...ICTs As Enablers of Development: A Microsoft White Paper December 2004 Executive Summary Information and communications technologies (ICTs) are transforming societies and fueling the growth of the global economy. Yet despite the broad potential of ICTs, their benefits have not been spread evenly. Indeed, using ICTs effectively to foster social inclusion and economic growth is among the key challenges facing policymakers today. As one of the world’s leading ICT firms, Microsoft brings a unique perspective to this issue, one informed by years of collaboration with the international development community. Microsoft firmly believes that ICTs hold tremendous promise as an enabler of social and economic development. ICTs can help underserved populations obtain, manage and disseminate knowledge and to tap into global networks of information and services. And rapid innovations in technology – the fruits of intensive R&D efforts by Microsoft and others – are making ICTs less expensive and easier to use, bringing the power of ICTs within the reach of ever more people. ICTs promote development across many dimensions. At their most fundamental level, ICTs enable organizations to be more productive, thereby spurring economic growth and helping firms be more competitive. ICTs can also expand the reach and effectiveness of social development projects and have already yielded important benefits in such areas as healthcare, education, and environmental preservation. Public-sector...
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...McDonald’s was bullied by burgeoning environmental groups (who were concerned about “how many trees it takes to make paper” ) into switching from paper packaging to Styrofoam containers. These containers are what McDonald’s soon came to call (apparently without irony) “clam shells.” Clam shells were not McDonald’s first choice. But Styrofoam is an exceptionally good insulator and so McDonald’s acquiesced to this environmental strong-arming. Shortly thereafter, near the end of the 1980′s, environmentalists came along again and attacked McDonald’s use of polystyrene (the technical name for Styrofoam), because in order to make polystyrene, chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) are required, which chlorofluorocarbons purportedly poke holes in the ozone. So out of the goodness of their hearts, the suppliers of McDonald’s clam shell stopped using CFC’s in their manufacturing process. This wasn’t good enough, however. The clam shell came under fire again, this time for other things: It doesn’t “biodegrade” in landfills, environmental groups said — though, in fact, next to nothing, no matter how “organic,” biodegrades in landfills, because biodegrading requires oxygen, which compressed trash does not have. Another reason they gave: plastic and polystyrene “take up a great deal of space.” (Untrue.) Yet throughout this whole fiasco, McDonald’s was completely compliant. They even embarked upon the suggested polystyrene recycling program. Pressed, however, by the Environmental...
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...The SWATCH Project: A Case Report By错误！未找到引用 源。 Candidates Zhang Xingquan, Guo Jun, Xiao Jie, Zhang Yingying, Kong Lingxiang 2006 World Economics, Faculty of Business Hubei University Jun 12th 2008 This report details analyzing the market situation and marketing mix of Swatch. Possible marketing strategies, and benefits and risks, are explored. Finally, the type "C" Swatch should price under $30, and an exclusive distributorship should be adopted, are concluded. Furthermore, to enlarge Swatch's global market share and to achieve the economies of scale are recommended. The Swatch project was made by ETA, which produced a full range of watch movements and was known as the creator of ultra-thin movements used in expensive watches. This new watch would come in a variety of colored plastic cases and bracelets with an analog face, and ETA had designed an entire production process for Swatch. As the market share of Swiss watches shrunk sharply in the global market, ETA had faced a more and more difficult circumstance. The Swatch project under the code name “Popularius” aimed at rediscovering what the market wanted and then to supply and gain it. While problems were how to gain the potential market and how to adopt different marketing strategies to distribute and promote the new watch. The Swatch project concerned the investigation of Swatch’s potential markets and the feasibility of different marketing mix of Swatch watches and watch movements. The marketing mix of one company...
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...I. Background The case talks about Cape Shoe Company who focuses on a highly competitive shoe industry. Eli Fishman, the CEO of Abbey Manufacturing produced a line of plastic molded display material for the shoe trade. He believes strongly in the importance of manufacturing in the U.S economy. And, since Abbey sold model display products mainly to the shoe trade, it had provided him the opportunity to become knowledgeable about the industry. In 1999, Florsheim, a well-known nationally branded shoe manufacturer announced the closing of its Cape Girardeau, Missouri plant, ending a long history of producing high quality men's shoes in America due to lower cost of overseas production, and concerned about the continuing loss of shoe manufacturing in the U.S.,. Upon the closing of a Florsheim shoe factory in a region of the Midwest that was once home to a large number of shoe and apparel manufacturers, with the majority of these having closed over the previous 30 years. An entrepreneur from Chicago with minimal experience in the shoe industry, visited a Florsheim factory. When he decided that the facility represented too valuable a resource to be abandoned, the entrepreneur subsequently purchased the shoe plant and named his new venture the Cape Shoe Company. Based on his concern about losing American manufacturing jobs, and the belief that he could produce a competitively priced product, Mr. Fishman plan was to produce 100 percent Made in America shoes. The main focal point of this...
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...Kritika Ku ltu ra NEW SCHOLARS FORUM Gay Language: Defying the Structural Limits of English Language in the Philippines Norberto V. Casabal Lyceum of Subic Bay, Philippines nvcasabal@yahoo.com Abstract Gay language has achieved a higher degree of acceptance in recent years in the Philippines. Both gays and nongays can be heard uttering gay expressions. But the main role of gayspeak for gay people in the Philippines is to function as an “armor” to shield themselves from the chasm and the social stigma caused by gender differences. From a linguistic point of view, this paper not only describes the nature of this gay language and how expressions are coined; it also looks at how code mixing (gayspeak + English language) is made possible. This paper also examines how this code-mixing creatively violates the grammatical structure of the use of the English language in the Philippines. Keywords code-mixing, gayspeak, gender difference, Philippine English, street-talk About the author Norberto V. Casabal is Head for Academic Affairs of Lyceum of Subic Bay. He is currently pursuing his MA in English Language and Literature Teaching at the Ateneo de Manila University. Introduction Binabae and bakla are familiar words in Filipino street-talk. But what about badaf, baklush, and baklers? These are a little confusing for the average Filipino speaker, while the expressions Bading Garci, pa-mihn, pa-girl, X-men, will lose most expert speakers of the Filipino language. These are terms which...
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...GIRLFRIEND FOR HIRE. INTRO Teka ahm ano…. pano ko ba sisimulan to? Sige, ganito na lang siguro..magpapakilala na lang muna ako huh?! Ang arte kasi, bakit kelangang may intro pang nalalaman tong author na to.. pede namang diretso na agad sa story line! -__- Hmp! Pero wala akong magagawa, kelangang sumunod at baka ichugi na nya agad ako dito sa story..tungkol pa naman sakin to.. pag nachugi ako, edi tapos narin ang kwento db?! Parang tanga lang..hehe..kaya eto na, sisimulan ko na..inip na kayo eh.. . . . Ako nga pala si Nami Shanaia San Jose. 17 years old, 1st year college student, SCHOLAR. (haha, ang yabang ko no? totoo naman kc eh! ) Working student ako. Nakikitira lang ako sa auntie ko. Wala na kasi akong mga magulang. Well enough of that boring introduction about myself, masyado ng common tong ganito.. Kaya pumunta na tayo sa interesting fact about me.. . . Lahat na ata ng weird na trabaho napasukan ko na. Ewan ko ba kung bakit ang wiweird ng mga trabahong napasukan ko.O___O? Isipin niyo naman,.. Naging taga alaga ako ng pusang may diabetes (SOSYAL NA PUSA,SHET NO?), . Naging taga tanggal ng pulgas ng aso ng kapitbahay namin(ANDAME KO NGANG KAGAT NUN!), . Naging mascot na sausage na nakatayo maghapon sa harapan ng isang restaurant na wala ng ginawa kung hindi sabihing “Masarap ako, tikman niyo!” (ah, ah ayoko ng maalala na ginawa ko yan! Muntik na akong lapain ng aso dahil akala nga niya sausage ako! T.T), . Naging waitress din ako sa isang restaurant na ang mga waitress...
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