Albanian Mobile Communications - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 33 Words: 9907 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? Albanian Mobile Communications 2. Abstract 3. Introduction 4. Literature review Market segments characteristics. (Demands type) Business and Residential are the main customer segments for Data and Internet services. According to ERG Report on regulation of access products necessary to deliver the business connectivity, business customers distributed with remote branches/offices nationally, tend to order wholesale services ordered by the headquarter rather than ordered as separate packages by the remote branches and while this is typical for big and organized business, smaller one sometimes find themselves convenient to buy and use the retail offered services (ERG, 2009). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Albanian Mobile Communications" essay for you Create order Regarding the demand from business customers different needs are found and a clear line between the high-end and low-end business customers can not be set but what separates them is often the quality of services demanded and the way of ordering the services as a complete network solution from one provider only or having different providers and the company itself does the role of the integrator (ERG, 2009). Another common behavior of businesses is the demand for a full solution for communication services covering the range of fixed and mobile services while it is noted that big business and in addition while the standard users are more sensitive for the price, the business big ones stick to well known brands, quality and reliability of services and after sales support provided (ERG, 2009). Big Business Multi-site customers seem to have different needs when compared to residential users or to small business users: Different services such as mobile, fix, data networking, convergent products and value added services; high quality communication services; quick response and good support; dedicated personnel as account manager (ERG, 2009) 5. AMC Company Profile Albanian Mobile Communications (AMC) is the biggest Mobile Network operator in Albania and is part of the Cosmote Mobile Telecommunications, the mobile part of OTE SA Greece. Part of Cosmote Group which is operating in 4 countries Greece, Albania, Bulgaria and Romania, AMC is operating in Albanian market since 1996 and has constantly dominated the market by means of customer base and revenue. AMC is founded as a state owned company by early 1996 and launched the standard GSM services on May 1996. It was privatized in 2000 when Cosmote Telenor Consortium became the controlling shareholder privatizing 85% of the shares while around 2% were provided to the employees and the rest of 13% remained to the state. Now 97% of the shares it is owned by Cosmote and 3% by the employees. At the time of privatization AMC was offering the services only to about 30,000 postpaid customers and only at xxx% of the territory and xx% of the population. (ASK ILIR) After the privatization, due to the low level of development of fixed telephony, lack of real completion and the investments made by the Greek company Cosmote, the company developed very fast by expanding the network to all the territory of Albania, offering the services to prepaid customers segment and adding a broad range of mobile services such as SMS, MMS, VMS and Internet access. After Vodafone entrance in the Albanian market in 2001, the competition in the market forced the constant decrease of prices, increase of number of services and their quality. The third operator, Eagle Mobile, entered in the market in 2008 and further busted the competition among the three operators. Positioning itself as a low cost services operator, Eagle mobile initiated a price war in the market forcing further decreases of services prices. Today AMC is the biggest Mobile operator in Albania, dominating the market by having around 1.9 million of customers with 43.3% market penetration. AMC is covering 99.8% of the population and 90% of the territory in Albania. Roaming agreements are established with more than 300 GSM operators worldwide. Major mobile product and services offered to individuals are: voice, SMS, MMS, voice mail, internet access, WAP portals and push email for residential. Corporate push email, data internetworking, ISP and VPN services are provided to corporate customers. EDGE technology is implemented covering 86% of the population and 63% of territory offering the possibility to the customers to access the internet through the mobile at acceptable rates. 3G technology is not yet licensed in Albania but the licensing process is expected to start during this year. AMC has around 530 employees highly qualified and trained. Around xx% of employees have a university degree and xx% of them are under the age of xxx. Personnel is organized in three main division, Commercial, Technical, Finance and Operations Administrative. The revenues for 2008 were at 191,272 millions, the OIBDA margin was at 64.7% and the net profit margin was at xxx%. During 2009, due to several factors present in the market such as the third entrant competition, world financial crises and intervention of regulatory body in decreasing the retail and interconnection termination tariffs AMC has faced some challenges on realizing the revenue objectives although the figures were still very good: revenue at 145,744mil, OIBDA at 57% and net profit at xxx%. For the future, considering the expected fierce competition due to also to the entrance of the fourth operator in the market and present financial crisis as well, AMC is looking to realize the targets through orienting the business towards the customer, finding other revenue streams, offering a wide range of products and services, the best technology in the market and best network quality. Offering of 3G services within 2010 and enrichment of products portfolio with services that this technology makes possible are considered as good opportunity for AMC in the near future for increasing the revenue. 6. Current Situation Analysis 6.1 General environment factors Political Albania is a small country located in southeastern Europe bordered by Adriatic Sea, Greece, Montenegro and Kosovo. Territory is 28,748 sq km and population at 3,639,453. After the Second World War, Albania established a communist regime which has ruled the country for 46 years until 1991 when it collapsed and a new democratic system was established. Albania has gone through a difficult process of transforming society to a democratic one and of developing the market economy. The process has proven to be very challenging and although a lot of progress has been done, the country is facing a lot of problems and deficiencies related to corruption, week infrastructure, unemployment, organized crime and sometimes lack of political stability. Since starting the transition process in 1991, the progress of Albania has been impressive although the transition period has taken longer than enough. Albania has established the institutions of democracy, has developed the capacities of public institutions, and has established the foundations of market economy (World Bank, 2010). Albania has joined NATO in 2009, has signed in 2006 the agreement for Stabilization and Association with EU and is one of the potential candidates for joining the EU. As part of EU association agreement, Albania since ten years has transformed and adopted the legislation based on EU recommendations and framework. The legislation improvement has been a continuing process and is performed under the tough monitoring and supervision of EU. In this regard, currently we may say that Albania has a very good legislation frame although there are evident gaps between the legislation and practical implementation of the laws in the country. The country has joined the WTO in 2000 and since then has adopted its international trading policies in accordance with the agreement with this organization. Government policies and strategies on Electronic communications are focused on liberalization, development of market and competition, attraction of foreign direct investments, protection of consumer and are developed in compliance with the National Strategy for Development (covering years 2007-2013) and the EU integration directives. Economy Albania is a country with low to middle income with a gross domestic income per capita of $3740 in 2008. The Economy of the country has been totally transformed during the transition period from a communist economy towards a market-based economy. Albania has achieved a sustainable economic growth, while containing inflation almost constant every year. During the transition period, the structure of economy has been transformed from an agriculture and industry to services and construction. Large scale migration has fueled high workers remittances, which make up around 8-13 percent of GDP (World Bank Web Page, 2010, Albania in Brief). During that period the GDP growth rates of around 5-6 percent per year have been achieved while the poverty level has been reduced constantly. The absolute poverty rate was 25.4 % in 2002 but dropped to 18.5 percent in 2005 and to 12.4 percent in 2008. The extreme poverty rate decreased from about 5 to 3.5 percent but inequality has increased significantly (World Bank Web Page, 2010, Albania in Brief). According to World Bank data, the Albania GNIP (Gross National Income per Capita) in 2008 was at 3840$ ranking at 113th position while PPP (Purchasing power Parity) was at 7950$ during 2008 ranking at 108th position worldwide (World Bank, 2008). The GDP composition by sectors the year 2009 was as following: agriculture 20.06%, industry 18.8% and services 60.6% (CIA Fact book, 2010). In 2009 unemployment rate was at 12%, population under the poverty line 25%, Inflation rate 2.1% and has been kept within the range of 2-4% since 2002 (CIA Fact book, 2010). Major agriculture products are wheat, corn, vegetables, potatoes, fruits, sugar, grapes and meat while the industrial ones are food processing, textiles and clothing, oil, hydropower, cement, chemicals, mining and basic metals. In 2009 the exports were at 1994 billion while the imports were at 3602 billion (CIA Fact book, 2010). Strong growth has been seen during the years 2002 -2008 at the rate of 14-15% in the construction industry which has been considered as very successful one in the country. Evidences of global crises effects have been shown during 2009 when the GDP growth was 4% less than 2008. The remittances and bank deposits have declined much during 2008 and 2009 causing the slowdown of consumption while imports went down from 4,898 in 2008 to 3.602 Billion in 2009 (INSTAT, 2010). The deposit rates during 2007 were at the average of 6.3% while the bank interest rates were at 13.6% (INSTAT, 2010). Following are shown the main competitiveness indexes for Albania provided by the Harvard University, M. Porter in The Global Competitiveness Report. Source: M. Porter, The Global Competitiveness Report, 2008-2009 Based on this report, Albania is categorized in the group of countries being at the stage of efficiency driven economy, has many deficiencies in infrastructure, technology and innovation and market efficiency while fits with the standards of this category for macroeconomic stability, health and primary education, labor market efficiency and institutions, Source: M. Porter, The Global Competitiveness Report, 2008-2009 From the above report we can see that corruption, inadequate infrastructure, governing efficiency and bureaucracy and Tax regulations are the main problematic factors for doing business in Albania. Source: World Bank, Doing Business 2010 Albania According to World Bank, Albania is currently well positioned to continue with its strong economic growth and is able to make significant movements towards the integration with the European Union but the government must strongly address the governance problems, maintain a stable macroeconomics framework, improve the business environment and attract investments, upgrade public infrastructure, develop its human capital and make sure that the development benefits are fairly distributed to different categories of society with a special attention to supporting the poor ones (World Bank 2010). Although it has sustained high growth rate by keeping the microeconomic stability during the last decade, Albania remains still one of the poorest countries in Europe showing a large scale of informality in economy, a week and inadequate energetic and transportation infrastructure. Shortages in Energy caused from the dependency from hydropower plants and inadequate distribution infrastructure contribute much in a poor business environment and is a factor for not being successful in the process of attracting the foreign investors. According the European Commission 2009 report , Albania has kept and maintained the macro-economic while the worldwide crises had only a limited impact on the country, inflation was low, exchange rate has been stable, liquidity of banks have been ensured (EU Commission, 2009) Social According to INSTAT, 46 % of the population is between the age of 15-44 years and average age is 32.1 years therefore we may say that Albania has a young population however the population has started aging for the reason of decreased rate of births and longer life rate (INSTAT,2010). The number of people living in urban areas has increased from 35.8% in 1989 to 45% in 2004. Consumer telecom utilization and spending is high and at around 6 % of the total household expenditures. New generation like the new technology of mobiles and are followers of offers. Some future social trends are mentioned below: Urbanization will continue therefore increasing the chances for the fast rollout of broadband technologies Economic inequality will increase, therefore the customer segmentations should be considered and product and services should be customized to each segment needs Family size will decrease People joining the social networks will increase Regulatory The country has adopted the national legislation in accordance with the EU 2003 regulatory recommendations and framework. The Law No. 9918 (May 19, 2008) is the main legal instrument for the electronic communications industry regulation. It defines the responsibilities of government and regulatory institutions for this regulation. Based on this law, the Minister of State for Reforms and Parliamentary relations is the administration body for the electronic communications services and it is responsible for drafting the related legislation and for preparing the plan for radio frequencies. Based on the proposals submitted by the regulatory, the Ministry has the authority to approve the tenders for limited spectrum assignment and universal service providers. In 2009, the Council of Ministers has approved the National Frequency Plan while there is under the approval process the policy for the sector development for the period 2009-2014 which is oriented on liberalization, European integration and convergence. The regulatory authority (AKEP) is an independent, self-financed entity which covers the regulatory tasks for the electronic communications. Under its authority belong also some tasks related to adoption, administration and implementation of legislation. For the industry of Electronic Communications, the regulatory body should safeguard the competition, guaranty the quality of services offered and delivery of them, protect the consumer, license and develop the market through promoting the investment and latest technology implementation. AKEP can impose prices control, set administration fees and define methodologies for regulation of tariffs and defines its own structure and salaries without any intervention from the Ministry. The financing is taken from fees applied to operators and service providers. It reports to the parliamentary assembly. The privatization of Albtelecom and Eagle Mobile, in 2007, increased the level autonomy and independence for the AKEP and the Ministry although the state still owns 25% of the shares. Lately the government has announced these shares will be sold. Another institution was established by the government in April 2007, National Agency on Information Society (NAIS) which role is to coordinate the government activities for the information society and communications. It prepares and proposes the national strategies, draft ICT legislations and coordinate the projects of government in ICT. With regards to market access and authorizations, Albania has moved forward with the gradual process of liberalization. In 1998 the liberalization started with the rural local networks, then in 2003 was liberalized the operations for the domestic long-distances networks and in 2005 for international ones. In 2006 the market was liberalized for urban operation of local alternative providers. The law of 2008, established the concept of General authorization based on which the networks and services which do not require the usage of limited resources could start operating without getting a license but just by sending a notification for their start to the regulatory authority within 15 days of operations. Based on this, the need for getting the license remained only for the frequencies and numbers. Based on the law, AKEP can use the SMP (Significant Market Power) designation mechanism in order to regulate the competition in the market. The decision for designation should be based on a Market Analysis procedure results. In 2007 AKEP has designated AMC and Vodafone as SMP in the market of retail mobile services and for the wholesale voice termination. Based on that, AKEP imposed to these two operators obligations related to non-discrimination, transparency in RIO (Reference Interconnection Offer), imposed the prices of interconnect termination by cutting them by 31.2%% and applied a reduction in retailed prices of 30% for on-net and 40%for the off-net calls for a period of two years. In 2007, AKEP has designated Albtelecom as SMP in six markets related to fixed voice services offered to customers and for voice transit services. Obligations were set to Albtelecom including the imposed reduction of retail and transit tariffs. Following a review of the markets in wholesale and retail tariffs done in 2009, the competitive safeguards LLU and CS/CPS were imposed to Albtelecom which are not yet implemented. AKEP has already launched several markets analysis procedures on most of the wholesale and retail markets such as: Mobile wholesale market for call termination, access and call origination; fixed retail access and call services for wholesale interconnection. In December 2009, AKEP introduced to operators a reference document with the model of BULRAIC cost calculations for mobile services MTR based on which the data have been provided to AKEP by the operators. As the result of these analyses, it is expected that AKEP imposes the Mobile Terminated Rates for national calls while the rates for the international calls will be reviewed. During 2009 AKEP has launched the market analysis and public consultation process for wholesale and retail leased lines markets and finalization of it is expected by mid 2010. As result of public consultation process, is expected to be defined the services, demands, providers, supply structure and markets and then based on these is expected that regulatory designates the SMP operators for which the tariffs for their services will be regulated. During Q1 2010, AKEP has launched a public consultation process on The rule for the indexes of service quality which is expected to be finalized during Q1 2010. The above mentioned actions which regard regulation of competitions can be considered as steps to develop the competitive safeguards environment, however we can mention other steps not yet realized by the regulatory although the process has already started. Such missing measurements are: number portability, carrier selection and pre-selection (CS, CSP) not in practice yet, local loop un-bundling (LLU) not in practice yet, national roaming, MVNO and whole sale line rental. Number portability public consultation is in progress and based on AKEP plans, the service will be available in the market by end 2010 while the process for licensing for wireless broadband spectrum (WiMAX and mobile 3G) are expected to start with public consultations opening by March 2010 and be finalized by mid 2010. According to latest European Commission assessment, there were noted some progress including the alignment of primary legislation, while still some secondary lines laws have to be adopted yet, market liberalization and competition still are at early stage and administrative capacities of the ministry and regulator was not sufficient (Cullen, 2008). Technological In the area of mobile communication technology, GSM 2.75 technology (EDGE) is implemented since 2006 and now three operators offer it to the customers, AMC, Vodafone and Eagle. Regulatory has not yet provided the licensing for the Mobile 3G CDMA and broadband technologies HSPA and HSPA+. There is a delay in this aspect and the licensing for 3G technologies may be provided only now, at the end of lifecycle for 3G technology and at the time that other markets have started trialing and adopting the 4G network technologies (LTE). Video Digital Broadcasting (DVB-H) services are offered by three operators (DIGITALB, TRING and TV SHIJAKU) already to the market through terrestrial or satellite broadcasting. Number of PCs and PC utilization at home is low and estimated to xxx% of the houses while the utilization in companies and government is high. Internet services are provided in the country by more than 36 ISPs and technology for access is mainly fixed broadband xDSL, hybrid fiber coax and dial-up. Wireless broadband spectrum available for WiMAX is not licensed yet by the regulatory while the WiFi networks are frequently used for the Internet access in cafes. Points to multipoint systems such as LMDS are not present in the country. Fiber networks are present only in the main cities such as Tirana and Durres and implemented by some ISP-s for the purposes of internet access or triple play services provided to the end user. Fiber backbone is missing and the mobile operators backbone is mainly build of microwave transmission links based on SDH or PDH technology. Two of mobile operators have taken already some steps on offering the mobile fix substitution services to the customers but not providing the convergence of the mobile and fix telephone number. Content development is weak and mainly is based on external international resources. The main technology factors that will shape the next decade of electronic communications development are the following: Convergence of networks Fixed and mobile network differences will vanish and a common network providing integrated services will serve the customers. Mobile to fix substitution and integration has already started Convergence of network technologies to an all IP networks Traditional telecom networks and internet (ISP) will merge together to a next generation carrier network which is based on all IP technology. Services will clearly separate from transport networks and competition will be focused and oriented on services Convergence of services Convergence of networks and network technology will make possible to design, combine and deliver to the customer services which traditionally have been provided before by different technology, networks and vendors such as triple play services, (video, voice and internet) provided all at one network access point, accessed through same application environment which run in many different types of devices. Unified services access and unified messaging Customers can access through same software environment and through same or different devices and from everywhere (office, home, when traveling) same set of applications and services. Reduction of cost for hardware and increase of software role and power Software will run on standard hardware. Big software players will play a big role while the network HW vendors will become more software oriented. Growth of video content and internet utilization while the voice remains strong Demands for capacities will be huge while the needs for integrating all sets of services at one management and control will increase. Increase of connected number and types of devices Web connected devices will increase. PCs, mobiles, TVs, game devices, etc. There will be a need to standardize the applications to all these set of devices. 6.2 Electronic communications industry analysis We will use the M. Porters Five forces model for analyzing the industry. We selected this model as being already one of the most worldwide known, widely recognized and used model for industry analysis. The analysis done based on that model will be used for business strategy development recommendations. Market overview General data The following graphs show the sector revenue growth and market in 2008 compared to the other countries in the region. Source: (Cullen Report, 2010) Source: (Cullen Report, 2010) Mobile telephony In May 1996, AMC a state owned company by this time launched for the first time in Albania the GSM services becoming one of the first countries in the region to offer such services. Currently there are three companies operating in the mobile services market AMC, Vodafone and Eagle Mobile. The fourth operator is licensed and is expected to launch the services on July 2010. On July 2009, the mobile customers were at 3.52 millions, mobile service penetration was at 110% of the population, and more than 99% of population and 90% of territory is covered by GSM signal. Around 93.8% of customers are prepaid and 6.2% are postpaid. AMC has 43.30% of customer base, Vodafone AL 43.00% and Eagle 13.7 % (Cullen, 2010). Technology used is 2G EDGE while 3G spectrum is expected to be licensed by mid 2010. Main services offered in the market are voice, SMS, MMS, WAP, internet access and GPRS intranets. 43.3% of market share is owed by AMC, 43% by Vodafone and 13.4% by Eagle Mobile. Fixed telephony Albtelecom is the incumbent fixed operator in the market while more than 70 alternative operators operate mainly in the rural zones. Number of fixed telephony users by July 2009 end was 360,000 which represents 11.3% penetration while alternative operators customers are at 49, 690 representing 14% of this number(Cullen, 2010). 99.92 % of the fixed telephony is digitized. In July 2009 the numbers of PSTN lines were at 359,100, ISDN lines at 929, lines given to residential customers were at 338,300 and to business customers at 21,700 (Cullen, 2010). Leased lines and Data services Albtelecom and the three mobile operators are the providers of leased lines services at national and international access. Albtelecom has had the monopoly of such services until few years ago and kept it for international access until 2006. Albtelecom has implemented a few fiber lines connecting some main cities while internationally have access of fiber backbones to Italy and to Greece and other Adriatic see countries through the Adria fiber backbone. The mobile operators have not build yet a backbone to be used for leasing yet but are offering for the moment free capacities of their backbone build for their core business, mobile services. Besides AMC, there are not any clear evidences and data on the leased lines or data services provided by the other two mobile operators (Vodafone and Eagle Mobile). Albtelecom and mobile operators are moving forward their plans for implementation of a national Fiber backbone which will serve future needs for capacities nationally or for international access. AMC has provided data internetworking services to banks and other business or government institutions. More than 200 local networks of xxx customers are internetworked nationally and xxxx connections to international networks are established. COMPLETE STATISTICS Use Cullen report data on lease lines (pages 53-67, here are prices only) Broadband and Internet Services These services are offered for the moment by fixed operators while the mobile broadband services are not yet licensed by regulatory authority. Broadband penetration rate was at 2.51 % on January 2010 and was the lowest one in the region while EU penetration was at 23.9% (Cullen, 2010). About 36 ISPs are operating in Albania mainly providing the services in Tirana area and few in the other western cities. According to Cullen report, by January 2010, the number of broadband connections was 80,000, narrowband connections were at 28,512 and 30% of people are regularly using the Internet (Cullen, 2010). Number of internet users in 2008, including the mobile internet access users, was at 580,000. Main operators are Albtelecom, Abisnet, ABCOM, Alfa cable and ASC (AKEP, 2010). 65% of broadband market is owned by Albtelecom and 35% by the alternative operators. Broadband technology used is ADSL and HFC. The following table shows the internet penetration progress over the years. Source: (Internet world statistics, 2010) Albtelecom offers upstream capacities of internet access to retail customers from 512Kbps to 4Mbps while Abisnet from 1 to 3 Mbps. Albtelecom is the main operator offering to other ISP-s high capacity access to internet international gateway through fiber. Other alternative operators access the international gateways through Albtelecom use other alternative microwave links. The internet backbone access capacity in October 2009 was 5.5GB and was one of the lowest in the region. The threat for substitute product and services AMC offers Data Internetworking and Internet services through ISP in addition to its core business mobile services. International IP transit services are provided through the partnership established with OTEGlobe which is an international data services provider. The type of service is IP transit, (Layer3 Networking) where turnkey IP network is provided through delivering the end routers, installation and configurations of them and IP packet encryption as well. IP capacities provided are dedicated. Availability of services is above 99.9% and quality of network is very good. For such type of data services, substitute services in the market are considered the MPLS VPN-s, satellite data links, internet VPN services, GPRS Intranets and data dial-up. MPLS VPNs are becoming standard services worldwide but not yet present in the local market. This comes mainly due to the reasons of lack of a dedicated data backbone in the country, the lack of development of IP backbones technologies by the operators for the moment and the lack of fiber backbones. Since the data IP backbone is missing for the moment and establishing it will need time and big investments, MPLS VPNs may present a substitution threat after some years. There are not operators offering such products for the moment. Satellite data links are established through satellite terminals installed at the local remote offices locations. Links are aggregated to the satellite nub and then connected to the headquarter network. These links have the advantage of installing anywhere in the country and this represent an advantage considering the terrain but are more convenient to be used as point to point links rather than in a distributed multipoint topology. The links availability is influenced much by the weather. Internet VPN services are considered good for point to point services connections rather than multipoint simultaneous network connections that business applications usually need to establish. However for banks which usually operate mainly in a star topology where the affiliates are connected and transmit data to headquarter; the VPN may be considered as a good substitute of AMC data services. Internet VPNs provided capacities are variable and depending from the load of communications in the internet while business applications are very sensitive to the bandwidth required in a dedicated mode over the time. Also, in order to establish Internet VPNs the access to the internet is needed and in the case of Albania where the internet access in other cities other than the main ones is missing or is difficult, the VPN solutions will need the connection to the headquarter internet access anyway GPRS intranets provide a private IP network established through the mobile network. With EDGE technology available in the country, the connection capacity can reach max 240kbps while the average is at around 100kbps but it is variable of voice and data traffic in the cell. Dial-up connection provide instant connection to headquarter data centers from affiliates located remotely but the capacity of connection is low and not proper for many type of business applications. The stability and reliability of fixed dialup lines are low and the price of such connections are still considerable. In addition the penetration of fixed telephony in Albania is low, less than 10% so the possibility of access of a dial up line is low. With regards to the cost, satellite links are expensive as regard to monthly fee and usually of limited capacities. GPRS and Dial-up lines may be considered not as a real substitute but as an alternative for backup data transmission media in case the primary network is unavailable. Regarding the switching cost of the substitute products, we may say that there is a risk that customers may switch to other cheap solution for the savings purposes only. Switching to internet VPN solutions maybe considered as a real risk. The risk is increased based on the fact that the difference in price is high because internet access is cheap although the quality provided is not guaranteed and is based on best effort. VPN connections are cheap and are established using existing internet access of the headquarter premises but establishing remote affiliate connections to the headquarter premises by dedicated channels will require significant investments almost equal to the price of services provided by AMC. To establish the VPN though accessing the internet locally in the city will require local loop access to possible local ISPs in the city which is at around 30Euro and is considered cheap but availability of ISPs in the local cities is low. Switching cost to Satellite links is ve ry high. It includes the setup costs, costs of the terminals and costs of the hub establishment. Switching to satellite data lines really is not an option except for the case that there is not any other meaning of access for specific remote locations. AMC offers these services to Business customers bundled with mobile services so there is not much risks for substitution since customers will evaluate all the packet of services offered and not only one. Business customers, who received the bundled services at a more attractive price by AMC, will not be willing to change the vendor for data services substitution alone. ISP services offered by AMC are the standard ones offered by an ISP: e-mail hosting, DNS hosting, Web pages hosting, FTP and telnet. There is not any direct substitute for such services in the market while other ISPs are offering the same ones. The only risk in this aspect is the bundling of such services by other services provided in a package of triple services which include Internet, Voice and Video. These kind of bundled services target the consumer market and not really the business segment. The price of such bundled offers cannot be directly compared with the standard internet service since they are not same one while on the other hand, AMC bundles these services for the business customers with other mobile services. Although they are not same bundled services provided to the customers, there is a trend to integrate the fixed and mobile services provided to the business customers by mobile operators. Compared with the fixed operators, ISPs are already ahead as regard to offerin g triple services to the consumers through broadband wire line access while the fixed operators are focused on offering for the moment traditional voice and Internet access through broadband cables. (CONFIRM WITH INTERVIEWS, ENTER REFERENCES FROM INTERVIEW) (COMPLETE IT BYCURRENT SIMILAR SERVICES BY COMPETITORS IN THE MARKET) The threat of entry of new competitors (CONFIRM WITH INTERVIEWS) ENTER REFERENCES FROM INTERVIEW) The law of Electronic Communications which came into force on June 2006 introduced a general authorization regime based on which networks and services which do not require the use of limited resources to be established and operate can start the operation without any individual license. These services can be provided by just notifying the regulatory authority (AKEP) which in turn provides the registration only. Individual authorization is provided for the right of use of spectrum and numbers. ISP and data services belong to the first category and can be provided just by notifying the authority, while in case of use of frequencies for transmission; authorization should be provided by the Regulatory. This low has facilitated a lot the electronic market access in Albania, promoting competition in this market. Regulatory authority has designated AMC and Vodafone as Significant Market Power (SMP) regulating tariffs for voice termination and mobile retail tariffs while Albtelecom is designated as SMP in six markets of fixed telephony. This mechanism helps the new entrants to establish better interconnection tariffs with big operators and with AMC as one of them as well. The lack of national backbone to the other providers makes possible to them to offer services limited to territory of few main cities of Albania but not national ones. However, attempts are seen lately from different ISPs and other operators to build a shared national backbone but these are not materialized yet. The lack of national data backbone which might be operated by an independent entity, presents a barrier to other operators which may want to offer data services nationally while tha lack of regulation in the leased lines market makes not possible for them to get cheap leased lines from the other operators such as AMC, Vodafone or Albtelecom which are players in the data services market. As regard to Products differentiation, we may point out that similar data services are provided by other competitors however most of type of service offered by them are Leased Lines provided point to point in territory of Albania and connections are provided among operators premises buildings so not including the local loop segment to the customer. Other small players have offered cheap networking services where Layer 2 networking is provided to the customers. There is provided only one Layer2 network with no encryption applied in the links while all customers connected are transmitting in the same Ethernet domain. Network availability and performance is low. Other ISPs are not providing data services; mainly they are providing Internet access services while lately triple play services are introduced where Internet, telephone and video are offered through same network of fiber combined with cable. AMC has a well established, well known well positioned brand. It has been dominating the mobile market since 14 years by customer base and services provided. It has proven already to be an operator which form many years is offering not only mobile services but also high quality data and internet services to business customers. Its brand represents a big advantage to any other new entrant in the market. The AMCs customers have reasons to remain loyal to the provider of Mobile, Data services as there is proven the quality and reliability of services since long time of operations. On the other hand, AMC provide incentives in Data and ISP services provided when bundled with mobile services. However, AMC is providing high quality services but at a higher cost compared with other competitors prices and that can damage the loyalty factor. New entrant who may offer attractive prices will risk the current data and ISP services of AMC. The investments to establish a new national data or ISP service provider are high. The cost for establishment of new central infrastructure is not that high while the main cost belongs to the establishment of access network and backbone. In the access the cost will be high not only for the cables to be established but because in some main cities the canals for cables pass do not exist or are not adequate. The cost to build the national backbone is very high and cannot be done by ISP-s unless a big investor enters the data backbone market. Based on the above two factors, new market entrants will be limited for many years to offer the services in regional zones unless regulation of leased lines market is done by the regulatory authorities. Indeed, there is already a public consultation process run by AKEP which intend to retrieve the operators opinion on rules to be applied for regulating the tariffs of leased lines which in case is finalized and applied, will increase the threat of ne w entrants in the national data and ISP services provided. There is not any distribution channel really serving the Data and Internet Services in Albania. AMC has four distributor channels for selling its mobile services to consumers while the direct sale force is used for selling the data and ISP services to business. Since the services are offered to businesses only for the moment and not to consumers, there has not been a need for a distribution channel. Most of the distributors are serving exclusively for the moment different operators therefore, in case AMC provides ISP services to consumers, the access of new possible entrants to these distribution channels might be forbidden making difficult for them the access to these distribution channels. AMC is a well established and experienced organization. It is doing successfully business in Albania since 14 years, has a very experienced and skilled personnel therefore during the time the new entrant will be established, be experienced with the business and the market will face difficulties competing with such an operator in the market. Government policies are focused on the development of the market through competition and promotion of FDIs, protection of the consumer and development of the latest technology. These policies have helped the market liberalization and are set in compliance with the EU recommendations and WTO obligations. Although the framework and policies set by the Government are in compliance with the above principles, the realizations of them in practice have been slow and sometimes not sufficient. The lack of political stability, wide spread corruption in the administration and lack of efficiency in institutions have been the main factors for the delays in implementation. The main gap has been identified in the failure to apply in practice the Government policies for developing new technologies. Government and regulatory entity (AKEP) has failed for several years to license the spectrum for broadband 3G and WiMAX technologies although these systems have been operational since many years in Europe . Because of these delays on licensing, the data and Internet service providers have been forbidden to use an adequate wireless system for access of the customer in last mile. Under the condition of an under-developed wire line access facilities in Albania this deficiency has forced the service providers to use other inefficient and expensive solutions for accessing the end customer in the last mile which at the end has caused the increase of the price for the services delivered to them. In case these technologies will be offered now, Wireless systems will represent a big opportunity to the new entrants to access the customer in the last mile through an efficient and advanced wireless system, with lower cost per unit of customer and unit of capacity offered. The intensity of competitive rivalry (CONFIRM WITH INTERVIEWS ENTER REFERENCES FROM INTERVIEW) (CHECK WHETHER IS BETTER TO PUT TO COMPETITION SECTION) The three mobile operators offer currently almost same mobile technology and mobile services but we have to note that AMC has been always ahead to the other operators by implementing new services such as GPRS, EDGE, USSD, WAP, e-Bill, Balance check, e.t.c. Vodafone and Eagle have offered the Fixed Lock to Cell services but for the moment its market is not considerable. In addition it is considered as a competitive advantage to AMC the fact of offering the additional Data and ISP services to the business customers only although the second one is not much developed. Bundling such services to the mobile has been considered as a component of reducing the mobile services prices as well letting possible to AMC to sustain and reply to the lower mobile voice prices offered during the last year by the new entrant Eagle Mobile. On the contrary, considered as a standalone service, while Data services are progressed better than competitors, the ISP services have not been developed and AMC has faced already the pressure in the market from the competitors. As regard to services quality, AMC has sustained a constant network service quality by having high KPIs on availability (99.93%), lower call drop rates, lower blocking rate, etc. Customer support services and operations activities are considered by the company and customers as a competitive advantage. Since the services of Data and ISP-s are supported by the same network backbone and high engineering personnel, the quality of them has joined the same standards applied for mobile services. Lately, some of the ISP-s have entered the fixed telephony market which is offered with VoIP technology bundled in the triple offers of Voice, Internet and Video accessed through the broadband. Although the triple services offer is limited to some areas in the country and is considered still expensive, in a meaning of tomorrows integrated services it represents a very serious move which will risk the business of other operators as well. The bargaining power of customers (Buyers) (CONFIRM WITH INTERVIEWS, ENTER REFERENCES FROM INTERVIEW) Currently in the market are three mobile operators offering almost same mobile services in the market, many ISP-s offering the Internet services and very lately triple services such as Internet, VoIP and Video. New substitute products exist for individual services taken separately but there are scare offers as regard to combined integrated services: Voice, data, internet, Video. Business customers have different offers in the market for mobile services but they do not have many choices for Data services while the options of ISP services are many. For both customers segments, Business and Consumers there is not yet offered the number portability option but it is going to be available by the end of the year with low costs and short time of switching and will represent a big risk but also opportunity for the two big mobile operators. National roaming is not yet offered in the country. Business customers are well informed by the sales force of all the operators about the availability of offers. There is a differentiation of products in the market for AMC since it is offering combined Mobile, Data and Internet services to business customers. The bargaining power of suppliers Suppliers offer to AMC network equipments, services for implementation and support for maintenance and operations of the network. NSN is the main supplier for the network technology and for point to point microwave links while Alcatel for the Backbone SDH links. Horizon is the local supplier for CISCO routers and SUN ISP servers. There is a big degree of dependence from NSN and Alcatel as the only current vendor for the network and transmission. The switching cost is very high and time for swapping is long. Therefore the bargaining power of these two suppliers is very high. However, since AMC is part of Cosmote Group which has already introduced Ericsson and Huawei in other Cosmote group operators decreasing the power of NSN as a supplier in the group. The cost of switching the point to point microwave links could be high but since they can be used for other purposes in the GSM network, the investment is not lost. Regarding the SUN servers and CISCO routers and switches, there are many vendors providing these type of equipments rather than Horizon. However, the cost of switching may be considered high. In addition, the presence in the market of Linux based ISP solutions which are of low cost, is a good opportunity for AMC to swap while the vendor power is significantly minimized. 7. Competitive environmental analysis (CONFIRM WITH INTERVIEWS) We will analyze the competition split in four different categories of services offered: Mobile services, Data Networking Services, Competitors for ISP Services and at the end the competition for combined Integrated Services. This is based on the fact that the services AMC offers for the moment are offered by different Vendors but none of them is offering them all and similar as AMC is offering: Mobile services (SEE CULLEN REPORT, confirm by interviews) Vodafone Vodafone Albania has launched is services by xxxx 2001 breaking the monopoly of AMC in the mobile market by this time. MARKET SHARE? Vodafone is a worldwide well known brand therefore the Vodafone Albania is enjoining in the market the benefits of such brand positioning. Vodafone Al is focused on quality business customers and youth segment. Services offered are standard GSM ones: Mobile Voice, SMS, Data, MMS, WAP portals, Lock to Cell. Vodafone Karta and Vodafone Club are two of the main product group offered(SUPPORT by INTERVIEW) The MARKET SHARE?, STRATEGY Eagle Mobile Eagle Mobile launched the GSM services on March 2008 and now it has 600,000 subscribers owing 15% of the market share. It covers 97% of population and 90.7 of territory. Technology implemented is GSM EDGE and services offered are Mobile Voice, SMS, MMS, Internet, WAP portal, Mobile TV streaming over EDGE, Lock to Cell, Fleet management. Entering the market in 2008 and supported by the fixed telephony operator is under same ownership with Eagle, it started a price war with other operators. Customers followed some of their offers but as the penetration were low and the off-net prices were high, this step caused customers to keep 2 or three numbers, one per each network calling. Eagle mobile has position its brand initially as a National brand and currently as offering cheap services while has been constantly working on improving the network coverage and quality of services delivered. It is not offering fixed Data networking or ISP services as these services are offered by the fixed operator Albtelecom which. Data Networking Services Albtelecom is offering national leased lines services, TDM trunks in the backbone and cooper lines in the last mile access. Trunks technology is TDM circuits and transmission media is mostly microwaves and fiber in main cities. The circuit is provided up to the end points of Albtelecom premises and not for the local loop connections. Historically this operator has positioned itself as a monopoly, high price and low quality provider. Dial up services are offered through the fixed lines but the speed is low as the quality of copper lines is not good. During 2009 EBITDA was at 49.42%, ROCE 3.9%, number of employees at around 2,200. TRING is offering fiber optics leased circuits in Tirana area only. Entering lately this market, there is not much information on the offers provided by them. The MARKET SHARE? STRATEGY PRIMO/BIND is offering Layer 2 Ethernet access networking using Albtelecom circuits as bearer. It is positioned as low price low quality and low security provider. End to end application encryption is needed in case of security sensitive applications. The MARKET SHARE, STRATEGY Mobile Operators (Vodafone Eagle Mobile) ISPs AbCom has started the ISP operations in Albania in 1998. Product offered are mail, DNS and web pages hosting, Internet access, Voice and Video (3N1) and the territory covered are limited to western main cities of Albania. Access technology used is through broadband modems, wireless WiFi and dial-up. There are not clear statistics on number of customers or territory coverage of AbCom. PRIMO (Albania online) has started offering the ISP services in 1999. Services offered are email, web and DNS hosting, Internet Access, VoIP voice. Broadband ADSL modems are used for access while a fiber backbone (AFB) is established in Tirana area. There are not clear statistics on number of customers or territory coverage of PRIMO. Abisnet is another ISP operating in Albania. It has established the operations in . It is using standard ISP services and VoIP as well. Access is offered through ADSL, ADSL2+ and WiFi hotspots. There are not clear statistics on number of customers or territory coverage of Abisnet. ASC Integrated services (Fixed and Mobile, Voice Data and Video) Mobile operators INTERNAL 8. AMCs offered services The core business of AMC is offering of GSM Mobile Services in Albania. Main standard mobile services offered are Voice, SMS, MMS, Voice Mail, Mobile Internet access, WAP portal, and Roaming. Services are offered to 2 main customer segments: business and residential. Other GSM based services such as virtual PABX, GPRS Intranets, WEB to SMS, Electronic Bill, Closed User Groups are offered as well to business customers. Voice Interconnection and SMS interworking are offered to national or international fix and mobile interconnect partners. Considering the opportunities in Albanian market, four years ago AMC tried to diversify by investing and offering the fixed data and internet services to its business customers. Fixed data services represent IP data transit services provided to customers which need to interconnect IP networks located to different locations in Albania or all over the world while Internet services represent standard services offered by ISPs such as Internet Access, E-mail, DNS and Web pages hosting. Considered as fixed type of services, these were are offered to business customers only combined with the basic mobile services such as Mobile Voice, SMS, MMS and Mobile Internet and other GSM corporate services such as Virtual PABX and GPRS Intranets. The purpose was to enrich the services portfolio offered in the market by including additional services that other competitors were not offering. For residential customers the service of Internet access is offered through mobile GSM infrastructure only. Data Inter-networking Services IP inter-networking services are offered to business customers. Customers headquarter, main and remote offices networks are nationally or internationally inter-networked together in order to make possible for the customers corporate users to run and use the business applications locally or remotely. Users are distributed all over the country or worldwide in case of multinational companies but are usually served by same centralized servers located in the headquarter. Capacities offered vary from 128Kbs to nx2Mbits and are provided as dedicated in the local and backbone segments of the network. When required by the customers, channel IPSec encryption is offered and applied by AMC at the network level, otherwise, the customer should take care on its own for the security applied end to end at application level. Installation and setup of routers, transmitters and other network element is provided by AMC. Network operation and maintenance is provided 7days / 24 hours by AMC. Service is provided based on agreed SLA in which high level of KPIs are defined. Services order is done through dedicated business sales channel. Invoicing is done manually through the SAP system FI module based on monthly fees applied to the customer for the service. No integration with the Billing system exists (LHS BSCS) therefore there is not a common invoice generated for the customer for mobile and fixed services, instead separate invoice is generated for each service. ISP Services Standard ISP services such as Internet access, DNS hosting, e-mail hosting and Web pages hosting are offered to business customers. In addition, Web pages design, development and maintenance is also offered. Email ISP server hosts and manages all the data and logic of the customers email domain and mailboxes. Two modes of access are possible for the customer for administration, access and use of the emails: 1. A small virtual POP server is installed in the client premises network and each user accesses his email box configured and stored in that virtual server. User accounts are setup and configured by the company IT administrator in the virtual server. One virtual user which identifies the entire domain hosted for the customer is configured in the central ISP server. Emails for all users configured in the virtual server are online or periodically replicated to the virtual server users mail boxes. 2. All customer users are created in the central ISP server by the Customer IT administrator which remotely accesses the server through Internet or through any meaning of direct access. Users access the mailboxes through internet interface. In such a case the customer needs to install nothing in its premises so this solution is considered a more cost effective solution Maintenance and operations of central ISP infrastructure, transmission links and IP connectivity is provided by AMC. Internet access capacities offered vary from 256Kbs to nX2Mbps. SW licensing is based on fixed amount per user. Prices are based on the principle of monthly flat fee per user for the email and flat fee for the internet services which is variable of channel capacity provided. Setup fee includes part of investments and services cost for the setup, installations and last mile access of customer to the ISP platform. Backbone Internet access is provided by OteGlobe and access speed 10Mbs but is variable to number of customers connected which for the moment is very low. Services activation for ISP services is done through back office from the technical team manually. 9. Implemented technology Data Services Technology Layer 3 IP internetworking services are provided to the customers, while Frame Relay protocol and circuits are used in the data link layer. Communication architecture used is mostly the star one and Frame Relay hub spoke topology is used for the circuits. Ethernet interfaces are provided to the customers premises at the end access points making possible for them to just plug in the Ethernet cable and internetwork. CISCO equipments are used for IP routing and Frame Relay circuits switching. Multiple E1 TDM links are used in the national transmission backbone build of Alcatel SDH microwave links in ring topology or point to point super PDH microwave links. Point to point microwave PDH links are used currently for any local access loop connection whatever the location of the customer is: headquarter, main office or remote small one while very rarely DSL modems over local Albtelecom cooper links are established. For about 2 years and until 2007, a wireless point to multipoint system was used (Intracom IAS-W) operating at 3.5 GHz but it was uninstalled since the regulatory authority wanted to free this spectrum in order to be used for broadband wireless access technologies. Redundant paths are applied in the transmission backbone through SDH rings but not in the local loop or in IP network (routing) level. Capacities are dedicated for each customer in the backbone and in the local loop access. IP routing backbone is not implemented therefore star topology and architecture is implemented to access the remote cities. After some years of operation and with the increase of number of customers the todays architecture sounds more like a Spaghetti one leading to many discussions on the lack of efficiency on using the transmission capacities. Long time discussions on the change of the technology and architecture have taken place but yet there is not any final decision on the technology, architecture to follow and investments needed. ISP Technology SUN UNIX based servers are used for the email, Web and DNS services. I-Planet mail server software is used. SUN Web Proxy server is used for internet access control, SUN Web server for Web pages and SUN Active Directory SW for authentication and configurations. Virtual email servers are used and installed in the customer premises. CISCO routers are used for the IP networking in the ISP central infrastructure and in the customer premises. Microwave TDM links are used for the last mile access of the customer at capacities of multiple 2Mbps although for the remote offices the capacities required by the customers is low and at the rates of 256kbps. Installation of such links with high capacities (usually 4x2Mbps) is done for the reason that this is the minimum capacity offered by the MW links supplier for the moment. Similar to data services mentioned above: GSM backbone transmission network is used for the transmission. SDH and Super PDH links are used in the backbone transmission. Redundant paths are applied in the transmission backbone through SDH rings but not in the local loop or in IP routing level. Capacities are dedicated for each customer in the backbone and in the local loop access. IP routing backbone is not implemented therefore star topology and architecture is used to access the remote cities. (Enter a diagram of the ISP architecture and solution.) 10. Services Development Process 11. Organizational units supporting the Data ISP services business 12. Business Financial data (Investments, revenues, for Data ISP services) 13. SWOT analysis 14. Findings presentation and analysis/discussions POLITICAL: As a conclusion, we may say that Albania is a relatively politically stable country and has made o lot of progresses in developing the market economy and society. Albania has a very good legislation which is compliant with EU directives the Government has established good policies on developing the Electronic communication sector and the proper institutions are in place for the regulation of the market but for all the above mentioned factors we can say that there is a gap between the presence of laws, policies frameworks and procedures and the reality of implementing them in practice. Technology Albania is progressing ahead with the adoption of new technologies for electronic communications although in few aspects this progress is slow. Internet services This service is suffering from: the lack of last mile access which is mainly offered by the incumbent operator and is old and limited in the cities areas; low capacities in the national and backbone infrastructure According to the Interviews held with AMC PS and Sales managers, main services required for the moment from business are Data networking services for connecting and networking their remote branch, Internet access, e-mail hosting, DNS hosting and Web pages hosting, Internet VPN-s for remote and mobile application access, Mobile Telephony, Fixed telephony PBX, Mobile Intranets. These services are required bundled, available for each branch of the company (PUT IN INTERVIEWS) There is not any statistics for Residential Data market and demands but indicators and the interviews with the business people in AMC show that this market is very limited while is an evident market and demands for Internet access and email services. (PUT IN INTERVIEWS) (SEE THE POSIBILITY TO PUT TO FINDINGS) 15. Overall business related findings 16. Product development findings 17. Technology roadmap findings 18. Organizational and processes related findings 19. Recommendations 20. Commercial Strategy for product development and marketing 21. Technology selection and roadmap 22. Organizational changes 23. Changes implementation action plan 24. Limitations 25. Summary Conclusions 26. References

Gögn - 949 Words

Colin Drury, Management and Cost Accounting - Dumbellow Ltd Dumbellow Ltd Stan Brignall, Aston Business School The Board of Dumbellow Ltd are meeting on the 23rd January to discuss the draft budget for 2000/1, some two months before the start of that year. The company produces three industrial valves which are incorporated into equipment used in the Oil and Gas industry. The draft income statement is as follows: Product X  £k Sales 100k units at  £15 80k units at  £25 120k units at  £10 Materials Labour Overheads Profit/(Loss) 300 700 225 1225 275 400 800 360 1560 440 1500 2000 1200 480 750 330 1560 (360) 4700 1180 2250 915 4345 355 Product Y  £k Product Z  £k Total  £k The Board are unhappy with this planned outcome in two respects: they†¦show more content†¦I offered to help you look at your costs when I arrived last year, but when I proposed investigating the merits of Activity Based Costing you said you had no time to waste on such nonsense. You cant blame me for not consulting you! At this point Bob Berry, the Marketing manager, roused himself and smoothly announced, Theres no need for you two to bicker like this. I think the sales position would encourage us to lower the price of Z by  £1 per unit which I think would raise demand by 25%. If Arthur can save that  £1 per unit in variable production costs somehow, why dont we try that combination? Ben Kates, the Managing Director, now intervened. Id like to compare the effects of adopting Bobs suggestion versus Pauls. Arthur, would you also like to take a little time to think how best you might re-organise production so as to improve matters, and pass your thoughts to Paul for him to turn into financial figures. And, Paul, Id like you to try seeing what a simple 10% increase in sales and activity across the board would do, holding prices and everything else constant. After all, we have got a fair bit of spare capacity, havent we Arthur? The meeting broke-up at this point, having agreed to proceed on the lines set out by Ben Kates. Colin Drury, Management and Cost Accounting - Dumbellow Ltd à ­ là ­nu 4 à ¾Ãƒ ¡ The next day Arthur Mitchell phoned Pauls officeShow MoreRelatedNew Zealand : Indian And Pacific Plate Essay1656 Words   |  7 Pagesnatural and cultural environment. Some of the more major hazards that we could expect to see in New Zealand include ash falls, lava flows, lahars, and pyroclastic flows (others include electrical storms, volcanic gasses, tsunamis and earthquakes) ([1] gns science, 2010). The type, number, and severity of impacts of potential hazards varies between each volcano due to many factors. The likelihood of a hazard occurring may vary due to the observed behaviour of the volcano and geological readings. 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Nurture over Nature the Benefits of Having Same Sex Parents

Nurture Over Nature: The Benefits Of Having Same Sex Parents Stephanie Cuellar COM170 March 21, 2013 Nick Courtright Nurture Over Nature: The Benefits Of Having Same Sex Parents Many people from older generations argue that same sex parenting is an abomination resisting any other insight into what is truly best for children. But it is true that hundreds of thousands of children are placed in foster care awaiting their forever families, and these children should not be denied a permanent family because of narrow mindedness. It does not take a scientist to figure that two people of the same sexual orientation cannot biologically conceive a child on their own; therefore adoption is the only option homosexuals have. While adoption†¦show more content†¦Because these children are less likely to undergo physical and/or emotional abuse it is probable they will respond appropriately to stress later in life. 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It wasn’t until 1991 that alcoholism was considered both a medical and psychiatric disease by the American Medical Association. Alcoholism is defined in the dictionary as a chronic disorder characterized by dependence on alcohol, repeated excessive use of alcoholic beverages, the development of withdrawal symptoms on reducingRead MoreRole of Marriage in Society2476 Words   |  10 Pagesrather than destroy it. The goal of this paper will be to share both views of marriage and will include the history of marriage and same-sex marriage. It will cover the tribulations both the gay and straight community has gone through. I am talking about the role of marriage in society, but I’m not talking about whether marriage is a good or bad thing. Background: Over a period of many years, members of the gay and lesbian community have gone from living lives of secrecy to being proud and tellingRead MoreMental Health And Its Effects On Health5556 Words   |  23 Pagessome of the reasons for better understanding the reproductive system? As a child in the foster care system, the children may not have a parent or a support system who can explain the reproductive system to them. As a social worker working directly with these children it important that we can explain the reproductive system to these children as well as any parents who may not be aware of their options or the diseases associated with the reproductive system. For that reason, we need to have a better

Culture Specific Syndrome Free Essays

ultural Bound Syndromes Culture-bound syndrome The term culture-bound syndrome was included in the fourth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) which also includes a list of the most common culture-bound conditions (DSM-IV: Appendix I). Included in DSM-IV-TR (4th. ed) the term cultural-bound syndrome denotes recurrent, locality-specific patterns of abnormal behavior and troubling experience that may or may not be linked to a particular DSM-IV-TR diagnostic category. We will write a custom essay sample on Culture Specific Syndrome or any similar topic only for you Order Now Many of these patterns are naturally considered to be illnesses, or at least afflictions, and most have local names. Although presentations conforming to the major DSM-IV-TR categories can be found throughout the world, the particular symptoms, course, and social response are very often influenced by local cultural factors. In contrast, cultural-bound syndromes are generally limited to specific societies or culture areas and are localized, folk, diagnostic categories that frame coherent meanings for certain repetitive, patterned, and troubling sets of experiences and observations. In medicine, a culture-specific syndrome or culture-bound syndrome is a combination of psychiatric and somatic symptoms that are considered to be a recognizable disease only within a specific society or culture. There are no objective biochemical or structural alterations of body organs or functions, and the disease is not recognized in other cultures. While a substantial portion of mental disorders, in the way they are manifested and experienced, are at least partially conditioned by the culture in which they are found, some disorders are more culture-specific than others. The concept of culture-bound syndromes is very controversial and many psychologists, medical doctors, and anthropologists reject the concept. The identification of culture-specific syndromes: A culture-specific syndrome is characterized by: categorization as a disease in the culture (i. e. , not a voluntary behavior or false claim); widespread familiarity in the culture; complete lack of familiarity of the condition to people in other cultures; no objectively demonstrable biochemical or tissue abnormalities (symptoms); the condition is usually recognized and treated by the folk medicine of the culture. Some culture-specific syndromes involve somatic symptoms (pain or disturbed function of a body part), while others are purely behavioral. Some culture-bound syndromes appear with similar features in several cultures, but with locally-specific traits, such as penis panics. A culture-specific syndrome is not the same as a geographically localized disease with specific, identifiable, causal tissue abnormalities, such as kuru or sleeping sickness, or genetic conditions limited to certain populations. It is possible that a condition originally assumed to be a culture-bound behavioral syndrome is found to have a biological cause; from a medical perspective it would then be redefined into another nosological category. Western medical perspectives: An interesting aspect of culture-specific syndromes is the extent to which they are â€Å"real†. Characterizing them as â€Å"imaginary† is as inaccurate as characterizing them as â€Å"malingering†, but there is no clear way to understand them from a Western scientific perspective. Culture-specific syndromes shed light on how our mind decides that symptoms are connected and how a society defines a known â€Å"disease†. In contrast, culture-bound syndromes are generally limited to specific societies or culture areas and are localized, folk, diagnostic [comma sic] categories that frame coherent meanings for certain repetitive, patterned, and troubling sets of experiences and observations. Medical care of the condition is challenging and illustrates a truly fundamental but rarely discussed aspect of the physician-patient relationship: the need to negotiate a diagnosis that fits the way of looking at the body and its diseases of both parties. The physician may do any of the following: Share the way the patient sees the disorder, and offer the folk medicine treatment, recognize it as a culture-bound syndrome, but pretend to share the patient’s perspectives and offer the folk medicine reatment or a new improvised treatment, recognize it as a culture-bound syndrome but try to educate the patient into seeing the condition as the physician sees it. The problem with the first choice is that physicians who pride themselves on their knowledge of disease like to think they know the difference between culture-specific disorders and â€Å"organic† diseases. While the second choice may be the quickest and most comfortable choice, the physician must deliberately deceiv e the patient. Currently in Western culture this is considered one of the most unethical things a physician can do, whereas in other times and cultures deception with benevolent intent has been an accepted tool of treatment. The third choice is the most difficult and time-consuming to do without leaving the patient disappointed, insulted, or lacking confidence in the physician, and may leave both physician and patient haunted by doubts (â€Å"Maybe the condition is real. † or â€Å"Maybe this doctor doesn’t know what s/he is talking about. †). Root-work/Obeah: DSM IV-TR (2000), states that a set of cultural interpretations that ascribe illness to hexing, witchcraft, sorcery, or the evil influence of another person. Symptoms may include generalized anxiety and gastrointestinal complaints (e. g. , nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea), weakness, dizziness, the fear of being poisoned, and sometimes fear of being killed (voodoo death). DSM IV-TR site roots, spells, or hexes can be put or placed on other persons, causing a variety of emotional and psychological problems. The hexed person may even fear death until the root has been taken off, or eliminated usually through the work of the root doctor (a healer in this tradition), who can also be called on to bewitch an enemy. Roots is found in the southern United States among both African-American and European American populations and in the Caribbean societies. Obeah (sometimes spelled â€Å"Obi†) is a term used in the West Indies to refer to folk magic, sorcery, and religious practices derived from Central African and West African origins. Obeah can either be a form of ‘dark’ magic or ‘good’ magic. As such, Obeah is similar to Palo, Voodoo, Santeria, root-work, and hoodoo. Obeah (another name used in the Caribbean society) is practiced in Suriname, Jamaica, Haiti, the Virgin Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Belize, the Bahamas, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and many other Caribbean countries. Obeah is associated with both benign and malign magic, charms, luck, and with mysticism in general. In some Caribbean nations Obeah refers to African diasporic folk religions; in other areas, Christians may include elements of Obeah in their religion. Obeah is often associated with the Spiritual Baptist church. Origins: In Jamaica, slaves from different areas of Africa were brought into contact, creating some conflicts between those who practiced varying African religions. Those of West African Ashanti descent, who called their priests â€Å"Myal men† (also spelled Mial men), used the Ashanti term â€Å"Obi† or â€Å"Obeah† — meaning â€Å"sorcery† — to describe the practices of slaves of Central African descent. Thus those who worked in a Congo form of folk religion were called â€Å"Obeah men† or â€Å"sorcerers. Obeah also came to mean any physical object, such as a talisman or charm that was used for evil magical purposes. However, despite its fearsome reputation, Obeah, like any other form of folk religion and folk magic, contains many traditions for healing, helping, and bringing about luck in love and money. Elements (key features/symptoms) According to Hughes, Simons Wintro b, 1997 study, knowledge about a culture-bound syndrome, can address the relationship between the culture-bound syndrome and the more familiar psychiatric disorders, such as those in DSM-IV. These researchers call this the comorbidity question on the assumption that studying the culture-bound syndrome’s patterned relationship to psychiatric diagnoses is a more fruitful approach than attempting prematurely to subsume it into the DSM diagnostic categories. Systematic research has identified strong correlations between culture-bound syndromes and criteria for psychiatric disorder, but there is rarely a one-to-one relationship between culture-bound syndrome and psychiatric disorder. The culture-bound syndromes often coexist with a range of psychiatric disorders, as many psychiatric disorders do with each other. The comorbidity question brings culture-bound syndrome research in line with current approaches in psychiatric research. Differences in the symptomatic, emotional, and contextual aspects of cultural syndromes, in turn, may signal different comorbid relationships with psychiatric diagnosis or even the lack of such a relationship. Opinion The extra ordinary addition of culture-bound syndromes in DSM-IV provides the opportunity for improving the need to study such syndromes and the chance for developing a research to study them. The growing ethnic and cultural diversity of the U. S. population presents a challenge to the mental health field to develop truly cross-cultural approaches to mental health research and services. This addition will give researchers the chance to study the relationship between culture-bound syndromes and psychiatric diagnoses. In my opinion a research program based on key questions is still unanswered, which is understanding culture-bound syndromes within their cultural context and to analyze the relationship between these syndromes and psychiatric disorders. Reference DSM -IV-TR Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (2000). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (4th ed. ). Washington, DC: Author. Hughes CC, Simons RC, Wintrob RM: The â€Å"Culture-Bound Syndromes† and DSM-IV, in DSM-IV Sourcebook, vol 3. Edited by Widiger TA, Frances AJ, Pincus HA, Ross R, First MB, Davis W. Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Association, 1997, pp 991–1000 Retrieved July 29, 2009 from American Journal of Psychiatry. How to cite Culture Specific Syndrome, Essay examples

Aids in the thrid world country Essay Example For Students

Aids in the thrid world country Essay In 2004 circa 95 thousand people died in Latin America. Cause of death? In a world of today where there is an abundance of bloodshed and carnage, surprisingly violence is not the primary cause of death but AIDS is. Having taken health classes for over five years, HIV/AIDS and STDs were not new or surprising. I became apathetic and impassive to such related issues. It seemed like something distant and remote that would never happen to me. But then a startling news article that stated in large bold letters, Brazil houses one-third of the carriers of the HIV virus in Latin America caught my attention. In the article it stated that in 2004, circa 95 thousand people died of Aids in Latin America and there were 240 thousand new people diagnosed with HIV. This daunting article was a revelation. It awoke me from the beautiful and hygienic fairy-tale world I was in and dropped me into arms of the real world, where AIDS and STDs are not that remote and it could happen to anyone. In Latin Ameri ca out of the 400 million inhabitants nearly 1.7 million are carriers of the virus that causes AIDS. This incurable deadly virus is spreading in a frightening manner. People diagnosed with HIV are increasing by 25% each year in Latin America. The cause is due to ignorance. People tend to believe that only homosexuals are affected by the virus. What they are unaware of is that HIV is caused by exchange in blood, semen, or other bodily fluids. Therefore everyone is susceptible to the virus, primarily consumers of injectable drugs and people that have multiple sex partners and those that dont use protection during the act of intercourse. This issue is important, firstly because a third of the carriers of the virus live where I live. Consequently it made me more conscious and aware of the environment I live in and it also made me a more grateful person. Secondly it is a serious issue that is burgeoning and if not contained could in the long run expunge a large population of people in La tin America. Immediate containment of the virus is imperative. In order to reduce the spread of the virus most importantly people should become educated and conscious of the virus. In a country where a large portion of the population is from the lower class not many people received proper sex education consequently public awareness of this issue is low if almost negligible. Therefore there should be government sponsored programs and ads which teach the general public about this issue and methods of prevention. In addition the government should provide medications for people diagnosed with HIV, especially to those who are from the lower class. Finally the government should provide HIV tests to people, especially pregnant women in order to prevent transmission from mother to son, and also provide treatment to the mother and new born if infected especially to those from the lower class.

Comparison of the United States and Saudi Arabian Banking Sector

The banking industry play an important role in an economy; it forms the backbone of world economies thus when a country has a strong banking industry, it is more likely to have sustained development. The United States banking industry plays a major role in the world’s greatest/strongest economy; the industry is more inclined to conventional baking model and is regulated by federal and state governments.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Comparison of the United States and Saudi Arabian Banking Sector specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Saudi Arabia is one of the fast growing world economies with the largest Muslim population; the country’s banking sector is inclined more to Islamic banking system. Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) in collaboration with the country’s central bank controls the sector. Banks, like any other business are affected by external influences and operations of the economy (Dalvinder 34-56). This paper undertakes an external strategic comparison of the United States and Saudi Arabian banking sector. To undertake this role, the paper will discuss various issues in the sector as guided by subtitles. Suppliers Alongside the core line of business, the main product that banks require is money of different currencies. According to banking act both countries, the central bank is supposed to offer some finances to the bank under the system of reserve policy. In the United States, the loan is offered to the bank at an interest payable after a certain period. It is the interests and the required reserve that the central bank uses to control inflation in the country. According to SAMA policy of operation this is in line with Islamic banking policy, the central bank advances some funds to the banks after a certain reserve has been kept with the bank. After the commercial bank has invested the money, then it shares some gains with the central bank; ion the case o f a loss, then the central bank is also a party that suffers. Other than the central bank, both economies allow for mobilization of funds from the public then use the money for trading; in United States, money mobilized from the public attracts some interests while in Saudi Arabia there is sharing of profit depending with the kind of saving that a person has engaged in. Both countries are enjoying increasing corporate and individual depositors thus money is not a challenges despite the growing number of national and international banks. New entrants In modern era of globalization, both countries are facing an increasing number of new entrants in the banking sector; in Saudi Arabia, the sector is growing faster than that of the United States because of the past global financial sector that was believed to have started in the United States. The fast growth of Saudi Arabian economy is attracting an increasing number of investors who are willing to comply with Islamic banking rules.Adve rtising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In the United States, since the global financial crisis the banking industry is seen to be growing in the line of micro-finances and self-help groups, people have realized the need to pool their resources together and start some lending companies. Some of these investments are controlled by the countries Sacco policy while others operates behind scenes. Buyers The main source of funds for the banking sector are individual and corporate operating in an economy; in Saudi Arabia and the United States, the economies are having an increasing number of borrowers both corporate and individuals. The booming of the economies is offering the sectors an increasing demand for their services that is offered at a beneficial rate. In the United states, the influx of micro finances and international banks has reduced the margin of interest that the banks offer c oupled with some of the monetary policies that the government enacted to cure the dangers of global financial crisis. On the other hand, the Saudi Arabian government, with the guidance of SAMA has reduced license barriers that have for long hindered the establishment of international banks in the economy; however, despite the removal, the conditions of Islamic banking has seen a number of international banks shy from investing in the economy. Substitutes The banking sector faces some substitutes from efforts of the government, and non-government organizations that are registered and mandated with the role of providing financial service in the economy. In the United states, one of the main substitutes that buyers of banking sector has is government grants and advances; they are funds that the government through various ministries offer to finances some projects in a company; in most cases the finances are meant for giant projects that will benefit the entire economy. Another area tha t people get funds is from some multinational companies that have diversified their business to offer financial support; they include Toyota Motor Company with alongside the provision of financial services. Although SACCO’s can be argued as either player in the banking sector or otherwise, they are taking, a form that is offering substitutes to trader. Companies are mobilizing their employees and starting a self-help SACCO society that is competing with the banking sector. The benefit of the SACCO’s is even higher as they offer loans through the co-guarantee method and they have recorded high dividends that the interests paid by conventional banks.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Comparison of the United States and Saudi Arabian Banking Sector specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In Saudi Arabia, SAMA has locked a number of substitutes in the economy, however the government has some funds for different developments of groups within the economy; for example there are some funds meant for the youth (Youth Fund) and others meant for women (Women funds). They are money that does not pass through the â€Å"normal† banking system but they offer substitutes to the service of the bank (Battilossi and Jaime 23-34). Socio-culture drivers The American banking system follows the conventional banking system where the bank gets money from the central banks at an interest, offers services at a fee and offer loan facilities at an interest higher than that charged by the central bank. The majority of the Americans adapt to the system which seems to be supported by the cultural believe in the economy other than the religious believe of the Muslims. To cover the minority citizens who have subscribe to Muslim religion, the economy has some Islamic banking companies that are used by the Islam’s in the country. In Saudi Arabia that happens to have over 95% of the population as Muslims, t he support the Islamic banking system that seems made in line with the religious and cultural believe of the people. Other than of late where there has been minimal introduction of conventional banking, non-Muslims in the economy had been forced to adapt to the system (SAMA). Economic driver The United States has the world largest economy in GDP of $14.7 trillion in 2010; the economy has been maintaining an increasing rate of economic growth until the global financial crisis. In the economy, the improvement has resulted to an increased demand for banking services to both corporate and individual borrowers. This has lead to an increase in business for the sector of the economy. In 2006, Saudi Arabia had a GDP of SR799.9 -13824 and a nominal GDP of SR1.30trillion. This was a 12.4% increase in nominal GDP and 4.2% increase on GDP (Saudi Arabia Economic Statistics and Indicators). SAMA was a major participant in the move as banks savings and loans were increased accordingly. The bank ma intained a peg of the country’s currency with United States Dollar and only changed the rate twice; it raised it by 25 basis points, from 4.75 by the end of 2005 to 5.0 at the start of first quarter of 2006.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More By the second quarter, the repo rates were increased by 20 basis points to 5.20 (SAMA). In 2006, using the Consumer Price Index the inflation of the country had increased to 1.6% with money supply increase of 14.9 percent over the same period. Of late there has been a fast growth in peoples living standards as well as an increase in investments in the economy; this has created a need for the banking services thus the future of the industry is promising in both countries (Suleman 23-78). Technology driver The growth in technology has made some business changes in the banking sector; both the conventional banking and Islamic banking system in the Unites states and Saudi Arabia respectively have adjusted to the changes. In the United States, there has been an increasing move to automated banking system where banks are competing to have service offered via technology. For instance, there has been the growth of ATM (Automated Terror Machines), Internet banking, and mobile banking. In the Saudi Arabian, technology has been adopted to a certain extent in the economy, the banking industry is using technology to monitor the performance of advances made by the industry and is working hard to have customer get the service off the banks. There are growing number of ATM, mobile banking and e-banking systems. SAMA has of late being in the forefront advising the banks to adopt technology as a cost reduction measure and ensure that they are working in line with the regulations of the Islamic banking despite the adoption of technology (Schoon 12-34). Political and regulation driver The operation of the banking sector does not escape some political influences; they have been used to settle some political goals positively and sometimes negatively. In Saudi Arabia, SAMA is the main body that controls the operations of the banking sector, it is seen to have the upper hand and final say in the sector but there are some consultations with the central bank on policies that can benefi t the economy. In the United States, the banking sector is controlled by federal and state governments where they are expected to operate under the frameworks of the country is banking act of 1933; however, the act has been mended to fit changes in the sector. Conclusion External environments prevailing in an economy affect the banking sector; in the United States, the sector (conventional system) is gradually recovering from global financial crisis of 2007 and benefiting from increasing economic strength in the economy. The Saudi Arabian banking system (Islamic banking) is growing strong as the economy grows stronger; the country is opening its boundaries to attract foreign banks, this move is likely to increase competition in the sector. Works Cited Battilossi, Stefano, and Jaime Reis. State and financial systems in Europe and the USA: historical perspectives on regulation and supervision in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2010. Print. Dalvinder, Singh. Banking regulation of UK and US financial markets. New York: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007. Print. SAMA. Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, 2010. Web. Schoon, Natalie. Islamic Banking and Finance. London: Spiramus Press Ltd, 2009.Print. Suleman, Hamdan. Banking system in Islamic countries: Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Stanford: Stanford University, 2006.Print. This essay on Comparison of the United States and Saudi Arabian Banking Sector was written and submitted by user Korbin Banks to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Nancy Drew Books Author Carolyn Keene Biography

Nancy Drew Books Author Carolyn Keene Biography Teenage sleuth Nancy Drew and Mildred Wirt Benson had a great deal in common, including very long and active lives. Nancy Drew books, in one form or another, have been popular for more than 70 years. Mildred Wirt Benson, who wrote the text of 23 of the first 25 Nancy Drew books under the direction of Edward Stratemeyer, was still an active newspaper columnist  when she died in May of 2002 at the age of 96. Bensons Early Years Mildred A. Wirt Benson was a remarkable woman who knew from an early age that she wanted to be a writer. Mildred Augustine was born on July 10, 1905, in Ladora, Iowa. Her first story was published when she was only 14. While attending the University of Iowa, she wrote and sold short stories to help cover college costs. Mildred also worked on the student newspaper and as a reporter for the Clinton, Iowa Herald. In 1927, she became the first woman to receive a masters degree in journalism from the University of Iowa. In fact, it was while she was working for a masters degree that Benson submitted a manuscript for the Stratemeyer Syndicates Ruth Fielding series and was hired to write for the series. She was then offered the opportunity to work on a new series about teenage sleuth Nancy Drew. The Stratemeyer Syndicate The Stratemeyer Syndicate was established by author and entrepreneur Edward Stratemeyer for the purpose of developing childrens book series. Stratemeyer created the characters and developed outlines of the plots for a variety of childrens series and the Syndicate hired ghostwriters to turn them into books. The Hardy Boys, The Bobbsey Twins, Tom Swift, and Nancy Drew were among the series created through the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Benson received a flat fee of $125 from the Stratemeyer Syndicate for each book for which she was the writer. While Benson never hid the fact that she wrote the text for the Nancy Drew books, the Stratemeyer Syndicate made it a practice to require that its writers remain anonymous and listed Carolyn Keene as the author of the Nancy Drew series. Not until 1980, when she testified in a court case involving the Stratemeyer Syndicate and its publishers, did it begin to become commonly known that Benson wrote the text of the first Nancy Drew books, following the outlines provided by Edward Stratemeyer. Bensons Career Although Benson went on to write numerous other books for youth on her own, including the Penny Parker series, the bulk of her career was devoted to journalism. She was a reporter and columnist in Ohio, first for The Toledo Times and then, The Toledo Blade, for 58 years. While she retired as a reporter in January of 2002 due to her health, Benson continued to write a monthly column Millie Bensons Notebook. Benson was married and widowed twice and had one daughter, Ann. Like Nancy Drew, Benson was smart, independent, and adventurous. She traveled a good deal, particularly in Central and South America. In her sixties, she became a licensed commercial and private pilot. It seems fitting that Nancy Drew and Mildred Wirt Benson had so much in common. What Makes Nancy Drew Books So Popular? What is it that has made Nancy Drew such a popular character? When the books were first published, Nancy Drew represented a new kind of heroine: a bright, attractive, resourceful girl, capable of solving mysteries and taking care of herself. According to Mildred Wirt Benson, ...it seems to me that Nancy was popular, and remains so, primarily because she personifies the dream image which exists within most teenagers. The Nancy Drew books continue to be popular with  9-12-year-olds. Some of the boxed sets you might consider are: Nancy Drew Starter Set, which includes  The Secret of the Old Clock,  The Hidden Staircase,  The Bungalow Mystery,  The Mystery at Lilac Inn,  The Secret of Shadow Ranch, and  The Secret of Red Gate Farm  Nancy Drew Girl Detective Sleuth Set, which includes  Without a Trace,  A Race Against Time,  False Notes, and  High Risk. If you like audiobooks, try The Secret of the Old Clock  The Hidden Staircase Individual Nancy Drew books, such as  The Case of the Creative Crime  and  The Baby-Sitter Burglaries  are also available in hardbound and/or paperback editions.