absorbing hundreds of Bharti employees. Some of the vendors had very light organizations that would be overwhelmed with such a sudden expansion in the number of employees. Besides the sheer numbers, there was a question of managing the corporate cultural mix. “Our cultures, values, and systems are somewhat different,” they fretted.
Of course, there were dangers in not signing with Bharti. Bharti would be growing very fast over the next few years. If the vendors turned down this business now, making it look as if they were unwilling to take risks in India, they might later be locked out of lucrative deals not only with Bharti, but perhaps with other operators as well. With the impressive growth projected for the market, most vendors were
looking to increase their operations and their market share in India. Nokia, for example, had very little business with Bharti and was behind Ericcson in terms of market share in India. Ericcson, on the other hand, was anxious to lock in its position with Bharti, with which it had been dealing since 1995.
IBM also had concerns about the deal. Although it was keen to develop worldwide partnerships with major clients per its international “on-demand” strategy, it had until now not even envisaged a revenue share arrangement with a client. If IBM were to take a percentage of Bharti’s revenues in exchange for its equipment and services, it would have to forecast Bharti’s revenue growth in order to estimate how much it would get paid over the next five to 10 years. Yet the investments in IT hardware, software, and people on behalf of Bharti would have to be made by IBM today. To them, it represented a major and unfamiliar risk.
Overall, this meant that IBM needed to be fairly sure of Bharti’s future success. Although it knew from experience that there was a strong association between a company’s success and the quality of its IT network, IBM could not be certain that its investment in this project today would improve Bharti’s chances for success in the future. In fact, IBM’s deal with Bharti felt more like betting on a horse in a horse race. IBM was hoping that the signs were right and that Bharti would be a winning horse.

• The mobile phone: The mobile phone consists of two parts, the phone itself and the SIM card. SIM stands for subscriber identity module. The SIM card is inserted into the phone and is basically a memory chip or a ”smart card” with the user’s identity codes and some specific user information such as frequently called numbers or ring tones. The SIM card also allows the user to switch phones without completely reprogramming his handset.
• The base substation: This is the first link in the connection between the mobile set and the telephone network. There are two parts to the base substation. The first, the base transceiver station, is really just a big tower with antennas on top. There are always at least two towers— one for inbound and one for outbound transmission.
The second part to the base substation, the base station controller, manages communication and transmissions between the base transceiver stations and the rest of the network, notably the switching station. One base station can manage up to several hundred base transceiver stations. A base transceiver station can cover an area of 30 to 40 square kms, but if it is located in a congested area, the coverage is much smaller.
Cellular networks get their name for the pattern in which base transceiver stations are distributed around the base controller station and the pattern by which the network is added to as the user requirements increase. Cellular networks take the form of a honeycomb. As can be seen from the diagram below, the transceiver stations are arranged around the controller station with the controller station at three of the points in the honeycomb. If additional coverage is needed, additional antennas are added on the transceiver station. An antenna that
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previously operated on a 120-degree basis would now only operate on 60 degrees; the new antennas would take over the remaining 60 degrees.b
The network substation: Data from the base substation comes into the network substation through the mobile services switching center (MSC). From the switching center information is communicated either to other base substations in the network, to other mobile systems, or to a fixed-line system for connection to the intended party.
The mobile services switching center has several databases at its disposal that provide information and validate identities of the caller before passing the communication on. They include:
• Home location register (HLR)—a database with information about subscribers including their identity and service profile
• Visitor location register (VLR)—a database also containing information about subscribers, but with more specific data concerning their whereabouts. During a call it provides information on where to find a subscriber.
• Authentication center (AC)—acts as an interface between the switching center and the HLR and the VLR, allowing the process of user verification and location to be carried out
• Equipment identity register (EIR)—a database containing the list of all valid mobile equipment in the networkc
Source: Various websites as noted. aCompiled by casewriter based on information from www.coai.in/aboutus-technology.htm, accessed May 20, 2005.
bCompiled by casewriter based on information from www.privateline.com/Cellbasics/Cellbasics02.html., accessed January 5, 2006.
cCompiled by casewriter based on information from www.privateline.com/PCS/GSMNetworkstructure.html, accessed May 20, 2005.
Exhibit 6 Indian Telecom Competitors
Bharti competed with six major operators in the Indian market, as follows:
BSNL:
Former monopoly and still a state-owned business. The oldest telecom operator in the country, its fixed-line operations were omnipresent. In 2003, BSNL still had a subscription base representing 86% of the fixed-line market. It was expected that its market share in fixed-line operations would decline to 58% by 2008 but that its market share in mobiles would rise from 16% in 2003 to 22% by 2008. Overall, it would remain a strong player.a
MTNL:
Set up in 1986 to facilitate the upgrading of telecom services to the metropolitan centers of Delhi and Mumbai (Bombay), this operator was partially state owned (52.25%) and ran a fairly modern network in those cities and the surrounding regions with fixed-line services to 4.4 million subscribers, or 12% of the Indian market, and mobile services to 500,000 customers, or 1.3% of the Indian market. Broadband services were to be introduced in 2003.b
Hutch-Essar:
Hutchinson’s Indian operations represented a joint venture between Hutchinson Whampoa, the Hong Kong-based conglomerate, and the Essar Group, one of India’s largest corporate houses. Hutchinson’s investment in the Indian telecom market began in 1992; its cooperation with Essar dated back to 1999.
Hutch India had limited itself to the mobile sector of the telecom market—it had no fixed- line operations. Its mobile strategy was to target the premium segment. In 2003, it was present in 13 of the 23 circles and had 4.1 million customers, or 12% of the mobile market.
Tata:
Tata Teleservices was the telecom arm of the Tata Group. Partnering with Motorola, Lucent, Ericsson, and ECI Telecom, Tata had 600,000 wireless customers, or just under 2% of the mobile market in 2003. Tata also had a one-third stake in the wireless provider Idea Cellular (see below).
Idea Cellular:
A three-way joint venture between Tata, Birla (another large Indian industrial group), and AT&T, the company adopted the name of Idea Cellular in 2002. It was present in seven circles, four of which represented some of the largest economic and industrial centers. With this concentration, it was able to capture a customer base of 3.7 million customers, or 11% of the entire mobile market in 2003.c
Reliance:
Reliance Infocomm was a subsidiary of the Reliance Group, an Indian, family-run $22.6 billion conglomerate. Reliance entered the market in 2002 with both wireless and wire-line services.
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Reliance’s key strengths lay in its brand new installed fiberglass network with over 60,000 kms of optical cable stretching throughout India; it was integrated (wireless and wire line) and convergent (voice, data, and video). Reliance had introduced broadband applications including Java applications for the Internet, VPN connections for business clients, and global positioning for vehicle tracking.
In wire line, Reliance had 500,000 customers in 2003 but was expected to increase its customer base to over 8 million by 2008. In wireless, Reliance had a 19.5% market share, representing 6.6 million customers. It was expected to reach 21% market share and 31 million customers by 2008.d
Source: Various websites as noted.
aCompiled by casewriter based on data from JM Morgan Stanley Equity Research Asia-Pacific, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd., June 9, 2005.
bData from MTNL website, www.mtnl.net.in/about.htm, accessed January 4, 2006. cCellular Operators Association of India, www.coai.in/archives_statistics_2004_q1.htm, accessed August 3, 2005.
dCompiled by casewriter based on data from JM Morgan Stanley Equity Research Asia-Pacific, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd., June 9, 2005.